According to the Telegraph, "experts" have been called in to analyze the photograph, because so many unsolved murders happened in this square over the centuries. A medium is quoted as saying the image is clearly a ghost, because no contemporary woman would ever dress like this. So for evidence we have retro fashion, and a blurry area that makes the woman's legs appear cut off. I say call in the Winchester brothers to investigate this one.

What I love about stories like this is how they demonstrate that Google maps have so quickly been woven into urban legends. Remember the story we ran a few weeks ago about the lost island of Atlantis showing up in Google Earth images of the bottom of the Ocean? And there was another story about an alien showing up in a Google maps image from New Jersey. Want to find support for your superstition or fringe beliefs? Just Google for them in Maps! That's all the proof you need.

And yet the possibility of a Stonehenge-esque worship site wouldn't be out of place at the bottom of Lake Michigan. The region already has its share of petroglyphs from ancient tribes and other standing stone sites. These submerged stones could have been raised by local populations at a time when part of the lake bed was dry, in the late Ice Age. More research is needed to determine whether these stones were arranged by humans, or merely look that way.

SOURCES:

Mastodon? Rock Brings History to Surface [via Associated Press]

Stonehenge Beneath Lake Michigan? via BLDG BLOG (with sonar pics!)

The snakey Ogopogo, first seen in the nineteenth century, is supposedly 12 meters long. The History Channel team says their sonar spotted something 3 meters long, which is quite big for it to be a local fish. And then they came upon the "baby Ogopogo." Said Bill Steciuk, a local monster buff who helped organize the film shoots, "It was all curled up. The features were really hard to see. You could see a little head tucked in and a straight tail with no fins."

According to Canwest News Service:

The unidentified specimen has been shipped to the University of Guelph in Ontario for DNA tests, but Ogopogo buffs will have to wait until February to find out more, when the Monster Quest program weighs in on the legendary mega-serpent.

The documentary crew showed photographs of baby Ogopogo to another local monster buff, Arlene Gaal, who has written three books on Ogopogo legends. She said:

The Ogopogo is real, but I don't know what this is. I had my doubts when the crew presented me with their findings. It looked to me like a decomposing ling cod.

Sounds like this might just be advance publicity for the Monster Quest show. Frankly, I'd much rather watch The Beast of Bottomless Lake. Sounds more realistic!

Baby Ogopogo? [via Canwest News Service]

When PopSci asked Abrams why he thinks there are so many recent shows about science and scientists, he said:

Popular culture is a mirror, and we are living in a time where every day some kind of shocking or amazing announcement is made. To read today, for instance, that researchers have found a way to destroy HIV or help 80 percent of Alzheimer’s patients, it’s amazing. These types of things are becoming more commonplace. There’s more science in our lives, so there’s more science on TV.

I also love how Abrams explained the inspiration for science in his shows:

I’ll find myself constantly grabbing science magazines or looking at articles online. But the most important thing when making entertainment is finding something that’s inspiring. Whenever I do, whether it involves technology or not, it’s like fuel for me. It could be a three 3-minute clip on the Internet that someone sent me that makes me consider something that I hadn’t thought about before . . . Everyday there’s something. Yesterday somebody sent me a picture of this crazy pig with a monkey face. So, yeah, there’s always something.

I love it that Abrams inhales science magazines and freaky mutant animal videos indiscriminately. Though sometimes his shows can be frustratingly mystical, I think their moments of genius (and yes, there are those) are the result of the way Abrams can perfectly mash together hard science with whacked-out YouTubery.

I also happen to know for a fact that Abrams is a giant fan of our sister site Gizmodo, so I'm expecting to see at least one lego-based monster in Fringe this fall season.

JJ Abrams Gets Lost Again [PopSci]

According to a report on Real UFOs:

Ufologists have discovered a trend whereby Ufos are seen in the northern hemisphere usually from spring to summer, May - start of september. I guess the obvious reason is that most people are out then on holidays to witness such sightings but there is also some connection with geological phenomena. This is seen with the 'crop circle seasons' of summer and is apparently attributed to a vortex created by changes in water channels under the ground.

Ohhh, right. Vortexes. There's even a video from the History Channel that explains it all to you.

Apparently stone structures and monoliths in England are somehow connected to these vortexes and that explains everything about why when you're not on holiday, you don't see UFOs. I also think it's nice that UFOs tend to show up in pretty places, like Hudson Valley, New York, so you can come for a vacation and check out the alien visitors. Tourism conspiracy, anyone?

UFOs Come in Seasons [Real UFOs]

The shadowy creature was spotted in Northwestern Ontario around 10 a.m. by Helen Pahpasay and her mother. The women even claim that others later found a large, six-toed footprint in the area (six toes!). Apparently this is the second sighting of a big foot-esque creature the general region, and there were sightings in 2006 in the woods of Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It's all adding up, people. We're mere moments away from a reality TV version of Harry and the Hendersons, set in Prince Albert, Sask.

[CBC News]

According to a recent article by chemtrail activist Carolyn Williams Palit:

Chemtrail activists collect evidence that the chemtrail spray contains not only germs but conductive metals, blood cells, carbon powders, sedatives, nano-particulates, crystalline substances, alumina particulates, barium powders, and a kind of polyethylene-silicon fiber . . . The chemtrail fibers are a kind of infant, “pre-Morgellons” fiber. The Morgellons fibers are more developed, but the fibers are related to the type of nanotechnology that assembles nanowires.

So you're breathing in fibers from secret experiments, and then those fibers are self-assembling in your body and growing out of your skin. Also, Palit, reminds us, scientists have said that nano-fibers can enter your bloodstream and go INTO YOUR BRAIN. I think you know what that means.

Chemtrails and Some of Our Worst Nightmares [via Weazl's Revenge]