Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Real Ghosts - An Excellent Read!



Looking for some good reading material tonight, the spookiest night of the year? Well, look no further!

The second edition of Brad Steiger's Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places is now available thanks to the good folks at Visible Ink Press.

Running at almost 700 pages and at a very reasonable price, this is a title that fans of specters, paranormal entities, ghosts, ghouls and much more of a supernatural nature will definitely not want to miss.

You might think that close to 700 pages of tale after tale of the ghostly kind would get very repetitive and boring after a while, but - I'm pleased to say - you would be wrong. Very wrong, in fact.

What Brad has done with Real Ghosts is to provide us with a wealth of suspense-soaked and captivating tales (best devoured by flickering candlelight, of course) that cover just about every aspect of the realm of ghosts - such as haunted locations (cemeteries, castles, houses, and old mansions), spirits of the animal variety (many of a very uplifting nature, suggesting that our furry and hairy friends experience some form of afterlife), spooks that enjoy taking road-trips (whether on ships, aircraft or trains), curious bedroom invaders, the walking dead that have a particular liking for pubs and hotels (not a bad afterlife, I'd say...), and famous ghosts of the big-screen (you'll have to read the book to find out who!).

But that's not all: Brad the Bard also delves deep into some truly sinister and malevolent puzzles of the ghostly variety, such as violent poltergeist activity, as well as undeniably hostile, parasitic entities that both torment and possess those terrified souls that cross their paranormal paths.

Of course, even with all this wealth of varied data, there's always a danger that the mind can become numbed to the core by tale after tale, particularly so if the story-teller does so in tame, bland fashion.

Fortunately, there's nothing tame or bland about Brad's writing, or about Real Ghosts. Penned with great atmosphere, a chillingly cool style that keeps the reader captivated from page to page, and a deep knowledge of the phenomena under the microscope, Brad's book is filled with entertaining menace, creeping creepiness, and tale after tale of bone-chilling proportions.

Great to read late at night while stretched out on the couch, around a camp-fire in the woods with your friends, or (if you're lucky enough to have one!) within the depths of a darkened, old dungeon.

Real Ghosts: a superb trek through the entire domain of the restless dead...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to friends and fiends alike!



Tuesday, October 30, 2012

An Alley of Nightmares



If you're big into the whole alien abduction controversy, then there's a new (and big) book you should consider getting a copy of: Nightmare Alley: Fearsome Tales of Alien Abduction by Timothy Green Beckley.

This is an excellent new title that focuses its attention - in chapter-by-chapter form - on many of the classic cases from abduction history: Herbert Schirmer, Betty and Barney Hill, Betty Andreasson, Charles Hickson & Calvin Parker, Whitley Strieber, Charles L. Moody, Alan Godfrey, Travis Walton, as well as a lot of lesser known cases, such as the 1983 affair of Alfred Burtoo and the 1980s experiences of Christa Tilton.

Each of the above cases (and many more, too) are given good, solid treatment and commentary, along with theories, insights and much more, all relative to the respective cases under the microscope.

And, if you don't have an extensive library on abductions, but want to find out more about the subject, the players, the researchers and the abductees themselves, then Nightmare Alley is a great place to start, since you'll have all the key AA events under one cover, instead of having to dish out a lot of dosh for dozens of old - and sometimes hard to find - titles from yesteryear.

On top of that, the book also reproduces Martin Cannon's notable and thought-provoking paper (also of yesteryear and which provoked a lot of interest and controversy when it first surfaced) The Controllers, which presents the AA phenomenon in a very different light...

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Coast to Coast AM Tonight



I'll be on Coast to Coast AM tonight, talking about my The World's Weirdest Places book. Times are 11PM-2AM Pacific, 1AM to 4AM Central, and 2AM to 5AM Eastern. Should be a good show!

Friday, October 26, 2012

The Williamson File



Why, in the 1950s and 1960s, was the FBI keeping a close and secret watch on controversial Contactee and friend to the Space-Brothers, George Hunt Williamson?

Well, the answer is a very interesting one, and revolves around such issues as crashed UFOs, communism, a hot space-babe, and international smuggling.

No, I'm really not making this up!

And here's the proof: my latest article at Mysterious Universe...

Posthuman Blues: In Print



This is excellent news:

Redstar Books, the new venture from Paul Kimball (a.k.a. the Squire of Halifax), has just published the first volume of Posthuman Blues, a collection of the writings of the late Mac Tonnies.

