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THE PUBLIC RESEARCH LIBRARY

Explore the records. Follow the sources.

Browse UFO case files, paranormal reports, historical texts and research dossiers. These are accounts and leads for investigation—not proof of an extraordinary explanation.

To combine details, compare matches and investigate connections across the collection, create an account and search Anomaly Graph.

Not sure where to begin? Our research guides explain how to follow sources, compare accounts and turn matches into a useful investigation.

13,749 published records with substantive text · Page 250 of 287

Archive case record

Nebra Hoard Provenance and Context

Approximately 1600 BCE · Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt

The Nebra hoard associated with the Sky Disc included bronze swords, axes and other objects that helped establish a Bronze Age archaeological context for the disc. Because the hoard was found by metal detectorists without a controlled excavation and entered th

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Archive case record

Francesco Negri’s Arctic Journey

1663 journey; published 1700 · Scandinavia and northern Norway, including the North Cape region

Francesco Negri, an Italian priest and traveler, described a journey through Scandinavia to the far north in a work published as Viaggio settentrionale. His observations concern climate, travel, local communities, clothing, religion, and northern environmental

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Archive case record

Johann Reinhold Forster’s Tahitian Mythography

1778 · Tahiti and the Society Islands

Johann Reinhold Forster’s Observations Made during a Voyage round the World, based on Cook’s second voyage, includes discussions of Tahitian religion, social customs, oral traditions and ideas about the natural world. It is an identifiable early attempt to org

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Archive case record

The Starvation Cove and Franklin expedition relic traditions

1850s; later searches and collecting · King William Island, Nunavut, Canada

Starvation Cove and nearby King William Island sites became central to nineteenth-century accounts of the Franklin expedition’s final retreat, with bones, clothing, boats and other objects reported by searchers and Inuit informants. Later writers sometimes tra

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Archive case record

Chibcha Bochica and the inundation of the Bogotá savanna

Recorded in the 17th century from earlier Muisca traditions · Bogotá savanna and Tequendama Falls

Muisca traditions recorded by chroniclers describe the Bogotá plain being inundated, commonly through the actions of the flood-associated figure Chibchacum. Bochica then arrives, opens the Tequendama gorge with his staff, and drains the waters, while later mor

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Archive case record

Through the Dark Continent

1878 · Congo Basin and east-central Africa

Henry Morton Stanley’s Through the Dark Continent recounts his 1874–1877 expedition and includes descriptions of communities, rulers, local reports, religious practices, geographical beliefs, and stories encountered along the Congo route. The book matters for

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Archive case record

Meditation and the Default Mode Network in Indian Practitioners

2010 onward · Indian universities and meditation centres

Indian research groups have published neuroimaging and electrophysiological work on meditation, including attention, self-referential processing and default-mode-network activity. These studies are useful for comparing reported self-boundary changes, absorptio

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Archive case record

The Baekje Gilt-Bronze Incense Burner

c. 6th–7th century CE · Neungsan-ri, near Buyeo

Discovered in 1993 at the Neungsan-ri temple site, this gilt-bronze incense burner depicts a mountain-shaped lid populated by animals, musicians, and fantastic beings. Its intricate imagery has encouraged broad claims about shamanism, Daoism, Buddhism, and ima

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Archive case record

Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast reports

1996–2009 · Fall River, Massachusetts

The Fall River residence associated with the 1892 murders of Andrew and Abby Borden reopened as the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast in 1996 and subsequently hosted guests, tours, and paranormal investigations. Reports have included footsteps, voices, apparitio

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Archive case record

The Amityville Horror

1974 murders; alleged haunting 1975–1976; authenticity disputed · Amityville, New York

After Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue in 1974, George and Kathy Lutz claimed that their brief residence there in 1975–1976 involved apparitions, odors, physical disturbances, and other phenomena. Jay Anson’s 1977 book, T

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Archive case record

Elmina Castle haunting reports

Late 20th century–present; reports are not consistently dated · Elmina, Central Region

Elmina Castle, founded by the Portuguese in 1482 and later used in the Atlantic slave trade, has accumulated stories of ghostly sounds, oppressive sensations and apparitions in rooms and underground spaces. These reports circulate through visitor narratives, g

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Archive case record

The Soul of a Dead Monk in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Fourth–sixth century CE compilations · Egyptian monastic communities

The Greek and later Latin collections known as the Sayings of the Desert Fathers preserve brief stories in which monks receive warnings, visions, or revelations concerning dying brethren and the fate of souls. Individual sayings are difficult to isolate becaus

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Archive case record

The Taiping jing

received form compiled across the late Han and later periods · China

The Taiping jing, or Scripture of Great Peace, is a Daoist corpus concerned with cosmic order, bodily cultivation, ritual governance, morality, and political renewal. It is often linked with the late Han period, but the received text is composite and survives

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Archive case record

The Great Moon Hoax

1835 · New York City and other U.S. newspaper markets

The Great Moon Hoax was a series of six New York Sun articles claiming that astronomer John Herschel had discovered lunar animals, vegetation, temples, and other wonders. It is a useful comparison case for studying how sky imagery, sensational print, and purpo

