$5.95 www.fatemag.com Revealed May-June 2009 May-June Crop Circles Crop True ReportsTrue Unknown of the Strange and of the Impossible Physicist

Cover.qxd 5/28/09 10:48 AM Page 1 Page AM 10:48 5/28/09 Cover.qxd MAY-JUNE 2009 FATE MICHIO KAKU VOL. 62 No. 3 ISSUE 704 ifc.qxd 5/28/09 10:33 AM Page 1 001 TOC.qxd 5/28/09 10:40 AM Page 1

Proof Norse Came Before Columbus! Scholars had long noted striking similarities be- tween the language of the Native American Algo- nquin tribes of Long Island and…Old Norse! Then a Leni Lenape Indian gave Dr. Ward of Indi- ana, as payment for medical treatment, a series of engravings on wooden tablets—the Walam Olum. These pictograms and verses were translated in 1836 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque and de- scribed a massive migration over the ice from Greenland into the interior of North America. The mysterious disappearance of the Viking settlements in Greenland in the 14th century was now explained! Dr. Paine brings this fascinating era to vivid life in his two-volume narrative, Frozen Trail to Merica. The first volume, Talerman, concerns per- haps the most important man in Northeast Amer- ica at the time. It is a narrative version of Taler- man as he might have been when he led one of the most important migrations in history. The second volume tells how Talerman and his friends saved the people of Greenland by Walking to Merica. Join Dr. Myron Paine in his fictionalized retelling of this eye-opening epic!

Talerman • 6" x 9" • softcover • illus., maps • glossary • 376 pages • $29.95 Walking to Merica • 6" x 9" • softcover • illus., maps • glossary • 370 pages • $29.95

Special offer for FATE readers—both books for $49.95! See order form on page 126. 001 TOC.qxd 5/28/09 10:40 AM Page 2

May-June 2009 Volume 62 • No. 3 • Issue 704

Features Since 1948 Interview with Micho Kaku ...... Phyllis Galde 12 The physics of the impossible Atlantis in the Sunshine State ...... Gavin Callighan 21 Were Atlantis and the Garden of Eden in Tarpon Springs, Florida? The Old Quaker Lane Schoolhouse ...... Todd M. Bates 28 Ghost hunting in Annapolis, Illinois Do UFOs Have a Metaphysical Aspect? ...... Virginia M. Tilly 32 phenomena accompany sightings Crop Circle Revelation ...... George Wingfield 42 What was the message in the wheat? Thity Seconds over Pittsburgh ...... Robert A. Goerman 48 Crashed B-25 bomber vanishes The Lady in White ...... David Sakmyster 56 Ghost of the Belhurst Castle of New York Apparitions, Orbs, Ultraviolet and Infrared Photography ...... Rick Moran 64 Is it all dust and smoke? The Haunted Bypass ...... Jason Day 70 Ghostly monks attack police Ghosts on the Hill ...... Aynne McAvoy 76 House cannot be rented or sold—not for long The Earthbound Soldier ...... Bill Wharton 81 Reprinted from the May 1959 FATE Did the Cro-Magnons Discover America? ...... Lawrence D. Hills 88 Reprinted from the June 1959 FATE Columns I See By the Papers ...... Phyllis Galde 4 My View of the Unknown ...... Hilly Rose 110 The Amazing Godwin ...... David F. Godwin 160 Departments Bulletin Board ...... 11 Book Reviews ...... 94 Report from the Readers ...... 102 My Proof of Survival ...... 112 True Mystic Experiences ...... 128 001 TOC.qxd 5/28/09 10:40 AM Page 3

True Reports of the Strange and Unknown

Editor-in-Chief...... Phyllis Galde Claims and representations made in Managing Editor...... David F. Godwin are the sole responsibility of Associate Editor...... A. Honigman the advertiser. FATE magazine does not Contributing Editor...... endorse or guarantee advertiser claims. Consulting Editors ..... Brad Steiger Write to us at Advertising ...... Patricia Heller Publicity & Marketing...... John Zupansic FATE Editorial Offices Customer Service...... Nancy Gluth PO Box 460, Lakeville MN 55044-0460 Accounting ...... Angela Koloski Website: www.fatemag.com Now! Subscribe online at E-mail: [email protected] www.fatemag.com Subscription Questions Submissions: Send a SASE to the above address for writers’ guidelines, or look for them on our Call 1-800-728-2730 website. FATE takes no responsibility for 6 months (3 issues) $14.95 unsolicited submissions and does not return 1 year (6 issues) $27.95 USA items sent without return postage. 2 years (12 issues) $53.95 USA Correspondence to FATE authors should be sent Current issue postpaid $5.95 in care of the magazine for forwarding.

FATE Magazine, PO Box 460 Lakeville MN 55044-0460 FATE magazine has featured “True Reports of the Strange and Un- Sales & Circulation known” since 1948. FATE is the E-mail: [email protected] longest-running periodical in its For display or classified field and the only one to offer read- advertising information, or for newsstand sales information, ers a compelling mix of factual doc- call 1-800-728-2730. umentation, exclusive investigative E-mail: [email protected] reporting, and real personal experi- Copyright © 2009 FATE Magazine, Inc. ences serving to expand awareness, Notice to readers: Comments made in fire the imagination, and enrich columns, Report From the Readers, or lives. articles that are obviously the idea of

the writer do not necessarily represent FATE (ISSN 0014-8776) (USPS 501-470) is published bi- the opinion of FATE magazine. monthly by FATE Magazine, Inc., PO Box 460, Lakeville MN 55044-0460. FATE is a registered trademark of FATE FATE magazine is printed in the U.S.A. Magazine, Inc. Periodical postage paid at Lakeville MN on recycled paper using soy ink. and additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to FATE, PO Box 460, Lakeville MN 55044-0460. Visit Our Online Columnists! Subscriptions: $27.95 per year (add $8.00 per year postage for subscriptions to Canada and Mexico, $12.00 • Robert Goerman • Shirley McDaniel per year for all other foreign subscriptions). Printed in • Jacquelin Smith the U.S.A. www.fatemag.com Cover design by Dale O’Dell, photo by Andrea Brizzi 001 TOC.qxd 5/28/09 10:40 AM Page 4

I See by the Papers

Mind-Reading Advances DARPA is clearly very serious in their Advances in mind-reading technolo- pursuit of these types of mind-reading gy continue to accelerate. technologies, having already given out ad- In an experiment at University Col- ditional millions to the University of Cal- lege London, scientists were able to read ifornia last year to investigate the poten- people’s thoughts through brain scans tial for computer-aided telepathy.—The while the subjects were immersed in a vir- Financial Times and Wired Magazine tual reality environment. Four volunteers navigated around a Black Budget Grows room in a computerized virtual reality Defense Department budget docu- game while researchers examined their ments reveal that the Pentagon has asked brains with an MRI scanner. Using these for more than $50 billion to fund its clas- scans, scientists were able to correctly de- sified programs next year, a three percent termine where the subjects were in the increase over last year’s total. virtual reality world at any given moment. According to Aviation Week’s Bill Demis Hassabis, co-author of the Sweetman, that makes the Pentagon’s study, calls it a “small step towards the idea black budget “roughly equal in magni- of mind reading, because just by looking tude to the entire defense budgets of the at neural activity we were able to say what UK, France, or Japan.” someone was thinking.” For some further perspective, it is es- Meanwhile back in the U.S., the Pen- timated that nearly eight percent of the tagon’s Defense Advanced Research Pro- Defense Department’s total spending is jects Agency (DARPA) is stepping up its now spent on secret classified programs. push to develop telepathic communica- —Wired Magazine tion technologies for use on the battle- field. The agency’s budget for the coming Mayan Carvings Found year includes $4 million for a program The jungles of South and Central called“Silent Talk.”The program’s goal is America continue to produce amazing to “allow user-to-user communication on archaeological discoveries. the battlefield without the use of vocal- A team working in Guatemala’s ized speech through analysis of neural sig- northern jungle has uncovered 25-foot nals.”Or in other words, soldiers commu- carved stucco panels depicting monsters, nicating with each other via technologi- gods, and serpents, thought to be left by cal telepathy. the Mayan civilization around 300 B.C.

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Phyllis Galde

The carvings, discovered at El Mi- meditators have these exceptional abili- rador, one of the biggest ancient Mayan ties.”—UCLA cities in the world, are said to be the old- est known depictions of a famous Mayan Hans Holzer creation myth, the Popol Vuh.—The Daily Pioneering ghost hunter and Ami- Mail tyville Horror investigator Hans Holzer has died at the age of 89 in New York. Meditation Holzer was the author of more than Increases Brain Size 140 books on ghosts, the occult, and other We all know that lifting weights in- assorted paranormal phenomena. He also creases muscle mass, but how about ex- served as a parapsychology professor at ercises for pumping up your brain? the New York Institute of Technology. New UCLA research suggests that The contributions made by Holzer to over time, the practice of meditation ac- further the understanding of the strange tually builds brain mass. and unknown aspects of our world will High-resolution MRI scans used in be long remembered and he will be the study show that certain regions in the missed. brains of long-term meditators were larg- er than those same regions in a similar Fight Brewing over Tesla control group of non-meditators. There’s a battle brewing in New York Specifically, meditators showed sig- over the former property of Nikola Tesla. nificantly larger volumes of the hip- In 1901, Tesla began work on a glob- pocampus, areas within the frontal cor- tex, the thalamus, and the inferior tem- IMPORTANT poral gyrus, all regions known for regu- lating emotions. REMINDER “We know that people who consis- Remember to check your expiration tently meditate have a singular ability to date on the address card enclosed in cultivate positive emotions, retain emo- the plastic bag containing your tional stability, and engage in mindful be- havior,” said Eileen Luders, lead author FATE magazine. If it is two of the research.“The observed differences issues away or sooner, in brain anatomy might give us a clue why it’s time to renew! 001 TOC.qxd 5/28/09 10:40 AM Page 6

6FATE /MAY-JUNE 2009

al system of giant towers ultimately meant Tesla Memorial Society of New York, said to relay free energy through the air. It was destroying the old lab “would be a terri- to be his masterpiece. ble thing for the United States and the The first tower, standing 18 stories tall, world. It’s a piece of history.” was erected on Long Island, at a site called There is hope. Recently, New York Wardenclyffe. Tesla’s grand vision was State echoed the sentiments of those who never realized, however, and the tower and wish to protect the Wardenclyffe site, its adjoining laboratory were left incom- when the commissioner of historic preser- plete, along with the rest of his plan. Now, vation gave official state backing to the a fight is looming over the remains of the preservation effort.—The New York Times site, which has been put up for sale at a list price of $1.6 million. Flores Hobbit Update A science group on Long Island hopes Here’s an update on a story you may to turn the 16-acre site into a Tesla mu- recall from a few years ago. After discov- seum and is seeking to have the land do- ering tiny, human-like skeletons on the nated to them. But the site’s current Indonesian island of Flores, scientists de- owner, the Agfa Corporation, says it must bated for quite some time whether the sell the property to raise money in hard find represented an entirely new species economic times. of human or simply a group of modern Afga used the site from 1969 to 1992 pygmies. and then shuttered the property. The Now, two papers in the journal Na- company says it spent some $5 million on ture argue that the Flores Hobbit is in- clean-up of the site recently before decid- deed an entirely new species of human. ing to put it up for sale and simply can- The team that made the discovery of not afford to donate the site outright. the remains contends that the diminutive Tesla fans and devotees are hoping to species is descended from a prehistoric change their mind, however, with the help species of human, which reached the is- of the state if necessary. land more than a million years ago. Over “It’s hugely important to protect this thousands of generations, they argue, their site,”said Marc J. Seifer, author of Wizard, bodies most likely evolved to be smaller a Tesla biography.“He’s an icon. He stands in size through a known natural selection for what humans are supposed to do— process called island dwarfing. honor while using high technolo- Another team studying the Flores gy to harness its powers.” Hobbit, led by William Jungers from Dr. Ljubo Vujovic, president of the Stony Brook University, analyzed remains 001 TOC.qxd 5/28/09 10:40 AM Page 7

I See By the Papers 7

of the creature’s foot. The group found on a par with its famous predecessor. that, although in some ways it is rather Discovered in December 2008, Bha- human-like, and displays attributes not thal quickly wrote,“Is it ET?” next to the found in apes; in other respects it is in- printout of the signal. He has been re- credibly primitive. It is far longer than a scanning the same area of the sky ever modern human foot, and equipped with since, hoping to pick it up a second time, a very small first toe, long, curved lateral but with no luck so far. toes, and a weight-bearing structure that What was it? Some form of terrestri- resembles that of a chimp. al interference? A new type of cosmic The team says that unless the Flores pulse? Or proof of an advanced civiliza- Hobbits became more primitive over time, tion? which is highly unlikely, they must have Bhathal’s not giving up his quest to branched off from the human line at an find the answer, despite months of re- earlier date than Homo sapiens.—BBC search dedicated to the short-lived signal. Bhathal believes that the relatively new Another “Wow” Signal? Optical SETI, the hunt for alien laser sig- In 1977, SETI astronomer Dr. Jerry R. nals (as opposed to radio signals like tra- Ehman thought he might have discovered ditional SETI), holds much promise, even proof of an alien radio signal while sur- if the December 2008 signal is left unex- veying the night sky via his Ohio State tel- plained. escope. “For an advanced civilization, radio- On a printout of the radio signal, he wave technology would be old hat,” he famously wrote,“Wow!” in a show of ex- says.“My strong feeling is that if there are citement, and the discovery became civilizations out there, they will send the known henceforth as the “Wow” signal. signal by laser pulses or laser flashes.”— The nature of the “Wow” signal is de- The Australian bated to this day among SETI scientists and astronomers. Unfortunately, the sig- The Edge of Space nal has never been replicated, despite re- Where does the Earth and its atmos- peated re-surveying of that part of the sky. phere end and outer space begin? Three decades later, astrophysicist It’s a question that has long been Ragbir Bhathal, an Optical SETI re- under debate, but now a team working at searcher working at the University of the University of Calgary in Canada thinks Western Sydney in Australia, may have it has finally discovered the answer once discovered another possible alien signal and for all. 001 TOC.qxd 5/28/09 10:40 AM Page 8

8FATE /MAY-JUNE 2009

Using an instrument called the UFO Hoaxers Fined Supra-Thermal Ion Imager, the team de- UFO hoaxers beware. A New Jersey tected the Earth-space boundary by judge recently fined two men for tying tracking the gentle winds of Earth’s at- flares to helium balloons, setting them off mosphere and the more violent flows of in a field near Morris Plains, and then re- charged particles in space. By marking porting the “UFOs” to a local television this demarcation line, they have pinpoint- station. ed the transition from Earth to outer Municipal Judge Michael Carlucci space at precisely 73 miles above the plan- sentenced Chris Russo and Joe Rudy (a et’s surface. science teacher) to 50 hours of commu- The Supra-Thermal Ion Imager’s abil- nity service and a $250 fine for creating ity to gather useful data in this transition- the false disturbance. Morris County, New al area between the planet and outer space Jersey, head prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi is significant because, up until now, it has condemned the , saying the floating been nearly impossible to make accurate balloons posed a potential fire hazard and measurements in this region—too high could have interfered with air traffic at for balloons and too low for satellites. nearby Morristown Airport. “It’s only the second time that direct Judge Carlucci told the pair at sen- measurements of charged particle flows tencing, “If you were a pair of 17-year- have been made in this region, and the olds, I would tell you to grow up. [But] first time all the ingredients, such as the you’re not 17.” upper atmospheric winds, have been in- Prosecutor Bianchi said he was satis- cluded,”says project scientist David Knud- fied with the outcome of the case.“It was sen of the University of Calgary. a tremendous waste of police resources The new data “allows us to calculate and posed a serious fire threat to homes, energy flows into the Earth’s atmosphere wooded areas, and posed a significant that ultimately may be able to help us un- danger to air traffic, and tied up valuable derstand the interaction between space 911 resources.”—The Star-Ledger and our environment,” Knudsen said. “That could mean a greater understand- Templars and the Shroud ing of the link between sunspots and the In an article published by the Vatican warming and cooling of the Earth’s cli- newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, histo- mate as well as how space weather impacts rian Barbara Frale says she has uncovered satellites, communications, navigation, new clues to both the fate of the Knights and power systems.”—Live Science. com Templar and the famous and controver- 001 TOC.qxd 5/28/09 10:40 AM Page 9

I See By the Papers 9

sial Shroud of Turin. The evidence seems on the paper took his breath away. to add considerable weight to the claim “March 30, 1913.” The note went on to that the Shroud really is the burial cloth read, “Dear friend, who ever finds this of Jesus Christ. bottle, please write in [missing text] at Combing through Vatican docu- Rockford, within the next two years…and ments, Frale found an account of a Tem- let me know it [missing text]. Yours truly, plar initiation rite from the year 1287, in- Emmett Presnell, Rockford, Wash.”It had volving a young Frenchman, Arnaut Sab- taken almost a century, but Emmett Pres- batier.“[I was] shown a long piece of linen nell’s message in a bottle had finally been on which was impressed the figure of a found. man and told to worship it, kissing the Winkler’s theory is that the bottle feet three times,”the document reads. probably got caught up in a tangle of logs, This evidence suggests that the me- keeping it relatively safe for nine decades, dieval order of knights secretly venerat- until high recent high water levels likely ed the Shroud of Turin and purposely dislodged it, floating it down the river to kept it hidden. Were the Knights Templar where Winkler ultimately found it. Ac- simply fooled by a clever forgery? Or is it cording to records, the message-sender, more likely that the Shroud is indeed the Emmett Presnell, died in 1978 at the age real thing?—The Telegraph of 85. Darin Winkler has subsequently located living relatives of Presnell and Century-Old shared his amazing story with them.— Message-in-a-Bottle The Spokesman-Review Darin Winkler was out walking the banks of the Spokane River when he saw Strange Lodgings something that caught his eye. No, not haunted hotels. We’re talking Although many bits of junk and de- objects: objects lodged in bizarre places, bris wash up on the river’s shores, this for even more bizarre lengths of time. one was striking. It was unlike all of the When Prax Sanchez went to the hos- other beer and whiskey bottles along the pital for an MRI he experienced a sud- way, an antique, complete with an old- den, sharp pain under his right eye while fashioned cork stopper. Winkler picked lying in the machine. Doctors asked if he up the bottle to take a closer look at the had any kind of metal in his face from out-of-place item and that’s when he saw past medical procedures, but Sanchez said it. Inside was a piece of paper: damp, flak- he was not aware of anything. ing, but still mostly intact. The first words A short time later, Sanchez coughed 001 TOC.qxd 5/28/09 10:40 AM Page 10

10 FATE /MAY-JUNE 2009

up something unimaginable: a nail over thousands of ancient artifacts dating back one-inch long. It turns out Sanchez had to Babylonian times. a nail stuck up his nasal cavity and the The find includes royal seals, talis- magnetic force from the MRI had finally mans, and clay tablets bearing Sumerian dislodged it. Sanchez’s family doctor, inscriptions. The artifacts were discov- Jamieson Kennedy, says the nail had prob- ered in 20 different sites located between ably been up his nose for up to 30 years. the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the an- Sanchez claims he has no idea how the cient region known as Mesopotamia. Of nail got there. particular interest are clay tablets bearing Meanwhile in China, Lao Du, 55, of Sumerian cuneiform, the oldest known Zhengzhou discovered that he too had form of writing among humans.—Asti- been living with a foreign object in his gan Society body—a needle in his posterior—for more than three decades years after doc- 4,000-Year-Old tors accidentally left it there in 1978 dur- Temple Discovered ing surgery. Italian archaeologists have discovered And if that’s not enough, an Alban- the oldest religious site on Cyprus. ian woman who unknowingly lived with Maria Rosaria Belgiorno says the a bullet lodged in her cheekbone for 12 4,000-year-old triangular temple predates years has finally had it removed. Mrike any other found on the eastern Mediter- Rrucaj was sleeping when a bullet flew ranean island. into her house in 1997. Waking up cov- “It’s the most ancient religious site on ered in blood, she was rushed to the hos- the island,”she told the Associated Press. pital, where doctors determined that no “This confirms that religious worship in fragments from the bullet had been left Cyprus began much earlier than previ- behind. ously believed.” However, recent severe headaches The 2,100-square-foot building was prompted Ms. Rrucaj to visit her doctor, discovered last year outside Pyrgos, a vil- and when x-rays were taken they showed lage near the island’s south coast.—AP the bullet still lodged in her jaw.—KKTV (Colorado), Ananova, and AFP Old Art A remarkable ivory carving found at Ancient Artifacts Hohle Fels Cave in Germany may be the A team of archaeologists working in oldest sculpture of a human figure ever Iraq over the past two years has unearthed found. 001 TOC.qxd 5/28/09 10:40 AM Page 11

I See By the Papers 11

The ancient art, dubbed the Venus of tember 2008, the artifact is presumed to Hohle Fels because of its quite prominent have been made by modern humans, female characteristics, is thought to be though no one can say for sure because somewhere in the neighborhood of a Neanderthals were also still present in Eu- whopping 35,000 years old. Found in Sep- rope at the time of its creation.—BBC Bulletin Board *Paranormal Explorations Transformation Norcal Paracon 2009—July 17–19, Mon- Conference—June 12–14, Bentonville, AR terey, CA www.norcalghosthunters.com/ www.ozarkmt.com/conference.htm norcalparacon09.html Great Lakes Paranormal Convention—July Haunted America Conference—June 19–20, 24, Eveleth, MN Decatur, IL www.darkplainsradio.com/event.html www.americanspookshows.com Paracon 2009—Aug. 6–7, Sarnia, ON Academy of Spirituality & Paranormal www.paracon2009.com Studies Conference—June 19–22, Allen- 40th Annual International UFO Sympo- town, PA (860) 242-4593 sium—Aug. 6–9, Denver, CO www.aspsi.org/anco/anco.php www.mufon.com/symposia.htm Fortscape West Virginia—June 27–28, Shep- Shag Harbour UFO Festival—Aug. 14–15, herdsdown, WV www.forteans.com Shag Harbour, NS www.shagharbour.com Roswell UFO Festival—July 2–5, Roswell, Ohio Paranormal Convention—Aug. 14– NM www.ufofestivalroswell.com 16, Dayton, OH www.southernohioparanormal.org/paracon Ancient of Days 2009 Roswell UFO Con- Celtic Ireland Tour—Aug. 16–24, Ireland ference—July 4–5, Roswell, NM www.chetsnow.com/ireland www.ancientofdays.net Bay Area UFO Conference—Sept. 12–13, Chesapeake Pagan Summer Gathering— Santa Clara, CA www.thebayareaufoexpo.com July 9–12, Darlington, MD Pennsylvania UFO Conference—Oct. 17, chesapeakepagans.org/gathering/ Youngwood, PA www.pamufon.com AA-EVP Conference—July 11–12, Los An- Burlington Vortex Conference—Oct. geles, CA www.aaevp.com 30–Nov. 2, Burlington, WI www.burlingtonnews.net/burlingtonvortex Eastern Regional Paranormal Confer- conference ence—July 17–19, Harpers Ferry, WV www.cosmicpantheon.com/conference *Look for your FATE staff at these events. 012 Kaku.qxd 5/28/09 12:46 PM Page 12

Interview with Michio Kaku

photo by Andrea Brizzi

Michio Kaku.

by Phyllis Galde

ATE recently had the distinction of mensional universe. How do you envis- a personal interview with re- age these extra dimensions? nowned physicist Michio Kaku MK: We live in a three-dimensional when he visited . Kaku world. Length, width, height, and we also is the author of Physics of the Im- have the fourth dimension, which is time. possible: A Scientific Exploration But anyone who talks about higher di- intoF the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Tele- mensions is sometimes called a crackpot. potation, and Time Travel. Kaku is the Now, when I was a child, I used to go to Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical the Japanese tea garden in San Francisco Physics at the City University of New York where there are fish swimming in a shal- Graduate Center. low pond. And I imagined being a fish myself. And if I was a fish, I could travel Other Dimensions forward, backward, left, and right, but the PG: You are a proponent of string the- concept of “up” made no sense because ory, which envisages an 11- or 13-fold di- the pond is the universe.

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So I imagined there was a scientist the higher dimensions,”they said. there who would say, “Bah, humbug. The young people, however, have the There are no other dimensions other than benefits of realizing that we are now the forward, backward, left, and right. There’s center of gravity. What happened? What no such thing as up. What you see is what happened was we physicists began to is. If you cannot measure it, it doesn’t exist. smash atoms, and we have a pretty good So then I imagined as a child reaching understanding of the theory of particles. down and grabbing the fish, lifting the It’s called the Standard Model. Except it scientist into the world of up, hyperspace, is the ugliest theory known to science. the third dimension. What would he see? Why should mother nature at a funda- He would see a world where beings mental level create this ugly theory called move without fins, a new law of physics. the standard model? It has 36 quarks, it Beings breathing without water, a new law has eight gluons, it has three W bosons, of biology. Then I would put the fish back it has a whole bunch of electrons, a whole into the pond, what stories he would tell. bunch of neutrons, it just goes on and on A universe beyond the universe. and on. Well, today many physicists believe that we are the fish. We spend all our lives The Music of Creation in three dimensions, going forward, back- Why should this be nature’s supreme ward, left and right, up and down. And theory? It’s like getting an aardvark, a anyone who talks about another, unseen platypus, and a whale, start shaping them dimension is considered a crackpot. Well, together and calling this nature’s finest not anymore. This summer, the largest evolutionary creation, the byproduct of machine that science ever built, the Large millions of years of evolution of the earth. Hadron Collider, 27 miles in circumfer- I would like to believe that these 36 ence, costing eight billion euros (about quarks, eight gluons, three W bosons are ten billion dollars), will be turned on. And nothing but the lowest octave of a vibrat- we hope to get evidence of the eleventh ing string. dimension. One of time, ten of space. Now, these strings are special. They We work in an area called string the- are not ordinary strings. These strings, ory,which used to be a bunch of outcasts when they vibrate, create the musical in the physics community. But now, we’re notes which correspond to the particles center stage. We have gotten the major we see in the universe. We can explain why faculty positions at Harvard, Princeton, we have leptons, muons, hadrons, pho- Yale; all the young crowd coming up are tons, neutrinos, the zoo of subatomic par- string theorists. My generation suffered ticles; it’s nothing but the lowest vibra- enormously because people thought,“Oh tion of the string. The normal aspect of my god, this is Star Trek, beam me up to the string is that they only vibrate in ten 012 Kaku.qxd 5/28/09 12:46 PM Page 14

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or eleven dimensions. They vibrate in ten You’d be able to disappear, reappear.You’d dimensions. When you add membranes be able to reach inside a safe, steal the gold or beach balls, they can vibrate in eleven without ever breaking open the safe. dimensions. So we think that’s what the If you were to put a flatlander in jail— Big Bang was. The Big Bang was an insta- what is jail? Jail is a circle.You draw a cir- bility in eleven-dimensional hyperspace. cle around one of these cookie men, flat Einstein wanted to read the mind of as a pancake on a tabletop. A circle is God. That was his goal in life. He wanted prison. So, you say to these people,“Why an equation one-inch long that would don’t you escape prison?” And they say, allow him to read God’s thoughts. That’s “Why? How? Everywhere I move I bump what dominated his thinking. For the first into the wall.”And then you say, “Well, time now, we have a candidate for the why not move up?” And then they say, mind of God. The mind of God is: cos- “There is no such thing as up. Only mys- mic music resonating through eleven-di- tics and crazy people talk about up. mensional hyperspace. That is, we think, There’s no such thing as up.” the mind of God. Well, if you were to just lift them off, PG: So you think Einstein was right? what would they see? As they float in three MK: He was on to it. He didn’t go far dimensions, they would see cross-sections enough, basically. of our world as they begin to float verti- cally upward. So if they were to see us, Flatland what would we look like? If they looked PG: Could the unseen dimensions at my chest, they would see three balls. contain or conceal various paranormal They would see two arms and a torso. phenomena such as UFOs, ghosts, psy- Three balls. As they move higher and chokinesis, metal-bending? higher, the three balls coalesce into one. MK: Well, a hundred years ago, at the So that’s my neck. And as they go higher, turn of the last century, the idea of these the balls disappear entirely, and that’s be- higher dimensions began to penetrate into cause they’re over my head. That’s how British society. People began to speculate they would visualize us. They would think about these things. And then people began of us as a god because we could break out to ask a simple question: If you look down of jail, we could go right over walls, noth- on a lower-dimensional world, how would ing can stop us. they look at you? Around 1900 in Victorian England, People began to realize that if you look they began to ask: Who lives in these down on a flatland, people living on a higher dimensions? Who has the ability tabletop, you would have the power of a of walking through walls, disappearing, god.You’d be able to walk through walls. reappearing somewhere else, reaching into 012 Kaku.qxd 5/28/09 12:46 PM Page 15

Interview with Michio Kaku 15

a safe, grabbing the gold. And they said, “Ghosts have that power.” Around the turn of the last century there was a whole movement saying that ghosts could live in these higher dimen- sions. The Church got involved; they said that maybe God lives in the fourth dimen- sion. One theologian even said that four dimensions is too small for God. God should live in infinite dimensional hyper- space. Well, nothing happened, because you couldn’t measure these dimensions. You couldn’t do anything with it. There was no theory of these higher dimensions. Then Einstein comes along and says that time is the fourth dimension, and the makes up 23 percent of the universe. It’s simplest consequence of it is: the atomic invisible, but it has weight. We hope to bomb. And that scared the hell out of peo- find evidence of dark matter which is pre- ple. So for a generation all of this think- dicted by string theory. ing was lost. People said: Oh my god, the Also, we want to have direct evidence fourth dimension means like the sorcerer’s of a parallel universe. If a parallel universe apprentice, opening up powers, cosmic exists in this room, then Newton’s laws powers that we were not destined to see; would be wrong in this room. The inverse that is nuclear energy, the power of the square law, for example, only works in sun coming from e=mc2. three dimensions. If the universe is four- dimensional, it would be the universe Parallel Universes cubed. We string theorists, a hundred years At the University of Colorado they’ve later, are beginning to reexamine things actually done the first experiment meas- and realize that perhaps there are these uring gravity on a small scale to test New- higher dimensions. We are going to try to ton’s theory of gravity. We use this theory measure these dimensions: (a) with the of gravity for our spaceships and our Large Hadron Collider opening up this space probes, but not inside a room. Well, summer, and also (b) through dark mat- the experiment was done a few years ago ter. We now realize that there is an invis- and the result came out negative. But to ible form of matter called dark matter. It me that simply means there’s no parallel 012 Kaku.qxd 5/28/09 12:46 PM Page 16

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universe in Colorado. There could be par- whether he could leave his body. And he allel universes everywhere, but in Col- did. And he wrote about it. There is a orado we find no evidence of that. rather famous essay where he writes about This is a very hot topic. It is now a le- being put into this chamber with sensory gitimate subject to look for evidence of deprivation and then seeing himself rise parallel universes and higher dimensions. from the chamber and then look at him- self from a distance. ESP in the Lab The question is, what does that mean? PG: What about psychic people who He said that he’s not sure what it means can see into other dimensions? I am 180 but it is compatible with dreaming. He’s degrees different from you. One of my not saying this is dreaming but the body brothers is a nuclear physicist, and so he can imagine itself leaving itself. That has this kind of brain. I am very intuitive. doesn’t mean it actually happened; it I grew up in a haunted house seeing means the body can imagine itself doing ghosts and seeing otherworldly creatures. that. I have all my life. As a physicist, I work on what is meas- MK: Well, I’m a physicist. We only be- urable, what is is testable, what is repro- lieve in what we can measure with repro- ducible in the laboratory. These experi- ducible results. Dark matter we can meas- ments are going on now, so this is serious ure. It is invisible; it makes up a huge business. chunk of the universe. It’s mysterious, but Let’s talk about telepathy and psy- we know it’s there. Higher dimensions, chokinesis. We physicists approach the we’re not sure. Remember we’re building concept of telepathy and psychokinesis in the Large Hadron Collider, we’re build- terms of what we can demonstrate in the ing these experiments on dark matter. We laboratory. We now know that with an can’t say one way or the other. We think MRI scan we can begin to read the it is true. That’s why we’re devoting our thoughts, primitive thoughts, that are rac- lives and our professional careers to build- ing inside our minds. ing machines which may access some of In Japan, for example, you can show these higher dimensions, but we can’t say somebody a picture of a dog, a cat, a table, one way or another. a ball. Read their MRI scans. Have a dic- PG: Have you ever had any other- tionary between the scan and a ball, the worldly experience yourself? scan and a dog, and tell every time what MK: Well, Richard Feynman, who was you are looking at. With the MRI machine one of the founders of modern physics— you can, quote, read the thoughts, simple he won the Nobel prize—put himself in thoughts, of somebody looking at simple a hyperbaric chamber. He tried to see objects. Maybe ten objects. But in the fu- 012 Kaku.qxd 5/28/09 12:46 PM Page 17

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ture we should be able to exponentially separate the stars and the galaxies one grow that number. We should be able to must travel at speeds in excess of light or tell whether or not somebody is thinking else make use of black holes or postulated about a chair, a table, a dog, a house, a “wormholes” in space-time, or journey rocketship, or what have you, because we times will be in thousands or millions of have the brain patterns listed. years. Is such interstellar travel a realistic Also, if you put a chip in the brain we possibility for advanced civilizations or can then begin to have the brain control are such things always to remain in the objects around it. This is a very primitive realm of science fiction? form of psychokinesis. MK: First of all, if you talk to the av- A stroke victim at Brown University erage scientist about UFOs, aliens, inter- has been placed into a device connecting galactic travel, and stuff like that, most of his partially-dead brain to a laptop. He the time their eyes roll up to the ceiling can control the cursor on the screen. He and they start to giggle. This is called the can now do crossword puzzles, he can surf giggle factor. And they say the distances the web, read email, write email, and he’s between stars are so great that UFOs, in- paralyzed. terstellar travel is not possible. What was once forbidden, accessing But that’s using today’s physics. Today people’s thoughts, the secrets are now for us it is impossible for us to go to the slowly coming out. stars. It’s impossible for us even to go much beyond Jupiter. But that assumes Extraterrestrial Contact today’s technology. If you assume a civi- PG: Do you think there is a chance for lization is a thousand years, a million mind control if we have such chips in our years, more advanced than us, then whole brains, if we have implants? new realms of physics open up. And a mil- MK: So far the answer is no, because lion years, on the scale of the universe, is all we do is read what already exists. If you nothing. It’s just the blink of an eye. So, I want to have somebody think of a ball don’t laugh. I don’t giggle when people without showing them a ball, we don’t talk about extraterrestrial civilizations be- know how to project that into that per- cause maybe they’re there and we’re too son’s mind. stupid to know it. If we ever encounter extraterrestrial If you had a galactic civilization, how civilizations, they may be at a point where would they explore the universe? They they can access the human brain without would not send Captain Kirk going from having to use language. But we are only planet to planet to planet. That is the stu- children doing this. pidest possible way to explore the galaxy. PG: To travel the huge distances which There are billions of planets out there.You 012 Kaku.qxd 5/28/09 12:46 PM Page 18

