An Orange Orb Blip

Something slightly odd and startling happened the other day. It was around 5:30 in the afternoon. I was relaxing on the sofa, not asleep but just in that semi-drowsy, pleasant light trance state. I had a short little dream -- a dreamlet, you could call it -- but I was awake on some level at the same time.

I “dreamt” I had a strong urge to go outside and look at the sky full of stars. (this is something I do almost every evening) and I walk out onto the path to the sidewalk, and scan the dark sky. I hear a voice inside my head, or more like a telepathic nudge, to turn around and look towards the south. I do, and see, very high up, a bright orange light, which is rotating. As far away as it is, and as small as it is -- like a large, bright star -- I can tell it’s revolving. When I see this orange “star” I’m very scared, and I can feel my stomach drop with cold dread.

I wake up abruptly, feeling very uneasy. With the sighting of the orange object I again am aware of a telepathic message; this one tells me that I know exactly what it is I saw years ago, and to stop playing games. I assume it meant stop playing games with myself, but I had a sense it might have meant with it as well, whatever “it” is.

I’m not sure why I feel it’s important to keep track of episodes like this, but I’m sure one of the many purposes doing this serves is that is simply makes me feel better. No closer to any mystery but I don’t think that’s the point any more. Acknowledging these weird little moments and adding them to the collection of pieces gives the illusion of work, of study. It’s calming somehow. It’s also empowering; once you call it, reclaim the name of something, it’s power diminishes.

And maybe, as has been said by Forteans and esoteric explorers, the Trickster or whatever you want to call it is alerted to our interest and responds. When we start noticing “it,” “it” starts to notice us back.

George Hansen on Paratopia -- and Nancy Birnes!

Good for Jeremy and Jeff at Paratopia for inviting George Hansen back on. I haven't listened to the interview yet; in fact, have it on now, so can't comment yet on the content. But, while the 'trickster' aspect seems obvious to me, and I've been pushing Hansen on UFO and esoteric studies all along, it seems there are those that either don't agree with these ideas (as well as anti-structure, liminality, marginalization, etc.) or feel it's too academic. Other writers that are good to read along these lines include Daniel Pinchbeck and Patrick Harpur.

Also, tonight at 9pm Eastern time, Paratopia interviews UFO Magazine editor Nancy Birnes. I'm looking forward to this one!

Octopus Trickster Synchronicity

Yesterday afternoon, I listened to the Paratopia interview with George P. Hansen, author of The Trickster and the Paranormal. As I mentioned in an earlier post today, I've long been an admirer of Hansen's, and think the book should be on anyone's shelf who is interested in Fortean events. I also mentioned in that earlier post that I'm working on a longer item about some of the ideas Hansen puts forth, and, began working on it today.

Now and then, for brief moments, I think of some things I've never shared openly in the context of all this weirdness. These things are weird, sure, but that's not why I've hesitated to share them. I've never spoken of them publicly because it's just too embarrassing. I don't want to admit certain things. Yes, even me, thinking like this, imagine! We all do this, and in fact, because of this happening to me, I wonder just how many of these weird things go unsaid, due to our individual bias, values, and so on. A huge body of data remains hidden because of this. So earlier today,I started a blog just for that kind of stuff, and called it Octopus Confessional.

Then I visited Lesley's Debris Field blog. And found two links that shouted "Trickster!" in a loud voice: Octopus as Trickster, over on Richelle Hawks blog Beamships Equal Love, and Encounter with the Trickster, on Iggy Makarevich's What's All This, Then? blog.

I titled my new blog "Octopus Confessions" (instead of say, "elephant" confessions or some other animal adjective) because of the many-tentacled aspects of Fortean -- including UFOs -- phenomena. Here's what Richelle Hawks writes in her Octopus as Trickster post:

So, since the terms octopus and tentacles have been present in developing UFO rhetoric the last few months, I've been considering the deeper meaning/implications.

Yep, as have I. Great minds thinking alike :) Hawks goes on to say that the octopus she writes about (one that flooded a California aquarium) was referred to as a "trickster."


In Encounter with the Trickster, Iggy writes:

Many people have experienced things that beggar belief. Do you find yourself reluctant to talk about it with strangers? You would really rather not think about it, right? It makes you vaguely uneasy, even after all this time.

