So, CNN decided they need to refute this story about the Taliban training attack monkeys. Because this is the kind of thing that needs clarification.

I mean, seriously CNN? Is it really that slow of a news day? Or do you really think that little of your audience’s intelligence?

I guess it is in keeping with the high journalistic standards we’ve seen from Jeanne Moos when reporting on pieces like the recent North Carolina Bigfoot reports (below) and from Larry King’s various UFO stories. One thing is for sure, I always know when I see a story of Fortean significance on CNN, they are going to make light and ignore any thoughtful witnesses or experts. Call it the trailer park tornado syndrome. If 20 people see something, no matter what it is, CNN is going to pick the one witness with three teeth, one eye, no previous knowledge of events, and a speech impediment.

By contrast, the local news story (video below) contained a much better report, and places the most recent sightings in a historical context of previous sightings. Does the most recent witness still seem somewhat dubious? Sure. But at least we now have a historical context within which to either substantiate his claims, or to look for a source to his delusions.

When we then look at a related opinion pieces asking “Why do we need to look for Bigfoot?” we find the commentator taking a grain of something worthwhile, potential psychological explanations for strange phenomenon, and twisting it all out of context and reason.

Monkey soldiers? Bigfoot? Anomalous animal carcasses? All the same to CNN.

Even at the most basic level, they seem to have a problem getting their facts straight when it comes to Fortean phenomenon. Take the chupacabras for instance (cabras, with an “s”… these aren’t monogamous goat suckers). First they spell it wrong, then they place its roots in Mexico instead of Puerto Rico. Then, after failing to do that basic bit of research about where the term and initial sightings originated, the author proceeds to confuse the quasi-mythic chupacabras (a creature who has now lent his name, as Jon Downes notes, to various boogie men across Latin America) with the hairless canines reported across the southwest. This does a disservice to the rich chupacabras lore of Puerto Rico and the rest of Latin America, as well as diverting serious scientific inquiry from the mystery canines that have been photographed, filmed, and even shot and killed.

If mange ridden coyotes or domestic dogs, they seem to be otherwise healthy and active (see video below). But if they are healthy and hair-free for some other reason, what is that reason? And just what kind of canine are they? These are questions that could be answered relatively easily with a little attention. Even if it turns out they are just mangy coyote. We would know, we could push the data out there, and we could move on to other topics.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But as long as organizations like CNN and others cast a jaundiced eye at the realm of Cryptozoology and other odd Fortean phenomenon — painting us in the same broad swathes as monkey soldiers and ignoring solid data and serious researchers while trotting out drunken witnesses for silly-season filler — legitimate investigators, and science itself, will continue to suffer by association. News organizations don’t trot out alchemists in lieu of chemists, astrologers instead of astronomers. Yet anytime Tom Biscardi or the local trailer park prophet trot out a magic monkey hand, the cameras are rolling.

It’s enough to make a former newsman sigh.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who’s Pranking Whom? Why Ireland and Why Triangular UFOs?

AUSTIN - It’s like déjà vu all over again … remember back in October 2008 when we broke the story of how someone in Ireland’s media had been convinced that a then recent UFO sighting flap (which featured an apparent triangle ufo with a red laser caught with cellphone video footage) was connected to this amazing footage of a triangle ufo with red laser darting about but which turned out to be reused footage of an award winning model from a UFO hoax contest? Well it appears that someone has yet again pulled the wool over the media’s eyes.

I was just made aware of some “dramatic new triangular ufo footage” and as soon as I saw it I recognized it as something I’d seen just a few months ago in October 2009 when I was researching the ufo videos of Ed Grimsley who claims to witness ufo battles complete with lasers and explosions using only a pair of expensive nightvision goggles. Yet none of his footage is anywhere near as interesting as this “new” triangular footage which happens to apparently use this same type of green-tinting night vision tech

The video I saw in October of last year was allegedly “filmed 12/5/08 in fremont, ca.” and uploaded to YouTube the same day by someone who appears to own a pair of the goggles and/or collects footage of nightvision anomalies. Yet the online news reports and bits of information offerred so far contradict that stating…

A triangular formation of lights was filmed flying at night at “incredible speed”.
Sighting near the River Liffey in Dublin.

One has to wonder, who got this misrepresentation of the footage started? Was it deliberate or could it just be a simple case of a news editor / web manager posting an interesting accompanying video that looks like what was described but which apparently has absolutely nothing to do with the “new” alleged Dublin sighting?

So far a handful of newsites has been taken in by this “hoax” or misidentification / miscommunication. But the list is growing everytime I check:

• Liffey on Mars
  The Sun – Vince Soodin – Jan 21, 2010
  EXPERT Nick Pope says it’s vital for our security to log sightings – and he will review yours. Among the most mysterious include a UFO over Parliament in …
  www.thesun.co.uk
• UFO spotted above Ireland (video)
  Daily Contributor - 11 hours ago
  A strange triangular formation of lights moving at an “incredible speed” has been filmed flying near the River Liffey in Dublin. …
  ailycontributor.com
• Triangular light formation UFO seen in Dublin
  NewsLite – 17 hours ago
  Witnesses say the lights moves at an “incredible speed” as they sped over the River Liffey. In the footage – which seems to have been taken via a night …
  newslite.tv
• Footage of ‘UFO’ taken in Ireland
  Oneindia – 21 hours ago
  news.oneindia.in
• UFO spotted above Dublin as Ireland turns X-Files
  Metro – 13 hours ago
  www.metro.co.uk
• Footage of ‘UFO’ taken in Ireland
  Newstrack India (blog) – 22 hours ago
  London, Jan 22 (ANI): The footage of a UFO flying near the River Liffey in Dublin has left experts thinking it could either be a secret aircraft or …
  www.newstrackindia.com
• Footage of UFO taken in Ireland
  Little About (blog) – Jan 21, 2010
  London, Jan 22 : The footage of a UFO flying near the River Liffey in Dublin has left experts thinking it could either be a secret aircraft or spacecraft. …
  www.littleabout.com

We’ll keep you posted with updates as we receive them.

