“We’re hoping to see supersymmetry and extra dimensions,” said Bertolucci, who also postulates that, though the discovery would be ground-breaking, the event he warns of would be rather small, if noticeable. “Of course, after this tiny moment the door would again shut, bringing us back to our ‘normal’ four dimensional world … It would be a major leap in our vision of Nature, although of no practical use (for the time being, at least). And of course, no risk to the stability of our world.”

That’s reassuring… until Mothman comes through the dimensional doorway with a legion of Mothmen to take over Earth in the name of King Hybreed Manthuzlar IIV. Only time will tell, I suppose.

The report reads as follows:

On 8-15-2009 at 2:45am I was buzzed for about 5 seconds by a 4 foot round luminescent orb on the roof of the building that I work in, in Philadelphia . It materialized about a foot away from me, blocking my way and making a buzzing sound, it then took off and dematerialized in approximately a 6 feet distance. At this time I decided to turn around and leave the roof. I found a photo of the object here.

“About an hour later at 3:45am I was walking through a machine room on the roof, near the same location of the orb, when I encountered a 3 foot tall triped creature. It was standing by an electrical transformer looking up at the conduits. I observed it for about 30 seconds from a distance of four feet before it turned around and noticed me. I was looking down at it! It had a beautiful baby blue eye which was moving rapidly, just one, a long eye lid and rubbery looking legs with bulbous feet.

“I could see it was starting to panic because it started stomping his feet like a mad skunk or jumping up and down and making a high pitch squeaking sound almost like a cats toy. I was blocking it’s way to the open roll up door leading to the roof behind me. I put up an open hand in a gesture to let it know that I wouldn’t hurt it and backed up towards a different part of the machine room, away from it’s path to the door, but kept my eye on the creature. I watched it walking down the isle slowly when it started to move. It stopped where I had turned to get out of its way, it then turned and looked me over for a couple of seconds. I couldn’t help myself and started to laugh at it. I felt like a child who saw a monkey for the first time or something! I got the impression that it was thanking me but I think I also offended it because it started to leer at me and it’s eye changed to a lighter color. I could be wrong, it may have took a bow! The triped then took off running in the direction of the door disappearing behind machinery in the area. I didn’t feel threatened in any way by this creature but I was quite sure that cornering it was a bad idea! In hindsight of this encounter I’m left with a feeling a of wonder. The buildings electrical generator was permanently shut down about a year ago.

“On this same morning I’m doing my paper work in the control booth, and a larger than man sized Praying Mantis comes up to the window and just stairs at me for about a minute. I did not feel comfortable with this encounter considering the nature of this kind of insect. I sat there and didn’t move a muscle until it left. I have also heard screeching sounds in the roof machine room, in the direction of the roll up door which made my hair stand up on the back of my neck around the same time for 2 nights.”

Indeed, “fractal mantises” are common, strangely, in both UFO abductee accounts, as well as descriptions of “alien” beings encountered by users of the powerful drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT). My friend Emperor over at the Cabinet of Wonders site gives us a little background on this: “While there have been reports of mantis-like entities before, like the Mantis Man of London, the mention of the mantis rang a bell (with me), as encounters with praying mantis-like insects are common in DMT trips, as described by Clifford Pickover. Endogenous DMT has been suggested as a cause for a range of strange experiences and it may be the mantis is pointing this out to us.”

What Emps means when he describes “Endogenous DMT” has to do with the strange fact that the stuff, while known to man as one of the strongest hallucinogens on the planet, is actually produced in our bodies, most likely in the pineal gland. This theory, proposed by pioneering psychedelics researcher Dr. Rick Strassman M.D., might explain a variety of strange things that correlate with the appearance of mantises, as well as spindly “stick figures” like the Pennsylvania witnesses’ “tripod”.

