Official UFO and Anomalous Reporting Agenda?

I had just posted something about MUFON's response to the Texas UFO sightings on my blog UFO Proletariat, then went about surfing all the UFO and Fortean realms on line and found Barf Stew: FAA Makes Curious "UFO Call Statement" - As UK Shuts Down Same. Continuing with the theme of UFO research groups and their agendas, Barf Stew asks why is it the FAA did a complete turnaround regarding the reporting of UFOs? There is no official government UFO reporting authority, but now we have an officially sanctioned agency to report to: Bigelow!

"Persons wanting to report UFO/unexplained phenomena activity should contact a UFO/ unex­ plained phenomena reporting data collection center, such as Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) (voice: 1-877-979-7444 or e-mail: Reporting@baass.org)"

Now, being the type of person I am ------- suspicious ---------- this seemed odd; weird, strange, ----- almost Fortean. Why would the FAA, after ALL these decades, suddenly, have an interest in UFO reports and WHY would suddenly - there be a `specific' group to call? WHY? And who is BAASS?

Good questions. Bigelow, as Barf Stew points out, is part of MUFON's "Starteam"

Now, believe it or not - this is where all of this begins to get interesting to a UFO blogger like myself. The reason being -- Mr. Bigelow recently became the moneyman behind a new MUFON endeavor called `Star Team' - a supposed 24/7 group of folks ready to investigate UFO reports of an anomalous nature. Here's the lowdown on `Star Team'http://www.mufon.com/documents/STARTeamImpactProjectOverview.pdf.

As Barf Stew comments, on the surface this seems like good news. Money coming to support UFO research - finally! But being suspicious, as I am, as Barf Stew is, and others seem to be, this doesn't seem like the good news it pretends to be. First of all -- and this should seem obvious -- the government's involved. And while, all along, the government has presented an indifferent face to us about UFOs, it's a logical and safe assumption to make that the government has been covertly working away at the UFO phenomena for decades. 

This line makes me wonder: "UFO/ unex­plained phenomena reporting data collection center," -- anyone with a UFO sighting or "unexplained phenomena" and of "an anomalous nature"  should take to  Bigelow.

Are we to see a possibly mandated reporting of "anomalous" and "unexplained" events to para-governmental agencies? (This reminds me a bit of a novel I wrote twenty years ago or so; (unpublished and sitting in a box somewhere) where UFO sightings had to be reported to the government. If it were discovered you had a sighting and didn't report it, it was curtains!)







 

The Heavy Stuff Brings Us: Fortean Tinged Links of 2009

The Heavy Stuff blog has done a neat thing; compiled a list of the best Fortean links/stories of the year. This is the second list. Lots of interesting stories! Explore the weird stories on The Second Annual Fortean Tinged Links of 2009 list.

Merry Christmas!

Coast to Coast: UFO Review

Sunday, December 27th, Coast to Coast has host George Knapp, who will review the year, UFO wise, with a variety of to be announced guests.

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My blogs:
UFO Mary
http://ufomary.blogspot.com
Frame 352: The Stranger Side of Sasquatch
http://paranormalbigfoot.blogspot.com
Vintage U.F.O.
Saucer Sightings
http://saucersightings.blogspot.com
Mothman Flutterings
http://orangeorb.net/blog/
Women Of Esoterica
http://womenesoterica
rlee@orangeorb.net

Stalking the Trickster on Hidden Experience

Mike Clelland of Hidden Experience blog brings us an interview with researcher Chris O'Brien on his new book Stalking the Trickster about the trickster in a paranormal/UFO context.

I've been a fan of O'Brien's for years, having read his three books on the strange happenings in Colordao's San Luis Valley. I haven't read Trickster yet but it's at the top of my list. (I hear that O'Brien in his book refers to an article I wrote but he cited the wrong source, not me; heh... trickster!)

From what I've heard O'Brien say about trickster here and other places, I like where he's going with sort of reframing the idea of Trickster in a Fortean context. Without having read the book I can't make any comments really... just have to wait.

Anyway, take a listen!

Dark Intrusions Review

Nick Redfern reviews Louis Proud's Dark Intrusions on his Reviews of the Mysterious Kind blog. An excerpt:

A lot of words have been written about the strange and unnerving phenomenon (or, perhaps, phenomena would be a better and more accurate word to use) that has popularly become know as Sleep-Paralysis (SP).

Some of those words have been good and some of them have been bad. Others have been wholly skeptical; while many have been firmly pro-SP.

But, what has been lacking until now is a truly in-depth, book-length and definitive study of the mystery written by someone who has actually experienced repeated episodes of sleep-paralysis, first-hand - and in all their terrifying glory, no less.

That situation has now changed (and radically so, too), thanks to Australian author Louis Proud, whose title (just published by Anomalist Books) Dark Intrusions: An Investigation into the Paranormal Nature of Sleep Paralysis Experiences, makes for both remarkable and essential reading.

I'm looking forward to reading this book. I've had many experiences of sleep paralysis throughout my life, though they seem to have diminished as I get older. I don't know if that's significant or not. One thing I've noticed is that, as many of these often very frightening experiences as I've had, I've never had any that hinted at aliens (as in ET, grays, etc) UFOs, Mothman, etc. And yet I've also had a life time of experiences involving "aliens' I suppose, and UFOs. So there goes that theory; that alien abductions (and I am NOT saying I am an abductee!) are merely episodes of sleep paralysis. Anyway, I think I'm going off on a tangent. . . check out the book, I know I plan to.