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can’t send a starship going to every single HAL could happen? Where the computer planet. What you do is you get a robot gets intelligent and it starts controlling that replicates itself, lands on a moon things? (moons are quite stable), digs the soil, and MK: Well, robots today have the in- makes copies of itself; millions of copies. telligence of a cockroach—a retarded They shoot out to other moons, create cockroach. They can barely walk across copies of themselves, and they shoot out. the room. They can barely recognize pat- Starting with one robot, you get a million. terns. They are so stupid. Then a million times a million. Then a I think 2001 was off by a hundred million times a million times a million. years. It should have been 2100. In 2100 And pretty soon you have a sphere ex- we’ll have an operating moon base. Right panding at the speed of light containing now we’re so primitive that if there is ev- trillions upon trillions of these probes, idence of visitation, we would never know. probing the galaxy. Let’s say that on our moon right now Now where have we seen that before? there is a probe that is a million years old, That’s a virus. The virus is the simplest left by a passing galactic civilization that way for one molecule to colonize your has used our moon as a base to explore body to give you a cold in two weeks. One this sector of the galaxy. Would we know molecule infects trillions of cells to give it? No, we are so primitive, we wouldn’t you a cold. even know it. A galactic civilization would land on Then the other question. our moon and build a probe to build asked himself this question: Are we ad- copies of itself. Now where have we seen vanced enough to know that our sector that before? The movie 2001: A Space of the galaxy is inhabited? Let’s say that Odyssey…the most realistic encounter there is a galactic civilization, and many with extraterrestrial intelligence. of these planets are inhabited. Would we Stanley Kubrick, when he made the know? And the answer is “no.” film, interviewed astrophysicists and had Let’s say that we’re walking down a ten minutes of the film with interviews, country road and we see an anthill. Do and they laid it out: This is the most math- you go down to the ants and say,“I bring ematically efficient way to explore the uni- you trinkets. I bring you beads. I give you verse. Then he cut the first ten minutes of nuclear energy. I give you ant paradise, his own film. And then this film became ant utopia. Take me to your leader”? Is very mystical. But if you watch it, it is the that what you tell them? Or do you have most realistic encounter with a civiliza- this urge to step on a few of them? If tion in outer space. somebody’s building a ten-lane super- PG: Do you think something like highway next to an anhill, would the ants 012 Kaku.qxd 5/28/09 12:46 PM Page 19

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know what a ten-lane superhighway was? meet your teenage mother before you are Would they be able to communicate with born and she falls in love with you; you’re the workers? Would they even know that in deep trouble. But if you hop stream, if these are humans who are building this the universe opens up a parallel universe, thing? They’d be clueless, totally clueless. then you’ve basically met somebody else’s They wouldn’t know how to communi- teenage mother who looks like your cate. They wouldn’t know the frequen- teenaged mother but is not. There are no cies, they wouldn’t know what a ten-lane time paradoxes involved. superhighway was. They don’t know what These are solutions of Einstein’s equa- a car is, they don’t know what a truck is. tions. This is not just somebody dream- The distance between ants and us is ing a science-fiction story. We have math- actually quite small compared to the dis- ematical realizations of all these things. tance between us and what is called a Many, many designs have been proposed, type-three civilization. So if there is a type- all of them consistent with Einstein. The three civilization in our backyard, we problem is energy. You need fabulous wouldn’t even know. They could be right amounts of energy to do this. there. Ants just staring at a highway, won- It takes a lot of energy to keep me on dering, what is this? the floor. It takes the earth just to keep me on the floor. So, it would take a star to Time Travel Is Possible bend the fabric of space and time. And PG: Do you believe it’s possible to that’s what you need to create a time ma- make a time machine? chine. Anyway, in my book I give a design. MK: It may be possible. It seems to be PG: Do you ever read science fiction? consistent with the laws of physics. MK: Yes,I used to read the Asimov se- You need fabulous amounts of energy, ries. comparable to a black hole. Michael J. Fox PG: I taught science-fiction in high with his DeLorean cannot do it. school.You’ve read A Wrinkle in Time, by Einstein said that time is a river, a me- Madeleine L’Engle? andering river. We measure that with our MK: Right. In fact, in that book, it was satellites. A GPS satellite slows down in a tesseract that was the gateway. A tesser- outer space. We measure that every day. act is a four-dimensional unraveled hy- Your GPS would fail without Einstein. But percube. the new wrinkle is the river of time may have forks. If the river of time forks, then That One Percent perhaps you can go backwards in time PG: Are there any UFO researchers’ without a time paradox. arguments you find compelling? So, you go backwards in time and MK: I get a lot of sightings, but 99 per- 012 Kaku.qxd 5/28/09 12:46 PM Page 20

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cent of them can be dismissed as radar the people who developed this transistor echoes, swamp gas, the planet Venus, or that thing, and it was done by hard weather satellites, meteorites, atmospheric work and patience, not by mind reading. anomalies…it’s that one percent that gives But when you talk about visitation, you you the willies. It’s that one percent that need hard proof. That requires either alien is multiple sightings by multiple modes. DNA or an alien ship. Until that happens, They are the hardest to debunk, the fa- this is going to go on forever. People will mous one being the JAL sightings where argue forever, whether that was a meteor you had an object off a JAL airline. or a . The hardest to dismiss are those that PG: Some say that the aliens can cloak involve radar sighting, visual sighting, by themselves. not just one person but a whole crew on MK: Well, we’re going to be able to an airplane. cloak ourselves very soon. We will be able What we need…see, this will go on to cloak an object under visible light in a forever. Forever and ever people will say, few decades. It’s in my book. I have a “I saw something.”And then people will whole chapter on invisibility. say, “Well, what did you see?” What we Maybe they’re here. Maybe they are need is more direct, tangible proof. That invisible. We would never know. is, alien DNA. If we had alien DNA that But my personal attitude is that we would end it right there. But so far, no may not be very interesting to them. They alien DNA. may come and visit us once in a while, Second of all, an alien ship. That but would you engage in a conversation would also end it. Any sign that there’s an with ants? You may not. alien culture, information that is differ- We think we’re so great that they’re ent from our information. That would going to want to come down and give us end it right there. But some people say all the fruits of their technology. Why well, maybe our technology came from would they do that? We’re not that inter- aliens. Well, it’s not a testable theory. esting to them. If they can go from star to PG: Reverse engineering? star, they are automatically 2,000 years MK: It’s not testable. I can say that it’s ahead of us, meaning that we may not be not reverse engineering because I know that interesting to them. ;

“This whole creation is essentially subjective, and the dream is the theater where the dreamer is at once scene, actor, prompter, stage manager, author, audience, and critic.” —Carl Gustav Jung 021 Atlantis.qxd 5/28/09 10:51 AM Page 21

Atlantis in the Sunshine State

Alternative archaeologist John Saxer standing beside one of the many so-called Atlantis Stones, located on a front lawn on Firecreek Court residence in Holiday, Florida. It is this stone which he believes most closely resembles the drogue stones studied by David F. Fasold near Ararat in Turkey.

by Gavin Callaghan

he bad boy of the Ancient Astro- sighted along the Anclote River in the nauts Society, John Christian 1960s, to miracle healings at St. Michael’s Saxer, has a new theory about At- Shrine and assorted ghostly phenomena. lantis that he hopes will turn the Now, John Christian Saxer, local bicycle paranormal community—and store mechanic, bartender, and amateur the world at large—on its ear. archaeologist, has suggested that this hot, T sun-bleached town is what he calls that The Myth of Atlantis “…most special of locations on the Tarpon Springs, Florida, a picturesque GREAT MOTHER EARTH,” known to fishing village on the Gulf of Mexico, is the Hebrews as Eden, and to the Greeks no stranger to reports of paranormal phe- as Atlantis. nomena, from the so-called Sandman “Eden’s Garden is as Plato said it

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would be,” Saxer writes in one of his that these scholars did not have: the so- leaflets,“at the center of a plain that is 200 called “Atlantis stones,” gigantic mono- miles by 300 miles in size on the protected liths that dot the landscape throughout coast. The ancient Greek writers called it west-central Florida. Saxer asserts his own the Garden of the Hesperides…” The claim to the rocks under the law of sal- writers of Old Testament were mistaken vage, since it was he who first realized the when they placed the mythical Garden of debris field for what it was: the wrecks of Eden in the Middle East between the the fleet of lost Atlantis. Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Instead, Saxer John Saxer first burst onto the Florida claims, “The oracles first spoke here, in scene in October 2004, when an article Florida. This was long before the ompha- about his theories appeared in the New los stone was first brought from Atlantis Port Richey publication The Suncoast to Delphi.” News. Soon, Saxer’s story was being cov- Indeed, Saxer transfers the ultimate ered on local television, on the Internet, origin of our familiar biblical and classi- and in local newspapers. cal legends from the Mediterranean and Saxer has been indefatigable in his at- Middle East to ancient America. Ameri- tempts to gain recognition and support cans, writes Saxer,“are the Former Spirit for his point of view: lobbying U.S. Con- of Atlantis (Land of Atlas… Tarpon gressman Gus Bilirakis for state recogni- Springs was the ancient Garden of the tion, distributing pro-Eden flyers at the Greeks’ Eden; the Garden of the three local Greek Orthodox Epiphany celebra- Hesperides [i.e. Paradise], daughters of tion at Spring Bayou every year, and even Atlas and Hesperus and granddaughters running unsuccessfully for mayor of Tar- of Poseidon and Cleito.” pon Springs as a write-in candidate. The literature regarding Atlantis is Saxer’s unsuccessful attempts to donate vast, and many locations have been sug- some of his Atlantis stones to his alma gested as the seat of Plato’s legendary lost mater was covered in a June 2007 story in empire, including the ancient Mediter- the University of Wisconsin alumni jour- ranean island of Santorini, the ancient nal The Isthmus. city of Troy, or a sunken island in the At- The gigantic stones, which contain lantic. Saxer suggests an American loca- apparently perfectly bored holes and tion for Atlantis. Edgar Cayce, too, placed which may number more than 200, are Atlantis “between the Gulf of Mexico on located along the roadsides, highways, and the one hand and the Mediterranean even in the front yards of local Florida upon the other.” Saxer’s location for At- residents. They resemble the “drogue lantis is on the peninsula of Florida. stones” studied by the late David F.Fasold But Saxer claims to have something in Turkey and theorized by him to have 021 Atlantis.qxd 5/28/09 10:51 AM Page 23

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functioned as sea anchors for an ancient, ing for this lost history all my life, my life- massive, antediluvian vessel—although long goal being to find an Eden which was the explicitly Christian and cruciform pet- a terrestrial Eden, located somewhere on roglyphs found on the drogue stones are the Earth,”an Eden of which Saxer claims completely lacking here. to be the living avatar or prophet. Some of the stones are located up to Saxer studied philosophy and archae- eight miles inland, indicating “a massive ology at the University of Wisconsin. One tidal wave in the past,”caused by an earth day in class, a philosophy professor flip approximately 12,800 years ago. Such scolded him for his approach: “Philoso- disastrous earth flips, Saxer believes, occur phy only supplies the right questions; ar- every 6,400 years or so, caused by the ap- chaeology, on the other hand, supplies the proaching orbit of an unknown planet right answers. What you are looking for identified by the ancients as Anubis, Nibiru, cannot be learned from philosophy, Mr. or Marduk. The planet is set to pass near Saxer. Your questions can only be an- Earth in 2012, says Saxer, connecting this swered archaeologically.” potentially disastrous event with the ap- In response, Saxer walked straight out proaching end of the Mayan calendar. of the classroom. That same instant, his Saxer’s ideas regarding Atlantis, Eden, desire to find Eden was sparked. and earth flips, are but the tip of the ice- “I’m searching for mankind’s soul, not berg of his beliefs. Saxer has written him- just my own. Everyone is searching for the self into the fabric of his theories. Not only source of our own existence.” is he the lawful owner of the Atlantis Saxer was a member of the Ancient stones, he is also the rightful king of Astronauts Society, long before it was re- Switzerland, the emperor of Europe, and named the Archaeology, Astronautics & even an avatar or messiah. SETI Research Association. He left, or was asked to leave, the AAS at age 26. “I was My Interview with John Saxer the only member ever to be kicked out I met with Saxer in January 2008. He after I tried to change the direction of the proved to be a man of animated expres- society.” sion and great energy, a bit dirty from his The society’s publication Legendary long day on the job as a mechanic, but Times pre-emptively rejects any “articles with bright eyes and a ready grin. I was by authors claiming to be initiates, impressed by his kind manner and the prophets, adepts, holders of secret lore or high regard in which he was held by the knowledge, recipients of private revela- café patrons and residents of the town. tions given to them by beings from a “Mankind has lost its history,” Saxer higher plane, and similar unscientific tells me emphatically.“I have been search- mumbo-jumbo.” 021 Atlantis.qxd 5/28/09 10:51 AM Page 24

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Saxer’s theory about Atlantis devel- idence of possible Chinese visits to Amer- oped slowly over 37 years of study. His ica, 1,000 years before Christopher fascination with the Tarpon Springs river Columbus. These stones are smaller than system began 13 years ago, when he first Saxer’s Florida discoveries, and many of came to Florida and before he realized the them are thought to have been formed importance of the stones. Saxer was fas- naturally on the ocean floor. cinated by the intricate, idyllic appearance of the streams, and began to think they The Experiments of Poseidon had been artificially constructed. His Eu- Like that earlier visionary (some say reka moment came after watching the madman) Richard S. Shaver, who identi- story of David Fasold’s study of the fied ancient bas-reliefs and sculptures in drogue-stones near Mt. Ararat. mineral formations, Saxer claims to see To accommodate the enormous an- an irrefutable image of mankind’s origins chor stones, Saxer theorizes that the At- in the system of supposed canals in Tar- lantean ships must have been huge, 200 pon Springs—an image formed by Posei- feet wide by 600 feet long, with 10 or 20 don himself out of the Anclote River, or so of the mammoth anchors sus- which Saxer identifies with the Arcadian pended from the decks with a mechanism River mentioned by the classical writers. for raising or lowering. “The first arks,” According to Saxer, Poseidon renamed he writes,“were built by Atlanteans so very the Arcadian river “Ladon” (Saxer spells long ago, at Wakulla Springs where the it “Laden”), and fashioned it into an image natural resources are plentiful for ark that forms “a symbol that no man can building.” erase or deny.”Saxer refers to the passage Little is known about the stone mono- in Plato’s Critias, in which Critias speaks liths that dot the west Florida landscape, of how Poseidon enclosed the Atlantean and even among experts, there is no clear hill of Euenor by “making alternating consensus. Some local authorities believe zones of sea and land, larger and smaller, the stones are entirely natural, while oth- encircling one another…” ers think they may have been worked by “The picture or mark that Plato said human hands. Saxer believes that the Poseidon…dug out of the soil at central stones were artificially constructed dur- Eden,”Saxer writes,“is a way of regaining ing the prehistoric period from mortar the upper had over confusion, apathy, ig- and concrete. norance, and fear and returning mankind Similar stones with holes, discovered to their source at the Sacred Garden; a off the California coast and in Mexican sign to all of His monumental effort and waters in the 1970s, are theorized to have Love for His firstborns and their descen- been anchors, and have been taken as ev- dants; ourselves.” 021 Atlantis.qxd 5/28/09 10:51 AM Page 25

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In this picture, Poseidon “stands as if similar to counterparts on the other side officiating behind Adam (Atlas)…hands of the Atlantic, and at some ancient sites rejoicing in his efforts.” Poseidon holds in North America.” “the gift of eternal life in His righteous hands; the Holy Grail OF MANKIND’s The Earth Flip Eternal Life; The Spring of Rejuvenating Saxer’s theory about the catastrophic Life that Ponce [de Leon] sought (and earth flip that destroyed Atlantis and found here 500 years ago).” caused the Great Flood was sparked by In Saxer’s reading of classical history, the reproduction of strange old map he the ancient sea god Poseidon, described found in a book that showed Atlantis up- by Plato as the patron god of Atlantis, is right with the rest of the earth upside- a pivotal figure.“Poseidon,”Saxer explains, down (presumably, the map drawn by was “no imaginary figure,” but rather “a Father Athanasius Kircher in 1665, repro- wonderful genealogist extraordinaire…” duced in Charles Berlitz’s Atlantis). The name Poseidon, he says, means “Pos- “The earth,”Saxer realized, “was up- sessor of Eden [i.e.‘Pos’ + ‘Eden’].” side-down before the Flood of Noah.”The Poseidon’s genetic manipulation re- Flood was caused by an earth flip that in- sulted in the creation of what Saxer calls undated the globe, scattering the At- “the children of Eden.” Humans are the lantean fleet, as well as their anchors, descendants of an amphibious race of ser- which are now to be found littered across pent men and women, who are able to re- the Florida landscape. instill their ideas through reincarnation “Humankind and the earth are now as a race of elect avatars into humanity in a dangerous position. What I see in the over time. Evidence of these creatures is evidence of the rocks suggests the possi- preserved in the legends of Cecrops, the bility of a worldwide future disaster if an- Nommo, Oannes, and Dagon. other such world flip occurs.” This will Far more compelling than Saxer’s “ge- not be, Saxer warns,“a Hollywood com- netic fish hatcheries” are two carvings of edy to be amused by, but an actual up and human faces found on one of the mono- coming worldwide disaster beyond bib- lithic stones located in downtown Port lical in scale. Waves as high as three miles Richey. The carvings show two flat, rather will be traveling over continents at 300 featureless human faces, one with an open plus miles per hour as the earth flips pole- mouth, the other with mouth closed. to-pole 180 degrees plus or minus ten de- “According to Saxer, they portray grees or so at every 6,400 years.” ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve,’” writes Archie Esch- Saxer connects this earth flip with born. “One thing is certain: they do in- human thoughts. Human emotions have deed appear to be ancient, carved faces the ability to attract or repel the phantom 021 Atlantis.qxd 5/28/09 10:51 AM Page 26

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planet Saxer holds responsible for these We all ought to get along, and so push this recurrent disasters.Violence and destruc- planet, Marduk, Nibiru, whatever it is tion somehow work to attract the planet called, mentally push it away by being into the vicinity of our orbit. peaceful.” Saxer’s idea of a cosmic disaster linked Later, Saxer says, “I’m not doing this to earthly catastrophes like the one that for myself, since I see no future for the destroyed Atlantis exists as far back as earth beyond 2012 if we do not change Plato’s original account. Plato begins his our ways and become more peaceful. I’m Timaeus dialogue with an allegorical in- doing this in order to save the world.” terpretation of the myth of Phaethon Saxer reasons that his own authority crashing his father’s chariot into the earth, preempts that of all the crowned heads of a myth which, Plato writes,“really signi- Europe. He is the true emperor of Chris- fies a deviation from their courses of the tendom. Saxer traces both English and bodies moving around the Earth and in American democracy to “Swiss common the heavens.” law,”the American Bill of Rights being “a Saxer’s earth flip idea has precursors descendant” of Swiss ruler, Johane Peter in ’s book The Secret von Sax. School and Edgar Cayce’s psychic read- “I am humbled and proud to be his ings, both of which trace the destruction descendant,”Saxer writes.“My family ‘von of Atlantis to what Cayce cryptically calls Sax’ was responsible for bringing mod- a “changing” of “the poles,” although ern democracy to the world.” Cayce places this first of three Atlantean Saxer says he was led along the path disasters many thousands of years earlier toward rediscovering this heritage through than Saxer’s, at around 50,000 B.C. some force of genetic manipulation or di- vine intervention.“At the age of 12, I was An Emperor and an Avatar able to recite from memory passages of “I am basically a Merovingian king, Swiss common law—passages I had never trying to warn the world—a tool to tell read. How could I know that?” the truth,”Saxer says.“There is a world of “The proof that this secret process of possibility, and mankind has a choice: be- reincarnation exists is that this is the only tween destruction and peace. If the way that human religion can be sustained human race can achieve peace before throughout history.”Extraterrestrials cre- 2012, disaster can be averted. Whatever ated the mermen and mermaids of an- enemies the nations of the earth think cient Atlantis so that these creatures would they face, no enemy is so bad as a possi- have a bloodline in which to reincarnate ble worldwide deluge. There are worse themselves throughout time. things, even, than the devil. Be peaceful. In his writings, however, Saxer goes 021 Atlantis.qxd 5/28/09 10:51 AM Page 27

Atlantis in the Sunshine State 27

even further, and identifies himself, not mids of Rock Lake seems likely. The an- only as a king, but a messiah. Saxer’s proof cient mounds of Aztalan in Wisconsin, as of this is that he has found Eden:“IF THE well as those excavated in Ohio and Mis- AVATAR CAN NOT GET TO Biblical souri, contain sand and shells specifically EDEN, than [sic] TRUE EDEN will come imported from the Florida Gulf Coast, to the AVATAR.” luxury goods reserved for the aristocratic Unlike many other mouthpieces of di- and priestly elite and which served ritu- vine law throughout human history, alistic and ceremonial purposes. Saxer’s claims are resolutely democratic Atlantean scholars and FATE readers and anti-authoritarian. His avatar status will find much to criticize in Saxer’s the- is less a messianic ascension than a per- ories, and no doubt many will see little sona he took upon himself, enabling him that is new in his ideas. Still, much of to stand up to what he terms “false author- Saxer’s methodology, questionable as it ity.” is, has a much earlier exemplar: Plato him- Leaving Saxer’s house, I inquired self. Plato attempted to validate his story about his rent. of Atlantis by attributing it to priests of “I don’t pay rent,”Saxer tells me with the much older Egyptian tradition. While a smile. “Not since I knighted the owner Saxer’s approach is highly syncretic, so of the house. I was just a king then, not too, is Plato’s. Plato’s legend of Atlantis an emperor, like I am now. I knighted the combines diverse Hebrew, Egyptian, and guy and saved $2,000 rent by giving him Greek elements within his narrative. a $35 sword.” Saxer’s association of a catastrophic earth flip with human violence and negative Reactions to Saxer’s Claims emotions is no less moralistic than Plato’s Reactions to Saxer’s claims have been account of the destruction of Atlantis due various. Archie Eschborn observes in An- to the corruption, violence, and decadence cient American, “While neither [archae- of its inhabitants. ologist William] Donato nor I were Whatever one believes, Saxer still has willing to embrace Saxer’s Garden of Eden the stones, and the Florida stones are not explanation, there seems to be some ar- part of Saxer’s imagination, no matter chaeological evidence to suggest that an- how he has subsumed them into the fab- cient trade may have taken place along ric of his syncretic beliefs. ; the Florida coast.” That this ancient trade may have some Gavin Callaghan is an independent re- relation to the copper-mining cultures of searcher, writer, and artist, whose work has ancient pre-Columbian America de- been published in Studies in Weird Fiction scribed by Frank Joseph in The Lost Pyra- and Political Affairs Online. 028 Quaker.qxd 5/28/09 10:53 AM Page 28

The Old Quaker Lane Schoolhouse Annapolis, Illinois

The author in the interior of the ruined schoolhouse.

by Todd M. Bates

ur initial investigation of the videos, and electronic voice phenomena Old Quaker Lane Schoolhouse (EVP). Before sharing our experiences, in Annapolis began June 3, here’s a brief history of the school. 2002, and we have conducted The Old Quaker Lane Schoolhouse ongoing investigations at this was in full operation until 1944, when it location since then. We have was sold to a local landowner who per- Ohad many encounters here, with several manently closed it. The school had in- witnesses to back them up along with structed children from grades one to eight physical evidence including photos, and had been operated by only one

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teacher. There was no electricity or heat child. The moans turned into words say- (other than an old wood stove) until the ing,“Mom.”The child spoke as if she had early 1940s. The building is very small and lost her mother and didn’t know who to is now being used as a storage area for the turn to. We also captured the sounds of landowner. It was set up like a lot of other children singing “Joy to the World.” schools of this time, with a large wood- We returned to the school two nights shed, well pump, boys’ and girls’ out- later with our recording equipment. We houses, and a large playing area. set up the camera once again in the west window while we went to the other side EVP Recorded of the school to try and capture some EVP. Since our first investigation of the We arrived at the old well pump and school in the late spring and early sum- set up our equipment. We explained to mer of 2002, we have compiled many true the spirits once again why we were at this stories and different forms of evidence of location and what we intended to accom- the paranormal. We instantly fell in love plish by communicating with them. We with this little school, and we visited it at set up the recorder by the old well and let least four times a week in the late evening it record while we went to the other side hours. On our first few visits, we stayed of the building. outside of the school to let the spirits in We later learned that a man and small the area become familiar with us. We set child had been killed in this well a long up the video camera in the west window time ago. The EVP we captured from this that focused on the center of the school area was a very clear “Help.”It sounds as as well as the teacher’s podium. if it came from inside the well. This really At first we didn’t speak to the spirits increased our interest in this location, and in order to let them “feel us out” and sense we found more history and background that we were not there to harm them. We of the area. also took some photos for our records and Our second major investigation was found them to be quite interesting. After a lot more personal and really got our at- a little wait, we began to speak with them tention. We were waiting for the land and told them our intentions. We asked owner to clean a few things out of the if they would mind communicating with schoolhouse before we went inside, so we us as well as let us photograph them. continued to film from outside the west We stayed on this first investigation side window. While filming the inside of about four hours and then left so we could the building, a very bright and perfectly analyze the evidence that we had gath- round orb came out from behind some ered. Upon viewing the videotape later stacked wood. I immediately focused on on, we heard very clear moans that ap- this ball of light as it slowly traveled right peared to be coming from a small female in front of the camcorder. This was 028 Quaker.qxd 5/28/09 10:53 AM Page 30

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Interior of the ruined Quaker Lane Schoolhouse.

recorded in complete darkness using night night at our usual spot when she noticed vision, and the ball of light was visible for two small anomalies inside the building. over four minutes. I attempted to com- She tried to communicate with them. municate with the anomaly, but no re- Soon after, we saw the two anomalies fly sponse was given and the object eventually out of the window right next to her. disappeared into the ceiling. This was a At this point on the tape, we could great breakthrough because now we had hear a child saying,“Hey.”A second later something trying to contact us. another child says,“Hey, Daddy.” Kris could not hear these voices at the Happy Children time, but she did hear a commotion in This school was a happy place for the woods next to her. Looking over, she many children, and it seems to draw them saw a little girl running into the woods. back. We have captured EVP of children We were amazed with the evidence singing, talking, and playing. we captured that night and determined My wife Kris was videotaping one to figure out just what was going on. 028 Quaker.qxd 5/28/09 10:53 AM Page 31

The Old Quaker Lane Schoolhouse 31

We began investi- gating the inside of the schoolhouse on our next hunt. The owner had finally cleared it out. The inside was old and showed its age. The smell of mildew was heavy, and the ceiling was falling down in cer- tain areas. We covered some of the holes in the floor that had been created by age and weather. Most of the Deteriorated ceiling. windows were broken, but we could still see where the curtains We left the recorder running and went had hung. The teacher’s platform was still outside for some fresh air. When the ev- in good shape at the head of the class- idence was analyzed, we heard another room, and the chalkboard outline was still child saying,“They’re gone.”It was great visible on the wall. The old stove was in to see that sprits were beginning to inter- good shape as well. act with us. Later that evening we began our first This location turned out to be very internal investigation of the schoolhouse. active. The owner of the school, Scott We entered the darkness of the school, Oakley Holmes, passed away recently, and and it was peaceful. We stood inside for a I would like to dedicate this story to him few minutes to let the spirits become fa- and his personal school, which he at- miliar with us. Our hair stood on end; we tended as a child. May he rest in peace. ; knew we were not alone. Webegan with the photo session and captured great photographs with shots of Todd M. Bates is orbs, strange lights, and portals. We then an EVP instructor moved on with the EVP session, and and radio host stated,“If anyone would like their picture who is the owner taken, please stand next to Todd.” and founder of the We later heard a response from a Haunted Voices child: “Picture me.” Radio Network. 032 Metaphys.qxd 5/28/09 10:54 AM Page 32

Do UFOs Have a Metaphysical Aspect?

A hovering UFO. But what else is going on? painting by Mike Boss by Virginia M. Tilly ntold amounts of high-strange- before this happened I had a sudden urge ness UFO-abduction informa- to go for a walk,” despite the fact that it tion has been ignored, rejected, was after dark on a clear, quiet weeknight. or never even noted. When an The excursion inexplicably leads to some investigator is told by a UFO deserted place, such as a field or an empty witness, “I had the feeling that parking lot. IUwas being watched,” it has been dis- The supposedly least credible witness missed as the thinking of an attention- of all is the one who reports repeated UFO seeking individual. In gathering data there sightings. It seems illogical that while most is typically no place to record much in the people never see a UFO (even if they want way of subjective reality. to or try to) others see several of them. The percipient may relate to the in- Openings such as these, however, pro- vestigator:“This may sound crazy, but just vide an observant investigator with an op-

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portunity to ask questions of a more meta- or even contemplating the most paranor- physical nature. Most researchers are com- mal claims of UFO and abduction per- mitted to gathering information about cipients. An investigator who wants to be physical reality only: Can it be measured? taken seriously rarely includes details that Weighed? Disassembled? Analyzed? Pho- seem more appropriate for ghost hunters, tographed? They remain faithful to the parapsychologists, New Agers, or even de- modern Western world’s dedication to re- monologists and exorcists. ductionistic science. Only a few intrepid investigators have Speaking to his colleagues at Harvard gathered information in UFO reports University in 1895, psychologist and about the metaphysical aspects of this philosopher William James said, “There phenomenon, such as psychokinesis, ma- is included in human nature an ingrained terializations and dematerializations, lev- naturalism and materialism of mind itation, mental telepathy, clairaudience, which can only admit facts that are actu- clairvoyance, clairsentience, synchronic- ally tangible. Of this sort of mind the en- ities, religious visions, or even anomalous tity called ‘Science’ is the idol. Fondness animals. for the word scientist is one of the notes by which you may recognize its votaries; An Unparalleled Enigma and its short way of killing any position Jacques Vallée is a scientist well known it disbelieves is to call it unscientific.” for his investigations into the absurdities We live in an era in which the scien- (or “metalogic”) of the UFO phenome- tific view has been that the , non. In his evaluation of the metaphysi- or paranormal, cannot exist; therefore, it cal aspects involved, he has said:“The key does not exist. Thus, either no attempt, to an understanding of the UFO phenom- or only a very cursory one is made at ex- enon may lie in the psychic effects it pro- plaining unusual phenomena. More fre- duces (or the awareness it makes possible) quently that type of information has just in some observers; whose lives are deeply been ignored. In far too many instances changed and who develop unusual talents the subjective facts have not even been with which they may find it difficult to collected. cope…” Individuals who have close encoun- Pressures for the Investigators ters and/or abduction experiences are There are so many elements of the sometimes frightened, sometimes con- UFO phenomenon that are illogical, un- fused, but always amazed by phenomena reasonable, unbelievable, or just too weird that happen to and around them, or by to be given serious consideration by sci- what they themselves are suddenly able entific observers. It is not surprising that to do. Curiously, many investigators begin the door has been closed to investigating to experience anomalies in their own lives 032 Metaphys.qxd 5/28/09 10:54 AM Page 34

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as they become more involved in these After hearing many such descriptions, high strangeness cases. I was amazed when I read in an older UFO craft exhibit puzzling aspects, book the following account:“I heard a pe- such as their seeming ability to defy the culiar rumbling sound… His body began laws of physics as we currently understand to melt gradually within the piercing light. them. They travel at incredible speeds, First his feet and legs vanished, then his hover silently, morph into different torso and head…faded; nothing remained shapes, and seem to defy gravity. In the before me but the…window and a pale blink of an eye, they appear and disap- stream of sunlight.” pear. Even with our best stealth technol- On another occasion the same author ogy we cannot render objects invisible. wrote:“There was a sudden flash; we wit- In CE IIIs and CE IVs (close encoun- nessed the instantaneous dechemicaliza- ters of the third and fourth tion of the electronic ele- kinds), there is a great prob- These beings ments of [his] body into a ability that the sudden dis- seem to spreading vaporous light… appearance of a craft at materialize trillions of tiny…sparks close range is the point at faded into the infinite reser- which an apparent ab- and voir.” ductee is “switched off,” dematerialize This passage from Au- then “on” by the force with before the tobiography of a Yogi by which they have been inter- witnesses’ Paramahansa Yogananda acting. eyes. relates the disappearance of the spiritual entity with ET Seems to Be Able to whom Yogananda had interacted on nu- Materialize and Dematerialize merous occasions early in the 20th cen- The entities associated with UFOs also tury. display incredible abilities. Often these seem to be passed on to the human in Isn’t That Impossible? such cases. Another metaphysical aspect dis- These beings seem to materialize and played by these beings is the ability to pass dematerialize before the witnesses’ eyes. through walls, roofs, and closed doors or On several occasions I have had abductees windows, often with a human in tow. Al- attempt to describe what that looks like. most every abductee has at least one of Some have explained it as dissolving ei- these episodes to relate. Several have told ther in midair or in a misty haze. Others how they tried to stiffen their bodies and say they twinkle or sparkle as they seem pull back as they were being escorted to- to disintegrate. ward a solid wall. The next thing they 032 Metaphys.qxd 5/28/09 10:54 AM Page 35

Do UFOs Have a Metaphysical Aspect? 35

knew they were on the other side with- even mythological animals may be ob- out having felt anything. served in the general area of UFO sight- One unusual case involved a woman ings or around people who have sightings who told me that while lying in her bed or abductions. This can occur before, dur- one night she felt herself being drawn ing, and after UFO activity. through a bedroom window head first, Most frequently reported is a black face down, arms pulled back at her sides. panther, always totally outside of its nat- She could feel the glass as it seemed to ural habitat. Occasionally a green lizard- drag across her face and body until she man or a Mothman-type entity is ob- was out to about her waist. It seemed to served. Localized reports of similar her that something was not quite right. encounters are typically given by several She had gone through walls and windows independent witnesses. before without feeling anything. I have collected several reports of The next thing she knew her direc- Sasquatch-type creatures. One of my most tion reversed, and in a moment she was interesting came from a 14-year-old boy. back in her room. She found herself al- A few days after I had been on a local most immediately moving out the win- radio program talking about UFOs, one dow again, this time quickly and without of my students approached me after the earlier sense of drag across her face school and cautiously asked if he could and body. tell me about something that had hap- One very young girl asked her abduc- pened to him. On a cold January night tors how they could take her so easily the previous year he had suddenly decided through a closed door. Her guide told her to go for a walk. He noticed a very bright that it was actually quite simple, but light in the sky that seemed to follow him. human scientific knowledge was rather Before long he heard a soft beeping sound. primitive so we did not yet understand He remembered little else from that night, how this was accomplished. He added that and remained quite puzzled by it. very soon humans would begin to under- After telling me about this event he stand how to do this and much more. asked if I believed in Bigfoot. When I as- sured him that I felt that there had to be Anomalous Animals something to all of the sightings, he told Connected with Abductions me that on several occasions he had seen Another perplexing phenomenon as- such a creature. Curiously, it always sociated with UFOs and abductions is the seemed to be observing him. This hap- presence of anomalous animals. Out-of- pened when he was visiting his grand- place or oversized animals, Sasquatch- mother in a remote area of ’s type beings, mixed-species entities, or Upper Peninsula. 032 Metaphys.qxd 5/28/09 10:54 AM Page 36

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tract a human at the beginning of an ab- duction experience. In some cases, they may even be shape-shifters. Why are so many of these unusual animals observed by UFO witnesses and abductees? Is the creature some part of the UFO phenomenon? Is this some form of energy or force attracted for some rea- son to people who have these experi- ences? Is it possible that the experiencer is viewing another dimension or reality? Or is it even possible that the individual herself is creating or releasing an energy by which they materialize?

