Cowboy Mummy Found in Desert

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There are many strange stories in the Arizona files. One that is told is about the mummy found in the desert near Gila Bend nicknamed “Sylvester”. Many believe that he once was a 19th century cowboy, a con that loved to play cards. Stories are told that he finally got caught cheating and was shot in the stomach. He made a hasty exit while bleeding profusely from his wound. He got as far as Arizona’s Gila Bend desert when he fell off his horse and died face down in the sweltering heat. Shortly afterwards, he was covered by the blowing sands, which appeared to have dried his body overnight. This apparently preserved his body resulting in the mummified form he was found in.

The more believable story was that he was found shortly after death and preserved in a high level of arsenic. Arsenic was used to stop the physical occurrences of a corpse rotting by killing bacteria and insects that invaded it. This custom of using arsenic was found to be poisonous by the 1900’s and never used again. No one really knows who put his body in arsenic. Perhaps it was one who profits on this type of behavior. His mummified body was displayed in a sideshow for all to gawk at. People wanted to see the Wild West outlaw mummy that was found in the desert. In 1955, the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle, Washington acquired Sylvester and put him in a glass case for display. This is where Sylvester has been ever since.

There were many that wanted to know if Sylvester’s story was true, or just an urban legend. Experts were sent to examine the body to see if it was a real person or a very clever wood carving made to look like a mummy. They would have to head up to Seattle, Washington, to get their answers.

Upon first inspection they noticed that Sylvester was highly polished and weighed about 100 pounds. The desert sands would have soaked out the liquid of his body, leaving the mummy to weigh about 20 percent less of his living weight. The mummy's weight meant that Sylvester was a very heavy man, around 500 pounds. Also, if he was mummified by the desert sands, his skin should have been dry, not smooth and shiny. They expected to find a varnish on the surface to explain the glossy phenomena, but found none. They did find a great quantity of arsenic in the analyses of the hair and skin.

The next thing they tried was to use an X-ray machine to see what the image will reveal. They were surprised to find internal organs and human bones. This means that he was once was a real live human and was mummified in death. They examined him more to see what the cause of death would have been and found a bullet in his abdomen and another in his collarbone. They still didn’t get an answer why his was so heavy, so the used a 3-D imager to get a distinct view.

After all the scans and X-rays, they found all his organs complete, with buckshot fragments lodged in several areas of his body and even one in his right cheek. The massive buckshot could explain the weight. The examination of his teeth revealed that he was probably between 35 and 40 years of age when he died.

The question still remains, was he really mummified in the desert while on the run, bleeding from his wounds? Or, did someone find him right after he died, preserved him in arsenic and used his mummified body as a sideshow freak display? I just may have to take a trip to Gila Bend to find the truth, if it is out there.

