Great Mysteries
of the 20th Century
the
Unex Great Mysteries
•
of the 20th Century
JENNY R A ND L E S
INDEX
First published in Great Britain in 1994 by Anaya Publishers Limited 3rd Floor, Strode House 44-50 Osnaburgh Street London NWI 3ND Text copyrightŠ 1994 Jenny Randles All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Randles, Jenny The Unexplained: Great Mysteries of the 20th Century I. Title 001.9 ISBN 1-85470-178-9 (hardback only) ISBN 1-85470-086-3 (paperback only) Designed by Glynn Pickerill Design Production by The R & B Partnership Edited by John Gilbert Printed and bound in Portugal
Cover photographs by Fortean Picture Library Frontispiece, of a medium producing ectoplasm in a 1920 experiment, by Fortean Picture Library
,
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION
6
19��]9�9
8
191�[1919
rrhe New Centurv I Portents of \Var
20
ln�J19l9
rrhe Roaring rl\venties
36
19J�]9J9
A Shrinking \rVorlcl
44
194�JI949
Disaster and Recovery
52
191�]1919
Alien Encounters
66
196�]969
The Space Race
86
197� ]979
Challenge of the Paranonnal
I02
198�]989
Society and the U ncxplained
II4
T�e 199��
�rhe Future Beckons
I26
an� onwar�...
I3 8
Further Reading
139
Index
I42
Acknowledgen1ents
144
INTRODUCTION
D
u ri ng the twe ntieth ce n t ury the s t ra n gest t hings have h appened bot h in the worl d s of
scien ce and of parascience. So-called normal science has witnessed a revo lution so i m me n se as to equal or even surpass those pion eered by N e w to n a n d Galileo. vVe h ave reached upward and outward int o space , or the 'Jersey Dev1l'. Phrlacielphi<J f venrng Bu/letrn. jdnudry 1909 DrJWII1g
p robed the in terior of t h e a tom, discove red h idden rad iation s , revealed a ghost u niverse fil led wit h time-travel ling phantoms and created techn olog ical miracles u nforeseen even by the writers of science fictio n. The si n i s ter side to th ese achieve m e n ts is the un leash i n g of natu ral catastrophes and the forgi n g of weapons capable of ending life on Eart h . No sin gle ce n tury i n history can m atch this record of i nven t iven ess, with its unl i m ited poten tial for crea tion a n d destru ction. In t he wake of t h is
o-
�
a l l o iJin � u char<re �
by t he forces of ration alism has come a deluge of p a ran ormal p h e n o me n a I h a t seem s t o herald a ret u r n t o t h e distant age of s uperstition. \Ve have been asked to believe in f�tiries and spacemen , we have sought f(Jr meaning
ITJ
i n past lives a n d we have u sed com p u t ers to probe t h e futu re . Our ocea n s h ave teetued with m o n sters, o u r fields h a ve been speckled wit h m y s te rious circ les a n d our sk ies h ave been overflown by dazz l i n g fleets of U FOs. It seems ap propriate, as the cen tury draws to a close, to review the logbook of the last h u ndred years, examining some of t hese remarkable even ts and developments to see how t h i n gs may inter-relate. To t h i s end I h ave d evised
a
c h ro nol ogy of t e n
m os t e x t raord i nary decades , descr ib i n g m a n y of t h e broa d trends a n d i n dividual mvsteries that I
h ave paralleled, a n d often o u t stripped , t h e realities of I�Kt a n d t h e l�mtasies of fiction . They h a ve woven t hei r way, l ike an i n visible threa d , through
Sw John Hunt
t h e a n n als of t h is lascinating
H1malayas
period to cre;:tle a tapestry of
Abom1nable Snowman.
exped1tion of
leading the Everest
1951
The
have been the
scene
of several alleged sight1ngs of the
awesome bea u t y o u ts h i n i n g ,
a n yt h i n g i n t h e pages of t he
Ambim1 Nights. So c l i m b aboard ou r m agic carpet for a ride t h rough the t we n tieth century. \ V h o knows w h a t wonders w e s h a l l confi·on t?
ITJ
THE NEW CENTURY ;\ s t h e twe n t ie t h centu ry dawn ed , t h a n ks to fi_ Da rwi n s t h eo rv of evolu t ion, t he b i rt h of '
'
psych oanalysis as pion eered by S i gm u n d Freud a nd t h e e x pe r i m e n tal research of Anton Pavlov, science seemed dose t o creat i n g an ordered, predictable world peopled by aut o m ata: a godless U n i verse w i t h n o s p i r i t, no soul and no aherlile . More encou rag i n g were the first l�1lteri n g steps �ravitv-free enviro n m e n t as sc i e n t is t s a n d i n to a u ' aviators converted age-old dreams i nto real i t y. Yet, as t rad it io n al rel igion declined , t h e hu m a n spi rit rebel led. creat i n g n e w modes of e x p ression
f(:>r its i n ner worl d , as if to prove to sci ence t h a t all was n ot qui t e as s i m ple as i t seemed.
[JJ
19��
Boxi n g Day. the t lu-ee m e n left i n charge
14
had
FEBRUARY
vanished.
:'\o
weapons
had
been
touched a n d there was no trace of a distur
T H E VAN I S H I NG AT H A N G I N G ROCK
bance. The last log entry by the men. dated
O n e oft he most astonishing disappearances
t he sea after the ending of a s t ra n ge storm
on record t ook place at
Ha nging Rock,
not renlrded twen t�· miles away, a n d men
ncar :\ lclbournc, \'inoria, :\ustralia. T h i s
t io n ed t hat they were afraid, praying and
w a s recorded i n 1 he book Pirnic at 1/anging
Roth
by Joan Lindsay (1967), a n d was also
t h e subject of a n cthcrcal and eerie 197 5 film of the same title by Peter \\'eir. The book, although labelled a novel, is by impli cation based on Ctrt. It tells of a school party on a day outin g at the isolated beauty
15 December, referred to t he calmness of
allirmi n g that 'God is oYer all'.
19�1
JUNE
AN EARLY CLOSE E N C O U N T E R
spot, a n d hm,· four teenage girls and a
The first rcconlcd dose encounter of the
female teacher vanished after setti n g off, i n
third
sight o f m a n y colleagues. t o explore a rock
Bournbrook, \\'est i\lidlands, England, when
lace in the bush. One girl retur n e d in a
an objefl like
slate of deep shock. Another, in an equallr
a youth. It contained two slllall men. under 4
kind
(or alien contact) occurred at a
'hut' was seen in
a
garden by
cat atonic rondit ion, was found a week lat er.
feet tall, wearing khaki suits and helmets, one
:'\either could explain what had occurred.
of whom
The three missin g members of the part}'
rctuming i nside. The o�jefl ncated an clcr
approached
the wimess bd(lre
were llC\ cr found. A strange pink cloud
trical glow around its base and took oil' sky
seen
ward wit h a whooshing noise.
hm·ering
near
br
reinforced
the
supernatural ,·iew that ther had slipped into anothct· d imen s ion or time. The eve n t strtL(·k a cl10rd deep in t h e psyche because of i t s diren rhallcnge to s(·icnti(i(· omn ipo tence. On the other hand, whereas manr of the people a n d plares did historically exist, the Joan
Lin dsay
no\'el rontains serious
19�11
0 AUGUST
T I M E S L I P AT V E RSAILLES Two English srhoolteachcrs, A n n e :\tuber
errors of f;lct and no contemporary media
ley a n d Eleanor Jourdain, were on holiday
accounts
in
refer
to
the
vanishings.
\\'hen
asked in 1977 if she had i nvented it all, the
France.
Visitin g the
Palace of Versailles
011
grou n ds
of the
a hot sun ny day,
author replied, e nigmatically, that this was
they claimed to have been projected more
impossible to answe r because 'fact a n d fic
than a century back in time. They came
tion are so dosclv i n t ert wi ned'.
across the Petit Trianon, the small chateau
I
19��
giYcn by Louis X\'1 to l\larie-,\ntoniette, as it had been on 10 August 1792, the h is t oric day
MID-DECEMBER
THE L I G H T H O U S E D I SAPP EARAN C E
On G
Dc(·ember, .Joseph :\loore
when
the
French royal
family
was
forced lo flee. The 1 wo women wa ndered
Jell
for
pat hwa\'S
that
no
longet·
existed,
saw
people in old-fashioned clothi n g and even witnessed
a
woman
busy
pai nting
who
three weeks' lca\'e from t he desolate Eilean
stared them ti.t ll in t he face and bm·e t h e
:\lor ligh t house on the Flaunan I sles, west
resemblance o f
of Lewis, Scotland. \\'hen he returned o n
Only
:\laric-Antoinetle
f(lllowin g later \'isits
herself.
to the scene.
T H E N E W C ENT U R Y
Above: the Pet1t T nanon, Versailles. Below: Eleanor ]ourda1n and Anne Moberley
T H E N E W CE NTU R Y
and
remained
constant
when they noted that pathways they had
momentum
trodden in 190 I had since \'anished, and
throughout the rest of the century. The
when subsequently researching the history
slaughter
of the grounds, did they come to under
bloody
stand many of these e\'ents. The women stood by their story until
or world local
wars
conflicts
and
countless
brought
many
bereaved rush i ng to Spiritual ist churches for comfort.
their deaths, despite sceptical claims that
The real reason for this sun:ess was that,
they had stumbled across a costume party
while conventional religions called for Ctith
(the existence of which was ne,·ei- verified).
as a path toward solace, they had no way of
They described a llat feel to the imagery
combating the ad\'ance of science. Indeed,
and
of
some sects hn.>ke away and attempted to
researchers think this is indeed
restore literal belief in the truth of the Old
other
strange
sensations
typical
more recent sl i ps through time: and some modern
what
happened.
Somehow
they
slid
through the years or 'tuned into' a memory
bring hack a p u ritanical way of life and
to
Testamelll stories that had by now been severely
eroded
by
rationalism.
On the
left by the Queen in the grounds of the
other hand, Spiritual i s m olfen�d hard evi
chateau.
dence, albeit in the guise or
m ediu m s
pass
ing on often ,·ague tittle-tattle about dead
I�Ol
relatives and friends. But for many that was sufficiently persuasi\'e. The only answer science had was to cry 'cheat' and, often without any proof of this
T R I U M P H OF T H E S P I R I T
assumption,
to
argue
that
people
were
As the century began, mysterious e\'ents
deluding themselves. Thm, at one and the
such as these confirmed the \'iew of many
same time, Spiritualism established a har
ordinary people that science was mistaken
rier that science, with all its might, could
to
barely dent: and it offered hope to a world
presume
that
all
things
could
be
resol\'ed. The scient ilic desire to pro\'e the soul redundant was matched by the increas
fast being stripped to its spiritual bones. Inevitably, as a consequence of this and the maxim that one could fool some people
ing belief in Spiritualism. This mm·ement had begun in the eastern
most or the time,
charlatans cashed in.
messages,
Phoney mediums sprang up all over the
believed to come from beyond the grave,
place. The new gadgetry of science, from
United
States
after
simple
were received by the contro\'ersial Fox sis
photography to X-ray tubes, was hi-jacked
ters in llydes\'ille, 1\:ew York. The belief
for 'experiments' in which dubious spirit
that the dead were in another dimension
images, floating clouds or ectoplasm (the
and that contact with them was possible
transient 'matter' of the spirit world) and
spawned both religious institutions and the
other such doubtful practices became rif(·.
Society f(>r Psychical Research. The latter,
It was some time before Spiritualism was
based in London, aimed to persuade scien
able to set its own house in order and as a a
rili
developed
tists to study such reports, and like its reli
consequence
gious counterpart, it was soon to spread
between the popular hclie,·ers and the sci
around the world.
entific sceptics, who accused these gullible
growing
with
folk of believing only because they wanted
preachers known as mediums, proliferated
to and not because the evidence dictated it.
in the 1890s and was legally constituted
This rift widened as the century progressed.
The
religion
of
spirit
messages,
into the Spiritualists' National
Union in
1902. The appeal of the mm·ement gained
:'\owadays,
Spiritualism
has
waned
slightly, but it has also become big business.
T H E N E W C E N T U RY
to the install! celebri ty status alllmtcd by TV. Doris Stokes, Doris Collins,
belief tha t
thanks
Spiri t u a lis m
p rov id es
f(u·
As to whether it is tru th or delusion, like
St e phen O'Brien and many others hm·e brought their min istrations to the world,
all
packi ng \Tnnes such as the Sydn ey Opera
that q uestion remains a maller or faith.
llouse, theatres in
London' s \\'est
End,
etc., and dra wing in enormous ratings for the media. In response , scientific vigilante groups such as CSICOP (Commillee for the Scientific
lm·es t igat i on
or Claims of the
Paranormal) have launched themselves as
so
many. m atte r s
spiritual
19�4
t hroughout
history,
SEPTEMBER
THE LEA P I N G M ON ST E R Spri ng - he el ed Jack was a bizarre neatur e
guardia u s of rationalism, sniping away on the fringes of the s u pema t u ral. b r i ngi ng
often re po rted i n Viet orian Lon d on d uring
down the occasio nal victim, hut largely fail
the n i n eteenth cen t u ry. He h ad grown to
ing to penetrate the armour of hope and
legendary status. With his grotesque f<Ke, ancl clad in
a
black cape, he would appa r
en t ly leap out of nowhere ami allack people in the streets, often lea v i n g them wounded though not dead. His name derived ti·om
h i s repu t ed abil i t y to jump huge distan ce s i n one bou nd . Although 1 here were isol ated sight ings in London even after World War Two, t he l a st pro m ine nt o n e was in Liver pool in I !JO-t when the fig u re was said to have jumped over a b u ildi n g in William
I lenry St reet. llowever, research by scep ti c Paul lkgg revealed this as an e x agg eration of a true story of a religiou s zealot who
claimed the devil was chasing hi m a n d who leapt d angerousl y from rooftop to rooftop to escape the att ent ions of the police and lire services. spur io u sl�·
Legend
with
a
has assoc i a t ed this
mani fe st at ion
of the
archetypal Victorian monster.
19�� I
JANUARY
T H E B I N BROOK POLT E R G E I S T On e of 1 he most frighteni n g polt ergeist out breaks
struck
Binbrook
Fa rm,
in
Lin
colushire, England. Ohjects 1110\'ed around the room on t h e i r own, hundreds of chick Above and opposite: two 1mag1nat1ve popular rendenngs, from 1877 and 1904, of Sp1ing-heeled Jack.
THE NEW CENTURY
ens were found ski n n ed and slaug h tered
I []]
noiselessly even after a guard had been 111ou n ted, and m yst erious fires spra n g u p from nowhere. In o n e case a teenage se r -
On
the
tomb.stonc,
"ith upraised arms and rnge In C\'ery feature,
towered the terrific form of 5pring-11ecled Jnck.
Frl'eZt'r and Unk.4
.stood transfixed; their glwstly h<1rdcn slippl'd slowly to the gross, but they remained gnpin;:-, tcr:l6r-struck.
\'cn;:cance hud fallen
I
T H E N E W CEN T U R Y
,·;utl ca u gh t ablate as she wa s sweeping the
o f fire sell\ down t wo feelers toward the
f l oor and
groun d at Ynysybwl.
was
hospitalitcd
with
serious
inju ries. The ii J( ide nts lasted t w o months and then ceased
ra pidly as they began.
as
The case became
a
pro totype f()r future
allacks of this nat u re the
world
O\'er. Opin
I t was argued that some of the lights were probabl y mispercep tions of the planet \'enus, t hen bright
in the night sky, or
meteor a c t ivit y , which was liule understood
ion at llrst was that 'c\'il spirits' were to
at the time. In any c ve lll, the myst erio us
blame, but this altered later
li ghts helped \ l ary Jones to circulate her
to
the para
scientific theory that some unknown b u t
religio us message, and when t he y finally
latent energy within a traumat ized vinim
d i s a ppeared, her influ ence declined.
out and was somehow t ranslated
'leaked' i nto
de stmn i v e
phys ical
force.
Science
m ai ntai n s that such cases arc mere como dence or
19��
f:thrication.
Kevin
\lcCiure
conducted
detailed
research into the mal\er and regards the phenomenon as an de velo p meut
i mportalll phase in the - strong in
of religious v isions
Cat holic communities of I rcland, Sp ain ,
and
but
rare
outside.
France :\lodern
researchers, however, think that these lights
JANUARY
may
be
produced
by
t he
ground
itsciL
Rocks arc kuown to generate electrical sig
L I G HTS O F I N S P I RAT I O N
nals wheu
p u t under strain, e.g. during
E gryn i s a small village north of' Barmouth
earthquakes.
on the mid-Wales coast. In l!JO:> it became
seem to be created in the atmosphere as a
Short -li\wl
of this l;mh
act ivity. In the years
the cent re of a trad itional \lethodist reli
result
g i ou s revival that was dramatically st imu
prior to the Welsh revi\'al, they wac termed
lated by a fanner's wile named 1\lary Jones .
'spooklights'. Tod ay .
The p rincipal reason f(>J·
lights wo u ld
astonishing
her
line
glowing plasmas
be seen as
of
cou rse, the same
UFOs.
achievements
was
which
Researcher Paul Devereux has coined the
strange
phenomena allached them
term 'ea rthlight' to define these glows and
light
the
matute•· in
selws 10 her per son. llundrcds of' people
saw them and her r;une soon sprea d. The
t i ny chapel became a !(Jcal point fo1· pil grims. The lights were first wit ness ed by a train dri,·er at l'ensam in early January a t a time when \Irs Jones was pre ac hing in the town. lie said t h ey resembled glowing balls of fire
that streaked away in many direrlions, then
has f(mnd a bull line running right past the Egryn chu rch.
19��
30 JUNE
T H E TU NGU SKA S KY C RASH
explosion
An eart hlight t o end all carthlights was seen
li ke thunder. Another person described a
hy remote villagers in the Siberian taiga
conver ged
with a
t remendous
bright blue bar that straddled a pi t ch - dark
forest near the Stony Tunguska River. Its
country road. And many witnesses claimed
origin remains the su �j erl of intense con
to han: seen the l ight s ho\'ering d i rectly
trm·eJ·sy but its impact is beyond dis p u te.
O\'er \lary Jones and inside chu rches where
There
followed six months of dazzling
li gh t shows in the skies that brought
nalists
s cu rry ing
fi·om
as
jour
matically concluded on 2:�
July
sky above northern Eu rope,
creating
ground
shadows. Within seconds it swept across the
as
desolate land scape miles high in the aunos
w hen a bal l
\'ertically upward and visible for hundreds
(;u-
a field
Lo ndon and \lanchester. These were d ra
T H E N E W C EN T U R Y
Shortly alicr 7 a . m . that morning, a white mass, brighter than the sun, appeared in the
she preached.
phcre and t urned into a column climbing
conlt't's tail . If a piece ol romet h a d h it the
of miles arou n d . There fi1llowed a series of huge
explosions which
were
hc<Jrd
Eart h , it wou ld ha\' e largely \'aporized a n d
sixty
spr i n kled l i n e dust 0\T r t h e grou nd. Locals
m iles from th e impact point.
i ndeed referred to a black rain t hat accom
�linutes <Jfter the e\'ent. a shock wa \'e spread
outward.
It
uprooted
trees
panied the Tunguska i m pact. Particles of
and
d us t tlll-0\nl into t he
smashed rooftops more t h a n se \'enty miles
fro m t h e centre of destruct ion. If was felt as
lirst detonated in
e\'en in Britai n . :\lc<Jsured on widely d is \\'<IS
power
wc..-e
ful enough to circle t he Earth-twice� Fm· seH·ral
subse q uen t
nights
cou ld also
:\'cvertheless. <Jfter n uclear weapons were
an earth trem or in (;ermany and recorded persed seismogr<� p h s, the wa\'e
a t m osphe re
ha\·e p ro d u ced t h e lum inous clouds.
in
19·1:-l and t h eir
t
c lfec s
seen to be remarkably similar to t h ose
Siberia. a pop u la r parascience t heory
eme t·ged. \\'as the Tung u s ka explosion t h e
�t range
luminous douds lit t h e skies <Jho\'e Europe
result o f a nuclear-powered spa'cecrali t h at
and Ahica. They glowed pink and yellow
exploded on its way i n to the atmosphere?
and
were
bright e nough fiJr people to read
Sup porters poin ted out t hat lora! rein
newspapers outdoors in t h e absence of any
deer
<Jrti liri<Jl lighti n g.
there was some limited evidence li>r exces
Because of the remoteness of the im p<�ct
d ev e loped
scabs on t heir bodies and
sive radiation i n the area (although meas
zone and the i n tenention of the Russi <J n
ured
reYolution it w<Js al most twenty years belilre
detouations by t he USSR, which compro
only
fol lowing
man-made
nuclear
a scien t ific expedi tion reached Tunguska.
m ised t h e findings). K u l i k had l(mnd n o
Astrono mer Leonard Kulik e x pe cted to find
local people who s u lkred radiation sickness
e\·idence of
<1
on his \'is it in I !l28; a n d by I 940. when he
meteor t hat h<Jd exploded on
impact. l c;n·in g a h uge crater and fragment s
wen t again, direl'l eyewit nesses to t h e e\' e nt
behind . In fact, he fou nd neither crater nor
were still f(nmd alive and well -i m probable
ft ·agments. Trees at t he exact centre or t he
had they been \·ery c lose obse rvers to a
e x plosion , a l t hough st r i pped of h<�rk, were
n u clear impart.
still stand ing; t hose in
<1
Several more recent
SIIITounding area
The
meteorite
theory
was
exped it ions
haYe
fou nd eYidence consistent w i t h t h e comet
many miles across were llallened . all
t h eory, i nclud in g cle ments and c h e m i cals
but
on the g ro un d . r\ precise mappin g of the
destmyed by t his e\'idence , which dearly showed t h at the object had exploded high
impa ct damage also fits the idea. I loweve1·,
in mid-air. so t hat t h e area immediately
ot her Russian scientists who h ave \'isited
below was to some extent shielded . Th ere
the area t hin k t h a t somet hing
were also repons by local tlnesters that t h e
was to blame. Theories as diYerse as a l u m p
u nexplained
glowing mass h a d seemed to cl t an ge d i rec
o f an ti-maller explod i n g o n con tact wit h
- a bet partially Yind i
t h e atmosp here, a n d e ve n a n u clear- pow
t ion in m i d-flight
ered space rocket fro m t he fu t u re which
rated, d espite much argt1ment, b y a e ro
dynamic reconstruc t ion.
acciden tally crossed a t i m e barrier and t he n
Scientists now 1�1\'0111' 1 he view that t he object
detonated, haw been proposed , bu t ,,·ith out murh linmdati on.
was a small comet. To create an
i m pact of
<1
I :! -megatonne nuclear bomb. as
Yet
seYcral h un d red feet in diameter, br bigger t han a meteol'.
Tunguska
explosion
was
happen ing is not all t hat rare and may he
expected
by chance
every
few
h und red
in a shell on the
years. Smaller ones wil l occu r se\TJ'al t imes
t h e characteristic
a century. It would ha\'e been pure l urk
vapo ri tes
o u tside. Th is p roduces
the
from outer space, one th ing is certain. Surh a
Comets are composed or a solid cru mbly
cot·e ami ice th<Jt
if
raused by an impact from a piece of debris
this obj ect had done, it wou ld need to he
[]]
THE NEW CENTURY
gTH�ARCH T
I
MUSEUM I
t·. IIIIJ"'J(I :"'� .
.
.
.
CAUGHT!!! !!
A�L��:� ; • • •
that the I !10� object exploded
mer
a rela
tiveh· unillltabited area. Tlte next one could just as easily do so oYer London. Tokyo
or
the heart of :\lanhauan, with all too ohYious
ronseq11ences.
l"ft" JlJJ
17
JANUARY
I !,��,��-�:kE�,��:��
tommooitie' of �ew
Je rsey. LS:\, were plagued with sigluings of
a giatll hat-like cr e al l t r e with a face t h a t was likened variously 10 a mule, a dog or a kan garoo. It was said to he terrorizing local brms, la ndin g. lcaYing strange marks and then leaping into the sky. The prints were in the hoof and seemed 10
f(mn of a single
pass straight OYer
obst ar le s such as fe nces. They were also [(>Und on heaches in deep snow. In matn· ways the tracks resembled those
left in the still mvsterious incident in Febru ary Hl:'i?i when residents of \'illages over a large
area
of South
Devon
awoke onl'
morning to find a line of single hoofjnints
LEEDS DEVIL
Captured friday After a Terrific Struggle.
EXKTJUl""Y.l> r.:.:n.t-�1\ t:l.\" llF.RI!: Al' 11noo no A "t:l-:1(. The r-rl'nl. J'rlchli'\JI, }"<!'roduu• :llon.el<'r f\""hl<'h ltn�t lJN"G l"C"rrurlrla• 'J',..o �l:>tf'•.
Swims l Flys! Gallops. .Ex.WbUed �al"''l.1 l'h11lar<t lu ,. ll:o••''�'" !'lt .... t CJI�te.
A UVING DRAGON
•- F_,_,me Than t.l.oe I'"IJIN !llnn•t.•ro ot �Tth<>lftJr7. no�·y !tl�!il Tilt-: 81loiiT Ill' A I.II'I:."U.\IR. uro s·rru.so nt> �1-.:'\'iATlO:-.· ... I� IT"lUO nU.T.
THi.::ATRE
GA.,:Vrt ('0:'\�n '"l'Ol'"J
Y A t'T>F.l""TJJ.l!l
1 Oc ADMITS TO ALL
T H E N E W C ENTURY
etched into a snowd rift.
It spread f(H· many
miles over the landscape a n d eYe n crossed rooftops as if unimpeded! In
reports began on li January policeman shot at the thing as it flew n\'er the Delaware RiYer in Penns\'1\'a nia. Sounds like a sh r iek ing whistle were heard. On 21 Jan uary firemen at \\'est Collingswood. :'\ew Jersey. were rep111edly allacked b\' the :�- foot monster with glowing ey es. It then perched on a roof and they turned their hoses on to it, to its apparent disgust! In l\ew Jersey. the sightings of the creature in conjunction with the finding of the hooljnints soon ga,·e rise to hyster ia. and the name Jersey Devil' was coined, from a local legend The wa\'e ended with reports from �lorris ,·ilk, l'ennsyh·ania. that the creature had when
1909 a
A poster tn the Phrlaceiphra Pubf:c Leager of a jcr;ey Devil, th1s one exhtbited 1n captiVIty
precu"5or
to the
flown into a barn and become trapped. The doors were sealed and rein forceme nts rapidly sent for. U n fortunately, when the barn doors were opened, and despite there being no other obvious exit route, the J ersey Devil had van ished into the hinter world from which it had arrived and was never heard li·om again. At least, not until 1 966, when Ohio had a terrifying spate of visions of a creature pos sessing a n u mber of similar features that became k nown as 'mothman'.
P H ANTO M SCARE S H I P S As the first primitive aircraft were flying on dangerous short hops around the world, the inexplicable appearance of a wave of strange airships soon developed into a mys tery of epic proportions.
The first flight by a Zeppelin; Genmany.
2 July 1900.
LZ-1, over Lake Constance.
In fact, the first sighting occurred in the autumn of 1896, in Sacramento and later San Francisco, California, when a cigar shaped object with bright lights was reported floating in the aiL According to research by Jerome Clark, frontier humour had a field day. As the sightings continued almost nightly, many tall tales were spun simply to outdo rival provincial papers. Eccentric inven tors came forward to claim, through agents, t hat they had b uilt the devices, then vanished without ever making public their secret. A further outbreak was reported across a wider area of the western and mid-western states in April and May 1 897. The first flights by genuine airships - which began in Europe - were still some mon ths away. But, like the previous wave, the 1897 airships of the western USA swiftly disappeared. T H E N E W C ENT U R Y
In
Elml. howner, the problem suddculy
bectnw g-lohal, as scallcrcd reports came in
h·mn :\l'\r Zealand, ,\ustr;tlia and especially ti·otn Britain.
On :!:� :\larch, a policeman on patrol in north-east
l'etcrhorough,
of
Cambridge.
heard a buzzing engine aiHI looked up to sec a single floodlight auached to a dark silhoueued
cigar-shape
against
the
sky.
Local police suggested it was an illuminated kite. but as more reports J(,llowcd, rumonr spre;td that the Cermans were llying Zep pelins on spy missions. There was real ten sion between the two imperial nations in the nm-up to World \\'ar One; but althoug-h the activities of airship b u il der Count Fenli nand von Zeppelin were well allested, it is certain that no such spy missions were C\'er laun<·hed ag-ainst Britain in this way. nor did the Germans ha\'e the capability to do so.
St
On 14 :\lay. the captain and new of the
Ofaj:
steaming in the :\orth Sea on· Blyth.
:'\lort h u mherlaud, saw an object apparently materialize out of thin air above.
It was
again described as a cigar with lights. An e\'en more remarkable incident took Il-l :\lay which has all the hall
place on marks
of
UFO
a
If it
landing.
were
reported today. fe,,· details would need to
be a<ljttsted for it to be i u terpret cd as an alien contact, rather than - as it was at the time-
a
precursor to a Cerman im·asion.
Punch and
Judy
German
s h owman. l\1 r C. Leth
army!
The
terrain
was
also
crushed llat.
bridge, was walking home late at night m·er
There were other reports of airship pilots
Ca e rphilly :\fountain in Smtth Wales when
standing bes ide their craft, in one rase
the grou n d .
requesting water. But alter a few days the
Two men wearing strange fur coats were
sightings tailed otT, lca\'ing the usual spent
talking- in an unknown language and reacted
lation about mistaken identity and mass
instincti\'ely when they saw the intruder,
hysteria.
he saw a cigar-like object
011
The sightings began again, howe\'er, in
picking up something from the ground and
Ell:!. One incident. above Sheerness, 14 OctohlT, was then taken so
jumping into their craft. which soared sky
late
ward over some telegraph wires. As it rose.
Kent, on
t wo
seriously that questions were asked in the
searchlight
powerful
beams
were
Honse of Commons- possibly the first ever
switched on. one at each end of the <Tall.
p u b lic debate
The witness returned to the site with ing a piece of blue paper with unknown \\Titing
and
printed
T HE NEW C E N T U R Y
m atter
abo u t
on UFOs. Lord of the Admi
ralty and future prime minister, Winston
li·iends to find objects on the grass. includ
Churchill,
had the
dubious
pri\'ilege
of
being the fi1·st go\'emment ollicial under
the
[[]
pressure to come up wi th an answer and
Tnal
flrght of the
Zeppelrn LZ -�
over·
Lake Constance, 1908
warned of the need not to underestimate the Cerman forces. A law was passed that prohibited
airship
flights without
ing light-in-the-sky pheno m e na not viewed as airships.
prior
authority and allowed the police or army to
One. on 30
Ik cember
19i7,
inn>h·ed a golden egg sha pe seen ,-ising
shoot one down if it failed to respond to
from power lines, pu n ching a hole in the
warning si�nals. :'\o such inridcnt, fortu
cloud cover which then gradually tilled in
nately, occur r e d
until no longer visible.
.
final fling of these airship waves
:\lodern researchers suspect that there is
hel(>re war erupted came on the night of 2 I
some sort of natural phenomenon of a
The
Feb nt ary 1913 when reports lloodcd in li·mn scwral pans of Britain. :\lost interest
glowing, electrical nature, possib ly akin 10
ing was one from the small village of Exhall
th e ionization caused the douds to disperse.
in
Warwickshire.
It
was just
a
De\·ereux's earthlights. \\'hen seen in 1977,
Today we understandably view these things
typical
description of a lighted object, but was to acquire more relevance because the same location has since generated several bscinat-
I
[[]
as
alien
cran,
hut
in
1909 and
immer sed in pre-war hysteria
,
191 :�.
were they
seen as scareships?
THE NEW CENTURY
P O R TE N T S O F W A R
T
his traumatic decade, punctured by rebellion and reYolution, culminated in the
titanic and bloody clash or \Vorld \Var One, the
'war to end all wars'. Meanwhile the scientific reYolution gathered momentum. Albert Einstein's 'general theory' or relatiYity turned our notion or the U niYerse on its head. The f(wm taken by basic conceptions such as speed, size, shape and time was rdatiYe to where you were and what you were doing. Atoms were composed of energy fields in constant Hux within largely empty space, beyond the grasp of our normal senses. New Yistas opened up, ready f(w exploration. The UniYerse had suddenly become a vastly more complicated place.
1911
SEPTEM BER
M I RAC LE B L E E D I N G
This
was
one
of 1he
first
well-attested
report s of miracle bl eed i n gs. ,\ pi ct u re of' Christ in the French ,·illage dlllrch at l\lire
hands
bled
hel ie,·ed
at
rhe
c entre
to he where nails
poin t . were
lo ng placed
d u ri n g cruc ifix ion ami familiar f'rom many
hea u -e n - Poitou began to ooze blood from
religious port raits . We now know Ji·01n h is
the hands and the forehead. While scientists
torical evidence, howe\'er, that crucifixion '
argued thar ir was ju st pi gment ation from
victims had n ails hammcred t h rough rhe
rhe pa in t seepi n g out. the de\'o ut llocked ro
bones ar rhe wr is t as 1 he fleshy palm was too
t he s ite, convinced t ha t t he local priest was
soh t o support rhe hanging weight of a body.
somehow responsible. The location of t he
The b leed i ng intensified l(>r six months ami
bleedi ngs was e xact ly t hat of the rep u t ed
at t he same t i me a nearby stat ue of t he
wounds of Ch r ist when crucified, i.e. on the
Virgin 'wept' rears. Afier the priest's death in
hands and crown.
I �115 all these eiTerts ceased.
Yet,
interestingly,
15 Septembre 1911
rhe
Decembre
191l P O RTE N T S OF W A R
1911 1 4
APRIL
lfR E M O N I T I O N O F D I SAST E R The Tita uir, lll l i l t in t h e norl heru En g l is h
port or L i\ e rp ool and stea m i n g li·om So u th;am p t o n t o New Yor k, is p robably t h e most i n b mous n a m e i n marine h istory. Se\'eral days i 11 1 o her m aiden voyage, t he so-ca l led ' u nsin kable' l i ner s t ru c k a n u nseen iceberg. was holed deep a n d c a n ied 1 :>00 passengers a n d crew to t he bot t om of t h e At lan t ic Ocean . ;\lore p eop le wou ld ha\'e been saved fro m her hu ge cont i nge n t had n o t t h e owners. u l l edy nm vi n ced o f h e1· s ec u ri t y n egl ect e d t o pro v i d e e n o u g h lilt.·boats. A side efkct of t he shocki n g disaster was t o set in mot ion one or the m ost po w erlia l psych ic experiences e\·er recorded. For t h e fi rst t i m e t hen: was open t a l k o f precogni t ion - the abil i t y to s e e t h i n gs before t h e y h app e n . No fewer t h a n twenty cases arc k n ow n o f p eo ple who had p re m on i t io n s of disa st er bcli:>re t h e ship sailed. Some rdiased t o board ; ot hers had relat ives amon14 t h e pas s enge rs and sen se d u a ge d y . Famed n ews paper writer William Stead, who had h i mself wrillen in a n art icle t hat such a t ragedy could happe n , was warned expl ic i t l y in writin14 by a psychic t hat he was i n great d a n ge r during April I D I 2 a nd should ' avoid water and t ravel at t hat t i me. H e ignored t he w a rn i n g and paid w i t h h i s l i fe. Even more incredible was t h e case of ret i red seam a n \1organ Robertson who was stru gg l i n g to se ll his short stories. I n I H!IH, experiencing write1·'s block in his New York aparl m e n t , h e suddenly had a v isi o n in 1 w l a ich he saw a h u ge l i n e r sutler a catast ro phe w i t h an iceberg. I n h is t ra nce. he heard dearly t h e word s 'April' and ' u nsi n kable'. I n spi red by t hi s episode, he wrote his story 'The \\'reck o l the Titan', i n w hich his ncar-ident ical su pe1·s h i p , t h e SS T itan. s i n ks on her m a i den voyage ali e r s t r i k i n g a n '
.
·
-------------
PORTENTS OF WAR
C R ETAC E O U S PA R K S i r ;\rt h u r Conan D ovic's I inion o r S U r\'1\' u n seen
iceberg, w i t h
l w n dreds peri s h i n g
i n g d i nosaurs had rea l - I i i (· i n s p irat ion li·mn
needlessly beca use o l i n adequate l i iCboat
lege n d s and s t o ries fi1·st hmught hac k by
CO\"l'L
eigh t een t h -cen t u ry
Scept ics argued t h a t t h i s was m e re coi n c i d e n ce .
Fo nne1· s e a m c 1 1
1 1 1ay u n d ers t a n d
or �lm·em·tT, Tita n or Tita 11ic
Ali·ica n
m issionaries
Con go. Th e n ,
in
e n t ilic
such a big l i n e r.
t n l l h beh i n d t h ese t a les.
was au oh\'ious choice or n a m e l i ll · a h u ge u n seen
Rober t s o n kit s u re he h a d an
presence
gu i d i n g
his
hand.
Or
cou l d it ge n u i n e l y h ave been precogn i t ion �
li·01n
the
El l :� .
the
Gerl l l an gon• n u n c n t sen t out t h e l i rst sci
ably have h a d q u a l m s about t h e s a f e t y
s h i p . Yet
lat e
exped i t ion
to
ascer t a i n
the
l i kely
Captain Frei h ei T von Stein set out on a lon g
and
j u n gl e
t reacherous
swam ps
encou nteri n g
of
walk
the
\Tnomous
t h rough
t he
Likou l a
regw n ,
s n akes,
deadly
i nsects all(l h ea d h u n t i n g p yg l l l ies as he ven Left survrvor> packrng the Trtanrc lrfcboats. Below: the last moments of the "unsrnkable' liner.
t t u-ed into u ncharted t erritory sit u a t ed h u n
or m i les fi-om any towns or c i t ies.
dreds
,\her q u es t i o n i n g n a t ives a n d w h i t e h u n t ers who had explored the region , h e repea ted l y h eard lege n d s a b o u t a large beas t , sol l l e
:Hl li long. wh ich i n h abited a local l a k e .
:.!0-
The creat u r e , n a med /1/Vkt•lt lllhe111be, was said to han· a lon g n e c k and brow n body all(l t o be bigger t h an a h i p popot a m u s . I t l i ved i n t h e l a ke caves a n d sur[Kcd periodi cally t o eat leaves fro m a f lower i n g I i a n a plant
cal led
uwlo111ho,
stretch i n g
its
n eck
u p wa rd rat h e1· like a giraHi.· . :\ a t i n:s who had ap proac hed the a n i m a l i n can oes h a d been
a t t acked
and
d rowned
when
t h eir
boats san k , but t h ere were no clai m s t h a t t h e 1 1 1 o n s t c r a t e i t s prev. V o n Stein never saw the o-ea t u re but was s hown a t rack by n a t ives w h o swm-e t h a t a s peci m en
had recen t l y en tered
t h e river
s y s t e m at t ha t poi n t . l i e cou l d a d d l i t t l e except t h at t h e an i m a l wh ich left t h e m arks was abo u t t h e s i ze t h a t h ad been dcso-ibed and u n fiu n i liar t o h i m . T h e �cncral view o r zoologi s t s was t ha t t h e lege n d s m i g h t h a \'l' h ad a bct u a l basi s , part i cu l a r l y because t h e creat w·e w a s n o t dep i ct ed as a tcrril)·i n g or carn ivorous beast (as
is
normal
with
such
stories)
but
described as a p lacid p l a n t eater. I I erbivo rous d i n osau rs such as U ro nto.lt/ 1/ nt.\ llo u r ished in t h e Cret aceous era a n d it was j u s t conceivable t ha t a
tc"· s p eci m e n s s t i l l sm·-
P O R T EN T S O F W A R
· . ;· .
:.·: ·.. '·.
Skeletdl model of o,p/odocus, the Cretaceous d1nosaur
govern m e n t
put
d i llicult ies
in
the
wa y.
These trips estab lished m u ch u sefu l data, vived locally. B u t in the absence of proof,
asse m b l i n g match i n g acco u n ts a n d reports
nobody seemed inclined to be too exci ted
of how in
by a collection of stories.
t u red a n d ate o n e of t h e creatures. But t h e
Subsequ e n t attempts to m o u n t d i nosaur
1 9[> 9
a
gro u p of pygmies ca p
scientists only had tantalizi n g near m isses,
h u nts fa iled because of hostile n atives. I n
as
the 1 940s, however, a new field of research
sp lashed i n to the water j u st o u t or sigh t .
was lau nched by a group of pro fessionals who
called
t h e m selves
They collected
data
public
by
i n terest
'uyptozoologists'.
and
tried
searc h i n g
to create
for
h i dden
creatu res such as moliflf mbnnbf. I n 1 958,
when
one
American
huge
explorer
l u mbering Herman
beast
Regusters
visited in the 1 980s and his party claimed t o s e e t h e crea t u re several t i m e s a n d h e a r its t h roaty roar. They took some d i m , d i s t a n t pictu res t h ro u gh t h e d e n se t r e e cover.
one o f their n u mber, Ber nard H e u ve l m a n s ,
Local sci en tist D r .\Iarce l l i n Agnaga, fi·om
published the first detailed accou n ts i n ' O n
the zoological ga rde n s in B razzavil l e , also
t h e Track of U n k n ow n An i m a l s ' .
made several visits a n d i n :\l ay 1 9H3 came
D u r i n g t h e 1 970s an American s pecialist
closest yet to captu r i n g proof when h e wan
in reptiles visited the area several times and
dered o u t i n to t h e sha llows to come within h u n d red feet of a bas k i n g mokl'le
sh owed i l l u strations of d i n osa u rs t o a rece n t
a few
eyewitness of t h e crea ture, who picked o u t
m/Jembe.
a DijJ/odoms as the most s i m ilar o n e .
browsed
The first serious expeditions specifically
For
half
on
Iiana
an
hour
leaves
the
a n i mal
before
sinking
b e n e a t h the water. S a d l y , t h ro u gh a combi
desi gned t o fi n d the animal were orga n ized
nation of h u m a n error, m isfort u n e a n d the
by Professor Roy l\t ackal , a biologist a t the
extreme climate, none of h is p h otographs
U n i versi t y of Chicago, with the re ptile spe
s u rvived the t re k home.
cialist, J a mes Powe l l . l\lackal moun ted sev
The .J apanese have since tried twice, and
eral more Yisits before the n ew Congolese
a you n g B ritish ex-army man, B i l l Gibbons,
P O R T E N T S OF W A R
D•nosaur and human t•-acks 1n D•nosaur Valley State Park. Glen Rose. Texas. (See also page 39.)
dinosaurs did lin� i n t hese swamps d u ring the late Cretaceous geological period some sixty-fi\·e m illion years ago and the area has
has
been
there
t wo
more
t i mes
(most
,·ecently in 1992) in what has been dubbed
remained almost una ltered. It i s perhaps feasible t hat a few such crea
'Operation Congo'. This was s u pported by
t u res may ha\·e su n·i\'ed
a
region.
paranormal
magazine
which
sold
dinosaur T-shirts to raise funds!
But
as
\\'estern
in t h is remote society
intrudes
e\'er furt her into Africa, they are hou nd to
l\t uch anecdotal e\'idence has been gat h
come under t h reat . I t may be a race against
ered and latest t h in king is t hat the creature
extinction to come up with hard e\'idence
is an e\'OI\'ed \'ersion of Allantosaurus. Such
abou t t he world's last su rvi\'ing d inosa u rs.
PORTENTS Of WAR
191J
13
t h e non·ls in volved ext raord inary dept h of research k nowledge about distant ami fu t u re t i mes - fi-mn the B iblical era to Vic torian London . Prior to her etHoun tcr wit h Pat ience, M rs Curran's wri t i n gs had exh ibited no h i n t of sophist ication or skill; and a fter she died, Pat ience ldl sile n t , Jea,·ing behind the m ys tery of her highly pra ised literary genius. So was t h is a real con t act fi·om a departed spirit or did Pearl Curran tap some hidden creat ive source from wh ich gn·at writers have long derived inspi rat ion? Automatic writers today continue the t rend. Rosemary B rown, a London house wife, writes m usic t h at she says is dictated by dead composers such as Beet hm·cu aud Liszt . Healer :\latthcw :\Ian n in g has created f:.thulous pai n t i n gs in 1 he style of a rt ists stKh as Diirer ami Picasso. A woman in t h e USA has in f(>J·mcd me t hat she is cu rreutly seek ing an agent to market t h e autobiogra phy of Billy the Kid, determined to correct t h e f;1Jse imagr of h is outlaw days fl·om beyond t h e grave. I have also received tapes fi·om a :'\ew York med i u m , Bill Ten uto, containing verbal messa14es abou t t he real purpose of his m u nl c1· spoken by li:mner Beat ie, John Le n n o11 . :\ lr Ten uto also reports that Len non is d ictating new music to some world renowned song writers.
MAY
T H E T E S TA M E N T O F PATI E N C E WORTH
On 1 his dale I'earl Curran and a fi·iend, using a ouija board i n t h e C u rran home at St Lou is, M issouri . first saw the name ' Pa t C' speh out by t he moving glass. Pea rl's h usband. deten n i n ed !0 prove the i ncom ing message a t ri<·k or t h e m imi, p retended he had once known an I rish man named Pa t . For a t ime t hat fict it ious individual sent messages ,·ia t he hoard , bill soon a n ew and more powerful voice took con t rol. On 8 J u ly. t he cryptic words that llowed out whent'\'cr Pearl Cu rran used the device were explicitly signed ' Pat ienn· \\'ort h ·. Patience, belying her name, soon out grew the slow ouija hoa rd , graduat ing first to au!O matic \\Ti l i ng; pen in hand, she would 't ake over' �Irs Curran and write lengt h y scripts, and finally took to sending words straight into the consciousness of her medium. It req uired some cHi>rl to ext ra<t i n for mation abou t hersel f fi'Om Pat ietl<T. She was reponedly a Quakn girl who emi grat ed fi·01n Dorset to t he U SA in the seven teen t h cen t m-y a n d died you ng d u ring a n I ndian attack. S h e spoke in a rchaic lan gu age. complete with spelling and usages t hat l i n guistic sc holars veri fied as bei ng t otally correct . Lat er. lw\H'\·er, she began to u t ilize a more modern idiom. Pa t ience \\'ort h seems to have expressed hersel f fi·eely in literary limu. Across twent y-five years she came up wit h mill ions of words, including widely an·Jaimed novels, plays and poems, some of w h ic h were published without rcferetHe to t h eir bi tarre <Tca t ion. Pat ience 'dirtated' t hem with aston ishing rap id ity. Once, when asked h>r a mol l o of about I � 0 characters to put on t h e wall of t h e :\l isso u ri state c1pital, she <h·afted a literary ode of exact ly the requi red lengt h . in t h e brief time i t t oo k fi>r !'carl C u rran to write dow n t h e words. An d PORTENTS OF WAR
1914 I II
[[]
E
:0 e-�� �� st-J:�j<� �>;:l� ��t�e:.:.�,,��:ught at :\I ons i n Fland e1·s in August 1 9 1 4 . Legend has i t that spect ral interven tion may have saved t he day fiJ1· the Allies. B 1·it ish t mops made a D u n k i rk-style with d rawal against a l l t h e odd s and a vastly su perior Cerman army. Although t h ere were sound reasons as to w h y t h is was possible ( t h e British had bet ter wt·apons and highly d iscipli ned sold iers). the victory fro m the jaws of defeat was h ailed as a m i r-
acl e by pol i t icians keen to rally t h e t roops and the nation after what had almost been
ANZAC pos1t1on at Gdllipol1. scene o f the ill fated Allied landing of Apnl 19 1 5 .
