Spanish Absurdity

Imagine being a "master" of the old world; an artist with the vision who has lived through French and Spanish revolutions/civil wars, and is in the century on the brink of the 20th century.  Being a contemporary of idiot kings, Napoleon, military depravity and savagery, witchcraft hunters, and a non existent family support, what would you do? If you are an artistic genius who has painted Spanish royalty,atmospheric tapestries, and historic snapshots of historic revolutions, what do you do?  Well, if you are Francisco Goya, you move into a house and begin work on the "Pinturas Negras", or Black Paintings.

I was fortunate enough to visit Madrid and Del Prado in high school, and immediately searched out the Black Paintings.  The paintings were made with oils directly on the walls of Goya's house, affectionately known by the locals as the "Quinta del Sordo", and being burnt out on mankind and its depravity, Goya put some of the most interesting pieces of work into the consciousness of humankind.  Demonic?  Demented?  Sure, but also likely an accurate representation of one artist's state of mind of the world prior to all the horrors of the 20th century.  Goya never intended the paintings to be seen by the public, so the state of mind Goya must have been at when the paintings were made was likely infatuated with the absurdity of the times. So, dear friends, I give you my personal favorite five Black Paintings, in order, with my first impressions that have stuck with me for a very long time.  I'd be interested in getting others first impressions as well - so please, leave comments, if you feel so inclined.  Here we go!

Up first, "Saturn Devouring His Son". Not much really to say outside of the Greek legend regarding Cronos and his consumption of his children for fear of losing his life and legacy.  Demented and a favorite of others in my high school class way back when, this one is too visual for me.  I see a ton of insecurity and insanity in the eyes of the Cronos/Saturn.

Next would be "Two Old Men Eating Soup".  All I could think of when I first saw this was the scene from Texas Chainsaw, wherein the family of Texan inbreeds carries a decrepid/rotted grandfather down to a family meal regarding a young, attractive blonde woman. I certainly thought the grandfather in "Texas" was dead, but was disturbed when he began to move when the group attempted to crack open the blonde's skull. I can only think that a similar situation occurred in Goya's vision almost 200 years ago.

What to think here?  "Fantastic Vision" screams of a Utopian ideal in my mind.  Set amidst Naopoleanic warfare nonsense, two figures are pointing to a fortress high above the insanity of death.  The imagination can only provide an answer to the figures ability to levitate, and to what the fortress holds.

Ah, the "Witches Sabbath".  What an interesting piece.  This one takes up an entire wall at Del Prado and any online/print reproductions really do it no justice.  Quite the scene; a goat/demonic entity that has been summoned by cowering humans.  A young, innocent girl at the right; a sacrifice?  A dead nun protruding from the ground immediately to the right of the of goat-like entity.  So much fear and despair in the audience, but an audience willing to be present, nonetheless.  One of nightmares, this one screams of the horrors in our psyches.

And finally to my favorite, "The Dog".  This one screams so much to my senses.  Alienation, desolation, loneliness; you name it, this one has it.  So simple yet so powerful.  A dog looking at something but is alone on a beach or a slope.  Years later, after discovering Joy Divsion, I always thought this one would have been a great album cover for the great Manchester group.  How do all of us not, at one point in our live, feel like the central character of this great painting?  A true masterpiece that never fails to deliver.

So that's it.  I hope to do a similar top five of Goya's etchings in the future.  Goya has always been a favorite of my artistic library; I hope others will find similar beauty in his works.

"Unsuitable for those of a nervous disposition"

I was trying to find a video to post to this blog that I had heard a while ago on Greg Bishop's Radio Misterioso...something about Skymen, so I naturally began to "google around" in search of the song. I was hoping to read a bit about the song writer's biography, and somehow I ended with a Roky Erickson and then a Joe Meek play list on youtube.  Joe Meek - of course!

