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.

The 'Goalpost' Paradigm

 “Which way you ought to go depends on where you want to get to...” ~ Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Skeptics, debunkers, and believers alike accuse each other of "moving the goalposts." In the context of how the term is used -- pieces in a game -- it's true. (Skeptibunkies do "move the goal posts" all the time when it comes to anomalous subjects. They assume much: why and how Bigfoot, psychics, UFOs, and so on should behave, without doing any of the research. And if they've done the research, they'd realize one can't assume a thing.)

But let's forget that. Why use a sports or game analogy at all? By using a verbal marker like "goalpost" we're keeping alive the idea that there are rules. Rules that must be followed - goalposts -- and, along with that the idea that, since a game is being played, there are winners and losers. It's a battle, a contest. A competition. It's a preconceived framework, with rules, boundaries, winners, losers. Anything outside of the game is rejected because, of course, it doesn't fit in with this particular game. You don't insert the rules of chess into Monopoly.

As long as we accept this idea of a game, with posts to be moved, or not, we stay stuck. It's not a game! Or, maybe, like Alice, it is a game in the very loosest of meanings.

The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday-but never jam today

It must come sometime to jam today, Alice objected

No it can't said the Queen It's jam every other day. Today isn't any other day, you know”  ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Why do we continue to force the unexplained into an established framework (the "game") when clearly, "it" meaning, the paranormal/Fortean/supernatural,  is playing by its own rules? If "it" is playing a game, it's one we don't know how to play. Insisting "it" play by our rules obviously isn't working.

Forget the "goalposts." Forget the game. At least, our game. I think if we stand back and watch for awhile as well as experiment, that would be both refreshing and revealing.

Just in Case, Rule Forty-Two

“Forty-two,” said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm. ~ Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I'll end with this little synchronicity. Earlier this afternoon I finished Minette Walter's The Scold's Bridle. One of the characters, a policeman, references Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Specifically, the idea of the question, the answer and of course, how 42 plays into that. While working on this post, I looked up quotes from Alice in Wonderland, and came across this:

“Rule Forty-two. All persons more than a mile high to leave the court.” ~ Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Keening Boxes: In Case I've Been Misunderstood

I'm very curious about this case of the keening boxes on Oregon beaches. For one thing, it's an excuse for me to get out to the coast -- research, you know.

I never thought for one moment that these glowing, screeching, impossible to open boxes buried deep in the sands contained aliens. Or came from UFOs.

The story goes: boxes, heavy, impervious to tools, glowing, weird noises, appearing on beaches said to be heavy with UFO activity. Who can resist a story like that? I'm interested in the story as a story, the insistence of those telling the story that there's UFO affected activity afoot, that residents have been awakened to terrible wailing noises, and all the rest of it. Persistence in the telling is what intrigues me.

This isn't to say UFOs aren't showing themselves along the Oregon coast. They most certainly are, and have been for some time. Whether or not the boxes have anything to do with them -- I am pretty certain the answer is a big "no."
(As my mother said, who lives in the area, "I don't think aliens would show up locked inside boxes.")

In the area is NOAA, newly arrived. The Hatfield Marine Science Center. The Newport Aquarium. There's even a Ripley's museum!

Government experiments: lost, gone awry, intentional. Or, not. Debris from the tsunami. Pretty likely. There's the insistence by some scientists that the debris wouldn't show up yet, but, it has been showing up.

Here's something interesting: a YouTube video of how the whole metal-box-on-the-beach-from-UFOs is a hoax. Furthermore, David Masko, coastal UFO investigator who broke this story, is a "CIA operative." This story gets better all the time.



There's also the snarky skeptoid words of an unnamed retired psychology professor who lives on the coast who, while correct in the opinion the boxes have nothing to do with aliens or UFOs, is utterly wrong in just about every other stupid thing that spewed from his mouth. I mean really dahlings, what a tool!

In turn, this retired professor said in a Feb. 6 Huliq interview at Stonefield Beach that most locals and visitors here “looking for those UFOs” are more or less carrying their own “baggage or self-as-content,” with views and experiences that now seem to define them.

...thinks the many “of these remote living residents who claim to see UFOs at night are simply not using the tool between their ears to figure this stuff out.”  [source: UFO sightings at Stonefield Beach reveal strange boxes up and down coast -HULIQ
 

And the astounding stupidity of those who blithely go up to the boxes, pets in tow, without a thought to the fact the boxes are glowing, and screeching, and just very odd. Either they contain ET or were ejected from UFOs, in which case it  seems like they might be dangerous, or they're radioactive debris -- or at least, an unknown something or another debris --  which means they're dangerous, (at least a good dose of potentially dangerous) material. Either way, not a bright idea to hang around the things.

I'm looking forward to finding out what I can once I get out there this weekend, but finding aliens? As much as I'd love that, it's very doubtful.

