If Its Weird Its Here

Beware The Bedroom Invaders – Nick Redfern Writes

October 29, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

Of the many and varied monsters that have plagued and terrified people for countless centuries, there are very few which are more frightening than bedroom-invading things known as Incubus and Succubus.

They are male and female monsters that, in numerous quarters, are perceived as having outright demonic origins. And they are hideous things that have a long history of diabolical interaction with the human race. As evidence of this, reports of these evil entities date back not just decades or centuries, but millennia too. One of those reports comes from Michelle of Corpus Christi, Texas, who had just such an encounter in 1993.

Imagine the scene: it’s around 3:00 a.m. and you’re fast asleep when, suddenly, you find yourself in a semi-awake state. Confusion and terror quickly overwhelm you, as you realize you are unable to move. Even worse, you sense that something dangerous and malevolent is walking, or crawling, towards the bedroom.

You struggle to move, but it’s all to no avail. The thing then enters the room and you see its hideous form. It looms over you, like a monstrous sword of Damocles. Your heart pounds and your breathing becomes shallow as the nightmarish beast jumps onto the bed, straddles you, and forcibly pins you down. The creatures screams at the top of its voice, in a wailing, banshee-like style, and proceeds to have violent sex with you – against your will. You try and fight it off, but your arms and legs are like lead-weights.

And, then, as suddenly as the horrifying encounter began, it’s all over. The oppressive atmosphere is gone, the evil entity has vanished too, and you find yourself shaking, and in a cold sweat, as you wonder if what just happened was the result of a bad dream or something worse: violation at the claws of a supernatural monster. That is precisely what happened to Michelle.

Encounters of the kind I just described extend back to the earliest years of human civilization. Indeed, the term, Incubus, is taken from an ancient, Latin word, “incubare,” which means “to lie upon,” which is a most apt description. As for their appearances, Incubus and Succubus can take on multiple forms. They are forms which range from beautiful women to hideous monsters.

One of the very earliest examples of such a creature is Lilith. Her name is highly appropriate, too: in English it means “night hag.” Not exactly the kind of thing any of us should aspire to cross paths with. Lilith’s dark origins can be found in the ancient mythology and folklore of Mesopotamia, and particularly so within the culture of the Babylonians. Despite the fact that she was described as being a beautiful woman, with long and flowing hair, there was nothing positive about Lilith. She would regularly manifest in the homes of sleeping men, slip into their beds, and have sex with them. The purpose of which, ancient lore maintains, was to allow Lilith to steal sperm from her victims and use it to create hideous, demonic babies.

Almost certainly connected to Lilith were Lilitu and Lilu, who played major roles in the lore of the Sumerian people, thounds of years ago. This paranormal pair, too, was focused on terrifying people in the middle of the night, violating them, and then vanishing back into the darkness from which they came. Joseph McCabe, a noted expert on these two demon-like entities, and the author of The Story of Religious Controversy, described them as “ferocious beings” that were part-animal and part-human.

Martin Baker’s encounter with just such a creature – in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 2007 – led him to conclude that, rather than being a demonic entity, his encounter with an entity that looked like Lilith was actually an alien-human hybrid engaged in gene-splicing experiments.

The people of Newfoundland, Canada have their own tradition of a particular shapeshifter. It is known to the locals as the Old Hag. For most people who have the misfortune to meet the monster, they describe it as a witch-like entity with long black hair and piercing, evil eyes, and dressed in a flowing black gown. She straddles her victims and either forces them into sex, or just sits on them, screaming wildly into their hysterical, wide-eyed faces.

Equally disturbing is the evil imp that squats atop a sleeping, beautiful woman in Henry Fuseli’s 1781 painting, The Nightmare. Combining horror with erotica, the artwork graphically captures the nature of these evil encounters. In Thailand, these creatures of the night are known as Phi Am. For the people of China, it’s the Pinyin that they fear. Mongolia has the Kharin Buu. While, in Tibet, the Dip-non should be avoided at all costs. And Pakistan has centuries-old stories of the Shaitan. All of these things perform the same, stress-filled and sex-based acts; yet, they take on physical appearances that suit the era and the area.

As Halloween comes around, beware of these terrible things.

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One of the most prolific Fortean writers on the planet, Nick Redfern is the author of many books, including Men in Black, Chupacabra Road Trip, and The Bigfoot Book. His latest book is Nessie. He can be contacted at his blog, “World of Whatever,” at nickredfernfortean.blogspot.com

The Strange Saga Of The Sons Of Satan – Nick Redfern Writes

September 23, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

Since at least 1967, reports have surfaced throughout the United States of animals – but, chiefly, cattle – slaughtered in bizarre fashion.

Organs are taken and significant amounts of blood are found to be missing. In some cases, the limbs of the cattle are broken, suggesting they have been dropped to the ground from a significant height. Evidence of extreme heat, to slice into the skin of the animals, has been found at mutilation sites. Eyes are removed, tongues are sliced off, and, typically, the sexual organs are gone.
While the answers to the puzzle remain frustratingly outside of the public arena, theories abound. They include extraterrestrials, engaged in nightmarish experimentation of the genetic kind; military programs involving the testing of new bio-warfare weapons; and government agencies secretly monitoring the food-chain, fearful that something worse than “Mad Cow Disease” may have infected the U.S. cattle herd – and, possibly, as a result, the human population, too. Then, there is the matter of the Sons of Satan; a secret cult that engaged in the sacrifice of cattle to their lord and master, the Devil himself.

The story dates back to 1974 and an inmate of the Federal Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. The year had barely begun when one of the prisoners at Leavenworth – a man named A. Kenneth Bankston – penned a letter to a well-known UFO investigator, Jerome Clark. Bankston’s reasoning for contacting Clark was simple enough: one year earlier, in 1973, Clark wrote an article on the cattle mutilation puzzle for Fate magazine. So, Bankston was looking for someone with whom he could share his story – a story focused on the aforementioned Sons of Satan.

Given that the cattle mutilation hysteria was at its height in the mid-1970s, it’s not at all surprising that others, besides Clark, were also writing about the grisly mystery. One of them was Kevin D. Randle, a noted UFO authority. Randle’s article, “The Killer Cult Terrorizing Mid-America,” appeared in Saga, just shortly after Clark’s was published. Both men discussed the “cult” angle, which was gaining more and more interest.