- SMiles Lewis

]]> http://www.anomalymagazine.com/2010/01/23/exclusive-another-dublin-ufo-hoax-underway-against-the-media/feed/ 0 http://www.anomalymagazine.com/2009/09/08/secrecy-and-skepticism/ http://www.anomalymagazine.com/2009/09/08/secrecy-and-skepticism/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:55:27 +0000 Jeremy D Wells http://www.anomalymagazine.com/?p=1384 Today we feature another guest article, from a skeptical slant, by Oliver Hallen. While it’s no secret that I am in no way a proponent of the Extra Terrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), I do believe in the reality of the phenomenon. Whether it eventually proves to be more physical, more psychological, or something altogether unimaginable (supposing it is, or ever can be, proven) it is real to those individuals experiencing it. The sociology and psychology student in me is honestly more interested in why people interpret the phenomenon the way they do than the physical reality of those phenomenon. That said, the individuals that Mr. Hallen speaks of in his article interest me because they believe in the government conspiracy, regardless of the reality or unreality of any such conspiracy. I also, however, must acknowledge the accounts put forward by respected researchers that include physical traces, such as the Australian landings referenced by Jacques Vallee that left circular depressions in tall grass and the physical reactions resembling radiation sickness reported by some UFO witnesses as intriguing (whether real, psychosomatic, or bizarre coincidence) in contrast to Mr. Hallen’s statements regarding the lack of physical evidence. There is evidence, however circumstantial in nature or irrelevant to those who did not themselves experience the phenomenon. I must also point out that part of Mr. Hallen’s argument about the inherent sloppiness of a secret organization about which so much rumor circulates fails to acknowledge the potential of such purposeful sloppiness as a tool for misinformation. Overall, however, he makes a rather interesting argument about the difficulty of maintaining big secrets and raises some intriguing questions. I know, with the varied opinions of our readers, someone will have issue, or be thrilled by something herein.

As always the views of Mr. Hallen do not necessarily represent the views of myself or AnomalyMagazine.com, but are presented here in the nature of free information and debate.  Please read, consider, and comment.

Secrecy… but not as you know it

by Oliver Hallen

The famous nuclear physicist Edward Teller well described the effects of confidentiality in this short yet inquisitive way: “Secrecy, once accepted, becomes an addiction”. I find that this quote is no truer than in ufology where not only is secrecy seen as commonplace, but it’s expected as a primary part concerning the so-called official forces apparently at work regarding the field. The history of this subject is inundated with alleged instances of how complex and well organized actions work to keep that all ambiguous truth concealed. Even though it can’t be proven, you’d imagine that if this were true the resources needed would be rather substantial and the people involved beyond trustworthy; then factoring this in over long periods of time, different departments, and even countries, it makes it all the more unlikely.

The fact of the matter is humans are lousy at keeping secrets and controlling sensitive information. As we’ve seen in the news, to the dismay of many, the British government has certainly shown how inept it can be at handling data with occurrences such as the mislaid personal details of millions of people which they were entrusted with. These incidents included factions like the Ministry of Defence, Home Office, and Foreign Office. If these important agencies, as an example, can’t even perform such duties what hope would there be of keeping a major cover-up under constant wraps and in operation regardless of size, scope, or country? This is one of numerous questions that have never been satisfactorily answered by ardent supporters of this, at least not to me anyway. What’s been claimed as evidence has absolutely no solidity when faced with serious questioning. There is real contradiction here; people claim that the authorities have a large, secretive, and well-oiled operation, yet this same project is not only common knowledge, but the perpetrators of this can’t even contain information which people use against them as alleged evidence of this so-called esoteric conspiracy. But if it’s anything to go off regarding previous lapses of security, like the ones mentioned above for instance, we most probably would have found out the truth long ago or at least have some idea about what’s going on concerning anything strange. However, no conclusive data has ever come to light to back a paranormal perspective which for me says much about the weakness of such accusations.

One well known and controversial element in all this is the Men in Black whose duty is to seemingly hassle and silence UFO witnesses. Surely if a special government program to keep this issue under control and wraps was being conducted in such a comprehensive and ruthless way as proposed, there wouldn’t be much need for individuals like this to perform these tasks (if we presume that they are in some way connected). Considering for a moment an ‘MIB division’ or ‘divisions’ exist, whatever jurisdiction, if any, it might be under (earth-based or otherwise) it certainly shows that the cover up effort in this area is performed in a rather insecure, reckless, and ineffective way. Especially when you think you’ve got suspicious looking and acting spooks making the rounds on particular cases and that details, unconfirmed though they are, are publicly available on them in different forms. Logically though, what harm could a witness do with no irrefutable evidence and no means by which to threaten the authorities purported program? There must definitely be more pressing things on a government’s alleged secret ufological agenda than a collection of witnesses who will probably not be taken that seriously or receive a great amount of attention except within the UFO scene which, by all rights if accurate, they should already be very well-informed on. To take such a needless risk like this is nothing short of crazy when, if true, you have so much to lose.

