Updated: Missing Time DreamTiny UFO Synchronicities of the Day

Posted below yesterday. Last night, had a disturbing dream of being at work; but I was late in returning from lunch. Three hours late. In the dream, I had absolutely no memory of what had happened. I didn't know where I was during those three hours. I told co-workers I was very concerned, missing time -- scary! Was I losing my mind? Slowly, other co-workers came forward, to say they too had had missing time in the past day or two. They did not know where they had been, what happened. Someone mentioned "aliens" and we all fell silent. No one wanted to open up that can of worms. None of us solved the mystery of the missing time.

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Nothing much, but the ever attuned mystic-synchro mind couldn't help but note that today:

     Woke up with a nosebleed. Me, at 64. Used to get them all the time when I was a child. But now?
     Nothing so sinister, alien wise. Far more likely that the nosebleed had to do with allergies. Which are really bad, worse than usual, in the "Valley of Sickness" here in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. And in fact, a co-worker had a nosebleed recently, as well as a fifth grader. This morning's local paper even had an article on the bad allergy laden air around these parts.


     Chatting with a co-worker on the way in this morning; we mentioned our sleep and dream patterns, etc. and she says "I've had dreams about aliens, but they're just dreams. At least I tell myself that." (paraphrasing.) So I of course say "Are you sure they're just dreams?" and "How do you know?" (they're just dreams.) I tell her we have to talk; she tells me she's not sure she believes in aliens, and yet, but, . . . I tell her about how "I'm all about that stuff!" and she seemed interested.

     Late this afternoon, my spouse mentions the Monk episode of the UFO. As much as we are fond of that show, when it came to UFOs, oh, it's sad. Typical take on the tin foil hat wearing joke heads who "believe" in UFOs. And oh, yes, the "UFO" turned out not to be a UFO at all, of course. Because there are not such things.

"Boring" UFO Tales: Some Kind of Other

And by "tales" I do not mean lies or fiction, but narratives, stories, witness reports. All right. Let's take the Rendlesham case. Oh hell, let's take a whole lot of UFO cases, where one take on those cases is -- there's no there there. They weren't space brothers, inner earth dwellers, flying fairy carriages, or anything supernatural. Okay. But they were something. Let's agree that they weren't any of those things. But again; they were something. 

Discarding the debunker explanations: owls, hallucinations, mistaken whatevers, the uneducated masses misinterpreting mundane events, we're left with pretty much two categories. One, the supernatural-paranormal-metaphysical weirdness realm (which includes ET.) Or, two, the something else that is not that, including debunker-ville's dismissive materialist and blithe responses.

Which leaves us, concerning strange machine-craft emitting often harmful effects upon humans and animals, with the very likely cause of man made objects. That is almost no less frightening and interesting as ET, etc.

The idea that we, ourselves, operate so covertly and illegally with black projects that cause anxiety, panic, hysteria, confusion, illness, mind-fuckness, job loss, relationship havoc and culture chaos is pretty damn horrible. Unfortunately, it is  not a fantastic idea; it is actually very possible.

This possibility (which is actually a reality) should be addressed with at least as much intensity as aliens from space UFOs, and a hell of a lot more outrage.

Instead, there are the naive ones who ignore this idea, still -- still, even after the bizzaro-falling-waaaaaaay-down-the-rabbit-hole reality of Trump as our POTUS -- that don't consider our, or any government, capable of such things. Or, worse, that this is a reality, but, shrug, ain't no big deal.

It's a huge fucking deal.

Keep in mind, too, that it's not an either or situation. UFOs are not all only one thing. They're often mistaken every day events, they're also from other realms, and they're also ours. That latter does not make UFOs hum drum; exactly the opposite.

Wake up. The ones that are ours are often the most dangerous. And that is worth investigating, whether it's seventy years ago, thirty years ago, or yesterday.

Seth Shostak:The Great UFO Debate

By way of Alfred Lehmberg (where I followed this link) who offers his own excellent commentary on the musings of Seth Shostak, we have the . . .

  The Great UFO Debate: "The good news is that polls continue to show that between one and two-thirds of the public thinks that extraterrestrial life exists. The weird news is that a similar fraction thinks that some of it is visiting Earth."(Seth Shostak)

The "weird news?" Why so? Shostak's thing has always been that the reality of ET is quite reasonable, just out there, not anywhere near here.

