Who was The Wizard of Mauritius?

Why was Bottineau called the "Wizard of Mauritius"?

Before radio was invented, there was no way for a ship to communicate with land, so there was no way to know when a ship could reach port.

A man who lived on Mauritius discovered a way to predict the arrival of ships. No one has so far been able to figure out how he did it!

The man's name was Bottineau. Born in France, Bottineau moved to Mauritius in 1764. While there, he surprised everyone by correctly predicting the arrival of ships that were still three or four days from the island.

But he could not only predict the arrival of a ship. Equally surprising, he could also tell how many ships made up an approaching fleet.

The "Wizard of Mauritius," as he came to be called, presumed that he could read certain signs in the sky. He said that these signs appeared just above the horizon when the ships were at a certain distance. But he never told anyone exactly what kind of signs they were.

After 20 years in Mauritius, Bottineau returned to France and offered to reveal his secret to the French government. His offer was rejected.

The "Magician" died around 1802, and the secret of his art of prediction died with him.

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Facts about Dragons

chinese dragon

• The English term "dragon" derives from Greek δράκων (drákōn), "dragon, serpent of huge size, water-snake".
• Dragons are legendary creatures that feature in the myths of many cultures.
• There are 2 distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European (or western) dragon and the Chinese dragon.
• European dragons are more often winged, while Chinese dragons resemble large snakes.
• Dragons are able to emit fire from their mouths.
• Both European Dragons and Chinese dragons usually live in water, especially oceans and rivers.
• The Western dragon has bat-type wings growing from its back.
• In many Asian cultures dragons are associated with wisdom and longevity.
• The King James Bible uses the words "dragon", "serpent" and "Devil" in a fairly interchangeable manner.
• Dinosaur and mammalian fossils were occasionally mistaken for the bones of dragons and other mythological creature.
• Chinese dragons can take on human form and are usually seen as benevolent.
• Like the Chinese Dragons, European Dragons also have the reputation of wisdom.
• In the 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, the major antagonist is a dragon named Smaug.
• The usual theme of a European Dragon's diet is either animals like goats and sheep, and also young virgins.

Count Dracula facts

• Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.
• Count Dracula was possibly inspired by the real Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler).
• Historically, Vlad III is best known for his resistance against the Ottoman Empire and its expansion and for the cruel punishments he imposed on his enemies.
• His Romanian surname Drăculea (also spelled "Drakulya"), by which Vlad was referred to in several documents, means "son of the dragon".
• Bram Stoker's great granson is working on an official sequel.
• Count Dracula is the fictional character with the 2nd most apperances in film and TV (Sherlock Holmes is the first).
• His line in the novel "his man belongs to me!" has led some to believe he may be homosexual- this is unlikly what Bram Stoker intended.
• Dracula is his last name, not his first.
• Count Dracula requires no other sustenance but fresh blood, which has the effect of rejuvenating him.
• The only definite way to kill Dracula is by decapitating him followed by impalement through the heart with a wooden stake.
• Dracula has powerful hypnotic and telepathic abilities, and is also able to command nocturnal animals such as wolves and rats.
• Count Dracula has been portrayed by more actors in more film and television adaptations than any other horror character.

The Devil's (Bermuda) Triangle facts

• The Bermuda Triangle is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared mysteriously.
• Popular culture has attributed these disappearances to the paranormal or activity by extraterrestrial beings.
• It is also known as the Devil's Triangle.
• Over two hundred separate disappearances have been attributed to the BermudaTriangle, including massive vessels such as the USS Cyclops and the SS Marine Sulphur Queen. 
• The disappearance of Flight 19 ranks at the very top of Bermuda Triangle lore. On December 5, 1945, five Navy Avengers vanished while on a routine training mission over the Atlantic.
• One of the most cited explanations in official inquiries as to the loss of any aircraft or vessel is human error. Whether deliberate or accidental, humans have been known to make mistakes resulting in catastrophe, and losses within the Devil's Triangle are no exception. 
• The area of the Devil's Triangle is said to be around 440,000 miles of sea. This is an area much larger than Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma combined.
• Some of the more fantastic theories include alien abductions, time warps, strange magnetic fields, and black holes
• In various oceans around the world, rogue waves have caused ships to sink and oil platforms to topple. These waves, until 1995, were considered to be a mystery and/or a myth.
• There have been approximately One Thousand lives taken in the past century, apparently caused by the Devil's Triangle

facts about Aliens or extraterrestrial beings

• Aliens are those beings who are not born on this planet we call our home.
• "Greys" are extraterrestrial beings whose existence is promoted in ufological, paranormal, and New Age circles despite being disregarded by the mainstream scientific community.
• Aliens utilize spacecraft not of earth origin.
• Aliens are called by various names such as extra biological entities or EBEs.
• Greys are most widely associated with the alien abduction phenomenon, wherein claimants allege that Greys are intelligent extraterrestrials who visit Earth and secretly perform medical experiments on humans they have temporarily kidnapped. 
• Aliens come in various forms with approximately 68 categorized types.
• Aliens come to earth to research.
• Greys are a popular theme in science fiction and have either appeared directly, or acted as a source of inspiration, in a number of different franchises. Greys also appear in Stargate SG-1 in the form of the Asgard, a highly advanced ally of the Stargate Command (SGC). In the TV series Babylon 5, aliens similar to the Greys are known as the Vree, the Streibs and the Zener.

