Maryland Invasion!

It's been 17 years since Marylanders last had to deal with them, but a particular breed of cicadas will make its way back to the region in the next few weeks, experts said.

The Brood II cicadas, which are unique to the eastern United States, haven't been around since the Ramones were still together and President Bill Clinton was serving his first term in office.

University of Maryland entomologist Michael Raupp has been waiting for this particular brood for 17 years. The bugs have been living underground the whole time and will emerge at the end of their lives.

"I wait every day for this moment to arrive," Raupp said. "It's no wonder, when they get up out of the Earth, that they're going to sing. They're going to fly to the treetops with the big boy band, and the guys are going to get eyeball to eyeball with the gals."

The cicadas should hit in mid-April to late May from Georgia to Connecticut. In Maryland, the hot spots are expected to be Calvert and Anne Arundel counties, experts said.

While cicadas are harmless to humans and trees, the mating call can be a real nuisance -- as loud as a lawnmower or a jet engine, experts said. But it only lasts a month. The bugs mate, lay eggs and die, and in between, they try to stay alive.

"Right now, everything on the planet wants to eat a cicada -- foxes, skunks, raccoons, birds," Raupp said. - WBAL TV

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Years Underground, Hatching an Invasion

From North Carolina to Connecticut, billions of creatures with eyes the color of blood and bodies the color of coal are crawling out of the earth. Periodical cicadas are emerging en masse, clambering into trees and singing a shivering chorus that can be heard for miles.

What makes this emergence truly remarkable, however, is how long it’s been in the making. This month’s army of periodicalal cicadas was born in 1996. Their mothers laid their eggs in the branches of trees, where they developed for a few weeks before hatching and heading for the ground. “They just jumped out and rained down out of the trees,” said Chris Simon, a cicada biologist at the University of Connecticut.

Those Clinton-era larvae then squirmed into the dirt and spent the next 17 years sucking fluid from tree roots. Now, at last, they are ready to produce the next generation. The adult males are snapping rigid plates on their abdomens to produce their courtship song. The females are clicking their wings to signal approval. They will mate and then die shortly afterward. Their time in the sun is short, but their 17-year life span makes them the longest-lived insects known.

After 17 years, we humans are just barely getting started in life. A mouse, by contrast, needs just seven weeks to become sexually mature, and it will live only a few years more. Yet mice are like Methuselah compared with the gastrotrich, a water-dwelling invertebrate the size of a poppy seed. Three days after it hatches, it’s laying eggs, and days later it’s dead.

In any given species, the pace of life evolves. Natural selection is constantly shaping its genes, adapting it to its environment. How long a species lives and how much of that life it takes to reach adulthood are evolving just like every other trait.

For periodical cicadas, evolution favors growing up in sync. They can find protection from ravenous birds in huge numbers. There simply aren’t enough birds at any moment to eat a few billion cicadas at once.

This strategy has worked so well, in fact, that cicadas have lost their other defenses. They even fly sluggishly. When errant cicadas emerge in the wrong year, they are quickly eradicated by birds — along with their errant genes.

For a fast-growing cicada, Dr. Simon suspects, natural selection favors patience. “It’s better to wait till everyone catches up,” said Dr. Simon. As a result, evolution favors a long life in cicadas.

Only some of the periodical cicadas in the eastern United States are emerging at the moment. They’re known collectively as Brood II. In other regions, other broods emerge in different years. Last year, for example, Brood I emerged in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. All told, there are 15 broods lurking in the ground around the United States. Twelve have a 17-year cycle, and three have a 13-year cycle.

To study all these broods, Dr. Simon and her colleagues usually spend spring traveling around the country. (This month she’s heading to North Carolina to check out the southern edge of Brood II.) The rest of the year, they study the insects and their DNA. In a new study published in April, Dr. Simon and her colleagues reported that the common ancestor of all the periodical cicadas in the United States lived four million years ago.

Its descendants then evolved with remarkable speed. “We know that during the last half million years, periodical cicadas have switched between 13- and 17-year life cycles at least eight times,” said Dr. Simon. “There’s a lot of this life-cycle switching going on.”

