4. ALFRED HITCHCOCK
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, (13 August
1899 – 29 April 1980) was a British
film director, producer and cameo
appearance actor. He pioneered many
techniques in the suspense and
psychological thriller genres. After a
successful career in British cinema in
both silent films and early talkies,
Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In
1956, he became an American citizen
while remaining a British subject.
5. Top 10 Hitchcock Movies
The Birds
Dial M for Murder
Shadow of a Doubt
Notorious
Strangers on a Train
Rebecca
Vertigo
North by Northwest
Psycho
Rear Window
6. JACEK KOPROWICZ
Polish film director and
screenwriter. He made his debut
in 1983 „Destiny” - a
controversial biography of the
poet Kazimierz Przerwa-
Tetmajer. The most famous film
is Medium (1985), for which in
1986 he received the award for
Best Original Screenplay at the
festival Myst Fest in Cattolica.
He is a passionate photographer
fascinated with parapsychology.
7. Movies:
2009 – Mistyfikacja
2005 – Ewa paliła Camele
1988 – Alchemik Sendivius
1988 – Alchemik
1985 – Medium
1983 – Przeznaczenie
1980 – Rycerz
1978 – Życie na gorąco
1978 – Zmory
1975 – W te dni przedwiosenne
8. Juan Antonio Bayona
He was born 1975 in Barcelona. He is a Spanish
film diirector. Bayona is best known for directing
his acclaimed horror film The Orphanage. The
Orphanage (Spanish: El Orfanato) is a 2007
Spanish-Mexican horror film and the debut
feature of Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona. The
film features Belén Rueda as Laura, Fernando
Cayo as her husband, Carlos, and Roger Príncep
as their adopted son Simón. The plot centers on
Laura, who returns to her childhood home, an
orphanage. Laura plans to turn the house into a
home for disabled children, but a problem arises
when she and Carlos realize that Simón believes
he has a masked friend named Tomás with whom
he will run away. After an argument with Laura,
Simón is found to be missing.
9. The film's script was written by
Sergio G. Sánchez in 1996 and
brought to the attention of Bayona
in 2004. Bayona asked his long-time
friend, director Guillermo del Toro,
to help to produce the film and to
double its budget and filming time.
Bayona wanted the film to capture
the feel of 1970s Spanish cinema; he
cast Geraldine Chaplin and Belén
Rueda, who were later praised for
their roles in the film.
10. Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich is a German
film director, screenwriter, and
producer. He began his work in
the film industry by directing the
film The Noah's Ark Principle.
Emmerich has directed many
successful films such as Stargate
(1994), Independence Day (1996),
Godzilla (1998), The Day After
Tomorrow (2004), 10,000 B.C.
(2008), 2012 (2009) and many
others.
11. MOVIES
Francmann (1979)
The Noah's Ark Principle (1984)
Making Contact (1985)
Hollywood-Monster, 1987
Moon 44, 1990
Universal Soldier, 1992
Stargate, 1994
Independence Day, 1996
Godzilla , 1998
The Patriot, 2000
The Day After Tomorrow, 2004
10 000 BC, 2007
2012, 2009
Anonimus, 2011
13. It is an animal or a group of
animals inhabiting the largest
Scottish fresh water lake-
Loch Ness, the biggest lake of the
UK. The popular interest and belief
in the animal has varied through the
years since it was brought to the
world's attention in 1933.
14. Since then, the legend
of the monster is still
alive. It was even known
to the writer Daniel
Defoe. The author of
"The Case of
Robinson Crusoe” states
at one of his books that
the mysterious leviathans,
the sea dragons,
plagued in the early
eighteenth century the
soldiers who were
stationed there.
15. Bazyliszek
Long, long ago, during the reign of Prince Krak – the legendary founder of
the city of Krakow - young girls were disappearing constantly, and none of
the Cracow citizens knew what was happening
to them. One day it turned out that a terrible dragon lived in a huge cave
at the foot of Wawel Hill.
The monster captivated not only cattle, pigs and all travail game, but his
delicacy, however, were these young girls. Prince Krak, therefore, declared:
"Whoever kills a dragon, gets half of the kingdom from me and my daughter
for a wife”.
"Many brave knights grew to fight the dragon. However, none have failed to
beat him. Finally, a young shoemaker had the great idea! He stuffed sheep
skin with sulfur and put it at the dragon's cave. Hungry monster saw the
delicious lamb and it did not think for long. It devoured the fake sheep in
one breath.
