Nick Redfern and Incident at Aztec

Nick Redfern, crypto Fortean UFO writer and blogger, wrote a piece for Fortean Times back in 2004 on the UFO event at Aztec.

1948, Aztec, New Mexico: four flying saucers crashed, along with alien bodies. Frank Scully wrote about this in Behind the Flying Saucers (1950.) This is an important part of UFO history of course, but not for the reasons those unfamiliar with this event might think.

Read Redfern’s article here. (Link via Redfern’s blog Saucers, Spies and Spooks.

UFO Paradigm Probe: For Whom the Bell Tolls (Nazis, UFOs and post WWII history)

UFO Paradigm Probe brings us Part one of
For Whom the Bell Tolls, about Operation Paperclip, Nazis and UFOs. But it’s much more than that; this isn’t some hokey semi-paranoid sleazy tabloid nazis and the flying saucers routine.

As always, well thought out, lots of images, and a blend of the personal and historical. The writing style might turn some readers off, it is on the academic side (and, um, I know I have my writing problems, but he does tend to write long run on sentences that might, at first, make you want to clutch your head, but just do a Zen thing and let it flow, kind of like free form poetry, and you’ll be all right.)

Please Help to Save These Cats From Certain Death

This is sad and sickening, very disheartening. Please sign the petition. Read more on Siani’s Pot-Pourri; it’ll just take you a couple of mintues to do something from your computer. Please take the time.
http://sianikatts-gower.blogspot.com/2007/12/help-save-cats-from-certain-death.html

A Conversation with Coral Lorenzen

Coral Lorenzen, along with husband Jim started APRO in 1952, a UFO (or flying saucer) research organization. In A Conversation with Coral Lorenzen, Robert Barrow (Not Your Grandfather's UFO blog) relates a conversation he had with Coral in 1976.

Saucer Homes

In the 1960s and 1970s, "saucer homes" UFO shaped fiber glass houses designed by a Finnish archetect, were popular. Here's a news item on the homes. Pretty cool! They didn't seem to take off however, and according to the news item, there are only about 300 of these in the U.S.

Mysteries From Beyond Earth (1975) movie trailer

A real medley of weirdness from Retroflicks.com in this Mysteries From Beyond Earth, hosted by Lawrence Dobkin from the 1970s. 'Are UFOs dumping Bigfoot here?" lol. Stanton Friedman's even on this one!

In UFO Magazine: Redfern Interviews Fowler

I'm a little late in catching up on my esoteric/UFO material, including UFO Magazine. (And that's considering I have a column in the magazine!) But in the October issue of UFO Magazine, is a great interview with Ray Fowler, conducted by crypto-esoteric writer Nick Redfern.

There's so much interesting material in this interview, I urge you to try to get a copy of the issue.

For those who may not know, Fowler brought the Betty Andreasson case to our attention with The Andreasson Affair: The Documented Investigation of a Woman's Abduction Aboard a UFO (1980)

Mixed Motif Reports
As any student of the esoteric knows, a lot of the flying saucer/UFO phenomenon includes things that "shouldn't be there," with a mixed up scene of weird beings, telepathic communications, OBEs, NDEs, spiritual or religious moments of awe, renewed or newly found creative abilities, healing powers, cryptid type creatures,ghost type or haunting type experiences, and much more that transcends a mere nuts and bolts flying saucer craft from outer space.

Fowler has an idea about that. He refers us to Dr. Kenneth Ring, who called this medley of weirdness "mixed motif reports." Fowler believes all these things are connected; of the same source, and they or it has the same goal as far as we humans are concerned.

1947 and 1953
Fowler mentions seeing a "flying disk" in July of 1947 in Massachusetts. In 1953, Fowler investigated a crashed saucer event in Kingman, Arizona.

If you haven't read the interview yet, try to get a copy. It's particularly interesting to read Fowler's theories on what "they" are, and what "they" are doing.

