Strange Times

a collection of mysteries from these...

STRANGE TIMES

A NEXUS NEW TIMES SPECIAL EDITION

Prophecies & Predictions

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Subterranean Mysteries Evidence of Giants Encounters with Aliens UFO Whistleblowers Crop Circles Strange Creatures

• Area 51 • Yowies • Antarctic Secrets • & more

STRANGE TIMES PUBLISHED BY NEXUS Magazine Pty Ltd ABN 80 003 611 434

EDITOR Duncan M. Roads

CO-EDITOR Catherine Simons

ASSISTANT EDITOR Ruth Parnell

PROOFREADER Jenny Hawke

CARTOONS Phil Somerville

COVER GRAPHIC Jeff Edis

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Editorial

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elcome to STRANGE Times, a special edition published by NEXUS Magazine. In this compendium, we present some of the most intriguing "mystery" articles to have appeared in NEXUS over the last 15 years. I've grouped these articles into seven sections, covering the following topics: • UFO and Alien Encounters: Needless to say, this is one issue not likely to disappear. Sightings are increasing, evidence is accumulating, hundreds of high-level whistleblowers want to testify to the existence of UFOs, and still the mainstream media snigger at the subject. As you will see, elected government members are not in the loop on UFOs, and the military-industrial and intelligence communities are in control when it comes to disclosure. • Anomalous Creatures: We call them "yowies" in Australia, but they exist on many other continents and have similar characteristics. Also in this section are articles on encounters with bunyips, chupacabras and sea serpents. • Prophecies and Predictions: If you're like me, you're sick of vague prophecies that only seem to make sense after the event. You'll be amazed at the prophecies we've published over the years. Some hold great promise for our future and some we hope will never come true, but all are worth reading. • Mysteries Within the Earth: There are tales from all over the globe of strange places and weird creatures that live deep underground, as you will read here. This section includes Hollow Earth theory and the search for the fabled subterranean realm of Agharta and city of Shambhala. • Giants from Prehistory: You'll be astounded at the evidence that a race of giant humans once walked the Earth. We look at the evidence obtained by the Smithsonian Institution over a century ago as well as stories from folklore. • Hidden Bases and Unusual Beings: I was in a bit of a quandary as to how to describe this section. Basically it contains some of my favourite "recent" mysteries. You will see that these articles contain "all of the above", i.e., secret bases, UFOs, giants and strange creatures. • The Crop Circle Conundrum: While the rest of the planet is happy with the announcement 10 years ago that two hoaxers had come forward and confessed to making all the crop circles, those who read NEXUS will recognise that the mystery still remains unsolved. Chemical changes in the soil and plants, anomalous electromagnetic field effects and high-pitched sounds have been documented. This section features a photographic round-up of the best crop circles from 1999 to 2004, along with a report on each season. As regular readers of NEXUS Magazine will recognise, we have included many of the relevant "Twilight Zone" sections from past editions; these contain shorter items under the category of the unexplained or mysterious. It is our hope that you find these articles stimulating enough that you'll want to research them further. Where possible, we have listed the source and author contact details. We welcome feedback, further information and reasonable questions. As you'll see from the pages of this STRANGE Times compilation, we are not in the game of sensationalising these topics. We would like to see these mysteries explained, mainly because I think it will result in mankind having to take a new look at who we are and what "reality" really is. In many ways, we are living in times akin to when we "knew" that the Earth was flat, we "knew" that the Earth was at the centre of the universe, and we "knew" that rocks did not fall from the sky, and so on. In order to explain the anomalies, mankind had to adopt an entirely new framework within which to understand the strange observations made by "quackpots". How strange that those very "quackpots" are now the scientific heroes of history.

Duncan

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STRANGE Times 2006

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NEXUS • 1

STRANGE TIMES - CONTENTS UFO AND ALIEN ENCOUNTERS.....4 PROJECT UFO DISCLOSURE........................................5 By Steven M. Greer, MD. The findings of The Disclosure Project feature testimony from military "insiders" with first-hand experience of UFOs and ETs.

TOWARDS FULL DISCLOSURE ON UFOs...................9

THE TWILIGHT ZONE................................................50 The 1999 COMETA report on UFOs, prepared by an independent group at France's Institute of Higher Studies for National Defence, gives serious attention to the question, "What must we be prepared for?"

THE TWILIGHT ZONE................................................54 Linda Moulton Howe interviews former US naval intelligence officer C. B. Scott Jones on the reality of UFOs and ETs and the issue of disclosure.

By Theresa de Veto. Retired US Army/DIA analyst John Maynard had access to highly classified files which confirm the existence of UFOs and alien beings, and he now urges the government and military to come clean.

THE TALL WHITE EXTRATERRESTRIALS.....................58

We include news proving that the US media suppressed reports of UFO sightings, and revelations that a US Library of Congress staffer wrote studies on extraterrestrial intelligence for US President Jimmy Carter.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE................................................63

We report on author Victor Hugo's séances with aliens in the 1850s, President Carter's 1969 UFO sighting, hauntings at a UK spy headquarters, and British police officers' own UFO encounters.

ANOMALOUS CREATURES.....70



AREA 51/S-4: SECRETS BEHIND THE SCENES...........21

An interview by Dr Michael E. Salla. A weather observer at Nellis Air Force Base in the mid-1960s, Charles Hall encountered a resident race of Tall White extraterrestrials engaged in technology transfer with the US military.

Debbie Payne provides an exposé on the files available in the Australian National Archives that confirm government knowledge of the UFO phenomenon.

THE "CHUPACABRAS" MYSTERY................................71 By Linda Moulton Howe. Terrifying vampire-like attacks on animals and humans were reported in Puerto Rico, Mexico and southern USA in 1995–96. Are chupacabras to blame? Did UFOs bring them?

By Wendelle C. Stevens. This veteran UFO researcher tells the story of an ex-US Marine sentry who confirmed the presence of UFOs and aliens at Area 51/S-4 before mysteriously disappearing.

THE BUNYIP MYSTERY...............................................78

By Linda Moulton Howe. A former US Army Signal Corps and CIA officer who toured Area 51 in 1958, "Kewper" divulges details on what the government is hiding about UFOs and alien races.

By Gary Opit. Several types of large aquatic animals, popularly called bunyips, have been known to both Aborigines and European settlers in Australia, and at least one species may be a megafauna remnant from Pleistocene times.

By Alec Newald. In 1989, Alec was abducted for 10 days by a group of advanced, benign aliens. His lifechanging experiences have profound significance for human and other galactic beings.

By Gary Opit. If bellowing calls, huge footprints and mutilated prey are any evidence, Australia's dense forests may be home to two cryptic primates: the Yowie and its smaller relative, the Junjadee.

News featuring alleged alien artefacts kept in the US Capitol in the late 1930s, leaked documents that shed light on official secrecy over UFOs, Dr Edward Teller's proposal that UFO documents be declassified, and a 1992 joint exercise between the US military and aliens.

By C. D. Pollard. So many eyewitness accounts of "sea serpents" through the centuries can't all be figments of the imagination. Perhaps the plesiosaur has indeed survived the age of the dinosaurs.

Graham Birdsall interviews Valery Uvarov, of Russia's National Security Academy, about a strange installation in Siberia that can destroy errant cosmic bodies.

PROPHECY COUNTDOWN 2000..............................97

By Linda Moulton Howe. Unwilling abductee Jim Sparks claims to have had an in-the-flesh encounter with a group of advanced reptilian humanoids with an environmental awareness message for humanity.

Edited by Neo. A Serbian peasant who lived in the 19th century, Mitar Tarabich had an uncanny ability to predict the future of his people and still has surprises in store for us in the 21st century.

UFOs & EBEs: MORE INSIDER EVIDENCE..........26

AN INTERPLANETARY ADVENTURE..........................33 UNDERSTANDING THE YOWIE PHENOMENON.....85

THE TWILIGHT ZONE................................................39 STRANGE TALES ABOUT SEA SERPENTS...................91


PROPHECIES AND PREDICTIONS.....96 From the Hopi Elders, Mother Shipton and Dannion Brinkley's Light Beings.

MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE ALIENS....................45 THE PROPHECIES OF MITAR TARABICH.................105

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STRANGE Times 2006

STRANGE TIMES - CONTENTS THE TWILIGHT ZONE..............................................161

PROPHECIES AND PREDICTIONS THE TWILIGHT ZONE..............................................111

We feature a 1535 account of an expedition into the depths of the mysterious Breitenwinner Cave in Germany.

We feature "final days" prophecies from the Hopi Elders, compiled by John Hogue.

GIANTS FROM PREHISTORY.....164

By Tom Brown, Jr. In the 1920s, an Apache wise man had a stream of prophetic visions that foretold the demise of humanity unless we changed our ways. Two of these visions seem to have come true.

By Ross Hamilton. Smithsonian Institution documents attest to the existence of a race of giants in ancient North America, but skeletal remains found in prehistoric earth mounds have either perished or been hidden from view.

Ancient Vedic scriptures contain prophecies about the current Kali-yuga (the dark age that began in 3102 BC), many of which have significance today.

John Mount says that references to giants can be found in folklore, art and historical records around the globe, but conclusive evidence of the existence of these giants is being kept secret or has been mysteriously removed.

We feature transmissions of the Mitchell-Hedges "talking" crystal skull, covering the history of the civilisation who made it and prophecies about imminent Earth changes.

HIDDEN BASES & UNUSUAL BEINGS.....177

NIGHT OF THE RED SKY..........................................113 HOLOCAUST OF GIANTS........................................165

THE TWILIGHT ZONE..............................................119 THE TWILIGHT ZONE..............................................174

THE TWILIGHT ZONE..............................................123

PROPHECIES FROM THE MEIER CONTACTS...........127 By Michael Horn, and with contactee Billy Meier in discussion with Quetzal, the Plejaren, on the Henoch Prophecies. So many Plejaren predictions have come true that we'd be wise to heed their warnings of annihilation and learn to live together.

MYSTERIES WITHIN THE EARTH.....134 THE HOLLOW EARTH THEORY PATENT.................135 By Mark Harp. In 1914, a US patent was awarded for a theory that our Earth is a hollow sphere with polar openings and an internal sun. A compelling body of evidence exists for the validity of the hollow Earth theory.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE..............................................142

BRITAIN'S SECRET WAR IN ANTARCTICA...............178 By James Roberts. At the end of World War II, Britain sent a covert mission to Antarctica to investigate anomalous activities near its Maudheim base and to seek out and destroy a subterranean Nazi haven.

THE SNAKE DRAGON MYSTERY..............................183 By Marius Boirayon. The Solomon Islanders have a long history of encounters with strange aerial craft and alien beings, and recent experiences sparked this former RAAF engineer to search for UFO bases on the islands.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE..............................................188 Marius Boirayon reports on eyewitness accounts of giants and dwarves that still exist in the caves and mountainous jungles of the Solomon Islands, as well as on discoveries of skeletons, stone walls, artefacts and inscribed obelisks.

THE CROP CIRCLE CONUNDRUM.....191

We highlight the Russian artist/mystic Nicholas Roerich's connection with the mysterious Chintamani Stone and his search for the fabled lost kingdom of Agharta and city of Shambhala in the Himalayan region.

DOES SOUND CREATE CROP CIRCLES?..................192

By Wm Michael Mott. Ancient mythologies and religions are rich with tales of inhabitants from subterranean realms, and they have commonalities whether they be from the East, West or New World.

CROP CIRCLES ROUND-UP

THE DEEP DWELLERS—Part 1..................................145

THE DEEP DWELLERS—Part 2..................................151 By Wm Michael Mott. Modern-day reports of strange subterranean creatures and humanoids have much in common with descriptions preserved in ancient art, legends and religions the world over.

THE DEEP DWELLERS—Part 3..................................157

By Freddy Silva. Trilling sounds have often been recorded in connection with crop circle creation, and experiments with plants and sound have produced similar effects in the laboratory. Reports by Andy Thomas

News of the Swirled: 1999....................................197 Formative Fields: 2000..........................................203 Signs of the Times: 2001.......................................207 Pick of the Season: 2002.......................................212 Genius in the Fields: 2003.....................................217 Geometry in the Grain: 2004................................223

By Wm Michael Mott. Modern accounts of alien abductions and Men in Black incidents have parallels with global legends of beings who live underground. STRANGE Times 2006


NEXUS • 3

UFO and Alien Encounters

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e open this special compendium with a collection of articles and items that deal with the UFO issue. As you will see, the UFO "debate" covers some diverse areas. • The Disclosure Project: In Washington, DC, in May 2001, Dr Steven Greer gathered numerous high-level whistleblowers to give public testimony as to their direct knowledge of and involvement with UFOs, ETs and related technology. The majority of these whistleblowers were asking for immunity from prosecution so that they could circumvent their national security oath which prevents them from openly disclosing what they know. The project was gathering momentum, with former US presidential chiefs of staff and advisers also giving their support, when suddenly September 11 came along and everyone's focus changed. Nevertheless, countries such as France, China and Russia have published internal reports which confirm that UFOs exist, suggest that they are not hostile, and claim that the USA is pressuring other nations to keep quiet on the issue. Several of the articles in these pages feature Disclosure Project participants and what they have to say. • Media Cover-ups: In this section you'll read an example of the mainstream media failing to disclose accurately anything related to the UFO phenomenon. This is certainly not the first time that a major media organisation had a documented scoop on UFOs which was cancelled on orders from above. Consider the example of the massive UFO flaps seen and recorded over Mexico City in the early 1990s. Here we have one of the world's largest cities with UFOs hovering in the sky for hours in broad daylight and at night. Scores of people were able to videotape these objects. Cars stopped on freeways while people in their tens of thousands looked up to the heavens to witness these amazing sights. Jaime Mausson, the anchorman for the Mexican equivalent of 60 Minutes, also witnessed the objects and has since become a key speaker on the UFO conference circuit. There was major media coverage in Mexico, but typically not a mention in the Western or English-language media including Australian newspapers, radio and television. We have to ask why. • Human–Alien Contact: This is where it becomes tricky, even for seasoned UFO researchers. How do you assess the credibility of a person's experiences? Well, given that we are small publishers with limited resources, we do our best to assess character, background and initial supporting evidence. Even then, we are sometimes left with tales that are worth telling regardless. In these cases, we publish and let the readers decide what they think about these testimonies. Such is the case with the book CoEvolution, an extract of which we reprint here. This is the amazing story of New Zealander Alec Newald's claimed 10-day abduction by an extraterrestrial race back in the late 19 80s—a claim which, even to this day, UFO groups don't want to investigate. Alec is certainly convinced of his story, and we at NEXUS Magazine found it compelling enough that we went on to publish CoEvolution. (You can still obtain a copy through our magazine and website, or you can use the order form at the back of this compilation.) At this point, I must stress to any doubters that the vast majority of people who report a UFO abduction or sighting do not make money out of their story and do not make film stars of themselves; in fact, many would advise other UFO experiencers to keep their mouth shut! The motive in all cases I've looked into has been one of wanting to find out what on (or off) Earth is going on! So, where do we go from here on the subject of UFOs, ETs and whistleblowers? Well, my advice is to read everything before coming to any conclusion, and even then you'd better be prepared to change your views when new information comes to hand. This is a subject which is "evolving". We have gone from classic flying saucers, charismatic contactees and conspiracy theories involving secret treaties with aliens, to human abductions, joint human-alien bases utilising reverse-engineered alien technology and "star children" who grow up remembering their previous existence as an alien from elsewhere in the universe and who have enhanced awareness and abilities. To appreciate the full scope of the UFO debate, you will need to take a few years off work and dive into the Internet! Thousands of websites offer every conceivable angle possible. These include all manner of theories on UFOs, from their being secret military technology or intergalactic visitors to originating inside this planet or from the Moon or another dimension. Are we merely being visited by curious travellers, or are we being farmed by some species with a long-term agenda? Are we being visited by ourselves in probable future timelines, or are we a lab experiment gone crazy? Or is it "all of the above"? As usual, we leave it for you to ponder.

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STRANGE Times 2006

TESTIMONY THAT EXPLAINS THE SECRECY OVER UFOs by Steven M. Greer, MD © 2001

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his establishes the reality of the UFO/ET phenomenon and also the fact that we have been studying it for years. Many people might believe that it is limited to the so-called "Roswell event" of the 1940s, but this could not be further from the truth. In fact, there have been multiple events, at least a couple of dozen, where objects of extraterrestrial origin have been downed, acquired and studied. We believe that this is something which is of extreme importance, because one cannot consider that covert programs—having spent hundreds of billions of dollars over the decades on research and development, so-called "reverse engineering" or "back engineering" extraterrestrial technologies— have not had significant breakthroughs.

Gordon Cooper: US Astronaut Gordon Cooper was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts and the last American to fly into space alone. In his testimony he recounts how he observed UFOs flying in the same formation as his fighter group over the skies of Germany. These UFOs made manoeuvres that could not be done STRANGE Times 2006

by conventional fighters. He felt they must have been under intelligent control to communicate with one another, due to the type of manoeuvres they were mimicking. At another time, while filming conventional aircraft performing precision landings, a saucer flew directly overhead and landed ahead of them on a dry lakebed. The entire event was filmed, including detailed close-ups. The film was sent back to Washington and was never returned.

Dr B.: Scientist and Engineer Dr B. is a scientist and engineer who has worked on top-secret projects almost all his life. Over the years he has directly worked on or had involvement with projects involving anti-gravity, chemical warfare, secure telemetry and communications, extremely high energy space-based laser systems and electromagnetic pulse technology. Dr B. has direct knowledge of the fact that certain groups have used these spacebased systems successfully to shoot down extraterrestrial spacecraft and their occupants. On at least one occasion he has personally seen extraterrestrial spacecraft. Dr Carol Rosin: Space Weapons Dr Carol Rosin was the first female corporate manager of Fairchild Industries and www.nexusmagazine.com

was spokesperson for Wernher von Braun in the last years of his life. She founded the Institute for Security and Cooperation in Outer Space in Washington, DC, and has testified before Congress on many occasions about space-based weapons. Von Braun revealed to Dr Rosin a plan to justify weapons in space, based on hoaxing first a Russian threat, then a terrorist threat, an asteroid threat, then finally an extraterrestrial threat. She was also present at meetings in the 1970s when the scenario for the Gulf War of the 1990s was planned.

Nick Pope: UK Ministry of Defence Nick Pope is a British Ministry of Defence official, still currently employed at the Ministry. He headed up the Ministry's office for research and investigation of the UFO phenomenon for a number of years in the 1990s. In his testimony, we learn of incontrovertible evidence in several events with massive objects moving at extraordinary speeds, witnessed by military personnel and tracked on radar—objects which were not manufactured on this Earth. He can also confirm the Bentwaters case and other cases within the UK, and acknowledges the existence of extensive government files on the UFO phenomenon. NEXUS • 5

THE TWILIGHT ZONE Larry Warren: United States Air Force Security Officer Larry Warren was a security officer at Bentwaters Air Force Base in the United Kingdom. He was present during an event in 1980 when an extraterrestrial vehicle (ETV) landed, hovered and interacted with air force personnel on the base. Afterwards, the many personnel who had witnessed the events were intimidated, debriefed and forced to sign documents telling a false version of the story. Warren's testimony is corroborated by multiple other military witnesses who have been identified. There are official documents related to this event; there is a photograph related to the event; and there is physical landing trace evidence. This entire event is also corroborated by Ministry of Defence official Nick Pope, by Five-Star Admiral, Sea Lord, former Ministry of Defence head Lord HillNorton, and by Sergeant Clifford Stone. Sergeant Clifford Stone: US Army Sergeant Clifford Stone tells an amazing story about the history of UFOs and extraterrestrials dating back to the early 1940s and probably before. Back in 1943, General Douglas MacArthur organised a group called the Interplanetary Phenomena Research Unit to study this issue, and its work continues to this day. Their purpose is to recover objects of unknown origin, particularly those that are of non-Earthly origin. They obtain field intelligence information and pass it on to those who are the

"keepers of this information". Stone says that even Project Bluebook had an elite investigation unit, which was outside of Bluebook. This unit was thought to be working in conjunction with Bluebook, but in fact was not. Stone has seen living and dead extraterrestrials in his official duties on an army team that retrieved crashed ET craft. He thinks that the ETs will not permit us to explore the depths of outer space until we've learned to grow spiritually, and that they will make themselves known soon if we don't first acknowledge their presence.

Major-General Vasily Alexyev: Russian Air Force Major-General Alexyev, of the Space Communications Centre in Russia, is considered one of the most knowledgeable Russian Generals. He states that if extraterrestrials are capable of traversing vast distances, then they are probably from a higher level of civilisation. And if this is true, then they must be concerned with normal development of relations between people—constructive progress, not destructive. He says that if we look at our Earth history, we will see a tale of self-destruction, murder and death of entire peoples. He believes that advanced civilisations would not tolerate such behaviour because their lives would have a different meaning and be understood in a larger context. Major-General Alexyev knows of many eyewitness reports of unusual craft documented in specific Soviet papers. Various

"You here for the UFO Conference?"

6 • NEXUS


departments within the government, including the Defence Ministry and the Academy of Sciences, began investigating this phenomenon. They have many reports of UFOs seen over locations containing high concentrations of advanced science, such as nuclear facilities. In some cases they have learned how to create situations where they could deliberately provoke the appearance of UFOs, and in these "contacts" they would, for example, point their arms in various directions and the UFOs would respond by flattening their spheres in the same direction. There was a case just outside Moscow where a warrant officer found himself at the site of a UFO landing and the extraterrestrials made contact with him telepathically and asked him if he would like to visit inside the craft.

Master Sergeant Dan Morris (Ret.): US Air Force/NRO Operative Dan Morris is a retired US Air Force career Master Sergeant who was involved in extraterrestrial projects for many years. After leaving the Air Force, he was recruited into the super-secret National Reconnaissance Organization (NRO), during which time he worked specifically on extraterrestrial-connected operations. He had a Cosmic Top Secret clearance (38 levels above Top Secret) which, he states, no US President to his knowledge has ever held. In his testimony, Morris talks of assassinations committed by the NSA, and he tells how the US military deliberately caused the 1947 ET craft crashes near Roswell and captured one of the ETs, which they kept at Los Alamos for three years until he died. He talks about the intelligence teams that were charged with intimidating, discrediting and even eliminating witnesses to ET/UFO events. He discusses Germany's re-engineering of UFOs even prior to World War II. Morris also talks about our current energy crisis and the fact that we haven't needed fossil fuels since the 1940s—when free energy technologies were developed but have been kept from humanity ever since. This is the real reason for the ET/UFO secrecy. "What the people in power right now don't want us to know is that this free energy is available to everybody." In conclusion, Morris warns against the weaponisation of space and the shooting down of ET craft: this could force them to retaliate, and that would be our destruction. STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE Don Phillips: Lockheed Skunkworks, USAF, CIA Contractor Don Phillips was in the US Air Force at Las Vegas Air Force Base during an event when UFOs were seen moving at enormous speeds near Mt Charleston, northwest of Las Vegas. In addition, he worked with Kelly Johnson at the Lockheed Skunkworks—on design and construction of the U-2 and the SR-71 Blackbird. He testifies that not only do we have these extraterrestrial devices, but we have also achieved tremendous technological advances from their study. Phillips states that in the 1950s and 1960s, NATO did research into the origin of ET races and disseminated reports to the leaders of various countries. He further states that there are records and filmed documentation of meetings in California in 1954 between ETs and leaders of the USA. He lists a few of the technologies we were able to develop because of the ETs: computer chips, lasers, night vision, bulletproof vests, and concludes: "Are these ET people hostile? Well, if they were hostile, with their weaponry they could have destroyed us a long time ago, or could have done some damage." Don Phillips now develops technologies such as energy generation systems that use natural energies from planet Earth, which can help eliminate environmental pollutants and reduce the need for fossil fuels. Captain Bill Uhouse (Retired): US Marine Corps Bill Uhouse served 10 years in the Marine Corps as a fighter pilot, and four years with the Air Force at WrightPatterson AFB as a civilian doing flighttesting of exotic experimental aircraft. Later, and for the next 30 years, he worked for defence contractors as an engineer of antigravity propulsion systems—on flight simulators for exotic aircraft and on actual flying discs. Captain Uhouse testifies that the first disc they tested was the re-engineered ET craft that crashed in Kingman, Arizona, in 1958. He further testifies that the ETs presented a craft to the US Government; this craft was taken to Area 51, which was just being constructed at the time, and the four ETs that accompanied the craft were taken to Los Alamos. Uhouse's speciality was the flight deck and instruments on the flight deck; he understands the gravitational field and what it takes to get people trained to STRANGE Times 2006

experience antigravity. He testifies that he actually met several times with an extraterrestrial who helped the physicists and engineers with the engineering of the craft.

A.H.: Boeing Aerospace A.H. has gained significant information from inside the UFO extraterrestrial groups within the US Government, military and civilian companies. He has friends at the NSA, CIA, NASA, JPL, ONI, NRO, Area 51, the Air Force, Northrup, Boeing and more. He used to work at Boeing as a surface technician. He was introduced to Four Star General Curtis Lemay and one day went to his house in Newport Beach, California, and spoke with him about this subject. Lemay confirmed the ETV crash at Roswell. A.H.'s NSA contact told him that Henry Kissinger, George Bush as well as Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev were all aware of the ET subject. His CIA contact told him that the USAF had shot down some of these spacecraft. A friend of A.H.'s who worked at Boeing was part of crash recovery and personally saw and carried ET bodies. A.H. says that a group in the FBI discovered that radar testing was causing interference with some of the ETVs and that this was what was causing so many crashes. He also says there are underground bases testing and maintaining extraterrestrial technology—in Utah (reachable only by air); Enzo, Lancaster/ Palmdale, Edwards AFB and March AFB, California; Eglin AFB, Florida; in England and many other locations. Gordon Creighton: Former British Foreign Service Official Gordon Creighton worked for many years in the British Foreign Service. He spent 10 years in China and in 1941 he saw a UFO while at the Embassy. In broad daylight he saw a disc-shaped, silent UFO with a bluewhite light on top,

flying very fast. In 1953 he spent some time with Military Defence in Whitehall and worked on the floor underneath a department, Air Technical, dealing with UFOs. He says that a UFO landed on the estate of Lord Mountbatten in the south of England near Southampton.

Sergeant Karl Wolfe: US Air Force Karl Wolfe was in the Air Force for 41⁄2 years beginning in January 1964. He had a top-secret crypto clearance and worked with the Tactical Air Command at Langley AFB in Virginia. While working at an NSA facility, he was shown photographs of the Moon, taken by the Lunar Orbiter, that showed detailed artificial structures. These photos were taken prior to the Apollo landing in 1969. Donna Hare: Former NASA Contract Employee Donna Hare had a Secret clearance while working for NASA contractor Philco Ford. She testifies that she was shown a photo of a picture with a distinct UFO. Her colleague explained that it was his job to airbrush such evidence of UFOs out of photographs before they were released to the public. She also heard information from other Johnson Space Center employees that some astronauts had seen extraterrestrial craft, and that when some of them wanted to speak out about this they were threatened.

"According to this Global Positioning System, we're in the wrong place at the wrong time."


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THE TWILIGHT ZONE Mr John Maynard: Retired Analyst, US Defense Intelligence Agency John Maynard was a military intelligence analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency. In the course of his 21-year career he saw evidence of the military's interest in UFOs in a variety of ways: electronic communications that did not originate from Earth, and military photos of UFOs. While at the DIA he became familiar with the compartmentalisation process of maintaining secrecy. He saw spy plane photos which clearly show UFOs. Harland Bentley: US Army Mr Bentley has been involved in working on classified projects with several US Government agencies including NASA and the DoE. He has a BSc-EE degree and extensive training in nuclear engineering. Mr Bentley recounts a story of personally witnessing a UFO crash at a Nike Ajax missile facility in Maryland and viewing on radar a group of UFOs take off at a calculated 17,000 miles an hour after having hovered on the ground. He also speaks of a 1967/68 incident where he overheard a conversation between Houston Control and astronauts in-flight, about avoiding a collision with a UFO and our astronauts seeing—through portholes in the UFO spacecraft—living beings moving about. Dr Robert Wood: Engineer, McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Dr Robert Wood worked in a senior capacity as an aerospace engineer at

8 • NEXUS

McDonnell Douglas for his entire 43-year career. In his testimony he states that he was involved in a specific project at McDonnell Douglas to study the propulsion systems of UFOs. He also confirms the existence of other projects within the aerospace industry and gives his assessment that this subject is not only real but is of an extraterrestrial nature. He also confirms the extreme secrecy surrounding it.

Colonel Phillip J. Corso, Sr (Retired): US Army Colonel Phillip Corso [now deceased] was a US Army intelligence officer who served on Eisenhower's National Security Council. After his 21-year military career, he served as a military analyst. He personally saw deceased extraterrestrials from the Roswell crash in 1947 and a UFO craft at an airbase, and also saw, on radar, UFOs travelling at 4,000 miles per hour. When he worked in R&D he was given fragments of ET technologies from various crashes and his job was to seed industry with these technologies, telling them they were from Earthly foreign sources. Mark McCandlish: US Air Force Mark McCandlish is an accomplished aerospace illustrator and has worked for many of the top aerospace corporations in the United States. His colleague Brad Sorenson, with whom he studied, has been inside a facility at Norton Air Force Base where he witnessed alien reproduction vehicles, or ARVs, that were fully operational and hovering. According to his testimony, the US not only has operational antigravity propulsion devices but has had them for many, many years. They have been developed through the study, in part, of ET vehicles over the past 50 years. In addition, we have the drawing from aerospace inventor Brad Sorenson of the devices he saw, as well as a schematic of one of these ARVs in some remarkable detail. www.nexusmagazine.com

Professor Paul Czysz: Aeronautics Dr Paul Czysz is a Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at Parks College in St Louis, Missouri. He spent eight years in the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and another 30 years working for McDonnell Douglas in the field of exotic technologies. While at Wright-Patterson AFB, he was involved in tracking UFOs over Missouri, Ohio and Michigan. These UFOs were seen by many people—military, local police and civilians—and were clocked at speeds around 20,000 mph as they performed unusual, silent manoeuvres. Dr Czysz spent more than half his career at McDonnell Douglas, working on classified and compartmentalised projects, and testifies to the processes involved in maintaining secrecy on these projects. He warns against the human tendency to make every new technology into a weapon, pointing out that our weaponisation of space does not address the threat of Earth terrorists, and that the idea of using these weapons against extraterrestrial targets would be suicidal. Fred Threlfell: Communications Instructor, Royal Canadian Air Force Fred Threlfell was a communications instructor in the Royal Canadian Air Force at RCAF Station Toronto in 1953, when he witnessed an experiment involving the successful dematerialisation and re-materialisation of an object. Because of his top-secret clearance, he was also able to check out from the base library original films of gun camera footage from WWII planes. Many times, while watching these films, he noticed UFOs in the footage—different positions, different shapes, but definitely UFOs. He has also personally seen UFOs manoeuvring in the sky. ∞ Editor's Note: This is an edited extract from the Executive Summary of testimony gathered by The Disclosure Project and released in May 2001. For the full text, visit the website www.disclosureproject.org. Steven M. Greer, MD, is the Director of CSETI, the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and the author of Extraterrestrial Contact: The Evidence and Implications (reviewed in NEXUS 8/01). See reviews of The Disclosure Project video and CD-ROM in that issue. STRANGE Times 2006

T OWARDS F ULL D ISCLOSURE ON UFO/ET C ONTACT

T Retired US Army/DIA analyst John Maynard confirms the existence of highly classified UFO files in military archives and urges the government to make a full disclosure on UFOs and alien contact.

An interview with

John Maynard by Theresa de Veto for Surfing The Apocalypse © 2001 Website: www.surfingtheapocalypse.com/ maynard.html

STRANGE Times 2006

he following is the edited version of an exclusive interview which Surfing The Apocalypse conducted with Disclosure Project witness John Maynard, US Army Retired – Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). It was conducted via email over a period of several weeks by Theresa de Veto for Surfing The Apocalypse (www.surfingtheapocalypse.com/maynard.html). Surfing The Apocalypse is denoted as SURFING. John Maynard is denoted as MAYNARD. The views expressed here are not necessarily the views of Surfing The Apocalypse, the interviewer or any of the affiliated websites.

MAYNARD: One might ask, with a career that includes a background in counterintelligence for both military purposes and drug trafficking, "How did you become involved in UFOs?" My involvement was probably more happenstance than anything else. I became involved while overseas in Germany, Turkey and Korea. These areas were not noted for a lot of UFO activity. I was primarily afforded the opportunity to investigate peripherally a few incidents and implement disinformation or misinformation programs to divert attention away from the military and toward the paranormal and/or UFO [followers] in those areas. However, a point I never revealed to the military was that my grandmother brought me up believing that UFOs exist. Regardless of that point, I was still a staunch conservative (politically) and placed my military duties ahead of my beliefs. I had a "country, duty and honour" type attitude. I believed that because of my dedication and what appeared to be naivety on my part, my military superiors did not question my actions when it came to debunking UFO sightings. However, I became very intrigued as to why UFOs were not to become public knowledge and that they (the government) preferred that any UFO information for public consumption stay in the realm of the paranormal and/or the unreliable UFO resources. It took me several years to figure out that this blatant disregard for public opinion was a plan designed to keep and maintain the pressure of proof on certain elements of our society. The plan was basically to place the burden of proof on the UFO researchers and to steer the public away from the military organisations that were directly involved in UFO research. In this plan, I deduced that the military was using the media to keep these UFO researchers from making too much of the issue by having the media brand them as kooks, weird, paranoid and unbelievable; better yet, by having people who go around chasing after shadows in a belief that UFOs are real and the government is hiding something. To date, this plan has worked well above average, and the general public still has an opinion that follows whatever the media tell them. SURFING: Can you tell me about the pivotal point at which you decided to move out of the realm of disinformation in the UFO field and into the belief that disclosure was needed? How did you come to the decision that your beliefs should take precedence over your military duties? MAYNARD: If you want to pin it down to when it started to happen, I guess it was in the early 1970s while I was in Germany. It was also the time of the famous LA Times publishing of "The Pentagon Papers" and Daniel Ellsberg. I was in charge of a US/NATO classified repository, and The Pentagon Papers caused me to inventory everything in the repository, right down to the last page. Part of the Ellsberg papers was classified Top Secret Cosmic, which is a NATO classification. Since I was at an Air Defense site, that particular document was in my repository, so we had to account for everything. This caused my office an untold amount of work, inventorying all the documents. www.nexusmagazine.com

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It was a page-by-page inventory. It was during that time that I for, at the time, classified satellite photos and radar imagery taken realised just how much the government was hiding under its clasduring different compartmental photographic missions, such as sification and disclosure blanket. Even newspaper reports that Talent Keyhole (TK11) and by the Omni satellites. I am sure they had become part of the file were being classified. It appeared to are still classified. me that they literally did not want anyone to know what they As for what this information means to The Disclosure Project, it knew. I guess curiosity got the best of me at that point. is multi-faceted. Firstly, it provides substantiation that documents After that incident, I started to pay serious attention to what was do exist, as I can identify the kind and classification of them. going on, particularly when it came to the classification of docuSecondly, it provides backup documentation to other witnesses. ments. I, more or less, became an official source to ask about Lastly, it establishes a basis for congressional hearings, if nothing classifying documents, which meant full research of the docuelse, to clear the problems with congressional apathy. ments surrounding the one being classified. SURFING: Many theories have been put forth in regard to They say that hindsight has 20/20 vision. I could have turned UFOs; they have been called everything from extraterrestrial to illegal at that point and made copies of the pages pertaining to multidimensional, to government black-ops projects, to demonic UFO incidents. However, my security oath and duty to country entities. From your research and knowledge, of what do you stopped me from going that extra measure to the illegal. believe the UFO phenomenon consists? The progression of this change in attitude and thoughts continMAYNARD: A very loaded question, to say the least! I guess ued. While I was stationed in Turkey, I finally came to the conI would have to answer "D, all of the above"! Information and clusion that disclosure was needed. It took about six years to get evidence became available to our government, mainly in the to this point. It was also the time when I had become a Christian black-ops area, as you call it, which is basically covert intelliand was really having turmoil within myself as to which way to gence or operations under deep cover and compartmentalisation. take a disclosure program and/or to finish my military career. I The information the government accumulated gave credence and really had no means by which to support to all of the theories: UFOs, accomplish this without literally going extraterrestrials, multidimensional travto jail. Call it providence or whatever, el and, for those in the religious movebut upon leaving Turkey I was ment, what can be referred to as assigned to DIA headquarters in the "demonic". "Just a simple disclosure that Pentagon. At that point I realised that Let me put it this way: we live in a it might be best to wait and see what very settled but dynamic universe; it is UFOs exist and contact has else I could learn about UFOs, what ever-changing, yet it continues steadily been made with alien beings the government was doing with the in the same direction. We are not to be information and why they considered "the masters of this universe", nor are is feared by the government." UFOs a threat to public knowledge. any of its inhabitants that are known to That day was probably the day I exist therein. However, I have a probmade up my mind that something had lem with this word "phenomenon", parto be done, and that I was being ticularly as it relates to sightings and afforded the opportunity to gain inforencounters that are a matter of fact. mation that the public does not have, and probably will never Labelling these events as a "phenomenon" is suppression of the have, without disclosure. Actually, I still have difficulty with event by a very refined disinformation program that is in place, stepping out and telling what I know, but I also firmly believe that which is automatically mimicked, i.e., "reported", by the media. it is the time for disclosure. Full disclosure! This serves in keeping the subject of UFOs in the realm of fantasy SURFING: What exactly do you mean when you say "full or "phenomenon" as reported. disclosure"? SURFING: A persistent legend in regard to flying saucers is MAYNARD: Exactly what it means! I feel that the governthat at the end of World War II, after Germany had been defeated, ment should come clean and release all the information and let the a select group of Nazi military personnel and scientists escaped American people decide what should be done with it. capture from the Allied troops and established a secret base in Surprisingly enough, or contrary to studies done by the military Antarctica, where they continued to develop advanced aircraft that and other government agencies, I believe that American citizens may have been based on extraterrestrial technologies. and the world population as a whole are ready for this kind of disMAYNARD: To answer your question: I have heard the story closure. It has been far too long in coming. Even at that, I doubt of the German escape to Antarctica, of spaceships being built and that the government will release everything at one time. Just a subsequent bases on the Moon. However, I have never seen anysimple disclosure that UFOs exist and contact has been made with thing in writing or heard it mentioned in any conversation I had alien beings is feared by the government. regarding documents. If there were any truth to it, it was beyond SURFING: Did you personally see any evidence in your work my area of classification and responsibility. with the government that contact has been made? If so, can you SURFING: From your knowledge, have you seen anything tell us specifically what this "contact" entails? that would make you believe that any of the UFO sightings MAYNARD: Personally, yes, as listed in the documents I was are/were craft of this nature? in charge of. I also knew several people who flew in and out of MAYNARD: No, although I did read certain documents that Nellis AFB on the Janet flights out of Las Vegas McCarran indicated our own abilities in this area: back-engineered International Airport. These were government-chartered flights equipment, propulsion systems and alien vehicles that could (unmarked) from McCarran directly to Nellis/Area 51. provide us with the capability of travelling great distances from SURFING: Can you tell us about the most convincing evithis planet. I have also had recent conversations in this area, but I dence you have encountered? am not prepared to go into this in detail at this time. I need to MAYNARD: Not any one thing was most compelling except make further inquiries and confirm this information from alternate 10 • NEXUS


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sources before making a complete statement on these government there and what our importance will be to that community depends activities. on many factors. At present, our government is controlling this SURFING: Do you fear that you might be reprimanded for aspect of our knowledge and until that has changed there will bringing any of this evidence out now? never be a true relationship. I firmly believe that if our governMAYNARD: No! And yes! However, I think I am at a posiment and other governments that have full knowledge of this contion in life where I am comfortable in either case. Also, that my tact do not come forward and make the announcement to the knowledge, along with the other witnesses all speaking the same world, then the aliens will do it themselves, which most certainly language, gives me comfort. For the government to bring will cause some panic. reprisals upon one, or all, would be more damaging in the case of SURFING: How long do you believe our government has had rebuttal. the knowledge that we are not alone in the Universe? SURFING: Do you believe that the US Government has had MAYNARD: That is hard to say, but I believe the United active ongoing communications with alien species from beyond States Government—but not necessarily the elected governthis Earth? ment—had some knowledge of an MAYNARD: Yes! There is no alien presence as early as the middoubt in my mind that this is occur1800s. However, as to when official "I believe the United States ring. contact was made, I have never seen SURFING: Can you tell us from anything in writing on a specific Government— where these extraterrestrials origidate—although, through the tracking but not necessarily the elected nate? of rumours, other stated information MAYNARD: Where do they and conversations I have had, I would government—had some come from? That is probably the $64 estimate that official contact was million dollar question for everyone, made in the early to mid–1930s. Yet knowledge of an alien presence except certain government offices. it could have been as early as preas early as the mid-1800s." Personally, I do not know, as I have WWI (1910–14), which is long never read about or conversed with before today's popular belief of the one of them to find out. I have heard 1950s. all the rhetoric that has been spouted Therein, because of the limited about Greys from Alpha Centauri or Sirius, Reptilians (which I (congressional and executive branch) knowledge, the government had never heard of before seeing the term used on the Internet), as a whole was not prepared for the UFO crashes that occurred in and then, of course, the term of "Nordic-looking aliens". the late 1940s and early 1950s. Because of this, the government Therefore, I do not believe that I can provide any insight into this stumbled dramatically, giving rise to speculation and conspiracy question. However, this does not mean that I lack knowledge of theories. However, with the speed of today's communications, the their existence, albeit only Greys. I have never read anything on conspiracy advocates have a tendency to provide far more inforany other species. mation on the event than actually occurred. Therefore, society is SURFING: Are you saying that in your work with the US left with the feeling of being off balance because of who does and intelligence community you have seen evidence that the "Greys" does not have knowledge of extraterrestrial life. are actual extraterrestrial biological entities? SURFING: You state, "I firmly believe that if our government MAYNARD: EBEs, I do not know what else to call them—do and other governments that have full knowledge of this contact do you? They are not from this planet, but their interaction with the not come forward and make the announcement to the world, then main populace of this planet has been very limited by government the aliens will do it themselves." actions. SURFING: How has interaction with the Greys been limited by government actions? MAYNARD: "Limited" is probably too gentle of a word for what is happening. The government is trying to directly control all contact between the Greys and the populace. This is one of the reasons for the hostilities spoken of between them, and why we may hear from the Greys long before the government wants disclosure. SURFING: What do you know, if anything, regarding the motivations behind the visitors to our Earth? MAYNARD: I can speculate like everyone else, yet some of this information was way beyond what my clearance was allowed to read. I do know that some of that motivation has to do with our growth, not only as a species but also as a future member of an interplanetary social commu"I feel alienated" nity that has already achieved a place in a greater universal society. How fast we get STRANGE Times 2006


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MAYNARD: Yes, I firmly believe this, and have believed it for at least the last 20 years. SURFING: If contact has been ongoing for as long as you believe that it has, why the sense of urgency from the alien standpoint to make this announcement now? MAYNARD: I came to the conclusion that something was not quite right between the aliens and the people who were in contact with them. Not so much that it was stated outright, but just something that was said while I was doing background checks on cross-referenced documents. Also, in statements made during conversations with several fellow workers and my friends who worked at Area 51, it became obvious that all was not right at Groom Lake. Furthermore, other discreet conversations had indications that there was a confrontation going on between higher authority and those that had daily contact with the aliens. However, I never learned exactly what the problems were. All I could grasp from the conversations was that there definitely was a confrontation of some kind. I have continued my research on this and believe that it is still going on today, but in a more heated sense, such as armed belligerence on both sides, with a much smaller alien presence. SURFING: When you say "higher authority", do you mean persons higher up in the chain of command? MAYNARD: I am referring to the chain of command. Yes! SURFING: You state that "other discreet conversations had indications that there was a confrontation going on between higher authority and those that had daily contact with the aliens". Can you tell us anything about what the nature of this "daily contact" entails? MAYNARD: There are certain government installations (military and/or civilian) where daily UFO and alien contact was, and is, a normal event of the day. They are: Groom Lake (Area 51) in Nevada; Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah; Cheyenne Mountain (Space Command) in Colorado; White Mountain in Arizona. Places where it was not a normal daily activity were: California— Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, El Toro and China Lake Naval Air Stations and Edwards Air Force Base; New Mexico—Sandia Base and Los Alamos Laboratories; Florida—Eglin, MacDill and Maxwell AF Bases, which also supported the Space Centers at Canaveral and Kennedy; Maine—Loring AFB. There were other places that had some activity which are of lesser importance and would cloud the issue. SURFING: Please, tell us more about what you know about the daily events at Cheyenne Mountain. MAYNARD: First off, I want you to understand a little of the background of Cheyenne Mountain which will give the reader an image of what we are talking about as it concerns daily contact. Long before there was an organisation called Space Command, there was the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), set up to protect the North American continent from attack. This was the main reason for building the complex in Cheyenne

Mountain. The main purpose of this joint US/Canadian organisation was to support the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and the missile Air Defense Program. As time progressed, satellite surveillance was incorporated in the command structure of a little-known organisation called the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NRO is basically a black ops–type organisation that has kept its main role in SAC as a basic cover for the new command. It was the task of the NRO to obtain information through Ariel and/or satellite imagery. As more and more space activity became involved in the process, another command was developed to handle this alone; this is called the Space Command. It is the Space Command's responsibility to maintain an uninterrupted and consistent data flow of daily activities in Earth and near space and of space vehicles entering our atmosphere. This Command is supported by all military organisations jointly, as well as NASA and several companies from the military-industrial complex, such as Hughes, EG&G and Dryden, and SAC. All of these organisations provide budget, manpower and support activities and it is a shared process to some degree, whereas the NRO is basically an Air Force–run operation supported by all of the military commands. All three organisations, NORAD, NRO and the Space Command, are mission-supported directly by the NSA [National Security Agency], and in turn supply processed information to the NSA. The Space Command acts like an air traffic controller for all the activity involved in and around North America. I have been working on getting information to substantiate my allegations surrounding the daily contact. Over the past few years there have been incidents reported or alleged that would indicate a daily UFO and/or EBE contact. Although these incidents are, at most, suspect, there seemed to be too many factors unrelated in each incident that struck a familiar chord. After thoroughly examining each of the incidents (which I do not feel comfortable naming at this time), and in the course of my cursory investigation of the incidents, I noted similarities and patterns of disinformation being used that would make people scoff at what was stated. After applying my knowledge of disinformation, I began to see the truth in each of the incidents. This caused me to intensify my own investigation, which is ongoing at this time and involves more than just the Cheyenne Mountain complex. I hope to have a document ready to publish with the results of what I have found, later this fall or winter. SURFING: Many people have reported abduction experiences. They describe being taken against their will by aliens—usually described as the Greys—and subjected to some sort of medical examination. Some of these abductees have also witnessed US military personnel present during the abduction experiences. What do you know about the abduction element in all of this?

"There are certain government installations (military and/or civilian) where daily UFO and alien contact was, and is, a normal event of the day."

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MAYNARD: I was never exposed to any direct information were these corporations involved in "defensive" measures against on abductions. I knew that there were cases being investigated, the so-called "alien threat", backward engineering of captured or but I never saw any reports. On a personal note, I would have to shared alien technologies, or all of the above and more? What say that abductions have occurred and still are occurring today. can you tell us? Other than that, I do not believe I can offer anything further on MAYNARD: The Department of Defense has had an ongoing this matter. program since the mid-1950s, which provided contracts to US SURFING: Why do you think the aliens decided to interact civilian contractors/organisations/corporations that worked in the with the government, rather than directly with the people? intelligence community. These projects came under very tight MAYNARD: Over the years many statements have been writsecurity and usually were very highly compartmentalised. What ten (fiction and/or nonfiction) concerning the best approach to this this means is that you have several concentric circles: the closer delicate subject, and I tend to agree with many of those stateyou are to the inner circle, the more information you can find on ments. It is apparent that our species has been controlled to the the project; the further you get away from this inner circle, the large part by the government and media; whereas the Star Trek less information is available. All this is established on a very "Prime Directive" is probably the most famous statement, and strict need-to-know basis. Within these circles you could, if you most agree it could be the most likely scenario. However, as looked hard enough, find contractors that worked on various parts beings being observed for at least the last several thousand years, of the project but really had no idea what the overall project was. give or take a millennium, it will probably be less of a surprise to This also happened with the military's interaction with the primaus in this day and age than previously thought; "Details at 11". ry contractor. Also in this respect, each military branch had cerYet, the factors with which we govern ourselves do not exactly tain projects that came under the compartmentalisation security bring out the best part of us. Therefore, if I were an alien studymeasures. ing this planet and its societies, I might be a little apprehensive What is meant by this compartmentalisation is simply the clasabout charging into the open and sification of a document or project, announcing my presence. I would whether it is classified as probably contact one, two or more of Confidential, Secret or Top Secret. the major governments and work with However, when they are named such "Therefore, you can literally them, and, when the time was right, as Umbra (UM), Majestic (MJ), Omni make a joint announcement and let his(OM), or Talent Keyhole (TK), the talk with a top official in the tory take its course. Still, regardless of compartmented program becomes an Pentagon but, unless he has what one might say, once governmenentity unto itself. The projects and tal contact was made and working the circle of knowledge draw very the authorisation for that arrangements had been ongoing, any tight toward the centre and access is particular project, he probably announcement might not be timely and granted or denied from within that might also be unproductive—that is, circle. Therefore, you can literally does not know that it exists." until it is apparent that disclosure is talk with a top official in the necessary. In these instances, the Pentagon but, unless he has the authoamount of the populace's knowledge is risation for that particular project, he a big factor in determining the proper probably does not know that it exists. time to make the announcement. If he does know it exists, he knows The other side of that coin might be that contact was made milnothing about it. Knowing the simple rules of classification helps lennia ago, and through design it was decided that an alien presin identifying the right person to talk with. ence would be counterproductive to our planetary society growth. SURFING: One of the planks in The Disclosure Project platIn that case, nondisclosure might be the best scenario. form is "To enact legislation which will ban all space-based Then again, if the contact had a positive reception and discloweapons". Do you believe projects like the planned US anti–missure had been made, interaction might be a common factor in our sile defence program are somehow related to the extraterrestrials? society and would no more be thought of than what you think of MAYNARD: My political view on this is, since we cannot get your neighbour. Some believe, as well—as I do—that we might along with anyone on this planet, that we justify our choice of have had an even better planetary society had acknowledgement weapons with which to defend ourselves. My ideological view is of contact occurred positively and openly from the beginning. that we should ban all of our weapons, throw out our monetary Primarily, you have to remember that contact is a two-way street; systems, return to a bartering system and live in harmony with both parties have to be in agreement with the action to achieve the each other. Science should be shared with everyone, not just the best results. privileged. SURFING: That perhaps the aliens have not revealed themSURFING: But do you believe that some of these space-based selves directly to us so as not to affect our natural course? weapons are actually being designed to do battle with extraterresMAYNARD: Truthfully, I am not sure if our government—or trials? If so, what effect will building them have on our "relationthe aliens—are the cause for the nondisclosure at this point, ship" with the aliens? although personally I feel that the former is the stronger MAYNARD: Does anyone know? We officially have not possibility. I firmly believe that if it were up to the aliens, been told that our government or any other government is in condisclosure would have been made long ago. Why else would tact with aliens. So how can we have a relationship? One can there be so many open sightings, personal information from only speculate at this point. I firmly believe that we still have a people all over the world and near-encounters with aliens? Also, basic fear of ourselves, thus anything alien is a basic fear for all why would the government work so hard at denying it? humans. Those in power play on this point to maintain their need SURFING: Regarding these highly classified projects that you to have weapons for self-defence, be it singular or mass destrucspeak of involving US corporations: according to your research, tion. As you know, we have two sides to every coin and you walk STRANGE Times 2006


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on one side at a time. Then there are those that walk on the edge the social aspects of an alien presence will have a dramatic effect between both sides. The problem comes to us as: where do you at first, which is a given fact... want to stand? This is something each of us has to ask ourselves at one point or another. Concluding Remarks: MAYNARD: One quick note regarding weapons in space: I SURFING: What do you think is the reasoning behind the have two simple statements. Firstly, I believe and pray that all government secrecy and not wanting to share knowledge of an weapons in space will be banned. Secondly, I am also practical in extraterrestrial interaction with Earth? understanding that where there are humans there will always be a MAYNARD: Not a simple question to answer and we seem to weapon of some kind involved. be walking all around this question. I have had this question Reflecting on what has been said in this and other interviews asked before and have thought about it for some time, at least for makes me even more determined to see The Disclosure Project the past 35 years. Yet any answer I come up with does not really through, no matter what the consequences might be. We must be say it all. making some big progress because the "masters of disinformaTwo of the top theories as I see it are "greed" and "secret govtion" personalities are stepping up to their microphones and trying ernment" theories. If you look at greed within the government to make it sound like we are a bunch of crack(the old master and slave routine) as one pospots. sibility, it comes out with a very strong case. So what do you believe? I know what I Then, of course, you have the secret governbelieve! I believe in what Dr Greer has startment concept: not as strong as greed, but a ed, how he has pulled the people and very good contender in many circles. resources together to present a powerful mesHowever, the all-time theory, I believe, is sage to the American people, and to ask for power—total and complete, unchecked disclosure by our government—a message power—which is a combination of greed and that has been denied by our government for secrecy. This is what I believe has kept this "When it comes to far too many years. covered up for so long and will continue to UFOs and alien In this regard, I do not believe that it any keep parts of it hidden, never to be released. Therein, I think that The Disclosure Project contact, in our current longer matters that the government has not disclosed the fact that UFOs and extraterreshas the right idea: simply disclose that UFOs system at trials have visited Earth on a regular basis. and aliens exist. The rest will come later as Congress gets into the act and really finds out least 98 per cent of our What matters is that the government finally stop playing its denial role and tell the truth. what the military has been up to for the past elected officials are as Yes, the truth that we have been visited 40, 60 or more years. Even at that, there repeatedly by non–Earth entities who fly will be certain aspects that will be held much in the dark as the in and out of our space in craft that have very tightly and will never see the light rest of been sighted and photographed for many of day as far as the average American years by people just like you. citizen is concerned, and—in all due our citizens." It is time that our government bring respect to its power—Congress also. this knowledge to full disclosure, not SURFING: In your opinion, what only to the American people but also to effect would full disclosure have on our the world as a whole, allowing other social, religious and political organisagovernments to follow in this brave new tions? unfolding of our history. MAYNARD: Let me take each one I also believe that once a full discloof these aspects of our lives in reverse sure has been achieved, all of the world's order. population will realise that we can Political life and organisations: When achieve world peace, without weapons, it comes to UFOs and alien contact, in through the technology and assistance from our galactic neighour current system at least 98 per cent of our elected officials are bours. It is my hope that the people of Earth will force their govas much in the dark as the rest of our citizens. It is also a simple ernments to seek this peace—World Peace. I have heard that fact that our elected officials are so greedy that they have not been phrase so often that I never thought we had a hope or glimmer able to look beyond that greed to what has been happening in our that it could really be possible, but it is. It is a matter of making country, but I should add that this is not all-inclusive. As for people understand, no matter who they are, that the only solution world organisations, primarily within the leadership, such as the for a more tolerant peace in our own world is to maintain peace UN and industrial nations, their current level of knowledge probabeyond our worldly confines. bly goes beyond what the American populace is aware of, yet it is It boils down to this: Disclosure first; peace second; and no still shrouded in secrecy to the nth degree. weapons in space, third! A beautiful way to really get the new Religious organisations: For the most part, the majority will be millennium rolling. ∞ totally and utterly devastated and receive a blow to their theology. Yet, there will be a full element within the religious community that will take this in stride and will not be shaken by the Editor's Note: To access testimony gathered by The Disclosure Project or to announcement. It will be that element that leads the way to a obtain a copy of Disclosure, The Video or the Briefing greater understanding of the scriptures and the theology of a oneDocument and Executive Summary on CD-ROM, visit the God concept. website www.disclosureproject.org. Also see Twilight Zone Social aspects: This is probably the most difficult to predict or article and reviews in NEXUS 9/01. provide an assessment for. I would have to say that, as a whole, 14 • NEXUS


STRANGE Times 2006

PROOF OF HIGH-LEVEL MEDIA COVER-UP ON UFOS by Greg Boone © 2003

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his story is proof positive of the UFO cover-up by news sources. On August 25th, 1985, I along with 10 other newsmen were on duty at the Poughkeepsie Journal, New York's oldest newspaper and one of the flagships of the Gannett News Service. It was about 9.35 pm when one of our photographers radioed in that one of those giant boomerang UFOs that people had been reporting for years was heading south on Route 9. Mind you, on this day it was during the Dutchess County Fair, one of the oldest and biggest county fairs in the USA. Roughly 20,000 people leaving the fair's festivities for home were travelling that highway, heading south from Rhinebeck, NY, about 18 miles north of Poughkeepsie (about 75 miles north of NY City). Our photographer stated that the craft was huge and was headed south, and it might be visible from our office windows on the third floor. I and two editors dashed to the northern window of the managing editor's office, and sure enough we saw, at a distance of approximately five miles, a dark shape about 100 feet above the ground, with amber and red lights slowly STRANGE Times 2006

growing bigger as it headed our way. It was big, slow moving and in no way was supposed to be flying over residential areas. Folks up there have shotguns and use them at the drop of a hat! It's very old Republican territory; folks still beef about Pearl Harbor like it was yesterday. On the highway, thousands and thousands of people were so alarmed they bolted from their cars to gander at this craft. Of the 10 editors/reporters there, I believe only three were non–ex-military. I

stood there and watched as the craft suddenly got within a couple miles and shut off its lights, aft to fore, while it pivoted port, travelled east a bit, then made a startlingly hard starboard turn and headed straight for us! This thing got huge, and believe it or not it flew right over the top of us by about 40 feet! It had to be 200 feet wide and was jet black. The illumination of the street lights was not reflecting anything off its surface that we could determine.

"Yeah, yeah, you found a new UFO website. So what's new?" www.nexusmagazine.com

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE Wanting to get a better glimpse of it, we dashed to the other windows to see if it had passed overhead. It couldn't be seen, and we realised it might be hovering over us. Sure enough, that's what it did! We dashed to one of the bathrooms facing east, and that's when the craft turned east again and glided over the more heavily populated section of the city noiselessly, and then it was gone. Mind you, tens of thousands saw this as clear as a bell. Veteran military, news and law enforcement people saw it as well. I immediately thought of Stan Friedman, as he had lectured on UFOs at Dutchess Community College several years earlier and we ran a kind story about it. (Yes, Stan, I was leaning over the city desk making sure it got in!) Well, we're sitting there, screaming at the photogs and reporters that this will be the story of the century. We had access to AP, Gannett, etc., and USA Today which we mainly put out. Nope. Word came down from on high that not one word was to be mentioned. This was a solid object that hovered, manoeuvred, was seen by tens of thousands, was photographed—and no mention anywhere. Next day, some "menacing" chaps showed up in our editorial office. I got into trouble for staring back just as menacingly. That night at the local watering hole,

where I would sit and do sketches after work, another big menacing fellow waltzed in with a stack of papers and pics eight inches high; he slammed them on the bar and bellowed a threat: "So! Somebody in here wanted to talk about UFOs?" He made a big mistake. My high school and college chums were at the bar that night and we are just as big and menacing. He was ceremoniously ushered out of the bar by about 3,000 pounds of very angry citizens. This was the first time that a craft had flown over our newspaper, but it wasn't the last. A year later, a huge saucer-shaped craft did the same thing. We all bolted outside, this time onto the roof of the building, and saw a circle of lights about a half-mile wide hovering over a local monument that rests on a hill where couples go. It was there for about 10 minutes, and cops, people, all saw it. Then the remarkable part. As I dashed downstairs to get my trusty telescope from my van to get a closer look, I suddenly looked straight up and another large boomerang object was directly overhead! Three people were in the parking lot at that time with me and we stared at it and then it kicked in its orange afterburners—I recall six laterally on its aft section—took off like a rocket due west at high speed, and then did a hard bank port that surprised us and must've taken off southwest at over 500 mph easily. You could hear the afterburners kick in overhead, and this thing was at about 100 feet high and was about 100 feet wide. It wasn't the source of the circular lights, but we suspect the boomerangshaped object chased away the "Sorry, but it seems everyone wanted to visit Earth incognito this circular object. weekend, and this is the only thing we've got left in stock." That's two UFOs in one, at

16 • NEXUS


night, close up—again, with multiple witnesses. I've seen these craft about six times. Way back in 1980, a friend got pics of it. This was the first time I'd heard of it and we developed the film at the newspaper ourselves. Nothing unusual, but definitely the boomerang shape and we figured it was just another test aircraft that the region is famous for testing. Yet again, "mum" was the word and there was heck to pay if you pressed the issue at the evening editors' meeting. (Source: Illusions mailing list, 6 October 2003, http://lists.beyond-the-illusion.com/)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ALLEGEDLY WROTE TWO ETI REPORTS FOR JIMMY CARTER by Linda Moulton Howe © 2003

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ollowing is the text of an interview conducted by Linda Moulton Howe with Grant Cameron, a building facility manager at the University of Manitoba as well as reporter and producer of the presidentialufo.com website, in Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. – Editor Grant Cameron (GC): One of the strongest stories in support of the contention that the American President knows what is going on concerning extraterrestrial information and has been briefed on the crashed flying saucer aspect of the UFO mystery is a story told by Danny Sheehan. Sheehan has long been a civil rights attorney. He was involved with "The Pentagon Papers", the Silkwood case and Three Mile Island, and defended Harvard psychiatrist John Mack, PhD, the abduction researcher. Sheehan was also involved in Iran-Contra and studied under Henry Kissinger. He's a prominent attorney who was legal counsel to the Jesuit headquarters in Washington, DC. Sheehan tells the story that he was brought as a consultant into two studies that were being done for President Jimmy Carter, that the President had asked for. These studies were being written by Marcia Smith, who is now the pre-eminent expert on the Russian space program. Danny Sheehan currently is still an attorney in San Francisco, working on various programs. He made several strong speeches after 9/11 and focuses on civil rights cases. STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE Sheehan was to give a lecture for the top 50 people at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) section, about the implications of extraterrestrial intelligence for mankind. In order to do that, Sheehan said he wanted access to the classified Blue Book files. Marcia Smith got him access in the basement of the Madison Building, which is one of the three buildings for the Library of Congress in Washington. Sheehan says he was brought into a vault in the basement of the Madison Building and then, while looking through microfilms of the classified Blue Book files, he came across clear pictures of a crashed flying saucer in an embankment with snow and US Air Force officers around it. You can clearly read their name tags, he said. There were close-ups of writing on the side of the craft, and this material Sheehan reported back to Marcia Smith. When I interviewed him, Sheehan said that, in one of two studies that were written at the Library of Congress for reading by President Jimmy Carter, the reports stated there are at least six extraterrestrial races from this galaxy visiting our planet. Linda Moulton Howe (LMH): Did he detail what the six types were and what they looked like? GC: No. He basically saw the reports before they went. At that point, they had no classification markings on them. I guess it was sort of the final draft before they went, and there were no exact details. He might have them, but I've heard him tell the story a dozen times. I've never heard him mention details, but he has always mentioned the fact that this statement was in this one report that was going to the President of the United States. LMH: Did he try to follow up further? GC: Danny Sheehan knows an awful lot. I don't know Marcia Smith. I contacted her by email and Danny Sheehan found out I did and was quite upset that I had contacted Marcia Smith to get her side of the story. He also tells a story about the Vatican letters. He had contacted the Vatican on behalf of the White House after asking for the ET files inside the Vatican Library. He knew the guy who ran the Vatican Library, and Danny Sheehan was Chief Counsel to the Jesuit headquarters in Washington, DC. He got a reply back that the Vatican Library would not release these files, and he said it was the first time he had ever STRANGE Times 2006

received a denial from the Vatican. Sheehan wrote a second letter to the Vatican Library, and that letter specifically stated the letter was on behalf of the President of the United States [Jimmy Carter]. The Vatican Library wrote back, "No, you can't have the files". Danny Sheehan still has those letters, which is fairly significant. He is close friends with Marcia Smith; and with my email letter to Marcia Smith, I guess Sheehan was upset because I was asking, "Is Danny Sheehan telling the truth?" He has been protective of her situation. I saw Danny Sheehan trace out the writing on the craft in the photograph, and he did an exact tracing. Because of the overhead [projection] on microfilm, he was able to trace on the back of a legal pad the exact symbols that were on the side of the craft inside the classified Blue Book files. So, Danny Sheehan has some stuff that would be pretty dramatic and substantial and back his story. But for some reason, I don't know why he hasn't released this. LMH: What was the nature of those symbols in terms of languages around the world you have seen? GC: To me, it was just sort of dots and slashes, the way Danny Sheehan showed it. LMH: What was Marcia Smith's exact title in relationship to the President? GC: This is part of the controversy, that she worked for the Library of Congress with the Congressional Research Service. You can read everything I've reported about Marcia S. Smith at my website, http://www.presidentialUFO.com. She's


doing something different now and is fairly high up in the hierarchy of the Library of Congress. She did a number of UFO and extraterrestrial studies. I think there have been four or five that have been released by the Library of Congress. All of them were released by her, but as far as I know she's never been interviewed. She gave Danny Sheehan access to the Blue Book files and tells the story to Sheehan that George Bush, Sr, who was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under Ford, briefed President-Elect Jimmy Carter on intelligence and special programs when Carter was becoming President. When Carter asked for the UFO files, George Bush told him: "You don't have the need to know. Being President is not sufficient need to know. You're going to have to go to Congress and get them to declassify the files." Marcia Smith is also the source of that story, according to Danny Sheehan. ∞

Editor's Note: If anyone has more information to contribute, linking US Presidents to knowledge about crashed aerial vehicles from outer space, please contact Grant Cameron by email at presidentialUFO@ presidency.com or via the website http://www.presidentialUFO.com. (Source: From part three of an interview by Linda Moulton Howe with Grant Cameron, 29 October 2003, website http://www.earthfiles.com)

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VICTOR HUGO TALKED TO ALIENS IN THE 1850S!

of the Ouija board. An alien named Tyatafia, from the planet ne hundred and fifty years ago, Jupiter, told Hugo that the inhabitants of Victor Hugo seems to have talked his planet lived grim and difficult lives, to aliens. Astonishingly, the lacking most of the advantages enjoyed by renowned author of Les Misérables and Earth people. Tyatafia said his planet was The Hunchback of Notre Dame may have a "prison world"; souls from other worlds communicated with ETs from Jupiter and were sometimes sent there to live out a lifeMercury and, in the latter case, learned time as punishment for past sins. much about their planet. The inhabitants of the planet Mercury These meetings took place at seances the lived considerably happier lives. They told great French writer attended when he was a Hugo they were half-animal and half-spirit political exile on the English Channel and spent a great deal of their time floating island of Jersey from 1853 to 1855. in the planet's thin atmosphere, suspended According to transcripts just recently trans- by six appendages ending in tiny "suns" lated, the beings tapped out messages which they called their "torches". through a "talking table"—the forerunner Channelling in Latin for some reason, the Mercurians described themselves as having "two eyes which remained open all the time, a huge but very light head, and a long but very thin body". They said they didn't take solid refreshment but only drank liquids, and did not breathe but "shone like the Sun". They added that they "And do you, Gorppp, promise to love, honour and were all married. transmogrify molecularly so long as you both shall live?" T h e

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Mercurians called their planet petasus insani, "the wildly insane messenger of the gods". Hugo thought this might be in reference to the strange planetary motions of the planet Mercury, which races around the Sun once every 88 Earth days but takes 59 Earth days to turn around once on its axis (in other words, one day on Mercury lasts 59 Earth days). These motions were roughly known in Hugo's time. The Mercurians said that their planet was not a prison world but a "reward world", upon which souls from other planets were allowed to live a lifetime if they had behaved extremely well during their previous existence. The strange but friendly aliens from Mercury described the "temples" on their world. They told Hugo that, though they grew old and died like humans, they became ill only when they lost one or another of their "torches" which kept them floating in mid-air. The information from the Mercurians was allegedly channelled in the shade of the great French alchemist Nicolas Flamel, sometimes in strange drawings vaguely suggestive of ancient alchemical formulae. Flamel—along with Victor Hugo—is thought by some to have been a Grand Master of the secret order of the Priory of Sion. While on Jersey, Hugo attended more than 100 seances with his wife, daughter, two sons and several political exile friends. During these seances—which are described in a new book, Conversations with STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE Eternity: The Forgotten Masterpiece of Victor Hugo (New Paradigm Books)—the great French writer also talked to aliens from other star systems. They told him that every galaxy in the Universe contains billions of inhabited planets. The ETs said that most of the planets that were visible were "prison worlds", but that there were other planets which were made of light only and therefore not visible, and which were "reward worlds". The star beings explained that the inhabitants of the more favoured reward worlds were commanded by God to help the inhabitants of the less fortunate prison worlds in every way possible. They added that carrying out these responsibilities was particularly important in the difficult day and age in which we now live. According to Conversations with Eternity, Victor Hugo also talked with many other kinds of beings, including the biblical hero Joshua who fought the Battle of Jericho and made the walls of the city come tumbling down by having his soldiers blow their trumpets. Joshua is also said to have made the Sun stand still for twelve hours. During one seance, the spirit of the biblical hero even told Hugo that he had been able to perform these acts by harnessing the laws of what sounds very much like modern quantum holography. (Source: John Chambers, New Paradigm Books, 22783 South State Road 7, #97, Boca Raton, FL 33428, USA, telephone (561) 482 5971, fax (561) 852 8322, e-mail [email protected], internet website http://www.newpara.com)

Brigadier Chris Holten, head of the ISC, appreciates the irony of an intelligence agency being haunted by spooks. He believes the apparitions are recordings of "traumatic events imprinted in the fabric of the building". Permission has been obtained for a new investigation—involving ISC personnel using high-tech pressure sensors, night vision recorders, infrared video, temperature and movement sensors—to prove Brig. Holten's conviction that there is a "spiritual element to the intelligence business". The Priory was used as a covert radio interception station from 1936, and was taken over by the US Air Force from 1950 to 1995. The following year, the ISC moved in...and the ghosts made their presence known. (Source: Intelligence, no. 92, 25 Jan 1999)

BRITISH POLICE OFFICERS CONFESS TO UFO ENCOUNTERS OF THEIR OWN

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number of retired and serving police officers are risking ridicule by coming forward to tell all about their alleged encounters with UFOs. More than 20 officers have responded to an advertisement in Police Review, inviting them to recount their close encounters of the third kind. Their reports include stories of alien abduction and gigantic blocks of light hovering above their squad cars. At least two former officers claim to have photographic

evidence of their meetings with extraterrestrials. Their extraordinary stories have been collected for a new book, Policing the UFO, which includes interviews with at least 20 former and serving officers and as many as 200 recorded incidents from around the world involving police. Many of the examples from the second category are taken from previously unreleased Ministry of Defence papers. The book's author, Irene Bott, has chosen to concentrate on police officers because of their relative position of trust in society. "They are less likely to be written off as cranks, loonies or anoraks," she explained. Others, however, may think they are boldly going beyond the call of duty and risking ridicule and professional suicide. For this reason, many officers appear to have waited until they left the police service before speaking out, although others who contacted the researchers feel so strongly about what they have witnessed that they are prepared to be named. These are some of the encounters included in the book: • An officer claims to have been abducted and medically examined by aliens in the 1980s. The former officer, who has yet to give the full details of his case, is said to have been out driving when he experienced disturbances to his vehicle, followed by memory loss. Later, via hypnosis, he recalled being taken aboard a spacecraft and examined by aliens. • A police officer says he took five

HAUNTED HEADQUARTERS SPOOKS BRITISH SPIES!

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he UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has a problem on its hands with claims that the new headquarters for the Intelligence and Security Centre (ISC), the 850-year-old Chicksands Priory near Bedford, is haunted by at least nine spirits, including a nun called Rosata who was entombed after being forced to watch her lover's execution. (The ISC is an all-services agency, established in 1996 to coordinate covert intelligence operations.) After several sightings, unexplained laughter and moving lights in unoccupied rooms, the MoD deployed surveillance equipment and seismic sensors, but nothing conclusive was recorded. STRANGE Times 2006

"That's the 93rd successful test of the antigravity machine. It's also the 93rd prototype we'll never see again." www.nexusmagazine.com

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE photographs of a UFO while he was on duty in the West Midlands in the 1980s, but the MoD confiscated them. • A policeman and policewoman were out on patrol in the countryside and saw lights and a cylindrical object in the sky. • An officer saw a disc-shaped object hovering 20 feet above the road. • In the 1970s, a police officer on duty saw a wedge-shaped object in the sky that was about four storeys high and 50 feet long. • Declassified MoD papers from the 1950s to 1970s cover incidents at military bases and investigations by police officers into reported sightings. The files name the police officers involved, and allegedly include accounts of helicopters being sent after UFOs. There have also been several reports— one as recently as last month—from officers in Sussex, an area which is considered a fruitful zone for UFO sightings. While the majority of the police officers who have been in contact are retired, some are still serving and one of them is an Inspector. Ms Bott commented: "In a court of law, the person who is most believed is usually a policeman. Also, these people are out day and night, observing things around them, so they are excellent witnesses. "A UFO is simply an unidentified flying object; it's not little green men. Many officers do not want to talk about it openly while they are still serving, because they can kiss their promotion chances goodbye." So far, she has been in touch with about

20 • NEXUS

20 serving and former officers. Only a couple of weeks ago, she was contacted by two serving officers claiming to have seen UFOs in the past month. Nick Redfern, author of several books on UFOs, is assisting Ms Bott with her project. He added: "These people are willing to fly in the face of potential ridicule, which shows how strongly they feel about what they have witnessed. These are strong, credible witnesses." One of those to come forward was former PC John Hanson, 52, who retired from the West Midlands police force in 1994 after 27 years of service. His encounter with a UFO took place on the evening of 14 June 1995. Mr Hanson was at his home near Redditch, Worcestershire, when he looked out of his bedroom window. "I saw a silver, pear-shaped ball of light hovering over a tree," he recalled. "It was about 40 feet off the ground, and about 20 feet long and five feet wide. Immediately opposite was a red, cigar-shaped object, about 30 feet tall. "The pear ball suddenly moved and there was a piece cut out of it like a wedge of cheese. It then changed into the shape of a jelly bean and jumped onto the cigarshaped object. The two objects then fused together, produced a rippling light and were gone." He said the whole episode lasted about five minutes and took place around 10.35 pm. He noted that a similar sighting had taken place 20 miles away on the same night. "I am not talking about flying saucers or spacemen, but an unidentified object—


some form of energy source," he added. (Source: by Jason Bennetto, The Sunday Independent, London, 23 January 1999)

PRESIDENT CARTER'S UFO SIGHTING REPORT TO NICAP

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uring the autumn of 1973, hundreds of people throughout the United States reported UFO sightings to the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). Governors Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter both reported seeing UFOs, and both later became Presidents. Jimmy Carter stated: "If I become President, I'll make every piece of information that this country has about UFO sightings available to the public." On 12 October 1973, then Governor Carter responded to NICAP's inquiries about his sighting with a letter and a report form. Harry Lederman, the regional investigator, handled the investigation. The following are the essential answers to questions on the NICAP form: "Name: Jimmy Carter Occupation: Governor Address: State Capitol, Atlanta Phone: (404) 656 1776 Education: Graduate in Nuclear Physics Military Service: Navy "Carter and ten members of the Leary, Georgia, Lions Club witnessed a UFO shortly after dark, 30 degrees above the western horizon, in October of 1969. The group of persons observed the object for ten to twelve minutes, starting at 7:15 EST. The object was at one time as bright as the moon. The object changed size, color, and brightness. The object was sharply outlined and self-luminous. The object came close, moved away, came close, then moved away. It was about the same size as the moon, maybe a little smaller, varied from brighter/larger than planet to apparent size of moon. The object moved to distance, then disappeared. Estimated distance to the object was difficult to determine, maybe 300–1,000 yards, about 30 degrees above the horizon. "[signed] 9/18/73, Jimmy Carter" (Source: © 1998 by George A. Filer, MUFON Eastern Director, MUFON Skywatch Investigations, Filer's Files #61998, issued 11 February 1999, e-mail [email protected]; MUFON Journal, 103 Oldtowne Road, Sequin, TX 781554099, USA. http://mufon.com) STRANGE Times 2006

AREA 51/S-4 Secrets Behind the Scenes

O In 1991, UFO investigator Wendelle Stevens was contacted by a Delta Force sentry who divulged details of flying saucers and aliens kept at Area 51.

by Wendelle C. Stevens ©1997 From his talk given at the 1997 Australian International UFO Symposium PO Box 17206 Tucson, Arizona 85731, USA

STRANGE Times 2006

n Tuesday, 22 October 1991, one of the strangest and most exciting stories of my career in UFO research began to unfold. A young man calling himself Connor O'Ryan called my home in Tucson, Arizona, from Los Angeles and said he wanted to come and see some of my collection of UFO information and pictures. That was about noon of Tuesday. At about 14:00 hours I received another call from the same voice saying that he feared he may be in danger, because when he went to the bank to draw out money for his trip, he was informed that his account was "frozen"! He tried his Bankcard in the automatic teller machine and it was returned unhonoured. He went to another bank and tried to withdraw money on his Visacard and it also was not honoured. He said he suspected the worst. He went back and packed his bags and left his apartment. He called me again about 14:45 to say he had something for me if I would get him a bus ticket to deliver it. He said the next bus left his position at 16:00. I raced to my nearest Mail Boxes outlet and wired him $100 for a ticket to Tucson. After that, I was tied up on my telephone for a few minutes when my line was interrupted by another call saying the money was not at Western Union yet, and time was running out. I assured him that I would go check on it immediately, and that he should check Western Union again in 15 minutes. He did, and the funds were verified, and Western Union verified this to me. The Mail and Western Union substation was in a mall across the street from the bus station and he made it in time; but now he began to worry about what he was carrying, and on impulse decided not to carry what he had with him, but to ship it to me to hold for him when he got here. He made up a package in an automobile starter box and weighted it with rocks to disguise the contents. He then took it to the mail section of the bus station office and shipped it to me at priority rate, registered and insured so that it had to be signed for. The man arrived in Tucson at 02:30 early next morning and called me, so I went down and picked him up at the Tucson bus station. He did not want to eat, but I was now up and wanted a cup of coffee. We stopped at the Dunkin' Donuts all-night counter near 22nd Street and Craycroft Road, and I had a coffee and he drank a Pepsi-Cola. Then we went to my home and went to sleep. The next morning, Wednesday, all seemed normal and we went out to breakfast. The young visitor asked a lot of questions about UFOs and my research. He said he had found out about me and my interests in a book on UFOs, among the very few on the subject in the Las Vegas downtown public library, and copied my name and address from it. A call to the Tucson telephone directory service gave him my number. He said he was a US Marine—a "Seal", an elite Navy Special Forces position—and had been such since his enlistment some nine years ago. He was 29 years old, and for the last nine months he had been assigned to "Delta Force, Team Six", a super-elite cross-service activity that answered to none of the service commands but to a command line of its own, answering directly to the Joint Service Staff. This was all new to me. He said he was, until one week before, assigned to duty at S-4 in the Area 51 facility of the ACE reservation in Nevada. He said he was a sentry who lived in the quarters at the facility and whose duty post was on Level 2 of a four-level complex. He said there were no sentries below Level 2, as everything below that was electronically controlled and he did not know what was down there. At Level 2 they controlled access to the separate elevators that went down below—one to Level 3 and another one to Level 4. To use one of these elevators it took a card, a thumbprint and a matching retina scan of the right eye. Anyone who was not cleared by this process was immediately arrested. The sentries worked continuous shifts of four hours on and eight off. They patrolled www.nexusmagazine.com

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their area at attention and were prohibited from looking around or Level 1. There were other sentries on Level 1, whom he did not directly at anybody. They were not allowed to talk to each other know. or to anybody else. Socialisation off-duty was discouraged and He saw naked alien bodies pickled in a liquid and preserved little conversation or discussion took place in the facility, making standing erect in a large, transparent, tubelike case. A metal band everyone pretty much a loner. around the waist held the bodies erect. The eyes in one of them The men were given physical examinations every three months, seemed to be sunken back some. during which they were always hypnotised for about one hour. Over time, a small camera was successfully taken into the facilEven their most secret thoughts were probed. ity, pictures were taken and the film was brought out. This These men were allowed three days of rest and recuperation became a dangerous game, and its possible discovery during one leave in groups and were taken to Las Vegas once a month. They of the hypnotic sessions may have been the real reason for his were dropped at the Imperial Palace Hotel on Las Vegas sudden separation. If this was the case, and he really did have Boulevard in the afternoon of the first day, and were picked up at Hodgkin's disease, the implications were fearful. He may have 16:00 on the third day to go back to their been given this disease by his own work facility. Rooms were provided in a superiors to terminate him for what special reserved section of the Imperial he had seen! This had already Palace maintained by the security agency. occurred to him, and he was very He saw naked alien bodies The men were searched on the way out of worried because he was still in perthe secure S-4 facility, and were searched pickled in a liquid and preserved fect health and had no history of again and given a polygraph test on the such a disease in his family. standing erect in a large, way back into the facility. His retaliation, if this turned out On his last quarterly physical, our guest to be true, was to release some 52 transparent, tubelike case. A was told that he had Hodgkin's disease photographs taken inside Level 2 of metal band around the waist and would be given a medical discharge, S-4. If successfully brought out, he which was done. He was distraught at could blow the lid off such a nefariheld the bodies erect. being kicked out of his choice service and ous operation which was truly the a career which he loved and counted on. work of "mad scientists". He wanted to go all the way to his retireConnor felt his hand was being ment in this service. He was frightened at forced by the freezing of his money the prospect of being ill and debilitated by a killer disease when supply, and he now sought to get out of the whole thing. He he felt perfectly well. He had always been very active. shipped his "weapon", the set of 52 photographs, in the starter box only 20 minutes before he got on the bus to come to Tucson. onnor had begun to take an interest in what was going on Other sets were strategically stashed in case of intercept of one or in the facility, and he began to look around and at things. more. He saw seven disc-shaped craft stored there in Level 2. ow Connor was waiting anxiously for the box to arrive, Three of them were alike and the remaining four were all differthe shipping clerk having advised him that it would take ent. He saw some of them occasionally taken up to Level 1, and three days to get to Tucson. That would mean arrival on sometimes one would be taken outside when all satellite activity Friday, 25 October. was clear. The craft were kept on rolling platforms, and they But on Thursday 24th, I found a pale-blue envelope resting in were always moved on these same platforms from his Level 2 to the brackets on the porch mailbox next to my front door. It bore no address and no stamps, indicating a hand delivery. The return address, printed in the upper left corner of the envelope, was Imperial Palace, 3535 Las Vegas Blvd, South Las Vegas, Nevada 89109. Inside the blue parchment-like envelope was a sheet of similar pale-blue stationery, with the Imperial Palace name and address on the top of the page and a gold crest on the bottom in the right-hand corner. On that sheet of Part of the mysterious note found by Wendelle Stevens outside his home on 25 October 1991. paper was a message in

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very simple, childlike letters, of the style used in penmanship decided upon. practice in elementary school—very difficult from which to judge Connor was leaving and they had already taken a number of handwriting characteristics. The message said: "It's to come photographs and stashed them securely. Connor would deliver home." There was a Delta Force symbol with the point of the trione set to us and arrange for a follow-on plan. Those still inside angle up, indicating "It's cool"—as we found out later. would take more pictures and try to get documents with official I showed the letter to my grandson, Gem Cox, who was sleepheadings on them, discussing the craft and bodies. The biologist ing on the porch. Connor was sleeping on the sofa between the would provide dissection reports, autopsies and analyses on the porch and my bedroom. He was still asleep. Gem did not know alien bodies, together with photos of the bodies under dissection. what it was all about, and suggested we wake Connor and ask him This material was to be brought out periodically and be made about it. When we did, Connor went visibly pale and was immeavailable to us through a special drop arrangement or arrangediately alert. He muttered, "Oh God, they're here already!" and ments. We were given our instructions for follow-up and were shook his head. told where and how it would be done. This could all be published Our visitor was now concerned that he also had a tracking on a signal, to raise the profile of the group in case any one of device implanted in his body, because, though we'd been watchthem was harmed. They hoped that a public outcry would result ing carefully, we had detected no evidence of Connor being foland that this would save some of them from internal "executions". lowed and had done everything to detect if he Such an outcry could lead to lawsuits against had been. the government and subpoenas for evidence, ...Connor told us that finally bringing down the "house of cards" of This angered Connor even more than the possibility of the disease being introduced, over these important matters affectthere were five people security because now he had evidence of this. He ing us all, our society and our world. said he wanted to give us a statement to be from inside S-4, all riday morning we were anxiously awaitheld in confidence unless, and until, someworking on Level 2, who ing delivery of the shipment so we thing was done to him. If he were to be could get the package, when at about harmed, or any of his friends or family were had become 11:30 I went out to see if any mailbox flags to be harmed because of him, the statement disenchanted over the were still up. Coming back to the door, I would be released. noticed another of those pale-blue Imperial secrecy of their e went out into the desert, to a Palace envelopes stuck behind my house high spot where all approaches operation and the way it number. could be watched simultaneThis time the message was a white 3" was being run. ously, and video-recorded a two-hour x 5" card with the Delta Force triangle, statement for this purpose. Five copies the point now turned to about the 2 were made and all were dispersed to o'clock position, indicating time was They thought the secrecy separate locations away from here—to running out. Then there was a circle was misplaced and that trusted hands who would release the with an envelope in it and a line drawn information if anything happened to us. diagonally across the whole pictogram, the American public At that time Connor told us that there indicating no shipment and possibly an ought to know what were five people from inside S-4, all intercept of the registered package. The working on Level 2, who had become next pictogram was a circle with "LV was there... disenchanted over the secrecy of their BUS" written inside; a diagonal line was operation and the way it was being run. drawn across that symbol, indicating a They thought the secrecy was misplaced possible intercept there, too. That was and that the American public ought to followed by a big question mark, indiknow what was there, especially since this place had become cating "What are you going to do now?" But the most threatening commonly known inside as "The Museum", as the primary part of this message were the last two symbols: one was the word research activity had been moved elsewhere. "Home", and the other was two paper matches, indicating a threat The security people working there were not allowed to use of arson. names, but were all identified by a number. Connor's number was The arson threat was turned over to the County Sheriff and the 122 and the other three sentries had numbers 123, 124 and 125. A local Fire Department for file in case this threat was carried out. biologist working with the bodies had number 118. These numIf so, it would clearly lead back to Delta Force and Area 51. We bers applied only at this facility and were changed as people came have the names of the chain of command leading all the way back and went. to the [then] Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney, and we have This group had been considering this action and contact for attorneys who are most anxious to initiate such a lucrative action. some time and had discussed whom of the UFO researchers they One of the 52 photos is said to clearly show Dick Cheney inspectwould contact. They went to the public library in Las Vegas and ing Level 2 of the S-4 facility, where the alien ship and sample studied all the available material on UFOs, looking for names. bodies are kept and where our man was a sentry on duty. This They rejected MUFON and CUFOS because they feared those photo was surreptitiously taken by our Delta Force visitor at that organisations might have been infiltrated by agents of the governtime, after the end of the Gulf War. ment. They rejected John Lear as their primary contact because Interception of this package of photographs does not mean they he was too close and was being watched constantly. They rejectare all gone. Other sets were made and stashed in trusted hands ed George Knapp of TV Channel 8 because he was also too close for safekeeping in case of loss of some. They can be produced to and might want a story immediately. They chose us because they save a life or to pursue an arson threat carried out by Delta Force thought we could be persuaded to wait and go at a pace they had or its agents. The evidence is clearly established.

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After the third letter from Delta Force, on Saturday 26 October 1991, our man decided they might come in by force and take him, so he went out into my walled backyard, found a dark corner under some big oleander trees, buried his identification cards and covered the whole thing with dead leaves so it looked undisturbed. We were only absent from home for a short time to go eat something, and we discussed copying his cards and dispersing the copies. When we returned home he went out to get them and they were already gone, leading to speculations that even the ID cards may have tracking devices in them. That third message was found at about noon, in another sort of envelope; white this time, with a white sheet of paper inside. Again, it had been stuck in the corner of my house numbers at my front door. This time the message seemed to be an offer. This was truly Orwellian in scope and a very frightening situation for our society.

before midnight. They arrived at Jim Dilettoso's and talked with him for about an hour before going to their room in an outbuilding to get some sleep. About 02:30 in that early morning, Gem Cox was awakened by someone else in their room. He tried to open his eyes and tried to move, but he was completely paralysed! He could only see through a small slit of eyelid opening, and could look down his prone body. He saw four "ninjas" (men in close-fitting black bodysuits with padded feet and black knitted ski-masks) in there with them. One was standing over Gem on his bed, straddling his ankles and pointing an automatic weapon at his head. Another similar figure was standing over Connor the same way. Two more "ninjas" were going through their things, looking for something. One came up with a piece of paper from Connor's bag, looked at it, cursed and crumpled it, then threw it towards the door. A fifth man, in a suit, was also there in the room. Nothing was said by any of them. Gem lost consciousness again and he hat day Gem Cox had to go to Phoenix on business and and Connor both slept until 14:30 in the afternoon! took Connor along with him to see what would happen with When they got up and went out to the car, there was another a change of location. As expected, the next message from (the fourth) pictographic note in the Delta Force shorthand lanthe unseen force was delivered there, in Phoenix, and was found guage showing the triangle pointed back to the 12:00 position, the next afternoon. indicating "No rush". Then there were carefully disguised penThe two had detected no evidence of pursuit, though they'd manship letters that read: "Situ: Extreme. Please be pat." These sanitised their trail to the best of their ability. They'd driven very were followed by pictograms showing three men, in the step: " = fast, until they could see no other car lights, and then pulled off $$$ = No TV, Work on deal. You have 7 days to produce pack the road behind some bushes and waited. They did this several or = . We want GW1 to come home. We will call in 48 hrs." times and detected no pursuit. Later on Sunday, 27 October, a fifth note, in a white envelope, They had left Tucson late in the evening and got to Phoenix just was found stuck in the car door. It had a sheet of white paper inside with instructions for them to check into the Motel 6 in Scottsdale and wait. They did this late on Sunday afternoon, after purchasing an infra-red sensor light and cans of peanuts to get the aluminium pull-off tops. They rigged the sensor light to come on when someone was just beyond the motel room door, and they inserted peanut-can lids in the crack around the door so as to fall out if the door were moved or the cracks disturbed. That night, both the light came on and the can lids were knocked to the floor by someone who checked the door and then went away. The two men checked out the next day. They went out to the parking lot to return to Tucson, and as they approached Gem's red Porsche they saw a sixth envelope pinched into the door crack. They then thought of their arrival to check into the motel, and how the desk clerk had handed Gem a key that was already laying on the clerk's desk pad in front of him. Thinking that rather suspiWendelle Stevens, during his presentation at the 1997 Australian International UFO cious, Gem looked at the key number, Symposium held in Brisbane last October. affected dislike and said, "Give me another

He saw four "ninjas" (men in close-fitting black bodysuits with padded feet and black knitted ski-masks) in there with them.

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room. I don't like this number. I am very sensitive about numbers." The clerk objected but did change the key, and so they ended up in a different room. Now they wondered what would have happened if they had used the first room. This time the note seemed a little more conciliatory. It had the delta triangle pointing up at 12 o'clock again. Then the note said: "100,000 within 48 hrs for location. No foul play or"—and that was all. On Tuesday, 29 October, a seventh note was received, again mentioning 100,000 and showing three stick men walking away. The delta triangle was again pointed up, and then it said, "18:00, All be there". The 48 hours ran out at 18:00 on Wednesday evening, and at 18:15 an eighth note was found stuck behind the house numbers in Tucson again. This one said, "Trouble with money. Delay to 13:00 to 16:00 tomorrow". That would be Thursday, 31 October 1991. We waited all Thursday afternoon, from 12:00 to 18:00, with no further contact. Finally Connor asked for my car so he could go make a call. He came back somewhat disturbed and said he had been told that the orders to "terminate" him had been issued.

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"They" would not hesitate to take out my whole neighbourhood if necessary, and the reference, "MALAKIA", meant just that.

t that point we decided to raise Connor's profile so that news of such a "termination" might draw the interest of hundreds of UFO buffs anxious to check out Area 51 and S-4. I called the Ham Radio Net and asked them to stand by in case something dangerous happened, giving them a few clues and contacts to put the story together. I also called the computer mailboxes and had them stand by for a spectacular release, or for a story about our being taken in on a set-up intended to discredit us. Either way, the story would get much mileage. There was no contact at all, all day of Friday—very unusual in view of the deadlines. On the morning of Saturday, 2 November, we found a plain brown envelope behind my house numbers again. This was apparently the end of the negotiations and a final kiss-off. The threat was plain and simple: no more negotiations. "They" would not hesitate to take out my whole neighbourhood if necessary, and the reference, "MALAKIA", meant just that. Sunday passed and still no contact had been made. Connor was beginning to lose patience in view of the execution order issued on him. He called a friend (his tutor and mentor from earlier in his career) and consulted him on what to do. The friend offered to come and get him and take him to a safe place. On Monday, 4 November, Connor decided to go get us some stashed evidence to be used in publishing the whole story, if that became necessary to prevent the deaths of his several confederates who by now had certainly been discovered. He timed this to coincide with the arrival of his rescuer in a private plane to take him to safety, or so he thought. He asked to be dropped at the bus station where there would be safety in numbers, and that is where I took him. His last words were that he would retrieve a stashed package and put it in our hands before he left. He would contact us with instructions in a few hours. That was the last we saw of our mysterious visitor.

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onnor had given me a locker key that he said was for a locker in the Greyhound bus terminal in downtown Las Vegas. He said that there was an envelope, taped up behind the door-locking mechanism in the front of the locker, which I should remove as soon as possible, as there would be a follow-on delivery by his friends inside the S-4 facility if this were removed. I went to Las Vegas and called John Lear to go with me to the bus station and videotape me as I opened that locker number 424. I had a map of the location of that locker bank and number in the bus station. I found the correct bank of lockers, and the position of the locker number I was looking for—but that number was not there. The locker numbers were in correct order on either side of this position, but one whole bank of lockers was now different. The locker key I had looked exactly like all the other keys in the other lockers in that major number series, but the locker I wanted by number was gone. Its number was on my key. I went to the locker manager in the terminal and explained my dilemma, and was told that the lockers were a concession, and that the concessionaire did occasionally change lockers for his own reasons, and that, yes, some had been changed just last week. That ended my contact with this story, except that I had the two-hour videotaped interview with the mysterious Connor O'Ryan. My house was again searched several times, but that tape was never found because, in fact, it had been in the hands of the Pima County Sheriff's Office ever since it was recorded, and it was still safe there. ∞ About the Author: Wendelle Stevens is a retired Lt Colonel who served as a US Army Air Corps test pilot during World War II and then worked out of the Flight Test Division of the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. His duty desk was in the Foreign Technology Division of the Air Technical Intelligence Center—the office out of which UFO-related Air Force projects Sign, Grudge and Bluebook were eventually formed. In 1947 he took part in the Ptarmigon project to map the entire Arctic land and sea area, and record all anomalous phenomena, even evidence of UFO activity. From thereon, Wendelle Stevens began amassing what is now arguably the largest collection of UFO photographs in the world. He retired from the US Air Force in 1963 and has pursued his UFO interests ever since, contributing articles to many UFO magazines, both US and foreign, and giving lectures internationally. He has accumulated reams of data from his own investigations of sightings reports over the years. Stevens is not affiliated or aligned with any particular UFO organisations and continues his research at his own expense. At the QUFON 1997 Australian International UFO Symposium, held in Brisbane during October, Wendelle Stevens 'went public' for the first (and last) time with Connor O'Ryan's story, at the same time showing segments of O'Ryan's videotaped statement. Wendelle mentioned that he actually received death threats over the phone as he was preparing to leave the USA to come to Australia to deliver this presentation.


