Stonington, IL

UFO Sighting 1984-09-10

Friend and I were walking due south towards Old Stonington. We were about .5 miles north of Old Stonington when the object was first observed in the south-east sky. The object was observed as a result of being an unknown item in a vacant sky. The object appeared very distant (5+ miles), large, and light orange / red, but low to the ground. As we walked the object appeared rapidly moving closer and more bright. As we arrived at .2-.25 miles north of Old Stonington we stopped walking and observed the final approach of the object (we stopped and witnessed final approach for about 7-15 minutes). The object paused at its closest point and appeared to be within 300-500 ft from us at an angle between 25 and 45 up degrees from ground. The object was very large, larger than a house, estimating about the size of a football field. The shape of the object appeared to be symmetrical and oblong with a ratio of 3 high x 10 wide. It appeared that we were seeing the side of the object and maybe some of the bottom. Reddish orange lights were present in the center of the object (these lights had been clearly distinguishable well before we stopped walking). There was about 4-5 lights in the center of the object. The lights were in a horizontal line. The lights were not extremely bright and did not light the ground; but were large lights (not like a bulb, but rather a lit area). After about 5-10 minutes the center area appeared to open, like a door, opening from left to right. The center area was much brighter and whiter (faint orange). The opening and bright area was observed for about 2-5 minutes. This brighter light may have gave light to the ground and ourselves (although a specific beam of light was not observed). The light immediately went back to the 3-5 dimmer lights and the object was gone. It did not leave in a direction – it was just gone.

No sounds, vibrations, odd feelings, noises, airplanes, automobiles, or persons (other than me and friend) were observed during or immediately before or after the event.

Source: http://www.mufon.com/

Morrisonville, IL:

UFO Sighting 2009-01-20

Driving NE on rt 48 just about 3 miles southwest of Morrisonville, I saw an object to my left just ahead of me over a field, almost true north of me. It was twilight, not quite daylight. The object appeared as a ball of light about the size of a pencil eraser. It appeared to be somewhere around 1000 feet high. At first I thought it was a star. I really didn’t think much about it. But as I drove NE, the object appeared to get bigger and to be traveling straight east at a slow rate of speed. The further I drove, the closer it got to me. I thought that it would be over Morrisonville just about the time I was going through the town. The light was a solid amber light and as it got closer, I thought I saw a dark egg shaped structure beneath it. The light was on top. The light was solid and did not blink at all. Anyway, after observing it for a few miles, it just seemed to disappear. On moment there. The next moment nothing. Gone. It just vanished. I didn’t see it speed off. It just disappeared.

It blinked out just before I got to Morrisonville. It was disappointing to me because I was curious what it was and I thought I would get a close up view of it over Morrisonville. I wasn’t alarmed at all, I was just curious.

I drove by the spot on my way home this evening during daylight hours. When I approached the area where I had spotted it this morning, I looked all around for a microwave tower thinking that maybe I had observed one of them this morning. These towers have a solid light halfway up and a blinking light on the top. Even though I didn’t observe any tower structure underneath it this morning, I thought that maybe I could have still possibly seen a tower. But after scanning the area on my way home, I found that there was no towers anywhere around. So, I don’t know what I saw!

Source: http://www.mufon.com/

Anyway, I see the post you have on the Witch’s Bridge near Anderson’s Cemetery. I have a crazy story about that Bridge. I absolutely refuse to go anywhere near there again. Earlier this month, my cousin was up from Florida and we were talking about the paranormal and I decided to take him out to Anderson’s. I’d been out there a couple times before and didn’t think anything of it. Well it was around 3 in the morning and my cousin, two of my friends and I all went out there. Nothing special happened in the Cemetery, I got a little bit of smoke like lines on my camera, but that’s it. So, we went over to the bridge and drove over it, turned around at the other cemetery, and parked right in front of the bridge. My friend and I both thought we saw a dark shape darting through the woods, but dismissed it as an animal. We all just sat there and waited, though i wouldn’t let my other friend turn the car off  just because of a bad feeling i had. after a bit, my friend asked us if anyone thought to look behind us. so we all look back and see what we thought was smoke from the car about ten feet from us. We turned back a few seconds later because of an unsettling feeling we all had and we saw the white smokey thing again…this time you could clearly see a head, shoulders,and a long skirt..and it was five feet from the car and heading tword us at a fast pace. All of us screamed and took off like a bat out of hell, but as we were going up the incline tword the road, the car started to stall, and the white figure was still behind us. We pushed the car to it’s limits and it was fine and we got out of there fast. i put it on everything i love that i saw the witch from the bridge, and she didnt look too happy to see us. I wasn’t about to find out what she would have done if she got to the car. We all saw her, noone has ever said anything about seeing her so i thought this would be an interesting story for you.  -Megan

Below is a list of reference books we currently own. If you yourself have book and you think it will benefit us and you would like to donate it then email us at ccghs@newwavecomm.net  . 