(Iggy notes that he wrote this in 2005, and it appeared in FATE in 2006, but decided to repost it at this time!)
The Octopus Trickster, indeed. Thousands of tentacles reaching out, connecting, grasping, and throwing back at us all the bits of strangeness. As Iggy says, of the trickster aspect:

As if to confound us, when a question is answered, ten more take its place.

---

Around the Orb

Trickster's Realm: Bigfoot and the "Kill/No Kill" Controversery
My new Trickster's Realm will be up tomorrow on Binnall of America. In this TR, I comment on the "Kill/No Kill" debate concerning Bigfoot. I take issue with both cryptid researcher Ken Gerhard, as well as Tim Binnall, who both suppoort a kill. Tim, to his credit, is happy to publish my thoughts on this issue, even though we disagree.

That said, the interview with Ken Gerhard was great, very interesting. As I write in the article, I was surprised that Gerhard supports the "paranormal" Bigfoot theory.


White Bigfoot and High Strangeness: The Conser Lake Creature

More Bigfoot stuff: I post a section from my book The Ghost in Conser Lake on Frame 352. You can also read it on Nick Redfern's Crypto Squad USA and the Oregon section on the L.O.W.F.I. site.

Paratopia: The Trickster and the Paranormal; George P. Hansen Guest
This was another good interview with one of my favorite authors on esoterica, Fortean stuff; George P. Hansen, author of The Trickster and the Paranormal. I've been quoting him for years, and I'm working on something now that I'll put up later here on the Orb. You can listen to the interview here; look for "episode 8."

The Other Blogs
Check out Women Of Esoterica, there's good stuff from several writers over there to keep you busy.

Synchronistic Linguistics and Twilight Language

I'm not sure what either one of them means; like other terms, such as exo-politics, disclosure, and post modernism, the definitions seem murky and ever shifting. But I like what I think I think those terms mean. Anyone out there who wants to educate me on these terms -- synchrnonistic linguistics, twilight language -- feel free. I know Loren Coleman refers to twilight language a lot, but haven't figured out exactly what it is.

In the meantime, I found the following article on the Paranoia Magazine site: Synchronistic Linguistics in The Matrix; Or How Bob Dobbs Became the Tetrad Manager, by Robert Guffey.

I do know I've been fascinated by juxtapositions and images as language for many years. Patterns, comparisons, startlingly little items that seemingly have nothing to do with each other and yet, for whatever reason, I see a connection. Or a . . . something. Maybe it's just the Fortean inclined mind.

Open Up

I commented in my earlier post about something Stanton Friedman said in the interview with Tim Binnall: that UFOlogists shouldn't be embarrassed, and should stop being apologists for the UFO phenomena, even while studying it. I embrace this idea, even though I've been an apologist myself, and embarrassed, as to my telepathic New Agey side. Oh well, but there it is. It's true, it's me, there you go. I'd be a liar to pretend otherwise, and what do I care about smarmy self-appointed UFO authoritarian stuffed shirts who might make fun? Nothing I can do about the reactions of others. So I'll crunch my crystals all I like, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, all that aside, I understand some of the need to disassociate oneself from some aspects of the UFO phenomena. Under an often well meaning but misguided sense of credibility, many believe they need to slough off the gaudy, the loud, the silly, the weird, the uncomfortable. The logical thinking goes like this: "UFOlogy has enough problems being taken seriously, we can't afford such nonsense." Sounds quite sensible.

Just below the surface we find it isn't sensible at all. The UFO question isn't taken seriously at all by the infrastructure; never has, never will. At least, that's how it appears. It's because it's actually taken extremely seriously that they work very hard at giving the impression the opposite is the case. If that sounds like frustraintg gibberish, I'll agree it's frustrating, but it isn't gibberish. It's to be expected. That Trickster element is the swirling crazy making thing that it is, and yet, there are so many UFO researchers, pundits, investigators, etc. that don't get this. And as long as they continue to ignore the fact this Trickster trait is an innate part of the UFO phenomena, we'll remain stuck.

Not that we'll ever become completely unstuck. But is that the point anyway? To get the Big Question Finally Answered? Narrowly focused on a few minute details, some UFOlogists don't have patience or time to look around. They're missing a lot. Others say "Well, I did look, and it was fun/interesting/weird, but so what. It entertained, but didn't give The Golden Answer to the UFO Problem." Maybe that's part of the problem; seeing it as a "problem." Whether it's seen as a problem or a mystery, it's still full of contradictions, manipulations, high strangeness, and so much more. Expecting to get at the truth by excising the parts not understood or liked is pathological.