UFO Media Matters: MUFON’s 600 lb Gorilla: Common Sense

Joseph Capp makes good points concerning a very interesting (and a bit creepy, with MIBS and black helicopters) UFO case, and MUFON's investigation, as well as new directions for MUFON:
UFO Media Matters: MUFON’s 600 lb Gorilla: Common Sense

Ninja Bookseller and Contactee Synchronicities

My friend and I were at Borders today, and naturally I had to show off Nick Redfern's new book Contactees: A History of Alien-Human Interaction; since he quotes my article on Dana Howard in the book. So there we are, generally having fun and delighted to find the book on the shelves. My friend insists on taking a picture of me holding the book open to the chapter on Dana Howard. I am not kidding, no more than two seconds after I held the book up, a sales clerk swoops down (she must have come down from the ceiling) and says we can't take photos due to copyright laws. "No photos of books in any bookstore in the U.S." she says. My friend said "But she's the author" (in her excitement she meant I was mentioned in the book, not that I'm the author. I certainly am not!) and the sales clerk snaps "She's not the author" with great authority. I had to laugh and couldn't resist; I said "How do you know?" which of course elicited no response from her, as it should. I was being pretty flip. Giddy with my caffeine buzz gone and the crazy crowds of people all day. My friend said, laughing, "No, she's not, but she's in it," which didn't help matters. I thought we were going to be 86'd out of Borders. The woman walked away but hovered in the next aisle spying on us, like we were two naughty middle schoolers in the school library. We both thought the whole thing was funny; my friend kept whispering "Is she still there? She's still there!"

The chapter I'm referring to is I AM DIANE… I COME FROM VENUS, about female contactees, including Dana Howard. Diane means “divine” -- a being from the heavens, something holy and purer than ourselves from the stars.

My friend, whose name is Stella, (which means Star), turned to me and said "You know my middle name is Diane." That's right! I'd forgotten. So there we were, looking at Nick Redfern's book on Contactees, and a chapter on Diane from the stars, with my friend Stella Diane.

Change is Afoot: Happy Solstice!

I hadn't intended to change the looks of any of my blogs, but an intense vibe of change is in the air. I changed the look of Frame 352 and Octopus Confessional, I think for the better. And now, Mothman Flutterings -- as to that theme, I never was satisfied but finally found a WP look that feels "mothy."

The Solstice is here and I've been experiencing a strong current of creativity and thought, including change, but not out of a sense of dissatisfaction or depression, but rather a kind of quiet joyful sense of newness.

Happy Solstice!

Frame 352: Fresh New Look!

New look at Frame 352; same layout, just changed the colors, but I think it looks fresher, and easier to read. Also a new post over there; an article I wrote for UFO Magazine following up on the beeping sounds that often occur in UFO and paranormal, cryptid encounters.


My blogs:
The Orange Orb
Mothman Flutterings
Vintage U.F.O.

Mothy Sketch Number 2

As I posted on Facebook, I'm watching "Haunted" (it's an asylum, of course it's haunted!), working on contactees, the Cosmic Joker and the BVM, and making sketches of Mothman. Christmas came early! How else to spend a Fortean Sunday? Oh, and I just finished listening to Adam Gorightly's Mothman Extravaganza podcast with Andrew Colvin and Allen Greenfield.

 The Orange Orb
http://orangeorb.blogspot.com Regan Lee Oregon
http://reganleeoregon.blogspot.com

Mothman Sketch

I've been feeling the urge to paint Mothman images -- do a whole series of small paintings with UFOs and entities as the theme -- and this is my first Mothman attempt. Just scribbling, really. This is a pen and pencil sketch I did, then manipulated it with the Photobooth tools. The original drawing has more color (didn't have the tools I wanted, and too lazy to walk out to the studio in the back to get them) and I've cropped the image a bit.

It's Skylaire.com! Video Interview and More

One of the coolest, smartest and excellent of female writers in the UFO/Fortean field, Skylaire Alfregen, is interviewed here.

Skylaire is the founder of LOWFI, which hosts people like Andrew Colvin (Mothman Photographer's), Adam Gorightly, Lesley Gunter, myself, Thomas Cosgrove, sMiles Lewis.

Around the Orb

Report Damn It! And Do It Like This on my blog UFO Proletariat.

UFOs, et al has an interesting article on Bigfoot in West Virginia; I comment a bit on it at my Bigfoot blog Frame 352.

A few new things at Oregon L.O.W.F.I., some are reposts, like the one from UFO Proletariat, some are older ones from my blog Trickster Northwest that I'm merging into other blogs, like Oregon L.O.W.F.I., and some are new, like the squid invasion in Seaside, Oregon.

New posts from myself and others at Women Of Esoterica.

The Cylinder Alien Heater is new at my Trickster's Realm column for Tim Binnall on BOA. Other new columns by Lesley Gunter, Richelle Hawks, Richard Thompson, Maria Pena, Tina Sena and A.M. Murphy.

Interstellar Housewife Interviews Cartoonist Dennis Rano

Interstellar Housewife interviews UFO cartoonist Dennis Rano. Very enjoyable; and thanks again to Dennis for his cartoon of moi.