I am rather curious myself about that which I am going to write about. With a bit of luck and enough time for proper research, I am hopeful I’ll be able to unveil a discovery that might be of interest to many cryptozoologists. With that discovery, Dubrovnik, would finally appear on the cryptozoological world map. Until further research yields that particular find, I will give you a preview of what I hope to discover.  

In the Dubrovnik Archives, as reported during the 1500s, a huge unknown sea-creature washed ashore, right beneath the city walls. Such a beast had never been seen before. The Ragusans (Ragusa was the historical name of the city of Dubrovnik) were expert sailors and traveled to many distant and strange lands. As a matter of course, they encountered all sorts of strange phenomena and mysterious creatures. But what washed up on that day must have seemed quite strange and unidentifiable. Experts from outside of Ragusa were invited to examine the beast’s carcass. No one was able to identify the creature as anything previously known.

Although I’m not sure of the exact location where the sea-creature was seen, I do know it was on the southern side of the city, that is, in the old port. I don’t have further details at this point as I didn’t have either the time or the means to verify this story properly. As I believe one can freely search the archives, I am hopeful that, in time, I will be able to give you a full account of this event and hopefully provide you with an explanation for the mystery.

I thought this man was quite unique, but not odd or eccentric. He had spent his whole life at sea and, of course, knew it well. He especially enjoyed sport fishing, that is, underwater fishing. And, almost every week, he would gather his modest diving gear, throw it into his little boat, and head toward the southern shores of Croatia. He would usually take care to be back before nightfall.

That day he was diving in an area known as Druga Orsula, a popular diving area. Although well known, the area is not developed. There, in the pristine wilderness, are rocks that rise up well above sea level, then they fall back down sharply into the Adriatic, before disappearing into its depths. To come here and dive all alone, at dusk, is certainly no small feat. In fact, it is not an activity I would recommend to anyone.

Here are the story’s known facts:
The man returned from his boating/diving expedition in the evening. He was visibly in shock; his face was pale, a look of terror was in his eyes. That’s how the local fishermen who saw him described his appearance as he got out of his boat.

Now, we should certainly consider that this was quite some time ago - years and years have passed since - and the story has, no doubt, been embellished with the passage of time. However, I’m certain the essential details are correct. Namely, this story is known to the local fishermen, and also to my family, as they were neighbors of the terrified fisherman.

We learned what transpired:
While he was diving in those dark, deep waters, some mysterious, huge creature swam up near him, and, for a few moments, lingered right above him. It stretched for at least several meters. Now, this man was an experienced fisherman and a diver. He would certainly not have mistaken a creature of the known aquatic world, such as a whale or a dolphin for some unknown sea-creature.  

His description, admittedly, was rather vague. But he insisted that the animal, or whatever it was, had huge eyes. He recalled that quite clearly. That creature which stood there and watched him had a pair of huge, terrifying eyes. Furthermore, although deeply shocked by being face-to-face with the unknown, he still noticed that the beast remained immobile. Wasting no time, he mustered the strength to swim toward the boat. He climbed in and sped away from the spot, as fast as his boat would go, back towards town.

Of course, once it got out, his story took on a life of its own. He was more traumatized by the ridicule of his so-called “friends” than he was by his encounter with the mysterious creature.

To begin with, he was thought of as different, a bit odd, even eccentric. The story of the mysterious beast gave even further ammunition to some small-minded souls who wanted to plant, sow and spread enmity toward the man they did not accept as one of their own.
Some thirty years went by, but a noteworthy fact remains:

The man in question ¾ an experienced fisherman and diver and lover of the sea  ¾ long after his terrifying experience did not again set foot in the Adriatic, even in the shallow waters near the beach. Since then, he may have come to terms with his fears, but he most certainly never went back to the Druga Orsula.

If you ask me - he saw something. I do not think it was a monster, nor was it a sea-dragon of some sort. Rather, I believe he saw a prehistoric animal that somehow evaded us all this time. The creature simply lost its way in the deep of the ocean and ended up in the depths of Druga Orsula on that ominous day thirty years ago. After all, such cases of ‘getting lost’ are known in lives of whales and other large, known animals. Why couldn’t that happen with an unknown animal?