"Clown Selling" : Circus Offers Therapy for Clown Fear

Wasn't sure where to post this exactly, so I'll just put it here. (Er, clown "selling?" ) Anyway, speaking just for myself, I don't exactly have a fear of clowns; I just find them disgusting, creepy and dishonest. But if you suffer from a fear (as compared with just plain old disgust of sleeze, cheese and nastiness) you can now get clown therapy, or some such: BBC News - Circus offers 'clown-selling' for people's big-top fear. And oh hell, yeah, I am a bit scared of them too.

"Leave Alien Abductions Out of UFOs..."

Amongst the debris from the Jacobs-Woods-Hopkins-Rainey events, are comments I've come across in various places regarding alien abductions.  Comments like (to paraphrase) "Leave alien abductions out of UFO research," or "Abductions have nothing to do with the UFO phenomena."

 It may turn out that what we call alien abductions have nothing to do with UFOs, but for now, we have no idea what we loosely call alien abductions are. How can someone say that UFOs and abductions have nothing to do with each other? Thousands of accounts from witnesses that contain: aliens, UFOs, kidnapping. So far, the connection between UFO and alien abduction obvious.

We're calling strange entities "aliens" that usually mean ET from another planet, and that may or may not be what is happening. Witnesses may be led to believe they're being abducted by ETs and taken aboard UFOs, and if so, who's doing the leading and why? MILABS, possibly. Satan? Elves? Is the abduction experience some sort of metaphysical phenomena that doesn't have anything to do with outer space, ET, or spaceships in any way? If any of those theories turn out to be the answer to the abduction puzzle, then and only then can we say "UFOs have nothing to do with abductions." But actually, the two do have something to do with each other, even if only in the fact that one (abductions) likes to manifest itself as part of the other (UFO event.)

Whether we're interpreting abductions as UFO events or dutifully accepting the scenarios presented to us by whatever force is responsible for abductions as alien-UFO based, there is still a connection. There is a valid relationship between the two, whether it's symbolic or literal.

None of this is to say I think the alien abduction scenario is a literal event (though even that is possible) but it is a phenomena that is being not only experienced by humans all over the planet, but manipulated by some kind of "other" (non-human) as well as  humans.

Are we going to go back to the days when researchers left out elements of witness accounts of abductions because they were found to be too off the wall, embarrassing, and just plain weird?

The obvious leading of witnesses by some researchers, whether intentional in order to support a personal bias, or unintentionally because that's a hazard in this field (as is losing it completely by falling so far down the rabbit hole there's no chance of ever getting out) isn't enough reason to disregard abduction accounts. 

We have no idea what's behind abductions, but we do know that aliens and UFOs appear in these narratives. An obvious relationship. Whether or not that relationship is true remains to be discovered. Until then, it seems both ignorant and arrogant to insist "UFOs have nothing to do with abductions." I find it persistently curious that some have the assurance of what are, and what aren't,   valid elements of the UFO phenomena.

Who are we going to pass alien abductions off to? If those UFO researchers who insist abductions have nothing to do with UFOs reject those accounts, and, continue to be disinterested in the subject, we're still left with the existence of the phenomena.

Science, well, so far they've done a poor job. At best, passing if off as aspects of sleep disruptions. By definition, science will never acknowledge the Fortean/UFO elements of abduction unless it's given a label that designates it as a disorder. Accepting the reality of esoteric, metaphysical, or UFO phenomena isn't the job of science. Neither is accepting the reality of conspiracies, like MILABS.

What if abductions turn out to have nothing at all to do with UFOS, but everything to do with ... Satan? (In that I'm being flip, but not much. While I don't believe in a literal devil framed within a Christian or other religion mythology I don't discount the reality of negative energies/entities.)

So we discover that MILABS are at the key to understanding abductions, which means an insidious and illegal action has been taken against global citizens. Wouldn't we care about that? In this not quite so hypothetical scenario, humans are "hoaxing" UFOs, manipulating the idea of an alien presence to fit their own terrifying agendas. UFO researchers are quick to expose the hoaxers and fakes, the liars and the hucksters, why afraid to tread the cold murky waters of so-called conspiracy in this case?

Stalking the Trickster on Hidden Experience

Mike Clelland of Hidden Experience blog brings us an interview with researcher Chris O'Brien on his new book Stalking the Trickster about the trickster in a paranormal/UFO context.

I've been a fan of O'Brien's for years, having read his three books on the strange happenings in Colordao's San Luis Valley. I haven't read Trickster yet but it's at the top of my list. (I hear that O'Brien in his book refers to an article I wrote but he cited the wrong source, not me; heh... trickster!)

From what I've heard O'Brien say about trickster here and other places, I like where he's going with sort of reframing the idea of Trickster in a Fortean context. Without having read the book I can't make any comments really... just have to wait.

Anyway, take a listen!

Promoting Mary

I'm shamelessly self-promoting my blog UFO-Mary. Visit it, leave comments, get the widget.

