Police have arrested a gang believed to be responsible for more than 60 deaths.

Bizarrely; the gang is said to have murdered people, hung their body on S hooks and drained them of fat. This fat was then sold to European laboratories for up to $15,000.

One of the gang member is said to have  been in possession of 17 litres of human fat when he was arrested.

Authorities in Peru are calling the arrested “witches” and “pishtacos.” From Andean myth the pishtacos are ghouls.

It is said that the fat collecting gang gave themselves the name the  Pishtacos of Huallaga.

Police admit the reason for the murders is strange but insist the arrests are real. Prosecutores told press; “We are not making this up. They have confessed to this. That’s what’s coming out now.”

Despite these comments from the police there is some doubt to the arrests. A dean of a Peruvian medical college has gone on the record to say that hundreds of litres of human fat are obtained every day at cosmetic clinics. The price of US$15,000 seems unrealistic.

In Pure Spirit

Do you think the police have managed to arrest members of a mass murdering gang or is something else going on here?

Mysterious animal washes up on Croyde beach

Could the corpse of a sea lion be responsible for a mysterious skeleton discovered on a beach in Croyde, North Devon in the UK?
This Is North Devon describes how a member of the public contacted Brauton police after she discovered the strange beast. Described as being the size of a calf but with canine teeth one of the initial suggestions was that this was nothing less than the remains of the Beast of Exmoor.

The first police officer on the scene, a PC Tucker, radioed in the discovery back to headquarters after it became apparant the discovery was not a simple hoax.

PC Tucker is quoted as saying, “It’s a good five feet long, and it’s got black fur. It certainly looks quite beastlike with those teeth.”

Sgt Pearce said: “It almost definitely looks like it could be a beast of Exmoor.”

He added: “It’s only about five miles away to Exmoor by sea, it could easily have floated down.”

The Environmental Health department and the RSPCA havebeen alerted. The public has been asked not to venture down to the Croyde shores due to the extreme weather conditions and dangerous icy rocks.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Could the skull belong to a sea lion or are we looking at the remains of some other creature?

Picture credit: This Is North Devon

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Image by TaddyCath via Flickr

After Ben Nevis the mountain Ben Macdhui is the second tallest mountain in Scotland. It is part of the Cairngorms and popular with walkers and climbers.

Fear Liath Mhor

Since the 1920s there have been reports of a creature on Ben Macdhui. It is known as The Grey Man or Fear Liath Mhor in Gaelic.

The account from 1925 comes from Professor Normal Collie when he spoke at a General Meeting of the Caringorn club in 1925. He spoke of an encounter on the mountain, when the mist was thick and heavy, and he was heading away from the summit. The professor had been on the mountain many times before but on this trip down the slopes and in the mist he could hear the sounds of a second set of heavy footprints. The time between each crunch was longer than is – as if to suggest much longer legs. The professor, alone, was overcome with terror and fled the mountain.

One of the reported abilities of Fear Liath Mhor is to create terror and some investigators speculate whether this is used to try and herd climbers off over the dangerous cliffs on Lurcher’s crag.

The author Ricard Frere has written of an anonymous friend who while camping on Ben Macdhui witnessed a giant brown ape-like creature making its way down the mountain. In 1945 Peter Densham, an experienced climber, reported hearing footsteps and also the compelling and irresistible feeling of panic. Densham also fled the mountain.

In Pure Spirit

Have you climbed Ben Macdhui when the mist came in? Did you hear anything? Feel free to share any of your walking or climbing stories below.

Image via Wikipedia

Griffins are monsters associated with the loyal guarding of treasure and for strict monogamy.

Christianity adopted the monster as parallels between the Griffin’s union of the king of beats Lion and king of birds Eagle, of the terrestrial and of aerial, was portrayed as a symbol of Christ.

Ostrich eggs where sold in European medieval courts as extremely rare Griffin eggs and for their medicinal traits.