A corner o f the
a cat astro p h e . A fe w w e e k s lat er (in late September) t h e Lon d o n
EPt'niug Nt·w�
of fict ion by Art h ur
M achen
Bowmen'
a
in
w h ich
called
sol dier
at
h ad done anyth i n g- oth e•· t h a n i n v e n t a tal c
.
Th e
I ndeed . when asked to q u o t e h i s sources, h e e x p l a i n e d that t h ere were n o n e as it was
Mons
u n t r u e . B u t by then so m e pe o p l e were so
t:arried a s h ort piece
t h e accou n t , t he y refused to
i n vo k es t he s p i ri t of St Ge01·g-e, bel i eve d t o
t a ken i n b y
ride t o t h e rescue of E n gla nd whenever she
beli eve 1\lachen 's denials!
bowmen reinforce t h e d es pn a t e Allies a n d
manner o r bod ies, rel i giou s a n d m i l itary
t he Germans are heavily felled b y magical
a l i ke . \\'i t n esses, u s u a l ly secon d - h an d , came
is i n p eril . The s a i n t a n d a ho s t or a n g-e l ic
an-ows t h a t leave no m a rks. The talc h a d a g•·eat dlect on morale. It was re pri n t e d
,
In Ul l 5 t h e s t o ry was p roc u red by all
forward w i t h tales t h ey had B r i t is h
o f i e n by c h u 1-ch
wit ness
acco u n t s
j ou rn als, as proof of d i v i n e support of t h e
clai m i n g
war, a n d soon became t a ken for fact . Even
bow m e n .
t u all y a special bookl e t was p rod uced t o sat
isfy d e m a n d . Appare n t l y i\ l achen n e\·e•· p ret e n d e d h e
h eard fro m
' m e n at t h e fro n t ' and en· u t u a l l y
In july prod uci n g
to
s u rfacl'd
h a ve
seen
act ua l
fro m the
eye
so ld i ers
p han tom
I 9 I 5 \l ach e n fu elled t h e l i re b y a
book .
Lt•gnul.' of the Wa r.
The Bowllll'll !111(/ Othn H e d escribed how h is
PORTENTS OF WAR
fict io n had become acce p t e d as fact a n d
group {the First - F i ft h ) was. This was not a
reallirmed that i t was no m o r e tha n a st ory.
regim ent b u t a battalion , a m u ch s m a l l e r
Yet it did not
body of m e n .
ru naway
p re,·e n t the book beco m i n g a
best-seller
in
many
co u ntries .
l l istorical records , indeed, note t hat on August as repo rted)
do ubt less with m a n y readers believi n g the
1 2 August
au thor's disavowal t o be t he rea l
m a n y of these m e n v a n ished . though not
fi ct io n .
B y t he e n d o f the war the legend had beco me
so
entwined
so m e
that
psychic
(not
21
,
my s t e r ious clo u d. :\ l oreover, even
i n to a
their puzzling loss is part ially explained.
a u t hori t i e s even alleged that :\ I achen had
\\'ar records show that the group um t i n ued
' t u n ed i n to ' real w i t nesses to t h e ,·ision a t
to fight , and t h a t a ft e r hostilities ended, the
t he Fron t, usi n g t elepathy directly from the
bodies of some 1 22 of t he 266 m iss i n g m e n
troops a t :\lons. H e o n l y thought t h at he
were fo u n d . Presumably o t hers were killed
had i n v e n t e d t h e st ory. It was rea l l y tru e ! Lat e r in
t he war, a nother s t r a n ge eve n t
i n the light i n g but thei1· bodies had not
bee n t raced three years lat er.
occUlTed which, l i k e the bow m e n a t :\lons,
Frederic k Reichardt's son con linned i n
sti l l holds sway today. This did, a t least,
1 9� 2 . afte1· h i s father's death, t hat h e had
have som e f act ual basis i n war records.
been told the story of the vanish i n g
It s u rfaced in 1 965 when an old soldie1· a t
a li h ieth reu n io n o f t h e :-\ e w Zealand a n d
me n t '
'
regi
d m i n g the G a l l i poli ca m paign soon
a fier his birt h i n 1 93 2 . T h u s it had not sud
Australian t roops i n voh·ed i n the Gallipoli
denly
campaign came forward. Sapper Frederick
in
been i m·ented at the fi ftieth reu n ion
J 9(i5 , as m a n y sceptics had p r e,·iously
Reichardt and two others told o n afTida,·it
argued . Clearl y it was based on some sort of
how on
act ual episode.
(the
:.? l Au gust l �� 1 5 an entire regi m ent
First - Fourth
m arch
:'\orfolks) I I ill
towards
(j()
was
seen
above
the
to
As for the s tra n ge cloud, lkgg d iscove re d
hot
that a very u m t s u a l m i st a n d clo u d f() n n a
deserted Su\'la Bay area of the Dardanel les
tion was re liably see n to have covered the
i n Turke y . Directly above t h e m ho\"Cred a
area on
very s t ra n ge cloud. below
which another
in the record books on the oppos i t e page to
colum ned
upon
cloud
perched
the
hill
slope. Despite the wind. this cloud never moved .
The
seyeral
hu ndred
soldiers
marched o n a clange m u s ofTens i,·e i n to the mists but ne,·er e m erge d fro m the br side.
An hour later the cloud l i fted and the men
:.? I A u g u s t a n d that this was noted
t h e reference to t he d i sappeara nce of the Firs t - F i fth soldiers n i ne days preYiously. Bcgg co ncluded that the two u nrelated e\·euts
were
Reicha r dt
con fused
and
his
in
the
colleagues
m i n ds clown
of the
years. part icularly given t h e scars o f war
had disappe are d with it. In late 1 9 1 8 , after
they had endured
the war. the Turks denied that they had ever
misty cloud was i n deed see n . A few hun
after
1 9 1 5 . A cmious
ca p t u red or en gaged these m issi n g troops. I t
dred men did vanish, hut not i n expl icably
was as i f they had been spirited away.
so. ,\ud the l i n k between the two events
An
exce l l e n t
in Yest i gation
of his torical
data was mounted by researcher Pa u l Begg who
checked
facts
that
were
a u t hors
to
widel y
that has f()rged a supernat ural lege n d was merely a coi n ci d ence.
or com·se. nobod y can ever prove, as
tru e .
these eyewit n esses co n t e n ded t o thei r dyi n g
I n deed, t h e s tory freque n t l y appeared i n
day . that the 1 44 m en s t i l l u n accou u ted for
ass u med
by
ot her
be
mystery hooks m·er the next three decades . Begg s '
research,
l w\\-e\·er,
som e serious prob l e m s . The
Firs t - Fo u r t h
was
encou ntered
a p parent l y
not
i n voh·ed i n am· va n ish i n g tric k , but another
PORTENTS OF WAR
did uol vanish in so m e supern a t u ral fash
ion. As s uch the legend will e n d u re .
The
Bowmen ofMons. b y A . Forest1er. used in the Christmas london /1/ustrored News. 1 9 1 5.
ed1t1on of the
1916
1917
SUMMER
G H O STLY P H OTO G RA P H
FA I R I E S AT T H E B OTTO M OF TH E
O n e o f ' t h e f1 r st i m p ressi v e phot ographs o f an
appari t ion
was
t a ken
B u c k i n g- h a m s h i re . s o u t hern re t i red police
t u re
in
Ti n ge1ri ck
E n gl an d ,
.
by a
d e t ec t in� i nsp ect o r. ! l is p i c
showed
t h ree
women
c1�j o y i n g
a
garden p a r t y ; h u t i n t r u d i n g i n t o t h e image
GARDEN
Alt hough lf.:w p eo p l e , even i n r u ral co m m u
n i t ies , any l o n ge r bel ieved i n Elirics, t wo you n g cousins in t h e suburb of Cot t i n glcy.
on t h e o u t skirts o f Bl·adf(Jrd , West York
was t he f i g u re of a sem i - t ransparen t . ghost
sh i n
l i ke dog. i\ o bml y at t h e t i m e remembered
d ence t hey p roduced was a t t he heart o f a
s ee i n g i t ;I p jw a r or depart . \\'as it a pet
st rangt> rase t h at received wide pu b l ic i t y
back rrom I h e gran�?
>,
England, cert ainlr did. And t he ev i
Fou rt ecn -yt•ar-old
Elsie
\\'rig h t
.
o ft en
p l ayed 1ri t h I 0-ycar-old F1·ances Griffi t h s in The ghostly dog at
the ·l rngewick tea party.
PORTENTS OF WAR
t h e wooded beck at t he rear of h e r house.
was
The famous photograph of the Cottlngley gnome. later adm1ned to have been a hoax.
For bot h girls it was a m agical place,
f(n·
t hey had regu larly obser\'ed fairies - s m a l l . et hereal, flying cre a t u res - li m n i n g o l l t or t hin air in the b u shes. was
part icu larly
at
the
weird
spm t s
but
about this odd i t y . the girls explained t hat they saw liliries all or the t i me but having yo u r photograph taken was a nove l t y !
A m on t h l a t e r Frances fi l m ed Elsie play i n g with a gnome. The m a n n er in which
Their stories were not believed. father
gazmg not
s t ra i ght at t he camna. W h e n l a t e r asked
Elsie's
dism issive,
and
her
ha nd
was
out s t re t ched
was
later
ascribed by psychic sou rces t o mystic e n er
mainly u n happy t hat they got dirty or wet
gies,
in
explained i t as the res u l t o f h e r ineptit ude
the process, co n duct in those days u n be
coming of a yo u n g lady. Opi nions changed. howe\'er, o n
though
behi n d a
day in
Frances
m a t lt_' l'
of
bct l y
the l e n s . The girls showed these pic
t u res to li'iends and t ried t o convince !\ l r
I t was
j u l y when the girls bo rrowed his camera.
Wright , who s t i l l thou ght the m lakes.
�lr \\'right de\'Cioped one photograph on
o n l y two years later when !\ I rs Wright . who
which so m e s t ra n ge white blobs showed up.
These crys t a l l i zed i n t o a n imag e of danci n g fai ries parading i n Ji·ont o f Frances, who
was
i n teres t ed in
them t o
a
the
supern a t u ra l ,
meet i n g o f psychics in
that the story too k off
took
B radf(Jrd.
PORTENTS OF WAR
Psychic researchers, who moun ted an i nvestigation, were divided abou t the authenticity of the two photogra phs. It was pointed out that the i mages looked suspi ciously two-dimensional and i n focus, whereas the background \'iews of the girls t hcmsel\'CS were more fuzzy. �loreo\'el·, the fairies had surprisingly modern hairstyles. Even noted fairy lore experts fou n d that a bit m uch to sw::�llmv. l'\obody examined the original plates and, on the assumption that 'a pictu rc is worth a thousand words· , the testimon y of the two girls went u nchal lenged. Little heed was paid to the fact, either, t hat Elsie h ad worked for a photogP O R T E N T S OF W A R
Above left and right: two of the 'Cottingley Fa1nes' photographs. Left: the banks of the beck at Cottingley, playground of the 'fa1ries'.
rapher for some months and was quite a talented artist, constantly drawing fairies (because, as she remarked, she was always seeing them). The girls we1路e reunited in 1 920, but although they were lent a new camera, in the presence of others they always failed to produce an image. Left on their own some time later, they d id, nevertheless, obtain three more fairy photographs. Finally, in August 1 92 1 , a noted psychic was sent to the PORTENTS OF WAR
and
hc(-k
'saw
Frances. btl l
110
t he
bi rics
along
will1
photogra phs proved possi
ble. " \her t h a t t h e girls mo\'ed apart and
sl Opped seei u g a n yt hi n g s t r a n g e. B UI t hey had left a legac y of fi\'e p hotographs t h a t con t i n ued
i n t rigue
to
bclie\'ers
and
doubters al i ke.
you could sec t he head o f t he hat p m t hat was hold i n g up t he gnome. I t was st icki n g o u t of t h e figu re's ches t : alt hough
Doyle had t hought
umbilical coni �
Conan
t h is t o he a psyt:hic
As f()]· t he fifth im age, w h ich is somewhat
less dear or t wo-di mensional , a curious dis
lh coi u cidence Sir Art h u r Conan D oy l e
crepancy has e m erg ed . Elsie said t hat i t was
bi ri e s f(>r t h e
also a hoax _just l i ke t h e other f(HJ r , b u t
precisely w h e n t h is saga bega n . I l e used t h e
t h i s w a s t h e o n l y real f;1iry photograph t h e
fi r st t w o photographs ( a n d t h e lat t e r t h ree
l w o girls ever took.
was
w r i t i n g an
a rt icle on
Chris t m as 1 920 ed i t io n or S/rand magaz i n e
Frances u n t i l h e r dea t h w a s adamant t ha t
d u r i n g a El2 1 sequel) to press his case t hat
These hoax phot ogra p h s date from
fa iries were real. I I is belief i n them p art ly
t i m e w he n t h e world was on a t h reshold
dcri,-cd fi·01n his fat her, diagnosed m e n tall y
a
bet ween d y i n g bel iefs i n magic and folklore
i l l . wh o had long reported seei n g t hem .
ami emergent scien t ific supremacy. They
Doyle a l so held d e e p Spiritualist rom·ic
offer many t e l l i n g lessons to
t ions about t h e existence of other d i m e n
researchers. Lat er popu larizat ion of o t h e r
ston s .
stra nge i m ages suggest 1 hat 1 hese lessons
In
1 92 2 ,
Do y le ,
ha,· i 1 1 g
largel y
aban
doued h i s hcs t -selling lictious t o foc u s o n psychic researc h . published h i s work o u e l c
Coming of 1111' Fairit'.l,
men t a l s , The
w hich
legit i m i zed the phot ograp h s of Elsie a n d
Frauces for all
went
.
largely u nheeded c\'cn
more h i-tech societY
H oax
or
su
pe rn a t u ral
i n a much
n o t , t h e Cot t i n gley (airy pho
tographs h;n·e one fi nal t w ist t o ollc1·, w h ich may n e v e r h e resol\'ed. Bot h Elsie \\'right
Fairies
and Ft·atJCcs G r iffi t h s , c\·en o n t heir death
were a popular t opic of co n n·rs at i o n . .\ l ore
bed s, i n sisted t hat regardless o f t h e status of
to sec.
1 he world
books f()llowed and fairy sight i n gs w e re col lect ed,
few
a
still
be i n g
re po rted
e\'en
their
much
debated
phot ographs
t here
were real fairies and cl\'cs in Co t t i n g le y heck and t h a t t hey bot h often saw t h e m .
toda\' .
.\ l uch later. w i t h t h e adn'l l l of modem tec h n ology. the rat her d u bious nat u re of
·
the Cott ingley phot ograp h s soon bec a m e c\ i d c n t .
·
Com p u t er
n i q u e s d e , e l o ped
gra m m e
e n hancement
t ech
fi·om t h e deep space pro
showed
t he
fa iries
to
be
t wo-dimensional and p robably mere paper
���7
!TH
MAY - OCTOBER
E FAT I M A M I RACLE
O n I :� :-. J a y 1 9 1 7 t w o girl s and a b o y aged
9 years old were tending
c u t -o u t s . But the two wome n , still a li\'c fi ft y
be t ween () and
\'cars
s h ee p i11 t he ru ral area of F<'l l i m a , in nort h
after
t heir
refused
ad\'cn t u re ,
to
admit 1 h a t t h e y had been cheat i n g. I n 1 966
e rn l'ort ugal , when a beam o f light flashed
ination·
a woma n , clothed in a st ra n ge rad iance,
Elsie s pok e of fil m i n g ' fi gmen t s or my i mag and
on
T\'
B BC
in
1 97 1 just
a p pea red .
wanted t o lea\'e 1 he sul�jcct 'open ' . Th e t r u t h . i f t ru t h i t he. e m erge d o n l y a d ecade
lat e1·
sho n h·
bd(Jrt'
t he
cousins
died. Both finally co n f(-s sed t hat t he fi rst ((m r photogJ-aphs
were
o u t r ight
fro m the sky and a small, glo w i n g figu re of
h oaxes.
She
spoke
of
coming
from
hean·n and asked t h e c h i l d ren t o ret urn on the
L :l t h of each successi\·c motl l h . The
ston· soon got out and o n the U t h o f each motl l h
a cr ow d
gathered. Only t h e origi nal
The i m ages were s i m p l y pa per d raw i n gs by
t h ree wit nesses C\'er saw t h e being. Tl 1 ey
Elsie. I ndeed t he y pointed to the fact t hat
called it a n 'a ngel': hut t h e c h u rd1 a u t h m-i-
P O R T E N T S OF W A R
t i cs soon i n t erpreted it as ' t h e \'irg i n � l a r y ' .
S1nce the visions at F,it1ma, the v1 1lage has become a world1amous centre of pilgnmage.
Prophecies w e r e give n : one of t h e i m m i R u ssian
l l l' l l t
Re\'o l ution
and
t h e other
abo u t \\'oriel \\'ar Two. :\' e i t h e r . howc\'lT, was
p ublicly
e\'c n t s
rC\'caled
occurre d .
un til
t h i rd
:\
alter
t h ese
prophecY
was
gi\'en by t h e c h i ld ren u nd er seal to t h e \ ' a t i r a n t e l l i n g of a m ; u o r t ra u m a s t i l l to come. This
third
p ro p h ec y
was
opened i n secret by the pope i n
reportedly
1 9!i0
but -
1919 l
MAY
LIVING FOSSIL : \ m i ner extract i n g roal b r below t h e s u r r;�re of the :\'et h erseal Colliery north-east o f
desp i te i n structions to do so - not t h e n
B i rm i n gham
revealed t o t he world . R u m o u rs as to i t s
fo u n d
co n te n t
i n side a coal sea m .
i n clude
a
n uclear
war.
n at u ral
in
E n glish
the
a small brown
toad
:\'ot
�lidlands
bu ried
a l i \'e
rese m b l i n g a n y
global disaster a n d the dcst rurt ion of t h e
normal toad , it measured o n l y :� i nches i n
Cat holic Ch urch .
d i ameter, a n d ap peared t o b e b l i n d a n d to
The fi n a l \·i s i t of t h e · a n gel' was on OctoheL A crowd o f
70,000- 1 00,000
17
ga t h
ered t h is t i m e from fa r a n d w i d e t o s e e a p redicted
' m iracle'.
�lany
ha\'e no mou t h .
B u t it was u n doubtedly
a l i ve a n d adjusted t o i t s s u rrou n d i n gs o\'er t he next few <Ia ys.
on lookers
There are m a n y o t her reliable i n st ances
i u sisted that a hole was p u n c hed t h rough a
of small a n i m a l s bei n g f(m n d ali\'e i nside
ra i n do u d at noon and a s p i n n i n g d isc, pre
l u m ps of mck. The coal seam wou ld h a\'e
su mably the S u n , pou red down great heat
limned
and b l i n d i n g rad ia n ce o n to the grou n d .
t ics
bclc)re corksuewi n g eart hwards a n d t h e n
e n t ered a cra<·k and became t rapped t here
200
m i l l ion yea1·s ago, so most scep
assu m e
that
the
a n i m al
some how
retreat i n g u p aga i n . :\'o a t t est able photo
after its birt h
graphs of t h i s phenomenon exist despite
t h ere are t h ose who speculat e t h a t t h e crea
exten si\'e eyewit n ess accou n t s.
t u re m i ght h ave en tered w h e n the rock first
in
recen t
t i mes.
H owe\'er,
Sce p t ics argue t h at t h is was an opt ical
formed and t h en li\'ed i n 'suspen ded a n i
i l l usion brou g h t o n by mass h y ste ria and
m a t i o n ' for m i l len n ia , or t h a t it was tele
i n t e nse expect ation. A more recent t h eory
ported t h ro u g h t i m e a n d space d i re c t l y i n t o
h as de\'eloped t ha t t h ese \'isits were rea l l y
t h e rock c;n- i t y .
b y a l ie n s i n a lJ FO masquera d i n g as a reli gious m i racle.
In
tnllh,
nobody
k nows
how
t h ese
embedded a n i m a l s get t h ere.
P O R T E N T S OF W A R
THE ROAR I N G TWE NT IE S
T
h i s decade, f(: n- all i ts postwar u n certa i n ties, was in many ways a n e xc i t i n g period.
Electri c l i gh t i n g and cars were beco m i n g
com mon place. T h e ci nema was a popular a rt for m . R a d i o w a s e n te r i n g many h o m es a n d ' t a l k i n g rad io' (televis i o n ) w a s u n der develop men t . Scie nce e m phasized t he way in w h ich i n v isible rays could t ravel t h rou gh space a n d c reate action a t a d i s ta nce. All t h i s a ffected the worl d o f the para n o r m a l . Science fictio n , t o o , looked to t he fu t u re w i t h st ories of robots a n d c i v i l i za t ion to c o m e , refl ect i n g t h e s p i r i t o f t h e age. A n d h a v i n g conquered t h e a i r, t h o ughts t u rned to t h e n e x t grea t fro n t i e r. O n e d a y we m i g h t h a ve t h e abi l i ty to reach t h e stars.
l�ll
T H E C U RS E OF K I N G T U TA N K H A M U N
The Earl o f Carnanon had spent many years in Egypt with his young protege and mentor Howard Carter expending vast sums of money in the search for the fabled treasure-laden tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun . By late 1 92 2 , on the verge of giving up the quest in despair, he made a discm·ery that was to turn into one of the most frightening stories of the century. On 4 �ovember, the sealed tomb was found in t he onlv small area thcv had not so far searched. The carl was back in England but sailed immediately to the Valley of t he Kings near Luxor. On 2() :'\ovember, with Carter and the crew, he cleared the last pieces of rubble to enter the sacred ruins that had remained untouched for 3000 years. As an early omen, the lucky canary that the team had with them was eaten by a cobra that stole into its cage. This snake was the anciellt protective symbol of pharaoh kings. I m mediately. dread descended upon the local workers. I
View from the N1le
of the Valley of the Kings
I
After some weeks of wrangles with the Egyptian government over ownership of the bejewelled golden artefacts and other marvels in this long-sought historic treas ure, Carnarvon developed a strange malady. At first it was thought to be a fever, then blood poisoning was diagnosed. In early April I 923 he collapsed into a coma at a Cairo hotel. I I e ne,·er recovered . According to eyewitnesses, including his family and I fowarcl Carter, at the very point of his death the hotel lights flickered and went out. The electricity was off for ft,·e minutes in an unexplained power loss. Back in England, apparently at the same moment, the Carnarvons' housekeeper noticed the family terrier let out a terrible howl and collapsed dead on to the carpet. \\'hen these stories were all combined, the notion rapidly took hold that there was a curse associated with the tomb. It was considered that the dead king's spirit had been disturbed and was seeking revenge. Although the curse theory seems some what tenuous, a number of people loosely associated with the opening of the tomb did die at a relatively early age. The nurse who looked after Carnan-on during his fatal ill ness, for exam ple, died in childbirth when just 28.
THE ROARING TWENTIES
arrang-ciHl' I I t s was o n e o f t he bra\"l' who
openly s c o fTc d a t t h e curse, s t a t i n g t h a t h e
was f i t a n d h eal t hy at s� a ft e r a l i k t i n i c or
"·o r k i n g
wit h
such
tomb
a rt c bcts.
Days
later he d r o pped d ead.
��ll a
MARCH
S H OW E R S OF STO N E S
Possibly t h e best a t t ested case of mystery
o b j ec t s
fall i n g
out
of the
sky
otn i rred
beside the ra i l way t racks a t ChinJ, C a l i for nia.
It
lasted seven days a n d , d esp i t e a
m ;�jor poli ce o n - s i te operat ion , was n ev e r
T op: Howard Carter· examrnrng the sarcophagus of
Tutankhamun Above: Car1er supervisrng the openrng of Tutankhamun's tomb.
e x p la ined .
Stones varyi n g in size from s m a l l pebb le s to large roc ks cascaded down on to t he root
As years h av e gone b y , t h e lege n d of t h e
cu rs e h a s re m a i ned stro n g . Cl a i m s of a pro
of a gr a in warehouse and several S I I ITOJ i l l d i n g houses. The l oca l fire chief a n d pol i ce
tect i,· e force have l o n g a t t ached t h e m selves
ofliccr,
i n ve s t i ga t in g
t o the d ese c ra t i o n of a p h a raoh's remai n s ,
n a now
escape
when
the a
rid d l e . l a rg e
had
a
boulder
a n d \'Cry l e w people ha,·e si nce appeared t o
crashed out of t h e sky on to a fence beside
h e wi l l i n g to t a ke a n y chances by def)·ing
them.
t h e c u r se.
episod e ,
\\'hen t h e e x h i bits from t he tomb were
p u t on d isplay in Lon d o n i n 197�, the di r ec t or
of
a n t i q ui t i es
THE ROARING TWENTIES
111
charge
of
t hese
( :harlcs
which
Fort
docu m e n t e d
t h is
ended as suddenly as
it
be ga 1 1 . Over t he years ;Ill manner of ol�jects ha,· e rained dowu i ne x pl i cably from dear s k ies.
The list m o st com m o n l y includes f i s h , seeds
and even coi ns. Theories ra n ge from t ra ns p o rt a t i o n b y wh i rl w i n d o r t o rnado (w h i c h o n l y make sense i n i n c i d e n t s more isola t ed
than that at C h i co ) to p ol t e rgeist at tacks by
in Yisiblc a n d malicious spr it e s .
��l7
APRIL
F O OT P R I N T IN THE C A N YO N P ro s p e ct o rs
f(lssil
in
disco\Tred
Fisher
a
m o st
unu�11al
:'\cvada,
Can yon ,
C S:\.
E m be dd ed i n t h e rock w;1s wh a t ap pe a red
to be t h e pri n t
or a h u m an shoe, u n m is t a k
a b l y a p i e ce o r m a n u r;J ct u r e d iclOt\\Tar wit h s t it c h i n g .
The o n l y
problem
is
that
the
oldest k n o w n h u m a n bei n g ( i ,· ecl some I 0 1 :i m i l l i o n years ago a n d ce rt a i n l y d i d n o t
wear shoes. Th is rock was formed over I GO m i l l i o n years ago - l o n g bcfine it is e\Til
rem otely Cfm cei\·;Jb(e t h at any h u man l i i C
on E a rl h existed. A rg u m en t s
abo u t
t h is
evide n ce
ra nge
fro m scep t ic s , who s uggest i t w a s car\'ed
Marks allegedly made by the phantom black dog o n the door 1nS1de Blythburgh church.
m a rks, w h i c h are a t t r i but e d to t h a t t e rr ible
clay. still ex i s t o n the wooden door of t h e c h u rc h . A s i m i l a r occurrence was re po rt ed not tar away ;J t the \'il lage of B l y t h bmgh.
i n t o the rock l o n g ago . b u t w i t h i n h istorical
t im e . possibly by :'\ ;J t ive A m e ric a n s , to t h e
In o t he r cases, the assoc i a t i o n with elec t ri c i t y is s t ron gl y n o t ed
i d ea t h at it m ight be pro o f t h a t extraterres
t h a t t hese wea t h er condi tion s awaken t h e
t r i al s or t i m e t raYel lers Yisitcd our p l a n e t in
creat u re .
the d istant geological p a st .
In
,
i m p l y i ng to some
1 92 7 mo de rn evidence f(>r the black
do g mystery took a dra ma t i c t u m with an
TRAC K I N G T H E B LACK B E AST
inciden t on t h e Isle of \ I a n , where the beast
is called the ' \ lo dde y Dhoo'. A man on a cou n t ry road n ca r R a m se y spotted a black
Th rou gho u t
the
worl d .
hut
notably
in
Britai n . t here are legen d a ry tales about t h e
'black dog' , a m o n s t ro u s a n i m al that stalks
shape l oom i n g in front of h i m . l ie i d e nti fie d
it as a huge d o g w it h co ;1 l -re d e)·c s t hat
flashed fie rcel y ( t h e most consistent kature of these
blocked the path of the t r;J ,·e ller lc>r so me
b l y p ort ray e d in
a n u m be r or pu b signs a n d
n a m e s attached t o a n ci e n t in n s. At B u n ga y
,
Sullolk. eastern Engla n d . i n
black
do g s t o ri es) .
l o n e l y ro ad w ay s . l t goes b y many n ames, s u ch as 'bla ck s h u ck ' . a n d can be fo u n d ,· isi
The
an imal
time, then m o ved a si de. S hortl y ahcrwanls
the man's fat her died, re i n f ( >rci n g the belief
i n rural circles that sigh tings arc a bad omen.
A u gu st 1 5 7 7 , a black d o g is alleged to ha\'e
The phan t om n a t u r e or the a n i m al is fu r
packed c h u rch
t her at tested by t h e way in w h ich it Yanish es
ap pe a re d i n t h e aisle or
a
du r i n g a ,·iolent electrical storm
a n d to
have b u rned wo rsh i p p er s w i t h some k i n d of cle ,· il i sh ti re, k i l l i n g t h ree of t h e m . B u rn
suddenly after its task is d o n e. I t is a l so rep o rt e d
to
leaYe
b eh i n d
a
s u l p h u rou s
o d o u r , a l t h o u gh i n mor e rece n t cases t h is
THE ROARING TWENTIES
has been likened to an electrical b u rn i n g or arcin g smell. This often led to early bclids t hat t h e dog was Satan in disguise or a guardian of t he dead , protec t i n g ch u rch yards. Para normal researcher J erome Clark tells how his father had 'the s t ra n gest experi ence' i n the early 1 920s at La Crosse, Wis consi n . He saw s h i n i n g eyes and the face of a dog with a dark loo m i n g mass beh i n d i t . When he saw i t aga i n at t h e same spot some days later, he kicked out at it, only to fi n d h is foot s u dde n ly lodged i nside t he mouth of t he beast , as if it had a n t icipated his
Right jerome Clark, whose father had a frighten1ng experience with a black dog. Below: Lithograph of a witch riding a black dog.
actions. The young man screamed aloud and the horrible apparit ion va n ished. H owever, the fact that t h ese creatu res 'haunt'
cert a i n
locat ions
has
pron>kcd
more recent ideas t h a t t h e 'black dog' may
be
a
glowing energy form perhaps created
w i t h i n t h e a t m osphere at particular places and exist i n g o n l y for
a
brief period . n ot
u nlike ball l ight n i ng. I ts 'devilish' odour
may result fi·om gases in t h e at mosphere bein g clectrolysed by
the
t hi n g's energy
o u t p u t . The ident ification of t h e fo r m as a black dog m ay owe more to lege n d a n d t ra dition crea t i n g patterns of expectation t hat a w i t n ess 'reads i n t o ' t he glowing a mor phous mass than is act ually p r esen t
.
I f t his is true, iL wo uld explai n why black dog
sight i n gs
arc
less
co mmon
today,
although t hey do still occasionally happen . Perhaps t h e glowin g mass is now being evaluated by wit1 1esses i n a new way, e.g. a
as
U FO. I n t rigu ingly, there are cases t hat m ight
su pport such a view.
C FO en t i t ies h a\·e
been reported, for example, w i t h glowing red eyes. Leiston churchyard i n SuiTol k has
THE ROARING TWENTIES
also
had
several
black
dog
sigh t i 1 1 gs
th roughout t h e cen t u ries. Yet in February
' t i m e sta n d i n g still' a n d 'a weird , siiYery s ilence that descends upon t he scene'.
l 9i5 a real dog and its owner on the beach
The experience has also been defined by
here observed a glowi n g pea r-sh aped mass
the t erm 'Oz Factor" , because t h e cases in
that floated across t h e sand toward t hem .
w h ich i t occurs cross bou ndaries between
The dog fled in terror wh ile i t s master s u f
many d i llerent phenomena but ha\'e one
fered physical i l l eiTects (e.g. n ausea), which
t h i n g i n com mon. The
might suggest t hat a radiat i n g energy field
t e mpora rily to leave the real world and
was being emitted by the t h ing. A p u n gent odour of elcct rolysed air a n d n i t rogen was ldi beh i n d .
witn ess
appears
e l l t e r a st ran ge o n e , like the m y t h ical land
of Oz, where t h e n ormal laws of n a t u re are briefly suspended and magical t h i ngs can
There is e\·en a classic case o f a l i e n space
happen.
n a p p i n g at Todm orden , \\'est Yorks h i re , i n
The seaman wan dered along t he flat s u r
:\"m·ember 1 9�0 when a policema n related
face of t h e \'esse!. sea rching everywhere for
under h y p nosis how he had enco u n t ered a
somebody a n d sur veyi n g t h e odd way in
s p i n n i n g mass , w hich had bu rned the road
which sky and sea had blen ded i n to one
su rface dry and 'stolen ' fiheen m i n ut es of
seamless whole, m onotone grey in colour.
h is l i fe . On board the spacecraft he had met
As he wal ked the several h u nd red yards of
not only t h e customary strange alien crea
deck, he met n obody. The dozens of crew
tures hut a lso a fierce black dog!
1918
men had disappeared . :\ot h i n g changed i n t he s k ies about h i m a n d he sat on a n a rrow deck way, h ead in hands, in despair. The n , sudden l y , he h eard r u n n i n g foot
OCTOBER
steps. He looked u p and saw a s h i p mate ask i n g where he had been. On his fai l u re to
OZ FACTOR
arrive in t he library, t hey had st arted to
:\ you n g seam a n was working aboard an oil
look for h i m . but although t hey scoured t h e
tan ker on a run from t he C SA 10 E u rope, a
s h i p , he h a d com pletely \'anished for some
voyage scheduled to last two weeks. The
t i m e . The walkway was too n a rrow t o allow
ship was then positioned just east of the
t wo people to pass w i t h o u t notice. They
Florida mainland. At
had been e x t remely worried, fearing he
8 p.m. one eve n i n g the sailor was i n
m ight h ave f;11len overboard.
his cabin preparing t o visit t h e library. B u t
Gazing up at t he sky. t he man cou ld see
a s t ra n ge calm n ess h a d descended upon
t hat all was normal once aga i n . The oppres
the \'essel. He walked out on to the deck
si\'eness of a leaden at mosphere and t ime
and inst inct i vely k n e w that somet h i n g was
suspens1011 had disappeared. I { e was hack
wrong. To h is aston ishmen t , the ship was
from Oz.
u t terly deserted. The eerie s i lence, calm n ess and isolat i o n t hat
he sensed arou n d h i m
was, as
he
explained , l i ke bei n g p laced i nside a ship 'within a glass bot tle'. H e ldt suddenly cut olf from t he real world. T h is sensation has
1918
I I OCTOBER
S I G NALS F RO M S PAC E
become recognized as typical of various
During the
paranormal experieuces, from a pparitions
reports that experi ments with new radio
1 920s
t here
were
persistent
to t imeslips and psychic visions to LiFO
transnu t t m g
close encoun ters. lt is com monly described
U l l ex pected s m m d s . Their source appeared
as 'all em·ironmemal sounds disappeari n g ' ,
to be somewhere i n outer space.
equipment
were
prod uci n g
THE ROARING TWENTIES
In
:\ i ko la Te sta ,
bo .
wo rki n g i n
the
l ' S.\. had re port ed ly first detected orde red h i s e q n i p m e u l as fa r back as
edJol's on
Th is i m p l i ed t hat t h e s i gn a l was bei n g sent hack
I Hq0, but kw had t aken t h e rather eccen t ric a n d
myst ically
m i nded
i n \'en tor too
serio 1 J sly at t h e t i me.
In August 1 9� I (_� u gli eh n o :\ l a rco n i , do i n g
experi m en t s to d eY clop l i > r :\ l orse-coded
the
use
of rad io
message com m u nicat ion ,
picked up regular si gna ls from s pace that he i n t erpreted as being a coded se q uence. l ie
s om e t h i n g
from
f l oat i ng
freely
in
ot Her space .
i m p ort a n t
The most
recei\'e d o n
I I
message was first
October
when
1 92�
the
edw wa s s u d d en ly no lon g-er o f reg-ula r d u r at i on . I t began to v ary bet ween t h r ee and
fift een s eco n d s. I t was a l wa y s on t h e
same wav e le n gt h (:� 1 .-J mc: t re s ) . A team a t
K i n g's Co lle ge . Lond o n . hea rd t h e m ,· s terv
messag-e on 1 0 Fehru a r �· I !120 and it was
su g ge sted (so m e t h o u gh t sarcast ically) t h a t
received l i >J· t h e last t i m e i u Fran c e t h re e
t h e y m ight co m e h·o m :\ l a rt ia n s !
m o n t h s la t er.
Exaoly
t h ree
years
later,
The e nigma was ne\'er solved , al t h o u g h
astronomen;
re\'iYed t h i s 'wild' story when
:\I ars came
later
1 h eori es
s u g ge s te d
t h at
the
radio
\'ery n ear Eart h i n its orbital p a t h . A� rad io stations wer e t h en
n-ry few in n u m b er . b u t
waves slowed down as t h ey pas sed t h rou gh
charged part icle l a yers c l ose t o t h e i o n o
rapidly on t h e i n cre as e , t h e y k ne w t h a t t h is
s p he re . Alier t h e messages ceased in 1 029,
was l<n
m i gh t be t h e last cha nce t o scan t h e p lanet
t he radio s<·ie n t ists ga\'e u p a n d all
at such dos e ra n ge fo r a n y i n tell i ge n t ly ori g
go l\ c n f(n· n ear ly twen t y years.
i n at ed s ign a ls bel(nc t h e st re n g t h of rad io
when n e w at t e m p t s were ma de t o t un c i n
1 ra lf1c swamped any wea k s p ace messages .
1 0- 1 7 ,
By
wit h be t t e r eq u ip m e n t , i n t e rlcrc n ce from
L: s i n g a new t ech n iqu e t h a t t u rned elect r ical
Eart h st a t i on s was so i n tense t h at it p roved
s i g n als ,
i m p ossible.
l i ke
rad i o ,
i u to
a
p h otographic
i mage. t h e y t u ned i n to t l 1c red planet . The
l n an art icle lor t h e magazine
res u l ts p ro\ ' c d amazing - a s e q u en c e of clots
m
and da sh e s t h at bore a Yague resem blance
astronomer
t o a h u man f;Ke w as rccci n· d . In
1 92 7
A m erican
ra dio
w ri t e r
snence
1 97:�.
Du ncan
Sj}(lajlight Scol ! ish
and
Luuan
p loue d
the
1 920s signals as i f t hey were meant to re p en gi n ee r s
rese n t data from a star m a p . From this he
a t t em p t ed to locate t he an n a l source of a l l
re ;u: hed
t h ese messages and f()l) nd t h a t t h e y s e em ed
t h ey
o u t fro m t h e Eart h ' s s u rf ;tce.
t he m essage was fro m an art i ficial p ro b e
t o e m er ge fr o m j u st a Jew 1 housand m i les The fol l o w i n g year, at t he P h i l i p s radio
f ac to ry in E i n d h m· e n , l l oll a n d , J orgen Hats (his
Carl
fi n d i n gs la t e r con f i r med by Professo•· Stormer,
a
radio
ex pert
in
Oslo,
t he:
could
a s t o n ish i n g be a
pi<· t mc
co nclusion or t h e
t ha t
Epsilon
B oot is syst e m . H e went on t o suggest t ha t sent
to o u r solar system
fro m
a
arou n d t h a t dista n t star a n d left
p l anet to wait
u n t i l radio t ra n s m issions Ji·mn Eart h swe p t out ward
t h rou gh
space,
thus
i nd ica t i n g
d e layed
t hat o u r t ec h no lo g y had reached a s n fli
' edwes' , ea ch las t i n g about t h ree secon d s ,
<' i e n t l y advanced le Y e l . Then it w o u l d st art
� o rway) t ha t
were
detened
consis t en t l y
a p peari n g
in
1 h e i r res pect ive
relea sin g a p ulsed echo on a p re- arran ged
t ransm issions. \\'hereas t he y k n ew by now
cue by rel l e<· t i n g t h ese signals b a c k a n d
t h at radio t ran sm i ss i o n s could ho unce oil
provid i n g t h e star m a p t h at p rove d i t s i n tel
t he io n o s p h ere (a la yer o f c h a rg- ed p art ic l es
li ge n t origi n .
in t he u pper at mosph ere), t h e lat ter was so
U n fort u n atel y . t h e d at a d id n o t e xa c t l y
close to Eart h t hat t h e echo could n ot possi
coincide w i t h t he star syste m , and t here
bly last t h ree seco n d s . For an echo of t h a t
were so few poi n ts on t he map (o n l y ha l f a
d u rat ion . t h e sou nds h a d to b e bou nc i n g
doze n , in E:tet ) t hat i t m i g h t s i m ply ap pear
hack JJ·mn beyo n d t h e orbit or t he :\ l oo n .
t o fit by cha uce. Fu r t h er m o re, in orde r to
T H E ROARING TWENTIES
match
np
Ep s ilou a s s nm e
s te l la t
poslltons
syste m ,
Lu n a n
t hese
Boot is t hat
·
the
probe
had
of t h e had
been
to s ent
I :3,000 ye a rs ago.
Perhaps L u n a n was right afier a l l in sug
ges t i n g t h a t t he probe switdted i t self ofl i n
1 929 afte r t wo frui t less years o f tryi n g t o a t t ract our a t t e nt io n . I t m ight h aYe sen t a
Of course, it was not u nr e asonab l e t h a t
snch a n u n m a n ne d probe m i g h t ha\'e been sent all t hat time back, l y i n g dorm a n t in
a
message h;Kk to Epsilon Bootis t o await fu r
t h et · i n st ructions or. iudced, t o s u gges t to t he m essage semlcrs that t he y come to onr
'p;u·king· orbit beyon d t he :\ l oo n waiting for
st ell a t b ac kwa t er a n d t a ke
the
sel\'es.
Ean h
to
d eY e lo p
radio
t edwology.
L u n a n admitted that he o llercd t h e idea more as a scient i fic exercise t ha n s t a t e men t
of certa i n t y , a n d it ne,·et· beca m e widely <Kcepted. been
But
n o ot her e x p l a n a t ion
·
a
look for t hem
If so, t hen some t i m e i n t he lat e t we n t y
fi rs t cen t u rv we m i g h t
haYe some u nex
pect ed \ is ito r s ti·mu a \·ery lon g way away. '
has
gi \' e n for the source of the nmsist e n t
radio echoes heard between 1 9� 7 an d 1 9�9.
Nikola
Tesla, 1nventor of electncal dev1ces and equ1pment.
p1cked up some of the earl1est s1gnals lrom space
THE ROARING TWENTIES
A S HR IN K IN G WOR LD
T
ension m o u nted gradually t h roughout the I 9:Ws u n til the outbreak of \Vo rld \Var Two .
Yet b v now, a s ai1路 t ravel becam e com mercialize d , I
t h e world had s h r u n k rap i d l y as jou rneys t h at had taken weeks or mon t h s were now done in days. Alongside t h i s literal wide n i n g of horizons came a percep tion of other ways o f movi n g beyond t he here and now. Freud and J u n g hel ped to reveal the natu re of d rea ms-ment a l voyages of in calcu lable speed a n d scope. This opened the way to an u n derstan d i n g of m i n d a n d con scio u s ness, and the fi1路st i n vestiga t ions i n to e x tra-se n sory perception. M a terialism , the bel ief stru c t u re acce p ted by most scien t i s t s , con t i nued to su n i ve b u t was t h rea tened by i n escapable discoveries abo u t the essence of the C niverse .
1�10
Earl. and lat e r the more famous medi u m Eileen Ga rret t, established a regular link
MYST E R I E S O F T H E A I R
between :\ l r and :\ I rs H i nchcliffe across the spiritual di\'ide.
During the 1 920s, several pioneer a\'iators were
invoh·ed
in
tragic
d isappearances.
H e appeared to be \"ery
worried about the prospects for the R l O I , a gigantic hyd rogen-filled ai1·ship bein g devel oped at Card i n gton in Bed fordshire. This
Sad ly. that was to be expected, given that
was a prototype for a fleet of floating pas
they were flying fl imsy aircraft on dan ger
sen ger vessels designed to carry the wealthy
ous treks o\'er deep oceans, and of such
at speed to destinations at t h e four corners
duration that the\' were a lmost certain to
of the world.
hit bad weather at some poi nt . The wonder
Serious p roblems were already doggi n g
is t hat so many made successful fli gh t s to
t h e program me. Yet on 4 Octobe1· 1 930,
open u p the world's airways to rclat i \'ely
despite the repeated warnings o f H inch
safe travel for t h e m asses.
cli ffe's spirit t hat the dirigible could not
One
such
disappearance
occurred
in
possibly sun i\'e, as well as a vision received
:\ l a rch 1 928 when a hero from World \\'a1·
by the med i u m of an airship in flames, the
One, Captain \\'. H i nchcli ffe , left England
R l 0 l left on a ma iden flight to I n di a with
on a n attempt to fly t h e Atlant ic with his
forty-eight people on board. H o u rs later, as
female passenger. They vanished withou t
it
trace.
a n nou nced through :\ I rs Garrett that ' noth
Howe\'er,
eigh teen
da}·s
later
a
med i u m named Bea Earl recei\'ed a mes
crossed
the
Cha n n el,
H i nchcliffe
i n g but a m i racle can sa,·e t h e m ' .
sage from the pilot, desperately seeking to contact his wife. This was arranged t h rough Sir Arthur Conan Dode.
The bumed-out fuselage o f t h e R I 0 I a1r;hip after crash1ng near Beauva1s
A SHRINKING WORLD
:\1 � a . m . 0 1 1 ;, ( >noher, f l y ing d a n ge r
nat ure , i .e. ca p ab le o f re a d i n g 1 he m i nds of
ou s l y low. l lw airship plunged i n t o a h il l y
t hose present
ba n k n e a r Beauvais i n norl bern
m a k i n g con t act wit h t he spirits of t he dead
France.
Wit h i n secon d s its l ig l l l e r t h a n air h y d ro
gen
h a gs
gas
e x plo d ed
into
a
1 1 1assn-c
i nfe rn o , giving most on hoard no possible
t:h a J Kc of s u rv i va l . T h e m yst ery was how t h e d isast er had occ u rred. Sa d l y , a l l t he se nior new m e m bers
and
every
passenger
f la m es . Th�.: six crew
d i ed
in
the
su rviYors were well
new
in
t he roo m , rat her t han
members. O t h ers s t i l l regard the R l 0 1
sea nces as sou 1 c of t h e best evidence yet fo r
s u rviYal of bo d il y de<J t h .
Throughout I h e lirst half of 1 he decade
t hne were a lso r e peat e d sight i ngs of m ys t e rious airrraft , especi<�lly over 1 9:�2 a n d
E u rope . Bet ween
non hern
1 9:H several
dozen report s were ret·eived from Swed e n ,
o u tside t he cont rol room a rea when t he
;\;orway aiJ(I Fi n l a nd o f ext reme low-len�l
end came.
a i rcrati
On 7 Onoher Ei leen <.�a rret l t ook pan i n
with
beams
powerfu l searchlight
t a k i n g to t he air in t e r ri b l e wea t her cond i
a seance orga n i zed b y re se a r c h e r I l a rry
t ions, s u c h as fog <J nd b l i zz a rd s. M il i t <�ry a i r
of t h e
crali t hat were desp<�tched by t he ba ffled
Price to t ry t o ront act
t h e spirit
rece n t ly deceased S i r Art h u r Conan Doyle, who had \'owed to p rove l i fe a li e r deat h . B u t i t was not h e who spo ke t h ro ugh �h·s
a u t horit ies were u n able to p u rsue t h em . Anders Liljegre n ga i ned access
Garre t t t hat d a y . It was Flight Lieu t en a n t
1 hat
I rw i n . cap t a i n of t h e doomed airs h i p , w h o
n m t o n r-hnggi n g
i n s i s t e n t l y hogged t he proceed i n gs to offer a
as t o w h y t h e
com preh e n s i \'e acco u n t
R I O I h ad st ruc k d isast er.
