Edward R. Murrow: Case of the Flying Saucer

This is a real gem. Edward R. Murrow investigating flying saucers. Interviews with Kenneth Arnold, etc.

Area 51 Loose Ends: Lazar Story: A Fraud for Bigelow Funding?

Glenn Campbell and his 1997 article on Bob Lazar, with new notes,  and his connections with Robert Bigelow. As I keep saying, I've been suspicious of Bigelow for some time. Very interesting reading. Area 51 Loose Ends: Lazar Story: A Fraud for Bigelow Funding?

Paranormal TV: Monsters of the UFO; Incident at Kelly

 From 1994, this episode of Paranormal TV on alien monster and humanoid encounters! With news clips from the times. Pretty neat.

On Unexplained Confidential: Author Nick Redfern (The Real Men In Black) | Horror News.net | Horror Movies

Nick Redfern print interview on his latest book, The Real Men in Black.
Interview: Author Nick Redfern (The Real Men In Black) | Horror News.net | Horror Movies

Esoteric Claims to Fame, Or: My Cousin Was a MIB

Originally posted at Trickster's Realm for Binnall of America.

An item on Lon Sticker’s Phantoms and Monsters about Elvis and his life long interest in UFOs inspired me to write about the time I met Elvis in Los Angles when I was working at the Free Clinic.  (see my post on UFO Mystic.) That was one of my brushes with fame, and esoteric in a round about way, since Elvis had a strong curiosity about UFOs and believed in extraterrestrial life.

Another esoteric brush with fame is, I think, waaaaaaaay cool. It concerns Boris Badenov. Yes, that Boris Badenov! Legend has it that the character actor Akim Tarmioff was the inspiration for the spy character Boris Badenov of the  Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons.  Here is what a Wikipedia entry has to say about Akim’s inspiration:

Badenov's name is a play on that of the 16th-century Russian Tsar Boris Godunov ("bad enough" vs. "good enough"). His accent and explosive temper are an homage to Hollywood actor Akim Tamiroff, especially Tamiroff's role in The Great McGinty, a 1940 movie directed by Preston Sturges.

Akim (Mikhailovich) Tamiroff, the Russian born character actor who appeared in dozens of films and television shows was often typecast as a Mexican or Greek, among other ethnic characters. He played spies, cops, thieves; all manner of roles.  Among the films Akim appeared in:For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1943, Lord Jim, 1965, Oceans 11, 1960, Topaki, 1964, and dozens more.

Akim was married to my grandfather’s niece, actress Tamara Shayne. My mother lived with them when she was in her late teens (that would be in late 1940s, early 1950s) when she first arrived in Los Angeles from Oregon.  I met them once when I was little; I remember Tamara as being stand offish , but Akim was pretty nice, very funny and playful.

Truly, how cool is it that one of the iconic cartoon characters, Boris Badenov, was based on a family member? (Another fun esoteric synchronistic fact: my mother’s name is a variation of Natasha.) 


Is it fair to say Boris was a MIB? No, it just sounded good for the title. Boris was short, fat, and hardly MIB like in behavior or appearance. He was an Eastern European/Russian spy, bumbling, the bad guy, created during the Cold War, when the spy business was everywhere. It still is; and actually, we’ve come back around to Russian spies recently, with movies like SALT and the plethora of Russian spies on television shows.

I have other claims to esoteric fame, which I'll write about in future columns.

Actress Patrica Neal: Rest in Peace

Actress Patricia Neal passed away at age 84 from lung cancer recently. She had suffered greatly in her life; but she also had what sounds like a strong and loving family. I think the following is beautiful:

"She had a beautiful death with her daughters," Warren Langton, a longtime friend, sometimes assistant, and frequent traveling companion of the actress, told The Martha's Vineyard Times.

It's a nice article and bio of her life in the Martha's Vineyard Times: Patricia Neal, 84.

Patricia Neal was fantastic in many films, Hud being one of course. In keeping with Vintage U.F.O.'s theme, we'd like to remember her in the classic 1951 film The Day The Earth Stood Still, starring Michael Rennie as the alien Klaatu and Neal as Helen Benson whose character spoke these famous words: "Gort! Klaatu barada nikto" 

A trailer of the film:




And a section of the film  that includes a scene with Patrica Neal:

Bruce Rux on BOA

Fantastic job by Tim Binnall at Binnall of America, who interviewed Bruce Rux, author of Hollywood vs The Aliens and Architects of the Underworld -- also, Rux is an actor, playwright, . . . yet he doesn't have a "web presence" as Tim put it, and he's kind of a mysterious figure. Adding to this intriguing aura is the interesting fact Rux works for Wackenhut, which, as any conspiracy esoteric Fortean junkie knows, is a juicy tidbit, since the shadowy MIB like implications of that corporation is well known, as Rux himself happily acknowledges. This is a three part interview; much to think about as Rux and Tim discuss the intentional disinformation planted by government into our media and popular culture.

Be sure you listen to this series of interviews. Great work, and as always, thanks to Tim Binnall for bringing us these great interviews for free.

Roswell

The Daily Grail has an item about Nick Redfern's article in the third volume of Darklore: "Body Snatchers: Before and Beyond" and an interview. Redfern is the author of the book Body Snatchers in the Desert, which puts forth a theory equally strange as any ideas about ET, though, if true, certainly more insidious.

Insidious Round About Book Banning

A law that was passed in January seems to be strangely under reported. That law concerns vintage children's books; it's illegal to sell them. Vintage meaning any book printed before 1985.

The reason given for this law has to do with lead content in ink.

This law has caused great confusion among libraries, book sellers, etc.

It's not as straight forward as it might seem; there's much more to this just below the surface.