DT: Alien Mummies; Van Lake Monster

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FIRST INVESTIGATION: ALIEN SIGHTINGS IN CHILEAbout 67% believe in aliens and one in four believe that they have visited our planet. For all that believe, there a skeptics saying, "Why haven't we found any alien corpses?" According to recent reports in Chile, they have. Not long ago an alien mummy was exhumed deep from within the Chilean desert. Even though the remains looked a bit suspicious to Josh, there have been numerous reports by local Indians that claim to have had close encounters of the third kind. They have claimed to have seen tiny living creatures living in the mine shafts along with mysterious lights and UFO's. Looking for aliens is a first for Josh and his team, but with all the sightings, they just couldn't resist investigating. They flew 12 hours to Lima Peru, where in the remote desert in Northern Chile is where the most recent sightings have been. After getting their rental car, they made plans to travel thousands of miles south of Lima to some old abandoned mines where the sightings took place. From Lima they drove 26 hours south to Chile along the remote Pan American highway. After going through several tolls, they pulled over in a small town where Josh decided to get a haircut. In the morning they stopped in De Nasca, which is famous in alien culture. Josh and some of the crew took a plane for an aerial view of the land. From above they could see complex shapes and patterns carved in the desert's face. They were etched a few thousand years before human aviation and meant to be seen from above by those of another world. After witnessing these remarkable symbols, Josh still wasn't convinced he was in the presence of alien beings. Then they drove another 2,000 miles and finally reached Chile. Their first stop was at a place called Stargate, a stone monument erected in the middle of the desert which some claim is a portal to another dimension. Daniel Mamani's family helped build the Stargate monument and has personally seen these aliens. He claims that they are built some what like people but are very small. He tells Josh that the lots of paranormal activity were near the mines and the locals believe that the aliens were causing it. They next head off to a small town to have someone help them to locate the mines. They met up with Alejandro, a UFO researcher, who tracked the recent sightings near the abandoned mine. He tells Josh to talk to the Aymara Indians because they can guide him to the mines. After several miles in the baking sun they met up with Montano Biza, an Aymara tribal leader. He has personally witnessed the strange occurrences such as a strange light, larger than a star, hovering over the landscape, and then disappearing. He believes they are extra terrestrials and was able to outline the exact location of the mines for Josh and his team.

INVESTIGATION: Getting to the mine just before the setting sun they noticed that to climb down into a large hole. Josh and Evan got on their climbing gear and headed down first. Once everyone got down safely, they set up base camp on the landing they descended on. While some of the team stayed at base camp, Josh and the rest checked out the tunnels. The smell below started to become unusual and then Evan's foot fell into a soft spot causing a hole. Josh notices a burlap material and inside the hole they saw bones. A very foul odor was coming from the hole where more bones had been found. The skeletal remains looked humanoid but the feet looked like hooves. It looked like it was buried there on purpose and had its head removed. They bag the bones so Jael and Rex can take them back to base camp. On the way back to base camp with the evidence, Jael and Rex see something. After asking is anybody with us, a rock was thrown at them. Josh continues on with Evan and Mike where they cross a small wooden manmade bridge. Josh feels a breeze coming and sees a light and chases it down. They follow the breeze to an opening, left the tunnels and headed over to a ridge line. They see a bright light across the canyon just above the rim. They try to focus on it while it was moving around and appeared to be pulsating. Mike picks up a weird noise coming out of the parabolic dish even without it being plugged in. It sounded mechanical; maybe even an alien type sound. They spent 12 hours underground for this investigation and had lots of activity. Unable to take the remains they found back to Los Angeles for research, Josh had to photograph them.

RESULTS: He took the photos first to the Natural History Museum of LA to Dr. Jim Dines a mammologist. Josh shows him the pictures and asked what he thought it was. He says that the feet are proportioned wrong for any kind of human or primate and was completely stumped on what it could be. Josh decides to take his findings to another expert, Mike Dee, retired curator from the Los Angeles zoo. He notices that the two feet are hoof like and definitely doesn't think it is a bird. He also saw no evidence of any type of feathers and was also puzzled by the remains. Josh was amazed that he could not get any positive identification of the remains from either of the two experts. The species that Josh and his team uncovered deep in the Chilean mines is still a mystery. Also, after replaying their recordings of the strange lights that they saw, they remain a mystery too.