SUNDAY ORB

Not much going on. Sick with Fall crud, low energy, but in spite of that I like the Fall and the crisp air, I've been putting up my Fall season lights, my favorite string being an icicle style string with lights that fade from purple to orange and back. Very nice. And if I hear "Harvest Fest" one more time I'll puke. So we don't offend the Christians or give off negative vibes to the little ones, we don't dare put up witches and say the dreaded word Halloween; we say "Harvest Fest."


Speaking of Halloween: supposedly the building I work in is haunted. I've personally never felt that, but others have. I'll have to pick the brains of someone who's experienced those things and see if I pick up anything. The playground, in one area seems spooky to me, maybe it's just the energy of the space itself. There was a building I worked in that I, and others, thought was haunted; I felt and saw a lot of odd things. Interesting how I'm usually sensitive to those things but every now and then I just don't pick up on it; like my friends home (they've since moved) many others saw and felt things, but me, nothing.

New posts at Vintage U.F.O., UFO Mary, James Rich Studio, Women Of Esoterica, and tëme (an animal blog) and Pulp Jello.

Why did they put The Mentalist against Fringe? And when is Torchwood coming back? I ask you.

Mac Tonnies has a new blog; it's a great idea. Things That Look Like Flying Saucers. I love it. Here's a flying saucer I found in my living room:


Lots of little synchronicities in my life lately. Again lately that is. I notice when you put out the intent, the synchroniciites appear. I've often wondered why they are so trivial much of the time, and many a skeptoid dismisses them for that very reason. But isn't it enough they're there in the first place? Simple nudges from the universe or matrix or whatever; that's all it takes.

Well, while nothing much going on here, there's always things going on in the UFO, Fortean realm on the internet, as a check of the usual will reveal. The Anomalist and other blogs, way too many to mention here, but check out my links lists and do your own searching; you'll find more than enough to keep you busy.

And while there may not be anything I have to say right now that's stunning or interesting or Big Time UFO News, that doesn't mean, as a few others -- and we do know who they are, right class? --- insist, that UFOs are dead, gone, boring, useless, pointless, etc. Far from it!

Oregon Rep For LOWFI

That's me. Your friendly official rep for LOWFI. I'm not sure what that means yet, but it's a cool banner and Skylaire Alfvegren, who started this whole thing and is the Queen Fortean, is astounding. Really, that's all any of us need to know.

SMiles Lewis is Texas Rep for LOWFI, which is good news! Lesley (Debris Field, Gray Matters, etc. ) is the New Mexico rep.

More to come, as it comes. . . in the meantime, here's the official press release:

L.O.W.F.I. is a research-based, journal-publishing band of urbane explorers with interests in:

all shades of the paranormal, UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena, cryptozoology and unknown animals, synchronicity and coincidence, religious cults, mass hysteria, giants and the ‘little people,’ inter/extra-dimensional visitors, oddball philosophies, evidence of pre-Columbian visitations to the southwest and other archaeological ‘anomalies,’ lost continents and vanished civilizations, spontaneous human combustion, sky falls, scientific hoaxes, earth energy/ley lines, conspiracies and enigmas, kooks and prophets, the people, places and events which make our corner of the world weird.

L.O.W.F.I. seeks to provide a clearinghouse for reports of such phenomena which will be archived and made available to the public, via a website (www.skylaire.com/lowfi.htm). We organize informal monthly salons and field trips and host visiting lecturers in an attempt to open lines of communication and create a sense of camaraderie amongst modern-day phenomenologists. Plans to publish a ganglia-tickling bi-monthly journal are in the works… but we need your support!

New Blog: "UFO-Mary"

I know, I probably need help, but I have a new blog: UFO Mary. Not the best title, but I wanted something that would say it's about Marian Apparitions in non-religious context and a Fortean, Paranormal UFO context.

UFOs, the Trickster and Humor

The Trickster is an inherent part of Fortean phenomena, including UFOs. That’s why, as I’ve said many times, things like the so-called UFO circus, the Raelians, ironies and synchronicities, surreal juxtapositions, the stonewalling by the infrastructure in regards to UFOs, the maddeningly elusive quality surrounding the indisputable authenticity of photographs, samples, castings, and recordings,hoaxers and pranksters, and the petty in-fighting will always be with us.

Which brings us to humor. Humor, like all things, has a range of styles. Some humor is barely humorous. There’s lame thick headed boorish humor, fart joke humor, cruel humor (laughing at people getting hurt, especially in the genitals) witty humor, cutting biting sarcastic humor, vaudeville humor, sex humor, all kinds of humor. Some humor isn’t funny. Some is hysterical.

Everything contains elements of humor. The Trickster knows this. Sometimes Trickster’s humor is playful and a bit of a tweak to us to remind us of things. Usually it’s to lighten up and not take ourselves too seriously all the time. Other times its humor is downright dangerous. But trying to think of the Trickster as without humor is ridiculous; the Trickster is all about humor.

The mistake some people make is in thinking that, because one laughs and sees the humor in things, the importance of that thing is trivialized. Depending on the type of humor this could be true. All those stupid jokes about “anal probes” - - enough already!

