Kevin Randle's recent piece about the wildly out out of proportion responses of Phillip Klass to UFOs (Phillip Klass and the FBI) got my mind going on a tangent about the often stated and accepted "fact" concerning skeptics/debunkers and "believers." We've all said it; that "believers/bleevers/woos" vs. "skeptics/debunkers/'bunkies" have, at their core, the same reason for their fanatical beliefs. For their stubborn, pathological clinging to their position. At some point, both sides are really doing the same thing for the same reasons. Just a part of human nature. (While I'm mainly discussing UFOs here the same applies to Bigfoot witnesses and Bigfoot "skeptics.")
Not so fast. The usual disclaimers aside about the truly unbalanced, the reason for the "believers" insistence is not for the same reasons of the debunker, or even the so-called skeptic.
For many a witness their encounter was goddamn intense and life changing. If the witness chooses to be open about their experience, and is repeatedly accused of being a liar (at best) or insane (at worst) and everything in between, the witness, depending on his or her personality, is not going to give up. But the relentless harassment (often verging on the illegal) coming from the faux skeptics is enough to drive anyone into varying states of anger, frustration and confusion.
You can only bang your head against a wall so much before you get to the point of either shutting down --going away, never to discuss your experiences again, at least not openly-- or becoming a loud squeaky wheel that will persist. The so-called "believer" has something solid to stand behind: their experience. What that experience was, why it was, and all of the rest surrounding paranormal, Fortean phenomena, is something else. But the fact of the experience is true. It happened.
The skeptics (term used loosely) have nothing. Just their pathological and nasty knee jerk responses. The vulnerabilities of witnesses are not respected, but considered toys for their sneering amusement. They, like religious fanatics, often arrogantly present themselves as warriors in the great crusade against a perceived irrationally. But that's not based on anything. Least of all the witness of the UFO, or a Sasquatch, or even the more unbelievable things seen between our worlds.
It is the "skeptic" who is standing on air, shaking their fists at nothing, while the witness has something. The witness has the experience, the thing seen, the event that either uplifted or traumatized. Sometimes both. It's something that the witness believes should be told. Known. Heard.
So. The witness, after repeated insults, after accusations of being a: liar, hoaxer, money grubber, drunk, drug addict, Jew, lesbian, gay, witch, frigid, child molester, man-hater, and so much more (many of which I've been called, many which I know others have been called) either continues with the truth of their experience, or goes away. Both are okay with the skeptic: if one goes away, then they believe they've won one for their crusade. If one stays, the skeptic gets to play some more. It's all the same to them.
Some of us, like myself, have made the decision not to play. That's not the same as going away. I just don't play with them. I don't owe them anything, despite the "skeptic's" insistence that us witnesses do owe them explanations . If I say something, I say it. Not up to me to prove it. It's up to you to accept it, or, not. I don't care either way. As to the rest concerning insults, nothing I can do about that, unless they become illegal: threats, or libel and slander.
The point is: witnesses who continue to tell their story have something solid - their experience. As I said, what that experience was is another issue. The "skeptic" has nothing, while the witness who makes the decision to carry on despite the assaults by debunkers can be forgiven for, at times, high emotions or possible extreme responses.
'There's MUFON and Then There's Mufon'
My new Trickster's Realm at Tim Binnall's place: There's MUFON and then there's Mufon.
From Elsie Conner: Alien Abduction Does Not Happen in a Vacuum
Thanks to The Anomalist for this link to Elsie Conner's Out of Darkness blog. Wow. An excerpt from her current post Alien Abduction Does Not Happen in a Vacuum:
And then, there's this, on the "presence." No way of knowing if my own experiences (experienced by others as well) were of the same cause, but Conner's description of what her and her mother experienced sounds chillingly similar:
Sometimes when we read encounters that have happened to others, a visceral "click" happens, a gut feeling to be sure that really wallops you, that has with it the undeniable message of "See? See now? Get it? Remember? It's not just all in your head . . . "
Out Of Darkness: When I was very young, my father worked the night shift in town which was many miles away. A very strange thing would occur on some nights. My mother would hear voices outside of the house. She said it sounded like several voices which would get closer and louder. Here we were a mom and two little kids alone in the country with nobody around and she hears people outside the house. It scared her so much she called the police. This is a huge event. To be scared so much to actually call the police. The police came and searched the area but they could not find anything. The only explanation the cops could come up with is that perhaps some people were having a party some ways away and somehow their voices carried just right to make it seem like it was happening right outside the house. The voices would return several times but my mom only called the police the one time. There was no explanation for those events.