I am a terrible juke box hog when I'm out on the town, and one of my favorite "inebriated" classics I love to play ahead of the young kid's music today is the Tornado's Telstar.  My parents had a bunch of instrumental recordings in their basement, and my brother and I spent hours listening to Telstar, Duane Eddy, and Dick Dale and the Ventures.  Of course, Joe Meek was the guy that composed Telstar.  He also was the guy behind the Honeycomb's "Have I the Right" production; another favorite of mine. As I kept flipping through a Joe Meek playlist, I then found this gem which I had not heard before.  Behold Night of the Vampire with some slick editing.

And so it goes that the Moontrekkers' electronic hit "Night of the Vampire" from 1961 was banned by the BBC in that bygone day and age due to the nature of the music.  Definitely an early 60's gem.  Meek apparently had the chance to work with the Beatles, Bowie, and even Rod Stewart, but declined.  I find that odd; Meek was somewhat of an occultist who had "come down" from a seance in the 50's with knowledge of Buddy Holly's death.  He went so far as to warn Holly; but the advice was not taken.  If Meek had been privy to the ether, one would think the Beatles and their early chord progressions would have stood out to Meek.  Not to be (but quite a fantastic team the group would have been).

So now I have to find a book on Joe Meek and read more. His music definitely brims with astral energy and geometry.  Could there be a mystic quality to his work?  I have no idea, but will definitely search it out.

Oh yes, and the Skymen song was recorded by Geoff Goddard.  I found that through a Joe Meek playlist as well (of course again!)  As the UK's Guardian puts it, Goddard  :

was the soul, in-house composer, general factotum and eminence grise of record producer Joe Meek's RGM Sound. Operating out of a tiny flat-cum-studio in north London's Holloway Road, RGM was a cauldron of other-worldliness, funfair vulgarity, tunes drenched in echo and technical innovations that changed studio procedures forever."

So many things tying together this blustery November Saturday afternoon...

Blundering in Where Angels Might be Terrorized

One of the best list of UFO related axioms I have ever read comes from Trevor James Constable and his work "The Cosmic Pulse of Life".  Among the list, Constable's working hypothesis regarding UFOs includes:

• UFOs are spaceships, but their vibratory makeup is not fixed in the physical material density; they are mutants
• UFOs have their main existence in a density that is invisible to human beings of normal vision
• There are normally invisible living things in space that are not spaceships
• Space is filled with primary energy currents of which existing earth science knows nothing
• Infrared film, exposed between dawn and sunrise in high, drive locales will frequently objectify invisible objects of various kinds living in a passing through the atmosphere

I'm still not quite through the book, but I continue to find Constable's work absolutely fascinating.  His approach and exercises continue to be amazing (although I have yet to attempt to burst a cloud).  Of course, having a western scientific minded approach to such things begs the question : wouldn't it be excellent to have an area of the globe that etheric and orgone experiments could be held with complete experiment objectivity?  Well, I believe such a place may indeed exist : Hoia Baciu Forest in the country of Romania.

Again, Ghost Adventures provides some very synchronous experiences in respect to the life of this blogger. On their recent Halloween special, the trio traveled to Romania to investigate the locales of the Vlad the Impaler, but more interestingly, decided to investigate Hoia Baciu Forest.  During the show, images photographed by 1960's Romanian military technicians were displayed; a couple of the images immediately struck me as being of the "sky critter" origin.  The group even encountered and replayed a famous Keelian orb; a sphere that changed in size, changed colors, and then disappeared from view.  The orb was luminescent enough to bounce light off of nearby trees and branches.  

Of more interest is another paranormal "reality" show's experience in Hoia Baciu.  The SYFY show Destination Truth also encountered bizarre lights in the tree line, as well as a frightening encounter with an invisible force that literally knocked an investigator backwards.  Quite an episode; I remember the cast looking quite disturbed when investigating the area.

So where does that leave the discussion?  Could it all be hoaxed?  Of course it could all be fake.  However, I would highly recommend readers to watch both the Destination Truth episode and the Ghost Adventures episode for starters.  I would also recommend readers to look at the photographs of Emil Barnea and Florin Gheorghita on the web.  And without a doubt, please read the works of Meade Layne and Constable.  I have no doubt (again, just my theory; I don't have proof) that the energy behind the occult and the ufo phenomenon are one in the same.

