Ghostlahoma by Tonya Hacker and Tammy Wilson
Tonya Hacker co-author of Ghostlahoma: Over 100 Years of Oklahoma’s Haunted History recently spoke in El Reno, Oklahoma.
Skunk Ape at Cedar Lake
Cedar Lake is in Le Flore County, Oklahoma in the deep wilderness of the Ouachita National Forestem>.
Ouachita is in Kiamicha Country, the outdoor enthusiast’s paradise that contains a plethora of places to hike, horseback, hunt, fish, camp, drive an all-terrain-vehicle, or take a boat out for a ride on the water.
The Cedar Lake area also has a resident mythical creature that is mostly associated with evading human detection in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.
The Skunk Ape; also known as Bigfoot, Sasquatch, abominable snowman, and yeti; has been sighted numerous times in the Cedar Lake area.
Therefore, a local crew known as the Ghost Trackers of Oklahoma (GTOO) will be investigating the Cedar Lake area this year.
A 2009 Sighting of the Skunk Ape
On October 1, 2009 around 4:30 PM a married couple were on their way to a cabin they had rented. The husband drove about 30 mph on a dirt road in Le Flore County near Cedar Lake. The sky was overcast but there was no rain and the temperature was a comfortable 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
As they approached a turn in the road the wife noticed a bad odor. Coming around the turn they saw a grayish-black creature that looked like a gorilla. The creature stood up and ran into the woods.
The entire incident lasted about three seconds, but the couple believed they saw a seven foot creature that was able to run like a human but looked like a gorilla. They claim they saw Bigfoot.
A 2008 Sighting of the Skunk Ape
The year was 2008 and the month was March.
Some friends were hiking on a ridge above the cabin where they were staying.
While taking some time to catch their breath and drink some water one of the hikers spotted a creature watching them.
The hiker reported that it was a tall orangutan with reddish brown hair peeking around a tree watching the group of hikers rest before they continued their journey.
The hiker whispered to a nearby friend to look but not be too obvious. The friend looked and nearly panicked but recomposed himself quickly.
The other two friends quickly realized that something was going on. Curious they asked, but they were loud and that must have scared the creature. The hikers heard a howl followed by the sound of some animal running through the woods away from where they stood. Those hikers claimed they saw and heard Sasquatch.
More information
The Bigfoot field Researchers Organization collects data on bigfoot sightings and more information about the sighings near Cedar Lake in Le Flore County, Oklahoma can be viewed here.
This video uploaded by Science and Reason provides a great overview of the history of quantum mechanics. Enjoy.
Haunted Hoax (Credit: Haunted Hoax)
Patrick Doyle is a paranormal researcher and investigator that does more than just ghost hunt–he takes a look at the facts.
Patrick Doyle has 12 years of experience in the paranormal. He owns, writes, and blogs for the website HauntedHoax.net.
This is satirical video titled Ghost Addiction: Are you addicted to ghosts?
Participant in a ganzfeld telepathy experiment (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A ganzfeld experiment is used in parapsychology to test for extrasensory perception (ESP).
Ganzfeld is from the German words ganz and feld meaning “entire feld.”
The experiment uses sensory deprivation to inhibit sight and sound.
An individual is placed in a relaxed environment and tested for telepathy.
Ganzfeld was developed by Wolfgang Metzger in the 1930s. Other parapsychologists used the procedure during the 1970s and 1980s.
Some argue that the ganzfeld experiments had demonstrated positive results proving telepathy is real. Others argue that the experiments were flawed.
Either way the ganzfled experiments may have been the inspiration for the cult horror film Scanners.
Dr. Quantum discusses the granddaddy of all quantum weirdness–the double slit experiment.
On March 24, 2011 the Channel 6 News in Tulsa, Oklahoma reported on a sighting of a strange light in the sky.
Could the light in the sky be a shooting star, a meteorite, or something intelligent from another world? One witness claimed that when she saw the light she heard a fizzle sound.
Was that the fizzle of a hyper-drive engine from a craft visiting from another world?
Probably not, because the Channel 6 news report said:
Wayne Harris-Wyrick, an astronomer with over 30 years experience working at the Science Museum, said it was most likely a meteor the size of a walnut falling from space. Anything else he said is highly unlikely.
D’oh!
