Decemystery (2024): Bonus Entry: Apollo 11 Landed on the Wrong Moon

 

This write-up is dedicated to my friends, family, and to you, dear reader. Thank you all for your patience, understanding, and unwavering support. I hope I can one day make it up to you all.

Hello, dear reader! Merry Christmas! If you don’t celebrate Christmas, then happy holidays! Regardless of how you celebrate today, I hope your day has been fantastic. My day has been great, if exhausting.

Anyway, it’s Christmas Day, which means it’s time for us to go ahead and start up this year’s Decemystery Bonus Entry. For those who are new to this blog, the “Bonus Entry” is what I consider a “Christmas gift” from me to you, dear reader! 

Now, originally, I had a much different story picked out. However, it was way too big to cover in such a time timeframe. In fact, I’m amazed I even considered the original tale. I’ll hopefully get around to it next year because I’m a huge fan of it and the various mysteries that surround it.

After that, I considered another Conspiracy Iceberg entry, which would’ve brought the total number of stories from there up to six instead of the promised five. However, I quickly scrapped it because I didn’t feel confident enough in my abilities to finish it in time. Again, I’ll hopefully cover it next year. But it isn’t a top priority of mine.

That left me in a bit of a bind because as the deadline for Decemystery 2024 looms over my head like an executioner’s axe, I needed a story—and I needed it now. I didn’t want to pick any old story since Bonus Entries are often something special to me; they’re meant to be cases that I think are extra special and unique.

Unfortunately, most of the stories I have left didn’t fit the criteria in question. The keyword there is “most” because two of them did. One of them is one I’ve teased a couple of times this month. The other was the capstone entry for this month.

I went with the latter.

Yes, that’s right. Today’s story was intended to be the final entry for Decemystery 2024. However, I’ve opted to shift it to the Bonus Entry spot. To be honest, I think it fits both perfectly well. It’s got all of the requirements: It’s zany, baffling, outlandish, and just plain silly. I love it, baby!

So, for Decemystery 2024’s Bonus Entry, I invite you, dear reader, to come along and take a trip with me to the Moon! It’s up there where our penultimate journey to the Conspiracy Iceberg shall occur; it’s time to discuss the idea that Apollo 11 Landed on the Wrong Moon!

Decemystery (2023) 16: The Alien Tree Stumps

 

Yeah, I didn’t know what other image to use; enjoy the picture of baby Groot.

Something I take a bit of pride in is my ability to tell my friends about the wildest and most absurd things imaginable. Though, even I have my moments where I find myself scratching my head, wondering if what I’m reading is real. It always leaves me with a feeling of disbelief, like my life was just flipped on its head. Today’s story is a quintessential example of that feeling.

If you’ve been reading this blog, you will know all too well that extraterrestrials are more than just Greys or Reptilians. They come in all shapes and sizes. We have seen robotic flowers, giant brains, and way too much else for me to listen. Heck, just this month introduced us to even more baffling types!

Today, however, is what I believe to be the most dumbfounding. It’s something that I truly cannot believe I read; the fact I laid eyes upon it renders my brain unable to function. This, dear reader, is the utterly mind-boggling case of The Alien Tree Stumps.

Decemystery (2023) 15: The Tuttle Bottoms Monster

When most people hear the word “cryptid,” they likely think of Sasquatch or Nessie. However, there are a plethora more creatures out there than everyone’s favorite hairy hominid and Scottish plesiosaur. Heck, there are more than El Chupacabra and the Burrunjor.

Cryptids are a group whose reputation ranges from the timid to the downright brutal. For every shy apeman, there are beings like The Beast of the Land Between the Lakes, who’s said to have slaughtered an entire family that was camping.

Indeed, cryptids can have quite a homicidal reputation. While that may seem rather outlandish, you would be surprised at just how many are blamed for the deaths of hikers and swimmers. Ol’ Nessie’s very first sighting involved a swimmer who was attacked by the Loch’s resident cryptid. Meanwhile, Pensacola, Florida, has what is now known as “The 1962 Pensacola Sea Serpent Incident.” Hopefully, we’ll cover that in full next year. For now, if you want to know more about it, I briefly covered it in the second Conspiracy Theory Megalist (it’s entry #335).

