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Thursday, May 24, 2012

UFOnauts: many shapes, sizes, and colors


It should come as no surprise to anyone that has been in the UFO arena for any amount of time that there are a myriad of UFO occupants that have been encountered by many people all throughout the world. One thing that can be said for sure is that they certainly don't all fall into the “Gray Alien” meme that has become so popular in our culture. As I've noted in previous posts (Little Green Meme?) they seem to come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. And boy that's no exaggeration! Over at AboveTopSecret a member by the name of karl12 has brought together an awesome thread entitled 'UFO Occupants ~Drawings,Sketches and Non-Human Reports' which showcases a large number of the varied Ufonauts seen by people.

Below are just a few of the examples, though I highly recommend that you check out the thread for more information on each of the cases included. First up will be The Flatwood's Monster.

I'm sure most are familiar with the baisc story of the Flatwood's Monster so I won't go into too much detail here. From the related ATS thread:

From the town of Flatwoods, of Braxton County, West Virginia, comes the mysterious tale of a burning craft which fell from the sky, and a mysterious being. The account began in the afternoon of September 12, 1952 when Sheriff Robert Carr and his Deputy Burnell Long received a call from witnesses who had seen the fiery object as it crashed into the earth. The unknown object had crashed on the Elk River, south of Gassaway. The natural assumption was that an airplane had faltered, and fallen from the skies. Not long afterward, a second unusual sighting was made by some school buddies at the Flatwoods School. Shortly before nightfall, four boys playing football saw something fall on a hill not far from the school playground.

The boys, at first frightened, succumbed to their youthful curiosity, and headed for the sight, which was on the property of one Bailey Fisher. They proceeded up the hill, stopping at the house of Kathleen May, excitedly telling her of what they had seen. Kathleen and her two sons joined the search party. Reaching the top of the hill, Mrs. May remarked that, the night was foggy and there was a mist in the evening air." " the air had a metallic smell which burned our eyes and noses." A dog was reported to have ran ahead of the group only to return with his tail between his legs, frightened by something.

Topping the hill, they could see a "glowing, hissing" object about 10 feet in diameter, about 100 yards away. Now completely dark, the night was shattered by two lights, about a foot apart. One of the boys had a flashlight, and when he turned it on the two distant lights, a creature ten foot tall appeared.." a bright red face, bright green clothing, a head which resembled the ace of spades, and clothing which, from the waist down, hung in great folds". Suddenly, the creature began to "float" toward them, sending the group running back down the hill to the May house, where they quickly called the Sheriff.

The boys also called some of their schoolmates, and when the Sheriff arrived, the scene of the event was full of locals, who had to see the creature for themselves. Reporter A. Lee Stewart, of the "Braxton Democrat," began interviewing witnesses of the unusual event. He would later state that all of the observers were extremely frightened by what they had encountered. Stewart, accompanied by one of Kathleen May's sons, made their way back to where the creature had been spotted. Approaching the sight, Stewart was overwhelmed by an odd smell, but saw nothing unusual. Returning to the exact spot the next morning, Stewart could observe "skid marks" where some object had been.

Next up will be the strange abduction account of a security guard in Italy named Pier Fortunato Zanfretta. I'll admit I was actually not terribly familiar with this case before coming across it in this thread. The story is as follows:

Shortly after midnight on December 6th, 1978, Zanfretta was on duty in Torriglia, a village near Genoa. It was a dark and moonless night. It was also very cold and snow had fallen during the day so that there was a dangerous film of ice on the roads. As Zanfretta approached a client's uninhabited country-house (called "Our Home" by the owner, Dr. Ettore Righi), in the area of Marzano, his patrol car, a Fiat 126, mysteriously stopped dead. The car engine, lights and radio all failed seemingly for no reason. At the same moment he saw four strange lights moving about in the garden of the house and stepped outside of his car to investigate with gun and flashlight in hand.

At first he thought that burglars were behind the house. So he walked through the open gate and crept along a wall in an attempt to surprise them. But Zanfretta had underestimated the problem and ended being the one who was surprised by what he had taken for thieves. Feeling himself touched from behind, the security guard whirled around and saw something that filled him with terror: only inches away stood what he called: "An enormous green, ugly and frightful creature, with undulating skin, no less than ten feet tall". When he directed the beam of his flashlight on the being's face, he was so frightened that he dropped it, but quickly it up again and run away. While running, he became aware of a large and very bright light behind him.

Turning around, he saw a huge, flat triangular form which was blinding in its brilliance. Zanfretta shielded himself from the light with his arm. This thing which he assured was a flying saucer, ascended from the back of the house. It was bigger than the house itself, and produced a hissing sound. Later, Zanfretta said that he felt an intense heat. He made it back to his car and tried to call his security company's operations center in Genoa. It was 12:15 A.M. Carlo Toccalino, the radio operator, has testified that Zanfretta was speaking in an excited and disconnected way. He kept saying: "My God, are they ugly!". 