Nick Redfern: Saucer-Spooks

Nick Redfern, with Saucer-Spooks, on UFO Mystic.

Movie: Creation of the Humanoids

I remember this movie, and how absolutely creepy it made me feel. I didn't like this movie at all. I was around eleven or twelve when I first saw it. It'd be interesting to see what I think of it now.

The site CyberPunk Review.com, has an extremely thorough and thoughtful piece on this movie.

Gulf Breeze

The date for the Gulf Breeze sightings is a little later than I usually comment on, (I have, as my arbitrary cut off date, 1980) but I think the events at Gulf Breeze are interesting enough that it’s worth revisiting.


Here’s an article, link found on UFO Review, from the Miami Herald:GULF BREEZE: Town recalls heyday of UFO sightings
Two decades ago, the area around the Florida Panhandle town of Gulf Breeze was the center of sightings of unidentified flying objects, byline Dusty Ricketts.

County Commissioner John Broxson saw something in Gulf Breeze in 1987:
Something bright was hovering above his home, a parade of lights of different colors and intensity. He quickly had his wife, Christina, and their friends come out to see it for themselves. No one knew what they were watching.

The unidentified flying object hovered for several moments before quickly flying straight until it was out of sight.

As the article points out, Ed Walters wasn’t the only witness to the UFO sightings. Hundreds of witnesses saw these things.

Between 1987 and the end of 1993, when most of the sightings ended, Ware said hundreds of people reported seeing UFOs in Gulf Breeze. Walters and others took more than 125 photographs of supposed UFOs just between Nov. 11, 1987, and May 1, 1988, Ware said.

The distraction of “proving” or debunking Walters, from his character to the model of a flying saucer found in his home, doesn’t address the real issues surrounding the Gulf Breeze events.

Walters described weird beeping, electronic type noises coming from one of the robotic type “aliens” he saw. It reminds me of older cases in many ways; of humanoids and robotic beings, of Mothman type electronic sounds. In other weird events, like some Hairy Biped encounters, strange beeping or electronic sounds occur.

As already mentioned; hundreds of witnesses observed UFOs in the area at the time.

Many of the images Walters took of the UFOs are similar to the clunky flying saucers from the 1950s, like Adamski’s images.


Walter's UFOs

Contactee George Adamski's flying saucer, 1952

The paper model of the UFO found in Walter’s home after he moved out seems ridiculous; why leave such damning evidence behind? Why stick it where it wouldn’t be easily found, yet found it was?

Then there was the strange story that appeared in the news around the same time; something about three (if I remember it right) G.I.’s who went “crazy,” and talked about UFOs, among other things. There was a Gulf Breeze connection there; I don’t know if they were from Gulf Breeze, or went there on a “mission” listening to some voice they heard, or what. I tried to find some links to this but didn’t find anything. (Plus, I was in a hurry.) If anyone recognizes what I’m talking about, I’d appreciate the info.

As far as hoaxes go, the article quotes Barry Karr, Director of CSI (formerly CSICOP) who supports the late Philip Klass’s belief Gulf Breeze sightings were a hoax:

'I really don't think there's any question the Gulf Breeze sightings were a hoax,'' Karr said.`There are things in the sky that can't be identified, especially near an air base. Just because it can't be identified doesn't mean it's a visitor from another planet.''

This is typical chronic skeptic disingenuousness; while it’s true that it’s an assumption, and only an assumption, that these UFOs and entities are extraterrestrial, there’s still a whole lot of strange things going on that validate investigation.

(I also wonder at Karr’s syntax: he says “there’s (no) question the Gulf Breeze sightings were a hoax,” which implies intentional deception, but in the same breath says “There are things in the sky that can’t be identified, especially near an air base. Just because it can't be identified doesn't mean it's a visitor from another planet.''
Which is it, a hoax, or misidentifications, or misperceptions, of military craft? It’s as if Karr is trying to cover all bases; hoax, assumptions, misinterpretations/misidentifications -- it’s all bunk, no matter the reason. Just dazzle them with blanket dismissal and move on.)


