Bob Villoria

23 January 2016

Horrifying and Creepy Facts

Credit to Jose Duarte - Provided by Author, R.M.Villoria

This is going to get creepy fast. In the 1880s and 1890s the family of George and Mary brown of Exeter, Massachusetts suffered a sequence of tuberculosis, called consumption at the time, infections. Mary, the mother, was the first to die and then their eldest daughter, Mary Olive, died in 1888. Their son, Edwin, then caught the infectious disease in 1890. Sadly, in 1891, another daughter, Mercy, became infected and died of the disease in January of 1892.

She was buried in the Baptist Church cemetery in Exeter. People began talking about one of the family members being a vampire, as folklore went at the time that if multiple family members died of a disease, then a family member must have been involved in undead activities. George Brown was persuaded to exhume the bodies of his family members in March 1892. While his wife and daughter, Mary Olive, were considerably decomposed, Mercy was still quite preserved and still had some blood in her heart, because they didn’t embalm most people back then.

So, the villagers took that as a sign that Mercy was a vampire and the reason Edwin was sick. Mercy’s heart was removed from her chest, burned, and the ashes mixed with tea and given to Edwin to drink to cure his ailment. He died two months later.

About the Author...
Born and raised in the state of New York, R.M. Villoria began his writing career as a prolific songwriter. After two back-to-back tours as a Marine in Vietnam, Villoria spent the next few years owning and operating a myriad of businesses and in 1992 returned to writing, this time appeasing his appetite for suspense and horror fiction.

Years in the making, his ghostly tales touching on the underpinnings of quantum physics and the paranormal are now ready for the public. As his first published work, Villoria presents readers with Volume One of his series “Tales From the Mind Field.”

Villoria has a son and daughter and lives in Las Vegas with his Wife.

09 January 2016

A Visit to Assumption Junction

A Visit to Assumption Junction

Assumption Junction

Original article By Jeanna Gabellini / provided by R.M. Villoria- Writer/Author

Jeanna Gabellini

We've all heard how one should never assume (Ass U Me) because it makes an ass out of you and me. Yet, people still make assumptions all the time about why a person did or didn't do something and what they will do in the future. Many of the stories that are made up about people are so far off target, but assumptions continue to be made.

You can spend a lot of unproductive time wondering why something happened, especially if you know attraction principles. You assume it was this thought or that thought that created your negative circumstances...again, many times your guesses are far off base.

However, there is great place for assumptions in your life. Assuming that you are going to get exactly what you want leads to consistent results. Assuming that the game of manifestation is never over, even when the rulebook says so, will get you everything you want at any time.

Don't assume... You won't make your financial goal this month or year.

Assume instead…You will.

Don't assume... Your health will decline as you get older.

Assume instead...It will improve.

Don’t assume…That employees are hard to manage.

Assume instead…You will attract the IDEAL team.

Don’t assume…That a BIG goal would be a miracle to achieve.

Assume instead…It's normal for you to achieve it.

Don’t assume…That there is not enough time.

Assume instead…There is an abundance of time.

Don’t assume…You have to do it all by yourself.

Assume instead…The Universe has your back.

Don’t assume…You have to sacrifice your own needs for clients.

Assume instead…Your ideal clients will honor you.

Don’t assume…You are stuck in a rut.

Assume instead…The time is now for a breakthrough.

Don’t assume…You can't afford it.

Assume instead…You can and the money will come.

Assumptions are happening hundreds of times a day and you don't even notice. Make it your practice to tune into your assumptions. See if each one serves you or creates a roadblock. A good assumption keeps the door not only open to possibility but ensures success.

If you think it's not as easy as this, you're wrong. But you'll end up being right if you keep assuming things are hard work or impossible. Catch my drift?

No more excuses. No more yucky assumptions. It's time for an assumption revolution within you. Assume that you are worthy of all good things and that by you choosing your own rules that feel good, miracles WILL be an everyday occurrence.

