SP:11 1897 Airships, and the Little Fellow in the Aurora, Texas Cemetery; Regan Responds

Erich Kuersten made many absolutely right on points about UFO research. He asks, using the Aurora, Texas case as his example, why residents of that town, science, etc. stonewall UFO researchers at a given point:

What is the reason for all the refusal to let science and ufology blunder in to try and prove the truth of the legend? Where does disrespect end and legit quest for understanding begin?

Of course we can broaden Erich’s question to all other UFO cases where this occurs, as well as paranormal and Fortean events like Bigfoot and other cryptid encounters, hauntings, etc. I think one reason this resistance to researchers “blundering in” is due to a fear of looking ridiculous. This fear runs so deep, it becomes far more important than answers or clues to Really Big Questions, like the nature of UFOs and the existence of aliens, or, Bigfoot, and so on. Fear of looking silly, gullible, or naive, of being hoaxed, or somehow taken in. Those fears loom over any truths that may be discovered.

As a side note and a bit off topic, look at the criticisms of researchers like Linda Moulton Howe. Howe, who has done significant work in the field of UFO and related research, like cattle mutilations, has been heavily trounced by others for her gullibility in some cases. Agreed, to a point, but so what? Do moments of hope, even gullibility in some cases, wipe out previous work, the data revealed? We’re human, regardless of philosophical stance on research, and when it comes to the soup that is Fortean-Esoteric-Paranormal-UFO stuff, we can’t afford to continue pretending things are so neat and tidy, clear and obvious. We are not objective beings, and we are often being played by forces we are barely aware of, and certainly don’t understand.



Erich writes:

Meanwhile, the evidence is already in and overwhelming if you're willing to accept it, to make the connections.

The evidence certainly is overwhelming, and we are reminded not to mistake evidence for proof. And yet, when one experiences UFOs, entities, Bigfoot, etc. for themselves, one can say that is proof. At least proof of something pretty huge; as to what that experience (craft, entity alien type being, Sasquatch, ghostly figure) is, can be further explored. Seeing a UFO with aliens inside, doesn’t necessarily “prove” there are non-human beings in spacecraft from other planets visiting earth. They could be fairies, Djinn, or government spooks. But they are, and they are most decidedly real. And sometimes, to quote Freud, a cigar is just a cigar.

Erich asks, of mystery and process:

Or to let somethings be a mystery?

I know Erich is asking this in context of UFOs and aliens, but I’ll extend this to other subjects as well, like Bigfoot. I accept that Bigfoot exists, even though I’ve never seen one. (Yet.) I accept it exists because I personally know many who tell me they have seen one, and I believe them. I also accept that the evidence points to its existence, and I have spent many years studying the stories of witnesses -- many who’ve had UFO and high strangeness events embedded within the Bigfoot encounter -- that I find fascinating. I may not believe everything literally, but I believe that, at the very least, a Sasquatch was seen, and in many cases, something profound occurred that extended the already profound experience of seeing a Bigfoot in the first place. I don’t need a body to prove Bigfoot exists, I don’t care if it’s ever proven it does, I don’t give a damn if science or the world finds this proof, especially if it means capturing or killing one. There is no -- NO -- justification for supporting a “kill” philosophy in regards to Bigfoot.

Likewise UFOs; first of all, they indeed exist. We see objects in the sky all the time. “Do UFOs exist?” is most decidedly the wrong question.

For myself, who’s seen several UFOs, experienced missing time, and all kinds of other high strangeness episodes, since childhood, involving UFOs and entities, I don’t need proof. I don’t need to justify or even explain. I don’t need to do anything. I am, however, compelled to explore, and also share. I'm not sure why,  it’s just part of the process. Take it or leave it, like it or not, believe me or don’t.

Erich asks us:

What do YOU believe? And in the end, do you really need everyone else to believe it first? Are you afraid to pick a truth and make the jump, to just answer your own multiple choice rather than spying on all your neighbor's papers?

