The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Jaqueline the Ripper
18:53 Apr 08 2012
Times Read: 543

This picture is titled "Whitechapel". I do believe the artist is portraying a female "Jack the Ripper". That is an interesting premise. ;)







Link to page.



An article from May 10, 2012



'Jackie' the Ripper: Was the Infamous Serial Killer a Woman?



From



http://news.yahoo.com/jackie-ripper-infamous-serial-killer-woman-211027739.html





Lizzie Williams, implicated as a suspect in the Whitechapel murders in John Morris's book "Jack The Ripper: The Hand Of A Woman."



It's history's most famous unsolved crime spree. In 1888, a serial killer who came to be known as Jack the Ripper gruesomely murdered five prostitutes in London's Whitechapel district. More than 100 men, from Lewis Carroll to Queen Victoria's grandson, have since been labeled suspects, and the guesswork has spawned an entire field of study, known as "Ripperology." Now, a new book turns the speculation on its head, by arguing that Jack the Ripper was actually a woman.



John Morris, a retired lawyer living in Ireland, has implicated Lizzie Williams, the wife of the physician Sir John Williams, who was himself labeled a Ripper suspect in a 2005 book. Morris claims Lizzie killed the prostitutes out of anger over being infertile. Despair over her condition is also what drove her to remove the wombs of three of her victims.



Tantalizing as this new theory may be, other Ripperologists have decried the notion.



In his book, "Jack The Ripper: The Hand Of A Woman" (Seren, 2012), Morris cites as evidence the fact that none of the five murdered prostitutes was sexually assaulted, and that the personal items of one, Annie Chapman, were laid out at her feet "in a feminine manner." Moreover, three small buttons from a woman's boot were found in blood near the body of another victim, and remnants of women's clothing, including a cape, skirt and hat, were found in the fireplace ashes of a third victim, Mary Kelly. These items did not belong to the victims.



Additionally, Morris presents evidence that Kelly was having an affair with Lizzie's husband, Sir John, who ran abortion clinics in Whitechapel. Morris also found documentary evidence suggesting that Lizzie suffered a nervous breakdown soon after the horrific killing spree. [Math Formula May Explain Why Serial Killers Kill]



"The case for a woman murderer is overwhelming, but unfortunately it does not sit well in some quarters where such a theory flies in the face of long-held beliefs," Morris was quoted as saying in the Daily Telegraph. "Because everyone believes that the murderer was a man, all the evidence that points to a woman has been ignored."



Indeed, the theory has been met with skepticism.



Paul Begg, a leading Jack the Ripper expert who has authored several books on the subject of his identity, thinks the case for Lizzie Williams is weak. "The original book putting John Williams in the frame was bad but this one is even worse," Begg told the Daily Express.



Sir John Williams was obstetrician to members of the British Royal Family, and was accused of the Ripper crimes in "Uncle Jack" (Orion, 2005), co-written by one of his descendants, Tony Williams. The book claims that the surgeon knew the victims personally, and killed and mutilated them in an attempt to research the causes of infertility. However, outside experts later showed that much of the research in the book was flawed; for example, a key piece of documentary evidence supposedly connecting Williams to one of the Ripper victims was found not to be in the original source document that was cited.



Clearly, the case of the Whitechapel murders is far from closed.

Ostara's Hare
16:37 Apr 08 2012
Times Read: 549

The pagan origins of the Easter Bunny



Link to Article



Have you ever wondered where the celebration of the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ acquired its unusual name and odd symbols of colored eggs and rabbits?



The answer lies in the ingenious way that the Christian church absorbed Pagan practices. After discovering that people were more reluctant to give up their holidays and festivals than their gods, they simply incorporated Pagan practices into Christian festivals. As recounted by the Venerable Bede, an early Christian writer, clever clerics copied Pagan practices and by doing so, made Christianity more palatable to pagan folk reluctant to give up their festivals for somber Christian practices.



In second century Europe, the predominate spring festival was a raucous Saxon fertility celebration in honor of the Saxon Goddess Eastre, whose sacred animal was a hare. The hare is often associated with moon goddesses; the egg and the hare together represent the god and the goddess, respectively.



Pagan fertility festivals at the time of the Spring equinox were common- it was believed that at this time, male and female energies were balanced.



The colored eggs are of another, even more ancient origin. The eggs associated with this and other Vernal festivals have been symbols of rebirth and fertility for so long the precise roots of the tradition are unknown, and may date to the beginning of human civilization. Ancient Romans and Greeks used eggs as symbols of fertility, rebirth, and abundance- eggs were solar symbols, and figured in the festivals of numerous resurrected gods.



