"Body snatchers in the desert"

Hi readers

Its a 32 degree C day here in Adelaide - March was originally part of autumn but now seems to be part of summer! We are hoping for some rain, but it is continuing dry.

One of the books which has been sitting in my pile of "to be read" by my bed is Nick Redfern's 2005 work which took a look at an alternative view on Roswell. It was published by Paraview Pocket Books of New York. ISBN 0-7434-9753-8.

In 2001 Redfern met a woman who stated she had been employed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee in the mid 1940's to early 1950's time frame. She was working "...in research that was being conducted at the time to determine the effects of radiation and high-altitude exposure on the human body." page 3.

Between May and August 1947 on three occasions "...horrible looking bodies were brought to Clinton in trucks." Page 4. She said she had seen three bodies herself. "All of the bodies, she stated, were "Oriental" and around five feet in height...several exhibited signs of severe physical handicaps-such as oversized heads and malformed faces and hands-while others had "slightly larger and protruding eyes."" page 4.

This woman went on to speak of the Roswell bodies as being Japanese people used in high-altitude balloon tests and experimental aircraft. page 5.

Earlier, in 1996, Redfern had come across an individual he named Levine who worked for the British government's Home Office. Part of Levine's account was that handicapped people were used in experiments such as high-altitude tests, in New Mexico. "This, said Levine, was where the stories of alien bodies recovered from crashed UFOs had their origins." Page 85.

Redfern also came across a man he called Bill Salter who said, that in 1952 he had worked for the Psychology Strategy Board. At Oak Ridge Salter met a man who told him he had shredded a "box of documents on the autopsy of five unusual bodies" from a pie-pan object in the desert somewhere at White Sands in the early summer of 1947. Three of the bodies were relatively normal, "but looked like Asians-Japanese" two were handicapped and displayed oversized bald heads and had unusually protruding eyes and all were about five to five and a half feet in height and dressed in yellow cloth-like clothes." pp90-91. According to the file, the bodies had been recovered following the crash landing of a balloon and gondola that was specifically designed to determine the effects of very high altitude flight exposure experiments on human subjects." p91.

A fourth source was "the Colonel" whom Refern met in 2003 in the USA. The Colonel claimed that while at the DIA in 1969 he read a file on experimental aircraft flown at White sands in the summer of 1947. Pages 98-99. He also told that between 1959 and 1968 "I was with several operations...where [the DIA] sent false UFO stories to the Russians, to the Communists; sightings of flying saucer landings at military facilities, stories that we had crashed UFOs and bodies of space aliens." page 99.

From these accounts and also by accessing US Government archive documents, Redfern advanced the following hypothesis.

May 1947- an experimental aircraft crashed at White Sands, killing some of the physically handicapped people on board. Page 207.

Early July 1947-similar aircraft affixed to a large balloon array, piloted by a Japanese crew "...crashed near the Foster ranch after being catastrophically struck by lightning. The lifting body style aircraft, he balloon materials and the bodies of the crew were retrieved under cover of overwhelming secrecy..." pages 204-205.

Comment:

Redfern's hypothesis opened up an intense debate about this alternative non-extra-terrestrial explanation for Roswell.

Click here for a blog following the Redfern hypothesis.

Click here for an interview with Nick Redfern.

Scientific studies of experiencers

Hi readers

In an earlier post (24 Jan 2010) I wrote about a 2008 report of a replication of Kenneth Ring's 1992 study of UFO close encounter experiencers (click here for the full article.) These two studies are one of a number which have studied experiencers. In fact, I have just come across another one from 2007.

It was authored by Peter Hough and Paul Rogers and appeared in the Journal "Imagination, Cognition and Personality" Volume 27:2 pages 139-161. Its title was "Individuals who report being abducted by aliens: investigating the differences in fantasy-proneness, emotional intelligence and the big five personality factors."

