Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

May 14, 2008 - Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.

The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.

Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

UFO Files Released by U.K. National Archives

May 14, 2008 -- The men were air traffic controllers. Experienced, calm professionals. Nobody was drinking. But they were so worried about losing their jobs that they demanded their names be kept off the official report.

No one, they knew, would believe their claim an unidentified flying object landed at the airport they were overseeing in the east of England, touched down briefly, then took off again at tremendous speed. Yet that's what they reported happened at 4 p.m. on April 19, 1984.

The incident is one of hundreds of reported sightings contained in more than 1,000 pages of formerly secret UFO documents being released Wednesday by Britain's National Archives. It is one of the few that was never explained.

Scientific Sources or Paranormal Playthings?

The following article is a part of a larger series of articles by ARN member Angela444:

More and more, people are trying to find ways to provide solid scientific proof that
ghosts, spirits, and elemental beings do exist in our realm. As technology advances, so do the tools used for serious ghost hunters! While some of the technology may provide adrenaline-pumping results, that same technology can be attributed to many "false" validations of supposedly haunted locations.

Let's take a look, first, at what tools are currently being used in the field of paranormal investigators, and a bit of background information on why these tools are used. Then, we can take a more objective look at how and why some of these tools can be deceiving, and why, with all this technical advancement and "scientific investigations", the existence of ghosts or ghostly beings has yet to be "proven".

The most basic of tools include:

• Pen/pencil and a notebook. This is to jot down any notes and to record details of the investigation.
• Flashlights: This one's easy. Most paranormal investigations are done in the dark.
• Cables & extension cords: why, to plug in all the high tech gadgets, of course.
• Extra batteries, cassette tapes, and film.

Now, let's get to the good stuff. Here's the latest craze of techy tools for the paranormal investigators, "professionals" and amateurs alike:

• Digital Camera: For catching strange phenomena in still shot photos
• Standard 35mm camera: to offset shortcomings with digital results
• Video/Surveillance cameras: for recording strange movements or apparitions
• Infrared cameras for recording photos/videos in the dark
• EMF Meters: For locating fluctuations in the electromagnetic fields
• Compass: the non-digital tool of choice for locating electromagnetic field fluctuations
• Audio Recorder: for recording E.V.P.s, or Electronic Voice Phenomenon, with a special microphone for filtering out background noise
• Digital audio editing software: to analyze E.V.P.s
• Thermal Scanner: a no contact thermometer for recording temperature variations.
• Motion Detectors: to be used in rooms without human observation/interaction to detect
  motion where people aren't present.
• Ion Particle Counter: Used in conjunction with photo/video anomalies to do determine if the anomalies have actual substance as opposed to light reflections.

Of course, there are always the good, old fashioned ghost-hunting tools, too:

• Dowsing Rods: Copper rods used for locating spiritual entities and/or portals (also used for locating water and/or energy sources).
• Pendulums: for divination purposes

Psychic mediums are also often employed as "tools" during paranormal investigations.

The list of tools is impressive, and there are variations and extensions of each on the market today, including special "ghost hunter" watches - wrist watches that detect beta, gamma, x-ray and radiant energy! With all of these tools and tricks of the trade, why hasn't anyone produced solid scientific proof that ghosts or other spiritual entities exist? One of the problems, I believe, is too many cooks in the kitchen.

With the rise of popularity of paranormal activity, everyone wants to be an investigator. The Internet has made it possible for any Tom, Dick, or Harry to fully equip themselves with the latest fashion in gadgets. There's an impressive variety of "Ghost Hunting Starter Kits" available on the market ranging from the cheap to the incredibly expensive! Television has assisted this boom with a multitude of paranormal programs fueling the fire. Unfortunately, the one thing many of these amateur investigators aren't equipped with is objectivity and/or scientific perspective. Anything that registers on the amateur's radar becomes "proof".

One of the biggest culprits in providing false "evidence" is the digital camera. Oh, I've been known to fall prey to its sly tricks, too, so don't feel bad. We snap a shot with our handy dandy digital photo and abracadabra, we have ORBS, or bubbles of light! Orbs have been a major cause of excitement for many paranormal investigators or common
civilians who catch the orbs unexpectedly on their digital camera. Some have even gone
so far as to say they see faces in the orbs. Dust particles can be blamed for a good
percentage of those orbs, but it was later discovered that another common factor in
catching photos with orbs is the camera itself. The cameras aren't malfunctioning or
broken, but because of their make up and design, they often capture images of the light reflected from their own flash or other lights in their casing. Not all orbs can be discounted due to these facts, but the good majority of them can. Isn't that a bubble buster?

