Montauk uncovered

Dear readers

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I had read a book on the "Montauk Project", an unbelievable story which incorporated elements of the earlier (1943) "Philadelphia Experiment."

The "Philadelphia Experiment" is the name given to a long-standing claim that a US Navy destroyer "disappeared" from the Philadelphia Navy yard, and that sailors aboard died under mysterious circumstances.

In several "Montauk" books, the stories are given of Preston Nichols (said to be chief technician of the Project); Alfred Bielek (said to be one one of the two "Philadelphia Experiment" sailors who time travelled between 1943 and 1983) and Duncan Cameron (said to be the prime psychic to the Project).

If the "Philadelphia Experiment" is shown to be a hoax then the "Montauk Project" is also a hoax.

In looking to find out more about research which has been conducted into the "Philadephia Experiment" I came across a fascinating article on the topic, written by none other than Jacques Vallee.

The article, titled "Anatomy of a hoax: The Philadelphia Experiment Fifty years Later" appeared in the "Journal of Scientific Exploration" Volume 8 Number 1 pages 47-71, in 1994.

Vallee first sets out the story of the experiment as told by such individuals as Maurice K Jessup (1950's UFO researcher); Charles Berlitz and William L Moore in 1979 ("The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility." New York. Grosset & Dunlap.); and Brad & Sherry Steiger and Alfred Bielek in 1990 ("The Philadelphia Experiment and other UFO Conspiracies." New Brunswick, NJ. Inner Light Publications.)

Vallee's research led him to one Edward Dudgeon, a retired executive who had served in the US Navy in 1943, the year of the "Philadelphia Experiment."

Dudgeon revealed that he had served on the ship DE50 USS Engstrom, a similar ship to the DE173 USS Eldridge, the latter being the ship featured in the "Philadelphia Experiment."

The Eldidge and Engstrom were in the Philadelphia Navy Yard, at the same time; as were two other similar ships. All four were in the yard as the Navy was "...trying to make our ship invisible to magnetic torpedoes: by de-gaussing the vessels.

Dudgeon stated that this was the big secret, no that the Eldridge was involved in some kind of space/time experiment. The Eldridge, did travel out of the yard over night by inland canal to Norfolk to load ammunition. This probably led to the story that it disappeared but was back by the next morning.

Vallee concluded that with this knowledge , the "Philadelphia experiment" was a hoax story.

"Today most students of UFOlogy...are in agreement that the Philadelphia experiment hoax, which rested on very flimsy data to begin with, should have died a long time ago." (p67.)

Comment:

With the death of the "Philadelphia Experiment," also goes the story of the "Montauk Project."

Abductees and migraine auras

Hi readers

Adelaide is experiencing its wettest August for 18 years. This is quite something for us here, given that a year ago we were in the grips of a long drought.

Today's post is a new area for me in some ways. I am always on the look out for scientific research which bears on the topic of UFO abductions. I was in my local library (you know I am a book nut don't you? Didn't the pile of books by my bed give that away?) the other day browsing the shelves, when I came across a book titled " Migraine Auras:When the visual world fails" by Richard Grossinger. Published by North Atlantic Books. Berkeley, CA. 2006. ISBN 978-1-55643-619-2.

I was not thinking about UFOs, simply flicking through the pages when I came across the following on page 121.

"Alien abductions"
Accounts from reputed UFO abductions have a distinct migrainoid ring to them: inexplicable lights, missing time, humanoid or animal-headed creatures-though these matters of course raise other ontological issues.

Attribution of migrainoid qualities addresses the neural components of such "close encounters," it is not to say that there are no alien abductions ...merely to note that these episodes share elements with fugues that originate in the brainstem. Encounters with aliens...might be actual metaphysical meetings and yet evoke migrainoid vestiges, falsifying the entities..."

Hold on, I thought, could there be anything to this ides? So, I borrowed the book to read it. The following are my notes which I'd like to share.

Firstly, the subject of the book is "Migraine Auras."

"In ordinary discourse migraines are pulsating, throbbing headaches with one sided pangs..." (p4.)

However, "A headache is neither a sole nor necessary nor even primary criterion of a migraine..." (p4.)

The term migraine "...is a loose confederation of altered neurological and psychomatic states within a single biophysical matrix." (p5.)

"..."Common migraines" are aura-less pulsing unilateral headaches. "Classical" migraines, by contrast, are headaches with auras." (p5.)

"Today people mostly skip the old terminology and refer to "migraine with aura" or "migraine without aura."" (p5.)

Frequency

"Current estimates are that approximately 15 per cent of migraine headache sufferers experience an initiating aura. " (p5.)

"About 20 per cent of all migraineurs report auras without headaches; and at least 3 per cent of migraineurs only experience auras, never headaches." (p6.)