Among those who was interested in the cattle mutilation problem – but who was not overly convinced that it had a connection to the UFO issue – was Dr. J. Allen Hynek, of the Center for UFO Studies. Hynek, at the time, was liaising with an agent of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms – Donald E. Flickinger – who had a personal interest in UFOs. Flickinger, when approached by Hynek, agreed to undertake an investigation into the cattle mutilation controversy. While Flickinger did not find any evidence suggestive of a UFO connection to the cattle killings, he did note that “a certain pattern existed” when it came to the nature of the attacks, the removal of organs, and the significant blood loss.

When Jerome Clark heard of Flickinger’s studies, he provided the BATF agent with copies of A. Kenneth Bankston’s correspondence. Bankston’s story was as eye-opening as it was controversial. The Sons of Satan was a powerful, very well hidden group that had seemingly endless funding and manpower and was led by a mysterious character, only referred to as “Howard.” The secret group was determined to provoke “hell on earth.” And the sacrificial rites were a way to ensure that Satan would aid in the group’s efforts to create hellish mayhem.

U.S. authorities did not dismiss Bankston’s story. In fact, the exact opposite was the order of the day. Flickinger wasted no time in calling the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney’s Office. When the facts were outlined, the office agreed that an investigation should proceed – and proceed quickly. As a result, Bankston and another inmate, a man named Dan Dugan, who asserted he was a member of the Sons of Satan, were moved from Leavenworth to another prison. Whereas Leavenworth was a high-security facility, the situation at the new jail was far more relaxed.

Of course, one could make a very good case that Bankston and Dugan made the whole thing up, primarily as a means to make it appear they were trying to help clear up a very disturbing mystery – a mystery that the government dearly wanted clearing up. In other words, by helping the authorities, the pair hoped that as a “thank-you” they would be moved from the oppressive environment at Leavenworth – which is exactly what happened.

It must be said, however, that this does not mean the story of Bankston and Dugan was without merit. The story was detailed, plausible, and – as far as the police were concerned – was viewed as being far more likely than the sensationalized UFO explanation. Indeed, acting on the words of the two prisoners, law-enforcement officials approached numerous “Satanic cults” in the United States, including Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan. Despite such approaches, the secret order of the Sons of Satan were never found or exposed. Today, the cattle mutilation mystery continues – and also remains steadfastly unresolved.

A Case of Supernatural Murder – Nick Redfern Writes

August 24, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

February 14, 1945 was the date of a very controversial, and still-unresolved, murder in rural England. It was a murder which bore all the hallmarks of death at the hands of a secret society. Some observers of the mystery suggested that a band of witches were the culprits. Others, meanwhile, were of the opinion that it was all the work of a secret sect of druids. The victim was a farm-worker, 74-year-old Charles Walton, found dead with nothing less than a pitchfork sticking out of his chest.

He was a resident of a small, picturesque village in the county of Warwickshire, England called Lower Quinton. Walton had lived in the village for all of his life, in a pleasant old cottage that stood across from the local church. It was a scene not unlike what one might expect to see on Downton Abbey or in the pages of a Jane Austen novel. Until, that is, murder, mayhem, and a secret cult came to Lower Quinton and turned everything on its collective head.

Walton was known to all of the locals. He was viewed as an affable but quiet sort, and – somewhat intriguingly – he had the ability to entice wild birds to eat seeds from his hands. He was also said to have the power to reduce a wild, aggressive dog to a man’s best friend simply by speaking to it. On top of that, he had expert knowledge of local folklore, mythology and legend. Rumors suggest that perhaps Walton’s slightly uncanny “powers” had ensured him a place in a secret witchcraft cult, one which he ultimately fell out of favor with. And, as a result, he paid the ultimate price. Namely, his life.

What is known for sure is that on the day in question – which was Valentine’s Day, no less – Walton was busily trimming hedges on what was known as Hillground: a large field at the foot of the Meon Hill. His tools were a hook and a pitchfork. It was while working on the hedges that someone stealthily intervened and took Walton’s life – and in a distinctly savage fashion, too. When his body was stumbled on by a shocked local, all hell broke loose in the small village. He was lying dead on the grassy ground, with the pitchfork having fatally pierced his chest, and the hook having pierced his throat in what was clearly a savage and violent fashion. On top of that, a large cross had been cut into his chest. Clearly, something distinctly sinister had taken place.

It should be noted that Meon Hill has, for centuries, been associated with supernatural activity: sightings of blazing-eyed black dogs – not unlike the terrible beast in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic novel The Hound of the Baskervilles – have been reported. And, none other than Satan himself is said to have kicked a large rock from the top of the hill to the bottom of it, with the intention of flattening Evesham Abbey.

Such was the strange and sinister nature of Walton’s death, the investigation wasn’t just left in the hands of the local “bobbies.” None other than Scotland Yard’s finest detectives were soon on the case – which is hardly surprising, when one takes into consideration the extreme weirdness of the entire affair. And they weren’t just on the case; they took over the entire investigation, under the control of Detective Inspector Robert Fabian. Despite an extensive investigation, and suspicions that the guilty party was a man named Albert Potter – who was employing Walton on the day he met his grisly end – the matter was never resolved to the satisfaction of the police and the mystery remained precisely that: a mystery.

It’s worth noting, however, that Detective Inspector Fabian later said of his investigation of the affair: “One of my most memorable murder cases was at the village of Lower Quinton, near the stone Druid circle of the Whispering Knights. There a man had been killed by a reproduction of a Druidical ceremony on St. Valentine’s Eve.”

He also offered the following, memorable words: “I advise anybody who is tempted at any time to venture into Black Magic, witchcraft, Shamanism – call it what you will – to remember Charles Walton and to think of his death, which was clearly the ghastly climax of a pagan rite. There is no stronger argument for keeping as far away as possible from the villains with their swords, incense and mumbo-jumbo. It is prudence on which your future peace of mind and even your life could depend.”

It should also be noted that within Lower Quinton, the village folk are still very reluctant to speak about the decades-old affair. For example, the landlord of the village’s College Arms pub, told the BBC: “I can’t talk to you about that. After 17 years of running this place I know there are some things we don’t talk about. Talking about it would upset people and there’s no sense in alienating people in a small village like this. There are no relatives of Charles Walton left in the village and people that might have known what happened are all dead or gone.”

Another local was equally reluctant to say much to the BBC: “People don’t talk about it; it’s a closed subject. Those that know about it are gone, except one who’s in hospital and another that’s in a nursing home. All the others have gone or passed away.”

And a third spoke in a similar vein and tones: “No one will talk to you about it. The family have all gone now, anyway. There are none of the Walton family left here now. I have no answers to your questions.”

