Are you still looking for that one-of-a-kind item that will absolutely thrill and completely excite the people you’re getting gifts for this holiday season? Here are some great ideas to help fill Santa’s bag.
Glow-in-the-Dark Ghost Shirt
There is still time to order from our Believe It Tour store. You’ll find merchandise like the Glow-in-the-Dark Ghost T-Shirt, which is perfect for late night paranormal investigations. Extraordinary artifacts from mysterious places like sand gathered from what is thought to be the Lost City of Atlantis off the Island of Bimini. There are even some fun toys for all of you Zombie lovers.
Now when you want to get specific with your favorite cryptozoology subjects you can head over to our other store, Bigfoot Surplus. The original supplier of Bigfoot merchandise that has something for everyone from active field researchers to pop culture followers. The most popular item is the real Bigfoot track cast from the Patterson Gimlin film site of 1967. Followed by the favorite Bigfoot t-shirt designs for men, women, and children. There are even some special holiday items that are perfect stocking stuffers.
Patterson Film Site Track Cast
If you’re interested in supporting other active cryptozoloogists or Bigfoot researchers there’s even a holiday Bigfoot gift bag stuffed with many of the favorites from Bigfoot Surplus that are offered at a special price. A portion of the proceeds from this holiday gift will be going to our friends at the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
If you want to be reminded of Bigfoot all year round, our friend Sharon – The Bigfoot Field Reporter, put together a 2012 Bigfoot Researcher Calendar with each month featuring a different Bigfoot researcher. (It even features your’s truly along with fellow Believe It Tour explorer, Diana Smith, for the month of June).
The countdown has begun, so hurry and finish up your Christmas shopping with some very unique gifts that all the cryptozoology enthusiests, ghost hunters, or UFO trackers on your list will really appreciate and love.
Fitting for Halloween our spooky photo collection from the recent Believe It Tour – Old Haunts trip is now available for viewing. This includes the days spent in Transylvania visiting all the legendary Dracula locations.
Believe It Tour’s official tour guide, Michael Esordi, also shares images from his search for other vampire and werewolf hotspots. Plus other creatures, legends and folklore from the region of Michael’s roots.
Days away from the favorite holiday of Believe It Tour, Halloween. Here is our Ghoul Log to get you all in the spirit of the night. Makes for a great background loop to play at your Halloween party too.
The human race had come to an end. That much was certain. Centuries of culture, ingenuity, and bloodshed were all gone. Erased. A mere fabrication of universal imagination.
This was the final campaign for V’ry Captain M’Tal and his crew. A definitive conquering point to his celebrated career. What he didn’t count on was the last stand from a band of beings left on a sloppy little planet called Earth.
M’Tal hated humans. They should have been eradicated by the V’ry onslaught. He would make these humans pay for surviving the V’ry genocide.
There was just one troubling aspect…the survivors weren’t human.
BelieveItTour blogger Joseph Mazzenga’s exciting new novella is available through Amazon and Whispers Publishing:
Elmwood Historic Cemetery Site of the Battle of Bloody Run
Saturday was off to a great start when the Believe It Tour crew had a history discussion over morning coffee before heading off for a day of adventure.
Detroit is a city filled with rich history. Many people unfamiliar with the area only think of the automobile industry, which was certainly an important part of the city’s history and current day identity. However, Detroit’s history is a rich one that stretches back to early American Indian days.
One of the spots of particular interest to us was the Elmwood Historic Cemetery. A section of the cemetery was actually the site of a brutal battle on July 31, 1763, which took place during the French and Indian War. Under Captain Dalyell’s command, the British were viciously defeated by a confederacy of various Indian tribes led by Chief Pontiac. The battle took place at Parent’s Creek, which supposedly ran red with British blood. The creek was renamed Bloody Run and the military forever became known as the Battle of Bloody Run. Today, a section of the original creek can be seen running through the Elmwood Historic Cemetery.
Now this is where another Detroit legend has a deep connection with the battle of Bloody Run and that’s the legend of Nain Rogue. This is Detroit’s famous red dwarf, which has been a part of Detroit history for over 300 years ago when the city was founded. Nain Rogue is considered a portent of catastrophic events for the city as it’s usually seen just before something disastrous occurs. For example, the Nain Rogue was seen by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac shortly before he lost his fortune and was ruined and the creature was also seen the day before the Battle of Bloody Run in 1763.
I’ll leave you with that teaser about Nain Rogue as we’ll be exploring him more the last day of our Michigan adventure. Stay tuned for more.