Men in Black Make Appearances Too Mothman-like creatures are Another long-standing curiosity con- sometimes seen around UFO sightings. nected with these experiences is the phe- painting by Mike Boss nomenon of MIBs, or . These unusual beings were common in Unusual Animals in the 1950s and ’60s, and rarely heard of in the “Zone of Strangeness” the ’70s and ’80s. They are again more fre- As an individual is drawn into the quently reported. zone of strangeness, he may encounter People who encounter MIBs are a hauntingly attractive or compelling those who have had close encounters of animal. Two most frequently reported the first, second, and third kinds, ab- are a deer or an extremely large owl. The ductees (CE IVs), as well as UFO inves- animal is suddenly observed directly in tigators. In most cases the targeted per- view, usually remaining motionless while son is alone when she is visited by one, staring intently at the human with large, or more typically three, of them. Almost dark, mesmerizing eyes. Typically this is always male, they are described as being one of the last things remembered be- either pale-skinned, almost colorless, or fore a missing-time experience occurs. as having an Oriental complexion and I suspect that these and other animals facial characteristics. (ravens, wolves, butterflies, or bees) may Usually only one individual speaks. be a form of screen memory used to dis- The voice is often a flat, expressionless 032 Metaphys.qxd 5/28/09 10:54 AM Page 37

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monotone. Many say that somehow they icopters are trying to intimidate and scare do not seem real with their stiff, awkward them away from learning anything more movements. Frequently they do not seem about UFOs. to understand how to operate fairly sim- While I have personally had several ple devices. They are dressed in a black experiences with black helicopters, I have suit, white shirt, black tie, a brimmed never felt intimidated or threatened by black hat, and dark sunglasses. them. I do, however, resent their intru- If a vehicle is observed it is typically a sion into my personal life and I feel very late model, immaculate, large black car, closely observed. generally a Cadillac. When license num- A curious sidelight to this issue can bers have been recorded and checked out, be found in an entry in Harper’s Encyclo- there is never such a registration in exis- pedia, stating that in “Eastern mysticism tence. Invariably a message is delivered to the MIBs have a parallel in the ‘Brothers the human about knowing too much, get- of the Shadow,’evil beings who try to pre- ting out of this field of research, or not vent occult students from learning the talking about it with anyone. great truth.”

Black Helicopters as MIBs? Mind Control In recent years, UFO investigators and An abundance of evidence about abductees have had repeated close en- close encounters shows that there is in- counters with large, black, unmarked hel- tense control of the human mind during icopters. These are generally Hueys an abduction experience. Whatever the equipped with a special antenna. There method used to achieve this control, an are no identifying numbers, marks, or in- experiencer is inexplicably and suddenly signia anywhere on these craft. Even the influenced to act or to think in certain windows are so dark that when seen at ways. While driving he may suddenly, close range it is impossible to observe who without provocation, turn down a de- (or what) is inside. They fly illegally, mak- serted road. Or he may, during a solo ing low passes, circling or hovering over walk, unexpectedly go into a wooded area populated areas, all without proper iden- or to a lonely park. tification. Or he may awaken to become aware The Rev. Barry Downing has sug- that there is an intruder going into a sleep- gested that these may not really be heli- ing child’s room. He first thinks: I must copters. Many people are beginning to get up and go to my child’s room to protect consider these helicopters to be the mod- her! but then inexplicably concludes: Oh, ern version of the Men in Black. They feel everything’s okay. I’ll just go back to sleep that those who control the supposed hel- now.Invariably in the morning the child 032 Metaphys.qxd 5/28/09 10:54 AM Page 38

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Frequently abductees explain how, in their terror, they mentally struggle with, challenge, or question their cap- tors. Many recall having been given the thought that their resistance makes the experience much more complicated and unpleasant than it needs to be. Many of them are led to believe that their mental resistance also led to controlling and end- ing the experience. This may be another example of a screen memory. Most percipients report that post-ab- duction changes include being able to use telepathy in their daily lives. Many report being able to think of someone and have them call or appear in a short time. Or they send mundane messages (e.g.,“Bring me a candy bar”) to someone who then, Men in black. without knowing or even wondering why, relates a very strange dream or memories responds in the appropriate manner. of some strange being at his or her bed- Some claim that they can look into the side during the night. eyes of another person and read what is Abductees report that as much as 100 in his thoughts. percent of the communication during their experiences is done telepathically. Development of Clairaudience Most abductees report having heard their Closely associated with telepathy is names called telepathically at the begin- clairaudience, the clear or acute percep- ning of the encounter. Only rarely is the tion of sounds, music, and voices from name heard aurally. Their name may be no apparent external source. Many ab- repeated over and over until they respond ductees begin to experience such skills at in some manner. On some occasions as an early age. While most do not associate an individual is recalling having heard it with their close encounters, there are that voice (usually reported as sounding too many commonalities among these in- male and only occasionally as having a cidents to ignore the connection. mechanical sound quality) they become Clairaudience includes being given agitated and say something like,“He’s in- messages while in a dreamlike state, just side my head!” before falling asleep or waking. Most 032 Metaphys.qxd 5/28/09 10:54 AM Page 39

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clairaudience is perceived as an internal Experiences as “The perception of current voice distinctly different from one’s own. objects, events, or people that may not be Many abductees report hearing music discerned through the normal senses.”It in their heads, something quite different “may manifest in internal or external vi- from having a catchy song or jingle on sions, or a sensing of images.” your mind. It seems to be received inter- Many percipients relate experiences nally as though it were a recording play- that they or their family members have ing. It usually comes as a surprise, then had which could be called clairvoyance. suddenly shuts off. On several occasions, one woman Abductees frequently hear their names would envision a car, complete with li- called, again internally. This has been cense number, and within hours see that going on for centuries. King Solomon exact car. The same woman had a vision heard his name called, as did Moses and of a house on a vacant field across the Samuel, and also Mohammed, Socrates, road. She said it sat at an odd angle and and Joan of Arc. The contacted individ- had rather unique windows. Within a year ual is usually told to go to a certain loca- the land had been sold and the house, ex- tion, or to engage in a particular activity, actly as she had seen it, was constructed. like cleaning up the Earth’s environment Another woman became frantic or to improving one’s eating habits. Oth- when, at our scheduled meeting time, I ers report being forewarned about disas- arrived at her home relating how I had ters or other approaching events. just witnessed a small plane crashing. I We can only wonder what may be in- calmed her, reassuring her that everything volved with those who hear voices that was okay. The only person in the plane, tell them to preach or to start cults. Some the pilot, had crawled out with only minor have been instructed to arm themselves injuries. That was not the problem, she heavily and to gain complete mental and told me. She had had a dream a few days physical control of their followers and as earlier about my coming in and telling many other souls as possible. It is clear her exactly what I had just related. that not all such communication is of a Later that day this woman’s husband positive or constructive nature. Further- was scheduled to be released from a brief more, not all messages are meaningful, stay in a local hospital. The night before and some are downright dishonest. he had told her that after their now 22- month-old son had been born he had Do Abductees Also known that after a second child was born Become Clairvoyant? he himself would be hospitalized. He Clairvoyance is defined in Harper’s added that it would not be serious and Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal that he would be home in a short time. 032 Metaphys.qxd 5/28/09 10:54 AM Page 40

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More than a year before, his wife had to become hyperactive, even aggressive, had another of her clairvoyant dreams. or withdrawn and moody. They may try In that vision their small son stood next to put off going to bed for as long as pos- to the rocking chair in which she sat hold- sible, or try to sleep anywhere other than ing a baby in her arms. The older boy in their own bed. In abductee families it asked,“Mommy, when is Daddy coming is not uncommon to have a lot of bed- home from the hospital?” switching. Many will sleep on a sofa, the “Daddy is going to be fine,” she as- floor, a chair, or even on a table. Some- sured him.“He’ll be home in a few days.” times moving to another place to sleep This woman rarely discusses her seems to help, but usually it does not. dream-visions, as they usually involve An individuals may report a fleeting emotionally charged events impression or feeling. Upon centered on people with closer scrutiny this can be whom she is very close. Often they interpreted as a true in- say that stance of intuition, such as Dealing with they hear a knowing which numbers to Clairsentience pick in the lottery, or that Though rarely called by buzzing, or a there is a police car nearby its more metaphysical name, tone, in when one is driving too fast. clairsentience, many ab- their heads. A number of years ago ductees report an acute psy- a percipient wanted to find chic perception involving another woman who had any or all of their physical senses: seeing, reported being assaulted and, as was not hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching, as uncommon at the time, was being chal- well as emotions that become psychic and lenged by authorities. The percipient intuitive impressions. wanted to offer the victim moral and Many abductees become aware up to emotional support. With no idea how to several hours in advance that an abduc- find this woman, who lived in a remote tion is going to take place. Often they hear rural area near a small village, she started a buzzing sound or tone in their heads. driving, using gut-level instincts alone. They have the disquieting feeling that Without knowing why, at several places someone is hovering nearby, watching and she suddenly turned down various roads listening. Work and other activities are and within a remarkably short time found performed as if only going through the herself at the victim’s home. After a brief motions. They know that later that night explanation, she was warmly received. they will once again be visited. Volumes could be filled with such ex- Children who have these feelings tend periences collected by open-minded in- 032 Metaphys.qxd 5/28/09 10:54 AM Page 41

Do UFOs Have a Metaphysical Aspect? 41

vestigators. Many have had such experi- than once I have heard an abductee de- ences themselves, whether or not they will scribe how he has gotten an insect or admit to it publicly. some other creature to change directions A serious-minded investigator was en- by concentrating on it or pointing at it. thusiastically chasing a UFO across the Psychokinesis is erratic for most peo- countryside. When there was no longer a ple. It may be something like someone road to reach the area where the UFO wondering what he should do next and at hovered near the ground, he got out of that instant a book falls off of a shelf dis- his car. He climbed a fence and contin- playing pertinent information. It appears ued on foot across an open field, eager to that the stronger one’s emotions are at the experience his first . time, the more successful the psychoki- Suddenly he stopped. He had a feel- netic effects become. ing that he should no longer continue. He hurried back to his car and left the scene What Does It All Mean? without further thought. Afterwards he The lives of individuals having close was dumfounded as to why he would have encounters are filled with metaphysical stopped this tantalizing pursuit. phenomena. Others include miracles and healings, space-time distortions, syn- Shouldn’t Psychokinesis chronicities, shadowy entities, poltergeist- Be Impossible Too? like activity, empathy, and out-of-body The ability of the mind to control the experiences. movement or activity of inanimate ob- Is it just coincidence that these expe- jects is known as psychokinesis. Not only riences have a transformative effect upon do abductees report that their abductors those who are abducted? Do these meta- display such powers, but many of them physical aspects connected with the UFO find that they too can use their own minds phenomenon have meaning, or is it just to do seemingly impossible things. an accidental byproduct? Apparently, only Doors and windows can be made to time and additional research of these un- slam shut without anyone touching them. usual experiences will reveal that answer. Lights may be dimmed, brightened, or ; turned off or on in the same inexplicable manner. Telephones, clocks, radios, tele- Virginia M. Tilly is a retired teacher with visions, and recording devices can have a master’s degree and more than 25 years their operations disrupted, or be turned of teaching experience. She is also a certi- off or on without a touch. Later they usu- fied hypnotherapist and has used that skill ally function normally once again. in regressing hundreds of abductees and Animals have been affected too. More other witnesses. 042 CropCircle.qxd 5/28/09 10:55 AM Page 42

Crop Circle Revelation

The Barbury Castle crop circle.

by George Wingfield

uring the summer of 1991 in- Plasma Vortex, was causing these myste- terest in the crop circles in Eng- rious patterns in the crops. To prove his land reached a fever pitch. theory he set up an observation project Newspapers were awash with with a team of Japanese scientists on a photos of new formations and hilltop between Calne and Devizes where articles about this strange phe- a watch was carried out using radar and nomenon.D Fascinated members of the other scientific devices. Nevertheless, the public converged on parts of agency that caused the crop circles con- where the circles were appearing and tinued to evade detection and, despite the farmers often charged money for access appearance of some circles in the fields to their cropfields. below, nothing definite was established. Giving the subject a certain legitimacy During the previous year the phe- was scientist Dr. Terence Meaden, mete- nomenon had progressed from simple orologist and author, who had proposed circles in the corn to highly elaborate that an elusive natural phenomenon, the shapes called pictograms which embod-

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ied both circles and rectilinear elements. The Milk Hill Script Although most investigators (myself in- In early August 1991 a strange new cluded) saw clear evidence of intelligent crop formation looking like a line of some design, Dr. Meaden continued to insist unknown script was found in a wheat that his plasma vortex was the answer, field below Milk Hill near Alton Barnes. even suggesting that one could explode Croppie John Martineau, who had been like some physical mechanism scattering out on Milk Hill in the early hours, was cogwheels and springs, causing straight first to report this and described it as a lines and possible key-shapes to result. “line of runes.” Runes are the characters Other researchers would cautiously allow of certain ancient secret alphabets, con- that some unknown intelligence was at sisting mainly of squares with one or two work, but at the start of 1991 there were sides missing in particular orientations. few who seriously believed that the crop These symbols correspond to the letters circles were all man-made. of the alphabet. With his talk of runes, So for quite some time, Dr. Meaden’s some wrongly suspected John himself of theory became the official explanation having hoaxed this formation. and puzzled journalists and TV interview- Most of us were deeply puzzled by the ers would frequently turn to him when meaning of this weird cipher. In due the subject was discussed. On July 17, course The Cerealogist, “The Journal for 1991, a vast new crop formation appeared Crop Circle Studies,”under the editorship in the fields below the Iron Age hill-fort of , offered a prize of £100 called Barbury Castle. This attracted huge to anyone who could come up with a con- interest from “croppies” (crop circle en- vincing solution to the riddle. Many tried thusiasts), the public, and the media alike. but no one succeeded. But there was no possible way that this The best known attempt was OP- could be explained as resulting from a PONO ASTOS, suggested by the late Pro- plasma vortex, and to his credit, Dr. fessor Gerald Hawkins, author of the book Meaden declared it must be a man-made Decoded. Hawkins claimed hoax. Even so, there were many who saw that this meant “I oppose acts of craft and this new wonder as part of the genuine cunning” in Latin, although the accusa- phenomenon. tive plural astos is a bit dubious. The acts All of this was just a few weeks before of craft and cunning were held to be crop Doug and Dave came out with their claim circle . in Today newspaper to have made all the Other cryptographers, similarly using crop circles—a claim not universally ac- a straight substitution code, produced EF- cepted since there were many formations, FETE ORDER or else ESSENE ORDER, like this one at Barbury Castle, which they neither of which seemed relevant. Few could not possibly have made. saw any merit in these solutions. 042 CropCircle.qxd 5/28/09 10:55 AM Page 44

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A message in the crops—the Milk Hill script.

Others offered interpretations more Hawkins assumed that the character ll in- in line with their crop circle beliefs. The dicated a word break. It did not. For some American mystery-hunter Erik Beckjord reason he thought the message was in had stamped out TALK TO US in a wheat Latin. No, it was in English. More impor- field a few miles away two days earlier, a tantly, it was far from clear which way up message presumably aimed at the aliens the text was meant to be. That would de- or whatever other intelligence lay behind termine whether it should be read from the crop circles. He saw the Milk Hill left to right or from right to left. In fact Script as a reply, though curiously he de- the text is the right way up as it is shown cided that the message was in Korean. in the accompanying photograph, and Michael Green, Chairman of the Centre Hawkins in producing his incorrect so- for Crop Circle Studies, found the mean- lution read the text from back to front. ing of the crop cipher was in an Atlantean When I was editor of The Cerealogist language known only to him. He claimed a year later, I renewed the challenge to that the circlemakers’ message meant translate the Milk Hill Script and also our “Creator, Wise and Loving.” offer of £100. Surely someone must know The message was bounded by small what these strange runes meant. I had as- circles at each end, which were not con- sumed that by now, at any rate, the human sidered part of the text. That was correct. circlemakers responsible would step for- 042 CropCircle.qxd 5/28/09 10:55 AM Page 45

Crop Circle Revelation 45

ward and claim the prize. But that was not to be. I can now reveal the true meaning of the Milk Hill Script and hopefully I in- tend to award the £100 to Steve Marshall of Yatesbury, Wilts, who was the first per- son to inform me of it. He is not the cir- clemaker who laid down the formation and I’m still unsure whether that person (let us call him “A”) was ever aware that a prize was on offer. Steve Marshall. I used to assume that the creators of those magnificent crop formations back be “A.”When A realized this was a fellow in 1991, which some referred to as the leg- circlemaker, he became rather more can- endary “A-team” without knowing their did. He told B that he and his friends had identity, were probably people who were made the Barbury Castle formation in known to the croppies at the time. These July 1991 and that they had also made the A-team circlemakers, if they existed, I rea- famous Milk Hill Script. To prove that soned, would have found it difficult to re- what he was saying was true, he went on sist hanging out in their newly produced to reveal the meaning of this script. The circles during the day, and mixing with simple message consisted of just three croppies who had come to wonder at words run together: them. They would have become familiar faces and might even have attended crop MEADENTALKSSHIT circle conferences at the time. But maybe I was wrong, and maybe this “A-team” The A-team’s little joke was to first shrunk from public view. write the lower half of the capital letters A few years ago another more recent of this message up against a tractor “tram- circlemaker, “B,” was out walking at the line.”This would prove indecipherable— Cherhill monument which is on a hilltop as it did—and then, when it had attracted in Wiltshire. He overheard a man he sufficient attention, they would return by didn’t recognize talking to some other vis- night and complete it. (Lettering of the itors to the monument about crop circles. message used by the A-team is examined He clearly displayed a degree of inside in more detail in the sidebar.) knowledge on the subject. B waited until However the best laid plans of mice the others had left and then went over and and men sometimes go awry. The farmer talked with the man, who turned out to was not at all pleased by the appearance 042 CropCircle.qxd 5/28/09 10:55 AM Page 46

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of this cryptic inscription in his wheat us were taken in, and it took a few years field or by the subsequent invasion by for some of the researchers to come back croppies keen to examine it, believing down to earth. In 1990 and summer 1991 that it might be a message from the aliens this madness was at its height and there or from spiritual beings of a higher order. were few people prepared to even enter- He destroyed it as soon as he could by tain the possibility that the whole phe- harvesting the crop in that field. The A- nomenon might be man-made. team had no opportunity to return and Today there are still some diehard complete their mischief. There were only croppies who will dispute what I say, but a few aerial photos taken of the half-mes- they will find it hard to reject this solu- sage during its brief existence, such as tion to the mysterious cipher at Milk Hill. the one shown here taken by Jürgen And, if they reluctantly accept that, they Krönig. should also consider whether A and his Although neither the aliens, nor in- friends made the great formation at Bar- deed myself, would have phrased it quite bury Castle two weeks earlier. It seems so crudely, the message does express a sen- most probable to me that this was indeed timent with which I would have con- the case. ; curred at the time. Meaden had indeed talked a lot of nonsense and this certainly George Wingfield has lectured on crop helped give the crop circles a false legiti- circles and the UFO subject in England macy. This is in no way an attempt to shift and the U.S. He has also appeared on TV the blame for the madness which the cir- and radio and contributed to books and cles provoked at the time, since many of magazines. The Milk Hill Script Lettering

t can be seen from the photograph that the lettering used in this message is com- posed entirely of straight lines and that no curved or diagonal components are pres- Ient. What sort of script lettering did the authors of the message intend using? My suggestion is that the intention was to mimic a basic type of font that is widely employed in displays using LCD or LED electronic devices, such as digital clocks or signs. The matrix used to represent each letter might, for example, be a seven-element LED display of the following shape: This consists of two squares joined together by a common side. As an LED device, each of the seven sides of the two squares can be lit or unlit and the resulting combinations are used to represent different numeric digits or letters. When such a matrix is used to represent the digits 0–9 only, the re- sults are unambiguous and will be familiar to most people, since such numbers are 042 CropCircle.qxd 5/28/09 10:55 AM Page 47

Crop Circle Revelation 47

commonly used in digital clocks (with the 26 letters must be used if one is to avoid vertical elements sloped slightly to the ambiguity. Some of the capitals such as J right). KMNTY are not so satisfactory but Less familiar is the use of such a ma- are still recognizable: trix to represent the capital letters of the alphabet. Clearly some letters, such as Clearly the representation of N as two those with diagonal components, will be verticals is not ideal, and there are capital more poorly represented than those with- letters such as O R Q V W X Z which out. If we equate a lit LED with a side cannot be easily represented without any being present and unlit with it being ab- ambiguity and are best avoided. There- sent, it can be shown how characters in fore one’s short message might need to this format can be used as an alphanu- be restricted, say, by using a 19-character- meric font. The LED character shown in only alphabet which avoids these letters. the previous paragraph, with all sides lit Nevertheless the letters which we have or present, could be used to represent the defined above are sufficient to spell out digit 8 or the capital letter B. the crop message. Using this font it ap- Some LED displays of this variety are pears as: used to represent capital letters only. It can be seen that the capital letters A B C DEFG are represented fairly satisfac- When the upper half of this lettering torily in this format: is removed, one gets the incomplete mes- sage, which is what actually appeared in And likewise, the letters H I L O P the field: SU are:

One may object to the fact that D and Apart from the fact that the small gap O are represented identically and the same in the middle was closed up a bit, this is would be true for A and R. For these rea- exactly what was found below Milk Hill sons a reduced character set of less than on that day back in August 1991. ;

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. —James Branch Cabell 048 Pittsburgh.qxd 5/28/09 10:59 AM Page 48

Thirty Seconds over Pittsburgh

B-25 bomber.

by Robert A. Goerman

t began with a whoosh! silent, ditch in the icy waters of the Afternoon rush-hour traffic on the Monongahela (locally known as the Homestead High Level Bridge was Mon) River below. shocked to a standstill as an olive drab The bomber made a flawless belly behemoth swooped from the sky. landing. Suffering damage to its radio It was 4:09 p.m. on January 31, compass antenna housing, but otherwise 1956.I Although some would maintain completely intact, the rugged warbird that the TB-25N twin-engine bomber, raced downstream, serving as an im- serial number 44-29125, missed them by promptu lifeboat for the survivors before inches, cooler heads would prevail and finally sinking about one mile and 17 estimate that the aircraft, longer than a minutes later near the Jones and Laugh- streetcar with a 67-foot wingspan, missed lin steel plant. clipping the bridge by a good 30 feet. Every craft on the water rushed to the Folks rushed to the railing in time to ob- aid of the downed airmen. Officially res- serve the plane, out of fuel, both engines cued safely were Maj. William L. Dotson,

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the pilot; Capt. John F. Jamieson, the co- marking the sunken B-25 had drifted pilot; MSgt. Alfred P.Alleman; and Air- about half a mile downstream from its man Charles L. Smith, passengers. The original position. bodies of Capt. Jean P.Ingraham, passen- The Monello II arrived at 2:30 p.m. on ger, and SSgt. Walter E. Soocey, Crew February 4. The area where the airplane Chief, were recovered on April 8 and May was briefly brought to the surface was 28, 1956. swept thoroughly but nothing was found. Dragging operations to locate the In the meantime, the Forsythia arrived bomber began the following morning, and proceeded to drag the main channel and Patrolman Harry Ebaling of the River with the special grappling hook. All search Patrol snagged what he believed to be the operations were suspended at 7:30 p.m. aircraft in the approximate location where when fog settled over the area and it be- witnesses said the aircraft sank. The Coast came too dangerous to continue. Guard Cutter Forsythia marked the loca- At least one report alleges that a gadget tion with a lighted buoy. to detect radioactivity was aboard an Air On Thursday, February 2, the For- Force H21 helicopter brought from Olm- sythia commenced dragging operations stead Air Force Base, Harrisburg, Penn- using a 350-pound anchor attached to a sylvania, that made several low passes up manila towrope two inches in diameter. and down the Monongahela River on An object was snagged at 6:00 p.m. and February 8. The reason given: some of the brought to the surface. It appeared to be plane’s dials were radium-coated to en- a wing of the aircraft. The anchor slipped able reading in the dark. off the object and it sank back into the All official search operations were river. Another attempt snapped the tow- abandoned by Valentine’s Day. The Air line, losing the anchor. A smaller anchor Force put the B-25 up for sale on Novem- with a steel cable was rigged up and it was ber 9, 1956, via sealed invitation bid. The lost as well. only bidder was John Evans, of Pleasant Searchers suspended all search and Hills, a Pittsburgh-area seaplane pilot, dragging operations pending the manu- who paid $10 for salvage rights to the facture of a special “grappling hook” that $200,000 aircraft and spent months was being produced by the Coraopolis searching without luck. Tool and Machine Company. The U.S. Curious divers have since scoured Army Corps of Engineers arranged to every inch of river bottom. All they ever have the dredging barge Monello II moved got was wet. Everything from crude grap- in for dragging operations. pling hooks to modern detection devices River Patrol officers sent out a hur- have been employed over the years. No ried call to the Coast Guard on Friday, trace of that aircraft was ever found. February 3. Sgt. Pete Settnek said the buoy It was as if it never existed. 048 Pittsburgh.qxd 5/28/09 10:59 AM Page 50

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Twenty Years Later the trucks passed. I can remember when every Friday A woman caller said she knew a re- night was “Bob” night. My marriage was tired Air Force officer who claimed that just beginning. The marriage of my best he had seen the wreckage of that B-25 at friend and colleague Bob Johns had ended Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, in bitter divorce. Ohio, within a week of the crash. Bob was my good right arm. He had The KDKA broadcast celebrating the formerly served as a navy crew chief on a 20th anniversary of the ill-fated flight fea- P2V-3 Patrol Bomber, held a commercial tured MSgt. Alfred P.Alleman as our pilot’s license, and worked as a senior re- guest. We crossed the Rubicon that night search technologist in the laboratories of and the rest was history. the Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corporation. As our investigation progressed and During one Friday get-together in we spoke with other survivors of the January 1976, Bob described how emo- crash, we learned that the higher the rank, tional turmoil led to another sleepless the worse the memory. night listening to . He re- The enduring mystery of Pittsburgh’s counted that a trucker had anonymously B-25 bomber that vanished without a called the Perry Marshall show on KDKA trace saved my friend’s life. It became his and confessed that the CIA had hired obsession. I handed him the reins. three truckers to secretly deliver a chopped-up B-25 to the new Nike Mis- The Plot Thickens sile site in Oakdale one night in 1956. Named in honor of the fearless U.S. Soldiers in military Jeeps allegedly es- Army Air Corps officer who was court- corted this convoy. martialed in 1924 for his unrelenting be- The story intrigued me so much that lief in air power, the North American B-25 I telephoned the producer of the Perry Mitchell bomber has often been described Marshall show and offered our investiga- as the best aircraft in its class in World tive services. With Bob at my side as “avi- War II. It did a superior job in a wide va- ation consultant,” our efforts to unravel riety of roles and missions. The B-25’s this mystery began in earnest. most notorious exploit was the daring During our Friday, January 23, 1976, and morale-raising Doolittle raid on April radio appearance, a man called in to tell 18, 1942. Sixteen B-25 bombers were us that he personally witnessed three launched from the deck of the U.S.S. Hor- flatbed trucks carrying sections of a large net in a surprise attack on Japan. airplane a few days after the crash. These You can get a real feel for the size and trucks crossed Route 30, just west of Pitts- power of this aircraft by watching Thirty burgh. Military police stopped traffic until Seconds over Tokyo or by visiting YouTube 048 Pittsburgh.qxd 5/28/09 10:59 AM Page 51

Thirty Seconds over Pittsburgh 51

and searching for “B-25 takeoff.” (6 and 7) Two airmen were plucked An aircraft 53 feet long and 16 feet from the river by Capt. Carol Long, Hank high with a 67-foot wingspan had appar- Cisclo, and Kenneth Hall aboard the tow- ently vanished without a trace in a nar- boat Expediter owned by the Ohio Barge row and relatively shallow river. We Line, Inc. Captain Long confirmed that believed, however, that every other aspect both men were in military dress without of this aircraft accident would be solidly insignias. One appeared to be in his early documented and painless to research. 20s. The other was much older, in his 50s. We were mistaken. (8) Maj. William L. Dotson was saved Officially, there were six men on when Mark Brandon and Isaac Dominic board. However, if you interview all the of the crew of the Jones & Laughlin Steel folks on the river who rescued airmen and Corporation towboat Titan, piloted by tally the score, the actual total is eight. Capt.James D. Cypher, launched a skiff (1) Capt. Jean P.Ingraham drowned. and pulled him to safety. Confirmed. The Titan and Expediter docked to- (2) SSgt. Walter E. Soocey drowned. gether at the J&L plant landing at Ruther- Confirmed. glen Street. The older “mystery airman,” (3) MSgt. Alfred P.Alleman swam for after a brief exchange with the ranking the south bank and was pulled safely police officer at the scene, was immedi- ashore by a passing truck driver, Don ately brought aboard the Titan.Captain DeVine, and Baldwin Police Lt. Charles Cypher offered Dotson and this older air- Colosi. Alleman was taken to St. Joseph man hot showers and coffee. All reporters Hospital. were put off the boat while our mystery (4) Capt. John F.Jamieson was pulled man summoned the FBI. aboard the River Patrol launch Beaver by In Captain Cypher’s own words, Sgt. P. R. Settnek and Patrolman R. W. “They (the reporters) all wanted to swarm Zurcher. Jamieson was turned over to a all over and we put them off, and we called police ambulance at the foot of Hazel- the government. And the Government wood Avenue. A confidential source, sup- Men came there and that’s the only ones plied by KDKA, offered that this Jamieson we’d leave interview them.” was actually taken to Mercy Hospital. The Air Force would not arrive until (5) A2C Charles L. Smith was rescued 6:30 p.m. Major Dotson and our mystery by Capt. Steven Muick of the towboat airman checked into Montefiore Hospi- Charles Zubik. Smith was taken to the tal as Dotson and Jamieson. Even though Amoco tank farm on the Carson Street Dotson and the real Jamieson had been side, the south side of the river, and de- photographed separately on board the livered to Magee Hospital. Titan and at the Hazelwood Avenue lo- 048 Pittsburgh.qxd 5/28/09 10:59 AM Page 52

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cation, respectively, these two suddenly Montefiore Hospital— became camera-shy. Nurse Lillian O’Don- (1) Capt. John F. Jamieson—Shock nel revealed,“When the pilot and the co- (2) Maj. William L. Dotson—Shock pilot were being admitted, they were in 1805E—Allegheny Tower advised that the emergency room for a long time, but they were unable to locate the other two when they were being admitted to the survivors as the Air Force had requested room all the photographers and reporters that the police not give out any informa- were all around. Neither the pilot nor co- tion. pilot wanted to be photographed. So I put Critical evidence has disappeared or a light towel over their faces and we took been “routinely” destroyed. The photo de- them, quickly, on a stretcher over to the partments of several Pittsburgh newspa- room where they were being admitted.” pers discovered that their photo- During his February 27, 1976, inter- journalistic records of this particular event view on KDKA, Jamieson could not re- had gone missing. Promised logbooks be- call the name of the hospital, but denied came suddenly unavailable. sharing company with Dotson or anyone On Sunday, March 7, 1976, a former else. He stated: “No. No. I was taken by Zubik towboat crewmember, known by myself. I was completely separated from the CB handle “The Old Goat,” chauf- all of the other members of the crew… feured Bob Johns to a hidden landing be- They all left before I did because I was neath the Sewickley Bridge where he held in the hospital for several days.” claimed that pieces of the cut up TB-25N CAA (now FAA) records bear out that were unloaded from barges onto three six survivors were rescued: flatbed trucks. 1655E—Pittsburgh CS/C notified Why the cloak-and-dagger retrieval MFS at Middletown that Pittsburgh City of this aging aircraft in the middle of the Police had rescued six occupants of the night? aircraft. “There is no sign of it at all,” says Bill 1730E to 1750E—Allegheny Tower Combs of the Army Corps of Engineers, called various hospitals attempting to lo- “and there’s something shady about that.” cate the military personnel and obtained Why do credible witnesses, including the following information: MSgt. Alfred P.Alleman, continue to in- St Joseph Hospital— sist that the FBI arrived on the scene be- (1) Alfred P.Alleman—Condition fair, fore the Air Force to enforce the secrecy? shock Bob Johns was convinced that some- MaGee Hospital— thing on board that aircraft justified the (1) Charles L. Smith—Condition clandestine removal and cover-up. Possi- good bly something powerful and deadly; a nu- 048 Pittsburgh.qxd 5/28/09 10:59 AM Page 53

Thirty Seconds over Pittsburgh 53

clear device or nerve gas, perhaps. the background, Uldrich promised to give Bob stressed that radioactive tracers the case of the vanishing bomber a fresh were being used to measure dispersal pat- look-see. terns of nerve gas during tests at the Ab- “I’m not about to spend a lot of time erdeen Proving Grounds. He wondered and effort looking for something until I about that helicopter reportedly dangling know it’s there.”Uldrich said that he first a radiation device that flew low over the wanted to interview every available wit- Monongahela River on February 8, 1956. ness that might be able to establish He asked,“Now, was it specifically brought whether the plane was secretly recovered into this area to search for immeasurable by a covert operation before investing the traces from the lightly irradiated cockpit many thousands of dollars necessary to instruments on the lost bomber…or was scan the river. “If you’re out there, any- it looking for something else?” where, share with us what you know.” If some portion of that secret cargo Karen Johns surrendered her late hus- escaped retrieval in 1956, would that jus- band’s files. tify maintenance of security measures to Thirty-eight days after this press con- this day? Was the alleged covert recovery ference marking, coincidentally, the 38th only a disinformation smokescreen to dis- anniversary of the B-25 ditching and dis- illusion further searches for the aircraft? appearance, I met privately with Uldrich Is all or part of the aircraft or its cargo still and left that appointment with a bitter resting at the bottom of the Mononga- taste in my mouth. Uldrich knew that hela River? every witness to a clandestine removal of Bob had remarried in 1980. He died the aircraft or any security precautions on December 22, 1991. His manuscript employed was deluded, mistaken, or lying. about our investigation, The Incident That I called Karen and told her that she Could Have Killed Pittsburgh, was not had made a huge mistake. There was, I published. discovered, no accountability regarding the total contents of Bob’s files. One-of- New Players, New Game a-kind taped interviews and documents On January 31, 1994, Karen (widow could become lost. Confidential contact of Robert) Johns was present at a press information was exposed. conference held by John Uldrich, a Min- Out of frustration, on March 18, I neapolis professor. launched a barrage of Freedom of Infor- Standing before the dramatic Filmet, mation requests to the FBI, CIA, USAF, Incorporated, color mural created to show NSA, and the Army. a B-25 sliding into the Monongahela River I received a telephone call at my home with the Highland High Level Bridge in six days later. The female operative from 048 Pittsburgh.qxd 5/28/09 10:59 AM Page 54

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the National Security Agency was very po- The CIA added:“By this action we are lite and wanted me to explain in detail ex- neither confirming nor denying the exis- actly what I knew and suspected about tence or nonexistence of such records.” the circumstances surrounding AF44- By the 40th anniversary of the crash, 29125. two clearly polarized Pittsburgh forces “That’s not how it works,” I replied struggled for dollars and headlines. respectfully.“As I understand it, I make a On one side stood Ray Duquesne, in- request and you search your records.You dependent film producer for Two Wings find something or nothing. If you find and a Prayer Productions and his Mystery something, you are supposed to either of the Mitchell Ghost Bomber. Seeking in- send me a sanitized copy for a modest fee vestors to raise five million dollars, or refuse my request on the basis of na- Duquesne worked to make a docudrama tional security.”Our conversation ended based on our investigative research. with my well-mannered lack of cooper- On the opposite shore was the “B-25 ation. Recovery Group” founded by Uldrich in The FBI and Army came up “empty.” 1995. This four-man outfit ridiculed no- The Air Force sent me a thick folder tions of security measures and clandes- containing the “releasable portions of the tine retrieval. According to them, residents 31 January 1956 TB-25N aircraft mishap overreacted to the commotion, and gos- report,” adding that “federal regulations sip started making rounds of local tav- provide that the cost of search and repro- erns. In any case, they say,“the story makes duction be assessed to the requester. The for interesting listening, good speculation total fee in this instance has been waived.” and can be heard in any one of Home- Hiding behind Executive Order stead’s small bars for the price of a beer.” 12356, the CIA denied my request under “I would meet people and go over FOIA exemptions: (b) (1) “applies to ma- their stories,”said Bob Shema, operations terial which is properly classified pursuant director for the group. “In 15 years, I to an Executive order in the interest of na- haven’t come up with one eyewitness to tional defense or foreign policy” and (b) the conspiracy theories. It’s always some (3) “applies to the Director’s statutory ob- friend of a friend.” ligations to protect from disclosure intel- The B-25 Recovery Group searched ligence sources and methods, as well as for the airplane in 1995 using side-scan the organization, functions, names, offi- sonar and global-positioning satellite tech- cial titles, salaries or numbers of person- nology and found only cars, trees, and a nel employed by the Agency, in accord wrecked paddle wheeler. One sonar image with the National Security Act of 1947 showed the outline of something that and the CIA Act of 1949, respectively.” vaguely resembled a fuselage. Divers later 048 Pittsburgh.qxd 5/28/09 10:59 AM Page 55

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found it was a sunken wooden barge. gas tanks, and Plexiglas cockpit windows. During a lecture in 1997, the group Searchers using a remote-controlled dropped a bombshell. They revealed the camera and sonar device found what they exact location of AF44-29125: mile believed was a three-bladed propeller on marker 4.9, left descending bank, latitude the silt-covered river bottom. But when 40.24.316N, longitude 079.57.144W. divers went down, they could not find it. “It’s a little area across from J&L called The propellers on a B-25 measure nearly Bird’s Landing,”said group member Matt 13 feet in diameter. Pundzak, a former Air Force intelligence One of the divers thought he found a officer. “We believe the aircraft is sitting wing about 20 feet long, five feet wide, under 10 to 15 feet of silt in 32 feet of and six inches thick. Every foot or so, bolt water, 150 feet from shore.”All the Recov- heads protruded through it. One end ery Group needed was $25,000 or so to looked as if it had broken off something. cover the cost of conducting a compre- Alas, the umbilical supplying him with hensive survey. air snagged and he had to backtrack to A Fish and Boat Commission sonar free it. He was unable to find it again. survey of the river released in 1998 Subsequent dives failed to produce showed an object that could have been a any solid evidence that the B-25 was there. plane. It turned out to be a couple of It was like déjà vu all over again. The barges and debris. space-age technologies of tomorrow failed On December 2, 2000, the B-25 Re- to reveal the secrets of yesterday. covery Group searched the Mon again. Maybe the plane is not in the river. Divers explored and videotaped the Bird’s Do you have the last piece of this puzzle? Landing area for several hours and found ; it littered with metal and concrete debris. Author’s Note: Closson Press recently On October 10–11, 2008, the B-25 Re- released The Incident That Could Have covery Group launched a flotilla laden Killed Pittsburgh. For more information, with high-tech sonar scanners, metal de- go to www.clossonpress.com. tectors, remote-controlled cameras, and ground-penetrating radar. They probed Bird’s Landing. They searched another Robert A. Goer- site where a river worker by the name of man writes “In- Bub Crain claimed that he pulled up air- vestigating the plane wreckage in 1958, but was told to Paranormal,” an dump it overboard and get back to work. online column at They concentrated on finding the engine www.fatemag. blocks, landing gear, tires, armor plating, com. 056 Belhurst.qxd 5/28/09 11:05 AM Page 56

The Lady in White Ghost of the Belhurst Castle

Belhurst Castle.

by David Sakmyster

he Belhurst Castle sits on the edge I knew nothing about the castle, other of a hundred-foot cliff overlook- than that you needed a small fortune to ing Seneca Lake in the small town stay the night in one of its guest rooms. I of Geneva, New York, in the heart had never come across any tales about of Finger Lakes country. In Janu- ghost sightings or anything remotely su- ary 2000, I surprised my wife-to- pernatural, although to look at its ivy-cov- beT with a romantic getaway at the Belhurst ered red limestone walls, turrets, balconies, Castle, about 40 miles from our home in and sloping rooftops, you can’t escape the Rochester. impression that it might be haunted.

