Did Amy Winehouse's Spirit Make an Appearance at Her Funeral?

Today was the premiere of Anderson Cooper's new Fox daytime show, Anderson, and his first guests were Amy Winehouse's parents, stepmother, great aunt and boyfriend.

It was an extremely emotional yet joyful interview as all reminisced together about the late singer's life (both the bad and good), up until her final days.

But Amy's father, Mitch, is certain that his daughter's presence is all around, including an eery incident during his eulogy at her memorial.

MORE: Amy Winehouse's Parents Discuss Her Death: "She Hadn't Taken Drugs in Three Years"

Mitch explained to Cooper how he knew the phone call he received from Amy's security guard was news of her death, prompting Anderson to ask, "Do you still feel she's with you?"

"She's right here. Can't you see her? She's sittin' right here on this table," Mitch joked.

But then he tells a story that was a little bit spooky.

"There have been the most incredible things. When I did the eulogy at her funeral, as I got up to speak, a black butterfly came in—have you heard this?—a black butterfly came in and, I had my head down 'cause I was reading, and I could hear people muttering and I thought the paparazzi had got in. It landed on Kelly Osbourne's shoulder, then flew around me..."

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Hundreds faint in factory mystery

We've all been tired enough to pass out unexpectedly after a long day, but a series of incidents quickly unfolding in Kampong Chnnang in Cambodia has more than a few people scratching their heads. And it's not the first time either. The mass fainting was originally attributed to the nutritional status of workers, but after a thorough investigation found this may not be the case, investigators are looking more into the sudden and peculiar 'wave-like' fainting that runs through the factory at intervals.

In a single day almost 200 people fainted and it wasn't the first time. What could be causing this sudden strange condition to happen to so many people - many of which are not interacting with one another?

It all began at 8:30 when workers at the H&M knitware factory in Kampong Chnnang began falling over around dangerous machinery and losing consciousness. Fearing something deadly could be making the rounds, the International Labor Organization quickly began investigating to try to find the cause.

Previously a report had come from the garment workers suggesting they could not feed themselves adequately on the $0.30 they had been making. Whether the fainting is related to nutrition or not is something that is still being investigated. According to Cambodian officials there was no "plausible" cause for the faintings. And in addition to that, there are disparate reports on the number of people actually affected.

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Comet Elenin heads towards Earth

The ancient Mayan calendar predicts that we will be coming to an end of a cycle in the year 2012. The winter solstice is believed to be the date that the world will end. Lately there has been a lot of buzz about the comet Elenin. The comet is set to come close to earth on October 16th of this year and many believe this will have atrocious affects on the planet. Brooks Agnew, author and host of X-squared radio, tells us why we should care.

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8 Things To Do If You See a Ghost

Don't be afraid! Don't panic! It's only an entity from another plane of existence! Here's what do to if you see a ghost

CHANCES ARE because you are visiting this website that you are interested in ghosts. Perhaps you have been on ghost hunts or are even a member of a ghost investigation group. But have you ever thought about what you would do if you ever really came face-to-face with a ghost? Or what you should do?

Here are 8 things you should do if you see a ghost:

DON'T FREAK OUT

As much as many of us think we know how we'd react if we saw a genuine apparition, we don't really know until it happens to us. Perhaps you like to think you would be brave, but you might just freak out. And that is not unusual. It's our instinctive fight-or-flight response in the face of the unknown kicking in. We have seen experienced ghost hunters scream and run out of a room at the slightest noise or movement.

Whether you are on a ghost hunt seeking spirits or you spontaneously encounter an apparition (how it most often happens), fight the urge to panic and flee. After all, this might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not many people have this privilege.

Although your heart might be pounding and you mind racing, try to remain calm and still. Ghosts, for the most part, are completely harmless.

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Philippine mythological monsters

By Neal Cruz Philippine Daily Inquirer

This Saturday is All Saints? Day and tonight is Halloween. On Saturday. Filipinos will troop to the cemeteries to pay respect to their dead relatives buried there and see living relatives they have not seen since last All Saints? Day. But tonight, in the exclusive urban villages, Filipinos will party in scary costumes, forgetting that the occasion is to remember the dead and not an excuse for merrymaking.

