Beast of Gevaudan

One of the first books I purchased from the paranormal field was Brad Steiger’s The Werewolf Book. (Technically I purchased an earlier version, the amazon link there is to the latest edition). Within this fascinating book, is a story which I was reminded of while working on yesterday’s post.  Our tale begins in the mountainous region of France, called Gevaudan. Clark, in Unexplained!, tells us the following:

One day in June 1764, in a forest in the Gevaudan, a mountainous region of south-central France, a young woman tending cows looked up to see a hideous beast bearing down on her. The size of a cow or donkey, the creature resembled an enormous wolf. Her dogs fled, but the cattle drove the beast off with their horns.

This is the start of the beast’s reign of terror. Steiger offers readers a description:

The creature was described as a hairy beast that walked upright on two legs. Its face was sworn to be like that of Satan, and its entire body was said to be covered with dark, bristly hair. Those who were fortunate enough to escape the beast’s clutches always mentioned an “evil smell” that emanated from its foul hide.

Unlike many other paranormal creatures, the Beast of Gevaudan seemed to have a taste for human flesh. It slaughtered men, women, and children throughout Gevaudan. Though it did seem to have a predilection for women and children. The people, as Steiger writes, were convinced that they were dealing with a ‘Loup-Garou’ or Werewolf. A somewhat typical encounter with this “Werewolf” is told below by Steiger:

On the Night of January 15, 1765, a blizzard raged in the mountains. When his 15-year-old son did not return from tending sheep, Pierre Chateauneuf lit a torch and went in search of the boy. The horrified father discovered the mutilated body of his son near the bawling flock.

The grieving Chateauneuf carried the body down the slopes to their small farm home in the valley….

It was then, Chateauneuf later told the authorities, that he saw the beast staring at him through a window. The werewolf’s eyes were glassy, like those of a wild animal, and its dark face was covered with hair.

The angry farmer dashed to a wall, pulled down a musket, and fired point-blank at the creature. The black, hairy monster had apparently anticipated the man’s attack, for it dropped down before the musket was discharged. Chateauneuf testified later that as he reloaded the musket and ran outside, he saw the beast running across the snow toward his orchard. It looked like a man running in an animal’s skin.

That the people were dealing with something which seemed not to be a typical wolf seems evident from the accounts. Although even at the time some doubted the stories of “Loup-Garous” and believed that there must be a rational explanation for what was occurring. Eventually village petitions would reach Louis IX at Versailles. The King ordered that soldiers be dispatched to search the mountains of Le Gevaudan. The soldiers came up empty-handed, apparently failing to locate any kind of beast, whether normal or paranormal, which could be responsible for the deaths.

The attacks by the creature increased until it all ended in a rather dramatic, and perhaps difficult to envision, scenario. Steiger reports that a posse of several hundred men had succeeded in finally cornering the beast in some trees near the village of Le Surge d’Auvert. He writes:

Jean Chastel was given credit for the kill. According to Chastel's testimony, he had retired a short distance from his companions to read his prayer book. He happened to glance up from his devotions and saw the beast coming directly toward him, walking erect. Chastel said that he had prepared himself according to certain ancient traditions. His double-barreled musket was loaded with bullets made from a silver chalice that had been blessed by a priest.

The bullet from the first barrel of Chastel's musket struck the monster in the chest. It let out a fierce howl and charged its attacker. Chastel aimed the next shot directly for the monster’s heart. The werewolf dropped dead at his feet, the silver bullet in its heart.

With that final shot the end of the three year long wave of horror caused by the Beast of Gevaudan came to an end. A part of me can’t quite move past the almost “mythic” way in which the creature was killed. The ‘holy’ or ‘devout’ man kills the evil creature with a blessed object. I don’t know, perhaps I’m reading too much into the tale. Regardless if we assume Chastel’s account is correct, he successfully stopped a creature which had been terrorizing Gevaudan for nearly three years. What was this creature? By all reports it certainly sounds like it really was a werewolf. The people of the town were convinced, though there were skeptics of this story. Whether it was supernatural creature or some natural predator, it makes for a very interesting, if tragic, tale.

