Oregon UFO

Aileen Garoutte, of
UFOexperiences blog (an excellent blog of straight forward UFO reporting; I don’t think she gets enough credit) reports on an Oregon sighting.

This one from the Lake Oswego area (Portland area) and concerns a “black saucer shape (d)” UFO. One thing I find interesting is that the witness said to her companion “that this would be a good place for a UFO to land. “ right before the sighting.

Garoutte by the way is past Director of The UFO Contact Center International.

Kithra's Krystal Kave

New blog; she has a website, which is where I found her. She had a good piece on the Cornish Owlman that I quoted. Kithra very nicely responded; she's knowledgeable about a lot of things. She's started a blog.

She writes on UFOs but all kinds of things, cryptids to be sure; very interesting.

Hysterical about hysteria

In Hysterical about hysteria, the author comments on the somewhat suspicious insistence of scientists and authorities that the noxious fumes experienced by witnesses to Peru’s recent “thing that crashed from the sky” was “mass hysteria.”
Instead of actually treating the witnesses with respect and interest, they’re dismissed. As he writes:

Whoa, time out. Geologists say that meteorites can't cause people to become sick, therefore the people must be delusional. Isn't that putting the theory before the observation? It's also a little weird that the "large number" of reports is used to cast doubt on them. In most areas of science, a large number increases our confidence. Why can't we just say, There were reports of people reporting a flash in the sky and a big hole in the ground and getting sick, that's weird, so let's investigate.

Good point.

Hubby Sees a UFO

So we’re sitting there, watching television (Eureka) and during the commercial my spouse turns to me as and says “I saw a UFO today.” He was very pleased with himself. He went on to say that he noticed an odd “elongated speck” in the sky. A coworker saw it as well.

The “elongated speck” was traveling very fast: “How fast was it going?” “Hard to say, really fast.” “Was it going faster than a jet?” “Oh, yeah.” It was also very high up; higher than what he thought a plane would be.

He thought it might be a plane but he watched it for a while; no wings, etc. He didn’t see any marks, or what have you. It didn’t change direction, flew in a very fast south to north direction.

His point however, and he’s proud of himself for making this point known to said coworker, was that it was a UFO, since neither one of them could identify it and it’s a mystery as to what it was. But my husband also thinks it was either a plane of some type he just couldn’t see the wings, etc. or, some kind of satellite. In other words, a man made object of some type. Still, he semantically pointed out to his coworker, who admitted he didn’t have a clue as to what it was, it was a “UFO.”

The Owls are not what they seem

Sunday Orb Round Up

Is it Sunday again already? Grueling week, but at least it’s over. Having the Fall crud doesn’t help. Well, enough about me. Here’s some links and items I hope you’ll follow, because it’s mostly all about me. (I know, I just contradicted myself.)

Frame 352: The Stranger Side of Sasquatch
Visit my bigfoot blog Frame 352.Comments are welcome of course, as well as sightings and encounters, especially in Oregon or the Pacific Northwest. However, reports aren’t at all limited to Oregon or the PNW; sightings from all over the world are included.

The blog doesn’t completely ignore flesh and blood bigfoot, but the focus is on the paranormal, UFO and other high strangeness Bigfoot encounters from all over the world.

The Trickster is not Demonic
Stephen Yulish, a Christian UFO researcher and writer, wrote a piece inspired by my piece on Mary and Marian apparitions as Trickster manifestations. Yulish uses the terms Trickster and demonic interchangeably, and gives the impression I do as well.

I made it clear in this item on the OrangeOrb I do not consider the Trickster a “demonic” figure, not in a Christian framework, nor do I personally believe in the divinity of Christ, Mary, etc. I also do not consider the religious doctrine or a religion's text as proof, real, true, or factual. None of those things are things I “believe” in -- and specifically, not in a traditional, religious and mainstream way.

I need to make this very clear, for I write about the Trickster a lot. I do not intend for misrepresentations or misunderstandings of what I think about this topic to be perpetuated.

You can read my article Speculation on Mary as a Trickster, here.
Stephen Yuish’s article Many Apparitions of Mary may be Tricksters but the Real Mary was not! And my blog post here.