16. Immediately afterwards he
felt a burning sensation in
his stomach. With each
moment the hell burning
inside was becoming worse.
He ran thirsty to the side
of the Vistula River and
began to drink the water
greedily. He drank a sip,
second, third, but still
could not quench its thirst.
He drank on and on, and
finally he burst out! The
city was liberated from
the terrible dragon, a
shoemaker was given the
promised reward by the
king and married his
daughter.
17. THE MOSTER OF TAGANANA ( TENERIFE)
The case of Afonso Ambrosio, known as "Taganana phenomenon",
was the case of a real man with a degenerative disease. It was
what is colloquially known as "Elephantiasis" which has to do with
an abnormality in the gland that regulates growth (I think it is
the pituitary gland). What was happening was that his bones
were still growing and it seems in pain as can be assumed on the
basis of the scoliosis that he was suffering under the weight and
dimensions of its skull.
18. He lived in Taganana, he had
no nose and his eyes were
like these of aliens from the
movies. His mother exhibited
him in the surrounding
villages. He was coming out
and playing a little guitar and
she collected the money
people threw. In the summer
of 73 he was 25. He got sick
but that did not affect the
business of mom who had
invited the tourists to his
room for him in exchange for
500 of the old pesetas as
they say on the news.
19. Werewolf
In Almark people still believe in
werewolves. Even today in the
village named Hindenburg people
talk about a man who turned into
a wolf and there are still living
people who knew him in their
childhood. He was in the
possession of a piece of a wolf
skin, still with the animal hair on.
When he tied it around his wrist,
he turned into a wolf. Then he
had so incredible strength that he
could drag the entire pile of hay
himself or seize a whole ox in his
jaws and carry it in this way.
20. When he had the nature of wolf he
was strangling cattle, or even
devoured people. Once he was
even chasing his neighbor, who
barely managed to escape.
However, no matter how strong his
fury was he always spared his wife.
She knew the charm, which was
able to tame him and which he
himself taught her. Then she took
off his leather belt and he was
becoming a reasonable man again.
J. D. H. Temme, Die Volkssagen der Altmark
22. ROBIN HOOD
Robin Hood was a hero of the
medieval English folk legends,
whose actual existence was not
confirmed by historians. Most
likely the original Robin Hood
was Robyn Hode, a leaseholder
at the estate of the Archbishop
of York. He was the best
archer, who led a group of
outlaws and was hiding in the
forests of the counties of
Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.
Robbing the rich and giving to
the poor brought him fame.
23. He lived in Sherwood Forest and fought with the despotic
Sheriff of Nottingham, Robert de Rainault. In most of the
legends he is pardoned by King Richard the Lionheart after the
return to his homeland. Its original bow and two arrows are well
preserved in the museum and are currently on display at
Nottingham Castle. His team consisted of : Maid Marion, Little
John, Friar Tuck, David of Doncaster, Much the miller's son,
Allan of the Valley, Will Scarlet.
24. The legend says Janosik was
an usual man who lived in
Tatra Mountains. He became
immortal thanks to three
witches. Janosik was a good
person, who took things from
the Rich and gave it to the
Poor.
25. Some people were afraid of him because of his
immortality, so his enemies decided to kill him
deceitfully. But some people believe he is still
alive...
26. EL CAPITÁN TRUENO
Captain Trueno is the hero of a series of
Spanish comic books created in 1956 by
the writer Víctor Mora. It was
illustrated mainly by Miguel Ambrosio
Zaragoza known as Ambrós. The comic
strips were published constantly between
1956 and 1968, eventually becoming the
most popular Spanish hero comic of all
times. Over 170,000 copies were sold
every week. He is the archetypal medieval
hero adapted to the idiosyncrasy of the
50's Spanish society. The main
characters are as well friends as enemies
wherever they go and some characters
are neither heroes nor villains.
27. The Viking Ragnar Loghbroth, for
example, is a pirate who attacks
merchant ships but he also fights
against slavery. Another aspect that
adds realism to the comic is how
the authors tries to explain "magic"
as a scientific achievement. The
authors also try to show the heroes
roaring from laughter. All this
moved Captain Trueno away from
similar characters and made his
adventures a huge success in Spain,
being remembered for generations.
