The Owl, the Tree, and Sasquatch

A few days ago I posted about this:      A Synchronicity Diamond UFO Memory
The other day, another synchronicity. Talking with someone who said "Your name came up last night." This person was hiking with a mutual friend, they saw an owl. Discussion on whether or not it was really an owl. It looked like an owl! but, was it moving? Closer look. Turns out it was part of the tree, that, in the last light of day (they went to watch the sunset) everything worked together to give the appearance of an owl. For whatever reason, this made them think of Sasquatch. Wondering if Bigfoot could be around these parts. The mutual friend said "I think Regan wrote a book about Sasquatch."

Well, I did, in a way. Decades ago I self-published a short book on two Oregon Bigfoot stories. Printed them up, sold them on e-bay. Sold them all, to my surprise. But also, to my embarrassment, because, of course, it was pretty terrible. Compared to what I know now. Craig Woolheater has a copy; I told him to never let it see the light of day!

The conversation then turned to owls and UFOs. My friend had never heard of the owl-UFO connection before, but she was very open to experiences, and shared some of her own with me. For some reason, I told her about missing time -- not only missing time, but my own experience with missing time. This to a co-worker. I had the sense she would be accepting, which she was.

I'll be sharing Mike Cleland's owl books with her. (Of which, in MIke's first book The Messengers, he refers to me as a "maybe abductee." I don't know if I, and my spouse, were abducted, or what, but I do know we had a UFO sighting and missing time, along with a list of psychic type experiences afterwards.)

Vallee: "Data is not knowledge"

I came across a quote from Jacques Vallee: "Data is not knowledge." I think I know what he meant in the big scheme of things, but, at the same time, I respectfully disagree with his comment. (Of course, I'm taking this out of context, but I was inspired by the remark to wonder…)  Data is a sort of knowledge; the more data we have, the better. I realize many a UFO researcher has lamented that collecting witness accounts is simply tiresome and non-productive. And it is a huge task of course; collecting stories. Narratives. Accounts. All for what?

Well, that's the thing. All for what. Once we have a big pile of stuff, what do we do with it? Depends on the collector. On the one doing the interpreting. You and I might have the same exact set of stories of spinning UFOs and glowing eyed Sasquatch emerging from landed craft, but our interpretations of those events might differ. And what about the witness? What's her take on it all? So now we have three different ideas on the same case.

Come to think of it, in that context, data isn't knowledge, since no theory of everything (let alone definitive answer) has been determined. All we have are arguments, debates, interpretations, beliefs, even.

Still, I argue that data is important, and analyses of data from many different perspectives is a necessary process in order to arrive at some kind of agreed upon theory, as tenuous as it might be. It's a start.

We don't have to give up or throw the baby out with the bath water. Or believe that, by following one path we've rejected others. There are many paths, and there is no rule, no law, that mandates we rigidly follow just one.

And to be clear: I have the highest respect and regard for Jacques Vallee and his work and am in no way taking him to task in any way. So chew on that before commenting, thank you.

Organizing the Room of Doom

Bigfoot books . . . 

For some time now, have been calling the "study" the Room of Doom -- such a mess! An unholy, awful, mess. I would literally go into a spin of hysteria when entering that room and trying to deal with the mess.

I realize, too, that I need to rename that room and no longer encourage the negative energy of Room of Doom, and give it a more positive name to reflect the changes.

A few UFO books. . . and yes, I'm a nerd, official X Files mug and all

Somehow, finally, I had some kind of cosmic breakthrough and have been able to work in that room, enjoy it even! So I've been rearranging books, giving books away, donating books, selling books, and discovering that yes, I have a hell of a lot of UFO and paranormal, Fortean, anomalous type books.

A few more UFO books . . .

Then I messed up my knee and leg and had to take off for a couple of days. And I was looking forward to the next project: organizing my "haunted locations" shelf.

File holders full of Fates, UFO Magazine, Strange, Fortean Times and many more. Plus a free alien water bottle straight from Area 51/Exterrestrial Highway in Nevada, courtesy of a good and thoughtful friend.

