Decemystery (2024) 27: The Bent Key

 

Well, this is disappointing. Today’s story was intended to be about something that I had teased in the inaugural write-up for this month. It was the story of a mother and son (or daughter; I’m pretty sure I got the details wrong) who shared the same dream. I was quite eager to cover the story until I realized I had 27 pages of material I needed to comb through.

The story I had planned for today originates from the Forteana Forums. I cannot—by any stretch of the imagination—write the entire thing in one go without sacrificing my physical and mental well-being. I may be willing to push myself past my limits, but this would’ve required me to stay up for over 24 hours if I wanted to put a dent in the story. As such, I’ve opted to put it—along with an absolutely bonkers UFO case—on the back burner until next year.

To say that I’m disappointed would be an understatement; I hate that I teased not one but two write-ups and had to yank them at the last second because I didn’t think to cover them sooner. But, hey, it’s not the first time that I’ve had to make schedule changes. I know it won’t be the last, either.

So, how does that tie into today’s write-up? Well, initially, I had no real worthwhile replacement. Given I had to make this change at the very last moment (I’m serious; I was at a Christmas get-together when I made the change), I had no idea what I’d do.

Ultimately, I decided I’d grab a random story from About—my favorite go-to source for random stuff to cover and call it a day—and hope that the apology I gave would be good enough. Yeah, I know that isn’t the best look, but I’m stressed beyond belief, and my brain isn’t exactly “all there.”

However, everything changed when I stumbled across one case: The Bent Key. At first glance, that title is about as uninteresting, lame, and innocuous as can be. In fact, it sounds like it doesn’t belong on a website like About, which has hosted such baffling cases as “The 20-foot-tall Monster in Montana” and “One Man’s Conversation with a Cat.”

To a degree, that assessment would be correct. This story isn’t as wild or outlandish as the other stories I’ve covered from there. However, it has one thing every other case lacks. What is that thing? Well, why should I spoil it? Come along, dear reader; let’s dive into the case of one man’s bent key and see what makes this special.

Decemystery (2024) 14: The Brisbane Gremlin

 

Have you ever had one of those days when you didn’t want to do something, but you knew you had to do it because if you didn’t do it, you’d feel like a sloth? That’s me as I type this. As of writing, I got done with the previous Decemystery entry, and a part of me wants to do little more than slack off by playing a Pokémon ROM hack. Maybe Renegade Platinum; I’d like to do a playthrough where none of my Pokémon faint.

Alas, not writing will make me feel irritated at myself for being lazy. As such, I must continue the grind; I need to write more. Some may say that it’s unhealthy to push myself to write when I want to take a break. I concur, but I have a secret weapon to get the best of both worlds. It’s called “making sure the upcoming stories are easy enough to write so I don’t stress myself out.” By doing this, I won’t exhaust myself, and I can also have the time of my life without worrying about overworking myself.

I attribute this tactical move to Douglas MacArthur, who I’m pretty sure once said something along the lines of, “Duty, honor, country, write about simple things to make life easy.” I’m pretty sure he said that before the infamous Battle of Time Constraints.

Anyway, now that you know my mindset for today’s write-up, let’s get down to business. While I may be in the mood to slack off, I’ve had my heart set on today’s story because it was one that I was really eager to cover from the get-go. Then, when I was reading it over, I realized something rather bizarre.

I’d picked out the wrong story.

Indeed, when I was making a Google Document of links for stories I’d cover, I’d mistakenly copied the wrong one (likely due to being half asleep since I often gather stories before I go to bed) and hyperlinked it. However, upon reviewing the story, I found that it was far more than adequate for this month.

As for the other story, I’m sure I’ll find it again one day. Who knows, maybe while writing about this mystery, I’ll have stumbled across it again and worked it into the schedule. It’s not like there have been several stories that I’ve already scrapped due to not feeling like writing about them.

I digress, though. Yesterday, I briefly mentioned sightings of children seeing gremlins. Today, we’ll be talking about one such incident. Come along, dear reader; it’s time for us to head to the Land Down Under and investigate the mystery of The Brisbane Gremlin!

Decemystery (2023) 30: The Glowing Dancing Bulls

 

I believe I’ve said this on this blog before, but I like to dance, slow dance, to be exact. I don’t know why, but I find it relaxing and soothing. Unfortunately, I have no one to dance with, so I often dance around my room alone. Not that it matters that much because I’m not exactly the best dancer.

