"Absurd Bits" in Fortean Phenomena

 My current Trickster's Realm column for Tim Binnall's site. My new column will be up Monday. 





"Absurd Bits" in Fortean Phenomena

Reading one of my favorite esoteric Fortean authors Colin Bennett right now: Flying Saucers Over the White House; The Inside Story of Captain Edward J. Ruppelt and His Official U.S. Airforce Investigation of UFOs. I'm only just into it, but, as usual when I read Bennett, there is so much rich, juicy and insightful right on stuff it's exhilarating. It's almost too much, one quick brilliant statement after another. One of the numerous gems is the "psychosocial filter" as Bennett calls it concerning UFO (and, I'll add, paranormal events in general) witness experiences: It is an amusing feature of the Western mind that those people who have had a UFO experience of any kind are judged to be people least worthy of analyzing that experience." The witness is often treated as an afterthought, or even an embarrassment. And all is lost if the witness has things that clogs up that "psychosocial filter": The courts of "proper" debate rule out any odd, highly individualized, comic, or ludicrous or absurd elements. Here we see the most tragic-comic emblem of mankind's philosophy: get rid of the nutcases and there will be revealed the shining truth. [Bennett: 39] It seems obvious that without UFO witnesses we wouldn't have UFOs to investigate in the first place. The UFO investigator wasn't there, nor the Sasquatch explorer or the ghost hunter. The witness was there, and she knows of her experience. The problem is with interpretation and assumption. But that's different than what happened, no matter how crazy it may sound. The researcher brings her or his own bias as well. The whole thing is -- I don't want to use words like contaminated or polluted because those words frame UFO and paranormal events as a negative -- but it's all messed up, turned inside out and upside down, from the moment it started. That's okay. That in itself is part of the phenomena. Instead, there are a lot of people out there chasing UFOs and ghosts and Bigfoot who believe they'll get to the truth of things if they reject anything that hints of those "absurd elements" Bennett refers to. That, and bringing along a lot of clanking high tech equipment that lights up and does other cool stuff. I don't remember where it was that I read a suggestion from Jacques Vallee, who commented that many UFO researchers were going about things all wrong. Instead of asking the witness about measurements, size, yards, feet, longitudes and latitudes and behaving in somber UFO Investigator mode, just give the witness a pad of paper and a pencil and have them draw what they saw. In their own words, in their own way. Stand back, don't talk much, and just let them relate their experience. Then go from there. It's a symbiotic relationship between witness and chroniicler of the event. Despite the insistence of some, Fortean phenomena isn't scientific (not to be confused with complete rejection of using scientific methodologies when desired), it's not objective, and it's nothing to be embarrassed about. You're either in it or you're not. You're in it and that means you take in the "absurd elements" along with the rest. The moment you start rejecting bits from a report because it's too weird or subjectively stupid, you've "contaminated" the research. The UFO Police (and the Bigfoot Police) pop up with regularity, with new mission statements and rules about what will, and what will not, be accepted into their (always) scientific minded organization. Embarrassed by most all of UFOlogy UFO Police want to be treated with respect by the residents of Debunkerville and the MSM (mainstream media.) Those invites will never happen, because the phenomena won't let it. Which the UFO Police would realize, if they stopped rejecting the "absurd elements." Meanwhile, witnesses continue to have UFO sightings that often contain high strangeness. I can only speak for myself, but I take it very personally when a stuffed shirt UFO investigator condescends to me that they only consider "hard evidence" and my experience is "only anecdotal." Well kid, it's all I got. But really, in my case, as with many other witnesses, that's a lot. It's actually huge. Lately I've been chronicling all of the strange UFO events in my life, going back to my childhood, (including those pesky "absurd" bits) and it's startling how connected and big this all seems to be. The "problem with UFOlogy" as some like to say, isn't with the "absurd bits." It's with the idea there's a "problem" that needs to be fixed.

Memory, Dreams and Elk

I have a vivid dream life, always have; dream in color, sing, sounds, scents, fly, sleep paralysis, OOBEs. . . I've even had a couple of dreams where the dream was in color, but little pieces were in black and white. One dream I recall: the dream was in color, but I was watching a black and white TV. But I've never had dreams where I had missing time or amnesia in the dream; until recently. A few months ago I had missing time within the dream, and last night, I had a similar episode within a dream.