What Are We Doing in Maryland?!: Childhood Friends and Synchronicities

(Please read related post below: McMinnville and Floating Cows)

     Every now and then, I have a dream about "Prudence O'Dell." That's not her real name of course, but "Prudence" is a real person. She is someone I was friends with all through elementary school (St. Mary Magdalene) and high school. We stayed in touch a bit until I was about twenty. Forty years later,  have no idea where she is, what her married name might be, etc.
     I just realized, the other night, every dream I have where Prudence is present, involves UFOs. Sometimes it's just a hint, a bare memory, sometimes it's a lively discussion about them, but always, these dreams have to do with UFOs in some way. As kids, we knew little if anything of UFOs, and to my conscious memory, had no experiences of that kind.
     So, the night before last, I dreamt my husband Jim and I are in Maryland, visiting Prudence:

     Jim and I are traveling across the country, and we're here with my childhood friend Prudence O'Dell. She seems fine, and it's good to see her, we're having a nice time. Her house seems to be one giant glass room; the walls are windows. We're sitting inside a giant fishbowl. Outside, it's meadows -- she lives out in the country in the middle of Baltimore, Maryland. I look outside, admiring the view, and say to Prudence "It's so nice! So wonderful you get to live in the country like this."
     Prudence looks around and says "Yes, but . . .  it's not what it seems. There's something not quite right out there. It isn't good to go out there. . . "
     I have a lucid moment in the dream; I wonder out loud "What the hell are we doing in Maryland?!"  Maryland, including Baltimore, is simply not a place I have ever wanted to visit. I find the fact that we're here in Maryland to be disturbing.

     

The day after this dream, I go to visit my friend "Carol" that I wrote about in the post below. (McMinnville and Floating Cows.) Carol has had UFO experiences -- as well as generally paranormal and anomalous experiences in general -- her whole life. As we were talking, Carol was sharing some of her experiences when she lived in Maryland.
     Now, as she was talking, I realized that I knew she had lived back east -- Maryland, New York, and other places, but I had forgotten. Obviously my subconscious remembered this fact about Carol and that's probably why my dream took place in Maryland; I knew I was going to visit her the next day. But why my childhood friend Prudence? Hmmm… maybe my own experiences were being nudged awake as well.
     There were other synchronicities as well. The day I went to visit with Carol, I was checking my Facebook page, as usual. For some odd reason I had dozens -- not one or two, or a few, but dozens, of posts from several different people I did not know about Buddhism, including Tibetan Buddhism. I wondered who the heck are these people?! Why am I getting so many posts from people I don't know about this? Not that I minded, but it was very odd.
     Later, on my way to Carol's, I parked on her street. And couldn't find her house. Walked up and down, drove up and down, parked, drove and parked again, walked again. Where the hell is her house? I have been there plenty of times. I walked past a house with a car parked in front with a Free Tibet bumper sticker, and the house: a Buddha in the front yard.
     Then I realized, in a scary moment of senior menopausal fog, I was on the wrong street! Carol lives the block over. Oy.
     As we were talking about so many things, Carol mentioned a friend of hers that practices Tibetan Buddhism. This woman is very deep into this realm; knows the language, has worked with the Dali Lama, etc. Carol's daughter has recently become a Buddhist, something I did not know.

     And, as is usual when in Carol's home, that "they're here" feeling was present. This time it was slight; not overt and powerful as it has been in the past, but there nonetheless. This is a slightly electrical feeling but more than that, a knowing of intelligent entities present. They're invisible but they are as real and here as any one of us. "They" listen, they're aware of us, they're highly intelligent. They are not human but human like in many ways. They are more aware of us than we of them. I've had this experience in other places (my two homes being among them) and verified by others. They appear when we discuss on a serious "real" level all this UFO stuff but more than that, paranormal/supernatural/spiritual ideas and experiences as well.
     Something that I remembered about Prudence: her father was a big wig scientist working for either the government or a corporation. I don't remember details, just that it was a big deal the way the family behaved around such news, but I wonder if that has anything at all to do with any of this? Or, not.
   

Dream: UFO on Truck, I'm a Boy

Image source: Public Domain.net

The general oddness of the subconscious mind. Here we go:

I'm eleven or twelve, and a boy. It's a different decade, maybe late nineteen fifties, early sixties. I ditch school because somehow, I know a huge truck carrying a retrieved flying saucer is going to be coming down the alley behind my house. I don't know how I know this. I just do. I also know no one else in town knows about this.

Hanging around the narrow alley, and finally, hear the rumble of the truck. This truck is very long, and everything, from cab to bed to the three flat, oval cylinders on the bed, are steel, or chrome colored. Sticking up from the middle oval is a huge round thing. Sort of like a Ferris wheel. This "wheel" is the flying saucer.

The truck is driving down the alley to avoid taking the streets where it might be seen. Yet, no effort is made to completely hide the UFO. In fact, it's a sort of "in your face" act -- any questions about this strange object, and we're told it is a Ferris wheel. Of course, it isn't, and most of us know that, including me. 