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UFOs & EBEs

M ORE I NSIDER E VIDENCE

S This testimony from a former US Army Signal Corps and CIA officer is the latest to confirm that the US government and military are withholding the facts about extraterrestrial craft and biological entities.

by Linda Moulton Howe © 1998 LMH Productions PO Box 21843 Albuquerque, NM 87154, USA Fax: 0011 1 505 797 7908 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.earthfiles.com

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ince my new book, Glimpses of Other Realities—Volume II: High Strangeness, was released to nationwide US bookstores on April 1, 1998, I have heard from several ex-military and ex-intelligence people from around the country. They say the documents and military voices in my new book have true information about United States Government knowledge and cover-up of non-humans interacting with Earth. And a month ago, in May, I was put in phone contact with a man I will simply call "Kewper" to protect his identity at his request. Kewper served as a First Lieutenant with the US Army Signal Corps and was a CIA administrator at an Army base in the southeastern USA from 1957 to 1960. He provided his DD-214 and Certificate of Discharge along with a 1956 newspaper article about his being drafted. That civilian name and Army Signal Corps base of operations were consistent with the Army discharge papers. I would name the Army base, but as you read further you will see that Kewper was asked by a government watchdog to withhold that information in order to protect current CIA-sensitive and classified operations out of the same base in 1998. Back in the 1957 to 1960 period, Kewper taught radio operations and cryptography to Army Signal Corps officers under a false identification assigned to him by the CIA. The head of that Signal Corps school had worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. The OSS became the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947. In addition to teaching, Kewper's CIA boss at the Army base asked Kewper to help analyse Top Secret cases gathered for the Air Force's Project Blue Book investigation of unidentified flying objects. When I first talked with Kewper a month ago, he said his security oaths expired 30 to 35 years after he got out of the Army and CIA in 1960. So that period ended around 1995. Therefore, he said, he now feels he's not doing anything wrong by discussing with me his extraordinary first-hand knowledge and experiences concerning "extraterrestrials"—as he said they were referred to in the Top Secret classified files he'd read and analysed. However, a month ago he was not certain he wanted to go on the public record. On Saturday, May 30, I called him again to ask if he might now be willing to do a radio interview as long as his real civilian name was withheld. Since 1993 I have been reporting science and environmental news for the nationally syndicated Chancellor Radio Broadcasting Network. Kewper surprised me when he immediately said, "I'm afraid your phone is tapped." He'd had a call on Monday, May 25 from a man who did not explain who he was or for whom he worked, and did not address Kewper by name but simply started talking. And this is what Kewper told me on the record, under the condition that I edit out subjects that the unidentified caller said were still sensitive. Those edits are indicated by parenthesis notes in the following interview first broadcast on the North American syndicated radio programs Dreamland, on May 31, 1998, and Coast to Coast AM Hosted by Art Bell on all-night radio, June 1-2, 1998: Howe: You answered the phone and they said...? Kewper: Yeah, they didn't repeat my name. They just said: "We understand that you had a conversation with somebody in Pennsylvania in regards to classified materials that had been classified, and we would appreciate it if you didn't bring up the fact in an interview or television interviews in regards to [Army base name deleted] that you had mentioned on the telephone, and also about anything going on in the [CIA aerial logistics deleted] or anything in regard to that. We would really appreciate it because reporters and just interested people, if it gets aired, may try to get into the classified area there—and, of course, to their own physical harm." www.nexusmagazine.com

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Howe: They did not say that you could not talk about the sixstates like Oregon or Washington or Utah—somewhere out in that fingered humanoid film? area. Kewper: No; nothing like that. Howe: You mean someone just happened to be filming? Howe: Well, then, could we do an interview today? Not for Kewper: Yes. Someone was trying a brand new camera and name attribution but to put you on the radio as a person who they were filming this power plant. First, the mountainous areas served—and you can tell me how you want it described—and around, and then they were over to this power plant. The power who saw this film, and you could try to give me the year. Can we plant had a smokestack and had some smoke going on up. And a do that? little ways away from where the smoke was going up, we started Kewper: Yeah, I guess so, as long as I don't bring up anything seeing little white, round...like a little piece of a cloud. It got about... more and more dense, and more and more round. And pretty soon Howe: So you were getting the reports that Project Blue Book you could see little tiny windows around the bottom section. I'm was collecting; that they were allowing to the public only those just using "windows" as a term loosely. It developed more and they were explaining. You were actually handling the files that more, and pretty soon it looked real silver, and soon it started flywere unexplained? ing off by itself, slowly. Kewper: Yes. Probably not all of them, but at least we were Howe: So you had on film, in Central Intelligence Agency one of the groups investigating the unexplained. I know when work, we'll call it an actual materialisation of what appeared to be they closed down Project Blue Book they said they had found a hard, silver disc that literally just emerged from what looked absolutely nothing as far as what they did in like a vaporous cloud? Project Blue Book that wasn't explained. Kewper: Yes; just a little ways from a And that was actually true because anything cloud emitted by the smokestack. So we they didn't explain would be sent to Fort thought at that time that these aliens must Belvoir in Virginia and then farmed out have some way of materialising or travelling from there to other military. The FBI was from one area to another and materialising, involved with some of the things, too, I by using the current that was down in the So you had on film, in power plant somehow to change the electric know, because FBI would show up on some of these peoples' doorsteps. currents...into something electromagnetic or Central Intelligence Howe: What were the years that you something solid, like solid material. were personally working in the CIA and Agency work, we'll call it Howe: Now, how was the autopsy/dissechandling these highly classified reports relat- an actual materialisation tion of the six-fingered humanoid film preed to the UFO phenomenon? sented to you? What was the explanation of Kewper: 1957 to 1960. I was in the ser- of what appeared to be a how this had occurred? vice starting in 1956, but I didn't get Kewper: They just said that this was hard, silver disc that involved with this in the first year, you done at Roswell, the same day or day know. literally just emerged after—the same, I think—the craft was Howe: And your rank was what and picked up at night; that some time durfrom what looked like a in which military branch? ing the next day this autopsy was perKewper: I was in the Army and a formed there at the military base, and vaporous cloud? First Lieutenant. I was still actually in also an autopsy was performed in town the Army Signal Corps, but I also in the little clinic or hospital they have worked for the CIA, too, because I was there. getting two paychecks. I was getting Howe: Now that would contradict one from the CIA and one from milithe statement released with the autoptary service. sy/dissection film by the alleged camHowe: Now, in the course of this eraman who said he was there and work from 1957 to 1960, did you see filmed the wreckage and the beams that any 16-mm films related to this phehad the symbols, and that about two nomenon? weeks later, I believe, he was asked to go to some place to film Kewper: In regard to UFOs in Roswell, you mean? the autopsy dissection. Do you know how to reconcile these two Howe: Right. pieces of information? Kewper: The only film I saw is the one that has been released Kewper: No, I don't, because we were told—it mentioned in the last couple of years showing an alien autopsy. I saw that right in the film—that it was done in New Mexico, that most of very same film in 1957. the film was done right there at the military base outside of Howe: And what were the circumstances in which you saw Roswell and that some little parts of the film were done at the this? local hospital or clinic. Kewper: It was in regard to studying UFOs, in working up and Howe: And what was the briefing to you about these six-fingoing through and trying to cover or investigate some of these gered humanoids? How were they described? Was there any folders we had in regard to the different sightings. Apparently information? someone at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, sent that film to my boss. The Kewper: There was little info in regards to that. The film was team viewed the thing one Saturday morning and he had to send it about 10 years old at that time, and they just said this was the only right back to Fort Belvoir again. But we did see that one. And film that we have of the aliens and the body. There are pictures we also saw several other at that time highly classified UFO sightthat have been taken by different private people showing these ings on film. We had one film showing a UFO actually developaliens walking around outside their craft, something like that, but ing or materialising over a power plant out in one of the western this is the only film that we have that shows a close picture of the STRANGE Times 2006


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aliens and exactly what they look like. So, if you run across any threat; and they were working under that assumption to try to more of these sightings that people have sent in that describe this increase the different radar around the country more so that they particular being, then you can match them up according to this. could detect if they were coming in from outer space and be able Howe: Was the film you saw in black and white or colour? to get some type of scrambling from the Air Force's nearest base Kewper: It was black and white. to check it out or shoot them down or whatever. Howe: And did you ever see any colour film or photographs of Howe: Were you ever given a briefing or exposed to any other these beings? information between 1957 and 1960 beyond that screening of the Kewper: No, not of the beings. The only coloured film I autopsy/dissection film? remembered seeing was of that spaceship materialising. Kewper: I would say no, not during that time. We just had the Howe: Now, you were working for the CIA and this was tanvarious foreign, a few domestic, but mostly foreign sightings that gential to Project Blue Book. How were you shown this film? we had gone over. We had people overseas who would go and What were the screening conditions? Were you in Washington? interview these people who had photographs of aliens outside of a Were you in the South? saucer, but nothing at that time. Basically I saw just the film of Kewper: Yeah, they sent this down to [location deleted at the autopsy on that particular being; but, like I mentioned, when I Kewper's request after anonymous phone call referenced in introwent to Area 51 in 1958 I did see another type of a being where it duction to this interview] and we looked at the film. Then my was the peaked face, the great big eyes and the little chin that has boss had to send it right back the next day by a special courier always been termed a "grey", I believe. they had running between Fort Belvoir and CIA headquarters. Howe: Okay, can you describe that experience? Howe: How many of you were there? Kewper: We were out there for a meeting of all the CIA peoKewper: About 20 of us. There were 26 people involved altople around this country and over towards the Far East and so on, gether in our group, and I would say that about 20 of us saw it. and we had the meeting there at Area 51. We were involved with Some were overseas at the time. A lot of the UFO pictures that this Project Blue Book thing and they wanted the meeting there, so we got were not from the United some of us involved directly with it— States; they were European, Central there were only five of us that went American, Mexican, and South from [name of Army base deleted] American sightings of UFOs. One and we were the only five that had the was an Italian film. So I believe we meeting out there. They had meetings While I was there, the whole got it down there at the CIA because right in the main buildings of the Air the CIA had facilities in all these forForce, a little base they had there. three years, we never saw any eign countries to be able to try to veriHowe: At Nellis AFB in Nevada. information about where they fy some of these things; because we Kewper: Yes. But we went out to had men in all the different parts of Groom Lake area and the two areas came from and what they the world. they had out there. They showed it to were doing here. Howe: So this was your first visual us, but only to us and not to the CIA sort of experience with something people from the Far East or from non-human. Do you remember what Central America. They didn't go out you thought at the time? there; it was only the five of us. We Kewper: Yeah, I was kind of perlanded at Area 51 at the main landing plexed. I thought: How can this be? How can these beings come strip. Then we got into a van-type of small minibus. After that, here? How can they be completely different from man? we didn't stop to get into any other buildings there. Howe: But sort of resembled us in a humanoid-shape way. They took us down about 10 miles away, something of that Kewper: Yes, they did; they did resemble us. That particular nature, and stopped at the first special area. And they took us into alien, the six-fingered alien—you might say it didn't resemble us the area there, and they had U-2s and also the SR-71 Blackbirds— completely, but it looked like a miniature man with a smaller I believe they were flying them at that time. We were there a head, but it wasn't the great big narrow face with the big eyes. It short period of time, and then we got back on the bus and went didn't have ears like we have; it had a little circle around a hole about another eight miles to the third and final area where they inside of its skull. The ears didn't look like [ours]. The nose had highly classified material. We stopped there and went into an looked basically like [ours] and the mouth was much smaller. office area first, and then a colonel there met us and took us on a Howe: Do you remember if this film was shown to you in tour. He took us first of all down a walkway into a hangar area 1957, 10 years after 1947? Was there any knowledge then among that had been carved out. It might have been a natural cave to the intelligence agencies from any communication with these start out with, but at least it was carved out of the mountainside beings about what their origin was? area. It was not extremely large. Kewper: Nothing really. While I was there, the whole three Howe: Was this the Papoose mountain range? years, we never saw any information about where they came from Kewper: I wouldn't really know. I don't think I ever quesand what they were doing here. Nothing was ever brought out in tioned what the mountains were. regards to that. My boss and I were both wondering about that: Howe: Okay, but so I am clear, this is a colonel who is joining Why were they here? Why would they come here? And where you and your CIA boss and three other CIA men in your prowere they from? During that period of time, as far as I know, the gram? government had no idea where they were from or what they were Kewper: Yes. trying to do here. Howe: Were there only six of you? Howe: From a military and CIA point of view, were they conKewper: Yes. As we passed through different areas, naturally sidered a threat? there were other workers and scientists working on different Kewper: Not really a threat, but there was a questionable things, and office personnel. 28 • NEXUS


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Howe: And did you understand what the reason was that your coated with nickel inside and it was like a giant circuit, an elecboss was having you go to have this tour by this colonel? tronic circuit. And it took the aliens to complete the circuit Kewper: Yes. They wanted us to see the craft so when we because they were tied right in with it: they had headbands they looked at pictures, trying to identify fake pictures from the real wore that had detectors on, and they had finger-type board control thing, this would be a help to us. That was the main reason why where they could fly the craft. we were toured through the area to see the different types of craft, Howe: Those are the hand-imprinted, six-fingered control panso we could pick out the [hoaxed] "garbage can covers" from the els that were with that autopsy film? real craft. Kewper: Yes. Howe: So the six of you, with the colonel, your CIA boss, Howe: And did you see the panels themselves actually there yourself and these three other CIA men involved in this project, with the craft? you're going, literally moving, walking into a carved-out area of a Kewper: Yes. They were there with the craft. They were trymountain? ing to figure out the electronic circuitry because there was no Kewper: Yes. wiring of any kind that they could see. But later on when they Howe: Can you describe exactly what you saw? had it at Groom Lake, they had a couple of scientists there who Kewper: As soon as we got in, the first thing we did see were used microscopes to check over the fingertip-control harnessing two small craft. and found little fibres going out from it. They found out then that Howe: What colour were they? it was a fibre optic type of electrical transmission throughout the Kewper: They were silver, kind of a silver finish to them; not craft. real shiny and bright, but basically silver. Howe: All done with light. Howe: What was the diameter? Kewper: Yes, it was light. The report I read originally said Kewper: About 18 or 20 feet. They were quite small. that when they looked inside the craft it was glowing with a real Howe: Were you allowed to go over and touch them? thin light inside from all the circuitry fibre optics. Reverse-engiKewper: No. We were on a neering of that is apparently where walkway area and couldn't get down we got fibre optics from. over to where the craft were actually Howe: What was the colonel sitting. saying to you about these discs in Howe: And how many others relationship to where you were could you see? going next? He just stated that these are Kewper: At least about seven, I Kewper: He just stated that some of the [alien] craft we think. There were some larger ones these are some of the craft we that were in the rear towards the end have picked up and captured in have picked up and captured that we could see down there because different parts of the world. in different parts of the world. they were probably 50 to 60 feet in Apparently some of them were diameter. even brought in from overseas Howe: Could you see any characfrom some point or other, but I teristics on these? Were any differgathered that most were captured ent from another? within the US. He then menKewper: They were all disctioned that we were going back shaped, but some had larger bottom areas that extended down the out to the general office area and another smaller hangar area to same as the top, the top extending up. And they were in different see the being, this extraterrestrial being, that they had there at that colours. The larger ones in the rear were a real deep, real dark time. grey colour, and some of the other ones were lighter in colour, but Howe: Try to walk us through what happened next. maybe like a light- or medium-brown type of thing. The larger Kewper: Okay. We went from the hangar area where the ones in the rear had real large top units and large bottom units to saucers were, out to a covered walkway area and into an office them and were sitting on metal saw-horses to hold them up off the complex, I would call it, because it was a bunch of small rooms ground. and offices. They had a special room for viewing that had oneHowe: And did the colonel try to explain, or did he have way windows in it—one-way mirrors, rather. We could look knowledge or any understanding of the propulsion system of the through the window into this small office, and the being that was extraterrestrial craft? in there was not able to see us through the mirror because there Kewper: That question was asked, and he mentioned it was was a mirror on his side. electromagnetic/antigravitational-type engines. But some of the Howe: And what happened? craft had other propulsion systems also, but he didn't go into great Kewper: They said we could go in and talk to this being, and detail on other propulsions. Apparently it was like antimatter at that time I chose not to go in. Years later, I wished I had, but I propulsion on one of the units, something of that nature. chose not to go in because they did tell us that the being spoke And I saw they'd tried to reverse-engineer one craft, so part of it telepathically. The colonel had more terms added to it other than was taken apart. They were trying to figure out how it works, and telepathically, but the being wouldn't speak in any manner that we he was explaining to us that there really was no physical motor in could hear through our ears. So I chose to stay out, and the other that thing. The entire disc was like an electronic circuit, and the four people did go in. aliens had to be inside of this disc to complete the electronic cirHowe: Your boss, the three other CIA guys and the Colonel cuit to make it fly. The Area 51 people knew that, because they Jim? had tried to make that one fly. It was just like a battery electrical Kewper: Yes. unit; it worked with antigravitational/electromagnetic drive, but Howe: Now, can you describe the being exactly, from your the whole saucer itself was like the drive of the ship. It was all watching this and listening? STRANGE Times 2006


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Kewper: What the colonel called him was a "grey". He had Back in those days, that type of thing was just beginning with the large head and bigger eyes, kind of slanted bigger eyes. He computers. He said it didn't sound like a human voice: it sounded looked like he was wearing sunglasses because the lenses were like an electronic voice. real dark. He had kind of a slim face down to a peaked chin with Howe: Neither male nor female? just a little nose area, a tiny slit of a mouth and just holes in the Kewper: Neither one, sort of in between. side of his head for ear openings. Howe: Why would the concept of a telepathic-communication Howe: About how tall? being bother you? Kewper: About five feet, something like that. Kewper: Well, naturally, it's something I'd never run across Howe: What was the surface of the skin like in colour and texbefore; that would be a certain amount of bother, you know. ture? Howe: Did you ever learn in your work for the CIA what the Kewper: Yeah, it was greyish looking, but it looked fairly relationship was between the six-fingered beings and the grey coarse, not like the smoothness of our skin. being? Howe: Now what happened between your boss, the three CIA Kewper: Nope, never did. guys and Colonel Jim in that room communicating with the Howe: Did someone explain why this being was even being being? kept there? Kewper: My boss did ask him, "What are you doing here? Kewper: No. They wouldn't tell us why he was kept there, And why do you come here?" The only answer he got was, "We how long he had been there or anything like that. I think one of are not here to conquer the Earth. We are not here to destroy anythe answers was, "We can't talk about that." I believe that was the thing. We are here to add knowledge to humans so they can gain main answer. more knowledge in different areas." Howe: And who at Area 51 seemed to be He [the CIA boss] said it was probably in control of this being? Which agency? like a 16- or 20-letter name where he was Kewper: It was the Air Force, actually. from, but he couldn't remember what the The Air Force colonel is the one we talked being said. After he came out and we left, I to. asked him and he said, "I don't remember Howe: Did this colonel or anybody what it was, but it was a real long name that explain to you what their perception was of he had given us as far as where he was this grey being from the standpoint of "We are not here to from." He'd asked if it was a part of the whether there was any kind of a threat? galaxy or if that was his planet. He said the Kewper: No, they didn't really consider it conquer the Earth. We being answered back to him that it was part like a big threat, but there was always this: are not here to destroy "We don't know for sure, but we don't think of a galaxy he was from. Not our galaxy, but a different galaxy. are going to be harmful to us, but we anything. We are here they Howe: A different galaxy? don't really know for sure. We can't say for to add knowledge to Kewper: Yes. sure that they are not trying to invade, Howe: When the being had or checking us all out and checking out humans so they can "telepathed" to your boss that it wasn't our military." Because even at that gain more knowledge here to hurt anything but to impart time, the saucer sightings were always knowledge, how would they impart around classified areas and any military in different areas." knowledge to us if they weren't making bases, that type of thing. So it looked themselves public to the Earth in a almost like they were scouting, you straightforward way? know. Kewper: I remember my boss Howe: By the time you left the mentioning that when he said that, he Army Signal Corps and CIA in 1960, denoted the creature was stretching the did you have any further briefings truth or lying just by the tone of the about the beings, and were they referred answer, this type of thing; that he wasn't to as "extraterrestrials"? telling the truth altogether, you know. Kewper: Yes, they were referred to Howe: Did your boss and the other as "extraterrestrials". Most of the time men explain to you how the telepathic process went? What did they referred to the one out there as a "grey". they experience? Howe: The one at Area 51? Kewper: They said they definitely weren't hearing a thing Kewper: Yes. They just referred to it as a "grey". through their ears and that the voice they heard more or less was Howe: Did they have any live six-fingered humanoids anyright in the mind itself. They could put their fingers in their ears where? and they would still hear the being. One tried that; he plugged Kewper: No, not that I know of. That was one of the quesboth ears to see if he could still hear the being, and he could. tions I asked the military man on the way in there—if this was the Howe: Oh, you could see through the glass that one of the men same kind of being. He'd mentioned they had a being that we actually put his fingers in his ears? were going to look at, and I asked if it was the same being as Kewper: Yes, to see if he was actually hearing the being, and Roswell. He said no. And I asked if they had any beings like at he wasn't, but he just heard what the being said right in his mind. Roswell, and he said no. Howe: What was the sound of the being in his mind? Howe: And Roswell—from your point of view in 1957 when Kewper: He said the voice almost sounded like an electroniyou were shown the six-fingered humanoid film, did it identify in cally reproduced voice. And now, of course, we have computers the introduction where exactly the six-fingered humanoids had that can talk to us and answer the phone with a computer voice. been retrieved from? 30 • NEXUS


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Kewper: They just said "near Roswell". almost like a mother ship, and they tried to shoot it down but the Howe: But they didn't specify? thing just shot all the aircraft that they had pursuing it, right out of Kewper: No, no. They didn't specify if that was the craft they the air in just a few seconds, with whatever lasers or whatever had captured near Roswell; they didn't specify that. They just said they [alien craft] had—death rays, something like that. "near Roswell", and I understand they had two or three craft they Howe: What is the source of your information on this? had picked up there that same summer of 1947. Kewper: This is through my friend, through my boss's son. Howe: Did anyone talk about the weather balloon story as When he talked to me in 1993 he mentioned that they'd had an being deliberately floated to obscure...? ugly incident there where the aliens had actually attacked some Kewper: Yes, they did, and they said it was a cover story. The type of a military base from where they had sent the planes up to weather balloon was a cover story. attack [the mother ship]. Howe: To cover up the fact that extraterrestrials and craft were Howe: Did you ever learn what type of being was in that craft? retrieved. Kewper: No, I didn't. Nobody did. It was a flyover-type thing Kewper: Yes. And I asked them why they covered this up. and nothing landed, so no one would know what was actually in This was 10 years later... there. But I know the big craft contained many small saucer craft; Howe: In 1957? it was almost like an aircraft carrier, like we would have with airKewper: Right, in 1958 [while visiting Area 51]. I asked him planes on it. [Colonel Jim], "Why do you continue to cover this up?" Well, he Howe: So, in summary, you went from 1957 to 1960 seeing said it was covered originally because the Cold War was just these highly classified reports about extraterrestrial beings, techstarting and somebody up in the government—I'm sure it was nology and craft. You actually saw 16-mm black and white probably President Truman—had requested a tight cover on this autopsy/dissection film of the six-fingered humanoid when you because with the Cold War starting and now having aliens flying were in the CIA. You actually went to Nevada, to Nellis AFB around, he thought it would be too much for the American public and Area 51, where you personally saw at least seven different all at once. But it was perpetuated, and even to this day they are craft and the live being that was described as a "grey" with large still covering it with balloon stories. black eyes and was different from the six-fingered humanoid. Howe: Now it is 1998. This is 40 And yet, when you left the Army years after you first saw the 16-mm Signal Corps and CIA work in 1960, black and white film of the six-finthere was still no understanding about gered humanoid dissection, and there the relationship between those beings I know that we have worked still appears to be a policy of silence or why they were there. and denial about this extraterrestrial Kewper: Yes, that's right; onetogether with Russia on this... interaction. Why do you think the hundred-per-cent right. At that time and that Russia is involved with government has not told the United there was a question mark, a big quesStates and the world what they tion mark as to why they were here. particle beam weapons, too, know? In some cases—apparently some of from satellite and from ground. Kewper: You would think they the US sightings—they were tremenwould have by now. But I know that dously friendly. at the same time through the Cold Howe: Were friendly? War era back in the 1950s—I was Kewper: Yes, were friendly. And, involved with it—the CIA in a lot of of course, there were all the abduction cases in regards to these unidentified flying objects did contact things that came out later. There weren't any in that original Blue and work with even the Russians during that time of the Cold War Book file that I had seen at that time in Blue Book. I know there to see what they had, because the Russians had contacted us in were quite a few later that said they were abducted. regards to UFOs as they had UFO sightings also. They contacted Howe: And did you ever see any references to animal mutilaus because they thought it might be some kind of advanced flying tions or unusual deaths? craft that we had, and they were calling us to warn us to keep Kewper: Yes. At that time we had it out in Colorado, I think. them out of their area because they thought they were our craft. I saw some of those. Different parts of the animal were taken like We told them they were not ours. samples—the stomachs in some, sex organs in others—and [the Howe: If Russia and the United States were secretly trying to animals were] apparently mutilated with a laser weapon of some talk with each other about an extraterrestrial presence, did you kind that left very precise cutting edges. ever have any further information over the last 40 years about Howe: Did you read about any such cases in that 1957 to 1960 what our government's understanding of the agenda or intent of time period? these beings is by now? Kewper: Yes, especially from Colorado. Kewper: I know that we have worked together with Russia on Howe: Even back then? this, especially since the Gorbachev thing and we became more Kewper: Yes. friendly; and that Russia is involved with particle beam weapons, Howe: And was there speculation on the part of the Central too, from satellite and from ground. We had actually given them Intelligence Agency or the military about the relationship between the particle beam weapon to be able to shoot down any of the these unusual animal deaths and the extraterrestrials? saucer craft. Kewper: Yes. The only thought at that time, if I remember Howe: But why would we try to shoot down craft if we percorrectly, is that they [extraterrestrials] were taking samples of ceived these beings to be benevolent? these various animals on the Earth just to see more or less what Kewper: Well, it could be something that happened since that their different functions were... time. I believe it would have happened over the [former] Soviet Howe: Do you think that this story should be told in its entirety Union because I know they had a big craft go over that was today? STRANGE Times 2006


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UFOs & EBEs: More Insider Evidence Kewper: Yes, I think it should. I think it would be helpful in explaining it, first of all. We still have a lot of sightings to this day and age. Howe: And this is why you're talking to me? Kewper: Yes.

EPILOGUE After this audiotaped interview was broadcast on the North American syndicated radio programs Dreamland and Coast To Coast AM Hosted by Art Bell, I learned from Kewper that he'd contacted a phone company executive in his city to inquire about the source of the anonymous call to him on May 25. He was told that the source was the Wackenhut Corporation—a security operation that works for the National Reconnaissance Office and other sensitive military and intelligence agencies in the United States. More than 50 years after the 1947 Roswell incident, a major question is: What do the United States, England, Australia other American ally government insiders—and, according to Kewper, even Russia—know which sustains the Orwellian policy of silence and denial in

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which lies are ordered to become official truth?...as written so strongly in "SOM101, the Majestic–12 Group Special Operations Manual of April 1954": Any encounter with entities known to be of extraterrestrial origin is to be considered to be a matter of national security and therefore classified TOP SECRET. Under no circumstance is the general public or the public press to learn of the existence of these entities. The official government policy is that such creatures do not exist, and that no agency of the federal government is now engaged in any study of extraterrestrials or their artifacts. Any deviation from this stated policy is absolutely forbidden. What will it take to change this policy instigated by US President Harry S. Truman's Executive Order in 1947? What military-industrial-complex interests are so vested in perpetuating the suppression, and why? It seems a right of the entire global human family to know that we are not alone in this universe, and that extraterrestrial biological entities and other-dimen-


sional entities have been interacting with this planet for aeons, affecting our biological, social and religious evolutions. But why? ∞ Note: If any readers readers have more information, please fax Linda Moulton Howe in the USA on (215) 491 9842, or write to her as per details on the first page of this article. About the Author: Linda Moulton Howe is a graduate of Stanford University, USA, and has a Masters Degree in Communication. She is a science and environmental reporter for radio and television. Her film documentaries, A Strange Harvest and Strange Harvests 1993, explored the worldwide animal mutilations phenomenon. Her books include An Alien Harvest, Glimpses of Other Realities–Volume I: Facts & Eyewitnesses, and, most recently, Glimpses of Other Realities–Volume II: High Strangeness (Paper Chase Press, USA.

Ms Howe's investigations have taken in such diverse subjects as crop circles, the chupacabras mystery, humanity's hidden history, and the evidence for UFOs and ETs, including research into the alleged Roswell UFO crash fragments and government knowledge and cover-up of non-human intelligences interacting with our planet.

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— CoEVOLUTION — An Interplanetary Adventure In 1989, Alec Newald's lifepath took an unexpected turn when he was abducted by a group of benevolent aliens for ten days and transported to their homeworld. His amazing experiences have great significance for the future of humanity and our galactic cousins.

by Alec Newald © 1996-97 Extracted from Chapters 4, 5, 6 of his book — CoEvolution — Published by NEXUS Publications Mapleton, Qld, Australia, 1997

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A

lec Newald first contacted us in 1995 about publishing his book, CoEvolution, describing his incredible ten-day round trip to his abductors' homeworld, Haven, and the Earth-based controversy it created. We found Alec's story particularly fascinating; and, having met him and had him speak at the 1996 NEXUS Conference, we have no reason to doubt his integrity. Here we publish some intriguing excerpts from his soon-to-be-released book. Ed.

THE EARTH SEEN IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT I must have gone to sleep almost immediately. When I opened my eyes again, Zeena was sitting opposite my cubicle. "Verva," she said. "Did you sleep well?" "Like a rock," I replied. "Curious expression," was her reply. "How long has it been?" I added, enquiring as to the length of my sleep. "One half of an Earth day—twelve hours," she answered. "What's 'verva'?" I asked. "Oh, 'good spirit, fresh energy to you'. It is a greeting we use a lot, like your 'hello'," she explained. "What's on the schedule?" I enquired. "Some more liquid replacement for you," was her reply. "Come on. We have only two more of your Earth days and there is much to learn if you desire, and quite a few questions I have for you, too, before I return home." Zeena appeared most anxious, but how could she be more inquisitive than I? Even though, I was still reeling from awakening to find myself 'dream-bound' and not back on Earth as I had expected. "Her home! Now there's something I'd like to know about," I thought to myself but realised almost immediately that Zeena would read it. "About the size of the planet Mars in your system," she replied, right on cue. "But it is not in the best of health, for our sun is slowly dying and we are being roasted with radiation. We are also losing our atmosphere. We can patch that up to a degree, but not for ever." "Doesn't sound good. What are you guys doing about it?" I asked. "Well, we have been looking for a new home for many of your years. The best bet is still Earth, but we cannot take your gravity, among other things. That has always been the major factor but it is also not of the right conformation for us yet. It used to be, but we are not quite like we used to be." Zeena hesitated, as if pondering whether to go on with this topic. She chose not to continue. "There is every chance that the Earth is about to change in the not-too-distant future," was her revised answer. "Change its conformation?" I enquired, startled. "It shall mutate to a different density level, as you would understand it. It's no big deal. It's happening all over, all the time," she replied. I think she might now have been trying to downplay it all after she noted how panicked I must have appeared. "It'll what?" I queried, looking at her in amazement. "Well, that is another of those long stories I promised to tell you about. It is best we get comfortable first and you get some fluid intake." www.nexusmagazine.com

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ANCIENT HISTORY LESSONS FROM THE FUTURE your planet right now. That is not to say there are no other ET "Now, how shall I start?" Zeena asked. "Perhaps with the races that will not interfere, and that is why you must have your Elders." wits about you. "Elders?" I chipped in. "Some of those processes which are occurring, or are about to "Like the Guardian you have met. They are each many hunoccur, are the direct result of that seeding by our ancient Elders. dreds of Earth years old and have a very ancient lineage. Their Even the pyramids are ancient legacies left behind by our Elders ancestors, who are my ancestors, are also very distant ancestors of to help you awaken when the time is right. They are very imporyours; at least in part they are. Now do not interrupt!" tant to you, and it is from this front that progress of a most unexZeena headed me off at the pass, even before I could get the pected kind will manifest itself to your race in the not-too-distant thought out of my head. future. "This is going to be difficult enough to explain without inter"All knowledge will be made available to your race in good ruption. I will make room for questions a little later," she added. time and in accordance with the laws of evolution. There has yet "These distant common ancestors of ours came to Earth many to be a force artificially manufactured in any universe that my times, but more important to you was the visit of two million people know of that is more powerful or wiser than this natural years ago, your time-scale. They were not the first [aliens] to law. Trust me when I say this, for my race knows well the cost of visit. In fact, they and others have lived in and explored what you interfering with the laws of evolution. We would warn your own call your solar system for hundreds of millions of years. people, if only those in control would listen. Alas, that approach "These travellers tidied up some earlier attempts to manufacture appears to have fallen on deaf ears, so we shall now attempt to a race of humanoids on Earth, the end result being Homo sapiens. pass on the message in a different way. I will not go so far as to say these ancient "There was indeed a time upon your planancestors of mine were solely responsible for et, not so long ago in the context of this hisyour race, for that was indeed a joint effort of tory lesson, when a 'force' came down upon many ETs, all of which at some time have it and did in fact claim it [the Earth] and all laid claim to manufacturing your race. This upon it as its own. That force—and I know is not a deliberate lie on their behalf—just a you will find this difficult to accept, Alec "Some of my ancient slight exaggeration of the facts. Do not inter[Zeena used my name for the first time]— Elders stayed with your that force is still among you. It is indeed rupt yet, please. I shall explain all in due course. a part of all of you, so I suppose you developing race. Others now "In many ways you have manufactured or could say it still does own the planet in moved on. From time to some way. at least fine-tuned your own race, and it continues even at this very moment. This is mis"After this force won your planet, it time there were conflicts realised takenly called 'evolution'. 'Natural progresit would have a continuous fight on sion of the species' is a fine turn of phrase with other ET races as to its hands, for you were not as you are now. uttered by one of your kind's more You were well on your way to enlightwhat was best for one or enquiring minds some years ago. It enment, with a very strong spiritual was thought by many to explain the base. You were actually almost as the other, just as there path of evolution, and there is an end to strong as this force itself. It had to are conflicts on your it. But this thinking leaves more questrick you in order to master you, and tions unanswered than answered, for while you were down it altered your planet now, among your how and when did a butterfly obtain its make-up, your very structure; your own kind." wings? I shall not pursue this subject DNA, in fact. It crippled you and for there are more important things to stunted you, and set you back many discuss, but no doubt you see my point. thousands of years. It made you into Perhaps there will be a time at a later what you are today, which is only a date. portion of the greatness you can be, for "I will, however, tell you more of you have not yet even fully recovered. your own race's personal history, for it And if that force has its way, you is important that you should know your never will! own past, and that evolution as you understand it is a myth. The "That force is known to most as the 'force of darkness', for it is changes are never slow but they are always planned. Later I shall indeed the enemy of enlightenment. You will please understand show you that nothing in this Universe—past, present or future in that this is a very simplistic description of a most complex entity. your time-scale—is left to chance. Forgive me, for I diverge from Even we do not understand it in its entirety. It is in the air that our chosen path. you breathe and everywhere about you. It has aligned itself to the "Some of my ancient Elders stayed with your developing race. planet and you. It beats to the pulse of your very planet, for you Others moved on. From time to time there were conflicts with and the Earth are one and the same. This is one thing your peoother ET races as to what was best for one or the other, just as ples do not seem to comprehend, but you can use this union of the there are conflicts on your planet now, among your own kind. whole to do wondrous things, just as we have. You must understand that Earth is a very special place. It is very "Unfortunately, most of your kind fight the natural forces of beautiful and there are many who have desired to own it. I would your wondrous planet. By this I mean you bend them, even break not go so far as to say this is no longer the case, but you should them, to fit your needs. It need not be this way. If your people always have your wits about you! Even we, although we do not will just open their minds and hearts to your planet, as many of wish to own it, would like to live there. But we cannot—indeed, your ancient races have done in the past, it will show you the way. we must not—interfere with the processes that are happening on All is not lost; it just needs to be recalled. Until this is done, we 34 • NEXUS


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have much need for concern. It is not just Earth planet you are violating as you bend and break Nature in your whims of fancy, for all of all is connected. This is really very basic knowledge. It has been ignored because it suits those who would play with power to ignore it. We and others are indeed benevolent to your race, as we all are connected, but soon something must be done before your play does meaningful harm to us all! "We find that there is a need to teach you more about the dark forces that permeate you. You would do well by your people if you take great heed of this lesson and pass on your findings to those of your kind who would listen. The dark force vibrates at a level that is compatible with your brainwave patterns. This much you should already know, but others of your kind have kept it from you. "In spite of this, some, like you, Alec, are building a resistance to this alien intruder. This is one of the reasons why you find yourself thinking differently from the majority around you. It has enabled you to see more clearly the error of your ways and what must be done. You shall continue along this path a while longer yet, and even doubt your own kind from time to time. Be patient. This is all I can suggest, as inadequate as it may sound. We have been working on these things with you for many a year now. All of your people will find their way with the passing of time. "As you find with all afflictions, they are easier to contend with if you understand them. I am doing my best to explain all this to you in terms you will understand. Please interject from here on if you do not understand some point, for we do consider the following to be most important. "Some on your planet have aligned themselves with this 'force'. Note I have said 'aligned' and not 'allied', for there is a difference. Do you understand this? [I nodded.] They have gained much power from the force, and some are even foolish enough to think they have it under control. This is naïve, of course, as the force or alien entity is feeding off these people or, rather, feeding off the conflicts these people create in their bid for wealth and power. As long as this suits the dark force, it shall continue; for the 'fear' emotion is what it lives off. "The easiest way to defeat this force is to remove fear from your societies. This will, in effect, starve it out. It will then go elsewhere, looking for easier prey. You see, your human race is one of the very few that lives with this most unusual thing called 'emotion', which is why the force came here in the first place. We, too, had emotions once, so I am told, and some are saying we can now experience them again, thanks to the new breeding program we are experimenting with. Forgive me, I digress again. "You will find some of your kind are trying very hard to harness this most dangerous force. Unfortunately, they do not fully understand that it is an entity in its own right and that this is a very dangerous mistake to be making. They think they are playing a game and that they are winning this game. We have tried to warn your people more than once in the past, but no heed has been taken. As your people say, 'it is your life'. STRANGE Times 2006

"The worry we have is that your planet breathes with you, in harmony even with your thoughts. To attack the people by using the force in this way is to attack the planet. Be it on your own heads if you invoke the wrath of your planet. There would be little or nothing we could do for your people should that happen. Perhaps you can help us with this message. We have an idea to put to you, but that shall keep until another time, for there is still much to be related on other subjects. "Your societies, right from the very beginning, have engineered fear into your lives. Most of it is an artificial fear of society itself; in other words, you fear your very own laws. Your high priests from long ago shouted down to the common masses, describing what wraths would be set upon them if they did so much as dare to cross the all-mighty gods of their time. Forgive me if I make what you call a 'joke' of this, for these all-mighty gods they describe were people like me or the Guardian, whom you have met. Do you fear me, Alec, from where you stand?" Zeena asked. "I feel no fear," was my answer. "So you see how your masses were manipulated in our absence by those who would gain from it?" she asked again. "I can see how a lie could fool the uneducated," was my reply. "And you think your people are better educated on this subject today?" she asked once more. "If you ask what we know of God, then perhaps not," I replied. "Exactly my point," Zeena stated. "Zeena" "And so the intimidation goes on, only you have a hundredfold the number of laws today. These are not the laws of Nature, however; just of your manipulators who in turn have been manipulated by the force. "The laws of Nature you break every day as you drive to work in your disgusting machines. It is even more curious to us that you all know these things but you continue to allow them just the same. Why is there not a law against it in your society? Does pollution not kill? Are your people so blind they could not see what would happen with the proliferation of these strange machines? You need not answer, for we know the reasons. This is just, as you might say, an example. "You will perhaps tolerate our confusion, though, when we fail to understand what we have observed in your so-called Western societies in which thousands of your money are spent to save but one life, while millions of your kind die in other far areas for the sake of small amounts of this money. Are you not all one people of the same flesh and blood? For this question, we ourselves do not have such an answer. Could you perhaps help us in the reasoning of this?" Zeena asked, looking at me in a most perplexed way. "My own people sometimes embarrass and confuse me. No, I have no answer to that question," I replied. "Very well. Why do your people take such time and interest in a single tree, should it be cut down in your cities, while they allow large areas of many-years-old trees to be removed from the forests which are out of their sight? Please take this question home with


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you to put to others, for we also find this most confusing." I have since duly completed that request. Zeena did have some encouraging news. She suggested that the force would soon feel the weight of an invasion from above, and there would be battles fought at sea and underwater, and also in the skies high above. Most would know little about these events, except those caught within the by-product of the battles. By this she meant that the Earth would experience storms of gathering intensity, and where these storms would once have been confined to the vortex points of our globe (the western Atlantic-Bermuda area and the western Pacific, south-east of Japan) they would now appear randomly all over our planet. She did not say who or what might be behind these battles or be the cause of them. However, when the way is clear and some portion of the fear has been removed, we may indeed see other races of the Cosmos openly visiting and interacting with us here on Earth! "In the due course of time you will awaken from this 'sleep' that the force has had you in, with a little help from your friends," she added. "Being a sailor," she said, suggesting I watched the weather, "you will know what to look for. Trust in your instincts." This is all she was prepared to say on the subject. "Your race is nearly strong enough to fight back and win its rightful place in this galaxy of ours. We will help you and your planet to do great things again, for we love all life. Even the dark "Elder" force is a form of life and we must and do respect it. Do you understand, Alec? This is very important." Zeena at last let me have a say. "Yes, I do. But how do we fight this force if we cannot see it or know where it is?" I asked. "It is within your very soul. You fight it with knowledge and understanding. But only each and every one of your kind can help yourselves. Nevertheless, to know that it exists is half the battle, and you can pass on this knowledge to all who should care to listen. Your race is about to change, become more aware— well, most of you are. It is an unfortunate fact that the ones upon your planet who truly understand what a great hold this force known to you as fear has over your people, are the very ones who are using it against you—and always have. They only understand its power, not its reason for being. That is why we have chosen this time to explain to you, and others of your kind, what we are here for. We have come to help enlighten you and, in so doing, perhaps free you from this force. We also understand that there will be some among you who will resent this knowledge being made available and will do their best to belittle and downplay its importance to your race. "We may also need things from you and your planet. Call it a trade if you like, but I would prefer to use the word 'coevolution'. We both can grow. We both need to change. You will become more like us, while we need to become more like you. We can truly become great friends once you learn to break free. We have been waiting a long time for this to happen, and you, Alec, are 36 • NEXUS

part of this very special event that will happen, as are many others. You will find them and they will find you. Just let it be known that you are a child of the light, whenever you feel the time is right. You will be amazed at what will happen from then on." As Zeena finished this part of the lesson, I really did not know what to say. How could I reply to what she'd just said? Her narration had brought up more questions than answers, and quite frankly I did not know where to begin. Even though most of what she'd just said was totally amazing, it was as if I had always known it was so! For that reason you may think my next question out of place. "The thing that worries me the most," I replied, "was your earlier comment before this lesson began about the Earth 'mutating' into something. Where will that leave us, the people?" "You have no fears there. It will be you, the people, who help the Earth to transform. You will already have passed over to the next level of density, or be in the act of doing so, which in actual fact is evolution—true evolution, as it just so happens; not the form of change that you may have associated with that word in the past. I am sorry, here, because there has not yet been time to ground you in that knowledge. The Earth, too, will evolve along these same lines, and that is what I meant by 'mutate'. I am sorry for the use of that word if it has caused you concern," Zeena quickly replied. "I have more questions," I said, looking at Zeena and hoping I could continue to ask them. Her indication was that I could. "What happened to those early ancestors—the ones who stayed on Earth, the ones who helped us in the past?" "Some of them eventually interbred with your kind, although there was resistance to this initially. The offspring of these unions became our common ancestors. All who were pure of our blood eventually died of an unknown illness or left the planet. Their life-span should have been many hundreds, perhaps even thousands of your years. Some say they simply died of premature ageing. There are many possible reasons why this may have occurred, but it is not necessary for us to discuss that now. The few who escaped this fate and left Earth are now lost to us; where they may have gone, my people do not know, for that was indeed a long time ago. But while we are on the subject of interbreeding, there are a few questions I would ask of you, if I may," Zeena requested. I nodded my approval, knowing I would get more chances to ask the hundred-and-one questions I was waiting to ask. Her first question took me a little by surprise. "Have you bred on your home planet?" "That's an interesting question," was my startled reply. "By 'breed', I suppose you mean have I any children of my own?" I couldn't believe she didn't already know the answer to this question. Perhaps she was just being polite. "Yes," she said. "Well, I have a son who is fourteen years old and is fit and


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healthy. He doesn't appear to have too many problems, except your years. Time is now short, for next will come the changes— that he could be without a proper father from now on." your awakening." "What do you mean by that?" she asked. She answered my question before I could ask it. There was not "I was in the process of leaving my family unit permanently much I could do but sit in silent amazement. when you guys zapped me up here!" I replied. "Don't ask why. "You must realise," she continued, as I couldn't think of any It's very complicated, and I'm not sure I know the answer anyworthwhile thing to say, "that we are quite a primitive race comway." pared to other extraterrestrials that may communicate with Earth "This breeding process, in the form you Homo sapiens use, I people from time to time. That is one of the reasons we are so have studied as much as I can from our records, but there is still attracted to Earth and to you as a race. We feel a real kindred or much I wish to know. I have been selected for a modified reprobonding for your people. We also think Earth is a most beautiful ductive process when I return to my home planet. We as a people place." are running out of time to develop offspring which could survive "Where would you like to live on Earth if you had a choice?" I on any other planet apart from our own without life-support sysasked. tems. By this I mean we have not yet found another world that is "We have an area that we call our own." compatible with our specific and rather unique needs. I may be Zeena explained to me that they were already using an underable to elaborate on this point a little later. For now, it is enough water base in the general area of this land that had been set aside to say we have few options, and may have to adjust to new envifor them, although she would go no further in describing where ronments such as planet Earth—which we that might be. She was then called away, still like to call our second home, even promising to return as soon as possible to though we are far removed from being able continue our conversation. to live there full time," Zeena finished, "Oh, we have already had SURVIVAL STRATEGIES sounding rather distressed. Upon her return from duty, Zeena was "Our planet is rather full already," I comcommunication with keen to continue her explanation of what mented, not really wishing to add to her burEarth governors on that they were doing and were about to do on the den. In spite of what I had already witnessed new breeding program, and why it had and been party to, I was in no way prepared subject; since the 1950s, become such a priority to her people. In for her reply to my statement. "Oh, we have already had communication in fact. They know of our order for me to understand, or try to understand fully, another lesson was apparently with Earth governors on that subject; since desire and need. We necessary, so she suggested once again that the 1950s, in fact. They know of our desire have even made a trade, I make myself comfortable as it was likeand need. We have even made a trade, as ly to take some time. you might call it. I cannot elaborate on it as you might call it. I "For you to understand the problems at this time. But not everyone has lived that we have, it is best that I tell you a litcannot elaborate on it at up to their agreements since then." tle more about the world you live in. "Why does nobody know of this on this time. But not Some of this will be a little hard to underEarth?" I asked, my eyes wide open. stand, but some other aspects will ring a "Your various governors, in their wiseveryone has lived up to bell when you start to look at them in a dom, decided that the Earth's general their agreements since different light," said Zeena, who was sitpopulation was not then ready for the ting opposite my sleeping cubicle. message and knowledge we had planned then." I had just finished another small nap to to give your people. If you think back to make up for my forty-hour marathon the subjects we have recently discussed, without sleep. it is hardly surprising, is it? They feel Zeena continued. "You will remember you are still not ready, and we will not some time ago I promised to tell you tell your people a half-truth to suit others. about the other side of yourself. This concerns the cycle of the So we have this situation—what do you say?—a stalemate," atom, the part that is still little understood by your people, or, Zeena concluded. should I say, not yet fully understood by them. When this is "What did the governors say when you said you would like to understood, a whole new dimension, or dimensions, will open up return to Earth at some time in the future?" I asked. for you; for in this instant of time between the pulses of atoms lies "All they wanted were the 'lollies'," she commented, without a world within worlds. They are in fact parallel dimensions to expanding on that subject. your own—at least to the one where most of you live your 'now'. "There are not that many of us," Zeena continued. Fifteen milThese dimensions are so close to your real 'now' that you can slip lion is but a small total, is it not, among your billions? And our in and out of them without even knowing you have done so! technology trade-off would make life so much easier for your There are sometimes little clues that tell you what has just happopulation. If I dare be so brave as to say history could repeat pened. This dimension-slipping has been going on since you first itself, you may find we interbreed to become one race again, as walked the Earth, only now it is becoming more common to your happened so long ago in your past histories. people. It can happen almost every day to some, but they are "At this point in time there are still some important things that basically unaware of it. This is happening because you are awakwe must physically do here on Earth: some repair work, as it ening to your true selves. were; a legacy from the past which I am not permitted to discuss "You are close to a major dimension-leap, the like of which you at this time. We must correct that which is in a state of disrepair. have never before experienced; a leap that will bring you closer to Just by way of coincidence, that work is now almost completed. my people. This is what we have all been waiting for! How This is no small thing, for repairs have been going on for many of STRANGE Times 2006


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many times have you searched for something in a room and could "I cannot begin to explain the complications we have had. It has not find it? You go back some time later and there it is, right in stretched our technology to its limits and beyond. The end result front of your nose; there is no way you could have missed it when is what you see before you now. I may look good to you, but I still you searched. You see, you are not always where you think you could not live on your planet without our technology to help me are. The trick is to be fully conscious when you make these miniconstantly. The bottom line is that the process has been too slow, leaps and be aware of where you have gone. You will be very and up to now has not done the job. At the present rate, it may take surprised, I think. It is a place not far from there that you will more time than we have to spare on our crippled planet! We now find us. need to start taking some risks to speed up the process." "We basically come from your future. It does not matter if it is "What kind of risks?" I asked. six minutes into your future or six years; if you can get to one, "Well, up until now we have been more concerned with you can get to the other. But, for us, it is not as simple as that, for preserving our mind-generated energy distribution abilities— we also come from another dimension; not quite the one you will which I don't expect you to comprehend just yet—but now we need shift into, but close. So we are what you would call dimensional to concentrate on the physical aspects, the strength and endurance, time-travellers. Sounds like a good movie, does it not? Your Mr even if we lose a little of the other abilities." Spielberg would love it!" "Become more like us?" I chimed in again. I had to laugh at that one. "Yes, we must," Zeena replied. "We already have, as you "We—myself and others like me—are in noticed earlier," she said, with what almost fact a whole new race, or, to be more accuappeared to be a smile on her face. This was rate, a newly reconstituted race. Further the first hint of an emotion I had seen. modifications are still required before we "Now there needs to be a step—a big can achieve our goals as a people. This is "We basically come from one—even further down that road. There is a one of the reasons for our travel to your time chance for me to become part of that step," your future. It does not she added. "That is why I wish to ask you zone, and, indeed, the reason for others being here who are also experimenting with questions about your breeding matter if it is six minutes more their biological make-up, although they have processes; procreation—would that be a into your future or six better word for it?" far different goals behind their experimentation than we do. "You would be surprised at some of the years; if you can get to words "The reason behind so many abductions we use for it," I replied. "Even I don't occurring on your planet over the last few one, you can get to the know where some of them come from." years of your time is that this is the last "I understand it is most primitive and basic other. chance for our race—and other races of ETs in its natural form. It is possible that I may be with problems similar to ours—to interable to be fertilised and to carry the But, for us, it is not as act with you as a race before you foetus almost full-term within me. That simple as that, for we change to a form that will no longer be may not sound much to you, but no of use to us. Yes, it is that close! My female of our race has carried a child also come from another own surrogate mother was of your time within her for many hundreds of dimension; not quite the and race..." thousands of years. The artificial "We could go further back in time, methods we have been using are too one you will shift into, but it is this now that we need. I will slow and hard to change. They may but close ... " not complicate matters by trying to even be impossible to use if we settle on explain that; we would be here for a planet like your Earth. many more days. My race still has a "I have been designed to take the problem to overcome. We must breed place of what you would call a synthetic a race with stronger limbs and oxygenbirth process. There has been quite processing units." some progress just lately. Even a "Lungs?" I enquired again. hundred years ago, your time, one of "Yes. We have been using a mixture of your species' DNA and our type could not have interacted with your species on this level. chromosomes, along with our own. Our blood used to be very That is how much we have evolved in different directions since the similar to yours—and still is, with a little modification—although early colonists left your planet. Now we find it necessary to take we really only have one type as you would know it; well, two, but a step in another direction." they are both very much like your A-negative. We can modify I noted how she diplomatically skirted the suggestion that they most things, but what it adds up to is that we are not going to go might be going backwards on the evolutionary tree. I could not looking for problems—we already have enough of them. really understand what knowledge she could want from me, and I "We have approximately only five per cent of your male popudoubted there was anything I knew that she did not already know... lation to work with, notwithstanding health, age, etc. There is a ∞ very special, shall I say, 'X-factor' which must be brought into this Notes: equation, which in fact brings only about one per cent of this NEXUS Magazine published the book, CoEvolution by Alec already small group into our calculations—that is, if we should Newald circa 1997. The book is the full account of what haprequire a male to help us. The fact that we are not of the same pened to Alec during his missing days. To order - mail, phone vibrational plane is the major problem. This is part of that X-facor fax $22- and your address to: NEXUS Magazine, PO Box tor, and is related to health and disease resistance, biological bal30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. Ph: 07 5442 9280; Fax: ance in relation to birth location, previous adaptability tests, and 07 5442 9381, or use the form on page 239 of this issue. so on and so on. 38 • NEXUS


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ALIEN ARTIFACTS IN AMERICAN HANDS IN THE LATE 1930s? by George A. Filer © August 2002

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illiam E. Jones of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) writes: "I thought your readers should be aware of the Cordell Hull story that alien artifacts were in our hands in 1939." In early December 1999, CUFOS received a letter from the daughter of the Reverend Turner Hamilton Holt: "Today I want to share some knowledge that has been, by request, kept secret in our family since sometime in World War II. This concerns something my father was shown by his cousin Cordell Hull, the Secretary of State under [US President] Franklin Roosevelt. My father, who was young, brilliant and sound of mind, told us this story because he didn't want the information to be lost. "One day when my father was in DC, Cordell swore him to secrecy and took him to a sub-basement in the US Capitol building and showed him an amazing sight: (1) four large glass jars holding four creatures unknown to my father or Cordell; (2) a wrecked round craft of some kind nearby. "My father wanted my sister and I to make this information known long after he and Cordell were dead, because he felt it was a very important bit of information. STRANGE Times 2006

We have researched your group and feel it is the most reliable group in the country. We hope that you will research and search this information. The jars with creatures in formaldehyde and the wrecked craft are somewhere! "Cordell said they were afraid they would start a panic if the public found out about it." "Sincerely, "Lucile Andrew, Ashland, Ohio"

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ordell Hull was one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century, with absolutely no apparent reason to tell this story unless it were true, especially at a time when stories of flying saucers and their alien drivers had not yet become part of our culture. Hull was an elected US Senator (1931–1937), was Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and became the Secretary of State under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in March 1933, the longest-serving Secretary in US history when he resigned in 1944 because of ill health. He was also offered the Vice Presidency and, in 1945, he won the 1945 Nobel Peace Prize. Reverend Holt and Cordell Hull were both born in Pickett County and were cousins and friends. Holt received his doctorate in theology from Ashland www.nexusmagazine.com

Theological Seminary, and was a minister at the Shenandoah Christian Church in Greenwich, Ohio. He was a community leader, and he wrote a book entitled Life's Convictions. He married Vina May Clark and they had three daughters. Two of the daughters claim their father had told them about the "creatures". Lucile's original letter essentially tells the story as her father told it to her when she was a teenager. Unfortunately, Lucile said that she was too young really to pay much attention to what her father told her, but Allene—the mother of Eloise, the co-author of this story—was told the same story as her sister. Both sisters assured us that they remember the stories independently. Reverend Holt described the entities in the glass jars as "creatures", a term common for his day. He never referred to them as "aliens" or "extraterrestrials", and he never said where they came from. Lucile stated that his experience happened in the "late 1930s", probably 1939. The material that was nearby the less-thanfour-foot-tall creatures was described as "silver metallic". She also remembers he referred to the material as being a "vehicle" that appeared to have been taken apart and was "in pieces". He said the colour of this material wasn't a colour that he had seen before, but for the lack of a better word he NEXUS • 39

THE TWILIGHT ZONE used "silver". Reverend Holt was not the sort of person to make up such a wild story, and the sisters feel that by telling the story they are following their father's wishes. Barbara A. Wolamin, the curator at the US Capitol building, chuckled a bit after being told the story. She said she had never heard about these creatures being stored at the Capitol, but she did confirm that back then there was a sub-basement that was divided into storage rooms. She said the building had been significantly changed over the years. So, in a small way, part of Reverend Holt's story checked out. After Cordell Hull left government service, he wrote his memoirs in a twovolume book set. No reference to this story appears in these pages, among his papers in the Library of Congress. We contacted numerous experts and libraries and found no confirmation for the story. If four alien bodies and other-world technology were retrieved in 1939, what would that do to our interpretation of the US government's involvement in UFO research? One would assume prior knowledge would have made the government ready for an event like Roswell and that the Roswell retrieval was more efficient because of that. This is a story that truly deserves further investigation. Thanks to William E. Jones, MUFON State Director for Ohio, Dr Irena Scott and CUFOS International UFO Reporter. (Source: By George A. Filer, Director, Mutual UFO Network Eastern Region, "Filer's Files", no. 32, August 7, 2002, website http://www.ufoinfo.com/

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LEAKED PAPERS SHED LIGHT ON OFFICIAL SECRECY OVER UFOs

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he Majestic Documents investigation team has recently posted a set of four leaked UFO-related documents to its website, http://www.majesticdocuments. com. They arrived anonymously in UFO researcher Tim Cooper's Big Bear, California, mailbox in July 2001.

National UFO Intelligence Program The first document is a two-page Secret memorandum from President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Director of Central Intelligence, dated November 4, 1953. The document deals with Eisenhower's comments on an "MJTWELVE Operations Plan of June 16, 1953 on the subject of instructions for the expenditures of the National UFO Intelligence Program, and, more specifically, the Special Operations Instructions to be issued to Unified and Specific Major Commands and Commanders". In the memorandum, Eisenhower: (a) expresses concern about inflaming the UFO situation with the Soviets; (b) reiterates that both the CIA and the NSA have leading roles to play in the UFO program; and (c) confirms that both Dr Robert Oppenheimer and Professor Albert Einstein (described as the Director of Project JEHOVAH) were involved in research relating to UFO physics. Both original and replica documents can be downloaded at: http://209.132.68.98/documents/pdf/ eisenhower-dci_4nov53.pdf.


UFO Violations of US Airspace The second is a seven-page document attributed to the Office of Scientific Intelligence in 1976. This photocopied onionskin document is titled "UFO Sovereignty Over Air Space: A Defense Intelligence Problem". The document is signed by "LCR"—the initials of an astronomer attached to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence in the 1970s. LCR talks about the way in which UFOs have violated US airspace on numerous occasions; the way in which Top Secret UFO data have been withheld from elected leaders by the CIA; the recovery of a crashed UFO in New Mexico in 1947 by the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project; the fear of a nuclear confrontation with the Soviets being prompted by UFO radar tracks; President John F. Kennedy's involvement in the UFO controversy; UFOs and the Cuban missile crisis of 1962; and LCR's initiative to begin reintroducing presidential briefings on the UFO subject. The discussion of organisational slowdowns, denied information and management dilemmas are typical of bureaucracies, irrespective of topic. Such references in the discussion are consistent with a pragmatic working document, not for sensationalism or public melodrama. The document in both its original and replicated form can be downloaded at: http://www.majesticdocuments.com/ documents/1970-present.html. UFOs, the CIA and National Security The third paper is an Executive Briefing document for the Director of Central Intelligence, titled "Unidentified Flying Object: Implication for Nation Security and Human Survival". It provides a three-page introduction to a paper of undetermined length, written by LCR in December 1976. LCR reveals that between 1946 and 1955, he compiled information on UFOs and the US intelligence community that was included in his book, Central Intelligence, UFOs and National Security, published in 1956 by the CIA. It reveals the surprising fact that many secret documents concerning UFO encounters at Los Alamos and the White Sands Missile Range in the period 1944–1949 were destroyed, and also reveals how this caused problems in trying to evaluate the true picture from an historical perspective. The paper also touches upon the CIA's role in espionage and UFO investigations, STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE as well as LCR's examination of the CIA's historical UFO studies. The original and replica documents can be downloaded at: http://209.132.68.98/documents/pdf/ ufo-implicationfornationsecurity.pdf.

Dr Edward Teller Advocates Less Official Secrecy on UFOs The fourth paper in the collection, titled "UFO Technology and the Imbalance of Power", is attributed to scientist Dr Edward Teller and is a five-page photocopy of the onionskin-paper original (~1980s). It goes into great detail about the nature of official secrecy and the benefits and hazards of secrecy both in the Cold War and beyond. Dr Teller proposes that official secrecy surrounding UFOs should be lessened for three prime reasons: (a) to stimulate research in the field of military applications of UFO technology; (b) to promote cooperation between the US and its allies around the world on the UFO issue; and (c) to inform the US public of "the true state of UFO reality". Dr Teller also proposes that the majority of classified UFO documents should be declassified. In addition, he discusses the use of UFO technology integrated into the US military's remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) program, and maintaining an adequate defence against "UFO nuclear weapons". The original and replica documents can be downloaded at: http://209.132.68.98/documents/pdf/ ufotechnology-teller.pdf.

performed under the code name, Operation Curtain. Special units of airborne troops from Venezuela, Ecuador, the USA and Puerto Rico took part in the exercise. The troops were sent to swamps in a remote part of the base. They were ordered not to allow the dummy bridge that was built for the exercise to be exploded. "No unit managed to prevent the explosion of the bridge. Neither the Venezuelans, nor Americans, nor the soldiers from Ecuador managed to detect the 'enemy'. No one could understand how the saboteur made its way without even bumping into any of the best units. Nevertheless, it happened," said the officer. Commandos from Puerto Rico encircled the swamp and started waiting for the "enemy". "A strange noise could be heard in the distance at about 0030 hours. Soldiers thought that the 'enemy' had landed on the other side of the swamp. Everybody was ready to meet them. The only aspect that we did not know was the time that it would take for the 'enemy' to cross the swamp. Before the exercise started, the commandos were given an order not to use night vision devices. However, there was an American sergeant among the Puerto Ricans who had such a device. "The soldiers soon heard strange sounds coming from the other side of the swamp. The sounds were getting more and more distinct. Everybody was staring in the direction of the sound, but no one saw anything at all. "Suddenly, everyone smelled the strong smell of the swamp. One of the Puerto

Rican officers ran out of patience and asked the American sergeant to give him the night vision device. The officer looked around the territory and he saw three small creatures. They were visible with the naked eye. The officer gave the night vision device to another officer and so on. Everybody saw the weird 'enemy'. "The soldiers eventually contacted their command. The command kept silence for a long while, and then it was ordered that they carefully watch the creatures without bringing harm to them. "They were like little people, about one metre high. They looked absolutely white in the night vision devices. There was another such creature sitting on a stump, as if it were watching the crawling ones. At first I thought that they were wearing some kind of helmets. But then I realised that they were not helmets, but their long, egglike heads. I could even see their big black eyes with no eyeballs. It also seemed to me that they had two little holes instead of a nose. I did not see a mouth. They had four fingers on their hands." The officer also said that a helicopter arrived soon after and took the "little people" away. The command strictly ordered everyone to maintain silence about the event. The American officer was struck with what he saw. He did not say anything about it for two years. Who were those creatures? What were they doing among military men? How far did it all go? (Source: Pravda, September 4, 2002, website http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/ 09/04/35979.html)

(Source: From Majestic Documents investigators Ryan S. Wood and Dr Robert M. Wood, August 29, 2002, email [email protected], website http://www.majesticdocuments.com)

A JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE WITH ALIENS IN ARKANSAS?

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n American officer, who wished to remain anonymous, has affirmed that aliens took part in a military exercise that took place in Arkansas, USA, several years ago. "There are some things that I cannot talk about. Yet, I think I can say something." Airborne troops conducted their exercise from April 15 to May 5, 1992. The event took place on the territory of the Fort Chaffee army base. The exercise was

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STRANGE Times 2006

THE INSTALLATION An Interview with Valery Uvarov by Graham W. Birdsall © 2003

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he following extracts were transcribed from a filmed interview with Valery Uvarov, of Russia's National Security Academy, conducted by Graham W. Birdsall, Editor of the UK-based UFO Magazine. The interview took place at the 12th International UFO Congress Convention and Film Festival, held February 2–8, 2003, in Laughlin, Nevada, USA. Graham Birdsall (GB): What is your official title? Valery Uvarov (VU): I am head of the Department of UFO Research, Science and Technical, National Security Academy, based in St Petersburg, Russia. GB: This, then, is an official Russian government agency? VU: Absolutely. I am answerable to two people above me. They are answerable to the next person above them, who is our President [Putin]. GB: What exactly is your remit? VU: Our research efforts are divided into two parts. Firstly, we are constantly analysing data coming in from all over the world. We then extract what we consider to be the most interesting information STRANGE Times 2006

through our database—which is yellow, which is red. This, then, is released to various departments throughout Russia. The other aspect of our research stemmed from asking the question: do UFOs exist or not? For sure, we know they exist, but what is behind their activity, their interest? This is the most important issue for us, and what we mostly focus our investigations on. GB: There is active co-operation between NASA and Russian aerospace officials at a technical, scientific and maybe even military level. Do you liaise or have ties with organisations similar to your own overseas? VU: I can tell you, truthfully, that just a couple of days before I flew to the United States I had a meeting with my…let's say, my bosses. And they said they are very interested in co-operating with other organisations…let's say, our friends in the West. So, I can tell you that this particular mission is at the starting point. I am charged with finding the right people. When this is done, and the next stage is activated, we can make some concrete steps. GB: Earlier, off camera, you alluded to some important developments concerning the Tunguska explosion of 1908. For the record, can you tell us why you now believe you know the cause? www.nexusmagazine.com

VU: It is not so much a case of belief; we know what caused it. It was a meteor, but a meteor that was destroyed by…let's say, a missile. The missile was generated by a material installation. We don't know who constructed it, but it was built long, long ago and is situated in Siberia, several hundred kilometres north of Tunguska. I can tell you that our investigation has

Valery Uvarov (Photo courtesy of UFO Magazine, UK) NEXUS • 43

THE TWILIGHT ZONE revealed more than one explosion at Tunguska. Let me share something with you. The last time that this installation shot down a meteor was on 24/25 September last year. The Americans…they have three bases…they, too, noticed this explosion. GB: Forgive me, but some will say this sounds like science fiction. VU: Graham, you know that when we talk about the truths that lie behind this subject, we only do so with those who have an understanding of the responsibility that goes with it. And you know that we are dealing with a technology much further ahead of our own—one capable of doing things that we cannot. GB: Can you be more specific about the location of this installation? VU: Look for the site of the Tunguska explosion. To the southeast is the very large and famous Lake Baikal. Beyond that, to the north, is a huge and barren territory covering 100,000 kilometres. Hardly anyone lives there. There are no towns or cities. Here is where we located the installation… GB: Are you aware of strange stories or rumours concerning the so-called "Planet X"? If some new and heavenly body had entered our solar system, astronomers would surely detect it and declare its presence. VU: I cannot speak for astronomers in the West, but astronomers within our Academy tell us we have nothing to fear. I have heard people talk about a rotation figure of 3,600 years for this planet, which is in a similar orbit to that of the Earth but behind the Sun. We know that this planet

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and the installation in Siberia are closely connected. Let me say that we believe that this installation is keeping that planet in a stable orbit. If that planet were to move, to shift orbit, the entire solar system would become unstable. Those of us in the Academy are sure that this planet is inhabited, and that this installation is designed to protect them and us. We are sure that nothing dangerous will happen. Everything is under control. Our investigations have shown that the Earth has a pulse—a finely tuned frequency that affects everything, every living thing. Some 12,500 years ago, this pulse corresponded to 360 days of the year—study the old Egyptian calendar— but then an asteroid struck the Earth. We believe the orbit of the Earth was altered, artificially, to compensate for this. Our planet moved further away from the Sun, to a frequency pulse of 365. This has taught us to believe that we have friends—friends who watch over us, silently. They did not allow then, nor will they allow now, any planet, comet or asteroid to strike and destroy the Earth. This, for us, is now absolutely clear. Those who wish to weaponise space…to tell you the truth, all of us involved in this project feel a pain in our hearts. Here we all are, investigating this installation and some other stuff, material stuff, none of which was constructed by Russians or Americans but by someone else, someone from outer space. It saddens us when we think what could happen if weapons are put into space. Let me speak frankly. This installation has a power system, an energy source. We have located this. It was during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia that we first noticed an increase in the output of that energy. For us, it was incredible, but we now know that this installation reacts to social upheaval and conflict. Part of our investigation involved searching through ancient www.nexusmagazine.com

records and archives, and then we came across the Echutin Apposs Alanhor [sic] texts. We call them the Alanhor, and they are at least 4,000 years old. They describe the installation, in scientific terms, as to what was taking place there. It's amazing. I have visited the area twice. The first time our equipment detected strong levels of radiation. I have to tell you, it was pretty dangerous; we couldn't hide from it. The few local inhabitants of the area knew of the installation, of course, and they described it to us. They describe metal-like structures and drew them for us. We plotted everything on a map. But these people, their families, the animals, they were suffering from radiation sickness. The radiation levels have been continuously monitored for the past six years, and now everyone—including the animals— has left the forest. Let me tell you something about the Tunguska explosion—something that has never been spoken of before. Two months before the explosion, every living animal fled the region. It was as if the installation had powered up to deal with the asteroid. With that came an increase in radiation. The same thing is happening now, today. GB: Are there any plans to mount another expedition to the area and to visit the installation? VU: The radiation is a factor but, yes, another expedition is planned for later this year. Look, we want to be open and honest about this. We welcome international participation, but the people we invite must be responsible in the eyes of the world. We want people who are honest, open-minded and transparent, who are eager and willing to co-operate and exchange and then disseminate the scientific data. I invite you, Graham, to come to Russia and visit the installation as an observer. GB: I would be honoured. Thank you. VU: You can tell people that we, Russia, have decided that it is time that other people should know about this, and not just a few. ∞

Editor's Note: This interview first appeared in the April 2003 edition of UFO Magazine, published by Quest Publications International Limited, UK. Unfortunately the magazine has ceased publication due to the death of the publisher and editor, Graham Birdsall, in 2004. STRANGE Times 2006

M EETINGS WITH R EMARKABLE A LIENS Higher intelligence takes advantage of, and uses, lower intelligence—sort of the way we humans use cattle. And with the privilege of use, comes the responsibility of caring... A farmer tends to his animals by feeding them and taking care of their medical needs. If the pasture became contaminated, the farmer would be the first to protect his investments. — Jim Sparks, Abductee, 1996 Fort Myers Beach, Florida, USA

Jim Sparks describes his life-changing encounter with reptoid aliens, whose message for saving planet Earth may veil their true intentions.

by Linda Moulton Howe © 1998 LMH Productions PO Box 21843 Albuquerque, NM 87154, USA Fax: 0011 1 505 797 7908 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.earthfiles.com Extracted from Chapter 3 of Glimpses of Other Realities – Vol. II

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n 1995, I met a man named Jim Sparks who says he has had completely conscious encounters with "small, grey, drone worker types; taller true aliens, or supervisors; and tall reptoids with big, human-shaped bodies covered with scaly, reptile skin". Sparks sees himself as an interpreter or translator—or at least an elementary grade student in an alien "school". He says he has been forced to learn English letter and number equivalents to alien symbols. Jim Sparks permitted me to tape-record hours of our discussions about his experiences. This chapter emerged from those conversations and his efforts to visualise and write down what has happened for his own book manuscript.1 After eight years "of being close enough to breathe their rotten-egg-smelling skin", Sparks thinks he has some insights into the alien agenda, but admits he has "a thousand more questions than answers". He is frustrated that he cannot prove his contacts with alien beings. Sparks was born to Italian parents on November 15, 1954. The formal name on his birth certificate is Vincent Sparacino. He grew up in southern Florida, graduated from high school and spent a couple of years in a local college studying real estate. He moved on to Houston, Texas, in 1979, and then to North Carolina where he purchased raw land and divided lots for housing construction—but always felt a strong need to preserve the trees at his developments. Happy, married and thriving, by 1988 at age thirty-four, Sparks suddenly came face to face with other beings from other worlds. Sparks at first thought he had lost his mind. He says he was kept totally conscious through most of the interactions, including the agony of being "pulled" from his bed at night to a craft. "I'm usually pulled the same way, which I call the 'hard way', and it's completely physical. My whole body is taken. The first thing I hear is a low-pitched, whirling sound in my head, like a whip going around in the air. This is usually after I go to bed and am asleep. Normally for me, it's 3.30 am in the early morning. I don't know why. I wake up from my natural sleep, and then there's the whirling sensation in the pit of my stomach and it feels like it's coming up into my chest. When it gets up to my heart area, my heart starts beating fast, just racing in my head, and the whirling sound starts picking up rpm and is tremendously loud. It starts low and rises in pitch and screams in your head. The fear is like you're going to die. Your heart is racing a million miles an hour and then you get this acceleration feeling, but I always feel like I'm being pulled down; I never feel like I'm being pulled up. It's like I go down a rollercoaster, only a hundred times faster, and whoom—you black out and you're there, wherever it is you're going to be, usually on board a craft." Sparks told me why he thinks that most of the time he is actually "pulled" physically from bed and literally moved through the walls or ceiling as other abductees have also described. "It's their technology. I know the aliens rely heavily on a created field. This field www.nexusmagazine.com

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produces several things: the ability to be invisible, the ability to work in one dimension and be partially in another, and the ability to move us poor humans through solid matter. "How exactly it works, I don't know. But I know it's a field. When the field is in action, you can feel it, you can sense it; you almost feel like you are a magnet or static electricity. It takes a wall as you would normally see it and makes it transparent. You walk right through it. So, it's a field that somehow separates molecules, changes your physiology when you're in it." I asked Sparks if he has been awake and conscious while actually seeing doors and walls become transparent. "Only rarely. And it freaked me out. Most of the time I black out before that moment and then I'm on board the craft. I know this all sounds weird as hell, but I'm doing the best I can under very bizarre circumstances not to be scared to death, not to be intimidated, and to figure out what these bastards are up to. And I know that their technology renders different ways of transport, and one is the 'hard way' and I'm there in the flesh, not out of body!"

complete and I could see where I was going. That was a first! "As my eyes opened, I saw that I was at least a thousand feet above the ground and slowly descending. Below me was an abandoned carnival park. I was floating over a large, old-fashioned wooden rollercoaster and I wasn't scared! I was calm and relaxed, and the ride was so gentle I was actually enjoying it. "When I was twenty or thirty feet from the ground, I started to slowly rock back and forth several times like a pendulum—almost like I was being guided to a target and this was the final adjustment. Then I saw the profiles of about a dozen large creatures standing in a semi-circle. Although it was night, I could make out the shapes of their body size—and they were large, even by human standards. A few inches front the ground, I blacked out. "As I began to regain consciousness, I was standing and heard telepathically, loud and clear:

'We would have given it to you, but we knew it wouldn't have meant anything unless you earned it. It was the only way you could possibly understand what you have been a 'Your leaders said the vast n early 1995, Jim Sparks had an part of and what you have to do.' majority of your population abduction experience that changed him "I now know the 'it' was knowledge. I forever, he says, and left him obsessed wasn't ready for anything like us was clear-headed and wide-awake conwith saving the rainforests and stopping yet, so we made time agreements scious. There were twelve large, the human slashing and burning-by-fire humanoid creatures standing in almost a with your leaders as to when that is destroying them. This experience, complete circle in which I was a part. excerpted here with Jim's permission, is The creatures appeared to be at least six your people would be made puzzling because yet another alien type is feet tall. All of them had their heads aware of our presence.' introduced. These reptilian entities also turned towards the alien who was standprovoke questions about a possible coning to my immediate left. nection to viper references in Enoch of the "The only apparent light source was on Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Genesis in the Bible. the face of this creature, like a hologram of a human face superJim Sparks's encounter with reptilian humanoids, their warning imposed and glowing over the alien's face [Howe's emphasis]. It and possible agenda, follows: was radiating light, and this was done to disguise his true appear"The pulling started the usual way with a low-pitched, whirling ance. He had done this to make me feel less apprehensive. The sound—only this time, it didn't speed up as fast or get as loud and creatures didn't take into consideration that as this holographic it was more gentle. I was paralysed again, but I momentarily face spoke and moved its lips, there was no audible sound. regained consciousness before the final transport sequence was "The voice being communicated telepathically was out of sync with the lips! Plus, the face was obviously a hologram because it was slightly off centre from the body. But it worked, nonetheless, because I wasn't scared. "As the reptoids transmitted telepathically, I noticed that each alien seemed to be concentrating its thoughts to the creature on my left. One thing for sure: they were of one mind, and it said:

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Jim Sparks's depiction of the holographic human face superimposed over the large reptoid's head. Drawing by Josi Galante © 1996 for Jim Sparks. 46 • NEXUS


'There are some things you need to understand. Yes, it's true that we have been in contact with your government leaders and heads of power. It is also true that agreements have been made and kept secret from your people. It is also true that, in the past, some of your people have lost their lives or have been badly hurt to protect this secret. Our hands had no part in this. 'We contacted your leaders because your planet is in grave trouble. Your leaders said the vast majority of your population wasn't ready for anything like us yet, so we made time agreements with your leaders as to when your people would be made aware of our presence. This part of the agreement has not at all been kept. STRANGE Times 2006

'It was also agreed that, in the meantime, steps would be taken to correct the environmental condition of your planet with our advice and technology. We say advice, because we respect the fact that this is your planet, not ours. Your government also broke this agreement.' "I felt an awful emotion of abandonment from these aliens. They are different. I never sensed true emotion from the other aliens before. But the feeling wasn't at all good. It felt like great loss. I couldn't help asking, 'You aren't giving up on us, are you?' "There was a long pause of silence and I had a strong feeling of tremendous loss. So I asked again, 'Well, are you?' There was another long pause. "Then finally:

When your own government's policy is to say 'You're just plain crazy', it only deepens the pain. "But this is a time when intelligence should rule over emotions. So I asked, 'How do I fit in all this? What can I possibly do?' 'What you are doing already. We will share much more knowledge with you in the future. Although you understand a lot, we will show you much more. Continue to work with people that come to you. We are aware of the small groups that are forming around the world. These are people who are prepared to learn and we consider them the core. Most important is the condition of your planet. The first step in solving this serious problem is amnesty. We have advice. You will receive more knowledge in the near future.'

'No. We are now concentrating our energy on the average "As this was going on, it started to rain. I mean, it was person. Your air and your water are contaminated. Your pouring! The creatures didn't even budge or try to get out from forests, jungles, trees and plant life are dying. There are sevunder it. They didn't have to: we weren't getting wet. Although eral breaks in your food chain. You have an amount of we were standing completely outdoors with no roof, not one drop nuclear and biological weapons which include nuclear and of rain touched us. I guess we were being protected by some sort biological contamination. Your planet is overpopulated. of electric field. I could hear drops as they fell, but there was a Warning: It is almost to the point clear, detectable line [around us] of being too late unless your people between rainfall and no rainfall. Then act now. There are better ways of they said: 'It was also agreed that...steps deriving your energy and food 'It's time to go.' would be taken to correct the needs without causing your planet "A thought flashed into my mind. any damage. Those in power are 'Wait, please! I have a request. I want environmental condition of aware of this and have the capabilito see what you look like.' I'll never foryour planet with our advice ty to put these methods into worldget their response as long as I live: and technology... wide use.' 'It will strike fear in your heart.' "I answered, 'It won't scare me so 'Your government also broke "I asked, 'Why aren't we doing it much if you don't stand there and stare at now?' There was silence, and the whole me. It would help if you would just this agreement.' thing was so strange because I could see wave at me. Just don't stare. Promise that the whole group was thinking and me you'll wave.' speaking its mind at one time. It felt good because I was a participant in an honest-to-goodness meet"Now I can't believe how stupid that request was. I had, in the ing! The best part was that for the first time I was getting direct flesh, face to face, probably some of the most intelligent creatures answers to my questions. 'Why aren't we putting these new methfrom the far reaches of the galaxy, with answers that have been ods into use now?' plaguing mankind since the dawn of time. And what did I say? 'Could you wave at me?' 'Those in power view it [technology for clean energy and "The strangest thing started to take place. A spinning white abundant food] as a military and security threat.' light with a hint of green began to radiate over their faces and upper bodies, all dozen of them. The intensity of the light slowly "Then I got angry as hell and said, 'You mean to tell me our got brighter and it was radiating from no direct or detectable people in power have the ability to save and better this planet and source. I could see they were huge. Their upper torso was strong, they aren't doing it?!' The thought that technology was being held with huge shoulders and a thick, strong neck like football lineback from the public because of paranoia and greed outraged me, backers. As the light became brighter and details clearer, fear and and the aliens saw my anger. But was it true? shock zapped through me. "I said, 'You have scales!' Their faces looked like a cross 'Amnesty.' between a lizard and a snake—nothing at all like the little grey "What do you mean?" guys. Their eyes were small like ours, only diamond-shaped, and 'Complete amnesty. To those in power, the governments and the pupils were a red colour. Their heads were in normal proporthe leaders who have been suppressing the truth. They can't tion with their bodies, but bigger than ours. The skull looked like be held liable for any past wrong deeds. It is the only way their brains stuck out over their foreheads, covered by skin. This these leaders can come forward with the truth. It is necessary feature was slightly different among all dozen of them. that you do this in order to work together and survive.' "I said in a scared whimper, 'You promised to wave.' And each and every one of them slowly lifted their arms and waved in front "There was silence for a while, as if they wanted me to think of their faces. Their hands were huge with thick, club-like finabout what was just said. This was a hard truth to swallow. If gers, too thick to work fine instruments. But you have to keep in anybody had a good reason to hate their government for covering mind that their technology is thought-activated. up this information, it was me and others like me. Most abductees "I stood there and stared at them for a while in silence, absorbstill consider themselves victims who constantly suffer ridicule. ing this spectacular sight. Their message kept running through STRANGE Times 2006


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my mind. I was sure that my country has been involved with "Lately, I think the negative ones have told the government they aliens. Most Americans believe there's been a cover-up. But will introduce themselves to the public if the government does what really got to me was the message about the poor condition of not. So, the government is supposedly setting the stage to introour planet! Then I felt the acceleration pull and blacked out. duce the negative ones, and the negative aliens are planning to "I understood better their nature and agenda. They are neither help the government 'clear its reputation' by staging false events benevolent nor evil. They have been among us in secret for thouwith holographic inserts. Human minds won't be able to tell sands of years, maybe longer. But the length of time isn't as much what's real and what's not." the issue as why they have been among us. I believe they have Whatever we ultimately learn about the truth in these highly been farming us for raw materials. strange cases in which dire warnings are given to humans about "We humans have been a self-perpetuating crop, a crop that the Earth's future, the fact is that, by the fall of 1997, Jim Sparks doesn't need much tending and continues to reproduce, at least up was still pretty much in the same place he had been after the to now and all the Earth problems. Thank goodness they don't kill carnival park meeting. He had no specific instructions about how us; they just use us. This system has worked well for the aliens to carry out his "mission" to save the environment and to move for a long time. But now there's a problem and their investment is the US Government towards amnesty for all military and in trouble. They have spent a lot of time, travel and effort to farm intelligence people who had signed oaths of secrecy about UFOus. But we are on an almost irreversible path of self-destruction. related matters. Nuclear and biological weapons and their waste have polluted the However, Sparks had a night-time visitation by one of the little air, land and water. Forests, jungles and trees are being cut down grey "drones". He said he woke up and was conscious of "the litor are dying. Now there are breakdowns in the food chain and the tle guy" standing at the foot of his bed. Then he got a clear menrest of the food chain is contaminated. tal picture of Rome burning and then a Over-population, disease and viruses rainforest burning, along with the beyond our grasp, with new and more strong telepathic communication, "Just as the original creators of the complicated illnesses cropping up "You must put out the fire!" human prototype desired to see the every day. These are just a few of the Jim is confused about the associafulfilment of our species as guardians tion between Rome burning and the problems we humans have created. "Most of us are blind or numb to this of the Earth, there also exist forces of rainforest destruction, but says he reality because we can still go to the wants to do something to save trees: grocer and buy food. We can go to great power that do not wish this plan to succeed." work and back and not see this death "Linda, I need to get better known in and dying. All seems almost normal. order to have influence. I want to get — Anna Hayes, in But if we environmentally destroy ourto a situation where I can speak pubVoyagers, The Sleeping Abductees selves, the aliens still have an excellent licly so I can talk about the rainforest insurance policy. They've been colproblems and other issues facing the lecting seeds from plants, animals and Earth's environment." humans. Through semen and ova extraction, the aliens can start But meanwhile, Jim, every second of every day, the forests are us, or other Earth life, all over again, here or somewhere else." on fire. "That's right." choing the Jim Sparks experience, the major concern So what is being accomplished? Have you contacted groups expressed by abductee Anna Hayes in Voyagers, The that are already trying to save the rainforests and joined up with Sleeping Abductees2 was competition and conflict among them? non-human intelligences over Earth life and their employment of "No. I have always cared about what happens to the Earth, but the same sophisticated technologies to manipulate, deceive and I've never got myself involved with any groups. This is someinspire. thing new to me. What am I going to say? I'm being advised by "Just as the original creators of the human prototype desired to ETs?!" see the fulfilment of our species as guardians of the Earth, there What details did the reptoids give about air and water damage? also exist forces of great power that do not wish this plan to suc"They didn't give me exact details. They told me that we've got ceed. If humans are able to fulfil their evolutionary blueprint, the problems with the air and water and food chain. I was told [in Earth and many other reality fields will no longer be free for March 1995] that we've got about a decade to turn this thing exploitation." around. Not that the world will end. But there will be problems Hayes stressed that if humans had truth about their extraterresin reversing all the damage. And the reptoids said someone in trial genetic connection and understood how many outsiders have political power already has this knowledge and technology and taken advantage of human ignorance and used sophisticated tech[they] are hoarding it for security and defence reasons. And probnologies to manipulate and deceive for their gain, the human famably for greed, too. ily could change and evolve in strength, not weakness. "Those Black Budget Boys aren't coming forth with the truth In conversation, she told me: "Both negative and positive agenbecause their asses are on the line. They've got all the secret das are producing hybrids and androids, and both sides are organisations out there who have taken advantage of this knowlemphasising the need to save the Earth's environment for their edge while everything else goes to hell. That's why the amnesty various vested interests. Guardian aliens are promoting healing thing makes sense. Then the BBB guys can tell the truth finally the planet, but the negative groups are also trying to 'help the about alien contact, getting alien technology, making money from planet' by offering new technologies so they can have a clean it, and even maiming and killing people to protect that secret. place to take over. I understand the negative ones have had time With amnesty, they can come forward with the truth and won't be agreements with the US Government about introducing their prosecuted." species to humans. Jim, if there is urgency, why would the aliens go to you when

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STRANGE Times 2006

Meetings with Remarkable Aliens you have no resources to make radical changes? "Maybe it isn't just Jim Sparks. It could be a million other abductees, too, for all I know. Maybe all of us are going to do something at the same time. It's a very complicated thing. I wish I had the power today to go down to South America and Malaysia and snuff the fires out. I don't. I know there are organisations like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club and Save the Rainforests—but have they stopped things, either?" Jim, what happens if there's no change in the status quo? "I think the aliens want to do this with our help. But if that doesn't work, I think they are going to intervene. They use a minimal amount of energy to get the most work done. I think that if they can interact with individuals on this planet, give advice, give technology, show ways of doing things that are better for survival, they'll do that first." But why? What's in it for the aliens? "The same thing they've been doing with us for the past several thousand years. Which is? "They farm us. They clone us. They

STRANGE Times 2006

make organs from us, and all kinds of stuff. I'm not saying they are wonderful, benevolent beings coming down here to save the Earth. Bullshit! They have their own selfinterests." So, Jim, they want to preserve the Earth so they can continue to harvest DNA from certain bloodlines? "Yeah. I think the Earth will be fine, eventually. But humans might not be able to live on it. You need a certain percentage of oxygen to breathe." You mean the aliens are trying to get their 'crop' to stop self-destructing, so they can keep harvesting what they need. "That's right. And remember, Linda, when this stuff started happening, I didn't ask for it. And not only did I not ask for it, I didn't want anything to do with it." ∞

Editor's Note: This text was extracted, with permission, from chapter 3 ("Other Beings, Other Worlds") of Linda Moulton Howe's book, Glimpses of Other Realities – Vol. II: High Strangeness (Paper Chase Press, USA, 1998, ISBN 1-879706-78-4) (see review in NEXUS 5/05).


About the Author:

Linda Moulton Howe is a graduate of Stanford University, USA, and has a Masters degree in communication. She is a science and environment reporter for radio and television, and reporter and editor on www.earthfiles.com and with Premiere Radio Networks. For the last seven years without interruption, she has reported news for both Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell and Dreamland on Sundays. Linda's film documentaries, A Strange Harvest and Strange Harvests 1993, explored the worldwide animal mutilations phenomenon. Her books include An Alien Harvest; Glimpses of Other Realities – Vol. I: Facts & Eyewitnesses; and, most recently, Glimpses of Other Realities – Vol. II: High Strangeness These are available on the Internet via amazon.com and barnes&noble.com. Linda's books and videos can also be obtained through NEXUS offices in Australia, NZ, UK and the Netherlands.

Endnotes 1. Sparks, Jim, Star People, Outsiders – Us? Or Them?, 1996 (unpublished manuscript). 2. Hayes, Anna, Voyagers, The Sleeping Abductees, Wild Flower Press, USA, 1998.

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NEW FRENCH REPORT ON UFOS AND DEFENCE

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n 16 July 1999, a document was published in France, titled "UFOs and Defence: What must we be prepared for?" ("Les OVNI et la Défense: A quoi doit-on se préparer?"). This 90page report is the result of an in-depth study of UFOs, covering many aspects of the subject, especially questions of defence. The study was carried out over several years by an independent group of former "auditors" at the Institute of Higher Studies for National Defence (Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale, or IHEDN), and qualified experts from various fields. Before its public release, it was sent to the President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, and to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. The report is prefaced by General Bernard Norlain of the French Air Force, former Director of IHEDN, and begins with a preamble by André Lebeau, former President of the National Centre for Space Studies (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, or CNES), the French equivalent of NASA. The collective author of the report is COMETA (the Committee for Indepth Studies), and the group is presided over by General Denis Letty of the Air Force, a former auditor (FA) of IHEDN. A list of COMETA members is given at the beginning of the report. It includes:

50 • NEXUS

General Bruno Lemoine of the Air Force (FA of IHEDN); Admiral Marc Merlo (FA of IHEDN); Michel Algrin, doctor of political sciences and attorney at law (FA of IHEDN); General Pierre Bescond, engineer for armaments (FA of IHEDN); Denis Blancher, chief national police superintendent at the Ministry of the Interior; Christian Marchal, chief engineer of the national Corps des Mines and research director at the National Office of Aeronautical Research (ONERA); and General Alain Orszag, PhD (physics), armaments engineer. The committee also expresses its gratitude to outside contributors, including: Jean-Jacques Velasco, head of SEPRA (Service d'Expertise des Phénomènes de Rentrée Atmosphérique) at CNES; François Louange, president of Fleximage, photo analysis specialist; and Air Force General Joseph Domange, general delegate of the Association of Auditors (AA) at IHEDN. General Norlain tells in a short preface how this committee was created. General Letty came to see him in March 1995, when Norlain was Director of IHEDN, to discuss his project of a committee on UFOs. Norlain assured him of his interest and directed him to the AA of the IHEDN, which in turn gave its support. It is interesting to recall here that, 20 years ago, it was a report of that same Association www.nexusmagazine.com

which led to the creation of GEPAN (Groupe d'Etude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés)—the first unit for UFO study at CNES. As a result, several members of the committee come from the AA of the IHEDN, joined by other experts. Most of them hold, or have held, important functions in defence, industry, teaching, research or various central administrations. General Norlain expresses hope that this report will help develop new efforts nationally and an indispensable international cooperation. General Letty, as president of COMETA, points to the main theme of the report, which is that the accumulation of well-documented observations compels us now to consider all hypotheses (especially extraterrestrial) as to the origin of UFOs. The committee then presents the contents of the study. In the first part, the authors discuss some remarkable UFO cases, both French and foreign. In the second part, they describe the present organisation of research in France and abroad, as well as studies done by scientists worldwide which may bring partial explanations in accordance with known laws of physics. The main global explanations are then reviewed, from secret aircraft to extraterrestrial manifestations. The third part examines measures to be taken regarding defence, from information to pilots, both civilian and military, to strategic, political STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE and religious consequences, should the extraterrestrial hypothesis be confirmed.

Part I: Facts and Testimonies Many of the cases selected are well known by most researchers, and need only be mentioned briefly here. They are: • Testimonies of French pilots: M. Giraud, pilot of Mirage IV (1977); Colonel Bosc, fighter pilot (1976); Air France flight AF 3532 (Jan 1994). • Aeronautical cases worldwide: Lakenheath, UK (1956); RB-47, USA (1957); Teheran, Iran (1976); San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina (1995). • Observations from the ground: Antananarivo, Madagascar (1954); observation of a saucer near the ground by a French pilot, J.-P. Fartek (1979); closerange observation over a missile site at Kapustin Jar, Russia (1989). • Close encounters in France: Valensole, encounter of Maurice Masse (1965); Cussac, Cantal (1967); Trans-en-Provence (1981); Nancy, the so-called case of the Amaranth (1982). There are also counter-examples of elucidated phenomena (two cases). Although the selection is limited, it seems sufficient to convince an uninformed but open-minded reader of the reality of UFOs. Part II: Present State of Knowledge The second part, entitled "The present state of knowledge" ("Le point des connaissances"), surveys the organisation of official UFO research in France, from the first instructions given to the Gendarmerie in 1974 for the redaction of reports, to the creation of GEPAN in 1977, its organisation and its results: collection of more than 3,000 reports from the Gendarmerie, case studies and statistical analyses. It then surveys agreements passed by GEPAN and, later, SEPRA, with the air force and army, civilian aviation and other organs, such as civilian and military laboratories for the analysis of samples and photographs. Regarding the methods and results, we are reminded of some famous cases (Trans-en-Provence, l'Amarante), and emphasis is directed to the catalogues of cases, notably of pilots (Weinstein STRANGE Times 2006

catalogue) and "radar/visual", worldwide. An historical note appears here with a quotation from General Twining's famous letter of September 1947, asserting the reality of UFOs. [The reference is to a thensecret memorandum sent by US General Nathan Twining to General George Schulgen. Twining states: "The phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious... There are objects probably approximating the shape of a disk, of such appreciable size as to appear to be as large as man-made aircraft..." Twining notes the impressive aerial performance of these objects, their apparent metallic structure and other characteristics often associated with UFOs. — CNI Ed.] The following chapter, "UFOs: hypotheses, attempts at modelling" ("OVNI: hypothèses, essais de modélisation"), discusses some models and hypotheses which are under study in several countries. Partial simulations have already been made for UFO propulsion, based on observations of aspects such as speed, movement and acceleration, engine failure of nearby vehicles, paralysis of witnesses, etc. One model is MHD (magneto-hydrodynamic) propulsion, already tested successfully in water, and which might be achieved in the atmosphere with superconducting circuits in a few decades. Other studies are briefly mentioned regarding both atmospheric and space propulsion (such as particle beams), antigravity and reliance on planetary and stellar impulsion. The chapter also suggests that the failure of land-vehicle engines may be explained by microwave radiations. In fact, high-


power hyperfrequency generators are under study in France and other countries, according to the report. One application is microwave weapons. Particle beams—for instance, proton beams which ionise the air and therefore become visible—might explain the observation of luminous beams. Microwaves might explain body paralysis. In the same chapter, "global hypotheses" are considered next. The authors regard hoaxes as rare and easily detected. Some non-scientific hypotheses are put aside, such as conspiracies and manipulations by powerful secret groups, parapsychic phenomena and collective hallucinations. The hypothesis of secret [human] weapons is also regarded as very improbable. We are then left with various extraterrestrial hypotheses. One version has been developed in France by astronomers JeanClaude Ribes and Guy Monnet, based on the "space islands" concept of American physicist O'Neill, and it is compatible with present-day physics. The organisation of UFO research in the United States, Great Britain and Russia is surveyed rapidly. In the United States, the media and the polls show a marked interest and concern on the part of the public, but the official position, especially of the Air Force, is still one of denial—more precisely, that there is no threat to national security. Actually, declassified documents, released under FOIA, show another story: one of surveillance of nuclear installations by UFOs and the continued study of UFOs by the military and intelligence agencies. The report stresses the importance in the United States of private, independent

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE associations. It mentions the "UFO Briefing Document", sent in 1995 to a thousand personalities worldwide, and the Sturrock workshop in 1997—both sponsored by Laurance Rockefeller. The "Briefing Document" has obviously been welcomed by the authors of the COMETA report. The committee also notes the public emergence of alleged insiders such as [the late] Colonel Philip Corso, and considers that his testimony may be partly significant as to the real situation in the US, in spite of many critics. The report briefly describes the situation in Great Britain, with a special mention of Nick Pope [ex-Ministry of Defence, author of two books on UFOs], and poses the question of the possible existence of secret studies pursued jointly with American services. It also mentions research in Russia and the release of some information, notably by the KGB in 1991.

PART III: UFOs and Defence The third part, "UFOs and defence" ("Les OVNI et la défense"), states that, if it is true that no hostile UFO action has been proved yet, at least some actions of "intimidation" have been recorded in France (case of the Mirage IV, for instance). Since the extraterrestrial origin of UFOs cannot be ruled out, it is therefore necessary to study the consequences of that hypothesis, not only at the strategic level but also at political, religious and

media/public information levels. The first chapter of Part III is devoted to prospective strategies and it begins with fundamental questions: "What if extraterrestrials [exist]? What intentions and what strategy can we deduce from their behaviour?" Such questions open a more controversial part of the report. Possible motivations of extraterrestrial visitors are explored here, such as protection of planet Earth against the dangers of nuclear war, suggested, for instance, by UFOs' repeated flying over nuclear missile sites. The committee then ponders the possible repercussions on the behaviour, official or not, of different nation-states, and focuses on the possibility of secret, privileged contacts which might be "attributed to the United States". The attitude of the US is seen as "most strange" since the 1947 wave and the Roswell event. Since that time, a policy of increasing secrecy seems to have been applied, which might be explained by the protection at all cost of military technological superiority to be acquired from the study of UFOs. Next, the report tackles the question: "What measures must we take now?" At the least, whatever the nature of UFOs, they necessitate "critical vigilance", in particular regarding the risk of "destabilising manipulations". A kind of "cosmic vigilance" should be applied by the elites, nationally and internationally, in order to prevent any shocking surprise, erroneous

"It's these damn obsidian eyes ... you got any designer contacts that will give me a Drew Barrymore look?" 52 • NEXUS


interpretation and hostile manipulation. Nationally, COMETA urges the strengthening of SEPRA and recommends the creation of a cell at the highest level of government, entrusted with the development of hypotheses, strategy and preparation of cooperation agreements with European and other foreign countries. A further step would be that European states and the European Union undertake diplomatic action towards the Unites States within the framework of political and strategic alliances. A key question of the report is: "What situations must we be prepared for?" The report mentions such situations as: extraterrestrial moves for official contact; discovery of a [UFO/alien] base within the territory of Europe; invasion (deemed improbable) and localised or massive attack; and manipulation or deliberate disinformation aiming at destabilising other states. COMETA devotes special attention to "aeronautical implications", with detailed recommendations aimed at various personnel, such as air staff, controllers, meteorologists and engineers. It also makes recommendations at the scientific and technical levels, aimed at developing research with potential benefits for defence and industry. The report further explores the political and religious implications of UFOs, using as a model the perspective of our own exploration of space: how would we do it, and how would we handle contacts with less advanced civilisations? Such an approach is not new to wellinformed readers of the abundant ufological literature, but it has a special value here, being treated seriously at such a level. The media/publicity implications are not forgotten, with the problems of disinformation, fear of ridicule, and manipulation by certain groups. In its conclusion, COMETA claims that the physical reality of UFOs, under control of intelligent beings, is "quasi-certain". Only one hypothesis takes into account the available data: the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitors. This hypothesis is of course unproved, but has far-reaching consequences. The goals of these alleged visitors remain unknown, but must be the subject of speculations and prospective scenarios. In its final recommendations, the COMETA report stresses again the need to: STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE 1) inform all decision-makers and persons in positions of responsibility; 2) reinforce means of investigation and study at SEPRA; 3) have UFO detection taken into account by agencies engaged in space surveillance; 4) create a strategic cell [for UFO study/analysis] at the highest state level; 5) undertake diplomatic action towards the United States for cooperation on this "capital question"; 6) study measures which might be necessary in case of emergencies.

UFO CASES CITED IN REPORT The authors of the French UFO report selected a small but impressive sample of UFO cases to illustrate the seriousness of the subject. Many of these cases will be familiar to experienced ufologists, but not necessarily to all readers. Here is a brief description of most of the cases highlighted in the COMETA report: • Testimony of French pilot M. Giraud, 7 March 1977: Giraud and his navigator were flying a Mirage IV jet at night near Dijon, France, when they saw a bright light rapidly closing in. The light tailed them at a distance of 1,500 metres (4,920 feet), though they made evasive turns. They radioed a military radar site, but the UFO did not show on radar. • Testimony of French fighter pilot Colonel Claude Bosc, 3 March 1976: On a night training flight in a T-33, Bosc saw a bright light approach at high speed on a collision course. His jet was then enveloped in green phosphorescent light for several seconds. Radar showed nothing, but two other pilots saw the encounter from a distance. • Air France Flight 3532, 28 January 1994: Pilot and copilot of an Airbus 320111, flying in daylight near Paris at 39,000 feet, reported seeing a very large disc-like craft about 30 miles away and slightly below them. Military radar confirmed the presence of an object about 250 metres (820 feet) in diameter. The object was observed visually and on radar for about 50 seconds, then suddenly disappeared. • Lakenheath RAF Base, UK, 13 August 1956: Extraordinary UFO events occurred over a span of six hours, involving very clear radar tracks of more than a dozen objects, sometimes travelling over 4,000 miles (6,437 km) per hour, sometimes slower than 100 mph (160 kph). Jets STRANGE Times 2006

were scrambled and encountered UFO traffic, but the pilots could not identify it. • RB-47 case, USA, 17 July 1957: "Arguably the most important UFO case in history," says US researcher Jerome Clark. Flight crew of an RB-47 reconnaissance jet engaged a UFO for nearly two hours over Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The UFO was simultaneously tracked visually and by ground and air radar, and a signal from the UFO was tracked as well. • Teheran, Iran, 18 September 1976: Two F-4 jets of the Iranian Air Force separately engaged a brilliant, fast-moving UFO, tracking it visually and on radar. On approaching the UFO, the jets' onboard weapons and control functions repeatedly failed, forcing retreat. A second UFO object was seen to separate from the main UFO and appeared to land. • San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, 1 August 1995: A commercial jet on approach to Bariloche airport reported a UFO flying alongside. During the plane's descent, the airport experienced a total electrical blackout, forcing the pilot to abort the landing and circle around for a second attempt. Meanwhile, the UFO flew upwards and disappeared from view. • Antananarivo, Madagascar, 16 August 1954: A brilliant green fireball was observed crossing the sky, trailing flames. As it approached, multiple witnesses said it resembled a metallic oval object as big as a DC-4 aircraft. As the object passed overhead at low altitude, the city experienced a major electrical blackout.


• Kapustin Jar, ex-USSR, 28–29 July 1989: Military personnel reported a clearly visible disc-shaped UFO hovering low over an army missile base and shining a beam of light down on a weapons depot. The sighting lasted over 90 minutes. A similar report occurred later that night at another nearby base. • Valensole, Basses-Alpes, France, 1 July 1965: Farmer Maurice Masse encountered a landed UFO and two small humanoids in his lavender field at about 6 am. On approach, he became paralysed but remained conscious while the beings boarded the craft and flew away. Masse suffered massive fatigue for several weeks, and nothing but stunted weeds grew in the landing area for years afterwards. This case was extensively investigated by French authorities. • Trans-en-Provence, France, 8 January 1981: A disc-shaped metallic UFO was observed by farmer Renato Niccolai to land briefly in his alfalfa field at about 5 pm, then lift off and fly away. Investigation showed that a very heavy object, weighing maybe four to five tonnes, had compressed the soil in the landing area, and plants were obviously affected. ∞ (Source: Report by Gildas Bourdais, [email protected], for CNI News, vol. 5, no. 11, 1 August 1999, CNINews1 @aol.com. Requests for translation and publication rights to the full report should be sent to M. Michel Algrin, 25 boulevard St-Germain, 75005 Paris, France.)