Much preceded the missing time, or amnesia, too personal to post but at one point, I was leaving my place of work and found that all the roads had been torn up. Earth moved into huge piles, gravel everywhere, dirt roads... no signs. "Great," I thought, "how the hell am I going to get to where I'm going?" but I had no choice, so start to drive. A hassle but not a big deal. But at the end of this torn up road is a crazy network of freeways. Just dozens of on-ramps and freeways and hundreds of cars just zipping every which way, and no signs. Not a one to tell me where to go, how to get there. . . and I have no time! No light or anything just have to MOVE, now! So I make a decision in my panic and just drive like mad onto an on ramp, no idea at all where I'm going.

After awhile of driving crazy-mad the freeway insanity ends and I find myself on one of my "dream scapes" -- a one lane, one way highway or bridge over the ocean. The ocean is a beautiful royal blue color. The water is almost as high as the bridge/freeway, and it's churning. Very active. I am scared and nervous. Still no idea at all where I'm going, no signs The bridge/freeway goes on forever, I can't see anything ahead. The water is so high it's splashed onto the road, and I'm worried I'll slide right off into the water. All I can see on either side of me is water. There's a railing about four feet high on the sides of the bridge but it's little protection.

Next thing I know, I wake up in a funky small motel room. No idea how I got there. I'm wearing a large baggy tee shirt and underwear but that's it. I walk outisde, confused -- where am I?! I see it's a little coastal town, hilly, kind of funky but in a comfortable, easy way. I'm in the "poor" part of town but as I continue walking, find myself in a more habitated part of town. I go into a little cafe, order breakfast. It's very good. I tell the people there, who are very friendly, that I barely know who I am, let alone how I got there or why, etc.

I was thinking of this dream all day, and for some reason, that led me to remember something that happened when i was about twelve or thirteen. I was in the Girl Scouts, and we went camping in Northern California. Here we were out in the middle of nowhere, or so it seemed to me. I loved it though.

I've thought of the following experience many times, but only remembering the wonder of what I saw, not how I got there in the first place. We were all setting up camp and then, I took a walk. I was just walking around, in the woods. And came out on a road. So I'm standing there on the side of the road, and less than ten yards from me, directly across from me, an elk walks out from the trees and just stands there on the side of the road. I was in awe; this was the first time I had seen anything like this. I remember just standing there, looking at this beautiful creature. I wasn't scared, just amazed. I felt like crying, it was so beautiful. We just stood there, looking at each other, then it walked off.

What's surprising to me now, is that even though I've often revisited this memory of seeing the elk, some obvious things about this event never occurred to me -- until now. For one thing, I can't see the adults in the group allowing anyone of us to just walk off on our own. Yet apparently I did. I was all alone. And what road would that have been? No idea; it wasn't one we were on. I don't remember what happened before that, or after. All very strange.

Layers of memory. One "real" memory with no surrounding context, one missing bit of memory within a dream. Shifts of memory; no experience dreaming of having missing memory within the dream, and suddenly, two within a few months time.

Maybe age has something to do with the dreaming; I can't explain why it is I don't remember what happened before, or after, meeting elk on the road. . .

Report, Damn It! And Do It Like This!

At the  McMinnville UFO Festival in Oregon last spring, the Bales brothers gave a simple, yet on the edge of your seat presentation about their giant triangle sighting in Idaho. During the Q & A one man chided the brothers for not being more involved in UFO research. He expected them to be sudden experts, with a mission and message of spiritual alien based insight. An astoundingly arrogant and condescending comment to make. After a slight pause, one of the brothers, who looked a bit confused at the comment, simply said "We're here, aren't we?"


Peter Davenport, who provides us with a much needed database of UFO reports, is perennially irritated at people who won't "take ten minutes" to write a UFO report in "black ink on white paper." His frustration is understandable, but not everyone feels comfortable putting such experiences down on paper. Treating UFO witnesses like stupid school children discourages people from making UFO reports.