Dr. Simon suspects that the switch happens when populations of cicadas expand into territories where other cicadas are already buried in the ground. The immigrants that keep to their old schedule get wiped out, while any oddballs that happen to match the resident cicadas can blend in and survive.

“They just get sucked into the brood,” said Dr. Simon. That would explain how the different species in a brood always manage to follow the same timetable. To do otherwise spells doom.

Four years is, of course, quite a change to the appointment calendar. How cicadas can make such a drastic switch remains for Dr. Simon and other cicada experts to discover. It’s possible that a minor difference in the DNA of cicadas can trigger it.

This summer, after Brood II is dead and its eggs have rained to the earth, Dr. Simon and her colleagues will be probing the genomes of cicadas for that switch, hoping to find another clue to one of the world’s great life cycles. - NY Times

NOTE: for those people not familiar with Cicadas...after hatching, they create deafening noise from the trees and when they take flight, Cicadas are nothing less than ugly dark green missiles that hurt like hell if one is struck on the head or face. There are different yearly broods, especially here in central Maryland. I'm not looking forward to the invasion...Lon

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Cooking with Cicadas

Soft-Shelled Cicadas

Ingredients:
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
60 freshly emerged 17 year cicadas
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups flour
Salt and pepper to season flour
1 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter

Directions:
Marinate cicadas, alive in a sealed container, in Worcestershire sauce for
several hours.*
Dip them, in beaten egg, roll them in the seasoned flour and then gently
saute them until they are golden brown.

Yield:
4 main dish servings

*this step may be skipped and you may go directly to the egg step
instead.

Find more tasty Maryland cicada recipes at CICADA-LICIOUS: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas

Cicadas!: Strange and Wonderful

Feng Shui Brass Cicada Statue Figurine

Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America (Kaufman Field Guides)



'Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters'
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Two Witnesses Observe Huge Hovering Object Near Frederick, MD

Two witnesses driving along Route 26 near Frederick, MD, reported watching a "very large hovering object with an extremely bright, glowing light illuminating the entire under side," according to April 25, 2013 sighting report.

The 46-year-old reporting witness was driving while his 81-year-old mother-in-law sat in the front passenger seat about 5:40 a.m. on November 16, 2012. They moved off of Route 27 and onto Route 26 and had driven only a few miles before the object was first noticed.

"We noticed a very large and bright light in the southwest sky, somewhere between a 30 to 45 degree angle from the ground," the reporting witness stated, "well above the tree line, way too high to be any tower and much too large."

They noticed more detail to the object as they got closer.

"It looked like a building in the sky with an extremely bright glowing light emanating from the entire underside. It had a metallic body. It appeared round or oval from its underside. It had detail to its body/building structure, and even appeared to have possibly windows or portals by the way the light came from it. It never moved, just hovered in the sky."

After watching the object for several minutes, they noticed that the underside was well lit and steady.

"Then all of the sudden the light dimmed, however, it was still very bright. The light was an extremely bright glowing light. It was not a light beam, but more like flood lights. To the right side of it, I could make out a small red, glowing light. I could not make out any sound. The sky was clear and dark. We saw no airplane, no helicopter, nothing at all except for this object."

The witness did not consider that his mother-in-law had any background in UFOs, but she finally spoke up about the object that they were observing.

"Finally she said out of the blue, 'It's the aliens watching us. I saw that very same thing a few weeks ago near our house in the middle of the night.' Even her statement shocked me."

The witness did not know what to do at the time and just continued driving until the odd object was out of sight.

"We observed how it did not move, how extremely bright the light was, how completely different it was from any aircraft we had ever seen before. It was in no way an airplane or helicopter. It had no blinking lights nor lights similar to them. We watched it as I drove just sitting there in the sky over what appeared as open farm ground. Eventually I passed it to where I had to turn my head back to look at it, still just hovering in the sky. Then finally we were out of sight from it."

The two witnesses drove back through the same area about one week later.

"No towers of any kind, nothing but open farm land with some scattered houses around."

