Sue St.Clair and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

The photo above has been making the rounds across the internet. Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman had this to say about it:

Quote:

My first thoughts ran to that of the naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber), also called the desert mole rat or the sand puppy, but they are only found in East Africa, naturally. Naked mole-rats live in underground dwellings in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. Why worry about al Qaeda, when the naked mole rat may be coming into our country?

BoingBoing states this photo was taken in Washington State, just outside Seattle.

One of our own regular readers Jim points out that it is most likely a Skinny Pig or Hairless Guinea Pig that was probably someone's pet that they released. It probably won't last long in the wild.

Here is the Wiki entry on Skinny Pigs including photos.

We agree with Jim's assessment.

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, Hauntings, UFO's, and other strange events that may be considered Fortean, from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

The following was sent in by one of our readers and struck us as very interesting...

Caribou Rd - Cursed Property?

"I know that I am supposed to explain the story briefly, but please indulge me. The story is a bit long, but it could prove to be of interest to the society.

It involves my aunt and her family, and the strange events that occurred some thirty years ago. My aunt at the time had already had one child, a son; and was expecting another when she and her husband (at the time) moved into a new house together.

The house was on a street called Caribou Rd. which I think is in the Downsview area of Toronto. About a month after they had settled into the house, my aunt started experiencing strange fits of behaviour and emotional swings. As I mentioned she was pregnant at the time, and she dismissed these feelings as a result of carrying her unborn child. As the days progressed, she would spend most of her time taking care of her baby boy and working around the house. She would often hear strange noises coming from the babies room when there should have been no one around and in the evening and for several nights she went through the same exercise of investigating the sounds. Each time she found nothing. She even asked her husband if he heard the sounds, but he thought that she was crazy, and said that he didn't hear anything. Eventually, the noises stopped and her feelings of unrest subsided. A few weeks after these strange happenings, my aunt gave birth to her second son. When she returned home from the hospital, she asked her husband to make an effort to finish the fireplace as it would make her feel happy. At least she could light a nice cozy fire and relax when her work was done and the kids were asleep.

Time went on, and her husband made little effort to finish the job. As a result my aunt became upset and discontented. It didn't help that she was the one working hard at home all day and looking after two young children. With her emotions once again charged as they were in the past, she began feeling eerie again. In addition, the sounds from her sons' room returned. One night she heard the banging and said that they did not belong there, and that if they stayed they would be in danger.

All of a sudden the voice stopped, and panic set in. They scooped up a few things, the kids and left the house that night. They went to my grandmother's house. The next day they went back, and called their realtor to put the house back up for sale. They got all of their things and moved out completely a week later. As I have been told, before the house was ever sold again, it mysteriously burned to the ground. It was subsequently rebuilt, and again it burned.

The structureless property was eventually sold to a religious Jewish family, when upon buying the land they had a rabbi bless the property. As it happens, they built their home on the land and so far nothing has happened to the building. The house that they built still stands on Caribou, I don't know if the religious family still lives there, but neither my aunt nor myself has heard of anything since. Anyhow, there you have it. I hope you have found it interesting."

ADDITIONS: From the same author...

"I found out some more about the Caribou Rd. story. Apparently, the property was owned by a couple in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The husband promised to build his wife a home. During construction she fell ill and died before he was able to complete the job. Seeing as his wife would not be able to enjoy the finished product; no one would. He subsequently burned himself and the house down. That is all I know of the story, I don't know exact dates and names, but I figure that the banging my aunt encountered was the spirit hammering or something?"

Our thanks to our reader for the above report! We have many stories online about seemingly cursed properties. This is an area that we are quite interested in so if you know of another home, cottage, business or property that seems to have it's share of bad luck, please let us know either privately through email or by leaving us a comment.

Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.