The Anomaly Archives is the lending library of the Scientific Anomaly Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that seeks:
Preservation and dissemination of scientific research into anomalous phenomena
Research and analysis of accumulated collections Education of the public regarding scientific investigations into these phenomena
Purposes of the Institute:
* Managing and developing an archive and library for documents and literature with regards to a multi-disciplinary approach to anomalous phenomena,
* Supporting, promoting and pursuing research to obtain increased knowledge about anomalous phenomena, and
* Pursuing and stimulating a critical, scientific discussion of anomalous phenomena, and providing a forum for information, support, and sharing among researchers while, Functioning as the archives and library for like-minded organizations, and other groups in the community that have similar interests.
Our collection houses over about 5,000 books as well as research materials such as, videos, documents, magazines, and personal correspondence. Along with the S.A.I. collection, we also curate the collections of "Rare UFO & Paranormal Book Collector/Seller" Robert C. Girard, INACS (Institute for Neuroscience And Consciousness Studies), and others. And previously those of Austin MUFON (Mutual UFO Network), Austin IONS (Institute Of Noetic Sciences) and JSA (Jung Society of Austin). We house many great books that discuss a wide range of scientific subjects including:
-UFOs and Ufology
-Consciousness
-Parapsychology
-Fortean Phenomena
-Cryptozoology
-ParaPolitical Science
-Human Potential
Please come pay us a visit!
View all posts by Scientific Anomaly Institute →
Friday night, February 18th, join the Anomaly Archives in welcoming cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard to Austin, Texas.
Ken Gerhard is an accomplished cryptozoologist and field researcher for The Centre for Fortean Zoology and The Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization , as well as a fellow of the Pangea Institute . He has investigated reports of monsters and mysterious beasts all over the world including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra, winged creatures and even werewolves.
In addition to appearing in three episodes of the History Channel television series Monster Quest , Ken is featured on the special The Real Wolfman (History Channel) and in the series Legend Hunters (Travel Channel/A&E) and also Paranatural (National Geographic), plus numerous, radio and Internet broadcasts. His credits include appearances on Eyewitness News , Coast to Coast Radio and Ireland’s Newstalk Radio , as well as being featured in major books, DVDs and in articles by the Associated Press , Tampa Tribune and Amarillo Edge.
Ken is author of the books Big Bird: Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters and Monsters of Texas and has contributed to trade publications including Animals and Men, The Journal of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club and Bigfoot Times . He has lectured and exhibited at numerous paranormal conferences across the United States. Born on Friday the 13 th of October, Ken has traveled to twenty-six different countries and has visited forty-three of the states. An avid adventurer, he has camped along the Amazon, explored the Galapagos, hiked the Australian Outback and has visited many ancient and mysterious sites, from Machu Pichu to Stonehenge.
Friday February 18th at 7pm
Austin Center for Spiritual Living
4804 Grover Ave Austin, TX 78756
Follow the Anomaly Archives on Twitter, Facebook friend us, and track our events through our Meetup group or Yahoo group.
Articles, Interviews, Links and Media Coverage of Ken Gerhard…
You can visit the archived back issues here on the web and also at <www.YahooGroups.com> .
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
– Anomaly Archives News
“Recent” Events:
Saturday, December 4th, we had a joint Austin Mufon / Anomaly Archives Holiday Party at the SAI Lending Library / INACS Nerve Center location. About 25 people attended and it was a big success with many first-timers coming to the library. New friends were made and old friends reunited. A wide variety of old and new UFO related videos were watched and discussions ranged from personal anomalous experiences to reviews of the various UFO footage viewed.
Thanks to INACS for the use of the space and to Austin Mufon for sharing their holiday party time with the Anomaly Archives.
UpComing Events:
Texan Cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard – To Be Announced
Joint Austin Mufon / Anomaly Archives Monthly Meeting – Saturday, January 8th, 2011 – HAPPY NEW YEAR!
– Anomaly Headlines
Check out past monthly anomaly news headlines in back issues of the Anomaly Archives eNewsletters and let us know which headlines YOU think were the most important or interesting this past year of 2010:
“Mr Assange, have there ever been documents forwarded to you which deal with the topic of UFOs or extraterrestrials?
Julian Assange: Many weirdos email us about UFOs or how they discovered that they were the anti-christ whilst talking with their ex-wife at a garden party over a pot-plant. However, as yet they have not satisfied two of our publishing rules.
1) that the documents not be self-authored;
2) that they be original.
However, it is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive there are indeed references to UFOs.”
The Anomaly Archives is currently scheduling more events for after the New Year in 2011 including lectures by Texan Cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard and others.
Join up and stay tuned for news about upcoming meetings and events:
We need your help! The Anomaly Archives is always looking for new membership and needs your support both financially and as volunteers at the lending library and educational outreach events.
Here is the invitation from Austin Mufon coordinator (and SAI/Anomaly Archives Board Member) Mike DeGroff:
Hey, “EARTHLINGS”!
Our next Austin MUFON meeting / Christmas Party will be held this coming Saturday afternoon, December 4, from 1:00 P.M. until whenever, at the INACS “Nerve Center”, located at the Forest Plaza office park, 12593 Research Blvd., Ste. 302, Austin, Tx., 78759.