Shostak writes that "…recent television shows" depict aliens landing and doing all kinds of things to our planet and its inhabitants:

". . . alien craft are violating our air space, occasionally touching down long enough to allow their crews to conduct bizarre (and, in most states, illegal) experiments on hapless citizens."  (Shostak)

Mr. Shostak dahling, do you really think aliens give a hoot about the legalities concerning abductions and what not?! (Now, an interesting angle here -- one whose entertaining of thought eludes practically all skeptics and some, even, UFO researchers, is that many of the alien/UFO episodes are conducted staged by our own.)

And then there's paragraphs about lights, sightings, atmospheric conditions…all mistaken for UFOs and not proof of ET. Which, I will concede, is sometimes true. But that is not the issue here and I suspect that Seth Shostak knows this. The following -- in which Shostak refers to aliens who "melon-ball" human flesh, illustrates my point:

"What about those folks who have experienced alien beings first-hand? Abduction stories are an entirely separate field of study and one which I won't address here . . . "

Why won't you deal with abductions Mr. Shostak? What skeptics and debunkers consistently ignore, or, just don't get, is that you can't have one without the other. I don't mean to say that all encounters with strange beings are aliens-from-outer-space encounters, or that all UFO encounters include abductions. But many UFO encounters do include abductions, as well as missing time and a long list of weirdness. You can't look at one piece of this puzzle and decide on its solution while ignoring the rest of the scene.

The fact that we don't know where UFOs originate -- as if all UFOs should or do originate from the same source -- doesn't make this fact "goofy" as Shostak says. Again, he ignores the vastly intriguing array of possibilities. To Shostak, the ET question is a simple one with a simple answer. Black, white, either, or, this not that, and that's all there is.

Finally, we have the predictable and highly disingenuous comments from Shokstak. The first is his regurgitation of the skeptic cliche that the witnesses need to provide proof, not the other way around:

"The burden of proof is on those making the claims, not those who find the data dubious."

And here:

"If there are investigators who are convinced that craft from other worlds are buzzing ours, then they should present the absolute best evidence they have, and not resort to explanations that appeal to conspiratorial cover-ups or the failure of others to be open to the idea."

Well, many a researcher and witness do provide what they have, what they know, what they've seen. I can only report on what I saw, no matter how odd, and what I've experienced. Missing time? Sorry, I don't have any proof, which is not the same as evidence, which I also do not have; not even much on theories about what or why. Just that it did. (At least twice.) Sure, someone could have slipped me a mickey, or something was glitchy in my brain… then again, if the latter, that would have to be true for the other witness who was with me -- both times. And who also has had his own life long experiences of the UFO kind. Shostak doesn't consider these contexts, these connections of experience.

So all I can do, all any witness can do, is report what happened. And the honest researcher or collector of lore has to include it all and look at it all. Shostak does not. He is  stuck on his belief that ET is possible, and alive in space, while concurrently holding the opinion that no such thing is possible here on earth.

Instead of deciding before the fact what will be considered and what won't, participants in this quest need to work together. Don't tell me missing time was imaginary, or that someone slipped me a mickey. Look at the history of my experience in context of the phenomena. 

Gatekeepers: On Whose Authority?

UFO Gatekeepers. They come from all sides; uber-skeptics, debunkers, as well as those who believe, but insist on scientific approaches to exploring all that is UFO. The Gatekeepers wrangle one tentacle of the UFO Kraken, ignoring the rest -- even while it strangles them -- rejecting the elements that annoy them.

They decide who gets to, what methods, which cases.

On what authority?!

There is none.

James Mcgaha, uber-debunker, asks UFO witness if "she's qualified to look at the sky"

There is no UFO Authority, no matter how desperately some want there to be. There is no Official Method, case, researcher, witness, spokesperson.

No one is more, or less, qualified than anyone one else in this realm.

As soon as someone starts spouting off a need for standards: academic, scientific, "legitimate" cases, etc. I do not take them seriously.

Honesty is expected, at all times. That's about all we should expect. Sincere desire to explore, to share, to research, while holding the ball of integrity.

