Everything Here All At Once

 I'm just going to throw it all out here. I have many blogs, some which I can't access due to massive Google/Blogger fuck ups. And after fifteen years or more of blogging I have no idea what passwords were when where... 

So the Orange Orb is all about UFOs. The things themselves, cases old and new, my own experiences, my friends, my armchair research, my rants,UFO Land,  ghosts, aliens, crytpids, and all manner of Fortean weirdness. Always.

But also art and poetry and writing and who the hell knows. Stay tuned. Please. Thanks.

UFO Creates 'Snow Circle' in Oregon? | Coast to Coast AM

Tim Binnall reports on a 'snow circle' in the Eastern part of Oregon. Interesting account because, while the circle seems like a natural phenomena, the strange lights in the sky and eerie reactions of animals in the area add to the mystery.

UFO Creates 'Snow Circle' in Oregon? | Coast to Coast AM

Agendas

 Oh, how they abound! From all sides. Including within UFO Land. 

Many years ago, a UFO organization came to my town of Eugene, Oregon.  They were even on the news. 

They put on presentations. Stan Johnson, for example, who self-published a few books on his interactions with a Bigfoot family living on his ranch in Sutherlin, Oregon. TheBigfoot family (who did not like to be called Bigfoot, they told Johnson) took him into their spaceship.

Anyway.

Naive, new to the whole thing, and simply assuming that all those professing interest in UFOs were after only one thing: truth, I submitted a letter to be shared at one of the presentations. 

Well.

What happened was, the Head UFO Gatekeeper read my letter -- which included something about how sometimes encounters are negative, and the government can't always be trusted -- was "too negative" and they were not about "negativity." 

It wasn't like I was shouting to the skies about Reptilian Overlords impersonating politicians and hey! your neighbor, your very spouse or children or siblings, could be aliens! I simply said we don't know what' s going on, and some of it isn't so fun.

Nope.

Some time after that, I met some people who at first, were very much involved with UFOs. But again, it turned out to be agenda based. Meditation before each meeting. Nothing wrong with meditation, I do it myself. And depending on your goal, meditating before delving into UFO Land can be a good thing, a necessary thing. But as a blanket given? No thank you. Seems too much like propaganda or indoctrination, like saying the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. And every meeting, no matter how intense or interesting the UFO/entity encounter may have been, quickly turned to energy. 

How to conserve energy, how to work towards alternative energy options, etc. These people were a combination of New Age hippies (of which, I acknowledge, I'm sort of kind of one. But not like that.) 

At a UFO conference, one of the members of this group asked a question of two of the presenters who talked about their encounter with a huge UFO-Triangle on the Idaho Oregon border, why the experience didn't cause them to be more "spiritual." Are you fucking kidding me?

I am, personally, all about spiritual and crystals and all that, but I try to keep my giddy New Age propensities in one lane, the UFO stuff on another.

Many UFO pundits and would be gurus dressed in UFO garb have their own agendas. There's speculation, which I indulge in. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you know it's entertaining ideas, and not fact. Telling your truth, your experiences, as honestly as you can, in spite of debunkers and even those within UFO Land. That takes bravery, and vulnerability. 

But no one has the answers. I think that even those who think they know, with actual alien bodies in their secret warehouses, don't know the whole story, just what they've been told.

We only know what we've experienced, or what we think we've experienced, what "they" have told us (and how can we genuinely believe "they" have really told us all there is to tell? ) 

Just Saw a UFO

 

Just saw a UFO. Approximately 4:32 p.m. Clear sky, no clouds.  Moving north to south. No sound.

Jim out front watering, calls at me to come outside and bring the binoculars. I hobble out (been laid up with a bad knee) and he's looking up at the sky. "Damnit," he says. "I knew it would be gone if I turned away from it." He hands me the binoculars. "See if you can see anything through them, I'll keep looking." I don't see anything at all while looking at the sky, but through the binoculars I see, high up, a silver oval shaped object, and a bit of a tail but not like an airplane tail. I take the binoculars away from my eyes to tell Jim what I saw; he says "That's it!" But we can't see anything at all anywhere in the sky, nor through the binoculars. 