There are tons and tons of aggressive cryptids out there—far more than I can name. My favorites are the humorously named Sheepsquatch and today’s topic: The Tuttle Bottoms Monster. This fellow is one that I wanted to cover last year, but life dealt me a Dead Man’s Hand and then some.

Luckily, we’re finally getting around to it. So come along, dear reader; it’s time for us to head back to Illinois to hunt one of the most bizarre-looking cryptids I’ve ever come across! You won’t want to miss this one because it has everything: government conspiracies and secrets, experiments gone wrong, urban legends, rumors of a cryptid murdering people, and an apeman with an anteater snout.

Decemystery (2023) 10: The 1968 Omaha Domed Disk Sighting

Okay, so I wanted to do something a bit special today: cover two incredibly bizarre UFO sightings. This was astonishingly easy since the site I went to—Think About It Docs—had enough stories to last me a lifetime. However, as much as I’d love to write for the rest of my life, I know that there will come a day when I’ll want to retire and do what most old folks do: play golf and watch reruns of M*A*S*H!

Although there were a plethora of UFO stories that sounded enticing, one stood out to me above the rest for a multitude of reasons. It occurred in a quiet state—Nebraska—which I liked; I adore mysteries from parts of the United States (heck, the whole world) that aren’t talked about much. The eyewitness gave more detail than I expected, but not so much that it struck me as suspicious. But above all else, there were multiple eyewitnesses. Yet, despite that, this is the only recounting of this event I can find.

All of that is what convinced me to go with this case; it’s truly something else, and I can guarantee that anyone who’s even slightly interested in UFOs will love this. So come along, dear reader; it’s time to head to the Cornhusker State. This is the story of The 1968 Omaha Domed Disk Sighting!

Decemystery (2022.3) 10: The 1965 Brooklyn Cylindrical UFO Sighting

 

When you think of New York, what comes to your mind first? Some may think of how expensive it is, while others may think of New York City. Both are acceptable answers; in my case, I think of one word: home. It’s where I was born and raised and lived for almost all of my life; I moved out of the state last November, and to be honest, I miss it greatly. Sure, life where I reside now is great, for the most part, but I’ll always consider New York to be my home.

There’s one other thing I think about when I think of New York, though, and that’s that it’s home to a surprisingly large number of UFO sightings. Heck, my mother saw one; I, sadly, was not awake to experience it, and I’m still jealous of her. Seriously, my friends and family have experienced a bunch of the things that I write about; why am I never around when the creepy stuff happens!? Bah, one of these days, I will get to see a UFO for myself.

Anyway, given that New York is host to so many UFO reports, I figured that today, I would go over one. So come along, dear reader, it’s time for us to head on over to the City That Never Sleeps. This is the story of The 1965 Brooklyn Cylindrical UFO Sighting!

Decemystery (2023) 6: The Fragosa Jelly Man

You know, I sometimes like to go back and skim through my old writing. I do this because it’s interesting to see how far I’ve come as a writer; for example, I was able to write introductions without feeling like I was slamming my head against a wall of jagged rocks and diamonds. I hope my insurance covers that because, by the time I finish every write-up for this month, I’m gonna look like ground beef mixed with Freddy Krueger!

So anyway, now that I’m done bemoaning my problems, let’s talk about today’s story. It’s one that actually forced my hand on something I’ve needed to do for a while on this blog: redo the tags. While I don’t think I’ll have done it by the time this article goes up (it’ll depend on if I want to dedicate the time to it), I know that a lot of topics I focus on aren’t tagged properly.

Allow me to clarify by using today’s central focus, The Fragosa Jelly Man, as an example. Humanoid encounters are something we talk about a lot on this blog, yet it wasn’t until this write-up that I finally made a tag—aptly named “Humanoid Encounter”—for it. The reason I did this is, as wild as it may sound, this story doesn’t fit any other category. So come along, dear reader; it’s time to dive-bomb into the gelatinous tale of Spain’s very own Jelly Man!

Decemystery (2023) 5: The Pennsylvanian Pumpkinhead

 

Finding a header image was a real pain; I poached this one from Fine Art America, so all credit goes to them. Or, well, to Cavan Images, I honestly have no idea if the two are associated, but I figured I ought to give credit where credit is due.