SECOND INVESTIGATION: VAN LAKE, TURKEY, MASSIVE SCALY MONSTERWhen both CNN and the associated press made headlines of a large lake monster, Josh and his team had to investigate these reports. For centuries many have talked about the Van Lake monster but it wasn't until recently that a man’s video taped a large creature swimming around in the lake. Since then, hundreds of people have also reported seeing this mysterious animal. Van Lake is found in far Eastern Turkey in a remote region near the border of Iran. It is nearly 1,500 square miles and is nearly the size of Rhode Island. Most of the sightings are reported just off the lake's southern coast. Eyewitness say that this creature measures about 40 feet long, with dark scaly skin, long spiny back, and a muscular tail has a devastating whip against any person or vessels that goes near it. It also has a horse like head with razor sharp teeth and a massive jaw. The team flies nearly 17,000 miles to Istanbul, Turkey which took 17 hours. After such a long flight they emerge into the city of Istanbul which is an exotic mix of East and West and is the dividing line between Europe and Asia. After haggling over the price of a carpet, Josh left the market and met up with a local journalist, Gerguim Cuench. He was the one that obtained the original footage of the creature that later became international news. He tells Josh that it has been a part of Turkish history that this monster exists. He goes on to tell him that many believe that the monster exists but there was never any proof. Next the team heads out from Istanbul on a flight to the city of Van which borders the lake. The team was beyond tired and acting a bit goofy at this point so they hop in another DT special rag-tag vehicle to the Pearls of the East or the shores of Van. People have been inhabiting these shores for over 7,000 years where places of it's ancient ruins can still be seen. Because the story of the monster was so huge in this town, the local government formed its own team to search for it and even erect a statue of the monster. He talks with the Mayor, Nazmi Sezer, who tells him that there is definitely a creature in the lake and divers have seen eggs that the creature had laid. He also tells Josh that the creature can be found near the fresh water of Akhtamar Island. After getting Mike to shave off his beard and keeping his mustache, they got back on the trail of searching for the monster. Before investigating they spoke with a couple of local boat captains who shared their stories about the creature. Afterwards the team splits up to survey the area. Josh and Mike headed up in a helicopter, Jael and Rex kept watch on the Southern bank and Bicha and Sharra stayed north.

INVESTIGATION: Sharra spots some dark shadowy figures along the surface. Shortly afterwards Jael and Rex see it as well. They tell Josh that is black and coming out of the water, and then going back down. Josh flies over the area but whatever it was had already disappeared. After returning from the flight, Josh and the team head out to Akhtamar Island in a boat. They land on the rocky coast and set up base camp. Evan and Josh head out first into the extremely cold water of Lake Van to get a look at the underwater area. The visibility was about 3 feet tops and the water was very cold and salty. They decided to search topside where the creature is known to surface at night. Josh and Jael head up to the highest point on the island to get a better look of the lake. They come across some ruins of an ancient church where they see drawings of a large monster eating people and found graves as well. They head back to base camp where Josh and Rex head out to do a sweep of the lake in a boat. Jael and Bisha do a sweep of the coastline. While out in the boat, it starts to rain and snow while the temperature drops to freezing. Base camp was experiencing lots of rain and their tarp filling up with water. It collapses spilling water on some of the equipment. The equipment was fine and they were able to fix the tarp. Meanwhile back on the shore, Jael hears noises and a very loud splashing and a moaning sound. They see something moving in the water so Josh submerges the underwater camera. Something hit the zodiac boat Josh was in and they saw something swimming by the camera. Then they see something big surface which makes a loud splash. They kept pursuing whatever was making the sounds and kept surfacing, but didn't find anything. After fixing the base camp's tarps, Josh went out in the zodiac boat again with Jael. Quickly they see ripples in the water, and then get a long shape on the thermal imaging camera. Then they hear a noise and then see a large shadow near their boat. Daylight was coming so they headed back to shore. They investigated from the coast the rest of the time then headed back to LA to analyze their findings. The thermal did show something about 20 feet in the water and on the underwater cameras there wasn't a clear enough image to tell what it was. Because the lake if fairly sparse, logic would dictate that something large would not be able to survive in that lake. Because they did experience something, Josh took the original footage to a marine biologist, Dr. Scott Cooper to get his opinion of what it was. Because you couldn't see in front of the object, he was skeptical that something could have been towed. In the clip of the object still in the water, he commented on the breathing being continuous bubbles as if there was an air hose or something causing it. Josh asked if they were looking at something biological and he told him that the skin looks leathery but the rest doesn't look credible to him. He felt that they were looking at a hoax. Josh then show him the footage of theirs from the helicopter showing the dark black objects bobbing at the surface. He tells Josh that it is unlikely for a huge creature to exist in this very salty lake and there is only one species of fish in the whole lake. His conclusion is that it was either a school of fish or methane sediments that bubble to the surface and appear to be a very large object. Because of the hundreds of sightings, there is the possibility that something could be hiding deep in the murky waters of Van Lake.