The reality of the situation is a lot more mundane however, as we’ve seen internationally regarding the various releases, statements, and investigations over the years which have gained much attention. Whilst there is interest here it’s definitely not to the style and depth of what has been claimed for so long by particular parties. No doubt a counter to this argument is that we’re being fobbed off with more ordinary and safe data whilst the real stuff is locked away in top secret, all the while government’s can claim good PR for their frankness having superficially answered the allegations. This, again, is totally unfounded.

When calls for openness are met, rejection is expected due to the fact that said calls run in opposition to established conspiracy lore held so dear by its proponents. Nonetheless, it’s a win-win situation for them as if the release is positive they get what they want and, if not, they can call foul and continue to point the finger at whomever they see fit. Sadly, all the information in the world would not satisfy them if it went against what they believed. Everyone must be reminded that releases generally come when it’s best for the authorities, not the public. Regarding the uses of data though, people need to recognize that it’s not enough to just know, it must be understood and applied in an appropriate way relevant to what you’re doing.

If I could pass on a good piece of advice it would be the need to look at yourself and the secrets you have; then place this in the context of governmental circumstances. It’s always been in the interests and nature of command to employ confidentiality as a valuable tool and asset concerning its work. With regards to ufology this fact has shown how erroneous the conspiracy angle actually is.

Finally, it’s important to mention that one of the many reasons I have such a skeptical attitude towards this field is not just because the answers are usually very normal, but because they can be overlooked in favor of the fantastic. It seems the last thing most ufologist’s want is a simple answer and if that requires self deception, then god help them.

If you’ve followed the Elfis Network from the beginning then you know of my early interest in Alternate Reality Gaming and their potential for “mucking up the works” for paranormal and parapolitical researchers. You may also know that my interests were rekindled in 2007 by the provocative hypotheses of blogger DreamsEnd, who speculated that the mysterious suicides of artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake were some kind of sophisticated art hoax or viral marketing / alternate reality game. After a very rough period of defending his theories online, blogger DreamsEnd temporarily pulled up shop, taking down his websites. My own re-investigations into ARGland dwindled and I too went back to my normal para activities…

That is until I became aware of a new blog that was following many of the threads explored by DreamsEnd; KadesKorner. Here was another blogger (with a writing style nearly identical to that found at DreamsEnd) writing about many of the themes and topics we’d been exploring during the Theremicity period: Andy Kaufman, Election Fraud, Andy Stephenson, false identities, the Franklin Coverup, the Octopus and PROMIS, Middle East parapolitics and … Theresa Duncan and ARGs! And through “Kade” I learned of a new ARG to watch out for; what has come to be called TGATT or The Great And The Terrible aka I’m Sorry. But before getting off into the I’m Sorry mindfu…, er um, ARG, let’s take a peek at some of the more interesting ARGs and Viral Marketing campaigns that have been bleeding through their alternate ARGiverse realities into our own.

Before proceeding I want to say yet again that I do not think of ARGs as being any worse than other forms of entertainment like movies, television, videogames, etc. Which is to say I think they are interesting to examine from a variety of perspectives from artistic to academic but especially with an eye towards socio-cultural manipulation, as in propaganda, psychological warfare and parapoplitical machinations. My aim is not to accuse any of the many wonderful writers and designers who put their combined creative energies into the development of such gaming and advertising campaigns. I find it fascinating to see what memes are at work (and play) within the collective unconscious and from where and to what ends those mythic perturbations lead. I strongly feel that “play” in general and ARGs in particular are excellent modes for information transfer that can facilitate fun educational and learning experiences.

It is quite common for Alternate Reality Games to incorporate certain recurring SciFi themes including, what else but Alternate Realities like so many science-fiction novels, movies and television shows. Themes like time travel, other spacetime dimensions and continuums, aliens, UFOs, cryptozoological critters, dystopian futures are common fodder.

Some ARGs even try to educate their players and larger audiences about possible ecological futures such as World Without Oil. So we shouldn’t be surprised to see ARGs incorporate real-world (OOG – Out Of Game) events and entities even while they dwell on those para-themes that so much of the public at large considers kooky and unreal. Things like the BCCI scandal, Secret Societies, New Age Mind Body phenomena, Paranormal Investigations, Flu Pandemics and even musings about the year 2012 are all the subject of past and current ARGs.

Here are just a few of the more recent ARG / Viral marketing threadlines from over at the biggest ARG community, Unforums.com:

• [CoralCross] Vaccine: Surviving Hawaii’s Next Pandemic
  
• Electron Innovations
  
• Trailhead? It starts with the flu
• XenoVaradox
  
• [TRAILHEAD?] The Mosaic Collective
• [ARG] “Who Killed Amanda Palmer?”
• [D9] District 9 and Multi-National United (trailhead)
• Institute for Human Continuity(NEW INFO!)
  
• The Secret World
  
• [Trailhead] The Brotherhood
• This Is Not A Game- Novel
• [Viral] “There’s Something In The Sea” – Bioshock 2?
• [TRAILHEAD?] Strange Object
  
• STOP TARP ARG
  
• [Trailhead] www.topsecretconspiracy.com
• [Trailhead] Stop The International
• New Jericho ARG?
• [TRAILHEAD]Dollhouse ARG
• [Viral] The Truth Today: There are Nazis on the Moon!
• [PIE] New Game? PIE Network (trailhead)

So … in just these few ARG links we have a smorgasbord of paranormal and parapolitical topics (even cryptozoological) as the basis for various marketing and gaming campaigns.

