Journal of the Bizarre

Many have written articles on the tribes of ancient giants who once called America home, but far less has been written about the archaeological discoveries which point to the existence of a pygmy race that once inhabited the wilderness regions of America. According to many renowned historians, such as John Haywood (known as the "Father of Tennessee History") and Joseph Henry (who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution), an ancient race of pygmies- measuring no more than three feet from head to toe- once populated White County in Tennessee.

In his 1823 work The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, Haywood states that skeletons belonging to a pygmy race have been unearthed in the vicinity of Sparta, in central Tennessee, as early as 1820 and that news of these discoveries were published in the Nashville Whig newspaper. The finder of the first pygmy skeletons was a man identified as Mr. Lane, who unearthed bones on his farm, which appeared to be h…

Historical newspapers are a wonderful source of bizarre and incredible stories, such as the following story about a strange skull discovered in West Virginia which appeared in newspapers on June 28, 1917. Unfortunately, we failed to find any further information about the Satanic skull. If anyone knows more about this story, let us know!

From the Harrisburg (PA) Telegraph:

Wheeling, W. Va., June 28.-- The skeleton of a man or animal that closely resembles the Satan usually pictures was unearthed here yesterday on Repman's Hill by several boys.

The skull of the skeleton is much like that of the present human race, with the exception of two horns, which project from just above the temples on each side. In life the creature was about four feet high, with a long tail. There are four powerful legs or arms, each of which has four fingers. The chest is broad, and undoubtedly was heavily muscled in the flesh.

The skeleton was located by boys who were digging a cave. Scared by the resemblance …

If you look closely at a map of Pennsylvania, you'll see an anomalous semi-circular border at the extreme southeastern part of the state. This circle, known officially as the "Twelve Mile Circle", serves as the border between the Keystone State and Delaware. Much of the strange circle is surrounded by Chester County, one of the three original Pennsylvania counties created by William Penn in 1682. While there are many historical points of interest in Chester County, few are strange or as steeped in legend as the Ticking Tombstone.

Near the London Tract Meeting House in Landenberg is an old graveyard which contains a tombstone which is said to make eerie ticking noises, much like the ticking of a pocketwatch. Landenberg locals claim that the ticking is the result of two very famous surveyors who arrived in town during the 1760s- Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.  A young child supposedly swallowed a valuable pocketwatch owned by Mason and later died, and the boy's head…

Yesterday, when one of our readers sent us an email asking if we've heard about the Australian Bigfoot allegedly caught on camera in late March, our first thought was "Great. Probably another inconclusive super-grainy video capture." We reluctantly headed over to the UK's Mail Online to check out the evidence, and what did we find? You guessed it... another inconclusive super-grainy video capture of an alleged cryptid.
While there is a shortage of concrete physical evidence when it comes to the existence of Bigfoot, there seems to be no shortage whatsoever of inconclusive super-grainy video captures. Now, we're not saying that Jason Heal and Jason Dunn didn't capture Yowie- the Aussie Bigfoot- on camera in South Queensland. Perhaps they have. But we'll leave that for other "experts" to decide. Instead, we're more interested in answering the following question:

With all of the technology that is readily available, why is it that every UFO, Big…

We are saddened by the news of the passing of Dr. Evelyn Paglini, which happened Saturday night as a result of heart failure. As one of the world's greatest authorities on the occult and witchcraft, she was a well known and much loved figure in the paranormal community, and was a frequent guest on Coast to Coast AM and other shows.

I'll always remember the 8 hour long car trips I used to have to make between Harrisburg and upstate New York, and on more than one occasion, the friendly voice and enchanting wisdom of Ms. Paglini made the trip worthwhile as I listened to her guest appearances on Coast to Coast AM. One of my fondest memories is driving alone throughout the lonesome hours of night through the enormous wilderness expanse of upstate New York, frantically adjusting the knobs on my car radio every few miles, trying to pull in a clear AM signal so I could continue listening to the show.

Though I have never met Dr. Paglini in person, these long lonely drives made her see…