Death by pitchfork, rumors of a witchcraft cult, druids roaming around the landscape, and a village of people still living in uneasy and closed-mouth fashion, decades later. The memories of the murder of Charles Walton show no signs of fading away anytime soon. Indeed, that strange atmosphere of witchcraft, ritualistic murder, and sinister characters still hangs over Lower Quinton. In all probability, that will always be the case.

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One of the most prolific Fortean writers on the planet, Nick Redfern is the author of many books, including Men in Black, Chupacabra Road Trip, and The Bigfoot Book. He can be contacted at his blog, “World of Whatever,” at nickredfernfortean.blogspot.com

Endangered Species: Cattle Mutilations on the Big Screen – Nick Redfern

May 17, 2016 By Jim Harold

The world of Hollywood has always been quick to (a) pick up on what’s going on in the real world of unsolved mysteries of the conspiratorial and supernatural kind and (b) make use of those same mysteries in hit TV shows and mega-bucks movies. Take, for example, the 1994 movie, Roswell, starring Kyle MacLachlan and Martin Sheen. It’s a production that did a pretty good job of fictionalizing the world’s most famous UFO case. Then, there’s 1997’s Men in Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, a movie that brought the dark-suited silencers of Ufology to a new, huge audience. And, of course, there’s The X-Files, which weaved far more than a few well-known enigmas into its plotlines, including the Jersey Devil, lake monsters, and the world’s most famous, secret base, Area 51.

There is, however, one particularly sinister and enduring mystery that, for the most part, falls under Hollywood’s radar. Yes, it occasionally gets touched upon. Sometimes, it will get more than a few minutes of coverage. But, chiefly, it never gets the airtime that many might say it well deserves. You may be wondering what I’m talking about. Well, I’ll tell you: it’s the mysterious matter of so-called cattle mutilations.

There’s a truly awful 1980 movie on the subject titled The Return. Indeed, it’s not even worth commenting on. So I won’t! There is, however, one film which is definitely worth commenting on. Its title: Endangered Species. It’s a well-researched movie that stars the late Robert Urich (of Vegas fame), who finds himself plunged into the heart of a menacing and disturbing conspiracy in the Centennial State, Colorado.

Directed and co-written by Alan Rudolph, Endangered Species focuses on one Ruben Castle (Urich). He’s a Big Apple-based police-officer. He has a major drink problem. And, his relationship with his daughter, Mackenzie (Marin Kanter) is rocky, to say the least. So, something has to give. And it does. Castle decides that the best thing he can do is to get out of New York for a while, quit the bottle for good, and try and mend fences with his daughter. It doesn’t quite work out like that, however.

After arriving in a small Colorado town, specifically one where an old friend in the world of newspapers, Joe Hiatt (played by Paul Dooley) lives and works, both Castle and his daughter cause problems for the local police. And particularly so for the local sheriff, Harriet Purdue – played by actress JoBeth Williams. Indeed, Castle is not a particularly endearing character: he’s a drunk with a hair-trigger temper, and, while in Colorado, he fails to stay on the wagon. But, it’s to the credit of the production team that they chose to make their star a flawed figure, rather than playing things safe and going with the typical Hollywood “hero.” And Urich does a very good job of giving substance to the role of Castle. All of which brings us to the plot: something downright deadly is afoot.

In no time at all, Castle learns that something very strange is going on in town and in the surrounding fields of local farmers. Cattle have been found killed under very strange circumstances. Organs are removed with what appears to be expert precision. Incisions seem to have been achieved by nothing less than lasers. Everyone in town is on edge. Ranchers are angry and outraged. That’s hardly surprising, given that there is talk of UFOs skulking around in the dead of night. There are whispers, too, of satanic cults roaming the area, sacrificing the cows in devilish rituals. And, the audience is given tantalizing glimpses of strange lights in the sky. What’s going on? That’s the question that Castle finds himself pursuing, more by accident than by design.

As Endangered Species progresses we see Castle and Sheriff Purdue hook up in more ways than one. And we see that what begins as a tale filled with accounts of aliens and devil-worshippers, soon becomes something very different. In many ways, it’s something even more deadly and dangerous than beef-loving ETs or devotees of Satan. Particularly deadly and dangerous are Hoyt Axton and Peter Coyote. Or, rather, they should be dangerous.

Axton plays Ben Morgan, a powerful figure in town. He appears to know far more than he’s willing to admit. Whereas, Coyote’s character is someone known only as Steele, a man who definitely knows more than he’s saying. It’s unfortunate, however, that both characters come across like stereotypical, over-the-top, we’ve-seen-it-all-before arch-villains. Indeed, Steele would have been perfectly at home in one of those old, 1920s-era silent movies, in which the black-cloaked villain ties a beautiful blond to the railroad tracks and eagerly rubs his hands (and twiddles his moustache) as a fast-approaching train threatens to end her life.

That quibble aside, however, Endangered Species is not a bad movie at all. As the story continues, we see far less talk about aliens and UFOs, and far more about black and near-silent helicopters, secret biological- and germ-warfare programs, and paramilitary-style operations of a very dark kind. We also see Joe Hiatt killed for poking his nose where it wasn’t wanted. Ben Morgan comes to a grisly end, too. All of which leads us to a solid, suspense-filled conclusion and an answer to the mystery.

In case this article prompts you to delve into Endangered Species for yourself, I won’t spoil things by revealing the outcome, and who – or what – is really mutilating cattle in Colorado and elsewhere. And why. I will, however, say that this is a well-made, largely engrossing, movie. For me, at least, it echoes in many ways the likes of certain classic 1970s-era movies, such as The Parallax View, Capricorn One, and All the President’s Men, in terms of the on-screen paranoia, suspicion of government, and mystery that those movies so skillfully generated. Endangered Species does very much the same. It’s not the greatest movie ever made. But, it is a largely well-acted, and well-made, production. It’s a very thought-provoking film, too, given what we know (or don’t know) about cattle mutilations in the real world.

MORE PARANORMAL BRAINTRUST ARTICLES BY NICK REDFERN

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Albert Bender and the Men in Black: Enduring Influences on Sci-Fi Entertainment – Nick Redfern

April 20, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

On March 29, 2016, Albert Bender died at the age of 94. Most people with an interest in UFOs will know of Bender’s name. He was the man who thrust the Men in Black – and the mystery surrounding them – into the public domain in the 1950s.

