Welcome back to our program, there will be no further commercial interruptions. Our next tale may not be the scariest, but it may be the hardest to believe. Could Arkane really be home to a fire breathing dragon? Some think that it is. Could the stories from the medieval and ancient world actually be true?

This 1978 photo shows what to many looks like a dragon. The man who took this photo, Rex Hamerstan, says that the green flying creature in the picture he took that night is a dragon. Most sim biologists believe that dragons are not real animals. However other eye witness that cold dark September night, claimed to have seen a dragon flying around Ditch Digger Hill. Ten years after this photo was taken a group of sim creationists came to town to find an Arkane Dragon, as the locals call them. The leader of the sim creationists, the reverend Vinny Sagget said that ?The discovery of a living Arkane Dragon would disprove evolution.? However when asked how, he couldn?t explain.

As far as we can tell no one has ever reported being attacked by an Arkane Dragon. On the other hand, some farmers have reported them stealing their live stock. The most likely explanation if these beasts are real is that they wanted to eat them. The closest we have to a story of an Arkane Dragon attacking a person comes from the Max family. Their story goes as follows, one day in the summer of 2003, Bob and his wife Mary went camping together out in the desert wilderness near Arkane. They brought their son, Sam with them. They left their car to go sleep in a tent near some cactus. In the middle of the night, they heard a loud noise, woke up, rushed out of the tent, and saw an Arkane Dragon fly away, carrying their car with him. Eight year old, Sam Max drew this picture of what he said the creature, that stole his family?s car, looked like. Could Arkane Dragons be real? If there really is a dragon living in the desert around Arkane, it would be the crypto zoological find of the millennium. But if this is a real creature, how much of a threat is it to sims? They certainly threaten live stock, which they probably eat. But what would motivate one of these beasts to steal the Max?s family car? There have been stories throughout the middle ages of dragons attacking people and abducting maidens, but as of yet, Arkane Dragons haven?t attacked people. Although judging by Sam Max?s drawing, they do look predatory and dangerous.

What?s more some Arkanians, and some tourists say they have seen them breathing fire. In fact according to a local camp counselor, he has seen them start wild fires. He refused to appear on camera, sighting the fact that he didn?t want to become a laughing stock. Nevertheless, some fire fighters say they have seen Arkane Dragons start fires. Why would they do this? Is starting fires part of their hunting strategy?

Arkane University stands almost in the exact center of town. It is one of the oldest collages in Simnation. It was first established in 1884. Back than Arkane was still a gold mining town. There are at least two paranormal mysteries associated with Arkane University. No, neither of them have anything to do with the cafeteria food. The first one we are going to talk about is a ghost story. According to some Arkane University students dorm 213 is haunted by the spirit of an angry young woman. She is called Sad Katie, but others less sympathetic to her, call her Evil Katie. You might see her as evil once you hear about what she did when she was alive. According to police reports, in 1956, twenty year old Katie Anxed attended the university. She took up residence in dorm number 213. She fell in love with another student, his name was Baxter Merto. But as it turned out Baxter was not interested in her. He was already in love with another young lady, who went by the name of Yinny. When Katie found out she was enraged. One night, when Baxter and Yinny were going out together, she murdered them in cold blood. The weapon she used was a thirty eight revolver. Immediately afterwards she felt guilty for murdering the person she loved. She rushed back to her dorm and committed suicide. It is said that her ghost haunts dorm 213 to this very day.

Some think this blue light supposedly coming from dorm 213 is Katie?s malevolent spirit. Just about every student who attended the university and stayed in dorm 213 after her murder, slash suicide, have reported being harassed by her spirit. One of them, Tom Bradshaw said he heard strange load noises at night. He wasn?t the only one, every one else in the building reported hearing them as well. But they seemed to be coming from dorm 213. Others have reported a bizarre blue light inside dorm 213, similar to the one in this 1989 photograph. After one of the students reported poltergeist activity and threatening messages spontaneously appearing on the walls written in blood, both inside dorm 213, no one wanted to live there.

The second mystery associated with Arkane University involves aliens. Many people, not just in Arkane, believe they have been abducted by aliens. These stories are very disturbing, even if they are not true. But if they are true stories, we should be very afraid. The aliens are said to perform horrible experiments on their victims. It is also frightening because if this is true, how can we fight them. Can we really take on beings millions if not more than a billion years more advanced than us? That is how far ahead of us some sim scientists think technologically advanced aliens would be. One young woman who thinks she?s been abducted by aliens is a teacher at Arkane University.

Her name is Grace Tanner. She is a local math teacher. As you can imagine she is scared and doesn?t know what to do. She doesn?t like it when they take her, but Grace can?t think of any way she can fight back.

Host::: Grace when was your first abduction experience? Grace::: Just a couple of years ago. Host::: What kind of horrible things did these aliens do to you? Grace::: The usual, they stuck a bunch of needles in me. Host::: Sounds like acupuncture. Grace::: Believe me it was much worse. Host::: How was it worse? Grace::: You don?t want to know.

This is what Grace says the aliens that abducted her looked like. Could this be what a real alien species looks like? For the skeptics out there I know what you?re thinking ?Yeah real original.?