The Unexplained Mysteries of Mind, Space and Time: By Time Life Books

Secrets in the Fields: By Freddy Silva
Speak with the Dead, Gothic Grimoire, Nocturnal Witchcraft, Vampires the Occult Truth: By Konstantinos
How to use a Ouija Borad: by Michael St. Christopher
The only Astrology book you’ll ever need: By Joanna Martine Woolfolk
Encyclopaedia of Occultism: By Lewis Spence
An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural: By James Randi
A feild guide to Demons, fairies, fallen angels and other subversive spirits: By Carol K. Mack and Dinah Mack
The Satnic Bible and The Satanic Rituals: By Anton Szandor LaVey
Necronomicon

 
Fallen Angels and spirits of the Dark: By Robert Masello
The Demonologist: By Gerald Brittle
At the Heat of Darkness: Witchcraft, black magic and Satanism today: By John Parker
Angels Companions in Magick, To Stir a Magick Cauldron, Teen Witch: By Silver Ravenwolf
The Modern Witch’s Spell Book, The modern Witch’s Spellbook Book 2: By Sara Lyddon Morrison
The Witch’s Magical Handbook: By Gavin Frost, PH.d., D.D. and Yvone Frost, D.D.
Exploring Sprllcraft: by Gerina Dunwich
Hunting for Witches: By Frances Hill
Earth, Air, Fire, Water: By Scott Cunningham
A Witches’ Bible: The Complete Witches’ Handbook: By Janet and Stewart Farrar
The Book of Shadow: By Lady Sheba
True Magick: A beginner’s Guide: By Amber K
The Complete IDIOT’S GUIDE to: Wiccan and Witchcraft 2nd edition: By Denise Zimmermann and Katherine A. Gleason
The Secret Language of Dreams: By David Fontana
A dictionary of Dream Symbols: By Eric Ackroyd
Dream Book: By Evad Aras
Dreams and what they mean to you: By Migene Gonzalez-Wippler
Guide to Dream Symbols: By Mary Summer Rain and Alex Greystone
Dreams: your Magic Mirror: By Elsie Seachrist
ESP and You,Ghosts: By Hans Holzer
Unlock you Psychic Powers: By Dr. Richard Lawrence
Develop you Psychic Abilities: By Litany Burns
Psychic Energy: By Joseph J. Weed
The Bible and The Tarot: By Corinne Heline
The Book of Runes: By Ralph H. Blum
Palmistry: By Roz Levine
Numerology: By Norman Shine
How To Read Palms: By Tom W. Kuncl
How To: Uncover Your Past Lives, How To : See and read the Aura, How To: Meet and work with Spirit Guides: By Ted Andrews
Awakening your psychic powers: by Henry Reeed, PH.D.
The Philospher’s Stones: By M.E. Warlick
The Further Propheceis of Nostadamus 1985 and Beyond,The Man who say womorrow: The Prophecies of Nostradamus: By Erika Cheetham
Nostradamus: Predicts the end of the world: By Rene Noorbergen
The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Fortune Telling: By Jane Johnstone and Maya Pilkington
The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Spells and Magic By: Jane Johnson, Nacy Bailey, Lee Lawrence and Kyri Kyriacou
Ghost Stories of Illinois: By Jo-Anne Christensen
The I-Files: True Reports of Unexplained Phenomena in Illinois: By Jay Rath
American Ghost Society: The Ghost Hunter’s Guide Book (2001 and 2004 Edition), Field Guide To Haunted Graveyards, Confessions of a Ghost Hunter, Beyond the Grave, Haunted Illinois (1999, 2001,2004 and 2008 Editions),Mysterious Illinois and Bloody Illinois: By Troy Taylor
Weird Illinois: By Mark Moran, Mark Sceurman, and Troy Taylor
Small Town Ghosts: By Barb Huyser
Grave’s End: By Elaine Mercado, R.N.
Field Guide To Spirit Photography: By Dale Kaczmarek
How to hunt Ghosts: By Josua P. Warren
Ghost Tech and Ghost Science: by Vince Wilson
How to be a Ghost Hunter: By Richard Southall
Communicating with the Dead: Jeff Belanger
Haunted America and Haunted Heartland: By Michael Norman and Beth Scott
The Encyclopedia of Ghosts: By Daniel Cohen
Coast to Coast Ghosts: By Leslie Rule
The Ghostly Register: By Arthur Myers
The Seance: By Suzane Northrop and Kate McLoughlin
Haunted Happenings: By Robert Ellis Cahill
The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits (2nd Edition): By Rosemary Ellen Guiley
Mythology: By Jo Forty
Images of the Past (3rd Editions): By Price and Feinman
Discovering Our Past (3rd Edition): By Ashmore and Sharer
Anthropolgy (9th Edition):By Haviland
Understanding Hieroglyphs: By Hilary Wilson
The Egyptian Book of the Dead: By E.A. Wallis Budge
Blackfoot Lodge Tales: By George Bird Grinnell
American Indian Myths and Legends: By Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz
3 Holy Bibiles

