Flight 191

There have been at least 5 known plane crashes involving flights numbered 191.  Including American Air Flight 191 which was considered one of the worst air disasters in US history, until the 9-11 attacks. On take off one of the engine became separated from the plane.  Air traffic control tried to contact the plane to have it turn back, but didn't receive a response.  The plane climbed to about 300 ft then took a nose dive.  The crash killed  all 258 passengers, 13 crew members, and 2 people on the ground.  

One quick note of the odd-  There were some notable people on board this flight.  One of which, Judith Wax an author, had written about her fear of flying on page 191, of her book Starting in the Middle. 

The list also includes:

X-15 Flight 191 (1967), experimental test plane, broke apart in flight, killing its test pilot

Prinair Flight 191 (1972), crashed at Mercedita Airport in Ponce, Puerto Rico, killing five people

Delta Air Lines Flight 191 (1985), crashed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, killing 135

Comair Flight 191, also known as Delta Air Lines Flight 5191 (2006), crashed at Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.

 American and Delta have both retired the number.  Then just this week a Jet Blue pilot on Flight 191, suffered a "medical incident"  during which he went a little mad and had to be restrained by passengers. 

So, is it a coincidence that so many flights 191 have had problems?  Could it be that people believe in the curse?  I mean if a pilot believes there is there a curse of Flights 191, and then finds themselves scheduled on said flight, maybe they are freaked out enough to cause a problem, or not be able to handle a problem when it arises.   The only thing I know for sure is, if I ever get booked on Flight 191, I am gonna have to rethink my travel plans. 

John D. Long Lake cursed?

In the research I have done for this blog I have run across so many interesting stories.  Some from when I was a kid, some more current, but most I don't remember ever hearing before. 

That is not true about Susan Smith killing her children.   I remember the Susan Smith case so vividly, maybe because of my age.  I was old enough to care but not so old as to be over burdened with the responsibilities of everyday life.  Maybe it was my location, I was in my first year in college, in South Carolina.  Or maybe it was because up until that moment I was blessed enough to not have realized that mothers didn't always love their children.

I remember sitting in the common room in our dorm watching Smiths tearful pleas for the safe return of her boys.  One of our dorm mates stated very mater of factly 'That woman killed those kids."  The rest of us were stunned by her words, but were more stunned a short time later when her words we proven true.  There was a tangible layer of sadness that hung over what seemed like the entire state, the day they pulled those young bodies from John D.Long Lake.  I remember the case, so I was hesitant to write this story.

A memorial was erected, since the drownings of the Smith boys, and there have been reports of children both laughing and crying, and of orbs dancing across the water of the lake. 

Two years later, tragedy struck again.  A family was trying to shine their headlights on the memorial one night when their truck suddenly rolled into the lake.  Four children and 1 adult were drowned in the truck, and two drowned while trying to save them. 

The Union County Coroner, William Holcombe, identified the victims as Tim Phillips, 26; his wife, Angie, 22; their three children, Courtney, 4, Meleana, 1, and Kinsleigh, 4 months; Carl Sidney White, 29, a friend of the Phillipses, and Austin Dakota Roodvoets, 3, who had played all day with the Phillips children.

Mr.Phillips was inside the truck with the kids.  It rolled between the monuments and over a small tree planted in honor of the Smith boys.  The truck was found upside down about 20 feet down and 80 feet out.  The key was on, but transmission was in park, the parking brake was not engaged.  There were no skid marks or other indications that Mr.Phillips applied the brake before rolling into the lake.  A family member said later that the Phillips had "nothing but trouble" from their GMC Suburban, including transmission issues.

Is this tragic event the result of a curse or is it just a horrible coincidence, that four more young children lost their lives in an otherwise peaceful lake?  Whichever you believe there is no disputing the sadness surrounds John D. Long Lake.

Doomsday??? Part 1

In the last few years there has been a lot of talk about the coming of "Doomsday".  It seems to me that there are about a million and a half scenarios as to what might happen.  In fact the only thing they do seem to agree on is that something is going to go down. 

It is easy to dismiss these people as crazy, or stupid, but if you really stop to think about it, are they really? What are they doing that is so crazy?  Storing food, water and first aid supplies, getting into better shape, learning how to defend themselves and brushing up on their survival skills.  Why are those bad things?  Why are they stupid for planning for the WCS( worst case scenario)?

