Researcher Roundtable Resurrected

by SMiles Lewis

Researcher Roundtable DiscussionANOMALY magazine is proud to present the resurrection of The Elfis Network’s Researcher Dialogue project. Years ago the ELFIS Portal to Possible Paradigms launched a short lived section to its online E.L.F. Infested Spaces journal called Researcher Dialogue. Within that section of the online zine was to be a regular Question and Answer session for every issue, wherein a question on anomalous phenomena would be posed to the panelists composed of invited Kooks, each a noted Author and Researcher in some field of Anomaly Studies.VW Beetle Alien

Among the first round of Invited Panelists was ParaPolitical Researcher Jim Keith, Paranormal Publisher and Author Greg Bishop, then Elfis Editor Mr. Baggins, Elfis Founder SMiles Lewis, Crackpot Historian Adam Gorightly, Hauntings Investigator Dennis Hauck, Local Investigator I.M. Aliensun, Devil’s Advocate Tim Brigham, Mysterious Investigator Eugenia Macer-Story, CyberFortean NeuroAnthropologist Steve Mizrach, Excluded Middlers Robert Larson and Peter Stenshoel, and Veteran Pagan Peacenik Thom Laaki.

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Why Darth Vader Is Not Luke Skywalker’s Father

Who’s Yer Daddy

PUNCHING YOUR HAND THROUGH A WALL FROM A CERTAIN POINT-OF-VIEW or Why Darth Vader Is Not Luke Skywalker’s Father

by Stephen Romano

Working as a screenwriter in the business of motion picture production, I have had the opportunity to study a strange and disparate species known as The Film Director. More specifically, I have encountered, worked with and endured the myriad insecurities, eccentricities and outright childish regressions of the Film WRITER-Director in his natural Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back after Revelationelement. I have studied the beast close-up. I know where he nests and breathes. And I know how fearsomely he (or, in those rare cases, SHE) protects his (or her) babies from the cold, cruel world out there. I have seen these people rage out of control. I have seen them shield themselves behind walls of arrogance and self-delusion. I have seen them manufacture alternate realities and stand up to claim the fruits of other people’s hard labors. I have also seen them regress into chasms of self-hatred and wallow in the shallows of creative burnout. I have watched helplessly as beautiful dreams and best-laid plans were shot to hell in front of horrified eyes. I’ve even stood right next to a few of these bizarre creatures as they were calling “cut” on a scene, their faces twisted into desperate grimaces, signifying that they had no idea in hell how any of this shit was gonna cut together later. In one specific case, which I will never in a million years forget, a film writer-director turned to me after a particular performance in a scene did not please him … and slammed his fist through the nearest wall, breaking three of his fingers. I’m pretty sure he hoped I would forget about that a few days later. In fact, most people in Hollywood COUNT ON you to forget stuff like that a few days later. But, see … that’s just it, people. I’m a writer and it’s my job to remember stuff. (That’s usually so I can steal it for a story later.) I don’t forget it when something weird goes down—particularly when it has to do with one of my heroes on a movie set. It’s all burned forever in my brain … along with the many formative memories from childhood that made me wanna do this shit for a living in the first place.

Like … oh, let’s see, maybe seeing STAR WARS for the first time? Read more »

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MUFON Journals - The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project

MUFON Journals - The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project

Now, this is a great resource tool: namely, all of the back-issues (from the late 1960s to the present day) of the Mutual UFO Network’s monthly magazine posted online at John Greenewald’s Black Vault in handy, PDF format for download.

Hat tip to Nick Redfern at UFOmystic.com

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Dowsing For Your Dead with Paul H. Smith, March 25th

Reading the Enemies Mind by Paul H. SmithNow here’s something that sounds like a truly unique local event…

For anyone interested in all things parapsychological, check out former military psychic remote viewer Paul Smith’s upcoming “Dowsing For Your Dead” presentation for the Austin Genealogical Society.

Paul H. Smith - Former Military Remote ViewerPaul says, “It is an introduction and overview of how dowsing could be used to help search for ancestors’ final resting places.”