28. Dragon-slayer Siegfried
The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic
poem in Middle High German. The story
tells of a Dragon-slayer Siegfried. He is
the hero of the poem. Fafnir, a guardian
of the cursed gold horde of the Nibelung
people, is the one slain by Siegfried's
hand. The hero's journey is very tiring as
he must overcome physical challenges
and deal with moral matters. The sin of
man however is what leads to the tragic
end of this tale. Siegfried battles worthy
opponents and faces the fears that come
before him. A betrayal reveals
unfortunate events that trickle down to
the very end of our hero's life.
29. Siegfried battles worthy opponents and faces the
fears that come before him. A betrayal reveals
unfortunate events that trickle down to the very
end of our hero's life.
31. J.K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling, properly Joanne
Murray. Born July 31, 1965 in
Chipping Sodbury. Her background
was classically scholar. She is the
outstanding English writer and the
author of Harry Potter series. Writing
a novel about a young wizard came
up to her mind during a four-hour
train journey. Joanne Rowling is
married to Neil Murray since
December 26, 2001. She has a
daughter Jessica from a previous
marriage. In addition, she has two
children, son David and daughter
McKanzie. She suffered from clinical
depression prior to the creation of
the Harry Potter series.
32. The most famous novels by J. K. Rowling:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,
Quidditch Through the Ages,
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,
The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
33. Stanisław Lem
Stanisław Lem (12 September 1921 –
27 March 2006) was a Polish writer
of science fiction, philosophy and
satire. He was named a Knight of the
Order of the White Eagle. His books
have been translated into 41
languages and have sold over 27
million copies. He is perhaps best
known as the author of the 1961
novel Solaris, which has been made
into a feature film three times. In
1976 Theodore Sturgeon said that
Lem was the most widely read
science fiction writer in the world.
34. * Man From Mars (1946)
* The Astronauts (1951)
* The Star Diaries (1957)
* Solaris (1960)
* Going into Orbit (1962)
* Summa Technologiae (1964)
* Mortal Engines (1965)
* The Cyberiad (1965)
* Philosophy of Collapse (1968)
* Philosophy of Coincidence (1968)
* Tales of Pirx the Pilot (1968)
* The Megabit Bomb (1999)
35. Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Carlos Ruiz Zafón was born in
Barcelona on 25th September
1964. He is a Spanish novelist
who lived in Los Angeles, where
he spent a few years writing
scripts whilst developing his
career as a writer. His first novel,
El príncipe de la niebla (The
Prince of Mist, 1993), earned
the Edebé literary prize for
Young Adult Fiction.
36. He is also the author of the three
more young adult novels, El palacio
de la medianoche (1994), Las luces de
septiembre (1995) and Marina. In
2001 he published his first novel for
adults: La sombra del viento (The
Shadow of the Wind). Ruiz Ruiz
Zafón's second novel El juego del
angel (The Angel’s Game) was
published in April 2008. Zafón's works
have been published in 45 countries
and have been translated into more
than 30 languages.
37. Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende
Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende
was born on 12th November 1929
and died on 28th August 1995. He
was a German author of fantasy
and children's literature. Ende's
writing is described as a surreal
mixture of reality and fantasy. The
reader is often invited to take a
more interactive role in the story,
and the worlds in his books often
mirror reality, using fantasy to
bring light to the problems of an
increasingly technological modern
society.
38. Ende is best known for his epic
fantasy work „The
NeverEnding Story”. The other
famous works include
„Momo” and „Jim Button”
and „Luke the Engine Driver”.
His works have been
translated into more than 40
languages and he sold more
than 20 million copies. They
have been adapted into
motion pictures, stage plays,
operas and audio books.
40. Haunted hotel
The hotel is located in the village of
Alnmouth in the United Kingdom. It
has a long history as it was founded in
the 17th century. For years of its
existence a lot of important and
famous people stayed there, however,
this place is infamous for the
countless murders and suicides, which
took place there. Almost every room
is marked with blood. One of the most
famous stories concerns the room
number 28. In this room one of the
murders took place. As a result the
entire family had been murdered in
the mysterious circumstances.
41. The number of reports
concerning ghostly presence in
the hotel has already
exceeded the number of three
thousand which caused that
the British society involved in
the examination of the
paranormal phenomena
known as Poltergeist Society
has established the number of
65 ghosts haunting the hotel.