Other than that, the rest is a form of bullying. Self-righteous and arrogant demands to join, if you don't, then you're not honest, sincere and legitimate.

Jeffrey J. Kripal

Last night's Coast to Coast was excellent. First of all, George Knapp was the host, and he is, as always,  an enjoyable host; smart, reads the material, asks great questions, really listens to the guests. The guest last night was author Jefferey J. Kripal of Rice University. Now, I haven't yet read any of his books, but I do remember when Monsters and Mystics came out, thinking: "I want to read this!" Now of course I am adding his works to my list of books I must read.

Anyone who references, as Kripal did last night, George P. Hansen's  important book The Trickster and the Paranormal with insight and respect demands to be read.

Paraphrasing, and probably badly, a couple of Kripal's points: the way the term paranormal came to replace the term supernatural, and his opinion (one I share) that the sciences for the most part are easier than humanities. Humanities get the bad rap (I studied folklore, I know) but you know, 1 + 1  = 2, and you're either "right" or "wrong" in deconstructing Joyce (depending on the whims of the prof) or defending your philosophical take on what-I-would-do-as-the-only-woman-in-the-class "moral" dilemma presented to us regarding saving family members during a tornado. (Me: I'm "morally bankrupt", according to the barley able to stand upright for more than five minutes philosophy professor. He was so old he knew Noah.)

Kripal isn't just about the humanities and comparative religions, but has had his own experiences that most academics do not discuss, and this includes UFOs. His take on that subject is one I've been harping on for years as well. We'll never get to the scientific answer, because there isn't any. Throwing the UFO realm at the hard sciences -- and those residents of UFO Land who believe UFOlogy should become more "scientific" -- so woefully miss the whole point.

Prof. Jeffrey Kripal of Rice University discussed comparative religions and various aspects of the paranormal. In a sense, the study of religion is more difficult than the sciences because religious experience is difficult to quantify, and challenges people's deepest values and world views, he noted. When people compare religions in a rigorous manner, they recognize that their own world view is filled with certain gaps, he revealed. The ancient Greeks used to send out scouts to foreign cities or countries to study religious spectacles, and they were often changed by what they'd seen. (Coast to Coast)

Anyway. Jeffrey Kripal. Try to listen to the archived interview if you can.

Mike Bara, Debunkers

Very much enjoyed last night's Coast to Coast interview with author of Ancient Aliens on the Moon, blogger, and Moon/Mars artifact investigator. I managed to stay awake for the whole interview for once, since I've had a few sleepless nights due to some Fall cold-crud keeping me awake. Naturally, I particularly appreciated Bara's telling it like it is with the debunkers and so-called "skeptics." One who even -- as I saw him running to the phone and dialing in my mind's eye as soon as Bara mentioned him by name -- managed to call in. And, in typical debunker faux skeptic mode, danced around the question -- the same question he put to Bara -- refusing to answer. What annoyed me about Noory, as is his style, was his insistence that, paraphrasing here, "we all have the right to our opinions." Yes well, that's a given, let's move on and deal with the real issue. And stop pandering and appeasing to these little debunker drones who persist in distracting from actually investigating and researching the UFO phenomena.

The 'Goalpost' Paradigm

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

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

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

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

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

It must come sometime to jam today, Alice objected

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

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

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

Just in Case, Rule Forty-Two

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

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

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

A Favorite UFO/Fortean Event: The Kentucky Goblins

A favorite anomalous event, one that remains a mystery more than fifty-five years later. That is the Kentucky, or Hopkinsville "goblins." Small, alien looking creatures terrified the Sutton family in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1955. Shots were fired, the sheriff notified. No one has resolved the mystery, though of course there are dozens of theories. And of course, the skepti-bunkies will tell you they've solved it long ago. (See debunker Joe Nickell's --"Mr. Owl" -- theory here.)

Were the Kentucky goblins aliens from outer space? Owls? Drunken, paranoid hallucinations? Elves? Inner earth entities? Two recent articles discuss this classic case.


Greg Newkirk at Who Forted? wonders if these beings haven't returned:Have the Kentucky Goblins Returned? Exclusive Photos! | Who Forted? Magazine Newkirk shares an email he received about strange creatures in the Kentucky/West Virginia area. Strange creatures that, the writer comments, seem to be coming from an "abandoned mine located on the edge of my property." Another email, more details, and... the strange path leading to the origin of a name. And, there are photos!