That evening, we arrived at the house, greeted everyone, and then retired to our rooms to sleep. My mother was sleeping in the bed next to mine. During the night, I experienced something quite terrifying. I was sleeping in the very same room that my mother had used when she heard the mysterious walking sounds. Was this a coincidence, or was there a connection? I’m not sure.

I woke up to the sound of my grandmother walking into the hall. I was sure I heard her and not anyone else, because she suffered from a bad case of asthma;; she breathed with difficulty, producing quite a distinctive sound.  I learned later, she forgot to take her pump into her bedroom, and she was going to the kitchen to retrieve it. I was fully awake by the time she entered the kitchen. The light from the kitchen was shining dimly through my glass-door and into the room. My mother slept soundly, as usual. 

At this point, I felt something jump up and land on top of my legs. It quickly started climbing up toward my head. I will never forget that feeling - it felt just like my cat. My cat loved to jump up on my bed, creep up toward my head, bite my ears, and purr, until I woke up. At first, when the creature landed on me I didn’t move. I stiffened, anxiously waiting to see what happened next. I recall trying to remember if we’d brought our cat with us. Funny, I know, but that’s the first thought that popped into my head.

I felt it blow a breath of warm air into my ear. That did it! I jumped up and threw off the covers. I immediately turned on the nightlight and, still feeling panic stricken, I looked to see if anything was on top of me. I looked under the bed. I looked around the room. I saw nothing.

Naturally, the commotion woke up my mother. She gave me a puzzled look and asked what was going on. I yelled out that I felt a cat creep up on top of me. "What cat?!," she replied. “I don’t know,” I said, “but,” I continued insisting,  “I know that it was right on top of me!” She got up, tried to calm me down and helped me search the room. Neither of us found anything or anyone.

At breakfast, we spoke at length about my ordeal of the night before. I am sure by now you can get an idea of my grandmother’s input to the story. But there was something else. My mother was worried that, perhaps, there was something the matter with the cat we left with the neighbors and that, somehow, I sensed there was something wrong and channeled that feeling into the experience that transpired the night before. True, this idea sounds a bit superstitious, but I guess, our conclusion was somewhat understandable under the circumstances. Of course, when we got home the cat was its usual self - as healthy and as playful as ever.

Unfortunately, the creepy feeling I felt that night remained with me for a long time… I’m ashamed to admit that it took me at least a year to be able to sleep without first pulling up he covers over my head. ¾ if not to cover my head completely, then at least to cover my ears.

I will now leave the old house, and the ghost stories, and in my next article tell you about a cryptozoological second-hand experience. You might have heard of this one yourself…

Whether it was due to the heat or the whole ordeal of the funeral, my mother couldn’t fall asleep. She tried to close her eyes and relax, but occasionally glanced out into the darkness. Then, she heard the steps. Someone was walking on the well-known squeaky parquet floor of the front hall. Then, she heard the steps coming towards her. She tried to see who it was, but due to the darkness, she couldn’t see anyone. Then the steps moved away and headed toward the room her mother and her brother were sleeping in. Then the walker reversed course, and started coming towards her again. She heard this happen several times.

My mother then heard a different and louder noise. It sounded as if someone had pulled out a chair and seated themselves at the antique table. This noise awakened her brother. At first, he stayed in bed and just listened to the weird sounds for a few moments. He then decided he had to find out who was in the hall. So he ran into the hall and flipped on the light. Though he had heard the sounds just moments before, when he turned on the light, he saw no one sitting at the table. By now, the whole household was awake and everyone joined in the search for the possible intruder or prankster. No one was ever found. The apartment remained locked at all times. In my opinion, this was a classic case of ghosts in our midst.

My mother’s parents were religious folk; especially my grandmother. She was also quite superstitious. Every time I went for a visit, she filled my ears with all kinds of weird stories. Maybe she just made these tales up, because she got some enjoyment out of seeing my eyes wide open with awe, as her narrative unfolded. I’ll never know. I would often get so frightened after hearing one of her stories, I’d be afraid to leave the living room; at least not until my mother got up and left the room. Somehow, seeing my mother next to me, gave me the extra courage I needed to face any monster that might pop out of the dark. That house frightened me throughout my entire childhood.