I hobble back to the porch, intending to get my flip flops on and come back out. But I trip and fall on the porch steps, further hurting my knee and I did something to my toe. Bleh. 

A few points: 

• Past few days I've been thinking very strongly on how I haven't seen a UFO in a long time, and I want to see one! I want ... more. Communication, solutions. Answers. Okay, at least a sighting.
• No clouds in the sky not a one and very odd that neither Jim or I could see the object after the initial sighting. It couldn't have just disappeared so damn quickly; to where? No cloud to hide in. . . and it wasn't moving that fast.
• My tripping on the porch. Can't help but entertain the thought it was related to the object. "See?" says the UFO. "You wanted this, but at a price." Okay, not really. Just a thought.
• It's interesting how much information comes through about the object, when you see one, even when looking at it for such a short time. This was not a balloon, not a plane, or a blimp
  . . . who knows what it was, but I know what it wasn't. Both Jim and I agree about that.
• The entire sighting, as short as it was, was intense enough to have us both go "hmmm... that was odd." 

First Hypnosis Session: Changed My Mind

 Changed my mind, but not about going through with the session. At first, I was going to explore the Orange Orb sighting. As I've blogged about before, so much disagreement between Jim and myself about that encounter. We do agree that there was missing time and an orange orb, but after that... so much we disagree about. And what we disagree about changes.

Too much to start off with. Too much to unpack.

Before the orange orb sighting, Jim and I had another missing time experience, this one, in Los Angeles (West Hollywood.) We agree on everything. How we felt, what we saw, the missing time, and so on. No disagreements. We simply don't know what happened. Not to mention why. 

Were we drugged? Coming back from Barney's Beanery, a pub pool hall we visited a few times a week. In fact, that's where Jim and I met for the first time. But, who would drug both of us, and why? Nothing was missing, we didn't have vague feelings of unease or assault. 

So, a mystery. After a week long discussion, I decided to start off with that night instead of the orange orb in Oregon sighting. 

Tomorrow is the day. It might reveal nothing, it might reveal something odd but mundane, or . . . who knows.

The West Hollywood Missing Time:

Jim and I are walking back from Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood. We see a strange light. Or rather, not so strange, but we felt strange. There was just something very weird about it. We stop and look at it. The light is coming from underneath a garage door type thing. There's a long ramp like driveway or something like that leading to it. For some reason, we feel uncomfortable and Jim turns to me and says "Yeah, let's get out of here." I agree.

We enter the apartment, which he shares with his brother and mother. I've been living there for awhile. When we get inside we are very surprised at the time. It's 3 a.m. or so! It's taken us a couple of hours to walk back -- what?! We agree it's weird, very weird, but laugh it off and go right to bed. No discussion on the weird light or missing time. We wake up, go out into the living room. His mom and brother are surprised to see us. "I thought you two were long gone!" says his mother. She tells us she assumed we had left early because it was so quiet in our room, not a sound. At no time did either of us leave the room to use the bathroom, etc. Jim and I are stunned to find it is four o'clock in the afternoon!

North Carolina Orange Orbs

From the Singular Fortean Society: A  North Carolina witness describes his sighting of several orange orbs in 2014. He felt the same way I did when I saw a huge orange orb in Oregon decades ago:

"When I got out of the car and they were right there it was almost like they were attracted to me; like they picked up on me and were like, 'Here’s us, here’s what we are.' To me it was friendly, like a friendly interaction. I know it’s so weird to say interaction, but to me it felt that way."

I had the strong impression "my" orb was waiting for me, and when it saw that I was aware of it, it then interacted with me. I felt silly feeling this way but that's how it felt.  

Frustration: Mis-membering and Missing Time

  I am very frustrated right now, and a bit angry. And confused. And just overall a WTF feeling. Once again, Jim and I got into a heated discussion about the Orange Orb.

As. Usual.

I was saying to him that my decision to go through regression regarding the Orange Orb sighting was my own. I told him I might need him to be there with me -- not listening, but there to drive me back and offer support if needed. He said "Of course." I said my decision was my own, if he wants to also go through this that's his decision. He said "But if you remember, then, we'll remember and I'll know what happened."

