Little Green Meme?

Almost a year ago I emailed an editor of one leading UFO magazine about potentially writing an article for them for publication. I sent some of my work that I had written up to that point and he seemed interested in me potentially expanding one of my original articles for Binnall of America. So with that in mind I worked somewhat diligently at the task for a few months. At the same time I commissioned my girlfriend Ashley to do artwork that would appear in the magazine. Eventually for reasons that I'm still not too sure of the article never appeared in the magazine (I think the editor quit and then the magazine folded or something) and because of this I've sat on the article for quite some time. But I've finally decided to share it with you guys, including Ashley's original artwork, to help me get back into the swing of regular updates as I'm out of school for the summer. Presented below is the article in it's entirety (be warned it's a bit lengthy, after all it was going to appear in a magazine). Hope you enjoy!

Little Green Meme?

When the modern UFO era began after Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 sighting of objects near Mount Rainier, Washington sightings of flying saucers began to be reported from all over the world. Not long after these sightings people also began to report seeing the occupants of the disks. People from all different walks of life were apparently sighting a myriad of strange creatures. In South America little hairy dwarves were sighted, while in other parts of the world the sightings of 9 foot tall monstrosities were reported. But whenever anyone refers to the occupants of these crafts, especially in the 'mainstream' media they only speak of “little green men”. The reason for this is the events of the Kelly-Hopkinsville Case, the aftermath of which is that the term “little green men” would enter the vocabulary of the population and became an infective meme that would be with Ufology for years to come.

On an August night in 1955, Billy Ray Taylor and his wife were visiting the family of Lucky Sutton. The Suttons; Vera Sutton, JC Sutton, Alene Sutton, and three Sutton children, lived in the rural town of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Glennie Lankford, June Taylor and O.P. Barker were also visiting the Lucky Sutton house. Early in the evening Taylor went outside of the Sutton house in order to get some water from the outside pump. Just a few minutes later Taylor rushed back into the house exclaiming that he had just seen a flying saucer fly over the house, hover around the woods, and descend into a gully located nearby the home. No one in the family took Taylor's claim seriously as no one went outside to investigate.

An hour later the Sutton’s dog began to bark, so Lucky and Taylor grabbed their guns and went outside to see if they could find what was upsetting the dog. The frightened dog ran under the house and would not return until the following morning. While outside of the house, Lucky and Taylor were amazed to see a 3½ ft tall being approaching them with its arms raised up. They later described the being to researchers as having a large round head, long thin arms that extended nearly to the ground, and legs that did not appear to move. The hands of the being were out of proportion to the rest of its body, and looked more like the talons of a bird than human hands. While the being's eyes appeared to be glowing with a fire that was the shade of yellow.

Being the good country folk that they were, Lucky and Taylor decided to shoot first and ask questions later. When the bullets from their rifle and shotgun struck the creature it back flipped, landed on its feet, and ran back into the darkness. At this point the men went back into the house to check on the family and tell them what had happened. When they rejoined the group in the living room they were astonished to see the same, or similar to it, being at the window. Again, Lucky and Taylor took a shot at the creature. This caused the being to flip backwards and retreat into the shadows. At this time the men were certain that they had either killed or at least wounded the creature(s), so they went outside to see if they could locate the bodies.

Taylor walked outside, but paused on the porch for just a moment. Suddenly, from the roof, a talon reached down and grabbed his hair. Alene pulled Taylor back into the house. Lucky fired upon the creature which caused it to release Taylor and fall from its perch. At this point, it’s not clear who, but someone noticed that one of the beings was in the tree. So both Taylor and Lucky fired at the creature knocking it from the limb, however, instead of falling straight down, the being appeared to float in a falling leaf motion to the ground.

This attack lasted for a little while longer before the group could no longer stand it. Everyone ran to their cars and took off towards the police station in Hopkinsville. When they arrived and began telling their story, it was obvious to the officers on duty that something had happened to these people as they were clearly shaken. A few sheriffs’ deputies and the chief of police, Russell Greenwell, accompanied the Suttons and Taylors back to the house. Once the police arrived they searched for a long time, but could find no apparent trace of anything out of the ordinary. They did, however, see plenty of buckshot meaning that shots had been fired on the grounds of the home that night. The police couldn’t directly tie the buckshots to the sightings of the numerous beings, however in a few places that Taylor and Lucky had fired on the creatures there appeared to be a strange green luminescence on the ground, the source of which the police were never able to determine. A photograph was taken of the luminous patch of grass but a sample was not collected, upon returning the following day the patch had mysteriously disappeared. Police also interviewed neighbors that live close to the Sutton house, most reported not only seeing strange lights flying around in the sky that same night but also heard the gunshots that came from Lucky and Billy’s guns.

Ultimately unable to truly prove anything, the police left the family to resume their duties. A little later that night once the police had finally gone and the family tried to go to sleep, Glennie Lankford spotted another one of the creatures back at the same window and told her son Lucky. Of course Lucky wanted to shoot it, but Glennie told him not to as the creatures, although certainly bizarre, had actually done nothing to harm them that night. Lucky fired at the creature anyway and once again the bullet had no effect and the creature retreated back in to the darkness. The being’s presence at the home lasted until dawn.

The following day the story was repeated in the Kentucky New Era Newspaper and the Sutton Farmhouse became a huge tourist attraction. The family was interviewed about the events of that night and no matter how many times the story was recounted it was always the same. A man named Andrew Ledwith, who worked with WHOP a radio station in a nearby town, interviewed each of the seven adults involved in the incident separately and each told the same story and described the creatures almost identically. Except that the female witnesses thought that the creatures had a more husky build than what the male witnesses described. Ledwith, who was also an artist, was one of the first people to illustrate what the witnesses saw. As later newspapers picked up the story over the weeks and months that followed, they began to refer to the beings as “little green men” although the original descriptions had been that they were in silver suits or were silver themselves.