Newkirk asks the right questions. I empathize with his curiosity combined with skepticism. (I too have been contacted at times with tales of strange sightings and weird beings, but you always wonder if the person is honest, on crack, or what. The anomalous explorer wants it so much to be something to explore, and yet. . .) I think the first photo of the alleged being is outright fakery but really that's beside the point. In the true Fortean mileau, it doesn't matter.

Micah Hanks considers the Hopkinsville goblins as being of inner earth, and gives us more background on the original event:The Goblin's Grimoirie: Hopkinsville Reprised, or the Hollow Earth? Hanks references Newkirk's article and wonders if the beings weren't from innter earth after all.

Abandoned mines as homes for strange beings -- including Sasquatch -- a theory that has been discussed before. Wm. Micheal Mott wrote about beings living inside the earth in his classic Caverns, Cauldrons, and Concealed Creatures.

 

(Photo: Ivan T. Sanderson with goblin replica. Soure: http://www.johnkeel.com/?m=201204)

The Kentucky Hopkinsville goblins are often associated with UFOs; thought of to be aliens. There are similarities to the "greys" after all. (Assuming the greys are aliens as well.) But then we have other enticing ideas about what these "goblins" might be. Not from outer space, but inner earth. There's an idea these beings are aliens from space but also of the earth; entities of both realms. The Hopi tradition speaks of the ant people, who now live underground, but came from the skies originally. Descriptions of the ant people parallel the grays, and, the Kentucky goblins.

Here's an interesting explanation of the origin of the word "goblin" which contains a reference to mines:

Standard scholarship holds that English took goblin from the French gobelin. The problem with Goblin this is that, while Middle English had the word goblin as early as 1320, there is no record of the French word gobelin until the 16th century. Interestingly, a 12th century cleric called Ordericus Vitalis mentions Gobelinus as the name of a spirit which haunted the neighbourhood of Évreux. It is possible that gobelin evolved from the ancient Greek kobalos "rogue, knave", via the Medieval Latin cobalus. If so, it is related to the German kobold, and hence to the name of the metal cobalt.

German silver miners (that's German miners of silver, not miners of "German silver") named cobalt after the kobold, a "goblin or demon of the mines" as it was not only worthless but caused sickness. Nickel (a German name for "the devil") has a similar origin.
~ Source: Take Our Word for It.

Whether or not Greg Newkirk's contact was telling the truth or playing trickster, the idea itself is a valid one. Many traditions tell of entities that live inside the earth. It is possible the goblins seen that August night in 1955 in Kentucky were indeed inner earth dwellers.

Keening Boxes: In Case I've Been Misunderstood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

Grass Roots Welcome Committee

The latest scandal in UFO Land -- Phil Imbrogno's lies about his academic and service background -- is still being discussed. I'm not supporting Imbrogno's lies, nor defending him for doing so. His ideas about things UFO -ish are still interesting, and, while not new, still worth exploring. I had respect for Imbrogno and am sorry this happened. But, it does seem clear it did happen. Which made me wonder: why would someone feel the need to lie about his or her background, when it comes to UFOlogy? Phil Imbrogno isn't the first person to have been exposed for lying about his credentials, and realistically speaking, he probably won't be the last. Yet, why do some people feel they need to lie, in the context of UFOs?

UFO culture is a grass roots culture. Anyone --- despite the UFO Police and snarky researchers who dismiss whatever, or whoever, they don't agree with -- can live in UFO Land. (Well, except scofftics.) Anyone. It doesnt' matter if you have degrees or not, or what those degrees are in. Degrees do not denote intelligence; oh, they point to a specific type and tell us the degreed person has focus and perseverance in order to receive that degree. Don't misunderstand me, I am not "anti degree" and I have one myself. [Sidebar: full disclosure in case anyone tries to out little ol' me: I have an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Ed, a Bachelor's in English lit with an emphasis on Folklore, a Certificate in Ethnic Studies and Folklore, and two years of grad school. ] Does this make any more or less qualified than anyone else? Nope. Not a damn bit. I'm intelligent if discussing Beat poetry or folkloric applications but a goddamn dummy when it comes to math, business or 12th century military history.