And then, there's this, on the "presence." No way of knowing if my own experiences (experienced by others as well) were of the same cause, but Conner's description of what her and her mother experienced sounds chillingly similar:
She knew “they” were in the room. She could sense their presence and this would occur many times over the years. But this was more than a feeling of a presence. These alien Beings have the ability to camouflage themselves so they can’t be seen but they sure can be felt. An abduuctee can feel their presence. It is a very particular sensation.
Sometimes when we read encounters that have happened to others, a visceral "click" happens, a gut feeling to be sure that really wallops you, that has with it the undeniable message of "See? See now? Get it? Remember? It's not just all in your head . . . "
Update on Barrowman
Thanks to Jenny Banbury on Twitter, I've been told that John Barrowman's Gilded Lily show did not make it, but Arrow did. Arrow is based on a DC comic; Barrowman's role is of a recurring character, not in the main cast. So there is hope for new Torchwoods. Arrow is on the CW network.
Saucer Sightings: Reindeer Bells
A new post at my blog Saucer Sightings about a possible cover memory, courtesy of my invisible alien visitors:
Saucer Sightings: Reindeer Bells: Last night, in bed, I was thinking about something that happened to me when I was a kid. I always thought it was too silly-goofy to really think about it, but it always troubled me. I must have been about five, because that's how old I was when we lived in that particular house.
Micah Hanks on Coast to Coast Dec. 27
Micah Hanks will be the guest on C2C on the 27th. Be sure to listen if you can!The Unexplained - Shows - Coast to Coast AM
What Does John Barrowman’s New ABC Pilot Mean For Torchwood’s Future? | Giant Freakin Robot
I love love love Torchwood. The original BBC series was the best version but I liked the STARZ! take over very much. So, will Torchwood return, in some form, somewhere, in 2013? News is ... sketchy. John Barrowman, aka Torchwood's Captain Jack Harkness, has a pilot for ABC:What Does John Barrowman’s New ABC Pilot Mean For Torchwood’s Future? | Giant Freakin Robot. I can't imagine Barrowman as anything other than Captain Jack, but then, I realize. I am an adult, and this is all just TV. (Yet, I also just know there is a FRINGE division somewhere I can join, or an X-Files department, or the Talamasca. I just know it. . . )
The ABC series sounds interesting and yes, I'd give it a try. This leaves room for a new Torchwood, possibly. A friend of mine who loves Torchwood thinks the series is doomed since it went to STARZ! because of the open pan-sexuality of the characters. I disagree; people know what the show is about, and if that sexuality offends you, you don't know Jack. Heh.
Simple Farm Folk vs. The City Slickers
Random thought on the Trent silliness. Actually, this comes from Jim, who said, upon reading Bragalia's article: "Wouldn't it be the other way around --- sophisticated city folk pulling one over on those dumb ol' farm folk?" This in context of Bragalia's speculation that Paul Trent, bewitched by the magic of a new fangled thing called a camera, and bored as well, hoaxed the iconic photos: "“Fun” during those times, in that kind of place, may have encompassed playing around with a new camera, wanting to outwit the city folks, involve the family in some UFO entertainment..."A reversal on the stereotype of the dumb rural hick who sees little green men and flying saucers, while the urban dwellers aren't so easily fooled by such nonsense.
The Creepy Reptilian Conspiracy Theory Photo Gallery - - Conspiracies on truTV.com
I missed this episode; have to catch up. You know I love the reptilians,er, reptoids, I'm told is the more accurate term. It's a fascinating branch of UFO Forteana to be sure. One interesting connection made last night on Coast to Coast -- guest John Rhodes, on the reptoids -- made with the Djinn. I think there's a lot to be said about the Djinn and what we call ETs and UFOs. But a more specific connection, from reptoid to Djinn? Never occurred to me. Here's the link to Conspiracy Theory:The Creepy Reptilian Conspiracy Theory Photo Gallery - - Conspiracies on truTV.com enjoy!
Revisiting the Tempest in a Teapot: McMinnville UFO Photos Faked. Again.
Labels: binnall of america, bloggers, chronic skeptic capers, classism, gender, hoaxes, McMinnville, media, Oregon UFOs, Trent photos, Trickster
UPDATES: lots of comments at the Bragalia blog, to be expected, but one thread I find interesting concerns the boy on the ladder photo. Which, according to some, was not taken by Trent... and so, this iconic story continues as the mystery it is. Nothing proven to debunk or that shows definitively, that the Trent photos were fake.