Mercy Brown’s life:
Mercy Lena Brown, born 8/2/1872, was the fourth of six children of Mary (Arnold)
and George Thomas Brown. Her father George was a farmer in rural Exeter, RI and an upstanding member of the community. Historians believe Mercy’s life and aspirations were similar to those of other young women of her upbringing and time: she helped to care for her younger siblings, tended the farm and home to sustain the family’s livelihood, and probably dreamed of getting married and having a family of her own.
The tragedy:
Tuberculosis (TB), known as “consumption” for the way it slowly ravished its victim’s bodies, was the leading cause of death in the 19th century and caused widespread panic since there was no cure for it at that time. One symptom of TB was that its victims coughed up large amounts of blood, which some construed as evidence of evil and vampirism.
Among its victims were Mercy’s mother and sister in the late 1800s and her only brother, Edwin, began to show symptoms in 1890. By the autumn of 1891, Mercy contracted a rapidly progressing form of the disease known as “galloping” TB and died on January 17, 1892. Until the ground thawed enough for burial, Mercy’s body was stored inside a crypt near the graves of her mother and sister at the Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Exeter.
Rural families were less likely to contract TB since they were in sparsely populated areas, but since several members of the Brown family had been affected, a classic New England hysteria, not unlike the Salem Witch Trials, descended upon the town.
The legend begins:
Mr. Brown was besieged by villagers who believed one of his deceased family members was the cause of his son Edwin’s prolonged illness. Brown, himself, did not accept the theory but agreed to an investigation supervised by medical examiner Harold Metcalf, MD, of Wickford, Rhode Island.
Upon arriving at the cemetery, Dr. Metcalf found villagers had unearthed Mercy’s mother and sister. The villagers believed that if blood ran from the heart, it was proof the corpse was the culprit. However, there were no signs of blood in either corpse. Dr. Metcalf then examined Mercy’s body from the crypt. Her lungs showed diffuse tuberculosis and her heart had blood in it. Dr. Metcalf knew this would not have been unusual given it was stored in cold weather for a brief period of time, but villagers interpreted it as fresh blood. A fire was kindled atop a stone wall near the grave sites, Mercy’s heart was removed, and reduced to ash before she was buried, which seemed to satisfy the villagers. It was said that the ashes were fed to Mercy’s brother Edwin in the hopes of curing his own TB, but that detail remains unverified and Edwin died later that spring.
There are no known photographs, drawings, or letters from Mercy Brown. The only remaining item is a patchwork quilt she made, which is currently in the possession of distant relatives. Accounts of what happened that March in Exeter were found among Bram Stoker’s belongings and were said to be inspirations in writing Dracula, the 1897 horror novel.
To learn more and help a good cause, come to the Believe It Tour – True Blood Drive on Friday, June 24, 5-8pm at the Rhode Island Blood Center.
In partnership with the Rhode Island Blood Center, Believe It Tour will be hosting a vampire-themed blood drive on Friday, 6/24/11, from 5-8 pm to help increase live-saving donations for Rhode Islanders. The drive will be held at the Rhode Island Blood Center’s main location at 405 Promenade Street in Providence.
Believe It Tour is a dynamic, industry leading company that seeks to explore people’s beliefs in everything from Bigfoot and the paranormal to folklore and monsters. Falling into one of the areas of exploration are the ever-popular vampires. The blood drive will be a fun opportunity for the growing number of vampire fans to kick off the season premier weekend of the hit HBO show, True Blood, while helping out a life-saving cause. Michael Esordi, President of Believe It Tour, says, “Organizing a vampire themed blood drive seemed like a fitting way for us to reach out to the community and help people in need.” The drive will also offer donors a chance to learn more about Believe It Tour and Rhode Island vampire legends. Esordi promises, “Since the Blood Center is the closest thing Rhode Island has to a local vampire society, we promise all the blood from the drive will go to those in need.” Donors can even enter to win some exciting vampire-esque door prizes donated by Believe It Tour. Event attendees can also enjoy biting into red velvet cupcakes donated by Sweet Indulgence, New England’s premier gourmet confection shop that was voted “Best Cupcake” in 2010 by Rhode Island Monthly.
Courtney Entwistle from the Rhode Island Blood Center said, “We are very excited to be offering this imaginative drive with Believe It Tour, so donors and supporters of the RIBC can enjoy themselves for a few hours on a Friday night while they help save lives. Here at the RI Blood Center, we need to collect 280 pints of blood each and every day. We are the only blood center that collects for RI hospitals and our mission has always been to provide a safe, adequate blood supply for them and the patients we serve. Unfortunately, as temperatures rise, collections go down, so we are encouraging everyone to make a donation before they vacation! Summertime is often a very busy time for people, and donating blood isn’t always on the top their to-do lists. However, emergencies never take a vacation, and the demand for blood is just as high as it is during the rest of the year.”