My grandmother’s stories of mysterious lights moving from room to room; of lit candles which suddenly appearing and vanishing on the night table; of curtains moving without apparent explanation; of fluttering angel’s wings; of detonations in the basement; all these stories fed my fears until they grew to be of sizeable proportions.

Although I’m convinced my grandmother told me stories purely for her own entertainment, my grandfather said that one of her tales was actually true. It was the story of the detonation in the basement.

This is what happened, according to my grandparents: The whole house was awakened by a loud rhythmic noise like that produced by someone beating a mallet against the wall. The tenants crowded into the hallway. Baffled and concerned, they wondered what could be causing it.

No one dared to take a flashlight or a candle, and climb down the stairs to the basement to investigate. Some voiced a concern that there was a break-in, and that the violent perpetrator was still in the basement. Finally, my grandfather mustered up enough courage to light up a candle and, in the safety of its faint light, he disappeared into the deep darkness that swallowed the basement. As you might suspect, he didn’t find anything.  No one ever figured out what happened.

However, the pain along the spine that initially motivated my grandmother to seek an acupuncturist’s help was not successfully treated with acupuncture. Her back pain was treated successfully by another practitioner of alternative medicine. A simple old lady, a natural chiropractor widely known as gifted in rearranging and fixing dislocated bones, fixed her back.

This is what happened when my grandmother went to see her… The old lady asked her to lie down. She then performed a few controlled movements placing her hands on my grandmother’s back. My grandmother says she did, in fact, feel as if something was being rearranged in her back.

Whatever the supporters or the skeptics of these methods say, one fact remains: clinics and polyclinics were powerless before my grandmother health problems and alternative medicine cured them. Period.

 I do not wish to criticize modern medicine, I only want to point out that we should question the credibility of the often narrow view taken by modern scientists, especially their derogatory stance toward alternative therapies - the workings of which science cannot yet fully explain.

In my next article I'll venture to some of the other, darker and inexplicable phenomena…

Let’s take a closer look at some of my experiences with alternative healing. My grandmother experienced terrible migraines throughout her life. The acute pains she felt were chronic and drove her mad at times. When the headaches were at their worst, she felt completely incapacitated. But my grandmother was not a lady that simply surrendered to a problem; she actively sought out a solution. So, she visited quite a few hospitals and clinics. Unfortunately, after being seen by various doctors, she was sent off without being cured.

As far as I know, migraines are considered incurable; their causes continue to baffle the medical community. However, the symptoms of migraines are well known, and most sufferers have some idea of what to do to get some temporary relief. We know that migraines are more prevalent in women, and when they strike, it is best to avoid exposure to light. There are painkillers to be popped, of course, but you can’t always count on them to be effective. Though my grandmother frequently sought help, she continued to be tormented with pain for years.  No traditional doctor seemed able to help her.

The migraines weren’t the only thing that afflicted my grandmother. She also suffered from back pain. Every doctor she saw was unable to heal her. Finally, she decided to try alternate therapy. She sought the help of a well-known and respected acupuncturist, who acquired his expertise after many years of studying the technique in China.

For those of you who might not know what acupuncture is - it is a procedure of piercing areas of the body - the cross points of bodily meridians ¾ with fine needles in order to produce various therapeutic effects. The actual physical procedure of acupuncture is only the smaller visible part of an iceberg floating in the whole sea of eastern philosophy. But that’s a whole other topic unto itself. Acupuncture has actually gained a certain respect - from both laypeople and professionals alike - though much of its recognition (most of it, really) remains off-the-record.

Hoping to find some relief from her back pain, my grandmother walked into an acute-center. During the initial consultation, she mentioned she had recurring migraines. The practitioner just gave her a nod and a discreet smile and asked why she hadn’t consulted with him before, as he routinely handled such cases. Right after that, he asked her to have a seat, relax and close her eyes. This marked the beginning of the healing process.