The operator then asked if "they" were human and if they were assaulting him. The answer was: "No, they aren't men, they aren't men". At that point, the communication were abruptly broken off and Toccalino called the chief of the security service, Lt. Giovanni Cassiba. An hour later, a couple of other patrol guards, Walter Lauria and Raimondo Mascia, found Zanfretta in front of the country-house, lying on the ground. It was 1:15 A.M.. When he saw them, he jumped up, gun and flashlight at the ready. Eyes bulging, Zanfretta didn't seem to recognize them, nor to understand when they told him to lower his weapon. The other patrolmen rushed and disarmed him. To their surprise, his clothes felt warm even though the December night air was quite cold.

The account continues at this thread; much like Zanfretta's abduction experiences (bad joke heh). Moving onward; we now turn to another abduction which allegedly occurred in the Yukon territory of Canada. The hunter that experienced the abduction actually tells the story in his own words. It's a bit of a lengthy account, but is highly fascinating and I would suggest you follow this link to read it. Here's an overview of what occurred:

In August or September 1987 (later determined to be Wednesday September 2, 1987), I left Ross River (where I lived) and headed up the North Canol Road by myself on my motor bike for moose (hunting).

I was planning on spending 3 days in the area between Sheldon Lake and Macpass. A guy I worked with and a friend of his were to leave a day later and I was to meet them for some fishing. We were all to stay at a trailer at Dewhurst Creek.

I left Ross River early in the morning and the temperature started to drop. Then it started to rain very hard and very cold. When I got to Gravel Creek, I stopped at Art John's Cabin and put on extra clothes while standing under the edge of his roof. I knew the rain would not stop, so I got back on my bike and headed off.

I arrived at the trailer ½ hour before dark, very cold and very tired. I lit up a fire, cooked supper and went straight to bed looking forward to the morning hunt. Over night the rain had stopped.

At daybreak (September 3, 1987) I put my gear and my gun on my bike and headed towards Macpass. A couple of miles down the road, I was putting along at about 10 mph looking into the trees and watching the hillsides. I decided to stop for a pee.

I was standing just in front of my bike watching the mountains to the south, when I noticed to the left out of the corner of my eye, what I first thought was an airplane. It was 400 to 500 yards away and about the size of a DC-3 plane or a full-size school bus.

It was travelling north to south, at about 40 yards above ground and moving maybe 30 km/h. Right away I thought "boy is he low". I blinked my eyes because I couldn't make out any tail fin or wings.

Right away I thought, somebody must be here and I've got to tell them what I saw. The noise I heard sounded like a heavy trunk lid on a car slamming shut.

I quickly walked along the edge of the road to the corner to see who was there.

I came face to face (about 20 yards) with 2 grey creatures in blue jump suits, about 5 ft. tall with big insect looking heads, pointy faces, big eyes, thin arms, body and legs. I immediately thought "they're not little green men*, they're grasshopper people".

Finally the last one that I want to look at comes from some lumberjacks in Finland in 1971. I'm including this one just because of the unusual size and overall characteristics of the entity involved. From the account:
On the snowy, overcast afternoon of February 5, 1971, two Finnish lumberjacks – 21 year-old Petter Aliranta and 18 year-old Esko Juhani Sneck – had a close encounter that would haunt them for the remainder of their days. The fantastic event began at approximately 3:00 pm. when the young duo — who had spent the morning cutting down trees in the forests near the village of Kangaskyla in Kinnula – decided to call it a day because the overcast conditions were making it too dark to continue.

According to their account, Aliranta had just turned off his chainsaw, when he suddenly noticed an odd metallic object hovering at tree-top level. He claimed that it was shaped like “two saucers” on top of each other and was about 15-feet in diameter.

At the bottom of the vehicle there were four thin landing legs with rounded bases, which he estimated to be more than 6-feet long. If the craft made any sound it was no doubt overwhelmed by the continued roaring of Sneck’s chainsaw.

Aliranta stared in amazement as a weird, green garbed entity to slowly descend through the open portal from the bowels of the craft.  He later described this unusual entity as being less than 3-feet in height with its entire body covered in a green, one-piece suit. On the front of the head was a faceplate that was described as being akin to that of a scuba diver. Although the creature had arms and legs, the suit gave no indication of hands or fingers.

You can follow this link in order to read more of the account and to see some other artist renditions of the occupants that were encountered by the lumberjacks. Also as I said earlier you really should go to karl12's thread in order to see all of the different Ufonauts that are available. I think it's safe to conclude that occupants of UFOs are far stranger than just the stereotypical grays that have been seen over the last twenty-some odd years. I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say that there are 57 varieties of ETs visiting our planet, it does however give one pause for consideration.