Moving forward fifteen hundred years, we find ourselves in Germany, where children await the arrival of Oschter Haws, a rabbit who will lay colored eggs in nests to the delight of children. It was this German tradition that popularized the 'Easter bunny' in America, when introduced into the American cultural fabric by German settlers in Pennsylvania.



Many modern practitioners of Neo-pagan and earth-based religions have embraced these symbols as part of their religious practice, identifying with the life-affirming aspects of the spring holiday. (The Neopagan holiday of Ostara is descended from the Saxon festival.) Ironically, some Christian groups have used the presence of these symbols to denounce the celebration of the Easter holiday, and many churches have recently abandoned the Pagan moniker with more Christian oriented titles like 'Resurrection Sunday.'



PS This article is more in line with my religious beliefs.

A Brief Multicultural look at Easter
16:14 Apr 08 2012
Times Read: 551

History of the Easter Bunny LINK TO ARTICLE

By: Margie Wilson

Springtime, pretty colors, children coloring eggs and hiding them, and the Easter Bunny. Easter is the holiest day for Christians, the day celebrating Christ's resurrection on the third day after Good Friday. This time of year is also associated with Passover, the holy Jewish holiday. So why a bunny?



Since ancient times, rabbits have been symbols of Easter, partly due to pagan traditions, partly due to religious symbolism. According to most encyclopedias, a rabbit, in the Christian tradition, symbolizes an innocent, vulnerable creature (much like a lamb), easily taken in by his enemies, and whose only real defense is to run or be saved by his master. Christians say the rabbit may represent man being saved by Christ, or Christ himself, allowing himself to be "taken" as a lamb to the slaughter. The egg, a symbol too, represents the rebirth, as Christ rose on the third day. Even literature gets into the act. The Great Gatsby uses "West Egg" Long Island, New York (not a real town) to represent hope for new life, however fleeting, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's popular novel.



Pagans, on the other hand, have a different explanation of Easter. The pagans worshipped the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility: Eostre. Her symbol was the rabbit, and this symbol has reached across many cultures, standing the test of time. The pagans further celebrated spring by painting eggs in spring-like colors. But the Christian missionaries were not about to destroy this pagan tradition and alienate the "lost souls." Christian missionaries were said to celebrate this festival as well, skillfully using the comradeship to minister to them, trying to convert them.



A German lady friend of mine who now lives in Vienna said she remembers being taught that in the 1700s the Germans brought the symbol of the rabbit to America. She is aware of stories of how the German people started to make nests for the Easter bunny the night before. Nowhere, however, can we find why tradition has this Easter Bunny bringing the delicious baskets of chocolate, gifts most of us so anxiously looked forward to as children.



The bunny and the egg, albeit symbols, myths, and traditions, are here to stay, much to the delight of the young and old.





PS For those who don't know I am a card carrying "Dark Pagan" so the views in the above article are historically educational for the most part.

I hate Text Speak
15:52 Apr 08 2012
Times Read: 552

Message To: skyrah



I can only give a minus one "Honor" points for text speak in a forum in a single pass. If more points were taken off there is a glitch in the VR system. I meant it as only a minor showing of my opinion of your butchery of the English language. The forums are not cell phones where "text speak" is "socially" expected.



I also feel it shows a lack of education through its use. It grates on my nerves.



Michael



PhD, Chemist

LTC, US Army Retired



On 15:18:39 Apr 08 2012 (-0 GMT) skyrah wrote:



sorry to bother u . I dnt even know u then why u gave me minus 13 honor?

Gold or Silver?
00:58 Apr 07 2012
Times Read: 559






Oro y Plata

Credit: Eduardo M. Libby



Robotic insects? The jewelry of an ancient Egyptian queen? No, these bugs are the real thing: Two species of gold and silver beetle found in the rainforests of Costa Rica.



The reflective shells of Chrysina aurgians (gold) and Chrysina limbata (silver) may help the bugs blend into their damp, forest environment, which is studded with shimmering droplets of water. A new study published in the open-access journal Optical Materials Express finds that the beetles' shells are made of progressively thinner layers of the exoskeleton material chitin. As light passes back through each layer of chitin, the waves combine to become brighter and more intense, creating the glint of gold and silver.



According to study researchers, understanding the beetles' beauty may help scientists replicate it -- creating metallic-looking materials out of organic ingredients.



From http://www.livescience.com/1-image-day.html



Image number 231