Exopolitics and New Age Personas
I make fun of exopolitics and what I call New Agey types a lot. Gentle fun, because I have to say, that with all of their naive and wrong headed approaches (at times arrogant) the intent of exo-politics is good. It can’t hurt. New Age stuff, because, I’m sort of New Agey myself, but can’t quite get there all the way. So much about them makes me laugh and at times, even creeps me out. And, so much of the New Age movement (remember, i live in Eugene, Oregon) is a strange combination of smug and naive. Superior and pretentious. Then again, I admit I experience frequent bouts of general malaise. Still, I am aware of my contradictory personality; I work with crystals, I mediate, I read cards, baby, I do a lot of witchy new age stuff. Hell, I even like purple.

All this is leading up to shameless self promotion: my next two articles for UFO Magazine are on these topics. The Purple Road discussed New Age perspectives and UFOs, and after that is a piece on the exopolitics movement.

Mating Hedgehogs
Isn’t a paranormal blog per se, but it does have some high strangeness stuff on there. You’ll never know what you’ll find over there.

Ghost Photo Contest
Lesley (Debris Field, etc.) is running her ghost photo contest again this year. I entered, why not? You can find more here.
Things That Caught My Eye

Cave skylights from Mars. I love anything about Mars; I’m telling you, the little buggers are up there. Awhile back there were the deep black holes on Mars. In May I wrote a little blog piece on my spot on
The Daily Grail about the holes. It’s making the rounds again. As always, with things like this, I have wonder what parts are they leaving out when they tell us this stuff?

Nick Redfern’s new book Man-Monkey is reviewed here. Sigh, another book to go on my yearly reading list. I’m still trying to catch up from last year!

Fresh Crater in Peru: Meteorite?
As someone pointed out, why hasn’t this made headline news? Anyway, interesting of course and just what did happen? What crashed and left a crater in its wake in Peru? Some suggest it was a spy satellite. Possible of course, but given the context of the source, I’d take it with a grain of salt.

The CIA, Star Gate and Spying Spooks
Gary S. Bekkum writes about the CIA and its spookier high strangeness side in Secrets Revealed: CIA Allegedly Transferred STAR GATE to Spy Agency

Ideas

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.—Aristotle

I lifted this quote from Lisa Shiel's Bigfoot Quest blog. I like this quote, and think it's important in any area,includng the UFO and esoteric realm. How else are we to get anywhere if we don't allow ourselves to consider other ideas, perspectives?

Along these lines (well, to me, after all I'm a Pisces so I think a bit off kilter) is what Tim Binnall said in his interview on the Blue Rose Report podcast recently. He said, of UFO studies and theories and choosing a "side" to be on, that:
"There aren't any sides, it's a circle." I probably have that wrong, but that's the gist.

I can delve into Reptilians and Nazi gnomes living inside the earth without literally "believing" in such things. Or explore the Contactee movement without believing that Adamski, Fry, etc. really rode in a spaceship to Venus, or over the United States. That's not to say they were lying - and here's where this idea of entertaining ideas comes in. It's not always such an easy dichotomy when it comes to this arena: either or, black white, literal or not, etc.

So many are still stuck on nuts and bolts vs. the mystical, the ETH vs. anything else. Roswell as the great answer to the puzzle.

Speaking of Roswell (I know,I'm sorry) there are those who expect the answer as a salvation to the UFO enigma, and those who believe that, since Roswell is "dead" all of UFOlogy are dead. More of that either or stuff.

Binnall, in his interview, also stressed the importance of getting the views of international UFO researchers. Lesley (Debris Field, Beyond the Dial, Grey Matters) has done a lot towards gathering international research resources for our benefit. U.S. research and studies in this context needs the perspective of not only international researchers but multi cultural and minority researchers from within the states as well.

At the risk of sounding annoyingly multicultural p.c., I'll say it anyway: the views about UFOs and the paranormal our society has as a whole are held and supported (controlled) by the white dominant paradigm. (As is everything.) When it comes to the paranormal, to UFOs, to the weird in general, our infrastructure does its job: denies, and decompartmentalizes.

Most of this is a given in any culture, and due to the Trickster at work. Divide, invert, juxtapose, hide. And expecting it all to change suddenly because we've now included other views is like the naive expectations of the exopolitics people.

But it can't hurt. Anyway, what's the goal here? To change "them," or to change us?

Vivacious exchange of information and ideas doesn't mean, or guarantee, agreement. That's not the point. It might turn out I think a particular culture's mindset regarding UFOs is ridiculous, or pig headed, or weird. So what?

As the man said, we can entertain these ideas without accepting them. At least we've been exposed to new views.

