Alien Contact in Human Places

Stories of encounters with extraterrestrials are just about a dime a dozen in Ufological literature. Persons have come into contact with these ET’s outside of their craft, in the woods, out in the desert, or on top of mountains. What seems to be a little less common is encountering those same ET’s at a later date in a more normal or mundane place. For me, these accounts are far more entertaining and, somehow, even more bizarre and surreal than a so-called “CE-3”. Or maybe they’re not so bizarre after all? Could they be clues that some of the UFO’s have bit of a more terrestrial origin?  I’ve come across a few such stories which I will relate below and will give links to the sources so that you can read more about these events and let you decide for yourself as to what you make of these accounts.

In Timothy Green Beckley’s The Authentic Book of Ultra-Terrestrial Contacts a story is told of a woman who encountered a group of UFOnauts. It starts off as a “typical” UFO occupant account. Her story is as follow:

A local resident was driving towards town one afternoon when she suddenly saw a strange ship resting on tripod legs. As she approached the craft, she observed a normal looking woman and two men standing near the vehicle. They were talking to each other and eventually walked over to a parked auto and drove off. ….

A few weeks later…. The woman was shopping for the weekly groceries when she noticed, over at the next counter, a familiar-looking face. Edging closer, she was shocked to find that it was the same “person” who was seen months before, driving off from a UFO.

The bewildered woman followed the UFOnaut, the female of the trio, to the check-out counter. Once they were both in line the witness said, “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?” With this, the “space woman” bolted from the line, leaving her parcels next to the cash register and disappeared out onto the street….”

What are we to make of this story? Who knows? Why was an “alien” grocery shopping at the local grocery store? Was she out of eggs and milk?

The next account also comes again from The Authentic Book of Ultra-Terrestrial Contacts. I don’t really know how to set it up, I’ll just let the story speak for itself.

This young man, whom I will call Bill, had been sitting in the Greyhound Bus Depot. He was at the end of the line…. an alcoholic. He had only the bus fare over the East Bay Bridge to Oakland. God knows - maybe eh was going to take a leap from the bridge. Well, along comes a wonderful looking man and takes Bill in hand. He took Bill to the hotel Ogden. This beautiful stranger put Bill to bed. And in passing, Bill said that this stranger was just as human as my earth-man. Bill watched this stranger shower and should know.

The ending to this story is perhaps the strangest part. Bill’s life was turned around after spending some time with this “Stranger” and later Bill felt compelled to seek out “Prof” George Adamski. Up on Adamski’s wall, Bill noticed a painting of his “stranger”; it was none other than ‘Orthon’ the Venusian!

In his book Alien Base, Timothy Good relates a story of an early contactee who meet his alien contact in a “traditional” setting and then later in a not quite so traditional one. The story was originally related in the Contactee’s book which was titled The Shocking Truth. Here is Albert Coe’s tale:

In June 1920, then 16 year old Albert Coe was on a canoeing vacation in Ontario with his companion Rod. Alone at the time, Coe heard the muffled cry while clambering to the top of an outcropping of rocks in remote and rough terrain on the Mattawa River. Looking around, Coe could see no one, so he let out a yell. Slightly to his right and ahead came an answer. ‘Oh help me, I’m down here’

As Coe rescued this person, he began to notice some peculiarities. The stranger was dressed in a “silver-gray, jumper type suit”. On this suit was an instrument panel with all manner of knobs and panels upon it. After helping this stranger up from the cliff which he had fallen over, Coe talked the man into allowing him to assist the man in making his way back to the “plane” the stranger had used to  make his way into the woods where Coe had found him. Coe’s description of the plane is as followed:

A round silver disc, about 20 feet in diameter, was standing on three legs in the form of a tripod, without propellor, engine, wings or fuselage.

I was musing over its lack of windows and portholes and wondered how he could see out, unless they were over on the other side. Just then, the perimeter edge began to revolve. At first it gave off a low whistling sound, picked up speed mounting to a high-pitched whine, finally going above the audible capabilities of the ear.

With that, the craft flew off. Coe returned to his normal life for a time. About six months after this surreal encounter, Coe received a note from “Xretsim” setting up a meeting at the McAlpine Hotel, Ottawa. (These aliens really seem to have an attraction for hotel rooms). Coe had many more meetings with this stranger, who called himself Zret for short, often with Zret driving a very human car.

Zret would eventually reveal to Coe that he was a part of a group of extraterrestrials who came from both Mars and Venus. This group of aliens had infiltrated every major nation on the Earth. Again, according to Zret, they had some sort of mission here that was dependent upon some event they were hoping to stave off. Coe meet with Zret and others of his kind for many years to come, but seemingly never again saw any more unusual “planes”. You can read more of Coe’s account in Good’s book.

