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

By

Nick Redfern
Nick Redfern

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.

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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.

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

Doomsday Cults: Why Do People Have End Times Obsessions and Apocalypse Dreams? – Marie D. Jones

By

Marie D. Jones
Marie D. Jones

The band REM sang about the end of the world as we know it, and they felt fine. In fact, many people not only feel good about the world ending, but actually welcome it with open arms, often joining with others of like mind to predict, plan, and prepare for the demise of humanity and the extinction of existence. But why? Who in their right mind would want the world to come to a crashing halt, taking all of life with it?

Just recently, an end of the world prediction for July 29th went bust. A group calling itself End Times Prophecies predicted a solar flip, which would lead to an apocalyptic chain reaction ending all life. Never happened. Days later, another prophesized end was all over the place, courtesy of a YouTube psychic named T. Chase who warned the world of the apocalypse to come in the year 2017…complete with a giant alien spaceship invading earth, shooting out death rays upon humanity. Chase went on to predict that Jesus himself would lead an alien army in UFOs against Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, who will start the third world war. This alien army will stop us from extincting ourselves in a nuclear showdown.

Chase claims he gleaned this revelation from, well, the New Testament Book of Revelations (specifically chapter 19) and the teachings of Nostradamus. But fear not, because according to Chase, the alien-army of Christ will win and we will all be happy living under a one-government confederation (New World Order?)

These are not the first predictions of end times, and they certainly won’t be the last. Prophecies of the end go back probably as far as the beginning, when the first humans pondered their own mortalities and wondered how long their like would hold up against vicious animal predators, wicked natural disasters and marauding tribes. But to actually form a club, or a cult, with a leader whose sole purpose is to drive his or her members to their deaths in a pre-emptive bid on immortality? That’s more of a modern thing. Remember the followers of a man named Harold Camping? In May of 2011, the then 89-year-old self-claimed scriptures expert stated the world would end on the 11th day of that month. It didn’t. Yet he ended up making millions of dollars off of believers and those who had hopeful expectations of the end. You could say, end times predictions turn a good prophet, I mean, profit. Just ask all those who benefited off of the alleged Mayan Calendar end date of December 21, 2012. Or maybe I should shut up because I wrote a book about the entire shebang that did quite well (although in my defense I wrote about the mythologies and predictions and not that I thought they would come true. I never did!)

Doomsday cults, also known as Apocalyptic Cults, or End Times cults, usually have at their basis a fundamentalist religious belief system that focuses on the literal interpretations of symbolic and metaphorical texts. This unhealthy focus on the final destruction of earth leads some of them to mass suicides in an attempt to be taken elsewhere before the apocalypse occurs. Two such cults that made the international news were the Guyana/People’s Temple, led by Jim Jones, and Heaven’s Gate, led by Ti and Do, which occurred right in my own area. But before we get to them, a little more background into these cults in general.

There are two basic types of belief systems driving doomsday cults; apocalypticism and millenarianism. Apocalypticism suggests there will one day be an apocalypse that will end the world in a fiery global catastrophe, resulting in the end of civilization itself. Some groups believe they will be spared, or that if they commit mass suicide first, their souls will be taken to heaven before the rest of the wicked ones on Earth perish in agonizing suffering.

Apocalyptic end times cults often believe in a messiah and that their own leader is that messiah, following him or her blindly to their own deaths. The leader may instead claim to be a representation of God’s will on earth or an offspring of the messiah, but some are so arrogant as to claim that title for themselves. In fact, many Biblical scholars refer to Jesus Christ as a type of apocalyptic messiah prophesying the end of the world for the Jews and a final judgment day to be unleashed upon humanity. He was said to return on a cloud as the “son of man” and the divine judge during the end times spoken of in the Book of Revelation.

Millenarianism is a belief in a coming mass transformation of society by a specific event or catastrophe. This was a widespread force behind a lot of predictions surround the year 1000 A.D. and then again on 2000 A.D., or Y2K when religious sects and cults alike awaited doomsday, or at least utter technological breakdown that might lead to it. Christian millenarian cults await the Second Coming of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven that will free the oppressed and usurp the powerful status quo. Often this goal can turn to mass suicides or violent acts of terrorism, such as the acts of Aum Shinrikyo, Heaven’s Gate, The Manson Cult, The People’s Temple and the Branch Davidians (led by David Koresh). Other millenarian cults include the Cult of the Holy Spirit and The Living Church of God, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Cult of the Holy Spirit, Joachimites and the Lord’s Resistance Army.

There are some common tenets shared by these extremist cults.

  1. A charismatic leader who calls his/herself a God/Messiah/Messenger.
  2. A specific prophecy members must believe in and adhere to.
  3. A powerful and compelling argument for cult members being special and the chosen/saved.
  4. An exit strategy or plan should said prophecy not come true, or should the government crack down on them first.

When a prophecy doesn’t happen, the cult leaders are adept at deflecting criticism and coming up with a new end times date, usually admitting responsibility for misinterpreting a date or time during their “vision.” However, cults like Aum Shinrikyo go as far as to help bring about the very apocalypse they desire with acts of violent terrorism. This Japanese New Religious Movement founded in the mid-1980s by Shoko Asahara Aum, released the deadly gas, sarin, into the Tokyo subway system in 1995 and procured military grade weapons from Russia. Their leader was eventually sentenced to death for various criminal acts.

The term “doomsday cult” was first coined by John Lofland in a 1966 study of the Unification Church, titled “Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith,” which eventually became a book in 1966 published by Prentice-Hall. He examined methods of conversion of members, the charismatic characteristics of cult leaders and how members were kept from losing faith and straying outside of the cult.

His book was followed by numerous psychological studies asking why and how ordinary people could get sucked into something as crazy as a doomsday cult hell-bent on death and destruction. One such study, by Leon Festinger and his colleagues, later published in a book, “When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World,” found that people tended to turn to such cults and the concept of the world ending in their lifetime when their own lives were meaningless. They found a purpose and meaning in these cults, becoming a part of a group with a very specific outcome, and belonging made them feel special. This is the driving mechanism behind why most people, in general, join cults, but the promise of salvation amidst a coming extinction served as extra magnetic fodder for the lost souls looking for meaning.

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The study, and others like it, also found that even as some members would leave the cult if the proposed end times date came and went uneventfully, others would stick it out, perhaps because they had already given up so much, they felt they had nothing to lose awaiting a new end date. This would keep members from humiliation and embarrassment of having to face the fact that they gave up their lives…for nothing.

To many suicide cult members, the promise of eternal glory elsewhere was so strong they didn’t even wait for the end date. They took matters into their own hands and took their lives in a mass ritual to find glory and salvation elsewhere. Heaven’s Gate was a UFO millenarian group in San Diego, California, that was founded in the 1970s by two enigmatic humans; Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. They became known as Ti and Do, The Two, Bo and Peep and a variety of other names signifying their leadership and intergalactic connections. They taught their members to give up all material possessions and that the only way to “level up” and be free of all human and earthly attachments, which brought suffering, was to be ready to board the Mothership. The spaceship was trailing the comet Hale-Bopp and coming to take them to the “next level,” and doing so required 39 people to poison themselves to death. That’s how strong their belief was.

As the UK Daily Mail reported, “All but three of the bodies were arranged neatly on their beds with their faces and torsos covered with a purple cloth. Each body had a five-dollar bill and three quarters in their pockets and along with packed luggage at their sides. They mixed Phenobarbital poison into applesauce or pudding and then washed it down with vodka. They then tied plastic bags on their heads to asphyxiate themselves and speed their deaths. The followers, age 26 to 72, killed themselves in three waves March 24, 25 and 26. The survivors always neatly arranged their dead comrades’ bodies before committing suicide themselves.”

In 1978, the charismatic church leader Jim Jones called for an act of “revolutionary suicide” at the Jonestown agricultural compound in Guyana, resulting in the deaths of over 900 people, a third of whom were children, who took poison-laced punch and died at the hands of a clearly psychotic man who thought he was a messiah. Many were said to not want to go along with the suicide but were forced to do so at gunpoint. The Jonestown Massacre would go down in history as the deadliest non-natural disaster in history, until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

In order to make people take their own lives, one must have a blend of a truly charismatic leader with so much charm and magnetism, people would follow him or her off a cliff, with a mission or purpose so compelling, that death by cliff would seem almost holy and sacred. Add to that a variety of mind control and brainwashing techniques such as coercive persuasion and intermittent reinforcement, and members don’t have much of a chance of leaving or even thinking clearly enough to contemplate it.

With complete control of their members’ minds and thoughts and behaviors, cult leaders can do anything, or make you do anything. Absolute devotion to a cult leader is equated with devotion to a deity or to God, and rules must and will be followed…or else. But the promise of salvation and being among the chosen few overrides the free will and instinct of people caught up in the fervor of end times proselytizing. Charles Manson had over 100 followers who hung on his every word…even committed murders for him. And he was nothing but a down on his luck musician who tapped into the emotions of the young and angry, the troubled and disillusioned. In them, he found his tribe and was able to manipulate them into believing in a coming race war that drove the violent acts of his most devoted followers. “Charlie,” as his cult members called him, is still in prison and gets thousands of “fan letters” every year from people who want to become a part of his “family.”

