Sunday, March 22, 2015

UFOs, Orange Orbs, and Luminosities



The UFO Box
A life long experience with UFOs and what I’ll call loosely paranormal events has found me endlessly curious about what I call my Orange Orb encounter. I have assumed all these years that what I saw that night was a UFO. To be technical, it was a UFO: unidentified, flying -- or at least, moving through -- the sky, and it was an object of some kind. But was this “UFO” from outer space? Another planet? Was the orb inhabited, or operated by, some sort of non-human entity? As in, aliens? I have no idea. Being mainly immersed in the UFO category of anomalous events, I have always put this sighting into the UFO box. This box included the aliens or ETs, as well as human manipulated episodes; MILABS, for example.

I’ve discussed my orange orb sighting many times via blog postings, articles and podcast interviews, but to very briefly recap:  Riding on the back of a motorcycle. at night on Lorane Highway in Lane County, Oregon. Saw a lit from within orange orb in the night sky, a large object. It was stationary, as soon as I looked at it and thought “What the hell is that?!” it “zoomed” from its position (I guessed it was about a mile away, above the KVAL TV station at the top of the hill) to right across the road. I had the distinct feeling it was laughing at me, or, with me. Playing with me. It followed us to the intersection where we turned the corner to our home. The orb stopped once again in the sky above a neighbor’s house, then dropped down into their backyard.  (There was also missing time involved with this sighting. My husband saw the object only briefly.)

While I’ve always referred to this as an orb, due to its shape (round, sphere, circular) I never meant orb as in something nebulous. Not a spirit orb. Again, still in the UFO box, and, a somewhat nuts and bolts UFO box. After all, it was an object, a craft, a lit from within round thing. A machine with a light inside.

Orange Orb Above Lorane Highway, pastel drawing, Regan Lee


Through the years I searched for similar sightings. Nothing on orange orbs for a long time. Now of course orange orb sightings, as well as red, green and blue, are plentiful. People have captured these colored lights in the skies on video. But they rarely seemed to match up with what I saw that night decades ago. Usually these orange and other colored “orbs” are much smaller, sometimes don’t exhibit any kind of intelligence, and don’t behave quite the same way. Due to their shape, we call them orbs, but that  often seems to be the only similarity.


There is the category of spirit orbs, ghosts, that are smaller than my orange orb sighting, and don’t fit the category. Or so I’ve always thought. I am no stranger to ghostly encounters and have captured an orb or two myself but have never put that into the UFO box. Completely unconnected. Again, size differs greatly: spirit orbs are small. They do appear in different colors, including orange. But their connection to UFOs? Apples and oranges. But now I’m wondering if, at times, there are cross overs between UFOs and the more ephemeral  types of orbs.


Orbs as Luminosities
In the book Beyond Photography: with Orbs, Angels and Mysterious Light Forms, by Katie Hall and John Pickering, they talk about “luminosiites” -- their word for lights and orbs that appear in the sky.

This photograph from their book is very similar to what I saw years ago. While what I saw appeared larger, it’s appearance as well as its behavior is close to my experience:

Photo source: Beyond Photography, Kati Hall and John Pickering


Missing Time
I mentioned that my orange orb sighting included missing time. This missing time is not at all unusual in UFO cases. Is the missing memory an amnesia implanted by aliens? If we stay in the UFO Box the answer would seem to be yes.

But if the UFO is also a luminosity in some cases maybe it’s a part of being in the “zone” -- that area in the Oz Factor that researcher Jenny Randles wrote about. Why is it that most spectacular of UFOs can appear, complete with alien beings and all kinds of phenomena (including missing time) and only one or two witnesses will experience those things? Others close by don’t see a thing. They remain unaware that anything strange happened at all. This zone of weirdness, this "Oz Factor" is present in so many UFO encounters. Randles Oz Factor can also be found in many other anomalous events, which seems to support a cross over effect, or, a single source manifesting as many things.