 
Secret Societies: By John Lawrence Reynolds
Lost Scriptures: By Bart D. Ehrman
The Apocrypha: By Edgar J. Goodspeed
A contemporary Study of the Holy Spirit: By Bennie S. Triplett
Spiritual Warfare: By Dr. Jimmy Lowery
Experiencing the World’s Religions: By Michael Molloy
Scriptures of the World’s Religions: By James Frieser and John Powers
The World’s Religions: By Huston Smith
The Book of Mormon
Ritual of the order of the White Shrine of Jerusalm 1985 Edition
Ritual of the order of the Eastern Star 1956
Eckankar: Ancient Wisdom for today: By Todd Cramer and Doug Munson
The Assassins: By Bernard Lewis

Oldest House in Taylorville 
Taylorville, IL 62568
Submitted by: saari_svitak

Location Description:     
 
I used to live in this house, and when we bought the old house we had no known knowledge of it ever being haunted. By living there a month everyone in our family of four had either seen an image of something or heard people talking. We put our newly revamped home on a “Christmas tour” (people come in your house say how pretty it is, and leave) we hosted a tea party during one of the days and a previous owner of the house had attended, she had asked if anything strange had happened as we answered “yes” a grim look came over her face. She went on to tell us that she lived in our house with her husband and his mother…one day he had called them upstairs to talk and as they reached the top of the stairs the man shot himself in the closet. I slept on the 2nd floor and in a loft bed so I was very close to the ceiling and at night just as you were to fall asleep there would be footsteps walking across the attic, a man talking stammering over and over. Of course no one in my family believed me so I procured a tape recorder and set it on my shelf in my bed as I slept, and sure enough I got everything on tape. Next morning I got up to shower w/out thinking about the recorder and as I walk out of the bathroom the tape recorder was gone. 2nd account, when you would sit watching tv, if you looked in the distance towards the laundry room (bottom floor is very large, and pretty open) there would be a figure standing in the doorway, he`d stand there for a few moments then he`d turn around and walk into the room. Back to the tape recorder. We moved out of the house maybe 5 years later and while taking out books of the inset bookcase downstairs I notice something jammed behind the books I pull the object out and sure enough it`s the damn tape recorder, so here was my proof I go to listen to it and the tape has been removed. No one else in my family knew about me getting the tape recorder, and when I told them about this they thought I was crazy.

Source: http://www.strangeusa.com

Taylorville, IL: Storm sirens

Storm sirens over Taylorville
Area scientists ponder unique, historic storm

BY SCOTT MARUNA

During heavy summer storms, central Illinois has been showered, at least metaphorically, with more than its share of cats and dogs. But once, in what must have been the most unusual downpour in this region’s history, it rained so hard that it rained amphibians — and these creatures weren’t just figures of speech.

The unexpected payload of heavy precipitation rained down near Taylorville during a late-night storm on June 4, 1869. Steady rains had pummeled the area for several days, and the saturated ground was spotted with puddles and pools. Residents just north of Taylorville woke Saturday morning to more than mud and standing water, though. Springfield’s Illinois State Register reported that every ditch, brook, puddle, and pool was alive with nondescript “serpents” in numbers “beyond all estimate.”

“Boys and men take them from the pools in hundreds, and they are brought to town for inspection,” according to the report. “It is the universal testimony of all the people in the country that no creature anything like those was ever before seen by them.”

The dark-hued creatures were depicted as 18 to 24 inches long and three-fourths of an inch to an inch in diameter. They possessed a flattened tail, no fins, an eel-like head with a suckerlike mouth, small eyes, and, most strangely, a single pair of perfectly formed appendages — similar to those of a turtle — immediately behind the head.