For instance, the research of Dr. Michael Persinger resulted in the theory that electrical stimulus to the human brain can (and often does) cause hallucinations that present the sensation of a “presence”. Conducted in sound proof rooms where test subjects wore helmets that induced strong electric fields, many nonetheless described hearing noises and sensing a presence in the room with them. Persinger found that his subjects also experienced noticeable drops in production of Melatonin, a tryptamine produced in the brain that regulates sleep and sex drive. This research got me thinking along the lines that electrical phenomenon might indeed be the key to triggering that “endogenous” pineal release of DMT (which I must also add, to my knowledge, was first proposed by Strassman also in his book DMT: The Spirit Molecule). This would explain bizarre instances where people suffering from conditions like Electrical Hypersensitivity and Multiple Allergy (EHMA) seem to have trippy encounters with “aliens” while working near strong electric fields: they literally may be “tripping” on small amounts of DMT released into the bloodstream as a result of drastic changes in electric fields in their environment. But how exactly could an EM field cause such a thing to occur?

Strassman pointed out to me several months ago that (in theory) we might assume that since EM fields cause a temporary shutdown of Melatonin production, “latent metabolic pathways” might in turn be opened, allowing a substance like DMT an un-hindered path into cerebro-spinal fluids. It’s also worth discussing here that Melatonin and DMT are chemically very similar. If we already know Melatonin is produced in the brain, it stands to reason that DMT is also, and such theories (though merely theories, at present) are correct.

That being said, let’s take a closer look at one or two of the points the Pennsylvanian makes in his report:

“About an hour later at 3:45am I was walking through a machine room on the roof, near the same location of the orb, when I encountered a 3 foot tall triped creature. It was standing by an electrical transformer looking up at the conduits. I observed it for about 30 seconds from a distance of four feet before it turned around and noticed me.”

It could be assumed by his distance from the tripod creature (four feet) that he was also close to the electrical field being emitted by the transformer, which the creature was standing next to. Again, electric fields may play into the appearance of the Mantis, having occurred the same morning:

“On this same morning I’m doing my paper work in the control booth, and a larger than man sized Praying Mantis comes up to the window and just stairs at me for about a minute. I did not feel comfortable with this encounter considering the nature of this kind of insect. I sat there and didn’t move a muscle until it left.”

If indeed the witness were to suffer from the effects of EHMA or a similar condition, and as illustrated in the theories outlined above, this might allow EM fields to trigger an endogenous release of DMT, it’s no surprise our contactee witnessed something so similar to entities reported by DMT users. It is also noteworthy that “spindly stick-people” were also common during Strassman’s DEA-approved clinical studies with patients to whom he administered large doses of DMT in the early 1990s. Might the “tripod” seen earlier the same day qualify as a “spindly stick-person?” One final point:

“I have also heard screeching sounds in the roof machine room, in the direction of the roll up door which made my hair stand up on the back of my neck around the same time for 2 nights.”

Strange noises were commonly reported in Persinger’s studies also. Joshua Warren and I have discussed on a few occasions the notion that roll-up doors and other spinning objects made of plastic or similar materials might be capable of producing strong static charges, capable of emitting a powerful static electric field that might cause nausea, disorientation, or presumably, the same sorts of effects described in the Strassman and Persinger studies. Along these lines, Emperor also notes that “The mention of the buzzing sphere in proximity to electrical equipment, reminds me of the numerous cases we have looked at involving electrical UFOs or plasma spheres. The appearance of the triped could be the result of the sphere’s impact on the brain.” For more of his fine commentary on this subject, visit his original post by clicking here.

I’ll end this with a couple of quotes from two of my favorite researchers in this field of study; in his book Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves, Clifford Pickover ponders the same: “Why do so many people using DMT see insects? The DMT insect race comprises ‘larval beings,’ ‘alien space insects,’ praying-mantis entities and so forth. Why so many visions of insects?” Daniel Pinchbeck describes a similar experience a friend of his related to him after a powerful DMT trip:

A being had shown him its whirring praying mantis legs, he said. He saw a female entity sitting at something that looked like a computer. He told us how he had set free a praying mantis when he was five. The praying mantis had turned to look back at him before it hopped away, and at that moment he knew, with complete and utter certainty.

