Sunday Round-Up at the Orb

Here's my shameless self-promotion for Sunday:

Paranormal Meet. Found this recently; and it's going strong. Lots of new people joining everyday. I like it, it's a good idea, and fun. Much better than having a MySpace page.Take a look, be sure to visit my blog and vote! And join if you can. There are a few little glitches, nothing major, but it's easy to find your way around and user friendly. I like the like minded, community vibe over there.

UFO Digest. My latest piece over there is on the blurring, or mimicking, or. . . something, of aliens/ghosts/Bigfoot, etc. When Entities Collide: Ghosts, Aliens, MIBs, and Entities and The Trickster Faeries

The current Trickster's Realm on Binnall of America is on my friend "Lola" here in Oregon and the high strangeness that follows the family: High Strangeness Follows Family? As always, be sure to read all the other great stuff on there.

My short article "What Is A UFO?" should be up on American Chronicle any time now. There's a holding period for pieces; I put it in today, so it can be any time from now until sometime tomorrow. Check this link for the article, as well as the rest of my American Chronicle pieces.

Mating Hedgehogs, my other blog about: politics, culture, media, weirdness, etc. Please check it out, there's everything from YouTube clips of Mothman and Mothra to rants about anti-feminist, anti-Semitic clown shoes like Henry Makow. Mating Hedgehogs.

And finally, Frame 352, my "stranger side of Sasquatch" blog. Follow the link over there to Lisa Shiel's Bigfoot Quest blog, where she has a poll going on about UFOs and Bigfoot.

Good night, have a good week! Let's hope we're all safe and good and remain relatively sane.

A Scofftoid Looks at Rendlesham: The Persistence of Skepticism vs. The Persistence of High Strangeness

Aaron Sakulich, resident collegiate scofftoid of the Iron Triangle college paper at Drexel University, writes on/against UFOs and related topics. A favorite phrase of his is “UFO enthusiast.” (Use of such a term attempts to ensure that any study of UFOs and related phenomena remain trivialized.) He mocks, he pontificates, he rants. Free country, we’re all entitled.

But in his recent piece: Story of 'British Roswell' lacks verifiable evidence” he misses the point. Well, he’s missed the point about a lot of things, but that’s to be expected with chronic skeptics.

It’s a given there isn’t any “verifiable evidence” with any of all this stuff; so let’s move on. Of course, it does beg the question of just what is “verifiable evidence?” Students of the esoteric know that chronic skepticism does not allow for anecdotal evidence to be considered evidence. Not even data. Well, sheesh, dahlings, if you’re going to go that far, whatever is there to talk about?

Anyway. Rendlesham.

Sakulich shares with all persistent, irrational rationalists the premise that there’s no "there" in UFO Land, and so, open mockery and silliness is not only acceptable, but expected. He opens with:

England is an exotic land of mystery. The English eat parts of animals I'd never consider putting in my mouth. Some of their groceries are named specifically after genitalia and their secret agents are continually impregnating the women of the world. Americans prefer broken beer bottles at the bar; they prefer top hats and pistols at dawn. Yet, our two countries have something in common: UFO enthusiasts seize on the flimsiest evidence and hold it up as proof that space monsters from beyond the moon are visiting the earth.

I have nothing against the English (so much) and I hope to visit there someday, but I don’t think of England as being “exotic.” And I for one, being a “UFO enthusiast” don’t think aliens come from “beyond the moon” but actually from the moon.

Of Rendlesham, or the so-called “British Roswell,” Sakulich says there are “enormous holes” in the story. That’s a fascinating statement, given that we don’t know what happened. If we don’t know what happened, how can we say there are ‘holes?” We're dealing with the anomalous, the weird, the highly unusual; "holes" are to be expected, if by "holes" one means Things That Don't Fit.

He goes on to describe what happened; the flashing lights, the weird sounds, the triangle shape observed by one of the soldiers, the burn marks and impressions in the ground from something heavy, and so on.