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GOVERNMENT WHISTLEBLOWER C. B. SCOTT JONES ON UFO SECRECY An interview by Linda Moulton Howe © April 2004 The Chinese told me over and over again of the amount of evidence they have from which they conclude that the ET phenomenon is real, in the sense that there are real, tangible craft penetrating their airspace. — Dr C. B. Scott Jones, former US Naval Intelligence officer, Special Assistant in UFO Research for US Senator Claiborne Pell, 1985–1991, Founder of the Center for Applied Anomalous Phenomena (1985), the Human Potential Foundation (1989), and the Peace & Emergency Action Coalition for Earth (PEACE) (2003)

Dr Werner von Braun and the UFO Cover-up

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aithersburg, Maryland, USA, April 21, 2004 — This past weekend at the X-Conference, the focus was on American government knowledge of an extraterrestrial presence on Earth and the cover-up of that knowledge. There has been a policy of silence and 54 • NEXUS

denial about ETs and advanced technologies in the interest of national security since at least the presidency of Harry S. Truman in the 1940s. One of the speakers was C. B. Scott Jones, PhD, who worked in US Naval Intelligence in the 1960s to 1970s. Later, from 1985 until 1991, Scott Jones worked as a Special Assistant to US Senator Claiborne Pell, the then Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Dr Scott Jones's goal was to find out what other governments and scientists knew about the UFO phenomenon. At the top of his research list were the Soviet Union and China and the implied knowledge of German rocket scientist Dr Werner von Braun. Dr von Braun began his work in the United States after World War II under Project Paperclip, in which German rocket experts were brought to America to create a space rocket program similar to what they had been doing in Peenemünde, Germany. Their base of operations was White Sands Missile Range, west of Alamogordo and Roswell, New Mexico. Von Braun served from 1960 to 1970 as the first Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center. He was most noted for directing the development of the giant Saturn V rocket that carried men to the Moon for the first time in 1969. www.nexusmagazine.com

Scott Jones thinks that Werner von Braun not only knew about the extraterrestrial presence and discs flying rapidly over their White Sands rocket experiments, but seemed to have insider knowledge about how the ET presence might be manipulated and used by the United States government. For more background, see websites at the end of this interview with C. B. Scott Jones. — Linda Moulton Howe C. B. Scott Jones (CBSJ): We absolutely know that our country, the United States, has a determined policy of secrecy, silence, denial and misinformation on this [UFO phenomenon]. So, the big question for me and many others is: "Why?" Linda Moulton Howe (LMH): Isn't that why a focus on Werner von Braun going back into the 1940s and Project Paperclip in the United States is important, because he seemed to provide some insights about why this government might perpetuate a policy of silence when he knew for a fact that we were dealing with something that fell into the non-human category? CBSJ: Yes, the basis for the Werner von Braun comment—and that's about 20 years ago. This was after he had been in the US a long time and actually was in the twilight of STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE "the bear of a scientist" in Russia? CBSJ: That was interesting. Since I was working for Senator [Claiborne] Pell, who was then Chairman of the Senate Foreign R e l a t i o n s Committee, that gave me entrée to The original Project Paperclip team photographed at Fort Bliss in White Sands, New Mexico, in the 1940s. places around the Dr Werner von Braun is sixth from the right in the front row. (Photo is courtesy of the Smithsonian Museum.) world. The title his life; he was a dying person. A protégé and the research directors knew they were he had given me was "Special Assistant" and no one ever asked what that really he had selected, Carol Rosin, in an inter- going to have a revolution. And they literally offered me stacks of meant, which was fine. But they obviously view has given us this information. He told Carol that he had been in meetings in which their classified reports. We would have made their own assumptions as to what the the strategy, the corporate strategy—and it's huge stacks of their reports over years of Special Assistant to the Chairman of the alleged that it wasn't just his corporation, their official government involvement, and US Senate Foreign Relations Committee which was Fairchild, but a conglomerate— the funding for that came from the Ministry was. So, perhaps they were overgenerous was this. It is essential to keep the income of Defence and their intelligence communi- in sharing things, but I certainly appreciatpump for the military–industrial complex ty, the KGB and the GRU. And they iden- ed whatever their expectations were. I was frequently used as a messenger boy primed and going to make sure that we have tified their sources of funding to me adequate enemies. He ticked off to Carol because they were interested—I think for in every country that I went to, because that essentially here is the list. Watch for the obvious reason—first of all to ascertain if this [UFOs] this: • first the Soviet Union, but that will was something coming from NATO, from the United collapse; • then terrorism and crazies in other States. Were these things that were penetrating their aircountries; space still another threat to • then asteroids; their national security and a • then extraterrestrials. provocation? That's an extraordinary list, and I must I think they very quickly say on reflection that everything has been realised that they could determentioned as a potential enemy or threat by mine the difference between a the United States, except extraterrestrials to U2 and naval aircraft penethis point. trating their borders and then

Foreign Assignments LMH: In the work that you did with Senator Claiborne Pell, where you were assigned to explore the world to find out what was going on with research in other governments' efforts to understand whatever this phenomenon is, did you find there were other countries—maybe China, Russia, France—who were ready to disclose what they knew and the United States was the only obstacle between their saying to the world public, "We know we are not alone"? CBSJ: That intrigued me, what I ran into. First of all, when I first went into the Soviet Union—this was before their bloodless revolution—the scientists I dealt with STRANGE Times 2006

later on other satellite and aircraft when they came online, versus the ETs and the UFOs that came over. I asked them, "What do you think is the motivation? What is the intent of these intrusions, not only in your country but around the world?" They confessed they had no idea what the intention was. LMH: But it underscores that this is a global phenomenon, that it is being seen by thousands of people around the planet on an ongoing basis in every country. Can you describe what you learned from what you called

Dr Werner von Braun, the German rocket scientist brought to the United States after World War II to head Project Paperclip at White Sands Missile Range. Project Paperclip was the US government's assembly of dozens of German physicists to create an American space rocket program as the German scientists had been producing in Peenemünde, Germany, during the reign of Adolf Hitler. (Photograph date and source are unknown.)


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THE TWILIGHT ZONE they knew of my relationship with Senator military is upset because your diplomats Pell—the Russians less than the Chinese. gave it away." The Chinese did it repeatedly. And he agreed with that. If they had a heartburn that they wanted So I asked him, "What do you want me eased, they would say, "Look, when you to do?" get back to Washington, we want you to And he said, "I want you to tell Senator tell Senator Pell this and let's clean this up Pell how unfair and how unnecessary and or have that stopped or get this going." It wrong this is." was easy for me to say I was glad to do I did that when I got back to that, and that kept the relationship warm Washington. I told my boss and he said, and ongoing. I was in the Institute of Theoretical Problems, and the Director told me "The Chinese told me over and late one afternoon, "Tomorrow there over again of the amount of is going to be something new to the agenda. A very senior scientist, a hero evidence they have from which of the Soviet Union, wants to meet they conclude that the ET with you." I asked, "What does he want to meet phenomenon is real, in the sense about?" that there are real, tangible craft Now, we had been meeting for two days on the subject of UFOs at that penetrating their airspace." time. He said, "He will tell you." He was a huge man, and when he swept into the room his presence just took over and people pulled back from him. I "Let's go to the [Senate Foreign Relations] held my ground as best I could, and he got committee." So, I told the Soviet experts right up in my face and it was a finger- on the committee about this and they just pointing monologue on his part. He was shrugged and said they didn't know what he telling me that the antiballistic missile was so mad about. treaty that had just been completed was It was some time later…actually, I was completely unfair, and our insistence that reviewing my notes. I tried to take notes the Soviet Union take down a large phased- while I was there because so much was array radar was not justified. going on and I thought it would be poor He said, "This is an important radar. It is form to have a tape recorder. So I would technically not in violation." take notes and scribble as I did. So I was And I said, "I can imagine that you are reviewing the notes, and while I had hired a upset as a scientist and I imagine the good technical translator—I was confident

that he was as good as he was advertised to me—[I wondered if] I had missed what he had said or the translator had missed something. And I think the message from the hero scientist of the Soviet Union…you put it together. He knew where I was and he knew what we had been talking about for two days. LMH: UFOs... CBSJ: That's right. So I don't think he came principally to talk about a phasedarray radar in any other context than UFOs. And I think what the translation should have been was that this radar is important to us—the Soviet Union and the United States. And if I had had my wits about me, I should have asked, "What is the frequency of this radar picking up UFOs?" I think then he would have answered the question. He assumed that I was smart and would figure it out. I think he would have dialogued with me if I had brought that up. LMH: Are we tracking certain frequencies that we know are linked to very specific kinds of extraterrestrial aerial craft? CBSJ: Linda, I don't know technically whether we are or not. If in fact they emanate on a frequency spectrum that we can monitor, the answer certainly must be "Yes". But I suspect there may be frequencies in spectrums we don't recognise. It might be a dimensional thing, and I don't think we know how to check for frequencies in this dimension and then shift to another dimension to check for frequencies there.

China Waits for America to Make First ET Disclosure LMH: What was the most provocative information that you ran into in China? CBSJ: The Chinese can be very direct, bless them for that. They just simply told me it was "an outrageous and transparent lie that you come to China and allege that you don't know what your own country is doing in these [UFO] fields"—essentially, "How dare you go to our people in the military attaché and our embassy in Washington, DC, and say you would like to meet senior people in the following academies and institutes who are doing the important research in UFOs and psychic phenomena, unless you have a responsibility and knowledge of what your own country was doing with it!" 56 • NEXUS


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THE TWILIGHT ZONE I was never able to convince them that I was not among the anointed, and that kept me away from their most senior people whom I knew and identified. But they simply would not let me get to them. I guess the important thing with the Chinese came from the Minister for Foreign Affairs. In a casual moment, he lamented how sad he was that the exchange of information between our countries on the subject of UFOs had stopped. I said, "I am not familiar with that exchange. What are the additional details?" Then I think he realised he should not have said what he did, and he sort of mumbled his way out of it. The reason this is important is...I think it has been somewhat validated by the extraordinary 1999 report that came out of France [COMETA; see website link below], in which they say in one part of the report that there is an allegation that there is a special relationship between the United States and whatever this phenomenon is. The Chinese told me over and over again of the amount of evidence they have from which they conclude that the ET phenomenon is real, in the sense that there are real, tangible craft penetrating their airspace. That issue is essentially settled with them. I said, "This being the case, why don't you make a public announcement and tell the world about this reality?" And there was a short silence and he said, "China will be a quick second after the United States makes the announcement." That again suggests there is a belief or understanding that the responsibility for the first announcement comes from the United States. And I don't understand this, Linda. I do not know what the basis of this is.

Remote Viewing Sheds Light on 1908 Tunguska Explosion n his efforts to get more truth about the UFO puzzle, Scott Jones hired a remote viewing group that had originally trained in a classified Defense Intelligence program and later sold remote viewing as an investigative tool in the civilian world. Scott wanted to learn more about the June 30, 1908, explosion above the ground in Tunguska, Siberia, that incinerated trees in an 18-mile-diameter circle around ground zero. Whatever blew up was so strong that, beyond the 18-mile [29-kilometre] burned circle, thousands of trees

were knocked down over a 25-mile [40.2km] radius. If the explosion had occurred over a city, the effect would have been catastrophic for all the people living there. To date, the most common hypothesis has been that a large meteorite blew up above Tunguska in 1908. But when Scott Jones had the remote viewers, led by Ed Dames, concentrate on the historic event, they got a different answer… — LMH

About the Author:

C. B. Scott Jones: Three out of five remote viewers came up with UFOs, a ship in trouble. There was an explosion— perhaps the demise of a ship having real technical difficulties. Now I am beginning to seriously consider that the ships observed in the Roswell event were a time-travel vehicle. I don't have the physics background to make an argument for this. To me, it would make a huge difference in the exploitation of whatever was garnered from [Roswell] if you start out that this is from a time-travelling vehicle rather than this is from a ship that somehow got here…and these pieces of hardware we will independently exploit and see what we can learn from them. If you put it in a different context and say this is part of a time-travel vehicle, what else can we learn from the same things that have been exploited already? LMH: Could we in the US government learn how to operate that technology and literally go backwards or forwards in time? CBSJ: I don't know if it is bi-directional or not. I think I heard at this conference it

Website References • http://www.peaceroom.com • http://www.cufos.org/cometa.html • http://www.paradigmclock.com/ X-Conference/jones_supplement.htm •http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History /SP-4201/ch1-3.htm

is only back in time. If that's the case, then the travellers that are coming here are coming from our future. And of course, that brings a great potential. If it is a future in all areas, they are more technologically advanced, more psychologically, emotionally and spiritually advanced, then they truly have some gifts to share with us. ∞ Linda Moulton Howe is a graduate of Stanford University, USA, and has a Masters Degree in Communication. She has worked as a science and environment reporter for radio and television, and edits the Earthfiles.com website. Her film documentaries, A Strange Harvest and Strange Harvests 1993, explored the worldwide animal mutilations phenomenon. Her books include An Alien Harvest, Glimpses of Other Realities – Vol. I: Facts & Eyewitnesses, Glimpses of Other Realities – Vol. II: High Strangeness and Mysterious Lights and Crop Circles (Paper Chase Press, USA, 2000–01). Linda's investigations have taken in such diverse subjects as crop circles, the chupacabras mystery, humanity's hidden history, and the evidence for UFOs and ETs, including research into the alleged Roswell UFO crash fragments and government knowledge and cover-up of non-human intelligences interacting with our planet.

I

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"None of the food here has been genetically modified, but some of the staff have." www.nexusmagazine.com

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C HARLES H ALL ON THE T ALL W HITE E XTRATERRESTRIALS While serving as a weather observer at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, in the mid-1960s, Charles Hall had dealings with a mysterious group of Tall White alien beings housed there and engaged in technology transfer with the US military.

Interview with

Charles J. Hall, BS, MA, MBA

http://www.millennialhospitality.com/

by Michael E. Salla, PhD © 3 December 2004 Expolitical Comment #23 Website: http://www.exopolitics.org

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MOTIVATIONS OF THE TALL WHITE EXTRATERRESTRIALS AND THEIR EXOPOLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE hat follows is based on an interview with Charles Hall on 2 December 2004 regarding the existence of the Tall White extraterrestrials that he met while serving at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, as a duty weather observer from 1965 to 1967. His experiences are recorded in his three-volume book series, Millennial Hospitality (for details, see http://www.millennialhospitality.com). I had earlier read the first two volumes of his book series and recorded my impressions in a short article (see http://www.exopolitics.org/Exo-Comment-22.htm). I was put in touch with Charles Hall by Paola Harris, the first major UFO researcher to investigate the case thoroughly (see http://www.paolaharris.it/hall1.htm). In the interview, I asked a series of questions and recorded his replies by taking notes. My aim in conducting the interview was to get a better idea of the motivations of the "Tall Whites" and their exopolitical significance on Earth. I begin this evaluation of my interview by first outlining my questions and Charles Hall's replies. (Note: The replies are recorded in the third person and we have adjusted the questions to the third person style accordingly. Ed.) I finish with my evaluation of his testimony and book series which I believe are vitally important as a possible disclosure initiative that will attract much public attention and carry great exopolitical significance. — Michael E. Salla, PhD 3 December 2004

W

Why did he call the book a work of fiction? He had to protect himself and the men who served with him. He changed the names to protect the innocent, including himself and other servicemen. People he replaced had experienced severe psychological pressure and trauma. Some wouldn't want to be mentioned so he didn't give their correct names. He affirmed that everything in the books is true. It is as close to a documentary of events he experienced as possible. How did he recall all conversations recorded in the book? He didn't keep a diary, but kept a log book. He basically relied on memory in writing the book. He relived the emotions as he covered each experience, and this helped his recollection of events and conversations. Key episodes are basically etched into his mind. He had to summarise many conversations. Some conversations had to be reconstructed. Usually conversations with other airmen are summarised/reconstructed. Conversations with Tall Whites are close to verbatim, since the Tall Whites didn't talk much. Tall White men especially didn't speak much at all. Tall White women were more talkative than the men. If Tall Whites didn't wear their communication equipment, then they wouldn't communicate at all. Charles wanted to capture all the emotions he experienced, and these are faithfully recorded in the book. When did he start writing the books? He first tried telling people about his experiences during 1965–68. When he got a word processor in 1985, he began the typing process using floppy discs. Writing was a slow process for technical reasons and also emotionally, since he relived the experiences and this took much time. For example, it took six months before he could control his fears of the Tall Whites back in 1965. www.nexusmagazine.com

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When did he finish the book? Back in the 1980s he had trouble finding a potential publisher for his planned autobiography and also had family responsibilities. In 2002 he became unemployed and began to edit, polish and publish what he had written so far. The publisher he found, Firstbook.com, allowed him to publish it as a "print-on-demand" book where he controlled copyright, etc. He is still not satisfied with what has been published so far, and wants to edit the first volume one more time. Basically the book was a work in progress since 1985 up until 2002. Final editing was done from late 2002 to early 2003.

described an incident in his book where a serviceman had to beg for his life when he yelled at a Tall White child. The only reason the Tall White didn't kill him, according to Charles, was that a Tall White male came over to the Tall White female and told her that since the serviceman hadn't hurt the child, the American generals wouldn't understand why she would kill the serviceman. Charles said that the generals, however, thought military servicemen were expendable, and wouldn't allow any killing by the Tall Whites to stop technology transfers.

Were other servicemen killed by Tall Whites for offending them? He explained an incident back in September 1965 near the Did he ever take photos? He never took any photos. When out there by himself he was mountain at Indian Springs where the Tall Whites had their main worried about keeping himself hangar. One of the cover stories alive, and taking photos wasn't for sightings of Tall Whites was thought of. Initially he thought he that they were bighorn sheep in was dreaming (that's why he the desert. One hunter wanted to believes Area 51 is called shoot one of the "sheep" and rent"Dreamland"). This was a reason ed horses and went with his why he never thought about taking friend. The hunters eventually photos. Later, when he realised separated, and one hunter went that the Tall Whites were real, he near the hangar where the Tall talked himself out of it when he Whites are based and took a shot went back to his base, so he didn't at one of the kids. The Tall think about photos. Whites grabbed him and handed Also, he didn't want to offend him to the human guards, who the Tall Whites and stayed on his were military personnel. The best behaviour. He didn't think human guards shot him and gave a taking pictures was prudent and cover story for his accidental might offend them, and they could death. The guards found his destroy the evidence anyway since friend, beat him up and threw him they always had access to his into the brig for about six weeks. belongings. Charles said that usually if one wasn't hurting anyone and was just unarmed and hiking, etc., then Did any other servicemen ever take pictures of Tall the Tall Whites wouldn't bother Whites that he was aware of? one. Basically, they would kill if He is not aware of that happenthreatened in any way. They ing, but recalled that in a paperbelieve in tit for tat. If you did Charles J. Hall in the mid-1960s back book published back in the nothing to scare or hurt them, the early 1990s there is a set of pictures of Tall Whites which he worst they would do was to scare you away pleasantly. believes are authentic. These were published by a New Jersey housewife who travelled to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and said Why does he say the generals were desperate for technology exchange with the Tall Whites? that she was waiting on a public highway when she saw a scout They would do anything to maintain good relations with the craft and she took six pictures of the Tall Whites standing six foot Tall Whites to get technology. The Tall White "teacher" had consix inches tall. The implication was that some serviceman had versations with Charles that demonstrated this. American genertaken the photos and sent them to the author, who gave a cover als wouldn't stop Tall Whites if they were intent on killing serstory for how she got the photos. He couldn't recall the name of vicemen who had hurt any Tall White child. Tall Whites the book or the author. exchanged technologies such as radio and communications systems, but not faster-than-light-speed technology. Technology Has he ever been approached or briefed by agencies not to disclose the events on Nellis? exchange was done on the basis of only those technologies that No. He said that weather information was never classified. As would benefit Tall Whites, such as good radios and communicaa weather observer he was never part of a classified project where tions that they could use as well if necessary. He gave the examsecurity oaths were taken. The orders given to Charlie were clasple that the Tall Whites would help with a nuclear-powered craft, sified, but nothing he did was ever to be classified. That was a but not propulsion systems for deep-space travel. Antigravity decision taken by a committee including the Tall Whites and othtechnologies which were deep-space capable were not shared with ers in the Pentagon. The idea was that Charlie would be free to the generals. interact with the Tall Whites without being continually briefed. American generals were sometimes in the scout craft of the Tall He said that the American generals would do anything to get Whites, so the technology for the scout ships was shared to an technology transfers. Generals would permit Tall Whites to kill extent since the scout ships were made on Earth using materials servicemen if they were offended, threatened or harmed. He here with the assistance of the US military. Tall Whites sometimes STRANGE Times 2006


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participated in classified meetings and helped with technology development. Charles described how much of the technology transfer occurred. Basically, the Tall Whites would participate in classified meetings by sitting in and helping with some well-placed questions.

Charles argued that the Tall Whites like to keep to themselves and don't have any interest in colonising or dominating the Earth or taking over governments. They just want to maintain friendly relations with the US government so they can continue to use the base.

In volume one, he describes an incident where mental images entered his mind about the Tall Whites in the frontier era. Can he explain? Charles described how, when he was reading the history of the West and the history of Death Valley and Indian Springs, he remembered mental images of Tall Whites in the frontier era. These images just entered his mind when the Tall Whites were nearby, and left when the Tall Whites departed.

In volume three, he describes an incident where he was burned by a microwave weapon. Can he elaborate? He explained how the pencil weapon can be used by the Tall Whites to cause great pain, death or sleep. He described an incident where a CIA guard tried to help a Tall White female in getting up the stairs at the Congressional building, but the guard inadvertently hurt the Tall White and she threatened the CIA guard, who had to beg for his life. He explained that the pencil weapon can be used to stimulate In the book, he mentions 1954 as the first time that calcium atomic frequencies to cause great pain like being burned, reports of the Tall Whites were made in the vicinity of but one was not actually burned. Nellis. Is there any earlier date or evidence he thinks When the iodine setting is used by the stun gun, it can cause would support the presence of Tall Whites in the area? one to bleed to death. He compared this to the black plague when He said that the legend of Range Four Harry (a description used people would bleed to death due to arteries being weakened and for the Tall Whites by servicemen at blood leaking out, causing death. the Nellis base) went back at least as In an email, Charles clarified how far as 1954. the pencil weapon works. "The pencil weapon could be set to "Charles argued that the stimulate the atomic frequencies of Does he think these mental images he observed were real Tall Whites like to keep to sodium, calcium or iodine. historical events or fabricated? Stimulating the sodium atoms caused themselves and don't have He felt that the mental images were immense pain because it caused the based on real historical events. He nerves to discharge. If the weapon is any interest in colonising or noted that when the Tall Whites set high enough, it can cause instant dominating the Earth or moved away, the images stopped. death. Stimulating the calcium atoms This suggested that the Tall Whites caused the reverse (i.e., sleep, taking over governments." were feeding him these images to calmness, relaxation, etc.) because it give him historical information that causes the nerves to reset and relax. they wanted to pass on. Stimulating the iodine atoms, of course, as described in book three, caused death by internal bleeding because it causes chemical Does he believe that Tall Whites have been in the Indian Springs area for a couple of hundred years? changes that allow the blood to pass through the walls of the Yes. He was told that Pamela (a Tall White) was born in that arteries in and around the thyroid gland." valley during the James Madison era. They like the valley He said that Tall Whites' tempers can change very quickly from because it's hot, and that is an important requirement for them. friendly to hostile. The pencil weapon was used against Charles in a misunderstanding that is described in his book, but the iodine What does he think the motivations of the Tall Whites are in terms of their presence on Earth? setting was used which caused internal bleeding. They used the base as a place for their deep-space craft—the He recalled seeing a friendly Tall White female approach him same as the way the US Navy would use a base in the Pacific. when he was lying hurt and she did a kind of graceful dance They used the base to refuel, repair and refit their deep-space around him. craft. He talked about the long distances in space and the need for In an email, he described that Tall White as "...a young female, a base on a planet like Earth where they can get supplies, make probably equivalent to a human young woman of age 19. She repairs, etc. stood approximately 5'10"–5'11'' tall. She had a male companion Since deep-space craft arrived and left on schedule, this meant who I always guessed was her brother because the two of them they were engaged in commerce. looked like fraternal twins. She and I were completely unafraid of each other. On a number of evenings when I was making the morning balloon run, she would come up and stand beside or near Basically, does he believe they just wish to use Earth as a base for their deep-space travel and don't have any me or slightly behind me. Frequently she would come within ulterior motive to colonise the Earth or dominate arm's length and still not show the slightest fear of me. Likewise, national governments? when she came in that close, I also did not feel any particular fear Yes, that's his belief. From the Tall White point of view, they of her either. Her brother, by comparison, was always noticeably are very happy with what they have. Because their life-span is 10 afraid of me and always kept his distance from me (usually he times longer than ours, they take 10 times longer to age and also stayed back at least 50–60 feet). He obviously liked me, but also to heal. They were amazed at how quickly Hall could heal, and he obviously never trusted me. For example, he would never turn he described how they watched him closely when he bruised himhis back to me when he was anywhere in my area (i.e., within 100 self and healed within a day. feet)." 60 • NEXUS


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If this could occur to him after all the trust that was developed with the Tall Whites, what does that suggest for most members of humanity? The idea that Tall Whites can turn on one and use weapons, even despite all the good things that have been done, is generally correct. Tall Whites differ very much in temperament and personality, as do humans. He explained an incident involving a Tall White general who wouldn't brook any discussion and could be cruel if he felt he was not being obeyed to the letter. Yet the Tall White doctor was quite friendly and would approach very closely. The Tall White captain described in Charles's book was a nice enough guy, but he only came around humans when it was necessary. He only wanted to know about humans to the extent that it would help him do his job. A cultural difference was evident, as in cases where Americans might befriend a Japanese person but wouldn't want to socialise with Japanese. He stressed that Tall Whites vary tremendously in personality.

the seriousness of the experiences he had. The emotions that Charles objectively described in great detail conveyed the extent to which what he was experiencing shook his world view and the world views of those around him. Charles's knowledge of the Tall Whites' interaction with the US Air Force generals is very enlightening in terms of the way agreements were followed to the letter. It appears that the Tall Whites are quite legalistic and this seemed to be something that the US military found to be helpful in working with them. This is very significant in the technology exchanges that Hall described were vitally important for the US military. The Tall Whites were quite clear that only certain categories of technology would be shared— categories that presumably would not give the US military deepspace capabilities. According to Charles, this technology exchange involved the US collaborating in the construction of scout craft used by the Tall Whites. Providing the required material for the Tall Whites presumably would have helped US scientists understand the principles of space flight. Since this is what Charles observed in the mid-1960s, it may be presumed that larger constructions may have been attempted more recently that When was the last time he directly communicated with a Tall White? have more advanced propulsion systems than nuclear power. He referred to what is described in book three, which is when The exopolitical question here is: what would the Tall Whites he left for military service in Vietnam in 1967. Subsequent to gain or have gained in return for allowing US authorities to colthen, he has had no communication laborate in building larger spacecraft? with the Tall Whites. If technology for smaller scout craft had been given in exchange for basing rights, what Earth resources Additional Comments from Charles J. Hall would be or have been traded for "I personally saw the American There are many episodes he had larger constructions using more generals themselves with their that he didn't include in the books. advanced propulsion systems? For example, in 1965, American Charles Hall comes across as very Tall White counterparts generals were showing Tall White thoughtful and very intelligent. He boarding and deboarding generals through the military barracks has a degree in physics and a master's where he slept. When that first degree in applied (nuclear) physics, the white scout craft." happened, he thought he was and believes he has worked out some dreaming. He remembers generals of the main principles of the Tall talking to Tall Whites about taking Whites' deep-space propulsion Air Force officers with the Tall system. Whites on scout craft. In an email, He didn't pull any punches in Charles elaborated on this: "The American generals were describing the intimidating behaviour of the Tall Whites and their discussing the possibility of the Tall Whites taking two young readiness to use deadly force to protect themselves and especially American officers on board the Tall Whites' black deep-space their children against potential threats, intended or otherwise. craft (i.e., to another nearby star). I personally saw the American Even surprising or scaring Tall White children could lead to Tall generals themselves with their Tall White counterparts boarding White adults intimidating humans with their advanced weaponry, and deboarding the white scout craft." He thought the discussion as he has made clear in his book series. was too risky to include, since it included what he felt was Significantly, in his book he described how the Tall Whites sensitive material that was probably classified. would threaten to kill humans who scared or disobeyed them (for He stressed how the Tall Whites would follow agreements to quotes, see http://exopolitics.org/Exo-Comment-22.htm). In the the letter. He gave the example of an agreement he had with the interview, however, he focused on how the Tall Whites would Tall Whites. They would basically never sneak up behind him only respond when they were threatened in some way. He and scare him, and he would be sure never to do the same to them. stressed the principle of "tit for tat" that the Tall Whites followed, This agreement was closely followed in all the interactions which is well understood in human society and is a principle (lex Charles had with the Tall Whites and helped him survive. talionis) found in biblical documents. It appears that in the interBasically, he believed the Tall Whites could be trusted once they view Charles was portraying the Tall Whites in a more reasonable had agreed to something. light than described in his book. While it is clear that Charles was being as objective as possible, the discrepancy between his book narration and the interview, in Evaluation and Exopolitical Analysis of Charles Hall I found Charles Hall to be very credible and compelling in his terms of the conditions when Tall Whites threatened to kill or response to questions. He displays great integrity and is quite sinintimidated military servicemen and humans in general, suggests cere in describing solely the facts concerning his experiences. He he was painting a more sympathetic picture of their behaviour described his experiences with the Tall Whites in a very objective than in the book. This is something I hope he can clarify later, manner, and the emotional reality of the experiences was quite since it helps contextualise the Tall Whites' motives on Earth. vivid and conveyed much information about his state of mind and Charles described the Tall Whites as having no ulterior designs STRANGE Times 2006


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on the Earth in terms of colonising it or taking over governments. ability of the Tall Whites to refer to earlier historical periods and He stressed the analogy of the use of overseas bases by the US their presence is possibly due to advanced technologies such as military, such as in the case of US bases in Italy or the Pacific. time travel which they can use to influence our perceptions of The idea is that the use of such bases was purely to facilitate the their historical presence. This will be controversial, naturally, but operations of the US military, while local sovereignty and cusis vitally important as knowledge of the Tall Whites becomes toms were recognised. So just as the US government/military has more widespread and their exopolitical significance is discussed. no ulterior motive for control of Italy through its base there, so In sum, my view is that Charles Hall's testimony is vitally too the Tall Whites have no ulterior motive to control the Earth. important information that has great exopolitical significance and This is quite a controversial argument, since the control of bases is likely to gain widespread public interest. Already, various throughout different periods of history has been contentious and media outlets are treating Charles Hall's story as a major disclowas part of the dynamics that drove sure event, and Hall is generating colonialism. Indeed, the existence much public interest due to his obviof military bases in Saudi Arabia ous integrity, clarity and coherence. was a major factor influencing Hall's disclosure of his experiregional perceptions of US motives ences at Nellis Air Force Base at in the Middle East and influenced Indian Springs from 1965 to 1967 events in Afghanistan and Iraq. will likely play a major role in pubIf the Tall Whites need the Earth lic disclosure of the extraterrestrial as a base for their deep-space operapresence and will help shape public tions and commerce, then it would perceptions of extraterrestrials and be naïve to believe they have no their presence on Earth. ∞ interest in influencing human affairs About the Interviewee: and political institutions. Human Charles James Hall has a BS in history shows that when foreign Physics (1972) and an MA in powers establish bases on one's terriApplied Physics (1973) from tories, it's hard to get such powers to California State University at San leave and to prevent them from Diego, as well as an MBA in interfering with local political Organizational Stress (1983) from affairs. We may have already Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, achieved that point, due to agreeFlorida. He has over 18 years' ments reached between the secret experience in software design, 15 committees managing extraterresyears of this as the lead member of trial affairs and the Tall Whites. software development teams. He has over nine years' experience in Charles believes that the Tall designing/creating websites, Whites have been on Earth since at including military/government least the early 1950s and possibly as sites. He also has 18 years' long as a hundred years or more, experience performing nuclearbased on what some Tall Whites related scientific analyses. He has related to him and mental images he a "Secret" Department of Defense Artist's impression of the "Tall White" ETs received when reading about the security clearance. To see his encountered by Charles Hall in the mid-1960s. local history of Indian Springs. extensive résumé and find (Illustration by Teresa Barbatelli, from website This will be a critical question to information on how to obtain http://www.exopolitics.org/charleshall.htm) explore, since obviously the time of copies of his three-volume book, Millennial Hospitality, visit his website at the first appearance of the Tall Whites on Earth will influence our http://www.millennialhospitality.com/ assessment of their ultimate goal here. If they have been here for a century or more, as Hall suggested About the Interviewer: and which he was influenced to believe by the Tall Whites, then it Dr Michael E. Salla has held academic appointments in the would be fair to assess that they have no ulterior design on School of International Service, American University, controlling the Earth. Presumably they could have easily taken Washington, DC (1996–2001), and at the Department of Political control of the Earth in the early 19th century. If, however, the Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia Tall Whites appeared subsequent to the 1954 Eisenhower–ET (1994–96). He taught as an adjunct faculty member at George agreements (see http://www.exopolitics.org/Study-Paper-8.htm), Washington University, Washington, DC, in 2002. He has a PhD then it is very likely that the Tall Whites have ulterior motives in Government from the University of Queensland, Australia, and which go significantly beyond merely resupplying and repairing an MA in Philosophy from the University of Melbourne, Australia. their deep-space craft on route to other interstellar locations. The Dr Salla's February 2003 article, "An Exopolitical Perspective use of time travel technologies might be used by the Tall Whites on the Pre-emptive US-led War against Iraq", was published in to buttress the idea that they have been on Earth for centuries, but NEXUS vol. 10, no. 3. His book, Exopolitics: Political this could be entirely fabricated. I believe that the Tall Whites Implications of the Extraterrestrial Presence (Dandelion Books, were associated with the 1954 Eisenhower–ET meetings and that 2004), was reviewed in NEXUS vol. 11, no. 5. The full text of this interview is at http://www.exopolitics.org/ they subsequently established their base in the Indian Springs area Exo-Comment-23.htm. For other interviews and more info, visit of Nevada in that time period. Dr Salla's websites at http://www.exopolitics.org and Charles was subtly influenced by the Tall Whites to believe http://www.galacticdiplomacy.com. they have been present in different periods of US history. The 62 • NEXUS


STRANGE Times 2006

UFO DISCLOSURE AUSTRALIA The Journey So Far by Debbie Payne © 2004 uring the course of this article I am going to try to give you a glimpse through a very small window into the Australian Government's files on UFOs. What has to be understood is that the information beyond this window is so extensive that it would be impossible for me to present even a fraction of what has been discovered, let alone explain it to you. The hardest part in writing this paper was deciding on which files to discuss, so I tended to focus more on the ones that stood out for various reasons. What I would like to suggest is that you log on to the National Archives of Australia (NAA) website (http://www.naa.gov.au) and view these files, just as AURA—the Australian UFO Research Association—has done.

D

The Australian Disclosure The Collins Dictionary defines "disclosure" as "a revelation" and "to disclose" as "to make known, to allow to be seen". Over the last four or five years Australian UFO researchers, like their counterparts overseas, have been discussing and debating the concept of "disclosure". Many of you no doubt will be familiar with the US Disclosure Project headed up by Dr Steven Greer and the enormous amount of work his team has done in this direction. STRANGE Times 2006

But the substance of this article isn't to weigh up the absolute arguments for and against the existence of UFOs; it's to present enough viable evidence in the form of raw data to challenge the belief systems of those who are uninformed or sceptical. It's not about the analysis of what we have found so far because once we have collated enough data from the files we've had released, then the analysis will be the focus of our future efforts. We estimate this whole process could take a couple of years. But by following this methodical procedure, I think that it will strengthen the resolve of established and committed researchers that their work is both viable and important to the understanding of the overall phenomenon. Everyone in some way contributes a piece to the jigsaw puzzle and the picture is becoming clearer. What we have done during the first stages of the Australian Disclosure Project is to find out exactly how many records exist in the Australian Government sector about UFOs and to what extent the government pursued, and indeed still pursues, this issue. These pages can now be viewed publicly by anyone and mulled over, dissected, followed up, researched and individual conclusions reached. We are showing you what's there. It's up to you to decide what to do with the information. However, whatever your conclusions, these records certainly give you a starting point for all kinds of research into this subject. www.nexusmagazine.com

Our search began about a year ago with our own local knowledge and the on-line records of the National Archives of Australia. Currently the on-line record search will only give access to around 10% of what is registered with the Archives, but at least it was a place for us to start. At one stage we punched in "Reports on Flying Saucers"; to our surprise, this search term, unlike searches we did on the term "UFO", produced around 20 files. In these 20 files there were around 5,000 pages of information, but we had no idea about what they contained or to what extent the government had documented them. I can only tell you we were more than encouraged after viewing the first few documents. Imagine what it will be like when the remaining 90 per cent can be accessed.

Who kept UFO files? You will see from the list below that there were numerous resource channels open to us, including: • RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force); • CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation); • Department of External Affairs, including Department of Territories; • RAN (Royal Australian Navy); • Department of Supply (a federal department, now defunct), at Woomera; • DSTO (Defence Science and Technology Organisation) at Edinburgh Air Force Base, which was formerly the NEXUS • 63

THE TWILIGHT ZONE Long Range Weapons Research Establishment (WRE); • Bureau of Meteorology; • Department of Civil Aviation; • "The Committee". More recently, under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act we obtained over 600 pages of information, but this figure is due to increase very shortly by a further 2,300 pages because the RAAF has kindly granted us access to another 38 files—enigmatic files, to say the least. These 38 files were suspiciously unavailable the first time we asked; then we were told they had been destroyed. On our last request, these files were located and made available because this time we went through a different channel. So sometimes it all depends on whom you speak to. Currently all these files from the departments previously mentioned total some 12,000-odd pages and have cost AURA over A$1,800 to date to obtain. Unfortunately I can only present a few reports in any detail due to our limited space, so at least you will get to know something about the content of these files and the extent of their information. I have tried to be as diverse in subject matter as I can with my chosen examples, just to demonstrate the intriguing number of very different cases recorded in these files. Some may be familiar to you as famous Australian cases, and others you won't have heard of. I want you to see that the Australian Government did keep detailed files on our most famous cases (see table 1).

64 • NEXUS

Rather than have other researchers laboriously go through every one of the thousands of pages at the Archives looking for something in particular, we wrote brief notes on the content of every page in every file. By doing this, anyone can go to these file summaries and scan through them to find what they're looking for, like an index—keeping in mind, of course, that the NAA files were obtained under the 30-year rule, which makes 1973 the most current record we are able to access at this present time. But I tell you that when 1st January clicked over this year, another 14 files appeared on our standard search. However, files released under the FOI Act can be a lot more recent, so don't think we are only limited to files prior to 1974; we're not. We have also conducted register searches at our local National Archives Office in Adelaide, something we will endeavour to carry out at various other Archives offices around the country. All the files you see as digital copies online can be viewed on your personal computers in the luxury of your own homes. These records are currently held at the head office of the National Archives in Canberra. And contrary to conjecture from some who are very quick to imply we won't find anything new in our recently released government files, we have uncovered hundreds of pages of documents that have never seen the light of day, so statements of that nature are completely without substance. What do we know now that we didn't know a year ago? In a word, plenty! We know that Australia—especially the RAAF


and the Long Range Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera— was deeply involved with other governments and various intelligence organisations, including NASA, in joint space programs and the sharing of information relating to anything space based. So my first file has something to do with international co-operation and interest in this subject.

What was Project Moondust? In 1953 the USAF 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron was created. Its purpose was to recover downed enemy aircraft during the Korean War. In 1957 it was expanded to recover objects and debris from space vehicles that had survived reentry from space to Earth, and in 1961, according to a United States Air Force memo, it included UFOs. While researching the topic of Project Moondust on the Internet, I came across a 42-page file released under the USA Freedom of Information Act which clearly demonstrates a link between UFOs, the United Nations and Project Moondust. On the first page of these documents, the subject header simply reads "Project Moondust", and dates from November 1973. It concerns the recovery of what may have been Soviet satellite debris. However, also included in this 42-page package are documents on a 1978 discussion concerning the potential of having the United Nations undertake UFO investigations, report on UFO sightings and retrieve crashed objects from different countries. It also mentions the recovery of a spherical object (said to have landed smoothly) in Buenos Aires in 1984. So Moondust was very much a global project. But a singular statement made by the Prime Minister of Grenada and recounted by the American delegate to the United Nations leaps out at you on page 9 and reads as follows: ...the recent report of the abduction of a Cessna aircraft in Australia seemed to him to be a compelling reason for the United Nations to "come alive to its responsibilities and take a serious look at the UFO phenomenon, to which Planet Earth has been conspicuously exposed since 1947". Two words immediately caught my attention in this phrase: the word "abduction", which was used to describe the disappearance on 21 October 1978 of Frederich Valentich—not crashed, lost or missing at STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE sea, but abducted; and, of course, the reference to 1947, which we all come across during the course of our research. It seems to be a definitive time in ufology. We have pre-1947 and post-1947 as a way to categorise the modern era of sightings. The next page of the file states that 133 countries had already provided reports regarding UFOs for the express purpose of setting up a UN-sponsored committee to study the phenomenon. Jacques Vallee, Stanton Friedman and J. Allen Hynek were also present at this meeting. However, the official reason for Project Moondust was to retrieve downed space vehicles, and what we wanted to know was whether or not Australia participated in this project. I am certain the answer is, "Yes, we did".

have and still has a "rapid intervention" team connected to the Department of Defence. The reason I am so confident that the rapid intervention team exists is partly due to a number of conversations a member of our AURA team had with a Woomera resident who is retired from the military. He claims to have been a member of this retrieval team, and at the moment we are trying to corroborate his story. From the many retrievals listed, I find one in particular rather interesting. This one was near Inkerman in Queensland in March 1968 and was given to the US Embassy in Australia immediately and without analysis [RAAF file J63/25 5/40/AIR PART 1]. It makes you wonder what was in those diplomatic pouches!

Crash retrieval team The Department of Supply file no. SA 5644/2/1 contains a 1962 memo from the Controller of WRE to the Superintendent at Woomera. In it, he states that "the United States Embassy" sought WRE's assistance to obtain information about sightings or downed fragments of space vehicles. This location and recovery of fragments was exactly the role of the US Air Force's Project Moondust, and the request to Australia was made a year after the project commenced in full force to include UFOs. In our reading of the Supply file, there is never actually a mention of the words "Project Moondust". However, as it was a classified US project, perhaps this is not surprising. Under this banner the Australian Government located and retrieved several items of interest, which we have listed on our website. It also means that the military had in place a "quick response unit". In his 1996 document, "UFOs Sub Rosa Down Under – The Australian Military & Government Role in the UFO Controversy", Bill Chalker writes: It appears JIO [Joint Intelligence Organisation] have a "rapid intervention" capability, as they have been able to instigate prompt widespread ground searches in suspected "hardware" crashes. They do this through "special access" channels. This operation may be similar to the US activity operating under the code name Project "Moondust". So I think it's fair to say that Australia did participate in Project Moondust, and did

Is Woomera Area 52? The next find I'd like to discuss is based on a couple of files from the Department of Supply at Woomera on sightings that occurred between 1952 and 1954. There were literally hundreds of sightings over the years at this highly restricted space facility. In fact, the base servicemen even had their own UFO club, called STARS (Scientific Technical Astronomical Research Society), which they were permitted to set up but with very stringent conditions including being prohibited from publishing any of their UFO reports. In order for you to understand the signifi-

STRANGE Times 2006

cance of the Woomera space facility, its participation in projects on a global scale and the dates I have chosen, here are a few facts and figures. • 1947 – Long Range Weapons Establishment formed between the UK and Australia • 1949 – First missile launched from Woomera Rocket Range; • 1957 – First Skylark rocket launched; • 1958 – First Black Night rocket launched; • 1959 – The first deep-space tracking station to be established outside the United States is established by NASA at Woomera; • 1962 – Countries from Europe together with Australia formed the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO), a collaboration which launched the Europa series of rockets; • 1964 – First Europa rocket launched (a modified Blue Streak rocket); • 1966 – First Europa rocket with dummy stages launched; • 1967 – Australia's very own satellite, WRESAT (Weapons Research Establishment Satellite) launched, making Australia only the fourth country in the world to launch its own satellite from its own territory. The list of launches and research and development programs goes on, but we'll leave this for now.

"Our next big mission for 2008 is to send a fully equipped probe Washington to search for signs of intelligent life." www.nexusmagazine.com

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE The Department of Defence lists Woomera's possible activities as follows: • Air-to-air combat training; • Bombing camps; • Remote area operations; • Airborne and ground testing of longrange weapons systems; • Rocket testing (including Scramjet technology); • Space vehicle launch and recovery, including reusable rockets; • Parachute drops; • Hot and dry equipment trials; • Because electromagnetic interference is extremely low, the area permits EMI/EMC testing (electromagnetic interference and compatibility between guidance systems and aircraft electronic equipment, both on the ground and in the air). Today, Woomera still operates a deep-space tracking station. It has what they call "ears in space", listening to noises from space, and it monitors equipment on satellites in orbit. Woomera has R&D connections with NASA, the European Space Agency, Kistler Aerospace, BAE (British Aerospace) Systems, the Japanese Cangaroo Project and other not-sopublic projects—like research into nanotechnology and breaking the Mach 7 barrier (two years before the Americans, who announced they had done so in March 2004) with its work on Scramjet technology. Incidentally, Woomera does have an area designated as Area 52a Evetts Field. It was one of the sites proposed for the National Radioactive Waste Repository and probably still is. The Woomera Prohibited Area, as it is now known, is the size of England and covers 127,000 square kilometres. You can hide a lot of activity in a remote desert compound the size of a small country. But in the early 1950s, Woomera was a lot bigger. It covered 270,000 square kilometres. It was also the subject of some very interesting events.

Military officers witness UFO On the night of Saturday 27 October 1952, at approximately 8.00 pm, five persons witnessed a cigar-shaped object fly on a straight and horizontal trajectory, 40 to 45 degrees above the horizon from the witnesses' right-hand side to their left. Four of the witnesses were at the Woomera open-air 66 • NEXUS

theatre and were seated together: Warrant Officer H., Warrant Officer W., J. A. (chief baker at the Department of Supply) and Sergeant P. In his report, Sergeant P. makes several observations, and considering he was an officer at Woomera he would have observed test flights and been familiar with rockets and jets. He saw that the cigarshaped object had two portholes and interior lighting. (Now why would an unmanned rocket need portholes and interior lighting?) It travelled faster than any jet aircraft he'd ever seen. And in his statement he says he was not prepared to say whether this thing was an Earthly object. W. states it was not a falling star, and was faster than any air-

Woomera Prohibited Area is now the size of England and covers 127,000 square kilometres. In the early 1950s, Woomera covered 270,000 square kilometres.

craft he'd ever seen. H. comments that he heard no noise, and that it was definitely something other than anything from the heavens, meaning a comet or shooting star. The other witness was the wife of a serviceman and gives the same description from another location in Woomera township. The interesting part is where the Chief Security Officer forwards all the reports from the investigator to the State Security Office in Adelaide under the title "Flying Saucer Observed Over Woomera". In a brief covering letter he states that the witnesses are all reliable and sober and that a cigar-shaped object, "whether man made or not", was observed. A copy is then on-forwarded to the Deputy Chief Security Officer in Melbourne. A paper trail has begun. It then transpires that the Advertiser newspaper also published reports of the same object, sighted by different witnesses in other parts of the state. (Any news clippings regarding flying saucers were cut out and retained by the various defence forces. We found a lot of them.) www.nexusmagazine.com

And so a file is now born—RSO 52/618—and becomes part of a greater file.

Snow clouds don't do 90° turns This next report from Woomera is from a radar officer who was on duty at the time of this event. I have the original Defence Department tracking map to back up these statements: At 1.45 pm while searching for a Mustang on G1, a target was locked onto in the Shell Lagoon Area. On looking through the telescope on the radar dish, no target could be seen. The signal-to-noise ratio was at least 5 to 1, which is similar to that obtained from a large aircraft. Between 1.45 and 2.00 pm the target came to within a mile distant, and still could not be seen. At 2.05 pm I decided to plot the course of the target. At times during the movement of the target, SMALLER targets seemed to detach themselves from the main target and drift away. There are numerous contradictions surrounding this event. The official explanation, by the way, turned out to be a snow cloud. However, the officials shot themselves in the foot on that one. The report is titled "Flying Saucer Phenomenon over Range G1"—not an anomalous snow cloud! The file summary on the weather conditions is as follows, and I did check these conditions independently: Fine, high cloud @ 25,000 feet, warm temperature, 84 degrees Fahrenheit [27 degrees C]. Strong, northerly wind (25–30 mph), which blew from the inland desert. And this is where it gets strange (my emphasis in bold): In view of the foregoing weather report and the absence of any visual sighting, the signals probably came from a cloud. In a report put together two weeks later, after other radar operators were questioned, the object is referred to as the "invisible phenomenon"—and because no object was visible, there was nothing of security interest. (So if you can see it, it can't be all bad.) But in the very same report, one paragraph above this one, it reads (my emphasis in bold): ...the fact that small portions were breaking away tends to show that whatever it was on radar was STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE registering the target very efficiently on something other than ordinary snow. So there goes the snow theory. Doesn't make sense, does it? In the second paragraph on the same piece of paper it reads: ...the phenomenon was locked to his radar beam for a period of at least 24 minutes which in NO WAY can be compared with Flying Saucer phenomenon of previous reports. So I take it from that comment that they knew pretty much how a flying saucer behaved!

UFO filmed during rocket launch My next slide shows some correspondence regarding the sighting of a UFO filmed during a Skylark rocket test back in April 1967. We are yet to locate that film. Some of the transcript reads as follows: I spoke to you some weeks ago about a report of UFO sightings during a Skylark launch...have you had the films examined? The superintendent was most upset that the report he requested had not found its way to his desk. (We encountered many significant handwritten notes on the files we examined.) From 400 mph to Mach 5 – 3,600 mph – in just 10 seconds! In May 1954, a dark grey circular disc was observed by a Woomera radar operator through binoculars, pacing a Canberra bomber directly above it. The cruising speed of a Canberra bomber was around 400 mph. The disc flew up to the Canberra, paused over the top of it, remained stationary (seemingly) above the bomber, then flew away at great speed. Radar operators who took the bearing on the target timed it between two points and realised that this object was doing in excess of 3,600 miles per hour, or Mach 5, and yet it appeared to be stationary seconds beforehand. The radar operator who witnessed the event is quoted as saying: ...during this time I found it very hard to believe what I was seeing, so I shut my eyes and looked again, and it was still stationary over the Canberra. What makes this guy so believable is that he worked for Vickers–Armstrong. They made aircraft. He knew what he was looking at. Mach 1 was officially reached in October 1947 (there's that date again) by Chuck STRANGE Times 2006

Yeager (The Right Stuff) in a Bell X-1 aircraft. Mach 2 was reached in December 1953, and Mach 3 in September 1956. It took a further five years to achieve Mach 4 in March 1961, and shortly after that Mach 5 (3,603 mph) was achieved on 23 June 1961—seven years after something else did it at Woomera. Mach 6 was reached on 9 November 1961. It then took us 43 years, officially, to get from Mach 6 to Mach 7 in March 2004, although according to my sources Woomera achieved Mach 7 two years ago. But what's most interesting about this case (and you really need to get your head around this) is that the object went from about 400 mph to 3,600 mph in just 10 seconds! In 1954!

Hot Spots, Sightings at Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea One of the most intriguing things I found throughout my Disclosure journey refers to a series of reports coming out of Papua New Guinea, in particular the Milne Bay area. Considering the number of files I've scanned, this area was by far the most active that I'd come across, next to Woomera. Milne Bay is on the easternmost tip of Papua New Guinea, bordered by the Solomon Sea above and the Coral Sea below. The surrounding islands and seas were rife with reports of all kinds of weird and wonderful sightings. I believe there may well be an underwater base in this area, because of the number of sightings over such a great period of time and also because the survey map indicates that the ocean is very deep in this area.


The seabeds around these islands are littered with underwater caverns.

What was seen but wasn't on the radar at Santa Cruz? The area of the Santa Cruz Islands, bordering the Coral Sea near Vanuatu, is the subject of my next report. HMAS Anzac reported that at 5.45 pm on Thursday 5 May 1966, when in position near the Santa Cruz Islands, four unidentified flying objects were sighted at about 20 degrees above the horizon by the navigating officer and by several other officers who were not on the bridge at the time. These objects were quite distinct and appeared closely grouped, the leading object glowing red and the three trailing objects green in colour and forming an equilateral triangle with its apex towards the leading object. They left trails of colour in their wakes but these did not last. The trails were approximately six times the length of the objects. After the objects had disappeared behind cloud ahead of the ship, they reappeared one more time before disappearing once again into cloud cover. The approximate time in sight was not more than 25 seconds, and the objects were travelling at a very high speed. No radar contacts were detected at the time—although there is a handwritten notation on this report to re-check all radar imaging for that day. There are two forwarding reports and there's another note clearly stating that this report should "not find its way to the Australian UFO file". It is signed by the Director of Naval Intelligence.

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE U2 spyplane over Tasmania! per cent of any given file with names and Over the years, there have been a number details on them "for research purposes", so of occasions when UFO researchers have that's why we want anyone with an interest run into UFO sightings generated by obser- in this subject to obtain a copy of the CDs vations of "secret" aircraft—flying triangles to see for themselves what a goldmine of being a perfect example. information is now on record. Are they or aren't they ours? To the best Some of the most interesting reports are of our knowledge, no Australian researcher from air bases in all States, particularly or group has suggested that "secret aircraft" Pearce in Western Australia, Woomera in have been the cause of any Australian UFO South Australia, and Williams at Laverton in reports. Victoria. There are reports from TAA and It was therefore with surprise that we QANTAS pilots. There are hundreds of came across the following report when individual sighting reports, fully reviewing an RAAF UFO file. documented, from every part of Australia, A Department of Agriculture inspector including from personnel on oil platforms, reported a UFO sighting to the RAAF in cargo ships and naval vessels as well as from May 1961. Following is a reconstruction of police officers and the general public. The the incident, based on the information locat- list is huge. ed in a digital copy of file series A703: At 8.35 am on 25 May 1961, chilThere are hundreds of dren were playing in the backyard of a house in Devonport, Tasmania. The individual sighting reports, children saw something in the sky fully documented, from every which caused them to get a "Mr Y." part of Australia, including out of the house. This male witness reported seeing one definite object in from pilots, personnel on oil the sky. It was "silvery but not reflecplatforms, cargo ships and naval tive" and was "shaped like a thermometer or a pencil without a point". vessels as well as from police No detailed structure was noted, and officers and the general public. there was no sound associated with the sighting. The object's speed was stated as "slow". It was seen to the north-northI guess we will still plod through the west of Devonport, travelling in a straight enormous amount of information at the line. Question 26 on the RAAF Report Form, NAA, because in order for you to look at which was filled in by the RAAF the files on their web page you have to interviewer, asks for the "Location of any air request each file to be examined and made traffic in the vicinity at the time of sighting". available. We have a master list of around 110 posTyped here are the words, "U2 aircraft over Great Lake at approximately 8.15 am sibly relevant files. The RAAF has files on travelling in a northerly direction, leaving a UFOs from 1984 to 1994, so we need to take a look at these. distinct vapour trail". The aim is in two or three years' time to What were we doing with a U2 spyplane use our solid material to become politically flying over Tasmania in 1961? active in seeking other information from the The research journey Australian Government and then to lobby During the course of our research, AURA the government to declare openly what their has looked at hundreds of report forms, knowledge is on the topic of UFOs. sketches, photographs and records on so many different types of UFOs it's The mysterious "Committee" In all the files I reviewed, there were only staggering. And we haven't even finished two references that I came across to "the 10 per cent of what could be released. I have only recounted a few sightings Committee". Both were from very-highfrom the hundreds if not thousands of sight- ranking military personnel. I believe the Committee was attached ings on record. It would be almost impossible to present them all to you, so that's why originally to the Joint Intelligence we are putting all this information on CDs. Organisation and had firm ties to the Chiefs Under Crown copyright, I can only show 10 of Naval and Air Force Intelligence. 68 • NEXUS


It was set up to review certain interesting cases that were found to be either inconclusive or inexplicable in terms of "Earthly Origin". Following is an extract from a letter from the Director of Naval Intelligence: 2. It is advised that the reports have been passed to the Committee which has been set up to consider such reports. The Committee desires to express its thanks for such a wellauthenticated sighting. This Committee actually seems rather pleased to get such a well-documented and authenticated report, obviously because this is what they were there for. The report in question is on the Nowra Incident.

So what does the Government really know about UFOs? Not as much as they could, because they seem to do very little analysis on the reports they gather, but I'm only surmising this. I'm quite sure that if they had a piece of alien bumper bar, they wouldn't have documented it in the Archives for us to look at. I think they know everything they need to know for now, and you can bet they have files that will never see the light of day. But one thing's for sure: they would have someone, somewhere, who knows a damned sight more than we do. ∞ About the Author:

Debbie Payne, based in Adelaide, South Australia, has worked as a technical adviser in the construction industry for the last 20 years. Until she had her first UFO sighting at close range about 10 years ago, she was a sceptic. From 1994 to 2002, Debbie was involved with the Australian International UFO and Flying Saucer Research Organisation, which has been meeting since 1952. In mid-2002, together with ufologist Keith Basterfield, she formed an eight-member, self-funded research group, the Australian UFO Research Association (AURA). This article is based on Debbie Payne's presentation at the Australian National UFO Conference in June 2004. The full text can be found at the webpage http://disclosure.freewebpage.org/ Article%20text%2022.6.04.htm. Debbie Payne can be contacted at the Australian UFO Research Association, PO Box 786, North Adelaide, SA 5006, Australia; telephone 0413 800 143 (mobile; Australia only), email [email protected], website http://www.disclosure.freewebpage.org. STRANGE Times 2006

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Anomalous Creatures W

hat compendium on strangeness would be complete without mentioning the plethora of anomalous creatures still being reported around the world? Included in this section are: • Chupacabras: These bizarre creatures have been widely reported terrorising neighbourhoods in many parts of South and Central America including the island of Puerto Rico (where some suggest Chupacabras have some association with a US military base). They have also been reported in some areas of the mainland United States such as New Mexico and even New Jersey (see the Internet accounts of the "Jersey Devil"). There have been dozens of eyewitness sightings, scores of incidents where humans have been attacked, and hundreds of cases where chickens, goats, cats, dogs and cattle have been killed. The descriptions are all of the same type of creature, and sightings are being reported to this day. • Bunyips: Most of us would assume that these are mythical creatures known only to the Aborigines, but this is wrong. Scores of early settlers in many parts of Australia reported sightings of two distinct types of Bunyip which they observed in or around bodies of water. While the habitat of these creatures has been disturbed with the advance of European settlement, who knows...some of them may still be out there! • Yowies: Well, in Australia we call them Yowies, although there's a smaller version known by the Aborigines as Junjadee. Overseas equivalents have been labelled Yeti, Bigfoot or Sasquatch, to name a few. They have been reported in Scandinavia, right across northern Russia and Siberia, in the Himalayas, the jungles of South East Asia, the Pacific Islands, the east coast of Australia and, of course, North America. They all have similar reported characteristics: they're large and hairy, they move with amazing speed, have superhuman strength, are hominids and they stink! They also seem to be able to disappear, as if into another dimension, leaving an absence of reliable evidence as to their presence. • Sea Serpents: These are not just the stuff of drunken sailors' legends! More and more evidence is emerging for the existence of very large plesiosaur-like creatures that occasionally emerge from the deep. The creature we call the "Loch Ness Monster" has its equivalent in numerous lakes and inlets around the world, including in the Hawkesbury River system near Sydney, leading many to believe that there are still unusual creatures left to discover—somewhere. Of course, there are many other mystery creatures being sighted around the world, but we don't have space to cover them here. If you find yourself drawn to this topic, look up the word "cryptozoology" on the Internet and you'll find hundreds of pages of accounts and research from almost every country imaginable. While we've received reports on yowies, bunyips and sea monsters in Australia, we've also read accounts of other kinds of anomalous creatures such as large dog-like cats, mountain lions (warrigals) and black panthers, 30-foot-long lizards and hairy spiders the size of a dog! If you've had any experiences of weird or strange creatures, we would love to hear from you.

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— CHUPACABRAS — The Mysterious Bloodsuckers In 1995- 96 a strange vampire-like creature went on the rampage in regions of Puerto Rico, Mexico and southern USA, killing animals and even attacking humans. With links to UFOs and age-old fables, these 'chupacabras' incidents still defy explanation.

by Linda Moulton Howe © 1996 LMH Productions PO Box 21843 Albuquerque, NM 87154, USA Fax: 0011 1 505 797 7908 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.earthfiles.com

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here's a dangerous, mysterious beast lurking in the wilds of Puerto Rico," the San Juan Star newspaper announced on 19 November 1995. A similar creature that locals say punctures its victims and leaves bloodless holes made headlines in 1996 in Miami, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; San José, Costa Rica; and in Juárez and several other areas of Mexico. But it was Puerto Rico where the current cycle of vampire-like attacks was first reported. On 11 March 1995, near a town called Orocovis in the centre of the island, Enrique Barreto Hernandez found eight of his sheep dead. Each sheep had three strange puncture holes in the chest, and the wounds were described as "bloodless". Over the spring and summer months, reports of similar attacks spread from the centre of the island to far-flung towns such as Guánica on the southwest coast, Naguabo on the east coast, and Canovanas between San Juan and El Junque rainforest. As word spread that blood was being sucked from sheep, goats and other farm animals by an unidentified creature, the Spanish words chupar ("to suck") and cabras ("goats") were put together in a catch-all word, chupacabras, as a name for the marauder. By November, several hundred animals including goats, sheep, rabbits, chickens, dogs and guinea hens had been found with puncture holes which averaged about a quarter-inch wide and three-quarters of an inch deep. Veterinarian Dr Carlos Soto of Levittown, Puerto Rico, examined one rabbit that had an exceptionally deep wound. He reported that the "puncture wound was half a centimetre wide at the base of the jaw and extended about three to four inches into the base of the brain. There was no haemorrhaging either; no blood at all. I don't know what kind of natural predator could do that." Eyewitness descriptions have varied in different parts of the island. On the west end, in the Sabana Grande and Lajas regions, there have been reports of a primate-like creature. For instance, on 21 December 1995 near Guánica on the southwestern coast, 44-year-old mechanic Osvaldo Claudio Rosado was washing his car at 3 am, but when he went to shut off the water faucet he was suddenly grabbed from behind. As Rosado tried to fight off the intruder, he was shocked to see a black-haired "gorilla", about five feet tall. The animal ran off and Rosado drove to the Tito Mattei hospital in Yauco to have doctors examine and treat cuts in his abdomen, possibly torn by fingernails or claws on the animal's hands. I visited the University of Puerto Rico Primate Center which studies rhesus and patus monkeys now living inland. Those animals escaped from an island south of Lajas where a government research project was conducted in the 1960s. A Civil Defense investigator told me: "Back then, they didn't know those monkeys could swim. But they can, and now those monkeys live north of Guánica and Sabana Grande." However, rhesus and patus monkeys don't stand five feet tall and are basically vegetarians, not bloodsuckers. At the other end of the island in towns such as Dorado, Aguas Buenas and Canovanas, residents have come face to face with a large-eyed creature that has red-coloured feathers or spikes from its head to the bottom of its spine. Some say the eyes glow red in the dark. Homicide detective Eliezer Rivera Diaz from Carolina, Puerto Rico, told television reporters that he watched the spikes on such a creature glow with light as it rose straight into the night sky. The chupacabras' hands and feet are described as having only three toes and fingers but with two-inch-long nails. It is also said to have small, pointed ears and "thin, patchy or spotted hair" in shades of grey, brown and orange. "It smelled like a wet dog or like it had been in a sewer," said one Canovanas police officer who shot at a peculiar creature while it attacked his dog. www.nexusmagazine.com

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Some residents are convinced that the chupacabras is linked to the flying discs that are often seen in the skies above Puerto Rico. In June 1995, Mrs Enrique Gonzales and her six-year-old daughter were outside around 11.30 pm on a warm summer evening. Mr Gonzales heard both of them scream and immediately ran over to them, whereupon he saw a huge, round, glowing object. His wife and daughter told him they were watching the object when suddenly a red beam of light came out and touched the little girl on her upper right arm. Mr Gonzales reported that his daughter's skin reddened in a circle and "bubbled up" where she'd been hit with the beam. Photographer Eddie Deese Conde, from El Vocero newspaper, eventually heard about the incident and travelled to the Gonzales' home. Conde told me later that by the time he got there the little girl's upper arm had several bumps, but the redness had gone. Two months later in September, Mr Gonzales' wire chicken coop was violently torn apart and nine of the birds lay dead with bloodless holes in their necks, legs or backs. "It was the chupacabras," he said emphatically, "and I think it came from that UFO!" Even though there was no direct or proven connection between the two incidents, the notorious chupacabras was beginning to be blamed for every animal death. Privately, many locals worried that the chupacabras might attack humans. In the town of Canovanas, in the first week of August 1995, Miguel Agosta got up in the early morning to walk across the

Drawing of a large, black creature with huge, round, red, reflective eyes, which computer technician Juan Murati saw as it sat in a tree near his home in Canovanas, Puerto Rico, at the end of September 1995. (Drawing by Juan Murati) 72 • NEXUS

The Carolina homicide detective said he watched in disbelief as the strange, glowing animal rose into the air. street from his home to the auto garage where he works as a mechanic. His wife, Madalyne, was home with their children and that day she was helping her mother who lived next door. Miguel's first job was to fix a truck he had left with its hood up the night before. He said that when he got into the driver's seat to start the engine, "There was a terrible noise, a loud thumping, and then I saw a creature land on the ground near me. It was about three to four feet high and it moved in a crawling way. But then it just stood next to the cyclone fence about eight feet away and jumped straight over into the tall grass. A few hours later, my wife and her mother saw the same creature on the sidewalk in front of our house." Madalyne Agosta told me that she was helping her mother clean her house and was washing the front window when she saw two people walking backwards on the sidewalk, not more than five feet away, with their eyes wide open as if scared. Puzzled, she continued to watch and was shocked when a "creature I had never seen before" came walking slowly in front of her on the other side of the window. "This creature was standing in front of me for at least a minute," Madalyne said. "And the thing that really impressed me were the eyes. I get scared every time I have to talk about this because it seems to me it looked like one of those extraterrestrials that you see in movies: long, slanted eyes that were dark grey. The whole eyes were like wet Jello. It was holding two hands up kind of limply and I could see three fingers that looked human except there were nails about two inches long. The feet looked human, too, but they had only three toes separated by big spaces in between. There was a lot of mud on the feet. Going down the back were red feathers or something about four inches long. When I started screaming, that's when my mother came." Madalyne's mother told me, "At the beginning I thought it was a kangaroo because the nose and face was kind of long and pointed out a little. But when I saw the back, I could see some red feathers that were laid down. And I looked to see if it had a tail, but it had no tail. Then I thought it was not a kangaroo. Then it just started running across the street and hid itself in the grass." The mud and water smell suggests that the creature hides out in sewer ducts, underground caverns and springs or somewhere that is wet. The situation is even more confusing when scattered reports that the chupacabras can fly are taken into consideration. The Carolina homicide detective said he watched in disbelief as the strange, glowing animal rose into the air. This high strangeness in the chupacabras reports has provoked some investigators to speculate that the creature might even be a new biological android created by whatever pilots the discs. More terrestrial explanations have been fruit bats or flying foxes which have big


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Finally, he managed to free himself and started running. Then he was startled to hear a loud noise, like a jet taking off. When Pulido turned and looked back, the creature had already mysteriously disappeared.

wing spans—but their bodies aren't four to five feet long. And what was sitting on a tree branch near the home of computer technician Juan Murati at five o'clock in the afternoon at the end of September 1995? As he explained, "I was walking to my car when I had the feeling someone was looking at me. I take a glance and I see it, and I see the big red eyes, and I say, 'Chupacabras!' And I got worried, scared." Pointing at a tree branch about 50 feet away, Juan said, "He was right there. He was sitting upright, not hanging down like a bat, but upright about two feet tall. And he was all black, a nonreflective black, like a bat, but non-reflective. The eyes were really round, the size of oranges. And the eye colour was red like a ketchup bottle or a Coca-Cola can. Very reflective, very glassy, the eyes. I kept walking without showing the animal I had fear. Then I hear this sound, 'plah, plah, plah, plah, plah', and he's flying away." Juan Murati has his house surrounded by a tall chain-link fence with barbed wire on top and guarded by five pit bull dogs. One day, a month after he saw the black flying creature in the tree, he found his largest and strongest male pit bull with two puncture holes in its neck. "I came here as I do every day to feed the dogs," Juan said, "and I saw the classical vampire marks on the big dog, the male. So I went to the police and from the police I went to Mayor Chemo Soto in Canovanas. He asked me what I thought it was— if I thought it was the demon, the devil, or from outer space. All I can say is I saw what I saw and that was it." I showed a Philadelphia vertebrate biologist (who wishes to remain anonymous) several chupacabras drawings I have collected, including Juan Murati's sketch. The biologist emphasised that vampire bats don't sit upright in trees and don't make 3/4-inchlong punctures. Their front teeth are sharp and the bat makes several shallow cuts on its victim's skin and then licks off the blood. He doubted the credibility of the reports because "animals fall into categories which have long been studied and are recognisable. This is like a concoction that makes no sense, and therefore I doubt the accuracy of the eyewitnesses." When I showed him Juan Murati's drawing, he guessed the creature was an owl but admitted that owls are not solid black in colour.

CHUPACABRAS REPORTS BEYOND PUERTO RICO On 11 May 1996, Molly Moore, reporting from Mexico City for the Washington Post, wrote: "First came the reports of goats, then lambs and roosters, massacred in the night and drained of their blood. The only evidence of their attackers: large fang marks on the animals' necks." But Dr Mario Santiago Lara, a veterinarian from Zapotal, southeast of Mexico City, disagrees that the wounds are fang STRANGE Times 2006

marks. "I have never seen anything like it, ever," he told Houston Chronicle reporter Dudley Althaus in early May. "A coyote never kills the way these sheep were killed. The coyotes and jungle cats in the area devour their prey, rip it apart. The dead sheep had only puncture wounds." The sheep that Dr Lara referred to belonged to Violeta Colorado, a 27-year-old mother with two small children. Colorado found nine of her sheep dead in a pasture next to her house. None of the sheep had been eaten, but their throats had been punctured, leaving bloodless holes. Several of the dead sheep were taken to Villahermosa, the Tabasco state capital about 30 miles away, for further examination. So far, no official reports have been released to the public. Mexican eyewitnesses in close encounters with the chupacabras report hearing a screeching sound like a wild turkey or even a sound similar to a jet airliner taking off. In the first week of May 1996, a man named José Angel Pulido from Tlajomulco, Jalisco state, reported to doctors and police that he was walking home through the small farming community at 11.30 pm when, ahead of him in the dimly-lit street, he saw a dark shape that he first thought was a dog lying asleep. When he got closer, the dark shape sprang for his head. Pulido said he felt pain in his right arm and tried to fight off the creature with his left arm. He said the attacker had no hair and that when he was hitting it, it felt like "a plastic bag filled with soft jelly; no bones, no muscles". Pulido also said that the shape of the creature's head reminded him of an owl's—large and round. Finally, he managed to free himself and started running. Then he was startled to hear a

Drawing by José Miguel Agosta of the chupacabras creature he saw early one morning in the first week of August 1995. The unknown animal leapt from a truck that Agosta was repairing. It hit the ground about eight feet away and then leapt straight up over a chain-link fence and disappeared into tall grass.


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The NBC affiliate in El Paso, Texas, sent a camera crew to investigate. In one of their reports, broadcast 27 March 1996, several Juárez children showed drawings of what they had seen. The drawings showed round objects, some with a row of coloured lights around the middle. One nine-year-old girl drew a picture of the creature that attacked her dog as she watched. Her drawing has several similarities to the creature drawn by Miguel and Madalyne Agosta in Canovanas, Puerto Rico. A team of Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) investigators, led by Yolika Stone of El Paso, reported that "the area is very isolated and extremely poor. The people live in cardboard and tin shacks with no electricity or running water. It doesn't seem that they could have been influenced by something on TV because they don't have access to television. "These children told us that there were The two puncture marks surrounded by a red inflammation, assumed to have been caused two types of beings that appeared from by the creature's mouth sucking on Mr José Angel Pulido's arm when it attacked him UFOs on various occasions: one short and during the first week of May 1996 in Tlajomulco, Jalisco, Mexico. (Photograph from Telemundo News videotape, with their permission) one slightly taller. The beings floated to the ground by a beam of light coming from the loud noise, like a jet taking off. When Pulido turned and looked UFO that hovered one metre from the ground. back, the creature had already mysteriously disappeared. "The children told us of another incident with their school bus. Pulido's attacker put two puncture holes, each about one-quarter A bright light hit the bus and the bus stalled. The light came from of an inch wide, in his right arm about two inches above his elbow a UFO that hovered over the bus." The UFO was estimated to be crease. A third triangle-shaped puncture was evident in Pulido's 50 feet in diameter. right wrist where he thought his arm had been held while the crea"The children also told us about their animals. The dogs were ture sucked at the puncture holes. Videotape of the wound shows put into suspended animation. There were also animal mutilations a reddish ring around the puncture holes that looks like a suction of horses, dogs, sheep, goats and cows. Apparently they were bitmark. Pulido said he felt nauseous for about three days afterward. ten and the blood was drawn out." Some people wonder if the chupacabras is beamed up into an Over the border in Tucson, Arizona, 28-year-old José O. overhead UFO, especially since eyewitnesses in Juárez, Mexico, Espinoza of North Palomas Avenue on the west side of the city, have reported seeing silver, saucer-shaped craft and strange, small encountered a creature in the house in the early morning of 1 May beings since January 1996. 1996. "It had big red eyes, a pointy nose, pointy ears and a wrinkled face," Espinoza said. It "mumbled something" at him and "hopped away" into his seven-year-old son's bedroom, hopped up onto the bed and then out of the open window. Espinoza said the animal smelled like a wet dog and left footprints and handprints all over his house. He called the police who came with an unfortunate attitude of ridicule, examined a handprint on the refrigerator door and told Espinoza it was his three-year-old son's handprint. Whatever people are seeing in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Costa Rica and southern parts of the United States, there are correlations in the historical records of recurring cycles of events involving unknown creatures which attack animals. Juan Murati's pit bull dog suffered two puncture holes in its neck, just one month after Juan saw the black creature sitting in the tree near his house. This dog, one of five which patrol Murati's house as protection, survived the attack. "But," Juan asked, "how did anything get to my pit bull's neck like that without a horrible fight?" The dog had no other marks on its body and there were no signs of struggle inside the high barbed-wire fence that surrounds Juan Murati's home. 74 • NEXUS


HISTORICAL REPORTS OF STRANGE ANIMAL KILLINGS In the spring of 1975 in Moca, a town in the northwestern corner of Puerto Rico, "the Vampire of Moca" was on the rampage, killing livestock and scaring residents. On STRANGE Times 2006

15 March, the local newspaper, El Vocero, appealed to the government to investigate. The first victims of "the Vampire" were cattle. Then came a report from farmer Hector Vega Rosado who was shocked to find two of his goats dead with wounds under the thorax and above the haunches from something very sharp. The next day he found 10 more of his goats dead, seven wounded and another 10 missing altogether. He could see no blood around any of the one-inch- deep holes in the carcasses. In 1925, the Woodbury Daily Times in New Jersey, USA, printed a detailed drawing by an alleged eyewitness of what was dubbed the "Jersey Devil". According to the newspaper report, a farmer found a strange beast that was consuming his chickens. He described it as being "as big as José Angel Pulido from Tlajomulco in Jalisco state, Mexico, showing a Telemundo a grown Airedale with dark fur, having a television reporter the puncture marks in his arm after the attack in early May 1996. kangaroo-fashioned hop; forequarters, (Photograph from Telemundo News videotape frame, with their permission) higher than its rear, which were always crouched, and hind feet with four webbed toes. Its eyes are very horrible form which attack people and animals have been passed yellow and its jaw is neither dog, wolf nor coyote. Its crushers in down through the centuries. And back on the island of Puerto Rico the lower jaws each have four prongs into which the upper teeth fit there is the tradition of the plena—songs which describe a "terrible perfectly." animal" having an ox's head, a bull's horns and a serpentine tail. In December 1993, a park ranger named John Irwin was One of these songs implores, "Free us from all evil; protect us from patrolling the Wharton State Forest in New Jersey. He reported this terrible animal". that he "noticed a large, dark figure emerge from the woods. It What are these strange creatures that seem to 'recycle' themstood like a human, over six foot tall, and it had black fur that selves through the centuries? Are they some unknown, underlooked wet and matted." ground life-form that cohabits with us, the surface life of this The official Forest Service report about the incident continued: planet? Do they come from UFOs, despatched like worker bees "John sat in his car only a few feet away from the monster. His to gather tissue and fluids as part of some unknown agenda? Or initial shock soon turned to fear when the creature turned its deerdo they slip into and out of an unimaginable place, another time, like head and stared through the windshield. But instead of gazanother space beyond this dimension? Whatever their origin, they ing into the bright yellow glow of a deer's eyes, John found himhave left behind hard physical evidence in the foreheads, necks, self the subject of a deep glare from two piercing red eyes." backs and stomachs of animals, both dead and still living. And In Europe and other countries, fables about mythical beasts of thousands of people are afraid to go out after dark.

POSTSCRIPT There have been no other reports of chupacabras attacks on humans since those May 1996 incidents described in this article, and puncture attacks on domestic animals have almost ended for unknown reasons. As quickly as the mystery began in March 1995, it seems to have come to an end, or at least a pause, in the summer of 1996. ∞

Drawing of the "Jersey Devil", based on an alleged eyewitness close encounter. It was published in a 1925 edition of the Woodbury Daily Times, New Jersey, USA.

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About the Author: Linda Moulton Howe is a graduate of Stanford University, USA, and has a Masters Degree in Communication. She has devoted her film/TV career to documentary and studio productions on science, medicine and the environment. Her documentaries, A Strange Harvest and Strange Harvests 1993, explored the worldwide animal mutilations which have been ongoing since the late 1960s. She has written several books, including An Alien Harvest and Glimpses of Other Realities, vols. I and II. Ms Howe's investigations have taken in such diverse subjects as the crop circles phenomenon, the evidence for UFOs and ETs, humanity's hidden history and, more recently, the chupacabras mystery. For further information about the author's books and documentaries, contact LMH Productions (see details at the beginning of this article).


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T HE B UNYIP M YSTERY EARLY SIGHTINGS IN VICTORIA uring a very hot January in 1982 I was staying with a friend, Lee Kelly, his mother, Heather, and his grandmother at their farm at Macarthur near the Eumeralla River in western Victoria. Lee's grandmother had spent much of her life on the farm and while reminiscing about life on the land mentioned the bunyip that once lived on the property. It inhabited a large swamp that was connected to the Eumeralla River during times of flood. She had never actually observed the animal itself and did not even regard it as anything particularly unusual, for she had long grown accustomed to its strange roaring call at night—until the swamp was eventually drained and turned into pasture. I asked her if she had ever seen a brown bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus), a secretive, solitary bird with streaky variegated brown and buff plumage that enables it to hide and nest in the dense cumbungi reed beds. I told her that it has a voice like a deep, distant foghorn and has a double "woomph-woomph" call. She replied that she had not observed or even heard of such a bird and did not believe that it was the call that she was once familiar with. She knew only of the creature's haunting roaring call and that it was known as a "bunyip". Sixty-three kilometres north of Macarthur I stayed overnight at the historic Bunyip Hotel in the town of Cavendish. I asked the publican how the hotel had received its name and he replied that it had been named after an animal that once lived in the nearby Dundas River, though he had no idea what the animal looked like. Some time afterwards I discovered that the respected Australian Museum scientist Gilbert Whitley had written an article, published in the Australian Museum Magazine in March 1940, entitled "Mystery Animals of Australia",1 in which he noted that a large brown animal with a kangaroo-like head, a large mouth and an elongated neck with a long shaggy mane had been reported in 1848 to live in the Eumeralla River near Port Fairy. An early settler, Mr I. Best, and his son were recorded as having observed in the Merri River near Warrnambool in either 1844 or 1845 a large black hairy animal 10 feet (3 metres) long, which Best believed to feed on the "rank herbage" by the river and which made a terrible noise at night in the swamps, "enough to frighten the strongest nerves, similar to a bullock having a dreadful cough". Whitley further recorded similar descriptions by the Aboriginal people of the Port Phillip district of an aquatic animal with a body that varied from the size of a calf up to a bullock. It had an elongated neck and head, resembling an emu, with a mane like a horse, flippers like a seal and a horse-like tail, and they knew it as the tunatpan. The first European known to have lived in Victoria was the convict William Buckley, who escaped from the earliest settlement under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Collins in 1803. Buckley was a stonemason turned soldier who was apparently falsely arrested during an army uprising. After his escape, the settlement was abandoned and he lived for 32 years with the Wothowurong Aboriginal people in the Geelong area until the next attempt by Europeans to settle Victoria in 1835. He guided the first settlers around the district, described the cultural life of the tribal peoples that inhabited the land and gave information on the plants and animals. He also described his attempts to identify the large unknown aquatic animals that he often observed:2

D The large aquatic animals seen in Australia's inland water systems by Aborigines and European pioneers may have been remnant megafauna from Pleistocene times.

by Gary Opit © 2001 PO Box 380 Mullumbimby NSW 2482 Australia Tel: 02 6680 5466 Email: [email protected]

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"...in this lake [Modewarre] as well as in most of the others inland, and in the deep-water rivers [including the Barwon], is a very extraordinary amphibious www.nexusmagazine.com

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animal, which the natives call Bun-yip, of which I could never see any part except the back, which appeared to be covered with feathers of a dusky-grey colour. It seemed to be about the size of a full-grown calf, and sometimes larger. The creatures only appear when the weather is very calm and the water smooth. I could never learn from any of the natives that they had seen either the head or tail, so that I could not form a correct idea of their size, or what they were like. When alone I several times attempted to spear a Bun-yip; but had the natives seen me do so it would have caused great displeasure. And again, had I succeeded in killing, or even wounding one, my own life would probably have paid the forfeit; they considering the animal something supernatural."

settler, E. S. Hall, who later became Coroner and founder of the Bank of New South Wales, stated that in November 1821 in Lake Bathurst, a small body of water surrounded by a much larger area of reed beds, he heard and saw an aquatic animal:7 "One fine morning in November 1821, I was walking by the side of the marsh which runs into Lake Bathurst, when my attention was attracted by a creature casting up the water and making a noise, in sound resembling a porpoise, but shorter and louder: the head only was out of the water. At the distance I stood it had the appearance of a bull-dog's head, but perfectly black; the head floated about as though the animal was recreating itself; it cut up the water behind, but the quantity thrown up evinced neither strength nor bulk; it remained about five minutes, and then disappeared. I saw it at a greater distance afterwards, when it wore the same appearance."

The Wergaia language people who inhabited the northwestern portion of Victoria, bounded by Dimboola, He went on to describe how his overseer Lake Albacutya, Yanac and Warracknabeal, had shot one at daybreak after it rose from knew of two different kinds of bunyip. One the water and lay at full length, measuring species they called a banib (pronounced Charles La Trobe, 1.5 metres long, on the reeds and it then "bunnip"), which resembled a large black pig rolled over and disappeared. Other sightings and lived in Lake Hindmarsh; while a second first Governor of the of the animal were consequently made, but species was named banip-ba-gunuwar Port Phillip district, no shots were fired. However, he obtained ("bunyip and swan"), which was also large began receiving reports another good view of the animal in the sumand dark but with an elongated neck, and the following year:8 lived in Lake Albacutya.3 of large aquatic animals mer"InofDecember Charles La Trobe, first Governor of the last, Mr Forbes and I from settlers as they were bathing at the eastern end of the Port Phillip district, began receiving reports lake, where an arm runs among the of large aquatic animals from settlers as they spread out over the honeysuckles. As I was dressing, a spread out over the new frontier. From the new frontier. creature, at a distance of about 130 or descriptions of both Europeans and 150 yards [117 to 135 metres], Aborigines, he also began to believe suddenly presented itself to my that there were two species of bunyip. From the descriptions view; it had risen out of the water In 1847 he wrote of a northern and a of both Europeans and before I perceived it, and was southern species and managed to prothen gliding on the smooth surcure Aboriginal drawings of each, Aborigines, he also face with the rapidity of a whalewhich were subsequently lost.4 began to believe that However, further drawings of the boat, as it appeared to me at the two species by Aboriginal artists have time. Its neck was long, apparthere were two species come down to us in Brough Smyth's ently about three feet [0.9 metre] of bunyip. The Aborigines of Victoria (1878). 5 out of the water, and about the One of these drawings was the work of thickness of a man's thigh; the an unnamed Murray River Aborigine in colour a jet black; the head was 1848 and depicts the pig-like banib. rather smaller in circumference The other drawing was the work of than the neck and appeared surKurruk, under the direction of a tribal rounded by black flaps which elder of the people of Western Port, and depicts the second bunyip seemed to hang down, and gave it a most novel and strikspecies, described as having a head and neck like an emu and ing appearance. The body was not to be seen; but, from known in their language as a too-roo-don. This type of bunyip the rippling of the water, I judged it to be longer than the was said to have four legs, each with three emu-like webbed toes, neck. After it had continued for 300 yards [274 m], I though the drawing has only two emu-like legs. turned to ascertain if Mr Forbes had also seen it, and on looking again it had dived and was seen no more." EARLY SIGHTINGS IN NEW SOUTH WALES Further north in New South Wales, explorers and settlers were Further sightings of this long-necked species were reported also reporting their sightings of large, unknown, aquatic animals. from New South Wales by the explorer William Hovell in his On 5 April 1818, explorers Hamilton Hume and James Meehan travels along the Murrumbidgee River. He was told by the differfound skulls and bones on the edge of Lake Bathurst, 40 kilomeent tribes of Aboriginal people he encountered of an aquatic anitres south of the present city of Goulburn, which they believed mal that they referred to as katenpai, kinepratia and tanatbah, came from an animal that they thought may have been a native according to their different tribal languages. hippopotamus or perhaps a freshwater dugong. The Philosophical Although their names for the animal were different, the Society of Australasia offered to reimburse Hume for any expensdescriptions were very similar. Each time it was described as es incurred if he would return to the lake to obtain a specimen.6 being an aquatic animal with a body up to the size of a bullock, In a letter to the Sydney Gazette of 27 March 1823, a new with an elongated neck and head resembling an emu, a mane that 78 • NEXUS


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extended from the head to the shoulders, a horse-like tail, four legs kilometres from the junction of the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee and three flipper-like webbed toes on each foot. rivers, at a time of extensive flooding:11 "The Lachlan when flooded spreads its waters over an Hovell must have been fascinated with the idea of an unknown immense extent of lowland, covered with reeds, through species of large aquatic mammal and wrote an article for the which the water finds its way to the junction with the Sydney Morning Herald that was published on 9 February 1847, Murrumbidgee. There is on the edge of this large reed entitled "The apocryphal animal of the interior of New South bed, about 12 miles from the junction, a cattle station, Wales".9 One such animal was subsequently said to have been killed by recently settled by a Mr Tyson: the river has been overthe Aboriginal people of the lower Murrumbidgee. A local setflowing these reed beds for some months past. tler, Athol T. Fletcher, heard about it, visited the site near "Well, some few weeks ago, an intelligent lad in Tyson's Balranald and found a strange skull, with blood, membranes and employ, who was in search of the milking cows on the ligaments still attached, that measured 23 centimetres in length. edge, and just inside this reed bed, where there are occaAlthough the top of the cranium, the front of the snout and the sional patches of good grass, came suddenly, in one of lower jaw were missing, having been chewed at by dingos, all the these openings, upon an animal grazing, which he thus Aboriginal people to whom he showed the skull confirmed that it describes: it was about as big as a six-month-old calf, of a was in fact the skull of a katenpai and that the missing front of the dark brown colour, a long neck and long pointed head; it jaw would have supported two had large ears, which it downward-projecting large pricked up when it pertusks. ceived him; had a thick Fletcher showed the skull to mane of hair from the head William Hovell who then wrote down the neck, and two to the Sydney Morning Herald, large tusks; he turned to which on 19 February 1847 pubrun away, and this creature lished his letter describing the equally alarmed ran off discovery of a bunyip's skull. too, and from the glances Fletcher then took the skull to he took of it, he described Melbourne and showed it to it as having an awkward Governor La Trobe, who shambling gallop; the foredescribed it as having a long quarters of the animal were bill-like snout, the forehead risvery large in proportion to ing abruptly, the eyes placed the hindquarters, and it very low, strong grinding teeth had a large tail, but and a very large brain cavity. whether he compared it to The anatomists Dr Hobson and a horse or a bullock I do Mr Greeves examined it, and not recollect; he took two then it was sent to the biologist men to the place next Ronald Gunn in Launceston, morning to look for its Tasmania. Dr James Grant tracks, which they describe described it in the Tasmanian as broad and square, someJournal of Natural Science what like the spread hand (January 1847) as a young, posof a man would make in sibly even foetal (stillborn or soft muddy ground. The Emu-headed bunyip, illustrated by Sarah Stevens. miscarried) bunyip and said that lad had never heard of the (Source: Josie Flett's book, A History of Bunyips, Australia's the arrangement of the head and kinepratia, and yet his Great Mystery Water Beasts, Free Spirit Press, 1999) teeth were unlike anything he descriptions in some was familiar with. respects tally with that of aborigines, who pretend to have The skull was then returned to New South Wales and given to seen them, so that I am inclined to think there is one of Sir Charles Nicholson, Speaker of the Legislative Council in these extraordinary animals still living within a few miles Sydney, who handed it over to the naturalist William S. Macleay, of me, and I cannot but entertain a hope of being some who exhibited it in the Colonial Museum (now the Australian day fortunate enough to come in contact with one, and, if Museum) as the skull of a bunyip. Macleay eventually decided so, I shall do my best to bring him home with me. that it was actually the skull of a deformed colt and a drawing of it "Captain Hovell, who communicates Mr Hobler's letter was sent to Sir Richard Owen, curator of the Hunterian Museum to the Herald, gives a similar description of another live in London, who thought that it was a calf.10 The skull eventually specimen seen by a shepherd on the Murrumbidgee" disappeared, probably having been thrown out as nothing more Following is that portion of the letter published in the Sydney than the remains of a domestic animal, even though various Morning Herald of 16 June 1847 that included the shepherd's anatomists were unable to identify it as such. sighting:12 However, a description of the living animal appeared in the "While he was standing on the bank of the Murrumbidgee, Melbourne Argus on 29 June 1847, written by George Hobler, a he saw something (similar in appearance to the one mensettler at Nap Nap on the Murrumbidgee, to William Hovell. It tioned in the accompanied letter) rise suddenly out of the described how in May 1847, near Oxley, a white man had middle of the stream, that it showed, as he supposes, about observed what the Aboriginal people of that district called a half of its figure, and that while in the act of shaking itself, kinepratia on a cattle station owned by Mr Tyson, situated 20 STRANGE Times 2006


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it caught sight of him and instantly disappeared, but although the time could not have exceeded a few moments, he saw sufficient to enable him to describe it to me, and which nearly agrees with what I have been told by the Aborigines."

A SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BUNYIP On 19 December 1853, the Melbourne Argus published an article entitled "The Bunyip of South Australia", which stated:13

that there were indeed two species of bunyip inhabiting the southeastern portion of the continent ranging from South Australia up into southeastern Queensland. Different witnesses only rarely reported the long-necked species, whereas there were many sightings of the short-necked species which was described as pig-like, dog-like, seal-like and otter-like. The latter species was also regularly reported in Tasmania. These sightings may well have been of seals that had made their way up into rivers and lakes, for the descriptions are always of a seal-like character: glossy black fur, dog- or seal-like head and flippers. In 1863, Charles Headlam and his son Anthony, while rowing on Great Lake in Tasmania, had a close encounter with the animal:15 "…my oar nearly came in contact with a large-looking beast about the size of a fully developed sheep dog…it appeared to have two small flappers, or wings, which it made good use of..."

"A gentleman writing from Rocky River, near Mount Remarkable, under date of 15th instant, says: 'About four nights ago I was camped close to a large and exceedingly deep waterhole here... I was startled by hearing a curious noise in the water. I jumped up and looked towards the place from which the noise seemed to proceed, and as the moon was very bright I was enabled to perceive a large blackish substance advancing towards the bank and which, as it approached, raised itself out of the water. I Francis McPartland also observed these animals in Great Lake crept towards it, and perceived that it had a large head and in 1868 and described three or four of them, dark in colour with a neck something like that of a horse, with thick bristly round heads like a bulldog and 90 to 120 hair. I suppose it must have seen centimetres in length, swimming around me for it proceeded down the in pairs with their heads and occasionalriver, keeping a few yards from Different witnesses only rarely ly their shoulders above the surface of the bank towards which it made the water.16 again nearly abreast of my horse, reported the long-necked Back on the mainland in New South which no sooner saw it than it species, whereas there were Wales, the Wagga Wagga Advertiser of made a rush, breaking the tether many sightings of the shortApril 1872 reported the observations of rope and bolting. The noise occaa dog-like bunyip known to the sioned by the horse running away necked species which was Aboriginal people as the waa-wee and caused my strange visitor to disapdescribed as pig-like, dog-like, seen many times in Midgeon Lagoon, pear immediately, in consequence 26 kilometres north of Narrandera:17 of which I had not an opportunity seal-like and otter-like. "The animal was about half as of examining it more minutely. long again as an ordinary retriever From what I saw of it, however, I dog, the hair all over its body should think its entire length black and shining, its coat was very long—the hair spreadwould be from fifteen to eighteen feet [4.5 to 5.5 metres]." ing out on the surface of the water for about five inches, and floating loosely as the creature rose and fell by its own SIGHTINGS OF SEALS AND SEAL-LIKE BUNYIPS This next article on the bunyip appeared in the Moreton Bay motion. I could not detect any tail, and the hair about its Free Press of 15 April 1857, describing the observations of Mr head was too long and glossy to admit to my seeing its Stocqueler, a naturalist who was exploring the Murray and eyes; the ears were well marked." Goulburn rivers in NSW in early 1857 in a canvas boat:14 "Mr Stocqueler informs us that the bunyip is a large freshOne of the few descriptions of the seal-like bunyip observed out water seal, having two small paddles or fins attached to of the water was by Captain Sam Southwell, near Canberra in the the shoulders, a long swan-like neck, a head like a dog, late 1800s, who noted that its rear end had fins or flippers, as and a curious bag hanging under the jaw, resembling the retold by John Gale, founder of the Queanbeyan Age newspaper:18 "He was riding along the banks of the Murrumbidgee pouch of a pelican. The animal is covered with hair like a River, somewhere above Cusack's Crossing, when he saw platypus, and the colour is glossy black. Mr Stocqueler a strange animal of proportions akin to those of a threesaw no less than six of the curious animals at different month-old calf, basking on a sandbank on the water's times; his boat was within thirty feet [9 m] of one, near edge. The clatter of his horse's hoofs on the stony ground McGuire's Point, on the Goulburn, and [he] fired at the beneath its feet disturbed the creature, which at once bunyip, but did not succeed in capturing him. The smallwriggled, rather than walked, into the deep water and est appeared to be about five feet [1.5 m] in length, and disappeared. The rider, dismounting from his steed, the largest exceeded fifteen feet [4.5 m]. The head of the descended afoot to the place where this strange animal largest was the size of a bullock's head and three feet out had been basking, and examined closely its trail. This had of the water." the appearance of fins or flippers, and not of feet, visible to He went on to state that he had observed them travelling at a the water's very edge." speed of seven knots against the current and had drawn pictures of Pioneer and veteran cattleman T. Hall observed one of these them, which he showed to local Aboriginal people who described animals at the junction of Swan Creek and Gap Creek on the the drawings as the "bunyip's brother"—perhaps meaning a Darling Downs during the 1860s or 1870s:19 duplicate or likeness of the bunyip. "From the first, the blackfellows of the 'Blucher' tribe were Most serious bunyip researchers have come to the conclusion 80 • NEXUS


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unanimous in their descriptions of the 'Mochel Mochel', which in a way corresponded with that of an otter, also that it was only to be found in and about deep permanent waterholes; further, that it was a very shy animal which required great cunning and stealth to get a glimpse of, owing to its quickness and alertness. I was told that it could both see and hear underwater. That was particularly the case as regards anything moving about the bank, in the vicinity of its home; further, that it could produce sounds under the water… I heard a piercing kind of a scream similar to that uttered by a female in terrible distress… Much to my surprise I saw an animal similar to a low-set sheep dog, the colour of a platypus, head and whiskers resembling an otter, passing from the shalHe described it low water over a strip of dry land to the deep water."

with bunyips. Mat Heeb was duck-shooting on the Nerang River in 1886 and observed an animal with a very large rough mane and a long bushy tail that dived into water weeds at the edge of a lagoon. Joe Daly also encountered a bunyip that year when he was camped beside Merrymac Swamp and described an animal that "had a big, ugly drafthorse's head, rough mane and coat and a powerful voice, part bark, part grunt and part roar". Lenz also described how a friend, Lionel Brown, came face to face with a bunyip on the land. He described it as a four-legged animal with a big ugly head, a big mouth full of sharp teeth, a shaggy mane, a rough coat and an enormous rough long bushy tail. It opened its mouth and snarled at him and, of course, he turned and ran for his life. His sister Faith took their father's military Marting rifle as a four-legged and fired at it from the road the next day. It dived and was not seen again. animal with a big ugly head, a Lenz eventually saw a saltwater crocbig mouth full of sharp teeth, a Seals were actually shot on a numodile in these wetlands and believed ber of occasions, far up freshwater that it was responsible for the bunyip shaggy mane, a rough coat rivers. In 1850, Mr E. J. Dunn, direcstories.24 Another bunyip was observed on tor of the Geological Survey of and an enormous rough the Nerang–Carrara Road during Victoria, watched along with several long bushy tail. flooding around about 1903. This other people a group of seals swimwas one of the long-necked, horseming up the flooded Murrumbidgee like bunyips, a shy creature that dived River near Gundagai, 1,200 kilomeback into the Nerang River when it tres from the sea.20 Also in 1850, a seal was shot, and it was mounted and displayed for many years in the was disturbed. In 1925, Mrs Valmai Natlock heard two bunyips Carnago Hotel in New South Wales, 1,500 kilometres from the calling from the swamps almost every night behind Burleigh. In sea and well away from the main watercourses. In 1859, a three1965 at Gilston, neighbouring dairy farmers Tommy Hinde and metre-long leopard seal with a platypus in its belly was taken in Billy Hill both heard barking, roaring calls and found the nearby the Shoalhaven River. Mr R. E. Day, chairman of the South river churned up with mud splashed high up the riverbanks. A Australian Pastoral Board, saw and identified a seal 400 kilomewoman reported that she had seen a shaggy black-haired animal tres up the Murray River at Overland Corner in 1890. attack a dog in the river and throw it out of the water.25 Perhaps the final appearance of the bunyip in southeast In the early 1930s, a seal was stranded in a lagoon in the riverQueensland was in August 1986 when a group of teenagers campine swamps of the Murray River between Renmark and Loxton, ing in swampland adjacent to Currumbin Creek fled in terror from 500 kilometres from the sea.21 A Canberra fishing writer, John Turnbull, reported that a seal had been shot near Deniliquin in 1951.22 The building of dams and other artificial obstructions may well have put an end to stray seals venturing far up our waterways and then being reported as bunyips. However, sightings of large and mysterious water creatures continued up until late into the 20th century in some localities. The Bunyip of Lismore in far northeastern NSW was frequently observed in a large lagoon as late as 1971, feeding on waterfowl. It was described as very seal-like, with a dog-like head with small ears.23

QUEENSLAND ENCOUNTERS Further north across the border in the Gold Coast hinterland in southeastern Queensland, the 800 hectares of lagoons and swamps stretching from Mudgeeraba to Burleigh Heads had a very long tradition of bunyips. In 1887, Carl Lenz searched the swamps for two bunyips that he regularly heard calling half a mile apart. He also gathered reports from other settlers of encounters STRANGE Times 2006

Palorchestes azael, illustrated by Peter Schouten. (Source: Prehistoric Animals of Australia, Australian Museum, Sydney, 1983)


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a bear-like animal with a high-pitched scream. The Gold Coast Bulletin published a clear photo of the tracks that measured 5 cm by 5 cm and a description of the animal by two of the witnesses, Jason Turner and Grant Thrower, then aged fifteen. "There is no way it was a wild dog. It was really weird and had a high-pitched scream. It looked like a small bear, moved on all fours and had a hump on its back," said Grant Thrower. "We have been coming here to this area for about a year and a half and I have never seen anything like this," added Jason Turner. "After fleeing the camp and boarding the boat, I shone the torch and saw two big orange eyes. I guess the creature was one metre high and a metre wide. It terrified us."26

IS THE MACQUARIE RIVER BUNYIP STILL LURKING? So, the bunyip may have survived into recent times and there is a remote possibility that it may still lurk within a 200-kilometre stretch of the Macquarie River between Wellington and Warren and in the Macquarie Marshes in NSW. The late Jack Mitchell, who ran a garage in Warne Street, Wellington, had settled on a river-frontage property at Dubbo after the Second World War and became interested in the bunyip after several of his neighbours claimed to have observed them. He advertised for information and received dozens of reports between 1947 and 1973 from Aborigines, graziers and tourists, describing the animals sunbaking on the riverbank, swimming against the current and thrashing about in the water. Following a tradition since 1847, the bunyip once again raised its head above water, perhaps for the last time, to be described as a living member of our unique fauna in a Sydney Morning Herald article, this one dated 20 April 1973. Jack Mitchell was quoted as saying:27 "In every case the animal is the same. It swims in the river, makes a fearful noise, has a head like a calf and tremen-

dous strength. Aborigines have told me it flails the water to foam and easily bursts through their fishing nets." Unfortunately, all the maps and reports that Jack collected have gone missing since his passing, and these need to be retrieved if possible to honour the work of this fine gentleman and to increase our knowledge of an Australian icon. Whether the Macquarie River Bunyip was a member of the herbivorous, horse-necked, maned bunyips or the carnivorous, black dog-like bunyips is also unknown. There is the possibility that the black dog-like bunyip was an unclassified native aquatic predator, though there is no record of such an animal in the fossil record.