I've been involved in a few local UFO minded groups through the years. The seeds of such gatherings are simple: people getting together to talk about UFOs. The purpose of these groups is  to have people with experiences to share with others,  but I've found there isn't much honesty happening in these groups. Because as soon as you have the "leaders" of such groups state what will, and what will not, be accepted, you are being dishonest. Telling witnesses to keep things positive -- in other words, don't talk about the scary, negative parts of your experience -- is a type of control. Creating a forum of only what you want to hear, in the form you want to hear it, is being dishonest. It sets up false forums of data; if you are continuously rejecting accounts you don't like based on your biases, you're not after genuine UFO experiences.


None of these methods consider the individual's experience. We listen and decide they're too negative, or not spiritual enough, or not literate enough, or are too lazy because they won't write something down, or . . .


And maybe they are some of those things, sometimes. Maybe some witnesses are too lazy or incompetent to write a report. Maybe the witness is still experiencing trauma from their encounter and are stuck, for the time being, in a dark place. Maybe their paranoia and fears, their nervousness and confusion, is part of the process and where they need to be for awhile. Making witnesses feel bad, lazy or stupid -- or crazy because they're depressed or anxious -- pushes them away.


All we can expect from people who have decided to come forward in whatever small way with their UFO experience is honesty. Negative, positive, spiritual, literate, sloppy, bad spellers, -- doesn't much matter, if they are being honest.

Notes
BOA interview: Tim Binnall interviews Peter Davenport
http://www.binnallofamerica.com/boaa12.9.9.html

Peter Davenport: National UFO Reporting Center
http://www.nuforc.org

McMinnville, Oregon's UFO Fest.com: annual UFO Festival in May
http://www.ufofest.com/ufofest07/

Lesley on "Fantasy vs. Reality"

Lesley's Grey Matters on Binnall of America this week is Fantasy vs. Reality. She discusses the idea some hold that abductions and other UFO events are "hallucinations or some sort of fantasy and not real events."

What she has to say about the "paranoid state" of people with schizophrenia is interesting; I've often thought the same thing but haven't come across too many that have shared those ideas in terms of alien intelligences.

Of Gatekeepers and Decoder Rings . . .

Lesley at Debris Field has a few comments on Michael Salla's article, which is about the UFO Police. (Salla's article:
Hysteria drives UFO gatekeepers debunking exopolitics pioneers.) Of UFO Gatekeeprs or the UFO Police in general, Lesley comments:

They even attack people that have had experiences that don't fit into their box. They try to cloak it as some noble mission to save Ufology, but anyone that listens to them for more than 5 minutes realizes it is really a mission to try to make themselves look far superior to anyone else. They are the only ones that "get it" and the rest of us (except those that totally agree with them) are a stupid mass of people in need of a leader -- them.

And Bruce Duensing of Intangible Materiality writes, as always, so eloquently about UFO Gatekeepers in Secret Decoder Rings:

Outside of truth in the imaginal realm posed as a franchise, a exclusionary divisor that is not prone to uncertainty, the adapted postures of those who claim to possess the secret decoder ring,there is a certain instinctual desire of ourselves as fish within this atmospheric ocean to be lured, compelled and strike a pose in the reflected glory of exclusivity, designed in earnest by a franchised cabal, an inner circle of humanity as opposed to dim candle flickering by the lowest common denominator carried by an unwashed rabble of sheep. A carrier of secrets which in of themselves are perhaps default settings, a backstop in a competitive game, a consensus set against ambiguity, a self executing warning concerning pawns, boosters and the appetites that stir for satiation. ~ Bruce Duensing

Alfred Lehmberg has a piece up right now at UFO Magazine that relates to this theme of the would be overseers of UFOlogy: Traces and "Stuff" Alfred is mainly addressing the pathological skeptic but a lot of what he writes can be applied to those that deny someone else's perspective on things:

Whose call? The call of my muse, you biliously sneering skeptibunker of small imagination, smaller intelligence and sub-microscopic, even concave, courage! Something could be said regarding meager scrotum size. The reader knows who's addressed...

