Sdence is tJae Pursuit 0/ tJae Unexplained'

Cougar Comeback?
See 'Stalking the Cape Cod Cougar', pages 163-167 and 'Contents' page.

Journal of SITU
The
Society for the
Investigation of
The Unexplained .

,.

Volume IS
Number 4
Whole 60

Fourth Quarter
1982

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION' OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
SITU (pronounced sit' - you) is 8 Latin word meaning "place." SITU is also an acronym referring
to THE SOCIElY FOR THE INVESnGAnON OF THE UNEXPLAINED.
SITU exists for the purpose of collecting data on unexplaineds, promoting proper investigation
of individual reports and general subjects, and reporting significant data to its members. The
Society studies unexplained events and "things" of a tangible nature that orthodox science, for '
one reason or another, does not or will not study.
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THE QUARTERLY
. JOURN.F THE

r.SYlt

ISOCIETY FORTHE
}~STIGATION OF
UNEXPLAINED

'SCIENCE IS THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'

Cougar Comeback?

Contents
Page
The Parascience Controversy
by Dave DeWitt
'Higher Dimensions and The Barrier
by Daniel Eden
The Strange Case of the Two Charlie Wetzels
.
by Loren Coleman .
Speculations on Natural Explosions at
QI~ Hannah's Cave. Staffordshire. England
by Colin Pounder
New Evidence.for Psychic Phenomena
by Michael H. Brown
B.C. Bigfoot Report
by George W. Earley
~talking the Cape Cod Cougar
by E. J. Kahn. Jr.
Further Notes on the Planetary Grid
by John T. Sinkiewicz
A Treatise on Anti-Gravity and Light
by Dr. Joseph L. Intelisano
'Soft Burning'
by Boyd Hill
Astrology and Charles Hoy Fort
by Allan Grise
The True Nature of New Milford's Talking Stove
by Dale Hartford
SITUations
A Fish Story with a Curious Ring
by Charles Osgood
Books
Letters
. The Notes of Charles Fort
Deciphered by Carl J. Pabst
Another Death by Lightning
by Sabina W. Sanderson
Memos & Miscellany
Cover drawing by Ray W. Boeche

146
149
155

157
161
162
163
168
170
171
172
174
180
181
182
185
188
191

192

Whether the cougar. mountain lion, puma or

catamount exists in this country outside its one
remaining known habitat in the Florida Everglades
is now a mystery that could deepen int.o a phenomenon most any time ..
. The mystery will somewhat unravel when better
evidence emanates from one or more areas already
identified with dubious sightings of large cat-like
creatures-often concurrent with reports of strange
cries. weird wails. and screams in the woods at
night. The "better evidence" would be tracks resembling the known pawprints and stride of Felis
conc%r; best evidence would be the capture of a
live specimen (unharmed. please) or a reasonably
sharp photograph. documented as to location.
date and time taken.
If and when we pinpoint the whereabouts of a
wild cougar where one shouldn't be, the mystery
will devolve into a phenomenon and we will be
asking Why is it there? and Where did it come
from? But first. we need an answer to the mystery
question: Where is it?
E. J. Kahns entertaining assemblage of individual reports from witnesses on Cape Cod (pages
163-167) is a sequel to the roundup report on suspected cougar "resurgence" in Virginia and North
Carolina. written by John Witt for UPI and forwarded as a SITUations newsclip by member Paul
Thompson; it was published in Pursuit No. 58
(Second Quarter 1982). page 74.
At year's end we received an item clipped by
member William Kingsley from the Detroit News
,.:uch reported the November sighting of a "cougar
or mountain lion" by a deer hunter on Drummond
Island off Michigan's Upper Peninsula. "Other
large cats (cougars?) have been seen crossing the
,highways of the U.P .... Mr. Kingsley noted. Thus
we are in Pursuit (pun intended) of one of the
more intriguing enigmas of our times.
You can assist in this investigation by taking
notice of any printed or aired reports. from anywhere in the U.S . ~f cougars. mountain lions.
pumas or catamounts that may be regenerating.
migrating. or just on the loose. Then. tell us. please.
- The editors

Pursuit Vol. 15, No.4, Whole No. 60, Fourth Quarter 1982. Copyright 1982 by The Society for the Investigation of The Unexplained. ISSN 0033-4685.
No part of this periodical may be reproduced without the written consent of the Society. Robert C. Warth, Publisher; Frederick S. Wilson, Production
Editor; Sabina W. Sanderson and Martin Wiegler, Consulting Editors; Charles Berlitz, Research Editor and Oceanographic Consultant.

Opinion

The ParascieDce: Co..trov~rsy

,

/'

' tech'Dl'cal'
E very day lQ
" journals, lecture halls and convention centers,
the forces of sCience mobilize against insurgents
who dare to theorize about things unexplained. This
,is a war in which seemingly innocu~us words'such
as "psychic," "paranormal," "Genesis" and "UFO"
are weapons in an arena of mindset where men and
women 'of intelligence and education regard 'each
other as heretics and traitors. Science vs.' par~science is a particularly belligerent philosophical
'engagement, one which begins and ends, as always,
with words an" concepts which have different connotations for each side. Often it seems that 'parascience is winning, and such an outcome might ,not
be as evil as the' militant skeptics would have: us
believe. The battle lines are drawn; the ,choosing of
'sides depends on whether or' not one believes that
parascience is dangerous to the health of science
and society. '
"
. )' use the word "parascience" with reluctance. It
is not applied in a pejorative sense, yet it seems to
be the only term which universally applies to those
disciplines which true scientists believ~ are undermining their fields of study. Besides, it is clumsy to
enclose all words of dubious definition in quotation
marks. Parascience is said to encompass all ,those
fringe fields which true science rejects: ~trology,
parapsychology, cryptozoology (the study of aooinalous animals), ufology, creation science and many,
many more. But before .we can accurately define
,parascience, we must examine science itself., '
True science concerns knowing rather than be/ieving, and,most definitions of science today, begin
with the words "systematized knowledge." The
scientific,method endeavors to organize all 'knowledge related to the operation of the universe, based
upon theories which are continually tested for their,
validity. Theorizing thus is not alien to 'science; it is
a necessary ,part of the scientific method. Under this
broad definition of systematized'-knowledge, it'!is
easy to see how disciplines like social science ;and
library science came to be. Howeyer, the scientific
community seems to be narrowing the definition of
science these days in an attempl,to eliminate all v~stiges of parascience. For example, James Oberg,' an
engineer with NASA and a longtime critic of para, science, declares that (or ,a science to be truep:it
must develop theories which cannot,be proven:~tfJlbe

..

~----_~,;,:,? r"'"""'-

Dave DeWitt lives in New Mexico. His pre\tfGUS

article in Pursuit dealt 'with the cattle-mutitlWi0n
phenomenon (Vol. 13, No. 4, Wh~le 52, Fall 1'980).

hr" 146

.'

"

~Y,~~ve DeWitt

E CONFLICT CONTINUES:

____________

,,' .

'

'1,
untrue,

' IS
' done~
' An
no matter how, 'much testmg
~ample would be Einstein's lheory of rela~ivity,
'.which, has never, bem disproven and thus is consiber~ scientific fact. ,Such theories are, termed
"bisprovable," and Oberg's point is that since'the
".rasciences hav~ produced no disprovable t",eories,
t~ey are invalid as scientific endeavors.
But,.if true sciences deal. only with disprovable
ttieories, what of psyc!:tology and other related
fi~lds, 'which. are studies of human behavior? Are
iliere any disprovable theories in those disciplines?
Are they less than pure sciences? By logical extension, Oberg's thesis w0uld obviate the human factor
in, scientific endeavor,' leaving physics and mathematics as examples of pure or true sciences, despite
the necessity for much, theorizing in those disciplines; too., If the real world existed as' the hardcore skeptics claim;, it would be' a very strange place
indeed-all ultralogical, and no room left for speculation.
,Now call me an illogical romantic, but the con-'
cept of theorizing (perh~ps even prophei$izing) is
a, healthy one. Because science 'engages to prove,
theories, sOl!leone must'. first theorize. So for the
,moment, let's assume that scientific methods can be
applied to fields 'of study which are not necessarily
the purest of the sciences; by such applications we
can learn more about parascience.
' Scientists 'are nervous. about parascience because
they are such sticklers for accurate data-and rightfully 'so. They accuse the parascientists of utilizing
unscientific and inaccurate teChniques for acquiring
and applying data: Many researchers of the paranormal do not think of their studies as pure science
per, se. Rath~r, they are investigating anomalous
occurrences which may agglomerate both causes
' and effects from one or many disciplines, may not
',be observable often' enough to form.a useful",data
base, may be difficult or impossible to repeat experimentally, whether by duplication, simulation or
computer-modeU~g. If the borderland of science
,seems occasionally to be on the verge of shutdown
because of fog,' conditions are scarcely improved
when charges of data-manipulation explode on
either side.'
,I,n the last two ,years,' the scientific community
-has been shaken by,at least five cases of data-faking.
. Most of these occurred i!l medical 'research, an, admittedly high-pressure field where a researcher must
discover something dramatic in order to attain great
success. But' pressure ,is no excuse for plagiatism,
.fabricated data, faked experiments, or the flaunting

of bogus degrees. Much has been made of hOaxes

Loch Ness Monster, provided such explorations
and forgeries in parascience, particularly in psychic
apply scientific techniques?
studies and ufology. The point to remember is that'~: '.' . ';;Perhaps the most famous example of a scientist
there have been scandals in both science and paraup to his neck in parascience is Dr. J. Allen Hynek,
science.
. . " ,. .. professor of astronomy af Northwestern University
and scientific director of the Center for UFO Studies.
Scientists also resent amateurs who have certain:"
talents-or have access to specialized equ"ipmentThe originators of the term "close encounters"
which can mislead the public into accepting them as
believes that science has been blinded by igqorance'
true scientists. This problem, also, is one of de.finiwhen confronted with paranormal occurrences.
~'Since 1947 many peoples of the world have betion. Is a, person required to have a Ph.D. or a
medical degree to be classified as a scientist? Or can
come increasingly aware of that bizarre phenomenon
we call UFOS," he says. "But it has been too strange,
anyone with specialized knowledge about a partoo unacceptable. and too uncomfortable for the
ticular scientific field,' regardless of educational
background. call himself or herself a scientist?
'.,scientific world. which should have expressed at
What kind of research must a person undertake
least some .scientific curiosity ~bout a subject that
concerned so large a number of people."
to be a scientist? Must it always be laboratory or
field research sanCtioned by a university? For 'ex. ,,' 'Scientists like Dr. Hynek are not necessarily
, attempting to prove that UFOS or other such things
ample, this author is an: amateur horticulturist.
Suppose, in my studies of cacti and succulents . that
:are extraterrestrial or paranormal. Rather. they are
I discover a new species, or uncover some exotic
.investigating reports of such occurrences in order to
and previously unknown' fact about the plants I
.determine whether the p~enomena are real in a
,physical sense or a product of man's unconscious
breed. Can I then call mysc;lf a scientist. despite the
fact that my advanced degree is in literature, not
. mind. as Carl Jung suggested. OccasioQally such
investigations payoff. In 1976. 'a research group
botany? Or am I a scientist now because I am trying
to discover if Lophophora williamsii is extinct north
. called Vestigia conducted extensive tests of "spook
of the Rio Grande?
lights." those ghostly fugitive lights which have
.often been seen near railroad tracks and were forA person who writes. verse is often dubbed a
. mer~y attributed to UFOS or spirits of the dead.
poet regardless of the degree of talent possessed by
that individual. No committee of literary experts is
Their findings indicated that the lights are probably
related to piez<;>electricity, a phenomenon wherein
convened to determine if a person is talented enough
to be. awarded such a title. But what about Ray
pressure exerted on quartz-bearing rock along geologic faults causes a build-up of electrical fields; this
Stanford who operates a UFO "tracking station"
.. electrical potential results in discharges of energy
near Austin, Texas; can he call himself a scientist
because he uses sophisticated electronic equipment
capable of ionizing the air above into visible luminosities: Regardless of whether or not this theory
and the scientific method in his research? Of course
. he can. but I doubt seriously that the Committee
is accurate. it demonstrates a scientific approach to
for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the
a 'phenomenon previously thought to be paranormal.
Likewise, UFO critic (and investigator) Philip
Paranormal' would concur that he is a scientist.
The semantic questions become even more comKlass attributes most UFO sightings to another eleeplex when actual scientists begin to delve into para.trical phenomenon known as ball lightning, the
.science. Dr. Roy Mackal, for example. a research
..existenc~. of which is still debated by scientists.
\ zoologist at the University' of Chicago, recently
. Klass's theory. is bitterly opposed by most ufologists,
'who delight .in pointing out the irony that Klass is
spent months' in the Zaire jungle looking for a dinosaur which he believes escaped extinction. Because
senior editor of A viation Week, the publication
of his research into the parascience of cryptozoology,
.which blundered in reporting and editorializing in
Mackal has suffered ridicule. But is he less of a
,1958 about the test flights of a Russian nuclearscientist? Many say no, he is merely following, the
~ipowered bomber, a plane which .simply did not
i).exist. While parascientists are relieved that theories
basic traditions of scien~e-using imagination,' curiosity and hard work to unravel a mystery; others
:like ball . lightning cannot refute the existence of
call him a fool for wasting his time and education
':UFOS, they know that the scientists' failure to dison such an outlandish project.
.
.
.. prove the existence of UFOs is no evidence. either,
Yet zoological surprises are common.. Consider
of extraterrestrial visitation.
. .11 The scientists who debunk the most make the
the coelacanth. the primitive fish discovered in 1935.
.lIIlistakeof grouping all anomalous events and their
originally thought to be extinct millions of years
ago. And just las~ year a healthy flock of yellow~dn.vatigators into the single category they call "pseufronted bowerbirds, believed to have vanished into
_doscience." Obviously there is quite a difference
extinction in 1895. was:found in New Guinea~ 'What
zrbJit'tYecrn a person uiilizing scientific techniques and.
harm can be done to science by' searching for theoncmmtiods, say. to search for the Loch Ness Monster
(aRd the person who claims that alien invaders from
retical life-forms like dinosaurs, Bigfoot or: the
L

'outh Quarter 1982

Pu,...1,147

'In the best tradition of early scientific' .endeavor., parascientists are r:tot only
utilizing scientific te~hniques, they.,juec,uncovering new disciplines to explore.'

:.,;

Rigel 3 are among us today. Ironically, politicians.

do to sc~entists what the scientists are doing to ~ the
parascientists. An example is the NASA radio-telescope project called Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence (SETI) which politicians have ridiculed;
,Senator William Proxmire "successfully" eliminated funding for the project, and that raiseS'" the' ,
specter of .politicians consigning all scientific 'projects t<;l a single category with little or no real ,study
of their comparative worth.
.
.
I think scientists protest too much and too loudly
about parascience, and that" investigations into unexplored fields are both proper and. valid. Overreaction to parascience probably results mostly from
a feeling by scientists that they are threatened by.~ .
amateurs experimenting in areas in which they are <.C
unqualified. James Oberg has noted that ufology'
"might be considered as' a protest movement against
. the impersonality and specialization of modern
, . science, which has all but eliminated the role of the
'citizen-scientist,' the amateur. investigator who in
the past contributed substantially to the development of science through part-time dabbling." .According to this judgment', the parascientists are
frustrated that they cannot be "real" scientis~s, so
they invent outrageous theories in order to subvert
true science. Such paranoid fears are highly. exaggerated, and the notion that parascience will somehow contaminate true science seems quaint.
Not content to' let the test of time prevail over
claims of the paranormal, the militant skeptics continually attack. Some of their protests are valid, of
course, but the nitpickers get caught up in endless
semantic debate. For example, Arthur Reber,. a
professor of psychology at Brooklyn College, writes
in the winter 1982-83 issue of The Skepti~al Inquirer
about inaccurate terminology in parapsychology.
He criticizes the field for ,the use' of such term!! as .
"elusive" and "shy" to 'desctibe PSI phenomena.
"What would the study of magnetism be like," he
asks, "if magnets'displayed 'shyness' and revealed
their properties on a random or nondiscernible
basis?" Here Reber makes the classic assumption'
that science is always precise' and parascience imprecise. I wonder how he would characteriz~. those
nuclear physicists whose study of particle-theory
often seems more akin to magic, than science.
Nobel Prize-winner Burton Richter of Stanford
. Univer:sity has characterized certain sub-ato.mic
particles called quarks as having a property known
I
as "charm." Another Nobel 'Iaureate, C~ltJttlt's
Murray Gell-Ma~n, 'proposed three typeS of,quar:ks
with attributes he called "flavors." HOW'S.d:b.!itb:for
precision in science? .
.'/1I0ri2

", '.:'

I:--~

The truth about' sCience and parascience is that

there are unexplainable phenomena in both. Sometimes these phenomena are 'uiuaveled, but often
they defy,analysis, and theories about the' phenom. ena, however logical or wild, remain unproven.
Even Arthur Reber, in his Skeptical Inquirer article,
acknowledges that the principles of biofeedback
and acupuncture have only recently come to be
understood after being debunked by science. Admittedly, many theories proposed 'by parascience investigators seem to yiolate scientific principles and
. -thus are open to criticism from the scientific establishment. Eiat-earth. theories and "holes-in-thepoles" come to mind immediately. But many suppositions by' parascience investigators only appear
to contradict established canoJiS of science 'beca,use
nQ more logical :explanati.on has yet been advanced.
. Mo~t investigators' of parascieiitific matters understand that they must apply: scientific theory and
display acceptable proofs in order to win credibility
within the sCfen~it'j!; Establishment. Despite all the
fun of the 'chase 'and all the speculations about
plesiosaurs, cryptozoologists are aware that without
a necrotic.Nessie or a live sPecimen Of the monster,
the burden of proof still rests with parascience. And
par~science investigators know that they too must
be skeptical;.it is risky in any fieldto stick out one's
neck and embrace even good theories without at
least some evidence. Ironically, it has been mostly
skeptical parascientist~, not "real" scientists, who
have expOsed frauds in' ufology and parapsychology.
There is a thin line between skepticism and fanaticism which is akin to the difference between ag-.
nosticism and atheism. A healthy skepticism helps
prevent outright fraud and deception. But the militant skeptic is like the atheist who denies the verity
of all gods and thereby creates an intolerant, absolute
and non-god religion which precludes all other be.liefs. Has organized science reached such an exalted . ~
state in our society that its pro'selytizers can afford
to scoff at new i~eas and denigrate those who d9
not conform?
Science today is highly specialized and there are
now thousands of experts in fields where only.. a
century ago there were mere dozens. Such statistics
emphasize the difficulty amateur investigators 'enC()unter in attempting to explore the fringes of science.
They are outnumbered, under.-financed and often
ridiculed, but they survive despite the war with the
scientists and the odds stacked. against them .. In the
best tradition' of early scientific endeavor, ~ra
scientists are not only utilizing scientific techniques~
they are uncovering new disciplines to exl?lore.
'.

, ' .' Folll'th Quarter 1982

Higher DiDlension. and

The Barrier
by Daniel Eden

illustrations by
the author

Part

The l:ivperplane
OUR PHY~ICAL'WORLD

height, length and breadth

I s merely a slice through a ofgreater
world? Are we locked
within a subset of a higher space? Strangely enough,
there exists a subtle, but potentially revolutionary, chain
of evidence that links our world to a greater one. This
evidence comes from different fields of human endeavor,
including physics, psychology, parapsychology, and For-'
tean observations. The collective evidence seems to
suggest that our w:orld is locked within a hyperplane
which penetrates a space of four '(or more) dimensions.
The term "hyperplane" may. be unfamiliar to the
reader, but it is simply a mathematical term that denotes
a certain space that is a subset of a greater space. To be a
little more precise, I will be using the following definition
for the term "hyperplane." This d~finition was adapted
from a comment made in the text by A. R. Forsyth: I t
Given a space Rn of n dimensions, and n > 0, then
a hyperplane called Sn-I exists as a subset of ~n"
The hyperplane is a space of one-fewer dimensions
than is Rn.
For example, our normal world of height, length and
breadth is a space o~ three dimensions, .R3~ thus, a
-Many scientists use time as the fourth dimension. However, it will
simplify my arguments if I only consider space-like dimensions and not
.time-Iike ones. The normal space dimensions ar.e (x,y,z) or forward/backward, right/left and up/down.
tMathematicians have several different definitions for the'term "hyperplane." My definition should not be assumed as universal. I use it
primarily because of its simplicity. More formal definitions are available.

Foarth Quarter 1982

J ;g. 1 This Is the

world of Flatland.
The arrows Indicate
the direction of the
Barrier Force as
seen from above.
Similar forces (not
shown) push up
against Flatland
from underneath.
The little Flatland
creature has no
reason to suspect
the existence of the
or
the
force,
Higher Dimension.

hyperplane of our world is just an ordinary geometric

plane called S2. A portion of an S2 hyperplane is
represented by the surface of a table-top, one side of a
sheet of paper, or any other flat surface.
One Sz hyperplane in fictional literature has become
famous: the imaginary world of Flatland. A world of two
dimensions called Flatland was the focal point of an 1884
. fantasy novel by Edwin Abbott.2 In his book, Abbott ex-'
plored the social and political. consequences' of a sudden
meeting between Flatlanders and a higher dimensional
creature. Abbott"s book, is still in print, and it has
become a classic in the teaching of the concepts of higher
dimensions. Since Flatland presents a very useful visual
model for thinking in terms of dimensions, I will refer to
it freely throughout the rest of this article.
If we step up one dimension from our own world, we
can: argue that there is a higher space called ~. Now our
n'three-dimensional world will act as an S3 hyperplane of
'this'higher space. The geometry of such higher: spaces has
been worked out in detail by mathematicians. (See text');looks by H. P. Manning,3 A. R. Forsyth,1 M. O. Kendall' and a paper by M. Sznyter. 5) With such precise
. mathematical tools available, a higher space conception
"
. ofJour world may prove very useful.
.. ,,'cClHowever, befor~. we can iargue that mankind rushes
.:''!b"'dut in.a limited subset of,a higher space, we must face
~;"a-host of serious questions. For instance: Why aren't we
lOCdtiS~antly drifting in and out of this higher space? Why
should the common energies and matter of our world
seem to be constrained to function within only a hyperpla~e o~ ~,I)ighe~: sf~,c.e?. ,_
_

Pur lt 149

The answer to these. questions is that there is a

physical force that acts upon our world to lock us into
three dimensions. I emphasize the world "physical'" .
be~use this force is as physically tangible as gravitational
force, although it may seem as eternally elusive as the
gluonic force which is said to bind quarks within the
proton. Our barrier force ac~s perpendicularly to' the
sides of our hyperplane (i.e., it is mathematically.orthogonal to S3), and it acts as a real physical barrier' to
\
preveiu us from venturin~ beyond the hyperplane.' . .' '.' ~:,.-."
At least one other person has sensed the underlying
necessity to argue for the possible existence of such a
force. A. R. G. Owen saw the problem thus:
It remains, therefore, a purely 'open question
whether or not there is' an actual space of higher
dimension not usually accessible to matter .or
energy, but which physical objects could in principle get into. If so, .there is presumably some force
which holds 'the physical continuum together and
stops things from leaking away'into other compart. '
ments of higher space.6 '.

overlapping phenomena of clairvoyance, out-of-the-body

experiences (OBES), and remote viewing.
3.. Some observed phenomena on the atomic and
subatomic levels of matter can be interpreted with a view
to higher spaces. The fundamental indeterminable properties of quantum mechanics might be the result of our
narrow 3-d. view of higher space activities.
.
4. Fortean and' poltergeist phenomena, such as the.
a.nomalous fall of stones, seeds and liquids from "ap.. pearing points" within closed rooms, may be prima facie
evidence for a higher space.
.
.
S. The alleged teleportation of humans, animals' and
other objects from one location to another'also implies a
higher dimension.
Normal Brain Processes

.. The problem of localizing. the "seat of consciousness"

within .the actual brain tissues has been challenging
neurologists for years. Using various electrical and
chemical methods, a neurQlogist can stimulate different
brain tissues to evoke a variety of responses. Sometimes a
motor response is evident in the raising of an a:rm; at
Now it is very 4ifficul.t to visualize just how such a'
other times, a memory' is recalled. At certain. points
force. presses in on our S3 hyperplane. Fortunately, we
within the human brain are seated such emotional
cah)fall back on ihe Flatland analogy to give us a rough
responses as anger, pleasure, aroused s~xuality and pain.7
visual" idea of the' nature of this 'force~ A barrier' force' : ,." ", However, at no point can it be said that the. actual
acting on Flatland would press up on it from underneath
"seat of conscfousness" has been uncovered. In fact, the
subject is often aware that the evoked response wa~ not
'and push down on it from above. The force always ac'ts to
hold the Flatlander locked within his 2":d world.
under his own volition. For instance, the researcher may
stimulate a portion of the brain that causes an arm to
Actually, there is no net force acting on the creature;
raise! up. He will then ask the subject, "What did you
feel just now?" The subject will reply, "I felt my arm
. he is in a state of equilibrium. The forces from above and
below cancel each other, as long as the Flatlander stays
raising up. . . . You caused my arm to raise itself up!"
within the plane. It would take a force exerted into the
Notice that the subject did not say that he had personally
third dimension to disturb a 'Flatlander from'" his , . "willed" the response to occur; he is aware of the arequilibrjum within the hyperplane.
tificial, or at least, unwilled nature of the response.
Presumably, a Flatlander has no way to exert a force
Therefore, his "seat of consciousness'" escapes local-'
izatiQn at a particular point in the brain.
in the third dimension. His body is simply not constructed to allow for this option. However, he may still be'subAs Sir Arthur Koestler, might put it, the human
ject to forces that originate "outside" his hyperplane.,' :
machine can be probed and understpod, but the,ghost in'
Does the Flatlander "see" into the third dimension?
the machine is not yet affixed. This is the fundamental
The answer is no. The creature's flat-eye sensors can only
problem: 'the human mechanism can be shown to consist
receive light-signals that move within the plane. Even if
of programmed emotions, motor responses and
his "mind" can conceive of 3-d objects, or even normal
memories; and yet, is there something more?' Is there a
2-d objects that float beyond his world, he can 'Qnly 'obsubtl~ essence that plays the keyboard of the brain's
serve objects via data that travels within his world. Of
comp,uter? Does an element of "mind" that has not yet
course, this assumes that he cannot go "out of the body"
been 'ocalized in cellular tissues run the complex human
.,
for other data. .
,
machine?
Wh,at evidence suggests that our world is a subset of a...
. T~king a somewhat maverick position for a brain
scientist, the eminent Sir John Eccles& suggests that conhigher space? In the interest of orderly discussion, let, u:~:
try to categorize some of the phenomena most familiar to
scio}l~ne.ss will never be localized within brain tissues. He
views, the' brain as a sort of basic focal point utilized by'
SITUans and examine each category to see what evid~nce
the ~ind to scan the p~ysical environment (and the enmay be adduced from the contents. Keep in mind that
Fome of these phenomena may be less credible, and less
vironment within the bodY)r for data. He says that the
mind! hovers "over and above the brain," const~ntly
~ell .attested, than Qthers; and all have long been stee~f;l
10 controversy.
scanning for the data to form mental imagery and to
make: appropriate bodily responses. It is :tempting i.tO
.j ' "
speculate that his term above" may' actually, mean
Five Categories
.;,):)1
"from outside of the hyperplane." ,
1. Some aspect of the brain's normal thittklng
processes may operate beyond three dimensions. ',r/w
hi a, less dramatic vein, some persons' have suggested
that certain visual illusions may be associated with
2. Certain portions of our mind itself seem to be able
"thinking in higher space." For example, dra~ a Necker
to n:taneuver b~yond' three dimensions: 'Here I include 'the
i.

Pu,...11150

'.

'rr

Fig. 2 This Is the Necker

Cube. Stare at this ftgure for
a moment and you willsn It
suddenly change Its orientation In space. With practice
you can make the change
occur continuously.

Cube (abov~) on a sheet of paper. Study the cube for a

moment and you will notice it has changed its orientation
.in space. This in itself may not seem overly remarkable.
However, with a little practice you will be able to make
the orientation-change occur repeatedly; you perceive the
cube as if it were in some kind of .continuous rotation. It
has been argued that the continuous motion results from
the rotation ~f the figure by your mind, in four dimensions.9
Many philosophers, mystics and mathematicians have
argued that thought ultimately takes place in a higher
space. Even one of Abbott's Fladanders came to the con-r
clusion that the final step in thinking is taken in a higher
world called Thoughtland. Is our human Thoughtland
based in R4 space?
Some mathematicians seem to have a peCuliar ability
to visualize 4-d objects directly within their minds.lo. \I It
allows them to predict aspects of 4-d figures that they.
have not yet proved with their mathematics. Once having
visualized the object, they can more easily find the.
analytical means to express their situation graphically. .'
One mathematician who may have had this ability to
an unusual degree was Charles Hinton. J2 U He was convinced that the direct visualization of 4-d objects could be
learned through training. Unfortunately, his trai.ning
techniques seemed to require more power-of concen- .
tration than most of his trainees could muster.