Sakulich's first error -- either from an honest glitch in thinking, or disingenuousness - is in assuming what “UFO enthusiasts” think. He does this all the time, sharing with all persistent skeptics the need to make sweeping assumptions on what "UFO enthusiasts" think:

The next day, returning to the site of the supposed landing, men found triangular impressions in the earth and "burn marks" on the trees. Therefore, the UFO community came to one conclusion: a mechanical spaceship had been out and about in the forest that night wreaking all sorts of havoc.

I for one never thought the UFO that landed that night was from outer space, piloted by aliens. No, this “UFO enthusiast,” dahlings, thinks it was a military (or industrial/technological-- or combination of ) object, intentionally sent, staged, to gauge the reactions of the humans on duty that night. Possibly it was a mistake; the thing wasn’t meant to be seen, but seen it was. Either way, whatever the thing was, I don’t think it was from outer space, and there are a lot of UFO researchers who agree.

Besides which, the “UFO community” is far from being a cohesive group that comes to consensus. Der.

Of the lights seen, Sakulich writes that witness Penniston was “petulant” in his disagreement that the light (s) he saw weren’t beacons:

When asked if this could be the source of the lights, Penniston petulantly replied that no, he could tell the difference between this beacon and the mystery lights.

I’d be “petulant” too, if someone insisted I saw something different from what I saw, especially if they weren’t there, and I was. What, suddenly we’re to believe Penniston can’t distinguish types of lights?

It’s old news; this lighthouse beacon stuff, and enough already. But here Sakulich almost surpasses the infamous “mating hedgehogs” explanation for crop circles, in explaining away the marks left in the ground from an object:

The third problem is the supposed physical evidence found at the scene: the triangular landing gear marks and the burn marks on the trees in the areas. For this one, investigators didn't have to go much further than the locals. The marks made by alien landing gears were actually rabbit holes, perfectly normal and plentiful in the forest.

(And I just can’t let go the cheap easy “laugh” when Sakulich stoops to classism and culturalism when he comments:

I like to imagine that these locals laugh a little to themselves at the city-slicker UFO enthusiasts mistaking rabbit holes for landing pad impressions as they wait in line for their monthly allowance of eel pies and plaid wool trousers.)

He drones on, but the point is this: something weird enough happened at Rendlesham to mess with witnesses heads, which seemed to be the point of the whole thing. The incident isn’t any different from countless others in UFOlogy; and this glaring fact utterly escapes people like Sakulich.

It’s easy to be glib, and easy to be lazy. Call everyone who doesn’t openly mock and ridicule UFOlogy a “UFO enthusiast,” make wild assumptions, such as they/we all believe the same thing, and that same thing is a warm and fuzzy ET space brother. Call the people who’ve experienced the weird and shared their stories nuts and lunatics, and there it is: a name for yourself, a reputation as a “critical thinker” when no such thing has taken place. Meanwhile, the anomalous continues to manifest, despite what we say about such things.

"Paranormal Meet"

I don't know how much time I'll have to post here in the next few days; back to work full time (and then some) leaves little time. Until my body gets used to the rountine again; anyway, here's a new blog place for blog junkies of the Paranormal and UFOs: Paranormal Meet. It's a good idea; there are others, Daily Grail, Book of Thoth, both which are excellent of course. But always room for more.

New Book: Parapsychology and the Skeptics

The Daily Grail has an item on a new book: Parapsychology and the Skeptics, by Chris Carter. Good comments by TDG; take a look. Now you all know I can’t wait to get his book!

Is It Just Me? : The Stanton Friedman-Sparks Explosion

Big news around the UFO realm lately on Friedman’s MJ-12, and Sparks, etc. who have announced with “proof” it’s all a big lie.

Those who have waited for years to dethrone Friedman are gleeful. Others who just love to topple for the fun of toppling are gleeful. Those with personal agendas, biases, etc. -- some with books, film, DVDs, video and so on to sell, some not -- are gleeful.

Others aren’t gleeful, but they’re writing away on the news. As am I.

A lot of people, gleeful or not, seem to be very serious about this whole thing. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see the big whoop.