Well, not necessarily. My memory would be mine. He might be within it, but... what happened to me does not mean it also happened to him. He might have a different memory.

He conceded that. Then, of course, things devolved into:

He insisted that the Orange Orb was seen while we lived on Hilyard, not Friendly. He said "I guarantee you that we were living on Hilyard when we saw the orb." 

I said "Well what about my memory of, after seeing the orb drop behind a neighbor's house, and then we go into our house on Friendly and I picked up the phone to call the airport, police...and realized that was silly and anyway it was eight o'clock at night or later and they'd think I was nuts." (Also, that's when the dreams started and I went off on my search to find out what it was that I saw and that was while we were living on Friendly and Lorane.)

He said: "That's some other memory but I know this orange orb thing was when we were living on Hilyard."

I tried to get us to the point where it's possible we both remember parts correctly, and other parts not so much. That either one of us is correct, or, both in some ways. It's not an either or memory. I also tried to get him to understand that as adamant as he is about Hilyard Street, I am about the house on Friendly. 

Good thing I'm going through this. Memories, hopefully, will be cleared up.

Or, not. 

We will see. 

A Decision: A Hypnosis Consultation

 

After debating with myself the merits, if any, of hypnosis in regards to UFOs/missing time experiences, I've decided to check it out. I have a consultation this Monday. Valentine's Day, of all things. I love the juxtaposition. 

It's just a consultation, not an actual session. And I might decide to not go through with it after all. At this point, my husband, who also experienced missing time and UFO events, is waiting for me to report back. I don't know if he'll pursue this either. We're both unsure and overall wonky about this. 

On the other hand. . .

Anyway, more on this as it happens. If it happens.

It would be embarrassing to find out we were just forgetful regarding time or mistook an owl for a UFO. Then again, you know what they say: 

The owls are not what they seem.

Finds: 1958 Flying Saucer Review

 Among the hundreds of UFO, paranormal and cryptid books I have, this hardcover edition of The Flying Saucer Review's World Roundup of UFO Sightings and Events, Brinsley Le Poer Trench editor, 1958.

Among the sightings in the book, a UFO seen in Oregon in August of 1958. It was described as "A spectacular green fireball in a hurry ..." seen in Portland, OR and all along the west coast.

The Naked Eye, and Through the Lens Part One

 We see things we can't explain with the naked eye. And then we might take a photo, or look through binoculars, and the object appears very differently. 

I described one sighting in the post below. (Part Two.) Another sighting, also in Eugene, Oregon, happened about five years ago. It was New Year's Eve, and I was standing on my front porch at night, watching for fireworks, etc. Suddenly a weird light appeared from the east, traveling north west. It was a large shape and light (white) but through the binoculars it was something else entirely. It changed shape -- not seen with the naked eye but with the binocs ---  and then "zoomed" downwards and turning gray, then, blinked out. Just, gone.

Drone? Fancy firework? (I really don't think so.) Oh who knows. Strange nonetheless.

The Naked Eye, and Through the Lens Part Two

 At least twice, I have seen objects that appear one way with the naked eye, and quite another way through binoculars. 

One event that I remember, and I've posted about on-line years ago: 

I'm at my cousin-in-laws home. We're watching a slide show of a friends vacation. The cousins lived in the South Hills of Eugene, the house full of large picture windows. Great view. There we are, downstairs, and I'm looking at the little windows, just knowing that I will see a UFO that night. I just knew it. 

Sure enough, I see a white light, orb shaped, come bouncing along towards us. I don't say anything. Wife to cousin-in-law finally says (I remember wondering when she would say something, for I was watching her watching it) "Are. you seeing this?" [paraphrase.] 

We all look, and and watch, This round white bouncing light orb thing was certainly odd. No sound could be heard. And it didn't seem to behave anything like a plane, or helicopter. It was weird enough that we all ran upstairs. 