F..... Qaut... 19.2

Whether or not such 4-d visualization may be acquired

through training is certainly debatable, but the next
category of data may provide impetus for some new attempts. to validate the training.
.
Clairvoyance, 08Es, and Remote Viewing
A.~. important prediction of the hyperplane model is
that an observer with 'a view from "above" the hyperplane can actually peek into the interior of objects within
the hyperplane. For example, an R3 human can see
'~i~~in a sealed room in Flatland. A sealed room to a
Flatlander is any closed curve or closed geometric figure
thatJies within the plane; such a room is entirely "open"
from the third dimension. The Fladander would think
that the human has some kind of mysterious x-ray vision
into all 2-d objects.
One of Abbott's Fladanders described this situation in
eloquent fashion:

When, for example, the question arose about the

treatment of those lunatics who said that they had
.' received the power of seeing the insides of things,
gnbl"w'ould quote the saying of an ancient circle,
who declared that prophets and inspired people are
.,; -always considered by the majority to be mad; and
;;. I . co~ld: not help- occasionally drop,ping such ex-

Pur.,,11 151

pressions as "the eye that discerns the ihteriors of

things," and "the all-seeing' land"; once or twice
I eyen let fall the forbid.den terms "the Third and
Fourth Dimensions."2
In fact, this "eye that discerns the interiors. of things"
is one of the radical features of clairvoyance, ODE ~mf,l
remote viewing. Some portion of the mind seems to seqse
data as if it suddenly had a view from "above" our nor-mal world. Here the term "above" is shorthand for
"from outside the hyperplane.,"
Consider clairvoyance. This is actually a very old term
which means that a person may sometimes have an extrasensory awareness of objects or objective events.
Unlike ODEs or remote viewing, clairvoyance is not
usually associated with the sensation' that consciousness
has actually moved out of the physical body. In' a clairvoyant state, a person may be able to sense the nature of
!!lome object hidden within a sealed metal container or
behind a locked door. He may also be able to describe
events that are occurring far away, such as the burning of
a house in the next town, or the weather con~itions in a
distant region. Typical incidents of clairvoyance are
recount!!d in a paper by Rex Stanford.l~
'. i ,
Out-of-the-body experiences (ODES) involve the sensation of actually leaving the physical body behind. In
the OBE state, a person suddenly feels that he is no longer

,,

.-.,

,....

within his body. He may be floating above it, or traveling

arouhd in some location far from his body . .In some cases
the subject may feel that he is moving through another
world, or even a series of worlds .. These worlds may be
identical to our own, slightly 'different, or radically d.ifferent. Good material dealing with ODES can be found in
Crookall,IS Rogo,16 Swann,I' and Monroe,18 as well as in
papers printed in The Journal of the American Society
for Psychical Research and Parapsychology Review.
A very intriguing point, in some cases of ODE, is that
the subject may see a mirror-image of o~r world. He may
see the letters in a sign rever-sed, or some other indication that his ~ense of right- and left-handedness is soinehow backwards. This is important. A mirror-reversed
world is exactly what you would expect if a person could
alternately move along the positive and' negative axis of a'
dimension that surrounds our fixed hyperplane. Along
one direction of the 4-d axis, .the image of our world,
seen as the subject looks back toward the hyperplane,
would appear relatively normal. However, if the observer
then moves in the opposite direction, to the other side of
the hyperplane, the image is reversed.
The same thing happens when y'ou draw a picture on
window pane. If you walk around to the other side of the
window to view it, the image is reversed. Just as' the 2-d
image remains glued to the glass even though you are free
to move around it in three dimensions, so the normal

,f

,
~

,.'

Fig. 3 This Is a series o( F1adand hvperplane worl~. The.~r~.resentll a Flatlander who Is having an out-of-body experience.

Pura.'t 152

Foarth Qa.rter 1982

world is glued into a hyperplane and the mind can move

around it in a higher space.
.
However, this argument plays down the fact that the
OBE subject may be highly confused by data-signals that
come from the interior of objects, as well as their ex- .
teriors. We must not forget that extra factor of "x-ray
vision" that is implicit in a view from above the hyperplane. For example, a mirror-reversed view of an alarm
, clock might be confusing to an observer, especially if he
is observing the internal components of the clock at the
same time!

A third phenomenon of "mind" 'that suggests hyperplane vision is called remote viewing. The concept of
remot~ viewing (RV) has grown out of the work by
physicists Targ and Puthoff.19 In RV experiments, a subject is asked to mentally visualiie some unkown target
lo~ation. (The targe~ location is some distinctive, randomly ~hosen place, like a concrete plaza, or a children's
playground.) The subject verbally describes his impressions to an experimenter who records them. A second
experimenter actually travels to the target location and
recor4s his own impressions of the target area. After-

PlIKG!

.'1

Fig. 4 In this cartoon sequence. a higher space rock strll4e.. ~ fladander. However. the force Is not enough
to push him entirely through the barrier. Under 8Om@ 1!$I!Qmptions. this means that he Is going to burn up!

Fourth Quarter 1982

Purs."153

wards, independent judges are asked to compare such

(electron) tunneling: the former is.considered deterrecordings to determine if the subject achieved a hit or a
ministic while the other is not. Light-waves are described
miss. Targ and Puthoff have had some striking successes. by the deterministic field equations of Maxwell, whereas
with their methods and the work has been independently ... matter-waves .are describe~ by the nondeterministic
replicated by others.20
Schrodinger equation.
In general, it may seem that the terms clairvoyance,
By saying that matter-waves are nondeterministic, we
OBE and remote viewing are practically interchangeable; .:.,. imply that the actual waves involved do not have a direct
However, some important research by Osis and McCor-.
cause-and-effect relation with the actions of the particles.
mick21 suggests that we should be very careful to
Instead, for electrons we-must utilize Ii whoily statistical
distinguish between possible modes of paranormal perapproach that assigns a probability to some mathematical
ception. They have devised laboratory_ techniques that
.manipulation of the wave. For example, a probability
can distinguish between,. say, an actual out-of-the-body .. value is sometimes assigned to the wave only after it has
perception and a clairvoyant-scanning mode of perce~ .' been mathematically squared. This boils down to s~ying
tion;
that the matter-wave is only a statistical device used to
This work goes a long way toward suggesting that. the
mak~ probability guesses as to the behavior of the par"thing" that can leave the body to gather information
. ticle.
.
.
has a physically detectable structure. In some cases, the
Why can'fwe use the matter-wave in the same deter:actual presence of this mysterious "thing" can be
.ministic (cause-and-effect) way that an optical engineer
monitored with the proper kinds of instrumentation. The
would use an electromagnetic wave? The basic problem. is
idea that this mysterious element of mind may have fnthat certain measurable components of matter (mainly
strumentiilly measur!lble p~rameters is indeed fascina~iilg. .
location, speed, momentum' and kinetic energy) can only
be measured to a limited degree. Beyond a theoretiCal
level of precision, the measurements are not accurate.
Atomic and Subatomic Pheno~ena
This error of .measurement w,as first theoreticaUy. explained by Werner Heisenberg; it is caUed the Heisenberg'
As the scale of matter becomes ever more finely
Uncertainty Principle. In its current version~ it stipu.Iate&
divided, the intrinsic mysteries of nature seem only to exthat some error will always be present, no matter what
pand. F:or instance, as an article in Pursuit 1#51 pointed
equipment we use to do the measuring.
.
.
out, the electrons that flit around in the atom can
The Uncertainty Principle represents a sort of no-
sometimes penetrate into regions that, energy-wise,
man's-land iii. moder:n physics." Most physicists refuse to
should. have been forbidden to them. This effect, called
speculate on what may be happening in those uncertain,
tunnelingj'"-is also the mechanism behind certain kinds 'of
error-prone regions of measurement that seem just
radioactive decay.
beyond accurate obse(vation. A few others have indulged
If tunneling .occurred on the macroscopic level, it
in speculation that fundamental errors of measurement
would be the equivalent of a human walking through a
are caused by "multiple worlds," ot maybe "breakdowns
wall without leaving any hole in the wall. This is a real
in causality," or perhaps "temporary halting of 'physical
mystery on the atomic level.
laws," or whatever guess suits the prevailing fashion.
Fortunately, via the Schrodinger equation, t the tunnel
Man's theoretical creativity in the face of a "lack of obeffect can be predicted on the basis of the "wave" nature
servation" is always enormous even though it is not
of matter. The modern interpretation of this equation
always accurate.
allows particles of matter to behave like waves. However,
For the purposes of my thesis, I will only consider a
at present this notion only refers to "waves" in a statis-
.
tically predictive s e n s e .
single old-fashioned interpretation for these. famous
"errors of measurement. The old idea w;;ls that waves
.. The wave-like nature of matter is identical in many
ways to the wave-like' nature of light. Light can also t>e
of matter might really be deterministic (direct cause-andeffect) waves that were simply not bound to three spacial
thought of in terms of discrete particles (i.e., photons)
.dimensions. Following this line of reasoning, Albert Einthat have an associated wave nature. (The waves of
stein and others23 tried to develop some five-dimensional
photons are. simply waves of electromagnetism.)" The'
models of space (time was the fourth dimension), hoping
similarity of light-waves and matter-waves even extends
.to derive a completely deterministic field 'theory for electo the tunnel effect.
tron waves. Under such a scheme, normal measuring
Under certain conditions a beam of light can penetrate
devices (based in three dimensions). can only measure a .
a barrier that would normally' block transmissibn. 22
cross-section of what actuaIly takes place on the atomic
Although the photons cannot normally penetrate the
and subatomic levels. Uncertainty is inevitable because
barrier, a small amount of their associated elecour measuring 'instruments simply cannot "see" the
tromagnetic fields can penetrate, and the fields allow a
whole phenomenon as it occurs; machines caD. measure
certain amount of photons to actually transmit through
the three-dimensional components of speed, location,
the forbidden region.
,.11
-momentum, etc., but they cannot measure the same
. However, there is an important difference bet)Veen
components perforining in the fourth spacial dimensi~n! .
electromagnetic (photon) tunneling and matter~wav.e
--'
.
~ .... ..!d,.ai
.. . Einstein and his colleagues should not be faulted for
by Morl\an D. Eads, Summer 1980 issue of Pursuit, p. 104.
01
failing to complete their theoretical studies in this direction. They had no compelling evidence, beyond the UntGerman Quantum theorist Erwin Schrodinger shared the 1933f.NObcH
prize for physics with British mathematician Paul Dirac. The Schrodinger
certainty Principle, to indicate that our world might bea .
equation and a brief commentary ilr.e included in the appended notes and
higher-space construct. The '20s and '30s were y~~rs of
~ references on page.I79.
. .. (Continued on page 176)
.
II .

Fo"- Q-.rter1912

The Strange Case of the

Two Charlie Wetzels
Co~emaD
Loren Colem~ 1983 .

by LoreD

was a relatively uneventful year. Most noteworthy, perhaps,

N was the 'Iaunching of Explorer
I from Cape Canaveral, and the creation of the BankINETEEN FIFTY-EIGHT

americard. Things moved slowly in Eisenhower's America. In Forteana America, an old'

mystery was reborn and the modern era of Bigfoot accounts began.
On August 27, 1958, Jerry Crew and his men, literally
his crew, reported some strange incide.nts as they were
building a new lumber access road near Bluff Creek,
California. Soon photographs of giant 17-inch-long
plaster casts of human-like tracks were being carried
nationwide by the media, and the hunt for Bigfoot was
in full swing.
Three months later and 600 miles away, an eerie encounter was to occur in southern California which soon
took an aberrant but classic place in the Bigfoot literature. This was the Charlie Wetzel sighting. The details
of the story are familiar through the writings of Barker,
the Bords, Green, Sanderson, and others, but during
1982 I was able' to personally interview Wetzel and his
family, coming up with some interesting new information.
Charles Wetzel, boni July 8, 1934, was driving his
two-door green 1952 Buick Super near Riverside, California, when he saw "it." Saturday, November 8, 1958, is
a night Charlie told me he would not soon forget. He
even remembers which radio station-KFI in Los Angeles-he had tuned in. Wetzel neared that part of North
Main Street where the Santa Ana River infrequently overflows its banks, and sure enough, at a spot where the
road dips, water was rushing across the pavement: So.
Charles slowed down.
Within moments he was struck by two sensory event~
. which caught him off guard. First, his car radio started

~
~

!!i!

to
lots
of static.
Hesaw
changed
stations,
tolda
fi~ ll~~~~;iiiiiiii;n~:=~~~~
me,transmit
but to no
.avail.
Next, he
what he
thoughthewas
temporary danger sign near the flooded site. Before he
Q :'110.1. _ _
could think twice about any of this, Charles Wetzel saw
'.......-.
a six-foot-taIl creature bound across his field of vision
.tween himself and the beast, the frightened Californian
and stop in front of his Buick. It had a "round, scare'stomped on the gas. "Screeching like to raise the dead,"
.crowish head like something out of Halloween," Wetzel
as Wetzel put it, the creature tumbled forward off the
told reporters at the time. He described it then and now
: hood and was run over by the car. Wetzel could hear it
as having no ears; no nose; a beak-like, protuberant
'scrape the pan under the engine, and later police lab tests
mouth; and fluorescent, shining eyes. The skin was "scaly, "
revealed that something had indeed scrubbed the grease
like leaves, but definitely not feathers," Wetzel recalled
from the Buick's underside.
during our 1982 talk.
The police used bloodhounds to search the area, but
The creature was waving "sort of funny" with its int.he dogs found nothing and the officers were left with
credibly long arms, and seemed to be walking from the
only the sweeping claw marks on Wetzel's windshield
hips, almost as if it had no knees. Wetzel remembers.
itovp.onder. Then, the very next night, a black something
another detail not noted at the time: the legs stuck out
~jumped Qut of the underbrush near the same site and
from the sides of the torso, not from the bottom. The
frightened another motorist.
.
'gurgling sounds it made were mixed with high-pitched
In recent years, strange three-toed "Bigfeet" have
screams. When .it saw Wetzel it reached across the hood
. been. reported from surrounding areas of southern CaIand began clawing at the windshield. Terrified, Wetzel
. ifornia, notably the Buena Park smelly eight-footer seen
grabbed the .22 High Standard pistol he kept in the car
r>emerging from a drainage ditch in May, 1982. But the
~ecause he was often on the road at ,hight. Clutching the
gun but not wanting to break the one barrier he saw beWetzel sighting near Riverside has won classic status
Foanla Qauterl.982

.......,.,155

among Southern California cases, having been widely

discussed and debated by -Bigf90ters since 1958. Not until
1982 when researcher Ray Boeche passed along an aging
In the northern
newsclip did I learn that another Charles Wetzel had' seen:.' . counties
of West
something $trange. For years I had encouraged Boeche;
Virginia Is some of
as I had many others, to search their local newspaper
archeology's best
libraries beyond the realmof lake-monster and Bigfoot- , . evidence of very
accounts, intQ the wide weird world of creatures that' fill " ancient civilization
on our continent.
the zoo surrounding us all. I. was thus happily amazed to
The Grave Creek
discover that this Charles Wetzel was involved with one .' M9und. (below) In
the town to which
of my favorites-mystery kangaroos! The names were the
It gave the name
same and the year was the same, 1958; but the scene shifted
M'oundsville is a
from California to Nebraska.
.
,
famous example.
I got' on the telephone to interview the new Charles
Wetzel. The elements of his story were straightforward,
as befits a true son of the plains. Charles Wetzel (II),
born March 29, 1888, was at his Platte River cabin, near
Grand Rapids, Nebraska, on the 28th of July, 1958, a .'
Monday. Wetzel reported the thing he first took to be a
. deer was chasing some dogs, which in itself seemed a bit
strange. Then he got within ten yards of it and saw what
looked like a kangaroo b9und away with ten-foot leaps.
To Wetzel; the animal, or whatever it was, appeared to
be about six feet tall, brown, with large hind legs and
small forelegs that barely touched the ground as it jumped.
According. to Wetzel, the kangaroo stayed around the .
cabin for several minutes but finally departed as Wetzel
was trying to get closer, first on foot, then in his car. The
kangaroo disappeared into an alfalfa field.
Wetz~I's report was no isolated event in Nebraska in
1958. Other sightings of kangaroos were reported from
towns as distant as 100 miles from each other-Endicott,
.
'
Stanton and Fairbury Among them: "Charles Wetzel was
Oth~r mounds are still being discovered in the area; one
operating a brewery in Grand Rapids at the time of his
was recently exposed when a hill was cut away to provide
sighting; he named one of his brands "Wetzel KangaroQ
a .building site for a glass factory. Bordering counties in
Pennsylvania-Greene. and Fayette-are the site of many
Beer."
,
In talking with Califofnia Charles Wetzel and Nebraska
strange .accounts of hominoid and UFO visitations in the
Charles Wetzel, I discovered that both' had sons 'named
last few years. All in all, Wetzel County probably feels
Charles, but neither family knew of the other. What are
very at home in the state of the Flatwoods Monster, and
. Mothman.
we to make of this bit of synchronization of Wetzels,
Speaking of Mothman, John Keel was one of the first
both named Charles, both having encountered creatures
among us to start looking' 'at the whole issue of nameway beyond the norm, in the year 1958? After 'much
head-~cratching, I thought it might be useful to find some
selectivity. Some form of choosing is occurring beyond
kind of underlyin,g pattern via' the .name "Wetzel." Now,
the limits of our understanding, be it the Reeves noted by
Keel, the Lafayettes discussed by Bill Grimstad; or the
monsters do not seem to be seen by people with the most
~ommon names, but why would a'couple of Charlie WetWetzels 'mentioned here. The name-game sometimes
zels be picked? "Wetzel" is a German name, a corrupted
c~nters on people (Ainbroses, Suttons, Wetzels), and at
f9rm of "little Varin," from "Warin, ". me;ming. "pro- e- other times on places (Decaturs, Dovers, Leeds, Logans,
tector." Should we therefore assume some elemenlial
Fayettevilles). The names pop up, again and again. Variations on the magnetic names---':the foregoing and dozens
insight from a name that literally means "little pr.otector
or guardian"?
'
, .: I . \
of.others-..:...appear in sQme yet-undiscovered way to attract
frequent bouts with poltergeists, creatures, UFOS and
Next, I went on a search. to determine whether the
. name "Wetzel" is used geographically. On a map of the
related phenomena. The'laws of probability seem t<;> mal'United States I discovered but one use of "Wetzel"function in the midst of Forteana, for the Smiths, J ohnit was the name of a yery rural county in n,orthern!-:W,est
sons and Joneses are not the most frequent witnesses of
the more bizarre encounters in the U.S.A.
Virginia. I was not too surprised to Ond that the (~ijc:lore
Two Charles Wetzels. saw two quite wonderfully' weird
of Wetzel County is a repository 9f historic ghos.tlStqri~s.
creatures in the same year, ]958. I would expect that
No surprise, either, to find .some ~urious FOI1ea"n' ~tems-iin
somewhere in this country there is a "little guardian"
surrounding If,reas. Nearby Sisterville, West Vil'linia;tlis
who soon will have another meeting with a monster, and
well known as one of the few eastern American ,fit.!cl/to "
perhaps because of that encounter; the elementals will
have been visited by the phantom' airships of thenB90s.
have been held back yet another day. Something is colMoundsville, just north of Wetzel, is the site of. a signif.
lecting Charlie Wetzels! ~
icant earthen moun"- built by a~cient unknown' people .
1

. '

I.

Pa,...I, 156

. Fourth Quarter
I

1'.2

Specalations on
.Nataral
Explosions at;:::
01.- Hannah's Cave,'.
StaHordshire, .
England
.

'JJ:fi

Fig. 1 Field sketch of the

Old Hannah's Cave area

by Colia Pounder

Photographs by
the author .

is located in the structurally

O
. complex limestones of the southwestern 'DerbyshireStaffordshire border. Its name derives from the .old EngLD HANNAH'S CAVE

lish "hen hoh," or high hill (Fraser, 1947). Samuel Carrington' local paleontologist and archeologist (Batem~n,
1861), collected and published eyewitness accounts of
natural explosions occurring in the immediate vicinity of
the cave (Carrington, 1870). During an account, to the
North Stafford Field Club, of his archeological excavations in the cave, Sir Thomas.Wardle, F.G.S.,F.C.S.,J.P.,
industrialist and author of geological papers (Who was
Who, 1966) reiterated Carrington's paper. He added his
own observations while in the company of George Borrow
of H.M.Geological Survey, of the explosion phenomenon
(Wardle, 1899).
.
.
Explosions no longer o'ccur, though the area is apparently unchanged since Carrington and Wardie's day. This
paper arises from my curios.ity aroused by the explosion
accounts. It is based on six field trips made to the area in
the period 1979-81, coupled to knowl~dge and exp~riep.ce
of static electrification and mining. .
~.

Copyright 1982 by the National

Speleological Society, Inc.
Reprinted by permission from the society's
quarterly publication The NSS Bulletin,
issue of January 1982 .

Fig. 2 Entrance of
. .' . Old Hannah's Cave

Characteristics of the Explosions

Carrington (1870)' collected eyewitness accounts by'

local people. A 92-year-old lady. who had been sitting with
friends on the hill above the cliff and cave. recounted her
terror on hearing a crash which. she said, "sounded as if
the rocks had been rent asunder and violently knocked
together again." The ladies concluded' that the event was
supernatural.
,
On January 1. 1855. George Fallows and Joseph Wint
were taking cows up the track near the cave. It was a very
windy day, and they heard a loud report sounding: like
large blocks of stone tumbling down a deep mineshaft.
The 'roaring noise was repeated at short intervals. loud
enough to be heard a mile away, "but for the high wind
which then prevailed. A blue flame edged with reddish
yellow issued from a cleft in the rock." The cows ran up
Fourth Q~art.r 1982

. ~1ihe steep Wetton road and paused for breatb, but a repeat
-rof the explosions set them off again. Fallows climbed up
on the wall to look at the site of the explosions, but Wint,
in terror, made hi~ get away. Consequently they arrived
in Wetton, where p~pl~ commented on their frightened
appearanc~. They tried to persuade men to go back. Soine
. laughed and used the "tempestuous wind" as an excuse to
'. stil-iltput. However, Thomas Redfern, one of those who did
.agOpsaid that the noi~es. he heard .were like blasts of gun,",ipowder and. "that'a ilarrow stream of pale fire issued
ilifromishe' face ofthe rock~" In a letter to Carrington. dated
r)Ma~il. i1868. Wint added that when he stood opposite the
,0lHlHannah's cave and cliff. the reports were like the "fall
-lof~a building. or the shooting up of stones from a cart but
. 'much' louder and at the same tiine a noise like the crackling

P.N."157

of a forest on fire; and while I was in sight there came from

_ the cleft a kind of blue blaze like the burning of sulphur,
which appeared to be about 12 inches broad as it issued
from the face of the rock."
In 1867, a man repairing the track opposite the explosion site heard a series of reports like sharp claps of thunder.
In April 1868, Laurence Fallows was repairing the wall in
the Redhurst Gorge in a gentle breeze when he heard hissing
sounds repeated at intervals, "like a miner's fuse.'-' Carrington states that others were familiar with the phenomenon but that he had recounted enough accounts to put it
on record.
'
Wardle and Borrows' (1899) account was of Saturday,
December 10, 1899 when they 'heard a sound like several
rifles "being discharged simultaneously." Realizirig that
no one was $hooting, they looked up the cliff and witnessed an explosion which emitted a' flash from a hole or
fissure in the upper part of the cliff. This had a bluish column "not of steam or fire or smoke, but apparently of
aqueous vap<;)r" (approximately 12m wide), which traveled
with immense force across the valley. Within minutes came
'another discharge ' from higher up the cliff and then "several ones with crackling sounds producing semitransparent
wavy streaks in the air, not smoky in appearance." Next
came a very loud explosion which "we had the good fortune to see plainly." Wardle describes this as "like a gun
but with crackling, a series of continuous reports, [the
streaks] cleaving the air in a zigzag or riverlike course in a
narrow band about IScm to 20cm broad, of bluish color."
They waited an hour before attempting to reach the holes'
or fissures but could 'not climb the ver~ical part of"the ,cliff
particularly due to the "perfect hurricane blowing from
the southwest against the cave and cliff." The force of the
wind was such at times that the two men lay down to avoid
being blown over the edge.
'
, Old Hannah's Cave in the dry valley of Redhurst Gorge
is about 70m above the River Manifold. Only in prolonged
very wet weather does the river take its north...to-south
surface course, initi~ly over' impervious Manifold-lime- '
stone-with-shales. For most of the year, it sinks into swallets
in the reef limestones which begin at Wetton Mill (Ford,
1977). Of particular relevance to this paper are swallets,
into the eastern bank, under Darfur Crags, which take'
water under Redhurst Gorge. (In passing, it may be noted
that natural explosions are also mentioned as happening in
Darfur Crag Cave above the swallets [Ford, 1967].)
The inaccessibility of the subterranean system must be
emphasized. The deepest penetration has been 300m into :
the part vadose, part phreatic, Redhurst Swallet, ending at,
impassable cracks and unstable rocks (Ford,' 1977). The, I
hydraulic gradient (north-to-south) takes the River Manifold on its underground course 8km to resurge in the. "boil
holes': at Ham. This was demonstrated in Dr. SalJluel
Johnson's time by throwing cork~ into the water, but more
reliably' by dye tests in 1928 (Spencer and Porter, 1972).
The cave roofs at the "boil holes" resurgence are, imdry
, conditions, about 40cm above the water in the rejoi~';J~:
impervious, surface course at this place. The main r.eSUE~
gence was penetrated by Mike Nelson for about 12Om,Srli'i
previous dives, he found the system phreatic, withi tar-ge: ~
submerged banks of saJ:ldy sediments (Cave Diving GroJlP;\'.
,:j
1977).
The steep-sided Redhurst Gorge has reef limestone out~!;

........1'158

crops \Vhich are fissured, often into large blocks. (Identical material forms the large cliffs in Lathkill Dale, about
2Skm away, and a winter with hard frosts sees many such
blocks broken away. These, over many years ()f frost action,
break down into large scree slopes.) Old Hannah~s Cliff
projects outwards beneath the hill summit in a series of
sloping steps, each about 15m high. Alongside these projections, forming the covering of other, lower "steps," is
very lo()se so,il and scree. Hence Wardle and Borrows' fear
of being blown into the gorge in. high winds.
Old Hannah's Cave (Fig. 2) is a fissure,' probably a
$wallet of an earlier river system, about 1.5m wide, Sm high
at the entrance,' bulging to 2m wide just inside, but then.
narrowing to a vertical crack about 0.3m wide. The crack
is packed f~om 'floor to roof with a reddish-brown soil.
Wardle found human remains 3.Sm below the floor in a
section beyond the crack, in 'what he desCribed as a rounded
room in which four people could easily stand side by side.
This "room" section is now filled with soil, thereby re- '
ducing the cave length from about 13m, in Wardle's time
(1899), to its,present 6m. "
' ,
Outside the cave, a slope of the same colored soil mixed
with scree falls, at an angle of about 30, some 15m to the
val~ey floor. Access to the rock outcrops, Wardle's "cliff,"
with the cave in its base may be gained by climbing loose
soiland scree slopes. Fig. 3 illustr~tes the fissured rock and
a soil-scree slope alongside it. The cave roof is about 2m
under this point and runs from left to right. The holes
from, which the explosions occurred are difficult to reach,
for a not;l-climber, but I managed this in 1979 and 1980.
They are about 0.6m high (Figs. 4 and 5), one the home of.
an ilJ..tempered jackdaw. Some of the ,holes are connected
by obvious external fissures, but others examined appeared
to be interconnected by internal fissures. The edges of many
fissures' are sharp, like frost fractures. However, ihe holes
for the most part have, the appearance of phreatic tubes
dissolved in the limestone-which is the common mode of
origin of Derbyshire cave systems, All the holes to which
I was able to gain access had internal, fissures, but how
'
,
these formed I do not know.
To the north of the Redhurst Gorge is a second valley.
running almost parallel (see Fig. 1). A stream ori~nating
in springs about 800m up the valley runs in a very meander-,
ing course. This stream is obviously affected by:rainfall
and o,ften floods into many interconnecting ,sections which
in, drier weather are overgrown with grass. Recent fieldwork by the author has revealed that the stream sinks into
vertical swallets partly choked with stone blocks, soil and
grass. Immediately adjacent to the swallets is a pronounced
anticline, revealed where, soil has been eroded away. It
measures a few centimeters at its ridge and widens to about
3m before it is lost to view. The rocks of the anticline are
crinoidal limestone interleaved with, pyrite-bearing shale
beds. The layers vary from about lcm thick near the base
to a few millimeters at the ridge. Both 'the swallets and the
anticline are in the same hill as, in direct line with, Old
Hannah's Cave and its cliff.
Soli Samples
Samples of the reddish-colored soil were taken from the
area above the c,ve aswell.as from the cave floor and from
the floors of holes joined by fissures. These separate samples were put into glass beakers of water in order to sep-,
,

Fig. 3 Fissured cliff

above Old Hannah's

Cave

Fig. 4 Solutlonal
opening with promInent fissure
. In cliff above
Old Hannah's Cave

'.

". . ..r;
, .. ~:~.~
..." .
,,-\ .. '1

arate out organic material, which included roots ~d one

tiny bone, which floated, from the heavier soil constituents.
Samples of the heavier material were microscopically ex- .
. amined in both transmitted and r~flected light. The assumed
soil proved in fact'to be sand. The grains were sha~p sided,
i.e., not eroded, quartz typical of the Pleistocene drift
found in many Derbyshire and Staffordshire caves. A few
grains of mineral, possibly sphalerite, were also present.
All samples were identical in structure and material. On his
fatal dive into the main Ham resurgence, Mike Ne'son dug
through a massive bank of this material which had been
washed down through the subterranean Manifold River
system (Cave Diving Group, 1977). The total sand deposits
amount to many tons and were deposited by glaciers of the
last Ice Age, the melt waters of which were responsible for
the loc8.I cave systems (Ford, 1977).

.X;<

i- ~;
;;~,
...~

i' .. ',.

Fig. 5 Another
solutlonal opening
Incnff

..

':.

'"

-',

:t., .
oJ

Natural Explosion Hypothesis

The River Manifold takes water and organic debris
under the Redhurst Gorge, as also does the spring-fed
stream behind Old Hannah's Cave. I speculate that the
decay of the grass and algal growth of the stream .evolves
methane. The degenerations of pyrites in the shales may
also add hydrogen sulphide. At the times mentioned in the
explosion accounts, viz., December, Jahuary, April aI,ld,
one in early May, organic material would have been taken
underground by th~ melting snow and rain. The air would
be low in humidity due to frosts. IIi May, 1980, I observed
bubbles rising through the 20cm of water above sand on
the boulders partly choking the smaller lIam resurgence
cave. I had no means of testing these with me. In August,
thc;=re were no bubbles, which tended to rule out nearby air
being entrained by the flowing water. In April, 1981, I captured the gas by the displacement of water from 2cm~di
ameter test tubes. A match applied to. these produc~d a
loud "pop" with a purplish flame. The onset of freak
snow conditions made a ~urn impossible, but in late May,
I returned with the intention of taking samples only to find
that the cave entrance has been dug out, probably by cave
divers, and there was an air gap of some SOcm above the
water surface. It would border on the incredulous to state
that inflammable gas caught 8km away from Old Ha~nah's
Cave could be the cause of the explosions but it does offer
some confirmation of the evolution of gas in the subterranean water course.