Charles Fort's X-Men

One of Charles Fort’s books which I haven’t spent a lot of time with in the past is his final one; Wild Talents. In this work, Fort collects reports and accounts of human beings with occult or paranormal gifts or powers. If he had been so inclined, Fort might have collected these individuals together and formed his own ‘School for Gifted Youngsters’. For those not aware, the school is the headquarters and training grounds of Marvel’s X-Men. At this school, Charles Xavier (Professor X) recruits mutants, beings with incredible powers, and teaches them to harness and control their powers so that they can live in harmony with human beings.

Though Professor X and his school may be fictional, Fort documents case after case of people in the real world who exhibit similar kinds of amazing feats. OK, so you don’t have a guy with claws coming out of his hands who also  has an amazing regenerative abilities, but you get the idea. I’ve picked out a few to highlight, though I highly suggest you read his book for yourself.  In some of the instances cited below, it might be more appropriate to label the perpetrators as “super-villains” rather than “super-heroes” as many of the persons used(abused) their “powers” for more material gains.

First up, Fort talks about a bank which was robbed. In broad daylight. In front of multiple witnesses. By an unseen, or invisible, criminal. The story is as follows;

"A bank in Blackpool was robbed, in broad daylight, on Saturday, in mysterious circumstances"—so says the London Daily Telegraph, Aug. 7, 1926. It was one of the largest establishments in town—the Blackpool branch of the Midland Bank. At noon, Saturday, while the doors were closing, an official of the Corporation Tramways Department went into the building, with a bag, which contained £800, in Treasury notes. In the presence of about twenty-five customers, he placed the bag upon a counter. Then the doorman unlocked the front door for him to go out, and then return with another amount of money, in silver, from a motor van. The bag had vanished from the counter. It was a large, leather bag. Nobody could, without making himself conspicuous, try to conceal it. Nobody wearing a maternity cloak was reported.

In the afternoon, in a side street, near the bank, the bag was found, and was taken to a police station. But the lock on it was peculiar and complicated, and the police could not open it. An official of the Tramways Department was sent for. When the Tramways man arrived with the key, no money was found in the bag. If a bag can vanish from a bank, without passing the doorman, I record no marvel in telling of money that vanished from a bag, though maybe the bag had not been opened.

Fort tells of more burglaries committed by person’s who could neither be seen nor apprehended by the police:

New York Evening Post, March 14, 1928—people in a block of houses, in the Third District of Vienna, terrorized. They were "haunted by a mysterious person," who entered houses, and stole small objects, never taking money, doing these things just to show what he could do. Then, from dusk to dawn, the police formed in a cordon around this block, and at approaches to it stationed police dogs. The disappearances of small objects, of little value, continued.

Two more strange thefts before we move on to other display’s of occult power:

Upon the afternoon of June 18, 1907, occurred one of the most sensational, insolent, contemptible, or magnificent thefts in the annals of crime, as viewed by most Englishmen; or a crime not without a little interest to Americans. On a table, on the lawn back of the grandstand, at Ascot, the Ascot Cup was upon exhibition, 13 inches high, and 6 inches in diameter; 20-carat gold; weight 68 ounces. The cup was guarded by a policeman and by a representative of the makers. The story is told, in the London Times, June 19th. Presumably all around was a crowd, kept at a distance by the policeman, though, according to the standards of the Times, in the year 1907, it was not dignified to go into details much. From what I know of the religion of the Turf, in England, I assume that there was a crowd of devotees, looking worshipfully at this ikon. It wasn't there.

About this time, there were a place and a time and a treasure that were worthy the attention of, or that were a challenge to, any magician. The place was Dublin Castle. Outside, day and night, a policeman and a soldier were on duty. Within a distance of fifty yards were the headquarters of the Dublin metropolitan police; of the Royal Irish Constabulary; the Dublin detective force; the military garrison.

It was at the time of the Irish International Exhibition, at Dublin. Upon the 10th of July, King Edward and Queen Alexandra were to arrive to visit the Exhibition. In a safe in the strong room of the Castle had been kept the jewels that were worn by the Lord Lieutenant, upon State occasions. They were a barbaric pile of bracelets, rings, and other insignia, of a value of $250,000. And of course. They had disappeared about the time of the disappearance of the Ascot Cup: sometime between June firth and July 6th.