So why do some feel the need to lie or exaggerate in context of UFO research? I have a theory. Ahem.

It's the damn debunker skeptoids. As well as those within UFOlogy, many of whom are in the UFO Police camp, who drone on about being "scientific" and academic and all kinds of -ics. No, I'm not implying science is useless, of course it isn't. We need it all in UFOlogy. But because someone holds a degree in the sciences, or at the least, in academia, does not make them any more qualified in any way to research UFOs. Not one damn bit.

In this culture we place a lot of esteem onto those who have college degrees. We automatically think they're smarter and better than the rest of us. Studying UFOs is a fringe thing to do, a kooky, silly thing to do. You're not serious or smart if you consider UFOs to be anything more than a curiosity. (I know, some co-workers and acquaintances think I'm not as smart as they thought I was, once they find I'm "into" UFOs. Surely someone intelligent wouldn't waste their time...) Some think that having a degree gives a little bit of legitimacy to an illegitimate field.

But there's no need. No need to lie about your background, whatever it is. As long as you're using your head, are truthful and honest and following your own voice, you can't go wrong. Despite what some others might say to you about that, the research and the work will stand on its own. And that's all you need.

The USSR Cause for Roswell? - Muddled Disclosures

Supposedly. Could be. In UFO World, anything is possible. Journalist Annie Jacobsen, author of Area 51, acknowledges there's definitely insidious and strange events going on in Area 51 and the UFO realm generally, but it's not aliens. (No, it could never be aliens.) Jacobsen and her book is currently making the mainstream circuit, including a recent appearance on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. I knew before she came on that Stewart, who I adore, would mock any hint of alien/UFO reality, since it seems to be an affliction of the majority of the liberal-left-hip to sneer at fringe subjects. He didn't disappoint.

Jacobsen's contention is that yes, weirdness abounds but it's not aliens. It's the USSR and Nazi experiments behind the Roswell crash. And so much more, but all of these strange events have been orchestrated by humans. ET has nothing to do it, nor cryptids or vortexes or magick or anything other than human Dr. Evils.

Jacobsen has interesting ideas about what on, but there's no proof. As is admitted by everyone, but that seems to be all right, for Jacobsen is a legitimate journalist and not some tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist:

Still, lack of proof hasn't exactly stopped the book from sparking speculation on the media circuit and on the Web. In the last day, Yahoo! searches skyrocketed 3,000 percent for "area 51 book." And the tome is penned not by a crackpot conspirator, but a respected journalist.

I'm impatient and cynical with this distracting crap, because it's muddled disinfo. (Which is probably an oxymoron.) Jacobsen's story gets attention, while all the other UFO stories, including abduction stories sans Nazi bastards-Dr. Evils-government experiments, continue to go utterly ignored, utterly mocked. Meanwhile, journalists, writers, researchers, scientists -- those "respected journalists" and the like --  who know nothing of the esoteric world yet decide to take a swim in the sparkling waters for a look-see are blind to what they consider nonsense. They come out with one small bit, show it off as the latest in theory, and happily go back to their rational worlds. Everyone thinks something groovy-weird has just been revealed, and all has been solved: including the "nonsense" of UFOs. Because, as has just been proven, no such things exist. It was really Russia, or Nazis, or ...

We're not done yet. The fact is, there very well could be some truth to these theories. Nick Redfern's book Bodysnatchers in the Desert  brought explored the idea of human experiments and manipulations as the cause for Roswell. MILABS are a very real possibility, and some UFO witnesses and researchers have been writing about this for a long time. Ironically, among UFO researchers, the MILAB "conspiracy" doesn't get much attention.

It's not that Jacobsen's story couldn't be true, or, some of it could be true...it's that once again, our attention from the reality of the UFO phenomena is trivialized and further pushed out to the edges. UFOs, the mainstream continues to insist, are entertaining and fun funny, but they're not real.

If Jacobsen's contentions somehow prove to be valid, (and/or Redfern's, etc.) that is horrifying, and the world needs to know. But what will happen in that event is that the many will accept that as the explanation for all of "it." Once again, we go back to clean dichotomies, something both the mainstream and many within UFOlgy are guilty of enacting.  It has to be this theory or that theory,  it's all aliens or it's all human psychopaths.