In the provinces, in the old days, the occasion is marked by what is called ?nangangaluluwa? (literally pretending to be the souls of the dead, going from house to house serenading the living humans). While the attention of the house occupants is centered on the serenaders, some naughty members of the group go to the chicken coop and steal a chicken or two to be cooked later as midnight snack.

The younger ones content themselves with huddling under the moon, if there is one, or under the light of the lamp post and listening to scary stories told by their elders. Philippine folklore is full of mythological monsters that, in the old days, we youngsters believed to be true and really scared us. The most common of these monsters were:

1. ?Manananggal? ? This is a woman with batwings who flies at night looking for prey. The upper part of her torso detaches from the lower part, which is left on the ground while the upper part flies away. She must return to that lower torso before daylight or else she would never be whole again. The way to combat the manananggal is to find that lower torso and put ashes or salt on it. The upper torso will never be able to reattach itself to it again.

Until today, the joke is that manananggal come from Capiz province, and that some Capiz people don?t have to ride airplanes when flying to Manila.

2. ?Capre? ? This is a giant who sits on top of a tree smoking a big cigar to scare people. That?s about all he does: sit there and scare people. He doesn?t eat or kill anybody, but the sight of him there, with that big glowing cigar, is enough to scare any boy to death.

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New Dogfish Species Found in Taiwanese Fish Market

The Order Squaliformes, home to the dogfish sharks, is one of the most diverse groups of sharks currently swimming the oceans, second only to the Carcharhiniformes in sheer number of species. Within that order is the Family Squalidae, made up of the very familiar spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias (the star of this blog) and a bunch of species that look pretty similar to it.

New species tend to pop up in this group, since most of these sharks look pretty similar and the majority of them live in the deep sea. Recently one species was “rediscovered” in plain sight; the North Pacific spiny dogfish Squalus suckleyi had been considered a population of S. acanthias but has been restored to species status by genetic analysis. Now, researchers have found an entirely new Squalus species in the Tashi Fish Market in Taiwan. Say hello to Squalus formosus.

White and Iglesias (2011) gave Squalus formosus it’s pretty cool-sounding scientific name after the geographic location where, so far, all the specimens have been found. “Formosa” is the Portuguese name originally given to Taiwan. This species shares its range with at least four other similar-looking dogfish, including wide-ranging species such as the shortnose spurdog Squalus megalops, shortspine spurdog Squalus mitsukurri, Japanese spurdog Squalus japonicus, and longnose spurdog Squalus blainville.

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Woman Abducted by Aliens Tells of 2012 Warnings

A Woman living in a small village in Leicestershire, United Kingdom claims she was abducted by aliens and given warnings for a dire future for mankind after being lured into a local wood by an anoymous contact from Facebook.

Maria Rodriguez, aged 38 and divorced claims a “mysterious” email from an anonymous contact on the popular social networking site Face-book was a lure in which to be abducted by beings from another world.

Rodriguez claims the incident took place at the beginning of June, 2009 whilst on the look out for her cheating boyfriend, Richard Marx, 42.

“I was using my Face-book one night”, Rodriguez states,”when I received an email from someone with a false identity.” The woman claims the email was informing her that her boyfriend of the past 3 years was meeting a fellow work colleague at a local lover spot in woodlands close to the village where Rodriguez lived.

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Higgs particle could be found by Christmas

The hunt for the Higgs particle is well ahead of schedule, say researchers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Earlier this year they said they would either discover the Higgs or confirm it does not exist by the end of 2012.

Now, because the machine is working so well, an LHC spokesman, Professor Guido Tonelli, has told BBC News that the search could be completed much sooner.

The Higgs Boson is the particle that in the physics "Standard Model" allows other particles to have mass.

Discovery or elimination of the particle is one of the LHC's major objectives; and it could come as early as Christmas 2011.