The paper's abstract reads:

"This study explores individual differences in people claiming to have been abducted by aliens. A sample of 26 alien abductee experiencers (AAErs) plus 26 non-AAEr controls completed self-report measures of fantasy proneness, emotional intelligence, and the big five personality factors. Analysis of Covariance controlling of participants' level of educational attainment revealed no group differences in any of the three fantasy-prone sub-scales (the vividness/realism of fantasies, escapist fantasies, and make-believe fantasies ( any of the four EI sub-scales (optimism/mood regulation, the appraisal of emotions, social skills and the utilization of emotions) or in four of the five big personality factors examined. However, AAErs did rate themselves to be more conscientious than controls, possibly in an attempt to portray themselves as trustworthy and reliable witnesses. implications for the psychological study of alien abduction experiencers are discussed."

Click here for an Australian study by Gow et al.

1968 Zanthus Australian report explained?

Dear readers

It is always interesting to hear about a possible mundane explanation for what has always been regarded as a classic UFO sighting.

An Australian classic is the 22 August 1968 Zanthus, Western Australia case. (Click here for a catalogue of Australian observations of UFOs from aircraft crews and passengers.) Here, two pilots were flying an aircraft from Adelaide to Perth on a charter flight. They noted an unusual sight in the sky. It appeared to be on the same level as their aircraft and to them was a "formation of aircraft." However, a query to Kalgoorlie DCA revealed there was no other traffic in the area. The main UFO split in to two and there were smaller ones which moved to left and right of the main object at the same level as the aircraft. The two halves of the main object joined and split. Finally, the entire thing diminished in size and was gone.

The case has remained a mystery until now.

The possible explanation for the Zanthus case as a mirage,comes from a detailed re-examination of the 29 Jan 1954 classic Labrador BOAC event where a very similar observation was made to the Zanthus case.

Click here for a link to the re-examination of the Labrador event.

Take some time to have a good read at this excellent piece of detective work, and see what you think about the cause of the Zanthus event. I'd love to hear your views.

PS The Labrador research also lists another Australian case, that of 27 Jan 1959 at Green Head, Western Australia.

"Confessions of an alien hunter"

Hi readers

The pile of books by my bed is getting no smaller! I have just finished reading "Confessions of an alien hunter: a scientist's search for extraterrestrial intelligence." The author is Seth Shostak. The book is published by National Geographic. Washington DC 2009. ISBN 978-1-4262-0392-3.

Shostak is a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in California (click here for more on the Institute.)

This work is an excellent overview of the topic of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and brings with it Shostak's personal story, which I found of great interest.

Many books on SETI usually contain a small section on the topic of UFOs. This is usually due to the inevitable question raised by talking about SETI, which is "could aliens already be visiting us?" However, Shostak's work has a lengthy chapter dealing with the topic of UFOs and other anomalies.

"I receive a lot of calls and correspondence from folks who have something to say on the subject of aliens. Many of them, like Ralph, are having difficulties with otherworldly visitors in their personal lives. " p112.

Shostak spends time describing the 1947 Arnold sighting; touches on Roswell, even mentioning Nick Redfern's alternative explanation ( click here for more details on Redfern's provocative theory ); covers Project Sign and the UK Ministry of Defence's release of UFO files. Then (p123) "By now the attentive reader may sense that I doubt that our planet is actually host to interstellar visitors."

His perspective is that, after 60 years, the evidence for UFOs isn't good enough. "Frankly, if the evidence were good enough, my colleagues and I would abandon our antennas and begin crawling the countryside." p123.

Shostak then looks at crop circles as evidence aliens are here. "The claims of alien authorship are flimsy, based on the way the wheat stalks are bent, to the fact that some of the patterns are ambitiously complex." p 124. "These plant patterns seem oddly inconsistent with true alien messages, however...they simply don't make sense as a method of interstellar communication."