To get there take the “Oakknoll” exit from Research Blvd., (183), and stay on the North-bound feeder road. The first street you will pass will be Technology Blvd. and the very next drive after that will be the entrance to Forest Plaza. (Look for a black MUFON sign beside the entrance). Please bring your spouse or significant other.
This will be a casually dressed, potluck affair and alcoholic beverages are permitted. Please bring your favorite “munchies” to share, i.e.- finger sandwiches, chips & dips, veggies, cheezes, desserts, drinks, etc.
“Why so early in the month?”,or, “Christmas is three weeks away!”, you may ask yourself. Well, because it’s the day we are normally scheduled to meet and it’s also the only Saturday I have open for this, for the entire month! I’m pretty sure everyone else will also have their Saturdays tied up with office parties and plans of travelling out of town to visit relatives over the Holidays.
I hope everyone will be able to attend because the past year’s parties have always been a really good time, but if you’re unable to attend, I understand, and I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!!
You can visit the archived back issues here on the web and also at <www.YahooGroups.com> .
– Anomaly Archives News
“Recent” Events:
Firstly, I’d like to apologize for the lack of communications over the past several months. Organizing the Summer Flying Saucer Cinema Series and the Nick Redfern lecture left me (SMiles Lewis) quite tired. Then just a couple days into September I had a sudden health issue rear its head. Add to that an attack by an apparently Algerian hacker who took down nearly every website (over 40 different domain names) on the servers hosting the Anomaly Archives website.
This was our second biggest event to date. Our biggest event by far also featured Nick Redfern. Back in 2005, the Anomaly Archives hosted (with the kind support of Rob Riggs) an incredibly informative event called the Texas Ghost Lights Conference which also featured lectures by UK “Earth Lights” researcher Paul Devereux, Marfa Lights researcher James Bunnell and bigfoot/ghost-lights researcher Rob Riggs.
Thanks to everyone who came out and for all those who donated to support the Anomaly Archives and future SAI events.
Coming up early next year (January or February) the Anomaly Archives will be hosting a free lecture by Texan Cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard. His talk with likely cover all the amazing cryptozoo-critters he has searched for across the state, as documented in the book he co-wrote with Nick Redfern, Monsters of Texas.
Stay tuned for details on this upcoming Anomaly Archives Event…
We need your help! The Anomaly Archives is always looking for new membership and needs your support both financially and as volunteers at the lending library and educational outreach events.
Contact us today!
– Anomaly Headlines
So much anomalous news to cover… below you’ll find links to headlines including the “hoax” about the United Nations supposedly appointing someone to be Earth’s ambassador to ETs, the much anticipated Robert Hasting / Robert Salas UFO-Nukes press conference, more cases of UK schools hoaxing alien landings to stimulate critical-thinking and writing exercises for the young students, media-induced UFO sighting frenzies over New York City, El Paso and elsewhere across the United States, claims of an alleged whistleblower detailing a supposed military base underneath Dulce, New Mexico, renewed rumors of Project Blue Beam, tons of articles about UFOs as tools of military disinfo, loads of science links detailing the ever increasing evidence for alien life outside earth as well as news of earth-like planets discovered fairly “closeby” to our galactic neighborhood, plus parapsychology, cryptozoology headlines and much much more!
Say Hello to Earth’s Ambassador? Mazlan Othman aka MOthman!
Mazlan Othman Named Ambassador To Theoretical Extraterrestrials – New York Magazine
The United Nation has appointed Mazlan Othman, a Malaysian scientist, head of Earth’s Office for Outer Space Affairs. http://nymag.com
Statement of the Librarian of Congress Relating to Section 1201 Rulemaking
The Librarian of Congress has determined that “Persons who circumvent access controls in order to engage in noninfringing uses of works in these six classes will not be subject to the statutory prohibition against circumvention” [referring to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act]. Among the six classes of works are:
“(6) Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format.”
Morrison & Foerster Files Suit Against CIA, DoD, and U.S. Army on Behalf of Troops Exposed to Testing of Chemical and Biological Weapons at Edgewood Arsenal and Other Top Secret Sites http://www.mofo.com/news/pressreleases/15100.html
Government Experiments on U.S. Soldiers: Shocking Claims Come to Light in New Court Case By Bruce Falconer, Mother Jones http://www.alternet.org/story/140206/
CounterPunch: – Fred Gardner describes information given by Dr. Ketchum cannabis research at Edgewood Arsenal in the 1958-66 period. Presented to California Cannabis Clinicians meeting in Los Angeles. (24 March 2007) http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/121844
Occasionally we shine a spotlight on interesting and important researchers within the “para” community. This time we’d like to direct your attention to researcher Kenn Thomas.
Kenn Thomas is founder, publisher and editor of Steamshovel Press, one of the world’s most respected alternative media publications. He is also one of America’s best known conspiracy writers and the author of seven published books on a variety of topics.
Thomas lectures widely and appears regularly on television and radio programs, including Fox News Full Nelson, Rob McConnell’s X-Zone, Sightings on the Radio, Strange Daze and Coast To Coast AM with Art Bell.