“Stop The International” is promotion for the movie called, you guessed it, The International. Check out the movie trailer. It is clearly inspired by the real life parapolitical scandal known as BCCI which many folks referred to as the Bank of Crooks and Criminals International. The movie features a bank known as IBBC.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Who Killed Amanda Palmer?” evokes David Lynch’s television series Twin Peaks simply by the title (Laura Palmer’s murder was the centerpiece of the show) though this game is in fact an effort at promoting singer songwriter Amanda Palmer.

“Institute for Human Continuity” has a website that looks very professional and purports to be a group whose efforts are to make certain that humanity continues no matter what disasters and crises the universe might throw at us. It especially focuses on the growing myths surrounding the year 2012 as the end of the world. In fact this ARG is marketing for the new movie 2012. You can see the trailer at WhoWillSurvive2012.com and below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

On one of the games’ other websites, This Is The End, (a less sophisticated looking site) you can watch rough vignettes featuring Woody Harrelson as “Charlie Frost” pontificating on the year 2012 and Terence McKenna, among other possible world changing events. Apparently, Harrelson has a starring role in this new film by Roland Emmerich.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And then there is this little viral marketing campaign for Monsters vs. Aliens …

“Top Secret Conspiracy” – I reported about this during the live Mother’s Day broadcast of the weekly radioshow I co-host with Mack White (PsiOp Radio). Disney commissioned a viral marketing campaign to promote their Monsters vs Aliens movie by having a series of strange news sites circulating news articles and videos reporting on aliens, the paranormal and conspiracy theories. The tone of the sites are certainly not going to confuse anyone with whether the material is fact or fiction.

However, in classic ridiculing fashion the main news hub site, TopSecretConspiracy.com, successfully comes off as a kooky paranoid website and in one of the site’s Expose Your Truth videos, attempts to smear, by not-so-subtle association, former Presidential candidate Ron Paul by linking him with conspiracy and UFOs.

The main character behind the TSC website, “Jeffrey Freedman,” produces investigative videos. In this particular one we are shown “amateur footage” at an office going-away party (like that in the movie Cloverfield – that also had it’s own ARG / viral campaign). During “Jeffrey Freedman’s” bookend commentary sequences you can clearly see part of a “RON PAUL REVOLUTION” bumper sticker with just the “VOLUTION” portion showing but featuring the telltale backwards letter L and characteristic red on black stencil script. The sticker is layered on top of a background covered with several UFO related pictures including what is probably an aerial photograph of Area 51. Thus you have the linking of a kooky conspiracy nut / UFO buff with the Ron Paul Revolution. Then again, that is exactly what could be said about my own online presence.

Click here to view the embedded video.

But hey, it’s all worth it I guess, when, in another episode of Expose Your Truth, we see webmaster “Jeffrey Freedman” investigating the government’s manipulation of science fiction at the 2008 World Science Fiction Convention.

Hilarious! Shades of Hugh Manatee Wins.

And dig the faked book and magazine covers including a spoof of Heinlein called Weirdo in a Weird Land.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Coral Cross” – When fiction becomes fact. So you’ve heard about all those anti-terrorism drills and training exercises that seem to “go-live” and become actual real-world disasters … like with America’s 911 and London’s 7/7 … only this time the bomb is Swine Flu. Apparently this fictional educational global pandemic ARG has had to morph into what’s now being called “The world’s first Emergent Reality Game.” From the CoralCross.org website:

Coral Cross is a serious game that aims to increase public engagement with the possibility of a flu pandemic.

It started out as an Alternate Reality Game set in the year 2012, but when the H1N1 ‘swine flu’ outbreak occurred in late April 2009, it was promptly redesigned to support real-life needs against the backdrop of current events.

This is not to imply that the flu presently in the news will necessarily turn into a pandemic. It is simply pointing out a fact that no amount of expertise can change: the future is unknowable.

As a result, Coral Cross has become the world’s first ever Emergent Reality Game, an exciting experiment in using gaming techniques to promote real public awareness and impact real events.

The initiative was commissioned in 2008 as part of a public engagement demonstration project by the State of Hawaii Department of Health, funded by a grant from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and produced by the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies.

“PIE – Paranormal Investigation Expert” -This one was brought to my attention by a friend over in the Anomaly Community Forums. As soon as I went to their website I could tell it was ARGy. It’s the story of a group of paranormal investigators who believe that a mysterious global phenomena recurs before every  significant technological jump…

“To play along, users must download the “Recruit Toolkit” comprised of JavaFX 1.1 and NetBeans 6.5. Players then use the toolkit to unlock clues, solve challenges, and help the two Paranormal Investigators make The Jump happen!”

“STOP TARP ARG” – A hilarious ARG within an ARG played out at this year’s SXSW media festival. This “Stop the Troubled Assets Relief Program Alternate Reality Game” featured mock protesters and activists at the SXSW ARG panel discussion “protesting” against the money wasting of an ARG using TARP bail-out money. You’ve got to check out the TARParg2009forthekids.org website. Here’s a quote from the SXSW website:

According to Cain, working on the T.A.R.P. Bailout has been very productive: “I’m happy to work hand-in-hand with the United States government and the Treasury Department in particular to bring the next level of alternate reality gaming to the youth of our great country. This ARG will bring users in the 12 to 18-year-old demographic range the facts about the U.S. banking system in a fun way while enforcing in them the belief that the United States economy is growing stronger with each passing day. Plus we plan to work with a major candy company to give out treats.”