More excellent questions posed by Erich. This is why I’m not bothered by the tricksters, hoaxers (well, I am to a small degree, but not by much), and more importantly, the  ones much of UFOlogy hold in disdain, like the contactees. Who knows if the paranormal Bigfoot witnesses are nuts, or the contactees were liars? Their experiences are simply too rich and complex to dismiss as simple deceits. A few out and out liars within the global experiences of the weird doesn’t justify the exclusion of these kinds of stories. And what of the UFO Police; those who demand that certain types of witnesses, researchers, theories and experiences be excluded -- shunned --from their would be tidy world of UFO research? 

It gets back to the ugly side of human nature, that fear of looking silly. Researcher A is serious, damnit, and he or she shall not be tainted by associating with researchers delving into reptilian encounters or channeling aliens or Contactees or psychic Bigfoot. These stories may be full of it, but, within those stories is something we are missing by rejecting them. And that is the deceitful, playful, sometimes dangerous, sometimes merely mischievous, force of the thing itself; the very UFO/Fortean phenomena Researcher A, along with the rest of us, are studying.

And then there’s another unpleasant side to human nature: arrogance. We get so stuck in our egos, our personas, our need to be right (rather, to appear to be right), that we simply won’t let others play.

A recent example of the need for control over theories and research was the thuggish antics of crop circle researchers Michael Glickman and Gary King, who demanded that Colin Andrews be removed from the list of presenters at the Power Places International Crop Circle Conference this past summer.  If the coordinators of the conference did not agree to dis-invite Colin Andrews, Glickman and King said they would not appear. What a sad and distressing combination of arrogance and fear.  Withholding information -- and possibilities -- from other researchers as well as the public is unethical. It clearly speaks to the fear within, as well as the fear of others -- you, me, us, -- to think for ourselves. (Rather than dis-invite Andrews and give in to Glickman and King, the conference directors canceled the conference altogether.)

So, we don’t get to exhume bodies, kill a Bigfoot, get invited into the halls of Big Science to play with their toys, and yet we continue to frantically grasp after proof, after things that will say I’m Right, You’re Clearly Deluded. Forgetting that such proof will never be enough, will never satisfy, will never end such experiences, and will never completely answer anything.

Dead Bigfoot body: how does that explain the high strangeness aspects of BF encounters? What of protections for the creature -- what kind of being is it, and how does it affect culture, religions? UFOs proven to be from, Mars? Are the countless other UFOs from Mars as well? Do we suddenly forget about the man made UFOs that are covertly and illegally operating in our skies, with ill intent? (social engineering, chemical warfare, etc.) This Holy Grail of Proof, once found and offered, will only reveal more questions, and we'll find, it really wasn't proof at all.

We are always in the front room, to use the anthropologist’s example. No matter how much we may think we’re in the know, there are many more rooms to explore. We move into one, or two, if we’re lucky, and told we’re “in.” Some of us believe that. Some of us refuse to believe there are more rooms; or that, those rooms are of no consequence. Those rooms are just the broom closets, not worth investigating. Well how do you know, if you haven't looked?

SP9: Regan’s Comments

Government Disclosure Won't Happen
The Disclosure movement means well, and disclosure proponents don’t bother me; however, I happen to think they’re naive. The government will never come clean, simply because it can’t. It’s a system that is its own entity which, regardless of original intents, ends up defending and protecting only itself. That’s the nature of all bureaucracies. It’s naive to think that the government would come forward in complete openness in regards to anything, let alone UFOs. My opinion doesn't not mean -- and it certainly doesn’t prove -- that UFOs don’t  exist, or that the government doesn't know a hell of a lot more than it’s telling. I don’t trust authority; it’s that simple. The government isn't in the truth business, so I don’t expect the government to be forthcoming. If there’s an agenda that will be satisfied by the government’s disclose concerning UFOs then they will give us “the truth” though no doubt that “truth” will be only some of the truth concerning UFOs.  There’s always a back room, which the rest of us in the front room will never get to see. The government doesn’t want to lose control over us, and it doesn’t want to admit it doesn’t know what to do about UFOs. That, and the need for self-protection, ensures that a completely authentic disclosure will never happen.

We need to focus on ourselves in regards to the UFO phenomena.