Well, how about those EMF meters then? Surely there must be some accuracy in those,
right? There are two major malfunctions in trusting EMF readings. The first problem is
that "spikes" on the meter can be caused by common sources such as wiring in the wall
or other sources of electricity. The second problem is that electromagnetic fields are
thought to produce reactions in the human brain that cause hallucinogenic effects. A
person standing in an area of concentrated electromagnetic energy may genuinely feel
they're seeing, hearing, or feeling things when, in reality, it's only their mind firing off reactions to the energy itself.

E.V.P.s can be fascinating to listen to, but the problem with electronic voice phenomena is that it's subjective. One person may hear something that sounds like, "run" and another person hears the same thing and perceives it as "gun". Furthermore, because it's a sound caught on audio and not experienced physically, it can't be proven where the source of the sound came from. Was it a ghost or a humming generator in the background?

The tools are cool, don't get me wrong. I love exploring the possibilities of the
paranormal and am tickled pink that we're on the road to trying to establish rock-solid proof for paranormal encounters. I'm looking forward to conducting my own amateur investigations or tagging along with friends on ghost hunts. However, I do believe it's utterly important that we don't believe everything we read, that we don't buy into the media hype, and that we remain objective in our efforts.

Did the “Amityville Horror” Really Occur?

The following article is a part of a larger series of articles by ARN member Angela444:

Despite what Hollywood and the infamous George Lutz would have you believe, the best-selling book and numerous Hollywood films are not based on true events, but in fact one of the greatest supernatural hoaxes of the century.

Lutz and his friends who helped in perpetrating the hoax have not suffered any supernatural terror. What they have done is duped a large portion of the American public by capitalizing on the unfortunate tragedy of the DeFeo family.

The prelude to the hoax goes back prior to the DeFeo tragedy of 1974.

Ronald DeFeo senior was a likable man who had spent most of his life working for his father-in-law’s used car dealership until he had amassed enough wealth to move his family out of the city. They chose a home at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, a village on Long Island, New York. While pleasant in his outside life Ronald was a terror in the home. Often angry and violent he would fight with and abuse his wife and children. The worst of the abuse was dealt out to his oldest son, Ronald DeFeo Junior, who had gone by the nickname of Butch since his youth.

Ronald Jr. was often teased and bullied at school. Ronald sr. would encourage him to stand up to the bullies. If Butch didn’t stand up to bullies or even worse stood up to his father, the senior DeFeo would beat him savagely, often leaving him unable to attend school for days at a time.

Ronald Jr. grew to be an angry young man, and as he grew older he grew larger, tougher, and angrier with a temper and rage even worse than his father. When Butch began to mature the beatings from his father turned into all-out mutual fist fights. By the time Butch reached his mid teens his father no-longer bothered him and had often been heard telling friends that he was in fact now afraid of his son. The junior DeFeo had begun to experiment with all sorts of new drugs becoming prevalent in the 60’s and 70’s and was regarded by most as being unstable. By age 17 he had been arrested for possession and distribution of LSD and other heavy drugs.

When Butch was 18 a horrible fight broke out between his mother and father. As Ronald Sr. slapped his wife around Butch took a shotgun off the wall loaded it, walked down stairs, and mere feet away aimed at his father’s head and pulled the trigger. Luckily for Ronald Sr. the bullet was defective and didn’t fire. The fight between his parents abruptly ended as Ronald Sr. stood in shock and Butch simply dropped the gun and walked into another room.

Ronald Sr. and the entire DeFeo family would not be so lucky next time. On the night of Wednesday November 14th 1974, while everyone in the house was asleep Butch took a high powered rifle that was hidden in his closet out and loaded it. He entered his parent’s room, and shot his father in the head in his sleep. His mother bolted upright just in time to see Butch level the gun on her and fire point blank. Butch then traveled from room to room firing point blank and killing his two younger brothers and two younger sisters.