Encounters of the strange, whether it’s with aliens, UFOs, ghosts, Bigfoot, or Mothman often are very scary. There’s nothing funny about them.

Nor is the research itself a light hearted romp through curious minds.

But having fun at times, being funny, and seeing the humor in things is not hurting research, the self, or others, as long as you’re not making fun of.

The question is, are you having fun at your own expense, or others?

My husband and I make jokes all the time about UFOs and aliens. Don’t you think we both struggle with the weird things that have happened to us throughout our lives? Do you think it’s at all comfortable for us to know that we’ve experienced hours of missing time on two different occasions? That’s damn scary. It’s weird. It’s unpleasant to consider what the possible explanations are; from mental illness to government experiments to actual aliens from space. And yet we make jokes all the time. We have to.

Seeing the humor in things is a good thing, and often a healing thing. How many times in your life have you been in a crisis, and something, or someone, makes you laugh?

I’ll share a personal story that has nothing to do with UFOs or the weird. But it’s an example of humor in a seemingly inappropriate place. We went to the funeral home to my father’s memorial. Now, none of us had any money, including my deceased father. We barely scraped up enough to do what we did. My father was a riot, one hell of a funny man. He appreciated the funny goofy ironic things in life, the surreal, the absurd. So here we are, solemn, sad, in the little chapel, and here comes the funeral director, wheeling my dead father out on a trolley thing. Not the most delicate or classy of arrangements. Okay, so Dad was covered up with a sheet, but still. Now my Dad was a big guy, 6 feet 3 inches, and here he is, barely on this rickety metal table on wheels. And he starts to slide off! And the poor funeral director is trying to not notice it, but also trying to fix it, and my Dad’s body is sliding off. And you know what we all did? We started to laugh. We laughed so hard we cried. And laughed again. We laughed our asses off. Which mortified the funeral director. Which made us laugh even more. Sick? Not if you knew my Dad. (I love you Dad. . ) The point is, humor has its place in the world.

You have to see the humor in things, or you’ll go insane. Remember the television series M.A.S.H.? All that dark operating room humor. They weren’t making fun of patients, or the medical profession -- in fact, they took the work damn seriously. When it came to saving lives and helping others, they did not mess around. They knew very well the seriousness of the situation. I know M.A.S.H. was just a fictional television series and nothing like real life, including UFO real life, but it’s a good illustration of my point.

Who were considered the most useful, and immune to punishments from the ruling classes? The court jesters.

The point is the use and benefits of humor. Humor is like anything else; it can be abused, misused, misunderstood, certainly.

But to suggest that those exploring UFOlogy or other Fortean topics should not have fun at times, use or see the humor in things, is at best terribly narrow minded, and at worst, ignorant.

Besides, if you can’t see the humor for what it is within UFO studies and Forteana, you’re missing a huge part of what those are. There's nothing funny about that.

Reminder To Self: The Trickster Is A Part Of It

Wow. Things like this, I keep reminding myself, are excellent examples of what I consistently put out there: that the Trickster is an innate part of the UFO phenomena.

Those videos of UFOs -- giant space machines just having a big party up there -- appearing on Rense.com lately? Some guy with a special souped up telescope managed to capture all kinds of craft missed by others with less magical telescopes. Well, according to the skeptic blog Forgetomori (“extraordinary claims. Ordinary explanations,”) in Walson’s World, the author comments that these images are one big hoax, and the person behind them, a certain Walson, is one big hoaxer. Maybe. Kind of. Or not. That is, if “Walson” is even his name. Or, hers. Whoever.

But, as readers of The OrangeOrb know, I’m paranoid enough to both believe a good part of this story as well as be suspicious of it, all at the same time.

There is a lot of tangled elements preceding the following, which I found extremely interesting for obvious reasons:

pringer, from ATS, claims that a license plate of a van in the video could be traced back to a company that is located near a military airbase. That, along with the refusal to disclose any actual details of their methods, led to the expulsion of one of Walson’s spokespersons (or Walson himself, who knows). The whole case is now tagged as a HOAX on ATS.

And plenty of stuff following that that is crazy interesting.

One small part of this whole thing -- whatever this really is, keep in mind -- is the time and effort spent on creating this, um, thing. Why? Is it that funny to the creator? Guess so, clearly someone found it amusing. I’m not not amused; just a curious observer. I just wonder at the expended energy in continuing a saga like this. What’s the payoff for him/her/them? (I suspect there’s more than one person involved.)

It’s too over the top to be disinfo, but maybe I’m being too kind to some fellow UFO researchers and witnesses. But none of it much matters, because as long as there will be UFO, paranormal and Fortean events, there’ll be things like this right alongside them.

My Neglected Friends

Not my friends in the non-blogger internet world, but my on-line friends. This is about them.

This is about PT also known as patchouli_troll, and Beau/crptidhunter, and so many more.

When I first got into the on-line world of UFOs and other paranormal things, I moderated or co-moderated a lot of Yahoo groups. (I still do but have pretty much ignored them.) Two people in particular that did this with me; in fact, were doing it long before I came along, were PT and beau, also known as cryptidhunter.