Upstairs. Huge picture windows in the hills over looking the small city of Eugene, Oregon. We watch the light, still coming our way. Someone gets binoculars. We go out on the small catwalk like balcony to get a better look. The person with the vacation slides; he's upset. He's actually pissed. Angry. He says he doesn't want to look at it, and walks away. One could say he was merely offended that we ignored his vacation slides in order to chase this light, but I got the feeling -- as did others that night --that he was truly upset by the light. I seem to remember him saying something like "I don't need to know what that is."

Looking at the white orb like object with the binoculars, the object appeared to be very different. Suddenly it was a rapidly changing thing. It changed shapes, from square to orb to triangle to rectangle. And, it changed color. With the naked eye, it was white. But through the binoculars, the colors changed with the shapes; red, blue, green, yellow/golden, turquoise.

We continued to watch this as it moved towards us, then behind some trees, and then, gone.

I'm not saying it was the Space Brothers. It could have been a drone. This was back in the early 1990s. Not long after I saw my Orange Orb and, during the few years following, all kinds of weird events took place.

Become the Tree: Post Orb Sighting

After my orange orb sighting, I began to have, not only more UFO sightings, but psychic experiences as well. From early childhood on, I've always been psychic, or sensitive, and I've also had UFO experiences, including missing time (in Los Angeles, before the missing time with the orange orb sighting in Eugene.)

All kinds of synchroniciites, UFO sightings, and psychic episodes and dreams followed the orange orb sighting. Includng the following, which involves Tree Spirit.

We were still living in the house where the orange orb sighting took place. We only lived there about a year. I was lying on the bed upstairs; it was early evening. There was a sliding glass door that led out to a little balcony by the bed. I was idly looking outside, at the trees . . . we lived at the top of a hill in a woodsy area, even though we were very close to town. Up the hill: woodsy, down the hill, traffic and 'the city.' Still light outside. I was very relaxed, though completely awake. Abruptly, I heard a rushing sound -- the sound of water coursing through. This came from outside, but also inside. Not inside the house, but inside me. I was aware of myself, as 'me' but I had been possessed (?) by the tree. I was the tree. I felt and heard water within me, the roots below. The awareness and sentient being of the tree. We were one. This was one of the most vivid experiences of my life.

Now, before you think "Too many 'shrooms there my friend," which is fair, I was not under the influence of anything remotely mind altering. No drugs, weed, alcohol, pills, nothing.
 

I was stunned but not upset or bothered. I was honored. I was surprised. I wondered at the seeming randomness of this event. And I couldn't help but think this intense, magickal moment was related to the UFO sighting.

Orange Orbs, Pink Orbs, More Orbs, Oregon Orbs

Found this, while looking for something else: World UFO Watch - World UFO wATCH - UFO NEWS. UFO ANALYSIS. UFO STORIES. UFO PHOTOGRAPHS. UFO VIDEOS, which has the report on orbs from MUFON's New Jersey field investigator Robert Spearing. (Orange Orb Appearances and Behaviors, June 10, 2015)

Interesting for the similarities to my orange orb encounter in Eugene, Oregon years ago.

More interesting was the description of the orb itself.  It was an orange churning ball of gas surrounded by an almost invisible membrane that was shaped like a bell or a jellyfish.  The membrane was eight feet tall by five feet wide.   The interior glow occupied about two thirds of the bell. (MUFON, World UFO Watch)

The orb I saw had this same feature. I've never called it a "membrane" but there was a halo type effect surrounding the orange orb. Appeared more "solid" and darker in the center, slight glow around the edges. Lit from within.

Also, the witness said the orb "retreated" and went up into the trees when she screamed, which suggests the orb was sentient, or, controlled by something sentient. My orb demonstrated the similar behavior of being aware of my presence, and reacting to it.

Other orbs of various colors in this article, pink, for example.

And here's something, something I can't believe I've missed all these years. My Orange Orb sighting took place decades ago in Oregon. I couldn't find much, if anything, in way of similar sightings to mine back then. But the article from World UFO Watch references a sighting of an Orange Orb in 1967 -- in Oregon!

