Whatever happened to...

[Nick Matkin]

..some of the reports from the past few months? Namely:

1) Strange noises heard "all over the world" from about January 2011.

2) Mysterious boxes "washed up" on Oregon beaches earlier in 2012.

And more recently

3) The "monster" washed up on a New York shore.

We are all accustomed to the conventional media reporting stuff - usually a statement from some official declaring how this or that will be sorted out - and then never following it up. But neither do they usually bother to follow up a "paranormal" report weeks or months later when some investigating has been done.

Therefore surely the Alternative Media have a responsibility to expose hoaxes, viral advertising scams or confirmed misidentifications?

Perhaps a section on the forum entitled "Cases Closed" or maybe more realistically "Likely Explanations" could be started. Why not...?

Regards,

Nick

[noxon medem]

..
-

This .. could, or not, be related
( depending on your mindset )

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060438/
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

Saw this many years ago , remembered as a well worth viewing
( - sorry , did not find a stream or download link for d movie )

here is a sample from youtube :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiJTQwK4iOI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiJTQwK4iOI

Be well , all

..
-

[Carmody]

The beast body on the shore was never correctly identified, but the indications where that it was 'canus' in nature, (canine of some sort)

the boxes on the shoreline turned out to be a hoax, and the few or one in the picture was washed ashore debris trail from a shipping issue.

Strange noises was never resolved but all that can be said about it, was said about it. No new information since then. Some of them....appeared to be hoaxed. And...as soon as one is hoaxed, they all ended up being debunked.

Same for the canine on the shore. Explanations where in short supply, so the nearest 'best fitting' explanation was grabbed and fitted.

Same for the boxes on the shore.

[ghostrider]

all depends on where the human creators focus their attention.

[ED209]

What kind of strange noises?

[witchy1]

LsgrRmHW8ro
from last year (sounds start around 2mins)

[ulli]

This was my favorite "strange sound"

X4DpHkWuOmQ

[OnTheFence]

I can't speak for the other 2 points, but the strange sounds I thought was attributed to (hopefully I'm remembering this correctly) ionization being in the lower levels of the atmosphere than where it's typically found. The sounds are the sounds of the ionization. I want to say it was also the sounds of the borealis which is lower in the atmosphere than usual, hence why it can be heard. But that second explanation doesn't seem quite right because wouldn't the borealis be seen if it was that low in the atmosphere? *shrugs*

But, I agree ... there tends to be a lack of journalistic follow-up on stories ... paranormal or mainstream. They only report on the "right now" and "hot and juicy". Once the excitement is over, the reporters and the public tend to go find the next hot and juicy. Sad really.

[Nick Matkin]

As a journalist and qualified broadcast engineer familiar with radio waves and the ionosphere (50 to 200 miles high approx), I can say there is no known way the ionosphere can make a noise i.e. make vibrations in air audible to humans, or probably any other animal, no matter what the sun is doing. The only sounds audible from that high up are the very occasional sonic booms generated by meteors burning up and sometimes reaching the lower part of the atmosphere. There are reports of some people claiming to be able to 'hear' the northern lights, but I don't think that has yet been reliable proved. Anyway the noises reported (if genuine) were clearly audible to everyone in the vicinity and easily recorded. In fact they were so widely 'reported' that it cried out for proper scientific investigation.

My best guess is that this wasn't seriously investigated (or if it was nothing was found) because once someone reports weird noises - and half the population is all hyped up on this 2012 stuff - the normal sounds of distant farm machinery, trains, traffic, etc. now take on an 'unworldly weirdness' they wouldn't have had before, but get reported as another example of the weird sounds. I admit some of the sounds do sound extremely weird, and if genuine take some explaining. But most I suspect are just 'hoax-bandwaggining' i.e. folks just putting stuff on YouTube with sound tracks they made up or copied from elsewhere. Perhaps a clever use of social anxiety and exploitation of social media to create a story out of nothing at all. A media-studies project from some rather ingenious students...?

The boxes look like a typical example of hoaxers taking advantage of lazy journalism; something gets reported and if it has a photo lazy journos consider that almost as good as confirmation of the story without further investigation. Then some 'facts' come to light; strange noises from within, no amount of effort will move the boxes, etc. Great; sounds like a proper gee-whiz story! Did any journalists go out to count how many actually existed? Did they go up with film crews (or even just a smart phone) and record the noises? Did no one wonder how they got there if they were so heavy they couldn't be moved? Maybe another student project, but not as successful as the first as there appeared to be no "me too" public participation. To be fair, maybe some journalist did leave their desk and discover the whole thing was a hoax.

And the dog-pig-body thing. Either it was or it wasn't. How hard is it to cart it off and do some simple tests - once you've got someone to agree to pay for the tests. Surely keen amateurs would do it for nothing for the fame of confirming what it really was. Would look good on their CV!

I agree that one proven hoax tends to tarnish all 'paranormal' reports in the eyes of the conventional media. But as explorers of the paranormal ourselves, we are often very reluctant to expose frauds and hoaxers. Why is this?

Nick