Peter Pan, Graverobbing, and Lost Boys

Captain Hook. Graves. Death.

Under a flagstone at Durham Cathedral, Durham, England, earlier in September 2013, a mystery bottle containing a faded piece of paper was discovered with the names of three gravediggers, along with the message: "This grave was opened on Sunday May 11th 1913."

The Daily Mail noted, in part:

Stonemason Steve Mann unearthed the remarkably well-preserved bottle while re-laying the flagstones near the tomb of the Venerable Bede in the cathedral's 12 century Galilee Chapel on Tuesday [September 24, 2013].
The only tantalizing clue to what lay within was the words Globe Theatre, visible on the paper's letterhead....
A theatre advert - believed to be the closest piece of paper to hand when the note was made - was for a production of English dance and folk songs at the Globe Theatre, in London, Shaftesbury Avenue.
On the back were the names Mr W Wraybole, Mr W Carter, Mr G Yeoman. They were bracketed with the word Grave and what appears to be a capital D and included a stonemason mark - along with the enigmatic message.
Mr Emery said: 'The interesting thing to the advert is that it refers to the sole lessee of the Globe Theatre as Charles Frohman, the American impresario of the day. Frohman produced JM Barries' Peter Pan.'

Who were Misters Wraybole, Carter, and Yeoman?

What will be discovered about these three in the coming months? Were lost boys in the graves? Was someone looking for missing children?

The graverobbing actually links to the Globe Theatre-Charles Frohman-JM Barries-Peter Pan, and the concept of Puer aeternus. The phrase is Latin for eternal boy, used in mythology to designate a child-god who is forever young; psychologically it is an older man whose emotional life has remained at an adolescent level. The puer typically leads a provisional life, due to the fear of being caught in a situation from which it might not be possible to escape. He covets independence and freedom, chafes at boundaries and limits, and tends to find any restriction intolerable. The concept is very Jungian.

In an intriguing coincidence, one of the more significance books on Peter Pan at the end of the 20th century is Now or Neverland: Peter Pan and the Myth of Eternal Youth by Ann Yeoman (No. 82 in the series Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts).

Ann Yeoman, former Dean of Students at New College, University of Toronto, as mentioned on her academic biography, was born and raised in Devon, England, on a farm adjoining cliffs that overlooked the English Channel, a landscape which she says inspired her lifelong interest in the alternative worlds of the literary fantastic.

She decided to complete the training program in Analytical Psychology at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. She graduated as a Jungian Analyst in 1997. Her Zurich thesis was on a theme and interest that had been prevalent throughout her life: the genesis of fantasy figures and the symbolic role they play in our everyday lives. Ann turned her thesis into a book entitled Now or Neverland: Peter Pan and the Myth of Eternal Youth, published by Inner City Books (1998), which offers a psychological perspective on that popular literary icon, Peter Pan.

Until recently, Dr. Yeoman was the Director of New College's Program in Paradigms and Archetypes, and teaches the Jungian Studies courses offered in the program. She recently moved to her homeland in South Devon, England, where she continues her private practice as an analytical psychologist (Jungian Analyst).

Now Or Neverland offers a comprehensive overview of the eternal boy syndrome from its roots in mythology to present day psychological interpretations, including a detailed study of its twentieth century depiction by J.M. Barrie in his famous play and novel. 

Peter Pan. Lost Boys. Captain Hook. Graves. Death. Graverobbing. Missing Children.

Theo Paijmans shared the following in a past comment:

As for the Peter Pan connection, study the symbolism of Peter Pan as 'the boy who wouldn't grow up' and his gang of 'lost boys' who were 'forgotten by their parents'. The hooks were these tragic children were found hanging from, a reference to Peter Pan's arch nemesis Captain Hook.
J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, lets him say this about death: "To die will be an awfully big adventure". One author, Kevin Orlin Johnson, has argued that the Pan stories are in the German-English tradition of the Totenkindergeschichte, the "tales of dead children".
And then there is Peter Pan's mythical realm Neverland, the name also given to Michael Jackson's ranch which, as some allege, is a place where one of the darkest kinds of violence against children was been performed.

As we explored before (see The Peter Pan/Hook Deaths), something strange is going on, and it has been for decades.

Kenya's Westgate Mall Terror Attack

This is the face of the "White Widow," which for many in the West became the personification of Kenya's Westgate Mall terrorist attackers.

