This new monthly event will be a FREE showing of lesser known “Flying Saucer Films” with a focus on those that have important points to be made regarding the nature of paranormal, UFO and other anomalous phenomena, as well as society’s cultural reactions to UFO related phenomena.
UFO related phenomena and the Modern Wave of Flying Saucer sightings in the United States have had a lasting effect upon American Popular Culture. For that reason we feel it fitting to host this new event series at the South Austin Popular Culture Center (frmly the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture).
Beginning with … Quatermass & the Pit, aka Five Million Years to Earth!
“The ufo phenomenon exists in a synergistic cybernetic interface with humanity. Whatever the true nature of UFOs, they interact with us within several different milieus, all of which are influenced by the media and culture. This media and culture in turn feeds back into the phenonomenon in a continuous cycle.If the fantastic fictions of our television and print media can feedback upon and influence our images and ideas of the unknown then we will continue to have a harder and harder time of sorting the wheat from the chaff of non-human intelligences communicating through the ufo encounter.
Therefore it is very important that we look at some of the various ways the subject of UFOs and Aliens have been handled by the film and television industries. Each night’s selection of films delves into these issues areas especially as they relate to that day’s particular event theme.”
– SMiles Lewis (circa 2001) 38th annual National UFO Conference www.NUFOC.com
Five Million Years To Earth (1967)
aka Quatermass & The Pit
By Nigel Kneale
“Was the Devil really a Martian? Could our predatory nature be the result of a eugenics experiment performed on our ancestors by aliens millions of years ago? These are the questions raised after an ancient spaceship is unearthed in the London Underground, and Professor Quatermass must answer them before the world is torn apart in a Martian race war. Based on the popular BBC sci-fi t.v. series.”
For more information on Five Million Years To Earth…
Carpenter’s script assembles elements of his earlier films in a kind of survey; especially Precinct 13’s siege setting and hordes from out of the demimonde, and The Thing’s shapeless, body-claiming alien force. The writing is good, littered with funny lines and highly imaginative contemporary twists on the tale’s origins in the works of Nigel Kneale, to whom Carpenter pays nod-wink homage by billing the screenplay as the work of “Martin Quatermass”.
W: Welcome to Weird Magazine. It’s been a while. Tell readers about the Anomaly Archives?
SAI: Hi Russell. It’s great to talk with you again. Thanks for the opportunity to tell you readers about the Anomaly Archives.
The Anomaly Archives is the lending library of the Scientific Anomaly Institute (S.A.I.), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that seeks the preservation and dissemination of scientific research into anomalous phenomena, research into and analysis of our accumulated collections and the education of the public regarding scientific investigations into these many mysterious phenomena.
Our collection houses over 2000 books as well as research materials that includes videos, government documents, magazines, and personal correspondence donated from a variety of people in the UFO and paranormal research fields. Along with the S.A.I. collection, we also house the collections of Austin MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) and INACS (Institute for Neuroscience And Consciousness Studies). We house many great books that discuss a wide range of scientific subjects including UFOs and Ufology, Consciousness, Parapsychology, Fortean Phenomena, ParaPolitical Science, Human Potential, and Jungian Theory. Also located on site are thousands of books belonging to the Jung Society of Austin, devoted to the psychological theories of Dr. Carl Gustav Jung.
We have a wealth of information on a wide variety of strange phenomena available for free to the public and dues paying members can check out books to read at home.
We also sponsor local lectures and workshops on these subjects including past events featuring former military remote viewer Paul Smith as well as a Texas Ghost Lights Conference with guest speakers including British earth lights researcher Paul Devereux, Texan paranormal bigfoot investigator Rob Riggs, British transplant and Fortean Cryptozoologist and Ufologist Nick Redfern, myself and others.
W: What are the hours the public can visit?
SAI: Right now we are open most Saturdays from 1-5pm. Though there is often someone on-site during normal weekday business hours, interested folks should contact me ahead of time (contact@anomalyarchives.org) before dropping by unannounced. We hope to begin offering expanded weekday and weekend hours very soon. Folks can come visit us at our new location in North West Austin near the intersections of Research and Technology Blvds (ED: This was our 2nd location and we moved out of their in about 2018)
MAILNG ADDRESS:
Anomaly Archives
PO Box 152252
Austin, TX 78715
W: How long have you been conducting the Archive?
