The Texas Killing Fields

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start off talking about how recently while sifting through the remains of an Iron Age burial plot dating from 400 to 450 B.C. in what is today Germany, Bettina Arnold, an archaeologist and anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and others uncovered a cauldron that contained remnants of an alcohol brewed and buried with the deceased. So she decided to team up with Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery to re-create the ancient brew, using a recipe inspired by evidence collected from the archaeological remains.

Then,a remarkable 7,000-year-old megalithic site that served as an astronomical observatory has been found in Muduma village in Telangana, India. The discovery has been hailed as one of the most significant archaeological findings in India over the last few decades. According to Times of India, the team of archeologists described it as ''the only megalithic site in India, where a depiction of a star constellation has been identified''. The ancient observatory dates to 5,000 BC and the researchers believe that it is the earliest astronomical observatory discovered in India and perhaps even in the whole of South Asia. The site consists of around 80 huge menhirs (standing stones), which are 3.5 – 4 meters tall. There are also about 2000 alignment stones, which are 30-60cm tall. According to experts, no other excavation site in India has so many menhirs concentrated in such a small area. The maximum concentration of menhirs is located in the central portion of the monument.

Then, a person relayed an interesting sighting they had in California to Lon Strickler at Phantoms and Monsters. According to the eye witness the creature looked very similar to the paintings of the “Ropen” of Indonesia. I would estimate it had about a 3-5 ft. wingspan. It was light tan, all leathery skin, and the most astonishing thing was that it had no feathers! I could see the wrinkles & texture of its skin moving over its bones as it flew. The eyes were very large, round eyes, and it appeared to be young, or at least I had that impression because of its size and some of its features, like the tail and the bump on the back of its head were not as developed as those depicted of adult Ropen/Pterosaurs.

Then, pupils at a school in Austria were evacuated because a rock they had on display was giving off radiation. The rock turned out to be a lump of uranium, the metallic element that is used to produce atomic bombs. Alarmingly, the uranium was giving off thousands of millisiverts of radiation into the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart School in Salzburg - a lot higher than what is given off naturally.

Then, after the break Cam brings up the mysterious Texas Killing Fields. In 1986, the battered body of 13-year-old Krystal Jean Baker was found dumped under an interstate bridge in Chambers County, Texas. She had been beaten, raped and strangled to death, but it took 26 years for her killer to be brought to justice. Kevin Edison Smith, the man who choked the life out of the innocent girl, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life without parole. The 45-year-old was spared the death penalty because investigators believed he may have been involved in the some of the other unsolved murders that have occurred in a 50-mile desolate area between Houston and Galveston dubbed the 'Highway of Hell'. Since the 1970s, more than 30 young women have mysteriously disappeared or been found murdered along Texas’ Interstate 45, in what has become the state’s most notorious killing spree. A mile from I-45, lies the 25-acre patch known as 'The Killing Fields', where the bodies of four young women have been found. Detectives have described the remote area as a perfect dumping ground for a serial killer, which has made investigating the cases so difficult. Thanks for listening to Expanded Perspectives.

Show Notes:

• 2,500 Years Ago, This Brew Was Buried With The Dead; A Brewery Has Revived It
• Scientists Discover that Megalithic Site in India is Oldest Ancient Observatory in South Asia
• Bay Area Pterosaur
• School evacuated after rock in display in classroom was actually radioactive URANIUM
• The Mystery of the Texas Killing Fields

Music:

All music for Expanded Perspectives is provided by Pretty Lights. Purchase, Download and Donate at www.prettylightsmusic.com.

Songs Used:

• Pretty Lights vs. Led Zeppelin
• Done Wrong
• The Time Has Come
• Halloween Funtime