THE "TRUE" BUNYIP: A MEGAFAUNA REMNANT? If you visit the Australian Museum in Sydney and walk through the Aboriginal cultural display, you can sit within an artificial cave adorned with rock art and listen to the tape-recorded voice of an Aboriginal man talking about his own encounter with a bunyip. He describes the warnings he received from his elders, that the bunyip ambushed prey at the water's edge at dusk, especially when a light wind was blowing. He then describes how he went to the place where the bunyip was known to hunt and observed what he describes as a giant black water rat–like animal. So, although straying seals were probably responsible for most of the more common black dog-like bunyip sightings, we still have the mystery of the less common, long-necked, maned, tusked, horse-tailed bunyip. This "true bunyip", the bunyip of William Buckley, the Eumeralla River Bunyip near Port Fairy, the tunatpan of the Port Phillip district and the katenpai, kinepratia and tanatbah of the Murrumbidgee River that William Hovell, the earliest cryptozoologist, searched for, is still unidentified. Unlike the black dog-like bunyip which no doubt fed on fish, was observed to take waterfowl and may even at times have attacked humans, the true bunyip was a shy, herbivorous animal. We know from the few observations that it was a grazing animal that generally left the water only at night. Its two large downward-pointing tusks (no fangs or canines were ever described) identify it as a Diprotodontid (meaning "two front teeth") marsupial. The descriptions of the animal's body clearly point to only one genus of Diprotodontid. Even the skull of the "foetal" kinepratia found on the Murrumbidgee River and examined by the most respected anatomists matches this animal. Finally, of all the herbivorous megafauna, only one species appears to have avoided the mass extinctions that occurred perhaps as long as 40,000 years ago and was painted by Aboriginal artists on a very few of the caves in the Northern Territory. Tim Flannery, in the Australian Museum's 1983 book, Prehistoric Animals of Australia, states:28

Palorchestes azael, illustrated by Frank Knight. (Source: Kadimakara: Extinct Vertebrates of Australia, Pioneer Design Studio, Victoria, 1985) 82 • NEXUS


"Perhaps no animal is as suited to have inspired the legend of the bunyip as Palorchestes azael. Although a herbivore, it must have been a fearsome sight. The largest of the three known species of the genus Palorchestes azael was the

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size of a bull. Its exceptionally massive forearms were equipped with razor sharp, rapier-like claws up to 12 cm long, and its bizarre head was crowned with a longish trunk. Surely this sight would have been enough to give any newly arrived Aboriginals second thoughts about settling. And there is little doubt that Palorchestes azael and humans were acquainted. In fact, they co-existed in Australia between about 40–20,000 years ago."

So here we have a very large animal with a smallish head, perhaps on a somewhat elongated thick neck, with powerful though rather immobile forelimbs that were locked at the elbows, claws that almost prevented the animal the ability to move about (though they may have been retractable), and somewhat delicate hindlimbs. This arrangement would appear to hinder a large and heavy animal as it wandered slowly about, looking for food. In a land full of powerfully built marsupial lions that were adapted to prey on In Riversleigh: The Story of Animals in Ancient Rainforests of big mammals and giant goannas that grew to almost the size and Inland Australia (1991), further details are provided:29 weight of an Allosaurus dinosaur, it is perhaps unlikely that these "The Palorchestids are the other half of the Diprotodontid animals staggered slowly about, ripping up bulbs and roots or the radiation—their weird half-brothers. The Pleistocene and bark and limbs off trees. The almost immobile forelimbs and last-surviving species, Palorchestes azael, was about the great claws appear to be adaptations for a very specialised way of size of a horse. In body shape it resembled no other life that has nothing to do with walking about or climbing trees. creature known. It had huge koala-like claws, enormously Now this may be a long shot, but perhaps these adaptations powerful forelimbs, a long ribbon-like tongue and a large were required for a sedentary aquatic lifestyle where the giant elephantine trunk. Until the skeleton is adequately claws and relatively immobile front legs gripped the substrate of studied, speculation about what it did for a living will sunken logs and rocks whilst the elongated snout and tongue continue. Although we are certain that it was a herbivore, moved about, dragging in vegetation. we are not at all certain about the kinds of plants it ate. In With the buoyancy provided by water, this heavy beast with contrast to its Diprotodontid delicate hind limbs and immobile front cousins, its high-crowned, limbs may well have found it easier to complex teeth probably could move about within swamps and have withstood the abrasive marshes, feeding on reeds and thereby He received dozens of reports effects of a grass diet, but this avoiding the powerful terrestrial between 1947 and 1973 from simple interpretation feels predators of the time. Aborigines, graziers and tourists, hollow when its peculiar limbs, With a limited habitat of wetlands, claws and trunk are considered." each individual would indeed need a describing the animals sunbaking large territory, which it would define on the riverbank, swimming In Kadimakara: Extinct Vertebrates with far-carrying bellowing roars. It of Australia (1985), further would be a rare animal with slow, low against the current and information is given on this most rates of reproduction. thrashing about in the water. bizarre animal:30 The probably young kinepratia "In 1874 Sir Richard Owen observed in the extensive marshes of described the first-known specithe Murrumbidgee in May 1847 was men of Palorchestes azael... The described as "having an awkward specimen, consisting of the anterior part of the skull...was shambling gallop and the forequarters of the animal were very discovered in the year 1851 by Dr Ludwig Becker in a bed large in proportion to the hindquarters", which fits with the of yellowish sand and clay mixed with very small shells, in descriptions of the fossil marsupial tapir. Such an animal would the Province of Victoria. The distribution and abundance also fit with William Buckley's "very extraordinary amphibious of Palorchestes bones can give some clues, which are useanimal, which the natives call Bun-yip, of which I could never see ful in reconstructing the ecology and habitat of these aniany part except the back, which appeared to be covered with mals. feathers of a dusky-grey colour"—which may well have been the "Their remains are rare everywhere, indicating that perextensive mane that was so frequently described. Perhaps the haps they were solitary animals. This apparent rarity could "elongated neck and head resembling an emu" may have been the have several causes. If one assumes that their rarity as fostrunk of the marsupial tapir extending up into the air as the animal sils reflects their rarity as live animals, it is probable that fed on waterside foliage. they had low rates of reproduction and occupied relatively The identity of the bunyip has to be addressed. In the past it large territories or home ranges. has been pushed aside with explanations that the Aboriginal peo"The skeletons of the species of Palorchestes are highly ple, who had inhabited the land for something like 50,000 years, unusual. Perhaps their most striking feature is the structure were a superstitious and ignorant lot who still had not worked out of the front legs… The nature of the articulation of the what lived in their own supermarket. European settlers who upper and lower arm bones in Palorchestes azael is very observed the bunyip were regarded as obviously of the same ilk. unusual and appears to indicate that this joint was immoConsequently the bunyip has been turned into a children's fairybile, the front legs being permanently locked in a partly tale character. flexed position… Perhaps more likely it was a remarkable remnant of Australia's "The finger bones possess large, semi-circular articulations megafauna, a solitary aquatic herbivore on the edge of extinction, and appear to have been highly mobile, but only in a forsurrounded on all sides by predatory humans. With the arrival of wards-backwards direction. In comparison with the foreEuropeans and their cattle competing for forage, the massive habilimb, the hindlimb was delicate… The massive claws tat destruction with widespread wetland drainage and silting up of must have presented a problem to the species of the waterways, yet another ancient life form departed this rapidly Palorchestes, assuming that they walked on the ground." emptying continent. ∞ STRANGE Times 2006


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The Bunyip Mystery Endnotes 1. Whitley, Gilbert, "Mystery Animals of Australia", The Australian Museum Magazine, no. 7, 1 March 1940, p. 135. 2. Morgan, John, Life and Adventures of William Buckley, A. MacDougall, Hobart, 1852. 3. Hercus, Luise A., "The Languages of Victoria: a late survey, Part II", Australian Aboriginal Studies, vol. 17 (c. 1960s). 4. Whitley, ibid., p. 134. 5. Brough Smyth, R., The Aborigines of Victoria: with notes relating to the habits of the natives of other parts of Australia and Tasmania, Victorian Government Printer, 1878, vol. 1, p. 436. 6. Whitley, ibid., pp. 132-139. 7. Hall, E.S., in a letter to The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 27 March 1823. 8. ibid. 9. Hovell, William H., "The apocryphal animal of the interior of New South Wales", Sydney Morning Herald, 9 February 1847. 10. Barrett, Charles, The Bunyip and other Mythical Monsters and Legends, Reed & Harris, Melbourne, 1946. 11. The article published in the Melbourne Argus, 29 June 1847, was a report of the letter dated 6 May 1847 that Hobler sent to William H. Hovell and which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald, 16 June 1847. 12. Hovell, William, in a letter published in the Sydney Morning Herald, 16 June 1847. 13. "The Bunyip of South Australia", The Argus, Melbourne, 19 December 1853. 14. "The Bunyip", Moreton Bay Free Press, 15

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April 1857. 15. Gould, Charles, "Large aquatic animals", Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1872, pp. 32-38. 16. ibid. 17. Wagga Wagga Advertiser, April 1872. 18. Gale, John, Canberra: History of and Legends Relating to the Federal Capital Territory of the Commonwealth of Australia, A.M. Fallick & Sons, Queanbeyan, 1927. 19. Hall, Thomas, A Short History of the Downs Blacks, known as 'the Blucher Tribe', Warwick Newspaper Co., Warwick, pp. 33-34. 20. Dunn, E.J., "The Bunyip", Victorian Naturalist, vol. 40, 1923, p. 93. 21. Smith, Malcolm, Bunyips and Bigfoot: In Search of Australia's Mystery Animals, Millennium Books, E.J. Dwyer, Sydney, 1996. 22. Healy, Tony and Paul Cropper, Out of the Shadows: Mystery Animals of Australia, Ironbark/Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 1994. 23. "Monster search in NSW lagoon", The Telegraph, Brisbane, 24 September 1971. 24. Lenz, Carl, letter to the editor, "Pioneer claims that 'bunyips are crocs'", Gold Coast Bulletin, 28 April 1965. Also "Reminiscences of a Pioneering Life", The Hinterlander, Gold Coast (undated clipping in Josie Flett's 1999 A History of Bunyips, Australia's Great Mystery Water Beasts, Free Spirit Press, Tyalgum, NSW).. 25. Smith, ibid., 1996. 26. Bailey, Tim, "Beast with orange eyes had boys flee in terror", Gold Coast Bulletin, 1986 (exact date unknown).


27. Mitchell, Jack, quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 April 1973. 28. Flannery, Tim, "A unique trunked giant Palorchestes azael", in Prehistoric Animals of Australia (Susan Quirk and Michael Archer, editors; drawings by Peter Schouten), Australian Museum, Sydney, 1983. 29. Archer, Michael, Suzanne J. Hand and Henk Godthelp, Riversleigh: The Story of Animals in Ancient Rainforests of Inland Australia, Reed Books, Sydney, 1991. 30. Rich, P.V., G.F. van Tets and F. Knight, Kadimakara: Extinct Vertebrates of Australia, Pioneer Design Studio, Lilydale, Victoria, 1985.

About the Author: Gary Opit is an environmental consultant with a 25-year career in field research and public relations in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia. His skills and expertise include vegetation and fauna surveying and mapping techniques, plant conservation biology and wildlife habitat management. He lectures to university and high school students in botany, zoology, biogeography, Australian and Aboriginal ecology, and Aboriginal religion and culture. He has a regular talkback radio program on regional ABC Radio 2NR (9 4.5 FM, 720 AM) on Thursdays at 10.30 am. Gary's article, "Understanding the Yowie Phenomenon", was published in NEXUS 6/05.

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U NDERSTANDING THE Y OWIE P HENOMENON

I Indigenous legends and eyewitness reports suggest that two types of bipedal primates, the larger Yowie and the smaller Junjadee, inhabit densely forested country in Australia.

by Gary Opit © 1999 PO Box 380 Mullumbimby NSW 2482 Australia Tel: 02 6680 5466 Email: [email protected] http://www.yowiehunters.com.au

STRANGE Times 2006

have a regular talkback radio program on 2NR regional ABC in northeastern New South Wales, where I talk about the seasonal behaviour of local wildlife and identify fauna species for listeners from their descriptions of physical features or calls. On 11 February 1997, I received a call from John Morrison of Coffs Harbour, which made the local news service. On 15 January 1997, whilst on a family picnic between Station Creek and Dundurrabin in the Guy Fawkes National Park, Morrison's daughter found a trail of footprints. Each print was 60 centimetres long. He described them as something similar to a human footprint, with obvious left and right prints, 1 to 1.5 metres apart. The big toe was distinct from a group of other toes that impressed together so they couldn't really be counted. The heel made the deepest depression: about two centimetres. The prints were in a dry creek-bed in sandy alluvial soil covered with some scattered shrubs. John and his family followed the prints for about a kilometre up a long, narrow gully until it reached a rocky outcrop. There were no fallen leaves or other debris within the prints, so they were fresh. It appeared to the family that a large, heavy, bipedal animal had recently walked up the gully. John had heard stories about an unknown animal called a Yowie, and wanted to know if the creature was generally regarded as real, because, until then, he was under the impression that they were just fanciful stories. I told John and the listeners that I had never really believed in the reports in newspapers about giant furry bipedal primates lurking within our bushland, until I was fortunate enough to hear at close quarters three different sets of calls that proved to me that there really was something unknown out there. I gave forth with approximations of the calls that I had heard, and I would imagine that those calls were the first Yowie territorial calls ever uttered over the airways. In 1973–74, I was studying the fauna of the Papua New Guinean rainforest with biologists at the Wau Ecology Institute, a field station of the Bishop Museum of Hawaii. Over a one-year period I recorded fauna species (primarily birds) and their behaviour with an ornithologist on the slopes of Mount Missim in undisturbed Castanopsis oak rainforest at Poverty Creek at an elevation of 1,500 metres. On 6, 14 and 19 December 1973 and on 16 and 25 October 1974, during daylight hours, we heard very loud and powerful mammal calls consisting of a series of deep, base notes, repeated without variation over a period of five seconds, that produced a bellowing roar clearly audible through the rainforest from perhaps a kilometre away. At one instance I was standing on a rock outcrop above the trees and clearly heard the calls emanating from a forest valley approximately two kilometres below me. We had particularly specialised in the identification of fauna from their calls, so were surprised to hear powerful calls that sounded to my ears as primate-like. Having spent some time listening to the vocalising of chimpanzees, gibbon and other primates at Taronga Zoological Gardens in Sydney, I was forced to the conclusion that I was listening to the calls of a very large and powerful primate. As Papua New Guinea has an Australian faunal assemblage with no primates, I found it hard to believe that such a creature as I was hearing could exist. On 25 November 1973 at Vickery Creek, Mount Missim, at 1,200 metres elevation, whilst walking along an old logging track towards a bird hide in which an ecologist was observing nesting superb fruit dove, I observed a dark, bipedal figure crossing the track 200 metres in front of me. I took it to be a native Melanesian, but was surprised to see no sign of clothing at this high altitude and no weapons, and that, unusually, the figure did www.nexusmagazine.com

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not walk or even glance along the track but instead moved through dense vegetation while travelling down the slope. The ecologist had not observed the figure, even though it was moving towards the hide. It was a great mystery to me as to the identification of a humanlike figure, swinging its arms and paying no attention to the track that it was crossing, especially as we never encountered anyone else. Even after hearing the subsequent calls, it did not occur to me at the time that the figure I had observed may have been responsible for the calls. I had read newspaper articles of Yetis and Bigfoot in the northern hemisphere, but had never heard of unknown primate bipeds in this part of the world.

nal silence was broken by the occasional backfire of a car travelling down the mountainside, a tree falling in the rainforest or the mail plane travelling overhead. Two of the dingoes were approximately 80 metres to one side of the mysterious animal and the third was howling at a similar distance on the opposite side. The sound of these four animals in full cry was the most remarkable natural sound I have ever heard. Even more important, though, was that I was able to judge accurately the call of the unknown animal over the calls of the dingoes that I regularly heard. The call of the Yowie—if that's what it was, for I could equally refer to it as a Bunyip—was at least twice as loud and much more powerful than the dingoes', and after their howling finished the Yowie continued its repetitive bellowing for perhaps another t was not until I returned to Australia that I first read about minute. Then only the sound of Curtis Falls, Cedar Creek and the Yowies, and I was particularly interested in a close encounter chirping of the crickets remained. in early 1978 in Springbrook, southeastern Queensland, by a That experience proved to me that there was indeed a very large National Parks and Wildlife Services ranger. The witness was a and powerful animal dwelling in the locality—no matter how work colleague of a naturalist friend of mine who was able to implausible it seemed. It also provided an answer to a couple of relate to me a detailed description. the mysteries that I had pondered for some time. A bipedal, gorilla-like primate, standing 2.5 metres high, with a The first was a local mystery surrounding an unknown carnidistinctive odour, a grunting voice, a body covered in long black vore that was preying on rednecked pademelons (small wallabies) hair, a flat and shiny black face, large yellow eyes, a sagittal crest, that had always been common on the mountain, where they fed on and huge hand, was clearly observed lawns adjacent to rainforest. Our in Antarctic beech rainforest at 2 pm neighbour at the time, Frank Field, is in good light from a distance of four a retired jackeroo, drover, tracker, metres. Several other previous sightnaturalist and farmer. On several ings on the same mountain and in occasions in 1976 he had encountered I could clearly hear the calls surrounding districts were reported in kill sites on an adjacent property local newspapers. where pademelons had been attacked. being pumped out of a massive I found these reports extremely difHe would find traces of fur and scuff chest, and they sounded more ficult to believe because I had spent marks on the ground and then several years studying the flora and fauna in metres away the entrails of the wallalike the call of a big primate the forests of southeast Queensland, I by, torn from the body and left on the than anything else. had read widely on historical and natgrass and leaf litter. The intestines ural history subjects, and had neither would trail back towards the forest, suspected nor found any trace that as if the animal had been gutted while would lead me to conclude that such being carried away. a remarkable animal could be inhabit"It definitely wasn't a dingo, which ing the district. Even more difficult I spent years hunting when on the to explain was the fact that an unknown primate was definitely land. It was as if the predator had simply lifted the wallaby off not an expected member of the Australian faunal assemblage. A the ground each time, and carried its prey instead of dragging it deep channel of open ocean, known as the Wallace Line, has off and leaving traces on the ground as a dingo always does. I always divided the fauna of Southeast Asia and Australia. This have no idea what animal would be powerful enough to carry a explains why Asian monkeys, apes, squirrels, cats, deers, rhinos wallaby away and rip its intestines out as it went," he told me. and elephants, to name just a few, were never able to cross over to Having spent years searching for physical traces of wildlife this continent. Only humans and their pet dingoes in water craft behaviour so as to identify what species were in a locality, I knew were successful in undertaking such a hazardous journey. that an unknown herbivore would have left traces of vegetation Then, on 21 June 1978 at 3 am, on a very quiet night with a full disturbance while feeding, and large, distinctive faeces. However, moon, I was awakened by a very powerful, continuously repeated if the Yowie were a nocturnal carnivore that remained hidden durroaring, bellowing call emanating from lowland subtropical raining the day and carried larger prey items to secluded locations forest in Joalah National Park on Tamborine Mountain, 300 where it would feed and defecate, it would be unlikely for evimetres from our house, at an altitude of 500 metres. The call was dence of its activities to be noticed. similar to those that I'd heard in Papua New Guinea, though the The second mystery occurred in 1971 when I was working as a animal was much closer and the call was therefore even more National Parks ranger at Green Mountains in Lamington National powerful. It was a deep-throated, booming "yee-yee-yee-yee-yee" Park. One Saturday night, the officer at the ranger's office and that continued without a break for five minutes, and so was much residence was startled to hear a series of heavy thumps on the outlonger than the calls that I had heard in Papua New Guinea. I side wall. When he got to a window and yelled out to whoever could clearly hear the calls being pumped out of a massive chest, was outside to identify themselves, another noisy commotion and they sounded more like the call of a big primate than anything began beneath the house. He was amazed to see large numbers of else. It was much more powerful than the roaring-grunting of a heavy working tools, shovels, hoes, rakes, axes and brush-hooks, koala or even the bellowing of cattle. used in the maintenance of the walking tracks and stored under After approximately two minutes, three dingoes broke into their the house, flung with great force onto the back lawn. The sound characteristic howling, as they regularly did whenever the nocturof heavy grunts amongst the crash of tools terrified him and,

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believing that a madman was attacking the cabin, he ran for his life up to O'Reilly's Guest House for help. Campers also arrived at the guest house, informing the staff of the terrible noises coming from the ranger's cabin, and so a group walked back to see what was going on. No one had seen people or vehicles near the house, so rampaging louts were discounted, and, although dozens of tools now lay on the grass in the dark, no sign of the madman was found and no explanation for the incident could be determined. I arrived on the Sunday night to hear about the incident, and the next morning we picked up all the tools and stored them away as before. Then I walked into the rainforest immediately below the backyard and was surprised to find that our enormous woodstack had also been attacked. Approximately 7 metres in length, 1.5 metres wide and 2 metres high, and composed of very heavy pieces of timber held in place by strong timber stakes that had been sledgehammered into the ground, it now lay completely scattered and most of the stakes had been pulled out of the ground. It took us the rest of the day to rebuild the woodstack, and we had absolutely no idea what was responsible for its dismantling. No human had the power to move so much timber. The regrowth of the rainforest above and surrounding it was undisturbed, the weather had been fine, and we knew of no life-form that could perform such a task. But the call and the reports of a powerful nocturnal primate at large in the locality now provided an answer: the ranger's cabin had been attacked by a Yowie. Yowie sightings have since been recorded occasionally throughout the locality but, for my own part, years of bushwalking and flora and fauna surveys have yielded not the slightest trace of their existence. Another Tamborine resident, Larry Edwards, heard similar calls from Guanaba Gorge just after dark on 7 September 1992. They reminded him of the loud, resonating, shrill, roaring calls that he regularly heard as a youngster at Blunder Creek, southwest of Brisbane, between 1961 and 1972. His family always heard the calls at the beginning of spring each year, at about 9 pm on fullmoon nights. The call would last for about two minutes, increasing in volume as the animal ran down a dry creek-bed in the gully below the house, with the sound of its feet making huge, leaping steps; then the call would decrease in volume as the creature continued on its way. He told me that the man who was in charge of the nearby Blunder Repeater Station taperecorded the calls and made plaster casts of the footprints which were three metres apart when it was running. The prints were humanlike but 30 cm long and 10 cm wide, with circular clawmarks 5 mm wide that were 4 cm deep into the soil. With the commencement of suburban development in the area, the calls were no longer heard.

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he first person I ever talked to who had actually observed a Yowie was a Victorian Government surveyor. STRANGE Times 2006

John Macey and workmate Sid Griffith were surveying a road in bushland at Murderer's Hill, near Walballa in Gippsland, Victoria, one misty day in September 1979 when at 11 am they saw, five metres away, an ape-like animal, 1.2 metres high, standing on its hind legs with its back to them. They noticed that it was a powerful animal with wide hips and buttocks that were visible as it threw its long arms over a 1.3-metre-high fallen log and then clambered over to disappear into thick vegetation. They noticed a patch of pale skin on the back of the neck beneath the black hair that covered all of its body. It did not appear to be a chimpanzee, gorilla or orang-utan, which they had seen in zoos, but was definitely another species of ape that had no tail. Then, at 3.30 am on 1 June 1996, in bushland behind a house that we were renting on the slopes of the Koonyum Range at Main Arm in northeastern NSW, I was again fortunate enough to hear the calls of this undescribed animal. There was a full moon illuminating a crystal-clear night and there was no air movement—so sounds, such as a rooster crowing, could be heard for some kilometres. Approximately 200 metres away, near a dry creek-bed in eucalypt forest at 200 metres elevation, a series of some 90 loud, bark-like calls rent the air. The calls were mostly in a series of three, making a sound like "arroo-ARROO-arroo". The first was a start-up call, which was not as loud as the middle call, which was climactic and was followed by a softer call. The beginning of each of the three barks, "arr", was sudden and intense, while the final "oo" portion was cut short as it fell off in volume. Between the sets of three barks, at a time of about five or six seconds, a disturbingly strange, soft, gurgling call, "gu-gu-gu-gu", could be heard. It continued with very little variation for about five minutes, with the last couple of series of calls appearing less loud, as if the creature had begun to move off. They were quite unlike the calls of foxes or barking deer that I had heard in Southeast Asia and, once again, had more of a primate feel to them. The next day I found three toeprints in an earth creek-bank where the creature had climbed up the slope. Each toe was about the same size as a human big toe, but each slightly smaller in size

Depiction of male and female Yowies, based upon ancient Aboriginal as well as modern-day European eyewitness descriptions. Sketch by Rex Gilroy, from his book Mysterious Australia (1995, NEXUS Publishing)


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towards the right, as if from a right foot. Nearby, on a ridgetop covered in dry eucalypt forest, five square metres of native grass had been disturbed, in that each clump of grass had been pulled up with the roots and then placed back exactly where it had grown. Two weeks later, a distinctive brown patch of dead grass was evident. The calls of this animal were similar in some respects to the call of the first animal I'd heard in 1978, in that they were a series of unvarying or repeated calls which were quite powerful and occurred continuously for about five minutes. The first call, though, was even more powerful, with a very bass note as if uttered by a very large animal. This second call was higherpitched and sounded as if it came from a smaller animal. Strangely enough, this accorded with the sighting of an unusual animal some months before by some friends.

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he calls that I heard can be used to provide a provisional identity for these unknown animals. The calls were typical of a territorial call, being loud, powerful and repetitive, and uttered on quiet, windless nights so that the calls were far-carrying and could reach the ears of other territory-holding adults. The small bipedal primate observed and heard in 1996 is unlikely to be an immature or halfgrown specimen of the much larger bipedal primate observed and heard in 1978. This is because immature animals do not hold territories or give territorial calls. If they did, it would be an immediate invitation for a fully grown animal to locate the brash young usurper and drive it off. Because both territorial calls were similar in their make-up (a series of loud, repetitive calls) and were made under similar conditions (still, moonlit nights in June), it can be inferred that both animals are closely related. This also agrees with sightings yn Clark and her 12-year-old son Joshua were on their way descriptions of unknown bipedal primates. However, it can also to our house in the late afternoon to attend the birthday be inferred from both territorial calls that two different species are party of one of our daughters on 23 March 1996. Because involved. they were concerned that their old car might not be able to climb The 1978 call was a continuous series of extremely powerful, the steep, kilometre-long hill up to the house, they decided to bellowing roars, as would be expected from a large bipedal priwalk up the driveway. mate, 2.5 metres tall and inhabiting the rainforest. The 1996 call Joshua was in front, and halfway up he was surprised to see was a continuous series of powerful, high-pitched barks in series what appeared to be one of the chilof three, with a softer gurgling call dren from the party, dressed in dark included. These latter calls were clothing and running headlong down associated with the sighting of a the steep slope. He was amazed that small bipedal primate, 1.25 metres a child could run downhill at such a tall, inhabiting mountainous, dry pace, and found it even more remarksclerophyll forest. Afterwards, Lyn described to me able that the child was not running It is a common occurrence withwhat she had observed: down the concrete driveway but was in closely related animal species running down a slope thickly covered inhabiting a similar ecological a dark-furred animal with a round in large clumps of kangaroo grass, niche and utilising a similar food head and no tail, running on two grass-trees and scattered shrubs resource that a major size differbeneath a eucalypt canopy. He was ence evolves so that one species is legs like a person. I was naturally sure it was a child because of its poshalf the size and weight of the extremely sceptical ... ture—it was bent slightly forward, as other, so as to reduce competition is normal for a person running down amongst them. This is perfectly a hill—and he expected to see the shown in the observed size differchild trip and fall at any moment. ence in these two undescribed But the child ran down towards him bipedal primates. Different terriwithout any difficulty until it saw him torial calls also evolve in closely and then turned and stopped about 30 metres away. related species and further reduce competition between them. Joshua was even more surprised now because, although it was Both species were known to the Aboriginal people and shaped very like a child and was 1.25 metres tall, about the same European settlers, particularly those working in the bush. height as a 10-to-12-year-old, it was covered in thick, black hair Aboriginal people throughout eastern NSW knew the larger with only its dark face visible. Joshua rushed back to get his species as Doolagarl, Doolagard, Gooligah, Thoolagal, Moomega mother and pointed the creature out to her, as it was still standing and Yaromah, depending on their language group. Aboriginal in the same position. people—from Sydney, inland to the Blue Mountains and Bathurst, Lyn found it difficult to see because the creature was very well and down to Batemans Bay and Bega—appear to have used the camouflaged until it began to move. From a bipedal position, it word Yowie, or Yourie, for ghosts and evil spirits. This name, dropped down to move off slowly downhill, knuckle-walking as a along with the name Yahoo, then appears to have been applied to quadruped. Then, as it gathered speed, it stood erect and ran off the large bipedal primate by early European settlers. After the down the hill. settlers arrived, both the terms Yowie and Yahoo were also used Afterwards, Lyn described to me what she had observed: a by Aboriginal people, though Europeans also used the terms dark-furred animal with a round head and no tail, running on two Hairy Man and Australian gorilla. However, Yowie has become legs like a person. I was naturally extremely sceptical, as I had the accepted name in recent years.1 Cryptozoologists researching reports of similar large bipedal seen nothing unusual in my explorations of the area, and told her primates (usually known as Wild Men) across Africa, Eurasia, that it could only have been a swamp wallaby, often seen on the Southeast Asia and the Americas agree that the animal appears to slope—though she insisted that it didn't hop but ran on two legs. be Gigantopithecus, known only from half-a-million-year-old fosIt wasn't until I heard the unexpected calls at close range that I sils from China. Descriptions of the physical appearance and was able to believe that Lyn and Joshua had seen a very remarkbehaviour of the Yeti of the Himalayas, the Yeren of China, the able animal.

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Sasquatch or Bigfoot of North America, and Doolagarl or the Accidental rafting could also explain this Asian animal's presYowie of Australia are all so similar that it would appear they are ence in Australia. It is believed that Asian mice reached all members of the same species, or are at least closely related.2 Australian shores in this way over millions of years and, once on All appear to be extremely cryptic, solitary, nocturnal hunters that land, diversified into endemic species.7 Larger mammals would have adapted to a wide range of different habitats, have naturally have enormous difficulties surviving such a voyage, adapting to low population numbers and very large territories, as is typical of the new environment and arriving in large enough numbers to many large carnivorous mammal species. Competition with begin a genetically diverse population. However, an adaptable, another similar-sized bipedal hunting primate (humans) may have semi-aquatic, carnivorous primate—humans—made the journey, been partly responsible for humans existing in large, diurnal, so perhaps a similar, though fur-covered, species could do likesocial populations, and Gigantopithecus existing as scattered, wise. Before human domination of Southeast Asia, the islands solitary, nocturnal, cryptic populations, so reducing competition. were thickly vegetated and richly populated with a diverse fauna. The small bipedal primate was known to the Aboriginal people Riverside rainforest torn loose near a river-mouth during cyclonic as Junjadee, Junjuddis, Dinderi, Winambuu, Waaki and Nimbunj, weather to form rafts of trees that floated to Australia with a comdepending on their language group, and as Brown Jacks since plement of animals preyed upon by a family of Yowie castaways, European settlement. This smaller species made newspaper headcould just be possible. lines in March 1979 when individuals were observed on Tower any researchers of undescribed cryptic animals are not Hill at Charters Towers in Queensland. There have been many biologists, and they often conclude that these animals reports of small bipedal primates from Africa, Asia and Sumatra, must be paranormal because they are so elusive and where they are known as Orang Pendek.3 So how did these originally Asian animals get to Australia? impossible to capture. They state that the existence of the animal The answer is evident in the documentation of sightings of these can only be understood by looking for explanations beyond the and similar animals elsewhere. understanding of modern physics. These statements are absoluteIn Australia, the large bipedal ly preposterous and show little underprimate has been observed swimstanding of physics, biology, ecology ming in rivers and lagoons, and in or animal behaviour. It is most unlikesuch situations has been called a ly that the entire understanding of The small bipedal primate was Bunyip. Sightings of seals far physical reality falls apart whenever an upstream in freshwater rivers and known to the Aboriginal people as undescribed animal is reported. It is billabongs, perhaps along with the also unlikely that the only evidence of Junjadee, Junjuddis, Dinderi, last surviving aquatic megafauna, other dimensions intruding into our were probably responsible for most Winambuu, Waaki and Nimbunj, own is represented by a cryptic animal Bunyip reports. and by no other aspect of natural phedepending on their language The Aboriginal people of the nomena. lower Murray River know of an It is to be expected that the general group, and as Brown Jack since ape-like creature that swims in the public would have little knowledge of, European settlement. river, and have named it or belief in, undescribed fauna. Most Mooluwonk. On 18 July 1848, the people's experience with wildlife Argus reported the sighting of a comes from museums, zoos and the huge humanoid swimming in the picnic areas of national parks, so it is Eumeralla River, Victoria. The Melbourne Herald of 29 October only natural that they would believe that if an animal has not been 1849 reported the observation of a Bunyip beside a lake on Phillip regularly observed then it could not possibly exist. Island, Victoria. It was described as being half-man and halfField biologists, however, know from years of experience that it baboon, and it dived into the lake when it was shot at. The is incredibly difficult to observe, trap, photograph or obtain any Sydney Morning Herald of 24 August 1872 reported that a party evidence for the existence of many species—at least until they of surveyors observed a Bunyip swimming at Cowal Lake, NSW. come up with an innovative method to do so. This particularly It resembled a human but was covered with long dark hair, and it applies to solitary nocturnal carnivores. rose out of the water—so they were able to see its shoulders—and The Eastern puma or mountain lion (Puma [Felis] concolor then dived as if in chase of fish.4 A Yowie was observed wading couguar), which ranged from New Brunswick in Canada to the ashore from Lake Dulverton in Tasmania in 1987; Sasquatch have Carolinas in the USA, has been considered extinct by all been observed wading in Lake Winnipegosis and the Klamath American state wildlife agencies and the US Fish & Wildlife River in North America.5 Service for most of the 20th century. Despite numerous fauna These reports show that the Yowie is an excellent swimmer in surveys, no evidence for its existence had been found in almost small bodies of water. Investigations by Bob Titmus, one of the 100 years, and yet dozens of eyewitness reports are made in very early Bigfoot investigators who operated from a boat among almost all eastern states every year. the islands and inlets of British Columbia over several years, A Canadian wildlife biologist, Bruce Wright, director of the proved that the Sasquatch was capable of swimming through Northeastern Wildlife Station of the University of New stormy seas. Brunswick, was convinced from sightings reports from the late Fresh sets of tracks coming out of the water and into the woods 1930s that the Eastern puma had survived in cryptic, remnant on small islands show that the Yowie is perfectly capable of populations, but he was never able to convince his fellow zooloswimming across open seas to reach distant hunting grounds or to gists or provincial officials. After over 50 years of investigations colonise new territory.6 Yowies therefore appear to have entered of Eastern puma sightings by biologists, fresh tracks in snow and the Australasian region from Asia by swimming from island to faecal scat were found. Analysis of the droppings revealed the island. remains of consumed prey (snowshoe hare) and indisputable

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Understanding the Yowie Phenomenon Eastern puma hairs from the feet and legs, presumably ingested while grooming after feeding. On 1 March 1993, the New Brunswick Minister of Natural Resources officially acknowledged the presence of an Eastern puma population.8 The Eastern puma is still regarded as extinct in the USA, despite the eyewitness reports and its official rediscovery in Canada. It is now understood to have survived all of that time that it was thought to be definitely extinct, even though not a photograph or specimen has been obtained as evidence. Unlike what some researchers thought, the sightings did not represent an entity from another dimension, but an ordinary animal that could easily survive and reproduce without revealing any evidence of its existence. If a carnivorous animal is hunted into apparent extinction, what is probably exterminated are all those members of the population that have been the most successful competitors for territory and therefore hold the prime habitats, are more self-assured and are more obvious to human hunters. The survivors are probably those that have always been forced to live in the poorest

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habitats and, through competition with more dominant individuals, have been forced to become cryptic. When humans clear the prime habitat of the species, the cryptic individuals survive in remnant habitat and pass on their genes for cryptic behaviour to their offspring. If the Eastern puma can survive as an almost invisible entity in such a heavily populated area as the eastern part of North America, how much easier is it for our own cryptic species, such as the often-reported mainland thylacine (the Tasmanian tiger), supposed feral pumas and panthers, and the Yowie and Junjadee? When biologists point out that thylacines were easily trapped and hunted in the early part of the 20th century and so could not possibly have changed their behaviour to become cryptic, it is possible that the cryptic members of the population always avoided the hunters and continue to do so now. With the increasing technological advantage that we humans possess, it may eventually be proved that we were extremely arrogant, and that cryptic species—which we swore could not possibly exist without our knowing all about them—have been observing us all along. ∞


Endnotes 1. Healy, T. and Cropper, P., Out of the Shadows: Mystery Animals of Australia, Ironbark/Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney, 1994. 2. ibid. 3. ibid. 4. ibid. 5. ibid. 6. The ISC Newsletter, International Society of Cryptozoology, vol. 12, no. 2, 1993–1996. 7. Strahan, R. (ed.), Complete Book of Australian Mammals, The Australian Museum, Angus & Robinson Publishers, Sydney, 1983. 8. The ISC Newsletter, ibid. About the Author: Gary Opit is an environmental consultant with a 30-year career in field research and public relations in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia. His skills and expertise include vegetation and fauna surveying and mapping techniques, plant conservation biology and wildlife habitat management. He lectures to university and high school students in botany, zoology, biogeography, Australian and Aboriginal ecology, and Aboriginal religion and culture. He had a fortnightly talkback radio program on regional ABC Radio 2NR (94.5 FM, 720 AM) on Tuesdays at 10.30 am.

STRANGE Times 2006

Strange Tales about Sea Serpents T Many reliable eyewitnesses over the centuries have reported bizarre encounters with monstrous "sea serpents'". Are these reports really descriptions of the plesiosaur and ichthyosaur, living underwater relics of the age of dinosaurs?

by C. D. Pollard © 1996 1 Highfields Grange Cheslyn Hay Walsall, WS6 7PF, UK Telephone/fax: +44 011922 414703

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here is a general disposition to regard the sea serpent as an everlasting joke. "He" only turns up, say the jokers, when the silly season arrives with its prize gooseberries and showers of frogs. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that the sea serpent is a living fact, and there is evidence that great living creatures yet unclassified by science inhabit the sea. The Norwegian fishermen of the past regarded the existence of the sea serpent as something beyond all dispute, and a Norwegian travel book published in the 16th century reports its appearance in the year 1522. Olaus Magnus described the sea serpent as being 200 feet long and 20 feet in circumference, having fiery eyes and a short mane. Hans Egede, who later became a bishop, travelled to Greenland in the year 1734 as a missionary. In his account of the voyage, he described a sea monster which appeared near the ship on 6 July: "Its head, when raised, was on a level with our main-top. Its snout was long and sharp, and it blew water almost like a whale; it had large broad paws or paddles; its body was covered with scales; its skin was rough and uneven; in other respects it was a serpent; and when it dived, the end of its tail, which was raised in the air, seemed to be a full ship's length from its body." Erik Pontoppidan, the Bishop of Bergen and a famous Norwegian naturalist, was sceptical of sea serpents but confessed his conversion in his book of 1755 after receiving reliable evidence. He stated that the creatures kept to the bottom of the sea except during spawning in July and August when they rose to the surface. He discriminated between the Greenland and Norwegian sea snakes—the former being scaly, and the latter being perfectly smooth with a mane about the neck, hanging like a bunch of seaweed. He estimated the serpents at about 600 feet in length. They had high, broad foreheads, though some had sharp snouts and others flat. The eyes were large and bluish, and the skin darkbrown or patchy. The Zoologist for the year 1847 contained many accounts of the appearance of sea serpents in the Norwegian fjords, but one of the most famous and best authenticated appearances of a sea monster was recorded by HMS Doedalus in 1848. The official report by Captain M'Quhae to Admiral Sir W. H. Gage follows: "Sir, In reply to your letter requiring information as to the truth of a statement, published in the Times newspaper, of a sea serpent of extraordinary dimensions having been seen from Her Majesty's Ship Doedalus, under my command, in her passage from the East Indies, I have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that at 5 o'clock p.m., on 6th August last, in latitude 24 degrees 44' S. and longitude 9 degrees 22' E., the weather dark and cloudy, wind fresh from the N.W., with a long ocean swell from the S.W., the ship on a port tack, heading N.E. by N., something very unusual was seen by Mr. Sartoris, midshipman, rapidly approaching the ship from before the beam. The circumstance was immediately reported by him to the officer of the watch, Lieutenant Edgar Drummond, with whom, and Mr. William Barrett, the master, I was at the time walking the quarter-deck. The ship's company were at supper. "On our attention being called to the object, it was discovered to be an enormous serpent, with head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above the surface of the sea; and, as nearly as we could approximate by comparing it with the length of what our maintopsail yard would show in the water, there was at the very least 60 feet of the animal à fleur d'eau, no portion of which was, in our perception, used in propelling it through the water, either by vertical or horizontal undulation. It passed rapidly, but so close under our lee quarter that, had it been a man of my acquaintance, I should have easily recognised his www.nexusmagazine.com

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features with the naked eye; and it did not, either in approaching the ship or after it had passed our wake, deviate in the slightest degree from its course to the S.W., which it held on at the pace of from 12 to 15 miles per hour, apparently on some determined purpose. The diameter of the serpent was about fifteen or sixteen inches behind the head, which was, without any doubt, that of a snake; and it was never, during the 20 minutes that it continued in sight of our glasses, once below the surface of the water; its colour, a dark brown with yellowish white about the throat. It had no fins, but something like the mane of a horse, or rather a bunch of seaweed, washed about its back. It was seen by the quartermaster, the boatswain's mate, and the man at the wheel in addition to myself and officers above mentioned." This is unassailable evidence from the best source possible— the observation of several educated men used to the sea, and set down in a sober, official report. A letter was printed shortly afterwards in the Globe newspaper, giving an account of the appearance of a similar monster seen from the American brig Daphne, 20 degrees further south, soon after it was seen from the Doedalus. Captain W. H. Nelson, of the American ship Sacramento, reported catching a glimpse of a strange sea-monster on 30 July 1877, on latitude 31°59'N, longitude 37°W. John Hart, the man at the wheel, had a better view than Captain Nelson, for he was the one who first caught sight of the creature and the Captain did not arrive upon deck until it had proceeded some distance. Some 40 feet of the creature was seen above the surface, and its girth appeared to be about that of a flour barrel. Indeed, it resembled an ichthyosaur. An account from an officer of HMS Plumber ran as follows: "On the morning of 31st December 1848, lat. 41 degrees 13' N., and long. 12 degrees 31' W., being nearly due west of Oporto, I saw a long, black creature with a sharp head, moving slowly, I should think about two knots, through the water, in a north-westerly direction, there being a fresh breeze at the time and some sea on. I could not ascertain its exact length, but its back was 20 feet, if not more, above the water, and its head, as near as I could judge, from 6 feet to 8 feet. I had not the time to make a closer

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observation, as the ship was going six knots through the water, her head E. half S. and S.S.E. The creature moved across our wake, towards a merchant barque on our lee-quarter and on the port tack. I was in hopes she would have seen it also. The officers and men saw it, and [those] who have served in parts of the world adjacent to whale and seal fisheries and have seen them in the water, declare they have never seen or heard of any creature bearing the slightest resemblance to the one we saw. There was something on its back that appeared like a mane, and, as it moved through the water, it kept washing about; but before I could examine it closely it was too far astern." The following account of a sea serpent was communicated to the Illustrated London News on 25 September 1853: "We hand you the following extract from the log-book of our ship Princess, Captain A. K. N. Tremaine, in London Docks, 15th instant, from China, viz.: 'Tuesday, July 8th, 1853; latitude (accurate) 34.56 degrees S.; longitude (accurate) 18.14 degrees E. At 1 p.m. saw a very large fish, with a head like a walrus, and twelve fins similar to those of the blackfish, but turned the contrary way. The back was from 20 feet to 30 feet long; also a great length of tail. It is not improbable that this monster has been taken for the great sea-serpent. Fired and hit it near the head with rifle ball. At eight, fresh wind and fine.'" The monster was seen by the entire ship's crew, and also by Captain Morgan, a passenger. Another sea-serpent was seen by Dr Biccard, of Cape Town, in February 1857, and again, a month later, by Mr Fairbridge and others. Dr Biccard was at the lighthouse at Green Point at about 5 pm in the afternoon of the day in question, when he was summoned by the lighthouse keeper, and the following account is in his own words: "I proceeded to the lighthouse and from thence I saw on the water, about 150 yards from the shore, a serpent. I borrowed a rifle from Mr. Hall (the father-in-law of the lighthouse keeper), and fired at the animal. The ball fell short in front of it by about four yards. The animal did not move, and then I fired a second shot, the ball striking about one foot or one-and-a-half feet from it. The serpent then, apparently startled, moved from its position, and straightened himself out, and went under water, evidently getting out of the way. He was invisible about ten minutes, at the expiration of which interval he reappeared about 200 yards distant, and, I should say, about 40 yards farther off. He then came right on towards the place where I first saw him; but before arriving there, my son, who had joined me, fired at the animal. Unluckily the discharge broke the nipple of the rifle, and I was thus prevented from further firing. Upon reaching the place which he first occupied, and then stood right into the bay, and soon afterwards we lost sight of him altogether." The animal was about 200 feet in length, and the head was indistinct. The body was of a dull, dark colour, except the head which was maculated with white spots. The water at that time was very calm, and the creature was seen by eight persons in all. A young sea-serpent was actually caught and dissected by members of the Linnaean Society of Boston. Due to a number of reports of great sea-serpents seen during the


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month of August 1817 in the harbour of Gloucester, Massachusetts, the Linnaean Society appointed a committee to collect evidence with regard to the existence and appearance of such an animal. Shortly after, a report appeared, and a month later a young sea-serpent was actually caught. It was named Scolioplus Atlanticus, and was killed on the seashore near Cape Ann. Following the dissection, a pamphlet was published giving details. In its issue of 19 April 1879, the Graphic gave an illustration of a sea serpent seen by its correspondent, Major H. W. J. Senior, of the Bengal Staff Corps, together with a description of the monster, as it appeared to him from the poop deck of the Steamship City of Baltimore, on latitude 12°28'N, longitude 43°52'E. Major Senior first saw the creature about three-quarters of a mile distant, "darting rapidly out of the water and splashing in again, with a noise distinctly audible", and rapidly approaching the ship. It got within 500 yards before changing course and finally disappearing. It moved so quickly that it could not be viewed through the telescope, and no one was sure if it had scales or not. Major Senior also reported the following: "The head and neck, about two feet in diameter, rose out of the water to a height of about twenty or thirty feet, and the monster opened its jaws wide as it rose, and closed them again as it lowered its head and darted forward for a dive, reappearing almost immediately some hundred yards ahead. The body was not visible at all, and must have been some depth under water, as the disturbance on the surface was too slight to attract notice, although occasionally a splash was seen at some distance behind the head. The shape of the head was not unlike pictures of the dragon I have often seen, with a bulldog appearance of the forehead and eyebrow. When the monster had drawn its head sufficiently out of the water, it let itself drop, as it were, like a huge log of wood, prior to darting forward under water." Dr Hall, the ship's surgeon, and Miss Greenfield, a passenger, also saw the creature. Much ridicule was cast upon the story of the sea serpent seen by Captain Drevar and the crew of the barque Pauline. The account runs as follows: "Barque Pauline—July 8th, 1875; lat. 5 degrees 13' S., long. 35 degrees W.; Cape Roque, northeast corner of Brazil, distant twenty miles at 11 a.m. "The weather fine and clear, the wind and sea moderate, observed some black spots on the water and a whitish pillar, about 35 feet high, above them. At first I took it all to be breakers, as the sea was splashing up fountain-like about them, and the pillar, a pinnacle rock bleached with the sun; but the pillar fell with a splash and a similar one rose. They rose and fell alternately in quick succession, and good glasses showed me it was a monster sea-serpent coiled twice round a large sperm whale. The head and tail parts, each about 30 feet long, were acting as levers, twisting itself and the victim around with great velocity. They sank out of sight about every two minutes, coming to the surface still revolving, and the struggles of the whale and two other whales that were near, frantic with excitement, made the sea in this vicinity like a boiling caldron, and a loud and confused noise was distinctly heard. This strange occurrence lasted some fifteen minutes, and finished with the tail portion of the whale being elevated straight in the air, then waving backwards and forwards and lashing the water furiously in the last death struggle, when the whole body disappeared from our view, going down head foremost STRANGE Times 2006

towards the bottom, where, no doubt, it was gorged at the serpents leisure... "Allowing for two coils round the whale, I think the serpent was about 160 feet or 170 feet long and 7 feet or 8 feet in girth. It was in colour much like a conger eel, and the head, from the mouth being always open, appeared the largest part of the body... "At 7 a.m., July 13th, in the same latitude, and some eighty miles east of San Roque, I was astonished to see the same or a similar monster. It was throwing its head and about 40 feet of its body in a horizontal position out of the water, as it passed onwards by the stern of our vessel... "I was startled by a cry of 'There it is again,' and, a short distance to leeward, elevated some 60 feet in the air, was the great leviathan, grimly looking towards the vessel... "A vessel, about three years ago, was dragged over by some sea-monster in the Indian Ocean." Due to the sheer number of doubters of such an outrageous story, the Captain, accompanied by a number of his officers and crew, appeared before Mr Raffles, stipendiary magistrate, at the Dale Street Police Court, Liverpool, and made a declaration. This shorter account was then signed by George Drevar, Horatio Thompson, Henderson Landello, Owen Baker and William Lewan. In all, three declarations were made, one for each sighting. Captain Hassel, of the barque St. Olaf, from Newport, two days before her arrival at Galveston, Texas, on 13 May 1872, saw a large sea-serpent lying on the surface of the water. Seventy feet of it were visible and it had four fins along the back. It was about six feet in diameter, and was of a greenish-yellow colour with brownish spots over the upper part.


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In June 1877, the officers and crew of the Royal yacht Osborne Matheson was sailing with his wife on Loch Alsh which separates encountered a sea monster off the coast of Sicily. Lieutenant the Island of Skye from the mainland. His own account runs as Haynes described it thus: follows: "My attention was first called by seeing a long row of fins "The time was between one and two when suddenly I saw appearing above the surface of the water at a distance of about something rise out of the Loch in front of us, a long, straight, 200 yards from the ship, and away on our beam. They were of neck-like thing as tall as my mast. irregular heights and extending about 30 feet or 40 feet in line. In "It was then 200 yards away and was moving towards us. Then a few seconds they disappeared, giving place to the forepart of the it began to draw its neck down, and I saw clearly that it was a monster. By this time it had passed astern, swimming in an oppolarge sea-monster of the saurian type, I should think. It was site direction to that we were steering, and as we were passing brown in colour, shining, and with a sort of ruffle at the junction through the water at ten-and-a-half knots I could only get a view of the head and neck. I can think of nothing to which to compare of it 'end on'. The head was bullet-shaped, and quite 6 feet thick, it so well as the head and neck of the giraffe, only the neck was the neck narrow, and its head was occasionally thrown back out of much longer, and the head was not set upon the neck like that of a the water, remaining there for a few seconds at a time. It was giraffe; that is, it was not so much at right angles to it as a continvery broad across the back or shoulders, about 15 feet or 20 feet, uation of it in the same line. It moved its head from side to side, and the flappers appeared to have a semi-revolving motion, which and I saw the reflection of the light from its wet skin." seemed to paddle the monster along. They were about 15 feet in Dr Matheson saw no scales on the creature, just a perfectly length. From the top of the head to the part of the body where it smooth surface. It was in sight for about two minutes and then became immersed, I should consider 50 feet, and that seemed disappeared. Then it rose again three different times, at intervals about one-third of the whole length. All this part was smooth, of two or three minutes. It stood perpendicularly out of the water resembling a seal. I cannot account for and seemed to look round. the fins, unless they were on the back "When it appeared the second time it below where it was immersed." was going from us, and was travelling "It was then 200 yards away Captain R. J. Cringle, of the at a great rate. It was going in the Steamship Umfuli, one of the ten vesand was moving towards us. direction of the northern outlet of the sels of the Natal Line belonging to and we were sailing in its wake; I Then it began to draw its neck Loch, Bullard, King and Company, entered was interested, and followed it. From the following in the ship's log: down, and I saw clearly that it its first to its last appearance we trav"SS. Umfuli, Monday, Dec. 4th, a mile, and the last time we saw it was a large sea-monster of the elled 1893, 5.30 p.m., lat. 23 deg. N., long. it was about a mile away. 18 deg. W. — Sighted and passed, "I saw no body, only a ripple of the saurian type..." about 500 yards from ship, a monster water where the line of the body should fish of serpentine shape, about 80 feet be. I should judge, however, that there long, with shining skin, and short fins, must have been a large base of body to about 20 feet apart, on the back; in circumference, about the support such a neck... An eel could not lift up its body like that, dimensions of a full-sized whale." nor could a snake." The position indicated was off the coast of Africa, a little south Despite suggestions that it was an optical illusion, Dr Matheson of the Canary Islands. When questioned further, the captain said and his wife stuck to the story. that all his crew and the passengers had seen it. He had this to Curiously, Dr Matheson's description of the sea serpent sounds add: surprisingly close to that of a periscope. When it came to sub"...and this thing, whatever it was, was in sight for over half an marines, at that time Britain lagged far behind the rest of the hour. In fact, we did not lose sight of it until darkness came on. world, but France, Germany and America were all investing large "When we first saw it I estimated that it would be about 400 sums in their development. Could that long neck and head, that yards away. It was rushing through the water at great speed, and turned this way and that, possibly have been the periscope of a was throwing water from her bows. I saw full 15 feet of its head foreign submarine doing a little spying? ∞ and neck on three occasions. They appeared and disappeared References three times. The body was all the time visible." • Dunn, Matthias, Studies Under The Sea, Hazell, Watson & After likening the body to a hundred-ton gun partly submerged, Viney, 1901. with three distinct humps or swellings above the waves, he then • Story, Alfred T., The Sea-Serpent, Newnes, 1895. continued: "The base, or body, from which the neck sprang was much About the Author: thicker than the neck itself... I turned the ship round to get closer C. D. Pollard is a former second-hand book dealer turned to it, and got much nearer than we were at first; but the sun was full-time writer, whose articles and short stories have been setting." published in over 30 magazines in the UK, France, USA and, now, Australia and New Zealand. His first book, Classic The creature appeared to have smooth skin, and was dark Tastes, part of a series, is due to be published by Pipers' Ash brown in colour. The ship was so near it at one time that a pasLtd, UK, in late 1997. senger, Mr Kennealy, said he could hear the creature hiss, but the Mr Pollard has a peculiar obsession with the Victorian and first officer claimed that the sound was nothing but the noise from Edwardian periods, particularly with rare literature and some the water at the bows. Mr Kennealy may have immortalised himof the more unusual goings-on of those times, be they Fortean self if only he had taken the trouble to use the camera he had on or just plain eccentric. Working from his base in a small board. English village on the edge of The Black Country, his aim is to Dr Farquhar Matheson, of London, had a still closer view of a rekindle the public's interest in many of these strange stories. similar creature. This happened in September 1893 while Dr 94 • NEXUS


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Prophecies and Predictions W

e are pleased to present this collection of largely unknown prophecies and predictions. I've tried to select predictions from those with a good "track record" on past events and which are not too ambiguous (as with the quatrains of Nostradamus). You will read prophecies and predictions from several cultures in the following pages: Native American, English, Vedic, Serbian, modern American, extraterrestrial, crystal and more.

• Hopi and Apache Prophecies: I've selected several Native American visions of the future, all with a common thread as above. I'm sure you'll agree they are compelling reading. • Mother Shipton's Prophecies: There are many popular verses in circulation attributed to 15th/16th-century English prophetess Mother Shipton, but we came across a collection of verses practically unknown in the public record. How this happened is another story but, as you will see, these verses are extraordinary. • Dannion Brinkley's Light Beings' Prophecies: A former US government "hit man", Dannion was talking on the phone one day when lightning hit the wires nearby. He "died" on the operating table several times, and while having his near-death experiences (NDEs) he received lucid visions of our possible future from "Light Beings". Needless to say, Dannion became a changed man and since then has worked tirelessly to assist people overcome their fear of death and prepare for the next life. • The Crystal Skull Prophecies: The famous Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull still defies explanation by "experts" as to its age, purpose and origin. However, when mere mortals are exposed to its presence, strange effects are noted. We report here on what happened when Canada's most famous psychic "tuned in" to the crystal skull. Basically she went into a trance, her voice changed and she became a conduit for the transmission of some remarkable prophecies. The transcript is reprinted here. • Billy Meier and the Henoch Prophecies: Billy Meier has been a regular UFO contactee for over half a century. Many less-informed people consider Meier to be a con-artist and hoaxer, but no one has ever been able to prove this—despite round-the-clock surveillance of his activities. Over the years, Meier's alien friends have given him much information—in some cases, specific information about events to come or which have since come to pass. Given his track record of accurate predictions, we reprint Meier's "Henoch Prophecies" which cover a number of possibilities facing humanity. I hope they turn out to be wrong! Generally speaking, I've noticed that nearly all these predictions contain a similar theme: that unless mankind "improves", there is going to be rapid and catastrophic change. In most cases it is stressed that mankind can change what is predicted merely by becoming "nicer" "more spiritual" or "closer to God".

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The Fifth World Prophecy of the Hopi Elders THE FIFTH WORLD PROPHECY

The North American Hopi Elders correctly foretold white man's invasion of their lands in a series of predictions. The truth of their final Fifth World prophecy could soon be revealed.

Extracted from the book

ROLLING THUNDER: The Coming Earth Changes by J. R. Jochmans Published in 1980 by Sun Publishing Company PO Box 5588 Santa Fe, NM 87502, USA STRANGE Times 2006

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n a blistering hot summer day in 1958, a minister named David Young was driving along a highway that stretched through desert country, not far from Taos, New Mexico. Toward noon, he saw an elderly Indian walking on the road's gravel shoulder, and knowing he must be suffering from the heat, Young stopped and asked him if he would like a ride to the next town. The old man nodded. and got in. For several minutes the Indian said nothing, but then he finally spoke: "I am White Feather, a Hopi of the ancient Bear Clan. In my long life I have travelled through this land, seeking my brothers, and learning from them many things of wisdom. I have followed the sacred paths to my people, who inhabit the forests and many lakes in the east, the land of ice and long nights in the north, the mountains and streams of jumping fish in the west, and the place of holy altars of stone built long ago by my brothers' fathers in the south. From all these I have heard the stories of the past, and the prophecies of the future. Today, many of the prophecies have turned to stories, and few are left: the past grows longer, and the future grows shorter. "And now White Feather is dying. His sons have all joined his ancestors, and soon he too shall be with them. But there is no one left, no one to recite and pass on the ancient wisdom to. My people have tired of the old ways: the great ceremonies which tell of our origins, of our emergence into the Fourth World, are almost all abandoned, forgotten. Yet even this has been foretold. The time grows short." The old Indian fell silent again, but after a minute spoke once more: "My people await Pahana, the lost white brother, as do all our brothers in the land. He will not be like the white men we know now, who are cruel and greedy. We were told of their coming long ago. But still we await Pahana. "He will bring with him the symbols, and the missing piece of that sacred tablet now kept by the elders, given to him when he left, that shall be restored to the tablet and make it whole. This shall identify him as our true white brother." Turning to Young, he said: "You are much like Pahana, and not like other white men. You stopped to give an old man a ride, to lighten his burden. That is the way of Pahana. He will come soon, for the prophecies are nearly done." Resting a moment, the Indian found his breath, and then continued: "The Fourth World shall end soon, and the Fifth World will begin. This the elders everywhere know. The Signs over many years have been fulfilled, and so few are left. "This is the First Sign: We were told of the coming of white-skinned men, like Pahana, but not living like Pahana—men who took the land that was not theirs. And men who struck their enemies with thunder." Young later realised this is how the Indian prophets would have described gunpowder. "This is the Second Sign: Our lands will see the coming of spinning wheels of wood filled with voices. In his youth, my father saw this prophecy come true with his eyes—the white men bringing their families in wagons across the prairies. "This is the Third Sign: A strange beast, like a buffalo, but with great long horns will overrun the land in large numbers. These White Feather himself saw with his eyes—the coming of the white man's cattle. "This is the Fourth Sign: The prairie will be crossed by snakes of iron...." At that moment, Young slowed his car to drive over a railroad crossing—and this time it was his own eyes, looking down miles of winding track, that saw how the prophecy had been fulfilled. www.nexusmagazine.com

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"This is the Fifth Sign: The land shall be criss-crossed by a giant spider's web." The Indian stopped, and glanced for a second upward at the telephone and electric lines that flashed past alongside the highway. "This is the Sixth Sign: The land shall be criss-crossed with rivers of stone that make pictures in the sun." The Indian paused again to let Young puzzle over the meaning of his words. Suddenly, he understood, for he was seeing it right in front of him: The concrete road stretched ahead. and in the distance, the shimmering heat waves produced a mirage, an image of the road itself just above the surface. The Indian nodded and went on. "This is the Seventh Sign—and it is the first that is yet to come: You will hear of the sea turning black, and many living things dying because of it. "This is the Eighth Sign: You will see many youth, who will wear their hair long like my people, come and join the tribal nations to learn of their ways and wisdom. "And this is the Ninth and last Sign: You will hear of a dwelling-house in the heavens, above the Earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a Blue Star. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease.

"These are the Signs that great destruction is coming. The world shall rock to and fro. The white men will battle against other peoples in other lands—with those who possessed the first light of wisdom. Terrible will be the result. There will be many columns of smoke and fire such as White Feather has seen the white man make in the deserts not far from here." Young immediately knew he meant the atomic bomb tests. "Only those which come will cause disease and a great dying. Many of my people, understanding the prophecies, shall be safe. Those who stay and live in the places of my people shall also be safe. There will then be much to rebuild. And soon—very soon afterward—Pahana will return. He will bring with him the dawn of the Fifth World. He shall plant the seeds of his wisdom in their hearts. Even now the seeds are being planted. These shall smooth the way to the Emergence, into the Fifth World. "But White Feather shall not see it. I am old and dying. Youperhaps you will see it. In time, in time..." The old Indian's voice faded, and then went silent. They had arrived at his destination, and he pointed to the corner where he wanted to get off. Young stopped the car, let the old Indian out, and watched him slowly disappear down the street. Then Young continued on his trip—he never saw the old man again.

The prophecies of Mother Shipton ... M

other Shipton reputedly was born Ursula Sontheil in 1488 in Norfolk, England, and died in 1561. She exhibited prophetic and psychic abilities from an early age. At 24, married to Toby Shipton, she eventually became known as Mother Shipton. Many of her visions came true within her own lifetime and in subsequent centuries. In 1992, NEXUS came into possession of some very rare verses attributed to Mother Shipton. We could find no record of them having been published before. You will agree that her descriptions of the future have been remarkably accurate, leaving us to wonder about the events yet to unfold. These verses were on the outer wrapping of the scrolls:

I know I go, I know I'm free I know that this will come to be. Secreted this, for this will be Found by later dynasty. A dairy maid, a bonny lass Shall kick this tome as she does pass And five generations she shall breed Before one male child does learn to read. This is then held year by year Till an iron monster trembling fear Eats parchment, words and quill and ink And mankind is given time to think. And only when this comes to be Will mankind read this prophecy But one man's sweet's another's bane So I shall not have burned in vain. — Mother Shipton

The following verses were found on a scroll in a separate jar. They appear to have been written at the same time as the verses above. The signs will be there for all to read; When man shall do most heinous deed Man will ruin kinder lives; By taking them as to their wives. And murder foul and brutal deed; When man will only think of greed. And man shall walk as if asleep; He does not look—he many not peep And iron men the tail shall do; And iron cart and carriage too. The kings shall false promise make; And talk just for talking's sake And nations plan horrific war; The like as never seen before And taxes rise and lively down; And nations wear perpetual frown. Yet greater sign there be to see; As man nears latter century. Three sleeping mountains gather breath; And spew out mud, and ice and death. And earthquakes swallow town and town; In lands as yet to me unknown. And Christian one fights Christian two; And nations sigh, yet nothing do And yellow men great power gain; From mighty bear with whom they've lain. These mighty tyrants will fail to do; They fail to split the world in two. But from their acts a danger bred; An ague, leaving many dead. And physics find no remedy; For this is worse than leprosy. Oh many signs for all to see; The truth of this true prophecy. (Editor's Note: There are many lines here that unfortunately describe our twentieth century. Some of the thoughts that come to mind: "Christian one fights Christian two" could describe the ongoing conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland; an "ague" is an illness or great sickness; the "yellow men" could be interpreted by many as the Chinese or Japanese; and the "mighty bear" could well be Russia.)

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The prophecies of Mother Shipton ... A carriage without horse will go Disaster fill the world with woe. In London, Primrose Hill shall be In centre hold a Bishop's See

And roaring monsters with man atop Does seem to eat the verdant crop And men shall fly as birds do now And give away the horse and plough.

Around the world men's thoughts will fly Quick as the twinkling of an eye. And water shall great wonders do How strange. And yet it shall come true.

There'll be a sign for all to see Be sure that it will certain be. Then love shall die and marriage cease And nations wane as babes decrease.

Through towering hills proud men shall ride No horse or ass move by his side. Beneath the water, men shall walk Shall ride, shall sleep, shall even talk And in the air men shall be seen In white and black and even green. A great man then, shall come and go For prophecy declares it so. In water, iron then shall float As easy as a wooden boat. Gold shall be seen in stream and stone In land that is yet unknown. And England shall admit a Jew You think this strange, but it is true. The Jew that once was held in scorn Shall of a Christian then be born. A house of glass shall come to pass In England. But Alas, alas A war will follow with the work Where dwells the Pagan and the Turk. These states will lock in fiercest strife And seek to take each other's life. When north shall thus divide the south And Eagle build in Lion's mouth Then tax and blood and cruel war Shall come to every humble door. Three times shall lovely sunny France Be led to play a bloody dance Before the people shall be free Three tyrant rulers shall she see. Three rulers in succession be Each springs from different dynasty. Then when the fiercest strife is done England and France shall be as one. The British olive shall next then twine In marriage with a German vine. Men walk beneath and over streams Fulfilled shall be their wondrous dreams. For in those wondrous far-off days The women shall adopt a craze To dress like men, and trousers wear And to cut off their locks of hair. They'll ride astride with brazen brow As witches do on broomstick now. STRANGE Times 2006

And wives shall fondle cats and dogs And men live much the same as hogs. In nineteen hundred and twenty six Build houses light of straw and sticks. For then shall mighty wars be planned And fire and sword shall sweep the land. When pictures seem alive with movements free When boats like fishes swim beneath the sea When men like birds shall scour the sky Then half the world, deep drenched in blood shall die. For those who live the century through In fear and trembling this shall do. Flee to the mountains and the dens To bog and forest and wild fens. For storms will rage and oceans roar When Gabriel stands on sea and shore And as he blows his wondrous horn Old worlds die and new be born. A fiery Dragon will cross the sky Six times before this Earth shall die Mankind will tremble and frightened be For the sixth heralds in this prophecy. For seven days and seven nights Man will watch this awesome sight. The tides will rise beyond their ken To bite away the shores, and then The mountains will begin to roar And earthquakes split the plain to shore. And flooding waters, rushing in Will flood the lands with such a din That mankind cowers in muddy fen And snarls about his fellow men. He bares his teeth and fights and kills And secrets food in secret hills And ugly in his fear, he lies To kill marauders, thieves and spies. Man flees in terror from the floods And kills, and rapes and lies in blood And spilling blood by mankind's hands Will stain and bitter many lands. And when the Dragon's tail is gone Man forgets, and smiles, and carries on To apply himself—too late, too late For mankind has earned deserved fate. www.nexusmagazine.com

His masked smile, his false grandeur Will serve the Gods their anger stir. And they will send the Dragon back To light the sky—his tail will crack Upon the Earth and rend the Earth And man shall flee, King, Lord, and serf. But slowly they are routed out To seek diminishing water spout And men will die of thirst before The oceans rise to mount the shore. And lands will crack and rend anew You think it strange. It will come true. And in some far-off distant land Some men—oh such a tiny band Will have to leave their solid mount And span the Earth, those few to count Who survives this [unreadable] and then Begin the human race again. But not on land already there But on ocean beds, stark, dry and bare. Not every soul on Earth will die As the Dragon's tail goes sweeping by. Not every land on Earth will sink But these will wallow in stench and stink Of rotting bodies of beast and man Of vegetation crisped on land. But the land that rises from the sea Will be dry and clean and soft and free Of mankind's dirt and therefore be The source of man's new dynasty. And those that live will ever fear The Dragon's tail for many year But time erases memory You think it strange. But it will be. And before the race is built anew A silver serpent comes to view And spew out men of like unknown To mingle with the Earth now grown Cold from its heat, and these men can Enlighten the minds of future man To intermingle and show them how To live and love and thus endow The children with the second sight. A natural thing so that they might Grow graceful, humble, and when they do The Golden Age will start anew. The Dragon's tail is but a sign For mankind's fall and man's decline. And before this prophecy is done I shall be burned at the stake, at one My body singed and my soul set free You think I utter blasphemy You're wrong. These things have come to me This prophecy will come to be. NEXUS • 99

Prophecy Countdown 2000 — Dannion Brinkley's Visions — So many visions presented by Brinkley's Light Beings have already come true ... ... and important prophecies for the 1990s are now being fulfilled. We'd be wise to pay attention.

Extracted from

Saved By The Light by Dannion Brinkley with Paul Perry Published in 1994 by Villard Books/Random House, Inc. New York, USA

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n 17 September 1975, Dannion Brinkley was talking on the phone during a thunderstorm. A bolt of lightning hit the phone line, sending thousands of volts of electricity into his head and down his body, throwing him several feet into the air. His heart stopped, and he died. When Brinkley revived in the morgue after twenty-eight minutes, he had an incredible story to tell. After the lightning strike, Brinkley watched from above as loved ones and medics tried to start his heart. When doctors pronounced him dead he was already travelling through a dark tunnel toward a spirit being, who led him into a crystal city awash in light and tranquillity. Brought before thirteen angelic instructors in what he describes as "a cathedral of knowledge", Brinkley was told of events that would shake the world before the year 2000—including the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Persian Gulf War, and America's current economic crisis. The Beings came at me one at a time. As each one approached, a box the size of a videotape came from its chest and zoomed right at my face. The first time this happened I flinched, thinking I was going to be hit. But a moment before impact, the box opened to reveal what appeared to be a tiny television picture of a world event that was yet to happen. As I watched, I felt myself drawn right into the picture, where I was able to live the event. This happened twelve times, and twelve times I stood in the midst of many events that would shake the world in the future. At the time I didn't know these were future events. All I knew was that I was seeing things of great significance and that they were coming to me as clearly as the nightly news, with one great difference: I was being pulled into the screen. On this day, 17 September 1975, the future came to me a box at a time.

BOXES ONE, TWO & THREE: VISIONS OF A DEMORALISED COUNTRY Boxes one, two and three showed the mood of America in the aftermath of the war in South-East Asia. They revealed scenes of spiritual loss in our country that were by-products of that war, which weakened the structure of America and eventually the world. The scenes were of prisoners of war, weak and wasted from hunger, as they waited in the rugged prisons of North Vietnam for American ambassadors to come and free them. I could feel their fear and then despair when they realised one by one that no help would be forthcoming and that they would live out their remaining years as slaves in jungle prisons. These were the MIAs, those military men considered "missing in action". The MIAs were already an issue in 1975, but they were used as a starting point in the visions to show an America that was slipping into spiritual decline. I could see America falling into enormous debt. This came to me as scenes of money going out of a room much faster than it was coming in. Through some kind of telepathy I was aware that this money represented the increase in the national debt and that it spelled danger down the road. I also saw people waiting in long lines for the basics of life like clothing and food. Many scenes of spiritual hunger came from the first two boxes as well. I saw people who were transparent in such a way as to reveal that they were hollow. This hollowness, it was explained to me, was caused by a loss of faith in America and what it stood for. The war in South-East Asia had combined with inflation and distrust in our government to create a spiritual void. This void was added to by our loss of love for God. www.nexusmagazine.com

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This spiritual depravity resulted in a number of shocking and say that the country of Jordan would exist no more. I did not visions: people rioting and looting because they wanted more hear the name of the new country. material goods than they had, kids shooting other kids with highThis agreement was nothing more than a front by the Israelis to powered rifles, criminals stealing cars, young men firing on other create a police force composed of Israelis and Arabs. This was a young men from the windows of cars. Scenes like these played very harsh police force, cruel and unyielding. I saw them wearing out in front of me like scenes from a gangster movie. blue-and-silver uniforms and having a tight grip on the people of Most of the criminals were children or adolescents that no one this region. So tight was their grip, in fact, that world leaders cared about. As I watched image after image, it became painfully became highly critical of Israel. Many collaborators on both sides clear to me that these kids had no family units and, as a result, kept an eye on their own people and reported their activities to this they were acting like wolves. police force. They served to make everyone suspicious, causing I was confused because I couldn't figure out how American chil- trust in these societies to disappear. dren could be left to roam and murder. Didn't they have parental I could see Israel becoming isolated from the rest of the world. guidance? I wondered. How could such a thing happen in our As things worsened, there were images of Israel preparing for war country? against other countries, including Russia and a Chinese-and-Arab In the third box I found myself facing the Seal of the President consortium. Jerusalem was somehow at the eye of this conflict, of the United States. I don't know where but I am not sure exactly how. I was, but I saw the initials "RR" emblaFrom newspaper headlines that zoned beneath this seal. Then I was As I watched this puzzling collage appeared in the vision, I could standing in the midst of newspapers, see that some incident in that unfold, I heard a Being speak looking at their editorial cartoons. One holy city had served to trigger after the other I saw cartoons of a cowwar. telepathically to me and say that thisThese boy. He was riding the range or shooting visions revealed Israel down bad guys in saloons. This vision the country of Jordan would exist as being spiritually hollow. I had was festooned with satirical illustrations no more. I did not hear the name the sense of it being a country of from around the country from such newsstrong government but weak of the new country. papers as The Boston Globe, the Chicago morals. Image after image came Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. The Israelis reacting with hatred This agreement was nothing more of dates on the newspapers ranged from toward Palestinians and other 1983 to 1987, and it was clear from the Arabs, and I was steeped in the than a front by the Israelis... nature of the drawings that they were sense that these people as a about the President of the United States nation had forgotten God and who projected the image of being a cowboy were now driven by racial hatred. to the rest of the world. The fifth box showed oil being used as a weapon to control the I could also tell that the man in these cartoons was an actor, international economy. I saw images of Mecca and then of the because they all had a theatrical look to them. One of the cartoons Saudi people. While these images streamed before me, a telepatheven referred to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and ic voice said that oil production was being cut off to destroy played off the famous scene in that movie in which the two out- America's economy and to milk money from the world economy. laws jump off a cliff into a shallow pool of water. Yet despite the The price of oil was going up and up, said the voice, and Saudi vividness of the newspaper clippings, I was unable to see the face Arabia was making an alliance with Syria and China. I could see under the cowboy hat. I now know that "RR" stood for Ronald Arab and Oriental people shaking hands and making deals. As Reagan, but at the time I had no idea who the "cowboy" was. A these images came to me, I could sense money being given by the few months later, when I was recalling these visions for Dr. Saudis to Asian countries like North Korea, all in the hopes of Raymond Moody, the noted psychiatrist and researcher of near- destabilising the economy of the Asian region. death experiences, he asked me who I thought "RR" was. Without I wondered where this alliance began, and I was able to see a hesitation I said, "Robert Redford". He has never let me forget close-up of Syrians and Chinese signing papers and shaking hands that mistake and ribs me about it every time we get together. in a building that I knew was in Syria. The date that came to me was 1992. Another date came to me—1993—and with it came images of BOXES FOUR & FIVE: STRIFE AND HATRED IN THE Syrian and Chinese scientists working in laboratories to develop a HOLY LANDS missile that could deliver chemical and biological weapons. Boxes four and five were scenes from the Middle East, showing Nuclear weapons were becoming things of the past, and these how this area of eternal strife would reach a boiling point. countries wanted to develop new weapons of destruction. Religion would play a large role in these problems, as would the The boxes kept coming. economy. A constant need for outside money fuelled much of the anger and hatred that I saw in these boxes. BOX SIX: VISIONS OF NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION In the first of these boxes I saw two agreements taking place. Number six was terrifying. I was drawn into the box and found In the first, Israelis and Arabs were agreeing to something, but myself in a cool, forested area beside a river. Next to the river what was unclear to me. The second accord was one that I could see in some detail. Men was a massive cement structure, square and foreboding. I was were shaking hands and there was much talk about a new country. fearful and didn't know why. Suddenly the Earth shook and the Then I saw a collage of images: the River Jordan, a settlement top of this cement structure exploded. I knew it was a nuclear from Israel that was spreading into Jordan, and a map on which explosion and could sense hundreds of people dying around me as the country of Jordan was changing colour. As I watched this it took place. The year 1986 was given to me through telepathy, puzzling collage unfold, I heard a Being speak telepathically to me as was the word "wormwood". It wasn't until a decade later, when STRANGE Times 2006


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the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded near Kiev in the Soviet BOX SEVEN: THE ENVIRONMENTAL RELIGION Union, that I was able to associate these pictures with an event. It The seventh box held powerful images of environmental was then that I made another connection between the vision in this box and the nuclear disaster in the USSR. The word "Chernobyl" destruction. I could see areas of the world radiating energy, glowing like a radium watch-face in the dark. Telepathically I could means "wormwood" in Russian. A second nuclear accident appeared in the box, this in a north- hear voices speaking of the need to clean up the environment. These voices came out of Russia at first, but then the accents ern sea so badly polluted that no ships would travel there. The water was a pale red and was covered with dead or dying fish. changed and I could tell that they were emanating from South Around the water were peaks and valleys that made me think I America, probably from Uruguay or Paraguay. I saw the speaker from Russia as he talked with zeal about our was seeing a fjord like those in Norway. I couldn't tell where this was, but I knew that the world was frightened at what had hap- need to heal the environment. People rallied around him quickly, pened, because radiation from this accident could spread every- and he soon became so powerful that he was elected one of the where and affect all of humankind. The date on the picture was leaders of the United Nations. I saw this Russian riding on a white horse, and I knew that his rise would come before the year 2000. 1995. The vision didn't stop there. People were dying and deformed as a result of these nuclear catastrophes. In a series of what BOXES EIGHT AND NINE: CHINA BATTLES RUSSIA seemed like television pictures, I saw cancer victims and mutated In boxes eight and nine were visions of China's growing anger babies in Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland, not hundreds or thousands of people, but tens of thousands, in a vast array of toward the Soviet Union. When these visions took place in 1975, deformity, going on through generations. The poisons released by I didn't know that the Soviet Union would break up. Now I think these accidents were carried to the rest of the world through water, the tension I saw in that vision was a result of the death of Soviet Communism, which left the Chinese which was tainted forever by this the leaders of the Communist world. nuclear waste. The Being made it At the time, the visions were a puzclear that humans had created a horrible power that had not been con...but I knew that the world was zle to me. I saw border disputes and heavy fighting between Soviet and tained. By letting this power out of Chinese armies. Finally, the Chinese their control, the Soviets had frightened at what had happened, amassed their armies at the border and destroyed their own country and because radiation from this pushed into the region. possibly the world. The main battle was over a railroad, The box showed me the fear in accident could spread everywhere which the Chinese took in heavy people's hearts that resulted from and affect all of humankind. fighting. They then pushed deep into these nuclear accidents. As the the Soviet Union, cutting the country images of this fear unfolded, I some- The date on the picture was 1995. in half and taking over the oil fields of how understood that environmentalism would emerge as the world's (Dannion Brinkley, 1975) Siberia. I saw snow, blood, and oil and knew that the loss of life had been new religion. People would consider heavy. a clean environment a key to salvation more than they ever had before. Political parties would spring up around the issue of a cleaner BOXES TEN AND ELEVEN: ECONOMIC planet, and political fortunes would be made or broken based upon EARTHQUAKES, DESERT STORM feelings about the environment. Boxes ten and eleven came in rapid succession. They revealed From Chernobyl and this second accident, I could see that the Soviet Union would wither and die, with the Soviet people losing scenes of the economic collapse of the world. In general terms, faith in their government and the government losing its grip on the these visions showed a world in horrible turmoil by the turn of the century, one that resulted in a new world order that was truly one people. The economy played a strong role in these visions. I saw people of feudalism and strife. In one of the visions, people lined up to take money out of carrying bags of money into stores and coming out with small bags of goods. People with military uniforms wandered the streets banks. In another, the banks were being closed by the governin Soviet cities begging for food, some obviously starving to ment. The voice that accompanied the visions told me that this death. People ate rotted potatoes and apples, and crowds rioted to would take place in the nineties and would be the beginning of an economic strife that would lead to the bankruptcy of America by get at trucks filled with food. The word Georgia appeared in a Cyrillic script, and I could see the year 2000. The box showed images of dollar signs flying by as people a mafia developing in Moscow that I assume came from the state of Georgia in the Soviet Union. This mafia was a growing power pumped gas and looked distressed. I knew this meant that oil that was in competition with the Soviet government. In scene prices were accelerating out of control. I saw thirteen new nations entering the world market in the late after scene, I saw mafia members operating freely in a city that I nineties. These were nations with manufacturing capabilities that think was Moscow. I felt no joy as I watched the Soviet Union collapse. Although put them on a competitive footing with the United States. One by Soviet-style Communism was dying right before my eyes, the one our European markets began to give their business to these Being of Light was saying that this was a cautious moment instead countries, which slowed our economy even more. All of this led of a glorious one. "Watch the Soviet Union," he said. "How the to a greatly weakened economy. But the end of America as a world power came as visions of two Russian people go, so goes the world. What happens to Russia is the basis for everything that will happen to the economy of the horrendous earthquakes in which buildings were swaying and toppling over like a child's wooden blocks. I knew that these quakes free world." 102 • NEXUS


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happened sometime before the end of the century, but I couldn't tell where they took place. I do remember seeing a large body of water that was probably a river. The cost of rebuilding these destroyed cities would be the final straw for our government, now so financially broken that it would hardly be able to keep itself alive. The voice in the vision told me that it would be this way, while the images from the box showed Americans starving and lined up for food. At the tail end of box ten came images of warfare in the desert, a massive show of military might. I saw armies racing toward one another in the desert, with great clouds of dust billowing from the treads of tanks as they crossed the barren ground. There was cannon fire and explosions that looked like lightning. The Earth shook and then there was silence. Like a bird, I flew over acres of destroyed army equipment. As I left the box, the date 1990 came into my head. That was the year of Desert Storm, the military operation that squashed the army of Iraq for occupying Kuwait. Box eleven began with Iran and Iraq in possession of nuclear and chemical weapons. Included in this arsenal was a submarine loaded with nuclear missiles. The year, said a voice in the vision, was 1993. I saw this submarine powering through the waters of the Middle East, piloted by people I knew to be Iranians. I could tell that their purpose was to stop the shipping of oil from the Middle East. They were so praiseful of God in their speech that I had the sense that this was some kind of religious mission. The missiles that occupied the desert of the Middle East were equipped with chemical warheads. I don't know where they were aimed, but I do know that there was worldwide fear of the intentions of the Arab nations that had them. Chemical warfare played a role in a horrible vision of terrorism that takes place in France before 2000. It begins when the French publish a book that infuriates the Arab world. I don't know the title of this book, but the result of its publication is a chemical attack by Arabs on a city in France. A chemical is put into the water supply, and thousands drink it and die before it can be eliminated. In one brief vision I saw Egyptians rioting in the streets, while a voice told me that by 1997 Egypt would collapse as a democracy and be taken over by religious fanatics. The final visions from box eleven were like many images we now see of Sarajavo: modern cities crumbling beneath the weight of warfare, their inhabitants fighting one another for reasons ranging from racism to religious conflict. I saw many towns worldwide where desperate citizens were eating their own dead. In one such scene, Europeans in a hilly region of the world were weeping as they cooked human meat. In rapid succession I saw people of all five races eating their fellow humans.

BOX TWELVE: TECHNOLOGY AND VIRUS The eleventh box was gone and I was into the twelfth box. Its visions addressed an important event in the distant future, the STRANGE Times 2006

decade of the nineties (remember, this was 1975), when many of the great changes would take place. In this box I watched as a biological engineer from the Middle East found a way to alter DNA and create a biological virus that would be used in the manufacture of computer chips. This discovery allowed for huge strides in science and technology. Japan, China, and other countries of the Pacific Rim experienced boom times as a result of this discovery and became powers of incredible magnitude. Computer chips produced from this process found their way into virtually every form of technology, from cars and airplanes to vacuum cleaners and blenders. Before the turn of the century, this man was among the richest in the world, so rich that he had a stranglehold on the world economy. Still the world welcomed him, since the computer chips he had designed somehow put the world on an even keel. Gradually he succumbed to his own power. He began to think of himself as a deity and insisted on greater control of the world. With that extra control, he began to rule the world. His method of rule was unique. Everyone in the world was mandated by law to have one of his computer chips inserted underneath his or her skin. This chip contained all of an individual's personal information. If a government agency wanted to know something, all it had to do was scan your chip with a special device. By doing so, it could discover everything about you, from where you worked and lived, to your medical records and even what kind of illnesses you might Illustration by Byron Bay Media Ltd/Giles Evans get in the future. There was an even more sinister side to this chip. A person's lifetime could be limited by programming this chip to dissolve and kill him with the viral substance it was made from. Lifetimes were controlled like this to avoid the cost that growing old places on the government. It was also used as a means of eliminating people with chronic illnesses that put a drain on the medical system. People who refused to have chips implanted in their bodies roamed as outcasts. They could not be employed and were denied government services.

THE FINAL VISIONS At the very end came a thirteenth vision. I don't know where it came from. I didn't see a Being of Light bring it forward in a box, nor did I see one take it away. This vision was in many ways the most important of all because it summed up everything I had seen in the twelve boxes. Through telepathy I could hear a Being say, "If you follow what you have been taught and keep living the same way you have lived the last thirty years, all of this will surely be upon you. If you change, you can avoid the coming war." Scenes from a horrible world war accompanied this message. As the visions appeared on the screen, the Being told me that the years 1994 through 1996 were critical ones in determining whether this war would break out. "If you follow this dogma, the world by the year 2004 will not be the same one you now know,"


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said the Being. "But it can still be changed and you can help Beings were desperately trying to help us, not because we were change it." such good guys, but because without us advancing spiritually here Scenes from World War III came to life before me. I was in a on Earth, they could not become successful in their world. "You hundred places at once, from deserts to forests, and saw a world humans are truly the heroes," a Being told me. "Those who go to filled with fighting and chaos. Somehow it was clear that this Earth are heroes and heroines, because you are doing something final war, an Armaggedon if you will, was caused by fear. In one that no other spiritual beings have the courage to do. You have of the most puzzling visions of all, I saw an army of women in gone to Earth to co-create with God." black robes and veils marching through a European city. As I was presented with each of these boxes, my mind pondered "The fear these people are feeling is an unnecessary one," said the same questions, over and over: Why is this happening to me? the Being of Light. "But it is a fear so great that humans will give What are these scenes in the boxes and why are they being shown up all freedoms in the name of safety." to me? I didn't know what was going on, and despite the seemingI also saw scenes that were not of war, including many visions ly infinite knowledge that I had been given earlier, I was unable to of natural disasters. In parts of the world that had once been fer- find the answers to those questions. I was seeing the future and I tile with wheat and corn, I saw parched desert and furrowed fields didn't know why. that farmers had given up on. In After the final visions, the thirteenth other parts of the world, torrential Being of Light answered my questions. rainstorms had gouged out the earth, He was more powerful than the others, or People who refused to have eating away topsoil and creating at least I assume he was. His colours rivers of thick, dark mud. chips implanted in their bodies were more intense, and the other Beings People were starving in this vision. seemed to defer to him. His personality roamed as outcasts. They They were begging for food on the was conveyed in his light and encomstreets, holding out bowls and cups passed the emotions of his fellow Beings. could not be employed and and even their hands in hopes that Without words, he told me that everywere denied government someone or something would offer thing I had just seen was in the future, but them a scrap to eat. In some of the not necessarily cast in stone. services. pictures, people had given up or were "The flow of human events can be too weak to beg and were curled on changed, but first people have to know the ground waiting for the gift of what they are," said the Being. He comdeath. municated to me again their belief that humans were great, powerI saw civil wars breaking out in Central and South America and ful and mighty spiritual Beings. the rise of socialist governments in all of these countries before "We here see everyone who goes to the Earth as great adventurthe year 2000. As these wars intensified, millions of refugees ers," he said. "You had the courage to go and expand your life streamed across the US border, looking for a new life in North and take your place in the great adventure that God created known America. Nothing we did could stop these immigrants. They as the world." were driven by fear of death and loss of confidence in God. He then told me my purpose on Earth. "You are there to create I saw millions of people streaming north out of El Salvador and spiritualistic capitalism," he said. Nicaragua, and more millions crossing the Rio Grande into Texas. "You are to engage this coming system by changing people's There were so many of them that we had to line the border with thought processes. Show people how to rely on their spiritual troops and force them back across the river. selves instead of the government and churches. Religion is fine, The Mexican economy was broken by these refugees and col- but don't let people be entirely controlled by it. Humans are lapsed under the strain. mighty spiritual beings. All they need to realise is that love is As these visions ended, I had the amazing realisation that these treating others the way they themselves want to be treated." ∞

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T HE P ROPHECIES OF M ITAR T ARABICH

M Nineteenth-century Serbian peasant Mitar Tarabich made some uncannily accurate predictions for the 19th and 20th centuries, so only time will judge how his prophecies play out for the 21st century.

Editing and Commentary by Neo © 2005

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itar Tarabich (1829–1899), an illiterate peasant from the small Serbian village of Kremna, experienced occasional prophetic visions. Being a religious person and having a local Serbian orthodox priest for a godfather, he told this priest about his episodes of "seeing into the future". The priest, Zaharije Zaharich (1836–1918), wrote down everything in a small notebook, which was damaged by fire in 1943 when his family home was destroyed by the occupying Bulgarian Army. This text is now in the possession of the family of Zaharich's greatgrandson, Mr Dejan Malenkovich. Tarabich's prophecies were literally very straightforward, unlike the prophecies of Nostradamus (1503–1566) that seem to be encrypted with the latest 1,024-bit encryption technology. Tarabich's best-known prophecy has to do with a series of political events in 19thcentury Serbia. He predicted a sequence of events, spanning a course of decades, that eventually led to the removal of the ruling Obrenovich family from the Serbian royal throne. This prophecy came to be known in the Balkan region as "the Black Prophecy", and it played out as predicted. You should note that Tarabich's words are translated from Serbo-Croatian and that the translation is not necessarily in its final form. You may notice that some of the phrasing in the quotes is awkward and rough; this is an accurate reflection of his rural accent. Tarabich's words come from conversations with his godfather Zaharich, so you should be aware that any references to "you" or "your descendants" relate to Zaharich (the priest) specifically. When Tarabich says "us" he means the Serbs, but he does not distinguish between Croats, Serbs, Slovenians, etc. To him, anyone who spoke his language was a Serb. Perhaps it is also important to note that we don't really know how much of Tarabich's prophecies was influenced by his own opinion. Some of the adjectives used to describe the people and events he saw could be a reflection of his "peasant-like" interpretation of those events (examples: intelligent, brave, honest, horrible, calamity, etc.).

Predictions and Events up to the End of World War I (1903–1918) "After the assassination of the king and queen [Alexander and Draga Obrenovich], the Karageorgevichs will come to power. Then we will again start a war with the Turks. Four Christian states will attack Turkey, and our border will be on the River Lim. Then we shall finally conquer and avenge Kosovo." Historical Facts: • 1903 – Alexander and Draga Obrenovich were assassinated by their own guards, and Petar Karageorgevich became the ruler of Serbia. • 1912 – The First Balkan War erupted between the Balkan Alliance (Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro) and Turkey (Ottoman Empire). The Balkan Alliance won, and Serbia moved its border up to the River Lim. Serbia gained Kosovo from the Turks. "Soon after this war, another war will start...the Big War in which a lot of blood will be spilled. If that blood were a river, a huge stone of 300 kilograms would roll in its current easily. A mighty army from across a river, three times bigger than ours, will attack us... They will destroy everything on their way. They penetrate deep into our land... Hard times will come upon us... Our army will almost give up, but than suddenly an intelligent man on a black stallion will take command and cry out, 'Forward to victory, my people! Forward, brother Serbs!' Our army springs to life. Its fighting spirit wakes up and the enemy is chased away across the river..." www.nexusmagazine.com

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Historical Facts: • 1914 – The Austro-Hungarian Empire started a war against Serbia after a Serb nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and his wife in Sarajevo. This regional war soon developed into World War I (with 32 nations involved). In the beginning, Austria conquered the northern and central parts of Serbia easily but when General Alexandar Mishich—the man on a black stallion—took command, the Serbian armies were able to repel the Austrian invaders back across the River Drina until October 1915.

"For some years we shall live in peace, love and prosperity. But it will not last for long. A venomous hatred will come into our people... Blood is spilled...horrible! I do not know when or why, but it is probably because of this hatred." Historical Facts: • Serbian domination of the government and a multiplicity of political parties, and denial of autonomy to the Croats, Slovenes and other minority groups, engendered intense political strife in the kingdom. Under the guidance of Stjepan Radich, the Croats and their allies systematically struggled against the centralist system and leadership. The first phase of the struggle ended when, in June 1928, a Montenegrin deputy in the national Parliament fatally shot Radich and two of his parliamentary colleagues. In retaliation, the Croats withdrew from the Parliament and organised a separatist regime, with headquarters in Zagreb. Civil war seemed imminent, but in January 1929 King Alexander (the Serbian king) suspended the 1921 constitution, dissolved Parliament and all political parties and assumed dictatorial control of the government. The king, thus hoping to impose national unity, subsequently abolished the traditional provinces and changed the name of the State to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia ("Land of the South Slavs").

"Then an even greater army will come from the north and run over us. Our land will be devastated. We will be dying of hunger and sickness in great numbers. For three years, Serbia will live in total darkness. During that time, our wounded army will be abroad. They will stay in a place surrounded by the sea and will be fed and nursed by friends from over the seas. Then, their wounds healed, they will come back home in ships. They will free Serbia and all of the territories where our brothers live." Historical Facts: • The Germans started their attack from the north and by December 1915 had defeated the Serbs. The Serbian Army and Government fled to the Greek island of Kérkira (Corfu) in 1916. There they regrouped, "Listen to me, my good father: and after a full recovery they sailed for Salonika where they formed a new front after the first Big War, Austria with other allied armies. After much will disappear and Serbia heavy fighting, Serbia was finally free and reunited with the other southern will be as big as a real kingdom. Slav nations (Croats and Slovenians), We will live together with our whose territories had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the northern brothers." German occupation, a large number of people in Serbia died of hunger and sickness. "I will tell you one more thing, father: the invading army will come to Kremna exactly on your baptismal day, stay for three years and go away on the same day they came—St Luke's Day. But you will not see the end of the war. In the last year of the world's big carnage, you will die. Both these wars, the one with the Turks and the big one when the whole world will be at war, will take away two of your grandchildren—one before, and the other after your death." Historical Facts: • The Germans entered Kremna on St Luke's Day, and the village was liberated on exactly the same date three years later. Zaharije Zaharich died in 1918, the last year of World War I, which also took the lives of two of his grandchildren—one before, and one after his death.

Predictions and Events up to the End of World War II (1918–1945) "Listen to me, my good father: after the first Big War, Austria will disappear and Serbia will be as big as a real kingdom. We will live together with our northern brothers." Historical Facts: • 1918 – The Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved. In December 1918 a new State, officially titled the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was proclaimed. It was constantly riddled with economic, social and political problems caused mostly by conflicts between various nationalistic political parties. 106 • NEXUS

"Then the one who sits on the throne of our kingdom is killed. He will leave behind a widow and orphans. A relative of his will replace him on the throne, and he will try to rule justly and take good care of his cousin's children. But people do not love him, and he is accused of being an unjust ruler. He is dethroned and imprisoned by his army. His life will be saved by England's king and queen. Then, on the empty throne, our killed king's boy sits. But he will rule only for a few days. He will be taken by his soldiers over the seas because our kingdom is again invaded by a foreign, evil army. All of Europe is under the rule of the crooked anti-cross." Historical Facts: • On 9 October 1934, a Macedonian terrorist connected with Croatian separatist groups assassinated King Alexander, then in France on a diplomatic mission. The king's son, still a youth, succeeded to the throne of Yugoslavia as Petar II. Control of the government was vested in a tripartite Regency Council headed by Prince Pavle Karageorgevich, a cousin of the late king. Because of his growing unpopularity, Pavle was ousted by his army and exiled to England. World War II started in 1939. The German Army invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941, but young King Petar fled Yugoslavia with the government ahead of the invading Nazi hordes. Most of Europe fell under Nazi occupation. "In the beginning, Russia will not wage war; but when attacked by the evil army, they will fight back. There is a red czar on the Russian throne." Historical Facts: • When Nazi Germany started World War II, the USSR (Russia) remained neutral. On 22 June 1941, more than three million German troops invaded the USSR. Under Communist Party leader Joseph Stalin, the USSR fought back. "Here, men with stars on their foreheads will appear. They will rule Uzice and this region for exactly 73 days, and then fleeing


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their enemies they will go over the River Drina. These are times death in 1953. Yugoslavia's relationship with the democratic of hunger and great evil... Serbs will fight and butcher each capitalist countries caused mistrust with the USSR. other. The invading enemy looks upon Serbian evil hatred and "After the Great War, peace will reign all over the world. laughs at us. A man with blue eyes on a white horse appears Many new states will appear...black, white, red and yellow. An among our people. A star shines on his forehead. The evil enemy international court is formed, which does not allow countries to will hunt him all over our country, in the woods, over rivers and fight each other. This court will be above all kings. Where a war upon the sea, but in vain. The man will gather a mighty army and starts, the court will judge justly, trying to transform hatred and free occupied Belgrade. He will chase away the enemy from our butchery into love and peace. The lucky ones who live to see country, and our kingdom will be bigger than ever. Russia will these times will be more than happy." make an alliance with other great kingdoms over the seas, and Historical Facts: they will burn down the crooked anti-cross and free all the • In December 1945, the United Nations (UN) was established. enslaved people of Europe." Articles 33–38 of the charter authorise the Security Council to Historical Facts: encourage disputing nations to settle their differences through • In Yugoslavia the Communist Party, led peaceful means including negotiations, by Croatian communist Josip Broz Tito—the inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration man with blue eyes on a white horse—started and judicial settlement. the resistance against the Germans and • From 1946 to 1970, dozens of countries Italians as well as against the Serb and Croat from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South "After the Great War, America nationalist extremists who were waging war achieved independence. peace will reign all against each other. The symbol of Tito's Communist Party was a red star, which they "After a while some great kings, as well as over the world. wore on their hats. some small ones, will start to fake their Many new states will respect for the court while doing whatever • The first territory liberated by Tito and his army was the region around the city of please... Many small wars will begin appear...black, white, they Uzice. They held it against German and because of this... Thousands upon thousands Italian forces for exactly 73 days, and then will die, but there will be no big wars." red and yellow. Tito and his army were forced to flee over the Historical Facts: An international court River Drina to Bosnia. Guerrilla war • Korean War (1950–1953), Vietnam was fought all over Yugoslavia. War (1959–1975), Afghanistan War is formed, which does • By May 1945, the Germans were (1979–1988), Nicaragua and the not allow countries to defeated by the alliance of the USSR, Iran–Contra scandal (1979–1989), etc. USA, UK and France, and by the end of fight each other. This the year Yugoslavia was united. Tito "There will be a few wars around the court will be above entered Belgrade on a white horse and kingdom of Israel, but sooner or later made the Royal Palace his residence. the peace will come even there. In these all kings..." Communist Yugoslavia was formed, and wars, brothers fight brothers; then they gained more territories from the neighmake peace and kiss each other, but bouring state of Italy. their hatred remains... All these small wars are initiated by the great kingdoms because of their wickedness and malice; Predictions and Events following the End of World War II (1946 to those who fight and butcher each other present) do it because of their blind stupidity." [Editor's note: Unlike the previous writings, the priest Zaharich Historical Facts: is now speaking directly in his diary about his conversations with • In 1947, the State of Israel was founded in the Middle East. Mitar Tarabich.] In 1967, a war—known as the Six-Day War—broke out between "Mitar told me that the man with blue eyes and the star upon Israel and its Arab neighbours. In 1975, civil war broke out in his forehead would break the long-lasting love with our Christian Lebanon, with involvement of the Iranians, Syrians, Palestinians Orthodox brothers, the Russians. He would not be grateful to and Israelis. them for the fact that he was sitting on our throne because they • Other wars included the Iraq–Iran War (1980–1988), the had put him there in the first place. A great hatred would erupt Iraq–Kuwait War (1991), etc. between us and the Russians. Blood would be spilled among our people. These wounds would be quickly healed and we would "In our country, the time of peace and prosperity will last for a again be friends with the Russians, but never sincerely, only long time. Many a generation will be born to live and die in formally, pretending for the sake of others not to understand how peace, knowing about war only through wise books, words and we cheat and lie to each other." different strange apparitions." Historical Facts: Historical Facts: • In 1948, Tito refused to accept orders from USSR leader • In 1965 and 1966, economic reforms in Yugoslavia produced Joseph Stalin—the man who formed him politically in the early what has been called an economic revolution. Total industrial 1920s and sent him back to Yugoslavia to organise a communist production in 1957 increased by 70 per cent over that of 1953, party. The USSR denounced Tito, accusing him of major and by 1966 it was more than double the 1957 figure. By 1967, deviations from orthodox communist policy. Tito purged and prices had been stabilised, savings were increasing steadily and executed members of his party who opposed this decision. labour productivity had risen by about seven per cent. Cordial relations with communist USSR resumed after Stalin's • TV and radio enjoyed a great boom in the 1950s and 1960s. STRANGE Times 2006


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"Our kingdom will be strong and well loved and respected by everybody. People will eat only white bread and whole wheat just when they want to. Everybody will ride around in carts with no oxen. People will travel in the sky, looking down upon our land as if they had climbed on the doubled Tara Mountain." Historical Facts: • There was economic prosperity, coupled with the introduction of the car, bus, van and air transportation (Yugoslavia started its own airline company).