Books By Kenn Thomas include: Maury Island UFO, Inside the Gemstone File, Flying Saucers over Los Angeles, Mind Control, Oswald and JFK, NASA, Nazis and JFK, The Octopus, Popular Alienation
Alvin Lawson dies at 80; UFO researcher questioned beliefs of alleged abductees
Over the years, the Cal State Long Beach professor became convinced that people actually were using memories of birth trauma to describe encounters with extraterrestrials. www.latimes.com
Mark Pilkington’s Mirage Men is – I don’t exaggerate in saying – one of the most important UFO-themed books you’ll ever read. That is, if you dare to read the book, and don’t shy away from it because it might upset and unbalance your carefully constructed, nice and neat Ufological world.
Whether you are a full-on true-believer in the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), wholly open-minded on what lies at the heart of the UFO puzzle, a skeptic, or a rabid debunker, you should not ignore Mirage Men. Of course, your views on what lies at the heart of the UFO phenomenon – and which of the above-categories you fall into – will play a large role in determining your response and reaction to Mark’s book.
Those for whom Ufology is a modern-day religion, and one that offers a form of cosmic comfort, will be shocked, angered and perhaps even disillusioned by what they read. Doubtless, too, there will be a degree of hostility and outright denial on their part when faced with the crumbling of certain much-cherished belief-systems, ideas and (possibly) certain cases that have become classics within Ufology.
Besides focusing on researchers we also like to highlight the specific research efforts of good researchers who add something new to the field of anomalous inquiry. Keith Chester is just such a researcher, adding a great deal of new primary research concerning the mysterious “Foo Fightings” and other anomalous aerial phenomena witnessed and documented before during and after WWII by our nation’s military men and women.
The Anomaly Archives is currently scheduling more events for after the New Year in 2011 including lectures by Texan Cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard and others.
Join up and stay tuned for news about upcoming meetings and events:
We need your help! The Anomaly Archives is always looking for new membership and needs your support both financially and as volunteers at the lending library and educational outreach events.
It’s still a while away, but if you’re in the Dallas, Texas area and are interested in attending – and given the fact that reservations are required in advance – now may be the time to contact the organizers at dallasghost.org
Contactees contains the fascinating stories of the select group of people chosen by visitors to Earth to spread their message. Are aliens really among us? Don’t be too quick to dismiss their claims.
Truman Bethurum was divorced by his wife because she believed he was having close encounters of a very personal kind with a beautiful extraterrestrial “space captain” named Aura Rhanes. Is he nuts? Prescient? An omen?
A band of eerily human-looking, blond-haired aliens–later known as the Space-Brothers–informed other contactees that they were concerned by our warlike ways and wished us to live in peace with one another. Acting on the advice of the Space-Brothers, contactees such as George Van Tassel and George Adamski went out and spread the extraterrestrial word to anyone and everyone who would listen. And many did, including U.S. government agencies.
More than half a century later, the contactees are still among us, still telling their tales of personal alien encounters, and still maintaining their cult-like status in the world of UFOlogy. Nick Redfern’s Contactees relates their thought-provoking, lluminating, controversial, and sometimes bizarre stories in all their appropriately out-of-this-world glory.
Originally from England, Nick Redfern lives in Arlington, Texas. He is a full-time author and journalist specializing in a wide range of unsolved mysteries, including UFOs, alien contact, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, government conspiracies, and paranormal phenomena. He writes regularly for UFO Magazine, Fortean Times,
Paranormal Magazine, and Fate. His previous books include Memoirs of a Monster Hunter; Strange Secrets; A Covert Agenda; and There’s Something in the Woods. Among his many exploits, Redfern has investigated reports of aliens in Mexico; lake-monsters in Scotland; vampires in Puerto Rico; werewolves in England; and crashed UFOs in the United States.
This new monthly event will be a FREE showing of lesser known “Flying Saucer Films” with a focus on those that have important points to be made regarding the nature of paranormal, UFO and other anomalous phenomena, as well as society’s cultural reactions to UFO related phenomena.
UFO related phenomena and the Modern Wave of Flying Saucer sightings in the United States have had a lasting effect upon American Popular Culture. For that reason we feel it fitting to host this new event series at the South Austin Popular Culture Center (frmly the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture).
Our next showing is … Starship Invasions, from 1977.
This new monthly event will be a FREE showing of lesser known “Flying Saucer Films” with a focus on those that have important points to be made regarding the nature of paranormal, UFO and other anomalous phenomena, as well as society’s cultural reactions to UFO related phenomena.
UFO related phenomena and the Modern Wave of Flying Saucer sightings in the United States have had a lasting effect upon American Popular Culture. For that reason we feel it fitting to host this new event series at the South Austin Popular Culture Center (frmly the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture).
Our next showing is … Invaders From Mars, the 1953 original classic.