Fouth Q........ 1982

However, the speculation that inflammable gas is present under Redhurst Gorge due to the decay of organic
material plus the evolution from pyrite-bearing shales
seems reasonable. Such accumulated gas would percolate
upwards through the fissured rock and, in Wardle's time,
escape to the air. Methane has been studied with respect to
mine explosions (Evans and Brown, 1973, Sorbie, 1978).
Mason (1954) stated that the methane/air mixture is explosive between Sand 15 percent, being most explosive at
9.S percent. Recent work by Mills (1980) has demonstrably
ruled out any spontaneous will-o'-the-wisp type of burning
or explosion.
. If the conditions prevailing at the times of the witnessed
. explosions are considered, (1) there was always a high wind
blowing, and (2) the appearance and sounds are typical of
a gas explosion issuing from a tunnel mouth. The structure
of the fissures and holes forms a natural counterpart to the
appayatus used in the investigation of the generation of
'static"electricity by blowing dusts and sand grains (Blacktin,
19!28;Sliaw, 1928). More recently, Kamra (1971) and Mills
(l~.7.lJ have investigated the large fields and electrical discharges in blowing dust clouds, particularly in sandstorms.
In Mills' work, a simple experiment in which sand is whirled
in a partly evacuated glass flask produced bright coronas

I
and magnificent sparks. In my own investigation (unpub- ,'
lished) , the earlier statements by Shaw were found to be.
confirmed in that unlike materials, for example sand grains!
. blown through a tube lined with pumice, will generate very
high charges. Also that identical materials will generate
very high electrical fields and sparks. Laboratory tests
using a few grams of material have generated high fields
breaking down in sparks. How better N:ature who, employing gale force winds, blows sand grains through the limestone fissures in the Old Hannah's Cave cliff!
The high wi~ds are indicative of an atn,.ospheric lowpressure region. Such a condition results in an increased
production of methane in lo.cal mines (Met. Office, 1981);
hence an increased likelihood.of g~ rising from the underground river system into the fissured cliff. The winds would
not only generate electric sparks by triboelectrification of
sand grains on limestone but would also serve to dilute the
gas to its explosive concentration, resulting in the dramatic
explosions which terrified local people and animals and
cau~ed one woman even into her nineties to believe that
a supernatural agency was at work. These events urged
Carrington (1870) to overcome his innermost feelings,
that perhaps he dare not mention the ph~nomenon since it
was unheard of anywhere else and left to posterity his exciting paper which con~ludes: "The. probable causes of this
phenomenon I leave for future solution, contenting myself ~ith now simply recording th~ facts as they occurred:"
Why Not Today?
Why can we not witness explosions from Old Hannah's
Cave cliff today? There has been a massive earth slip, which
has certainly infilled the back of the cave and sealed off the
ingress of gas from the subterranean river below. Until the
system is explored, if ever, its actual structures remain a
mystery. I predict that methane and possibly hydrogen sulphide will be found, and if it should ever become possible,
if permitteij, to dig out the sandy soil blocking the gas ingress fissures, the phenomenon would happen again.

AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks to Miss E. M. White, Leek librarian, for loaning me the
. copy of Sir Thomas Wardle's paper and to Derby, Local section, for
. access to Carrington's paPer. To the memory of Michael Nelson, who
died ~n advancing our kno,vledge of the resurgence of the River Manifold
fr!,m"the 1Iam "boil holes."
REFERENCE~

Bateman, Thomas (1861) Tim Years Digging in Celtic and Saxon Grave
Hills in Derbys., Stafford & York, from 1848-58: (1978 reprint edition)
Moorland Publishing, Hartington (Derbys.), 309 pp.
.
Blacktin, S. C. (1928) "Spontaneous Electrification in Dust Clouds,"
Safety in Mines Research Board, Paper43, 19 pp.
Carrington, Samuel (1870) "Explosions of Gas in Mountain Limestone,"
The Reliquary II: 27-29.
Cave Diving Group Newsletter 45 (October, 1977); see also ~rby Tele.
.
graph, September 1977.
Evans, Haydn and K. M. Brown (1973) "Coal Structures in Outbursts of
Coal and Firedamp Conditions," Mining Engineer i 32(148): 171-179.
Ford, T. D. (1967) The Caves qf Derbyshire; Dalesman, ClaphaJil, 135 pp.,
and Ford (1977) "Limestones and Caves of the Peak District" Univer'
.'
sity of East Anglia Press, 469 pp.
Fraser, William (1947) Field-Names in South Der.byshi~, Arnold & Son,
Ipswich, 166 pp.
Kamra, A. K. (1971) "Oust Storm Electrification," State Uni~ersity of
New York at Albany, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, 79 pp.
Mason, E. (1954) Practical oal Mining, Virtue, London, 737 pp.
Meteorological Office (1981) Private communication to Watnall, Notts.,
re informing National Coal Board of atmospheric low conditions
leading to increased gas leakage in mines.
'.
.
Mills, A. A. (1977) "Dust Clouds and Frictional Generationof Glow
Discharges on Mars," Nature 268: 614, and Mills (1980) "Will-o'-theWisp," Chemistry in Britain /6(2): 69-72.
.
Ordnance Survey (1980) The White Peak, 1:25,000.
Shaw, P. E. (1928) "Tribo-electricity and Friction IV, Electricity due' to
Air-blown Particles," Proceedings 0/ the Royal Societ.y, A, 122: 49-52.
Sorbie, J. (1978) "Sudden Outbursts of Methane and Coal," eolliery
Guardian, January.
I
.
Spencer, Brian and Lindsey Porter (1972) The Dove and Manifold Valleys,
Moorland Publishing, Hartington(Derbys.), 52 pp.
.
Wardle, Thomas (1899) "Diggings in Old Hannah's Cave or Hole in the
Redder Hurst or Redhurst Valley, near Wetton, and on the Explosions
in that Valley," paper read at the evening meeting of the North Stafford
Field Club, Nicholson Institute, Leek, February 21 (copy on'deposit in
the Leek Library, 27 pp.)
.
Who was Who, Adam & Charles Black, 5th Ed., Vol. I, London.
Wint, Joseph (1868) Letterto Samuel Carrington, May 7..

Thanks to ..
.

SITU member David Whitco~b, ~ho read this article

in The NSS Bulletin and recommended it for reprinting in
Pursuit.
James Hedges, editor of The NSS Bulletin, for his courtesy in arranging for the reprint rights.and for reminding
us that SITU's founder, Ivan Sanderson, "was a prominent
member of the National ~peleological Society during the
19S0s."
ColiQ Pounder, Ph.D., M.Inst.P., F.R.Met:S., Member EleCtrostatics Society of America. Immediately upon
learning of our intention to reprint his article, Dr. Pounder
wrote from his home in Derbyshire, noting that this was
"thrilling news indeed." He added the following provocative update w~ich developed during his return visit to tHe
subject area in July:
..
.
.
.
.
The local people have no knowledge of the phenomTndii,
but one old farmhand told me of watching "steam i '1;se

PuN.II 160

fr:om ancient lead-mine shafts. There are many tales of the

old mines, of course, since this was a lead-mining area
frol7J at least Roman times. I did locate the grave of the
Laurence Fallows mentioned in the paper; he died in 1907
and was buried in Welton churchyard.
Not far from Old Hannah's Cave is a very strangelooking cave in a large limestone block. The elderly lady
who lived nearby told me that an American professor from
Illinois (whose name she could not remember) had spent
several weeks in the area; he told her he had linked the
place with the ancient story. of Sir Gawaine and the Grene
Knight. I rereaci the .story in its original English (my local
_.dialect, in fact), and it certainly seems to fit in many respects. I wondered if perhaps the explosions were taking
place at, the time some monk wrote down the legend. There
is indeed mention of a strange whizzing or whirring noise
recounted in the story at that location-which leaves me
~
,
wondering.

I.

Foarth Qaut_1982

constructed his first Random Event

Generator, containing a small
amount of strontium 90, on this
premise.
He engineered the machine so that,
when every few seconds the' strontium 90 emitted an electron, one of
four corresponding lights on a
by Michael H. Brown
display
board lit up. The goal was to
Reprinted with permission from the May 1981 Reader's Digest
predict, by pushing the appropriate
Copyright 1981 by The Reader's Digest Assn., Inc.
button, ,which light would go on
next.
.
ERRY EUGENE, a psychologist at
screen the enemy has invaded. If the
a home for the aged, rests on
The physicist picked three subjects
guess is correct-if that's the
a comfortable recliner in a dimly lit
quadrant at the instant the button is I with psychic backgrounds. The
typical session lasted two hours and
room in Princeton, New Jersey, elecpushed-the enemy is annihilated in
inciuded an average of 1500 trials.
trodes taped to her skin to monitor
an explosion of orange and blue.
Over a periods of weeks the subjects
. her muscle activities. She is trying to
"Direc(hit!" a sign declares .
sat through a total of 63,000 trials,
The probabilities for a hit are
guess-or influence-which of
and the results were astonishing.
equal: 25 percent for each position.
several targets will be next to be hit
by a random electric charge. A comAnd the probabilities for a correct . They had scored 4.4-percent higher
than would be predicted by accepted
guess are the same: 25 percent on
puter checks her results and their
each try. Yet subjects like Gerry
laws of chance. While to .the layman
deviation from the dictates of
that may !!eem no great margin of
probability.
Eugene have consistently scored
success, it jolted the statisticians. The
higher. At times, Eugene has outThe experiment centers on a comsubjects had beafen odds of 500
foxed the REG against odds of a
plex instrument called a Random
thousand to one. (A statistical. test
million to one. SQmehow they had
Event Generator (REG),. at the heart
guessed the timing of-or deflectedresult is considered ."significant" if
of which is an electronic diode that
the subatomic emissions. (When
produces a randomly varying
there is only one cHance in a hundred
voltage. Nearby, tiny high-speed
that it could have been due to cointhe machine ran a few hours a day
cidence.)
on 100 different days, with no
counters whir, rotating as many as a
humans present, each target was hit
The Honorton rese~rchers have
million times a second and stopping
devised other types of ' REG tests. The
25 percent of the time, in accordance
momentarily, as a roulette wheel
with the laws of probability.)
does, to mark the position of ahit.
subject may be asked to concentrate
To find. out whether his subjects
According to the laws of quantum
on replacing a white dot with a color
were using. ESP to guess the
display, on a screen, or to concenmechanics, it is theoretically immachine's patterns, or were somehow
possible for anyone to know how the
trate on noises coming through a set
subconsciously skewing the radiation
of headphones~beeps, bass rumvoltage will vary, and consequently
through psychokinesis, or PK (a term
at what specific target the counter
bling, static buzzing-and "think"
meaning the ability of the mind to
will next halt. Yet dozens of people
the sounds toward the lower end of
affect physical motion), Schmidt
the audio spectrum. In such tests, the
have been repeatedly able to do just
that.
..
machines have recorded inexplicable
restructured his experiments. An REG
Charles Honorton, director of the
was set up (as in Hooorton's later
diversions from probability.
. Psychophysical Research Laboraexperiments) to act as an electronic
The origins of the exciting new extories located in Princeton, believes
coin flipper, choosing randomly beperimentation go back to the midthat REG tests from laboratories
tween two targets: HEADS and TAILS.
1960s and Helmut Schmidt, a GerAttached to the REG was a panel of
around the world indicate results so
man who was a senior plasma physicist
nine lights arranged in a circle. Each
at the Boeing Company in Seattle.
extraordinary-defying the laws of
time the machine picked HEADS the
chance-that they will rekindle the
Schmidt was fascinated by reports of
debate over psychic phenomena. He
light jumped clockwise; each time
Prof. Joseph B. Rhine's work on
ESP. But he considered the Rhine
TAILS, counterclockwise. Running by
and other scientists think they may
have developed a foolproof new test
methods to be unsophisticated and
itself, the machine would cause the
of Extra Sensory Perception (ESP).
set about searching for an experiment
light to do a "random walk" among
that would be "indisputably ranBecause he believes the experithe bulbs, moving in each direction
dom." Such a test had to involve
ments should be made exciting, Honan equal number of steps. But when
machines.
orton hooks an REG to electronic
a human subject was present, trying
devices similar to computer-television
There is no process more random
to will HEADS or TAILS, the lights
games. In one, a "space" game
moved unequally. Somehow, human
than radioactivity-the decay of
nicknamed PSITREK, for example, the
'beings seemed to influence the
atomic nuclei. While ~cientists can
goal is to predict, by pushing one of
roughly guess how many a~oms will
subatomic events .
four buttons, the location .of an in.The continuing work of Schmidt
decay over a certain period of time,
visible enemy spaceship. The screen
(at the Mind Science Foundation
emitting h~gh-sp'eed electrons, they
is divided into four quadrants. As
near San Antonio) and Honorton
cannot possibly predict just whenflying saucers whip past the. moon,
presents what appears to be a major
the exact millisecond-an electron
breakthrough in evidence, by far exthe subject guesses ~hich part of the
will be emitted. In 1967, Schmidt

MIND OVER MA1TER

New Evidence for

Psy~hic Phenollie.na

Fourth Quarter 1982

Purs."161
I

ceeding results previously reported in

the possibility that Bigfoot existsPK research. The REG machines may
not because of personal experience
help re-establish serious dialogue
but,
from reading the literature and
Report
between researchers and skeptics.
from the experience a friend had
REG tests are being conducted in
recounted. His' friend~ he said, had
by George W.. Eal'ley
many respected universities and
served several years ago as Ii fire
research cent~rs: 'SRI International
warden at an ,isolated mount~in locaLongtime SITU member and frequent
(formerly Stanford Research' Intion in Oregon. One' night, said' the
Pursuit book reviewer George W. Earley
stitute), Ya'le, the University, of
naturalist, my friend the fire warden
spent his 1982 summer vacation back ..
California at Irvine, Syracuse, St.
heard footsteps and heavy breathing, '
, packing in Bigfoot territory: the Canadian
John's and Princeton. They were
as though someone was laboring' up'
, provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.
also started' at think tll'nks in
the steep trail to his tower .. Glad to
England, Switzerland, Holland" New
break his isolation with a visitor, the
Zealand and Australia. Many have
'young man bounded ,down the stairs,
ESPITE the growil1g popular
begun to report positive results.,
calling out "Hi! Welcome! I'm Jim!"
acceptance of Bigfoot (e.g.; 'the
Success rates seem, highest ,among
There was no answer.. Then, as he
eXistence in: a priv8;tely run naturalcheerful, spontaneous, believing sub- ' history museum in Banff of a Bigfoot
reached the bottom and stepped
jects. People who are depressed,
away from the tower, he became
display which includes a Iife-slze
,neurotic, or doubtful' that they can
aware of a huge "presence" 100Dling
dummy),: many ~ilDadian officials
exert PK fail, to do so. Subjects in a
up in the darkness a few feef,awaY.
~re reluctant to talk about their mys'non-analytical ,state of mind
Abruptly it turned and ran swiftly
tery monster.
(listening to music, for example) have
away. The ground was hard and no
In Jasper, Alberta, adjacent to a
fared better than those involved in
footprints were found the next day.
large national wilderness area, I visited
analytical 'acts (such as solving
But the fire warden was sure he had
the local Chamber of Commerce to
mathematical problems) at the, time
encountered a Bigfoot that 'night. "
see if any, of the "Jasper Dollars;'of testing. Subjec~s with histories of
In the second instance, I spoke to
commemorative medals struck anESP experiences seem to do well at
a Park warden who had, not seen a
nually as; fund-raising souvenirs' for
the REG tests. So do people who
Bigfoot himself but, kQ~w 'other wartourists.......carried a representation of
meditate.
'
dens who gave credence to reports of
a Sasquatch. My query dr~w a frosty
such, creatures. These were not, sight:..
, Subects who try too hard are often
reply from Chamber officials: "There
ings, 'he explained, ,bu~ r,eports of
are no S8$quatch i~ Alberta. They
prone to failure; Honorton once
tracks and "strange cries'; heard in
are a British Columbia affair!" Park
asked his people to tense their arm
the wilderness. "These are men of
'officials ,reacted similarly. ,
muscles and point' their arms at the
high' veracity," 'he told me in his
I had slightly better luck' with my
REG, trying to zap the machine. They'
French-accented English. "'If they
, did poorly. Subjects were much more
queries in eastern British Columbia.
say to me they have seen such,' things
A dozen years ago, my questions had
successful when they went about the
and heard such cries, then, I can do
been brushed off with a stiff "we
task casually. Others have noted that
no less than believe them." , '
the longer an experiment proceeds,
don't'talk about Sasquatch" reply.
All of which is not proof, of course,
This time I found twp men willing to
the less positive are the results.
but it is encouraging evidence of a
comment.
The study of PK remains shrouded
One was, a young naturalist in, change in attitude toward the mysin uncertainties. Researchers have
tery monster among those who man
Yoho Park. While nQting that this
still not devised a system whereby the
the outposts of its Northwest domain.
was only his second'summer traveling
'presumed psychic energy can be
in the back country, he was open to
pr~duced at will 100 percent of the
~
time. It can't, therefore, be used for
I think the 'randomizing techniques
practical purposes.' And it can't be
the potential use of "energy'intluenare sound. But there are scores of
stored. In fact, even believing sciences" to' jam compu~ers or disable the
'tists don't know what type of a force
ways a test can be subtly biased." An .electronics of missiles and satellites.
it could be.
'
accurate evaluation of the' work by. In line with this area of res~ar~h, it
Oregon psychologist Ray Hyman,
has been reported that the Central
Schmidt or HOl1orton would be
Intelligence Agency has funded
costly, requiring months of painwho has publicly debated Schmidt,
says that REGS have not yet been , staking scrutiny by sk~ptical ,several parapsychol()gical stu'dies, infully scrutinized nor the experiments
statisticians.
c1uding a joint ESP venture with the
consistently replicated. Hyman
The history of psychokinesis is rife
National'Security Agency. Intelligenargues that the results are perhaps
with miracles that later came into
ce sources estimate that as'long ago
as 1972, the Soviet Union was spendmisinterpreted. REGS are much inore
,serious question. But today's exing at least $21 million a year in this
challenging than anything else he's
perimenters.:argue' that their new
field,.
'
seen, says Hyman, but 'he still
methods are virtually invincible, imbelieves that' Schmidt "hasn't made
Honorton, Schmidt and others are
mune ,to trickelY or 'even to subcon,proceeding with more sophisticated
scious bias iana' error. So confident
his case yet."
are some 'ESP, 'and.. PK researchers that
Martin Gardner, an author,'and a
tests. If they are right about th~ new
member of the Committee for the
their case "(inall-. has been' prov'ed
evidence for ESP' and PK, the conScientific Investigation of Claims of
that they have:now moved on to
sequences-phiiosophic8Ilyand practhe Paranormal, says: "In most cases
more exotic concerns. One example is
tically-are momentou,s.
~

B.C. ,Bigfoot

Pu",.'t162

Fo.lth QIuIlter1912

TRURO,

the venerable Cape Cod

J town where I have owned a house

S~alJliDg the

since 1953 and where my wife and I

have recently been spending about
haU of every year, is an unusual com. munity. Of its nearly 12,000 acres,
more than 80 percent lie within the
bounds of the Cape Cod National
Seashore, a park that has existed, to
the good fortune of those of us whose
by E. eI. Kaha, elr.
homes are inside it, since 1961<. Truro's
land area translates into 19 square
miles, an expanse that my neighbors
our South Pamet Road house late last
there and I have lately been thinking
fall, never crossed our minds. Since
of, ludicrous as the perception may
then, however,' there has been so
seem, as about one-third the convenmuch to-do about a strange big catlike
tional stalking area of a mountain lion.
animal in our territory-our local
semiweekly paper, the Cape Codder,
The superimposition of a national
park on the Cape Cod landscape, and
calls it the "Pamet Puma"-that I
. the ensuing happy limitation on both
made an unseason8I pre-spring safari
commercial and residential building
back to our warm-weather lair to see
therein, have probably made it conwhat the fuss'was all about. Also, this
venient for wildlife to flourish in our
gave.me a chance to visit my five-yearmidst. We have, or in the last few
old grandson, Ian,. who lives in
Wellfleet, the town abutting ours.
decades have had, a lot of feral
When Ian heard I was coming, he said
creatures in Truro: deer, raccoon, fox
(both the ted and the gray), mink, erhe would be glad to help me search for
mine, otter, striped (but not Eastern
the mountain lion, provided he could
spotted) skunk, long-tailed (but not
carry a weapon. They don't teach kids
everything nowadays; he was unaware
least) weasel, muskrat, chipmunk,
that "Fe/is conc%r is' considered an
badger, squirrel, mouse, and, if the
truth must be known, rat. We have
endangered species and that there is a
had, along with the smaller birds,
$10,000 penalty for killing one.
hawks and osprey~ During the softball
The story-though, like the Iliad
games that are hotly contested most
and the Odyssey, it took some time to
be widely circulated-begins last Sepsummer Sundays on our Snow's Field,
play has occasionally been halted so
tember. Mark Peters, a young Truro
the participants could' pay suitable atman who not long before had quit his
tention to a bald eagle hovering
job as a town policeman to work more
overhead. We had so many rabbits
remuneratively for a liquor store, but
hanging around last summer that my
who still held the municipal portfolio
of dog officer, was summoned to inbig black dog ~ainbow didn't even
bother to chase them all off our lawn.
vestigate an eerie spectacle: a dozen or
Rainbow's a Belgian shepherd, more. . so mauled house cats heaped at North
or less. She rarely leaves our turf,
Truro, ina stand of scrub. oak, on the
ocean side of our narrow peninsula,
because she seems to conceive it, flatwhich there measures a scant two
teringly, to be her mission in life to
miles from Cape,Cod Bay east to the
protect us against predators. I believe
Atlantic. Peters, ~no lives with four
Rainbow believes I am a sheep. My
wife believes Rainbow is her sister.
cats, two dogs,' and~ a' guinea pig,
That a Fe/is conc%r-mountain
faithfully reported the:gruesome corplion, cougar, puma, catamount, call it
ses to his bosses, .the town's three
elected selectmen, one of whom he
what you will-can have joined our
meanderirig menagerie is by all logic
recalls saying at the time, with what
proved to be unforseen irony, "Who
and experience absurd; and that
possibility, when my.wife.and I closed
cares about cats?" Another of the
eminent triumvirate., r.emembers then
saying, to himself;/s~H' figure it was
. E. J. Kahn: ir. is a staff writer for The
:New Yorker. This article appeared in the
done by a dog ora)fQJEOLa.raccoon or
July 1982 issue of Boston Mogoline and
some
satanic culU:? 'Dhat ;was in Sepwas br'ought to the attention of Pursuit's
tember. In NovembeF"'2~Oe Taves
editors by members Loren Coleman and
Paul Thompson. It is reprinted by courtesy
told Peters at a p.arty. :that a horse
of Mr. Kahn and the publishers of Boston
of
his had behaved. most. peculiarly in
Mugoline.
.
North Truro one day, suddenly shying

Cape.Cod
Cougar

Fourth Quarter 1982

away from some threat Taves did not

observe and could not explain.
December was ~he month of the pig.
There were two recorded porcine incidents. A pig at the North Truro
place of David Costa, a policeman
still on active duty, was so badly
maimed by something-or-other or
somebody-huge chunks of flesh torn
from its back-that it had to be
destroyed. Next, a couple of pigs at
Peter Shenk's South Truro sty, Shenk
discovered when he went out to feed
them one morning, had odd scratch
marks on their backs and rumps. .
By this time, the' board of selectmen
had designated their junior member,
Edward Oswalt, a retired Air Force
sergeant studying for a master's
degree in real-estate assessment, to
assess the bewildering situation. Both
Oswalt and Peters went around to
Shenk's. They saw some outsized paw
prints in the snow in a garden near the
pigpen that didn't strike them as
canine. (Mountain lions, unlike dogs,
usually retract their claws when they
walk, or r.un.) The National Seashore's park rangers also got interested. They thought the prints had
been made by dogs. (Cougar footprints are generally three .to thrc;e and
a half inches wide; those of a big
dog-a Saint Bernard or a Great
Dane may be somewhat wider.)
Moreover, while one of them was on
the scene, he watched a boar clumsily
try to mount a sow. Afterward, the
squealing female had scratches on
her back not unlike those previously
inflicted by perpetrators unknown.
By now, too, the Cape Codder had
gotten wind of the inexplicable
. developments. And when it wrote
about them, two more North Truro
residents ~ame up with a surprising
recollection. Back in October, reported William and Marsha Medeiros,
not far 'from the spot where the dead
cats had been discovered, they'd been
taking a stroll al~ng a National
Seashore bicycle path one afternoon.
They had encountered, in clear view,
in broad daylight, a feline creature as
tall as their knees, with short ears and
a long tail, weighing, they estimated,
60 to 80 pounds. They thought the int~rloper was a mountain lion. If so, it
must have' been a fairly kittenish one.
An adult male can be six feet long, not
counting a three-foot tail, and can
weigh up to 200 pounds.
It was hard to dispute what the'
Medeiroses said they'd seen. And
\

Pura.', 163 .

..-.....

--------------------------------._-------------.------._------------

singlehaqdedly putting out a scholarly'

retreat. Further, according to Mampublication entitled Eastern Cougar
mals 0/ Eastern United States, the lion
Newsletter, has yet to find any such
is "capable of emitting unearthly
evidence, but he is not discouraged;
wails"-most frequently during cour~he cougar, as he prefers to call Fe/is
ship. "Those who have heard this
conc%r; is one of the most elusive
feline's weird drawn-out shriek,"
animals on earth. President Theodor:e
according to the book The Anima/
Roosevelt, who saw and shot a
Kingdom, "declare it to be the wildest
massive one in Colorado in 1901, was
and most hair-raising sound that ever
quoted" as saying, with not atypical
broke the stillness of the American
immodesty" "No animal, not even the
wilderness. " Downing' would very
wolf, is solr~rely seen." According to
much like to track whatever animal
Furbearin,g Animals 0/ North
Cape Cod is agitated ab'out, but the
America, published in 1981, "MounFish and Wildlife Service has had its
tain lions Iand bobcats [which have
budget slash~ and mutilated, and he
short tailsl can live close to man for
would have to travel north at his own
many years and never be seen." That
expense unless some patron picked up
tome addsl "The reports continue to
,the tab. He hasn't gotten to Truro yet.
com.e in. !They always have. Now,
Mountain lions subsist mainly on
is
substance
to
them.
however, there

deer
(Cape Cod has deer in.abundanI
People have reported seeing the
ce; I have often seen them close to my
mountain lion all over the country for
house), and full-grown males c~)O
years. These reports generally came in
sume eight to 12 pounds of meat a
during the spring, summer, and fall,
day, which comes to about 50.deer
but not during the winter when tracks
apiece a year. The giant cats, who
in the snow could substantiate the
routinely prowl 20 or' 30 miles a night
Claims. Now the tracks are there,
(about the same distance Police Oftoo-proof 'positive that America's
ficer Allen covers in his prowl car), do
, most elusive cat, .one of its largest
not chew their meat.' They gulp it, like.
predators, is again being seen ip.areas
my vora~ious dog, Rainbow. Lacking
from which it had been ext.irpated."
available deer,' they will eat smaller
And it may have been seen in
wild animals, and in a. pinch, domestic
Massachusetts, whence it was sup-'
ones; too. Although years ago (accor- .
posedly extirpated a century ago. For
ing to' the 1968 bbok Animals in
nearly a year now, Virginia Fifield., an
Danger) cougar hunters used to justify
animal behaviorist from Wisconsin,
their outings with the slogan "Kill him
A mountain lion? In Truro?
has been exclu~ively devoting herbefore he kills you," the shy,
Anywhere on Cape Cod? Anywhere in
self-working out of the Worcester
reclusive, largely nocturnal cats rarely
New England? The last time a Felis
Science Center,.....-to scouring the
slay wantonly, as dogs or house cats
con color (concolor means "onecommonwealth for mountain-lion
will (even so, one aberrant mountain
colored"; adult cougars .are usually
traces. Fifield knows the species well;
lion was credited with dispatching 192
fawn-colored, like some Great Danes)
growing up in Milwaukee, she had a
sheep in a single bloody night);' and
was trapped in northern Maine was
cougar as a house pet. She hasn't y,et
they never track people unless cor1938. The last time one was shot in
come upon one in Massachusetts-as
nered. Only about 20 human fatalities
Massachusetts, if a photograph taken
of late spring, surprisi~gly, nobody
have been chalked up against them. It
at the time is to be trusted, was 1927.
had asked her to look around Cape'
is suspected that in each. such instance
According to Mammals 0/ Eastern ' Cod-but she has received a couple of
a near-starving creature probably
United States, published in 1979,
promising reports, -among them an
mistook 'a child for a small animal. I
"Repeated press accounts of these
alleged sighting, last June, in the
decided not to share this particular
large cats in northeastern United
Quabbin Reservoir:area.
item of intelligence with my grandson
States occur, but most such stories
Nor has Robert Downing, plodding
Ian; it can wait till he grows up.
lack authenticity." There are some
gamely through the Carolina hills, yet
stumbled' on any telltale tracks. He
mountain lions in the southeastern
has a friend in California, he has told
United States, but they stick pre~ty
much to the swamps of Florida's
me, where cougars' do roam, who has
Once the Cape Codder and then
Everglades. One of the country's
othe~ papers had broken the outlandcovered 40,000 miles on foot and has
,foremost mountain-lion experts, the
seen 700 of the ,animals; but all those
ish news, more and more Truro folk
biologist Robert Downing, who works
save one have been 'cats that had been . came forward to disclose information
for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
treed by. dogs'{.~ ~A: mountain lion can
they had theretofore kept secret.
and is based in Clemson, South.
move swift1iY~ ~a's) lw.eIl as stealthily,
William Cooper, a former school
Carolina, has spent the last four years
though with less' speed than a cheetah.
principal who lives near the area
searching for solid mountain-lion
where Off!cer Allen froze his animal
A lion's stamina':is Iimlted, though,
and a pack of ,determined dogs can
evidence in the East. Downing, who
in his spotlight, said he'd seen a big,
since January, 1979, has been
eventually force it ioto arboreal
long-tailed cat on a road in April,
what was anybody to make of the experience, on February 7, of Truro
Police Officer Ro~ney Allen? At approximately 11:30 p.m., while on a
routine cruiser patrol along Pamet
Point Road, which runs from our
main highway-Route 6-west to the
bay, near the linc that separates Truro
from Wellfleet, he had.had to jam on
his ,brakes and swerve to avoid hitting
a large tali-colored animal that
loomed up in his headlights. Allen had
flicked on his roof spotlight and
briefly pinned the critter in its beam
before it skittered off into the bush.
Allen was absolutely certain it was a
mountain lion. Interestingly, it wasn't
the first one he'd ever looked at in the
wild. As a boy of six or seven in northern Maine, 'he'd had a giimpse of
what his father had assured him was
an authentic specimen of the species.
L~ter, before joining the Truro police;
Allen had worked for the Animal
Rescue League in Boston, and had
,acquired further familiarity with unfamiliar beasts-though, to be sure,
his most harrowing adventure had had
nothing to do with big cats but had
occurred when he was called upon to
rescue a combative boa constrictor
that had gotten itself entangled in the
wires under the dashboard of an MG
convertible.
II