Yugoslavia. The similar declaration by Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1992, and the ensuing fighting, marked the outbreak of the Bosnian–Croatian–Serbian War. "Many summers this trouble will last, and nobody will be able to stop it, because that nation will grow like grass. One who will be born many summers after you will be honest and intelligent; he will deal with them in peace. We shall live in peace—they there, us here and there." Historical Facts: • The Bosnian–Croatian–Serbian War lasted for five years (1991–1995). One of the major aspects of the conflict was international involvement, both diplomatic and military (by NATO). The international community took a series of limited measures including peace initiatives and peace plans. "They there, us here and there": after the war, ethnic Croatians lived only in Croatia while ethnic Serbs lived in both Serbia and Croatia.

"Serbia will prosper best while the man with blue eyes on a white horse governs, one who will come to Serbia bringing some kind of new religion. He will ascend our throne, and will be strong and healthy, living a long life close to one hundred years. He will very much like to hunt, and one time while hunting he will accidentally fall from his white horse and thus lose his leg. From this wound he will die, not because of his great age." Historical Facts: • Tito's leadership brought economic prosperity and communism to Yugoslavia. Tito lived until 87 years of age (1892–1980). He did not have a hunting accident but he "People will drill wells deep in the enjoyed horse-riding and hunting. The real cause of his death was ground and dig out gold, which will diabetes, which caused his leg to be give them light, speed and power, amputated.

and the Earth will shed tears of sorrow because there will be much more gold and light on its surface than in its interior."

"After him our land will be governed by some kind of commission, but it will never be as it was. Even though the people in our kingdom will forget about misery and hunger and will live in great wealth, brother will start to hate and think evil of brother." Historical Facts: • After Tito's death, Yugoslavia was ruled by "collective presidency" until 1991. In the 1980s, tensions ran high in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, which had become autonomous in 1968 after riots protesting against Serbian control. Seeking more independence and calling for a separate republic, the majority population of ethnic Albanians clashed with Serbians and Montenegrins throughout the decade.

"On our borders and over them a new nation will appear. They will grow like grass after a deluge. They will be good and honest, and they will answer our hatred with reason. They will take care of each other like brothers. And we, because of our madness, shall think that we know everything and that we can do anything, and we shall baptise them with some new fate of ours, but all that will be in vain because they will believe only in themselves and in nobody else. Big trouble will come of it, because this nation will be brave." Historical Facts: • After the parliaments of Croatia and Slovenia passed declarations of independence on 25 June 1991, the Yugoslavian Federal Government ordered the Serb-dominated army to suppress the secessionists. A 10-day war was fought in Slovenia, but ended with a Serb defeat. The war in Croatia lasted seven months, ending in January 1992. These secessions and the declaration of independence by the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in September 1991 marked the end of the de facto existence of 108 • NEXUS

"You see, my godfather, when the world starts to live in peace and abundance after the Second Big War, all of that will be just a bitter illusion because many will forget God and they will worship only their own human intelligence... And do you know, my godfather, what is human intelligence compared to God's will and knowledge? Not even a single drop in the ocean." Historical Facts: • With the increase in scientific knowledge and the consequent scientific explanation of phenomena formerly considered supernatural, atheism became a more natural and less despised philosophical trend.

"Men will build a box and within will be some kind of gadget with images, but they will not be able to communicate with me already dead, even though this image gadget will be as close to this other world as hairs on the human scalp are close to each other. With the help of this image gadget, man will be able to see everything that is happening all over the world." Historical Facts: • Invention of television and the computer. • Influence of the Internet, CNN, Al-Jazeera, Fox News, CCTV, etc. • Searching Google with the search words "Ghost" and "Detector" takes us to this entry: "EMF Detectors. EMF detectors were designed to detect electromagnetic emissions from microwave ovens and high-tension electrical wires. EMF detectors alert investigators to the presence of ghosts by measuring electromagnetic distortion in the two to seven milligauss range. The models that come most highly recommended by paranormal investigators are the TriField EMF Detector and the TriField Natural EM." "People will drill wells deep in the ground and dig out gold, which will give them light, speed and power, and the Earth will shed tears of sorrow because there will be much more gold and light on its surface than in its interior. The Earth will suffer because of these open wounds. Instead of working in the fields, people will dig everywhere, in right and wrong places, but the


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real power will be all around them, not being able to tell them, 'Come on, take me; don't you see that I am here, all around you?' Only after many a summer, people will remember this real power, and then they will realise how stupid it was to dig all those holes." Historical Facts: • Oil (petroleum), also known as "black gold", powers the car, electric generator, plane, etc. Exploration to find oilfields is an economically risky task, but in the 1980s the oil exploration technique was perfected, although the risks of discovering economically non-viable oilfields still existed. Oil experts have estimated that by 2050, world oil reserves will run dry.

of the world, these will be the worst of offspring. Only weaklings will be born, and nobody will be strong enough to give birth to a real hero." Historical Facts: • After the split of Yugoslavia into Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, UN peacekeeping forces were stationed in the Balkan states. Most of them were male, so there was the possibility of their bedding Serbian females. Or this may refer to the widespread, systematic rapes during the Balkan War. • The Serbs view those peacekeeping forces as foreign invaders that sided with Croatian, Bosnian and Albanian Muslims in Kosovo.

"This power will also be present in people, but it will take a long time before they discover it and use it. Thus man will live for a "At one time we shall disappear from this land of ours. We long, long time, not being able to know himself. There will be shall go to the north, and then realising our stupid deed we shall many learned men who will think, through their books, that they return. When we come back, we shall wise up and chase away the know and can do everything. They will be the great obstacle for unholy one, not to see him, in God's name, ever again." this realisation (self-knowledge), but Historical Facts: once men get this knowledge then • By the time the Balkan War people will see what kind of delusion ended in 1995, the Serbian, Croatian it was when they listened to their and Bosnian economies were ruined learned men. When that happens, and there was widespread unemploypeople will be so sorry that they didn't "Men will build a box and within ment. Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian discover it before, because this have to go to Germany, will be some kind of gadget with people knowledge is so simple. Denmark, Belgium, etc. in the north "People will do many stupid things, to work. In Kosovo, Serbs have images... With the help of this thinking that they know and can do become refugees. everything, not knowing anything. image gadget, man will be able to • As of June 2004, there were Wise men will appear in the Orient, see everything that is happening 200,000 Serb refugees from Kosovo, and their wisdom will cross all seas and only 80,000 Serbs remained in all over the world." and frontiers, but people will not Kosovo. As of March 2004, KFOR trust this wisdom for a long time, and in Kosovo had 19,000 troops from a this real truth they will proclaim for a peak of 50,000; and as of June 2004, lie. Their souls will not be possessed SFOR in Bosnia had 7,000 troops by the Devil, but by something much from the peak of 60,000. worse. They will believe that their illu• As of June 2004, there was news sion is the real truth, although there will be no truth in their from Kosovo that ethnic Albanians were chasing ethnic Serbs heads. from Kosovo, using mob riots to destroy churches and houses "Here at home it will be the same as all over the world. People belonging to the Serbs, while KFOR troops were behaving like will start to hate clean air and this divine freshness and all divine lame ducks. beauty, and will hide in rankness. Nobody will force them to do that, but they will do it of their own free will. Here in Kremna, "The whole world will be plagued by a strange disease and many a field will become a meadow and many a home will be nobody will be able to find a cure; everybody will say, 'I know, I abandoned, but then those who have left will come back to heal know, because I am learned and smart', but nobody will know themselves by breathing fresh air. In Serbia, it will not be anything. People will think and think, but they will not be able to possible to distinguish a man from a woman. Everybody will find the right cure, which will be with God's help, all around them dress the same. This calamity will come to us from abroad, but it and in themselves. will stay with us the longest. A groom will take a bride, but "Man will travel to other worlds to find lifeless deserts there, nobody will know who is who. People will be lost and more and and still, God forgive him, he will think that he knows better than more senseless day by day. Men will be born not knowing who God himself. There, except for the eternal peace of God, he will was their grandfather and great-grandfather. People will think see nothing, but he will sense with his heart and soul all of God's that they know everything, but not a thing they will know." beauty and power. People will drive in rigs upon the Moon and Historical Facts: stars. They will look for life, but life similar to ours they will not • As has been happening all over the world, people are leaving find. It will be there, but they will not be able to understand it rural areas to seek jobs in the big cities. More women are having and see that it is life. One who goes there, God forgive him, not their hair cut short and are wearing trousers, as compared to the believing in God as it is proper for an honourable and decent time of Tarabich. Children born out of wedlock has become person, when he comes back he will say, 'Oh, you people who commonplace. mention God's name with doubt, go there where I was; then you will see what is God's mind and power'. "The Serbs will separate from each other and they will say, 'I "The more people will know, the less they will love and care for am not a Serb; I am not a Serb'. The unholy one will infiltrate each other. Hatred will be so great between them that they will this nation and bed with Serbian sisters, mothers and wives. He care more for their different gadgets than for their relatives. Man will sire such children that among the Serbs, since the beginning will trust his gadget more than his first neighbour... STRANGE Times 2006


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The Prophecies of Mitar Tarabich "Among people of a nation far in the north, a little man will appear who will teach men about love and compassion, but there will be many hypocrites around him so that he will have many ups and downs. Not one of these hypocrites will want to know what is real human grace, but his wise books will remain and all the words he will say, and then people will see how self-deceived they were. "Those who will read and write different books with numbers will think that they know the most. These learned men will let their lives be led by their calculations, and they will do and live exactly how these numbers tell them. "Among these learned men there will be good and evil men. The evil ones will do evil deeds. "They will poison air and water and spread pestilence over the seas, rivers and earth, and people will start to die suddenly of various ailments. "Those good and wise will see that all this effort and hard work is not worth a penny and that it leads to the destruction of the world, and instead of looking for wisdom in numbers they will start to seek it in meditation."

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Predictions and Events during World War III (2050–2100) "When they start to meditate more, they will be closer to God's wisdom, but it will be too late because the evil ones will already ravage the whole Earth and men will start to die in great numbers. Then people will run away from cities to the country and look for the mountains with three crosses, and there, inside, they will be able to breathe and drink water. Those who will escape will save themselves and their families, but not for long, because a great famine will appear. There will be plenty of food in towns and villages, but it will be poisoned. Many will eat because of hunger and die immediately. Those who will fast to the end will survive, because the Holy Ghost will save them and they will be close to God. "The greatest and the angriest will strike against the mightiest and the most furious! When this horrible war starts, woe to those armies that fly over skies; better off will be those who fight on ground and water. "People waging this war will have their scientists who will invent different and strange cannonballs. When they explode, these cannonballs instead of killing will


cast a spell over all that lives—people, armies and livestock. This spell will make them sleep, and sleep they will instead of fighting, and after this they will come back to their senses. "We will not fight in this war, but others will do battle over our heads. Burning people will fall from the sky over Pozega [a town in Serbia]. Only one country at the end of the world, surrounded by great seas, as big as our Europe [Australia?], will live in peace, without any troubles... Upon it or over it, not a single cannonball will explode! Those who will run and hide in the mountains with three crosses will find shelter and will be saved to live after in abundance, happiness and love, because there will be no more wars..." ∞

Editor's Note:

Neo, the originator of this article, advises that all credit should go to Mitar Tarabich, Zaharije Zaharich and the person who translated these prophecies from Serbian to English. Note that we have retained his anglicised spellings of Serbian names. Readers may wish to refer to an earlier article, "The Prophetic Visions of Mitar Tarabich", which we published in NEXUS vol. 3, no. 3.

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PROPHETIC MESSAGES FROM THE HOPI ELDERS from John Hogue, April 2001

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he Hopi Native Americans of the US Southwest have an ancient prophecy that has long foreseen the destruction of our present world through a purification by fire. You will know that the times for this purification are at hand with the fulfilment of a series of prophecies, known as the "final warnings". The first set of warnings was meant to alert the Hopi elders of a future time when the purification of the world was at hand, after which they were expected to break their silence and warn the world of a second set of predictions hastening the onset of the purification of the world by fire. Here is the first set of warnings:

Warning: An iron horse will come to the land of the red man. Fulfilment: This is the train; it appeared in the 19th century. Warning: The white man will raise metal wires into the skies. Fulfilment: These are telegraph lines of the 19th century and, later, the power lines of the 20th century. STRANGE Times 2006

Warning: Cobwebs will crisscross the skies. Fulfilment: These are the contrails of planes and jets. Warning: The powers of the red, the swastika and the Sun will threaten Turtle Island. Fulfilment: North America seen from space looks like the outline of a turtle. (Do not ask me how pre-Columbian seers knew that.) In World War II and in the Cold War that followed, these three "powers" did threaten North America. The swastika of the Nazis and, later, the "red" forces of the Communists of Russia and China beset Turtle Island. The powers of the Sun did directly scorch the earth of native lands when the white man tested his atomic bombs in Nevada and New Mexico near the Hopi sacred lands in Arizona. Warning: The white man will create a gourd of ashes that will lay waste to the land and keep it infertile for generations. Fulfilment: These are atomic bombs. Radiation is the sterilising plague. Warning: The fulfilment of this first set of signs will warrant the Hopi elders to end their long silence and spread their prophetic www.nexusmagazine.com

message that the great purification is at hand. They will share their message and their wisdom with the people of the world so that everyone may prepare or soften its blow upon the Earth. Fulfilment: Indeed, over 50 years ago, the Hopi elders agreed that the first wave of signs had all been fulfilled. They therefore began warning the world about the prophecies of a coming purification. Some of the elders, such as Thomas Banyaca, have explained the prophecies on national television and have spoken before the full assembly of the United Nations. Now comes the second set of final warnings: Warning: A tribe of red-hatted and redcloaked people will come in great numbers from the East, travelling through the air. They will colonise the Western American lands and then scatter and disappear. Fulfilment: The Tibetans came calling on the Hopi elders when the first three precursory signs in their own 1,200-year-old prophecy concerning the transplantation of their religion to America were fulfilled. This prophecy, which came from Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism, says: "When the iron bird flies NEXUS • 111

THE TWILIGHT ZONE [a reference to airplanes] and the horse runs on wheels [cars], the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the Earth, and the Dharma will come to the land of the red men." Since the 1970s, the Dalai Lama and a number of maroon-robed priests fulfilled Hopi prophecy by regularly paying a visit to the Hopi elders and moving on. Many Hopis also believe that a later visitation in the 1980s of red-cloaked/capped followers of Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh, coming in their thousands to eastern Oregon, completes the prophecy. Even a handful of Rajneeshees, aware of the prophecy, paid a visit to the Hopi elder-in-chief, Grandfather David Monongye, in 1985, before they and their fellow red-clothed travellers soon vanished from sight. I report on this meeting in detail in my book, Messiahs: The Visions and Prophecies for the Second Coming. Warning: The white man will steal rocks from the Moon. This is a danger sign, that we are in the final days before the purification. Fulfilment: The Apollo Moon landings unearthed (or should I say "unmooned"?) hundreds of pounds of Moon rocks, taking them back to Earth. Indeed, I saw one sitting under glass at the United Nations, just outside the main theatre where the Hopi elders shared their prophecies with the UN assembly just a few years before. Warning: The white man will build a permanent house in the sky. This is the final warning before the purification. Fulfilment: MIR may have blazed its way down to the sea in fragments, but the

far more permanent International Space Station traverses our skies today. It will be fully operational in a few more years. One could argue that it is already operational and therefore the times of the purification have come.

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here are hundreds of prophecies from other apocalyptic traditions that support the idea of some death and rebirth of the world shortly after the turn of the millennium. Those who have read my books know that I interpret the coming Hopi purification by fire in two ways. If fear and robotic adherence to fossilised traditions remain the motivating forces of our destiny, then the "fires" of war, global warming, collective anger and stress will burn our civilisation down before the next 50 years are out. However, if in the same period of 50 years the message of personal transformation and meditation is heeded by enough individuals around the world and they start changing themselves, then the "fires" coming to purify the world will be those of love, awareness, genius and compassion. I believe we will see the blazing of both inner and outer fires in the coming years. The question then remains: which fire would you like to be purified by? With that said, I would like to share with you a message I received off the Internet. It is purportedly an open letter of advice on how to get through the year 2001, coming from a spokesperson for the Hopi elders. I have not yet confirmed whether this message is indeed from the Hopi elders, but my own understanding of their prophecies makes me presume that it is authentic. Here it is:

To my fellow swimmers: There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore; they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know that the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our heads above water. And I say, see who is there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves, for the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves. Banish the word "struggle" from your attitude and vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we have been waiting for. The river is a metaphor for the fast white water currents of our present times in this new millennium. The call to abandon "the shore" we know and flow down the current of an unknown destiny is a common theme in the Hopi purification prophecy. I have heard the elders put it in another metaphorical way: people will "drop dead from their own fear of change" if they do not embrace the coming changes. Those people who can not only embrace change but celebrate their journey into an unknown and new millennium will greatly benefit from the coming purification of the world. Certainly, the call to celebrate life—and make every one of life's simple actions sacred—is a common message the Hopi share with those modern mystics and prophets like Adi Da, Gurdjieff and Osho. All of them promote a vision of a coming new humanity that transcends its past attachments through meditation and celebration of life. Happy floating down the unknown river, to you all! ∞ (Source: John Hogue, 16 April 2001, from his HogueProphecy Archives at website www.hogueprophecy.com. A self-styled "rogue scholar", Hogue is the author of Messiahs: The Visions and Prophecies for the Second Coming, Nostradamus: The Complete Prophecies and The Last Pope: The Decline and Fall of the Church of Rome.)

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N IGHT OF THE R ED S KY The Prophetic Vision of "Grandfather"

In the 1920s, an Apache wise man had a Vision of four prophecies that foretold death and destruction for mankind, unless we incorporate Spirit in our daily lives. Some of these prophecies may already have come true.

by Tom Brown, Jr © 1991 The Tracker, Inc. PO Box 173 Asbury, NJ 08802, USA Telephone: +1 (908) 479 4681 Fax: +1 (908) 479 6867 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.trackerschool.com

STRANGE Times 2006

A number of people can predict the future, but few get the timing correct. "Grandfather" was an Apache wise man and scout, named Stalking Wolf, who grew up outside white man's influence. His many predictions not only came true in the manner he predicted, but also when he predicted. Tom Brown, Jr learned extensively from Grandfather for twenty years, from their first meeting when Tom was seven years old. Stalking Wolf was the real-life grandfather of Tom's best friend at the time. The following excerpt from Tom's book, The Quest, tells of Grandfather's predictions for all of mankind.

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ooking back, I can clearly see that Grandfather's prophecies, unlike anything else, had the greatest influence on my life. At the time they had little more effect than to frighten me and cause me to sit up and take notice. It wasn't until after his prophecies began to come true that their haunting impact began to affect me in a very profound way. More than any other person—prophet, religious leader or psychic—I have ever met, Grandfather's prophecies, on both a major and a minor scale, came true exactly at the time he prophesied and exactly as he prophesied. With that record, I could not help but feel the impact of these prophecies on my life. Grandfather could foretell the future with tremendous accuracy. Not only could he precisely tell us what would happen in the next moment, day, week or year, but with the same accuracy he could predict the possible futures for ten years and more away. It was not long before I began to keep detailed records of his predictions, along with other notes I kept on survival skills, tracking, awareness and things of the Spirit. I received from Grandfather hundreds of personal, minor predictions, and well over half have since come true. Along with the minor personal prophecies was a list of 103 major predictions, of which, to date, over 65 have become absolutely true, not only in time and place but also in the exact order in which they were predicted to happen. Grandfather said that there was not future, only possible futures. The 'now' was like the palm of a hand, with each finger being the possible future, and, as always, one of the futures was always the most powerful, the way that the main course of events would surely take us. Thus his predictions were of the possible future, which meant that he always left a choice. "If a man could make the right choices," he said, "then he could significantly alter the course of the possible future. No man, then, should feel insignificant, for it only takes one man to alter the consciousness of mankind through the Spirit-that-moves-in-all-things. In essence, one thought influences another, then another, until the thought is made manifest throughout all of Creation. It is the same thought, the same force, that causes an entire flock of birds to change course, as the flock then has one mind." Out of all the personal and major prophecies that Grandfather foretold, there are four that stand out above all the rest. It is these four that mark the destruction of man and life on Earth, as we know it to exist now. Yet Grandfather said that we could still change things, even after the first two prophecies came true, but that there could be no turning back after the third. Now that we have gone well past the second prophecy, danger and destruction are very apparent, and our only recourse is to work harder to change what has possibly become the inevitable. The urgency that I feel—now, more than ever—is a direct result of the second, impossible prophecy coming true. It is the reason that I teach, sometimes with a certain www.nexusmagazine.com

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desperation, and constantly with the sense that we are quickly one might imagine finding in a jungle. In fact, the whole place running out of time. looked like a jungle—so out of place from the pine, oak and blueI should have worked harder and with that same desperation at berry that is typical in the Pine Barrens. As we sat down, a deeper a much earlier date, but, like the rest of mankind, it took a strong spiritual sense of awareness came over me, and it was then that I message to get me motivated. I should have known that these noticed the gravestones. things he prophesied would some day come true, because his perThis was the place of a very old and probably long-forgotten sonal, minor predictions were coming true daily. cemetery, possibly belonging to the town that had once been here. He so accurately foretold of Rick's death on a white horse, that I The stones were old; some lay flat on the ground and others stood would some day teach, that I would have a son—and that taking upright, though none was straight. Plants and bushes had overrun him into the Pine Barrens for the first time would forever change many of the stones, and I could barely make out the markings on my life. He predicted the formation of my school, my books, my the stones. The weathering process had worn away many of the family, and even the horrible mistakes I would make as I tried to names and dates, making them barely readable. live within society. At once we were in awe, humbled and Yet with all of this coming true on a daily reverent in this place of death; at the same basis, I simply would not believe or accept time, we were amazed that Grandfather had that the major prophecy of man's destruction found it so easily. To my knowledge, none would come true, and its reality hit me hard. us had been there before, nor had He so accurately foretold of It was then that the urgency made itself Grandfather ever spoken of this graveyard. known. of Rick's death on a white Yet for some reason he seemed to be drawn it, knowing that it was there on some horse, that I would some to remember so vividly the "night of the unseen spiritual level, at least unseen to us. day teach, that I would four prophecies"—as I have become I suspect now, as I look back, that he knew accustomed to calling that night when that it would become a teaching lesson for have a son... Grandfather first made us aware of their posus. sibility. We had been with Grandfather for He walked over to a gravestone that was five years at the time and were accustomed partially hidden by foxgrape vines and genHe predicted the to his prophecies and their accuracy. tly pulled them away. After a long formation of my school, Our ability to understand the things moment, he motioned us to come over. of the Spirit world were as sure as our We could barely make out the name on my books, my family, ability to survive and track. Very little the grave or the dates, but at the bottom and even the horrible of what society calls "the paranormal" was carved clearly: "12 years old". mistakes I would make shocked us any more, because miracles Grandfather then spoke. "Who are were part of our everyday existence. these people; who is this boy? What as I tried to live Grandfather was a living miracle, and did they work for and what were their within society. so many of the things that he did on a hopes, dreams and visions? Did they daily basis, sometimes unconsciously, just work physically or did they work would be considered miraculous by for the things beyond the flesh, for a most. Yet as savvy as we were spiritugrander purpose? Certainly they ally, the night of the four prophecies affected the Spirit-that-moves-in-allshocked us like nothing we had ever things, but did they really work to the experienced before. best of their ability to make things betWe had been hiking all day without much of a break, making ter for the future of their grandchildren, or did they do nothing our way to a place where we were going to camp, atop a small hill other than to perpetuate the myth of society? Were they happy, that I now call Prophecy Hill. It was a typical midsummer hike: joyous and filled with spiritual rapture, or did they just lead lives hot, humid and dusty, with no water available along our entire of labour and mediocrity? And did this boy live close to the Earth travel route. As usual, we still took time to stop frequently or take and the Creator, or did he just give up his youth, his sense of side trips to explore various areas along our route. The adventure adventure, to toil, as did his parents and their parents before and exploration kept us fresh and eager, making the fatigue, heat them? This boy was exactly your age, and I suspect he had hopes and thirst hardly factors. and dreams much like yours. But this is his legacy, lying in a forMany times along the way, Grandfather would stop and teach gotten grave." us—not physical lessons of survival, tracking or awareness, but "But, Grandfather," I said, "isn't it enough just to be happy and lessons dealing with the awareness of Spirit. Very often he would live your life fully?" discuss the future and, almost as frequently, the past—the distant After a long moment of silence, Grandfather answered. "It is past. not enough that man be just happy in the flesh, but he must also At one point we stopped along the deer trail we were travelling be happy and joyous in spirit. For without spiritual happiness and and followed Grandfather through some heavy brush. The trees rapture, life is shallow. Without seeking the things of the Spirit, and shrubs were far different than those throughout the rest of the life is half lived and empty. And by spiritual life I do not mean Pine Barrens, and I immediately knew this place as an old homejust setting aside one hour of one day of one week for worship, stead or town of some sort. Even though the buildings had long but to seek the things of the spirit every moment of every day. I since rotted away, the plants and trees still marked the spot where ask you, then: What did these people do to seek spiritual enlightcivilisation had once stood. Passing through several very thick enment and rapture? Did they just give in to a life that was little areas, we finally entered a grove of very tall, old sycamore trees. more than work? They were given a choice every day of their From their branches and up their trunks ran huge vines, the kind lives—as you will be given a choice to seek the rapture of the

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Spirit or to resign yourselves to a life of meaningless work. The end result is always the same: forgotten graves and forgotten dreams of forgotten people. It is not important that anyone notice or remember, but that you work to touch God and affect in a positive way the consciousness of the Spirit-that-moves-in-all-things, thus bringing the consciousness of man closer to the Creator." We left the graveyard without a word and headed up to the campsite on the hill. By the time we reached the camp, it had cooled off and the Sun had long since set. As we built shelters and a fire and gathered food, time seemed to fly by unnoticed, as my mind was thoroughly engrossed in thoughts of the lessons in the graveyard. I wondered how much I might be like that nameless dead boy in that forgotten grave. Was I just seeking the flesh and not working hard enough in the things of the Spirit? It was then that I realised the deeper lessons of what Grandfather was trying to teach me. I realised then that I should live life as if I were to die tomorrow, for that is what happened to that young boy. No one can be assured of another day, but we must live each day fully, in flesh and most of all in Spirit. It isn't important that anyone remember who we were, but that we made a positive change in the consciousness of the Spirit-that-moves-in-all-things, the life force of the Earth, and, in doing so, find spiritual rapture and touch the Creator.

It is not a question as to whether we make a difference, for we all make a difference, each of us in our own way. It is the difference we make that is important." "So if we live a life that is close to the Spirit, seek the spiritual rapture of oneness, that will affect the outcome of life," I said. My statement was more a question than a declaration. "It is not enough," Grandfather said, "just to seek the things of the Spirit on a personal level. To do so is selfish, and those who just seek the spiritual realms for themselves are not working to change the Spirit that moves through the consciousness of man. Instead they are running away, hiding from their responsibility and using their wisdom for their own glorification. Spiritual man must then work for a principle, a cause, a Quest far greater than the glorification of self, in order to affect the Spirit that can change the course of man's destruction." I sat for a long time in the quietude of the night, trying desperately to understand what Grandfather had told me. In essence, it was not enough to work for spiritual enlightenment for self, but to work for the spiritual enlightenment of all of mankind. To work only for self, to cloister oneself in the seeking of spiritual rapture, is to run from this responsibility. What Grandfather was saying is that a spiritual person must take the wisdom and philosophy of the Earth and bring it back into modern society. Grandfather spoke again. "Trying to live a spiritual life in modsat by the fire after the work was ern society is the most difficult path done, relaxing, still deep in one can walk. It is a path of pain, of thought about the boy in the isolation and of shaken faith, but that graveyard. Grandfather sat at the far is the only way that our Vision can "It is very easy to live a spiritual end of the fire, his eyes closed, but I become reality. Thus the true Quest suspected that he was not sleeping. life away from man, but the truth in life is to live the philosophy of the In the firelight, his features appeared Earth within the confines of man. of Vision in spiritual life can only There is no church or temple we need more that of a spirit than of flesh. Quietly he leaned forward and to seek peace, for ours are the temples be tested and become a reality answered the many questions I had of the wilderness. There are no spiriwhen lived near society." on my mind. At times, his ability to tual leaders, for our hearts and the know what was on my mind was Creator are our only leaders. Our unnerving, sometimes making me numbers are scattered; few speak our angry to think that he could know language or understand the things that my thoughts. we live. Thus we walk this path "Did you ever watch a flock of sandpipers on the beach, how alone, for each Vision, each Quest, is unique unto the individual. they ebb and flow with the tides, becoming at times not a gatherBut we must walk within society or our Vision dies, for a man not ing of individual animals but one organism, moving as a unit living his Vision is living death." together along the surf? When they burst into flight, their coheFor a long time there was no other conversation. I retired into siveness is even more startling and wondrous. At once they all my own thoughts and doubts. I did not want to live within sociwill be flying in a certain direction, and then in an instant the ety, for the wilderness was my home, my love, my life and my entire flock will turn simultaneously and take a new direction. spiritual rapture. I could not see why a man could not live his "Studied closely, there is no one bird that makes the decision to Vision in the purity of wilderness, away from the distractions of turn, but it seems to be a Spirit, a collective consciousness, that society. I could feel no urgency or see any reason why I should runs through the flock instantly. When viewed from afar, the take what I have learned back to society. flock appears to be one animal, one organism, one consciousness, Grandfather's voice shattered my thoughts. "The Earth is dying. governed by the collective force and spirit of all the individuals. The destruction of man is close, so very close, and we must all It is this same consciousness that runs through man, Nature and work to change that path of destruction. We must pay for the sins the Earth—that which we call the 'Spirit-that-moves-in-all-things', of our grandfathers and grandmothers, for we have long been a or the 'life force'. society that kills its grandchildren to feed its children. There can "I suspect," he continued, "that it is but one bird that creates the be no rest, and we cannot run away; far too many in the past have thought that turns the flock, and the one thought becomes immerun away. It is very easy to live a spiritual life away from man, but diately manifested in all the others. The individual then tranthe truth of Vision in spiritual life can only be tested and become scends self and becomes one with the whole. Thus, at once, the a reality when lived near society." bird moves within the flock and the flock moves within the bird. "How do I know that we are so close to that destruction?" I So, then, do not ask what you can do to affect the life force in a asked. positive way, for the same Spirit that moves within the birds also "I had a Vision," Grandfather said. "It was a Vision of the moves within you. One person, one idea, one thought can turn the destruction of man. But man was given four warnings to that flock of society away from the destructive path of modern times. destruction, two of which gave man a chance to change his ways

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and two of which would give the children of the Earth time to escape the Creator's wrath." "How will I know these warnings, these signs?" I asked. Grandfather continued. "They will be obvious to you and those who have learned to listen to the Spirit of the Earth; but to those who live within the flesh and know only flesh, there is no knowing or understanding. When these signs, these warnings and prophecies, are made manifest, then you will understand the urgency of what I speak. Then you will understand why people must not just work for their own spiritual rapture but to bring that rapture to the consciousness of modern man."

realised, as the elder spoke, that he was the spirit of a man—a man no longer of flesh, but a man who had once walked a spiritual path, possibly a shaman of this tribe. It was then that he understood what the old one was trying to tell him. The elder spoke softly. "Welcome to what will be called the 'land of starvation'. The world will one day look upon all of this with horror and will blame the famine on the weather and the Earth. This will be the first warning to the world that man cannot live beyond the laws of Creation, nor can he fight Nature. If the world sees that it is to blame for this famine, this senseless starvation, then a great lesson will be learned. But I am afraid that the world will not blame itself, but that the blame will be placed on randfather had been wandering for several years and was Nature. The world will not see that it created this place of death well into his forties when the Vision of the four signs was by forcing these people to have larger families. When the natural given to him. He had just finished his third Vision Quest laws of the land were broken, the people starved, as Nature at the Eternal Cave when the Vision made itself known. He had starves the deer in winter when their numbers are too many for the been seated at the mouth of the cave, awaiting the rising Sun, land to bear." when the spirit of the warrior appeared to him. He felt as if he The old one continued. "These people should have been left were in a state somewhere between dream and reality, sleep and alone. They once understood how to live with the Earth, and their wakefulness, until the spirit finally spoke and he knew that it was wealth was measured in happiness, love and peace. But all of that not his imagination. The spirit called Grandfather's name and was taken from them when the world saw theirs as a primitive beckoned him to follow. society. It was then that the world showed As Grandfather stood, he was sudthem how to farm and live in a less primdenly transported to another world. itive way. It was the world that forced These things you may never see, Again, he thought that he was dreamthem to live outside the laws of Creation but you must work to stop them ing, but his flesh could feel the reality and, as a result, is now forcing them to of this place; his senses knew that this die." and pass these warnings on to was a state of abject reality, but in The old man slowly began to walk your grandchildren. another time and place. away, back to the death and despair. He The spirit warrior spoke to turned one last time to Grandfather, and Grandfather. "These are the things said: "This will be the first sign. There They are the possible futures of yet to come that will mark the will come starvation before and after this what will come if man does not destruction of man. These things you starvation, but none will capture the come back to the Earth and begin may never see, but you must work to attention of the world with such impact stop them and pass these warnings on as does this one. The children of the to obey the laws of Creation to your grandchildren. They are the Earth will know the lessons that are held and the Creator. possible futures of what will come if in all of this pain and death, but the man does not come back to the Earth world will only see it as drought and and begin to obey the laws of famine, blaming Nature instead of itself." Creation and the Creator. There are four signs, four warnings, With that, the old one disappeared, and Grandfather found himthat only the children of the Earth will understand. Each warning self back at the mouth of the Eternal Cave. marks the beginning of a possible future, and as each warning [Author's note: This is the great African famine that inspired becomes reality, so too does the future it marks." the "We are the World" Live Aid relief effort.] With that, the spirit warrior was gone and Grandfather was left Grandfather lay back on the ground, thinking about what he had alone in this strange, new world. witnessed. He knew that it had been a Vision of the possible The world he was in was like nothing he had ever known. It future and that the spirit of the warrior had brought him to it to was a dry place with little vegetation. In the distance he saw a teach him what could happen. Grandfather knew that people all village, yet it was made out of tents and cloth rather than from the over the Earth were now starving—but why was this starvation so materials of the Earth. As he drew closer to the village, the stench critical, so much more important than all the rest, even more of death overwhelmed him and he grew sick. He could hear important than the starvation that was taking place now? children crying, the moaning of elders and the sounds of sickness It was then that Grandfather recalled that the tribal elder had and despair. Piles of bodies lay in open pits awaiting burial, their said that the entire world would take notice, but that the world contorted faces and frail frames telling of death from starvation. would not learn the lessons of what the death and famine were The bodies appeared more like skeletons than flesh, and children, trying to teach. The children would die in vain. adults and elders all looked the same, their once dark-brown Grandfather looked out across the barren land that surrounded complexions now ash-grey. As Grandfather entered the village, the Eternal Cave to try to re-establish the reality of his 'now'. He the horror of living starvation struck him deeper. Children could said that it was still hard to discern between waking reality and barely walk, elders lay dying, and everywhere were the cries of the world of Vision, but he felt that he was back into his time and pain and fear. The stench of death and the sense of hopelessness place. overwhelmed Grandfather, threatening to drive him from the He told me that the Eternal Cave was always a place to find village. Visions of the possible and probable futures, and it was not It was then that an elder appeared to Grandfather, at first speakuncommon for the searcher to have a Vision at the mouth of the ing in a language that he could not understand. Grandfather cave, not just inside.

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In a state of physical and emotional exhaustion, Grandfather all about him, all at once, was disaster. Piles of garbage reached fell into a deep sleep, but it was in this sleep that the warrior spirit to the skies, forests lay cut and dying, coastlines were flooded and appeared to him again and brought the remainder of the first sign storms grew more violent and thunderous. With each passing to completion. moment, the Earth shook with greater intensity, threatening to tear In his dream, the spirit spoke to Grandfather. "It is during the apart and swallow Grandfather. years of the famine, the first sign, that man will be plagued by a Suddenly the Earth stopped shaking and the sky cleared. Out of disease, a disease that will sweep the land and terrorise the massthe dusty air walked the warrior spirit, who stopped a short dises. The white coats [doctors/scientists] will have no answers for tance from Grandfather. As Grandfather looked into the face of the people, and a great cry will arise across the land. The disease the spirit, he could see that there were great tears flowing from his will be born of monkeys, drugs and sex. It will destroy man from eyes, and each tear fell to the Earth with a searing sound. inside, making common sickness a killing disease. Mankind will The spirit looked at Grandfather for a long moment, then finally bring this disease upon himself as a result of his life, his worship spoke. "Holes in the sky." of sex and drugs, and a life away from Nature. This, too, is a part Grandfather thought for a moment, then, in a questioning, disof the first warning; but, again, man will not heed this warning believing manner, said, "Holes in the sky?" and he will continue to worship the false gods of sex and the And the spirit answered. "They will become the second sign of unconscious spirit of drugs." the destruction of man. The holes in the sky and all that you have [Author's note: This is presumably a reference to AIDS.] seen could become man's reality. It is here, at the beginning of The spirit continued. "The drugs will prothis second sign, that man can no longer duce wars in the cities of man, and the heal the Earth with physical action. It is nations will arise against those wars, arise here that man must heed the warning and against that killing disease. But the nations work harder to change the future at hand. will fight in the wrong way, lashing out at But man must not only work physically, he the effect rather than the cause. It will never must also work spiritually, through prayer, win these wars until the nation, until society, for only through prayer can man now hope "They will become changes its values and stops chasing the to heal the Earth and himself." gods of sex and drugs. It is then, in the There was a long pause as Grandfather the second sign of the years of the first sign, that man can change thought about the impossibility of holes in destruction of man. The the sky. Surely Grandfather knew that there the course of the probable future. It is then that he may understand the greater lessons of be a spiritual hole, but a hole that the holes in the sky and all could the famine and the disease. It is then that societies of the Earth could notice would that you have seen could hardly seem likely. there can still be hope. But once the second sign of destruction appears, the Earth can no The spirit drew closer and spoke again, become man's reality. It almost longer be healed on a physical level. Only a in a whisper. "These holes are a spiritual healing can then change the direct result of man's life, his travel, is here, at the beginning course of the probable futures of and of the sins of his grandfathers and of this second sign, that mankind." grandmothers. These holes, the second With that, the warrior spirit let sign, will mark the killing of his grandman can no longer heal Grandfather fall into a deep and dreamchildren and will become a legacy to the Earth with physical less sleep, allowing him to rest fully man's life away from Nature. It is the before any more Vision was wrought time of these holes that will mark a action." upon him. great transition in mankind's thinking. Grandfather awoke at the entrance of They will then be faced with a the cave once again, the memory of the choice—a choice to continue followwarrior spirit still vivid in his mind, the ing the path of destruction, or a choice spirit's words becoming part of his to move back to the philosophy of the soul. Earth and a simpler existence. It is When Grandfather looked out across here that the decision must be made, or the landscape, all had changed. The all will be lost." landscape appeared drier; there was no Without another word, the spirit vegetation to be seen, and animals lay dying. A great stench of turned and walked back into the dust. death arose from the land, and the dust was thick and choking, the randfather spent the next four days at the cave entrance, intense heat oppressive. Looking skyward, the Sun seemed to be though for those four days nothing spoke to him, not even larger and more intense; no birds or clouds could be seen, and the the Earth. He said that it was a time of great sorrow, of air seemed thicker still. It was then that the sky seemed to surge aloneness, and a time to digest all that had taken place. and huge holes began to appear. The holes tore with a resoundHe knew that these things would not appear in his lifetime, but ing, thunderous sound, and the very Earth, rocks and soil shook. they had to be passed down to the people of the future with the The skin of the sky seemed to be torn open like a series of gapsame urgency and power with which they had been delivered to ing wounds, and through these wounds seeped a liquid that him. But he did not know how he would explain these unlikely seemed like the oozing of an infection, a great sea of floating events to anyone. Surely the elders and shamans of the tribes garbage, oil and dead fish. It was through one of these wounds would understand, but not society, and certainly not anyone who that Grandfather saw the floating bodies of dolphins, accompawas removed from the Earth and Spirit. nied by tremendous upheavals of the Earth and violent storms. As He sat for the full four days, unmoving, as if made of stone, and he held fast to the trembling Earth, his eyes fell from the sky, and

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his heart felt heavy with the burden he now carried. There was a long silence, until Grandfather spoke to the child It was at the end of the fourth day that the third Vision came to spirit, asking, "And what will happen to the worlds of man?" him. As he gazed out onto the landscape towards the setting Sun, There was another period of silence until finally the child spoke the sky suddenly turned to a liquid and then turned blood-red. As again. "There will be a great famine throughout the world, like far as his eyes could see, the sky was solid red, with no variation man cannot imagine. Waters will run vile, the poisons of man's in shadow, texture or light. The whole of Creation seemed to sins running strong in the waters of the soils, lakes and rivers. have grown still, as if awaiting some unseen command. Time, Crops will fail, the animals of man will die, and disease will kill place and destiny seemed to be in limbo, stilled by the bleeding the masses. The grandchildren will feed upon the remains of the sky. He gazed for a long time at the sky, in a state of awe and terdead, and all about will be the cries of pain and anguish. Roving ror, for the red colour of the sky was like nothing he had ever seen bands of men will hunt and kill other men for food, and water will in any sunset or sunrise. The colour was that of man, not of always be scarce, getting scarcer with each passing year. The Nature, and it had a vile stench and texture. It seemed to burn the land, the water, the sky will all be poisoned, and man will live in Earth wherever it touched. As sunset drifted to night, the stars the wrath of the Creator. Man will hide at first in the cities, but shone bright red, the colour never leaving the sky, and everythere he will die. A few will run to the wilderness, but the wilderwhere the cries of fear and pain were heard. ness will destroy them, for they had long ago been given a choice. Again, the warrior spirit appeared to Grandfather, but this time Man will be destroyed, his cities in ruin, and it is then that the as a voice from the sky. Like thunder, the voice shook the landgrandchildren will pay for the sins of their grandfathers and scape. "This, then, is the third sign, the night of the bleeding grandmothers." stars. It will become known throughout the world, for the sky in "Is there then no hope?" Grandfather asked. all lands will be red with the blood of the sky, day and night. It is The child spoke again. "There is only hope during the time of then, with this sign of the third probable future, that there is no the first and second signs. Upon the third sign, the night of the longer hope. Life on the Earth as man has lived it will come to an bleeding, there is no longer hope, for only the children of the end, and there can be no turning back, Earth will survive. Man will be physically or spiritually. It is then, if given these warnings; if unheeded, things are not changed during the second there can be no hope, for only the sign, that man will surely know the "There is only hope during the children of the Earth will purge destruction of the Earth is at hand. It is themselves of the cancers of time of the first and second then that the children of the Earth must mankind, of mankind's destructive run to the wild places and hide. For when signs. Upon the third sign, the thinking. It will be the children of the sky bleeds fire, there will be no safety the Earth who will bring a new hope night of the bleeding, there is in the world of man." to the new society, living closer to Grandfather sat in shocked horror as the the Earth and Spirit." no longer hope, for only the voice continued. Then all was silent, the landscape children of the Earth "From this time, when the stars bleed, cleared and returned to normal, and to the fourth and final sign, will be four Grandfather stepped from the will survive." seasons of peace [that is, one year]. It is Vision. Shaken, he said that he had in these four seasons that the children of wandered for the next season, trying the Earth must live deep in the wild places to understand all that had been and find a new home, close to the Earth and given to him, trying to understand the Creator. It is only the children of the Earth that will survive, why he had been chosen. and they must live the philosophy of the Earth, never returning to Grandfather had related the story to me in great detail during the thinking of man. And survival will not be enough, for the that night of the four prophecies. I don't think that any event had children of the Earth must also live close to the Spirit. So tell been left out, and his emotions and thoughts were such that he them not to hesitate if and when this third sign becomes manifest actually relived it for us. Thus the power of his Vision became in the stars, for there are but four seasons to escape." part of our spirit, our driving force, and a big part of our fears. Grandfather said that the voice and red sky lingered for a week, I sat for a long time up on the hill. The fire had gone out, and and then were gone as quickly as they were manifest. all had retired to sleep for the night. Creation seemed to be at a standstill, awaiting this darkest part of the night to pass by. I felt e did not remember how many days he'd spent at the alone and vulnerable, as if all of Creation were scrutinising my mouth of the cave, nor did it make a difference, for he had every thought. received the Vision he had come for. Grandfather had this Vision some time in the 1920s. ∞ It was in his final night at the Eternal Cave that the fourth Vision came to Grandfather, this time carried by the voice of a About the Author: Tom Brown, Jr has called the wilderness home for most of his young child. life. In 1978 he wrote his first book, The Tracker (an autobiThe child said, "The fourth and final sign will appear through ography), and founded the Tracker School where he teaches the next ten winters [that is, ten years] following the night that the courses in survival skills such as tracking, nature awareness stars will bleed. During this time, the Earth will heal itself and and ancient Earth philosophy. He has since written another man will die. For those ten years, the children of the Earth must 15 books, including Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness remain hidden in the wild places, make no permanent camps, and Survival as well as The Search, The Vision, The Quest, The wander to avoid contact with the last remaining forces of man. Journey, Grandfather and Awakening Spirits. For details on They must remain hidden, like the ancient scouts, and fight the tracking courses and how to obtain Tom's books, visit The urge to go back to the destruction of man. Curiosity could kill Tracker, Inc. website at www.trackerschool.com. many."

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VEDIC PROPHECIES FOR THE KALI-YUGA from the IndiaDivine website

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hat follows are predictions for the Age of Kali, as found in the Vedic scriptures written many thousands of years ago. The Kali-yuga (the Age of Quarrel) started 5,000 years ago (3,102 BC) and is scheduled to last a total of 432,000 years, leaving 427,000 years to go. At the end of Kali-yuga (i.e., in 427,000 years), the Yuga cycle will start over with Satya-yuga, the Age of Truth. We should all note the Srimad Bhagavatam's mentioning that in Kali-yuga many cheaters will claim themselves to be God, as we can see happening today.

Description of the Kali-yuga In the 14th chapter of the last canto of the Paramahamsa Samhita portion of the Vayu Purana, named Sri Gauranga Candra Udaya, Lord Brahma prays to the Supreme Lord Sri Hari thus: "In the Age of Kali, people are spontaneously attracted to sinful activities and are devoid of the regulations of the scriptures. The so-called "twice born" are degraded by their low-class activities, and those who are born in low-class families are always hostile to brahminical culture. The twice born are low class by quality and do business by selling mantras. These so-called learned men are STRANGE Times 2006

absorbed in their intestines and genitals and their only identification is the thread they wear. Indulging in overeating, absorbed in bodily consciousness, lazy, intellectually dull and greedy for others' properties, they are consistently against God consciousness. Due to being overly inclined towards false paths without essence, they manufacture their own processes for self-realisation. Neglecting their actual duties, they are expert in blaspheming You [the Supreme Personality of Godhead] and the saintly persons; hence, again, Mother Earth is in tears due to this burden. Therefore, O Lord of the Universe, destroyer of the miseries of the destitute, please mercifully do what is befitting for the protection of the Earth and the living entities."

Quarrel, great sages and saintly people throughout the ages have sought to benefit the general mass of people by revealing to them the knowledge contained in the scriptures, whereby they may attain relief from the inflictions of this most degraded and dangerous of all ages. Elaborate description of the anomalies of the Kali-yuga and the plight of living entities is given in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Therein, it is described how, as the Sun rose and after taking his morning ablutions in the waters of the Sarasvati, Vyasadeva sat alone to concentrate.

"Oh learned one, in this Iron Age of Kali, men have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed." – Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.10

"The great sage Vyasadeva saw anomalies in the duties of the millennium. This happens on the Earth in different ages, due to unseen forces in the course of time. The great sage, who was fully equipped in knowledge, could see, through his transcendental vision, the deterioration of everything material due to the influence of the age. He could also see that the faithless people in general would be reduced in duration of life and would be impatient due to lack of goodness. Thus he contemplated for the welfare of men in all statuses and orders of life." – Srimad Bhagavatam 1.4.16-18

Foreseeing the incompetence of the people in this Age of Kali, or the Iron Age of

Srila Prabhupada, in the Srimad Bhagavatam, describes Kali-yuga in this way:

"The very day and moment the Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, left this Earth, the personality of Kali, who promotes all kinds of irreligious activities, came into this world." – Srimad Bhagavatam 1.18.6


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THE TWILIGHT ZONE "The unmanifested forces of time are so powerful that they can reduce all matter to oblivion in due course. In Kali-yuga, the last millennium of a round of four millennia, the power of all material objects deteriorates by the influence of time. In this age, the material body of the people in general is reduced, and so is the memory. The action of matter has also not so much incentive. The land does not produce food grains in the same proportions as it did in other ages. The cow does not give as much milk as it did formerly. The production of vegetables and fruits is less than before. As such, all living beings, both men and animals, do not have sumptuous, nourishing food. Due to want of so many necessities of life, naturally the duration of life is reduced, the memory is short, intelligence is meagre, mutual dealings are full of hypocrisy. "The great sage Vyasadeva could see this by his transcendental vision. As an astrologer can see the future fate of a man, or an astronomer can foretell the solar and lunar eclipses, those liberated souls who can see through the scriptures can foretell the future of mankind. They can see this due to their sharp vision of spiritual attainment. "And all such transcendentalists, who are naturally devotees of the Lord, are always eager to render welfare service to the people in general. They are the real friends of the people in general, not the so-called public leaders who are unable to see what is going to happen five minutes ahead. In this age, the people in general as well as their so-called leaders are all unlucky fellows, faithless in spiritual knowledge and influenced by the

Age of Kali. They are always disturbed by various diseases. For example, in the present age there are so many TB patients and TB hospitals, but formerly this was not so because the time was not so unfavourable." Elsewhere in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada further reveals the degradation of human society: "In the Kali-yuga, the population is just a royal edition of the animals. They have nothing to do with spiritual knowledge or godly religious life. They are so blind that they cannot see anything beyond the jurisdiction of the subtle mind, intelligence or ego, but they are very much proud of their advancement in knowledge, science and material prosperity. They can risk their lives to become a dog or hog just after leaving the present body, for they have completely lost sight of the ultimate aim of life." – Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.43

"The people of the world in this Age of Kali are always full of anxieties. Everyone is diseased with some kind of ailment. From the very faces of the people of this age, one can find out the index of the mind. Everyone feels the absence of his relative who is away from home. The particular symptom of the Age of Kali is that no family is now blessed to live together. To earn a livelihood, the father lives at a place far away from the son, or the wife lives far away from the husband and so on. There are sufferings from internal diseases, separations from those near and dear, and anxieties for maintaining the status quo. These are but some important factors which make the people of this age always unhappy. "With the progress of the Age of Kali, four things particularly— namely, the duration of life, mercy, the power of recollection, and moral or religious principles— will gradually diminish. Since dharma, or the principles of religion, would be lost in the proportion of three out of four, the symbolic bull is standing on one leg only. When threefourths of the whole "Sorry we're late. We went to the world becomes irreliwrong house in a parallel universe." gious, the situation is

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converted into hell for the animals. In the Age of Kali, godless civilisations will create so many so-called religious societies in which the Personality of Godhead will be directly or indirectly defied. And thus faithless societies of men will make the world uninhabitable for the saner section of people. "Beef is forbidden in the scriptures, and the bulls and cows are offered special protection by the followers of the Vedas. But in this Age of Kali, people will exploit the body of the bull and the cow as they like, and thus they will invite sufferings of various types. "The people of this age will not perform any sacrifice. The Mleccha population will care very little for performances of sacrifices, although performance of sacrifice is essential for persons who are materially engaged in sense enjoyment. The Mlecchas, however, make plans to install slaughterhouses for killing bulls and cows along with other animals, thinking that they will prosper by increasing the number of factories and live on animal food without caring for performance of sacrifices and production of grains. "In this Age of Kali, the women and the children, along with the Brahmanas and cows, will be grossly neglected and left unprotected. In this age, illicit connection with women will render many women and children uncared for. Circumstantially, the women will try to become independent of the protection of men, and marriage will be performed as a matter of formal agreement between man and woman. In most cases the children will not be taken care of properly. "The Brahmanas are traditionally intelligent men, and thus they will be able to pick up modern education to the topmost rank, but as far as moral and religious principles are concerned, they shall be the most fallen. Education and bad character go ill together, but such things will run parallel. The administrative heads as a class will condemn the tenets of Vedic wisdom and will prefer to conduct a so-called secular state, and the socalled educated Brahmanas will be purchased by such unscrupulous administrators. Even a philosopher and writer of many books on religious principles may also accept an exalted post in a government which denies all the moral codes of the sastras. The Brahmanas are specifically restricted from accepting such service. But in this age they will not only accept service, but they will do so even if it is of the meanest quality. These are some of the symptoms of the Kali Age which are harmful to the general welfare of human society. "In this age, people are indulging in the STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE necessities of life, eating, sleeping, defending and mating without following the rules and regulations, and this deterioration of social and moral rules is certainly lamentable because of the harmful effects of such beastly behaviour. In this age, the fathers and the guardians are not happy with the behaviour of their wards. They should know that so many innocent children are victims of bad association awarded by the influence of this Age of Kali. In this Age of Kali, the poor innocent students are daily victims of cinemas which attract men only for sex indulgence. "Nowadays, men without proper training by culture and tradition are promoted to exalted posts by the votes of the people who are themselves fallen in the rules and regulations of life. How can such people select a proper man when they are themselves fallen in the standard of life? Therefore, by the influence of the Age of Kali, everywhere, politically, socially or religiously, everything is topsyturvy, and therefore for the sane man it is most regrettable." – Srimad Bhagavatam 1.16.19-22 In the 12th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Sukadeva Goswami relates how, after the thorough degradation of the brahminical and administrative classes, these and other symptoms of Kali-yuga increase to an intolerable level. "Sukadeva Goswami said: Then, O King, religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, mercy, duration of life, physical strength and memory will all diminish day by day because of the powerful influence of the Age of Kali. "In Kali-yuga, wealth alone will be considered a sign of a man's good birth, proper behaviour and fine qualities. And law and justice will be applied only on the basis of one's power. Men and women will live together merely because of superficial attraction, and success in business will depend on deceit. Womanliness and manliness will be judged according to one's expertise in sex, and a man will be known as a Brahmana just by his wearing a thread. "A person's spiritual position will be ascertained merely according to external symbols, and on the same basis people will change from one spiritual order to the next. A person's propriety will be seriously questioned if he does not earn a good living. And one who is very clever at juggling words will be considered a learned scholar. A person will be judged unholy if he does not have money, and hypocrisy will be accepted as virtue. Marriage will be arranged simply by verbal STRANGE Times 2006

agreement, and a person will think he is fit to appear in public if he has merely taken a bath. A sacred place will be taken to consist of no more than a reservoir of water located at a distance, and beauty will be thought to depend on one's hairstyle. Filling the belly will become the goal of life, and one who is audacious will be accepted as truthful. He who can maintain a family will be regarded as an expert man, and the principles of religion will be observed only for the sake of reputation. "As the Earth becomes crowded with a corrupt population, whoever among any of the social classes shows himself to be the strongest will gain political power. Losing their wives and properties to such avaricious and merciless rulers, who will behave no better than ordinary thieves, the citizens will flee to the mountains and forests. Harassed by famine and excessive taxes, people will resort to eating leaves, roots, flesh, wild honey, fruits, flowers and seeds. Struck by drought, they will become completely ruined. The citizens will suffer greatly from cold, wind, heat, rain and snow. They will be further tormented by quarrels, hunger, thirst, disease and severe anxiety. The maximum duration of life for human beings in Kali-yuga will become fifty years. "By the time the Age of Kali ends, the bodies of all creatures will be greatly reduced in size, and the religious principles of followers of varnasrama will be ruined. The path of the Vedas will be completely forgotten in human society, and so-called religion will be mostly atheistic. The kings will mostly be thieves, the occupations of men will be stealing, lying and needless violence, and all


the social classes will be reduced to the lowest level of Sudras. Cows will be like goats, spiritual hermitages will be no different from mundane houses, and family ties will extend no further than the immediate bonds of marriage. Most plants and herbs will be tiny, and all trees will appear like dwarf sami trees. Clouds will be full of lightning, homes will be devoid of piety, and all human beings will have become like asses. At that time, the Supreme Personality of Godhead will appear on the Earth. Acting with the power of pure spiritual goodness, He will rescue eternal religion." – Srimad Bhagavatam 12.2.1-16 "In the Age of Kali, only one fourth of the religious principles remains. That last remnant will continuously be decreased by the ever-increasing principles of irreligion and will finally be destroyed. "In the Age of Kali, people tend to be greedy, ill-behaved and merciless, and they fight one another without good reason. Unfortunate and obsessed with material desires, the people of Kali-yuga are almost all Sudras and barbarians. "When there is a predominance of cheating, lying, sloth, sleepiness, violence, depression, lamentation, bewilderment, fear and poverty, that age is Kali, the age of the mode of ignorance. "Because of the bad qualities of the Age of Kali, human beings will become shortsighted, unfortunate, gluttonous, lustful and povertystricken. The women, becoming unchaste, will freely wander from one man to the next. Cities will be dominated by thieves, the

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Vedic Prophecies for the Kali-yuga Continued from page 121

Vedas will be contaminated by speculative interpretations of atheists, political leaders will virtually consume the citizens, and the so-called priests and intellectuals will be devotees of their bellies and genitals. The Brahmacharins will fail to execute their vows and become generally unclean, the householders will become beggars, the Vanaprasthas will live in the villages, and the Sannyasins will become greedy for wealth. "Women become much smaller in size, and they will eat too much, have more children than they can properly take care of, and lose all shyness. They will speak harshly and will exhibit qualities of thievery, deceit and unrestrained audacity. "Businessmen will engage in petty commerce and earn their money by cheating. Even when there is no emergency, people will consider any degraded occupation quite acceptable. Servants will abandon a master who has lost his wealth, even if that master is a saintly person of exemplary character. Masters will abandon an incapacitated servant, even if that servant has been in the family for generations. Cows will be

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abandoned or killed when they stop giving milk. "In Kali-yuga, men will be wretched and controlled by women. They will reject their fathers, brothers, other relatives and friends and will instead associate with the sisters and brothers of their wives. Thus their conception of friendship will be based exclusively on sexual ties. Uncultured men will accept charity on behalf of the Lord and will earn their livelihood by making a show of austerity and wearing a mendicant's dress. Those who know nothing about religion will mount a high seat and presume to speak on religious principles. "In the Age of Kali, people's minds will always be agitated. They will become emaciated by famine and taxation, my dear King, and will always be disturbed by fear of drought. They will lack adequate clothing, food and drink, will be unable to rest properly, have sex or bathe themselves, and will have no ornaments to decorate their bodies. In fact, the people of Kali-yuga will gradually come to appear like ghostly, haunted creatures." "In Kali-yuga, men will develop hatred for each other, even over a few coins. Giving up friendly relations, they will be ready to lose


their own lives and kill even their own relatives. Men will no longer protect their elderly parents, their children or their respectable wives. Thoroughly degraded, they will care only to satisfy their own bellies and genitals. "O King, in the Age of Kali, people's intelligence will be diverted by atheism, and they will almost never offer sacrifice to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme spiritual master of the Universe. Although the great personalities who control the three worlds all bow down to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, the petty and miserable human beings of this age will not do so. "Terrified, about to die, a man collapses on his bed. Although his voice is faltering and he is hardly conscious of what he is saying, if he utters the holy name of the Supreme Lord he can be freed from the reaction of his fruitive work and achieve the supreme destination. But still, people in the Age of Kali will not worship the Supreme Lord." – Srimad Bhagavatam 12.3.24-44 (Source: from the IndiaDivine website at http://www.indiadivine.org/predictions-kaliyuga1.htm)

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THE CRYSTAL SKULL'S MESSAGES FOR MANKIND

ust like the ancient legend, [Frank] Dorland's theory suggested that the crystal skull may really be able to provide us with important information from the past. The Maya today apparently also believe this to be the case. Even the scientists at Hewlett-Packard recognised that natural quartz crystal has information storage capacities and so were not entirely closed to the possibility that the crystal skull might have information programmed into it. But what sort of information might that be, and how might we be able to access it? When Chris and I were visiting Anna Mitchell-Hedges [in Canada], we had already met a woman [Carole Wilson] who said she knew how to access the information inside the skull. Like Frank Dorland, she claimed conventional scientists had failed because they were using the wrong approach. She said the secrets of the skull could only be uncovered using "the technology of the mind". We were somewhat sceptical, but curious nonetheless. If this were really possible, what might we find? Perhaps secret knowledge that had been buried in this crystal storehouse for thousands of years... When Carole arrived, she turned out to be a quiet, well-dressed woman in her

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fifties with a very professional manner. I was somewhat surprised to find that she was accompanied by the former head of the Toronto Police homicide department [John Gordon Wilson, her husband]. It soon transpired that...the Police had used Carole's services many a time and had managed successfully to solve a whole string of murder and missing persons cases... Carole now works closely with police forces throughout the United States, Canada and Britain... The plan was that Carole was going to channel the 'entity' of the crystal skull and we would be able to ask it questions. Carole requested that any questions we asked were very specific. She explained that the skull did behave a bit like a computer in that you had to give it very specific instructions and to be very clear about what you were asking, otherwise you might not get a very helpful answer. For example, someone once before had asked the skull what a skull was and had received the answer that it was "a bony structure"! She also warned that sometimes the skull anticipated the questions in advance and told us not to be put off by this. Anna then placed the crystal skull on a small turntable so that Carole would be able to touch it from all angles and manipulate it as she wished during the channelling session. Carole sat down and the crystal www.nexusmagazine.com

skull was placed directly in front of her, where it glimmered softly in the lamplight. Carole closed her eyes. She began altering her style of breathing and used a low hum to ease herself into the appropriate mental state. The whole room began to take on a somewhat eerie atmosphere of the kind you might expect during a séance, as Carole's gestures and posture changed. Suddenly tense, she began to emit an incredibly high-pitched humming sound. Before I was even able to ask the first question she began speaking in a strange, somewhat staccato voice, with a very stilted use of the English language. I remember being struck by the fact that you could actually hear this new voice echoing strangely around the room. You seek to know the origins of this receptacle which you call "the crystal skull"... I tell you that it was made many, many thousands of years ago by beings of a higher intelligence... It was formed by a civilisation before those you call "the Maya". Our level of civilisation was, as you say, "at that time" far in advance of that which you now have by many factors... The speech was interrupted by highpitched humming, and then continued: This receptacle contains the mind of many and the minds of one... It was not made using what you call the "physical". It was moulded into its present form by NEXUS • 123

THE TWILIGHT ZONE thought. The thoughts and knowledge are crystallised into this receptacle...this receptacle is thought process crystallised...thus the information was crystallised into this receptacle... We have put thought form into pure language within that which you call "the crystal skull"... Much of the world that we created, we created with mind. Mind creates matter. You will understand this and crystal technology will be given to those who understand it in more detail...that crystal is a living substance and you can infuse mind with matter... So it seemed that the crystal skull had been made by an advanced civilisation using thought. But it was all a little confusing, to say the least. I was about to ask why the crystal had been shaped into the form of a skull when the voice continued, in the same manner: This receptacle is crystallised because you, within the third dimension, need to see, to hear and to touch... Its form makes it easier for mind to attach to mind, without what you call personality... But you respect the personality, the head, the enclosure of your brain...so this form of the receptacle has been guarded and guided for many an age... The Earth life of this receptacle is 17,000 years... It has been handed down from generation to generation, polished with sand and hair...and no harm will come to it. So the reason the crystal had been made into the shape of a skull was so that it

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would be respected and cared for over the years. I was about to ask if there were any other crystal skulls, as the legend had said, but once more the voice spoke before I was even able to open my mouth: You are seeking information as to the other receptacles of mind... There will be other receptacles found...for there are many...for no one man and no one mind were given all knowledge... Each of the receptacles contains the information of where the others are... We would give you one where we left markings upon the Earth [some have since suggested this may be the area of the Nazca lines of Peru, although there are obviously many other alternative possibilities]...and high in the mountains... There will be one of blue in the region you call "South America"... There will be another found when the lost civilisation that you call "Atlantis" rises to you...and we would urge you to explore the ocean bed...we would urge you to explore the discoveries in the area you call "Bimini"... But we will direct you...we will show you that which you call a "temple"... This was an area of communication between the Earth and other systems... When all receptacles are placed together, you will be keepers of wondrous knowledge... Light and sound will be the key; when the right vibration is produced you will have the information you require... But the time is not yet... There are still some that have not yet been given form...and others which remain safely under your ocean bed... But you shall not find them all, as you say "at this time"... It would be too dangerous for man to have t h i s information...too early in his evolution... because mankind still seeks to better all the o r i g i n a l destruction of our time. I did not really understand all of this somewhat cryptic information, but I was www.nexusmagazine.com

curious as to why the crystal skulls had been made in the first place. Yet again, the voice anticipated my question: The receptacle has been given this form to encourage the mind of oneness and to reduce your desire for separation... Your mind seeks separation... We sought to leave you with the concept of oneness, but your mind seeks only separation. As you say, "As you seek, so shall ye find." And already the process of separation has begun. You have already begun the separation, but there will be more. You have a desire to separate that will lead to your own destruction... Separation causes annihilation and death. We can already feel the influence of this separation as violence... There is much violence occurring within your planet. Violence against men, violence against nature...violence against the Earth. Again, I didn't really understand these rather cryptic remarks and I was more interested in whether the crystal skull could tell us anything about mankind's history. The answer came: We understand that you come seeking in quest of the beginnings of man. We wish to tell you that your own origins were thought in form, and that you have to cast your eyes up and not down. There will be many discoveries pointing to this acknowledgement within the next 5, 10, 15 years... And the beginnings of what you call your civilisation are over 15,000 years before the acknowledgement of that which you call Atlantis. For there is also much evidence of our civilisation still beneath your oceans. Already there are discoveries near Bimini. But there will be many more discoveries over the next 5, 10, 15 years which will point you towards the right direction... There will be more discoveries in South America, in Australia and in Egypt. In that which you call your "deserts" you will find much knowledge. But you will find traces of our civilisation through most parts of your land masses and there is much beneath your seas, especially beneath the oceans which you call "the Atlantic" and "the Indian", and that which you call "the Dead Sea". There, closest to your Earth's surface, and soon to be discovered, are remnants of our civilisation... These discoveries will confuse and cause much disharmony, but they will be needed to reduce the mind of separation. But many of these discoveries will not be permitted at this time. We can only permit STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE that which will not cause too much havoc for your minds. We came to your Earth from a different world. From other dimensions we came into this dimension. We came to experience, needing to experience density. That which we first heralded had nothing of the density of what you call a "body". The life on this Earth plane was primitive in form, but we took upon ourselves the physical form which is recognisable to you. We sought only to experience material density and to bring knowledge and enlightenment. But we did not confine ourselves to any one, what you call, "geographical location". There were many, and many of our relics and of our teachings are still to be found scattered amidst your land masses and your sea masses. I was keen to know exactly who these "we" were that the voice of the skull seemed to be talking about, when it continued: But there are still many among you who seek to find where in your universe we are to be found. But still you cling to the idea that we are of the third dimension and you still cannot grasp the idea that we are of the other dimensions, beyond your rudimentary space-time relativity. The voice then proceeded to divulge some rather cryptic information about space and time: We would tell you that the essence of time is an illusion. Time has been created, in fact, by a higher intelligence as a form of control upon the brain and function of the body image. This is a safeguard against corruption of matter but, in essence, is non-existent. Thought exists independently of the body and brain, but time is the creation of matter. Thought is without time. Time, as a mechanism, was introduced to material and current mind only, not to thought or spirit, to keep you bound within the third dimension and within the perimeters of the small planet you call "Earth". We would urge you to explore with truth and understanding that which the mind is capable of understanding and not that which the brain is restricted to. Time is related to you as numbers. We offer to you that number and time have no depth. These are merely programmed into the current mind as safeguards, to keep you in time and space. They are a function not really of mind, but of brain. And they are really a dysfunction of brain, to keep you tied to the physical dimensions of the STRANGE Times 2006

three-dimensional world. The relativities you call "number", "time" and "space" are a function of the brain related only to the third dimension. This current mind keeps you a prisoner in time and space, in the material, physical world you call "reality". But the delusion of time must remain for a period. Do you understand? I was not at all sure that I did. Instead I was still trying to work out whose voice this really was and why the crystal skulls had been created in the first place. The voice went on: We have come now to warn you, because the separation has already begun. The destruction is already beginning to take place. The mind of separation has taken hold and some serious things have already taken place. For you, with your primitive knowledge, have already started something which now cannot be reversed. It was started through your scientists playing with and bending sound and light waves and that which you call "particles" into your atmosphere. You will have noticed that there are many destructive waves now hitting your planet. There will be more destruction brought about by atmosphere intervention, unusual weather patterns and rapid climatic change, and there will be movement of your land masses also. We wish to tell you that your civilisation has grossly misunderstood the use of light and sound and matter. That is why you have only uncovered that which is closest to you.


But, even now, your scientists and your governments play with toys that they do not understand. They play with light and sound and that which you call "particles" and "radiation", and they will rain havoc. But because the reaction is not immediate and not obviously near to yourselves, you continue and you continue until this very planet will erupt and destroy. As we have said, your current mind seeks only separation. You have a desire to separate that will lead only to your own destruction. For this is the same mind that caused the Great Flood and caused the previous destruction of many a land mass. But this destruction has begun to happen again already. And we can already feel the influence of this separation in our world. But, at present, you are unaware of this separation because it is of your own making. But we tell you that your Earth will undertake great changes... Even the body of your planet will change, as with your weather, as with all to do with your Earth as you now know it. There will be changes upon this Earth in the form of the human, the animal and that form you know as "vegetation", and that form which you know as "land mass", and that which you know as "atmosphere". There will be a disaster that is of great consequence. But, in essence, your "disaster", as you would term it, has already begun. You will find much death amongst your life upon the planet. You will find that which is grown in the ground will cause

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE much change, and you will see that which feeds upon the ground will end up with much death. You will see much destruction due to what you call "radiation" and you will find much pestilence in that which now flies upon your planet. There will be eruptions and disruptions of weather patterns, and much separating of atmospheres. You will have much wind...and your livestock will die in great numbers. Your waters will rise where they should not rise, and your land will be sinking underneath the waves. Land masses will disappear, and seas and oceans will rise. There will be a great splitting of the Earth...from within the Earth. The magnetic field will shift and is already shifting now. The Earth will be split asunder and the discharge will wander through the Earth and into the atmosphere. The atmosphere is already entering a state of negative pollution. This is what you are doing with your negative energies on the Earth. And this is why we left these receptacles for you to find, in your time "long ago" when we realised that so many had forgotten their original purpose of incarnation into this physical dimension. When we realised that the mind of separation would take hold and that there would be a great catastrophe on this Earth, we chose to return to our original dimension, but we left behind the legacy of our minds. We knew there would be those whose knowledge and seeking and spiritual progression would turn them towards this path. We knew that because of the disaster that

would befall this planet, there would be those who would be needed to call upon their reincarnational memories to heal, to counsel and to love a world gone mad, a world without knowledge, a world without hope, where the fires of destruction would reign. But when the time comes it will be the duty of all those who seek spiritual knowledge to instruct others when the Earth moves from its axis. Within this receptacle, and the others we have left you, lies that which you will need. Our knowledge, here crystallised, will be imparted when the right time arrives. It was determined that through these receptacles the minds of one would be activated and would present themselves when your Earth was in need. And this is now beginning to happen, as you say "at this time" and "in this place". We are here to tell you that there is...will be...and has already begun, a great change within your Mother Earth. We urge you to make known to mankind the things which we are to give you, in the hope that the holocaust can be reduced. For although what is given cannot now be changed, its effects can be much diffused. At this point the voice explained that it was going to leave us now because it could sense that the physical body it was using, presumably meaning Carole, was getting very tired, and so it would have to go. A long humming sound began again, and as it faded away Carole slumped into her chair, completely exhausted and unable to speak for some minutes. It took a few glasses of water to get her to speak again, in a long drawl, like someone drunk.

When she eventually came round she seemed completely unaware of the events that had just passed and was unable to answer any more questions. We were completely baffled as to what to make of the information Carole had channelled. We had originally been sceptical enough about the idea of psychic communication with spirit beings, let alone beings from another planet or "dimension", whatever that meant, warning us about imminent disaster on a global scale. But our cynicism had already been tempered by what we had heard about Carole's valuable police work and by the fact that Carole herself seemed genuine and honest. Everyone around us treated the information we heard with a great degree of seriousness and respect, and there was something about the predictions made that had an alarming but still undeniable ring of truth. Indeed, these became even more unnerving when John showed us transcripts of Carole's channelling sessions with the skull from the 1980s. The channelled information always seemed to have been quite consistent. In a session recorded in 1987, the voice had predicted: "Livestock will die in great numbers." This seemed to have particular relevance for us now, having just come from Britain where the BSE crisis had now led to the slaughter of tens of thousands of cattle. Around nine months later, the prediction about the Earth's magnetic field shifting also took on a sobering degree of truth when we read in an issue of New Scientist [30 Mar '96] that it had just been discovered that the magnetic field is indeed beginning to shift. There are even some scientists who now predict that the whole axis of the Earth might be about to do a complete flip [Guardian, 21 Mar '97]. At the time, however, we didn't know what to make of everything we had heard. Was this really "the voice of the skull" speaking through Carole? We just couldn't say. But the strange words remained in our minds as we resumed our more everyday approach to the mystery of where the crystal skulls had really come from. ∞ (Excerpted from Chapter 7, "The Talking Skull", of The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls, by Chris Morton and Ceri Louise Thomas, published by Thorsons/ HarperCollinsPublishers, London, UK, 1997; reprinted by permission)

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P ROPHECIES FROM THE B ILLY M EIER C ONTACTS So many of the Plejaren predictions given to Swiss contactee Billy Meier have come true, that we'd be wise to heed the warning that terrible things will befall humanity and our planet if we can't learn to live together.

by Michael Horn © 2004 Post Office Box 5163 Playa del Rey, CA 90296 USA Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.theyfly.com

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Proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt any people are still unaware of the amazing story of "Billy" Eduard Albert Meier, the now 67-year-old Swiss man whose voluntary, face-to-face contacts with extraterrestrial humans have been going on for the past 62 years. For many years, Meier was dismissed by sceptics as a fraud and hoaxer. But the recent failure of the top professional sceptics' organisation CFI-West, in Los Angeles, to duplicate even one of his "easily duplicated" UFO photos or film segments, followed by the sudden retraction by magician/debunker James Randi that the case is a hoax, has resulted in much deserved, renewed interest in the case. In addition to producing the clearest photos, films and video of UFOs ever taken, as well as other physical evidence, for the past 48 years Meier has published the most specific, prophetically accurate, scientific and world-event-related information of any known source. Before you consider the prophetic information below, please note that from his 251st Contact on February 3, 1995, Meier published advance warning of the US attack on Iraq, the increase in Islamic terrorism to follow, the appearance of SARS, the spread of "mad cow disease", the renewed public concern over chemical warfare, and the near accident at the nuclear power plant near Lyon, France (which occurred in August 2003). All of this information and more from the 251st Contact was also published in Guido Moosbrugger's book, And Yet They Fly!, in September 2001—well before any of the foretold events occurred. Combine this unprecedented evidence and all of the following with the still irreproducible, scientifically authenticated physical evidence, and you may understand why this remarkable one-armed man, who has been the target of 19 documented assassination attempts, stands at the centre of the most important story in all of human history. In the following article I give the numbers and dates of specific contacts between Billy Meier and the Plejaren, and then an overview of the information contained in each contact. The items titled "Corroborated" show the dates and sources of the earliest corroboration of Meier's information found by the researchers. It should be noted that Genesis III published much of the material in volumes 1–4 of Message from the Pleiades, with the earliest copyright being 1979—the date by which almost all of the information was in the possession of the investigative team. While I present only a brief overview of the information in the specific contacts, I hope that each contact will be published in its entirety in the near future. Except where attributed to Meier, the Plejaren are the source of the information.

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Absence of Erroneous Prophetic Information If, as some people might think, Meier somehow guessed or fabricated all of this specific, prophetically accurate information, it would be logical to assume that there would have to be an even more enormous body of randomly generated erroneous information. Unfortunately for the sceptics, there simply is no such voluminous body of inaccurate work. And it's easy to prove this, since most of the information validated so far has been culled from a couple of thousand pages of the earliest English translations of the Contact Reports, published by Meier primarily between 1975 and 1979, with additional information excerpted from contacts in the 1980s and 1990s. Let me also add that there are still thousands of pages of untranslated German texts and some unofficial English translations that contain additional, already published, prophetic information awaiting scrutiny. www.nexusmagazine.com

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CONTACT PREDICTIONS CORROBORATED s you read (and research) the following, please consider the possibility that the extraterrestrials and Meier are attempting to offer us assistance in solving the very serious problems we face.

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• 7th Contact, February 25, 1975, and 35th Contact, September 16, 1975: Connection of A-bomb testing, explosions to ozone damage; high-frequency "elementary radiations" unknown to terrestrial scientists; damage to Earth's rotation, magnetic disturbances, polar displacement; contribution of bromine gases to ozone damage; penetration of UV through holes, killing micro-organisms and leading to disruptions in food chain, genetic mutations and other long-term negative effects for humans and the planet. Corroborated: November 29, 1988, with report published by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories announced this "new discovery": "Atom Bomb Testing Tied to Ozone Depletion". Corroborated: 1991, when National Public Radio confirmed the connection between bromine gases and ozone layer damage. Corroborated: February 24, 1992, Los Angeles Times, "Ozone Hole Damages Food Chain". • 29th Contact, July 7, 1975, and 31st Contact, July 17, 1975: Contact involved specific information about Venus, unknown at the time, including composition of atmospheric gases, surface temperatures, depth of clouds, wind speeds, atmospheric pressure, colouration, variation in terrain, etc. Corroborated: October 1975 and August 1976, confirmed by probes from the USSR and USA respectively. Corroborated: February 1981; USGS [US Geological Survey] was producing a topographical map of Venus which, as discovered by the investigative team, further confirmed the details Meier had published five years earlier. • 31st Contact, July 17, 1975: Semjase informed Meier that Mt Chimborazo, Ecuador, is the highest mountain on Earth, contrary to Meier's belief that it was Mt Everest. Corroborated: June 1996 in Earth magazine, 21 years later. • 45th Contact, February 25, 1976: Semjase (Meier's extraterrestrial female contactor) warned him that our extraction of petroleum and natural gas from the Earth, the damming of waters and construction of huge cities are major factors contributing to increased earthquake/volcanic activity. Corroborated: June 27, 1990, in The Good Life newspaper (now defunct), Los Angeles: "Earthquakes, Oil Interact". • 115th Contact, October 19, 1978: Meier described existence of Jupiter's rings, saying they are composed mainly of dust, particles, sulphur ions flung off by volcanoes on Io; described Io as the most volcanically active body in the solar system, and smooth, level-surfaced with no water; described Europa as ice-encrusted; Jupiter said to have 17 "actual" moons (Plejaren don't consider that all of Jupiter's satellites meet their standards for moons); described nature of Jupiter's huge funnel-shaped storm. Corroborated: March 5, 1979, NASA's Voyager 1 probe discovered the rings of Jupiter, that Io is the most volcanically Continued on page 130

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What Does It Mean to Us? Meier and his extraterrestrial friends seem to be able to predict, i.e., accurately calculate, the results of causal actions known to them, originating from humanity and/or nature and the cosmos. And they have made it clear that certain prophesied (undesired) events can still be changed for the better—if humanity recognises its errors and makes sufficient effort in the correct, positive direction to alter those outcomes that can still be changed. In the 215th Contact, known as the Henoch Prophecies, special emphasis was placed on America and the very times we are in. (These prophecies are contained in the 2004 book, And Still They Fly!) More recent comments by Meier have also carried harsh and heavy warnings about the current American administration and leadership and the danger of its leading the world into a cataclysmic Third World War. Considering the credibility the Plejaren have established with their track record of accuracy since at least 1975, it would be wise for us to give serious consideration to their warnings about the future. Of course, it is up to each interested person to do the research necessary to determine the accuracy and authenticity of the Meier Contacts for themselves. Should the most important event in human history—contact between an Earth human and extraterrestrial humans—actually have occurred, then we might realise that this is less about UFOs and extraterrestrials than it is about us—and our future survival. THE HENOCH PROPHECIES Presented by Quetzal 215th Contact, Saturday, February 28, 1987, 2.09 am © Billy Meier/FIGU 2002–2004 Quetzal: …Before I give you a clear account of the prophecies of Henoch, I would like to point out that prophecies are always changeable and can be changed for the better if man makes positive changes in his thoughts, feelings and actions, leading to that which is better and positively progressive. Prophecies always rest upon specific causes; these again result in certain effects, whereby these effects can be changed at any time if only the preceding causes are changed in their form. Therefore, it is possible that negative or evil prophecies do not have to be fulfilled if the preceding causes will be purposely changed in a manner that positivity and good develop instead of negativity and evil. However, this does not apply to predictions, as these rest upon events that cannot be changed, are inevitable and surely and definitely will occur in the future. Predictions rest upon a preview and thus on a direct viewing of the future, and have to do with neither prophecy nor with calculation of probability. So when I make a portion of Henoch's prophecies for the third millennium known to you, it does not mean that they have to be fulfilled, because the prerequisite of fulfilment in each case would be that the already existing causes continue to exist as also continue to be created in the future so that a fulfilment of the prophecies can come to pass. Thus, provided that human beings of Earth will become reasonable, the possibility exists that by a reasonable change in the way of thinking as well as a reasonable development in feeling and an equally reasonable way of acting, everything changes for the better and positive, whereby prophecies do not have to be fulfilled. However, if this transformation does not occur, a very evil, wicked and negative time lies ahead for the Earth and its entire population in the coming new millennium. Billy Meier: Since the Second World War, the thoughts, feelings and actions of the human being of Earth have changed much towards the positive and good, but all that achieved is not enough in my opinion, as the great transformation towards the better has


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not been achieved yet, neither by the mighty of this world nor all West against the East. Many deaths will be inflicted upon the peoof mankind of Earth itself. In the years gone by, you have made ple by fighter and bomber aircraft, and bombs and rockets will many predictions and calculations of probability as well as mendestroy and annihilate smaller and larger villages and cities. tioned prophetic facts concerning the economic, military and politThe people will be completely powerless against all this and will ical situation on Earth, whereby I was requested to spread this live through 888 days of Hell on Earth, suffering hunger and information—which I indeed have done. Governments and newsplagues which will claim even more lives than the war itself. The papers, radio stations as well as TV stations and many private pertime will be severe as never before experienced on Earth. sons worldwide were informed by me. But the entire effort did not Ultimately, nothing can be bought or sold any longer. All proviachieve anything, because up to now mankind has carried on in the sions will be rationed; and if a human being steals even a small old manner and has paid no attention whatsoever to prophecies, piece of bread, he/she will have to pay for it with his/her life. predictions and calculations of probability. Many waters will mix with human blood and turn red, as once in And the same will most likely be the case in the future, when I the past the Nile in Egypt turned red with blood. receive permission from you in the coming time to spread the And it will be that the fanatics of Islam will rise up against the prophecies of Henoch for the third millennium. But, nevertheless, countries of Europe and all will shake and quiver. Everything in I feel that Henoch's message for the future must be made known the West will be destroyed; England will be conquered and thrown and distributed, because somehow it may bear fruit yet. down to the lowest level of misery. And the fanatics and warriors Quetzal: You apparently never give up hope. Your optimism is of Islam will retain their power for a long time. However, not only honourable and deserves to be heard by human beings, but the way Europe will be affected but ultimately all the countries and peoples things have developed throughout this century there is not too of the Earth, as the great horror expands to a war that will encommuch hope that human beings of pass the entire world. Earth will come to their senses and After the turn of the millennium, heed your words. This will then be the papacy will exist only a short If the human being of Earth the case only when the prophecies period. Pope John Paul II is the third prove to be true or, even worse, have from last in this position. After him, continues to live in the same way as already come to pass. Probably only only one additional pontificate will he has done up to now—forming his then will the time come when the follow. Then a Pontifex Maximus thoughts and feelings in the same defamations against you will end in follows who will be known as Petrus regard to your contacts with us, Romanus. Under his religious rule, manner, indulging in the same although they will long continue to be the end of the Catholic Church will actions as he has hitherto—then the vehemently disputed by your enemies come, a total collapse becoming words of the prophecies of Henoch as well as by pathological know-itinevitable. That will be the beginning alls and critics who dismiss them as of the worst catastrophe that will ever could not be any clearer. swindle, lies and fraud. The full truth have befallen the human beings and about our contacts with you will be the Earth. Many Catholic clerics, proven in the distant future, and then priests, bishops, cardinals and many mankind will accept our help we offer through you—even when others will be killed and their blood will flow in streams. But also they erroneously assume we come from the seven-star system the reformed version of Christianity will become just as infinitely known to human beings of Earth as the Pleiades. [The Plejaren small, as does Catholicism. claim to live in the Plejares, an altered time-space configuration about 80 light-years beyond the Pleiades. MH] Horrifying weapons and a possible world war Due to the fault of scientists, enormous power will be seized by Billy: Semjase and Ptaah already explained this to me. But tell the power-hungry and their military, their warriors and terrorists, us now what the new millennium will bring to human beings of and power will be seized as well through laser weapons of many Earth and the planet Earth according to the prophecies of Henoch. types, but also via atomic, chemical and biological weapons. Also Quetzal: I will do that in a moment, but I would like to explain concerning genetic technology, enormous misuse will occur, before beginning that I am not authorised to give exact indication because this will be unrestrainedly exploited for the purposes of of years in an official manner. war, not lastly due to the cloning of human beings for warring purIf the human being of Earth continues to live in the same way as poses, as this was practised in ancient times with the descendants he has done up to now—forming his thoughts and feelings in the of Henoch in the regions of Sirius. same manner, indulging in the same actions as he has hitherto— However, this will not be all of the horrors; as besides the then the words of the prophecies of Henoch could not be any genetic technology and the chemical weapons, far worse and more clearer. dangerous and more deadly weapons of mass destruction will be The point in time at which these prophecies will begin to be produced and will be used. The irresponsible politicians will fulfilled will be when a Pope will no longer reside in Rome. All of unscrupulously exercise their power, assisted by scientists and Europe will then fall victim to a terrible punishment by evil obedient military forces serving them, who together hold a deadly powers. The Christian religion will collapse and the churches and sceptre and will create clone-like beings which will be bred in a monasteries will end up in ruins and ashes. total lack of conscience and will be scientifically manipulated to Monstrous forces will be created by science and will be released become killer machines. Division by division and devoid of any by the military forces and armies as well as by terrorists, causing feelings, they will destroy, murder and annihilate everything. great destruction. Millions and even billions of people will be The USA will set out against the Eastern countries ahead of all killed by acts of terrorism, by wars and civil wars; and finally, in other financial states and simultaneously she will have to defend some parts of the world, every third human being, and, in other herself against the Eastern intruders. In all, America will play the places, every fourth human being, will lose his or her life. The most decisive role, when in the guise to strive for peace and to nations of the East will rise against the nations of the West, the STRANGE Times 2006


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active body in the solar system and that Europa is covered in ice—five months after Meier published this information. Corroborated: September 15, 1998, Cornell University scientists confirmed particulate composition of rings from Jupiter's moons (first theorised by astronomers on August 2, 1995). Meier's information is 20 years ahead of Cornell's. (While scientists believe that the source of the particulate matter is explosions caused by meteorite strikes on the moons' surfaces, Meier's information seems more accurate, i.e., matter being explosively propelled from volcanoes at speeds up to 2,300 km/hour to heights of 180 km is more likely the true source of most particulate-forming rings.) Additional information from the 115th Contact was accidentally given to lead investigator Col. Wendelle Stevens, USAF (Ret.), and shown by him to Maj. Rudolph Pestalozzi, USAF (Ret.) and Mr O. Richard Norton, former director of the Flandreau Planetarium, Tucson, Arizona. Witnessed by the three men, the information was secured until after the following specific, predicted events occurred: • Jonestown massacre (Nov 18, 1978) • Overthrow of the Shah of Iran (Jan 1979) • Chinese invasion of North Vietnam (Feb–Mar 1979) • Iran Hostage Crisis (Nov 1979–Jan 1981) • Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (Dec 1979) • Terrorist attack on Iranian Embassy, London (Apr–May 1980) • Abdication of Queen Juliana of The Netherlands (Apr 1980) • Death of Tito of Yugoslavia (May 4, 1980) • Mount St Helens eruption (May 18, 1980) • Assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Oct 31, 1984).

• 1978: In a Wasserman publication, Meier foretold the launch of a telescope at end of the 1980s that would make unfathomable discoveries in space, and wrote that a comet would be discovered in the late 1980s to early 1990s; it would be named Toutatis, and may threaten Earth in September 2004. Corroborated: April 1990, Hubble telescope was launched. Corroborated: 1989, French astronomers discovered a comet [asteroid], named it Toutatis, and predicted it would come closest to Earth on September 29, 2004. • 1978, 1992: In his book, Existing Life in the Universe, Meier stated that there are two small planetary bodies outside Pluto's orbit; he called them Trans-Pluto and Uni, and said scientists will discover them in the not-too-distant future. Corroborated: July 3, 2001 and October 7, 2002, the BBC reported that scientists have discovered a new planet beyond Pluto. • 150th Contact, October 10, 1981: Meier discussed information concerning the 29 actual moons of Saturn, and the origins of moons from asteroids. Corroborated: November 2000, scientists announced the discovery of 12 additional moons orbiting Saturn, bringing the "official" total to 28, just one shy of what Meier reported almost 20 years earlier; scientist corroborates the likelihood that moons originate from asteroids. Continued on page 132

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fight against terrorism she invades many countries of the Earth, bombs and destroys everything and brings thousandfold deaths to the populations. The military politics of the USA will likewise know no limits, as neither will their economic and other political institutions which will be focused on building and operating a world police force, as it is the case already for a long time [sic]. But that will not be enough, and, in the guise of a so-called peaceful globalisation, American politics will aspire to gain absolute control of the world concerning supremacy in economy. And this will point towards the possibility that a Third World War could develop from it, if human beings as a whole will not finally reflect upon reason, become reasonable and undertake the necessary steps against the insane machinations of their governments and military powers as well as their secret services, and call a halt to the power of the irresponsible who have forsaken their responsibility in all areas. If this does not happen, many small and great nations will lose their independence and their cultural identity and will be beaten down, because the USA will gain predominance over them and with evil force bring them down under her rule. At first, many countries will howl with the wolves of the US, partially due to fear of American aggressions and sanctions, as will be the case with many, many irresponsible [ones] in Switzerland and Germany but also of other countries. In part, others will join in because they will be forced somehow to do so or will be misled by irresponsible promoters of American propaganda. Finally, many Asian, African and European states will rise up against the American hegemony, once they recognise that the United States of America is only taking advantage of them for purposes of war, conquest and exploitation. In this way, many countries will become puppet states of America before reason and realisation will emerge in the responsible ones of governments and in many of the population, resulting in a turning away from the USA. However, the great war will hardly be avoidable because the human beings of Earth will probably not accept the directions towards the better, therewith towards true love, true freedom and real peace, striving instead only towards wealth, pleasure and riches and for all manner of material values and unrestricted power. Thus, huge and deadly formations of tanks will roll across the countries while fighter planes and rockets sweep through the air and bring death, ruin, destruction and annihilation to countries and people. If the Third World War will actually happen—as calculations and observations appear to indicate to be probable now and also during the approaching few decades—then, as now, the civilian population will above all have to bear the brunt of the enormous suffering in tremendous numbers in this entire catastrophe and, last but not least, the fault of the irresponsible scientists who by cloning will create human machines for military purposes, devoid of conscience and feelings, and will create immensely deadly and all-annihilating computer-like weapons. At the same time, the danger could become reality that the human combat machines, the military clones, will gain their independence and under their own management will bring death, devastation, destruction and annihilation to the human beings of Earth and to the planet. The entire planet will become an arena of unparalleled suffering, which will never have existed before on Earth up to that time. The cruel happenings will last about 888 days and cause civilisation to collapse. Yet, the terrible scenario will continue, and epidemics and various diseases as well as enormous famine will be spread among the people, while the economy of the world will totally collapse and there will be no possibility to produce any goods. All foods and medications will be rationed.


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The insanity of war will extend not only across the land, but the terrible catastrophe which has ever been recorded, evil military disaster will equally be spread to the oceans, into the atmosphere, powers will wreak havoc with computerised and nuclear, biologieven into outer space. But there will also be settlements under the cal and chemical weapons, whereby it will also happen that comocean that will be developed in the course of the future and these puterised weapons become independent and cannot be controlled will be attacked and destroyed, claiming the lives of many thouany longer by human beings. Overall, this is the most important sands of people. However, a certain maelstrom of destruction will part of Henoch's prophecies. also originate from the undersea facilities; because in the cities at the bottom of the ocean, groups of submarine pirates will be Epidemics, conflicts and disasters Billy: There is still more to it; at least that is what you told me. formed which will burst upwards from the depths of the ocean and Quetzal: You are untiring; so I will point out a few more will become involved in destructive actions of combat with naval important facts of the prophecies. As of now, new epidemics have units on the surface. spread among the people of Earth; however, as Henoch propheAnd at this time, the possibility could become reality that sied, quite a number of further epidemics will follow. Not only extraterrestrial forces intervene against the Western industrialised AIDS will occur worldwide in the 1990s, but also epidemics such countries, because these will be responsible for the extreme and as the so-called "mad cow disease", i.e., BSE, out of which differenormous disaster of the coming evil times. These extraterrestrial ent strains of Creutzfeldt–Jakob syndrome will develop, lasting forces will give up their anonymity and their state of secrecy and well into the new millennium. Also, an epidemic known as Ebola will assist those who are being terrorised by the irresponsibly actwill cause many deaths, as well as ing Western countries, should this other unknown epidemics and dispossibility become reality. eases which will sporadically arise in In addition, apocalyptic natural catepidemic proportions and will be new astrophes will occur which will cause The insanity of war will extend to the human being, causing great all of Europe to shake and tremble; concern. but Europe will continue to exist, not only across the land, However, most of the evil will be even after having suffered enormous but the disaster will equally brought about by politics. France and destruction. Spain become involved with each be spread to the oceans, into other in armed conflicts, and even Destruction in North America the atmosphere, even into Far in the West, it will be different; before World War Three will have the United States of America will be a broken out. Yet France will not only outer space. country of total destruction. The engage in armed conflicts with Spain, cause for this will be manifold. With for within her great unrests will arise, her global conflicts which are continleading to upheavals and civil war, as uously instigated by her and which will [will be] the case in Russia and continue far into the future, America is creating enormous hatred Sweden. Especially in France and Sweden, machinations as well against her, worldwide, in many countries. As a result, America as dictatorial regulations of the European Union will cause much will experience enormous catastrophes which will reach proporunrest and many uprisings; but also crimes committed by gangs tions barely imaginable to people of Earth. The destruction of the and organised criminal elements in these countries will cause WTC, i.e., the World Trade Center, by terrorists will only be the unavoidable civil wars. beginning. In addition, significant tensions will arise between the native citYet all the apocalyptic events will not only be brought about due izens and immigrants from foreign countries, who as a rule also to the use of unbelievably deadly and destructive weapons—such observe religious beliefs different from those of the native popuas chemical, laser and others—and by cloned murder machines; lace. And in the end, this will lead to severe conflicts. Hatred but in addition to this, the Earth and nature, maltreated to the deepagainst strangers, foreigners and people of different religious est depths by the irresponsible human beings of Earth, will rise up beliefs will be the order of the day, as well as the rise of neoand cause destruction and bring death onto the Earth. Enormous Nazism, terrorism and right-extremism. Conditions similar to civil firestorms and gigantic hurricanes will sweep over the USA and war will be in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and claim bring devastation, destruction and annihilation, as this from time many lives. immemorial never before will have happened [sic]. The Soviet Union will be dissolved in this decade or at the latest Not only will America, but also all other Western industrial by the beginning of the next. The man decisive for this action will countries which still live at the beginning of the new millennium in be Mikhail Gorbachev. But this will not lead to rest, because the the delusion that they could dominate and rule over underdevelnew Russia will continue its longstanding conflict with China over oped nations, i.e., Third World countries, will not only soon lose Inner Mongolia, with the result that Russia will lose a portion of influence over these but must defend themselves against them. this territory to China. And China becomes dangerous, especially According to the prophecies of Henoch, the truth about industrito India, as also at this time China maintains uneasy relations with alised countries is that they only seem to appear to be true civilisaher. China will attack India; and if biological weapons are used, tions, but in fact they are not; because more and more, at the end of around 30 million human beings will be killed in the area of and the 20th century and at the beginning of the third millennium, they around New Delhi alone. However, this will not be the end yet— will disregard all true love, true freedom and true wisdom as well because the effect of biological bombs and missiles, etc., used canas true peace along with all values of humaneness and all values of not be controlled at that time, and terrible epidemics unknown up men's and women's true being. to that point in time will arise and will spread quickly to many But not even all the terrible happenings will hinder the USA in areas. Also Pakistan will allow herself to be misled to instigate a continuing to proceed with her actions against all countries. Even war against India, which will be especially dangerous in view of when the North American continent will be stricken by the most the fact that both countries are developing atomic weapons. STRANGE Times 2006


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• 215th Contact, February 28, 1987: Known as the Henoch (or Enoch) Prophecies, this contact contained a forewarning of the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) by terrorism, the series of worldwide wars that the US would subsequently launch, and military actions involving Russia, China, France, Germany, Spain, England, Scandinavia and many Third World and other countries. Corroborated: September 11, 2001, the WTC was destroyed; the United States has already attacked Afghanistan and Iraq as of the time of this writing. • 235th Contact, February 3, 1990: Warned of earthquake in California and eruption of the Redoubt volcano in Alaska for February 28, 1992. Corroborated: The Upland quake occurred on that precise date; and the Redoubt volcanic activity began on February 21 and continued through February 28, with more activity following in March. • 241st Contact, February 3, 1992: This contact contained specific corroborated warnings about: • Landslide in Brazil, March 1992: occurred March 18, 1992; • Nuclear accident in Russia during the third week of March: occurred March 27, 1992; • Landers earthquake in Los Angeles for April 23 or 24, 1992: occurred April 22, 1992; • Eruption of Mt Etna, Italy, in April 1992: reported April 15, 1992; • Eruption of Cerro Negro, Nicaragua, in April 1992: occurred April 9–12, 1992; • Earthquakes in Germany–Holland–Belgium area for April 1992: occurred April 13, 1992; • Earthquakes in China–Burma (Myanmar) April 1992: occurred China–Burma border April 23, 1992. • 249th Contact, June 13, 1994: Still speculative: In response to a question Meier asked regarding "mad cow disease", Ptaah stated that "BSE pathogens cannot be destroyed by simply cooking the meat and other items, or by producing meat meal", and that the temperatures necessary for killing the disease-causing prions would need to be "as high as 700°C [1292°F], and possibly even up to 1000°C [1832°F], for previously mutated pathogens that have existed for some time now". Our scientists have been raising their own estimates as to the temperatures necessary to destroy the disease-causing prions and are now more closely approaching the temperatures that the Plejaren, Ptaah, stated. • 251st Contact, February 3, 1995: This contact contains startling information regarding technological developments such as hybrid warriors created by mixing human and pig DNA. People will have biochips attached to their nerve endings, and Meier warned of ominous biochipping with links to Deep Space Platform satellites and supercomputer. Corroborated: Human–pig DNA experiments have begun in the last several years; people are starting to get "chipped". Still speculative: Creation of half-human/half-machine beings, clones and androids; discoveries that conclusively confirm existence of previous human life on Mars; rectification of the "ageing" and "aggression" genes; Plejaren warnings of deepimpact scenario, and need for a defence system for incoming objects. — Michael Horn

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Wars and devastation in Europe and North America Yet Russia will not rest and will attack Scandinavia, and in doing so will embroil all of Europe. And months before that, a terrible tornado will have swept across northern Europe, causing great devastation and destruction. It must still be stated that the Russian attack will occur during the summer, in fact, starting from Arhangelsk. Denmark will not be dragged into the war, due to the insignificance of this country. Yet Russia will not be satisfied with this action of war, as her will for expansion will be ravenous. And consequently Russia will launch a military attack against Iran and Turkey and will conquer these two countries in bloody fighting, causing enormous destruction. In the Russian expansionist mentality will also be included the drive to gain control of the Middle Eastern oil deposits as well as to gain control of the southeastern region of Europe. Therefore, she will also invade the Balkans and conquer these countries there in enormous battles, causing ruthless and devastating destruction with many deaths. This will be at the time that tremendous natural disasters will hit Italy and its people, causing severe hardship. But this will also be at the time when Vesuvius could become active again and could spread tremendous havoc. At the same time, a war will shake Italy and claim many human lives as well as cause great destruction. Destruction of war will descend on the northern countries as strong military forces will invade them from the East and will pillage and murder as well as use bombs and missiles, like hail coming down, and hitherto unknown weapons of laser- and computercontrolled types which will destroy and annihilate everything, whereby the first target will be Hungary and after that will follow Austria and northern Italy. Switzerland will also be severely affected, but will not be the actual target; this will be France and Spain. However, the main objective of the aggressors will be to bring all of Europe under their military control, and for that purpose France will be selected to be the headquarters. France will not only be invaded by the aggressors from the outside, but will also be conquered from within as a result of collaborative forces and other forces. This can be envisioned as being the many foreigners of a different religion living in France at that time, and specifically Islam, which will be this force working from within. Once France has fallen, a war to conquer Spain and England will take place. Subsequently, an alliance with the forces of the aggressors will be formed, which will invade Scandinavia. For all these French-based military operations, the weapons of mass destruction stored in the arsenals of France will be used and cause evil devastation, destruction and annihilation. The aggressors from the East will force the French Army to join their military forces and lead a war of conquest against the northern countries of Europe, invading and conquering Sweden and Norway. Subsequently, these northern countries will be annexed by Russia. Military forces will also attack Finland, whereby many will be killed and an enormous destruction will be caused. At the same time, as a civil war rages in Germany, an enormously bloody revolution will break out in England which will claim more lives than will be claimed by the civil war in Germany. And because England and Ireland have been at war for a long time already, due to the IRA and the police and military forces of England, the result will be (because this feud will continue up to that time) that this revolution will spread out to all of Ireland, especially affecting Northern Ireland. Many lives will be lost during a civil war in Wales, where differences between various parties will arise before the Third World War. Welsh and English forces will clash especially near Cymru, and claim many lives and cause great destruction.