SAI: Well, I’ve been collecting books on strange phenomena all my life. I had dreamed of starting my own paranormal research organization for a long time and in 2003 we officially incorporated with the State of Texas. By 2006 we’d been approved by the IRS as an official tax-exempt community group. So officially I guess I’ve been coordinating the Archives for about 7 years now.
W: So tell us SMiles… Bigfoot, UFOs, Men In Black, Aliens from Space, is there truth to any of these legends? If so, can we learn more through the Austin Anomaly Archives?
SAI: As you know Russell, there is at least a little truth in all of those mysterious legends and a whole lot of speculation surrounds each of them. Yes, there is a lot to be learned about these mysteries from the materials at the Anomaly Archives.
Most people don’t think of Texas when they hear about bigfoot but I’ve said for years that any big discovery about these elusive creatures is very likely going to come from research done here in Texas. Our big state has a long history of bigfoot sightings with a wide variety of regional names associated with these creatures including Wild Man, Hairy Man, Swamp Ape / Skunk Ape, Wooly Booger, to name just a few. The Piney Woods of East Texas’ Big Thicket have apparently played home to a number of such human / bigfoot encounters as documented in Rob Riggs’ excellent book In the Big Thicket: On the Trail of the Wildman.
Texas has one of the best organized bigfoot investigation groups in the country: The TBRC – Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy is a non-profit outfit doing some of the best ongoing instrumented cryptozoology field research not just in Texas’ Big Thicket but also into the forests that spread from here into Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. They also have one of the best annual bigfoot conferences in the country, previously held in Jefferson and most recently in Tyler. In fact for a time, Texas was home to two annual bigfoot events, one put on by the TBRC and one hosted by another fantastic Texas bigfoot hunter named Chester Moore Jr., called the Southern Crypto Conference.
The Anomaly Archives has a sizable section of books and videos devoted to Cryptozoology and the hunt for bigfoot, Sasquatch and Yeti.
I realize that many people find it very difficult to believe in bigfoot, but consider this: legendary primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall even thinks there is good evidence for the existence of an undiscovered North American primate…
Dr. Goodall: Well now, you’ll be amazed when I tell you that I’m sure that they exist. Ira Flatow: You are? Dr. Goodall: Yeah. I’ve talked to so many Native Americans who all describe the same sounds, two who have seen them. I’ve probably got about, oh, thirty books that have come from different parts of the world, from China from, from all over the place, and there was a little tiny snippet in the newspaper just last week which says that British scientists have found what they believed to be a yeti hair and that the scientists in the Natural History Museum in London couldn’t identify it as any known animal. National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation: Science Friday – 9/27/02
Folks should check out the recent film released in 2008, Wild Man of the Navidad. It’s a nicely done retro horror movie based on stories of bigfoot-like wild people from the Navidad region northwest of Victoria. And let’s not forget the Hairy Man Road legends in Round Rock which now has its own yearly festival.
UFO (and Parapsychology) research are the Anomaly Archive’s strong suit and represent our largest collection. We have hundreds of books on the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects, Alien Abductions, and related areas of research. There are many approaches to understanding the UFO phenomenon including advanced secret technology, mysterious natural phenomena, etc., but of course it is the possibility that some sighting reports represent NOT “UFOs” but “IFOs” in the form of supposed alien spacecraft that gets most people excited about “Flying Saucers.” Despite there being a lot of nonsense surrounding belief in UFOs, there is much we can learn about ourselves, humanity at large and the nature of perception and reality by studying the phenomenon. I personally think that it is highly likely that humanity has been in contact with a wide variety of intelligences (be they extraterrestrial, interdimensional, cryptoterrestrial, time travelers, what have you) through phenomena variously described as UFOs, phantom airships, mysterious lights, spiritual encounters with angels and demons – all manner of mysterious interactions. There is a wealth of cutting edge science that could possibly explain these and other strange events, and the Anomaly Archives seeks to educate the public about these new scientific discoveries and old esoteric knowledge.
