The Faithful or the Foolish?

Some unusual religious groups have cropped up in Oklahoma over the years. With the recent incident at the religious compound in Texas still on many minds, this seems like a good time to examine those groups that have come and gone.

In 1906, James Sharp and three others began preaching on Shawnee street corners in the nude. The quartet would also hurl epithets at the "sinners" and make derogatory remarks about the police.

While the law kept a close eye on the group and gawkers came in throngs, others who came to see the preaching believed Sharp was Jesus Christ returned from heaven.

The group was later arrested in Kansas City for causing a riot, which killed several.

Another group, the Holy Rollers, received their unusual name from the practice of fasting for several days and then rolling around on the floor, awaiting to speak in tongues.

Mrs. Winnifred Macey was "the last of the snake-biters", according to a 1910 edition of The Oklahoman. Macey was among the early founders of a sect out of the Hutchinson, Kansas area that administered baptism via the bites of rattlesnakes.

After being bitten, the recipient would ingest a compund of herbs and whisky. If one survived the tortures raging within their bodies, the were said to revive free of sins. However, if they did not... Well, it's a win-win because they went straight to heaven.

Not surprisingly, once a few deaths piled up, law enforcment officials looked into the matter. This is when police in Oklahoma City arrested Mrs. Macey. Jailed for being a street beggar, she attempted to hang herself with strips of her clothing. She also smashed the windows in the women's cell and began to gnaw upon the glass.

If you know of any other stories, feel free to submit them.

Does Music Truly Soothe The Savage Beast?

We have all heard the old adage "music soothes the savage beast", but just how often does this work? Or rather, how often does one have the presence of mind to pick up an instrument in the midst of an attack?

Well, in combing through those very old newspaper articles that I seem to love so much, I came across an account from the summer of 1906.

It seems John Underwood and his wife were camping in the Black Hills when a mountain lion attacked. The creature leaped onto the frightened woman, knocked her down, and kept her pinned there with its front paws on her chest.

Somehow, in her fear, she recalled that music could tame wild creatures. She began singing and, according to her, the lion seemed lulled by her voice. However, if she stopped, the big cat would growl and lunge once more. I know what you are thinking; this is worse than American Idol, right? So like a cheap Vegas act, she was forced to sing all night until she was at the brink of exhaustion.

Finally, her husband (who had apparently been elsewhere all night) returned to find her cornered by the beast. He quickly took aim and shot the cat, killing it instantly.

Fantastic tale from the dwindling days of the American frontier? Perhaps.

During the first 10 to 15 years of the 20th century, one can read scores of newspaper accounts that recall - with considerable degree of romance - the legends of 19th Century frontier life: Indian tales, stories of lost treasure, outlaw legends... I think, like the founders of the Arts and Crafts movement or the Spiritualists of this same period, Americans sensed that something special was slipping away. A change was on the wind: we were in a new century, constantly on the brink of improvements in science and industry.

I think legends of the frontier became so popular because those wild open spaces were becoming increasingly fenced in, parceled, annexed, and railed. In fact, in less than a year from publication of this story, Oklahoma Territory – one of the last strongholds of the wild frontier – would become a state. These nostalgic looks at frontier life were a way to hold onto the frontier past for just a little longer before it slipped away forever. Manifest Destiny’s last hurrah.

Ancient Furnace Turns Out To Be A Sieve - Or Maybe A Mailbox...

Despite the assertion by some that stones such as these pictured represent the remnants of ancient furnaces (the strange pattern said to be the product of repeated heating and cooling), these unusual rocks are actually known as quartz boxwork hematite deposits.

The odd cellular or honeycomb structure is produced by the grid-like fracturing of 100 million year old sandstone (or in some cases limestone) during the same tectonic upheaval that formed the Appalacian Mountains. Later, iron-rich water was filtered through these sandstone cracks, leaving behind iron deposits which would form the hematite membranes we see today. In extremely superb examples, the sandstone is nearly completely eroded, leaving only a "mailbox" of hematite behind.

Examples of these unusual formations can be seen near Tea_Creek_Mountain, WV , the Smoky Hills in Kansas, and Wind Cave in South Dakota. There are also formations in southeastern Oklahoma that some diffusionists have attributed to the ancient furnaces of Aztecs or Phoenicians.

Muskogee Mysteries Exhumed

When in March 1904 the city of Muskogee decided to move the old cemetery, townsfolk exhumed more than a few gruesome surprises.

One grave revealed evidence that its female occupant had been buried alive. Indications were that the unknown woman had turned over in the coffin because she was found lying face down with one hand behind her back.

Another unmarked grave held the body of a man who still wore a noose around his neck.

The grave of M. P. Roberts, a well known territorial pioneer and founder of the Indian Journal (the fist paper published in Indian Territory), showed a perfectly preserved corpse through the coffin's viewing window - even after 22 years in the ground. His hair and beard were still perfectly combed, his suit showed no rumpling, and there wasn't any trace of decomposition.

All the exhumed bodies were moved from the old "burial ground" in the northwest section of Muskogee to the Greenhill Cemetery.