Were the famous McMinnville UFO photos fakes after all? The iconic snapshots nothing but a hoax? Does this mean it's curtains for the annual UFO Fest in McMinnville, Oregon? Speculation from The Bragalia Files: MAKE-BELIEVE IN MCMINNVILLE: FAMOUS 1950 UFO PHOTOS FAKED? says it could be so.
After all this time, it's almost impossible to determine if the photos are of a genuine UFO, or simply fakes. The evidence presented by Bragalia is only speculation surrounding the facts: a photo of the Trent's little boy, on a ladder under the wires where the spaceship was seen, and photographed. The fact the Trents were "repeaters" -- repeat witnesses. But that last bit; the "repeater" label, doesn't prove anything either way. Many UFO witnesses (myself included) are "repeaters." Some of us have had encounters going back to childhood. Granted, Bragalia comments: "As Jerry Seinfeld might say, “not that there’s anything wrong with that” but then puts a judgement on how a witness should respond to a sighting. Referring to Mrs. Trent, Bragalia writes:
Then there's the note, sent to Paul Trent, with Bragalia's oddly gender specific observation that it's in "male writing." This note was no doubt written by a close friend, Bragalia tells us, since said friend used his initials. From that we are to infer note writer and Trent were close friends, and the note itself? Hints that the whole thing was a hoax.
Finally, we have the over the top classist assumptions about the Trents and the community of McMinnville in Yamhill County Oregon. Phrases like "farming folks", "farm boy" and this description of "simple farm folk" pulling one over on them there city slickers:
The Trents never were paid for their photos, or anything else concerning the UFO images. When the Trents wanted the photos returned in the 1970s, this was because, Bragalia speculates, they wanted the "accrued value" of the images.
This is not the first time Bragalia, as well as his associates, have attempted to expose McMinnville as a hoax. I wrote about that for UFO Digest in 2007. Revealing a third, "lost" Trent photo, we were promised, sort of, a revelation. Turns out the whole thing was a hoax. Er, that is, not McMinnville, but the third lost photo. McMinnville, at the time of the Trent sighting, was an active place for UFO sightings. More than fifty years later, that area is still a little hotspot for UFO sightings. Whether or not the Trent photos were fakes, well, we still don't know to this day. This recent speculation is just that, interesting, but certainly not proof in any way that McMinnville was a hoax.
Further reading:
Were the famous McMinnville UFO photos fakes after all? The iconic snapshots nothing but a hoax? Does this mean it's curtains for the annual UFO Fest in McMinnville, Oregon? Speculation from The Bragalia Files: MAKE-BELIEVE IN MCMINNVILLE: FAMOUS 1950 UFO PHOTOS FAKED? says it could be so.
After all this time, it's almost impossible to determine if the photos are of a genuine UFO, or simply fakes. The evidence presented by Bragalia is only speculation surrounding the facts: a photo of the Trent's little boy, on a ladder under the wires where the spaceship was seen, and photographed. The fact the Trents were "repeaters" -- repeat witnesses. But that last bit; the "repeater" label, doesn't prove anything either way. Many UFO witnesses (myself included) are "repeaters." Some of us have had encounters going back to childhood. Granted, Bragalia comments: "As Jerry Seinfeld might say, “not that there’s anything wrong with that” but then puts a judgement on how a witness should respond to a sighting. Referring to Mrs. Trent, Bragalia writes:
...but when you combine her prior UFO interest and prior sightings, her later sightings, her family discussions about UFOs- with the fact that Mrs. Trent reported being the first to see the photographed UFO- it is Mrs. Trent who should have been given more attention when investigating the photos. Paul finally got his wife a photograph of one of her coveted UFOs. She was certainly one darn lucky “repeat witness.”
Then there's the note, sent to Paul Trent, with Bragalia's oddly gender specific observation that it's in "male writing." This note was no doubt written by a close friend, Bragalia tells us, since said friend used his initials. From that we are to infer note writer and Trent were close friends, and the note itself? Hints that the whole thing was a hoax.
Finally, we have the over the top classist assumptions about the Trents and the community of McMinnville in Yamhill County Oregon. Phrases like "farming folks", "farm boy" and this description of "simple farm folk" pulling one over on them there city slickers:
“Fun” during those times, in that kind of place, may have encompassed playing around with a new camera, wanting to outwit the city folks, involve the family in some UFO entertainment and satisfy a wife’s saucer interests.
The Trents never were paid for their photos, or anything else concerning the UFO images. When the Trents wanted the photos returned in the 1970s, this was because, Bragalia speculates, they wanted the "accrued value" of the images.