As for the MIB (Men In Black), yes, there are many stories of these bizarre shadowy figures who seem to arrive and depart more like phantoms than supposed government alphabet agency men. Some times these sinister personages seem very much like FBI types, presenting false credentials, intimidating witnesses, stealing evidence such as UFO photographs, but more often than not there is an absurd trickster-like quality to their behaviors and their very existance seems more like that of a ghost or some other-worldly denizen. The late John Keel (one of the best writers on the subject of UFOs) did much to popularize the notion of the MIB with his book The Mothman Prophecies. He and a handful of other writers described the reports they’d received of UFO witnesses encountering these often menacing Men In Black. However, these UFO writers, Gray Barker, Jim Moseley, Timothy Green Beckley and John Keel, could all be said to have their own sort of Tricksterish quality about them. <wink>
W: Tell us about Anomaly Radio.
SAI: I’ve been streaming my own webradio station since late 2000. During the past 10 or so years I’ve hosted a variety of terrestrial and internet-based radio shows. For a while I co-hosted the Thursday evening news on Austin’s KOOP 91.7fm radio station. I even co-hosted a show with you for a while back in 2002 or 2003. Beginning in about 2006 I relaunched my webradio station as the Anomaly Radio Network. The station features an eclectic assortment of live and pre-recorded paranormal and parapolitical shows produced by myself and friends of mine from around the country. Among the many fine programs on the network you can hear Greg Bishop’s Radio Misterioso, Robert Larson’s Out The Rabbit Hole, Raymond and Joe’s Disinformation, John Greenewald Jr.’s Black Vault Radio, Mike Watt’s The Watt From Pedro Show, Scott Horton’s AntiWar Radio, plus a whole lot more.
Every Sunday night my good friend and comic artist Mack White and I host PsiOp-Radio live from 7-9pm CST. Besides Anomaly Radio, the show is also carried on the American Freedom Radio and Revere Radio networks.
Anomaly Radio is not affiliated with the Anomaly Archives lending library.
W: You know Alex Jones of Austin, what do you think of his latest film “Fall of the Republic”?
SAI: Yes, of course. I’ve been following Alex Jones’ career since the late 1990s. It’s been amazing to watch his rise to prominence over the past 10 plus years. We have several of his documentaries available at the Anomaly Archives. In fact, two of our earliest large donations of books came from Mike Hanson and Chris Athanas. Mike Hanson was one of Alex’s earliest assistant producers and fans will remember him as the honorable man who snuck into Bohemian Grove with Alex. Chris Athanas was a then prolific Austin Community Television producer and staunch defender of liberty. Both Hanson and Athanas have graciously donated a number of books on a variety of topics to the Anomaly Archives.
Fall of the Republic is Alex’s best produced documentary to date. With each new film he raises the bar on parapolitical / conspiracy documentary filmmaking. It also doesn’t hurt that in FOTR he is perhaps the most CALM he has ever appeared in any of his films. This toning down of his usually overly dramatic persona has definitely made he and his message much more accessible to a wider audience.
W: Is there really a nefarious element deep within American Government or on a global scale that wishes to enslave humanity as portrayed in George Orwell’s hellish nightmare predicted in his book, 1984?
SAI: I think it is incredibly naive to think that people in power would limit their activities to only philanthropic pursuits. History is filled with examples of the Powers That Be colluding and conspiring to not only keep the power they have but to seek greater and greater levels of power. Empires throughout history have risen and fallen on the backs of conspiracies perpetrated by cabals of the rich and powerful. Various individuals and groups have conspired with designs on conquering and controlling the world. Very often this is accomplished not just through overt and obvious military might but through economic and psychological warfare which most people don’t even recognize as being used against them.
So while the tyrannical techniques described by Orwell in 1984 are mirrored in our growing Big Brother surveillance society, I think the evidence is equally clear that through accident AND design, a Brave New World Order “scientific dictatorship” as described by Aldous Huxley is the new preferred model for controlling populations.
I should add that “the views and opinions expressed by myself are not necessarily those of the Anomaly Archives or its board of directors.” LOL!
W: What are your thoughts on Climategate? And have you seen Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura on truTV?
SAI: Climategate is a perfect example of how science is NOT supposed to operate. Science is about making observations, testing hypotheses, asking questions and applying the answers to make useful predictions about the world around us. But science has always been politicized and weaponized, so this recent scandal is nothing new. However, whatever the true nature of global climate change and humanity’s influence on those changes, there should never be a climate of fear surrounding open discussion about the scientific research investigating those climatological processes.