I rw i n gave l l l <I I I Y speci li c det a i ls of t h e
to
t he
s t i ll-secret I l l es for t y years later a n d fou n d radio i n t ern·pt ion of 1 he m ys t erious had
p l a nes
been
a t t e m p t e d and l 1 <1 d failed. Nobody knew
what t hey were <JIHI t h e y st o p pe d l l y i n g as suddenly
as
remarkably
they
a r ri ved .
They
were
l i ke t h e u niden t i fied a i rships
problems su pposed ly i m·oln·d <J nd s po k e of
s p ot t ed bet ween I R9() a n d 1!1 1 5 a n d , of
almost h i t t i n g moliops at Ac hy just b efo re
cou rse. t h e l 1 FOs of t oday.
t he f:u al crash. This p lace name d id not
appear i n any o n l i n ;:� ry a t las hut was t raced on a very detailed map such
<I S
t he ai rsh ip
crew wou l d h a n· used hH· naYiga t io n . It was a t i n y village near t he poin t where t he
n·afi
h a d come down. I rwin
H I several
<II
0 1 her crew members
came fo rward i u l a t er seances i n an a t t e m p t
to
p rovid e
evide nce
for
t l 1e
<J cc i de n t
e n q u i t ·y . H u t t hese s t a t e m e n t s ' from beyond
N E S S I E R I S ES TO T H E S U RFAC E Loch :\'css is a broo d i ng ribbon lake, deep ami d<Jrk, fimncd wit h i n
a
geological l:lll l t
tone west o f I nverness i n non hern Snlt
b n d . I t s sce n ic bea u t y was op e n ed up by a
t he gr;l\·c· nlll t ra d icted t he guesswork of
new road built in t he l a t e 1 920s a n d t h is
I he enquiry n w m hers a n d were exdmled
was to have a pro fou nd eftcct u pon tourism
h·om
t he
reconls. Airs h i p co m me n t ators
in t h is lovely area.
d i s<J gr e ed on t he p rob<Jble a u t h e n t i c i t y of
For h u n d reds of ye<� rs , in fa c t . t h ere had
t h e d e t a i le d sea nce quotes. One in p a rt icu
been pe rsis t e n t sporadic re ports by loca l v i l
as it was - could not be t he d ead captain,
seen rising t o t he s m· fa ce of t he loch and
lar wa s ad<J 1 1 1a nt t hat the souJTe - s t ra n ge si nce i t cmu a i n ed serious errors o f fact t ha t
t he lat t er wou l d l l l'\Tr han· m a d e . � ! a n y exper t s powers
accept ed were
t h <Jt
gen u in e .
A SHRINKING WORLD
Eileen
bu t
( ;arret t 's
t clep<� t h it·
I ll
l a ge rs o f a gre y - b rown h u mped nea t u n.· ra p i d l y submergin g aga i n .
:\ow t hat
t he
new road <�!lowed an u nc l u t tered view for Sl�\Tral m i les, passing t o u rists <Jiso had t he
opport u n i t y
to
see
somet hing
s t range .
Between 1 9:�0 and 1 93:�, t here were many sig-h t i n gs t h a t 1-ccein·cl soute local publicity and culmin ated i n the first or many books about t he Loch :\'ess monster, written hv Rupert Gould in 1 �1:� I . Early reports were merely o f ' U l l l tsual wakes and st range wavelike h u m ps. I t was the incide n t on 1 4 April I �l3:� that really pron>ked nat ional, then international, attention. A couple in a car near Ahriachan had st opped to observe a larg-e, un k nown animal rolling- aro u n d i11 t he water fi>r S('\' cral min u t es beliH·c sinking- down. They were in no doubt that what they had seen and the tcr111 was now used for t he ftrst time - was indeed the monster. I n the im mediate wake of this sight i n g t here were more t·eports, including se\'eral of a lumberi ng beast said to han· crossed t he road and crashed t h rough trees into the water. Accounts of :\'essie walking- on land . howe\'cr, were intermit tent and have since become rarer st ill. Then, on I :� Nm·ember I �l:t�. the first well-considered photograph of the creat u re was taken hy H u gh Gray. a resident of Foyers. It shows a blurred sinewy shape, a bit like a snake, swimming sideways t h roug-h water. :\lany sou rces han· si nce not iced something \'cry odd about t h is image. Closer viewing suggests a 11 out -of fi �Cus image of a dog with a stick i n its mout h swi m m i n g straight at t he camera; and although this may be sheer coinci dence, it is almost i mpossible thereaft er to recapture the initial impression of a sna ke like monster. Be that as it may, the photo graph otTers poor scien t i fic e\'idcuce. Soon afterwards a m uch more i m p ressive photograph was obtained of :\'essie in what has now become it s best known l(>rm - a long neck popping out of the water, look i t J g rather like that of t h e aquatic dinosa u r P!t,siosrw ms, which m a n y allege i t to he. Th is photograph, usually called t he 'sm geon's picture', was soon published by the IJai!_'i Mail, alier which it became famous the world o\'er.
Roben Wilson's famous photograph of the Loch Ness monster has been challenged by the scept1cs.
The pict me was taken on I !l April I �l3 t by Robert \\'ilson. a gyu aecologist , who was on shore with se,·eral con1panions when the monster's neck paraded past for a lew min u t es. Cont ro\"ersy has always surrounded t h is image. Recent studies hy sccpt ics haYe argued quite convi ncingly fi·otu the ripple pallerns on the water and othet· factors t h a t t he ol�jcct m ust h e t;tirly modest in size probably onlv a fi>ot or t wo in lengt h . Thcrcli>rc it cau not he. a s most people, i ncluding the photog-rapher, have con cluded. t ht' nec k of a 20- m :HJ-Ii >ot -long beast some d istance lium shore. The n . 111 I 992, HG-year-old La mhert \\'ilson (unrelated to the su rgeon) came fix ward to claim that he kuew the sou rce of t h is most celebrated or Nessie p hotographs. That source was none ot her t ha n himself] I n fact, he had borrowed a model ser pent's head li·mn a store and swum u nder water, holding it so that it pmt rudcd from t h e su rface, at one point beiug h it hv stones t h rown by a spectator ou shore. \\'ilson says t hat he then waited u n t i l he could see t h rough eyeholes t h a t someone had taken his pict ure. I lc had no idea that his liule jest would create such a worldwide l'urore and appear in count less hooks awl maga zines down t h rough t h e years. A SHRINKING WORLD
!'\ ess ie
Of cou rse , o n ce set i n m o t ion , t h e
ba u dwa �o n
was
U l l st oppable.
I Iowever,
a h h o u � h with hi ndsight m uch of t h e early
e v i d e n ce now seems d ubious, and alt h o u gh
t h e tourist i n d u s t r y predictably s ei z e d u po n t h e fri e n d l y 'beas t i e ' as a so u rc e o f i n co m e ,
t he
fact
remai n s
p e rs i sten t
that
st ories
existed long before t h i s and t h a t m u ch new
'evidence' has since added t o the m yst er y. I n deed , Loch Ness is by no m ea n s t h e
o n l y lake to harbour reports of a monst er.
V i rt uall y all s i m i lar-si zed bodies of wat e1· i n the
no rt he rn
h em i s ph e re
(es p ec i a l l y
in
Canada and S c a n d i n a v ia ) carry asso ciate d
and al most i d e m i cal legen d s . I n fa c t , sev eral o t her l a k es i n Sco t l a n d ( n o t ably Loch M orar)
and
wi d es p re <� d
I rel a n d ,
h ave dat a bases of
s i g h t i n gs .
The
� I orm·
( \ l orag) is c o n s id e r ed b y some
beast
10 d eserve
stronger s u ppon t h a n i t s mo r e celebrated
t heir scien tific ami acu I em ic hac k�nHuHI . fiy
cousin fu rther nort h .
19l�
t he
R h i nes h a d d e n lop ed a
t e c h n i q u e to
·
;
t p pl y t o
endl ess ly repet i t i \·e experi ments w i t h s u b j ect s who appeared to be what we would
E XT RA-S E N S O RY P E R C E P T I O N
now call ' psych ic' . Si nce t h ey were bei n g t ested to
t h e fi,·e ord i n ary senses, t h e phrase 'extra
fi·mn t h e African plai n s to t h e Australian bush, shama n s , or medicine m e n , occ u p ie d a p o s i t i o n of h o n o m beca use of t h ei r abilit y i n nl k e
sp ecial
of
what was b e i n g u m t c m p la t ed .
T h e R h i n es ' team nsed a s i m p l e
prop t o
a s s i s t t he i r e n q u i ri es - a p ac k o f 25 card s ,
or
d i splay
each carry i n g o n e of five di s t i n c t i ve sym
t h i n gs
beyond
bols. Th u s t h ere were five cards each of
powers
awareness
w h e t h e r t h e y co uld det ect
sensory perception ' was coi ned to d e so· ibe
h u m a n socie ties. In a nciem t ribal c u l t u res
u n c; m n y
j u d ge
i n formation by means t h a t did n o t i n volve
E S P h a s exi s t e d a s far back a s t h e earl iest
to
I 934
m e t hodology a n d
a
normal exp eri ence. Th e y co u l d mm·e t h e
c ro s s , s t ar, square, ci1·cle a n d series of wa vy
tribe t o a loca t i o n wh ere
l i n es . They were called 'Zener cards' after
foo d o r water
the research a id e w ho worked w i t h t h e m .
might be fo u n d . Th e y cou l d finesee n a t u ra l
T h e t est w a s s i m pl e . Th e ' s e nd e r ' pi c k e d
cl isasters a n d seck safer gro u n d .
o u t on e card fi·mn the s h u f ll e d p ac k . Else
T h i s w a s l o n g assu med t o b e o n e o f t h ose h u ma n skills beyond
u n d ers t a n d i n g , l i k e
where i n t h e bu i l d i n g, t h e p syc h ic who was
t h e h om i n g i n s t i nct of b i rd s . I t \\·as 1 1 o t s ys temat ically
s t u d i ed
u n t i l the late
bei n g
t es t e d
a t t e m p t ed
to
' g uess ' wh i ch
s ym bol was on t h a t card. As t here was a one
I D20s,
when D r . l oscph R h i n e a n d his wife Lou isa
i n five c h a n ce o f bei n g corre c t , t h e odds for
obtained gra n t fu 1 1 d i n g t o d evelop labora
s u ccess were easily com p u t able. Wi t h a t rial
tory re s e a rc h u n d e r the a u s p ices of t h e
ps y
r u n o f I 00 cards, a n y t h i n g above 2 0 correct gu esses would he i n excess of w h a t
chology depart lll C I I I or D u k e L" n i \·ers i t )' i n :\"orth C a ro l i n a . I t was
a
h ig h l y co n t mYer
sial p ro ject , s a n c t i o n ed only by reason of
A SHRINKING WORLD
I
[]]
the sta
t istics p rop o s ed . Such a res u l t would i m p ly
t hat t h e 'rcceiYer' was u s m g some sort of
percept ion
beyond
the
capabi lity of the
normal senses i n order to detect t h e correct
i n forma t io n .
simply see ahead in t i m e to t h e point when he would act ually know t he outcome of the \"arious card runs. in which case t he most
Dr R h ine published t he resu lts in 1 93 -1 .
probable cause was precogn i t ion. Aherna
which promked i m m ediate debate . The fig
t i \·ely. t here m ight be a process w hereby
ures established the first meaningful data to
i n formation
i t self could in some way be
show t h at ESP really was possible. Some
accessed d i rect ly by the m i n d . rather l i ke
su�jects were able
read i n g t he figures ofT a dial . This form of
guesses
above
the
regularly 20
to
p roduce
cen t
per
mark,
alt hough, oddly, t hey often failed t o score JlllJch high er. Recei\"ers did not con sistently
score 20 ou t of 25, for e x a m ple , h u t usually 6 m· 7 i nstead of t h e expected :J .
' seei ng
t erm
cleat·' was known by t h e French
clair-l'o_wmrr.
Dr Rhine's e x periment s left u n certainties
because equ a l l y good scores res u l ted when the receiver n e,·er knew
how t he cards
Equally. t here were ot her s t ra nge prob
turned ou t (eliminating t he most ob,·ious
lems. I t was realized that ESP could operate
sou rce of precogni t ion) or when h e was
i n se\·eral ways. The sender ,·ie11" i n g the
asked
correct
before t hese were shu llled and t u rn e d O\"el·
Zener
card
might
t ransmit
t hat
to predict
the
run
of cards
well
image t o the recei\"er. in which case tde
( i n wh ich case precognition was t h e only
pat hy was at wor k : or t h e recei\·er might
realistic opt ion ) . �lost
Abo ng 1n a l
L e ft and below: part1cipants 1 n a C01Tobo1·ee. f1nds ready acceptance 1n
culture.
The paranon-nal
scie n t ists,
while
i m p ressed
by
Rhine's app 1·oach , were u n con\"inced by the
possibil i t y
of
u nseen
and
unex plained
A SHRINKING WORLD
powers of t h e m i n d . So t hey suggest ed. par t i cularly
with
refi._T et Hl'
to
the
growing
Their work demonst rated t h a t t h e sub ject doubled her heart beat and resp i ratory
awareness of the s t a t i st ical nat u re of sub
rale d u ring t h ese brief m inutes w h en t h e
atomic m a t t e r , that l i t e reported a\-et·agc
stt·an�e �low shone t h ro u �h h er skin as i f
scores m ight res u l t 1 10 1 from ES P b u t fi·om
ti·mn i n s id e t h e body. \'ct . desp i t e various
a misunderst anding or t h e wor k i n gs of sta
t h eories lwin�
tist i cs. 1 11 I !n 7 , h owever, a team of statisti
proposed
abo u t
' radiant
blood ' , no sol u t ion was ever hmnd. Anna
cal m a t h e m a t icians checked R h i ne's work
su lkred no obYious i ll ef1i._· cts li·mn h e r mys
t horoughly ;uul could liml no f:lll l t . He was
terious alllict ion a n d i t si m ply stop ped hap
t mly get t i n g success above t h e level dic
pen i n g i n early :\'lay after on ly a l(·w weeks.
tated by chance. There was no way around t h a t CH t .
\' ct t here were o t h e r object i o n s t o t h e Zener r a n i tests. For a s t a r t , 1 hey were not t ru l y random u n less the pac k was resh u l� fled a rt e r each one was t u rned u p . This was
I�U
JUNE
JG LI M PSE O F THE FUT UR E
because, if t h e receiver guessed correctly
Air Ch ief :\ larshal Sir V ictor Goddard was
t ha t t h e fi rst canl was, say. a r i rde, t h e n
an i m pressi\·e man. As a war hero he led a
o n l y fou r circles rema ined t o be t u nJCd u p
charmed li ll-. I n later years he became one
i n t he pac k , s o t h a t t h is symbol was ob\·i
or the l i rst emincnl indi\'iduals to make a
o u sly stat ist ically less l i k ely to be t he next
positive statet11ent about t he real i t y o l lJ FOs.
one to appeat· t h an the wavy l ines or t h e
( ll .J a ll l ! ary 1 9-H), he llll'l someOJH.' hy chance
cross. A s t he test proreeded , s u d t com plex
at a cock1ail party who predi<ted he would shortl y die. A kw hours later he took off on
factors came more and more int o play. Desp i t e such d rawbacks, t h i s work was a
a fligh t , h i s plane crashed and he survived.
crucial fi rst step toward scien t i fic eval uation
That remarkable, complex tale of precogni
o f ESP, w h ich cont i n ues today i n a far m o re sop h i st icated manner.
tion was filmed in 1 !155 as a suspensdi1l
movie, '1111'
Night My Numbn Cam!' l ljJ.
l l owever.
I�J4
C\'etl
more
ast o nishing
was
Cocldanl's m uch earlier encounter wi t h t h e u n known. T h i s becam e recognized a s vital
APRIL
L U M I N O U S WO M A N
to o u r l l l lderstanding or t h e n a t u re or t ime.
Anna M anaro, a young wo m an h·om t h e
bomber
Yillage o f l'irano, I t aly, had j u st emerged
roc kp i t was open and t h u s he was undou b t
extraord inary
and
On a wet and d ismal summer day in
fro m a religious Etst when she developed an remains
med ic;�!
i nexplicable.
cond i tion W henever
which she
fell
1 !>:� 5 . he was flying a l lawker Hart biplane near
Edi J 1 b u rgh ,
Scot land .
Th e
edl y wide aw;� ke. Sudden ly. he lost con t rol p h t m me t ed
row;�rd
the
gro u n d ,
pull i n g o u t of t h e d i v e at t h e last m in u t e .
into a deep sleep her body began to glow a
D isorientated , h e searched for Drem , a n
vivid elect ric blue col o u r from
o l d a i rf ield d is used for al most twenty yeat·s,
t h e an.·a
to sene as a local landmark. He fou m l i t ,
aroun d her breasts . H e r cond i t i on arou sed great interest. On 1 1 April, Dr l'rotti fi·om Pad u a U ni versi t y
b u t n o t a s expected. All at onre i t was a brigh t , sunny clay and
a n d a team o!" li\'e other med ical specialists
below
kept a vi�il at I t a bedside and w i t nessed
operational and modern ized. St range yellow
1 he
aircraft were on t h e grou n d , being s uper
amazing
phenomeJJOn
first
hand,
t aking m easu rements and some cine fil m .
A S H R I N KI N G WORLD
h i m was
Dre m .
t·csplendc u t .
fully
vised by workmen in unrecognizable bl ue
co\'eralls.
Although
Goddard
swept
low
abo\'e their heads. t hey a p peared not t o ha\"e heard o r see n
h i m . The n . just
as
a b r u p tly, t h e scene ,·anished and he was once more flyi n g in rai n-sodd e n skies. It was se,·eral years before t his experi ence made a n y sense. For in I �US llrem was reopened and u pdate d to ser\'e as a flight t ra i n i n g school. W i t h t h e approach of war. a l l ec t of new
trainer airc raft
was
moved i n , pa i n t ed yellow as all fi u u re t ra i n ing uaft would b e . a n d t e nded b � · mec h a n ics i n s t range b l u e u n iforms. Somehow
t h is
pilot
experienced
had
T h e charred
'1.lln S
of Barley Rectory. 1 9 3 9 .
sli pped t hree or fou r years i nt o t h e fu t me.
19J9
fication) fra u d u lelll w o r k a t t he s i t e .
A p ho t o g raph of a b r i c k is a case i n poi n t .
27 FEBRUARY
T H E B O R L E Y R E CTO RY H A U N T I N G
I n t h e 1 930s t here was l i t tle compe t i t ion for
Price said it w a s hm·ering i n m i d - a i r due to some u nseen f(nce. S cept ics suggested that i t might s i m p ly ha\'e been frozen con,·e n i c n t l y in si/11 by the Glmera .
Following fu rt her apparitions and ,-iolent
the t it l e of t h e most h a u n ted house in t h e
assaul t s
world .
i n t e n t on t h rowing al most a n y t h i n g i t cou l d
lt
was
Bodey
Rectory,
on
the
Essex/Su ffolk border i n eas tern Engla n d .
by
a
poltergeist
lay its hand o n , a
se; l : : t:t:
which " ,, �
seemed
held and a
T h e rectot·y had been b u i l t i n I Hfi:� on
d ire warn i n � i�sned t hat t h e house would
t h e site of an older b u i l d i n g a n d , n·port
be bu re.:d to the gro u n d . The lire would
ed ly, o f an eve n ear lie r abbey. Few people
stan abo\'e t he hall, and bu ried beneath t h e
liked
wrecked b u i ! d i n g wou ld b e the re mains of a
the
atmosphere of the
house and
some residen ts stayed a \'ery short t i me.:.
long-dead girl whose restless spirit was t h e
They reported
source of nmch o f t he ac t i \'i t\',
phantom
seein g ghost ly figures. a
horse
and
coaches,
and
other
The predicted date fill· t he disaster was
glow i ng shapes. O�jects \\"Ould mm·e abo u t
the n ight of 27
on
i n g l y . not h i n g happened .
t heir
own,
t he
doorbell
ring
would
i ncessa n t l y ""IH'n nobody w a s prese n t . foot steps would echo across the floor and l igh t s
\n>tdd switch the mseh-es o n and oiL
� l arch
1 9:�8 .
L nsurpris
Yet ex ac tl y eleven months later, o n 2 7 Feb
ruary
1 939. Borley Rectory d id .:·ome to a
fiery end. The mysterious lire began above the
t he hall, and deep underneath t h e ruined
premises i n 1 929, the h a u n t i n g t u rned i n to
building were indeed disco\'ered t he ancient
a \'icious and u n relen t i n g series of polter
skeletal remains of a you ng woma n . exactly
geist a t t acks, i n w h ich bot tles were t h rown
as predicted.
After
a
n ew
vicar
mm·ed
i n to
and showers of s tones pel ted aga inst the walls. became
:\"oted
ghost - h u n t e r
im·ol\'ed
and
! l arry
spent
i n \'estiga t i n g t h e a pparitions. i n t en·e n t ion
that
fostered
the
Price
much h
was
Although Bork·y Rectory i s no more. t h e rui ned gro u n d s a r e still ,·isi t ed b y people
time
and ha\'e cont i n ued to genera t e reports of
his
strange sou nds a n d t he occasional a p pari
property's
tion.
It seems t hat e\'en t he d readfu l fire
eerie rep u t at io n , e\'en t hough some crit i
failed to quell com pletely the restless spirits
cized h i m for h i s gullible or ( w i t h less j u s t i -
of this most hau nted place.
A SHRINKING WORLD
D I S COVERY A ND DI S A S T ER
I
is said t hat t h e re i s no b e t t e r sp u r t o h u m a n progress t ha n warEtre. That w a s cert a i n l y t ru e
o f t h e p rof(m n d changes t h at e m e rged fro m t h is l 10rror- fi lied decade. M <�jor b rea k t h ro u ghs i n scie n ce , geared t oward w i n n i n g t h e war, were c o 1 1 d ucted in top sec recy, c u l m i n a t i n !! i n t h e t e rrible real i t \' o f t he fi rst I U a to m ic bomb , a n d f(> s t e r i n g r u mo u rs of e\'en m o re deYast at i n g e xperi me n t s . I n t h e postwar worl d t h i s coYe r - u p men t a l i t y persisted as s t ra n ge l i g h t s a p peared i n t h e s kies a n d o t h e r paranormal p h e n o m e n a w e re record e d . As t h e fi rst u n wi eld y co m p u ters were man u f�tc t u red i n t h e i n i t ial de\'clo p mell l o r a rt i ficial i m dligence, science persisted i n rega r d i n g m a n k i n d as a su per com p u t e �: The n e w war between scie nce and the s u pe r n a l u ra l was abo u t t o erup t .
1940
P H OTOG RA P H I N G G H OSTS l'rogTess in p h o t og r a p h y was partly fue l led
by the wan i m e n eed lin m ill i o n s or aerial recon n aissance shots of e n e m y ter r i to r y . Th is spa rk e d i n cre as i n g i n t erest in t h e abil i t y t o ph ot o g raph t he u n seen world of t h e pa ra nor mal .
p a rt i c u larly
t hat
o f spect ral
apparit ions.
The <JUl'St
r ec
e i n d i m pet us from cases �
where a n i m age t u m ed up on l i l m w i t h o u t a n y del ibera t i o n on t he part or t h e p hoto g rapher.
In
:'\ icholas
C h u rc h
so u t h e rn in
E n g l a nd ,
at
,\n m d e l , Sussex ,
St in
1 94 0 . a local l a w ye r w h o w a s f i l m i n g t h e i nterior d iscon·red a f l oat i n g w h i t e mass w h en t he pict u re was de\' e l o ped . It cer t a i n l y resembles a ghostly priest k neeling by t h e altar, alt h ough t h e w i t n ess i n sists t h at nobody was p resent d u ri n g t h e l't�w m o m e n t s needed to t a ke t h e p h o to g rap h . There were p l e n t y of other ca s es just l i ke
dental fogging of 111m occasionally p ro d uced a ghos t l i ke dkct u pon de\' c lo p m e n t . Some t i mes. i f t h e s h u t t e r was left open for several seconds to accou n t f(Jr t he low l i g h t levels i n a c h u rch , l ( > r example, someone could walk past the lens and not a p pear properly e xpo s ed because of this short d u ra t ion. An et hereal elli._·ct might res u l t . J 'he doubters were qu ick t o produce hoax pictu res t o show how easy it was. The usc of i n li·a-red l i l m which opera t es wit h i n t h e pan of t h e spect n t m beyo n d t h e \'isiblc w as percei ved as a w a y o f picki n g u p t h i n gs t hat t h e eye cou l d n o t d e t ect. Some s t range blobs were p r o d u ced by t h i s means. but n o t h i n g that resembled a recognizable phan tom. Ta k i n g photographs at seances. w here mediums deliberately a t t e m pt ed lo e\'oke t h e spirits of t h e dead ((Jr pu rposes ol' COil l l ll l l l l icat io n , had alread y become popular. I n fra-red was useful here b ecau se most seances took p l a ce in absol u t e darkness a n d normal phot og raph y was almost i m p oss ible .
·
t h i s. The scept ics' mm·cment argued t h at acci-
�-= � �
�-
---#3r
-�
�.-
i
---
-;r - ----=----
- �--
The kneeling monk photographed 1n Arundel Church.
�
-
' DISCOVERY AND DISASTER
Certain l y
.
hoaxes had been e x posed i n
t h i s fash i o n . Ghosts t ha t looked \'cry myste
Above and right: expenments w1th med1ums produc1ng ectoplasm rave always aroused controversy.
rious u nder the combiued dlects of the
blackout and t he hea\'y a u ra of e x pectat ion
before the seance, some seemingly well
surrou n d i n g the sitters seemed decidedly
attested cases did su rvive their challenge.
more human
on secretly processed fil m .
Tru m pets raised into t he air by spectral forces evide n t l y had a l i t t le h el p from h a nds of flesh and blood
011
t he way
.
Neverth eless, some i m age s t h a t emerged
from
seances
Ectoplasm - a
did
look
strange ,
very
i n t eres t i n g
.
w h i t e dou ghl i ke
The availability of ever i m p rovi ng p hoto
graph ic
techn iques
deter r ed
t he
guilty
from cooperat i n g fu l l y i n t h e s e tests and
eflect ively weeded out many of t he t rick sters
who
were
reluctant
to
allow
the
camera i n . Yet t hose who were s i u cere were happy to s u p port furl her ex peri m en ts si nce
substance said to ext rude fro m t he naYc l ,
they were as eager as anyo n e else to pro
m o u t h o r nose o f rertain m e d iu ms - was
v i d e hard evid em:e t hat l i fe after death was
fil med more t h a n once. It was said to be
not merely possibl e but eve n certain
used by t h e s p i rits as a kind of p lasticine for moul d i n g a temporary ph ysical presence on
Eart h . Alt h o u gh
the scep t ics c harged
fraud, alleging it to be probably some sort
.
Alt hough science migh t scoff, ordin ary
peo p le 10\·ed
.
particularl y t h ose who had lost
oues
d u ri n g t he war,
refused
to
agree. The mot ivation t o bel ie v e i n the
of t h i n dot h that had been st u ffed i n t o t he
s u rvival or t h e sou l after dea t h was almost
mouth
i rresis tible .
or
down
the
DISCOVERY AND DISASTER
mediu m's
clo t h i n g
DISCOVERY AND DISASTER
1�41
s t ra n ge. p a i n l ess, bloody c u t o n its bod y. U n der h y p nosis she 'recalled' ha\· i n g had blood t a ke n f ro m her own leg and making
S PACENAP P I N G In
con t ao with l it t le creat u res who told her
I �H2 t h e war was reac h i n g i t s dimax.
about l i fe i n t h e L' n i \'erse a J H I t h e i r n eed to
The tide was t u rn i n g i n favour of t h e Allies
study h e.-.
most su fleri n g peop le.
w h e n a tee n age d boy and girl c l i m bed
but t he end was still a very long way o f f kn· This year was
a pp a ren t l y
the
starti n g
poi n t fo r a mystery t h a t w a s t o become
Another i n cident occurred i n .J u n e 1 9-! 2 , a
i n t h e Pen n i n es, i n nort hern En gla nd
hill to
.
look ((Jr spe n t bu llets fro m a n a r m y practice
i n creasi n gl y complex and hotly debated as
ra nge. Sudd e n l y . a strange ca l m desce nded
t he cen t u ry progressed : the abduction of
o n t h em and t hey e n t e red the Oz Factor
peo ple on bot h sides o f t h e Atla n t ic by alien
s t a t e where the world c ha n ged i n t he b l i n k
e n t i t ies.
o f an eye. They fel t w r y t i red a n d s a t o n
Although no actual cases were reported
t h e grass, o n l y to be i n te rru pted S U l l l l lHT
m<uor d i s t ract ions
held a curious i m p l e m en t .
and
possibly
mem ory
fi·01n t h is
re\'erie by two m e n , on e of whom
at the t i m e - presumably because of ot her flyi n g
These hand so me figures seemed god l i ke
saucers, U FOs a n d a l i e n con tact were s t i l l
rat l 1e r t h a n merely h u m a n , and em-eloped
blocks - and despite the fact t h a t u n k nown,
l a t er
research
an
revealed
T h e American
cases
i n a s h i m m e r i n g haze. They stood ch i l d re n
i n t rig u i n g correl a t io n . were
brought
to
d i scus s i n g
them
m·cr
i n tently.
th e
nJm
ment i n g on t h e n a t u re of t i m e a n d i m ply
light h y Budd H o p k i n s , a 1\' cw York art ist .
ing stro ngly t ha t t hey would all meet a gai n
who si nce t h e m i d - 1 970s has been worki n g
in t h e fu t u re. When the you n gst ers asked
with
who t i l e s t rangers were, one of them looked
people
report i n g
perio ds
o f t ime
odd ly missi n g li·om t h e i r l i\·es. He discov
skyward and
ered t h a t these stra n ge blackou t s cou l d be
fi o m a l o n g way a wa y . ' There was t he n a
relieved
jump
tu tdcr
regression
h yp n osis.
In
some cases t h e g a p was filled h y t h e R n go t ·
ten memory of a t ra u m a t ic a l ien contact. :\loreO\·er, t h is seemed to be a n ongoing process t hat had beg u n i n f h i ld hood. The pattern of con tact that t e n ds t o be g i n
remarked wistfu l l y :
'I
come
·
in
refa l led .
m e mory, w h ich has n e\·e•· been and
the
children
rega i n ed
fu l l
awaren ess t o fi nd t h e strangers had gon e . :\ l a k i n g t h eir way down from t h e h il l , t hey were greeted b y worried relat i\-cs a n d fi·ie n d s . T h e you n gsters had assu med t hat
as fa r back as t h e cradle has since been
t h ey were
established t h roughout the worl d . H o pk i n s
hours. In
missi n g f<n j u st a fou pie of bet i t had been a fu l l day a n d
now works w i t h chi ld ren at as you n g an age
n i gh t .
as possible i n ordet- to p i n po i n t a n abductee
s l i g h t bru ises o n t h e i r arms a t t h e poi n t
a t the onset o f what h e believes is a l i felong
where 1 he brachial artet·y was located. They
monitor operation somehow set in mot ion
Bot h
had
p u n c t u re
wou n d s
and
had no idea how t hey had obtained t hese.
H ypnosis was not applied i n t h ei r G.lsc, so
by alien i n t el ligences. Hopkins fou n d t h at many of his origi nal
we may n e\'er k n ow if t h ere is more back
contaft subjects had been born i n 1 9-!2/:� . I t
grou n d i n formation t hat has been blocked
was a s i f a n alien s t u dy program m e had
from recal l .
A Canadian
The firs t consciously remembered space
lawyer told how as a \'ery you n g child,
n a p p i n g incident occurred t hree m o n t h s
been
i n itiated
at
t hat
time.
when staying at a fa rm n ear Lake S u perio r , M a n itoba , she a n d her fa m i ly had a con Sfious
m emory o f fi n d i n g a
D I S C O V E R Y A N D D I S A ST E R
ca lf w i t h a
UFO lights s1ghted above the Cap1tol
1 n Washington
proved to be reflections from street lamps'.
DC
later . .\lhert LatH ashi re was t hen a you n g soldier
gua n l i n g
a
sen!ry
box
on
the
perimeler of a top-secrel radar s t a t ion near
:\ e \,· bigg i n on th e :\' ort h umherland coast of
gT<I lll llll' went by t h e n a m e o f t h e Philadel phia E x p eri m ent , since it was said t o have on u rred in the brea kwater outside this naval doc kyard . The
En g-la nd. I l e observed a weird ' b lack cloud ' , with a
I 956
legend in
two
first
s u rfaced
le i t e rs sent
i n J a nuary
to a relat ively
lig l l l i n t h e centre, roll i n oiT t h e sea. \\' h e n
rest rained \\Titer o n lJ FOs, �I o rr is J essu p .
lt·lled by ;Jn e m e rgen t yellow beam of ligh t .
Cme for the UFO.
t hl ' n lin m d himself w a n d e r i n g about i n a
lied field t heory. The l e t 1 ers, sen t by a man
he weut to in n� s t igat e t h e cu rio s i t y . he was
l ie was ldi wi t h a floa t i n g sensat ion a n d
fol l owi n g publicat ion o f h is 1 955 book
The
i n wh ich h e a p pea l e d for
researd1 i n t o Einstein's much vau n t ed u n i
date l(>r a u u n known period of time. l i e
railing himself Carlos Allende ( t h en , l at e r ,
J e l l ! h a t more had occurred and t hat h e
j u st Carl Allen ) were rambling a n d bad ly
h a d heen il lSide a st range room , b u t did not
recall a u y details.
tion,
1 9!17, a htll twnu y-live years later,
In
wri l t e n , with p ec u l i a r spelling a n d p t mctua and
appears
of
to
s uc h a n a t u re t hat J essup
h ave
paid
t h em
o n ly
sl igh t
Albert saw a sni es of stra n ge l i ghts s h i n i ng
a t l e n t i o n . I n dee d , t he writer was sc a t h i n g
fi·om the sign<tl box on a ra ilway l i n e in
about J essup's book a n d i t s modest call for
Ash ton-u nder- Lyne. Lan< ashire , where he
more r<'scan.-h i n t o energy fi e lds.
was
t hen
working. An
a l ien
figure also
Allen claimed t ha t he had been serving
a ppeared i n h i s b e droo m one n i gh t . Th i s
on a lJ S s h i p in I 9-t:� a n d had wit nessed a n
opened t h e floodgates a n d h e remembered
ex peri men t that m a d e a d estroyer com
more fu l l y w h at had
happened
in
1 9-!2
a ft e r t he beam or l igh t had s t r u c k .
Albert said h e h a d b e e n carried i n to a
by s ma l l crea t u res a n d me d i c al l y t'X a m i ued O i l a long table i n t h e p re s e nce of room
a 1 a ller, mot-c h u m a n -l i ke m a n .
He was
fon ed to wear some ' goggles' m·e•· h is eyes. A woman w i t h ' orietl l a l ' katu res. such as slan t ed
eyes
and
pa�ty
skin.
was
also
pletely invisible. H e offered quite
a
lot of
detail abot 1 t this a n d argued that beca u se of
t he
t e rr i b le
consequences
to
the
men
aboard the s h i p (i n c l u d i n g some who wen t m a d , som e who hurncd
to a crisp and
others who sim ply v a n i shed ) a n y resu m p tion o f such research should be p re v e n t e d .
This i m p robable talc ne\"ert h c less took a wild t u rn some m o n t h s l a t e r when J essup
i n \"oh·ed . I Ic knew t here was more t o it
was i nvited to \\'ashington DC by the Office
t ha n t his and sensed t hat t h e re was a mes
of :'�laval Research ( 0 !\' R). l i e was met by
b ei n gs. B u t w i t hout hyp nosis , which h as aga i n not been a p p li e d , t h is is as m uc h as
s pecial p n �je cts for t h e navy. Their i nvolve
sage or s p i r i t u a l i m portance from r el igi o u s
we know .
194J
P ROJ ECT I N V I S I B I L ITY
t w o sen ior officers, one of t h em Comman der George l l oover , who was i n ch arge of ment gave ue dib i l i t y to ! h e legen d .
I Ioon�r showed J essup a u>py of his own
hook which had been sent to the 0:'1/R mm plete w i t h p ages of annotations, a pparent l y a t h ree-way conversation between u n known
p eople who dmpped asides such as 'if only
h e knew'. Jess u p ident i fied Carl Allen's
One of t h e most bizarre and yet persisten t
handwriting
s10ries of t h e second h a l f of t h e century is
n a m ed ':\ ' . The ot hers were ' B ' and 'J em i ' .
1 h e d ai m 1 ku a series o f top-secret a n d de\·
astat i n � ex p eri m en ts was nmd ucted by the
lJS �avy dming \rorld \\'ar Two. Th e pro-
DISCOVERY AND DISASTER
as
the
i n d i\"i d u a l
simply
The notes covered various subje<:ts, i nclud i n g the experi m e n t . The O � R had receiYed t hese short ly bell:ne Allen wrot e to J essup .
Ra t h e r
mo
re i m pres se d by O\"Crt go\'er n
m e n t i n terest , .J essu p hand ed c o p i e s o f t h e
l t• t t ers from Allen t o t h e 0 :'-J R , w h o p a i d for a l i m i ted edit ion of all t h is materiaL includ i n g J essu p's book and t h e weird a n n ota t ions. I t was p ri n ted by the Varo p u bl i s h i n g co m pa n y ( wh ic h hand led govern ment c o n t racts ) and w a s sent o u t to various naval sources l(>r com m e n t . :\"ot s u rprisingly . t h is strange sequence of e\"ellt S fu elled sp e c u l at i o n as to the p os s ibl e t ru t h of t h e o t h erwise abs u rd story li·orn t h e elusive and u n t raced Carl Alle n . \'et t h e 0 :'1/ R han· al ways i n sisted t h at no go \' crn m e n t m oney went i n t o 1 h i s work. It was a
p r i\'a t e i n terest by two n aval o ffi c e r s w h o fu nded it t h emselves. i'\ ne rt h el es s ,
J e ss u p
handed
m·er
his
material t o a friend, a d m i t t i n g t h a t he was ' a li·a id'. Soon afterwards. in A pr i l l
!l59. h e
was f()ll nd dead in h is car, ha\'ing appar e n t ly com m i t ted suicide.
A man claim i n g to be Allen came forward ten years later to tell a U FO gro u p that h e h a d h oaxed t h e e n t ire story (exce p t , o f cou rse, the Ol\ R i n t erest i n i t ) . He later recan ted
the
con fession
and
t h at
Moms Jessup was ,r,volved "' the e <trJor·drnary case o' the
still
Phrlade!phra Expenment r n
a ppears t o he h i s pos i t i o n . I l owe\-er. h is fa m i l y
han'
d e sc r i b e d
made to vanrsh
whrch
a
destroyer was allegedly
to en q u i r i n g
him
researchers as a d rifter and
a
m e r e spec u la t i o n . appeared in
liar; and
I m� I . One
ot he1· e\'idence i m p l ies t h at he has a rat h er
\'iewer of t h is w a s AI B it'le k . w h o i n S c pt e m
fert ile i m agination. Few p eo p l e now accept
bn I !)89 came f( H·ward to allege t h a t it had a\H>ken his m e m ory or hei n g o n e o f t h e sai lors lost aboard t h e f�fdmlf.!:l' i n I D -n ! T h e fu l l story, based on t h e combined evidence ol t h e various sou rces, is t h at Tesla, Ei nstei n and ot hers be gan work i n t h e late I 9:Ws to fi n d p r o t ec t io n aga i n s t n e w ly d iscovered radar wa\'l'S. B y m a n i p u l a t i n g energy hclds t h ey got more t h a n t h e y ha1·gain ed l(n a n d crea ted o p t ical i m·isibil ity. Despite rese r \'a tions by the s c i e n t ists t h emselves. w a n i m e p ress u re I{>J-ced a ' l i , · e ' test on t h e s h i p , complete w i t h crew, and several runs occu rred between .J u ly and Se p t e m be r 1 9-U (Allen clai m ed Oct ober).
his story.
In
1 9 i 8 a n ov e l
G eo r ge S i m pson
entitled Thin Air,
and :'Ileal
by B u rger (who
also \\Tote an excellen t dramatization of t h e :\ l a n h at t a n Pn�ject ), reported o n t h e same e x perimen t s i n fic tionalized for m . And i n 1 9i9 C h a rl es Berl i t t. a n d William !\l oore p ublished
a
fact ual
i n ws t igat ion,
afier
t rac k i n g d o w n Allen and obtai n i n g more data fro m him (e.g. t ha t the s h i p su ppos
edly used in t h e tests was t h e USS
EfdridgP).
They established only a l i m i ted a m o u n t of hard e\'idence t hat somet h i n g m ight ha\'c h a ppened. A mm·ie, officially said to be based on t h e
B erlitz/l\loore
non-fict ion ,
but
actually
I ill]
On one t est t h e ship became in \'isihle b u t
left a n i m p r ess i o n i n t he water. In another
D I SCOVERY A N D DISASTER
it was t ran s po rted t h rough spare a n d later ret u m ed
to
P hi ladelp hia .
bega n - curio u s and violent elec t rical f ields
all e ge s
B iclek
struck the area aro u n d P hi lad e l p hia
a
de\'
ast at i n g blow. O n e sh ip (the Mohira 11) w a s
t hat he and a not her m an j u m ped shi p m id been warn e d ol t h e risks t h ey fa ce d . They
e\'cn su rrmuuled by a g low i n g elect r i f ied dond w h ic h c a use d t h e sailors' beards to j u t
lan ded in a n a val d ock ya r d fo rt y years i n t o
o u t a n d m a gne t i zed all m e t a l aboard .
ex per i men t as t he sa i lo rs aboard h a d n ot
the fu t u re ( I mU ) - where scien t ists from ' l'roj ect R a i n l >mr· were exp ec t i ng t he m ! Established
Fir/ridge
as
t rue
is
that
U SS
the
was a real s h i p . was i n t he a rea a t
the t i me (be i n g oHiri a lly ' m m m issioned' i n
1941 s
DECEMBER
T H E D I SA P P EARAN C E OF F L I G H T 1 9
.J u l y 1 9n ) a n d t hat Allen rea l ly d i d ser\'e on t h e s h i p t h at he named in h i s 1 9!i(i let
On t h is cla y s i x m i l i t a ry a i rcraft Yanished
ters, t og e t h e r wit h other p e opl e w h o m he
w i t h i n a few h o u rs of one a n o ther. s p a r k i n g
also n am e d . Researcher l 'a u l Begg. while
o f f one of t h e g reat e s t of a l l avi a t io n mys
properly s c e pt ica l o f t h is st ory. J o u n d docu
teries . Th e legend t h a t i t created rem a i n s
me n t s
con l i rmcd
t h at
Alle n ' s
sen·ice
in t a c t t o d a y h u t s ee m s t o rest on fa r s h a kie r
record. l i e concl uded , howe,·cr. t hat t here
f (m n da t i o n s t h a n i s app rec i at e d .
was no way t hat Allen's s h i p co uld h a v e
Fl i gh t 1 9 m m pr ised live G ru m m a n T B :\ 1
p ass ed d os e en o u gh to t h e F.ldridgr to w i t
A\'cn gcr bombers con t ai ui n g fou rt een m e n ,
a l l in e xp e r i en ce d s t u d e n t s except for t h e i r
n ess sudl a n experi men t i n O ct ober 1 94 3 ,
alt hough i t would ha n_· been j u s t abo u t pos
t ra i n er . L i e u t e n a n t C h a r l es Tayl o r. l l c was
sible in J uly/August 1 94 :) - t he d a tes t ha t
a pra d i scd flier bu t had just m oved to Fort La ud er d ale, Flori d a , fro m :\ l i a m i and ha d
B ielc k h a s since claimed.
\\'hat
i s cert a i n l y
t h at
true i s
even
it"
n o t Jlown t h is t rai n i n g rou t e before.
Allen's book a n n o t a t i o u s were o n l y specula
The mission lcli a t 2 . 10 p . m . on a s u n n y
t ions, t h ey were very ad \ a n ccd ll.1r 1 9!15.
w i n t er's
H e described t wo types of alien as be i n g in
B a h amas ;md t h e n nort h a n d west , <-om
contact wi t h Eart h - L l\ 1 ( l arg e m e n ? ) . w h o were
b a sica l l y
Ji · i en d l y ,
and
S:\1
p l e t ing
(small
is
how
alien
contact
evidence
a
to
fly cast
t r i a ngle
out
f l i ght pat h
toward t h at
t he
would
b r i n g t hem bac k to t h e Flori d a coast. I n t h e
men ? ) . ra t h er less so. \\'c now know t h at
t h is
day
row·sc of t h e J l i g h t t h ey w o u l d
is
p ra ct i se
homhiug over a small roc k y cay.
rep orted . Allen a l so s poke of ol�j ect s a n d
Soon after t h ey headed out t o sea, t h e
force
weat h er deteriorated a n d at :) .40 p . m . a
people
bei n g
t cleported
via
t hes e
fields t h rou gh s pa re a n d t i me. and
t h at
f l i g h t i n s t ru c t or lan d i n g at Fort Lauderdale
when such processes arc i n o p era t i on , 'a
overheard Ta ylor ta l k i n g to h i s most expe
foggy green m ist ' forms aro u n d the t rans
rienced st udcnt . The gist of this <Ol l \'CJ·sa
port e d object . T h er e :-�rc several i m p rc ss i\' c
t ion was tha t bot h men t ho u g h t t hey h ad
e y ewit n ess acco u n t s of t h is p h en om e n o n
made a wrong t u rn a n d Taylor. fam iliar
later than 1 9:i 5 . I t is u n l i kely t h a t t he par
w i t h the Florida Keys ncar M i a m i , believ ed
t ic i p a n t s have e\'cr heard of Carl Allen a n d
I hey were here an d not over t he very s i m i
yet
t h e y d e snibe bei n g moved
space and
t i me by a m ist
t hro ugh
(ol i en
);u·-look i n g a n d
(to him)
u n fa mil i a r
cays
ncar t h e llahamas. Taylo r claimed his co m
green)
which gen erat es an i n t en s e elect rical field
pass was n ot worki n g. l i e was t r y i n g to per
aro u n d i t .
su a de h is t ea m t o Jly non h .
I ndecd. h i s t o ri c al records even show t h a t
I f Ta\'lor was correct a n d t h e y were m· cr
ha<:k i n J u h/August 1 9(). 1 - t h i rt y - n i n e years
t h e K ey s . t h i s rou t e would h a ,·c b ron g ht
to t h e week
bd(ll-c t he alleg-ed ex peri m e n t s
D I SCOVERY A N D D I SA S T E R
I
00
t hem hark to l a n d . I f. as s ee m s Y i r t u a l l y cer-
t a i n , he was wro n g a n d t b e v were o\·er t he
B a h a 1 1 1as. t h is rou t e would h a \·e been a bi g
m ista ke. Fly i n g non h from t he B a h a mas would t a k e t he airua h ou t over h u ndreds
,·ailed . Tragic a l l y , one of 1 hese rescue atr cral i completely d isap peared en route to a rendez\'ous poi n t . I I h ad
110
t i me to send a
di st ress signal b u t a passi n g s h i p ohsen·ed a
of miles of open At l a m ic Ocea n . At l east
h u ge explosiou in
t wice aherwards. other l i s t e n ers heard s t u
t t l l i n g i ut o t he ocea 1 1 . That rescue plane, a
m i d - a i r a u d wreckage
t hey fly
:\ l art i ll :\ l ariner, was notoriously rumoured
west , wh ich would h an.: brou gh t t hem to
to he suscept ible to fu el leaks r h a r rould be
the m a i n l a nd . b u t
ign i t ed bv t h e sl ig-h t est spark. Their pilots
d e n t s suggest i n g to Taylor t h at
h e seemed com·inced
t hat h e k new where t h e m ission was, i n w h ich case a
!ligh t
west
li·mn
t he
would be a t ragic error. Al t h ough at t e m p t s were made t o estab nigh t
t hat
and
:\ at urall y
.
the total d i sa ppea rance o f all
t hese aircraft a n d m e n w i t h i n such a short
lish d irect con tact , com m u n ications were poor
na med t hem ' flyin g gas tan ks'.