It seems that more often than not I’m at a loss for words when it comes to stories of these nature. I enjoy them from an entertainment standpoint to be sure. As for the inherent validity of the accounts? I can’t say. Why are “aliens” hanging out in grocery stores, hotels, and driving human cars? Have they truly ‘infiltrated’ society to that large of a degree? Or is the fact that they resemble humans, interact in the human world, and have human transportation probably closer to a real explanation for what’s going on in these cases? I think so. These strangers fit in with humans so much because they’re might actually be humans.

Tulpas, Tibet, and the Conjuration of Philip

When it comes to possible explanations for fortean or paranormal phenomena, I always find myself fascinated by the concept of the tulpa. Tulpa is a Tibetan word that is typically rendered into English as 'thoughtform'. The idea is that someone can create from their thoughts an actually entity or phantom and give it life. Alexandra David-Neel is credited with bringing the term and concept to the Western world in her 1929 book Magic and Mystery in Tibet. David-Neel had traveled extensively around the globe and was one of the first Westerners to be allowed entrance into Tibet and their religion and culture. David-Neel relates a lot of information to the reader about Tulpas in the Tibetan belief. According to David-Neel:

“A Bodhisattva [David-Neel says this is a person that has attained a spiritual perfection that places them just below the Buddha] is the basis of countless magic forms. By the power generated in a state of perfect concentration of mind he may, at one and the same time, show a phantom (tulpa) of himself in thousands of millions of worlds. He may create not only human forms, but any forms he chooses....” (pg 121)

David-Neel continues by saying:

“The power of producing magic formations, tulkus or less lasting and materialized tulpas, does not, however, belong exclusively to such mystic exalted beings. Any human, divine or demoniac being may be possessed of it. The only difference comes from the degree of power, and this depends on the strength of the concentration and the quality of the mind itself” (pg 121)

With this in mind, I wish to take a look at a relatively modern example of the creation of a ghost named Philip. During the 1970s a group from the Toronto Society for Psychical Research, along with a Dr. A.R.G. Owen (who was a mathematician) meet in order to see if they could, in essence, create a ghost. The group was comprised of Dr. Owen, his wife, a former chairperson of Mensa, an industrial designer, an accountant, a housewife, a bookkeeper and a sociology student. Additionally a psychologist by the name of Dr. Joel Whitton would also attend some of their experiments. The original idea was that this group of people could create a ghost seemingly by meditating on the idea of him including the history of the ghost. They would then attempt to make contact with this discarnate entity through séances and gain information from it.

Here is a part of the biography for the spirit the group created in order to flesh out “Philip Aylesford”:

Philip was an aristocratic Englishman, living in the middle 1600s at the time of Oliver Cromwell. He had been a supporter of the King, and was a Catholic. He was married to a beautiful but cold and frigid wife, Dorothea, the daughter of a neighboring nobleman.

One day when out riding on the boundaries of his estates Philip came across a gypsy encampment and saw there a beautiful dark-eyed girl raven-haired gypsy girl, Margo, and fell instantly in love with her. 

He brought her back secretly to live in the gatehouse, near the stables of Diddington Manor - his family home.

For some time he kept his love-nest secret, but eventually Dorothea, realizing he was keeping someone else there, found Margo, and accused her of witchcraft and stealing her husband. 

Philip was too scared of losing his reputation and his possessions to protest at the trial of Margo, and she was convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake.

Philip was subsequently stricken with remorse that he had not tried to defend Margo and used to pace the battlements of Diddington in despair. 

Finally, one morning his body was found at the bottom of the battlements, whence he had cast himself in a fit of agony and remorse.

One member of the group even sketched Philip's portrait

With this back story firmly in mind, the group meet weekly in order to attempt to communicate with “Philip”. As a part of their weekly meetings the group would come together and meditate on both the image of Philip and also his history. The group did this for about a year with no positive results. Some members of the group did claim during this time that they were able to sense a presence, but apparently nothing that was verifiable. The group was quite determined and rather than let the last year be for waste they decided to change up the tactics a bit. In order to have better results with conjuring Philip, the group began to replicate the séances of old.

Candle light, sitting around a table, soft music playing, the whole thing. They even had pictures of castles like the one Philip would have lived in, had he ever actually lived that is. This new method seemed to do the trick. During one of the group's séances, they began to receive communication from an entity. Through a series of rappings (reminiscent of the early Spiritualism movement) the group was able to determine that they were finally talking with Philip. The entity revealed this to the group through a series of raps. Speaking through raps, Philip continued to display his own unique attitude. This was discovered by how long Philip would pause in between answering the questions which the researchers posed to him.