As I said, I'm impatient with this mainstream UFO denying stuff, but Nick Redfern has a calmer take on Jacobsen's book, giving us a bit of  background and data that is helpful, even if it does push us further down the rabbit hole. (Once you've fallen in, you just keep falling...:) You can read his review here.

"Leave Alien Abductions Out of UFOs..."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Can't Take It Files: Billy Ray and UFOs

I don't know what to say, except the non-poetic and unimaginative "what the fuck?!" -- I mean ... it's ... uh ... um... you can't make this up... Billy Ray Cyrus is going to host his own show on UFOs. Yes, UFOs! AND, he's gonna debunk 'em! Hold me back, please. . . I can't take it. The world's gone mad. But we knew that already.

Anyway, Lesley Gunter says it well on her Grey Matters column for BoA:Redneck Ufology & The Best Hair on TV

...what exactly gives them any expertise as Ufologists or skeptics? Are they going to have real experts on or are we suppose to rely on their opinion? Seriously, it is totally ridiculous. What the fuck was SyFy thinking? Were they trying to make UFOs into an even bigger joke than the rest of the media already treats them as? What is next - ghost hunting with Heidi Montag or maybe Bigfoot hunting with Celine Dion?

I love that; "Bigfoot hunting with Celine Dion."  In the deep woods of her beloved Canada, searching for the elusive Sasquatch. Maybe she can wear these while she's out there: (hat tip by the way also to Lesley, who posted about these psychotic and disturbing er, "shoes" on her  Totally Girlie Blog.)

Career Advice From Uber Skeptoids

Oh for crying out loud: Requirements to be a UFO investigator by way of the JREF.

Not at all unexpected but head bashingly annoying all the same. Here's what the OP wrote:

My 12 year old nephew wants to be a UFO investigator, he asked me what qualifications he needs

I told him

1, you need the ability to believe in something with no supporting evidence

2, you need the ability to ignore facts and evidence to the contrary while inventing a reason for doing so

3, you need the ability to not be a critical thinker

4, you need a tin foil hat

5. you need to have zero credibility from your peers

There are many comments, well, all comments, that follow which are the usual batch of pathological debunking/jokey crap, but this one really got me for its typical and cheap fall back onto classism:

All you need to be a UFO Investigator are:


- A single-wide trailer.
- Electrical service.
- A fridge full of beer.
- An internet connection.
- A five-year old computer.
- A ten-year old CRT monitor.


It's that third one that eliminates him from the profession -- you need to be 21 in most (all?) states. 6th-grade grammar and spelling skills are useful as well, but not necessary.

Triangle Manipulations

This is a pic of a drawing I did a few years ago of the giant triangle UFO I saw several years ago in Dexter, Oregon. I was just having fun with some computer manipulation of images. I did the little sketch in pastel crayon, than played around with the color, etc. on the computer.

The triangle sighting I've posted about before on-line; briefly, it goes like this:
Outdoors at a large gathering in a rural area in August; about five of us standing under a small tree, something, don't know what because there was no sound, made me look up and I saw the huge triangle. No lights, but the shape was definite, and blended in with the night sky. It was still light-ish, not yet totally dark. The triangle blocked out the stars, etc. so you could see a giant triangle shape of dark blue something, not sky, and the surrounding sky was a bit lighter, with stars, etc.

I told everyone with me to look up, they did. We made silly jokes about missing time and checked our watches (there wasn't any) and we just stood there, looking at it. We even commented that we should go tell people, but we couldn't move. Also, sound seemed muffled. Cris and Mark Bales, who had an incredible triangle sighting in Idaho and gave a great presentation on their sighting at the recent McMinnville UFO Fest, said that it was as if a giant blanket had been placed above them. That explains the feeling well.

The triangle left; it just zoomed/slid off, very fast, and very silently. How something so damn big can move so fast, and so quietly, ... very weird. As soon as the thing left, that ears stuffed with cotton ball feeling was gone, and we felt our normal selves again. That sense of apathy and physical sluggishness was gone.