Butch then showered, shaved and put on new clothes. He wrapped his bloody clothing and the murder weapon up in a sheet, put it in his trunk and drove to Brooklyn where he dropped the evidence into a storm drain.

He reported for work at his grandfather’s car dealership the next day and early in his shift began calling his home and putting on a big show about how he could not reach anyone. Throughout the day Butch continued to make a big production about not being able to reach his family and even left early. Everyone knew something was up. He visited his girlfriend and continued to go on about trying to call home. By late afternoon the pair had met up with friends at a local Amityville bar, when Butch continued his charade about being unable to reach his family. With the excuse that he was worried about his parents Butch had his friends from the bar pile into his car and drive over to the DeFeo residence.

At approximately 6:45 PM Butch’s friend Joe Yeswit called the police to report they had discovered the bodies.

The police did not originally consider Butch a suspect until they had interviewed his friends from the bar and discovered his heavy drug use. They also discovered that he was a “gun-freak” with a secret stash of weapons in his closet. Further investigation revealed that a robbery of his grandfather’s car dealership months before had actually been planned and carried out by Butch and one of his friends. Suspicion quickly turned to Butch who would eventually make a full confession and tell the authorities where he had dumped the evidence in Brooklyn.

A year later in the fall of 1975 George and Kathy Lutz bought the home on Ocean Avenue, claiming no knowledge of its recent past and saying it was their “dream home”. George and Kathy Lutz would move in with Kathy’s two sons from a previous marriage and make 112 Ocean Avenue their home. Almost immediately the Lutz’s began to complain of strange noises and terrible hallucinations in the home. There were many stories of invisible hands attacking them and causing damage. After 28 days they claimed that they could no longer stand the terror in their home and fled with only the clothing on their backs.

But is the Lutz’s story true? An overwhelming amount of evidence says not.

The most damning piece of evidence is the confession of Lutz’s friend, attorney William Weber, on a national radio talk show in 1979. In the interview a nervous Weber’s story began to fall apart under scrutiny. Feeling he had no other choice Weber confessed that the truth was that he and George Lutz had created the entire story one night over a bottle of wine. Apparently although the house was a deal at the time Lutz was unable to pay the mortgage due to his failing carpentry business and said he needed some kind of big scam to free himself of the debt. At the time Weber was trying to obtain Ronald DeFeo Jr. as a client and get him a new trial. His goal was to become one of the most recognized attorney’s in America by getting DeFeo a new trial based on a new defense, that Butch had been possessed by demons. Weber and Lutz worked out the details of the claims of events and being haunted by the deceased DeFeo family. After the hype of the original book and movie began to fade Weber would sue the Lutz’s for two million dollars for failing to pay him his share of the royalties on the story.

At the time of the plan Kathy Lutz was worried about the financial situation of the family. She had already experienced severe poverty as a single mother and was not willing to go through it again. When told the plan she agreed to go along with it in order to protect the well being of her two sons. A decade after the book was first released the Lutz’s were divorced and in the years since his grown-up former stepsons have openly criticized George Lutz for turning their young lives into a frightening ordeal and media circus.

After the Lutz’s left their home on Ocean Avenue George contacted the Parapsychology Institute of America and asked if they could do an official investigation of the home. Investigator Dr. Stephen Kaplan was suspicious of Lutz’s motives and cautioned him that if the group investigated and found the claims to be a hoax, they would make sure that the public would know about it.

Two days later Lutz called back and cancelled the investigation, claiming that he and his wife did not want any public media attention on their family. Imagine the surprise then of the Parapsychology Institute when mere days after the cancellation of the investigation they would see a spectacular news report on New York Channel 5 News all about the Lutz’s and their ordeal. The news report interviewed the Lutz’s and focused on how the house on Ocean Avenue may in fact be one of the most haunted in America. The story took off across the country in a media circus, being covered by newspapers, television stations, and magazines all over the country.

Around the same time George and Kathy Lutz would team up with author Jay Anson to turn their story into a book. The book would then spawn the blockbuster horror movie and its sequels. The deals would bring the Lutz’s millions of dollars for their story and the use of their names and likenesses.