Should this author have the opportunity to win the lottery, I will most certainly put a call to volunteers to assist with the purchase of equipment, the design of experiments, and to travel with me to perform a legitimate study of the Hoia Baciu Forest.  Don't expect a Nobel Prize, but the work would no doubt peel a layer away to the true realities around us all.  

A Journey into the Occult

I recently began reading a copy of Trevor James Constable's "The Cosmic Pulse of Life", and I have to say it is an absolutely brilliant, original and thought provoking UFO book.  UFOs, Etherians, Orgone, cloud busting, vision ray, and most interesting of all, the development and use of occult energy sensibilities fill every chapter of the book.  Not only does Constable discuss the various ideas, but he also discusses exercises with photographic film and mind exercises that will provide the reader the ability to see the "other side of reality's veil".  Whether I am able to burst a cloud or film an etherian in the short term future remains to be seen, but it is a very fascinating book nonetheless, and I look forward to writing about some of Constable's ideas in the future.

In the meantime, I've begun digging into some of Constable's literature recommendations.  He's recommended the work of George Van Tassel, occultism, and of course Meade Layne.  He has also recommended articles of the magazine (at least in the 50's, 60's and 70's) from The Flying Saucer Review. Immediately, I went to Amazon and ordered a used copy of the book "Encounter Cases from Flying Saucer Review" and plan to start it tonight.  From the intro by editor at that time Charles Bowden, the book should not disappoint.

From the table of contents, high strangeness should abound in the paperback's pages.  Cases/chapters include :

• Teleportations
• The Vilvadore Humanoid
• The Little Electric Man
• and last but not least "Berserk : Encounter with a UFO Creature"

My understanding is that The Flying Saucer Review was considered THE top notch research ufological periodical during the height of the Cold War.  I have a sense that the cases will lead one to question our conventional "go to" theory regarding all "occupant" encounters as ETH in nature.  I will follow up with some of my thoughts on the chapters discussed in the book in the coming days.  Stay tuned!

A Chance Encounter with the Bizarre

I have mentioned before that I've never experienced an incident, high strange or otherwise, that involves ghosts, UFOs, ultraterrestrials, or Sasquatch; things that I've always wanted to experience, but have never been fortunate enough to actually encounter.  I did, however, encounter what I've always thought to be "ghouls", one evening at bar time during my college days.

The incident occurred very quickly; in retrospect, I wish that I had followed the ghouls as they walked down a sidewalk.  I did not, for fear of my safety.  Tough to know what/who they were, but they definitely left an impression on me.  So the story as I recall it -

I was waiting outside of a local college bar, at bar time, for my intoxicated friends.  As is typical at that time, tons of people stand outside the bars, continuing their conversations after having been thrown out of the taverns.  Being the designated driver that night, I was standing outside on a sidewalk, facing the bar, and having a conversation with a friend.  I was trying to keep an eye out for my friends, so while chatting, I was attempting to keep my eyes on the door of the bar in an attempt to not lose my friends.

Moving from my left to my right, I remember seeing a man and a woman; they were "younger", if that is possible, walking down the sidewalk.  As they came out of the shadows of a neighboring building, I noticed that their faces didn't look right. As a matter of fact, I thought immediately that their faces were "rotted".  They had pale complexions, sunken eyes, and almost like a "shrunken skin texture".  They obviously didn't look right to me and I recall thinking "jesus, what the hell is that?".  Almost immediately they noticed me staring at them and they both stared back at me.

