Media and The Death Card (And a Killing Eve Spoiler Alert)

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: KILLING EVE

 I loved, with a passion Killing Eve. Did not read the novels, but from the beginning, was hooked on the BBC television series. LOVED it. 

The last episode, a character gives a tarot reading. A three card reading. All three cards are Major Arcana. Okay. Hmm. As usual in entertainment, the DEATH card is the last card. Cue panicked looks, dramatic music, lots of doom vibes. 

The DEATH card does not mean literal death. But as usual, for dramatic purposes, it always means death with a capitol D in movies and television. (We can say it represents rebirth, the shedding of old ways and into the new, but not dying a horrible death run over by a bus while in stage 4 after being bit by a venomous snake with no known antidote.)

And sure enough. . . 

Oh hell, I can't say it. But it sucked. 

I'm a Fan Girl: American Horror Story, Double Feature

Yes, that's Mamie (Sarah Paulson) and Valiant Thor (Cody Fern) getting it on. 

I’ve been a fan of American Horror Story since its beginning. There were a couple of seasons I didn’t care for. But overall, oh it is a great show! I love the revolving cast, the stories, the direction, the credits, the acting, everything.

And they surpassed themselves with the second half of this year’s program: Double Feature. 

I loved the first half, which had a family retreating to the east coast so the husband could work on his writing, and then . . . vampires and such. Excellent. But the best, the best, was the second half. UFOs! From Eisenhower to Nixon. Not just "the grays" but more than one alien race. Glowing eyes and exploding heads. Pink caftans. And Valiant Thor! Yes!

From the black and white to color, depending on the era, to Valiant Thor in the Whitehouse, to Mamie Einsenhower's  glorious pink caftan, brilliant. (Pink was Mamie’s favorite color.)

I’m not going to get into discussing the “truth” of things because, after all, when it comes to aliens and ETs and UFOs, no one knows “the truth.” This is also a television program for entertainment. It’s not a documentary. But the writers who did the research for this season obviously had a good awareness of the UFO realm, and went with it. Sure it’s speculation and what ifs but it’s really good speculation and what ifs. It’s a throw back to classic sci-fi stuff. 

Medium Amy Allen's The Dead Files and … Aliens

The Dead Files is Travel Channel's ghost/medium program, where medium Amy Allen explores locations said to be haunted. Research into the particular home, building or site's history is done by co-host Steve DiSchiavi. (Who is a retired homicide detective.)  Ghosts and spirits abound, and I find the program interesting. I think Allen is a good psychic. These are the type of ghost shows I prefer; Allen's, and medium Kim Russo's The Haunting Of . . ., where mediums are used to communicate between spirits and the living. Not yahoos with "spirit traps" and the like banging around in order to catch a ghost. I have nothing against using technology to aid in ghost investigations, but I think they're often overused, the input of mediums neglected, and responsibility for the interactions between humans and spirit disrespectful.

I've been intrigued by the sometimes overlapping encounters of ghostly hauntings and alien encounters. Are they the same thing? Does one know of the other? Does one -- mainly, aliens -- intentionally mimic ghostly behavior? Is some of what witnesses report as ghostly hauntings not ghosts at all but aliens pretending to be ghosts?

Last night's episode of The Dead Files referred to this cross-over, or parallel ghost/alien realm. Ghosts were present in the home Allen investigated, but she also mentioned another energy; an alien presence. Paraphrasing here, but Allen said something along the lines of something else "not a demon, a dead thing, but something else. Alien" Literally.

 Steve DiSchiavi asked if the family had been "abducted." Amy said it was possible, and that the aliens were "visiting." "They kind of manage it" she said, suggesting that the aliens had something to do with manipulating in some ways the paranormal aspects of the case.

At the end of the program, Allen gives her recommendations to the families on what to do to end their ghostly experiences. She offers advice on the use of mediums, blessings, maybe moving, etc. In this episode, regarding the aliens, Allen said that magick wasn't going to help. As far as the aliens went, Allen suggested the family document any experiences, and keep talking about what they remember. Interesting she didn't mention hypnosis. I'm glad she didn't, but wonder why. The emphasis was on memory, bringing it out into the open, and keeping a record.