Sometimes, the government catches on and tries to stop a doomsday cult from bringing about doomsday…and yet bring it about anyway. Think of the Branch Davidians, an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Adventists Church, led by David Koresh, who went up against a coordinated siege by the FBI, ATF and Texas National Guard in 1993 that ended after fifty-one days in the fiery deaths of 82 members, including children. Koresh was also a musician, like Charlie Manson, who became a prophet and was accused of sexual abuse of young women followers, which led to the government investigation. The leaders of cults are not special people, but disillusioned people who come to believe they are special, and who have the ability to get others to believe the same.

In some cases, such as the followers of Elizabeth Clare Prophet and her Church Universal and Triumphant, founded in 1975, it was all about prepping – doing what was necessary to prepare for and survive a disaster such as nuclear war. In this case, Prophet encouraged the building of fall-out shelters in the late 1980s, anticipating a nuclear catastrophe that never came. She has since died.

The prepper movement, like the survivalists, plan for disaster and apocalypse, but with a bit more of a practical bent. Their mission is to be ready either by building bomb shelters or buying up tracts of land in remote areas to live off the grid, growing their own food, stockpiling guns or training in various survival and disaster prep methods. Without the religious obsession towards total Armageddon, preppers may go a tad overboard in the eyes of most of us, but to them, they are just being smart and getting ready for the inevitable government takeover, nuclear war, or clamp-down on Constitutional freedoms.

I belong to an organization called CERT – Community Emergency Response Teams. We are fully trained disaster responders under FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. I am trained in medical triage, disaster assessment, heavy lifting, urban and rural search and rescue, psychological trauma, crowd control, fire control, and a host of other things, including ham radio operations in an emergency. Does that make me a prepper? Sure it does. Does it make me a doomsday cultist? Nope. I am banking on a few disasters happening in my lifetime, and hope to be ready and able to respond…but I’m not waiting and hoping for full-on Armageddon.

I have too much to live for.

—

Marie D. Jones is the author of several books about the paranormal, metaphysics, and cutting-edge science (many coauthored with Larry Flaxman), including PSIence, The Déjà vu Enigma, Destiny vs. Choice: The Scientific and Spiritual Evidence Behind Fate and Free Will,11:11 The Time Prompt Phenomenon and Mind Wars. She has appeared on more than 1,000 radio shows worldwide, and on television, most recently on the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens series. Her website is mariedjones.com.

The Strange Life of A Soviet Psychokinetic, Nina Kulagina – Ryan Sprague Writes

By

Ryan Sprague
Ryan Sprague

She was a mere fourteen years of age when she joined the Red Army. The Nazi regime was making its deadly presence in the siege of Leningrad, and along with her father and two siblings, Nina Kulagina was thrust into defending her town in freezing winter temperatures, meager rations of food, and very little electricity or heat keeping her and her fellow soldiers alive.

It was more than any young teenager should ever endure, but for Nina, she not only suffered through the nine hundred day siege but excelled in her regiment. She bravely served on the front line as the radio operator of a battle tank. Her endurance led her to climb the ranks, and she eventually became a senior sergeant. But the risk of her bravery and dedication to Russia would catch up to her when she would be seriously injured by artillery fire at the tail end of WWII.

She was left emotionally and physically scarred. Disabled, Nina lived a rather secluded life until she married and had children in the mid-1960s. But what exactly was Nina doing in the time between leaving the war and starting a family? Information is scant, but when she resurfaced, it was certainly in full force. And while her past was full of valor and intrigue, her future brought an entirely new reputation of the most mysterious kind.

Nina recalled, as a child, that her mother was able to move objects with her mind. This seemed impossible to Nina, but she would watch in awe as her mother focussed intently on household objects as they began to spin, drag, and even fly across the room. Many years later, when Nina realized that her motor skills had been hindered during the war, she wondered if this strange ability her mother possessed could be passed on to her. And as she would soon learn, it most definitely could.

For Nina, the objects began to move when she was angry. She had very little control over it. But slowly, she began to harness this ability, and would find herself in periods of deep meditation. Her mind would become crystal clear, and her focus on the object was at its prime. She would feel a sharp pain in her spine, and her vision would blur. This was when she knew that it was now time to move the object. And move it did. She began to harness this power and gained more control over it. Was this something to keep secret? Or was this something that could give her the confidence back that had been stripped of her since the end of the war? This was when she decided to come forward with her amazing abilities.

A noted physicist, V.F. Shvetz, came forward stating that he once observed Nina mentally projecting the letters A and O onto a sheet of photographic paper. She was also capable of transferring an outline of an image she was looking at onto photographic paper as well. These abilities often came with a harsh aftermath. Nina would suffer unexplained burn marks on her hands after demonstrating her powers, her clothes even catching on fire at one point. One European journalist even claimed that Nina had mentally caused a red patch of discomfort to appear on their arm after demonstrating a telekinetic test for them.

As time progressed, more people began to learn of this simple housewife’s fantastic gift. Word eventually spread to members behind the Iron Curtain, and Nina once again found herself in the tight grasp of the Red Army. The Cold War was heating up, and the American public would catch wind of several silent films where a middle-aged woman appeared to move objects on a table in front of her without touching them. These cryptic black-and-white films were allegedly made under controlled conditions by Soviet authorities and were observed closely by over forty scientists, including two Nobel laureates. All had examined Nina, and every single one of them confirmed that her telekinetic abilities were indeed genuine. However, many skeptics at the time believed these videos to be pure fabrication meant as propaganda to show the Russian superiority in right-brain functioning and the possibility of psychic ability control.

One of these curious videos showed a water-filled tank in which an egg was cracked open and poured into it. Using her abilities, Nina was able to separate the egg yolk from the white, spreading them to opposite ends of the tank, supposedly with nothing more than her mind. During this remarkable event, sensors placed on her body showed a highly elevated body temperature and heartbeat. Her electromagnetic field and brainwaves had also intensified to abnormal heights. As if separating the egg wasn’t enough, Nina was also able to meld it back together again with ease.

While this event was truly astounding, Nina would raise the psychic bar in March of 1970 when another video surfaced when she would use her powers not on inanimate objects, but on the heart of an actual creature. Curious if her psychic power could have an effect on cells, tissue and organs, a frog’s heart was placed into a tank filled with saline solution. Using a small amount of electrical current, the heart was kept beating. At this point, Nina was asked if she could change the pace of the heartbeat. Astonishingly, she was first able to make the heart beat faster, then slower, and finally she was able to make the heart completely stop. This came to a huge shock to all, and the Soviets wondered if this peculiar ability could be used on human beings. Could it, in essence, be one of the greatest weapons against an enemy attack? Fortunately, Nina admitted that her abilities couldn’t penetrate the cellular make-up of humans, fatiguing her greatly. It appeared as though the hearts of potential enemies would be safe.

While Nina’s abilities would make her a semi-celebrity, this also attracted the skeptical minds of many debunkers who believed it all to be a hoax. Many argued that the experiments conducted on her were not done in proper scientific conditions. Sleight-of-hand trickery, magnets, and hair-thin string were all culprits thought to be responsible for the objects being moved across tables and floors. Scrutiny over her abilities even caught the attention of well-known stage magician and scientific skeptic, James Randi. Randi backed up these claims that everything Nina was known for could easily have been fabricated and that absolutely none of her actual psychic powers were authentic.

As the tests continued, it became clear that Nina’s abilities were taking a serious toll on her health. Doctors who’d been monitoring her were concerned after several experiments caused her to lose weight, her heart beat would become irregular, and she would spend days in bed suffering severe exhaustion. It appeared that to perform these feats, Nina was somehow converting the matter of her own body into psychic energy. Other symptoms began to appear, including a complete loss of her taste buds, disturbed motor skills, and extreme pain in her extremities. During this deterioration of health, she also suffered a nervous breakdown in 1964 and was put under close observation in a local hospital. While recovering, it was said that she spent most of her time sewing. While this may seem innocent in nature, something strange caught several of her doctors’ attention. Nina was able to reach into a sewing basket, select a specific color of thread, and all without looking. Upon inquiring how she could choose a color without seeing it, she claimed that she could see the colors with her fingertips. This was yet another fantastic ability to add to the list.

The contention and skepticism by the scientific community began to eat away at Nina. She struggled merely to prove that her powers were real. The Soviets welcomed her determination, and would push her to the furthest limits. Unfortunately, this caught up with her when in the late 1970s, she suffered a near-fatal heart attack. It was a clear message to the scientists, doctors, and the military intelligence agencies to finally slow down and give Nina the space she rightfully deserved to recover in peace.

Nina would conduct personal experiments with private institutions for the next two decades, knowing that she couldn’t completely suppress these special abilities. No matter the intentions of the Red Army, she knew that her powers could also be used for good. Many claimed that by merely placing her hands on them, she could heal some ailments and wounds. While this could not be proven, it brought about a whole new level of potential for what Nina could truly do to benefit her country. She was watched very closely for the remainder of her life, never being able to escape the fame and burden of those who believed in her psychokinetic abilities and those who didn’t. This would haunt her until her death in 1990 at the age of 64.

The attention to Nina was not unjustified at the time as Russia was willing to explore any type of alternative warfare in the race to beat the Americans. Remote viewing and anomalous cognition were specific areas that they found of keen interest. While the Americans focussed on the nuclear arms and space race, Russia was digging deep into the mind to create the “psi race.” The Americans wouldn’t truly catch on and take this topic seriously until many years later.