The Mysterious Green Children

Sometime during the twelfth century, in the English village of Woolpit, an unusual legend was born that brings fame to the small hamlet even after 800 years.

The legend tells that two children, a girl and a boy, were found crying in a field nearby clad in garments of unusual manufacture. However, the most striking thing about the duo was the color of their skin: green. The men working the field took the children to the home of Sir Richard De Calne.

Once in the home, the two became a spectacle at which the villagers were allowed to gawk. Neither could speak English and, initially, they would accept no food. However, as starvation set in, the children relented and began eating beans.

In proper medieval European fashion, the children were soon baptized. The boy, unfortunately, died shortly thereafter. The girl did survive and eventually began to eat different foods. Subsequently, her health improved and her skin turned to a pallor more familiar to the denizens of Woolpit.

Now able to communicate, the girl was able to tell locals about where she came from and how it was that she and her brother had arrived.

They came, she said, from a land where all the inhabitants were green and there was no sun but only perpetual halflight. She and her brother had been tending their flocks when they came to a cave. Curious, they entered and explored until they suddenly found themselves stunned by daylight. There they had lain disoriented for some time when the field workers found them. She said they wanted to escape but could no longer find the cave entrance.

The girl eventually took up a job in the home of a wealthy knight. She later married and lived out her years in Suffolk.

Others who chronicled the legend, such as William of Newburgh, added that the girl told the people of Woolpit that her homeland was called St. Martin's Land and that all its people were Christians. However, this is a later addition and may not be wholly accurate. Although for some, it may hold the answer to the riddle of the Green Children.

Paul Harris, who has studied the matter, theorized that the children may have come "from the twilight of the thick woodlands" of Thetford Forest, which is very near to old flint mines. The village of Fordham St. Martin, too, is very close to this forest. Harris believes that the children may have spoken an English dialect that the isolated villagers of Woolpit could not understand. Harris continues in his theory with the belief that malnourishment contributed to their verdant hue.

I have doubts about this theory, mainly having to do with 12th century topography. But I also wonder if any dialect could be so alien as to sound completely foreign. Although, I have heard more than one Welshman that spoke English in an accent so thick as to be able to shield one from radiation. So, I suppose it is possible.

A curious reiteration of this tale surfaced in Banjos, Spain centuries later.

In August of 1887, it is said that two children with Asian like eyes appeared at the mouth of a cave wearing strange clothes and possessing green skin. They spoke no Spanish and would not eat any food proffered. Eventually the boy died, but the girl lived on, learning Spanish. She told the townspeople that she and her brother arrived from a sunless land via a whirlwind that deposited them in the cave. The girl died in 1892.

As strikingly similar as the accounts are, it seems almost obvious that the latter was based upon events at Woolpit. Perhaps the Spaniards were green with envy. No? Anyway, this may explain a curious facet of these legends. In researching them, I was often struck by how many writers glossed over the connection between these two tales. Jerome Clark doesn't even mention the Spanish event in his paranormal omnibus, Unexplained! And a Reader's Digest book, Mysteries of the Unexplained, only mentioned it in passing with no real examination.

Perhaps it is simply too obvious to remark upon. After all, similar pilfering of past legends have occurred before. The famous case of farmer Orion Williamson comes to mind. He vanished in mid-step as he crossed his pasture in 1854 and no fewer than four stories arose in this legend's wake, most famously "The Difficulty of Crossing a Field" by Ambrose Bierce.

Haunted America Conference

Author and paranormal mainstay Troy Taylor, along with the American Ghost Society, will be holding the 2008 Haunted America Conference at the Lincoln Theater in Decatur, Illinois June 20 and 21.

Featured speakers will include: Troy Taylor, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Dale Kaczmarek, and Oklahoma's own "Ghost Divas," Tonya Hacker and Tammy Wilson from G.H.O.U.L.I. and Eerie Oklahoma.

CHECK IT OUT!

Woman Entranced For 60 Hours

Many of us have felt like curling up and falling asleep during an especially droning church service. But a record may have been set in September 1914 when an Altus woman went into a hypnotic trance for more than sixty hours while attending a "revival".

Bertha Mixon went to services held by B. F. Pritchett, a local pastor, one Wednesday morning and, after five hours of singing and praying, she fell into what the pastor deemed a "holy ghost trance". Mixon stayed in this state for two and half days.

Doctors who examined the woman believed she was in a state of hypnosis, possibly self-induced. They urged the woman's family and pastor to have her removed to a mental health facility for proper care. However, Pastor Pritchett would have none of it. He claimed that she would reawaken sanctified and regenerated from sin.

Synopsis X

IMDB has this posted as the (unverified) synopsis for The X-Files sequel:

"When a group of women are abducted in the wintry hills of rural Virginia, the only clues to their disappearance are the grotesque human remains that begin to turn up in snow banks along the highway. With officials desperate for any lead, a disgraced priest's questionable visions send local police on a wild goose chase and straight to a bizarre secret medical experiment that may or may not be connected to the women's disappearance. Its a case right out of The X-Files. But the FBI closed down its investigations into the paranormal years ago. And the best team for the job is ex-agents Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully, who have no desire to revisit their dark past. Still, the truth of these horrific crimes is out there somewhere...and it will take Mulder and Scully to find it!"