He knew that the mantis knew him.

To describe anything Tesla might have done as “strange” isn’t too great a stride for most, seeing as how conspiracies involving Tesla’s involvement with the infamous Philadelphia Experiment, or even rumors of “death rays” and electric spacecraft have proliferated for decades. With the majority of his notes and work tucked away nicely at the bottom of some unknown Federal file cabinet, it is likely that we’ll never know the complete story. However, as indicated in the Collier’s Weekly periodical in March of 1901, it seems we were indeed made privy to at least one interesting facet of his work which begs further explanation: communication with other planets.

Tesla’s interview reads as follows:

“As I was improving my machines for the production of intense electrical actions, I was also perfecting the means for observing feeble efforts. One of the most interesting results, and also one of great practical importance, was the development of certain contrivances for indicating at a distance of many hundred miles an approaching storm, its direction, speed and distance traveled….

“It was in carrying on this work that for the first time I discovered those mysterious effects which have elicited such unusual interest. I had perfected the apparatus referred to so far that from my laboratory in the Colorado mountains I could feel the pulse of the globe, as it were, noting every electrical change that occurred within a radius of eleven hundred miles.

“I can never forget the first sensations I experienced when it dawned upon me that I had observed something possibly of incalculable consequences to mankind. I felt as though I were present at the birth of a new knowledge or the revelation of a great truth…. My first observations positively terrified me, as there was present in them something mysterious, not to say supernatural, and I was alone in my laboratory at night; but at that time the idea of these disturbances being intelligently controlled signals did not yet present itself to me.

The changes I noted were taking place periodically and with such a clear suggestion of number and order that they were not traceable to any cause known to me. I was familiar, of course, with such electrical disturbances as are produced by the sun, Aurora Borealis, and earth currents, and I was as sure as I could be of any fact that these variations were due to none of these causes. The nature of my experiments precluded the possibility of the changes being produced by atmospheric disturbances, as has been rashly asserted by some.

It was sometime afterward when the thought flashed upon my mind that the disturbances I had observed might be due to an intelligent control. Although I could not decipher their meaning, it was impossible for me to think of them as having been entirely accidental. The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another. A purpose was behind these electrical signals….”

Indeed, Tesla’s discoveries sound fantastic. Had he actually stumbled upon radio transmissions from deep space Initially believing the signals to be Martian in origin, more modern research has suggested that Tesla’s understanding of the new technology he was working with was flawed, or that the signals Tesla observed may have stemmed from a natural radio source like the Jovian plasma torus signals. Regardless, later in life Tesla would postulate other ways in which humans may be capable of communicating with extraterrestrials, or even ultraterrestrials (beings from parallel dimensions). Tesla was said to have held the belief that if one were to stand in close enough proximity to high-voltage Tesla coils, it could present a sort of rent in the fabric of space, which might allow perception of other worlds.

Furthermore, Tesla even supposed that things we might not consider particularly “life-like” at a glance could be traits exhibited by foreign life forms. Along these lines, Tesla stated “I think it quite possible that in a frozen planet, such as our moon is supposed to be, intelligent beings may still dwell, in its interior, if not on its surface.” Do the existing (available) remnants of Tesla’s work, as well as this fascinating account detailed above, indicate that Tesla might have been one of the first to ever communicate regularly with space aliens via technological means?

