Trickster's Realm: 'Popcorn Machine Aliens'

Latest Trickster’s Realm: Popcorn Machine Aliens,about memories of aliens, on board craft, and giant insectoid creatures, by moi.

Also on BoA (Binnall of America:) Lesley’s Grey Matters: on Ian Punnett and C2C, Tina Sena’s Estoericana: The Witching Hour, where she writes about 3:00 am being the weird hour (as have many a UFO experiencer; indeed, that does seem to be the hour,)
Wrath of Joe’s Whiter UFOlogy? and Khyron’s The K-Files.

Plus all the great audio interviews Tim Binnall has done over the past two seasons!

“Young” UFOlogy

At the risk of appearing patronizing, as well as guilty of some kind of “ism” (youthism? ageism? oldism?) there has been discussion here and there, now and then, about younger UFO and paranormal, Fortean researchers. Kimball, Loren Coleman, and others have commented on this not too long ago.

It is a good thing to see younger people (jesus, that makes me sound so old!) (Well, guess I am, let’s face it. . .) involved in these studies. What do I mean by “younger people?” Seems a bit arbitrary to just cut people off at an age. I don’t know, under forty? Under fifty? I’ll let you all decide. Me, I’m fifty er, um, okay, three. I said it! Fifty damn three years old. In my head, I’m still twelve, somedays twenty-two, but the outside doesn’t show it. Or feel it. Anyway, enough about me and my old age, here are two younger people writing on UFOs and related topics:

Tina Sena is one that’s been mentioned earlier. She has her own blog, Yufology, and writes for BoA, writing her Esoterica column.

Another younger person is Ross Howard, author of the blog AETHER THEORIES.

Updates on the "Kinky Kitchen Gadget" UFO

Linda Moulton Howe has updates on the odd drone object (s) in California.
Drone Eyewitness on the Record.

Tina Sena on "Skepticus Humanus"

Tina Sena, owner of the blog Yufology, also writes a column titled Esotericana for Tim Binnall's website, BOA.

Check out her latest: The Origins of the Species : Skepticus Humanus

Women and Bigfoot Research

Recent discussions on women and bigfoot research. These have been around for a couple of weeks, but I’m just getting to mentioning them now. If you’ve missed them, here they are: On Cryptomundo there are entries on Jane Goodall and her views on Bigfoot: Women and Bigfoot Studies: Jane Goodall.

There’s also a discussion on sexism in bigfoot research:
Indy 500,Women and Bigfoot, Part 1. Part 2 follows immediately after on their blog.

Lisa Shiel of Bigfoot Quest liked my piece I did on her for UFO Magazine:
UFO Magazine Piece on Wild Women

Laura Knight-Jadczyk: The Most Dangerous Idea in the World

Okay, I acknowledge freely I am no intellectual, and certainly not knowledgeable -- not academically or scientifically knowledgeable that is -- about physics, hyper-dimensions, astrophysics, or parallel parking. On some subconscious intuitive Piscean level, I “get it” but that’s another story.

My approach to all this anomalous UFO weird realm usually originates from the personal, moving outward, usually on a mythic/folklore/symbol/narrative/comparative/juxtapositional perspective. Whatever that means.

I’m not sure exactly what Laura Knight-Jadczyk is talking about, but she is very very smart. She writes extremely well. I seem to have a vague memory of something I read on her site or blog that I liked, up to a point, but then rejected, due to what I perceived as anti-Semitism (all that Israel is the big bad guy stuff) but if I’m mistaken, I apologize.

There’s a lot -- a hell of a lot -- of stuff here, and I don’t understand much of it. There is so much material that one has to take time to go through it, and be familiar with her references, which I’m not.

But I’m promoting her here for one reason: those “academics” and “scientists” who would otherwise welcome her views, as long as she gets rid of her UFO bent. Apparently Knight-Jadczyk annoys all sides: the New Age camp, the mystical camp, the political camp, etc.

All the scientific hyper dimensional physic stuff aside, the gist of Knight-Jadczyk core “belief” is that there is an “official culture” which I so far go along with. (Of course, her idea of who, and what, is responsible for that “official culture” may be very different. I don’t know.) And this fact, along with the fact that we’re all just pawns in a huge cosmic game, is what she calls “the most dangerous idea in the world.” I don’t think I gave this justice, but that seems to be the idea. I go along with that as well. It doesn’t sound too different than William Bramley, or even in some ways (good great goddess) David Icke (oy) -- not a new idea. And not sure why her ideas are rejected by all sides.