In October of 1978, Maj. Edmund Thompson, then the Army’s top intelligence officer, ordered Intelligence and Security Command to look into Extrasensory Perception, and a Pentagon-wide program, known as Project Grill Flame was set into motion. Another program of note came in 1986, with the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Project Sun Streak, in which psychic abilities were used to find the whereabouts of the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi before American planes bombed the country. It was clear that there was potential for such extraordinary abilities in warfare, and thinking outside the box was a beneficial strategy. Could this all have been prompted by the exploitation of Nina’s abilities over in Russia? Did the so-called “propaganda films” actually have more of an impact than once thought? There’s no way of truly knowing, as there is also no way of knowing if her abilities were authentic or not, to begin with. But one thing was certain: the doors of psychic warfare had been opened, and it is doubtful that they will ever truly be closed as top secret black budget projects hide in every corner of both countries’ intelligence and defense agencies.

While the strange life of Nina Kulagina involved abilities that even today have yet to be proven authentic, it wasn’t the psychokinetic aspect of her life that would be most remembered. Even at her funeral, she was praised for her dedication and service to the army earlier in her life, being hailed as the “Hero of Leningrad.” She had fought for her life defending her people and her country, becoming a cultural icon for both soldiers and women everywhere. Whether the fringe-filled aspects to her story afterward hold any true merit will be debated by believers and skeptics alike for many years to come. But for Nina, it surely was a life worth living. And as this article, and many others may suggest, it is most certainly a story worth telling.

– – –

Ryan Sprague is a professional playwright & screenwriter in New York City. He is also an investigative journalist, focusing on the topic of UFOs. He is the author of the upcoming book, “Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon”, published by Richard Dolan Press. He is the co-host of the critically acclaimed podcast, Into the Fray, available on iTunes & Stitcher. His other work can be found at somewhereintheskies.com

The Mystery Satellites – Micah Hanks

By

MICAH HANKS REPORTS ON UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS IN EARTH’S ORBIT 

Micah Hanks
Micah Hanks

Humanity has a long history with reports of odd things seen in Earth’s skies. For decades, reports of unidentified flying objects have captured the public imagination, with particular emphasis on descriptions of things likened to “flying saucers”, and more recently, large, ominous triangle-shaped craft that occasionally plod their way through the night sky at fairly low altitudes.

Harkening back to the early days of modern UFOlogy, there were reports of other things, as well. Beginning in the early 1950s, astronomers began to detect a number of unusual satellites circling the Earth, some of which moved against the natural spin of the planet in a retrograde orbit.

Today, the observation of such satellites is quite commonplace, and on any clear night, one can step out into a field or other area relatively free from city lights, and observe any number of objects reflecting sunlight as they traverse the sky overhead. However, until the launch of Sputnik I by the Russian space agency in 1957, there were no artificial satellites believed to have been launched into orbit, let alone any rockets powerful enough to carry one into space. Despite this, a number of odd observations occurred in those early days of the Space Age, many of which remain unidentified to this day.

The mystery all seemed to have begun around 1954, with a number of newspapers that featured stories quoting UFO proponent Donald Keyhoe, who around that time had overheard that the U.S. Air Force was monitoring two mysterious satellites orbiting Earth. Granted, at the time there shouldn’t have existed any technology capable of launching such a satellite into orbit; some further assert that Keyhoe’s statements had merely been in support of a new UFO book he had published. This might seem plausible, if not for the fact that Keyhoe revisited the “mystery satellite” cases from the 1950s in 1973, with the publication of his book Aliens From Space: The Real Story of Unidentified Flying Objects, which examined in greater depth the various observations of mystery satellites. In other words, it seems unlikely that Keyhoe brought up or borrowed the notion of mystery satellites purely as a publicity stunt.

Long-time UFO researcher and NICAP member Fran Ridge is also one who has taken note of these odd reports, discussing them in a lengthy article last year at the NICAP website. “At first there were reports in the 1950’s,” he said, “followed by reports in 1960, and more recently the reports of a Dark Star Satellite.” This “Dark Star” Ridge refers to here is, of course, the infamous “Black Knight Satellite”, an object that has appeared in many NASA photos over the last few years. Many continue to assert that the object is something akin to a 13,000 year old alien “probe” placed in Earth orbit by extraterrestrials long ago, with intent of studying the proceedings of human evolution as it ensued below. However, much to the chagrin of its proponents as a “genuine” alien vessel, the object that is commonly referenced as evidence of a “Black Knight Satellite” is well known to have been identified as a discarded thermal blanket from one of NASA’s EVA missions.

According to space historian James Oberg, “There’s a long sequence of the slowly-tumbling
thermal cover, clearly the same object previously misidentified as the ‘Black Knight’ satellite. It’s viewed through a dirty window but the shape is unmistakably the same.”

“You can hear the inside crew speculating on whether the spacewalkers would have a chance to grab it if it floated back,’ he further noted in a PowerPoint presentation he features on his website, jamesoberg.com.

In defense of those who have looked at the unusual object and leapt to an “alien” conclusion, it does, at times, look far more strange that its identity would seem to suggest. In fact, some photos depict the object looking far too large to even qualify as being a “thermal blanket”; it should be noted, however, that a number of obviously photoshopped images of the blanket exist online, which have further given the object a disproportionate size, and thus bolstering the “alien satellite” theory.

Despite all of this, many continue to argue that a single, massive “Black Knight Satellite” does exist, which, if taken in the broader context of more legitimate accounts of mystery satellites, only does us injustice by attempting to unite all the various observations into a single phenomenon. While the solitary “Black Knight” remains easily debunkable, the same cannot be said for other mystery satellites that have been observed.

“What really spawned my interest in all this was the Lunascan Project’s detection of what my Lunascan team believes was an unidentified LUNAR orbiter in 1996,” Fran Ridge recalled last year in his overview of the mystery satellite phenomenon. Ridge co-wrote a paper with astronomer Lan Fleming about the 1996 incident, in which a strange object was noticed in an apparent orbit around the moon for a brief period in September of that year (I should further note here that, according to an aerospace engineer friend of mine, the object may be an asteroid, although he noted that it is “unlikely a manmade object in lunar orbit since such orbit, as [Ridge] correctly states, are unstable, if low.” My friend’s best guess was that the object was an elliptical satellite in Earth orbit, or possibly a balloon, which had been among the possible theories proposed by Ridge and Fleming in their paper).

“As I began to collect information on Earth orbiters,” Ridge continues, “some in the form of documentation, the findings began to take the shape of a more comprehensive and interesting paper, rather than what I had initially envisioned.” Indeed, there does appear to be some interesting data about observations of unidentified satellites that exists today; consider an Advanced Research Projects Agency (former name of DARPA) document available online, titled “DOPLOC Observations of Reflection Cross Sections of Satellites”, which was filed under BRL Memorandum Report N. 1330, in March 1961. The report discusses no less than fourteen “reflections” of unidentified satellite objects, which to this day appear to remain unexplained.

AlienThere are a variety of theories about what these “mystery satellites” observed during the 1950s and early 1960s could have been. One involves the “moonlet” theory, which describes asteroids or other objects too small to qualify as being an “actual” moon, but large enough to have been detected with monitoring equipment during the period in question.

Fran Ridge expresses dissatisfaction with the “moonlet” theory. “It was accepted as a legitimate statement back then,” he wrote last year, “but today we know better, much better. It was a preposterous explanation. For several asteroids or meteoroids to come in from space and just go into a low and safe controlled orbit IS ridiculous.”

“Even if there were moonlets out there,” Ridge says, “we would be hard pressed today to get them into a stable orbit and make missile launching bases from them.”

It seems that, while there may be a non-zero chance that such a “moonlet” phenomenon could exist, is is far from likely. What would allow some asteroids to enter Earth orbit, and merely coast along overhead, while others present the grave threat of being captured in Earth’s gravitational field, and thus plunge downward, with potentially grave consequences?

Whatever the strange mystery satellites were that astronomers were observing back in the 1950s, their origins remain as much a mystery today as they had been when they first appeared; perhaps we’ll never know precisely what had been drifting along overhead, back in those formative years leading up to our own entry into outer space.

—

Micah Hanks is a writer, podcaster, and researcher whose interests include history, science, current events, cultural studies, technology, business, philosophy, unexplained phenomena, and ways the future of humankind may be influenced by science and innovation in the coming decades. With his writing, he has covered topics that include controversial themes such as artificial intelligence, government surveillance, unconventional aviation technologies, and the broadening of human knowledge through the reach of the Internet. Micah lives in the heart of Appalachia near Asheville, North Carolina, where he makes a living as a writer and musician. You can find his podcasts at GralienReport.com and his books at Amazon.com

A Case of Supernatural Murder – Nick Redfern Writes

By

Nick Redfern
Nick Redfern

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.

—

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

Ancient Aliens or Awfully Smart Humans? – A Paranormal Braintrust Article

By

Marie D. Jones’ Outer Edge

Marie D. Jones
Marie D. Jones

People love to speculate that the only possible explanation for our leaps and advances in human technology, knowledge and ingenuity simply could not be explained as having happened naturally. We MUST have had some help getting this far, even overcoming the many challenges throughout history our species has faced, some of which brought us to the brink of extinction.