“In early October of 2009 I was contacted by an associate producer for the online webisode series “Streets of Fear” who was wanting to know if I knew anything paranormal or mysterious about Convict Hill Road here in Austin, Texas. The online series is part of the horror lineup of programming offered at Fear Net dot com that focuses on ultra brief media bytes exploring stories of American streets with really spooky names, such as Bloody Pond, White Wolf, Dark Hollow, Widow Susan, Beelzebub, Gore Orphanage, Hell Hollow, Shades of Death, Gallows Hill, Purgatory, Spook Rock, Burnt Church, Witches Rock, Bloods Point, Tombstone Canyon, Mount Misery, Extraterrestrial Highway, and Bloody Spring. They had contacted me after finding my friend James Bankston whose article in the Oak Hill Gazette had gotten their attention.”
– Anomaly Headlines
We have a ton of news links for you again this month.
Contactees contains the fascinating stories of the select group of people chosen by visitors to Earth to spread their message. Are aliens really among us? Don’t be too quick to dismiss their claims.
Truman Bethurum was divorced by his wife because she believed he was having close encounters of a very personal kind with a beautiful extraterrestrial “space captain” named Aura Rhanes. Is he nuts? Prescient? An omen?
A band of eerily human-looking, blond-haired aliens–later known as the Space-Brothers–informed other contactees that they were concerned by our warlike ways and wished us to live in peace with one another. Acting on the advice of the Space-Brothers, contactees such as George Van Tassel and George Adamski went out and spread the extraterrestrial word to anyone and everyone who would listen. And many did, including U.S. government agencies.
More than half a century later, the contactees are still among us, still telling their tales of personal alien encounters, and still maintaining their cult-like status in the world of UFOlogy. Nick Redfern’s Contactees relates their thought-provoking, lluminating, controversial, and sometimes bizarre stories in all their appropriately out-of-this-world glory.
A friend whom I first met many years ago at our local Austin Mufon meetings has donated about six boxes of books which will likely amount to over 100 hundred new volumes to the Anomaly Archives collection as well as a stack of classic flying saucer and science magazinees and news-clippings from the early part of the Modern UFO Era.
Among the many noteworthing items spotted so far during our initial cataloging session have been these interesting finds:
The Big Book of Conspiracies
In the past, I would roll my rapidly glazing eyes whenever I heard some formerly sensible person carrying the cudgels of conspiracy theories: you know the rants: the Trilateral Commission, CIA, FBI, Masons, and Secret Societies are all out to run the world and silence truth seekers with intimidation, death–or plankton up the nostrils–and it seems the body formerly inhabited by a friend is ready to board a ship to the moon. But then I came across this book, and I was stunned at the volume of detail and even facts that have been amassed by the obsessive believers in these seemingly wacko conspiracy theories. The most disturbing fact is that people investigating conspiracy theories seem to have the highest death rate of any profession — other than shark dentists.
The editors adopt a sensible attitude: they do not claim that any interpretations in the book are necessarily true, but rather that these are truly things that conspiracy theorists have proposed. Note that this is a comic book of 39 tellings of almost as many conspiracy theories, but the comic-book medium in fact works very well. Recommended, unless some gruff voice calls me late at night and tells me to change my mind…. (Pssst: from the same people who brought you another Amazon.com Books favorite, The Big Book of Weirdos). –Jonathan Kochmer
Rent Edward Mulhare movies at Blockbuster. Your online source for Edward … The program Secrets of the Unknown: Tornadoes explores nature’s deadly spirals. …
– Welcome our New Trustees to the Board of Directors
Late last year two new trustees were voted on to the board of directors for the Scientific Anomaly Institute. Here is a little background information on both Jeremy Wells and Craig York.
Jeremy Wells (left), Board Member – Jeremy D. Wells is an Austin, TX based writer, editor, and researcher. Jeremy grew up in rural eastern, Kentucky, within day trip distance of Point Pleasant, WV (home of the fabled Mothman), Peebles, OH (location of the Serpent Mound), and the haunted Moonville train tunnel in Vinton County, OH. He grew up surrounded by stories of these mysteries, black panther sightings, and his grandparent’s haunted house, fueling an early interest in the paranormal. After studying history at Shawnee State University and working as a journalist and editor for various small town newspapers Jeremy’s interest evolved from attempts at proving or disproving strange phenomenon to the history of Forteana, trends across various phenomenon and ages, and the study of why individuals interpret this unknown phenomenon in the manner that they do.
Jeremy currently works as a freelance writer, editor, and training specialist in the video game industry and serves as a researcher and field investigator with the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy.
Craig York (right), Board Member – I have been interested in the paranormal generally since discovering Ivan Sanderson’s Investigating the Unexplained when I was still a pre-teen. In the forty and some odd years since, I have amassed a modest library of ghost lore, mainly collections of regional ghost stories, and crytozoological material. I have sculpted a few “Crypto” subjects, and maintain an active hobby life. In addition to these activities, I am an amateur actor, and have enjoyed a number of successful performances with the local Theater troupe, The Violet Crown Radio Players. Long a passive spectator of paranormal investigation, I hope to take a more active role in the years ahead.
– Networking
Subscribe to our Twitter Feed for Operational Announcements most Saturdays from 1-5 pm.