Villoria has a son and daughter and lives in Las Vegas with his Wife.

05 January 2016

Why are there dents on top of Cowboy hats?

Why are there dents on top of Cowboy hats?

Of course, not all cowboy hats have dents. How about country and western star George Strait's? Or Bonanza's Dan "Hoss" Blocker's?
Yet the vast majority of cowboy hats do have dents, and no one could give an explanation then that dents are there "for style". Ralph Beatty, director of the Western / English Retailers of America, theorizes that early cowboy hats may have acquired dents by wear, and later were intentionally added.
As one, better to be kept anonymous, western hat marketer put it "Let's face it, without the dent, you would look like a dork"
We wonder if he would have said that to Dan Blocker's face.

Imponderables courtesy of David Feldman - from his book "Do Penguins Have Knees" / provided by R.M.Villoria

Villoria has a son and daughter and lives in Las Vegas with his Wife.

Why are our fingers different lengths?

Why are our fingers different lengths?

....anatomically, fingers are digits (our other digits are toes) and people, like all four-legged vertebrate animals, have digits characteristic both for the large group to which they belong (called a class: amphibians, reptiles, mammals) and for a smaller group within the class (called an order: rodents, carnivores, primates). So we have five fingers of a length that is characteristic for the hands of primate animals. Of course, there is variation among different species and even variation among individual members of the same species. Some people have ring fingers noticeably longer than their index fingers; in others, the fingers are the same length.
But is there any rhyme or reason for the relative size of our digits? Dr. Duane Anderson, of the Dayton Museum of Natural History, was the only source contacted who emphasized the role of the fingers (and hands) in grabbing objects.

Pick up a tennis ball and you will see the fingers are all the same length. Length is an adaptation to swinging in trees initially, and then picking things up. An "even hand" would be less versatile. A long little finger, for example, would get smashed more often.

Biologist John Hertner, of Kearney State College, says that two characteristics of the digits of higher vertebrates reflect possible reasons for the unequal lengths. First, there is evidence that we can locomote more effectively with smaller outer toes. Second, over time, many higher vertebrates have a tendency to lose some structures altogether (e.g., horses have lost all but one toe).
Might humans lose a digit or two in the next few hundred million years? Unfortunately, neither the evolutionists nor the creationists will be here to find out.

Imponderables courtesy of David Feldman - from his book "Do Penguins Have Knees" / provided by R.M.Villoria

Villoria has a son and daughter and lives in Las Vegas with his Wife.

04 January 2016

A little treat for your afternoon...

Here's a sample of just one of the short stories you will find in Vol. Two. of the series "TALES from the MIND FIELD" coming in 2016.

If you haven't already done so, pick up Vol. One. in the series today either at my website
(www.rmvcard.com) or on Amazon at: http://ow.ly/OxXc1

Copyright R.M.Villoria April 2015

This story is the property of R.M.VILLORIA. No portions of this story may be performed, reproduced or added to by any means or disclosed to, quoted or published in any medium without the express written consent of R.M.VILLORIA

I don’t know exactly what woke me that night, but as I lay there in the darkness, I glanced over at the clock. The illuminated numbers on the face read 3:24. I felt my wife stir on the bed next to me. Her hand touched my arm “You okay?” she mumbled half asleep. “Yeah” I whispered “It’s okay, go back to sleep sweetie”

As I got up and shuffled across the bedroom carpet, I felt as though there was presence of something unknown, unseen lurking in the house. I suddenly caught something out of the corner of my eye, a dark shadowy mass moving swiftly towards me from the corner of the room. Was it an intruder in my home bent on burglarizing? We really had nothing of any significant value that would be a reward for this action. Or was it something else, something more sinister. Before I could even react, it moved silently and quickly and seemed to suddenly envelope me. I felt my movement stifled as if a carpet had been thrown around me. In an instant I felt an incredible pain at the base of my skull and everything went black.