Is our planet some way station for intergalactic tourists? I don't know for sure. My gut reaction would be to say no. It seems more likely to me that the phenomena is malleable and there is some combination of the occupants altering their appearances and the human brain filling in the gaps of perception. I would certainly be interested in hearing what you guys think about this. Until next time this is your friendly neighborhood Fortean Philosopher saying “Stay Classy, Internet!”

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Yeti DNA to be probed


Yeti DNA is back in the news once more as Wired.UK is reporting that a new study is being designed in order to collect samples of the elusive cryptids DNA. According to the article, the Oxford University and the Lausanne Museum of Zoology are combining their efforts in order to find the best sample of Yeti remains that can be tested for DNA. As a part of their goal;

The Oxford-Lausanne Collateral Hominid Project has been created to try and entice people and institutions with collections of cryptozoological material to submit it for analysis. Anyone with a sample of organic remains can submit details of where and when it was collected, among other data.
Once a reasonable database has been collected, the team will select the most interesting samples (hair shafts are particularly desirable, apparently) and ask the owners to submit them for rigorous genetic analysis. The results of these analyses will be published in peer-reviewed journals.
A member of Wolfson College, Oxford was interviewed by Wired.UK for the article and he seems to be far more optimistic than I am about their chance of determining anything meaningful. Bryan Sykes said quote:
"Mainstream science remains unconvinced by these reports both through lack of testable evidence and the scope for fraudulent claims. However, recent advances in the techniques of genetic analysis of organic remains provide a mechanism for genus and species identification that is unbiased, unambiguous and impervious to falsification. It is possible that a scientific examination of these neglected specimens could tell us more about how Neanderthals and other early hominids interacted and spread around the world."
If you happen to be a group or individual that has what you believe to be Yeti DNA you can go to the Project's website to find out how to submit your sample for testing. I wish that I could be a little bit more excited about this project and in some ways I am. It's great that a scientific body is taking an aspect of the paranormal seriously. Although I do have a couple of issues with this kind of project. I'm not a scientist by any means, but it's my understanding that at best in these kinds of DNA testing situations they will only be able to tell what the sample isn't. In other words, this isn't the first time that supposed Yeti, or Bigfoot, DNA is going to be tested. The results usually end up being that the sample isn't human, bear, or any other known large animal. Which I suppose is something. But it doesn't really tell us anything for certain.
Add to that the fact that I haven't been convinced that the Yeti, or any of the giant man-apes for that mattter, are necessarily a physical flesh and blood creature. After all there are some very paranormal reports of Yeti's that have been encountered over the years. It may be that we aren't dealing with a truly 'real' creature in some sense of the word. In which case DNA testing may not be all that easy. That's not to say that I don't think the project should not still go through with it. I could very well be wrong and there could in fact exist an undiscovered large species of primate that lives in the remote wilderness of the world. I wish them luck. At the very least they could rule out some spurious evidence. 
I for one hope that Jeffrey Gonzalez of the Sanger Paranormal Group submits his Bigfoot DNA evidence for testing. After my slightly negative review of Gonzalez's conference held last year to discuss his findings, I spoke with Greg Bishop who interviewed Gonzalez. In that interview Gonzalez told Bishop that he was looking for a place to send his sample in for testing and it sounds as though this could be his best opportunity to do that. You can listen to that interview at this link.
I'll certainly keep my ears to the ground on this story because it will be interesting to see how it develops in the coming days and months. Feel free to head over to the Project's website for more information about how to submit a sample if you feel you have one. Until next, this is your friendly neighborhood Fortean Philosopher saying “Good night and good luck!”

Friday, May 18, 2012

Ghost of Guildford


I don't often post ghost photos, or posts about ghosts for that matter, but I couldn't pass this one up only because it struck me as quite interesting. I first found the photo from an AboveTopSecret thread [which is evidently my M.O. :)]. The story originally came from GetSurrey, a news website. The article relates the following from the photographer who allegedly captured the "ghost";

Ghost or some kind of image artifact?

