We started doing the Anomaly Archives eNews back in January of 2005 and then creating the MailChimp versions starting in January 2016. So we’ve been fulfilling part of our nonprofit’s Public Education mission through these efforts for about 20 years (we formed the 501c3 nonprofit back in 2003).
The Anomaly Archives will continue putting out similar eNewsletters but there will be changes going forward into 2024. Stay tuned for updates!
In the meantime, check out our recent post at the website with all of my favorite links from 2023 as I take a two-part look back in the official…
We’ve told you about Ryan Sprague’s free “Anomacon” online event before and it went forward as scheduled and was a great achievement with a ton of fantastic presentations. If you missed the event’s premiere you can watch the entire day’s recordings. Ryan says he’ll likely be subdividing the presentations and uploading them individually but for now, you can surf through each day’s 11-plus hours of lectures. Check em out at the links above.
At the end of last month I recorded a podcast episode with longtime friend Russell Dowden, for his new Paranoid America podcast series. My appearance marked his eleventh episode and you can watch that HERE. I really enjoyed chatting with Russ and reminiscing with him. One of the things we talked about was the history of how his publishing career started – you can watch an excerpt from the show wherein I describe the Origins of Russell’s Weird Publishing Career.
My wife and I recently had the pleasure of seeing Greg and Dana Newkirk present their storytelling approach to the paranormal worlds of haunted objects at the Stateside theater that is part of the historic Paramount theater on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin. This was one of three stops on the Texas leg of their current tour promoting their Haunted Objects podcast, Museum of the Paranormal, and their new movie, The Unbinding, which is a documentary about a mysterious statue allegedly found in the Catskill mountains.
The Austin SéanceJournal of Séance and Spiritualist History … the Estes Method and WeirdATX / Beyond Weird Paranormal podcast!
The Newkirks have been part of a movement of paranormal investigators using something called the Estes Method (see link for background on this intriguing technique pioneered by some of the Newkirk’s closest creative cocreators). Local paranormal performance artists known as The Austin Séance, publish the Journal of Séance and Spiritualist History whose Summer 2023 issue features an article in its “History and How-To” column titled, “The Estes Method & the Modern Séance – Combining radio scanning and sensory deprivation for surprising results.” Therein you can see a photo of local Weird ATX / Beyond Weird Paranormal podcaster Megan experimenting with the Estes Method.
“A. Lucio and Jake Cordero of The Austin Séance demonstrate tools used by working mediums and then employ those tools in a modern recreation of an old-time séance.”
Second Summer Rock / Saucer Skipping … Song/Music-Of-The-Week
In the ongoing experiencing of our Second Summer following our False Fall seasonal transition we present to you another Saucerian Summer Song. In recent issues of this newsletter, I’ve joked about the Summertime activity of “skipping rocks” that reminds one of the description generating the classic Flying Saucers phrase, that described the motion of a rock or saucer skipping across the water. Well, this week’s musical video interlude certainly stirs some paranormal waters with its imagery. We hope you enjoy the video.
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of legendary conspiracy researcher and zine publisher, Kenn Thomas. We’ve known Kenn since the 1990s. He was to be one of our honored speakers at the ill-fated 2001 National UFO Conference. In the photo above, I finally had the chance to meet Kenn in-person at the 2018 ParaMania party aboard the Steamboat Natchez in New Orleans. Kenn will be greatly missed.
. . .
Check out our free weekly live news show, “Anomaly-NOW!” If you’ve missed any episodes of the show (streaming Wednesdays @ 7pm Central Standard Time) check out the episode directory on our website or catch it live via our YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitch channel, and Twitter page.
Wow! I didn’t expect a new wave of whistleblowing claims for my 52nd birthday month. Not only did I get an intense media campaign featuring someone I was completely unfamiliar with (Dave Grusch making the usual claims of crashed saucers, pickled aliens and government cover-ups) but also the 22nd year anniversary of Steve Greer‘s famous 2001 UFO Disclosure Project press conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. for over three hours on my birthday. You can watch our coverage of this news in the June 7th and June 14th episodes of Anomaly-NOW!
If you’ve missed any episodes of “Anomaly-NOW!”, our live, weekly, news roundup show, Wednesdays @ 7pm Central Standard Time, there are various ways for you to catch it. It is usually streamed live via our YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitch channel, and Twitter page.
Check out the rest of this issue’s content:
Book-of-the-Week: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter: A Five-Year Journey in Search of the Unknown by Nick Redfern
Video-of-the-Week below: Ingo Swann: A Life Gone Wild New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove
News Links: From the end of April, all of May and most of June. See below…
Ingo Swann: A Life Gone Wild
New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove
“Ingo Swann (1933-2013) led what can only be called a life filled with a constellation of connections.
