Decemystery (2024) 28: The Head-scratching Encounter with Headless Aliens

 

So, yesterday, I said I had scrapped two stories. One of them was an absolutely wild and crazy story involving extraterrestrials. In truth, I could have covered it, but I’d prefer it if I had a few days to work on it. As it stands, I’m writing these articles the day before they go up.

However, I did want to somehow keep my word by providing one final whacky foray into the realm of aliens—even if it wasn’t the story I’d planned to cover. Lucky for me, I had no shortage of stories to pick from!

While most think of Greys when they think of extraterrestrials, the truth is that there are numerous types of aliens in ufology. Don’t believe me? Go look at the “UFO/Aliens” tag on this blog. Alternatively, go look at the intro to “The 8-foot-tall Alien of Fort Wayne,” where I listed out a bunch of cases I’ve covered.

When deciding on which case to go with, I considered going to the database of the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) to poach a story that sounded odd.

However, I quickly opted against that when I was browsing through my Google documents. Yes, just like the other day with “The Ghost Who Took a Pair of Socks,” my own archive came to the rescue. How quaint.

Just like the story mentioned earlier, this one was planned for last year’s Decemystery duology and even briefly on the schedule for this year—I think. It might’ve been one that got added and subsequently removed about a dozen times because I can be woefully indecisive.

Today, dear reader, we’ll be taking a look at… well, just read the title of the write-up. Despite the lack of a head, it speaks for itself. If you’re unable to hear its voice, it’s known as the case of The Head-scratching Encounter with Headless Aliens! Now, strap in, dear reader, because this is going to get oh-so-delightfully weird—and absolutely ridiculous.

Decemystery (2024) 26: The Ghost Who Took a Pair of Socks

 

Here’s an odd story: I was looking through my Google documents to see if there would be an easy case to cover. As I’ve made explicitly clear a multitude of times throughout this month, I’ve been strapped for time—and this has been no more apparent than right now. I’m writing this on Christmas Eve; it’ll likely be finished tomorrow, the day before it goes up.

Anyway, while looking through old documents, I came across this one. I barely remembered, and I can’t even recall why it wasn’t deleted.

I’m serious; I have no recollection of this story outside of it briefly being considered for last year’s Decemystery duology. It isn’t on sustained_disgust’s Obscure Unsolved Mysteries Iceberg. I don’t recall telling any of my friends about it. It’s just here, in a document, with one sentence that was written on November 30, 2023. It reads as follows:

Okay, so I had no plans to cover another story from “It Happened To Me,” but I found one mere minutes ago that was way too good to pass up.

Well, a year later, I guess the story wasn’t as good as my younger self thought it to be.

Or maybe it is, and I didn’t give it a fair chance. Today, I want to find out with you, dear reader. This month has been filled with a lot of twists and turns, but none will be more unique than exploring a remnant from last year’s Decemystery duology that even I, the writer of these articles, forgot the origin of.

So, I invite you to accompany me over to the United Kingdom as we investigate a weird ghost story that sounds closer to a comedy short. This is the case of The Ghost Who Took a Pair of Socks. I’d tell you to hold onto your socks, but I don’t want to attract the specter we’re looking into.

Hey, where’d my socks go?

Decemystery (2024) 13: The Mummy on the Bed

 

Ah, this story. There’s a weird history with it. It was on the schedule for last year’s Decemystery duology, but I scrapped it in favor of something else. I forget which story it was, but regardless, there was also the mounting pressure of having to write so much in so little time.

When this year rolled around, though, I didn’t plan on covering it. Then, when I revised the schedule, I did—until I didn’t. After the mammoth-sized write-ups “The Nickelodeon Hamster Wheel Broadcast” and “The Man From the Box,” the thought of covering a third mystery from Reddit sounded as appealing as salmonella. Simply put, I dreaded the idea of having another write-up that’d end up being far longer than I originally intended it to be—and that would leave me utterly drained.

However, after yesterday’s case, I opted to look over this story again out of sheer curiosity. As I did, I realized that it was nowhere close to as long as the aforementioned two. In fact, it’s remarkably short; it’s roughly the length of a story from About but with a few replies (only six, with half of them being from the original poster).

So, after much consideration (by which I mean I acted out of pure impulse), I figured I’d re-add it to Decemystery 2024’s schedule. In doing so, I’m confident that this story has had roughly the same number of date changes Duke Nukem Forever did prior to its release back in 2011. I promise it won’t be anywhere near as mediocre as that game was.

Anyway, aside from taking us back to Reddit, this case is also the first time since the original Decemystery that I’ll be discussing a story related to a mummy. Yes, it’s been six years since I’ve discussed anything related to them; I’m in disbelief that it’s taken me this long to talk about them. So, come along; let’s dive into the belly of one of the Internet’s most controversial websites once more and go over the oh-so-fantastically named story of The Mummy on the Bed!