THROUGH the low light borne from a thick swathe of fog wrapping itself around The Mount, a featureless figure stands on the path – could this be a genuine photograph of a ghost captured in Guildford, or is it a mere trick of the light?
Amateur photographer, Mark Baker, 37, who took the picture has no idea, but does think it strange the series of pictures he took last week when trying out a new camera timer appeared to show a white form when he downloaded them.
Mark, who was sitting in his van, using his new equipment when he took the photos, said: “I have just got a new timer for my camera and wanted to get some photos of the fog lifting – so my camera was just taking pictures.
It was not until I got home and was downloading, I noticed it,” he said, adamant he had not digitally altered the image in any way. “The black specks are dirt on the windscreen of my van, but the image is way past that.”
The concept of taking a photograph without seeing anything anomalous, only to find something after the film has been processed (or downloaded nowadays), is really quite common within the ghost hunting side of the paranormal. Additionally the area of Guildford, which is located in Surrey, UK, where the photo was taken has a history to it that, at least according to ghost hunters, would be conducive to allowing for ghostly manifestations to occur. It was the location of where the town's executions were carried out in the past. The author of the article interviewed Phil Hutchinson who not only runs the Ghost Tour of Guildford, but who also is a member of the Ghost Club that is, at least according to the article, is “one of the world’s oldest organisations associated with psychical research”.

Hutchinson is quoted as saying:
I do not think it is fake,” he said. “It is not the sort of photo I was expecting, almost always they are illuminated bits of dust on the flash – this is something very different.”
Mr Hutchinson said the only sightings he had heard related to The Mount previously came from council workers at Henley Fort who claimed to have seen a man walking his dog disappear before their eyes.
This is one of the best ghost photographs I have seen for some time, however, I think it is an amazing trick of the light, although that does not mean I am convinced – it is symmetrical and has about the height and dimensions of a human form.”
According to both the original article and also the AboveTopSecret thread, a local ghost hunting group by the name of The GhostfinderParanormal Society conducted an investigation of the site around which the photo was taken. A part of their investigation can be viewed no the YouTube video below.



The head of The Ghostfinder Paranormal Society had this to say about the photo:

Barri Ghai, director of The Ghostfinder Paranormal Society, also believed the photos were free of doctoring. He said: “I am stuck for words on this one – these images have caused quite a stir amongst my team.
We are actually convincing ourselves that this could be genuine, a real ghost, but obviously for us to say that without a full investigation of the area is a tough one.
At first glance I thought it could be a light anomaly, 99% of all photos have an explanation and my impression would be an anomaly caused by the light and camera.”
Follow this link in order to view the article for yourself. Additionally you can head over to the AboveTopSecret thread to find the original post I read and to hear from one of the members of The Ghostfinder Paranormal Society. So, what exactly did Mark Baker photograph? Who knows? I will say that this photo certainly looks far better than any of the “orb” photos that I have seen and certainly ranks right up there in my mind with the photos that I originally discussed in this earlier post. I'm by no means a photo-analyst and so can only offer a layman's opinion. It looks really good. But I'm reserving calling it a photo of a ghost. I'm willing to say that the photo is extremely strange and I'm interested to hear what you guys think about it. If you have any ideas please feel free to comment below and let me know. 


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

UFOs, USOs, and Alien Death Rays!

Central and South America have long been home to some of the more bizarre aspects of the UFO phenomena. One incident that stands out in my mind was the subject of an amazing thread over at my favorite gold mine; Above Top Secret. Like a diamond in the rough I seek only to bring you what stand out as the best of the best among the often questionable threads that exist on that site. The thread focuses on the 1977 UFO flap that the tiny Brazilian island of Colares experienced for a period of months during which time many photos and videos of UFOs were taken, people were injured, and allegedly at least two persons died from their interaction with the UFOs. And, as a slight follow up to my most recent post, the case had more than a few USOs thrown into the mix for good measure.

Starting in August of 1977, Colares began to experience an unusual phenomena which the local residents called Chupa-Chupas. These chupa-chupas were odd luminous objects that would hover around the town at night and would often shoot out thin beams of light that would strike the townspeople. Many of those that were struck would report feeling as though their blood had been drained by the lights. One resident offers what occurred to him in the early days of this bizarre episode.

The barber Carlos Cardoso de Paula (aged 49), living at Travessa Deodoro da Fonseca No. 231, had a still closer encounter with the "lights", as he himself relates:
"Everybody else was asleep. I was just still having my last smoke when suddenly a ball of fire entered our house up near the ridgepole of the gable. It started shooting round and round the room, and then finally came right close to my hammock.
"It ran up my right leg as far as the knee (without touching my skin). I watched with much curiosity as it then moved across to the other leg. Then I started to feel feeble and sleepy. My cigarette fell from my hand and I came to and let out a yell. The fireball quickly vanished and everybody woke up.
"I think it had been searching for a vein in my body but didn’t manage to do so. As its brightness grew, I felt a sort of heat coming from it."
(account taken from UFO Casebook)

As the interaction with the strange objects began to increase the people of Colares started to suspect that perhaps the UFOs were trying to make contact with the people. Whether this is the case or not, the chupa-chupas were having a kind of contact with the residents. Many people, after having been struck by the beams from th UFOs, sought medical attention due to anemia (again the lights seemingly draining the person of their blood) or just general weakness from having been knocked unconscious by the beams. What's interesting to note is that many of the townspeople felt that the UFOs originated from and underwater base near by the oceans of the town and after a night of draining the residents blood, the lights would return to their base.