The truck barely fits into the alley. I have to flatten myself against the backs of houses and fences, and there's only about a foot between me and this fast moving truck. As it turns -- there's a curve towards the end of the alley -- the truck's back end, the third section, starts to swing out and almost crushes me. I don't care, I want to get as close as I can to this thing. I want to touch it. I figure if I have to, I can just dive down onto the ground and roll under the truck bed.

Afterwards, I get caught by the school, and the principal, a male, who is extremely authoritarian, is furious with me for skipping school. He tells me there's no point in my lying because he has me on camera, waiting and watching in the alley. Turns out this man has put up surveillance cameras all over the town and has been watching everyone for years.

As dreams do, there's more, but not sure if the rest is part of the above dream, or different dreams. Part of what came later had to do with school and a principal, but unrelated to UFOs. Interesting about the time period, and the gender change! The only thing I can relate this to is that I am  preparing a presentation to a class of sixth graders about folklore in the context of "unexplained" stories, including UFO tales, (Trent photos, McMinnville, etc.) as well as Bigfoot.

Here and There . . .

Bird and other mysterious deaths continue to occur. Including one in Hollywood, California. Or did it? I comment on Animal Forteana.

Gary Haden continues his analysis and expose of David Jacobs; I respond to one of Haden's excellent articles (cross posted on Women of Esoterica) at UFO Mystic: Gary Haden at Speculative Realms: The Girl Who Saved Her Own Life. (A sub-title: Or, Why Aren’t We Screaming Mad About This?!)

When UFOs enter the mind during dreams and altered/trance like states, are these nudgings towards a remembering of actual events, or something else? I wonder at UFO Digest:Dreams and Meditations Bring Buried Memories of Encounters? (Speaking of dreams, I had a dream last night that a voice said to me I should pursue my dream journal Entering the Orb. Hmm...)

Blogsquachter is back, kind of. Link at Frame 352.

It's Not All Just About Me
Alfred Lehmberg comments on Dr. Mortellaro here  and on UFO Magazine's blog. 

Speaking of, very cool Paratopia has a magazine! Which includes Carol Rainey's article on Dr. Mortellaro, Emma Woods, Linda Cortile, and so much more... MUCH more, sure to shake up UFOlogy's regime just as Emma Woods has. Please read this article, everyone.

Lesley Gunter is busy as one of the coordinators of the Wake Up Now! conference in New Mexico in the spring. Wish I could attend!

In UFO Magazine: Jeremy Vaeni's 'Aliens vs. Predator: The Incredible Visitations at Emma Woods

There is so much to say about the fantastic article by Jeremy Vaeni in this issue of UFO Magazine. (Aliens vs. Predators: The Incredible Visitations at Emma Woods.)

But for now, please, please, go and get yourself this issue, and read the article. Vaeni has done an excellent job with unraveling the seeming madness that is David Jacobs, the always precarious method of hypnosis used by some researchers to get at the submerged bits of missing time and nebulous memories of aliens, examinations, trips aboard saucers, and all the rest of "Abductions 101", and subject/witness Emma Woods.

From the beginning of this episode in UFO culture, I wondered why there wasn't more outcry from the UFO community. And yet, there still isn't; what there mainly seems to be, still, are a few stubbornly standing up for Jacobs, and misogynist pronouncements about Emma Woods' sanity, and worse. Other than that, little has been really said about this.

Orange Orb Turns Into "Fake Plane"

Woman films an orange orb that she says turns into a "fake plane" -- comments that follow this YouTube clip are interesting; one man comments he's seen the same thing.

I couldn't tell if the orange orb turned into something else; but it is an interesting clip. The color and shape of the orb in this video is very much like what Jim and I saw; but we also saw it much closer and larger, it didn't seem to be rotating or spinning in place, and we didn't see it turn into anything.

As with all reports of orange orbs/lights, just because they're orange doesn't mean they're the same thing, or even close. (Or, not!:)







This last one though is the most interesting, to me. An small sphere is in the trees, hanging around for awhile, getting brighter as they emit a strong strobe like light while stationary in the trees.

The woman who filmed this comments that the orbs morph into "fake" planes with fake plane sounds (sometimes getting it wrong, like a train sound pretending to be a plane sound) but a thought occurred to me as I was watching these clips. If these objects are trying to disguise themselves, why be obvious by being so damn bright? It's very odd to see mega-bright objects just sitting in trees at night; that would get my attention. After a bit, the ball of light moves, taking off, strobing as it goes. There are orbs like this in the clip as well, doing the same thing.