After canceling the investigation with the Paranormal Institute, Lutz contacted Ed and Lorraine Warren, a couple that both claim to be clairvoyant. The Warren’s are the self-proclaimed most prominent demonologists in the United States. The Warrens would obtain the house key from Mr. Lutz, who claimed to be too scared to go back into the house, and investigate the home for themselves. After five hours in the house the Warren’s stated that all of the claims in the Lutz’s story were true. The Warrens would then become a part of the legend of the Amityville haunting and one of the strongest supporters of the Lutz’s.

In a television interview years later, when asked about the truth behind the haunting George Lutz would state that he was more interested in making money off of fictional sequels to the first movie than revealing the truth behind the story.

Suspicious of both the Lutz’s and the Warren’s, the Paranormal Institute of America started its own independent investigation of the events in Amityville, with Dr. Stephen Kaplan in charge.

Kaplan and his team were able to gain access to the house through an unlocked window. Once inside they discovered that the claims about the damage and condition of the house, as well as it still being filled with the Lutz’s possessions were entirely false. After interviewing neighbors in the community it was discovered that the day after the Lutz’s claimed they had fled the house never to return, they had actually returned and held a weekend long yard sale.

Through interviewing local journalists it was easy to discover that there was no way the Lutz’s hadn’t known about the history of the house. The murders had only happened one year before and they had still been all over the national media. The story was well known and talked about throughout the entire state of New York and was still being sensationalized when the Lutz’s bought the house. Coverage on Butch DeFeo’s trial was still being seen on local and national news.

The team also interviewed the priest that was supposed to have been attacked while trying to exercise the home. Visibly disgusted the priest informed the team that the account was entirely fictional. The obsessed Lutz had convinced him to visit the home. The priest himself viewed no disturbing events while there. He blessed the home and left without any problems.

While all the information against their claims were being collected and published, George Lutz and the Warren’s traveled the country telling the story of the haunting in Amityville.

In the years after the interest in the story died down and Hollywood quit making sequels George Lutz disappeared from public life. In recent years, when Lutz was offered a deal to re-make the original movie, he has resurfaced. Lutz is once again traveling the country spreading the word about his demonic encounter, although if you listen closely you may find that certain aspects of the story he told to the public in the 70’s have since been changed. Lutz is even occasionally accompanied by the Warren’s, who still claim to believe the house on 112 Ocean Avenue is haunted.

No evidence has ever been discovered to corroborate Lutz’s story, although there is plenty of evidence against it. No owners or occupants of the house since the Lutz’s sold it have ever reported any problems or disturbances, despite what the movie sequels from the 70’s and 80’s would have you believe.

Deadly Scents

The following article is a part of a larger series of articles by ARN member Angela444:

We often hear of people seeing or hearing a ghostly presence but it’s not often people can smell them. Ghostly aromas are less common than signs involving the other senses, yet they do occur. One survey estimated 8% of witnesses remembered some kind of smell.

Unfortunately, this kind of evidence presents us with a problem – aromas cannot be recorded. We can photograph spirits and record their echoing footsteps but no one has been able to capture their aroma. We have to rely on corroborative witness statements for any kind of ghostly aromas to be taken seriously at all.

But there are enough instances on record which allow us to examine this unusual phenomenon more closely. The smells which have been reported can be broadly divided into two groups – nice and nasty. The latter group seems to be present in hauntings where a violent death was involved or where the spirit is malign.

It is said that at Foxcote Manor the awful smell of a martyred bishop being burnt to death can be experienced each year on the anniversary of his demise. Is this a genuine haunting or is the horror of such a violent and painful death somehow imprinted on the surroundings?

As unpleasant smells go, none could be worse than that noticed by a woman living in Illinois in 1944. Awakened during the night by a sickly sweet smell, she soon found herself paralysed from the waist down. Other people living close by experienced similar attacks over the next week or so.

Sceptics may point to sleep paralysis as a solution but it seems unlikely that it would affect so many people in one small area. It would also appear that the smell itself was the cause of the paralysis, rather than occurring as a physiological result of it. Despite the many theories, no human was ever found to be the culprit and the case remains unsolved.

There have also been many instances where people have reported seeing or feeling some kind of malevolent or demonic spirit and smelling sulphur at the same time. But as sulphur is commonly equated with the Devil, is this merely an overactive imagination playing tricks?

Fortunately most ghostly presences are usually pleasant. Flowers and perfume are commonly reported, often with a connection to the ghost the witness sees. In 1981 a recently widowed man saw his wife’s ghost and reported being able to smell her distinctive perfume as well.