One scenario that did take place during the unfolding drama was the now-semi-discredited identifying of some Americans as members of the gunmen involved in the attack as Americans.

One was said to be a Mainer. Allegedly. Supposedly. Reportedly. The distance from Portland, Maine to Mogadishu, Somali is 7368.6 miles.

Over 6000 Somalis have settled in Maine since 2001. Some, yes, are from Mogasdishu. Most have moved from various locations in the United States that have been less comfortable to their immigration than Maine. The majority of Somalis live in the Lewiston-Auburn area, but more and more have moved to Maine's biggest city, Portland.

Coming out of the 9/21 terrorist on the Westgate Mall in Nairboi, Kenya, were reports that several of the militants were non-Kenyans.

A Somali al-Qaeda affiliate tweeted a series of names on an account it reported used, that is before Twitter suspended the group. Al-Shabab has been creating new accounts each time they get shut down but a movement of pro-Kenyan tweeters has been tracking down the new accounts and complaining to Twitter.

“We received permission to disclose the names of our mujahideen inside #Westgate,” their Kenya mall attack account tweeted.

The following is the allegedly Al-Shabab-published list, which contained one Mainer.

Here's the list of names and where the individuals reportedly were from:

Abdishakur Sheikh Hassan, 22, from [Portland] Maine

Abdirizak Mouled 24, Ontario, Canada

Ahmed Mohamed Isse, 22, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Abdifatah Osman Keenadiid. 24, Minneapolis

Gen Mustafe Noorudiin. 27, Kansas City.

Mo Sayid Nuh, 25, Kismayu, Somalia

Sa'd Daud, 23, Damascus Syria

Shafie Die, 25, Tucson Arizona

Mohammed Bader, 25, Aleppo Syria

Ismael Guled, 23, Helsinki, Finland

Zaki Caraale Jama, 20, Hargeisa, Somalia

Shirdoon Nasir Ahmed, 24, of London

GB Qasim Said Musa, 22, Garissa, Kenya

Eliko Mamedoff, 27, Dagestan

Abdelkarem Ali Mohamed, 21, Illinois

Sources: 1, 2, 3.

All the talk of the "foreigners" at the Westgate Mall attack - as victims and as attackers - caused conflicting accounts about the appearance of the "White Widow" among the terrorists.

Whether “White Widow” Samantha Lewthwaite, a British widow of one of the 7/7 attackers who became an al-Qaeda paymaster, was involved in the attacks is still open for speculation. Is her body in the rubble of the three stories that collapsed at the mall? Did she escape and is a hunted fugitive? Was she not involved at all? Last year she was on the run in Kenya as international authorities tried to hunt her down.

Intriguing is the middle name of the identity Lewthwaite stole to use in her escape: Faye. (See more on the Fayette Factor here.)

The death toll in the terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall in Naibori, Kenya is at least 72 people, including six soldiers and five terrorists. It was a terrible event.

But clear information on the names and identities of who was killed, who were the attackers, and who is under arrest remain confusing.

Was a Mainer among them? Was the White Widow one of them? We may never know.

"My ELF Weapon"

Navy Yards shooter Aaron Alexis appears to have had an "elf" in mind when he killed a dozen people this week. But the man-without-a-middle-name was probably not talking about "little people." He carved the phrase "My ELF weapon" into his shotgun, thought people were sending vibrations into his body, and heard voices.

Was "Decatur" in his background? Aaron Alexis damaged furnishings inside a near-Decatur, Georgia, nightclub on Chamblee-Tucker Road near Interstate 285 at 1:10 a.m. on August 10, 2008, according to a disorderly conduct citation from DeKalb County police. It was probably the El Noa Noa, which is very near I-285 at 4298 Chamblee Tucker Rd, Tucker, Georgia, but it could have been El Tucanazo, at 2816 Chamblee Tucker Rd, Atlanta, Georgia.

The report says Alexis began using profanity repeatedly outside the nightspot after he was thrown out. The citation says he wouldn’t stop swearing, despite being told several times. The name of the club was not in the police report.

Mysteries are being revealed the more that is learned about Aaron Alexis. Alexis apparently carved two phrases into the stock of his shotgun before going on his shooting spree: "Better off this way" and "My ELF weapon." Officials told The Washington Post that they didn't know what either phrase meant.

But could one phrase relate to what many assassination theorists and ufologists have been talking about for years? ELF could stand for "extremely low frequency," which refers to electromagnetic fields with low frequencies, like those carried in power lines and household appliances.