The popularity of the History Channel series, “Ancient Aliens” has led to some interesting speculations about what, or who, may have once visited our ancestors, imparting knowledge and technological advancement that lead to such progress in human development. Originally, the concept of ancient aliens, or “ancient astronauts,” pointed to extraterrestrial intervention occurring thousands of years ago, and possibly even a little genetic intervention as well, and we likely had some help from entities far more intelligent and evolved than we. Otherwise, how could we have built those amazing Egyptian and Mayan pyramids and erected those massive stone statues on Easter Island, or the meticulously intricate blocks that make up Puma Punku in Bolivia…and what of the many glyphs, cave and rock paintings, carvings, drawings and statuettes from our distant past that appear to portray “helmeted” figures that do not look quite human, or those strange craft whizzing by in the sky? Are all these “archeo-enigmas” proof that our ancestors mingled with the star people, and left us clues in their art, architecture, myths and religious texts?

While many argue there is no proof humans needed a little help from above to make those huge jumps forward in our evolution, there are many who insist the archeological evidence is clear…we were once hanging out with aliens, maybe even breeding with them, or having their DNA spliced into our own, possibly against our knowledge or will. The ancient astronaut theory also posits these aliens were from advanced civilizations, coming to visit lowly human Earthlings from locations both within and outside of our known universe, where the laws of physics might allow for travel between worlds and even timelines.

But the truth is, we do have ample evidence humans have indeed been capable of great advancement, even periods of time when ideas and innovations spread so quickly, it boggled the mind. Speaking of the mind, since most of those advancements happened external to us, in terms of technology, food production, medicine, societal issues and even just simple human hygiene and disease eradication, we may not have always kept up mentally, emotionally or spiritually. But that’s a whole other blog!


Moore’s Law was first posited by Gordon Moore in 1965, presented in a paper that described how the number of components in an integrated circuit, or transistors in a dense integrated circuit, would double every two years. This doubling led to an exponential increase in advancements in the electronic and digital fields, most notably with chip performance in microprocessors and memory capacity that has led, in part, to the tech frenzy we are living in today.

Moore, who co-founded Intel, saw his projections applied to a great deal of technology, even if it didn’t quite “compute” in the natural world. But we now can agree that our computer and related technology doubles at increasingly faster speeds, taking less time to do so, to the point where some have predicted it might one day lead to a singularity or omega point of a single explosive second when we will know it all, all at once.

So speaking of singularity, we have the Law of Accelerating Returns, which takes Moore’s Law further beyond it’s original intent, which was to describe the progress of semi-conductors, and apply it to more areas of technology, as well as written language, medicine, philosophy, scientific achievement, an understanding of our own anatomy and how it works, and more. Futurist Ray Kurzweil made the idea of reaching a singularity famous when he wrote his books “The Age of Spiritual Machines” and “The Singularity is Near,” laying out in detail his theory of accelerating technological progress in the 21st century that would evolve faster and in less time until it reached that flash point of infinite knowledge.

Escalating the potential of not just technology, but our own brains and consciousness to be able to live with that new knowledge, is part of the transhumanism movement, which seeks to enhance human potential with technology, thus creating a sort of semi-A.I., or artificial intelligence that is also, well, human. If we are going to experience this explosion of knowledge, why not make it work for us, to help us live longer, have less disease to deal with, age slower, or maybe even live forever? We saw a lot of advancement in this direction in the 1990s with various forms of gene therapy and even the rise of the Internet and how it has changed who we are and how we communicate at the most fundamental levels. Think thirty years prior, when there was no Internet. That giant leap was because of some really smart humans, not aliens, and led us out of the age of localization and nationalization to a more vast and global reach. I mean, you can talk to someone a world away on the Web! How did we ever survive before? (Well, telephones and mail come to mind…)

Transhumanism has its critics, though, who worry about the merging of mind and computer, of humanity and technology, and lessening our ability to be empathic, conscious…and human. That the removal of our flaws, inherent and otherwise, makes us no longer human. By transforming us beyond the limitations of our own humanity, do we risk becoming more machinelike in all areas of existence? Is the leap in technology worth that? Do we want to sacrifice the weaknesses and flaws of being human and become more robotic and perfect just to live longer? Rise above the limits of our biology to become more divine? Like the Gods? Some people would accept that trade off in a dead second and suggest we are on an inevitable path towards this new “post human” evolution, and that we already have been. Think contact lenses and surgical implants, plastic surgery, bionic prosthetics, gene therapies for cancer…

PARAPODSubscribe0116Artificial intelligence, artificial body parts, increasingly faster computer processors, and a vastly expanding Internet reach have opened up a world filled with new ideas, and new inventions as well. But, our brains have been a bit slower catching up. That is one of the biggest dangers of the outpacing of technology to our level of understanding and ethical use of it. Empathy, compassion, tolerance…if they are not on a parallel path with the external progress, the whole machine is at risk.

So even before the age of technology, we did see times in our history of great advancement, whether in industry, agriculture, or culture itself. We vaulted out of prehistory with the Stone Age leading to the Bronze Age leading to the Iron Age…and more recently we left the Agricultural Age for the Industrial Age. Now we are in the Social Networking Age. Go figure.

The Renaissance of the 15th – 17th centuries was a time of incredible progress in science that philosophers believe led to a true boost in our understanding of nature, and our role in it. The Renaissance was a leap for individual advancement, too, as we broke down some of the limitations that kept us from reaching a greater personal potential.

The Age of Enlightenment going into the 16th and 17th centuries brought us tremendous advances in the sciences, as well as the world of art and philosophy, that to our primitive ancestors might have seemed “unnatural.” But they were a perfect progression of where we were, and what we needed to adapt to in order to keep up with the necessities of our changing environment.

The German philosopher Immanuel Kant said that progress is akin to a painful passage from the “barbarism of the past” into a more enlightened civilization. One of the goals of this is the end of all wars. Well, we have a ways to go on that one! Education, Kant believed, was the key to raising culture to a new level, allowing history to push civilization forward into new ground. Again, we have a ways to go on that one, as we now treat education, and educators, with terrible disregard.

Politically, and more recently, we have the American Revolution, signing of the Declaration of Independence and formation of the Constitution to thank for a huge leap in defining our particular nation and its laws and beliefs. The singular event of the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. defined a new religion that is a huge force of power today and “made” Christianity what we now know it as, thus quelling the power of more polytheistic and pagan cultures, including many matriarchal societies that gave way to the patriarchies we have today that suppress the feminine and demean women and girls.

We have had, throughout our history, times of decline and times of ascension – Golden Ages, if you will, when we seemed to first take three steps back, but then catapulted ourselves twenty steps forward in significant ways.

But it’s those times of decline, when we seemed to be caught in the Dark Ages, literally and metaphorically, that we appeared to need some extra help to get us out of the quicksand of our own actions, choices and even the advancements we’d made in the prior ages…And although we do see how it could have been us driving that help, there is still a lot of “circumstantial evidence” for alien assistance when we look at the human record of our primitive and ancient ancestors.

So maybe, when we most needed to move beyond our more base, primitive existence and enter what is now the Age of Antiquity, and then again when we needed to bust out of that age and move into technological revolution and a boost in our philosophy and knowledge, we got help. Those images on cave walls, rock art, and later in glyphs, mosaics, on walls of great ancient monuments and written of in world myths, religious texts, legend and lore were really telling us of the ones who came to give us the extra little ass kick we couldn’t give ourselves.

Back to the television, another wonderful leap in technology, especially for those of us hooked on “Game of Thrones” and “The Walking Dead.” The huge audiences for shows like “Ancient Aliens” attest to the popularity of believing in help from our extraterrestrial friends. And shows like that appear to have plenty of fodder to support their theory, with visits to the world’s most ancient sites and ruins to show images that, to us, look like E.T.s and greys and space people and star sisters and brothers as they’ve been described to us by witnesses, abductees, and ufologists, or as they’ve been portrayed in modern entertainment.

Folklorists and anthropologists alike point to the written record, an offshoot of prior oral traditions, and the expression through art that existed even before that, as possible clues to the presence of other civilizations, or at least, “beings” that we may have once mistaken for angels, demons, spirits, wee folk, fairies, gnomes, sprites or whatever other names they have gone by. In the Old and New Testaments alone we have mentions of chariots in the sky, wheels in the sky, fallen angels, demons and what sound like interdimensional entities, giants, Nephilim, and other living beings that are not human, and quite clearly interacting with us, even, in some cases, breeding with us for the purpose of creating the direct lineage of what may now be modern humans.

It’s all still speculation, because we don’t have empirical proof. It’s that simple. But we don’t have proof it didn’t happen, and we sure do have those intriguing images and stories to figure out, don’t we? Study the expression of ideas and it becomes very clear that what went “viral” in ancient times was what was important to them at the time. And obviously the expression of these helmeted astronauts or elongated-skulled humanoids and mysterious flying machines was important enough to chisel into stone or paint on a wall, just as we today write and talk and create stories that reflect what is important to us.

But we also post pictures of cats, our latest bout with toe fungus and what we had for lunch on Facebook and Twitter.