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Waiting Apparition The stairs leading up to the turret creaked On a bitterly cold January night, we as if someone had stealthily ascended and stayed in the most expensive room, the then come back down. Windows rattled. Tower Suite, with a panoramic view of the In the morning, after only a fitful hour grounds and the lake. Around 2:00 a.m., of sleep, I went down and asked if there while sipping champagne and enjoying had been a wedding the night before, as the view out the balcony window, we both the Belhurst often catered to wedding par- saw something. ties. The answer was no, nothing for sev- Outside below us on the lawn, a eral weeks, and I got an odd look from woman in a white dress stood just past the hostess. the dim walkway lights, her back to the We checked out, drove home, and castle. She was standing there, staring out didn’t talk again about what we’d seen at the lake as if watching or waiting for until October, when the six o’clock news someone. My fiancée and I said nothing ran a story about local hauntings. I turned for a long minute, then Amy asked, “Do up the volume when I saw the backdrop you see her?” of the Belhurst Castle; the reporter was I mumbled that I did. My hair was talking about a local Geneva legend, about standing on end, my flesh tingling. For sightings occurring for nearly a century some irrational reason, I had the terrify- of a lady in white seen usually on the back ing thought that at any moment she lawn, late at night, by visitors and staff would turn and look up at us, and in that members alike. moment my heart would stop. We looked at each other, and after a We continued staring, trying to make moment of shock, I got on the Internet out more details, and I tried to convince and started doing some research. Rumors myself that what I was seeing was a trick surrounded the place, I learned, myths of of moonlight and shadow. Finally Amy a tragedy on the land before the castle was pulled me away, whispering,“She doesn’t built. Most notably there was a tale that want to be seen.” had made its way into folklore, collected Years later, I would come to disagree in the book Listen for a Lonesome Drum strongly with my wife on this point. The by Carl Carmer, published in 1936. ghost down there got exactly what she wanted: to be seen. Doomed Affair We turned off the lights and went to The legend spoke of a doomed love sleep. At least, Amy did. She was snoring affair, of a Spanish don who fell for an in moments, but I had no such luck. For opera singer in Madrid. The lovers fled to the next three hours, I heard odd whis- America with a sizeable fortune the man pers from the shadows, strange noises had stolen from his jilted wife. At this spot throughout the room. The walls knocked. in Geneva they built a little house. Expect- 056 Belhurst.qxd 5/28/09 11:05 AM Page 58

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ing to be pursued, they constructed an es- I visited the historical society and cape tunnel leading down to the lake. spent hours in the library, poring through Years passed, then one night the old newspapers on microfilm until my alarms were triggered: Spanish soldiers eyes were blurry and my head hurt. had tracked them there! The don and his Slowly, I pieced together the history of the lover fled into the tunnel, pursued by the land, its residents and structures. And vengeful Spaniards. But the don had what an amazing history it was! thought ahead; he had created a clever booby trap that would collapse the tun- The Opera Singer nel behind them. Believing his lover was Old photographs hang on the wall as already waiting for him by the boat, he you climb the ornate stairway up to the sprang the trap and sprinted out to the guest rooms. One framed black-and- beach. The tunnel collapsed, but she was white photograph stands out: a woman still inside. Devastated, he dug for her to with a melancholy look to her eyes, her no avail. Finally, he sailed away, leaving chin resting on her fist, staring off into her body and the stolen gold behind. the past. Eventually, the don took refuge in a She’s wearing a white dress. monastery, where he lived out his life in Her name was Carrie Harmon Col- sorrow. But it is said that the opera singer’s lins, and she built the Belhurst castle. Born ghost still roams the lawn and wanders in 1849, she was a relative of the great the castle hallways and grounds to this politician Henry Clay. Her husband, day, searching for her lover. Samuel Harmon, worked at a profitable As colorful as this tale was, it didn’t sit wheel manufacturing company in Ohio right with me. I read everything I could owned by Carrie’s father. She loved the find on the castle, and on Geneva and its arts and opera, and was pursuing a med- early history. The area had been home to ical degree in New York City, apparently the six nations of the Iroquois, and it was without her husband. on this spot that they had their village of Carrie’s “manager” was a lieutenant Kanadesaga (coincidentally meaning “old named Louis “Dell” Collins. In 1885 she castle”). For generations, the Indians had and Dell visited Geneva. They sought out believed this land was sacred. A short dis- a real estate agent who showed them the tance away they kept their ceremonial bur- Otis Grove property: an overgrown area ial ground: a mound that American with a deserted old mansion on the colonists promised to leave undisturbed grounds. Locals had come to believe it was in a treaty signed in 1788. (Now there’s a haunted, with a secret vault full of treas- gas station over the spot, and a small me- ure somewhere underground. Carrie paid morial hidden in the weeds). the asking price on the spot and made 056 Belhurst.qxd 5/28/09 11:05 AM Page 59

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plans to clear the old structure and commence construction of a magnificent castle, her dream home. She soon di- vorced Samuel, married Dell, and moved into the Belhurst Castle, where she stayed for the rest of her life. But Carrie couldn’t be the ghost, could she? She was no Spanish damsel, no opera singer in distress buried alive trying to escape her pursuers. Unsure of where to go next, I focused on the ruined, deserted mansion originally on the site. Who had lived there? What was their story? On this land, there had been two great estates, and two women of powerful presence.

Another Singer The first woman (the one Carrie Harmon Collins, the “Lady in White.” shrouded in so much mystery) was named Isabella Robinson; at least, his six-year old son. that was her stage name at the Covent They boarded a boat to America in Garden Royal Theater in London in the 1830 and eventually made their way to 1820s. We do not know much about her Geneva, where Isabella had relatives. A performances or her fame. In any case, man named James Simons befriended Is- she was beautiful, and she caught the eye abella aboard the ship. Simons’s niece, of the theater’s treasurer, a reclusive man Emma, had fallen down a stairwell and named William Henry Bucke. He was was gravely injured. Isabella wound up married, but that didn’t stop him from caring for his niece during the trip and pursuing Isabella. One night after a busy after they reached Geneva. performance, Bucke stole the contents of Residents gossiped about the relation- the opera’s safe and fled with Isabella and ship between James and Isabella, just as 056 Belhurst.qxd 5/28/09 11:05 AM Page 60

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Belhurst Castle in 2003, before additions.

they quickly noticed something odd about out for a while. Finally the men left, ap- Bucke. There was the huge mansion he parently satisfied. Research done in the was building up on the cliff. He never took 1940s by a town historian concluded only in visitors, and he never socialized in that “some sort of settlement” was reached town. He refused to let his son befriend with Bucke. It was believed he paid back other children. He seemed to be hiding what he could, and begged forgiveness for something. the rest. Townspeople began speaking of a hid- den treasure, surmising Bucke had to be Myth vs. Reality on the run from someone. Given his out- In any case, the true-life events were rageous spending habits and his distrust far from the drama and excitement of the of banks, he likely had his stolen wealth legend that sprang from them. But still hidden somewhere on his property. too close not to be a valid basis for the As Isabella and Simons continued later myth. We have all the elements, if their affair, Bucke became more reclusive. just flipped around a little: instead of a Then one day, several well-dressed men Spanish opera singer and a wealthy don, from London appeared in Geneva, ask- we have an English opera singer and a ing questions. They were directed to bookkeeper. They did flee pursuers (most Bucke’s hermitage on the cliff. They en- likely from the jilted spouse); they hid out tered the mansion, and they didn’t come on a cliff-top overlooking Seneca Lake. 056 Belhurst.qxd 5/28/09 11:05 AM Page 61

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Interior of Belhurst Castle. Note orb.

They were not, however, the romantic fan- She had moved to Penn Yan to live with tasy couple originally depicted. In fact, Is- her husband. A record in Simon’s journal abella seems to have fallen for the loyal said only, “My poor wife, Isabella died Mr. Simons whom she met on the boat, March 15, 1846, aged 44 years.” and Bucke was anything but the dashing, Amy and I found Isabella’s gravesite romantic don; instead, he was a miser- while trekking through the woods behind able, paranoid, and jealous soul. a lone farmhouse on Route 14. Bucke died in 1835, not tragically in Legend would have us believe Isabella a monastery, but in his house from blood is the ghost of Belhurst Castle. But why? poisoning after an injury received while Her love was a dozen miles south, in Penn chasing his son about the yard in a fit of Yan. By all accounts, she and James were rage. Isabella then married James Simons. happy in their new home after Bucke’s She died just ten years later, not in a tun- passing. Clearly, Isabella was not the Lady nel underground, or even anywhere close in White. to the mansion or the Belhurst grounds. But if not her, then who? 056 Belhurst.qxd 5/28/09 11:05 AM Page 62

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The Lady Behind the Legend It would have been easy for word of Who had the motivation to stay at Bel- mouth to create a dressed-up version of hurst after her death? Who fell in love with the original story. Eventually, it took on a the spot immediately, despite the ruined life of its own and even made it into a mansion standing on the property? Who book on local folklore. And yet, I wonder loved the land so much that she told her if Carrie Collins ever felt slighted, even staff repeatedly that no tree was to be cut jealous, by the way the legend bypassed down, nothing in the environment her and chose Isabella as its star? harmed? (On a chilling side note, decades If she did, Carrie remained humble later in 1973, the groundskeeper, after a fit about it. Maybe she was just waiting for of rage, chopped down ten large trees on the right person to come along to set the the main walk. He died of a heart attack record straight. the next day. Make of that what you will.) Any misgivings that my conclusions Who loved the place as much as Car- were off track vanished one day a few rie Collins, an aspiring opera singer her- weeks before I was to publish my book. self who could be heard singing softly in Months earlier, I had written to a woman her room or on the grounds at all hours, whose name I saw written on some old strolling about in her white dress? photographs at Geneva’s historical soci- The Lady in White, I believe, is none ety. Margaret Wilson was now 80 years other than Carrie Collins, still strolling old and living near Syracuse. The photos her grand castle, roaming the halls, sur- had been in her possession since child- veying the grounds, enjoying the view she hood, for her father had been Belhurst’s loved in life. Her mausoleum is just across caretaker during the last few years of Car- the road, within sight of the castle on a rie’s life. Margaret, then a young girl, lived crisp winter day when the leaves are down in a guest house with her parents. and the bare trees sway in the cold lake Margaret called me, explaining why winds. she had those photographs and how she Soon after Carrie’s death in 1926, peo- had given them to the current owners of ple started seeing the apparition of a Belhurst. Without any prompting, she told woman in white. Soon, rumors were fly- me that the Belhurst Castle was haunted ing. Elderly residents recalled something by Carrie Collins. Margaret had seen Car- about the scary old mansion formerly on rie herself just weeks after her death, roam- the property, and the reclusive old thief ing the halls in her white dress. When she who had lived there with an opera singer. lived, Carrie used to sing to Margaret and Didn’t some men from Europe come play with her, and when Margaret saw her looking for them? Didn’t we think they again after the funeral, she wasn’t afraid. had tunnels and vaults full of treasure? Margaret told her mother, who whispered 056 Belhurst.qxd 5/28/09 11:05 AM Page 63

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that she shouldn’t bother Mrs. Collins; in- every room now, including that Tower stead she should just look away and pre- Suite again. But every time since, to my tend not to see her. sad regret, I’ve slept peacefully. After the castle changed ownership Perhaps Carrie’s appearances had her and Margaret and her family left, Mar- desired effect. I hope I have done her jus- garet never forgot those sightings, and tice in bringing her story to light. ; lived her life with the certainty that Car- rie Collins still remained at Belhurst. She David Sakmyster lives even told me that near the end of her days, with his wife and Carrie had instructed her father to take daughter in upstate care of her property, and do it well, be- New York where he is cause she would be watching… at work on several nov- This was a remarkable confirmation els and screenplays, as of my theories, and I wound up dedicat- well as the occasional ing the book to Mrs. Wilson. My wife and research article into su- I have gone on to visit Belhurst many pernatural experiences. times since, and we’ve stayed in just about Visit at www.sakmyster.com.

Egypt Yields Two New Relics

rchaeologists in Egypt have uncovered two new significant sets of ancient artifacts. The first find consists of a set of black granite statues depicting AKing Amenhotep III, who ruled Egypt 3,400 years ago. The second, a set of mummies recovered from a secret burial chamber found 30 feet under- ground at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara. Egypt’s chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass has dubbed the previously hid- den chamber a “storeroom for mummies,” because it houses eight wooden and limestone sarcophagi and over 20 mummies in total. The find dates back to 640 B.C., Egypt’s last independent kingdom before the invasion of foreign conquerors. Hawass says that much of the site at Saqqara, located just south of Cairo, has yet to be explored and undoubtedly contains more buried treasures. By some estimates, only about one-third of Egypt’s monuments have been un- covered to this point, with the rest still tucked away under eons’ worth of earth and sand.—Reuters and Associated Press ; 064 Orbs.qxd 5/28/09 11:07 AM Page 64

Apparitions, Orbs, Ultraviolet and Infrared Photography

Orbs in the dusty basement of a Baltimore church.

by Rick Moran ne of the most maligned exam- Like UFO sightings, orbs are ninety per- ples of reported paranormal ev- cent misidentification but ten percent un- idence has been the orb. These explained or paranormal in nature. round balls of light hovering in ghost hunters’ photos have gone Understanding the Problem from proof of unexplained phe- Before you can defend the notion that nomeOna to dusty reflections in a relatively some orbs are evidence in support of short period of time. In the process, some ghostly activity, you must understand interesting evidence may have been tossed what the majority of orbs really are and out like the proverbial baby with the bath- how they got onto the photographic film water. or digital memory. The conclusion that orbs are just re- When you take a picture and the re- flective dust has been greatly overstated. sulting photo shows glowing red eyes in

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your subject, it is not a sign of demonic below. If you place a UV filter in front of possession. The flash firing in a low-light the camera lens, it eliminates the dust re- situation catches the eye by surprise, with flection, allowing the image of the sub- the iris fully dilated, thus allowing the ject to be captured free of orbs. back of the eyeball to reflect back as red due to the blood vessels found there. Other Sources of Orbs There is also a logical explanation for Orbs are not only caused by dust. The most orbs, and it has to do with the cam- same anomaly can be produced by other era’s lens. things hanging in the air, and even by the I don’t see many orbs in my photos, speed of the camera lens at its focal length and the reason is simple: I shoot with a or f-stop setting. fairly expensive digital camera that has a I tell my team of paranormal investi- good lens and a standard UV filter. The gators to take notes, not just of the time filter is there to protect the lens, not to and place they shoot a photo, but of the eliminate orbs, but the end result is the atmospheric conditions, whether they are same. If you add that filter, you will elim- inside or out in a field. They routinely inate 99 percent of the causes of orbs. carry small, personal “weather stations” Inexpensive cameras usually have that they hang from their work vests. If plastic lenses, rather than glass, and this and when you capture an amorphous or- can be the biggest drawback. Many cam- ange cloud moving toward you late at eras also have a built-in flash, which may night, the resulting photo is bound to un- or may not be automatic. By design, this dergo outside scrutiny. Skeptics will light source is in a direct line to the lens scream it is atmospheric in nature: fog, for reflected illumination from the target swamp gas, and the like. But if you are object. Dust particles can be highly reflec- carrying a portable weather device, you tive. When the flash fires, the reflected sur- have a minute-by-minute digital record face (the dust) returns to the lens as an of the temperature, humidity, baromet- optical illusion, an out-of-focus object ric pressure, dew point, wind direction that is brightly illuminated. and speed, plus a host of other readings. Ultraviolet filters act like a pair of UV- Have an image of a ghost taken at 2:13 treated sunglasses. If you look into a lake a.m. in the middle of nowhere? You can trying to see fish with your naked eye, you plug the weather station into your com- might see some outline of their move- puter and respond to skeptics in a com- ment, but in general you can’t see past the pletely scientific manner. The readout will sun’s rays bouncing off the surface of the tell you if that orange blob could be water. If you put on a pair of sunglasses weather-related, as well as give you proof with UV-protective coating, you can look that it was moving against the wind when past the glare of the sun to see the fish photographed. 064 Orbs.qxd 5/28/09 11:07 AM Page 66

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Two-Shot Rule more time around cameras than you, so If you still have an orb, more investi- listen carefully. gation is needed. Remembering the If all else fails, you can try to enlist biggest problem is stray reflected light, the help of more prestigious organiza- you can now understand the rule of good tions, like the Rochester Institute of Tech- paranormal investigators: take two shots nology’s photo imaging department, or forward and one shot behind you. Com- even Kodak. But don’t expect a quick re- pare the first and second shot. Now look sponse. for other reflective objects. We had a photo of a man with an orb Ghost Photography: on his chest that almost made its way Then and Now into our collection of real paranormal Now that we’ve talked about how to anomalies. We used the two-shot rule eliminate orbs, let’s consider how to im- and found the anomaly was identical in prove your chances of actually capturing both, though one was not as bright as a real apparition’s photo. the other. After enlarging that portion of Ghost photography has been around the image, we found that our orb was ac- for a long time. The Brown Lady of Rayn- tually a small metal lapel pin from a fra- ham Hall is a classic example. Recreating ternal organization that the subject that photo today would be almost impos- always wore. At a distance and with a di- sible. It was not taken with an Instamatic: rect light source, it looked just like a clas- it took two photographers, a weighty 8x10 sic orb. camera, large wet plates, a very long ex- If you still have an image that shows posure cycle, and darkroom processing an orb, check the lens itself. Is it clean? using what we now call the “inspection The smallest smudge can cause out-of- method,” where you watch the image focus reflective light. If the distortion is come up before your eyes to be sure it is on all of your photos in the same general properly processed. area of the frame, it might be dirt that is While others may disagree, I think the actually in the camera. key to such photos is in the length of the If you still have a questionable photo, exposure and the slow plate speed. While pass it around to other investigators for lugging an 8x10 bellows camera is not their opinion. Be ready to play devil’s ad- conducive to paranormal field investiga- vocate and defend the photo. To be really tions, there is a relatively simple method sure, take your photo to the local college that has produced good results. and ask the photography professor to give Infrared (IR) photography has been an opinion. This person may not know around for 100 years, and was used by anything about orbs, but he or she spends paranormal investigators in the mid-20th 064 Orbs.qxd 5/28/09 11:07 AM Page 67

Apparitions, Orbs , Ultraviolet and Infrared Phjotography 67

century. The spectrum of light that we can capture on film is very broad. For most applications, we only want a slice of that spectrum, roughly between 350 and 700 nanometers (nm). In digital cameras, this spectrum is further limited to 400 to 700 nm to give the casual camera owner a more robust color image. In that situa- tion, the manufacturer has also blocked most of the infrared (IR) spectrum as well by adding an internal filter plate. This be- comes the first obstacle in the search of those elusive apparition images. While it is possible to take your digi- tal camera apart to remove the filter panel, I would not advise going down that treacherous path. It is possible to send The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall. your camera out to be altered, for a price. But unless you can add a filter to the end can buy a camera that will take the exter- of your lens, that will not work either. nal IR filter on the lens and send it out to Some of the less expensive digitals are not remove that offending IR blocking shade; equipped to take an external filter. 2) You can look for a camera that was pro- duced before someone got the smart idea Big-League Photography of adding that pesky filter; or 3) You can If you have a camera that takes a stan- buy a new camera that is already suited dard-size lens filter, and doesn’t have an for this purpose. internal IR-blocking filter, you are ready Purchasing a new camera that can to go ghost-hunting with the pros. There take the necessary lens filter and then hav- are any number of groups that limit their ing it altered to remove the blocker is pos- field trips to this form of paranormal in- sible, but costly. That new camera will cost vestigating, and several have inspirational about $250 and the alterations another photos to show what can be accomplished $200. Choice three, buying a new camera with the right equipment.You do not have that is designed to perform both IR and to take apart your camera to accomplish normal photography, is also expensive: this feat, although the alternatives are about $1,500 for the bare-bones system; sometimes problematic. $6,000 for a full kit. You actually three alternatives: 1) You Option three involves finding a well- 064 Orbs.qxd 5/28/09 11:07 AM Page 68

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stocked photo retailer who will order a now being offered on eBay for $140 and brand new Fuji S-3 Pro 123, UVR foren- the price is expected to rise as more folks sics camera for you. If your budget can learn this camera’s secrets. afford it, this is the camera of choice, the The payoff for the use of infrared is one the real CSI guys use and built to worth the effort, no matter what decision cover the entire IR spectrum. you make; the IR trend is now adding Otherwise, this leaves choice num- many new ghost images. ber two. Start shopping eBay and local pawn shops for an Olympus C-2020-Z. Success with Infrared In the digital world, this camera is old, My first IR photo was taken in the but it is built like a rock and was designed 1980s with a 35mm SLR and Kodak IR without that annoying IR blocker. With film. The place was a small country inn, this camera you can shoot IR immedi- once a stop on a stage route in New Eng- ately without making any alterations. Just land. The team at that time would go from slap on a good grade R-72 IR red-black room to room, taking two photos at each filter (you will need an adapter; the setup while a second team member would Olympus takes a 41mm lens, but the keep a log of where, when, and who was standard size for the filter is 52mm), set in the image. Back in the darkroom, the the camera to the smallest f-stop, and film was developed by inspection and kept shoot. in one long strip. (Never cut film; critics With any camera, a tripod is neces- will tear you apart if your film is not in sary in low-light situations. The Olym- one continuous run.) pus already has a wireless remote control, To my surprise there was one image which is great. If you want to shoot a nor- on the last roll exposed. In what was then mal photo, just take off the IR filter, put a living room, you could see two team on the UV,and shoot. This camera is not members seated in the background, but big on pixel size, at 2.3 megapixels, good in the foreground stood the figure of a for most prints but not if you intend to man. Hat, boots, and a long coat were ev- print your ghost photos poster size. ident, although the apparition itself was The Olympus is the choice of most totally black and devoid of features. He paranormal photographers, but the cam- was leaning on a rocking chair, but slightly era is no longer being manufactured, so transparent. Through some rough calcu- you will have to find a good used one. Be- lations we determined that he stood about cause of its recent success in photograph- six feet four inches tall. ing anomalous images and good press, Similar IR photos are now showing the cost of this camera is in flux. A year up on the Internet. Even a few of the pop- ago they were selling for under $100; it is ular TV shows are now featuring the use 064 Orbs.qxd 5/28/09 11:07 AM Page 69

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of IR photography. On the battlefield of Gettysburg, one photographer has cap- tured many images of ghostly soldiers, not visible to the naked eye. While I do not expect that this will be the turning point in our search for proof of the survival of the human spirit after death, it does go a long way toward rais- ing new questions about our world. As we dispel some common mistakes in pho- The Olympus C-2020-Z camera. tography, like misidentified orbs, we are introducing more exciting ways to cap- mometer, or any camera image, they add ture otherworldly images. to the list of possible proofs, but can’t stand alone as the one single piece of ev- The FLIR System idence to prove a ghostly presence. No discussion of ghost-hunting pho- If you are looking for yet another av- tography would be complete without ac- enue to explore that is relatively inexpen- knowledging the most sought-after sive in the ghost-hunting field, my choice camera of the century, the FLIR thermal would be the properly equipped IR digi- imaging system. This system displays heat tal camera. It will not replace your note- signatures in real time. These signatures book as your most important piece of can then be recorded. I do not know a sin- equipment, but it certainly will yield some gle paranormal investigator who does not interesting evidence. ; want one of these systems, but most are unwilling to pay thousands of dollars to Rick Moran is a long-time contributor to indulge their desire. FATE magazine who wrote the definitive de- The FLIR is a complicated device that bunking of the Amityville Horror in our has been used by police agencies and fire pages. He is a retired journalist who has departments for years to find the heat sig- more than 35 years’ experience in the para- natures of victims or perpetrators in non- normal field. He is currently the Coordina- visible terrain. Could it be used to capture tor for the Association for the Study of ghosts? Maybe. It will certainly capture Unexplained Phenomenon (ASUP, Inc.) a images of anomalies that could be 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and educa- ghostly. tional corporation, now based in Texas. Rick Standing alone, no images I have seen welcomes your questions and comments at are proof positive of a spirit in your midst. www.asup-inc.org or on the FATE maga- Like a K-2 meter, tri-field meter, IR ther- zine discussion group site. 070 Bypass.qxd 5/28/09 11:09 AM Page 70

The Haunted Bypass Ghostly Monks Attack Police

Pearoyd Bridge on the Stocksbridge Bypass.

by Jason Day n 1987 work began on a new section struction equipment was kept, saw some- of road across the top of the Peak Dis- thing unusual: a group of children play- trict in Yorkshire, England. The A616 ing beneath an electricity pylon. As the passed through the town of Stocks- guards got out of their vehicle and ap- bridge until road planners got to proached the pylon, they saw that the chil- work on a new bypass to alleviate the dren were dressed in old-fashioned trIaffic congestion. clothing and had their hands linked with While the new road may have relieved each other in a circle. The youngsters ap- the flow of traffic through the steel town, peared to be playing ring-around-the- it would appear to have disturbed some- rosy. As the guards approached them, the thing that might have been best left alone. children suddenly vanished. It all began one night when two secu- The men were startled, to say the least. rity guards, patrolling the area where con- As Peter Owens, the security company’s

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manager, explained: “They were security heard something.They were both spooked men who had been in the industry a long and basically I said to them that it was not time. They knew the job; they had worked a police matter and there was nothing I night shifts for a number of years and could do about it. Perhaps jokingly I said were not the type of people you would to them that maybe they needed the expect to be scared.” church more than they needed the po- The men were to witness an even lice.” more disturbing event later in their shift. The security guards took Ellis at his word and headed for Stocksbridge church. Monk on Bridge There they sought refuge and refused to In the early hours of the morning, the leave. Thirty minutes later the police were guards pulled their vehicle into an area of contacted and Ellis was ordered by his su- the bypass that would later become periors to go to the church and get the known as Pearoyd Bridge. As their Range men out. Ellis was also told to investigate Rover came to a halt, one of them spot- what the men had seen that night and get ted a hooded figure on a section of the to the bottom of the matter. bridge just in front of them. The guard After dealing with the security guards got out of the vehicle to take a closer look at the church, Ellis and his colleague Spe- while his colleague drove onto the bridge. cial Constable John Beet headed to the As the headlights fixed onto the figure, bypass themselves to investigate. They the beams shone right through it. The arrived at the site in the evening and sat guards watched aghast as the apparition in their car. They turned off the engine, disappeared into thin air. the lights, and the police radio, and The men made a hasty retreat to their waited to see what would occur. Ellis re- cabin on the construction site and called counted: their employer. Owens came to the site “We sat looking at the bridge and after immediately and described what he saw a while I was convinced I could see some- when he entered the cabin that night: thing moving about on the bridge. Not “They [the security guards] were wanting to spook myself or John I kind physically shaking and their complexion of looked at John.” was very white and pallid. One of the Beet asked Ellis what was up and Ellis guards was actually crying.” told Beet that he thought he had seen The men described what had hap- something on the bridge, which was still pened that night, and later in the morn- under construction. Beet then told Ellis ing they went straight to the local police that he should go and have a closer look. station. The officer on duty that day, Po- Ellis got out of the police car and headed lice Constable Dick Ellis, knew them. Ellis for the ladder perched in front of it. Ellis said: “It was obvious they had seen or continued: 070 Bypass.qxd 5/28/09 11:09 AM Page 72

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“I actually climbed up the ladder onto mind to get out and investigate. the bridge and there were a lot of things “When I got out of my side of the car scattered around on top of the bridge.” there was nothing about at all. I even hit the deck and looked under the vehicle be- Nothing But Plastic? cause nobody could have run away from Among the material on the bridge us, there were bankings on both sides, and Ellis found a sheet of polyethylene wav- nobody ran backwards or forwards.” ing in the breeze. He called to Beet and Ellis inspected the mud around the told him about his discovery. car, but the only tracks he could find were Beet said, “Well, once we’d thought those of the car tires and Beet’s and his that we had found out what it was, and own footprints. Ellis returned to the car what was actually on the bridge, we de- and got in. Beet continued the story: cided to give it another ten or fifteen min- “We went to start the car and at first utes and then forget it and go on with our the car wouldn’t start and we began to normal patrol.” panic a little.” Ellis secured the plastic sheet with a The car eventually started and the po- rock and returned to the police car. The licemen drove away. As Ellis radioed his two officers then sat and waited. It didn’t colleagues at the station a huge bang came take long for things to take a turn for the from the back of the car. Beet equated it worse. Ellis explained: to the sound of somebody hitting the back “I suddenly got this feeling, you can’t of the car with a baseball bat. explain it, there’s the saying that some- Beet stopped the car and the two men body’s walked over your grave, which got out. They stood in front of the car turns you cold, and then I became aware with their backs to the vehicle and Ellis that somebody now had appeared directly radioed for assistance. As he did so they on my right-hand side and was virtually heard another bang from the back of the leaning and pressing himself against the car.This time they did not stay around to car.” investigate. The officers jumped back into Ellis quickly cast his head to the right their car and raced back to the police sta- and saw the upper section of someone’s tion. torso at the car window. Almost instantly Ellis concluded:“There are things on the figure disappeared. The figure then this job that frighten me, and it wasn’t the appeared at the window on Beet’s side of kind of fear that you get from violence of- the car before disappearing again a split- fered towards you or anything like that. second later. It was more a kind of dread feeling or The officers were shaken by their ex- knowing that something’s happening that perience but Ellis had the presence of you have no control over.” 070 Bypass.qxd 5/28/09 11:09 AM Page 73

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Guards Not Over It The security guards who first reported seeing the appari- tion never got over what they had witnessed that night at the bypass, as Peter Owens ex- plained:“One of them left after three days and the other one stayed roughly two or three months. Neither of the two guards would set foot on that site again, not even in daylight.” Sightings of apparitions Special Constable John Beet (left) and Police Constable Dick Ellis. continued during the con- struction of the bypass. One day Graham Another witness to the ghostly figure Brooke was out jogging with his son Nigel. during the construction of the bypass was Graham was training for a marathon a haulage driver. The incident occurred along the soon-to-be-completed bypass. at the very spot where the security guards As father and son jogged along Graham and the two policemen had their en- noticed what he thought was a man walk- counter with the phantom monk. ing in the middle of the road. Nigel also The driver had parked his truck on noticed the man, but as they got closer to the site one evening and was taking the him Nigel could see that the man ap- ropes off the near side of his trailer when peared to have no facial features apart he suddenly felt deathly cold. The driver from nose and eye sockets. The pair also thought this was an odd occurrence as it noticed a smell that they described as was a warm evening. As he continued his “fusty,”“rotting,”and “not a human-type work, he began to smell a musty odor. He smell.” glanced up and watched the figure of a Something else didn’t seem quite right monk glide through the headlights of his about the man, Graham realized:“I could truck and disappear among the other see that he wasn’t walking on the road, he trailers on the site. was like walking in the road. From below the knee you couldn’t see anything.” Sightings Continue Then, as is the case with many a para- Sightings of the monk and other para- normal episode, as Graham and Nigel rec- normal phenomena continued to be re- ognized that they had seen a ghost, the ported in the area, and some hoped these apparition disappeared. would dissipate with the completion of 070 Bypass.qxd 5/28/09 11:09 AM Page 74

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Pearoyd Bridge and the bypass itself in be seen. David Simpson said: 1989. However, this was not to be. “I could think of no other explana- A local bus driver called Neville was tion to what we saw; in my mind I think walking his dog along the bypass when what we saw had to have been a ghost.” he suddenly became immensely cold. As Another driver who had an experi- he walked along a lane to enter a field the ence on the Stocksbridge bypass also back of his neck began to crawl and his thinks she may have an answer as to who hair felt like it was standing on end. A the mysterious apparition might be. heavy feeling of oppression came over Psychic medium Lucinda June was Neville and he saw what he could only de- driving along the bypass when her car be- scribe as a monk in the field, racing came icy cold. With the extreme change around at a great pace: in temperature also came a smell that Judi “One minute he was in the corner of equated to the odor of “musty books.” the field, and then the next minute he was Then a darkness appeared to her left. As off near the entrance to the field.” she explained: “I felt very frightened. I As the bypass began to experience picked up the spirit of a monk who had heavier volumes of traffic, so the sight- been there 500 years previously.” ings of the ghostly monk by passing mo- Why does the spirit of a long-dead torists became more regular. monk haunt the Stocksbridge bypass? David Simpson and his wife Judi There are records of two monasteries were traveling home from Judi’s parents’ close to the bypass dating back to the 12th house one day and were crossing Pea- century, and there were also monastery royd Bridge when something caught farms in the local area. Local historian Judi’s attention: a gray apparition that Trevor Lodge recounted a story that may looked like a man who was running, but shed even more light onto the identity of he was not running on the ground. Judi the monk who is believed to haunt the said the man also seemed to have no fa- road and the surrounding area: cial features. “One of these monks became disillu- When Judi pointed the figure out to sioned with the rather harsh, autocratic her husband, he also saw it. David ob- way of life of the order. He came here to served that the figure seemed to be hov- Underbank Hall, worked the rest of his ering with its arms flying all over the place. natural life here as a groundsman or what- Judi then saw the figure move quickly up ever and subsequently when he died he the embankment towards their car. The was buried in unhallowed ground.” figure hit the side of the car and then dis- There is a local belief that the bypass appeared. Judi slammed on the brakes in may have been built over the monk’s grave total shock, but the man was nowhere to and this is what is causing the paranor- 070 Bypass.qxd 5/28/09 11:09 AM Page 75

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mal phenomena. There is also a theory to haps like the spirit of the ghostly monk, explain the ghostly children observed by refuses to be laid to rest. ; the security guards. Lodge says:“Children were used in the valley’s coal mines in the late 18th century. The rumor suggests that Jason Day was there was a mining catastrophe.” born in Scun- Skeptics believe that the large deposits thorpe, England. of iron ore, overhead power lines, and big He began as a fea- electrical substations near steel smelters tures writer for in the area could affect electromagnetic Paranormal mag- fields. Such a large electrical influx into azine in March the temporal lobes can induce an anom- 2006. Now as co- alous experience or a “paranormal epi- owner and host of sode,”according to scientific tests. White Noise Paranormal Radio, Jason has The sightings continue to this day. De- had the opportunity to interview some of scriptions vary and experiences differ, but the most influential people in the paranor- nevertheless, the reputation of the Stocks- mal community. His first book, It’s Only a bridge bypass as a haunted location, per- Movie…Isn’t It?, will be out mid-2009.