In 2009, Ingo invited filmmakers into his home to begin what was going to be a documentary on his contributions to remote viewing, but what happened instead was it turned into a wild ride into with myriad of facets of Ingo’s life. Footage shot during this time, from 2009-2011, captured Ingo at his eccentric best, and was coupled with interviews of 20+ people who had been in Ingo’s orbit at some point during his life’s adventures.
After Ingo passed away, Swann-Ryder Productions, LLC, began expanding the dimensions of the film, and between 2015-2017, 30+ additional interviews were undertaken, covering everything from Ingo’s early days, to his encounters with UFOs and ETs, to his sojourn into the powers of the human mind. In total, the footage shows that Ingo’s life is truly as Ingo said, “… a life gone wild.”
A short trailer was created offering a hint of what a full-length documentary film could be. This short film, the video herein, won Best Bio Pic at the 2017 Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York City. We are releasing this short film on the New Thinking Allowed channel with permission. We hope you enjoy this small peek into the life of Ingo Swann.”
“For centuries, people across the world have had a fascination with monsters and strange creatures. They marvel at the tales and legends of the Bigfoot of the Pacific Northwest; of the Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas; of the infamous and diabolical Moth-Man of West Virginia; of fire-breathing dragons; and of those dark denizens of the deep: lake monsters and sea serpents. But do such creatures really exist? Can it be true that our planet is home to fantastic beasts that lurk deep within its forests and waters? Memoirs of a Monster Hunter proves the answer is a resounding yes!
In this follow-up to his wildly successful Three Men Chasing Monsters, paranormal investigator and author Nick Redfern chronicles his surreal road-trip through the United States and beyond in search of all-things monstrous. His strange adventures lasted five years and saw him doggedly pursuing a menagerie of creatures, including gargoyles, giant birds, and what some believe are living dinosaurs.”
Photo above: Jim Bunnell, Renee Lewis (behind), Rob Riggs, Miles Lewis (behind), Paul Devereux, and others from the trip to the Big Thicket.
Excerpts below detail the Ghost Lights Mini-Conference put on by the Anomaly Archives with the help and sponsorship of Rob Riggs. Anomaly Archives founder SMiles Lewis MC’d the event which featured Nick Redfern, England’s earth lights researcher Paul Devereux, and Marfa, Texas mystery lights researcher Jim Bunnell.
Timber! The World’s First Wooden Transistor – Balsa-based circuit component could be integrated into living plants. By Dina Genkina, 29 APR 2023 https://spectrum.ieee.org/wood-transistor
Do fish bay at the moon? Can their odd songs identify Hawaiian mystery fish? Eavesdropping scientists progress in recording, understanding ocean soundscapes. Peer-Reviewed Publication, NEWS RELEASE 26-APR-2023 – PROGRAMME FOR THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT, THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/987111
Greetings fellow Anomalists. Welcome to another edition of the Anomaly Archives eNews. I’m excited to announce that Mark Jackson and I will resume our weekly live anomalous news roundup show, Anomaly-NOW!, this Wednesday evening, January 25th at 7pm CST.
As many of you have likely heard, Amazon is ending its “Smile” charity donation program. This is an extreme disappoint and many are expressing their dismay at the company’s decision and the way they have announced this significant change. See commentary at WPTVnews, Nicole Schuman at PRnewsOnline, Seth’s Blog, and older critiques of the Amazon Smile program and the company in general at HeyDavid (circa 2019), John Kenyon (circa 2017?), and ArsTechnica (circa 2015). The “donation” program has always been problematic but it was a funding source we were slowly cultivating and growing – but no more. Thanks to all of you who participated over the past several years by choosing us as your charity of choice; you have until the end of February to continue supporting us through this soon to be ending charitable funding source.
Meanwhile… the Anomaly Archives will soon be launching a new membership community fundraising portal using the Patreon platform along with an educational initiative that has been a part of the long-term mission and vision for the Anomaly Archives / Scientific Anomaly Institute.
More details coming soon.
In the meantime, check out the rest of the eNewsletter below!
“Synopsis: On the surface ‘Armen Victorian’ seems like a regular guy. He lives in Nottingham with his wife and two children and his occupations have been variously listed as insurance salesman, shop assistant and cleaner. But dig a little deeper and Armen’s life starts to resemble that of a latter-day Walter Mitty.
Diplomat, adventurer, UFO investigator, crop circle researcher, intelligence officer – is this the secret life of a Nottingham shop assistant? His world is a shadowy world of counter-espionage, disinformation, subterfuge, spooks, spies, lies and the keeping and revealing of secret knowledge.
The Mythologist explores Armen’s life and his impact on the murky and mythic realms of paranormal research”
Graduating Crew Director/Producer – John Lundberg Cinematographer – Zillah Bowes Editor – Mathias Dombrink Sound Recordist – Tom Harrison Sound Designer – Miha Jaramaz Composer – Angus Havers
Also appearing in Google Arts & Culture as part of NFTS’s 50th Anniversary celebrations.