Decemystery (2024) 11: The Durham Force Field

When it comes to Fortean mysteries—or any type of mystery, really—there’s something about ones that lack much, if any, information that makes me excited. It’s something I’ve come to love in the past couple of years; it sets off a fire inside me that causes my mind to wander.

Now, sure, I hate making an abundance of assumptions, but I do enjoy a good rabbit hole—especially when I’m one of the first people to go down it—if not the first person to do so. There’s a certain thrill to it if that makes sense. If it doesn’t, then perhaps I enjoy covering ridiculous stuff a bit too much.

Regardless of how I feel, there’s one place that best exemplifies this thrill, and that’s what’s known as the “Fortean Map.” If you’ve been visiting this blog since 2021 and haven’t stopped under the assumption that it’s dead, thanks to the content droughts that have plagued it ever since 2022, then you might be familiar with that name. If you aren’t, it’s a massive map that someone made; it’s filled with a plethora of mysteries from across the planet.

As it stands, I’ve visited it a total of four times: twice for Decemystery 2021 (where I wrote about “The Elevator Riddle” and “The Signal of Isla Han Samar”) and twice during last year’s Decemystery duology (where I covered “The Groves Kurt Incident” and “Terry Lopi’s Disappearing Barn”). This year will mark the fifth and sixth times I’ve visited it.

Now, each time I visited the map in the past, I’ve covered something that I now refer to as a “Fortean Map Enigma.” They’re stories that have little to nothing about them available on the Internet. In the previous four write-ups, I’ve labeled them as stories made up by the map’s creator for fun. Today, however, all of that’s about to change because there’s a new possibility at play, and it all but makes me want to go back to the previous four write-ups and reexamine them with a fine-toothed comb.

So, for our inaugural visit to the Fortean Map, we’re taking a trip across the Atlantic Ocean and going to good ol’ England—northern England, to be exact. It’s here where we’ll find something labeled The Durham Force Field. On its own, that name is fascinating and would pique my interest. However, the summary given makes border on irresistible. In fact, I considered writing about it last year. However, I believe I swapped it out with Terry Lopi’s case.

Ah, but I digress. Come along, dear reader. Let’s discuss another Fortean Map Enigma and find out how everything’s about to change with these cases!

Decemystery (2023) 28: The Vampire of Ward End

 

Hello, dear reader! Let me tell you about something: I’m prone to wanting to write about things if they piqued my curiosity enough. That means I’ll abandon plans to cover a story if I stumble across something that catches my eye. This write-up right here is an example of that; I found it by complete accident and was like, “I want to write about this.”

I’ve already discussed vampires once this month, and it’s not the last time we’ll be covering them (no, the finale comes tomorrow in spectacularly weird fashion). So come along; this is the story of The Vampire of Ward End!

Decemystery (2022.3) 27: That Time Someone Saw Mickey Mouse

 

Growing up, I was a big fan of Disney. Mickey Mouse was one of my favorite things, as were Mickey’s friends. I also adored Winnie-the-Pooh; I still do to this day. The Hundred Acre Wood is easily my favorite place in the entire world of Disney.

So color me surprised when I saw a story featuring ol’ Mickey Mouse in real life. This was a story I didn’t intend to cover this month, but I simply couldn’t wait. So let’s take an impromptu trip to Disney World. This is the magical story of That Time Someone Saw Mickey Mouse! Yeah, it’s gonna be one of those stories.

Decemystery (2023) 26: Boneless

 

I did say that today would have two stories about giant slugs. I only wish I’d been lying because this one is considerably more horrifying. Oh well, I’d rather delay this; the sooner we’re done with it, the sooner I won’t have this uneasy feeling in my stomach. Strap in, dear reader; this is the story of Boneless!

Decemystery (2022.3) 9: The Fence Fiend

 

A random fun fact: I had no idea what to tag this write-up with. I’m 99% sure it’s a story about a ghost, but it also struck me as a humanoid encounter. In the end, I went with both because that felt like the safest option.

Anyway, hello, hello; welcome to my blog. This is where I write about the weirdest mysteries and other Fortean goodness that I find. As of the time of writing, I want to stop writing because I’m pretty sure I’ve written more in the past six months than I have in my entire life, from birth to throughout my time in the god-forsaken public education system to playing World of Warcraft. Seriously, carpal tunnel hurts; why do I lack foresight of any kind?

My incessant whining aside, it’s Decemystery. That means it’s time for yet another mystery; pretend I threw confetti here because I’m too lazy to get a jpg of some. Anyway, today’s story is one that, as I said earlier, feels like a weird mixture of a humanoid encounter and a paranormal mystery. While that may sound stupid since ghosts are normally said to be the spirits of dead humans, you’ll see what I mean in a little. But enough dilly-dallying; this, dear reader, is the tale of The Fence Fiend!