Thankfully, I have my writing; that means I’m not at risk of hurting my dance partner. Also, it means I get to go down all sorts of weird rabbit holes that lead to all sorts of strange, bizarre discoveries. That includes today’s story. For the penultimate entry of Decemystery 2023, we have the tale of The Glowing Dancing Bulls. Come along, dear reader; this is gonna be a really memorable one!

Decemystery (2023) 27: The Tajikistan Cloud Monster

 

Just a quick FYI: That image has nothing to do with today’s story, directly anyway. I simply went with it because I didn’t want to use my S-tier Microsoft Paint skills today.

Anyways, greetings! Welcome back to my blog, the little place where I ramble on for thousands of words about something weird I found on the Internet and share with you! Given that this is one of two ongoing Decemysterys, that means I’ve been posting daily. That also means I’ve been sitting on my bed for months now, typing and subsequently making my carpal tunnel worse. Ah, but that’s beside the point; no, you’re likely here to read about something strange.

Lucky for you, I have a never-ending supply of weird stories. After all, I spend most of my time reading about strange happenings from around the world; it’s one of the few things I do day in and day out. So, for today’s serving of Fortean goodness, I present to you the story of The Tajikistan Cloud Monster! Come along, dear reader; it’s time to dive into the world of alien sightings once more!

Decemystery (2023) 18: The Polish Flying Man & The Polish Flying Leg

A random fun fact about me, I have crippling acrophobia. Despite that, I kind of wish I could fly since it’d be convenient. For starters, I could avoid traffic. I could also get a really good view of things. You know, stuff that I think would be useful.

Unfortunately, I’m unable to fly outside of my dreams, so I guess I’ll have to try and find a genie’s lamp. Until I do, there are always mysteries that yearn to be talked about. Luckily for you and me, it’s still December, so mysteries are on the menu every day!

If you read the entry that preceded this one, you’ll know that today, I’m covering two stories from the 17th century. This one will see us jump ahead from 1646 to 1693 and will take us from the Netherlands to Poland. Let’s take to the skies and discuss the truly baffling tale of The Polish Flying Man!

Mystery: The Murder of Alain Bouzeida

This story is dedicated to my father, whose birthday is today. Happy birthday, old man. <3

I dunno about you, but I think that every village/town/city has “that guy”. The person who’s seen as a troublemaker, or at the very least isn’t very well-liked by the community. Maybe they’re a drug dealer, maybe they’re a raging alcoholic who tries to pick fights with everyone, or maybe they’re just generally shady and there are shifty individuals who go in and out of their home. Heck, maybe “that guy” is just a bit on the weird side.

Whatever the case may be, there’s usually at least one person who’s like that. Today’s story is one which centers on someone like that; it’s a showcasing of how every community can always have one person who people just don’t like. However, the person here isn’t one who was misunderstood. No, they were… actually kind of a dick.

Before we get to who our central focus is, I want to just say that I’ve only ever seen this story covered by the YouTube channel “Criminally Listed”, back in February of this year to be exact. While I try to steer clear of covering something/someone that a much bigger, much more popular content creator has gone over, this was a story which I couldn’t help but showcase. It’s one of the weirdest and most random murders I’ve ever seen in my life. So let’s go over the murder of Alain Bouzeida.

Decemystery (2020) 12: Mount Vernon Jane Doe (1988)

 

There’s something about unidentified murder victims that makes my skin crawl. Never mind how they have no name and their story is as mysterious as can be, but staring at the digital reconstructions sends shivers down my spine. To not know what they may have looked like is something that’s equal parts saddening and unnerving. It’s like you’re staring at someone who has no face.

In the case of today’s story—that of the Mount Vernon Jane Doe—I can’t help but find the story exceptionally saddening. A young woman who was around my age, was tied up, beaten, strangled, and then dumped like trash on the side of a road. Worst of all? This took place not too far from where I live—a little over an hour. While that may seem far to some, I’m someone who’s historically found an hour-long  drive to be nothing. I digress though, let us dive into this sordid tale and see who this young lady was, and who may have taken her life.

Decemystery (2020) 10: The Venusian Scorpion

 

Our solar system is home to an array of wonderful, strange, and fascinating planets. The first one in the ole’ fanciful group that makes up our solar system is Mercury.