Others see themselves as doing some sort of service to "UFOlogy" -- attacking others, insulting, trotting out various witnesses or researchers and ripping them a new one. And these are the ones who accept that UFOs are a reality. With friends like that who needs a Shermer, Mcgaha or Nye? "But we need to be critical!" is the logical response. Yes, but unless one has proof, and I mean solid, real, actual, and legal proof that someone is a fraud, or a liar, it's a dangerous game to play. Libel and slander aren't far off. The rest is just bullying; being a big fat poopy-head simply because you can. Wow, good for you.

Along with all this: the Trickster element, the gaudy, weird, even embarrassing, the uncomfortable, is that "the UFO phenomena" includes us. "UFOlogy" isn't just the thing seen in the sky. We're also a part of the thing we call UFOlogy, or The UFO Phenomena . . . we are not separate from it. We are not objective, we are not immune, we do not stand outside while commenting on what goes on, we're in it. The very moment we decided to get involved, for whatever reason, we became a part of "ufology" just as much as all the rest of it. Some like to parse these things, labeling the various elements and rating them; dividing the players into inside or outside, liars or weirdos. . . doesn't matter. We're still all in it.

Instead of being combative and defensive while at the same time obsequious by whimpering at the infrastructure (government disclosure movement, academia, skeptoids, big science, religious institutions. . .) we need to relax. I don't mean relax standards or critical thinking, but relax so we can think. Think bigger, deeper, more openly. Consider. Open ourselves to more. To other.

We can't do that if we have our dukes up all the time.

From Church of UFOlogy: SYNCHRONICITY!

(image source: Crowded Skies.com; image color manipulated by me.)

A green glow while hunting, that psychic feeling, and synchronicity.

From the Church of UFOlogy, a story about green glows, ufos, and that psychic feeling that "they" know you know they're there.

Two hunters, one who had seen strange green glows coming from below the bluff he was camping at, see the glow again. The first time the hunter saw the glow from his sleeping bag, he was "too tired" to investigate. This strange apathy is common in UFO reports. (I'm reminded of a story a couple I knew about ten years ago told me. Camping in Colorado, they saw a green glow, also in a depression. They investigated, saw a disk shaped craft on the ground, with portholes. They saw beings behind the windows, and some with wands with green glowing tips. The couple acknowledged how strange it was but instead of calling the sheriff, or alerting others, they calmly went back to their tent and went to sleep.) With his hunting partner, they go to look, and see landed ufos, with "men" around them:

At this point I woke my partner up. He became hysterical and wanted to leave. I asked him to control himself for a moment while I looked through the binoculars. As I watched I had the uncanny feeling that the "men" were well aware of my observing them.

The two hunters become hysterical, after witnessing a lot of weirdness, and get the hell out of there. They find a strange object with an insignia that beeps (there's that beeping sound again) and his partner picks it up. Later, one of the hunters has a strange experience on the bus:

Later in Seattle, while riding on a bus, a man sat down beside me wearing a ring that was an exact duplicate of the insignia. His hair was brown and his fingers seemed to be a little long, but other than that, you would never have been able to detect he was other than a human. When I saw the ring my hair stood on end. He got off at a bus stop and I never saw him again. I felt like he was aware that I was "tuned" into who he might be.

The story gets much, much stranger, with elements of MIBS, spooks, psy-ops, contactee stuff,crime, covert head games, and just general flying saucer high strangeness. Definitely worth reading.

Is it true, is part of it true, . . . is part B a screen memory for part A . . . who knows. Does it matter?

George Knapp on Binnall of America

If you haven't listened to Tim Binnall's interview with George Knapp, be sure to do so! It's a great interview; Knapp, as always, is just so direct and level headed and clear, as well as knowledgeable, about UFOs.

Personally, I agree with what he says about disclosure and exo-politics, -- and I also like the way he phrased his opinions. No need to be rude or sneer while disagreeing; like Knapp, I say, if you're sincere go for it, whatever your path.

I also enjoyed hearing Knapp's words about the Skinwalker ranch, and his hints that the UFO phenomena shares a lot more than some want to admit with so many other paranormal, Fortean phenomena.

You can listen to the interview on Binnall of America.

Quote of the Day

The Regan Lees, Frank Warrens, Don Ledgers, Moulton Howes, Steven Greers, Chris Rutkowskis, et al. are the UFO proletariat; they don’t count or matter. ~ UFO Provocateur(s)

Heh. Hey, I made it first on the list! Hooray for me.