Personally, I think the entire Gulf Breeze events were military experiments on an entire town, and Ed Walters was their prime guinea pig. If this is true, it’s almost as astounding as entities from outer space. To brush the thing off as mere lights in the sky that can’t be identified ignores this possibility.

Sources
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/317768.htm
UFO Casebook
http://www.ufocasebook.com/gulfbreeze.html
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Adamski

Clarification: Brad Steiger's World's Before Our Own

Received a very nice email from Patrick Huyghe, of Anomalist books, thanking me for the link to Brad Steiger's book, (with a nice compliment on this blog!) Very much appreciated.

Although, I had given the wrong link yesterday; the link I gave was this, to the Anomalist news site. The link for the Anomalist books page is here.

Plan 9 From Outer Space - Best Lines

What can I say? We all know Plan 9 From Outer Space is infamously, wonderfully awful that it’s a classic. Classically awful, but I watch it everytime. It’s all so wacky.

This clip is a compilation of dialogue from the film.

I like the “electro gun,” and the tantrum throwing alien, who by the way, we can tell is an alien because of his shiny shirt who cries: “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

Enjoy!

Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden: Captured!

A new look at a classic case. . .

Stan Friedman and Kathleen Marden’s book Captured! is the next book on my list. Captured!, for those who don’t know, is the book about the Barney and Betty Hill UFO encounter and alien abduction that made international news in 1961.

This new book promises to be interesting for a lot of reasons; one, Kathleen Marden is Betty Hill’s niece, and a UFO researcher in her own right. And knowing Friedman’s patient, stick to the facts against all “noisy negativists” odds, this book, I’m sure, will be both enjoyable reading for flying saucer junkies like myself, as well as highlighting the facts of the event.

I’m looking forward to reading it.

Brad Steiger: Worlds Before Our Own

A reprint of a classic by one of the best in the field. . .

Esoteric author Brad Steiger (who is one of the writers in this field who very definitely believes in the Trickster aspect of anomalous phenomena) has a new book out. Actually, it’s a reprint of his book: Worlds Before Our Own, which was first published in 1978. The book has recently been reprinted by Anomalist Books.

You can read about the book’s history by Steiger on UFO Digest:Worlds Before Our Own.

Cover Artist Walter Popp

The artist often goes unoticed, even as we use and admire their art. Here’s one artist of those great covers, Walter Popp.

I found this link while looking for an image to go with a post over at OrangeOrb. And this image:

well, what can we say? We can get all feminist didatic about this, and with good reason. We can just admire it; depending on your gender and or preference. We can do a whole pop culture thing. Lots of ways to go with this one.

Redfern, Komarek : George Adamski

The Contactees Weren't Just Kooks

I’m a defender of the Contactees, the George Adamski's of the world. It isn’t so simple, to just brush them off as endearing (or not so endearing, depending on your perspective) kooks. Many on both sides of that rickety UFO fence consider the Contactees, such as Adamski, Daniel Fry, Van Tassel, and so on as an embarrassment. Some may look upon them as quaint; maybe not so embarrassing, but not to be taken seriously, either.

I take them very seriously. I suspect there was a lot more going on with the Contactees than meets (met?) the eye.

Colin Bennett’s book Looking for Orthon is a good book to read about George Adamski in particular, and the flying saucer Contactees American culture vibe of the times.

Nick Redfern, in his blog entry Blasts from the Past, on UFO Mystic writes:

Is all this harking back to the days of yesteryear mere coincidence or are the dastardly Greasy about to go belly-up? Surely this evolutionary decline they’re supposedly on has been going on for far too long now. Are they about to give way to their long-haired, blonde ancestors and their absurdly shiny saucers?
Interesting observation and question! Maybe something is about to turn . . .