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Civil wars and anarchy in America Yet the misery on Earth will continue, as two terrible civil wars will break out in America, whereby one will follow the other. Afterwards, the United States of America will break apart and deadly hostility will prevail among her, which then leads to the division into five different territories; and it cannot be prevented that sectarian fanatics will play a dictatorial role. Anarchy will be the worldwide condition that will prevail and torment human beings over a long period of time, as human beings will also be tormented by the many epidemics and diseases, many of them new and unknown to human beings and for this reason incurable. Due to this fact, the bodies of many human beings will slowly and miserably decay, while unbearable pain will also occur as well as blindness and terrible respiratory problems that lead to suffocation. The consciousness of many human beings will become impaired and succumb to feeblemindedness and insanity. And all these gruesome occurrences will be traceable to biological and chemical weapons, which are the cause of not fast, but gruesome and slow deaths; and this will also occur due to the use of ray and frequency weapons which are already being developed today. Worldwide natural catastrophes As already mentioned, enormous Finally, the words of Henoch may natural catastrophes and rolling walls be specifically mentioned, which ...two terrible civil wars will break of fire and violent hurricanes will include that mankind of Earth, in purrage all across America, while, in suit of technology for mass destrucout in America, whereby one will addition, all the terrible effects of war tion and greed for power, hatred, follow the other. Afterwards, the will bring thousandfold deaths, vengeance and riches, will ignore all destruction and annihilation. values of Creation and will trample United States of America will America's largest cities will be upon all values of love, wisdom, freebreak apart and deadly hostility absolutely destroyed, and firestorms dom and peace, as ancestors of the will prevail among her, which then Henoch lineage have done before, to will cause great disaster and misery. Severe earthquakes and volcanic plunge the world into screaming misleads to the division into five eruptions will also belong to that ery, death, destruction and annihiladifferent territories... time, and these will cause much suftion and into the most severe catastrofering and misery and deaths besides phes mankind of Earth will ever have enormous destruction and devastaexperienced. ∞ tion, as all of nature and the planet itself will rise up against the About the Author: insanity of human beings on Earth. However, tornadoes, earthMichael Horn is the authorised American media representative quakes and volcanic eruptions will not only rage in America, but for the Billy Meier Contacts and has researched the case for also in Europe and in the rest of the world. over 25 years. He is a lecturer, writer and frequent guest on These activities have already begun at the present time, also durradio and TV. Michael has presented to two NEXUS ing the past decades—with the exception that they will become Conferences, DVDs of which are available through NEXUS increasingly more devastating in the future. And man of Earth is Magazine offices around the world. guilty for the most part today, as also in the future it is man who will destroy the entire environment—all of nature, the atmosphere, Editor's Note: water and all the resources of the planet. The information here is just a fraction of that given to Billy And through this, a shifting of weight inside the Earth takes Meier. For more details, and for the complete text of the place, caused for example by the creation of gigantic lakes by Henoch prophecies, visit the website http://www.theyfly.com. damming and by creating hollow caverns due to the exploitation of The Henoch Prophecies are copyright © 2002–2004 Billy Meier/FIGU (Freie Interessengemeinschaft für Grenz und petroleum and gas, etc. And thereby unnatural inner-Earth moveGeisteswissenschaften und Ufologiestudien [Free Community of ments are created, which also lead to unnatural tectonic effects and Interests in Fringe and Spiritual Sciences and Ufological Studies), cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, which also in turn cause Semjase Silver Star Center, CH-8495 Schmidrüti ZH, enormous climatic changes, resulting in horrendous tornadoes of Switzerland. For more information, go to website devastating proportions which in the end will set their destructive http://www.figu.org. The complete Henoch Prophecies, as well energies free on the entire world. All of this will lead to increasas more predictions from the 251st Contact, can be found in ingly horrible floods and unusually massive snowfalls which will Guido Moosbrugger's 2004 book, And Still They Fly! (the secadvance to the southern countries and finally even to the equatorial ond edition of And Yet They Fly!, 2001). Both the book and the regions, because through the insanity of human beings the Earth new DVD, The Meier Contacts – The Key To Our Future has begun unnoticeably to spin [strangely] as a consequence of Survival (see review, NEXUS 11/03), are available directly from atomic explosions inside and on the surface of the Earth. And this http://www.theyfly.com, or contact Michael Horn, PO Box will be the reason that the planet will slowly but surely enter an 5163, Playa del Rey, California 90296, USA, email extraordinary spinning orbit around the Sun, while the first phase [email protected]. Also see Michael Hesemann's interview, is already occurring, which causes a change in climate, leading to a "Billy Meier's ET Contacts Are Real, Says His Son", in Twilight new ice age. Zone, NEXUS 7/02. But death, destruction and annihilation will not only rage in Europe but also in America, where much suffering will have to be endured and many deaths as well as destruction and annihilation will be. America and Russia will have the most terrible weapons of mass destruction at their disposal—a fact which is already the case to a certain extent today—and will clash with violent force against each other at that time of conflict, whereby Canada will also be dragged into this conflict. The source of this conflict will substantiate the Russian attack on the American State of Alaska and against Canada. This conflict will result in mass killings of human beings as well as devastating destruction, annihilation and epidemics, etc., which mankind of Earth will never have seen and experienced up to that time. Not only nuclear, biological and chemical weapons will be used en masse, but also enormously deadly systems of computercontrolled weapons that are only in the beginning stages of development today, or will be invented and constructed during the third millennium.

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Mysteries Within the Earth I

n all the years we've been working on NEXUS, we've received numerous reports that suggest there's a lot going on under the surface of our planet—and I'm not even talking about subterranean bases established by the military. If folklore and eyewitness accounts are any guide, there's got to be some truth to these claims. This section looks at the ever-popular Hollow Earth theory as well as examples of unusual goings-on beneath our feet. • Hollow Earth Theory: The number of people who believe that the Earth may be a hollow sphere grows by the day. Many people subscribe to the notion that there are entrances to this inner world via the north and south poles. According to reports from polar explorers such as Nansen, each of these entrances is so large that, on the ground (or ocean), the observer is not able to discern that he is going "down" below the horizon until strange effects or sights are noted: navigational instruments gone haywire; the appearance of an additional sun; the existence of numerous warm-blooded animals; abnormally warm temperatures and high humidity.

By now, you would think that all one would need to do would be to obtain a satellite photograph of either pole on a cloud-free day. I attempted to find such a picture many years ago and was baffled to discover that no such photographs existed. I have repeatedly emailed and publicly asked for any such photographs, but with no results. There is much more to the Hollow Earth concept than meets the eye. Before you dismiss it out of hand, you would do well to consider all the basic information first. For a more comprehensive look at the arguments for and against the Hollow Earth theory, I would suggest you visit some of the many websites dedicated to the cultural, historical and scientific research into the subject. • Deep Dwellers: There are numerous accounts of people who have discovered anomalous artefacts and buildings or encountered strange beings in caverns and caves all over the globe. The articles by Michael Mott presented in this section provide a comprehensive study of the subject, with many examples given. I've noticed there are consistent observations of seemingly endless tunnels with extremely smooth walls, often reportedly having permanent illumination. Along with tales of subterranean structures, many of which seem to have been designed for giant-sized humans, you'll read many reports of diverse civilisations existing in vast underground pockets deep within the Earth. All of these civilisations appear to have advanced technology and do not wish to interact with us surface-dwellers (we seem to be considered primitive and warlike!). There are reports of both benevolent and sinister cultures among them. It is also interesting to hear what happens when someone returns from an amazing caving adventure. In several cases I know of, that country's military has turned up shortly afterwards and usually sealed up the entrance so that no one can ever get in (or out) again. If you have any information to contribute to the greater understanding of this subject, I'd be happy to hear it.

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— A Case for the —

Hollow Earth Theory

O A 1914 US patent contends that planet Earth is a hollow sphere with polar openings and its own central sun.

by Mark Harp 107 North Holmes Memphis, TN 38111, USA

STRANGE Times 2006

n 25th November 1912, Marshall B. Gardner of Aurora, Kane County, Illinois, USA submitted his discovery application to the United States Patent Office. Eighteen months later, on 12th May 1914, this federal agency granted Mr Gardner United States Patent 1096102, the second most important scientific document ever issued. Its scientific significance is exceeded only by the mechanical flight discovery of Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903. For reasons which even Mr Gardner could not have fully anticipated in the early l900s and which are now abundantly clear, his discovery soon became the most highly classified military secret of all time. In 1913, Gardner wrote his original book proving beyond any doubt that our Earth is a hollow sphere. So voluminous was the evidence which he continued to amass from studies of astronomy and polar exploration that he expanded his book to 450 pages in 1920. The title is A Journey to the Earth's Interior, or Have the Poles Really Been Discovered? Although he seems not to have been aware of it, Gardner's work had been preceded incompletely by William Reed whose book, Phantom of the Poles, was 281 pages and was published in 1906 in New York City by the Walter S. Rockey Company. The one shortcoming with Mr Reed's theory, otherwise very intelligently developed, was that he had failed to finish his centrifugal force reasoning regarding Earth's formation. As a result, he was never able to logically account for the powerful source of heat and illumination present in the Earth's interior. Gardner, on the other hand, did account for this source. The difference is that whereas Reed confined his research strictly to polar exploration, Gardner augmented his with studies of astronomy. The majority of this article will be testimony from the real experts, the people who were there—there at the huge telescopes and especially there in those vast and previously mysterious polar regions. But first, this is the common-sense theory responsible for United States Patent 1096102. In the beginning, some four or five billion years ago when the Earth was still an enormously expanded ball of superhot whirling gas, it gradually began to contract as it cooled. The laws of physics require cooling gases to condense, and so the rapidly spinning sphere of tenuous gases began to concentrate as the heat loss continued. Self-centred gravitational attraction kept reducing the diameter of the whirling ball of cooling material—but only to a certain extent. This is the big logical distinction between the old inadequate theory of planetary formation and Gardner's discovery. The old notion would have us believe that the gravitational contraction continued unabated until the Earth had become molten hot under a fierce gravitational pressure. While such a scenario undoubtedly does routinely occur in the celestial evolution of particularly immense bodies, as is the case with all stars, it is definitely not the final development of typical planets. The crucial second factor to lay on stress is centrifugal force. Remember that while gravity is attempting to draw all of the material toward the centre, there is an opposing force also at work—centrifugal force. Just as a figure-skater spins much more rapidly when she brings her outstretched arms tightly in against her body, so too did the evercontracting proto-planet begin rotating ever more rapidly as its size decreased. Like the 'glued' water in a bucket that refuses to spill if one swings the bucket in a fast circle, so too was this same law of motion—centrifugal force—attempting to hurl all of the material outward from the forming planet's axis of rotation. So finally, in this silent titanic struggle between two natural forces, a balance was struck. When the swiftly whirling sphere had drawn itself down to an approximately 8,000-mile diameter, the compromise between gravitational and centrifugal force was reached. But there is more. www.nexusmagazine.com

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There is a special characteristic of centrifugal force and we must enormity and very gradual curve of the polar aperture, it is not overlook this important trait. The strength of 'c-force' impossible to visually detect it. This is the same as the fact that we becomes greatly lessened as it approaches right angles to the do not 'see' that the Earth itself is round. The curve is much too direction of spin. A simple day-to-day example of this behaviour gradual to observe. Based on the nearly constant merger of warm is water in a basin. If you remove the drain plug and allow the interior air with very cold exterior polar air, the polar openings are water to start emptying from the basin, what will you eventually almost always covered by a thick cloud layer. This explains why, observe?—a vortex or whirlpool, an empty space surrounded by when viewed from satellites, the openings look just as they would rapidly rotating material. if there actually were the mythical 'polar ice caps' which Now imagine this same principle in action concerning the con- government policy claims are at the Earth's extremities. tracting body which was to become our Earth. At right angles to Gardner was led inexorably to his monumental scientific disthe rotational axis—in other words, the poles—the c-force was covery by the vast quantity of inconsistent information which he considerably weaker than elsewhere, especially the equator; there- continually encountered during his years of study dealing with, fore, although at the Earth's equator the c-force was able to halt especially, high Arctic expeditions. Chief among the numerous the material's inward progress at about an 8,000-mile diameter, it mysteries are: (l) a dramatically improving climate in the very far was considerably less successful in the polar regions, there stop- north; (2) the extreme peculiarity of the famous northern lights or ping the contraction aurora borealis; and at about 1,400 miles. (3) the eccentric The inevitable outbehaviour of the come of this natural compass in very high compromise is that latitudes. our planet concluded We shall now proits evolution and ceed to hear from solidified as an many witnesses who 8,000-mile hollow forfeited much comsphere with 1,400fort, convenience mile-diameter polar and, in several cases, openings. their lives in order Now it is at this that we may fully stage in the logic understand the true that Gardner greatness of our advances and Reed world, a world vastly falters. Because of more spectacular his study of astrothan officially nomical records and acknowledged. photography as In the preface of specifically relating Three Years of to nebulae and Arctic Service, Lt comets, Gardner Adolphus Greely of became aware of the the US Army whole truth. In the expresses the amazeprecise centre of ment of his Lady these translucent Franklin Bay expedispheres is a proportion at the strange tionately small conditions they incandescent ball. experienced in the Between this lumifar north: "Fearing An Applications Technology satellite photo of the Earth taken 22,300 miles above nous interior orb and exaggeration, I have Brazil in 1967 (NASA Photo 67-HC-723). the shell of the neboccasionally modiula is a large intervening space; said another way, the nebula is fied statements and opinions entered in my original journal, hollow except for the bright sphere at its centre. Why? Well, believing it better to underrate than enlarge the wonders of the where is the one other location at which c-force is quite weak, Arctic regions, which have been too often questioned." besides at the poles? The answer, of course, is at the precise cenBefore focusing on our own world, let us look briefly at some of tre of rotation, and once again the logic is so straightforward that our interesting neighbours in space. Renowned astronomer we may readily examine a common household example to support Percival Lowell comments on page 33 of Mars: "...round what we the argument. What would be the result if you sprinkled a layer of know to be the planet's pole, appeared to be a great white cap... It powder upon the top of a record player and then turned the record proceeded slowly to dwindle in size... As summer comes on, they on high speed? The powder would fly off the record—except for dwindle gradually away, till by early autumn they present but tiny a small portion at the precise centre. patches a few hundred miles across... As it melted, a dark band Based upon his studies of the planetary nebula through appeared, surrounding it on all sides...it was the darkest marking observatory photographs, Gardner was able to surmise that the very upon the disk, and was of a blue colour." thick shell of the Earth is approximately 800 miles thick, the polar The temptation to think of this blue perimeter as water must be openings 1,400 miles across, and the gravitationally suspended avoided, because if this were indeed prodigious volumes of water, central sun (the incandescent orb locked by gravity in the exact it would frequently be coursing through the many ancient planetary centre) some 600 miles diameter. Because of the riverbeds which criss-cross the dry Martian surface. These 136 • NEXUS


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riverbeds are permanently dry. Instead, what we are really observ- Madeira in 1877, it appeared that this was the identical position ing is the optical effect of vast cloud masses moving over the of the spot where he had seen star points then, and where Mitchell curving sides of the Martian polar aperture. The exterior of Mars had seen them in 1846... Meanwhile, the cap had been steadily experiences changing seasons; the interior does not. The degree to decreasing in size. On October 12, at 10 hrs 40 mins, ...Mr which atmospheric moisture and temperature vary at the pole, Douglas measured its position and estimated its size, as was his where the differing climates converge, will determine the amount wont every few days. He found it to be six degrees distant from to which the immense blue ring will manifest itself in terrestrial the planet's pole... On looking at the planet on October 13, at 8 telescopes. hrs 15 mins, to his surprise he found the cap gone. Not a trace of Being unaware of the true configuration of Mars, Lowell natu- it could be seen... What had certainly been there on the 12th was rally believed that this blue polar band had to be water melted not there on the 13th. The ice cap had disappeared." from an ice cap. In this assumption, though incorrect, he showed Robert Powers remarks in Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet: his wisdom. Unlike our present government policy, he knew "There seem to be vast quantities of water in the polar caps... absolutely that the pole of Mars cannot be carbon dioxide. Page Like the ice caps of Earth, they are bright white." 81: "Faraday made experiments on the relation of the congealing Thomas McDonough says in Space: The Next 25 Years: "Mars point of carbonic also has large, acid gas to the presbright ice caps, sure... He further which can even be found that the curve seen from the Earth for the liquefaction with a good telepoint lay very close scope." to that for the conIn The Greatest gealing point, and Challenge: The approached yet closIncredible Adventure er as the pressure and Splendid decreased. In other Destiny of Man in words, the gas Exploring Space, passed almost immeMartin Caidin notes diately from the that Both American gaseous to the solid and Russian state... Now the astronomers in pressure is certainly recent years have very slight on the observed a series of surface of Mars... In very bright flashes, consequence, on a lasting about five rise of temperature minutes, and folthe frozen carbonic lowed by mushacid gas would there room-shaped clouds. pass practically Original Moon straight from the explorer Michael solid into the Collins writes in gaseous state... Mission to Mars: "A Now, from the exisgreater mystery is tence of the surwhat happened to rounding polar sea, the water and ice we remark that in that gouged out Picture reproduced from The Phantom of the Poles by William Reed the substance comthose huge channels (published by Walter S. Rockey Company, New York, 1906). posing the polar billions of years ago. caps of Mars this does not occur. A considerable portion of it is Mars has a strong enough gravitational field to hold water vapour always in the transition state of a liquid. Carbonic dioxide would in its atmosphere rather than allow it to escape into space... What not thus tarry: water would." happened to all the water that carved out deep channels?" Lowell made a particularly fascinating observation of the north John Noble Wilford says in Mars Beckons: "Mariners 6 and 7... polar opening when, for a short period, a portion of the usual The camera photographed a hood of clouds over the south polar cloud cover parted, thereby allowing beams of light from Mars' cap, and infrared instruments measured temperatures there as low central sun to project beyond the orifice. "Meanwhile an interest- as -193 degrees Fahrenheit... The infrared spectrometer had ing phenomenon occurred in the cap on June 7; ...as I was watch- appeared to detect temperatures at the edge of the south polar ice ing the planet, I saw suddenly two points like stars flash out in the cap that were much too high to be from frozen carbon dioxide... midst of the polar cap. Dazzlingly bright upon the duller white Scientists could see by the Soviet document that the range of posbackground of the snow, these stars shone for a few moments and sibilities for the 1994 flight was wide and challenging. Under then slowly disappeared. The seeing at the time was very good... serious consideration were plans to place two spacecraft into But though no intelligence lay behind the action of these lights, orbits of Mars passing over the poles." they were none the less startling for being Nature's own flashOn page 22 of the March-April l992 Final Frontier are some lights across one hundred millions of miles of space. It had taken remarks about the planet nearest to the Sun—Mercury: "...temperthem nine minutes to make the journey... On comparing its posi- atures that climb as high as 800 degrees Fahrenheit... tion with Green's map of his observations upon the cap at Researchers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena STRANGE Times 2006


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have identified what they believe is a water ice-cap more than 180 Arctic voyager. Perhaps the most interesting expedition ever conmiles in diameter on Mercury's north pole... The researchers saw ducted in the Arctic area is chronicled in Nansen's 679-page twoa bright area at the north pole... 'We were amazed'." volume work whose complete title is, Farthest North: Being the Marshall Gardner devotes 27 pages of his book to the study of Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship "Fram" 1893-96 preliminary planets, better known as nebulae. Here are a few and of a Fifteen Months' Sleigh Journey by Dr Nansen and Lieut. comments. "The spectroscope supplies the answer...the spectro- Johansen. On page 120, when the 13-man crew had already scope has proven absolutely that the nebula is not made up of reached almost 77°N latitude, Nansen observes: "It was a strange stars...the typical nebula has a remarkable shell-like structure and feeling to be sailing away north in the dark night to unknown a central star...a search made with a spectrograph and the Lick lands, over an open, rolling sea, where no ship, no boat had been 36-inch telescope for rotation effects... Definite evidence of rota- before. We might have been hundreds of miles away in more tion was found..." southerly waters, the air was so mild for September in this latiOn page 63, in reference to comets as being planets in the tude... We see 'nothing but clean water', as Henriksen answered process of destruction, Gardner writes: "Hecter MacPherson tells from the crow's-nest when I called up to him... 'They little think at us in his book, The Romance of Modern Astronomy, that the great home in Norway just now that we are sailing straight for the Pole comet of 1811, with a tail stretching for a hundred million miles in clear water'... I have almost to ask myself if this is not a dream. behind and fifteen million miles in breadth, had a nucleus that, One must have gone against the stream to know what it means to according to measurements by Herschel, was only 428 miles in go with the stream." diameter. The comet of Donati, detected from a Florence obserAnother of the major contributors to Arctic knowledge was US vatory in 1858, had a nucleus which 'shone with a brilliance equal Army Lieutenant (later General) Adolphus Greely. Like other to that of the Polar Star' and which was 630 miles in Arctic voyages, the Lady Franklin Bay expedition encountered the diameter...'even in the short period of man's life, comets have been truly bitter cold conditions in the lower portion of the Arctic region, seen to break up and disappear'." but less harsh climate as they neared 80° Included in his many observalatitude, and especially mild weather ... the polar openings are almost beyond the 80th parallel. On page 369, tions concerning Mars, Gardner points out that besides the their party had attained the 81st always covered by a thick cloud when numerous reports of the Martian latitude while map-making for the Army pole being very bright and makon Ellesmere Island, Greely comments: layer. This explains why, when ing rapid size changes, "...the "At that time a high warm wind was viewed from satellites, the light from the polar region of blowing from the interior, and the Mars is a direct illuminant from openings look just as they would if temperature was considerably above 40 within the planet, because that (5 degrees Celsius)." His use of there actually were the mythical degrees light, seen at night, is yellow. the word 'interior' was more profoundly Any other sort of light, a reflec- 'polar ice caps' which government accurate than he realised. An example of tion from a snowy surface for how dramatically the warm winds from policy claims are at the Earth's instance, or a reflection from the interior affect the far north exterior is sand or mountain surfaces, demonstrated in this passage from page extremities. would be white." On page 80A, 192, when the winds had for a long while Gardner displays eight excellent been from the south: "At 10 pm, 16th photographs of Mars recorded at February, the mercurial thermometers the Yerkes Observatory and which show the "...so-called snow- thawed out, after having been frozen continuously for sixteen days cap projected beyond the planet's surface, which precludes all and five hours. This is the longest time on record during which possibility of its being snow or ice." In writing of the English mercury has remained frozen." astronomer J. Norman Lockyer's report to the Royal Astronomical Dr I. I. Hayes, with the schooner United States, wrote of his far Society of England: "'The snow-zone was at times so bright that, north voyage in The Open Polar Sea. They were utterly bewillike the crescent of the young moon, it appeared to project beyond dered by the inexplicable increase in temperature whenever the the planet's limb. This effect of irradiation was frequently visible: high Arctic wind sustained from the north. While stalled by a on one occasion the snow-spot was observed to shine like a nebu- strong persistent wind out of the north for much of the first two lous star when the planet itself was obscured by clouds...' That weeks of November, Hayes noted that after the great initial masses luminosity is precisely what our own aurora borealis would look of ice had been driven past them, there were none more to replace like if our planet was viewed from a great distance. And the light them. He adds: "November 13: Worse and worse. The temperais the same in both cases." ture has risen again, and the roof over the upper deck gives us As lame as the official government position is in postulating ice, once more a worse than tropic shower... November 14: The wind snow or frozen carbon dioxide as composing the Martian poles, has been blowing for nearly twenty-four hours from the northimagine their predicament in the case of Venus. By their own east, and yet the temperature holds on as before... I have done admission, the temperature on Venus is well in excess of 800 with speculation. A warm wind from the mer de glace...makes degrees Fahrenheit—quite a place to put an ice cap! Whether by mischief with my theories, as facts have heretofore done with the choice or by chance, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the National theories of wiser men." Aeronautics and Space Administration released a few remarkable Ship's surgeon for the Advance and Rescue, Dr Elisha Kent radar-generated photographs of Venus in early 1989. One of these Kane recorded his extensive Arctic experience in Arctic close-up images, in which the cloud-piercing radar reveals with Explorations in Search of Sir John Franklin, experiences which excellent clarity the north polar opening, boldly graced the cover culminated near the 82nd parallel. The expedition progressed as of the April 1989 issue of Discover. Now back to Earth. far north as was practical in their ships, and then, when the amount Certainly one of the three greatest pioneers of polar exploration of ice rendered additional progress impossible or at least unsafe, was Dr Fridtjof Nansen, the acclaimed Norwegian scientist and they continued their poleward journey on foot with sledges. 138 • NEXUS


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But as with other Arctic explorers before and since, they were When his group was at the 81st parallel, Greely records on page amazed to eventually find further advancement thwarted by the 370: "In its whole extent the valley was barren of snow, and in gradual encroachment of an open polar sea. He writes: "It is most places was covered with a comparatively luxuriant vegetaimpossible in reviewing the facts which connect themselves with tion." At latitude 81°49', Greely writes on page 372: "I there this discovery—the melted snow upon the rocks, the crowds of caught a butterfly, and saw three skuas, two bumble-bees, and marine birds, the limited but still advancing vegetable life, the rise many flies..." Page 374: "While at this camp, No. 3, we obtained of the thermometer in the water—not to be struck by their bearing but little sleep, owing to the large swarms of flies... On rising at 2 on the question of a milder climate near the pole. To refer them am, the temperature was found to be very high, 48° (8.9°C), with a all to the modification of temperature induced by the proximity of minimum of 47° (7.8°C) since the preceding evening... In this lake open water is only to change the form of the question; for it leaves also there were many small minnows..." Page 376: "Corporal the inquiry unsatisfied: what is the cause of the open water?" Salor brought in with his willows two small pieces of unworked About 130 years later we have these remarks from the Russian pine wood... Nearby I discovered the former site of an old sumexplorer Vladimir mer encampment of Snegirev in his 1985 the Eskimos." Page On Skis to the North 377: "The surPole: "On May 9 roundings of the they crossed the 86th encampment were parallel... It was a marked by luxuriant strange thing vegetation of grass, indeed: you might sorrel, poppies and have thought that as other plants." Page they approached the 378: "The sky was Pole the ice would partly covered with become thicker, true cumulus clouds, stronger, more solid, quite rare in Arctic but in reality it was heavens...; the temjust the other way perature was high around. The closer and the gay yellow they came to their poppies and other goal, the more often flowers drew to them they encountered gaudy butterflies...; open water..." he could well imagWriting about ine himself in the Admiral Richard roaring forties Byrd's first journey instead of eight to Antarctica in degrees from the Beyond the Barrier, geographical pole." Eugene Rodgers Page 379: "At this records the extraorpoint, and in its dinary effect that a immediate vicinity, a wind persisting from large number of butthe pole has: terflies were "Temperature seen...facing swings were so vioRuggles River, three lent that, only three abandoned Eskimo Composite photo taken 23rd November 1968 by ESSA 7 satellite, pass 1235-1251. days after the record huts..." Page 383: low, the reading rose to 15 above. 'That makes a range of 87 "Among other pieces of wood was a pole, nine feet long and about degrees—as much as the annual range over most of the eastern two inches in diameter, of a hard, close-grained, coniferous wood, US'..." probably fir or hard pine." Page 385: "...a bumble-bee and a On page 144 of his book, Nansen exclaims: "Today we had the 'devil's darning-needle'. Butterflies were very numerous, as many same open channel to the north, and beyond it open sea as far as as fifty being seen during the day... The weather during the day our view extended. What can this mean?" When in the 79th par- was excessively hot, and we suffered extremely. The attached allel, he records on page 197: "...bringing northerly wind. It is thermometer of the aneroid barometer, which was carried always curious that there is almost always a rise of the thermometer with in the shade, stood at 74° (23.3°C)... The day's march carried us these stronger winds... A south wind of less velocity generally farther along the shores of Lake Hazen than I had reached in lowers the temperature, and a moderate north wind raises it." May, and now a new, undiscovered country was gradually openAfter having reached the very far northerly position of 86° lati- ing to our view." tude, Nansen observes on page 391: "I was inconvenienced for By far the three most significant categories of evidence proving the first time by the heat; the sun scorched quite unpleasantly." the validity of United States Patent 1096102 are: (1) warmer Page 407: "...last night I could hardly sleep for heat." Several climate in polar region; (2) eccentric behaviour of the compass; and months later, Nansen and Johansen were heading back to the (3) the peculiar polar lights known respectively as the aurora Fram, but were still above the 81st parallel, when he writes on borealis and, in Antarctica, the aurora australis. page 527: "Fancy, only 12° (21.5° Fahrenheit) of frost in the midAlthough the brevity of this article prevents all but a cursory dle of December! We might almost imagine ourselves at home..." examination of the voluminous available evidence, there are STRANGE Times 2006


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Showing the Earth bisected centrally through the polar openings and at right angles to the equator, giving a clear view of the central sun and the interior continents and oceans. Reproduced from a photograph of the working model made by Marshall Gardner in 1912, and patented on 12th May 1914 (US Patent 1096102).

several other categories of proof as well. These include: (4) a dramatic increase in plant and animal life at the far north, also extreme northward bird migrations at the onset of winter; (5) stones, wood, dust, pollen and mud found both on and embedded in icebergs; (6) anomalous radio-wave behaviour in polar region; (7) gravitational increase measurable at the polar curve, sufficient to cause a significant segregation of salt water and fresh water; (8) strange situation of the far north Eskimo, a people with a completely unique language and whose oral tradition states that they originated from much farther north in a warm land of perpetual daylight; (9) polar sea depth and strong southgoing current in the high Arctic; (10) the perfectly fresh mammoths found encased in the ice: (a) if, as the official government position postulates, these elephants died during a climate shift from tropical to frigid, it is logical to enquire why didn't these shivering elephants simply 'pack their trunks' and move south? or (b) if this alleged climate shift happened suddenly, then why aren't these 'flash-frozen' pachyderms found alongside the inevitable 'flashfrozen' thousands of acres of forest in which they lived?; and (11) the peculiar chemistry and mathematics of icebergs, enormous objects composed of fresh water and which, although there is 140 • NEXUS

almost no annual precipitation with which to replace them, travel by the thousands slowly southward to melt every year. The compass has been trying to indicate the true configuration of the polar regions ever since man first employed this instrument in his quest for those mythical poles. Instead of smoothly leading would-be conquerors of the pole to the fabled 90° latitude point, as it must if the official description of the Earth's geology is correct, the needle starts to perform in an agitated and indecisive fashion in high latitudes. After reaching approximately the 80th parallel, an extraordinary thing begins to occur: the needle starts vertical movement! It is at that stage that the conflicting forces of magnetism and gravity are manifesting themselves. Concerning the compass, Russian explorer Snegirev writes: "...the magnetic pole...makes some kind of tricky curve...inconvenience of travelling by compass alone. The arrow would point northward, then suddenly it would veer to the west, and then almost reluctantly it would return to its former position." Walter Sullivan comments in Quest for a Continent: "...compasses which behaved erratically so near the Pole." Chauncey Loomis observes in Weird and Tragic Shores, his biography of Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall: "...be buried so far north of the


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magnetic pole that the needle of a compass put on his grave points Planets: A Guide to the Solar System: "Despite the fact that Venus south-west." On page 536 of his book, Nansen says: "There were has no magnetic field, it seems to have auroras high in its other things, too, that greatly puzzled me. If we were on a new atmosphere; their origin is not understood." land, near Spitsbergen, why were the rosy gulls never seen there, Greely states on page 158 of his book: "The aurora...magnetic while we had them in flocks here to the north? And then there was disturbances were rare during colourless and slowly changing the great variation of the compass." Greely records on page 128 forms." Page 184: "Despite the remarkable duration and extent of his book: "In the magnetometer a small magnet, freely sus- of the aurora, the magnet was but slightly disturbed." Page 187: pended by a single fibre of untwisted silk, swings readily in any "The halo was preceded by an aurora, which was unaccompanied horizontal direction. This magnet, at Conger...swung to and fro in by magnetic disturbances." a restless, uneasy way... A magnetic needle, nicely and delicately Acclaimed South Polar explorer Finn Ronne notes in his autobibalanced, in the middle latitudes assumes a nearly level position. ography, Antarctica, My Destiny: "...I beheld an unimaginable At Conger, however, the needle, adjusted so that it can move crystalline beauty; and I felt myself a part of a surrealistic scene freely in a vertical plane, shows a strong tendency to assume an as I stood transfixed while the aurora australis washed over me." upright position. At a dip of 90° the needle would be erect, while Nansen writes in his book on page 163: "The whole sky was at Conger the inclination was about 85°." ablaze with it... No words can depict the glory that met our eyes... The single most spectacular feature of the high Arctic is It was an endless phantasmagoria of sparkling colour, surpassing undoubtedly the aurora borealis, a phenomenon alien to nearly all anything that one can dream." of the Earth's countries. The official government explanation is The evidence presented in the science books of William Reed essentially the same as that expressed in nearly all large circulation and especially Marshall Gardner prove beyond any reasonable publications, such as The Guinness doubt the accuracy of United Book of World Records: "These States Patent 1096102, the Hollow luminous displays are caused by Instead of smoothly leading would-be Earth Theory. When one couples showers of electrons streaming the monumental importance of this conquerors of the pole to the fabled discovery with the nearly total from the Sun (the solar wind) and striking the atoms of the upper non-acknowledgement of it in the 90° latitude point, as it must if the atmosphere, so making them glow. major press, it is readily apparent official description of the Earth's The shape of the Earth's magnetic that it has the dubious distinction field confines these displays to also being the single most pergeology is correct, the needle starts of polar regions and high latitudes." vasive conspiracy in the world. Were it not for its wholesale Why? to perform in an agitated and omission of the facts, this The famous unregistered aircraft indecisive fashion in high latitudes. commonly conjecture sounds nearly plausible. described as unidentiThere are large problems, however, fied flying objects are the logical with an electromagnetic hypothesis answer. Even ignoring all other in accounting for the polar lights: (l) electricity and magnetism do aspects of the UFO situation, the authentication of at least some of not move haphazardly about in enormous curtain shapes; (2) the these vehicles is fully established by the countless number of firm aurora is noticeably affected by local weather changes; (3) the radar contacts measured on both military and commercial scopes. aurora displays a significant variety of colours, often concurrently; Common sense easily discerns the logical connection between the (4) the magnetic needle functions even at the equator, but the dramatic arrival of these aircraft in large numbers in 1947 and our aurora is almost exclusively polar; (5) actual electrical phenomena own extraordinary technological leaps of the 1940s—i.e., atomic such as lightning are noisy, yet the aurora is silent; (6) particles bomb, trans-sound-barrier flight, radar, television, etc. If the civilfrom the Sun are mainly hydrogen, yet very little hydrogen is isation operating these unregistered aircraft were headquartered on recorded in the spectrograph's analysis of auroral light; (7) if a distant planet, they would not be interested in the slightest; if, on caused by a perpetual flow of electrons from the Sun, then why are the other hand, they occupy our interior sister world, in that case auroral displays sometimes present and sometimes absent?; (8) the they would be extremely interested—especially by our harnessing most powerful refutation is that auroras are often experienced on of the atom. It may very possibly be that atomic energy will lead site with no effect upon the magnetic needle! (or has led) to the ultimate technology of antimatter—gravity-inerPeter Freuchen writes in The Arctic Year: "These peculiar tia reversal. lights ...brightest by far and best developed in the Arctic, reaching Second only to national security is a nation's desire to explore. the height of beauty in the dark winter nights...luminous bands or As a peaceful pursuit, Mankind's most exhilarating ambition is rays dart rapidly over the sky. They change form continuously, space exploration, an undertaking which we have barely begun. and sometimes colour too, and the rays often give the illusion of That will change soon if recent indications out of Nevada reach originating from a distant searchlight... On other occasions the fruition. The long-sought technology of gravity-inertia reversal aurora appears as a rippling curtain of light, steadily changing has finally been achieved and is being flown routinely in the form and position. Or it may occur as a cascade of light radiating Groom Dry Lake Antimatter Research Facility of Lincoln County, from a magnificent crown high up in the sky. Whatever the form, Nevada, USA. The large number of witnesses grew dramatically the aurora always exhibits movement and, generally, rapid when NBC-TV aired their 20th April 1992 report by Pentagon change." correspondent Fred Francis at the edge of perhaps the most highly The kaleidoscopic behaviour of the aurora is fully explained by classified military base in the world—Area 51. the limitless variety of atmospheric conditions present at any After an eventual full disclosure and subsequent public particular time between the central sun and the polar opening. exploration of the Interior Earth, Interior Mars will be even more For an instantaneous discreditation of the fraudulent fascinating. "electromagnetic bombardment" theory of auroral production, we Sentido komun, katotohanan at saka katarungan—common refer to this passage about Venus from Mark Chartrand's 1990 sense, truth and justice. ∞ STRANGE Times 2006


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THE CHINTAMANI STONE AND THE CITY OF EIGHT IMMORTALS

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t appears to be a trapezohedron made of black stone or ore, with glowing striations. However it is more, or less, than stone. Scientists would not be able to study it completely because it exists only partially in humanity's concept of matter and space. The Chintamani Stone is more than an artefact: it is a key to doors that were sealed aeons ago. Part of the stone was kept in a monastery in Tibet, the second in the Museum of Natural History in New York City, and the final piece in the city of Agartha. One ancient South American legend relates that the god Tvira built a temple on an island in Lake Titicaca to hold three holy stones called the Kala. Similarly, three black stones were venerated by the Muslims in the Ka'aba at the Great Mosque in Mecca. There are several traditions associated with the stones, but all agree on their celestial origin. Muslims say that the stones were originally white, but turned black after absorbing dark or evil thoughts. In Hungary, near the village of Stregoicavar, there was a monolith that 19th-century occultists spoke of as being one of the keys. There was a great deal of

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superstition regarding the monolith, especially the assertion that if anyone slept in its vicinity they would be haunted by monstrous nightmares of another world forever after. In many texts, the Chintamani Stone is referred to as "the shining trapezohedron".

Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947) (Source: www.roerich.org/NicholasRoerich.html)


A number of esoteric and suppressed volumes of the Gnostic tradition mentioned the original form of the stone as a trapezohedron. An Arab scholar who went by the name of Abdul Al-Hazred wrote of it in his 18th-century manuscript, the Kitab AlAzif. Von Junzt alluded to it in his Unaussprechlichen Kulten, as did the Ponape scripture and Prinn's De Vermiis Mysteriis. The most recent mention of the stone is from the 1920s and directly references the reason why the stones were called "keys". In Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, there is the tradition of "eight immortals": eight masters who reside beneath a mountain on the Chinese-Tibetan border. The city, known as Agharta in some legends and Hsi Wang Mu in others, is possibly underground and has been said by many to be near Lhasa. There have been numerous and dubious reports of explorations of tunnels leading to the city, but the most convincing came from Nicholas Roerich, the Russian artist and mystic (1874–1947). During his travels in Asia in the first decade of the 20th century, he heard about the eight immortals and their abode in the mountains. He learned from a native guide about a huge vault inside the Kunlun mountain STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE range, where treasures had been stored from the beginning of history, and of strange, grey people. In the 1920s, a high abbot from the Trasilumpo lamasery entrusted Roerich with a fragment of a magical stone from another world: the Chintamani Stone, alleged to have come from the Sirius system. Ancient Asian texts claim that "when the son of the Sun descended upon the Earth to teach mankind, there fell from the heavens a shield which bore the power of the world". Roerich's wife Helena wrote that the stone possessed a dark lustre, like a dark heart, and bore four unknown letters. Roerich recognised the four letters on the stone to be Sanskrit and translated them to mean: "Through the stars I come. I bring the chalice covered with the shield. Within it I bring a treasure, the gift of Orion." Its radiation was stronger than radium, but on a different frequency. Asian legends state that this radiation covers a vast area and influences world events, and that the main mass of the stone is kept in a tower in the city of the Starborn. According to ancient texts, the stone was sent from Tibet to King Solomon in Jerusalem, who split the stone and made a ring out of one piece. Centuries later, Muhammad took three other fragments to Mecca. A smaller fragment was sent with Roerich to Europe to help aid the establishment of the League of Nations. With the failure of the League, Roerich returned the fragment to the Trasilumpo lamasery in Tibet. Supposedly the 13th Dalai Lama decreed that the fragments were to be kept in separate places for safekeeping. Roerich speculated that the stone was a form of moldavite—a magnetic mineral that is also said to be a spiritual accelerator. Some historians said that the stone could act as a homing beacon, leading to the City of the Eight Immortals. The abbot told Roerich how the immortals were made of air and clay, formed by Mu Kung, the sovereign of the eastern air, and Wang Mu, the queen of the western air. A post-Taoist twist is that they were from a planet in the solar system of Sirius and established an outpost in the mountains of Tibet to conduct their genetic hybrid experiments. Roerich reported that during his journey STRANGE Times 2006

to Tibet he saw a flying disc (a term he used two decades before it was popularised). His guide had told him it was from the city of Agharta. Roerich's theory about the stone is that it is charged with shugs—currents of psychic force. He speculated that it resembled an electrical accumulator and in one way or another may give back the energy stored within it. For instance, it will increase the spiritual vitality of anyone who touches it, infusing him with knowledge or enhancing psychic abilities that allow him to glimpse Agharta, the Valley of the Eight Immortals. The stone, according to Balam, is a key to all futures and everyone's destiny. It is a point of power, a nontechnological quantum vortex. ∞

References • Agharta – Secrets of the Subterranean Cities: www.za.spiritweb.org/Spirit/ agartha.html • Chintamani – Treasure of the World: www.roerich.org/icmr/Collection/ Paintings/Chintamani.html • Nicholas Roerich: www.roerich.org/ • Searching for Shambhala: www. atlantisrising.com/shambhala.html • Underground Cities: www.crystalinks.com/underciv.html (Source: www.jamesaxler.com/dlwsg/ chintamani_stone.htm)

ROERICH'S SEARCH FOR THE SECRETS OF SHAMBHALA

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uch energy has been spent by adherents to the Hollow Earth theory in trying to locate the polar entrances, specifically the northern one, to the hollow portion of the Earth. Their research material has come from many sources—for example, modern scientific methods of gathering information have been employed, from satellite pictures to seismological surveys. But earlier on, Hollow Earthers looked towards legend and folklore as well as the results of polar exploration as their sources of information. The Bhagavat Purana, for example, contains the story of the sons of Maharaj Sagara, who were ordered by their father to search the entire globe for the sacrificial horse which had been stolen by Indra. At one point, it tells us that the sons of Sagara went off in the northeastern direction from India and entered into the interior of the Earth, where they found the horse at the hermitage of Kapila Rishi (they were not nice about it to the rishi). Other Puranas offer a bit more detail. They tell that the Sagaras came upon a northern ocean, which they passed over, and that they then entered into the bowels of the Earth. There are traditional Tibetan Buddhist beliefs regarding the city of Shambhala and the kingdom of Agharta, in which the city is situated.

"Chintamani – Treasure of the World" by Nicholas Roerich (Source: www.roerich.org/icmr/Collection/Paintings/Chintamani.html)


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THE TWILIGHT ZONE Specifically, some conversations held by Nicholas Roerich, a patron of culture, with various lamas and Tibetans as he travelled in that region with his wife in the 1920s have been recorded in various books— beginning with those by Roerich himself, including Altai–Himalaya (1929) [see review this issue] and Shambhala (1930). (His artwork is still displayed at the Nicholas Roerich Museum at 319 West 107th Street in New York City.) Roerich wrote: "I remembered how, during our crossing of the Karakorum Pass, my sais, the Ladaki, asked me: 'Do you know why there is such a peculiar upland up here? Do you know that in the subterranean caves here, many treasures are hidden, and that in them lives a wonderful tribe which abhors the sins of the Earth?' And again when we approached Khotan the hooves of our horses sounded hollow, as

though we rode above caves or hollows. Our caravan people called our attention to this... When we saw entrances of caves, our caravaneers told us: 'Long ago, people lived there; now they have gone inside; they have found a subterranean passage to that subterranean kingdom.'" Here are some most important passages of a conversation which Roerich had with a Tibetan lama in 1928. Roerich: Lama, tell me of Shambhala. Lama: But you Westerners know nothing about Shambhala—you wish to know nothing. Probably you ask out of curiosity; and you pronounce this sacred word in vain. After some cajoling by Roerich, the Lama studied him and replied: Lama: Great Shambhala is far beyond the ocean. It is the mighty heavenly domain. It has nothing to do with our

Earth. How and why do you people take interest in it? Only in some places, in the Far North, can you discern the resplendent rays of Shambhala... The secrets of Shambhala are well guarded. Roerich: Lama, we know the greatness of Shambhala. We know the reality of this indescribable realm. But we also know about the reality of the earthly Shambhala. We know some high lamas have visited Shambhala... We know the stories of the Buryat Lama, of how he was accompanied through a very narrow secret passage... So do not tell me about the heavenly Shambhala only, but also about the one on Earth...because I know that a real one exists on Earth... Lama, how does it happen that Shambhala on Earth is still undiscovered by travellers? On maps you may see so many routes of expeditions. It appears that all heights are already marked and all valleys and rivers explored. Lama: ...But, as yet these people have not found all things—so, let a man try to reach Shambala without a call! You have heard about the poisonous streams which encircle the uplands. Perhaps you have even seen people dying from these gases when they come near them... Many people try to reach Shambhala, uncalled. Some of them have disappeared forever. Only a few of them reach the holy place, and only if their karma is ready.

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ore recently, Jan Lamprecht wrote about this subject matter in his book, Hollow Planets (1998). A Tibetan lama, who is a renowned teacher of Vajrayana Buddhism and a Tibetan doctor, lectured in the San Jose, California, area and made a reference to Agharta. His title is His Holiness Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, so it seems that he belongs to a certain lineage and might be privy to ancient information on the matter. Lamprecht wrote: "While lecturing in San Jose, this lama stated that Agharta could be reached from India by flying northwards for seven days. I would assume the lama's references were to the speed at which the bird might fly. If that is so, then the average bird flying northwards from India for seven days would easily reach the Arctic. "Roerich's lama had stated that Shambhala lies in the Far North. Could this be a reference to the Arctic Ocean?" ∞

Portrait of Nicholas Roerich in Tibetan Robes (Source: www.roerich.org/online_collection/n/Nicholas_Roerich.html)

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(Source: Edited from the web page www.skywebsite.com/hollow/arctic/) STRANGE Times 2006

T HE D EEP D WELLERS SUBSURFACE INHABITANTS IN FOLKLORE, MYTH AND LITERATURE he legends, myths and literature of mankind have always been filled with fanciful or terrifying accounts of underground lands and races, hidden from surface sight. Rumours of a largely unseen reality, of cavern worlds, hidden tunnel systems which criss-cross the globe, and the occasional accidental discovery of a large geode structure within the Earth, have migrated from the realms of folklore and early scientific speculation into literature—and perhaps back into folklore again. When reading and studying the available fiction which touches upon the topic of a subterranean world, many similarities come to light. This is interesting insofar as the various writers were not necessarily familiar with one another's works. It is obvious that many of them drew upon folktales and mythology as well as the latest scientific findings and theories of the day; indeed, they had a huge matrix of archetypes and forms with which to work. Religious traditions have also been a major influence on the development of fiction about subterranean worlds and inhabitants, and some brave souls have shared accounts of what they believed to be their own encounters with the denizens that dwell within the Earth's crust. In this work, all of these aspects of underworld studies, and more, will come under careful examination, but this is not so much an examination of the underworlds as it is of their inhabitants.

T The subterranean dwellers of various ancient religious and mythical traditions have parallels with the underworld beings of modern-day accounts.

Part 1

by Wm Michael Mott © 2000 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.hollowplanets.com/ journal/J0002TheDeepDwellers.asp

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MYTHICAL (ANCIENT RELIGIOUS) ACCOUNTS 1. The East One of the earliest examples of subterranean stories is to be found in the Gilgamesh cycle of stories, which some would say is not so much fictitious as it is a distorted account of ancient events. Gilgamesh was an actual king who ruled Uruk (also called Unug) about 2600 BC, and he was supposedly of half-divine origin. Like other heroes of ancient mythic cycles who were demigods, or semi-divine, Gilgamesh longed for an immortality which he saw as his birthright, much the same as Heracles of the Greeks. In one tale from his cycle, he befriends a physically powerful, hairy, subhuman character named Enkidu and teaches him the customs of humanity. In a later tale, Enkidu, on behalf of his friend and king, agrees to venture into the underworld of ancient Mesopotamia to search for someone who has the secret of immortality. Other Sumerian accounts leave little doubt that the Kur or Ki-Gal ("the Great Below") was a place of immense size and great terror. This realm was ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal and her consort Nergal, a warlike god who had entered her queendom with plans of conquest—only to be seduced by the enemy, who became his wife. The Ki-Gal was said to be filled with a wide range of beings, including spirits and the undead, reanimated bodies of human beings as well as savage guardians called "scorpion men". Other residents were described as sexless and robotic "artificial" beings called Galatur or Gala, who were used by the rulers of the underworld for missions of kidnapping human beings from the surface world or for other errands. Also present in the underworld were the Utukku, "eagle-headed" reptilian humanoids who are probably the original Djinn and Ifrits of the ancient Middle East. The latter beings were usually depicted with wings, representing their ability to fly when dispatched on the errands of the rulers of the underworld. Another strange race was the Pazuzu, a canine-faced humanoid monstrosity with reptilian scales and tail. www.nexusmagazine.com

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All of these are motifs which in one form or another have been to nearly human in appearance. The Naga race is related to anothfound to permeate nearly every ancient underworld tradition and er underworld race: the Hindu demons, or Rakshasas. also have found their way into folklore and literature. The Nagas are also said to possess, as individuals, a "magical The Asian region, particularly the Indian subcontinent, Tibet, stone" or "third eye" in the middle of their brow. This is known Nepal, China and Japan, has very similar traditions about subterto students of eastern mysticism as the focal point of one of the ranean inhabitants. higher chakras (energy channel points) of the human(oid) nervous In India, there is still a strong belief in the reality of the system, and is the chakra associated with inner visions, intuition Nagas—a race of "serpent people" or "lizard men" who have and other esoteric concepts. made their homes in two major underground In China, the Lung Wang (Dragon Kings) cities (or civilisations), Bhogavati and Patala. closely resemble the Nagas in many Bhogavati is believed to be underneath the respects. The Lung were said to dwell either The Nagas Himalayas, and it is said that from there the in the "celestial realm", i.e., the stars and Nagas wage war on other human subterplanets, or beneath the surface of the Earth. are believed to have raneans from the subsurface kingdoms of They, too, were said to possess a "magical an affinity with water, pearl" in their forehead—a "mystical" or Agharta and Shambala. Patala is believed by millions of Hindus to divine eye or source of power. Like the and the entrances to this day to have an entrance in the Well Nagas, some of the entrances to their of Sheshna in Benares. According to palaces or kingdoms could be found their underground herpetologist and author Sherman A. beneath lakes and rivers or behind palaces are said to be Minton in his book, Venomous Reptiles, waterfalls. Almost always, such this entrance is very real, having 40 entrances were well hidden from the hidden often at the steps which descend into a circular intrusive eyes or feet of mortal men bottom of wells, deep depression and then terminate at a and women. One such entrance to the closed stone door covered in bas-relief Chinese underworld was said to be in lakes and rivers. cobras. In Tibet, there is a major mystithe "Eastern Mountain" of Taishan, cal shrine, also called Patala, which is near Qufu province. This entrance to They are described as said by the people there to sit atop an the Chinese Hell was guarded by savancient cavern and tunnel system which age demons called Men Shen, often a very advanced race reaches throughout the Asian continent depicted as warriors wearing fierce, or species with a and possibly beyond. animalistic masks or faces. The Nagas are believed to have an There was also interaction between highly developed affinity with water, and the entrances to their the Lords of Hell, as they were known, and technology. underground palaces are said to be hidden the Dragon Kings. The four Hell Kings, often at the bottom of wells, deep lakes and called Yan Luo or Yen Wang (possibly rivers. They are described as a very derived from the Hindu death god, Yama), advanced race or species with a highly develruled over a vast region consisting of 18 oped technology. Among their many devices are "death rays" and levels or locales. In one tale, a Dragon King is robbed by an vimana—flying, disc-shaped aerial craft which are described at extremely clever and human-like Monkey, who is similar in many length in many ancient Vedic texts including the Bhagavad-gita respects to the Hindu Hanuman (who in turn came into conflict and the Ramayana. The Nagas are also believed to harbour a diswith the Rakshasas of the underworld in the Ramayana). Enkidu dain for human beings, whom they are said to abduct, torture, also comes to mind in this tale. The Dragon King calls on the interbreed with and even eat. The interbreeding has supposedly help of the Yan Luo, who are in turn bested by Monkey as well. led to a wide variety of forms, ranging from completely reptilian The 18 regions of the Chinese netherworld are bureaucratic, tedious systems or civilisations and an apparent mixture of Taoist and Buddhist ideas, with a strong influence from the latter. The Japanese Hell is even more of an amalgam of different traditions, as it incorporates Chinese, Hindu and Buddhist characteristics into an earlier, animistic Shinto system. Emma-Hoo (perhaps from YamaRaja) is the king of Jigoku, an eight-levelled region of fire and ice. Jigoku is filled with Oni, or demons, which have the heads of oxen or horses but humanoid bodies. Japan also has other cavern-dwellers who come out upon occasion. The bird-headed reptilian goblins, the Tengu, dwell in mountainous regions and mostly come out by night. They are experts in the use of the weapons which are in modern times associA reptilian humanoid in the underworld ated with ninjitsu. According to legend, the 146 • NEXUS


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Tengu trained Minamoto Yoshitsune, a famed Samurai swordshomes were hidden in inaccessible mountainsides and other man of the late 12th century, when he was an exiled boy on the remote locations. run from his enemies. The Tengu are almost identical in descripThe Scandinavian and Germanic peoples also believed in the tion to the Utukku of Sumerian myth. Huldre, the "hidden folk", or Elves. The Huldre domain was a Other beings are the Kappa, a semiluminous cavern realm called aquatic and totally reptilian-looking Alfheim. From Alfheim they would humanoid dwarf, the "ugly girls of venture forth to cajole, abduct or hell" and sundry other shapeshifting seduce human beings. Other beings entities who dwell underground or were the Kobolds, or mine dwarves, under houses. The "fox people" are perhaps a variant of the Norse More mysterious were the among the latter, often taking human Svartalf. dwarves, a race (or races) of form and delighting in abduction and Another type was the Tusse, a seduction of mortals. variant of elf who lived close to stunted, powerful craftsmen The underworld of ancient Egypt humans, usually beneath or close to a and weapons-smiths. has many things in common with its farmstead. The primary interest of Mesopotamian counterpart. Called the Huldre elf-folk, which could be the Tuat or Duat, it was ruled by the said to apply to all the Germanic god of the dead, Osiris, the countertypes, seems to have been procrepart of Sumer's Nergal. It is the seration with human beings for the purvants of Osiris, however, who are of pose of maintaining genetic diversiconcern here. There was the jackal-headed god Khentimentiu and ty. Like the trolls and dwarves, the elves seemed to dislike bright also Anubis, both gods of arcane knowledge, embalming and sunlight, but may have had more tolerance than their troll and other sciences. The god of knowledge, Thoth, was also a regular dwarf cousins as they were sometimes seen at dawn, twilight or in the Tuat; he had a humanoid form with the head of a baboon dusk, or by day in deeply shadowed valleys or mountain chasms. (but very canine in appearance). All three of these deities bear a Huldre elves in particular are said to have dwelt beneath mounds strong resemblance to the Sumerian Pazuzu. and hills which were in closer proximity to human habitations, as There is also a parallel in the Ushabtiu, originally conceived as trolls did more rarely. The elves took a regular interest in human artificial, animated and robotic servants who were very similar to affairs—weddings, births and deaths (bloodlines?), the success of the Gala, or Galatur, of the Sumerian underworld. Like the Gala, crops and livestock and so forth—but only for their own selfish the Ushabtiu could be dispatched to punish or abduct an ordinary mortal or even the Pharaoh himself. These beings were represented in Egyptian burials by small statues of the same name, mimicking the supernatural servants of Osiris and hopefully providing a retinue of retainers and slaves for the deceased. Another being with familiar characteristics was Ammut, a blend of crocodile, lion and dog. But possibly the most feared being to haunt the underworld was the god of chaos and strife, Set or Seth, who attempted to mount a coup d'état against his brother, Osiris. Set is often considered to be the Egyptian counterpart of the Judaeo-Christian personality known as Satan, his appearance both canine and reptilian with a human form but animalistic head, longsnouted and/or muzzled. The hugest dragon of the Tuat, however, was the gigantic serpent Apophis, very similar to Nidhoggr or Jormungand from the Norse underworlds—a monstrous serpent which brought fear even to the gods.

2. The West Moving into Europe and Scandinavia, the mythical subterraneans became less distant and more immediate, interacting with the common folk on a much more regular basis. Scandinavians had their trolls and giants or Jotuns, also called Etins, who were great granitic beings of immense physical power and sometimes hairy of form. More mysterious were the dwarves, a race (or races) of stunted, powerful craftsmen and weapons-smiths. One race of dwarves was from Svartalfheim, the Land of the Dark Elves, a cavern world in its own right. Some of the Svartalf dwarf-kind lived in Nifleheim, the Land of the Dead. Along with the savage and man-eating trolls, the dwarves would turn to stone, into toads or otherwise die if struck by the direct rays of the Sun. More often than not, the entrances to their STRANGE Times 2006

A hero fighting a scaled humanoid creature similar to a Greek gorgon. Note the creature's "third eye".


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interests. They seemed to be overly concerned with genetic and had the entrances to their subterranean homes at the bottom of biological diversity, and they pilfered livestock, crops and human lakes. To remove all doubt as to their relationship with Norse genes via theft or cross-species liaison whenever they saw fit to hidden-folk and Indian Nagas alike, they shunned the sunlight and do so. The elves are generally depicted as extremely fair-haired often seemed interested in crossbreeding their own bloodlines with and fair-skinned. those of human beings, or even in crossbreeding their "livestock" Dragons were also said to live deep in the Earth, as recounted in or fairy cattle, horses, hounds and so forth with the surface species the Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) saga of Beowulf. The monster which were most compatible. The goblin-dwarf Rumpelstiltskin, Grendel was a hairy, scaled fiend, a Naga in his lust to have the human baby and its troll which later British traditions would call genetic bounty, is another example of this in a "goblin" and modern cryptozoologists German folklore. would term a "hairy humanoid". The term Of particular interest are the Tuatha de Pazuzu would probably have been just as Danaan of Ireland, the People of the Goddess appropriate for Grendel. Dragons were the Danu, also called the Sidhe. Originally an Dragons were the special guardians of "buried treasure"; that is, aristocratic warrior race of heroic proportion, buried knowledge or technology, much they dwindled in size after retreating special guardians of of it often made by the powers of the underground to become the Daoine Sidhe "buried treasure"; subterranean dwarves. The European (Theena Shee) or diminutive faeries of dragon had a nastier disposition than his Irish folklore. that is, buried oriental counterpart, or perhaps he came Most of the "gentry" or aristocratic knowledge or into conflict with a group of people who trooping faeries are said to be of this entertained different philosophical ideals type. Like the Scandinavian elves, they technology, when it came to living in fear of manare depicted as particularly fair of much of it often eating entities; but whatever the case, complexion and hair. According to Lady like his Eastern cousins he had a relaWilde in Ancient Legends of Ireland made by the powers tionship with both underground caverns (Ward & Downey, London, 1887), "they of the subterranean and deep bodies of water. are categorised as 'cave fairies'". In England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland addition to their now familiar practice of dwarves. have rich traditions of under-earth abduction of and hybridisation with dwellers, with many similarities or even surface humans, their name Tuatha ("tribe" or common origins between them. Like the "people") de Danaan holds a strong Norse/Germanic variants, the "fairies"— resemblance to the Egyptian name for the goblins, trows, knockers, brownies, underworld: the Tuat. leprechauns, Sidhe (shee), Tylwyth teg It is generally thought that the term "fairy" (terlooeth teig), and numerous other categories of humanoid or "faerie" has its origin in the earlier French term fay or the Latin beings—were fair or foul, malevolent or kind (actually, fatae, but the possibility of an older origin, as hinted at by the indifferent), making their homes almost without exception beneath Tuat/Tuatha connection, may in fact bear further examination—for the ground. Mounds, hills, ruins, ancient raths and hill-forts, did not the "Pharaohs" believe that they would journey through the mountains, cliffs and even cities of great age were said to serve as Tuat on the way to their places in eternity? the rooftops of their palaces. Like the Nagas and dragons, some The hills and glens of Ireland are also said to hide the remnants of at least three vanquished races: the Firbolgs, the Fomorians and the Nemedians. All are ancient enemies of the Tuatha de Danaan and were driven underground by the latter in the distant past, where they then dwindled in size (lack of genetic diversity?) at an even earlier time than did their conquerors. The Fomors and the Firbolgs are probably the origin-race of many of the bogeys and pookas (bucas), goblins and hobgoblins, Scottish trows and other malevolent, sometimes shapeshifting beings which seem to bear strong resemblance to the Scandinavian trolls, being perhaps a smaller variant. The etymological connection between "trows" and "trolls" is obvious, and reflects the sequence of both legendary and historical migrations to the British Isles as well as the wars between each newcomer group and the thenensconced one. Each group of faeries and goblins can be viewed as the dethroned exiled gods of an earlier defeated human culture. The question is, what or who were these "gods" which still exist in the popular imagination today? Were they symbolic pantheons or archetypes, or living beings who pre-dated man on this Two examples of Utukku (Djinn or Genii), dispatched from the Ki-Gal to the surface world. planet? 148 • NEXUS


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3. The New World see these as subsequent cavern worlds, each one lower than the Native American cultures have similar beliefs in an extensive, next and each one eventually abandoned and destroyed in turn. layered realm of caverns which is hidden beneath their feet. This While still in the murky "third world", the Hopi ancestors came murky world is believed to be inhabited by both human and into contact with the mysterious "ant people", an ectomorphic race humanoid beings and by a variety of monsters and demons. or species which greatly resembles the Gala of Sumerian myth, and Most tribes or nations have their own traditions of subterranean at some point they also came into conflict with the "serpent "little people", as well as other motifs people". Like other tribes, their underworld including reptilian or serpent-like humanoid mythos is filled with cataclysms and floods. beings. In addition to this, many tribes At least one of their previous worlds was said believe that they themselves emerged from a to have been "in the east". Combined with mythical underworld ages before. the flood element, this legend is very similar The Mescalero Apache have many of to Apache and Aztec traditions. The underworld these beliefs. One of their oldest sacred traThe Choctaw (Cha'ta) people of ditions states that they came from the Mississippi also have a myth of underdwellers were a Old Red Fire Land before the Great ground origins. They believe that their Flood. This land is said to have been in mixture of human, ancestors emerged from the Nanih the distant eastern (Atlantic) sea but Waiya cave mound, a 50-foot-tall natreptilian and other was destroyed by a combination of delural geological formation which is hiduge and volcanic cataclysms. Escaping den in a swampy forest area, approxianimal characteristics, through "great caverns" and tunnel sysmately one-and-a-half miles east of a and the rain-god Chac tems, the ancestors of the Apache came better-known artificial mound and to high mountain lands far to the south, tourist site. The hill has several natural was a long-nosed, where they built new cities. A series of openings, some of which have been fanged, humanoid misfortunes there, however, eventually "sealed up" (the Park Service seems to drove them northward. have no good explanation for this), and creature very similar This legend is nearly identical to the it is said by the Choctaw to be the to the Egyptian origin story as related in the Chilam entrance to a vast underground realm. Bilaam of the Maya, and brings to One legend has it that in ancient god Set. mind both Mayan and Aztec origin myths. times the Choctaw were invaded by a race of The Aztecs say that they originated in a land red- and blond-haired, white-skinned giants called Aztlan, obviously synonymous with who bore "sharp clubs" (swords?) and axes Atlan or Atlantis, the destruction of which and wore an extra, thick skin (chain or they also escaped. After this, they ended up leather mail?) which made them impervious in a cavern world called Chicomoztoc, or the to arrow, spear and warclub. Add the touch Seven Cavern Cities of Gold, where they lived for some time that some of these Nahullo, or giants, had "horns", and these before emerging again into the surface world. white invaders sound suspiciously like wandering Norsemen. In addition to believing in a vast, nine-layered underworld filled Whatever their origin or identity might have been, these invaders with strange beings, the chief god of the Maya, called Itzamna drove the Choctaw into hiding. (meaning "iguana house"), was depicted as an anthropomorphic The world beneath the cave mound where the Choctaw hid was lizard, snake, cayman or dragon. The underworld dwellers were a a large series of caverns through which a river or rivers ran (the mixture of human, reptilian and other animal characteristics, and the rain-god Chac was a long-nosed, fanged, humanoid creature very similar to the Egyptian god Set. The underworld, called Xibalba, is the location of most of the action in the Popol Vuh, a priestly epic of the Maya. In the Popol Vuh, two semi-divine brothers, Hunapuh and Xbalanque, have to journey into a realm of horrors beneath the earth in order to defeat those who are the enemies of their father and his family and who threaten their own ascendancy to power. In Xibalba, they come into conflict with Zipacna (a crocodile-headed monster), Seven Macaw (a bird-headed creature), the maker of earthquakes, and other familiar forms. An interesting event occurs when the vengeance-seeking brothers devise a way to pick out the 12 lords of Xibalba from identical "mannikins" or robotic Ushabti-like figures, so as to destroy the lords of the underworld. The twins eventually defeat their rivals and take over the rulership themselves, bringing an end to human sacrifice as part of the deal. These events preceded and made possible the "modern" epoch of time. The Hopi of the southwest desert, descendants of the mysterious Anasazi people, have an equally strange tradition. 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Nanih Waiya cave mound sits squarely at the headwaters of the His pointed ears only accentuate his reptilian appearance. Pearl River). Some traditions indicate that it went on to connect Another variant is the Nalusa Chito, or "big black being", who to other "worlds" or underground places. Staying underground emerges from underground dens to capture women and children for many generations, the Choctaw emerged to wage a form of presumably for supper. This abduction scenario is by now a guerrilla warfare on their enemies, eventually winning by using familiar one and is very similar to the abduction and changeling darts coated with a poison made from mushrooms found in the accounts of Celtic and Scandinavian traditions which often caverns. Victorious, they emerged again into the sunlit world. describe abductions for the purposes of maintaining genetic One tradition holds that this emergence of a generation of peodiversity. The goblin Ho'koklonote'she is a shapeshifting creature ple born underground is the basis for the mound origin myth, and believed to haunt the region, and is very similar to the Pooka or that the Choctaw had in fact arrived centuries Buca of the British Isles. So are the Nalusa earlier after leaving a "sunken land" which twins, for that matter. had foundered in a distant western ocean. As has been demonstrated, many After many wanderings and travails, they similarities or perhaps identical descriptions arrived in the southeast where they found the exist for the underworld inhabitants of myth natural cavern mound which would later and folklore. serve as a place of refuge. But other This underlying cohesion may have Choctaw beliefs dispute this, claiming resulted from an "archetypal stew" that not just the Choctaw but the which long simmered in the One tradition holds Muskogee, Cherokee and Chickasaw imaginations of men and women; and as peoples emerged from the mound as will be demonstrated in the next section, that this emergence of well, having all been one people in the this has resulted in some very a generation of people underworld. interesting and imaginative works of Today the Choctaw still believe that a fiction. born underground is variety of strange supernatural beings About the Author: the basis for the either inhabit the cave mound or dwell Wm Michael Mott is the Creative in the wooded hills that surround it. One mound origin myth... Director for a high-performance US of these is the Shampe, a hair-covered, software company. He is also a freemanlike giant who has a terrible odour lance artist and writer of both fiction and stays underground during the day. and non-fiction. He has worked as an The Shampe is a sort of Sasquatch, but artist/designer for Fortune 500 companies the underworld connection is there. Also and for a variety of book and magazine pubpresent are the Kawana-kasha (Kowi lishers. His artwork has appeared in publicaAnukasha), also called Bohpoli ("stonetions such as Computer Graphics World thrower"), a type of supernatural and Magazine, Computer Artist, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Dragon mercurial dwarf living within not just the Magazine, UFO Magazine and others. He's created award-winwoods of Mississippi but within the cave mound itself. Like the ning artwork and graphic design for mass-market book covers, Norse dwarves, they are hoarders of vast knowledge. posters, brochures, packaging, CD-ROM covers and art collections The mound is also the home of "giant serpents" and perhaps a as well as for digital/web-based media. His artwork has been feahost of other beings. Among the latter is the Nalusa Falaya, or tured in the exhibition In Dreams Awake: Art of Fantasy at the "long black being", who is humanoid yet slides on his stomach Olympia and York Gallery in 1988, at the 1987 World Fantasy "like a snake". Con and in other exhibits. Mott's satirical fantasy novels, Pulsifer: A Fable and Land of Ice, A Velvet Knife, are published in electronic form by SoftBook Press/Gemstar, (www.softbook.com) and will soon also be available from the author in a deluxe illustrated version on CD-ROM. The first of a series of illustrated short stories appeared in September 2000 as a chapbook from Undaunted Press (www.undauntedpress. com). Mott has been researching Fortean and paranormal topics for over 20 years and has only recently decided to put the results of this research into written form, the result being the graphically rich book and CDROM, Caverns, Cauldrons, and Concealed Creatures (available from http://www.hiddenmysteries.com). Wm Michael Mott can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected].

Editor's Note: Examples of Egyptian underworld deities, the jackal-headed Anubis and Ammut

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See page 160 for the bibliography.

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T HE D EEP D WELLERS MODERN FORTEAN AND CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS ith the advent of the "scientific century", i.e., the 20th, occurrences which in earlier times would have been deemed "magical", demonic or the work of faeries, gods or witches were given descriptions or names which downplayed their inexplicable nature and sought to fit them somehow into a comprehensible, "modern" world view. The problem then was, and continues to be, that such anomalous phenomena have defied the most rational, sceptical and "scientific" explanations. Also termed "Fortean" events, after anomaly researcher and writer Charles Fort, these occurrences have continually thrown a philosophical monkey-wrench into the cherished machinery of scientific dogma. In other words, science has no explanation for these events or discoveries, so it largely ignores, ridicules or dismisses them out of hand. There is no doubt that many of these phenomena are genuine, and for now are beyond the ability of the currently dominant science belief system to explain. This brings to the fore the first category of research (outlined in part one), which may tie in very closely with "what has gone before".

W The subterranean dwellers of various ancient religious and mythical traditions have parallels with the underworld beings of modern-day accounts.

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CRYPTIDS AND MYSTERY CREATURES "Cryptozoology" is a term which was coined by Belgian biologist Bernard Heuvelmans to designate a field of study concerned with unknown creatures or animals, also referred to as "cryptids" ("hidden" animals). For the purposes of this study, the term "cryptid" will not be used to designate known or suspected known animals which are simply "out of place" or out of their customary environment; it will be reserved for those creatures which are truly "unknown". The comings and goings of such creatures, their sudden appearances in remote, rural or densely populated areas and their equally sudden disappearances with scarcely a trace left behind have long befuddled researchers in the field of cryptozoology. With a careful examination of specific unknown animals or entities and their habitats, interesting connections to the ancient traditions are revealed. 1. Lake Monsters and Sea Serpents Many freshwater lakes around the world have longstanding traditions of "lake monsters" of various types, ranging from humped or sinuous, scaled or plated, to sporting "elephantlike" hide and "horselike" manes of hair. Most such creatures appear sporadically, often in high mountain lakes or large isolated lakes of great depth with little or no access to the sea. Questions which have yet to be answered include: 1. How do such creatures maintain a breeding population of sufficient numbers to provide genetic diversity in relatively closed environments? 2. How do these populations, their bodies being of immense size, manage both to feed themselves and maintain a high core temperature, usually in cold waters with limited food resources? 3. What is the relationship of "lake monsters" to "sea serpents"? 4. If migratory, how do large populations of such creatures travel from lake to lake or from lake to ocean and ocean to lake? Without a doubt, the most well known of such beasts is the "monster" of Loch Ness, a large deep lake in the Highlands of Scotland. Loch Ness is connected to the sea by the River Ness, yet sightings have only very rarely taken place in or at the river. The loch www.nexusmagazine.com

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2. Hairy Humanoids itself, like many in Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia and North Many eyewitness accounts of hair-covered humanoids have America, has a longstanding tradition and reputation for being been reported and documented over the years by people from a haunted by "kelpies", or shapeshifting, horse-headed, serpentine wide range of backgrounds and professions. While Bigfoot or entities. These creatures are often described as having horselike Sasquatch is the type whose description is known to most people, heads and manes, long serpentine necks and huge humped bodies perhaps equalled by the Yeti of the Himalayas (the "Abominable with four flippers. Snowman"), the literature would indicate that not only are these Given the frigid water conditions at the loch (42°F or 5.5°C] on living flesh-and-blood creatures, but they come in a wide variety average) and the mammalian characteristics of the creatures, it of physical configurations. Yet, like the lake monsters, they seem stands to reason that they are either mammals or some sort of to "pop in and out" of our surface world reality and are amazingly endothermic (warm-blooded) plesiosaur descendants, or dinosaur difficult to track for creatures so large. descendants (many of the theropod dinosaurs were endothermic, In addition to the towering, hirsute Bigfoot form, witnesses as are their descendants, the birds). Given the additional fact that have reported: stunted, clawed versions with savage dispositions; they sometimes sport horns or "ossicorns" like those of a giraffe, black "winged" varieties (the Ixals of Mexico); screeching horrors the mammalian hypothesis (descendants of zeuglodons, primitive with shaggy, hair-covered faces; gigantic varieties which would whales) may be the best bet. dwarf Sasquatch (like the Yeren of China); and more. In addition The questions of where they originate, where they go when they to the "rotten egg" or "skunk-like" odour which often accompavanish and how they maintain a stable diet still remain. A look at nies most of these forms (as it does with Bigfoot, the Shampe of the structure of Loch Ness provides some clues. the Choctaw Indians and the Florida "skunk ape"), many sightings It has been determined that at some point in the distant past, and encounters have taken place in or near caves or cavernous Loch Ness was an arm of the sea. Now it is seldom less than 300 regions as well as abandoned mines and other man-made tunnels feet (91.4 m) deep and routinely surpasses 400 feet (121.9 m) in or potential entrances to unknown, underground areas. depth. The bottom of the lake runs up in many instances to meet Consider the underworld-exploring Enkidu, the hell-plumbing underwater cliffs and the submerged sides of the mountains which Chinese monkey, the hairy surround the loch. Sonar has indicated Scandinavian trolls and the fanged, that the bases of these cliffs are baboon- or dog-headed monsters of honeycombed in places with very large Sumer, Egypt and other cultures, and a caverns of undetermined depth and again becomes clear. extent. Could these lead to even more Is there a connection between connection These creatures come out into our vast underground caverns under the world, usually by night, and then mountains, some containing air and the reptilian yet mammalian retreat into an "invisible" cavern or eventually linking to other lakes and to "dragons" of large cold lakes subterranean world about which only the sea? This would certainly provide a they know, vanishing "without a feasible explanation for the mysterious and the vast cavern systems trace". This does not have a connotamovements and disappearances of these that may lie beneath them? tion of the supernatural but the connocreatures, and perhaps to the question of tation of a natural phenomenon and is their diet, which may be also that of an a logical conclusion. ocean-going animal or "sea serpent". Not only does this indicate an underPerhaps the lakes and lochs around world connection, but it also indicates the world which boast of such creatures an intelligent "covering" of tracks and evidence which is beyond are simply places to breed and spawn in relative safety from the the abilities of ordinary animals and can only be equated to the large predators of the oceans. premeditated and well-planned actions of human beings—or of When it is taken into account that many other "vortex-haunted" something at least as clever. It also begs the question of, at some lakes around the world have been found to have deep caverns level, possible human involvement of a covert nature in not only which account for their "vortices" (created by the suction of even "hairy humanoid" matters but in other, more bizarre, cryptid larger water-filled caverns and the movement of huge volumes of accounts. water), the whole matter shifts into perspective. And disinformation—in the form of ridicule, evidenceSuch vortex-sporting, cavern-hiding lakes include Lake St Jean tampering or intentional hoaxing—may also come into play at and Blue Sea Lake in Canada (the latter home to Misiganebic, a times. If this does occur, it does not automatically disqualify the "horse-headed" dragon), as well as Pohenegamook, Massawippa, phenomenon as a genuine one. It only complicates matters by Memphremagog, and on and on. Loch Ness and the Walchensee introducing what may be the intended element into the equation, in Bavaria, among others, are said to connect to the sea in similar that element being obfuscation. fashion. Given the distance of some of these bodies of water from the ocean, it is not unreasonable to assume that many deep aquifers 3. "El Chupacabras" and Other "Hybrid" Beings Puerto Rico is a small island, only about 150 miles long by 45 are actually tributaries or parts of vast subterranean oceans of miles wide (241.4 by 72.4 km), yet it has experienced enough fresh water which may now be in danger of depletion by human paranormal and cryptid activity in its history to be a continent. usage from the surface. The native Taino, an Arawak tribe of the West Indies, feared Is there a connection between the reptilian yet mammalian creatures like the Araidai, a jungle goblin, and Konokokuyuha, a "dragons" of large cold lakes and the vast cavern systems that type of evil dwarf. The island has long been a haunt of hairy may lie beneath them? The evidence would seem to indicate that humanoids, mysterious winged creatures (some described as this is the case. The cryptid dragon, with his underground lairs "pterodactyls") and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), with the and underwater entrances to them, is apparently as active and entire human population in some areas at times living in terror. secretive as the Chinese and Japanese versions ever were. 152 • NEXUS


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During 1975, Puerto Rico was stricken by a mysterious wave of the animal mutilations? Sometimes only blood would be taken; livestock mutilations accompanied by UFO sightings. Many other times, specific organs like livers would be missing. It should times, animals were drained of blood and left like emptied winebe noted that blood and the "meaty organs" were the very items skins for investigators to puzzle over. Twenty years later, in offered to the dark gods of antiquity in the ancient Middle East and 1995, things turned really weird. even in pre-Columbian America. The description of El The mutilations and blood-drainings returned with a vengeance, Chupacabras is very reminiscent of that of the Sumerian Utukku or and over a two-year period the "culprit" was seen or encountered even the Gala and the Egyptian Ushabtiu—created as "artificial" first-hand by dozens of witnesses. Termed "El Chupacabras", or life-forms (yet no less alive) to do the bidding of the Lords of the "The Goat-sucker", the creature seemed like something out of a Underworld. Maybe times are tough in the subterranean realms cartoonist's nightmare. It was described as four to five feet tall, and the "gods" have taken to stealing the substances which are no generally reptilian in appearance, with a kangaroo-like hip or longer offered to them—or could it be that the Nagas are coming haunch structure, spines along a back-ridge and a humanoid head out to play? with protruding, incandescent eyes reminiscent of descriptions of The Utukku are reptilian in aspect, vaguely humanoid and the "grey aliens" of ufology. Sometimes the creatures would be slightly "winged", just like El Chupacabras. Again we are grey-green and hairless; sometimes they would have flat black or reminded of the chimerical, genetic hybrids mentioned in the grey fur. With folding flaps of skin under their arms which Book of Enoch, which were created by the Nefilim (the Sumerian connected to their rib cages, they could purportedly glide like Annunaki and Igigi) before the Deluge when they "sinned against flying squirrels or fly outright, and they had birds, wild animals, reptiles and fish", creatthree-pronged retractable mouth-organs used ing hybrid creatures to serve them. These for slicing, dicing and sucking blood and monstrosities also terrorised mankind—as the fluids. people of Puerto Rico might verify! At first it was thought that the sightings Perhaps, instead of "looking skyward" for were surely an elaborate hoax, or simply hys"alien invaders", we should start looking teria, until the sheer number of incidents and downward for ancient parasites which are During 1975, reports reached overwhelming proportions. more or less native to our planet. Hair was obtained from one mutilation site Puerto Rico was stricken and analysed by a Japanese lab; while Other Forms by a mysterious wave 4.Creatures similar in description to El deemed to be "similar to the hair of a wolf", it of livestock mutilations Chupacabras have been seen around the was labelled as coming from an animal which world, ranging from reptilian humanoids (the was "unknown". accompanied by "Loveland Frog", "Lizard Man", etc.); "little The creature was a typical cryptid in some UFO sightings. people" of a wide variety of descriprespects, seemingly popping in and out tions; bulbous-headed and bug-eyed, of existence at a moment's notice and stick-thin grey humanoids; and winged generating fear and confusion all over anthropomorphic forms. Such appearthe island. From Puerto Rico, the Twenty years later, ances, or periods of intense "cryptid" or Chupacabras events quickly spread to in 1995, things turned "alien" activity, are often hallmarked by the rest of Latin America, including animal mutilations, which involve preMexico, South Florida and the desert really weird. cise (even surgically precise), selective southwest of the United States. This organ removal and blood-draining, or marked it as a distinctly cultural pheelse by mass disappearances of pets and nomenon (Hispanic), but that by no livestock. means indicates that it was not genuineThese sightings cannot all be disly taking place. missed as hallucinations or hoaxes, parA connection was soon suspected in ticularly the sighting reports which conPuerto Rico between El Chupacabras and sist of several witnesses' testimony. the mountainous rainforested region of The sheer number of sightings is too great for them to be so easily El Yunque, which is honeycombed with mostly unexplored cavern dismissed, and the number of unexplained animal mutilations and systems. In fact, caverns underlie much of the island. Several disappearances which correspond with these "flaps" would seem witnesses reported seeing the creature or creatures fleeing to the El to support this. Yunque region when discovered or pursued. Soon, other parts of Sometimes these creatures are confronted with violent force, the Spanish-speaking world were reaching similar conclusions. yet almost always they resound "as if hollow" and are otherwise And, like the demons of old, an acrid, debilitating, foul odour often impervious to human weaponry—as in the case of the accompanied the visits of the beast. "Hopkinsville Goblins" of Kentucky, which were shot by the witOne brave soul, Jesus Sanchez, was victimised repeatedly, his nesses. "Mothman" of West Virginia, a tall, winged humanoid rabbits being drained of blood. Finally, one morning at 4.00 am who haunted the region of Point Pleasant—particularly an old he surprised the invader by blinding it with a bright light. When it military storage area which had "underground bunkers"—made rushed to escape, he struck it with a machete—only to discover mechanical whirring sounds as it flew and did not flap its wings at that "the blow sounded as if it had hit a drum". The creature, all. The now ubiquitous "grey aliens" have been described as unscathed, made its disappearance as usual. "mechanical" in their motions, moving "stiffly" or "jerkily". This What is to be made of a report like this? How can a creature will be examined again shortly, but all of these beg an obvious both "have hair" yet "sound like a drum" when struck (or shot, for question. that matter) and escape unharmed? Are all of these "creatures" simply different makes and models And why the almost methodical and indeed selective nature of STRANGE Times 2006


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of Utukku or Galatur? Are they the Golems and the Ushabtiu of collecting organs, blood or genetic material—not to mention a old, and are they completely mechanical and artificially general aversion to bright daylight or other bright lights, more intelligent—or are they a melding of living genetics and nonoften than not—the cryptid and "monster" scenario is brought into living technology? Human beings are only now starting to create sharper focus. This multitude of beings is not from "elsewhere"; such technologies, but they do exist. What technology might be the odds for that are simply too great, given the variety of forms amassed through a simple cumulative process by an earlier, encountered and taking into account the already considerable prehuman civilised species with hundreds of thousands or even genetic diversity that we know about which has sprung from the millions of years of history behind it? biosphere of the Earth. The entity known as Mothman, whose reign of terror lasted for The scientific principle known as "Occam's Razor" would thirteen months during 1967 and 1968 (as chronicled so well by indicate that, given the choice between a staggering variety of John A. Keel in The Mothman Prophecies), made his visits to beings from a staggering variety of worlds lost in interstellar space, West Virginia, which it should be noted is one of the most denseor a naturally (or even artificially) diverse varieties of life-form ly cavernous areas of North America. So is Kentucky, for that which have sprung from one ecological system (hence, for matter, where the Hopkinsville instance, the mostly bipedal, two"UFO" entities were encountered. handed, two-legged, two-winged, The same can be said of many four-flippered configurations, all areas of New England, which as a variations on the earthly vertebrate region has been the haunt of "the template), the latter would have to be An unknown welder named Dover Demon" (a term coined by most rational and logical choice Richard S. Shaver told the world the cryptozoologist Loren Coleman), for a theory of origin. No, they are "lizard men", hairy humanoids, "mad coming and going at will from some a story which sounded like a gassers" of reptilian aspect, and a very near at hand, and the blend of paranoid-schizophrenic place host of other creepy visitors. circumstantial evidence would seem The New England region is also to indicate that place to be the hidden delusions, hallucinations and the location of the "Morehedmoodus" bowels of our own planet. bad science fiction. area near East Haddam, Connecticut; in this area, the ground shakes and RE-INVENTION, PARANOIA AND DECEPTION roars within, as if with "underground 1. The Degenerates Below tempests" or as if titanic subterranean In December 1943, the pulp magamachinery is at work. This noisy and zine Amazing Stories opened a can of worms which would evendisconcerting phenomenon is known as "the Moodus Noises", and tually grow into a controversial storm of accusations, ridicule, it has yet to be explained by mainstream science, government or denial and resentment. anyone else with a room full of PhDs. An unknown welder named Richard S. Shaver told the world a And of course, neither West Virginia nor New England is story which sounded like a blend of paranoid-schizophrenic deluexcessively far removed from another region which is famed for a sions, hallucinations and bad science fiction. Working with the distinctive "cryptid", "demon" or "creature": between both is the "assistance" of Ray Palmer, editor of Amazing Stories, Shaver Pine Barrens region of New Jersey, home of the infamous "Jersey began to tell his allegedly "true" tales of deep-cavern civilisations, Devil". genetically degenerated, technologically advanced troglodytes, This creature not only shares some of the physical characterisand an ancient high technology which gave these beings amazing tics of El Chupacabras and Mothman, but in many accounts powers over the unsuspecting inhabitants of the surface world. resembles the winged reptilian forms of the Sumerian Utukku, a Strangely, in addition to their "death ray" (laser or dragon, or a mediaeval cockatrice or basilisk. electromagnetic weapon), "thought ray" (telepathy) and illusion With their elusive dispositions, similar characteristics (among (holographic) "mech" or machines, these new incarnations of the their "group" as well as with ancient forms) and nasty habit of "deep dweller" concept had silent, flying ships which Shaver described as "discs", which were kept hangared beneath the Earth's surface and were used regularly. This was five years before Kenneth Arnold's famous "first" sighting of nine objects over Mt Rainier in Washington state—objects which he referred to as "saucerlike", hence inadvertently helping to coin the modern term "flying saucer". Additionally, the troglodytes could produce "solid illusions" of creatures or objects, even their disc-like craft, which were Selected covers of magazines which featured the "true" stories and commentaries of Richard S. Shaver. temporarily physical then 154 • NEXUS


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dissipated or were "turned off". How many times have UFOs just "disappeared" from radar screens around the world? Shaver's underworld was inhabited by two ancient races which had originally been one, which he termed "dero", for "detrimental robot" ("degenerate" would have been more accurate), and "tero", for "integrative energy robot" (the "good guys"). According to the welder-turned-writer, he had not only been contacted and tormented by the beams of these beings but he had been "helped" by the tero in defeating the assaults of the dero and had actually been in the cavern-world himself. Readers responded to Shaver's accounts in two ways: they either reviled and ridiculed him and his "underworld", which was often depicted as sexually and violently brutal; or A curious "picture rock", one of many images "brought out" by Richard S. Shaver. they wrote in with letters of support and accounts of their own, in an effort to corroborate his stories! Ultimately, "the Shaver Mystery", as it was scient, although she was fooled and eluded upon several occasions called, drove Ray Palmer from Amazing Stories and into business by her victims. Beginning with standard "poltergeist" activities, for himself, and generated an uproar (and an income) for both the "spirit" worked its way up to invisibly dealt physical blows Palmer and Shaver that would last, to some degree, until both of and attacks, and throughout the ordeal, which spanned many their deaths in the 1970s. years, spoke to, sang for and reviled the Bell family. The activiWas Richard Shaver unbalanced and delusional, or was he ties of this entity were witnesses by hundreds of people, including simply a talented and outrageous storyteller? Or was he telling Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States. stories which were half truth, half confabulation? In his youth he Only now, in our "modern" age, is it noticed that at first the had spent some time in a mental hospital, a fact which generated "voice" of the "witch" was booming, hollow and metallic, only contempt and ridicule from others throughout his life, but later and after considerable practice taking on a regular, wellwouldn't actual, repeated contact by modulated tone; and the origin of the such beings as his "dero" push even a thing was said to be in the "Bell Witch strong mind over the edge and into Cave", a deep and mostly uncharted Shaver claimed that many rocks partial delusion? "Confabulation" is cavern system that was at that time on and boulders in specific regions one common reaction which the the Bell family property. The "witch" around the world are actually human mind uses as a defence itself claimed that the cave was its mechanism when it is hiding a home, and forbade anyone to enter great shattered libraries of traumatic event from full recollection. there. ancient crystals, containing Regardless of the proportion of Local Native Americans had shunned truth to fantasy in his accounts, the cave and surrounding land as three-dimensional images or Shaver's choice of words to describe haunted or cursed, long before the first hologram records. his tormentors—"robots"—is interestwhite settlers arrived. To this day, ing. While "fleshly" and possessed of witnesses swear that the still-unplumbed animalistic lusts, the dero and tero are cavern system is haunted and even nevertheless "programmed" victims, to a greater or lesser degree, guarded by the same evil being. of "harmful" or "de" (destructive, degenerate, etc., according to A terrible story, indeed, and sure to engender fear and forebodShaver) thinking. He attributed the degeneration of the subtering; perhaps the perfect type of story to make certain that a short raneans to damaging solar and cosmic radiation (from which they and direct route to some underworld lair, loaded with "special still hide underground) and to the destructive radiations of their effects" equipment or "mech", is not tried or violated... own "stim" (sexual and other stimulation) machines. They kidnap Spelunkers and other brave souls have yet to seriously attempt to surface humans, particularly women, for sexual pleasure (or proexplore the "Bell Witch Cave" deep cavern system. It looks like creation?), eat human beings and take great delight in causing the project may have achieved its desired goal of keeping people mayhem, destruction, confusion and terrifying apparitions (holoout, after all. grams) in the surface world. As evidence of his obsession with proving the veracity of his As an aside and interjection, Shaver's claims of the abilities of stories, Richard S. Shaver was one of the few "contactees" by dero machinery would explain many additional mysteries which "alien" or nonhuman forces to make an effort to produce physical have not been examined here so far. To touch on just one examevidence. He claimed that many rocks and boulders in specific ple would be to examine the case of "the Bell Witch" of regions around the world are actually great shattered libraries of Robertson County, Tennessee, a malevolent and violent entity ancient crystals, containing three-dimensional images or hologram which terrorised a family in the early 1800s. The Bell Witch, sorecords. called because "she" haunted the Bell family, went to great To prove this point, in later years he took to finding such lengths to create the illusion that she was omnipresent and omni"picture rocks" and cutting them open with a rock-saw to reveal STRANGE Times 2006


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The Deep Dwellers Continued from page 155

what he said were glimpses of the ancient records. He would use paint to accentuate or "bring out" these images, but only worked along the edges or strata of shapes which were pre-existing. Some of his "picture rocks" were in fact quite startling, depicting humans or human-like beings, human-animal hybrids, giants, and humans battling with creatures which look suspiciously like the Nagas, El Chupacabras or something similar. In 1975, Ray Palmer featured many of these pictures, along with Shaver's commentaries, in The Secret World. The forms described by Shaver should be familiar by now. The dero—dark elves, or trolls, or Nagas, or Utukku/Ushabtiu—and the tero—the "noble faeries", Tuatha de Danaan, or "Aryan/Nordic Masters"— have simply manifested in a more contemporary, pseudo-scientific form. The Naga vimana disc-craft are present, and the abduction and genetic rape motif of all underworld Nagas/goblins/faeries is present as well. The "treasure of the Nibelungs", or the hoarded wealth of dragons, has been

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replaced by ancient and super-scientific "mech", a technology which bestows godlike powers upon its owners. And like the trolls, goblins, vampires and the rest of the ages-old underworld crew, these subterranean beings are in hiding from the Sun, living in mole-like terror of its direct rays. A relationship between Shaver's underworld inhabitants and those of the past is hopefully not so much literal and based in some terrible reality as it is archetypal and obvious. Continued ...

About the Author:

Wm Michael Mott is the Creative Director for a high-performance US software company. He is also a freelance artist and writer of both fiction and non-fiction. He has worked as an artist/designer for Fortune 500 companies and for a variety of book and magazine publishers. His artwork has appeared in publications such as Computer Graphics World Magazine, Computer Artist, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Dragon Magazine, UFO Magazine and others. He's created awardwinning artwork and graphic design for mass-market book covers, posters, brochures, packaging, CD-ROM covers


and art collections as well as for digital/web-based media. Mott's artwork has been featured in the exhibition In Dreams Awake: Art of Fantasy at the Olympia and York Gallery in 1988, at the 1987 World Fantasy Con and in other exhibits. Mott's satirical fantasy novels, Pulsifer: A Fable and Land of Ice, A Velvet Knife, are published electronically by SoftBook Press/Gemstar (www.softbook.com), and will soon also be available from the author in a deluxe illustrated version on CDROM. The first of a series of illustrated short stories appeared in September 2000 as a chapbook from Undaunted Press (www.undauntedpress.com). Mott has been researching Fortean and paranormal topics for over 20 years and has only recently decided to put the results of this research into written form, the result being the graphically rich book and CDROM, Caverns, Cauldrons, and Concealed Creatures (available from http://www.hiddenmysteries.com). Wm Michael Mott can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Editor's Note: See pages 159-160 for the bibliography.

STRANGE Times 2006

T HE D EEP D WELLERS RE-INVENTION, PARANOIA AND DECEPTION 2. The Masks may change, but the Play's the same. he final three decades of the 20th century have been filled with rumours: conspiracy theories about alien abductions, plots for world domination shared between aliens and secret government, Illuminati cabals and the like. Several interesting variations on age-old theories have permeated the field of ufology and conspiracy literature alike, and in many places the two have overlapped and in fact have completely blurred into one. These latter areas are of particular interest and significance to the study at hand. One of the most commonly reported manifestations of "alien invaders" are the EBE (extraterrestrial biological entities) type, commonly called "greys". These beings are the variety most often reported in abduction accounts, and they are highly ectomorphic with scrawny, underdeveloped limbs and bodies, oversized heads and extraordinarily large black eyes (some abductees have reported these to be actually "reptilian" or "birdlike" eyes with slit pupils, the "blackness" only a protective artificial film, like sunglasses). They are from three to five feet in height, averaging around four feet tall. Again, their very physiology gives away their origins, for large protruding eyes with large slit pupils and needing an artificial protective covering would be hard to equate with a race that has mastered, and perhaps been genetically prepared for, interplanetary or interstellar travel. Outer space is an extremely bright, radiation-filled environment. The type of eyes described are those of a creature that spends most of its time in the darkness, as they are designed for optimum light reception. The shaded coverings, for venturing out into the surface world, are really self-explanatory. Similarly, their bodies, small and easily manoeuvrable through tight spaces, with small surface area and a minimum of body-weight, are ideal for an underground environment. Their method of locomotion, generally described as "shuffling", with "hips moving strangely" or "sideways", is another indication that they have developed in a relatively cramped place or even one where tunnels are commonplace. They are often described as smelling "musty", "like a snake" or "like rotten eggs". This type of entity allegedly abducts unfortunate human beings and conducts medical or genetic testing on them, sometimes removing sperm and ova for use in "hybridisation experiments" or for purposes unknown. The abductions almost always take place under cover of darkness (doubly helpful to the molesters, since the "harmful" sun has set and people are drowsy or asleep). The victim is taken into a UFO (usually disc-shaped or shaped like a child's spinningtop) for experimentation and also for a form of indoctrination consisting of intense threedimensional audiovisual presentations. The primary message of these presentations seems to deal with a concern over human destruction of the Earth's biosphere and biodiversity (recall the recurrent "faerie" interest in the same thing—a steady supply of genetic materials). This becomes even more telling when it is recalled that the first underground atomic tests were concurrent with the resurgence of "witnessed activity" of UFOs on a previously unprecedented scale. Those tests may have rattled more than a few windows in the desert! During the medical aspect of the abduction, local anaesthetics are seldom if ever used, and the victim is left with a type of post-traumatic stress syndrome which at first is marked by amnesia and mental distress or unease, sometimes followed by nightmares, selfimposed social isolation and eventually a total recall of the experience, either through

T Age-old stories of underworld beings interacting with humanity have parallels with modern-day reports of abducting aliens and mysterious Men in Black.