It is well-documented that the U. S. Navy has used extremely low frequencies in a program with the Air Force called the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), an ionospheric research program often cited by theorists as a tool used by the government to trigger natural, unnatural, and human events.

On August 6-7, 2013, according to the Los Angeles Times, Alexis told police in Rhode Island that three people were following him and using "some sort of microwave machine" to send vibrations through the ceiling and into his body, keeping him from sleeping. He also claimed that voices were speaking to him through "the walls, floor, and ceiling."

He reportedly sought mental health treatment twice at Virginia hospitals since that incident took place. The Navy and his employer claim they had no idea that Alexis was experiencing mental health problems.

Aaron Alexis used a Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun in the Navy Yard killing spree, which he bought for $540 at a gun store in Newington, Virginia. He allegedly walked into the Navy Yard facility with the shotgun in parts and assembled it in a fourth-floor bathroom.

He tried to buy a handgun at that same store, but was denied because he had an out-of-state ID, according to the Associated Press. He also tested out an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in the store's firing range but didn't end up buying it, a lawyer for the store claimed.

Was Aaron Alexis (AA=11) focused on 9/11? What was his middle name? Was "Aaron Alexis" his invention? Following the shootings, research showed that when Alexis was arrested in Seattle in 2004 for shooting out the tires on an individual's vehicle, he informed Seattle law enforcement officers that he was present during "the tragic events of September 11, 2001." His father told police that Alexis suffered from PTSD and that he had helped rescue people from the attack site.

NBC News confirms that Aaron Alexis was "working as a clerical worker at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, located near the World Trade Center, and that he had told multiple other people that he was suffering from what he saw during 9/11."

One does not have to be a Weatherman to know which way the elfin winds blow, my friends.

Various sources include here, here, here, here, and here.

Name Game: Aaron Alexis

Update: There are new blog mentions, plus NBC News reporting from two days after the schooling, that Aaron Alexis created a website called Mohammed Salem. It is unknown why this was done, but intelligent speculation is that he was a merely fan of the retired soccer player, the current soccer player, the photojournalist, the newsman, or the singer named "Mohammed Salem." It is probably social media racism that some would try to paint this mentally disturbed Buddhist as a Muslim.

The name Aaron is from the Hebrew name אַהֲרֹן ('Aharon) which is most likely of unknown Egyptian origin. Other theories claim a Hebrew derivation, and suggest meanings such as "high mountain" or "exalted." In the Old Testament this name is borne by the older brother of Moses and the first high priest of the Israelites. He acted as a spokesman for his brother, and carried a miraculous rod. (Please note: Aaron Alexis attended Hillcrest High School.)

The name Alexis is derived from the Greek name Αλεξις (Alexis), which meant "helper" or "defender," derived from Greek αλεξω (alexo) "to defend, to help." This was the name of a 3rd-century BC Greek comic poet, and also of several saints.

The Washington Navy Yard shooter was identified as Aaron Alexis. Interesting that no middle name has ever been revealed.

In a combined form, Aaron Alexis would loosely mean the "exalted helper" or "defender from a high mountain." It is intriguing to read the first reports that the Washington Navy Yard shooter allegedly picked an elevated spot from which to shoot down upon several of the victims. Those accounts, however, were false. The reported shooter was said to have gone to the 4th floor of Building 197, supposedly assembled or revealed his weapon from a bag in a restroom, and then went down the halls shooting the workers randomly.

According to the New York Daily News,

Alexis worked for The Experts Inc., part of Hewlett-Packard Co., and the Navy subcontractor’s CEO, Thomas Hoshko, told Reuters that the gunman had a “secret clearance” and was scheduled, starting this month, to work out of the Navy Yard with a military-issued ID card. Hoshko said it was “not clear” if Alexis’ assignment was to start Monday.
Alexis — who attended Hillcrest High School in Queens and whose last address was in Fort Worth, Tex. — has gotten in trouble before for firing his guns.
He was arrested in Seattle in 2004 after he shot out the tires of another person’s car — an episode he would describe as a “blackout” driven by rage. He was also busted in Fort Worth in 2010 after he was accused of firing off a round from his weapon. The Navy discharged him in 2011 for “misconduct” issues, an official told The Washington Post.

Did Alexis use the same weapon as used at Newtown? There remains some confusion about that today. But at the early afternoon FBI news conference, police authorities noted that an AR-15 was not used.