I’ll leave it to you. I just like subverting things, and so, in the spirit of that, here’s a link to Laura Knight-Jadczyk on her experiences and thoughts on her book, The Secret History of the World.

Funky UFO Book Score!

I've complained in the past that second hand or used UFO books are hard to find, at least they are hard to come by in my area. And when you do find them, it's a real treasure hunt for sure, exploring the Goodwills, St. Vincent de Paul's, etc. because they put those books in odd places. I've found UFO books in the religious section, the science section, the science fiction section. There isn't any UFO section.

The other day I noticed the local St. Vinnie's tidied up their book section and actually put in an "unexplained" section, where I found all kinds of UFO books. A few aren't UFO books; one is a kid's story about the Loch Ness creature, etc. I grabbed a bunch:

The UFO Controversy in America, David Michael Jacobs

Loch, Paul Zindel (children's)

The UFO Report, Timothy Good

Intercept UFO, Renato Vesco

Beyond Belief, Brad Steiger

Encounters with the UFOs, Coral and Jim Lorenzen

Alien Update, Timothy Good

Unidentifed Flying Objects,Jim Collins (children's)

The Galapagos Affari, John Treherne

The Voice of Venus: The Pulse of Creation Series, Ernest L. Norman

UFOs Explained, Philip J. Klass (of course he does nothing of the kind)

Not of this World,Peter Kolosimo

The UFO Phenomenon, Johannes von Buttlar

Lesley of The Debris Field blog has written an article on ex-Arizona governor Symington, who recently announced that he did see a UFO ten years ago during the Phoenix Lights UFO event. Lesley's article is More Proof that Politicians are the Lowest form of Life and she doesn’t hold back in her disgust at his past behavior (ridiculing witnesses, etc.) and the decade long silence on his part.

Notes
Lesley: More Proof that Politicians are the Lowest form of Life, Grey Matters, for Binnall of America.
http://binnallofamerica.com/gm3.27.7.html

Now WE KNOW, Politicians LIE about UFO’s - Phoenix Lights Confirmed, Heavy Stuff blog
http://theheavystuff.com/

Regan Lee, Be Honest About What You See . . .” Cooper and Symington, The OrangeOrb
http://orangeorb.blogspot.com/2007/03/be-honest-about-what-you-see-cooper-and.html

Binnall of America website, or BOA:http://binnallofamerica.com/

Recent writings. . .

On UFO Digest, you'll find "Alien" "Abductions" musing on the term: is it an apt term to use or not?

And in the recent issue of UFO Magazine, I write about Joe Nickell, skeptic, and his thing for owls in "Attack of the Owls."

Look for my Trickster Realm column on Tim Binnall's site BOA (Binnall of America,) where I take yet another angle on the Trent Tempest affair in The Trent Trickster Three. The column goes up Monday. While you're there, take a look at the other writers over there: Lesley, author of Grey Matters, Tina Sena's Esortericana, Khyron's The K-Files and Joe Vee's Wrath of Joe.

Autumn Williams on Weird Bigfoot

LTWs and “Paranormal” Bigfoot

Loren Coleman and others call people with anomalous Bigfoot interactions “Bigfoot contactees.” That’s certainly condescending, and puts the whole thing into a George Adamski category. Which means, for most, a “we don’t have to give it any serious consideration since it’s too silly” vibe, and we’re done with such nonsense. (And don't be so quick to dismiss Adamski either. See Colin Bennett's Looking for Orthon.)

As readers of the OrangeOrb know, I am partial to the so-called “paranormal” Bigfoot idea. I’m not sure about using the word “paranormal” but the point is, I consider Bigfoot to be, as Lisa Shiel (author of Backyard Bigfoot) recently told me, “not just a big ape” but something much more. There’s a lot more going on here, like it or not, and it’s clear most Bigfoot researchers don’t like it.

I’ve just ordered Valley of the Skookum, Sali Sheppard-Wolford’s book. (Sheppard-Wolford is the mother of Bigfoot researcher Autumn Williams.)

On her site, Autumn writes about her thoughts on the those long term witnesses -- LTWs -- who’ve had ongoing contact with Bigfoot.

Now, on to the "stranger" side of these reports. What I found by interviewing LTWs is that many of them report other anomalies along with their Bigfoot encounters. Little lights in the trees. Underground rumblings. Lights in the sky. Gift exchanges (they leave food or items out for the creatures and receive natural items in return, sometimes displayed in a patterned formation). There are others, as well, that I won't go into here. What these witnesses describe is rather moot. The FACT that they are describing additional phenomena leads one to take a certain approach to these reports.