Hey, don’t let some science expert ruin your fun. You’ve probably seen one or more sci-fi or horror movies where the opening credits state, “Based on a true story” or “Based on true events.”
Take the film The Exorcist (1973) for example. That film claims to be based on true events.
Zoinks!
That claim is exaggerated.
The film is based on a book that was inspired by the events of a boy in Maryland during the 1940s that suffered from a neurochemical muscular movement/tic disease known as Tourette’s Syndrome. That along with some other emotional issues resulted in the boy behaving in a way that was pretty freaking scary.
Instead of contacting a doctor or a psychologist the parents contacted the local Catholic Church, which promptly sent over some priests to torment the poor child who was never demon possessed but emotionally unstable. Granted there is still debate over the case of this boy.
The point being that this true event inspired the highly imaginative fictional novel of a girl being possessed by the devil who could spin her head, spit green pea soup, and walk down a flight of stairs like a spider.
So now take the true event of a strange light in the Oklahoma sky along with the sound of fizzle and you’ve got yourself an inspiration for a book or movie that is based on true events.
Here’s how you get started:
- The story begins with several people in Oklahoma witnessing the strange light and the fizzle sound.
- People start noticing that some of their family, friends, and pets are missing.
- Police stations across the state are flooded with calls of missing people and bizarre events.
- Two days later a missing man is found alive but disoriented in a crop circle near Salina, Oklahoma.
- He remembers nothing but he has unexplained surgical scars on his body.
So take it from there. Write the next X-Files movie or make up your own movie.
Either way, you can claim it was based on true events.
Have you lied?
No.
Groovy baby, groovy
If video does not play use this link to view the NewsOn6 report.
Mike Ricksecker
Mike Ricksecker, a ghostorian, is the author of Deadly Heirs, a Chase Michael DeBarlo mystery novel, and Ghosts of Maryland.
Ricksecker has also written a book titled Ghosts and Legends of Oklahoma. That book is scheduled to be available on the Fall of 2011.
Mike Richsecker has been working on video episodes regarding Ghosts and Legends of Oklahoma. Here is Episode 1–Beginnings:
Ghosts and Legends of Oklahoma: EP1 – Beginnings
Fairy (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A fairy is a mythical creature that is also magical.
A fairy has had various characteristics in folklore over the years and across many regions, but the modern fairy is general a creature that is human in appearance, has wings, and is smaller than a human.
Fairies have not always been presented as winged or small in older folklore.
Fairies are generally portrayed as good creatures but not always.
Fairies have been in literature, legends, religion, and movies.
The fairies of modern day popular culture tend to be small, winged creatures that appear human. They can fly and perform magic. They do try to stay hidden from humans, but when they do encounter humans they are usually able to help solve problems for the humans.
Oklahoma Octupus (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Summer has begun.
We’re all going to one of the many lakes in Oklahoma.
You get to the lake. It’s a hot day. You dive in.
“Come in, guys,” you holler to your friends on the shore. “The water’s great.”
Then you receive a slight tug on your foot. Not a hard tug. Just slight enough that the water hits your bottom lip causing you to make a gurgling sound as you exhale.
You look around to see if one of your friends is playing a joke by swimming under you to grab your foot.
They are still on the shore.
Something wraps around your leg and pulls you under. You get dragged and then it lets you go.
Desperate for air you swim quickly to the surface. After choking for air you look down into the water.
An orange brown octopus the size of a horse is swimming in the water just below your feet. You’ve been attacked by the Oklahoma Octopus.
Don’t worry too much, though. Most likely, the Oklahoma Octopus is just another urban legend.
The earliest report of an Oklahoma Octopus is from October 20, 1941 in the Canadian newspaper Ottawa Citizen. This reference, however, is in the sports section regarding famed wrestler Roland Kirchmeyer who was from Cushing, Oklahoma. Kirchmeyer wrestled for Oklahoma A&M. He earned the nickname “Oklahoma Octopus.”
Other than the wrestler known as the Oklahoma Octopus, there probably isn’t a real octopus roaming about in any of the Oklahoma lakes.
Ahhhh!
Don’t get disappointed. A non-existent mythical creature has never stopped the fun before. Here’s a video clip from Animal Planet regarding the hunt for the Oklahoma Octopus.