So far I’ve only seen one episode of Jesse Ventura’s new Conspiracy Theory TV show, and it wasn’t the one on HAARP and weather control. However, I believe that episode featured researcher Jerry E. Smith whom I’ve interviewed on my radioshow about his excellent resource, Weather Warfare, which details the facts and history of human modification of the weather as well as the creation of earthquakes and more. When I interviewed Jerry, it was after they’d recorded the episode but before it had aired. He said that the TruTV folks had bungled several of the facts and details alleged in the episode regarding oil companies and HAARP related patents.
The one episode I’ve seen of Ventura’s new show was on 9/11. I thought it was very interesting and pretty well done. I was especially interested in the discussion about the official claim that no black boxes were recovered from ground zero for the WTC attack aircraft. All 4 boxes were supposedly never found. Yet there are allegations that they were found but have been suppressed for some reason.
W: Did you see the footage of the ALLEGED Russian Missile test in Norway? It looked more like a portal opening up out of Star Trek. Are you familiar with Project Blue Beam?
SAI: Wow! Yeah, I’ve watched as many of the video clips as I’ve been able to find. Yeah, it really looks like the “jump-gate” vortex from the Babylon 5 tv series to me. While I am initially inclined towards accepting the Russian Bolova missile explanation, there are aspects of the event that I have still not found adequate answers for. I’ve seen people use various mathematical formulas to both support the missile test theory and debunk it as well. But I think that if someone can create that dramatic of an event, whether with a missile or some other exotic technology and techniques, then it will be used as weapon for psychological warfare.
That is the basic premise behind the 15 year old rumor known as “Project Blue Beam” which appears to have been first publicized by researcher Serge Monast in 1994. This idea of a deceptive grand illusion has been one of my main areas of study since I first read Jacques Vallee’s seminal book Messengers of Deception, that he published in 1979 (and which was just republished by Daily Grail Publishing in 2008). In that book he suggested that the engines of deception employed by the Allied powers to defeat the Axis in World War II, might have been employed after the war to create UFO and paranormal manifestations with the ultimate goal of preventing another World War by uniting humanity through the production of a grand external threat. He doesn’t think these technologies and techniques represent the “true UFO phenomenon” but that the governments and militaries of the world are utilizing belief in these phenomena for their own political ends as psychological warfare.
Project Blue Beam has never been officially documented and is simply one alleged grand scenario in which images of a deity would be holographically projected into the sky around the world while accompanied simultaneously by another psychotronic technology designed to excite your “heart chakra” so you feel love and devotion while also inducing the “Voice of God” inside everyone’s head. Vallee has suggested that some UFO events might be small scale versions of a scenario like that described above, though to my knowledge, he has never specifically referenced “Project Blue Beam.”
W: Back to the Archive real quick, what else should Weird readers know about the Archive?
SAI: Well, Weird readers should know that we are a tax deductible non-profit organization that needs your support. You can learn more about us by going to our website at:
W: What is next for the Anomaly Archives? Ever thought about taking it on the road?
SAI: We have several events in the planning stages right now for this year featuring various paranormal and UFO researchers. We are starting monthly meetups for folks wanting to learn more about anomalous phenomena.
I would love to see the Anomaly Archives launch a tour across Texas and the United States educating the public about these fascinating, strange, and mysterious phenomena. If someone wants to donate an RV, bus or van then perhaps we can create our own Alien UFO Bookmobile!
W: Finally, what do you think about 2012 and climate change? Will the global Elite blame weather and 2012 as the cause for the need for a global carbon tax, in your opinion?
SAI: I don’t think that 2012 and climate change necessarily have anything to do with one another, though perhaps those seeking globalization through environmentalism-based governance might like to conflate the two.
I agree with Terence McKenna, who arrived at the December 21st, 2012 date through his own research into psychedelics and the Chinese I-Ching… that we will be unrecognizable to ourselves after that point. I don’t think it will necessarily be an immediate or dramatic event so much as an increasingly alienating experience of the world around us due to ever increasing technology innovation, political and social upheaval.
I have no idea whether the proposed global carbon tax will be the inevitable currency through which the forces of globilization shall seek to control the populations. One of the great things about McKenna was that he was an eternal optimist when it came to grand global conspiracies. He felt that the nature of humanity and the mind of the planet were far to complex to be completely controlled by nefarious human agencies. While I hope he is correct, I don’t think that should stop us from actively working to ensure that the Powers That Be fail in their attempts to use resources as weapons in an infinite cycle of crisis politics. Time and time again I come back to this quote:
“In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill … All these dangers are caused by human intervention and it is only through changed attitudes and behaviour that they can be overcome. The real enemy, then, is humanity itself.”