Tim Binnall on The Blue Rose podcast

Finally got to listen to the interview with Tim Binnall, of Binnall of America. It's a good interview, I liked what Tim had to say about those in this field who think, or want, just one theory, who choose one side, to answer all things.

My favorite quote; "There are no sides, it's just round." Perfect.

You can listen to the interview here.

Yulish on “Demonic” “Trickster”

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece on Mary as a Trickster for UFO Digest.

(Speculation on Mary as a Trickster.) What I pondered was: can we consider Marian apparitions not strictly as a religious figure, (and certainly not literally) but as a female Trickster? Stephen Yulish responded on UFO Digest with a piece of his own; he wrote:

Many Apparitions of Mary may be Tricksters but the Real Mary was not!

He and I seem to agree, kind of sort of, on the Trickster aspect, but for the wrong reasons. For example, Yulish writes:

Regan Lee's August 6 article in UFO Digest, "Speculation on Mary as a Trickster" was most fascinating. I would tend to agree with her that many if not all of the apparitions of Mary whether they are on a barn or on a tortilla or in the skies above Lourdes, are examples of tricksters, or what I would call demonic manifestations.

I have never said or suggested the Trickster is “demonic” and I don’t ever consider the Trickster in that context. Yulish, however does. So in that sense, he has misrepresented what I’ve written. Yes, I think Marian Apparitions are a Trickster like phenomenon, but never “demonic.”

This misrepresentation isn’t personal however. It’s caused by his world view, which is a religious one. Yulish considers UFOs “demonic manifestations of fallen angels sent here to deceive people.”

Yulish is correct when he writes “The Catholic Church in it's exuberance to win over native people's often incorporated pre Christian symbols and practices.” He continues that Mary couldn’t forgive sins, that she wasn’t a “saver of souls.” That may be, that’s religious doctrine, and I’m not concerned with that as much. My focus was on the image of Mary and within a paranormal context.

Yulish thinks that at a certain point later on, he “separates” from my views. I say that he’s “separated” much earlier, given his “demonic” viewpoint:

In my mind, these are examples of Ms.Lee's trickster motif. By "tricking" people into believing that Mary can save people or forgive their sins, they are kept from the truth that only Jesus can do these things. To associate these false apparitional tricksters with UFO sightings makes my case that both manifestations are demonic delusions to lead people from the truth.

He agrees, as I said “kind of sort of,” but I can’t agree, for Yulish is coming from a pronounced religious point of view. I don’t think for two seconds “only Jesus can do these things” for I don’t believe in Jesus as a divine being. Nor do I think the Trickster apparitions are “false” in the sense he means, nor “demonic.”

Yulish separates himself from me here:

Where I seem to separate myself from Ms. Lee is in her statement that Mary was not a virgin and might have been impregnated by an angel etc. Scripture is clear that the real Mary was a nice Jewish, virgin girl who found favor with God (Luke 1:27-35) and was immaculately infused by the Holy Spirit (God) not by an angel. The angel just told her what was happening.

Well, we’re just going around in circles. Scripture makes it clear, yes. Christian scripture. That don’t make it so. And this is the point his entire disagreement hinges on: he’s coming from, at all times, a Christian bias, whereas I am not.

One believes what they believe, and if Yulish believes in his version of a religion, in this case Christianity, fine. But he is in error in believing I think the Trickster is “demonic,” etc. for I do not.

Images that zap

I've seen hundreds of images of the "typical aliens" or what we think of as "typical aliens" in our current culture. I'm immune; no flashbacks of repressed alien abductions, etc. But now and then an image of "them" jolts me; gives me a deep physical nervous feeling I can't shake. The cover of Strieber's Communion did that to me.

The cover to Mike Oram's "Does it rain in other dimensions?" doesn't "scare me" -- I find it charming and familar (and okay, maybe a teeny bit "creepy") there's just something about it.

I wrote about this reaction I have someitmes to certain images from the anomalous realm on my Trickster's Realm for Binnall of America.com: Unexpected Reactions.

Here are some more images that just kind of zapped me over the years. On some subconscious level, these images just kind of unnerved me a bit.







Now I realize that none of these are of the real thing; a real photograph, video or film image. They're representations, interpretations of things some people say they say. They're not "real" in that sense. But art is an expression, and a communication, it is a type of folklore passed about. (ie folk art, etc.) Look at our current pop culture and its alien iconography. Even so, sometimes an image tugs at us, some memory, or acts as a reminder, or starts a process that pings one thing inside us and leads us to another place, and another. . .