Whose voice? Why, the inner one of course — the only one of which I'm sure! I can't hear it in the clutter of your media's exhortations to burn and consume. I can't hear it in the frothing of your Pat Robertson, or Jerry Falwell... ...that UFO's are agents of Satan…

Bruce Duensing: "Sex Violence and UFOs"

This is one of the most beautiful, insightful things I've read about our place, our agreements with ourselves and each other and "it" -- and a nice video clip of Joni Mitchell as well. What does this have to do with UFOs; "sex, violence" and Joni Mitchell? Read Bruce's piece on UFO Magazine's site to find out. I don't think you'll be sorry.

hidden experience blog

I found a blog I like awhile back: hidden experience. Subtitle: "Curious stuff that challenges my definition of reality." One guy, simply writing about his ufo and related experiences. He has an exceptionally beautiful entry: Owls at Sunset. Another post is a sister blogger (another one) about one woman's encounters with aliens and her own blog In A World Cracking Open.

I am always so thankful to, and appreciative of, individuals who confront their vulnerabilities and go ahead in spite of that and share their stories of the "other."

Catholics Ordered To Keep Quiet Over Virgin Visitations

On UFO-Mary; the Vatican's latest efforts at maintaining authority.

Robert Anton Wilson on Channeling and ET Contact

Explains All Reticence

UFOs are everything! From ancient times they wail and sing. Through the years they've shown themselves, we've pictures, film we've stacked on shelves. Anecdotes abound in waves, from Presidents without disgrace, to airline captains coming clean — these craft are NOT a specious dream!

Indeed! Alfred does it again; I really liked this one. For more visit the UFO Magazine blog, The Green Room, and read the rest of Alfred's post.

It's astounding, simply astounding, that there are still those who deny the fact of UFOs. Worse, are the ones who acknowledge the reality of UFOs, but play disingenuous head games around the fact. Those pathological skeptics who shrug and say "UFOs, lights in the sky, so what?" or yawn after hearing a witness relate an incredible sighting, mumbling something about classified military craft. . .

Reptilians on the Beach

Bonnie Jean Hamilton on Reptilians on the Beach, on UFO Casebook.

Seriously, Don't Be So Damn Serious. Seriously.

Lesley has a great Grey Matters column this week at Binnall of America. “Seriously” addresses the stuffed shirts of UFOlogy; those who think having fun are doing a disservice to UFOlogy. (Just what is "UFOlogy" anyway?)

There are some who just won’t ever get it; that the exploration of the UFO phenomena is for everyone, no one gets to decide who can, and who cannot, join in the UFO mystery chase.

The UFO phenomena is certainly a grassroots, folklore (of the folk type entity) phenomena: while it’s necessary to have all sorts involved, including scientists and nuts and bolts field researchers, etc. to believe that this is the only valid approach is nonsense.

What inspired Lesley to write her column were the recent comments on UFO Updates about the use of the word “Festival” in context of UFO conferences:

Recently on UFO Updates there was a little discussion about the term "UFO Festival." Certain people don't like the word "festival" to be associated with UFOs, the feeling being that this would somehow keep people from taking the subject seriously. They may have been kidding, but there are people who feel that way

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The UFO phenomena has always been, at least in modern times, subversive to mainstream society. Its very nature is a huge “bleeeeeeeeech!” in the face of institutions, religions, academia, politics, the media. Dressing up in suits, chiding others for not behaving properly or insisting there be some Official UFO Police are ways to cause divisions, not achieve answers. (at least some of the answers anyway.) Of course, many who advocate for suits and ties, somber tones, UFO Guilds and a UFO etiquette would like this very much. Get rid of the embarrassing riff raff and they can carry on, being coddled and taken seriously (uh huh) by the very institutions that ignore -- and worse -- their UFO quest.

Lesley points out something that I don’t think is pointed out enough; that a lot of people (“the folk”) take UFOs pretty seriously:

I would say that 9 out of 10 people I meet have some belief in ETs or some other intelligence that is not what we would term as a human or Earthling and that may be flying around in the skies. You might not find them posting about it on the Internet or attending a festival or conference, but that doesn't mean that they don't take it seriously or don't believe something strange is going on. Most of them just don't have much extra time to devote to the subject.

The mainstream media may still have a ways to go, certainly academia, politics and science do, but the people are interested. They’re the ones with the experiences (I should say, we’re the ones with experiences; I include myself in that category.)