Purst 164

. Fourth Quarter 1982

1980, at about 4:40 a.m. He hadn't

told anyone about it. He hadn't wanted to be taken for a nut. J oe.l Costa,
another townsman, saw a huge cat on
Route 6 early this year, a half-mile
south of Joe Duarte's package store.
An off-Caper from Winthrop,
Massachusetts, wrote Selectman
Oswalt that he'd seen one while he
. was hunting, on South Pamet
Road-my road-27 years ago. (I had
a large wandering Labrador retriever
then; I wonder.) MyoId friend Sidney
Simon, the sculptor, revealed that he
and his wife, Renee, had seen a large,
light-colored, ,long-tailed cat while
driving near their Truro home in
August, 1979, at dusk, at a 20-foot
range. Sidney swears he was cold
sober; he was on his way to a cocktail
party. He had eveq gotten out of his
car and approached to within 12 feet
of the stranger, which he resolutely
described-aI;ld later sketched-as
having the face of a kangaroo. On
arriving at the cocktail party and
relating what had happened, he was
ridiculed; it was a time when people
were talking about the Loch Ness
Monstet:, Bigfoot, and UFOs. Commendably brave Sidney may have
been at the instant of his encounter,
but he has since been spending his
summers in Maine. The writer Joan
Colebrook, who comes from
Australia, where kangaroos indisputably abound, is going to spend
this summer there; walking in the
woods near her fairly isolated South
Truro home last summer, she was
startled by an appalling, bloodcurdling shriek. Unaware then of the
conceivable presence of a puma, she
assumed nothing more out of the 'way
than a woman in dire trouble. Jeff
Newman, a Trurorite who has seen
considerable wildlife while working
with American Indians in the West,
maintains that he spotted an elk in
Truro I S years ago. Other eyewitnesses have categorized what they've
espied in the last several years as
mutants-perhaps a cross between a
wildcat and a fox, or a wildcat and a
dog. There is no mammalogical precedent for a normal mountain lion's
engaging, by consent or by force, in
any such fanciful dalliance. '
Early in February, while I was still
securely in New York, sidestepping
uncrowded subway cars, the Cape
Codder, which had just published a
feature, under the heading "Cape'
Cod's Strangest Mammal," about, of
'Fourth Quarter 1982

perhaps heard some of the yarns

all things, an opossum, received a
floating around about you know
handwritten, unsigned letter, mailed
what-in view of existing circumstanfrom Tru,-:o, enclosing a Polaroid
ces, he had prevailed on two of his
snapshot of what was unquestionably
schoolmates to keep him company.
a mountain lion. The anhnal was
Another mother said that what conshown at night, snif{il!-g," with ears
cerned her most about her son, who'd
serenely flattened, at an open' garbage
lately taken to walking across frozen,
can alongside a hous~. The subject of
the photograph was not looking at the
snow-clad ponds in quest of cougar
tracks, was not so much that he might
camera. Malcolm Hobbs,' the
run into a track maker as that he
proprietor of the paper, who has a
might fall through the ice. 'I was ingoosefish skull impaled on his office
troduced to a woman from Eastham,
door, suspected that the picture was a
20 miles up Cape, who said her
hoax. It' seemed implausible that a,
husband was a taxidermist and that
human being could emerge from a
their residence harbored one of the
building and take a flash photo
three stuffed cougars in the area-not
without alerting so sensitive a beast.
the one, she hastened to add, that had
Moreover, mountain lions don't go
for garbage. They like their meat
been used in that sophomoric stunt.
fresh, and when they kiU Ii deer they , "We also have five or six stuffed
bears," she went on, "including ,one
gut it at once, to keep its flesh from
from Alaska that must be 12 feet tall,
rotting. Hobbs, rao the picture
anyway, with a covering caveat. The, and four sheep, and I think one
wolverine. I have practically no room
photograph did turn out to be a fake.
The animal was a stuffed 'one. In the
at home for myself. I don't really
course of tracing the picture's
believe there could be a real. mountain
lion out there, do you?" I was a
provenance, the Cape Codder was
newcomer to the subject under
surprised to learn that there were at
discussion. I hedged. 1 replied that the
least three stuffed mountain lions on
only thing I truly believed in, at that
Cape Cod, one of which had' been
moment, was a nuclear freeze. My kin
borrowed from its Qwner by a
and I left at about II o'clock. On our
, prankster or pranksters, identity still
way, home we detoured off Route 6
undt:tected, to pull off the hoax.
along Pamet Point Road, where, at
(There have been live mQuntain lions
almost precisely the same time of
on the Cape, too, but all of them in
night, Police Officer Allen had had
zoos, and all either still pre~ent or achis jarring confrontation. I had hoped
counted for.)
that Ian, whose vision is far keener
than mine (though unarguably inferipr to that of a night-prowling
cougar), might detect something specI betook myself back to Truro, one
tacular on or just off the road. Alas, I
recent evening, shortly after reading
was too late; before we even got close
in an off-Cape paper that a Virginia
to our assignation point, Ian had
Beach man had been sentenced to five
fallen asleep. It will be a long time
years in jail for hacking his mother-inbefore I take him hunting again.
law to death; the jury didn't believe
his story that he had mistaken her for
a raccoon. I had scarcely arrived when
Ian's parents-my s~~, Tony and his
The' following morning, 1 stopped
wife, Judy-hustle.d'ihirri and me off
by our post office, as I habitually do
to a meeting of the 'Lower Cape Comon Truro mornings. I learned thatthe local Boy Scouts hadn't been out
mittee for a Nuclear Arms Freeze.
Ian, I was relieved to perceive, went
searching for whatever it was, because
their scoutmaster, Jack Kelly, who is
along unarmed. The formal agenda
was worthy and self-explanatory. The
also' our postmaster, doesn't believe
informal chit-chat was",-more trivial
there is anything out there to look for.
Jack's deputy, Roberta Lema, is also
and, among several, acq'uaintances r
found at the gather.ing, =more feline.
a nonbeliever. Why, she told me, if
The woman in wh'os.e~ house ,the ,th'ere was anything to the story, how
meeting was held ,told Il!eHhat norcome nothing untoward had hapmally her 14-year-old son[ would have
pened to disrupt the normal routine of
her brother Tom's sheep and
directed traffic, down at the'entrance
chickens? Truro, I was beginning to
to their long driveway, all by himself;
tonight, in view of-well, I had
sense, was a house divided. Some of

Purlt 165

its most dedicated churchgoers were,

when it came to mountain lions,
downright atheistic, or at' any rate
ag,nostic. The painter Malcolm
Preston, who' is also our town moderator, and as such presides
benignly at our town meetings,:--ialls
somewhere between belief and
disbelief. "Nobody has yet explored
the notion," Malcolm told me when I
bumped into him near his North
Pamet Road studio, "that what attacked tho~ pigs was a big hawk, or
an eagle. I don't eliminate that."
Malcolm urged me to phone Clive
,Driver, whose father was for many
years head of the zoology department '
at Smith College, an institution of impeccable probity. I did, and Clive told
me that he'd been in touch with Driver
senior, who, on being apprised of the
known facts and suppositions, had
said that in his erudite view the animal
in question had to be either a, mountain lion or a bear. A bear! I could
hardly wait to tell Ian. He loves bears,
especially small cloth ones with glass
eyes. All ,things considered, though,
he is fondest of his plastic Mighty
Mouse.
Later that morning, I scrutinized
every square foot of the bare surface
of my clay tennis court, hoping to find
some eye-popping tracks. Nothing.
Not even a hint that George Mooney's
cows. had traipsed over from next
door, as they occasionally do, to leave
their calling cards. George, I would
soon learn, is another nonbeliever. "I
think it's all nonsense," he told. me
unequivocally. I checked the earth
around my garbage cans for printsnegative-and moved along South
',Pamet Road to drop in on still
another neighbor, Thomas'Kane, who'
was to retire this spring after 40 years
as Truro's town clerk. On the side, he
has been writing, for nearly as long, a
weekly newJpaper column about
Truro and its history, past and
present. Tommy had started out,
earlier this winter, as a forthright
apostate. "I think it's a ,figment of the
imagination," he had written in a
mid-January column. He thought the
Truro animal which the Star had
asserted, shortly after Kane's
reassuring opinion, was "terrorizing
residents, " to be nothing more or less '
than a plain old dog. There was no
chance of anybody's pinning anything
on his dog, Shebnah, a cross between
a'Shitzu and, in its owner's opinion, a
cairn terrier; winter and summer both,

Pu,...III66

something have seen something. Whru;

Tommy walks Shebnah along South
they've seen I don't know. What I've
Pamet on a stout leash.' In a later
seen are mostly paw prints. I got
column, our town scribe reported-I
called out on Super Bowl Sunday,' just
gathered, tongue in cheek-that he'
IS minutes before the kickoff, to '
had dusted off his shotgun, reinforced
examine some tracks at' Joe Peters;s
his stock of bu,ckstio~;' mov.ed his stack
place in South Truro. I guess I've
of firewood Clo~er to his back door,
looked at a million dog tracks in snow
and shortened.sheb~a:h's lead. By the
tiJJle I crossed his threshold, Tommy ,and mud and sand in the last few
months, and that particular set, of
was wavering. "For all this smoke,
there has to be some fire," he told me. ' them, whoever made them, was different. I don't know if the mystery
He rendered, no judgment on two
will ever be solved, but I ,would never
'theories I'd heard from town: 'that the
discount the possibility of a mountai~
mountaip lion had gotten to Truro by
'lion's existing somewhere in these
leaping onto an open-t()p truck
woods. Listen to this." He switched
coming down fJ,"om Canada with a
on a tape recorder and played for me a
load of firewood or Christmas trees,
communication he'd just received, hi
or that the animal had been some
the form of a recorded monologue,
wacko's summer pet 'in Provincetown,
from an up-Cape man' whose firm
where anYthing goes, and had been
voice informed us that the speaker
turned loose after Labor Day. "This
had been hunting and fishing f~)f 50
lion affair dQesn',t yet quite rank up
years, and deemed it perfectly
there with Truro's 'other big events,"
plausible that a cOl,lgar could be in
Tommy said, "like the 1927 forest fire
Truro-though if one was here it had
or the, attempt to land 'a boatload' of
probably been transported across the'
booze during Prohibition, but it has
Cape Cod Canal by a human being,
its possibilities., If I were a mountain
lion, I'd consider Truro an ideal place ,and thus might have an altitude
toward two-legged creatures different
to be. Beautiful brush. Lots of rabfrom'that ofthe majority of its ilk. ocr
bits. Lots of 'deer. Only thing that
had a meeting late in February with
puzzles me is how, come no hunter
the state wildlife peop~e, the ASPCA,'
flushed 'it during deer week: Well,
the police, the National Sea!;hore,'"
there aren't anywhere near as many
hunters around as when I was a boy. I , Oswalt said, "and we all concurred
that as long as the animal wasn't
remember how e~en in later' years,
while I was driving the ambulance,
bothering anybody we would just do
nothing more about it. Not, mind
there were so many hunters here the
you, that,Irving Tubbs and ,the' rest of
first week in December they'd shoot
each other up pretty badly.
his Park Rangers have yet conceded
that there is anY,thing in the vicinity to
Tommy Kane is" or has been,
do nothing about.
among Ii welter' of 'vocations and
avoca:tioi1s~
trombone player,
cemetery-plot mower, and schoolteacher. His own 'scholarly name for
I,rving Tubbs is the -chief parI\:
Truro's most talked-about <;reature is
ranger f.or the 'National S'eashore
Animalus Oswaltensis. He advised me
district that embraces Truro. Over a
'to call on Edward" Oswalt, the seleccup of coffee at his headquarters-a'
man who had beeh more or less in
onetime Coast Guard outpost at Race
charge of, the -towri's mountain-lion
Point, at the very tip of Provincebusiness" imd:cw,J[9se ow~ recently
town, virtually in the middle of the
acquired sobriquet was Cat Man
Atlantic Ocean-Tubbs told me that
Oswalt. I did. Oswalt, who shares the
he and ,his fellow rangers had checked
digs of a large. German shepherd, is
out every report, no matter how flimnot altogether convinced he is dealing
sy, that had come to their notice, and
with a Felis concolor. He has'retained
had found not a shred of evidence to
enough skePticismJ for instance, to
have prediC:t@Ci' thiinhis coming sumconfirm the presence of any cat of extraordinary dimensions. ','People"s;
mer' someOfie rwm"claim to have seen
imaginations have been running a' bii'
a live alligat0~ih :ifTruro salt marsh.
riot lately, I'm afraid," Tubbs said~"
"I'm of inlxetP~otions," he told me,
"Why, just the other day a woman
a cloth alligator, gently stirring on
called up excitedly to' report a dead
his chest. "I' hfi'V"en't seen anything
whale at Fisher Beach, in South,
that's'super-c(5Dcftisive. I believe that
Truro, with large cat prints all'around '
aU the people who' say they'Ve ~een
It

It

Fo'arth Quarter 1982~'

As ,the 'Cape Cod Cougar' rumors spread, SITU members clipped ~eports like these &om their local papers and sent them to PursuIt,

the carcass. That wasn't even in our

jurisdiction-Fisher is a town beach,
outside the Seashore-but I sent a
ranger over anyway, and. he came
back with a photo of a white-sided
dolphin, with dog tracks alongside it.
Imagine-taking a dolphin for a
whale! We got a big laugh out of that
one. Now if-if there's a large cat
around, it's not unlikely to be a bobcat, though there probably aren't any
of them in the area either. We've
picked up every deer carcass we've
been notified about, and have had
autopsies done on everyone, as well
as on that pig that got mortally injured, and the biologist who performed the autopsi~ has stated that they
were all attacked by canines. You can
tell, because dogs always go for the
haunches, to disable their prey, and
then rip out the rear flanks, but don't
eat much. A cat will leap on a deer's
, back and then br~ak its neck, most of
the time, and after disemboweling it
will drag the carcass off to a hiding
place and cover it up with brush, for
,future eating. Totally dissimilar pat-'
terns of behavior. And we know there
are deer-killing dogs around. We've
been chasing two or three of them, so
,far u~successfully, for more thim a
year. Our rangers have had a good
,deal of experience, what's more, in
identifying animal tracks. None of us
has yet to see any that we're not sure
were made by dogs. Stil\, I beJjeve that
anything is possible. Possible.
Probable-no. In any event, even if
we were convinced there was a lion on

Fo....h Quad_l'12

the loose, we doubt we'd do anything

animal tracks, and I saw a couple that
about it unless there was proof it conlooked somewhat like a bear's. But
stituted a threat to public safety or
they could also have been a dog's.
public property. If in our collective
Tracks-especially in the snow-tend
view there was any likelihood of such ' to expand soon after they're made. I
a threat, we wouldn't have, the
talked to my superintendent, and he
facilities here-:Havaheart traps,
agreed with me that it wasn't a bear.
tranquilizing darts, whatever-to
There couldn't be a bear in erince
cope with it. I suppose' we'd call in
William Forest Park. No way a bear
could have gotten there without going
something like the Boston Zoo" which
has the equipment to facilitate a
through some congested residential
, areas. A few days later, on a road at
humane capture."
Tubbs has been with the National
the edge of the park, a young black
Park Service for 10 years, and he has
bear was tun over by an automobile ...
coped with' challenges before. While
There was a little snow still on the
ground outside the ranger station
stationed in Washington, D.C., he
had, the responsibility of seeing to it
when I took my ieave. I glanced
that the White House Christmas tree
around in all directions; not a polar
bear in sight, not even a moose. On
was illuminated without a hitch. He
-was also, for a while, chief ranger at
my way back to Truro, I stopped to
Prince William ,Forest Park, in
gas up at Sonny Silva's Chevron
Virginia. When I asked him if the
station. ,"The only thing I'd be
Truro beast-if there was one-could
worried about," Sonny said after I'd
conceivably be a bear, he said right
told him what I'd been worrying
off, "A bear is as unlikely as a mounabout, "would be if there was some
kid standing at a roadside waiting for
tain lion." Then he ,papsed. "Still, ... II
he said and paused again. He sipped
a school bus and .... " He left the sentence delicately unfinished. "I know
his coffee, and frowned. "I'd almost
forgotten something that happened in
one guy who says he saw the mountain
1977," he said, "when I was at Prince
iion 'crossing Route 6 twice, coming
William. That's only 3S miles from
from opposite directions," Sonny
the Capitol, you know, an.d one of its
continued. "As for myself, I know
boundaries is a heavily, tr,aveled interwhat I see, and I know what I don't
state. Well, I got Ii phone'CalI one day.
see, and I haven't seen anything. If
anybody asked me for my opinion, I'd
, Somebody said, he'~ s,~g.J;;a bear in
another part of the p~r~,):J.,,:,laughed
say, 'Whatever's out there, leave it
again, but a little les~-~~eartily. I
"alone.'" And why not? The life span
of a mountain lion rarely exceeds IS
figured it was a laJ'g~,' dark-colored
dog. When a third call ~me in, I went
years. Of course, if there are two of
out with a book that had pictures of
them out there. . .
~

"",...1,167

Farther Notes on
, The Planetary' Grid
by doha T,; Sialdewlcz
original article, "The 'Planetary Grid," pubS lishedmyin Pursuit
for the First Quarter 1982, a number
INCE

of. comments and references have been made by others

"concerning that article. One of the more interesting of '
these appeared in the November-December issue of The
Journal oj Borderland Research (see below and opposite).
It was the intent and purpose of my article to stimulate
investigation and review of the Grid's probability; thus
references to it go a long way toward satisfying that intent.
In order to facilitate further research into the Planetary
Grid's uses, the following additional information is presented for consideration.
First, it should be noted that the two interlocked struc. tures, i.e., spherical icosa~hedron and spherical dodecahedron, function in two distinctly different fashions. The
dodeca-hedron structure is that form or energy envelope
which sets the outline of "form." The icosa-hedron is that
structure which gives energy or vitality to the form. They
both have analogies in the make-up of our human form (as
above, so below), the etheric body "so-called" being the
mold or form maker, the meridians and chakras being the
energizers of ~~e form. Actually, the 13 primary nodes
(12 on the surface plus the sphere center) of the icosahedron are quite similar in function to what the ancients
called the chakras of the human form. Like the chakras,
these nodes are activated in a pattern consistent with the
level of evolution of the form.
As to the forms useful' for applications in Earth research, we must first come to recognize that the pyramid
form, thought quite powerful when properly tuned and
applied, is not natural to thi~ planet. Therefore, its natural

harmonic resonance with this planet is imbalanced, except

for those exceptional beings who understand its true qualities. On the other hand, the tetra-hedron and the dodecahedron are forms natural and harmonic to the planet Earth.
Here at the L.LF.E. Research Corp.'" we find that the
dodeca-hedron is an exceptional form-enhancer when used
as the model for an acoustical room. This dodeca-hedron
room.will help form pure tones into useful energy packets.
These packets will energize similar lethargic or imbalanced
energy, packets in the human energy make-up.
The tetra-hedron was found to be an energy transformer
type of form which, when constructed of particular materials, would act as a transformer of the sea of energies in
which our Earth floats, making the result useful as free
energy available to all.
.
Researchers looking into pole-shift information will
be interested in 'knowing that there has been a confirmation of sorts as to my projected new pole location. In Ruth
Montgomery's new book Threshold to Tomorrowt there is '
a statement by her guides that the new South Pole would
be,south of South America: That is also the location of S6
in my article. This is, of course, no great validation but is
none-the-Iess pertinent.
, Finally, it should be noted that my sensitive persons are
able to det~ the exact intersecti()ns of active grid crossings.
This is a simple way to verify grid 'patterns. We ran some
experiments in which individuals' were asked to locate any
grid energy intersections jn a givef!, area. The results were
as precise'as could be plotted on a U.S.G.'S. Topographic
Map of 7 '30" grid. These "hits" were not through dowsing techniques but by' the person simply detect\ng the
column of energy with the physical body. It has been determined that many can do this with very little tr~ning.
*The author recently established L.I.F.E. (Light, Interaction, Freq~ency,
Evaluation) Research Corp. As"its research director, he is interested in
hearing from any reader who wishes to receive or contribute further
information about the Planetary Grid and related subjects. Address:
John Sinkiewicz, L.I.F.E. Research Corp., P.O. Box 871, Hendersonville, NC 28793.
tPublished by Putnam Publishing Group, New York.,

Excerpted from The Journal oj Borderland Research, Nov.-Dec .. 1982

Published by Borderland Science Research Foundation, P.O. Box 548, Vista, California 92083,

P LAN ETA R y. G RID

The [Fig. I) map of intersecting lines of Etheric forces is the socalled Russian Grid because it was developed by Russian engineers
and archeologists. 11 was illustrated and described at length several
years ago in aD. article by Christopher 'Bird in the New Age 'Journal
(date not given) and sent to'us by an Associate. The idea of a world~
wide power grid along which Flying Saucers travel regularly is not new
to Journal readers. We reviewed Capt. Bruce Cathie's book on the ,
subject, Harmonic JJ, in the early '70s. 'He thought he had discovered
something new but was chagrined to learn that an elite group of
American scientists was already well irito the subject and were ,developing a grid map of their own, apparently in cooperat,ibn \\iith
,Flying Saucer entities, and keeping it a secret! After all, if such a frei:flowing source of usable energy became available to the gerierlil:piiliiiC
it would raise hell with the electric and petroleum pOwer monopblies...:....
not to mention Wall Street's massive investments in same!
More recently, the First Quarter 1982 issue of Pursuit, the joorillil
of the Society fo~ the Investigation of The Unexplained, has an excel-

't

.Pur 168

lent article by John T. Sinkiewicz. His numbering system for the

major crossing points is different from that in Bird's chart above, but
he goes into considerably greater detail of the Grid System and its
refinements, including coordinates for the intersections, down to the'
4th decimal place!
'
Chartres on a Grid Une?

, Louis Charpentier, in his book The Mysteries ofChartres Cathedral,

makes much of the idea that the gallery crypt I~ading to the Black
V\rgin was lined up with Telluric (ea~th) forces flowing in a north'easterly direction .. Thus the worshipful feelings of the pilgrims to the
underground shrine were enhanced.
He notes also that the cathedral itself is laid out on a northeast line,
rather than the traditional east, which causes the celebrant of the
Eu~ha~jst to look toward the rising sun when facing the altar. But
Notre Dame de Chartres is dedicated to She who bore the Savior,
rather than to the great Sun spirit Himself; so Charpentier suspects

Foarth Qaarter 1982

thai the Knight Templar initiate who laid

out the temple in the 12th century was
well aware of the flow of the EI!-rth
Mother's currents in that part of France.
It is only now, in the late 20th century,
that these grid lines are being "re-discovered" by science.

Figure I'

Note the small circle at the bottom

center of the illustration at right. Count
up five circles, to the one labeled "I".
This is the great pyramid of Gizeh at
Cairo, Egypt. This,' the most obvious
grid marker in the Western world the Russians chose as the first. Sinkiewicz gives
, this as 29 58' North and 31 09' East,
Go up to the next circle, marked "2".
'This is Kiev, Russia, 50 53' N 31 f17' E. Now over to the left to the
next big intersection marked "II". This
is Edinburgh, Scot~and, 56 56' N 3 17' W, and down to the next big intersection, marked "20". This is somewhere
out in the Erg Iguidi desert of southwestern Algeria, 25 08' N - 4 21' West.
We have now bracketed France in the
Earth's icosa-dodecahedron grid system-a geometrical figure which, its
discoverers claim, preceded and guided
the physical construction of the earth
billions of years ago, and sustains its
present life and form. Women give form
to life so it is logical to assume that the
Grid System represents a Cosmic Feminine force, the Great Sky Mother!

'Figure 2

We transferred grid crossings I, 2, 'II

and 20 from a world map to the map of
Europe in the "Great World Atlas" published by the Reader's Digest. Then we
laid out the minor grid lines as nearly as
we could figure it out from Sinkiewicz's,
instructions. Sure enough, Chartres is on
a northeast line which also includes Paris.

Proof that the existence of the Grid

System was known in Europe in ancient
times is the re-discovery of Ley lines and
their markers all over the place. There is
also the quote from the Greek philosopher-magician-mathematician, Pythagoras, in Chris,Bird's article on the Russian
grid-and also taught by Plato: "The
earth, viewed from above, resembles a
ball sewn from twelve pieces of skin."
Were Plato and Pythagoras taken aloft
in a Flying Saucer to have such an exalted
view of the earth? Or were these advanced,
Sixth sub-race humans capable of out-ofthe-body projections in full consciousness?
Take your choice.

~diterranean

(Reprinted by permission)

Fourth Quarter 1982

Pursuit 169

.--------------------..---------------------------:---

A Treat.ise on
.Anti-Gravity and Light'
by Dr. do.eph L.lntellao
1982 by Dr. Joseph L. Intelisano
.

1n

All rights rese~

1. e
I

(Continued from the previous issue,: further: each structure was placed at
. specific longitudes and latitudes for
Pursuit No. 59, page 121)
. purposes of drawing in the etheric
ow we can understand why. man
and electromagnetic waves based
upon their inherent composition, such
was feared by his etheric overas quartz or iron, and design. They
lords. Once man knew of the knowwould then act either in the piezoelecledge of good and evil (individual
tric effect or para and magnetic waves
consciousness) and had become more
as well as etheric. We may then conphysical and less etheric and therefore
clude that as functional and activated
held to the lower levels of the animalfields in totality on a glo~allevel. they
type mind with all of its/negative
indeed wielded powerful forces. Many
drives for dominance, he posed a
of our mythologies of today are .but
threat to the etheric world, lords and
perverted stories of an earlier dawn of
the portal of time travel. There then
would be vast problems at the areas
ihe Gods or Etheric Lords.
This global system. of force fields
aforementioned. Man in essence had
was used for' interstellar and extranot attained to the level of nientality
dimensional travel, levitation. healor spirituality needed to master time
ing, increasing longevity and other
travel. As is the case today he can
barely control his own life or destiny
functions by their inherent designs
(geometrics) "and composition as
with the global threat of nuclear holoaforementioned. The Babylonian
caust; so one can imagine what he
Tablets tell of a time when the High
would do having knowledge of the
Priests under the guidance of the
science being discussed. The question
is, is man ready today for a science
Gods were even able to 'resurrect the
dead. This is not too far afield since
such as this?
we now know man is essentially etherBelow is a partial theoretical conic. By controlling and manipulating
cept of a natural logarithm wh'ich may
. certain etheric and light-waves it is not
be used as a portion of this new
too far from incomprehensible that all
science for levitation (anti-gravity)
of these things could have been done.
acceleration toward the speed of light.
This was obviously a well-advanced
In reality this is not a new science but
science and not mythology ..As a matthe resurrection of an arcane science
ter of fact, our government is jUlit
called geomancy.
The present dictionary definition of
beginning to rediscover this science
geomancy-"Divination by random under the title of Project Sanguine.
although at-present it is being used for
. figures formed when a handful of
radio transmission to our Polaris subearth is cast on the ground. or by dots
or lines drawn at random"-is but a
marines.
debased definition of a lost technological science. Geomancy was in fact
EDITORS' NOTE
the building of the true macrocosm or
Dr.
I
ntelisano
has called attention to two
astronomical (astrological) miniatures
printer's errors in the first part of his article
on the Earth's surface (microcosm).
published in the previous issue of Pursuit
Each Pyramid, each megalithic struc(No. 59, Third Quarter 1982):
-page 119, right column, line 17: "division
ture such as Stonehenge and others
spark" is incorrect; it should read "divine
was mathematically designed and
spark."
built after a solar body or bodies and
-page 121, right colump, last sentence:
particularly represented tlJe miniature
three words, "the manipulation of", .were
of our solar system on the physical
omitted. The last sentence correctly reads:
"When mastery of light-speed is accomplished
plane. These structures also symbolfor interstellar travel, then time too is mastered
ized our spiritual or Etheric Solar
for time-travel, via the manipulation of geoLogas (word or solar electromagnetic
metric form or matrices. "
wavelengths-specific). To observe

ru.....tJ70

I now introduce a mathematical

exercise based on a natural logarithm
mentioned earlier as .a possible first
step toward .a new beginning of this.
science: .
Where n = .618034 (The Golden
Mean)

= lim (1 + 0)
n-++oo

.1 n

2. (1 + 0) ;
3. (l+

1
) .618034;
.618034

4. Take .618034, find the recipro1

.
cal (x), add one; find
and insert.
.618034 and this equals 1.8126875.
If we multiply this by 360 0 in a circle,
be it an atom or the Earth, we obtain:
~52.5675. We now can take this answer and multiply It by 19.44 geodetic
inches or one ten-inillionth part of 45
(degrees). This quantity shows evidence of a harmonic affinity with
the gravity reciprocal. (See the works
of Capt. Bruce Cathie, specifically
Harmonic 288).
\
Then:
(652.5675) (19.44) = 12685.912 and
rounding out. we get 1269. which is
fairly close to Harmonic 26944; the
number one of our answer relating to
unity; we ignore the 44. It s'hould be
noted that 16944 is the harmonic .mass
of a proton. What this data signifies
is the possible beginning of a design
pattern or device. for transmuting and'
teleporting matter based upon the
geometrics of the Golden Mean. (For
clarification of above data, see Har-

monic288.. )
It" should be noted that the log
494.9772858 = 2.69458 (Harmonic
26944-double proton .mass harmonic) would indicate the IQcation of.
an aerial grid structure. or a buried
grid structure based upon the speed of
light harmonic for reso.nating the
Earth. This in fact is the log of the
coordinates (location) of the secondary location of a grid under. Project Sanguine as mentio~ed by Cathie:
it is northwest of Austin, Texas. The
primary location of said project is at
the Michigan Peninsula; both locales
were mentioned by Cathie prior to the
U.S. devising this project as completed.
The other interesting point is that the
above is based on light harmonics and
proton mass. etc. and now we can see
the application for transmuting mat-