As the UFO world awaits the moment of “disclosure,” when all the secrets our global governments have been hiding for decades about the presence of UFOs and the existence of aliens will be revealed for the public to see, we have to take a step back and wonder…what if there is nothing much to disclose? Maybe they have been visiting for thousands of years. Maybe they did get involved with the progressive evolution of our species, even teach us a thing or two about life and how to better live it. Maybe all the Gods and Demons of our myths and religious texts were aliens interacting with us and lording over us, even destroying us when we sinned too much. Maybe they helped us transcend times when we were on the verge of collapse or outright decimation because of our own perfectly human limitations and vast capacity for stupidity.

Then again, maybe they only stop by to observe us now and then the way we go to the City Zoo or Sea World…interacting a bit here and there, but without truly interfering, except for a few abductions to get some medical data on us…again the same way we tag and track wildlife to “study” it. Maybe the rule of the Cosmos is to help, but not save, any other world because in doing so, the citizens of that world never figure out how to survive on their own.

Progress, then, is the ability to survive and change and adapt to the feedback we get from our surroundings. Progress, then, is the chance to do it for ourselves before we go crawling for help from a cosmic parent, and that includes God. Progress, then, is being able to find the best of what it means to be human without having it told to us from aliens or deities. I know that will make some people angry, but it’s true. Our species seems to have a collective death wish, and also a collective “savior” wish. Either way, it does us little good if we never learn how to work towards our own salvation…and not repeat the lessons of history over and over again.

I think it is exciting to think that at various times throughout human history we’ve been visited and assisted, and maybe I have a little bit of alien DNA in my genetic code, and so do you, and maybe we are related to the same alien species and not two different ones who are constantly at war with each other on their home planets. I am well aware of the great bodies of work of researchers and writers and television personalities that tell me this is so. And I do not in any way rule it out. If a friend or family member were screwing up, I’d offer help, maybe even an intervention if one was needed…but not before I allowed that person the opportunity to find inner resilience and strength to help themselves. And once I helped, I certainly wouldn’t enable. I think this applies to a larger scale, too, like my community and my country.

But I am also excited to think that we humans, at our best, don’t need aliens to help us and can save our own asses and advance our own best causes when we have our backs against the wall, or when our surroundings dictate we adapt to them or perish. Sometimes perishing is the best lesson of all. If we were bailed out every time we created a ton of trouble, the place would be crawling with all sorts of extraterrestrial self help speakers and motivational trainers and political analysts. I wonder if they are Democrat or Republican?

As with a lot of things in life, maybe it’s a little bit of both? We get by with a little help from our friends…now and then.

—

Marie D. Jones is the author of several books about the paranormal, metaphysics, and cutting-edge science (many coauthored with Larry Flaxman), including PSIence, The Déjà vu Enigma, Destiny vs. Choice: The Scientific and Spiritual Evidence Behind Fate and Free Will,11:11 The Time Prompt Phenomenon and Mind Wars. She has appeared on more than 1,000 radio shows worldwide, and on television, most recently on the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens series. Her website is mariedjones.com.

The People With No Past – Ryan Sprague

By

Ryan Sprague
Ryan Sprague

Who were these mysterious people with no past? Paranomal Braintrust writer Ryan Sprague asks.

In August of 2004, in Savannah, GA, a man was found sunburned and brutally beaten behind a dumpster outside of a Burger King restaurant. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors were able to save his life. But when the man finally awoke, he had no memory of what had happened. But even scarier, he had absolutely no idea where he’d come from or who he was. The man in question, Benjamin Kyle, had been diagnosed with retrograde amnesia, which occurs often after an injury or onset of disease. With very little to go on, Kyle found himself in a purgatory of life, seemingly lacking an identity, family, and a past. Upon recovery, Kyle spent many years on the streets, not being able to obtain employment due to his not being able to remember his social security number.

The entire incident caught the attention of many news outlets and afternoon talk shows, and through the generosity of viewers, and other sources, Kyle was able to find employment at a restaurant in Florida, where he took up residence in a small home. Eventually, Kyle was able to match his DNA through an online resource and found several family members. He was slowly piecing the puzzle back together again by finding relatives, but continued to struggle with who he truly was. But he took solace, knowing there was still hope of discovering the life he’d once led. “Looking at all these names, all these people, kind of gives me a sense of belonging,” Kyle stated in an interview with ABC News. “I have a history. I’m not just some stranger that materialized out of thin air.”

The idea of someone appearing out of thin air is actually more prevalent than one may think. There have been many others who have lived lives shrouded in mystery, drifting in and out of the world in the most obscure of fashion. And as we’ll see, they disappeared into thin air just as mysteriously.

Riddle of His Time

On May 26th, 1828, a teenage boy was found wandering the streets of Nürnberg, Germany. His clothes tattered, he tightly clutched two letters in his hands. One of the letters was addressed to the captain of the cavalry regiment, requesting that the boy be left in his possession, supposedly written by a poor laborer who’d raised the boy but could no longer afford to. The second letter was written by what was apparently the boy’s mother, and this letter stated that her husband had died and she herself couldn’t raise the boy alone. Her hope was that the boy would join the military.

The young boy was asked by local authorities to write down his origins, but he seemed very confused, and couldn’t read or write. The only thing he could recall was his name, Kaspar Hauser, which he scribbled down on paper. When some in the town tried to feed the boy, he requested nothing but bread and water, eventually explaining that these were the only form of subsistence he was given, having been held in a cell all alone for an undetermined amount of time and severely abused by an unknown captor. Pity, generosity, and curiosity led locals to take the boy in and try to educate him.

Astonishingly, within weeks, he’d learned to read and write. Word began to spread about this apparent idiot savant, and the curiosity of his origins only heightened. He became an overnight sensation, and countless books, magazines, films, and plays were eventually written about him. Such theories surrounding the true identity of Hauser ranged from a deranged epileptic who’d been passed on by caregivers to the dramatic theory that he’d been the rightful heir to a royal throne, but was stashed away in a cell so that someone else could take power. While many scholars today refute this theory, it fueled many to find some sort of political intrigue behind the boy’s origins. No matter the case, Hauser’s fame would lead to his untimely death, when in the winter of 1833, he returned to the house of Lord Stanhope, with whom he’d been taking up residence with at the time. He staggered into the home with a deep stab wound in his chest. He eventually died, a police investigation turning up a small violet purse with a note in its contents. The note, having been written in German, was translated as the following:

Hauser will be
Able to tell you quite precisely how
I look and from where I am.
To save Hauser the effort,
I want to tell you myself from where
I come _ _ .
I come from from _ _ _
the Bavarian border _ _
On the river _ _ _ _ _
I will even
tell you the name: M. L. Ö.

While M.L.Ö was never detained, let alone found, the mystery behind the death of Hauser was just as elusive as his life itself. While much contention remains on who this young man was, he has become a legend in the eyes of many, having been buried in the world famous cemetery, Stadtfriedhof, amongst many scholars and even those who’d been granted the Nobel Peace Prize. Hauser’s life was known to no one else except he himself, and it will remain that way for the rest of eternity. It could best be concluded with what was etched on his gravestone, eloquently stated in Latin: “Here lies Kaspar Hauser, riddle of his time. His birth was unknown, his death mysterious. 1833.”

A Tragic Tale of Persian Poetry

It was the first day of December in 1948. On the beach of Somerton, just south of Adelaide, Australia, the body of a man was found laying on top of the sand. Within his possession was an unused train ticket, a comb, gum, and a few loose cigarettes. The man was in peak physical condition, and no sign of illness or ailments seemed to be the cause of death. He was dressed in a very well-tailored suit, but mysteriously, no labels could be found anywhere on his clothing. In a hidden pocket of the suit, a small piece of paper simply read: “Taman shud”, which in Persian, means: “finished.” No identification of the man could be found.

While the tragedy of this man’s death was obvious, the intrigue behind his possession of the piece of paper is what struck most who had heard about the case. The piece of paper seemed to have been torn from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, an extremely rare 12th century poetry book by the Persian poet. Police soon conducted a search for the book, and came across an anonymous man who said he’d found a copy in the backseat of his car around the same time the body had been found on the beach. When the police examined the book, they noticed that the book was indeed missing the exact words that were found on the man. Even more bizarre, the book had random capital letters throughout the poem circled, prompting investigators to theorize that this was some sort of code, perhaps one that could lead them one step closer to discovering who this man was.

Another big mystery was how exactly this seemingly healthy man had died. The prevailing theory was that he must have been poisoned, yet no trace of any type of poison such could be found in his system. But the pathologist who’d performed the autopsy believed it was possible that some sort of soluble barbiturate could have been responsible, which would have completely dissolved within a day. While this was contentious amongst other pathologists, even more contentious was a theory on breaking the code that the poetry book supposedly held. One theory was that the strong of circled letters, ITTMTSAMSTGAB, actually stood for, “It’s Time To Move To South Australia Moseley Street.” This crack in the code was only strengthened when a phone number was found in the book which belonged to a former army nurse who just so happened to live on Moseley Street. The woman, who also remained anonymous, confirmed that she’s in fact given a copy of this rare poetry book to a lieutenant Alfred Boxall, whom she’d met while in service. Many believed that Boxall was in fact the dead man, but in 1949, the actual Boxall came forward, stating that he held a fully intact version of the book in his possession, and clearly was alive and breathing. But some were suspicious of him, wondering if during his service, he was actually working for an intelligence program, and had in fact discovered the dead man was a Soviet spy, and had poisoned him. This was rather outlandish in the eyes of Boxall himself who once stated that this theory was “quite a melodramatic thesis”, claiming that he was no more than an engineer for a water transport company during his service.