 Many of them believe there is a huge financial collapse coming.  Sound crazy?  Not when you remember The Great Depression here in the US in the 30's, and the fall of the Soviet Union in the 90's.  I remember watching news footage of people standing in line for hours to get a loaf of bread.  Preppers will not be in those lines.  They are taking their survival into their own hands.

Even the pole shift and the solar flare scenarios have some merit.  There have been many, many natural disasters and blackouts in the history of the world. Freak snow storms, the dustbowl (in the 30's), flash floods.  If you look at these times how many people could have been saved if they were a little more prepared?

Even beyond the points I already listed,  a lot of these preppers are super smart.  They have built self sustainable terrariums in their pools,  invented tools that replace 10 other tools you would need to carry, they can make fuel, and that is just to name a few.  That is not something everyone can do, but they are handy skills to have. 

At first I was like yeah it wouldn't be a bad idea to just prepare a little for the unknown, but I didn't really believe anything was gonna happen.  Then more and more people started opening up about what they were doing to prepare.  These are ordinary people, people you never classify as "crazy preppers".  That got me thinking that maybe we should be doing more.  So I will start sharing here the things I will learn and the things I do to prepare.  You can follow suit and maybe prepare a little yourself, or you can sit back and laugh, but I would really encourage you to think it through.  Honestly, no one was ever hurt by being too prepared.





 

The Wog

I have been through Winder GA a number of times.  Yet until recently I have never heard of the Wog or the dormant volcano near which it lives.

The WOG is an old story that goes back to the days of Indians.  From the description it is the size of a deer and the color and shape of a wild hog, the head of a bear, a long tail with a tangled mass of hair at the end and  a forked tongue.  Apparently it waves this tail back and forth making a swishing sound that can be heard from a distance.

I wonder if the WOG might just be a wild hog.  They are all over Georgia and according to  http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/h/hogzilla.htm 
there was at least one giant hog killed here.  The description kind fits, well not the forked tongue but the rest of it is pretty close.

Natives believed the bubbling bog was the gate to Hell and the Wog was Satan.  They routinely made sacrifices to into the bog to keep the wog from taking villages in the night.  I thought that was interesting because I could not find any stories about the WOG attacking or "kidnapping" any humans.  Not even small children, which in itself is odd since almost every southern scary story involves something sinister happening to a kid.

I did find a legend telling the story of a native American woman that killed and ate her children. It didn't say why, but I guess we can assume some form of mental illness, or that they were really bad kids.  The rest of her tribe took her and threw her into the bog as punishment.  Now her ghost can be seen running through the woods screaming, being chased by a group of laughing, clapping children.   No mention of the WOG.

I think I will keep some tabs on this one and see if there is any more info or sightings out there.  If anyone reads this and has any info or stories I would love to hear them.

Don't be Rude

I am not what you might call a people person.  People don't take to me like they do some other folks. I think part of it is that I don't really like people that much.  Plus, I am pretty awkward in a conversation with a stranger or anyone I don't know that well.  I just never know what to say. 

THEM- "My dog died." 
ME- " Oh, I am so sorry to hear that"
THEM- "It was 6 years ago" 
ME- "Uhhhhhh...." I have no idea what to say to that.
MY MIND- "It's just about time to move on then isn't it"
 But you can't say that can you?   That would be rude, and above all you should not be rude.  That is a major rule in the south. 

Now my husband would come up with something brilliant, like what kind of dog was it and I had the same kind of dog.   Then he would flawlessly change the conversation to something more current.  But not me, I would either spend the next few hours talking about a long dead dog, or spend the next 3 minutes in an awkward silence.  But I wouldn't be rude, I can promise you that much.

Grits Grip

Grits are such a funny thing.  They could not be easier to make, most southern girls don't even measure them out, we go by feel.  You boil some water, add some salt, stir in the grits, turn off the flame and cover till the rest of your breakfast is done, mix in a little more hot water if needed to thin them just a little, and eat. 
Well, at the restaurant we can't use much salt because we have been getting a good many Yankees in and they want sugar in their grits.  Then you have people that want their grits like soup. That is not how grits are meant to be.  They are supposed to be thick and perfectly salted. How on earth are you going to come to small town Georgia and tell me how to make grits.  I know grits, and if you don't like the way I cook them then you can just KISS MY GRITS!