UFO Digest: "Lost" Trent Photo

More on the McMinnville, Oregon “lost” photo by moi.
A “Lost” Trent Farm Photo Surfaces? on UFO Digest.

“Mock Them As Barflies From Venus and Mars”

Alfred Lehmberg, of An Alien View blog, has written another great piece, this one on the perception by chronic skeptics who spend large units of time sneering at abductees. No understanding, just the lowest and easiest form of attack. I also saw this piece as a metaphor for other issues, including non-UFO ones.

“Forget that the saucers still fly in your skies; forget the abducted, and pretend that their cries... are musings of idiots, cretinous loons who scratch at your wallet then howl at your moon. But it's you, not *abductees*, "out to lunch" here today! It is YOU, and not them, sopped in naiveté!”

What is so often missed in all this craziness and high strangeness, is what it does to all of us, and why. I don’t pretend to know the “why,” and often am unaware of it doing anything at all to me. We need these experiences, whether it’s us that’s having them, or someone else. Among other things, these abductees, and encounters with entities, and all the rest of it, are gifts. Not just for the individual experiencer, but everyone. These “gifts” are not often appreciated, wanted, or even good ones -- give it back! But they are gifts, of a kind, reminding us that it’s not just us solid citizens out here doing the hard core reality thing.

These events have been going on for thousands of years, and we’ve been trying to figure them out -- or suppress them -- for just as long. Doesn’t seem we’ve gotten anywhere, and insisting that those that experience the anomalous are money hungry, emotionally needy, lying fruitcakes with mental diseases is getting a bit tired.

"Lost" Trent Photo?

While I don't like to give the non-issue so-called UFO bloggers like the following any nods of recognition, hey, a scoop is a scoop.

They have a "lost" photo - a third photograph - of the Trent/McMinnville Oregon.

According to them on their blog, the photo came from someone in Arizona and it shows that the whole thing was a hoax. Naturally there are all kinds of questions around this: who's this "SMC" person who provided the photo, why, under what circumstances, has any analysis been done regarding the photo, and so on.

The blog promises "more to come." And of course, at last check, there were 11 comments.

I can't help myself but notice the juxtaposition with this and the "hoax" posts by the Andreasson-Luca step-son.

Standing by . . .

Bramley: The Gods of Eden

A current review of William Bramley's The Gods of Eden by Philip Coppens. I read this book years ago, and liked it then; I still like it. I think, as Coppens comments, Bramley’s book

is overlooked as being too out there. Or, as Coppens says, it has a cult status. Either way, it doesn't seem, even after all this time, to be among the first dozen or so books on UFO researchers lists. And yet, as Coppens points out, Bramley’s book preceded David Icke and all the others, and with far less silliness.

The Gods of Eden is about alien creation/design/intervention but before you roll your eyes and sigh “Oh no, David Icke and green lizards” give the book a chance. One of Bramley's main areas of focus is the binary opposition of the human condition: war/peace. Religion preaches love, tolerance while at the same time, religion promotes and supports killing, oppression and tyranny.

Speaking of UFO studies itself, Coppens quotes Bramley:

"There are few subjects today as full of false information, deceit, and madness as ‘flying saucers’. Many earnest people who attempt to study the subject are driven around in circles by a terrific amount of dishonesty from a small number of people who, for the sake of a fleeting moment of notoriety or with the deliberate intention to obfuscate, have clouded the field with false reports, untenable ‘explanations’, and fraudulent evidence. Suffice it to say that behind this smokescreen there is ample evidence of extraterrestrial visitations to Earth. This is too bad. An in-depth study of the UFO phenomenon reveals that it does not offer a happy little romp through the titillating unknown. The UFO appears more and more to be one of the grimmest realities ever confronted by the human race.”

That’s bleak . And a big elephant in the room none of us want to talk about. What if it’s true? Quite possible. If so -- if that is all there is - - it’s a long cold unpleasant existential road to be on. (Already my mind is swirling around this tangent. . .)

As to the “reality” of that final photograph that will provide the proof:

As to the notion that if UFOs are extraterrestrial aircraft, there should be an undisputed photograph of one by now: “Anything can be disputed. The dispute simply means that someone has chosen to quarrel.” It is logical, and though we do not subscribe to it, we can understand…

Coppens has many good insights of his own into Bramley’s book that are worth reading.