Bender was not the first person to encounter one of the creepy MIB, but there’s no denying it was thanks to him that the enigmatic issue became known widely. When the “modern era” of Ufology kicked off in June 1947 – thanks to the famous encounter of Kenneth Arnold at Mt. Rainier on the 24th of the month – it prompted numerous people to get involved in the study of the phenomenon. One of those was Albert Bender

A resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bender was not just a devotee of all-things ufological. He was also heavily involved in – and interested in – all manner of paranormal, supernatural, and occult phenomena. He even converted his attic-based abode into what he termed his “Chamber of Horrors.” It was a dark and foreboding place filled with paintings of demons, witches, ghosts, and more – even an “altar,” one that was designed to summon up who knows what from who knows where.

As Bender’s interest in UFOs expanded, he established his own journal – Space Review – which attracted a sizeable, worldwide audience. And he created his own group too, the International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB). It wasn’t long, however, before things began to go wrong for Bender. As in very wrong. Quite out of the blue, in 1953, Bender quit Ufology. He closed down the IFSB, stopped producing Space Review, and walked away from UFOs. It might be more accurate to say he fled Ufology.

Gray Barker – an author and publisher on matters relative to UFOs – was an acquaintance of Bender and ultimately became a friend. When he learned that Bender’s exit from Ufology was prompted by a series of chilling, intimidating visits from a trio of ghoulish men dressed in black – and with nothing less than glowing eyes and sporting fedoras – Barker knew this was a story that had to be told. And it was: in Barker’s 1956 book, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. It should be noted, however, that Barker omitted most of the really weird material, preferring instead to imply that the MIB were from nothing stranger than “the government.” Then, six years later, Bender came briefly out of “retirement” to pen his own book on the eerie affair, Flying Saucers and the Three Men. After which, Bender left Ufology for good.

The purpose of this article is not to delve into all of the intricacies of the Bender controversy, but to demonstrate the incredible extent to which Bender’s account influenced the world of entertainment. Five years after Flying Saucers and the Three Men was published, ABC aired a short-lived, but well-remembered show called The Invaders. Running for just two seasons, The Invaders told the story of a man named David Vincent (actor Roy Thinnes) who finds himself caught up in a nightmarish battle against hostile aliens. In the show, the ETs are able to take on human form. The only things that give them away are their mutated little fingers. The show is filled with MIB imagery: the aliens on The Invaders often drive black cars (as do the real MIB), they wear dark suits and fedoras, they are very good at dishing out threats and intimidation, and they can control the human mind – something which has been reported in many MIB encounters. In other words, there’s very little doubt that the Bender saga had a major influence on how the brains behind The Invaders chose to present the alien menace. Not as bug-eyed little critters or as tentacle-waving monsters, but as emotionless men in suits.

The Invaders is hardly a solitary example of how the Men in Black have infected the world of on-screen entertainment. Indeed, there are many. Of course, the most visible and obvious example is the incredibly successful trilogy of Men in Black movies starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. In the movies, the primary characters are “J” and “K” (who were named after MIB pursuer and author John Keel, of The Mothman Prophecies fame). Whereas Bender’s MIB were clearly supernatural in nature, in the movies the Men in Black work for a super-secret agency. Nevertheless there’s no doubt that the Hollywood movies – based on Lowell Cunningham’s The Men in Black comic-book series of the 1990s – was, to some degree, inspired by Bender’s experiences.

Nick's Book On Men In Black — Nick’s Book On Men In Black

Then, there’s the equally popular and successful Matrix movies, starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishbourne. Those films, too, have their very own Men in Black. They’re known as “The Agents,” computer programs whose job it is to prevent anyone from getting close to the truth of the simulated world of the Matrix of the movies’ titles. The Agents are the Men in Black in all but name. They are emotionless and threatening, and they wear black suits and black sunglasses.

There are also “The Observers” from Fringe, a sci-fi-themed show that ran on Fox from 2008 to 2013. In the show, the Observers dress in dark suits, wear equally dark fedoras and skinny black ties, and have pale skin and emotionless faces and characters. Would they have even existed without Albert Bender’s widely publicized run-ins with the MIB? Probably not. At the very least, not in the form they appeared in the show.

Finally, we come to a 1998 movie that doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves. Its title: Dark City. Not unlike The Matrix in many respects, Dark City – which was released in 1998, one year before The Matrix surfaced – is an intriguing production. It stars Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connolly, Richard O’Brien, and William Hurt. As the title suggests, Dark City revolves around a city which exists in perpetual night. We get to meet the people who inhabit it, and we soon learn that the city is not what it appears to be. In fact, reality itself is not what it appears to be. Dark City, too, has its equivalents of Albert Bender’s threatening thugs from beyond. They’re called “The Strangers.” Long black coats and dark hats are their uniforms.

In my view, and based upon my lengthy studies of the MIB phenomenon, the Strangers of Dark City are the closest fictional things to the real Men in Black. Pale-faced, they surface only at night. Threatening and dangerous, they are mind-controllers and manipulators who exude menace. Indeed, Richard O’Brien’s portrayal of one of the anemic-looking Strangers is masterful. Again, the Albert Bender imagery and story are present for all to see.

Dark City, Men in Black, The Matrix, The Invaders, and Fringe – and more – all owe a debt of gratitude to Albert Bender. Had it not been for that strange and sinister series of encounters in Bender’s “Chamber of Horrors” in the early 1950s, it’s highly unlikely any of those shows and movies would have turned out the way they did.

MORE PARANORMAL BRAINTRUST ARTICLES BY NICK REDFERN

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Shape Shifting Black Cats – Nick Redfern

February 18, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

For decades (some say centuries), the United Kingdom has been plagued by reports of what have become known as Alien Big Cats – or, as they are also termed, ABCs. While there are more than a handful of reports that pre-date the 1970s, it was from the early 1980s onward that the phenomenon really began to take off big-time. We’re talking about mysterious cats – very often black and sometimes tan – the size of mountain-lions. Most people probably don’t need to be told that the U.K. is certainly not the home of an indigenous large, powerful cat of the type that has been reported on literally hundreds of occasions. But, that doesn’t take away the fact that people see such things on a regular basis – and they report them on a regular basis too.

It’s not just people like me – seekers of mysterious animals – who find themselves on the received end of such reports. The nation’s media (regional and national) regularly comments on the ABC puzzle. And, as the U.K.’s Freedom of Information Act has demonstrated, regional police forces have undertaken their own investigations of the phenomenon (sometimes even to the extent of using helicopters equipped with heat-seeking technology). Elements of the British Army have also played significant roles in the quest to resolve the matter.

Unfortunately, and despite intensive quests and investigations, the matter remains largely unresolved. Yes, occasionally, a lynx or a jungle cat is encountered – and caught. But, for the most part, the issue of the very large black cats prowling around the countryside remains enigmatic. Admittedly, one definitive ABC – a puma – was caught in Scotland in 1980. However, she was extremely tame and comfortable around people, was old, was suffering from arthritis, and was almost certainly released into the wild not long before she was captured. She spent the remaining five years of her life living very happily in the Highland Wildlife Park. She was christened Felicity.