Well, I’m gonna cut this short and save the TGATT / I’m Sorry and Last Statue stuff for another post. And you can always check out the latest ARG discoveries over at DreamsEnd…

Some References:

• Majestic Art of Electronic Disinformation, Elfis X – Spring 2001

• Blue Rose Report podcast 14 part 1 and part 2 – October 2007

• This is Not a Game: The Mysterious Death of Theresa Duncan – July 2007 more articles available here This is not a Game: Original Articles and here KadesCorner.

• Andy Kaufman Press Conference Disappoints, Hacking Democracy, Franklin Uncovered?, Andy vs. The Octopus, A Brad and Two Andys, Hamas Ultra: This is what mind control looks like…, Theresa Duncan and the Temple of Doom!, Joe Matheny vs. the 98%, Trailhead: I’m Sorry - KadesKorner

• Bank of Credit and Commerce International – Wikipedia

• World Without Oil - Educational ARG

• Woody Harrelson Joins Roland Emmerich’s World-Ending ‘2012’ – Mtv

• PsiOp Radio 73 – 090510 – Mother’s Day Special

• io9 – Monsters Vs. Aliens Vs. Cloverfield! – Monsters versus aliens

• Video recovered from office party reveals real story behind MONSTERS

• 9/11 war games before and during the attacks

• 7/7 Mock Terror Drill: What Relationship to the Real Time Terror …

• Message to a Manatee

• Coral Cross: ARG about pandemic flu – Boing Boing

• Slicing Code for PIE Theory: A Sun Microsystems ARG

• Sun Microsystems Feature Story: PIE Theory

Reuters is reporting that Russian authorities have assumed custody of a five year old girl who has spent the majority of her life locked in an unheated flat in the Siberian city of Chita with a group of dogs and cats. The child, who authorities assume to be around five years old despite stunted growth that makes her appear to be around two years of age, is non-vocal and exhibits dog-like behavior, such as barking and jumping at doors whenever care takers leave the room. (More at Reuters.com)

The girl, who is being called “Natasha”, is far from the first documented feral child. While the mythic founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus (who legend claims were suckled by a she wolf after being saved from death by having their basket set in the Tiber River and washing ashore Moses style) are among the most famous of the feral children and Rudyard Kipling’s fictional Mowgli, from the Jungle Book, lends his name to the syndrome for children who adopt the characteristics of animals they grow up with; there are several documented cases of actual feral children. These cases include:

Peter, the Wild Boy of Hamelin

The Wild Girl of Champagne

Oxana Malaya, the dog girl of Ukraine

Traian Caldarar, the wild boy of Romania

There are also a number of children who, while not technically “feral” in the sense of being raised by animals, have been abandoned due to mental incapacity and then had the feral child myth constructed around them (such as the famous Indian “wolf girls” Amala and Kamala) or otherwise held in isolation by their parents or care-givers. In addition there are a number of unsubstantiated or poorly documented stories out of African nations , especially those savaged by years of war such as Sierra Leone and Uganda, of children raised by apes or monkeys after losing their parents.

There are also the outright hoaxes, usually of the carnival side-show variety where a physical or mental deficiency was exploited for monetary gain, however there are enough verifiable accounts to make the phenomenon an intriguing study.

While the word Bigfoot usually conjures images of the deep forests and mountains of the Pacific Northwest, there is also a rich tradition of southern hominid sightings. Often known by various local names, the southern Bigfoot doesn’t get as much attention (or respect) as his northwestern cousins, but his impact on the local people and their lore has been just as profound. Southern Fried Bigfoot, premiering tonight on the Documentary Channel, takes a look at some of the more notable southern sighting reports, including the Fouke Monster of Fouke, Arkansas; Louisiana’s Honey Island Swamp Monster; the Lake Worth Monster of Lake Worth, Texas; and Florida’s Myakka Ape or Skunk Ape. Southern Fried Bigfoot also talks with the various authors and field researchers involved in the study of southern Bigfoot phenomenon about the historical record and continuing efforts to document the species.

The subtle emphasis throughout the film, intentional or accidental, seems to be the impact of these creatures on the local culture. Interview subjects, for instance, emphasize the legacy of local names and legends, many linking southern “wild man” stories to reports that pre-date the first use of the term “Bigfoot” by hundreds of years. Even the use of cheesy, Bigfoot themed clip art imagery and sports mascot logos throughout the documentary, while seeming amateur at first, helps emphasize the impact these stories have had on the human experience.

The documentary is a worthwhile watch for anyone with even a passing interest in the subject. While the documentary does not contain any major revelations or new info for the dedicated students of Bigfoot and cryptozoology, it is engaging and entertaining. What will probably be of most interest to those already familiar with the creatures profiled will be the ideas expressed by the various personalities involved in the search for Bigfoot in the south. DVD extras providing additional information related to various reports, info on hoaxes, the difference between reports in the North and the South, the sounds associated with Bigfoot reports, etc., will also appeal to those with a deeper interest in the history of reported sightings and the personalities involved in researching the creature.

The Monkeyhouse production, Southern Fried Bigfoot, premieres tonight at 9:00 PM EST/8:00 PM CST on the Documentary Channel (encore at Midnight EST, 11 CST).

Additional showtimes are scheduled for Saturday, April 18 (5 PM Eastern, 4 PM Central), Wednesday April 29 (8 and 11 PM Eastern, 7 and 10 PM Central), Wednesday, May 6 (5 PM Eeastern, 4 PM Central), and Saturday, May 16 (9 PM and Midnight Eastern, 8 and 11 PM Central).