~Julie~

DT: King Tut's Curse

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FIRST INVESTIGATION: "KING TUT'S CURSE", Egypt
For 1000's of years the mummified Kings of ancient Egypt laid hidden beneath the desert until Josh's predecessors cracked open the tombs where curses written on the walls threatened anyone that disturbed the Pharos right to rest in peace. Howard Carter first opened King Tut's tomb in 1923. Several members of his team died by years end and were the first victims of the Pharos curse. Many people after that tragic event that were curious about King Tut's tomb, also met with a tragic end. Just recently a team conducting a CT scan on King Tut was met with a rare sandstorm and complete failure of their equipment. Since then guards have seen strange lights, apparitions and heard strange voices in the Valley of the Kings. Josh was surprised when the Egyptian government granted his partition to spend the entire night investigating King Tut's tomb alone, a world wide first.

They flew more than 7,000 miles through 10 time zones, landing in Cairo, Egypt. As soon as they touched down, Josh headed over to the Egyptian museum where there is a vast amount of priceless relics. Over 4,000 of Tut's personal items have been excavated from his tomb and brought there for display. Josh was required to meet with the director of antiquities, Mustafah, to give them the keys to the tomb. He asked him if there was any truth to the curse and Mustafah said that it was something he couldn't deny. There was some kind of power but he didn't know what it was. The next morning they flew south from Cairo to the city of Luxor. This ancient capital of Egypt sits across the banks of the Nile from the Valley of the Kings. Josh meets up with Ramy, an Egyptologist, who tells him that the Valley of the Kings is essentially a graveyard with many kings buried down there. It is a very spiritual place. Josh asked if anyone ever filmed there before and he said never, they would be the first. The idea for filming there at night is very scary and would be provoking the curse. After shopping, they ate some of the local cuisine which consisted of testicles, brains and a bull penis. The next day Ramy takes Josh to meet a local guard who has seen ghost like apparitions and strange lights across the valley along with other guards. He tells Josh that he shouldn't be alone while in the Valley of the Kings because it was too dangerous. They leave Luxor, go across the Nile, through the Valley of the Kings, and then the mountain pass that leads to Tut's tomb. They use camels to get there which doesn't make Josh very happy.

INVESTIGATION: They set up base camp right outside the entrance to King Tut's tomb. Josh and Jael set out to sweep the area surrounding the tomb using the thermal imaging camera. Jael kept hearing noises near a tomb so they went to investigate. Josh catches a shadow moving on the thermal camera. After exploring the perimeter they head down to the tomb. Two of his crew was not feeling very good. Before they could go down to where the tomb was, a sudden sandstorm stops them. After the sandstorm subsides, they head down. They finally reach the body of Tut and hear noises near it. Josh gets a high EMF reading over the area where Tut was found and there was no reason for the high reading. He hears another sound down the corridor which sounds like a person. Josh and Rex chase the noise down and find that one of his crew feel down sick. After taking him back to base camp, they do the isolation in the room with Tut. Josh gets locked in first and hears all kinds of weird noises. He keeps hearing something outside the door and with everyone at base camp, he sends Mike down to corroborate his story. Mike gets locked in and hears sounds from the other side of the tomb. Mike's experiences shortness of breath and has an asthma attack. Rex heads down and they bring him back up. With his team dropping like flies they take the evidence back to Los Angeles for analysis. Mike picked up on audio Josh talking and what sounded like a voice saying "out". Also while Josh was alone, they picked up the sounds of footsteps on audio. The trap camera mounted in the tomb caught in one picture a translucent white light on the corner of the photo.