After the initial media attention, people began to swarm the Sutton house. If the Suttons believed that the worst of their ordeal was over they were sadly mistaken. They were inundated with people seeking proof, stories, or in some cases even autographs. Sadly this was not all that the Sutton family had to deal with. Local public opinion almost immediately labeled the incident as a hoax. Eventually the family could no longer take all of the negative publicity and they started to charge the thrill seekers that came to see them. This only fueled the charges that the family was hoaxing the entire event simply to exhort money from people.

The Sheriff’s department, to its credit, took the family at their word. Chief of Police, Russell Greenwell had a few things to say about what had happened that night. When he described his initial meeting with the Sutton Family the night of the events he said that they appeared to have been frightened “beyond reason, not ordinary”. He would also remark to Ufologist Isabel Davis that when he and the other officers arrived at the Sutton household that, “In and around the whole area, the house, the fields, that night, there was a weird feeling. It was partly uneasiness, but not entirely. Everyone had it. There were men there that I’d call brave men … they felt it too.”

The local police were not the only group to get involved in the investigations or to take what happened seriously. The US Air Force, upon hearing about the incidents, sent officers from the nearby Fort Campbell to do some investigations. Although the Air Force investigation also turned up empty handed for any kind of concrete evidence, this incident remains as an open case to this day. Project Blue Book, the official Air Force UFO investigation from the time period, never did an official investigation but kept a file on the incident none the less. They labeled the case as an 'unknown' which is something they were not very fond of doing at the time.

Eventually the family got completely fed up with all of the attention they were getting, so they sold the property to extended family and moved away. To this day, the surviving witnesses to the event are hesitant to ever talk to anyone about the case. Although on the rare occasion that they have told anyone their stories, they are exactly as they were on that late night oh so many years ago.

Persons that were skeptical of the case almost immediately came forward with alternative theories as to what the Suttons may have actually seen that night. One of the most obvious alternative explanations was that the family simply hoaxed the entire event. As it stands, although others may have also seen unidentified lights in the sky that night, only the families involved in the incidents ever claimed to have actually seen the beings. The local community seemed to accept this theory pretty readily at the time, as a matter of fact they wrote the entire saga off as a drunken hoax that had simply gotten out of hand. It's unlikely that this was the case as Glennie Lankford was known for not allowing the consumption of alcohol at her house, especially when young children were present.

In any event it wasn't too long before a member of the Air Force was ready to offer a very down-to-earth explanation for the strange firefight that had occurred on that August night just two years prior. Speaking in 1957 U.S. Air Force Major John E. Albert came to the conclusion that what Lucky and Taylor had been shooting at was none other than an escaped monkey from a circus that was dressed in silver. There are a few problems with this explanation however. While it is true that a circus was in town during the week of the sightings, the circus never reported losing a monkey. Additionally if Lucky and Taylor shot nearly as many times at the creatures as they have said, there would have been a body of some kind that was discovered by the Police or other investigators that night.

The most recent terrestrial explanation for what had occurred that night was first proposed by French Ufologist Renaud Leclet. He suggested that perhaps the beings the family had sighted that night, were in fact Great Horned Owls. The owls would match the descriptions of the beings 'glowing' eyes and would explain some of the apparent otherworldly abilities displayed by the entities. As the owls fly silently it is unlikely that either Lucky or Taylor would have heard the owls flying around from say a limb to the top of the porch. Another part of this explanation that would seem to solve this case, is that the Great Horned Owl aggressively defends its nest. Perhaps, the theory goes, when Lucky and Taylor first started firing on the beings they must have accidentally hit the owls nest causing them to attack for most of the night. The problem with this explanation is not unlike the circus monkey theory. Where are the bodies? At many times Lucky and Taylor apparently hit the beings dead on, so if they were simply misidentifying owls, bodies would or should have been found somewhere at the house. Not only that none of these theories can explain the luminescence patch of ground that was seen, nor the very eerie feeling that was reported by all present at the house the night of the siege.

As with most cases of UFO occupant accounts, the skeptics are still skeptical and the believers still believe in the basic validity of the story. No official explanation has ever been offered by either the police that investigated nor by the Air Force. The surviving members of the incident still maintain that the testimony that was given on that fateful night in 1955 is what actually occurred to them. The legacy of the case, besides offering yet another anecdotal story of human / non-human interaction, is the term 'Little Green Men'. The term has become a meme that has been picked up by people ever since. To this day you will still hear people mockingly refer to the occupants of UFOs as little green men. The next time you hear this, you can smile knowing where this term originated.

Primary Sources? Who needs them!

 Hello dear Internet readers it has been quite some time since last we spoke. I had originally planned to come to you today in order to tell you of an interesting alien encounter that I learned about on ATS. However as I researched the topic a bit more I discovered something else that was at once more fascinating and at the same time a bit more disturbing, and also slightly disconcerting if the process is widespread. Now to be fair, it may be that I haven't spent enough time tracking down more info. Perhaps I am misunderstanding what it is that I'm seeing. Or, as I fear, I may be on to something. I don't think I really know the full implications for what it is that I'm going to be discussing. I just know that it doesn't seem right to me. Maybe I'm wrong or I have the wrong impression. If so please feel free to let me know in the comments section! After all I'm only human! (At least I think........)