Within the Marvel universe there are a number of super-powered persons that have fire as their source of power. So too in reality do we have a few accounts of pyrokinetics. Fort tells us about the following cases:

New Zealand Times, Dec. 9, 1886—copying from the San Francisco Bulletin, about October 14—that Willie Brough, 12 years old, who had caused excitement in the town of Turlock, Madison Co., Cal., by setting things afire, "by his glance," had been expelled from the Turlock school, because of his freaks.

His parents had cast him off, believing him to be possessed by a devil, but a farmer had taken him in, and had sent him to school. "On the first day, there were five fires in the school: one in the center of the ceiling, one in the teacher's desk, one in her wardrobe, and two on the wall. The boy discovered all, and cried from fright. The trustees met and expelled him, that night." For another account, see the New York Herald, Oct. 16, 1886.

Another:

New York Herald, Jan. 6, 1895—fires in the home of Adam Colwell, 84 Guernsey Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn—that, in 20 hours, preceding noon, January 5th, when Colwell's frame house burned down, there had been many fires. Policemen had been sent to investigate. They had seen furniture burst into flames. Policemen and firemen had reported that the fires were of unknown origin. The Fire Marshal said: "It might be thought that the child Rhoda started two of the fires, but she cannot be considered guilty of the others, as she was being questioned, when some of them began. I do not want to be quoted as a believer in the supernatural, but I have no explanation to offer, as to the cause of the fires, or of the throwing around of the furniture."

….

Captain Rhoades, of the Greenpoint Precinct, said: "The people we arrested had nothing to do with the strange fires. The more I look into it, the deeper the mystery. So far I can attribute it to no other cause than a supernatural agency. Why, the fires broke out under the very noses of the men I sent to investigate."

Sergeant Dunn—"There were things that happened before my eyes that I did not believe were possible."

We shall end our tour of Fort’s X-Men with his musings on the ‘poltergeist’ phenomena and how it may actually represent a kind of occult power or a re-imagining of the old stories of “witchcraft”. Fort tells us:

My general expression is against the existence of poltergeists as spirits—but that the doings are the phenomena of undeveloped magicians, mostly youngsters, who have no awareness of their powers as their own—or, in the cases of mischievous, or malicious, persecutions, are more or less consciously directed influences by enemies—or that, in this aspect, "poltergeist disturbances" are witchcraft under a new name.

He then provides us with some accounts which seem to suggest that witchcraft may still be alive and well:

New York newspapers reported three cases, close together, in the year 1927. New York Herald Tribune, Aug. 12, 1927—Fred Koett and his wife compelled to move from their home, near Ellenwood, Kansas. For months this house had been bewitched—pictures turned to the wall—other objects moving about—their pet dog stabbed with a pitchfork, by an invisible.

New York Herald Tribune, Sept. 12, 1927—Frank Decker's barn, near Fredon, N. J., destroyed by fire. For five years there had been unaccountable noises, opening and shutting doors, and pictures on walls swinging back and forth.

Home News (Bronx), Nov. 27, 1927—belief of William Blair, County Tyrone, Ireland, that his cattle were bewitched. He accused a neighbor, Isabella Hazelton, of being a witch—"witch" sued him for slander—£5 and costs.

And lastly:

An elderly woman, Mme. Blerotti, had called upon the Magistrate of the Ste. Marguerite district of Paris, and had told him that, at the risk of being thought a madwoman, she had a complaint to make against somebody unknown. She lived in a flat, in the Rue Montreuil, with her son and her brother. Every time she entered the flat, she was compelled by some unseen force to walk on her hands, with her legs in the air.

The woman was detained by the magistrate, who sent a policeman to the address given. The policeman returned with Mme. Blerotti's son, a clerk, aged 27. "What my mother has told you, is true," he said. "I do not pretend to explain it. I only know that when my mother, my uncle, and myself enter the flat, we are immediately impelled to walk on our hands." M. Paul Reiss, aged fifty, the third occupant of the flat, was sent for.

"It is perfectly true," he said. "Everytime I go in, I am irresistibly impelled to walk around on my hands." The concierge of the house was brought to the magistrate. "To tell the truth," he said, "I thought that my tenants had gone mad, but as soon as I entered the rooms occupied by them, I found myself on all fours, endeavoring to throw my feet in the air."

The magistrate concluded that here was an unknown malady. He ordered that the apartments should be disinfected.

