by Jessica Penot

Alabama is filled with strange stories. I usually focus on the ghost stories, but I thought I’d write about something a little different this month. During one particularly odd February in 1989, Alabama was swamped in reports of UFOs. North Alabama is not Arizona and UFO sightings are not common here. Alabama has had its share of fleeting reports of UFO's but nothing like what happened in Fyffe, Alabama on the nights of February 11th and 12th. On these two nights there were over fifty reports of strange, spectral lights in the skies of this small, Alabama town. There were reports and multiple photographs and a plethora of witnesses who supported the reports from that night.

Police Officers reported responding to these lights. They went out looking for them. Several officers investigating the lights even describe attempting to chase or apprehend the lights. Officers on the scene describe the flying objects as triangular shaped and utterly silent. The chief of police was completely mystified by these objects.

"What I saw the first time was like nothing I ever saw before. It was not a helicopter not a plane. Not a sound" Chief Garmany stated.

Fyffe was not alone. That night in nearby DeKalb County there were eleven reports of UFO sightings. Dekalb county police also investigated the reports and were able to witness the strange objects. Officers called the weather service and the military to make sure that the objects couldn't be explained by some obvious answer, but their investigation only gave them more questions. After calling every airport, military base, and weather station in the area no answers were found.

Following those nights of UFO sightings, Fyffe exploded with a kind of UFO mania. People came from all over to catch a glimpse of the strange objects. T-shirts were sold and reporters filled the hotels, but the skies were quiet. There was never any explanation for the multitude of sightings by so many people that night.

www.ghoststoriesandhauntedplaces.blogspot.com, www.jessicapenot.net

The Origins of the Halloween Costume

by Jessica Penot

Instead of my usual ghost story, I thought I would write something just for Halloween. Part of every child and adult's preparation for Halloween is deciding on a costume. This is perhaps the most beloved part of any Halloween celebration. Dressing up as a sexy maid or a horrible zombie is the Hallmark of our modern Holiday celebration. But as Halloween creeps up on us, I always think it is fun to think back to where this tradition came from. It is good to know why we dress up on Halloween. Halloween's history is most commonly traced back to the Celtic festival of Samhain. During Samhain, the Celts believed that the divider between this world and the next became thin. This thinning allowed both malevolent and benevolent spirits to cross over to our world. This naturally caused a good deal of fear and anxiety for the ancient Celts. While family ghosts were welcomed, bad spirits had to be scared off. Celts used bonfires to drive evil spirits off. They also used apotropaic devices to scare off bad spirits.

The People Behind The Painting

by Jessica Penot

The old Rathbone house is the creepiest house in Lafayette Square. There isn't anything tangible about the creepiness. It is just something you feel in your bones. The square is littered with ghost stories, but this house feels more haunted than the others. This house was the home of Henry Rathbone.

The Haunted eBay Painting

By Jessica Penot

Places aren’t the only things that can be haunted. Objects can carry ghost stories as terrifying as any place. Haunted objects have always held particular fascination for me and I have always wondered about the haunted items on eBay. Most haunted eBay items seem like props, but one haunted item, known as The Haunted eBay Painting has turned into a legend. The eBay painting's official name is "The Hands That Resist Him.”