Our tale begins a few days ago when I was busy at work. And by busy at work I mean to say, busy trying to stay awake at work while to my mind-numbingly boring data entry job. As is my usual custom while on the job, I was busy searching for new UFO/Alien stories. One of the sites I go to far more often than I should is Above Top Secret. I was looking at what they had to say about Bruce Rux. Rux had just recently been on Tim Binnall's Binnall of America podcast. Rux is the author of two UFO books; Hollywood vs. Aliens (which I own and have read) and Architects of the Underworld (which I should be receiving from my wonderful girlfriend Ashley [and no this isn't just a test to see if she reads my blog :)]). So, Rux had been on my mind and I often like to get what I call the “ATS-view” of a topic. When I put Rux's name into ATS's search bar, a number of posts came up. However there was only one that really caught my attention. It was entitled “TheTinfoil Alien”. This had me written all over it. Of course I was envisioning some kind of Shroud of Turin, except instead of Jesus it would be a classic Grey, and instead of being on some kind of cloth it would be tinfoil.

In reality it was an alien encounter account with which I had some familiarity with as I had read about it in Faces of the Visitors, of which I have spoken about in the past. The case in question is called a number of things, but it's typically denoted by the date and location of the sighting. According to Faces of the Visitors, it was called 'The Police Chief Photo'. The sighting took place on October 17, 1973 in Falkville, Alabama, which for those keeping track at home is only 6 days after the Hickson-Parker Abduction took place. The story, which you can read in some detail here, is that Police Chief Jeffrey Greenhaw aged 26 was apparently phoned around 10 pm that a UFO had landed nearby. The following is from the account found on the UFO Casebook site:

This strange account began when Falkville, Alabama police chief Jeff Greenhaw (that is correct, there is no s after the n) received a phone call from an excited lady who said that she had witnessed a "spaceship" land in an open field not far the town proper.

Greenhaw took off like a shot, taking along his trusty Polaroid camera. Dark had fallen several hours earlier, and the police chief was armed for anything. It would be about 10:00 P.M. when he made it to the location of the alleged landing.

After a cursory look around, he found no trace of a spaceship. As Greenhaw continued his search of the area, he was taken aback by the sight of an alien-like creature standing just off the side of the road. The being appeared to be wrapped in aluminum foil as it began to walk toward Greenhaw.

"It looked like his head and neck were kind of made together... he was real bright, something like rubbing mercury on nickel, but just as smooth as glass-different angles give different lighting. I don't believe it was aluminum foil."

The tinfoil alien's movements were very "mechanical" like. An antenna was attached to his head. Though in shock, he managed to snap off four pictures of the odd looking alien. When he flicked on his headlights the alien was obviously frightened, as it began to make its escape.

Luckily(?) Greenhaw had the forethought to snap a photo of the 'entity'. Which can be viewed below. As I was reading this story, I was thinking to myself that this would make a great post on either Forteania or as an article for my Fortean Ramblings column. But before I typed anything up I wanted to do a bit more research in order to see what different versions of the story had to say, or if perhaps there was more to the story. The thread over at ATS originally linked to the version quoted above from UFO Case Book site. At the UFO Casebook site it had the original source as NICAP's website, as the case was originally investigated by NICAP. As many in the field are aware, NICAP was disbanded in 1980 which is about the same time that CUFOS bought all of their old case files. And apparently through some kind of agreement NICAP (the website) is able to post some of the old NICAP (the organization) case files online. One of which is the case in question. So when I looked up the case file on the NICAP website imagine my surprise when I saw the source for the information on the NICAP website. It was the UFO Casebook site.

Definitely, probably not just a guy in a firefighter's suit

So we have the UFO Casebook site referencing the NICAP website as the source of the account, while the NICAP website referenced the UFO Casebook site. This strikes as very strange for some reason. It has caused me to wonder, surprisingly for the first time, how many other accounts are like this. Where the sources are all referencing each other. Which wouldn't be too big a deal, I suppose, if one could easily have access to the original sources. The implications in this are much wider than just Ufology of course. Perhaps other places are simply siting one another as references without anyone actually having the original information. At the end of the day however, I did only do a cursory amount of research. And did it on the Internet no less. I admit it's entirely likely that other, better, sources exist for this account. But as far as what was available online, all I could locate was the self-referential loop of uhh loopiness.

I would like to think that people would do a better job of looking for sources of material before writing about it. But I must admit that I myself have been guilty of this in the past. There has been more than one post on this blog that I haven't done a whole lot of researching on before posting, but for the most part I attempt to find as many sources as I could. Oh and before I forget, apparently the original investigators on the case after doing some investigations pretty much ruled this case a hoax. As it turns out, if one takes a fireman's silvery suit and photographs someone in the dark with a flash on their camera the resulting image strikingly resembles the original alien photo. With that I leave you for now, if I'm wrong for thinking this is weird or unusual be sure to leave me a comment and let me know! Also if you happen to know some better places to find old NICAP files online (because after a fairly thorough Google search I didn't turn anything up) please let me know.

Update to Napoleon the Abductee

******Update******

Thanks to Ken Summers of Moonspenders for finding the following. As it turns out my thinking that this read like something out of the Weekly World News wasn't too far off the mark. 

Follow the link to see essentially the same article about the implant found in Napoleon's skull from an edition of the Weekly World News circa 1997. 

Until next time Forteans, stay classy!

I'm super cereal, you guys!

Hey there dear readers, I realize that it's been quite a few days (4 to be exact I think). I have exams coming up this week so tonight's post will, unfortunately, be a little short. Hopefully towards the end of the week we will be back on a more regular schedule as far as posting goes.

Anyway on to tonight's story.  I caught this via both the Daily Grail and also over at ATS. This Science Daily story offers an alternative to the standard "rope and plank" explanation behind the Crop Circle phenomena. Now personally I have never been a huge fan of Crop Circles. I can't really say why for sure, they just never really grabbed me as something of interest.