“In the 1880’s a budget crunch led the state of Texas to bring convicts in to the area to work the quarry. 8 convicts died while working and were buried in the area known as Convict Hill. These convicts now haunt the road”
Is There Anything Paranormal or Mysterious About Convict Hill Road?
by SMiles Lewis
In early October of 2009 I was contacted by an associate producer for the online webisode series “Streets of Fear” who was wanting to know if I knew anything paranormal or mysterious about Convict Hill Road here in Austin, Texas. The online series is part of the horror lineup of programming offered at Fear Net dot com that focuses on ultra brief media bytes exploring stories of American streets with really spooky names, such as Bloody Pond, White Wolf, Dark Hollow, Widow Susan, Beelzebub, Gore Orphanage, Hell Hollow, Shades of Death, Gallows Hill, Purgatory, Spook Rock, Burnt Church, Witches Rock, Bloods Point, Tombstone Canyon, Mount Misery, Extraterrestrial Highway, and Bloody Spring. They had contacted me after finding my friend James Bankston whose article in the Oak Hill Gazette (via Archive.org) had gotten their attention
I told the Fear Net producer that I was familiar with the road but had never heard of any paranormal haunting stories associated with the road. I said that I would check all available resources that the Anomaly Archives had and would inquire amongst the network of contacts associated with the Scientific Anomaly Institute. I spent the rest of the week reviewing every catalog in the Anomaly Archives collection related to ghosts, hauntings and other folklore associated with supposed weird and paranormal locales. Not a single one in the more than a dozen I checked made any reference to paranormal activity associated with Convict Hill Road. Lots of references to documented haunting encounters at the Texas Governor’s Mansion, Austin State School, Driskill Hotel, and even Round Rock’s crypto-ghostly Hairy Man Road (and its festival [via archive.org] which was going on that very week). I told the producer all of this but they were still interested in getting me and James on tape talking about the history of how the road got its name.
The story of how the road got its name is simply a matter of Texas’ historic use of prison convict labor and the circumstances surrounding the burials of those convicts killed trying to escape or who died by other causes. Rumors circulated that those who were killed or otherwise died on site at the quarry were buried there, under the mounds of limestone rocks piled up around the timbers known as dead-men. As my friend James Bankston had succinctly written:
Some men died on the site, while others tried to escape and were shot dead. Eventually a legend grew up that these dead prisoners were buried under limestone cairns on what came be known as “Convict Hill.”
In the 1980s when real estate developers got interested in that area, they found they had to confront this question head-on. We’ve all seen enough scary movies to know that bad things happen to people who build on abandoned burial grounds.
Archaeologists, historians, and geologists were all brought out to see if they could literally find out where the bodies were buried. Soil tests and other methods concluded no one had been buried on Convict Hill, but a study of the historic record did offer another explanation to the mystery.
Derricks had been employed to move and haul stone at the quarry. They had been secured by guy wires and heavy timbers. Since the soil was so rocky that the timbers could not be buried in the ground, they had to be stabilized by heavy piles of rocks.
The timbers themselves were called “dead men,” so it’s easy to see how that spooky name, tomb-sized piles of stones, and notoriously cruel working conditions could form in the public mind this legend that convicts had been buried on Convict Hill.
So, with a name like Convict Hill Road and rumors of buried prisoners who’d been shot trying to escape, the location was bound to generate at least a slight background noise of paranormal speculation, yet the official literature and internet searches for possible paranormal folklore associated with the location seem to be non-existent, aside from this single video recorded by some bored teenagers “investigating” an alleged abandoned house just off of Convict Hill Road:
Despite the lack of official recorded encounters I was open to the possibility that perhaps a visit to the recently created Convict Hill Quarry Park, where I was to meet a local cameraman working for “Streets of Fear” and which allegedly marks the geographic center of the old thousand acre quarry operation, might still hold some sort of spookiness that could tingle my own less than psychically sensitive perceptions. Upon arriving at the park, I discovered a small group of amateur paranormal investigators who were embarking on their own informal investigation of the park. I asked if they had been there before and if they had ever heard any stories associated with the place. The gentleman seemed to indicate that this was so. I believe the man I spoke with was Martin Estrada of Montopolis Paranormal and he was there with a woman whom I believe is the organizer of Latino Ghost Hunters of TX Paranormal Warriors. Once inside I leisurely explored the small acre or so sized last remaining vacant lot along Convict Hill Road. As you can see from the pictures I took with my camera-phone the park is very nice and not spooky at all. There are numerous piles of small, medium and large sized limestone chunks, many with chip marks or bored through by drill bit holes.