In journalist  Frank Edwards’ last book “Flying Saucers Here and Now” written in 1967 shortly before his untimely and somewhat mysterious demise, he recounts a February 16, 1967 account on  page 179 where Mrs. Esther Millard of Bandon, Oregon related a close encounter with an Orange Orb where she quite plainly saw the outline of a rectangle around the orb at 10:20 pm. A rectangular membrane?  (World UFO Watch)

Of course, the article mentions MUFON's Terry Ray, author of The Complete Story of the Worldwide Invasion of the Orange Orbs, which I have not yet read, but naturally am looking forward to reading this book.

Synchronicity: "Them" and Listening In

I've commented before on the following experiences:

Three separate times, in three different locations, I've had the experience of knowing, completely sensing and utterly knowing, without any doubt, that "they" were present, and actively listening. Each of these episodes occurred during intense discussions about UFOs and entities.

The first time it happened was over twenty years ago, in a home where we had seen UFOs. We were discussing our orange orb sighting (and this was the first time I had heard my spouse mention anything about our missing time) and among other things, we argued (as we still do today) over some details concerning location, etc. Suddenly, the distinct awareness that "they" were here was vividly apparent. Others confirmed this feeling, making all of us, to varying degrees, uncomfortable. All of us acknowledged how weird it was.

The second time was in a friends home, who has had a life long experience with aliens, UFOs, missing time, abductions, etc. The third time was in our current home. Both times the person I was talking to mentioned their presence first. In one, the person said to me, looking at me with a grin "You know they're here and listing, don't you?" the second time, in our home, the person said "I know this sounds crazy but I get the feeling we're being listened to, and watched."

So who is this "they?" I have no idea. Alien, MIB, earth entity, Djinn, government spook stuff, who knows. I can tell you that the feeling in all three events was the same. Invisible entities, more than one (I had the sense at least three, no more than seven or eight), most definitely intelligent --highly intelligent -- not human in any way, and very amused if not outright mocking at our discussion. Not a threat, at the moment, but not something to mess around with. Somewhat human looking like, and tall, but not human. No, not human at all.

The other day I realized, for the first time, that in each episode, the direction that "they" came from was always the same. To my left, and in the upper corner of the room. So I wondered if this had any meaning, this specific nature of their location. Coincidence, or meaningful? I asked my husband (who was present in two of these events) what he thought. He didn't think it really meant anything but he did say that, a few minutes before I had asked him about this, he had just written (working on his novel) the following:

A sense of uneasiness prevailed. They were not alone. They felt eyes, eyes everywhere, watching, with a cold alien intelligence. You saw them out of the corner of your eye, shapes through  the trees like the shadows of dreams. The forest was a dangerous place.  It was more than that; there was conscious intent, an agenda, an open hostility   ~ James Rich, excerpt from The Obscure Way (unpublished)

Witness Account: Orange Orb Encounter

I received the following report of an orange orb encounter from witness Tom Ford. He kindly gave me permission to post his experience here.

A couple of things I find interesting. One is the synchronicity factor. The day I received Tom's email, I had just started work on my book Entering the Orb, which included sections on synchronicities. I also wrote about a possible psychic or telepathic communications with the orange orb (and UFOs in general.)  

In Tom's account, he was meditating when "visited by an orange orb." Tom notes that he "... be one who can contact these entities."
 

While performing a very personal and sacred meditation I was visited by an orange orb. May 12th 2012 midnight (approx.) The meditation was a plea for help regarding the state of the world & asking for help for all who live here. Wars, BP oil GoM, Fukushima, Hidden weaponry used against the populace,  etc.  After finishing the meditation I  then went outside and within a few moments the orange orb appeared from the back fence above the power line pole. It looked like it came up from out of the ground.... I walked towards the craft an orange orb about the size of the craft from flight of the navigator movie.  It was maybe 50-100' above ground, hovering it emitted a green flash ( not a beam) that lit up the sky. I braced myself and put my hands across my face.   The next few moments were just myself and the object being aware of each other. The craft took off  at 10's of thousands mph. Trajectory of the orb when it took off looked like a check mark in the sky.   It returned after disappearing, the next pass by it came down in a spiral from directly above, then vanished. After that it again buzzed the yard (VERY LOW) & made a nearby dog bark so loud & gutteral it sounded like it had seen a ghost. I may be one who can contact these entities. I have been wanting to share this & more details with you ever since I stumbled into this world of synchronicity. Peace  Tom

In my own sighting of the orange orb decades ago, I had always felt that the craft was waiting for me; when it was aware that I was aware of it, it interacted with me. And since there is missing time with this sighting, as well as confused cover memories (my husband was present and also saw the orb, but to this day we disagree on where we were coming back from, which direction, etc. We both agree however that we both experienced missing time) my sense that the orb was sentient, or controlled by sentient beings, feels right.