Keys
Taylor
a ppeared
u nw i l l i ng to switch to an u nc l u t t ered emer gency frequency because of h is u nderst a n d
t i m e and i n such a restricted area led to i n t e n se speculat io n . Cert ain com m e n t s by
Taylor (e.g. t hat h e did not k now where he was) could e asily he m i s i n t erpret ed. :\ l uch
later. it was ;!l leged t ha t words had been
a b l e fear t ha t bv so doing lw m ight lose
spoken in t he ( u nrecorded) conversat ions
t<HKh w i t h his scattered a n d by now rather
between Flight I 9 an d Fort La uderdale t h a t
•·a t t led you n g t ea m of a i rcrew. They were
i n cl uded
his priority.
'st ra n ge' a n d a w a r n i n g . ' Do n ' t come a fi er
:\1 :l. l :1 p.m. Taylor was heard t o say t h a t
references
to
the
sea
loo k i n g
me! They look l i k e . . .' (words t ra i l i n g om.
t h ey were fi nally !lying wes t . hut w h e n t hey
B u t no oflicial source has e\·er wrified t h e
failed to sigh t land (probably because t hey
hearing of s u c h t r a n s m issions a n d t h ese
had flown so far out to sea t hey were now at
words are not i n t h e records of t h e acci d e n t
least
e i i < J I I I r)'.
n inety
m i n u tes
cast
of
shore)
he
changed his mind again . :\t 6.04 p . m . he
That enqu i ry bla m ed Taylor's con fusion
reported flying east . Th is con li.tsion may well
over h i s position as the u n fi >rt u n a t e cause
have caused the d isaste1· that was looming.
o f a gen u i n e acciden t . Relati\'es d ispu t ed
The planes. o f cou rse. were rap i d l y run n i ng o u t o f fuel a n d the sea had become
t h e fi n d i n g, but ir \\·as u p held by a n;n·al
hoard . A legal bat t l e e ns u ed a n d in October
choppy. It was also grow i n g dark. Ta ylor
1 94 7 t h is caused t h e L' S :\ avy to chan ge its
was heard t o order all crafi t o dose up in
\·erdict to 'cause u n known'.
t i g h t £(wm a t ion a n d ' d i t c h ' together as soon
Alt hough many see l i t t l e reason t o sup
as t h e fi rst one ran almost dn on fuel. Afi er
pose t he eve n t s to be m pterious. oth ers
i . O-l p . m . not h i n g more was heard from
i nsist t h a t some wei nl fi>rce was responsible
t h em and no sign of a n y of t h e a i rcraft was
(ill· t he u·agedy. I ndeed . in
ever £(Hi n d . One
Spielberg's
invest igatm· added sar
don ica l ly t ha t t h ey had va n ished 'as com
mm·ie
1 9 i i . Steven
Clost' f:nrountas of lhl'
Third Kind ac tu al l y had t h e pla nes f(nmd
-
intact and worki n g in t h e :\ l exica n desert .
il l-chosen words t hat w�:re to he picked u p
t h e crews later bei n g brou g h t hack to Earth
b y m a n y i n fu t ur e .
as
pletely a s i f t hey h a d flown to :\ I a rs'
A l t houg-h nobody knew t h e exact posit ion of Fligh t
1 9 . se\· era l planes were sent t o
search t he darkened seas f i > r wreckage o r survivors, e v e n t hou g h it w a s k n o w n t ha t
part of a n exchange deal between a
landed
C FO
and
t he
CS
gm-c rn m e n t ' s
in vestiga t ion t e a m ! On a 1 1 1ore su perficial leve l . a 1 99 3 B ri tish TV ad\·ert ise m e n t fi>r
su gat·-li·ee d t·inks oiTered a d i ffere n t expla
an Avenger could not stay a f l o a t lor more
n a t io n , cla i m i ng t ha t steam fro m explod i n g
t h a n seconds in t he weat her t h at now pre-
s p y submarines caused s i m ilar pla nes to go
DISCOVERY AND DISASTER
oll-rours<.:, wit h t heir news endin� u p i n a bar ( d o ubt l e s s cot t s u m i n � su gar-li-ce drin ks). J u any ncn t , t he le�end of Flight 1 9 1ive� on. In 1 9�1 1 it wa:-. t hou�ht t hat Flight 1 9 h a d at las t bt:cn llnmd. Five A ven �ers \\TIT t r a ct: d on t he seabed cast of Fort Laud t:rdale and OJ H' even bore the same squad n u m ber as was rarried by a plane from t h e fatal m ission. B u t when t h e wreckage was su n-eyed, it turned out that t h ese were ear lier airnalt t hat had been j u n ked iuto t he ocean . Fl i � ht I �� is Slill missin�.
194�
9 JULY
G HOST ROCK ETS
Bet ween \ l ay and Septc l l l he r I !Hfi, more t h a n I 000 rep or t s were made th rou �ho u t Sweden . :\'orw;l\ and Finland of 'rockets' strea kin� anoss the sky, bot h a t n i� h t and in daytime. Some wert: repu t ed to h ave (Tashed into la kes. The e\· i de n ce wa nanted a m;�jm· invest igation. The most i m m ediate fear was t hat t hese could be ex 1 H·ri ments In Soviet scientists usi n g '\"' bomb technologv capt u red from the c_;cr m a n s a t t h e end o r the war. The Germans had launched devastatin� long range m issile at tarks on London in this way and were hel icn·d to he only a \·ear fi·mn developing i n t er-con t i n e n t a l hombs t hat could have struck :'\ew York. The not ion t hat the L'SSR had access to technology t hought to han· been destroyed as t h e Allies closed in on the �azis was taken seri ously. 1\ ot only did t he Scandinavians probe the ntatter, lntt U S and British enquiries were made as wel l. Some of the repolls are still top-senet , hut t h e t h eon· of Soviet i n v ol v e m en t was swiftly rejected. On 9 J uly a photogra ph was taken or one of t he pear-shaped 'ghost rockets· but it was interpret ed , as were many ot her sigh t ings. as a brilliant meteor. The ,,·ave of fast mov i n g lights is s t i l l u nexplained. D I S C O V E RY A N D D I S A S T E R
1947
THE ARRIVAL O F THE F LY I N G SAU C E RS
Hot on the heels of the mysterious ghost rockets, a m·w p h e no m en o n was set to h i t t h e world with a vengeance - flying saucers. As with many aspects of the su pernatural, t h is one can dearlv be t raced to a foregoing period (ind(·ed the airsh ips, phantom a ir crafi and ghost roc kets may all be manifes tations ol t h e same phenomenon earlier i u t h e cen t u ry). B u t i t was i n J une I D4 7 that i t first received a name. OtKc named . any mystery takes on a life of its own and start s t o snowball. People h a H· a hook to which t h ey attarh their own sigb t i n gs and t h u s report t hem more fi·eely than hdore. The media pay at tent ion and collect data , because it sells. All of t his gen erates more publicity a n d mo re reports ami the mpterv soon becomes a dynamic, u nstoppable process. Such mysteries are ohen f<1irly short lin·d . ru nning out of steam aftet· a lew months. The fact t hat t he flying saucer mys tery has su rvived for fifty years i n such an extraordinarily resilient man ner test ifies to its u n ique feat u res. Bet ween \lay and A u gu st I D·1 7 1 he far western states of America were h it l)y a wave or sigh t i ngs of night ligh t s and silver blobs in t he dayt ime. The one that a t t racted most attcnt ion came fro m Keunet h Arnold o n 24 J u ne 1 94 7 when J lying over the Cas ca(le :\loun tains in Washi n gton Stale. He saw a group ol" ol�jects skimming the douds. They looked like crescen t -shaped plam·s with swept -ha(·k wings. and ht• assumed t hey were secret aircraft built by the USA After men tioning t h is fairly low-key sigh t ing t o friends a t a stop-over poi n t o n h is route, he was greeted at his destination i n Oregon b y sneral reporters. A combinat ion of factors, i n cl u ding a qu iet news clay. plus
some of t he sightings w ere described. I n
{;K t , t hey c a me i u a wide v ariet y of s h a pes
and sizes. yet the concept or t he c l a ssic d isc or s a ucer- s h a ped cra ti c learly stuck firm in t he
popular
i m a g i n a t ion
a nd
has
never
a ltered. That i t was s t i m u la t ed by a tabloid
newspaper mistake is per h a ps an u l t i m a t e iro n y .
as
the
tabloids
Wl'lT
to
become
absol u t ely essen t i a l i n keep i n g the m ys t ery a live d u r i n g t he decades to come.
Re gard less o f the lau lt y percept ion of
what · nying sa ucers' looked like, cou n t less seem i n gly reliable reports flooded i n , often
from p ilot s and m i li tary person n e l . They
were s u fficient for t he army and a i r- force to t a ke no risks a n d t o mount a n immed iate en quiry i n t o w h a t
j oi n t Di scs
'.
it called
' Fl y i n g
T h e term l' FO ( l 7 n i d e n tified Flying
Objec t ) was also a m i l i t a r y i m·cntion d ur i u g the e a rl y I 9 5 0s by t he successor to t h is i n i t i a l s t u d y pn�jec t . Because t h e L S gm·enl ment knew t h a t i t
w a s n o t responsible li:>r t he d iscs o r s a ucers,
a nd w i t h the pre v ious ye a r's even ts in Sca n
d i n a v i a (st i l l la rgely senet ) u p per m os t i n mind
,
t h e pro�r a m mc to i nves t i gate t h e
m ystery was trea ted as a secu r i t y priorit y
on
t he a ssu m pt ion t ha t t hese objects m ight be Early reports of UrOs emphas1zed
thew
saucer shape. and th1s
1s how th e y appeared 1n many subseq�.;ent photographs.
in such h i g h l y ad\'a nced na li . t h is would be
i m m ed i a t e co,·eragc now provid e d by news papers,
radio
a nd televisio n , g u a ra n teed
t h a t t h e story took o£I Amold , in f;l ct never
m e n t ioned
t hat
the
objects
,
p i loted by Sov i et crews. I r t h e L SS R were
ca pa b le of m·cr n y i n g t he cont i ne n t a l l'Sr\
had were
saucer-s haped . l I e des cr ibed t heir motion
t hrough t he a ir as l i ke a ·sa ucer s k i p p i n g
a very serious m a t ter (()r t he \\' h i t e H ouse. As such, t he e n forced cover-up was a per tec t l y responsibl e meas u re a t t h a t t i me .
S a d l y , when enqu ir ies rap i d ly m led out
t h e Soviets of all consid e r a t i o n , t h e p ra ct ic e
of confi d i u g t h e pro blem to m il i t ary t e a m s
w a s t o o w e l l es t a bl ished t o he a l t e red , a s
across wa ter' ( o r as o n e m i g h t bounce a n a t
w a s t h e dcter m i u a tiou t o keep a l l conc l u
tened stone across a l a ke o r river). \\'hether
s i o n s secret
misun derstood or a ppropriated. t he term
m<uor m il i tary i nves t i g a t ions (Sign . Grudge
'fl y i n g s a ucer' w a s i nven ted by the press.
a nd
This was t h e much-needed boos t . Everyo u e i n th e liSA i m mediately started t o look for t hese t h i ngs.
The problem was that most people q u i t e ,
u nderst a ndably, assu med t h a t t h e ol�jects looked like saucers; and t h a t is e xact ly how
Blue
.
Between I � ).4 � a nd I 9G9 t h ree Book)
collated
ove r
I :>,000
repor ts and it was not u n t il 1 9 i6 t ha t t h e Freedom o f I n [i:)l"m a t ion Act m a de m u c h o f
t h i s accessib l e . S o m e remains secret t oda y
.
B y t l w t i m e it was possible to sec w h a t h a d been goi n g o n . t h e prejud ices a n d a t ti t udes
about L' FOs were too well e ngrai ned .
DISCOVERYAND DISASTER
Although t h e LJ SSR was rejected ;�s t he sou rce of U FO l lights. some other ongm had
to
he
fou n d .
Most o f the s1ght1ngs o f UFOs can be otherw1se expla1ned but a few still defy rational interpretation.
:\l i l i t a r y people were
t ra i ned to t h i n k that these l i gh t s were l l y i n g
by a former m i l itary m a n , l\1 ;�jor Donald
craft (as t hey a p peared to be) a n d fi·om
Keyhoe. l ie m a y well h ave possessed some
some u n known i n telligence ( w h ich seemed
i nside knowledge t h a t the US gove rn m e n t
logica l ) . This fostered the idea, hrielly hut
itself considered t h i s optio n . I k published
ne\·er
too
a uthorities.
seriously that
the
toyed p i lots
with
by
came
LIS
from
a nother planet alerted by Eart h's explosion of atomic we;� pons in I �l4 !J .
T h e i m age o f a n 'ext rat errestrial hypot he
sis' (or ETI I. as it is known ) was seized u pon
D ISCOVERY AND DISASTER
t h e evidence a n d sti m u lated
belief in
a
cover-up of t hat o!Ticial convict ion . i n itially i n a widely read magazine anicle (Tnu>, J an
u a ry 1 950) a n d the n , a few months later, in the !lrst-ever hook on U FOs. There is l i t t le douht t h at t h is l i n k i n g of
the C FO mystery with the ETH was the
The October 1 957 photograph of a mysterious ObJect 1n the
single most i mportant factor t h a t has main
Texas Tnangle. Some say 1t
IS a lent1cular cloud.
tained its status. For t h roughout the 1 950s mankind was strivi n g to traYcl i n to space
times ther had been 'dragons', and more
and during the 1 960s and early 1 97 0s this
recently they had been described as airs h ips
became a reality. Consequently. the cont i n
and ghost rockets. Their form had merely
uous se ries o f sighti ngs in the worl d ' s sk ies
been
came to be Yiewed as pmbable alien ,·isits.
once they had been identified, i ncorrectly,
to lose i nterest , realizing. as did other cou n
exactlY as s u c h . This i n dicated that their
The US authorities, however, soon began
altered by current
awareness. And
as discs and saucers , many people saw the m
tries, that more than nine out of ten alleged
actual shape was much more vague and
perception of known phenomena such as air
was moulded , as in previous i ncarnations,
craft and stars. The u nexplained ones posed
by popular beliefs and expectations.
L� FO sightings were merely cases of mistaken
i
i m p recise, and that their perceived form
no threat, and probably never had done; but
It would be a long time before any of t h i s
they had to be monitored just in case a
w a s realized. Even today any o p i n i o n con
potential enemy used the U FO sightings as a Yet
alt hough
m ilitary circles
cern i n g U FOs that seems to contradict the extraterrestrial hypothesis is treated with
smokescreen to launch spy missions. acknowl
edged t hat these t h ings must be flying craft from another i n telligence, some very oln·i
su spicion and scepticism. Yet since
1 980
there h as been a grou n dswell of research tending to steer 1 1 s away from acceptance of
ous clues were m issed. These U FOs had not
t hat simple, i ncredibly persuasive b u t incor
s mldenly appeared i n 1 9-1 7 . In fact , t hey
rect explanation made in J u n e 1 94 7 toward
had been obserwd as long as people had
a more realistic recognition that there is an
scanned the s kies. The ancient Romans had
i n t erest ing,
reported them as 'fiery shields'. I n medieYal
beh i n d the U FOs.
if
less
exotic,
phenomenon
DISCOVERY AND DISASTER
A L I E N E N C O U N TE R S "l" A Tartime tech n ology develop,e cl f(>r nďż˝ i l i ta ry V V p u rposes was fi nally t ra n s f ormed for peacefu l use. Prop-driven a i rcraft gave way to jet a i r l i n e rs a n d rocket s h i ps were lau nched i n to Earth orbit. C o m m u n ication aro u n d the p l a n e t was beco m i n g a l m o s t i n s ta n taneou s . I n t h e a rea of t h e s up e r n at u ra l , t h e d e m a n d fo r speed a n d i m med iacy of i n te11ige nce altere d o u r p e rception o f what w a s taki n g place. C FOs fitted neatly i nt o the tec h nological n i che that ob sessed the age-s p ace t ra vel-a nd rece ived p ro m i n e nt e x pos u re i n t h e m e d i a . People beca me aware of t h e i m porta nce o f u n dersta n d i n g p h e n o m e n a s u ch as e x tra-sensory p e rception a n d d rea m s . An d the e a rl i est e xp e r i m e n t s u n d e r hyp nosis were condu cted to u n ravel past lives .
p rm·i n g e i g h t e e n yc;1rs l a t e r ) t h a t it was d n e
YOU CA N N OT B E S I R I U S
to a
t i ny,
u n seen
co mpan ion
called S i r i u s B), w h i d 1 orbits
s t a r ( now
arou nd S i r i u s
A. T h e second s t a r i s o n ly t h ree t i mes t h e
Two highly respected French a n t h ropolo
s i ze
gists,
B eca use of i t s small ness a n d t h e i m me n s e
:\ l a rcel
Griaule
and
Cermaine
Dieterl e n , reported 0 1 1 t h e n i n eteen years
of
Eart h
but
is
i ncred ibly
d e n se .
l igh t o u t p u t genera t ed by S i r i u s A. t h e orbit
t h ey had s p e n t liYi n g w i t h t h e Dogon - a
o f Sii-ius B was not
t ribe
French
years bcli:>re C riaule a n d Dieterl e n reached
S u d a n , l ater :\ l a l i , \\'est 1\frica. They had
the Dogon e ncamp m e n t . 1\nd i t was n o t
of
t wo
million
people
in
Iucasu i-ed u n t i l some six
b u i l t up so much t ru st t ha t the elders of
u n t i l 1 97 0 - t w e n t y years a fter t h e Dogon
t hese people had re,·ealed t o t h e m m a n y
re,·elations - t h at S i r i u s B was f i rs t p ho
secret t r ibal r i t u al s . T h e scie n t ists obt a i n e d
tographed .
hard
e\·idence
that
such
belief sys t e l i iS
dated back up to 10,000 years. :\ l ost remarkable of t h ese t raditions was t hat
the
Dogon
and
a d va n ced
possessed
knowledge
Sce p t ics, of co u rse, d is p u t i n g t h e
idea
t h a t a l ie n s !'rom S i r i u s could have gi\'en t h e
ext rao rd i n ary ol ast ronomy.
Dogon a n y o f t his k nowledge. s u ggested t hat
they obt a i ned t he i n formation from
\'Js l l m g
twe n t ie t h-ce n t u r)·
m iSSIOn aries.
They k n ew , fi:>r example. t h at Sal l l m had
This has been ellcct ively refi l l e d , huwe\'er,
r i n gs , t h a t J u p i t e r had li:mr l arge moons,
by
t ha t t h e :\ l i l ky \\'ay was a spiral galaxy a 1 1 d
detailed s t u d y of t h e lege n d s a n d liHm d too
that t h e Eart h rot a t ed o n its a x i s . S i 1 1ce
m u ch i n -de p t h , i f c i rcu mst a n t i a l , evi d e n ce
Robert
Te m p l e ,
1\' ho
has
made
a
most of t h is knowledge had been revealed
to make that t e nable. I n a n y case, Griaule
by science o n l y in recent t i mes, i t cou ld not
a n d D i e terlcn p o i n t o u t that t hey would
have been handed down in stories t hro ugh
s u rely
the m i l l e n 1 1 i a , a s t h e Dogon a l leged.
before t h e m . The Dogon elders wo u l d n eed
have
k nown
of' o t h e r
s u ch
,·isi t s
Yet t h e re was a n a m a z i n g explanation as
to have fab ricated t h e lege n d s a n d , more
to how t h is did i n d eed h a p p e n . The t ribal
m·er, the artefacts associated with t he i r cos
e l d ers said t h at t h e i r k n ow ledge had been
mology, dated by the a n t h ropologists as
gi,·en
seYeral h u ndred years o l d , would also ha\'e
to
them
by
a m p h ib io u s
crea t u res
from a planet i n t h e S i r i u s star system who had land ed i n t h e nearby desert a n d l i ved w i t h t h e Dogon d u ri n g prehistoric t i mes.
had to be faked . O n e such a rt e fact , i n deed , shows a map of the orbit of Sirius
The Dogon offered precise descript io11s
B around S i r i u s A
w h ich is u n u s u a l l y ecce m ric, a n d u n l ikely
of t h ese �om mos (who bear a s u rprisi 1 1 g
t o h a\'e been p rod u ced s i m p l y by guess
resemblance
work. It i s , in fac t , scie n t i fically correc t . The
mythology)
to and
the
me rfolk
of t h e
'ark'
of
Eart h
(sp acecraft)
a n t hropologi s t s
dated
t h is
ol�ject
as
six
which l a n ded a n d t h e n semi-submerged i n
t e e n t h -ce n t u ry - when not even the most
wa ter
ach·ancecl
to
p rovide
its
i n h ab i t a n t s
with
a
re t reat each eveni n g afier s p e n d i n g t h e day on l a n d .
ast ronom ers
in
E u rope
could
have p re d icted such a pat t e m . T h e trtl l h about t h e a l i e n s from S i r i u s
Even m o r e remarkable are t h e acco u n t s
m a y o n l y e\'er be established
i f' a t h i rd,
in
t h a t t h e :\' o m m o ga,·e t h e Dogon of t h e
m u ch brigh t e r , com panion s t a r is li:m n d
S i r i u s s t a r system itself. This is t h e brightest
o rb i t . The Dogo n s claim t h a t t h e :\' o m m o
star i n t h e sky a n d o n e of the closest t o
a rr i,·ed from a planet c i rcl i n g here. H o w
Eart h , j u s t in
1 844
S . G l i gh t years d i s t a n t . Yet o n l y
did
ecce n t ricities
ast ron omers of
o rb i t ,
recogn ize
specu l a t i n g
its
(and
ever, w h i l e t h e existence of S i r i u s C h a s b e e n specu lated , no such star has yet been d i sco\'ered.
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
1910
I I MAY
F I RST P H OTOG RA P H O F A U F O The
first
well-auested
photogl-a ph
of a
U FO was taken by M r and l\1rs Paul Tren t ,
a
from
couple
fa rming
Orego n , USA. T h e ol�j ect
McMin nvil l e ,
d isc s haped -
,
tens o f met res i n d ia meter,
and ev ident ly artificial, l lew wit h i n si g h t of two witnesses'.
d isc-like wi t h a
.\tore sophisticated methods, using com
llat t ened base, flew over their land at some
p u ter e n hancement developed by :'-JASA's
distance, and they took two black and white
deep space programme, have since exposed
shots
of it
made
no
be fo re
it
subsequent
,
disappeared. a ttempt
T hey
m a ke
to
money from their evidence.
gove rn men t
m a n y cases that look to he ge n u i n e , h u t are
h o a x es .
The
M c M i nn ville
pho t o g r ap h s
passed these tests as well and are widely
a
cons i dered to he among t h e most persua
s t udy into U FOs carried out by scie n t ists at
sive piec es of evidence ever obtained that
t he U n i versity of Colorado between
some U FOs arc act u al constructed objects
When
the
US
fu nded
1 967
and 1 969, t h is was o ne of the few photo
of u n known origi n .
graphic cases t hat the sceptical team failed
There a re, of cou rs e many who d ispute
to identify I ndeed, the report (argu ing that
t his, claiming the pictu res arc f;tbricated,
.
U FOs
do
not
e x i s t)
concluded
in
t his
inst ance t h a t this was one of t h e very few examples where all t h e evidence 'appear(s) to be consi s tent with the assertion that an
ext raordina r y !lyi n g objec t , s i lvery metallic ,
ALIEN E N COUNTERS
,
,
a nd cit i n g the s h ado w s on the caves of the
ou tbuilding as bei n g inconsistent with the
time of day when th e Trents claim t hey took these shots. That opinion. however, is fmnly in the m inori t y
.
19��
SUMMER
M I RAC L E P H OTO G RA P H
-
D uri ng t h e 1 950-3 war in Korea, an airuaft flying on a rou t i n e mission O\'cr a m oulllain range took this p hotograph of a n area of SllOW-CO\'eJ·ed mck. \ ( a n y belie\'C i t to be the i mage of Christ gi\'i ng bless in g to the fight agai ns t Com m u n is m .
-
This pallern is k n own t o science a s a sim u lacru m . IL is t h ou ght t o be a n accident of
lig h t aud shade enhanced by the ackn ow l edged desire of the h u man h rain to per
.
\\
cei,·e order in what is merely a random set of i n form ation.
1911
______ --H E Y E T I -----
IT
.\11 O\'er t he world there are legc uds abom creatur e s midway in app e arance between h u ma n bei n gs and apes. They arc e nt ire ly cm·ered in h a i ,-. of about the same size as h u maus, or slightly larger, walking on two legs and displaying a rudi memary le\'el of i n telligence. They also give out a horrible smell! The legends associated with t hese crea llues a re so consistel ll t hat most who ha,·e studied t he data feel certain t hat they arc a gen u i n e h idden species. :\'ati\'e Americans, who ha,-e reponed t he beast for centuries, particularly in mountainous woods i n the north-west of the cou ntry. refer to it as Sasquatc h . or more allcctionatcly as ' B i g foot ' , in reference to the hu ge footprints it leaYes behind. In t h e Russian m o u nt a i ns t he animal is
called the Al ma and in Austra l ia the Aborig ines
ha\·e
long
been
familiar
with
the
Yowie. I nteJ·estingly. the hu- of the creatUJ·e Tracks of the Yet1. d1scovered at 4900 m
( 1 6.000 ft)
near
Bumthang Gompa. Nepal.
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
seems lO differ locally in colour just as the
Above: Edmund H1llary and Sher»a
pigmentation of a human s k i u o1· auimal
Oppos1te: the Abom1nable Snowman 1n ftct1on.
Tens1ng on Everest.
coat varies accord ing to en virou m e n t or as natural camou Oage. Th u s t h e Alma has a
t u re up there. A single, b u t very int rigu i n g .
light brown or orange coloration, matching
photograph w a s t a k e n on t h e glacier at
the
sm-ro u n d i n g
terra i n ,
whereas
the
Sasquatch is said lO be a darker brown .
U n doubted l y t h e best-know n , howe\'er.
�lcn lung,
of
a
footprint
-
th ree-toed,
bigger than a large m a n 's hoot a n d resem bling no k nown a n i m al .
and the first to be studied i u detail . is t h e
Since t h e u t here have been many sight
Yeti - t h e local name for the w hi t e- o r grey
i n gs and photographs of t racks hut little
fu rred
other hard e\'idence. The few Yeti scalps
h u m anoid
that
has been
reliably
auested in the H i m alayan mou n tains for
and hairs that ha,·e s u pposedly been rcco\'
cen t uries. Yeh-teh means 'rock t hing'.
ered u su a lly t u rn out
During t h e I 950s t h ese peaks were the focus of great atten t ion during t h e race to
to be from
more
m u n dane a n i mals. Sightiugs of the creature itself certaiuly
conquer � l o u m Everest. 1\lembcrs of se\'
exist. Sherpa Teusi n g
cral expeditions spent m o n t h s in t h e snow
first
co\'ered 1·anges and had \'al·i ous encou n ters
Ed m u nd H i l lary. claimed to have seen one
with t h e strange ueaturc. They described it
playing in the suow ucar a monastery in
first as the 'Abomi n able Snowm a n · . b u t it
was evc m u a lly realized t h at this stem m ed from a m isheari u g of a p h rase used by t h e
successful
,
asceut
later to s hare the of
En�rest
with
I 949. In
1 9i0
n oted
motmtaineer
Don
\Vhillans. ncar Aunapurna, heard a strange
Tibetans t hat actually u·anslated as ' m a n l i ke
noise and next nigh t . after finding tracks,
crea t u re t h at is not a m a u · .
watched
I t w a s members of the famous Eric S h i p ton expedition to t h e area i n 1 95 1 who first
a
distant
hu manoid
creature
t h rough binoculars for twenty minutes. O t her
British
m o u n t aineers,
including
that
the late Pete Board m a n (with whom I went
there might be a gen u i n e u n i deutified crea-
to school and so can attest to his i n tegrit y).
secured
tru ly
im pressive
evidence
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
han� had \·ery narrow escapes. l i e and J oe Tasker
heard
large
a
creat ure crash i n g
about th rough their c a m p at 1 7 ,000 feet up
Changaba n g in 1 977. In t h e morning t hey fo u n d chocolate bars had been
remo\·ed
from their scattered belongings.
1911 112
JULY
S P O N TA N E O U S H U M A N
C O M B U ST I O N
In J uly 1 986. famous climber Reinhold
The idea o f a hu man being t u rn e d imo a
:\ I essner had a close-up sigh t i n g of one
heap of ash with horrific rapidity by some
such
u n known fire source is a terrifying image.
creature
when
it
e merged
from
beh i n d a tree . I ndeed . the celebrated E n g
It
lish actor and climbe r Brian Blessed told
t h ro ugh the ages, p robably as a result of
me he was most i m p ressed by :\ I essner's
fea r .
story when we met early in
as he was
1 99:�
has
bee n
giYen
Yery
little
a t t e n t ion
Y e t cases ha,·e been knmnl for seYeral
making final preparations for his attempt to
centuries.
become the oldest man to c l i m b EYcrest. At
story-teller
In
\'ictorian Charles
t i mes.
the
Dickens
noted
attended
the same t i m e he hoped to start work film
i n quests and garnered eYidence from seY
ing a m;uor mund-the-world series compil
eral reputed i n stances. In those days t h e
i n g eYidence for t h e reality o f the 'man
occurrence w a s often c i t e d by fcrYcn t a n t i
beast" in many diflcrent cou n t ries.
d r i n k campaigners
:\ leanwhile another fascinating case came
and
militant
C h u rch
a u t h orities as t h e result of d i\·inc retribu
to light. J ulian Freeman-Attwood. lead i n g a
t ion . It prm·ided a wonderful scare tactic
t h ree-man expedition oYer a remote glacier
aimed at the u n godly, eYen though t h ere
in :\ l o n golia, cam ped in a totally isolated
n eYcr was any eYidcnce that excess alcohol
couple of hours later t he team emerged
ble to spontaneous combustion .
from their t e n t to fi n d t he Yirgin snow dis
eYer t h e topical popu lar author, wrote off
t tubed by a trail of lwaYy footprints leadi n g
one of his Yillains (the obn oxious Krook) i n
past
t h is decidedly nn usual w a y in t h e cou rse of
spot at 4 a . m . on 1 2 J u ne 1 992 . O n ly a
them
and
up
i n to
the
desolation
ahead. They were remarkably sim ilar in appearance to those filmed by Shipton i n
in the body was l ikely to make one suscepti
h is later n oYel
Bleak Housl'.
\\'hile isolated cases were reported after
1 95 1 a n d from the depth of i m p ression
wards. t he subject
suggested a ucature larger a n d
attention in J u ly
heaYier
than a h u ma n bein g.
first att racted
i m posin g but proYide no real e,·idence of
serious
1 95 1 with the baiTi i n g
d e a t h of 67 -\·car-old o l d :\ l ar\' Reeser at S t .
Sceptics admit t h at such footprints look
Dickens.
Petersburg,
.
Florida,
L'SA.
woma n · , as she became
The
'cinder
know n ,
li terally
an u n known crea t u re , bei n g made by some
t u rn ed from a healthy h u man being, when
normal species. such as a bear.
last seen late on the e\·e n i n g of 1 J uly, to
Because
they lie u n distu rbed for days or weeks, t hey are
subject
to
considerable
interference
nothing but a charred foot amidst a heap of
ash before 7 a.m. t h e next m o rn i n g.
from t h e Su n , which can melt and en large
The remarkable t h i n g abo u t :\ I rs Reeser's
prints to create an odd res u l t , quite u n l i ke
dea t h , as is typical of other cases of sponta
the
neous h u man combustion (Sl i C ) , is that the
Freeman-Attwood
su rroundi ngs i n her apart ment were little
t h e t racks originally laid dow n . footp1·i n t s were
fil med
u ndoubtedly
by
t hose
of
Yet a
h u ge
u n known animal.
damaged
by
flames.
Fire
and
forensic
experts who \·isit such sites are ballled by the fact that plastic t iles beneath the body
Traces of a Yet1 were cla1med t o have been discovered 1n the Andes in
1 956.
do not e\·en melt, that combust ible materi als in the room remain unsingcd a n d that
ALIEN E N C O U N T E RS
of Ma•y Reese•· 1 9S I
The calc:fied rema:'"ls
SHC
d:scovered :n
the mystenous case of
anism.
ll n l(m u natcly.
despite
sc,·eral
at tem p t s by the doubters, no e\'idencc has b ee n �a t h c red to s u pport t h e claim that
there
is
incredible
no
e\' i d e n t
local it.ation
t e m pera t u res
nceded
of t h e to
t u rn
'
case
'
:\ lost sign i fica n t ly. crematori u m special ists
h uman bone i n t o powder. The F B I were i n \ ol\ cd i n
such a process Gi l l occur i n h u ma n bodies.
\ la r\'
Reeser's
because of t he possibility t hat she
m ight han· been killed a n d t h e bod\' b u m t
delibe r ately t o m a s k c\·idencc of a crime. But this rema i n s p u re t h eory.
The sceptics' \'iew is that S H C vic ti m s
burn slo wh · 0\'(c>r t he course of many h o u rs
are
p rokssionally
shocked
by
p ho
tographs taken of S H C \'icti ms . They say t hat t hey cau not achie\'e such comprehen sive d estru ct ion of human
bones a n d a
body ( bei n� . in fact , t wo-t hirds water) e\·en i n the ideal
co nd i t ions
at their d isposal . For
t h is to occ u r in a few hours i nside an ordi nary ) i,· in� roo m , t hey lind h ard to belic\·e.
- with t he bones au i n � as t he wick and t h e
I n :\ lary Reeser's case, ha,·ing had access
h u ma n fat wrapped a round t h e m fu nction
to detailed i n vestigation reports carried o ut
ing iu t he sa me wa y as candle wax. Some
at the t i me, Peter Hough a n d I ascertained
spark sets it oil ( :\ 1 rs Reeser was last seen
that t h e re is considerable reason to suspect
th e
t hat the btal fire occurred at around cl .�O
h eat is fixused i n ward b\' t h is candle mech-
a . m . and n o t many hours earlier as alleged
smo ki ng a h c r
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
t a ki n � sedat in�s)
and
by t he sceptics. Two hours is sim ply not
An unexplained example of spontaneous human combustion
long enough for the wick effect u t t erly to
1n London,
1 964
con s u m e a h u m a n body. a n d t h is , d cd uc t i o n . if corren, merely enhances the strange
i nside the h u man body can s h o rt circu i t ,
nature of t h is case.
t h a t atomic c h a i n react ions c a n generate
In
B ritain
alone,
abo u t
one
h u ndred
phen omenal
i nt ernal
heat
and
t hat
a
unex plained fi re deaths occ u r e\'<.'ry year.
deadly cocktail ol chem icals can limtl in t h e
Accord i n g
brigade
g u t a s a res u l t o f \\'estern society's poor
sou rces, w h i le no cases arc ever diagnosed
dietary h abits. The last m ight explain why
to
forensic
and
fire
as bei ng due to S H C , t hat possibility is s u g
SHC seems a l m ost non -ex is t e n t i n a n i m als
gested in perhaps ten i nstances. Ir t rue, it
and
m ay mean t hat a h u n dred or more people
recorded
die t h i s way t h roughout
n a tions, e.g. i n African tribal c u l t u res.
the world each
why
t here outside
are the
few.
if a n y .
more
cases
developed
not
Either way. reports or S l l c seem to he on
exist and pract ically n o research is being
t h e i ncrease. In a data base t hat I I ou gh a n d
year.
Officially,
howe,·er,
SHC
does
I com p i led i n I !190 t h ere were eleven can
conducted into its poten tial c;w�es. Theories as to w h a t may lie beh i n d the p henomenon , i nclude
the
ass u m in g
notions
t hat
it
to
be
rea l ,
electrical
fields
didate cases globally i n t he
I
[]]
l !l:>Os. seven
d u r i n g the 1 9GOs. t h i rt een li·mn the I 970s and twen t y-two i n the I !l�Os.
ALIEN E N C O U N T E RS
19n
clear t hat t he biggest m ystery was w h y any body t bought t here was a m ystery i n t h e first place.
T H E B E R M U DA TRIANGLE: MYTH
It
has now been well established t hat
many of t h e s u pposedl y inexplicable disap
O R MYSTE RY?
pearances were no such t h i ng. Once t h e
The Berm uda Triangle is the perfect exa m
records were checked, accident enquiries
ple o f what scept ics Larry K usche a n d Pau l
s t u d ied and weat h e r data analysed, such
Begg have called a ' m a n u bc t u red mystery'.
incideuts
They bdieve i t to be p u re inve n t ion : a m y t h
This part of t h e ocea n is one of t h e most
created in t h e late t \\'en tiet h cen t ury. Bot h
heavily shi pped areas in
have de,·oted a great deal of serious eflon
h u n d reds of aircraft overfl y i t daily. The
The concept first appeared in an article
Fall'
anything
but
baffiing.
t he world and
weather can s uddenly whip up a storm a n d
to proving t heir case. for
proved
magazine in October 1 952 when
a n y debris fi·om a capsized ship o r crashed plane
s i n ks
rapidly
into the
inaccessible
George Sand spoke of how a 'watery t ri a n
dep t h s .
By simple s t a t i s t ics, it is obvious
g l e bounded roughly by Florida, Berm uda
t here will be more disappearances here
and Puerto Rico' had appare n tly generated
t han in most ot her com parable expanses of
t he i nexpl icable d isappearances of cou n t
ocean. Y ct that alone p roves n o t h i n g o f real
less s h i p s a n d aircrali.
significance.
The HH5 eve n t s i nvolvi ng Flight 1 9 ofT
One of t he most frequ e n t l y cited cases,
t he Florida coast was a major case in poi n t ,
t h e d isappearance of t he J apanese freighter
s o widely m is u nderstood a s t o auain baf
Raifulw Mant
fling proportions. I t had led researchers to
t riangle legend has it t h a t t he last received
in
1 92 5 , is t y p ical. Pop u lar
sift arch ives and n ewspa per I iles to find a
message from t h e ship was 'danger like
deeper
dagger
pattern.
Once
established,
the
- come
q u ic k ! '
Th is
cau sed
all
notion of t he existence of a catast rophe
m a n ner o f specu lation
laden t riangle was d i lli n a l t to dispe l .
resem b l i n g a dagge1· might ha\'e provoked
Sand did not popularize t h e mystery t o
her
total
as t o w h a t force
d isappeara nce,
as
happened
any great e x t e n t , h u t t h e t rianglc w a s occa
i m mediately
sionally m e n t ioned in t h e e n s u i n g years, i t s
enquiry at t h e t ime had revealed t ha t t h e
aher
t he
signal.
But
t he
Some
fi nal m essage, se v erel y distorted. possibly
aut hori t i es saw it as coveri n g half of t h e
by an elet't rical s t orm , was act ually ' Now
shape
and
size
always
varying.
Atlant ic Ocea n , a s t;u· nort h ward and cast
very danger - come quic k ! ' Poign a n t aiHi
ward as t he coast of I reland, m a k i n g calcu
t ragic, but hardly m ysterious. In
lations llleani ngless. It
was t he writer V i ncent Gaddis who
i n n:Jiled
the
t riangle' in a
ph rase
'deadly
Bermuda
1 964 magazine art icle. Yet
even h e failed t o capitalize on its fu ll com mercial pot e n t ial. That was ldi to Charles
l k rl i t z who, i n Tht'
other
instances
t h e re
were
widely
reported storms, cargoes t hat were volat i le or h ighly explosive, or o t h e r valid reasons why
an
accident
m ight
easily
have
occurred. There have also been a t t e m pt s to bring
Bnnuula Tria nglt' ( 1 97 4 ) ,
t h e t ri.mgle i nt o t h e modern era, w i t h sug
s u m marized t h e data accrued u n t i l t h e n .
gestions that i':ASA has had t ro u ble wi t h
copies
t eleco m m u n icat ions d ur i n g s h u t l le flights
around t h e world. \lore boo ks, t elevision
when passi n g over t h e area. One satellite
The
book
sold
over {lve
million
doc u me n taries and 1110\'ies ((JIIowe d . Then the scept ics marched in and did a thOI· oughly dkct i ve job. They soon
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
made it
The Bermuca Triangle prefigured twenty years earlier i n Hyatt Vernll's The �on-grov1totronol Vortex
Scientifiction Stories b)' A. Hyatt Verrill John W. Campbell, Jr. Edmond Hatnilton
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
w as a l l e ged to ha\'e been a ffi.·• t ed hy a m ys tery blackout when e \' e r it O\'erf lew t h e t ri a n g le . T h e sileuce "·as fou n d si m p l y t o he d u e t o t h e bu t h a t a reco rd i n g t a pe was a u t o m a t ica l l y rewo u n d at t h is same poi n t in en-ry or b i t ! The gen u i n e p u zz l es t h a t do exist a p peat· t o be asso<i; l l ed \\ i t h reported i n stauccs of elect rical an d mag net i c iutekrenn.· e x pe r i enced h y a i rcr a f t f l �· i ug in t h is a rea. Some scie n t i s t s
t h i n k t h at a n t u m su a l nat ural elect romagnetic vortex may occasion a l l y m a n i fest i n cert a i n places, and t h a t t h is cou ld be one of t h e most powerfu l . �oted
;1\·iator
reported
th at
:\ l a r t i u
on
one
Caidan
has
occtsto n .
n ca r
B e r m u d a , as h e f l e w into a ch e e se ca ke sky
whet·e sea and doud blended into one. all
h i s i n st r u n w n t a t i o n b i l e d . Fort u n a t e l y h e e merged fro m i t hell liT he became com pletely lost. I l is �KCOI I n l is s t r i k i n g l y s i m i la r to the incident i n
1 9�S of t h e sa i lor on t he
1911 20
NOVEMBER
TH E C REAT U R E FROM V E N U S Geo rge ,\damski, who ran a food a n d d r i n k st a n d on t h e s lope s o f :\ l o u n t Pa lomar observatory i n the USA. and had li>r some t i m e written specu l a t ive fiction abo u t life o n other worlds. claimed to ha\'C est ablished ro n t ac t with a V e n u s i;t n in t he Cal i li m 1 ia n desert . I t resembled a h u m a n w i t h l o n g hlond hair a nd u se d sig n l a n g u a ge a n d s ketdH.'s m a d e i n t h e s a n d t o ex p l a i u i t s ongm . ;t s er ie s of alien ron \'isits to p la n ets in o u r solar system made by A d a ms ki , all of which lca t u red in se v e ral books over t h e next live
This was t h e fi rst of
tacts
and
years. l i e claim ed to h a \'e see 1 1 t rees a n d ri vers
011
t h e !\l oon , a po s si b i l i t y n ot refuted
u n t i l a li cr h i s deat h . Ad amski a lso hol ster ed
h is ca se 'rith a n u m ber of p ho t ogra p h s , said
B r i t ish oil t a n ker who ent ered a s t ra n ge
t o be o f disc- l i k e 'scou t s h i ps ' a n d c i ga r
re al i t y
sh a ped ' n t o t h n s h i p s ' . The n t cd i a loved h i m li > r t h is and he a t t racted a wide !allow i n g. E\'en t h i rt y years a fier his dea t h . the
for
some
m i n u t es
as
the
v e ss e l
p a s sed l lnou g h t h e sa u t e a r e a . a lt ho u g h this
occ u ned
years
bcli:•re
t he
t ria n g l e
'co n t actee' t nm·cmetH, w h ic h h e dlcct i \'cly
lege n d was hor n .
liumdcd ,
enj oys st rong s u p port . particu
Thne is a lso a cl a i m . t h o 1 1 gh t h e story lacks verill ca t io n . that a < i \'i l i a n a i rna ft la n d i n g at :\ l i a m i d i sa p pe a r ed li·mn radar scree n s fo r t e n m i n u t e � . a n d t h a t w h e n it t o u c h e d down a l l d oc k s and watches on hoard t h e p lace were ex act l y t e n m i n u tes
even
slow.
o f c i n e fi l m o r a 'sco u t s h i p ' , t a k e n l a t e r
Th e Bermuda Tri;mgle l i n t s h as a c u rious double ! i f(:. \!any p eo p l e u n lit m i l i a r w i t h
b y o n e of Ad a m s k i ' s d isci ples, s t i l l h a s i t s
t h e s u per n a t u ra l acrept well-established
i t a s a ge n u i n e,
phenomenon.
It
still
fea
larly o n t h e Americm we s t c oa st . ,\ n a l ysi s a i H I co m p u t e r e n hancem e n t o f t h e Ad a m s k i pho t o g r a p h s [;tiled t o establish t h a t t h ey were o f large. s t r u ct ur ed craft ,
t h ou g h
a
more i n t e r e s t i n g p i e re
a d h eren ts. :\Jany ot h er contart ees li>llowed, a t f i rst o n l y i n the U S,\ b u t lat er i n E u rope. Sev
t u res i n potboiler hooks, s i ll y science fictiou
eral s p i ri t u a l ll. > 1 m d at i o n s e m e rg ed , based
fi l m s and ge neral m edia s t ories.
01 1
Yet
the
t h e tea ch i n gs of t h e aliens via t hese con
m a jori t y of serious resea rchers i n t o para
tans. The Act h cr i u s Societ y . tor exa mple,
normal
whirh
phenomena
and.
or course,
the
was
li: m n d ed
London
t axi
membet·s and i n t el l i ge n t p roponents in the t.:S:\ a n d world wide. Th e so ci e t y u t ilizes ' p ra ye r ba t t e ries' to c h a n n e l posit ive energy from alien ' masters', s11ch as Lord Act herius, in o r dc t · to p reven t wa rs .
t he
occa sional
i n t erest i n g
eveu t i n t h e area . i n t r u t h t here is i n a ll pro
babi lit y n o s u c h t h i n g as a d ead ly Berm uda Tt·i anglc.