Randles theory makes sense in terms of many a UFO encounter, and it also makes sense in other types of encounters. I’ve had that same strange “cone of Oz-ness” in other supernatural situations, but not UFO related, in an episode where we were discussing Bigfoot. (Although, the discussion did include a Bigfoot-UFO witness...) If the source of all this is a single source, that could explain cross over cases. Again, this is not to say there aren’t literally aliens (I believe there are, in fact) and UFOs from space, but that, in many cases, what appears to be a UFO and or alien isn’t. Also, UFOs/aliens and luminosities or “spirit orbs”  interact with each other.


Sentient Orange Orbs
I had said that my orange orb seemed to be intelligent -- either controlled from within, or remotely by an intelligent, sentient being. The orb responded to me; I had the strong feeling it was waiting for me, could read my thoughts, and was playing with me. It was as aware of me as I was of it.

Hall and PIckering write of this same type of communication in their book. Relating the experiences of UFO researcher Tony Dodd and his orange orb encounter:
“...Dodd...affirms that many of his own encounters with mysterious balls of lights left him in little doubt that they were intelligent, or intelligently controlled. . . on the Yorkshire moors at night, ... a large orange coloured ball of light glided about 30m feet above his head. As it passed, he tried to send out his thoughts to it; asking it to acknowledge his presence.  Whereupon it immediately stopped in mid air, blinked out for about 3 seconds, and the reappeared. Taking this as a response, Tony then thought the question: “Who are you?” (Beyond Photography, Hall and Pickering, p 93.)
To which the orb replied, telepathically, “I am the father of fathers and you are the sons of sons.” Typical trickster type behavior! (This also mirrors Marian apparitions; there is a hint of the religious here --  the authors have a section on Fatima and orb consciousness.) We  also get this silly kind of response from many a UFO connected entity.

In writing about orbs, or “luminosiites” the authors of Beyond Photography mention the intelligence behind these orbs. Often, the orbs seemed to respond to human thought; mind reading orbs, one could say.  Another case reported by Hall and Pickering:

Friends of the authors had an encounter with orange orbs in 1997. Two orange orbs, one the size of “a grapefruit” flew at their car at night while they were traveling on an isolated highway. Shortly after the first orb, another orange orb appeared, flying alongside their car. Their friends told them that “...in retrospect they both felt as thought the orange balls were checking them out for some unknown reason.” (Beyond Photography, p 94)

Plasmas, Ball Lighting and Consciousness
For decades “ball lighting” has been a throw away explanation for these balls of light.  As if giving them a label resolves the phenomena. Hall and Pickering have no argument about the fact these orbs are often plasmas, and or "ball lightening" but that is not all there is to these intelligent, interactive orbs.

While a physical reason may exist for the existence of these orbs, it does not explain their intelligence, their intentional movements, synchronicity, and their responses to human thought. Hall and PIckering write, of plasma and the intelligent behavior of orbs: “We now have two possibilities; plasma energy and luminosities with consciousness.” (Beyond Photography, p 96)

The Oz Factor implies that the UFO close encounter has a visionary component. You might interpret that as meaning it is all in the imagination, but it really means that there is a direct feed, if you like, from the source of the encounter to the consciousness of the witness. (Jenny Randles, The Oz Factor)

This idea of sentience, of a non-human intelligence that is UFO related interacting with us is nothing new. Jacque Vallee suggested this decades ago with his ultra terrestrial hypothesis. But it seems that, even with this history from many researchers of exploring such a connection, the UFO community is still missing this huge piece of the puzzle.


Entities, ET, Djinn, Angels, and, Oh My
Hall and Pikcering do not discount the reality of UFOs and aliens from other planets. For the purposes of their book, they are mainly concerned with so-called spirit orbs (as well as beams of light, humanoid type light figures, etc) captured on film. Are these lights earth spirits, fairies, etc.? Are there sometimes cross over interactions between what we call aliens -- meaning, ET entities -- and more elemental beings? Spirit energy? What some of us call Djinn?

I still have no idea what it was I saw that night, why it happened, or  what it meant. I do know it was very important, and not a mere case of ball lighting, or some mistaken sighting of, say, a helicopter.

It’s possible that on that night so long ago I did not see a UFO in the classic sense, but had an interaction, not with an ET from another planet, but something else involving an earth based consciousness. Which makes this not any less fantastic, nor does it negate any of the other UFO experiences I’ve had.