Her interpretation is that these are aliens. And, they might be, who knows. Something makes her sure they are; but I can't speak to that. They very well could be ours as well.

Speaking of bright lights and morphing craft, years ago I saw, with other witnesses, a bright white round light come bopping from out over the hills to in front of the large picture window of the house I was visiting. With the naked eye, it looked like a white light. Through binoculars, it changed both shape -- in a steady pattern, like 1-2-3-4 and back again -- as well as color. Triangle, square, rectangle, diamond shape, red, green, turquoise, -- very distinct, very considered, very precise. Nothing at all to do with a scintillation effect. Very well could be a man made craft, and seems like it but there is a high strangeness component to the sighting. I knew we were going to see a UFO that night, I felt it... and later, observed the hostess kept looking out the window. I knew she was watching a UFO, even though I couldn't see a thing from where I was sitting. I wondered how long was she going to keep it to herself, finally, after twenty minutes, maybe a half hour, she announced to the rest of us that we had to come look and see the UFO. We all went to the upstairs window to get a better look. That bit of psychic stuff has always bothered me.

And, there was the telepathic moment with the orange orb I saw many years ago; knowing it was waiting for me, knowing it "heard" my thoughts and responded to them.

BVM, e-books, the dangers of Bigfootry, esoteric women,

On UFO-Mary I have several new posts, including one on the Mexican edition of Playboy magazine, with it's Virgin Mary like model on the cover. Just in time for the pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I've been experiencing a few synchroniciites related to the image of Mary, as well as Goddess energy in general. It's not surprising to find that when ones attention is really directed at something; UFOs, what have you, the synchronicities appear!

Chris Holly is a new contributor to Women Of Esoterica. Her first post is a ghost story; visit Women Of Esoterica and read Holly's, as well as entries by Kithra, Richelle Hawks, Lesley Gunter, Karyn Dolan, Farah Yurdozu, and myself.

Snarly Skepticism; also the unofficial JREF Watch, I just decided, has an entry on the dangers of Bigfoot research. Yes, dangers. The harm Bigfoot research, and just a "belief" in Bigfoot, must be told! Beware!

Usually my Trickster's Realm column for Binnall of America goes up on Monday, but recently things have been changed around a bit. So my column won't be up until Thursday. I write about the Darklore, Volume II that just came out. Speaking of, it'll make a great gift! You can find out about ordering information at Amazon.com or the Daily Grail site.

It's been snowy here, which I don't like. It's wet, it's cold, what's the point? Fortunately I don't have to go anywhere these days; I"m off for winter break for three weeks. So I'm cozy in my house, trying to work on various writing projects.

And speaking of writing projects, visit my Lulu.com storefront. I plan to have a few more things available -- some for free -- in a few days.

I was going to be on the X-Zone radio show but still sick with some cold/throat thing. I'm much better but my throat still hurts and I sound like a frog. I'm sure in a few days I'll be fine, and will post the date when I know more.

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Read about juicy McMinnville UFO-gossip here!

Sunday Round Up of Self Promotion

A few new things at my Bigfoot blog Frame 352.

And at Mating Hedgehogs.

Not much elsewhere, the new UFO Magazine isn't yet out, but should be soon. Look for my article on Daniel Fry, as well as all the other great articles that will be available.

I'll be in Los Angeles beginning Thursday; family wedding. I'll have my laptop but don't know how much writing I'll get done.

However, I am working a lot of various things, as always, including something on chemtrails, referencing Colin Bennett's article on the subject,(Chemtrails and UFOs) for example. My trip to Los Angeles should prove interesting regarding chemtrails. Also: UFO Semantics, or the Semantics of UFOs, something like that. It's a lost cause but I get annoyed and rant about it anyway. You can't "believe in" UFOs, UFOs are not aliens, UFOs do indeed exist, etc. The most convulted "reasoning" about this was a thread on the JREF (James Randi forum) -- something about why are UFOs considered "paranormal?" Nothing of the Trickster like events within many UFO events, or any of that, but a surreal post about extraterrestrials could be out there, but UFOs aren't, no one's proven UFOs exist, ... I dunno. Is it just me?

MoMo: This Day in History

"MoMO" was one of those Out of Place (OOP) Fortean, anomalous creatures that monster lovers love to love. MoMo appeared on this day; a Bigfoot type creature of a paranormal nature. Read more on Cryptomundo.

Lisa Shiel on BoA!

Tim Binnall of BoA interviews Lisa Shiel, "paranormal" Bigfoot researcher -- and witness -- and author of Backyard Bigfoot. Listen to a preview of the interview here: Lisa Shiel on BoA.