But, Felicity aside, we’re still at a loss to explain the massive numbers of ABCs that are said to call the U.K. their home. Most researchers of the phenomenon tend to go with the idea that the cats are escapees from private-zoos and enclosures – or the offspring (of the offspring) of large cats that escaped – or which were deliberately released – decades earlier. It must be said, however, there are some ABC encounters that are not just strange, but which are downright bizarre. I have in my files reports of Alien Big Cats vanishing before the eyes of the shocked witnesses. And when I say “vanishing” I mean as in literally. Dematerializing, in other words. I also have one report of someone who claimed to have seen – on Dartmoor, Devon, England – a large black cat in the company of a werewolf-type beast! And I have two reports of people who state they have seen large black cats exiting landed UFOs (interestingly, both cases came from the English county of Yorkshire, one in 1968 and the other in 1982). And then there’s the matter of shape-shifting. Yes, really.

I have in my files a very strange story of a woman who claimed to have seen, in 1989, in the heart of England’s Cannock Chase woods (a place notorious for its links to paranormal activity), a huge black cat, as she took a stroll on a hot, summer’s day. She almost literally walked into the ABC as she headed along a well-worn track near the village of Milford. Incredibly, the woman claimed that as the two stood staring at each other (she was, unsurprisingly, frozen to the spot in terror), the ABC morphed into the form of a large black dog. It glared at her for a moment and then wandered off and vanished into the undergrowth. Notably, the U.K. has a centuries-old tradition of paranormal black dogs: they’re known as Phantom Black Dogs. One such legend prompted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write his classic Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Bizarrely, I also have a story concerning the sighting of a large black cat seen in Suffolk, England, in 1941 that allegedly transformed into a hare! Interestingly, in folklore the hare is perceived as a trickster, and also the form into which a witch can morph. And while we’re on the matter of witches…

In 1984, there was a wave of encounters with an Alien Big Cat which became known as the “Rossendale Lion.” It was an affair investigated extensively by Andy Roberts, the author of many books and articles on Fortean phenomena. People told of seeing the large cat. Sheep were reportedly slaughtered by it. And the local police took the matter very seriously. As Andy noted in his 1986 booklet, Cat Flaps! Northern Mystery Cats: “Rossendale is a collection of valleys on the fringes of the Pennines hill-chain about fourteen miles north-east of Manchester.”

Andy touches on the matter of shapeshifting black-cats in relation to a woman named Barbara Brandolini, a witch. Andy notes that she “…claimed that she was responsible for the sheep killings in Rossendale.” Andy continues that Brandolini stated she “actually became the panther” herself.

Indeed, she proclaimed: “I will appear as a big cat in Hepstonstall. People tend to think it all belongs in books and so on but it does not. It is very real.” Interestingly, although no ABC was seen in Hepstonstall “strange animal noises” were heard in and around the small village in the wake of Brandolini’s statement.

Of course, it’s controversial enough to assert that large black cats are on the loose in the U.K. It’s quite another thing to suggest they might be something more (or something less) than mere flesh and blood. Whatever the truth of the matter, the ABC’s of the United Kingdom continue to be seen – and they continue to perplex, too.

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Alien Abduction or Mind-Manipulation? – Nick Redfern

January 28, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

What if one of Ufology’s most cherished cases turned out to be something very different? Something far more down to earth, but of a distinctly conspiratorial nature. Yep, I can see the daggers being drawn already. Too bad for the belief-driven. There’s nothing worse than a mind made up. And there’s nothing better than shaking things up and addressing alternative theories when it comes to the matter of UFOs. After all, none of us really know what the truth is, when it comes to the UFO phenomenon. So, thinking outside of the box is vital. All of which brings us to a certain, famous UFO event of late 1973.

On the night of October 10, 1973, two men – Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker – were fishing on the banks of Mississippi’s Pascagoula River. All was going fine. That is, until approximately 9:00 p.m. rolled around. That’s when all hell broke loose. Yet, it all began relatively calmly. It didn’t stay that way, however. As they fished, Parker and Hickson suddenly noticed a light in the distance. Not only that, it was following the river and appeared to be coming in their direction. Which was not necessarily a good thing.

As the light got closer, they could see it in its full glory: the light was actually a brightly lit, somewhat egg-shaped craft, from which came a deep, throbbing hum. Such was the intensity of the hum, it provoked intense nausea in both men. Confusion, and a sense of distinct unreality, quickly followed. The pair watched in horror and amazement as what was described as a “hatch” opened and a trio of very strange-looking creatures exited the hovering object. Even stranger, and much more unnerving, the three things floated from the craft, across the waters of the river, and towards Hickson and Parker.

The aliens were not of the famous large-headed, black-eyed, and dwarfish kind, however. They weren’t even of the benevolent-looking, so-called “Space Brothers” variety of the 1950s. Nope, this particular breed of E.T. was described later by the shocked and undeniably traumatized men as being humanoid, and with faces that appeared to be almost masked, and heads from which three carrot-style points protruded. On top of that, they had large crab-like or lobster-like claws.

Then matters got even worse: when the things from another world were practically on top of terrified Parker and Hickson, both men were rendered into a state of paralysis. Whether due to some technology of the aliens, or provoked by overwhelming fear, remains unknown. Maybe it was a combination of both. Suddenly, the entities seized the pair, who were manhandled onto the UFO. Like most abductees, Hickson and Parker were quickly reduced to the equivalents of lab rats. When the trauma-filled encounter was over, the pair was dumped back on the edge of the river.

The story, hardly surprisingly, became a UFO classic, and in quick time too. The media was soon on the case. As was the military. While Parker chose to keep out of the limelight, Hickson went on to write a book about his experience (UFO Contact at Pascagoula, co-written with William Mendez), and spoke about it on the lecture circuit. But, were the pair really abducted by aliens? Or, could something have occurred that was, in many ways, even stranger? Let’s see.

It’s a seldom discussed fact that only a handful of miles from where Parker and Hickson were “abducted by aliens” is a stretch of land called Horn Island. As one might expect, it’s a tranquil place, with clean sands, marshes, and a wide variety of birds, such as pelicans and herons. There are more than a few alligators, too. But, there’s something more about Horn Island that’s worth noting. In the latter stages of the Second World War, the military explored the possibility of using Horn Island as a place where both chemical- and biological-warfare research could be undertaken. The U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps did likewise in the early 1950s – specifically when its research into so-called “mind-control” and mind-manipulation drugs was taking off. We’re talking about work associated with the notorious MKUltra program.