1) Vampires, much like aliens, are indeed known for abducting their victims

2) Vampires and aliens both tend to prefer operations during the cover of darkness

3) Alien-like creatures often associated with UFO sightings (like the Mothman of Point Pleasant, West Virginia) often bear similarities to vampires

4) Chupacabras exhibit rather vampiric traits, and are often associated with UFOs

Along these lines, I was reminded of a bizarre “vampire” creature recently reported by Scott Corrales, over at his website Inexplicata, which is normally devoted to the study of Latin American Ufology. However, Corrales shares at his blog recent encounters with a creature described as a “Man Bat” seen in the vicinity of Cimbraplay, near Saenz Guerrero, Chihuahua, said to have been linked to the deaths of  several sheep at three different ranches. According to sources, all the creatures had been slain in the same fashion: a large slash to the neck, as well as wounds on part of their tails.

Initially, this sounds very much like a Chupacabra, creatures which are also often associated with UFO sightings. However, gaping wounds found on the necks of victims are only one of many vampiric elements to the Chihuahuan “Man Bat”, also called the Santa Muerte, meaning “Holy Death.” The following was reported recently by a Latin American news source, El Heraldo de Chihuahua:

“Ivonne (not her real name) is a young mother who dropped off a friend in a sector of La Junta after spending time with her at home, near the new highway to Guerrero. The time was 9:00 at night when she was coming back along the old road that passes by the cemetery.

“It was at that time that it saw an enormous figure at the graveyard gate. It resembled a long statue and looked like a person covered in a blanket or a black cape. She felt a shiver and accelerated her truck. She thought it was la Santa Muerte and that she was probably going to die on the road between the graveyard and her home.”

Indeed, our Chihuahuan vampire not only attacks the jugular, it lurks around cemeteries wearing “a long black cape.” It’s not hard to see why this would be of interest to Latin American Ufologists like Corrales, but the parallels between this phantom humanoid and the traditional “vampire” are (yet again) greater nonetheless. And speaking of the references to long black capes, I am reminded yet again of England’s own version of Mothman (no, not the Owl Man… the OTHER English Mothman), the Highgate Vampire.

Years ago I interviewed and became first acquainted with my friend David Farrant of London’s British Psychic and Occult Society. Living in North London at the time, David famously researched the mystery of Highate Cemetery’s most infamous ghoul back in the 1970s, “The Highgate Vampire” when stories of a “caped creep” were making headlines. Interestingly, many of the same sorts of things that accompanied the Mothman reports in Point Pleasant, West Virginia a little less than a decade earlier were consistent with reports of Highgate Cemetery’s entitiy; the tall, ghastly frame, glowing red eyes, and even consistency with ley-lines running amidst the area where many of the sightings occurred. (EDITOR’S NOTE: John Bruno Hare of the Internet Sacred Text Archive notes that Alfred Watkins, first to propose the notion of ley lines, “never attributed any supernatural significance to leys; he believed that they were simply pathways that had been used for trade or ceremonial purposes, very ancient in origin, possibly dating back to the Neolithic, certainly pre-Roman. His obsession with leys was a natural outgrowth of his interest in landscape photography and love of the British countryside. He was an intensely rational person with an active intellect, and I think he would be a bit disappointed with some of the fringe aspects of ley lines today”).

Looking back “across the pond” at the Americas for a moment, Mothman, without question, was reported by witnesses during the height of a UFO flap in the area, chronicled in John Keel’s famous Mothman Prophecies. If one were to look, would there have been any similar consistency between sightings of Farrant’s Highgate Vampire and UFOs seen over London at the time? What other parallels between Earth-light activity, UFOs, or strange lights in general might have been linked to “vampire” activity in the superstitious communities of olden times? Perhaps this is a notion worthy of further exploration… but in the meantime, it might be worth mentioning that Mircea Rusu, mayor of the Romanian village of Mezoband, is already planning on organizing a UFO festival in the heart of “Dracula Country.” According to a recent article at the website All News Web, “This is by no means the first UFO seen in the area and the mayor hopes to increase tourism into the area by promoting it as a Romanian ‘Roswell’.” Writer Michael Cohen mentions that “Ghosts, witchcraft, magic and remnants of paganism are very much a part of the local scene. The entire region is generally regarded as rather spooky with its very Gothic churches and town as well as its dark mist shrouded forests. Visiting Aliens might well be a very 21st century addition to this heritage.”