The case remained unsolved for many years. But a possible break occurred in 2009 when Derek Abbott, a professor at the University of Adelaide, theorized that the supposed coded letters in the poetry book were a one time pad code, meaning that it’s based solely on one document being the key, in this case the book itself. But because the book was so rare, and no copies can be found today, the code is in essence, unbreakable, rendering Abbott’s theory unprovable as well. But this didn’t stop him from pursuing the identity of the man. Working off of the frustration of lost autopsy reports and a reluctance by the government in exhuming the man’s body, all Abbott had to go on were grainy photos of the dead man right before the autopsy. This is when Abbott made a very striking discovery. In the photo, the dead man had an unusual shape to the upper half of his ears. This formation could only be found in about two percent of caucasians, and he also had a condition known as hypodontia, in which one or more teeth fail to develop, present in less than two percent of the entire population. Abbott had spoken to the anonymous nurse who’d known Boxall, and discovered that her son had the same ear features and also had hypodontia, the same conditions of the Somerton man. The chances of two unrelated individuals with these conditions were one in ten million, prompting Abbott to postulate that they were possibly biological father and son.

In 2013, in an interview with the television news show, 60 Minutes, the nurse came forward as one Jessica Thomson. Her daughter, Kate, was also interviewed, stating that her mother did indeed know the Somerton man, and that she believed that her mother and the man were both spies, and that her late brother, Robin, was quite possibly the love child of the Somerton man. Kate went so far as to petition the Australian government to exhume the body to collect DNA evidence to make the connection between her brother and the man, but they remain steadfast on that not happening. The reasons remain quite conspiratorial, but the theory of both her mother and the Somerton man having been spies at the time could be one of those many reasons.

The Somerton man case remains unsolved, and hundreds of identities have been presumed of who this man may have been. As time lingers on, it is possible that perhaps a connection could be made to unravel this mysterious death in 1948. But for now, all we have is a modest gravestone that lay in Australia’s West Terrace Cemetery simply stating: “Here Lies The Unknown Man Who Was Found At Somerton Beach.”

For the Room

He checked in to the Lake Quinault Inn on September 14th, 2001. It had only been three days since the unfathomable tragedy struck the World Trade Center in New York City. And the entire country was on edge. The same could be said on this very day when a young man known as Lyle Stevik checked in to the inn, paying cash. He headed to his room, and didn’t leave for almost two days, requesting no cleaning of the room or any disturbance. He requested extra clean towels being left at the doorstep, and nothing else.

On September 17th, the housekeeper knocked on the door.It was past checkout time, so she needed to clean the room. There was no answer. After a few more knocks, she took it upon herself to open the door. There, she found the young man kneeling in an alcove in the corner of the room. His back was to the door, his arms by his side, and his head tilted back. It seemed as though he were praying, but he was completely unresponsive to the innkeepers entrance and apologies. This is when she phoned the owner of the inn, who made the long trek almost ninety miles away, to come see what was happening. When she arrived, the two approached Lyle hesitantly. Upon closer inspection, the owner noticed a leather belt wrapped snuggly around his throat, the other end attached to a coat rack on the other side of the room. It was now clear that he’d hanged himself. And while this site was gruesome, the events were about to become much more curious.

On the nightstand in the room, a comment card rested innocently with the words, “For the Room” scribbled on it. Inside, eight twenty dollar bills were present, a generous tip included. Soon, law enforcement was brought in and the body brought to the local coroner. Back in the room, police had also discovered, in the trash can, a crumpled piece of paper with the word: Suicide, scribbled on it. Investigators found no identification for Lyle on his person or in the room. For weeks, the police waited to hear any reports of the man missing. None turned up. They also ran Lyle’s DNA, dental information, and fingerprints in every database they could, finding nothing. A home address he’d left at the front desk merely belonged to a Best Western Inn located almost six hundred miles away in Idaho. When the police inquired with the owner of the Best Western, who’d been there for over six years, he could not confirm that anyone under that name or description had stayed there. After searching countless databases, phone directories, and community outreaches, nothing whatsoever turned up on the man known as Lyle Stevik. He, in essence, had never existed.

The search for the man’s identity widened, and many theories were thrown about. In Lyle’s room, two copies of the Daily World News were found, endless articles about the September 11th attacks filling the pages. Many speculated that perhaps he had something to do with the terrorist attack. While absolutely no evidence could solidify this theory, it remains on the table until today. Others believe he was a severely ill individual, as he seemed like he had recently lost a large amount of weight. The front desk clerk had noticed that his belt was much longer than it should have been, assuming it used to fit him much better before he’d at least arrived to the inn.

Many other theories centered around young men who’d been reported missing many years prior, but none of them matched the description of Lyle in the slightest. Perhaps even more intriguing was his name, which most likely was an alias, resembling all too strikingly that of the tragic character, Lyle Stevick in the classic novel, You Must Remember This, by Joyce Carol Oates. In the book, the character took his life as well. This easily could have been a cryptic way of this unknown man wanting to end his life in the shadow of the character of the book. Either way, the case remains unsolved until today, the man’s legacy living on in complete mystery, leaving many indeed remembering him long after his life was cut all too short at his own hand.

Conclusions

The mystery behind each of these men captivated many throughout their almost non-existent lifetimes. But perhaps even more captivating was the fact that even with today’s modern technology, it is quite possible that there are those who can walk through life and leave no identity or past behind, as we saw with Lyle Stevik. And while Kaspar Hauser became a celebrity of his time, the sad thought lingers that he never fully knew who or where he came from before he was murdered. Or did he? Could each of these men, in one way or another, have conducted a social experiment of epic proportions? Hiding their true identities to see if the world could somehow crack the code? Perhaps the most important thing to take away from this all is that each of these men were laid to rest by strangers who barely knew them, and that even in death, humanity and respect for the deceased reigned supreme. And even if they seemed to have no past, a questionable present, their futures cut far too short, their stories remain, whether they truly wanted them to or not.

– – –

Ryan Sprague is a professional playwright & screenwriter in New York City. He is also an investigative journalist, focusing on the topic of UFOs. He is the author of the upcoming book, “Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon”, published by Richard Dolan Press. He is the co-host of the critically acclaimed podcast, Into the Fray, available on iTunes & Stitcher. His other work can be found at somewhereintheskies.com

The Exeter UFO Incident: Is This “Cold Case, Closed” Worthy of Being Reopened? – Micah Hanks Writes

By

Micah Hanks
Micah Hanks

Strange things were happening on the early morning of September 3, 1965. At approximately 2 AM, just a few miles outside of Exeter, New Hampshire, an 18-year-old hitchhiker found himself face-down in a ditch alongside Highway 150. As he lifted his head, the youth could see a large object passing above him, fitted with red lights, and gliding away toward a farmhouse nearby.

The youth was Norman Muscarello, who had been on his way back from Amesbury, Massachusetts, where his girlfriend’s parents lived. He would often visit her, getting rides from friends or, on occasion, hitchhiking home as he had been doing on this particular evening. Tonight he had been walking along hoping for a late-night commuter who might give him a lift, when he first noticed a series of flashing red lights in the forest nearby. As Muscarello walked, he counted five distinct sources of illumination, which lit up the surrounding trees, as well as the Dining family’s farmhouse just off the road, whose owners were gone at the time.

Writer and UFO investigator John G. Fuller would document what occurred next in his famous book on what became known popularly as the “Incident at Exeter”:

“Near an open field between two houses, the Thing, as he called it, came out of the sky directly toward him. It was as big as or bigger than a house. It appeared to be 80 to 90 feet in diameter, with brilliant, pulsating red lights around an apparent rim. It wobbled, yawed, and floated toward him. It made no noise whatever. When it seemed as if it was going to hit him, he dove down on the shallow shoulder of the road. Then the object appeared to back off slowly, and hovered directly over the roof of one of the houses.”

The house Fuller described here had been the Dining farm, and since the residents were gone at that time, Muscarello’s frantic pounding on the door went unnoticed. In a panic, he watched for the strange flying object, and darted back toward the road in time to see the headlights of an oncoming car. More afraid of whether the object might come back that the dangers presented by oncoming traffic, the teenager ran out into the road and waved his arms, causing the oncoming driver to stop a few yards ahead of him. Muscarello asked them if they would give him a ride to the Exeter police station, which the couple in the car agreed to do.

The Exeter UFO incident wouldn’t end with Muscarello’s strange encounter; upon reaching the Exeter police station, he met officer Reginald Toland at the desk, who knew Muscarello, and believed the youth to be in genuine need of assistance based on his frightened state. Toland radioed to other officers in the area, and soon Cruiser #21 arrived, driven by officer Eugene Bertrand, who told about an incident that had occurred on his patrol earlier that evening. While traveling near the overpass on Route 101, he had encountered a parked vehicle. Stopping to see if the driver needed any assistance, the woman behind the wheel told Bertrand that she had observed a large, silent object with red lights, which followed her car for some distance before it ascended and disappeared into the sky at a remarkable speed. Now, hearing Muscarello tell of seeing a similar object or aircraft, he agreed to return with Muscarello to the area where he had observed the object earlier that evening.