As I slowly came to, I opened my eyes. My world was upside down; I mean literally upside down. I felt the tightness of the constraints around my ankles as I hung there high above the backyard of my own home, the blood rushing to my head, everything turned about. My vision was blurred from the pain of the blow I had sustained earlier. I was hanging some forty feet above the ground by my ankles in the middle of the night. But how I thought did this intruder string me up in these trees at the end of my property. I looked from side to side and could make out no ropes or pulleys that would have been used to lift my body weight up to this height. As I strained to see my surroundings in the darkness I heard a low moaning nearby. I squinted as I peered to my left. There, about ten feet away hung yet another figure; a person also hanging by their ankles from a nearby tree. As my vision cleared, I could make out that it was my neighbor, Charlie. I heard him moan in pain as he hung there motionless. What in God’s name was going on? I tried calling out for help, but no sound came. I yelled again and again but there was nothing. It was as though a mute button had been set to extinguish any sound I could make.

Now as my eyes continued to acclimate to the darkness, I began to see that there were others also hanging here in the trees. All hanging upside down like possums caught in a trap. Helpless and confused as to what was happening to us, I again called out in the darkness. Once again there was silence. Not a sound came out of me.

Suddenly it began, not a reply to my call, but something more unnerving. I low guttural growl if you will, that permeated the darkness, like that of a large beast warning of it’s presence as it sized up its prey. It seemed to be coming closer and I heard the branches of one of the nearby trees crack and break as though plowed through. Then a sudden very short human scream cut off abruptly as an even more terrifying sound began. It was that of something eating, chewing, and devouring something up here in the trees. The gnawing and grinding of teeth like that of a pack of coyotes fighting over their catch. I strained to see what it might be but I could only make out a dark shadowy movement some fifty or so feet away. Although large in size, it glided effortlessly from one hanging figure to the next. The screams of pain and horror cut through the moonless night like a knife would cut through bone as this monster ate each helpless hanging being that had this horror befall them. I knew it was only a matter of time before it would reach me. I frantically rubbed my ankles together to see if there was any give in the rope that bound them. There was none and the movement only served to increase the pain that was now shooting through my legs.

Then there was silence as this black shadowy mass moved about the yard. In the distance I heard yet another scream and then nothing. The distant barking of a dog was suddenly replaced with a painful yelp and then quiet once again. Were there more of these monsters elsewhere in the neighborhood I wondered. Moments turned into long numbing minutes as I hung there trying to understand what was going on. I thought of my wife and daughter still in the house unaware of the terror outside. In the darkness, my mind raced as I tried to imagine what manner of being this bodiless creature was and where it had come from. Then without warning it appeared again and passed right through me. The stench was vile; like rotting death itself. It moved into the trees on the other side of the yard and as I watched it disappear, I saw there were more figures hanging in the darkness. Like myself, and those around me, they too hung upside down. Some wriggled and squirmed as though trying to break free. Some simply hung there motionless. Some cried, while some simply moaned in pain. I heard a woman’s voice near me cry out asking for help from a higher being. We hung there for what seemed an eternity until a sound arose in the trees. It was coming back now, it’s thirst for our blood still not quenched. Its hunger not abated.

I watched as the shadow moved silently through the trees stopping at each hanging “station” as if at a buffet line picking and choosing each entree and then slowly devouring it with such deliberation; ripping apart the meat of its victim and chewing on each one. I watched as the uneaten remains fell to the ground below leaving a dark stain on the ground. It was only a matter of time now that my own fate would be sealed in the grasp of this unknown horror. I watched as it slowly moved towards my neighbor. He turned his head and looked over at me. His fear causing his eyes to bulge as the monster dissolved his skull in its dark shapeless mass. I watched the bloody remains pour from him to the ground below. Then it turned and slowly moved towards my house. My wife and my seven-year old daughter were sleeping in there unaware of the terror taking place just outside. I yelled out to warn them, but still there was no sound coming from my body. As the dark shadowy mass moved into the back of the house I heard it knock over several things. That’s when I heard Cindy’s voice scream out, “Daddy, where are you Daddy?”