It could be that these things -- UFOs, entities,ETs, missing time, synchronicities, games, telepathy -- are connected. Aspects of the various and often seemingly separate phenomena join in a performance, one where we’re surprised to find we’re witness to.

“Something makes them pay attention by tuning out the normal sensory flow and looking up to watch the show. Where that show is being projected from remains the subject of great fascination. And it certainly does not eliminate another intelligence as running this show. To me the Oz Factor is a vital key to the UFO mystery, and may help us to resolve what is happening. We should not be afraid of its implications, just because they seem to suggest a fuzziness to the phenomenon. In truth we should embrace these cases.” (Jenny Randles, The Oz Factor)
Link:
The Oz Factor











Airships and Moon: Steampunk Tarot

I received a steampunk tarot deck for my birthday. These two cards fit in well with what the Orb is all about: Ace of Airships, and Moon Voyage.


The Steampunk Tarot, designed by John and Caitlin Matthews

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Phantoms and Monsters: Orange UFO Over Mt. St. Helens?

Another orange orb sighting, this one by way of Lon Strickler's Phantoms and Monsters, who has an item about an orange orb UFO over Mt. St. Helens
Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal: Has St Helens been visited by aliens?

This strange orange object was spotted by Star reader George Hunter hovering above his home close to St Helens town centre.

Described by Mr Hunter as a "huge object" that moved at "warp speed", it was seen just after midnight in the skies over the Rainford Road area.



Wisconsin witness photographs two orange orb UFOs - Openminds.tv

Orange orb sighting. Images from cell phone; the UFO doesn't look very orb-like, but as we know, UFOs often appear one way to the naked eye, another on film, video or digital...

Wisconsin witness photographs two orange orb UFOs - Openminds.tv: A Wisconsin witness at Madison reported watching and videotaping “two reddish-orange objects” that quickly disappeared, according to testimony in Case 63958 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.
The witness was driving to a store in Madison at 4:01 p.m. on March 6, 2015, when the incident occurred.
“I noticed two objects in the sky that had a reflective, reddish-orange color,” the witness stated. “I very quickly realized I was seeing something unique and unusual.”

Thursday, March 19, 2015

2,000 Snow Geese Drop Dead from Sky | KEZI

 In Idaho, another mass bird death from the skies:

2,000 Snow Geese Drop Dead from Sky | KEZI: MUD LAKE, Idaho (CNN) — Officials in eastern Idaho have retrieved the remains of 2,000 snow geese that fell from the sky.
The state Department of Fish and Game says the birds appeared to have died from avian cholera.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Debunking UFOs in Art. Not Quite.

(cross posted at UFO Mary)

Point goes over head in this bit of debunkery.Debunking the ufos in art theory: Bogus history Ancient Aliens Debunked: No UFOs in ancient art. Playing devil's advocate (yes, pun,) we have the language used in this debunkery: the ufos in art as "…prey to ufo enthusiasts" and (paraphrase) "no art historian would fall for such an idea…" the usual set-up to let us know Ancient Aliens and those entertaining such connections and ideas are silly and uneducated.

Referring to  the ubiquitous symbols of the moon and sun in such art -- and much mistaken "UFO" --- the narration informs us that these symbols meant the moon and sun were witness to Christian events. And, that they were taken from pagan belief structures. Which raises the question: why the sun and moon, planetary and "supernatural" (of the heavens) entities, as well as their place in paganism?


The Crucifixion, 1350, artist unknown

Citing another famous ufo-in-art painting, the Name says the image mistaken for a UFO is simply representative of angels. This passage from the bible is then quoted:

Madonna and Saint Giovannino,  15th Century Filippo Lippi.

Luke 2:8-14King James Version (KJV)And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
If one is of the opinion that sacred texts such as the Bible are records of supernatural/alien (sheesh, ever read the Book of Mormon?) events, the above is not proof of any debunking but in fact, gives support to the "ancient alien" idea.

Angels, moon, sun, clouds, lights from the skies, beams, voices, non-human entities: all acknowledged by this debunker and yet, according to him, these represent religious beliefs of the day and nothing more. Just couldn't quite make the leap from angel-light-beam-in-sky to alien-ET-non-human interfering entity. For example, what many call "God,"would be one example.