Definitions, Interpretations, Minutiae, Disclosures
UFOs exist, and that’s that. We need to get over the self-defeating cycle of engaging in the argument of whether they exist or not, and in pointless rounds of  defining “UFO.” UFOs exist; what they are, is something else. For those of us with direct experience with non-human beings and weird objects in the skies, we beg to differ when it comes to these now pointless time wasting arguments about existence. We don’t know with an absolute that the government has information concerning UFOs, although it’s a solid and rational thing to think that the government has plenty to disclose. It’s a safe and a rational assumption to make; that the government knows far more than it pretends when it comes to UFOs. No harm in asking, and for that reason, I just don’t have much of a disagreement with Disclosure people. I don’t think they’ll get anywhere, and I think it borders on the ridiculous to believe the government -- any government -- will reveal all, but it’s nice they’re trying. Little bits get revealed here and there, and that’s something. It all gets added to the vast, complex puzzle.

Even for us that have experienced such things as aliens and flying saucers and all the rest,  I can’t say they’re from outer space. They very well may be; or they could be inner earth dwelling creatures, or... combinations we haven’t even thought of. They are real, they are here. That is the reality. The rest is interpretation.

As Erich pointed out in his post,  many countries did “disclose”, in a sense. But it’s not true Disclosure until the alien is let out of the space ship on CNN. As to Project Bluebook, that was no attempt at disclosure, but a show to placate. Valuable data, thanks to the continued efforts of diligent researchers, but the intent? Appeasement and distraction.

Significance
It’s not a contest; this idea of disclosure concerning UFOs with other types of disclosure. The horrors of this world are real, and the idea that, because one has either experienced UFOs in some way in their life or has an interest in them is then uninvolved or disinterested and non-compassionate is another distraction. Interest in subject A does not negate interest -- or compassion and activism -- in subjects B, C and D. . .

The UFO phenomena is significant; and, if disclosure ever does take place, that will become even more evident. The fact that both myself and my spouse have experienced missing time in connection with UFOs on at least two occasions is very significant. And if the government was responsible for that, (a MILAB type event, for example) that’s damn well significant, because it means the government was doing things, obviously, it had no business doing. If it was aliens, that’s certainly significant.  Other possibilities, sure, but really, far less likely. No thank you very much, we are not mentally ill, or suffering from shared delusions, and I won’t dignify that argument with any more energy than this.

If one holds the view that such things don’t exist, or only exist in one context, how can it then be decided that that thing is significant or not?

It may be the aliens arrive, everyone nods and says, “Yeah, we kind of thought so,” and it’s business as usual. No major cures, wars continue, the human race isn’t saved from ourselves, the aliens don’t seem much to care. They’re here for sight seeing, or resources. They could not care less about us or the planet. Or, maybe they’re benign and loving and things will be groovy forever. I have no idea. That’s assuming  there’s just one race of alien. For all we know, there are several vying for power and control. Or, not. Point is; we don’t know.

Processing and Individuation
I accept that I’ve had experiences, and I’m trying to process them. But before we can get to some kind of individuation, as Erich refers to, we have to complete the processing, and that is different for everyone, including UFO Police, disclosure activists, and everyone else.

Is is so important we have some kind of individuation in UFOlogy? We don't know what we’re dealing with in the first place; labeling our responses to an unknown is expected -- how else do we make it so we can productively work towards understanding unless we break it down somewhat -- but we need to be aware we haven’t solved anything, simply because we stuck a label on it.

The assumption that it has to be aliens in the flying saucers, because what else could it be, is just that: an assumption. But it’s not a ridiculous assumption, nor is it irrational. It’s wrong headed to state, as a fact, that they’re aliens from outer space, but not so wrong headed to seriously consider that speculation.

It could be the UFO phenomena, including its entities, is a “mythic” journey, or some kind of “psi” event. Its responses to us  --  or what we see as in response to us -- ours to it, etc. --- our pursuit of “the answer” a hero’s journey. Into the underworld. Crossing liminal thresholds. Metaphors for an Other.  It could also be that that’s just a part of it, or that it seems that way to us, merely because of technology. As Budd Hopkins and Carol Rainey pointed out in their book Sight Unseen: Science, UFO Invisibility and Transgenic Beings , much of what the UFOs and aliens do seem “magical” to us because their technology is so beyond ours we aren’t able to perceive as simply manifestations of engineering and science. To us, it’s magic, or paranormal.