Since this particular volume just covers 2003-2004, there will, of course, be more to come in this series, thus ensuring that Mac's work, life and legacy will live on.

You can find all about the book, and how to purchase copies, right here...

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Beware of the Wendigo



In the Creature of the Month section of New Page Books' blog, Dr. Bob Curran digs deep into the dark and disturbing world of the Wendigo...

New Page at Paradigm



Over at the New Page Books blog, you can find an overview of their time spent last week at the Minneapolis-based Paradigm Symposium. As you may know, New Page have published many of my books (including The Real Men in Black and Contactees), but this was actually the first time I was able to meet NP's Michael and Laurie Pye in person. Needless to say, a great time ensued!

Here's the link to the post.


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

RPJ on the Paradigm Gig



In a new post over at the Intrepid Mag blog, Red Pill Junkie focuses on this past weekend's Paradigm Symposium gig that I spoke at and which RPJ attended. And not having met RPJ in person before, it was great to finally hang out!

RPJ starts his new post like this:

"Paradigm Symposium came, went on and ended. Yet the true Paradigm goes on still.

"As I find myself trying to return to the normal pace of my daily routines, I also realize that the true impact my trip to Minneapolis had on my personal life, will take a long time to set in.

"Picture a man lost in the middle of the desert, with no compass or supplies to aid him, desperately wandering around all alone at the mercy of the cruel sun and the treacherous sandstorms. And now imagine that poorstranded man as he’s about to lose hope and give up, suddenly stumbling upon a luscious oasis out of the pages of Arabian nights, full of friendly palm trees offering their shades that he may rest, and with a spring of cool clear water that will help him calm his terrible thirst. Imagine the taste of that first drink, after so many days of having a dry mouth and cracked lips.

"That was Paradigm Symposium for me."

But, that's not all RPJ has to say. There's much more, and all of it very intriguing...

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Mysterious Universe 3



While I was off running around Minneapolis for the past week, Mysterious Universe posted three new articles from me that I'm linking to below.

PS: They're all very different and all very weird!

The first is on the strange saga of the Men in Black and vanishing cars...


The second is focused on levitation in ancient Egypt...



And the third is on a false prophet, a third world war, and Carl Sagan...



Back!



On checking email this morning I got one from two days ago that read: "Have you been abducted?"

Well, no, I haven't! I've been offline since last Wednesday, as I was speaking at the Paradigm gig in Minneapolis, which was an excellent event.

There was a great turn out of several hundred, and organizers Micah Hanks and Scotty Roberts (and not forgetting their team of helpers) did a first-class job of putting on the event.

And, for me, as well as listening to a wealth of good presentations (David Weatherly's lecture on the "Black-Eyed Children" phenomenon was, as far as I'm concerned, the highlight), it was time to catch up with old friends and finally meet other friends who I hadn't previously had chance to hang out with, such as Ben and Aaron from Mysterious Universe, Marie Jones, Red Pill Junkie, and Michael and Laurie Pye from New Page Books.

Good news: they're already planning next year's gig. So, if you missed this one, don't miss the next!


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Terror-Fi Radio: Tonight



Good mate Ken Gerhard (with who I wrote Monsters of Texas) will be on Terror-Fi Radio tonight talking about all things cryptozoological. If Bigfoot, giant winged things and much more of a monstrous nature interest you, don't miss this one!

Here's where you can find all about the show.

Monday, October 15, 2012

A Sci-Fi Secret: The Bradbury File




Back in 2009, I wrote a book called Science Fiction Secrets. Published by Anomalist Books, it dealt with how and why government agencies have taken a long and clandestine interest in the world of sci-fi and the players in it.

Had I got it at the time, I would have included it in the book, as it would have made a great addition. What am I talking about? Well, I'll tell you: The FBI's intriguing file on sci-fi legend, Ray Bradbury, which was recently declassified and is now available to read at the FBI's website, The Vault.

Here's the link to the 40-page file...

Weird Woods...



In a new post at Mysterious Universe, I take a look at the many mysteries of the Fortean kind that can be found in and around England's Cannock Chase, only a ten-minute drive from where I grew up.

Here's the link...

The photo above (taken by me about 5 or 6 years ago) shows the Roman View Pond, a fairly large pool on the fringes of the town of Cannock where, in 2003, reports surfaced of a crocodile on the loose!