The nightly sieges became so frequent and unbearable that the majority of the women and children in Colares left the area to stay with friends and family in other nearby villages. The men remained and attempted to build bonfires in order to ward off the strange attacks of the chupa-chupas.
By November 1977 doctor Wellaide Cecim Carvalho, the physician in charge of the health unit on Colares Island, took care of to some 35 people claiming to have been touched by the strange light.
She took blood samples, and concluded that the victims suffered from generalized hypertermia, superficial chronic headache, burnings, intense heat, nauseas, tremors in the body, giddiness, asthenia and presented very small orifices in the skin where they were hit by the rays.
She wrote: "All of them had suffered lesions to the face or the thoracic area." The lesions, looking like radiation injuries, "began with intense reddening of the skin in the affected area. Later the hair would fall out and the skin would turn black. There was no pain, only a slight warmth. One also noticed small puncture marks in the skin. The victims were men and women of varying ages, without any pattern."
Up until this time it seems as though no one had yet witnessed any entities associated with these lights. That is until the following account;
This was the case of Claudomira, resident in the Island of Colares. She claims that her family already did not sleep right with fear of the devices.
"In one of these days, after midnight, I woke up because of a strong flash, a sort of focused bright green light ray that came down from the top roof to my left chest. I tried to shout, but my voice did not function. I felt an esquisite heat... Later, that beam of light diminished and I saw that I was burnt."
Claudomira told that she sighted a strange object, much similar to an umbrella, from which a being of clear skin, oriental eyes, and great ears.
According to her, the creature was dressed in tight green clothes and had a sort of pistol in the hand, which emitted the luminous beam. At this moment, Claudomira felt perforated as by needles on her breast.
"After this, I felt a migraine headache and a great weakness, that left me collapsed for several days."
Eventually the military of Brazil would get involved in the case. The COMAR (Comando Aéreo Regional, the Regional Air Command of the Brazilian Air Forces) came to the region in order to investigate the strange occurrences. According to UFO Casebook, the Air Force made four films and hundreds of photographs of the chupa-chupas under a project titled Operation Plate (for Saucer, at least according to the UFO Casebook folks).

There is a whole lot more to this case and I suggest that if you are really interested be sure to check out the reading list I will put at the bottom of this post. What really happened back in the fall of 1977 to the residents of Colares? It's hard to say for sure. Many may say mass hysteria, but I don't know of many cases of mass hysteria that cause people to have anemia. And mass hysteria probably doesn't film or photograph all that well. Oh, I almost forgot I had earlier mentioned that at least two persons were reported to have died because of their encounters with the chupa-chupas. Well I could find an account of only one person that died after having interacted with the lights. According to UFO Casebook;
One of the most interesting cases she took care of happened with a lady who had cardiac problems. She arrived at the doctor's office very nervous and immediately she showed her left breast, in which were two strange holes.
She complained of giddiness, shortness of breath, and weakness - characteristic symptoms already known by people hit by the phenomenon. The doctor tried to calm her and she returned to her home.
But at about 03:00 pm, however, Dr. Wellaide was called to the residence of the woman, who had become very sick. Her whole body was still, and she gasped for air, but she did not have fever and did not vomit.
Seeing the seriousness of the situation, the doctor took her to a hospital in Belém.
Hours later, she received the medical papers and the certificate of death forwarded by the Medical Institute Legal Renato Chaves, which stated a heart stroke as cause of the death.
That's all for now. Be sure to follow these links to learn more. And remember, evidently not all UFOs are necessarily friendly!




Wednesday, May 2, 2012

USOs

An extremely fascinating and often overlooked aspect of the UFO phenomena are USOs. USO, Unidentified Submerged Objects, are exactly what they sound like; namely underwater UFOs. Considering that over 70% of our planet is covered by water, it should come as no surprise that a large proportion of UFO sightings deal with bodies of water. Whether the craft is seen entering, exiting, or both, there are a large number of sightings that deal with this aspect of the phenomena. With this phenomenon in mind, a moderator over at AboveTopSecret made a thread that called for people to help him sift through the reports of USOs in order to pull out the really intriguing gems.

I realize that the thread, found here, is fairly old but it got me to thinking about this unusual phenomenon again. One of the sites that the thread mentions is a great repository of some of the USO reports that have been compiled together in chronological order. The website, that you can see here, is truly a one-stop shop for all things USO. The site is run by Carl Feindt, a retired aircraft engineer and ex-military man, and it has a wide variety of topics within the category of USOs for one to get lost in. The chronology of sightings is just one of the available resources that can be found there. I can't recommend the site highly enough.