Book-Of-The-Week
Dreams: Your Magic Mirror
With Interpretations of Edgar Cayce
by Elsie Sechrist
“The book that started thousands on their journey of dream study and interpretation is now available to a new generation. Elsie Sechrist knew well-known psychic Edgar Cayce personally and received readings from him. In its seventh printing, Dreams: Your Magic Mirror provides clear evidence from Sechrist’s own research and from the Cayce material that dreams are of crucial importance to all of us. Includes a foreword written by Hugh Lynn Cayce, Edgar’s eldest son.
Until her death in 1992, Elsie Sechrist was an internationally known speaker on dreams and the Edgar Cayce readings who lectured at colleges, universities, and churches. She also appeared on numerous radio and television shows providing audiences throughout the world with guidance in dream interpretation.”
As I write this we are hurtling towards the new year. 2022 has not been a particularly good year for me personally but I hope we all have gained something positive from the experiencing of it. It has certainly been a momentous year for the study of UFO encounters and for the continued expansion of “conversations over saucers.” The halls of academe and the offices of governments and militaries have been abuzz with talk of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena and the Archiving of the Impossible. “Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K” my friends. Even the former President & First Lady’s production company are apparently getting in on the UFO/UAP-Action with a new Netflix series based on the famous Betty & Barney Hill abduction case…
For more on the latest news on the government’s attempts to rebrand UFOs as UAPs, check out these links and more in the Anomaly News Headlines section below:
Meanwhile, you should absolutely check out the new Vodcasts featured in our Video-Of-The-Week section below from Greg & Dana Newkirk / Planet Weird / Newkirk Museum of the Paranormal, called the Haunted Objects Podcast. The Newkirks have created the best paranormal community and recently launched this phenomenal podcast. All 5 episodes released thus far have been fantastic and I highly recommend each of them but for those of you interested in UFOs you should take a gander (you can also listen to an audio-only version via your favorite podcatcher app) at these 2 episodes about Mothman and the Betty & Barney Hill abduction case.
PLUS!!! An Extra Super MegaAudio-Of-The-Week with The scary sound of Earth’s magnetic field and a slew of amazing audio podcast content focused mainly on UFOs, Alien Abduction, Sexuality / Gender Identity, Tarot and the often sorely lacking issue of ETHICS plus some ecological approaches! All links to Spotify unless otherwise indicated.
Until next year … have fun, be safe, and keep exploring the mysteries of reality!
Defending the Mothman: High Strangeness Holiday Special – Episode 005 – Haunted Objects Podcast
“Ever been so scared you dropped a baby? In this holiday special, we crush on the best high strangeness movie ever made: The Mothman Prophecies. Along the way, Connor offends Indrid Cold, Greg demonstrates how to drive ultraterrestrials crazy, Dana has trouble talking to ghosts, and we learn why West Virginia’s official monster is a queer icon. Slather on your chapstick and hold onto your babies, because it’s time to defend Mothman from slander.”
“In September of 1961, on a desolate mountain pass in New Hampshire, strange lights in the sky heralded the introduction of a new, more terrifying type of extraterrestrial encounter; one where stolen memories, painful medical experiments, and regression hypnosis replace friendly visitors from Venus. In this episode, we examine one of the rarest artifacts in the Newkirk Museum: pieces of the dress Betty Hill was wearing as she was abducted by aliens. The gang discusses their own ill-advised adventures in hypnosis, Greg lays out a government conspiracy, and Connor learns that the answers to life’s mysteries are found in Super Mario 64.”
Audio-Of-The-Week
The scary sound of Earth’s magnetic field
“Despite being essential to life on Earth, the magnetic field isn’t something we can actually see in itself, or ever hear. But, remarkably, scientists at the Technical University of Denmark have taken magnetic signals measured by ESA’s Swarm satellite mission and converted them into sound – and for something that protects us, the result is pretty scary.”
The Tujunga Canyon Contacts by Ann Druffel and D. Scott Rogo
Tujunga Canyon Contacts: Revisited, Reconsidered by ProfessorWHAM
“…tells the true stories of five young women “abductees” who lived in and near Tujunga Canyon, northeast of Los Angeles, and who were all linked by more or less intimate personal relationships. The abductions and related events, which took place over a period of more than two decades, were first investigated by UFO researcher Ann Druffel for five full years, and later by Druffel and parapsychologist D. Scott Rogo together. Many of the abduction details first revealed in the Tujunga Canyon case have been confirmed in the hundreds of cases that followed it. First published during the peak of the 20th century’s UFO abduction epidemic, THE TUJUNGA CANYON CONTACTS was only the second book written about so-called “alien abductions.” This edition of the classic work contains the two new chapters prepared for the updated version of the book. During this updating of the story, Druffel first realized that abduction scenarios can be fended off by strongwilled, confident experiencers, since three of the five young women intuitively discovered, and used, various “resistance techniques” to fend off, and eventually end, the harrowing attacks.”