It's a weird story indeed, one investigated by the Center for Fortean Zoology at the time it surfaced.

Almost certainly, it was an exotic pet dumped into the pool by a stupid owner. But, it definitely adds to the strangeness of the Cannock Chase!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Tonight: Bigfoot Radio



Tonight, at 6.30 PM Pacific Time, I'll be on Chattahoochee Bigfoot Radio discussing my views, theories and case-files on most things big, hairy and humanoid. Since some of my views on Bigfoot are viewed by many as being fairly controversial, feel free to phone in and agree, disagree, or even argue with me!

And here's the link.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

RPJ and UFOs



Red Pill Junkie has a good new post up at the Intrepid Mag blog that begins like this:

"For those of us who decide to take the narrow and offbeat Fortean path, there always comes a moment when we encounter significant milestones in our journey; milestones which we can perceive as what they really are –big forks in the road– only in retrospect.

"Most of us experience the fork in the shape of a book found in the public library or local bookstore, a movie in the Sunday matinee, an influential mentor, and there are even a few privileged enough to meet the Unknown face to face. In my case, one of my biggest milestones was a dog-eared paperback edition of a book, whose suggestive title attracted me like nectar attracts the bee: UFOs & Mexico’s Archeology."

And here's the complete post....

Vampires and Creepiness

Over at EHow, you can find two new posts from me:

1. The first is a Top 13 on vampire films...

2. And the second is a list of definitively creepy TV shows...

Thursday, October 11, 2012

A Secret Sun Q&A

Last night, Chris Knowles of The Secret Sun interviewed me on a wide range of Fortean weirdness: UFOs, ancient mysteries, Bigfoot, alien abductions, the Contactees of the 1950s and much more.

You can find the show right here...

Reviewing the Hexham Heads



There's a new review from me at Mysterious Universe on what is - for me anyway - the best Fortean book of the year, Paul Screeton's Quest for the Hexham Heads.

If you're into Forteana, Cryptozoology, werewolves, and general weirdness, you definitely won't want to miss this one!

Here's how I begin  my review:

"Imagine the scene: it’s 1972 and two young boys, playing in their back-garden in the old northern England town of Hexham, unearth a pair of creepy-looking stone heads. Believed by some to have ancient Celtic origins, the heads seemingly provoke a wide and unsettling range of paranormal phenomena, including the manifestation of a bizarre beast in the area. Then, when an expert in Celtic history gets involved in the saga, a monstrous werewolf-like creature materializes in her home in the dead of night. Over time, the heads provoke yet more mystery and mayhem, finally vanishing under strange circumstances, but never forgotten by those obsessed with, and intrigued by, such terrible things.

"Sounds like the perfect plot for one of those old, classic Hammer Films of the 1960s, right? Yep! Except this story is all too real. At least, parts of it are. The brief summary I have described above represents a very broad outline of what has generally been accepted about what have notoriously become known as the Hexham Heads. But, now, thanks to the sterling research and writing of Paul Screeton, we finally have the full story of what really happened. Or, at least, as full a story as we’re ever likely to get after forty years."


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Gorightly on Conspiracies



Over at Red Dirt Report, Andrew W. Griffin reviews the new book from friend Adam Gorightly (Happy Trails to High Weirdness: A Conspiracy Theorist's Tour Guide), and says in part:

"Gorightly, who was first introduced to conspiracy-tinged crackpottery back in the early 1980’s via a lecture on the CIA’s alleged involvement in the JFK assassination, realized this was his calling, leading to writing gigs with Steamshovel Press, Paranoia magazine and The Excluded Middle. And it has been a life, he says, that has been 'infinitely richer and wackier.' Again, Gorightly is a seemingly happy and content crackpot who knows his stuff. He first takes us on a journey of the 'cult mecca'of Southern California and touches upon the Manson Family, George Van Tassel and 'Giant Rock,' and Krishna Venta and the 'Fountain of the World' cult, among others. And then there is Gorightly’s pilgrimage to Santa Clara’s 'Conspiracy Con' where topics addressed range from Kenn Thomas’s lecture on 'Parapolitics' to a talk about 'diabolical Reptilians.' Sounds cool!"

Is this a book you should read? Of course it is!!