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Archive case record

The “wild man” of the Sino-Tibetan frontier in Hodgson’s writings

1830s–1840s · Himalayan borderlands associated with British Nepalese scholarship

Brian Houghton Hodgson’s nineteenth-century writings on Nepal and Himalayan peoples are sometimes cited in later discussions of wild men or unidentified hairy inhabitants. The lead is useful for examining how colonial ethnography, local testimony and natural-h

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Archive case record

Ghostwatch

31 October 1992 · Northolt, London, England; fictional setting presented as a live investigation

BBC1 broadcast Ghostwatch on Halloween 1992 as a fictional television drama framed to resemble a live paranormal investigation of a supposedly haunted Northolt home. Many viewers reportedly mistook parts of the program for an actual broadcast investigation, pr

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Archive case record

Buddhist Abhidharma Accounts of Dreaming

2010 onward scholarship · Indian Buddhist textual tradition

Studies of Indian Buddhist Abhidharma and related sources discuss sleep, dreams, mental events and the reliability of cognition. This material helps compare classical analyses of dream consciousness with contemporary debates about predictive processing, lucid

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Archive case record

The Temple of Hatra sculpture and astral cult interpretations

1990s–2000s studies · Hatra, northern Mesopotamia

Hatra’s temples and sculpture preserve a distinctive religious and artistic environment in northern Mesopotamia during the Parthian period. Studies during the requested period examined divine images, inscriptions, architectural programs, and possible astral as

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Archive case record

Tradiciones peruanas

1872–1910; nineteenth-century installments · Peru, especially Lima and colonial Peru

Ricardo Palma’s Tradiciones peruanas, begun in the 1870s, reshapes colonial anecdotes, religious marvels, popular legends, and local historical memories into short literary traditions. Its stories can supply comparison points for fire signs, celestial portents

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Archive case record

El Cajas apparitions

1988–1989 · El Cajas, near Cuenca, Azuay

Patricia Talbot reported Marian apparitions at El Cajas near Cuenca beginning in 1988, with messages and later accounts describing healings, pilgrimage, and a distinctive devotional title. The events became prominent in Ecuadorian Catholic circles and are freq

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Archive case record

Mukwa and the Zambia Water-Monster Literature

1970s–1980s · Zambia, especially rivers and lakes of the Zambezi basin

Mukwa is listed in some African cryptid and folklore compilations as a purported aquatic creature associated with Zambia. Descriptions are inconsistent, ranging from a serpent-like water animal to a generalized “lake monster,” making it useful for studying cla

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Archive case record

The Korean Samguk Yusa Accounts of Miraculous Buddhist Relics

Compiled late 13th century; modern translations and studies 2010 onward · Korea

Il연’s Samguk Yusa combines dynastic history, Buddhist foundation stories, saints’ biographies, shrine traditions and accounts of relics or supernatural signs. It is a productive comparison case because its genre is neither a modern report nor a purely doctrina

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Archive case record

Gua Cha excavations

1951–1954 · Kelantan

Excavations at Gua Cha in the 1950s documented burials, stone tools, shell ornaments and other evidence of prehistoric occupation in the Malay Peninsula. The site was subsequently used in discussions of Hoabinhian technology, hunter-gatherer lifeways and possi

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Archive case record

Shani Shingnapur’s Open-Door Tradition

Temple tradition of uncertain antiquity; major modern expansion and documentation · Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra

Shani Shingnapur is a village and temple landscape associated with Shani, the Hindu planetary deity, and a famous tradition that homes historically lacked conventional doors because theft was believed to invite divine punishment. The practice, its extent and i

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Archive case record

The Life of Antony and the desert demon narratives

Written by Athanasius around 357–362 CE · Egyptian desert; composed in Alexandria

Athanasius’s Life of Antony portrays the Egyptian monk Antony confronting demons, deceptive visions, voices, and bodily assaults during solitary ascetic practice. The work became a major model for later Christian demonology, monastic literature, and visual art

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Archive case record

The Bunyip in Australian folklore and historical interpretation

2010 onward folklore and colonial-history research · Australia, especially southeastern Australia

The bunyip is an Australian legendary water being documented in colonial newspapers, ethnographic writing and Aboriginal traditions, although its form and meaning vary considerably. Some nineteenth-century writers attempted to identify it with a real animal, w

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Archive case record

The 1890s Philippine espiritismo movement

1890s · Manila and the Philippines

Spiritism influenced educated and religious circles in the late nineteenth-century Philippines, producing séances, mediumistic practices, translations and debates about Catholicism, science and the afterlife. The movement offers a clear comparison with Europea

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Archive case record

The Apparition of the Dead Bishop Germanus

Sixth century CE · Gaul

Gregory of Tours preserves stories of bishops and saints appearing after death, often to correct wrongdoing, protect a church, or disclose the sanctity of a relic. Germanus of Auxerre and other episcopal figures appear across late antique and Merovingian mirac