Levels of Disclosure
There’s personal disclosure, such as the encounters the individual experiences. Murky, confusing, for myself, no real anything other than the life long experiences. Very Zen like. No answers, no cures, just. .. UFOs and vague entities and weird moments over fifty plus years.  That’s pretty cool actually, and yes, significant, but as to answers: not much. Who they are, what they are, where they’re from, what they want.. nope. I can’t tell you. They just . . . are.

Then there’s the Disclosure humans. Activists who push the governments of the world to come clean. As noted, they’re naive and will never get any government to come clean. Even if an alien is shown inside a UFO on the news, and official government pronouncements are made that “they’re here,” -- how could we know they’re telling the truth? How can we be sure, really positive, that the alien isn’t a cleverly created puppet, or worse, some horrible science experiment involving hybrid animals; who knows what Dr. Evil madness lurks?

Finally, there’s the Oh My God Disclosure: “them.” They don’t need -- we don’t, won’t need -- any government to do anything. The aliens themselves have done it for us. They simply arrive in hundreds of mother ships, land, and, there you have it. They’re here. Like an episode of V, except real, a lot less cheesy, and, hopefully, not creepy human flesh eating reptilians.

Interpretations, The Djinn, Angels and Demons. . .
Some cultures accept these things as everyday realities as “normal” and expected as everything else. The mundane and the sacred are not so separate. Researchers Farah Yurdozu, Phillip Imbrogno, Rosemary Ellen Guiley (The Vengeful Djinn Unveiling the Hidden Agenda of Genies) among others, refer us to Turkish perceptions of these UFOs and beings; they call them Djinn, and accept that these entities cross into our dimension. Some Christians in our culture and elsewhere frame these experiences in a demon/angel dichotomy. While I have problems with that dogma the idea isn’t so far off. What came first, the demon/angel/god motif, or the alien from Mars?

Whatever they are, they are, and there are many paths on this very significant journey to discovery.

Regan Responds to Lon’s SP6: The Bigfoot Paradox -- Bigfoot and Fairies

Wow, a fantastic post by Lon. I’ve been fascinated by UFO themed, paranormal or supernatural narratives concerning Bigfoot for years. These tales of high strangeness encounters inspired me a few years ago to start a blog devoted just to this topic [Frame 352: The Stranger Side of Sasquatch.]

Like the Contactee stories of meetings with beings from Venus or Mars, rides aboard spaceships, metaphysical discourse between human and alien, the tales of Bigfoot meetings containing yet further bizarre elements are incredible to believe; certainly if we take them literally. But, these tales do exist, and as Lon and others ask: what about them?

We have to look at these tales, and we have to acknowledge their existence. As Forteans, that’s easy, it’s what we do. Strictly “flesh and blood” Bigfoot researchers often don’t allow themselves that luxury and in fact, (as recent events have proven on a couple of well known Bigfoot message boards) many Bigfoot forums will kick you off if you start up about UFO or inter-dimensional Bigfoot. Some boards and groups have had it in their TOS that they won’t allow such discussions at all. It's an understatement to say that the flesh and blood vs. paranormal Bigfoot discussion is a controversial one.

There was an excellent Bigfoot blog around: The Blogsquatcher. For reasons of his own, the “Blogsquatcher” decided to stop blogging about Bigfoot and his research in the spring of 2010 and the blog is no longer active. But he was one of the few Bigfoot bloggers who gave serious consideration to the paranormal/UFO/anomalous aspects of Sasquatch encounters. Other paranormal Bigfoot blogs include author and researcher Lisa Shiel (Backyard Bigfoot:The True Story of Stick Signs, UFOs and the Sasquatch) who is not only a researcher, but has had her own UFO sightings and high strangeness encounters concerning Bigfoot. Peter Guittilla has been writing about high strangeness Bigfoot for years, and his book Bigfoot Files is a great collection of stories from witnesses about their weird encounters.

Good thoughts posted here on The C-Influence from others on the nature of high strangeness Bigfoot, and I can’t really add anything; it’s already been said, and very well. I will share a bit of my own experience with the “other side” of Bigfoot however.