This is not the first time Bragalia, as well as his associates, have attempted to expose McMinnville as a hoax. I wrote about that for UFO Digest in 2007. Revealing a third, "lost" Trent photo, we were promised, sort of, a revelation. Turns out the whole thing was a hoax. Er, that is, not McMinnville, but the third lost photo. McMinnville, at the time of the Trent sighting, was an active place for UFO sightings. More than fifty years later, that area is still a little hotspot for UFO sightings. Whether or not the Trent photos were fakes, well, we still don't know to this day. This recent speculation is just that, interesting, but certainly not proof in any way that McMinnville was a hoax.
Further reading:
Reptilians on Coast to Coast
In my top ten of favorite UFO/Fortean/Folklore subjects, the reptilians. Tonight's topic on Coast to Coast. Reptilians - Shows - Coast to Coast AM
Aliens battle BA-D-ASS cowboys at Mr. Big’s Skinwalker Ranch | STARpod US
With Google map location.Aliens battle BA-D-ASS cowboys at Mr. Big’s Skinwalker Ranch | STARpod US
STARGATE007 | Spies, Lies, and Polygraph Tape: The UFO Spy Games
Worth reading.STARGATE007 | Spies, Lies, and Polygraph Tape: The UFO Spy Games
Also, see my post on the Jesse Ventura Bigelow-Skinwalker episode.
Also, see my post on the Jesse Ventura Bigelow-Skinwalker episode.
Parallel Sibling History
Labels: abductees, Entering the Orb, Trickster
My husband and I have many parallel experiences, many connected to UFO and paranormal events. I've written many times about these experiences: shared images, dreams, UFO related encounters, etc. We even lived a few blocks from each other when we were young, before we ever met each other.
And even though we've been married over thirty years, it's surprising, sometimes, when we realize we don't everything about each other. I forget what the context was -- how it came up -- but I mentioned his mother's (since passed) TB. When Jim was a very young child, his mother underwent several painful treatments for TB, including a stay in a TB sanitarium. At that, Jim told me his mother's sister -- who would had been his aunt -- had died when his mother and her sister were children. Her name was "Violeta."
"Are you kidding me?!" I said. I then told him that my father's (also passed) sister died when they were children, and her name was also "Violetta." Now, their names weren't really Violetta -- I'm not disclosing the real name. But their names were both unusual names, and so it is quite a coincidence (really, synchronicity!) that both sisters had that same unusual name. (Also, my father was about 20 years younger than my Jim's mother, who had Jim late in life.)
BIZARRE EXPERIMENTATIONS - ARE THE OCCUPANTS OF USO’S ABDUCTING HUMANS AND TRANSPORTING THEM TO UNDERSEA UFO BASES?
Can't wait to read this new one by Tim Beckley. Sean Casteel reviews on UFO Digest:
BIZARRE EXPERIMENTATIONS - ARE THE OCCUPANTS OF USO’S ABDUCTING HUMANS AND TRANSPORTING THEM TO UNDERSEA UFO BASES?: In the book “UFO Abduction From Undersea,” published by Timothy Green Beckley through his publishing company Global Communications, I contributed some opening chapters on USOs to set the stage for a book coauthored by Miami UFO researcher Virgilio Sanchez-Ocejo and the late Colonel (Ret) Wendelle Stevens about a fascinating USO case that took place in 1979.
“UFO Abduction From Undersea” begins, fittingly enough, with the attempt to define just what an USO is. In an interview I conducted for the book with world-renowned UFO researcher Stanton Friedman, he told me, “There have been a number of reports over the years of objects that do several things. Navy submarines have apparently seen things moving along much faster than they can underwater, without going in or coming out. Others have seen UFOs come down in the water and move around and then take off from the water. And there have been reports of things that just come bursting forth out of the water.”
Lesley Gunter's "Light in the Night"
Lesley's new Grey Matters is available at Tim Binnall's site, and it is a very unnerving story! If the object was a drone -- one of ours -- why the strange physical effects not only on humans but animals? It's bad enough the drones, or, whatever they are, are doing what they do, but that humans would add a "fear factor" element that messes with our physical bodies as well as psychological/emotional -- again, including animals -- that is scary. And, of course, if it isn't human caused, well then, of course, that is also damn unnerving.
More Beams
A semi-new characteristic of UFOs witnesses have been reporting: beams of light shooting down from the craft. The latest reported by Roger Marsh at UFO Digest:
Two objects emitting 'vertical beams of light to ground': A Pennsylvania witness at Erie reported watching two stationary lights in the sky that appeared to be sending vertical beams of light to the ground about 5:15 a.m. on December 6, 2012, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.I had intended to post links to past articles I wrote on beams at UFO Mystic, but the blog seems to be down at the moment.