Later she told me, she was in such terrible pain before she took a seat that she didn’t feel any of the needles piercing her skin (she had them stuck in her face and all around the head!). The whole procedure didn’t take long.

Then, she said, something quite unusual started happening, but more of this in the next article.

Political correctness is sometimes beneficial, but not always. You might be considered a serious and even great scientist, if you advance scientific horizons within the limits of political correctness. However, should you dare to sail off toward uncharted and questionable waters, you’d likely be laughed out of the scientific community. Once ostracized, your dream of being accepted as great scientist-would remain just that-a dream.

Although I’m not a scientist, I’m quite aware of the way things work in science. Take medicine, for instance. Many doctors take offense at hearing their patients mention alternative medicine in the same breath as more established medical procedures. This happens even if alternative medicine is the patient’s best hope of recovery. 

There are exceptions, of course. There are numerous cases of doctors telling patients-in confidence-to seek a cure by using alternative medicine. When this happens, the doctor will stress that he is in no position to make such a recommendation-officially; as the prevailing code of conduct in medicine forbids it. His job would immediately be at risk! I actually heard a doctor say this, when I accompanied a family member to a physician’s office. This happened in Sweden, but it occurs pretty much everywhere.

The next article relates to my own very personal experiences at the boundaries of science. I draw some of my inspiration from my grandmother, who sought out alternative remedies.

As if seeing a ghost of a man just passed away was not enough, the apparition gave off an evil aura. To my aunt - other than in the body - it did not seem at all the good-natured family friend everybody knew. The apparition stared straight at her and let out a muffled scary laughter of a man getting ready to do who knows what evil. She ran her hands over her eyes, then looked toward the spot where it was sitting just moment ago, but saw nothing was there.

My aunt doesn’t remember if she was dreaming of the deceased prior to waking up as to postulate that she perhaps had a lucid dream. She described to me every detail of her experience and, after we reviewed it, we both concluded that, though horrid, the whole event after all might be soundly and rationally explained.

Namely, everyone - children, of course, as well (perhaps, even more so) - obviously experienced a certain dose of psychological shock due to the sudden passing of their beloved. It is, then, quite possible that my aunt had, in fact, had a dream about the deceased, though she can't recall she had.

At the very point between dreaming and wakefulness, her mind could have simply projected the dream image outwardly making it seem real. Such cases are certainly not unheard of. Some similar (same, perhaps) mechanism could have also been operating when my mother saw the (non) existing spider-web as real.

My aunt believes that behind those ‘visions’ is precisely this sort of dream mechanism. I, too, lean toward accepting her hypothesis. Even so, “I saw the deceased in front of me as I now see you”, are words spoken by a rational person and a skeptic and chilling enough to leave room for discussion. Without further evidence, I am afraid, I cannot render a fully conclusive judgment to this one.

That the mentioned people experienced the above events is beyond question. It is also beyond question that those were not your everyday experiences. I am quite pleased I shared them with you today. You yourself can decide what to make of them.

At the very beginning of this article, I stated that the text wouldn’t run for endless pages. However, I felt I needed to describe the aforementioned events properly and so I opted to take a bit more space than originally intended… But, whatyagonna do?!…  Estimation errors do happen…

I could now go to some length about all the effort put into finding that ring - and not only by my grandmother - but I think it’ll suffice to tell you they even went as far as taking the bedroom set apart and, what must have been a funny site, micro-searching for possible ‘deep lesions’ in the floor. Those, much like the ring, were never found. Funny what people are willing to do when desperate. Have no delusions, though - you and I would have done the same. Later, I would often wonder if they searched the fridge, too (wouldn’t surprise me if they did). All jokes aside, my grandmother did feel and did see the ring come off her finger and fall. How it managed to get lost in such a limited space, even today - after 56 years - continues to baffle.

The last ‘case’ (that I know of) connected to this house has to do with my aunt (father’s sister), a person known to herself and others as very rational, even skeptical in all matters unusual. A few years ago she opened up to me and told me of a strange event she witnessed as a child…

You can read all about that one in Part 6.