I remember when I first came across a “weird Bigfoot” story. It was many years ago and for some reason, the article, (I believe written by Jack Lapseritis, who Lon mentions in his post) ticked me off. It made me angry. Now, why is that? That’s an interesting response to something I knew nothing about, isn’t it? I “believed in” Bigfoot; meaning, I accepted that Bigfoot most likely existed. A flesh and blood Bigfoot, and, a “giant ape,” at that. Now of course, I believe no such thing-- oh, I believe Bigfoot exists all right, but Bigfoot is more, far more, than “just a giant ape.”

But, as a Fortean in the making, I couldn’t bring myself to just throw away the article, so I filed it away. Synchronicty came along, and suddenly, I was coming across all kinds of articles about UFOs and Bigfoot, Bigfoot living under ground, dematerializing Bigfoot, etc. I was definitely intrigued. I was hooked, actually, and remain so today.

Then I came upon two Oregon (where I live) weird Bigfoot tales. One is the “monster” in Conser Lake outside of Albany, Oregon,  and the other, the experiences of Stan Johnson in Sutherlin, Oregon.  (Both subjects of a project I’ve been working on for awhile now.) I won't go into details about either here, but both share many similarities (even while differing in many respects; for example, appearance.) Both stories include landed UFOs, Bigfoot or “hairy biped” associated with that UFO, the Bigfoot communicating with humans that it came from outer space, telepathic communications between the Bigfoot creature and humans, strange sounds heard in close proximity to humans but no creature seen, and a lot more.

I met Stan Johnson once at a local UFO conference; he was one of the presenters. He was elderly ; I’d say in his seventies, yet he was very charismatic. As I listened to him speak, I found myself disagreeing with his personal perception on things which were framed within a religious context, but his energy was profoundly strong and, when he shook my hand and we spoke for a few minutes, I could feel this energy -- a heat, and an electrical feeling - - emanating from him. And here’s an interesting tangent: I had less trouble believing his stories of his paranormal encounters with Bigfoot -- it really wasn’t such a stretch for me to accept the possibility he had these experiences -- as I did accepting his personal, religious interpretation of those experiences.

One day around that time, I was speaking with the then owner of a local New Age bookstore, Stargate, who had known Stan, the object of our discussion. As we were talking about Stan, I became aware of a bright white cone of light -- like an upside down ice cream cone-- that had come down through the ceiling and settled on us, sort of covering us or enclosing us. I was inwardly freaked out; was I going crazy, having a migraine, what? Sound became muffled, light was weird; I could still hear and see but it was as if I was looking through a glass brick. As soon as had stopped talking about Stan, the cone of light lifted back up into the ceiling and “out.” The owner gave me a funny look; I thought, “She must think I’m nuts, I probably look panic stricken as all hell” but she said, “You saw what too; that always happens when we talk about Stan.”

So there that is.

Back to the religious aspect of some of this: Stan Johnson considered himself a Christian, and didn’t see any conflict with his beliefs and his experiences. Yet an Oregon Bigfoot researcher not long ago rejected my following her blog -- and her, mine -- because, as this person told me, they considered themselves a Christian, and therefore, could not accept any discussion or link to any blogs that had to do with “the paranormal.” In an authentic and genuine attempt to understand, I responded that, if one puts themselves out there as a Bigfoot researcher, yet rejects accounts that conflict with personal values, well, is that research? Of course this isn’t limited to religious views; there are Bigfoot researchers who may or may not consider themselves religious but their rejection of this high strangeness Bigfoot isn’t based on religious convictions necessarily, but simply the old flesh and blood vs. high strangeness. This is another area of discussion I guess but I find it interesting a researcher can be so involved in a marginalized, and trivialized, area, and yet, have their own buffers that keep them from going completely down the rabbit hole.