The victims of the shooting include Arthur Daniels, 51, of Washington; Mary Francis Knight, 51 of Reston, Virginia; Gerald Read, 58, of Alexandria, Virginia; Martin Bodrog, 54, of Annandale, Virginia; and Richard Michael Ridgell, 52, of Westminster, Maryland.

On Monday night, officials identified: Michael Arnold, 59; Sylvia Frasier, 53; Kathy Gaarde, 62; John Roger Johnson, 73; Frank Kohler, 50; Vishnu Pandit, 61, and Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46.

Le Loyon: Ghostly Figure Photographed in Swiss Woods

What is Le Loyon and why are people scared?

Some call it Switzerland's answer to the Loch Ness Monster.

The creepy, sinister figure given the name Le Loyon, which has been seen in the woods of western Switzerland for a decade, has been finally photographed.

Dressed in a military uniform with a gas mask covering his face, the figure, known as 'Le Loyon', is said to have been haunting the woods for the past decade. He apparently walks the same route every day.
However, there was no evidence of his existence until local news website Le Matin published the first known photograph of the mystery man last month, and now police are trying to track him down. But is it for real?
"I came across him near the marches," an unnamed amateur photographer who tracked him down told Le Matin. "I approached him up to a dozen metres away.
"He had a military cape, boots and an army gas mark - an antique type, I think. He measured more than 1.9m. He stared at me then turned his back on me and left in silence."
Other locals have also told of their frightening encounters with the man.
"It scared my children," a woman said. "He came out of the woods with his military clothes. We saw neither his face nor his eyes behind his big dark gas mask. It was scary and I know women who are venturing alone in the forest.

Another local resident, Marianne Descloux of Maules, said she also saw him: "It was a rainy Sunday. He had on a cap, a dark cloak and gas mask. What goes on in his head? I don't know. It was unpleasant. I hope I never run into him again."
The figure was also reportedly spotted clutching what appeared to be a bunch of flowers.
"Families simply won't go into the forest any more," a farmer said.
Police want to speak to Le Loyon to ask him to be less threatening, although he's shown no signs of aggressive behaviour. Source.

The name "Loyon" may be related to the name Lyon, meaning lion, fierce warrior, and related definitions.

'Families simply won't go into the forest any more,' a farmer said, adding that Le Loyon had been seen regularly over 10 years. 'No one here finds this story funny.'

There have been a number of theories as to the figure's true identity - a mentally ill woman, a gigantic man, or someone suffering from a nasty skin condition.

Others suggest that Le Loyon has deliberately chosen a hermit's life, perhaps because he is a 'survivalist' obsessed with the apocalypse.

Despite the terror felt by many at coming face-to-face with the mysterious wanderer, he has never shown signs of aggression - but local authorities are keen to get in touch with Le Loyon to reassure their constituents' fears.

'The situation is delicate because we basically have nothing against this person,' said Guy Savary, the municipal official in charge of forests.

'But since he arouses these fears, we are going to hold meeting to see if we can find a way of locating him, and discouraging him from behaving as he does.' Source.

Coulrophobia Alert: Send In The Clowns

The Northampton Clown is not a phantom. He has been photographed.

Readers of this blog are well aware of our clown-radar being on high alert. Sometimes it has been about Jokers and Jokawilds, sometimes of Evil Clowns, and frequently concerning Phantom Clowns.

On 9/11, the clown news presented itself subtly.

As the Denver Post penned, "a U-turn, not clowning around, caused a crash involving a van full of clowns" in West York, Pennsylvania. The September 11, 2013 incident happened on that Wednesday evening, according to multiple media sources.

The van was going south on South Highland Avenue when its driver attempted a U-turn near a gate of the York Expo Center and collided with another van that was also heading south about 5:45 p.m., according to West York Police. Police said the driver, 83-year-old James Billingsley of York, also known as "Dimples the Clown," suffered a minor bump on the head. His passenger clown, 77-year-old Norman Clouser of York, was unhurt.

A photo from the scene of the clown van accident.

The van with the clowns in it was also pulling a trailer with a clown car on it.

Four clowns were in the van at the time, and one of them, the driver who goes by "Dimples the Clown," was taken to an area hospital for minor injuries.

Police say the clowns were going to the York Fair when the driver missed the entrance and attempted to turn around when the crash happened.

