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The strangest Fortean events of 1994
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EIGHTH ANNUAL
TEN
STRANGEST
LIST
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In the opinions of the editors of Strange Magazine the following are
the ten strangest occurrences of the past year (from September 1, 1993
to September 1, 1994), in descending order. This list is not an
endorsement of the "reality" of the existence of these phenomena--most
are gleaned from the international press and should be viewed in that
light.
1]FUMES OF DOOM?
On February 19, 1994, Gloria Ramirez was admitted to the Riverside
General Hospital in California, complaining of nausea and respiratory
problems. A nurse in the emergency room, attempting to take a blood
sample, noted an ammonia smell and later collapsed. Dr. Julie
Gorchynski also took very ill. Others present reported less severe
symptoms. After Ramirez died, her remains were kept sealed in an
airtight steel container. Two autopsies were inconclusive. But Dr.
Gorchynski remains an invalid. The authorities eventually explained
away the mystery as being stress-induced mass hysteria, which did not
explain the knee and lung symptoms suffered by Dr. Gorchynski. The
Ramirez family decried the mass hysteria explanation as a coverup. The
case remains the most highly publicized mystery of 1994. Sources: The
Plain Dealer 2/22/94, 2/24/94; Los Angeles Times 2/23/94; Chicago
Tribune 2/23/94, etc.
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2] THE "FLESH-EATING" BACTERIA
Steve Hillman, 37, was a victim of the notorious "flesh-eating" Strep
A infection. After surgical removal of part of his buttocks on May 8,
1994, he spoke about his ordeal to the media from his hospital bed in
Pompano Beach, Florida. A 51-year-old woman died in Denver, Colorado,
on July 3, 1994 after the bacteria "ate" into much of her body. About
10,000 to 15,000 Americans get bad Strep A infections each year, and
1,000 to 3,000 of them die. Sources: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6/8/94
and 7/29/94; and Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, 7/5/94
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3] DOG-FACED FISH
Scientists at the Department of Fish and Game were puzzling over the
fish caught by Lyle Dyslin in Clear Lake, California. The tail was
horizontal, unlike any other fish known (although similar to marine
mammals such as whales and dolphins). The pectoral fins resembled
feet. The face looked so much like a dog's (specifically Dyslin?s pet
dachshund) that he couldn?t bear to kill it. He took a very clear
picture of it, carved his initials in its forehead, and let it go.
Clear Lake is considered northern California's oldest lake. Source:
Examiner and Chronicle, 10/3/93
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4] COMPUTER VIRUSES
ARE ALIVE
Stephen Hawking, the British astrophysicist and mathematician, claimed
that "computer viruses should count as life." On August 2, 1994, at
the Macworld Expo in Boston, Massachusetts, he said that they are a
parasitic system that feeds off the metabolism of the host
computer?and that they can reproduce themselves. "We've created life
in our image," he said, referring to their destructive nature. Source:
USA Today, 8/3/94
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5] KILLER BLOB SHOWER
Sunny Barclift, a resident of Grays Harbor County near Oakville,
Washington, found tiny blobs on the grounds of her home on August 7,
1994. These fragments came down during two August rainfalls. Their
appearance may have led to the death of a kitten, as well as to the
illnesses of Barclift herself, her mother Dottie Hearn, and a friend.
Dr. David Little, who treated Hearn, arranged to have a lab test the
blobs, which determined that some human white cells were present. Dick
Meyer, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration, said
that it was not plane toilet waste. Interested townspeople found out
that the U.S. Air Force was cluster bombing the Pacific Ocean 10 to 20
miles off Washington's coast, and they opined that jellyfish bits
might have been blasted sky high and later come down in the rains.
Sources: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8/18/94 and 8/20/94
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6] MATING MONSTERS
Ed Bousfield, a biologist at the Royal B.C. Museum, reported that two
pilots in a Cessna float plane may have disturbed a pair of sea
monsters engaged in an intimate act. The two creatures, which had the
traditional loops, had probably come into Saanich Inlet to breed. When
the plane landed on the water they swam off at speeds up to 65 km./hr.
Source: Sun [Vancouver, B. C., Canada], 10/30/93
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7] HONG KONG MERMAID
In October 1993, a fisherman who called himself Mr. To radioed Hong
Kong that he was arriving with a strange creature that had long hair
and a pointed beaklike face, but no arms or legs. A crowd of 2,000
gathered around Aberdeen harbor to see it, but neither Mr. To nor the
"mermaid" showed up. Some thought the thing might be a large marine
mammal, perhaps a dugong, which emits a siren-like noise that may have
inspired the legends of mermaids.Source: Daily Post, 10/14/93
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8] GREEN RAIN ON
SAN FRANCISCO
Twenty or more people told health inspectors and fire officials how
they observed sheets of bright green liquid that rained down around
2:30 p.m. February 17, 1994 upon part of San Francisco?s Mission
Street. Preliminary examination of the substance indicated it was not
dangerous. All examined samples were very diluted, hampering analysis.
Source: Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, 2/20/94
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9] NEW VIDEO FOOTAGE OF
CHINESE LAKE MONSTER
The body of water atop the Changbai mountain in the Jilin province of
Yanji in China is called Dragon Lake because some have spotted China's
equivalent of the Loch Ness monster there. Sightings have been so
plentiful that in late 1993 the Research Association for Queer Animals
was organized. In 1962, Zhou Fengying of the Jilin Meteorological
Bureau saw two of them; and in 1980 he saw seven or eight of the
creatures. On August 20 and September 2, 1994, the creature again
showed up. It was videotaped on at least one of those occasions.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, 9/17/94
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10] HARD TO BELIEVE AWARD:
Campaign Spirit
Tommy Maccione's run for mayor of Santa Fe, New Mexico, faced one
major handicap: he was dead. To overcome this legal barrier, he
appeared to Gail Bochenek. She agreed to channel him and let him make
the decisions if he/she were elected. Her name appeared on the ballot.
Source: Tribune [Albuquerque, NM], 1/21/94
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