A planet that may one day collide with Venus, Earth, Mars, fall into the Sun, or get thrown out of the system entirely thanks to Jupiter, Mercury’s a barren, rocky planet with temperatures that vary greatly. The side that faces the Sun can reach up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit (or 427 degrees Celsius). On the other side (quite literally), the temperature reaches a generally acceptable -280 degrees Fahrenheit (or -180 Celsius). All in all, it’s probably not a place you want to reside on without the proper suntan lotion or comfy snow gear.

The second planet is Venus. Known for being the only planet to orbit backwards and sometimes referred to as “Earth’s Evil Twin” because the two are generally similar in size (with our evil twin being only slightly smaller), Venus has a magnificently weird history. Its surface is hidden behind clouds, which led some astronomers to believe that the planet may have had a lush jungle, potentially even having been populated by dinosaurs or some other primordial life.

As most of you may know however, this isn’t the case. Venus is arguably the most hostile planet in the solar system, With a temperature that ranges from 827 to nearly 900 degrees Fahrenheit (441 to 482 degrees Celsius), Venus really does a disservice to its Roman Goddess namesake. Beautiful she is not; Venus is a planet where the heat is trapped in the planet thanks to the thick clouds. Sulfuric gasses toxify what little air there is and if you were to not be burned to death, the extreme pressure of the atmosphere would squish you like a bug.

Despite that, some say we may be able to one day go ballooning into the skies of Venus. Plan your trip now!

Ahem, anyways, the third planet is Earth. It isn’t flat, next.

The fourth planet is Mars. Known as the red planet, it’s the most habitable planet outside of Earth, though it’s still not exactly prime real estate. While the temperature can reach upwards of 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), it can drop to about -225 degrees Fahrenheit (-153 degrees Celsius). Despite such frigid temperatures, a great many hope that we will colonize it within the coming decades. Alas, if we do, those people aren’t coming back—ever. That’s if they even make it there alive.

Residing in the asteroid belt and generally not considered a planet is Ceres. I honestly have no idea if this place is habitable, let alone even stable given I imagine it’s possible that Jupiter could throw it in any direction it pleases. Though hey, that’s just my wild imagination being itself.

Speaking of Jupiter, that’s the fifth planet. Occasionally known as “Earth’s Guardian Angel”, Jupiter’s the first gas giant in our solar system, the largest planet overall, and is generally pretty fascinating. It also has numerous moons, but they aren’t exactly ripe for colonization, though Callisto, Ganymede (to a very slim degree), and Europa have been floated around (no pun intended) to be colonized. Some also suspect that Europa may have life beneath its surface thanks to a possible subterranean ocean. We’ll be covering Europa far, far more next year if I get the time.

The sixth planet is Saturn. Sometimes believed to be the home to a figure (or figures) from the Biblical Book of Revelation, Saturn’s as famous for its conspiratorial elements as it is for being capable of floating on water if any place could hold it! Like Jupiter, Saturn also has a lot of moons. Also like Jupiter, most aren’t really good in the way of real estate value, though Titan and Enceladus are possible candidates to reside on. Every look up at the rings, they’re gorgeous! Man, I’m glad I paid $83,000,000,000 to live on a moon in the middle of space!

The seventh planet is the unfortunately named Uranus. It floats like a bowling ball and while it’s the subject of numerous immature jokes, Uranus is a possible mining site for helium-3. As such, some of its moons could become bases of operation—assuming anyone wants to work there since they’d be ridiculed for working near Uranus. Harhar.

The eighth and final planet is my personal favorite: Neptune. A vibrant, beautiful planet, Neptune has no surface, but one of its moons—Triton—is a possible habitable celestial body. That is, assuming we have the proper protection so we don’t end up freezing to death. The temperature can drop to nearly -400 degrees Fahrenheit (-240 degrees Celsius). Brrr!

Beyond this, there’s what are known as trans-Neptunian objects. Most of these are comets, dwarf planets, or objects within the Oort Cloud. The first of these is Pluto, the former ninth planet of our solar system. It’s generally debated on if it should be reclassified as a planet because of nostalgia—it’s also not habitable because it’s ridiculously cold and about as dead as Jimmy Hoffa.

Eris is up next. Once known as Planet X because it was considered the tenth planet, Eris is also a barren land of whatever and probably can’t be populated. Though I honestly wish it had kept its name of Xena.