The photo above (taken in December 2010 at Giant Rock, as referred to in Andrew Griffin's review) shows, from left to right, author and adventurer Walter Bosley; Andy Colvin (of the series of Mothman's Photographer books); good mate and Project Beta author, Greg Bishop; the deeply mysterious Adam Gorightly; me in hoodie; and Robert Larsen who, with Greg, founded the near-legendary Excluded Middle magazine. 

Monday, October 8, 2012

Paranormal Perceptions


A QUESTIONER PUTS THEIR BIGFOOT (I MEAN BIG FOOT) IN IT...

Late last week I did an emailed Q&A for a certain website noted for its paranormal, supernatural and Fortean-themed content. I'll name it (and link to the Q&A) if it appears, which - right now - I seriously doubt it will.

The reason why I'm pretty sure the Q&A won't appear is not because I ranted on about why I think Roswell was some dark and dubious military experiment and not a UFO event. Or even why I conclude Bigfoot may be something supernatural, rather than just a giant ape. God knows, I do  enough of that here, at Mysterious Universe, and in the pages of my books.

Rather, I suspect that my answers - since they had nothing to do with the world of real-life supernatural, Fortean, or paranormal phenomena - were not what the owner of the site was looking for. Or, far more importantly, was subconsciously expecting or anticipating.

I'll give you an example: I was asked to list my Top 10 favorite books and films of all time. So that's exactly what I did.

In no particular order, the books include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles; Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar; Hunter S. Thompson's The Rum Diary; and Big Sur by Jack Kerouac (which, I should note, is far superior to his On the Road, which gets so many in a state of ecstasy. And his poetry is bloody awful, by the way. Not that I know or even care in the slightest about poetry, but I do know what reads good and what doesn't.).

Well, actually, there is one bit of poetry that has always resonated with me:

"There was a young girl from Decatur,
who had sex with a huge alligator,
but nobody knew if she lavished the screw,
'cause after he screwed her he ate her."

But, I digress.

As for my all-time top 10 films, they include just two on the paranormal: Night of the Demon of 1957, and The Ninth Gate with Johnny Depp. And they're hardly non-fiction studies of the field. As for the others, they include just about anything with Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt (long-dead English comic-actors who, as a trio, made some hilarious classics in the late 1930s and early '40s); Defence of the Realm, with Gabriel Byrne; Diner; and Wild at Heart.

No sooner had I sent the email, I got one back in return: "Sorry, Nick, we meant your top non-fiction books and movies on saucers, Chupacabra etc. Didn't realize you thought or lived outside the ol' box!"

The final sentence may very well have been intended as humor. But I wasn't laughing. I responded: "I don't believe you did mean that. I think you assumed - without giving it any thought, and as your 'ol'box' comment suggests - that because I write books on forteana, that this defines me as a person."

Three days later, I have not heard back, nor am I holding my breath.

Indeed, if I had been wrong, I suspect I would have heard something aside from silence. I haven't.

But this whole episode did make me think about how those of us involved in research and writing are perceived by others - both inside and outside of our realm of weirdness.

Do certain people think we don't have lives? Or we don't have families? Or we don't watch TV shows beyond just ones on ghosts and Area 51? Or that we only read books on Sasquatch, long-necked water-monsters, or that bloody crash in New Mexico in 1947? Or that we put the supernatural ahead of a good, fun time with friends?

Yes, I think many do think that - even within Forteana, most unfortunately.

One of the things that surprises many is that while I love horror films, I hate sci-fi (aside from occasional conspiracy-type stuff like Dark City and The X-Files...before it went crap around 1998). But there's this assumption that if I write about UFOs, somehow I must love films filled with laser-firing spaceships and people running around in silver-suits. Why?

But here's the biggest mystery for me: more than a few people in Forteana (in fact, quite a few when it's come up in discussion) are surprised I don't read comic-books.

Eh??? WTF?

I research Bigfoot, UFOs etc, and, therefore, I'm supposed to have a fascination with over-muscular men who fly around the skies in capes, with their underwear on the outside, and who sport ridiculous names? That's one I can't fathom at all.

Actually, yes, I write about a wide range of Forteana, but I also happen to like American Idol, Survivor, Big Brother, English football (it's not called soccer), NCIS, going down the pub with my mates, cranking up the music, That Metal Show, and...well, just about the same things as everyone else.

Normal shit, as it's generally known!

But why, at all, this odd assumption/conclusion that I see as much inside Fortean research circles as I do outside of it?