Crazy Looking UFO People

Is This Even Necessary?

course not; just like all those grumpy bloggers who pontificate about how writing about UFOs is a waste of time, (unless, of course, you’re writing about how writing about them is a waste of time; then you’re not wasting time) are people like this person, who asks: Why are UFO people so crazy looking? And not only that, humph, he makes the mistake in thinking that one can make a choice of “believing that UFOs exist.” We all know UFOs exist. That is hardly the question. As usual, we have to figure out what one means these days when they say “UFO.” Once we get past that, now we also have to worry about why we’re all so “crazy looking.”

Cranky Mini Rant

I'm tired - exhausted -- and it's late. Okay, 8:55 pm is not "late" but when you're old and work 8 plus hours a day in a school and have all the cranky aliments I have, yes, it's late. So alls I'm gonna say for now is, Jesus H. Christ already, how many anti-UFO bloggers are there out there who have nothing better to do than go on and on and ON about how UFO bloggers are wasting time blogging about UFOs?

If you don't "believe" in UFOs fine, say so. Of course, you do realize you're wasting time writing about that, right? Hell, we're all wasting time, every one of us. I'm wasting time. So are you. And you. So there.

My feet hurt. I'm going to bed. And I better not see any links to blog entries tomorrow morning about bloggers wasting time writing about UFOs little mister!

Lesley: On Air War (More on 'Smackdown')

Lesley, of Debris Field, Beyond the Dial, etc. actually heard the Streiber/Pinchbeck interview, Her comments are in this week's Grey Matters, her column for Binnall of America. As always, be sure to read the rest of the good stuff over there (including my Trickster's Realm, heh) and check out the forums too.

The Trickster and the Paranormal

George P. Hansen has new posts at his Paranormal Trickster blog.

And, you're welcome to join the Yahoo group The Trickster and the Paranormal, inspired by Hansen's book of the same name.

OrangeOrb Sunday Round-UP

Quote of the Day:
I'm compelled to my expression -- I call it a provoked obsession. ~ Alfred Lehmberg.

Speaking of Lehmberg, his blog is An Alien View. He also writes a column for UFO Magazine.

Paranormal Smackdown
My item ‘Paranormal Smackdown’ generated a lot of comments. Also over on The Daily Grail.

While my two cents (and that’s all it is, fine people, my two cents, just opinion and speculation) is that Whitley’s interpretation of “the visitors” is heavily influenced by his Catholicism. That’s my take on it; but others disagree. And while I have my opinion, I want to make it clear that that’s all any of us have. It’s easy to play armchair psychologist and comment on other’s interpretations and experiences. Some of us, myself included, can’t help ourselves, because we’re in the same boat as the person we’re commenting on. We’ve had our own experiences. We’re all just trying to figure it out.

Paranormal Meet: New Blog Site
The Paranormal Meet seems to be going strong; new members join every day. It’s good for those of us with established blogs, as well as those who might be shy or unsure about blogging.

Jacques Vallee on C2C!
Monday night Jacques Vallee will be the guest on Coast to Coast. This is such exciting news, I’m going to . If Noory is the host, well, it’s kind of like Jay Leno interviewing ... well, anyone. God help us. But I’ll listen anyway of course.

Various Items
Pieces that went up in the past couple of weeks, in case you missed them:
Trickster’s Realm on Binnall of America on weirdness on the Oregon coast. Look for my new column that should be up sometime on Monday on Glowing Bird Theory.

My thoughts on faeries and other entities on UFO Digest: When Entities Collide.

Still obsessed with parsing UFOlogical terms on American Chronicle: What is a Real UFO?

Vote, Fave, Join, Promote

Don’t be shy. Click on any of the green and white “Technorati” buttons on your right and make The OrangeOrb one of your “favorite” blogs.

There are also a few Yahoo groups you can join: if you have a UFO blog or site, you can promote it at UFO Blog Listings. If you’re interested in discussing aspects of Trickster behavior, join Trickster and the Paranormal. And if you live in the Pacific Northwest, or even if you don’t, you can discuss paranormal, UFO and Fortean topics in Oregon Forteana. The Yahoo buttons on the side bar on your right will take you there.

And just for silly fun, you can vote for the OrangeOrb as being the best pop culture blog, “freakiest blog” or “blog about stuff.”