As the two approached the Dining farmhouse, officer Bertrand parked the car, and seeing no sign of any unusual aircraft, he and Muscarello began walking through the field near where Muscarello had first seen the lights in the nearby woods. As the pair walked along, the sounds of dogs barking in the distance caught their attention; soon afterward, horses in the farms nearby also began to offer similar protests. Within moments, the animal sounds were accompanied by the appearance of bright red lights from the forest, and suddenly the object Muscarello had seen here earlier rose out of the woods.

Rather famously, Bertrand, a former USAF veteran from the Korean War, was described as having dropped to one knee, at which time he drew his pistol, aiming it at the approaching object. However, thinking better of the situation, Bertrand replaced his pistol in its holster, and he and Muscarello then made haste to return to the patrol car.

At this time, Bertrand radioed to other officers in the area, to which policeman David Hunt responded. He arrived shortly thereafter, and joined Bertrand and Muscarello, who were still observing the object as it appeared to rock back and forth, its red lights flashing quickly in sequence. At one point, Hunt noted that a B-47 bomber flew overhead, of which he said “there was no comparison” in terms of its likeness to the strange aircraft he had seen with Bertrand and Muscarello that evening. Upon their return to the Exeter police station, all of the men filed separate reports about their observations, after which Muscarello was returned to his home.

The famous Exeter UFO Incident is well known enough, and has undergone extensive enough re-hashing in the past already, that few would see it as worthwhile to recount again here in all its glorious details. The aforementioned book by John G. Fuller, Incident at Exeter: The Story of Unidentified Flying Objects over America Today, already did a fine job with this, putting the story “on the map” as far as famous UFO incidents of its day. And for many years thereafter, it was believed that no reasonable explanation had been offered for what Muscarello and the two officers had observed that night.

However, that changed in 2011 when skeptical researchers Joe Nickel and James McGaha offered an explanation in the November/December issue of Skeptical Inquirer that year. “As it happens, the military pilot of our team (McGaha) has actually docked with a craft like the UFO at Exeter, and he recognized the sequencing lights for what they surely were: those on a U.S. Air Force KC-97 refueling plane.” The authors further asserted that, while a military training operation had in fact occurred in the area earlier that evening, aircraft were obviously still in the sky around the time of the “UFO” sighting of officers Bertrand and Hunt, returning to the area Muscarello had first seen the object earlier that evening. “It seems quite apparent that, although the particular exercise was reportedly over, there were still planes in the sky,” Nickel wrote. “Bertrand and Hunt, in fact, witnessed a B-47 jet at about the time the UFO disappeared (Fuller 1966, 67). Perhaps it had just refueled.”

As with many similar suggestions made by Nickel and McGaha in relation to UFO incidents, this is one of the most plausible explanations for the famous Exeter UFO. Nonetheless, there are still problems with their analysis: for instance, Fuller’s book mentions on the second page of the first chapter the following about officer Bertrand’s own prior USAF experience: “Bertrand, an Air Force veteran during the Korean War, with air-to-air refueling experience on KC-97 tankers…” In other words, the very sort of aircraft Nickel and McGaha propose the witnesses had seen that night should have been easily recognizable by Bertrand, since he had worked on the very sorts of refueling operations that the training exercise that evening had been involved with.

Furthermore, there are the correspondences between the policemen and the Air Force, which followed their encounter. The two officers emphatically stated that the object, which they observed approximately 100 feet above a field, and perhaps no more than a football field’s distance from them, had hovered silently; at no time was there any noise, apart from the apparent animal disturbance caused by its presence. Numerous descriptions like these were supplied in letters the officers sent to the Air Force, but with no reply. Finally, in January 1966, a letter arrived from the Secretary of the Air Force, from Lieutenant Colonel John Spaulding, which addressed the two men’s previous complaints. However, Spaulding’s response was far from satisfactory: ”Based on additional information submitted to our UFO investigation officer, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, we have been unable to identify the object you observed on September 3, 1965.” Had the object merely been a KC-97 tanker, would it not have been easy for the Air Force to determine what this aircraft was, since it had belonged to them, and was in use that very evening during one of their own training operations?

Nickel and McGaha, in response to this, noted in their article that, “Perhaps in the welter of paperwork the clue we found so significant went unseen by anyone who could fully grasp its import and who had time to devote to the case. Naturally, everything is much clearer in hindsight.”

“We believe this solves the so-called incident at Exeter,” the authors noted. However, they continue noting that, “As to the weeks of subsequent UFO reports in the vicinity, they were beyond the scope of our investigation.”

Nickel and McGaha are to be commended for working to understand the most likely explanation for what occurred on the night of the Muscarello/Bertrand sighting. However, while being the “most likely”, at least in terms of aircraft known to exist, and military operations occurring in the area at that time, does this explanation account for all the facts, and does it offer the best representation for the object as it was described by the witnesses? If anything, the “KC-97” solution may present us with even more questions, especially due to the following points of interest:

(1) Bertrand would likely have recognized the object if it had been a KC-97

(2) All three witnesses stated they were a relatively short distance from the object, which both hovered, and produced no noise while remaining in midair

(3)The USAF was unable to offer any explanation for the incident, despite the fact that the training operation which had been underway on the night in question should have made doing so a simple procedure.

In the end, we may be no closer to understanding what was seen near Exeter, New Hampshire, on September 3, 1965. This, of course, may not prove that an exotic spaceship, piloted by “little green men” had been diving around, pursuing vehicles in the area around that time; however, based on the evidence, it does suggest that a refueling plane may not be able to account for the circumstances much better, either.

—

Micah Hanks is a writer, podcaster, and researcher whose interests include history, science, current events, cultural studies, technology, business, philosophy, unexplained phenomena, and ways the future of humankind may be influenced by science and innovation in the coming decades. With his writing, he has covered topics that include controversial themes such as artificial intelligence, government surveillance, unconventional aviation technologies, and the broadening of human knowledge through the reach of the Internet. Micah lives in the heart of Appalachia near Asheville, North Carolina, where he makes a living as a writer and musician. You can find his podcasts at GralienReport.com and his books at Amazon.com

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

By

Nick Redfern
Nick Redfern

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.

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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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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

The Destiny Question: Do I Have A Choice? Marie D. Jones’ Outer Edge

By

Marie D. Jones
Marie D. Jones

“Man was predestined to have free will.” – Anonymous

“You can’t avoid it, it’s written in the stars.”
“He was destined to be a success.”
“Life is what you make it.”
“Choose your thoughts and choose your life.”

Life can be so darn confusing. Social media and self-help gurus bombard us with contradictory claims that our lives are pre-destined, that Fate deals us the cards we will play our entire lives with, that whatever happens, happens for a reason. OR that our lives are what we choose them to be, that what we focus on expands and manifests according to some “Law of Attraction.” Or maybe it’s all just one big crapshoot. Is there a blueprint for our lives or are we making it up as we go along?

From our career paths to our love lives to whether or not we become parents, we wonder how much of it is a result of one choice atop another choice atop another…or if we had no choice in any of it at all. We meet people and feel as though we were “destined” to know them. We put out the word of our desire for a new job, and someone calls with a lead the next day. Yet other times, life doesn’t go as smoothly and we wonder if we’re slamming up against the wall of fate, unable to break it and have our will no matter what we do.

I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot lately, recently feeling this pull towards certain people and situations that genuinely seem as though they were “meant to be,” all the while pondering with some frustration other situations I cannot seem to fix or change.

The word “destiny” comes from the Middle English “destinee,” and simply refers to a predetermined course of events that are the result of an irresistible power or agency. But destiny has often been confused with fate, which is a little more constricting. While destiny implies that one has a bit of maneuvering room by which they can reach their destined end point, fate implies no such allowance for choice. Thus, some outside “agent” such as a God, Goddess or other entity was once thought to be the purveyor of one’s fate. This outside agent or force set down in stone how a person’s life would unfold, and there was nothing that person could do to change the course of events to come. The results were fixed, like some past presidential elections.

The Greek myths spoke of the “Moirae,” and the Roman myths, of “Parcae.” The Norse myths had their “Norns.” These were, in all three cases, a triad of goddesses that were given the role of imparting the circumstances and events that would make up a mortal’s fate. There are even goddesses that are responsible for giving out good fortune, such as the Greek goddess Tyche, and the Roman Fortuna, ruling out any role that choice might play in finding and keeping wealth, success and happiness. If the goddesses didn’t deem you fit, you were screwed.

In order for a life to be predestined, it had to be predetermined, and this is where science, philosophers and religious and spiritual leaders have long struggled to explain exactly who, or what, predetermined it. If we understand that all causes have a prior event, what was that first prior event? Which came first, the cause, or the event? One can easily see why the battle between destiny and free will has been an enduring one, just like the chicken and the egg.

While scientists might say it was just random, the result of the Big Bang and its resultant physical laws that fell into place by some kind of brilliant accident, philosophers and religious thinkers sensed that there was something that started the whole chain of cause and effect that laid down the path of each human life, maybe even the earth itself. This beginning of the chain is known as “first cause,” and without knowing first cause, we simply don’t know who or what destined us to our roles in life.