The first annual Texas UFO Conference / Convention was held the weekend before Thanksgiving on the heels of its organizer’s long-running Texas Bigfoot Conference. Craig Woolheater launched this inaugural event featuring speakers such as Nick Redfern, Daniel Alan Jones (who also MCd the event), local writers / researchers Mitchel Whitington, George Jones and Rita Louise, myself (SMiles Lewis) and others. The event was sponsored and its audio/video produced by Christopher Jordan of Curious Realm and HC Universal Network. Check out Christopher’s interviews with participants in our Video-Of-The-Week section below.
Christopher Jordan of Curious Realm and
Tx-UFO-Con Master of Ceremonies Daniel Alan Jones
Nick Redfern is a notable author, researcher and journalist – whose research and writing on cryptids and UFOs has garnered him appearances on the history channel, BBC, Travel Channel and many others – On Saturday he was the key note speaker at the first Texas UFO convention in Jefferson Texas – Sabrina McCormick Reports (November 23, 2022).
Sabrina McCormick caught up with speakers from the first Texas UFO Convention in Jefferson Texas recently. The conference was held this past Saturday there, and featured researchers and authors focusing on UFO encounters in the Lone Star State. In this instalment, she talks with an archivist out of Austin, Texas who is trying to make information sharing about these encounters and other such anomalies easier to access. (November 22, 2022).
The city of Jefferson held its first annual UFO convention over the weekend – Sabrina McCormick covered the event, which featured a panel of experts that spoke about unexplained encounters in Texas (November 21, 2022).
If you’re looking for an out of this world experience, Jefferson, Texas may have the solution you seek. The city will host its first annual UFO convention this Saturday. It will feature a cross section of Texas UFO enthusiasts and experts says event organizer, Craig Woolheater. Sabrina McCormick reports (November 16, 2022).
Tx Bigfoot Conf Coverage
Jefferson Texas has become known as the Bigfoot Capital of Texas, there is even a statue of the famed cryptid prominently placed in the city. For the last several years, the city has hosted the Texas Bigfoot Convention. The three-day event serves as a place where enthusiasts, cryptozoologists and people who have had unusual and unexplained experiences can come to swap stories and learn more about the creature (and a host of other such cryptids). Sabrina McCormick spoke with several of the event’s speakers, this interview features world explorer Adam Davies. (October 28, 2022).
Native Texan, Lyle Blackburn may wear only one hat (that is the signature black, wide brimmed cowboy hat he is often seen in) but he has many roles including author, actor, musician, and cryptozoological researcher. As a child Blackburn became fascinated with the Boggy Creek monster after watching the film. Today, he has become a notable expert on the beast and other such cryptids. Sabrina McCormick spoke with Blackburn at the Texas Big Foot Conference held in Jefferson, Texas this October. (October 28, 2022).
From the wilds of Texas’ back country to the streets of the Dallas Metroplex, paranormal phenomena and strange creatures abound in Jason McLean’s book Metroplex Monsters. Sabrina McCormick spoke with McLean recently at the Texas Bigfoot Conference in Jefferson. (October 28, 2022).
According to the Bigfoot Research Organization, or BFRO, regional sightings of the cryptid in the state of Oklahoma are most prevalent in LeFlore County, close to the Arkansas Border. The second most common area for sightings is nearby McCurtain County. The mountains stretch through both counties. At a recent Bigfoot Conference in Jefferson Texas, Sabrina McCormick spoke with one researcher who has been studying and documenting sightings in the Kiamichi area for more than twenty years. Today she files the last in a series of interviews from that conference. (October 28, 2022).
“Eyewitnesses, investigators, and cryptozoologists worldwide contend ample evidence exists supporting the survival of large, hairy, apelike creatures alongside mankind today, lurking in the wilderness. By all appearances, these beings appear wholly natural, interacting with their surroundings and leaving behind hair, blood, droppings, and, of course, footprints.
Yet despite their apparently physical nature, bigfoot and its hairy hominid kin consistently appear mired in High Strangeness—the peculiar, ineffable, and nonsensical absurdities so often encountered in paranormal phenomena.
Some sightings seem more consistent with mythology than biology. Bigfoot often present supernatual attributes, like luminescent eyes or the ability to pass, ghostlike, through structures. Anomalous lights are regulalry seen in areas of frequent sasquatch activity. Footprints persistently, if rarely, display odd numbered toes, and—most bafflingly—bigfoot trackways suddenly terminate in the middle of open, untouched terrain.