Folll'th Q_arter1982

ter and teleportation if the concepts

are expanded.
Another interesting point from the ..
above answer is the fact that if we
multiply 1.8126875 by 180 and 90
by Boyd HID
respectively, we obtain the answers of
326.28375 and 163.14188 and of
y WIFE Michelle and I are mature, well-educated professional persons,
coUrSeIiote the values of 2pi and pi
not given to flights of imagination. Although we have both had minor
respectively or close enough to these
experiences which might be paranormal, we are distinctly' not psychic in any
values; ignoring the non-underlined
ways that we can discover. We are skeptical of tales of occult occurrences,
integers.
. but far from being automatic disbelievers. We have, however, had one hapThe importance of the works of
pening that we cannot explain.
Capt. Cathie and others such as John
It \,Vas on a Sunday morning: August 22, 1976. We were in our 32nd
Sinkiewicz (see Pursuit No. 57, First
floor apartment of a condominium facing the yacht harbor. It was a bright,
Quarter (982) hopefully is a bit more
clear day, and Michelle, wearing a terry-cloth housecoat, was in the kitchen,
clear, although almost too vast to
preparing breakfast. I was in the living room,' reading the Sunday paper.
grasp.
It was an absolute cliche of a day. . . .
Capt. Cathie, for instance, in Har-
Without any warning .the apartment was suddenly-within three secmonic 288. The Pulse oj the Universe
onds, to my best estimation-filled with a strong odor of burning fabric.
has indeed broken the mathematical
There was no smoke. At the same moment, I heard Michelle scream. I rushed
code to creation and is the sole person
to the kitchen.
responsible for presenting this knowMichelle had torn off the terry-cloth hOlisecoat, thrown it onto the
ledge on a general basis. As well as defloor, and was stamping on it, although there were no flames. At the same
vising a new science, he has solely
time she was frantically brushing with her hand near the back of her left
created a new Atomic Table of Elshoulder.
ements, discussed the harmonics of
"I'm burning!" she cried. "Soft burning!"
the laser, the harmonics (mathematShe picked up the robe from the floor. It was not burning. It stank of
ical geometrics) of water, temperature,
scorched fabric, but it 'was not smoking anywhere. There was a patch of
sound and the very pulse of life genlight redness, like a very mild sunburn, on Michelle's extremely white skin.
eration.
It was just over her left shoulder blade, and about the size of my hand. It-was
With this new logically mathnot warm to the touch, and was not painful in any way. In a few minutes it
ematical science based upon harmonic
completely disappeared.
.
unlversal balance, Capt. Cathie has
We studied the robe. On the outside of the back, in the left-shoulder
indeed taken us from a primitive
area, the fabric was distinctly scorched, although it was unmarred on the insociety based on fossil fuels to an
side; it was not warm, but carried a strong scent of. burning.
ultra-advanced society based on the
The only .way Michelle could describe the happening was that she felt
pulse of creation and limitless energy
a sudden, strong sensation of "soft burning," feared that the fabric had
as Tesla, Moray and others have related to us in the past.
caught fire from the gas stove, and tore the robe off. The burning sensation
ceased as soon as the garment was rem~)Ved.
From the standpoint of evolution;
We opened the windows and the- strong trade wind soon carried away
the question still of course is, can a
the burning smell. Michelle put the robe back on arid continued cooking.
spiritually immature humanity serve
this limitless power of energy-the
She wore the robe several years afterwards, and there was no recurrence of
the "burning." Nor were there any more abnormal happenings during the
very essence of the reflection of our
four years we continued to live there.
creator without destroying himself?
Yes...:....there is no question that as
this science grows so will we grow
Boyd HiI1lives in Hawaii .. He served 'as an information officer and editor for
toward a greater understanding and
the U.S. Air Force and Army for 20 years before retiring in 1970. In his
love of our creator; but will we give
response to Pursuit's letter requesting further 'information abo~t this apparourselves the time needed?
ently
unique close encounter with the phenomenon of spontaneous human
Of course, the depth of this subject
(SHe), Mr. Hill noted:
combustion
is as vast as the universe itself, once
Ij-and
I want to stress' that IF-Michelle's experience actually was
one begins to unravel these matha
case
oj
SHe. it was a most unusual one.
ematical mysteries; and I must leave
First. she jelt it. It hurt her. From 'what I have read. in SHe the victim
this up to Capt. Cathie and others
does
not/eel thejlames until they are very well developed.
.
who have done such a fantastic job in
Second.
it
started.
then
stopped.
I
have
never
encountered
a case oj
this area.
"partial"
SHe.
I would also like to extend my perThird. it developed jrom outside her clothing. Her robe was charred on
sonal thanks to Capt. Cathie for his
the
ouiside.
not the inside. Loops oj the terry cloth were destroyed, but her
kind permission in allowing me to use
skin,
separated
bY'only one layer oj cloth. had only a very minor first-degree
certain portions and/or concepts of
burn.
From
all
I have read. SHe starts either on the surjace oj the skin. or
his most detailed and admired works.
perhaps even under the epidermis. ~

'Soft Barning'

Fourth Quarter 1982

Pursuit 171

A$trology, and. Chat;les ,Hoy FC)rt

. .by AllaD Grise

. .

' .. t:

.,

ORTEANS ..mow that anything said to be impossible

Fort's Sun was in fortunate aspect to his Moon,

by .the .scientific. establishment of the day will more
something that conferred ease of expression, and let his
bold wit shinethrough:....-Iucky for posterity; His Sun was
.
than liiq::ly be accepted fact within few decades.
Upon realizing this basic "tenet of Forteanism must
also square to Pluto, a'd8tk and brooding planet say the .
apply to astrology, I decided to put astrology to the test
experts. This influence blossoms forth as' one of suspicion
in a most empirical way: compa the planets in Charles
and of being up against the establishment generally, and
Fort's birth ch3rtto what is claimed in stan~ astrological:
the wealthy and pOwerful s~rfically. This sense of bucktexts. . . .
ing overwhelIiling odds surfaces in FOJ:l's ready
. Th~ purpose of this e?,ercise is not only to see how
admission that his.wo~ :win n;o~ make any lasting dent
astrological dictums stand when called into test, but, to
in the constipated thinking of mercenary science.
make a very Fortean point. The latter I shall do at. the conFort's Aries Moon fonils a friction-generatjng 45 angle
..;., 0
clusion of this artici.
to Pluto. also, ~aking qui- Hero very rillich aware of the
.. In Tiffany Thayer's introduction to the Book of. the
power blOCk formed by the mental.~fia of his day. l;Iis
.Dam~, he~~n~ionsthat His Preposterousness was born ". moon also fo~ avery produc~,ye c,oo sexti1~ to the pblllet
'August9, 1874.- After dutifully looking up the positions
. Saturn, Ii feature- saidto confer much dediCation and tenaof the Sun,Moon, and planets for that date, I consulted
city. We.s~ this in Fort's pe~~e~nce. Thisis the guy
a number of prominent texts on the meanings traditionally .
whocrapked out 3,500,OOO-word novels as a pastime, and
attributed to specific geometrical r:elationships between .
took 40,000. notes and pigeon-holed them into. 1300
these heavenly" bodjes.
.
categories over a period: of decades) He ~as.~le~tless in
Fort's Sun.was in Leo, the sign of people who are proud
his plowing and plodding through newspapers and a few
al'!d i~perious. This shows in'the way Fort let .the world
thousand scientific journals. In addition to theSe Pluto and
know his intelligence was .insulted by the spineless
Saturn contacts, Fort~s Moon formed a very happy 1200
racketeering being passed off as science.. Evangeline
"trine'~ withMercury;Mars; and Uranus. This business
Adams in herAstrology~ Your Place in the Sun says that
with Mercury mean~ ease of expression between the sub Leos '~ssess the power to generalize, to bring up to date,
conScious memory and the ratio~1 part of one's brain, conin .perfect arrangement and beauty ,the sum of, all .
ferring that ability. Fort h~d of remembering where his 58
t~ns of notes fitt~ into the big picture.. Mars trine Moon
knowledge, extracting th~. heart of it and making it
manifest." This generalizing was the very soul of Fort's
gives great physical and menta~ energy-which Foit unwritings, as again and again he wrote that all things merge
questionably. had-and the Moon trine Uranus added a
~ntoother things, that one defines things in terms of other
touch of-sheer genius, originality; andknow,-how that so ,
tliings, and that one measures the cirCle beginning.,
relentlessly graced the pages of Wild Talent's and Lo!.
anywhere. in short, Fort was good at putting on paper that
N~xt we find the Mercury of Charles Fort to be in the
. shining bit of Eastern philosophy: All Is One. Like other
sign Leo, the sign of creativitY and whoopie cushions. MerLeos, he liked to foo~ around, and excelled at creative play.
cury just ,hap~ns ;lo..get. great and glorious e~eI'gy from
Thayer mentions' Fo~'s game of Super-checkers, a vast
its conjunction with Mars, and Mercury gets a splash of
bizarre inventive .geQius fl'9m its prox.imity to freaky
~iv~rsion to be played bY,armies at a time.
In addition to Fort's fun-loving Leo Sun, we find Fort
Uranus. Synthesize~ these, arid we get a very energetic,
was armed with ail Aries Moon. Aries is said to be: fierceunconventional mind that loves to tap dance on the nose
ly independent and pioneenng, delighting in the constan.t
of those minions of Academe who revel in staying on'the
aggravation of people and being rude. in this regard, there's
beflten pa,th and w~ring sensible shoes .
. Mercury (the rati~nal mind). is also in opposition to
something absolutely comic i~ the C<?incidence that the man .
w:ho so ably proffered an endless volley of mental Bronx
Saturn, giving Fort a suspicio~s, cautious tum of mind.
'Ciie~rs to science actually lived in the Bronx. Students of
May I remind you the name of the journal of the Fortean
synchronicity take note!
.
Society was "Doubt," afaithful echo of this astrological
Foremost .among Fort's features was his sense of
characteristic. Fort's Mercury was also. square Neptune
humor. This is a result of his fun-loving Leo Sun ganging
of Imagination, something'thafmade him more likely to
a'facet of I"\is birthchart that
up i With' his Arj"es
sell the Brooklyn Bridge. than buy it. This flair for spin;.
defin~ite"ly indicat(!s:a'quick'mind, acid wit; and the love.
ing yams along wiil;t hfs unconventional bent is clearly
evidenced in his "\\iritirig. . "... . . .
.
of confrontation necessary to deliver the cheap shots and
Venus in this birthchart co~joins Jupiter, both having
zingers we all love. Further, the planet Uranus was a mere.
to do with money and good fortune. Not only did these
. 6 from Fort~s Sun. l'tIis is held by astrologers to bring
, a mind that loves to be freaky, upset the applecart, make
cosmic cuties have someUting io do with the modest inheritance Fort li~ed on; they undoubtedly added an occawaves, and at .the ety~least:be -unconventional.

Moon,

~~Iii7i'

FoarthQaarter1982

:>

.
/
ttL.,
' ..

-.f

JUPite~". .

~.'

------~~...!-:-~I-~-:j

.~ ~

'.

~ . Neptune
Pluto

~
.

. Geoce~trlc positions of SUD, Moon and planets at

. the '~~e o~' Charles'
F~rt'~ birth, August 9, 1874
,.
sional civil note'to Fort's ~sually scathing criti~i~~ of'Bozo
astronomers, and zoologists who cringe at the verY tho.~ght
of rabbit stampedes,
.
Fort's Mars was an energizing 60 from his Jupiter,
a tidbit seen in the charts of those sl,lffering from idealism
and honesty. Fort' is certainly guilty on both counts, in
that there is ~n the vast emotional salad that was Charle~
Fort a yearning and hopelessly optimistic hanker (borrowed
from either Don Quixote or Dudley Dooright) to make the
pillars of the scientific community knock off the baloney,
and admit to things they did !lot know when tlJ-e occ~sion
arises.
....
. ..
Another delicacy emerging' from Fort's chart i~' Mars
square Neptune. This,bri~gs a tendency to promote illu:'
sions, to take a. swing at mind cont~l. Hence endless
allusions to tongue-iri-cheek kingdoms of the "SuperSargasso Sea, " the notion we are. fishe~ for, no~ ~o ~eo~
Foarth Quarter 19~2

tion th~ barely submerged sense hiding behind Fort's selfconfidence that he might just know soniething you dpn't.
The last astrological gem I want to hold up for inspection is an opposition of Fort's Saturn to his Uranus. Saturn,
say the astrological pundits, marks the area in one's chart
where one is likely to critici~e others. Quite appropriately, enough Saturn in Fort's chart is in Aquarius, "the sign
ruling science. Saturn oppOsing Uranus is the aspect par
excellence of the iconoclast. If Fort was nothing else, he
was a needier of scientists, and an iconoclast. The popular
press, in fact, repeatedly referred J~'. F~)I~ las ':the, a~h- ,
enemy of science. " This concludes my,bri.ef astrological.'
look at the birth chart.
..,.. ,
.,
... And now 'I'd like to make that Fortean' point I menlioned at the beginning of this article. Astrology and other
so-called pseudo-sciences including dowsing and the whole
(Continued on page J92)'i~.

,' .. '.

Pur1t.173

'The True Nature

Of New Milford'.
Talking Stove,
by Dale Hartford
Wr WAS AFTER MIDNIGHT when Hawk Palardy trudged
~ up the alleyway in back of the New Milford
Restaurant, entered the rickety storage shed and began
collecting an armful of onions.
Suddenly an eerie voice broke the stillness of the
night:
.... "Hawk, can you hear me? Hey, Haw", can you hear
me?".
.
For brief seconds Hawk stood transfixed, blinking his
eyes agains~ the darkness, vainly attempting to locate the
voice. .
"Hey, Hawk, come on down!" repeated thev.oice, in
, a hollow, inhuman inflection.
'
_, Gangling Hawk Palardy bolted through the door, ,
sending onions scurrying on their separate paths as he
raced down the alleyway and across the railroad tr~cks
into nearby Young's Field.
.
It was September, 1930, and the famous New Milford
Ghost had made its first appearance.
Perhaps it was the. Crash of '29 that created a strange
mixture of skepticism and spiritualism which enveloped
New Milford, Connecticut, a year later. Whatever the
~ause,' the mood was hospitable to a band of wandering
. ~pirits-or was there only one?
. Old Charlie Hoffman was surely a believer. For, years
on end he sat in the dilapidated train depot, sending and
'receiving the telegraph messages which called and sent
lumbering freight trains through the town.
. But late into each night, long after sign-off time,
Charlie continued. his work, painstakingly recording a
detailed Life of George Washington 'which came to him
on a second, disconnected receiver. A fairy tale? Ob,viously . . . except to those living witnesses whQ today
recall with clarity the unexp,Iainable clickety-c1icks of that
:wireless machine, which Charlie often slipped into his
.pocket like a pack of cigarettes.
.
And Charlie's friend, Luke, was another believer.
Late at night he would be admitted, one of a chosen
''few, into the .ilI-lit center of the ,depot. Often' his face was
bloodiess, his eyes enlarged, his voice and body shaking.
Charlie would softly ask, "What's the .~att~r,
Luke-did you see your father tonight?"
"I . . . I was coming down to the depot, I I came the
hesitant reply, "and he walked right by. me .. But he
wouldn't speak to me. II No wonder he was shaken. His
.'
father had been dead for ten years.
Reprinted 'with'permission from the September 1968 issue
of Yankee Magazine, published by Yankee Publishing
Incorporated, 'Dublin, NH 03444, Copyright 1968.'
Purs.'t 174

In September of 1930, New Milford, Conn.,

experienced the presence of w,hat appeared
to be a bona fide ghost. The phenomenon
attracted writers, spiritualists, clergy, and
simply the curious from all over the country.
It was describ.ed in newspapers around the
world. After ten days, the ghostly voice
ceased and since then no explanation of.it
has ever come forth uniil ...
Hawk Palardy's rapid .exit from the old wooden
storage shed was not unnoticed, despite the hour. The
New Milford Restaurant was operat~d .in those days by
Gus the Greek (Gus' Jones to some, but really Gus
Ghiones), and it sat on the north end, of Railroad Street,
which unlike today was alive' with workers and drifters
and railroad men in need of coffee and camaraderie. Gus
rarely closed his doors before 3 a.m. The tailor, Mario
Garcia, only three doors away, often was cutting his
carefully made suits until the same hour. The town and
the street were alive; what better pastime than conve'rsing'
with the dead?
'.
H;awk left a trail of yelps and onions ,behind him as he
headed into Young's Field. His close ffiend; Jack Comstock, savoring a cup of G~s's fine coffee, heard the
commotion and hurried to the door in time to -witness his
friend's odd performance.
-,
.
Quieted finally, Hawk w;IS led in~Q :.o.us'~,: where he
told his tale' of the strange'voice calling to him. Hawk
was,a fun-lovjng, e~otional man.' Now he was
frightened. But his story fell on disbelieving ears.
Still the tale spread throughout the .village, causing a
few chuckles o~er the dinner table the following night
and a good deal of scoffing among Hawk's many friends .
B~t the following night, when Gus told his young
helper and fellow immigrant, Tommy, to go up to the
shed and peel potatoes for the following day, he was met
by sullen reluctance. Caught up by the fanciful tale of the
odd . voice iq the night, more men than usual were
cI:owded into Gu~'s small. eatery.. It .took their, collective
prod~ing before young Tom grabbed his shiny bowl and
with. a display of indifference went out into. the black
nigh~.
, .
A half-hour after beginning his task, Tom was
relaxing. One potato after another plopped into his bowl;
his work was nearly done. Then came a plaintive plea: .
. "Help, help! I I intoned the hollow voice.. "I'm buried
40 feet deep underground. Help! Help'!'"
.
Tommy didn't hear that last call for help. Younger by
a dozen years than Hawk Palardy, he .set' an all-time
record for getting down that alleyway.
. The men in Gus's buzzed and murmured into the
morning hours. Many were sure the voice was. a pr:ank.
They wanted to be in on it.. Others were skeplical but'
unknowing. A few felt a ghostly _presence, including
Tom, who swore in his heavy ,~ccent that never. again'
would he set foot in the old shed.
Next day New Milford sizzled with the story, and it
was enriched as it passed from mouth to mouth. By two
, in th~ afternoon, Gus counted 120 people-men, women,
F01ll'lb Qaarter 1982

and children-in front of his restaurant and jammed into

the narrow, 3()..yard-Iong alley. He viewed their presence
with both nervousness and pleasure. So many
people-they might cause trouble. But they got hungry
milling about and business had never been so good. That"
was for sure.
.
Many in the crowd ventured into the tiny wood~n
shed, and in daylight inspected its wares. An old potbellied stove. Shelves filled with tomatoes and preserves.
Sacks of potatoes and onions. And that was all.
Late in the afternoon the voice spoke again, and a
wave of apprehension swept through the cI:owd. A lady
bending by the stove heard what appeared to be an infant's cry. Promptly she swooned and had to be carried
through the throng. But others took her place.
The cry became a discernible voice. The infant, between gasps, reported it was buried in the cellar of aKent
home, some 14 miles away. And then it became silent.
The message was charged like an electric bolt. Derisive
cries were heard: "Tear down the shed! It's a ho~x!" But,
many more stood in wonder and awe, and the few did
not move against the many.
Fearful that it would become party to a prank, the
local New Milford Times treated the story gingerly in its
first report. Some "radio-minded men," it said, felt the
voice was being heard "because of some electrical
phenomena. They were all of the opinion that the stove
served as an antenna and receiver, it being of metallic
composition with properties similar to radio tubes." .
The Times admi~ted that a "great majority felt the infant's appeal was genuine."
..
While the newspaper refused to heat up the story with
detailed reporting, a:n enterprising employee (and son of
the owner) tossed considerable fuel on the flame.
Diminutive Harry Worley, as enterprising todayas. he
was nearly 40 years ago, fulfilled his reponsibilities as a
"stringer" for the three major wire services by letting
them in on the story. They were skeptical, he remembers,
but nonetheless they flashed the yarn across "the country,
and later, around the world.
.
Harry Worley did not stop there. He placed calls to
all the New York City newspapers and had lengthy talks
with their reporters. He repeated the tale for Gabriel
Heatter and heard the substance of his r:emarks broadcast
to millions the following night.
.
Suddenly New Milford's ghost was being discussed by
Russians and Englishmen as well as Californians and
New Yorkers. Harry Worley-collector of clippings extraordinary-had done his work well.
At the end of his first week in town, the ghostly voice
was attracting science fiction aria mystery writers from
throughout the country, reaching the village of S,OOO by
plane, train, and car. Charlie Hoffman sent off urgent
dispatches to eminent spiritualists in Chicago and New
Orleans, and was -informed that they were on their way.
Nuns came two-by-two and four-by-four, followed by'
priests and the clergy of all faiths. "I toought it was
going to become another Lourdes," said Harry Worley,
pronouncing it "Lord-ees." Obviously he had not be"en
dismayed by the prospect.
.
Law enforc.ement officers of every rank and
reputation came to town, intent on solving the mystery.
In the tenth day of the voice, a long black Packard
limousine pulled into Railroad Street, discharging six
I

uniformed New York .City policemen. They studied,

probed, investigated, then left at day's end still
unknowing.
..
Gus the Greek agonized in his dilemma. Now when he
looked out from his tiny restaurant he saw a throng of a
thousand people packed into Railroad Street, all intent
on visiting his woodshed. The crowd included rowdies
and troublemakers, and fist-fights between believers and
non-believers became common. The lame and the halt
prayed for recovery in front of his old time-worn stove,
the women fainted with increased regularity, and still the
crowds came. Should he demand of the army of police
on the scene that they close the alley to the public, and
return order to the str~et?
But for several "days Gus and his hard-working crew
had been making the fabulous sum of $1,000 a day,
feeding the hungry mob. One does not turn off such a
bountiful faucet with a. simple twist. The agony, Gus
decided, was worth it.
The ghostly voice. meanwhile, did its work well. It
could, by the tenth day, ~e heard at all hours, and few
visitors to the shed left without hearing its intonations.
Generally it had now been dubbed "the talking stove,"
and its messages varied.
Most often it continued to be the infant entombed in
the "cellar of a Kent home. Harassed Kent officials
refused. to order a cellar-by-cellar search, bu~ they reported that "all infants in this community are accounted
.
for." No check on the cellars was made.
. Then the voice became George Thatcher, a Negro
worker murdered in that very alley 2S years before.
Mournful pleas for retribution issued from the ora~ular
stove, as the ghost of Thatcher called upon the listeners
to find his murderer ..
Another time the voice became a famous Indian chief;
still again it was an unnamed man buried deep in a nearby well. To hundreds and even thousands of people the
stove became a medium for communication with the
world beyond, and they. flocked to it with their urgent
. requests and pleas for salvatioI1.
As the voices began their second week, worry lines on
the faces of officials grew deeper, and New Milford's
Railroad Street mob threatened to get out of control.
State police were assigned to the are!! around the clock,
and ali special constables in the town were actively employed along with the local police.
Monday night of the second week, over 40 men were
huddled together in the tiny woodshed, when all lights in
the area suddenly went out just as a tortured voice issued
from. the stove. There was a mad scramble for the door,
and in the melee men fell and were cut and bruised,
clothing was ripped, and a ripple of panic shiver.ed
through those hundreds in the alleyway and on the street.
. Still the carnival of uncertainty went on. By the middle ohhe second week, ~n estimated 3,000 people were in
town to hear tJte fabled voice. Included were an ~rray of
hucksters and promoters, intent on making quick gain
fr;om the turmoil.
New York City" reporters and others from throughout
the East were intent on solving the riddle. One, from the
New York Daily News, walked into Garcia's tailor shop
and laid a fat roll of bills on the counter.
"Tell me what's going on, iJ,nd it's yours," said the
newsman ..
.....

Foa.... Qa....er1982

Pu....'tI75

"I dO,n't khow a thing," said Mario, pushing the bills

away.
,
Another promoter offered Gus a "fabulous sum" for
his restaurant, and when that, offer wa!! refused, he
begged the Greek to sell him the concession to the
famous woodshed. Gus shook his head.
A reporter for the Bridgeport Herald finally got Gus
to agree, for $100, to let him dig a three-foot ditch
around the shed, but when the work was three-quarters
done, Gus made him stop.
"
"Thatsa nough of these. You brioga too many people.
Get off my property." And he handed back the $100 to
the reporter.
Two days later, the population of New Milford had
doubled and still the ghostly voice talked on. Sleepless
Gus Ghiones was besieged by crackpots and law officials.
The bizarre situation, he agreed, was finally getting out
of hand.
.
In marched a cordon of poli~e officers. The alleyway
was cleared. Even as the voice continued to lament its
state, the doors to the shed were nailed, shut and
barricaded: Another barricade was 'placed at the foot of
the alley', and stern, signs warned that trespassers would
be severely prosecuted.
.
"The ghost has' gone away," 'officials told the mob.
"It will never be heard again. Go bac~ to your homes ...
It took several days for 'the mob to disperse, but
slowly a semblance of normalcy returned to, Railroad
Street. The curious still plied Gus the Greek with
questions, but to no avail. Months later, most minds had
turned to other thoughts. The ghost was gone', without
explanation, just as -it had come. With the pass~ng of time, as the story went from old-timers to newcpmers,
- from parents to children, it was often suggested it had all
been a marvelous hoax.
'.
But was it really? And, if so, ho~ had it been done?
Nobody could really say for sure.
Now, yearS after the fact, the nature of New Milford's
ghost-beautiful in its simplicity-can pl:lblicly be reported and the "case" closed.
- New Milford',s ghostly voice was, first of all, an accident. .
At one time the little woodshed behind the restaurant
had housed a refrigerator. EI~ctricians' had run a wire
cable underground from the shed into the restaurant.
Purchase of a new, larger refrigerator, placed in the

Higher Dimensions and The Barrier

(Continued/rom paJe /54)'
great ,productivity and great acclaim for the physicists
while serious study of the human psyche and its inter~c
tion with the physical world had barely begun.' Even
today the physic,al implications of OBE and clairvoyance
escape the attention and, understanding of many physical
scientists. If and when attitudes are changed,' the
prevalent jndeterministic quantum theory may also' be
changed to the deterministic quantum the~ry,

, "Appearing Points' and Poltergeists

On the basis of some anomalous data that he had
Charles Fort24 developed a s<;>rt of quasi-theory

co~lected,

Pursu" 176

restaurant itself, caused Gus the Greek to sell the old

-unit, and at the time i~ was disconnected the electricians
removed the wire from tbe cable-but not the cable.
Purely by happenstance the old stove was placed over the
tiny opening -in the shed leading to the marvelously conductive cable, providi'ng amazingly effective camouflage.
Hawk Palardy was not an employee of the restaurant,
but -like many others he often, late at night, offered a
helping -hand when needed. He w~s performing, such a
favor _on the night when he went to the shed to gather
onions.
.
Soon after Hawk left the restaurant, the night
chef-oldtimers' believe his name w~s Nick, but no one is
quite sure-remembered that he also needed more hamburger meat, as well as onions. He suddenly remembered
the small cable opening which entered his kitchen just
behind his stove. He wondered, half aloud, whether the _
cable would carry his voice.
So he bent over the stove and shouted:
"Hawk, can you hear me? Hey, Hawk, can you hear
me?"
And the New Milford ghost was born.
Fun-loving Hawk -Palardy was a principal in perpetuating the stunt. He knew first-hand how eerie the
voice sounded. Gus the Greek, after that first experience,
shortly told Hawk where the voice had come from-and
Palardy instantly recognized the potential for deviltry.
It was Palardy and several others-in all, perhaps a
dozen men were finally' in on the ruse-who discreetly
kept the ghost alive during the first days. But the mobs
drawn to the scene, poking about, made it impossible to
communicate through the cable without being discovered.
The kitchen was simply too accessible.
At three o'clock in the morning on the fourth day, a
half-dozen men. met secretly to consider their creation.
One was a.night watchman whose keychairi proved, vital
to the plot .that was finally hatched. Another was a
plumber and another a telephone, man. All talents were
needed.
. '
Working in the quietest hours of night, they extended
the cable through three adjacent stores, ending in the
smali men's room in Garcia's tailor shop. Six keys were
distributed, and six voices played on the nerves of
thousands for another t~n days.
Hawk Palardy died some years ago. The identity of
his five partners has not, been revealed-and probably
~,_
'
never'will be.
that matter sometimes falls from "appearing points." '
Thus a stream of rocks might drop' from a point near the'
ceiling, or from SO feet above a meadow; a' liquid might
suddenly squirt out forcefully from a dry and spotless
wall; coins might dribble to the Earth from nowhere; a
liudden plague of nails and tacks might make a bedroom
or a kitchen unfit for use. The range of this sort of
hyperbolic a.bsurdity seems limitless. '
Most people dismiss such reports as the, product of
hoax or insanity. But if these events and others like them
do indeed occur, they may also contribute to the evidence
for a higher space. Ernst Mach, the famous philosopher
and scientist, was thinking along these lines one hundred
years ago:
The

spa~e

of sight and touch is three-dimensional;

Foarth Quarter 1982

that, no one ever yet doubted. If, now, it should be::

found that bodies vanish from this space, or new
bodies get into it, the question might scientifically
be discussed whether it would facilitate and promote our insight into things to conceive experiential space as part of a four-dimensional or multidimensional space.25
,

Mach, however, did not believe that there was any real
evidence for such a higher space; neither did he believe
that such a space. would be anything other than a
mathematically useful "mental fiction." Mach's very
ambivah:nce poses a challenge to test whether the concept
of such a space is valid, or only the mathematical equivalent of jogging.
Let us suppose that rocks, dust or other debris of
nature are adrift in spaces beyond our hyperplane. If a
little of the floating debris were to move close enough to'
our hyperplane, the associated "barrier force" might Ilu~l
the material into our normal world and we would see It
as a sudden "appearance" as if from nowhere. Such an
experience would replicate Fort's "appearing point."
Rocks are one thing, but nails? Coins? Why would ar-.
tificial things like these be floating outside of our hyperplane? There is room in our scenario for some interesting
action:
If a rapidly moving mass from R.J-for instance, a
rock-were to intersect with our hyperplane, it might
strike something in transit. Suppose it struck a' bag of
coins. A component of the impact force that strikes
against a bag of coins will be directed into R.J space. The
coins will thus be forced against the "barrier." If the
component of impact is of sufficient magnitude, it will
completely push the bag of coins out of our world.
Now imagine the bag of coins spilling out its contents,
setting adrift a cluster of coins in R.J just outside of our
S3 hyperplane. If the coins are "recaptured". by the at. tractive pull of the barrier force, they will eventually
make a sudden reappearance in our, world. Depending
upon the original impact energy, the strength of the
barrier force, and the trajectory of the intruding rock,
the coins may reappear quite some distance from their
point of origin.
Of course, this model is a bit naive in that we d(:m't
consider such factors as the frictional forces or the
strength of the barrier. However, from this argument you
may discern that at least some falls of artificial materials
from "appearing points" may result from natural
processes.
'
Another conjecture is that some unknown "intelligence"
may have the capability to mediate R4 forces. Such an
"intelligence" need not necessarily be alien; it could as
well be an uncontrollable factor of the human subconscious. Here one thinks of those r:a:re individuals who are
victims of the bizarre poltergeist syndrome.
The poltergeist syndrome is characterized by a series
of strange effects that tend to center about one person,
A rock from R4 will exert a force that has components in. all four'
dimensions (x,y,z,q), where q is the fourth dimension. In vector nota'
tion, this force is:
F(x,Y,z,q) = F. + Fy + Fz + Fq
It is only the component F that can push an object against the barrier.
The other components willqonly act in directions parallel to our normal
world. If Fq = 0, the force is just a typical three-dimensional force.

usually referred to as the "focus" of the syndrome.