The original report from the MUFON CMS:

I was driving on Rt 26 heading towards Frederick, Maryland on my way to Oklahoma. It was around 5:40 am and still dark outside. I had my mother-in-law with me. She observed the object as well.

As we turned right onto Rt 26 from Rt 27, the only other vehicle we saw was a police vehicle in front of us heading in the same direction. It quickly got out of our sight and we never saw the police vehicle again afterwards.

I drove for a few short miles and then I (we) noticed a very large and bright light in the South-West sky, somewhere between a 30 to 45 degree angle from the ground. Well above the tree line, way to high to be any tower and much too large. When I got closer, I could see detail.

It looked like a building in the sky with an extremely bright glowing light emanating from the entire under side. It had a metallic body. It appeared round or oval from its underside. It had detail to its body/building structure, even appeared to have possibly windows or portals by the way the light came from it.

It never moved, just hovered in the sky. The light coming from its under side stayed steady and only after watching it for several minutes, then all of the sudden the light dimmed, however it was still very bright. The light was an extremely bright glowing light. It was not a light beam, but more like flood lights. To the right side of it, I could make out a small red glowing light. I could not make out any sound.

The sky was clear and dark. I (we) saw no airplane, no helicopter, nothing at all except for this object. When first approaching it, I said to my mother-in-law, "what is that? Do you see that?" Looking at it and seeing detail on it, I knew it was not even close to anything Ive seen before in my life. I am 46 years old and my mother-in-law is 81 (whos husband fought in WWII). Finally she said out of the blue, "its the aliens watching us, I saw that very same thing a few weeks ago near our house in the middle of the night." Even her statement shocked me. I was mesmerized with this object, I didnt know what to do other than keep my eyes on it and still safely drive.

We observed how it did not move, how extremely bright the light was, how completely different it was from any aircraft we had ever seen before, it was in no way an airplane or helicopter, it had no blinking lights nor lights in any similarity to them. We watch it as I drove just sitting there in the sky over what appeared as open farm ground. Eventually I past it to where I had to turn my head back to look at it, still just hovering in the sky. Then finally we were out of sight from it.

A week later on our way home, coming through the very same area in daytime, we both studied the area in which we saw this object. No towers of any kind, nothing but open farm land with some scattered houses around.

Witness Claims Hundreds of Alien Encounters

The following report was filed on the MUFON CMS on 4/26/2012:

Crisfield, MD: Beginning November 2011 (don't laugh) I built a radio from a quartz crystal and my high frequency ships radio on my sailboat...and through focusing my frequency I asked UFOs, inter-dimensional beings, ETs and beings that are here to help the planet come join me on/in my sailboat to help me heal the world. There is a lot more to this, as "just believed they were there" and "thanked them for their time and for coming."

After about two months of calling them through my radio and then "holding a healing service for the world," I was directed to begin photographing the inside of the boat...and to my surprise, there were many beings, orbs, "things that I cannot explain" and phenomenon of all kinds showing up in the photos. After a while, some of these things began to be visible to my naked eye.

Soon "I was told" that the inside of the boat had become too crowded" and that "they" had moved outside. In short, I believe that I opened up a portal to another or several other dimensions...but that is not the point. I knew what I was doing and I knew what I expected to happen and it did.

I asked beings and UFOs and entities and "things" from many dimensions to come and help me pray for the world (again don't laugh...as the photos speak for themselves). "We" held a "service" for one hour every single day for five months...and every single day many unusual beings and UFOs and entities came and either I assisted them or they assisted me. Soon, "they" allowed me to take their pictures. And within three months...thousands of beings and "universes" of all kinds began showing up in, on, around the boat.

"They" came to my boat because I asked them to...and they kept coming back because I thanked them for taking time out of their busy schedules and for helping us here on earth. We are not alone. We have a lot of help...if we ask and if we are appreciative. Further, these beings are very real as you can clearly see by the shadows they cast. But more interesting is the fact that our physical reality is a tiny pin prick of the incredible reality that exists in other dimensions...and I have been allowed to pier into those realities. I guess they showed themselves to me so I can share with the world that "they are here." "They are here to help." "They are very, very real."