Why is it a surprise - and why should it even provoke surprise in the first place - that I might write a book on the Men in Black and that I also care about who wins American Idol? I don't get that surprise at all. Nor do I see why there should be a conflict. But I've heard it and seen it - on that specific issue of AI.

If someone was a carpet-fitter, a car-mechanic, a school-teacher, a...well...the list goes on...would they be defined as that and nothing else? No! Would the favorite books of a car-mechanic be defined by whether those books are car-based or not? Nope! Or would the favorite films of a school-teacher be defined by whether or not they are uplifting tales of education? Of course they wouldn't!

So, why is it that so many people - both inside and outside of our field - do think that our favorite films or books, or even our very lives, are defined or dominated by what we think of ET, or the Yeti, or whatever-the-hell-else Fortean? If you think I'm wrong, I'm not.

Look around, and carefully bring such matters up, albeit in subtle fashion so as not to give the game away. You'll see...

We criticize (quite rightly) the media for portraying us in stereotypical "tin-foil-hat/conspiracy nut" fashion. But the Fortean field is just as guilty, albeit in a very different way.

The former does it to poke fun at us. Certain players in the latter very often do it based on barely-thought-out assumptions that we're Forteans first and foremost, and so that's what defines us as people.

Maybe some of them are obsessed with Forteana and nothing else, and, therefore, they assume the rest of us are as sad as them, for one chief reason: in their world, if there's nothing else going on in their lives, then how can there be anything else going on in ours? I'm not sure if we should have pity for such people and their illogical form of logic, or if they should be given several firm and precise punches on the jaw. But, I very strongly lean towards the latter. Like right now.

I'm really not sure which scenario is worse: media fun-poking or wholly erroneous assumptions on the part of igorant colleagues that your life (about which they actually know nothing) is driven by the likes of hairy ape-men and bug-eyed aliens and nothing else.

Road in the Sky Reprinted


Not too long ago, I wrote a post here on a recent, weird, and synchronicity-filled weekend I had in Los Angeles.

While there I hung out with good mate Greg Bishop, who very kindly made available for me copies of the FBI's file on 1950s Contactee, George Hunt Williamson, which had been declassified via the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, but which I had previously never seen.

(As readers of my On the Trail of the Saucer Spies and Contactees books will know, the FBI spent years watching the early Contactees such as George Adamksi and George Van Tassel.)

Well, it so happens that securing the file from Greg turned out to be very useful.

In another of those curious situations born out of synchronistic oddities (well, I consider them odd!), Tim Green Beckley contacted me recently and told me he was just about to republish one of Williamson's old books, Road in the Sky.

Tim's reason for contacting me about this was to inquire if I wanted to submit an article on Williamson for the book. But it would have to be something new, largely unseen and that added something significant to the saga.

I had, of course, the perfect thing: the FBI file on the man in question, as provided by Greg only weeks before!

Tim, of course, was highly enthused by this and, as a result, my article on Williamson and what J. Edgar Hoover's finest knew about the man appears in the new edition of Williamson's old tome.

And here's Tim to tell you more about the Road in the Sky and that file...


A STRANGE SAGA OF SAUCERS, SPACE BROTHERS, SECRET AGENTS AND ALIEN ASTRONAUTS THROUGHOUT ANTIQUITY George Hunt Williamson – known as “Brother Philip” throughout the highlands of Peru, the jungles of South and Central America, and the arid plains of the Southwest – traveled the longest highway in the world, leading him to discover a vast road into the sky that can be linked to the arrival of visitors from elsewhere in the universe throughout the ages. Within these pages are the stories of the Hopi Sun Clan, including the legends of the “Giant Star.” The secret of the Stone Tablets of Peru. The Time Spanners. The Beacon of the Gods. The Martian Miniatures. Fossils, Footprints and Fantasy. Evidence for the existence of the “Silent World,” and the reality of the Unholy Six. Also this is the book that gives: * Williamson’s behind-the-scenes battle with the FBI and the Silence Group. * His investigation into the mysterious disappearances of Hunrath and Wilkinson, who might have been murdered or abducted by UFOs. * The accusations of smuggling and his “association” with a sexy flying saucer pilot whom the FBI identified as a “ravishing woman commandant!” Williamson, sometime in his life, must have come to realize that, in America, if you try to buck the status quo or change the system you can easily be slandered and identified as a dangerous dissident, whether you are called a communist, a fascist, or a neo-Nazi. Many of the contactees of the early UFO/New Age communities were unduly slandered, as was the man aka “Brother Philip.” It was also suggested that Williamson was a “Mind-Controlled Soldier” of the Soviet Union, a label he found difficult to shake off during his years of embattlement with the “system.” How he persevered in spite of all this undeserved conflict makes for a story of true UFO heroism.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Mothman in Mexico?



