News of the Weird

Pentagon Spends Billions in Secret Programs
Classified programs appear to account for about $30.1 billion, or 19 percent, of the acquisition funds sought in the Defense Department budget for fiscal 2007, according to the report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment. Secret programs also have tended to spawn "fringe science" -- like antimatter weapons, psychics and telepathy -- because they were protected from outside scrutiny, said Sharon Weinberger, author of "Imaginary Weapons: A Journey through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld."

Strange Rectangular UFO Photographed Over Germany
On Saturday, May 6, 2006, Tushar Bhatt and his girlfriend were walking through the city of Magdeburg, Saxon-Annhalt, Germany, taking photographs with her new digital camera when they accidentally took a photo of a flying rectangle! It would be days before the photos were reviewed by Tushar and only then would he realize what they had photographed.

Mystery: UFO or Balloon
A UFO mystery in Kentucky after 58 years. We still don't know the truth. Just over 58 years ago, a Kentucky National Guard pilot crashed his plane and died while pursuing a UFO. A 1956 documentary on UFO's detailed the Mantell case, which occurred in January of 1948. It happened just months after another celebrated incident in Roswell, New Mexico, where a UFO had reportedly crashed in the summer of 1947.

Romania gives Dracula's castle to owners
More than 60 years after it was seized by communists, the Romanian government is to hand back one of the country's most popular tourist sites, the fabled Dracula Castle, to its former owner, the culture minister said Tuesday. The castle, worth an estimated $25 million, was owned by the late Queen Marie and bequeathed to her daughter Princess Ileana in 1938. It was confiscated by communists in 1948 and fell into disrepair. It will be transferred on Friday to Dominic van Hapsburg, a New York architect who inherited the castle from Princess Ileana decades after the communists seized it, minister Adrian Iorgulescu told a news conference.

A spooky business
GHOSTLY footprints that appear out of nowhere, and vanish just as eerily. The spectral sight and sound of an 18th-century harpist and singer. And buildings where candles mysteriously appear, silverware rearranges itself and an unseen someone tugs on women's skirts. To Mark and Carol Nesbitt, these are the building blocks of a new business that steps off tomorrow evening.

Protecting Bigfoot
Dave Shealy has spent chunks of his life trudging through the muck of the Everglades' Big Cypress Swamp in search of a monster -- a hairy, 450-pound one that can stand seven feet tall and reeks of rotten eggs. Most people think Shealy's either crazy or a shameless publicity hound, but he couldn't care less. As the proud founder of the world's only skunk-ape research center, the inveterate tracker says he plans to study this elusive animal until the day he dies -- even if he never does get to see one up close. He's even called for the state of Florida to pass a law to make it illegal to hunt his apes.

Touched by an angel
Some of us have had amazing, unusual experiences in life. Is it coincidence, luck, or something else? Many are convinced these acts are the work of guardian angels. It happens a lot in the movies, an angel swoops down from heaven to help someone in dire need. Clarence Goodbody to George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life", says,"I told you I'm your guardian angel, I know everything about you." But many people say it happens in real life, too. Lynn Anderson says, "I have a guardian angel."

Earthshine inspires hunt for alien life
Earthshine – the dim glow from sunlight bouncing off the Earth, and reflected back from the Moon's surface – may aid in the search for life on other planets, say scientists. It may also give insights into climate change on Earth. However, experts are split on how useful a tool Earthshine may be. Leonardo da Vinci is credited as the first to explain the Earthshine effect, which is caused by sunlight reflecting off the Earth and illuminating the parts of the Moon that would otherwise be in total shadow.



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