Appearance

Griffin’s are usually depicted as having a lion’s body, the head and wings of an eagle. Some griffins are shown with lion claws on all four legs and others have eagle talons on the forelegs.

Griffins without wings are more acurately known as keythongs or alces.

In Pure Spirit

Is there a griffin or other monster on a building near you?

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Image by °Florian via Flickr

Lon Strickler is the brains and the hard work behind two of the web’s most insightful paranormal resources; the Phantoms and Monsters blog and wiki.

If you’re not familiar with the wiki concept then you’re in for a treat. A wiki is a website which any member of the community can update and edit. Just as Wikipedia has grown into phenomenal web encyclopaedia, the Phantoms and Monsters wiki is growing into an extremely valuable archive on close encounters and paranormal encounters.

Lon’s agreed to take time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions for In Pure Spirit.

The Phantoms and Monsters blog and wiki must take up an awful lot of your time. What was the inspiration to start the sites and what gives you the energy to keep going?

For 25 years, I independently investigated paranormal and cryptid reports in Maryland and Pennsylvania.  I now work at home and it affords me the time to research and blog about these subjects.  Most days, I spend 4-5 hours per day hunting down stories,contacting witnesses and posting the information.  In 1981, I had a personal encounter with a hominid (Bigfoot).  That experience along with various paranormal events have bolstered my continued interest.

What’s your favourite paranormal sighting or story? Why does it stand out for you against all the others you’ve been able to blog about.

I have had several interesting paranormal experiences but a certain encounter with a spectre in 1978 stands out as the most dramatic.  It was one of my earliest investigations and the spectre was witnessed by 3 other people.

What role, if any, do you think governments play in the discovery and reporting of unusual and alternative events?

I think is obvious that most governments have records of paranormal and extraterrestrial contact.  To what extent these governments know is anybody’s guess but I feel that disclosure, at some degree, is iminent.

What about the internet? What role does the internet now play in the discovery and reporting of encounters and sightings?

The internet has played a major part by informing more people of what is seen worldwide and that we are not alone.  Much of the media currently gets the majority of their information on paranormal and alternative events by reading blogs and wikis.

What tips and advice would you offer to someone who thinks they’ve seen something unusual and want to share their discovery with the world.

Don’t think that all people will think you’re crazy.  There are various reporting agencies not connected with the government (ex. MUFON, BFRO, paranormal research groups, etc.) who take reports seriously.  Take advantage of their expertise and tell them what you have seen.

In Pure Spirit

What do you believe? Do you believe in spirits but not ghosts? Have governments been keeping quiet about cryptid reports and will that change soon?

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A Bicorn is an European monster with the suggestion of demonic influence. The bicorn was a fat and flesh eating monster that grew by consuming faithful or wife bullied husbands.

Chichevache

The Chichevache is the female equivalent or rival to the Bicorn. Whereas the Bicorn is fat and fed off husbands; the Chichevache is always thin and feeds off loyal and enduring wives.

In Canterbury Tales (Chaucer) the bicorn is fat as there is no shortage of bullied husbands and the chichevache thin due to the rarity of faithful wives.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Are these monsters nothing more than stereotypes?

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Image via Wikipedia

The most well known Gorgons are Medusa, Stheno and Euryale from Greek mythology. Medusa was mortal, transformed into a female form with venomous snakes for her hair by the goddess Athene. Stheno and Euryale were immortal.

In the Iliad there is only one Gorgon who’s head was fixed to the centre of Aegis, the god’s magic shield.

The image of a Gorgon’s head is used in Apotropaic magic to ward off evil and as such often appears on doors, shields, armour, tombstones and walls.  Greek mythology also noted that the blood from the right side of a Gorgon could bring the dead back to life whereas blood from the left side of the monster is a deadly poison.

Anyone looking at a Gorgon would be turned to stone.

Appearance

The Gorgons were sometimes drawn with boar tusks and golden wings although the image of a fanged and snake snaked woman was more common.  Sphinxes (or sometimes lionesses) are also often depicted alongside Gorgons in Greek art.