Mini MUFON Facebook Rant
Just feeling very grumpy tonight: "Some MUFON folks are such stick in the muds. So fucking SERIOUS. "Science based this..." and "hard evidence that" and... look, kids, UFOs are crazy wild things with no sense and witness accounts vary like mad. So either help the witness and be true to the data or shut the hell up and take that stick out of your bum."
Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory Skinwalker Episode
I was looking forward to this one, the paranormal and overall very strange events at the Utah Skinwalker Ranch being one of my favorite Fortean/UFO stories.
But I was disappointed in the recent Tru TV episode of Conspiracy Theory, hosted by Jesse Ventura. Most glaring: the complete absence of George Knapp or Colm Kelleher, authors of Hunt for the Skinwalker, which brought the exceedingly odd events at that place to the public. It's possible they were invited by the producers but for their own reasons turned them down.
On the other hand, I always have to remember that shows like this are made for the television audience, including those who may not know much, if anything, of UFOs and related conspiracies. So in a general sense, at least the program brought the whole Bigelow MUFON relationship to everyone's attention. That is still a very strange thing: remember, UFO reports are now to be reported to Bigelow-MUFON-'BAASS' [Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies ], not the government. (See directive from the Federal Aviation Administration.)
Conspiracy Theory told us that Bigelow now owns the Skinwalker ranch, and weird goings on are still happening. The theory pushed by the show (including researcher and author Preston Dennett, who made a brief appearance) was that aliens are here, and they're bad -- murdering, murderous bad -- and Bigelow knows it. In fact, the aliens are hanging out at the ranch, and woe to anyone who trespasses, for surely the aliens will kill you dead.
The theory not offered, and that I think is far more likely, is one that combines two elements. One, the area is certainly "haunted" -- not necessarily by ghosts, (though that could be a part of it, who knows,) but by generally weird paranormal stuff. Going back hundreds of years, the area has been known to harbor all kinds of supernatural energies. A vortex, a portal, but something in that area that's been present for a very long time; something that can be safely termed paranormal. UFOs are a part of this anomalous history, as Frank Salisbury's 1974 book The Utah UFO Display. As to the Skinwalker ranch, I think it's a reasonable 'conspiracy theory' to assume the Bigelow cartel is aware of these paranormal (and or alien) energies, and is using their own technology to manipulate these energies. Including any ETs that may be afoot.
Like the areas in Ohio and West Virginia -- Mothman country -- the powers that be, those with money and the power to be as covert as they damn well please use those areas for their own agendas. It's not an either or situation; you know, is Mothman real, are there really ETs in Utah? It's not so simplistic as some want us to believe.
Aside from the killing aliens on the Utah ranch, there is Bigelow's on-going space ship project. Big questions the Conspiracy Theory team were asking about a civilian -- Bigelow-- able to put his space-stations up in space. How is it, they asked, that a private citizen can build and launch these things? Never really answered, but the answer is obvious: money and connections. Thinking that Robert Bigelow is simply a really very rich person with a rocket obsession is naive. However, the why of Bigelow's homes in space was answered: to save us, (well, him and his friends, clearly not any of us) from the evil killing aliens.
Another interesting moment in the program: retired Army Colonel John R. Alexander. He was both creepily coy as well as efficacious, giving no real answers, which of course wasn't unexpected -- his legend in UFO Land is a sinister one.
The most blatant and arrogant element in all this: both Alexander and Bigelow remarked that (paraphrasing) the public doesn't have any particular right to know the truth on UFOs. UFO reports, data, research -- not a given that the public should know, or needs to know. Bigelow and Co. are collecting what they can and keeping it to themselves. That attitude -- that a quasi private citizen with enough money is the winner in UFO Land -- is a heinous one. The fact that MUFON supports this is equally disturbing.
It seems that the past few years, the biggest and most unethical of behaviors and practices (i.e., David Jacobs) continue, even after a period of discussion. But after things die down, they're allowed to continue as before. Jacobs is still out there doing his UFO thing, and plenty are actively supporting and following him. There was a flurry of suspicion and discussion around the Bigelow-BAASS-MUFON alliance, but, they're still doing whatever covert thing or things they're doing. Any criticism or investigation into their cloistered activities won't stop them, but maybe that's not the point. (not so much, anyway.) Simply bringing this to everyone's attention is enough, for now.
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