We recently asked local biologists to help identify these creatures from these descriptions. After conferring with peers, Dave Cox, professor of biology at Lincoln Land Community College, was the first to come up with the identification that would eventually be a consensus answer for the group: an amphibian known popularly as a lesser siren.

“I can see where a layperson might consider the forelimbs to be somewhat flipperlike and the mouth, located on the lower part of the jaw, to be somewhat suckerlike,” notes Mike Romano of the department of biological science at Western Illinois University.
“The lesser siren is 1 to 2 feet or so [long] and does have small eyes . . . [but] there did not seem to be any mention of the external gills, which would be pretty prominent. Nevertheless, the fact that they could be transported so easily out of water makes it the most likely candidate.”

Cox adds that the lesser siren is common in the southern states and that Illinois is the northernmost edge of its range. Even here it is only in the southernmost quarter of this state that the amphibian is easily found. Side lakes along the Mississippi River are their favorite habitat.
“Sirens are permanently aquatic, secretive by nature, thus more common that we think,” Cox says.

Even for those totally unfamiliar with this herpetological oddity, the real stumping question with regard to this event must be how these relatively large creatures ended up falling from the sky into the puddles of the prairie north of Taylorville.

As it turns out, though such events are exceedingly rare, strange objects — biological and otherwise — have been falling during storms since the beginning of recorded history.

“Occurrences like this have been documented all over the world,” says WICS (Channel 20) meteorologist Kevilee Douglas. “They are usually associated with tornadoes. Tornadoes and waterspouts — tornadoes over water — act like a vacuum cleaner, sucking almost anything from the surface high into the atmosphere. Strong thunderstorms that contain tornadoes have strong updrafts. These updrafts, if strong enough, can pick up debris at the surface and pull it into the upper atmosphere. Once this debris is in the higher levels of the atmosphere, it can get caught up in the jet stream. The debris will eventually fall to the earth, sometimes hundreds of miles away from where they were picked up.”

Douglas’ scenario would then have these animals being picked up en masse by a tornado that most likely waterspouted over a wetland adjacent to southern Illinois’ leg of the Mississippi and then transported to Taylorville after a one- to two-hour ride on the jet stream.

Again, many skeptics would question whether these animals so few Illinoisans have ever seen truly were of a sizable enough population density to enable a tornado to lift 1,000 or more of them skyward.
Although their label of being rarely seen is all too accurate, that aspect of the animals’ existence is deceiving. Philip Smith wrote in his The Amphibians and Reptiles of Illinois that “if special effort is made [sirens] can be taken in numbers.” Brian Anderson, chairman of the Lincoln Land’s biological- and physical-sciences department, says that as a result of human encroachment, the species has “likely been under pressure since the 1960s. Many of its haunts [are now restricted to] state nature preserves or protected federal properties.” Population density and magnitude would have been significantly superior in the mid-19th century.

“Sirens can be moderately common in the appropriate habitat, though they are quite secretive, mostly active at night, and not often seen,” says Steve Mullin, a herpetologist at Eastern Illinois University. “I have encountered healthy populations in southern Illinois and would guess that you might find densities as high as one individual per cubic meter of water.”

Using Mullin’s estimate and a hypothetical tornado traveling 30 mph with a contact base 2 meters across and a 30-second touchdown, mathematics tells us that it could have vacuumed up almost 1,000 sirens.

History has recorded scores of enigmatic “falls” during storms. These range from the not-so-strange red sand that fell over Chicago in early January 2006, which the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency determined to have originated in Texas or Oklahoma, to the more common “fish falls” that occur just often enough in Europe to barely merit headlines any more. But it would seem that Taylorville can claim downstate Illinois’ only mysterious “fall” in history and the world’s solitary “siren fall.”

Source: http://www.illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A5060

Taylorville, IL: UFO Sightings

April 9th, 1897-a airship was seen in Taylorville by Mrs. W.E. Andrews. I-Files By Jay Rath

UFO SIGHTED UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL IN TAYLORVILLE, IL.

While laying in bed watching the “Honeymooners” I began to hear a low-pitched humming noise that gradually grew louder. It was late, probably around 2200 hours. I sat up and opened the blinds to take a look. Hovering outside at a height of around 10 meters was a saucer shaped craft of metallic construction. The total distance waway from my window was only about 50 feet. Encircling the outer edges of the craft were a series of lights, red, green, and blue. The lights created a soft glow about the craft, which was approximately 30 feet or so in diameter and rotated slowly as it hovered in place. The craft’s hull seemed to have a bluish hue with a silver base color. The height of the craft was approximately 8-10 feet at the center, possibly a touch more. We lived on an old one-block dead end with only a few other homes on the street. Behind the craft was simply our next door neighbor’s one story house, with a large pine tree off to the right and our garage off to the left. No other major lights were present (a couple street lights were on) and the sky was clear. The humming noise given off by the craft continued to pulsate throughout the encounter.