After giving myself the tour, getting bitten by mosquitoes, sweating profusely in the still sweltering early October humidity, and falling on my rear end from the tallest mound of rocks, I finally gave my comments to the cameraman. It is a very awkward thing to be speaking to the space beside a cameraman’s head as if there were an interviewer there, let alone having to incorporate the questions they want you to answer into the wording of those answers. I reported the fact that I and my colleagues at the Anomaly Archives lending library of the Scientific Anomaly Institute could find no documented incidents of anything mysterious or paranormal associated with the street, just its interesting history as a probable torturous work environment for the inmate labor and the subsequent rumors of buried convicts. I explained, as did James Bankston, how tales of extreme distress, often associated with tragedies, are generally accepted as the instigators of much paranormal activity. I explained how it could be possible that there are in fact actual stories of hauntings being handed down from person to person, generation to generation, just waiting to be recorded into official catalogs of the paranormal literature. I spoke of the Fortean Name Game and how so often strange and scary sounding place names such as Diablo are given for places with a history of strange phenomena. But of course the editors of this ultra-compressed 2 minute segment managed to squeeze in the one moment where I alluded to the fact that I’ve “been hearing that there is in fact paranormal activity associated with Convict Hill Road.” I was alluding to the general belief in the possibilities of such stories existing as had been implied by the “Streets of Fear” associate producer, by the bored videocamera-wielding teenagers out ghost-hunting and by the local paranormal group I’d encountered just as I entered the park. It’s possible there could be buried convict bodies somewhere under the thousand acres of now surburbanized homes and that the souls of said departed could be haunting the lives of the living but have yet to officially report there plague of poltergeists. However, if such encounters have happened, noone has bothered to document them in any formal way.
As interesting as the possibility of ghost stories or paranormal activity associated with this historic site might be, for me personally, I find the site’s historic value (in relation to Inmate Labor / Texas Labor Strikes – see links below) to be of much more import and interest.
– SMiles Lewis
Photographs from the Convict Hill Quarry Park Shoot:
Further Resources on Convict Hill Road, Texas Labor and Paranormal Phenomena
Audio Resources:
PsiOp Radio 91 – 091011 – SMiles discusses the Fear Net episode on Convict Hill Road’s history
Fortean Name Game & Anomalist Resources:
Wild Talents by Charles Fort (on coincidence and synchronistic relationships of things)
One dies, get another: convict leasing in the American South, 1866-1928
By Matthew J. Mancini
Cowboy Strike of 1883 by Robert E. Zeigler
“In 1883 a group of cowboys began a 2½-month strike against five ranches, the LIT, the LX, the LS, the LE, and the T Anchor,qqv which they believed were controlled by corporations or individuals interested in ranching only as a speculative venture for quick profit. In late February or early March of 1883 crews from the LIT, the LS, and the LX drew up an ultimatum demanding higher wages and submitted it to the ranch owners. Twenty-four men signed it and set March 31 as their strike date. The original organizers of the strike, led by Tom Harris of the LS, established a small strike fund and attempted, with limited success, to persuade all the cowboys in the area of the five ranches to honor the strike. Reports on the number of people involved in the strike ranged from thirty to 325. Actually the number changed as men joined and deserted the walkout.”
Strikes by Ruth A. Allen, George N. Green, and James V. Reese
“In September or October 1838 the Texas Typographical Association, the first labor organization in Texas, struck the Houston publishers and secured a 25 percent wage increase.”
“Not until after the Civil Warqv did bona fide strikes occur. Those of 1870 were typical. In January of that year, Houston telegraphers joined a short, unsuccessful nationwide strike against Western Union; in April, the Austin Typographical Union suffered a disastrous defeat; in May, Galveston brickmasons struck for a raise but returned to work without it; and in November, the engineers and brakemen on the Houston and Texas Central Railway lost their jobs as a result of a walkout over wages. The first work stoppage involving more than a handful of workers occurred in June 1872, when the management of the Houston and Texas Central Railway began requiring all employees to sign an agreement releasing the company from liability for accidents on the job.”
“The number of strikes increased through the seventies, as the number of unions and labor militancy grew. The peak year until the middle eighties was 1877, when, in addition to numerous small strikes, major work stoppages occurred among dockworkers in Galveston and railway workers on the Texas and Pacific. Both the large strikes were marked by considerable violence. The dockworkers’ strike saw the first use of African Americansqv as strikebreakers in Texas (see SCREWMEN’S BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION.)”
…
“The first strike in Texas noted in official records occurred in 1880, when fifty employees of the draying industry stayed out 150 days but were denied an increase in wages. Between 1880 and 1886, 100 strikes occurred, involving 8,124 workers; establishments involved were closed for a total of 450 days; striking workers were out for a total of 708 days each; and the loss due to strikes was estimated at $1 million. These strikes included the Cowboy Strike of 1883,qv in which more than 300 cowboys in the Tascosa area struck for higher wages and better working conditions, and two strikes in Galveston, one of 280 cotton handlers lasting sixty-four days and the other of 150 longshoremen against the use of black laborers lasting two days. The first failed, the second succeeded. One of the most spectacular strikes was the Capitol Boycottqv in 1885. The largest number of strikes was called by the building trades unions, but the largest number of workers involved in any one industry was in transportation. The third largest group involved was the West Texas coal miners. The greatest number striking in any one year was 4,154, involved in seven strikes in 1885. Of these, 1,500 were longshoremen in the port of Galveston, and the major part of the others were in transportation. Additional thousands of Texas laborers joined the national strike of telegraphers and sectional strikes against the management of the western and southwestern railroads. In 1885 Texas ranked ninth among forty states in number of workers involved in strikes (4,000); for the six-year period it ranked fifteenth. Seventy-five of the 100 strikes, chiefly interstate strikes of telegraphers and railway workers, occurred in the year 1886; seventy-four of these were called by an organized labor group. Twenty-four of the twenty-five strikes between 1886 and 1894 were called by organized groups. The most significant were in the coal-mining areas, where industrial troubles were almost continuous from 1884 to 1904. In 1884, for six months, 450 coal miners carried on a losing strike against a reduction in wages. Troubles began in the mines in Erath County in 1888 and lasted for four years; Texas Rangersqv remained in the area for more than a year. The strike was largely unsuccessful.