Women and Bigfoot Research

Recent discussions on women and bigfoot research. These have been around for a couple of weeks, but I’m just getting to mentioning them now. If you’ve missed them, here they are: On Cryptomundo there are entries on Jane Goodall and her views on Bigfoot: Women and Bigfoot Studies: Jane Goodall.

There’s also a discussion on sexism in bigfoot research:
Indy 500,Women and Bigfoot, Part 1. Part 2 follows immediately after on their blog.

Lisa Shiel of Bigfoot Quest liked my piece I did on her for UFO Magazine:
UFO Magazine Piece on Wild Women

"Not the Only Women in Bigfoot Research"

I'm not sure what's going on with posting over at Cryptomundo; the post I posted before took awhile before it came through, and my response to Kathy Strain's post hasn't gone through. (as of yet, it still might.)

Anyway, here's a post by a female Bigfoot researcher who posted over on Cryptomundo in response to the thread:
on sexism and racism in research.

# Kathy Strain responds: April 15th, 2007 at 3:49 am

I have several comments.

As a female bigfoot researcher (who is also part native), I have never ever been mistreated by fellow researchers due to my gender. I have been questioned, challenged, fought with, slapped around, etc., but it certainly had nothing to do with being a woman.

I have indeed seen some issues related to ethic background (digger indian being one) but I have chalked that up more to a lack of knowledge than to racism.

In fact, I have seen more bias against my college degrees (and being a professional anthropologist) than anything else (same issue that I have seen about comment on Meldrum and Krantz…damn Ph.D.’s!!!).

And, if we were going to be honest here (just not politically correct) I take offense to Lisa Shiels, Linda Martin, and Regan Lee’s blogs that besides themselves and Autumn Williams, they are the only female bigfoot researchers they know. For crying out loud, what rock have you been living under??? If you don’t know who Bobbie Short, Diane Stocking, me, and a whole host of other women are, then I don’t know what else to say. Your world is as big as you want it to be…as well as your experiences.

I'll try to recreate my response to Kathy as much as I can:

Kathy,
I have never meant to imply in any way I, and Lisa, etc. were the "only" female bigfoot researchers. (And, in fact, I wonder at the label for myself.) I can't speak for others, but for myself, I am learning new things every day. I am new to this field. For some reason, a series of events have propelled me into the area of "paranormal" Bigfoot, and that's where my focus is, as far as Bigfoot research goes. So if I exclude various female researchers, it's one of two reasons (or both): They do not support the "supernatural" Bigfoot aspect, and/or, you're right, I haven't heard of them. Yet.

That doesn't mean I "live under a rock" nor does it mean I don't care. It does mean I'm new to this area, my focus being on UFOs and other Fortean subjects. I'm glad you posted, now I know.

When I do come across researchers -- male and female alike -- who take seriously the aspects of Bigfoot research I'm interested in, I write about them.

We're all learning and coming across new things all the time.

Generally speaking, just for the record, I don't think all men are sexist, or that women are better, or that Lisa Shiel, etc. are the "only" researchers. I hope to god I haven't implied that, for that was never my intent.

However, giving some light towards the female Bigfoot researchers that do study this strange aspect of Bigfoot encounters is something I'm interested in. That in no way negates male researchers who support anomalous Sasquatch tales, or the fact there are female researchers who don't.

I'm not particularly interested in male or female Bigfoot researchers who either support a "kill" policy, or reject the weirder side of Bigfoot. So I don't usually list them or discuss them, unless it's in context of something else.

And, I, like most of us I assume, have day jobs and families that take away from spending the time we'd love to on these things. We can't always get to what we want to right when we want it.

Thank you, Regan Lee

So now, off to research Kathy Strain.

Loren Coleman on Sexist Racist Bufoons

That's my word, not his.

His recent piece on his blog Cryptomundo is great; and as always, the comments to the item are interesting to read.

The title of the piece is Homophobus mysognistis xenophobus ignoramus and he writes very eloquently on sexism, racism, and other isms in our society, as well as the Sasquatch research culture.

We can't divorce ourselves from the world. "Out there," meaning the "real" world may not know what we do, or about what we do, but we are a part of all that as well.

Sasquatch Apparitions

I've just ordered Barbara Wasson's book Sasquatch Apparitions published in 1979. I don't believe Wasson is still alive. I'm not familiar with her research; have to wait until I read the book. If anyone has read the book or is familiar with her thoughts on Bigfoot, please share your comments.