Lookout, Drac… the aliens are apparently moving in!

While driving along the Scottish Highlands late in the evening on January 4, area resident Lyn Meall described how she and her family had seen what they believed were six brilliant, orange-colored UFOs. Yesterday she told the Telegraph that “We were driving through forestry when we spotted four orange balls of light in the sky ahead of us.” Meall described how she pulled the vehicle off the road to observe the objects. “The lights appeared to be coming towards us when suddenly, one by one, they disappeared. A few moments later another one appeared to our left that appeared to be burning up. Then another one emerged to our right which had silver tentacles reaching down from it towards the ground, like an octopus.”

Could this have been atmospheric phenomenon like ball lightning? Theories including the burning of vaporized silicon as a result of oxidation, natural free-floating plasma balls, or even composite nano-particles which act as tiny batteries, “ignited” so-to-speak by a discharge from the ground, which may result in a current capable of forming a spinning ball of electricity. Even more controversial theories involve anti-matter, black holes, and vortexes in Earth’s atmosphere burning combustible fuel… but how does one rationalize strange phenomenon by comparing or associating it with theoretical physics, etc, which we similarly know very little about?

As thought-provoking as all these theories remain, with so many conflicting ideas as to the nature of such phenomenon it is simply too difficult to try and understand what they may actually be… for now. Following the logic of Occam’s Razor, it is almost more logical to assume that these strange lights witnessed by the Meall family were indeed extraterrestrial in nature; though a discerning mind would find as much complexity in trying to settle on this as they would any other present theory, really.

So what do we make of such reports? Will we ever be able to discern from eyewitness testimonies, or perhaps analysis of the damaged turbine at Lincolnshire, what actually caused the strange UFO phenomena witnessed in the area?

I loved the quote above, which I’ve excerpted from Mac Tonnie’s recent post over at the SETI blog, titled Intelligence and the Cosmos: Some Barely Restrained Musings. Tonnies is the kind of writer who can effectively take you out of the nutshell for more than a few moments as he indulges in acrobatics of the mind, especially when it involves innovative thinking with regard to UFOs. This time around, Mac is discussing theories regarding non-human entities who he believes may be native to Earth and it’s place in the cosmos, as opposed to being creatures who travel here from elsewhere. In the article, he tells us that he’s “been dissatisfied with the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis since encountering Jacques Vallee. But sometimes musing about a nonhuman ‘psychosocial control system’ just seems too abstract, too vague and obtuse. Vallee himself pointed out that the prevailing materialist interpretation for UFOs is quintessentially American; Americans like to ‘kick the tires.’ ”

Tonnies suggests that the UFO phenomenon might involve elements of both what we deem physical, “nuts-and-bolts reality”, as well as that which humanity would presently classify as supernatural or metaphysical. “Arthur C. Clarke’s ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology would appear indistinguishable from magic’ certainly applies,” Tonnies reminds us, quoting one of my own favorite of Clark’s maxims pertaining to the interrelationship between science, technology, and “magic”. “But even Clarke was postulating arbitrarily advanced forms of known technologies,” Tonnies adds, reminding us that the brilliant mathematician often chose to abstain from the use of elements like telepathy in his fiction (one exception, perhaps, could be the way the obelisk sent to Earth in 2001: A Space Oddysey seemed capable of communicating to man’s early ancestors through a sort of “telepathy”as it instructed them in the ways of survival of the fittest).