I turned back to the friend I was chatting with and was trying to process what I was seeing...I was going to say something to my friend, but in my peripheral vision I could sense they were staring at me.  The two continued to stare at me as they moved through the crowd, moving from my left to right.  I pretended to "not notice them" but was keeping track of their every step.  Nobody else around me seemed to notice them; yet I did.  As the couple continued to walk down the sidewalk, they continued to stare at me.  They even began to turn their heads back at me as they passed me, keeping a constant watch on me.  I could sense it all indirectly.  I recall my thinking at the time was "well, whatever you do, don't let them know that you've seen them."  I definitely had a sense of dread and thought there could be problems if I confirmed acknowledgement of the situation.  Eventually, the couple disappeared from my view when turning the corner.

Anyway, I often think that I actually saw that night; I didn't see them again that night, nor have I ever seen anything close to their appearance since that time.  What were they?  A couple with skin issues perhaps?  Out for a late night stroll?  I would think that odd given the fact they were walking through a sea of drunk people.  I still think, that for whatever reason, I saw something that I probably shouldn't have seen.  I saw something very decrepit and rotted, but what I saw, I really have no idea.  I had not been drinking or been doing any drugs at that time of my life, so I can only imagine I either hallucinated something or seen something real.  Whatever they were, I wish them well!

Retraction

A very good friend of mine today pointed out the semantic issue with "God energy" on my most recent post: please let me reiterate.

I didn't mean to say "God energy" was the source of potential encounters in the biblical sense; I meant to put context in a sort of "cosmos energy" that could be filtered by you, me, and others in a social/biblical sense.

It isn't "God" per se, but rather an "energy" that exists in the universe that is infinite and timeless.  I have no doubt that such a thing is encyclopedic in nature.  Things before, after, and present will always record, permeate, and transmit from its origin.  The energy will be timeless, oscillating, and hinting now and forever.

So yes, clan, a quick correction on my recent post. You and things "neutral base" in chemistry will forever be appreciated.  Thanks

Agendas and Us

On the last post I hinted at an agenda that may be playing against us.  Whether it be the woman who sleeps in a house not more than one mile from me who frequently encounters, at night, grey aliens, reptilians, and her dead brother who stands in the corner of her room to late night blizzard, shot gun riding, ET encounters, the question remains : what is the source of the encounter?  It is an interesting phenomenon that seems to be neglected by science and academia, but a phenomenon people continue to encounter on a daily basis.

What could it possibly be?  Over a number of books read over the course of my life, I've run into numerous explanations.  I would like to touch base on them as a starting point for further blog material.  The source encounter in question is defined as : a human being's witness or transaction with an "occupant" or "alien"; a creature that appears to be what can be only be considered a "flying craft from outer space".  Here are some of my thoughts on what the source may be :