The initiating event produces a flow which "...grows until it becomes a spreading moil, a mirage reliable enough to have a scientific name. It is called a scotoma (the plural is scotomata)..." (p10.)

Comment:

I was not aware, until reading this book that a person could experience a migraine aura without a headache.

What is a migraine aura?
It can be a visual effect, but can also affect any neural pathway.

"Visual distortions are the most common auras; yet auras comprise symptoms as diverse as tingling, muscular or motor weakness, hemiplegia (paralysis on one side of the body), faintness, decreased levels of consciousness, impediments to language formation and memory, lethargy, sleepiness, spasms (almost anywhere), unpleasant temperature variations (surges of both heat or cold or both simultaneously), and other spontaneous sensations...hearing...tactility...kinesthesia...and strange or wrong smells without a source..." (pp6-7.)

Examples:
1. When reading it may appear that a flaw appears in the text, which expands covering up words.
2. Flashing, zig zag patterns in either eye.
3. Loss of peripheral vision.

Complexity

"The migraineur does not know whether there are real objects behind these hallucinations, as they may develop into entire landscapes with imaginary personages and events. One sufferer regularly encountered a figure clad in black seated with his back toward him or standing at a long table." (p37.)

"...some migraineurs see expressionless faces or faces that are not faces..." (p40.)

"Advanced migrainious sensations...There may be extreme deja vu...and jamias vu...Time may also seem to be progressing in slow motion or at sonic speed...A few people experience magnification or diminution of their own body image..." (pp40-41.)

Comment:

I had no idea that there were such complex aspects to a migraine aura. The appearance of landscapes and persons is a new concept to me.

Little attention

"Despite their commonness and frequency, migraine auras become an enigma. A majority of people in the West have either never heard of them or, if they have, do not know their nature, degree of seriousness, or ubiquity. Most people who have experienced their spontaneous distortions of vision have no name for these and have gotten no diagnosis. " (p53.)

More statistics

In 2006 in the USA, 28 million suffer chronic migraines. 12 per cent experience migraines in any one year. Women outnumber men 3:1. 25% of auras occur in the age range 30-40 years.

"Migraine auras can be both early-life phenomena that decrease in frequency with age and later-life phenomena that increase in frequency with age...The former pattern is, however, more common . " (p65.)

Familial - "...roughly 25-30 per cent of offspring with a migrainious parent and 70-75 per cent of those with both migraininous parents being migrainious too..." (p65.)

Frequency - 8-10 per year, once monthly, once a week- it varies.

OBE-like?

"I noticed that the ground looked further away than usual, and then it seems that I was looking down from a height of perhaps 10 metres, watching myself crossing the field..." (p67.)

Aura onset

"Migraines are often augured by incipient sensations, an undefined prodrome that may occur days, hours or just minutes before hand..." (p69.)

Sleep and auras

"Auras may begin during sleep and elapse entirely in a dream -a pulsing light or oscillating feature in the dreamed landscape blossoms into a scotoma... The dreamer, if she awakes at this point, does so into a full-blown aura." (p82.)

"Usually one gets to escape such hallucinations by waking up, but migraines can merge with dreamscapes while retaining autonomous identity..."

Comment:

This is an extremely interesting bit of data. I'd like to see if any abductees who experience migraines would like to comment on this entire topic! Particularly the area of auras without headches, where a person may not even know they are experiencing a migraine!

Would it be possible for someone who experience only the aura and not a headache, to wake up from an attack top find strange figures int their room and perceive them as aliens?

What degree of reality does an aura have? Is it as real as real?

End of an aura

"Not only do auras (and ensuing headaches) culminate spontaneously, but their abatement is often accompanied by a variety of soothing and/or invigorating, purgative, and cleansing events. Dissolution may give rise to an outburst of tears, copious urination, a bowel movement, a fit of impressible sneezing, a discharge of sweat glands throughout the body; a nosebleed or a runny nose." (pp85-86.)

Comment:

A nosebleed. How many abductees could relate to this?

"Some people experience full hallucinations or dysphasia after scotomata have passed..." (p88.)

Example given are of a man hallucinating a hot summer day in California with his wife while he was actually with another person in New York.

Summary:

As you will see by my scattered comments, this book which is the first comprehensive compilation of material about migraine auras, may have much to relate to, and possibly explain, some apparent alien UFO abductions.

Don't forget, migraine auras are not happening in the eye but in the brain itself.

An end note

One of the concluding sections to the book is about the use of herbal medications in treating migraine sand migraine auras.

"Wood betony improves digestion,...Considered to have a grounding influence, Wood betony was the herb of choice in medieval times for demonic possession and visions and has been rediscovered in a modern context for inconsolable paranoia following UFO abductions." (p192.)

O'Neill's bridge

Hi readers

You come across UFO references in the most unusual of places. This week's example is...