Oh well, I digress. Good day, dear reader. Pull up a chair; I have a story to tell you. If you remember reading this blog in the grand old year of 2020, you may recall a write-up I did entitled “The Subway Man.” It wasn’t much of a mystery, not in my eyes, at least. A woman saw a tall man in a New York City subway and was put off by him. I still find that remarkably rude, but it’s New York City. Many of the people there aren’t known for being the friendliest folks on Earth.

Anyway, I consider that to be a “non-mystery,” a story that I don’t think is a mystery but is nevertheless on websites dedicated to mysteries. Today’s story is one of those non-mysteries, although it isn’t quite as cut and dry as The Subway Man. I call it The Pennsylvanian Pumpkinhead, and while it’s nowhere near as goofy as it sounds, it’s still pretty weird. So come along, let’s see what lurks in the forests of Pennsylvania!

Decemystery (2022.3) 5: The Space Penguins of Tuscumbia

 

Hey, I remember mentioning this story when I covered The Kinnula Humanoid! Amusingly enough, the header image for that write-up is also connected to this story; I’ll get into that later, though. For now, how about a little cold opening?

Extraterrestrials are all the rage these days—at least as of the time of this writing (which is July 10). The United States government has been holding hearings on “UAPs” (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) and other things like it. There were the balloons that were being shot down earlier in the year. By all accounts, UFOs (as I call them and will continue to call them) and aliens are as mainstream as Bigfoot. Disclosure is coming, boys and girls!

Though a lot of what’s being talked about—be it before, during, and after this write-up is completed—is primarily tied to UFO sightings. As far as I’m aware, it does not include anything related to direct encounters with extraterrestrials. So there’s no discussion on really anything fantastical, like the adorably sinister Dade City Flower Aliens.

I have, however, considered writing about some of the footage that’s been discussed by the US government and media. In fact, it was on my to-do list back in 2021, and I do believe I had considered it for last year. Alas, I opted against it both times as it would have been way too much work. Not that it would have mattered the second time, given I flat-out didn’t write last year.

This year, however, I didn’t even consider it. The more I think about talking about the footage that’s been released, the more I feel like I would be getting closer to being a commentator of some sort. Discussing what’s new and mainstream is a really good way to be just another voice in a sea of noise. God, that sounds pretentious, but it’s how I genuinely feel. It’s one reason I look back rather negatively at my write-up on Hunter Biden’s “Laptop From Hell.” Sure, it was new ground for me (to write about something topical), but I didn’t add a single new thing. All I did was say what had already been reported by a plethora of others.

With those feelings more or less cemented, it’s time to get into today’s write-up. With my rather obvious dislike for talking about topical stuff, I wanted to zero in on a weird story about aliens. Luckily, those are in no short supply; I have more than plenty of examples I could give. Though I wanted something exceptionally weird.

As I was looking around for one, I came across The Space Penguins of Tuscumbia. Seeing this story was like seeing an old friend for the first time in years. I remember having wanted to cover it, but I never did for reasons I can’t remember. Today, that all changes. Let’s dig into a story that quite a few of my closest friends have all but deemed their most anticipated Decemystery entry!

Decemystery (2022.3) 3: The Alvin Sea Serpent

I’m pretty sure that at some point in this blog, I mentioned that one of my earliest dreams was to be a marine biologist. If I didn’t, then I have now. Sea life fascinated me to no end as a child, and even nowadays, it does. I love to swim, I hope to take scuba lessons at some point in the near future, and sea cryptids are easily some of my favorites to read about.

With that said, I must concede that the sea is a terrifying place. It’s easy to die, there are plenty of ways to become stranded, and you never know what may mistake you for a tasty meal. And don’t get me started on the horror story that is narcosis. I’m surprised I haven’t seen a movie incorporate that to mess with the audience’s heads for a bit.

I digress, though. We aren’t here to fear the ocean and its many ways to kill us. No, we are here to look at one of its deepest secrets—quite literally. Back in 2020, I went over the Mariana Trench Sea Serpent (and bone pit), which I should rewrite since it’s a rather poorly written and researched piece. Despite that, that cryptid is unique for how deep underwater it was seen; today’s story is a very similar case.