I mean, where has everybody been all this time? The UFO field, as with all of anomalous, paranormal, high strangeness Fortean things, has always been full of disinformation. Purposeful, intentional, creative, trollish, lying, at times downright immoral, disinfo. That’s fundamental within UFOlogy.

So it is, so it has been, all this time with Friedman and his “belief” (trust?) in MJ 12 as the real deal. There was always the question of “is it, could it be, are they. . .?” concerning their validity.

Now comes along revelations, news, scoops, bits of info and this and that, that MJ 12 was indeed bogus.

But why should we believe that any more than anything else? Or,not?

None of this proves anything about anything, to my mind. So I’m not taking any of it seriously and certainly not as any end all news that’s resolved the issue.

I suppose I should make it clear I’ve never believed the MJ !2 documents were exactly as presented by Friedman; too much taint, too much bad history/context. I mean, look at the people involved, and the whole scenario! That’s why I’m surprised so many are surprised.

And why some are willing to believe all this, now, when they didn’t “believe” that, then.

New Trickster's Realm on BoA

The new TR - my column Trickster's Realm - is up at Binnall of America. This week's column shares stories of not only a haunted house, but a haunted road. The whole area itself seems to be haunted, from the cemetery at one end, to the Indian (yes, cliche) burial grounds at the other end. Furthermore, the question of hauntings and other weirdness following a family is posed.

While you're over there reading TR, be sure to check out all the great material on Binall of America: Lesley's Grey Matters, among others.

The Sleaze: Sex in Space

Well, this will wake you up! Before going out into the world at my "real" job, I checked the usual: e-mail, Anomalist, Debris Field, UFO Updates and UFO Review. I found this link on UFO Review, and a warning for those squeamish about such things, it's on the graphic side.

The relationship between the UFO phenomena and sex is an interest of mine, so naturally I clicked on the link at UFO Review Sex Therapists From Space. It's on site called "The Sleaze" and they seem to be about sex and Forteana in a big way.

And with that, I'm off to work.

NOOOoooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

(Beach Blanket Bingo,1965)

Not much UFO entries here lately, and it's partly due to the winding down of summer. I refuse to accept it; but a lot of good that'll do me. I go back to work Thursday. Well, at least I'll be going out of town for the long weekend.

It's good to take a break from the UFO arena for awhile, though it's never away from me. I just haven't been writing about it much on-line. Lots of funny weird stuff on Mating Hedgehogs however, one of my other blogs.

There's a lot I could say regarding UFOs concerning the nonsense some people seem to enjoy getting into; I don't know what it is, but otherwise intelligent, mature adults just go nuts every few months and start flinging cow poo all over the place. It's hard for me to take these people seriously or not call them things like "thugs" when they seem to take some kind of pleasure in jumping right in and throwing punches. But what's the point? Other than comment and say "er, yes, we all are aware of your fighting boys" and just let it alone.

MJ-12; some things going around about that on UFO Updates, UFO Mystic, Other Side of Truth, and elsewhere, and it is interesting. Maybe I'll comment later on that. For now, as much as I admire Stanton Friedman -- and I do -- I've always had the feeling he was the victim of an elaborate and planned disinfo campaign. That doesn't change things really -- I'll explain that later. Maybe. Shrug. Can't grow up my own damn self and "get" that summer is over, I will return to work, ... etc. But back to MJ 12, what is there about the new info that makes that any more true/real? Like everything else, grains of salt. . .

What else. Some UFO stuff going on here in Oregon; a woman by the name of "Cindy" has been in contact with me, I think I mentioned here a bit ago I'll get around to posting something on that.

And spending time with the esoteric, for sure, just not UFO -ish so much: drumming, writning (fiction, not fringe topics) and intent,cards, and things moving within on a personal level (all good) and all that New Age stuff. But it's all good, and as the saying goes, we can change our stories, since we're the authors. So my new story for end of summer and returning to work is still to be written, but it'll be new and positive. It'll be mine. And that's a good thing.

It's Stanton Friedman Day!

Today it's Stanton Friedman Day. Who says? Some people, like this person: Fredericton honours world-renowned flying saucer expert, and why not? Stanton Friedman deserves it!