As someone who grew up on comic books and various other forms of fantasy, it doesn’t take much to convince me that some people, consciously or unconsciously, have access to abilities or powers beyond what the rest of us have. Could there be more prosaic explanations for these accounts, possibly. I certainly don’t rule it out. But the sheer volume of the reports, many which have similar circumstances, seem to suggest that something else is going on. Perhaps these powers or abilities are vestigial remains from pre-history, as Fort has suggested in Lo!. Maybe they represent the next step in gradual human evolution, not unlike the X-Men comics.

You don't know Jack!

In the long, varied, history of the paranormal there have been a wide menagerie of strange creatures and humanoids sighted. From hairy dwarves to “michelin men” and just about everything in between. Picking a favorite is sometimes difficult to do, though there is one character which captures my imagination above the rest; Spring-Heeled Jack. There is just something about a man leaping around Victorian England and, in some accounts breathing fire, frightening people, apparently for no reason.  

In Unexplained!, Jerome Clark gives the reader an overview of how this whole “Spring-Heeled Jack” thing began:

The figure’s presence was first noted in September 1837, when he assaulted four separate persons, three of them women, at locations in and around London. In one instance he allegedly ripped off the top of victim Polly Adams’s dress, scratching her belly with fingers that felt as if they were made of iron.

What made these incidents different from conventional sexual crimes was the attacker’s appearance. He was tall, thin, and powerful, wore a cloak, and had fiery eyes. On occasion, it was said, he spat blue flames from his mouth and into victims’ face. He also could effect enormous leaps that enabled him to move with such rapidity that it was impossible to escape or catch him.

The attacks by this entity continued with a rampant frequency which eventually led to Sir John Cowan, London’s Lord Mayor, declaring him a public menace.  Groups of vigilantes gathered in order to hunt Jack down.  Jack had other plans as he evidently eluded the would be captors with his signature leaping or jumping capabilities. In fact, Jack continued his bizarre attacks undeterred. The accounts of his nightly attacks were recorded in many newspapers of the time. Clark reproduces one such attack, calling it a pretty standard one, Unexplained!. The attack occurred on February 28 in a district of London called Limehouse, it was written up in the London Morning Chronicle on March 8. From the article:

Miss [Lucy] Scales stated that…. at about half-past eight o’clock, as she and her sister were returning from the house of their brother, and while passing along Green Dragon-alley, they observed some person standing in an angle in the passage. She was in advance of her sister at the time, and just as she came up to the person, who was enveloped in a large cloak, he spirited a quantity of blue flame right in her face, which deprived her of sight.

They were close enough to the brother’s house that he was able to hear their screams and went out to investigate. Once he had safely escorted his sister’s home, the brother asked the other sister for a description of their attacker. The sister stated the following:

She described the person to be of tall, thin, and gentlemanly appearance, enveloped in  a large cloak, and carrying in front of his person a small lamp, or bull’s eye, similar to those in the possession of the police. [As] her sister …. [came] up to the person, he threw open his cloak, exhibited the ;lamp, and puffed a quantity of flame from his mouth into the face of her sister

Throughout his reign of terror, it seems that the police were convinced that they were looking for a human perpetrator of these crimes. Though in my mind the feats are, if not paranormal or non-human, exhibit capabilities that I’ve not found in people. If the reports are to be believed, this figure was jumping some 9 or 10 ft fences. That’s quite a feat.

Whoever, or whatever, Jack may have been. he was never apprehended by the authorities. For all we know he leapt back into whatever strange dimension he escaped from. Although that’s not quite the end of our story, as a figure who shared many of the same characteristics as our man Jack has shown up in other parts of the world since he first arrived on the scene in the late 19th century London. Theo Paijmans back in Oct of 2013 wrote an article for Mysterious Universe which was entitled, “Spring-Heeled Jack in America”. Rather than reprinting the cases which he pointed out, I will instead implore readers to read the article yourself and check out the exhaustive work Paijmans did in exploring the apparent leaping, pardon the pun, of the entity called Spring-Heeled Jack from London to the United States.