Known as the Alvin Sea Serpent, this creature holds the distinction of being considered the deepest aquatic cryptid ever to be seen at a staggering 5,000 feet (1,524 meters). That’s nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) under the sea! So come along; let’s investigate one of cryptozoology’s deepest enigmas!

Decemystery (2023) 2: The Poole Pyramid

 

This story is dedicated to my dear friend Graham. I just want to let you know that Kyle Larson is the better driver.

So, I have a story to tell you all. Today’s entry was planned to be on The Bunnyman; I had wanted to do something grandiose and go over basically the entire history and numerous variations of the story, what inspired it, and the “real” versions of the fiend. And I did; I got a little over 11,000 words into the story until I realized something: I was absolutely not using what I had for Decemystery.

When I do these write-ups, I try my absolute best to make them as smoothly paced as possible. Even the longer ones, I aim to feel like brisk reads; I don’t want them to feel painfully long. A good example of what I aim for is David Fincher’s “Zodiac.” That movie is nearly 3 hours long, but it sure as heck doesn’t feel that long. Not in my eyes, at least.

What I had with The Bunnyman, while I liked most of it, went on and on for way too long. So, I set it aside. However, that left me with a problem: I had no idea what I wanted to replace it with. Yes, I—the guy who has several thousands of stories in a backlog—didn’t know what to replace it with; I’ll elaborate on that later when I give my take on this story.

Thankfully, I quickly found the perfect replacement. Today’s story is that of The Poole Pyramid; it’s a story that is filed as an extraterrestrial encounter, and it comes across as anything but one. So come along, dear reader; it’s time to see just how much stranger alien encounters can get!

Decemystery (2021) 31: Charles Jevington, the Man Who Befriended Aliens

 

This was originally intended to be the capstone entry for last year. However, when it became apparent that my depression was getting increasingly worse, and my desire to write was hitting rock bottom, I scrapped it and replaced it with what would become N.U.G.E.T.. In hindsight, I did like the story since it was really unusual and, in my eyes, is more than worthy of being a capstone entry. At the same time though, it annoys me that I broke my promise to not do any conspiracy theories for that year’s Decemystery.

Granted, I did make up for that with this year’s outing, but at the cost of having a lot of the same topics. I covered a ton of cryptids (which isn’t necessarily abnormal), unexplained events, and a fair few UFO/alien stories. I blame this mostly on me getting a very late start on writing Decemystery; the medication I started taking in October ended up causing me to stop writing for a solid month, so what should have started in August and ended by the end of September or middle of October ended up being dragged out from early November into December. So the statement in the T-Rex write-up about me spending time with the family wasn’t at all true.

Still, in spite of all of that, I still consider this year’s Decemystery to be the best I’ve done. It isn’t perfect, and there are a lot of stories I wish I had the time to do, but I still view it as something I’m truly proud of. It’s more or less what I had wanted last year’s Decemystery to have been. It featured a bunch of stories that I found truly intriguing, and it had me feeling extremely happy with each and every story.

At the same time though, I feel I definitely overused the ObscUrban Legend Wiki for stories. Because of that, if anyone thought that it was lazy of me to simply poach stories from there, I’m truly sorry. I put my heart and soul into each write-up, and I did everything I could to add to those stories, so I wasn’t simply parroting what was written there and calling it a day. I hope I didn’t upset anyone by not trying to find stories from other sources (be it a book, forum, or elsewhere).

So with all of that out of the way, let’s get into today’s story. It’s without a shadow of a doubt one of my favorite unsolved mysteries ever. I precisely remember where I first heard it, but I think it might have been when I was reading an article on Mysterious Universe. If it wasn’t there, it might’ve been something on a website like Listverse.

I digress though. The story in question is that of a man named Charles Jevington. His story is one of the most fantastical to ever be told. It’s a story of a mysterious disappearance, an equally mysterious return, friendship, extraterrestrials, astronomical revelations, and ridicule. So, to end off this year, let’s dive into the story of a man who befriended aliens.