Paul is the author of Reading the Enemies Mind and wrote the Army’s manual for training people in the art of Remote Viewing.

Here are the details:

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Program: Dowsing For Your Dead

Presented by: Paul H. Smith

Where: Highland Park Baptist Church

5208 Balcones Drive, Austin, Texas

When: 6:30 P.M. Doors Open; 7:00 P.M. Meeting & Program Begin

 

Paul H. Smith - www.rviewer.com

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Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie

Southern Ohio may seem a world-away from the Pacific Northwest habitat one typically pictures when they hear the word Bigfoot, but the region does have a rich history of hairy biped reports. The rugged Appalachian foothills of southeastern Ohio, in particular, have a number of reports from the Shawnee State Forest in Scioto and Adams Counties, and the Wayne National Forest further east. In his book “Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates” Loren Coleman recounts the story of a devil monkey seen in the Duncansville area of Adams County. (Duncansville, which is mostly Amish owned hilltop pasture land and forest, is a short drive from the famous Serpent Mound and was a destination for curiosity seekers in the mid to late 1980s because of an image of an angel or Christ supposedly burned into a church door when a young girl was cured of an illness after stepping outside during a service for some fresh air and having the entity appear to her.) The famous Ohio Howl was also recorded in eastern Appalachian Ohio, in Columbiana County where Ohio borders Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Read more »

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Real or Surreal - Black Ops Badges

alleged Area 51 patch

by SMiles Lewis

Some time back I saw this allegedly official patch for stealth bomber pilots and crew. The 509th Bomber Wing were the first atomic bomb flyers and were based out of Roswell, New Mexico. I never thought it was likely to be real.

Then last year friend and fellow researcher Greg Bishop wrote about his encounter with the patch while working on a new British documentary called Mirage Men. Apparently, UFO researcher Curtis Peebles had acquired one of the patches. And another UFO researcher, Dennis Balthaser actually called the Air Force and interrogated someone over the phone trying to ascertain the validity and meaning behind the patch.

Now, it appears that an artist and activist named Trevor Paglen is having a bit of fun doing what he likes to do most, “deliberately blurring the lines between social science, contemporary art, and a host of even more obscure disciplines in order to construct unfamiliar, yet meticulously researched ways to interpret the world around us.” You see, Trevor just posted an article with slideshow and accompanying audio to the Newsweek website detailing this and many other exotic patches: Badges of Secrecy.

So while I doubt the validity of his analysis of these likely hoaxed patches and badges, I still have to stop and ponder their reality, and consider it alongside Trevor’s work in exposing “secret military bases, the California prison system, and the CIA’s practice of ‘extraordinary rendition.’

By the way, you can get replicas of this and other patches through this LINK.

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Lecture on Bizarre Texas History in Denton, Texas

Nick Redfern alerted us to an event that our North Texas readers might be interested in attending. And if you can’t attend the lecture, you may want to find a copy of Chad Lewis’ book … which also features a foreward by Mr. Redfern.

Hidden Headlines of Texas by Chad LewisHidden Headlines of Texas: Strange, Unusual and Bizarre Newspaper Stories, 1860 - 1910 by Chad Lewis

Bizarre Texas History

Denton TX – UFOs sightings in the Texas sky are not a new phenomenon; in fact, a mysterious airship was reported in Denton in April 1897. Chad Lewis, author and paranormal investigator, will explore this sighting and other bizarre stories reported in turn-of-the-century Texas Newspapers.

Join us at the Emily Fowler Central Library at 502 Oakland Street, March 15, 2008 at 3:00 for this fascinating presentation cosponsored by the Denton Area Paranormal Society. Copies of the book “Hidden Headlines of Texas” will be available for purchase.