We told others what we'd seen. Just about everyone thought it was interesting, the owners of the property were almost jaded, saying they see stuff like that "all the time around here."

One person was very rude; off the wall rude. He actually, literally made the "you're crazy" motion with his hands; I mean, who does that, as an adult? Then he made a comment about how much beer I'd had; when I told him I hadn't had any beer, since I was the driver, he then said I was smoking too much pot, or on something, for sure. No to all that as well. So then he just said I was lying. Okay, that's when I got pissed off and called him on his calling me a liar, which made him mad, and he walked off.

Anyway. The triangle sighting was different in many ways from other reports; it really wasn't visually as dramatic. It wasn't even black. And no lights. But it was still something else, indeed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Read about juicy McMinnville UFO-gossip here!

UFO Mania!

Trickster's Realm
I got my dates mixed up and didn't realize my Trickster's Realm column wasn't due 'til next week, so no new TR today.

UFO Magazine's The Green Room: Stephenville Lights and the Creepy Beam
I do have something up at UFO Magazine's blog The Green Room: Stephenville's Creepy Beam: The Return of the Stephenville Lights and a Creepy Beam of Light

UFO News: They're Here!

"You sure don't look like an iguana." ~ V, 1983

Some amazing UFO news from a variety of places that seems to be just . . . there, here, on the Internet and in small places. UFO Magazine's blog has some interesting items on UFO news. We're in a UFO flap and have been for at least a year now. MOD and others are releasing their UFO files and basically are saying "Well, UFOs are real, and we don't know much what to do about it." It's exciting to those of us who are immersed in this world, but outside it's business as usual, and yet, "they're here!" and it all seems so . . . casual. And I think if the Big D (disclosure) would ever to take place, it would be in this way: just a plethora of quiet little items, casually dropped about but without any mainstream big time fanfare, until . . . "oh, yeah. the alien dudes. kinda freaky, huh?' and then back to work on Monday. We'll be going fucking nuts over this of course, including "told yas!" but the uber-skeptics would still be fighting with each other, with us, with anything that they even think gives off the faintest whiff of woo. Now and then there'll be something about "alien rights" akin to animal rights, or like something out of the television series V.

UFO Hunters New Season This Wednesday
UFO Hunters new season starts this Wednesday on The History Channel. 10:00 pm Eastern time.

Things

Snarly Skepticism
Lots going on at Snarly Skepticism. I had to change the comment settings after getting a few nasty comments (ah yes, the ad homs and the skeptic!) so sorry about that, but there's three, four at least new items up there.

Vintage U.F.O.
I have something about creepy clowns on Vintage U.F.O., which fits in a bit with my Trickster's Realm column on Binnall, which will be up sometime on Monday. That column is about "MIBs, Clowns and Helicopters," inspired mostly by Tim Beckley's The UFO Silencers, but also Chris O'Brien's Mysterious Valley books.

James Rich, Artist
I've been shamelessly promoting my husband's work everywhere. He's finally finished taking images of his paintings and finding a good art hosting site at Yessy.com. He has literally hundreds of paintings, so be sure to check it out regularly; he's putting up images daily.

Lulu.com: E-Books
So are, I only have one little thing up there; a collection of articles on the Trent UFO case and the McMinnville, UFO Festival. I'll more things up there in the weeks to come. You can see what's available on my Lulu Storefront.

Catastrophes and UFOs: It's Not a Contest

Recent catastrophes; earthquakes in China, cyclones in Myanmar,tornadoes in the U.S., have caused some to once again demonize UFOs, or at least, those who choose to explore the mystery of UFOs.

Why the two would have anything to do with each other is beyond me, but the supposed thinking of those who use these tragedies to support their peevish anti-UFO stance makes sense to them, obviously.

Skeptics of many varieties (including, paradoxically, those who acknowledge there are UFOs) don’t like most UFO researchers. That aside, they don’t like UFOs much either. They're always pissed off at them, because UFOS aren’t doing anything. The UFO phenomena’s continued behavior of remaining elusive is maddening, torturous in its contradictory, slippery manifestations. And yet, for all the years the UFOs have been around (centuries, really) for all the evidence, they haven't done anything. At least not in a grand, showy way; pulling off some mind blowing trick like turning mountains into ice cream sundaes or finally delivering those flying cars.