So what's the source for this debunkery -- who is he? No citation. Simply "Brass Check TV.com, Anceitn Aliens Debunked." No name given for this art historian expert who narrates the video. From my brief look at the site, it seems to be a both religious and conservative site.


Why Alien Symbols And Math Will Turn Out To Be Meh-Worthy | JayVay

Among the most insightful in UFO Land is Jeremy Vaeni. Yes. So read the following piece at his place. Here's a snip:
Why Alien Symbols And Math Will Turn Out To Be Meh-Worthy | JayVay: But I’m only picking on Peter because I just listened to as much of that show as I could stomach. He’s not the whole of the problem; there are many like him. Some have even banded together to form “new” “scientific” groups doing “never-before-performed” studies and surveys of abductees.

Christ, really?
But that's just the beginning and there is much more on our experiences in relation to "aliens" and why, or how, or what, it might be…

For starters.

Speaking of insightful-something-to-really-say UFO bloggers, Vaeni among them: Jack Brewer at UFO Trail, Alfred Lehmberg at Alien Views,  Mike Clelland at hidden experience.  

Vallee: "Data is not knowledge"



I came across a quote from Jacques Vallee: "Data is not knowledge." I think I know what he meant in the big scheme of things, but, at the same time, I respectfully disagree with his comment. (Of course, I'm taking this out of context, but I was inspired by the remark to wonder…)  Data is a sort of knowledge; the more data we have, the better. I realize many a UFO researcher has lamented that collecting witness accounts is simply tiresome and non-productive. And it is a huge task of course; collecting stories. Narratives. Accounts. All for what?

Well, that's the thing. All for what. Once we have a big pile of stuff, what do we do with it? Depends on the collector. On the one doing the interpreting. You and I might have the same exact set of stories of spinning UFOs and glowing eyed Sasquatch emerging from landed craft, but our interpretations of those events might differ. And what about the witness? What's her take on it all? So now we have three different ideas on the same case.

Come to think of it, in that context, data isn't knowledge, since no theory of everything (let alone definitive answer) has been determined. All we have are arguments, debates, interpretations, beliefs, even.

Still, I argue that data is important, and analyses of data from many different perspectives is a necessary process in order to arrive at some kind of agreed upon theory, as tenuous as it might be. It's a start.

We don't have to give up or throw the baby out with the bath water. Or believe that, by following one path we've rejected others. There are many paths, and there is no rule, no law, that mandates we rigidly follow just one.

And to be clear: I have the highest respect and regard for Jacques Vallee and his work and am in no way taking him to task in any way. So chew on that before commenting, thank you.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Oregon witness says hovering orange UFO dropped sphere | Openminds.tv

An orange orb sighting out of Albany, Oregon. Thanks to Fortean Queen Skylaire Alfvegren, who posted this item from Open Minds on my FB page as a birthday treat. Yes, it's my birthday, and I am busy celebrating on the coast in charming and peaceful Yachats. Meanwhile, I'll be looking for orbs, orange and otherwise, as well as the usual UFO and Sasquatch sightings.

Oregon witness says hovering orange UFO dropped sphere | Openminds.tv: An Oregon witness at Albany reported watching a large, hovering orange object that dropped a sphere before moving away at a high rate of speed, according to testimony in Case 63735 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.
The witness had just opened a back door when the object was first seen about 8:15 p.m. on March 4, 2015.
“I noticed a very large orange object with dark red, fibrillating light on the bottom descending approximately less than one mile away at 140 degrees southeast,” the witness stated. “The object stopped and hovered for about two to three minutes.”

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Synchronicities: UFOs and Beanie Babies

Past couple of days, been experiencing synchroniciites:

Reading Dean Koontz's Odd Apocalypse. I enjoy this series about Odd Thomas, a character who sees dead people. I didn't know anything at all about the current book, just that it was another in the series. As I'm reading, out of nowhere the thought pops into my mind: "Wonder if Odd Thomas will ever encounter UFOs --  if Koontz will write about Odd and some kind of alien, UFO theme?" The passage I was reading had absolutely nothing at all to do with UFOs. Not a hint. About three pages later, the dialogue between Odd and another character turned to UFOs. One character was musing on alien abductions, etc. while (unfortunately, but keeping in character) Odd was not buying into it.