– Alexander King, Bertrand Schneider – founder and secretary, respectively, of the Club of Rome – The First Global Revolution, pp.104-105
W: Thanks SMiles, Take your pic of conspiracy. Rank the following. JFK assassins, UFOs & the Government, NASA Fake Moon Landings; 911 was an Inside Job; and the ET Presence on Earth. Best to worst conspiracy?
SAI: Thanks Russell. It’s been a pleasure talking with you and your readers.
Okay, if you mean for me to rank them in terms of Best Evidence vs Worst Evidence then here is how I’d rate them:
* UFOs & the Government – It is undeniable that the United States government and military have investigated UFOs in the past. There are thousands of official documents which prove this fact. To what degree they are still doing so is the real mystery.
* JFK assassins – There is significant evidence of conspiracy and multiple assassins involved in the death of John F. Kennedy. The 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that there was a probable conspiracy, contradicting the Warren Commission Report.
* 911 was an Inside Job – From my research into the events of September 11th, there are too many anomalies, inconsistencies, and outright cover-ups that are not accounted for in the U. S. government’s official conspiracy theory. There is evidence that was not acknowledged by the 911 Commission which clearly indicates that the alleged hijackers had help carrying out the attacks. If even one of those who helped the attacks take place was in a position of power, whether within the FAA, airport security, the FBI, the halls of Washington or the walls of the Pentagon, then there was indeed an “Inside Job.”
* NASA Fake Moon Landings – While I think it is naive to believe the United States government would tell us the absolute truth about such incredibly symbolic technological achievements I’ve not seen convincing evidence that the entirety of the moon landing was faked. It’s been said that if the United States discovered that the world was flat they would conceal this discovery so that it could be used to their strategic advantage. In a similar way I think we’ve not been given the entire truth regarding our trips to the moon. I’ve seen some evidence that makes me question the nature of what we’ve been shown and told is photographic evidence of the events, however, that doesn’t convince me that we didn’t go, it just convinces me that the government, as usual, isn’t telling us the whole story.
* ET Presence on Earth – I believe the UFO phenomenon represents humanity’s encounters with a variety of consciosnesses and intelligences. Evidence for the “alienness” of such entities is skimpy and highly speculative at best. I think the data much more strongly suggests what Mac Tonnies called the CryptoTerrestrial hypothesis. So far the only real scientific investigation into publicly documented ExtraTerrestrial life existing on earth has been the highly controversial findings of physicists Godfrey Louis and Santhosh Kumar of Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, India into the mysterious “Red Rain” which fell in the southern Indian state of Kerala in 2001.
You can visit the archived back issues here on the web and also at <www.YahooGroups.com> .
– Anomaly Archives News
New Location & Operational Hours !!!
The Anomaly Archives is excited to announce that the lending library is now open most Saturdays from 1-5 pm at our new location within the INACS headquarters:
12593 Research Blvd., Suite 302
Austin, Texas 78759
Subscribe to our Twitter Feed for Operational Announcements most Saturdays from 1-5 pm.
The Anomaly Archives cataloged collections are fast approaching 2000 total book titles. Donations made over the past year or two are finally being cataloged for circulation. The current total number of titles in the catalog stands at 1913. The Jung Society of Austin‘s collection is well over 1500 titles, Austin MUFON‘s collection contains over 100 titles, as do our wonderful INACS hosts.
Follow this link to a Gallery of Bookshelves newly unpacked into our homey new location.
– Anomaly Headlines
The Passing of Giants: John Keel and Richard Hall
Thanks to my friend Dr. Steven Mizrach for the following tribute…
If I were to say there were two people who most influenced my thinking on the UFO subject, it would be Jacques Vallee and John Keel. So much so I even wrote both of them letters of congratulation at one point.
They were of course very different in their approaches and backgrounds (one a French rationalist, the other an American adventure writer), and yet I would argue seemed to be concurring on five critical points.
1. That “the phenomenon” might be “ultra-terrestrial,” i.e. not so much originating from other planets, but possibly other dimensions of existence. That in fact it wasn’t really coming from “somewhere else” so much as something parallel to “here”. Maybe around us all the time but not normally apprehensible to our senses? Keel sometimes liked to say “the phenomenon is much a part of our planet as the weather”.