Join Believe It Tour and the Rhode Island Blood Center for an evening of fun and excitement as you give back to the community. For more information on the True Blood Drive, or to make an appointment visit, believeittour.com/blood.
That’s right, the Zombie Apocalypse. With the news of the impending rapture said to be taking place tomorrow our own CDC has posted a Preparedness 101 checklist for all of us to follow should a Zombie Apocalypse occur.
Well Believe It Tour officials knowing a bit more than the CDC when it comes to things such as Zombies, would like to add to the list. Including our recommendations to those offered by the CDC will increase your chance of surviving the Zombie Apocalypse.
Park close to your house. We have noticed that in the movies victims always have to run quite a distance, through hordes of Zombies to get to a vehicle.
If you board up your house – stay inside. Too often victims fall for the “looks clear” trick that Zombies like to use.
Keep a shovel handy. This appears to be the best tool when hacking your way through a pile of the undead that’s between you and safety.
When running away from a Zombie – don’t look back. Think about it, they’re slow. Why keep looking back and screaming if you know they can’t run. You’ll just end up tripping, spraining your ankle, and then have to try and crawl away from these brain eaters.
Stock up on your favorite beverage. Let’s face it, Zombies will get you eventually, so you might as well enjoy yourself while you can. That’s why Believe It Tour now carries the Zombie Survival Flask. Made of sturdy aluminum this not only will keep your drink cool, it can also be used to bash Zombies in hope to live another day.
The New York Toy Fair kicked off Sunday and Believe It Tour was there to take it all in. The Toy Fair is the largest toy tradeshow in the Western Hemisphere, expected to draw near 30,000 attendees representing the toy industry.
With this being the first year I attended, I ended up with a major case of visual overload pretty quickly. The show started on the lower level where many of the smaller toy companies showcased their new lines or services. It was quite inspiring to meet many of the company owners as they truly had the energy and love of their products and wanted to share it with anyone willing to give them the chance. There was also a mix of more established groups on this level as well, but for the most part the vendors were smaller and many catered to a niche market. Once we’d met with a number of companies that had toys we felt would fit our store and some manufacturers that could help us get the “Believe Its“, our fun cast of characters, out to market, it was time to head upstairs to see the big dogs.
With my exhibit design background, I was really excited to see the main exhibits. However, that was when I came back down to reality. Although there was obviously a lot of money put into the large exhibits, it was clear that the number one item on the agenda was business – a $21.8 billon dollar business to be exact. I found this a bit shocking since I tend to think toys equal big fun rather than toys equal big money. However, standing out from the crowd was a hand-full of companies that used fun as a selling point to get orders. These companies actually had people giving toys demos and obviously having a good time doing it, which only encouraged buyers to place orders. One of the fun items a lot companies had were AFO’s (alien flying objects).
Finally, as we neared the end of the loops of aisle after aisle, we came across the Ugly Doll booth. What a treat. The exhibit was extremely creative and just my style, so I was hooked. Diana, of Believe It Tour, has been an Ugly Doll fan since their early days and made a dash inside to see the new line up, which included a series of watches and action figures. I guess we looked excited since one the Ugly Doll staff greeted us and continued to hang out with us discussing not only the Ugly Dolls, but Believe It Tour and all we do. It was a good match and a great way to end the long day.
A final note on my observations – zombies are going to be big in 2011!
Many of the Believe It Tour blog readers are vampire fans. In fact, many of them are big fans of True Blood on HBO (myself included). As this season of True Blood has been progressing there have been numerous discussions among my friends and co-workers about the differences between season one and three and if people think the show dynamics really have changed.
For season three it seems as though there’s a lot of speculation about all of the new characters on the show. Theories abound as to what type of creature they are or if they might be normal humans, who are becoming a very small minority on the show these days. We even have a cast of actors that seem to have no problem with showing skin and lots of it. Heck, even Jim Parrack (Hoyt Fortenberry) and Chris Bauer (Andy Bellefleur) look like they’ve spent all the time between seasons working out.
Now we have the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine, available on newsstands August 18th, with the three main stars baring it all and covered in blood. Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse), Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton), and Alexander Skarsgård (Eric Northman) grace the cover with the copy, True Blood – They’re Hot – They’re Sexy – They’re Undead. I’m certain this will only be more fodder for the many discussions around the office or amongst friends on facebook. You can also feel free to comment here. All of our blog readers and myself would be interested in hearing your thoughts on how far Alan Ball will push the bounds of vampire sex.
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