Typically, the focus is an adolescent youth with serious
emotional difficulties; less frequently, the focus is a much
older person.
In the poltergeist syndrome, objects may fly about
with odd trajectories, noises of unseen collisions may
emanate from within walls, ceilings or floors, rocks may
suddenly appear in a room, .objects may be teleported,
and so on. Besides the important work by Owen, quoted
earlier ,6 references to the poltergeist syndrome are contained in works by Gauld and Cornell,26 Sitwell,27 Bayless,28 and Roll.29 '
The term "poltergeist" translates from German as
. "noisy ghost." The characterization is apt, for the
poltergeist often seems to exhibit a sort of personality.
It may be somewhat malicious, as in cases where there
has been wanton destruction of property, or in other
instances where aggression has been directed against people.
Alternatively, the poltergeist may show a sense of humor
and may indulge in creative, if childish, activities. Oftentimes the personality seems unstable and more responsive
to the beliefs and expectations of the observers who are
present than to itself.
Modern researchers of the i)oltergeist syndrome do
~ot seem to favor the "noisy ghost" concept. Instead,
they view the syndrome as a product of psychokinesis
(mind over. matter) whose source is in the subconscious
mind of the focus. These researchers have coined the
term Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) 'to
replace "poltergeist." The nature of psychokinesis is as
mysterious as the poltergeist ever was, so it would seem
prudeilt to withhold judgm~nt as to the origin and
significance of the syndrome. Perhaps further research
. will justify the assumptions inherent in the acronym
RSPK, or maybe we will be led toward some entirely new
and unexpected discoveries.
Teleportation of Humans, Animals, and Objeqs
Charles Fort used the term teleportation to describe
the sudden disappearance of an object from one location
with its sudden reappearance at another location. He
adopted the word in order to get his data out from under
the veil of mediumistic and spiritualistic interpretations
in which "apport" had become the favorite word to
describe such phenomena. Today, many serious ,writers
seem to prefer "dematerialization" as a more descriptive
synonym, notwithstanding its popularity in the pages of
science fiction.
Apparently, something similar to teleportation has
been' observed from the earliest recorded times to the
present, and in each era it different interpretation 'has
come forth. Each culture sees the phenomenon in the
light Of its own beliefs, traditions and religion. Typically,
a mysterious entity or unk.nown intelligence is alleged to
be involved. Such agencies have included: "the spirit of
the Lord," the devil, spirits of the dead, fairies, "the
Faery Queen,..' goblins, Incubi and Sucubi, subterraneans, cat-like phantoms, Bigfoot, UFOS, humanoids
assoCiated with UFOS, and even the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Examples are scattered throughout the UFO, Fortean,
parapsychological and religious literature. Stranger than
these, however, were some of the cases cited by Charles
Fort which, did not seem' to be directly connected with

..

Fourth Quarter 1982

Purs." 117

--------------- ----------------_.'!"'""any operating agency or ascribable to a reasonable cause.

In Fort's perception, things seemed to happen spontaneously, even meaninglessly. Fort wondered whether he
had .stumbled upon an unknown natural process, and he
did not discount the possibility that some "technology,"
either human or nonhuman, might harness .suc;:h a
process.
.
An excellent general reference to teleportation-reports
is Nandor Fodor's Mind Over Space. Fodor collected
scores of possible instances of teleportation that have
been reported from ancient times to the preseqt. Much of
his data comes from old books, magazines, occult
publications and psychical journals that are no longer
generally available; omitted, however. is any mention of
those teleportations-by-uFo which have been alleged in
many chronicles of UFO activity during the past three
decades.
.
Fodor's data covers a wide range of objects and substances which have been allegedly transported. Besides
some of the claims of spiritual mediums to have experienced personal teleportation, he mentions {he
mysterious transportation of large blocks of ice, fresh
snow, cacti, snakes, eels, goldfish, starfish, lobsters, wet
sand, beetles, various larvae, butterflies (up to 40 at a
time!), flowers, birds, cats, dogs, horses, numerous cat-.
tie, a team of oxen, a bicycle with its rider, a bed with a'
sleeping man, an infant, large numbers of children, .
American Indians, Asians, saints of the Christian church,
and housewives, to name just a few.
.
Almost certainly, many of these reported cases are
hoaxes, delusions and every other kind of thing that can
foul data. But we should remeinber, it takes only one
white crow to prove that not all crows are black: If one
single datum is accurate, among multitude, we should be.
persuaded to start thinking in terms of a higher space.
At present, the most active producer of teleportation
reports seems to be the UFO phenomenon, and many of
them contain vivid descriptions of discontinuous motion.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek)1 recently discussed the significance
of the associated phenomena:
Beyond. these reported properties must be added
even more bizarre "paranormal" characteristics. In
addition to "materialization," "dematerialization," change of form, implausible accelerations,
speeds, and "instantaneous" changes in position
without any apparent travel time have also been
frequently reported. Although seemingly incredible,
these paranormal aspects are too well documented
to be disregarded ... ;
It is becoming increasingly apparent to those who

seriously study the UFO phenome~on that some

modification in approach and methodology is necessary. Do events in the mind represent intei'lopers
.from ~ parallel reality? Or, indeed, are they themselves such parallel realities? Should we look to the
distant star systems fot the solution to UFOs or
much closer to a metaterrestrial rather than an
extraterrestrial hypothesis?
The ever-cautious Dr. Hynek has slowly been moved
to consider the metaterrestrial (higher space) hypothesis
after having devoted many years of research and careful ~
study to the UFO phenomenon.
..

PurI,171

Karl Brunstein's thinking has moved. in the. same

direction: In a recent.book,32 the physicist agrees tha~ the
"strangeness" factors in UFO sightings are firsHine
evidence of a higher space. He is on the verge of understanding that there must be another force present in our
world to allow such phenomena to occur. According to
Brunstein, "If we are to speak of a fifth dimension [he
. uses time I;lS the fourth-D.E.], we must pro~ide a totally
new physical force to go along with it, one that has no~
yet found itself a comfortable niche in science." Nevertheless, Brunstein falls short of suggesting that this force
must be the thing that holds our world locked into a
hyperplane; instead, h~ associates the force vaguely with
ESP and psychokinesis.
.
Imaginative people are listening to Hynek's arguments
for a new appro~ch, and there is a growing interesUn the
attempts of Brunstein and others to identify a higher
~pace and explore its dimensions. We can only wonder
what the physics of the next century will be like after the
anomalies of today have become less unexplained.
Towards a Conclusion
.

There seems to be enough evidence to reasonably

defend the notion of higher space. The evidence is not yet
conclusive but it certainly is compelling. The simplest picture, if not the correct one, is that our world is barrierlocked into a hyperplane that dangles in a space of four
dimensions.
We are typically unaware of higher space becauSe of
the existence of the barrier force and the pHysiological
limitations of our bodies. It is only when we penetrate
.the barrier via some portion of our mind, or by some
. unusual energy processes, that we become aware of the
barrier at all. ..
To determine the physical features of this barrier, we
. must examine the phenomena that seem to violate it. For
example, the very existence of electron "tunn.eli~g". r
suggests that the barrier force may be weaker on the
atomic level than on the macroscopic level. This would
then imply that it is a macroscopic force,. as is gravitation; it may even be negligible on the atomic. level.
Another interesting possibility is that an object may
lose a tiny portion of its mass when it penetrates the
barrier. Present evidence for this effect is weak; if and
as it is corroborated, however, we may learn from it
s9mething fundamental about the barrier.
.
Still a third possible physical feature may be that. the
barrier induces a slight temperature increase in an object
that penetrates it. Again, the evidence is meagerl 3 but
nonetheless tantalizing because it may hold a clue to the
structure of the barrier.
(To be continued)
.See previous article by Daniel Eden: "Teleportation and. Relativistic
Rest-Mass?" in Pursuit No. 53, First Q1;lIIrter 1981, p. 10
REFERENCES AND NOTES
1. Geometry of Four Dimensions (two volumes>. by A.
Cambridge University Press, London, 1930. This work is

R. Forsyth;
a little more
te~nical (an~ tedious) than the casual reader can stand. It should be ~f
most interest to those who have a fairly extensive knowledge of
geometry and a smattering of hiJher mathematics.
2. Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott, Dover Publications, Inc.: New York,
1952. This book is a classic in every sense of the word. The concept of
Flatland has been used by many popular writers on science, including
George Gamow and Carl Sagan.
.

Fo.l'lh Q ...... 1912

3. Geometry oj Four Dimensions by Henry Parker Manning, Dover

Publications, Inc., New York, 1956. This material can be understood by
anyone who has had a high school course in geometry.
4._A Course in the Geometry oj n Dimensions by M. G. Kendall; Griffin's Statistical Monographs & Courses No.8, Hafner Publishing Co.,
New -York, 1961. This is basically an undergraduate to advancedundergraduate text for the math student.
'
5. "The Hypersurface of the Second Degree in Four-Dimensional
Space" by Mary Helen Sznyter, Unillersity of California Publications in
Mathematics, Vol, 2, No. I, pp. 1-18, University of California Press,
Berkeley, 1924. Mary Sznyter develops a number of useful equations for
the general study of higher space. Her list of refere,.nces can also lead the
reader on to more basic materials on this topic.
6. Can We Explain the Poltergeist? by A. R. G. Owen,' Helix
Press/Garrett Publications, New York, 1964. This is a modern classic in
the study of poltergeists.
,
7. Physiological Psychology by Allen M. Schneider and Barry Tarshis,
Random House, Inc., New York, 1975. The authors take the typical
cogs-and-gears approach to consciousness. Read their experiments with
awe, but hold their opinions on "mind" in Fortean reserve.
8. "The Human Person in its Two-Way Relationship to the Brain" by
Sir John Eccles in Research in Parapsychology 1976, edited by'J. D.
Morris, W. G. Roll, and R.I:.. Morris, Scarecrow Press, Inc.,
Metuchen, N.J., 1977, pp. 251-262. 'Eccles has been internationally
recognized for his many contributions to biological nerve theory and
neurology. His comments are thought-provoking.
9. "The Dimensions of the Sensible Present" by H. A. C. Dobbs, in
The Study oj Time, edited by J. T. Fraser, F. C. Haber, and G. H.
Muller, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1972.
10. Regular Polytopes by H. S. M. Coxeter; Macmillan, 2nd edition,
New York, 1963, especiidly pp. 258-260. This book is chock-full of
mathematical curiosities and interesting concepts. The author describes
the strange mental states that mathematicians sometimes experience that
enable them to work imaginatively. Its approach is much like that of
Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" !=olumn in Scientific
American.
'
11. "Cases of Hyperdimensional Awareness" by H. S. M. Coxeter in
Consciousness and Reality: ,The Human Pillot Point, edited 1;ly Ch.r1es
Muses and Arthur M. Young, Avon Books, Inc., New'York, 1974. The
cases are generally taken from Regular Polytopes. This 'and companion
articles in the same volume make fascinating reading. .
12. Speculations on the Fourth Dimension by, Charles H. Hinton,
eilited by Rudolf v.B. Rucker, Dover Publications, Inc., New York,
1980. A new collection of essays originally written by Hinton near the
end of the last century. His specUlations are surprisingly modern; he includes material on Flatland, multiple dimensions and similar topics.
13. The Fourth Dimension by Charles H. Hinton, Sonnenschein & Co.,
London, 1904. Presents Hinton's complicated exercises designed to
develop higher-dimensional visualization. As Rudolf Rucker reCently,
stated, there may be "better and more direct ways of learning to 'see'
4-d space," but Hinton pointed in the right direction.
14. "Clairvoyance" by Rex G. Stanford in Psychic Exploration by
Edgar Mitchell, edited by John White, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Inc., New
York, 1974.
'
15. Out-oJ-the-Body Experiences: A Fourth Analysis by Robert
Crookall, The Citadel Press, New Jersey, 1970. Crookall has compiled
several hundred cases of OBE. These are spread out over several of his
very good books on the subject. He frequently uses the older term "astral
projection" for OBE.
16. Mind Beyond the Body edited by D. Scott Rogo, Penguin Books,
Inc., New York, 1978. Parapsychologist Rogo has gathered into one
book some of the most significant parapsychological papers on OBE.
17. To Kiss Earth Good-bYe by Ingo Swann, Hawthorn Books, New
York, 1975. No simple-minded psychic but a formidable scholar, Ingo
Swann gives some insights into his own OBES.
18. Journeys Out oj the Body by Robert A. Monroe, 'Anchor Press/
Doubleday, New York, 1971. Many people have been introduced to the
OBE concept through this book. Although Monroe relates some,interesting experiences, readers should view them with some caution. See ref. 16
above and read the comments on Monroe in Rogo's book, pp. 255-257.
19. Mind Reach by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, Dell Publishing
Co., Inc., 1977. Two controversial physicists discuss their research on
remote viewing. See lalso their book (with Charles Tart), Mind at Large,
.Praeger Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1979.
'

Fourtb Quarter 1982

THE SCHRODINGER EQUATION

The "time-dependent" Schrodinger equation, written in one
dimension (x), for a particle with mass (m), and a potential energy of
V(x), is:

11

a'l'(x,t)
at

.ti 2

a2'1'~x,t)

Vex) 'I'(x,t)

i
2m ax
Here ( .l\. ) is Planck's constant divided by 2n, and (i) is the square
root of - I. Despite the obvious complexity of this ,equation, it nas
some similarities to the classical concept of a light wave, or even sound
waves or water waves. Rather than light, sound or water, however, it
is the mysterious quantity'!' (x,t) that does the undulations in this
case. Today, many physicists consider that quantity to represent a
"nonphysical" wave of probability. Einstein and Schrodinger preferred to think of it as a real physical wave and not just a statistical
artifact.

20. D. Scott Rogo's reports on remote-viewing replications, Fate magazine, June 1981, Vol. 34, No.6; p. 82.
21. "Kinetic Effects at the Ostensible Location of an Out-of-Body
Proj~ction During Perceptual Testing" by Karlis Osis and Donna
McCormick in The Journal oj the American Society Jor Psychical Research, Vol: 74, No.3, July 1980, pp. 319-329.
22. "Counting Photons in the Optical Barrier Penetration Experiment"
by D. D. Coon in The American Journal oj Physics, Vol. 34, 1966,
pp. 240-243. Except for a small technical section, this article is quite
understandable to the non-professional reader.
23. Introduction to the Theory oj Relatillity by Peter G. Bergmann,
Dover Publications, New York, 1976, ch. XVII and XVIII; see especially
p. 272. The reader who has a background of advanced inathematics and
theoretical (mathematical) physics will best appreciate this book. The
author describes some five-dimensional theories and gives appropriate
refererices to them.
24. The Complete Books oj Charles Fort, Dover Publications, Inc.,
New York, 1974.
25. The Sc(ence oj Mechanics by Ernst Mach, translated by Thomas
J. McCormack, Open C;:ourt Publishers, Illinois, 1960, p. 590. The
original edition was published in 1883. Mach, who was both a scientist
and a philosopher, influenced much of Albert Einstein's thinking,
although Einstein was later to consider time as the fourth dimension.
26. Poltergeists by Alan Gauld and A. D. Cornell, Routledge & Kegan
Paul Publishers, London, 1979. In perhaps the most exhaustive reference
on the subject to date, Gauld and Cornell give data on some 500 cases ,
that have occurred from ancient times to the present.
27. Poltergeists by Sacheverell Sitwell, University Books, New York,
1959. An early book on the subject in which Sitwell covers some of the

notable cases in fairly complete detail.

28. The Enigma oj the Poltergeist by Raymond Bayless, Parker Publishing Co.,. New York, 1967. Bayless' has written many interesting
books dealing with the paranormal. This one is well worth reading.
29. The Poltergeist by W. G. Roll, New American Library, New York,
1974. Roll is one of the top American investigators of RSPK. He and
his colleagues have worked diligently to produce physical models of
poltergeist effects. See' also Roll's many papers in the J.A.S.P.R. and
the Research in Parapsychology series.
30. Mind Over Space by Nandor Fodor, Citadel Press, New York, 1962.
This is one of the very few' books devoted solely to teleportation. (Fodor
prefers to call it "transportation. ")
31. "The UFO Phenomenon: Laugh, Laugh, Study, Study" by J. Allen
Hynek in Technology Relliew, Vol. 83, No.7, July 1981, pp. 50-58.
32. Bey~~i the Four Dimensions by Karl Brunstein, Walker & Co.,
New York, 1979. Forteans should keep an eye on Brunstein. He may be
one of those whose work will provide the foundation for the next giant
revolution in our knowledge.
33. References to an unusual heating effect that seems to occur in some
apport and poltergeist cases can be found in most of the previous references to poltergeists. For example, Fort (ref. 24) pp. 563, 393, 410;
Gauld and 'Cornell (ref. 26) pp. 103, 105, 169, 227, 231; and Owen
(ref. 6) pp. 274, 299.
SUGGESTED READING
Geometry, Relatillity and the Fourth Dimension by Rudolf v.B. Rucker
(Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1917).

PuN."179

mostly contemporary curious

Pyramid Qn Maldive .sla~d'

,

, His name became a household' wo'rd when

thor Heyerd,ahl'~on a 19Si Aca~emy ~ward
for, the storyoook film about his 'KonoTiki' '
expedition of 1941. By floating !I wpoden 'raft
4,300 miles from Peru to Polynesia; the expedi(ion demonstrated the possibIlity that Pe~uviail
Indians could have settled in Polynesia in prehistoric times.
'
.. Further research in~o primitive astronomical
navigation convinced Heyerdahl that many
islands near the Equator most likely would have
been visited and settled by ancient navigators.
He crossed the Indian Ocean in the reed boat
'Tigris' in 1977, and in the years following he
has made a number of shorter voyages from
his home base in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon),
with intent to demonstrate the feasibility of the
ancient trade routes for navigation by various
types of primitive watercraft.
,',
Inevitably, some of these voyages took him
to the Maldives Archipelago southweSt of India
~here a string of coral islllnds st~e~ches, ~o!l,th
ward across 467 miles of ocean, almost to the
Equator (see map). The 'I,SOO citiZens of the

Money Tr~e?'
Certain trees that grow in Canada appear
,able to help make snow, and "made snow" is
, what keeps skiers skiing through extended
seasons and, thus helps sales, and earnings of
an important recreation iqdustry,to reach new '
heights even in years when, 11atur~1 snow is in
shortsupply.
'
,Discovery of the snow-niaking trees resulted
,from research jointly sponsored by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) and the University,of Cplo~~~o, and
directed by Dr. Russell C. Schnell. He noted
that the find could heavily impi.!=t the $I,2S'
million-a-year commercial s'now"making' industry. Because of the potential, coinmerc'iaL,
.. value: the type of tree is being kept' secret; ,
NOAA officials say only that the trees grow in
the Canadian province of AI~erta. ,
'
The problem that Dr., Schnell's research
attacked, and 'solved with,the trees' help, arises
in commercial"snow-making operations:, Snow
will not form until the water sprays used 'are'
cooled to nearly 0 F. Schnell found that'introducing dust from the leaves of the "secrei trees"
allows crystals to form up to almost 32 F. The
dust particles serve as nuclei for the, snowflakes, '
and dust from these particles makes the most
efficient nuclei.
"
. '
The dust is produced' by grinding ihe tree
leaves to the consistency of talcum Powder; it is
, then added to the cold-water:sprays il.t:the rate,
of one pound ,of dust to 100,000 gallons oL
water, Schnell explained'. Although ,he gave no'
dollar rlJUres, he pointed out t!)at use of the
leaf dust, in large 'snow-making operations
would save "considerable" amounts of energy.
SOURCE: AP in the As~urY Park Press (N.J.),
12112183. CREDIT: Member #432.
':"r

Pursuit I .. .
~

"

'.

'."

' ........

~~d

unexplained, events

The crowd grew throughout the day, and so

did the feelings of annoyance and apprehension
among residents of the apl!rtment building
nearby. Someone called a tree-service company,
: and shortly, tltereafter three men arrived in
truck with a wood-chipping machine latched
ihe back. Amid, dire imprecations from onlookers, the three went to work with their chain
saws, reducing, the tree to a stump a"d the
trunk and branches to short lengths.
As the chipper, ingested its first load, eager
hands extended to intercept the chips lest they
fall into the truck and their curative powers be
forever lost. Plastic bags appeared as if from
nowhere; stuffed with chips, they became
family-size packages of "tree medicine" for
future use. Suppliants who sought more immediate relief massaged" afflicted body parts
with the moist 'chips, or 'presset\', their afflicted
limbs against the tree-stump.
, Reporters at the scene could find no one
willing to say that the close, encounter with the
tree' had relieved pain, mitigated "isability or
cured disease. Why, then, did Alfredo yarona
~perience . relief -from cataracts, a condition
most doctors agree is irreversible' except by
surgery they dare not risk in cases of advanced
age?
,
An editor who had a background in botany
thought he knew the answer but wanted confirmation. He telephoned Qr. Julia Morton,
author of-Atlas oj-Medicinal,Plants 0/ Middle
America and other books on tropical and semitropical plants. Yes, she agreed: Varona's sight
could have improved, even dramatically, after
he rubbed the sap into his eyes. For the sap of
the sea grape tree is rich in tannin, and tannin
is a substance that can clear the mucous deposits formed by cataracts.
.
'The pilgrinii;' drifted from the area amid expressions of disappointment that the tree had
worked no miracles for them, and their sorrow
was mixed 'with, deep resentment against those
who had ordered the tree removed. With it went
their' hope:s, perhaps to try again and have
better luck the next time.

to

Republic of Maldives live on only 202 of the'

islands; few of the 1,200 others are ever visited,
and most have never been explored.
'
,
During a November voyage, Heyerdahl
found on one of the remote islands a limestone
temple rising above the tropical landscape.
Inside the temple was a pyramid he estimated
to be 40 or SO feet high. Composed of coral
rubble, it "stepped" or terraced upward from a.'
broad base to a narrow apex plateau, in the
style of the Mesopotamian pyramid-builders.
Against the south wall of the temple,was a ceremonial ramp, likewise reminiscent of an archi-:
tectural feature often (ound in ancient buildings
in the Middle East.
Inscriptions discovered nearby seemed to
indicate that the temple was devoted to worship ,
of the Sun God; Heyerdahl said, and he added'
that the pyramid inside was astronomicallr'
oriented to the sun.
The Norwegian explorer, now 68, believes
that detailed study of the inscriptions he found:'
and explorations for ruins on some of the other
uninhabited' islands, may yet show a close relationship between the Maldives,and the great
Indus Valley civilization that flourished from
2500 to ISOO B.C. ,
I
SOURCE: UPI' in St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
11/29/82. CREDIT: R. Nelke.
.

SOURCE: AP report to
CREDIT: W. Benedict.

Canadian media, 4/14/82.

'

Medicinal Tree?
It was Good Friday morning when Alfredo
Varona, 91 'years old and blind from cataracts
on both eyes, washed his face w!th the sap of a
sea graPe tree, and soon afterward declar~ ,that,
he was able to see again, for the first time in
five years.
'
. The news excited hundreds of people in the
teeming hispanic enclaves of southern Florida.'
To the tree, which stood in a sandy courtyard of
:an apartment complex in Miami's "Little
Havana," those afflicted with',all, manner' of:'
disease and disability brought their hopes and:
prayers that they, too, might ,be restored to
good health through the working of a miracle'
such as the one which had banished the cat-:
, aracts from Alfredo'Varona's eyes.

,Search for it Lost Army

Gary Chafetz says he has the money and
the tools-a sophisticated radar unit-to find
the "Lost Army of Cambyses." He says his
search next spring will center on a 18S-squaremile area of desert south of Siwa, Egypt, the
ancient site of the Temple of Amon.
"According to the Greek historian Herodotus,
the army was dispatched in S2S B.C. by the king
of Persi~, Cambyses, conqueror'of Thebes~ the
ancient capital of Egypt. The army of SO,OOO
men was ordered to sack the temple site. Instead, it vanished along with its support staff,
concubines, children, tools imd weapons. ,

" A southerly wind of extreme violence drove

, the sand over them in heaps as they were taking
their mid-day meal, so they disappeared forever," Herodotus wrote. Chafetz believes the
army was engulfed by the Khamsin, hurricaneforce winds that sweep the Sahara each March
and April. He hopes his camel-borne radar will
detect remains of the army in an area south of
Siwa notable for huge cairnS-rock piles erected
long ago to help travelers find their way across
the ever-shifting desert sands.
SOURCE: The News-Journal Papers, Wilmington, Del. and Burlington, Vt. Free Press,
10/2S/82.
CREDIT:

H. Hollander, J. Zarzynski.

.~

Deadly Wait for a UFO

Drawn by messages from "some higher
power," Gerald Flach and Laverne Landis
drove from St. Paul to the snowy, frozen wil- .
derness of northeastern Minnesota, to wait for

~~:I~e~O::s~~~" f:~: :~: ~~:I\~~=t:

several previous communications which Flach
said he had received through Miss Landis.
. For' more than four. weeks they waited in
their snowbound car, eating only vitamins and
drinking water from nearby Loon Lake.
When found by a passing motorist, Flach
had apparently collapsed on the trail that led
from the parked car to the main road; Miss
Laverne was dead in the front seat of the car.
An autopsy determined she died from a combination of hypothermia, d.ehydration and
starvation.A sherifrs deputy 'said there was
no ~idence of foul play; no cri.minal charges
were filed and Flach was released after three
days' treatment at a local hospital.
Flach declined to answer reportc;rs' ques-
tions, buffriends described him as "becoming
obs~ssed.with UFOs in recent months."
sOURCE: AP in Schenectady, N.Y., Gar,ette and ..
St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 11/19/82.
CREDIT: J. Zarzynski, R. Nelke.

~
Two-Meteorite Town
When a 6-pound meteorite 'crashed through
the roof of the Donahue home in Wethers~
field, Connecticut on November 8, it brought
distinction to the town as Olle of only two communities ever to have experienced a second
meteorite fall within its boundaries. The other
community was not even part of the United
States when the first meteorite fell on Honolulu;
in 1825 the Sandwich . Islands still went" by the
name Capt. Cook gave them. The second
meteorite fell a short distance from the first,
but not until 1949.
The time spanned by the two Wethersfield
meteorites was much shorter and they fell closer
to each other than their historic island predecessors. Roy S. Clarke, Jr., curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian'S Museum of Natural
History, compared "Wethersfield 1982" with
"Wethersfield 1971." Both are of the same
type-L6 chrondites-the most common type
found on earth "and thus are probably related
. back in space and time, " Clarke said. Asked' to
comment on the samelown' aspect, Clarke
replied: "We're still researching."
SOURCE: The Hartford Courant, 12120/82.
CREDIT: G. Earley.

Fourth Quarter 1982

.t-:.

~A

Fish StorY with a

~Curloas Ring .

CBS INC. 1982 All rightsre'ser-ved. Originally broadcast Jam~ary 29, i982
over the CBS Radio Network as part of "THE OSGOOD FILE" program series.
.

..Joseph M. Cross went out sailing one day,

:In July 1980, on Chesapeake Bay.
He had a, good time. It was pleasant and warm;
When all of a sudden there came up a storm . .
And the wind blew quit~ hard, as it suddenly lifted.
The sail filled the air and it jibed and then shifted.
.And the b90m swung across at the weathe'r's command .
And Joe Cross tried to hold the boom back with his hand.
l;Ie took' quite a. wallop and felt quite a sting, .
~nd' somehow in the process he lost his school ring.
,It came off of his finger. He felt the thing drop~ .
And the ring fell right into the water, kerplopl
The school ring he thought that he always would keep,
Somewhere at the botto~ there, 30 feet deep.
Joseph Cross knc;.w for 'a: certainty thim
That he nev~r would see .that old schooning again.
The ring from the finger of Joseph M. Cross'
. Was a goner, a total and permanent loss,
...
And though' it was something he hated to lose; . .
He forgot it and went back home to. Newport News.
. .,.
Then, just two weeks ago, this man, Coleman Y" Maddox,
. At a Charlottesville market "for bluefish arid haddocks,
Was chatting one day, when-he doesn't khow why.,-"
But amidstthe fish garbage,. gleam caught his'eYe. : :
A sort of a glitter was shining, it seemed,
. '.' ..
And he looked a bit closer to. see what"hadgleam:~ ... '.' .
And yes, sure enough, it wa:s Cross's school ring,
University of Virginia. And engraved on' the thing
Were fraternity markings, initials and date.
Arid Maddox, it happens, by some twist of fate,
Went to the same university, too,
.
And he knew just exactly what he now had to do.
He went to some yearbooks and cross-checked a bit,
And the name of this fellow, Joe Cross, seemed to "fit.
So, he put in a phone call up to old .Newport News, :
And inquired if Joe Cross had happened to lose a ring,
Which he then set about to describe.
And it was the saine .ring Cross had lost in that jibe. .
By a great stroke of luck, more than Cross dared to wish,
His ring had b~en eaten. by some passing fish
And the fish .had been caught and then must have been sold
To the market where Maddox had spotted the gold.
Most likely a bluefish, the fish experts say.
Bluefish love to eat things that are shiny that way.
So, the school ring is back now on Joe Cross's hand,
And our moral is this, if you'll please understand:
You !1lust never give up, but stay hopeful and plucky,
For your wish can come true if you're terribly lucky. '.
Joseph M. Cross got his improbable wish,
. Because of a highly cooperative fish.
-Charles Osgood

P.rtI81

'Books

I.