PT started the Yahoo forum Fortean Phenomena, and it was going strong for a few years. I’m not sure what happened, one of those Yahoo glitches, but a few years ago, that forum got sucked into cyberspace so PT had to start over. She did, with Fortean Phenomena Again, which is still going strong. Co-moderators are beau/cryptid hunter, myself, and ufoluvsscoobss, also known as PunkinPie.


Patchouli Troll (PT) and beau were very helpful to me years ago; encouraging and funny. PT lives in Oregon and we’ve been in contact a few times; and I truly consider all three of them friends.

I’m writing about them because since I’ve been doing all this blogging and writing, I haven’t been too involved in any of the forums; mine, or the ones they’ve started or that I co-moderate with them. I just wanted to give them a big thanks and a plug for their forums.

Before the blogging fury, there were forums, and the operators of these forums helped set the way for bloggers, I think. I know they did for me.

So PT, beau, and PunkinPie, and others out there, hello and Happy New Year!

The Clowns in the "Sorry" State

A recent piece by Frank Warren inspired me to go off on one of my own favorite rants; that of the so-called “sorry state” of UFOlogy. As Warren says, underscoring Richard Dolan's point, the idea that there's a "state" of UFOlogy is inaccurate and misses the point. You can read Warren's piece here: What is The State of Ufology? Wrong Question!


I often rant against those who call for a “new UFOlogy.” What’s wrong with the old one? More to the point, what in the world makes those who want a “new” UFOlogy, a better or a different or a cleaner or a neater or a “more scientific” (oy) UFOlogy that anyone outside of UFOlogy cares?

Who says it’s “sorry?” Because we have the expected jokers around? The Raelians make the mainstream news, not the serious, interesting UFO cases that may also contain some evidence. (Other than anecdotal.) So?

What else do you expect from the mainstream media? They’ve always been cheesy, sleazy and exploitive, that’s what they do. I promise you, if we all got up some kind of serious, somber, clinical “New UFOlogical” whatever, no one would give a damn. We would, (some of us) but no one listens to us. And then there’s this: after a short time, it isn’t too long before this “new” UFOlogy will be perceived -- and possibly turn into -- a stodgy, rigid, snooty mini-infrastructure of scientism in its own right. Before that point thought, this "new" UFOlogy will be scrambling to be accepted by those they've decided long ago they need: mainstream science, academia, the media, politics. Wow, talk about idealism! But those institutions have turned their noses up at UFOlogy; a "new" UFOlogy will have to dance real fast and real well in order to be accepted. Which means, much of what makes UFOflogy the thing that it is will have to be discarded before this "new" state gets in the door. And at that point, of course, you don't have a real (authentic) UFOlogy, but you still have a very "sorry" state indeed. Irony!

Don't you find it ironic that a diverse,individual, subjective, elusive and contradictory phenomenon such as UFOs is persistenlty being forced into some kind of stable state where everyone agrees (pretty much) and the personal is silenced, or at least told to shush?

One thing wrong about screaming for a new UFOlogy or repairing its “state” is the belief we would do better without the clowns. First, we have to acknowledge that there is a clown like atmosphere to much of UFO and Fortean events, and it’s a natural part of the anomalous. There are many ways to deal with this, depending on the situation and where the clown antics fall on the UFOlogical clown scale. (New Age clowns, Contactee clowns, Bigfoot-UFO clowns, Abduction clowns, My Lizard Lover clowns, etc.)

We can ignore them. Call them on their stuff. Expose them for the lying clowns they are. But what if they’re not lying clowns? They could be clowns for a number of reasons, but not liars. At some point, it’s subjective. Trust comes in. Intuition. Meanwhile, we’re all distracted by trying to shove out these clowns, argue over who’s a clown and who isn’t, and the actual work isn’t getting done. We’ve been too busy chasing after those we’ve decided are clowns. Talk about a circus.

Then we get back to work, feeling smug and justified that we cleaned up the mess, only to realize more clowns have sneaked in. That’s the nature of the anomalous clown beast. You just can’t get rid of them. In fact, the harder you try, the more return. Like Sisyphus, once you roll that rock uphill, it just comes back.

The mainstream media and the pathological skeptics will never avert their attention from the clown side of things, for that would mean they have to admit there is something of value and truth to all this.

(Actually, the mainstream media at times slowly turns to the light; little bits of UFO reality get by and we experience a respite from little green men jokes by talking heads.)

We can learn from the clowns. Instead of chasing after them with brooms we can stop and just watch them for awhile. What are they up to, and why? Might turn out it was a waste of time, so what? Might turn out you learned something. Maybe that clown wasn’t just a lampshade on its head bore, but a true Fool leading you down a much neglected and magickical path. You could return from that journey with something of value to share with the “sorry state” of UFOlogy.


cut and paste if link doesn't work: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=46054

A Strange Anniversary Conversation

Today is our 31st anniversary. Being old and tired, (but hardly bored with each other) (as you’ll soon see why) we agreed to stay home after a long hard day at work, enjoy our bottle of good wine and Trader Joe’s pizza, and each other. Tomorrow, rejuvenated with the weekend vibe (three day weekend for me!) we’ll go out and have fun.