The second investigation on the "Skunk Ape" will be posted later today.

~Julie~

Cottage #4: Mummified Body in Bathtub

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There are people that enter in our lives and for some reason become like family who are there for every big event and holiday. In my family it was Audrey. Audrey was like a Grandmother that I never knew and was around every Thanksgiving and Christmas for the family’s party. She made sure that all the grandchildren got a dollar or two, wrapped around a candy cane. For April, it was Ronald.

After April and her sister moved out of the house on the corner, their Mother decided to downsize into a smaller place. She found a two bedroom cottage on a one acre lot a few blocks away from the house they were renting. This lot also had three other cottages that were rented out to others. One of the renters was Ronald. After a few months of living in the cottage, April’s mother heard a quiet knock at the door. She opened the door a saw this tall, thin, unassuming man, with scruffy beard standing there. He told her that his name was Ronald and he lived in cottage 4. After that initial meeting, Ronald came over many mornings having coffee, muffins or some other breakfast meal. Their conversations were of general subjects, never anything personal. Ronald never like talking about his personal life, especially any male companions that have been in his life or any he may be seeing at the time. He always came to her mother’s cottage and never invited her over to visit his. She never questioned why nor had any reason to suspect anything wrong. Even with that, they still had a special friendship. April and her sister got used to seeing Ronald at their mother’s place every time they came to visit. He was like an uncle to them. On Christmas morning, the girls would sleep in the spare room while Ronald slept on the couch. This friendship was strong for over two years.

One day, out of the blue, Ronald asked April, her mother and sister to start calling him Harry. He explained that it was his middle name and most people know him by that name. They thought it was an odd request for him to make since they have known him as Ronald for over two years. They told him that they would continue calling him Ronald because changing things now would be just plain weird. Shortly afterwards, Ronald started displaying very odd behavior and finally just disappeared without a trace.

April’s mother moved months later without ever knowing what happened. One evening she got a visit from the local police asking questions about Harry. She was worried and wanted to know if he was alright or if he did something wrong. They needed to know any information Harry may have told her because he was a person of interest in an investigation. She mentioned that she referred to him as Ronald and that he never talked about his personal life. She also told them that she never was in his cottage. She gave them as much information as she could remember with some questions of her own. Why the police was interested in Ronald or rather Harry?

In February of 2008, the Phoenix police responded to a call to the address of Ronald’s cottage. The owners were in cottage #4 to clean it out and found a mummified body in the bathtub. They rented this cottage out to an adult male in 1995. They received regular rent payments from 1995 to the summer of 2007, when the payment suddenly stopped. After briefly visiting the cottage and finding it abandoned, they did nothing at that time thinking that the owner would return for his things. They never entered the premises at that time either. But after not receiving any payments after that, they went in the cottage to inspect its conditions. They found it to be stacked from floor to ceiling with trash, personal items and was in extremely deplorable conditions. With the assistance of others, the owners started removing the trash. When they reached the bathtub, they found it covered with plywood and plastic. When they removed the wood and plastic, they found it filled with dirt and sand. As soon as they started removing the dirt, a human leg was exposed and the police were called.

The entire bathtub was removed along with the mummified body and dirt. Upon examination they found that the person buried in the tub had been dead for a number of years and they labeled the death as “unknown”. They are not positive that the body is of the original renter, Ronald, or if it could be someone else. Harry apparently took over Ronald's identity, cashed his checks and lived with his dead body for years. There are so many questions such as, how did they know each other and how did Ronald, or whoever that body belonged to, die? Was he murdered or just died of natural causes? Harry is only a person of interest at this time, with his whereabouts still unknown to this day.

This story was all over the local news in Phoenix and around the world. Because the case is still unsolved, the names of Ronald and Harry have been changed for that reason.

Above is an artist drawing of what Harry looked like.

~~Julie~~