The official line is that the research was cancelled, due to one quite understandable reason: with Horn Island being significantly windy at times, having mind-altering, aerosol-based cocktails affecting the local populace would most assuredly not have been a good thing! However, a different story comes from some of the people that call the area home. There are tales of covert operations and experiments into mind-manipulation that, apparently, did go ahead; many under the auspices of the aforementioned MKUltra, and as late as the early 1970s. In terms of what may have specifically been used in these operations, fingers point in the direction of BZ. Or, to give it its correct name: 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate. It’s most well-known name is “Buzz.” I hardly need to explain why. The nickname nails it. For more information, see H.P. Albarelli, Jr.’s book, A Terrible Mistake.

BZ, an extremely powerful hallucinogen, can provoke imagery of an incredibly graphic nature, very often of a highly frightening nature. On other occasions, the experience can even be uplifting. As is also so often the case with LSD, it’s the setting, the scene, and the mood that typically influence the nature of the BZ experience. The National Academy of Sciences notes that BZ “was investigated as a potential incapacitating agent for military applications,” adding that it produces “anticholinergic delirium, a non-specific syndrome of cognitive dysfunction, hallucinations, and inability to perform tasks…”

And let’s not forget that Horn Island is barely eight miles from where Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson were taken in October 1973. Might the “UFO” actually have been a helicopter? Could the references to the aliens having mask-like faces, and clawed hands, actually have down to earth explanations: full-body protection suits, helmets, and thick gloves, worn by the abductors and seen by two men rendered into states of mind in which hallucinations were running wild?

It’s worth noting this is not the first time such a story has surfaced. Back in the late 1970s long-time UFO researcher Rich Reynolds was given a very similar story regarding the equally famous abduction of a Brazilian farmer (and later a lawyer), Antonio Villas Boas. Rich’s source: a man named Bosco Nedelcovic, who we will return to very soon.

It was on February 22, 1958 that Villas Boas prepared for a Dr. Olavo Fontes – both a respected gastroenterologist at the National School of Medicine in Rio de Janeiro and a highly dedicated flying saucer investigator – a remarkable, and undeniably sensational, document that told of his, Villas Boas’, close encounter with an alien only eight days earlier. But, this was no sterile “take me to your leader”-style experience involving bug-eyed, spindly creatures. According to the twenty-three-year-old farmer, he went where, quite possibly, no man had ever gone before. So Villas Boas told Fontes, he did nothing less than get it on with a hot babe from the great and mysterious beyond. And aboard a UFO, no less.

Or did he?

That question brings us back to Bosco Nedelcovic. Now dead, he was a Yugoslavian who worked, in South America, for an outfit that ultimately became the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Rather notably, Nedelcovic later worked with the Department of Defense, as well on as a 1960s CIA operation to infiltrate the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Policy Studies. The IPS is a think-tank which, at the time, was heavily involved in promoting civil-rights matters and the anti-Vietnam War movement.

Nedelcovic detailed for Rich Reynolds a scenario near-identical to that which I have suggested Parker and Hickson may have found themselves in. Namely, that of Villas Boas being exposed to hallucinogenic substances, taken on-board a helicopter, and then plunged into the heart of a faked alien encounter.

Rich says: “The story from Nedelcovic was that after Villas Boas had been subjected to various drugs, the part with the woman was literally acted out. So, there may have been a real woman. But in Villas Boas’ case, it could have been manipulation-induced. It gave me visions of the CIA employing people of an Asian-kind of demeanor and look. It’s in the realm of possibility that someone was concocting a scenario in that way.”

Interestingly, Nedolcovic told Rich that “…the men were participating in new forms of psychological testing that would eventually be used in military contexts.”

While many ufologists champion the Villas Boas affair, let’s take a look at what the man himself actually said about the “UFO” onto which he was taken. And, bear in mind, these are Villas Boas’ words. They are not mine. The craft was, he recalled, “…like a large elongated egg…on the upper part of the machine there was something which was revolving at great speed and also giving off a powerful reddish light.”

It rose “…slowly into the air until it had reached a height of some 30 to 50 meters…The whirring noise of the air being displaced became much more intense and the revolving dish began to turn at a fearful speed…At that moment, the machine suddenly changed direction, with an abrupt movement, making a louder noise, a sort of ‘beat.’”

So, we have an elongated, egg-like craft – not a flying saucer. It sounds not unlike a helicopter with a bulbous front. There was something atop the object which was “revolving at great speed.” Rotor-blades, perhaps? And, there was the noise coming from the craft: “a sort of beat.” Put all of those issues together and what we have is a classic description of a helicopter.

Is it possible that, for decades, new and revolutionary mind-altering substances have been utilized and tested – specifically undercover of a “UFO camouflage” – to determine just how extensively the human mind can be manipulated? It may not be what whole swathes of the UFO research community want to hear. But, that’s just too bad.

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The Women in Black: Companions of the MIB – Nick Redfern’s “If it’s weird, it’s here”

November 5, 2015 By The Paranormal Braintrust

It’s no secret that, for the past year or so, I have been working on a book on the subject of the Women in Black – the lesser-known companions of the Men in Black. But, make no mistake, encounters with the WIB absolutely proliferate. And, just like their male equivalents, the WIB are chilling and menacing – in both nature and appearance.

The 1980s saw a disturbing and creepy development in the saga of the Women in Black – and particularly so in the heart of the United Kingdom. In fact, it was just about the most disturbing and creepiest development of all. It revolved around the phenomenon of what became infamously known as “Phantom Social Workers” (PSW) or “Bogus Social Workers” (BSW).

On numerous occasions, terrified parents throughout the United Kingdom were plagued by visits to their homes from pale-skinned, black-garbed women – occasionally accompanied by men – who claimed they were there to investigate reports of abuse to babies and children. And, if necessary, to remove the children from the family home.

In many such cases, the utterly bogus social workers acted in deeply strange and unsettling fashions, and created atmospheres filled with dread and high-strangeness. Not only that, significant numbers of the reports eerily paralleled the saga of the so-called female “census takers” of the mid to late 1960s, who fascinated and unsettled the mind of John Keel, of The Mothman Prophecies fame.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate something that most people who have focused on the BSW/PSW/WIB issue have failed to note. Namely, that there is nothing new about this very disturbing issue. The media of both the UK and Canada was reporting on such sinister matters more than a century ago. It’s thanks to the research of friend and fellow Fortean, Neil Arnold, that I’m able to bring these cases to your attention.

