Sad News – Sig Haig Passes Away at 80

I know this is a paranormal RE-search site, but I can’t help posting about the passing of one of my favorite actors. My wife recently informed me that Sid Haig has passed away.

“Who was Sid Haig?” You might ask.

It’s likely that 90% of Americans ages of 40 and up who watched television with any frequency during the 60s, 70s and 80s, have seen Sid Haig, probably more than one time, and didn’t know it. Haig has been in more films and TV shows than Dennis Fimple! If you’re within the afore mentioned age range, you’ve seen him too.

Most horror fans will recognize Sid Haig from his role as Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie film House of 1000 Corpses, but his career spans decades and begins back in 1960 when a then twenty-one year old Haig got a role as the fugitive in a short film directed by Jack Hill called The Host. Jack Hill would recast Haig many times over the next fourteen years, in classic films like Spider Baby (which later inspired the title of a song by the band White Zombie).

Sid Haig has appeared in over 145 films and TV shows spanning more than 40 years. He kept quite busy during the the first three decades of his career, but took some time off because he felt typecast as a tough guy, or “heavy” as he put it. At one time he commented, “They just kept giving me the same parts but just putting different clothes on me. It was stupid, and I resented it…”

He jumped back into the industry when Quentin Tarantino cast him in the role of a judge for the film Jackie Brown. Three years later he would be meeting with Rob Zombie to develop the character of Captain Spaulding in Zombie’s horror film House of 1000 Corpses.

That movie created a cult following for Haig and he became a regular guest at horror conventions, and appeared in many more films including the House of 1000 Corpses sequels The Devils Rejects and Three From Hell.

Sid Haig was hospitalized after a fall at his home and was recovering when he suffered an unfortunate event. He had vomited in his sleep and aspirated. Due to a monitoring system the staff responded and he was immediately tended to and stabilized. His lungs were cleared but he subsequently developed a lung infection which he ultimately did not recover from.

Sid Haig was 80 years old. RIP you crazy clown. We love you and miss you.

911 Calls Horror of Marysville Shooting

Okay, it has nothing to do with the paranormal, but it has everything to do with abnormal! But hey, what do I know? Maybe I’m the only person who thinks this is screwed up.

Did you find this page because you thought you’d get to listen to “frantic” and “chilling” 911 calls of students and teachers in distress during the Marysville school shooting near Seattle, Washington; an unfortunate, devastating circumstance which resulted in the deaths of 5 students? Shame on you.

You want to hear kids say things like, “blood is everywhere…” ? You want to listen to their voices and hear the fear as they watch their fellow students get shot?

Zoe Galasso, 14. Killed Friday, October 24, 2014.
Gia Soriano, 14. Died Sunday, October 26, 2014.
Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14. Died Friday, Oct. 31.
Andrew Fryberg, 15. Died Friday, November 6, 2014.
Jaylen Fryberg, 14, died of a self-inflicted wound October 24, 2014.

Pardon my French but I’m a little ticked. We’re a fucked up society. And you know, it’s not you. You’re human, we’re human. We all do it, but it’s sad because shit like this is used to make money for the media outlets. True story…

News outlets and internet media pander to our desire to watch and listen to tragedy, because they profit from it, and we respond obediently. We have to see people getting run over, beat up, shot, and other sick and sad shit. We gawk with our mouths agape and a blank, dead stare in our eyes as some part deep in our retarded brains takes over.

We’re a nation of idiots, sheeple, lured in by tantalizing headlines promising forbidden tidbits of depravity, and we gotta have it! We give the media outlets what they want: a bump in ad views and revenue.

Sure, I lured you in with that headline, but I wanted to make this statement, not play you 911 recordings. A 911 call which relates to a violent, fatal act is not necessary information for public edification. It is sloppy management of what should be sensitive material. It’s irresponsible behavior for our 911 emergency response system and irresponsible of the media.

These kids are DEAD, GONE, never to walk in the park, ride a bike or like Neil Young sang in Rockin’ in the Free World, “…never get to fall in love, never get to be cool…”

Sad. Sad. Keep on fuckin’ up the free world.

Paranormal Investigator Advice from Amy Bruni

I just read this article at the Examiner.com and while I understand the interest in spooky ghost stories I am completely dumbfounded by how seriously paranormal “reality” shows are taken by viewers, and how successful they have been.