I will be happy to share my extensive collection of photos with anyone who requests...and share the rest of the story. I am putting a website together and will have my photos, experiences and story online soon.

Most of the photos are self-explanitory. However, the photo of me up on top of the sailboat mast-you will need to look for the black object just below me and to the right of me in the base of the clouds and bring that object in by blowing up the photo. My experience with these UFOs is that they are either drones or some different type of life form...a living entity very different than an organic life form we are used to seeing on earth. Anyway...this guy came around a lot.

As for the black/greyish being that is in the photos...most of him is sort of in my refrigerator. I have two photos of him. He is very real as noted by the shadows cast on the floor and walls.

As for the rest of the rockets and tiny universes and energy beings and light orbs and UFOs (those are the bright lights in the busy photos)-that will take a lot of explaining...some of the phenomenon I could clearly see with my naked eye and some was/is (I still have the phenomenon around me) when I photographed them. - MUFON CMS

NOTE: There were a few images attached with the reports...but no entities, UFOs or other beings. Lon

The Contact Has Begun: The True Story of a Journalist's Encounter with Alien Beings

Summoned: Encounters With Alien Intelligence

Alien Dawn: A Classic Investigation into the Contact Experience

Alien Agenda: The Return of the Nephilim

You do realize that 'The Blair Witch Project' was fiction?

Well...do you? You did see those supposedly doomed "student filmmakers" making live appearances on The Tonight Show and David Letterman a year or more after "their footage was found", right? Mind you, the film and accompanying promo books did great things for Frederick County tourism; and the tiny town of Burkittsville, population around 170 or so, is still having lots of fun with their "Blair Witch" mystique after all these years. Not all of the film was shot in Burkittsville, or even in Frederick County. The story, and the character of the alleged Witch, are not based on anything found in Maryland folklore or history (they may owe a thing or two to the story of the Bell Witch haunting of Adams, Tennessee). The woods of Frederick County do not have dangerous paranormal entities lurking in them. And the events portrayed in the film have nothing to do with witchcraft, in any case.

While some scenes of the film were shot in and around Burkittsville, Maryland, the bulk of the forest trek scenes were actually filmed at Seneca Creek State Park in Montgomery County and Patapsco State Park in Baltimore County. The parks made the film settings seem much more isolated than Burkittsville actually is. Part of the Great Seneca Creek provided the view of that rock that our ill-fated filmmakers kept running into. After all, if they'd filmed in the woods outside Burkittsville, there would have been far too many roads to cross; it's not that far removed from civilization. If they'd walked far enough, they would have ended up either in Middletown, or perhaps Harper's Ferry (if they'd walked in southerly circles); or worse, somewhere a little too close to Camp David. The Secret Service would know if any spectral witches (or student filmmakers) had wandered unauthorized onto federal government property.

The woods and mountains of Frederick County are really quite beautiful, and attract countless visitors, local and otherwise, every year. The nature trails and mountain overlooks are second to none in gorgeous scenery and peaceful ambiance. The most dangerous things you're likely to find in these woods are copperheads; and then only in summer and early fall.

In watching and analyzing The Blair Witch Project, you eventually realize that what the characters with cameras experienced in the woods was not, in fact, witchcraft per se; but a malevolent fairy abduction, straight out of Irish folklore. In the film, the students' experiences of disorientation, walking long distances in circles, an invisible presence, and disembodied voices mimicking familiar ones, are all hallmarks of fairy abduction, according to folk tradition. Alas, the students were not aware that there is a very straightforward antidote to this condition: one is supposed to take off one's coat or jacket, turn it inside-out, and put it back on again. This breaks the enchantment, as the fairies no longer recognize their victim. Too bad Heather, Michael and Josh didn't read up on their fairy lore before pursuing the Blair Witch into the woods.

The Blair Witch Project [Blu-ray]

Haunted Maryland: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Old Line State (Haunted Series)

Monsters of Maryland: Mysterious Creatures in the Old Line State