Because of this, the hotel has
been claimed the most
haunted place in the whole
UK.
42. The Alchemist from
Nowy Sącz
In the night at the marketplace
in Nowy Sącz we can encounter
the apparition of a man who
was considered one of the
finest European alchemists in
the 17th century. This is Michał
Sędziwój who haunts the
places where he spent his
childhood years, and was
receiving his first education.
43. He strides wearing the University gown with his head raised. His
silhouette does not cast a shadow even in the full moon. The spectral
ducats, which he scatters around are falling without any sound and they
disappear in the morning. Prophecy States that whoever meets the
alchemist, he will have good luck, particularly in acquiring knowledge.
44. The Lercaro House
The Lercaro House in La Laguna,
which has become the Museum of
the History of Tenerife, apparently
has a ghost. The Spanish El Diá
newspaper carried a story on its
back cover in November, 2003, in
which it explained that employees
of the museum preferred to
remain anonymous when talking
about the matter because they
feared they might lose their jobs.
It seems that the local council
doesn't want the building
associated with a ghost.
45. What was once the wealthy Lercaro family home in San Augustine Street, which
dates back to the late 16th century, was where a woman named Catherine, or
Catalina in Spanish, lived, and she is said to be the daughter of Antonio Lercaro. She
was forced to marry an old man, but on the day of the wedding, she decided to take
her life rather than go through with this and threw herself into a well at the back of
the mansion. The story goes that her remains were actually hidden in one of the
rooms in the house and the well was boarded up after that. The Church would not
allow Catherine's body to be buried in a cemetery because she had committed
suicide. After this the Lercaro family moved away to La Orotava. The ghost of a young
woman has been reportedly seen in the building and ghostly footsteps were heard.
Of course, it is thought that Catherine's troubled spirit still haunts the house.
46. Rosenheim Poltergeist
The case of the Rosenheim Poltergeist is
that of a poltergeist haunting in
Rosenheim in southern Bavaria
(Germany) in the later 1960s. The
parapsychologist Hans Bender dealt with
the case. The lights in the office are
reported to have turned themselves off
and on again and swung the longer the
stronger, telephones to have rung
without anybody apparently calling,
photocopiers to have spilled their copier
fluid, and desk drawers to have opened
without being touched. Post clerks
installed instruments that recorded
numerous phone calls which were never
made.
47. Within five weeks the
instruments recorded roughly
600 calls to the speaking clock,
even though all the phones in
the office were disabled. In one
15-minute period the speaking
clock had been called 46 times,
sometimes at a rate that
appeared impossible with the
mechanical dialling system of
1967. In October 1967 all light
bulbs went out with a huge
bang.
49. Derren Brown
Derren Brown was born on the 27th of February 1971;
He is 41. He is an English illusionist, mentalist, painter,
writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in
television specials, stage productions, photographic
memory, and British television series such as Trick of
the Mind and Trick or Treat. He has written books for
magicians as well as the general public. In an interview
published in New Scientist, Brown says that he first
developed many of his "psychological illusion" skills
through his training in hypnotherapy before he was
involved in learning close-up magic. When asked how
he was able to produce various psychological illusions
such as apparent mind-reading, lie detection and
hypnotic induction, Brown claimed to be able to read
on subtle cues such as a micro-muscle movements that
indicate to him if someone is lying or holding
something back.
50. Father Klimuszko
A brilliant herbalist, healer and
clairvoyant. He was treating with
individually matched herbal mixtures, read
the health and human history of
photography, he was predicting the future.
He was able to communicate commands
telepathically to other people. He
predicted the death of Cardinal Hlond and
selection of Karol Wojtyla as a pope. He
was born in 1905 in Bialystok in Nierośnie
Dąbrowa in a large peasant family. Even as
a little boy he felt the healing or poisonous
plants and a variety of radiation occurring
in the natural world. He kept, however, his
observations in secret, because he feared
the reaction of the environment. In early
youth he entered the Franciscan Order in
Lviv.
52. Hans Bender
Hans Bender was a German
lecturer of parapsychology. He
was considered to establish the
parapsychological institute
Institut für Grenzgebiete der
Psychologie und Psychohygiene
in Freiburg. He was an
investigator of 'unusual human
experience', e.g. poltergeists
and clairvoyants. One of his
most famous cases was the
Rosenheim Poltergeist.