They haven’t fixed anything, saved anyone, cured any diseases, solved any of the world’s problems. They didn’t prevent the recent tragedies, or past disasters. They didn’t warn us. They haven’t stopped war. Racism, ageism, sexism, classism still exist, relgious hatreds and wars continue, people live in poverty. The aliens and UFOs haven't fixed any of it.

This makes some people downright mad. Instead of getting mad at a god, God, Jesus - they’re mad at UFOs. And they're madder still at people who study UFOs. The message seems to be that it’s somehow all our fault that tragedies happen. And if it isn’t our fault, exactly, and/or the UFOs, we’re still guilty by association just for seriously thinking about the subject.

I get the feeling these brands of skeptics (and beware; many of them insist they are not skeptics at all and are, in fact, in with the in crowd of UFO researchers) have a whole lot of expectations on what UFOs should do, and what they shouldn’t do. Which is ludicrous. They accuse us of being like children; frivolous children who chase after the fleeting, fragile UFO, when it’s they that are stuck in magical thinking.

Sure, I “believe” in aliens. Rather, I believe they exist. I believe aliens from other planets, as well as other entities, are all around us. I don’t believe in them, however. I don't pray to them or expect them to do anything.

I don’t believe every UFO is from outer space, piloted by ET.
I don’t believe ET, aliens, entities, Mothman, Bigfoot, or Lizard Man are going to save us, cure us, fix us, heal the planet, or teach me how to parallel park.

I don’t think only some should study UFOs, and others shouldn’t, and I don’t think anyone should, or, shouldn't, just because I said so. Or because anyone else said so.

I don’t care who’s who, or why, or what they do in their private life, (naturally there are some boundaries here, Christ people, use your common sense) if they party too much, or not enough, -- they “get to” delve into the mysteries of life as much as anyone. In fact, god knows, we need more people getting deep into this stuff!

Using the very real horrors of this world to bash UFO or Fortean research is dishonest. It’s disingenuous. It’s lazy. It distracts from both the world’s cruel realities, as well as anomalous research.

The two aren’t in a contest with each other; don’t make it one. Don’t pit one phenomena against the other as some sort of moral barometer of any given individual.

Beliefs and The Messengers

Skeptic and atheist Richard Dawkins has a piece in the Los Angeles Times:
Gods and earthlings: the science of intelligent design is science-fiction. I'm not going to comment on the whole article, just one thing Dawkins said.

Dawkins tries to make the case that arguments for Intelligent Design by the religious are wrong (no surprise there) and they use the aliens from space argument to support theirs. As does Dawkins himself to use against them, as he points out. Naturally, it's no surprise Dawkins thinks both arguments are equally insane and irrational.

Dawkins alludes to the cargo cults, and comments that if we were to land a jumbo jet in a primitive village, we'd be considered gods, or a God. He quotes Arthur C. Clarke:

"Any sufficient advanced technology is indisitngule from magic."

UFO and abduction researcher Budd Hopkins makes this case as well in his book, co-written with Carol Rainey,Sight unseen: science, UFO invisibility and transgenic beings
What seem almost magical to us when witnessing UFOs and related phenomena is really advanced technology. And I think most of us understand that. Some of us put it all off on "aliens" and, it just might be aliens some of the time. We can't imagine that we have anything close to that technology, so aliens it is. Still, for most of us, that doesn't make them gods, or God. Then again, they could be exactly what some people think of as "God." Are aliens God, or is God an alien? Not much difference. But I'm getting off track here.

I only want to point out something about what he wrote here:

To deserve the name of God, a being would have to have designed more than just a jumbo jet or even a starship. He would have to have designed the universe.

What's wrong with this is the assumption that we know anything about what aliens are, even when disbelieving in them. This is a characteristic of the fundamental skeptic. They vehemently dismiss any "belief" of psi, psychic phenomena, ghosts, or aliens, yet at the same time have elaborate systems in place concerning their behaviors, the expectations, the mechanics of how these things work.

No, it's not that "he" (the alien) would have had to design the universe. It' that the people the alien appears to has them believing he designed the universe.

This may sound nit picky on my part, but it's an important distinction.