The fantastically bizarre Haumea is up next. An elongated planet that looks something like an oval, this planet’s rapid rotation has caused it to become what I’d consider the most unique planet in our solar system. Honestly, I hope it’s habitable because of how weird it looks.

Beyond this are simplistic dwarf planets: Makemake, Quaoar, Orcus, and Sedna being the only ones that I have any knowledge of. According to Wikipedia, there are some others: Gonggong, Salacia, and 2002 MS4 being a few. However, beyond Sedna (which is the farthest known dwarf planet from the Sun overall, is even redder than Mars, and having an orbital period of 11,400 years), they’re all uninhabitable and can be disregarded. I simply took the time to go over the previous three dwarf planets as they felt noteworthy. Two are well-known and one is weirdly shaped.

So where am I getting with this? Well, the planets of our solar system are diverse if nothing else, but they aren’t exactly the place where you’d think life would exist outside of Earth and maybe, in the past, Mars. Though some claim that on the surface of Venus, there’s a scorpion. What makes people say that? Well, if you looked at the header image, you’d see. So let us talk about the supposed Venusian Scorpion.

Decemystery (2020) 9: Nepalese Dragon

Dragons are really diverse creatures of legend. There are good dragons, bad dragons, dragons with wings, dragons without wings, big dragons, and little dragons. Some of these dragons can breathe fire, while others breathe ice. In some stories, they can also breathe lightning! I’ve also heard of some that bring life and hope, while others bring death and misery.

Dragons are super cool in that regard and I believe that if I were a dragon, I’d live in a cave and never leave it, instead devoting my time to sleeping and stomping on anyone who got within a 35,000 mile radius of my hidey spot.

I guess that makes me one of the bad dragons then, but who cares. Today’s story has to do with a dragon that can’t fly, barely moves, yet is said to reside in the forests of Nepal. It’s never been found in spite of it being really slow. It goes by two names, but I’m going to use the first name I saw for it: the Nepalese Dragon.

Decemystery (2019) 16: The Abduction of Alan Godfrey

What the text in the photo says.

Alien abductions are a topic I've wanted to talk about for over a year now. They are a very weird phenomenon and provide a very strange mystery to investigate, let alone write about. Although I believe in extraterrestrial life, the concept of alien abductions is something I've always scoffed at. Not because the concept itself is ludicrous—far from it. Humans abduct other humans for sick, twisted reasons. It stands to reason that aliens would do the same for their own reasons.

However, the concept of aliens traveling light years to probe someones rectum, play with their eyes, or extract their semen is really bizarre. Not helping matters is the idea that aliens would subject someone to think, then show people where they're from (in the case of Betty and Barney Hill) or share information about a rogue planet (in the case of Nancy Lieder, who brought to us the news of Nibiru).

But my personal biased aside, there are cases that make me pause and reconsider my extreme skepticism towards the concept. One of these would be the abduction of Travis Walton. His co-workers saw him get abducted and reported about it. They were suspected of murder until Walton reappeared five days later and confirmed their story. He later wrote a book that was adapted into a film known as Fire in the Sky. Perhaps we'll talk about that story next year though. Today's story isn't quite as fantastical, but it's one that's left gobsmacked.

Given that my father's a law enforcement officer, I wanted a story of a police officer who was abducted by aliens. To my surprise, this isn't something that's exactly rare. Aliens evidently have a fascination for men in uniform as there have been a fair number of incidents were lawmen have been whisked away by a fire in the sky of their own.

Of all the stories I looked over, one stood out among the rest. It’s a story of a British constable who lost a testicle in a fight and was told he'd never have a child again. That is, until he was abducted by aliens.

This is the story of Alan Godfrey.

Decemystery (2019) 3: Ulster County John Doe (1988)

The man in question.

This story is one that I only recently discovered. On the surface, there’s nothing too special about it. After all, there are thousands of John and Jane Doe’s waiting to be identified. What makes this story special—in my eyes at least—is the photo that was found in this particular individuals possession. A seemingly happy man holding a young child. Ever since I saw the photo, I’ve been wondering to myself: who is the Ulster County John Doe?

Mystery: The Brabant Killers

This case messed me up.

Decemystery 5: The NASA Gargoyle

Brood with him, lads!

I was tempted to not include this mystery due to its similarity to Point Pleasant's legendary Mothman. But, I wanted the entries in this miniseries to be as diverse as possible, and the NASA Gargoyle was bizarre enough that leaving it out felt criminal.