Nick points to Ed Komarek’s
The 1950s Contactees Movement Revisited, (Part 2) which is very interesting. Komarek is into the exopolitics aspect (his blog is Exopolitics: The Study of the Politics of Extraterrestrial Contact ) of UFOs; I’m not sure I agree completely with him on some things but that’s beside the point.

I agree with Komarek and others about one thing though: it’s important for anyone interested in the UFOs of today to take a look back at the UFOs past. It’s folklore (not to be misused or synonymous with “falsehoods”) and history, and we’d miss out on a lot by forgetting about these past events. And we might miss out on what’s right in front of us, if we’re unaware of went before.

Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody

What does this have to do with anything related to Vintage UFO? Stay tuned. . .

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!

A classic film; one of my favorites. I love this movie. Made in 1951, directed by Robert Wise, and starring Michael Rennie as Klaatu, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, (Who was Dr. David Zorba in the series Ben Casey, M.D.) Billy Gray and Frances Bavier (Aunt Bea from The Andy Griffith Show)this movie remains one of the great movies of all time.

A remake is in production now. As a film buff (coming from circus, movie, and vaudeville folk -- and growing up in Hollywood -- ) I take things way too seriously when it comes to things like remakes of classic movies. What’s the point? Not often are the remakes an improvement. But that’s debatable, and putting that aside, there are some things that are classics and just shouldn’t be touched. Like covers of the Righteous Brothers Unchained Melody, some things just shouldn't be redone. Ever. For any reason. As tempting as doing the greatest version ever of Unchained Melody is (and there’s a hell of a chanteuse inside me belting out that song that brings the world to its knees, dahlings!) everyone needs to resist that temptation and just not do it. (Although I will say U2's version is pretty neat; but it's not the same. Just not the same. . .)




Anyway. Remake of the movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still. New version stars Keanu Reeves,Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates and directed by Scott Derrickson. It's in production now, filming in Vancouver and British Columbia, Canada. The U.S. release date is December, 2008.

Here are a few quotes I like from the film:

Mr. Harley: Your impatience is quite understandable.
Klaatu: I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
Mr. Harley: I'm afraid my people haven't. I'm very sorry... I wish it were otherwise.

Barnhardt: Have you tested this theory?
Klaatu: I find it works well enough to get me from one planet to another.

Klaatu: You have faith, Professor Barnhardt?
Barnhardt: It isn't faith that makes good science, Mr. Klaatu, it's curiosity. Sit down, please. There are several thousand questions I'd like to ask you.

Klaatu: I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason.

Bobby Benson: Is it different where you've been? Don't they have places like this?
Klaatu: Well, they have cemeteries, but not like this one. You see, they don't have any wars.
Bobby Benson: Gee, that's a good idea.

Suggested links:

The Day the Earth Stood Still
alansmithee.5u.com/.../scifi/1951/dess.html

Internet Movie Database
http://www.imdb.com/

Ship of Monsters

Red Pill Junkie posted links of clips of this movie over on UFO Mystic in the comment section. My browser died and I had to log back in, couldn't find the ones he posted but I'll get those back and post them later. In the meantime, I found this.

Not sure of the decade, late 50s or the 1960s, I imagine. These are some really funny monsters! I love this. I think this is the same movie that has a signing cowboy, and much more! I wish my Spanish was better! I think the women are aliens, in control of the puppet alien monsters...I have to get this movie and watch it.

Thanks to red pill junkie for the link.

Just For You, Nick

Nick Redfern, of UFO Mystic and author of many great esoteric books (On the Trail of the Saucer Spies, etc.) wrote a very nice plug for this blog today:

You won’t find any stark, black Flying Triangles, humorless black-eyed Greys, tales of Area 51, or dark and dire conspiracies here. No!

Instead, as time progresses, you’ll doubtless learn much about wobbly flying saucer film-footage; curvy and well-stacked space babes that used to enjoy hanging around the deserts of California (Where’d they go? Oh that’s right: they have cunningly infiltrated reality TV and the music biz)

And so, in thanks for the great plug and kind words, here are some images that I hope Nick,as well as the rest of you, enjoy.