22 interesting facts about ghosts

1. Hauntings are most intense around children entering puberty, as kids this age are emitting immense amounts of energy.
2. Animals can see or sense spirits, that’s why you often see them just staring intensely at what appears to be nothing.
3. Children perceive ghosts as imaginary friends.
4. Ghosts are often associated with hauntings, which is regular occurrence of paranormal phenomena associated with a particular locality, especially a building, and usually attributed to the activities of a discarnate entity. The the phenomena may include apparitions, poltergeist disturbances, cold drafts, and sounds of footsteps and voices.
5. Most ghosts can’t or won’t hurt you they just want to be noticed.
6. Ghosts have no sense of passing time.
7. Sometimes they exist in a state of confusion, perhaps like being stuck in a dream.
8. Often, they do not know that they are dead.
9. They can appear to the living in dreams.
10. Most ghosts are happy, but some still cling to an emotional pain.
11. They can make sounds that are audible.
12. They can leave behind certain scents, such as perfume.
13. A hooded black smoky figure is a dark entity and you should be careful around them. They usually appear at the foot of beds.
14. Ghosts favor night due to the decrease in daytime energy use.
15. Some alleged hauntings are actually a "residue," which is a past event that replays itself over and over.
16. Noisy, troublesome ghosts are known as poltergeists.
17. Ghosts retain all the memories and emotions of their lives.
18. Ghosts make friends with other ghosts from different eras.
19. If a spirit was a jerk while living, they will probably still be a jerk while a ghost.
20. Animals can see or sense spirits, that's why you often see them just staring intensely at what appears to be nothing.
21. If you hear a strange whisper in your ear when sleeping, it is probably a ghost.
22. Animal ghosts exist and have been sighted.

10 interesting facts about dreams

1. People who become blind after birth can see pictures in their dreams. People who are born blind dream in terms of smell, touch, sounds and emotion.
2. The scientific study of dreams is known as oneirology.
3. The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year.
4. 1 in 10 people dream in black and white.
5. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote “Doctor Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde” after dreaming of the story.
6. People who are snoring are not dreaming.
7. The characters in your dreams are all people you have met in the past.
8. Frankenstein was a character created from a dream.
9. Animals can have dreams.
10. External factors influence your dreams. If your bladder is full, some people dream of going to the toilet.

12 interesting facts about Nostradamus

1. Although his fame is due to the prophecies, Nostradamus was a doctor and pharmacist quite appreciated at the time. He had published poems since the year 1555 under the original name of “Les Propheties” (The Prophecies).
2. Nostradamus real name was Michel de Nostredame ( French origin).
3. Nostradamus was born on December 14 1503 in the area of Saint-Rémy-de Provence (located in southern France) and died on July 2 1566.
4. Nostradamus treated plague victims with pills he made from rose petals. He instructed patients to keep the pills under their tongues at all times and also claimed the rose remedy helped fight bad breath and tooth decay.
5. The Thessaloniki archives , the city where the great prophet spent his last days, still keeps the records of stories about the existence of shining objects in the sky above the city Saint-Remy de Provence.
6. The Legend says that in several nights before the birth of Nostradamus celestial activity was extremely important.
7. At 23 years became a licensed doctor has received her doctorate later almost effortlessly.

9 interesting facts about UFOs

1. Hundreds of thousands of unexplained sightings have been reported all around the world, many of which were documented or photographed.
2. A UFO sighting occurs somewhere on the planet every three minutes.
3. An incident was reported in Basel, Switzerland, on Aug. 7, 1566.
4. A Roper poll in 1991 said that 4 million Americans believe they have been abducted.
5. Alexander Hamilton reported a cow being kidnapped by an airship in Le Roy, Kan., in April 1897.
6. The first photograph of a UFO was taken in 1883 by astronomer Jose Bonilla in Zacatecas, Mexico.
7. On Feb. 25, 1942, a large, dark object over the Los Angeles coastline was mistaken for a Japanese attack and drew a barrage of anti-aircraft fire.
8. Winston Churchill reported a strange airship in Kent, England, Oct. 14, 1912. It was the first case of a UFO being "officially" reported.
9. UFOs were often seen and photographed during NASA's space missions in the 1960s.