Major Donald E Keyhoe gets a mention in the July 2010 issue of "Astronomy" magazine. The mention (on page 15) comes in an article about "O'Neill's Bridge" an alleged artificial construction on the Moon.

Author Stephen James O'Meara's article is about John J O'Neill's 1953 published observation of "...a gigantic natural bridge" on the Moon.

H P Wilkins, Director of the British Astronomical Association's Lunar section, confirmed the bridge's existence and called it "artificial."

Keyhoe's 1955 book "The Flying Saucer Conspiracy" details O'Neill's claims.

O'Meara's article concludes that "...the "bridge" doesn't exist" being possible that "...a crater on Promontorium Olivium close to the gap can resemble a natural arch under the right lighting conditions."

Leslie Kean's new book

Hi again readers, another new book!

Investigative US reporter, Leslie Kean, who tackled NASA over the Kecksberg case, has just had a book published. "UFOs:Generals, pilots and Government officials go on record," 2010. Random House. New York. ISBN 978-0-307-71684. 352pages.

The book is the result of Kean's ten year examination of the hard evidence behind the phenomenon and includes detailed, first hand accounts of such cases as:

* The 1976 Tehran jet encounter
* The Belgium "flying triangle" events
* An Alaskan, radar visual aircraft encounter

Click here for more details.

More UK Government UFO files released

Hi readers

Just a quick post with the link to the new batch of UFO files released by the UK National Archives. Click here.

"Mirage Men " a new book alert

Hi readers

There's a new book out which I am about to order a copy of. It's title is "Mirage Men: A journey into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs." Written by Mark Pilkington, it is published by Constable & Robertson. London. 2010. ISBN 9781 8452 98579.

The book documents the personal search by author Mark Pilkington and colleague John Lindberg, who spent time travelling around, taking a deep look in to the subject of UFOs.

The duo, visited UFO conferences, interviewed numerous UFO researchers, alleged intelligence agents and others, in an effort to sieve through enormous amounts of data.

I'm looking forward to reading the book. Have any of you read it yet? Fo so, what did you think of it?

Brazil to record UFO sightings

Hi

"Brazil is now to officially record any UFO sightings in its vast airspace and make the information available to researchers, according to a government decree published this week."

For more information on this story click here for the link.

A blog review

Dear readers

Another rainy, windy, winter's day here in Adelaide. Time for more book reading!

I have just returned from a conference in Melbourne. I chose to make the return trip by train rather than fly.I find it much more relaxing than the hustle and bustle of the airport, and the best things is that you get several quiet hours to do some thinking! I seem to recall reading somewhere that the great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov refused to fly, and got around by train. I wonder if he got some of his great ideas while rattling his way across the countryside, lulled to sleep by the rocking and rolling of the train?

So, what did I think about during my trip? Actually, I thought about this blog and how I have been re-reading some of my own posts. I've covered a lot of ground since I started the blog off, about a year ago.

Books covered have varied from "Body snatchers in the desert" by Nick Redfern, about a possible alternate non-ETH explanation for Roswell; through first hand testimony of abductees/experiences by Mike Oram in the United Kingdom; to "The UFO files: The inside story of real-life sightings," David Clarke's excellent review of the U.K. Government's Archives UFO files.

I've explored the world of "Exopolitics" trying to get a handle on its origins, beliefs and personalities. From private emails I received after these particular postings, there seems to be a view that one should steer clear of anything to do with "Exopolitics." I do find the links between "Exopolitics" data and "remote viewing" a little disturbing, but the extreme views expressed in the emails to me, show a lack of proper analysis of the "Exopolitics" movement.

My posts have also described a number of recent scientific discoveries and how these might relate to UFOlogy, e.g. New Scientist article from the 23 Jan 2010 issue about brain asymmetry underlying hypnosis (posted 24 Jan 2010.)

I have especially highlighted the excellent research by the Australian UFO Research Association (AURA), based here in Adelaide (see their website at http://disclosureaustralia.freewebpages.org into Australian Government UFO files.

As you will see, the purpose of my blog is to report on my wanderings through a range of literature, pointing out any relevance I see to the UFO phenomenon.

Our mutual field of interest is extremely diverse, and there is always something to examine and commnet about.

1964 Woomera filmed "UFO" case solved

Hi readers

Keith Basterfield's Catalogue of Australian UFO photographic cases contains the following entry:

"5 Jun 1964 Woomera SA

This photograph was taken at the launching of a Blue Streak rocket, and shows an oval blob of light near the rocket. A black and white print in the saucer was apparently from a colour movie. (1.Flying Saucer Review (FSR) Sep/Oct 1964 p 4. 2. In 2003, The Disclosure Australia Project combed an index of DSTO photographs, held at the Adelaide office of the National Archives of Australia but failed to find any record of this photograph.)"

Now apparently all has been revealed! Click here for the full story.