2. That “the phenomenon” had historical roots deeper than 1947. The “flying saucer” era may have begun with Kenneth Arnold in 1947, but things that were called different things in earlier epochs, such as Mystery Airships, or Foo Fighters, or Ghost Rockets, or just Strange Stuff in the Sky, might have been earlier manifestations. In fact, Keel was so adamant on this that he devoted himself to debunking the “Roswell” obsession of many of his peers, insisting that the Roswell incident was a Japanese fugu bomb balloon.
3. That “the phenomenon” seemed to respond to peoples’ beliefs. Keel always cautioned people that “Belief is the Enemy”. Certainly, it’s generally a good admonition in general, given the damage dogmatism, fanaticism, and fundamentalism cause, in general. But Keel was speaking about what seemed to be its “adaptive” nature, that it molded itself to peoples’ expectations. Vallee suggested the same thing, except I think he leaned more generally to the “Magonia” school that peoples’ perceptions were molded by their culture, which is why medieval people seeing the same thing as modern people called it angels, whereas we call it spaceships.
Basically, I would say that, each essentially said, be careful in approaching the subject with too many a priori expectations, beliefs, and assumptions. Which again, if you think about it, is good general advice.
4. That one should be cautious of the UFOlogical “establishment”. Keel in response to my letter to him sent one of his pamphlets lampooning the “UFO people”. He said they had a diet too heavy in science fiction and everything was always being force-clawed into alien technology explanations. They should look more at the history of religious apparitions, mythology, faeries, and folklore and realize they weren’t dealing with something new. Vallee often said the same thing. So did Carl Jung, way back in the 50s.
5. That the phenomenon was part of something that could be considered a “control system”. Of course, I was always fascinated most of all by this subject. “Control” for what purpose? Forteans have always danced around this subject ever since Charles Fort opined in his tomes “We are property”. Vallee hinted that the control was more or less benevolent, perhaps for the betterment of our evolution. Keel was always more pessimistic. He saw manipulation. I think he was at his most ascerbic in books like Disneyland of the Gods or the Eighth Tower. Keel liked to discuss how the ancient gods seemed to manipulate human beings, pretty much treat us like cattle, serfs, puppets. He didn’t see the situation improving now that our new gods were the Ashtar Command and the Space Brothers.
I had always loved Keel’s book The Mothman Prophecies. I can’t really say why. Maybe Mothman was just a figment of peoples’ imagination, or just some undiscovered cryptid. But there was too much else WEIRD going on in Point Pleasant, a “high strangeness” for a year or so that went beyond a mere cryptid invasion. Indrid Cold, whatever/whoever he was, was no cryptid. He also didn’t seem like a man from outer space, either. Maybe he was a god, or a spirit, or a daeva, or something else, but as Keel often commented, he seemed trapped by fate, by time, in a different way from us (since he didn’t seem to live in linear time), but still. Not unlike what the Buddha once said about the Hindu gods.
When the movie Mothman Prophecies came out, I expected to be disappointed. I really did not think a Hollywood film could capture the “feel” of the book. And although I thought the film did some fascinating things with regard to poetic license (like splitting Keel into two persons, the naive John Keel played by Buddhist Richard Gere who must be “initiated” by Alexander Leek (Keel backwards) to understand it all), I actually felt in many ways it did. Particularly with regard to the nature of Indrid Cold.
“Alexander Leek” in that movie gives an explanation of how Keel saw “ultra-terrestrials” like Indrid Cold in a very chilling, captivating way. “Leek” tells “Keel” (Gere) that beings like Cold might well be able to see the future, because they aren’t exactly in the same space-time continuum as us. However, that doesn’t make them omnipotent, or omniscient, far from it. Like “Leek” explains — perhaps a window washer on the 14th floor of a building can see a car crash blocks away that we can’t. He knows things before we do, because he has a “higher” or better vantage point. (That view always made me think of the hyperspheres in the novel Flatland.) However, that doesn’t mean he can see everywhere, or everywhen. It hardly makes the window washer worthy of believing everything he says, just because his vantage point is a bit improved.