The group never questioned that the entity they were in communication with was Philip because of it's lack of knowledge on many topics. It seems that Philip only knew the answers to questions that someone in the group knew the answer to. If they would ask him a question that the group didn't know the answer to he would be unable to answer. While the Q & A portion of Philip's ability might have been lacking, he completely made up for this shortcoming with his very clear psychokinetic abilities. Overtime as the séances continued, the group discovered that Philip was able to move the rapping table. Often, Philip would even cause the table to rush over to people that were late to the weekly meetings.

The height of the Philip saga came when the group set out to perform one of their weekly séances in front of an audience made up of 50 people or so. Additionally a TV film crew was brought in to record the séance as part of a documentary. Unlike most paranormal phenomena, Philip actually seemed to enjoy the spotlight. The rappings and psychokinetic feats were on display for all the audience to see. At one point during the séance the group was even able to get the entire table to levitate a few inches off of the ground. Sadly, because of the dim lighting that was required as a part of the séance the film crew was unable to record this for posterity. Only a part of the documentary seems to be online and you can check out the few minutes of it that exist here.

Although the groups main objective of having Philip physically materialize (not unlike Rosalie), they were overall satisfied with the results of their experiments. So much so that after their success with Philip, the Toronto Society for Psychical Research went on to conjure other ghosts with similar apparent success. In one instance, using a different group of people, they were able to conjure a new spirit which was called “Lilith”. A few other groups are supposed to have been able to successfully recreate this experiment as well, but finding information on those incidents is rather difficult.

At the end of the day it's hard to say what it was that was actually occurring in this situation. It certainly seems to fit in with the concept of the tulpa, especially as explained by David-Neel in her classic work on the topic. I only wish that more of the documentary existed so that it could be scene. Ostensibly, if this experiment was truly as easy as the group proclaimed I suppose that anyone could conceivably do this at home. Before you do decide to go through with this and conjure your own ghost, I feel I must leave you with a parting warning from David-Neel:

“.....the practice is considered as fraught with danger for everyone who …. is not aware of the nature of the psychic forces at work in the process. Once the tulpa is endowed with enough vitality to be capable of playing the part of a real being, it tends to free itself from its maker's control.....Sometimes the phantom becomes a rebellious son and one hears of uncanny struggles that have taken place between magicians and their creatures, the former being severely hurt or even killed by the latter.” (pg 313)

Sources and further reading:

About.com article

Unexplained Mysteries thread

Stranger Dimensions article

Conjuring up Philip by Iris Owen (part of the original group that summoned Philip)

RCMP vs the Aliens!

Hello dear readers it's been quite some time since last you heard from me, your friendly neighborhood Fortean. I come today to weave you a short, albeit interesting, story of the RCMP and their unsuccessful search for ET. As usual I was on the always fascinating Above Top Secret when I found this thread that had just moments before appeared. Entitled “RCMP search for 'non-human entities' in BC”, it told a harrowing story of one couples narrow escape from something. Taken from the news link found in the thread the account is as follows:

Coquitlam Mounties responded to a call of a man and a woman screaming from their apartment on Wilson Avenue. When police arrived, the couple told investigators they had seen two “non-human entities” on their patio.

Several Mounties scoured the area in search of the spirited suspects, but turned up nothing.

RCMP Cpl. Jamie Chung said there was no indication drugs or alcohol were involved in the incident, nor could he say whether or not the couple really believed they saw something other than a human.

“Anything is possible, I guess,” he told The NOW. “People see ghosts all the time — who am I to say ghosts don’t exist?”

Chung sent out this tweet Monday morning regarding the incident: “Strange but true. #cqrcmp went to a report of ET sighting in #PortCoquitlam in the early morning. Area searched and no aliens found.”

And unfortunately at the moment that's all we really know about what happened. Actually I'm hoping that someone that lives in the area might be able to dig up some more information about what went on that night. I spoke with RCMP Cpl Jamie Chung earlier on twitter hoping to find out a some more details about what had occurred.

It's hard to say what, if anything, the man and woman saw. We know for sure that they simply described what they had seen as “non-human”(as evidenced by Cpl Chung's response seen above). I wonder if perhaps the few media outlets that latched onto this story were a little hasty in declaring that “aliens” were seen. Then again, even in his original tweet about the event Cpl Chung himself described what they were looking for as “aliens”. Hopefully more information will be brought to light in the coming days about what the witnesses had actually seen that night.

This isn't the first time that the town Port Coquitlam has had dealings of a decidedly “alien” nature however. While on twitter earlier today someone pointed me to a CE-2 type UFO event that took place in Port Coquitlam back in August of 1974.