There was another Dead Files episode where Allen mentioned aliens. The following is from my post in January of 2014:

Dead Files: Encountering Aliens

Wow. Tonight's episode of The Dead Files, with medium Amy Allan, had Allan tell the haunted residents in their Rome, New York home that she had encountered something she had never experienced before. Besides the usual spirits haunting the property, it seems there are also tall, human looking but decidedly not human beings that Allan said were "aliens." Either aliens, or beings from another world -- not spirits or ghosts of humans, or even non-human energy type entities and creatures (demons) but, for lack of a better term, aliens. Non-human beings from another planet.

These beings appear to be after the children in particular. Allan said these beings will probably always be there and she didn't know how to get rid of them.

New Facebook Pic

I changed my Facebook profile picture the other night to this:

I thought it a perfect image to represent me. Love its retro look and the time era fits, and the U.F.O. book in her hand, what could be better? No idea though about the photo's history. Thanks to UFO cinema expert Robbie Graham of Silver Screen Saucers,  who commented on FB that the image is from "...the 'Steve Canyon' TV show (1959), Episode 'Project UFO', which was censored by the Air Force." I need to know more about that! Googling this I came across some very interesting links. YouTube doesn't have much on this specific episode, but I did find this:

 

Shepherd Johnson also left a comment about the woman in the photo. She is Julie Adams, "...who starred in 'Creature from the Black Lagoon'" one of my favorite monster movies, a classic of course, from 1954 -- the year I was born.

Metal Boxes=Dock Floats

Thanks to "terry the censor" who sent me the following links:

Beach-goers bewildered by mysterious debris
http://www.thesiuslawnews.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=5233&page=72

Strange boxes spark UFO rumors
http://www.southlincolncountynews.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=2942&page=72#

This entire "strange box on beach" mystery has shown us, once again, how silly things can get. Because there was recent UFO activity in the area (and that part of the coast is active, UFO wise) the illogical and melodramatic conclusion was that the boxes had some connection with UFOs. Various players: artists, UFO "reporters" who are, seemingly, of the hoaxing kind, debunkers who hurl insults and paint anything to do with UFOs as a pathology, and so on.

"le sigh," as skeptic Renae Holland recently commented on an episode of Finding Bigfoot. (I like Renae, yes, she's a skeptic, but -- and you're right, I can't believe I'm saying this either -- that show needs someone like her.)

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.

A Small Moment: Finding My Watch

Yesterday I realized my watch was missing. One of them; I have several. After all, as I told Jim the other day, watches are more than just time keeping objects if you're a girl. They're accessories. Anyway, my cheap treasure find ($3.00, at Target, clearance rack) gold colored watch was missing. I had no idea where it was, with me, it could be anywhere. Anywhere. In a purse, the car,  or ... who knows. I pictured the watch in my mind; and thought to myself, "Well, I'll try using the dowsing rods, I've had success with finding lost items using them, so I'll guess I'll try it tomorrow."

Later last night, I was in the bedroom watching True Blood. That's my guilty pleasure; Jim stays out in the living room (can't blame him, especially this season) and I settle in, just me, the flat screen and True Blood. So I manage to drop the remote out of my hand, and in between the bed and my nightstand. Which annoyed me, since it is an extremely skinny space; between the bed and nightstand; I could barely get my hand down there. I'm peering down, and see, to my surprise, the watch! There it was, on the floor, in between the bed and the nightstand. Obviously I had taken the watch off and put in on my table and it fell off; but I never would have thought to look under the bed for my watch.

New Trickster's Realm: "Twilight Language: Cold War Inklings?"

My new Trickster's Realm is up at Binnall of America: Twilight Language: Cold War Inklings?" about the numerous Russian connections popping up in the culture stream.

Politics and entertainment (I know, what's the difference) merged when Vice President Joe Biden appeared on the Jay Leno show. Biden joined Leno in a comedy sketch and later, they discussed the busted Russian spy ring. Leno showed a photo of one of the alleged spies, Anna Chapman, who's been described as "sultry" by every talking head and newspaper it seems. Leno showed a photo of alleged spy Chapman and asked: "Do we have any spies that hot?" to which Biden, a frustrated comedian, said: "Let me be clear. It was not my idea to send her back." 