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Archive case record

The 2010s contemporary cult and media representations of Jesús Malverde

2010 onward; major scholarship and media circulation · Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, and Mexican diaspora communities

Jesús Malverde is a Mexican folk saint associated especially with Sinaloa, where shrines and devotional practices connect him variously with the poor, migrants, luck and drug-trafficking imagery. Contemporary scholarship and media after 2010 continued debating

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Archive case record

The Buddhist Petavatthu Ghost Stories

Canonical material with layers from the late centuries BCE to early centuries CE · Sri Lanka and wider Theravada Buddhist world

The Petavatthu consists of verses about petas, beings suffering after death because of ethically significant past actions. Several narratives frame encounters between living people and these dead or quasi-dead beings, often resolved through gifts, merit transf

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Archive case record

Shugendō Revitalization and Mountain Ascetic Practice

2010 onward · Dewa Sanzan and other Japanese sacred mountains

Contemporary Shugendō communities and yamabushi practitioners have received renewed scholarly attention, particularly around pilgrimage, austerity, ritual embodiment, sacred landscapes, and postwar religious revitalization. Dewa Sanzan in Yamagata is a particu

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Archive case record

The Muti Murder and Haunted Place Narratives

2010 onward criminology, journalism, and folklore research · South Africa, especially Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal

Stories about “muti murders” sometimes attach supernatural power, ritual danger, or haunting reputations to forests, rivers, houses, and alleged crime scenes. Contemporary scholarship generally examines these narratives as combinations of real violence, rumor,

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Archive case record

Kellie’s Castle ghost photographs and night investigations

2010 onward · Batu Gajah, Perak, Malaysia

Kellie’s Castle, an unfinished colonial mansion in Perak, has generated visitor accounts, paranormal-investigation photographs, and reports of apparitions or unexplained figures. The site’s documented construction history and abandoned architecture make it a u

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Archive case record

Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan’s Disaster Zone

2017 · Ishinomaki and coastal Tōhoku

Richard Lloyd Parry’s book documents stories from communities affected by the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, including bereaved people who reported seeing, hearing, or otherwise encountering the dead. It is useful for comparing contemporary Japa

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Archive case record

The Society for Psychical Research census of hallucinations

1882–1894 · United Kingdom and international correspondents

The Society for Psychical Research, founded in London in 1882, organized investigations into apparitions, telepathy, mediums, and related claims. Its Census of Hallucinations gathered reports of waking experiences involving absent or deceased persons, later pu

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Archive case record

The Ethiopian Book of Enoch in modern Ethiopic scholarship

1947–1969 · Ethiopia, especially Addis Ababa and Ethiopian Orthodox scholarly circles

The Ethiopic transmission of 1 Enoch remained central to modern study of a Jewish apocalyptic work preserved most fully in Ge’ez. During this period, Ethiopian manuscripts, church traditions, and expanding academic access supported comparisons among Ethiopic,

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Archive case record

The Nunavut Aurora and Indigenous Science Project

2010s–2020s · Nunavut, Canada

Nunavut-based educational and research materials document Inuit observations and interpretations of aurorae alongside atmospheric science. Such work may include elders’ accounts, local vocabulary, warnings, seasonal knowledge and explanations of auroral behavi

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Archive case record

The 1970s–1980s Palestinian Nakba Oral-History Traditions

1970s–1980s collection period · Palestinian communities and refugee camps in the Middle East

Palestinian refugees preserved stories, songs, place legends, family genealogies, and accounts of the 1948 Nakba, many of which were collected or published during the 1970s and 1980s. These materials are valuable for comparing oral tradition, political memory,

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Archive case record

The Naturalist in Nicaragua

1874 · Nicaragua, especially the eastern and central regions

Thomas Belt’s 1874 natural-history book includes observations on Nicaraguan landscapes, Indigenous and local traditions, and explanations of unusual natural phenomena. It is a useful comparison lead because nineteenth-century travelers often placed luminous fi

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Archive case record

Lagoa Santa human remains and the early population of Brazil

1970s–1980s reassessments · Minas Gerais

The Lagoa Santa region contains nineteenth-century and later archaeological collections of human remains that became important to twentieth-century debates about the biological history and antiquity of South American populations. During the 1970s and 1980s, re

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Archive case record

The 1980s Kuwaiti Sea-Ghost and Pearl-Diving Traditions

1970s–1980s documentation · Kuwait and the northern Persian Gulf

Kuwaiti maritime folklore preserves stories associated with pearl diving, dangerous waters, shipwrecks, sea spirits, and encounters with uncanny beings. Cultural documentation in the oil-era period provides a basis for comparing occupational danger, remembered

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Archive case record

The Octagon House

1970s–1980s apparition tradition · Washington, D.C.

The Octagon House in Washington, D.C., a historic residence associated with the Tayloe family and early national history, has long circulated stories of apparitions and unexplained phenomena. By the late twentieth century, the house’s public-museum setting sup

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