The purpose of a festival is to have fun of course, but it always serves a cultural need, including one that subverts the mundane. Lesley writes:

By the way, "festival" is a proper term for something like Roswell's annual event. You can call it whatever you want, but it is still a festival. It brings together all kinds of people and all ages and they hopefully have some fun as well as learn a few things. I see nothing at all wrong with that. Frankly, stuffy conferences mostly only attract those that already believe and the people there might take it all very seriously, but I don't see it convincing anyone else that Ufology should be taken seriously.

I hope UFO researcher and author Richard Dolan doesn’t mind my saying this, but both he and Karyn Dolan agreed that the Oregon, McMinnville UFO Festival last May was great. (Richard was the main speaker.) They enjoyed themselves very much, found it relaxing, and yes, fun. This from one of the most serious of UFO researchers when it comes to the work he does.

Speaking for myself, I am very serious about UFOs. This is something I’ve been experiencing my entire life. I have lots of questions about things I’ve experienced. Don’t you think that makes me extremely “serious” -- damn serious -- about this stuff? One way to be “serious” is to maintain personal integrity, and be yourself. If you have a sense of humor, can’t abide suits or pantyhose, or think, like Lesley does, that The Weekly World News is sometimes funny, because that’s who you are, you’d be a liar if you pretended otherwise. Which means you no longer have integrity, and in that case you would’ t be “serious.”

On UFO Digest: "A Little Experiment: Pendulums, Aliens and Telepathy

I have an article up at UFO Digest on my personal experience with UFOs and aliens: A Little Experiment: Pendulums, Telepathy and Aliens

Three different times I’ve had the eerie experience of knowing that “they” were in the room with us. Who “they” are, I’m not sure, but a few things I just know to be true are: “they” are related to UFOs, “they” are not human, and yet have a connection to us, and “they” are very much aware of us; far more than we are of them

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You might be wondering what Popyeye and Jeep have to do with anything; well, read it and you'll find out!

The Personal: Some Links

I have a post on Women Of Esoterica about a recent OOBE that was both surprising and wonderful:
My Utterly Completely Wondrous New Age OOBE


And Alfred makes a many times before said, but always good to be reminded (because we need to be so damn often) comment on UFO Magazine's The Green Room: Shift Happening. I also have a post there about those who demand "accountability" over there.

Lesley comments on Prophet Yahweh and "diversity and UFOlogy" in Diversity in UFOlogy:
Oh yes, I know there are some out there cringing. They think people like Yahweh make everyone involved in Ufology seem like a nut. Speak for yourselves, it is my personal belief that nobody aside from yourself can make you look like a nut. So what if you do look nutty, why do you care? We should have all learned that from our families, almost everyone has that one crazy uncle or some relative that is a total nut, it only causes a few small minded people to think the entire family is nutty.


There is so much more; the world is literally in a "UFO Flap" right now. Scan any of the UFO/Fortean news sites, like The Anomalist, and you'll find many more links that lead to individual sightings, videos of UFOs, personal accounts, news on disclosure, tantalizing hints of things both deeper, darker, heavier, as well as things lighter, brighter, exhilarating, spiraling outwards.

Alien Abduction and Mystic Experiences (Gralien Report)

Micah Hawks, of the very excellent Gralien Report blog, has an item on Alien Abduction and Mystic Experience, with a link to Brad Steiger's piece on his My Strangest Alien Abduction Case" on UFO Digest.

There are so many aspects to the UFO phenomenon; nuts and bolts, the usual. And the mystical. What to make of those kinds of experiences in connection to UFOs? Some have not seen UFOs in the typical sense, yet have experienced deep mystical/spiritual events that include non-human entities that the individual puts into the UFO category. Like Nahu, for example, author of UFOs: Gods From Inner Space,who I wrote about some time ago in UFO Magazine. He, and his partner, have gone on to experience events like this, including seeing beams of energy, having psychic characteristics, etc.

Are some types of extraterrestrials capable of inducing these encounters? Is it something within us that enters into a symbiotic relationship with some of "them?" Are they more earth bound, or inter-dimensional, and not strictly UFO connected?

As always, there isn't any one answer to what UFOs are; except to state the obvious, which is that there are many varities of types and experiences. One type does not negate or invalidate the other.