I watched for 1-2 minutes and then ran to my mothers room to get a camera, almost falling over the kitchen table. She told me it must be a helicopter or something and I persisted to tell her that it was no helicopter. I couldn’t find a camera so I sprinted back to get another look, but the craft had already begun to fly away. The last I could see of it was as it flew at a good distance behind the large pine tree in our yard (it faded behind it).

Source: http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/022/S22134.html

A bright burning light or fireball traveling North to South, that gradually disappeared.

I and my 3 daughters witnessed a bright light that appeared to burn as it entered the atmosphere. It descended gradually, running North to South, as it descended it seemed to get dimmer as it neared the surface. It seemed to burn out and break up into a trail of 3 small dot that then disappeared

Source: http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/011/S11013.html

It was happened fast, it made my house shake, and I looked out the window and I saw a triangular-shaped object with lights on it.

Well, it happened at around 10 P.M., when I was in my bedroom on the computer. I’m sitting here talking to my friends, yaddy yaddy ya, you know havin a good time. All of a sudden, I feel a sudden vibrant movement of the house, I don’t hesitate to think what the hell is going on, I quickly dart for the window, and right when I look out, to my own suprise, I see this triangular-shaped object just traveling in a straight line in what looked like 150 mph. This triangular object also had lights on the bottom of it. and red lights in the back of it. It wasn’t flat, it was 3-demensional. It made a huge roaring noise. Right when I lossed sight of it, I could still see it, hovering, just sitting in mid air, all I could see at this time were the lights though. And all of a sudden, it vanished, and that was the last I have seen it. This is definetly no plane, helicopter, military base test flight, or anything else normal. It is the wierdest thing I have ever seen in my life and I’m still shocked over it. I think this is something that definetly needs to be reasearched or investigated.

Source: http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/016/S16974.html

bright, white circular light

Iridium flare? Just after midnight a bright white light appeared in the sky, travelling steadily east to west. It was circular in shape and about as big as a dime held at arms length. It appeared to wobble slightly in its’ path, but this may have been an optical illusion because of the flaring effect of the light. It was difficult to judge the altitude because it was all out of proportion to the normal things you see in the sky. There was no sound and it just disappeared beyond the trees. None of us had ever seen anything like this before and I have spent many an hour with my telescope ’star gazing’ and consider myself fairly knowledgeable about astronomy. However, I had never heard of iridium flares before- might this explain what we saw? It did not appear to be as high in the sky as satellites are though. Are iridium flares that big? There is a small airport nearby, but it is a daytime only operation.

Source; http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/023/S23831.html

We were traveling west just outside of Assumption, IL going towards Taylorville IL. Myself,my daughter, my neighbor,her stepson and my grandson. Our ages range from 8 to 49. Our husbands were in the truck just ahead of us. I first noticed what I thought was a large bright star in the lower sky right in front of us. It didn’t move.

the sun had just gone down behind the tree line, but it wasn’t dark yet. I thought it was a star, but I started seeing more. Up to 7 at one time. I then mentioned it to the others, and we called our husbands on the cell phone. They had been watching to. They were very bright silver and moved after a few minutes and then appeared to have a tail. We stopped and took a picture, not developed yet. There was alot of traffic on this same road so I know others seen them. I found no news reports so we were very courious to hear any information on this. After they were gone we seen a dark colored helocopter flying in the area. Its hard to judge the distance but we guessed them to be over the Springfield,IL area. These were not airplanes because they sat in one place to long and then changed formation and stayed there.

Source: http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/025/S25211.html

Taylorville, IL: Roman Coin

A Roman coin was found in 1883. the I-files: By Jay Rath

Taylorville, IL- Oak Hill Cemetery

It is said that a tombstone which contains a sone ball , which weighs serveral hundred pounds, set in a granite base. It is said the stone had supposedly been sealed to its base. Mysteriously moves on its own.

Source: Troy Taylor’s Haunted Illinois Book

It is rumored that you can here the spirits of  children playing in the cemetery. –Submitted by unknown.

South Fork Township: Ghost of Bassina

Bassina an Indian who lived in Christian County in the early days. The Chief was found one morning frozen to death and immediatly some superstitions arised. Some say that his spirit, refusing to leave the old hunting grounds of his tribe, wonders restlessly through the woods up and down the stream of South Fork Township.

Source: Christian County IL Historic Society Library.