For those researching strange phenomenon, establishing and maintaining a good reputation, a measure of respect, and the legitimacy of their studies is always an uphill battle. Mainstream journalist and pundits usually scoff, when they bother to pay attention at all. Hoaxers and scam artists garner big notice in the press. But researchers who are respected in their particular cloistered field, and who have called a hoax a hoax from the outset, are relegated to a footnote in the mainstream news reports. That is, they are relegated to a footnote if they are lucky enough to be noticed at all.

In the world of conspiracy theory, ufology, cryptozoology, and fringe science, your damned when you speak out, and damned when you don’t.

So, given all of this, what does respectability even mean to these fields? Enthusiasm and interest ebbs and flows, as it does for anything, and people choose to construct a world-view that best suits them. If that means that all bigfoot reports are hoaxes so that they aren’t afraid to go into the woods at night, or that ghosts are real because nothing else explains the creepy feeling they get in the third floor guest room where Uncle Jim died, then that is what people choose to believe.

With incidents like the recent pseudocide of 9-11 Truther Ace Baker, blogged on here by SMiles Lewis, and the Georgia bigfoot body hoax pulled off by a police officer and former prison guard (professions comprised of individuals normally accepted as paramounts of honesty and respectability) in August of last year, it seems valid that we pause and ask ourselves some questions.

How important is reputation in these fields? Jacques Vallee is educated, well written and spoken, not prone to jumping to conclusions, and yet he would be lumped in with the “saucer nuts” by most mainstream journalists. The same could be said for hominid researchers such as Jeff Meldrum, who like Vallee has an academic reputation to maintain outside of his personal studies.  Yet while the Meldrums and Vallees of this world suffer under the derision and constant scrutiny of colleagues and the media, or keep their private pursuits to themselves; known hucksters and hoaxers like Tom Biscardi continue to benefit from the flippant attitude toward the subjects and lack of background research undertaken by various local media outlets. Biscardi is a known and proven hoaxer, yet he can pull into any small town and have the cameras on his crew in a matter of hours.

Perhaps, as guest blogger Oliver Hallen muses in the post below concerning UFO reports by police officers in the UK, respect and reputation are concepts as culturally and contextually loaded, and therefore as ephemeral, as the UFOs and beasties we endeavor to understand.

(The views expressed by Oliver Hallen are his own and do not reflect the opinions or views of AnomalyMagazine.com, its editorial staff, or myself. — Jeremy D. Wells)

A mark of respect

by Oliver Hallen

A problem I’ve come across many times in the subject of ufology is complaints regarding the disparaging nature with which it’s treated. Although very easy to attack and a lot of the criticism being justified, it rarely gets sensibly acknowledged by the majority of the fields populace which should really address this. It doesn’t come as much of a surprise though when familiar with the general thinking that so many researchers subscribe to. Most people within the scene appear to have an inability to skeptically assess matters on a fundamental level. This has been a major issue that’s dogged the field and is as noticeable now as decades ago.

One area I wanted to touch on with relation to this is a word that seems to bring with it much attention both good and bad: respectability. The desire for this is almost always wanted in what ever people have been devoted to, ufology being no exception. It’s a sensitive issue which many investigators battle for, although it’s usually not fully defined as to what region this is directed towards. Is it sought from the scientific community, peers, for quality of research conducted, dedication to one of the many ‘causes’ or another reason? This is a single example of many regarding the ambiguity that’s rampant throughout the subject.

Another section its present in is concerning that of witnesses. Of course, reports coming from sources like active or former military personnel, pilots and other professionals will nearly always be treated more seriously, but holding such a position in no way means you are beyond fallible. One specific group I’m going to concentrate on is police officers, who are expected and trained in their job to provide accurate reporting, investigative skills as well as an approach of impartiality. The following three referenced reports, all from separate decades, come from the Police Reporting UFO Sightings (PRUFOS) database which has ample incidents catalogued spanning different locations and dates.

The initial one occurred in 1972, in Banbury, Oxfordshire. Officers PC Perry Jackson and PC William Bryne observed a yellow coloured cigar shaped vehicle. According to Bryne, it “…travelled along slowly for a few seconds, then shot off into the night at a fantastic speed. We didn’t know what it was, nor had we ever seen anything like it but many reports have been made at the police station of strange lights and objects”.

The next took place on the 16th August, 1988, in Toomebridge, Northern Ireland. A Constable sighted an unidentified silver coloured object from the police station in this vicinity. Watching the UFO for an hour including with binoculars, several other Constables in separate locations close by saw it too.

The last comes from out in Gravesend, Kent, in October, 1993. On visiting an address, PC Tony Francis sighted an abnormal craft which public witnesses had reported. Even though unable to elucidate what it could actually be, he didn’t doubt the integrity of both the male and female observers’ report he answered. Supposedly, it had the ability to alter its shape from a bell to an ellipse with spikes coming out of it.

Its strange how both unsolved crimes from past years and ones committed today can be resolved via the investigative means we have at our disposal yet, even with the so-called best cases, the most that’s accomplished from a ufological view in regards to an answer is simply: we don’t know. Even with these witnesses and descriptions, there’s still nothing at all here that could bolster the above incidents as connected to a paranormal explanation. It’s important to state that an apparent answer or viewpoint on a certain case can be based massively off the bias of either an investigating or witnessing party, though this is not always present. Assumptions are made however with not even a scrap of supporting evidence, with one person’s interpretation being very different to another’s.