Among other things, Bramley’s work is concerned with the Trickster force; the oppositional tensions of existence on earth. Not only the afore mentioned war, but UFO studies, as previously noted. As Coppen writes, speaking of the book:

But it showed powerful examples of the central bank scams, it showed how contradictory humanity really is, and does indeed seem to be tricked into working in one direction, even though neither side really wants that outcome. (italics mine)

That part: how we are "tricked" so often, about so many things, and especially about 'all this' -- all this Fortean, weird, UFO stuff -- is another elephant in the room. It's maddening, all the more so because this very Trickster prescence is as much a part of it as anything else. It wouldn't be without it. And yet we forget that constantly, or refuse to acknowledge it at all. While all the time we're bedazzled by disinformation, silliness, our own fears and desires, their fears and desires. . . it's a mess. It's confusing and deceitful. It's seductive. The pathological skeptic-troll who dogs the UFO researcher with snide rants about wasting time, or lying, or being mentally unbalanced is as much in this mess as the rest of us. We're all being manipulated. (But I'm starting to swirl again so I'll leave off for now.)

It's a very good review and it was good to see someone remind us of William Bramley and his work.

If you haven’t read The Gods of Eden, I hope you do soon.

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.

Blog Discovery

Fun quiz; What Tarot Card are You? This time I'm the Moon. Can't argue with that. I'm always glad to find new blogs (new to me anyway) and just found this one: The Curio, where I also found this quiz.

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Book of Thoth Contest Winners

The Book of Thoth Contest Winners results are in.

Congratulations to all the winners, including, ahem, me. The only winners I know are Lesley, author of The Debris Field blog, and Odd Things, of the blog by the same name. But congratulations to all!

Lesley’s article: Nazi's and The Philosophers Stone
Odd Things: Mythology, the ages of man and the extraterrestrial hypothesis
My article: Flying Saucer Kooks, and A Look Into Colin Bennett’s Looking for Orthon

Fewer Crop Circles These Days

It appears there are fewer circles lately. Nick Redfern on UFO Mystic has a thread on this news. I commented over there that my take on the circles is that they're man made; not by hoaxers, as in guerrilla artists, shills, or pranksters, but some sort of technological weapons testing, or something of that kind related to the good old military industrial complex. Nick mentions that, while the crop circles are fewer in number, there's been a rise in UFO sightings.

Bunny Cakes

From the Saucerian Outsider blog, this item came my way:


The Explanatory Theory of the Supposed Extraterrestrial Hypotheses as Contemporary and Anagalous Socio-Mythos Construct of the Pop Cultural Milieu

Average citizens in Western, non-Western (Occidental) Industrial and Third, Fourth and emergent Fifth World countries still cling to specific religious, spiritual, philosophical systems involving “aliens” from other worlds. These tales vary yet sub-currently share similarities of iconography. The enthusiastic mavens of UFOlogy mistake these symbols of mere cultural communications for proof of alien (ie extraterrestrial) beings that are the causes for seemingly mysterious and conspiratorial events: cattle “mutilations,” alien “abductions,” crop circles, etc. Whereas in point of fact, all these occurrences are nothing more than unfortunate yet solidly prosaic occurrences lacking in any so-called “Fortean,” paranormal, anomalous or UFOlogical basis.

We know that these interpretative subjective experiences are nothing more than mundane events containing several elements of easily explainable and verifiable (hence: real) data that nonetheless, due to human frailty as well as a grossly undereducated general population, persist in being presented as paranormal or UFOlogical to the detriment of society and human advancement in terms of critical thinking.This severely and grossly prohibits the otherwise innate biological imperative towards quantum leaps in humanisticonic evolutionary advancement.

While one may engage in semantic games surrounding language tags such as “unidentified,” UFOs on the surface do exist; however, despite this name game, if you will, they are all quite identifiable and are therefore IFOs (Identified Flying Objects) and contain not an iota of any extraterrestrial entity or other loosely and weakly fabricated metaphysical beliefs.