For that matter, getting back to the ATS thread, I would recommend that you read through the posts there as many members picked some of the more interesting and intriguing cases of USO sightings. But if you're really interested in learning about this phenomenon I can't recommend Ivan T Sanderson's Invisible Residents: The Reality of UnderwaterUFOs highly enough. In Invisible Residents, Sanderson lays out his non-ETH theory of what might be behind the UFO/USO phenomena. Sanderson speculates on the existence of what he terms to be OINTS or Other Intelligences which represent a secretive parallel civilization that shares the planet with us, albeit in underwater bases. For Sanderson, UFOs represent this civilizations ability to reach the stars. He picks out more than one occurrence where people have sighted craft entering the ocean from what seems to be high up in the atmosphere and the reverse where the craft descends from high in the atmosphere only to “crash” into the water at high rates of speed.

Among these reported occurrences, Sanderson relates what may be one of the more widely known examples of a USO; The Shag Harbor incident. This case was even included in Paul Kimball's 2007 documentary BestEvidence: The Top Ten UFO cases coming in at a respectable #6. You can watch that clip below.

For those that can't view the clip allow me to sum up Shag Harbor for you. It began on the evening of October 4, 1967 on the tip of Nova Scotia, Canada in a small village called Shag Harbor. Five local teenagers were watching four flashing orange lights that were dancing in the sky suddenly dive at a 45 degree angle towards the water below. Initially believing that they were witnessing a plane that was about to crash, witness phoned the local authorities. Much to their surprise however, instead of crashing into the water the craft began to hover right above the surface for a distance of about a mile and a half. While the witness were phoning in to the police, RMCP Constable Ron Pound was making his way down Hwy #3 and was also watching the same amazing spectacle. He was under the impression that the four lights were in fact attached to the surface of one immense craft which he estimated to be some 60 ft in length.

Eventually NORAD and dive teams would be sent to the scene in order to investigate the occurrence only to leave empty handed concluding only that an object of “unknown origin” had crashed in the Harbor that night. It wasn't until the early 90's that the full story of what happened came out. MUFON investigators Chris Styles and Doug Ledger discovered by interviewing the original witnesses that there was a whole other part of the story that had yet to be revealed. From the UFOCasebook site:

The divers, along with other witnesses related these events: The object that dove into the waters of the harbor had soon left the Shag area, traveling underwater for about 25 miles to a place called Government Point, which was near a submarine detection base. The object was spotted on sonar there, and Naval vessels were positioned over it. After a couple of days, the military was planning a salvage operation, when a second UFO joined the first. Common belief at the time was that the second craft had arrived to render aid to the first.

At this time, the Navy decided to wait and watch. After about a week of monitoring the two UFOs, some of the vessels were called to investigate a Russian submarine which had entered Canadian waters. At this point, the two underwater craft made their move. They made their way to the Gulf of Maine, and putting distance between themselves and the chasing Navy boats, they broke the surface, and shot away into the skies.

Whatever USOs ultimately turn out to be, they are certainly a fascinating part of the entire UFO phenomena. They are an unappreciated part of the UFO picture that are not given the attention that they rightfully deserve. As is often said, we know more about the surface of the moon then our planet's oceans and seas. So if there does exist a parallel civilization that is terrestrial in origin, or even extraterrestrial origin, there would be no better place for them to set up shop for whatever purpose they are here to accomplish. To learn more, visit the Water UFOs site and definitely be sure to pick up Sanderson's book. Well until next time this is your friendly neighborhood Fortean reminding you to not only keep your eyes to the sky, but also on the oceans. You just never know which direction the next UFO sighting maybe coming from.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Little Green Meme?


Almost a year ago I emailed an editor of one leading UFO magazine about potentially writing an article for them for publication. I sent some of my work that I had written up to that point and he seemed interested in me potentially expanding one of my original articles for Binnall of America. So with that in mind I worked somewhat diligently at the task for a few months. At the same time I commissioned my girlfriend Ashley to do artwork that would appear in the magazine. Eventually for reasons that I'm still not too sure of the article never appeared in the magazine (I think the editor quit and then the magazine folded or something) and because of this I've sat on the article for quite some time. But I've finally decided to share it with you guys, including Ashley's original artwork, to help me get back into the swing of regular updates as I'm out of school for the summer. Presented below is the article in it's entirety (be warned it's a bit lengthy, after all it was going to appear in a magazine). Hope you enjoy!



Little Green Meme?