Garden of Eden

ocations for the Garden of Eden have been offered many, many times before, but most of the previous theories about its location are based upon biblical Linterpretation. However, a new genetic survey of the people of Africa may hold the key to discovering where human beings first arose on planet Earth. The evidence points to an area of southwest Africa, near the country of An- gola. Under the Darwinian paradigm, the origin of a species is generally taken to be the place where its individuals show the greatest genetic diversity. When the new African genetic data was combined with DNA data from the rest of the world, it showed that this magic diversity spot lies near the Atlantic coast of south- west Africa near the Kalahari Desert. The team carrying out this research, led by Sarah Tishkoff of the University of Pennsylvania, also believes it has calculated the exit point from which a small human group, of perhaps 100 to 200 people, left Africa some 50,000 years ago and populated the rest of the world. The region, they believe, is near the mid- point of the Red Sea coast in Egypt.—The New York Times ; 076 GhostsonHill.qxd 5/28/09 11:11 AM Page 76

Mother of Aynne McAvoy at haunted house.

by Aynne McAvoy s a professional psychic, I am haunted house, fun is not a word I would often asked if there was some- use to describe it. thing in my background that This story begins in 1953, when I was had an effect on who I am today. four years old. We were moving from the I tell people that I grew up in a only home I’d ever known on Meadow haunted house, and I am sure Avenue to our new home, not far from thatA had a lot to do with it. the Thompson Park hill in Watertown, I am often amused with people who New York. My father was often away on go to great lengths to seek out a haunted business, and since my mother wouldn’t house, and have an experience. Should learn to drive for several years yet, our these people have grown up the way I did, close proximity to my grandparents must I doubt they would spend one minute of have played heavily in the decision to buy their adult life in this pursuit. Whatever that particular house. you may think aboutGhosts years of living inon a theThere were Hill five of us in the family, my

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parents, my two sisters, and I. Our new I remember lying in my bed in one of house, which was over 50 years old at that the affected upstairs bedrooms, listening time, had four bedrooms, and would to the sounds of the windows rattling and eventually have two bathrooms, one up shaking. On several occasions we heard a and one down, which was quite the nov- scratching noise on our bedroom win- elty for that time. It also had two stair- dows, like some kind of animal trying to cases, a front one with a wonderful railing get in. These windows were many feet off that my sisters and I spent many hours the ground on the second floor. It was not sliding down over our childhood years, possible for any animal to be up that high. and a back staircase, which was very nar- Night after night my sisters and I would row, steep, and dark. lie in fear as we tried to ignore the sounds Near the top of the back staircase was and go to sleep. the fourth bedroom, which soon became Our parents had the property re- known as “the room at the end of the searched to see if the house had been built hall.”We found that this room was often over some kind of natural disturbance in cold and felt prohibitive, right from the the ground that could be causing the start. One entered the attic from a door noises. They looked into every possibil- in that room, climbing steep, dusty stairs ity they could think of to explain the weird and never getting to the light bulb with a activity. Part of Watertown is built over a string attached until the top of the stairs labyrinth of caves, in which several lives was reached. There was only one other have been lost due to explorers venturing light in the entire attic, also a bulb with a in and never coming out. However, there pull string that hung from a high beam appeared to be no natural cause for the in the center. nightly uproar at our house. My father was often out of town on Nightly Uproar business, usually for weeks at a time, and Soon after our family moved into this on one of those nights when the windows house, the paranormal activity began. were rattling and shaking ferociously, my Every night, those large floor-to-ceiling mother lost her patience. She had three windows on the north side of the house frightened young children, so she decided in the living room and the bedrooms to take matters into her own hands. She above would rattle and shake, as if a hur- took her Bible and marched down to the ricane were going on outside. (Even when center of the living room, where she com- it actually was very windy, the windows manded whatever evil forces were pres- never rattled and shook like they did in ent in the house to leave immediately. those first days.) It was almost as if huge From that time on, the horrid win- hands were shaking that entire side of the dow shaking ceased. But other strange ac- house. tivity soon took its place. 076 GhostsonHill.qxd 5/28/09 11:11 AM Page 78

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Terror on the Stairs that both rooms were vacant. The main stairs were a common place There were often nights when there for uneasiness. Whenever I walked down wasn’t a single light that would work on the stairs I tried to ignore the feeling that the second floor. We would climb a dark someone was directly behind me, but the staircase and walk down a pitch-black sensation of being watched and followed hallway into our bedroom. The next day only increased. More times than I can or even a few hours later, the lights would count, I ran the rest of the way down, all work perfectly and would continue to often taking two steps at once. do so until another “dark” episode oc- There was a very old mirror at the curred. This was usually accompanied by bottom of the stairs that had been in the a cold, clammy feeling in the hallway. family a long time, and was said to have When I was very young I would play come over “on the boat” with one of my in the attic. We didn’t have the delightful relatives from France. I rarely looked into toys that children have now, so I created that mirror in the many years that I lived my own play sink and kitchen from card- there or in later years when I came to visit. board boxes. I would put my doll dishes I always felt I would see the image of out and play with my dolls. The section whatever was always watching and fol- of the attic I chose for this activity was lowing me reflected in the mirror. One of near the top of those steep, dusty, old stairs my sisters confessed that she had identi- and near one of the few windows. cal sensations on the stairs. While playing and chattering away The stairs continued to be an issue with my dolls, I would get a strong feel- even years later. One of my sisters was ing that I was being watched. It would alone in the house one afternoon while make the hair on the back of my neck visiting my mother. She heard footsteps stand up. I would try to ignore the feel- overhead walking along the upstairs hall- ing, but eventually I would begin to hear way, and she listened as the footsteps then whispers in the darkened attic or the attic came down the main stairs. She waited floorboards creaking with footsteps. for the sound of the heavy front door About that time I would quickly get up opening and closing, as she supposed the and go down the stairs to the floor below, footsteps belonged to one of the roomers never looking to the left or right and def- who had rented our now-vacant child- initely not behind me. hood bedrooms. When she failed to hear I recall playing up there a few times, the front door, she went to investigate. and many of my toys and cardboard There was no one there. She later ques- kitchen were left exactly where they were. tioned my mother as to who the current They were still there years later when my roomer was upstairs. My mother replied sisters and I prepared the house for rent. 076 GhostsonHill.qxd 5/28/09 11:11 AM Page 79

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Apparitions awoke to find a man dressed in hunting A year or so after the last experience clothes looking at him. Next to the man with the cardboard kitchen in the attic, stood a dog. They looked very real and one of our elderly neighbors told my sis- three-dimensional until both suddenly ter and I that someone had hanged him- vanished. self or herself in that attic. Although my mother did her best to dispel that story, Shaking Bed the fact was that if you looked high in the One weekend in later years, my old- rafters of the attic, you could see where a est sister came to visit our mother. She rope had been hung and cut short, the worked hard all day helping with neg- remnant hanging for all to see. That rope lected housework, and then crawled into remained there unchanged in all the years bed in the upstairs bedroom, exhausted. our family lived there. Mother had ceased to sleep upstairs years My father, who was one of the bravest before, and that bedroom was primarily men I ever knew, also had an experience used as a guest room by then. in the attic. I honestly cannot recall him Suddenly my sister awoke to a freez- ever being afraid of anything in his life. ing cold bedroom and a violent shaking He stood over six feet tall with strong, in the bed. Frightened out of her wits, she broad shoulders and a purposeful stride. could see no cause for what was shaking However, when it came to the attic in that the bed, and bolted out of the bedroom old house, he met his match. and downstairs into the living room. My My mother would always send some- mother was sound asleep on the couch. one else up to the attic for something she My sister sat up in one of the overstuffed wanted. One day she sent Dad on one of rockers for the remainder of the night. these errands. She stood at the bottom of When my mother awoke the next morn- the stairs while he went up into the dark, ing to find her there, my sister made a dusty regions. He reached the top of the lame excuse about having gotten up early stairs and the first light, but never made and having just sat down to rest. it to the second light in the center of the A few years later a similar event oc- attic, where the cut-off rope hung. What- curred to me. My husband and I had ever he saw that day, he set a world’s come to visit for the weekend, and we record coming back down those stairs. He were sleeping in that same upstairs bed- nearly knocked my mother over. He re- room. Sometime in the middle of the fused to tell anyone what he saw that day. night, I woke up feeling that someone had My father had another experience that grabbed the edge of the mattress on my he did share. One afternoon while nap- side of the bed and was shaking it as hard ping on the couch in the living room, he as they could. The room was frigid cold. 076 GhostsonHill.qxd 5/28/09 11:11 AM Page 80

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My heart was beating so hard I thought found that a tar-like substance had flowed it was going to jump out of my chest. I down the upstairs hallway walls from the could see no one in the room, nor could attic and onto the hardwood floor. I had I think of any reason for what was hap- a difficult time getting my head around pening that made any sense. just exactly where this stuff had come I shook my husband awake, then from and what it was. I tried to concen- swapped sides of the bed with him for the trate on just cleaning up the mess, getting rest of the night. He had slept through the out of there, and getting back to my own whole event. I never slept in that room home. My stomach revolted as I cleaned again, preferring to sleep on one of the up the black, tarry mess, and every part couches in the living room. of my being wanted to run out of the Looking back, it amazes me what a house and not come back. lack of communication we had with one We eventually sold the house, and I another about what was happening. We later heard from one of the neighbors who rarely shared these stories when they oc- still lived there that no one ever stayed curred. The information seemed to seep long before it was up for sale again. out years after the event. I wonder what Whatever evil was in that house the real reason my mother refused to sleep seemed to filter from the attic down the upstairs those last years she was there. hallway, at times seeping into the bed- Even my father had begun to sleep down- rooms and down the main stairway. I stairs in the years prior to his death. guess it still does. ;

Mysterious Residue Aynne McAvoy is In time, my mother became too ill to a psychic as- be alone. She moved in with my older sis- trologer, freelance ter, and we attempted to rent the house. writer, and regu- We had little success, for no one seemed lar columnist for to stay in the house very long. The house two magazines in was often vacant and was occasionally central New York checked on by a relative who lived in town. state. She has in- I heard that some kind of damage had vestigated various been done upstairs, and it was my turn to locations reported to be haunted, on the make the hour drive from where I lived request of the owners. She can be heard and see what needed to be done. I would on Heartbeat Radio, Flagler Beach, rather have done about anything else but Florida, every Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. go to that house. which is also streamed on the Internet at When my husband and I arrived, we http://heartbeatofflagler.com. 081 Boer.qxd 5/28/09 11:12 AM Page 81

Fifty years ago The Earthbound Soldier Still in uniform, the wraith appears every year, and when it is questioned it does not answer. FATE May 1959 by Bill Wharton Vol. 12, No. 5

ERMANUS VAN RENSBURG railroad employee hurried on. A train was was late for work on the warm due to pass through the whistle stop in evening of December 21, 1947, about 15 minutes and he had to be there as he hurried across the desolate to pick up any mail and parcels for the local sun-parched veldt from his rail- people. road cottage to the small whistle He was about 100 yards farther on and Hstop, Dalmanutha, in the Eastern Trans- less than a quarter of a mile from the rail- vaal, on the track between the towns of road track when it occurred to him that the Belfast and Machadodorp. stranger he had seen was not a local man. The tall, blond-haired station employee He was tall, over six feet, and there was skirted the 47-year-old war cemetery on its no one in the district taller than Van Rens- little rocky hill overlooking the long slop- burg, who stood only five feet 11 inches in ing valley and cut across from the rough- his bare feet. hewn track to the railroad through dried He stopped and looked back. The man up mimosa trees to save time. was standing looking down at the ruins. In The stolid Afrikaner was about halfway the late sun’s glow there was no mistak- through a little hollow below the cemetery ing the figure. The man seemed to be and passing the ruins of an old farmhouse dressed in some kind of uniform.Van Rens- when he saw, quite clearly on the side of burg glanced at his watch and decided he the hill, a man walking towards him. The still had a few minutes to spare; maybe the

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man was looking for someone. stranger when he stopped, puzzled. There He turned and walked rapidly over the was something eerie about the man, some- veldt towards the man and as he came thing Van Rensburg could not fathom. nearer he saw that it was a soldier, an of- “Hey!” he called out. “Hey, there! You ficer, but the uniform he wore was not a looking for someone?” modern one. It was scarlet and khaki—the Van Rensburg, whose home language kind of uniform British soldiers wore dur- is Afrikaans, knew that his English was poor ing the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902. but even so the man should have under- Van Rensburg, a man nearly 40 years stood. He approached within a dozen feet old, with over 20 years’ railroad service and of the man before saying in a normal voice, a trusted employee of the South African “Hullo there, can I help you? You are a Railways, was within hailing distance of the vreemdeling—stranger, aren’t you?” 081 Boer.qxd 5/28/09 11:12 AM Page 83

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Then the officer turned and looked at cemeteries at night; I don’t believe in rub- Van Rensburg. The officer, who wore the bish.” uniform of the Eighth Hussars, had a sad Calitz said soberly,“There are 200 peo- expression on his face and looked pale in ple living in this area. Nearly all of them the fading light of the day. He looked have seen the Sad Soldier. The spiritualists steadily at Van Rensburg for a minute or have come down from Johannesburg to more and then began walking up the low speak to the Sad Soldier and a man came hill towards the mimosa trees encircling up from Durban, a psychic man. The Sad the cemetery. Soldier spoke to no one.” Van Rensburg remained standing there In that year of 1947 when Van Rens- another few minutes then, hearing the dis- burg saw the Sad Soldier only one man still tant whistle of the approaching train, ran lived who knew what was believed to be the to the station. true story of this officer of the British As soon as the train had gone, Van Eighth Hussars, an old farmer named Cor- Rensburg picked up the mailbag and three nelius Schoemann who fought against the packages and walked down to the small vil- British in the Anglo-Boer War and who was lage where he delivered the bag to the post- actually engaged in the Battle of Geluk close master. to the Dalmanutha railroad stop. “Who is the stranger in the old uni- Although Mr. Schoemann, now over form?” he asked. “I was on the way to the 80, does not claim that the Sad Soldier is station when I saw this man come over the the man involved in one of the most hill—” poignant stories to emerge from that Meneer Pieter Calitz dropped the bag bloody guerilla war between Boer and and said,“Was the stranger wearing a scar- Britisher, all the facts fit into place like let tunic and khaki trousers?” the parts of a jigsaw puzzle and leave one Van Rensburg nodded. “Ja, he was. with the conclusion that the Sad Soldier He looked like the Rooibaadjies who fought was MajorVernon, the man who fell in love against us Afrikaners in the Boer War.” with an enemy girl. “The man you saw was the Sad Soldier,” “Caroline Potgieter,”Mr. Schoemann Calitz said. “He comes in October and related, “was about 20 years old in 1900 sometimes in December. You have only when the Boers were driven back by the been here six weeks; you will find out all British towards the Portuguese East Africa about him. Go and ask old Meneer Schoe- border. The Boers dug themselves in about mann, he knows the whole story.” 12 miles from here and the British occu- “Are you telling me I have seen a spirit, pied the Geluk-Dalmanutha area. In the a ghost?”Van Rensburg asked.“I don’t be- Potgieter family was only Mrs. Potgieter, lieve in those things. I have walked through a woman of 40 or so, and her daughter, 081 Boer.qxd 5/28/09 11:12 AM Page 84

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Caroline. They lived on a small farm about a quarter of a mile from Dalmanutha sta- tion.” The British forces commandeered whatever accommodation was available and Major Vernon and three other officers were quartered with the Potgieter family. “I remember Caroline Potgieter quite well. She was a tall, beautiful girl with star- tling dark, almost black, eyes and dark chestnut brown hair. It could have come as a surprise to no one that Major Ver- non fell in love with her. Her father was with the Boer forces and her mother was totally opposed to the British,”Schoemann related. After three weeks, during which the British forces built up reserves and rested, fighting only spasmodically with the en- Clippings from South African newspapers trenched Boers, the order came for the describe recent appearance of ghost of Britishers to attack and on the night when Boer War Soldier. Apparition is said to they were due to leave Vernon asked Car- be seen walking from nearby cemetery. oline to marry him when the war was over. No one knows what took place be- tween the Boer girl and British officer 081 Boer.qxd 5/28/09 11:12 AM Page 85

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but the story has it she told Vernon she “The girl was on the point of leaving would marry him if he laid down his arms when the first of the officers arrived,”Mr. and no longer fought against her people. Scboemann related, “and as Caroline Vernon, Mr. Schoemann related, was boarded the buggy she saw her mother unable to do this of course, as it would have speaking to one of the officers.” meant a field court martial and a proba- Fearful that her mother might be be- ble death sentence for desertion in the front traying Vernon, the girl whipped up the line. But his love for the Boer girl was horses just as an officer screamed at her to stronger than the call of duty and when stop. She whipped the horses around the the British forces moved on Vernon was hill and shouted to Vernon to come. He ran missing. down the hill and leaped aboard the buggy, He was reported as a deserter but dur- but the soldiers and officers were already ing the bitter engagement fought about 30 in pursuit on their own mounts and after miles from the farm, where he was hidden several shots had been fired at the fleeing in an attic by the girl, no effort was made couple, with bullets striking the buckboard, to find him simply because no soldiers Vernon pulled the reins and stopped fear- could be spared to hunt for him. ful that Caroline would be hit. “Caroline’s mother bitterly opposed A field court martial was held outside her daughter’s love for the Red Coat, as the the Potgieter’s home on the werf the next Boers called the Britishers, but Caroline day and Vernon was found guilty of deser- was determined to marry Vernon and the tion in the face of the enemy and sentenced two planned to leave for the Portuguese to death. The papers were sent immediately border, only about 50 miles away, and to by dispatch rider to army headquarters 15 live there where British law could not touch miles away and before the day was out Vernon,”Schoemann said. the confirmation of the court’s finding and On the night before they planned to sentence were back. go, at a time when the girl had gotten six Caroline hurried to army headquar- fresh horses and a buggy for the journey, ters-in-the-field to plead for Vernon’s life the British returned. The Boers were gain- but British army law is inflexible and the ing the upper hand and the Red Coats were next morning Vernon’s arms were bound falling back to await reinforcements. An behind his back, he was stripped of the in- old native servant of the Potgieters came signia of his rank, led up the hill, placed running to warn Caroline and Vernon that against a mimosa tree and shot. Caroline the soldiers were coming and Vernon fled watched the execution from a distance and up the hill to hide among the rocks while after the British soldiers had buried Ver- Caroline got the buggy and horses har- non she placed a wreath on the grave. nessed. That same night a mysterious fire razed 081 Boer.qxd 5/28/09 11:12 AM Page 86

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the Potgieter home and when the flames light the two men, keeping watch from a died down the charred remains of a woman distance of about 50 yards from the ruins were found. Caroline had been about five of the old Potgieter farmhouse, saw the sol- feet seven inches but her mother was a dier coming down the hill. short woman of about five feet four inches They told the magistrate later that they and, according to a medical doctor, the re- were close enough to see a black bullet hole mains were those of a shortish woman. in his uniform over his heart and stains Of Caroline there was no trace. around the bullet hole. “She simply vanished,”Mr. Schoemann Natives in the area now live in super- related, “and she has never, to my knowl- stitious fear of the wandering soldier and edge, been seen again. Some say that she each year in October and just before Christ- walked alone into the mountains, died there mas they lock their homes up more securely and still lies somewhere there under the than usual. They believe that anyone who bushes, others said she went to Cape Town sees the Sad Soldier will come to harm. to forget her dead lover. The truth of what No spiritualists took an interest in the happened to her no one knows.” matter until after World War II when two The ruined farmhouse was never re- men and a woman traveled down from Jo- built. Through the years the ruins be- hannesburg, spent an evening near the came mossy and overgrown with weeds ruins and then reported that they saw noth- and the story of the soldier who died for ing. But the night they spent there was Oc- the love of an enemy girl became one of tober 22. The following night only one of the Eastern Transvaal’s legends—until the men went there. He saw the Sad Sol- about ten years after the end of the war. dier and, according to his statement, en- Some frightened Africans reported to deavored unsuccessfully to speak to him. the local magistrate that they had seen a “This apparition appears usually every British soldier walk down from the hill and year on the evening of October 13, but it stand looking at the ruins. There were no has been known to vary its appearance British soldiers in the area and the magis- from October 13 to October 24 and also to trate discredited the story at once. appear around December 20 to December The following year, on the night of Oc- 22,” Mr. Schoemann related. “I have tried tober 13, several men reported to the mag- to trace back a possible reason for its ap- istrate that they had seen the mysterious pearance in October and December but I red-coated soldier and a watch was kept, haven’t succeeded. but in vain. It required two dauntless “There is no proof whatever that the Afrikaners named Van Blerk and Coetzee apparition is Vernon who was shot for de- to keep watch the following October 13. sertion,”the Boer War veteran said, “but Soon after sunset when it was still quite from the known and proven facts one must 081 Boer.qxd 5/28/09 11:12 AM Page 87

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come to the conclusion that it is he. He was from the mimosa and old cypress trees, the only British officer shot in this area for walk down to the ruins of the farmhouse, desertion, although others were killed in stand there for a time and walk back up the action. I have lived in these parts all my life hill to the small cemetery.” and know of no other case comparable to Last year another Johannesburg spir- that of Caroline Potgieter and this man Ver- itualist questioned the apparition but re- non. If it is not Vernon, why does the ap- ceived no reply. In answer to her,“Who are parition come straight down to the old you? Who do you seek?” the soldier from farmhouse? I don’t believe in ghosts my- another world merely looked at the ruins, self but I have seen, not once but many then turned away sadly and walked back times, this man from another world come up the hill. ;

ABNORMAL SYMPTOMS SOME two weeks after he lost a pet caterpillar which he had in bed with him, five-year-old Steven Sebleuning of Lyons, Kans., showed the symptoms of a cold. One night he sneezed particularly hard—and out of his nose came a partly developed butterfly.

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Fifty years ago Did the Cro-Magnons Discover America? Here is a reconstruction of an amazing voyage that may have brought Cro-Magnons to American FATE shores some 4,000 years ago. June 1959 Vol. 12, No. 6 by Lawrence D. Hills

NE REASON Cortez conquered Mex- HE YEAR is 1958 B.C. In Egypt the ico with ease was the Aztec legend of Pyramids have stood for over three strange white gods arriving from the centuries. In Crete the first good sea. A dozen different tribes had such plumbing system in the world is legends and many archaeologists be- operating. And in China, India, and lieve that white men reached Amer- around the Eastern end of the 0ica before either Columbus or Leif Erics- MediterraneanT are men skilled in working son. Here Lawrence Hills marshals evidence bronze, copper, and gold, in writing, trad- to support his theory that they came in giant ing, and weaving. For the magic of metals, double canoes from the Canary Islands. of the wheel and the turning shaft, har- That this could have been done easily is nessed first to the trade of the potter, have indicated by the direction of the prevailing begun to change men’s lives. trade winds. Last December and January, Far from these scenes of other civiliza- the balloon Small World covered 1,800 miles tions a tall and angry man stands whistling by air and 1,200 miles by sea from the Ca- beside the harbor of Las Palmas in the Ca- naries to Barbados in only 24 days. Its four nary Islands, where Columbus will anchor occupants were blown over this route almost in A.D. 1488. His name is Itzamna and he entirely by the same trade winds that would stands seven feet eight inches in the laced have carried the original Canarians centuries leather sandals that are to be copied per- earlier. fectly in the statues made of him after he

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became a God in the New World he does For this voyage is an act of faith. not yet know exists. He wears a square-cut, Roughly 2,500 years earlier—about 4500 fair beard and a sleeveless tunic of white B.C.—their ancestors sailed from southern goat leather (tanned soft by a lost process Spain in the same type of canoe, with their worth rediscovery) decorated with crim- farm seeds and livestock, and reached the son crosses which are the badges of his Canaries in seven days along an easy wind rank. His head is larger in proportion to and current route. These people are known his height than that of a modern man who today as the Gaunches. They were the de- is tall from unbalanced glands, for he is one scendants of the Cro-Magnon men who of the last of the Cro-Magnon men. In a drew the magnificent cave paintings in different uniform he would not look out Spain and in France. They were not pure- of place on the bridge of a British warship. blooded Cro-Magnons, of course, for they He is angry for reasons which are com- had mixed with other peoples long be- pletely understandable to the commodore fore they left Europe. In the isolated Ca- of any convoy about to sail. He is whistling naries they built a high agricultural civiliza- because this is to him a second language tion, growing such crops as barley and beans and the obvious way to give orders to the and raising sheep, goats, and pigs. fleet of 30 large, double-hulled canoes rid- Now, with an over-population prob- ing at anchor. Trained ears receive his mes- lem, the obvious solution for the Elders, sage, carried by the variations of five notes the Queen and the Priests, is to repeat the that constitute a whistled shorthand and a process exactly. With the skilled astronomy two-way radio with a range of five miles. that makes a stone circle, it is possible to “Land the woman who cannot make choose the right date, and this means good up her mind, and her children and her hus- weather and a steady Trade Wind. The pos- band. Her sheep and goats stay for any cou- sibility that God has not set groups of ple who will swim for them when we sail.” fertile islands at seven-day intervals across Then the shadow of the sun reaches the the Atlantic is not considered. appointed place and the Queen raises her Itzamna, however, apparently has his sacred staff. Gran Canaria had more queens doubts; it might be a 12-day trip and this than Britain and one reigned at the time of is why he has insisted on extra water jars. the Spanish conquest in 1485.* She calls on While his Queen speaks, he is thinking of He who rules the wind and sea to guide and his 30-gallon jars, made by coiling a long guard her people who sail in faith that new sausage of clay round and round, like all lands lie beyond the sunset. New World pottery and that of the Canaries where the potter’s wheel was unknown. *See “The Last Of The Cro-Magnons,”FATE With their clay covers well-resined and tied Magazine, October, 1958. down, most of their 400 pounds of weight 088 Cro.qxd 5/28/09 11:14 AM Page 90

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is waterborne, but will the leather ropes makes his long jump of nearly 30 feet to hold against the stresses and strains of the top of the fodder stack, which draws the sea? a wild burst of clapping from the crowd. The Queen lowers her staff, and To a race which never invented money but Itzamna whistles the signal for the first of valued athletic ability and courage as so- the argosy to hoist its stone anchor and cial yardsticks, a leader must be able to out- make sail. It is the canoe bearing Kinitcha- run, outjump and outfight any man in his hau, “Lord of the Eye of the Day,”who is command. skilled in using a very primitive method of Clear of the harbor, the argosy fol- determining the sun’s height above the lows the track taken by almost every mod- horizon which is going to give latitude ern vessel on a similar cruise, for the wind within 100 miles of accuracy and keep and the sea are unchanged. The canoes the fleet steering west with the sun as a spread out in a wide fan with Itzamna shep- compass. His mast, like a letter “A”with one herding the stragglers from the rear. He leg in each 70-foot hull, rises with its big slows the leaders and hastens the laggards, square leather sail swelling in the wind. using the rather greater speed of his 80- Then Kanil,“The Year Finder,”who knows footer with its larger area of sail like a lat- the art of making the “Dog in the Sky”(the ter-day destroyer commander with a con- Big Dipper) a night clock and compass, voy. leans on his steering paddle as his sail The seventh day passes without sight fills, and one after another the mighty ves- of land. The eighth, the ninth, and the tenth sels begin to move. day pass landless also but with the same To the clapping and cheering crowds good sailing weather. The catamaran hulls, they are mighty, over three times the size rubbed smooth with sandstone and shark- of fishing canoes which hold only 22 men. skin and painted red with the sap of the None of them has ever seen anything larger dragon’s blood tree, drive through the water than these logs of giant Canary Island pine, far faster than did the Santa Maria with felled, shaped, and hollowed by fire and Columbus aboard. Each canoe holds only stone tools. Egypt and Crete have larger ten persons, including women and chil- ships, but these versions of the double dren, for it is built to carry stores and canoes which took the Maoris from Hawaii livestock under sail, not to be packed with to New Zealand some 3,000 years later men like a paddled war canoe. are better than the rubber dinghy which As the days pass the water supply Dr. Alain Bombard used for his crossing in reaches exhaustion. The voyagers know 1952. that, although it is possible to get drinking Itzamna waits until his own ship, last water from the body fluids of fish (as Dr. of all, comes gliding by. Then he runs and Bombard rediscovered), the salt in it is poi- 088 Cro.qxd 5/28/09 11:14 AM Page 91

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son to grass eaters. This is why the dog, the No longer has he a proud argosy, for pig, and the chicken reached the islands of only nine of the original 30 canoes remain. the Pacific and not the goats of Indonesia All the way across as the heaving of the sea or the domestic guinea-pigs of Peru. wore out the lashings on the cross beams Itzamna orders the slaughter of sheep and the leather rigging, he had abandoned and goats to save the water, and arguments the slowest vessels, moving the crews to rage over whose and which shall die, con- others now riding high with the loss of sidering that the islands may be sighted to- stock, fodder and stores. He has the nine morrow. He has the advantage over a mod- best with 279 people in them, ample water ern captain facing a similar emergency in and an easier voyage, for the Caribbean has that his people eat fish raw by choice. They far more fish than the mid-Atlantic. hope to catch enough by using a poison Andamayana, whose honeymoon be- made from the sap of a euphorp ia shrub gan with the voyage, first sights the Yucatan trailed behind the leading canoes. peninsula lying like a long, still cloud While the poison lasts, it brings stupi- against the paling stars. She whistles the fied fish within range of the dip nets. A diet good news, and as the cloud grows into a of only raw fish, however, is too salty for land of forests Itzamna alters course to- safety, which is why, if Itzamna could have wards the smoke of fires on the beach. kept a diary he might have entered:“Thirty- Here the remote ancestors of the Maya fourth day. Ground the last of the seed bar- Indians have gathered because the turtles ley. Nothing left for the children now but have come in to lay their eggs in the sand, bottle gourd and fishing line cotton seeds.” as they still do on those beaches today. The A modern yacht would do the run to Indians have no canoes and what they call Barbados in from 26 to 36 days. Dr. Bom- the “Nine paths across the sea” were the bard took 52. It is the muddy water and wide wakes of the impressive double hulls drifting branches from the Orinoco, which with their swelling sails as they came in with stream far out to sea in flood time, that the sunrise. Then the tall white men leap brings Itzamna’s fleet in to the estuary by into the shallow water and steady the ca- the 37th dawn. noes through the surf. The long voyage is The Orinoco delta in flood is neither over. attractive nor safe for Canarians who have The Indians are certain that the strange never seen a snake nor slapped a mosquito people come in peace, for they have women in their own fertile, friendly islands. So after and children with them. Their signs show a pause for refitting and filling the water they are hungry, which the turtle catch can jars, Itzamna sails again, following the Trade soon remedy. Itzamna, with over 100 war- Winds to a land the Gods must soon pro- riors, any one of whom would be nick- vide. named “Lofty” in a British Guards regi- 088 Cro.qxd 5/28/09 11:14 AM Page 92

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ment, is an ally worth winning for the local even down the Pacific coast where later gen- chief. The show the party put on that night erations will carry them. In these gardens impresses the Indians even further. The Ca- is a starveling corn, the same variety found narian dances are made to show off the in the Bat Cave in New Mexico with its muscles of strong men and their music of radio-carbon dating of 7000 B.C. bone flutes, whistling, and clapping of Itzamna does not know that the genet- hands is like a very fast square dance ics of sheep and corn are the same, but with rhythm. Andamayana’s husband and generations of sheep breeders behind him Kanil’s eldest son stage a sham fight, bowl- he knows what happens when a stock is in- ing baseball-sized stones at each other with bred too long. He makes long journeys the run-up and overarm throw that can kill searching for another corn plant to cross- at 60 feet. This is not magic like gunpow- pollenize for hybrid vigor. der, but a demonstration of strength and At last Itzamna found the Teosinote skill a tribesman can understand. (Euchaena mexicana), a wild grass near the With no idea of gold (or any other corn, and his sheep breeder’s wisdom paid metal) and no knowledge of the return off. The result was a real corn cob on tall route north of the Azores that Columbus stems, not so good as the later crossing found in ships better able to bend the wind achieved by Kukulcan about the time of to the captain’s will than keel-less dugouts, Plato, or by Quetzalcoatl when the Romans they are Pilgrim Fathers, not Conquista- were building Hadrian’s Wall across Britain. dors. They cannot return and the road to It was a real mass-production food crop. It wealth lies in building a copy of the highly offered men 256 days of leisure a year after organized agricultural civilization from raising enough to feed a family, and sur- which they came. Their task is to learn the plus that rulers later could use to build great natives’ language, find which fruits are safe, stone cities and temples. Itzamna became and how to hunt (for they know nothing the Corn God of the Mayas, but first he was of hunting, the Canaries had nothing to their Luther Burbank. hunt when the first Cro-Magnon expedi- Hunters can manage by counting the tion landed on the empty islands) and to “moons,”but to grow corn you need accu- use their superior knowledge for all it is racy to fit your crops into the changing sea- worth. sons. Kinitchauhau and Kanil built sight- Unfortunately, all Itzamna has to plant ing stones for the rising of the Pleiades at are three bottle gourd seeds saved out of dawn, for there is too little play on the track someone’s ration. Sown in the small forest of the Sun God’s Chariot near the Equator clearing that supplements hunting for to use the easy methods that worked for the Maya tribe, these flourish. As light water Stonehenge. Their first attempt is far infe- bottles and drinking cups they will spread, rior to the perfect Maya calendar in use 088 Cro.qxd 5/28/09 11:14 AM Page 93