I have had other sightings where a telepathic communication of some kind -- some sort of psychic knowing surrounding myself and the craft -- took place.


Back to Tom's sighting: while there are some similarities, there are differences as well. I did not see any beams coming from the orb, while Tom recalls seeing a green beam of light. Also, his craft "buzzed" close to the ground, as well as rising up from the ground. However, the orange orb I saw did stop, then drop,  silently behind a house, seemingly landing in a neighbor's  backyard.

Tom also writes that he was meditating right before the orb appearance. I had an experience years ago during meditation where grays entered the room. They were definitely there, present, but if anyone had walked into the room, they wouldn't have seen anything.* The grays were angry at my meditating, and angrier still that they couldn't get at me -- I was meditating with crystals, including amethyst and a purple fluorite copper wand. While some UFO researchers refuse to seriously consider stuff like this because it isn't' scientific and is perceived as embarrassingly hippie new age fluff, I can't help that. It happened. Which suggests that for some UFO occurrences, whatever force it is that operates  here manifesting as entities and craft, lights and sparkles, exists on other levels other than the mundane. Nothing new in this at all but I mention it because of my own frustration that, after decades of exploring UFOs, this nebulous side of some UFO experiences isn't getting the attention it should.

Note: By the way, when I say "orb" I do not mean a spirit orb or some sort of ectoplasmic, misty type phenomena, as you'd see in a ghost investigation. I mean a literal, solid craft.

Many thanks to Tom Ford for sharing his sighting. And if you dear reader have either UFO or supernatural/paranormal sightings of your own you'd like to share, you can email me at orange orb@mail.com.

*The entities I saw during my meditation were sensed by another. That same night, across town, a friend of mine attended a meditation meeting. She had invited me to come but I didn't go. I knew nothing about the people, only my friend, who told me the next day that the meeting went well, but the woman leading the group looked at her and said "Your friend (meaning me) is, at this moment, battling her own entities."

More Trent Circus Theater

The blog that I won't link to but everyone knows what I mean -- you know, those verbose guys who love to perform UFO street theater (albeit on-line, and in their blogs) -- have another post on the world famous 1950 Trent UFO sighting. (Yamhill County, McMinnville, Oregon.) This time the theory is the Trent UFO photographed was not a UFO, but a side mirror from a Ford. I can't stand it. (Comments are definitely worth reading.)

Related link:
Trent Trickster Three

Stalled Emails, Evil Empire

(See previous two posts below)

   

     My friend "Carol" with the life time of UFO/alien/general strangeness events, has mentioned to me several times that something -- some force or forces, energies or entities, vibrations -- like to keep us apart. Stop us from getting together to share high strangeness notes as it were.
For example, we, decades ago (decades ago!) would get together, along with others in her family as well as friends, to talk about these things. Then, suddenly, nothing. It was like we both had amnesia and forgot about each other. And yet, in typical Trickster ways, her husband and I (often along with my husband Jim)  would run into each other constantly, often two or three times in the same day.
     Not long ago however we did Carol and I did connect, and talked about this installed amnesia, this barrier seemingly placed by "them" and we decided to not let this happen again.

     Little things seem to happen to trip us up, but we're not letting them win. For example, as I wrote in my previous post, it took me almost half an hour to realize I was on the wrong street when visiting Carol. Since then, Carol has sent me at least two emails; they have not gone through. The address is correct, her email, my email works fine, etc. Yet emails sent from Carol to me are not coming through. Today Carol referred to "The Evil Empire of the short and gray." Indeed. Screw the little spindly bastards.

