UFO Magazine: "Defending the Contactees"

In the current issue of UFO Magazine, my column The Orange Orb addresses the Contactees "vs." abductees in Defending the Contactees.

Make sure you visit UFO Magazine on-line!

UFO Mary

I'm promoting myself. (I know, unusual isn't it?) I'm liking my newest blog; UFO Mary, though not wild about the title, and I can see that already it's evolving into something more; more general about religions, all religions, including "cults," sects, denominations, folk religions, etc. and not just Marian Apparitions. But for now, it's "UFO Mary."

UFOs and aliens, in the context of religious beliefs and interpretations. Or the other way around. It is NOT a "UFOs are the devil" (or angels) kind of site. I'm not a religious person. At. All. Crystal cruncher, sure. Religious, nah.

Well, hope that clear it up!

Visit UFO Mary here. And let me know what you think!

"Welcome to Hopskinville Nostalgia"

I just stumbled on this site; I was looking for an image I had a long time ago; a painting of the "virgin mary" but her face was an alien, a "gray." I want to put it up on my UFO-Mary blog. (No, this really isn't a shameless plug. Well, maybe a little bit of one.) Anyway, found this, and I must have this figure!!! (By the way, that Hopkinsville alien sure looks like an owl to me, doesn't it?)

On UFO Mystic: "Remembering Gray Barker"

Greg Bishop has a piece on Gray Barker,(They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers,1956 and The Silver Bridge,etc. )and a cynical mood swing in Barker's life on the UFO stuff; he wrote a poem about UFO being "shit." A "bucket of shit" ---- (there are some days I feel the same way.) Barker was a fascinating character in UFOlogy; worth learning about if you aren't familiar with him and his works.


It may strike some as strange that I consider Barker worth looking into to, or that I "defend" him. He was a hoaxer, and worse, many say. He made up stuff, he embellished, he was lax. But as always, there's more to this than just simplistic accusations of "charlatan!"

MIBs, Clowns and Helicopters

MIBs, Clowns and Helicopters is the title for my Trickster's Realm column, which will be up sometime this Monday on Binnall of America.

I was searching for an image of a creepy scary clown, hopefully with a paranormal edge, and found these images. I couldn't go on looking, I was getting very creeped out and upset. I don't like clowns. At all.

This isn't that creepy, but it gives me an uncomfortable feeling. It's just so cheesy and dirty and you just know there's something smelly and bad underneath all that supposed wholesomeness.


This is obviously scary and creepy. King's novel (I am a King fan although I haven't read his latest five books or so) IT was a good one, in a nasty awful way.


Now this one is creepy and scary but I also kind of like it in a weird, sick way. It's just so off the wall, and I'm a big fan of pulp fiction, so it doesn't quite send me over the edge into the abyss. Still, I don't want it on my night table!


For guitar picks; this is actually kind of funny, but I still can't get there.


Creepy, sick, scary . . . even though it's vintage cover art (I think, it might be an homage to that, I can't tell) it's too much. I can't deal.


Tragic, exploitative, and all too real; surreal.


Fortean Times Magazine was on to clowns. Ironic arch skeptic Benjamin Bradford wrote the article, though not surprising for FT. I found this image on a blog called The Fortean Critic, but as far as I could tell, it isn't active and only had a couple of posts. You can read the article the blogger wrote here.


Killer Clowns From Space. A cult classic, a fantastic title. I can appreciate it from afar for what it is. But, nope, I can't enjoy it. Too damn creepy.


I think this might be the among the scarier ones, because I don't think it's supposed to be scary. But it really gives off a bad vibe!


That's quite enough, I can't take any more.

So what, you may wonder, do clowns have to do with Vintage U.F.O. stuff? Well, there is a Fortean history of weird paranormal clowns and related beings to UFOs, Mothman, etc. There's also the Trickster element; is it one aspect of this clown stuff? There's a whole dark underbelly to UFO experiences that a lot of people don't address. And, as you'll read in my TR column, I muse on the possible relationships with clowns, MIBS (are they a kind of "clown?") and UFO encounters.

Now, let's see if I can get to sleep tonight. . .

New Look For The Blog

Yes, I know, I've probably been playing around too much with it, but I think this will do. I wanted something to give it that retro kind of feeling.

Greg Bishop Reports From Roswell

Great recaps from Greg Bishop, who is at the Roswell Festival right now, on UFO Mystic. Okay, that's it, I'm going next year, damnit! I appreciate Bishop's updates; enjoyable to read about what's going on as it happens, as well as the photos Greg is including.Visit UFO Mystic for the latest.

The Avengers: From Venus With Love

One of my favorite television shows is The Avengers. I still watch it the reruns. I liked the show, even when Diana Rigg left, but of course my favorite was with Rigg.

One episode was From Venus With Love. It was also the first episode to air in color, according to this website.

I'd post a YouTube clip here, but as you might know, Viacom won its lawsuit, and now YouTube has to turn over all of it's subscribers -- which means me, and no doubt you-- and you -- to Viacom. The story is that Viacom wants to check to see who's looking at copyrighted material at what times, to ensure such evil things don't continue to occur.

Sure. In the meantime, I'm staying away from YouTube. I know it's a risk we all take, being on-line, still . . .

Anyway, back to The Avengers. Great show!

http://www.tv.com/the-avengers/from-venus-
with-love/episode/65448/summary.html

Hotel Oregon Haunted?

I have a post up at Trickster Northwest about Hotel Oregon being haunted.

UFO Investigation Centre Australia

UFO Investigation Centre Australia, Bill Chalker's blog (he has another that I know of) has some interesting posts on UFO history in Australia. Chalker is author of HAIR of the ALIEN - DNA and other Forensic Evidence of Alien Abduction(2005, Paraview Pocket Press)