Proletariat: pro·le·tar·i·at (prl-târ-t)
n.
1.
a. The class of industrial wage earners who, possessing neither capital nor production means, must earn their living by selling their labor.
b. The poorest class of working people.
2. The propertyless class of ancient Rome, constituting the lowest class of citizens.


All their other nonsense aside, they sure are a snooty bunch, aren't they?

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.

George P. Hansen: Return of the Trickster

Podcast with George P. Hansen, author of The Trickster and the Paranormal. See: Return of the Trickster.

Psi, the paranormal, and the supernatural are fundamentally linked to destructuring, change, transition, disorder, marginality, the ephemeral, fluidity, ambiguity, and blurring of boundaries. In contrast, the phenomena are repressed or excluded with order, structure, routine, stasis, regularity, precision, rigidity, and clear demarcation.

Understanding the role and nature of the Trickster is fundamental to understanding the paranormal.

I'll second that!

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.

The Almost Sphere, and Update from Portland, OR

Almost . . .
As we were leaving our house this evening to go to dinner (mmmm, birthday sushi!) I looked up at the heavily chemtrailed sky above me. And was a bit startled, because of the timing in the recent posts on the trials, to see an orange orb moving across the sky. I asked my husband if he saw it; not at first, but after a few moments he did. We watched it; an opaque darkish rust colored kind of orange making its way towards us, going over our heads, our house. . . and then we realized. It was a balloon. Still, a brief moment of slightly spooky synchronicity -- and the trickster laughing at the joke.

Update From Cindy PDX
On another note, read the recent comment from Cindy PDX, who lives in the Portland, Oregon area, and has been observing the heavy chemtrail activity there:

Regan, This is not a very good video, but wanted to show what I tried to tape on Oct 31st 2007 regarding purposely made CIRCLE / loopy contrails over SE Portland, Oregon.
I've lived here all my life, and NEVER have I seen so many loopy loops, circles and curved contrails - in a 2 hour time frame. I posted more info about the event on BoT under the UFO topic under the thread called : "Chemtrails - full force Again".

I uploaded this video on DailyMotion HERE
as well as on Youtube HERE

Someone saw my vid and sent me an email saying HE SAW THE SAME THING going on in SEASIDE, OR the same day! I thought it was the day before but he saw it the same day!

**sorry for the few cuss words in the video, but I was really shocked about what I was watching**

Mind you I live VERY close to PDX Airport - so I am positive this was not some Air show. And these were not caused by the wind because I caught them in the ACT of making them. They were either lost, wasting gas, or SPRAYING US.

To top that off, TODAY, Nov 3rd 2007 while outside in my yard, I see a few contrails in a straight path against the brilliant blue sky. However, some contrails made "X's" and I'll be d@mned! I watched / observed yet another WHITE SMALL SPHERE hovering above the one X contrail for close to 20 minutes! I could see it with my eyes, and found it in the binoculars, but only caught a few frames of it on video. It doesn't prove much but at least I know I was not seeing things. AND to top things off this white sphere was VERY similar to the TWO Spheres I watched for close to 30 minutes back on May 30 2007.

If you blink, you could lose sight of it or you may find it suddenly in a different spot within a blink of an eye. They hover and are very still. I rarely see them move - I see clouds or contrails move along but NOT these spheres.
They can go so easily undetected - I said it before, and I'll say it again.. they are VERY elusive lil' buggers! What they are, I have NO clue. Are they OURS or THEIRS?

That last question: ours or theirs -- is a good one. Who is “theirs” anyway? Like the black triangles, chemtrials are a mystery all right. The logical and rational answer is that they’re “ours.” Even so, there are some strange things that don’t add up. Both are global phenomena, both seem to defy known technologies, etc., there’s a large human force behind the manipulation of these events, air space legalities and human subject laws are at issue; all just for starters. None of these things negates the likelihood that they’re “ours” but it makes it all that much stranger.

Here are the links Cindy PDX mentions in her post:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3csq1_wth-are-they-spraying-oct-31-2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxnyr9SeZ-4

I’ve seen these circular ones as well; not very often, but I have seen them. Also ones that are “elbowed,” X’s, etc.

West Coast Chemtrails Forum
There’s a forum dedicated to chemtrail activity on the West Coast (and everywhere) on Yahoo. It’s actually one I started a few years ago but turned it over to a new moderator, “mirakulu” who is doing a very good job. Lots of activity over there. The link is on the menu on your right; look for Yahoo forums, West Coast Chemtrails.