Part 3 of 3


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natural recovery of memory or through hypnotic regression Island folklore, "little men" who abducted people were sometimes therapy. referred to as "grey neighbours", and the "greys" also bear a strong Other common themes emerge as well. The entities are resemblance in head and torso structure to the cryptid El described by their victims as "drone-like", "robotic", "clinical" Chupacabras. The methodical imps and Djinn that served Satan and so forth, and are also described as "reptilian", "lizard-like" or and Shaitan come to mind as well, and of course Richard Shaver's as having reptilian, birdlike or amphibian-like skin texture. "dero" are similar, especially in their use of high technology. The In many instances, the abduction experience moves to a "cavern Nordics, sometimes seemingly the "enemies" of the grey and city", "cavern world" or "underground base". It is in these latter reptoid types, are often reported as working side by side with them subterranean places that "hybrid beings"—having "alien", human in the underground facilities or labs, which recalls the fact that the or other animal characteristics—have been reported as being seen Nagas were said to look "almost human" and reminds us of the in development, along with cannibalism and the torture of human mercurial dispositions of the aristocratic or Aryan faeries, the light beings. One such site has been alleged by several researchers and elves/Tuatha de Danaan. "abductees" as being beneath Archuleta Mesa near Dulce, New Additionally, the apocryphal hybrid offspring of the Nephilim Mexico. In these prolonged episodes, other beings enter the and humans were described in the Book of Lamech and the scene—such as "hybrid" children who are frail, pale and ectomorSlavonic Book of Enoch as having an extremely Nordic or Aryan phic but generally human in appearance. Some abductees have appearance, and were also said to have a reptilian patch of skin even said that these children look "like fairies"! ("badge of priesthood") on their chests or elsewhere. Other entities are not so harmless, such as a tall "human" type In Celtic Welsh myth, the lord of the underworld of Annwn had with an aristocratic "Aryan" look; these are a "magical cauldron" that produced an generally referred to as "Nordics" in the endless supply of warriors for him. Was this UFO literature, and bear more than a slight an "Earth mother", "primal womb" archetype, resemblance to the "light elves" and Tuatha or was it instead synonymous with producing de Danaan of old. Are these the "fairy chiloffspring through gene-splicing, the Several authors have dren", hybrids and "changelings", all grown "cauldron" actually a test tube? up and hard at work? The reptoids or lizard men are familiar as published the theory Another type of entity is more sinister in Nagas, Utukku, Ammut, "dragon kings", that the reptilians are both appearance and attitude, described as a goblins, trolls and so on. They are also often "reptilian humanoid", "lizard man" or "repmasters of illusion and described as smelling like rotten eggs or like toid" and ranging from five to eight or nine sulphur. holographic projection feet in height. These "reptoids" are usually Both the reptilians and the greys have in characterised as being "in charge" of the recent years passed from the UFO research or are physical shapeother types, but upon occasion are said to realm into "conspiracy" literature, where they shifters who are report to taller, even stranger entities are said to be involved in "controlling that resemble skeletally thin, giant the Earth" or are in the process of replacing world leaders, "greys" or even giant "mantids". "taking over". government officials Normal surface humans, paramilitary Several authors have published the in nature or appearance, are also seen theory that the reptilians are masters of and public figures as in these underground areas. illusion and holographic projection or an insidious "fifth Another interesting factor is that all are physical shape-shifters who are of the entities described go to great replacing world leaders, government column". lengths to convince their captives that officials and public figures as an they have come from "far away", from insidious "fifth column". Here again distant stars, planets and "vibrational are the changelings of European frequencies" or dimensions. They have folklore, the hologram-utilising dero come all this distance because they are and the "serpent men", precisely as "worried about humanity", but they put described by the fiction writer Robert E. out their heartfelt propaganda as they Howard in his pulp-fiction tales of King stick a huge needle in a woman's abdomen or up someone's nose Kull. This is by no means a "new idea", revelation or suspicion, without even a local anaesthetic. but is as ancient as the concept of an underworld itself. Yet the biology of all the different types or castes of abductors, as horrific as it might appear to superstitious human eyes, is 3. Men In Black This treatise would not be complete without an examination of essentially that of animal forms which are natural to the Earth: another mysterious player from the depths: "Men in Black", or mammalian and reptilian. Obviously, it is very important to these "MIB". These cool cats figure prominently in both UFO and beings that such a logical connection not be made. If there is even conspiracy literature. Thanks to the excellent work of researchers a shred of truth to UFO abduction accounts, then it is more than and writers John Keel and the late Jim Keith as well as the work of apparent that the abductors want their victims and humanity at a host of others, many small and seemingly inconsequential facts large to believe that they are from "somewhere else". While have been obtained from witnesses and preserved. humanity looks continually upward at enigmas in the sky, what is Men in Black seem to fall into two categories: the standard men transpiring beneath our very feet? in black, who may be actual agents of secret government or Additional folklore and literature parallels are apparent in the military investigation/disinformation groups; and the MIB, who accounts described. The "greys" are identical to the orderKeel indicates are somehow in league with or originating from the following, human-abducting, drone-like Galatur and Ushabtiu of unseen forces behind the various cryptid or creature sightings as the Sumerian and Egyptian underworld mythologies. In Shetland 158 • NEXUS


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well as the UFO phenomenon. It is the latter category, the MIB, surface, the more erratic, disoriented, lethargic or "drunk" they that has bearing here. seem to become (a side effect of rapid depressurisation, or These "mystery men" are usually described as of varying height aeroembolism). and build, but more often than not they are on the thin side. They They have sometimes identified themselves to their unwilling generally wear dark or black businesslike clothing, dark hats and visitants with cryptic statements, e.g., claiming to be citizens of the sunglasses (again, the eye protection from the sun!). They are "Nation of the Third Eye"—an occult or secret society reference either olive-skinned and vaguely Oriental or Asiatic, or they are still widely utilised in symbology and ritual today by some Nordic or Scandinavian in "brotherhoods" of "enlightened" complexion, hair colour and physique. human beings, but which harks back From the basic template of these two to the "third eye" of the Nagas or the forms, strange variations have been "skull pearl" of the Chinese dragons. These "mystery men" are usually reported: total hairlessness (not even Any relationship that this Nation of described as of varying height having eyebrows or eyelashes); overly the Third Eye might have to modernlarge, protruding eyes (a nonday secret societies is debatable, but and build, but more often than mammalian trait, for the most part, or the parallel exists. not they are on the thin side. perhaps due to an unaccustomed lack Another clue lies in the fact that of atmospheric pressure); wheezing they arrive at their victims' doorsteps They generally wear dark or and other trouble breathing, as if in shiny black cars that are in pristine black businesslike clothing, unused to earthly (or surface?) air condition, i.e., "like new". The pressure (aeroembolism); unnatural puzzling thing is that these vehicles dark hats and sunglasses... joint movement and locomotion; are almost always decades out of date "reptilian" or "froglike" cast of skin and sometimes seem to be texture and facial features; webbed composites of several different fingers; sulphurous or "metallic" odour; makes of cars (still out of date). To and a host of additional oddities of physical configuration. remain unravaged by the passage of time—oxidation, dry rot of Add to all of this the fact that these MIBs are often ignorant or tyres and so forth—they would have to be warehoused and in amazement of the most ordinary surface-world activities— maintained in an environment of constant temperature and low trying to drink gelatin, refusing food and taking a pill instead, humidity, away from weather, sun and extreme changes in stealing or asking for small common objects (like writing pens) as temperature. Add to this the manner in which both the cars and the apparently prized souvenirs—and they become even less human men suddenly and inexplicably vanish, as if swallowed up by the through their behaviour. Earth...but by now the premise is obvious. Some caverns are They often exhibit a strong interest in the sexuality or sexual damp, but many others are exceedingly dry and remain constant in habits of those they confront; and the longer they remain on the temperature, year round, after a certain depth.

About the Author:

Wm Michael Mott is the Creative Director for a high-performance US software company. He is also a freelance artist and writer of both fiction and non-fiction. He has worked as an artist/designer for Fortune 500 companies and for a variety of book and magazine publishers. His artwork has appeared in publications such as Computer Graphics World Magazine, Computer Artist, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Dragon Magazine, UFO Magazine and others. He's created awardwinning artwork and graphic design for mass-market book covers, posters, brochures, packaging, CD-ROM covers and art collections as well as for digital/web-based media. Mott's artwork has been featured in the exhibition In Dreams Awake: Art of Fantasy at the Olympia and York Gallery in 1988, at the 1987 World Fantasy Con and in other exhibits. Mott's satirical fantasy novels, Pulsifer: A Fable and Land of Ice, A Velvet Knife, are available from the author in a deluxe version as The Pulsifer Saga, featuring fullcolour illustrations. The Pulsifer Saga is now available in HTML format on CDROM from Mottimorphic Publishing Co.,

STRANGE Times 2006

email [email protected]. The first of a series of illustrated short stories appeared in September 2000 as a chapbook from Undaunted Press (www.undauntedpress.com) and can be found at the website http://www.hollowplanets.com. Also see the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists website, www.asfa-art.org/Members/MikeMott/ index.html. Mott has been researching Fortean and paranormal topics for over 20 years and has only recently written the graphically rich book and CD-ROM, Caverns, Cauldrons, and Concealed Creatures, available from www.hiddenmysteries.com/redir/ index111.html. Wm Michael Mott can be contacted by email at [email protected], or you can visit his website at http://mpi.mpi-softtech.com/~mott, where much of his original artwork is featured.

Bibliography of Non-Fiction Sources 1. New Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology, Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd, 1968. Sections referenced: AssyroBabylonian, Egyptian, Celtic, Indian, Chinese, Japanese. 2. Myth and Mankind: Epics of Early Civilization – Myths of the Ancient Near East,


Time-Life Books, 1998. 3. Myth and Mankind: Epics of Early Civilization – Land of the Dragon, Time-Life Books, 1999. 4. The Controllers, by Commander X, Abelard Productions, Inc. 5. Flying Serpents and Dragons, by R. A. Boulay, The Book Tree, 1997, 1998. 6. The Forgotten Books of Eden: Lost Books of the Old Testament, edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr, and J. Alden Brett, Gramercy Books, Random House, 1980. 7. The Ramayana by Valmiki, translated by William Buck, New American Library, 1978. 8. Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1972, abridged edition. 9. Japanese Tales, edited by Royall Tyler, Pantheon Books, 1987. 10. The Samurai: A Military History, by Stephen R. Turnbull, Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977. 11. The Story of Sigurd (Volsunga Saga), translated from Icelandic by Eirikr Magnusson and William Morris; in A Treasury of Fantasy, Avenel Books, 1981. 12. American Elves: An Encyclopedia of Little People from the Lore of 380 Ethnic Groups of the Western Hemisphere, by John E. Roth, MacFarland Books, 1997.

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History and folklore both have parallels. Folklore is filled with beneath our feet, stretching down through secret, twisting tunnels "dark men", "men dressed in black" and "grim reapers", often and deep caverns to the Mohorovicic layer, which itself is an identified in previous centuries as sorcerers, demons, warlocks or anomalous cavern region deep beneath the upper crust. other "servants of the Devil"—and, of course, the odour of sulWhat if there is an unknown world beneath our feet—a world phur and brimstone was a trademark of his from way back. that is dependent upon the biodiversity and genetic wealth on the During the plague years of the Middle Ages, entities resembling Earth's surface; a world that has been exploiting that wealth for both MIB and the now-standard grey aliens were often seen in thousands or millions of years, victimising the ignorant savages areas that would shortly thereafter be stricken with an outbreak of who roam the face of the sunlit world? Or could all of the evithe dreaded disease. On the eve of dence be circumstantial and without major events throughout history, people merit, simply a misinterpreted conglomhave repeatedly seen or been harassed eration of coincidence and misidentified by such beings. animals, natural phenomena and archeWhat if there is an unknown As Keel points out in Disneyland of types from the human collective unconworld beneath our feet— the Gods and his other excellent books, sciousness? The critic could toss in an Julius Caesar, Napoleon and even endless supply of overactive imaginaa world that is dependent Malcolm X all reported encounters with tions down through the millennia, but upon the biodiversity and this variety of terrifying being. Hitler the evidence—dating back as it does for also was alleged to have had his share thousands of years of human traditions genetic wealth on the of midnight visits from a mysterious and continuing right up through the preEarth's surface...? "Tibetan", and through him to have met sent day—says otherwise. "the New Man"—a sort of super-Aryan The reptilian, vampiric, robotic and who he believed came from the interior demonic are all characteristics which of the Earth, and of whom he was most have been attributed to underworld afraid. beings down through the ages. They have haunted mankind's How much fear, confusion and human suffering can be traced to imagination and nightmares since our most remote time. These uncanny visits from these "robotic yet human" agents "archetypal" images speak to us of supernatural terrors and mysprovocateurs? Where are they from, who do they work for, and teries; but what if, instead, these beings are natural and technologwhat is their long-term agenda? Could it be that their goal is to ically advanced to a degree that only until recently has been generate confusion and divisions, to keep humanity "looking beyond our comprehension and therefore considered "magical" or upwards" for an invasion that will never come? The "invaders" impossible in their level of sophistication? If the latter is the case, may already be here, and may have been here all along. The then we would do well as a species to become more aware not evidence is in the folklore, religions, myths, literature and only of our own planet but also of our mythic and folkloric herarchetypes of humankind. Perhaps they're not "extraterrestrial" but itage, for it speaks not of a symbiosis but of a nearly invisible "intraterrestrial", and perhaps there's a vast, unknown world "parasite" dwelling in the depths. ∞ 13. Folktales of Norway, edited by Reidar Christiansen, translated by Pat Shaw Iversen, University of Chicago Press, 1968. 14. Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend, edited by Reimund Kvideland and Henning K. Sehmsdorf, University of Minnesota Press, 1988. 15. An Encyclopedia of Fairies, by Katherine Briggs, Pantheon Books, 1976. 16. Irish Folktales, edited by Henry Glassie, Pantheon Books, 1985. 17. The Norse Myths, by Kevin CrossleyHolland, Pantheon Books, 1980. 18. Celtic Myth and Legend, Poetry and Romance, by Charles Squire, Bell Publishing Co., 1979. 19. Gods and Myths of the Viking Age, by H. R. Ellis Davidson, Bell Publishing Co., 1981. 20. Passing Strange: True Tales of New England Hauntings and Horrors, by Joseph A. Citro, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997. 21. Myth and Mankind: Gods of Sun and Sacrifice – Aztec & Maya Myth, Time-Life Books, 1997. 22. American Indian Myths and Mysteries, by Vincent H. Gaddis, Indian Head Books, New York, 1992. 23. Popol Vuh, translated by Dennis Tedlock, Simon & Schuster, 1985. 24. Maya: The Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization, by Charles Gallenkamp, 160 • NEXUS

Viking Penguin, 1985. 25. "That Old Time Choctaw Religion", by Len Green, Bishinik Magazine, June 1979. 26. "Origins of the Choctaw People Retold from Old Legends", by Len Green, Bishinik Magazine, August 1980. 27. Lake Monster Traditions: A CrossCultural Analysis, by Michel Meurger and Claude Gagnon, Fortean Times, 1988. 28. The Great Orm of Loch Ness, by F. W. Holiday, W.W. Norton & Co., 1968. 29. Chupacabras and Other Mysteries, by Scott Corrales, Greenleaf Publications, 1997. 30. Unexplained!, by Jerome Clark, Visible Ink Press, 1999. 31. Sasquatch/Bigfoot, by Don Hunter and Rene Dahinden, McClelland & Stewart, 1993, revised edition. 32. The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide, by Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe, Avon Books, 1999. 33. Subterranean Worlds Inside Earth, by Timothy Green Beckley, Inner Light Productions, 1992. 34. Lost Continents and the Hollow Earth, by David Hatcher Childress and Richard S. Shaver, Adventures Unlimited Press, 1999. 35. Subterranean Worlds, by Walter KaftonMinkel, Loompanics Unlimited, 1989. 36. The Secret World, by Ray Palmer (with www.nexusmagazine.com

Richard S. Shaver), Amherst Press, 1975. 37. Architects of the Underworld, by Bruce Rux, Frog Ltd, 1996. 38. Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Coverup, by Timothy Good, William Morrow, 1988. 39. Alien Contact: Top Secret UFO Files Revealed, by Timothy Good, William Morrow, 1993. 40. The Bell Witch of Tennessee, by Charles Bailey Bell, 1934; facsimile edition by Charles Elder, Publisher, 1972. 41. The Infamous Bell Witch of Tennessee, by Charles Edwin Price, The Overmountain Press, 1994. 42. Disneyland of the Gods, by John A. Keel, Illuminet Press, USA, 1995. 43. Our Haunted Planet, by John A. Keel, Galde Press, 1999. 44. The Mothman Prophecies, by John A. Keel, Illuminet Press, 1991. 45. Operation Trojan Horse, by John A. Keel, G. P. Putnam & Sons, 1970. 46. Casebook on the Men in Black, by Jim Keith, Illuminet Press, 1997. 47. Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel, New American Library, Mentor Books, 1963.

Bibliography of Fiction Sources All fiction sources are referenced within the body of the treatise. STRANGE Times 2006

BUCHNER'S 1535 ACCOUNT OF BREITENWINNER CAVE This piece was found at an obscure website on the Internet. If anyone has further information regarding the 1535 expedition into Breitenwinner Cave, Germany, please let us know. — Editor

R

emarkable tidings from the year 1535! Twenty-five citizens of the town of Amberg set off to a mountainous area three miles distant from Amberg. Near the village of Predenwind they went into a huge hollow mountain, about 900 klafters [1700 m] deep, and walked through to the other side. The marvels they saw there have been written down by Berthold Buchner. In the evening on the day of St Peter and St Paul, the abovementioned 25 men set off from Amberg with a cart laden with ladders, materials for making fire, stonebreaking tools, ropes, wine, bread, and other items useful for such an undertaking. They went to the market place of Hohenburg to stay overnight. Next day they started very early, meeting at the entrance of the mountain and debated. The ignorant will not believe this story, the experienced ones will not think it possible. But we have seen it with our own eyes, and it is the truth. — 1535

STRANGE Times 2006

Two of us were appointed leaders, to whom we others promised obedience, etc. Then we got ready to go into the hole which is so wide that one could turn a wagon of hay in it. Each of us had to carry something: a piece of rope, a light, lantern, pickaxe, wine, bread, etc. And we sang cheerfully, "We are travelling in the name of God!" One of the leaders went in first, the other leader brought up the rear. He secured the entrance with rope and marked it with signs


to avert danger, because if we should lose track of the ropes it would be impossible for us to get out again. After fastening the ropes to a rock we descended 500 klafters [950 m]. Four honest, strong men were selected to keep watch at the mouth of the mountain cave. Very soon we arrived at a very narrow cleft. One of our companions, a goldsmith who at home had desired to be the first one in the cave, was so frightened by the sight of it that he deserted us. But we crept on our stomachs some fifty

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE klafters [95 m] through this narrow cleft. There was a wider opening next to it but it did not stretch very far. First of all we came upon a wide space like a hall for dancing. When we crept in we found so many bones that the first of us had to pile them up in one place to make room for us to enter. The bones were very large as if from giants. We then reached a very narrow hole and had to squeeze through on our stomachs. At 200 klafters [380 m] one comes into what seems like a beautiful spacious palace big enough to hold about 100 horses. It is lined at the top very handsomely with "grown" stones [speleothems]. There are eight or ten "grown" pillars and good seats at the sides. Here we found two skulls which, to our surprise, were enclosed by the rock and we could hardly hack them out with our tools. Each person took a piece, one the cranium, one the teeth, etc. There were many passages here and everywhere in the mountain; some of them we explored. All the caves and passages were full of big bones. We searched for about an hour for a hole leading further in. At last our leader found one and we all followed him. The other tunnels met now and then in the mountain. We were still amazed by the sight of this palace. After 150 klafters [285 m] we came across a very narrow cave, finding it difficult to squeeze in. There we heard a strange roaring, crackling and rustling. More than one of us wished he had stayed at home with his wife. Suddenly the cave widened so that we could walk side-byside. We took counsel and decided to go on and find out what these wild sounds were. Our leader went in front again. Arriving at another wide space, we examined it carefully. It looked like a chapterhouse, with pews on one wall and a gallery overhead. It was difficult to get up there and I stayed down below. In all the caves we found many bones. We came to a narrow vault where we found a skull bigger than we had ever seen before. When we tried to squeeze it through the narrow opening it crumbled like ashes. Through a narrow entrance we got down further, about 200 klafters [380 m] . There was more and more roaring and rustling till we came upon a fairly wide opening where an enormous waterfall was rushing down between two rocks with such a force it would have been 162 • NEXUS

sufficient to turn two mill wheels. The stream ran downwards over the opening. We were curious to know where this stream came from or to find its spring, as it was so icy cold. However we could not follow it. Our leader got stuck there in a cave; he had to be pulled out otherwise he would have died. The same happened to me and I felt very weak afterwards, so the apothecary gave me a restorative.

On the other side, between the south and west point, we found a fountain with four stone pillars around it and there seem to have been seats there at one time.

Adjoining this wide cave was a handsome triangular vault. There we found a stone sculpture. It resembled a deity seated on a throne with a straw wreath on its head. The straw was black and very brittle. A few of us took some straw home. We found another stone sculpture hanging from a high wall. We left a light burning in front of it. At 200 klafters [380 m] we found loose soil with a great many bones. We crept and walked on, following the rope and at 250 klafters [475 m] we came to a most wonderful palace and tabernacle. On the other side, between the south and west point, we found a fountain with four stone pillars around it and there seem to have been seats there at one time. The fountain was very cold. www.nexusmagazine.com

We hung our wine bottles in it and the wine was soon cooled. While we refreshed ourselves at the fountain we heard a loud noise in the cliff where the stream ended. Our leader was bold enough to climb in but got stuck and became drenched. When we came to his rescue with lights, one of us—called Burckstaller—was struck on the head. We thought the object had been thrown by a female figure. Burckstaller was very superstitious, so perhaps it was a ghost. We did not see anything else. It was very strange that the dripping water, which falls into this mountain in 60 places, freezes into a very hard, even rock and into translucid stone. From some caves, a white salt-like substance trickles out; it looks like glass and we took it to be saltpetre. In a cliff of this rock, one of our companions found a strong, grey, curly hair which he assumed was from a beard. All of us were curious to find out more about the "ghost" and would have faced further adventures and dangers. But we lost the passages and caves where we saw the "ghost" and were forced to climb to the surface with the rope and soon reached daylight again. Just then a cuirassier with two horses passed the entrance of the cave and we called to him to come in. But on seeing us he rode away hurriedly. We all looked discoloured and were terrified at each other' s appearance. We looked like corpses and startled the guards at the entrance. But thanks to God, nobody was hurt. Praise be to God now and for ever. Amen. This has been written down by Berthold Buchner, who took part, and is attested by the Treasurer of Amberg. ∞ (Source: http://www.gci-net.com/users/v/ vrartist/1535caves.html) Editor's Note: The following source information was also posted at the above website: I found this story in History of Cave Science; The Exploration and Study of Limestone Caves, to 1900 by Trevor R. Shaw, Second Edition Published by the Sydney Speleological Society, 19 9 2. The call letters, here in the University of Arizona Library are: "GB 601 A4 S54 1992 Science" (Science Library). It is interesting that this cave appears to be almost "off limits" in a military training area. STRANGE Times 2006

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Giants of Prehistory S

keletal fragments and tools that look like they belong to gigantic humans have been found on nearly every continent. We are not just talking seven- or eight-footers; we are talking 12to 15-footers here: real giants! Nearly every native culture on the planet has legends of giants from bygone times. In some cultures, the tales of giants don't just refer to times long ago, but to an ongoing co-existence. The main article I've selected for this compilation is quite lengthy, and most of the information was reported to and by the prestigious Smithsonian Institution. It would appear that in parts of North America, many mounds containing giants' skeletons and implements (some of which seemed to incorporate advanced technology) were found and looted by European settlers during the early colonisation of North America. Of course the accounts of giants are not limited to North America, as you will see in John Mount's article, in the Twilight Zone section on page 174. Here you will learn of records of giants in the Middle East, South America, Europe and Asia. In Australia, author and researcher Rex Gilroy has collected what he believes to be the bones and artefacts of giant hominids that once roamed Australia. You can see for yourself at his website http://www.mysteriousaustralia.com. There are also many websites which contain further information on the subject of giants, both from the past and some even from the present. Several Christian-oriented websites have information on this subject which is also worth perusing.

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H OLOCAUST OF G IANTS The Great Smithsonian Cover-up

Skeletal remains of giants buried in the ancient earth mounds of North America were described in 19th-century documents of the Smithsonian Institution, but the physical evidence either has perished or been hidden from public view.

by Ross Hamilton © 2001 Email: [email protected] Reprinted from his Serpent Mound Mysteries website at: http://greatserpentmound.org/ articles/giants3.html Computer Images © 2001 by Patricia Mason

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It's probably better that so few of the ruins and remains were tied in with the Smithsonian because they give good reason to believe the ending of the Indiana Jones movie—a great warehouse where the real secrets of earth history are buried. Vine Deloria, Jr, noted Native American author and Professor of Law Emeritus (Personal communication, May 2000)

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odern-day archaeology and anthropology have nearly sealed the door on our imaginations, broadly interpreting the North American past as devoid of anything unusual in the way of great cultures characterised by a people of unusual demeanour. The great interloper of ancient burial grounds, the 19thcentury Smithsonian Institution, created a one-way portal through which uncounted bones have been spirited. This door and the contents of its vault are virtually sealed off to any but government officials. Among these bones may lie answers not even sought by these officials concerning the deep past. The first hint we had about the possible existence of an actual race of tall, strong and intellectually sophisticated people was in researching old township and county records. Many of these were quoting from old diaries and letters that were combined, for posterity, in the 1800s from diaries going back to the 1700s. Says Deloria on this understanding: "Some of these old county and regional history books contain real gems because the people were not subjected to a rigid indoctrination about evolution and were astonished about what they found and honestly reported it." Some time before archaeology came to subscribe the general public to its view of prehistory—generations prior to Darwin's troublesome theory—the pioneers thought that some of the earthworks were as ancient as could be concurrent with human habitation in America. Some among those early settlers exercised their pens, assured that the earthworks were not built by the direct ancestry of the native people living in the historical period but, rather, were constructed in a more remote era encompassing a different social order. They compared the "Mound Builders" with the "Indians", clearly discerning the former as belonging to an earlier time and possessing a different fate or destiny from the latter. "Evidence for the occupation of this region before the appearance of the red man and the white race is to be found in almost every part of the county, as well as through the northwest generally. In removing the gravel bluffs, which are numerous and deep, for the construction and repair of roads, and in excavating cellars, hundreds of human skeletons, some of them of giant form, have been found. A citizen of Marion County estimates that there were about as many human skeletons in the knolls of Marion County as there are white inhabitants at present!" The History of Marion County, Ohio (Compiled from past accounts; published in 1883) "Mastodonic remains are occasionally unearthed, and, from time to time, discoveries of the remains of Indian settlements are indicated by the appearance of gigantic skeletons, with the high cheek bones, powerful jaws and massive frames peculiar of the red man, who left these as the only record with which to form a clew to the history of past ages." The History of Brown County, Ohio (Compiled from past accounts; published in 1883) www.nexusmagazine.com

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them Tsunil' kalu', 'the Slant-eyed people', because they looked like the giant hunter Tsul' kalu'. They said that these giants lived far away in the direction in which the sun goes down. The Cherokee received them as friends, and they stayed some time, and then returned to their home in the west…" This kind of recorded tradition did not start with Mooney but, rather, began early in American history. During the Colonial and post-Colonial eras, the information-seekers were keen on gathering as much knowledge of the forgotten past as feasible through native sources. Some of it was woven into romantic tales including verse, but the main part of it went into records which, like the accumulation of earth and debris over ancient village sites, became buried in the musty stacks of old libraries—considered to have no real "substance" in the emerging field of the white man's science.

Title pages of the early county and pioneer history books often included phrases like "Carefully Written and Compiled" and "Lest We Forget".

"She said also that three skeletons were found at the mouth of the Paw Paw Creek many years later, while Nim (Nimrod) Satterfield was justice of the peace. Jim Dean and some men were digging for a bridge foundation and found these bones at the lower end of the old buffalo wallow. She thought it was Dr Kidwell, of Fairmont, who examined them and said they were very old, perhaps thousands of years old. She said that when the skeletons were exposed to the weather for a few days, their bones turned black and began to crumble, that Squire Satterfield had them buried in the Joliffe graveyard (Rivesville). All these skeletons, she said, were measured, and found to be about eight feet long." Now and Long Ago: A History of the Marion County Area, by Glen Lough (1969) (This citation on West Virginia is courtesy of Dave Cain.) Another of many examples, this one, collected by James Mooney (1861–1921), tells of the visit of very tall people from the west: "James Wafford, of the western Cherokee, who was born in Georgia in 1806, says that his grandmother, who must have been born about the middle of the last century, told him that she had heard from the old people that long before her time a party of giants had once come to visit the Cherokee. They were nearly twice as tall as common men, and had their eyes set slanting in their heads, so that the Cherokee called 166 • NEXUS

"Of the very early history of the region which now embraces Lake County, but little can be written. The Mound Builders had occupied it and passed away, leaving no written language and but little even as tradition... These mounds were quite numerous… Excavations…have revealed the crumbling bones of a mighty race. Samuel Miller, who has resided in the county since 1835, is authority for the statement that one skeleton which he assisted in unearthing was a trifle more than eight feet in length, the skull being correspondingly large, while many other skeletons measured at least seven feet…" Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Lake County, edited by Newton Bateman, LLD, and Paul Selby, AM (1902)

From the outset of North American archaeology, no federally sponsored concern has researched and collected evidence specifically emphasising the existence of unusually tall Native Americans in prehistoric and even in historic times. There are reasons for this oversight, though in hindsight it has placed limits on our overview of prehistory. Because there were only occasional people of large stature born among the light-skinned, European races, numbers of giants were far from anticipated in America. Scientists in Europe, in case-by-case studies, declared their giants to have been victims of pituitary disorder. Another reason was that when the private citizenry in the US unearthed the bones of very tall and strongly constructed people, and when these disinterments were recorded, rarely was any comparison made with sites of similar contents.

Group of mounds in Brown County, Ohio www.nexusmagazine.com

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It was still a sort Offsetting the carefully recorded diaries of the rural folk, there of wilderness in were popular writers who creatively developed the more many rural areas contemporary histories and folk legends, leaving to cursory right until the midtreatment the deeper accounts of North American antiquities. dle 1800s. In this, These authors, while having captured the essence of the public each discovery was perception of the noble native tradition, were not reconciled to the "unique"—only to antique body of legend. The pens of James Fenimore Cooper end up in the stacks (1789–1851) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) of old township relate virtually nothing of the tall ones. Native Americans, as we libraries to be comknow, were discouraged from writing, although some, such as piled later as David Cusick, circumvented the bias using Christian names. curiosities—if they Fortunately, early missionaries gathered oral traditions from the survived at all. The tribal elders concerning men of giant stature. following account But even the most informative or entertaining accounts could originated around not instill enough respect for the native people to put an end to the Dancing figures found on a copper plate in the year 1800: further destruction of the sacred sites. The attitude of the white Union County, Illinois. "There were race in general towards the red race was an abomination, totally mounds situated in the eastern part of the village of Conneaut lacking in mercy and compassion. Many of the Native American and an extensive burying-ground near the Presbyterian skulls were compared with European skulls, but selectively so as church, which appear to have had no connection with the to depict the current native populace as being of inferior intelliburying-places of the Indians. Among the human bones gence. Almost without resistance, the black seeds of racial bias found in the mounds were some belonging to men of gigantic were forming in the uncorrupted soil of prehistoric interpretation. structure. Some of the skulls were of Take, for example, the words of an imporsufficient capacity to admit the head of tant government official and popular writer, an ordinary man, and jaw bones that Henry Schoolcraft (1793–1864): might have been fitted on over the face "The Indian has a low, bushy brow, with equal facility; the other bones were beneath which a dull, sleepy, halfproportionately large. The buryingclosed eye seems to mark the ferocious ground referred to contained about four passions that are dormant within. The Some of the skulls acres and, with the exception of a slight acute angles of the eyes seldom present were of sufficient angle in conformity with the natural the obliquity so common in the Malays contour of the ground, was in the form and the Mongolians. The color of the capacity to admit the of an oblong square. It appeared to have eye is almost uniformly a tint between head of an ordinary been accurately surveyed into lots black and grey; but even in young perrunning from north to south, and sons it seldom has the brightness, or man, and jaw bones exhibited all the order and propriety of expresses the vivacity, so common in that might have been arrangement deemed necessary to the more civilized races." constitute Christian burial..." Bureau of Indian Affairs (1852) fitted on over the face Historical Collections of Ohio in Two Volumes, by Henry Howe, LLD (1888) Schoolcraft, who himself married a with equal facility; half-Indian woman, was apparently the other bones were Although not regarded by the governpredisposed to labelling the native peoment as reliable, the oral traditions of ple in general as inferior. This kind of proportionately large. the native people in the eastern US aver ridiculous prejudice underscored the the existence of possibly two races of tone for the unbridled continuation of giants, one supplanting the other by the earthwork debacle. The result of violent means. Here we have the first this is accurately reflected in how inkling of some very remote prehistory, archaeology was organised more than preserved through the tradition of the one hundred years ago, and may be Chippewa, Sandusky and Tawa tribes summed up in the policy of Joseph (members of the Algonquin language Henry, first secretary of the group), of the existence of giant, bearded men. Smithsonian Institution. Said Henry in 1846: "The collection of "In this connection I would say that Mr Jonathan Brooks, data should precede theorising..." now living in town, stated to me that his father, Benjamin Unfortunately, the collection of data seemed to have no end, Brooks, who lived with the Indians fourteen years and was and any subsequent theorising was (and is) in a state of transience. well-acquainted with their language and traditions, told him The Smithsonian, playing a sort of leading role in the massive and others that it was a tradition of the Indians that the first undertaking attempting to cast light on the inscrutable prehistory tribe occupying this whole country was a black-bearded race, of the United States, inadvertently collected far too many relics very large in size, and subsequently a red bearded race or than it could ever analyse in a comprehensive sense. tribe came and killed or drove off all the black beards, as they Estimates of the number of moundworks in Ohio alone, at the called them." end of the Colonial period, topped ten thousand. Today, less than "Memoirs of Townships", by Wm H. Crane, in one-twentieth of these exist, and, moreover, they exist in a The Firelands Pioneer, Vermilion, Ohio (November 1858) reconstructed form. STRANGE Times 2006


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No quarter of special status was given to any earthwork, no matter how sacred or strategic to tribal lands. It was a holocaust of an unprecedented nature, for it undermined the very morale of the native people who understood the peace of their ancestors to be ruined. Differing only in the professionalism somewhat absent from the previous 70 years of ghoulish quests, Henry's mandate dictated emphasis on the creation of an inclusive system of excavation, recording and description. Any analysis that followed had to be based upon this criterion. But competent analysis of anomalies rarely (if ever) came from the Smithsonian and other institutions formally engaged in the practice of exhumation. Given this understanding, it is no wonder that the Smithsonian is believed by knowledgeable people to be actively stymieing research that would produce a more enlightened view of American prehistory. There is, however, some compensation for this oversight in that the Smithsonian—like the Peabody, and the Carnegie shortly thereafter—faithfully upheld Henry's mandate to detail, as was feasible, their mound "explorations". However, the present-day inaccessibility of the bones and objects these people removed for future study is a reflection and symptom of the proposed "oversight". One thing that pleased us in this research effort was the fact that there were many skeletons of gigantic frame discovered and reported by the Smithsonian, boosting the validity and value of the old township diaries as well as the native legends. Some of these are presented below.

fertile, worthy, intellectual territory. Hungerford died in 1835. Although there was some controversy in the interim, the finding of the Smithsonian, based upon the more than half-a-million-dollar gift, took place officially in 1846. His legacy to the American people was, in his own words, "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Since that time, the museum's collections have increased considerably, with problems in the cataloguing and location of stored finds developing due to changing standards of administrations over the last 150 years. By analogy, the Vatican's antique cache of confiscated, problematic treasures may pale in comparison to the Smithsonian's boatload of diffuse evidence. The pity of it is that Smithson's request has taken on a different mode of interpretation. Instead of diffusing knowledge, it has unwittingly become confused with the problem of sprawling storage.

Plat of the Etowah Group, Bartow County, Georgia. Grave A (found in the largest mound of the group) contained a seven-foot skeleton of a heavy frame.

A Brief History of the Museum The Smithsonian Institution, easily the world's largest museum complex, began from the generous gift of James Smithson, an English scientist, in 1829. Believed born illegitimate (especially in the eyes of his later detractors), Smithson was a "diligent young student", receiving a Master of Arts from Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1786. He became a distinguished scientist. The gentle man passed away in 1829, bequeathing his fortune to nephew James Henry Hungerford with the stipulation that if this man died without an heir, the remainder of the fortune would go to the United States. It seems he felt that the United States was the future of Britain. Perhaps Smithson saw the "New World" as 168 • NEXUS

Powell and Thomas "Grave a, a stone sepulcher, 21⁄2 feet wide, 8 feet long, and 2 feet deep, was formed by placing steatite slabs on edge at the sides and ends, and others across the top. The bottom consisted simply of earth hardened by fire. It contained the remains of a single skeleton, lying on its back, with the head east. The frame was heavy and about seven feet long. The head rested on a thin copper plate ornamented with i m p r e s s e d figures…" 12th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1890–1891 (published in 1894) (Cyrus Thomas's investigations of Etowah)

In 1882, after some 36 years of growth and sound management, Smithsonian executive John Wesley Powell (of Grand Canyon exploration fame, 1869–1872), hired Cyrus Thomas. Powell wanted this man to head up the fieldwork for the Smithsonian's newly created Bureau of Ethnology, specifically the Eastern Mound Division. Thomas was a minister and an entomologist, whose broadened interests included archaeology. He was, in other words, a bibleadvocating, insect-adept archaeologist who believed in the mystery of a lost race at the time of his being recruited.


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Powell, who was much in sympathy with the plight of Native up with anomalous evidence directly questioning Powell's Americans, having lived among them for a length of time, sweeping suppositions. believed that there was no lost or mysterious race of mound "Cave burials occur in this district in the following counties: builders. He desired to credit the downtrodden native people with In Grayson, Hart, Edmonson, Barren, Warren, and Fayette the worthy and gentle arts associated with the ancient mound counties; Kentucky; Smith, White, Warren, Giles, Marion, building societies. Subsequently, and in light of other political and Fentress counties, Tennessee; and Bartow county, considerations marking the era, Powell sought to enact these perGeorgia. These localities lie mostly in a belt extending in a sonal convictions through the instrumentality of Thomas. north and south direction through the center of the district. In spite of his personal beliefs, Thomas was not outspokenly "In most of these caves, both in Kentucky and Tennessee, resistant to accepting the position. Besides, Congress was allocatthe bodies appear to have been laid on the floor of the cave, ing solid funding for this proposed ramble through the ancient sometimes in beds of ashes, sometimes on a pavement of flat landscape. stones. There are, however, some instances in which the There was apparently an important decision made at this time bodies have been found incased in stone slabs, and afterwards concerning the facilitation of an enveloping theory—so necessary imbedded in clay or ashes. In Smith and Warren counties, to create order where chaos Tennessee, and in loomed. Before discharging a Warren and Fayette book, one logically creates an counties, Kentucky, the outline to guide one's thoughts. flesh of the bodies was This was to become a hierarpreserved and the hair chical arrangement that would was yellow and of fine decide the angle of vision for texture. In some cases the categorising of the finds the bodies were that would be made. enveloped in several On one hand, the belief that thicknesses of coarse others had discovered North cloth with an outer wrapAmerica before Columbus ping of deer skin. Some (such as Phoenician, Egyptian, of the bodies were Hebraic, Greek, Roman, Celtic, wrapped in a kind of Scandinavian or even Asian cloth made of bark fiber, mariners) was explored. On into which feathers were the other hand, the idea of the woven in such a manner continent having been isolated as to form a smooth surfrom outside influences was face. In two cases the put on the table. It was perhaps bodies, placed in a sitbecause of Powell's deference ting or squatting posture, to the native kinship that the were incased in baskets. latter idea—i.e., screening out In one of the caves in any extra-continental Smith county the body visitors—was adopted. of a female is said to Needless to say, this was an have been found, having extraordinary assumption, and about the waist a silver one that has affected decisiongirdle, with marks making right until the present resembling letters." day. On the positive side, it 12th Annual Report of the viably linked the living Bureau of Ethnology to the factions of the Native Secretary of the Smithsonian American people with the more Institution, 1890–1891 ancient mound-building folk, (1894) (Explorations in the and shortly thereafter it was Tennessee district) responsible for the faintly successful preservation of what Armed with a self-created remained of the Mound Mound Group, Dunleith, Illinois. "Near the original surface, 10 or 12 doctrine powered by ample Builders' legacy. From this it feet from the center, on the lower side, lying at full length on its back, funding, and with a little help may be understood how was one of the largest skeletons discovered by the Bureau agents, the later from the one-way door length as proved by actual measurement being between 7 and 8 feet." aspects of Powell's work, such to the Smithsonian's inaccesas analysis of the social order of the Mound Builders, was not a sible catacombs, Powell and his underling in the years that folpriority. lowed nearly succeeded in the obliteration of the last notions of Powell's decision regarding isolation was in reality a two-edged the legendary, mysterious and antique class of mound-building sword. While it was a meaningful step that fostered a meagre people and, for that matter, any people that didn't fit into the though important harmonic between the federal government and mould of his theory. Did Powell intentionally overlook some of the native people, it was regrettably based upon a false notion. the archaeology so as to focus on his own special agenda? An example of its contradiction is found right in the 12th Annual Powell and his associates at the Bureau were quite certain that Report itself. Again and again, Thomas and his operatives came people had arrived in the Americas only sometime after the first STRANGE Times 2006


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Egyptian dynasty—less than 4,500 years ago! They also believed that the Mississippi Valley was sufficiently isolated from the Ohio Valley to warrant the simultaneous flourishing of quite distinct cultures over a long period. Since carbon-dating had not yet been discovered, Thomas used stratigraphic analysis (after Lyell) and, following the rest of the mandate, included detailed record-keeping and documentation whenever appropriate. His findings were broadly accepted and are still referenced. "Underneath the layer of shells the earth was very dark and appeared to be mixed with vegetable mold to the depth of 1 foot. At the bottom of this, resting on the original surface of the ground, was a very large skeleton lying horizontally at full length. Although very soft, the bones were sufficiently distinct to allow of careful measurement before attempting to remove them. The length from the base of the skull to the bones of the toes was found to be 7 feet 3 inches. It is probable, therefore, that this individual when living was fully 7 1⁄2 feet high. At the head lay some small pieces of mica and a green substance, probably the oxide of copper, though no ornament or article of copper was discovered." 12th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1890–1891 (1894) (Explorations in Roane County, Tennessee)

full length on its back, was one of the largest skeletons discovered by the Bureau agents, the length as proved by actual measurement being between 7 and 8 feet. It was clearly traceable, but crumbled to pieces immediately after removal from the hard earth in which it was encased…" 12th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1890–1891 (1894)

Regarding the problem of "intrusive" Indian burials, what kind of a time gap were these men looking at between the original burials and the later ones? As his agents uncovered the physical evidence for powerful men of towering stature, Thomas held the position that any and all skeletal remains represented the direct ancestry of the present-day people. Was it not plausible to consider an extended "family" or hierarchical group of very tall folk who served with the people? Were they selective enough in their sexual associations to appear, overall, as a race with its own peculiarities and even physical characteristics? The findings that didn't fit into the guideline established by his superior were summarily recorded and forgotten by Thomas—a legacy we have inherited today. "An old Indian mound has been opened on the farm of Harrison Robinson, four miles East of Jackson, Ohio, and two skeletons of extraordinary size and a great quantity of trinkets have been removed. Some years ago a party But Thomas's time was of relic hunters, limited because of the large supposed to have been territory he was to explore. sent out in the interest of Under such working condithe Archeological tions, anomalies were put Society, visited the aside for future research—to Robinson farm, and after be forgotten, as it has turned a few days' search out. Thomas was forced to removed a great rely on the accounts of operacollection of stone tives in many cases. hatchets, beads and Spring Hill enclosure, Kanawha County, West Virginia. In the bottom of Evidently, some of these peobracelets, which were Mound 11 (upper left) was found a skeleton "fully seven feet long". ple discerned between packed and shipped to "Indian" burials and the burials of the Mound Builders, perhaps an Eastern institute, and until this recent accidental discovery challenging the patience of Powell. it was supposed that everything had been removed by the "No. 5, the largest of the group, was carefully examined. relic hunters. It is thought by many that more relics are to be Two feet below the surface, near the apex, was a skeleton, found, and preparations are being made for a thorough doubtless an intrusive Indian burial… Near the original surinvestigation." face, 10 or 12 feet from the center, on the lower side, lying at The Adair County News, Kentucky (January 5, 1897) 170 • NEXUS


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What has become of all the evidence? Again and again, only a single long skeleton or two was found among those of normal size. The understanding of tall, ruling chiefs and their wives was not developed at all, as is evident in these examples. "The other, situated on the point of a commanding bluff, was also conical in form, 50 feet in diameter and about 8 feet high. The outer layer consisted in sandy soil, 2 feet thick, filled with slightly decayed skeletons, probably Indians of intrusive burials. The earth of the main portion of this mound was a very fine yellowish sand which A Section of the Great Smith Mound, Kanawha County, West Virginia. This cone-shaped shoveled like ashes and was mound rose 35 feet high and measured 175 feet in diameter at its base. The interior of the everywhere, to a depth of 2 to 4 feet, as mound contained a vault made of timber measuring 12 feet by 13 feet. It was positioned full of human skeletons as could be within the mound 20 feet above surface level. stowed away in it, even to two and three The pressure of the time schedule doubtless made it inconvetiers. Among these were a number of bones not together as nient to consider seriously the possibility of an ancient lineage of skeletons, but mingled in confusion and probably from leaders taking the form of very tall people. The fact of gigantic scaffolds or other localities. Excepting one, which was rather stature never settled in as a clue to a greater mystery, and the evimore than 7 feet long, these skeletons appeared to be of dences of very tall, ruggedly built men vanished—and often medium size and many of them much decayed…" enough into the Smithsonian's temporary charnel house of pre12th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary Columbian miscellany. of the Smithsonian Institution, 1890–1891 "Three feet above…the skeleton of a large, strongly built man (1894) (Pike County, Illinois) lay extended at full length with the face up, the head toward the east... The skull was obtained almost entire. Under it were "No. 11 is now 35 by 40 feet at the base and 4 feet high. In thirteen water-worn quartz pebbles. The femur measured 181⁄2 the center, 3 feet below the surface, was a vault 8 feet long inches…" and 3 feet wide. In the bottom of this, among the decayed 12th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the fragments of bark wrappings, lay a skeleton fully seven feet Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1890-1891 long, extended at full length on the back, head west. Lying in (1894) (Union County, Mississippi) a circle above the hips were fifty-two perforated shell disks about an inch in diameter and one-eighth of an inch thick." A femur (thigh bone) exceeding 18 inches would indicate a 12th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary man of very great height—easily over seven feet. Femurs of the Smithsonian Institution, 1890–1891 exceeding 20 inches have been found, however. (1894) (Kanawha County, West Virginia) Though hindsight is said to be 20/20, Thomas's methodology was little better than a government-sanctioned dissolution of the Largest in the collective series of mounds, the Great Smith sacred burial places. He dismantled the sanctuaries and charnel Mound yielded at least two large skeletons, but at different levels houses with the fervour of a man whose first priority was to of its deconstruction by Thomas's agents. It was 35 feet in height impress his employer. and 175 feet in diameter, and was constructed in at least two From Florida to Nebraska, including 23 states and Canada's stages, according to the report. The larger of the two skeletons Manitoba region, over the next seven years he and his agents represented a man conceivably approaching eight feet in height worked like men possessed of a deadline. when living. "Several years ago an Indian mound was opened near "At a depth of 14 feet, a rather large human skeleton was Cartersville, Ga., by a committee of scientists from the found, which was in a partially upright position with the back Smithsonian. After removing the dirt for some distance, a against a hard clay wall… All the bones were badly decayed, layer of flagstones was found, which had evidently been except those of the left wrist, which had been preserved by dressed by hand, showing that the men who quarried the rock two heavy copper bracelets… understood the business. These stones were removed, and in "Nineteen feet from the top the bottom of this debris was a vault beneath them was found a skeleton of a giant, reached, where, in the remains of a bark coffin, a skeleton measuring seven feet and two inches. His hair was coarse measuring 71⁄2 feet in length and 19 inches across the shoulders was discovered. It lay on the bottom of the vault and jet-black, and hung to the waist, the brow being stretched horizontally on the back, head east, arms by the ornamented with a copper crown. The skeleton was sides… Each wrist was encircled by six heavy copper remarkably well preserved and taken from the vault intact. bracelets… Upon the breast was a copper gorget…length, 31⁄2 Nearby were found the bodies of several children of various inches; greatest width 31⁄2 inches…" sizes. The remains of the latter were covered with beads 12th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the made of bone of some kind. Upon removing these, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1890–1891 (1894) bodies were found to be enclosed in a network of straw or (Kanawha County, West Virginia) reeds, and underneath these was a covering of the skin of some animal. In fact, the bodies had been prepared STRANGE Times 2006


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somewhat after the manner of mummies, and will doubtless throw new light upon the history of the people who reared these mounds. On the stones which covered the vault were carved inscriptions, and if deciphered will probably lift the veil which has enshrouded the history of the race of giants which undoubtedly at one time inhabited the continent." Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials, and Legends, by Lucian Lamar Knight (1868–1933) (Byrd Printing, Atlanta, 1913–14)

The question has been raised, asking whether there was giant stature among the Native American people in earlier historic times. From Hardesty's History of Monroe County, Ohio, we discovered this: "He further told me of the killing of a big Indian at Buckchitawa, about the time of the settlement at Marietta. The Indians had a white prisoner whom they forced to decoy boats to the shore. A small boat was descending the river, containing white people, when this prisoner was placed under the bank to tell those in the boat that he had escaped captivity, and to come to the shore and take him in. The Indians were concealed, but the big Indian stuck his head out from behind a large tree, when it was pierced by a bullet from the gun of the steersman of the boat. The Indians cried out 'Wetzel, Wetzel' and fled. This was the last ever seen of the prisoner. The Indians returned next day and buried the big Indian, who, he said, was twenty inches taller than he was, and he was a tall man. "When Chester Bishop was digging a cellar for Asahel Booth, at Clarington, many years ago, he came across a skeleton, the bones of which were removed carefully by Dr Richard Kirkpatrick, and from his measurement the height of the man when living would have been 8 feet and 5 inches. It is probable that these were the bones of the big Indian of whom the Indian at Jackson's told me."

Could this special burial have been another kingly individual? In these increasingly hasty intrusions into the native burial grounds' inherent sanctity, the holocaust delivered its zenith under the officialdom action of former Union Major Powell. This man, who in his youth had lived among the "Indians", somehow was insensitive to the sanctuary of their graveyards. But others came later to do a fair share of damage as well, all in the name of information gathering. The prehistory of eastern North America is not what we have been asked to accept from the efforts of Cyrus Thomas, nor from the subsequent authorities who based so much of their work upon his, and the reason is worth repeating: many or most of the oldest mounds and subterranean burial acreages were promptly destroyed, long before any focused "scientific" effort came on the scene. Apart from the disregard of the settlers' records, the other part of the problem is the labyrinthine mausoleum that is the Smithsonian bone and artifact collection. In sum, we today are deprived of the real knowledge of the more ancient lineage. The early settlers And again this: observed that the giants of old "A large quantity of human may have passed on their grand bones was discovered in a stature to the later native peofissure in the limestone Group of mounds in Union County, Mississippi ple, for there were individuals near the United States among their later progression who were of a size and build that Coast Guard lighthouse. A crude tomb of black stone slabs, goes beyond our current notions of Native American physicality. of a formation not known on the island, was found many years ago beneath the roots of a huge stump. Eight skeletons were found, one measuring over seven feet in height." The Telling of the Bones It is difficult not to understand the probability of an elite lineage Sketches and Stories of the Lake Erie Islands of tall men and women who propagated their own genetic inheriby Theresa Thorndale, Sandusky (1898) tance. These people lived, worked and bred together. Were their marriages arranged to ensure the continuance of the grand stature Some of the settlers and their descendants may have seen in roles of leadership and protection? In his classic Red Earth, clearly, but the representatives of the Smithsonian and other White Lies, Vine Deloria says: sanctioned institutions, in spite of good intentions, lacked the kind "From talking with elders of several tribes, my understanding of thoroughness in their analyses that included a broadened field is that the Indians were and are describing people of more of vision. We have felt heartily from the beginning of this than average height. In fact, some elders as a routine matter research that the Smithsonian is the recipient of mandates put into have reported that the Indians themselves were much larger place well over 100 years ago. It is virtually exempt from and taller." NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Protection and 172 • NEXUS


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Repatriation Act), for the reason (say they) of there being too much data to finish analysing to prepare for repatriation. "Concealing evidence that conflicts with accepted theory is common scientific skullduggery. For years the Smithsonian Institution has been accused of hiding in storage vaults things it doesn't like. In 1968 two Neanderthal-like skulls with low foreheads and large brows were found in Minnesota. As for dating, University of Minnesota scientists said they were reluctant to destroy any of the material, although carbon-14 testing only requires the burning of one gram of bone. They were sent to the Smithsonian. Later, Dr Lawrence Angel, curator of physical anthropology at the institution, said he had no record of the skulls there, although he was sure they were not lost. We have a right to wonder whether some professional scientists mightn't find a really early date for the bones distressing." American Indian Myths and Mysteries, by Vincent H. Gaddis (1977)

What was left over became part of the Smithsonian collection, estimated at 18,000 individuals, and this by way of the Army Medical Museum. "The objects here collected which have not been given, or acquired by exchange, have been purchased for the use of the museum by order of the surgeon-general… There is a skeleton of a giant, who, in life, measured seven feet, prepared by Auzoux and mounted by Blanchêne's method, which, if I may use that term, is really a beauty. It is as white and clean as new fallen snow, and the brass joints and screws which keep it together are bright, and of the latest style and finish…" "The Army Medical Museum in Washington", by Louis Bagger, in Appletons' Journal: A Magazine Of General Literature, vol. 9, issue 206 (1873)

Today, however, bones are no longer as good a source of information as they once were thought to be, and for several good reasons. Bone is composed dominantly of the metallic calcium, yet is made up of Why distressing? organic molecules. Because no true Depending on Neanderthal remains moisture and have ever been temperature, it will recognised by any decay, break down Federal authorities with time and return as originating on the to the condition of North American the soil after a continent, what to certain number of say of the Americas centuries. in general. Is there Bone evidence yet today a conflict has created overbetween established emphasis on certain theory and what has periods of been physically disprehistory, in this covered? region the so-called Is the "ghost" of "Hopewell" and Powell yet haunting "Fort Ancient" the halls of the The mound at Marietta, drawn by Henry Howe in 1846. Howe stated this mound ( M i s s i s s i p p i a n ) was "of a magnitude and height which strike the beholder with astonishment". Museum? So what people. Thus, a Its base had a diameter of 115 feet; its height reached up 30 feet. It was is the policy of the great proportion of surrounded by a ditch four feet deep and 15 feet wide. Smithsonian? Does the Archaic and the institution intentionally withhold information? Is the fact of a early Adena bones discovered were decomposed beyond race of giant warriors and chieftains threatening to the closed, preservation. Due to a lack of skeletons, other more antique internal doctrine of American archaeology? That there was a race periods have not received the same kind of recognition—save from of men and women possessing an unusually tall and strong physithe better scholars affecting the interested public's view of the cality living over an extensive area of North America has become ancient world. a forgotten fact. Ironically, the holocaust of giants, while deadening our sense of There are other examples, and names like the Gungywamp the past, may well serve as a lesson for the future. ∞ Society of Connecticut, Ed Conrad and others have bizarre stories to relate about the ineptitude or simple prejudice of the Recommended Reading • Vine Deloria, Jr, Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and Smithsonian when dealing with their materials. In these examthe Myth of Scientific Fact, Fulcrum Publishing, 1997, ISBN ples, there is growing appreciation for an actual cover-up. 1-55591388-1 Another grotesque twist is the Army Medical Museum's collection. According to the ABC TV News special Skeletons in the Closet, the United States government acquired a real interest in About the Author: Ross Hamilton is a writer and investigator of ancient sites, Indian corpses. and lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is an initiate philosopher The Surgeon-General, in post–Civil War 1868, requested that with a background in general science as well as spiritual scithe Army collect the skulls, utensils and weaponry of Native ence. Americans "as far as you are able to procure them". According He is the author of The Mystery of the Serpent Mound (North to the report, these were to be sent to Washington, DC, as part of Atlantic Books, 2001), and is currently working on several a program that studied the effects of modern bullets and other projects including an upcoming book entitled A Tradition of weaponry on human bodies. The collection of such remains, estiGiants. mated at 4,000, was taken mostly from grave and battle sites. STRANGE Times 2006


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AND THERE WERE GIANTS... by John Mount © 2001

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hat of the fossilised giant mentioned in the Strand magazine of 1895, whose 12-foot-2-inch body was propped up for viewing against a 19thcentury railroad carriage, totally dwarfing it? It's funny how these "finds" often disappear and never again see the light of day. Thankfully, a reporter took a photograph... During a stormy BC military campaign, the Israelite commander David (already of giant-killing fame and later to become king of the Israelites), with the help of his army, fought a decisive battle with a Philistine army that contained a number of men of gigantic stature, eventually killing several of them. The biblical commentator mentions that while examining one of the bodies of these giants, David's men noticed some unusual characteristics: And there was...a battle in Gath, a city of the Philistines also known as the City of Giants, where was [found the body of] a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers and on every foot six toes... (2 Sam 21:20) 174 • NEXUS

In one of his books, Harold T. Wilkins quotes excerpts from the publication American Antiquities regarding the finding of giant human footprints in solid rock at the headwaters of the Tennessee River near Braystown. The prints are unique in that they contain six toes! One print more pronounced than the rest is of a heel ball measuring 13 inches (33 centimetres) across!

... in the many worldwide references to giants, one often comes across these strange traits of six fingers and toes ...

It appears that these giant men in the distant, prehistoric past were leading their horses along a muddy or clay track when one of the horses must have slipped several inches, causing a more pronounced imprint of a hoof. www.nexusmagazine.com

This particular hoofprint measured 8 by 10 inches (20 by 25 centimetres)! According to G. H. Williamson in his book, Road in the Sky, Talmudic and Midrashic literature contains several references to giants with double rows of teeth. In fact, in the many worldwide references to giants, one often comes across these strange traits of six fingers and toes with the occasional double row of teeth thrown in. Perhaps these are the "hallmarks" of true giants. Abnormally oversized humans are nearly always recognisable as such, because their height is often gained at the expense of their build (as in giantism). Apparently, true giants were also easily distinguishable by their build, which (like normal humans) was in balanced proportion to their height. There were several battles reported between the early Israelites and foreign armies containing giants. It was as though these giant men were used as mercenaries by early Middle Eastern civilisations. At least one early Israelite account describes the size of one of these giants as well as the weight of some of their captured armour and weapons: STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE "Goliath of Gath whose height was 6 cubits and a span..." (1 Sam 17:4) The stumbling blocks in these old reports are the different interpretations of the Mediterranean cubit. It was known to vary between 18 and 21 inches. The biblical cubit is conservatively reckoned at 17.5 inches (44.5 centimetres), representing the distance measured from an adult's elbow to the tip of the middle finger, which would make Goliath in his stockinged feet at least 9 feet 5.75 inches (2.9 metres) tall. Another battle produced a captured breastplate of mail weighing 5,000 shekels (126 pounds or 57 kilograms) as well as a trophied spear, which the commentator compared to the size of a heavy "weaver's beam". The spearhead, when weighed by itself, tipped the scales at 600 shekels (approx. 15 lbs or 7 kg). (1 Sam 17:7) According to ancient literature, humans and giants were rarely able to live together in harmony. A manuscript called "The Apocalypse of Baruch", a pseudepigraphical work written around AD 100 and preserved only in the sixth-century Syriac Vulgate (and which seems a little unclear in parts) appears to hint at the origin of giants: Men began as giants. These first giants were very highly developed, intellectually, artistically and physically: they had power over birds and animals...they misbehaved and were abolished by God, and ordinary men took their place... H. T. Wilkins, in his book Mysteries of Ancient South America, recalls old Peruvian traditions that tell of a time during their long past when a race of giant men, who came from the Pacific Ocean in ships, invaded the lowlands of old Peru, forcing the Inca high up into their mountain strongholds in the Andes. These giants, say the Inca, were so huge that "from the knee down, they were as tall as a tall man". According to Wilkins, the Inca say that these giant men "brought no women with them", and because they were too big for the Inca women they became "homosexual", and "one day while they were publicly polluting the marketplace with these practices, a fire from heaven rained down on them and consumed them". Not all the giants perished in this "Sodom and Gomorrah–type holocaust", according to Wilkins. The survivors, apparently totally ticked off by these traumatic events STRANGE Times 2006

and out after revenge, ascended the Cordilleras in pursuit of the Inca but were "dispersed" when they met the armies of the Inca king Ayataca Cuso. It is noteworthy that giant-killing humans were somehow able to differentiate between humans with abnormal, excessive growth and bona fide giants. And because many of the giants themselves were of varying sizes, one wonders what criteria were used for determining the

difference between a short giant and an abnormally large, well-built human. Perhaps it was the extra fingers and toes that gave them away. In March 1858, Commodore Byron of the French warship La Patrie during a visit to Port St Julien in Patagonia had an interesting conversation with the chief of a 500strong tribe whose men were well over seven feet tall; none of the women was under six feet tall.

The photograph published in Strand Magazine in 1895. www.nexusmagazine.com

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE The chief's body, according to the report, was covered with "hideous paintings", and the fellow was described as having a "fierce countenance". He also had the skin of a wild animal thrown over one shoulder, which was probably a symbol of office—and which is strongly reminiscent of those drawings of Hercules, portrayed in ancient Mediterannean paintings, where he is shown armed with a club and with the skin of the Nemean lion draped over one shoulder. Which is also probably similar to that figure of a giant, which is carved into the chalk in the English countryside of Dorset. Research in recent years shows that the Dorset giant, bearing a club, was also once provided with something draped over the shoulder or upper arm. The giant teeth found in China and known as "dragon's teeth" were found by the German-Dutch palaeontologist G. H. R. von Koenigswald around 1935 in a Chinese herbal shop. They were studied by various authorities who noticed that they bore a striking resemblance to human teeth, though around twice the size. They calculated that the teeth belonged to a hominoid around 11.8 feet (3.6 metres) tall, which would have weighed in at 694 pounds (315 kilograms). Von Koenigswald named the creature Gigantopithecus blacki. The close resemblance to human teeth had led some palaeomorphologists at the time to speculate that modern humans might have descended from "giant" ancestors.

Modern science, however, was adamant that the teeth are from "giant extinct apes". As far as this writer knows, the only evidence that science possesses of these creatures at the moment is a few teeth, some lower jawbones and possibly a piece of distal humerus. (Isn't it laughable that, ever

These giants, say the Inca, were so huge that "from the knee down, they were as tall as a tall man". since Darwin's time, science has been trying to make a man out of a monkey? Now, faced with the possibility of giant humans, they are trying to make monkeys out of men!) An extract and photograph from the British Strand magazine of December 1895, reprinted in W. G. Wood-Martin's book Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland, mentions a fossilised giant that had been found during mining operations in County Antrim, Ireland: Pre-eminent among the most extraordinary articles ever held by a railway company is the fossilised Irish giant, which is at this moment lying at the

London and North-Western Railway Company's Broadstreet goods depot, and a photograph of which is reproduced here... This monstrous figure is reputed to have been dug up by a Mr Dyer whilst prospecting for iron ore in County Antrim. The principal measurements are: entire length, 12 ft 2 in.; girth of chest, 6 ft 6 in.; and length of arms, 4 ft 6 in. There are six toes on the right foot. The gross weight is 2 tons 15 cwt.; so that it took half a dozen men and a powerful crane to place this article of lost property in position for the Strand magazine artist. Dyer, after showing the giant in Dublin, came to England with his queer find and exhibited it in Liverpool and Manchester at sixpence a head, attracting scientific men as well as gaping sightseers. Business increased and the showman induced a man named Kershaw to purchase a share in the concern. In 1876, Dyer sent this giant from Manchester to London by rail; the sum of £4 2s 6d being charged for carriage by the company, but never paid. Evidently Kershaw knew nothing of the removal of the 'show', for when he discovered it he followed in hot haste, and, through a firm of London solicitors, moved the Court of Chancery to issue an order restraining the company from parting with the giant, until the action between Dyer and himself to determine the ownership was disposed of. The action was never brought to an issue. Unfortunately (as far as this writer knows), nothing more was ever heard of the Antrim giant or its owners. ∞

References • The Holy Bible (King James Version) • W. G. Wood-Martin, MRIA, Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland, Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1902 • H. T. Wilkins, Mysteries of Ancient South America, Rider & Co., London, 1946 • H. T. Wilkins, Secret Cities of Old South America, Rider & Co., London, 1950 • G. H. Williamson, Road in the Sky, Neville Spearman, UK, 1959 (Source: Written by John Mount, Queensland, Australia, email jemount@ globalfreeway.com.au) 176 • NEXUS


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Hidden Bases and Unusual Beings T

he following articles touch on subject matter covered in other sections but, as I wrote in my editorial, they fit into an "all of the above" category. They're of course well worth reading.

The first, titled "Britain's Secret War in Antarctica", discusses the covert mission that took place just after the end of World War II by a few special operatives who discovered secret tunnels, a huge subterranean Nazi base, advanced technology and a frightening snow "yowie"—all in a part of Antarctica which was/is not covered by snow and ice! The next article as well as the Twilight Zone report deals with the "high strangeness" that is found even today in and around the Solomon Islands. There are ancient stone ruins; tribes of giant yowies living in and outside caves; tunnels connecting islands; UFOs seen entering and leaving openings in mountains and the sea; obelisks bearing unknown writings; dwarf-like hominids; ETs and more. Normally I would require independent corroboration of such claims before even thinking of publishing them, and in the Solomon Islands case I had it. Over the years I had received letters and information from various Westerners who had spent time deep in the hills of these islands—all indicating almost unbelievable tales about giants and UFO bases that exist there. So when I received comprehensive accounts from a military-trained Westerner who had lived with the native people of these islands for extended periods of time, I was most excited because his accounts confirmed the earlier reports. It is worth pointing out that just as we went to print with these Solomon Islands articles, Australia was sending troops to quell "warlords" in exactly those areas under discussion. I reckon a lot more went on over there than just a few Aussie troops and police keeping law and order.

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B RITAIN ' S S ECRET W AR IN A NTARCTICA Introduction n 1938, Nazi Germany sent an expedition to Antarctica with a mission to investigate sites for a possible base and to make formal claims in the name of the Third Reich. To prepare them for their mission, they invited the great polar explorer Richard E. Byrd to lecture them on what to expect. The following year, a month after hostilities had commenced in Europe, the Germans returned to Neuschwabenland to finish what had been started, with many suggesting that a base was being constructed. Nine years later, Richard E. Byrd, who by now had become an Admiral in the United States Navy, was sent to Antarctica with the largest task force ever assembled for a polar mission. In Admiral Byrd's own words, the mission (code-named Highjump) was "primarily of a military nature".1 Many claim that the task force was sent to eradicate a secret Nazi base in Queen Maud Land, which the Nazis had renamed Neuschwabenland and which had never been explored as profoundly as the rest of the Antarctic. But, and the big but is, the fact that Admiral Byrd spoke of "flying objects that could fly from pole to pole at incredible speeds"2 and with well-documented German activity before, during and in the immediate aftermath of World War II, one can't help but wonder whether there is some truth in the Nazi Antarctica myth. Even so, could Operation Highjump and Byrd's quotes have overshadowed the truth about British excursions in Antarctica by way of misinformation, bringing attention to his mission and, by doing so, making sure that history only remembered one mysterious Antarctic mission? When the Antarctica mystery is mentioned, Britain is never given more than a footnote. That fact is surprising in itself, especially as British forces were active in Antarctica throughout the war and quite possibly took the initiative in dealing with the Antarctic Nazi threat a whole 12 months before Operation Highjump was initiated. Britain's activities on Antarctica, though less documented and more clandestine, are just as intriguing as the supposed much-vaunted Operation Highjump. Unfortunately for Britain, though victorious in the War, it was bankrupted and humiliated by the two new superpowers. But Britain was in a position to regain some pride and surreptitiously upset its supposed allies with the final, decisive battle against the surviving Nazis: a battle that would never be recorded in the history books; a battle that would make its claims on the continent more legitimate; but, most importantly, a battle that ended the war that it had been compelled to wage.

I At the end of World War II, Britain sent a covert mission to investigate anomalous activities near its secret base at Maudheim in eastern Antarctica and to seek out and destroy a subterranean Nazi haven.

by James Robert © 2005 Email: [email protected]

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Antarctic Postage Stamps: Claim or Commemoration? On 1 February 1946, a set of postage stamps was released with His Majesty's royal approval. The stamps caused international outrage and brought on a diplomatic crisis for a war-weary Great Britain. The offending eight postage stamps commemorated Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands Dependencies, but one of them also depicted a territorial map of Antarctica that completely overlooked Chile's and most of Argentina's claims on the continent. Now why would Britain, when the world economy was in such dire straits, bring about an international crisis over an area of the world that appeared on the surface to be totally devoid of life? Many historians claim that Britain's postwar interest arose because, with Britain in dire need of materials, Antarctica was deemed as the solution; the stamps were a way of making Britain's claim valid. That assertion, however partially true, does not explain why British forces, as part of Operation Tabalan, were on the continent throughout and in the immediate aftermath of the War. www.nexusmagazine.com

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Operation Tabalan was activated as a measure of monitoring German activities on the Antarctic continent. The known British bases were mainly on the Antarctic Peninsula, in places such as Port Lockroy and Hope Bay, and on the islands surrounding the peninsula, such as the secret bases on Deception and Wiencke Islands—though some were set up on the continent. The most secret of all has not, and more than likely never will be, disclosed. The base at Maudheim, near the Mühlig-Hoffmann Mountain Range in Queen Maud Land or, alternatively, Neuschwabenland, was so secret that it was never given a name or even a grid reference on official maps. Could the stamps have been released to commemorate a successful mission in Queen Maud Land? The facts and rumours, as well as a story dispensed by a wartime SAS officer, may shed some light on the many mysteries of the Antarctic arena—a front that has been kept secret for 60 years—and on a hostile encounter that will never be divulged to the public. Britain has suppressed so many wartime events in the name of national security that now, even 60 years on, many people are still none the wiser about the secrets of the war— from Rudolph Hess to the peace parties, to the even more sinister happenings including Britain's knowledge of the Nazi extermination camps, the Irish Republican Army's flirtation with Nazis, and the lesser known secrets such as SS concentration camps on British soil on Alderney in the Channel Islands. With just those few listed, a pattern of suppression is emerging—and on some, a total denial is normally forthcoming. Antarctica is no exception. With the passing of time, all those who served in the Neuschwabenland campaign are no longer with us. The last survivor gave me the following account of the forgotten battle. I hasten to add that the story was told on two separate occasions, 10 years apart, and there was not one discrepancy in either account. [Editor's note: We have deleted opening and closing quotation marks in the next section for ease of reading.]

The Neuschwabenland Campaign hen Victory in Europe was announced, my unit was resting in a cave in the former Yugoslavia. I was thankful that the War had finally ended, though with war still being waged in the Pacific and tensions rising in Palestine, we were warned that our war could continue. Thankfully, I was spared from participating in the war against Japan—but alas, I was posted to Palestine where the influx of Jews, allied with a rise in Zionist terrorism, was causing anguish not only to the inhabitants of Palestine but also to the British forces that were sent to stem the Jewish influx and quell the uprisings. I

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was warned that my posting in Palestine would continue indefinitely. I saw many of my fellow soldiers die. Thankfully, I received an order at the beginning of October 1945 to report to my commanding officer, as I had been selected for a mission so secret that none of my senior officers knew why I had been requested to go to Gibraltar. I was not told why I had to report, but I went, hopeful that I would soon be discharged into Civvy Street. How wrong I was: I would be spending another Christmas on a war footing. Once I arrived on Gibraltar I was secreted away by a Major and informed that I would be sent to the Falkland Islands Dependencies for further briefing and that I would be joined by several other soldiers from other elite British forces. The mystery thickened as we were all flown to the Falklands under complete silence. We were ordered to not even speculate about why we had been selected and where we were going. Upon reaching the desolate and forbidding Falkland Islands, we were introduced to the officer who was leading the expedition and a Norwegian who had served in the Norwegian Resistance, an expert in winter warfare who was going to be training us for the mission that we had no inkling about. The Falklands is now considered the best-kept secret in the British Army, and being posted there normally meant an easy few years; however, things were different in the 1940s— even more so for those who had been selected with me. We were forced to undertake a gruelling month's training where we were prepared for cold-weather warfare. From being plunged into the icy Atlantic to facing the elements in a tent on South Georgia, the training was arduous and there seemed little sense in the madness that we were forced to undertake. However, after the month's training we were briefed by a Major and a scientist, and as the mission was relayed to us we all realised that there would be little chance of us all returning, especially if the suspicions proved correct. We were informed that we were to investigate "anomalous" activities around the Mühlig-Hoffmann Mountains from the British base in Maudheim. Antarctica, so we were told, was "Britain's secret war". We were then briefed on British activities in the South Pole during the war. We sat intrigued as to what was being divulged; none of us had heard anything so fascinating or frightening. It was not common knowledge that the Nazis had been to Antarctica in 1938 and 1939, and even less known was the fact that Britain began to set up secret bases around Antarctica in response. The one we were to visit, Maudheim, was the biggest and most important as well as the most clandestine Antarctic base of them all. The reason for its importance was the fact that it was within 200 miles of where the


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Nazis had supposedly built their Antarctic base. We had to operate under complete radio silence. We were alone, We sat there stunned, but still the mystery deepened. We were with no back-up and no chance of retreat if our worst fears were told about German activity in the Southern Ocean around confirmed. Antarctica. We were also informed that an inestimable number of We approached the base wary of what was awaiting us, but U-boats were missing and unaccounted for; but worse, some of when we got there the base appeared devoid of life, a ghost town. those that had surrendered months after the War had ended fuelled Instantly, our suspicions were roused, but, just like all the previeven more speculation. ous campaigns I had fought during the War, we had a job to do British forces had captured three of the biggest names in the and so our personal fears could not shroud our judgement. Nazi party—Hess, Himmler and Dönitz—and with their captures As we split up to search the base, a trip wire was detonated and Britain was given information that was not going to be shared a siren sounded, destroying the silence and startling the whole with Russia or the United States. That information compelled force. A shout was soon heard, demanding us to identify ourBritain to act alone, and we were spearheading that operation. selves, but the voice could not be targeted. With our guns raised We were told in no specific terms what was expected of us and the Major introduced us to the voice, and then, thankfully, the what Britain expected us to find on Antarctica. Britain had more voice was given a body. The voice belonged to a lone survivor, than a strong suspicion that the Germans had and what he divulged made us more anxious built a secret base and had spirited many of and had us wishing that there were more the unaccounted Nazis away from the turtroops amongst our ranks. moil in Europe. The lone survivor claimed that in Bunker Still, more and more revelations were One was the other survivor from the "tunnel" "We were informed forthcoming. The summer before, we were trip, along with one of the mysterious Polar that we were to told, the original scientists and commandos Men that we had heard on the recorded had found an "ancient tunnel". Under Despite obstructions and investigate 'anomalous' broadcast. orders, the force went through the tunnel but objections from the survivor, Bunker One activities around the only two returned before the Antarctic was ordered to be opened. The survivor had winter set in. During the winter months, the to be held back and his fear and anguish Mühlig-Hoffmann two survivors made absurd claims over the panicked us instantly, and none of us wanted Mountains from the radio about "Polar Men, ancient tunnels and to be the one to enter the bunker. Nazis". Radio contact was finally lost in Fortunately, I was not selected to enter; British base in July 1945, and ominously for our that honour was bestowed on the mission, going into the unknown, the Maudheim. youngest member of our unit. He prolast broadcast brought us all further ceeded inside, hesitating slightly as he anxiety as we listened to the fear in the struggled with the door. Once inside, a voice: "...the Polar Men have found silence descended across the base, fol"Antarctica, so we us!" was screamed before contact was lowed moments later by two gunshots. were told, was lost. The door was opened and the Polar After the radio broadcast was played, Man dashed to freedom. None of us 'Britain's secret war'." we were then given a rousing speech was expecting what we saw, and the from the Major who would be leading Polar Man had fled into the surroundthe expedition to investigate what had ing terrain so quick that only a few happened. "We are to go to the base at token shots were fired. Maudheim, find the tunnel, investigate Out of fear and awe at what we had the enigma of the Polar Men and the seen, we all decided to go into the Nazis and do what we can to make sure the Nazi threat is bunker. Go in we did, and two bodies were found. The soldier destroyed." who had pulled the short straw was found with his throat ripped When asked for questions, we all had so many, and thankfully out, and, more heinous, the survivor had been stripped to the the answers were honest and direct. We were informed that bones. evasive action was being taken because Britain was well aware of What we had witnessed demanded answers; and with our abject US and USSR intentions in mounting their own expeditions, and anger at seeing one of our unit die within hours of our landing on Britain did not want to risk the chance that the US or the USSR the continent, our anger was taken out on the lone survivor who would discover the base and gain further Nazi technology. Both had warned us against opening Bunker One. countries had a technological advantage over Britain because of The whole unit listened categorically to the Major's questions, the scientists, equipment and research both countries had but it was the answers that were to provoke the most intrigue. recovered. Nevertheless, Britain wanted to be the nation to The first question that needed answering was just what had hapdestroy the menace because Britain viewed Antarctica as under pened to the other survivor, and how he had become trapped in the British Empire's jurisdiction, and if the Nazis were there it was the bunker with that Polar Man. However, the lone survivor pretheir duty and their desire to eradicate them first and thus deny ferred to start from the beginning, from when they had first found both the USA and the USSR the propaganda value of fighting the the "tunnel". Whilst he narrated what had happened, the scientist last battle of World War II. who had accompanied us scribbled down everything divulged. We were flown to the pre-designated drop-off point which was It transpired that the area near the tunnel was one of 20 miles from the Maudheim base; snow tractors had already been Antarctica's unique dry valleys, and that was how they managed despatched and were awaiting our arrival. After parachuting into to find the tunnel with such ease. Every one of the 30 personnel the icy wilderness, full of fear and trepidation, we reached the at the Maudheim base was ordered to investigate and, if possible, snow tractors and from that moment on we were on a war footing. find out exactly where the tunnel led. 180 • NEXUS


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They followed the tunnel for miles, and eventually they came to On hearing that, the Major issued the battle cry, and guard duty a vast underground cavern that was abnormally warm; some of was set up whilst the Major and the scientist discussed, in private, the scientists believed that it was warmed geothermally. In the just what we were to do next, even though it was obvious to the huge cavern were underground lakes; however, the mystery deeprest of us. ened, as the cavern was lit artificially. The cavern proved so The next morning we were ordered to "investigate the tunnel", extensive that they had to split up, and that was when the real disand for the next 48 hours we made our way steadily to the dry valcoveries were made. ley and the supposed "ancient tunnel". Upon arriving in the dry The Nazis had constructed a huge base into the caverns and had valley we were all amazed, for we had been told that Antarctica even built docks for U-boats, and one was identified supposedly. was completely ice-bound and yet here we were in a valley that Still, the deeper they travelled, the more strange visions they were reminded me of being back in the North African Sahara. We greeted with. The survivor reported that "hangars for strange were forbidden from even approaching the tunnel until the tempoplanes and excavations galore" had been documented. rary base camp had been erected; and whilst the men constructed However, their presence had not gone unnoticed: the two the base, the scientist and Major investigated the tunnel. survivors at the Maudheim base witnessed their comrades get After a few hours, they returned to the now complete camp to captured and executed one by one. After witnessing only six of chronicle what they had seen and what our next plan of action was the executions, they fled to the tunnel, lest to be. The tunnel was not an ancient pasthey be caught, with the aim to block up the sageway at all, claimed the scientist, tunnel—though "it was too late; the Polar although the Major added that the walls were Men were coming", claimed the survivor. made of smooth granite and looked infinite. With enemy forces hot on their tail, they We were informed that we would be able to had no choice but to try to get back to the make our own minds up after we had rested base so that they could inform and warn their for the night. "The cavern proved superiors about what they had uncovered. Sleeping in Antarctica during the summer so extensive that they They managed to get back to the base, but, months was difficult with perpetual daylight with winter approaching and little chance of had to split up, and that covering the continent; but that night, sleep rescue, they believed it was their duty to was even more difficult to come by with all was when the real make sure the secret Nazi base was reported; the thoughts running through each of our and so they split up, each taking a wireless discoveries were made. minds about what we would find and just and waiting in separate bunkers. One of the when, or where, we would encounter the The Nazis had survivors tempted one of the Polar Men Polar Man again. into the bunker in the hope that they'd Just before we were assigned our constructed a huge believe only one had survived. The times for guard duty, we were informed base into the caverns plan worked, but to the detriment of his that we would be following the tunnel life and to the radio. Unfortunately, the all the way—"...to the Führer, if needs and had even built brave soul in Bunker One had the only be". docks for U-boats..." fully operational wireless radio, which That night our fears were confirmed, was destroyed in the fracas. The other as the Polar Man did indeed return. survivor had no option but to sit, wait However, this time no more casualties and try to avoid going stir crazy. occurred [on our side], but the Polar The mystery of who or what the Man was slain as he was lured to the Polar Men were was explained, not camp. The scientist decided that the satisfactorily but explained Polar Man was "human" but, it seemed, nonetheless, as a product of Nazi had been able to produce more hair and science; and the enigma of how the withstand the cold far more effectively. Nazis were getting power was also explained, albeit not in The corpse, after a brief post-mortem, was stored in a body bag, scientific terms. The power that the Nazis were utilising was by and with the cold could be preserved until a more meticulous disvolcanic activity, which gave them heat for steam and also helped section could occur. produce electricity, but the Nazis had also mastered an unknown The next morning it was decided that two would remain at the energy source because the survivor claimed: "...after what I tunnel's entrance with the corpse, the tractors, the equipment but, witnessed, the amount of electricity needed is more than could be more fundamentally, the radio. The Major, leading the expediproduced, in my opinion, by steam". tion, needed the Norwegian for his expertise and also the scientist; The scientist amongst the party dismissed most of what was the survivor, too, was critical for the mission's success. The rest divulged, and rebuked the survivor for his lack of scientific eduof us wanted to join them. I was selected with the other jubilant cation and implied that his revelations "could not possibly be four who would be undertaking one of the most exciting and postrue". Though the scientist dismissed the survivor's claims, the sibly one of the most important expeditions in human history. Major didn't. He wanted to know more about the enemy that we The two who were kept behind were disappointed, but their were facing, but, more fundamentally, just what the Polar Man roles were just as vital to the mission's success as the nine who was going to do next. The answer from the survivor did nothing would be traversing into the unknown. to comfort us and provoked the scientist to announce that the surAs the nine of us prepared to enter the tunnel, we made sure vivor was "certifiable". Disconcerted is too weak a word to that we took enough ammunition and explosives to wage a small describe how we felt when the survivor replied to the Major's war and hopefully destroy the base in its entirety, for that was our questions about the escaped Polar Man's intentions: "He will mission: not to salvage, but to destroy. wait, watch and wonder just how different we taste." We walked into the darkness, and thankfully after four hours of STRANGE Times 2006


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walking we began to see some light in the far distance. However, what we had seen, heard or even encountered. the light was still another hour away; and as each of us battled The tunnel was explained away as nothing more than a freak of with our mind's questions of what we would uncover, we inched nature; "glacial erosion" was the scientist's specific term. The forward. "Polar Men" were nothing more than "unkempt soldiers that had Eventually we reached the vast cavern that was artificially lit. gone crazy"; the fact that they were German was never submitted We were then led to where the survivors had witnessed the into the report, and any notion of the mission going public was executions. The survivor stated it was as covert as one could firmly rebutted. The mission would never be made official, possibly have wished for. though certain elements of the mission were to be leaked to the As we looked over the entire cavern network, we were overRussians and the Americans. whelmed by the numbers of personnel scurrying about like ants, So my last Christmas of World War II was spent on the but what was impressive was the huge constructions that were Antarctic continent in 1945, fighting the same Nazis that I had being built. From what we were witnessing, the Nazis, it fought against every Christmas since 1940. What was worse was appeared, had been on Antarctica a long time. The scientist jotted the fact that the expedition was never given any recognition, nor down everything he could, drew diagrams the survivors any credit. Instead, the British and took rock samples as well as the odd survivors were de-mobbed from the forces, photograph. The Major, on the other hand, whilst the scientist and his report would soon was more interested in how the base was to disappear, the mission never to be known be destroyed without being caught by the about except by the select few. Nazis present. That mission never made the history After two days of vigilant reconnaissance, books, but the return mission in February the scientist and Major decided on the targets 1950, conducted by a joint for the mines. The mines were to be placed British–Swedish–Norwegian expedition that "The mission would all around the roof of the cavern, with other lasted till January 1952, did. targets on the to-do list such as the generator The main purpose of the expedition was to never be made official, and the petrol dumps and, if possible and verify and investigate some of the findings though certain elements of the 1938–39 Nazi expeditions to attainable, the ammunition dumps. Throughout the day, mines were laid and Neuschwabenland. of the mission were more photos were taken; and with the odds Five years after our mission, Maudheim of not being detected looking good, a and Neuschwabenland were revisited, to be leaked to the hostage was taken, as well as proof of and that expedition had everything to Russians and the the Nazi base, the "Polar Man" and do with the Neuschwabenland camphotographs of new, and quite paign, but, more importantly, with what Americans." advanced, Nazi technology. we had destroyed. For the intermediate When the mission to place the mines years between the missions, the Royal that would destroy the base had been Air Force continuously flew flights accomplished, as well as substantial over Neuschwabenland. The RAF's proof of the base gathered, we headed official reason for their extensive towards the tunnel—but, alas, we were flights was that they were searching for spotted, and more of the Polar Men and suitable places to set up base camps. a troop of Nazis gave chase. Upon However, one can't help but wonder.3 [The SAS officer's account ends reaching the tunnel, we needed to put here. Ed.] an obstacle in the way to slow down our enemy long enough for the mines About the Author: to detonate. Some mines were placed at the entrance to the tunJames Robert is a civil servant with an agency of the UK nel, and when the explosions were heard we were hopeful that not Ministry of Defence, as well as a World War II historian and just the base had been comprehensively destroyed but so, too, the writer. He has travelled extensively throughout North Africa enemy forces giving chase. We were wrong. and Europe to investigate mysteries of Britain's secret wars. The mines did indeed close the tunnel, but, for those Nazis and With a family from a military background, and with German Polar Men behind, the chase was still on. In a fighting retreat, only sources giving many so-called "myths" credence, he has set a three of the 10 escaped the tunnel: the Norwegian, the scientist and personal mission to delve deeper into the strange, suppressed, myself. The rest had fallen gallantly in making sure that some of little-known and anomalous activities that were conducted the party survived. before, during and after the war against Germany. "Britain's Upon reaching the safety of the dry valley, enough mines were Secret War in Antarctica" has been taken from his forthcoming laid to close the tunnel permanently. After the mines were detobook that will document some of his investigations. nated, there was no evidence of any tunnel ever existing. James Robert can be contacted by email at jamesSuspiciously, very little of the evidence unearthed remained. [email protected]. Whether it had been lost accidentally or purposely, it mattered little because the scientist had already made his and, ultimately, the Endnotes mission's own conclusions. 1. Admiral Byrd's press release, 12 November 1946. The camp was disbanded and we returned to the Maudheim 2. El Mercurio, 5 March 1947; Admiral Byrd interviewed by Lee van base where we were evacuated and flown back to the safety of the Atta. Falkland Islands Dependencies. Upon reaching South Georgia, 3. Former British SAS officer, documenting the 1945–46 we were issued with a directive that we were forbidden to reveal Neuschwabenland campaign. 182 • NEXUS


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T HE D RAGON S NAKE A Solomon Islands UFO Mystery

W This former RAAF engineer's startling experiences, along with his knowledge of the Solomon Islanders' long history of encounters with strange aerial craft and alien beings, sparked him to search for hidden UFO bases.

by Marius Boirayon © 2003 PO Box 148 Eudlo Qld 4554, Australia Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.thesolomongiants.com

STRANGE Times 2006

e had not long returned from the New Georgia group, where I had just bought a beautiful tropical island with white sand beaches and coconut palms, and we were desperately in need of new rental accommodation on Guadalcanal. My best friend Joseph had been helping me find a house that was preferably outside the Honiara area. As there was a shortage of livable housing, it had almost come to the point of taking what we could get. Joseph told me of a house that he knew of at his village but he thought it wouldn't suit me as I'm a white man. I told him to stop that kind of rubbish thinking and that we should go and have a look. I knew of Joseph's village, but I couldn't place the house that he had been describing to me as we drove the roughly 70-kilometre journey westward along the coast from Honiara. Upon arriving at Cape Esperance, Joseph pointed to the quaint little three-bedroom timber house that was on the eastern extremity of the village. It had a cement floor and a galvanised iron roof with an out-house near the grass-hut kitchen, and the most beautiful island sea view that anyone could wish for. There was a tap and shower outside with perpetual mountain spring water. It didn't bother me that there was no electricity, as I had a generator. I made up my mind to take the house, as I didn't have too many options left. While I was inspecting the house, the divorced woman who owned the house arrived, and so I formalised an agreement to move in the next day. Late the next afternoon, we arrived at the house with a six-tonne truck and proceeded to unload all our possessions into the house. This attracted the attention of a good portion of the village folk, as I was the only white man ever to have come to live in their area. That night, after placing a few fluorescent lights around the house, I started up the generator and sat back with Joseph and a few new friends to relax and have a beer. Later that night, when I was finding out a little more about the area, Joseph told me that I had to watch out for the "Dragon Snake" that was in the area. "Dragon Snake! What #*# Dragon Snake?" Just to hear the name of it put a shiver down my spine! They then told me that it comes out of the mountains at night and flies around. They said that the Dragon Snake, with its piercing red eyes, has been feared for generations. It was responsible for people going missing and for killing people. "What next?" I thought to myself. All I wanted to do was relax and do some fishing in a nice, peaceful, tropical environment. Now I had to contend with some mythological Dragon Snake. I thought no more of it and put it down to one of their superstitions, of which there seemed to be plenty.

MY FIRST UFO SIGHTING A few days went past as things started to settle down a little. I had become quite an enthusiastic fisherman with my fishing rod, and had been pulling scores of beautiful reef fish. Joseph was renowned by all in the village as being the best spearfisherman. One time he decided to do some night spearfishing, as it was easy to do at night by torchlight. So I decided that while Joseph was spearfishing, I would throw some lines in and see what kind of fish I caught. I was cleaning fish with Ci-Ci, another good friend of mine, when Joseph came out of the water with his dugout canoe full of fish to add to our already large pile. While we were inspecting his catch, Joseph suddenly shouted for our attention: "There! There! There! The Dragon Snake! The Dragon Snake!" He was pointing to the right, down the beach. www.nexusmagazine.com

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As I looked down the beach, I couldn't believe what I seeing. Australian heavy cruiser, the HMAS Canberra, and the American About a kilometre away there was a very bright, luminous, white heavy cruiser, the USS Chicago. I won't go into the sad details of object flying slowly over the water. I remember asking myself how they went down, but it was all a tragedy and many men lost whether I was really seeing it. I called out for my wife Miriam to their lives. Actually, it would be a really good idea if someone bring my binoculars. After focusing in on the starlike, brilliantly lit could produce a documentary about it with the submersibles they object, I noticed that it was about 60-foot round and seemed to used in finding and documenting the wreck of the Titanic. make no noise. We watched it for a couple of minutes until it subA few days later, Joseph and I went to Honiara to obtain a 23merged itself into the sea. Joseph told me to wait about 10 minutes foot fibreglass boat with engine. While we were there, I went to the and I'd see it come back out again—which it did! When it came historical archives to look up information about where these ships back out of the water, it was glowing twice as brightly as when it had actually sunk. Much to my surprise, I learned that the UFOs went in. We continued to watch it with my binoculars as it returned were submerging in exactly the same area where the HMAS to the coast in the direction whence it had come and until it disapCanberra, the USS Chicago and other ships had sunk. This was no peared out of sight over the top of the coconut trees. mere coincidence, or at least I didn't think so. Somewhat startled by this experience, we went back into the At that time, I did not know there were several of these things house and sat talking about this "Dragon Snake" until the early flying around. Why the UFOs had so much of an interest in these hours of the morning. They told me that if you didn't see it one old warships became a somewhat baffling problem for me at the night, you were quite likely to see it the next. They were right. In time. I do remember speculating about any remaining gunpowder, fact, over a seven-month period, I lost count of these sightings but questioned myself as to why these aliens would have a need for when they reached the 60 mark. So while we sat talking about this mere gunpowder. Somewhat curious as to all these perplexing object, I explained the structure of the Universe to Joseph and Cigoings-on and mysteries, while still trying to maintain some form Ci. I showed them my copy of a Time–Life book called The of sanity, I formulated an ingenious plan. And so I went to the Universe, with its space-type pictures, and said that these so-called nearby Department of Lands and purchased a 1:25,000 topographi"Dragon Snakes" are what white men call "Unidentified Flying cal map of northwest Guadalcanal. Objects". They were absolutely amazed, as they had spent their Meanwhile, Joseph's wife had given birth to a boy, their 10th whole life fearing this thing with child—a remarkable achievement, I superstition and having no real underthought, for a couple in their late 20s. standing of it. Yet, for that matter, I The child's christening was to be held was also a little fearful. the following Sunday, and Joseph and My suspicions were right: This sighting was the first of well his wife had decided to name him after over 60 more to follow, during which me. It was Joseph's normal job to hold the chiefs knew a lot about it. time I investigated the UFO waterfall the Sunday mass at the village church. One of the chief's brothers lake base of northwest Guadalcanal Lord knows why! Joseph was the and later the UFO bases of the central biggest rascal of them all! On this parhad been killed by it when east coast of Malaita and central ticular occasion there were five babies he was only a little boy. Small Malaita. This first sighting, to be christened, and so a white though, had completely changed my Catholic priest from Honiara had been mind about the existence of extraterbooked to perform the ceremony. I restrials, and a little investigation had bought two pigs from the Honiara revealed that this so-called Dragon abattoir especially for this event and Snake had been in the area for well over a century. I realistically sent an invitation to two chiefs from the area to come to my house began thinking in terms of extraterrestrials inhabiting our planet. for the feast, which was to be held on the grass outside. My extensive investigation into the presence of extraterrestrials The christening ceremony went ahead as planned. The pigs had on Guadalcanal and Malaita has revealed that these supposedly been butchered and were cooking away in the hot stone oven when "hidden to the eye" aliens have displayed unacceptable and the two chiefs and their company arrived. It was quite a large unfriendly behaviour towards the Guadalcanal and Malaita people; turnout. The Catholic priest from town made a special effort to talk indeed, there have been several outright abductions and murders. to me and find out what religious denomination I was. Because of this, they can't be considered friendly. For example, the When he'd left, I made my way to the two chiefs and respectfully grandfather of a good friend of mine was incinerated by one of introduced myself. As we were talking, I brought up the topic of these UFOs around the early 1900s. Several independent sources the Dragon Snake. My suspicions were right: the chiefs knew a lot have verified this. Countless horrific stories can be heard throughabout it. One of the chief's brothers had been killed by it when he out these islands. was only a little boy. They told me several stories of deaths and abductions, all of which confirmed to me that these UFOs are definitely not friendly. They may be friendly in other places in the PLOTTING UFO ACTIVITY ON THE MAP During the next two weeks, I saw the UFO three more times at world, but certainly not here. the same place as my first sighting. This made me question myself Excusing myself, I went to the house and then returned with my several times as to what I was actually seeing. It also raised many local map and proceeded to ask them where the Dragon Snake's more questions. What was so interesting for the UFO down in the "house" was located. Sure enough, they knew where it was! It took sea where it was submerging all the time? And where did it go them some time to become familiar with the map and finally agree when it wasn't flying around? on what they were looking at. They then pointed out the place to The part of the sea that was right in front of the village was me: an unnamed mountain that makes up part of the mountain where the Allied Forces had encountered a Japanese fleet in a great range which includes nearby Mount Popori. This unnamed mounbattle that resulted in the biggest loss of Allied ships during any tain, which for the sake of convenience I eventually named "Mount naval engagement in World War II. This battle included the Dragon", is about eight kilometres inland as the crow flies. They 184 • NEXUS


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told me of a big waterfall high up in the mountain, with a lake beneath into which the water falls. They said that inside that lake is where the Dragon Snake lives! A further study of Mount Dragon revealed that there is a small lake in the mountain that is the beginning of a river. These fellows had no idea of topographical map language, but their descriptions seemed to have some credibility. If what they told me was true, then it raised more questions. What was at the bottom of this waterfall lake, and how many UFOs were there? I had to stop speculating on answers to these questions, as all of this was starting to sound a lot like a science-fiction movie and I was beginning to question the sanity of what I was doing. On many occasions it crossed my mind to tell somebody—but who was there to tell, and who would believe me? Yet as incredible as this story may seem, all you need do for any proof is go to northwest Guadalcanal and ask a few of the locals. You'd be surprised at what you find out.