A L I E N E N C O U NT E R S
t housands
of s i ncere
u ra l t ales, a rc l i �t onn· bot h in <�greemen t d es pi t e
h as
a
d ri \'er,
t hat ,
todav
by
sceptiral sci e n t is t s who distn iss all !» U pemat
Tht: C IA, which cum·cued secrel ly i n !)52 10 discuss L' F< >s, latn com m en ted l�n·ou rably 011 how the O\'ert stories of the contactecs had helped them ach ien· a task they had long sought to do th emscl\'es - to defuse serious sci enti fic i n terest in alien contact \'ia U FO si ghtings. Th e climax of the con tactec movemel l t came i n t h e late I 950s. I n deed , o n e of t hei1· members stood against :--.: ixon awl Kennedy for US President (but withdrew on ad\'ice from h is com m u n icating alien friends). He did this, he clai med , to ensure that Ken nedy won and sta\'ed off a n uclear holocaust threatened b y the com i n g Cuban m issi le dispute with the USSR. I
19U M E M O R I E S O F PAST LIVES H ypnosis h as been known for thousands o f years and u sed for t w o cen t u ries, often for mere entenainment, aher i t was popular ized by Franz \l esmer. I n itially it was little m ore than a party trick and was rarely the
One o f Adamskt's pno\ogrdphs of a 'moti'1er sh•p' w•\h scout sh•ps emerging from 1t.
source of seri ous experiment to un lock the subconscious mind. There had been sporad ic reports li·01 n I DOG onward of people in a trance who allegedly rcli,·ed an existence pre\'ious to their b i rt h . By the I 950s the \\'Ork of psy clwlogists such as Sigm u n d Freud (un ra\'cl ling the hidden meaning of d reams) and t h e still at'li\'e Carl .J u n g (who had pro\'ed that h u man bei n gs sh ared a collecti\'e u n conscious containing race memories and other com m on moti fs) had begun to poin t the way toward possible n ew de\'elop m ents. The ch;m ce e\-cnt ually ldl to a n amateur researcher in Colorado, :\I orey Bemstei n . B etween late :'\ O\'em her I !1:) 2 a m i early I 953 (when her h usband cut them s hort ) B c m stein con d ucted a se1·ies or tests with a 2!)-ycar-old local socialite. :\ I rs \'irgi nia Tighe. The staggeri n g results became the subject of a best-selling book and popula r mo\'ie ent itled Thr Sra rch for nridrv ,\lll lj!hJ. Under hypnosis, :\ I rs Tighe, who had no I J·ish desce n t , ' regressed' to a life as Bridget ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
( B ridey) � l u r p h y . horn in Cork in Decem
Psychologists later established
t hat
the
ber 1 7�1H. S h e was able to p rovide an a maz
brain rer a i n s memory of almost everyt h i ng
i n gl y
ir experiences a n d t h a t , w hereas t h i s is nor
detailed
marriage,
accou n t
e\·eryday
of
her
fam ily.
feat ures of her
life.
mally
names of local streets and shops, and of her death after fal l i n g downstairs. having moved over
250
inaccessible
to
conscious
recall,
a
process called cryp t o m n esia can someti m es loosen t h e t ies and al low some of it
to
m i les to Belfast. She cou ld
bubble to t h e su rface. H yp n osis was fou n d
even dance I rish jigs. sing songs and usc a
t o en hance t h e p robability o f cryptom nesia.
few I rish words in t h e i r correct usage fi·om
1 50
Research
years hef(lrc h a n d , even though some
with
had since altered in meaning.
i n to such
mat ters con t i n u e d ,
fur ther p a s t life
regression
experi
ments grabbing the popu l a r i maginat ion .
Sceptics who set off to I reland to d is
Sceptics strongly challenged t h e whole con
prove t h e cla i m as p u re fan tasy received a
cept of hypnosis u n ta p p i n g t h e wonders of
su rprise. Although cert a i n fac l s were wrong
rhc h u man brai n . They ci ted several exam
and some were u n chcckable
ples of s i m i lar rich m e mories of past l ives
(records of
births were not kept fro m that far back and
h a v i n g withou t doubt slcm med from novels
thus
read long ago or from snatches of con versa
no
real
B ridcy
\ l ur p h y
cou ld
be
p roven to have lived ) , others, such as t h e
l io n from child hood , of w h ich t h e h ypn o
n a m e s of shops and t h e c o i n s then i n use.
t i zed sul�jcct had no consc ious recollec t i o n .
were all correct .
T h e doublers c l a i m e d hy i m pl icat ion t hat
Debate set t led upon exact ly what kind or
all past l i fe memories could be reduced to a
data could be produced by h y p nosis. It was
fa n tasy built from such earlier experiences
dimly
if more research were possible.
recogn ized
alread y
t hat
it
could
release i n formation and me mories h i dden
Of course, there were many who aimed
from the bra i n . But equally it could stim u
to d isprove t h i s and who set about con d u ct ing fu rther i n vestigation with new e n t h u si
late fan tasy a n d role play. There was a clear choice about the Vir gin ia Tighe/ B ridey this
life
was
a
M ur p h y case. real
memory
asm . 1\ l o reover. t h e fact that more than half
Eithe1·
the world's popu lation o u tside t h e Ch risr
see p i n g
ian religion mainta i n ed a strong belief in
t h rough , possibly getting contami nated to
t h e rcalit y o f past l ife fuel led t h e desire to
some extent along t h e way, or t h e woman
prove t h e sceptics wrong. The battle lines
was i n v e n t i n g the whole t h i n g without real
were quickly d ra w n .
izing i t , the few correct facts be i n g incorpo rated fro m books she had read in t h e past. This M rs Tighe vigorously den ied . Eve n tually, a rival Ch icago n cwspape1· reported t hat :\ I rs Tighe had lived as a small c h i l d close by an I rish liunily called Corkcll, t h e mother bea ring t h e maiden
1914
I
2 1 OCTOBER
U FO E N C O U N T E RS I N E The
C FO
U ROPE -
.
m ystery suddenly outgrew i t s
name of Bridie. �Irs Tighe said she had
American roots with a series of dramatic
never k nown of t h i s liJCt. Yet t h e possib i l i t y
e ncoun ters
t hat t h is h a d been the sou rce of the i n for
France was the focal point of the wave but
mation used unconsc iously by \ I rs Tighe
cases were a lso generated i n Brit a i n , Spain
was t oo strong fclr most
a n d I talY.
to
resist. even
d u ri n g
one
t e n -day
spell.
of the expose were
The sighr i n gs were parr icularly i n terest
never verified. I t is wort h mentio n i ng, too,
ing for provid i n g the first reliable 1·cports
t hough
some
parts
that � 1 rs Corkell's son was an edi tor w i t h
of alien e n r i r ics bei n g seen close to U FOs.
t h e newspaper c h a i n carry i n g t h e slory.
They often
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
rese m bled
h u mans,
tall and
w i t h blond hair, similar to t hose m e n t i oned bY the c.:on tactee m on men t The d i l ference ·
.
was t h a t t h ere was no u rge here t o i n d u lge in metaph ysic.:s or t o fou n d societies . I n o n e t ypical case, at Ra n t o n , England
191�
NOVEMBER
L I F E AFTER D EATH Sco t t ish med i u m
I l clen
Du ncan
holds a
on 2 1 October, �Irs J essie Roestenbe r g a n d
part icularl y memorable place in t he h istory
h e r t wo you n g children hid u n der a table
of t he para normal for a n u mber of reasons.
in fea r as the LJ FO ho\'ered o u t side w i t h
By
1 956 she spa n n i n g
had
had
a cont roversial
t wo t;tir-haircd bei ngs gazing dispassio n
career
ately down at t h e m o u t of a large pic t u re
\'Cars as a rare p ract it ioner o f the
wi ndow. � [ a n y cases such as t h is occu rred
of Spiritualism - bei n g what
more
than
t \,·e n t y-five v isible
art
is called a
in isolat ion from one anot hct· d u ring t h is
p h ysical med i u m . She did much more t han
dra m a t i c burst of act i ,· i t y .
s i m p l y pass o n messages receiYcd i nside her
These reports h e l ped to re-establ ish t h e cred i b i l i t y o f LJ FOs and . in part icular. of t h e idea of alien con t ac t .
Med1um Helen Duncan h a d many brushes with the law but
was never pmved guilty of fraud.
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
miiHI
fro m
u n see n
spirits
of t h e
dead.
nat ion a I
hea d l i nes.
:\It hou�h
defra u d
IJ·aud
and
St i c ky w h i t e ect oplasm ext ru ded from her
co n s p i racy
body and al legedly li>rmed i n t o s h a pes of
charges l e velled agai n s t h e r . t h e 200-year
1o
'"ere
lhe
n1 a i n
cl i e n t s
old \\'it chrraft Art was also c i t ed ( for t h e
\\"CIT t n·i n g t o c o n t act . Their t hree- d i m e n
las t t i m e i n B rit ish h i s t on"). Des p i t e t es t i
dead
various
rel a t i \'cs
,dw m
her
sional forms t h e n bridly e m e rged fro m a
m o n y from s u pporters a n d a n offi_..- t o gi \"t'
cabi n e t , wandered i n t o t h e d i m l y l i t sea nce
a d emonst r a t ion in co u rt , which t h e j u ry rejected, I I den Du ncan was f i. m n d g u i l t y
room, and d e p art ed a ga i n . Cou n t less people were con\'inced b y all of t h is, l<J t e r co m i n g fo rward t o <I l l est t o the a u t h e n t ici t y o f t h e ap pari t io n s
t h ey
h ad
seen a n d C\'en touched . Some or t h e p h ot o
a n d sent t o I l o llowa y women's priso n i n Lon d o n l(>r n i n e m o n t h s . S h e eme rged a broken wo m a n , \'Owing- i n fi l l u re
to
gi\'c
up
holding
sea t Kes
li>r
less
1 1 1 o n ey. B n t she was soon h;Kk i n business.
.\ I rs D u nra n ' s 'c h i ld s p i r i t g u i de ' . fi l m ed at
t u a l ist I I I OYCI IH' n t had ca ust>d t he \\' i t c h crali
e v i dence,
graphic
howe\'e r,
looked
t h<Jn p e rs uas i n· . The m a t erial ized f(>nll of
I !J:t� . h ad t h e decided a p p ear
a seance in
ance of a blow n - u p doll wi t h ra t h e r cr u dely
\leanwhile, pop u la r o u tcry from the S p i r i Act t o he re p eal e d . It was rep laced by t h e Fra u d u l e n t \ l ed i u m s Art .
pai n t ed f:Kial teat u res. wrapped in a w h i t e
I n 7\o\" e m ber 1 9:1() I lclen l l u tKan ( now
sheet. B e t h at as i t might . s u ch was t he ro n
aged 51)) h d d a seance iu :'\o t t i n g-h a m t h at s t a ked
elusion rear bed by t h e t:tr from scept ical
was
gh ost h u n t er I l a rr y Price.
a t t e m pt ed to grab ec t op las m w h ich
.\Irs D u n can had fi rst been in t rouble i n
out
by
police.
I 9 :n w h e n police i n fi l t rated a seance i n
norm a l
t he med i u m col l a psed .
for m a n d came awa\' w i t h a w h i t e ,· es t ! \\'it
and
n csses to t h e seance s i gned
repu t ed l y
a
statement to
t h i s cflcct t h a t w a s used i n e \' i d en ce a t t h e t rial .
The
medimn
"·as
fou n d
guilty
of
Later. d u r i n g t he war, when she began police
in
Port s m o u t h ,
mou 1 1 1 ed
fin·t lwr
E n gla n d , ra i d s .
She
t he was
alleged t o be a n u isance t o t he a u t h o rit ies because a t one sea nce a sailor who h a d go n e down w i t h h i s s h i p came t h rough a n d t o l d o f his rece n t deat h , h u t accused t h e Royal
:'\ a\")' of delibcra t d v holding back
public k n owledge of t he sin k i n g. There was sp ecu l a t i on
t h at
t he
m ed i u m
had
been
gi \"en a hard t i m e to preve n t her accid e n t a lly d i snwering- more w a r secrets� \\' hen 1 h e pol ice broke i n o n a no t h e r seance i n J a n u;try I �J. 1 -l , t h e i r a t t e m pt t o l a y h ol d of ectoplasm a n d pnn· ide hard e\" i dcncc
I(JI"
fra u d
t:t iled .
t h ey
m a t e r i a l . To
t heir
a st o n i
s h m en t ,
\ I rs D u n G t l l was t a ken bac k to Sco t l a n d e n t ered
hospitaL
bca r i u g
seriously
scorch
m a rks
ill
a nd
on
her
s t o m a d 1 a rea. s u pposed ly caused 1)\" t h e
ect oplasm shoot i n g back t oo fast i n t o h e r hod y . Spi ri t u a l i sts h ad long c l a i med t h at
decep t ion a n d l i ned I I O. wor k i n g
t hey
p re s u m ably ex pect ed to be some k i n d of
Ed i n b u rgh a n d she was charged w i t h fra u d .
A pol icewom a n grabbed a t t h e ect oplasm i t·
Aga i n
En·n
so.
.\ I rs
shoc k i n g a m ed i u m o u t of a r ra n n· co uld he p o t e n t ia l ly 1;11al. Sad ly. i n t h is ctse. I i den
D u ncan may have proved t h em righ t . She tH'H' r tTrmTrecl
and
weeks l a t e r , offi c ia l ly
1917
16
d ied s u d d enly li\"e
fi·01n nat u ral ca u s es .
OCTOBER
ALI E N BABI E S
The worl d ' s first recorded ( a n d consciou s l y recollec t e d ) abduction by aliens a l lege d l y
occurred t o 2 :� - �·e a r-ol d Etrm worker Anto
n io \ ' i llas B oas ncar Sao Fra ncisco d e Sales. B raz i l .
l ie said t h at a s t ra n ge object had
D u ncan w<Js arres t e d , held in jail a n d t ried
descen ded out of t h e early mom i n g s kies
at
and stopped h is t ractor e n g i n e dead .
t h e O!d B a i l eY i n a case t ha t m ade
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
He was grabbed by several m ed i u l l l -s izcd meu of h u m a n ap pearauce weari n g silvery
Anton1o V1llas Boas undergo,ng med1cal tests follow1ng h1s alleged abduct1on by ahens.
s u i t s aud b u n d led i nt o t heir domed lau d i u g craft . I nside h e was rubbed down w i t h a gd
substance ami t«:>nded by a strange fem ale
hope t h at anot her like it might occur. Two s i m i la1· inciden t s would t hen senT to con
h umauoid with red h a i r , who barked and
fir m each o t h er as proof of a real alien pro
velped like a n a n i ma l . The sex ually arou sed
gra m m e on
Villas Boas was t he n 'raped' by t he woman
\'iew o f cr«:>at i n g h ybrid h u man/alien babies.
who gest u red to indicate that her purpose was to ha\'e his baby in outer space ! d ucted a ful l in\'estigation a n d cloc u m e n t «:>d detai ls. V il las Boas ne\'er m ade any money nor d i d h e gai n immediate p u blicity from t h e incide n t . Fon t es decided to sit on t h e was
u n p recedented.
in
t he
the
1 9G I , details of t h e happt> n i n g were
submit ted
I n J a n u ary 1 9:i 8 , Dr Ol;n·o Fo n t es con
case. w h i c h
In
Eart h . presuma bly with
to
the
British
L FO jou rn a l .
Fly n� SauCI'r He1•it'W, but not p ublished by t h e m agazine for t hree years . ;\ l ea n time the
'wild story· was vindicat ed b y t h e eve n t s in �ew H a m psh ire (see 1 9G J ).
Less t han live weeks after t h e V i l las Boas
enco u nter, however, a world awa\" in t h e
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
technology t o show ways t h a t t hese \'isitors
English \\'est \ l idlands, C y n t h i a Appleton ,
could destroy om ci\'ilization.
a young mother from Aston in B irm ing
It
h a m , had an equally dra matic encoun ter. On
18
is cert a i n l y i n trigu i ng, even though
most of the cases happened in
:\' ovember 1 957 the 2 7 -year-old
isolation
fro m one another and were free of any
woman suddenly not iced that the sky had turned p i n k . S i m u l ta neously, t here was an
likely collusion, that t his combination of
elect ric flash in her living room (scorching
s t range e\'eiH s occuned a t s uch an appro
t h e floor and a blond-haired
newspaper) and
figure
a
materialized.
tall,
priate poi nt in Eart h h istory. The wave was
He
sand wiched between two incidents that like
showed her a hologram (a concept n o t y e t
wise inYoiYed powerful electrical fields -
inven ted) and d u r i n g the course of se\'en
stalling the fanner's tractor and b u m i n g
more \'isits up to early 1 959 discussed sci
t he mother's floor. :\' e i t h e r achieved public
ence and philosophy w i t h h e r.
ity at the time yet both fea t u red a new theme - of 'alien babies' - a trend that was
I n early J u ne 1 959 C y n t h i a ga\'e birt h to a fair-haired hoy. Although it was appar ently fat hered by her husband (who ne,·er met the alien), Cynthia was con\'inced that the child's 'spiritual' pedigree was alien. She claimed t hat fu ll details o f t h e birth had been predicted during t h e final visit by the t a l l , blond stranger and that she had been told to name the baby l\la tthew.
to become domi n a n t decades later.
19J�
f
4 OCTOBER
THE R EBORN TWI N S
After fi\'e or six years o f research into the
When she first reported this story, the V il las Boas case had been recorded i n D r Fontes's s urgery bm had n o t been publicly
possibility of reincarnation , argu ments still
raged as to the u n s u i tabil i ty of e\'idence procu red u nder regression hypnosis. Then
revealed. In t h e month between the B razil
a case occurred which seemed to proYide
ian
the perfect answer to the critics.
adYen t u re
and
\ I rs
Appleton 's
first
alien contact, t h e Earth had e nt e red the
I t d id not come from a count ry such as
space age, with the So\'iet l a u n c h of S p u t n i k
I nd i a . w here belief in past-life existe nce was
I . Moreo\'er, a n extraordin a ry sequence of
commonplace. �or was hypnosis im·oh·ed
e\·en ts had occurred between 3 0 October
in a n y way. The memory was completely
and
conscious and, indeed, e\·en displayed some
7
:\'ovember,
when
no
fewer
than
thirty- three cases of car stoppages had been recorded, mostly in the western U SA and
associated physical eYidence. The eyents began t ragically in England
n ine of these within the Le\'e lland, Texas,
on 5 \lay 1 9:) 7 when two sisters, aged G
l l , t he only children of the Pollock
area on the n ight of 2/:) �ovember alone.
and
This amazing cluster of e\·ents within such a
fam i ly
short t ime represented one- t h i rd of all such
were k il led along w i t h a you ng male school
known cases during the decade u p to 1 95 7 .
from
f l ex h a m ,
:\'ort h u mbe rland,
friend in a freak accident. A widow, who
I n s u c h i nstances, a U F O , usually in t h e
had taken an overdose of sleeping pills and
form of a gl owing b a l l of energy. appears in
was determined to end i t all a t t he wheel of
front of a car a n d causes a complete loss of
her new car, careered down the hill and
power, stopping its e ngine and extinguish i n g its headligh ts. A s t rong electrical field
struck the t h ree children as t hey walked cheerfully a long t he pa\'ement towa1·d a
seems to be generated and \'arious theories
ch urch sen·ice. They were killed outright.
ha\'e at tempted to ident ify this. Those who
J ohn Pollock, despite bein g a Catholic,
su pport the idea that U FOs are alien visi
had a strong and rath e r u n usual belief i n
tors claim i t as a demonstration of superior
reincarnation , a doctrine n o t accepted b y
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
his faith. He had prayed re p eat e dly for t h is to he proven through him in some way. After the t ragedy. an d apparen tly without the agreement of his wife , Florence, he came to see t h is terrible e\·cnt as p u nish men t for his pleas to God: but he also fel t sure t h a t the matter was n o t at a n end and that his prayers would be a nswered. Some months later, Florence became preg n a n t. Jo h n a n nou nced that she would give birth to twins and t hat they would be the couple's dead daugh ters reincarnated. Florence, horrified by this notion , openly scoffed. Her doctor was adama n t that as there was no h istory of twins i n either family the cha nces were highly remote. The hospital gynaecologist added that only one foetus was detected in :\ I rs Pollock's womb. End of argu men t. Yet Florence Pollock did after all giw birth to twin girls on 4 October 1 958 - just seven teen months after t h e t r ag i c death of t heir s isters. I m m ediately, it was noticed that one twin had a 1;1illl white mark on her forehead that matched a scar on the head of one the dead daughters a fter she had fa llen from her bicvcle as a toddler. There was also a birthmark on t h e hip of that same newborn daugh ter, exactly where it had been on her dead sister. Such birt h marks may pass from gen eration to genera tion , yet it was considered un usual t ha t , despite t h e twins bein g formed from just one egg. wh ich normally means they arc iden tical and sh are all m�jor physical ch ar acterist ics , only one of them possessed that birt h mark. The same, of course, had been true of the deceased (non-twin) sisters. Although the forehead scar faded after a few years, t he birt h mark remained. Various incidents occu rred to confirm .J ohn Pollock's opin ion t ha t his dead daugh ters had been reborn. The fa mily m oved from H exham when the babies were only a few months old, but he brought t hem back for a single day (at t he age of t h ree) on advice from a reincarnation expert in t he
USA. I nevitably, motivation must to some exten t have coloured t he reported results. i'\e,·ert heless. John Pollock said t hat th e girls u n m istakably recogn ized t hings (e.g. t he school attended by their dead sisters) that they cert ainly ought n ot to ha\'c known abou t . When t he girls were four, some dolls were left ou tside their room. These had belonged to their s isters and had been locked away for the past five years. Although the su�ject of reincarnation had never been men tioned in the twins' pres ence (at t heir mot her's insistence), t hey might admittedly ha,·e overheard their par ents discussing it. Either way, bot h girls reportedly recognized these dolls, ga\'e t he m the correct names and ident ified wh ich belonged to which s ister from their supposedly p rnious existence. :\l ore frigh tening still were the occasions when one sister was f(m n d cradling the ot he1·, talking about blood pouring from her mouth, just as it had after the terrible acciden t ; or when bot h girls were found i n t h e back garden clutching each other t ight ly, screaming out loud , after a car had start ed u p and happened to he pointing toward them at the same angle as the ca r that had killed their sist ers during th eir final, terrif>·ing moments. After the age of !i years t hese incidents ceased. The twins did not learn of their supposed reincarnation until I !li2 and both grew u p witb n o way of knowing whether or not it was credible. They h a d no conscious memory con necting them with t h ei r long-dead sist ers. As adults, one took an int erest i11 the paranormal, the other preferred to avoid talking about the matter a ltogether. Like the rest of u s , the Pollock girls may ne\'er know whether t h eir experience was a strange psychological mystery. somehow con nected with their father's un usual beliefs, or whethn they really were brought back from death to the fa mily that t hey had lost. as amazing proof of eternal life.
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
T HE S P A C E R A C E
D
u ring t h e ' S winging S i x ties' a contin u ous stream of new tec h n ology-l(>r e xam ple ,
t ra n sistors t h a t m i n ia t u rized electronics to s t a rt l ing e ffec t-al m os t concea l e d t h e da y - t o- d a y improvements now taken for gra nted. The deca d e was si gn i fi ca m , too , i(>r i ts e xp lo ra t ion o n t wo
fron ts-w h a t m i g h t be t e r med i n n e r a n d ou ter space.
,\mcrica ¡s n c a r- m i rac u l o u s ac h ie v e men t of la nd in g men on the �;l oon d e f i ed even the best scie n t ific com m e n t a t ors o f the day. As for i n n e r s p a c e , t h is was t h e e ra when the l i m i t a t i on s of o u r knowledge o r the h u m an psy c h e were first t r u ly
a p p reci a t e d . C o n s e q u e n t l y, th ere was an e xplosion or i n t e res t i n t h e w o rk i n gs of t h e m i n d , in a l t e red s t a tes of consciou sness, reaching ou t into ot h er
d i m e n sions, a n d
a
rea \\' akcni n g of s p i r i t ual va l ues .
bega n in earnest, w i t h n ew methods bei n g so ugh t to im prove t he q u a l i t y o f com nHmi ca t ion . Alt hou gh many workers !Cit cert a i n t h at t h is w a s t ec h n ologi c al p roof of l i k afte r
VO I C E S I N T H E SKY Ever s i 1Ke the d i s cove ry ol radio waves , it had been spec u lat ed t hat if ESP was a
lar (( >nil
sin•i
of e nergy . as was t ho u gh t proba
deat h ,
Ben d e r
h i m sel f
i n c l i ned
to
the
t h eory t h at t h e m i m i of t h e exp e r i m e n t er
was somehow a lt e ri n g t he magnet ic fi e lds i m p r i n t ed on to t he audio t ape a n d creat
ble, t h en som e kind of i ns t ru me n t m i g h t be
i n g t h e voi ce pattcrus by usi n g s o-called P K
dc ,·iscd t hat co u l d t u ne i n t o other d i m e n
( psych oki n esi s ) - t he same f()rfe believed to
sions.
A
prime
c an didat e
fi>r t h is concept
was t he rea l m o r li fi.· a fier d eat h .
I n t he late s u m m e r of 1 9:i 9 . Frie<h-ich
J u rgenson ,
a Swed ish fi l m prod ucer who
special ized i n na t u re re c or d i n gs. was t api ng bird
songs
sounds
when
in truded
strange
pl ay b ac k
on into
work .
h is
They
s ee med to be voi c es (i·om t h i n ai r talki n g in snatches about
t he
very
su bject
he
was
n� cordi ng.
Des p i te t h is odd coi ncidence.
J u rgen son
ass u m ed t hat h is m i rr oph o n e had p ic ked
polt e r ge i st
t r i gger voices
were
screened prm·ed
' rea l' .
act ivi t y . Test s
eq u i p me nt posi tive ,
and
Cert a i nly with
the
carefu l l y
sealed
in t hey
yielded
rooms voice
prin t rea di n gs on an oscil l oscope. in t h e same man n er a s a n y speech p a t t e r n . \\'hen
Ra udive
d ied i n
1 974 ,
his ' voice'
was reconlecl a ((·w days l a t e r. l le seemed to be pleading t hat wor k should con t i n u e
a nd 'ot h er tedm iqncs' b e exp l o r ed . Even
better resul t s were subsequ e nt ly dai med by
I I S i n g s p ecial circu i t ry or by recordi n g on to
up a st ra y rad io t ransmission t h at chanced
demagnetized tape fi·mn 'w h i te noise' static
he
off t he radio band when carefu l ly t u n ed
to he on t h at topic T h ro u g hou t tried
many
expe ri m en t s
m ore
alwap
away from a n y t ran s m i l l in g stat ion s .
I t was this !ina I s t ep 1 hat was event ually to
s peakin g i n short bursts at what seemed to
prm· ide the most amazing of all a l l eged com
he 's p e eded u p ' ra t l' S . But ohen, once he
m u n ications. But t h a t was not u n til 1 97 7 .
kept
fai n t
the and
\'oin·s
appeari ng:
1 960 and
had al l u n ed to t h e m , t h ey were u n l n i st ak a b ly h u m a n
n>ices.
� l o reover,
he
some
t i mes recognized t he m as dead fi·iends or rela t i ves. By
the
( :crman
m id-Sixt ies,
gm·ern m c n t
the
had
prog r ess i ve
fu nded
para
p sycho l ogi ca l research at t h e U n i versi ty of
Frciburg, u n der the directo r sh i p of Profes
1961 T H E L I F E FORCE D r Semyon
K i rl ian
was a n electrical engi
neer i n the CSSR. I n I 939 h e d i scovered by
sor l -l an s Bender. l i e was one of t he first t o
an·ident an cfl(·n not u n der s tood for sev
take a n i nterest i n
e ral more years.
J u rgen son 's
work, li.>l
lowed swilil y by Dr Konstam i n Raudive, a psychologist exiled from t h e li>nner Latvian
Kir l ian was usi n g a high-voltage syste m to generate low cu rrent i n his laboratory,
re p u b l ic b efore its a n n exation by the CSSR.
i n ves t ig a t i ng t h e possi b le eiTects of en ergy
R a n d i \'e taped h u ndreds o f voices i n t e n
fields on th e health and wellbei n g of a n i
years of expe r i men t s t hat c u l m i nated in h is
mals. As h is hands moved along s i d e t h e
I �)7 1 book Brl'll kth rough. wh i<·h {lrst i n t ro
ele< t rode, a l la s h of li gh t lit t he roo m . l i e
d uced t h e mystery t o t h e E n glish -spea k in g wo rl d .
Research i n t o what
was b · ·i dl y st rm:k by a
t he
ca me
to be called
E\' P ( ele c t ron i c vmcc p h enom enon ) now
c m-re1 1 t ,
b last
or energy; but
u n l i ke t h at given out d u r i n g a
t h u nderstorm . was not strong e n ou gh to he d a n gerous. K i rl i a n wondered, ne\'ertheless.
THE SPACE RACE
thC' �J al··n t J -.-1 'IUll ,-i.'"r r1 -1"1d I ::il�0Vt;' .) ' 1 ;: c l �:_ s· .--:. i'C.-t l e r · 1· n �J iJOS te ! . - f1 1,' tt •(r,n.qJ e l�c1':::
11· h a r r n i g l1 1 h ; t \ e h a p pened h a d r l u r i n s r a n
�: , . 1--tr
rro:O•�'--.:�o l · s 0 "
r a nemrs f la s h
c/ U 1 e
·
htTll fn >lcn o n l o f l l r n . S o h e t ried r o d u plict l e t he p rocess by u s i n g l i g h t scnsit iH· paper. The res u l t 11·as ;1 11-ci n l p i c T L l lT ol h i s f i n g e rt i p s ,,- i t h b r i g h t l Y w l o u r e d s t rea k s o f en ergy p o u r i n g f rom l l r e n 1 . l r ra t h e r resem b l e d t h e p hotosp here o f t h e S u n 11· h c n f l l r nnl d u ri n g a n ccli psL In
I �)() I
.·:1·-:-; USC'C
kce·1
,\t
f i rs t
hod1 ol
e n c rg 1 ·
fields f( n r n d t o be s u r
prol'l.·d
n n r n d i n g l i 1 · i n g crea t u re s . \\'eak c l cct rictl I.T: t t ed .
II
1\Trt'
enw1 ged
n o t a b h- b i r d s . u sed
k n own t o
t ha t t he m
some
lo
he ge r t
;mirnab.
n a Y i ga t c
i n r er-rca < l i n g 1 1 i t h t he m t K h sl ro n g n
l ro - m a g n c t ic f i el d s
THE SPACE RACE
In
ckr
of t he E a r t h i r scl l . ! h i s
t o so-c; dkd K i rl ian
ir
11 as ;tss u nJcd . p a r t i c u la rl y i n
c i n l c s . t h a t t h ese p i < l u res had
c q > t u rcd the ';u r r;t " genera t e d b\ t he s p i r i t
of n e w k n 01dcdgc abo u t
; t i J d m agne t ic fi e l d s
L O I ' : r 0\/f'''C, y
p l H > t l >gra p h l . Spirit ualist
t h i s ll"o rk 11·as i m porr ed 10 t h e
t d
-.- "
g ; t \ l" a JH' \1' i n c e n l i H·
\\'esl i n t h e wake biological
" i 1 ':::� 1 l>t
(iT·,J
;1
l i 1 · i n g tTl\tt u re . L n fi >rt u n a t ciY, i t
to h e no s u c h t h i n g. 1\. i r l ia n i m ages L l l l lw Ltken ol in a n i m a t e oh j ert s . a n d t h e b r i g h t colo u rs t h a t rhar; K t critc t h e pho t ogra p h s o l h a n d s ;md lea ll'S ( re a d i l y �•dap t able 1\. i r l i � t l l s u b jects) a re a n m t rol b b le p ro d u ct of t h e phot ograp h ic t e c h n i q u e a n d not o l t h e o b je ct b e i n g f l l nw d .
Some evidence was acnmHdated l h a l l h e K irlian ' a u ra ' a h e red an o n l i ng to t h e state of
h ea l t h
T h el m a
of
s u � jen
t he
at
l\ l oss,
i n volved.
L' n i ,· ersi t y
the
such.
his hoo k ,
Nt'll' Scit'llrt' of l.i{t·,
was
ha i l ed a candidate ((H· bu rn i n g by m uc h of
Dr
m a i n s t ream science and rcm;t i n s anat hema
of
to m a n y or his co ll ea gu es , even l hough h e
Rochester, :\' ew York , established marked
has worked hard to devise e x per i me n t s to
d i l li.-re nces. li>r e x a m p l e
prm·e or d isprov e h i s t h esis .
between Kirlian
,
p l 10tograp h y ol" ra t s w i t h ca ncer and ra t s
K i rli a n p h otog r ;t ph y u ndoubtedly works
w i t h o u t t he d isease. B u t som e of t h i s was
t h ro u gh
a
even t u a l l y sl town to be a resu h of c h e m ica l
p h ys i ca l
p rocess
bod y < h a n ges wh ic h p rod u ce a d i lle r en t
c h a r ge ' , in w h i c h t h e a i r hctwL·en t he fil med
clenrical reanion, ma k i ng t he p hotograp h y
o l�j ert
a usel"u I d iagnosl ic t o o l but not a s u pe r
down and ion izes i n to its co nst i t u e n t parts
n a l u r;tl one.
l h ro u g h a n electrictl bu rst of energy. What
pe rfect l y
ami
u n d erstood
ca lled
photograph ic
t he
n at u r al
'co ron a
d is
mat erial lneaks
stranger
is i n dou bt is whether t h e pi ct u re s t h;tl
cla i m e d res u l t s . In ex peri men t s with leaves.
res u l t a rc me r ely random effects of" this
l loweve r, a
t h ere
a re
p h ot ogra p h s
fi.-w
some
have
revea led
what
appears to be the w h ole lea l even a ft e r part
I J J IHHlane
process or some aspects
of a
h i d den energy fie l d s u rrou n d i n g ;t h u man
tom away - as i f" an a lter
bod y . I s it il l u m i n a t ed i n t o brief" p e r s pective
i ma ge o f t h e a u ra re m;t i ns . Those who su p
ju s! as a lig h t n i n g fiash C;tn m a ke t h e la n d
port t he view t hat t he K i rl ia u ph otograp h s
sca pe visible l(n· a fra o i on o f a secon d ?
of il has d e p ic t
b een
S O I I H'
k i nd of ( i f{: l icld S I I ITOI I I l d i ng
a l l ol�jens ( i n a n im a t e ol�jecls a l l ege d l y p ic k i n g t h e s e up hy n m l aCl w i t h l ivi n g t h i n gs )
m a i n t a i n t h a t t h i s l ield does n o t d is p e rse w h e n t h e p h ys ic a l bod y dies, t h u s offering
S(JJill' evi d e nce for s u rvival or dea t h . Th e y cite, as p o s s ib l e fiu t h c r l'\" irknce or t h i s in visible
e n er gy
a m p u tees lose pn·senn·
lid d .
cases
t he
s u r ge r y
SEPTEMBER
T H E W H I T E MOU N TA I N S ABDUCTION
w h ic h
1 11
li mhs but e m ' feel'
lon g a lier
1961 19
t heir
is con
c l u ded .
The first m;�jor s pac e n a p p ing (;t l ie n abd lJ{ l i on ) to ach ieve glob;t( ;J l l e n l ion o£·cu rred i n t h e \\'hite � f o u n t a i n s o r \: e w
B iolo g is t Dr Ru pert Sheld r;t ke ex t e nd ed t h e concept later s t i l l w i t h h i s ITse;trch i n t o
I I a m p s h i rc .
l " SA, l a te l h i s n i gh t . lkt t y l l i l l . a social worker. a n d h e r h u s
w h at he c a l led t h e ' morphogenet ic' (or :\"l )
ba n d , B ;t rn e y , w e re driv i n g home fro m a
field - esse n t ial ly a st ru c t u r i n g energy field
C :;t n a d i a n h ol id ay w hen t hey observed a
t h at S I I ITOU I I d s all ge n e t i c m a t erial. He fel t
w h i t e l ig h t in t h e sk y . A l oc a l ;ti r fi>J"Ce base
a s a b l u e p r in t l o e n s u re t h at
rec or d e d a n u n id en t i fied radar t rac k i n g al
that this
SLT\TS
p h ysic;tl l'e l l s grow into the correct fo rm
the
r;t t her t h a n a n yt h i n g else. Alt h ou gh such
t h rough binocu lars and
l i li.· e ne•·gy has m a n y s i m i la r i t ies
\\
i t h the
K i rl i;lll ;t u r;t , S h e ldr a k e did not d eve l o p h i s
t i me .
The
co u p le
watched
t h e n su rfi..·red a
c u rious ' t imt" loss', arr iv i n g home w i t h no llll'JIJOry l ) r part or I h ei r jou rncy.
progressi n g to
They re p ort ed t h e i n c i den t i m m ed i a t e l y ,
more sop h is t ica t e d COJ Kepls about
but we re t roubled by i ts missing aspects .
w o r k fro m mw h
sa me
t hat
p r e m ise,
how t h e se � ! -fie l d s adapt and ch a n g e as
B e l l y was d o gge d by sl r;tnge d reams a n d
t i m e goes hy. Th us h e was an u a l l y def i n i ng
l'\' e n l l l a l l y t h ey bot h visited a doc t o r. Alier
a
p s y c h o l og ic a l .
sp i r it u al
and
p sy c h i c
t hem \ ol" e \ ol l l l io n to para l le l till' p u re ly physi< a l
proc es s
THE SPACE RACE
treated
hy
Darw i n .
As
doi n g t h l' rou nd s of t he me d i ca l p rofession . t h ey ended u p al t h e Boston offices of psy
chiat risl
Dr
Benjamin
S im o n .
Bet ween
December
1 96:) and J u n e
1 964 he con
ducted n u merous hypnotic regressions t o
Spacenapp1ng v1ct1ms Betty and Bamey
Hill w1th a sketch of
the spacecraft they cla1m to have encounte1·ed
rclieYe t h e an xiet y o f t h e couple. To h i s amazem e n t , t h e treatment tmco,·ered t h e
as a p la net aro u n d t he star Zeta Ret icu l i i
m emory of a supposed spacenapping.
(accordi n g
In t hese sessions bot h t h e l l il l s described
to
calcu lations
by
astronomy
t eacher :\ l �ujorie Fis h , based on Betty H ill's
being taken aboard a landed object by small
h y p n osis t es t imom·). TheY tried t o take
creat ures with large eyes and pasty s k i n s
book as proof of t he eYents b u t t h e a liens.
and gi,·en detailed medical exa m i n a t ions.
apparen t ly a fier some debate. decided not
B e t t y had a pregnancy test, with a long
t o allow this.
needle used t o d raw O\'a sam ples (a tech
a
Dr Simon did not bclieYe i n t he actua l
n ique not t h en i n use bm later adopted i n
reality
test-tube baby research ) . Barney h a d s perm
accepted t hat the I l i lls bclie,·ed t hem a n d
samples sucked i n to a t ube placed m·er his
t hat t h i s was n o t a fi·a u d , bm considered it
groin . The couple ,,·ere also shown a com
to be
plex 'star map' that located t he alien world
p ublicity, were clearly pert u rbed and spent
of t hese
a
hyp nosis
memories.
He
delusion. The couple sou g h t no
THE SPACE RACE
feet
and compa red i t t o a giga n t ic eel,
mov i n g i n typically s i n uous fas h i o n . They a t t empted to give p u rs u i t hut despite t h e speed o f t heir vessel could
not
catch
it
befi:ne it sank fro m view. f\ l a n y of t he Great Lakes o n bot h sides of the U S/Canadian border have t raditions of mon sters. :\fassive s t u rgeo n u p to 1 0 feet lo n g have been reported and t hese fis h , which ca n s u rv ive for u p t o fifty years, have someti mes been held responsible fo r such sto ries. Nat ive I nd ian legends and sight i n gs by trappers dat i n g from long bcf(He Loch Ca•- tr-dvellers
UFOs
encountenng
have sometrmes recollected
abductions d�ring hypnosis sessrons
an
at t e m p t
to overcome
:'\eH·rt heless . t he story so mehow leaked o u t not res ponsihle). In d ue cou rse local jour nalist John Fuller persuaded t he m to let him t el l t heir story i n a classic book , nw
fo u m r_v
.
t h ro ughou t
the
w h ich
,
wo rl d
was and
serialized was
later
adapted as a El it h fu l and sober TV movie
( Thc UFO lnridrnt). � l uch
of t h is
popularized serpent-shaped
describe
t hese
crea t u res
with
Okan agan) an d Champ ( La ke Champlai n ) .
t h e t rau ma.
i n 1 9G5 (though the I I i l l s were a p parently
fnlt•nujJtrd
was
romant ic n a m e s such as Ogopogo ( i n Lake
a g-ood dea l of t hei r own money on t herapy in
Ness
u n known
1964 24
MAY
T H E G H OST I N T H E W H I T E S U IT J im Tem pleto n , a fire officer in t he nor t h ern En glish ci t y of Carlisle, w e n t o u t w i t h h i s fa m i l y on
a
s u n ny sp ri ng d a y to a bea u t y
spot on t h e ne;:J rby marshes of Solway Firt h .
material. of co u rse. was
A t o n e point h e took some colo u r pho
a l ready documented before 1 964 when t he
togra p hs of his d a ughter Elizabeth holding
\'illas Boas case was p ubl ished in England.
a b u nch of flowers. H e co u ld ha rdl y have
even t hough t hat
predic t ed the outcome when t he fil m was
i ncident
had been on
record since 1 958. The para llels , including
processed. J im was told t hat i t was a pity his
entity
best shot
descript i ons.
t ec h n iques
u sed
and
had been spoi led by t he man
i n terest in h u m a n re p rod u c t io n , seem hard
s t a n d i n g in the backgro u n d . \' et no such
to d i s m iss.
man had been t h ere. Exam ination of t h e pri n t shows some
1961 12
t h i ng
ext raord i nary.
A
semi-t ra n sparent
figu re can be seen standing behind Eliza
AUGUST
bet h's head. Yet it is set at a sla n t i ng a n gle, in such a way t hat it wou l d be floa t i n g a few
LAKE MONST E RS
feet o ff the gro u n d if viewed in full per
The fi rst serious rival to :\'essie's s upremacy
s pect i ve.
said to li v e i n Lake �'la n i t oba in Canada.
t o m p hot o grap h . The 'ghos t ' appears to be
was a major photograph of t he m on s t er
The very u n u s u a l s h o t was
c a pt
u r ed by t wo
H owever, t h i s is u n l i ke any n o rmal phan weari n g a space s u i t !
fishermen i n a motorboat and it depicts a
I n (;tel , t h e w h i t e clo t h i n g a n d visor are
s n a kelike ol�jec t almost on top of t h e wateL
more a k i n to a rad ia t io n protection s u i t or,
The men est imated its size as about I 0- 1 2
ap propriately, considering ;\fr Tem p leton's
THE SPACE RACE
occ u pation at the time, a fi reman's silver
and d nn·e off lca,· ing him to hike the fi,·c m iles
u n i form for dea l i n g with special hazards.
home:
The
:\ l i n istry
of
Defence
den ied any knowledge of this i nten·iew.
Aside from l\ lr Tem p leton, his wife and
The only m u ndane options left were an
their other daughter, who were standing close by when the photograph was taken,
uns pecified
were equall y s u re that
e\'entually decided, or a combination
nobody i n t r uded
' freak pictu re' , as the police of
imo the shot. They did notice, howe\'er,
drying marks i n the dc,·e lop ment that by
that the air was 'charged' as if an electrical
chance
storm were brewing. Sheep and cows ncar
Kodak thought \'ery im probable. The com
noticed
someone
would
running
unclaimed.
have
arou nd
19�1
the
marshes without any clot h i n g. They also considered
a
double
exposure,
someth i n g
the mystery . Th irty years later the reward is
The matter was reponed to the police, who tried to s u ggest it was a streaker, but Templctons
figure,
any photographic expert who could solYe
that.
the
a
pany ofkred a reward of free film for l i fe to
by were bcha\'i n g oddly as i f i n response to
admitted
resembled
with
I
another of the Tem pleton negati\'es - per haps of a colleague in a fi resuit - acciden
T H E OUT E R S PAC E F RONTI E R -
tally stam ped on lOp of this shot during
Th roughout the
laboratory
however,
U SS R lau nched dozens o f man ned flights
exami ned t he film and concluded other
into Earth orbit and then onward to the
wise, noting t h a t there was no overlap of
:\loon. There were cou nt less other remote
the figure in the girl's hair - where the
probes to film the :\loo n , :\I ars and Venus.
this was how the effect were produced. The
T h e Moon's influence on zodiacal
processing.
Kodak,
double exposure would have con t i n u ed if i mage appeared to be of a semi-transparent
I 960s,
both the US:\ a n d
signs a n d human lives.
as dep1cted in a 1 5th-century book on astronomy.
but real person partially blocked out by the back of the girl's head. S u pern a tu ral theories have i nclu ded a J a pa n ese researcher's idea of a holograph projected fields, n uclear
by
chance
through
perhaps
from
the
power
plant
across
electrical
Chapel the
Cross Solway
Firth. If so . it must have been p r�jected through time as well as space because the plant a u thorities stated they had no men working in protecti\'e s u its on t hat day. Alternati,·cly, a U FO ex pert s uggested a partly formed alien entity emerging from an otherwise i nvisible craft . The incident a p pare n t l y aroused go\'ern m e n t i n terest, for a few days later two men in
a
dark
car,
showing
identification,
qu izzed J i m Tem p lelOn at the site, asking pec u l iar questions about bird
life. They
became an noyed when he refused to accept that he had not filmed an ordi nary man,
I
[[]
THE SPACE RACE
I nevi ta h l y. d u r i n g som e miss i o n s . st ra n ge t h i ngs were see n .
But
WCI"l'
a n y o f t he m
glow wit h great in t en si t y .
t ru ly u nex pla i n ed ? I n a deta iled rev iew of t h e evide1u-e pub lished
in
I !lG9,
i n g bags o r wast e m a t t er. T h ese ref krt t he u n filt ered s u n l i gh t so st ro n gl y t ha t t he y ca l l
R o ach .
Fra n k l i n
Dr
an
The
most
persistent
legends. however.
have grown u p arou nd t he A p ol l o f l i gh t s to
ast roph ysicist at t h e l ' n i v e rs i t y o f Color;u lo
the :\ l oo n w h ich fc>l lowed t h e se Gem i n i 'd ry
and a i\ASA consu l t a n t , p ic k ed o u t t h ree
r u n s ' . Several h a m radio operators cla i m t o
expe r iences t hat h a d some cu rious f(·a t u n·s.
h aYe heard t h e ' real' broa dcast s from 1\: ei l
Two of t hese occ u r re d d u r i n g a Cem i n i 4
Armst rong a n d B u z z Ald r i n w h ile on t h e
f l i g h t in .J u ne 1 9G5 a n d i nvolved astro n a u t
:\ l oon's su r i ; K e i n J u ly 1 969, ra t h e r t h a n
.James :\ lc Di ,·i t t . T h e most i n teres t i n g was
t h o se re la yed by :'\ASA aft er
a n o l�ject l i ke a beer ca n wi t h p rot r u d i n g
to a llow a n y securit y da t a to he 'hla< ke d
a n t e n n ae t ha t he saw as t h e cra li orbi t ed
out'
mer H a w a i i on 4 .J u n e. l i e t oo k l i l m of t h is.
wo r l d .
when
but
:'\ASA
r el e a sed
what
t h C)
from
t ra n smission
to
a
sl i gh t dela y
t he
watc h i n g
Acc onl i n g t o t hese u t t erly u n su p po r ted
assu m ed were h is s h o ts. he was con v i ll ced
al le g a t i o ns, t h e
t hat t lw two w h i t e a n d rat h e r fu zzy hlohs
bei n g met on the :\ l o o n , d esui h i n g what
were not w h a t he had seen b u t wt·n· re l lec-
t hey saw i n terms s11ch as, 'These babies a rc
1 i o ns or s u n lig h t off hol t s on I he ca p su le's
h u ge. sir . . . Oh Cod, )'Oil wou l d n ' t helien· i t !