This new article however purports to offer a new potential solution to the Crop Circle enigma. From the article:

According to Taylor, physics could potentially hold the answer, with crop-circle artists possibly using the Global Positioning System (GPS) as well as lasers and microwaves to create their patterns, dispensing with the rope, planks of wood and bar stools that have traditionally been used.
Microwaves, Taylor suggests, could be used to make crop stalks fall over and cool in a horizontal position -- a technique that could explain the speed and efficiency of the artists and the incredible detail that some crop circles exhibit.

Follow this link in order to read the entire article. I feel fairly confident that this isn't a new theory in the field of Crop Circle research. As a matter of fact I believe that Jacques Vallee offered this same (or similar at least) opinion just a few years ago.

Turns out I was right, from that article written by Jacques Vallee:

These studies point to the crop formations as the result of sophisticated electronic warfare experiments conducted by defense contractors. The answer to question (1) provides the first clue: If you are trying to calibrate a beam, drawing a pattern on a wheat field can yield precision information within the diameter of one stalk over hundreds of feet, an ideal test situation. The answer to question (2) narrows down the type of energy that can be responsible, because the amount of heat radiation that needs to be coupled into one node of a stalk of wheat to vaporize the water content is a known quantity, as laboratory tests in France and in the United States soon established. The answer to question (3) points to the likely authors of the tests.

It is tempting to jump to the conclusion that some sort of space-based weapon is being developed. I am reluctant to assume this because of the cost involved. Even if satellites represent the ultimate platform for such a weapon, which does not seem obvious to me, the calibration tests can be carried out far more cheaply from a conventional aircraft. In those cases when witnesses on the ground have seen formations in the process of being created, they have described a reddish glow at ground level, with the vegetation bent over in a matter of minutes. This would be consistent with a beam directed at the field from a hovering dirigible, painting a figure very much in the same way as an electron beam "paints" a digital image on a computer screen. From conversations I have had with the investigators involved, the beam would be unlikely to be a simple infrared beam. Instead a combination of laser and microwave transmitters may be involved, or a form of maser. Perhaps the increasingly sophisticated tests are designed, precisely, to discover optimal combinations.

Here is the link to that original article. Well I'm happy that at least some scientists are looking at alternative theories to the Crop-circle enigma beyond just the straight forward “rope and plank” theory. I just wish that perhaps sometimes they would listen to some of the thinkers in this field first.

Belgium UFO flap photo fake?

Last week I introduced you dear readers to a thread over at AboveTopSecret that was started by one of the best posters at the site (See here for that post). Well today I'm back to introduce you to yet another fascinating thread started by IsaacKoi. Earlier today Isaac posted this at ATS "Breaking News on Belgian TV: Famous flying triangle picture is a fake confesses hoaxer".

According to the original news posting when translated through Google, because the original article is in French apparently, the man who created this photo (see below) has now admitted that it is in fact a fake.

Famed photo from the Belgian UFO wave of the late 80's early 90's

From the original article (which can be found here) we get this:

The mystery of the famous UFO 90 years elucidated: "A hoax"
The photo had been around the world and was analyzed by the most eminent specialists. None had solved the mystery of the UFO and Breakfast Rechain became the emblem of the Belgian UFO wave of the 90s. Eighteen years later, the author unveils the cliché.

The end of 1989 and the 90's were marked by a mysterious UFO flap in Belgium. Appearances never understood. Emblem of the phenomenon: a picture of a triangular UFO with three lights, one in each corner, taken April 4, 1990 in Petit Rechain, near Verviers, by a Patrick, a young turner-fitter of 20 years. The slide will travel around the world, will be discussed by leading experts and up to the Belgian Royal Military Academy. 

Head over to AboveTopSecret to join into the conversation that is ongoing at the site. Also what do you all think? Does this change your position, if you had one of course, on the Belgium UFO wave? As has been pointed out on the thread, even if this photo has been faked (which to the best of my knowledge hasn't been proven just yet) it doesn't change the number of sightings by both the military and civilians.

For further reading on the Belgian UFO wave check out these sites:

Wikipedia page

About.com page

UFO Casebook page

Monkey or alien? You decide.

Don't know if you've seen this or not yet. But apparently a villiage in China mistook a lemur for an alien. From the article:

The "Alien" Visitor

This ape made a monkey of Chinese villagers who feared it was a visitor from another world.
Locals panicked when Mao Xiping, a housewife from the village of Gezhai, in Henan province, central China, found the scraggy simian stealing cucumbers from her flat.
She thought it was a harmless rabbit, until she noticed it had an 'alien face' and her neighbours agreed it was like nothing they had ever seen before.

Follow the link for the full story. Really I'm just glad that no one, lemur included, got hurt. On a related note I find the mention of the 'alien face' part to be extremely fascinating. Why did she think it had an 'alien face'? Was it because of cultural programming through TV shows and movies that have shown her what an alien is "supposed" to look like? Probably, but maybe it could be a Jungian archetype situation wherein the "big eyes" are naturally assumed to be ET? Your thoughts?

Cryptozoology meeting

Continuing on last nights theme of aquatic monsters, there was more cryptozoological news today from the Zoological Society of London. On July 12th they hosted a meeting entitled “Cryptozoology: science or pseudoscience?” This meeting apparently had a very large turnout for people who were interested in learning how cryptozoology could and should be considered as a part of biology and / or zoology. Follow the link to read more from one of the speakers that presented at the meeting. 

It has always seemed that Cryptozoology has been in a better position to be taken seriously by 'mainstream' science more so than any other Fortean topic. This is true for a number of reasons. One we have a precedence of finding weird or unusual creatures that were once thought to not exist. The Mountain Gorilla was once the stuff of legends, the Coelacanth was believed to have been extinct until oops it was found by some fishermen in 1944, and more recently evidence has (no pun intended) surfaced to prove the existence of giant squids. 