     If, of course, short gray spindly things they be. Carol has seen them, I have not. I have sensed them, I have "seen" them during a trance like state, others have sensed them in proximity to me, but I can't say I have seen seen them, if you know what I mean. I also think that the experiences we've all had -- Carol, myself, my husband, other friends of mine -- where we've felt without a doubt the presence of a very high intelligence, is not the grays, but something to do with what we call "the grays." But that's another path to follow another day.
   

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.
   

McMinnville And Floating Cows: When Is A School Bus Not a School Bus?

     How's that for an opening title?
     There is much that precedes this dream which I'll write about soon, involving a woman I've known for more than twenty years whose immediate family has had -- and continues to have -- UFO and alien/entity experiences. Her experiences go back to her childhood. We met yesterday to talk about these things, and more, and the visit was chock full of synchronicity, among other things.
     Last night I had the following dream:

     I'm a block or so from work; school hasn't started yet, kids are on their way, walking towards the school. I see the principal a few yards away, we say hello. I'm saying hi to the kids when suddenly, I feel ill. I am really sick! I want to go home but don't think I can because I took Friday off (my personal day) and it would look suspicious to everyone if I also took Monday off. How convenient, she's sick, humpf! kind of thing. But really, I am sick. I'm debating what to do when I see one of our substitutes. I ask her if she's able to sub for me, she says sure. I explain what others might think but it's too bad; she says "I can tell you're not feeling well, don't worry about it."

     So instead of walking home or calling my husband to pick me up, I walk over to the bus to take the bus home. Taking a bus isn't something I'd normally do. The bus is a city bus -- public transit -- but it's a yellow school bus. We all know it's not a school bus but a public bus.

    I get on, ask the female driver if the bus goes to "11th and Chambers" she says "I think so." I think to myself "You think so? What kind of bus driver are you?" but I'm feeling ill so I just get on. It's not far, how could the bus not go to there?
     I ask about the fare; she tells me it's seventy-five cents. I put a dollar in expecting change. She tells me there is no change; they're not set up for that. So my fare is a dollar. Fine, I shrug, and sit down, right by the door and behind her.
     Instead of the bus turning and going in the direction of my house,  we're going down a street I didn't know existed. Now, this is one of my dreamscapes -- an alley like place, except to the west, is the ocean! A narrow street or alley like road, small houses on one side, a low stone wall that's falling apart, and the ocean! Often times the ocean spills over and there is water on the road.
     I panic a little; where are we going?! The driver goes by a familiar corner and I assume she is going to turn down and go around, back to my house, but instead she gets on the freeway! I see a sign right away: McMinnville, and within ten minutes, we're there. In reality, McMinnville is about an hour and a half from where I live.
We drive through McMinnville. The streets are flooded, the bus can barely make it, it's floating on water like a houseboat. We pass by a street with a small bridge overhead -- lots of stone and tile, all different colors. There are huge cows floating in the water. Some cows are pink and green. They're having fun but some are a little scared. Some try to scramble up the walls but slip. There are a few people there in the water as well.
     All this water and the cows seem normal. McMinnville in the dream is quaint and full of old timey buildings and colorful lights. Lots of hills with buildings perched askew.
     While I'm fascinated that this is a short cut to McMinnville, I am also scared because of the water, the cows, and I'm still lost. All I want to do is get home.

     McMinnville of course is the home of the world famous May 11,1950 UFO sighting of Paul and Evelyn Trent. Paul Trent took two photos of the flying saucer that appeared over his farm.  To this day the sighting remains a mystery; despite the antics of UFO debunkers, it has not been proven to be a hoax. The annual McMinnville UFO Festival, held in May, is in memory of that famous sighting. (Google Trent UFO and you'll find plenty -- here's something I wrote some time ago for Tim Binnall on the attempts of some in the UFO Theater to further confuse things: The Trent Trickster Three.)