Altogether, Tonnies suggests that non-human lifeforms we might consider “alien” to this planet could instead exist alongside us right now, unobserved by us and the majority of our sensory equipment intended to detect such entities (traditional SETI research equipment and methodology, for instance). To read the complete article, you may click the link below to visit the SETI blog:

http://www.aboutseti.com/blog/intelligence-cosmos

While elsewhere in the world Pope Benedict XVI has recently decided to forgive John Lennon for famously saying the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus,” a new poll in England suggests that fewer people today believe in God than the number who express belief in the supernatural.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1088824/Believe-God-Oh-But-I-swear-little-green-men-ghosts-mediums.html

“Believing in ghosts and little green men from outer space appears a touch easier than having faith in God,” the article says. “Researchers found that while 54 per cent of us are convinced the Almighty exists, 58 per cent believe in the supernatural.” The study, meant to coincide with the DVD release of The X-Files: I Want to Believe, also seemed to reflect stronger tendencies among women to believe in the supernatural and visit mediums or psychics.

Now call me a moderate if you like, but as opposed to relentlessly comparing apples and oranges, I must say “why not just call them fruit?” In other words, though the poll is comparing people’s opinions on religion versus the supernatural, aren’t the items being compared pretty much fruit of the same tree? Of course, there are many who would argue that anyone who expresses belief in religion or the supernatural is a bit fruity (no pun intended), but to that we must be reminded that even belief is a subjective thing… as are notions attacking anyone else’s beliefs. Alas, we’re all entitled to opinions, whether we like it or not!

Therefore, in my humble opinion, just as I don’t see how science and religion pose any real contradictions to one another, I must also wonder if religion and the supernatural do either (granted, the recent poll I discussed moments ago wasn’t trying to weigh the existence of either of these, but instead showed the percentage of people who favored belief in one or the other. Nonetheless, when somebody picks an apple over an orange, there will always be folks who would like to tell you why the orange is better. Again, opinions…). If anything, religions like Christianity or Buddhism, when compared to what we deem supernatural, seem to compliment one another. Therefore, from a historical perspective involving non-denominational mysticism, I’d like to look at an example from the Christian Bible (something many would not equate with shamanism or mystic experiences to begin with).

Scholar Alan F. Segal wrote in his book Paul the Convert about numerous “mystic experiences” that the disciple Paul described having, where he ascended into a “third heaven” and met Jesus on many occasions during the years that followed his ascension. Segal points out that doing so would not have been considered strange at all for a first-century Jew, since ecstatic ascents into divinity were common among the mystical traditions in Jewish Hellenism at the time. Historically, Paul carefully blanketed his experiences with modesty, though Segal describes that “Paul’s identity as the mystic seems assured, though his reputation has never featured ecstasy, perhaps because he opposed the excessive claims made by his opponents on the basis of his own ecstatic experiences,” specifically referring to verses from the Gospel of Mark that describe Paul’s mystic encounters.

Looking at this a bit differently, Paul’s testimony of meeting Christ while in ecstatic states would not only be a likely fit for a series of traditional “mystic experiences”, but perhaps his encounters in the nonphysical realm might also fit our present notions of contacting sentient intelligences, i.e. remote viewing, channeling, and even attempts at contacting aliens via technological means like SETI. “What… SETI?” you might ask, but keep in mind, first century Jews had no such technology to aid them in communicating with non-human or “divine” intelligences, hence they by default were relegated to using mysticism. Had they been given a potential intercom to vast and distant star systems, who knows how they might have used it!

Another thing to keep in mind is that, in the Christian faith, Jesus ascending into the heavens is hardly an everyday occurrence. Even some Christian scholars doubt that Jesus literally took flight and began drifting away into the clouds, concluding instead that the literal meaning of his described “ascension” detailed some other method of departure which, quite simply, early historians could not relate easily with words. Therefore, if we consider this rationally, how are we to interpret such a feat? Was it merely fiction, drummed up by early scholars in order to better herd impressionable religious zealots? Or, could we accept the possibility that Jesus did exactly what he is said to have done, having literally risen up into the sky until he finally disappeared from view as described in the Christian New Testament? Even stranger, did it indeed occur, but perhaps not quite as it was described (i.e. Jesus perhaps being lifted into the sky with the help of something wild and crazy like an alien tractor-beam)?