Could a collage professor at Arkane University really be being abducted by space aliens? What could be the diabolical purpose of their experiments?

Could this be real? Could any of Arkane?s paranormal or supernatural tales have a basis in fact? Is it possible that all of them are just in our imagination? According to the Arkane Skeptical Society, there are no spirits, malevolent or otherwise, and none of these strange beasts are real animals. They also don?t believe aliens crashed landed on earth or that people are being abducted by them. We now head for the Arkane observatory and Astrophysics lab. The two buildings are located at the top of Mount Arin. Here Astronomers can observe the heavens far from all the light pollution of the big city.

Over the years, the Arkane Astrophysics and Astronomy Lab on Mount Arin, has made a few major scientific discoveries. When it first opened its doors it was short on cash, now it has much more money and researchers.

Seth Tillborn is an astrobiologist working at the lab. Although he searches the heavens for signs of Extraterrestrial civilizations, he doesn?t believe we are being visited by aliens, not now, or ever in the past. He doesn?t take seriously stories of alien abductions or government cover-ups. He also rejects the idea that spirits haunt buildings or that Mary Valad was a vampire. He doesn?t believe in the supernatural. He doesn?t believe that unverified creatures like Messy, Simsquanch, Black Death Spiders, or the Arkane Dragon are real.

Host::: Seth, what is it like working at the Arkane Astrophysics and Astronomy Lab? Seth::: Its okay, I get dental. Host::: Why shouldn?t we believe any of the stories about ghosts, vampires, demons, witches, faith healing, strange unknown creatures or aliens? Seth::: Where?s the proof? I am a scientist, I know better than most people that you need evidence to back up your claims. Host::: What about the photographs of ghosts or monsters or UFOs? Seth::: That?s not proof, photos can be faked, especially now, that we have computes and all this advanced digital technology. If you wanted to prove to me that say Simsquanch existed I would need a body. Plus how could Messy be real without being verified by now? The Red Lakes are not that big. Host::: In the 1890s there were a bunch of bodies drained of blood, and some today think that Mary Valad was a vampire. Seth::: Have you ever heard of vampire bats? Host::: What about the mysterious Demon House? We were not even able to discover the building?s origin. Doesn?t that creep, you out? Doesn?t that make you think something supernatural is going on? Seth::: No, you just didn?t search hard enough! Host::: we searched as hard as we could! Besides, the Hunts claimed that the priests that attempted to exorcize the demon from the house were killed by the evil entity. Seth::: Did you check the church?s records?

Is it possible that all of this supernatural and paranormal stuff is a fantasy? That still leaves Arkane?s other stories of buried treasure as a possibility. But Seth and other skeptics even doubt them. For one thing, they think it?s unlikely that someone like Sue Berry Slum could have found a diamond mine over a century ago, without anyone else finding it later. Could all these people be delusional? For one thing a recent poll by Sim News showed that 70% of Arkanian?s don?t believe in ghosts. Although about 80% believe in an after life, most think that spirits don?t haunt houses or buildings or even stay here on Earth. About another 65% don?t believe there are aliens visiting Earth and of those 35% that do, only about 75% of them believe in government cover-ups or alien abductions. Only about a mere 32% believe in unverified creatures like Simsquanch or Messy roam the deserts or swim in the waters of the Red Lakes.

But it?s not all bad. Maybe we can sleep soundly now knowing that this stuff is not a threat to us, that it isn?t real. Sure we won?t get to enjoy any friendly ghost at the Cactus Suits, but that?s not too bad. Sure the spirits can?t heal us, but maybe modern medicine can. However even Seth, a man trained in science, couldn?t give us a very good explanation for the Demon House mystery. We checked it out again and we couldn't find the origins of that house. Also, we checked the church?s records and three of their exorcists did die that night, from something. Also at least one of them died the way the Hunts told us he died. Although we can?t prove it was something supernatural that did the killing. However when the Hunts were charged with murder, they were all acquitted. Plus, could vampire bats have really drained all of those poor sims of blood back in the 1890?s? How much blood can a vampire bat drink?

But as the sun rises once again over the town of Arkane, we have to wonder how much of this we should believe. Should we believe any of it? Sasha claimed to have magical powers, but she couldn?t make us a unicorn. Also mainstream science considers many of these mysteries to be nothing more than fantasy, simple delusions.

Some of the strongest evidence that these strange tales are true is the photographs. Like Seth said, photos can be faked, they can be altered, to make it look like something was there, that was not there. So maybe they are not that convincing. Even honest eyewitnesses, can make mistakes. Therefore perhaps there really is nothing supernatural or paranormal in the world. I?ll repeat myself, maybe we are better off if none of this is real. What is not real can?t hurt us, right? Wait a minute, don?t turn the camera off! Is that what I think it is? Could it really be? Is it possible?

It is! It?s Messy! She is real! Quick get a net! I?m going to make a lot of money! I mean we're going to make a lot of money!

If Messy is real who knows what else is. The end, or is it? ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ --------- Disclaimer: the pictures with the black background were made by me and they are not from Simcity Societies. The rest of the pictures are from my city. The pictures with The Arkane Dragon, the light in the dorm window and Messy are photo shopped; those things do not appear in Simcity Societies.