After leaving the hospital, we went over to my in-laws' house to pick up Miriam. I began discussing the matter of the so-called Dragon Snake with my father-in-law, John, and explained how some of the white men believe that aliens from other worlds are the ones responsible for driving this type of flying vehicle. When I explained to John what they were commonly thought to look like— four-foot tall with big head, big eyes, four fingers, transparent skin, etc.—he told me there was a book in the Solomon Islands Cultural Museum with pictures describing this sort of being. Somewhat surprised, I asked John if we could duck into town so that he might show me this book, which he agreed to do. Upon arriving at the museum and after a few directions to this book, there it was! This 15-page book had 14 detailed hand-drawn sketches of aliens just like the ones we are all used to seeing on television. An islander had compiled this short collection of drawings for the museum from different eyewitness accounts of these strange-looking creatures. There was an initial descriptive verse saying that the drawings were of some Solomon Islands mythologiCLOSE CALLS AND CULTURAL EVIDENCE Early one morning, not long afterwards, Joseph came to the cal beings. What I wanted to know was: how could the Solomon house to tell me that a fisherman he knew was in hospital from Islanders know anything about these kinds of aliens, when 99.9 per injuries he had sustained from a UFO two nights previously. He cent of them had never had any significant type of exposure to was from a village three kilometres east of ours. After asking white man's media? Most of the old tribal people still thought that Joseph what kind of injuries the fisherman sustained, he told me the stars were caused by pinpricks in the sky and that the Earth was that apparently he had burns to most of his body. We had all been flat, so how could these pictures of alien types be explained? At the planning a trip to town, anyway, as time, this became another little bafMiriam wanted to do some shopping fling mystery to me. and see her family, so we decided to We picked up Miriam and on the As if curious about each of go to the hospital and visit this drive back home I asked Joseph to tell the fishermen, the UFO fisherman. me about the time when he, Ci-Ci and After dropping Miriam off in town, his brother Ben had encountered the hovered over each of them Joseph and I went to the hospital. UFO while out fishing. He said that for a minute and then Following some enquiries as to where the three of them were in their dugouts the fisherman was, we arrived at his at about midnight when they saw the departed at incredible speed bedside. He was covered in bandages UFO. Initially, they were each toward the island of from head to toe and was in a great separated by about 50 metres. As if deal of pain, but doped up with pethicurious about each of the fishermen, Santa Isabel. dine. Joseph began to speak with him the UFO hovered over each of them for in the Guadalcanal language to try to a minute and then departed at find out exactly what had happened to incredible speed toward the island of him. Santa Isabel. By the time all three had finally reached shore, they He had been out fishing in his fibreglass boat at about 3.00 am, were spread out over a kilometre's distance along the beach. when he saw the Dragon Snake flying along. In foolishness, he Although Joseph described the story as being funny, there was a started flashing his torch at it. That was when it flew over to him in serious side to it. an instant and hovered overhead. Panicking, he started the motor and took off to get away from the Dragon Snake, but it followed REALITY SINKS IN During the following weeks, I pondered on all of the previous him as he "zigzagged" his way back to shore. It was during this weeks' happenings. I realised that I was most probably the first short pursuit to the beach that it fired some form of light at him but human being to have been in the position to have experienced all it only partially hit him. A later inspection of his 19-foot fibreglass these phenomena, and was able to understand the significance of boat showed traces of scorching upon some of the boat's interior the unique circumstances in which I had found myself. paint. I was the first person in the area who'd ever realised the He said that when he drove his boat up the beach and ran into the similarities between UFOs and these Dragon Snakes. Also, to my bush, the Dragon Snake followed him to where he was hiding behind knowledge, I must have been the first white man to speculate on the a tree and hovered above. When he moved around to the other side possible location of a hidden Dragon Snake/UFO base—though I of the tree, it also went around to the other side. It was then that he needed to do further investigation to confirm my suspicions. These literally got down on his knees and began to pray to God with his kinds of unusual realisations were starting to take their toll on my hands clasped in front of him. With that, the Dragon Snake moved keen sense of logic, but the reality of it all was that these unexpected on. After that, he stumbled his way back to his village and was taken events had actually occurred. Prior to these sightings, I was to hospital. somewhat sceptical about the existence of UFOs—but my position It was an incredible story, but true. He definitely had no reason had now dramatically changed. to be lying. These kinds of UFO encounters have happened on I also realised the possible consequences of investigating this numerous occasions over the past century but, strangely enough, matter any further. Some of these were very positive, but some the Solomons being the way they are, reports have not been taken were also extremely negative. One of these negatives was the seriously. STRANGE Times 2006


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impact on my precious well-being. I had initially only gone to the quite agitated by my actions, and a heated discussion followed. Solomons to enjoy an early, youthful retirement and certainly had Joseph and I left at 8.00 pm to travel to our vantage position. We not expected to be chasing UFOs. But as a former military man, I knew that the UFO had the habit of appearing at around 10.00 pm couldn't stop thinking about the fact that this UFO was continually or 3.00 am. After parking the car in the bush, with torchlights shincoming and going near ships that had been involved in a great battle ing we climbed up to the top of the mountain. This turned out to be where thousands of men had lost their lives in the cause of freedom. a perfect position as we had a 270-degree view of the area. It seemed as if this UFO was robbing graves. This weighed heavily Because of the orientation of the mountain, we faced east. With a on my mind for weeks. clear view of the sea to the left of us and the valley's entrance to the One night, though, while I was sitting fishing, my indecision right, there was no way that we were going to miss seeing the UFO changed. I had been watching the UFO submerge into the sea near when it made its appearance—and we didn't. the wreck of the USS Chicago and then surface again shining more Having sat up half the night, watching and waiting and having a brightly. I had my binoculars fixed well on it when I saw the lights few beers to pass the time, at 2.35 am we saw the first glimmer of of a ship that was travelling toward my direction. From the the UFO's light leaving the valley's entrance. There was an air of trigonometric perspective, the UFO couldn't see the ship because of excitement between me and Joseph. While training my binoculars the point that was shielding its view. on the UFO, I noticed that it was travelling However, I had both the UFO and the ship in toward our direction at a fair rate of speed, my field of view. After about 30 seconds, which we estimated later to be about 100 knots. when the UFO did see the ship it instantly had been watching it approach us for close We had been watching We vanished. The UFO didn't seem to go on a minute when it came past at an estimated it approach us for anywhere; it simply vanished as if it had height of 300 feet, half a kilometre away. No turned off its lights. I took my binoculars from sooner had this UFO passed by than it took an close on a minute my eyes. I was not sure if the craft had instantaneous 45-degree turn to the left and then when it came past at instantly accelerated or had somehow cloaked accelerated away at phenomenal speed. I took itself. Yet it seemed that the UFO didn't mind the binoculars from my eyes, and we watched an estimated height the indigenous people seeing it, but it did mind the UFO's light diminishing over the horizon of 300 feet, half a when someone saw it who would possibly within seconds while it was still travelling at know of its real identity. If there's one thing I near sea level. kilometre away. hate, it's sneakiness! This whole episode was a mind-fathoming No sooner had this In any case, I made up my mind right experience, even when I think back on it UFO passed by than it then and there to gather intelligence on today, seven years later. this so-called Dragon Snake by doing All our efforts had paid off. This sighttook an instantaneous some reconnaissance on its movements. ing confirmed to me the information that I 45-degree turn to Switching into soldier mode, I went to needed to know. This UFO definitely did sleep formulating my plan. come from somewhere up that valley! the left and then My subsequent investigation into the This was the first time that the information accelerated away at UFO's ability to cloak itself revealed that the two chiefs had given me had started to this characteristic was commonly known be proved correct. phenomenal speed. by all within the area and had become At that time, there was only one other part of the superstition about the Dragon course of action left for me: I had to make Snake. There are just too many stories an expedition up the valley to Mount about the Dragon Snake's sudden Dragon and try to document this UFO on "disappearance" to discuss here. film. I was extremely under-funded for the manner in which I wanted the expedition to proceed, as most of my money was tied up in essential assets and I had been living off EXPEDITION TO MOUNT DRAGON The next morning I went up to Joseph's house to tell him of my my fortnightly military pension. Even though I had most of the plan. My intention was to place ourselves at night, high up in a equipment necessary to commence, I was still short of a good video panoramic position so that we could familiarise ourselves with the camera that could take pictures at night. I had a Kodak Instamatic, UFO's movements. With the map out, we began to study the area but it was useless for night work and certainly was not the calibre of for possible positions. camera that I required for this job. I was in a catch-22 situation. I From where "Mount Dragon" was situated, there was really only couldn't borrow a camera; there was only one white man I knew one way to the coast that the UFO could take without being detected well enough to ask, and he didn't have a video camera, anyway. As flying over mountains. That was via a five-kilometre-long valley the weeks went past, every time I saw the UFO I became progresthat runs in a northward direction past Mount Dragon. Earlier sively more frustrated about my video camera situation. discussions with some of the people living a few kilometres east in One morning at 3.00 am, a couple of weeks later, Joseph and I that direction had well confirmed this to me. After searching the were on the grass outside the house, husking coconuts around a fire, area for a suitable position that afternoon, we chose an accessible when we noticed the UFO. As we watched it, we observed that it 800-foot mountain that had all the requirements we needed. And so was slowly moving in our direction. It started to get closer and we went home to prepare for what was becoming a military mission closer, and it seemed to us that if it continued on the path it was on for me. it would overfly us. As it progressively came even closer, we The next day, we gathered all the equipment we thought was started to move to the door of the house. Both Joseph and I were required. I also loaded my 30-shot, 7.62-mm and my shotgun to standing at the door when it flew over the nearby trees and over the take along just in case. There was also the danger of being gored top of the house. The brilliance of its white light radiated the whole by wild pigs, of which there was no shortage. My wife became area as if we were standing amidst the light of a dozen arc welders 186 • NEXUS


STRANGE Times 2006

at once. This was the first time that I could clearly see the vehicle's entrances/exits. When the boys are out fishing at night, they see the sphere with my naked eye. It made no noise as it eerily passed over UFOs going in one entrance and coming out the other. A UFO us. In fact, at the time we made audible comments to each other coming out of this lake at dusk incinerated my good friend's grandabout what was happening. After it went by, we both ran out to see father, and everyone in the area knows about it. The aliens have it disappearing over the trees further on. Joseph had experienced instilled fear in these people for generations, and many people have this sort of thing before, but I hadn't. gone missing. After the reality of what had happened sank in, Joseph and I In the Kwaio and Kwara're areas, there are three entrances in decided that we would go to Mount Dragon—with video camera or their jungle mountains that I know of where these "ball of not. It was in my mind to confirm whether this mountain waterfall light"–type UFO vehicles can be seen entering and exiting. It is my lake was really the UFO's base. belief that these entrances are not individual bases but are all conAround that time, a melancholy feeling of futile inadequacy and nected, making up one big UFO base under the island. I may be powerlessness started to dominate my thoughts, as though I was wrong, but I also believe that one of the many reasons why they are carrying around a heavy weight on my shoulders. This was due to there is that, for reasons of their own, they are mining a very rare my constant questioning of the reality of it all, and also because I type of gemstone under this kimberlite rock volcanic island. allowed my thoughts to be weathered down because of my desperThe gemstones which my wife's relatives possess have a far highate need for a good-quality camera. I could not explain this to anyer specific gravity than that of diamonds, and a refractive index one, as there was no one I could explain it to who could understand. such that when you put the stone in light you see your mirror image It was like being lonely amongst a in the centre of the stone. I once had a crowd of a thousand people. I went 32.4 carat "ET stone" with these charthrough a time of considerable selfacteristics. There are some old folkexamination. lore stories supporting the interest in ...if there were ever a place Strangely, I remember thinking to these unique stones. myself that if I ever happened to write Furthermore, as there are many remthat one could call all of this down one day, I should nants of the Ramo civilisation that can "UFO Headquarters", remember that particular time… be found on top of the island and the aliens underneath, there is every it would have to be chance there is a connection. And that SUBTERRANEAN UFO BASES central Malaita. ON MALAITA goes for on Guadalcanal, too. I would like to share some signifiThe waterfall lake UFO base of cant further research from my expediSmall Malaita (south Malaita), where I tions to Malaita in 1996, 1997 and have also witnessed their activities, is 2002. Contrary to popular belief, easy to find. Just ask the locals, but, NASA—or whoever that mob was—first made contact with the heading north up the passage with Small Malaita on your right, occupants of the subterranean UFO base in central east Malaita in about three kilometres from Affiou, the main town, and about a 1961. This is how they began to gain what partial technology they kilometre up the jungle mountain is their base entrance, where they have today. It was through blackmail. This happened because can be seen entering and exiting nearly every night and also brazenly when the great geologist Mr Gropher was doing his few expeditions and casually flying along the passage. in the area between 1958 and 1960, he saw these UFOs and then Many Solomon Islanders have told me of flat stingray-type UFOs reported back to the UK (the ruling colonial power at the time) with big round lights underneath them that hum as they go along. about them. They sometimes see them flying low over the jungle and surfacing Apparently, in 1961, a white man who claimed to be from NASA out of the sea near where they are fishing. The UFOs have landed came to that part of the island and asked for assistance from my near villages, and the (white or black) people who get out of them wife's relatives to take him to the UFO subterranean base entrances, have strange grey uniforms, not seen anywhere else in the world. which they did. I am the only white man ever to have married a You can make your own deductions there. woman from Kwaio, which is in that area. This NASA guy was Nevertheless, if there were ever a place that one could call "UFO gone a week and then returned, asking my wife's relatives for furHeadquarters", it would have to be central Malaita. Mind you, ther assistance to take him back to these places. these are only the ones I know of. Goodness knows what else there There is a 50-metre-diameter, bottomless circular reef in amongst is in the rest of the Solomon Islands. ∞ the surrounding 10-metre-deep coral reef a few miles north of Kwoi Island (which is on the border of the Kwaio and Kwara'ae tribes) About the Author: and south of Namo'ere'ere in central east Malaita. Singalanggu Australian Marius Boirayon is the son of the World War II central Harbour is slightly further south. UFOs can be seen going in and France maquis (resistance) leader, and grew up in Mount Hagen out of that reef virtually every night. in the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Following a career in the My friends like fishing down this UFO hole during the daytime Royal Australian Air Force and as an aircraft/helicopter engineer working in outback Australia, he decided in 1995 to go to the because it saves them from having to go out into the danger of the Solomon Islands to live. ocean and because there's a plentiful supply of big ocean-type fish Marius Boirayon is raising funds for an expedition to the that can be caught in its depths. They have let down over 200 Solomon Islands to investigate UFO and other mysteries (see his metres of 100-pound line and still haven't been able to hit the botarticle on the Giant Races of the Solomon Islands in Twilight tom. I always think of this hole as having been made by a huge Zone follows). spaceship that hovered above it and shot a big laser into the crust of He can be contacted by mail at PO Box 148, Eudlo, Qld the Earth, for whatever reason! 4554, Australia, by email at [email protected], On mainland Malaita, about three to four miles directly inland or via the website http://www.thesolomongiants.com. from that circular reef entrance is a lake which has two connected STRANGE Times 2006


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GIANT RACES STILL EXIST IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS by Marius Boirayon © 2003

S

cience is a progression of discoveries, and this is definitely one of the bigger ones that we will have for a while. I'll get into some facts about the Giants of the Solomon Islands by using the Giants of Guadalcanal first as an example. The Giants of Guadalcanal live inside the huge tropical rainforest jungle mountain ranges of Guadalcanal. They have vast cave systems running the length of the entire island. I have come across many Guadalcanal people who believe these Giants can go from east to west through these cave systems without seeing the light of day, and many believe that their population numbers in the thousands. The Guadalcanal Islanders also believe there is a huge city of them underneath the big mountains of the island. Mount Tatuva is definitely one of this city's main entrances; and if anyone ever wished to film these Giants, the villages closest to the mountain, where they are also seen regularly, is a good starting point. But that is not required, because they are all over the place and are seen on a daily basis somewhere on the island. To my understanding, there are three different species or types of these Giants. The

188 • NEXUS

larger and more commonly seen are over 10 feet tall, but I have come across numerous islander accounts with evidence which supports that they grow much taller than that. These Giants have very long brown or reddish hair, and when they want to have a good look at you they pull it aside from their face with one hand. They have a protruding double eyebrow, bulging red eyeballs, a flat nose and a wide-gapped mouth. From the large hairy type, they range down in size with lessening amounts of body hair. The smaller versions, although bigger than normal human beings, are like wild men living in the jungle and are not as hairy as the big ones. This is the way the Guadalcanal Islanders describe them. Invariably when they see these small Giant, half-human people, they make efforts to kill them. These smaller versions are lower down in the Giants' social order, living predominately outside their cave systems in the jungle, although all three types are found in the island's jungle. I must point out that the Solomon Islanders don't understand that the Giants are something big to the rest of the world. Whether by intentional design or not, it is appropriate that the Solomon Islands' slogan is "The Place That Time Forgot". Guadalcanal is rich in gold—a fact that the Europeans discovered centuries ago. Thirty years ago, various gold mining www.nexusmagazine.com

companies started negotiating with the traditional landowners with memoranda of understanding in order to capitalise on this gold. A succession of failed attempts followed, until recent years when Ross Mining broke through with a 3% deal for the indigenous people. In 1998, at Gold Ridge in central northern Guadalcanal where the mine was being built, they got going with their bigger type of mining bulldozers pushing in roads and clearing the mine area. The mine borders the Giants' territory, and it would appear that the Giants are quite territorial. On one particular occasion, one of these huge bulldozers broke down, with one of the pins on the blade attachment rendered useless. As it was late in the afternoon, they decided to drop the blade there and take the bulldozer back to the workshop to do the repairs overnight so they could continue the next day. When they returned the next morning, the blade had disappeared. All the boys became confused. How could such a heavy object vanish? Mind you, we're talking about 10 tonnes plus! So they started scouting around in the bush and happened to notice gigantic footprints, around three feet in length, close by where they'd left the blade. They found the blade some 100 metres away on a small hill. From further footprint investigation, they deduced that STRANGE Times 2006

THE TWILIGHT ZONE the Giants had not carried it there but had window to a tree, the Premier said, "About Luti Mikode is well known by the people thrown it, or had got it there some other that high"—which I estimated to be over 15 around Guadalcanal as "the Chief of the way. feet and which would be consistent with Giants". The story about how he changed Some years ago, as a retired helicopter the 3–4-foot-long footprints they had the Giants' attitude about eating the pilot/engineer I was asked by the chief heli- described. Guadalcanal people about a century ago is copter pilot of an American fishing fleet Apes and monkeys cannot breed with just extraordinary. Luti Mikode's educawhich had helicopters to look after their Homo sapiens. So where do I think the tion of the Giants—to the effect that the spare parts requirements, as Australia is Giants came from? I believe they are a Guadalcanal people had hearts, minds and closer to the Solomons than Guam. The surviving species of hominoid that had feelings like themselves, and were not to be job lasted six weeks and I was handsomely branched off well before Neanderthal man eaten—resulted in inter-clan wars amongst paid for my little effort. and developed through evolution to be the Giants. I have recorded this widely The office I set up was just opposite the what they are today. The Guadalcanal peo- known and most fascinating story and have old Guadalcanal provincial headquarters, ple also believe that the Giants were there proven it to be true. and at lunchtime I would sometimes go before they were. Apparently their gene The Guadalcanal people's language and across the road and have a few beers there pool allows them to breed with the local the Fijian language are very close. There with the then Guadalcanal Premier and the people. are over a hundred words in common, Finance Minister, Victor. It was during Why are they so secretive and meaning that a Guadalcanal person can go one of these lunchtimes that they told me universally so shy about being seen or to Fiji and speak Fijian within a week and of an encounter with Giants that they'd had known about? I'm sure that within the vice versa (as my good friend and partner some months beforehand. Both the Peter Casi found out when he and his Premier, who is now a national minband of musicians did a tour there). ister, and Victor, who is again a The Guadalcanal Giants' language Guadalcanal minister, had decided to is very similar to the dialect of the Ezekiel Alebua, a once go to Gold Ridge to survey the area Guadalcanal people. Prime Minister and the previous of the proposed gold mine. In midIt is well known that Giants do afternoon they got into their twin-cab not like fire, possibly because of Guadalcanal Premier, told me of a Toyota Hilux and drove up there. their long hair. Some months ago, burial cave in east Guadalcanal that It's quite a drive, and after passing Ezekiel Alebua told me of an incia few villages on the way they dent that happened on the his father took him to when he was arrived at the mine area. A bulldozer Weathercoast, south Guadalcanal, a child. Within that cave, there is a had carved out a road, but, as it rains in 2000 during the tension. perfect Giant skeleton laid out that frequently, the road around the side Five Tangarare men had gone of a hill had become slippery and the hunting pig with their bows and is around 15 feet in length. Hilux slipped off the road's edge and arrows, and during their hunt they became bogged. They made some lost track of time. As it was getting effort to get the 4WD vehicle back late and the weather was ominously up onto the road, but then decided to turning to rain, they decided to walk back to the last village they had next decade we'll find out the answer to build a sago palm hut quickly and camp the passed and get a bunch of boys to come this question. night. They were sitting around a fire withand help them pull it out. It is my belief that the reason why the in the hut, with the rain pelting down outObtaining 30-odd men, they walked Solomon Islanders' population is far side, when a huge hand and arm came back. As they were rounding the last cor- smaller than it should be is because the through the hut's wall. An inquisitive ner from where the 4WD was bogged, they Giants of the islands considered the local Giant had leaned over the hut and was feelsaw their vehicle back up on the road with people as food to be eaten. ing around for what was inside. The five two huge Giants standing there, one in Eyewitnesses who have been captured men started screaming and using sticks front of it and other behind. The first reac- and released have told me that it is just like from the fire to beat the monstrous hand tion for all of them was to run away, daytime inside the mountains. There is a away. Horrified, they ran straight through screaming in absolute fear. They told me lighting system within the Giants' cave the back wall of the hut, into the darkness that when they got the courage up some dwellings that has no obvious light source, of the bush. When they found each other half-hour later, they returned to find the such as bulbs and lamps. the next morning down on the coast, they Giants had left. Guadalcanal and Malaita have literally realised they had dispersed several kilomeI asked how tall the Giants were. They hundreds of caves with Giant artefacts tres apart. told me that the taller of the two was the within. Ezekiel Alebua, a once Prime There is a World War II mystery that has one that had lifted the front of the vehicle Minister and the previous Guadalcanal never been solved about why initially there up onto the road. They said that when they Premier, told me of a burial cave in east were no Japanese to resist the Allied Forces inspected the footprints, they could see that Guadalcanal that his father took him to at Red Beach and Henderson Airfield. each Giant had picked up the vehicle by when he was a child. Within that cave, This was uncharacteristic of the Japanese putting one foot on the road and the other there is a perfect Giant skeleton laid out who, on other island campaigns, had near the vehicle. Pointing out through the that must be around 15 feet in length. always fought to the very last. When the STRANGE Times 2006


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THE TWILIGHT ZONE Allied Forces arrived, they were expecting to lose one in two men, but instead there was no one to be found. At The Borderline, very near Mount Austin, further up the road past the Japanese Memorial there are three Guadalcanal tribes. The Simba is one of those tribes, and living not far from them is an old Giant couple, a male and a female. Any of the tribes up that way will tell you all about them; it's common knowledge. The area is rich with many stories pertaining to the local tribes' tumultuous historical relationship with the Giants, but so is everywhere else on Guadalcanal and, for that matter, everywhere else in the Solomon Islands. The Giants inhabit all the larger islands of the Solomons, but they are known by different names on each of these islands. However, "Moo-Moo" (like the cow noise) is the universal Solomon Islander name for these huge people. Choiseul, an island 300 kilometres long by 80 kilometres wide at the western extremity of the Solomons, apparently has just as many Giant people as Guadalcanal has living in its interior. When you observe the map, you'll notice there is not one village in the interior of Choiseul—and there is a very good reason for that. The island of Santa Isabel has big Giants still living there in two different areas, but their population is far fewer than that of Guadalcanal. Central northeast and central north are the two areas where they can be found on that island, but just ask anyone there and they will steer you in the right direction. Makira, which is east of Guadalcanal, has only the small, super-strong dwarflike Giants, which can also be found on Guadalcanal. In 1996, there was a frontpage picture of one of these four-foot "ChowaChowa" in the Solomons Star newspaper. Malaita has a very rich history with these giant people. The Ramo of Malaita are the same as the Giants of Guadalcanal, although reportedly culturally different. 190 • NEXUS

There is also evidence of a lost South West Pacific civilisation scattered across different parts of Malaita. Around a mountain near Mount Mala in north Malaita's interior is a perfectly fitted large stone block wall and path spiralling around the mountain. This path leads to a flat area on top of the mountain, where another large stone block wall separates to a higher splitlevel flat area where an "altar" can be found. Some hundred metres further on is a burial site that has a perfectly flat, approximately 18 x 6 x 1–foot stone upon it. The bush people further away from that area say that a Ramo of great importance is buried there. There are also hieroglyphic inscriptions chiselled into these stone block walls. In Kwaio, a place where my wife is from, obelisks with strange inscriptions upon them can be found deep in the bush. In an area of Kwara'ae, north of Kwaio, there is a large burial place in the jungle with thousands of Giant Ramo skeleton bones scattered upon the ground. A hut in one village not far from this area has as one of its main support poles a Ramo femur bone measuring nearly eight feet in length! On Guadalcanal, the Giants are common knowledge to all of the local people, and due to past interactions they play a major part in the history, culture and folklore of the people. The Guadalcanal Giants can


be found in the 1,000-square-kilometre area of tropical jungle mountains west of Mount Popomanaseu. It is my dream that one day soon these remarkable people will be recognised and that we may all benefit from the knowledge. ∞

About the Author: Marius Boirayon was born in Australia and raised from the age of five in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. He completed his senior education in Queensland and then joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). After service in the RAAF, he spent some years working for various companies flying mainly in the outback of Australia as an aeroplane/helicopter pilot engineer. In 1995, he decided to go to the Solomon Islands to live. Marius is currently in Australia raising funds for an expedition to the Solomon Islands. Interested persons can contact him by mail at PO Box 148, Eudlo, Qld 4554, Australia, by email at [email protected], or via the website http://www.thesolomongiants.com; alternatively, they can contact his colleague John Mapson by email at [email protected].

STRANGE Times 2006

The Crop Circles Conundrum E

very summer they appear, and they have been spreading far beyond the fields of England. These mysterious geometric formations now appear each summer on more and more fields across Europe and now the United States and Canada. Sure, some are man-made, but these look so obviously fake from both the air and the ground (in terms of their clumsy execution, lack of symmetry and so on). Researching all aspects of the crop circle mystery is challenging. However, most of the hard-core information has been put into the public domain, e.g., evidence of biochemical changes in the soil and plants, bent stems and weird electromagnetic effects, so people can study this info and come up with a variety of opinions. The truth is that no single explanation has arisen that can account for all aspects of the mystery. I have made the following observations about these so-called "crop circles". • These formations are not the result of something physically sitting on the field, crushing the ground and vegetation. The earth is not indented as a result of any weight having been placed on top of it. • Some formations have appeared inside high-security areas, e.g., areas under surveillance with infrared or motion-detector cameras. • Reports of complex crop formations have been found in records going back hundreds of years, ruling out the theory that a bored secret satellite operator is engaging in high-level graffiti (pardon the pun). • Some crop circles have been formed or completed without being noticed, even though people were in the same fields doing measurements at the same time. • Some formations have produced a strange effect upon video cameras, camera batteries, mobile phones, etc., often rendering the equipment useless. • In some formations, both the soil and plant stems show evidence of biochemical changes. • Eyewitnesses who claim to have seen circles being formed are rare, but they all report strange balls of light flying around at high speed, leaving a vast complex formation that was created within seconds. • Many of the formations believed to genuine can be repeated as eidetic formations using cymatics (look it up; I don't have room to explain it here, save to say that sounds have "shape" if you set up a system to express it). The whole subject is vast and ever changing. For example, a year or two ago, several researchers decided that man-made crop circles (i.e., the fakes) would not exhibit strange electromagnetic effects and anomalies, whereas the formations not made by cheeky humans (i.e., the "real" formations) obviously did. So they set out to prove their theory by making some formations and testing them for anomalous EM effects and behaviours. Imagine their shock and surprise when they discovered that their own man-made, hoaxed formations did put out the reported strange EM effects! So, due to the popularity of the crop circle designs, for this compendium we have included lots of photographs of formations for the seasons 1999 to 2004, and have gone light-on in terms of the written word, although we include Andy Thomas's round-up report for each year.

If we ever find out exactly the real cause and purpose of the crop circles, we'll be shouting the news from the rooftops in the first available issue of NEXUS Magazine.

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D OES S OUND C REATE C ROP C IRCLES ? Smashing the Myth that "All Crop Circles Are Hoaxes" uring the twilight days of 1998, small articles tucked away in the nether regions of the British press quietly announced "Unknown Force Was Behind Corn Circles, Claims Hoaxer". This dramatic U-turn by the surviving member of the infamous Doug and Dave duo—the English sexagenarians who from 1991 misled the world with tales of their crop-flattening prowess with planks of wood— illustrates that the hand of man materialised in crop circle lore long after the real phenomenon had manifested. Although hoaxers claim to have orchestrated the phenomenon in 1978, unpublished evidence at the time showed approximately 200 sporadic reports of crop circles around the world throughout the 1900s, with dozens of eyewitnesses reporting crop circles forming in a matter of seconds as far back as 1890. Several highly descriptive accounts were even documented in 1678 by Robert Plot, then curator of the Ashmolean Library in Oxford, England. If hoaxers are responsible for crop circles, then they appear to have mastered the art of time travel, in which case it is they who ought to be under scientific scrutiny. To date, some 10,000 crop circles have been catalogued in 29 countries worldwide, and their anomalous features continue to defy human replication: plants bent an inch above the soil, their cellular structure altered, their stems lightly burned around the base; alterations to the crystalline structure of the affected soil; evaporation of groundwater; alteration of the local electromagnetic field; and dowsable, long-lasting energy patterns, not to mention hundreds of measured effects on the human biological field. So much, then, for two guys and a piece of wood. But thanks to a virtual embargo on the coverage of research throughout the media, a popular myth has developed that all crop circles have been nothing more than a prank with a plank. By definition, a hoax is a forgery, and a forger requires an original from which to copy. So what is this "unknown force" that creates genuine crop circles? One answer may lie with sound.

D Experiments with plants and sound have produced effects similar to those analysed in and around crop circles, suggesting that particular sonic frequencies could be creating these beautiful, mysterious designs.

by Freddy Silva © 1997–2005 Email: [email protected] The Crop Circular website: http://www.lovely.clara.net

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Sound and Sacred Geometry Traditionally, sound has been considered a prime universal force in the creation of matter. This concept is echoed in all faiths and traditions: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God", so the Bible, the Q'ran and the Rig Veda remind us. In a similar way, Hopi and Navajo religious traditions assert that, in ancient times, shamans could utter words onto sand and create patterns not dissimilar to the Hindu mandalas—those geometric paintings held to be expressions of vibrations from the unseen Universe. Consequently the Eastern faiths, Islam in particular, chose this sacred geometry to express the image of God. In the 12th century these geometric principles were encoded in the design of Gothic cathedrals, and their application is now known to enhance these buildings' sonic effects. Geometry, sound, resonance and vibration are fundamental to our supposedly physical world. When the primeval Hindu sound, the "OM" (from which is derived our modern term "hum"), is sung into a tonoscope (a device for converting the human voice into visible form), it is possible to see geometric shapes attributed with "sacredness". Under the microscope, even atoms are seen as harmonic resonators, and their structures are composed of geometric rhythms whose proportions are similar to the mathematical intervals governing the notes of the music scale. For example, the gap between the notes C and G—a musical fifth—can be represented geometrically as a pentagram. As the expression of number in space, geometry is inextricably linked to sound, since www.nexusmagazine.com

STRANGE Times 2006

the laws of the former govern the mathematical intervals that from the simple circle surrounded by concentric rings, typical of make up the notes in Western musical scales, also known as early 1980s designs, to the tetrahedron and the complex star fracdiatonic ratios. Physical reality, it seems, is governed by tals of the 1990s (see fig 4). geometric arrays related to sound frequencies. Visually, then, the connection is undeniable. But what eviOne of the mathematical minds studying crop circles was the dence links sound and crop circles at a physical level? late Professor Gerald Hawkins. In February 1992 he published an interesting challenge to the half a million subscribers of Science Sonic Effects in the Field and in the Laboratory • Audible sound News. Prof. Hawkins had studied the work of Euclid, a Greek Many accounts exist of a trilling sound heard by the 80 reported mathematician of the third century BC, whose treatises on mathewitnesses to crop circles forming. This unusual noise, which matics pretty much form the basis of our knowledge today. He sounds like a cross between a cicada and a waterfall, was capused the principles of Euclid to prove that four geometric theotured on magnetic tape in 1989 during a night watch of a field at rems can be derived from the relationships of design elements in Cheesefoot Head, England, by a group crop circles. More significantly, he of researchers. It was duly sent to discovered a previously unknown NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in fifth theorem from which he could Cymatics is the study of Pasadena, where it was brought to derive the other four. Euclid himself sound waves and their interaction the attention of Robert Weiss, the had not written it in his 13 treatises man who had previously analysed the on mathematics, and yet Prof. with physical substances. famous Watergate tapes. He conHawkins showed that a gap existed in Low frequencies produce a simple cluded that the noise was not related Euclid's work where logically it to any type of bird or insect, and due ought to have fitted. circle encompassed by rings, to its looping, rhythmic nature it Despite an open challenge to the whereas higher frequencies appeared to be of intelligent, high IQ readership of Science News, increase the number of concentric mechanical origin. Further, it conno one was able to create this fifth tained a frequency of 5.0–5.2 kHz. theorem. Needless to say, it came as rings around a central circle. Later that summer, the trilling a slight shock when it materialised as sound was captured again—this time a 160,000-square-foot crop circle at by a BBC cameraman whilst recordLitchfield, England, in 1995 (see fig. 1). ing an interview inside a crop circle. A few seconds after its Incredibly, the theorem did not appear overtly, and, just like the appearance, it rendered his US$55,000 camera useless. challenge laid by Hawkins, the Circlemakers required it to be According to the technicians who later rebuilt the equipment, the decoded from within their own design. sound frequency had interfered with the circuitry to such a degree By their nature, the crop circle theorems produce diatonic that the camera would not work after that episode. ratios, so a link now exists between crop circles and musical Interestingly, many latter-day Australian Aborigines relate to notes, which are the by-product of sound frequencies. And by this trilling sound. During their ceremonies to contact their "sky 1995, crop circles bearing unmistakable physical associations spirits", a specially shaped piece of wood called a bora is attached with sound began to appear. One contained a curious ratchet feato the end of a long string and whirled, creating a noise practically ture from which is extracted a musical diagram, the Lambdoma, identical to the crop circle sound. It was later discovered that not dating to the ancient Egyptian mystery schools. Also known as the Pythagorean Table, it defines the exact relationships between musical harmonics and mathematical ratios (see figs 2a, 2b). But it was a convincing crop circle etched in barley at Goodwood Clatford, England, in 1996—which had its plants bent six inches from the top—that gave the proverbial nod to sound, for here was a representation of a cymatic pattern (see fig. 3). Cymatics is the study of sound waves and their interaction with physical substances. One of its modern pupils was Swiss scientist Hans Jenny who, throughout the 1950s to 1960s, painstakingly captured on film the effects of sound as it interacted with powders and liquids. He observed how sound vibration created geometric shapes: a low frequency produced a simple circle encompassed by rings, whereas a higher frequency increased the number of concentric rings around a central circle. As the frequencies rose, so too did the complexity of shapes, to the point where tetrahedrons, mandalas and other sacred geometric forms could be discerned. Just as the Egyptians had once described geometry as "frozen music", so Jenny now enabled humanity to see it. Jenny also provided a physical connection to the creation of 1: Crop circle at Litchfield near Dunley, Hampshire, UK, formed 4 July 1995. crop circles I'd been looking for, since many of the vibra- Figure Photograph © Steve Alexander 1998. tional patterns captured in his photos mimic their designs: STRANGE Times 2006


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only have crop circles appeared in Australia, they have also on plants by subjecting them to different tones. Exposure to manifested throughout Aboriginal myths, just as their geometries heavy metal music made the plants tilt in the opposite direction or have appeared in ancient Aboriginal rock paintings. die, whereas classical music lulled the plants to lean toward the But back to that 5 kHz connection, since it has taken me on a speakers. But in the case of Hindu devotional music—the type journey of extraordinary connections, particularly regarding the played by the sitar player Ravi Shankar—the stems bent in excess way in which sound interacts with plants and soil. Back in the of 60º to the vertical, perhaps the closest any human has ever 1950s, American agricultural researcher George Smith found that come to recreating that right-angle bend common to plant stems in exposing corn to sound frequencies produced a higher heat congenuine crop circles. tent in soil as well as a slight burnt appearance in the plants. Such Interestingly, applications of Indian devotional song to plants effects are consistent with the during the 1930s at Annamalai soil of crop circles, where the University, India, also showed a affected area appears noticeably number of similar biophysical drier—in some cases, baked— changes to those which occurred compared with the rest of the in plants collected from crop field, even despite overnight circles and analysed by Dr rain; the same applies to the Levengood. "slight burning" at the base of Sound as one energy source crop circle stalks. Oddly capable of creating crop circles enough, Smith speculated at the now becomes very feasible. But time that particular sound frewhat type of sound coaxes plants quencies also increased molecuto bend and lie down by lar activity in plants. applying firm and gentle Three decades later, such pressure and, given the intricacy activity was indeed discovered and complexity of latter-day in plant samples taken from patterns, with a fine degree of crop circles. Tests performed precision? since 1989 by Michigan-based physicist Dr W. Levengood • Ultrasound Interestingly, ultrasound is consistently show how the Figure 2a: Crop circle at Andover, Hampshire, UK, formed July 1995. capable of interacting with energy creating crop circles physical elements to such an affects seed embryo and plant incredible degree. It can be growth and elongates the plants' aimed like a laser beam, and nodes, even altering the pattern specific frequencies can be of their crystalline structure. focused to cause certain kinds The sudden and abnormal of molecules to vibrate while growth in plants affected by the others nearby are left unmoved. energy of crop circles was The higher the frequency of attributed by Levengood to ultrasound, the greater its ability microwaves. However, to be directed. This requires microwaves have the ability to frequencies in the high MHz render biological systems range, such as those detected for sterile, and an overdose will over a decade inside crop cireven kill organisms. Crop circle cles. The readings generally plants, on the other hand, are hover in the vicinity of 260–320 certainly alive and well, so there MHz. However, the frequencies is another answer. inside them appear to increase Already conversant with diseach year, and relative to the coveries by Russian scientists increase in their geometric comthat certain sound frequencies plexity. This mirrors Jenny's noticeably affected the growth experiments, which show that a of plants and seeds, Mary relationship exists between the Measures and Pearl Weinberger complexity of cymatic geomeexperimented with sound at the tries in proportion to the disUniversity of Ottawa throughpensed sound frequencies. In out the 1960s. They succeeded Figure 2b: Pythagoras' Circular Lambdoma, which contains all musical other words, the higher the frein accelerating growth in wheat, ratios. Diagram © Robert Faulkrod. quency, the greater the geometric intricacy. but the sound also produced a resonant effect in the plants' cells, Such extremely high frequencies are known to affect states of thereby affecting their metabolism. And the frequency applied awareness and consciousness in humans, and visitors to crop forwas identical to the crop circle trilling noise: 5 kHz. mations often report this. Perhaps the greatest connection linking sound to the manifestaSuch effects are traditionally associated with sacred spaces— tion of crop circles lies in their greatest anomaly: the permanent stone circles in particular—and it is interesting to note that ultrabending of the plants' stems. In 1968, laboratory experiments at sound has been detected at stone circles and standing stones in Temple Buell College, Colorado, measured the effects of music 194 • NEXUS


STRANGE Times 2006

England. When tuned in the MHz range, ultrasound prevents damage to sensitive tissue, so its healing properties are today used in the treatment of muscular ailments. Again, this mirrors the folklore of sacred spaces—and as far as crop circles are concerned, hundreds of people have also reported healings. One long-time sufferer of Parkinson's disease stopped shaking. A man with a retinal eye tumour, 99 per cent malignant, saw the tumour shrivel away after contact with crop circles; this case is clinically documented in New Hampshire, and the patient's doctor remains at odds to explain this.

• Infrasound Below 20 Hz, sound becomes infrasonic, and such frequencies influence biological processes. And here lies the direct connection to crop circles. Experiments throughout the 1980s at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Laboratory demonstrate that the acoustic power of infrasound, when combined with high pressure, boils water inside a cavity in one nanosecond. As water heats, it expands; and in the case of crop circle plants and their water-filled stems, a close look reveals tiny holes in their nodes (the plant's "knuckles"), indicating that the superheated water has blown outwards. The bases of the stems are made subtle like molten glass by the heat, leaving the now top-heavy plants to collapse into their new horizontal position. Since this action (called "vapour cavitation") creates local temperature increases of hundreds of thousands of degrees for a fraction of a second, it is now not difficult to see how millions of gallons of groundwater can disappear within and around the perimeter of a crop circle or why the plants attain their slightly burnt appearance. Combine this with Levengood's discovery of microscopic blowholes in the plants' cell-wall pits (indicating the rapid boiling of water inside the plant), and everything starts to fall into place. Infrasound is also capable of atomising water molecules, creating a fine mist, and farmers in England and Canada have witnessed columns of mist rising from within newly arrived crop circles. Finally, the lower the operating frequency of infrasound, the

Figure 3: Graphic of crop circle at Goodworth Clatford, near Andover, Hampshire, formed June 1996. From www.cropcircleconnector.com.

greater the effect, and 18 Hz is the lowest safety threshold below which the pressure formed by infrasound is known to produce disruption to chromosomes. Every northern summer, crop circle plants of every variety are sent to Dr Levengood for blind-testing, and some samples inevitably show unmistakable disruption to their chromosomes. Yet give him samples from man-made designs and he finds something remarkable: perfectly normal plants!

Psychic Questing with the Circlemakers So, who is in control of this "technology" that is manifesting these euphonious crop circles? In England, one highly respected psychic individual inadvertently vectored information about the origin of crop circles during a trance session. Her name is Isabelle Kingston. Psychic ability is undoubtedly the hardest practice to prove because of the social barriers placed in front of the quest for its understanding, the biggest of all being ridicule. Yet since the 1950s, Soviet parapsychologists have systematically established the sixth sense as a valid means of communication. What gives Eastern scientists the edge is their deep-rooted understanding that nature is composed of both the seen and the unseen, and that many of its phenomena—like ultrasound, infrasound and the greater portion of the light spectrum—lie beyond our five limited senses of perception. In Bulgaria, psychic abilities have proved so useful that they have been applied throughout education and medicine. In the West, despite lack of public acknowledgement, the employment of psychics is becoming more commonplace than one might think. Psychics are today employed in successfully locating geological faults, in crime solving, even in predicting earthquakes. The military has admitted working with psychics, both in remote viewing and in remote influencing of Figure 4: Crop circle at Milk Hill, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, formed August 1997. policymakers, so something obviously works. Photograph © Steve Alexander 1998. The information vectored by Isabelle Kingston in STRANGE Times 2006


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1982 came from the Watchers, a universal group consciousness sound. This relationship is applied in Buddhist mandalas, whose who appear throughout history, serving as helpful guides to elaborate geometries are used to alter states of consciousness. humanity during its times of tumultuous change. As the Shining Perhaps it is not by coincidence that crop circle designs mirror Ones or Els, they are featured throughout ancient Egyptian texts. these intricate patterns, just as they bear an uncanny familiarity to They also facilitated the building of Europe's tallest mound, Jenny's materialisations of sound. Silbury Hill ("Sil-bury" means "hill of the shining beings"). If sound vibrations are creating crop circles, is it not possible The problem with the information received by Isabelle was that, that they can arouse the individual at a spiritual level? After all, at the time, few knew what a "crop circle" was, so when the it's through music that whole human experiences are celebrated Watchers said they would provide signs of their purpose in the and carried on from generation to generation. It is very probable fields at Silbury Hill within seven days, no one in Isabelle's group that the very shape of the human ear—more specifically, the knew what to expect. Seven days later, a group of five crop circochlea—is a spiral constructed according to the harmonic laws cles arranged like a Celtic cross manifested at the base of the of tone, just as the same spiral shape is the primary form from 5,000-year-old sacred site. which thousands of crop circles have sprung. In succeeding years, Isabelle would be provided with further Music is a carrier for social change: the effect of Handel's instructions ahead of time as to the circles' locations and physical music is believed to have reversed the lax moral values prevalent attributes. Their appearance was often closely followed by milithroughout early Victorian England, just as the anarchic overtones tary helicopters which seem to be able to pick up their electroof Punk music corralled disillusioned youth into fighting an magnetic fingerprint on radar. Establishment that held no tolerance for The main purpose behind the glyphs, we those who stepped outside its rules. are told, is to feed information into the The effects on people's awareness after planet's subtle energy grid, thus providing contact with crop circles is similarly human beings with the tools that will help documented. In 1990, a pictogram at Alton them wake up to their responsibilities as coBarnes sported the trident of Neptune or creators and achieve their greater potential. Shiva—figures traditionally associated with If sound is one of the To some, the message may seem sometransformation. Ironically, it was through formative principles what simplistic, even utopian, yet there is no exposure to this unique crop circle that doubt that we are living in times of great millions around the world felt transformed, behind crop circles, upheaval, and whatever choices we are makjust as images of crop circles today continue it is not surprising that to enlighten the awareness of those who ing as a collective will affect generations to come. What is already certain is that the tens come into contact with them. these formations are of thousands of people who have come into If sound is one of the formative principles leaving psychological contact with crop circles have taken behind crop circles, it is not surprising with them a more positive world-view, that these formations are leaving psyimpressions on those and this change in perception is quietly chological impressions on those whose whose antennae are seeping into the everyday world. antennae are extended and receptive to The Watchers spoke of technology their tune. ∞ extended and receptive yet to be deciphered from the glyphs About the Author: to their tune. (spinning disc and antigravity devices Freddy Silva is a writer and art director based on the designs are being develwho has researched crop circles and oped as I write), and how the patterns sacred spaces from a multidisciplinary are connected to all ancient sacred sites point of view since 1990. He is today via subtle energies. It has since been one of the world's leading experts on discovered that all genuine crop circles these subjects as well as a bestselling indeed lie at the crossroads of invisible author. His comprehensive book electromagnetic pathways which crissSecrets In The Fields: The Science cross the entire globe, linking all sacred And Mysticism of Crop Circles sites. (Hampton Roads, 2002; reviewed in NEXUS 9/06) is available They also spoke of the designs being essentially created through from his website, The Crop Circular, at thought processes sent from other levels of awareness. These http://www.lovely.clara.net. The original version of this article, vibrations transform into sound and light as their frequencies are with accompanying colour photographs, can also be viewed at slowed down by our atmosphere and the laws of the physical his website. Mr Silva was a guest speaker at the NEXUS Conference in Brisbane on 23–25 September 2005. world. Indications of these processes would eventually be discovered in the plants and the soil by people who'd be Further Reading communicated with at a subtle level of exchange.

The Sound of Transformation The musical scale, constructed on the harmonics of sacred geometry and now found within the framework of crop circles, represents the mathematical structure of the soul of the world because it embodies the essence of the Universe. So it's no coincidence that a large percentage of crop circles can be identified with, and by, ancient cultures who to this day honour their histories through song and music, their healing rituals performed with 196 • NEXUS

• Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, The Secret Life of Plants, Allen Lane, Penguin, 1974 • David Tame, The Secret Power of Music, Destiny, 1984 • Hans Jenny, Cymatic, Basillius Presse, 1972 • Robert Lawlor, Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice, Thames & Hudson, 1982, 1994 • Joachim Ernst Berendt, Nada Brahma, Destiny, 1983 • Valerie Hunt, Infinite Mind, Malibu, 1989 • Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain, Prentice-Hall, 1970


STRANGE Times 2006

N EWS OF THE S WIRLED ! UK Crop Circles of 1999

E This season's round-up of crop circles continues to amaze, with unusual geometric shapes and variations on familiar themes.

Introduction

by Andy Thomas © 1999 Southern Circular Research 3 Old House Courtyard Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1HT, UK Website: http://www.swirlednews.com Images from Crop Circle Connector website: http://www.cropcircleconnector.com

STRANGE Times 2006

ach crop circle season in England, enthusiasts wonder how the phenomenon can possibly better what has gone before, yet 1999, like every year, sprang astonishing new surprises in addition to developments on familiar themes. The quality of the designs displayed a dynamism bordering on audacity. The pictogram which arrived on 3 April at Over Wallop, Hampshire, marked a record early appearance and was soon followed by a scattering of other designs over several counties. One emerging theme was a number of "eclipse" motifs, perhaps foreshadowing the forthcoming August event, most notably at nearby Middle Wallop on 3 May, each phase of a total solar eclipse depicted in a linear sequence. Of May's Wiltshire formations, a strange biological-looking symbol at Avebury Trusloe intrigued many, while religious symbolism impacted with the arrival of a clear Jewish Menorah, the sacred candelabrum, at Barbury Castle on 31 May. There has been much speculation as to its context as a crop formation. In June, circle "Mecca" Alton Barnes was hit with the longest pattern of the year: a chain of older pictogram shapes from the early 1990s, spanning over 1,000 feet! A "serpent" design lay nearby. The field had been watched by "croppies" until 2.30 am, yet the formation was found at first light—not much time for the alleged hoaxers (whom the media continually promote) in which to work. The most prominent of the now traditional summer debunkings was initiated by the Daily Mail newspaper, claiming a triangular emblem of 33 standing circles at Avebury as a hoax it commissioned. The lack of evidence and contradictory prose left many unconvinced, but even if the design was man-made it explained only one out of thousands which have appeared in far more mysterious circumstances. More positive media interest followed the announcement that Laurance Rockefeller is funding a number of crop circle research projects. Oblivious to this, the formations continued to amaze with a series of breathtaking glyphs, playing not just with circles but also hexagons, squares and representations of 3D-cubes, amongst other geometrical lessons. A record was broken on 16 July at Windmill Hill, Wiltshire, when a square containing 288 small circles appeared—the most ever found in one pattern. On 6 August, an amazing star of standing rings at Roundway, Wiltshire, was distinguished by a unique woven chequerboard lay—the first of its kind. It existed for just a few hours before being harvested. Around 130 English crop formations were reported during the summer. Curiously, from the total solar eclipse which touched the British Isles on 11 August, things quietened down, leaving some awaiting a grand finale to close the season at the time of writing. Even without one, those drawn to this most beautiful of mysteries, the source of which remains elusive, could hardly complain after such a season. — Andy Thomas, 24 August 1999

Editor's Note: Andy Thomas is editor of the bimonthly crop circle journal, SC, a founding member of the Southern Circular Research team, and the author of three books exploring aspects of the circles: Fields of Mystery, Quest for Contact (with Paul Burra), and Vital Signs—which has been described by many as the definitive guide to the phenomenon. Andy regularly writes and lectures, and has made numerous TV and radio appearances. www.nexusmagazine.com

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Allington, near Devizes, Wiltshire. Reported 24th June. Image by Steve Alexander © 1999.

West Overton, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 24th June. Image by Steve Alexander © 1999.

Allington Down, near Devizes, Wiltshire. Reported 26th June. Video by M. J. Fussell © 1999. Circle in centre is 32 feet across.

Bishop Cannings, near Devizes, Wiltshire. Reported 22nd August. Image by Peter Sorensen © 1999. About 50 feet in width.

East Kennett, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 21st July. Video by Peter Sorensen © 1999. Circle in centre is 32 feet across.

Liddington Castle, near Swindon, Wiltshire. Reported 21st July. Image by Steve Alexander © 1999. Approx. 200 feet in diameter.

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Left: Avebury Avenue, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 29th July. Image by Steve Alexander © 19 9 9 . Report by Stuart Dike from the Crop Circle Connector website at http://cropcircleconnector.com

"THE NIGHT THE DAILY MAIL DIDN'T UNDERSTAND"...?

O

n 29 July, a huge design appeared opposite the standing-stone circle of Avebury, and shrouded the crop circle phenomenon in controversy once again. This latest design was reportedly part of a huge experiment at the hands of the national newspaper, the Daily Mail. The newspaper's aim was to prove that a team of well-organised artists could go out in the dead of night and create a large, convincing formation—which, according to their article, would prove that people could be fooled into believing crop circles to be genuine. The article within the Daily Mail was titled, "The night the UFOs didn't land", but perhaps it should have have read, "The night the Daily Mail didn't understand"!

Upavon, near Pewsey, Wiltshire. Reported 22nd August. Video by Peter Sorensen © 1999. STRANGE Times 2006

Gipsy Lane, near Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire. Reported 1st August. Video by Peter Sorensen © 1999.


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LEFT: Henwood, near East Meon, Hampshire. Reported 3rd August. Video shot by Peter Sorensen © 1999. Discovered from the air by Nippon TV and Peter Sorensen. LEFT MIDDLE: Meonstoke, near Horndean, Hampshire. Reported 23rd July. Image by Lucy Pringle © 1999.

ABOVE: Barbury Castle, near Chiseldon, Wiltshire. Reported 5th August. Image by Steve Alexander © 1999. LEFT: West Kennett Longbarrow, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 4th August. Image by Steve Alexander © 1999. Formation discovered by Ulrich Kox. FIELD REPORT by Stuart Dike: This formation was located in quite a remote part of the Avebury landscape, positioned about a couple of hundred yards out the back of West Kennett Long Barrow. It is another fine addition to the Koch designs witnessed over the last three years. Indeed, the square geometry has been a main feature of the formations of 1999. Five main squares are involved in the construction of this design, with the hidden squares creating the outer edge of the pattern. The circles placed on the perimeter are well formed, but visiting a formation at this stage in the season seems to create a messy floor construction—the plants not quite as supple as they would be earlier on in the season. 200 • NEXUS


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RIGHT, TOP: Beckhampton, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 28th July. Image by Steve Alexander © 1999. FIELD REPORT by Stuart Dike: This marvellous formation is located on the flat field between Silbury Hill and Knoll Down. As we entered the formation, we noticed that the floor construction was extremely neat, with the classic quartersectioning of crop inside each of the triangular inserts on the outer edge of the inner design. It took us a while to work out the exact shape of the design, which is a classic Celtic Knot, a recognised Celtic symbol. The execution and accuracy of the formation is quite breathtaking. The outer ring surrounding the knot has a width of around 19.8 feet (6 metres), and the design is approx. 240–250 ft (73–76 m) in diameter, with the central section of crop displaying an anticlockwise rotation. The outer perimeter ring has a clockwise rotation. RIGHT, MIDDLE: Barbury Castle, near Chiseldon, Wiltshire. Reported 23rd July. Image by Steve Alexander © 1999. FIELD REPORT by Stuart Dike: This wonderful formation, situated on the western side of Barbury Castle, is positioned in one of the most picturesque places I have had the pleasure to visit. It was quite breathtaking to view the formation from the top of Barbury Castle, a Neolithic hill fort and one of the best rampart forts you will visit in Wiltshire. The formation itself spanned across six tramlines, which makes its diameter to be around 300 feet (91 metres). The design is made of a huge circle, with an inner ring of only about two feet in thickness, with a wonderful pattern of three interlocking crescents placed in the centre. Overall, the floor construction is one of the best examples seen in the Avebury area. A truly outstanding formation! RIGHT, BELOW: Wimpole Hall, near Great Eversdon, Cambridgeshire. Reported 23rd July. Image by Russell Stannard © 1999.

For more information and pictures, please contact the following:

• Steve Alexander 27 St Francis Road Gosport, Hants PO12 2UG, UK Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1705 352867 http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk

• Lucy Pringle 5 Town Lane, Sheet, Petersfield, Hants GU32 2AF, UK Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1730 263454 http://www.lucypringle.co.uk/ • CROP CIRCLE CONNECTOR WEBSITE http://cropcircleconnector.com STRANGE Times 2006


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Cherhill, near Calne, Wiltshire. Reported 17th July. Image by Steve Alexander © 1999. FIELD REPORT by Stuart Dike: Located directly below the famous White Horse of Oldbury Camp, or more commonly named Cherhill Hill Fort, its appearance came within a flurry of reports that hit the area between 15th and 17th July. The floor constructions on this year's formations have been extremely impressive, and Cherhill is no exception. The pattern around the triangular sections on the outside of the vortex flowed in two directions between each interlocking triangle. This is a feature seen on many designs over the years, but the Cherhill formation incorporates a separate pattern positioned just off the main design. This is not the first time this shape has appeared; it was first seen on the Silverstone formation in Derbyshire back in 1998. Devil's Den, near Clatford, Wiltshire. Reported 20th July. Image by Steve Alexander ©1999. FIELD REPORT by Stuart Dike: This formation is situated approx. 100 feet (30 metres) from an ancient dolman (top right), a wonderful set of three stones with a top lintel. On entering the crop formation, we noticed the floor construction was simply beautiful. There were some wonderful, small, 2–3 ft channels running around the outer perimeter crop. On inspecting the many circles inside the formation, I noticed that all of them were running in a clockwise rotation; but on closer inspection it seemed that the smaller outer circles running down each diminishing arm were not quite circular in form. The very night this design formed, a power failure was experienced by local residences between 11 pm and 1 am. Trottiscliffe, near Maidstone, Kent. Reported 20th June. Image by Andrew King © 1999. FIELD REPORT by Andrew King and Joyce Galley (CCCS): This formation consists of 43 circles, all clockwise, in three arcs of 12 with diminishing diameters, centred on three sets of circles, each with one central circle. Some of the circles' centres were offset from geometric centre and, clearly, the centres had all been much more heavily impressed than the outer parts. Some standing centres were noted, but since the formation was some 10 days old before we visited it, and had had a number of visitors, it was difficult to comment on how the original lay had been in the centres of most of the circles. Another Kent formation had three large circles/ovals with arcs overlapping at a central point where they all thicken. Diameters approx. 250 and 600 feet respectively. 202 • NEXUS


STRANGE Times 2006

— F ORMATIVE F IELDS — UK C ROP C IRCLES OF 2000

I This year's bountiful yield of crop glyphs featured circular, triangular, diamond-shaped and grid-like patterns as well as some unusual optical effects.

Introduction


STRANGE Times 2006

n 1990, the crop circle mystery burst into the international media with a flurry of utterly extraordinary patterns etched into the fields. Until then, the phenomenon had been just another quaint, Fortean eccentricity; but these new arrivals leapt from the formerly simple circles and rings into an inexplicable evolution of complex designs which would blossom and develop over the next 10 years. As the century turned and another decade began, expectations were high that the phenomenon would take another quantum leap. It didn't quite happen like that, but the continuing progress of its serene, upward curve ensured that the marvels of the 2000 crop circle season were no disappointment. Things took a while to get going, with just a handful of formations gracing the fields between April and June, but of these, on 20 May, Alton Barnes—the classic circle-site of old—yielded up a sign of things to come with a pentagonal design which played 3D tricks with the eyes. The era of optical-illusion crop formations had dawned and would be followed up with some truly mesmerising patterns later in the summer. A chequerboard grid of rectangles at Windmill Hill on 18 June gave the startling effect of simultaneously appearing as a sphere. A "Chinese puzzle" emblem, which arrived at Bishops Cannings on the same night, resembled three pentagrams seen in perspective, clinging to the surface of another sphere. The incorporation of triangles in crop designs also became commonplace. One such example arrived next to the West Kennett longbarrow near Avebury on 2 June. Initially unimpressive with a very messy lay, the triangular outline which appeared there, ringed with 12 flattened smaller triangles, suddenly surprised everyone on 3 June by transforming itself overnight into an exquisite emblem of standing and flattened areas, the formerly haphazard lay miraculously combed into good order! In fact, the whole Kennett/Silbury Hill area was very much the major hotbed of circular activity this year, with virtually every other field in a square mile being visited by a formation. Mystics say this was due to a cylindrical shaft suddenly and unexpectedly opening up in the top of the ancient and mysterious Silbury Hill itself. Though this was almost certainly due, in part at least, to the shoddy workmanship over 200 years ago of treasure-hunting excavators who didn't fill in their diggings properly and simply plugged the top, many felt that potent forces were released when the plug finally collapsed inwards. Strange lights were seen over the Hill in the weeks preceding the hole's arrival. Whatever the real circumstances (however mundane) behind the subsidence, those who believe Silbury to be an accumulator of "Earth energy" hold that its unexpected opening must have led to a significant release of the focused natural power that fires up this sacred landscape. Of the formations which appeared in this hotspot, the most shattering was a grid, like a circuit board, comprising 1,600 rectangular components, which appeared at East Kennett on 2 July. The geometrical logic of how one would go about creating such a pattern— with merging sections of standing squares becoming flattened squares—troubled even the best crop circle geometers. On the ground, one could not make head nor tail of how the design worked, nor of how any human could possibly have attempted it. This formation, with its unique qualities, actually grabbed the attention of the newspapers; but the media, except for publishing one or two more positive pieces, soon slipped back into the easy scepticism which circle enthusiasts have come to expect, with a variety of hoax-promoting articles and letters. Several man-made circles were allegedly filmed in the making, the plan being for the footage to be broadcast later on television—to the www.nexusmagazine.com

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Windmill Hill, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 18th June. (Image © Francine Blake/Wiltshire Crop Circle Study Group 2000)

East Kennett, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 2nd July. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000)

Woodborough Hill, near Alton Priors, Wiltshire. Reported 13th August. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000) 204 • NEXUS

resigned yawns of researchers who have seen and survived all this before. The pronouncement by veteran circle researcher Colin Andrews—that he now believes the formations are man-made in 80% of cases, the rest being caused by natural magnetism— achieved much publicity for the phenomenon but was met with cynicism and indifference by some sceptics and believers alike. As no official paper has yet been produced for scrutiny, this latest assertion remains just another theory until the necessary evidence is put forward. The notion that people are responsible for creating such a large proportion of formations has been severely challenged by many researchers who point to a lot of details which suggest otherwise. However, the notion that human hoaxers are responsible for at least a certain quota of crop glyphs seems now to have been widely absorbed by the crop circle community without too much harm— some considering that, for good or for ill, what man-made formations there are simply add to the overall mystery and interact with the landscape in their own way. Many formations, though, continue to defy the idea that humans could create such complexity and beauty without error in conditions of darkness. The generally accepted masterpiece of the year was certainly the breathtakingly fantastic pattern which arrived at Avebury Trusloe on 22 July. A staggering series of standing and flattened diamonds, splayed outwards in a containing circle, gave the impression (perhaps ironically, given the Andrews pronouncement) of particles held in magnetic fields. Despite the inevitable distracting claims of authorship, made by the usual egocentric "artists" in one newspaper—as ever, without a scrap of evidence to support them—even seasoned researchers were openmouthed in awe at this show-stopper. But the show didn't stop there, for another astonishing pattern demonstrating similar mathematical principles appeared at Woodborough Hill on 13 August. Perhaps the event that best illustrated just how far the phenomenon has come in the last 10 years was the very unusual formation which occurred at Everleigh Ashes on 19 July. In 1989, the cerealogical world had got a tiny taste of the developments which would rock it to its young foundations the following year, when the last formation of that season, at Winterbourne Stoke, was found to be a circle split into four quarters of linear crop lay instead of a conventional swirl. The Everleigh Ashes formation of 2000 saw four such quartered circles aligned as a Celtic cross orbiting a round barrow, which made up the central component of the pattern.

Avebury Trusloe, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 22nd July. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000)


STRANGE Times 2006

On the antique mound itself, the grass had been swirled to complete the effect. How things have moved on! The photographs which accompany this article speak for the many beautiful crop formations which arrived this year. But not all of this year's efforts were confined within the borders of Wiltshire; other counties, including Hampshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Yorkshire, Sussex and others besides, all played their part in the continuing development, as did the many other countries which now regularly receive their own gifts each year. We have learnt much over the last decade—but not the answer to the continuing mystery. That still eludes, whether the solution be extraterrestrial, geophysical, psychic or spiritual. But the devotees seeking widely accepted credibility for this unique enigma have a passion that has not diminished, despite all the cutting scepticism and problems encountered. This year, the three-day international Glastonbury Symposium celebrated its 10th anniversary with a radiant event which I was privileged to be a part of, as people from around the world came together to reaffirm their enthusiasm for these amazing patterns, associated issues and the widening mindsets they engender. Throughout the summer, other events took place which brought like-minded individuals together. Each year, numbers at the best of these events swell, not diminish. There are many who see beyond the scepticism and hype. In a recent Internet article, the BBC Online science correspondent Dr David Whitehouse described anyone who believed that crop circles were not made by people as "misguided, a fool or a charlatan". Clearly, there are many prepared to risk being perceived as all of these in their pursuit of the truth. ∞

Silbury Hill, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 25th July. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000)

About the Author:

Andy Thomas is a founder member of the Southern Circular Research team, and author of three books exploring aspects of the circles: Fields Of Mystery, Quest For Contact and Vital Signs.

For more information and images, please contact :

• Crop Circle Connector Website:

Bishop Cannings, near Devizes, Wiltshire. Reported 27th June. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000)

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com

• Steve Alexander 27 St Francis Rd., Gosport, Hants PO12 2UG, UK Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1705 352867 http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk

Istead Rise, near Gravesend, Kent. Reported 29th July. (Image © Andrew King 2000) STRANGE Times 2006

Under Milk Hill, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 1st July. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000)


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Allington Down, near Devizes, Wiltshire. Reported 1st August. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000)

South Field, Alton Priors, Wiltshire. Reported 19th June. (Image © Francine Blake/Wiltshire Crop Circle Study Group 2000)

Uffington White Horse, near Woolstone, Oxfordshire. Reported 22nd July. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000)

White Hill, near Lockeridge Dene, Wiltshire. Reported 19th July. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000)

Bishop's Sutton, near Winchester, Hampshire. Reported 15th July. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000)

Broadbury Banks, near Wilsford, Wiltshire. Reported 5th August. (Image © Steve Alexander 2000)

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S IGNS OF THE T IMES

C ROP C IRCLES OF 2001

T This year's season had a slow start in England, but some spectacular patterns and recurring themes finally graced the landscape.

Introduction

by Andy Thomas © 2001 Southern Circular Research 3 Old House Courtyard Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1HT, UK Website: http://www.swirlednews.com Images from Crop Circle Connector website: http://www.cropcircleconnector.com STRANGE Times 2006

here had been dire warnings from sceptics about this season. The first ever, and much publicised, legal prosecution for a man-made crop formation in late 2000 meant that the land-artists they believed responsible would all stay at home for fear of the law. The threat of hefty trespass fines imposed during the Foot and Mouth crisis afflicting the UK would ensure even further that hardly any circles would appear. Even if a few did, no-one would be allowed in. None of these doomy predictions came to pass, and though the season was later to start than many before it, the first UK formations did actually arrive during the height of the Foot and Mouth outbreak in mid-May. No apologies were forthcoming from the sceptics, naturally. Though access to fields was tighter than before as far as visiting new circles went, the movement restrictions had eased enough by high summer for some farmers to open up their fields without qualms. The first designs picked up on themes begun in 2000. One recurring motif in Wiltshire was a type of mandala based around triangles with curved edges, while one formation at Badbury revived the chequerboard idea founded the year before, but this time encircled by a coiled snake eating its tail, which had a flavour of Aztec or Mayan culture. Aztec symbolism eventually came big time in what for many people was the best formation of the year, up at Wakerley Woods, Northamptonshire: a circular, segmented arrangement of Aztec calendar signs. In fact, some of the year's most ambitious designs appeared in the north of England. Another spectacular, recurring trait was a form of star mandala, radiating small standing circles in rays, and some other new surprises and unexpected themes, such as an ingenious style of interlocking wavy curves begun in July at Windmill Hill, Wiltshire. One formation universally acclaimed, christened "the angel", was a cluster of crescents with over 70 radiating, perfectly straight lines within it, laid in one continuous sweep of crop without any deviation or wobble. Despite these, though, for some there was a slightly lacklustre feel to the first 50 or so UK glyphs, with few to match the intense impact and ingenuity of masterpieces from former years. The evolution of the designs was perceived to have faltered slightly, though not everyone agreed, citing unrealistic expectations on the part of some observers. However, at the time of writing (mid-August), a major formation has just appeared which looks like the season may have saved the best for the latter part of the summer. A six-armed fractal Julia Set at Milk Hill, Wiltshire, reminiscent of the classic designs from 1996, around 800 feet across and containing around 400 circles of many sizes, has stunned observers with its scale and genius. With a late harvest and at least three weeks still left for the chances of something even more remarkable, with formations appearing almost by the day, perhaps the circles have just been pacing themselves. But those who believe the phenomenon to be psychically interactive with human expectation have pointed out that the seeds of deliberately spread confusion may have stunted the early development of the crop glyphs in 2001. Certainly, for a year begun with doomy prophecies and low expectations, there was much confusion and hoax paranoia, similar to the feeling which prevailed in 1993—a year which preceded a major renaissance in 1994. The paranoia was boosted late in 2000, with the aforementioned prosecution for the making of one man-made formation. The paltry £100 fine given to the hoaxer hardly proved a disincentive to others and the upshot was that the wide media coverage given to the story brought an unbalanced focus onto the man-made component of the crop circle phenomenon. This was deliberately stirred further by the prosecuted individual by way of www.nexusmagazine.com

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Knap Hill, near Alton Priors, Wiltshire. Reported 5th August. Photograph © Steve Alexander 2001.

a campaign of emails, leafleteering and further circlemaking. The creation of several man-made formations for either research purposes or TV shows hardly helped matters. The fact that some high-profile circle researchers were themselves involved in sponsoring some of these projects sat badly with many enthusiasts, and some were critical of their methods, protocols and uncertain motivations, questioning their conclusions. The making of a well-executed direct copy of a 1995 astronomical crop design for a UK film production (for a fictional story) further shook the faith of some, though to the discerning the differences were clearly apparent and it lacked the important subtleties which had so distinguished the original. Despite the subterfuge exercises, there seemed to be a resurgence of interest in the crop circles from the realm of film and television, with no less than five camera crews from around the world filming video, TV and movie documentaries, following "croppies" around in fields, pubs and conferences, the results from most of which will presumably surface in 2002. But away from the circus which habitually surrounds the UK crop circle scene, other countries received formations of their own to explore with rather less stressful intensity. Germany scored highest with 10 (at the time of writing), each as elaborate as many of their UK counterparts, but with their own flavour. Canada, the Czech Republic, Israel, Serbia and Poland also reported several new crop glyphs. The Netherlands, which had seven formations, has meanwhile become the focus of attention for important scientific work into the circle phenomenon. The US-based BLT Research, led by Nancy Talbott, which has done much to promote the work of Dr W. C. Levengood into biological anomalies inside circle-affected crops, has continued its investigations into circular appearances and their links with balls of light in The Netherlands—and in particular with a young man in the Amsterdam area who seems to attract such phenomena. Their findings have found his stories to be true. Meanwhile, Dr Eltjo Haselhoff has been conducting his own studies into physical effects and the link with aerial light phenomena. He has become, after Levengood, only the second person to have a scientific paper on the subject of cerealogy published in the peer-reviewed journal Physiologa Plantarum. (A layman's version of his paper can be found at www.swirlednews.com.) Dr Haselhoff found himself part of an intriguing mystery while

Gog Magog Hills, near Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. Reported 25th July. Photograph © Steve Alexander 2001.

Newhouse Farm, near Acton Turnville, North Somerset. Reported 5th August. Photograph © Steve Alexander/Karen Douglas 2001.

Berwick Bassett, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 9th June. Photograph © Steve Alexander 2001.

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investigating a "scorpion"-shaped formation at Stadskanaal with a team from the Dutch Centre for Crop Circle Studies in early August. As they strolled around the formation, an extra circle appeared even as they surveyed it, though no-one saw it happen: suddenly there it was. Photos proved that it had not been there when they first entered. They began to feel ill effects as they approached it, and decided to leave in case the newly formed shape had dangerous properties. The batteries immediately drained in one of the cameras present, and a digital camera was later found to have had its data corrupted. This is but one demonstration that despite all the intrigues and paranoia which may infect the crop circle community from time to time, a sizeable mystery still remains around this most beautiful of unexplained phenomena. Science may also explain why some of this year's earlier UK formations seemed subdued: evidence has shown that crop circle appearances are linked to underground water and the state of geological aquifers. BLT Research's data from previous years shows that summers where the aquifers are low seem to produce the most numerous, vibrant designs. The extensive flooding of late 2000 left the aquifers abnormally high at the start of this season. It is interesting to note that BLT Research is still finding uniform biological anomalies in samples from crop patterns sent in from around the globe, and yet man-made tests—despite unfounded claims by hoaxers—have still been unable to replicate the core findings of these results. Whatever man-made formations there may be, some are not easy to explain away so quickly. In addition to the British film being planned, 2002 will see the release of a new Hollywood blockbuster starring Mel Gibson as a farmer whose life is turned upside down by the supernatural arrival of a crop design on his land. Whatever spin Tinseltown puts on the mystery, attention towards the non-fictional circles will almost certainly intensify a hundredfold when the movie arrives, and a whole new generation may discover something going on that has hitherto passed them by. With all this new attention partly in mind, Southern Circular Research this year successfully launched its website www.swirlednews.com, a rolling news service for the crop circles (replacing its long-running journal SC) to balance sceptical propaganda and disinformation with incisive commentary and analysis. Readers are invited to log on for the real stories about what's going on in the fields. ∞

Woodborough Hill, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 10th August. Photograph © Steve Alexander 2001. STRANGE Times 2006

Englishcombe, near Bath, Somerset. Reported 12th August. Photograph © Gary Howe 2001.

Milk Hill, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 13th August. Photograph © Steve Alexander/Karen Douglas 2001.

Yatesbury, near Avebury Trusloe, Wiltshire. Reported 22nd July. Photograph © Steve Alexander 2001.


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Lane End Down, near Kilmeston, Hampshire. Reported 22nd July. Photograph © Steve Alexander 2001.

All Cannings Bridge, near All Cannings, Wiltshire. Reported 30th June. Photograph © Steve Alexander/Karen Douglas 2001.

Milk Hill, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 12th July. Photograph © Steve Alexander 2001.

Silbury Hill, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 24th July. Photograph © Stuart Dike 2001.

Hill Barn, near Badbury, Wiltshire. Reported 17th June. Image © Stuart Dike 2001.

Chilcomb Down, near No Man's Land, Hampshire. Reported 15th July. Photograph © Steve Alexander 2001.

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THE CHILBOLTON OBSERVATORY FORMATIONS — A RESPONSE TO A 1974 EARTH TRANSMISSION? — by Linda Moulton Howe © 2001

F

or the past few years, crop formations have appeared in the wheat field near the Chilbolton Observatory in Chilbolton village, south of Andover, Hampshire. The one from August 2000 now seems linked to the August 2001 formations. Last year's was one of England's largest formations in terms of square footage, and it appeared next to the government-owned land upon which the radio telescope complex was built in 1965. The facility is sectioned off from the public and is surrounded by a high barbed-wire fence. The estimated measurements of the code formation are 200 feet long and 85 feet wide; the estimated face measurements are approximately 160 feet wide and 180 feet long. Both are framed by wheat laid down in almost identical fashion, according to field researcher Charles Mallett from Roundway, Wiltshire. According to an employee at the Chilbolton Observatory, on Tuesday 14 August 2001 a framed "face" appeared, followed the next Monday, 20 August, by a "binary code". When Paul Vigay, the director of the Independent Research Centre for Unexplained Phenomena in Southsea, Hampshire, England, first saw the aerial photograph of the "code" formation, he immediately recognised it as extremely similar to the digitally encoded transmission sent on 16 November 1974 from the Arecibo, Puerto Rico, radio telescope out into space. The Arecibo transmission was planned by astronomers, including the late Carl Sagan, at Cornell University. Cornell operates the 300-metre-diameter (985 feet) radio telescope, built into a mountain, under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. That original 1974 Arecibo transmission is shown here (far right below), in a black and white graphic of the binary code beamed at a star cluster called M13, about 23,000 light years from Earth; on the left is the Chilbolton 2001 "transmission code" for comparison to Arecibo's; and on the top right is the Chilbolton 2001 face. The 1974 Arecibo transmission indicated human double helix DNA with the double arched lines above the humanoid figure. In the crop formation at Chilbolton, there is a difference in the pattern on the left compared to the right and compared to the Arecibo transmission. (Source: Linda Moulton Howe, via her Earthfiles website, www.earthfiles.com)

The "binary code" on the left and "face" to the right in the wheat field near Chilbolton Observatory near Wherwell, Hampshire, UK were first seen on different dates, according to a Chilbolton Observatory employee. The "face" near top centre was reported on Tuesday, August 14, 2001. The "binary code" to the left was reported on Monday, August 20, 2001. (Aerial photograph © 2001 by Steve Alexander.)

STRANGE Times 2006

"Face" in the wheat field near Chilbolton Observatory, Wherwell, Hampshire, first noticed on Tuesday 14 August, 2001. (Aerial photograph © 2001 by Steve Alexander.)

Comparison produced to show the Chilbolton "transmission code" on left (aerial photograph © 2001 by Steve Alexander) and the actual November 16, 1974 Arecibo radio telescope transmission to M13 star cluster from book, Cosmos (© 1976 Carl Sagan.)


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T HE P ICK OF THE 2002 C ROP C IRCLE S EASON

I After a slow start in England, the 2002 circle season sprang the phenomenon's usual surprises, including a mysterious image of an ET holding out an inscribed disc.

Introduction


212 • NEXUS

n the traditional British heartlands of the crop circle phenomenon following a year of foot and mouth disease, hoax paranoia and then two stunning circular events at Milk Hill and Chilbolton which cleared the air somewhat, the 2002 season promised a much cleaner slate. Yet it looked for a while like nothing was going to happen at all. Events began very slowly—the slowest for several years—with a modest, ringed circle in a rape crop at Soberton, Hampshire, on 12 April. It then took a long while to get going before the masterpieces the UK was used to seeing returned, with only three minor formations reported in May. Events began properly at Avebury Trusloe, Wiltshire, on 2 June, with an attractive Celtic-looking design resembling a sixfold knotted string within a ring of beads. Though progression was slow, there was a scattering of other noted formations throughout June. One was a beautiful double spiral at West Overton, Wiltshire, on 23 June, whilst the county of West Sussex also delivered some fine patterns. One of two formations at Sompting was a convex triangle design found (by myself and Allan Brown) to contain a thick but fine white dust deposited inside. When Rodney Ashby (as recommended by Nancy Talbott of BLT Research) analysed the dust, he found it to be a particularly pure form of silica, very unlikely to be found in a field. No explanation could be found for its presence, but Nancy later revealed that such dust has recently been found in other formations around the world. Despite these offerings, it wasn't really until July that the UK scene came properly to life, finally delivering the numbers and array of ingenuity expected for the time of year. But then, what are the expectations with the crop circles, which always seem to confound predictions and complacency? It has now become traditional to await the arrival of the hugest formation of the year as some kind of "grand finale", as with the astonishing 800-foot Milk Hill spiral of the preceding year, but in 2002 the largest-diameter formation (at least at the time of writing, in late August) arrived on 4 July near Stonehenge, Wiltshire. It was a wonderful 741-foot design, resembling six ribbons three-dimensionally fluttering in the wind. What impressed as much as its shape (actually, made from very straightforward curves) was its positioning within the field, poised perfectly between three round barrows and the perimeter of the field, with little margin for error. Michael Glickman likened the task to "lowering an oil tanker into Trafalgar Square". This was the first formation of the year to catch the attention of the British media, and it found its way into newspapers and television reports to a suitably impressed public. But the UK is already well conditioned to the presence of crop circles. In the USA, many were discovering the phenomenon for the very first time—perhaps incredibly to British eyes—thanks to one particular film… August 2002 saw the US release of the movie Signs, starring Mel Gibson—a spooky UFO-invasion thriller in which tall green aliens create formations in maize crops as landing beacons for their craft. Putting aside the unoriginality of the plot and the portrayal of the crop circles as something so disappointingly mundane, the fact is that the movie raised the profile of the real phenomenon to a huge degree, bringing it to the attention of many Americans whom it had somehow previously bypassed. Magazines and newspapers swelled with articles and the airwaves buzzed with radio and television documentaries, news features and phone-ins on crop circles as if they had never existed before. It's interesting to note that most US "croppies" were deeply unimpressed with the film, many considering it a fear-mongering distortion of the true phenomenon, but those new to www.nexusmagazine.com

STRANGE Times 2006

the concept of the circles in any light suddenly became exposed to the existence of the real thing. Cerealogical interest from the States became intense, and circle websites saw the effect as hitrates rapidly increased. A positive documentary movie, Crop Circles: Quest For Truth, by award-winning US filmmaker William Gazecki, was planned for release in late [northern] summer, too, to set straight any Hollywood misconceptions about the real phenomenon. A 45minute excerpt was premiered at this year's Glastonbury Symposium crop circle conference (in its new, bigger venue) and was well received. With all this newfound interest, there was a suspicious rise in the number of US formations, though those who believe the phenomenon to be psychically interactive defended this development as inevitable and positive. The debunkers were also on hand to capitalise on the newfound interest. As the movie-inspired circle coverage increased, their claims that all crop circles are man-made became more prominent, as spokespersons for the rather sinister Inquisition-like elite organisation CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) found louder voices, and the usual human circlemaking teams found new platforms from which to dispense their scepticism. One thing the film does not do is debunk the circles—which would have been a dramatic let-down. So the sceptics have had to find even louder voices this year, with probably a major debunking still on its way at the time of writing, courtesy of a conglomeration of known UK human circlemakers promising something spectacular, probably timed to coincide with the UK release of Signs in September. Elsewhere in the world, aside from Hollywood's intervention, crop circles increased their profile in a number of places—notably Germany, which, for a time until July, had more crop circles than the UK, with a series of intriguing if less ambitious designs, some of which utilised more unusual crops than the routine grain-types. A formation on the Isle of Ruegen at Mecklenburg–Vorpommern, for instance, appeared in a field of white clover and purple phacelia flowers, creating a rather beautiful effect. Canada also continued its increased sightings, and The Netherlands was again a contender in the numbers stakes. But by the middle of August, the UK had caught up from its late start and was producing some extraordinary patterns, though some feared a deliberate increase in man-made formations as a result of

Beckhampton, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 26th August. Image M. J. Fussell © 2002 STRANGE Times 2006

Windmill Hill, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 2nd August. Image M. J. Fussell © 2002

Nursteed, near Devizes, Wiltshire. Reported 11th August. Image M. J. Fussell © 2002

Crooked Soley, nr Hungerford, Berkshire. Reported 28th August Image M. J. Fussell © 2002.


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East Field, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 14th August. Image M. J. Fussell © 2002

Pewsey White Horse, near Pewsey, Wiltshire. Reported 17th July. Image Steve Alexander © 2002

the extra publicity from Signs, which was less acute in the UK but still noticeable. One or two formations this year surprised by being overtly pictorial in their nature—such as the one which appeared at Alton Barnes on 15 July and appeared to resemble an apple tree, or a mushroom if turned upside down. Later, on 14 August in the same field, another dramatic emblem depicted two stylised dolphins leaping around a triple-ringed circle. A few saw this as a beautiful, but cautioning, representation of the negative effects of sonar on these aquatic creatures. Some were not happy with such unambiguous designs, but the mother of pictorial formations was to upset things further… On 15 August, a year and a day on from the amazing Chilbolton "face" and "message" formations which confounded the circle community in 2001, another representation of a face—this time almost certainly a classic-looking "ET", complete with shoulders and chest—arrived at Crabwood, near Winchester, Hampshire, just a few miles from Chilbolton. Instead of an accompanying radio telescope, this time a microwave transmitter complex stood nearby; and instead of the separate play on the message we beamed out into space in 1974, as embodied in last year's "code", this time a large spiral disc of small rectangular dots and dashes was superimposed over the corner of the ET illustration, clearly containing digital information. The first attempts at decoding the disc as ASCII text code came through quickly. The message appears to read as follows, written exactly as it translates: "Beware the bearers of FALSE gifts & their BROKEN PROMISES. Much PAIN but still time. EELIJ?E [this word is damaged and unclear, but some say it may be meant to read "BELIEVE"]. THERE IS GOOD OUT THERE. We OPpose DECEPTION. Conduit CLOSING." (A bell sound is then signified.) Perhaps with the thought of "false gifts" in mind, opinion was divided over the nature of the symbolism, being just too overt for some people. Some found the ET creepy and threatening, while others thought it had a playful, mischievous nature. Some felt this was another agency at work altogether from the usual circlemaking forces, and inevitably many others were highly dubious as to its authenticity, especially with all the attendant Signs fuss. Yet its construction was ingenious. Instead of half-tone dots, as found at Chilbolton in 2001, this face and body were formed from thin

Crabwood Farm House, near Winchester, Hampshire. Reported 15th August. Image Steve Alexander © 2002 The circular ASCII code has been translated to read: "Beware the bearers of FALSE gifts & their BROKEN PROMISES. Much PAIN but still time. BELIEVE. THERE IS GOOD OUT THERE. We OPpose DECEPTION. Conduit CLOSING."

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Windmill Hill, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 18th July. Image Steve Alexander © 2002


STRANGE Times 2006

South Field, near Alton Priors, Wiltshire. Reported 22nd July. Image Steve Alexander © 2002

Barbury Castle, near Wroughton, Wiltshire. Reported 24th July. Image Stuart Dike © 2002

Telegraph Hill, Lilley, near Luton, Hertfordshire. Reported 1st June. Image Russell Stannard © 2002

Avebury Trusloe, nr Beckhampton, Wiltshire. Reported 2nd June. Image Steve Alexander © 2002

Silbury Hill, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 4th June. Image Stuart Dike © 2002

Avebury Stone Circle, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 21st June. Image Steve Alexander © 2002

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scanning lines, widening at different intervals to create the pattern. Ground observation was meaningless without an aerial visual reference. The debates will doubtless continue for a long time. As I write, there is a hope for perhaps one more "biggie" to come, aside from any glitzy but hollow distractions human circlemakers may create for PR purposes. However, the astonishing formation which appeared on 28 August at Crooked Soley, near Hungerford in Wiltshire, may well have been the grand finale: a wide ring with a DNA-type spiral of blocks running through it in a 3D mosaic fashion. Its geometric construction is remarkable and its implications are intriguing, if unsettling. Now the fields are rapidly falling to the harvesters, closing a curious season marked more by new attention to the phenomenon than any overtly new Normanton Down Long Barrows, near Stonehenge, Wiltshire. Reported 4th July. behaviour from it, with the obvious Image Steve Alexander © 2002 exceptions. Whether by next year, especially when the debunkers have finished their work, the crop circles will be seen as "last year's" faded fad remains to be seen, but many will celebrate the year in which attention—even if the Hollywood trigger for it was essentially superficial— was drawn in a big way once again to the evercontinuing mystery in the fields. ∞

About the Author: Andy Thomas is author of Vital Signs: A Complete Guide to the Crop Circle Mystery and Why it is NOT a Hoax, and editor of the Swirled News website, http://www.swirlednews.com.

Special thanks to the folks at http://www.CropCircleConnector.com and to Steve Alexander at http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk/

Avebury Stone Circle, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 28th July. Image Steve Alexander © 2002

The Gallops, nr Beckhampton, Wiltshire. Reported 28th July. Image Steve Alexander © 2002 216 • NEXUS

North Farm, nr West Overton, Wiltshire. Reported 23rd June. Image Steve Alexander © 2002


STRANGE Times 2006

G ENIUS IN THE F IELDS

T HE C ROP C IRCLES OF 2003

L An unusually warm summer in the UK shortened this year's crop circle season, but exciting new themes still emerged and formations were seen in much greater numbers in Europe as well as the USA.

Introduction


STRANGE Times 2006

ast year had been a renaissance time for crop circles as far as the public was concerned, largely due to the impact of the Hollywood blockbuster film, Signs, which ensured that the phenomenon was plastered across our newspapers and television screens more than ever before. As a result, there were more minds focused towards the fields this season than in recent years. However, despite high expectations, 2003 was much quieter than anticipated, in the UK at least, where eyes are traditionally cast to catch the most prolific and spectacular designs. The very hot English summer encouraged the crops in the fields to ripen early this year, and the combines stripped the canvas away so quickly that by mid-August there were virtually no fields left standing. This shaved almost two to three weeks off the usual length of an average UK crop circle season (which can sometimes stretch into September), leaving researchers and enthusiasts feeling rather bereft. General opinion tended towards the view that the season lacked some of the truly stunning masterpieces we have come to expect, and didn't deliver a "grand finale" as such. That said, the year still produced a variety of spectacular and intriguing designs that 10 years ago would have shocked and been marvelled at; so perhaps we have become rather too used to genius at work in our fields. Research into biological effects in circle-affected crop continues to show anomalous effects in many cases—effects which are yet to be reproduced by hoaxers. The human demonstrations continue to fall short of the standards seen in so many of the masterpieces that have appeared more mysteriously. The quality of the lay in these formations is still unsurpassed by the claimants' work, and the long hours taken to create the human efforts challenges the idea that all crop formations are made in this way. We still have an extraordinary mystery before us. So what were the highlights of 2003? The year started on exactly the same date as the previous season, when a single circle in oilseed rape arrived at Ringmer in Sussex around 12th April, though it was not the first to be reported. That honour went to Privett in Hampshire, the day after: a curious, ringed figure-of-eight with a broken flow, looking a little like a metal puzzle. The first truly stunning formation of the season took the ring-of-rope idea started the year before at Alton Priors in Wiltshire and developed it further at Windmill Hill on 7th June. These designs are virtually impossible to draw on paper without a fine grid of crisscrossing lines over them, yet there is no evidence that such a technique was used in the field. Similar, if less well executed, geometrical themes would be used towards the end of the season at Alton Barnes and again at Alton Priors. On 15th June, a beautiful six-armed emblem of radiating crescents arrived at Ogbourne St George, and became the latest in a long line of formations to have strange balls of light videoed hovering over and around them, taken this year by Stuart Dyke of the Crop Circle Connector website. These small white balls of light are seen every year in association with crop circles and continue to mystify and amaze, though their origins remain unknown. Over the next few weeks, some intriguing themes and geometrical delights were produced, but they were not all confined to the usual Wiltshire heartlands. On 21st June, much further north at Thornborough in North Yorkshire, a very complex emblem of clustered half-rings in a floral design appeared right next to the ancient site of Thornborough Henge. Many researchers saw this as a protest from the circlemaking sources, as the Henge is currently threatened with partial destruction due to quarrying and a campaign is currently underway to stop this. www.nexusmagazine.com

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Tan Hill, near Stanton St Bernard, Wiltshire. Reported 24th June. Image: Nick Nicholson and the Crop Circle Connector © 2003

Other areas around the country also produced excellent works, including Sussex, with two very fine designs at Patcham and Lewes, amongst other formations, and at Sharpenoe in Bedfordshire, where a stunning pentacle with a ring of radiating lines impressed with its clean-cut precision. Ancient sites always seem to attract crop circles. Another appearance which made a firm connection with our prehistoric heritage was the so-called "Celtic shield" design, a remarkably detailed circle containing over 400 tiny rings in a concentric configuration. It arrived at North Down, between Bishops Cannings and Beckhampton, Wiltshire, on 5th July. It was placed perfectly in line with a series of four burial mounds spread out in a linear fashion, and was directly on the spot where another mound, now removed, had been. Some new visual themes developed in 2003, sometimes playing with new types of design, such as the abstract pop-art pattern that appeared at Woodborough Hill on 14th July and the beautiful "swallows" emblem that turned up at Alton Barnes on 4th August, which resembled flying birds trailing necklaces of diminishing circles.

Hackpen Hill, near Winterbourne Bassett, Wiltshire. Reported 20th July. Image: Nick Nicholson and the Crop Circle Connector © 2003 218 • NEXUS


STRANGE Times 2006

West Stowell, near Huish, Wiltshire. Reported 20th July. Image: Nick Nicholson and the Crop Circle Connector © 2003 The number-play utilised in the geometry of some formations also expanded. For the first time, at West Stowell, Wiltshire, on 20th July, a complex pattern of radiating diamonds used 13-fold geometry as its main feature. Though the number 13 had been present implicitly in at least one formation before this, it had never been used overtly as part of the physical pattern. Researcher Michael Glickman has long predicted the clear usage of the number 13—the number of transformation—in the fields, and he believes it marks an important step in the continuing mathematical lesson the crop circles are giving us. By the middle of August, there were high expectations that something of great importance would appear around the anniversary of the "face and message" formation of 2001 and the "alien and disc" of 2002, both of which appeared around 14th August and had encoded pictorial and binary information in a unique and highly controversial way. Some researchers even staked out the fields to await the arrival of the next instalment—but it didn't come, and hadn't arrived at the time of writing. With most fields cut down by the middle of August, it was left to the very large

Sharpenhoe, near Barton Le Clay, Bedfordshire. Reported 29th June. Image: Russell Stannard © 2003

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Broad Hinton, near Winterbourne Bassett, Wiltshire. Reported 24th July. Image: www.temporarytemples.co.uk © 2003

Tegdown Hill, Patcham, near Brighton, East Sussex. Reported 22nd July. Image: David Russell © 2003

Milk Hill, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 17th June. Image: www.temporarytemples.co.uk © 2003

Kit's Coty, near Burham, Kent. Reported 26th July 2003. Image: Andrew King © 2003

South Field, near Alton Priors, Wiltshire. Reported 8th August. Image: John Dove © 2003

Thornborough Henge, near Ripon, North Yorkshire. Reported 21st June.

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"molecule" pattern at Beckhampton on 10th August to serve as the last of the "biggies": a relatively simple but intriguing, massive spread of rings and crescents across a field. If there was slight disappointment across the UK, in the USA it was a different story. With Americans having been introduced to the phenomenon in a big way for the first time due to the Signs movie, there was far greater alertness to the appearance of new formations, with accompanying media excitement. The US is now in the throes of what the UK went through in the early 1990s: endless arguments and claims/ counter-claims between sceptics and nonsceptics filling local newspapers and television screens, as seen particularly in Rockville, California, where a group of boys laid claim to a local pictogram. UK researchers found it hard to stifle a kind smile at seeing people in another country going through what they have had to endure for so many years, knowing from experience that clear-cut answers to the debates now inflamed in the US will never come. The US even had its first claimed eyewitness account of circles caught in the act of forming. According to the US TV station The Milwaukee Channel, a Wisconsin farmer says he watched formations appearing in his field during a thunderstorm. "It looked like a lake—the waves, the wind blowing—and then, all of a sudden, this dark hole appears, like a black hole. And then immediately, one to the right, then another to the centre of it." Overall, the UK count of crop circles was notably down this year (with only around 75 recorded patterns), while the rest of the world was up in comparison (around 130 in total), with Germany, The Netherlands and Canada notching up some particularly fine formations. Germany, in particular, helped push the global count up with a staggering 58 recorded crop designs; if this curve continues, it will eventually challenge the UK as the leader in numbers. Meanwhile, Italy, previously almost a circle-free zone, suddenly produced 14 STRANGE Times 2006

Green Street, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 6th July. Image: http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk © 2003

Walkers Hill, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 4th August. Image: John Dove © 2003


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events this year, following its first crop circle conference in 2002. Cynics claimed that newly inspired landscape artists were at work, but others argued that the almost psychic interactive quality of the enigma was in operation again, performing accordingly in a country waking up to the circles far more than ever before. What a persistent and amazing phenomenon we have. After so many years of appearances, claims and theories, and with all the colourful personalities and intrigues surrounding them, the crop circles still remain a mystery, with neither the mystics nor the sceptics being able to explain their presence satisfactorily. It is the mystery, of course, that remains the phenomenon's greatest gift, leaving us all free to take whatever journey we choose with them. Doubtless, 2004 will be quite a different year again. ∞ About the Author: Andy Thomas is a leading crop circles researcher and the world's most prolific writer on the subject. He is best known for Vital Signs: A Complete Guide to the Crop Circle Mystery, described by many as the definitive word on the phenomenon. His most recent books, just published, are Swirled Harvest: Views from the Crop Circle Frontline, a collection of pieces on crop circles and related matters, and A Oneness of Mind: The Power of Collective Thought and Signs of Our Times, which transcribes some of Andy's extraordinary live presentations on other farreaching matters. Information and online ordering details for all these books can be found at http://www.vitalsignspublishing.co.uk.

A34, near Litchfield, Hampshire. Reported 4th July. Image: http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk © 2003

Avebury Trusloe, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 13th July. Image: Nick Nicholson and the Crop Circle Connector © 2003

Scrope Wood, near Marlborough, Wiltshire. Reported 22nd July. Image: Nick Nicholson and the Crop Circle Connector © 2003 222 • NEXUS

Special thanks to the folks at http://www.CropCircleConnector.com and to Steve Alexander at http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk/

North Down, near Beckhampton, Wiltshire. Reported 10th August. Image: John Dove © 2003


STRANGE Times 2006

G EOMETRY IN THE G RAIN CROP CIRCLES OF 2004

A Dramatic and complex new designs emerged in the English fields during the 2004 crop circle summer, defying the plankers and debunkers and standing out for their beauty and strangeness.

Introduction


STRANGE Times 2006

fter an abruptly premature end to last year's crop circle season in early August, there was a faltering start to the 2004 crop formations—at least in England, the traditional heartland of the mystery. By the middle of June there were far fewer numbers than expected for that time of year, and there was a general feeling amongst the research community that the phenomenon, whatever its source or intent— still absolutely unknown—was on a go-slow. Statistics from other countries also seemed depressed compared with showings in recent years. Germany, which in 2003 almost rivalled the UK in terms of circle numbers, only produced around 20 formations in 2004, while countries such as the USA, Canada, the Netherlands and Italy, which had all been blossoming areas in recent years, only managed about 10 formations each throughout the whole year. As far as the UK was concerned, a revival in impetus finally arrived in mid-June with the appearance of several intriguing and complex designs to match many of those seen in previous years. By the end of August, around 60 formations had been recorded. The first significantly dramatic design of the season came in the form of a large double spiral at Fort Nelson, Portchester, Hampshire, on 11 June (figure 1). The two thin, perfect spirals reminded some of the infamous "ET and disc" formation of 2002, which included a binary message notched into a similar spiral. The decoded message was a warning, beginning with: "Beware the bearers of false gifts and their broken promises…" The resemblance between this and the two new spirals suggested to some that we were being invited to carve our own binary reply into them! In the event, this didn't happen; though the thought did spark some communication experiments later in the season—led by Jack Sullivan and Martin Noakes, who flashed binary messages into the sky with some interesting results (see article at http://www.swirlednews.com). The traditional centre of the phenomenon, Alton Barnes in Wiltshire, then produced its latest masterpiece on 20 June in the form of a bizarre but beautiful glyph, resembling perhaps some kind of strange musical instrument (figure 2). Its oddness put some people off, but the fluidity of the lay inside and the complete lack of damage to the stems (in a year in which white creases on stems were widely decreed to be a sure sign of human circle-making) revealed it as a highlight of the year. Six days later, another extraordinary design of similar quality arrived at nearby Milk Hill, this time resembling what was rather crudely termed a "bee" by some—a winged emblem atop an apparently insectoid body (figure 3). Others pointed out its closer resemblance to the ancient "winged caduceus" symbol. Its geometric properties were incredibly complex, as uncovered by geometer Allan Brown. As the list of bold patterns in the crops began to lengthen, some formations in particular stood out. One of the longest, a vast string of circles and crescents which arrived at Windmill Hill, Avebury, Wiltshire, on 17 July, measured over 800 feet in length (figure 4). Meanwhile, a square within a circle, resembling Islamic geometric art, appeared at Savernake Forest, Marlborough, Wiltshire, on 28 July and impressed many with its optical illusion qualities (figure 5). At West Kennett Longbarrow on 30 July, a quadranted labyrinth within an eight-pointed star began a new style for the crop circles (figure 6), while another square design of smaller squares and dots at Lewisham Castle, Aldbourne, Wiltshire, on 6 August turned out to signify "a rendition of the Magic Square representing the Moon's movements, a 9 x 9 square in which the sums of the diagonals, the rows and the columns each add to 369", according to Geoff Stray, editor of the influential website http://www.diagnosis2012 (figure 7). With the year 2012 in mind, the crop formation that most caught the public attention in 2004 was undoubtedly the so-called "Mayan" design which appeared over two consecutive www.nexusmagazine.com

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Figure 1: Fort Nelson, near Portchester, Hampshire. Reported 11th June. Diagram: Allan Brown © 2004

Figure 2: East Field, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 20th June. Photograph: Busty Taylor © 2004

Figure 3: Milk Hill, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire Reported 26th June. Photograph: Busty Taylor © 2004

Figure 4: Windmill Hill, near Avebury Trusloe, Wiltshire. Reported 17th July. Photograph: Verity Bullock © 2004

Figure 5: Savernake Forest, near Marlborough, Wiltshire. Reported 28th July. Photograph: Steve Alexander © 2004

Figure 6: West Kennett (2), near Silbury Hill, Wiltshire. Reported 30th July. Photograph: Nick Nicholson © 2004

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nights at Silbury Hill, Wiltshire, on 2–3 August (figure 8). (A number of formations "grew" this year, making some people suspicious.) It was a vast wheel of ancient Mayan glyphs, including "the double square spiral—the Mayan symbol for jaguar snouts, which indicates an entrance to the underworld", as described by Geoff Stray. The now widely held belief that the Mayan calendar indicates an end-of-time point in 2012 gave the UK newspapers something to get their teeth into. The Daily Mail dubiously proclaimed it "The Doomsday Crop Circle". Much of the speculation about this formation's 2012 connections was highly questionable, but it made good headlines—not that the press needed a genuine phenomenon to fill columns. Indeed, the Sunday Express went out of its way to debunk the Mayan glyph, devoting two pages to this—perhaps in an effort to "get one over" on its rival paper. This year there was a large blast of disproportionate press publicity for human circle-makers. Several major newspapers ran large features on "plankers" (as the research community increasingly calls them), boasting of their skills in creating crop circles. As ever, what all these pieces had in common was the inevitable lack of any substance: nearly all of them involved lazy insinuation and nothing more. More seriously, there was an almost complete absence of any balancing information in these pieces beyond the odd glib quote from researchers. By and large, the plankers were presented as the answer to the entire crop circle mystery, with not a dissenting view on show nor any serious discussion as to the mass of contrary evidence which shows that not all glyphs can be so easily explained. Those who hold that there is a co-ordinated campaign to discredit the crop circles believe their views have been vindicated by such unbalanced publicity. One high-profile Italian sceptic, who's been giving his country's circle researchers a hard time recently, was even spotted cavorting with known plankers in the UK this summer. It made some people wonder how wide the debunking agendas might be and who could be behind them. (However, in-fighting appeared to be breaking out amongst the ranks of the plankers themselves, with angry email tirades being openly fired off from one faction to another!) Unfortunately, the overriding negativity which spilled over from such heightened profiles of the plankers—and not helped by the National Farmers Union, which launched a campaign this summer to discourage people from visiting crop formations—affected the mood in the croppie world, resulting in much fear and suspicion down in the fields of Wiltshire, especially with traits of human circle-making seemingly being more obvious in some formations this year. Some suggested the real phenomenon had even backed off slightly to allow the limitations of the imitators to be clearly revealed. As has been noted before, this is an interactive phenomenon, after all. However, others considered much of this so-called negativity to be paranoia and nothing more, believing that succumbing to it only played into the hands of the debunkers. Looked at simply, within the context of other years and with the benefit of even just a few weeks of hindsight, in truth what we had was another season of some extraordinary designs, with all the accompanying wonder, beauty, confusion, trouble and strife one might expect from anything so consistently challenging and stubborn in its refusal to go away, whatever its origins. ∞ About the Author: Andy Thomas is a leading crop circles researcher and the world's most prolific writer on the subject. He is best known for Vital Signs: A Complete Guide to the Crop Circle Mystery. His most recent books are Swirled Harvest: Views from the Crop Circle Frontline, a collection of pieces on crop circles and related matters, and A Oneness of Mind: The Power of Collective Thought and Signs of Our Times, which transcribes some of Andy's extraordinary live presentations on other far-reaching matters. Information and online ordering details for all these books can be found at http://www.vitalsignspublishing.co.uk. STRANGE Times 2006

Pewsey White Horse (3), near Pewsey, Wiltshire. Reported 22nd July. Photograph: Francine Blake © 2004


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Figure 8: Silbury Hill (2), near Beckhampton, Wiltshire. Reported 2nd and 3rd August. Diagrams above: Berthold Zugelder © 2004. Photograph below: Steve Alexander © 2004

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Figure 7: Lewisham Castle, Aldbourne, Wiltshire. Reported 6th August. Diagram: Berthold Zugelder © 2004

28 July 2004

29 July 2004

Beacon Hill, near Burghclere, Newbury, Berkshire. Reported 28th July. Photograph: Steve Alexander © 2004

30 July 2004

31 July 2004

Tan Hill (left and above), near Stanton St Bernard, Wiltshire. Reported 28th July. This formation was created in four steps over a period of four nights (see above). Diagrams: Berthold Zugelder © 2004 Photograph (left): Steve Alexander © 2004

Resources: • To view all the formations for 2004, visit the website http://www. cropcircleconnector.com. • More information is available from Swirled News, Southern Circular Research, 3 Old House Courtyard, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1HT, UK, websites http://www.swirlednews.com, http://www.vitalsignspublishing.co.uk. STRANGE Times 2006


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Coombe Abbey, near Coventry, Warwickshire. Reported 4th July. Photograph: Steve Alexander © 2004

Shalbourne, near Hungerford, Wiltshire. Reported 8th August. Photograph: Steve Alexander © 2004

Honey Street, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 16th June. Photograph: John Dove © 2004

Etchilhampton Hill, near Devizes, Wiltshire. Reported 25th July. Photograph: Steve Alexander © 2004

Etchilhampton Hill (2), near Devizes, Wiltshire. Reported 3rd August. Photograph: Steve Alexander © 2004

Blacklands Golf Course, near Calne, Wiltshire. Reported 3rd August. Photograph: Steve Alexander © 2004

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