The load down on the school website

The "Load" Down on the School Website

By Kevin Jones

 

Monday, December 4th, students walked into school ready to kill time before class started on the school computers only to find that nearly every website was blocked. At Suffern High School students and teachers alike are used to being unable to access sites like YouTube or Facebook but sites like Wikipedia and the CNN News website were now blocked. To see why our school had been cut off from the World Wide Web, I went to the highest authority in the building, Acting Principal Breen. According to Mr. Breen, the school's original filter was controlled by BOCES. "What the school wants to do is to take control of the filter so that teachers who want to show something to students on YouTube will be able to. The new system will only block a particular URL as opposed to the entire site, allowing teachers to access beneficial sites and enabling students from accessing things that they shouldn't." Unfortunately, during instalation, the programmers didn't realize that they had to create a list before turning on the program. Needless to say, as soon the error was noticed, it was already being rectified and the brief period where we felt disconnected was over in a matter of hours.

Abduction

By Kevin Jones

The following is J.Allen Hynek's scale for close encounters with unidentifiable sightings or scenarios:

1. Close encounters of the first kind- sighting of an unidentifiable object
2. Close encounters of the second kind-evidence that some form of U.F.O was in the area
3. Close encounters of the third kind- seeing an "animate being" near a U.F.O sighting
4. Close encounters of the fourth kind- abduction
   

The first alleged alien abduction case took place on the night of October 16, 1957, in São Francisco de Sales Brazil. A local farmer named Antonio Villas Boas was ploughing his fields when he saw a large red star. In a short time he saw the star get closer and closer and closer, seeming less and less like a star. Boas describes that up close it looked like an egg with a red light in the front and a rotating cupola top.

As it began to land in his field Boas began to run. His attempt failed when he was grabbed by a 5 foot-tall human-like creature wearing grey coveralls and a helmet. When he looked into the small blue eyes of the creature it didn't speak but instead made a bizarre bark. Three other similar looking creatures soon appeared and aided the first in dragging Boas into the craft where he was stripped of his clothes and covered in a strange gel. He was then lead into a semicircular room with strange red symbols on the doorway. They took blood from his chin and then threw him into a third room while a strange gas filled the room and made him vomit repeatedly. A half an hour later, a female version of the creatures entered the room. She had a small pointed chin with with large, blue, cat-like eyes and long, platinum blond hair.

The next hour was a blur but he claims that after his amnesia, he found himself on the floor of the room with the woman standing above him holding her stomach. He was given his clothes and then a tour of the ship. He was then escorted off of the ship. Then the ship took off and left just as mysteriously as it had came.

In the weeks that followed, Boas started to suffer from pains throughout his body, nausea, headaches, loss of appetite, ceaselessly burning sensations in the eyes, cutaneous lesions at the slightest of light bruising that looked like small reddish nodules that were harder then his own skin and were painful even when touched by light. Boas did a little research and came across a doctor named Olavo Fontes. Fontes concluded that Boas was suffering from mild radiation sickness. The only problem was that Fontes couldn't possibly imagine how a young farm boy could have been exposed to radiation powerful enough to cause a reaction. Then Boas told him about his abduction.

The case wasn't made public until early February '58. Nowadays, we see people who claim to be abducted by extra-terrestrial beings as either having a screw loose or just wanting attention but there some things in the Boas case that separates it from most of today's reports. The first thing is that Boas never profited from his story, only sharing it with the media on two occasions. Since this abduction happened before people really even conceived the idea of entities from another world taking people and doing unspeakable things, this would later become the most famous invasion case of all time.

On September 9, 1960, Betty and Barney Hill were driving on Route 3 from a trip to Niagara Falls, Canada. It was a dark starry night when Betty Hill noticed a bright light in the sky. A little later the two stopped their car and got out to get a closer look at what they thought was a communication satellite,. They couldn't have been more wrong about what they saw. When they got back into their car and continued to drive, they noticed that the craft started coming closer and was moving in unison with their Chevrolet. The craft then landed on the ground and was so large that they couldn't see anything else out of their windshield. Barney grabbed a pistol that he kept in the glove box and the couple exited the car.

He claimed to have seen 8 or 11 "human-like things" watching them from the craft's windows. Another entity walked out of the craft and stood approximately 80 feet away. It raised its hand and said in perfect English, "Stay where you are and keep looking." Then red lights, on what appeared to be bat-wings, began to telescope out of the sides of the craft and a long mechanical structure came down from the bottom, creeping closer to them like a cat to a mouse. When the craft was about 50 feet away, Barney ran back to Betty, who had stayed by the car, yelling, "They're going to capture us."

When the Hills arrived home the next morning, they new that something was wrong. The first thing they noticed was that the pair of binoculars that they had used to witness the craft was missing its leather strap. They had an unknown desire to examine their bodies but couldn't find anything out of order. They even took two very long showers to "remove any contamination". They both drew pictures of what they had seen and found their renderings almost exactly the same. They then tried to recall the events of the previous night but after hearing a buzzing noise during their get away, all they could remember was getting home and nothing in between. They thought hard but all that they could get was Barney saying, "Oh no. Not again."