There's a new Lair of the Beasts column from me at Mania.com on the sighting of a strange, flying, winged man-beast in Mexico.

Mothman on the move, maybe? Owlman takes a holiday? The flying woman of Vietnam makes a wrong turn?

Your guess is as good as mine!

Friday, October 5, 2012

Monsters of the High-Seas

 


There's a new post from me at Mysterious Universe on those strange beasts of the oceans: sea serpents.

Actually, these particular critters are quite partial to a place I like myself: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. And it all kicks off as follows...

"The origins of Halifax, Nova Scotia date back to May 14, 1749, when one Edward Cornwallis, a Lieutenant with the British Army at the time, set sail from England aboard the HMS Sphinx. The purpose was to develop a significantly-sized new British settlement in Canada that would be a viable counter to France’s powerful and strategically significant Fortress of Louisburg. Along with Cornwallis were more than 2,500 settlers and fifteen ships, all ready for the impressive and ambitious task in-hand.

"On June 21, the fleet arrived and development duly began. It was hardly a peaceful time, however. Outraged First Nations Micmac people launched deadly attacks on the British for what they saw as flagrant disregard of an earlier treaty guaranteeing peace and, worse still, as outright theft by the Brits of Micmac land. The so-called Seven Years’ War of 1756 to 1763, in which the Micmac tribe was allied with the French, added to the large-scale turbulence and death, until, that is, victory came to Britain, and Halifax began to develop and thrive ever more.

"Today, Halifax is a busy municipality with a population of more than 400,000, and a place that, as well as very much keeping up with the times, has successfully retained its old-world charm, its rich history, and its captivating architecture that hark back to a time long past. It was also a place that, in the 19th Century, was packed with sea serpents!"

A Supernatural Lake...




New Page Books dig into one of my earlier books and the strange story of a certain lake...



A Weird Q&A



Yesterday, I did a Q&A with The Examiner about my most recent book, The World's Weirdest Places, and which covered a lot of areas and subjects: winged things in Vietnam; werewolves in England; high-strangeness deep in the New York Subway System; and much more.

You can find the full thing right here...

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Allende Letters: New Edition!



Tim Beckley sent me a batch of books a couple of days ago that I'll be highlighting and reviewing here, including a newly-published edition of Morris K. Jessup's The Case for the UFO.

But, if you don't have the book (which I wrote about in my The Pyramids and the Pentagon book), you'll want this version, as it's a reprint of the so-called "annotated version" that the U.S. Navy had on-file.

If you don't know the story, here's Tim to tell you more:

DID THE PUBLICATION OF THIS RARE MANUSCRIPT CAUSE FAMED ASTRONOMER DR MORRIS K. JESSUP TO 'COMMIT SUICIDE?" Or was he murdered because of what he knew? Only a handful of copies were originally printed on an office copier by a private government contractor. NOW AVAILABLE AFTER NEARLY 50 YEARS. On the evening of APril 20, 1959, an astronomer committed suicide in Dade County Park, FLorida. Inhaling automobile exhaust fumes which he had introduced from the tail pipe through a hose into his station wagon, he died in the same academic obscurity in which he had lived, unheralded and almost unrecognized in his discipline. Ironicallly, the scientists only public recognition had come from lay people, who had read his series of four books about UFOs. Morris Jessup's first book, THE CASE FOR THE UFO, had tended to alienate him from his colleagues. It was a paperback edition of this volume published in 1955 that enmeshed Jessup in one of the most bizarre mysteries in UFO history. An annotated reprint of the paperback was laboriously typed out on offset stencils and printed in a very small run by a Garland, Texas manufacturing company with military ties. Each page was run thrugh the small office duplicator twice, once with blank ink for the regular text of the book, then once again with red ink, the latter reproducing the mysterious annotations by three men, who may have been gypsies, hoaxters or space people living among humankind. The spiral bound volume contained more than 200 pages ane became known as the Annotated Edition. A reprint quickly became legend. A few civilizan UFO enthusiasts claimed to have seen copies, but there were only known to be seventeen in existence one of which Jessup possessed. . . but which mysteriously disappeared after his death. . . never to be seen again. This is a once in a lifetime offered reprint of the Case For The UFO with all the rare notes exactly as presented by these "strangers." The big mystery is why the government would go to so much trouble to reprint a book that had been rejected by the scientific community and further to include mysterious letters to the author and even more bizarre annotations. This manuscript is the first to hint at the Philadelphia Experiment, Time Travel and other scientifically "oddities." It is a manuscript which has been long searched for because of its quite peculiar nature and its rarity among "those in the know." There are some who say this book is among the weirdest ever published on unidentified flying objects. One copy is known to have been sold for $1200. This reprint is but a fraction of the cost.This edition also contains a rare introduction by Gray Barker.

