Ghosts, UFOs, Big Foot, and Leonard Nimoy

Welcome to the Blade blog Culture Shock, a three-times-a-week riff by Pop Culture Editor Kirk Baird on pop culture news, events, and trends. The blog will appear Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings here, with the odd night or off-day posting if something is merited.

I have a weird relationship with the paranormal/supernatural/mysteries of the world. I'm an avowed skeptic of most anything unusual, yet I found myself continually sucked into shows about hauntings, or documentaries about lake monsters.

Like most people, I've never seen a ghost, a UFO, or a hairy creature (other than Ed Asner) in the wandering the woods. That doesn't mean I wouldn't like to -- although I have no idea what I'd do if I did encounter any of those things.

Anyway, with that in mind, I give you today's (VERY LATE) link Wednesdays. Enjoy.

You can't have links to the unexplained without including the Loch Ness Monster. Here's some year-old footage from some Nessie hunters who came across a large water displacement (otherwise known as a wake) on the lake.

I came across this top 10 ghost encounters video clip from the Syfy series Ghost Hunters, but after coming across this Web site I wonder if any of it is real. For more info, click here.

The ghost stories of Charleville Hotel and others, part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Among the most haunted places in the world -- as some believe -- is The Goldfield Hotel in Goldfield, Nev. I've been there, and took some photos of the hotel from the outside. Never saw anything in the rooms, try as I might.

Investigation into an America West airliner's encounter with a UFO.

And it couldn't be a collection of clips of unexplained phenomena without involving Big Foot and the 1970s Leonard Nimoy series In Search Of

Agree or disagree with a posting? Lemme know. Have a topic or suggestion? Lemme know that, too. Send an e-mail to kbaird@theblade.com or call 419-724-6734.