"We could discover the Standard Model version of the Higgs Boson or exclude it earlier than expected. Could we discover it by Christmas? In principle, yes," said Professor Tonelli

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Alternative Info on the Orang Pendek

While browsing the internet and looking for folk art of Indonesian Nagas, I came across an art dealer's site which displayed this little woodcarving of a "Dwarf" (Pygmy)from the Banyuwangi region of Java: and the Banyuwangis claim to have been the ancestors of Balinese art.

Here is the link to the page but the dealer is clearly only guessing as to the actual nature and meaning of the piece: http://www.mcdurieux.com/indostan/indo/f033.html

Actually, after looking over this carving I was struck by several similarities to the famous description of the Sedapa (Orang Pendek)by Van Heerwarden in 1918, especially in the detailed description of the facial features. I have always felt from Van Heerwarden's description that there were populations of human pygmys involved in the sightings on Sumatra as well as more than one type of unknown apes. There are supposedly populations of Pygmies in the Andaman Islands, Malaysia, elsewhere in Indonesia and in the Phillipines, and from this wood carving's appearance, the Pygmies of Sumatra are of a very similar appearance.

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UFO sighting in Shanghai and Beijing

A huge illuminant unidentified flying object (UFO) was reported by multiple airliner pilots in the sky above Shanghai, the Oriental Morning Post reported Tuesday.

The pilot of airliner CZ6554 said on his micro blog that a huge spherical illuminant was seen in the sky, 10,700 meters above Shanghai at 9 pm on August 20. “The luminant was really round and getting huger, (looks) hundreds times bigger than the moon and the diameter of the luminant was longer than 50 sea miles,” the pilot said on his micro blog.

The pilot said the aircrew of more than ten other airliners flying above Shanghai also reported the illuminant object, one by one.

The Air Traffic Management Bureau East China also confirmed the reports on Monday.
At almost the same time, a halo in the sky above Beijing was seen by local people.
A netizen named Chen Xu published a photo of the halo on his micro blog.

Chen said the halo was small at first, then expanded, moved north, and disappeared several minutes later.

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Strange Sensations: Can Animals Sense Earth Changes?

Aug 25th in Natural World by Micah Hanks

It started with a curious noise outside… I actually thought there may have been an explosion. I stepped outside, with Eik, a trusty Rottweiler I’ve been watching for the past few days courtesy of some friends who are out of town, following directly behind me. Scanning the sky, as well as the rest of the neighborhood for anything strange, we couldn’t seem to find the source of this strange “explosion.” But this would hardly be the end to our strange day… in fact, it was only the beginning!

I went back to work, answering emails and trying to crank out a few more articles (like this one) before a mid-day radio interview promoting the newest book in the Exposed, Uncovered and Declassified series that I’ve contributed to, titled Ghosts and Hauntings: Am I being Haunted? There had been phone calls coming in all day too, in addition to everything else going on, and at the moment in question my father had called to check in about a rendezvous time for an engagement we were attending together later that day. That’s when the sudden, blood-curdling howling began…

“Hold on dad, these dogs are going nuts!” I remember saying, as I rushed back to the bedroom where Eik and his sister, Sammie, were laying on the bed. They weren’t attempting to move otherwise, save for the lonesome howling they were both engaged in. I listened carefully to try and see if there was anything in the distance–perhaps a siren–that the dogs might be able to hear, but there was only silence. What had gotten these guys so stirred up all of a sudden?

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Gyuki or Ushi-Oni

The Gyuki or Ushi-Oni is represented by this odd Japanese statue said to represent what several people had been seeing in the 1600s. Although it is called an "Ox-headed Demon" and translated also as "Minotaur", most commentators bring attention to the odd capelike effect of the area under the arms and at the sides.

The creature seems to be the same creature as is called Xing-Xing in Chinese, pronounced Shing-Shing and said to mean "Lively-Lively." In the Japanese version it means a distinctly reddish creature, but one of the Chinese descriptions has it being green or blue. Presumably that was a copyist's error. One Chinese description says it has the body (belly?) of a pig but a face more like a man's, which is a fair description of an orangutan, and the word is used in modern Chinese and Japanese (and on the larger nearby islands such as Taiwan) as a direct translation for the recognised name of the orangutan.

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