Three young boys; David Bates, Henry and Steven Tillie, were traveling home around 8 pm on August 16, 1974. While taking shortcut through some woods, the boys became aware of a strange high pitched sound which caused the cat that David was holding to struggle out of his hands and run away into the forest. As the cat made it's way into the woods, the boys were shocked to see the cat keel over as if it were sleeping. In fact they referred to it as “playing dead”. The story continues:

The boys then turned towards the source of the noise and saw an object approach over the trees, traveling south or north over the railway bridge spanning the river. The object had a red light on top and green and white lights at either end of its length. These lights flashed on and off. Traveling slowly, the object reversed its course and with an undulating motion headed for the small cleared area amongst the trees where the sandpit was situated. 

The intensity of the noise disturbed David so much that his friends said he placed his hands over his ears and called out for it to stop. However, David does not recall doing this.

The UFO began to settle down for a landing and the noise became a buzz, the children claimed. All this took place within a few brief minutes. At that point the terrified cat recovered and returned to its owner, clawing David when he picked it up. 

The long scratch on his arm was still visible when I interviewed him in September.

In a state of petrified amazement, the boys remained at their point of observation about 150 feet from the touchdown site. As the object settled down to land it gave off a blast of hot air that disturbed the ground so violently the boys were covered in a film of dust. 

Immediately prior to making contact, the object extended short legs, then some action on the part of the machine caused sand and stones to be sucked upwards towards it in a violent swirling manner. A few seconds later, the boys said, "blue sparks came up from the ground as the machine made contact."

Not long after this the boys are finally overcome with fear, or perhaps they came to their senses, and they ran back to the homes. The article goes into some great detail about the research and investigation that was done into this event by the author himself. I highly recommend that you follow this link in order to read it for yourself. Also be sure to check out the original news articles, 'Policerespond to ET sighting in Port Coquitlam' and 'TheTruth is out in Poco'. That's all I have for now Fortean faithfuls. Until next time; Stay Classy Internet!

Podcast interview!

Film-maker, and self proclaimed "outlaw for love", Paul Kimball recently interviewed your's truly on his revived podcast, The Other Side of Truth. You can listen to the podcast here. Here's the description of the episode:

In this episode, I spend an hour chatting with Fortean researcher / blogger Tony Morrill, one of the bright youngsters out there who are interested in the world of the weird and the wacky. In an eclectic conversation where we throw in everything but the kitchen sink, we start off with some background information on Tony, and how he became interested in the paranormal at a young age, and then follow up with a back-and-forth on everything from UFOs to ghosts to Bigfoot. We also find time to pontificate / ruminate about posthumanism, tip our caps to the work of the late Mac Tonnies, Greg Bishop, and Nick Redfern, and "imagine the imagination factory" - all while keeping our tongues planted firmly in our cheeks. We even managed to reference a couple of cartoon characters we like, and I slipped in a musical interlude that is tangential to the point of being apropos of nothing, but somehow it still fits. This was a fun episode to record, and reminded me more than a bit of some of my past conversations with my pals in the "Cabal". Tony has his feet planted firmly on the ground, even as he has his eyes set to the sky. It's a good place to be!

I also suggest checking out his other latest interviews with Aaron John Gulyas and Walter Bosley. 

Additionally, you can also head over to Binnall of America in order to find my most recent Fortean Ramblings column entitled "We didn't start the fire". That's about all I have for now. Come back soon for shenanigans!

UFOnauts: many shapes, sizes, and colors

It should come as no surprise to anyone that has been in the UFO arena for any amount of time that there are a myriad of UFO occupants that have been encountered by many people all throughout the world. One thing that can be said for sure is that they certainly don't all fall into the “Gray Alien” meme that has become so popular in our culture. As I've noted in previous posts (Little Green Meme?) they seem to come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. And boy that's no exaggeration! Over at AboveTopSecret a member by the name of karl12 has brought together an awesome thread entitled 'UFO Occupants ~Drawings,Sketches and Non-Human Reports' which showcases a large number of the varied Ufonauts seen by people.

Below are just a few of the examples, though I highly recommend that you check out the thread for more information on each of the cases included. First up will be The Flatwood's Monster.

I'm sure most are familiar with the baisc story of the Flatwood's Monster so I won't go into too much detail here. From the related ATS thread:

From the town of Flatwoods, of Braxton County, West Virginia, comes the mysterious tale of a burning craft which fell from the sky, and a mysterious being. The account began in the afternoon of September 12, 1952 when Sheriff Robert Carr and his Deputy Burnell Long received a call from witnesses who had seen the fiery object as it crashed into the earth. The unknown object had crashed on the Elk River, south of Gassaway. The natural assumption was that an airplane had faltered, and fallen from the skies. Not long afterward, a second unusual sighting was made by some school buddies at the Flatwoods School. Shortly before nightfall, four boys playing football saw something fall on a hill not far from the school playground.