<Tl'W
of Apol l o I I spok e of
scan h
I ' m telli n g you t h ere a re o t h e r spa cecra ft
t h ro u g h t h e thousands of i ma g es t h at were
o n t t he re . . . l i n ed u p on t h e br sid e of t he
t a ken Oil t h at m i ssio n . t h e act u al p i ct u res or
c r atc L '
Des p i t e
w in d ow.
the
o
l �j e<·t
:\lcDivi t t
were dot·s
an
ex t ensive
never not
t r an· d .
think
A It h o u g h
I have mpl'l l heanl t h es e stories d i re<·t ly
sin ister.
fro m a ll e g ed e a rw i t u esses. b u t t he y ha\'e n o
that
ass u m i n g t h a t h is hast y photograph y of a
h a r d evidence (e. g . t a p e r eco r d i n g s ) to back
well as e x pec t ed , he neve rt h el e ss beli eves
t o t h e m , add i n g t h a t i t relay e d most o f t h e
b r ie fl y p erc e i ved object d id n o t t u rn o ut as
t h em u p . �AS.\, of co m ·sc , den ies a ny t r u t h
h e sa w was
Apollo I I m essages fro m t h e ;\·l oon in real
p rob a b ly o r b i t i n g m at erial a nd not a n a l i e ll s p a c es h i p ast ride ( :em i n i 4 . I n Dece m be r I !l<l5 . . J a m es Lovel l a n d
t i me a nd would have been glad to t e l l t lw
F1·a nk Bonu;m , I wo a st r o n a u t s w h o p;n·t ici
u>m u > u ni< a t io n s . :\ I a u rice C h at elai n . p ub
t hat
t he u n identi fied
pat e d
i ll
ol�jert
subseq u e n t
� l oon
m issio n s ,
en gaged i l l a recorded c o n versa t i o n w i t h
g ro u n d w n t ro l , d escrib i n g a 'bogey a t 10
world had i t f( n m d e\· idence of a li e n li fe. Then in 1 979 t h e
fi >rnw1· c h ie f of ;'IJASA
lished his ext raord i n ary hoo k . Our ,'lll(('.lfnn
L'tllllf Jimn OutN Sjillcr.
I n t h e m a i n t h is ((>1-
lo wed a t r e nd a fter the ra p i d terminat ion of
o'clock h i g h ' . This was con li rm e d not to be
t he �l oon l a n d i ngs i n 1 973, s u g g est i n g t h a t
a hooster rocket from t h e i r own
t h eir l l nt'X J >ened e n d i n g w a s n o t d 1 1 e to
launch
( w h i c h te nded t o rema i n dose to capsules
fi n a ncial c 1 1 t backs (as t he L'S govern me n t
and cause spu rious s i gh t i n g s ) . They saw
i ns i s t ed ) b 1 1 t t o t h e a l ien presence t h ey had
one
d i scovered
lar ge .
u u i d cn t i l i ed
l i g-ht
and
many
smaller part i d e l i g h t s nca r b y .
ou
t he
:\ l oon's
su tf;Ke.
l ie
a l lege d t hat t lw g i st of t h e Apo l lo I I story
1 2 011 1 2
was correct . There were i n deed st range
:'\m·embn 1 9GG. l i l m was t a ken of st ra n ge
naft on t he :\ loon ; alt hough A r mst r o n g
I n othn fligh t s, e.g. Cem i n i
o l� j erts i n t h e f( m n of large blobs. Al tho u gh
n ot
de l i n i t e ly
i d e n t i fied ,
sc e pt i c s
think
t h em u n l i kely t o h e m y s t e r io u s . I ndeed . some of t ht>m a p pear t o be d eb r i s cast o u t
i n t o m·bit rrom t h e t i n y spaccn;di - i nd u d -
THE S P A C E R A C E
a n d Aldrin have ne\·e r supported such a l le g a t ion s. ;\ lore stories of S t i C h a p r es e n ce Gl llle from Geo rge Leo n a r d , a researcher w h o scru t i u ize d
detai led
photographs
of
the
lunar su rface and claimed t o be able to see machines carrying out min ing operations. together wit h art ificial st ruct ures. Few could li nd t h ese 1 hings in his photographs, despite circles poi nting ont where t o look, but he st ressed that you needed to stare at t he pict u res t o adapt you r eyes and t hen the line details emerged . :\ot surprisi ngly, most scient ists t hought t hat eyest rain was a more likely explanat ion li>r t his effect. They noted t hat the t;unous 'canals' observed on l\lars a cen t ury ago eve ntually t u rned out to he m u ndane geo logical kat u res too small to he seen even t hrough the best Eart h telescopes. I magina t ion joined t he dots' to see evidence of struct u re and intelligence t hat was never rea lly t here. The same ellen may well be at work with the orbital shots of "loon craters con taining alien heavy plant machinery. Ewn in the 1 9HOs t he claims of st range encou111ers during spaceflights persisted. A
An the
ar1rf:cral strue1ur·e supposedly found on c lose - up shots of lunar surface. A srgn of alren pr·csence or a .-ock shadow I
shuttle Hight in �lard1 I !):-i9 wa� supposed ly inn>lved in a dose encou111er wit h an 'alien spacecrali ' while on a military mission in Earth orbit . Those exact words act ually appear o n a tape of t he grou nd-t o-space com m u n ications t hat reached t he tabloid press. 1\t t he same t ime it was alleged t hat a 'fire' had been reported on board 1he shut t le, but t hat 'fire' was act ually < 1 code word f()r alien contac t ! Careful in\'est igat ion by L FOiogists re\'ealed t hat t h is story t(_·ll apart. The crew were H'l')' helpful ami gan· full and ti·a nk statcmems. The tape that cirntlated was report ed to be a record ing o f a hoax mes sage from an u n known sou rce breaking into a relay ti·equency used by :\ ASr\. I f t rue. e\·en t he t ricksters are becoming more sophist icated. THE S P A C E R A C E
i n g fi·ee. B u t i f t he sighting n u mbers arc a nything to go by, a whole colony of big cats must be at large: yet no carcasses or bones have been d iscovered.
19�7 M YSTE RY M U T I LAT I O N S Sightings of wild cats. assumed to be lcng ext1nct 1n Bnta1n, ccnt1nue to be reported.
On
I 5 September
pony called
I 967, a three-year-old
Snippy
was
l ()l l n d
dead
in
Alamosa Cou n t y , Colorado. The loss of a
19��
pet was a fa mily tra�cdy, b u t it was t h e man ner o f death t h a t was to have m;�jor
1 4 AUGUST
reperc u ssions. Snippy
M ARAU D I N G F E L I N E S
was
found
partly
skinned,
t h roat cut with what a ppeared to he
been
1·emoYed, as if d u ri n � a ski lled operation,
large in various parts of t h e world where
a n d all the blood was d rained . \' cl no mess
s u pposedly
extinct.
Althou�h
reports from t h e USA or Austr<�lia, where similar a n imals were aro u nd
u n ti l
quite
organs
had
cal
to j u n gle p u m <� s o t · pant hers, a r e s t i l l at are
Body
su rgi
There arc many claims that wild cats, a k i n
t hey
i n stru men t .
its
a
had been caused. There was not a drop o f blood o n the grou nd b y t he body . T h e police i n vestigation fai led to come
rece n t l y , m a y n o t b e all t h at surprisin�, i t is
up wi t h
much more con t roversial in a coun try such
who not iced that i t had occuned a m i d a
sol u t io n , b u t t h et·e were t h ose
a
as B ritai n , where it is t housands of years
m;�jor wa\·e of U FO sightings worldwide.
since a n y such a n i mals roamed what was
I ndeed , d mi n g t h e last week i n October.
then a very d i fferent habitat. Yet t he si�lu i n gs at·e extensive, with focal
B ritain had i ts big�est ever o u t break of sightings, lea d i n g to quest ions in ment
the Pen nine H i l l s in n o r t h e rn England a n d ,
applicable) to ret ain all doc u mentation in
i n particular, the moorland areas of Devon
official c h a n n e ls.
and Cornwal l . H ere u n known beasts have
and
Other
a
govern ment
Parlia
points o f activity i n sou t h cen t ra l Sco t l a n d ,
m u t i la t ions
f()llowecl .
h u n ts have failed to ensnare them .
Texas and other m id-western slates of t h e USA.
Theories
Color<�do,
most ly
i n volving
i ngs occurred in S u rrey a nd a rare photo
i11
(still
been blamed IC)r killing sheep, but man I n the mid- I 9GOs a waw of bi� cat si�ht
c a t t le
decision
normally
Wyoming,
settled
on
a
Sat a n i c rites c u l t , but several m;�jor investi
graph was obtained by a police officer at
gat ions failed to lind any su pport for this.
\Vorplcsdon near G u i l d l(nd . The cat , said
The most act ive m u t ilation cen t re outside
to resemble a p u m a , was only yards away.
of the USA was Puerto Rico, where voodoo
Opi n ion is divided as to what t h ese crea t u res are. Some believe t hey are merely large domestic cats gone feral (wild ) . On
was s t i l l practised by rcrt <� i n �rou ps, so t h e idea was never lot;tlly rejected. As
time
wen t
other ocGtsions do�s are m ist<tken i f the
emerged
cond i t ions arc not
w i t h bloodless
ideal. There arc also
by,
and
of sur�ically wounds,
some recorded instances o f big cats kept as
t h a t laser bea ms m ight
pets escaping fro m their owners and roam-
and
THE SPACE RACE
researchers
fu r t h er
precise it
cases
m u tilation
was s u ggested
be i n s t r u m e n t a l :
compiled
cvidcucc
that
s t range .
un marked
helicopt ers were
m u ndane causes.
fre
The dest ruct i\"c report .\lutr t�7.•idrna, b y
ryin g the mysterious cultists. or were t h e craft really t..: FOs ?
Predators were blamed
for t h e alleged mu t ilations after dea t h .
q u e n r l y seen at sites ncar by. Were t hey car I n n o r t h e rn E n gla n d .
Daniel Kagan and I a n S u m mers, split t h e
were
reseat-ch com m u nity. Some acce p ted t h e i t
being a t t ribu ted to ghostly wild cats, a n d
fi ndings as an i nd i cat ion t hat i t const i t u tes.
without
as J erome Clark termed i t i n 1 993, 'one of
where
cases
o f slaugh tered
any
knowledge
sheep
of
compat·able
sigh t ings in the USA. t he ' p hantom heli
the most d u rable myths o f the late t wenti
copter'. as t he police du bbed it, was regu
eth cen t ur y ' . Ot hers are not so satisfied that
larly seen hopping low across the hills late
t he mystery is o\·e,-, As long as cows appar
a t nigh t .
e n t ly drained of blood con t i n u e to be fou n d on
The attacks con t i n ued m·er t h e years. I n were recei,·ed ,
C nder hypnotic regression con
d ucted by psychologist
Dr Leo Sprinkle,
t h ey told of seeing a cow bein g s ucked up i n to a giant craft and t hen being taken aboanl
t h emselves.
l lere
the\·
help l ess as aliens disscncd
watched
parts of the
this
,·iewpoin t
is
I n J anuary 1 97 8 . again in northern Eng imnically
b�
the
DeYil"s
1967
I
20 OCTOBER
B I G F OOT F I L M T h e most i m p ressi\"e a n d con trm·ersial e\·i nence f()r the reality of ' B i gfoot' was repu t e d l y capt u red j u s t a fter I p . m . on t h i s nay
a n i mal and conducted an experi men t . land.
ranches,
two women dri,· i n g near
Hou ston , Texas, obsen-ed a bright l ight i n t he sky.
American
u n l ikely to b e changed .
�lay 1 97 3 . a s more reports o f m u tilations
Gard e n .
by Roger Patterson and Bob G i m l i n . They were
riding i n
the Six
R i\'ers Forest of
Frod s h a m .
northem California when t h e,- han a close
Ches h i re, several poachers claimed t o ha,·e
obser\"a tion of a large u n i d e n t i fied figu re.
beside seen
the
Rh·er
\\'ea\'er
at
a si lver bell-like ol�ject
land. Some
s t range bei ngs with ' m i ners' lam ps' on their head emergen and placed a fi·ame or cage
Roger Paner.;on's cine-film sequence of B• the Amen can counterpart of the
As•at>c
gfoot cla•med to be
Yet1.
arou n d a paralysed cow as if t hey were taking measurements of its body. Linda
�loulton
researche1·
and
award
E \n t Y
Strange 1/mc•t'si,
l lowe,
T\' for
an
American
producer.
won
he1· documen tary
an A
p u t t i ng toget her the U S
m u t i lation e\·idence for t h e fi r s t time. She has
con t i n ued
major
wa,·e
her
work
and
of m u t i lated
reports a
cows
in
mid
westem states d u r i n g t h e su mmer of 1 99 2 . ;\]though l l t cse remai n seems
con\"inced
t hat
u nexplained, she t he\·
are
'
d i rectlY J
related to alien spacenapping cases. A detailed i m·estigation by sceptics, p u b lished
soon
reached
after
quite
the
Howe "s
documen tary,
opposite
conclusion,
effecti n�ly arguing that there were no more than the usual n u mber o r dead cows being d iscm·ered and t hat t hese cou l d all ha,·e
THE SPACE RACE
Investigator Rene Dahinden bes1de the 8-feet-tall sculpture of Bigfoot at Willow Creek, California.
THE S PACE RACE
They took a couple of m i n u tes of mone
200 1 , and with act ual :\ l oon landings abou t
t o occur, t h e speculatiYe q u estion posed b y
fi l m as i t h u rried away. Th e fil m itself is i n d i s p u table. It shows a manlike beast measu red as about 6 fee t
fi
t h e book's t i t le w a s perfcrt ly t i med. \\'ere cert ain ancient belief sntems and t eclmolog
hair.
ical wonders. h i t herto att ributed to t h e skills
The crea t u re has obYious i n t e lligence. t u r n
of our own ancestors, act ually engi neered bY
i n g to look at t h e camera a n d i t s p u rsu ers.
another ci,·ilizat ion from a distant star?
i n ches t a l l , cm·ered i n
dark brown
Alt h o ugh not shown on fi l m . i t allegedlY stopped
l(n a t i m e to sit clown and watch
t he two m e n c u rio u s l y . 1-l oweYer. t h e re are
This wa� bv n o means a new idea. In t h e early
El60s,
Raymond
Drake,
aut hor of
(;oris and SjHW'IIU'II, one of a w i de-ra n g i n g
t h ose who feel that the gait o f t h e fi g u re as
series of i n forma t ion b o o k s . h a d looked a t
it lopes oil" i n to t h e trees i s rat h er l i ke a
cave
h u m a n being. I f so. it co u l d well ha\·e !wen
m as ks t h at i n
p a i n t i n gs
and.
in
part icu lar,
ritual
his o p i n ion d epicted alien
a man d ressed i n an a p e suit . pre t e n d i n g to
faces. li e also exami ned feats o f con s t rue
be B i gfoot .
t i n· gen i m rangi n g
Pa t t erson
h i mself
was
no
i n nocent
{i·Oin the .:\azca lines on
the plains of Peru to the mom1 m en tal stone
bystander. The war before. h e had pub
circles o f Stoneh enge and t h e l i k e , forged
lished a booklet se t t i n g out t o prow t h a t
from rock carried far across t h e coun tryside
t h ere was an Abo m i nable Snowman i n t h e
by m et hods hard t o concein� long
forest s of California. And he a n d G i m l i n
t he era of transporta t i o n .
had b e e n o u t rid i n g t h at da,· because of recen t sigh t i n gs made by
tourists i n t h e
B l u ff
they
\'on
lh n i kcn
w rote
s kilfu l lY
hcf(H-c
on
such
t o p ics a n d , t h a n ks to a well p l a n n ed p u b l ic
cert a i n l y
i t y cam paign which res ul ted i n enormous
m a d e fi nancial c a p i t a l o u t o f t h eir newest
book sales, serializat ion deals. T\' docu
·
Creek
area.
Also
men taries and moYies, t h e so-called ·ancient
eYidence'. Some foot p r i n t s were f(Hmd i n the wood s
at t h e s i t e , but experts s u ggested that t h ey did n o t match the size
or
s t ri d e length of
astro n a u t s' t h eory was born . \\'hereas it is t r u e t h a t some of t h e i n for m a t i o n t hat he presented in his series of
nen
books was i n t ri g u i n g and persuasive, t here
t h o u g h theY did appear t o be too large for
were w e l l argued claims fro m paranormal
the
fi g u re
depicted
on
the
fi l m ,
Pat t erson
neYer
Tlzf SjHW' ( 1 97f) ) , t h a t his i n terp reta
researchers, such as Ron S tory i n
a n y olw ious known a n i m a l . renou nced
the
ston·
Gods Hr'r•ea!NI
u n t i l h is death a n d G i m l i n s t i l l stands bY h i s
t io n s sometimes went too far. l l is style was
testimony.
the
quizzical and e n te rt a i n i n g . but his hypot he
enough
ses would o ft e n read as if they ,,·ere state
B i gfi>ot
p hot ograp h i c
eYidence
for d e t ailed d ebate. exec u t ed . the
reali t y
researchers seriomly
If a h o a x . i t is superbly
I f ge n u i n e . of t h e
t a ke
t hen
it
establishes
Y e t i/ B igf(>ot/Sasquatch
lege n d s once a n d f() r all.
m e n ts of fact . H i s crit ics also accused h i m of clai m i n g as
fi rst -hand
observat i o n
t h i n gs
t h at were allegedly o n l y re ported second hand. A case i n p o i n t was h i s su ggest i o n that t h e .:\ azc1 l i n e s cou ld possibly haw been an a i rstrip for l a n d i n g craft sent by t h e sky
A N C I E N T ASTRONAUTS
gods, acco m pa n ied by p h o t ographs show ing what d i d i n deed resemble sect ions of nn1wav. l'n fort u n ateh· , t hese t u rned out to
I n 1 96� Swiss hotelier Erich nm Daniken
he m u ch-short ened feat u res of a larger
astonished t h e world with h i s book Cha riots
draw i n g of a h i rd's w i n g. \\'i t h o u t fu ll i n f(n
of tht' Gods ? Hot on t h e heels of t h e mone
m a t i o n , i t was easy t o be m isled.
THE SPACE RACE
By t he mid- 1 9/0s t h e ancient astronams furore had largely died down, lacking, as it d i d , t h e resilience of other widely criticized t heories,
s u ch
as
the
concept
of
the
Bermuda Triangle. Yet i t undoubted l y gen足 erated
int e resting speculations
\'Oked
an
examination
of
and
p ro足
myt h s
and
legends from other cultur e s where there docs indeed seem to be a broadly similar pattern to stories about 'gods' descending in 'fiery chariots'
from
the skies before
recorded his10ry bega n .
Von Dan i ke n s t i l l con t in ues h i s w01揃k. well tempered by criticism . In 1 99 1 h e N azca l1nes 1n the Peruvian desert, claimed by Ench von Daniken to be the work of anc1ent astronauts. Above: Nazca sand draw1ngs of 'spacemen', a fish and an Right:
unident1f1ed ammal.
THE SPACE RACE
I [00
\\TOte the foreword to a Gennan trans足 lation of a cau t iously objecti\'e book that I co-au thored, which man y will see as a
positi\'e s t ep .
surrou nded the car and then awa ke ning on an u nfamiliar road in daylight. Their enquiries re,·ealcd that they had reached a desti nat ion physically i m possible for them to have covered by driving within the lim ited time available. They told their i ncredi ble tale to officials of the local Argentinian embassy. It was later revealed that another man driving on the same road had been 'attacked' by a strange cloud. There are other cases of this type on record, the most recent, i n August 1 992, involvin g a family from Bedfordshire, in southern England, out on a busy Satu rday morning shopping trip. A m ist surrounded the car, wh ich then moved without warning to a nother location. �l ists or fogs, often green i n colour, but someti mes white and grey, appear fre quently to be associated with these telepor tation reports. I t is i nteresting, in this context, to recall the earlier and highly con troversial Philadelphia Experiment, in 1 94 3 , when a U S warshi p was allegedly mo,·ed through space and time. Witnesses spoke of an i ntensely electrified, glowing cloud that reportedly formed about the hull.
��68
MAY
AUTO M O B I L E T E L E P O RTAT I O N Two cars travelling south o f Bahia Blanca, Argentina, were involved i n a strange i nci dent. En route to the same destination, one of them, occu pied by a doctor and his wife, vanished. Despite a search, i t was not traced. Then , forty-eight hours later, friends of the couple received an aston ish ing telephone call from Mexico City, a con tinent away. The doctor and his wife were safe - although t hey did not have the sligh t est recollection how they travelled thou sands of miles! All they recalled was a strange mist that
O F F I C I AL END O F THE U F OS On 8 January 1 969, a team of scientists headed by Dr Edward Condon and fu nded by the US govern ment via the Cniversity of Colorado, published a 1 000-page report stating that U FOs had made no contribu tion to science. The US Air Force closed its U FO study project as a result. Several team members, however, had already quit to write their own p ro- UFO report . Some sci e nt ists were so impressed by the data in both reports t hat they started i ndepen dent i m·estiga tions. Despite the negative public ity, there was no decrease in the number of U FO sightings. THE SPACE RACE
C H A L LE N G E O F T HE PA R A NOR M A L
11
m a n y ways t h is was a decade o f t a k i n g stoc k ,
o f t h eories ra t h e r t h a n d ra m a t i c new
phenomena. :'\ o w t h a t t h e conce p t s o f rel a t i v i t y and q u a n t u m mec h a nics h a d been establis hed , t rad i t i o n a l sci e n ce was rea l l y i n t ro u b l e . And t h e i d eas of m ys t i cism were f i l t e r i n g t h rough t o more academic ci rcles. Exci ted researc hers began to sense t h a t t here could be a m ee t i n g gro u n d o f old and n ew. Some scie n t i s t s t u rn e d ren egade and wrote openly abo u t t h e para n o r m a l . Yet t he key t o e xpla i n w h y t h e wo r l d t h a t w e e x pe rience i s s o d i fkre n t fro m t h e m a ke u p o f o u r accu m u lated k n o wledge re m a i n ed as c l u si,路e as ever. Po p u l a r co n ce p t i o n of t h e para n o r m al w a s one t h i n g , rea l i t y w a s a n o r h e L The researc hers set o u t t o ge t t h i s message across.
1971 29
DECEMBER
AIRLI N E A P PARITION
One o f the most remarkable hau n t i n gs of all t i l l l e began w i t h the tTash or an Eastcnl A i rl i n e s L- 10 I I Tristar aircrali as it headed into \ I ia m i Airport abo\"e the Florida E\"er glades - a net work or all igator-infested shal low river swamps. Flight ·10 I had come from :\' cw York with 1 7G p eo p l e aboard, which i n it sel f was noteworthy: it should have had well m·cr 200 passe n gers but an IIJl usually large l l ll lllber of th e m ta ncelled li 11· un known reasons at the last m i nute. Did they han� a premonition or di saster? One or t he stewardesses certainly d id. She told colleagues or seei ng the plane m m e down on flat watery land. But s h e was s pa red t he stru ggle with her conscience - and per h ap s her l i le was saved - by being s\dt rhed to another route shortly beliJrehand. All a i rcraft instru memat ion bilcd t h ree hou rs alier takeoll. \\'i th the u n l it terrain below ollering uo visual dues, t he wide bodied jet flew straigh t i n to the ground i n s t ead of on to the n1 1 1 wa y . D e s p ite a mas si\"C i m pa c t splintering the hull into pi e ces , the damp conditions prevented a l i re and 1no1T than one-th ird of those on hoard had a m i raculous escape. �ot so l u c k y were pilot Bob Loft and second olll ce r Don Repo. I Iowewr. i n t he li.J I I o w in g momhs ami years doubts grew among Eastern Airli nes stall as to wheth<.T they really had d ied. Repo's presence, in partinllar. was l d t aboard several other Tristars i n th e f l eet, especially t hose using pans salvaged fi·om the wrecked jet. Crews rep o n ed experie ncing sudden
warned of a lire risk hy d m a n i11 the spare sca t sitting next to him. Assuming him to he an airline engineer taking the flight. he checked t he su gg e s t ed circuits. There was a t:m lt and probable disaster was averted . \\'hen the captain tu rned to olli:·r t ha n ks , t h e m y s t e ri o u s e n g i n eer h a d vanished. From descriptions, other crew members 1-ecognized t he man as Don Repo. I n 1 97 :1 Repo's ghost r e p ort e dly told the crew that 't hey' (he and Bob Loft?) would nenT allow a not her L- 1 0 I I to crash. I n deed , Easteru 's large I I eel of fo rt y- n i ne jets continued to ha,·e an imp1·essin· and unblemished record. �loreo\'er, no other L1 0 I I of any airl i n e cr ash e d liJr more t h a n a decade. The promise a p peared to have ended on 2 August I 9�:J when a Delta Airways Tristar was hit by aweso me wind s h e<.T during a fierce storm as it l an ded at Dallas A i rp o r t . I t was smashed against the nuJway. Yet ncn here, despite the incredible i n ferno ami carnage that resul ted , t h i rt y-o ne people walked ou t of the wreckage, which many experts co n sidered a v i r t u a l m i racle. Perhaps they h a d some unseen help from beyond the gra n ? ·
,
tem pera t u re d rops, s t ra n ge sensations a n d c,·en
images of Re p o h i m self 1-ellertcd in the shiny surface o f equ i p m e n t . :\I any stcw anlesses confi r m ed such thi ngs to re s e arc he r John F u l ler. The most intriguing story came li·01n a pilot who d id not k now Repo. l i e was
197J I B E N D! BEND! B E N D! The
most d ra m a t i c
the
early
new phenomenon of uudoubtcdly t he appeara nce of Israeli psychic lJ ri Geller. A l t h o u g h he had heen using what he claimed were great powers to perf(wm in his n a t i ve land lin· several years , it was in I 97 3 that he came to the world's attention. Several researchers in California, i nclud ing Dr J acq ue s Vallee, tested h i s rep u te d abilities by conducting e x per i ment s at the Stanford I nstit ute. T h e y used ESP a n d n ewl y d eveloped ' remote ,· i c w i n g ' tech n i (JUCS , whereby ( ;dler was as ke d to d raw a s k e t c h that an out-of�,·iew 'sitter' had pro1 970s
was
C H A L L E N G E OF T H E P A R A N O R M A L
ce l eb ri t y tha nks to one of his 'party trick s ' ,
Above: 1mage beamed to England from Africa by the author 1n one of Uri Geller's remote-v1ew1ng experiments. Below: Geller demonstrates his paranormal powers on
which was ne\'er h is m a i n claim t o fame.
TV
This was h is apparent
a bi lit
y to cause metal
obj ects s u ch as spoons and keys to warp i n fro n t o f t he eyes o f an a u d ience, e x pen sci e nt i sts such as Dr Lya ll Wa t son and e\'en TV cameras bea m i ng the effect to millions. As a res u lt of his f(>Cusing hard, sometimes repe a t i n g stro k i ng
it
words such as ' Bend!'. and ligh t ly with his fi n gers, t he
spoon did i n deed seem to do e x act l y t h a t .
Geller w a s a smash hit, b u t i mmed iately
enraged the sc ept i c s - who enlisted g1 ·e at su pport from profe ssion a l magi cians . They �u·gued that this was a si m p l e t rick and
demonstrated se\'eral m ethods b y w hich i t coul d be done. They spoke of usi ng an acid to weaken the stem or t h e spoon ( a l t hough tests showed
t h is was not
e m ployed
by
Geller) or how by sleight of hand he cou ld dist ract the w a tch i n g m i l lions, gi\'e a mal leab l e spoon a quick je1·k and t hen release it duced, or to detect i n form a t ion about
from his p a lms a p p a re n t l y as i f bent by
a
remot e location by t u n i n g in and mental l y
m a gic. \\'hen Geller Sli<Teeded with objects as hea\'y ke ys t hat could only be
seei ng t h rough the eyes o r t he person w h o
had gone there. After these tests i n the CSA, Gelle1· came to
Britai n
and
became
C H A L L E N G E OF T H E P A R A N O R M A L
an
instant TV
such
I
DE]
t wisted within a vice , he was accused of pre ben d i n g replicas. They would not accept t hat he could be genuine.
Ckarl y 1 he mag ic ian s fl_·lt he \ra s che a t i ng t h ei r
p ro les sion
by
w i n u ing
u n deser\'ed
l;unc: t h ro ug h a n c\'idc:n t l \' s p u ri ous claim to be a psyc hic. They waged a long a nd
1971 8
AUGUST
BALL L I G H TN I NG
bit ter war t h a t n e\' c r aba t ed . I n 1 992 Ge l ler
Poss ib l y t h e best d ocu me nt ed case of t his
and J ames 'the Amazi n g' Kandi ( a n Amer i
still
can
magtua n
and
fer\'c n t
psyc h ic
p u zzl i n g
nat u ral
ph e n o m e no n
occurred i n Engla n d , when a woman, cook
d eb u n ker) en�n limght it o u t in t h e co u rt
ing in her k i t ch e n d u ri n g a t h u n d erstorm .
mom . Randi q u i t h i s pos i t ion wi t h CS I C O I '
observed
(Comm i u ce
of t h e
the s i ze or a ten nis ball a n d S \ I ITO U ildcd by
Para n o r mal ) , limned d u ring the 1 9i0s to
a fiery rin g , right above the coo ke r . Then it
l n\'cst i gat i n g
science a gai n s t
defend
C l a i ms
m y s t ic ism ,
in
a b l u e/p mp l c gl o be o f l i gh t , about
the
flew d i ren l y at her, st r i ki n g her hclo \\' the
e v e n t t h e y were b rou g h t i n to t h e m a t ter.
s to m ac h "·i t h a rau l i n g noise a nd gi " i n g off
Celkr won i n itial legal ro u n d s , b u t a t t ime of \\Ti l i n g the cases arc o n go i n g a n d t h e st�e m s c e rtai n to c o n t i n u e . \\'hatcvcr t he t r u t h a bo u t t h i s u n dou b t
deb a te
a sm e l l of b u rn i n g. She ldt a heat sen sat ion and fou nd a hole t h r o u gh her clot hes b u t "·as n o t s e r io usly h u rt . l l owe\'Cr, t h e h a n d w i t h w h ich s h e had tri ed t o bat the b a l l
ed ly a m i able show m a n , h i s spoon-ben d i n g
awa\·
created a wa,·e of i m it a tors in t h e 1 9i0s.
in llamed,
part icularly among B ri t i sh c h il d ren . S u d
wed d i n g ri n g was sca lded .
s well ed
and
up, t he
bec om i n g skin
red
u n dernea t h
and her
denly e\'cryonc \\'as do in g i t ! The scicn t i ft(:
ex p erime n t s t h at w ere set u p to t es t t h ese wonder
kids
had
t h e beneficial effect of
A spectacular shot of ball l1ghtn1ng. taken 1n Austna 1n summer
1 978.
arousing t h e i n t e r es t of ph ys i ca l sciemists w ho had h cgu n to w ri t e off para psychology as d i ffic u l t to test and t uorc properly t he pro\' i n cc of soil sci en c es s u c h as psycholo g y
and soc io l ogy . Sa d l y .
Geller
did
h i mself lew
fa\'o u rs
w i t h i n th e co m m u n i t y of serious paranor m a l researc h . wh ere he had rccci\'e d wide
s u p p o rt . by resort i n g to some odd byways .
Th e s e
ta ki n g
i nclu ded
ph o t o gra p h s
or
bloblikc U FOs t h roug-h an a i rcralt w i n dow a n d a ss oc ia t i n g with a gro u p t h a t clai med
con t act
with
a
gro u p o f eth ere a l bei ngs
known as 'The :\' i n c ' . led by
a
forc e called
' H oova · . :\'cvert h eless, l a u gh
011
Uri
Geller
had
t he
la st
everyo n e . Bet ween t he lat e 1 9i0s
and l at e 1 9HOs he 'd isappeared ' , t o emerge a \'cry wea l t h y m a n . He b oa s t ed t h at he had
used t he t a l ent s d i spu t ed by so m a ny seep
Lies to h el p big corpora t io n s loca t e rich m iner:�!
d eposi t s .
Spoo n -be n d i n g ,
with
w h ich he i s still c l os e ly associated, was n eve r
more t h a n a si d esh o w to his real t a l en t s .
C H A L L E N G E OF T H E PARANORMAL
( : i n·n i n 1 h is
�o
m u c h p h Y sica l e\ idence to s t u d )
CN',
cn·n lin·merl y sc q >l ical scien
o u t brea k s
a nd
past
haull l i ngs
wen:
<ra m med i n to t h i s on e si n gl e case. They
t is t s had t o an·ept the rea l i t \· of t he p h e
included oozing s l i me
llOIIIL'Ilon
horrible smells pervad i n g rooms, i n Yisible
( w h i < h m a \ ocn1r m ca l m cond i t ions as w e l l as d u ri n g s10rms. either in doors or o l l t d oors ) . :\ t o p i c t hat l<>r man y y ea r s ha d be e n c ons i d e r e d pa rano r m a l b e c am e
d eba t ed
m a i n st re a m i n j o u r na l s such as Xalure. a
part
or
many
Remar kabl y .
or
suence,
in
t he bat h room ,
f(>n es g r a bbi n g hold o f b m i l y members
a n d h e a\' \ ' o l�j ec t s m o v i n g aro u n d of t h eir o w n \'ol i t i on . Even when tlw L1 1 1 z fam i ly
d e p a rt ed - u n usually i n such c a s e s - they dainwd t h a t the eYil (()lTC p u rs ue d t he m to
the
elll-c t s
1 heir nex t h ome .
e l1l-ct .
A nu mber of i n dep e nd en t i n ve st iga t ion s
han· a lso ll-atu red i n U FO dose e n co u n t e rs
by p a ra no rm a l researchers f o u nd it i m possi
desniiK"d ,
l i ke
the
w ed d i n g
r ing
to
\'l' r i fy
m uch
of t h e story.
and seem to lw caused by ' ed dy u nTents'
ble
ci rc u l a t i n g in t he metal r i n g. Researchers
den ied a n y im·ol\'emenl . The p r i est who
such as l h ! ' a n i D a Y i e s . a p h v sici st at Ade
laide
L' n i \-ers i t Y . beline t h a t
it c o u l d be
wort h e x(Jio r i n g t h e po s s ibili t y of a n energy
CToss-over bet \\·een s u c h p h en o m en a . Paranormal
res e arc h e r s ofien
po i n t
to
l'ol i(·e
s u p p o s e dl y 'blessed' t h e house said h e nc\·er w en t
i nside. :\'o l oca l workers could recall
r epa i ri n g t h e al l eged damage t o t h e build
i n g c a u se d by t h e w r ec k i n g force. Alt h o u gh fi.·w doubted t hat t h e f.1.mily did bclieYe t h at
hall l i g h t n i n g- as a s t i l l u n soiYed mystery
so m et h i n g had
t hat ha s recen t l y made the t ransition h·om
o rigi nal report s
happened
to t h e m , their
( p rio r to 1 h e book and th e
nwt h to scie n t i fic r e a l i t y , con f ident 1 h a t i t
mm·ie) were less dram a t ic , rell- ni n g t o ll:cl
may be li>llowed b y ot hns i n t h e h n u re.
i n gs a mi sen sations rat h er t h an t o an yt h i n g
ver y p h ys ica l or substant ial .
��7�
I t l a t e r e m erged t h a t t h e d e f e n ce lawyer
li>r t h e p r e\'i o us occ u pa n t had recogn ized
1 8 DECEMBER
t h a t h is a l l e m p t s to hlt lwm the rea so n s fo r t h e b u n's n i m e m i g h t benefi t from t h e
THE A M I TYVILLE HAU N T I N G
belief in a t enihle nil wit h i n t he house.
Poss i b l y t he most f;unous case o f a h a u n t i n g
began on t h is d a y w h e n C co rge a n d Kat h y L u t z mo\'cd i n t o t h eir i m p os i n g n ew house
on ( kean :\n·nuc in t he s ub u rb of Ami t y
c o u p l ed wit h his client's claims of a \'Oice
p o sses si n g h is m i n d . Ot her fac t o r s probably
con t ri b u t ed t o I h e escalation of the st or y as
it progres s e d .
\\'hereas it is d i ff i cu lt to d e term i n e t h e
Y i l le o n Lo n g I sl a n d , :\' e w York. They had
bo u g h t i t c h ea p l y. b e c au se t h i rt e en m o n t h s p r n iou s l y a m a n had
m u r de red six
pe o ple
i n t h e i r l.ll' ds w h i le l i v i n g in t h e bu i ld i n g .
\\'hat happened in t h e linn· weeks before
t h e L u l t fa m il y a l leged l y l i ed in t e nor pro voked a h est -s d l i n g book - J a y Anson's '1111'
,·l mii_YPillt' 1/orror ( 1 97�). a m ovie and a string of sequels t hat co n t i nue to appear in
t h e I 990s , a l t h o u g h h y n o w bea ri n g l i u le , if
absolute t r u t h i n t h i s case, it seems u n l i ke ly 1 h a t 1 h e i n c i d e n t s were any more dramatic
t han dozens of other haun t i ngs t hat have l wen desuihed by tenilicd i n d i Y i d u a l s and t ;un ilies t h roughout t h i s centur y . This one, howe\'er, was ex p e rt l y pr o m ot ed .
R ETURN F RO M D EATH
any, re l a t ion sh i p to t:\ 'l' n t s t h a t occu rred i n t h e h o u se i n December I �l7:J .
.-\ nu rd i n g to t h e ston told by t he L u t z
b m i l y , as n a rrated in Anson's boo k . a l mo st e\'ery
recorded
i ncid e n t
C H A L L E N G E OF T H E P A R A N O R M A L
fro m
po l t erg-e ist
In
1 975. an American psych i a t r is t , Dr Ray
mond :\ lood y , p ublished his e x t ra ord i n a ry
book Ufi' .-l{ler Life.
"· h ic h became a bes t
seller. Al t h o u g h t h e phe no m e n o n i n ques-
t io n was not n e w , t h e book popu brited t h e
t o dea t h . h e nce t h e t e n n t h a t w a s a p p l ied
s u bje rt for t h e fi rst t i m e a n d , hy o lkri n g
t o the phenomenon . Btll it was very t e m p t
posit i w hope o r l i fe a h cr dea t h , strurk a
i n g t o t h i n k t h a t t h e experie nce provided
rcspo n s i \T chord.
sol i d ,
As :\ l oody not ed , people
1 1;1(1 liw cen
repeatable data
abo u t
an
a ft e r l i l (.· ,
brought t o t h e (clrc by sticnt i lir p rogress.
t u ries orrasion;•lly ret 1 n ncd fro m the b ri n k
:\ l a n v other rcsea JThers began t o d o t est s
of death t o d a i m t h ey had seen a bright
t h at were m u c h more sYst e m a t i c . a n d vari
ligh t . at
the e n d of w h id 1 t h e y had met
o u s research
associations were l a u m hed.
deceased frie n d s or rela t i ves. \\' hct h e r t he y
The paranormal co m m u n i t y was bsr i na tcd ,
h a d been t o h ea\·en a n d hack or h ad m e rely
seeki n g parallels w i t h ot her ((mus of expe
been halllH inat i n g depen ded o n o n e's reli
rience. I t was quickly rea l i1ed t h at t h ere were
gio u s \·iewpo i n t . :\ l oody s i m p l y collected and
showed
t h at
t h is
a
gro u p of st ories
phenomenon
was
h a p p e n i n g more and more in a world of
defi n i t e
l i n ks .
all eged report s
exa t n plc,
fill·
with
of space napp i n g - i n wh ich
wit n esses e n t ered
an
struck b y a t u bel i k e
OOBE
a h c r bei n g
bea m a mi t hen fou n d
m e d i ca l m i racles wh ere re v i val fi·om m as
themsel ves i n a s t ra n ge e n v i ron men t , s u r
s i v e h eart at tacks a n d recovery fro m once
rou n d ed
fa t a l co m a were beco m i n g ro u t i n e . :\ l ore
h u m a noid h u t d i m l y percei ved bei n gs. l'cr
i m p o rt a n t l y .
IHlwen·r.
he
d c l i ncd
a
com m o n p a t t e r n fi11· s u c h rases, some of w h ich e x h ibited m a n y of t h e ICa t ures h e descr ibed .
be cal l ed
mon·
i n t e l l i ge n t ,
usually
ha ps only t he i n t erpret a t ion was d ilferen t h ere. The
sign i fica n t
poi n t
was
t ha t
main
s t ream researc h ers . t oo, were i n 1 1·igued by
I n t h e archetypal exa m ple of w h ; t t ca me to
by
the
n car
dea t h
experience
( :'\ D E), people f i rst report f i n d i n g t h e m
selves £loa t i n g abm·e t he bod y a n d free of any pa i n t h ey m ight have been s u fferi n g as
:'\ D E.
It
was
a
para nor m a l
su l�ject
t hat
a t t racted a t t en t io n well b e y o n d t h e real m s o f t h e s u pe rn at ural.
A
U n i ,·ers i t Y of Co n nect icut psycJ wlogis t .
Dt· Kennel h R i n g . began t o st u d y s u ch
a res u l t of a c1r na s h , s u rgiral operat ion or
cases a n d eYc n t u al l y saw t h e l i n ks w i t h a l ie n
t h e l i k e . Th is was h y lar the most nl m mo n
abd u c t i o n s . ! l is books m a rk t h e t ra n sit ion
as pect o f t h e :\' D E a n d h a d l o n g been recog
o f his work across a (( l u rt e e n y ea r p e r io d
n i ted hy para normal research e rs as a n o u t o f-body e x pe rience
(OO B E) .
Follow i n g t h e OO B E , som e of :\ l oody's
-
.
A m ed ical specialist in h e a rt t ra u m a , D r :\ l ichacl
col lcct e1l
Sabo m ,
data
from h i s
patien t s , expect i n g to d i sprove t h e rea l i t y or
patie n t s had report ed see i n g a bright l i gh t .
:\' D Es. He was J(m:ed in t h e o t h e r d i n·c
bei n g suc ked
tio n .
t o ward
it
along a t ube or
t u n n e l , h a \' i n g a fee l i n g of peace and t ra n
quilli t y , a n d ( i n v e r y rare rases) see i n g fig
chec k i n g t h e
details of t h e
re \·i val
tech n i ques t h ese people act ually saw w h ile floa t i n g abm·c the cas u a l t y room i n
a
h os p i
m-cs. such as dead rel a t ives or a god l i k e
t a l . \\'hcreas s o m e had o n l y a s u perf icial ,
bei n g. They m ight e n t e r a bea u t i fu l c n Y i
oft e n s i m pl ified a n d m islead i n g . co ncept of
ron m e n t . such as a garden of rich a n d h ar
t h e m et h ods e m p l oy e d
m o n i o u s colou1·s. and 1 hen make a rat ional
TV
decision to ret u r n h o m e , oft e n to protect
g i \'e aston i s h i n gl y deta i led acco u n ts or h ow
d ramas,
t h e i r fam i l y . ,\s a resu l t t h ey would 1ip back
t h ey
i n t o t h e i r prc\·ious st a l e o f pain a n d s u llcr
expert ise.
i n g. to d i scover a medical team figh t i n g to
save t heir l i fe . Of cou rse. i t w a s soon a p p re<:iated t h a t t h ese people h a d n o t d ied , o n l y been n ea r
:'\ D E
were saved
.
based perhaps on
Yict i m s
were
able
to
fi·mn deat h by mediral
:'\ D E research grad ually al l racted even
more specialists. One of the more recen t is Dr :\lcl\'in :\lo1·se , fro m Sea t t le, Was h i n gto n . who has
fix u sed on 01 DEs reported by you n g
CHALLENGE OF THE PARANORMAL
Rcpr路esentatrons of tf)e out-of-body experrence.
CHALLENGE OF THE PARANORMAL
Is
rt proof of an after1rfe or srmply hallucrnatronl
children. Like his colleagues, he, too, has noticed that the oYerwhelming majority of patients emerge from an NDE with no fear of death. I ndeed, they belieYe the process they haYe experienced to be pleasant. Morse had one young patient who said of an l\ D E, ' I am not afraid to go back to that place . ' Shortly afterwards he had another attack from which he did not recoYer. Sceptics, of course, rebelled. Early notions about h a llucinations triggered by adminis tered drugs faltered largely because :\' D Es also occurred in accident s i tu a tions long before - or i n total absence of- any medical aid. Theories about Yisions caused by inoxia (star\'ation of oxygen to the brain as death approaches) seemed more plausible, but Sabom measu red this i n his cases and was able to show an :\'DE where i noxia was con sidered impossible. In 1 99 2 , Dr Sue B lackmore, a psycholo gist a t the U niYersit y of \\'estern England, who was initially a p ro-O O B E researcher but gradually became c01winced that these were com plex hallucinations, produced h e r 'dying
brain'
t heory
for
l'\ D Es.
This
inYoiYed a series of phenomena, from ran domly firing optic nerYes, shown by com
Doc' Sh1els took h . s contmver>,a: p�otograph of Ness1e am1dst a wave of strange even:s throughout
B'ltan
p uter sim ulation to form a t u n n el image, to natural chemicals (called e n dorp h i ns) p ro
extreme diYide of 'it's either this or it m ust
duced by the body to deaden pain a n d
be t hat' (usually the most exotic possible
induce e u p horia. Another critical finding
solu tion
was that ;..J DEs also occ u r in cases \\·here
at more bala nced positions . Terms s uch as
p h ysical death is n eYer likely (e.g. an al most
' m iddle L' FOiogy' were eYen being u s ed by
u n harmed
U FO researchers who were persuaded that
mou n taineer
falling
into
soft
OJ'
a comp lete nonsense) to arri\·e
snow). W h y would h e then ha,·e a ' n ear
real things were happening that science did
death' experience� The debate rages on .
not yet u ndersta n d , but were mm·illing to accept that aliens riding spaceships were
1�77
the only alternatiYes to mass hall ucination . Two major clues to emerge were, ftrst. that
\'arious
occurred
O N E W E E K IN MAY
in
paranormal sudden,
By the late 1 9 7 0s we knew a great deal
before flaring u p again. a n d second, that t here
than eYer before. The new h a rd-headed
actiYit\'
approach
chance might dictate.
researchers
were
paid
i nt e n s e periods of
acti\'ity and then went q u iet for a time
more about how the paranormal worked had
phenomena
dividends
looki ng
beyond
and the
were '
localized
occurred
far
focal
points
more French
o ften
where than
researcher
Fernand Lagat·de had also spotted the link
C H A L L E N G E OF T H E P A R A N O R M A L
Researchers s u c h
between 1 hese ;ones a n d hean fa u l t l i nes i n
rocks
beneat h
t he
Eart h ' s s urface.
t h l·se id eas were g-iven a b i g boost i n � l a y of s t range
phenomena
Pa u l Devereux and
were develop i n g t h e idea t h a t cert a i n ' w i n
1 97 7 w h e n Britain was h i t hv i t s most d t·a
m a t ic b u rst
as
ot h ers. part ic u larly i n Britain a n d FratuT .