One element I could have added but didn't think of: the new movie SALT, with Angelina Jolie. I haven't seen the movie but here is another example of a "sultry" sexy female spy and a Russian connection. Is Jolie's character a good spy or a bad (Russian) spy?

Things are not what they seem in these culture episodes; politicians as thwarted comedians, Russian spies as citizens, Russian lovers/actresses/entertainers, betrayals, non-Russians appearing as Russians . . . is the culture missing the Cold War?

Sci Fi's Carny

Well, what a silly waste that was! Started off okay; hokey, but fun. Good monster. The Jersey Devil is caught, gets loose, causes a lot of trouble. SPOILER AHEAD...
I was enjoying it, as predictable as it was. Just enjoying the guilty pleasure of watching a TV movie about a monster. With Lou Diamond Phillips, so there you go.

But the movie didn't go anywhere, or, where it went ... didn't make sense. FAIR WARNING: here it is: at the very end, Lou Diamond Phillip's character - the sheriff, of course -- is killed. Everyone gets killed. Including the monster. The crazy preacher man character didn't make sense either; he's running around from the beginning of the movie warning everyone about the devil and how the actions of the townsfolk brought all this upon themselves; he has no compassion for the "freaks" in the carnival, and there were weird cuts and edits throughout, as if they had made the movie longer, or maybe originally wanted to air it as mini-series. For example, a relationship seemed to exist between the psychic at the carnival and the sheriff, but we didn't get to see any of that develop. A lot of plot lines were thrown out there, assuming that the audience would make assumptions.

A waste of time, too bad, but it was a good monster.

Out There TV Synchronicity

Late last night I went searching on-line for a link to Out There TV, Kate and Richard Mucci's paranormal/conspiracy television program out of Nevada. (Kate also writes a column for UFO Magazine.) For awhile, one of the local little stations in my area carried the show; then they stopped, soon after, the station disappeared. They'd air on Saturday afternoons and other random times.

I hadn't thought about the show for some time, but for some reason decided to look and see what I could find. I didn't find anything.

Then this morning, I was startled as well as pleased, to find that another, teeny, strange little station in our area carries Out There TV; on Sunday nights, at 8:00 pm. Same time as the Simpsons, what to do? :)

Sci-Fi Original Movie: CARNY

Coming from circus folk as I do, you know I'll be watching this. Carny, an original movie for the Sci-Fi channel, stars Lou Diamond Phillips, which makes it worth watching regardless of plot -- anyway, involves carny folk, a small town, and the Jersey Devil! Airs next Saturday, April 25th. Thanks to Alien UFO & The Paranormal Casebook for the news.

Nimoy on Fringe

My favorite television show FRINGE (besides the BBC's Torchwood, if that ever comes back as promised) will have a new character: William Bell, played by Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy's character will be introduced this season, then FRiNGE will return in the fall, along with Nimoy. Pretty cool!

Eerie Racoon Moments

Along with owls, deer, ravens and other animals, raccoons have their place in esoteric phenomena. Signaling the possible arrival of the weird,these creatures, including raccoons, stand between us and "it," whatever that it may be. A UFO encounter, with journeys on ships, contact with entities, maybe, or some sort of liminal experience. Take the experience of Dr. Kary Mullis, who had a very strange encounter with a glowing raccoon in the summer of 1985.

Consciously pulling up memories of these kinds of experiences is difficult; they usually erupt randomly. For myself, unexpected snippets -- jarring in their visceral appearances -- come to me through meditation, dreams and while viewing images.

The other night, while watching the television program Eleventh Hour, I had one of those startling moments that really jolted me. On screen, the character, driving his car on the road in the daytime, swerves to avoid hitting a raccoon who was standing in the middle of the road. (A few moments later, the character realizes the raccoon shouldn't have been there, which was a clue that something was very wrong in the area.) For some reason, that image of a raccoon standing in the road, during the day, reminded me of something. I turned to my husband and said "Didn't we see two or three raccoon's in the daytime when we lived on Friendly Street?" He remembered. I hadn't thought of that in years, but something about that image on the television recalled that memory.