For more information, contact Laura Douglas, Special Collections Librarian, at 940-349-8749 or at laura.douglas@cityofdenton.com

Hat tip to Nick Redfern at UFOMystic » Texas UFOs

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TBRC launches new website

TBRC researchers, including the blogger, check camera traps in study area XOnce upon a time there were a couple of guys in Texas with an interest in Bigfoot reports from their state who started an organization called the Texas Bigfoot Research Center. Over time the organization grew. They began investigating reports. They began organizing field expeditions and conducting long-term camera trap surveys. Their dedication to detail gained the discrete support of many scientists and academics, and the open support of notable researchers and authors such as Dr. Jeff Meldrum and Loren Coleman. Eventually the group gained non-profit status and changed their name to the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy.

And now they have a new web address. After a long period of stasis, the new TBRC site is up and active at www.texasbigfoot.org. The old address, texasbigfoot.com, is still active and will redirect to the new site, so if you’re already familiar with the organization but are too lazy to update your links, you’re fine. There is still good reason to check out the new site though. Besides the new look there are a number of newly updated Incident Reports (many of which have been setting in queue waiting for the new site to be finished) and new features, including an RSS feed option for receiving updates when those new Incident Reports are entered and an easy to use search function for locating Incident Reports by State and County. Other features include a News page, details of TBRC Research Methodology, details of current and past Research Projects, and image after image of amazing landscape and wildlife photography. Even if you have no interest in Bigfoot, it’s worth checking out just to see some of the amazing shots captured by their camera traps.

A rare cinnamon colored black bear captured by TBRC camera traps.

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FortFest 2008 - Beyond Belief

Charles FortTHE INTERNATIONAL FORTEAN ORGANIZATION (INFO) presents
FortFest ‘08  “Beyond Belief”!
www.Forteans.com
  
47th Conference on Anomalous Phenomena, March 29-30
*American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM), Baltimore,MD
  
SATURDAY, March 29, at AVAM, 9:30 A.M.-6:30 P.M.
  • Budd Hopkins with a startling all-new talk on ”The UFO Abduction Phenomenon and the new Paradigm”. Budd is an award-winning (Guggenheim fellowship) painter with pieces in major museums including the Guggenheim and the Whitney and the author of Missing Time, Intruders and Sight Unseen: Science, UFO Invisibility & Transgenic Beings.
  • Linda Godfrey, a teacher and journalist, author of Weird Wisconsin, on her compelling books An American Werewolf and The Beast of Bray Road, chilling true life stories from the dark corner of cryptozoology!
  • Orion Foxwood,  Elder in Romano-Celtic Traditional Craft, primary founder of the Alliance of the Old Religion, is an Elder teacher of the Faery Seership Tradition. Orion is the author of The Faery Teachings and will talk  on his upcoming book (Samuel Weiser) The Tree of Enchantment, Ancient Lore and Practices of the Faery Tradition.
  • Phyllis Benjamin, journalist, producer/artist/poet, President of the International Fortean Organization (INFO) and Chair of over twenty years of FortFest, FortNite, FortScape Conferences and FortFest Seminars at Sea on “ Synchronicity or Supernatural, Another Miracle on 34th Street?”
  • George Haas with an all-new exo-archaeology  talk on the fascinating link between the sculptures of pre-Columbian Meso-America and Mesopotamia with a set of corresponding structures found in the Cydonia region of Mars.  George is a sculptor and the author of the Cydonia Codex, Reflections from Mars. Was  there  life on Mars?
  • Dr. Bob Hieronimus, charismatic talk radio host of 21st Century Radio, author of Founding Fathers, Secret Societies: Freemasons, Illuminati, Rosicrucians and the Decoding of the Great Seal  on “In Goddesses We Trust” from his latest book on religion and hidden symbology in America.  He will be signing his latest book United Symbolism of America: Meanings in America’s Most Familiar Art, Architecture and Logos  (New Page Books, March 2008).
  • Dr. Peter Westbrook, historian of sacred science, author Divine Harmony: Life and Teachings of  Pythagoras  with a talk and a segment of his documentary Perennial Philosophy  for Spaceship Earth  featuring an interview with Huston Smith, renown author of Religions of the World, and his experience with Buddhism, Sufism, Hinduism plus Smith’s work with Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary and entheogenic plants within a
    shamanic tradition.

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