Both
d o w s ' \\ ere period ically set
i n to
mot io n .
perhaps a l so prod ucing ch a r).{e d p a r t i cl e s
ever
t ha t f loa t ed freely i n t o t h e air a n d a s a
squee;ed i n t o a s i n gle w e e k. D ur i n g the t h ird wee k of t h e m on t h a l l
resu l t cr e a t ed st r a n g e p h en o mena in t h e
m a n n e r or t h i n gs were let loose i n w h a t i s
a t m o spher e. B u t what made an area i n t o a
vat·iously termed a ' l l a p' , w h e n o f s hort
window a n d w h a t fac tors caused it to flare up a s it had i n �lay 1 97 7 ?
d urat ion, or a 'w;l\"c', when spread over
n t e . t \n> Canadian researchers a t U n i\'ersit \'. O n t a rio, n e u ro
se,·eral weeks. The most active loca t ions
A s i f on
d u r i n g such period., are t h ose fo cal po i n t s
La u re n t ian
known as · w i n dow s · . w h ic h were g ra d u a l l y
p h ys iologist Dr � l ir h ad Pers i n ger and h is
b e i n g- i s ol a t ed .
l' FO
sigh t i ngs
assis t a n t C h yslaine Lafre n i ere, p u blish e d a
in
m as si\·e s t u dy or U>tll p u t er data. They had
B r i t a i n t h a n i n any other year, hd()re or
examined I housands of reports or mysteri
There
were
mon·
o u s ph enom e n a i n
since. That single week in �lay gen erat ed
;m
a l l em p t t o isolate a
common pa1 1ern. They p ropo sed t h at elec
a lmost I 0 per cent of t ha t total. These were usually little mon· t han lights in t he sh dart
t rical col u m n s or energy (which they c a l led
i n g about t h e lamlsrapc. b u t t h e n u mbers
' t ransients') coul d be prod uced at certa i n
(well over seve n t y cases) were p he u omenal.
p lace s a n d d u ri n g cell a i n periods, a n d t ha t
t hese m igh t b e perceived a s gl o wi n g for m s
Howe\·cr, other am azin g t h i n gs w e n t on
as w d l . Cen t res o f po l t e rgei s t ac t h· i t y , w i t h
w h e n t hey i l l u m i n a ted t h e gases in t h e a i r.
gies. b u rs t i n t o sudden l i fe. T h e p ha n t o m
c o u l d e\'en scra mble t h e neura l p a t h wa y s in
a p pa r i t i o ns , s t ra n ge noi ses a u d w e i r d en er
Beca u se ol t h ei r high en ergy o u tp u t , t hey
big cats w e n · a g a i n lo o se i n moorla n d areas.
the b r a i n of a n y on e coming too close. The
�lay, t lH: most
res u l t ol t h is co uld be a su�jective m e n t a l
And i n L or h :\'ess. on � l
e x perien n· . t h e origin o r w h ic h depe n d ed
astou n d i n g p h ot ogra p h s ever taken were claimed hy · Doc' Shiels, a
u pon a no\'d en ergy p h e n o m en on t h a t sci
magician a n d
s howm a n w h o w a s s a i d t o 'evoke· m onst ers
ence had vet t o i d e n t i l)· but which was a c t u
i n t o life . r\rgu m e n t s t i l l rages over h is fu l l
a l l y p resen t . These t h i ngs \\·ere not s i m p l y
col o u r s h o t s or t h e neck a n d o p e n m o u t h or
hall ucittat ious .
:\'essie. part inJ iarly gi,·en t h ei r semi-t rans
This brid ge bet ween p h ysical rea lity a n d subject i \'e vision w a s an:epted e n t h usi as t i
parent feel.
cally by s o m e E u ropean researchers who
\\' h a t e\·er t h e t r u t h , !(>t-ees seem to h a\'e
bee n at work be t wee n 1 7
and
2:> � l a y t h a t
quickly recogn ized i t s pot e n t ia l t o acco u n t
set m a n y d i ffere n t experiences in motion.
((n·
T h ere were e\'t'll crop circles fo u n d i n E n g
d u ri n g � l a y 1 977.
l ish
fi el d s , a l t h ough
110
such p h en o m e n o n
h a d ye t b e e n recog n ized, so t h a t exampl es most l y we 1 1 t n n not iccd.
Periods l i ke t h is s h o w e d a n i n t erest i n g c o m p a ris on
I he sort of acti\'it y t h a t h a d ocnn-red
w i t h sola r f l are act i,· i t y . w h i c h
could cause d i s r u p t i on (e.g. b\· i n t er feri n g
1977 I
27 OCTOBER
CONTACT WITH T H E S P I R IT WO RLD
charged
I f George � leek is to h e belic\'cd. t h is was
pan icles reached t he Ea rth . The Su n m igh t
o n e of t h e most i m p o rta n t dates in h u m a n
i n t e n s e act i ,· i t v .
i m p rn H· m e n t s on
with
t e kco m m tmica t ions)
when
t h e n go qu iet again u n t i l t h e n e x t burs t of
CHALLENGE OF THE PARANORMAL
hist ory. l1si n g a se ri es of m od i ficat ions and the E\'P t a pe-recorder
experi m e n t s from t h e 1 9GOs, he a n u o u uced t h a t h i s 'Sp irico m ' de\'ice
l!ad l i > r ged t wo
! "h ose who h a\'e s t u d icd Spiricom seem i m p ressed by t h e dc\'ice, which h as h e c u made a\'a i lable to o t h e r research<.TS. l l ow
way con tact w i t h t h e spirit worl d . l\ l ec k , a wea l t h y Americau i n \'CI I t or, w i t h t h e assi sta nce of a t ra i n ed psvc h i c , had pro
t'\'er,
t h ere
ba n ali t y
of
arc
some
qualms
con \'l·rsat ions
;l l l cl
about
the
the
way
d u ced robot ic sou n ds t h at reputedly ca m e
modern idiom s are 1 1 sed by t h e occasional
fro m two sci e n t i s t s i n t h e afterl i fe cal l i n g
s t r a y voices t l 1 a t i n t r u d e
t h c m cl\'cs
h a \ ' C d i e d u p t o I :>0 years a go .
:\I u dkr
' Doc
was
�ick'
trace d ,
and
'Dr
together
l\ l ueller'.
with
some
and yet p rolcss t o
Scept ics also poi n t o u t
that
t h e voices
he p u blished
gre a t l y resemble t h ose t h a t e m erge li·om a n
before h i s death a n d wh ich m atched a q u o
art i ficial lary n x , a s used b y vict ims o f t h ro a t
t a t ion
S p i rico m .
cancer. Tes t s h a \'e s u ggest ed , llt'\'Crt lwkss .
These eth ereal co-workers also p roposed
t h at t h e re arc t wo separate voices on t h e
fa i rl y obsc u re m a t erial t h at
ways
t hat to
he
gave
i m p ro\'e
the
t h ro u gh
eq u i p m e n t
bdi.>re
l\ l ueller h a d to ' m o\'e o n · in t h e s p i ri t \n>rld and t h u s passed out of con t a c t .
Bent and l w1sted rock layer.; 1 n the Canary Islands. one o f the world's ma1or 'W'ndow areas'.
CHALLENGE OF THE PARANORMAL
The author 1nvest1gatmg a 'w1ndow a re a' in t h e Penn·ne Hills of Yorkshire. Strange lights and no1ses as well as electncal
but h e was n e\-er to be seen aga i n . T h e disa p p earan ce, far from bei n g u nre
marked , was one of the s t ran g es t on record .
polterge1st attacks have been reported from th1s 1solated locat1on.
The whole sequence ol e\·en t s was picked
t apes a n d t h a t t h e psp: h ic operatm· is not si m pl y
t h .-owing
his
own
voice
in
t he
up and t aped li·mn t he g ro u nd - t o - a ir t·adio
com m u n ications w i t h
t h e airport con ll-o l
man ner of a ven t r i l o q u i st .
t o we r; yet , d e spi t e such ext raordin a ry evi
George :\leek h as no doubts. This, h e says. i s absolu t e proof o f survival of bodily de a t h . I n deed , si n ce S p irico m , t he t eam has a t t em p t ed t o t urn t h is rad io l i n k to h e ave n into a TV set t u n ed to t h e same freq u e n cy .
detKe, the lengt h y i n vest igat ion s t i l l fai l ed
1978
2 1 OCTOBER
THE VAN I S H I N G C ESSNA Frederick
\'ale n t ich
was the
Valen t i c h , fai rl y i n e x p erienced in flying ove r watct· a t n i g h t . re po rt ed see i n g odd lights which were t ra vel li n g above him as i f ke e pin g wat c h . The cmt\'Crsa t ion became more s t rained as he alleged t h a t his engine was suflcring problems w h i le t he l i g h t s on a large , dark craft (wh ich he coniinned was ' ho\·ering' and 'not an aircraft ' ) flew al o n g side. Then t h ere was a st range grind ing
20-ycar-old
pilot of a rented Cessna 1 82 aircraft . l i e took oil in t h e e ar ly e ve n in g to fly t h e sh ort hop across t he Bass Stra i t s fi·mn 1\l elbournc
t o King I sland, m idway bet ween the Am tra l ian mainland and Tas m a ni a . H i s mis simt was to collect some s h e l l fish for fi·iends
C H A L L E N G E OF T H E P A R A N O R M A L
to resoh·e what had happened to t h i s m a n .
noise on t he m icrop h o ne
-
and si l e nc e .
Cou n t less t heories were p roposed . One was t h at
he had been
hit by a meteor.
A not her su gge s t ed rhat he ran foul of ch·u g smu gg lers w h o llew a hel icopter above h i m a n d used n e l s t o t rail t heir catch home in
t h e watct· below - t he un l(n· t l mate Cess n a
beco m i n g en tangled
with
t hese
in
mid
psychiatrist who s p ecial i z ed in d reams.
l l a i nes, au .\merican
Boot h was never in doubt t ha t his e x peri
s pecialist i n the a\'iation field , d id extensi\'e
ence was a premonition. He said that he
flight.
Dr
Richard
laser
saw, heard a n d felt the e n t i re t h i n g aga i n
ex peri m e n t from an American intdligence
a n d agai n . It was like watc h i n g it u n fold on
base
a T\' or cinema screen, far dearer than a
work a n d specu lat L' d called
Pine
a secret
that
Gap
m ight
have
been
i n \'olved and somehow go ne wron g.
normal d ream.
The most widely debated t heory, how
Soon con v i nced that
B oot h
was neither a
ever, was t h a t the l igh ts described by \'alen
cra n k
t ich belon ged to a U FO. I n deed t here was
Aut hority did what it could. lt t ried to l i n k
an o n go i n g ' flap' over t he Bass Strait area
nor a practical joker, the Aviation
his arco u n t w i t h an aircraft type a nd a n
at t h e t i me. \\'as \'a l e n t ir h s pacen apped
airpo rt
along with h is plane? One ahductee in the
Cincinnati
-
assu m i ng,
as
did
Boot h ,
that
was the most likely candidate.
CS:\ has since claimed t hat the aliens h ave
I l owe v e r. as the a uthority poi n ted out, it
confirmed t h is as ' fact' a n d t h a t t h e you n g
could not gnmnd every American Airlines
m a n re m a i n s h ealthy - o n a n o t h e r plan et !
flight i ndefin itely. C\Tn from a single ai rpor t .
The t h eory adva nced by most scepti cs is
O n 2G � l a y t h e fi nal d ream orc u rred .
th at the pilot e n gi neered his own disap
\ leanwhilc, at Ch icago's ()' [ ! a re Ai rport ,
pearance. Th e y
TV actress Li n d say \\' agn er ( famous for bel
poi n t
to
his
i n t e rest
in
U FOs ( h e had a scrapbook of stories w i t h
role as the ' B ionic \\'o m a n ' with s pec ial
him on the fligh t ) a n d also t o t h e fact t h a t
powers) was due to hoard an America n Air
h e appears d e liberately to h a v e delayed h i s
de p a rt u re a t t h e l a s t m i n u t e u n til it was
lines f ligh t w i t h her mot her. B u t she was overrome w i t h a sick feeling and cou ld not
dark. l ie also took w i t h h i m several t i m es
leave. She rancelled t heir reservations a n d
too m u c h fuel for the jou mcy.
t h e DC- I 0 j e t took o ff w i t h o u t t h e m . Sec
l l owever, i f this is so, why did \'a l e n t ich
onds after it cleared t h e r u n way, an engine
hatch such an elaborate plan a n d what h ap
fell off and t h e plane crashed i nto a n hor
pened to the Cessna aircraft ? H is fam i l y do
ri fic fireba ll near b u i l d i n gs at the edge of
no t accept t h e t h eory al1fl t h e t ru t h is that
we shall probabl y never k now.
��7�
the airport. Even-one on board was killed i ns t a n t l y . After t h e accident a spokesman for t h e CiYil
Aviatiou
A u t hority
confirmed
m a n y details o f th e crash
26 MAY
matched
that the
d reams that B ooth had reported both to them
T H E C I N C I N NAT I P R E M O N I T I O N
and
to
the
airl i n e
ope1·at i n g
the
doomed plane. They cou l d easily match up
Possibly t h e most remarkable case o f pi-e
airl i n e , aircraft type and ai rport from his
cog n i t ion
descriptions after the
evL't reported nmcerns a 23-year
old ollice
manager na med
David
Booth
from C i nci n na t i , O h io. Fot· ten days prior
to t h is date he h ad had the same d ream, seeing a certain plane rrash i n flames i n to an area fn ll of build i n gs. On 2 2 :\lay he was so t roubled by his
fatal
i ncid e n t ,
but
how could t hey possibly have preve n ted catastrophe? David
Boo t h h imself has never u nder
stood why he was given t h is i nrredihle pre
view of surh a te r rible eve n t , n1l m inating in
what pro ved a futile attempt to change the
\'ivid experie nce that he called t h e Federal
fut ure. I Ie had no d i rect l i n k with the air
Aviation
craft or its passengers. The events merely
American
A u t hori ty
Airlines,
and as
also
spoke
ident i fied
in
with his
visio n . l n desperation he a l s o t a l k e d to a
left him scarred emotionally by a terrible dis aster that he had been powerless to preve n t .
CHALLENGE OF THE PARANORMAL
SOC IETY A N D THE U N E X P L A I N ED
T
h e possibi l i t y o f · global warfare receded b u t was replaced b y. new horrors. T h e d isease
A I DS became recogn i z ed as a worl d wide plague w h i c h had a fu n d a m e n t a l effect on people's morals and l o n g-term perspec t ives. Scien t i sts fou nd a hole o-rowi n b o· i n the ozo n e laver-a l)l'Otec t i v e cover i t w I I �
b
t h at i f s t ri p pe d away cou l d h a v e devastat i n g efkcts for all fu t u re l i fe ; a n d h a r m fu l gases in t h e a t mosp h ere t h rea t e n ed to p rod u ce a ' gree n h ouse e ffec t
' ,
with poss i b l e d i re conseq u e n ces for the
Eart h ' s cl i m a t e . The need to p reserve a n d p e r h a p s s a v e o u r p l a n e t w a s reflected i n para n or mal p he n o m e n a . E v e n t h e a l i e n s o flered a ' green m essage' as C FO s i gh t i n gs decli n ed in n u mber. T h e world was t u r n i n !! awav from o u ter S ()ace t o look more closclv I ) L.J a t t he i n n e r s pace rea l i t y.
w h i rl w i n d , was t h e cause of t h e m ysterious pat t erns.
The
C I RC U LAR S I G N S
ma t t er
achieved
brief
notoriety
when a n o t h e r LJ FOiogist did s u gg e st the
a farmer fou n d t wo fiat
spacecraft option to a news source, b u t i n
t e ned areas etched i n to his crop of oats in a
tru t h the sul�ject f�1iled to i n s p i re m a n y
field at \\'esth ury, \\' i l ts h i re, i n s o u t h e rn
people t h at s u m m er.
I n August
1 980
E n gl a n d . They had s t r a i g h t edges a n d were abo u t
across
In
GO feet in diamet er. H e had come one
eight appeared
assu med i t to be a weather e lle n . :\ow h e
formatio n :
he
fou r satellites. This shape. m u c h more co n
Before
s u mm e r
only isolated circles
1 98:�.
was
s u re.
t he
1 982.
across sou thern England and in a strange
so
in
and
and
not
earlier
1 98 1
were fou n d . Then , in
h a rYest i n g,
r ep o rt e d i t a n d a C FO gro u p from B ristol
a
cen t ral circle s u rrou nded by
sistent with t h e land i n g legs of a spacecraft ,
came out to ha\'e a closer look at t h e phe
was a blow to Dr � l eade n , Probe a n d t h e i r
n o m e no n .
s u p p orters, who for t h ree years had p ro
This gro u p . Probe. was o n e of t h e new
\'ided persuasive reports that t h ese s i mple
breed of serious researchers a n d did n o t
circles were n a t l l ra l a n d weather-induced.
ass u me t h at t h e circles w e r e l a n d i n g pads of
Alt hough Terence �leaden tried to i n cor
a spacesh i p . After s i m p le
tests
to
porate t h e new design (and t h e ever more
establish a n yt h i n g supernat u r a l , the i n \'es t i
elaborate ones that ap peared i n the follow-
fa i le d
gators con s u lted a local meteorologi s t , D r Terence �leade n , who t h o u g h t it l i kely that
The hole 1n the centre of this sw1rled patch of crop betrays
some kind of rot a t i n g vort e x , such as a
•
-�ft.!'
the likelihood of a hoaxed circle
.. .. · - 0
...• ""- - � .: ..-
SOCIETY AND THE UNEXPLAINED
i n g years), he was losin g t h e battle as these
A vanety of crop circles: many o f the more elaborate
comple x marks came to bear t h e all too
format1ons have proved to be faked.
clear signs o f art ificiality. This was welcome serious
news to the scept ics . A C FOiogist named Pat Delgado , joined
L' FO iogists for his
hoa x i n g '
idea
(although
it
'wea ther plus was a
w hi le
i n 1 985 by Colin An drews , be ga n t o doCH ment reports in the
jo u rn al Fl)'ing Saucer
before hoaxing was pe rcei v ed as more t han a m i nor irr itation). A few researchers, l i ke
by p rivate pilot ' B us t y ' Taylor) proved cap
gence' (defi n i tely not h u ma n ) was at work.
involve t he med ia. The tabloids were not
but not in the
slow to usc the spaces h i p la n d i ngs theory as
received u n d ue p u blicity . I t a l l helped t o
a silly season fil ler story. After m uch atten
sustai n interest .
Rfvi('W, and the p hotographs (ofte n taken
tivating. Delgado also we Il l Olll of h i s way to
Delgado ,
believed
an
' u n k nown
i n telli
Because the media saw mileage in t h i s idea, m ore
sober weat he r t heory , i t
tion i n J u ly 1 98 :� . i t was res u rr ected almost
W hereas 90 per cclll o f all circles ( h u n
every slimmer, w i t h w hate v er new angle
d reds of w h ich were appeari ng a l l over t h e
emerged.
world by t he late 1 980s) were simple, s i ngle
The first hoaxed circle (by a national news
patterns. as the very fi rst ones had bee n ,
paper� ) was ex p osed d ur i n g 1 98:�. Given the publicity, more were clearly happening.
comparath·ely few out rageous ( a n d , as we
Despite the claims o f ex pe rt s , nobody coHid
now know, ce rt ai n ly hoaxed) formations.
re liab l y distinguish real from fake.
These
l\leaden
enjoyed
st rong support
SOCIETY AND THE UNEXPLAINED
fi·01u
the
media
w ere
concentrated
spect ac u la r
i nstead
and
on
were
the
duly
na med pictog ra m s , to i mply t ha t they were
SOCIETY AND THE UNEXPLAINED
;1
f(xm
of
message
or
comlll U I J iCll ion li·01n
an a l ien p rese nc e . B u t i n n u mber than the
t hey were far few e r publ icity afforded to
them m u st have i m pl i ed . At tempts to d ecode thei r message soon i n volved
the
e n v i ro n m e n t a l
fr i n ge
and
t hat t he Earth's 'so u l ' was sen d i n g a plea fi ll· h d p or t hat the 'spi r i t world' was giving v isib l e e\' idence or d a n gns to t h e food chain if we d i d not bd(ne long ideas s urfaced
mend our ways. Gurus such as David I cke,
w ho
left
h i s job as a TV
embark on
prese n ter
to
an esoteric spi r i tu a l crusade,
fray. This, of course, re i n fo rced att e n t ion, as did c o u n tless compet i a n d best-selli n g hooks by the c e r e olo (as m c 1 n b e rs of the m ove m e n t now
ent ered th e media tions
gists
called themselves) . Th e
or i g i n a l
rese;u-che rs - � l eaden and
his U FOlogical colleagues - f()lJght
bring r ea so n
to bea r,
hard t o t ha t
po i n t i n g o u t
s i m p l e circles had been k n own f()r cen t u ri e s and
q u o tin g
e x a mples
hack
to
the
year
d m.e n s of eye w i t nesses t o the later ve r si o ns . who d e sni h ed no a l i e n s hut instead what app e a r e d to be the presence of a rot a t i n g a i r \'ort ex. There were also t>xp e rim e n t s in w i n d t u n n els, 1 590. They also traced
19�0
6 JANUARY
F I R E TRAG E DY
An
ca s
ext raord i n a ry
e
of
spo n ta n eo u s
human combustion ( S I I C ) was d i scm·e•-ed by po l ic e
and
f(,rensic
ollicers
iu a l ivin g-mom
Bla c k wood , Ebbw Vale, in \\'ales. The
at
male occ u pa n t was a lm os t
totally co nsu m ed ba rely d a m
by t h e loca li zed fire that ha d
aged an armchair in which he sat and had fa i led to melt n ea rb y
p la s tic o l�jec ts. Yet t h e intensit y as to leave a
heat had bee n or such coa t i n g
of vaporited f lesh on the ceiling. o n e of a series of i n c i deu t s in 1 9�0. Ten p e r cent o f a l l known cases o f S H C took p lace d u ri n g th is year f()r reasons that are s t i l l u n explai n ed . This was j usl
19�0
29 DECEMBER
ATTACK FROM T H E A I R
i n ci d e n t s were b y
Although L' FO
the
now on
derrease. when t h e y did occu r t h e y
could be
of epic
p r o p o rt i o ns . Two extraor
p a s s i n g sim ilari ty t o
place almost si mu l ta n e e i ther side or the Atla n tic Ocean . The fi rst s pa n n e d several n igh t s bL'I wecn 2G and 2 9 December and i n volved Ameri can airmen from the t w i n En glish :\'ATO bases of Woodb ridge and B e n t wa t e r s i n S u Jl(,Jk. Civilians t ra n· l li n g a l o n g a ll)rest ed road all() in nearby sca t t e red v i lla ges a n d
Per si n g e r ' s ' transie n ts' , as f i rst p roposed i n
fa rming com n 1 1 1 n i t ies also s a w the gia n t
1 97 7 .
li g h t s
compu te•· sim u lat ions a n d other fo rms of
e n q u iry
i n u n i\'ersities (especially
in
J a pan
a n d the U SA) that establ i shed hard e\'i dence
of a so -ca lled
plasma \'ortex - an
elect ri fied , ro t a t i ng air col u m n which could glow as i t spun to Ear t h and w h ic h , i n bet. hears more than
a
t h e books packed w i t h hard e\·idence, the serious art ides in h i gh brow newspapers a n d a fe w p i ec es i n the scien t i fi c press. the popularity of the cereol ogy mm·en 1ent was h a rd ly dented. Th e Yet, i n sp ite o f
d i na ry e\' c n ts, took
ou sly
Oil
cra s hi n g fro m the sky. hole was lell in the pi n e - t r ee canopy. three i n d e n t a t ions were t rac ed m the g ro u n d a n d twice the normal ba c k g rou n d
A
cou n t or •·ad iation was m easu red in the area some tw e n t y- fou r hou rs la t er . A sec u r i t y
l a t ter o fkrcd little solid e\· idence a n d spec
pa t rol se n t i n to Rend lesham Forest on the
u lated widely abo u t st range powers at work, g u i d ed b y u nseen and u n k nown i n t e llige n ce s . It was this idea , howe\'e r , that p eopl e w a n ted to believe, a n d the t o u ri sts
perimeter of 1 he bases described a con ical
llooded i n .
SOCIETY AND THE UN EXPLAINED
ol�jec t ,
ca r . wh ich
o u t pac e d
rhem as it ga,·c c h as e . Several
w i t n esses
the
sit.e of a
describe los i n g p er i ods of t i m e and seem g sm a ll
creat u res
d ose h y .
I n t he cou rse of meas u ri n g t h e t races in t h e ea r l y hours or t h e second nigh t , a return enrot mter with lJ FOs was tape J·ecorded 'li\'e· - a copy of w h ich e\·en t l l ally reached U FOlogists in 1 984 . A Brit ish RAF radar base ha d all egedl y t racked t h e object on t h e pre \ i o1 1 s n igh t heading i n to East Anglia. Because of l i mited i n formation release alter t wo years of den ials by t h e B r i t is h :\l in i s t ry of Ddeuce, a lot of m n f1 1sion still s u rrou n ds t his case. Howe\'el·, the m enwran du111 filed w i t h t h e B ri t ish go\'e rn mc n t by t h e cl e p u t y base co m m a nd e r Colonel Charl es l l alt , was squeezed 0 1 1 1 in I 9 �:� u n der t h e Ame ri cau Freedom of I n form a t ion Art . This con fi rmed some o f t he e\'idenre, including l l a l t ' s o w n s i gh t i n g of u n e x p l ain e d lights. Other data, s uch as t h e phot ographs w h ich are cl e ar l y referenced on the tape-record i n g as they a rc t a ke n , remain with held, as do a n y res l tlts or t he m i l i t a ry i n vcst i ga t i o us t h at m ust h a\T re su l t e d '
,
.
On 29 lkcember, a n ig h t w h e n more lights w e re seen i n Rcndlesham Forest , another m i l i t a ry incident u n li>lded more t ha n 3000 m iles a wa y at I l 1 t l fma n , n ear I Iouston, Texas. Three people in a car (two women and their yo1 1 n g gra ndso n ) claim to ha,·e seen a glowing obj cc r not u n l i ke that witnessed by t h e airmen in the English forest . I lowe\'cr, it was be i n g s he p h e rd ed by sc\·eral m il itary helicopters, as if head iug toward a hase. The presence of' t hese eart h l y <Tali has con s i s t en t l y been denied by the L' S gove rn me n t . The t h ree wit nesses felt t remendous heat pou ring fro m t he ob j ect and all becam e ill , s u ffe ri n g from na1 1sea, b lis t e r s , ras h es and eye proble m s , sugges t i n g exposure to ra d ia t io n One of the wom eu , who had s t ood ontside the c a r i u frout ol t he conical objec t , spe n t s e ve ra l weeks i n hospital a n d w a s for a t i m e crit ically ill from w h a t .
Sketch o f the
object seen b y U S a�rmen at the Bentwaters
base on the1r close encounter expenencc.
0 0
\ SOCIETY AND THE U N EXPLAINED
appears to have been radiat ion sick ness.
An rmpr·essron by Roy
H uge d u m p s of her h a i r ICII out before s h e
stalling a car
gradually recovered. The v ict i ms sued t h e U S govermnenl hn
en g rne.
Sand bach
here. These were
of a mystenous
ball
of light
li·t·t·-l loat ing masses of
t he i r considerable medical e xpenses on t h e
energy drill ing through
gro u n d s 1 hat i f t his w a s not a secret weapon
across nloumaintops. They appeared spo
the air and low
of t h e C S,\ (as was i nsisted ) , the m i l i t a ry
nHlically. part icularly d u ri n g December and
had
the
responsibility
to
protect
t hem .
regardless of origi n . The uJsls i n volved i n
. Jan uary. i n succeed ing years. I n I �lH.t and 1 9H!i, a team of U FO experts
ligh t i n g t h e case beca m e prohibit ive after
call i n g t h emselves ' Pn�e<"l l l essdalen' made
t heir i n i t ial argu men t s were stonewalled.
t h e t rek. w i t h t e m peratu res br below zem, i n t o the snowbound region . They had gat h
1981 T H E H ESSDALEN L I G HT S Late i n t h is year people i n t h e m o t m t a i nous
ered
toget her
a
caravan
and
expensive
equ i p m en t , including radar and lasers, as well as sophist icated cameras and meters to record pan ly
rad iation ftm < kd
by
em issions. t he
U FO
They
were
mmnHmity
arou nd Europe but t hey also received t em
area of I-l essdalen . a remote valle\' north of
porary loa ns from scient i fie establish ments
Tnmdheirn i n \:orway, began to see s t range
and u n expected help f ro m t he Scamli na
glows in t he sky. They were not con nected
vian dell.·nce aut horit ies w ho had alerted
with t h e a u rora t hat was com monh· observed
ai rcrali when sigh t i ngs were being reported .
S O C I E TY AND THE U N EXPLAI N E D
The SC\'eral weeks spe 1 1 1 i n t hese expedi t ions were highly rewarding. This was clearly a window are<� t hat was u mJsnally acti\'e a t the t i me, a n d with such powerfu l equi p m e n t to m easu re and record i t , t he team were almost guara n t eed to make a breakt h rm1gh. Of course. t h e researchers saw plen t y of I FOs (stars, a i rc raft a nd o t h er iden t i fied f l y i n g objects) . B u t they also recorded sev eral i m p ressi,·e glow i n g lights, usually 1·ed or blue in colour. i\' ot ouly d id they take excellent photographs but t hey obtained other read i n gs of the s t ruct ure of these p h enom e na . With t h e addit ion of later research by meteorologists, t h is su ggested that t h ey were \\' it nessing what might be a t ype of a t mospheric p lasma somehow gen erated i n the area a n d w hose origin was u n k nown . The sum t otal of written a n d \'isual e\·idence was truly i m p ressi\·e. One t y pe of L' FO had fi nally been sn ared sim ply by t h e combi n ed e llort s of rational e n t h us iasts and scie n t ists who were for once unafraid to face t he possibi l i t y of fi n d i n g some t h i n g stra n ge. A strange glow1ng light above t h e Hessdalen valley 1n
Norwdy. later the subject of 1ntens1ve scient1f1c study
1981 T H E EART H I S ALIVE For some years resea•·chers h a d worked o n sim ilar t racks, slowly con\'erging u p o n o n e a nother. Lagarde i n France h a d fou n d a l i n k between U FOs and fault l i n es below t he Eart h 's surface. Pers i n ger had defined a t ransient as an elec t rical force i n the air at prime locatio ns, which created windows that focused all sorts of stra n ge acti\·ity. St udies of a window area in the Pen n i n e H i l ls o f En gland h a d led t o t h e belief t h a t natural energy forms called UAI' (u n iden t i fied atmosp heric p henomena) were a t work. And Dr :\leaden h a d co me u p w i t h a plasma Yortex t o explain ge n u i n e crop circles. Pau l Oe\'ereux was a researcher into Earth mysteries. Duri n g t he early 1 980s, part icular a l l en t ion was being paid to sites such as Avebury and Stonehenge and h u n d reds o f ot her lesser k nown s1 cne circles t h roughout nort hem Eu rope. Thousands of years ago, people set in place standing stones . for reason s that re1 1 1ain obscure. Yet scien t ist s work i n g o n t h e rocks were f i n d i n g
S O C I ETY AND THE U N E X P L A I N E D
Stonehenge. Wiltshwe, may be a focal pomt for the glowing
gested t hat t l w en ergy was i n t eract in· w i t h
bur;ts of energy known as 'earthlights'
t h e consciousness of t hose w h o experienced it , a n d t hat perhaps t hey were able t o a lkct
b u rsts of energy bei n g e m iued, especial ly at
its s h a pe and m a n n e r of format ion. Since
s u n rise and s u nset , as i f t he stones were
q u a n t u m p h y s i cs was i nd i c at i n g t hat nm
c h a n ne l l i n g some force fro m t he gro u n d .
scio u s n ess
Devereux combined m u c h of t h i s work t o
might
well be a
coord i n a t i n g
force at t h e sub-a t o m ic level o f reali t y . t his
describe a n e nergy t rapped w i t h i n t he body
ide<�
of t h e
cou ld be
seemed.
by
some
l lessdalen window later not ed how some of
met:ha n i s m as vet u n d e t ermined. It would
t h e phenomena t h<.l t t hey recorded seemed
focus at window areas and cou ld provoke
to respond to t h e i r laser beam
released
\'arions
Eart h into
itsdr and the
s t ra n ge
which
at mosphere
phenomena
when
u n leashed , from poltergeist at tacks t o mys t erious ex p losions a n d buzzin g noises. H e
wa s
not a s w i l d a s once it m ight ha\'e
I n terest i n gly. rese<.1rchers <II
t he
e m i s s io n s
as
i f t h e y were i n teract i n g w i t h t he t houghts of
t he experi m e n t ers. The concept o r cart b l i g h t s , vort ices. p las
also felt t hat t hese could create chemical
mas
react ions by exci t i n g gases i n t he a t mos
window areas arou nd t h e world a n d gener
and
p here, p roducing a glow i n g effect l i k e a
a t i n g e n ergy lidds t hat cou l d explain a
plasma. He invented t h e t e r m 'eart h l i g h t '
range
of
for t hese effects a n d h is 1 98:? book defined
\'iewcd
in
i t s paranwters.
t h rough .
bein g
t ra nsients
paranornal
phenomena
Europe a s a n H owever,
in
act i\'ated
at
was
exci t i ng break other
count ries ,
Alt hough Devereu x was t a l k i n g about t he
notably t he U SA. par<�nonn<� l researchers
s<.1me t ypes of p h enomena t l wt m a n y ot h ers
were br l ess tolera n t . It remains a fri n ge
were
di rec
t h eory in m a n y respects a n d ! he desire t o
t ions, he we n t one step fur t h e r. He s u g-
fm d more exo t ic explanations is p romoted
<� p p roac h i n g
fi·mn d i ffere n t
SOCIETY AND THE UNEXPLAINED
by t he tabloid media, who percei \ e such
The C:hronides rif· "/1wma.1
t h i n gs
Donaldso n . a series of h ugely successful fa n
'
as
eart hligllls
either
as
scept ical
debu n king or spoilsport t ac t ics . For scien t is t s it s t i l l remains too strange for auto matic accept a nce
.
:\s such, t h is work st il l
lacks t h e su pport it needs t o establish itself as eit her science or parascience.
19�1
tasy nm·els t hen bei ng published The
British
psych ics
.
t oget h e r
,
with
researchers a n d wit nesses to st ran ge p he
nomena, linmd t hemscl\ es d ragged i n to a '
search fi>r a sword buried in t he hnmda t io n s of an old h1·idge. and t he n . using t h e sword to i n t erpret t he visio n s , t o t he d i scm· ery of a small green stone t h a t had to be
OCTOBER
charged w i t h e nergy at Eart h mystery sites such as the A\'ebury stone circle. The p u r
PSYC H I C Q U E ST I N G
T h e publica tion of t he hook "/111' Gn•t'll Stone by Graham Ph i lli ps and \l artin Keatman
established
new
a
ki n d
of su per n at u ral
eYe nt by report in g on the first in a l i n e of '
C:m't'lltlllt b y S t ep hen
psych ic ques t s . This had appare n t l y arise n '
u n expected l y d u ri n g recent years when a gro u p of psyc h ics hega n to recei \ e in ter '
pose of a l l t his efli>rt was apparently to pro
t ec t t h e Earth agai n s t a male\'olcnt fi>JTe t hat was t ryin g to seize con t rol - a t a s k 1 hat had previously b e e n ass i gn ed to t h e owners of t hose same art efacts after t hey
had arrived in B ri t a i n from Egypt foll o wi ng
the reign of ! h e p h a raoh Akhena t e n . T h e story reads like a t y pica l ' d u ngeons
locking messages. I ndi\'idually t h ese meant
a n d dragons' - a role p lay fa n tasy ga me
l i t t le, but w hen brought t oget her by Keat
pop u lar
man, Ph il l ips and colleague Andy Collins.
who t hen ran an esoteric m agazi ne e n t it led Stmngt' Phmomnw,
t he y seemed to m a ke
The saga t hat e\·ent ual ly un ((>lded was like
a cross between t he <Jllest [( n· the l l oly Grail
of the
There were in t rigu i ng parallels
,
Hings.
too , w i t h
t he
Eight ies
.
I l owe\·er,
the
man�· people inn>l ved i n t h e <JUest swear
to
i t s t ru t h . They en gaged in real psyc hic bat '
t les'
and
experienced
phenomena
sense. and a \·ersion of Tolkien 's Lord
-
in
as
t hey
cou n t less lived
st range
t h rough
the
a flai r.
Psychic auests centred an the discovery of swords cla1med to ;nterpret
supema\Uial v1s1ons
SOCIETY AND THE UNEXPLA I N E D
.:. ; )"
fl'"; , "'
:'.
IJ
;r
'
.....
·
f
'
' •
1,.
\ �
._(
· '
'
..
I 1· .
'·
'·�· •
other
st ones
swords
\H' re
alld
Yarious
discm·et·ed.
:\
•
r
'•
wtth
energy emtsstons
tnvestigated by psychics.
colou red
battle
..
Avebury, Wiltshire. is associated
SeYeral fttrt h e r q uests {(,llowed . i n which six
'"
was
alleged l y fought w i t h an eYil f(>rce w h ic h u n leashed the l l n l()reseen k i l l e r h u rricane o n sou thern Britain i n October 1 98 7 . Andy Collins h a s written eloque n t l y a n d e n terta i n i n gly of t he later quests for a n eager readers h i p . see m i ngly entranced b y
I
I
E S P- I O NAG E Reports began to su rface t h a t the C I A and KGB were figh t i n g a war' o n the basis of
t h is stra n ge ( a n d s o far u n iquely British)
in f()rmation
modern mystery.
psychics.
SOCIETY AND THE UNEXPLAINED
(termed
PS I ) obt<J ined fro m
I t had been known for some years that the
Sm·ict
research
C nion
into
had
fu nded
paranormal
CIA
much
agents
approached
an
American
researcher i n 1 992 to allege that t h i s "·as
phenomena.
happening.
There were strong rumours of a successfid
They
had
chosen
to
break
cover and tell the worl d .
telepathy experiment carried out between gro u n d con trol and a Russian spaceflight while i n orbi t . \\'estern visitors to Soviet laboratories were often d e n ied access to certain sites wh ere a t t e m p t s were allegedly bei n g m ade to use psychoki nesis ( l'K) - the
����
!
.
20 JANUARY
• p o N G F RO M O U T E R S PAC E '
movem e n t of objects at a distance by mental
T h e Knowles family were driving along the
power alone - in order to i n d uce ph ysical
h i ghway from Perth to Adelaide, skirting
ailments.
the :\' u llarbor Pla i n on t h e Western :\us
Several psych ics , notably t h ose who pro
t ral ia/South Australia border, w h en t heir
lesscd the ability to have o u t -of-body expe
car was allegedly attacked
riences almost to order, told of experiments
force.
by a strange
in ' remote viewing· (in w h ich t h ey t ried to
They observed a ligh t like an egg in a
see dista n t places with their m i n ds). These
cup twisting on the road ahead. t h en found
occurred at a science i n s t i t u t e i n California,
thcm sch·cs underneath it a n d being s ucked
fun ded by t h e i ntelligence agencies. Psy
upward by its power. Their voices changed
ch ics were asked to project themseh·es to a
in pitch, a vile smell filled the car and a
far location and describe what they saw.
vibration
shot
This turned out to be a Soviet base already
I Iolding
their
p hotographed by spy satell ites. Accordi n g
window i n t h e darkness, two of t h e occu
t o some sources, t h e psych ics performed
p a n ts felt a spon gy object abow t h e m but
better
saw nothing. The car then crashed , burst a
than
the
technology,
describi n g
hidden t u n nels o n l y discovered m uch later by con v e n t ional mean s .
t h rough hands
the
out
bodvwork.
of
the
open
t yrc and slewed to a halt by the roadside. U po n
arrival
at
the
nearest
tow n ,
U r i Geller subsequently claimed that h e
\ l u n d rabilla, a s dawn broke, t h e y discm·
was aware of certa i n experi ments i n wh ich
crcd inden tations in the car roof and a pow
psychic abilities were used to move distan t
dery dust scattered t h roughou t t h e vehicle.
object s . He was reluctant to talk abo u t t hese
It smelt like bakelite. Driving on for a few
or to discuss the appare n tly growi n g mili
hours, they contacted police who vacu u med
tary im"Oivemcnt i n ESP research .
samples of the dust but could find nothing
There is now much debate in t h e para nonn3l com m u nity about development
act ive m ilitary
of 'psychotronic'
weapon s .
u n usual abo u t it. I Iowcver. witnesses that morning attest
to
the
family's
fear,
the
driver of another wh iclc on t h e h ighway
These combine psychic powers a n d artifi
describes
cially
others talk of s uddenly being buffeted by
generated
electrical
and
p lasma
e nergy fields that ha,·e t h e potent ial to pro duce
scrambling
effects
on
the
see i n g
a
mysterious
ligh t
and
strong ,,·incls.
h uman
Theories as to what caused this u n usual
mind. There arc fears that t hey could be
poltergeist attack (or t h e 'pong from outer
used to create very realistic and terrif)·ing
space · . as one
hallucinations
directed
in clude a n opt ical m i rage o f a t rain o n t h e
again st an enemy i n battle) and t hat secret
long. flat stretch o f track t h a t r u n s parallel
(im·aluablc
if
media source
t ermed
it)
testi n g of such devices might have been
to the highway for h u n d reds of m iles, or a
responsible for certain recent cases of extra
plasma vortex similar to t hose t hat Terence
ordinary
\ leaden believes may create crop circles.
paranormal
phenomena.
Two
SOCIETY AND UNEXPLAINED
TH E F U T U R E B E C KON S w� W�)r� o u r '"ay t h ro u g h t h e h n a l d ecade . w h e re d o we A o f t l u s m cred 1ble cen t u rv, I stand ?
The ast o n i s h i n g growt h of t he freedom movement w i t h i n eastern E u rope t h a t has cleared away old-style Com m u n i s m h as had an i n t ri gu i n g paranormal bac k l as h . Cou n t ries f(wmcrl y u n d e r
re pressive regimes a r c e x perien c i n g a s p i ritual
release t h a t is p rovo k i n g a d ra m a t i c rise i n cla i m s of the u n e xp l ained . S t r a n ge m a n i festa t i o n s , t h o u gh fewer i n n u mber, arc s u p po rted b y m o re con vi n c i n g evidence, o ft e n o n film . Pe rh a p s as a resu l t t here ,
seem
to
be more sci e n t i s t s show i n g e n t h u siasm f(H·
the s u p e rn a t u ra l , prepared to en gage in debat e , al l
or w h i c h a u g u rs well f()r t h e fu tu re.
T H E S P I R I T UAL R EVO L U T I O N Ex-Beatk a n d rock st a r J o h n Leii i JO I I , w h o w a s m u rdered ten yea rs earl ier. made a dramat ic retu rn fi·om dea t h , accordi n g t o :\' e w York psychic Bill Ten n to. Lenno n repu tedly used h is voctl cords to speak m essages into a tape recorder, aiHI from I mG o n w a rd was issu i ng statemen t s about a remarkable series of Eart h -ch a nging eve n t s that were abou t to be set i n m o tion . ' L e t m o n ' s p o k e of a spirit ua l revolu t ion t hat would gain m o m e n t u m i n I �)89/90 and bring about real p e a c e. l ie clain1ed that a team of people in t h e a li crl ili..· calli n g t hem sdn�s ' t h e white brot h erhood' (which i ncl u ded , a m o n g o t hers , John \\'ayne � ) were d o i n g t h e i r u t most a t this poi n t i n h is torY ; to alter the world for the bet t er. As ' Le n non' sa id . 'There will be n o m o re ba t t les, n o more 'rars . . . i f people w a n t peace t hey will han� p eac e . '
Opi nio u is divided w i t h i n t h e pa ran or mal com m u n i t y as to w hether Len non's spirit can realh· be beh i ml t h ese messages. I t ried to pers uade Cyn thia Len non to hear the t apes but sh e was t l l l derstandably reluc t a n t t o do so because she fe l t t h a t some people were abusing her ex-h usba n d's name. \\'hat en·r the case, t h ese words u ttered by t h e New York medium in an im pression , at least , of t h e si n ge r' s \'oice, were dont mented with me i n advance of t he e\·en t s referred t o . E x a c t l y coinciding with the t i mescale pro po sed , there w a s in deed a q u i t e u nexpected and dra m a t ic s p iri t u al revolut ion i n eastern E u rope which, i n a mattn or months, felled the Berl i n wall a 1HI ended h ard -l i n e Com m u n ism in almost all its principal sea t s nf power. This all hap pened with remarka bl y little l o s s ol life - a truly p eacdi t l revol u t io n . j us t as ' Len non' had predicted. T h e peaceful revolut1on 1n eastern Europe was allegedly pred1acd by the spint of john L ennon.
THE FUTURE BECKONS
-
1991 10
The late John Wayne IS reputedly one of 'the white brotherhood' worl<1ng for world peace.
Whet her we
have
to
t ha n k
him
(and
SEPTEMBER
DOUG AND DAVE'S C RO P C I RC L E S
John \\'aync) lc:>r ending the bit ter Cold
Two
\\'ar and casing the
Doug Bower and
!ears of m i l l ions of
people is l ikely to be t he su l�jen of great
cont roversy t h a t may not he sett led u mil
retired
;�n i s t s
from
Sou t h a m p ton,
Dave Chorley. mually
know n a lkctionatdy as ' Doug and Dave', revealed i n the Today newspaper that they
( prom ised )
had been ho;� x i n g nop ci rcles since 1 976.
a p pe;u·ance t h is \omi n g decade on a live
They made them by using a rope and some
T\' show!
wood to llauen t he crop and had revelled
Len no n 's
spirit
THE FUTURE BECKONS
m akes
his
in the invention of ever more fantastic pat
pies here before 1 966 and more afterward. I ndeed, it is now known t h at the Aborigines
terns to play games with the experts. Although some early stories clai med they
h ave legends dating back m uch further.
had made all the circles, t his was never the
This is a very significam finding, because
between 1 980 and 1 99 1 , Doug and Dave
circles in Au stralia that ga\'e them the idea
case. or the 3000 or so markings found
Doug and Dave admit it was seeing these
claim to have made only a cou ple of h u n
to create sim ilar marks in
dred, but including t h e 1 980 examples at
fields
Westbury, the five circle patterns in 1 983
adamant that they did not fake the Queens
after
ret urning
English crop
home.
They
are
and the pictograms that were decoded as
land circles and, given the deadly snakes
ecological
t hat
messages
in
1 989
and
1 990.
They had now decided to retire and were annoyed
by
the
money
cereology
have long in habited
this
region,
it
seems i mprobable t h a t anybody else did.
was
Doug and Dave thus fabricated an esca
making from thei1· little jest. To prove their
lating mystery but modelled it on a real
case, t hey claimed to h ave signed t h e last
phenomenon - of s i m ple, single circles
dozen circles in s u m mer
that may always have been present world
1 99 1
with two
giant letter 'D's; and, indeed, circles with
wide.
these letters had clearly been fil med d u ring
researchers
August. They were thought real�
were left of the phenomenon even before
The artists had a brief flurry with fame,
Single
Doug and
circles
such
as
are
Paul
just
what
Fuller argued
Dave appeared . They did so
then faded from the scene, after s t ru ggling
because this was the form confirmed by
to
global h istorical records, described by eye
try
to
sell
a
book
recounting
their
exploits. !\lost serious researchers viewing
witnesses in the course of their formation
their evidence accepted that they had made
and reproduced artificially in various labo
the circles claimed and that copycat hoaxers
ratory experiments when du plicating the
had followed their work. But hoaxing had
em·ironment
been common since the m id- 1 980s, so t his
were complex patterns.
was not a climbdow n . circles
outside
a crop
field.
None
I n othe1· words, t h e weird formations
D o u g and Dave never professed t o have made
within
southern
seem to be a hoax created a fter 1 9i6 and
Engla n d ,
inspired by Doug and Dave. Yet beh ind
even though they had formed i n more than
these much publicized shapes were a few
forty cou ntries by the early
1 990s. Yet,
genuine exam ples of simple , u n explained
astonishingly, t hey were accused by some
circles that have formed at wide in tervals all
individuals in the cereology world of being
over the world.
pawns
has su rvived the crisis. Against the odds,
in
a
g<wern ment
disinformation
Cereology, nevert heless,
campaign to destroy the credibility of the
t he m yt h of alien intelligences sending mes
phenomenon. The notion that t hese two
sages in the corn also lives o n !
men were 'secret agents' (whic h , fra nkly, I find absurd) was soon part of circle lore . Personally, I am satisfied they are sin cere, but equally it i s important to bear one crucial fact in mind. The day they told their story to the worl d , I was in the far nort h Queensland b u s h of Australia at the site
1991
FEBRUARY AND APRI L
UFO VIDEO A security camera operated by a guard
south of Cairns where in January 1 966 crop
fro m inside the B irchwood s hopping centre
circles had first formed. This was a reedy.
complex
poisonous. snake-infested swamp. A� I dis
northern England, picked u p a white glob
cm·ered, t here had been many other exam-
u lar object about the size of a tennis ball in
near
Warrington ,
Cheshire,
in
THE FUTURE BECKONS
the
early
h o u rs
of
the
mommg.