Williams writes that if we want to get to the truth, or at least a clearer, closer understanding, of what Bigfoot is, we need to be honest and incorporate these weirder reports in research:

Nor do I BELIEVE any one particular thing about the Bigfoot phenomenon. I've discussed this here before... BIGFOOT IS WHATEVER IT IS. It might be a garden-variety great ape, an animal, relatively stupid and unintelligent. It might be some sort of pre-human ancestor, gallivanting along on its own branch of our family tree. It might be something weirder than that. It might be smarter than us. The point is, I don't KNOW... and neither do you. But if you really want to know WHAT it is, at this early stage in the game you really have to allow yourself to keep an open mind and examine ALL of the evidence.

Remember I said earlier that many researchers avoid certain aspects of Bigfoot research because it doesn't fit in with what they BELIEVE bigfoot to be?

We differ in that respect. I don't CARE what Bigfoot is and I don't presume to know... I only hope to understand it in my lifetime.

Autumn makes it clear: she does not accept as a “belief” that these things are true. But there is enough anecdotal evidence to begin honestly looking into these reports and not reject them because they don’t fit into a preconceived notion of what Bigfoot is.

It’s a great piece and I encourage anyone interested in Bigfoot (and that includes self-identified Bigfoot researchers who, we assume, only want the truth) to read it.

You can read the entire articlehere.

Bob Luca Jr. Comments on "Luca Land"

In February, I wrote an item on Bob Luca Jr.’s contention the Betty Andreasson Luca UFO abduction was a hoax. He recently commented on that entry:

I am Bob Jr. First off, I did not leave the family 30+ years ago. You didn't read my web page or my write-up carefully enough. I had my falling out with my father a couple years ago. also, it is my father who backed out on taking a lie detector test side by side with me. I am ready willing and able. He declined. The item he posted in the paper about me was blown out of proportion. It is when I hit rock bottom from drinking and I called for help. I went in for rehab from drinking. He should do the same! My father just kicks up dirt, but will not debate me as what I say is the truth. Note for the record he is on psyc. medication, and not me! He still won't have the lie detector test done with me. Why is this. He could then proove me wrong so why won't he. Also, my statement about moving out when I was 19 refered to me being on my own and my father never lived on his own, but always with his mom and / or with a woman, but never alone. So I would read up better before you jump to conclusions to the story. What I print is true and there will be more testimony from more people soon. I amdoing that since he copped out of that lie detector test.

I replied that I did not say he left the family thirty years ago; I said the case was more than thirty years old.

I also told Luca, Jr. that I had freely acknowledged I didn’t give his site full attention, and the reasons why I didn’t.

You can read more on the original post here.

Whether you’re an experiencer,UFO witness,skepti-bunkie, skeptic, or wherever you land in all this (as with all UFO and Fortean experiences) all any of us have are the stories of others. Intuition goes a long way, and more of us should trust ours. As I commented to Bob Jr. no one knows the “true” story, certainly not me. However, based on his presentation, my own experiences, research, and intuition, I’m not so quick to buy into his his story either.

And in a not unusual bit of synchronicity, as I was writing this, I found this link in my email box from the UFO Experiences blog; an interview with Betty Andreasson.

Wendy Conners Announces Retirement

Wendy Conners, “Wicked Witch of UFOlogy” as well as another “CSICOPian Slayer” who of course, is responsible for the Faded Disk Project,announced her retirement from UFOlogy on UFO Updates recently.

Thank you Wendy for all you’ve done!

How the X-Files Killed Ufology by Tina Sena

I enjoyed this piece on BOA by Tina Sena. Tina writes about my favorite Fortean televison program of all time, The X-Files. Don't let the title or the beginning of the article fool you into thinking it's something it isn't.

One More: Women in UFOlogy

My new column is also out on BOA; entitled Big Time UFO News, it's about my big time UFO news which is: I now write for UFO Magazine! The first column is in the February issue. It's mainly an introduction piece.

Women in UFOlogy: Farah Yurdozu

”When you write, you share what you know.” ~ Farah Yurdozu


Tim Binnall’s latest interview is with Farah Yurdozu. Yurdozu is from Turkey; she writes for UFO Magazine, and is also a producer for Jerry Pippin’s show.

As usual, Tim does a great interview. Also exciting is the fact BOA presents an interview with a female researcher. (He’s also interviewed Paola Harris.)