Police said "Dimples" was wearing clown shoes but the oversized footwear apparently didn't play a role in the crash.

West York Borough police Sgt. Brad Thomas said both vehicles had to be towed. He didn't know if the clowns ever made it to the fair.

A clown appearance much more sinister is another bit of news this week, out of the United Kingdom.

The sightings of a mystery clown may have been taking place for some time, but reports of them tied his initial appearance to Friday the 13th of September. In the British town of Northampton, the creepy clown, said The Herald & Post, was of a man with white face, red hair and sharply arched eyebrows. He appeared in two separate areas of Northampton.

(Northampton, btw, is the city of Dark Knight creator/magician/graphic novelist Alan Moore, as noted by RPJ.)

The Independent compared his appearance to that of Pennywise from Stephen King's film IT. Staring at people, he's been reported holding a clown teddybear and at other times, balloons.

One female resident of Northampton told the Inquisitr that the clown knocked on her door and offered to paint her window sills.

Have there been copycats? The Northampton Chronicle said that two "teens" dressed as clowns knocked on a resident's door and asked if they could paint her window sills—though they had no paint or brushes.

Over at Dangerous Minds, a comment maker has left this keen observation:

"655321
"I never read the novel, but reading the wiki I see that [Stephen King's] It shows up roughly every 27 years in Derry. The book was published 15 September, 1986. 27 years ago."

What's next?

Aaron Alexis Id'ed As Shooter of Dozen Dead in Washington Navy Yard Shootings

Aaron Alexis has been identified by police as the dead Washington Navy Yard shooter, NBC News reports.

Alexis, 34, originally of Fort Worth, Texas, recently began working at the Navy yard as a civilian contractor, the station reported. USA Today and CBS News also report that an unnamed source identified Alexis as the shooter, who was confirmed dead by police earlier today.
LA Times Update: The shooter has been identified as a 34-year-old man from Fort Worth, Texas.

He was killed by police during a gun battle some two hours after the initial shootings, and was a government civilian contractor new to the Washington, D.C., area.
CNN Update: At least 12 dead in Washington Navy Yard shootings, District of Columbia mayor says.

Updated from original post: Police now say two shooters, including one in fatigues, have killed four people and wounded eight others at the Washington Navy Yard. Police initially said three shooters were involved, according to the Washington Post.

Three shooters are involved in the Navy Yard shooting, a police spokeswoman said. One of the shooters is “down,” police said, but two remain in a building on the grounds. One of the shooters at large is dressed in fatigues. At least one has a long gun, police said.

One tweet has this description of one shooter who has been "neutralized": "Black male, 5'10" 170 pounds with black shirt and black hat"

Another said "six feet tall."

CBSEveningNews:
Reports of shots fired at Bolling Air Base near the Washington Navy Yard. Police responding.

+++Earlier...

On Monday, September 16, 2013, the Washington D.C. Navy Yard is the scene of an active shooter who has shot various people, including a D.C. police officer.

A law enforcement spokesman confirmed at 9:20 a.m. that the officer was shot near the room where a lone gunman has barricaded himself after allegedly shooting at least three people, perhaps four, all in critical condition, on the Navy Yard grounds in Southeast Washington.

The U.S. Navy said that three shots were fired around 8:20 a.m. at the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters building, where about 3,000 people work.

S confirmed that "police closed the 11th St Bridge as well as M St SE between 2nd and 4th streets SE due to the shooting. In addition, Metro Transit Police closed the New Jersey Avenue entrance at the Navy Yard station. The Half Street entrance remains open."

Navy Seas Systems Command is the focus.

Ground stop is in effect at Reagan National Airport due to incident at the Washington Navy Yard.

Check back for further details.

The Grinning Man Returns

The Grinning Man has returned.

To our consciousness. To our awareness. To reality, via new crime reports.

John A. Keel loved tongue-in-cheek names, monikers collecting concepts, and subtle humor in his writings. He felt he was merely following in the literary tradition of American intellectual writer Charles Fort.

Keel saw himself as a Fortean, first and foremost, during his early days of writing about the unexplained. His 1970 book, Strange Creatures from Time and Space, is a tome full of such names. Take, for example, his chapter "Creatures from the Black Lagoon." Keel tackles swamp creatures then filtering through the newsclippings he saw coming across his desk.

"We shall call him the Abominable Swamp Slob, or A.S.S. for short," wrote Keel.