The next morning Betty noticed tears on her dress and a pink powder that would later be tested by five different laboratories over the years. Not one gave a conclusive answer to what the powder was or how it had gotten there. A few weeks past and the Hills stayed quiet until they could not hold their silence any longer. They contacted Dr. Benjamin Simon, a Boston Hypnotist. January 4, 1964 till June 6, 1964, the Hills experienced hypnosis in order to reclaim their lost memories. When these sessions finally ended, a new story emerged from the couple.

The strap from the binoculars had been lost when it fell as the couple attempted to make their escape. They made it several miles before Barney felt a strong desire to drive into the woods. When he stopped the car, the humanoids forced the couple onto the ship and took them into two different rooms. The Hills were both undressed and had a number of medical exams performed on them, which included tests on the nervous system, counting of the number of vertebrae they both contained, pulling of teeth and many others. One humanoid even claimed that they were doing this for research on differences between their species and humans. The Hills were then given their clothes back and were escorted back to their car which was now back on the road. When they started to drive Barney said, "Oh no. Not again," to what he thought was the ship returning. It turned out to be the rising sun revealing that five hours had passed. Five hours in which the couple had no recollection of until after hypnosis.

Over the years many more cases of alien abduction have occurred. Some present evidence as proof, others that were done by people in poor mental health and some that were made up by someone for their 15 minutes of fame. One of the most common ideas brought up by sceptics is that these people are suffering from False Memory Syndrome - a condition in which the brain takes a person's dreams or fantasies and places them into the long term memory instead of subconscious, for reasons we are still unsure of. If all these accounts are indeed false, then what is the explanation for, radiation sickness in people who couldn't possibly had been exposed to nearly enough, bizarre objects found in peoples bodies, or those unknown flying objects that man has seen in the sky for as long as we have been able to look up?

The Zodiac Killer the final article

The Nightmare of San Francisco

By Kevin Jones

December 20, 1968, David Arthur Faraday, age 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, age 16, were planning to attend a Christmas concert not even two blocks from Jensen's home. Instead they visited a friend and stopped at a local restaurant. It would be a night no one would ever forget. Their bodies were found by Lake Herman Road only minutes after the gruesome crime happened. Faraday's body was found in the car with a bullet in his head and Jensen was found 28-feet away with five bullets in her back. The Solano county Sheriff's office made a thorough investigation into the double homicide but no leads were found. They only had to wait six months before the next chapter of the story would begin. Midnight, July 4th, Darlene Ferrin and Micheal Mageau drove to the Blue Rock Springs Golf Course. At 12:40 p.m. a 911 call was made at a gas station a few blocks from the Vallejo Police Department. On one end, a dispatcher asks for the callers emergency. On the other end, a man says that he's responsible for the deaths of Ferrin, Mageau, as well as, the deaths of Faraday and Jenson that took place six months earlier. Two more killings would follow for a total of five victims. Mageau and another victim survived and gave two descriptions that have been haunting the cold case file room for decades.

As you can see it's not hard to understand where people came up with the name for this killer, but why Zodiac? On August 1st, the Vallejo Times-Herald, The San Francisco Chronicle, and the San Francisco Examiner were doing what all newspapers spend most of the their time doing, looking for a good story. Here's what they received, “I like killing people because it is so much more fun than killing wild game in the forrest because man is the most dangerou anamal of all to kill something gives me the most thrilling experience it is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl the best part of it is thae when I die I will be reborn in paradice and thei I have killed will become my slaves I will not give you my name because you will try to sloi down or atop my collectiog of slaves for my afterlife Ebeorietemethhpiti...” This quote comes from one of the letters Zodiac himself sent to these newspapers. All of these letters were identical and all of them took credit for the first two killings. Each one was accompanied by a 408-symbol cypher.

The quote you just read is the only translated part of the cypher. Some experts say that the rest of the cypher exists only to play tricks with the minds of those who dare try to solve its riddle. On August 7, 1969, a fourth letter was received by the San Francisco Examiner. It was in response to Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz's who was, "not satisfied that the letter was written by the murderer." With this next letter, he was satisfied. It began with the words, "Dear Editor, This is the Zodiac speaking..." The letter held details only the killer would know and ended with "they will have me." The meaning of the ending has never been understood and in the end this gave San Francisco no solace because even with this letter the killings continued. The final, confirmed Zodiac killing was committed on October 11, 1969 but the Zodiac's games with the police weren't over yet. Letters were still received regularly from the Killer, each one having something to prove. San Francisco was receiving these letters continually until as recent as 1990.