A lot of the debate centers on how mutable we view the future as being. If each moment of our future, and the future of everyone around us, were already planned to the minutiae, then would there even be a purpose to life at all? Why would we not then be robots, born to eat, reproduce and die with no dreams or goals or feelings or emotions or consciousness at all? The Buddhist concept of pre-destination might solve that problem. Known as “yuanfen,” it suggests we take the word predestination somewhat literally. Pre meaning “before,” as in what comes BEFORE destiny. Because there is no concept of God in Buddhism, this explanation suggests instead there is a linear fashion by which our lives are bound to happen. That doesn’t mean that’s how they WILL happen…but only how they are bound to and that we can change something, and thus lead to a new life that is bound to happen as a result. We get some control here, but still move towards what feels to us like a “chosen path,” even if we are doing most of the choosing.

The sacred Buddhist scripture, the “Samyutta Nikaya,” tells us:

“According to the seed that is sown
So is the fruit you reap from there.”

This sounds just like the Judeo-Christian concepts of reap what you sow and do unto others. Those important ‘golden rules” of life involve choices. And that’s the thing. We know we have choices…don’t we? We feel as though we have the ability to choose our spouses, our jobs, our homes, the kind of food we will have for dinner, and whether or not we will go to the movies on a Sunday night or just sit home and watch “The Walking Dead.” It’s up to us to decide. The founding father of political philosophy, Thomas Hobbes, states that freedom is the ability to do what we wish without hindrance or constraint. Even within the confines of our social, cultural, sexual and behavioral conditioning, complexes and needs, we can do whatever we choose. Later philosophers added that perhaps freedom was not so much about being able to do anything one wanted to do, but to have the power to do anything one wanted to do.

Yet over thousands of years, we have battled with the sense that both destiny and free will or choice play a huge role in our lives, and certainly in how the world around us came to be. Our religions are filled with stories and proverbs and quotes about having a destined role or a predetermined fate, such as Christ’s destiny to be betrayed by Judas. He knew. He said it was his destiny, and he drank of that particular cup willingly, taking his final fate in his hands. But remember, he could have chosen not to follow through with it all. He could have chosen to say no.

MARIE’S BOOK ON THE SUBJECT: Destiny vs. Choice: The Scientific and Spiritual Evidence Behind Fate and Free Will

But what does science have to say about destiny and choice? If we look at our own bodies, we can easily see that we have a genetic blueprint by which we became blond or brunette, green-eyed or brown-eyed, short or tall, big boned or small boned, and any other physical characteristics that were handed to us by our parents and their parents and their parents. We didn’t choose our genes. And yet, when it comes to behavior we seem to be able to make choices, both good and bad, and have some say in the course and outcome of our life path. There seems to be ample evidence for both nature vs. nurture, and both inherent and adapted characteristics that make up a human being.

The Big Bang is often referred to as the starting point of our universe (we won’t even get into what came before it, or what first cause “caused” the Big Bang!), from which all the forces, laws and matter and form and energy and life came into existence. It was perhaps a blueprint of sorts, and yet many scientists will say that it did not have any kind of intelligent design behind it. It just happened the way it happened. There was nothing, then – BANG! – there was everything.

But there are those scientists who believe that the amazing sophistication and intricacies of how life came to be simply could not have been a lucky accident of chemicals and particles and gasses and heat and matter and energy all being in the right place at the right time, and in just the right amounts. To these men and women of science, there indeed seems to be a destiny that started and directs the cosmos, and that the first cause behind it appears to have had some type of intelligence, though not necessarily human. Perhaps the Universe, including us, is nothing more than the program of a giant Cosmic Computer, yet one would still have to ask…who or what is programming the computer?

Even in the quantum world there is interplay of both destiny and choice. At the level of the quantum, we are told that particles exist in a suspended state both as particle and waveform, until they are observed and their wave function collapses, thus fixing the particle into a position or outcome. Particles have a range of possible or potential states and until an observer effect occurs, those states remain in superposition, or happening all at once so to speak. Therefore, an observer can choose the state of a particle simply by observing it. At least that’s the simple man’s version of quantum physics. The truth is far more complicated and involving and I suck at math so I won’t even attempt to get into that! But the implication is exciting and has become the basis for hundreds of self-help and personal motivation books, empowerment tools and expensive webinars.

But if this is how we are creating our reality, as the popular Law of Attraction teachings tell us, with focus and intention and observing things into being, then how could anything be predetermined? Are we all just making our lives up as we go along? And yet, everyone can agree that we all are destined, once born, to die. Those who claim to have died, and return to tell about it, often tell stories of being told by higher guides or divine beings on the other side that they must return and fulfill their roles, or destinies, on the plane of the living. These are subjective and personal experiences, but the fact that so many report them is something to be considered. It is as if we must stay put until our pre-chosen destiny is fulfilled…even if we have to die and return to life again to find out.

Zodiac Signs Horoscope with the tree of life and universeMillions of people visit astrologers, palm readers, tarot readers, even love and relationship coaches wanting to know their destinies. Will I meet my soul mate? Should I change jobs? What is my purpose here? Some readers will tell people that their lives, according to the stars or rune stones or cards, are in some ways predestined, and yet, they have considerable choice in how they will reach that destiny. An astrologer might say that yes, the stars influence your life, but you still have room to move about within the confines of those influences. A tarot reader might tell you that you will meet with danger next week, but you can still make the choice to be hyper-vigilant and avoid a terrible car accident while leaving for work.

Love coaches will tell you that there are many soul mates out there for you, and not just The One, and that there might be someone destined for you in a sense that they will be the best fit, but they won’t be the only best fit out of billions of people on the planet.

There is little scientific proof of these tactics working, except when they work. Even in nature, we see both destiny and choice, even fate, play out. Animals kill prey to survive. The fate of the prey is to be food for another species. The destiny of the predator is to survive a bit longer. Both made choices, even the prey, choosing to not be fast enough to escape the predator! Flowers start as seeds and are “destined” to grow into stems and then petals. Not fated, because someone could come along and yank them from the ground, ending their existence. But nature is filled with examples of things that seem to work under the triadic influence of all three: destiny, fate and choice.

But our main concern is with our own lives, more than how they play out in the natural world. We take that all for granted. In our own lives, we want control, yet we want to let go. We want to feel as though something good is destined to be; yet we hope that we aren’t fated for something bad. We choose, pay the consequences for our choices, and end up in a particular place in life because of that trajectory, any of which we could have changed for a different trajectory.

Yet if we are honest with ourselves, many of us do feel called, as if we have a path, or a destiny, that we are moving towards. When we ignore that path, or deviate from it, we are unhappy and dissatisfied. When we feel on path and on purpose, life flows. And yet, always, we have choices. The choice to walk that path, to not walk it, to run or skip or bike it. There may be one destination we are moving towards, but we get to choose the route by which we get there.

I’ve known since early childhood I was going to be a writer. There was no doubt in my mind. It wasn’t fated. I also dreamed of being a jockey and had I been short enough and not fallen off of horses too much, who knows? But I felt “called” to write, and worked very hard towards that outcome, by making choice after choice that I felt would keep me on the path. When I made the wrong choices, I paid the price either with financial distress, physical illness or depression…I felt “off track,” which to me was an indicator that I wasn’t moving TOWARDS something that felt natural and “meant to be.”

Do I have proof I was destined to be writer? No. I don’t have a Certificate of Destiny on hand. Am I fated to be a writer? No. I can quit tomorrow and be a llama breeder. Can I choose to write? Of course, because a human life is absolutely meaningless if it’s all fated and fixed from the get go. We’d never learn, never grow, never expand and fulfill the potentiality of who we can become.

Now I’m starting to sound like one of those metaphysical gurus! But the truth is, there are forces at play in our lives that are unseen except in the effects and influences we can observe. Think of gravity. You cannot SEE gravity, or hold it in your hand, or put it in a jar. You can only observe the EFFECTS AND INFLUENCES of the gravitational force at play around you. Go jump off a table and try to fly. Videotape it please.

Much of investigating the paranormal involves looking at external effects and influences without any general understanding of the cause, or the forces behind them. We have yet to be able to prove that ghosts are real, aliens exist or cryptids roam the backwoods. We have yet to show in a purely scientific fashion that telekinesis or precognition or even remote viewing is real, although we do have some good data and even some hands on clinical testing to show they do happen. (We’re still grasping to understand the mechanics behind it!) We can read our spouse’s very thoughts, but still not be able to prove we are psychic.

For so much of life, we have no proof except our own experiences and perceptions. The same goes for whether our own lives are lived in a way that offer no choice, leading to sense of defeat at the “fixed” nature of it all…or whether we feel like the whole dang world is a peach tree of choices just ripe for the picking.
And the truth is, it’s probably a little bit of both.

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Marie D. Jones is the author of several books about the paranormal, metaphysics, and cutting-edge science (many coauthored with Larry Flaxman), including PSIence, The Déjà vu Enigma, Destiny vs. Choice: The Scientific and Spiritual Evidence Behind Fate and Free Will,11:11 The Time Prompt Phenomenon and Mind Wars. She has appeared on more than 1,000 radio shows worldwide, and on television, most recently on the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens series. Her website is mariedjones.com.