We had a large sliding glass door that led out to the backyard. We lived at the top of a hill; town was right down the street, but right above us, it was rural, and the further you drove on the highway above our house, the more rural you got. One day we were surprised to see raccoons just standing there at the glass, looking in at us. It was weird. I remember how very weird we both thought it was at the time; in fact, I remember kind of screaming -- not screaming, but shouting out when I saw them. For some reason, I found their presence irritating; unusual for me since I'm an animal lover, and normally would have thought it pretty neat. Friendly Street was where we were living when we saw the "orange orb" and had the missing time, and all kinds of UFO related events happened.

I've seen raccoons in the daytime before; but rarely. Several months ago I saw a raccoon in the daytime where I'm living now; it was sickly looking and it's obvious something was wrong. It's not common to see raccoons in the daytime, but not impossible.

But something about that memory of seeing those raccoons, just standing there, watching us through the glass, was eerie.

Sunday Orb

Not much this Fall Sunday....

New posts over at Women Of Esoterica.

I like the new show My Own Worst Enemy. Better than I thought it would be. I like Eleventh Hour as well, but it isn't as good I had thought it would be. So there you go. Just about all of my favorite shows are laden with psy-op spook stuff, conspiracy, mystery, mysticism, metaphysics, monsters and aliens. Torchwood, UFO Hunters, Monster Quest, Fringe, Numb3rs, 24, My Own Worst Enemy, Eleventh Hour, Pushing Daisies, Eureka. A theme going on here I see, wonder how that is?

New post on Mothman Flutterings, which is really just a link to an article. I've started The Silver Bridge, a book I've been wanting for years. Thanks to Mothman's Photographer author Andrew Colvin, we all have the opportunity to get this book at an affordable price, since he's reprinted it. Check it out on amazon.com, etc. I can see that I'll be writing a lot about it when I'm finished. Already I'm hooked. And speaking of Mothy things, I have an article in Darklore III about Mothman -- it's not out yet but be looking out for it. You can read about that as it comes, and more, on The Daily Grail .

Predictions of UFO appearances and disclosures, and I just wasn't that excited. Interested, of course; I'm a chronically curious Fortean, but just not excited. I am however intrigued by the opera like goings on about Ian Brockwell's research into the UFO photographed during a thunderstorm. I keep meaning to go further with that, maybe I will. I wonder about the overall bizarreness of photographing aliens inside a UFO during a thunderstorm, MUFON's involvement, and so much more.

Oh, Right, It's Sunday

Sunday again. Cooler weather and rainy but still it's unseasonably warm for October in Western Oregon. Trees are just now beginning to turn.

ALIENS INSIDE UFO!
Well, what do we think of this story? UFOs photographed in thunderstorm reveals alien life! Red flags go up at the business/search engine tie-in on writer Ian Brokwell's part, plus the "aliens" inside the UFOs look very cartoon like. Then there's the copyright/no reproduction etc. notices plastered everywhere, and the costume advertising. On the other hand, the witness-photographer Christine Dickey is a field investigator for MUFON, has had her own past encounters, and an interesting history of hearing/feeling the urge to go out and look and there you go! UFOs. I've had that myself. We're also in a UFO flap and have been for awhile.

The response to this seems to be eerily quiet.

Hoax or no, doesn't matter. Hoaxes and distractions like this (assuming it is) are a part of Fortean and UFO events; just as much a part as the UFO itself. You can't have one without the other. Or, MILAB, Project Blue Beam type explanations could be the answer.

More on this later.

HELICOPTERS
A very interesting piece from Katharina Wilson of Alien Jigsaw on abductee Linda Murphy and her encounter with unmarked helicopter. One thing I liked about the story was the investigation piece. There's more on Murphy's experiences on the Alien Jigsaw site as well.

ESOTERIC TELEVISION
It stinks the Torchwood people think it's dandy to make five episodes, to air in one week, for the third season. Stinks, I tell you! At least there'll be a third season, and the latest seems to be that the Captain Jack Harkness character will be returning.

Fringe is still good. Last episode had the greatest MIB character ever. Excellent.

Looking forward to Eleventh Hour, and My Own Worst Enemy with Christian Slater.

My Trickster's Realm column for Binnall of America is about two shows: Psych, and The Mentalist. And Lesley, for her Gray Matters column, wrote this week about Fringe. (she likes it too!)