The boys, at first frightened, succumbed to their youthful curiosity, and headed for the sight, which was on the property of one Bailey Fisher. They proceeded up the hill, stopping at the house of Kathleen May, excitedly telling her of what they had seen. Kathleen and her two sons joined the search party. Reaching the top of the hill, Mrs. May remarked that, the night was foggy and there was a mist in the evening air." " the air had a metallic smell which burned our eyes and noses." A dog was reported to have ran ahead of the group only to return with his tail between his legs, frightened by something.

Topping the hill, they could see a "glowing, hissing" object about 10 feet in diameter, about 100 yards away. Now completely dark, the night was shattered by two lights, about a foot apart. One of the boys had a flashlight, and when he turned it on the two distant lights, a creature ten foot tall appeared.." a bright red face, bright green clothing, a head which resembled the ace of spades, and clothing which, from the waist down, hung in great folds". Suddenly, the creature began to "float" toward them, sending the group running back down the hill to the May house, where they quickly called the Sheriff.

The boys also called some of their schoolmates, and when the Sheriff arrived, the scene of the event was full of locals, who had to see the creature for themselves. Reporter A. Lee Stewart, of the "Braxton Democrat," began interviewing witnesses of the unusual event. He would later state that all of the observers were extremely frightened by what they had encountered. Stewart, accompanied by one of Kathleen May's sons, made their way back to where the creature had been spotted. Approaching the sight, Stewart was overwhelmed by an odd smell, but saw nothing unusual. Returning to the exact spot the next morning, Stewart could observe "skid marks" where some object had been.

Next up will be the strange abduction account of a security guard in Italy named Pier Fortunato Zanfretta. I'll admit I was actually not terribly familiar with this case before coming across it in this thread. The story is as follows:

Shortly after midnight on December 6th, 1978, Zanfretta was on duty in Torriglia, a village near Genoa. It was a dark and moonless night. It was also very cold and snow had fallen during the day so that there was a dangerous film of ice on the roads. As Zanfretta approached a client's uninhabited country-house (called "Our Home" by the owner, Dr. Ettore Righi), in the area of Marzano, his patrol car, a Fiat 126, mysteriously stopped dead. The car engine, lights and radio all failed seemingly for no reason. At the same moment he saw four strange lights moving about in the garden of the house and stepped outside of his car to investigate with gun and flashlight in hand.

At first he thought that burglars were behind the house. So he walked through the open gate and crept along a wall in an attempt to surprise them. But Zanfretta had underestimated the problem and ended being the one who was surprised by what he had taken for thieves. Feeling himself touched from behind, the security guard whirled around and saw something that filled him with terror: only inches away stood what he called: "An enormous green, ugly and frightful creature, with undulating skin, no less than ten feet tall". When he directed the beam of his flashlight on the being's face, he was so frightened that he dropped it, but quickly it up again and run away. While running, he became aware of a large and very bright light behind him.

Turning around, he saw a huge, flat triangular form which was blinding in its brilliance. Zanfretta shielded himself from the light with his arm. This thing which he assured was a flying saucer, ascended from the back of the house. It was bigger than the house itself, and produced a hissing sound. Later, Zanfretta said that he felt an intense heat. He made it back to his car and tried to call his security company's operations center in Genoa. It was 12:15 A.M. Carlo Toccalino, the radio operator, has testified that Zanfretta was speaking in an excited and disconnected way. He kept saying: "My God, are they ugly!". 

The operator then asked if "they" were human and if they were assaulting him. The answer was: "No, they aren't men, they aren't men". At that point, the communication were abruptly broken off and Toccalino called the chief of the security service, Lt. Giovanni Cassiba. An hour later, a couple of other patrol guards, Walter Lauria and Raimondo Mascia, found Zanfretta in front of the country-house, lying on the ground. It was 1:15 A.M.. When he saw them, he jumped up, gun and flashlight at the ready. Eyes bulging, Zanfretta didn't seem to recognize them, nor to understand when they told him to lower his weapon. The other patrolmen rushed and disarmed him. To their surprise, his clothes felt warm even though the December night air was quite cold.

The account continues at this thread; much like Zanfretta's abduction experiences (bad joke heh). Moving onward; we now turn to another abduction which allegedly occurred in the Yukon territory of Canada. The hunter that experienced the abduction actually tells the story in his own words. It's a bit of a lengthy account, but is highly fascinating and I would suggest you follow this link to read it. Here's an overview of what occurred:

In August or September 1987 (later determined to be Wednesday September 2, 1987), I left Ross River (where I lived) and headed up the North Canol Road by myself on my motor bike for moose (hunting).