But more importantly, Keel also felt that beings like “Cold” didn’t strike him as necessarily being benevolent or honest. Keel often commented on how Swedenborg told other spiritualists to dialogue with the spirits, but not to trust everything they said, just because they were dead. Because, frankly, said Swedenborg, for whatever reasons of their own, they frequently lied. Keel seemed to hint that beings like “Cold” might use their slightly better vantage point to manipulate us and he frequently hinted about how various “contactees” were inevitably “used” by such beings.
The bottom line is, Keel’s fundamental message was one of skepticism, or zeteticism, if you prefer. That when being led down the garden path by the latest channeled alien intelligence du jour, as an American politician once said, “trust, but verify”.
I think that’s a good adage to live by, whether it’s all tosh in general, or like Keel, you suspect that “U.T.”s don’t necessarily have to have our best interests at heart.
Goodbye John Keel. I understand you died lonely and isolated, but that’s the way many prophets in their own country and Cassandras have to die. In the movie Mothman Prophecies, Laura Linney tells your alter ego Richard Gere that his wife Debra Messing may be on the other side, but “wherever she is, I bet she’s nowhere near Indrid Cold.” I hope the same is true of you.
From the 2002 FortFest, Skinner discusses the background of John Keel and his involvement in the “Mothman” incident. Fortean lectures in their entirety are available on DVD from INFO. More information on INFO at www.forteans.com
“I have just received word that veteran ufologist Richard Hall,
who was both a friend and hero to me, died this morning of the
cancer he had been fighting.
Wired Spirits, The Anomalist #4 – “The idea of contact with the dead is as old as the hills. But the medium through which the contact has taken place has undergone dramatic technological improvements in the past half century–from tape recorders and radios to telephones and computers. An anthropologist looks at these new wired spirits and finds trouble in cyberspace…” pp 58-71
You can visit the archived back issues here on the web and also at <www.YahooGroups.com> .
– Anomaly Archives News
New Location !!!
The Scientific Anomaly Institute is happy to announce the return of the Anomaly Archives lending library collection to a new real-world location. We are proud to now be housed at the new headquarters of INACS, the Institute for Neuroscience And Consciousness Studies located in North West Austin near the intersection of Research and Technology Blvds.
New hours of operation and details about utilizing the lending library will be announced soon!
A superb documentary tells the true and intriguing story of the discovery of a Bronze Age artifact in a German forest and how the artifact was recovered from the grave robbers who uncovered it. The nine-part series of videos, each around five minutes long, also tells the significance of the small metal disc the tomb raiders uncovered. Key quote: “It’s the find of a lifetime. Indeed, the find of several lifetimes.” Does this small metal object prove civilization arrived in Europe 3600 years ago?
In today’s maverick science news: Professor Gordon S. “Grover” Krantz was a teacher of osteology, the study of bones, at Washington State University. He was also an avid Bigfoot investigator, often featured in television documentaries about the legendary creature. The Smithsonian National Museum has become Krantz’s final resting place, just as he requested, and the recreation of the skeletons of Krantz and his beloved wolfhound Clyde, are now on exhibit. Meanwhile, another type of immortality is envisioned in Freezing Lazarus: The Cryonics of Eternal Life. (www.Anomalist.com) singularityhub.com/2009/04/17/freezing-lazarus-the-cryonics-of-eternal-life/
80 Years with a Blinking 3rd Eye – Free Austin Event
The name C.B. Scott Jones is both obscure to many a casual UFO buff yet widely known among “deep seekers” of the UFOlogical and Parapsychological communities. His work for Senator Claiborne Pell investigating paranormal phenomena and his briefing of President Clinton’s Science Adviser on behalf of Laurance Rockefeller are the stuff of legend – and yet they are fact. He is the founder of the Human Potential Foundation and the Center for Applied Anomalous Phenomena. He supported the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), served on the board and as President of the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) and served as board member for Atlantic University (a division of ARE, the Edgar Cayce organization the Association for Research and Enlightenment). He also helped with the TREAT II (Treatment and Research of Experienced Anomalous Trauma) conference at Virginia Tech that brought together many in the UFO, alien abduction and paranormal research fields.
These and a lifetime of other anomalous experience make Cecil B. “Scott” Jones an extraordinary guest for the Austin Consciousness / Anomaly Community.
We hope you will join us in welcoming C.B. “Scott” Jones this coming Tuesday night:
Tuesday, November 25, 2008, 6:30 – 8:30 P.M.
Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe St., Austin, TX
Free and open to the public.