The season ending for Eureka has Sheriff Carter fired by the military. Not clear on the legalities of military, corporations, and a city all being in bed together, but it's TV. Good show -- we all know Sheriff Carter will still be around, and most likely get his job back; the question is, how will it play out?

VINTAGE STUFF
On Vintage U.F.O. I have some images of album covers with an outer space theme.

UFO MAGAZINE
My article in this issue of UFO Magazine is about beeping again. It just came out that way; interesting how I've written so much about beeping sounds in relation to UFO and paranormal events. And every time I write an article about beeping, either creatures, such as Bigfoot, or beeping as in your head, I get a lot of emails from people with similar experiences.


SHOULD, BUT NOT GOING TO
There's more, much more, but I'm tired. Time for a nap. The aliens can just wait.

Snarly Skepticism: Bill Nye, the Bow Tie Guy

Bill Nye, The Bow Tie Guy, over on Snarly Skepticism. I know, me and everyone else has been yakking about the Larry King Roswell program but I just couldn't help myself.

Gleaning From “Numb3rs”

Is it ironic that a “scientific” TV show, appreciated by skeptics, is also one of my favorite shows -- and that I’ve gotten so much esoteric-Fortean use out of the show?

Numb3rs is a favorite show of mine. I like the combination of mystery, crime solving, science and mysticism. It’s also set in L.A., where I was born and raised, and I like the three lead mensch-like characters.

Besides entertaining me, Numb3rs has given me a bit of inspiration three times now for my esoteric writing. Awhile ago, I wrote an article about semantics and perceptions of UFOs, and used an example from a Numb3rs episode. In that example, the main character Don Epps, FBI agent, said, of UFOs: (paraphrasing)

“We don’t know what a UFO looks like, so how do we know one when we see one?”

That line inspired me to write several articles on the topics of UFO semantics and definitions, as well as denial and debunkery. (See my American Chronicle articles for more.)

In another episodes, the character Charlie Epps (Don’s younger, math genius brother) told his crime solving colleagues to “throw on more data.” The team was not making any progress in trying to solve a case; “throw in more data” was the solution. By including more data, the character explained, more patterns, more information, will be revealed, and the agents would get closer to solving the crime. That was the inspiration for a column I wrote recently for UFO Magazine: Throw On More Data:

What got me thinking about the UFO phenomena in light of Numb3rs was what the character Charlie (young math professor genius) said to an FBI agent when the agent asked for help in solving a mystery. No matter how many times the agent went over the data he had, he just couldn’t figure it out, yet he knew he could, knew there was an answer. If only he had the right formula, or was shown some way to get at it. The math genius told him to “throw in more data.”

Throw in more data. And by doing so, said the character, we can begin to see a “connectivity” between the clues that will lead the agent to his solution.

Throw in more data. And yet that what much of UFOlogy doesn’t do. We don’t see a “connectivity” because we’re divided, we argue, -- we downright fight and attack at times (forget the skeptoids,sometimes we’re our own worst enemies) -- we pick a theory or two and stick with it. More data, especially data that throws us off, is rejected. After all this time, we’re still arguing over nuts and bolts versus an ETH, or an ultra terrestrial theory. ~ (UFO Magazine, 2007)

This past Friday’s episode, about a serial rapist, served as another inspiration. It turned out the rapist had a MRSA (antibiotic resistant staph infection) STD. One of the agents, in explaining MRSA to her co-workers, said (again paraphrasing)

“There’s only one type of antibiotic that can kill it, but doctor’s don’t want to give it out.”

That line had me thinking about my own MRSA infection, the disconnects and jangled messages from various sources -- including doctors -- and so I wrote an article about MRSA and Morgellons and this oppositional juxtaposition in MRSA and Morgellons: Jangled Messages.(Hopefully it will be up at Book of Thoth in a day or two.)

So, thanks Numb3rs for your contributions to my continued inspiration!


Notes:
Image credits:
http://www.daemonstv.com/images/cbs/numb3rs1.jpg
amazing-tv-shows.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

American Chronicle

UFO Magazine
Book of Thoth

Brittish MOD: "Worst Person in the World"

Future husband of Air America’s Stephanie Miller, and journalist Keith Olbermann mentioned on UFO Updates. Found this on UFO Updates: Keith Olbermann made The Brittish Ministry of Defense “worst person in the world” for its stand on UFOs.