After 1886 annual figures on the number of strikes are not available, but a summary for the quarter century from 1881 to 1905 shows a total of 341 strikes in Texas involving 37,000 workers.”
Austin and Oatmanville Railway by Nancy Beck Young
“The Austin and Oatmanville Railway Company was chartered by the Capitol Syndicate (see XIT RANCH) on November 5, 1883, to connect Kouns, a station on the International and Great Northern Railroad five miles south of Austin, with Oatmanville (now the Austin suburb of Oak Hill). The road was built to haul limestone for use in the building of the Capitol.qv Although the limestone was unsuitable for the exterior of the building, stone from the quarry was used for the foundation and basement walls, cross walls, and backing for the exterior walls as well as elsewhere in the structure. The capital stock was $100,000. Members of the first board of directors were Abner Taylor and Charles B. Farwell, of Cook County, Illinois; Amos C. Babcock, of Fulton County, Illinois; and John T. Brackenridge, Gustav Wilke,qqv A. P. Wooldridge, and W. D. Williams, all of Austin. In 1884 the railroad built six miles of track between Kouns and the quarry at Oatmanville at a cost to the building contractor of $35,000 for grading and bridging, while the International and Great Northern spent $24,100 for rails and cross-ties. Before the end of 1884 nearly 280,000 cubic feet of limestone had been delivered from the Oatmanville quarry. The line was abandoned and the rails removed in 1888.”
Oak Hill, Texas (Travis County) by Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl
Oak Hill, on U.S. Highway 290 and Williamson Creek, eight miles southwest of Austin in southwestern Travis County, was originally called Live Oak Springs. In 1865 an attempt was made in the community to establish a town called Shiloh, but the effort was unsuccessful. Schools called Live Oak and Oatmanville also gave their names to the community for a time. A post office called Oak Hill was established in 1870 with Swen M. Berryman as postmaster. When the new state Capitolqv building was constructed in Austin in the 1880s, the Oak Hill community boomed because of its nearby stone quarries. In 1884 the town had a general store, four saloons, and seventy-five residents; pecans, cotton, wool, and hides were the principal commodities shipped by area farmers. By 1904 the population of Oak Hill had reached 200. The Oak Hill post office was discontinued in 1910, and mail for the community was sent to Austin. In the 1970s and 1980s the population of Oak Hill was listed at 425. By 2000 the community had been absorbed into the Austin city limits. Numerous streets and businesses still identified the area as Oak Hill. A local newspaper, the Oak Hill Gazette, was published weekly.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mary Starr Barkley, History of Travis County and Austin, 1839-1899 (Waco: Texian Press, 1963). John J. Germann and Myron Janzen, Texas Post Offices by County (1986).
Galveston Longshoremen’s Strike of 1920 by James C. Maroney
“Tensions grew amid rumors that the city’s deep-sea longshoremen might join the strike in sympathy with the coastwise dockworkers. On June 7 the governor declared martial law and sent in 1,000 national guard troops. Although deep-sea longshoremen never joined the strike, the possibility of their doing so, along with the presence of the rangers and state militiamen, the prevailing racial tension, and sporadic confrontations between strikers and nonunion dockworkers all added to the tension. The Mallory line also brought in Mexican workers in such numbers that the president of the Galveston Trades Council complained of “a regular Mexican colony” on west Galveston Island.
The city commissioners, the Galveston Dock and Marine Council, and the state’s labor press all argued that the true reason behind Governor Hobby’s decision to order troops to Galveston and to keep them there after the tension cooled was to destroy union effectiveness and to guarantee an open-shop labor market. In July Hobby suspended the mayor, city commissioners, and police force for failing to maintain the peace and protect citizens. The police were disarmed, and Gen. Jacob F. Woltersqv took control of the courts and jails. The mayor, city attorney, and commissioners could perform routine duties but retained no powers to enforce penal laws. The city commissioners filed a suit against Governor Hobby, General Wolters, and the Texas National Guard,qv but the case was dismissed by Judge Robert C. Street of the Fifty-sixth District Court. The strike-induced martial law was challenged by a private citizen, who, after being arrested for a traffic violation, brought suit in a federal district court questioning the constitutionality of martial law in Galveston; the court, however, upheld Hobby’s action in the matter. Ultimately, negotiations between city and state governments resulted in the withdrawal of the national guard at midnight, September 30, 1920, but some Texas Rangers remained until January 1921 to supervise the Galveston police department.
The Galveston ILA locals returned to work between December 1920 and July 1921 with a pay increase far below that demanded in March 1920.”
MONSTERS IN TEXAS?!?