Dream Moods: Your Dream Symbol Interpretation: Bus To dream that you are waiting for a bus indicates a temporary setback in achieving your personal goals. If you miss the bus, then it indicates that an aspect of your life is out of control. You need to slow down and map out a new plan. If you get on the wrong bus, then the dream indicates your fears of making the wrong choice and going on the wrong path. You are conflicted between what you want and what others want for you. To dream that you are riding a bus implies that you are going along with the crowd. You are lacking originality and control over where your life is taking. To dream that you are in a bus accident suggests that it is time for you to move away from a group setting and venture out on your own. You need to be more independent. To dream that a bus is driven into water refers to an emotional journey that involves several people. To dream that you are paying a bus fare refers to the price you are paying in order to please others. ~ Dream Moods

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Revisiting the Tempest in a Teapot: McMinnville UFO Photos Faked. Again.

UPDATES: lots of comments at the Bragalia blog, to be expected, but one thread I find interesting concerns the boy on the ladder photo. Which, according to some, was not taken by Trent... and so, this iconic story continues as the mystery it is. Nothing proven to debunk or that shows definitively, that the Trent photos were fake.

Were the famous McMinnville UFO photos fakes after all? The iconic snapshots nothing but a hoax? Does this mean it's curtains for the annual UFO Fest in McMinnville, Oregon? Speculation from The Bragalia Files: MAKE-BELIEVE IN MCMINNVILLE: FAMOUS 1950 UFO PHOTOS FAKED? says it could be so.

After all this time, it's almost impossible to determine if the photos are of a genuine UFO, or simply fakes. The evidence presented by Bragalia is only speculation surrounding the facts: a photo of the Trent's little boy, on a ladder under the wires where the spaceship was seen, and photographed. The fact the Trents were "repeaters" -- repeat witnesses. But that last bit; the "repeater" label, doesn't prove anything either way. Many UFO witnesses (myself included) are "repeaters." Some of us have had encounters going back to childhood. Granted, Bragalia comments: "As Jerry Seinfeld might say, “not that there’s anything wrong with that” but then puts a judgement on how a witness should respond to a sighting. Referring to Mrs. Trent, Bragalia writes:

...but when you combine her prior UFO interest and prior sightings, her later sightings, her family discussions about UFOs- with the fact that Mrs. Trent reported being the first to see the photographed UFO- it is Mrs. Trent who should have been given more attention when investigating the photos. Paul finally got his wife a photograph of one of her coveted UFOs. She was certainly one darn lucky “repeat witness.”

Then there's the note, sent to Paul Trent, with Bragalia's oddly gender specific observation that it's in "male writing." This note was no doubt written by a close friend, Bragalia tells us, since said friend used his initials. From that we are to infer note writer and Trent were close friends, and the note itself? Hints that the whole thing was a hoax.

Finally, we have the over the top classist assumptions about the Trents and the community of McMinnville in Yamhill County Oregon. Phrases like "farming folks", "farm boy" and this description of "simple farm folk" pulling one over on them there city slickers:

“Fun” during those times, in that kind of place, may have encompassed playing around with a new camera, wanting to outwit the city folks, involve the family in some UFO entertainment and satisfy a wife’s saucer interests.

The Trents never were paid for their photos, or anything else concerning the UFO images. When the Trents wanted the photos returned in the 1970s, this was because, Bragalia speculates, they wanted the "accrued value" of the images.

 This is not the first time Bragalia, as well as his associates, have attempted to expose McMinnville as a hoax. I wrote about that for UFO Digest in 2007. Revealing a third, "lost" Trent photo, we were promised, sort of, a revelation. Turns out the whole thing was a hoax. Er, that is, not McMinnville, but the third lost photo. McMinnville, at the time of the Trent sighting, was an active place for UFO sightings. More than fifty years later, that area is still a little hotspot for UFO sightings. Whether or not the Trent photos were fakes, well, we still don't know to this day. This recent speculation is just that, interesting, but certainly not proof in any way that McMinnville was a hoax.

Further reading:

• The Trent Tempest
• The Trent Trickster Three
• Still a Mystery, and a Big Question: The Trent Farm/McMinnville Oregon Case
McMinnville, Oregon UFO: Festivals and Hoaxes Saucer Gossip: A Bit of History and Silliness About the Trent Case