• Hallucinations : anomalous brain activity that causes the witness to endure a nightmare or dream state that is interpreted as an "experience" with a creature from another planet.  God knows I have had my share of strange dreams; could the dream be a recurring experience for many different people?  Perhaps...
• Extraterrestrials : my favorite theory as a kid.  Of course it is an advanced civilization that has traveled vast light years through space to keep track and study us.  An intelligence so advanced that it has figured out space travel, yet panics in snowstorms, hands outs pancakes to farmers in northern Wisconsin, operates on abductees with needles, scalpels, and other 20th century medicine tool, and reacts in many other mundane ways.  I know a fair share of people believe most encounters of this type to be with star people, but I am reluctant to believe so...
• The Devil : another interesting theory, best expounded on (in my opinion) in Nick Redfern's book "Final Events".  It is interesting that perhaps abductions are sourced as a battle between evil entities and our souls...Jack Parsons would be so proud!  I am a bit more inclined to believe this theory over star people...
• Ultraterrestrials : another one of my favorite ideas from the works of John Keel.  This too I find appealing in that that ultraterrestrial is within another reality and/or spectrum of energy and is able to vibrate into our plane of existence.  Love him or hate him, John Keel, I believe was most certainly on to the reality of the experience.  Fairies, etherians, djinn, sidhe, LAM; you name it, all are potential ultraterrestrial in origin and could be the source of the event...
• Time travelers : Marc Davenport's brilliant work on the subject is a great thesis on this possible source.  When I read of Father Gill's encounter in the late 50's in Papua New Guinea in various books, and the waving response from the"occupants" to the crowd below...for whatever reason, I can only imagine the craft to be from the future.  I visualize a rich, trendy, swaggy group from high society, hundreds of years from the future, travelling back in time and partying above the commoner religious troop in the rain forest below.  How brilliant would that be?
• God : I have found some interest in this theory of late, but need to read a bit more of Jung and PK Dick.  A God energy source could possibly be to blame for this type of event, whether it is through Gnostic visions or blinding pink energy visions.  A bit more esoteric in the world of esoteric, but relevant nonetheless
• Military experiments : to think our own government would perform alien style abduction events and encounters in the theme of the XFiles is most certainly valid.  There is lots of money to be made on the rest of us (us being the masses), and those with wealth and power have no issues in taking advantage of us. This too, I find more appealing and rational than star people
• Cryptoterrestrials : Mac Tonnies has a great book about the cryptoterrestrials.  I once heard Jerome Clark bash the work on the Paracast....I also heard Jerome Clark make mention that Jacques Vallee called him out in one of Vallee's seminal works of the 70's.  I think Jerome Clark may have spent too many years in the Twin Cities...  I still think Tonnies has many a valid point in his work and recommend his essays to all...
• Evolved Dinosaurs : wow, yes, evolved dinosaurs.  I first read this idea in Dr. Barry Taff's book "Aliens Above, Ghosts Below" and his mention of an old Omni article.  His essay mentioned that the Omni article speculated to what dinosaurs could look like millions of years after the fact, and lo and behold, they resembled the greys of Streiber's Communion.  I like it - I like it so much I will track down the magazine in the near future.  To me, this theory has a lot of upside; again, that is just my opinion.

So there they be; I no doubt have missed some good ones, so please comment if you have any other great ideas. And if you have disagreements, recommendations, etc - please let me know!  

An Alaskan Snowstorm for an Etherian?

I am no stranger to snowstorms, and on the rare occasion, the raging blizzard.  I have little love for tons of snow having spent the majority of my life in the North, but it is something we all come to terms with.  The three other seasons make the winter endurable, right?

How much better would the winter be if you were able to spend a night with an "occupant" who was a) non threatening and b) non pervasive?  I most certainly would.

And so such a thing happened to a certain snow plow driver in Alaska a few years ago.  While working a desolate stretch of highway in Alaska during a -70 F blizzard, an Alaskan Native by the name of Ross came upon a disk shaped object with orange round lights in the middle of the highway.  Upon reaching 20 ft of the disk, Ross's truck became disabled; Ross was not able to radio his dispatcher for help and his truck's engine turned off.  The craft then turned "blinding white lights" on and the craft moved upward and out of site.

Ross, panicked, feared that his truck's engine would not turn over and he would be stranded in the blizzard, but as with many a encounter, once the craft disappeared, the truck's operations returned.  Slowing moving the truck and its plow forward, the truck then hit a bump in the road.  Ross stopped the truck, buttoned up his parka and prepared to step outside the truck's cab, expecting to find something in the road.  Instead, a hand reached up to his window and knocked on it; a second, four digit hand appeared next to it.  Ross then turned the cab's interior light on and saw a face staring back him.  The face was covered with a protective apparatus and had large, dark black eyes.  The occupant then turned back, ran from the cab and disappeared into a cover of trees along the side of the road.

Ross's initial thought was to follow suit, but knowing that leaving the safety of his truck and into the dizzying night of a blizzard was most certainly deadly, he looked forward, preparing to continue on with his route.  At that time, the occupant was standing in front of the truck, in the middle of the road.  Ross was able to ascertain the occupant was cold and that the occupant was blaming Ross for its dilemma.  Ross invited the occupant into the truck, but the occupant refused.  Ross then let the occupant know that he would not allow it to freeze to death and would not leave the area until the occupant joined him in his cab.  Suddenly, the occupant was sitting beside him, and then rode shot gun for the remainder of the route until the flying disc returned.  At that point, the occupant again transported instantly to the exterior of the truck, waived/saluted back to Ross, and disappeared into the craft.  The craft again flew away.