Interestingly, Shostak then turns to the topic of alien abductions, seemingly separating them from the earlier topic of UFOs. Shostak's view is that "A phenomenon known as sleep paralysis (click here for more on this theory) may be causing the experience of those who believe they've been hauled off by little gray guys." p127. Abducting single individuals for personal inspection is not only inappropriate, but suspiciously convenient...Given the enormous number of people who claim to be abducted over and over, why has no one been prescient enough to take along a camera?" p127.

Following this, Shostak takes a look at claims of alien constructions on Mars. He offers the suggestion that "This penchant for recognising faces is part of a phenomenon called pareidolia, and we all have it." p 128.

Richard C Hoagland comes under scrutiny, as an example of someone promoting martian anomalies.

Finally, in a lengthy section, Shopstak asks the question "Do visits make senses?" He reviews the issue of the vast distances in space, and why would aliens visit us now?

Shostak sums up his perspective with "The major reason I'm reluctant to believe is the dicey nature of the evidence." p145. "I've repeatedly asked members of the UFO fraternity ...where's the physical evidence?...The response to my queries almost invariably boils down to two excuses...First, the UFOers allege that the academic's skepticism stems from their own pigheaded reluctance to look at the reports...The second excuse is that good physical evidence does exist. It's just been hidden away by a government anxious to keep the populace from rioting in the streets." p146.

In summary, "I hope I've shown that my mind is not closed, but merely skeptical. Until someone shows me better evidence, I'm strongly inclined to say that the aliens are likely to be out there, but not here." p149.

Comment:

It is very good to be able to find a SETI researcher willing to lay out his opinions on the UFO question in such detail. Shostak is to be congratulated for spending so much time in his book setting out his views. There are some things which I agree with him, and others where I strongly disagree.

Dimensional rain 2

I have really appreciated the opportunity to read a book which sets out the life long UFO experiences of an individual. Such was Mike Oram's book " Does it rain in other dimensions:A true story of alien encounters." Published by O Books (click here and here)

I have read it through twice now. Once looking at the events described from the perspective of alternative explanations involving hypnagogic imagery, sleep paralysis, and alternate states of consciousness, i.e. a straight psychological viewpoint. Secondly, from the perspective of "it's a real account of real events, what could it all mean?"

Let me summarise Mike's story for those of you who have not yet had the opportunity to read the book.

Mike was born in 1951 in the East end of London who at age 4 told his mother that he came from space (see my previous post on Mike.)page 36.

At age 5 his sister, father and Mike saw a real fairy which danced around a snowman they had built.

Between ages 4 and 9 he woke with a thought to look for an owl, and one would be there. (p38.)Around this age he was also visited by a tiger, though his mother never saw it. (p39.) Spacemen were always on his mind at this age.

At age 7 "I awoke in the middle of the night and was aware of a presence in my room." It was a being named "Tellos" who told Mike that he (Tellos) "...lived in the stars but was never far away." (p44.)

At around age 10 (1961) he ventured far from home one day and it became dark. A "...man in a shiny, one piece suit, with long silver hair appeared." It was Tellos. Somehow, Mike found himself on a familiar road from where he got safely home. (pp53-54.) "After that incident I spent many days intensifying my search for the space people and scoured the skies for hundreds of hours..." (p5.)

In 1962, aged 11, he found an unusual object, looking like a lump of coke, but with a large green stone in it. (p57.) When he held the stone he saw things in his head, such as stars, and a silver-suited spaceman among other things. A few days later he woke in the middle of the night to see a glowing man at the foot of the bed. It was also at age 11 that one night he and friends saw a huge round, domes, flying saucer at low level (p61.)

School was hard for Mike and he describes how he was bullied. However, one school headmaster took an interest in him. "Mike, I know more about you than you realise! I know what you have seen and how you feel! I know how you look to the stars for the answers to your dream-and one day you will find the answers!" (p71.) Mike wondered if the headmaster was really Tellos.