So tonight, of course we’re watching the Larry King program because it’s the UFO show. (More on that later.) My husband, let’s say his name is, er, “George,” was pretty good about remaining quiet, although he managed to interject a good number of outraged sputterings, especially when Oberg was on, but overall, George behaved. It wasn’t until the very end of the program that George said to me:

“We've had weird UFO abductions or whatever happen,at least twice. That one in L.A. was the weirdest.

”
I did a huge “huh?!” I asked:

“

What do you mean, ‘at least twice?’ And, what do you mean, the L.A. one was the weirdest?!

In Oregon years ago, we saw the Orange Orb, that followed us on our way back in from Cottage Grove about 30 miles away. That incident included missing time and what I've always maintained a sighting of a silver sphere hovering above a pasture on the way out.

Turns out that’s wrong. At least according to George.

So we shouted at each other -- out of excitement and ‘wtf’s” not in anger -- just your basic abduction confusion:

Me: “What do you mean, that’s wrong! We saw that orb coming back from Cottage Grove when we lived on Friendly St.!”
George: “No, we saw it when we lived on Hilyard."

Oh boy.

So we went round and round, and it turns out, according to George, this is what happened:
1. Something weird happened in L.A.
2. Something weird happened in Oregon, when we lived on Hilaryd St. near the University of Oregon.
3. Something weird happened when we lived off Lorane Highway, at the top of Friendly St.

George: No, no, you’ve combined two different sightings into one thing. Your memory’s been messed with.”

Me: “How do you know it isn’t YOU whose memory wasn’t messed with?”

(I was pretty proud of that one.)

George just looked exasperated. He insists he’s right. I remember it the other way.
I don't remember anything weird at all happening when we lived on Hilyard.

It’s quite possible of course he is right, and does remember the incidents more accurately than I. Regardless, it’s clear we’ve both experienced some very weird things through the years.


L.A. (West Hollywood area)
I remember that one just fine. Well, obviously not all of it. Neither one of us do. If we did, that’d be a different story. But we both agree on this one; we agree it happened, we agree it happened just the way we both remember it. Walking back from our favorite place, Barney's Beanery. What should have taken us an hour at the most -- maybe -- took us a good two hours. When we entered the apartment we commented how odd it was that it was suddenly 4 a.m., then went promptly to bed, only to wake up at four the next afternoon. We slept straight through, very surprised to find that we slept so late!

I did have a few strange UFO dreams back then; one in particular that I call the “Geisha Woman” dream, about a tall chalky white being with huge black wrap around eyes, “pretending” to be female, with me inside a glass domed UFO in space and George in some other part of the UFO. She was very intelligent and very emotionally cold, detached, and didn't give a damn that I was scared and angry that she wouldn't let me see George, who was being kept in another part of the craft.

But the reason why I say it wasn’t the strangest, is because we didn’t see any kind of craft that night. We didn't have a UFO sighting. Not a hint. But George says it’s the weirdest, because we both agree on everything; no arguments about who was where, etc. We agree on where we were coming from, where we were going, that a couple of hours of missing time occurred, that we commented to each other on the oddness of the late hour as we walked into the apartment but also went promptly to bed, not waking up until 4:00 the next day.

Hilyard St. (Eugene, Oregon, near the University of Oregon campus)
Well, don’t remember anything weird there. I mean, aside from the horrid, spoiled, evil fraternity and sorority morons that lived in the frat and "sor" houses surrounding our little apartment. God, what assholes. Other than that, nothing.

I remember a weird “UFO” dream at the time though, about a robotic alien type being entering our apartment and causing problems.

It's while we were living on Hilyard that George insists we saw the silver sphere. We saw it out on Lorane, going out to Cottage Grove. (That part I agree with.) Silver sphere, above a pasture, daytime, a beam of light coming down from underneath the thing. I said to George tonight that I always thought it was weird that a beam of light would be necessary in the daytime.

We agree on the thing we saw, and place, but not the timing. I remember it as on our way out the same time we saw the orange orb which was on the way back. And I remember we were living on Friendly St. at the time, while George insists it was Hilyard.

(One question I have about this is: if the orange orb sighting took place another time, where were we coming back from? The only thing out that direction is . . . Cottage Grove. We didn't know anyone who lived out that way, from our house to Cottage Grove. But as George mentioned, we did just take off and for long rides in the country back then; true. I loved to do that on the motorcycle. It's possible we weren't coming back from anywhere in particular, as in visiting someone, but just out for a drive.)

Friendly St. (Eugene, Oregon, at the corner of Lorane, semi-woodsy rural area in parts)
I remember the orange orb at night, on the way back from Cottage Grove to visit his friend. The friend George says we went to see a year or so earlier when we lived on Hilyard.

