TNT hosted a special called “The Secret UFO Files of the KGB” recently, with former James Bond actor, Roger Moore, as the host. The focus of this show was on a UFO crash that occurred in the Russian state of Sverdlosky in 1969. Similar to the incident in Roswell, New Mexico twenty years earlier, the military rushed to the scene of the crash to find a saucer and a small alien corpse.

According to American Ufologists, the film appears authentic for its time period. Finding a 1950’s Russian ZIS151 truck in good condition would be very difficult today. There is some speculation on the autopsy segment. I haven’t watched this show, so I can’t form an opinion one way or the other. However, I did watch the show on the Roswell cover-up and imagine that the scene would be strikingly similar.

The Transylvanian castle of Vlad the Impaler (or Count Dracula) is an impressive 14th century fortress that last belonged to Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Queen Marie of Romania, until the Communists seized it in 1956. It was relinquished back to the family seven months ago on the condition that it was kept as a state-run museum for three years, whether it remained in the family or was sold.

Queen Marie’s grandson, Dominic von Habsburg, has decided that he wants the castle to be owned by the people of Brasov, who benefit from the tourism as well as the cultural heritage. He is asking £40m, with the hopes that the local council of Brasov will buy the castle. According to Aristotel Cancescu, the council president, the Brasov authorities are very interested in the acquisition.

Source: Times Online

The Christmas spirit has taken on a new meaning for regulars of the Bull’s Head in Ogden, UK, who anticipate the arrival of ghostly “regulars.” Customers, as well as the owners have seen the apparitions of a man, a woman and a dog appear every Christmas without fail, only to leave when the weather gets warmer.

Source: Rochdale Observer

In Austrian folklore, Krampus was a devil-like figure who appeared alongside Santa during the feast of St. Nicholas, to drive away evil spirits. The duo is still part of the festivities in many parts of central Europe.

Boisterous young men wearing deer horns, masks with battery-powered red eyes, huge fangs, bushy coats of sheep’s fur, and brandishing birchwood rods storm down the streets, confronting spectators gathered to watch the medieval spectacle, which is also staged in parts of nearby Hungary, Croatia and Germany’s Bavaria state.

Anyone who doesn’t dodge or run away fast enough might get swatted — although not hard — with the rod.

Last week, Santa and Krampus received some negative publicity when they were banned from visiting kindergartens in Vienna for scaring some children. Because of this, a prominent Austrian child psychiatrist, Max Friedrich, is aiming to ban Krampus on the basis that the world is filled with enough aggression and violence.

While I agree with him on that issue, I feel that he is promoting hysteria over the few who have suffered “Krampus Trauma.” The answer to this problem is to teach these people how to confront and deal with this fear.

Of course there are those who have taken the Krampus tradition a bit too far, especially after they’ve downed a few beers. In Tyrol, the Krampus actors are required to wear a number to enable law enforcement to weed out and punish the troublemakers.

Source: Reuters