Jesters and clowns, priests and kings

Kings/Priests are Jesters/Clowns by Alfred Lehmberg of Alien View. (Alfred also writes a column for UFO Magazine each month.)It's a great piece, as most all his are. Here are two quotes from the post that resonated for me:
And it's not just a murmur of pique from some whacko, my interests sane, they are cited -- they're shared! The challenges challenged remain SO unchallenged; it's an ominous silence, and we should beware!

Tell me I'm crazy, a certified loony to have studied the things that I do -- as I have. Tell me the saucers that show up (so plainly) will only show up in a head that's gone bad.

Ideas

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.—Aristotle

I lifted this quote from Lisa Shiel's Bigfoot Quest blog. I like this quote, and think it's important in any area,includng the UFO and esoteric realm. How else are we to get anywhere if we don't allow ourselves to consider other ideas, perspectives?

Along these lines (well, to me, after all I'm a Pisces so I think a bit off kilter) is what Tim Binnall said in his interview on the Blue Rose Report podcast recently. He said, of UFO studies and theories and choosing a "side" to be on, that:
"There aren't any sides, it's a circle." I probably have that wrong, but that's the gist.

I can delve into Reptilians and Nazi gnomes living inside the earth without literally "believing" in such things. Or explore the Contactee movement without believing that Adamski, Fry, etc. really rode in a spaceship to Venus, or over the United States. That's not to say they were lying - and here's where this idea of entertaining ideas comes in. It's not always such an easy dichotomy when it comes to this arena: either or, black white, literal or not, etc.

So many are still stuck on nuts and bolts vs. the mystical, the ETH vs. anything else. Roswell as the great answer to the puzzle.

Speaking of Roswell (I know,I'm sorry) there are those who expect the answer as a salvation to the UFO enigma, and those who believe that, since Roswell is "dead" all of UFOlogy are dead. More of that either or stuff.

Binnall, in his interview, also stressed the importance of getting the views of international UFO researchers. Lesley (Debris Field, Beyond the Dial, Grey Matters) has done a lot towards gathering international research resources for our benefit. U.S. research and studies in this context needs the perspective of not only international researchers but multi cultural and minority researchers from within the states as well.

At the risk of sounding annoyingly multicultural p.c., I'll say it anyway: the views about UFOs and the paranormal our society has as a whole are held and supported (controlled) by the white dominant paradigm. (As is everything.) When it comes to the paranormal, to UFOs, to the weird in general, our infrastructure does its job: denies, and decompartmentalizes.

Most of this is a given in any culture, and due to the Trickster at work. Divide, invert, juxtapose, hide. And expecting it all to change suddenly because we've now included other views is like the naive expectations of the exopolitics people.

But it can't hurt. Anyway, what's the goal here? To change "them," or to change us?

Vivacious exchange of information and ideas doesn't mean, or guarantee, agreement. That's not the point. It might turn out I think a particular culture's mindset regarding UFOs is ridiculous, or pig headed, or weird. So what?

As the man said, we can entertain these ideas without accepting them. At least we've been exposed to new views.

Yulish on “Demonic” “Trickster”

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece on Mary as a Trickster for UFO Digest.

(Speculation on Mary as a Trickster.) What I pondered was: can we consider Marian apparitions not strictly as a religious figure, (and certainly not literally) but as a female Trickster? Stephen Yulish responded on UFO Digest with a piece of his own; he wrote:

Many Apparitions of Mary may be Tricksters but the Real Mary was not!

He and I seem to agree, kind of sort of, on the Trickster aspect, but for the wrong reasons. For example, Yulish writes:

Regan Lee's August 6 article in UFO Digest, "Speculation on Mary as a Trickster" was most fascinating. I would tend to agree with her that many if not all of the apparitions of Mary whether they are on a barn or on a tortilla or in the skies above Lourdes, are examples of tricksters, or what I would call demonic manifestations.

I have never said or suggested the Trickster is “demonic” and I don’t ever consider the Trickster in that context. Yulish, however does. So in that sense, he has misrepresented what I’ve written. Yes, I think Marian Apparitions are a Trickster like phenomenon, but never “demonic.”

This misrepresentation isn’t personal however. It’s caused by his world view, which is a religious one. Yulish considers UFOs “demonic manifestations of fallen angels sent here to deceive people.”