Kimball on Redfern

I started to respond to this item by Paul Kimball on his blog The Other Side of Truth about Nick Redfern, Nick Redfern on UFOlogy but it quickly became very long so I’m putting it here.

Kimball has a response to Nick Redfern’s contention that:

I predict that ufology will never be anymore than a subject that attracts a few thousand people on a regular basis (and maybe less now).

Many ufologists confidently think that the world is waiting for them to finally deliver the ET goods and go down in history.

They’re not. Most people outside could not care less about the petty arguments in ufology (and don’t know about it anyway) and unless someone really makes a major breakthrough (along the lines of proving that Roswell was ET, for example), we will not be remembered by science, the media or the public.

I've been saying this for ever: the one, final Answer, The big Answer, about ufos will never come. Never. It just can't, (in my opinion, partly due to the Trickster like aspects of the phenomena.)
Redfern goes on to say that if that answer comes, if it’s shown that ET does exist, science and the general population will forget about UFO researchers, pundits, etc:

In other words, we’ll be viewed as a group of people who looked into some unusual areas in search of the truth about aliens, but never really found any hard evidence that proved ET was visiting.

Ironically, if ET really does land, I personally think that ufology will be swept away in an instant as the public demands answers from the media, who in turn demand answers [sic] from the government and the mainstream scientific community.

(I agree with this, and I think the same would be true in the case of Bigfoot, Nessie, etc. If a dead BF body were found, if it were announced by science BF does indeed, exist, the same attitude towards BF researchers would be present.)

Kimball writes:

So, in the meantime, everyone should focus on the intriguing mystery, and have some fun, because that's what mysteries should be - fun.

This means that there should be room for some of the more "out there" theories (FYI - as far as the mainstream is concerned, that includes the ETH), even to the point of speculation. Where would I draw the line? When people are clearly lying, or when the theories and speculation goes so far as to be preposterous, at which point let 'em have it.

Exactly. some sort of inner journey-process thing going on for some us. And, I agree, if they do land and it's somehow proven UFOs exist (more to the point, that ET exists) UFO researchers will be ignored. They might be trotted out now and then for some entertainment value, but no one's going to really take them seriously; they'll be co-opted and appropriated. Used by the media and institiutions such as science for their own purposes. (The same would happen in the case of Bigfoot or Nessie.)
The public would be interested, as Alfred Lehmberg wrote in his comment to this item on Paul’s blog, and in that sense, the "folk" will jump in, but, being just the folk, no one's going to care. The institutions of science, academia, etc. aren’t going to bother with what will still be considered the fringe element. Even as it’s discovered that ET exists, there will still be areas of ufology that will fascinate, while ignored by the mainstream.

Years ago a professor of folklore told me that if ET were to land tomorrow, “it wouldn’t matter.” I didn’t understand what she meant at the time; what do mean, “It wouldn’t matter??!!” Of course it’d matter! What she meant was, in the context of folklore, it wouldn’t matter. People would still have their stories, the “folk” would continue to be marginalized by the mainstream and the approved institutions, individuals would still have their experiences. Various rituals, beliefs, and processes would evolve surrounding the discovery of ET, and take on their own flavor due to cultures and religious/spiritual beliefs. Even though ET has now been proven as a reality, various and new “realities” would quickly spring up surrouding ET, and it would start all over.

This doesn’t mean, as Kimball writes, we still can’t “have fun,” and for some of us, it’s more than “fun” (though it certainly is that too) it’s very personal on many levels. But that depends on how each of us is wired; we’re all of different temperaments.

It doesn’t matter to me that it will be highly unlikely we’ll ever find “the answer” because that’s not the purpose of this journey. (And, as I said, by definition it can’t happen anyway due to the Trickster aspect.)