VERDICT ON THE SHROUD by Kenneth E. Steuenson

and Gary R. Habermas (Banbury Books, Inc., 37 'West
Aue., Wayne, Pa., 1981, 294pp., '3. 95 paperback) ,
i

Reviewed by Dennis W. Prater

Verdict on the Shroud is essentially a review of past an~

current evidence concerning the validity of the legendary
Shroud of Turin, believed to be the actual burial shroud of
Jesus. The authors, Kenneth E. Stevenson~ an engineer,
and Gary R. Habermas, a research consultant and professor of historical and philosophical apologetics, present the
scientific findings from the latest shroud research. This
includes the 1978 Shroud of Turin Research Project, of
.which the authors were members.
.
.The book is divided into three major parts. Part one
deals with hard scientific data and other related evidence
concerning the historical origin of the shroud. This includes a fairly detailed history of the shroud's travels and
draws heavily on Ian Wilson's book The Shroud 0/ Turin,
,to date the defi~tive work on the history of the shroud.
'This section also includes the history of the various theories
about the actual image-formation process and illustrates
the positive and negative aSpects of each. The amazingly
sophisti,cated scientific investigatory techniques employed
: to analyze the shroud are covered in this section, and the
evidence points to the' astounding amount' of medically
,correct detail that can be discerned in the shroud's image.
, In the second part of the book, a case is made for the
: archeological authenticity of the' shroud and reconciles the
image with the most commonly accepted 'Gospel accounts
of the crucifIXion of Jesus. It is in this section that the au, thors begin to repeat themselves' in order to. "elaborate"
on previously presented material.
'Part three presents. medical details of the body por, trayed on the shroud and the conclusions that might be
': drawn from medical evidence concerning the man's death.
Again, the authors seem to repeat themselves for the sake
I of elaboration. This section includes an outline of the naturalism versus supernaturalism debate and a ~rief disserta~ tion on the merits of the Resurrecti~n, b~lief.
.
Even though this book is quite factual, and the. authors'
opinions are clearly labeled as such, this reviewer was not
: comfortable with the rather narrow scope of possible explanations offered for the shroud's existence. The evidence
clearly shows that whatever the cloth may be, it is definitely
not a painting or obvious forgery. However, it,is also very
clear that the authors are firmly rooted in Christianity and
really have no room in their philosophies for any: type of
Fortean phenomena. They make rathe.r blunt pronounce, ments, such as "Since this is a theistic universe ruled by a
God who sent his son to proclaim a unique message~ we
, should be impressed by the nature of Jesus' claims," and
, "The evidence indicates that Jesus rose: We should face
this fact."
The authors employ the natural versus supernatural
debate in a way that is reminiscent of the divine creation
versus evolution teaching controversy in U.S. public sChools.
Gentlemen of the Fortean pers.uasion ~uch as John Keel
and Jacques Vallee have made good arguments for'die
existence of other i'control systems" which work to create
i . ........'tl.2

syste~s of belief. And since Christianity 'was 'not only a

religious belief dealing with the son of a Hebrew tribal god
but also a world-changing political moveqtent that helped
launch b.umankind out of the god-king era, we' should be
aware of possible ulterior motives involved in ,the existence
of such a relic. "
.
. Resurrection theory became a center of Christian dogma
rather early, and as St. Paul wrote, "If Christ was not
raised, your faith is worthless . . . " (I Corinthians 15)
1 beli~e that ic'a system of thought was being imposed on
a simple populace, then the Resurrection would' provide a
more. than adequate focal point.
The authors sho'w what the shroud is not, but this reviewer feels that it is a bit presumptuous to imply that the
shro1;ld proves that a man named Jesus roSe from the dead,
ascended into heaven as the son of the only true God, and
that it is the very embodiment of the tenets of" Christian
dogma.
.
Appendices, a notes section an.d an index are provided
for ~e reader's convenience,. and there are fourteen pages
of color photographs. .

GREAT EXPLORA TlON HOAXES by Dauld Roberts

(Sierra Club. Books,.San Francisco, 1982,.192 pp. with
map,s, photos, bibllo. and Index, '12.95) .
Reviewed by George W. Earley
Fakery is opt" confined, as skeptics would have it, to
Forteans and others interested in unexpiained tangibles.
As Roberts clearly shows, fakery can even invade such an .
upright and macho field as exploration. ;~ ,', ,,:.,
Ten men are examined here. Nine were fakes, but one,
denounced as a fraud in his lifetime, was later found to
. have told the truth about his adventures.'
I suspect 20th-centtiry readers will be most interested in
the chapters on Admirals Peary and Byrd who achieved
fame and fortune by being the first white men to reach the
North Pole by surface (Peary) and air (Byrd)". Actually,
they never achieved the goals for which they were lil;>nized
by the public and rewarded by the U.S. Congress.
.
Peary, we are taught, reached the North Pole by dogsled, accompanied' by four Eskimos and his black assistant,
Matthew Henson. But none of the five had a'ny knowledge of celestial navigation and therefore were In 'no posi".
.
.'
tion to verifY'Peary's claim:
The man who could have done so had been sent back to
base by Peary only a few days before the North Pole was
allegedly reached. Peary, who had averaged but 9.3 miles
per day (mpd) while catching up to Bartlett, subsequently
claimed an average of 26 mpd from that .point until he
reached the Pole. The return trip' was even faster'. . .' an
incredible 53 mpd! (The verified sp~d record, made on
smopth Greenland ice by Knud Rasmussen, is 36.6 rilpd.)
For'Peary to have done 26 mpd, let 'alone 53 mpd, over the
highly uneven and often broken polar pack 'ice, is beyond
belief. Yet so great was the craving fQr an American polar
hero that JJ,e not only garnered public acclaim bu.t ga,ned
the endorsement Of the august Natic;>hal 'Geogra,phic sOciety for his phony"feat. '
. .. " ." .,
Like Peary, Byrd gulled the public and the National
Geographic Society when, in 1926, he claimed to have
made the first North Pole overflight. Riding (Byrdwas no
pilot) in: a ski-equipped Fokker tri-motor .whose top sPeed

Fo""'. Quad.to19.2

was, at best, 75 mph, Byrd somehow made the 1330-mile

flight from Kings Bay to the Pole and back in an incredible
15\;'2 hours ... and that included 13 minutes spent circling
over the Pole. How did a 75-mph plane average 87 mph?
Byrd credite(l a tailwind which not only boosted the plane
enroute to the Pole but, as they circled it, obligingly
"began to freshen and change its direction" so that, by t~e
time Byrd headed home, it had shifted 180 0 and was again
pushing the plane!
Among Roberts' other accounts are the non-search of
Sebastian Cabot for the Northwest Passage, FatheI: Hennepin's phony voyage down the Mississippi, and Robert
Drury's fanciful account of 15 years' captivity on Madagascar. Fakers all.
The man who wasn't a faker? James "Abyssinian"
Bruce, Laird of Kincaid, whose account of reaching the
source of the Blue Nile i~ 1770 was universally ridiculed by
the stay-at-home skeptics. Bruce died in 1794 and over 30
years passed before later explorations of Abyssinia demonstrated the truth of his "fanciful tales. ..
,
Pursuit readers will, I think, find this a fascinating and
informative book ... every library should have it.

lawyer concerning a possible libel suit for a totally undocumented assertion made about him in the general article
on "Poltergeists and PK." the editors state in their introduction to the book that they "cannot establish that all the
events related herein occurred exactly as they have been
recouDied; ... " but it is doubtful that this will protect
them against libel suits.
'
The book would, I think, with the caveats noted above,
, provide an excellent introduction to Forteana. There is
plenty of material for the novice to sink his teeth into, and
the physical appearance of the book lends an air of "respectability" that no cheaply produced paperback can provide.

UFOs-AFRICAN ENCOUNTE/lS by Cynthia Hind

(Gemini, Zimbabwe, 1982, 236pp., $5.95poperback)
Reviewedby Robert Barrow

Some of UFO literature's finest moments occur when a

book causes us to ponder the universal, absolutely unconfined geographical nature of the UFO.
Veteran UFO researcher Cynthia Hind has authored
a book that exceeds this goal. In what appears to be the
first volume ever to center primarily on African UFO experiences, Hind offers a variety of personally investigated
MYSTERIES OF THE UNEXPLAINED by the editors oj
~reports. Properly cautious throughout, this African coReader's Digest General Books (Reader's Digest Assoordinator for the Mutual UFO Network initially assures the
ciation, Inc., Pleasantville, 'New York, 1982, 320 pp.,
reader that "I'm not sure what UFOS are. I now accept,
"'us., $19.98)
very definitely, that they are not terrestrial ... people are
Reviewed by Sabina W. Sanderson
seeing what they say they see, solid hardware which we, in
our limited Earth terms, are not able to, explain. "
I have had the greatest difficulty in makfng up my'mind
With colorful descriptions of. the African countryside
about this book. Its production values-printing, paper,
and people, Hind takes us from case to case in a delightful,
etc.-are excellent; it includes a bibliography and an index;
-light manner. Apparently, the intention here is to give in~
and the source of each item is indicated, all things in its
depth treatment to a few cases, but the incidents touched
favor. It is the content that poses problems for me. upon positively drip with UFo-related characteristics noted
I think the truth is that this is not a book for veteran
around the world.
Forteans. There is almost nothing in it that I have not
Beginning with the case of a South African farmer who
come across before, and much that is included is in the
en~ounters UFO occupants and physical evidence in 1975,
"old war horse" category. The editors call it "an almanac
Hind then elaborates on a witness whose seemingly wild
of events that defy explanation in commonly accepted
story involves a physical relationship with a handsome UFO
terms, I t and it really is a kind of lavish "seed catalogue"
humanoid; the author wisely stands back and lets the reader
though it does have sprinkled through it general articles on
judge the witness' case and credentials.
specific topics, most of them very well balanced pro and
The 1972 Fort Beaufort incident in which a UFO was
con (but see below).
both extensively witnessed by police officials and fired
It is divided into five major sections: "Beyond, the
upon is prominently featured, and Hind is careful to proWalls of Time" (prophecies and such), "Unearthly Fates/'
vic;le (as she does for other cases) laboratory results of the
"Monsters and More," "The Unquiet Sky," and ''In the
analysis of physical evidence. Another well-regarded inRealm of Miracles." Each of these is divided into several
cident, the "Peter and Frances" story, relies on hypnotic
sub-sections, which include a wide variety of reports, ranging
regression to uncover details of how a young couple's
in length from a few lines to a page or more. The quality of
automobile was inexplicably transported a considerable
the entries varies considerably, and some ought not to' be
distance across-the country by UFOS. '
there at all. This last applies specifically to the section on
Vanous UFo-related effects are explored in the remain"Appearances and Disappearances" which includes' one
der of the book, including bizarre radio broadcasts and an
preposterous statement and a numb~r of cases in whi~h the
instance of a paved tennis court possibly ripped up by a
meaning of "mysterious" has been stretched to the breaking point. The preposterous statement is that Leslie Howard .
UFO. Enhanced by a photo section, appendix, glossary,
biblIography and complete index, this African publication
and Glenn Miller "inexplicably disappeared'~ during WWII,
is a pleasing addition to UFO literature.
which is rubbish. The second category ~ncludes such "mysAfrican Encounters glows with a fair amount of charm,
teri~us" disappearances as Mallory and .Irvine on Mt.
particularly because some of the witn~ses are so far reEverestl .of course they disappeared, but there has' never
been any reason to suspect that there was anything super- - moved from all the UFO lore and hoopla Americans are
, accustomed to; they simply would be unable to, fabricate '
natural about it. Examples such as this weaken the \Yhole
argument.
Q~tories which relate so perfectly to international reports.
Also, I am informed that Uri Gel1~r is talking to. his
~~n fact; one can easily imagine how unlikely a part of African

Fo...... Qaut_1982

Purltl83

life faked UFO tales would be after reading the following

section, wherein a close-encounter witness describes his
frustration in making his neighbors understand his ex~
perience:
I found the educated people were the most interested
. . . But the more ignorant people, well, I'm an amateur geologist and I collect fossils . . . many people
don't know that years ago fossils were aniPlal~ or fish,
but when I try to explain this point to the more unsophisticated people, they laugh at me and say, "Oh,
come on now, that is a stone!" And I cannot convince
them otherwise. Well, it's the same thing with UFOsthey just don't uriderstand the concept of it all.

AFTER MAN: A ZOOLOGY OF THE FUTURE by Doutial

Dixon (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1981, 1~4 pp.,
iIIus., $14.95)
,
Reviewed by George W. Earley
Polluted air. Poisoned water. A burgeoning population
with a shrinking food base. And, hanging oyerall, the
threat of a nuclear holocaust.
. '
Do all these things presage the end of the Age of Mari?
On the assumption that they-or some other catastrophewill make Man one with dodos and'dinosaurs, Dougal Dixon
has attempted to envision a' distant Tomorrow when both
Earth and its species have undergone radical chap.ges. '
Zoologist-paleontologist-geologist Dixon has the scientific background which, when combined ~ith a vivid but
disciplined imagination, can be utilized to present a world
we'll never know, but at the 'same time, a world we can
find acceptably realistic.
(We can, of course, reject his view of Man's extinction,
preferring to believe we'll spread'into the galaxy to remake
other worlds into Our Ima,ge ... but let's play the game his
way for now. It's both fun and instructive.)
So ... 50 million years hence, says Dixon, '!the world's
northern continents of Africa, Eurasfa and North America
have joined with Australia to form a single unit. South
America is separated from North America as it was in the
Tertiary" period. 011;1 mountains have fallen and new ones
have arisen.
,
With the continents changed, Dixon proceeds to detail
the climatic "Changes and then introduces the new animal
populations: stranks,rabbucks, rundihorns, gigantelopes;
possets, fatsnakes, strigers, khiffahs and quite a few 'more
exotic creatures crawl, fly and swim in Dixon's Tomorrowland.
,
Each is a new lifeform, evolved to fit ecological qiches
left when Man, his domestic animals and many of t09ay's
endangered species-such as elephants and the tllg' catsdied out. The baboon, says Dixon, is already both a, pred,
at or and a species adapted to surviving ... it evolv~s into
the 3-meter-high raboon, a bipedal killer who~~ shape
resembles that of the late T. rex, so beloved by makers of
monster movies. The rabbuck is an antelope-sized gescendant of the rabbit family. From the bat family comes the
night stalker, a blind, flightless, fearsomely-fanged killing
machine 1 Yz meters tall. One monkey has learned to swim
and pursues his meals in their natural environment. Certain birds mimic plants, thus enticing insects to their doo~.
I should note that Dixon rather sets the stage for, all this
in his opening chapter,s. "Evolution" and "The History;of

Purt 184 '

Life" provide brief but clear expositions on such topics as

cell genetics, natural selection, form and development, the
origins of life, early living forms, and so on., The reader
learns, if previously unaware, of how today's mammals
evolved t9 fill the gaps left when the dinosaurs died. '
Succeeding chapters limn the future in various locations
on New Earth as Dixon shows us -the creatures of such
areas as temperate woodlands and grasslands, coniferous
forests, tropical grasslands, 'islands and island-continents,
and the tundra and polar regions, for example. There are
subdivisions within those chapters-tree dwellers, sand
dwellers, browsing mammals, etC.-and handsome illustrations, most in color, bring his imagined creatures to
vivid life.
In all, this is a most fascinating book and well roundedout ;by inclu~ions of an index, appendix, "tree of life" and
a bibliography. If you don't own After Man, I hope your
library does.

, GENESIS by W. A. Harbinson (Dell Books, New York,

'605pp., $3.50)

Reviewed by George W. Earley

'Been having bad dreams' lately about flying saucers?
, Losing sleep worrying about who's inside? Where they are
from? And, perhaps the most frightening question of all ...
WHY they are here?
Well, Genesis is not only the bad dream you may have
had about UFOS, but it also supplies some terrifying answers
to those very questions.
'
'Fortunately, Genesis is fiction ... I hope. At least, it is
sold as fiction. It is also the most disquieting piece of UFO
fiction I've read in over thirty years in the field.
The time is now. Two men, the Hynek-like Dr. Frederick
Epstein of the "Aerial Phenomena Investigations Institute"
in Washington, and his associate, Dr. Stanford, are chasing UFOS. Meanwhile, somebody is killing people involved
in UFO research .'. . and kidnapping others, for reasons
initially unclear.
,
'
The reader will quickly find he is following two story
iines: the pursuit by Epstein and Stanford of UFOS, and the '
machinations of others about .which I will say no more
, beyond noting that the reader will discover certain "truths"
before the main characters do.
'
Aiong the way, a number of people and even'ts from the
real world of ufology glide across the scene. Jessup, Mc-'
,Donald, Klass, Menzel and Ruppelt all appear, as do certain
Bermuda Triangle myst~ries, cattle mutilations, foo fighters
and other anomalies.
'
Harbinson knows the UFO field. From a wide,variety of
disparate strands, he has woven a ufological tapestry which,
while not flawless, pulls and tugs and compels the reader
to ,finish this frightening tale. And if the ending is not to
your liking, just keep telling yourself it is 9nly fiction, it is
,only fiction ...
In an"epilogic note, Harbinson reveals that his interest
in UFOS was sparked, while researching another novel, by
"two short but intriguing articles" (about which he frus- '
tratingly tells us nothing) found in i'the Imperial War
Museum in London." Other facts followed, but it was
those two War Museum articles that led hi,m to write Genesis, a novel I urge you to read, but not, for'your peace of
mind, to believe. .

Foarth Qaarter 1982

Letters
In an earlier letter, * I claimed it was impossible for
any ancient astronomer c. 2700 B.C. to have built th~
pyramids of Giza by Wi.lson's model. I have made several
assumptions or assertions which I will now elaborate on.
1. Mirrors. Any geographic measurement of the speed
of light would have had to use mirrors of some kind. The
earliest mirrors were handheld and were from GraecoRoman times (Boardman 1975). Unless more recent artifacts have been found, this means it was impossible to.
measure the speed of light geographically.
2. Lenses. The major obstacle against any ancient
astronomer seeing the disk of Mercury was the lack of
magnifying lenses. Twyman (1952) quotes a much earlier
article by H.C. Beck in which he tells of a discovery by
E.J. Forsdyke (1927) in Crete, of two crystal magnifying
lenses that date back to atleast as early as 1200 B.C. and.
probably 1600 B.C. As of King (1955), the oldest known
lenses date back to 2000 B.C., also from Crete; see also
Irwin (1975). Without the use of lenses the ancient
astronomer must have relied on the unaided techniques I
mentioned in the earlier letter.
3. Radius of the Earth. While Thiel (1957) does not
mention the use of transits when the French in the. time
of Louis XIV measured the radius of the Earth, Uotila
(1975) says that Jean Picard in 1669 (during Louis XIV's
reign) first used a telescope to determine latitude and 1.20
of arc from which a radius could be calculated. Further. he
says that Willebrord van Roijen Snell measured the size
of the Earth by triangulation without thc use of a telescope
and was 3.4% too small; he references A.D. Butterfield.
A History of the Determination of the Figure of the Earth
from An' Measurements (1906), among others.
4 .. Stellar Aberration. "Fixed" stellar aberration itself
caused by the Earth's revolution around the sun cannot
be used because the aberration constant has the value of
20.496 seconds of arc (Blackwell 1975). The yelbcity of
light is obtained from the equation:
c2 =

27raV
,where
KT (1 - e 2)1/2

K is the aberration constant, as is the semi-major axis of

the Earth's orbit, e is the .eccentricity, T is the sidereal
year in mean solar seconds, V is the observer's velocity
transverse to the direction of the object observed, and c
is the speed of light. If the sun were used, the equation
would be chang.ed to

c3 = ~ pV 22

, where.

7r sunKT(l - e )112

7rsunK = 180.245 seconds squared of arc, p is Earth

equatorial radius.
See leiter to the editors in Pursuit No. 54, Second Quarter 1981; pp. 9596, which responded to Edgar Wilson's article "Evidence for the Stability
of the Sola~ System Since c. 2700 B.C." in Pursuit No. 52, Fall 1980,
pp. 151-154.

Fourth Quarter 19.2

5. Mixed Color Occultation. I mentioned in my summary about the possibility of measuring the diameter of
Mercury as it occults either Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Procyon, or Capella using color changes. Payne-Gapos~hkin
(1965) lists these stars' temperatures as foliows:
Procyon
Capella
Aldebaran
Betelgeuse

6500K
5500K
3300K
3100K

Sosman (-1940) says that the practiced eye is capable of

judging temperature by brightness with an error in
brigh~ness of within 25 %. The Sun's temperature is 5780
50K. Such an error in brightness means the naked-eye
observer could. guess these stars temperatures with the
following errors:

Star
Procyon
\ .
Capella
.Sol
Aldebaran
Betelgeu!!!e

Spectral
. Class
F5
GO
G2
K5
M2

Surface
Teml2erature .
6500 380K
5500 300K
5780 310K
3300 180K
3100 170K

Since Mercury would be reflected light from Sol. a star

with a surface temperature ovei-lapping the range 5470 to
6090K would n'ot be differentiable. This means Cap~lla
could not be used on the basis of color. When the
brightnesses are close, the spectrum reSUlting from the sum
of any of these, with reflected sunlight, indicates a
temperature approximately midway between the two
sources. These composite spectra would be the case
whenever the two objects are within one minute of arc.
In this instance.those that overlap can be seen in the following table:
Star & Sol
Procyon F5
Aldebaran K5
Bet~lgeuse M2

Composite
Teml2erature
6140 330
4540 245
4440 235

This means inside the resolution of the unaided observer

it is very unlikeiy that Procyon could be differentiated.
Both Aldebaran and Betelgeuse could have been used. If
these were used when Mercury was on Earth's side of Sol,
then the longest time for the col OF sequence is about 15
minutes. This includes the color composites on either side
of the occultation. This means if about 15 minutes of time
could be measured, the ancient astronomer could know
the diameter of Mercury if such an occultation occurred
before the actual construction.
6. Shadow Clocks. For measuring both the speed of
light and the diameter of Mercury by occultation, it is
necessary to have available a reasonably accurate
chronometer. Dolan (1975) say~ that the Egyptians around
3000 R.C. used shadow clocks or L-boards. He says that

....r...t1.S

these were used to tell the hour of the day, not veri acc~rately. To measure the speed of light from Venus, times
between 3 and 20 minutes must be resolved. At best they.
might have been 50% accura~e. The diameter of MercillY
by such a method would be meaningless.
.

(:

7. Conclusion. It would take a lens of 5X to 14X

magnification to resolve the disc of Mercury (one minute
of arc). According to Twyman (19~2) the lenses ~f the ..
time (1600 B.C.) were only 3X. Even iflenses were used
c. 2700 B.C. it is very unlikely they were more than 3X.
In a~dition, a converging lens has as its focal length' (L)
the distance M x d, where M is the magnification and d
is the distance to the object to be magnified (Halliday and
Resnick 1962). Clearly the ancient astronomer would have
. had to build a refracting telescopea.nd none has yet ~n ,
found archeologically.
. The radius of the Earth could have been known to 3.4% ..
I am a member of SITU and very much interested in the
fields of psychotronics, new energies and disc-shaped aircraft and spacecraft. In Pursuit" No. 59, Third Quarter
1982, -I noticed a letter from Mr. W. Kingsley and the report
"British Rail Gives Up on Flying Saucers." I think that
many readers are interested in serious information concerning possible UFO technologies. There are a variety of
ways to build strange little flying machines, and many U. S.
and Europe!!n patents exist. (I prepared a list of pat~nts
some time ago and ordered copies from the U.S. Patent
Office and the Deutches Patentamt.)
Here is a list of books and other sources which may be
of interest:
.'
.
-"Intercettateli Senza Sparare"
-"I Velivoli Del Mistero"
-' 'Operazione Plenilunio"
Author: Renata Vesco
Publisher: Edizioni Azienda Padana Editrice s.p.a.
Via Jadino, 29
20124 Milano
ltalia
The firstbook had been published in the USA from Zebra Books, NY:
"In~ercept UFO" or "intercept But Don't Shoot" .
-"UFO-Anna Segreta"
Author: M. Coppeiti
Publisher: Edizione Mediterranee
Via Flaminia n. 158
00196 Roma
ltalia
-"Ungewohnliche Eigenschaften Nichtidentifizierbarer Lichterscheinungen"
MUFON-CES Tagungsband 1978, Munich
-"Forschung in Fesseln" ,
Author: Rho Sigma
Publisher: Ventla-Verlag
D-6200 Wiesbaden-Schierstein
- "UFO's-Nazi Secret Weapon?" .
Author: W. Mattern
Publisher: SAMISDAT'PUBLISHERS LTD.
206 Carlton Street
Toronto, Ontario M5A 2L1
Canada
- "Genesis-The epic novel of the world's most fearsome secret"
Author: W.A. Harbinson
[Editors' note: See George W. Earley's review, pag!= 184.i

Pu,..."II'

The speed of light could not have been measured to better

than 50%.
.
The only method left by which the radius of Mercury
might have been gotten was by its brightness, and this re9uires a knowledge of logarithms for which there is no
evidence. At best this diameter is only good to 15%.
Wilson's model has a built-in error of at least 52 % for
the astronomical capabilitY of the time. Wilson's "model".
remains only a number puzzle.
'
One other minor point regarding the 1I47th scale idea'
is that if the radius of the Earth was measured' as
Erato~thenes ~d done (between Alexandria and Syene)
the angle subtended was 1150 of 360. Poseidonius (1St
century B.C.) used the distance between Alexahdria and
Rh~es Island (1148 of 360). Eratosthenes wa,s 100 large
by 15 % and Poseidoniu!.\ was too large. by 11 %.
-'--Henry A.H9ff
- "We Want You-Is Hitler Alive?"
Author: Michael X.
-"Document 96-A Ra~ionale For Flying Saucers"
Author: Frank Martin Chase
- "The Flying Saucer-A Simplified Expl~tion Of The Application
Of The Biefeld-Brown Effect To The Solution Of The Problems Of
Space Navigation"
Author: Masone Rose
Publisher: (of all three books)
Saucerian Press/Gray Barker.'
Box 2228
Clarksburg,' W.VA. 26301
USA
.
. .
-"How To Build A Flying Saucer.....
Author: T.B, Pawlicki
- "Antigravity Propulsion Devices"
Author: Bernard C. Ebershaw
-"NIPD"
VoL' I and 2
.
.
Publisher: Research and Development
Post Office Boll. 873 .
Concord
.North Carolina 28025
USA
- "Suppressed &. Incredible Inventions"
Author: John Freeman
'.
Publisher: Fry's
. ,
879 Park Ave.
.
Perris, CA 92370
- "The Death Of Rocketry".
Author: Joel Dickinson & .Robert Cook"
Publisher: CIP Systems,. Inc.
P.O. Box.2997
San" Rafael,' CA 94901
- "The Principles Of Ultra Relativity"
Author: Shinichi Seike .
Publisher: G-Research Lab.
P.O. Box 33
Uwajima Post. Office
Uwajima City.
Ehime (798) ..
Japan
- "Die deutschen Waffen'und Geheimwaffen des 2. Weltkrieges und
iJue Weiterentwicldung'"
'.
Author: Rudolf Lusar .
Publisher: J.F. Lehmann.s Verlag, Munich
I

F.,,- Q8iu1_1912

-'''Gennan Jet Genesis"

Author: David Masters
. Publisher: Jane's Publishing Company Limited
. 238 City Road
London EC 1V 2PU
Great Britain
- "High Energy Electrostatics Research: Introduction And Information Compendium. H.E.E.R." ,
-"Antigravity And UFO's. H.E.E.R."
Author: (of both volumes)
Raymond A. Nelli
- "Flying Saucers And Physics"
- "Flying Saucer Energetics"
Author: (of both papers)
Stanton T. Friedman
Available from: Arcturus Book Service
clo Bob Girard
.
263 N. Ballston Ave.
Scotia, NY 12302
USA
- "The Great Cosmic Cover-up::
Publisher: Association for Pushing Gravity Research
Craig Gunnufson
25176 Madison Street
Murrieta, CA 92362
USA
. Searl National Space Research Consortium
J.R.R. Searl
17 Stephens Close
Mortimer
Berkshire, RG7 3TX, Great Britain

UFo-like craft were built and are being built for experimental studies of possible secret weapons. Airplanes with
round wings are not very good, but if one takes several
technologies it is possible to build expensive and superior
craft. The Nazis built "Flugkreisel," and after WWII
other nations did, too. In the books listed above there is
a lot of inform~tion, but researches for military purposes
are naturally very rarely reported and lack details. I believe
ways also exist for fast interstellar travel or so-called timetravel, and new, open-minded physics'and psychology will
show possible practicalities soon, I hope! .
-J; Bodensieck
West Germany
George A. Agogino's article on the Crystal Skull,was
a fine and concise piece of writing (Pursuit No. 59, Third
Quarter 1982). It wove together in.a well-ordered matrix all
accounts and findings reported on this amazing matter.
Anthropologists are usually able by cephalic index and
related means to re-sculpture the face and features of a
living creature from its skull. Since the Crystal Skull and
others like it were obviously Closely and finitely patterned .
after the living homo sapiens, should not some effo'rt be
made to come up with racial features for these skulls,
which in turn might help to identify their creators?
I feel sure that readers would find this an interesting
point for discussion.
. -Hillyer Senning
Dr. Cahoon's ~rticle. "Causality and Synchronicity as
Natural Principles" (Pursuit No. 58, Second Quarter 1982)
is an example of the careless reasoning which is so rampant
in the various branches of xenology.