Ken Gerhard is an accomplished cryptozoologist and field researcher for The Centre for Fortean Zoology and The Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization , as well as a fellow of the Pangea Institute . He has investigated reports of monsters and mysterious beasts all over the world including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra, winged creatures and even werewolves.
In addition to appearing in three episodes of the History Channel television series Monster Quest , Ken is featured on the special The Real Wolfman (History Channel) and in the series Legend Hunters (Travel Channel/A&E) and also Paranatural (National Geographic), plus numerous, radio and Internet broadcasts. His credits include appearances on Eyewitness News , Coast to Coast Radio and Ireland’s Newstalk Radio , as well as being featured in major books, DVDs and in articles by the Associated Press , Tampa Tribune and Amarillo Edge. 
ANOMALY ARCHIVES eNEWSLETTER 
Announcing a new Meetup for Austin Anomaly Archives!
Mazlan Othman Named Ambassador To Theoretical Extraterrestrials – New York Magazine
The two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 carried a message from Kurt Waldheim, then secretary-general, saying: “We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship.”
Was the 1952 Flatwoods Monster Event a US Military PsyOp?
Kenn Thomas is founder, publisher and editor of Steamshovel Press, one of the world’s most respected alternative media publications. He is also one of America’s best known conspiracy writers and the author of seven published books on a variety of topics.
Reviewed by Nick Redfern
Contactees: A History of Alien-Human Interaction
Originally from England, Nick Redfern lives in Arlington, Texas. He is a full-time author and journalist specializing in a wide range of unsolved mysteries, including UFOs, alien contact, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, government conspiracies, and paranormal phenomena. He writes regularly for UFO Magazine, Fortean Times,
ANOMALY ARCHIVES eNEWSLETTER 
“In early October of 2009 I was contacted by an associate producer for the online webisode series “Streets of Fear” who was wanting to know if I knew anything paranormal or mysterious about Convict Hill Road here in Austin, Texas. The online series is part of the horror lineup of programming offered at Fear Net dot com that focuses on ultra brief media bytes exploring stories of American streets with really spooky names, such as 
CIA History: Biological / Chemical Warfare Research & Torture 
A band of eerily human-looking, blond-haired aliens–later known as the Space-Brothers–informed other contactees that they were concerned by our warlike ways and wished us to live in peace with one another. Acting on the advice of the Space-Brothers, contactees such as George Van Tassel and George Adamski went out and spread the extraterrestrial word to anyone and everyone who would listen. And many did, including U.S. government agencies.
Secrets of the Unknown: Tornadoes & UFOs 
Craig York (right), Board Member – I have been interested in the paranormal generally since discovering Ivan Sanderson’s Investigating the Unexplained when I was still a pre-teen. In the forty and some odd years since, I have amassed a modest library of ghost lore, mainly collections of regional ghost stories, and crytozoological material. I have sculpted a few “Crypto” subjects, and maintain an active hobby life. In addition to these activities, I am an amateur actor, and have enjoyed a number of successful performances with the local Theater troupe, The Violet Crown Radio Players. Long a passive spectator of paranormal investigation, I hope to take a more active role in the years ahead.
In early October of 2009 I was contacted by an associate producer for the online webisode series “Streets of Fear” who was wanting to know if I knew anything paranormal or mysterious about Convict Hill Road here in Austin, Texas. The online series is part of the horror lineup of programming offered at Fear Net dot com that focuses on ultra brief media bytes exploring stories of American streets with really spooky names, such as 
After giving myself the tour, getting bitten by mosquitoes, sweating profusely in the still sweltering early October humidity, and falling on my rear end from the tallest mound of rocks, I finally gave my comments to the cameraman. It is a very awkward thing to be speaking to the space beside a cameraman’s head as if there were an interviewer there, let alone having to incorporate the questions they want you to answer into the wording of those answers. I reported the fact that I and my colleagues at the Anomaly Archives lending library of the Scientific Anomaly Institute could find no documented incidents of anything mysterious or paranormal associated with the street, just its interesting history as a probable torturous work environment for the inmate labor and the subsequent rumors of buried convicts. I explained, as did James Bankston, how tales of extreme distress, often associated with tragedies, are generally accepted as the instigators of much paranormal activity. I explained how it could be possible that there are in fact actual stories of hauntings being handed down from person to person, generation to generation, just waiting to be recorded into official catalogs of the paranormal literature. I spoke of the Fortean Name Game and how so often strange and scary sounding place names such as Diablo are given for places with a history of strange phenomena. But of course the editors of this ultra-compressed 2 minute segment managed to squeeze in the one moment where I alluded to the fact that I’ve “been hearing that there is in fact paranormal activity associated with Convict Hill Road.” I was alluding to the general belief in the possibilities of such stories existing as had been implied by the “Streets of Fear” associate producer, by the bored videocamera-wielding teenagers out ghost-hunting and by the local paranormal group I’d encountered just as I entered the park. It’s possible there could be buried convict bodies somewhere under the thousand acres of now surburbanized homes and that the souls of said departed could be haunting the lives of the living but have yet to officially report there plague of poltergeists. However, if such encounters have happened, noone has bothered to document them in any formal way.