A question to ask is how respectability exists at all in an unpredictable climate like this. Well, as I’ve said before, a lot of the blame rests squarely with ufologists.

(The PRUFOS website can be found at – www.prufospolicedatabase.co.uk)

Oliver Hallen – 8^th November, 2008

by SMiles Lewis

As if the 911 Truth Movement weren’t weird and ridiculed enough already – now it goes and shoots itself in the foot … again.

How often do people come across a severed human head lying in the middle of the road? Apparently as often as someone might happen to tune-in and hear a radio-show co-host commit suicide live on the air. Or is it simply a matter of weirdness acting as a strange attractor for ever more weirdness? Whatever the explanation, I witnessed both within forty-eight hours of each other.

On Tuesday, January 6th at about 2:35 pm (Central Standard Time) I was tuning in to the webradio stream of upstart Austin alternative media outlet, Freedom Underground Radio. This is the new radio station “rising from the ashes of We The People Radio Network.” WFU Radio has been founded by a co-founder of WTPRN. (Full disclosure: WFURadio has recently started carrying the PsiOp Radio show which I co-host with Mack White.)

I was tuning in to James Fetzer‘s show, The Real Deal. Now, I’m not a huge fan of his research nor a regular listener to his show. He had on someone whose name I recognized as having been on the show before as a co-host who has been active within the 911-TV-Fakery branch of the conspiracy community, Ace Baker. Apparently they had switched roles for this particular show with Ace interviewing Jim instead of the other way around.

Within moments of tuning in I had the thought, “Is this guy (Ace Baker) about to commit suicide?” And moments later he did. He was speaking of regret, longing and despair regarding his daughter and deceased parents, about the disrespect and outright attacks that others in the movement had heaped upon him. “I’m coming home,” he said before I heard the sound of a gunshot. The moments leading up to and those that followed that bang were some of the most awkward live radio I’ve ever experienced.

Fetzer was understandably more or less speechless and to his credit seemed to keep his head. He managed to call Baker’s wife and leave a voicemail begging her to check on Ace saying he was worried about him. This is especially amazing for Fetzer as we were later to learn that his own Mother had killed herself when he was only 11 years old and he says had told Ace about this previously.

Of course immediately, the possibility of a hoax was apparent, at least doubly so because of the involvement of someone involved in the “fakery” branch of 911 conspiracy theories who is also a sound engineer. But even contemplating the hoax possibility I was still feeling shocked and shaky – calling my friend Mack and posting online and within Jack Blood’s Deadline Live website chatroom.

Meanwhile the stream for the station went down or was taken down by the internet service provider but came back up in time for a little more from Fetzer trying to manage a closing to the radioshow. Eventually Jack’s show started and Jim called in to talk about things as they developed. Fetzer apparently called the California Highway Patrol who took the possibility of suicide seriously and routed Jim’s call appropriately, eventually reporting back saying that Ace was still alive – the implication being that he was fine and had faked his death.

The next day Fetzer had Killtown call in to the show as a guest. Killtown is one of the people Ace Baker says has been harassing him – a fellow researcher / activist in the 911-Fakery community. Ace had lamented being persecuted by Killtown and other no-planers who have accused him of everything from being a Mossad disinfo agent to impersonating the other Ace Baker musician / sound engineer:

“See for example this, this, this, this, this and this.” – Ace Baker

Lo and behold the next day Ace posted the WHY of what he’d done to his blog laying out his gripes, research and assertions that it was all a performance art piece, with the full-extended video version to be released soon.

I’d come across Baker’s videos before, taking some time to watch his replication of the “Hutchison Effect” that proved to me what I’d suspected all along regarding the claims of gravity defying movements and levitations allegedly created by intense electromagnetic apparatus wielded by John Hutchison; that they are fake.

The very idea of a 911-TV-Fakery researcher faking their own suicide as a performance art piece is incredibly synchronistic for me given the last year and half’s experience of investigating the mysterious double suicide of conspiratorially minded artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake. In that case several folks at the Rigorous Intuition and Dreams End websites and forums were talking about the wild and weird world of Situationist performance art and related artistic movements, some of which seem to involve a lot of parapolitical intrigue that sometimes includes hoaxing, culture-jamming and even the faking of people’s murder or suicide, aka pseudocide. Other discussions centered on the idea of both real-world and online group-stalking and gaslighting of people driving them to perhaps commit suicide. In my interview last year with parapolitical activist, writer and researcher Len Bracken (author of the biography on Situationist movement leader Guy Debord – Revolutionary) I brought up the possible confluence of some of the wilder personalities within the 911 Truth Movement (folks who seem more like performance artists than activists and researchers) and the Situationist and Discordian communities.

Ace Baker does not purport to be a Situationist or Discordian but he is trying to justify his actions as a form of parapolitical artistic expression – a last resort that he feels forced into because of factions within the 911 Truth Community and the general public at large. Baker espouses an Anarcho-Capitalist political philosophy rooted in the Libertarianism of Murray Rothbard and so he was quite at odds with the Socialist Liberal leanings of host Jim Fetzer.

No-one deserves to be assaulted by the act of another taking their own life. Not me, not Fetzer, and certainly not the other listeners to this show. Fetzer particularly, having lived through the suicide of his own Mother when he was a child should not have been subjected to this emotional and political ruse. I didn’t know whether to take any of Ace’s research seriously before this incident and it certainly has done nothing to increase the likelihood of my listening to his arguments now. But witnessing the audio live on the air and struggling to ascertain the truth of the situation and the absurdity of experiencing “live” what I’d been contemplating for a year and a half (the “conspiracy researcher pseudocide” meme) have made this a difficult thing for me to simply drop and not speak about. As someone keenly interested in the Copycat Effect (where sensationalistic media coverage of murders / suicides triggers ever more murders and suicides) the staging of such a public death as created by Ace Baker leaves me angry and concerned yet also fascinated.