Coincidentally, I had written an item about Farah, inspired by her current column in UFO Magazine, on exopolitics and spiritually. (Something I bounce back and forth with, but overall, listen, it can’t hurt. So the movement is kind of dippy. There are worse things in the world.)

Farah speaks from the heart, from her own experiences. As always, I am blown away by those who come out, using their own names , just put themselves out there with these highly unusual experiences. (On the other hand, just how “unusual” are these kind of experiences?)

Farah isn’t in the least bit afraid to come out with her, and her own family’s, experiences.

UFOlogy is lucky to have Yurdozu’s contribution. Especially UFOlogy in the United States; to have the perspectives and experiences of someone from another country is a welcome gift. I think that sometimes UFOlogy in the United States gets too provincial. This is something Lesley, author of The Debris Field, is working on: an international database of UFO studies and researchers.

Farah knows her stuff; she doesn’t just focus on her own experiences. It seems that it’s because of her experiences, she has been inspired to explore UFOlogy itself, both in Turkey and the United States; it’s history, etc.

One thing that really popped out at me was Farah’s comment that Turkey’s perception of UFOs is that it’s an everyday thing. A different perceptive base. The media is open and reports UFOs regularly. Like people everywhere, though, not everyone in Turkey agrees and they have their share of debunkers and hard core skeptics. People with sightings are not considered “crazy” and there is a general atmosphere of acceptance. It seems that the cultural and media acceptance level is much more accepting. She goes into Turkish mythology and animal symbolism; all related to UFOs. Which brings the question of UFOs up to a higher level; takes it beyond merely nuts and bolts.

There are some surprises in this interview; like the underground cities, that are five thousand years old.

There’s much more of course. Definitely worth listening to. Farah shares her knowledge of Turkish culture and its perceptions of UFOs, as well as sharing her knowledge of history and mythology that places the current UFO activity in Turkey in context. It's a useful and insightful to hear about another country's UFO experiences. Useful, because it broadens (no pun intended) our own perceptions and knowledge.

To hear the audio:
http://binnallofamerica.com/audio2.html

Bigfoot: What Do You Want to Prove?

The discussion continues over on the Cryptomundo blog about so-called “paranormal” Bigfoot. Call it anomalous or Fortean Bigfoot, whatever you choose, the encounters of Bigfoot with UFO and other non-crypto aspects is the issue here. Lisa Sheil, author of Backyard Bigfoot, has put the core issue very well; what I’ve been trying to say. But she said it better, I think, over on the Cryptomundo blog:

”We all need to ask ourselves, what is the goal of Bigfoot research? To prove Bigfoot are apes? Or to discover the truth about their nature and behavior? If you want to prove they’re apes, you must ignore evidence. If you want the truth, you must examine all data, no matter how disturbing to your sensitive psyche, and determine the reasons to accept or reject it. Rejecting data based on personal bias, fear, or arrogance serves no purpose, scientific or otherwise.”

I’ve had many people say that Bigfoot can’t be “both” flesh and blood and “paranormal.” While I’ve stumbled around trying to say why this is wrong; Lisa again says it more clearly:

"Only someone who misunderstands the concept of paranormal would assert that flesh-and-blood and UFO-related cannot both apply to Bigfoot. According to this idea, a human being who has a psychic experience would no longer be a flesh-and-blood human being."

It simply gets down to this. Are we interested in the truth; the actual answer, or in proving what we think is the truth?

Notes:

Lisa Sheil: Backyard Bigfoot and blog.

Lesley's Debris Field blog. (Image shown here boldly borrowed from her blog)

Craig Woolheater's Cryptomundo blog.

Women and UFO Studies

I've been neglecting not only my funky angelfire website, but my Women in UFO and Fortean studies pages. Here's one page updated a bit. I've moved over to an official domain: orangeorb.net, but I'm still working on the little glitches. Probably won't be up for awhile. In the meantime, you can see what I have up on the old angelfire site. And if you feel like adding a banner or link on your blog, that's always a wonderful thing. Better yet, if you have any names to add, let me know. I'm always interested.

UFOlogy in Russia: Development and Review

A bit of a tie-in to my recent piece on the Russian "alien" eaten by fishermen; THE DEVELOPMENT OF UFOLOGY IN RUSSIA,UFO AND POLITICS
Several Episodes in the 40-Year History of Soviet UFOlogy
by Lev Chulkov March 1993, over on Aileen Garoutte's blog, UFO Experiences.

Aileen Garoutte is in Washington state, and "retired as Director of the UFOCCI (Ufo Contact Center International) " but still retains an interest in UFOs, as her blog shows.