Friday, June 26, 2009

Tunguska Explained!


ScienceDaily (June 25, 2009) — The mysterious 1908 Tunguska explosion that leveled 830 square miles of Siberian forest was almost certainly caused by a comet entering the Earth's atmosphere, says new Cornell University research. The conclusion is supported by an unlikely source: the exhaust plume from the NASA space shuttle launched a century later.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

my problem is that you cannot leave a post on the whole of your blog. having stated this, what do you know about falls school in norman? i've visited this school multiple times, at first as a way to pass time with friends, then later while i was wandering around the boondocks of norman and happened to realize my mistake too late as my stomach always clenches within a mile of this blasted school. i've, of course, heard many rumors of why it scares, but no actual data (hence my late night internet searchings). thus, i was wondering if you could shed some light on this subject. thanks so much - rachel

also, i've heard rumors of the walcourt building in oklahoma city being haunted, but no one is telling any stories. in your research have you perhaps come across the "real" history of the amazing building? if so, please indulge my curiosity!

Cullan Hudson said...

I'm not sure what "you cannot leave a post on the whole of your blog" refers to.

But in regards to Falls School, I'm guessing that's Falls School District 31, which is/used to be at E Robinson and 84th Ave E over by Thunderbird and Little River area. I've never heard anything about it. It's not come up in my research, which is fairly exhaustive. However, if any locals have stories to tell, I would love to hear them. I'll be in that area in a week and will make a point to check it out.

As for the Walcourt, I've been there myself. It's a nice, spooky looking place, which is why I used it as the cover to both editions of Strange State. It's a great gothic revival structure that began its life in the late 1920's as an apartment building. While it has that fantastic haunted look to it with the gothic touches and the way its abandoned form perches forlornly atop that hill above the freeway, I must confess that I could find no stories about it either.

And I wanted them, truly. Nothing would have been better than to find some great haunting attached to that stately edifice. But, sadly, nothing came up in 4 years of research. Mostly when the media mentioned the Walcourt it was just rooms-for-rent ads from the 1930's onward and then historic preservation notices beginning in the min 1990's. There's a Hallowe'en article from 2005 that I'm looking into now, I'll post what I find though I'm not holding my breath.

I also found a website where a comment simply mentioned that they heard it was haunted but went into no specifics. Lots of people
"hear" about a place being haunted, so I'm assuming we're looking for a story with more meat on its bones. I know I am anyway. The world is filled with my cousin's friend's aunt's neighbor said that... I don't go in for those. They're tantamount to made up. I want something where a witness can give details and is willing to go on record. Something than can be researched and corroborated. Sadly, I never found anything like that.

Anonymous said...

I understand completely about the friend of a friend stories, I was hoping you could provide me with more substantial evidence as I have no time to actually research them myself.

Walcourt interested me at first as a building with intensely interesting architecture, and then as a super spooky place. In my minor research I had found a math society wanting to buy it, the fact that it's a historic building, and then that random internet comment about "hearing rumors."

As for Falls school, yes, that is the same school I was referring to at 84th and robinson. if you haven't been out there, you should definitely go. The atmosphere itself is super spooky, what with the cemetery littered with graves of children catty-corner to the actual school. But more important to this fact is the experiences myself and other's have had at this school. i know the feeling, i just can't find any evidence to the rumors of why it's that way. so just a heads up... probably don't go at night.

-rachel

MARILYN A. HUDSON, MLIS said...

I will be going to Falls to look around...will report back.