At about age 17 the family moved to Rainham, Essex. On 26 Nov 1969 he saw a large, cigar-shaped object "...and felt a part of my consciousness go into the craft and talk to the occupants." (p75.)As other UFO sightings were reported in the local area he started up a UFO reporting centre which he ran between 1970 and 1977. (p78.)

In 1970 Mike visited Warminster in Wiltshire, UK, scene of multiple UFO sightings and other anomalies. Following this initial visit he returned to Warminster many times where he personally experienced numerous UFO sightings. (p110.)

By the time he was 30 (1981) the type of experiences were changing "...as time has passed the nature of contacts have changed to include many transitional encounters in which I am taken, usually from my home, either physically or astrally, to meet with a variety of types of beings. " (p122.)

A 1995 experience will illustrate these "transitional encounters."

After going to bed at 10.35pm he woke at 12.45am sensing something was going to happen. A man appeared in the room, wearing a one piece silver uniform, plus shoes. A buzzing started in Mike's head and went through his body. He "lifted off" and travelled down the lane by his home, then zoomed into the sky towards a bright light in the sky. They arrived at the craft where there were other humans and aliens. He had no recollections from this point, until he found himself home. (pp136-138.)

There were other types of encounters. In 1996 at 2.22am he had buzzing in his head. "All of a sudden something leapt onto my back." What felt like a knee dug into his spine. There was a loud "purring" sound in his left ear. He felt someone or something was leaning over him. He felt "...warm, sweaty breath going into my ear." (p144.) "It was dark and I couldn't move...I discovered from earlier, similar experiences that if you break the paralysis and turn to confront the perpetrators they will leave." (p144.) He managed to turn his head and "...there was a whooshing sound, a loud sucking noise ...and this strange being...shot straight back through the wall." (p145.) He later found a red mark in the small of his back.

Two years before, in 1994 another type of being emerged. Again he had a feeling something was going to happen. "A golden funnel came through the window" out of which came coloured lights, then numbers, then letters and symbols, then "...two beings of pure, golden light emerged from the funnel" (p150.) and they transformed into beings 188cm tall. He merged with these "light beings" and experienced an energy rush (p151.) He then felt a "oneness" with the Universe. The events reversed themselves and the funnel disappeared.

In 2004, Mike's partner Fran and Mike went to the Laughlin, US, UFO conference. Pre-conference they drove to the town of Rachel and Area 51. They had an unusual experience out there. Later in 2005, under hypnosis, Mike recalled being taken by the military, through a portal, to a military base following which they were returned to their motor vehicle. They then encountered two space brothers with a smaller alien helper. (p215.) (Click here for a mention of Mike by Mary Rodwell from Perth, Australia.)

Finally, following a regression he recalls the details of a 1997 experience in which he met an alien hybrid child which is part his. (p245.)

Comments:

I found this an excellent book in that it provides a wealth of information on the various experiences which happened to Mike. There are UFO sightings, "abductions" (transitional experiences he calls them), and meetings with a variety of entities-there are the Space Brothers (Tellos etc); the light beings; the entity which attached itself to his back; and a 1990 experience involving a "bio-mechanical being" plus the "Tulip People."

Most of these experiences happened between "...the hours of 1am and 3am." (p229.)and involve a "sense of a presence", a buzzing sound, then bodily vibrations. He then goes off through the ceiling or closed windows.

It would be very easy to suggest a psychological explanation based on a belief held since childhood that he was not of this Earth, and an obsession with the topic of flying saucers. The events almost always occur at night in bed when he experiences a sense of presence of something/someone else, a buzzing sound in his head and bodily vibrations. Sleep paralysis might explain the sense, buzzing and vibration. No where does Mike describe someone else being present when the experiences commence. What would an external observer see? Would they hear the buzzing, see an entity present, and see Mike's body shaking from the vibrations? Unfortunately, Mike does not describe a single instance where someone saw this happen to him. Or would an external observer simply see Mike sitting/lying still in bed for a while, then wake up to describe an experience?