Looking good for something that's supposed to be extinct, right?

 It's probably for this reason that many cryptozoologists rarely like to delve into the more esoteric or paranormal aspects of mysterious creatures. Stories of Bigfoot vanishing right in front of witnesses eyes crop more often than not, as do sightings of said creatures in the vicinity of UFO flaps or waves. I can't really blame them of course. Everyone wants to be taken seriously and cryptozoology has a better chance than say ufology, assuming of course that what they are searching for is in fact a physical phenomena.

Maybe there is a physical aspect to the phenomena or maybe it's more paranormal in nature, who knows? It is nice to see that some aspects of the Fortean are being taken seriously by someone. I just hope that people don't fall into the same trap that befalls many ufologists. Where the researcher believes that they know the answer (ie that Bigfoot is a flesh and blood creature) instead of just letting the evidence lead to whatever the real answer maybe.

Magazine article updates!

I've mentioned a number of times on this blog in the past that I had been working on an article for a UFO magazine. If published, it would be my first article in such a medium. Needless to say I was pretty excited to get it finished. In addition to writing the article I was requested to get some illustrations made, so I roped Ashley into doing those for me. Well last night (finally!) I was able to send off the article and illustrations, and at this point I am only waiting to hear back from the editor if it will indeed be published. If it does I will certainly let you guys know which one it is, also if this works out (and even if it doesn't) I have to say that the process has certainly been a learning experience.

Much like this blog and of course my article over at Binnall of America, I have been trying to both improve my writing skills (which I hope have gotten better) and perhaps learn a thing or two. Hopefully we will hear back, sooner rather than later about the article. If not, I will simply try again. Also I have recently taken the plunge back into the dreaded 'facebook'. You are more than welcome to friend me if you wish. I suppose that's about all I have for tonight.

Oh before I forget one last little thing, I'm just about half-way through reading Steve Volk's Fringe-ology (which I can't recommend highly enough) so expect a review here in the next couple of days. Until next time this is your friendly neighborhood Fortean Philosopher saying, stay classy Internet!

NASA vs Dr. Mitchell

Government sues Apollo 14 astronaut over lunar camera

(Reuters) - The U.S. government has sued a former NASA astronaut to recover a camera used to explore the moon's surface during the 1971 Apollo 14 mission after seeing it slated for sale in a New York auction. Click here to read the whole story. 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this one or am I the only one confused by the whole thing?  RedPillJunkie over at the Daily Grail has an interesting take on this:

What bothers me about this story is not that the government is fighting Mitchell over the ownership of this camera; what *does* bother me is that NASA is learning about the whereabouts of this historic piece of equipment after. 40. Years! (Full Article here)

The whole thing just strikes me as so arbitrary. As RedPillJunkie points out, the fact that NASA wants it's property back is fine, but why have they waited so long? I  don't really know what to think about this whole thing. It's not as if Dr. Mitchell has been keeping a low profile for the last 40 years or so. On the contrary he is one of the few other Astronauts who are probably at least casually known to people. Especially those that have an interest in Fortean and paranormal things.

Dr. Mitchell cofounded the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in 1973 which according to its website:

is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research, education, and membership organization whose mission is supporting individual and collective transformation through consciousness research, educational outreach, and engaging a global learning community in the realization of our human potential.

Basically this organizations researches all kinds of paranormal things. Psychic abilities, human potential, life after death, consciousness studies, etc. One of the few places left that I can think of that still takes a look at parapsychology from a scientific point of view. 

In addition to this Dr. Mitchell has been pretty vocal about his belief in the existence of Extraterrestrial life in many different mediums. But none of this really explains NASA's somewhat questionable behavior in this matter. Really I guess we don't know enough about the circumstances surrounding the lawsuit. Hopefully we will be able to learn more as time goes on. That's all for now, more to come later. Also be sure to let me know what you think about this whole lawsuit!

Random Mac Tonnies stuff

Thanks to the Daily Grail for tweeting this video earlier. It coincides with this New York Times article on the Digitial Afterlife. Discussed in the video and article is the late Mac Tonnies. The video is from the excellent (yet sad in a way) blog the Post-Mac Blues. Be sure to follow the link for the video its well worth the watch if you haven't seen it. In other Mac Tonnies related 'news', earlier today Ashley was image searching for some other pictures of him when she stumbled upon this:

Click for larger image

For whatever reason a picture of yours truly popped up during the image search. In all fairness, a picture of Paul Kimball, Greg Bishop, and Nick Redfern came up as well. I certainly don't think of myself in the same leagues as Tonnies. Although he is definitely a role model of mine, at least intellectually. And he has in many ways helped to inspire my outlook on the UFO phenomena specifically, but also most things Fortean in general. The saddest part for me is that I never got to correspond with him. I had heard of him through Binnall of America, Radio Misterioso, and the Paracast; but for whatever reason I never tried to reach out and talk to him.

This was partly to do with my being a Closet Anomalist and because I was under the mistaken impression that he and his compatriots were in many ways 'untouchable'. Sadly I found out too late that they aren't. Both Greg Bishop and Paul Kimball have been great supporters of my blog in it's relative infancy, through comments and suggestions and other things like this. It will probably be one of my greater regrets that I never got to know the guy who has influenced me in so many ways. I think that in a lot of ways, it was also Mac Tonnies that was the real inspiration for this blog.

So take some time today to remember Mac Tonnies.

-Tony 

 

Sorry short post tonight

I have to study for another exam tonight and then I will be passing out. I apologize for not doing a proper post tonight guys and gals. But I wanted to share this interesting piece of information and see what you all think about. 