In Pure Spirit

Which is your favourite Gorgon story? Have you been to Greece and seen any of the Gorgon architecture?

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Image via Wikipedia

Abaddon

Abaddon is the name of the demonic entity which the Bible (Revelation 9:11) describes as the angle of the bottomless pit.

Abigor

Abigor is a demon conjured for military assistance, advice and fortune telling powers.

Afrit

Afrit, in Islamic lore, are giant and malevolent devil-djins. They are the second most powerful type of devil and may be related to ancient Egyptian spirits of the desert sandstorm.

Ahriman

According to Zoroastrain lore, Ahriman is the demon of lies and is trapped in never-ending conflict with Ahura Mazda. He is associated with the serpent form of Satan.

Alastor

In ancient Greek the word Alastor was used to mean avenging god. Roman demonologists used the name to refer to the evil Genius of a house.

Apollyon

Apollyon is the Greek name for the demon Abaddon.

Arioch

In Milton’s Paradise Lost Arioch is one of the fallen angels. The name is dervived from the Hebrew for ‘fierce lion’.

Asmodeus

In the Aprocryphal Book of Tobit the demon Asmodeus is the personal tormentor of Tobias’ wife-to-be. In the Testament of Solomon the demon is one that conspires to plot against the newly married. Don Cleofas is taken on a night flight by Asmodeus in the literatury work Le Diable Boiteux (1707, Le Sage) which gives rise to the term ‘flight of Asmodeus’. In the book Asmodeus uses magic to allow Don Cleofas to see into the houses he flies over so that the inhabitants private lives were revealed to him.

Azazel

In Paradise Lost Azazel is described as the standard bearer for the rebelling angels. In Islamic demonology Azazel is one of the Djin who was expelled from heaven for refusing to worship Adam.

Baphomet

Although the name Baphomet is sometimes used in conjunction with a demon it is more likely to be a variation of the word ‘Mohammed’ when the Knights Templar were acused of blasphemous worship.

Barbason

William Shakespeare writes of Barbason  in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Some scholars suggest the name may have been taken from the Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584, Reginald Scot).

Beelzebub (Baalzebub)

The name Baalzebub may stem from the Sryian ‘Baal’ and infer ‘Lord of the High House’ whereas Beelzebub translates as ‘Lord of Flies’. Beelzebub has come to be regarded as the leader of the fallen angels and the Prince of Devils.

Belphegor

Belphegor stems from the name ‘Baal-Poer’ a Moabitish god of orgies. Medieval demonologies later mapped the name to a devil sent from hell to investigate whether there really was such as thing as married happiness on earth. Belphegor concluded there was no such thing.

Caliban

In Shakespeare’s The Tempest Caliban is the half-human deformed offspring of the devil and the witch Sycorax.

Cambion

The name Cambion was given in the post-medieval period to anyone  believed to the semi-human offspring either an incubus or succubus.

Demogorgon

Lactantius wrote that Demogorgon was the chief power in Hell. The name was once kept a secret as to speak it was to invite disaster.

Eblis

The name Eblis means despair. Eblis is the same as the demon Azazel.

Gog and Magog

The Book of Revelation describes Gog and Magog as the future enemies of the Kingdom of God.

Lamia

Lamia is the name of a legendary queen of Libya who turned into a monstrous serpentine monster. The name became used as a synonym for a witch who could transform from demonic form to beautiful woman.

Lucifer

Lucifer means “Morning Star” or “Daily Star”. The name Lucifer has become synonymous with Satan – probably due to reads of Isaiah 14:12.

Mammon

Mammon is the Syrian term for “riches” or “wealth”. The name was linked to demonic names in Matthew 6:24 and Mammon has now come to be seen as a demon of money.

Mephistopheles

In Faust, Mephistopheles is the devil. The name is Greek and means “the one who hates the light”.

In Pure Spirit

Missing any? Please feel free to comment (and cite a reference) and we’ll grow the list.