With all of these clues, one question still remains - who was the Zodiac killer? For a long time the lead suspect in the case was a man named Arthur Leigh Allen. Allen was seen the night of the Faraday and Jensen murders only minutes before the slaying occurred. When questioned by police, Allen said he had knives covered in chicken blood in his car. He also owned the same type of typewriter that would produce the same looking letters that appeared in the Zodiac's letters. The darkest fact of all came on April 20, 1970. A letter sent by The Zodiac stated that he was planning on blowing up a bus full of children, and all of Allen's friends say that when Allen would get angry he would say, "I'm going to blow up a school bus tomorrow." Unfortunately all of the evidence against Allen was circumstantial and on August 26, 1992 Allen died of Kidney Failure in his home in Vallerjo California. In 2002 D.N.A was successfully recovered from one of the Zodiac killers letters; when the sample was compared to Allen's the results were negative. Allen was finally cleared of these horrific crimes.

But the story doesn't end there. In early 2009, Richard Gaikowski was put on the table. Gaikowski was questioned by police during the Farady and Jenson cases but was over looked upon Allen's entrance into the case within that very week. Photos of Allen also show a striking resemblence to the man in the picture above. The original dispatcher, who answered call during the night of the Ferrin and Mageau murders, successfully matched Gaikowski's voice to the exact voice that has haunted her for decades. Gaikowski was a reporter and had many friends who worked at the papers that recieved the Zodiac letters. Even if we had 100% pure D.N.A. samples, it would all amount to nothing because in 2004 Richard Gaikowski died from Pancreotic Cancer. We are forever left to wonder the true identity of what was the nightmare of San Francisco.

The Haunting of the Old 76 House

The Haunting of the Old 76 House

By Kevin Jones

200 years ago Major John Andre of the British Army took off his uniform, put on civilian clothes and walked behind enemy lines. He was captured and on October 2, 1780 he was hanged, at what is now referred to as Andre Hill. On the night of October 1, 1780, Major John Andre was held in the store room of the local tavern. 200 years later people say his ghost haunts the restaurant we now call "The 1776 House".

 

Going back at least 75 years, there have been reports of weird voices, delicate things falling and staying intact and men sitting or walking and then vanishing before people's very eyes. The first story I heard about takes place a long time ago. Rob

Nordon, the owner of the restaurant, and an employee named Bobby were closing up one night. When Rob went to turn off the fireplace, he noticed a man sitting in the corner at Table 11. Rob apologized and offered the man a drink. When Bobby handed Rob the drink the man was gone. When the same situation happened a little over a week later, Rob was sure that there was something strange about the place.

 

Some people, when it's dark and quiet, have seen a more memorable sight. I was walking alone by Table 2 one night, when I saw a tall man in a hat and cape just walk and vanish into the wall. Some say it was a ghost and some say it was that of Major John Andre.

 

Since I'm the type of person who can't resist a good ghost story or a chance to pretend I'm the guy from Ghost Hunters, I packed my camera, tape recorder (and just in case an extra pair of underwear) and went to Tappan, New York, the town in which the alleged hauntings have occurred. I myself had lived in Tappan until I was 8, and in that time the only thing haunting the town were lawyers from a firm down the street.

 

On the night that I went to visit the restaurant, a band was performing who took great pride in being loud enough to scare stray cats (that's why they never have to worry about pests.)  Trying to ignore the music, I began taking notes and noticed that the restaurant was covered in colonial items. From muskets on the wall, old war uniforms hanging by the door and many more things to numerous to mention, it's hard not to believe that an old place like this might be haunted. Evidence points that a large number of hauntings occur because the possible spirit holds a strong connection to either a building, part of a building or an object in that building. In fact, sometimes a spirit's connection with that item is so strong that if you move the item the ghost will move to.

 

Once the band decided to take five, I decided to see if I could get what's called an E.V.P. or Electronic Voice Phenomenon. In order to get one you first need some form of voice recording device, second a round of questions to ask, third an open mind and finally nerves of steel. Once everything was setup I asked the first question, "Is the Spirit of Major John Andre here?" I waited a few minutes, turned off the recorder, rewound the tape and listened to see if I got anything - nothing. I decided to ask another question a few minutes later and the tape actually began rewinding on its own. When it finished I turned the tape on, what I heard I'll never forget:

 

Kevin: Is the Spirit of Major John Andre here?

Recorder: 60 seconds of white noise and then "Yes."   

 

There was nobody in the room and I knew I was out of range to pick up the closest person's voice. I continued my investigation and talked to some of the employees and there appeared to be certain consistencies in their stories.  The most common occurance  is forks, knives, spoons and other objects falling off the table and onto the floor. Included in these items are candle lit lamps that would most certainly fall and break but instead are usually perfectly intact. In fact, the day after I did my research, a customer told Rob Nordon that according to him, many spirits visited the restaurant - Andre was just a usual. When I said my goodbyes and left, I reviewed my evidence and I found that all my pictures were gone. Through this adventure all I have to show is one E.V.P., equipment that kept doing the opposite of what I told it to, and most importantly, a restaurant full of people who are convinced something is strange with the old 76 house.