Hexham Heads: A Great Read



I've mentioned here on several occasions my interest in the notorious, early-1970s affair of the Hexham Heads - a pair of strange, carved, stone heads that were linked to (and even seemed to provoke) sightings of a number of bizarre beasts in the north of England (and elsewhere), including a werewolf.

Well, a review copy of Paul Screeton's recently-published, full-length book on the matter, Quest for the Hexham Heads, arrived a couple of days ago, and which I started reading last night.

Even just a few chapters in, I can say this is an excellent study of the mysterious heads, and I'll be doing a full review just as soon as I have finished reading it.

If tales of strange creatures, occult phenomena, Fortean events, and just downright supernatural strangeness appeal to you, don't miss Quest for the Hexham Heads. Destined to become a Fortean classic!

Screeters has done us proud!

Weird Aliens!



Dr. Karl Shuker has an excellent new post up at his Shuker Nature blog that focuses on some of the weird and creepy critters that have been reported in UFO encounters over the years.

We're definitely not talking Grays and Space-Brothers here! Check it out!

I should stress that the photo above is not one that appears in Karl's post. I've simply used this as an illustration. It was sent to me years ago - sometime in the 90s - along with a claim that it's an alien, filmed somewhere in the UK.

Well, no, it clearly isn't - as far as I'm concerned anyway. I say: "Hoax!" But nice try.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Profiling the Flying Dutchman



Over at her site, Kithra delves into the intriguing story of the Flying Dutchman and begins like this...

"The legend of the Flying Dutchman has always intrigued me, and so here I'm going to take a quick look at it. By which, I mean the legend itself and not Richard Wagner's opera. As most of my readers will probably know the Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship that is doomed to endlessly sail the world's oceans without ever being able to come into any port.

"In its correct interpretation, the name the Flying Dutchman relates not to the ship but to the captain. And, at the start of the legend the expression Flying Dutchman was only a common description of the ship. A Dutchman was a certain type of trading ship belonging to the Dutch East India Company, which sailed between the Netherlands and Indonesia via the Cape of Good Hope where the Flying Dutchman is generally supposed to be seen. The ship has a ghostly crew of tortured and damned sailors trying to sail the ship through the adjacent waters without ever succeeding in circumnavigating the headland."

And here's the complete article...

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Mutes on the Moor...



There's a new post from me at Mysterious Universe that encompasses a wide range of Fortean weirdness and that begins like this...

"If there is one thing I like to highlight when it comes to cases of a definitive Fortean nature, it’s when they – largely, at least - get forgotten about. After all, it’s vital we keep the old events alive, if for no other reason than to see what we may be able to learn from them. There’s a classic example – for me personally, anyway – which springs firmly to mind and which contains absolute key ingredients of a whole host of puzzles: animal mutilations, Men in Black-type telephone interference and hassle, UFOs, and a wild and mysterious location. It all took place more than thirty-five years ago, but it is an affair that is still talked about in hushed and whispered tones by those involved and those who still remember it…"

Reviewing the real MIB



Well, after 9 days on the road lecturing (Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio, Texas), during which I had no Internet access (which actually felt very good!), it's time to get back to it.

Over at The Examiner, "Frank Zero" reviews my The Real Men in Black book, and says in partL

"Nick Redfern does great work once again, this time focused on the Men (and Women) In Black. The book is a great blend of case files, analysis, comparison, and interviews that Nick conducted personally. It also follows some of the work of the great researchers in this area like John Keel. All in all, the MIB phenomenon beckons many more questions than it does provide answers, however there are some visual and auditory consistencies in their behavior that make these strange Dark City analogues recognizable."