So where does all this leave the “nuts and bolts” researchers? Those who work so tirelessly and do their best (most of them) to produce documents, evidence, facts of a case, to show the world? Nothing short of a dead body (be it ET or Bigfoot) that’s been independently verified by a whole slew of scientists will prove anything to the world. And then what? We’ll go on as before, except those of us who, as I mentioned, do this for other reasons other than “proving” something to others. Those diligent researchers will be trotted out as well as entertainment value, footnotes to the big reveal of ET.

That’s okay though, as cynical as it sounds. There’s the outsider element when the truth is concerned in “fringe” topics, and UFOlogy is no different. These same kinds of responses to Ufologists and Ufology apply to the Kennedy assassination and 9/11. If it were somehow proven to the world that the so-called “conspiracy nuts” were right about those things, they’d be briefly mentioned before once again sent back to the fringe while the approved pundits of society argue over minutae on CNN.

That’s just the way things are. It’s okay. After all, I’m having fun.

Yeah, I Get That A Lot

I'm not complaining, much, after all, I'll take any free publicity that comes my way, good or bad. I ignore the bad (or try my best to) and take the good.

The goodly Anomalist very nicely put a link and blurb in today's edition for my "Finding Sasquatch" piece on Binnall of America/Trickster's Realm. For that I thank them.

But just so everyone knows, I'm not a "he" I'm a "she." I don't know why this mistake is made a lot, but it is. It might be because of the name Regan -- it's also a man's name. But, it's also a woman's name. It might be because I often use "R. Lee" to sign off with, though I don't see why that would make people think I'm a guy. So I've included some photos of myself to prove to everyone I really am a chick.

I've been "accused" by a troll/psychoid-skeptoid or two in the past of "wanting to be like a man, and "writing like a man" and while that's very funny, it also points to their thick headed misogyny.


In the case of the Anomalist, I just think it's a matter of them being very busy and not having or taking the time to notice the rest of my blogs, or the blurbs around my columns elsewhere, etc.

With a few others, they're obviously idiots.

Mostly though it's just an honest mistake. So for the record, I'm not a "he" I'm a chick. Check out my blog "Mating Hedgehogs" if you have any doubt, lol.

Orb Roundup

It's time for blatant shameless self-promotion and reminders:

In the current issue of UFO Magazine, I share my thoughts on the Triangle UFOs. No conclusions, just musings. (Of course, if I, or anyone, had conclusions, there'd be no mystery.)

Frame 352: The Stranger Side of Sasaquatch, my Bigfoot blog.

Mating Hedgehogs, my other blog on: media, culture, sex, para-politics, Dr. Evils, Forteana, esoterica, paranoia, Genetic Food Manipulations, animal rights and welfare, art, feminism, Americana, and whatever else I feel like.

For Trickster's Realm on Binnall of America: Finding Sasquatch.

I'm also around on UFO Digest and American Chronicle.

Lesley for Grey Matters: Money in the Sky (Part 2) : The Pointless Point

Lesley (Debris Field blog, and Beyond the Dial in UFO magazine) has a good piece for her Grey Matters column for BoA: Money in the Sky (Part 2) : The Pointless Point. Lesley writes about the “they’re only in it for the money” line many scofftoids (and some UFO people, sadly) use to dismiss people who write about UFOs and happen to make money.

“Make money;” it doesn't matter how much money, if that “making money” is a few dollars here and there or enough to make ones living from. The latter is rare, I suspect. I write like the hepped up caffeine junkie I am about UFOs and related phenomena, but so far, I haven’t made a cent. So what? When the day comes that I do make “some money” I’ll be happy of course, but I’m happy now too. The point is, as Lesley writes, is that there is nothing wrong with “making money” from writing about these topics. However, there are plenty of the “UFOlogy Police” (as Lesley calls them) who spend their time attacking those who “make money’ or who they suspect “make money” from their UFO books, videos, and lectures.

Another comment Lesley makes is about humor. Lesley discusses UFO experiencer, writer and filmmaker Jeremy Vaeni -- one of the accused “money makers” -- and how some have added the sin of having a sense of humor to his crime of money making. I’ve been attacked for my sense of humor as well; in fact, I believe that those who’ve gone after me with such psychotic vengeance is the fact that UFO pundits aren't supposed to crack wise. And women especially aren’t supposed to be so damn cheeky.