I was planning on spending 3 days in the area between Sheldon Lake and Macpass. A guy I worked with and a friend of his were to leave a day later and I was to meet them for some fishing. We were all to stay at a trailer at Dewhurst Creek.

I left Ross River early in the morning and the temperature started to drop. Then it started to rain very hard and very cold. When I got to Gravel Creek, I stopped at Art John's Cabin and put on extra clothes while standing under the edge of his roof. I knew the rain would not stop, so I got back on my bike and headed off.

I arrived at the trailer ½ hour before dark, very cold and very tired. I lit up a fire, cooked supper and went straight to bed looking forward to the morning hunt. Over night the rain had stopped.

At daybreak (September 3, 1987) I put my gear and my gun on my bike and headed towards Macpass. A couple of miles down the road, I was putting along at about 10 mph looking into the trees and watching the hillsides. I decided to stop for a pee.

I was standing just in front of my bike watching the mountains to the south, when I noticed to the left out of the corner of my eye, what I first thought was an airplane. It was 400 to 500 yards away and about the size of a DC-3 plane or a full-size school bus.

It was travelling north to south, at about 40 yards above ground and moving maybe 30 km/h. Right away I thought "boy is he low". I blinked my eyes because I couldn't make out any tail fin or wings.

Right away I thought, somebody must be here and I've got to tell them what I saw. The noise I heard sounded like a heavy trunk lid on a car slamming shut.

I quickly walked along the edge of the road to the corner to see who was there.

I came face to face (about 20 yards) with 2 grey creatures in blue jump suits, about 5 ft. tall with big insect looking heads, pointy faces, big eyes, thin arms, body and legs. I immediately thought "they're not little green men*, they're grasshopper people".

Finally the last one that I want to look at comes from some lumberjacks in Finland in 1971. I'm including this one just because of the unusual size and overall characteristics of the entity involved. From the account:

On the snowy, overcast afternoon of February 5, 1971, two Finnish lumberjacks – 21 year-old Petter Aliranta and 18 year-old Esko Juhani Sneck – had a close encounter that would haunt them for the remainder of their days. The fantastic event began at approximately 3:00 pm. when the young duo — who had spent the morning cutting down trees in the forests near the village of Kangaskyla in Kinnula – decided to call it a day because the overcast conditions were making it too dark to continue.

According to their account, Aliranta had just turned off his chainsaw, when he suddenly noticed an odd metallic object hovering at tree-top level. He claimed that it was shaped like “two saucers” on top of each other and was about 15-feet in diameter.

At the bottom of the vehicle there were four thin landing legs with rounded bases, which he estimated to be more than 6-feet long. If the craft made any sound it was no doubt overwhelmed by the continued roaring of Sneck’s chainsaw.

Aliranta stared in amazement as a weird, green garbed entity to slowly descend through the open portal from the bowels of the craft.  He later described this unusual entity as being less than 3-feet in height with its entire body covered in a green, one-piece suit. On the front of the head was a faceplate that was described as being akin to that of a scuba diver. Although the creature had arms and legs, the suit gave no indication of hands or fingers.

You can follow this link in order to read more of the account and to see some other artist renditions of the occupants that were encountered by the lumberjacks. Also as I said earlier you really should go to karl12's thread in order to see all of the different Ufonauts that are available. I think it's safe to conclude that occupants of UFOs are far stranger than just the stereotypical grays that have been seen over the last twenty-some odd years. I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say that there are 57 varieties of ETs visiting our planet, it does however give one pause for consideration.

Is our planet some way station for intergalactic tourists? I don't know for sure. My gut reaction would be to say no. It seems more likely to me that the phenomena is malleable and there is some combination of the occupants altering their appearances and the human brain filling in the gaps of perception. I would certainly be interested in hearing what you guys think about this. Until next time this is your friendly neighborhood Fortean Philosopher saying “Stay Classy, Internet!”

Bigfoot Dietary Habits

Following on the heels of my recent Interview with some Forteans, and in light of the upcoming premiere of 'The Bigfoot Hunter: Still Searching' film (see my review here), I'm going to try and bring you dear readers a Bigfoot related story every night or every other night. Tonight's entry is on the apparent dietary habits of the elusive cryptid. A woman from Michigan claims to have fed Bigfoot, among other things, blueberry bagels.

From the news article:

"They get fish every day, a bucket of fruit, a bucket of dry dog food," said Robin Lynn Pfeifer, a 47-year-old resident of Newaygo County, north of Grand Rapids. "Their favorite thing is blueberry bagels. If I'm not baking them, I go to different stores to buy them."
She said she has collected casts of many large footprints, but says the creatures are too shy and too clever for her to get a photograph. She describes the Bigfoots as ranging from six to nine feet tall and looking like humans, except for hairy coats and broad noses.