One would love Mike to spend some time in a sleep laboratory, attached to monitoring equipment to see exactly what his brain is up to, and whether or not he experiences episodes of sleep paralysis. We would learn a lot, either way, by conducting these sort of scientific investigations.

Dear readers, what do you think? Have you heard of any abductees undertaking sleep lab experiments?

"Does it rain in other dimensions?"

Dear readers

Over the last few days I have been reading a fascinating book titled "Does it rain in other dimensions?: A true story of alien encounters" by Mike Oram. The book was published by O Books, an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd of Ropley, Hants, England in 2007. ISBN 13: 9781 8469 4054 5. 276 pages. I'll post more about the book later, but for now I want to draw your attention to two aspects which I found.

The first aspect relates back to an earlier post titled "Alien Hand Syndrome" (27 Oct 09). In that post I spoke about some abductees who believe they are not human and speak of the sense that they do not belong here, and that they are of extraterrestrial origin.

I mused "Could the feeling of being alien indicate that the bodily self image within the brain of these individuals has been totally distorted. They would then not feel the sense of "self" which other people do?"

In Oram's book, I found another example of an abductee who feels that they did not belong. On pages 36 and 37, Mike describes how, at age four, he told his mother "...that she and my father were not my real parents. She was shocked, to say the least and she retaliated.Of course we are! You were born in this house!"

"Mum, you are my parents as far as bringing me onto this planet, but my REAL parents are in space."

"Now, this was 1955. I was born in 1951...I turned to look out of the window. I pointed to the sky and said to my mother. I come from somewhere out there!"

The second aspect is the manner in which Mike's experiences started each time.

On page 122 he describes an experience from 2 Jan 1981.
"I immediately awoke from sleep and sensed that something was imminent...A human-type form appeared in my room and stood by the window looking at me. Very quickly, a buzzing started in my head and rushed through my body. My whole body, in these situations, vibrates at an amazing speed. When it reaches a certain frequency or pitch, I then lift off the bed and go either through the closed window or ceiling."

On page 126. 16 May 1986. In bed at 2.05am.
"...the buzzing started in my head and moved through my body. I was aware of someone standing by the bed as I lifted off."

On page 136. 24 Oct 1995. In bed at 12.45am. Mike was abruptly awoken. A man appeared in the room. "The buzzing started in my head and ran through my body. It reached a certain pitch and I lifted off."

On page 138. 15 Apr 1999. Woke suddenly at 1.44am "...and sensed someone in my room and the familiar frequency change began in my body..."

He mentions time after time that "...I was strongly aware that something was about to happen..." p 126 "I sensed quite strongly that something was about to happen..." p126. "I had a feeling that something was going to happen for the past two hours..." p 138.

In summary, Mike describes a sequence where he knows something is going to happen; a buzzing starts in his head, then a vibration spreads through his body, then the event happens.

Upon reading of this, I recalled coming across references to "vibrations" somewhere before. It took me a while to locate the reference I was thinking of. It turned out to be from a post in a blog by Adelaide researcher Keith Basterfield at http://anomalies-australiancomments. blogspot.com

In his blog post Keith is writing about the out-of-body experiences of Robert Monroe taken from Monroe's 1971 book "Journeys out of the body."

In 1958 Monroe (page24) describes how his experiences involved a "feeling" which swept his entire body and a roaring sound caused by the vibrations.

On page 27 Monroe tells of how he felt the vibrations while lying in bed, then was floating up near the ceiling.

On page 213 he states that an OBE practitioner needs to get used to these vibrations, and think of "floating."

In summary, Monroe says that his experiences start with a sound and vibrations through his body.

This is a very interesting point. The commencement of both Oram's and Monroe's experiences involve a sound and bodily vibrations, before they "lift off" or "floating." However, Oram places his experiences in the context of being a UFO abductee and Monroe speaks of "out-of-body experiences."