I don’t know Jeremy personally, never having met him, but we’ve corresponded quite a bit, including an interview he did of me for UFO Magazine (Grilling Regan Lee) and I’ve always been impressed with his humor. He comes across as quirky, sure, but quirky is good, and there isn’t enough of it. More importantly (for we all can’t be quirky; you either are or you’re not) he is his own damn self. He’s not afraid to be who he is, doesn't pretend to be anything other than himself. That’s all anyone can expect in this arena: honesty.

As to “making money,” I doubt Vaeni is going to be moving to that villa in Tuscany any time soon.

This whole idea that “making money” from one’s UFO passion - and that it somehow proves the individual is lying -- is ridiculous.

I loved Lesley’s comment regarding this faux moral concern:

”What is Ufology? The Priesthood? You must give up all your worldly good and take a vow of poverty? Maybe you also need to promise to only bath once a year and crawl around your house through broken glass? Ridiculous!”

There are those -- way too many -- who have blogs and websites that write incessantly about how people who write about UFOs are wasting time. Apparently we;re wasting their time, our time, everyone's time. The irony escapes them: that they’re wasting time telling everyone else how much time we’re wasting. But they also can’t resist reading the material they judge to be crap. Rather than ignoring such “crap” and doing something productive, they attack, often going so far as to lie about the people they’re attacking. They harp on the “truth” and decide that they’re the ones able to judge. They insist material such as abduction accounts be classified as fiction, instead of nonfiction. True, there’s no ultimate “proof” of these encounters, which is a whole other topic, but here’s something Lesley said about this that I think is very important:

"I hate to sound all anarchist, but why should we be so concerned about whether something is true? If we find the story thought provoking, does it really matter if it is true? There are certain fiction books that have influenced my entire life, not because they were true, but because the values I learned from them are true and because they caused me to think about things that are beyond my ordinary daily life. I am not really terribly concerned about what Jeremy or anyone else says being completely true or accurate, I am more concerned about whether it is interesting and whether I can learn anything from it. Since I look at almost all Ufology as being subjective, none of it is really true. If dozens of people had the same esoteric experience, the chances that most would interpret it differently is highly likely. Even if they all agree that they saw the same thing, many will take different meanings from what they saw. This is not only true of esoteric events, ask any policeman about robbery witnesses. One person will swear it was a blue shirt the guy was wearing, while another insists that is was green. Both of these people will be completely sure they are right and the other is wrong. Human minds interpret things differently, that is just how it is.”

And it all gets down to this: for those that find some sort of twisted joy in attacking UFO and Fortean writers, Lesley suggests the following:

"Besides which, if they are so sure that they know the truth, then they should spread it, instead of spending their time sitting at their keyboard constantly griping about what others are doing.”

Excellent advice.

A Post Script on UFO Magazine Trianlge Article

The new issue of UFO Magazine is out. As usual, lots there, I'm looking forward to reading Farah Yurdozo's article on Adamski and Nazis. Yes! Haven't read the article, but it will prove to be very interesting. I've wondered for years about the Contactee movement and how there is a lot below the dichotomy of "they're nuts-lairs"/"they really did see ET".

My article on Black Triangles and the Trickster is in this issue as well. In the article I asked why the triangle hasn't changed in the many decades they've been present? You'd think that, over time and with their technology, they'd have changed quite a bit.

After the article, someone mentioned to me that there might be a couple of reasons why they haven't changed. We have ships; they really haven't changed much over several decades. If the triangle occupants are ET, time travel is a possibility: what may take a few hours in their life may seem like years in ours. I don't mesh with the idea of time travel; but who knows.

Another possibility: maybe they have changed, but they've changed to such a degree we don't recognize them as being triangles or related to triangles in any way. If that's so however, why use the triangles -- unless, as we do, use of older machines is still done.

All highly speculative of course. But it keeps me off the streets.

Tim Binnall Answers Five Questions

Blogger and filmmaker Paul Kimball interviews Tim Binnall, of the Binnall of America website.