A deeply macabre story, involving a Woman in Black and a newborn baby – both of who subsequently vanished – was published in the October 31, 1891 edition of the Hull, England Weekly Mail newspaper. That’s right: it appeared on Halloween, the most bone-chilling night of the year; the night on which it is said the veil between the land of the living and the domain of the dead is at its thinnest. The title of the article was concise and to the point: “The Lady In Black.”

It was the kind of affair that would have been ideal for Sherlock Holmes – the world’s most famous, fictional detective – to get his teeth into. The feature began as follows: “A strange case of supposed kidnapping is reported from Hull. It seems, as the story goes at present, that a woman named Proctor, wife of a laboring man, with a family of six children, on Wednesday night committed her infant, nine days old, to the care of a relative, Mrs. Dryer, to be baptized at St. Andrew’s Church.”

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The story continued: “Accompanying Mrs. Dryer was an elderly woman, who had been visiting Mrs. Proctor, and who had shown her sympathy in a practical form.”

And then things got a bit more mysterious: “Her name or whence she came was unknown to the household or in the neighborhood, except that she was spoken of as the ‘Lady in Black,’ and was supposed to be a district visitor.”

What began as a mysterious story quickly became one of sinister proportions: “They arrived at the church too late for the ceremony to take place. Mrs. Dryer, it is stated, gave the infant to her companion while she went outside for a moment. On her return the woman and child were gone.”

“Sinister” soon gave way to “terrifying,” as the local media noted: “Late the same evening the infant’s clothes were found in a street nearby with a note attached, stating, ‘Baby is all right. Baby and I have gone to Leeds.’ There was no signature to this strange communication. No trace has yet been found of either woman or child.”

Seven years later, there was yet another strange story involving a newborn baby and a Woman in Black. This time, however, the location was Toronto, Canada. The Daily Mail and Empire newspaper reported, on April 7, 1898, that an approximately six-day-old baby had been found abandoned on the doorstep of a Mr. Eli G. Roselin, a carpenter, of 65 Grant Street, Toronto. It was very fortunate for the baby that Roselin worked late that night. As he reached his home around 9:00 p.m., he saw a small bundle on the doorstep. It contained, to his astonishment and shock, a small baby, one who had been “dosed with drugs and whisky.” Police were quickly alerted and the baby was taken to the local “Infants Home.”

Newspaper staff noted that: “Investigation last night established the fact pretty conclusively that the child had been placed on the step not more than twenty minutes before it was found. The spot is a rather lonely one, opposite Kintyre Avenue, and there are half a dozen ways of approach and escape from the locality.”

And, then, there was this: “A woman of medium height, dressed in black and wearing a cape, was seen strolling along Kintyre Avenue from 8 to 8.30 o’clock, by some boys, by a lady living on Grant Street, and by Mr. Farmery, of 63 Grant Street. She had something concealed under her cape, and it is believed by the neighbors that she may have left the child on the step. Mr. Joselin’s bell was not rung when the infant was abandoned.”

Of course, the big question is: from whom did the WIB get the baby? Was it hers or was it kidnapped?

Moving on, it’s now time to turn our attentions to the Bromley, Kent, England, Evening Express newspaper. In its May 16, 1910 issue, there appeared an article titled “Mysterious Lady In Black.” The article began in appropriately uncanny and unsettling style: “Coming from apparently nowhere and vanishing mysteriously, an unknown woman attended at a birth in Stepney, and at the inquest, although the coroner tried to elucidate the mystery, he was unable to do so.”

The unnamed journalist who wrote the small article added that the baby in question was Elizabeth McDonald, who tragically died just five days after her birth. She was said to have been the daughter of “a seaman, of Eastward Street, Bromley.” The story continued that one of those present at the birth was a woman, a widow, named Elizabeth Dowsett. After poor, soon-to-be-doomed Elizabeth was born, Dowsett went to the second-floor room to see the newborn baby and was followed by a woman who “came into the room and did all that was necessary.”

In light of that, the coroner asked: “Do you mean that some stranger went up the stairs behind you, and did all this, and you don’t know who she was?”

Dowsett replied quickly and said something that, by now, will be chillingly familiar: “I had never seen her before. She was a thin, dark woman, dressed in black.”

The coroner continued: “You can tell us a lot more about this mysterious lady in black, if you like. What became of her afterwards?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Dowsett.

“What? Did she drop from the clouds and then vanish into thin air?” asked the coroner, amazed. Given that the WIB – just like the MIB – have an uncanny knack of vanishing in the blink of an eye, the coroner may have been closer to the truth than he could ever have possibly imagined.

Dowsett could only offer a speculative answer: “She went out the same way she came in, I expect.”

[clickToTweet tweet=”You know about MIBs but did you know there were Women In Black also?! Nick Redfern writes” quote=”You know about MIBs but did you know there were Women In Black also?! Nick Redfern writes”]These “I expect” words are important because they make it clear Dowsett had no real proof of what happened to the Woman in Black – at all. The death of little Elizabeth, said one Dr. Meadows, was due to “syncope,” an antiquated term for loss of consciousness, fainting, or “swooning.” It’s a condition that a person usually recovers from quickly. But not Elizabeth McDonald, unfortunately. She deteriorated quickly and did not recover.

Perhaps with some justification, the coroner said to Dowsett that she should keep her doors firmly locked at night, due to the apparent presence of “some rambling wolves about seeking whom they can devour.”

Wise words, indeed.

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The Men In Black: Not Smith and Jones – Nick Redfern’s “If It’s Weird It’s Here”

October 15, 2015 By The Paranormal Braintrust

On the night of September 28, I was interviewed for 3-hours on Art Bell’s show, Midnight in the Desert. The subject of the Q&A was my new book, Men in Black: Personal Stories & Eerie Encounters. It was an interview which provoked a great deal of feedback and a number of previously unheard of encounters and confrontations with the MIB.

What I found particularly notable, however, was the fact that four of the people who contacted me after the show ended took issue with one particular matter I brought up time and again. As one of them worded it, “You stubbornly tell your readers the Men in Black are not Black-Ops.” He continued: “When you promote the Men in Black being paranormal you’re so far away from it.” “It” meaning “the truth,” I assume.

Well, no, actually, I’m not. At all. His words, however, did get me thinking about the way in which so many people interpret the MIB phenomenon. There can be absolutely no doubt that the three, phenomenally successful, Men in Black movies starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones – as agents J and K – have had a major bearing on the acceptance and ongoing development of the “secret agent” aspect of the MIB puzzle.