In Volume 1 of Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon, authors Joshua Cutchin and Timothy Renner carefully examine not only the intersection of hairy apemen with global folklore—of poltergeists, faeries, extraterrestrials, magic, witches, ghosts, and archetypal women-in-white—but also question the fundamental assumptions underlying contemporary cryptozoological beliefs surrounding bigfoot.”
First Annual Texas UFO Con in Jefferson, Texas – 11/19/22
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022 AT 9 AM – 10 PM
UFO convention covering Texas based UFO sightings, alien encounters and UFO crash sites.
Confirmed Speakers: Mitchel Whitington, George Jones, UFOJane, SMiles Lewis, Daniel Alan Jones, Nick Redfern, & Special Presentation by Joey “The UFO Magnet” George
Back in 2002 a book was published that sent rippling shock-waves through the UFO community. That book was about possible anti-gravity propulsion and was written by the most unexpected author, Nick Cook. Nick was the aviation editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly (the international defense journal) in the 1990s. He continued as “an aerospace consultant and contributor to the journal from 2002 to 2008” and “won four Journalism Awards from the Royal Aeronautical Society in the Defence, Business, Technology, and Propulsion categories.” Though I felt fairly versed in the material, I only just recently acquired a copy of the book and began voraciously reading it from cover to cover. The book is an entertaining account of his global search for evidence of such secret propulsion technology. Along the way he met with Austin’s own Hal Puthoff while trying to better understand the nature of the alleged physics underpinning the title of the book… The Hunt for Zero Point!
Having not heard anything about him in many years, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, besides returning to the field of UFOs and exotic propulsion, he had been continuing his explorations into the unknown through researching psychic Remote Viewing, the After-Life, and Consciousness generally. In the wake of the 2017 NYTimes revelations about AAWSAP / AATIP and the revitalization of the UFO field under the new UAP moniker, Nick had even submitted his own essay to the 2021 BICS (Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies) Essay Contest and in doing so garnered $20,000 as an Honorable Mention for his essay, What Is The Best Available Evidence For The Survival Of Human Consciousness after Permanent Bodily Death? [PDF] (see also Greg Taylor of DailyGrail.com‘s essay which also garnered an honorable mention and awarded funds [PDF]).
So below in our Videos-Of-The-Week section you’ll find recent presentations by Nick Cook on his past Hunt For Zero Point research and where that lead him … including a discussion with Jeffrey Mishlove titled High Strangeness, UFOs, and the Afterlife. Nick and Jeff connected at the BICS awards event where Jeffrey Mishlove accepted 1st Prize (and $500,000) for his essay [PDF].
As usual, we have a ton of news links for you to explore in our Anomalous News section below.
We hope you enjoy this issue of the Anomaly Archives eNews.
High Strangeness, UFOs, and the Afterlife with Nick Cook
“Nick Cook is author of twenty fiction and nonfiction titles includingThe Hunt for Zero Point: Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology, and a popular parapsychological thriller, The Grid. He is the former aviation editor of Jane’s Defense Weekly.
Here he describes his interest in reconciling consciousness research, the paranormal, and nuts and bolts descriptions of unidentified aerial phenomena. He describes events from his childhood that triggered this quest for knowledge. He also shares his understanding that the universe, itself, is conscious. In this conversation, Jeffrey Mishlove shares some stories concerning his investigation of Ted Owens, “the PK Man.”
New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. (Recorded on December 3, 2021)”
Nick Cook – Beyond Zero Point: Black Projects & UAPs
“Go beyond “Zero Point” as Nick Cook discusses secret aerospace defense projects and UAPs. Nick is the former aviation editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly, and to discuss what’s changed since HZP’s publication, and the rapidly-evolving UAP story.
Back in 2001, Nick Cook stunned the world with The Hunt for Zero Point” , which offered insights into the secret Nazi weapons programs of World War II and how those influenced classified aerospace research over the course of the 20th century.
He joins us today to discuss what has changed since HZP’s publication, and offers his thoughts and insights on rapidly-evolving UAP story and how social & geopolitical trends are shaping the aerospace needs of tomorrow.”
“Twenty years ago, he broke open the secret world of aerospace black projects — here’s what he thinks the defense industry should tackle next. We’re joined by Nick Cook, award-winning aerospace & defense journalist, former aviation editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly, best-selling author of The Hunt for Zero Point, and the founder of the NCW Action Global. Nick joins us to discuss emerging aerospace technologies, defense-industry black projects, and a cross-sector industry initiative to find solutions to global challenges.”
It’s been a wild September … local UFO sightings with video, alien imagery in support of our local salsa fest, the media’s UAP darling in a drama-rama spiral, amazing videos galore … all that and more in this latest issue of the Anomaly Archives eNewsletter! Plus our book of the week and more with some old-school local flavor!
Austin UFO UAP UAV Drone Swarm?Brushy Creek / Round Rock, Texas – September 2022
Videos of the Week – Drones, Phones & MORE!