When the modern UFO era began after Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 sighting of objects near Mount Rainier, Washington sightings of flying saucers began to be reported from all over the world. Not long after these sightings people also began to report seeing the occupants of the disks. People from all different walks of life were apparently sighting a myriad of strange creatures. In South America little hairy dwarves were sighted, while in other parts of the world the sightings of 9 foot tall monstrosities were reported. But whenever anyone refers to the occupants of these crafts, especially in the 'mainstream' media they only speak of “little green men”. The reason for this is the events of the Kelly-Hopkinsville Case, the aftermath of which is that the term “little green men” would enter the vocabulary of the population and became an infective meme that would be with Ufology for years to come.

On an August night in 1955, Billy Ray Taylor and his wife were visiting the family of Lucky Sutton. The Suttons; Vera Sutton, JC Sutton, Alene Sutton, and three Sutton children, lived in the rural town of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Glennie Lankford, June Taylor and O.P. Barker were also visiting the Lucky Sutton house. Early in the evening Taylor went outside of the Sutton house in order to get some water from the outside pump. Just a few minutes later Taylor rushed back into the house exclaiming that he had just seen a flying saucer fly over the house, hover around the woods, and descend into a gully located nearby the home. No one in the family took Taylor's claim seriously as no one went outside to investigate.
An hour later the Sutton’s dog began to bark, so Lucky and Taylor grabbed their guns and went outside to see if they could find what was upsetting the dog. The frightened dog ran under the house and would not return until the following morning. While outside of the house, Lucky and Taylor were amazed to see a 3½ ft tall being approaching them with its arms raised up. They later described the being to researchers as having a large round head, long thin arms that extended nearly to the ground, and legs that did not appear to move. The hands of the being were out of proportion to the rest of its body, and looked more like the talons of a bird than human hands. While the being's eyes appeared to be glowing with a fire that was the shade of yellow.
Being the good country folk that they were, Lucky and Taylor decided to shoot first and ask questions later. When the bullets from their rifle and shotgun struck the creature it back flipped, landed on its feet, and ran back into the darkness. At this point the men went back into the house to check on the family and tell them what had happened. When they rejoined the group in the living room they were astonished to see the same, or similar to it, being at the window. Again, Lucky and Taylor took a shot at the creature. This caused the being to flip backwards and retreat into the shadows. At this time the men were certain that they had either killed or at least wounded the creature(s), so they went outside to see if they could locate the bodies.
Taylor walked outside, but paused on the porch for just a moment. Suddenly, from the roof, a talon reached down and grabbed his hair. Alene pulled Taylor back into the house. Lucky fired upon the creature which caused it to release Taylor and fall from its perch. At this point, it’s not clear who, but someone noticed that one of the beings was in the tree. So both Taylor and Lucky fired at the creature knocking it from the limb, however, instead of falling straight down, the being appeared to float in a falling leaf motion to the ground.
This attack lasted for a little while longer before the group could no longer stand it. Everyone ran to their cars and took off towards the police station in Hopkinsville. When they arrived and began telling their story, it was obvious to the officers on duty that something had happened to these people as they were clearly shaken. A few sheriffs’ deputies and the chief of police, Russell Greenwell, accompanied the Suttons and Taylors back to the house. Once the police arrived they searched for a long time, but could find no apparent trace of anything out of the ordinary. They did, however, see plenty of buckshot meaning that shots had been fired on the grounds of the home that night. The police couldn’t directly tie the buckshots to the sightings of the numerous beings, however in a few places that Taylor and Lucky had fired on the creatures there appeared to be a strange green luminescence on the ground, the source of which the police were never able to determine. A photograph was taken of the luminous patch of grass but a sample was not collected, upon returning the following day the patch had mysteriously disappeared. Police also interviewed neighbors that live close to the Sutton house, most reported not only seeing strange lights flying around in the sky that same night but also heard the gunshots that came from Lucky and Billy’s guns.
Ultimately unable to truly prove anything, the police left the family to resume their duties. A little later that night once the police had finally gone and the family tried to go to sleep, Glennie Lankford spotted another one of the creatures back at the same window and told her son Lucky. Of course Lucky wanted to shoot it, but Glennie told him not to as the creatures, although certainly bizarre, had actually done nothing to harm them that night. Lucky fired at the creature anyway and once again the bullet had no effect and the creature retreated back in to the darkness. The being’s presence at the home lasted until dawn.
The following day the story was repeated in the Kentucky New Era Newspaper and the Sutton Farmhouse became a huge tourist attraction. The family was interviewed about the events of that night and no matter how many times the story was recounted it was always the same. A man named Andrew Ledwith, who worked with WHOP a radio station in a nearby town, interviewed each of the seven adults involved in the incident separately and each told the same story and described the creatures almost identically. Except that the female witnesses thought that the creatures had a more husky build than what the male witnesses described. Ledwith, who was also an artist, was one of the first people to illustrate what the witnesses saw. As later newspapers picked up the story over the weeks and months that followed, they began to refer to the beings as “little green men” although the original descriptions had been that they were in silver suits or were silver themselves.