Decemystery (2021) 27: Octosquatch

Ever look outside and just wonder to yourself, “man, I wonder what lurks out there”? I know I have, but that’s because I have nothing else to really think about outside of whether or not Skull & Bones will ever release.

Seriously, I doubt that game will ever see the light of day.

Back on topic though: I’ve always thought about the forests and oceans of the world and what secrets they hide. Whether they be the Pale Crawlers of the land or the sea serpents of the waters, I’m adamant that there are creatures we don’t know about, that are far more fantastical than just some random hairless bear or log floating around.

Though what about the weirder ones? I mean, Pale Crawlers are already weird, but there are things like El Chupacabra. The bipedal version of it has spikes running down its back and can release a screech that is able to make you fall asleep; it’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard of. Then there are Fleshgaits, which can shapeshift. Indeed, the realm of cryptids can be really outlandish when you move beyond your standard hairy hominids and even hairless humanoids.

Point is: there are some really bizarre cryptids out there, and today’s story is no exception. Known as Octosquatch, this fiend has only been seen once, but the impression it’s left on me is massive. So come along, it’s time for more mysterious goodness!

Decemystery (2021) 21: Las noches del Hombre Lobo (AKA: Nights of the Werewolf)

It’s the first day of winter! Woo-hoo; time to celebrate with… another story.

Sometime last year, I was talking to one of the owners of the YouTube channel “Debunk File”. I’m decently close to him and send him ideas on videos to make—typically ones that I have no interest in doing, or simply think are better suited for his channel. Those stories tend to be Internet mysteries and unsolved crimes which I don’t believe I can do justice to.

Alas, not every story that I pick ends up becoming a video. That’s the case with the mysterious lost film Las noches del Hombre Lobo (AKA: Nights of the Werewolf). I had proposed this to Jif—who edits and writes for Debunk File (and more or less serves as the face of the channel)—and he took quite a liking to it. However, he ultimately turned it down as he couldn’t find enough information on it.

As such, I had contemplated writing about it for last year’s Decemystery, but I myself decided to forego it in favor of writing about London After Midnight, which is widely regarded as the Holy Grail of lost films. I primarily did this since I wanted to see if I could add to Debunk File’s own video on the movie. I’m personally happy with how my own write-up came out and because of that, it motivated me to cover Nights of the Werewolf. So let’s get to it!

Decemystery (2021) 20: The Arboreal Abomination

 

I would be lying like a snake oil salesman if I said I didn’t pick this story partly because its name sounds really cool. Admittedly, that’s also probably really dumb of me because that means I’m going in completely blind and hoping that the story is interesting enough to work with. Lucky for me, the only prerequisite for a vast majority of the stories I cover is that they end up being at least 1,000 words long, so it all works out in the end.

Known as the Arboreal Abomination, today’s story is one that takes us down to the nation of Peru. It’s also one of the more obscure and lesser known stories involving an extraterrestrial. So come along, it’s time to talk about our friends from the stars once more.

Decemystery (2021) 14: Gargantuan Globulous

 

Ayy, I’ve been wanting to cover this story ever since I found it. Rather than waste time on setting up any sort of atmosphere/tone, I wanna just dive right in. This is the Gargantuan Globulous. Man, I adore that name!

The Story

There are two main sources for this story: the ObscUrban Legend Wiki and Cryptopia. The former has a much shorter version of events, while the latter goes into more detail, so for the most part, I’ll be citing from that one. Still, I wanted to make mention of both since the former is where I initially found this story (which can be said for the vast majority of this month).

Our story begins on October 4, 1965, in northern Argentina. Three kids—Luis Ramirez, Maria Abela Cabana, and Rosa Carbajal—were outside, enjoying the lovely autumn day. At one point, they decided to go get some water. While on their way there, they saw something.

That something, according to the kids—who later told their encounter to some journalists from a Buenos Aires’ newspaper named “La Cronica Matutina”—was a very large, spherical creature. The color if it isn’t specified, nor are any possible details as to what it may have looked like (e.g., if it appeared to be jelly-like, sponge-like, or gooey). There’s no information on if it had eyes, a mouth, or anything inside of it (which leads me to believe this wasn’t a transparent or translucent creature).