What could it mean? Could there be a physiological or neurological explanation for someone experiencing a sound, bodily vibrations and then a sense of floating off to somewhere else!

In addition, Oram's says that he "knew" somehow, that something was about to happen, reminds me of the advance notice people get of the onset of a migraine headache. "...migraine with aura, is characterised by mostly visual auras experienced shortly before the onset of headache. Auras appear as bright shimmering lights around objects or at the edges of the field of vision, and the appearance of zigzag lines or wavy images and even temporary loss of vision. Non-visual efects can indicate weakness, speech or language abnormaliteies, dizziness, vertigo and tingling or numbness of the face, tongue or extremities." (Australasian Science Vol 31:2 March 2010 p 29.)

Dear reader, have you ever come across abductions being described as starting in this way?

"Reading the Enemy's Mind" Part 4

Hi readers,

Concluding my notes from Paul H Smith's book.

1992/1993 "Ed Dames and I had maintained fairly regular contact, and he continued to task me from time to time with PSI Tech targets. To my increasing irritation, he would frequently call me with news of remote viewing he had done of UFOs and space aliens. He even found outside support from a few scientists and a couple of wealthy patrons interested in the UFO phenomenon." p436.

1993. Dames mentions that he is working on a book on remote viewing with Jim Marrs. (click here for more on Marrs.)"PSI spies."

1993. Did session with Ingo Swann "...to see what remote viewers could discover about the happenings surrounding the alleged Roswell, New Mexico, UFO incident." p447.

1994. Ed Dames collaborating on a book about space aliens "...to be written by Courtney Brown, a remote viewing student of his." p437. (Click here for more on Brown.)

1995. Star Gate was to be transferred from DIA to CIA. p451.

Brown appeared on Bell's radio show claiming remote viewing Mars, finding Martians who had a colony near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Bell said he had photo of a strange object escorting comet Hale-Bopp. Brown said his remote viewers viewed the object which was crewed by intelligent entities and the government knew about it. p459.

1997. Ed Dames on Bell's show. "Ed claimed, was a large cylinder full of "plant pathogens" being delivered by the comet. These biological agents would destroy the majority of plant life on earth..." p460.

1996. Smith retired from the Army in August 1996 and started up "Remote Viewing Instrumental Services Inc."

Comment:

The official Government remote viewing era lead to a large number of individuals who went on to offer commercial remote viewing services. I have provided links in my posts to further information on all the key figures.

The interplay of remote viewing and the ufo phenomenon is a fascinating area to research, and I need to spend some time on this material in order to digest it; particularly the part played by various intelligence agencies.

"What's that up in the sky?"

The March 2010 issue of the "Australasian Science" magazine, Volume 31:2 page 44 has an article "What's that up in the sky?" by Peter Bowditch, immediate past president of the Australian Skeptics Inc.

It discusses the December 2009 Norway light show. It comments about "experts" who pronounced the light display due to aliens; a wormhole; or a black hole from the Large Hadron Collider. The Russians then said that it was actually a failed missile launch of theirs.

Bowditch went on to state "...problems can arise if we approach anomalies or novelties with a predetermined context or a standardised explanation." He comments that "UFO believers apply a different error...There is something in the sky that they don't understand so again they see what they want to see..."

SETI to expand

Hi

At the TED 2010 conference (click here for program)held in Long Beach California, SETI pioneer Frank Drake suggested placing a spacecraft 550 astronomical units from the Earth to listen for radio signals.

At that distance "...electromagnetic signals from planets orbiting distant stars would be focused by the gravitational lensing effect of our Sun, making them, in theory, more easily detected."

Source: New Scientist. 20 Feb 2010 page 5.

New book alert

Hi readers

Just a short note to advise that "The UFO Phenomenon: Fact, fantasy and disinformation" written by John Michael Greer ISBN 97807 387131 99, published by LLewyn Publications, is a good read. Click here for more information on the book, and here for more information on the author.