Even the famous cryptid can't resist this delicacy

Honestly, if you had asked me to guess I would have pegged Bigfoot as more of a blackberry bagel eater but what do I know right? More than just feeding the creatures however, she also is able to get castings of the creatures. But is unfortunately able to take a photograph of the elusive creature.

Be sure to follow this link for the full news article. And be sure to stop by The Bigfoot Hunter: Still Searching's Facebook page, especially if you live in the New York/Pennsylvania area to get tickets for this coming Saturday night (Oct 22) to see the second night of the world premiere of this soon to be classic film.

Until tomorrow night, be sure to keep those Bigfoot traps baited with all the blueberry bagels you can get your hands on!

Interview with some Forteans (no garlic required)

This past Saturday (Oct 2, 2011) I had the distinct honor and privilege to talk for an hour and a half with the always entertaining and enlightening Greg and Dana Newkirk of Who Forted? mag. The topic of the interview was essentially; Why Forteana? But more than that, it was a chance to get to know some fellow Forteans that are fighting the good fight against the way too serious Believers and Skeptics who, more often than not, muddy the proverbial waters with all of their posturing and ego stroking. While we had an amazing talk, due to some technical difficulties, I was unable to actually record the conversation that we had. But fear not dear readers for I took copious, at times confusing, notes of the interview. So if are willing to stay with me, come as we journey inside the minds of some “Gen-x debunkers”.

Both Greg and Dana's interest in paranormal phenomena grew out of the 'Ghost Hunting' craze that struck television in the late 90's early 00's. Greg's group GHI (Ghost Hunters Incorporated) came about through the efforts of a prank on a friend and contributor to Who Forted? Nick Foust. Meanwhile Dana was busy with a ghost hunting group of her own, the Kitchener-Waterloo Paranormal Research Society, which would eventually become known as The Girly Ghost Hunters. Under this incarnation Dana's group went on to have an internationally syndicated TV show. After a fallout between the two groups, I know shocking that in the paranormal field people can't get along, Greg along with members of GHI and Dana joined forces to create the Who Forted? that we all know and love. (For those of you at home keeping, it was Dana that came up with the amazing name “Who Forted?” rather than Greg's “The Knights of the New Fortean Right”)

Greg's interest in the paranormal grew out of a desire to scare one of his friends in a graveyard, but quickly became more than that. For Greg, even today, there exists a reality to the Ghost phenomena. What that reality may ultimately prove to be exactly? Well, Greg is the first to tell you that he remains unconvinced that “ghosts” are in fact the disembodied souls of Aunt Linda or Uncle Keith. Yet something is still going on in some of these cases. Going quickly from  this, Who Forted?  became (in)famous for their not always so serious approach to the paranormal. But honestly that's what I find so refreshing about them .While they realize that there is some reality behind the phenomena they investigate, they don't get bogged down by being too serious. Nor do they have any time or patience for all of the posturing and grandstanding that many in the field have made their livelihood off of. Best of all they are still looking for the story behind the story, or the human element that comprises it.


One of the topics that we spent a good amount of time discussing is the height and popularity of the so-called “Paranormal Media”, i.e. Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters International, et al. The show that dominated this portion of the conversation, wasn't one of these however. It was Paranormal State. The show has definitely been a polarizing entry into the paranormal world. As both Greg and Dana were quick to point out it definitely lead the way in the possible exploitation of persons who were likely dealing with serious issues, paranormal reality aside. Many of the people whose homes the investigator's entered needed some actual help, but from psychological professionals and not some undergrads from a college.

The main topic, however, was what exactly is important in paranormal research or the Fortean field. The shows that we discussed and the “field” in general, all seem to suffer this need for proof and perhaps, most depressingly, a lot of it is politics or a “pissing contest”. But they may be missing the most important part, namely the person at the heart of the incident. All too often people in this field are more worried about catching Bigfoot, seeing ghosts, or stroking their own egos, when maybe what's equally (if not more) important are the people involved. After all when I asked how much they thought any of these things were real, Greg said that the event is a real as the effect it has on the person. More often than not the story is the only thing that investigators have to work with. Hard evidence is often just as elusive as the phenomena itself.

At the end of the day, the time I spent with Greg and Dana was equal parts riveting, entertaining, and at times downright hilarious. They are some of the most level-headed people that I've had the pleasure of interacting with in this crazy field. I asked about their plans for the future; for the site, for their group, and ultimately for themselves. They want to continue producing better and better products, and most importantly continue entertaining other's and themselves. Before the conversation was over, Greg and Dana left a few words of wisdom for the rest of us. For Dana, success in this community is to always continue being curious. Greg wanted us all to remember that something is only paranormal until someone explains it.