I read this account in Ardy Sixkiller Clarke's excellent book "Encounters with Star People : Untold Stories of American Indians".  The book retells encounters with various "beings"; some encounters are more conventional, others, like the one above, are highly strange.

So what exactly happened to Ross?  Did Ross experience an abnormal dream, hypothermia induced visions, or did he encounter an actual occupant.  The occupant's telepathic conversation and explanation that "he" and his crewmates were caught by surprise by Ross's truck, that the crew was taking "snow samples", that the crew and craft were not to interact with humans, and that the crew panicked and left the eventual shotgun riding occupant behind in mistake...these, to me anyway, are all very conventional, human type reasoning ideas.  If the occupant could move from space to space without walking, yet ran away from Ross initially, and needed a flying disk to visit earth...all of this seems highly suspicious.  What exactly did Ross (if Ross did in fact encounter "something") meet that night?  I would venture a guess that if the story is true, the occupants were not extraterrestrial, but something much more earthly.  Something akin to the fairies, elementals, and etherians that may roam the same space as we do.  Something that pretends to be here for "scientific reasons", something that pretends to be extraterrestrial and creates a story to fit that agenda.

Whatever the agenda may be, the story is absolutely fascinating.  I would recommend Clarke's book to all if you have any interest in encounters.  She has been interviewed on Binnall of America and the Paracast (if podcasts are your thing).  I do hope to explore some "agenda" ideas in the near future through this blog.

Witch House Fervor

Happy belated birthday, HP Lovecraft!

So much has been written about Lovecraft over the past 10 years, it is tough to highlight anything new.  My personal experience with Lovecraft was actually quite random.  While walking through Barnes and Nobel in college, I happened to find a book by Lovecraft in the fantasy/sci fi section.  Unlike today, there was only one anthology in stock, and I had no idea about who he was or what he wrote.  I read the back of it, purchased it, and began to read it that same night.

The first story I recall thinking "wow, this is something completed unexpected " was Dreams of the Witch House.  It really had it all : astral plane geometry, arcane New England witchcraft, Miskatonic University, a demonic, rat like "white-fanged furry thing",  ultradimensional travel, shadow people, and good old high order black magic.  And all of this was written in 1931/32.

One could argue that Lovecraft was an "experiencer" or that had tapped into some collective unconsciousness that fed him many of the ideas that are currently in fortean vogue.  It is amazing that he was able to be so ahead of the curve in terms of the ultraterrestrial experience.  Books of course have been written, theories hypothesized, and all other philosophical thought has been directed at Lovecraft and the origin of his ideas.  I personally believe he was an "experiencer" and was witness to something that influenced his mythos.  Then again, I obviously never met him nor have I read a biography on him, so I should probably hold judgement.

Now if one were to try to find such a real life "Witch House", I am sure many houses exist all over the world. My personal favorite is the Ancient Ram Inn, highlighted, of course, on my favorite ghost hunting show "Ghost Adventures".  Yes, yes...Ghost Adventures; I know, I know.  The show could be fake, could be sort of real, could be a mix of the two; I don't know.  I do sense that the key energy of the show is Nick Groff, and I do believe his ability to play out paranormal energies is legitimate.  This is just my opinion of course.  I have no idea what the truth may be, but I enjoy the show and I do hope the show's stars and experiences are genuine.

Now before you delete this blog from your blog list for mentioning Lovecraft and GA together, I do recommend you check out the Ancient Ram Inn on GA.  The episode was a book end of season 2 and I thought it was absolutely fascinating.  Witchcraft, pagan children sacrificial burials, demonic entities, elemental activity - you name it, and the Ram Inn has seen it.  Of course I'm not saying a link exists between the house and Lovecraft (or Ghost Adventures...), but experiences discussed/incurred on the episode most certainly rate with the more "highly strange".  I would recommend the short story and episode to all.  Who doesn't like a very wicked witch house?