So what were those green orbs of light flying around the Central Texas skies back on September 1st? Is this a true multi-witness, multi-video UFO sighting? Is this a drone swarm or a video hoax or… some combination of all the above? You decide!
A couple of weeks ago I finally paid a visit to one of Austin’s cool little Occult shops. Located at 5924 S Congress Ave #23, Austin, TX 78745 is Curia Arcanum’s House of Curiosities! I’d heard great things about them from several friends and finally stopped in and met one of the owners. Its a great shop for all your occult needs and a wonderfully weird place to spend some time gazing at the wealth of mysterious and strange “curiosities.”
Onsite doing Psychic Readings was our old friend, Executive Occultis, Saul Ravencraft…
While perusing their occult library collection of books, lo and behold, there was an actual print magazine I’d never seen or heard of before: PARANORMALITY
I had to buy a copy and when I visited their website discovered that Curia Arcanum is one of only 3 locations that carry this rare print magazine!
It was great to finally visit the folks at Curia Arcanum’s House of Curiositiees!
Book of the Week: Late 80s AusTex Lesbian UFO Fiction!
Years ago in my day job, I became aware of an interesting book by an Austin writer about the alien abduction phenomenon of the late 1980s. The book is a contemporary take on the rise of the alien abduction experience that was released in 1989, set in Austin, as well as the forests of East Texas. Its a murder mystery that involves a foray into the UFOlogical realms of UFO sightings flaps, mysterious fires, and hidden memories of strange encounters. I recently re-read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it again.
Check out The Contactees Die Young in the Book of the Week section below.
Cargo Culture – Austin Hot Sauce Festival
The Austin Chronicle goes full eXoSploitation in its use of the Alien/Ufo/Flying-Saucer mythos for its coverage of the Hot Saucer Festival for 2022!
DramaRama: Reports of the death of Ufology are greatly exaggerated
Among the wealth of important and interesting anomaly news headlines are a handful of opinion pieces on the oft repeated trope of the “Death of UFOlogy.” Veteran UFO researchers Chris Rutkowski and Kevin Randle (and undoubtedly others) responded in their own ways to an OpEd written by UFO, er um, UAP newbie Lue Elizondo and posted on September 5th, titled “Why UFOlogy Must Die.” Canadian Chris Rutkowski called folks attention to his 2010 blog post titled “The demise of ufology” while Kevin Randle wrote a new blog post titled, “Let’s Kill Ufology?”
While there was much discussion about this latest pronouncement from “Former Director AATIP” Lue Elizondo, most seemed to avoid drawing the connection of its timing and tone with the accusations from Luis Jimenez, host of the UCR (Unidentified Celebrity Review) show on YouTube and The Big Phone Home UAP-activism campaigns. While Lue Elizondo’s OpEd, alluded to his desire for, “a new UFOlogy minus the drama, the cults of personalities, and the click-bait-driven agendas that lead to petty backbiting,” and the “exchange ideas without fear of personal attack, without having to pick a side, and without middle school drama,” these were a large part of the claims made by @LuAngeles (Luis Jimenez) against Elizondo (and possibly others) in his last two UCR episodes; the first streamed live on Aug 25, 2022 (Clicks, Clique’s, & who’s really in it for the UFO money) and then the more relevant to Elizondo’s OpEd, the other UCR show (Who is Richard Butt?) streamed on September 1st. And just in case that timing isn’t enough to convince you of these two events being related… there is Lue Elizondo’s tweet on September 2nd:
@LueElizondo · Sep 2 “To avoid confusion and conjecture, neither I, nor my wife, are Richard Butt.”
Lu @LuAngeles · Sep 2 Replying to @LueElizondo Does anyone want to ask how Richard butt had details of a phone call only 4 people knew about? You may not be Richard, but you know who it is. Please tell us for clarity.
When I stumbled upon this hornets-nest of drama and accusations during the September 1st, UCR livestream, I was completely clueless as to what this was all about.
Dick Butt & The 5×5 Felon Affair
So what was all this Lue on Lu fracas action about? Well, allegedly, it was all about a text message sent by Elizondo to Jimenez decrying the “BS” of various people in the UFO/UAP scene whom Elizondo considered to be among the many “bullshit artists” with one or more of them – this is one of the many points of contention – actually having past felony convictions. Or at least that is what Jimenez thought Elizondo meant by the text, allegedly. Its all very convoluted “he said / she said” kinds of drama but with an apparent digital paper-trail that a certain “Richard Butt” was pushing Jimenez to post publicly.