“Be Honest About What You See . . .” Cooper and Symington

Looks like both The OrangeOrb (er, me) and the Heavy Stuff blog were wrong; Anderson Cooper has picked up on the Symington story. Actually, to be specific, the author of Heavy Stuff wrote that Cooper probably won’t ask Symington who ordered him to pull that trivializing stunt with his aide in an alien suit. Good question.
While Cooper does a good job of reporting on Symington’s sighting and what Symington has to say without stopping to mockery or lame little green men jokes, he didn’t ask that question.

The Stories

“Be honest about what you see, get out of the way and let the story reveal itself.” ~ Anderson Cooper

When it comes to UFOs and related experiences (Forteana, etc) this is the starting point for all of us. For many of us it is all we have. It’s all I have, regarding my own experiences. I don’t have bits of a spaceship, a photograph of an alien (assuming those two things were ever part of the events -- who can say?) I don’t have “proof.” (See Stanton Friedman’s articles in the March issues of UFO Magazine and MUFON Journal for his perspective on the demands for proof.)

The more conservative skeptics, who are perennially affronted at the likes of us, basically tell us to just shut up. They have many tactics for doing this, including trotting out the more garish and embarrassing characters in UFOlogy as proof the whole thing is nonsense. They’ve set up a closed system: anecdotal evidence isn’t evidence at all, therefore unless you have bits of a spaceship from Mars, go away.

So while the anti-UFOists, the chronic skeptics, debunkers and the like continue to mock and chide, the rest of us are left with our experiences. Getting no help from them (quite the opposite much of the time) we’re left with a hodge podge of UFO witnesses. Some have mind up their minds, sure, and that’s not good. Some believe they’re been in contact with extraterrestrials, and maybe they have. Maybe the beings have told them as much. That doesn’t mean they’re telling the truth: they could be anything from a mind control black op Dr. Evil government experiment to inner earth entities. Whatever they are, those of us who’ve experienced weird things are trying to figure it out. And all around us are people who feel they have some sort of intellectual -- moral, even -- imperative to insult, mock and harass. Or we have institutionalized science telling us, from afar, what it is we experienced.

The majority of the time, all we have is anecdotal evidence. Intuition. Imagination. Our own inner dance. Perceptions. And while I’m not so naive -- nor ignorant -- to think institutionalized science should suddenly get happy and embrace these feel good concepts, it wouldn’t hurt for the individual humans involved in these projects to check in with themselves from time to time.

UFO witnesses, experiencers of the weird in general, need to tell their stories, and their stories need to be listened to without rancor or ridicule.

Notes:

Lesley, of Debris Field, has written her new column for Binnall of America will be on the Phoenix Lights/Symington revealation, but it wasn’t up last time I checked. Keep checking BOA though.
BOA: http://binnallofamerica.com/
Debris Field: http://thedebrisfield.blogspot.com/

Heavy Stuff blog:http://theheavystuff.com/

Six Degrees (Kind of) of UFO Type Separation

"Diane, whenever two events happen simultaneously pertaining to the same object of inquiry, we must always pay strict attention!" ~ Special Agent Diane Cooper, Twin Peaks

A great quote that can be applied to many a Fortean and UFO event. Special Agent Dale Cooper, a character on one of the best TV shows ever, was played by David Duchovny, who played Agent Fox Mulder on the best TV series ever, The X-Files. (Amends: no he didn't. As Daniel Breton pointed out -- see comments below -- it was Kyle MacLachlan who played Cooper. David Duchovny played cross dressing agent Dennis/Denise Bryson.)

I found this quote on
Peter Levenda’s blog, via Lesley, author of The Debris Field Blog.

The quote leads into an entry by Levenda on the E. Howard Hunt/Kennedy/Monroe assassination association. For more on this read Levenda's entry. The dizzying associations between Hunt and occult-covert forces makes for very interesting reading. There’s much more here than I’ve mentioned; I don’t want to spoil anything, check out Levenda’s blog.

Layers, connections, relationships, ships in the night, juxtapositions -- all part of UFOania.