The Werewolf Conundrum

I have been a very big fan of author Linda Godfrey's work concerning the infamous Wisconsin oddity known as the "Beast of Bray Road'.  Her work is actually one of the reasons I rediscovered the fortean world; having lost interest during the college years in things paranormal, I happened upon a podcast by Tim Binnall and an interview about the Beast of Bray Road.  I was immediately hooked.

Godfrey has since taken on leadership of the investigation and cataloging of the werewolf/canine/dogman events.  Like UFOs, ghosts, Sasquatch, and even sea monsters, why do so many people experience creatures that make absolutely no sense?  Why is A type science, journalism, and literature hard wired to dismiss these type of encounters outright when the encounters obviously occur?  It is a fascinating paradox.

Back to the subject at hand, last fall I purchased Linda Godfrey's book "Real Wolfmen: Encounters in America", and like all of her books, I read the entire book within a week's time.  One of the more curious encounters she discussed involved a family of wolflike creature terrorizing a couple in Maine.  I remember reading the encounter and thinking "how crazy is this?"  Five creatures on the ground, crawling up to the couple's house, then immediately retreating when being struck by light from a flash like.  All creatures looked like upright dogmen; they would crawl to the house, retreat when hit by light to a small pond area, then begin the crawl again.  Very odd.

SyFy's Paranormal Witness recently adapted the encounter in a episode entitled "The Wolf Pack".  When I saw previews of the episode, I immediately thought the incident was one in the same as the one I had read last fall and was ecstatic.  Paranormal Witness's typically features ghost stories, but I've found the episodes involving Bigfoot, UFO abductions, and now Dogmen, to be the most engaging.  The show does a good job of incorporating reenactments of various encounters with actual interview footage of the actual witnesses.

This particular episode does a wonderful job of mixing the fear of the actual witnesses, the bizarre nature of the creatures, and the completely "highly strange" demeanor of the event.  The case has it all from a fortean perspective; UFOs, unnatural sensibilities felt by the human participants and the participant's hunting dogs (charged ozone/atmosphere?), werewolves/dogmen, and even more bizarre, the werewolves' reactions to flashlight/outdoor lights.  The incident falls directly into the John Keel camp of the unknown; all that was yet needed was poltergeist activity in the cabin.  The creatures appear to be of ultraterrestrial origin, demonstrate violent tendencies towards humans, but then are repulsed/deterred by synthetic lighting from a flashlight?  Again, all of it is highly strange.  All of it is most bizarre.  Yet, I have no doubt the encounter likely occurred in the woods of an offhand spot in Maine.

I would recommend Linda Godfrey's books to all; the frequency of reported canine sightings is unbelievable, but a number share similar traits.  I would also recommend Tim Binnall's podcast, as well as this particular episode of Paranormal Witness.  Again, I have no doubt this type of "thing" occurs more often than most would like to think, but what exactly this "thing" is, I do not know.  And yet the adventure and experience continues...

Science be damned

Two things I've thought whilst drinking surly and talking to academics tonight:

a) evolution is bull shit:

• the human race enslaved over the past three centuries has not brought on wealth equality = true
• evolution is dead because we all agree to be ok with being slaves

b)  academia is in rigor mortis

• UFOs, Sasquatch, Poltergeists, and other super normal situations are not entertained by academia most quickly
• Too much work and objectivity involved with thousands of witness accounts year over year

It's cute and effective; but true.  Also, I bought a UPRO position with the past full moon cycle.