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) 16: The Dog That Jumped Out of the Wall

Dogs: they’re called man’s best friend. They’re loyal, loving, can be hunting partners, and will protect their owner to the death. Sure, not every dog is a saint (some are closer to Cujo), but by and large, dogs are great animals and are fantastic with people of all ages. Well, so long as they aren’t pit bulls.

That said, dogs have a lot of superstition and enigmas around them. Whether they be the infamous Black Shuck or the fantastically named “Snake-Headed Dog”, you can count on there being something strange involving our furry-friends if you look long enough into anything cryptozoological or paranormal/supernatural.

Today’s story has to do with the latter; this is a supernatural story through and through. I call it the Dog That Jumped Out of the Wall. What drew me to it? Well, the name; you can sell me on nearly anything if the name is crazy enough. Now that you know that one of my friends will send me the craziest possible story and say, “please write about this”. Ah well, whatever; let’s begin!

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: Jack the Ripper

 

Having grown up with a father who’s a law enforcement officer, my childhood was heavily influenced by shows centered on crime and stories of those who committed acts of evil being caught. This ranged from Scooby-Doo to Forensic Files and America’s Most Wanted, all of which I greatly enjoyed.

As life went on, my fascination in these stories only grew. While I never planned on pursuing a career in law enforcement (not that I could at this point given my physical disabilities), I always loved to read about how these horrible people would slip up and get caught and what their motivations were. It has never ceased to blow my mind as to how little it takes for someone to decide that they’ll take another human’s life. That’s not even touching on unsolved crimes, which are even more fascinating in my eyes. The many questions that surround them really put into perspective the tagline to the 2007 film Zodiac. There’s more than one way to lose your life to a killer.

This brings me to today’s story. Our subject today has brought many detectives and sleuths—amateur and professional—to their knees. So, if you would be so kind as to join me, let’s take a gander at one of the luckiest humans to have ever lived. This is the story of Jack the Ripper.

Mystery: The Cloud Giant

The photo in question by Nick O'Donoghue.

Let’s take a trip up into the skies as it’s where our story takes place. It’s a rather short one and certainly far from the most extraordinary, though I still think it still offers something unique. I found it on the ObscUrban Legend Wiki and it’s simply titled the Cloud Giant. Let’s take a gander.

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.

Mystery: Gef the Talking Mongoose

Last week, I said I'd be covering the mystery of "Adam". However, due to last week having been extremely hellish, plus that story being a rather emotionally difficult one to cover. While I’ve read and written about some rather saddening topics, the story of Adam proved to be more than I could stomach for the time being. So, I’ve instead opted cover a significantly less heart wrenching story: Gef the Talking Mongoose.

Mystery: The Wessex Way Monster

Run, run, run, run, run, run awaaaaaaay.

The idea that there other sentient—or sapient—humanoids on Earth is by no means a new one. Whether the idea is that of little people such as gnomes or elves, or that of surviving ancestors of humans in the form of Bigfoot or the Yeti. Alas, evidence for these creatures is sparse. The word of someone can only carry so much weight before you have to put faith into it to believe their memory isn't misremembering details.

That said, photographic and video evidence is another thing. Although hoaxes exist, and will until the day the universe ends, it's much easier to dismiss what is fakery. As a result, we can set our attention on what deserves it: the evidence that's we can't disprove. Which brings us to today's mystery: The Wessex Way Monster.

Decemystery 18: The Murder of Georgi Markov

A picture or Georgi Markov.

Poisoning dissidents of a government is nothing new. Just yesterday, I talked about Alexander Litvinenko, a man who was poisoned with Polonium-210. However, decades for that questionable death, there was another that took place in London: the murder (or assassination if you will) of Georgi Markov.

Decemystery 16: The Murder of Alexander Litvinenko

Litvinenko on his death bed.

Russia is an extremely touchy subject when it comes to just about anything and everything. Nowhere is that more evident than with their president: Vladimir Putin.

Putin has been heralded by some as a warrior and champion against globalism and the New World Order, and seen by others as a modern day Czar and one of the most brutal and terrifying figures in geopolitics. No matter how you see him, he's a controversial figure and one who's bound to insight some sort of argument on the internet.

What doesn't not matter is Putin's reputation in Russia itself. The public opinion of him there is extremely high—or so it seems. There are those who greatly dislike him for an array of reasons. For some, it's due to his handling of the Russian economy. For others, it's because he's something of a dictator in the eyes. Either way, Putin reacts as he only can. He silences his critics; a tactic that has been used on civilians and even FSB agents—the successor to the infamous KGB.

Enter Alexander Litvinenko.