Part of this drama goes all the way back to UCR shows from back in April and May:
@LuAngeles (Luis Jimenez) & The UCR Unidentified Celebrity Review show
Is any of this newsworthy? As someone I deeply respect in the academic realm who is a true mover and shaker within the UFO community said to me, “I don’t understand why you very intelligent friends care about this?” To which I responded…
“Given Elizondo’s background [in Counter Intelligence], I think it understandable that he get scrutinized. The fact that this OpEd criticizing discord is released just days after he is accused of sowing discord, without his addressing that situation, to me, seems disingenuous. So if it is all a misunderstanding then he should own up to it. The person making those accusations, Luis Jimenez, seemed sincerely upset, disturbed, and frightened by the turn of events and I do think he is right to be concerned when cults of personality develop around religious belief systems like those you write about. Luis Jimenez tried to, more or less, set the record straight, allegedly – whereas Lue Elizondo issues this OpEd and doesn’t address what obviously triggered it. Maybe it is all just train-wreck, social media drama distraction, but given the accusations and the appearance of the situation it seems worthy of note to me.”
Until next time … read on – we hope you enjoy this issues of the Anomaly Archives eNews.
Rice University Opens The Archives Of The Impossible- March 2022
These are “Memory” slideshows created automatically by my phone using photos I took while attending and participating in the March 2022 Opening of the Archives of the Impossible at Rice University.
– SMiles Lewis (Founder of the Anomaly Archives)
Archives of the videos for the event presentations are available at the links below…
Four years before the more famous Hill Abduction, a Brazilian farmer had a hair-raising experience that is eerily reminiscent of the “alien abduction” stories brought to light in the 1980s and 90s. His case is now widely considered the first alien abduction of the post-war era, and the first to imply an agenda of alien-human hybridization.
David Perkins and SMiles Lewis: UFOs, Cattle Mutilations and the Gaian Mind
David Perkins and SMiles Lewis: UFOs, Cattle Mutilations and the Gaian Mind
Anomaly Archives Saturday Streamathon Fundraiser Series 6.2 David Perkins and SMiles Lewis
Anomaly Archives Saturday Streamathon Fundraiser Series Part-Six 12/26/2020
The Anomaly Archives Saturday Streamathons are a series of emergency fundraiser telethons happening each Saturday until 2021. This is the FINAL Streamathon of 2020.
SCHEDULE: Saturday-Streamathon-Series Part-Six Events of Saturday, December 26th
02:15 pm – David Perkins and SMiles Lewis – “UFOs, Cattle Mutilations and the Gaian Mind”
Book Of The Week – The Contactees Die Young by Antoinette Azolakov
“The narrator, a psychiatrist, finds herself attracted to a client who experiences in nightmares an expanding “memory” of a girlhood episode. Is it contact with aliens? This story moves right along, and lesbianism is sensitively treated without exaggeration.”
“Antoinette Azolakov was born in Lufkin, Texas in 1944. Her father was in the U.S. Navy when she was born, and the Navy broke radio silence to tell him he had a baby girl. Antoinette has hardly been silent since. She taught high school English and Latin, worked in an explosives plant, as a welder, as a gas station attendant, as a landscape gardener and as a pet sitter. Her writing credits include several short stories and poems in various publications, four lesbian mysteries, and now her latest work, Ghostly Voices: Thirteen Texas Ghosts, available on Kindle. She is currently working on a new novel, Andrew Sparrow, set in early Texas. Her novel Skiptrace won the first Lambda Book Award for Best Lesbian Mystery. She lives with her ten cats and her Basset Hound in Austin, Texas.”
The morning of August 21st, Facebook’s memories of past posts reminded me of a cute Ghostbusters/Dog-Shaming meme that my friend from the previous Reality Tunnels (pre-Pandemic / pre-Trump / pre-911 / pre-Y2k) had posted on my timeline back in 2016. That friend was Jean Staffen.
Still photo from interview videotaped in the 1990s by SMiles Lewis at the “Oxford House.”Jean Staffen on her Facebook page circa 2014.
In 2016 we reconnected via facebook after many years. In 2017 she told me she was dealing with significant health issues. We exchanged brief messages until I stopped hearing from her in April of 2020. Today, because of that facebook reminiscence I did an internet search for her name…
Erma Jean Staffen
AUGUST 1, 1939 – MAY 18, 2022
Erma Jean Staffen, age 82, of Bastrop, Texas passed away on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. Erma was born August 1, 1939. — NeptuneSociety.com
I think I first met Jean at a meeting of the local MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) chapter sometime between 1990 and 1992 when she formed Austin’s UFO/Abduction Support Group. She had mysterious memories of anomalous childhood experiences at age 3, 9, 13 and onward that led her to form this group. These were heady days and I recall many fantastic public meetings and private conversations with her and other members of the Austin UFO community.
A couple of years after founding and running the local UFO support group, Jean “got the call to go West.” She asked and I accepted the role of continuing that support and study group. I led the monthly meetings for the next four years. Jean returned to Austin in 1998 and disbanded the group. She started a new group called Truth Seekers, or similar. This monthly group met to discuss all manner of esoteric, metaphysical, and conspiratorial topics. One of the few I attended focused on an area of particular interest to me, the health effects of electromagnetic energy.