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1,000 years before the Mayflower sailed, but stone tools, which are found mixed with Kanil is remembered in the fourth day of botched attempts like the equally inexpli- the 20-day Maya week, as are Woden and cable stone balls, too large for bolas weights. Thor every Wednesday and Thursday of The Canary Islanders alone fit the our own week. knowledge pattern and the dating by radio- Through the years the argosies sailed carbon of New World civilizations. Al- from the Canaries, some with good luck though the Canaries lie at the end of the and some with bad. Quick passages easiest wind route and the culture heroes’ brought Chiminigagua to Colombia with landings in the New World dot the map at a large party to found the Chibca civiliza- the other end, they have become part of the tion and later the Bohica. Nemtereque- popular Lost Atlantis legend. tra, who came only four “life times”before, For the evidence of modern archaeol- was the last survivor of his crew. The ar- ogy is that Plato, who was born in 427 rivals ranged from city-founding parties to B.C., confused Atlantis with a Bronze Age lonely Colonel Fawcetts, like Zume of civilization near the mouth of the Elbe that Paraguay and Carancho of Venezuela, and did sink—but in 3000, not 10000 B.C.—and they sailed in from beyond the sunrise spread its story into Europe to tell travelers’ roughly between 2000 B.C. and the date tales gleaned from the Canaries where of the Battle of Crecy. Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans all had Archaeologists find it safest to ignore landed and seen the white-robed people their mystery. All had strong objections with their houses of mortarless stone to human sacrifice, polygamy, and fer- rubbed to fit like the pre-Inca masonry of mented drink. All knew trepanning (the Peru. It was the Garden of the Daughters of Canary Islanders’ fighting with stone balls the Sunset, the Islands of the Hesperides had forced them to learn how to deal with and the Land of Giants, where mighty Atlas skull fractures early), the principle of hy- held up the vault of heaven with muscles brid vigor in sheep and corn, how to make that could have wrestled with a steering pad- fire with a bow drill, and how to make good dle in the Argosy of the Atlantic. ; Nearer Than Neighbors

OR FOUR years Mr. and Mrs. Albert W.Nelson and Mr. and Mrs. Albert Adams Flived a block apart in Muskegon, Mich., without getting closer acquainted than to exchange smiles and nods when they passed on the street. Then Mrs. Adams dropped in on the Nelsons for a chat—and discovered that Albert Nelson was the brother from whom she had been separated for 31 years. 094 May-June Reviews.qxd 5/28/09 11:19 AM Page 94

Book Reviews Jerome Clark

ecause I don’t listen to paranor- One of Offutt’s informants describes mal-themed talk-radio shows, I her SP as “a very thin 2-D thing, almost confess that the concept of like a peel-off sticker.”On the other hand, “Shadow People,”red-hot (so I’m on occasion other features are visible. An- told) in those regions of the ether, other alleged witness avers that one en- had not engaged my attention be- tity “flipped me off with a very long Byond a vague sense that somewhere I’d middle finger.”Somebody named Danny come upon the phrase. As I read Jason “saw one when I was young. He told me Offutt’s Darkness Walks: The Shadow Peo- that they can bend the color spectrum so ple Among Us (San Antonio and New that we can’t see them. They have six York: Anomalist Books, 2009, 202 pages, webbed fingers and a sleek nearly snake- $14.95, paperback), I realized that I had like skin texture.”Expressing displeasure indeed encountered accounts of such that it had been observed, this reptoid things, mostly long ago in ’s alien rudely vowed retribution, only it books. Keel gave them no particular would “have to wait in Hell for 42 years name. To him they were just one variety before it could come back and kill me… among many of menacing, demonic That was 42 years ago.” Offutt does not weirdness. tell us whether or not Danny is still among Shadow People are…well, Offutt’s the living. Let us hope so. book never seems to get a solid grip on Perhaps the best part of the book is what the phrase means exactly. His book its cool main title. Otherwise, it’s 200 pages is mostly people’s stories, many harvested of people’s stories unleavened by anything from a website he devotes to the subject beyond the most skimpy analysis. Unless (shadowpeoplebook.blogspot.com), others your taste for undigested weird anecdotes from interviews with ordinary folks, psy- is greater than mine, your patience may chics, mediums, academics (all predictably be tried to the breaking point. In fairness skeptical), and occult investigators. Mostly, to the author, grizzled veterans who can Shadow People are dark, usually human- happily boast of (or ruefully admit to) a contoured forms devoid of features ex- lifetime’s worth of immersion in paranor- cept, sometimes, glowing red eyes or, once mal and anomaly literature may not be in a while, green ones. Sometimes they’re the intended audience.Your response will friendly, sometimes they’re hostile, but likely also be conditioned by your view of on a typical day or night they’re just pass- such phenomena generally. If you grant ing through. that such things can happen (however you

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Books reviewed in this column are not sold by FATE. To purchase these books, please try your local bookstore, contact the publisher, or try an online bookstore such as amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.

stimulus generates the perception. One of Offutt’s more thoughtful observers, paranormal researcher Ryan Straub, gets to something of this consideration when he remarks, “We have no real evidence stating what [SP] are. People see them, people are affected by them. There’s no true evidence of them… What if these things are solely created because they are thought to exist?” Though I am willing to entertain at least the possibility that Offutt has docu- mented some kind of apparitional anom- aly, some of his cases will strike more critical-minded readers as the product of overactive imaginations, dreams, and pure invention. I couldn’t help noticing how define “happen”), you may or may not be many occur in bedrooms at night, with distracted by the thinness of documenta- the “witnesses” lying on their backs while tion or the availability of plausible sensing menacing presences which exert counter-interpretations which do not re- crushing pressure on their persons. This quire the defiance of consensus visions of is a classic variety of sleep paralysis, in fact the possible. the “nightmare” in its original definition. As for myself, I accept that people do It is the subject of a major work in the experience strange phenomena which literature, The Terror That cannot be collapsed into current knowl- Comes in the Night (University of Penn- edge. And why shouldn’t I? I’m one of sylvania Press, 1983), by Penn State folk- them, and if I can credit my own senses, lorist/medical scientist David J. Hufford. I surely am obliged to credit others’.The Borrowing a traditional term from New- problem is that “experience” and “event” foundland supernatural lore, Hufford calls are not necessarily synonymous, and it the “Old Hag.” Offutt mentions the many, surely most, experience anomalies phrase in passing (apparently somebody (as I call them) evince significant subjec- mentioned it to him) but apparently he tive content, and that seems demonstra- has never read or even heard of Hufford’s bly true even if a genuine unknown book. 094 May-June Reviews.qxd 5/28/09 11:19 AM Page 96

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Besides this error of omission, Offutt On finishing the book, I found my- has one of commission: citation of Car- self less than entirely persuaded that Of- los Castaneda’s “Don Juan” occult novels futt has put forth anything but an as if they were true tales of encounters assortment of vaguely similar oddities of with otherworldly forces, as first adver- perception, experience, and belief, gener- tised until devastatingly exposed other- ated by a range of causes conventional wise by Richard de Mille and other critics. and arguably not-so-conventional. But if Ruminations about Castaneda’s alleged the subject intrigues you more than it does contribution to SP studies take up no me, you’ll want to read the book and more than a page, but it’s a wasted one. judge for yourself.

Other Books Noted John Zupansic

consciousness and made ours the only type of vessel able to experience it?” Throughout human history, cultures from all corners of the globe have wor- shipped the sun as a deity. And while our modern society tends to regard such be- liefs as quaint relics of the past, Gregory Sams argues that perhaps ancient sun- worshippers knew a whole lot more about our nearby star than we give them credit for. In Sun of God, Sams contends that the sun is a “living being, aware of itself and its place in the Universe,” and that “its power of consciousness is so far beyond what we enjoy that it should be accorded deity status.”In essence, the ancients had Sun of God it right, and the sun indeed ought to be by Gregory Sams viewed as a living god. Weiser Books (Newburyport, MA), 2009, soft- On its surface the idea might appear cover, 234 pgs. silly, but the evidence Sams lays out is as- “Could it really be that the universe suredly quite thought-provoking and waited 13.7 billion years—until we came worth a look. Citing quantum physicists along—to manifest the phenomenon of who have shown that at subatomic levels 094 May-June Reviews.qxd 5/28/09 11:19 AM Page 97

Book Reviews 97

there appears to be intention and choice taking place within the fundamental par- ticles that make up matter, Sams suggests that creative intelligence may be a bot- tom-up system in which “everything, from a molecule of water to a neuron in our brain to the Sun itself, is a part of the bottom that is subtly steering a greater whole.” Captivating and skillfully pre- sented.

A New Science of the Paranormal pen? What I dare hope for is a time when by Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D. psi becomes as widely accepted as was the Quest Books (Wheaton, IL), 2009, softcover, unconscious after Freud… That an every- 134 pgs. day acceptance of large-scale psi events Dr. Lawrence LeShan makes a pas- will lead to personal and cultural changes sionate case for the promise of psychical that will help us overcome the great prob- research in this philosophical and schol- lems that now threaten to destroy us.” arly work. Psychologist, parapsychologist, and author of more than a dozen books Real Angels ranging in subject matter from cancer to by Brad and Sherry Steiger meditation, LeShan argues that it is cru- Benjamin Street Press (, MI), 2009, cial for the future of humanity that sci- softcover, 246 pgs. ence pursue a better and more thorough Prolific and respected author Brad understanding of psychic phenomena. He Steiger presents a fascinating collection attempts to explain how and why science of stories of encounters with angelic be- as it is currently practiced has failed in its ings he and wife Sherry Hansen Steiger investigations into the paranormal. Then have accumulated throughout their he submits his ideas on how research into decades of research into the strange and psychic phenomena can be more effi- unknown in this brand new volume. ciently and effectively undertaken. In his A recent survey showed that more conclusion, he writes,“As the study of psi than half of all Americans believe they becomes a mature science and its exis- have been helped by angels at some point tence becomes a part of our cultural in their lives. Even one in five self-de- world-picture, becomes ‘common sense,’ scribed atheists say they have experienced what can we legitimately expect to hap- the apparent presence of angels. As Steiger 094 May-June Reviews.qxd 5/28/09 11:19 AM Page 98

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shows in Real Angels, accounts of these has been collected, witnesses interviewed, benevolent beings cross nearly all reli- and circles scrutinized. Indeed, in his in- gious, cultural, and geographic bound- troduction Collins now admits that,“there aries, making the evidence he introduces is compelling evidence to show that the here incredibly hard to dismiss as mere greater majority of crop formations found religion-fueled delusion or fantasy. in the fields of southern Britain today are of human manufacture. In fact, many The New Circlemakers would argue that the more complex the Insights into the formation, the more likely it is to have Crop Circle Mystery been made by human hands.” by Andrew Collins No wide-eyed believer is Collins. Still, 4th Dimension Press (Virginia Beach, VA), there is much strangeness yet to be ex- 2009, softcover, 262 pgs. plained and accounted for regarding the Foremost crop circle researcher An- crop circle mystery. Perhaps, says Collins, drew Collins presents an updated version its true nature will never be completely of his classic 1992 book The Circlemakers solved. “In my mind the subject of crop in The New Circlemakers: Insights into the circles is just such a conundrum, for no Crop Circle Mystery. one can rightly be said to possess the Collins, much to his credit, has kept whole answer, and perhaps this is the way an open mind regarding the true nature we are meant to perceive them. If so, then of crop circles throughout his years of it really doesn’t matter who, or what, made writing and investigating the phenom- them—they are here to serve the same ena. His position has evolved as new data purpose, whatever that is.” 094 May-June Reviews.qxd 5/28/09 11:19 AM Page 99

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The Heck Hypothesis 50 Ways to Fix Your Life by Kenneth M. Heck by Petrene Soames Xlibris (Philadelphia, PA), 2009, softcover, Strategic Book Publishing (New York, NY), 218 pgs. 2008, hardcover, 140 pgs. If Andrew Collins’s book is a meas- Psychic, healer, and motivational ured, thoughtful, and somewhat cautious speaker Petrene Soames offers a work- piece of crop circle fare, The Heck Hypoth- book for self-healing and spiritual growth esis is at the opposite end of the spectrum. in 50 Ways to Fix Your Life. Containing Wild, speculative, and yes, maybe even a short, easy-to-follow exercises, this is truly tad bizarre, Heck’s book attempts to in- a hands-on experience that asks of the terpret some 1,200 crop circle patterns reader equal parts doing and thinking. recorded up until the year 2002. Heck’s Among the topics covered are hands-on interpretations of these symbols lead him healing, third-eye development, breaking to conclude that the phenomenon is try- up negative energies, and working ing to warn us of impending disasters through grief. about to befall Earth, planetary-scale dis- asters brought about by a race of alien be- ings with ill intent toward mankind. There are good books. And there are bad books. And then there are some that are so bad, they’re almost good. 094 May-June Reviews.qxd 5/28/09 11:19 AM Page 100

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Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Arnold Road. California Wine Country In the mood for something a bit more by Jeff Dwyer contemporary and metropolitan? Try Pelican (Gretna, LA), 2008, softcover, 238 pgs. David Lee’s Haunts of San Jose. The Sili- con Valley area is home to many tales of Haunts of San Jose spectral encounters, and Lee presents a By David Lee plethora , including haunted hospitals, Schiffer (Atglen, PA), 2008, softcover, 176 pgs. bars, hotels, and schools. Of particular note is a chapter entitled “Unfriendly Northern California boasts terrific Ghosts of San Jose” which is sure to raise weather, beautiful scenery, a distinctive the needle on your EMF detector. mix of rural, urban, progressive, and tra- ditional, and, you guessed it, thousands Abandoned Villages of ghost stories. Jeff Dwyer’s Ghost and Ghosts Towns Hunter’s Guide to California Wine Coun- of New England try takes you on a journey through the by Thomas D’Agostino rolling hills, valleys, and vineyards of Cal- Schiffer (Atglen, PA), 2008, softcover, 192 ifornia’s Napa Valley and Sonoma re- pgs. gions. Meet the spirit of author Jack Author Thomas D’Agostino is one of London at his former homestead of today’s foremost experts on haunted Beauty Ranch, take in a ghostly perform- places in the New England region, hav- ance at the Napa Valley Opera House or ing assembled an impressive collection of Uptown Theater, and keep your eyes books and published articles on the area. open for the phantom hitchhiker of Here he invites us to explore ghost towns 094 May-June Reviews.qxd 5/28/09 11:19 AM Page 101

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and forgotten settlements from New Eng- Haunted London land’s past, places rich with history, mys- Underground tery, and paranormal activity that lurks by David Brandon and Alan Brooke beneath the undergrowth. Nearly three The History Press (Stroud, UK), 2009, soft- dozen stories from Connecticut, Maine, cover, 96 pgs. Massachusetts, New , Rhode London’s underground railway sys- Island, and Vermont are included. tem is one of the oldest of its kind in the world and it is rife with stories of para- Cleveland Ghosts normal phenomena. Witness the actress by Charles Cassady, Jr. ghost of Aldywch Station and the Black Schiffer (Atglen, PA), 2008, softcover, 224 Nun of Bank Station. Freeze with fright at pgs. the sound of a murdered child’s cry at Far- Take a tour of the haunted city of ringdon Station and the echoing moans Cleveland, Ohio, with Charles Cassady, of the 173 killed at Bethnal Green Station Jr. Learn about the curse of Franklin Cas- during World War II air raids. And explore tle, encounter ghosts and other strange closed stations, abandoned lines, and other phenomena along the city’s Lake Erie wa- dark and forgotten places beneath the terfront, gasp at the horror of Mason United Kingdom’s capital city. ; Court, and be frightened out of your wits at the sight of bizarre entities known as the “Mellonheads.” Dozens of stories to satisfy your late-night cravings for a good scare. 102 MayJunRFR.qxd 5/28/09 11:26 AM Page 102

Report from the Readers

Duende Clan Kudos to you and Chad Lewis for a fan- tastic article: “Hunting for the Tata Duende”(March-April 2009). Believe it or not, members of the Duende clan of preter- natural entities exist beyond the bound- aries of Belize. In Mexico, member of the Santa Muerte cult invoke an entity called Don Diego Duende to help them conquer their foes. That hapless target is Man’s Best Friend. Along with vanquishing their enemies, The only aspect more disturbing than Don Diego Duende finds attractive mates the numbers is the ferocity and cruelty of for his devotees. many attacks. Victims are ripped apart. As for La Llorona, also known as the Who or what is capable of this? And why? Weeping Woman, she’s been a part of Mex- Unlike meandering nocturnal lights and ican folklore for centuries. Anyone who orbs in photographs, the carcasses of an- wants to learn about her should read imal victims offer genuine forensic evi- Rudolfo Anaya’s book The Legend of La dence. Are there clues at these “crime Llorona (1984). scenes”that investigators are missing? Why Again, many thanks for a great read!— are unexplained canine deaths and dis- M. V. Devine, Ph.D., Racine, Wisc. appearances one primary factor that never seems to change in the ever-evolving char- Canine Victims acteristics of Transient Anomalies? My thanks to Jeffrey Goddin and “Mys- “UFOs: The Shamanic Dimension” tery Predators” (January-February 2009) by John Michael Greer (March-April 2009) for reminding us that Transient Anomalies, blames sightings and contacts on “high- so-called monsters and UFOs, all too often way hypnosis” and altered forms of con- leave murder and mayhem in their wake. sciousness. “Astral vision” is experienced Although livestock figured heavily in when unsuspecting folks become mes- his gruesome accounts, it must be pointed merized by the night sky and see things. out that one animal in particular has suf- Greer writes that “100-foot-long mate- fered more death and disappearance at the rial objects made of metal and glass do not hands (claws and fangs) of cosmic killers. vanish into thin air.”But they do!

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Send your letters to FATE, PO Box 460, Lakeville, MN 55044 E-mail: [email protected]

Unlike hallucinations, Transient Anom- ing from the Amazing Godwin! alies (so-called UFOs and monsters) im- There is a difference between every- pact our environment when they visit. day dreams where the brain is sorting They might cause death and injury. They through feelings and problems and what tantalize us with scorch marks and hair I call message dreams. It is not uncommon samples. Footprints across soft mud end in a message dream to place yourself in an- in mid-stride. Like phantasms, these things other person’s shoes. The symbols in which evaporate in the presence of startled wit- we dream can be confusing to us, but may nesses at close range in broad daylight. make perfect sense to the person the mes- Study the “” in Utah. sage was intended for. Abductees occupy the bottom rung of Abraham Lincoln, for example, appears the UFO evidentiary ladder. I do concede occasionally in my dreams. Unlike Lincoln, that inner psychodrama mirrors personal my late husband Terry was very handsome, and cultural concerns. However, to cite but he was tall like Lincoln (six feet, five Orfeo Angelucci and his ilk as inches) and, coincidentally, died on Lin- proof of anything more than whimsy and coln’s birthday. Terry appeared in a dream showmanship is distressing. shortly after his death, which was too Unexplained today does not mean un- painful for me. When he appeared a sec- explainable tomorrow. Only 400 years ago, ond time, he disguised himself as Lincoln. obscure inventors using two pieces of glass I knew who it was! disintegrated 2,000 years of learning and Terry loved to cook, and he’d have fun truth. The telescope became an agent for passing around hors d’oeuvres at a party. scientific, philosophical, and religious Perhaps you met Terry? change. It transformed our view of the uni- Regardless, a good source for inter- verse and Earth’s place in it. preting dream symbols is Mary Summer Yours in research—Robert A. Goerman, Rain’s Dream Symbol Dictionary.Mary’s New Kensington, Pa. (http://www.my- book is the best I have seen so far. Most cul- space.com/goerman) tures revere dreams, except Americans; that’s too bad. Dreams can give us glimpses Godwin’s Dreams into the future, help give us direction, and I was shocked to read David Godwin’s warn us of health or other problems and impression of dreams (March-April 2009): how to solve them. Look at Edgar Cayce, “chaotic, incomprehensible, and entirely then rethink your negative words on meaningless”? Very closed-minded think- dreams.—Kate McKenna Lawler, via email 102 MayJunRFR.qxd 5/28/09 11:26 AM Page 104

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settling for less than we can be. I shall strug- March-April Issue gle on to defeat it, but it may take me longer I agree with Jerome Clark’s review of than a month. the new book (March- I think we need to be gentler with our- April 2009). I read Adamski’s Inside the selves. We are only human. To paraphrase Space Ships when I was in junior high. psychic Sylvia Brown very loosely: “We’re What actually disturbed me was that an on this planet earth which is the real Hell adult wrote it and other adults read and and a poor camping trip. If we get out of believed it. bed in the morning and try to do what we The Andersonville article was really should, we are to be congratulated.”As long something, as was the very insightful one as we are in the fleshly body and are not about the shamanic dimension of UFOs. spirit, it’s going to be hard to accomplish The article about Admiral Byrd was very things. interesting, as was the letter from Richard The excellent articles “What to Look for Senate. in a Psychic Reading”by Jackie Tomlin and Your readers should read Electric UFOs “Evaluating a Psychic’s Powers” by Ken- by Albert Budden, which explains a lot neth Nichols have inspired me to give about UFOs and ghosts even.—Rick Sut- my opinions and relate some of my ex- tner, Greensburg, Pa. periences with psychics. I have always had a number of challenges to overcome in my JZ Knight; Psychics life and have used self-help books, coun- I’d like to respond to the January-Feb- selors, and psychics. ruary 2009 issue, with JZ Knight on the The psychics I am the most skeptical of, cover. I think that is one of your greatest cost the most and were the most in left field issues. I have wondered what had happened as far as truth and authencity go are the 1- to JZ and it’s good to know that she is 800 phone psychics. I only used a few of still looking good, healthy and energetic, them because I was curious. None of their no doubt partly at least to her visualiza- predictions came true. Don’t waste your tions and affirmations. money with most of these people. I’m sure I am slowly working on JZ’s affirma- some of them are reputable but I’ve had tions in the “Exercise for FATE Readers.” no good experiences with them. Some days I do the affirmations without The other psychics are the ones who live problems. Other days time constraints and in a murky world of being counselors who multiple distractions of life attempt to in- claim to use hypnosis or read past lives, or terfere with my goals. I think that what psy- they work with counselors/psychologists chologists call the ego gets in our way to validate the mental health worker’s im- and tries to maintain the status quo of our pressions or tests about a patient. The ones 102 MayJunRFR.qxd 5/28/09 11:26 AM Page 105

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I have dealt with seem to try to straddle shy away from giving medical readings, I both worlds and I did see these people in did find an excellent one who did this with the flesh in their office. Once, I wanted to the Virginia Beach group. tape what one was telling me about how I agree with the risk of what Kenneth my past lives impacted my present one and Nichols calls “the hot reading,”where I perceived a dislike and distrust of me you have used a psychic for years; they doing this. know a lot about you already and it’s not The other one I dealt with was a psy- hard to come up with an answer that seems chologist who claimed to have worked with plausible or has a good chance of being the famous psychiatrist Dr. correct. I wonder if it’s a Brian Weiss, but never used good idea to stay with the hypnosis or worked with I perceive a same medium or psychic past lives at all in our case hesitation to for that very reason. even though we requested It’s been noted that psy- it. He went out of his way to delve further chics often have trouble go the traditional route and into the with timelines. I have seen seemed to deny that past subject this myself. One of the most lives helped people cope asked questions of psychics with today’s problems. without more is, “When will I meet my Good psychics I have payment. soul-mate?”When this did- used are some advertised in n’t come to pass for me, I FATE magazine, but even was told: “You did not do with them I am not completely satisfied. the things, move to the place, etc., that I Some comments I have received if I want told you you needed to do.” more information about a subject I have I have never had a psychic give me the asked about are, “This is all I received.”I impression I could terminate a reading if perceive a hesitation to delve further into I saw it was going nowhere and never felt the subject without more payment. that a psychic desired to report on their I perceive that psychics only answer the strengths and weaknesses and their success question asked. Is this because they don’t rate. get any more information, they want me The absolute worst experience I ever to ask another question so they will receive had with a psychic still gives me a chill to more payment or both? know that this person still practices. I There are some excellent psychics who saw errors in my astrology chart and told work for the Virginia Beach Heritage the psychic so. I was told,“If you knew what House Edgar Cayce group in Virginia your chart said, why are you asking me?” Beach, Virginia. Although most psychics I asked for my money back because I was 102 MayJunRFR.qxd 5/28/09 11:26 AM Page 106

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not satisfied with the reading. Then I re- uary-February 2009) with great interest, ceived downright hostility and veiled for I myself have experienced my double. threats, although not very veiled. I have not seen her, but I hear her voice. The reason I am not giving my real It gives me predictions which are quite ac- name to this letter is because this person curate. For instance, on one occasion, I ex- advertises that they do spells. I know Sylvia pected some news in a few days but my Browne says that she thinks spells do not own voice said,“No, you have to wait a few work, but I have had enough problems weeks.”It was correct. in my life without tempting fate. This phenomenon started when I ac- I hope this letter does not give the im- cepted the Shinto ritual of self-worship. It pression that I am bitter is simple: you just greet and cynical about all psy- yourself in the mirror chics; not so. I have re- …you just greet every morning. This way ceived much good infor- yourself in the you are connected with mation, many correct mirror every your inner self that at the answers, and compli- depth is God the creator. ments that I badly morning. This I am Christian but I ac- needed, compassion that way you are con- cepted this Shinto con- really boosted my self-es- cept. It coincides with teem. It’s just like every- nected with your Christian saying: I am thing else you seem to re- inner self… that I am. member the bad My double seems to experiences more than the good. help me. It gives me more self-confidence. I am not so into psychics and consult- I can do wise shopping and above all I ing them as I once was. I think my expe- get accurate prediction.—Michiko riences with them, study, reading FATE, and Nonoyama, Japan getting older have helped me develop my own intuition and I seem to be correct my- Buyer Beware self a lot of the time. We should all, in the With respect to the article “Ghosts for dangerous times, the risky times, poor eco- Sale”by Janet Brennan (January-February nomical times, work to develop our own 2009): Since the vast majority of people abilities, because if we ever needed a sixth want to flee once they discover their house sense, it is now.—Jean, Tenn. is haunted, that’s reason enough to protect prospective buyers by requiring a full Doubles disclosure of what the sellers know, and all I read the article “A Psychiatrist Looks sellers know if their house is haunted by at Psychic Doubles”by Curtis Fuller (Jan- someone or something. 102 MayJunRFR.qxd 5/28/09 11:26 AM Page 107

Report from the Readers 107

We have to reveal health problems to to shift as I looked at them, which makes get insurance or it voids the policy; and me believe there are more than one face. government mandates a lemon law to pro- Has anyone else seen these faces? I tect used car buyers. So why should one thought I would see letters to that effect in victim be allowed to dump their misfor- the new issue of FATE, but did not.—Bon- tune onto another unsuspecting dupe? nie Tarmann, via email Of course, some buyers might be de- lighted to live with an amiable spirit that Hippie vs. Hollywood tucks in the children and does the dishes; I normally don’t write anything nega- if so, terrific! House sold. But most places tive about your articles, but I couldn’t re- seem stigmatized by forces more sinister. sist this issue (January-February 2009). And if a house is “bad,”it simply has to go. You had two articles on JZ Knight that This can best be determined by a com- I found interesting. She talks about her abil- mittee of psychics, supported by insurance ities and being younger due to channeling and government, who make a final effort a being called Ramtha. Then she wants to turn the house around. Failing this, an us to try a 30-day exercise to “Create a New offer of recompense can be made to the You.”I found it laughable and appalling frantic owners. Another bad house bites that she looked both nipped and tucked. the dust. If you want us to believe this story, don’t Let cynics bellow about buyer rights, show a picture of a Hollywood Barbie who seller rights, and undue government in- is more plastic than psychic. tervention. Or they can buy the house to These people give the metaphysical prove their theory that “There’s no such community a bad name. If you’ve had the thing as ghosts!”—Jim Mileski, North surgeries, that’s fine, but don’t try and make Quincy, Mass. us believe that it’s due to a being that you channel. Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but Ghosts in Windows I still prefer Hippie to Hollywood in the After reading “Ghosts for Sale” in the spiritual community.—Jonathan Jett, Tulsa, January-February 2009 issue, I went back Okla. and looked at the picture of the house again. The author mentioned that a real- Last Straw tor had taken pictures of the home and its As a relatively new subscriber of a few barn and had seen faces in the windows of years, I have had the privilege of enjoying the barn. I looked more closely at the win- your magazine. I particularly enjoyed the dows in the house and, surprised, I saw “what, when, where, and why” approach at least two, maybe three, faces in the win- of your articles on the paranormal, mysti- dow to the left of the door. They seemed cal, and occult fields. 102 MayJunRFR.qxd 5/28/09 11:26 AM Page 108

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However, I became displeased, and fi- Implausible Phenomenon nally downright annoyed. First I noticed In the late 1960s, I flew to New York on the articles had gotten too long. I thought a Boeing 727. My seat was just forward of the era of a penny-a-word authorship went the right engine. The sky was overcast. It out with the dime novel. I enjoyed carry- was a gloomy, depressing afternoon. Some- ing FATE with me in the course of the work- where over Pennsylvania was jarred out of ing day. Reading the short, informative ar- a reverie by a powerful sensation that ticles allowed me to analyze and meditate someone was staring at me. My attention on them during the day. was drawn to the window. Clearly visible The second fly in the ointment came was a row of disks traveling alongside the when the format changed in your maga- plane. The objects were the about the zine, which really displeased me. The arti- size of a dime and separated from each cles, beside being longer, were now dedi- other by about a foot. The disks resembled cated to one or two types of subject matter: the color and translucence of a pollywog’s haunted houses, UFOs, Bigfoot sight- tail. ings, undersea monsters, et cetera. I can After the initial shock, I began to think read short informative articles on a sub- about the implausibility of this phe- ject that I am not particurly interested in, nomenon. The plane was flying at an knowing that the next article will have altitude in excess of 30,000 feet and a information or will collaborate my per- speed of about 550 miles per hour. The sonal interest in some subject I choose to stream of objects was passing between study. I find monthly issues devoted to the engine and the plane, a space of about fields I am not particully interested in la- three feet. Not only were they slowly pass- borious to wade through for the few ker- ing the plane they were immune to the nels of information to stay informed. powerful suction of air caused by the en- The dastardly deed that finally infuri- gine. The phenomenon lasted several ated me was the notice in the August issue minutes before the last disc passed the that FATE was to go bimonthly. That drove plane. Their movements reminded me of a stake through this vampire’s heart. Must ducks swimming upstream in a gently I now wait six or eight months, or possi- moving creek. bly a year, before you publish an issue of Describing this experience to engineers, relative interest to me? I was told that these were drops of hy- Being a Cancer sign, I know that I re- draulic fluid. When asked why they passed sist change. But sometimes, not all change the plane, mumbo-jumbo was uttered. Pi- is for the good. If it ain’t broken, don’t at- lots, when asked, replied that they did tempt to fix it.—Ron Cannata, Fairview, not know. N.J. My guess is that many life forms exist 102 MayJunRFR.qxd 5/28/09 11:26 AM Page 109

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which have escaped the attention of sci- explained to me extensively that the “OD” ence. surrounds every human being on this If anyone can explain this phenome- earth in a way that nobody can really non I would appreciate hearing about it.— detect, but that we have to consider the Joseph Sabol, Lawrence, Kans. other person’s “OD” at all times, mean- ing, the unseen fluidum (and does it mean The Unseen Fluidum real privacy?) of every hunan being. In Regarding “The Mystery of Od” (Sep- this way we can establish a respect for each tember-October 2009): As my Austrian other. ancestors were well-known readers and Not only that: my dear Tante Thissi ad- interested analysts of the literary works vised me very strongly against buying sec- and extensive publications of Jacob Lor- ond-hand clothing. She said:“The ‘OD’ of beer and Emanuel Swedenborg, I was in- the former owner is still there!” troduced to the-phenomen of “OD” in So much about the “OD”from you sub- my early teenage years in Salzburg, Aus- scriber and thankful reader of FATE maga- tria. Later in life, I listened to the elabo- zine for many years.—Ingeborg Bolt, rations of my old aunt “Tante Thissi,”who Salzburg, Austria ;

Can You Help These Readers? Seeking pet owners whose dogs have suf- fered due to paranormal (UFO, monster) My home burned down in the beginning activity. All requests for anonymity hon- of October 2008. I lost my whole collec- ored.—Robert A. Goerman; email tion of FATE magazines going back at least [email protected] or write: to the 1980s. I’m temporarily living with 615 Earl Avenue, New Kensington PA my kids while my house is being rebuilt 15068 and will be here some months yet. I really miss having FATE to read. If any readers I am looking for any information con- would like to send me past copies that cerning December 21, 2012. I am also would be great. Thanks!—Judy Porcaro, looking for information concerning the 3370 State Rt.29, Salem NY 12865 UFO that was over Texas in February 2008, and any other recent UFO dis- Have you any past-life memories of life- covered in the skies over the US. Please times on another planet or recurring only serious respondents who can share dreams of another world?—Lisa Schaef- the above information for my research.— fer, PO Box 1426, Southgate MI 48195 Kay Viands, 551 Kennedy St., Scranton PA 18508 ; 110 Rose.qxd 5/28/09 11:28 AM Page 110

My View of the Unknown

ichio Kaku is a man for all cle by Joel Garreau, it works like this: seasons, and a man for all “You slip a wireless headset on…the media. He writes popular earpieces are actually sensors, and what books, hundreds of articles looks like a microphone is a brain wave for scientific journals, appears detector…place its tip against your fore- on many TV programs, and head above your left eyebrow. A few feet Meven has his own nationally heard radio away is a ping-pong ball in a clear tube. show. Paranormal buffs love him because Your brain’s electrical activity is translated he talks about teleportation, precogni- into a signal understood by a little com- tion, time travel, antimatter, extraterres- puter that controls a fan that blows the trials, and invisibility, and gives these air up the tube. Up it lifts, two inches, four topics a scientific blessing. Even better, he inches—a foot. You have just controlled speaks and writes in a way that the can be a physical object with your mind. This is understood by the unscientific mind. telekinesis.” Kaku is co-author of the very esoteric Garreau also tells about an experi- “string theory.” It takes a bit of doing to ment at Duke University where a mon- understand what he is talking about, but key sends a brain-wave signal 600 miles give him the opportunity and you will nod on the Internet to a robotic arm at MIT your head with comprehension. String which moves in concert to the monkey’s theory, and all the other topics he em- arm controlled by her thoughts. This is braces, cannot be proven, seen, smelled, similar to the work of the Defense Ad- or touched. He is a conceptualist. Unlike vanced Research Projects Agency leading Tesla, he does not conceive something and to intelligent artificial limbs controlled by then build it. He leaves that for others. the nervous system. Eventually there will Even Kaku must be surprised to know be a second generation that will sense that there are others creating actual work- brain waves to activate these limbs. ing models in the areas he discusses. He We have all heard of the Philadelphia will be more surprised this coming Christ- Experiment where a naval ship was being mas when he shops at a toy store in New tested for a cloak of invisibility. The ex- York to find that Mattel and Uncle Mil- periment went terribly wrong with all ton Industries are manufacturing toys for kinds of consequences such as sailors children featuring telekinesis. melded to the metal. The Navy denies any According to a Washington Post arti- such thing occurred. The story, however,

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Hilly Rose

persists in paranormal legend. has lost none of its timeliness many The ambitious researchers at Duke decades later in warning how technology have now developed a material that can can be turned against us. There are in- hide an object by the use of microwaves. deed crazies out there, and not all of them According to an article they published in are in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. the journal Science, these metamaterials Kaku has an amazing mind that is deflect microwaves around a three-di- open to all possibilities. He is respected mensional object. It is made up of more in the scientific community, but not be- than 10,000 individual pieces of fiberglass yond criticism from traditionalists who arranged in parallel rows. A mathemati- hold on to worn-out theories. Just as cal formula is used to determine the shape Galileo was pilloried for his advanced and placement of each piece to deflect the thinking, Kaku is willing to go beyond the electromagnetic waves. You don’t see known to embrace what is possible. whatever is placed inside this material, FATE magazine, for more than 60 and you don’t see the wrapping either. years, has published stories of the un- Kaku’s theory of invisibility may be known. We in the paranormal commu- somewhat different from this, but it still nity of somewhat unconventional thinkers boils down to the fact that modern-day and believers are lucky to have a scientific science is fulfilling Kaku’s predictions. mind like Michio Kaku embracing such Kaku was once a disciple and protégé things as the possibility of time travel, pre- of the irascible nuclear physicist Edward cognition, teleportation, invisibility, and Teller. He eventually broke from his men- extraterrestrials. tor because he realized the terrible poten- When commercial companies such as tial of nuclear bombs in the wrong hands. Mattel decide to cash in on future science He is a strong advocate of space probes and when Star Trek is brought back as a because of the realistic theory that there major motion picture to stimulate the are advanced scientific intelligences out young into thinking where “no man has there, somewhere. Yet he is a sharp critic gone before,”science has caught up to the of NASA, which he feels wastes a tremen- conceptualists. dous amount of money and effort. We can only hope for more concep- I was reminded of all this recently tualists such as Michio Kaku. when I watched the motion picture Dr. Strangelove, starring George C. Scott and Hilly Rose is host of the Hilly Rose Show Peter Sellers. It is a wonderful film that on www.fatemag.com. 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 112