What the ...?

Dear readers

Sometimes, I read a book, and do a double take, in disbelief at the contents. I have to read sections of it twice, to check if it really said what I thought it said! Such was my reaction to the book "Montauk:the alien connection" by Stewart Swerdlow ( edited by Peter Moon.) Published by Sky Books, of New York, it's not a recent book, having been published in 1998. It's just that I only came across it the other week.

Strangely, I had no idea what Montauk referred to. An appendix in the book set me straight. "Colloquially known as the Montauk Project, the origin of this bizarre operation date back to 1943 when invisibility experiments were conducted aboard the USS Eldridge... stationed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard..."Philadelphia Experiment."" (p.215.)

So, the Montauk Project is said to be about interdimensional travel; a secret group at a derelict Air Force base at Montauk Point, New York; mind control, psychics; and aliens.

Researchers involved in the Project are named as Preston Nichols; Duncan Cameron; Al Bielek (Duncan Cameron's brother.)

Links to the project were said to involve oculist Aleister Crowley; mathematician John Von Nuemann; Amanda Crowley and ufologist John Ford.

This book then, is about the life story of Stewart Swerdlow. "As a child I saw the spirits of dead people hanging around..." (p.27.) "Alien beings routinely pursued me in my childhood." (p.27.) "My worst childhood memories are of what are commonly called "alien abductions."" (p.28.) "The nightmares became more intense as I got older, as did my preoccupation with UFOs and aliens." (p.41.) "Almost every night, I felt my consciousness lift out of my body and enter a room of bright light where I was intensely instructed." (p.41.) "In fact, actual physical abduction only occurred two or three times each year. The rest of the times were astral ..." (p.45.) "The abductions continued for the rest of my teen years and into my twenties." (p.51.)

These facts all seem familiar to anyone who has read a book by an abductee who has had lifelong experiences, but there is more to come. Stewart recalls that he was in fact, personally part of the Montauk Project. "My memories of being part of the Montauk Project were not pleasant at all. When I was a prepubescent child, my role was one of subservience strapped to a table, I was examined, mentally scanned for my brainwave signature, or sexually abused in ways that stored my energetics and magnified by computer." (p.53.) "The administrator placed me in charge of disciplining the younger boys ...They were also taught how to relinquish their bodies and allow themselves to die...(p.54.) "Fear, coupled with the physical and mental strain of the work, often killed the boys." (p.54.) "In addition, they were often the targets of sexual abuse by an unscrupulous segment of project workers..." (p54.) "Frequently, they were simply starved to death and left to decompose..." (p.55.) "Most of the boys were from outside of the New York area because the disappearance of so many from one single location would be too suspicious." (p.56.) "My role was to prepare the boys for use with the Project psychics...This energy was tapped, magnified and plugged into...to the point where he (Duncan Cameron) was able to open doorways to other dimensions." (p.57.)

Swerdlow is basically describing a project where people were utilising "energy" from children to open dimensional doorways, which led to the death of these children!

Swerdlow goes on to describe his travels, through life in Israel, and the US. This story weaves together accounts of underage sex (p. 85); numerous meetings with aliens; incidents involving his wife and children; his involvement with attempts at being recruited by the CIA (pp110-119); strange helicopters over his house; and being entrapped into a job "I soon found out that this (his employer) were underhanded people with high connections to organised crime." (p.121.)

He relates how he became involved with an abductee support group (pp124-125) which went wrong; and then met Preston Nichols (p.127). Preston told Stewart "...he believed I was one of the "Montauk boys" These were the children used in the heinous mind control and genetic experiments, as well as time travel work...He seemed to be telling me about my own life." (p128.) It seemed that memories surfaced of Stewart's involvement in the Montauk Project. It was also around this time that Stewart was charged with embezzlement from his employers. Then he met a woman who "...was turning me into her own personal robot." (p146.) At this point he felt like committing suicide. (p146.)

He was sentenced to jail and served time, during which he communicated by phone with a woman who deprogrammed him (p. 174) He used his skills to heal people, and received transmissions from elsewhere.

Getting out of prison he went to a halfway house in New York (p.183.) Here he says a guard showed him "Soviet satellite photos of Area 51...and asked..to identify the buildings and runways." (p.183.)

Stewart then got into a study of "radionics" following which he met a woman, Janet. "I recalled being with her in a different place and time on another planet a millennium ago." (p.192.)"My parents and sister thought I was crazy to be in love with a married woman 3000 miles across the country...Once again I doubted my own sanity." (p192.) This woman moved across the country to live with, and have a child by Stewart. (p201.)

Such is my summary of this book. Certainly a bizarre and often unbelievable work, lacking confirmatory evidence and citations.

Dear readers, have you read any of what has been a series of books on various aspects of the Montauk Project, and what have you made of them?