We lost track of each other for many years until reconnecting in 2016 when she’d retired to Bastrop, Texas. I never got to have a long talk with her and catch up on so much of Austin’ UFO history that she was a part of but it was nice at least messaging each other with links and cartoons every month or so until I stopped hearing from her.
Well, I now know that she passed on in May of this year. Safe travels my friend…
Links:
Anomaly Archives file entry and archives for Jean Staffen
Jennifer Brannock, Curator of Rare Books & Mississippiana at the University of Southern Mississippi
Christine Blythe, Folklore Archives Specialist, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
SMiles Lewis, Anomaly Archives, Austin, Texas
Teresa Gray, Public Services Archivist, Special Collections, Central Library, Vanderbilt University
Helena de Lemos, Special Collections Instruction & Research Librarian, Occidental College Library
Nick Richbell, Head, Special Collections & Archives, University of Waterloo Library
Matina Newsom, Stacks Management and Evening Supervisor, and Bobby Griffith, Lead Government Information Reference Specialist, Sycamore Library, University of North Texas
Louise LoBello, Research & Collections Management Specialist, Franklin & Marshall College
September 3 speakers:
Samantha Dodd, Curator, Archives of Women of the Southwest, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University
April C. Armstrong, Special Collections Assistant, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
Joshua Youngblood, Rare Books Librarian, Special Collections Instruction and Outreach Services Unit Head, History Librarian, University of Arkansas Libraries
Stephanie Khattak, Independent Folklorist, Pine Curtain Project
Sara Butler-Tongate, Reference Archivist, Center for Archival Collections, Jerome Library, Bowling Green State University
Tiffany Cole, Special Collections Archivist, James Madison University Libraries
Jennifer Daugherty, Head, North Carolina Collection, Special Collections Division, Joyner Library, East Carolina University
“I was going to write a blog reviewing Trinity: The Best Kept Secret by Jacques Vallee and Paola Leopizzi Harris but interesting synchronicities kept presenting themselves, especially as I concurrently read The Pueblo Revolt by David Roberts about the same area of the country during a different time period. What follows is a collection of reflections, occasional wandering tangents and some questions.”
“My review of Trinity: The Best Kept Secret by Jacques Vallee and Paola Leopizzi Harris. Also mentioned is the documentary series “The Keepers” which can be streamed on Netflix and When They Appeared, the complete account of the Michalak/Falcon Lake UFO encounter case hailing from Manitoba.”
Last weekend was the first in-person Austin Archives Bazaar since 2018. We had a great time tabling at that 2018 event and so we were even more excited than usual to finally be able to do in-person outreach at the first AAB event in 4 years! We had a great time seeing all the other wonderful Central Texas Archives and especially, interacting with so many wonderful people. Reactions to our presence there was phenomenal – with so many people exclaiming, “Why haven’t I ever heard of y’all” and “Where are y’all located – I’ve got to see this collection!” We made a lot of great new friends and contacts so perhaps we’ll also get some leads on a new location for the Anomaly Archives.
UFO Garage Podcast Raising Funds for ANOMALY ARCHIVES
Ben and Joe of the UFO Garage Podcast are donating a portion of sale for their podcast’s merchandise to the Anomaly Archives. Joe & Ben are donating 20% of their merch sales for this quarter to the Anomaly Archives, 501c3 nonprofit:
“Doing our part: Every quarter we donate 20% of all merch sales towards a UFO Research or Experiencer Support Group.
This quarter we chose to help out Anomaly Archives in Austin Texas find it’s new home!“
Anomalous Archives / Rice Univ.’s Opening of the Archives of the Impossible
The Anomaly Archives presents a Review and Discussion of Rice University’s recent Grand Opening event for its new Archives of the Impossible. Host SMiles Lewis discuss the event with other participants and attendees including Greg Bishop, David Metcalfe and Mike Clelland.
Art credit: RPJ, Red Pill Junkie, Absurd By Design. Intro music credit: “Silver Shamrock” by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio. Animation credit: Viktor Criterion.
CORRECTION: at the 2:33 mark … Our collections have been in storage since the “Snowpocalypse of 2021”
ParaPeculiar Museum & Podcast
The Anomaly Archives Email Newsletter
Years ago in my day job, I became aware of an interesting book by an Austin writer about the alien abduction phenomenon of the late 1980s. The book is a contemporary take on the rise of the alien abduction experience that was released in 1989, set in Austin, as well as the forests of East Texas. Its a murder mystery that involves a foray into the UFOlogical realms of UFO sightings flaps, mysterious fires, and hidden memories of strange encounters. I recently re-read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it again.