George doesn’t remember seeing an orange orb. He does remember me trying to call someone when we went into the house (on Friendly) but I ended up just putting the receiver down. After all who was I going to call? The police? Airport? At that time, I didn't know about MUFON, or anything related to reporting UFO sightings.

Dreams started then too. Awful dreams about being paralyzed in beams of light so strong I could almost see through things. The sense of people -- or beings -- above me. Not being able to move. Screaming my head off for George, who I knew was nearby, but also being taken. Did I just say “taken?” Christ.

History
George said “Obviously we didn’t have what they wanted,” and I agreed. We’ve never talked about that, but when he said it, it made sense, and I acknowledged I’ve thought that myself many times.

He also said:

“Then again, we’ve both had life long experiences with this weird stuff. Maybe they got what they wanted a long time ago.

”

George also mentioned the uncomfortable and strong awareness that "they" are present at times. I too have felt that. Last time I felt that was a few years ago in this house we're now in. We've been here about ten years. This feeling that "they" were in the room, listening, watching, was confirmed by others. (One of whom has had her own history, along with many family members, of Bigfoot, haunting and UFO encounters. Connections?)

We don't talk too in depth about these events except for a couple of times a year. It's too close and chilling and just plain weird. We both get highly uncomfortable; anxious and need to stop. And yet, we talk around these things every day.

Something happened, something seemed to have happened a few times with the both of us. Neither one of us remembers actually seeing any beings. It’s as if we’ve come up only so close to this phenomena, and then, a steel door seals shut on us.

Oh, and please, someone tell me it was just sleep paralysis. I dare you.

I’m still not willing to say we were abducted. I can’t say that, because I don’t even remember seeing aliens, let alone being inside a craft, or being rudely probed, etc.

But something happened. While obviously there are trickster mind control alien game playing shenanigans going on with screen or cover memories, the reality is, something very real -- just highly strangely real -- occurred. And more than once.

A Scofftoid Looks at Rendlesham: The Persistence of Skepticism vs. The Persistence of High Strangeness

Aaron Sakulich, resident collegiate scofftoid of the Iron Triangle college paper at Drexel University, writes on/against UFOs and related topics. A favorite phrase of his is “UFO enthusiast.” (Use of such a term attempts to ensure that any study of UFOs and related phenomena remain trivialized.) He mocks, he pontificates, he rants. Free country, we’re all entitled.

But in his recent piece: Story of 'British Roswell' lacks verifiable evidence” he misses the point. Well, he’s missed the point about a lot of things, but that’s to be expected with chronic skeptics.

It’s a given there isn’t any “verifiable evidence” with any of all this stuff; so let’s move on. Of course, it does beg the question of just what is “verifiable evidence?” Students of the esoteric know that chronic skepticism does not allow for anecdotal evidence to be considered evidence. Not even data. Well, sheesh, dahlings, if you’re going to go that far, whatever is there to talk about?

Anyway. Rendlesham.

Sakulich shares with all persistent, irrational rationalists the premise that there’s no "there" in UFO Land, and so, open mockery and silliness is not only acceptable, but expected. He opens with:

England is an exotic land of mystery. The English eat parts of animals I'd never consider putting in my mouth. Some of their groceries are named specifically after genitalia and their secret agents are continually impregnating the women of the world. Americans prefer broken beer bottles at the bar; they prefer top hats and pistols at dawn. Yet, our two countries have something in common: UFO enthusiasts seize on the flimsiest evidence and hold it up as proof that space monsters from beyond the moon are visiting the earth.

I have nothing against the English (so much) and I hope to visit there someday, but I don’t think of England as being “exotic.” And I for one, being a “UFO enthusiast” don’t think aliens come from “beyond the moon” but actually from the moon.

Of Rendlesham, or the so-called “British Roswell,” Sakulich says there are “enormous holes” in the story. That’s a fascinating statement, given that we don’t know what happened. If we don’t know what happened, how can we say there are ‘holes?” We're dealing with the anomalous, the weird, the highly unusual; "holes" are to be expected, if by "holes" one means Things That Don't Fit.

He goes on to describe what happened; the flashing lights, the weird sounds, the triangle shape observed by one of the soldiers, the burn marks and impressions in the ground from something heavy, and so on.

Sakulich's first error -- either from an honest glitch in thinking, or disingenuousness - is in assuming what “UFO enthusiasts” think. He does this all the time, sharing with all persistent skeptics the need to make sweeping assumptions on what "UFO enthusiasts" think:

The next day, returning to the site of the supposed landing, men found triangular impressions in the earth and "burn marks" on the trees. Therefore, the UFO community came to one conclusion: a mechanical spaceship had been out and about in the forest that night wreaking all sorts of havoc.

I for one never thought the UFO that landed that night was from outer space, piloted by aliens. No, this “UFO enthusiast,” dahlings, thinks it was a military (or industrial/technological-- or combination of ) object, intentionally sent, staged, to gauge the reactions of the humans on duty that night. Possibly it was a mistake; the thing wasn’t meant to be seen, but seen it was. Either way, whatever the thing was, I don’t think it was from outer space, and there are a lot of UFO researchers who agree.