A co-worker came into work with a bag full of Beanie Babies. She said she used to collect them during the Beanie Baby craze was on --- but now, of course, it's pretty much a graveyard of Beanie Babies for collectors. She was giving some of them away to the students. Later that night, not knowing who the guest was on Coast to Coast or the subject matter, I turn on the radio. The first words I heard were "Beanie Babies." The guest was Zac Bissonnette, author of The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute.


Sunday, March 1, 2015

From Jeremy Vaeni:The Subtle Racism of Ufology | JayVay

The Subtle Racism of Ufology | JayVay: Where are the voices from other cultures standing right beside us? Are we afraid to speak with them? Are we afraid to learn that they have a fuller understanding of certain phenomena because they’ve built relationships with intelligences we have yet to engage in any meaningful way, while we’re still stuck on “Is it real?” and “I know what I saw!” and “The government better tell us what it knows–We have a right!”

How does that Western mind–which, like a child, believes itself to be the pinnacle of what Mind is and therefore believes itself to be at the frontier of exploration–engage its neighbor who has already formed close bonds with the transrational beings we ogle at a distance? ~ Jeremy Vaeni
Another excellent piece by Jeremy Vaeni at his JayVay blog. Discussing paranormal/UFO/supernatural experiences, Vaeni looks at different cultures and their acceptance and perceptions of such experiences. A very important point, and one that needs to be looked at full on. And then worked with.

There is a simple way out of this field of pies. Investigators? Actively engage and include everyone. That may mean setting aside the knowledge we’ve accumulated, giving up the dominant role of the investigator, and just listening. Not foisting hypnosis on people to hear that story again, either. Just listening. (Vaeni)
Class comes into this as well. My opinion is that we still are ignoring the issues of class, as well as cultures (and wrongly defining such.) Until we acknowledge both, investigators won't get anywhere. And the Trickster plays on.



What a great arena for the Trickster! A general white, middle class, fairly male dominated (until recently) playground where such things as Trickster is rejected -- no wonder Trickster continues to spin dazzling wheels of confusion around our pointy little heads.









Saturday, February 28, 2015

From High Strangeness: Jacques Vallee and "UFOsplaining"

George Knapp interviewed Jacque Vallee recently on Coast to Coast. High Strangeness shares some of his favorite quotes from that interview. My favorite quote is the following:

High Strangeness: UFOsplaining: "We have to face the fact that whatever the phenomenon is, it has access to a greater knowledge of reality, a greater knowledge of the universe, than we do." ~ Jacque Vallee
But of course, they are all worthy of pondering upon. Speaking of quotes, another favorite Vallee insight I came across some time ago is his advice that the UFO investigator simply hand the UFO witness a blank sheet of paper and a pencil, and let them have at it. Just write, jot, note, sketch what they saw and felt. Ask the questions later. Take the measurements and samples at another time.




Friday, February 27, 2015

Not Quite Getting It: Reporting UFOs to the FAA

At the train station, awaiting my train, overhear a woman talking about an orange orb sighting years ago. I think the location was Los Angeles but not sure. So I get closer, and openly eavesdrop. The person she was talking to seemed bemused. But I introduced myself to her, told her of my interests. She kept interrupting and went off on a jangled monologue about UFOs, star people, aliens…and how the FAA accepts reports of UFOs. This fact proves that our government is now openly admitting the reality of UFOs she insisted. "Go the their website" she kept saying. "It's all there, you report to them."

I told her that the FAA doesn't exactly take UFO reports, and here she interrupts telling me that's "it's on their website, go look." I explained about Bigelow, who he is, his connection with the FAA, etc. but she wasn't' having it. She is correct that going to the FAA website, you will find info on how to report a UFO.   Which tells visitors to the site to contact the local police " If concern is expressed that life or property might be endangered,,," or, you can report your sighting to "a UFO/ unexplained phenomena reporting data collection center," such as Peter Davenport's National UFO Reporting Center. 