We may never know… but that is neither the point at this moment, nor any argument I care to drum up at any time. Instead, what I hope we’ll gather from this is that, when looking at virtually any religion, deity, belief, or in many cases even the lack thereof, one will find elements which could only be described as “supernatural”. But how do we really define what is and what isn’t “supernatural” or “paranormal”? Certainly the Sun, Moon and stars were considered supernatural and looked upon religiously by early civilizations, as evidenced by the remnants of those cultures in the historical record. Similarly, within the last few centuries many phenomena witnessed in the present day, for which we now have a complete scientific understanding, were considered strange, paranormal, ghostly and otherwise without explanation. Even today, primitive cultures in various seldom-reached recesses of the Earth maintain belief in supernatural things, and might even argue that modern household conveniences common to you or I are nothing short of “magic”.

Indeed, I think the supernatural could be best described as nothing more than a label we give to phenomena which extends beyond our ability to comprehend… and perhaps religions fit well into this category also. But however you look at it, to flat out deny the existence of the many unexplained elements of the universe just seems… well, a bit fruity.   

Earth’s interior is actually composed of three solid layers and a single outer liquid layer which is pure molten metal, believed to be nearly as hot as the surface of the sun (and to my friends at the Shavertron Discussion group, this doesn’t include the portions that are inhabited by evil Deros, of course). The innermost layer is a large, iron ball infused with sulfur and other minerals which, though surrounded by intense heat, is also compressed from every angle by such pressure that it remains solid. Liquid iron makes up the outer core, and movement of these liquid outer regions works to create an electrical current, and this in turn generates the magnetic field surrounding our planet, which is close to 1,500 miles thick.

However, such magnetic changes are nothing new, and if anything, in contrast to the short time humans have spent on Earth, such fluctuations might be considered commonplace. In the distant past, Earth’s magnetic field has actually reversed hundreds of times, though such a change might take up to thousands of years to take place in a single instance. So far as how strange phenomenon might relate, could it be that areas where such magnetic phenomena are more active are also host to more paranormal activity? Instantly I am reminded of places like the Lineville Gorge in Western North Carolina, where brilliant globes of anomalous light appear over the mountaintops at night, or moving across the Atlantic, places like Highgate Cemetery in the UK where a strange vampire-like apparition is said to walk about at night. Or, perhaps most famously, there is the Bermuda Triangle, which has been known for a variety of strange phenomena for as long as the Western world has extended its arms into these regions of the Americas. All of the places listed above have been known to exhibit strange magnetic fluctuations and other bizarre electric phenomenon. Could it be that if Earth’s magnetic field is about to shift again, we can also expect to see an increase in paranormal phenomena at key places like this around the globe?

http://manbeastuk.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-british-bigfoot-report.html

“Indeed, having grown up only a couple of miles from the woods, I know the exact area that the witness is talking about very well.

“And,” Nick says, ”there is no way that a 7-to-8-foot tall man-beast can exist on the Cannock Chase (yes, it’s of an impressive size and very dense in places, but it’s not that big and it’s surrounded by towns and villages), avoid detection and also leave behind no evidence of its “den” (or wherever it lives) or its eating habits – which would have to be huge, given the sheer size of the creatures reportedly seen in the woods of the Chase.”

Many believe that Bigfoot could indeed be some kind of interdimensional entity. Nick also suggests this view in his blog, saying of the Cannock Chase Bigfoot, “Literal ape-men? No. Some sort of phantom of the night? Yes.” His book Man Monkey: In Search of the British Bigfoot goes into greater detail about this concept, looking into reports of a Bigfoot-like creature in the area spanning several decades, and often noting the spectral qualities of the encounters.

Nick Redfern’s book Man Monkey: In Search of the British Bigfoot, deals with the issue of Bigfoot being reported in localized areas along the British countryside.