Besides which, the “UFO community” is far from being a cohesive group that comes to consensus. Der.

Of the lights seen, Sakulich writes that witness Penniston was “petulant” in his disagreement that the light (s) he saw weren’t beacons:

When asked if this could be the source of the lights, Penniston petulantly replied that no, he could tell the difference between this beacon and the mystery lights.

I’d be “petulant” too, if someone insisted I saw something different from what I saw, especially if they weren’t there, and I was. What, suddenly we’re to believe Penniston can’t distinguish types of lights?

It’s old news; this lighthouse beacon stuff, and enough already. But here Sakulich almost surpasses the infamous “mating hedgehogs” explanation for crop circles, in explaining away the marks left in the ground from an object:

The third problem is the supposed physical evidence found at the scene: the triangular landing gear marks and the burn marks on the trees in the areas. For this one, investigators didn't have to go much further than the locals. The marks made by alien landing gears were actually rabbit holes, perfectly normal and plentiful in the forest.

(And I just can’t let go the cheap easy “laugh” when Sakulich stoops to classism and culturalism when he comments:

I like to imagine that these locals laugh a little to themselves at the city-slicker UFO enthusiasts mistaking rabbit holes for landing pad impressions as they wait in line for their monthly allowance of eel pies and plaid wool trousers.)

He drones on, but the point is this: something weird enough happened at Rendlesham to mess with witnesses heads, which seemed to be the point of the whole thing. The incident isn’t any different from countless others in UFOlogy; and this glaring fact utterly escapes people like Sakulich.

It’s easy to be glib, and easy to be lazy. Call everyone who doesn’t openly mock and ridicule UFOlogy a “UFO enthusiast,” make wild assumptions, such as they/we all believe the same thing, and that same thing is a warm and fuzzy ET space brother. Call the people who’ve experienced the weird and shared their stories nuts and lunatics, and there it is: a name for yourself, a reputation as a “critical thinker” when no such thing has taken place. Meanwhile, the anomalous continues to manifest, despite what we say about such things.

NOOOoooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

(Beach Blanket Bingo,1965)

Not much UFO entries here lately, and it's partly due to the winding down of summer. I refuse to accept it; but a lot of good that'll do me. I go back to work Thursday. Well, at least I'll be going out of town for the long weekend.

It's good to take a break from the UFO arena for awhile, though it's never away from me. I just haven't been writing about it much on-line. Lots of funny weird stuff on Mating Hedgehogs however, one of my other blogs.

There's a lot I could say regarding UFOs concerning the nonsense some people seem to enjoy getting into; I don't know what it is, but otherwise intelligent, mature adults just go nuts every few months and start flinging cow poo all over the place. It's hard for me to take these people seriously or not call them things like "thugs" when they seem to take some kind of pleasure in jumping right in and throwing punches. But what's the point? Other than comment and say "er, yes, we all are aware of your fighting boys" and just let it alone.

MJ-12; some things going around about that on UFO Updates, UFO Mystic, Other Side of Truth, and elsewhere, and it is interesting. Maybe I'll comment later on that. For now, as much as I admire Stanton Friedman -- and I do -- I've always had the feeling he was the victim of an elaborate and planned disinfo campaign. That doesn't change things really -- I'll explain that later. Maybe. Shrug. Can't grow up my own damn self and "get" that summer is over, I will return to work, ... etc. But back to MJ 12, what is there about the new info that makes that any more true/real? Like everything else, grains of salt. . .

What else. Some UFO stuff going on here in Oregon; a woman by the name of "Cindy" has been in contact with me, I think I mentioned here a bit ago I'll get around to posting something on that.

And spending time with the esoteric, for sure, just not UFO -ish so much: drumming, writning (fiction, not fringe topics) and intent,cards, and things moving within on a personal level (all good) and all that New Age stuff. But it's all good, and as the saying goes, we can change our stories, since we're the authors. So my new story for end of summer and returning to work is still to be written, but it'll be new and positive. It'll be mine. And that's a good thing.

Orb Roundup

It's time for blatant shameless self-promotion and reminders:

In the current issue of UFO Magazine, I share my thoughts on the Triangle UFOs. No conclusions, just musings. (Of course, if I, or anyone, had conclusions, there'd be no mystery.)

Frame 352: The Stranger Side of Sasaquatch, my Bigfoot blog.

Mating Hedgehogs, my other blog on: media, culture, sex, para-politics, Dr. Evils, Forteana, esoterica, paranoia, Genetic Food Manipulations, animal rights and welfare, art, feminism, Americana, and whatever else I feel like.

For Trickster's Realm on Binnall of America: Finding Sasquatch.

I'm also around on UFO Digest and American Chronicle.

Mary as Trickster?

I ponder. On UFO Digest: Speculation on Mary as Trickster.

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.