While I was researching for this post, I came across another encounter with a figure which sounded very similar to Spring-Heeled Jack, only this time it was back in London.  Writing for allvoices.com, Lee Walker shares a story which was related to her from a man named Steven Gee. Walker writes:

A very close friend of mine by the name of Stevie Gee, (who we'll be meeting again a bit later on in this issue, in connection with a UFO sighting in the skies above New Ferry), recently reminded me of a frightening childhood encounter with a mysterious entity near to his former home on Bromborough Road, Merseyside, an incident, which though it occurred over a quarter of a century ago now, he still recalls with near-perfect clarity.

'One bitterly cold winter's evening back in 1975, when I was 11 years old, I raced outside straight after tea in the company of my sister, Pam, who is two years older than me, eager to meet up with a group of mutual friends at our usual hang-out, the line of garages situated at the back of our road. One of these friends was actually a near-neighbour, named Robbie Lyons, who was the same age as Pam, and who, I suppose it's fair to say, I regarded with something akin to admiration, not least because he attended 'The Big School', something that had always commanded wide-eyed respect amongst kids my age, due to him having successfully made the transition from the comparatively carefree, halcyon days of life at Church Drive Primary and Junior Schools, to spending five days a week at the towering Victorian monstrosity that was Bebington Secondary – where, according to local, pre-teen folklore, all manner of dreadful horrors lay in wait ready to pounce the second you stepped through the wrought-iron, rusted gates.

Robbie was, therefore living proof that those brave enough to rise to life's challenges could, like a knight in shining armour on a holy quest, or a hero of ancient Greece, set an impossible task for the cruel amusement of Olympian Gods, not only survive the ordeal in one piece, but emerge all the stronger for having done so…...

I remember Pam and I chose to secrete ourselves behind the back of the garage where my Dad kept his pride and joy; a metallic-brown Hillman Avenger. ….

there we were, my sister and I, crouched low behind the walls of the garage, trying desperately to keep our teeth from chattering, and cupping our hands to prevent the plumes of smoky breath giving us away. when Pam suddenly whispered harshly; 'Steve, what's that up there on the garage roof?'

A strange, dark figure was crouching on the roof of the garage directly above us, and although I couldn't make out any facial features at first, (the bright winter moon was directly behind it, rendering it little more than a cartoon silhouette), still I instinctively knew it was staring intently at us, and I felt what I can only describe as overwhelming malice, radiating from the form in near-visible waves.

And then, as we watched, paralysed with fear, unable even to cry out for help, the figure slowly rose to its full height, with its arms outstretched as if in supplication to the to cruel, diamond-chipped void above.

Eventually Steve and Pam would run for their lives and accidentally bumped in Robbie Lyons. Near breathless, the pair informed Robbie of what they had just witnessed. Walker continues:

Ever the brave, stoic defender of those in mortal danger (although I think his motivations were probably more along the lines of 'the eternally horny protector of the damsel in distress,' given Pam's presence), Robbie took us at our word and raced towards the garages, whilst Pam and I waited anxiously for news in the warmth and safety of our parent's living room.

We didn't have to wait too long.

A couple of minutes later, there was a frantic rapping at the front door, and I opened it to find Robbie standing there, his pale face and the look of wild fear apparent in his eyes, enough to confirm that he had likely encountered the same thing we had.

'He was thuh-thuh-there, juh-juh-just like you said,' he stammered, (and whether it was due to the bone-freezing temperatures or abject terror, it's difficult to say). 'I saw him, all dressed in buh-buh-black, standing on the garage roof..'

'But that wasn't the worst of it,' he added quickly, swallowing a click in his throat. 'As I got near to the figure, it suddenly looked at me over its shoulder, and then, Christ Almighty, it just leaped high into the air and landed on another garage roof, about thirty feet further along. And then in did the same again. And again. And again until it cleared the entire row of garages and jumped onto the roof of one of the houses on Ellen's Lane, and I lost sight of him. I've never seen anything like it. And I hope to God I never do again!'

Be sure to go read the full article here, as I think it’s well worth taking a look at. So, what in the world was, or is, Spring-Heeled Jack? Could it have been a prankster or joker playing a tricky, albeit a cruel one, on folks? If so, not only were they fairly athletic, they also traveled around the world and waited a good number of years before showing up again. I don’t rule out that a bit of hysteria could have played a part in some of the reports and sightings, but taken together they make for an interesting entry in the history of fortean creatures.

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.