Personally, this brings to mind a lot of tulpa activity I’ve read about, a theme popularized ever since the late 1960s by paranormal researchers like John Keel. I have also written about this myself, specifically in an article called Ghostly Receptors which appeared in FATE Magazine. Could there indeed be something more to the idea of certain cryptozoological creatures being “spectral” in nature, perhaps even stemming from the human mind in the right circumstances, or as Nick also suggests, could many (if not all) just be hoaxes?

Funny how it was a Greek Satirist named Lucian of Samosata who became the first writer in Western thought to theorize about alien life on planets other than Earth. Centuries later, the inconsequential falling of an apple from its tree inspired Issac Newton to wonder if such an unseen force, capable of drawing the fruit away from its leafy loft, might also maintain the moon in its orbit. Bizarre theories for their time, indeed.

More recently, physicist Migul Alcubierre proposed the idea for a warp drive machine back in 1994 that would essentially shrink space in front of a craft travelling through the cosmos, as well as expand the space behind you, resulting in a form of space travel that satisifies Einstein’s equations and falling well within the given laws of physics. And more recently, Michio Kaku in his book Parallel Worlds described a step-by-step plan as to how, in theory, a civilization may escape a dying universe.

All these great thinkers over the ages have had one thing in common having to do with their interest in science: they all speculate. This ability to speculate about things unseen, as well as things to come, has played a major role in creating what is known today as theoretical physics. Recently, author Mac Tonnies at the SETI blog questioned why it’s okay for physicists to expound theoretical concepts, and yet it doesn’t appear to be couth for Ufologists to call themselves “theoretical Ufologists”.

http://www.aboutseti.com/blog/theoretical-ufology

“Am I a ufologist?” Tonnies asks. ”I don’t know. Maybe. If I am, I should probably qualify the ‘U’ word with ‘theoretical.’ There are theoretical physicists and literary theorists; why not theoretical ufologists?”

Yesterday, I blogged about what I jokingly referred to as a ”Sky Squid”. Okay, wait a minute… call off the hounds! I know, this is most likely a cluster of Mylar balloons, as suggested already by numerous different sources, including the astute Mr. Tonnies. I too had suggested this early on… Latin American UFO sightings are very prolific, yes. However, almost as frequent as the sightings from this part of the world are the discovery of Mylar or other metallic/reflective balloons in creating hoaxes connected with them. Anyone who watches the video will see that this is pretty obvious.

Anyhow, my friend Wm Michael Mott shared a different take on the video yesterday, which I found to be a refreshingly theoretical approach discussing possible by-products of experiments with particle colliders:

If such a device were to create a powerful black hole, space and time would be compromised.  Events would be effected with RIPPLES forward and backward in time.  Anomalies would not ONLY be observable at the point of the event and forward–the flow of time and the integrity of the continuum would be affected BACKWARD as well.  Of course, quantum weirdness would be more likely the nearer to the event, from either direction in the timeline.  Or time-lines, if the continuum were ripped/diverged/split.

Could such an event explain MUCH of the anomalous, Fortean, and paranormal/quantum activity that has always haunted this planet?  I think it’s worth considering.

To me, what Mott asserts here is interesting, with or without relevance to any cluster of Mylar balloons, or giant Lovcraftian Sky-Squids, for that matter! Considering reports of what some call “interdimensional beings” like Mothman, various alien entities, and even Bigfoot in a few bizarre instances, what Mott proposes lends itself to a theoretical scientific explanation for paranormal phenomenon. But just because this, according to some, may fall outside the usual scope of what we deem Ufology, doesn’t mean it isn’t worthy of consideration. Many tried and tested scientific theories had first undergone scrutiny and even ridicule before being proven to be scientific facts in the end. We can only break apart, sort, and categorize this stuff so much… and last time I checked, I don’t think anyone has gotten around to building any functional warp drives yet, either. Still, that hasn’t kept theoretical physicists from assuring us that devices like this not only can be built, but that their use may be realized in the not-too-distant future!

That being the case, what else might we suppose today… and it end up being reality further down the road?