Quote:

The rumors are finally confirmed, during a special screening of ET: The Extra-Terrestrial at the White house in 1982, Ronald Reagan did make a comment about everything in the movie being true. However, Spielberg says he is pretty sure Reagan was only joking around.

For more check out the link here.

Personally I never really put any stock into this story myself, but what about you? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know. Until next time, take it easy Forteans! 

News follow up

I related in last nights early post, that after weeks of procrastinating I was finally able to complete the article that I will be submitting to a UFO magazine (to be named once confirmation has been received that the article is being published for sure). For many reasons I had put off completing the article, some legitimate others not so much. Either way yesterday around 2 in the afternoon I had finally completed the damn thing. Once it was done I wanted someone to read over it, you know to make sure that I didn't sound like a complete imbecile (which is something I suspect when or if I ever re-read previous posts here at Forteania or my column Fortean Ramblings over at Binnall of America).

My girlfriend, who is my unofficial editor, was at work so that ruled her out. My brother has an extremely bizarre sleep schedule and likely wouldn't be awake for another few hours and I really wanted to get the rough draft sent in the event that the magazine editor decided that they no longer wanted to use my article. Then I thought about a friend of mine who is very supportive in all of my writing exploits (he even listened to every episode of my very short lived podcast I did with another friend). I texted him to see if he too was at work or at home. His response was that he would be out of town for the remainder of the day. At this point I was so desperate for anyone to read my article that I actually contemplated running out into the streets and flagging down cars just to have someone read the damn thing.

Luckily for me it is unbearably hot outside right now where I live, so that option never left the planning stages. Instead I thought, 'Fuck it I will just send the article anyway'. Kind of a lay it all on the line scenario. Plus I had already decided that if, for whatever reason, the magazine didn't want the article I would just sell it to another magazine. So with all of this in mind I emailed the editor my rough draft of the article and spent the rest of the day not thinking about the email at all.....




I wish. As soon as I sent the email, I immediately regretted the decision and wanted to call it back. Unfortunately I'm unaware of any way to So the rest of the afternoon was spent with me secretly checking my phone for an email response. Even though I knew it was unlikely that he would have gotten back to me so quickly. I managed to more or less go about a normal daily routine. Posted up a couple of things up here, watched a movie or two, and read some more of Wake Up Down There: The Excluded Middle Anthology. Finally I went to bed pretty late. When I woke up just a few short hours later (I have a terrible sleep cycle, if I'm lucky I will get 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night) and there was an email waiting for me on the phone.

I checked and, as you could probably guess, it was from the magazine editor. With much trepidation I slowly opened the email, took a deep breath and slowly began to scan the message. Immediately I breathed a huge sigh of relief, he liked the article a lot and thought it was really good. I was ecstatic. Now the only thing that stands between me and being a published writer are a few illustrations that my girlfriend (remember she is also my editor) is working on for the article. Once she has these completed, I will send everything to the editor and hopefully not too long after you will be able to pick up a magazine from the newsstands that has an article written by yours truly.


OK well thats all for now readers, I will return in a little while with some more posting (and likely more photos, because photos are fun). Until then remember “Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you”

A little bit of news while you wait (patiently I hope) for the latest post

I mentioned a few weeks back (see here, here, and here for more) that I had discussed with the editor of a UFO magazine the possibility of writing an article for them. He was very enthusiastic and picked one of my samples that he wanted to see expanded into article with no more than 4,000 words (which by the way goes by pretty quickly). That was on May 18th. It wasn't until earlier today that I was finally able to get the damned thing written. Mostly because I was procrastinating. I think that secretly I am afraid of criticism. It was just procrastination, if I didn't write the article and submit it, there would be no way it could be turned down. Kind of a 'if you don't try, you don't fail' philosophy.

But in between when I last spoke to him via email and today when I finally finished the rough draft, I had been doing this blog. For some reason posting every day (and having a pretty decent response from you readers) I have come to feel a little more confident in my writing or more importantly in my opinions. Or maybe I realized that it doesn't matter as long as I am enjoying it. And I have to be honest I am really enjoying doing this blog. At first I was a little hesitant, but this Sunday will have been a month and I am really enjoying it.

Anyway back to my news, I have emailed the rough draft to the editor so that he can look over it. Hopefully by this time tomorrow you will have heard back from me about how it goes. And if (in the very likely event) that he doesn't like it, I will always submit it to another magazine. Never fear though I will continue working hard at this blog. And of course there is always my column over at Binnall of America. Fortean Ramblings seems to be pretty popular as well. That's all for the moment, hopefully I will have a new post up in just a little while. Until then this is your friendly neighborhood Closet Anomalist Tony saying 'Catch you on the flip side'

New Fortean Ramblings column up at BOA

Hey there loyal blog readers. As many of you probably know in addition to writing this (wonderful) (amazing) blog, I also have a column over at Binnall of America entitled 'Fortean Ramblings". Well, while you wait for tonights new post here at Forteania, be sure to stop over and check out "Reinventing the Wheel". Then be sure to stop back by a little later tonight for a new post here.

Why do I continue?

    Many times I have often wondered why it is exactly that I stick around in the realm of Forteania, and especially Ufology. I mean I know the reason why I got into all of this mess in the first place (see my first column of Fortean Ramblings over at Binnall of America entitled 'Origin Story' for more), but why is it that day after day I never get tired of all of the countless shenanigans? Why after so many years do I still find myself listening with renewed interest as yet another explanation is offered for Roswell (follow the link for the latest one)? How come it is that even though it is disappointing, I still sometimes watch the 'lights in the sky' videos that are so often ridiculed on YouTube? Is it because 'I want to Believe'?