Bigfoot researcher Autumn Williams (whose recent book, Enoch, while not dealing with high strangeness Bigfoot, has received a lot of criticism -- and praise -- for focusing on both the protection of Bigfoot, as well as the witness, and the dynamics between witness and researcher) has suggested, along with other researchers (like the Blogsquatcher) that Bigfoot is almost eerily sensitive to physical effects of things like cameras and infrared. We can speculate that it’s possible the creature we call Sasquatch, Bigfoot, etc. has highly developed senses to the point of being supernatural. (Speaking of Autumn Williams, her mother, Sali Sheppard-Wolford, has written her own book-- Valley of the Skookum -- about her highly unusual Bigfoot experiences which include MIBS, UFOs, telepathic communications and other high strangeness.) Or, of course, Bigfoot simply is “supernatural.” Some, like Lisa Shiel, and Patrick Harpur in his excellent book Daemonic Reality, suggest Bigfoot is a fairy. Specifically, as Shiel suggests here, a water fairy. Shiel writes that Bigfoot’s affinity for water (something apes do not share, which is more evidence to support Bigfoot as a non-ape creature) parallels Celtic, Algonquian, and other cultural fairy entities. Bigfoot is a remnant of the fairy realm. This idea explains UFOs, alien beings, the dematerializing, feelings of disorientation reported by witnesses ... like Jacque Vallee’s Passport to Magonia, where comparisons between the fairy realm and UFOs are made to support the idea much of what we call UFOs (and aliens) are earth bound entities, not ETs, Bigfoot could also be thought of as a fairy creature.

TCI - SP3 - Lee Actualizes Discussion on Harmonics

Bruce has said it all, and as usual very beautifully. Robin’s comments add to the wonderful ideas brought forth. I can’t really add anything, except to say a little bit in general, including my own experiences.



Bruce’s eloquent thoughts on harmonics and the symbiotic dance/play/relationship between us and anomalous events reminds us of the obvious, cliché yet taken for granted fact that our particular culture continues to separate mind/heart/consciousness, rejecting the idea of an “other” even existing at all. As Bruce and Robin, in her/his comments, have pointed out, our emotions, our “pre-existing emotional tenor” (Robin) is part of our perceptions of mystical, paranormal, etc. events. Many cultures recognize this and induce these states through sounds, and movement (chanting, music, dance) as has been pointed out by Robin and Bruce. Energies are both physical and emotional. I had this experience with a healer who used sound; singing bowls and her own unique, weird “singing” almost a kind of yowling... that literally shifted things in my body. Paranormal experiences contain these responses to “unseen” energies we call ghosts, spirits, psychic insights -- and in cases of UFOs, at times, aliens? -- the physical, strong electrical feelings felt in my body when in the presence of these kinds of phenomena.


(And as to the heart: even my husband’s cardiologist, a mainstream Western doctor (but who does seem open a bit to alternative ideas) mentioned to us the self-repairing/creating abilities of the heart, and the power of intent and positive energy focused on the heart.)




Energy, seen, unseen. Physical, always, regardless. Shifted, moved, manipulated by sound, movement. And, others? Are the Djinn, aliens, spirits, aware of this as well -- more so? -- and move the energy waves around us, as well as within us, to create what they want to create, for either our benefit, their benefit, or some combination of both?


I think it depends on the quality and type of anomalous thing present.


We’ve been talking about paranormal, UFO, esoteric phenomena and how this all relates ... I see a reminder here that this idea of harmonics, of shifting, moving, connecting with energy is applicable to everyday life, waking life, as well.


One more example of shifting energies, which is somewhat related to this idea of harmonics and energy but it's a bit off topic. I know it sounds very off the wall but here it is, this happened a couple of years ago: I had been working very strongly with intent, a lot of work on focusing, energy --- and had the following experience, which sounds both downright silly, as well as trivial. But even in this trivial, mundane every day setting, the powerful illustration of energy-shifting was evident.


I was in line at the bank. Woman ahead of me was just... bothering me, for some reason. I couldn't even see her face, so why was she bothering me? She wasn't doing anything, just standing there. But I was getting the strongest, most uncomfortable -- and electrical -- feeling from her, "vibes," in short, that were physically affecting me. I decided I wanted her to move. Move away, move ahead. I focused/thought very intently and suddenly, I heard a lot snap/pop in my head that was accompanied by a flash of bright white light, and she, at the same time, not only moved, but kind of lunged ahead, as if someone had pushed her. She kind of looked around a little, like she had tripped, or couldn't figure out what happened. That was the only time I have ever experienced anything like that.