As for what they saw when they encountered it, that’s a real head turner (in my eyes anyways). The trio said that it was rolling on the ground—and very quickly at that. As it did so, it kicked up a large amount of dust and dirt, creating a cloud around it. After some time, the creature simply vanished. At no point did any of them attempt to approach it or throw anything at it. They simply watched in disbelief as this giant glob spun around on the ground.

That’s where the story ends unfortunately. Although the trio had their encounter publicized, no one else ever encountered the creature themselves; it appears that the creature known as the Gargantuan Globulous disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived. That isn’t to say there aren’t theories though, just that it came and went like time. So let’s get onto the theories.

Decemystery (2021) 11: The Long Prairie Cans

 

Why hello there, dear reader. Welcome back to Decemystery. As always, I am your host: Vertigo. Today, for our 250th blog post, we’re gonna go ahead and explore a story most unusual.

The realm of UFOs and aliens is one ripe with ridiculously strange tales. We’ve seen that already with the story of the Ririe Carjackers (which we covered in 2019’s Decemystery), the aliens who decided to try and sell a random man on their delectable pancakes (which we covered last year), and the Dade City flower alien encounter (which we also covered last year).

Those three stories were all quite bizarre in their own unique way (though I think the Ririe Carjacker story is the weirdest of the bunch). So for this year, I decided to try and find one that could rival such a story. Needless to say, it was actually quite hard—and it’s not because there weren’t any stories that rivaled it. No, it’s actually because there are an insanely large amount of them, so picking just one was incredibly difficult.

Lucky for me though, I managed to come to find one, but I decided I would save it for the tail-end of this month. For now, though, I think we should talk about the Long Prairie Cans. Grab a beer (if you’re old enough to drink) too, because it may just be an alien!

Decemystery (2020) 16: The Aliens Who Brought Pancakes

 

>be me

>no name blogger from New York

>looking for stories to cover

>go onto ObscUrbanLegend Wiki

>thisissomuchfun.mp3

>hum to myself

>eventually come across one
>the aliens who brought pancakes

>perfect.jpg

Decemystery (2020) 1: Jack the Stripper

 

This story is dedicated to my friend Maya. Thanks for helping me pick this story out.

Hello, dear reader! It’s that glorious time of the year again; December. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this month ever since New Year’s Day. Why exactly? Well, I’ve had numerous great ideas for what I suspect will be the most exciting, interesting, and unique Decemystery to date.

For starters, I didn’t want any conspiracy theories like last year. Sure, some of this year’s mysteries will have conspiratorial elements, but we won’t be having anything silly like Lord of the Rings being true or Project Blue Beam. Rather, we’ll have a lot more down-to-earth stories that will make for something a lot more enticing and even spooky.

Now, when deciding on what to do for the first story, I wanted something nobody would see coming; a story that could kick start something truly memorable. After consulting the friend I dedicated this story to, the victor was the humorously named Jack the Stripper—though the official name for the case is the Hammersmith Nude Murders. So come, let us begin to round out the year with some good old fashioned mysteries. Decemystery 2020 begins now!

Mystery: The Woman in the Oven

Warm it up, boys.

Some time back, I did a really half-baked riff of this story that I’ve since deleted because I was both deeply disappointed in it and because I found it to just not be worth keeping around. I sometimes wonder if anyone inexplicably saved that dreadful thing—if you have, I’d love to know why. Oh well, that’s besides the point. This story is a fairly well known creepypasta that’s no doubt been around for longer than that term has been around. Though what floors me is that some people think that it’s real. Because of this strange fact, today’s story will be centered on the story known as The Woman in the Oven. Let’s get to it!

Mystery: The Icebox Murders

A photo of Charles from his time in the Navy. This was over a decade before the murders.

Today’s story is one that’s been on my to-do list for a little under a year now. I’ve tried to start it up several times, but I’ve never managed to complete it; I’ve either hit a roadblock while covering it, something came up that occupied my time, or I simply wasn’t satisfied with what I had. That changes today though! It’s time we cover what I consider one of the most bizarre unsolved murders in American history. This is the story of the Icebox Murders. Get ready because this story is as gruesome as it is confounding.