The
cam era li >l lowed this as i t c l i mbed walls, cir
V1deo film of the
strange wh1te centre
blob obseiVed
at
the
Wamngton shopp1ng
cled wast e b i n s and t h e n disappea red . I n dose
li>cus
it
resem bled
a
L: u w i l l i n g to m iss a n y t h i n g,
soap b ubble. the sec m i t y
observi n g a seco n d
locat ion
on
the
site
ide n t i fied t he same t h ing. This t i m e it was
visible hH· 1 wen t y m i n utes, moving low over
guard rw,·er l e l i his office t o v i s i t 1 he s i t e hcli ll·e t h e ol�jen van ished over a tree.
a roadway and a rou n d a road s i g n . Aga i n
l" FO gro u p \ l l" FO RA (: \ l a nc hester L FO
t h e guard d id n o t lean· t h e b u i l d i n g to look
Research :\ssocia t i o n ) were i m· i ted scie n t ists at Sceptics
t he
mo\-em e n t
called in a n d
British and
to
p a rt rcrpate
I rish in
a
I( ))" i t . As o f late I �19:�. no o t h e r guards c l a i m to
have seen t h e same t h i n g t h rough a n y o f
u n i q u e joi n t elli>rt t o try to solve t h e rase .
t he cameras a t t he s i t e , a l t h o u gh o n e ex
Could i t be film of ball l i gh t n i n g ( n ever
em ployec
bcli>re record ed)? Or was t here a m u n
has
clai med
to h ave done so
when wor k i n g t h ere, bel ievi n g i t to be an
dane sol u t i o n ? L u m i nous i nsec t s a n d opti
i n sect.
cal
detect ive puule, hut un less i t w a s a U FO
distort ions
to
the
cam era
lens were
Tir e
case
rem a i n s
an
in triguing
debated hut no dear a nswer fi > u n d . Then ,
piloted by n·ry small green m e n , t h i s is d e l�
two
i nitdy not a fi l m or a spaces h i p .
nHHl l h s
later.
THE FUTURE BECKONS
a
d i fferent
curwra
����
s u rf�ICe. Rel i gion t h ro u g h o u t the i(nmer C o m m u
G H OST V I D E O A t ·l.32
a.m.
Ltr ahon· t h e Eart h \
t h e i r sealed capsule
27 OCTOBER
nist states h a d b e e n h eavily res t ricted a n d
the
b u rglar alarm
Ji·om
a
w id el y fi·o w n c d u po n .
spiri t ual beliefs w e re
n i g h t c l u b in O l d h a m , Lancash ire, i n nort h
I l owever, t h e soul o r
e r n E n gl a n d , sounded i n t h e police s t a t i o n .
s u p p ressed
Tt ·a v e l l i n g 0\\'
to
the
site
and
ll er, t he police d iSCO\'ered
t he
m eet i n g 110
and
a
n a t i o n ('Ould not h e
worship
h ad
re gard less or t h e p e rsec u t i o n
s i gn of a
co n t i n ued I hat
some
t i mes res u l t e d . So m e t h o ught that the new
break-in b u t n oted som e t h i n g q u i t e ex t ra
freedom was exp ress i n g- i tself as a d ra m a t i c
ord i n ary. The security cam era h a d been
O U tbu rst or h a l l u r i l l at o ry ex pcricn ccs
t J·iggerecl i n to action at
ha d been bott led up iiJr d ecad e s. O t h ers
e x actly the t i me
W hie
h
w h e n t h e alarm sou n d e d . I n fra-red beams
fel t t h at t h ese a ngel ic visio n s
in tercep t ed by a m ovi n g object
t h a t the oven h row o r Co m m u n i s m had met
but
how
had
the
i n t r uder
em
do t h i s .
e n t e red
t he
Crop circles also
t h e a nswer was a m a z i n g . A ghos t l y . s e m i t ransparent m a l e fi g u re i n walk
to
a lo n g
a
a
beams a n d straight t h rough a
past
larl y
d osed door
bizarre
in
B u dapest .
fo r
into
way
ncar
B u c h arest
in
cen t re of act ivity when a
series of s i n gle circles, al ign ed l i ke pl a n et s
tally dest royed before it could reach i n vest i
( Assoc i at io n
pattt·rns
bec a m e the lat e s t
\'ideo t a p e was acciden
ASSAP
t h eir
Rom ania. In :\ l a y a n d .J u n e 1 99 2 , H u ngary
'gat ors
at
made
Russia. Georgia a n d Lat ,·ia, wit h part icu
the
as i f i t was not t h ere! U n h a ppily. t he
sign
e a s t e rn E u rope. T h e y w e re d i sC<J\·e•·ed i n
w h i t e s h i n was
ronidor
a
wi t h d i,·i n e favour.
bu i l d i n g? \\'hen t h e t a p e was p lay ed bar k ,
seen
w e re
the
Scie n t i fic S t u d y of Anomalous P h e n o m ena)
a
solar
sys t e m ,
app ea red
weeks
SenTal
south
later.
or
however,
two yout h s came forward to explai n t h a t
t h ey h a d fa ked t w o s i ng le c i rcles w i t h a
and a copy t h u s be t a k e n , a l t h o u g h s t i l l
i m ages wen· secured. Various p eo p le w h o
piece of wood. I n just a few days, I I u n g-ary w e n t t h rough what B ri t a i n had t a ken t en
s a w i t claim i t w a s remarkable evidence.
\'Cars to e x perience. I l u ngary was a lso
t l 1 l' i(Kal poi n t
t(Jr
some i n u·i g u i n g cases or spare n ap p i ng. Th e vict i m s were yo u n g , a ged bet \l·een I � a n d
T H E S U P E RNAT U RAL'S STAR R I S E S
2 :-i ,
and
fro m
p ro fessional
ca t egorie s .
I N T H E EAST
i n c l u d i n g a n u rs e a n d a p ilot .
As the eastern bloc in E u rope rushed head
Szeksvard . a w o m a n f ( m n d h e r car d u mped
long into dem o cracy . i t s people began to
i n t O a field S U ITO U J Hi ed by l i i i i O U Ched snow
I n one i n c i d e n t i n
J a n ua ry
I 99 2 , n ea r
exp eri e n ce a wave of para norm a l e\'e n t s . I t
t h a t had fallen several days bd(>re. S h e o n l y
was a s i f t h e rem oval o f repression t h a t h a d
recalled seei n g a
out lawed
t ra nsportat i o n .
su pport
fo r
such
ope n ed a ga t e a n d relea s ed a
t h i n gs
torre n t
had
A n ot her
ii·01n
In cou n t ries s u c h as Rom a n i a t h ere were
saw
an
ol�j cct
land
i n gs o n her abd omen . She was fo u n d to be
frequent sightings or a n g els. One astoni sh
pregn a n t a n d an u l traso u n d revealed t h e
i n g episode was repo rt ed d u ring a space
f(mner L' SSR, when
cosmonauts clai med t o h av e seen a glow i n g w i n ged creat u re mat erialize b r i d l )
woman
heside h e r house a n d d eveloped o d d m ark
w i t h i n t h e psych e of t h ese c u l t u res.
m ission planned by t h e
s t ra n ge l i gh t before t h e
inside
foe t u s , b u t u p o n t h e n e xt c h ec k . a n d w i t h
I
I
Dill
o u t h er h aving s u tlered a mis c a rr i age , t h e u l t rasou n d rev ealed t h a t s h e w a s n o Ion ge•· preg n a n t .
T H E F U T U R E B E C K ONS
THE FUTURE BECKONS
odd recurrent d reams and phobias abou t
Left: an interpretation of angelic visions by Judith Starchild. Above: a Hungarian town noted for strange phenomena.
certain
locations,
alien
involving
major
detours to avoid taking the quickest route In December 1 992, several former mem
bers of the old Academy of Sciences in Moscow got Europe's
together to
first
launch
privately fu nded
eastern
withou t any u nderstanding of t h e reason. I t was expected that perhaps one in a thousand people might emerge as possible
1·cscarch
abductees, but the results were staggering.
project into strange phenomena. Given the
Almost fis c million Americans were diag
success of Soviet experiments d u ring t h e
nosed as potential victims of a spaccnapping.
1 960s i n fi elds s u c h a s Kirlian energy. psy
The vast majority had no memory of this.
chokinesis and ESP, t h e creation of this body - called Aura Z
-
could be a signifi
cant step fonvard.
1991
tutc of Technology (l\1 IT) by physicist Dr David Pritchard, and the h ighly respected psychologist , Dr John Mack, based at adja cent Harvard U niversity. Ex perts fi·om all
JUNE
over t h e world exam ined every facet of the spaccnapping m ystcry and concluded that
M A S S S PAC E N A P P I N G
The
A major six-day symposi u m was orga
nized at t h e prestigious l\l assachusctts I nsti
Roper
biggest-ever
organization poll
to
there was a significant global problem of conducted
survey
how
the
many
cxtraordina,·y
proportions.
The
popular
t h eory that abductccs arc 'fant asy prone
American citizens had symptoms that could
personalities' was rejected aficr a series of
be suggestive of
test results that were premiered here by
a
spacenapping. Features
sought were missing periods of memory.
psychologists.
THE FUTURE BECKONS
199J
Aher con s iderable eflinl, .) e 1 1 n y Cockell was able t o t rack down several of ' h er' sur
JUNE
,· i v i n g- ch ildren and bri n g t h e m a l l toget her
T H E R E I N CARNAT I ON O F MARY
fin· a n asto n i sh i n g reu n ion in t h e house
S U TTO N
t hey all once s h a re d . T h e y had been apart
Per h a ps l i te most remarkable e<tse yet of
�en:d hy t he i n t i m a t e d e tails o f t h e i r c h ild
n·i ncarnat ion e m e rge d t h is m o u t h with t he
hood t hat t h is woman umld p rovide. I l o w
for m u c h of t heir lives. Yet t h t·y were s t ag
n·,·dations
by
.J e n u y
rrom
c h il d h o od
so nmdt? B u t was Jenny
Coc kell, years you nger t ha n a n y of them,
she was pla gu ed b y
i n st ea d . t h e dead m o t h e r they remembered
J 'eslt'tday 's Chilrlrt'll . . J e u u y cla i m ed t h a t
from early
co u l d she k n ow
E u gla n d , in h er
:\ ort hamptonshirc, cen tral boo k
Coc kell
s t ra n ge d reams of a w om a n i n a col l age,
a
Yioleu t h u sba n d and a la rge t; un il y of chil d re n . S h e had a se n se of u u fi u i shed b u si n ess and an u rge to f i n d
o t l l more.
really
m o t her? They wo n d e red
their
was spea k i n g t h rough her from heaYen i n orde r to bri n g t h e b m i l y to�ether aga i n for o n e last t i me, In (ktober
E \'en t u al l y , d e sp i t e 1 1 1 a rr y i n g a n d t r\'i n g
t h at
she
was
1 99:� J c n n y now
d reams
of t h is weird alter ego that kept i u t r u d i n g
h y p n os is . These told of
t i o n about t h is ot her l i fe t h a t s h e was able
and
twenty-first
Cock e ll told me
research i n g
to f ( J r ge t , s h e could n o t escape t h e p ressure
i n t o her d rea m s . She had so m nc h i n limna
if.
m e mories cen t u ry
fu rt h e r
em erg i n g
u nder
fu t ur e l i fe i n 1 he
a
where
she
knows
' t o m orrow's c h ild ren' - yet t o he horn .
to s k e t ch the la yout of a Yillage t hat she k new i n s t i nn i ,·eh· was i n I rela nd. Finally . . J e n n y obtai ned deta iled maps of the area uo rth of D u blin where s h e was nm Y i nced t h is other woman had liYed . Examin i n g t he � l alahide area, she d i scon:red t h a t h e r d ream me mories matched exacl ly w i t h
199J
JULY
STRAN G E E N E R G I E S Amh- C o ll i ns lau nched a m;�or n e w s t u d y m yst e r io u s
t h i s location and that t hey related to t wcnty
inro
fi\'C years prior to her own b i rt h .
' o r�o ne ' e n ergy. First isolated by co n t ro ver
TraYel l i n g
to
I re lan d ,
many
of h er
the
p henomenon
of
sial American researcher Wilhel m Reic h , i t
sketches came to l i fe. S i t e knew t h e t o w n ,
was su ppos ed t o b e a b iolog i ca l fo rce a k i n
had d raw n i ts b u i ld i n gs fro m her d rea m
t o ect oplasm and b o d y el ect ric i t y b u t w h ich
'nH.'mory· a n d was a bl e to locale t h e der eli c t
s u n· i ved i n t h e at m os p h er e as a l ivi n g t h i n g
col l age w h e r e t he lo n g- dea d woman of h e r
a n d c o u l d be ' c ha rged ' for good or evil
d rea ms h a d a ct n a l l y lin·d. T h a t won t a n was
from o t h er liYi ng forms.
na med M a ry S u l ton and alter her d ea t h at a
Reich's exp e r i me n t s a l lempted t o scal i e r
\ O u n g age her la rge [unity ol ch ildren had
douds
been split apart a mi sent to ,·arious f(Jsler
s t ran ge-loo king guns. B u t he was pur s u ed
homes. T h e y ne,·er saw one another aga i n .
by m i l it a r y a u t h orities a n d dog g ed by other
by
d is p ersi n g
en ergy
t h rough
Je n n y w a s com·i nced t h a t she reta i n ed
problems. H is work was largely fo rgot t e n ,
t hese m emor ies beca use s h e had to co m
sa\'C ((Jr i t s e r Ka ps u lation in t he h i t song
pemate lclr t h is t raged y . I f s h e was i ndeed the reincarna t i o n of � l a ry S u t t o n , it nmld
be t h at t he�e i mages were po u ri n� Oil\ of
'Cioudbust i ng'. writ\ en b y Kate B u s h . Collins bclieYed
that
t h is
linTe
in
the
at mosphere m i � h t h e res p o ns ible for bot h
her subconscious beca u se ' her' earh· dea t h filly years p re,· io 1 1 sl y somehow h ad UO\\' t o
ble,
b e s e t r i�h t .
u p o n . h u m a n consciousness. I t m i g h t build
THE FUTURE BECKONS
l'FOs and crop drdes. I t was largely invisi hut
i n t e racted
with,
and
de pended
a bridgl" lwt wel"n I he nat u ral plasma e ner giL'S t h a t ct u tious rl"searchers Wl"rL' s up porl i n g a n d t h l"
'un known
i n t e l ligeJJCl".
t hat
Wilhelm Re·c�·s or·gcne box.
m a l ly
in \'isibk b u t
mu
l d hL· f i l mcd
hy
m a n y o t h ers argued must be h d 1 i n d the
means
u nexplainl"d pht"nomena bot h of crop cir
cert a i n ly t ruc t hat crop circle J'l'scat·chers
cles and sp:Kl" n a p p i n gs.
were frequ e n t l y f i n d i n g su·ange 'blobs' on
l 'l"rhaps t h l" p lasma was orgone energy and
1 he
researchers
i n t e l l i gl"l!Cl" had
oursdn·s.
spec u lated
abo u t
of i n fra-red p h o t ogra p h y .
It was
photographs ta ken at sites where n ot hi n g
O t lwr
had b e e n \'isihle at t he t imc. 1 m-est ig;uions
' l i\'in g
of ' w i n dow' areas afier l l l l iiSIIaJ phenomena
an imals' in t h e at mos p here wh ich were nor-
111
the Yici n i t y had also rL'\'l"aled similar
THE FUTURE BECKONS
199J I I
·
AUGUST
MYSTERY -FACE ON M A R S During the close-survey p• obcs that orbited � [ars in 1 9i6, someth i n g very strange was photog•·aphed in the Cydonia region. The Viking probe fi l med it twice, in J ul y and August,
from
different
orbital
positions.
While NASA lau ghed it off as a trick of ligh t and
shade,
an
accidental
effect
seemed
u nlikely because of the varied lighting con ditions that prevailed for these m ul t i ple i m ages, shot from d ifferen t angles and at different ti mes. The photographs appeared to show a human face , with eyes, nose and mou t h , measurin g a m i l e in diameter. Later work by compu ter specialists enhanced details and, rather than destroying the ill usion as would have been l ikely had this been an optical trick, they re\·ealcd new fea tures, such as eyeballs. The debate has raged ever since. Was this
a monument erected on the l\lartian sur
Bust of Wilhelm Reich, w1th h 1 s cloudbuster, at Rangeley, Ma1ne,
USA.
face by a long-dead civi lization ? Or. given
u n seen masses on site pict ures. \\'ere these
that it was too small to be seen by any tele
examples of orgonc energy briefly visible to
scope on
the sensitivity of the film or sim ply u n
resemble us and so attract our attention,
noticed by t h e eyes of the camera operator?
only bei ng detectable when our technology
Collins mounted a project in the \\' ood
Eart h ,
was
it
placed
there
to
proved capable of visiting �Iars? Perhaps i t
borough H i l l area ncar Alton Barnes, Wilt
was a cal l i n g card left long ago by al ien visi
shire, in southern England, during July
tors to our solar system - t he ET equ iva
1 993. Several im pressive crop circles had
lent of ' K ilroy was here ' .
n um erous
Sad l y , :\'ASA seemed reluctant t o take
accounts of strange lights bei n g seen. H i s
new photographs w i t h more sophisticated
team used 'cloudbusting' equipment t o try
cameras. H owever, lobbying by several sci
formed
here
and
there were
to trigger orgone energy i n to l i fe and pho
entists and
tographed the proceedings with i n fra-red
achieved
film. Enough u n usual images did appear to
launched in 1 992 and i n September I 993
warra n t further study.
was due to ret u rn photographs of Cydonia
While opinion is di,·ided as to how rele vant this work may be to U FOs or crop cir cles,
there
is
no
doubt
t ha t ,
as
has
which
t h rough
this
would
the
U n i ted
promise.
have
A
ended
N ations
probe
the
was
dispute.
Either they wou l d have pro\·ed this to be merely
a
rock
t ha t
cast
shadows
and
happened so often in the past , Andy Collin s
chanced to resemble a human face or the
h a s s e t a n e w trend in motion and t h a t as
artificial n a t u re o f the 'monu ment' wou ld
the 1 990s progress, t h e quest for orgone
have been u n deniable. l\ [ eanwhile the mys-
energy will hot u p .
tery remains.
THE F U T U R E B EC K O N S
face on the surface of Mar.; work of an al , e n 1ntelligencei
The strange the
A tnck
of the light
or
Yet, as the probe ended its year-long trek through space and was about to enter park ing orbit and begin its mission, all contact with i t was lost. ;\;r\SA - having expended huge sums on its various experiments was distraught. ;'\;obody knew whether it had suffered a simple malfu nction, was actually taking its photographs and unable to return them to Earth, or failing to respond to :\'ASA's instructions. Equally likely, it could have been hit by a meteor and destroyed . Or, as some researchers were not slow to point out, maybe the aliens had silenced it! 1 n any case, it had vanished, as had the chance of resolvi n g the fascinating mystery of the l\lartian face for at least several more years. Of cou rse, rumours soon began to circu late that photographs had been retu rned to Earth and did conclusively prove that the face was an alien constructio n. But why would NASA h ide such a fascinating fact? Naturally this has all been denied. So the mystery lives on.
���J
2 SEPTEMBER
HAU N T E D T E C H N O LOGY The paranormal is an ongoing process. There will always be new cases to report and new trends to describe.
The previously mentioned examples of video-recorded U FOs and ghosts are by no means unique. 1n August 1 993, no fewer than six n ew cases of odd things captured by camcorder were brought to my immedi ate notice. This is certain to be a major factor in coming investigations. Another i nt riguing variation is the allega tion that technology is being 'hijacked' by some i ntelligent force to create new myster ies - a real ghost in the machine. If I were to don my :\'ostradam us hat, this would be my prophecy for the paranormal mystery that will dominate the 1 990s. There have been claims that TV sets have transmi tted strange voices when all stations have gone off the air; in one case , a witness swears he saw the i mage of his dead dog appear on screen this way. Video tape recorders left on overnight should record nothing but static yet haw reportedly received fuzzy images from un known sources. So far these have been nothing t hat could not be explained as a freak reception of another TV channel. There have even been cases of spectrally affected i nanimate objects, such as a tele phone answerphone that was 'possessed' and a vacu um cleaner that replayed sounds as if it had recorded them - the sounds seeming to be those of the factory staff who built it or the shopkeeper who had sold it! On 2 September 1 993, the latest variation occurred in Dublin. A you ng couple had bought a baby alarm system that broadcast signals from the nursery to any room in the house where the wireless receiver was car ried. All went well u n til the device bega n to emit cries from a child who was not there, plus screams and music. Noises like mach i nery then emerged and even tually the alarm drifted into a static hiss and resu med normal working. Was this a radio station or signals from a nother alarm system p icked u p by frea k atmospheric effects? Or are baby ala rms the latest in a long line of objects to become h aunted during this most mysterious of centuries ? THE F UTURE BECKONS
W
'''
ho k nows w h a t a r eview o r t h e t we n t y - f i rst
ce n t u ry, decade by. decade , will o n e cl ay
have to t e l l u s ? I t is safe to p redict t h a t some o f t h e t h i n gs t h at are discussed i n t hi s book w i l l be accepted as scie n t i fic f�lct and t a u g h t i n ou r schools, ot h e rs rejected as a passi n g fa l l cy. A few, no doub t , w i l l s t i l l be d ebated t oget h e r w i t h new m y s t eries t h at are bou n d t o crop u p .
\Vc l i ve i n a c h a n g i n g U n iverse a n d a re constantly learn i n g amazi n g n e w t h i ngs about i t . The paranormal i s b u t a n a m e t hat we give
to
t he
su rf' t h a t rides t he cu rren t t a k i n g u s day by day i n t o t h e fu t u re.
The car1h dS seen fr om sp.Ke Ar-e we a�onc O!- ._\n� we be,ng wa:ched?
FURTHER REA D I N G
T
h e l i > l lo w in g books by no means limn a n exhaustive l ist oJ' title s that discuss some oJ' the cases kat u rcd i n this vol u me,
but t h e y arc part icula rly usefu l .
Andrews. Coli n a n d Delgado, Pat , Cirmla r Evid1'nr1'. Bloomsb u ry , 1 �189
Ba rr y . J a m es. Ball Lightning and Bnul Lightning, Ple n u m . 1 980 Ba x t er, J ohn and A t k i n s . Thomas, Thl' Firl' Ca me By. Do u bl e day. 1 �17G
Begg. Pa u l , Into 1'll i n A ir, Da,·id & Cha rl es . 1 979 Berlitz. C h arles. The Bnm uda Tria ng/1', Do u bl eda y . 1 97•1 Bems t ei n , \I orey, The S('(lrch f!n· B ridi'J M tujdty, H u t c h i n so n , 1 956
B la c km ore , Sue, Bi'J OIId tlu' Bod)". H e i n e m a n n , 1 982 D_Ying to '-i1'1', Grafto n , I 993 Bord, J a n e t an d C o l i n , Alien ; l n imal.\, C rafton, I 98 1
Chatelai n , \Iau rice. Our A n(l's/ors Cant/' jimu Outn Spar!', Double day. 1 97 8 Clark , . J e rom e, The UFO EIIC)'Cioj){'(/ia ( t h ree vols ) , Om n i graph ics, 1 990, 1 992. 1 99-1
Cockd i , J en n y . } f>.\lnda)"s Cluldrl'll. Piat k us, 1 99:� Colli n s, Andy, '111 e Circh' Makns, ABC: Books, 1 9�12 'l11e Seventh Su•ord, Cen t u ry, 1 992 Con d o n . Edward. ed .. Sril'lllifir Sind_)' of UFOs. B an t a m . 1 969
Co n st able , Trevor, '111 1' Cosmic l'nl�e of !.ife, 1\ l e rl i n , 1 97G Davies , Pau l , Othn l l'orlds, Den t . 1 980
Doyle, Art h u t· Con a n , '1111' Coming of tlu' Fairies, Doran , 1 92 2 D1ini ken , Erich ,·on , Cha riots of the (;ods ?, Sm t \T i l i r Press. 1 9G9 Devereux, Pau l . Ea rthlights, Tu rn ston e , 1 982 Ea rthlight' Rl'<'l'lation, B l a n d li >r< l , 1 989 Franci s , D i , Cat Counlt)'. David & Charles, I �)it� Fuller, J o h n , '/111' fnii'ITIIjJtnljollnii'_'V. P u t n a n 1, I !IG6 ( u pdated Souve n i r Press, 1 980)
The Ghost of 21J Ml'gacyrii'S, G r a fto n . 1 987
Geller, U ri and Play l a i r, Guy, Th1' (;l'lll'r Ef]/>rt, Sou v e n i r Press, 1 989
H arris, :\ lel\'i n , SonJ fou '1•e Bfm D11jml, \\' eide n l d d & N icolso n , 1 �18G
H c u \'el m a n s , Be rn a rd , On lhl' Track of Unlwown ,.J uimals. I I ill & \\'ang, 1 958
I loagland, Richard. 71u• Mom11111'11/s of Man. Nort h Atla n t ic Pre s s . 1 987 I I o u g h , Pelet· a nd Randles. Jenny, SjJOnla 111'0/IS lluuutll Cnmbmtio n , Robert H ale, 1 992 J u ng, Carl . Fl_ving Sau(l'rs: A Modem Myth. Rou t ledge & Kegan Pau l . 1 9!19
Kagan, Daniel and S u m mers . I an , Mute Evidn1ce, Bantam, 1 984 Keatman, i\Iartin and Phillips, Graham, Tlu' Green Stone, Spea rman, 1 982 Keyhoe, Donald, Fl)'ing Saucers A re Real, H olt , 1 950
Kusch e , Larry, 111e Bermuda Trianglf: M_vstny Solved, H arper & Row, 1 97 5
Leslie, Desmond a n d Adamski. George, FIJing Sauras Hm•e Landed, La urie, 1 953
Lunan , D u ncan , Atau and the Stars, Souveni r Press, I 974 �lac hen, Arthur, Thf Bowmm and Other ugends of the J Var, I 9 I 5 (his work published as Tales of the Supernatural, Grafton, I 975) Mackal, Roy, A Living Dinosaur?, B rill, I 987 i\foody, Raymond, Life After Life, Bantam, 1 97 5 �l om·e, B i l l and Berlitz, Charles, The Philadelphia Experiment, Grafton, 1 979 Moss, Thelma, 71le Probabilit_v of the Impossible, Paladi n , 1 979 l\ l ou l ton I l owe, Linda, A n Alien Haruest, Littleton, 1 989 Nickell, J oe and Fischer, J oh n , Secrfts of the SujJernatural, Prometheus, 1 988 Oberg, J ames, UFOs and Outer SjJace 1\f)'sterifs, Don ning, 1 982 Persinger, �Jichael and Lafren iere, Ghyslaine, Space-time Transimts a nd Unusual Er.•ents, Nelson - 1 1all, 1 97 7
Randles, J enny, UFOs a n d /low t o Set' Thnn, Anaya , 1 992 From Out of the Blue, Berkley, I 993
Randles, J enny and Fuller. Paul, Crop Circles: A M)'stny Soh•ed. Robert Hale, I 990 (updated 1 993) Randles, Jenny and Hou gh , Peter, Death by Supanatural Ca uses ?, G1·afton, I 988 Randles, J enny and \\'a rrington, Peter, Science and the UFOs, Basil Blackwell, 1 98 5
Raudive, Konstanti n , Breakth rough, Smyth e , 1 97 I Rhine, J . B . , The Reach of the Mind, Pelica n , 1 954 Rid pat h , I an . Messages from the Stars, Futura. I 978 Ring, Ken, The Omega Project, William Morrow, I 992
Sheldrake, Rupert , A New Science of Lift', B lond & Briggs, 1 98 1 Story, Ronald, 111e Space Gods Revealed, N EL, 1 97 7 Strand, Erling, Project Hessdalen: Final Terlmical Report, Projec t , H essdalen , I 985 Temple, Robert , The Siriu.1 Mystel)', Souvenir Press, 1 976 Watson , Lyall, Supemature, Hodde1· & Stoughton, 1 97 5 Wilso n , I a n , Mind O u t of Time, Gollancz, 1 98 I \Vitchell, N icholas, The Loch Ness Sto1y, Pengu i n , 1 975 (u pdated 1 99 1 )
INDEX Abominable Snowman 7 1 , 99
Blythburgh. Suffolk, U K 39
Drem airfield, U K 50- I
Ach�·. France 46
Boardman, Pete 7 1
Duncan, Helen 8 1 -2
Adamski, George 78-9
Boas, Antonio Villas 82-4, 92
Diirer, Albrecht 26
Aetherius Society 78
Booth, David 1 1 3
Agnaga. Dr !\lan.-ellin 24 Ai•·
lli )' Steries 1 4, 1 5 , 4 5-6, 76-8,
1 1 2- 1 3
Bodey Rectory, SuOolk. UK 5 1
Earl, Bea 45
Borman, Frank 94
Earthlights J.t, 1 9 , 1 22-3
Bournbrook, W. :\lidlands, U K 9
Ectoplasm 54-5
Airships 1 7- 1 9, 45-6
Bower, Doug 1 28-9
Edinbmgh, Scotland 50, 82
Akhhenaten 1 23
Bowmen and Other Legends, The
Egryn, \\'ales 1 4
Alamosa City, Colorado, USA 96
Brazzaville, Congo 24
Eilean !\lor lighthouse, U K 9
Ald rin, B u z z 94
Bronto.\nllms 2:3
Einclhm·en, Holland ·12
Alien contact 56-60. 82-4
Brown, Rosemary 26
Einstein, Albert 20, 59
Eldridge, USS 59-60
Allen , Carl 58-60
Bucharest, Romania 1 3 1
Alma 7 1
Bungay. Sulfolk, U K 39
Epsilon Bootis 42-3
Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, U K 1 36
B u rger, :-.leal 57
Everest, !\It 7 , 7 1
Amit)'\'ille, L l , USA 1 06
Bush, Kate 1 34
Everglades, Florida, USA I 03 Exhall, Wamickshire, UK
Ancient astronauts 99- 1 00 Andrews, Colin
Caerphilly :\ f ountain, Wales 1 8
1 16
Animal m u tilations 96-7
Caidan , !\lartin 78
Annapurna, :\It 7 1
Cardington, Bedfordshire, UK 4 5
Anson, Ja)· 1 06
Carnarvon, Earl o f 3 7
Apollo I I 94
Carter, l l oward 37-8
Fatima, Portugal :H-5
Appleton, Cmthia 84
Cascade !\lountains, Washington,
Fish, 1\larjorie 9 1
48-50, I 03-5, 1 24-5, 1 33
USA 62
Armstrong, :-.lei! 94
19
Extra-sensory pelTeption (ES I')
Fairies 30-4
Fisher Canyon, 1\:evada, USA :39
Arnold, Kenneth 62-:l
Champlain, Lake 92
Flight I 9 60-2
Arundel, Sussex, UK 53
Chatelain, !\Iaurice 94
Flight 40 I
Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire,
Chico, California, USA 38-9
Florida Keys. USA 1 03
I 03
Chorley, Dave 1 28-9
Fontes, Dr Ola\'0 83
Aston, \\'. Midlands, t.:K 84
Churchill, Winston 1 8
Fort, Charles 38
A.tlalllosaunL� 25
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA 1 1 3
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
UK 58
Avebury, Wiltshire, UK
1 23
Clark, Jerome 1 7 , 40, 97
60-1
Cockell, Jenny I :H
Fox sisters I I Freeman-Attwood, J ulian 7:3
Bahia Blanca, Argentina 1 0 1
Collins, Andy 1 23-4 , 1 34 , 1 :36
Ball lightning 1 05-6
Collins, Doris 1 2
Freud, Sigmund 8, 4 4 , 79
Bass Straits, Australia 1 1 2- 1 3
Condon, D r Edward I 0 I
Fmdsham, Cheshire, UK 97
Beauvais. France 4 6
Cottingley, Yorkshire, U K 30-4
Fuller, John 92, I 03
Beethoven, Ludwig v a n 26
Crop circles I I 0, 1 1 5- 1 8 . 1 28-9,
Fuller, Paul I 29
Begg. Paul 1 2 , 28, 60, 76
1 3 1 , 1 35-6 Gaddis, Vincent 76
Curran, Pearl 26
Bender, Hans 87
Galileo Galilei 6
Bentwatns, Sulfolk, U K 1 1 8- 1 9 Berlitz, Charles 59, 76
Daniken, Erich von 99- 1 00
Gallipoli, Turkey 27-8
Bermuda Triangle 76-8, I 00
Darwin, Charles H, 90
Garrett, Eileen 45-6
Bernstein, !\Iorey 79
Davies, Dr Paul 1 06
Geller, Uri 1 03-5, 1 25
Bielek, AI 59
Delgado, Pat
Gemini 4 94
Bigfoot 69, 97-9
Devereux, Paul
Billy the Kid 26
Dickens, Charles 73
Binbmok Farm, Lincolnshire,
Dieterlen, Germaine 67
H, 1 9, 1 1 0, 1 2 1 -2
Diplodorus
Black dog :39-4 1 I 09
Gemini 1 2 94 Ghost photographs :30, 5:,-4, 92-3, 131 (;ibbons, Bill 24
Dinosaurs 2:'-5
UK I 2 Blackmore, Dr Sue
1 16
Gimlin, Boh 97, 99
24
Coddard, Sir Victor 50- I
Dogon 67 1 23
Gould, Rupert 47
Blackwood. Ebbw Vale, Wales 1 1 8
Donaldson, Stephen
Blessed , Brian 73
Doyle, Arthur Conan 23, :H , 45-6
Gray, H ugh 4 7
Blyth, 1\iorthumherland, U K 1 8
Drake, Raymond 99
Griauk, !\larcel 67
Crilhths. Fr .r nct·s :10--t
Louis X\' 1 , King
Haines, Or Rit h;ml
Lovell, J a mes
I I :1
Out-of-body exper ience (< lO B E )
1 07-!J
Lunan, D l l lu·a n -t�-:1
l lals. Jorgen - 1 � l l a l t . C o L Charles
Ot
Luxor, Egypt
:n
Palomar, \ I I 7 8
j I . I Oti, I :17
l lt'ssdalen, :>.:orwav
factor -I I , :,6
Lut1., (;eorge and Karin· I Oli
1 19
H a n ging Rock, .\ustralia 9 l l au nti n g s
!)
9-1
l';rtterson. Roge r 97, !l!J
I �0- 1 , I :! �
:\be hen, An hur
�7-8
I'a l'lo,·, .-\Ilion S
1 -1 9-1 :'ltKk, Dr J o h n I :tl
Hem·dmans, lkrnard �-1
:'llcClure, KeYin
l'ermine Hills, U K :i6, !16. 1 2 1
Hexham, :>.:ortbumb.. rbml, l.' K
:'l l c Oivit t , J ames
l'ersingn, D r :'l l ichad
8-1 -;) Hill, Beuy and Bam<')' !10-�
:'llackal, Rov �-1
Pe ter bo rou gh . Cambs,
l l illarv, Sir Fdmuwl 7 1
:\lc:'llinnville. Oregon, L' S.-\ liS
Petit Trianon
\\'. -t:i l loo\'er·. Cmdr ( ;corge 58 l lopkins. Budd ;)(j H ou gh . l't'tl'l 7-1 l l ouston. Texas. US.\ 97, 1 1 9 I I ullman. Tex;rs. l S.-\ 1 1 9
:\Ianarn, Ann;r
H u nt , Sir Jolm 7
:\ I ars
l hdes,·ille. :-.: .. w York, l'S.\ I I
:\leaden, Dr Ten•nu·
l l inchdilk, C;tpt.
lcke. OaY i d Irwin, Fit
:iO
Lt -Hi
J er se1 Devil 6, I li- 1 7
101
:'llanitoba, Lak .. !12
Ph illips. Graham
:!li :\larconi, ( ; u glielm o · 1:!
Picasso, Pablo 26
:\I a n ni ng . :\lattlww
:\larie-Antoinette. Queen
Pollack, John
-1�. 6 1 . 9:� . !15, l :lG-i
l'remonicions 22-:1, I I :1 l'rin·, llanY -1 6, :; I . 8 2
I :1:3
:\leek , Gemge 1 1 0- 1 2
l'rit<hanl. Dr Da1·id
:\Jesmer. Franz 79
Proni, Dr 50
:\l es�ner, Reinhold 73
l'sn·hic questing I :!:1--1
:'llexico Citv, :'llexim 1 0 1 :'l l rracles 2 1 , 6!1 :'l l i rebeau-en-Poitou, France 2 1
R I O I -15-6
Jourdain, Eleanor
�1-1 0
:'l l obe dey, Anne !J- 1 0
J ung. Cad Gustav
-
1 -1 , 7!1
.\lolnran, C S S
J u p iter
Iii J u r genso n , Friedrich 87 97
:\Ions. Fram·e 2G-9
Randiw, D r Ko ns tant in 87
Moon
F. 7 9 Ii-I
.\lam 76
Ramsq·. Isle of :\l;m, l! K :l!J R;rndi , J ;rmes
l OS
Ranton, Staflordshire, U K
I �. 1 6 , 1 7. -IG-8, 9:!
:\ l oo<h·. Dr R;rymond
1 � :1
Rmfuku
(i() mokrlt• mbrmbr 2:1--1 \lonsters
Kennedi , J ohn
<t n<l Florenn· li-1-:i
l'm,·el l , James �-1
l l :i- 1 6, 1 1 8 .
J ont's, :'llarv 1 -1
Kcatman, :'l l a n i n
1 2 :\
Po lt erg ei st s 1 2, :, t , 1 2S
!1, I I
J essup. :'llonis C> 8-(i0
Kagan, Daniel
l'K 1 8
!1, 1 0
l'hiladelphia Experiment 59-li I ,
:'llanhatlan Proje< 1 5!1
1 2 1 . 125 1 18
I to . 1 1 8 .
121
li t
Reeser. :\lary 7:l--1
106-7
Regus ters, Hennan 2-1
-l:l , 78, Sli, !):\-5, !1\l
Rt'ich. Wilhelm
l :l-1-G
:\ l oore, J nst'ph !J
Reic h ;r r·d t , Frederick 2 8
:\loor·e, William 59
Reincamation 2 6 , 79-80, 8 -1 - 5
Kirlian. Dr Sem\'011 87-90
\lorar, Lrke -1:1
Rendlesham Forest.
Kirlian energ1 87-90, 1 33
:'llorse. Or :'lt eh·in
Knowles famil\
I �;,
J ;)
:\l oss, Dr Thelma !Ill
Kulik, Leonard
Knhoe, :'11<1J<II" Donald
I O i -8
:\louhon Howe, Lind;r
Kusche, Larrv 76
Repo . Don
!li
1 03
R h ine, Dr Joseph and Louisa
\lurplll', Bridn 79-:-10
-18-:iO Ring. D r Kenneth
La Crosse,
\\'iswmin, l' SA -10
Lafreniere. Ghvsbint' 1 1 0 Lagardt', Ft·rnand
1 0!1, 1 � 1
LanGrshire. Albert ;)8 Lt'iston. Su iTol k ,
l. K -10
Lennon. Cynthia
I �7
:-\alGI lines, l'eru !1!1- 1 00
-16-8. I t o
Roes!enberg. Jessie R l R o pl'r organi z a t io n
:>.:etherseal Colliery, Derhy�hire,
l K :15
Lenn on , J o h n �6. 1 � 7-8
Xewbigf.,>in,
Lc·onard, George !1- 1 -C>
:>.:ew!on, I saac 6
Le t h bridge .
:>.:ixon. Ridrard
Lnelland, Tex,l\,
:\ u lladJor Plain. Australia
:'l t r C. 1 8 I ' S.\ 8-1 l.ight phenomen;r I -I , I :!0- 1 Lilj<'gTe n , Ander' -IIi Lindsav, Joan !I Liszt, Franz �{j Loft. Bob I 0:1
Robertson. :\!organ 22-3 Rockets 62
( ()(i-8
Loch
1 07
Roa<·h. Dr franklin 9-t
:>.:ear de;uh experic·nu· ( :-\ DE) :">it's�.
Sufi(,Jk, L K
1 1 8-19
:>.:orthumlwrland, L' K i!J
;,s
Sabom, Dr \ lichael 1 0 7 .
I 09
S acra mento , Cahfm nia, L' S.-\ I 7 Sr
I :! .'i
1 :13
St
< ;t'orge 2 7
Olaf,
SS
18
St Louis, :'l l issouri, l'S.-\ 2 1i O'Brien . Stephen ( Jkanagan. L1ke
Oldham.
I :! !1:!
Lancashire, LK
Oslo, :>.: or·\\·ay -1 2
St l'ett'rsbu rg. Florida, l . S.-\ 7:1 Sand, George 7 6
t :H
Ca l i forn i a . l ' S .-\ I i s:w Francism de Salc·s. Bnuil 82
S a n Fr.m<:isco,
Sa "l u att h 7 I , 1 19
S u t l o n , :\ l a r\' 1 3 · 1
S.uurn Cii
Suda Bay, Tmkn 28
\'ersailks. l'r;�m e 9
Sheenlt'"• Kem , L' K I S S h t, ld ra ke , Dr R u pert !JO
Sll·kw;ml , l l ung;try
\ ' t ki ng p robe l :lti-7
Shiels, ' Dm·'
\ ' e n u s i S . !1:1 I :1 1
Ll'ktT, J oe 7:1
1 10
\\'agner. Lint bar I 1 3
S h ipt on . Eric 7 1 . 7:1
Ta ylm · . ' Bmt1·' I l li
S i mo n , llr Benp m in \10- 1
Ta\'lor, l .t Ch a rle s H0-2
Simpson, Ceor!;l' 59
Templt-. Robert G7
\\'at son, Dr L1·all I O.J.
Sirius G7
Te m p l e to n , Elizabeth 92-:1
\\'a\ ne, J oh n
So lwa y Firt h , L' K !I�
Templet on, J irn !l�-:1
\\'e i r, l'etcr !J
Space llif.:IHs !1:1-T>
Tens i ng . Shnpa i. 7 1
\\'csthu n , \\'ihshire. L' K 1 1 5 , 1 2!J
Sp;lt euapping }6-S. H�-�. !)(l-�.
Tcnuto. Bill 26, 1 �7
\\'est Col l i n gswood, :\;ew Jersey.
I :l l , I :1:1
Tcsla, :-\ikola 4 2 . 4 :1 , 59
.J. I -:1
Sp01re si gn als
rig he. Vi rgi nia 7!1-.SO Ti m esl i p s !l, ·I I
Spiclbeq�. Stl'\'t'n li I Spi rico m
I I , I � . K 1 -�
Tolkic n , J . R
IH
Stead, \\'illiam �2
Stein. Capt. Frei hen
von
�:1
Wi ld cats !Jil, I I 0
-!7 47 \\'ood hridgt·, SulliJI!... V K 1 1 8 \\'or p l e sdon , S u rrey, L'K !lli \\'on h . Patience 26
1 2:1
Tn�nl. :\I r ;uul :\ l t·s Paul G.S T u n g u ska , RiYer H, 1 5
\ \' ri ght , Elsit• :I0-4
Tut;m k h a m u n :17-H
Yeti li!l-7:1. 99
lloris I �
Yowie
Stone h e nge . Wiltshire, L1K 99,
fi9
l 1 FC h 5li, li2 - 5 . li.S, .SO- l , 1 0 1 , 1 09, Zener ··;nds
1 1 5, I I S-!1, 1 2!1-:10
121 Stonnet·, Cad
L'S,\ 1 6 \\'hill;�ns, Don 7 I
\\'ilson. Rohen
L' K 4 1
I �- 1 :1
Sprinkle. Dr Lt·o !17
S to kes ,
F1talllr, SS 22-:1 Tod mo rde n . \\". Yorkshire.
73-5. 1 1 8
Spring-lwcled J ark
1 2 7-8
\\'ilson, La mbcn
:10
Spontaneous hum;m comlmstion
I �!J-:10
\\'hi r e :\loumains, :-\ 1 1 , L'S.·\ !JO
l " m gcwit k. Buckinghamshin•, L" K
1 1 1 -1 �
Spiritualism
Sputnik I
\\'a ni u gt o n , Cheshire, L' K
42
I S-50
Ze ppel i n s 1 7 -I 9
S t or y , Ron 99
\'alentich. Frederick
Summers. I a n 97
\ ' al lee , Dr Jacques I 0:1
S u peri or , Lake 56
\'a lin of the K i n g s . F.g 1p t :17
1 1 2- 1 :1
Zeppelin, Count Fe rd m . m d IH
Zeta Re t i m l i i !J I
AC K N OWLEDG E M E NTS The a u t h or w t sh e s to thank tlw foll ow i n g for thei1 adnt e a n d assistance:
Keith Bastnficld, J a n e t B o n ! . Bill C h a l ker, J er m n e Clark, llal'id Clar ke , AndY Collins, Pau l Jle,·ercux, Pa u l Fuller, Peter l lough. Cynt hia H i nde, Knin :\IcClnre. Bill :\ l oore, .-\ndy Roberts,
:\ l a kol m Rohimon, \'it S le igh , 'Doc' Sh iels.
Roy Sandba1h. J i m Te m p l et o n , :-\igcl \\'atson.
The a u t hm an d pub l i sh ers 1\ould like t o thank the foll ow i n g fot· t h e me of their photographs: :\l a r y El'ans Pict ure l.ibra rl': I 0. 1 :\, 1 7 . I .S- 1 9, 2:!, 2:�. �4. :�H . 45. 5 1 , li!l (houo m ) , 7 0 , 72, 7 7 , H I , 92. 96: F a t e :'l l agaline, 4:1; F o n e a n Pi ct u re I .ibra n , fn n t t ispit·ce. ti.
108, :n; I mages Colom Library. I I . 2!J. :1�. :tl, ·10 (bouom), 4 H , 4 ! l . !J:I , 1 0 0 (left), 1 3H ; Tony .\lc � l u n n , 7 5 : Pictorial Pres,, 1 2 7. 1 2H ; Poppnfoto, 7, 2 8 , i l : St Pe te rsbu rg. Florida, Police, i � ; R oy Sandbach. I I �. 1 �0; Science Photo Li bra ry. 88. H!J: J ud i t h St a•·child, I :{:\. 1 2, Hi, 2 1 . 25, :10, :\5, :\!l, 5-1 , I'> :J. c>9, S:l. !J I . !lH, 1 0 0- 1 . I O.J. (boll om). I 05,
1 22. 1 :!-l , 1 :\5. I :�li: Joh n Gilhen.
El'er y dlin·t has been made to trace the n>pyright h ol d ers of t he ph otograp h s i n t h i s hook. I f we hal'c Lt i lc d to credit t h e coJTl'!"t co pn ight h older 1 1 1 a 1 1 1· installet' we would he
del i g h ted to set the matter right in fu t u re ed i t ion s if t h e con cct sotl iTl'
is br o ugh t to our a l leution.
I'Oil