    Some might say yes this is exactly what is going on. Your friendly neighborhood Closet Anomalist suffers from yet another delusional belief system that causes him to seek proof for the very precepts he holds dear. Well I would like to think that is wrong. Of course it's true that on some level I do have some opinion about theses topics: be they UFO, Ghost, ET, or what have you, because why the hell else would I have a blog or a column over at BOA? (Now is where somebody will likely interject and say, well Tony it's simply because you like to 'hear' yourself talk. Which I guess is true, but it's not the only reason I am doing this damn thing.)

    No I would like to think that my intentions are far more noble (who doesn't right?) I want to find out what the ubiquitous 'Truth' is. Now bear in mind that's truth with a capital 'T' of course. Which in my mind would entail finding out just what exactly is behind all of the assorted Fortean phenomenon that I enjoy reading about so much. I would like to think that no matter what the explanations are for the phenomenon, no matter how potentially 'mundane' they may turn out to be, that I would still be willing and able to accept this reality. Take for instance, if somehow one could prove all sightings of unidentified craft spotted by even professional pilots, as nothing more than say some kind of atmospheric hallucination, I would be willing to accept that.

    Unfortunately however many players on either side of the fence, be they 'True Believer's' or 'Debunkers', are not willing to have this kind of open and honest dialogue about some arguably bizarre interactions are species has or had with something that many would argue we don't completely understand yet. As I have stated almost ad nauseum at this point, the problems with both groups is that they already have the answers that they are looking for. Which is fine if you are in a religion or a religious group, and that is what these two camps are I would argue. They both have their core set of belief's, or well in the case of the Debunker's 'disbeliefs', that they hold to be self evident. For many of the True Believer crowd, UFOs are ET spacecraft. Whereas for the Debunker's UFOs are misinterpretation of natural phenomenon. But you know maybe, just maybe the answer lies some where in the middle.

    Perhaps the phenomenon is comprised of both simultaneously. A pilot spots a UFO (in this sense meaning an artificial craft, that is not just a natural phenomenon), but then the next night sees a strange light in the sky, that turns out to be headlights reflecting off an air pocket or something. The latter by no means invalidates the former. This I think leads ultimately to why I am still here. Why I still put up with the shenanigans, is because I think it ultimately reminds us that we really still don't know everything. And that mystery is certainly enough for me to put up with all of the bullshit that comprises the field of Fortean Phenomena and specifically Ufology.

Misadventures in PC Buying

OK so I took the day off from work because I felt like crap. In addition to that I start back to class tomorrow and I figured I could get away with missing a day in order to have a 'mental health day'. It felt great. Not only did I get to sleep in a few hours later than normal, my girlfriend and I ended up going to Best Buy to pick me a net book.

It wasn’t my intention today to actually buy the damn thing, after all we do have a laptop that we share. But in the last week or so since I have been posting more frequently, I have kind of been hogging the computer. With the possibility that I may end up actually writing articles for magazines, plus the fact that my classes will be starting tomorrow, we decided that the benefits out weighed the cons. So we purchased the strangely named Eee PC from ASUS. Now this is by no means a paid advertisement for ASUS, but if you are going to buy a PC definitely get an ASUS.

Anyways, I had figured that after the purchase of the net book I would quickly be able to get back to working on my article. Boy oh boy how wrong could I be? Once we got home I had to do the initial boot of the computer. That took about 15 minutes. Next I had to go about the oh so important process of installing necessary programs (read Mozilla Firefox, IE 8 can go jump off a bridge). When finally this was accomplished, I was able to set up my home group in order to move over my old documents. These included my articles for Binnall of America, backups for Forteania, and my article for the magazine. Once this was accomplished I decided to get working back on the article. Once I opened (or attempted to open) the document. Blam! A little pop up came that extolled me to either activate my version of Microsoft Office 2010 (don't have one), purchase a version from the online store (definitely not going to happen), or use the kind of shitty Microsoft Starter version of Word. So as I didn't want to do any of those things, I opted for downloading Open Office. The download took all of about 3 hours.

3 grueling hours later Open Office was finally ready to be installed. Once this process completed, which surprisingly didn't take all that long to do. It was at this moment that the computer happily informed me that 31 updates were ready to be installed for the computer. Evidently these were vital updates that, if they were not installed, could possibly result in the destruction of all mankind. Well you can sleep well tonight with the knowledge that I decided to spare all of your lives by installing the necessary updates. (No thanks needed, just send money). Finally everything was updated and I was good to go. So I opened up my article.... only to discover that I was actually working with an older version that had about 1000 fewer words than my new one. Luckily I had a jump drive nearby , loaded the latest version of the article.

So here we are almost 8 hours after the purchase of my net book and I am finally ready to get started on my article. Of course it was about that time that I realized I hadn't blogged all day, and that about brings you up to speed. I will be posting again a little later tonight, after I have hopefully gotten a chance to make a dent into my article. Until then this is your friendly neighborhood Closet Fortean (and proud new owner of an ASUS net book) saying catch you on the flip side.

Closest Anomalist no more?

Today marks a full week since I opened back up my Blog and attempted to write at least one post each day. And I am happy to report that I have been very successful. You know with the exception of some unexpected ‘downtime’ that occurred earlier in the week. So far I have put up a few posts each night that I don’t think sacrifice content by trying to write every night.

I have to say that even though I have only blogged seriously for the last week I can already see a big change in myself. First, I feel like my writing has gotten more coherent and also possibly enjoyable to read (hey a guy can dream). The old saying goes, of course, that practice can make perfect. So making myself post something to the blog each night has made me write a lot. I think that if you were to go back to my earlier stuff when I had first started this blog (back in October) you would be able to see a lot of improvement. It doesn’t hurt that I have also written a bunch of articles for my column, Fortean Ramblings, over at Binnall of America. Although only two have been posted up so far, I have already written something like 4 or 5 total.