But, the reality of the situation is that – as entertaining as the movie-versions are – the real MIB are most assuredly not agents of any official body, whether of the government, the military, the intelligence community, or even of some rogue, “shadow” group. How can I be so sure? Because that’s what the vast majority of the witnesses are telling us! And it’s the witnesses who are so important when it comes to trying to unravel the truth of the MIB.

Take, for example, the guy who kicked things off in the early 1950s: Albert Bender, a Bridgeport, Connecticut UFO researcher who established the International Flying Saucer Bureau, only to quickly close it down when he was visited by three menacing men in dark suits. But, the terrible trio were not G-Men or James Bond-types. No. They were pale-faced, grim-looking things that had brightly shining eyes, and materialized (as in literally) in Bender’s bedroom and amid an overpowering odor of sulfur.

The MIB that turned up at Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the 1960s, and when the Mothman phenomenon was at its height, were equally eerie: often short in stature and painfully thin, they were clearly unaccustomed to our ways and mannerisms. Most bizarre of all is the fact that some of them wore wigs and make-up – as if they were trying, but miserably failing, to appear more human than they really were.

Then there’s the matter of supernatural activity. I have more than a few reports on record where the MIB encounter had absolutely no UFO component to it whatsoever. Instead, the manifestation of the Men in Black was provoked by the witnesses dabbling in the worlds of Ouija boards, the occult, and Faustian pacts. In some of these cases, the witnesses experienced violent poltergeist activity in their homes after the milk-white ghouls visited them late at night.

Consider, too, the following from my Men in Black book, which comes from just one of many eyewitnesses to the MIB: “I haven’t told a lot of people about it. When I first saw the person I was about 1 or 2 years old. I have a very long memory. It was like the typical thing that you hear: it was this man who would stand in the doorway of my bedroom. I remember standing up in my crib and holding onto the bars and he wore a fedora and a tan raincoat and black trousers, shiny shoes and black leather gloves. His face wasn’t like someone who had been burned, but he just stood there and would grin. There was nothing friendly about the way he was grinning. It was horrible. Emotionless, didn’t blink. And he came off and on for a few years.

“Even as I got older and slept in my own bed I would wake up sometimes, like at 3 o’clock in the morning, and that went on. That still happens: all of a sudden I’ll be wide awake at 3 o’clock in the morning, for no apparent reason. But as a kid I’d wake up at 3 o’clock and he’d be there. I didn’t have any frame of reference for it. Of course, my mom didn’t believe me; she just thought I was dreaming.”

Even more bizarre – and certainly disturbing – are those cases in which people confronted by the MIB sometimes feel as if the dark-suited things are draining them of their self-will, and of nothing less than their life-force. We’re talking about vampires of the energy-sucking kind. And, of course, the pale skin and cadaverous appearances of the MIB are very apt when it comes to the issue of vampires. More than a few eyewitnesses to the Men in Black have told me they felt dizzy, very weak, clammy, and light-headed in their presence. Not unlike the situation that can occur when the blood-sugar of a diabetic plummets.

Then there’s the matter of not just the MIB but of their cars, too. Typically, they are of an old 1950s style, very often a black Cadillac. But the apparent age of the cars is not the strangest thing about them. I have many cases on file where the cars of the Men in Black vanished into oblivion. We’re talking about fading away, dematerializing, or becoming invisible: take your pick. In these particular cases, it’s almost as if the unfortunate souls confronted by the MIB have been plunged into some weird, altered state. Something akin to The Matrix scenario, in which reality as we perceive it is not actually as it is. In that sense, the cars may never really have existed – at least, not in the way we interpret the word “existed.”

Finally, we come to the most important issue of all. Although the Men in Black are most famous for issuing veiled – and, sometimes, not so veiled – threats, they rarely ever follow through on those threats. In fact, there are good indications that the entire experience is an ingenious and intricate ruse or game. It’s something akin to a stage-play, a bizarre piece of theater played out for the “benefit” of the witness. For some odd and unclear reason, the MIB are carefully following a precise script, one they rarely deviate from. Weirder still, the performers in this odd charade – the Men in Black, of course – barely seem self-aware. Maybe that’s because they’re not.

Whether supernatural and manipulative “Tricksters,” something of a near-unfathomable paranormal nature, alien-human hybrids, versions of the “Agents” from The Matrix, or something else, I don’t know. All I know for sure is one thing: Smith and Jones’ J and K they’re not.

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Does This Century Old Case Hint At A British Bigfoot? – Nick Redfern’s “If It’s Weird It’s Here”

September 21, 2015 By The Paranormal Braintrust

An Old And Macabre Mystery Lingers…

When Jim Harold asked me if I would be interested in regularly submitting articles to his website, I said, “Sure! Why not?” After all, I have known Jim for a few years and I also know that he has a wide and varied interest in multiple, strange phenomena. But, where to start? Well, rather than pick some random thing to write about, I figured this would be the ideal time and place to share with you something from my teenage years. Something that got me deeply involved in the worlds of the weird, the supernatural, and the mysterious.

Over the last couple of decades, I have spent a lot of time digging into matters relative to Bigfoot, the Men in Black, the Chupacabra, Roswell, and lake-monsters. But, back when I was in my early teens, I was exposed to something else. It was as chilling as it was downright bizarre. And it was something that occurred just a short drive from where I lived, as a kid, in central England. Namely, the village of Pelsall, the origins of which hark way back in time to the 10th century.

Barely a stone’s throw from Pelsall is the village of Great Wyrley. On the surface, there’s nothing odd or disturbing about the place. At least, not until you do a bit of digging into its history. That’s when you find Great Wyrley has a dark shadow hanging over it. And it has been there for more than a century. In late 1903, a resident of Great Wyrley – a certain young man named George Edalji – was sentenced to serve significant jail-time for violently attacking horses in the area. The late-night attacks were so ferocious and deadly that the entire populace of Great Wyrley was shocked to its collective core. Both the local and national media covered the killings and reported extensively on Edalji’s sentence. But was Edalji really guilty of the crimes attributed to him?

Someone who suspected there had been a major miscarriage of justice in the Edalji affair was none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the famous creator of the world’s equally famous, fictional, “consulting detective.” We’re talking, of course, about Sherlock Holmes, of 221b Baker Street, London. Such was the extent to which Doyle tackled the Edalji case, the latter’s seven-year sentence was cut and he walked out of prison in 1906. Edalji was a free man. Albeit, not a pardoned man. The local police remained convinced that Edalji was the guilty party, regardless of what Sir Arthur may have thought, and equally regardless of Sir Arthur’s fame and influence.