The woman had died by her own hand only a few days before, so it is possible that her perfume would still be in the house anyway. The visual sighting could have been a crisis apparition or just a vivid and recently bereaved imagination playing tricks on its owner.

Perhaps more interesting are those aromas which recur over a period of many years and are witnessed by many different people. In these instances, as with the previous example, the aromas almost always present themselves with other evidence such as a visual or auditory experience.

Many years ago a young bride took part in a game of hide and seek which she played rather too well. The chest she hid in became her coffin, as once shut, it could only be opened from the outside. She died clutching her bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley and wasn’t found until fifty years later. People have reported being able to smell lilies-of-the-valley as her distraught and ghostly form floats by.

The aroma of violets accompanies the ghost of Caroline Connelly who is buried in the mausoleum at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, England. Violets were her favourite perfume and seem to remain so even in death, because a cub mistress reported the strong smell of violets when she and a group of cubs stayed in the mausoleum overnight.

So it seems that ghostly smells, when they do manifest, have a direct connection with a spirit. Obviously when a family member recognises a scent associated with a loved one, this could be put down to wishful thinking on his or her part. The best evidence comes from strangers to the ghost, who wouldn’t know the relevance of such an aroma until after they have related their experience.

The same point can be made about sightings such as the ghostly bride with her bouquet and the martyred bishop. Where people have no previous knowledge of the haunting and go on to report the familiar aromas, this is much better evidence than that which comes from those who were previously aware of the ghosts. Our minds can be very suggestive, after all.

So the next time you smell something unusual, it might be worth having a look round to see if you are in the company of someone – or something – unexpected.

The Ghost on the River

The following article is a part of a larger series of articles by ARN member Angela444:

My mother, who was a witness to the incident, narrated this anecdote to me. It was in the holy city of Varanasi in the then United Provinces, under the British rule in India. My maternal grandfather was a District Magistrate, and was recently transferred to Varanasi. Unlike today, District Magistrates then were not considered as public servants. They represented the crown, and wielded plenty of power and authority. He was allotted a huge six-roomed mansion with sprawling lawns on all sides. The bungalow was located in cantonment area, where a British Regiment was stationed to support the civil administration. The house stood right on the bank of a river, rather a rivulet, called ‘Barna’. It is a tributary of the mighty river Ganges. Being situated at a height, the front lawn and the verandah, commanded a magnificent view of the Barna flowing smoothly towards its confluence point with the main river. Barna was notorious because of its deadly fury after the rains. It used to overflow its banks, and flood the entire low-lying area. However, in summers, it was as quiet as a sleeping baby.

It was hot summer. My mother and I were visiting the grandparents. I was a small four-year-old child then, but I do remember this particular visit. My mother was expecting her second child, my little sister to come. She suffered from a bit of insomnia in the sizzling hot weather. She used to prefer spending most of her night, sitting in the front lawn in a reclining chair, gazing at the river, and relishing the cool breeze from the river.

One night it was around midnight, when everyone else in the house had slept off; and the river flowed smoothly as usual. The silence of the night was suddenly shattered by the rowing sound of a small boat. The boat seemed to be coming from the far bank of the river. There was nothing unusual about it, except for the time. Usually, there were no boats on the river at that time. The boat kept advancing, rather at a hasty pace. My mother rubbed her eyes, and tried to focus; but nothing was clearly visible in the pitch-dark night. In the twilight, somehow she deciphered blurred images of perhaps a man rowing, and a woman sitting opposite. When the boat reached almost near the middle of the river, she heard a piercing loud heart-rending shriek of a woman. There was a loud thud, and it appeared as if something was thrown into the river. The boat then turned, and started its journey back …chap, chap, chap; and within a few seconds everything was silent. It was the same old river flowing peacefully again.

In the morning, fearing that something untoward had happened on the previous night, my mother related the incident to her father, the District Magistrate. To put her at ease, he brushed off the incident by saying that since she was not well, it was perhaps a mere flight of her imagination. At lunchtime, he reiterated that he had enquired, and the police had nothing to report of any incident on the river, whatsoever.

Having personally experienced it, my mother was not somehow satisfied. Out of curiosity, she mentioned the incident to some local people around. To her astonishment, they did not seem to be surprised at all.