The Cycle of the Lycanthrope

One of the my most favorite things about living in the state of Wisconsin is the unknown and rich history of werewolf sightings in the state.  And by werewolf, I literally mean human beings who transform into wolf like creatures that run on four legs and run amok during times of the full moon; creatures that are significantly larger than a typical wolf found in the wilderness and have left many witnesses shaken about the nature of reality.  A fascinating read, Real Wolfmen by Linda Godfrey (highly recommended to all, as are all of her books) brings many contemporary encounters to light, as well as discussing the many sides of the enigma, including both Native American and John Keel -ian possibilities to lycanthrope origins

On a parallel note, another favorite thing in my life is the trading of stocks.  I came upon an article from one of the the many various blogs I read online that focused on buying and selling the S&P 500 on the lunar cycle.  The system is simple; buy at the close of the trading day on the day of the full moon (or should the full moon occur on a weekend night, buy that Friday proceeding the full moon), and sell at the close of the day of the new moon.  That's it.  Had one followed this system in 2012, one would have made 13% on their money (vs a buy and hold strategy that would have generated 12% returns in 2012).  I would recommend the Randall Ashbourne website "The Idiot and the Moon" for further reading.

I have no idea why I've been obsessed with the werewolf of late again; it could very well be an off chance re watching of "An American Werewolf in London", or the recent discovery of Netflix's "Hemlock Grove", or even the reading of the Linda Godfrey's book.  And unlike many of my neighbors in the state of Wisconsin, I can not claim to a) be a werewolf or b) witnessed a werewolf esque creature.  Yet like the nature of the beast, I can now partake in the lunar cycle, be in tune with lunar cycle, and hopefully make a bit of money over time.  Let's hope the whole "eternal damnation/cursed/eating roadkill" thing is not part of this experiment.

As a a disclaimer, I did purchase share of UPRO on May 24th 2013 at $136.55 / share.  I would insert the  howl from "An American Werewolf in London" at this point, but my blogging expertise in not where it should likely be.

The Iowa Devil

Last Thanksgiving, my girlfriend and I traveled to the southwest corner of Iowa to a town called Keokuk to enjoy the holiday with her family.  Nestled only minutes from Missouri and located on an expansive part of the Mississippi, Keokuk is a city of great history.  The start of the Black Hawk war, the loading port for thousands of Northern troops heading south for conflict, one of several Civil War hospital locations, a home of Mark Twain, and across the river, the final resting spot of the alleged prophet Joeseph Smith and the settlement of Navoo, IL, the area has been an epicenter for intense, human emotion over the past two centuries.  No doubt, Keokuk has witnessed more than its fair share of violence and death.  Grand, decaying mansions still sit high above the river banks; symbols of the town's past fortunes and its current economic plight.

As with all new spots that I visit, I always keep an eye out for locations of high strangeness interest.  Fortunately, the area delivered in one very interesting story.  Roughly eighty miles away exists School Number Nine, or the Monkey's Den School.  Located in a deep wooded portion along the southern Skunk River, the area has been witness to many Iowa Devil sightings.  Sasquatch-esque in nature, the area residents have encountered a large, hairy, shadowy biped for over one hundred years.  As the stories go, former students of School Number Nine fondly recall that how, during school days at the early part of the 20th century, screams would be hurled at them from the nearby timber.  Witness accounts of a "hairy large cryptid" and screams allegedly continue to this day.

I again can only speculate on the area and its connection to the Devil of Iowa.  Is this creature (if it indeed exists) truly an "unknown" animal?  Is it simply some flesh and blood animal that we have yet to discover?  I am more inclined to believe that this is not the case.  I find it fascinating that such a rich area of human history is near to a potential cryptid hotspot.  Why can't such impossible correlations exist?  Why must everything be proper in terms of scientific grandeur?  In my mind, I can see the outcome of thousands of young Iowa/Wisconsin/Minnesota  men on their way to battle leaving a scarred, frightened, and alienated print on the psyche of the human collective consciousness in that area of the country.  Why couldn't the the fears and worries of a lost generation forever be imprinted on the area?  And why couldn't such an imprint attract or generate the "thing" that is, for whatever it is, the Iowa Devil?

I was not able to actually visit the Den; my knowledge of the area comes from only a precursory review of literature on line (which at this time includes a BFRO archived report).  In the future and on a next visit, I hope to follow up with the area and speak to its high strangeness.  And for anyone who happens to be in the area (and reads this blog), I strongly recommend a similar visitation.