Haunted Fort Reno...

An Oklahoma paranormal investigator shares his/her thoughts on haunted happenings at historic Fort Reno at Paranormal Insider, the official blog for A&E's Paranormal State.

CLICK HERE

Don't Blame Me, Young Lady

In 1957, the Wilkinson family of Tulsa began reporting that electrical plugs would "pop" out of their sockets, a vacuum cleaner would run by itself, and a clock that kept falling from its shelf. Investigators from the American Society for Psychical Research came to investigate. It seems Shirley, the Wilkinson's 10-year-old daughter was blaming her grandfather for the strange goings on. Of course, Grandfather Wilkinson died in 1952.

But it seems that these "ghost hunters," who arrived with arms full of electronic gizmos had concerns about the girl's claims. Especially when she made statements to the effect that his ghost was stealing her fingerprints and placing them on the misbehaving objects. An odd statement for even seasoned paranormal investigators to digest. It would be expected that the finger prints of someone living in the home would be found on their possessions. So why would grandpa "steal" her fingerprints to place even more of them on these items? It doesn't make sense and this probably sent up a red flag for the ASPR investigators.

Whatever the causative agent was, the family moved out in August. Mrs. Wilkinson said she would "crack up" if she had to stay in the home any longer.

Could this have been a poltergeist phenomenon? Maybe Shirley somehow sensed she was the focus of these strange happenings and, to assuage her own guilt, she blamed the events on a spirit that didn't exist.

From the Minds of Men Spring...

The bizarre morphology of Native American pictographs could have less to do with cultural stylization - or even UFO's - than distorted imagery rendered by hallucinogenic visions. In short, the answer might be pharmacology and not cosmology.

Peoples such as the Ancestral Puebloan were familiar with substances like psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, and datura. Tribal leaders and shamans would induce visions by ingesting these toxic plants. From their bizarre imaginings sprang forth fantastic images of strange worlds and the creatures dwelling there. Believing these visions held portent, what they saw was then recorded into stone glyphs and pottery for posterity.

Of course, without being able to penetrate the thoughts of someone a thousand years removed, it is difficult to say for certain that it wasn't inspired by extraterrestrial visions. Still, it is a unique counterpoint to ponder when one desires a balanced examination of the UFO/EBE enigma.

Beheaded!

In the shadow of Dalton Hill, near Owasso, legend speaks of a native woman who was once beheaded by a Spaniard passing through the region (possibly during De Soto's visit in 1541). It is said that her ghost still haunts the area, searching for her missing head.

The Kight House

Some of you are probably thinking that if I post one more UFO thing, you'll scream. So, to change topics...

Prior to its engulfment beneath the Oologah Reservoir, the Kight House was a known locus for haunted activity in what was once Oowala, west of Foyil, Oklahoma.

The house was built in the late 1800's by Dr. A. J. Lane, attending physician at the birth of Will Rogers. He erected the large home within in a copse of cedars with all intentions of starting a large family there. However, Dr. Lane contracted pneumonia and spent his few remaining days confined to his bed in an upper room. He died at the age of forty-five.

H. Tom Kight was the home's eponymous owner. He was a well-to-do congressman and attorney. In 1938, he rented the home to a family who began having trouble with a window in the upper room. The panes of glass in the frame would frequently break or fall out inexplicably, regardless of how many times the window was repaired. The family gave up on replacing the glass and began to stuff rags in the window but these, too, would fall out.

Later, a relative who came to stay with the family, dashed downstairs in the middle of the night, fearful for having seen a face in the window. The family came to the conclusion that the ghost of Dr. Lane was still inhabiting this home.

Nine years later, the family finally left the house. It stayed vacant for years until it was razed in preparation for the contruction of the Oologah Reservoir.

Going Down River?

After watching a repeat of UFO Hunters yesterday, I noticed that the Stephensville Flap in Texas this winter, which they pointed out moved south to Houston over the course of two months, was following the Brazos River. There isn't really much to make out of that at this point. But it is an intriguing piece of the puzzle.

OKLAHOMA TUNGUSKA?

At around half past ten on the night of August 1, 1910, a huge explosion rocked Guthrie. Buildings shook for minutes, winesses claimed. Other citizenry spied a "sheet" of flames ascending into the skies southwest of town.

The following morning, Conrad Miller, a local farmer, arrived in town to report that a meteor had crashed on his farm or perhaps a pocket of natural gas had erupted. He wasn't sure, but whatever it was, it left a giant cavity in a draw near his home. Miller said the force displaced several large rocks and shattered the windows on his farm.

Interestingly, the impact site was very near something the locals called "Iron Mound," a promontory fifty feet high and two-hundred across that was deemed volcanic in origin.

So, was it a natural gas explosion? A meteor? The final belch of a long extinct volcanic formation? Perhaps it was Oklahoma's very own Tunguska blast... As with many newspaper articles, the rest of the story was dropped with no follow-up found for the rest of 1910, leaving me to wonder what it was. If you know of this story, feel free to chime in.