The second change I can see is that I am becoming more confident in having people read my work. This is most evidenced by the fact that I figured what the hell why not send in some of my writing samples to see if a magazine would publish it? So far the response seems great, so now I just have to not be lazy (or worse procrastinate) and get the article re-tooled so that they can have it to publish. As of right now that‘s not looking so great, I am finding it terribly difficult to concentrate in order to write the article. As a matter of fact I am writing this post at the moment rather than working on the article which is actually open in another window. Oh well as much as things change some things always stays the same. Although after I post this blog my hope is to make a large dent into the article tonight, because as of Wednesday I will finally be returning to school to finish my Biology degree.

The final change that I have begun to see in myself is that I am starting to not be as hesitant about admitting my fascination with these kinds of topics. Or in other words maybe I am becoming less of a Closet Anomalist/Fortean. Just today at breakfast in a restaurant I found myself freely discussing what I think is the origin of at least some of the UFO phenomena (here is a hint as to what I think the origin is, they aren't from Zeta Reticula). The point being I didn’t lower my voice into a whisper as though I were discussing some kind of dirty shameful thing. After all if the visitor information that I have seen for my blog has told me anything, it’s that there is a worldwide interest in these topics. Why should I feel ashamed because I am interested in mysteries? I mean come on let’s be honest we are not talking about belief systems here. Although I loved David Duchovny’s character from The X-Files I don’t just ‘Want to believe’, I want to know or learn about these mysteries.

I think that was what had me being a Closet Anomalist in the first place. For the majority of people any interest in these kinds of topics, especially UFOs/Aliens, was automatically assumed to be a belief. Hell the question that a lot of people have asked me over the years is “Do you believe in aliens?”, as if it were a replacement religion of some sort (which I suppose for some people it is). But I don’t ‘believe’ in UFOs. I know for a fact that certain qualified persons have seen craft that they are unable to identify and which seem to perform maneuvers that are current technology are incapable of replicating. That doesn’t necessarily scream alien as the answer however.

I could go on and on about this part but I think I will save it for another post, and finish this one up by saying thank you. Thank you to whoever has been reading this for the last week, because of you I have been able to have a place to get out some of my thoughts and opinions on some Fortean topics. Also I have been able to get enough confidence to send some work to a magazine. And of course I will be continuing to do this for the conceivable future. Who knows maybe one of these day’s I will finally step fully out of the closet.

Me published?

So as I related in my posting yesterday, I sent some of my writings off to a UFO magazine in the hopes of getting published by them. Well this morning I received an email from the editor of the magazine who was generally interested in my work. As a matter of fact he wants me to expand one of the items that I had sent into him.

For the next couple of days I will be doing some intense research and re-writing of the article. Hopefully you will be able to see the article on your local newsstands very soon. Well that's all I have for now, more to come later. Oh and for what it's worth I won't let my work on the article interfere with my attempt to do daily blogging. Until later this is Tony, the Closet Anomalist/Fortean, signing off.

News, a Review (may contain spoilers of the movie), and some Fortean stuff

Allrighty here we are at day 6 of my almost daily blogging (damn you Blogger maintenance issues). I’m back with another review and some news. Although I have only been writing for Binnall’s website with my ‘Fortean Ramblings’ column for just over two months  and seriously blogging for the past week, upon the encouragement of my girlfriend I decided to send some of my samples to a UFO magazine in the hopes of possibly getting published. I’m not holding my breath but who knows maybe they will end up liking my stuff and let me occasionally write an article or two for them. Obviously I won’t name who the magazine is until I have heard from them which will hopefully be soon.

OK now that the news is over we can get into the review. Earlier today my girlfriend and I went to go, as I call it, lolly gagging all over town. (Check my earlier tweets for photos) But basically we went to the mall and just generally wasted gas that we didn’t really have. Towards the middle of the afternoon we decided to go see what movies were playing. When we arrived we were a little surprised to see that the movie Insidious was still being shown. We had wanted to see that movie so we picked it, and at matinee prices we only had to slightly go into debt to do so. (Warning the below may contain spoilers)

Insidious is a horror/thriller movie by the guys who made Saw/Paranormal Activity. It is genuinely good movie that has some decent bits of ‘jumpyness’ which is definitely something that I look for in a scary movie. The movie tells the story of a boy who has slipped into a coma and of the paranormal happenings that are going on around him at the same time. Through the course of the movie it is revealed that the child isn’t actually in a coma but has used astral projection and simply lost his way back. Because of this the family experiences ghosts/entities that are attempting to cross over to our realm by possessing the child’s body. I won’t ruin the ending but suffice it to say the movie is really decent. If you can I suggest going to see it in the theaters, but if not getting in on DVD (or using Netflix because this is 2011 after all) simply turn off the lights and prepared to be scared.

Seeing this movie today reminded me of my childhood fascination with astral projection. Astral projection is the theory that practitioners are able to through some means leave their bodies in spiritual form. Through this they are able to travel to different dimensions and other realms. Ostensibly of course I suppose they could go forward or backwards into time. As a child I had read about this ability and longed to be able to do it. Unfortunately if the ability is real I apparently don’t have it, because no matter how long I tried some of the exercises I was never able to leave my body. A closely related phenomenon is known as OBE or out of body experience, however most ‘psychics’ seem to believe that OBE’s tend to be involuntary whereas Astral Projection is taken to be a voluntary action. As with most of the Fortean topics that I have discussed and will discuss in the future, this seems to be one that I won’t be able to experience firsthand. Well that’s all for now (possibly a post may come a little later) so until next time this is Tony, your friendly Fortean Philosopher, saying have a good one.

PS If anyone reading this has had any experience with astral projection or with OBE’s please email me and let me know. I would love to hear your stories.