The interview with Greg and Dana of Who Forted? was a nice change of pace. It's good to know that there are still some people out there who can walk that thin line between looking at something humorously, while not outright mocking it. Be sure to check out their site daily for some of the best commentary on the Fortean this side of Charles Fort himself. Additionally, be sure to check out their latest project that will be debuting soon, “The Bigfoot Hunter: Still Searching”. You can find my review of the film here, but be sure to head over to the Facebook page to keep up to date with all of the latest news about the film. 

Promotional movie poster.

 

Case of the missing feet!

Fort was a famous chronicler of all things strange and I can't help but feel like this would be right up his alley.

Human foot washes up on beach near Vancouver for 11th time in four years

For the eleventh time in four years, a human foot washed ashore near Vancouver - baffling investigators who are at a loss to explain the grisly trend.

The foot, which was inside a running shoe, turned up along the British Columbia coast late Tuesday, according to police.
The body part, which was still attached to the lower part of the leg, was spotted by a passerby near the Vancouver's False Creek.
Police have no theories as to how the foot ended up in the water - but have not suggested that foul play is suspected.
Since 2007, nearly a dozen feet encased in shoes have appeared on beaches in the area, including a few over the border in Washington state.

Follow this link for the full article, although honestly there isn't much more information availiable at the link because as noted in the article the police are completely baffled. My favorite part? The police “have not suggested that foul play is suspected.”


Personally I have no idea what to make of this story. And to be completely honest it's pretty disturbing. Your thoughts?

The Bigfoot Hunter: Still Searching - review

Paranormal documentaries are just about a dime a dozen in todays world and finding a good one can be quite difficult. Luckily I had the opportunity recently to check out an early screening of the excellent film The Bigfoot Hunter: Still Searching. The documentary tells the story of Timothy Holmes founder of Southern Tier Bigfoot Watch and the Who Forted? Gang, in an earlier incarnation known as GHI or Ghost Hunters Incorporated, who joined him in the woods of southern New York in order to hunt the elusive cryptid.

Official movie poster

When the group first meets Mr. Holmes they are more than a little skeptical of him. Its pretty funny the first time one of them sees that Holmes is carrying a gun, and seems genuinely frightened of this prospect. But to Holmes, the gun is a safety measure to protect you from an angry Bigfoot. Also early on the viewer is introduced to Holmes's sometimes partner Becky Sawer of Searching for Bigfoot, who joins GHI and Holmes as they head up to the area known as Connecticut Hill.

It's at this area that Sawer and Holmes have had the majority of their Bigfoot encounters, so much so that Holmes believes the area is a paranormal hot spot. The Who Forted? gang spend quite sometime with Holmes and Sawer but ultimately end up empty handed in the evidence department. But that's not really what this movie is about.

Holmes is clearly the main subject of this film and as well he should be, he is a very entertaining individual. And often in the paranormal field, the personalities that are in it are just as, if not more so, fascinating than the mysteries themselves. The film is ultimately about one man's never ending quest to find the elusive Bigfoot, whether or not the evidence is out there to be found; Timothy Holmes will always be “Still Searching”

I can't recommend this film enough, it's so rare to find a documentary in the paranormal field that isn't either trying to debunk the subject entirely or worse looking for evidence under every rock and tree. The film strikes a happy balance between the two. Below is the official trailer for the film.

For more information about the documentary, such as release date and where to see it, please check out the Who Forted? Website. You can also follow them over at the Twitter.

Disclosure - Canadian style!

If you are like me then you occasionally enjoy sifting through the rough to find that rare diamond that exists in official Government UFO documents. For the last few years major countries around the world have been releasing their UFO files to much fanfare and news reports, often time even ending up on CNN or Fox News (probably because nothing else is going on that day).

Well one country that flew under my radar is the United State's brother to the north, Canada. That's right apparently a few years ago Canada began to release their UFO files. I was tipped off to this really cool piece of information by the always excellent IsaacKoi.

Once again over at ATS, IsaacKoi started a really interesting thread entitled “Canadian disclosure:“UFO Found” and other documents/photos”. One of the cool gems that IsaacKoi points out is a strange memo that has the title of “U.F.O Found in Saskatchewan”.

If you can't read the text; the gist of it is that a scientist delivered a metal shard, that he had obtained from an unnamed pilot, to a laboratory that said “Examination revealed exhibit had likely formed part of a vehicle that traveled in outer space”.

Many more items like the above are likely hidden in the files, so it's definitely worth skimming through if that's your thing. Here's a link to the actual site. Also be sure to head over to the ATS thread and give credit to IsaacKoi for once again bringing such a cool thing to all of our attention.

And if this sort of thing is up your alley, you can check out the other post here about Project Blue Book files being online that is also from IsaacKoi.