Journal of the Bizarre

With a population of just under five thousand, the sleepy town of Danville, in Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley region, is generally the last place one would expect to find nearly three hundred dead nuns rising from the grave, but thanks to the unstoppable forces of progress, that is exactly what's happening in the tiny county seat of Montour County.

As visitors approach the tiny but historic town, which was once the cornerstone of the state's iron mining industry, gigantic glass and concrete buildings loom in the shadows of Montour Ridge, sprawled across the base of the mountain and giving visitors to Danville the impression of a miniature city skyline.  These buildings belong to Geisinger Medical Center, which has grown from a small local hospital built in 1915 to one of America's most expansive healthcare systems.  Today, Geisinger is Montour County's largest employer, with thousands of doctors, nurses, and administrative personnel who oversee the medical need…

Earlier today, the UK's Daily Mail reported that it has obtained exclusive audio and video footage from the exorcisms of Latoya Ammons, who claims to have been possessed by demons, along with her three children.

According to the Huffington Post, the Department of Child Services paid a visit to the Ammons' home and made some startling discoveries-- along with local law enforcement officials and mental health experts who evaluated the bizarre case.  Dr. Geoffrey Onyeukwu, the physician who examined the family, stated: "Twenty years, and I've never heard anything like that in my life. I was scared myself when I walked into the room."

The family approached Dr. Onyeukwu complaining of demonic activity, which manifested itself in strange voices, unusual footprints, and levitation.  The Department of Child Services report corroborates Latoya Ammons' claims, however; medical staff at Dr. Onyeukwu's office said they witnessed one of the children being lifted and …

From hideous weapons of war to outrageously bizarre fashion trends, the mind of man has shown its capability for madness in staggering ways- even when it comes to the design of musical instruments.

One such instrument is thekatzenklavier, a cat piano reportedly designed in the 17th century by German Jesuit priest and scholar Athanasius Kircher (though some scholars insist that Kircher only described the instrument, and did not invent it).  Kircher's mad contraption featured a menagerie of cats, arranged in order by the pitch of their meows and tethered to a keyboard by their tails.  By striking a piano key, a sharpened nail would poke the unfortunate feline, producing a sweet melodic note that would make the Marquis de Sade proud.  We're pretty sure Athanasius Kircher was not a member of PETA, by the way.

While not many (if any) katzenklaviers were actually manufactured, the bizarre instrument was held in high regard by many psychiatrists right up until the 19th century.  One s…

We are all familiar with the "traditional" depictions of ghosts, from the chain-dragging tormented souls who wail and groan in the lonesome hours of night, to the ethereal ladies clad in white who float through space in chilly castles and then disappear in the blink of an eye.  From the downright spooky to the ephemeral, chances are that if you try to envision a ghost, you will invariably conjure up a stereotypical image of what a ghost should look like.

However, there are many ghosts who do not fall into the "traditional" category- at least in terms of appearance.  Many witnesses have claimed to have seen ghosts that are zoomorphic; that is, ghosts which manifest themselves as part human and part animal.  Not all zoomorphic ghosts are hybrids, however.  In some cases, entities may be able to "shapeshift" between human and animal form (theriormorphy).

Zoomorphy has long played a role in human civilization, most notably in mythology.  From the jackal-head…

Infamous Bigfoot hoaxer Rick Dyer is in the news again; this time he claims that he shot and killed the mythical creature in a wooded area on the northwest side near Loop 1604 and Highway 151 in San Antonio in September of 2012- and he plans of taking the cadaver on tour.

"I have been worried for so long. I have been put off for so long, and finally we went up to Washington (state) and we got the body," Dyer told KSAT.com on January 2 of this year. "Every test that you can possibly imagine was performed on this body, from DNA tests to 3D optical scans to body scans. It is the real deal. It's Bigfoot and Bigfoot's here, and I shot it and now I'm proving it to the world."



Dyer has recently released photos of the alleged creature (referred to as "Hank"), which he said he managed to trap by nailing pork ribs obtained from a local Walmart to a tree:

"I nailed ... pork ribs from the WalMart down the street to the side of the tree, and low [sic] a…

Evidence of Forced Entry At Lanza Home


In October of 2013, demolition of the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut began, thus destroying whatever evidence may have been left behind- evidence which may have been crucial to putting the Sandy Hook conspiracy to rest.  Ironically, the same officials who decried the Sandy Hook "truther" movement and scoffed at the conspiracy theorists have, by their very own actions, cemented the reputation of the December 14, 2012 event in the annals of dubious history, alongside the JFK assassination, Roswell, and other incidents which will forever fuel the fires of imagination and speculation.

As the world welcomes another new year and collectively endeavors to forget the past, the shadowy grounds of Sandy Hook endeavor to conceal evidence of what we believe is the Greatest Cover-Up in American History.  By December of this past year an empty space occupied the land where a school once stood, the result of a $50 million bill pa…