The reactions among the WFU Radio hosts and listeners has been what one would rationally expect, anger and resentment over the act itself (of suicide in general and faking it in particular), comedic relief and of course concern for the future of WFUR, the Truth Movement, Jim Fetzer, and in very few cases, concern for Mr. Baker’s well-being.

In the meantime, Fetzer appears to have been kicked-off or suspended from the Freedom Underground Radio Network for unclear reasons. Some are suggesting it might be because of his political philosophy being antithetical to the majority at WFU while others are speculating that it has more to do with him being a lightning rod for dissension and division within the movement – indeed that is the reputation that preceded him when I first learned of his migration from the JFK conspiracy community into the 911 research community. But to me it seems a rather dishonorable thing to kick someone off a budding new radio network on the heels of having experienced the trauma of someone faking their own death on your show. Not to mention the incongruity of someone being let go over their political beliefs on a network with the word FREEDOM in the title. Perhaps management are holding Fetzer responsible for the actions of his guest / co-host. I’m sure that we don’t know the whole story. I just hope that this incident won’t besmirch the image of the budding network that is Freedom Underground Radio.

It goes without saying that such tactics (pseudocide) and research directions (TV-Fakery) tend to be considered albatrosses around the necks of 911 Truthers and AntiWar activists who already fight an uphill battle against an unthinking, mind-controlled population. However, until antiwar activists can find common ground with the “Twoofers” and the Conspiracy Communities can come to grips with the various competing theory-factions (no matter how outlandish they seem) there will be no common front against the various Cover-Ups of ongoing Deep Political Corruption.

…

Oh yeah! So what about the severed human head in the road? Well, after doubling back to prove to my loved-one that I had NOT in fact been hallucinating … we both saw the head laying in the middle of a busy street near our home, not a hundred yards from an Apostolic Christian Tabernacle church. Thankfully, it proved to be as real as Ace Baker’s on-air suicide.

A strange keep-sake for a strange week.

Personally, throughout 2008 I’ve been self-employed, unemployed, taking advantage of free time to work on the blog, too busy looking for work to work on the blog, too poor to concentrate on anything but finding a job, and finally working a job and too darn tired to dedicate myself to keeping up a blog-post-a-day schedule like I would like to. It isn’t just me. My fellow contributors here have been in similar situations. So has most of the nation as we suffer through one of the worst economic downturns since the early Reagan years (incidentally, the only time I remember being hungry as a kid, when my dad was laid off).

We’ve posted some really good blog articles over here at Anomaly, with little pomp or fanfare, and little feedback from our readers. We’ve posted other articles, calling out national figures for their unbalanced coverage of UFO sightings and assuming no one would ever read, only to find that key players and authors are following us. If you are reading this, thanks for being a lurker. We do this for you, whether you comment or not. If you’d take some time just to say “hi”, let us know you’ve been here, it would mean the world to us.

If you decide not to say anything, that’s fine. I’ll keep writing. Here, elsewhere, or even on the backs of napkins. Lot’s of stuff happened over the course of 2008. We’ve had an historic election. We’ve suffered through yet another bigfoot hoax (and yet somehow Tom Biscardi still thrives… the cockroach of the bigfoot world whom no stink apparently sticks to.) I’ve not had the time to process it all, much less put together a comprehensive “year in review” blog post about all the strange things to happen over the past year.
But rest assured, these posts will continue to go up. Regularly, sporadically, or otherwise.
Things will continue to happen. Folks will continue to wonder “why”. And we’ll continue to ponder the possible reasons.
2008 wasn’t the best of years for us. But we hope you’ll join us in the coming year, as we strive to be more consistent, more timely, and to provide you with a forum for learning about, following, and discussing anomalies.

I found this item about those crazy Raelians on Huffington Post thanks to Chez Pazienza over at Deus Ex Malcontent.

For those not familiar with the Raelians, they are a saucer cult founded by French race car test-driver turned spiritual guru Claude Vorilhon. The Raelian ideology is the standard ancient astronaut world seeding theory, with heaping dollops of late 60s and early 70s free love, and generically spiritual “war is bad” platitudes. They have been in the news most recently for their support of, and claim that they had succeeded in, human cloning. Vorilhon, who currently goes by the name Rael and claims to be the son of an earthly mother of an extraterrestrial father, founded his religion after an alleged close encounter in 1973 where he met his father and learned the truth behind our creation myths.

That all may be true. Or it could be that after failing as a pop-singer (under the name Claude Celler) and as a race car driver, and with his youth fading as quickly as his car in his competitors’ rear-view mirrors, Vorilhon decided the only sure fire way to continue getting laid by a different woman every night was to start a free love cult.

The truth is for more devoted seekers than me to puzzle out.

But for now, enjoy the links. Pull out your old UFO paperbacks and look in the index for anything on Vorilhon and Rael. Enjoy your holiday. And try not to be too upset at the lost opportunity for deliciously comic irony that could have been found in a group celebrating the season when we remember the virgin birth of the Prince of Peace, with a World Peace Orgy.

Merry Christmas. Happy Chanukah. Festive Festivus. Happy New Year.