My Proof of Survival

Dakota’s Blue Flower November 4, 1989, to September 2, 2001: That’s how long we had Dakota to share our lives. Her dam was a purebred black lab and her sire was a purebred col- lie. She was named after the Black Hills of South Dakota where we vacationed every year during Bike Week in Sturgis. My husband Guy brought her home just before Christmas 1989. Our daughter Debra Loeffel Amy and I had our backs turned when he walked in and placed this small pack- now; it’s okay.”It broke my heart, but I age with a large heart under our Christ- hoped she could go on her own. I couldn’t mas tree. We were delighted. imagine what the future had in store for She was still just a cute little puppy when us. I realized she could be aggressive. She also Sometime in 2000, Dakota developed seemed not to walk quite right. One day a hump on her shoulders. We called her I read about hip dysplasia and realized that our “little buffalo,”though we didn’t think could be the problem. I told the vet about it was funny. We didn’t want to know or it. Dakota was too young for him to run believe what it really was. Even the vet tests on her, so we waited. Some months wouldn’t say. We knew there really wasn’t later, the vet took her out to the parking lot a lot of time left. Dakota deserved better and watched her walk. He admitted I was than to be put through painful and ex- right, and the X-rays proved it. pensive tests. Dakota’s hip problem was very bad. We Sometime in August 2001, Dakota was did the best we could for her, though we no longer able to reach her food and water couldn’t afford surgery. The vet told us to stand. We had to put it on a stool so she let her be, as long as she was full of life. We didn’t have to put her head down to eat. loved her more every single day. My husband was out of town that Labor The last couple of years were really Day weekend. Dakota’s condition went rough. There were times when I gave her from bad to worse. On Friday, Amy made permission to leave us. “Remember Lady her ramps so Dakota could get in and and Shadow?”I asked.“You can go to them out of the house. That didn’t work. By Sat-

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Factual accounts by our readers of survival after death

urday she could barely stand or walk. She “I am Weary, Let Me Rest” kept going got up once and fell back down. Dakota through my head. looked up at me, horrified. Amy and I Judy called and said she had to run to started to cry. Amy’s best friend Amanda her vet to learn how and where to give was with us watching a movie. She just sat Dakota a shot to keep her comfortable there in stunned silence. When the movie while we wrapped her up in a blanket and ended they went home, and then it was just got her to the clinic. At this point we Dakota and I. couldn’t even move her without hurting Dakota and I made it to my bed. She her. If we could get her there they would cried off and on and finally wet the bed. put her to sleep in the back of Rodie’s van. She had never done that before. We spent Dakota and I waited for Judy. I kept tell- the remainder of the night on the living ing her: “Momma loves Dakota, Daddy room floor. For all of her suffering, we did loves Dakota, Amy loves Dakota.” actually fall a sleep from time to time. In Judy came and gave her the shot. After between she would tremble and cry. I tried that, Dakota wasn’t really aware of anything. to keep her warm with her blankie but of So basically she got to go in her own liv- course that wasn’t the real problem. It was ing room with Judy and I comforting her. around this time that I decided I somehow When we got to the clinic, the vet said had to detach myself long enough to do we should hold off for a few minutes be- what needed to be done as soon as day cause she thought Dakota was going to go came. on her own. But after a few minutes she I tried calling three different clinics and gave her the shot. Dakota went in the back even a traveling vet, who never did re- of Rodie’s van with Judy, the vet, and I to turn my call. Then I tried to call our friends see her off. It was very solemn, sweet, and Rodie and Judy. I was almost certain they sad. were out camping, but they answered on The vet took one look at Dakota’s hump the second ring. I filled them in on what and said it was cancer. was happening and asked if they could We got her home and buried her with help. Judy said she would make a call and her blankie in the backyard under the grape get right back to me. Judy knew the pain arbor. It would be Tuesday before I could Dakota and I were going through; she had tell my husband all of this. The day before been through it herself. he came home, I went out to visit Dakota. Dakota continued to cry, and I was be- There beside the grave was a small blue side myself with grief. All morning the song flower. It was never there before. We hadn’t 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 114

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planted it. my death. With a smile on my face and a lift to my Suddenly, I heard my name: “Laurel, heart, I looked up, crying, and said,“Thank wake up now!” you.”I knew Dakota was telling me it was I woke immediately as if someone had okay. That’s exactly how I felt. shaken me, and I realized that I was sec- The flower bloomed for exactly one onds from hitting the center divider. I week. I will never ever forget Dakota’s swerved the car back into the lane just in gift of the blue flower.—Debra Loeffel, time. No one honked or even paid atten- Monticello, Wisc. tion to how I was driving. Like an island surrounded by water I was alone but for Always Watching Over Me the voice that woke me. My grandmother Ida was and still re- Where did the voice come from and mains one of the most influential people I who was it? I was totally surprised by it. I have ever known. Although small in stature quickly looked around but saw no one. It at four-foot-eleven and born in Russia, she took a minute or so to realize what had was truly the matriarch of our family. Even happened. I knew that voice; it was the though no one educated girls in Russia voice of my grandmother. I had heard it so when she was young, her great-aunt pro- often when I was very young, and I never vided her with a French tutor who saw to forgot the Russian accent or how she was her education. She was considered to be the only one to use my formal name. It was a very wise person. Sadly, she died when my grandmother, I had no doubt. She had I was only five years old. But she came back been watching over me and came down to save my life many years after her death. just to wake me, to keep me alive and well. One Monday morning after working Many years before, too many to re- my third shift hours I left work at 7:00 a.m. member, my grandmother took me aside to drive home against all the traffic. I was and told me she would always watch over especially tired because I had also worked me. She said I would not have to worry be- the weekend. I considered myself lucky be- cause grandmothers do not let their grand- cause I was driving against the traffic and children down. She knew she was dying could move faster.While driving down the and wanted to reassure me that she wasn’t freeway I nodded off. My body and brain letting go just because she had to leave were exhausted and I needed rest. I fell us. I didn’t understand what she meant asleep in a car going 60 miles per hour when I was only five, but now, so many down the fast lane of a Los Angeles freeway. decades later, I so fully understand what The car started drifting towards the di- she meant. She was truly a lady of her vider wall. At the minimum it would be a words. She was there to save my life.—Lau- very serious accident; at worst, it would be rel Perkiss, Seattle, Wash. 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 115

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A Comforting Message from Dad When I opened the door to my apart- ment and walked inside, the first thing I saw was my father sitting at my dinette table. He didn’t seem to notice me; he was busy looking through a stack of Christmas cards that were piled in front of him on the table. I was too surprised to say anything, I Cathy Scibelli just stood there for a minute and stared at him. His gray hair was in its usual crew cut, strange dream! My father had passed away his face showed that intent expression he when I was 15; I was now 36 and I hadn’t had when he was concentrating closely on dreamt about him in years. Lying there something. He was wearing a favorite blue in the present, wide awake, I couldn’t even sweater with an argyle pattern stitched picture his face clearly, yet I knew I had across the chest. seen him very vividly in the dream. And He finally looked up at me, and I stared why was my mother in the dream with into his blue-green eyes for a second be- him? She was still very much alive. fore I blurted out, “Dad! What are you Since it was Sunday morning I decided doing here?” I would pick up some pastry and go over “Just looking through your Christmas to my mother’s apartment and tell her cards,”he answered. He reached down and about my dream. For some reason, the picked up a card I recognized as the one dream had unnerved me and I felt that my cousin Bernadette had sent me and sharing it with my mother might make me waved it at me.“I’m so glad I don’t have to feel better. Besides, she would probably worry about you now,”he told me. “Just enjoy hearing that I still dreamed about remember, whenever you need family in her being with my father after all these the future, these people are your family and years. they’ll always be there for you.”Then he I never had the opportunity to share the turned to his right and suddenly I saw dream with my mother. When I arrived at my mother was also sitting at the table, her apartment I found her lying on the watching him and smiling. He leaned over bathroom floor, dead. The autopsy report and took her hand and everything turned said she had passed away from a heart at- blurry. tack sometime during the night. I won- I woke up to the sun shining in my eyes. dered if the dream was my father’s way I lay there for a few minutes. What a very of telling me that everything was all right, 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 116

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that he and my mother were happily to- gether once again. The day after my mother’s funeral I was looking through the sympathy cards I re- ceived. I opened my cousin Bernadette’s card and a piece of note paper fell out. When I picked it up and read the simple words she had written in her note, a chill went down my spine, and I sat there, stunned, reading the message over and John J. Mutter, Jr. over. Her words repeated the message my father had spoken to me in my dream as flat stones could be used on a wall or ex- he waved Bernadette’s Christmas card at terior of a building as siding. I knew that I me:“Just remember, when you need ‘fam- might need them for something, so I began ily’ now, we’re your family and we will al- to sort them out. ways be here for you.”—Cathy Scibelli, East In 1991, we began a remodeling project Norwich, N.Y. in our house that included installing a new wood heater. After a framework was built The Limestone Cross and finished, we placed a hearth down for During the late 1980s, I started build- the stove to set on. As we were deciding ing a road into our 80-acre woods in order how we wanted the area around the back to have better access to firewood, hunting, of the stove finished off, I remembered the and wild berries. I was improving an old flat stones I had been saving. As the car- logging trail. There were low spots and old penters worked to prepare the wall for the ruts and I wanted to make the improve- stones, I took my wheelbarrow and began ments permanent, so I began hauling small hauling them up to the house. Each one stones from my neighbor’s stone fence to had to be cleaned up with water and I my road project. I had permission to take worked fast at it, because I had to work the the stones and I hauled them with my second shift that day at my workplace. pickup truck. This was ongoing for several The next day they were beginning to summers. put the flat stones on the wall. It was a slow There was something about flat stones process as you have to hold each stone that fascinated me. Flat stones can be used against the wall for several minutes until for several things. You can make a stone it adheres. I gave them instructions to mix fence out of them. If I wanted a base for the stones up, so that there weren’t too piling my firewood to dry, putting down a many of the same type together. layer of flat stones would do the trick. Also, They were doing the complete south 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 117

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wall behind the wood heater and partial situation had become grave. People were walls on the west and east. It was during crying and praying and I couldn’t believe the third day of the stone application how fast things were deteriorating with this that one of the workers said to me,“Do you leukemia. To see Roger pleading to God want this one on the wall?” for Nancy’s life was difficult to witness. Someone had taken a nail or a small, Nancy was unable to speak anymore. hard stone and carved a cross into the lime- Nancy’s son Perry had begun posting stone. The cross was an inch and a half long his mom’s condition on his website and I and an inch wide. “Sure,”I said, “put it went there to get updates. On December on the east wall.”And so the flat piece of 13, 2005, I printed off the details of Nancy’s limestone, which is kind of heart-shaped, hospital stay from Perry’s website and gave seven and a half inches long and four the pages to my wife to read. and a half inches wide, became a part of On December 14, I picked up the pages our home. about Nancy’s hospital stay off the top of People from the Jerusalem Lutheran the TV to take them back up stairs. Some- Church near Lunds, Wisconsin, were con- thing caused me to stop. My eyes were fixed ducting an old-time Christmas program on the cross that had been carved into the on Saturday and Sunday, December 3 and piece of heart-shaped limestone, on the 4. After the program on Sunday I learned wall. Since 1991, I have walked past that that my friend Roger’s wife was in the hos- cross thousands of times, so why did I stop pital, and they believed that she had and look at it that day? I took the website leukemia. She had gone to the doctor be- pages and held them up against the lime- cause she was bruising so easily. stone cross. I closed my eyes and said, Nancy Mathison was more than just the “Lord, please give Nancy the strength to wife of a friend. I had stood up for their overcome this leukemia.”This happened wedding in 1964. Roger had been my around 1:30 p.m. friend since second grade. Nancy was the Later that night I learned that Nancy mother of four boys and an adopted girl had died. The next day I found out that the from South America. time of death was around 1:20 p.m. When When I visited the Appleton Medical I realized how the time she died and when Center in Appleton, Wisconsin, on De- I had held the papers about her hospital cember 8, I thought that I would be able stay were so close, chills ran up my spine. to see Nancy, but that was not the case. Something had happened that day when When I got home, I called the hospital and I stopped to stare at the limestone cross. I was able to talk with her for a while. Was Nancy trying to communicate with She seemed to be in good spirits. me? Was someone heavenly communicat- I visited again on December 11 and the ing with me? 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 118

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The night of December 15, Roger called dering where she had gone, and why. and asked me if I would be one of Nancy’s In 15 minutes she was back, and handed pallbearers. I became emotional; tears me a rose. “It’s from your husband,”she welled up in my eyes,“Roger,”I said,“I think said. “I was sitting there drinking my tea Nancy tried to communicate with me.” when I suddenly felt his presence, and he “No John, that’s impossible,”he said. wanted you to have a rose.” “Nancy is with Jesus.”—John J. Mutter, Jr., I had never told Jean about the roses in Shawano, Wisc. my suitcase. If there was ever a doubt in my mind about survival and an afterlife, it Another Rose disappeared in that moment. It was a beau- My husband, Matthew Sherman, was tiful gift from my husband, but what Jean killed in an automobile accident in Feb- gave me was even more precious: the cer- ruary 1990. Three weeks later I was due to tain knowledge of an expanded reality, and visit Jean Shilton, a British friend who is the trust that we truly are all immortal a medium, and go with her to a course souls.—Diane Sherman-Levine, Princeton, sponsored by the Spiritualist National N.J. Union at Stanstead College. I decided to go despite what had happened, feeling it Dollars from Heaven would help ease my grieving process. “Abelief is not merely an idea the mind I had visited Jean several times before, possesses…a belief is an idea that possesses and each time when I opened my suitcase, the mind.”—Robert Oxton Bolton I discovered my husband had tucked a rose The first time Alicia, my friend for in a little plastic vial with water among my life, heard the words “dollars from heaven,” things. It was his way of saying that while she chuckled. The phrase was spoken by he didn’t share my interest in exploring the her mom when she was taken to the hos- paranormal, it was okay for me to do my pital, still able to walk in. They had just thing,even if it meant going to England by stepped into a huge elevator when Alicia myself. On the plane, the thought popped looked down and saw a one-dollar-bill on into my head that on this trip I wouldn’t the floor. find a rose in my suitcase. “Oh, Mom,”she yelled.“Look, a dollar!” When I arrived, Jean met me and drove As she bent down to pick it up, she me to her lovely little row house. We sat heard her mom’s bizarre words “I will send down to have a cup of tea, and began to you dollars from heaven.” talk. It couldn’t have been more than ten Alicia’s surprised expression said, minutes into our conversation when Jean “What?” Ignoring a phrase that sounded excused herself, saying she would be back so out of the ordinary, they walked up to shortly, and left the house. I sat there won- the window, where her mom was signed in. 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 119

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A few days later, Alicia stood at that loathed hospital bed holding her mother’s hand in a way only a daughter can, the naked fear of losing her in Alicia’s eyes. As usual, Mom knew how to make her only daughter laugh and smile; again she said, “When I am gone, I will send you dollars from heaven.” The phrase sounded so foreign to a daughter in pain. Her smiling face for a Trudy Wells moment turned into a frown, not un- derstanding at all. Anyone who meets Ali- one, who might claim the money. cia marvels at what a happy person she Later still, on Mother’s Day, it was a five- is and how a smile is her constant com- dollar-bill. Alicia’s daughter Hailey liter- panion. ally stepped on it outside a grocery store. Two years after that sad day in August Alicia picked it up, her hands shaking. She when her mom Dorothy passed away, a raised her eyes to heaven in a classic ex- unique treasure box held 52 dollars at pression of total disbelief.“Happy Mother’s the home of Alicia and her family. Day, to you too,”she said. Alicia found the first dollar on the walk- Alicia became a mom after 16 years of way leading into the Sugar-Bowl, her marriage, long after she had given up mom’s favorite restaurant. She stared at it, thoughts of ever having a child of her own. grabbed it, and held it to her heart. With At 38, Alicia had already experienced early tears in her eyes she remembered what her menopause. mom had told her more than once. “I The day Hailey was born they called her will send you dollars from heaven.”It a miracle child. A midlife-miracle: Ali- was the day of Dorothy’s funeral. cia’s mom was finally a grandma. An un- In that instant Alicia knew for sure:“My expected gift is the best kind. mom is in heaven.” One cloudy morning in Arizona, dur- Some weeks later, Alicia found a dollar ing Alicia’s daily walk with a few of the bill in a parking lot on a sunny Arizona day, moms in the neighborhood after dropping and another dollar nearby on the hot ce- the children off at the schoolbus stop, ment. Again she remembered her mother’s she looked down at a puddle of water and words. saw a floating ten-dollar bill. Alicia bent It happened again and again. Each time, down, grabbed it, ignoring the wet she ran it shocked Alicia into stunned silence, with home. As she reached the house she yelled a quick look around her for someone, any- “It’s from Mom!” Her husband Roy was 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 120

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standing at the door. They both looked up The Mystery of the Dimes to heaven. It was Roy’s birthday. I’ve witnessed some strange, eerie oc- The following October, a ten-dollar-bill currences in my life. Unfortunately, I did appeared in front of Alicia’s unbelieving not write them down, so I’ve forgotten eyes as she was getting out of her car in a most of the details. However, there were crowded shopping-center. Another birth- two separate incidents that I did write day gift from heaven; Alicia had just turned down and they involved finding dimes. At 47. In absolute awe, she said,“Thank you, one point in my life, I was finding dimes Mom!” on the average of once or twice a month In September the next year, the phone wherever I went. This went on for many rang in Coronado where my husband and months at a time. I spent three weeks at our home away from The first dime incident happened the home. It was Alicia; her happy voice summer of 2001. I found a pair of dimes sounded like cheering:“My mom sent me on the sidewalk outside the bagel store. 20 dollars!” Later that day, I met my friend Cathy for a Alicia found the money in a parking lot leisurely walk around the local pond and as she, Roy, and Hailey were on their way cemetery. The ground was very damp from to dinner. The timing was amazing. Ali- the rain the night before, but we had sneak- cia was having trouble at her job, and it had ers on and didn’t care. to do with money. Her boss had led Ali- Suddenly, for no apparent reason, I cia to believe she was getting a raise, but in stopped in my tracks and stood facing reality her commission got cut, which Cathy. In an excited voice I said,“Did I tell added up to less pay. The dishonesty was you I found two dimes this morning?” the most upsetting part. Her husband Cathy was used to my “finding dimes” advised her to quit, but her love for the job stories. Exasperated and a little annoyed, was making it hard. she said,“Yes, you already told me.” As Alicia picked the money up with At that moment I looked down and trembling hands, she could hear her mom’s glimpsed the tips of two small objects pro- voice: “It’s not always about money.”To truding from a moist mound of earth. Why find money on that particular day had to I bent down to pluck them out of the dirt, be a sign. I can’t say. But, I did. They were two very Alicia is still at her job, still waiting and dirty dimes. We didn’t know what they hoping for that raise she so deserves. were until I scraped the clinging mud off The belief in dollars from heaven con- them. tinues, and that extraordinary treasure What are the odds? What did it mean? box is filling up.—Trudy Wells, Scottsdale, My father’s birthday was February 22. Ariz. Could it be my father communicating with 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 121

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Mom was all right in heaven. I did not share my views with my client; I didn’t want her to think I was a nut. When I got back in the car, I spoke to my mother again.“Mom,”I said,“If this is truly a sign from you, please send me an- other dime to find in the near future.” I decided to stop at the supermarket for some last-minute shopping on the way Jo Ann Gordon home. As I stepped out of the car into the parking lot, I couldn’t believe my eyes. me from the beyond? After all, we were Not four or five feet away from my car was walking outside a cemetery. I don’t know. a dime! My mouth fell open as I bent down The second incident happened the win- to pick it up. ter of the following year. I was working Did I need any more proof? Is the uni- as an itinerant speech therapist for pre- verse communicating to me about life after schoolers. On my way to a client’s house, I death? Or, are these two “dime stories”just asked my mother to give me a sign to let amazing coincidences? What do you me know she was all right in the afterlife. think?—Jo Ann Gordon, Port Jefferson Sta- (She had passed away in 1999.) “Nothing tion, N.Y. dramatic, Mom,”I said. “Just something I would know was a sign.” An Odd Way to After the speech session, I stood outside Encounter a Ghost with my student’s mom and made small Working in science is an odd way to run talk, as we usually did. It had snowed a few into a ghost, but it happened to me. days before and the ground around the In the early 1990s I was working in house was half-covered with leftover snow Tonto Basin, Arizona, with several ar- and mud. Something made me look over chaeologists from Arizona State Univer- to the side of the house and the ground. I sity, a few local archaeology buffs, and don’t know why. about a dozen college students. We were “What’s that in the dirt?”I asked. I went digging some platform mound ruins built over and scooped an object out of the soft by a group of prehistoric Native Ameri- earth. It was so stained with the mud that cans known as the Salado. The mounds it wasn’t recognizable. were built around 1300 by the ancestors of “I think it’s a dime,” my student’s the tribes later encountered by the Span- mother said. ish. The work was being done by the an- “I think so too.”That was my sign that thropology department at ASU for the Bu- 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 122

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reau of Land Management, and at the time stop excavating burials when he began hav- it was the largest ongoing archaeological ing extremely disturbing nightmares. He dig in the country. CNN even came out to didn’t go into much detail about them, but visit us one time. The students we had it got so bad he could not go near a bur- working with us were from all over the ial without getting so jittery it made doing United States as well as some from France, the delicate work required almost im- England, and Poland. possible. The archaeologists from ASU then We had just started our winter field sea- put him to work running the backhoe or son and it was a beautiful, cool, sunny day hand-excavating the various trash mid- in October 1992, typical of the fall weather dens associated with the ruins. After the in central Arizona. My dig partners, Wally change in work, the nightmares ceased. Pottle and Robert Casio, and I had started That is, until today. to excavate a midden deposit, (an an- “Yeah,them devil dogs would bite huge cient garbage dump) by putting in a cou- chunks of meat out of people with their ple of test units or “one-by-ones”: one- sharp teeth.”Wally related in his thick meter-by-one-meter square holes dug in Bronx accent as we dug down into cen- the ground ten centimeters at a time. As turies’ worth of pot shards, broken stone we worked, digging with our shovels and tools, and other trash left behind by peo- sifting the soil through metal screens, Wally ple long dead. Suddenly, Wally hit some- related a dream he had experienced the thing. night before. “Holy crap!” Wally said as his shovel “Man, what a weird dream!”Wally said. overturned some large bones. “Aw man, I “I was with a crowd of people with huge hope that’s not a burial. I sure hope that’s dogs riding on our backs that would attack not a burial.” us if we looked anywhere else but forward. “It might not be, hold on,”Rob said. His The dogs were huge, devil Dobermans with father was a teacher at the Hopi reserva- flaming red eyes and huge teeth. And up tion and Rob had grown up surrounded in the sky were all of these huge UFOs. The by Native American beliefs and traditions. dogs were herding us along the road to- According to legend, chewing bear root wards some of the landed UFOs. Man, I protects one from spirits, and Rob always have not had a dream like that since I kept bear root with him. stopped digging burials last year.” Rob got down into the square hole and Wally was one the best we had at ex- began to dig around the bones with his cavating the numerous prehistoric burials trusty Marshalltown trowel. that were scattered around the site. He did “I think what you have here, Wally, is his work with great skill and uncommon a dog,”Rob shrugged.“Just a big dog.” respect and sensitivity. However, he had to That theory did not seem unreasonable. 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 123

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pan, put it into a bucket and then emptied the bucket into a metal screen—actually, two screens, the first a quarter-inch and right below it an eighth-inch screen. When he sifted the dirt, the quarter-inch screen got the larger artifacts and the eighth-inch screen caught whatever the larger screen missed. In this way we gathered the tiny ar- tifacts that would help us reconstruct an Jonathan P. Decker ancient life. As Rob continued to dig he found more We had found another dog burial the pre- artifacts and bone. We usually put the bone vious season. The animal had been buried in aluminum foil to help protect it, but Rob in the side of the larger of the two mounds did not have any on hand. This required a on the site. walk back to the two Chevy Suburban “Well, as long as you’re sure that’s all trucks parked nearby. it is,”Wally said as he got back down in the “I’m going back to the truck; either of hole to resume digging and Rob went back you guys need anything?”Rob asked, as he to screening dirt. climbed out of his square hole. “That’s real strange, Wally; you hav- Before we could reply, a strong wind ing that dream about big dogs and then came up from the south, forming a dust finding the bones of one,”I said as I worked devil right next to where we were working. on digging my unit, catty-corner to Wally’s, We had seen dust devils on occasion be- one by one. fore. They are like tiny that stir Wally agreed, saying it was really weird, up dust, leaves, and other small objects. but he was relieved at the same time.“Yeah, The vast majority appeared at random, dog bones I can handle, but…unhh-oh!” then disappeared just as randomly when Wally’s eyes grew wide with alarm. With the wind died down. Occasionally you his trowel he had just uncovered a human would run into one that had a mind of jawbone. “That’s it, I’m outta here. I’m its own. This was one of those. gonna help Jon with screening his dirt.” The dust devil went to the edge of the “Don’t worry about it,”Rob said. “I’ll test pit, hesitated for a moment, then take over here.” moved directly over the bones that Rob Rob went to work with a pair of bam- had exposed in his digging. When it got boo chopsticks and a small brush so as not over the bones, the dust devil began spin- to damage the fragile bones. He scooped ning wildly, but only over that one cor- up the loose dirt with a small plastic dust- ner of the hole. This went on for several 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 124

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seconds. Then, in what appeared to be a imagination getting away from me. After deliberate effort, it made a beeline for the all, in the world of science there are no such sifting screens Rob was working with and things as ghosts. Right?—Jonathan P. settled over the tiny fragments in the Decker, Baton Rouge, La. screens. Once over the screens, the dust devil began spinning even more power- The Ghost of Route 514 fully than it had before. Faster and faster Fall of the year always evokes in me a the dust devil howled, its rage building to sense of mystery and the macabre. Col- a crescendo, sending small artifacts and orful falling leaves, aromatic wood smoke, gravel skyward. opulent roadside stands brimming with With a final convulsion of fury the displays of dried cornstalks, pumpkins, whirlwind was spent and the dust devil gourds, fresh-pressed apple cider, and an ceased as abruptly as it had started. Dust assortment of scrawny, patchwork scare- began to slowly settle back into the screens. crows conspire to reinforce the appeal of It was almost as though a spirit had been autumn. I’ve loved this time of year ever released from its ancient prison. since I was a kid. When there is a chill in We all stared at each other dumb- the air and every shadow takes on a life founded, scarcely able to believe what we of its own, I’m reminded of the time that had just witnessed. Rob pulled the bear I became convinced that ghosts really do root out of his pocket and began to chew exist, that they walk the earth, and that they a piece of it. He offered me some, which I make their presences known sometimes gratefully accepted and began to chew vig- when you least expect them. orously. It was late September 1989, when my “I think I am going to go help someone wife, Carol, and I spent an evening with working on the other side of the mound,” our friends, Richard and Judy, at their circa- Wally said, breaking the silence. 1882 stone farmhouse in Kingwood, New Rob and I continued to work in that Jersey.They managed several acres of vine- area but didn’t experience anything like yard and sold wine grapes and juice to that again. commercial wineries and home wine- On a previous occasion I saw a dust makers. After a wonderful dinner and some devil pick up a foil package of artifacts from good conversation, it was close to midnight the top of the mound, carry it high into when we thanked our hosts for their hos- the air, then drop it about 100 yards away. pitality and climbed into our Dodge Aries Another time out of the corner of my eye, for the hour’s drive home to East for a second I thought I saw a brown- Brunswick. skinned man in a loincloth walking up the I remember that the post-midnight side of the mound. It was probably just my hour was partly cloudy with the tempera- 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 125

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quickly took on human form and turned to face the car. Its features became shock- ingly clear as it spontaneously glided over the car’s hood and disappeared into the darkness behind us. In those few sec- onds, I perceived the wraith to be a female with shoulder-length hair and the distinc- tive face of a middle-aged woman. Her arms were at her side, and she wore a kind Tom Petuskey of gauzy nightgown (burial shroud?) that disappeared along with her legs below the ture hovering somewhere in the 60s, not knee. enough for me to switch on the car’s heater. I was stunned and quietly absorbing I was comfortably settled in the driver’s what I just had seen when my wife asked, seat and Carol was enjoying the solitude “Did you see that?” when we began to recount the highlights At first, all I could utter was a simple of our visit. Soon we left Routes 12 and 202 “Yes.”But then I countered with, “What and proceeded on Route 514, which would did you see?” take us across the state almost to our des- Carol’s description exactly matched tination. mine, and we were both filled with won- The western stretch of 514 offers a der and pleased that we agreed on what bucolic drive past farms, fields, forests, and had transpired. quaint towns with names like Hopewell During our brief conversation, the tem- and Rocky Hill. Just past the village of Reav- perature in the car dropped appreciably. ille, perhaps a mile down the road where Paranormal investigators claim that ghosts it is flanked by rolling farmland, we en- absorb energy from their surroundings in countered the ghost of Route 514. order to manifest themselves. For a mo- At the time, we were lost in our own ment, it occurred to us that perhaps the thoughts and enjoying the early morning ghost was hitching a ride. However, that silence save for the comforting hum of the notion faded when the temperature in the car’s engine. I was cautiously moving about car soon returned to its original com- 40 miles per hour, ever vigilant for deer, fortable level. when I rounded a bend and saw an eerie, We were more in awe than afraid. Al- translucent mist in the middle of the road. though it happened so quickly, the event It didn’t occur to me to stomp on the brake left an indelible impression in our minds. pedal as I knew it wasn’t a solid object. We agreed that the specter had a detailed At first it seemed amorphous until it face together with flowing hair, arms, torso, 112 MayJunSURV.qxd 5/28/09 11:41 AM Page 126

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and clothing that was unmistakably dis- tinctive. Although some years have passed since Share your Proof we witnessed this event, Carol and I con- Communication from beyond. sider ourselves lucky to have had this ex- Reincarnation. Ghosts. Have perience. Accordingly, every year, when the rolling autumn mists drift lazily over the you witnessed or experienced a landscape, and Carol and I are in a mood case of the survival of bodily to relax in our sitting room with a com- death? Send your story to: forting glass of wine, it’s a given that the My Proof of Survival, ghost of Route 514 will again manifest it- FATE Magazine, PO Box 460, self in one of our fireside conversations. I wouldn’t want it any other way. Lakeville MN 55044, or send it My interest in the paranormal was via email to [email protected] sparked by this experience. Today, I am the FATE pays $25 and a founder of SCOPE, Scientific Confirma- six-month subscription to FATE tion of Paranormal Events: www.scopenj. for each item published. com.— Tom Petuskey, East Brunswick, N.J. ;

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Unscramble these words: tanecr vinosi mread arecol eers nav idition phorepcy ticrepnoid elervation ropetoninmi cleavircayon 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 128

True Mystic Experiences

How I Discovered FATE go into. No such luck. So I turned around, You could say I discovered FATE mag- made a left turn onto Sunset Hills Road, azine while conducting an experiment. I and just drove out trying to be open to fur- am not sure of the year, but I think it was ther messages. I seemed to “hear” this 2003. I was working a part-time job at a phrase in my mind: “Sam I Am.”I chuck- small shop in Lake Anne Village Center in led and kept on driving. Reston, Virginia. The event I was attending that evening One evening as the daylight ran out, I was in downtown Herndon at 7:30 p.m. I left work and walked to my car. I had re- was headed in that direction, so I just went cently been experimenting with “asking with that. I turned right onto Reston Park- and listening.”I had some free time be- way and then took a left into a shopping tween work and an event I was attending center north of Reston Town Center, which later that evening, so I decided to try ask- includes Best Buy, Starbucks, and Barnes ing and listening to see if an angel or spirit & Noble. I wasn’t really hungry, so I went guide might suggest something to for me to Starbucks and ordered a hot cocoa to do. I posed my question and waited and a snack. I hadn’t been to that Starbucks silently in my car for an answer. I had only before and I was surprised to see it had di- so much faith in this kind of thing, but I rect access to Barnes & Noble. There’s a was open enough to experiment, in spite good place to kill some time, I thought. So I of being uncomfortable with the whole walked in. business. I had nothing in mind, so I just let my The answer I heard was simply:“Sam.” eyes lead me. I found a section of non-fic- I couldn’t get anything beyond that, al- tion bargain books, and was immediately though I tried. I tried thinking of what that drawn to a book called Mystic Experiences, might mean. I didn’t know anyone by that compiled and edited by Jennifer Spees. The name. I thought of “Uncle Sam,”but that subtitle read: “Fascinating Real-Life Sto- didn’t help.I remembered there was a street ries of Spirits, Other Dimensions and in Reston with “Samuel” in its name, so I Strange Phenomena.”That sure sounded looked at my map and found it: Samuel interesting, so I looked at the back cover, Morse Drive, a short dead-end street with which only got me more interested. small office buildings. I drove over there I opened the front cover and was about with an open mind; I thought maybe there to start reading the inside of the book would be a restaurant or shop that I could jacket. But instead of starting at the top,

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Certainly my circumstances were not any- thing like what the person in the story was dealing with, and it might not have been the same angel who directed me to this, but I don’t think that matters. In the introduction, on page xi, the au- thor says:“For over 50 years, the readers of FATE Magazine have submitted their true stories of strange, unexplained, and para- David Wisbey normal experiences. True Mystic Experi- ences has been one of FATE’s most popular my eyes were drawn to something near the features since 1948. These are firsthand ac- bottom of the flap: the name “Sam”! counts of extraordinary events happening I was stunned as I read further: “Sam to ordinary people.” the ‘Spunky Angel of Mercy,’who averted I couldn’t recall ever having heard of a head-on collision.”It was the first of sev- FATE, but I knew I had to look into it. I eral bits about some of the book’s stories, ended up subscribing. I even started see- which continued on the back flap. When ing it in various places after that; I hadn’t I got over my shock, I chuckled a bit, noticed it before. saying something like,“Okay, very funny. Later, on a really slow night at work, I I get it.” tried my experiment again. This time I It was quite humbling to know that I seemed to hear the name “Franz Ferdi- might have been directed in spite of it nand.”So I got on the Internet and started not seeming that way.I can’t think of a bet- searching. Of course this led me to Franz ter explanation. Why else would I only hear Ferdinand, the Archduke of Austria-Hun- “Sam” in response to my question about gary whose assassination in Sarajevo was what to do,where to go, and then find this? the spark that lit the powder-keg of World Of course I had some doubts; it could have War I. I had no idea why I was told this just been coincidence. But I found that name. However, over time and several psy- harder to believe. chic readings, it seems that I might have Obviously, I bought the book, and been him in that life. pretty much devoured it. I found the “Sam” I still find it hard to believe, but I don’t story first, and actually read the entirety of know what else to make of it.—David Wis- it while standing there at the bookstore. bey, Lakewood, Colo. 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 130