After the initial media attention, people began to swarm the Sutton house. If the Suttons believed that the worst of their ordeal was over they were sadly mistaken. They were inundated with people seeking proof, stories, or in some cases even autographs. Sadly this was not all that the Sutton family had to deal with. Local public opinion almost immediately labeled the incident as a hoax. Eventually the family could no longer take all of the negative publicity and they started to charge the thrill seekers that came to see them. This only fueled the charges that the family was hoaxing the entire event simply to exhort money from people.
The Sheriff’s department, to its credit, took the family at their word. Chief of Police, Russell Greenwell had a few things to say about what had happened that night. When he described his initial meeting with the Sutton Family the night of the events he said that they appeared to have been frightened “beyond reason, not ordinary”. He would also remark to Ufologist Isabel Davis that when he and the other officers arrived at the Sutton household that, “In and around the whole area, the house, the fields, that night, there was a weird feeling. It was partly uneasiness, but not entirely. Everyone had it. There were men there that I’d call brave men … they felt it too.”
The local police were not the only group to get involved in the investigations or to take what happened seriously. The US Air Force, upon hearing about the incidents, sent officers from the nearby Fort Campbell to do some investigations. Although the Air Force investigation also turned up empty handed for any kind of concrete evidence, this incident remains as an open case to this day. Project Blue Book, the official Air Force UFO investigation from the time period, never did an official investigation but kept a file on the incident none the less. They labeled the case as an 'unknown' which is something they were not very fond of doing at the time.
Eventually the family got completely fed up with all of the attention they were getting, so they sold the property to extended family and moved away. To this day, the surviving witnesses to the event are hesitant to ever talk to anyone about the case. Although on the rare occasion that they have told anyone their stories, they are exactly as they were on that late night oh so many years ago.
Persons that were skeptical of the case almost immediately came forward with alternative theories as to what the Suttons may have actually seen that night. One of the most obvious alternative explanations was that the family simply hoaxed the entire event. As it stands, although others may have also seen unidentified lights in the sky that night, only the families involved in the incidents ever claimed to have actually seen the beings. The local community seemed to accept this theory pretty readily at the time, as a matter of fact they wrote the entire saga off as a drunken hoax that had simply gotten out of hand. It's unlikely that this was the case as Glennie Lankford was known for not allowing the consumption of alcohol at her house, especially when young children were present.
In any event it wasn't too long before a member of the Air Force was ready to offer a very down-to-earth explanation for the strange firefight that had occurred on that August night just two years prior. Speaking in 1957 U.S. Air Force Major John E. Albert came to the conclusion that what Lucky and Taylor had been shooting at was none other than an escaped monkey from a circus that was dressed in silver. There are a few problems with this explanation however. While it is true that a circus was in town during the week of the sightings, the circus never reported losing a monkey. Additionally if Lucky and Taylor shot nearly as many times at the creatures as they have said, there would have been a body of some kind that was discovered by the Police or other investigators that night.
The most recent terrestrial explanation for what had occurred that night was first proposed by French Ufologist Renaud Leclet. He suggested that perhaps the beings the family had sighted that night, were in fact Great Horned Owls. The owls would match the descriptions of the beings 'glowing' eyes and would explain some of the apparent otherworldly abilities displayed by the entities. As the owls fly silently it is unlikely that either Lucky or Taylor would have heard the owls flying around from say a limb to the top of the porch. Another part of this explanation that would seem to solve this case, is that the Great Horned Owl aggressively defends its nest. Perhaps, the theory goes, when Lucky and Taylor first started firing on the beings they must have accidentally hit the owls nest causing them to attack for most of the night. The problem with this explanation is not unlike the circus monkey theory. Where are the bodies? At many times Lucky and Taylor apparently hit the beings dead on, so if they were simply misidentifying owls, bodies would or should have been found somewhere at the house. Not only that none of these theories can explain the luminescence patch of ground that was seen, nor the very eerie feeling that was reported by all present at the house the night of the siege.
As with most cases of UFO occupant accounts, the skeptics are still skeptical and the believers still believe in the basic validity of the story. No official explanation has ever been offered by either the police that investigated nor by the Air Force. The surviving members of the incident still maintain that the testimony that was given on that fateful night in 1955 is what actually occurred to them. The legacy of the case, besides offering yet another anecdotal story of human / non-human interaction, is the term 'Little Green Men'. The term has become a meme that has been picked up by people ever since. To this day you will still hear people mockingly refer to the occupants of UFOs as little green men. The next time you hear this, you can smile knowing where this term originated.