Those willful “researchers” of UFOlogy who refuse to accept as realistic and valid the verifiable facts of the scientific community are responsible for the continued mythos of the UFO and its implicit symbol the ET in contemporary culture as well as its slow yet nonetheless persistent inroads into less educated societies.

Furthermore the media, particularly entertainment media which often poses as quasi-scientific documentarians of UFO programatic episodes, which in itself is a paradoxical irony since the UFO phenomena is unverifiable and therefore immune to quantification of documentation, is responsible for supporting these wrong headed ideas believed as factual evidence within the contextual construct of afore mentioned “documentary.”

The researchers at Saucerian Outsider believe that only with continued pressure on all those responsible for such illiterate and anti-cultural deeds should be held responsible for their actions upon a world society that has been misled by these harmful “researchers” who inflict their data onto the collective consciousness of the masses as well as interfere with the efforts of science-based immersions within the infrastructural interface of an enlightened dichotomous populous.

---

Disclaimer: There isn't any Saucerian Outsider, and I was just being silly.

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.

More Women in UFOlogy: Tina Sena

Seems to be a busy week for women and ufology/Forteana. Also over on Binnall of America, is BOA's newest columnist, Tina Sena. (love that name.) Tina writes very well; very poetically, and has her own, individual voice. She's also among the younger generation of UFO and Fortean writers/observers.

Tina is also the author of the blog Yufology.

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.

Fortean Bigfoot

The discussion continues over on Cryptomundo about weird, UFO, telepathic, anomalous and Fortean Bigfoot.

One of my points, as well as a truly sincere question, involves this information, or data. These stories exist; they're real. The stories, not the question of the experience itself. So, as I asked, do we accept the BF sighting, but not the UFO sighting? Do we include the BF report, but pretend we never heard anything about the witness also communicating with the creature?

I also made the point that including this anomalous data in the research is not the same as accepting it as real,understanding it, or approving it.

Here's what I commented over on Cryptomundo:

Thanks for the facilitation of this intriguing topic Craig.

Lots of interesting comments, as to be expected!

As I said, I realize that cryptozoology and the search for Bigfoot in a quest for its scientific validity has a hard enough time being taken seriously. I am completely sympathetic to that, and any "nonsense" about telepathic communcations, UFOs, or any other Fortean/high strangeness events associated with Bigfoot is to be rejected. BUT...

Having read several dozens of stories about these types of encounters, and knowing, personally, a few people that have had them, what do you do about them?

Are these people lying? I doubt very much the ones I've spoken with personally are. Always possible of course, as with anything. But I doubt it.

One of the issues here, for me, is: when do you decide, as a researcher, to reject something? A legitimate question.

If you're interviewing a BF witness, and they reveal they saw a UFO at the same time, or that they were in some sort of telepathic communication with BF, or some other "weird" event, what do you do?

Leave it out or ignore it? Accept the BF sighting, but not the other stuff? Reject the whole thing, including the BF sighting, because of the other stuff?

While I understand the fact of science needing physical, solid evidence that can be measured, etc. if these other things are present, they're a part of the experience. It isn't the witnesses or researcher's "fault" that they are a part of the experience.

So now what?

These are valid quesitons. As Nick Redfern pointed out in his recent articles on this topic, these stories are, and you can't just reject them because you feel like it. (on his blog UFO Mystic and in this issue of UFO Magazine.)

Keeping the stories as part of the data isn't the same as believing in them, or accepting them. But it's a start towards including all the evidence you find, as part of the research into the phenomena.

"Paranormal Bigfoot" on Cryptomundo

Craig Woolheater of Cryptomundo, has reposted my Bigfoot and High Strangeness article that I wrote for Trickster's Realm. Needless to say, it has generated a vibrant slew of comments, as expected when it comes to this topic.

Lisa Shiel, we need you! (Shiel is author of Backyard Bigfoot The True Story of Stick Signs, UFOs, & the Sasquatch.

(A thank you to Craig for posting the article and facilitating discussion.)

While Craig asked me about this some time ago, it's a bit of a nice coincidence that corresponds with Nick Redfern's latest piece
Crossover Cases on this topic on his blog with Greg Bishop, UFO Mystic. Nick also has an article in this month's issue of UFO Magazine on this subject.