Anne Francis, who I loved as Honey West when I was a kid -- I wanted to be Honey West -- in the classic sci fi movie Forbidden Planet, 1956. More accurately, these are stills from the movie:




Yvonne Craig, (Catwoman, er, Batgirl, thanks for the correction Richelle -- see comments) as a slave girl in the Star Trek episode Whom God Destroy.


Zsa Gabor, in Queens of Outer Space, and another still from the movie:




Here are some great cover art images and advertising:

Flying Saucers and Art: Part I

Meret Oppenheim, artist, 1936
Here's an interesting piece on UFOs, flying saucers and art from 1997: Indeed They Have Invaded. Look Around, by Phil Patton for the NY Times:

But the flying saucer myth also seemed to grow from the earlier, more profound sense of dream and dislocation of Dada and Surrealist art. In 1920's, Meret Oppenheim had covered a saucer -- along with a teacup and spoon -- with fur to produce one of the classic Dadaist objects.

That work seemed to emerge from the same sensibility that produced Man Ray's giant lips in the sky and Magritte's suspended bowler hats.

Patton has a different and interesting perspective, looking at a variety of cultural artistic

Zolar X

The blog Power Pop, which I just discovered by way of UFO Review, has a little item on Zolar X, who were active around 1973 to 1981. There’s a bit more on them and a YouTube video. Love that glam outer space 70s/80s rock!

Nick Redfern with Car Trouble on UFO Mystic, discussing the British Royal Air Force’s investigation into cars stalling and other vehicle troubles in connection with UFOs in the 1960s.

“The details are as follows: Mr. Wildman of Luton, a car collection driver, was traveling along the Aston Clinton road at about 0330 hrs. on 9th February 1962 when he came upon an object like a hovercraft flying approximately 30 feet above the road surface. As he approached he was traveling at 40 mph but an unknown force slowed him down to 20 mph over a distance of 400 yrd. [Note From Nick: Italics Mine For Emphasis], then the object suddenly flew off.

Daniel Brenton: Cosmonauts Lost

Daniel Brenton, The Meaning of Existence and all that blog, has a nice piece on the cosmonauts:Cosmonauts Lost.

Any space buff worth his or her salt is keenly aware of the tragic fate of Vladimir Komarov, who died on April 24, 1967, due to parachute failure after the reentry of Soyuz 1.

But the question really is: were there events like this (or ones even more dramatic) earlier in the Space Race that the Soviet Union chose to hide from us?

(By the way, Daniel is co-author of the new book
Red Moon. I have my copy and can’t wait to get to it. It looks good, too.)

Update: The Flying Saucer Song

A reader of this blog Jon Cornell,(yea, I have a reader!) e-mailed me to ask if I knew who created the Flying Saucer song. (I didn't, just posted it from YouTube.) He found out and sent me these two links:
http://hypem.com/artist/eddie+cletro++the+roundup+boys

http://armagideontime.blogspot.com/2007/09/dictatorship-of-plutotariat.html

ANTONIO VILLAS BOAS: TOTAL ABDUCTION

The Antonio Villas Boas encounter (Brazil:1957) is a classic case of high strangeness, as well as an early “modern” abduction event.
Inexplicata: The Journal of Hispanic UFOlogy revisits this case, and brings new information and questions, in ANTONIO VILLAS BOAS: TOTAL ABDUCTION (Via the Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est blog.)

Aliens from the Twilight Zone

A clip from a wonderful episode of The Twilight Zone, which of course was a great show. Aliens from Mars and Venus. Some funny stuff about cigarettes and colonizing. . .

UFOs appeared over Capitol secured area in 1952

President Truman on Flying Saucers

1935: Lizard Aliens in Texas

A very interesting item about lizard type aliens encountered in 1935 in Texas, from the EtcetraEtcetra blog.