Secret Access: Inside The Vatican

What happens inside the Vatican continues to compel billions of people and change history -- but few get to see it. Watch this documentary about their secrets.

Australia billionaire building "Titanic II"

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian billionaire announced plans on Monday to build an "unsinkable" version of the Titanic, 100 years after the original sank after hitting an iceberg.

Titanic II is expected to make its maiden voyage from England to North America, the old Titanic route, in late 2016.

"It is going to be designed so it won't sink," mining and tourism tycoon Clive Palmer told reporters. "It will be designed as a modern ship with all the technology to ensure that doesn't happen."

The original Titanic, the largest liner in world when it was launched and dubbed "virtually unsinkable" at the time, sank after hitting an iceberg on April 15, 1912, killing 1,517 passengers and crew.

Palmer said his new shipping company, Blue Star Line Pty Ltd, had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese state-owned company CSC Jinling Shipyard to build Titanic II. The original ship was operated by the White Star Line.

The design work had started for the new Titanic, which will have the same dimension as its old version with 840 rooms and nine decks.

[news.yahoo.com]

Do Dead People Crave Donuts?

It was a blazing blue-sky day one week after my first birthday after my mother died. I set out to walk two miles across town. Reaching a treeless stretch where logically one would select the shady side, something else made me pick the sunny one.

My neck feeling on fire and traffic roaring in my ears, I happened upon a deserted bus stop. No one was in sight. But a grocery bag stood pertly on the bench. Clearly someone had shopped, walked one block to the stop, then when boarding the bus forgot the bag. All public-transit riders have made this mistake.

Something told me not to see what was inside the bag -- yet. Not one to waste found groceries, I made totally certain that the bag had really been abandoned, waving it around a while in case someone came running up from, say, behind the gas station nearby yelling, 'My food!'

When no one came, I walked away bearing the bag. Reaching a shady place, I looked inside to find a bag of donut peaches and a sealed packet of Medjool dates.

Mom always gave me Medjool dates for my birthday.

This was her ritual. Whatever else she sent me, Medjool dates came too: thumb-sized, their dazzling honey-sweetness hidden inside skin whose color and crunch evoke, with every bite, cockroach wings.

Aliens look at us as if we are idiots

It must have seemed like an aerial invasion to the many eyewitnesses who gazed skyward in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the nights of April 9 through 11.

Reports of the UFO activity didn't initially receive wide coverage outside of St. Petersburg, but have since trickled out.

Most of the strange light formations were seen and videotaped by many people in and around Russia's second-largest city, including one ball-shaped object seen hovering above St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport.

According to the Russian news site LifeNews, airport employees were concerned the UFO might cause a disruption during takeoff and landing of aircraft.

A short time later, before any action could be taken, the UFO vanished.

As strange lights danced around in the sky above the city, citizens aimed their cameras, the Moscow Times reported.

Gawler ghosts come out for History Month

PARANORMAL investigator Alison Oborn has seen her fair share of ghosts over the years.

For the past 22 years, SA’s ghost hunter has been seeking out some of the state’s most haunted spots and has turned her sights to Gawler.

“The town has got lots of history and lots of tragic tales, murder mysteries and yes, even the odd ghost story,” the One Tree Hill resident said.

Ms Oborn’s fascination with ghosts started at an early age in her home town of Newcastle in the UK.

“My earliest memory of the supernatural came when I was four years old when I heard the raspy breathing of an old man in my bedroom yet no one was in the room,” she said.

“I was born into a haunted house and since then it’s been like a moth to a flame trying to find natural answers to the paranormal.”

Pub regulars photograph generous ghost of former barman

Spooked pub-goers claim to have pictured the spirit they say has been haunting their local ale-house for years. Regulars at the Apsley House in Southsea, Hants, say a generous ghoul, believed to be the ghost of a former barman, keeps topping up their drinks.

And at a recent retirement party for one of the staff, Paul Morgan finally photographed the mysterious phantom.

Father-of-four Paul, 47, who was snapping friend Gerry Goodwin, said: 'I was taking lots of photos with my iPhone because it was a fancy dress-themed party.

'I took a few of a group of friends and it was once I looked at them a while later I noticed something strange in the background.

Plumbing engineer Paul added: 'The ghost is famous round here now and the pub wouldn't be the same without him.'

Landlord Paul Wicks added they had nicknamed their ghostly regular Reedy - after actor and legendary drinker Oliver Reed. He has worked at the 1960s pub, formerly a Victorian girls' school, for 13 years.

Mr Wicks, 51, said: 'People say they have seen the ghost at the bar and that they feel things - cold spots things like that. I am a sceptic but can't see any rhyme or reason for what is in that photo.'

[Daily Mail]

Landlord of 'Amityville Horror' house in Toms River, N.J. sues tenants

The landlord for the Toms River home used in the Amityville Horror is afraid his property will never be occupied again because the last tenants claimed the house was haunted.

But local people well versed in the paranormal indicate that is not the case.

Nick Carlson, the case manager for the non-profit Shore Paranormal Research Society from Toms River, said a team set up video cameras and other equipment in the home; they recorded toy bowling pins falling down on their own and sounds of a woman’s laughter in rooms that were unoccupied.

But Carlson explains that ‘haunted’ and ‘paranormal activity are very different. “Paranormal means you have an occurrence that can’t be explained scientifically,” he said, according to MSNBC. “Haunted? I do not think so. Do I think there’s stuff paranormal going on there? Absolutely.” He says there was clearly something unexplained going on in the house.

The Dark Knight Rises