The name hits one like a ton of bricks, in its subtleness. To Keel, he was trying to be funny, even if perhaps going a bit overboard with the coined invention.

"A.S.S." was classic Keel, and, of course, never caught on among Forteans, let along cryptozoologists. Keel tried out other names in SCFTAS: Winged Weirdos, Man-Birds, Bedroom Invaders, and the Incomprehensibles.

A name that is often wrongly credited to Keel, "Men in Black" was not actually first used by him. As Jerome Clark personally told me, regarding the question of origins: "It is my view that 'men in black' were what Gray Barker wrote about, and that's what he called them. Keel coined the acronym 'MIB' -- different from Barker's enforcers in being otherworldly in appearance and behavior."

(Tall, blond aliens, btw, are not merely a thing of the past. Just read this new overview of a recent case from the Red Dirt Report.)

One Keel-invented appellation that may be in for a renewal of interest and examination is the Grinning Man.

It was Keel's style to collect his thoughts with umbrella terms, and he did thusly in his Chapter 14 of Strange Creatures from Time and Space, which he entitled "The Grinning Man." 

The name was self-explanatory. A large, over-six-foot tall man, with a huge smile, was detailed by Keel from an October 11, 1966, sighting personally investigated by Keel, fellow author James Moseley, and actor Chuck McCann.

Chuck McCann's Laurel & Hardy Show was seen weekday afternoons in 1966.

What some who read Keel don't seem to realize is that SCFTAS is not an encyclopedia of cases, but merely an overview, an attempt to begin a sense of witty Fortean classification to the damned. When Keel wrote "The Grinning Man," he came up with an all-too-obvious name for stories of smiling giants. His chapter is not definitive, but if one investigates a case, the researcher-writer tended to share those stories first. Such is the case in Chapter 14.

The October 11, 1966, Elizabeth, New Jersey, sightings of a Grinning Man by James Yanchitis and Martin "Mouse" Munov is mentioned because Keel and his associates looked into it. That is also why Keel shared the Indrid Cold tall tale too.

"The man was over six feet tall, they agreed, and
was dressed in a sparkling green coverall costume that shimmered and
seemed to reflect the street lights. There was a wide black belt
around his waist." The boys also said "He had a very dark complexion,
and little round eyes...real beady...set far apart." The most
frightening and bizarre aspect of the encounter is the fact that "They
could not remember seeing any hair, ears, or nose on this figure." ~ John A. Keel, from Strange Creatures from Time and Space

A critic wrote recently of Keel's examination of this phenomenon: "So who is the Grinning Man? In point of fact, he's really only the title of Chapter 14 in Strange Creatures from Time and Space."

That is correct. And this is how names used begin. Merely as names for entities and titles of chapters. What they become culturally, folklorically, and institutionally, after that is up to forces far beyond the author.

Keel used this chapter to throw in cases which today are labeled "Shadow People" or "Checkered Shirted Ghosts." Every incident has its place in history, culture, and time. Keel was trying to have fun with the Grinning Man, and some people have taken him too seriously, that's for sure.

But Keel gave a hint of the darker side of the Grinning Man reports too. On page 184 of his book, Keel shared a case from Springdale, Arkansas, for September 6, 1969. A "man" stared into the bedroom window of Mrs. Barbara Robinson, and the local police said "the man" would have had to be seven feet tall. Another case on the same page told of a Spring 1966 encounter with a very tall man "with his sweater pulled up over his head" with very pale hands with extraordinarily long fingers.

Sightings are sightings. Nothing more. But the folkloric direction they point to often end up as Grinning Men, Bedroom Invaders, Men in Black, or, nowadays, as Slender Men. (Needless to say, the overlap between the Grinning Man and the Joker is not to be ignored.)

Fast forward to the summer of 2013.

Let us take what happened a few months ago in Loveland as merely a reflection of what kinds of stories Keel would gather if he were alive. Oh, no, I do not mean Loveland, Ohio, known for its Frogman reports. The Loveland of which I talk is in Colorado, infamous in its recent past for teen suicide clusters and school shootings.

On Monday, June 10, 2013, Loveland, Colorado, police were on the search for "a grinning man who grabbed a 12-year-old girl in a Safeway parking lot."

Police issued a composite sketch of the suspect (shown at the top) in the failed kidnapping incident, which happened at Wilson Avenue and Eisenhower Boulevard at about 10:28 p.m. on that day. (The event mirrored the "Phantom Clown" incidents of near-abductions.)