For more, read what my article on my blog Octopus Confessional. And so some research of your own; I think you'll be startled at what you find.

Whitley Streiber and Communion

You can watch the movie Communion, (in TEN parts, broken up into ten, separate clips.) on Alien Casebook. Streiber recently wrote about his experiences that began more than 20 years ago, on December 26, 1985.

This is what Whitley has to say about now, regarding his experiences:

Friday December 12th, 2008 - By Whiteley Streiber
It is late here, midnight passing. December has come again, and for the past few months I have been enduring the same demonic nights that I experience every year at this time, as my spirit relives the hard pilgrimage that led to the night of December 26, 1985.

The feelings are so complex, the fears so deep and the love, too, so deep, that sometimes, even after all these years,the whole emotional avalanche of having the visitors emerge into my life threatens to drown me.

You can read more from Streiber on his site Unknown Country. And here.

Return of Phantom Clowns

Clowns digust me and creep me out, always have, and I realized something; my distaste has only become stronger over the years, which is a curious thing. Hmmm, wonder if it has anything to do with all of my UFO experiences?

Loren Coleman has a post on his Copycat Effect blog about the return of Phantom Clowns, a true classical-Fortean phenomena.

"They Live"

Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you! ~ The Preacher man, from They Live.

John Carpenter's 1988 They Live is a combination of bad 1970s type TV show, and scary documentary. (There are some similarities to Roger Corman's 1963 The Man With the X-Ray Eyes, with Ray Milland, for example, the idea that glasses, eye drops, etc can alter someone's vision, allowing them to see the "hidden" reality.)

The plot, for those unfamiliar, goes like this: man finds pair of glasses that, when worn, reveals who is, and who isn't, an alien. Without the glasses, the aliens look, speak and behave like humans. With glasses, you can see their creepy repto skull like faces. The aliens are greedy and ruthless and have subliminally plastered messages everywhere: "OBEY," "CONSUME," etc. These aliens have joined with some humans, who are repaid for their treachery with money. Tons of money.

Sounds painfully just like what's really going on out here in reality land. A lot of the dialogue in the movie is eerie, for its spot on statements about global corporatism, etc.

I'm not a big John Carpenter fan, but I realize I don't get him like others do; he's supposed to be campy, etc. I did like his version of The Thing, and have to say, I loved his 1998 Vampires movie.

As silly as Carpenter's They Live is, or maybe "dated" is a better term, it does have cool music and the movie itself, as a horror aliens take over the planet theme, works. I say, watch it and have a good time, in spite of the fact it's closer to the truth than we might like.

A Bit of Vintage Saucer News From Around the Web

A few items of vintage UFO stuff in recent news:



The Flatwoods Monster extravaganza, by Mike Sizemore, brings us news of upcoming events inspired by the Flatwoods encounter:

In centrally located Braxton County, will be exporting the tale of the Flatwoods Monster, an alien creature said to have crash-landed near the tiny town 56 years ago. Hundreds are expected to gather at the Alban Art & Conference Center in St. Albans to rekindle interest in the curious event and raise its profile in the annals of West Virginia history.

As folklore tells it, early in the evening of Sept. 12, 1952, several residents of Flatwoods claimed to have witnessed a UFO. Schoolchildren Edward and Fred May, along with their friend Tommy Hyer, spotted a calamitous crash on a nearby farm and rushed to investigate. They and several others joining them reported finding a strobing ball of fire accompanied by a noxious mist. Under an oak tree not far away the group encountered a creature emitting a “shrill hissing noise.” The terrified group fled in due haste.

UFOs Made Headlines in 1884 Mind you, this is from the Weekly World News website . . .

From the Bones Blog, a blog about the “ social impact of one of the best science fiction franchise of all time. The impact of how science is used to solve our most difficult social concerns will also be discussed.” there’s “The Anthropology of Star Trek”


Phillip Mantle, in WING COMMANDER ALAN TURNER MBE. RAF SOPLEY UFO-1971, on American Chronicle, writes about Royal Air Force personnel sighting of a UFO in 1971.

Jackie Gleason and UFOs

I have good memories of watching Jackie Gleason (yes, I'm that old) his show, the Honey Mooners, etc. ("Norton" always cracked me up.) Gleason was more than just an actor in a television comedy program, he was a very talented man. This is from his obitutary from the New York Times:

When he was not performing, Mr. Gleason was often conducting or composing mellow romantic music, ''plain vanilla music'' he called it, which was marketed in record albums with such unpretentious titles as ''Lazy Lively Love'' and ''Oooo!'' He recorded more than 35 albums with the Jackie Gleason Orchestra, and millions of the records were sold. ~ (June 25, 1987)

It's an interesting obituary, full of information about his creative life, but no mention (naturally) of his UFO interest.

I remember reading in FATE magazine a few years ago, in a “filler” or sidebar type thing, that the great Jackie Gleason donated his library of UFO books to, I think, someplace in Florida. Gleason had something like over 200 books about UFOs. Here’s an item about Gleason’s “occult library” on exhibit in Miami, Florida.

On Frank Warren’s excellent blog, there’s a piece on Gleason and UFOs that was posted in 2005 (the piece is written by Bill Knell.) Jackie Gleason, Richard Nixon and ET. It’s full of fun information on Gleason and his UFO interests and what Knell learned from talking with Gleason.

Jackie Gleason’s Trip to the Alien Morgue, by Marty Murray, is about a classic UFO legend: President Richard Nixon took Gleason to see alien bodies in a morgue at Homestead Air Force base.

There’s another article on this by the always entertaining and interesting Timothy Green Beckley: Jackie Gleason and the Little Men From Mars.