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ters were closed tightly and fastened by a hook. When I tried to open them they wouldn’t budge. My cousins told me that they all heard voices in the corner of their bedrooms. This usually would happen every night when they tried to fall asleep. It would always be around the same time. Sometimes the voices would be so loud it would wake them up. They would fall back to sleep and Lisa Yorio the voices would just fade away. Even though I was a kid at the time, I The Poltergeist That was reluctant to believe the house was Didn’t Like Milk haunted. I thought my cousins were just My first encounter with paranormal ac- trying to scare me by making up these scary tivity happened when I was seven years old, stories. I didn’t believe them until I had my in 1977, at my aunt’s house in Haverstraw, own poltergeist encounter. New York. The scariest experience for me was My aunt baby-sat me a few days each when I was carrying a tray of three glasses week. I dreaded going there. As soon as I of milk upstairs for my cousins. I can re- entered her house, I immediately smelled member it vividly like it was yesterday. The a strong scent of perfume like rotting flow- glasses suddenly flew off the tray and up ers. This always seemed to permeate from in the air, all at once. It was almost as if they the area of the main doorway of the house. levitated for a few seconds. Then the milk There were bells on the back of this poured all over my head. The glasses then door hanging from several hooks. Some- landed on the tray perfectly without spilling one would have to open up the door from a drop. However, I was dripping wet and the outside in order for the bells to make crying at this point. a sound. Several times when I was alone I was in total shock. I couldn’t believe and walked past this area, suddenly the bells what had just happened to me. I didn’t un- would start rattling even though the door derstand at the time that this was a para- was not open. A strong, cold breeze would normal experience. It was as if some- flow throughout the house, and the kitchen thing or someone grabbed the glasses off windows would also rattle as if someone the tray, poured them over my head, and were trying to break in. I remember check- then placed them back on the tray. None ing the windows but they were all locked of the glasses fell on the floor or spilled on and almost impossible to open. The shut- the carpet, only on me. It was very scary. 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 131

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I told my aunt what had happened and of course she didn’t believe me. She thought I spilled the milk and made up some ridiculous excuse so I wouldn’t get in trouble. I told her I thought it was a ghost and the house was haunted. She just laughed and said I had a wild imagination. Then I wondered to myself, was my mind playing tricks on me or was the house re- Carol Wasniewski ally haunted? I never did find out what ac- tually happened that day. Years later, one of my cousins said that The Gift he had something to tell me. He admit- During my adult life, I have had many ted that my aunt started experiencing sim- strange psychic experiences. One of the ilar occurrences that were paranormal in first yet most profound of these occurred nature. This was shortly after the inci- during a particularly difficult time in my dent that happened to me. She also en- life when I was 19 years old. I had experi- countered weird smells, rattling doors, enced a loss of faith, had dropped out of voices, breezes, and window shutters mov- the religion into which I was born and ing by themselves. She finally had a priest raised, and had decided that I was now come to the house and bless it in order to an atheist. In all my teenaged wisdom, I get rid of anything evil lurking there. I’m avowed that there was no God or afterlife, not sure if the blessing worked, because I and when you died, that was the end of lost contact with them after my mother you. But what happened to me on a warm, passed away. All I know is that they moved spring Friday night in 1969 changed my out of the house shortly afterwards. beliefs forever. I didn’t remember this incident until It started out as a normal evening for years later when I was in high school. One me, just hanging out with friends, doing day, I just had a memory of it; I could see nothing. For some reason, I came home it so vividly. If it was a product of my imag- early, around 11:00 p.m., and even though ination, I don’t think I would recall this so my family was still up watching television, many years later, but probably a lot sooner. I went right up to bed. On other week- I believe now that this did happen to me end nights, I would have joined them to when I was younger. This could be why I watch the late movie, but on that night, I was always fascinated with the supernat- just wanted to go to sleep. ural since I was a child.—Lisa Yorio, Al- About three or four in the morning, I buquerque, N.M. woke up feeling very sick to my stomach. 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 132

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I stumbled into the bathroom in the dark, have helped to greatly strengthen and af- which was again highly unusual for me. ( firm my faith over the years. I should mention here that I did not drink As I am writing these words, we are in or ingest anything that could have made the middle of the Christmas season and of me sick, as teenagers are sometimes prone another assault on the spiritual message of to do.) After about five minutes of sitting Christmas by people who believe now as I in the dark, I returned to my bedroom and once did. I always say a prayer for them and collapsed on top of the bedcovers. That’s wonder at the amazing experience that the last thing I remembered until the next placed me on my own particular spiri- morning when I awoke. tual path and that bestowed on me the gift When I opened my eyes, I found my- of faith that has sustained me through- self lying on my back under the covers, out my life.—Carol Wasniewski, Cherry which were neatly smoothed and tucked Hill, N.J. under my chin as if the bed had been made up with me in it. In my hands, which were Dreams Come True in Paris positioned under the covers and clasped While traveling in Paris with my college on my stomach, I held rosary beads like a choir in January 1973, I found that I had corpse at a Catholic wake. The message was quickly gone through the money I had loud and clear. brought with me for meals and entertain- What do you do after an experience like ment. In desperation, I started borrow- this? I asked everyone in my family if ing money from my (very generous) best they had come into my room, and of friend, who was also on the trip. course, they all said no. I tried to return to One night I had a dream about a stream church but still felt disconnected. So I spilling down a hillside, with golden coins prayed to God and to the Blessed Mother floating down to where I stood at the bot- and asked for help and guidance. tom of the hill. Nice dream! A few months later,my prayers were an- The next night my friend and I wan- swered when I purchased my first meta- dered into a quiet, dimly lit cobblestone physical book about the readings of Edgar street on Paris’s romantic Left Bank. To our Cayce. It was called Dreams, Your Magic right, streets came down a hill to inter- Mirror by Elsie Sechrist and contained sect with the street we were on. Imagine readings where Mr. Cayce had interpreted my amazement as I saw, in the stream that dreams for people while in a sleeping ran down the side of the closest street, a trance. A few years later, I read my first copy flotilla of French franc notes. of FATE magazine, and I’ve been a sub- I plucked the not-even-damp bills from scriber ever since. The stories in FATE, es- the water, paid my friend back, took her pecially those submitted by the readers, out for a few glasses of champagne in a 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 133

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There are no skeletons in my closet, but there are just enough pins lying around to scare the faint of heart. While I didn’t come away from New Orleans with a degree in mystical sci- ence, I did return with a bag full of candles shaped in the forms of males and females that I thought would make funny birthday presents, or some such thing. “What in the world are you going to do Su Hoyle with those?” my husband asked. It gave me more than a little pleasure to lively little bistro, and had enough left over grin ever-so-sweetly, with just a hint of mis- for the rest of our time in France. chief, and respond,“Why? Worried? Maybe That’s a dream I wouldn’t mind having you’d better stay on your toes, just in case!” again!—Su Hoyle, Wendell, Mass. At the time, I was having a miserable time at my office, where I worked as a pro- Hoodoo. You Do? Do Not! duction associate for hundreds of episodes Never did I imagine that I would be in- of children’s animated television. It trigued by the curious world of voodoo, should’ve been a happy place, with all but a funny thing happened on my way the cartoons and wacky sound effects, but through New Orleans. First off, it was hard it wasn’t. My very-married old villain of to ignore the Crescent City’s romantic rev- a boss (complete with handlebar mus- erence for all things mystical and magical, tache) was tripping the light fantastic with voodoo in particular: you couldn’t pass a the perky 22-year-old assistant I’d hired to storefront or read a historical pamphlet fill my shoes during my maternity leave. without some reference to the ancient art I tried my best to ignore them, but the last and its origins. Amused by this experience, straw came when he started to give her I started to read some of the literature re- some of my long-promised and deservedly garding the history and “science” of it all. earned plum assignments. Before you start to think that I’m some One day, sitting in my small, ventila- twisted, vindictive individual, you should tion-free office, I realized that I needed know that I’m a harmless housewife with some kind of cosmic release for all of the two kids and a cat, and I teach piano to lit- backed up emotional bile I’d been tasting tle kids. I grew up in a home where the re- for months and months. ligion was served like homemade iced tea: That night, I pulled out a pair of the lit- strong and no unnecessary sweetening. tle wax human candles, one male and one 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 134

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cles glued to each pin were meant to re- lease me of those feelings. When it was all finished, I sat back and admired my handiwork. Monday morning, those dolls sat in a place of prominence on a bookshelf in my office. People would walk by and gasp. I re- fused to answer questions, saying that they Thresa Katz were gifts. And they were gifts, really: I had given myself the gift of freedom from all female. I set them on the kitchen table. Star- the drama, and released it onto the wax fig- ing at them for a while, I realized that I ures. Each time I stared at the bright red could never feel comfortable causing some- pins with the aspirin glued to them, I one else pain or grief. But I had certainly thought: I am free from the headaches. And had had enough of the pain and grief that the feathers glued to the yellow pins meant I was walking through every day at work. I was free from the crazy anger I had felt as What I really wanted to do was express my tasks and privileges were taken away from frustration and create something that me. would make me smile. That night, my One month after my hoodoo art pro- “hoodoo” dolls came to life. ject, my boss and his playmate were un- Pulling out a hot glue gun, paints, a tin ceremoniously fired from our company of colored sewing pins, and various little with no warning. Employees began to stop trinkets from around the house, I assem- by my office and inquire if the figures on bled my very own “magic factory” on the the bookcase (which were melted down kitchen table. Lighting some other votive the night after the dismissals with a candles around the room and turning on naughty champagne toast) were responsi- appropriate mood music, I was inspired to ble. I shook my head and said, “No. They begin my fantasy work. On the heads of represented something else entirely.” the various pins I glued aspirin, feathers, Recently, a couple I knew went through beads, rocks, crystals, and an odd assort- a vitriolic divorce and the wife just couldn’t ment of hardware. I put dots and squiggles let go of her obsessive need to know every of paint on various parts of the wax bod- detail about her ex-husband’s life (which ies. Then I sat down and created a chart was odd, since she was the one who re- that listed the symbolism of each pin— quested the divorce). Pulling new two male showing the heartaches, headaches, stom- and female candles out of my “magic kit,” achaches, and other emotions that I felt I created what I now called Reflection Dolls these two were causing and how the arti- of them both. The pins represented things 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 135

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like: no jealousy, equal amounts of finances, evenly divided time with the children, and some of the symbols from my original dolls. Presenting them to her, I felt as though I’d passed the torch and had given her the gift of freedom. People can say what they will about voodoo and the various forms of magic that are out there in the universe, but I know that an unusual gift was given to me David Gerrard on that visit to Louisiana. I will forever be grateful that I found an outlet to let go of negative energy and emotion. It is my ings on both sides of the road. What I could humble opinion that every woman should not see was a long gas tanker, which was make room for a little hoodoo in her life. leaving the fueling side and crossing to the My cupboard still houses a hot glue gun parking area on the café side of the road. and 1,000 colored pins, so anyone else look- His headlights were right off the road on ing to break my heart: consider yourself my left, and the taillights were totally off warned.—Thresa Katz, Canyon Country, the road on the right. In those days, trucks Calif. did not have lights down the side of the ve- hicle, as they do in the States. He was mov- Just Passing Through ing in a painfully slow manner, and I was In February 1965, I was a student nurse almost on him and doing over 70 miles an at Hospital of St. Cross, in Rugby, England. hour when I made out his shape…about One night at about seven o’clock I was dri- 25 yards ahead! I slammed on the brakes ving home to my parents’ house on my (which were as useless as the lights in those motorcycle (a Triumph 650 in a BSA days) though I knew there was no hope frame) and was approaching Tubby’s Café whatever of avoiding him. in Willoughby, where the four lanes came The next instant, I was on the other side down to a two-lane and the road shortly of the tanker truck, still standing on the afterwards curved and went under a rail- brakes, and slowing down. Totally in shock road bridge. In my direction the café and and shaking, I stopped the bike, put it on gas (called petrol over there) was on the the side-stand and walked back to the left-hand side of the road and diesel re- truck, which was still completely blocking fueling was on the right. the road, grinding forward slowly. I walked Motorcycles back then had useless lights almost up to it. I could see the driver, but anyhow, but I could see the lit-up build- he did not notice me at all. I could smell 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 136

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his diesel engine churning. I turned around, walked back to my motorcycle and drove very slowly back home to Braunston. (about three miles) I never did say a word to my mom about it! I will never know just what happened that night to save my life. But I have always thanked God and my guardian angels for doing it. And now I say “Thank you!”once again!—David Gerrard, Hillsboro, Tenn. Kenneth L. Christenson Dale’s Clock Knows In my room there hangs a Dale Earn- that Dad may have had an hour or two hardt clock with a little racing car that goes of power to recharge the weak batteries in around the edge of its face. This clock runs order to make the car go around? on two diffrent types of batteries: AA Strangely enough, in June 2008 the batteries for the clock and Cs for the car. clock went off again. The little car raced For a long time I forgot to change the C around the face of the clock at seven o’- batteries, and they got weak to the point clock and a second time at eight. Did the that the car wouldn’t move at all. spirit of my dad cause this to happen? This Amazingly enough, close to midnight time my mother witnessed the clock going one night in November 2004, the little car off in my room and she was amazed. went around the face of the clock. It made The next morning I finally took out the me almost jump out of my skin has I lay old C batteries. On that same morning, we in bed. I thought it was strange because the got a call from California telling us that my batteries were so weak by that point. niece’s baby had been born around eight- The next day we got news that my thirty the previous night. nephew’s wife had given birth to my great- It’s strange that this clock should go rac- niece Jazmyn Lily around three o’clock ing around at a time of birth or death.— in the morning,Indiana time, which would Kenneth L. Christenson, Carson City, Nev. be midnight to us. The little car raced on its route again in The Dream August 2005, a couple of days after my The dream was so vivid. Even now, dad’s funeral. I wondered if by some chance decades later, I can recall it as though I just Dad could have been playing with the blinked awake. clock. I have heard that ghosts and spirits It was 1974. I was in eighth grade. I take energy from batteries. Is it possible awoke with a start one night, but the peace 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 137

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I felt was so all-encompassing, so new, so welcome. In my dream I had been with a group of my classmates. We were on a large open cemented area. We were trying to lift heavy boxes up onto a platform of some kind. A crane hoisted large rope netting with boxes in it over our heads. Suddenly the boxes came down on my head. I was pushed to the ground but felt no pain. A peace engulfed me unlike anything I’d ex- Kelly Stigliano perienced in my 14 years on earth. I heard crying and yet I was happy because of my peace and tranquility. I awoke smiling. the country, and updates on airline rules, I pondered that dream for months, codes, and protocol. We were taken onto grinning every time it crossed my mind. the tarmac and shown how to guide planes I used the experience to help complete a into their final resting spot, bring the jet creative writing assignment that year, bridge to the plane side, and unload the finishing with the sentence,“I don’t antic- luggage. My biggest thrill was to actually ipate death, but I no longer fear it.” guide a plane to a stop. In 2001, while living just outside One day while my class of 12 was on the Raleigh, North Carolina, I answered an ad tarmac being shown how to load and un- in the newspaper to work for a locally- load luggage, the bottom door of the plane based airline. There was a huge turnout, by the cargo area began to lower over my and we were told about the positions for head. Instantly my middle-school dream which they were interviewing. “Ramp was before me. Although I had all but for- work” was paired with customer service gotten the vision, I was again on that large desk work. It sounded good to me so I cemented area with my classmates. The jumped through all the hoops and was ac- cargo door came toward my head and cepted into their eight-week training my body shook with the chill of death. course. I looked at a female classmate and whis- I was assigned two roommates and was pered,“I dreamed this! I’ve been here be- given an apartment with a van that would fore.”She smiled as one smiles at an in- shuttle us to our classes at the airport each solent child interrupting a priest. The peace morning. I’d felt in that dream decades earlier re- The first week was eye-opening as we turned to me from the top of my head to were introduced to the various airplanes, my toes. told to memorize airport codes from across That night while taking to my husband 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 138

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on the phone, I told him about my child- The Rhino Raptor hood dream and about the experience One evening in 1979, when I was ten on the tarmac. He was troubled and sug- years old, my family was visiting my grand- gested I quit right away. I assured him I’d parent’s home in Clarksville, Indiana. On be careful and that if it wasn’t my time to such visits, after an early supper, my grand- die nothing would happen.“If it is my time mother would offer us children a penny to die, it doesn’t matter where I am, I’ll go.” for each pine cone that we collected from He was less than pleased. where they had fallen beneath a great old One early morning during the begin- magnolia tree in her backyard. On this par- ning of the third week of training, we were ticular evening, in the gathering dusk, each in our respective bedrooms prepar- my brother, sister, and I set about our chore. ing for the day and I listened to the news It didn’t take long for us to lose count of on the radio. The announcer said that our our accumulating bags of “pine cone pen- airline had just filed Chapter 11. I ran to nies” for the far more interesting adven- the bathroom and banged on the door. I ture of climbing the magnolia tree. yelled for my other roommate to come out Now, it was nearly nightfall, and what of her bedroom. Together we listened to wan light still shed from the sky was aided the news. I silently reflected on my dream only by a weak light bulb at the house’s and what it meant to remove this hazard back porch. I had outstripped my brother from my life. and sister and made it to very near the peak As our classmates gathered in the park- of the tree, when I stopped to rest and wait ing lot to wait for our shuttle van to pick to see if they would also make it as high as us up, we began to lament our futures. I had. It was there, in the upper reaches Once we all arrived in our classroom at the of the tree, that my wandering eyes caught airport we were told that everyone except sight of a large, eagle-type bird perched on those from Connecticut and Georgia a branch perhaps five or six feet away, star- would be sent home immediately. For ing directly back at me. It was about two me that just meant a drive into the sub- and a half feet tall and had dark brown, urbs. The following week we learned that blackish feathers and one truly remarkable those few remaining trainees were also sent feature: on its beak was a large, up-curv- home. ing horn like that of a rhinoceros. Sometimes when it “isn’t your time”,ex- Well, as can be imagined, it gave me treme things take place to redirect fate. I’ve such a fright that I made a hasty, half- never had a recurrence of the dream or the falling, limb-clutching exit from the tree, feelings associated with it. When I do, I will passing my siblings as I did so, much fur- know my time has come.—Kelly J. ther down (I had no idea I’d gone so high). Stigliano, Orange Park, Fla. Upon hitting the ground, I called out fran- 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 139

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us? Based on my personal experiences, as well as the research of others, I’ve con- cluded the answer is yes to both questions. But you can find your own answers and you don’t have to have special talents or expensive gear to launch your own inves- tigations; curiosity and a digital camera will suffice. When I first began hearing about orbs, Michael Forrest I wasn’t overly impressed. I assumed there were a multitude of ordinary explanations, tically for my brother and sister to get down including reflected light, dust particles and out of there. I had visions of the large bird camera malfunctions. It wasn’t until I descending and attacking them. Much to found myself peering into the face of an my relief, they did make it down, un- orb from my own camera, when I was cer- harmed, and without encountering the tain the possibilities of obtaining false im- creature I breathlessly described to them. ages were unlikely, that I began to take a In any event, they were unbelieving. closer look. Some time later, now in full dark but During a rash of forest fires in south- with flashlight in hand, I summoned the ern California in October 2007, a close courage to go back up there, and amidst friend of mine evacuated her home on the the foliage I found…nothing. I’ve never Santa Ysabel Indian Reservation with her again encountered what I termed the daughter and two small grandchildren. The “rhino bird,”and the magnolia tree where fire was barely visible from their house and I saw it has long since been cut down. still traveling in the opposite direction, but But I’ve always wondered just what it was the power was off and they had no lights I had seen on that long-ago evening. Any or water so they welcomed a short vaca- similar experiences or information on the tion at my place. Over the course of a week, creature would be greatly appreciated for my friend and I periodically drove up to your sharing.—Michael Forrest, Tucson, check on the situation and to retrieve Ariz. needed items from her house. On one of these occasions it was already Orbs: Emanations from night by the time we made it to her house. Other Dimensions? Without even a flashlight, my friend had Are orbs expressions of intelligent be- to fumble around in the dark to locate jack- ings from another dimension? And if so, ets, baby food, and diapers. I was just get- are they seeking communication with ting in the way, so I went outside and 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 140

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tinged orb appeared like a deliberate sub- ject in the otherwise drab setting. As I peered into the small screen I could’ve sworn I could see a face in the orb. For several weeks, I kept getting out my camera for another look. Still, I expected to be disappointed when I got the pictures processed. When I finally saw the print, the hair on the back of my neck raised. It was Jeannie Beck an even more impressive orb than my small screen had hinted at. looked toward the fire. I couldn’t help I remembered having taken a similarly but think of the last time they had evacu- strange photo ten years earlier with a reg- ated to my house, just a few years earlier, ular 35-millimeter camera. I took this due to another fire. That time, her father photo on a clear, sunny morning near our had been with us. Where are you now? I new home in the mountains of Julian, Cal- wondered silently toward my much-missed ifornia. I’d thought I was merely taking a friend. picture of my unborn child’s father jog- From where I was, the line of flames just ging up the road. When it was developed, looked like a glow worm on a molehill, but I remember having been mystified by the I needed something to do so I checked balls of light that appeared to be coming under my car seat to see if my camera from high in the sky towards us. My baby was there. It was a new digital camera that was born shortly after this and the jogger I hadn’t used much but I knew there was and I broke up, and we soon forgot about a night setting somewhere, so I messed mystical possibilities. The picture was around with it until I found it. I couldn’t stashed away and forgotten until now. see a thing when I looked at the view finder. Only recently have I thought back to I didn’t really know what I was doing or that lonely time in my life when the only if anything would turn out, but I took sev- neighbor I’d met was a kind, elderly eral pictures anyway, hoping they’d record woman, who I thought was quite eccen- more than I was able to see. tric. In fact, the first time we ever spoke was Scanning through my stored images the when I met her while out walking on this next day, I found my pictures of the fire to road where the photo was later taken. In be as dismal as I expected, but there was that first conversation she told me that she a picture facing away from the fire, towards often saw angels in this area. Now I won- my friend’s yard, that showed much more der if she actually had been seeing the same than the darkness I’d seen. A large, orange- kind of images my camera had recorded. 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 141

True Mystic Experiences 141

Now that I had two orb photos that I’d taken myself, I wanted to explore the mat- ter seriously. Was it a coincidence that dur- ing the time of taking each photo I’d been involved in some kind of emotional tur- bulence with spiritual overtones? Do cer- tain states of consciousness open a door to another dimension? My gut feeling about both photos was that the orbs had pre- sented themselves intentionally, but I Orb photo from Santa Ysabel, California, October 2007 needed additional information. As I began to think more deeply on the subject and Most of what I’ve heard about orbs look into the research of others, pieces seems to involve graveyards or haunted began to connect into a larger picture. houses, but I’ve occasionally heard refer- Scanning the shelves of a bookstore, I ences to inexplicable balls of light in con- managed to find a reference to orbs in a junction with crop circles and UFOs. For book by clairvoyant Melba Goodwyn, ti- some reason, I never thought to connect tled Ghost Worlds. Goodwyn claims that all the references of balls of light. Once I spirits travel from one vibrational fre- leaped into this wider range of possibility, quency to another by assuming a spheri- I began to wonder about a few stories I’d cal structure, and that their energy is emit- heard about people who’ve experienced ted as impulses of light that can be captured seeing balls of light with their naked eyes. in photographs. She believes they attract In these reports weather phenomena could attention deliberately and may even wish not account for the interactive quality of to convey messages to those who are re- the experience. ceptive. I’d had an experience, years before I’d Goodwyn identifies different types of taken my first orb photo or even heard of orbs with varying degrees of energy and orbs, that now seemed relevant. I had be- classifies them as ghost orbs, spirit orbs, come interested in the use of medicinal and oracle orbs. I was fascinated at her de- plants for healing purposes. I often took scription of oracle orbs and how they long walks around the hills where I lived, sometimes assume facial features. My in- searching for specific plants. I was raising terest deepened as I read how they often two young children alone and preparing are photographed near homes of expec- to graduate from college. At the end of a tant parents and that they may be pres- long day, often feeling overwhelmed by my ent during times of life crisis or extreme diverse pursuits and responsibilities, I chaos. would sometimes sit in a dark room alone 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 142

142 FATE /MAY-JUNE 2009

No one I confided in later had any idea what I was talking about, and the only ref- erence I could find that seemed close was in some ancient Germanic literature. Elves, it seems, were called “the shining ones,” and were sometimes perceived as entities of light. I decided to file the experience away as just some wonderful, bizarre event that I couldn’t confidently explain. It seems that the advent of the digital Orb photo from Julian, California camera has brought a larger body of wit- nesses into the viewing arena of orbs. and try to empty my mind. Hopefully, increasing sightings will stim- On one occasion, I was sitting in the ulate more serious research. Perhaps it is dark with my eyes closed when I suddenly no coincidence that orbs are becoming eas- experienced an outrageous sense of joy. I ier to photograph and apparently more was elated for no discernible reason and prevalent at this time in our history. Our burst out laughing. I opened my eyes im- consensus reality, placing humans in the mediately, embarrassed in case the kids center of the grand scheme of life, seems might wake up to wonder if I’d lost my to be bringing us to the brink of self-de- mind. struction. It may be high time for a new When I opened my eyes, I saw several paradigm of consciousness and reality, and small, bright spheres of light come float- maybe the study or orbs will help us along ing through the closed window. As I stared this new frontier.—Jeannie Beck, Borrego in amazement, they danced in what seemed Springs, Calif. ; choreographed movements in front of me. The sensation of being in love, magnified Share Your Story! to such an incredible point that it seemed nearly intolerable, washed over me in con- Have you had a strange experience that you cannot explain? We want to hear about it! tinuous waves. I cannot describe it in any Send your story to: rational way, but somehow the dancing True Mystic Experiences, lights were conveying some emotion of FATE Magazine, PO Box 460, Lakeville, MN bliss that I felt I could no longer sustain. I 55044-0460; closed my eyes for a moment. When I or send by email to [email protected] FATE pays $25and a opened them again, the balls of light had six-month subcription to FATE for stopped dancing and began to float out the each item published. window as they had come. 128 MayJunTME.qxd 5/28/09 11:47 AM Page 143

Numerology— An Invaluable Key to Your Destiny

Understand your characteristics and your abilities. Find out how life works for everyone. Not only can you learn about yourself, but you will be able to understand your family and friends for improved relation- ships and compatibility. In this clear, easy-to-understand book, you will find comprehensive information about your: • Soul Urge • Personality • Natal Imprint • Pinnacles and Challenges • The personality of your home, based on the house number • The karma that you are here to fulfill

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Monster Clings provide the way to trans- form your high-quality pictures into life-size cutouts that adhere to any smooth surface. • Easily removable • Do not damage walls • Any subject, anywhere • Cut-out figures or background included Monster Clings come in 4, 5, and 6-foot heights, and can be up to 54” wide. They can fit almost any area. 4' Monster Clings $69.99 5' Monster Clings $84.99 6' Monster Clings $95.99 Cling your own thing! 145 144 MayJunAdPages.qxd 5/28/09 12:00 PM Page 146

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You Never Have to Die! Scientific Proof That You Will Live On After Death! In this groundbreaking book, researcher George W. Meek begins by presenting the mountain of logical arguments and observed evidence of life after death, then moves on to experimental, scientific proof. The author’s wife died after a long illness, but Jeannette not only attended her own fu- neral, but contact was soon established with her in the spirit world. After communications with other departed souls, we now know what the spirit worlds are like and what goes on there. 6x9 • softcover • 320 pgs. • $16.95 See order form on page 158 144 MayJunAdPages.qxd 5/28/09 12:00 PM Page 148

The Leah Haley Story

Lost Was the Key focuses on surfacing memories of nonhuman contact, telepathic communica- tions, military harassment and problems coping, $17.

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The Articulate Dead They Brought the Spirit World Alive by Michael Tymn This book resurrects some of the most inter- esting and credible personalities and cases in the annals of psychical research from the pe- riod 1850 to 1940, the heyday of medi- umship, or spirit communication. These fascinating cases provide evidence of a spirit world and an after- life.

6 x 9 • 276 pgs. • photos • $19.95 See order form on page 158 Slate Writing Invisible Intelligence by Ron Nagy

Slate Writing or psychography was a means of spirit communication that started during the flourescence of spiritualism and continued into the middle 20th century. Why would so many intelligent people vouch for and verify the slate writing phenomena by signing their names, and sending their stories and reports to newspa- pers? Marvelous phenomena were taking place. 6 x 9 • illus. • 134 pgs. • $14.95 See order form on page 158

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Secrets of Atlantis Revealed Brad Steiger’s Atlantis Rising is among the best written volumes in the vast library of Atlantology, with its estimated 2,500 books and feature articles. The entertaining clarity of Steiger’s presentation carefully brings us along from one exciting discovery to the next. Back in the early 1970s, most of the finds he described were totally unknown to the general public. They came as something of a shock for anyone unaware of 100,000- year-old artwork in North America, an electrical device from Roman-era Baghdad, or a sophisticated, second-century computer accidentally dragged to the surface of the Aegean Sea in a fisherman’s net. With gentle persuasion, contrary to the dogmatic tone of too many unconventional ar- guments, Steiger wondered if these anomalous artifacts might have traced their origins to some super-civilization that gave birth to the subsequent, high cultures better remembered by history as Egypt, Babylon, or Greece. “Atlantis Rising is a landmark book in the study of lost civilizations and alien contact. It was the very first work to suggest that ancient peoples were visited by extraterrestrial beings in spacecraft who helped shape an antediluvian global culture. The historical impact of Atlantis Rising has been grossly underrated, and all subsequent studies in this area…are merely ‘Johnny come Latelies’ compared to Brad Steiger’s pioneering and seminal book.”—William H. Kennedy, Sphinx Radio host, author of The Da Vinci Code Cabal

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A House Filled with Stories and Secrets…

Annie Wilder and her children moved into a 100-year-old house in a historic Missis- sippi River town. Beautiful but spooky, the house had been on the market for six months with no offers. It felt like—and proved to be—a very haunted house. Essentially the story of a remarkable old Victorian house that seems to be a threshold to the spirit world and the astral realm, House of Spirits and Whispers has a backstory of the Wilder family’s relation- ship with the ghost of the home’s previous owner, an old man named Leon. Covering a decade’s worth of ghostly activity and supernatural events, from whispering radiators to visits and appearances from all manner of spirits and entities, this unusual story is the true account of Annie Wilder’s experiences living in a haunted house. 6" x 9" • softcover • 190 pgs. • $12.95 See order form on page 126. 154 Classifieds0905.qxd 6/1/09 5:38 PM Page 157

Government Documents Exposed! AF Intelligence Officer Reveals All

Authors Brad Steiger and Edgar A. Fouché have combined their expertise to blow the lid off the UFO coverup. Steiger has pursued the UFO enigma for more than 40 years. He is a world-fa- mous author with more than 15 million books in print. Fouché is a former Air Force intelligence officer with expertise in special operations and cryptol- ogy. As manager for defense contractors, he dealt directly with classified “black” programs. Because of the top-secret information in this book, parts have been fictionalized to protect the true identities of men and women involved in sen- sitive government programs, but episodes de- scribed in the book are based on actual events. 6" x 9" • softcover • 288 pgs. • $19.95 See order form on page 158. FATE’s Crystal Pendulum Electronic quartz is a high-quality, transparent, and flawless quartz crystal created by intense heat and pressure to remove all impurities. The result is a very powerful, consistently vibrating crystal that will give you phenomenal results. The FATE Bookshop crystal pendulum helps you find lost items, answer questions, make decisions, and more. The pendulum is electronic quartz crystal, with a pure silk cord attached to further amplify the electronic energy. A Pendulum Target Card is also provided. This 4" x 5-1/2" card gives you an effective focus when working with your pendulum. The suspended pendulum swings back and forth over the card, answering questions by swinging to letters of the alphabet, and thus spells out words. It will point to numbers specifying days, dates, and digital data. It also answers yes/no questions and tells you if you are making a good or baddecision. Information sheet included. $11.95 plus shipping & handling See order form on page 158. 154 Classifieds0905.qxd 6/1/09 5:38 PM Page 158

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The Amazing Godwin

t seems that my memory is not at all Walde im Sonnenschein?” reliable: I remember the second line of “Jeanie I distinctly remember hearing with the Light Brown Hair” as contain- Thomas Edison’s first grammophone ing the phrase “borne like a zephyr,”but recording of “May Had a Little Lamb,” every printed version I can find says “borne followed by “Ha ha ha!” Now all that like a vapor.” Ican be found on the Internet is his 1927 Thanks to ongoing transliteration re- Movietone News re-enactment of that form, I am kept constantly off balance by recitation, with no “Ha ha ha!”Other peo- abrupt and startling changes in spelling. ple also remember hearing the original Whatever happened to Peking, Mao Tse recording, but there seems to be no evi- Tung, etc.? Even now, there seems to be no dence that it exists. In fact, one Internet agreement between any two sources as to recording of the re-enactment bears this the correct spelling of Al Qaida. label:“The original 1877 recording was not I flatter myself that I am not a unique saved and no longer exists.” case, that everybody is subject to episodes I also remember seeing the Monty of false or clouded memory. Joshua Cham- Python crew perform the Philosophers’ berlain, the Civil War general featured in Song during the Australian university the film Gettysburg, wrote several accounts sketch when the show was originally broad- of his defense of Little Round Top—all cast on PBS. Now it seems that it first ap- of them slightly different, and likewise dif- peared on an LP and later in recordings of ferent from the account of other witnesses. their Hollywood Bowl appearance and it This phenomenon is common in war is not part of the sketch on the DVD. memoirs—in all memoirs, in fact. The When I was much younger, there was human memory is not a reliable recorder a singer named “Barbara” Streisand. It of events. There are plenty of cases of peo- seems she has ceased to exist and has been ple distinctly remembering ordinary events replaced by the somewhat more affected that, upon examination, are clearly pre- “Barbra.” But it says “Barbra” on existing posterous. copies of her first album. Eyewitness reports of crime and auto I seem to remember clearly that the first accidents are notoriously unreliable. Such line of the Napoleonic-era German song, being the case, how believable are reports “Lützow’s Wild Hunt,”is “Was glänzt dort of UFOs, Bigfoot, and the like? People hell in Glimmerschein?” As it happens, see strange things all the time, but ex- there is no such word as “Glimmerschein.” actly what do they see? They can’t really re- The correct version is “Was glänzt dort vom member, perhaps.—David F. Godwin ; ibc.qxd 5/28/09 10:50 AM Page 10

FATE Back Issue Special! – This Month Only! • While Quantities Last – Any three of these amazing issues for only $8.00! All six for $15.00! Order from FATE Bookshop plus $7 s/h PO Box 460, Lakeville, MN 55044 www.fatemag.com credit card orders call 1-800-728-2730 March 2004 • The Return of the Twenty-Year Cycle—Deadly presidential curse • Electronic Voice Phenomena—Ghostly voice caught on tape • The Voodoo Queen of San Francisco—Does she still walk?

April 2004 • The Phenomena of Psychic Art—Artistry channeled from beyond • Monster Hunting—Cryptozoology oddities in Latin America • The Most Haunted Capitol in America—North Carolina

May 2004 • Poised For Space, Part I—The Pursuit of the X Prize • DC-X—The First “Buck Rogers” Spaceship • My Encounter With the Little Man—Little People sighting in New Yor k June 2004 • The Psychic Adventures of Mark Twain—Author’s little known- interest in the paranormal • Spectral Violinists and Phantom Fiddlers—Ghostly musicians • Giant’s Tomb—Eerie Ontario island

August 2004 • Seeing Centaurs—A horse is a horse, of course…or is it? • Strange Death of James Forrestal—Was it suicide or murder? • Hairy Hominids in Latin American—Bigfoot-like creatures in Mexico and Argentina

October 2004 • The Phantom Chaise—Ghostly carriage still rides in Rhode Island • Mary Pickford—Superstitious superstar • Five Thousand Years of Halloween—History of the spooky holiday BackCover.qxd 5/28/09 10:32 AM Page 1