It was revealed that a few years back, a British Army officer had seduced his teenage maid. But, when she became pregnant, he lured her for an adventure boat ride on the river at night. In the mid river, he lifted her bodily and threw her in the river, amidst her shouts and shrieks. Next day, her body was found floating. The declared public explanation was that she committed suicide. Soon there after, it was reported that the concerned officer was found dead in the barracks under mysterious circumstances. Since then, the whole episode seems to be re-enacted again and again on a particular night of the moon’s phase. Several people claim to have witnessed it. It seems that my mother, too, was one such mute witness. Scary! Isn’t it?

After The Baskervilles

The following article is a part of a larger series of articles by ARN member Angela444:

If you were asked about the strange phenomenon of phantom dogs, you could be forgiven for thinking they originally came to life in the pages of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s well known novel, The Hound of The Baskervilles. Yet in fact, Conan Doyle’s book was inspired by the legendary Hell Hound of Cromer – a sinister entity which has been around for much longer than Conan Doyle himself.

The history of this phenomenon stretches back much further than is often thought. Strange tales of phantom black dogs, canine spectres and evil hell hounds – sometimes of the headless variety, such as the one which terrorised the streets of Manchester, England in 1825 – frequently turn up in the annals of folklore, though such stories are often read with more than a pinch of salt. That said, such sightings are still reported in large numbers today.

So what exactly are these animals and where do they come from? As much as we would like to know the answers, mystery still surrounds the majority of these sightings and the best we can do to resolve this mystery, at present, is to make educated guesses at their origins.

Despite the many varying reports which have been collated over the years, there are some details concerning the sightings which tend to appear over and over again. For example, although these mysterious animals are seen all over Britain (Norfolk, Dartmoor, Essex and the Isle of Man being just a handful of the many locations), they do tend to prefer rural areas to urban ones. As with many ordinary animals (and ghosts), they appear to be rather territorial and can only be seen at certain locations. Very often, they will only appear before one or two witnesses, rather than a whole crowd, so perhaps this explains their preference for quieter areas.

While a few of these sightings could perhaps be credited to the ghosts of dead pets, returning briefly to visit their owners, this does not explain the vast number of sightings which occur time and time again, appearing each time to a different witness. Indeed, it seems many of them are of a far more sinister nature.

Quite often when someone sees a phantom dog it is at alarmingly close quarters. The dog will often seem to appear from nowhere and have a tendency to vanish as easily as it appeared. Although some witnesses have reported actually being able to touch one of these dogs, many others who have attempted to put a hand out to stroke one have been shocked to discover the animal has no substance. Reports of large black dogs ‘melting’ through fences and hedgerows are not uncommon – all of which adds weight to the theory of the animals being a purely ghostly phenomenon.

Yet how does this explain the solid variety? Another interesting variation concerns a few cases where the dog has been seen to combust spontaneously; indeed, in Hatfield Peverell in Essex, England, a black dog burst into flames when it was hit by a truck, burning both the dog and the vehicle. Such instances are rare and, as with many other phantom dogs, no explanation for this has yet been found – though one would suppose that if humans can combust spontaneously, why not dogs as well? The mention of fire brings up the theory that some of these dogs are messengers from Hell or, more accurately, from the Devil himself. Fiery red eyes and a lingering scent of brimstone have been reported in several cases!

It does seem that many sightings are indicative of a forthcoming death, whether in the general area where the dog is seen, or more specifically, directly connected with the witnesses. An example of this occurred back in 1978 when an odd looking Alsatian type dog was seen by a husband and wife while out driving in Somerset. The husband died fairly soon after.

The black dog which haunts Preston however, forewarns of a death in the area, rather than connecting itself specifically with the person concerned, and there are many other examples of similar manifestations, sometimes occurring ominously close to graveyards. There are also cases of black dogs which seem to ‘belong’ to a specific family, appearing shortly before one of them dies.

While we attempt to understand what these mysterious animals are, and what (or who) they represent, we can be certain of one thing: numerous sightings will no doubt still be reported for many years to come. Until someone finds the solution to this mystery, it seems the likes of the Black Shuck of East Anglia, the Hell Hounds of Dartmoor and the Barghest of the Yorkshire Dales, will continue to send shivers through everyone who sees them.