This small interaction with a UFO witness was interesting because it shows how misinformation is right out there doing its job. Yes, technically you go to the FAA website, and there's info on how to report a UFO. Not thinking further, this woman assumed the government is happy and open about UFOs and is helping us, the hoi polloi, with our UFO experiences. The opposite is the reality. The FAA is unconcerned (openly that is) and passes the buck. Call your local police, or, the National UFO Reporting Center. The latter is a start, but there is no contact number on the FAA site. You have to figure that out for yourself. 

Now, back to the FAA. I linked to the FAA page that instructs witnesses to report to Davenport's NUFORC. That page is dated April 3, 2014: "Effective April 3, 2014" in the upper right hand corner of the page. 

There is no mention of Robert Bigelow and his BAAS (Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies)  organization. (Bigelow, billionaire, funded paranormal and UFO studies including the NIDS report on black triangles, and who has been quoted as saying the public doesn't necessarily have the right to know data collected on UFOs. Also in bed with MUFON.)

But according to the Open Minds, the FAA in May of 2013  lists Robert Bigelow as a source to report UFOs:
9-8-1. GENERAL
a. Persons wanting to report UFO/unexplained phenomena activity should contact a UFO/ unexplained phenomena reporting data collection center, such as Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) (voice: 1-877-979-7444 or e-mail: Reporting@baass.org), the National UFO Reporting Center, etc. (FAA)
The above includes phone numbers for both BASS and NUFORC. Handy. But if you click on the link in the Open Minds article, it doesn't show the above, but the more current page from the FAA from April 2014. So within the year, the FAA changed their resources for reporting UFOs. No phone numbers or links, no mention of Bigelow -- just the NUFORC.  

Which makes us ask, why was Bigelow's BAAS taken off the FAA site?

As to pilots reporting UFOs, this is what one FAA official had to say, as reported by Lee Speigel in a 2012 article:

When asked about Federal Aviation Administration policies to deal with UFOs, an FAA official told HuffPost, "Our standard response is that the FAA does not track UFO activity."
"As far as any procedures for reporting, that's probably on an airline-by-airline basis if, in fact, they do have any procedures at all for that," the official added. (Lee Speigel, Huffington Post 2012)

In the Speigel article, former FAA official John Callahan is quoted on his mandated lie to the public job:
Oh, I think we really are," [visited by aliens] he told HuffPost. "And the government doesn't tell you the truth all the time. Part of the stuff I was doing in my last 10 years with the government was lying to the public. I gave out disinformation -- an approved tactic in the government -- because the people can't handle the truth." 
So the FAA isn't exactly making it easy for citizens to report UFOs, and they are certainly not being open about the subject. But to many who may have seen something unusual in the skies but don't follow the intricacies, duplicities and overall convolutions surrounding government and UFOs, it seems like a sweet and happy fact the FAA "lets us" report UFOs to them.




Tuesday, February 17, 2015

RIP Mr. Capp

Very sorry to hear that Joe Capp of UFO Media Matters has passed on. My condolences to his friends and family. I never met Joe in person, but we did occasionally communicate on - line. I've always respected Joe for his take on things UFO, especially his support of witnesses.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

American Horror Story Season 5 Theories | POPSUGAR Entertainment

The season finale of American Horror: Freakshow, aired recently. I'm a fan of the series (couldn't get into American Horror: Asylum after the third episode but I think I'll try watching again.) Ryan Roschke at Popsugar Entertainment outlines some possible scenarios for next season of American Horror including an alien abduction theme. Could be exciting, especially since, apparently, the Feds have moved Area 51 from Nevada to New Mexico:
American Horror Story Season 5 Theories | POPSUGAR Entertainment: A lot has happened in the Southwest, most notably Area 51 in Roswell, NM, which many believe to be a government cover-up for an alien crash site. (italics mine)
Who knew?

Of the various possibilities, this one seems pretty likely, and as the Popsugar article notes, there are clues in Freakshow  that hint at a UFO/alien future. Jessica Lange's character: Elsa Mars, who, sang David Bowie songs, including Life on Mars.  There are the freaks themselves; alien to the rest of society. Lobster Boy; the man with lobster like hands. The diminutive Ma Petite.