Yulish is correct when he writes “The Catholic Church in it's exuberance to win over native people's often incorporated pre Christian symbols and practices.” He continues that Mary couldn’t forgive sins, that she wasn’t a “saver of souls.” That may be, that’s religious doctrine, and I’m not concerned with that as much. My focus was on the image of Mary and within a paranormal context.

Yulish thinks that at a certain point later on, he “separates” from my views. I say that he’s “separated” much earlier, given his “demonic” viewpoint:

In my mind, these are examples of Ms.Lee's trickster motif. By "tricking" people into believing that Mary can save people or forgive their sins, they are kept from the truth that only Jesus can do these things. To associate these false apparitional tricksters with UFO sightings makes my case that both manifestations are demonic delusions to lead people from the truth.

He agrees, as I said “kind of sort of,” but I can’t agree, for Yulish is coming from a pronounced religious point of view. I don’t think for two seconds “only Jesus can do these things” for I don’t believe in Jesus as a divine being. Nor do I think the Trickster apparitions are “false” in the sense he means, nor “demonic.”

Yulish separates himself from me here:

Where I seem to separate myself from Ms. Lee is in her statement that Mary was not a virgin and might have been impregnated by an angel etc. Scripture is clear that the real Mary was a nice Jewish, virgin girl who found favor with God (Luke 1:27-35) and was immaculately infused by the Holy Spirit (God) not by an angel. The angel just told her what was happening.

Well, we’re just going around in circles. Scripture makes it clear, yes. Christian scripture. That don’t make it so. And this is the point his entire disagreement hinges on: he’s coming from, at all times, a Christian bias, whereas I am not.

One believes what they believe, and if Yulish believes in his version of a religion, in this case Christianity, fine. But he is in error in believing I think the Trickster is “demonic,” etc. for I do not.

The Trickster and the Paranormal

George P. Hansen has new posts at his Paranormal Trickster blog.

And, you're welcome to join the Yahoo group The Trickster and the Paranormal, inspired by Hansen's book of the same name.

OrangeOrb Sunday Round-UP

Quote of the Day:
I'm compelled to my expression -- I call it a provoked obsession. ~ Alfred Lehmberg.

Speaking of Lehmberg, his blog is An Alien View. He also writes a column for UFO Magazine.

Paranormal Smackdown
My item ‘Paranormal Smackdown’ generated a lot of comments. Also over on The Daily Grail.

While my two cents (and that’s all it is, fine people, my two cents, just opinion and speculation) is that Whitley’s interpretation of “the visitors” is heavily influenced by his Catholicism. That’s my take on it; but others disagree. And while I have my opinion, I want to make it clear that that’s all any of us have. It’s easy to play armchair psychologist and comment on other’s interpretations and experiences. Some of us, myself included, can’t help ourselves, because we’re in the same boat as the person we’re commenting on. We’ve had our own experiences. We’re all just trying to figure it out.

Paranormal Meet: New Blog Site
The Paranormal Meet seems to be going strong; new members join every day. It’s good for those of us with established blogs, as well as those who might be shy or unsure about blogging.

Jacques Vallee on C2C!
Monday night Jacques Vallee will be the guest on Coast to Coast. This is such exciting news, I’m going to . If Noory is the host, well, it’s kind of like Jay Leno interviewing ... well, anyone. God help us. But I’ll listen anyway of course.

Various Items
Pieces that went up in the past couple of weeks, in case you missed them:
Trickster’s Realm on Binnall of America on weirdness on the Oregon coast. Look for my new column that should be up sometime on Monday on Glowing Bird Theory.

My thoughts on faeries and other entities on UFO Digest: When Entities Collide.

Still obsessed with parsing UFOlogical terms on American Chronicle: What is a Real UFO?

Vote, Fave, Join, Promote

Don’t be shy. Click on any of the green and white “Technorati” buttons on your right and make The OrangeOrb one of your “favorite” blogs.

There are also a few Yahoo groups you can join: if you have a UFO blog or site, you can promote it at UFO Blog Listings. If you’re interested in discussing aspects of Trickster behavior, join Trickster and the Paranormal. And if you live in the Pacific Northwest, or even if you don’t, you can discuss paranormal, UFO and Fortean topics in Oregon Forteana. The Yahoo buttons on the side bar on your right will take you there.

And just for silly fun, you can vote for the OrangeOrb as being the best pop culture blog, “freakiest blog” or “blog about stuff.”

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.