The victim told police she left the store to get some change from her parents' vehicle in the parking lot.  She said the suspect was riding by on a bicycle and grabbed her wrist. The man let go of her when she screamed. Police said the girl locked herself in the vehicle and the man rode away. The suspect is described as a white man in his early 20s, with shaggy brown shoulder-length hair.  He was wearing a white baseball cap backwards and a white T-shirt. The man was riding a white, small-framed mountain-type bicycle with a bell on it. The girl helped police develop a composite sketch of the suspect. Source.

Some things still haunt the netherworld of crime and occult happenings. Be forewarned if you take such trends lightly.

A Grinning Man surfaces. Ten days later, a skeptic critiques the Grinning Men.

The Grinning Man is still out there, and the late John A. Keel is smiling somewhere.

++++

Note: John A. Keel's Jadoo and Operation Trojan Horse are back in print.

Daquan: An Invented Name's Negative Name Game

The name Daquan has no particular recorded meaning but is popular among African-Americans. The name is very rare in the English society, but the few who are named that are mostly male. Daquan is a name believed to have been invented by the African-American society. Source: Ask.com

Daquan \d(a)-quan\ as a boy's name. Invented name. The qu- sound is rare in English, and is a popular element of invented names among the African-Americans. Source: Thinkbabynames.com

In recent news, there happens to be a sad crime story of two Daquans allegedly killing a baby.

Daquan Breland is arrested.

The BBC News for September 6th, gives this overview:

Two men have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a baby in a pushchair a week ago.
Daquan Breland, 23, and Daquan Wright, 19, were detained on Friday morning in the US state of Pennsylvania for the killing of Antiq Hennis.
Antiq, one, was shot in the face on 1 September as gunfire rang out in the Brownsville area of Brooklyn, New York.
Police said the shooting was gang-related and that the target was the boy's father, Anthony Hennis, 21.
Mr Hennis, who had just picked up Antiq from the home of the boy's mother, is not co-operating with the investigation, say police.
Witnesses saw Mr Wright hand the gun to Mr Breland, who fired multiple shots, according to police. The weapon has not been recovered.

 Daquan Wright is taken into custody.

CBS News added this detail, about location:

Antiq Hennis was gunned down Sunday evening as his father, Anthony Hennis, 22, pushed him in a stroller. The toddler was struck in the head by a bullet on Livonia Avenue at Bristol Street, about a block from his home, police said. The boy was pronounced dead after being rushed to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center.
Antiq’s father was taking the toddler to visit his grandparents at the time of the shooting, Kelly said. Four bullets were fired; two struck the stroller.

Aferrismoon, who forwarded this news, noted, "The two accused are 19 and 23 years , which numbers are 'consecutive prime numbers'."

There have been others.

Daquan Davis, 19, of Atlantic City, stands in court, Monday, Sept. 17, 2012, for a first appearance at the Atlantic County Criminal Complex in Mays Landing. Davis is charged with the aggravated manslaughter and endangering the welfare (baby-shaking) of a 6-month-old child. Source: The Press of Atlantic City.

DaQuan James Royal, 19, was recaptured in Dekalb County, Georgia, on March 14, 2012, after he had escaped from police custody in Sandy Springs in August 2011. After getting away from police, he taunted them in a Facebook post from his cellphone. It said, "I escaped from sandyspings police (expletive) youll i'm james bond (expletive)". Source: News11alive.com

What we may see is that while all names are invented, of course, care, perhaps, should be given in coining names that seem meaningless but which may have their own forms of negative associations.

One woman gave her opinion on the name straightforwardly at a name site:

I guess if you're desperate enough, you could say that Daquan means "successful soldier," "Da" being Chinese for "achieve" and "Quan" being Vietnamese for "soldier." I still wouldn't recommend this, but for all you Daquans out there, now you have somewhat of a meaning, if your parents intended it or not. -- Lady Seashell. Source: Behindthename.com

For African Americans, one wonders if "Daquin" will soon have the same dangerous connotations that "Wayne" does as a middle name among Caucasian Americans?

Superman + Batman

Ben Afleck has been picked as the New Dark Knight, er, Batman, for the next Superman, er, Man of Steel movie.

The reaction has not been overwhelmingly positive.

You may recall, a similar negative reaction occurred when Heath Ledger was named to play Joker.

We all know how that turned out.