In our sufficiently advanced age we are entertained by, and make famous, plumbers who hunt ghosts in their spare time. Well, it’s full-time now I guess, they’re veritable rocks stars of paranormal investigation. But I guess I shouldn’t chuckle too much, our society finds celebrities in all kinds of useless TV and film. There’s no pride, no integrity, just a lot of shit.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the plumbing trade, it’s a perfectly worthwhile profession. Certainly more worthwhile than ghost hunting, and in general it pays better, but it is funny to note that in some cases the popularized, televised investigation of nothing is actually a more lucrative endeavor.

How does one find personal fulfillment in achieving fame as a ghost hunter?
There is the money. But for integrity’s sake there are two possibilities, the famed ghost hunter is either incredibly delusional or incredibly ambitious with no ounce of shame. I’d almost prefer to think that these famous paranormal investigators are intentionally taking advantage of the gullible, riding high on a wave of stupendously ignorant TV watchers. At least then we could call them charlatans or con-artists.

But if, like most of their viewers, they actually believe that ghosts are real and huntable then they’re just as ignorant of the facts. Still, credit where credit is due for their audacity at least, they actually had the balls to pursue a career in it and record their so-called investigations on video then pitch their idea to some network.

Our species has been conjuring up ghosts and the possibility of an afterlife, or some otherwise unknown and mysterious great “beyond,” for eons. Luckily, somewhere along the way some of us figured all this was probably bullshit and some smarty pants homo sapiens said, “this doesn’t make sense…” and scientific investigation was born.

After centuries examining claims and finding no evidence to support the existence of ghosts or any other paranormal or “unexplained” thing — including but not limited to gods, spirits, demons, witchcraft, alchemy, aliens, alien abductions, lake monsters, bigfoot, etc. — and assuming that most humans generally consider this stuff relative bunk and permissible merely for entertainment sake, scientists decided to stop looking too seriously at such things and instead began to concentrate on more fruitful endeavors like stuff we could see and examine. This ultimately lead to a greater understanding of our world and our species, as well as great advances in technology, cleaning pucks for your toilet, and Advil.

Now to the main topic of this post: Never a plumber, what advice does Ghost Hunter Amy Bruni share with budding rookie paranormal investigators? One key piece of wisdom she shares is, “expect many hours of investigation with little result.”

Here ends our lesson.

Tiger Fish Swallows Swallow

Tiger fishOkay, dopey title, but screw it, THAT is a scary looking fish! You want to talk Strange Encounters? Talk to the birds who narrowly escaped death as one of their comrades was snagged in mid flight by a bird hunting tiger fish. It’s not the first time a finned creature has been documented leaping out of water, for fun or to snag lunch. Whales frequently breach the surface for some form of their own entertainment, dolphins do too, and of course flying fish fly, to some extent. Great white sharks will break the surface too, when snagging a sea lion or a seal.

This is the first time a tiger fish has been documented mowing down on a swallow, but certainly not the first time it has happened. We have to give fish more cred. Hell, I hear goldfish breaching the surface in my fish tank all the time. “Bloop!” Not sure if they’d be able to take down a house fly or anything though. Gotta be quick for that. Check out the swallow catching tiger fish below…

And while you’re at it, watch this one for a laugh. Fish jumps in the boat, man jumps out.

The Conjuring Movie – The Warrens, again…

From James Wan, Director of the original SAW movie, and Insidious, comes The Conjuring, a ghost tale based on an alleged “hidden” file of a haunting investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren, who were popular ghost hunters and paranormal investigators during the 50s, 60s and into the 80s. They are most famous for being the investigators in the Amityville Horror story.

The original SAW film was great, but I couldn’t seem to sit through Insidious, maybe I should give it another try on Netflix. I hope there is more success with The Conjuring, because it seems we are in the midst of a new era in film, where foreign movies are becoming better than those made in the U.S., and American filmmakers seem to be churning out some of the samest, lamest stuff every year.

Well, the lower budget guys that is. Big budget filmmakers always have an edge, and with an estimated budget of $13,000,000 I guess they think The Conjuring is a winner. The budget for SAW was 1.2 million and they grossed 18.2 million in the first week in the U.S., so they must really think they have a prize on there hands to toss 13 mil at it.

They’re probably right though. In the entertainment industry paranormal and supernatural business is booming. The audience is calling for that kind of stuff, look at all the ghost hunter shows on TV.

I can’t stand to see another lame supernatural thriller rehash, so I hope they did a good job with this one. Check out the trailer below:

New Video in the Review Vault

Blood Sucking Freaks has just been added to the Review Vault here at Strange Encounters. Check it out. If you’re into classic, horror/exploitation, gore and comedy it’s right up your alley. Worth the view for a good laugh, and cringe, if you haven’t seen it.