“I’m here sweetheart. I’m coming.” I cried but she couldn’t hear me. No sound came from me. I continued to hear her screams as she ran from room to room searching for me. I wrestled and squirmed to try and loosen the ropes around my ankles but again to no avail. Then I heard her final scream. It was horrible. It only lasted for moments though it seemed an eternity. It was punctuated with the same horrifying sounds I had heard earlier as the others hanging with me were systematically being devoured. Suddenly my wife’s screams pierced the night air. I could see her at the bedroom window crying. Then I saw the darkness take over the room behind her. I watched as she was encircled by the mass and her crying stopped. The window exploded outward and her bloody remains spewed out the window as though she had been jettisoned from a cannon. What was left of her landed on the lawn below. I felt my tears burning my eyes as I had just witnessed my family destroyed by this ungodly creature that had no real form. It glided out of the house and moved silently towards me. It was time; I knew it. There was nothing left for me to live for now anyway and so I simply resigned myself to the fate I knew was about to happen. It moved up close to me. The smell was disgusting as it stayed right in front of me without moving. I could almost feel it touching my face. I closed my eyes and turned my head away. It was then that I felt the horrible pain of its teeth as it tore deep into my skin and clean through to the bone. I screamed in agonizing pain and then everything went black.

.....I don’t know exactly what woke me that night, but as I laid there in a pool of sweat in the darkness, I felt my wife stir on the bed next to me. Her hand touched my arm “You okay?” she mumbled half asleep. “Yeah” I whispered “It’s okay, go back to sleep sweetie” I glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. The iridescent numbers on the face read 3:24. As I got up and shuffled across the bedroom carpet, I felt as though there was presence of something unknown, unseen lurking in the house….

THE END

Go to the website... RMVilloria

Villoria has a son and daughter and lives in Las Vegas with his Wife.

02 January 2016

Why was April 15th chosen as the due date for taxes.

Why was April 15th chosen as the due date for taxes.

It wasn't ever thus. In fact, the original filing date for Federal taxes, as prescribed in the Revenue Act of 1913, was March 1. A mere five years later, the deadline moved back; until the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 was approved on August 16, 1954, midnight vigils were conducted on March 15. Taxpayers who paid on a fiscal year, were also given a month's extension in 1954, so that they now filed on the fifteenth day of the fourth month, instead of the third month, after their fiscal year was over. In fact, all Federal returns, with the exception of estates and trusts, are now due on April 15, or three and a half months after the end of the fiscal year.
Were these dates plucked out of thin air? Not really. The IRS wants to process returns as early in the year as possible. In the 1910's, when most tax returns were one page long, it was assumed that after a wage earner totaled his or her income, the return could be filled out in a matter of minutes. Why wait until after March 1? As anyone who now is unfortunate enough to make a so-called living knows, the IRS form isn't quite as simple as it used to be. The 1040 is no easier to decipher than the Dead Sea Scrolls....

Imponderables courtesy of David Feldman - from his book "Do Penguins Have Knees" / provided by R.M.Villoria

Villoria has a son and daughter and lives in Las Vegas with his Wife.

Why are Baseball dugouts built half below ground?

Why are Baseball dugouts built half below ground.

If dugouts were built any higher, notes baseball stadium manufacturer Dale K. Elrod, the site lines in back of the dugout would be blocked. Baseball parks would either have to eliminate choice seats behind the dugout or sell tickets with an unobstructed view at a reduced price.
If dugouts were built lower, either hte players would not be able to see the game without periscopes or they wouldn't have room to stretch out between innings.

Imponderables courtesy of David Feldman - from his book "Do Penguins Have Knees" / provided by R.M.Villoria

Villoria has a son and daughter and lives in Las Vegas with his Wife.