Folll'lb Q.a..._1982

Thedluthor argues that, because the expansion of the

universe is uniform in all directions and its composition
homogeneous, all events in the universe are repeated many
times: "Because there are a very large number of identical
lines, an infinite number in the sense of differential calculus, it follows that there are a great many You's in the
universe." .
This is an. example of the fallacy of composition. Merely
because the physical composition of the universe is the
same everywhere (and that itself is an unproven assumption), it does not follow that there are a ~!Jltiplicity of
Delwin Cahoons or Kim Neidighs out there. Possibly there
are, but the premises do not prove it.
From this argument, Dr. Cahoon believes he has demonstrated how synchronicity operates. I confess I don't see
how. Panlpsychic events are among those. considered synchronistic, and Dr. Cahoon seems to be-saying that these
occur because of some sort of link between duplicate
individuals in the universe. But this assumes the conclusion
in the premises-an example of circular reasoning.
-Kim L. Neidigh
The following communication appeared in the "letters" column of the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch issue of November 6, 1982 and w~ forwarded by
member Ray Nelke.
The writer, Dr. Harley Rutledge, is professor of physics and heads the
physics department at Southeast Missouri State University. From 1973 he
directed a scientific field study in the New Madrid seismic area (shown on
page 68 in Pursuit No. S4, Second Quarter 1981). His 1981 book, Project
Identification, reported on the study' and was reviewed in Pursuit No. S6,
Fourth Quarter 1981, page 181. His letter to the St. Louis newspaper is
quoted in full:

UFOs Exist
Recently Nova, a science-related series on PBS television, ran
a program titled "The Case of the UFOs" that was as fine a piece
of propaganda as I have seen in a long time. Based upon the presentation, the viewer was invited to. make a judgment as to the
existence of UFOs.
Several scientist-UFO experts gave their opinions regarding the
UFO phenomenon. Not one had ever seen a UFO.
These scientists seek a natural explanation for the UFO phenomena. As an example of how far they will "reach," one claimed
a correlation between earthquake activity and lights in the sky. But
such correlations are illusory. For instance, a correlation exists
between an increase in worldwide UFO activity and the nearness
to Earth of the planet Mars in its orbit about the sun .. Yet NASA
has no evidence that UFOs are on Mars.
Another example of reaching is one scientist's belief that UFO
sightings result from the observation of swarms of insects that give
off an electrical discharge while in the vicinity of an electrically
charged cloud, a natural phenomenon, too.
Having lived in the vicinity of the New Madrid fault.for 20
years and having directed a long-term scientific field study of UFO
phenomena, during which I observed some .1 SO UFO lights, I do
not believe that any of these were produced by insects or earthquakes-nor were any of the seven craft I observed.
Contrary to the opinion of "experts," I can state unequivocally
that real UFOs exist and that they are not a phenomenon of nature.
Dr. Harley Rutledge
Director. Project Identification
Cape Girardeau, Missouri

LETfERS to the editors are always welcome. Please

send to Fred WDson, 66 Bortlc Road, P.O. Box 134,
Cedar Grove, NJ 07009. Letters are sabJect to abridge.
ment as necessary to Insure fair sharing of the limited
space available.

Purlt 187

The Notes of Charles' F.o"

Deciphered by CariJ. Pabst
,.

ABBREVIATIONS

**
#
Ac to
A. J. Sci
(~

1)

An de Chimie
An Reg
Arcana of Sci
Arch. des Oecouv.
Archiv. Verein Freunde
J'liltur of Mecklenburg
Ast. Reg
Astro
'attrib
BA
,bet
'Bib. Univ.
BO

'. B. R. Success
Br. V Assoc
b. snow.
Bull Soc. Beige 0' Astro
(C)

. For some obscure reason, Fort cut a

'l
point on the left side .of .t~e note.
.-';
[?]
Acco,rding to
. American'Journal o/Scien~ .
[ ? Almanac? ]
~nnalesde Chimie
Annual Register
A reana 0/ Science
Archi\les des Decou\lerteS

Jour. Roy Inst Gt. Britain

Kaspar Hauser
"An enterprising new member has
undertaken the task of checking the
.' references in CharlesFort's NOTES
as printed in thi: Magazine,
especially and'primarily those
gathered from the Reports of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science. This welcome
refinement of.~etails is forwarded
by H. A. Kiesewetter, of Buffalo,
who is assisted in 'the work by
Mrs. Kiesewetter." (The Fortean,
1tl0, p. 146, c.! 1)
I
Ky.
Kentucky
La Belg. Horticole
.' La Belgique Horticole
La S. P. Tous
La Science Pour Tous
Lght .' .
Light .
Lin. Soc Trans.
Linnaean Society Transac~;o~ (1)
L'Institut
[?)
Liv Age
Li\lingAge
L.T.
. : L'~~doQ Times
lum.ofone
: lu~inous [intensity?] of one [candle
'pOwer?] .
Mag Nat Hist
Magaline 0/ Natural History
Mech.anics' Mag .
Mechanics' MagOline
.
Mem. R. A. S.
Memoirs 0/ the Royal AstronomiCllI
. Spciety
Mems Nat. Acad. of SCiences Memoirs 0/ the National ACIldemy 0/
Sciences
.
metite
meteorite
Monthly Notices
M NQt.i~es
MonrqeCo.
Monroe County
mt.
mountain
umul'~'
mutilation
N.J.
New Jersey
No More .
N.M.
(N) op
N. S. Wales:"
New South Wales
Obj '.
" Object

(1)

[?)

black snow
Bulletin de la Societe Belgium
D'Astronomique (7)

n)

(Ch) .

Pur" IS.',

K. fi'auser
Kiesw.

Astronomical Register
I
Astronomical
attributed
.Report 0/ the British Association /or,the .
Advancement p/ Science "
.
between
Bibliographie Universelle '.
"It is clear from the arrangement of the
notes that he [Fort] was searching his
chronological arrangement and plucking .
out 'specific notes for a future book in
which he would refer to th~ dafa as
opprobrious to the Scientists for their
odor, 'B 0' ... (The Fortean,
#3, p. I4,c. 1)
Succession of black rains

Chaos [Fort's working title for

New Lands)
. Cor.
Correspondent
C.R.
Comptes Rendus
(Cut)
illustrated
0-177
T~e Book 0/ the ~,!,netJ., page 177
dept.
department
-det met
deto~ating' meteor
dets of phe
details of phenomena'
. Disap I Extraord
Extraordinary disappearan~
dist. thunder
distant thundc;r
E.limb
Eastern limb
Edin Jour Sci
Edinburgh Journal 0/ Sci~nce
Eng'
England.
Eng. Mee.
:1" .
English Mechanic
Ext. Oiscovery
i;:xtraordinary Discoverr
(I-)
Fletcher's List
F. ball
Fireball
(Frgs)
(Frogs)
Ga
Georgia
G~nt's Mag
G~nttema~'~ Magqline
h.
hours
Hun
Hungary
Inf. conjunction
Inferior conjunction
(It)
Italy
Jour Amer. Museuql Nat.Hist Journal o/the J!",e~ican Mu,reu~ 0/
'.' .
, .. ' .
Na,u'f1l History. I . '
, .'
.,

.1

Journal 0/ the' Royal Institute "0/

areat Britain' :
.

[n

,",jo!
"UJ

OPt Mars

1,.1

p.
(P)

Penny Mag
phe .
Phil Mag
P.P.
q and geolog
Q. Jour. Roy)nst
S. Car.
Smithsonian Inst Rept.

.' :'

'

."

'.,

Somnamb ..
stat.
StoN'
S.W. to N.E.
Sy.mons Met
Tenn.'

Opposition of Mars
page
(?]

Penny Magaline
phenomena
PhilosophiCllI Magaline
(1)

earthquake and geological phenomena

Quarterly Journal 0/ the Roy~/lnstitute
South Carolina
Annual Report 0/ tlie Smithsonian
Institution
Somnambulism
stationary ..
South to .North .
Southwest to Northeast
'Symons' MeteorologiCllI Magaline., ,
Tennessee

tho storm
Trans Bombay Geog Soc
Trans. Perthshire Soc
Met. Sci
Tr. Roy Soc Edin
Va.
vol.
Volc
zod light

thunderstorm
.
Transactions 0/ the Bomixij
Geographical Society
.
Transactions 0/ the p"erthshire SOCiety
o/.Meteorological Science [?) ..;..
Transactions 0/ the Royal Society'
oj Edinburgh
Virginia.
volume
Volcano
zodiacal light

Continued from Pursuit No. 59,

Vol. 15, No.3, Third Quarter 1982,
page 144.'

1827

**

Feb.' 11 I New York / S.W. to

N.E. I Fireball I BA 60.
Feb 19 I Iceland / II / [Medium
quake I BA 1911).
Feb. 23 I March 21 I Aug 13 I Dec
3 1/ q's IBelgium I Ciel et Terre

Nov. 30 I W. Indies I also coast of 8/38.

S.A. I Shocks. In some places Feb 27 I See 1827. I Near Mhow,
preceded by
India, stone perfectly similar to
[Reverse side) violent wind. / BA one near Allahabad in .1802 and
54.
near Mooradabad in 1808. I ArNov. 30 I Dec I I Dec 8 II Violent cana of Sci 1829-196.
shocks in Maninique, followed by [BCF, p. 409 I See 180211:)
rain. I B.A. 54.
Feb 29 I [London Times), 3-f I
Dec 9 I Vole erup~ion near village March 4-3-a I 26-3-b' I .q I
of Jokmali (Bakon), on Caspian Antwerp.
. .
Sea. I
March 14 / Vesuvius I 17 and 18,
[Reverse side) BA 54.
'more violent, to 22nd, .when
Dec 9 I At Vega-di-Supia I 8:30 diminish I An Reg 1828-40.
p.m. I detonation heard by Hum- March 20 or 22 I b. snow. I
boldt I Bull. Soc. Beige de Geol. 9- Roseneath, Scotland. I Ac to old
190.
I
resident to
Dec 13 / Lisbon, Portugal I I I
[Reverse side) Lewis P. Muirhead,
[Light quake I BA 1911).
in Nature 29-494, snow fell in
black or sooty nakes.
Mar. 20, 22 I See 14. I B. R. Suc1828
cess I Scotland, Clyde V~lIey ( (QMass of ice / Candeish, India I 31).
.
(0-177).
[BCF, p. 29:
[BCF, p. 185:
A correspondent to Kliowledge,
Rept. Brit. Assoc., 1851-32:
That a mass of ice about a cubic 5-190, writes of a black ridn that
yard in size had fallen at Candeish, fell in the Clyde Valley,. March
1884; of another black rain that
India, 1828.)
fell two days later. According to
winter.' Larvae I (0-93).
the correspondent, a' black rain'
had fallen in the Clyde Valley,
[BCF, pp. 96-97 I See 1806 win- March 20, 1828: then again March
ter.)
22, 1828. According to Ndture, 943, a black rain fell at Marlsford,
Jan 5 I [London Times), 3-a I
England, Sept. 4, 1873: mqre than
Astro phenomena.
Jan 7 I Eruption of lire and water twenty-four hours later another
black rain. fell in the same small
I Jo~mali, Persia / Mag Nat Hist
town.)
6-301.
Jan. 14, I Venice / q I "After the March 30 I Peru and rain and q /
motion had ceased a p'rolonged, Very viqlent q-"the most extraordinary and violent rain followed,
dull noise was heard in the air." I
[Reverse side) lasted four days,
det met? /. BA '541
and produced most disastrous
[Reverse side) 11:45 p.m.
.
inundations." I BA '54 / Peru.
Jan 181 Gotha I Fireball I BA 60.
April I Volc in Kamtschatka I
Jan 29 I Krassova, Hungary I q Mag Nat Hist 6-301.
.
.preceded by tho storm I BA 54.
April I Fish I ac to an April no of
Feb. 2 I Island of Ischia, Italy I II Inverness Courier, copied in Edin
I [Medium quake I BA 1911).
Jour Sci 9-156 / At Fodd.herty,
Feb 2 I March 14 II Vesuvius afier Strathpfeffer,
..
quiet 6 years. I Q of Ischia on Feb [Reverse side) a field found
2. I Bib. Univ. 39/157.
covered with herring 3 to 4' inches
-or 1829? Feb. 7 I 3 p.m. / On long. Sea 3 miles away.
Darling River, Australia.
Ap. 14 I Ross-shire I fish I.. (0-8",)
[Reverse side) Report as if big gun. I Liv' Age 521186 I An RegI Suirt, Central Australia, 2-21.
1828155.
.

I:

**

Fourth Quarter 1982' .

said to be well-known. The safest

and easiest and laziest of explana~
tions is that of imposture.
Of the two letters, one purport... [BCF, pp. 703-710:
ed to be from the boy's mother,
,. UPI;1Dr-W!lit Monday afternoon, dated sixteen years before, tellhig
\ May; 1828, a YOlith, aged sixteen that she was abandoning her inor seventeen, staggered, with a fant, asking the finder to send him
jaunty st~id.e, into the town of to Nuremberg, when he became
Nuremberg, Germany. Or, IoYhile seventeen years old, to enlist in the
painfully dragging himself along sixth Cavalry Regiment, of which
the ground, he capered into the his father had been a member. The
town. The story has been told by other letter purported to be from
theorists. The tellers have fitted "the finder of the infant, telling that
descriptions around their theories. he had ten children of his own,
The young man was unable fully to and could no longer support the
govern the motions of his legs, ac-. boy.
Someone soon found that these
cording to Andrew Lang, for instance. He walked with firm, quick lellers had not been written by difsteps, according to the Duchess of ferent persons, sixteen years apart.
Cleveland. The Duchess' theory One of them .was in Latin characrequired that nothing should be the lers, but both were written with the
mailer with his legs. By way of the same ink, upon the same kind of
New Gate, he entered the town, paper. In the "later" letter, it was
and there was something the mal- said: "I have taught him to read
ler .with his legs, according to all . and write, and he writes my handwriters, excepl the one who writing exactly as I do ...
preferred thai there should be Whereupon the name that Kaspar
had written, in the police station,
nothing the matter with his legs.
To Nurembergers who gathered was examined, and il was said that
around, the boy held out two let- the lIVritings were similar. Largely
ters, one of which was addressed with this circumstance for a basis,
10 a cavalry captain. He was taken
il has been said that Kaspar
to the captain's house, but, . Hauser was an impostor-or that
because ,the captain was not at he had written the letters himself.
home, and because he could give With what expectation of profit to
no account of himself, he was then himself is nol made clear. If I must
taken to a police station. Here it argue, I argue that an impostor,
was recorded that he could speak aware that handwritings might be
only two sentences in the German compared, would, if he were a
language, and that when given good impostor, pretend to be
paper and pencil he wrote the unable to write, as well as unable
name Kaspar Hauser. But he was to speak. And those who consider
not put away and forgotten, He Kaspar Hauser an impostor, say
had astonished and mystified . thill he was a very good impostor.
Nurembergers, in the captain's The explanation in the letter, of
house, and these townsmen. had
the similarity of handwritings,
told others, so that' a crowd had
seems to be acceptable enough.
'People living along the road
gone ~ith him to the station house,
remaining outside, discussing. the
leading to the New Gate were
questioned. Not an observation
strange arrival. It was told in the
upon the boy, before he appeared
crowd, as recorded by von. Feuer,bach, that near the. New Gate of . near the Gate, could be- heard of.
the town had appeared a boy who
But we see, if we accept that
seemed unacquainted with the
someone else wrote his letters, that
commonest objects and experiences
this Gate could not have been his
of everyday affairs of human
"appearing-point," in the sense
we're thinking of. He must have
beings. The astonishment of
a look at the captain's saber had
been with, or in the custody of,
attracted attention. He had been
someone else, at least for a while'.
given a pot of beer. The luster of Streets, near the jail, where for a
the pot and the color of the beer
time he was lodged, were, filled
with crowds, clamoring for more
affected him as if he had never
seen al1ything of the kind before.
information. Excitement and inLater, seeing a burning candle, he
vestigation spread far around
cried out in delight with it, and Nuremberg. A reward was,offered,
before anybody could stop him,
and, throughout Germany, the
tried to pick up the name. Here his ' likeness of Kaspar Hauser was
education began.
posted in public places. People in '
This is the story that has. been " Hungary took up the investigation.
considered imposture by everybody'" "Writers in France made much of
who wanted to consider it imposthe' mystery, and the story was
ture. I cannot say whether all
published in England. People from
all parts of Europe went to see this
alleged caseS of amnesia are fakes,
or not. I say that, if there be amboy. The mystery was so
stimulated by pamphleteers that,
nesia, the phenomena of Kaspar
Hauser are aligned with the phethough "feverish" seems an' exnomemi. of many cases that are' '-ii-eme word, writers described the
JBCF, p. 86I.See July, 1824.)
May.1 Hauser enters Nuremberg.

PM,..."189

~citement over this boy, "who

had appeared as if from the
clouds," as a "fever." Because of
this international interest, Kaspar
Hauser was known as "The Child
of Europe. "
.
: The city of Nuremberg adopted
Kaspar. He was sent to live with
Prof. Daumer, a well-known
scieiltist, and the Mayor of
Nuremberg notified the public to
"keep away from his present
residence, and thereby avoid
collision with the police." The
~eeming paralysis of his legs wore
off. He quickly learned the Ger!nan language, but spoke always
with a foreign accent. I have been
unable to learn anytping of the
peculiarities of this accent. Except
to Ostudents of revivals of
. obliterated
memories,
his
quickness in learning would seem
incredible. Writers have said that
so marvelous was his supposed
ability to learn that he must have
been an impostor, having a fair
~ucation, to start with. Though
the impostor-theory is safest and
easiest, some writers have held that
the boy was a.n idiot, who had
been turned adrift. This explanation can be held simply and
honestly by anybody who refuses
to believe all records after the first
~eek or so of observations.
Whether impostor or idiot, the
outstanding mystery is the origin
of this continentally advertised
'.boy.
. The look of all the circumstanCes to me is that somebody got rid
of Kaspar, considering him an imbecile, having been able to teach
!Um only two German sentences.
Then the look is that he had not
for years known Kaspar, but had
known. him only a few weeks,
while his disabilities were new to
him. Where this custodian found
the boy is t~e mystery.
Kaspar Hauser, in the year 1829,
wrote his own story, telling that,
until the age of sixteen or seven- .
teen, he had lived upon brea~ and
:water, in a small, dark cell. He had
Jcnown only one person, alluded to
by him, as "the man," who,
toward the end of his confinement
Jlad taught him two sentences, one
Ilf them signifying that he wished
to join a cavalry.regiment, anp the
other, "I don't know." He had
'been treated kindly, except once,
when he had been struck for being
noisy.
.' Almost anybody, reading this
,account, will, perhaps regretfully,
,perhaps not, say farewell to our
idea of a teleported boy. "That
settles it." But nothing ever has
settled anything, except relatively
;,to a desire for settlement, and if
ours is a desire for unsettlement,
;we have assurance that we, or any
.other theorist, can find in the un'certainties of any human
document, whether supposed to

.Purlt 190

have been dictated from' on high,

had been found in clothes, of cut was not only Kaspar who was
or written by Ii boy, material for
and texture that were remarkable wounded. There was a wound in
thinking as our theories require.
and that would have caused circumstances. Tormentors urged
We note in. Kaspar's story a
inquiry. The clothes that were him to confessi so that in terms of
statement that he had no idea of given to him were a peasant's. It the known they could fill out his
time, That is refreshing to our
was noted in Nuremberg that they story. Faith in confessions and the
wilting theory, We may thjnk that
seemed not to belong to him, desire to end a mystery with a conhe had lived in a'"small,dark.'room
because Kaspar was not a peasant fession are so intense that some
all his life of which he had rememboy, judging by the softness of his Writers have said that Kaspar did
brance, and that that may haY-C, hands (von Feuerbach)~
confess. As a confession, they have
been a period of only a' few weekj,~
The story has resemblances to interpreted his protest against his
We pick upon his statement that the story of the English boy. of accusers-'tMy Godf that I should
once he had been struck for being
Nepal. In each case so~ebody got so die in shame and disgrace!"
noisy. To us that means that he
. Kaspar Hauser died. The point
rid of a boy, and in each case it is
had been confined, not in a cell, or
probable that a false story was of his heart had been pierced by
a 4ungeon, but in a room in a: . told. If "the man" in Kaspar's something that had cut th.rough the
house, with neighbors around, and' case had the ten children that, to diaphragm, penetr:ating stomach
that there was somebody's. fear' excuse an abandonment, he told andliver. Iri the opinion of two of
that sounds from him would at-
of, there'd have been small chance the doctors and of .many of the
tract attention-or that there were
for him to keep his secret. There people of Nuremberg, this wound
neighbors so close to this plaCe. are differences in these two stories. could not have been self-inflicted.
that the imprisonment of a boy It will be my expression th,at they Rewards for the cap~ure of a/l
could not have been kept- a secret' came about because of the wide assassin w.ere offered. Again,
more than a few weeks.
difference in attention that was at- throughout- Germany, posters apWe're not satisfied. W.e huilt for
tracted.
peared in public places, and in
Oct. 17, 1829-Kaspar was Germany and other.'Countries there
direct data for thinking that, if
found in the cellar of Prof. were renewed. outbursts of pamKaspar Hauser had been confined
in a dark room, ,it liad not been for'- Daumer's house, bleeding from a phlets. The boy appeared "as if
more than a few weeks.
cut in the forehead. He said that a from 'the clouds," and' nothing
"He had a healthy color"
man in a black mask had appeared more was learned. '.
(Hiltel). "He had a very healthy
It was K~par's story that a man
suddenly, and had stabbed him.
It has been explained that this in the park had stabbed him. If
. color: he did not appear pale or.
delicate, like one who had been' was attempted suicide. But stab- anybody prefers to think that it
bing oneself in the forehead is a cannot be maintained that there
some time in confinement"
(Policeman Wuest).
.
queer way to attempt suicide, :and was only one track of footprints in
in Nur~mberg arose a belief that the snow, let him look up various
According to all thai ca~ b~
Kaspar's life was in danger from accounts, and he will find .assuranlearned of another case, a man;
unknown enemies, and two' ces any way he wants to find them ..
naked, almost helpless, perhaps in
a state of hypnosis so profound policemen were assigned to guard For almost every statem~t that I
him.
.
have made, just as good authority
that also it was physical, so that he
could scarcely walk, and in whom
Upon an afternoon in May, for denying it, as for stating it, can
memory was obliterated so.that he . 1831, one of these policemen, be found, provided any two con. did not know enough to make his
while in one room, heard a pistol flieting theories depend upon it.
way along a road, which he
shot, in another room. He ran One can read that Kaspar Hauser
there; and found Kaspar again . was highly intelligent or brilliant.
crossed, appeared near Petersfield;
wounded in the forehead. Kaspar; One can read that the autopsy
Hampshire, Feb. 21, 1920; If we
said that it was an accident: that he showed that his brain was
can think that a peasa,nt, near
had climbed upon the back of a atrophied to the size of a small
Nuremberg, found on his farm. iii
chair, and, reaching for a book, animal's, accounting for his
boy in a similar condition, and
had ,slipped, and, catching out idiocy. One comesupon j~st about
took him in, then considering him
wildly, 'had graspe4 a pistol that what one, CQmes"upon in looking
an imbecile; and wanting to get rid
of him, keeping him in con~ , was hanging on the wall, up any other mat~er ..of .histofy. It
is said that history is a science. I
discharging it.
finement, fearing he might be held
Dec. 14, 1833-Kaspar Hauser think 'it must be., . ... . ..
responsible for him, thell' writing
rim from a park, crying that he
. A ireat deal, such as Kaspar's
two letters that would explain an
abandonment in cominonplace' ha'd been stabbed. Deeply wound- alleged at;i1iiy to see in the dark,
ed in his side, he was taken to his and his aversion to eating tneiu,
terms that would not exci.te
home. The. park, which was and his inability to walk would be
inquiry, but not being skillful, ill.
covered with new-fallen snow;, was understandable, if could be aCceptsuch matters, that looks as if we're
searched, but no weapon. was ed the popular'theory that Kaspar
explaining somewhat ..
found, . and only Kaspar's foot- Hauser was the rightful. Crown
Because of the continuation of
prints were seen in the snow. ,Two Prinl=e of Bavaria, . who for
Kaspar's story, we think that this
place was near Nuremberg., Whit
of .the : attending physicians I@ve political reasons had been kept fQr
their opinion that Ka~par cobld sixteen 'or. seventeen years in a
Monday was a holi~y,: ,and: the
not so have injured himself; J'he dungeon. There would be
exfarmers, or the neighbors, were
opinion of the third physician was planation (or two alleged attacks
probably not laboring in the fields:
upon him. But see ~k tQ his own
an indirect accusation of suicide:
so this was the day for the shifting
that the blow had been struck. by a story of confinement. in a hou..se, or
of the supposed imbecile. Upon
left~handed person. Kaspar. was a peasaJlt's. hut, near Nur~berg,
this day, as told by Kaspar, "the
not left-handed, but was ambidex- ~here probably, his imprisonment
man" carried the boy from the
could not have been kept secret
dark room, and carried, or led, 'trous. .
. Kaspar lay on his bed,. with his . m.or~ than. a few. week,S., .See
him, com~lIing him to keep his
usual publicity. He was surround- testimony by Hiltel and Wuest. .
eyes downward, toward Nurem:
berg. Kaspar's clothes . were .. '. ed by tormentors, who urged him See back to a great deal more' in
to pluS sap"s in his story. He was this bookchanged for the abandonment.
the only human being who had
The wolf of Shotley Bridge, and
Perhaps he had been found
been in the park, according to the the wolf of Cumwinton-or that
.naked, and h!ld be,en .. giv~.2
testimony of the snow tracks: It something removed one wolf and
makeshift garments. Perhaps he

an

.Foaltli QaUt_19.~

procured another wolf to end a

mystery ,that was attracting too
much attention.
It was said that Kaspar Hauser
was murdered to suppress political
disclosures. If it be thinkable that
Kaspar was murdered to suppress a
mystery, whether political, or not
so easily 'defined,. there are
statements that support the idea
that also some of the inhabitants
of Nuremberg, who were
prominent in Kaspar's affairs,
were murdered, or one can read
that von Feuerbach died of a
paralytic stroke.' See Evans
(Kaspar Hauser, p. 150)-that,
soon after the death of Kaspar
Hauser, several persons, who had
shown much interest in his case,
died, and that it was told in
Nuremberg that they had been
poisoned. They were Mayor Binder, Dr. Osterhauser, Dr. Preu,.
and Dr:Albert.
"Kaspar Hauser showed such
utter. deficiency of words and
ideas, such perfect ignorance of
the commonest tbings and appearances of Nature, and such
. horrors of all customs, conveniences, and necessities of civilized life,
and, withal, such extraordinary
peculiarities in his social, mental,
and physical disposition, that one
might feel oneself' driven to the
alternative of believing him to be a,
citizen of another planet, transferred . by some, miracle to our
own" (von Feuerbach).]
May 8 or 9 / W - for 1827 and
1829.
middle May and end May /
Unusual number of .sunspots, one
of them of unusual size I Edin J.
Sci., 9-169.
May / Tscheroi, Turkey /
., Stonefall / BA 60.
May 14 / 10:30 a.m. / A waterspout seen near Edinburgh. But
water fell. None
[Reverse side] said to have gone
up. I Arcana of Science 1829~192.
May 18 / I I Marwa, Italy /
[Light quake / BA 19I'l].
May 24 / Tremendous sunspot by
Pastorff I ~st. Reg 7-13.
May 26 / (C) / (N) op / Obj
thOUght not ~ a sunspot, seen
on disk of sun, by Pastorff I M
Notices 34/26 /
[Reverse side) .beCause Olbers had
predicted comet cross the sun this
day..
[BCF, pp. 412-413 / See July 31,
1826.)
May 28 / Kratzburg / fishes / Archiv. Verein Freunde Natur of
Mecklenburg 12-75 /
[Reverse side] Jour Amer. MuseUm
Nat Hist 21/615.
last of May / No q / BA.

Another Death by. Lightning

bV Sabia. w. Saadenoa
rep~rted

I
on it "blasphemer" who was struck dead by
S
lightning out of a clear blue sky, and Harold Holland later gave an account of a similar occurrence. The case that follows is not nearly so clearOME TIME.' AGO

cut, but the identity of tJte victim is curious, and I think the affair deserves
notice. It was mentioned rather casually in The Polar and Tropical Worlds
by Dr. G. Hartwig, published by C. A. Nichols & Co. of Springfield, Mass.achusetts, in 1874. Hartwig' seems to have been a reliable author, definitely
not inclined toward sensationalism though occasionally displaying some of
the prejudices of his era '(primarily with regard to some jungle animals, notably
the gorilla). The report he quotes did not originate with him-he is careful
to note sources, another point in his favor-but is so matter-of-fact that it
probably can be taken at face value.,
.
The report appears in the chapter on "Siberia-Fur-Trade and GoldDigging" (page 216). Hartwig notes that" ... as the workmen [in the golddiggings] only consist of the refuse of society, the greatest discipline is necessary to keep them in order.... " and then goes on to say:
"Hoffman relates an instance of a plot singularly nipped in the bud.
In one of the gold-diggings on the Noiba, the workmen, at the instigation of
an under-overseer, had'refused to'perform a task assigned to them. It was
to be feared ihat the spirit of insubordination would gain ground, and extend over all ~the neighboring diggings. The director, consequently, sent at
once for military assistance; this, however, proved to be unnecessary, for
when the Cossacks arrived at the Noiba, a thunder-storm arose, and at the
very moment .they came riding up to the digging a flash of lightnir:tg killed
the ringleader in the midst of the mutineers. As soon as the men recovered
from the first. shock 'of. their surprise and terror, they all exclaimed, 'This is
the judgment of God!' 'and, without any further hesitation, at once returned
to their duty."
.'
I have b~n unable to determine who Hoffman was, nor can I find the
Noiba River, though in' the latter case the name has probably been changed
, by the Communist regime and it may be a relatively small river to begin with.
My personal assessment is that Dr. Hartwig would not have quoted the,story
unless he considered the source, to be reliable.
One has to admit that it is an awfully effective way to stop a mutiny.
Of courSe one would like more details, but the phrase "in the midst of "the
mutineers" str:ongly suggests that the leader was 'not imitating a church spire
by standing alone on the 'higliest prominence available. Indeed, one would
'expect the mutineers t({l!tick pretty closely together for moral support and
.for purely practical reasons of defense. Thus it is certainly curious that lightning struck the ringleader rather than ~omeone else, though one cannot rule
out coincidenCe.
.
Whether this was an example of human PK (psychokinesis) at ,work
.remains a moot point. It seems highly improbable that even' collective PK- could
hav.e conjured up a thunder-storm, but given a naturally occurring storm,
itis not impossible that someof.th,ose present-not necessarily the mutineersfelt very' stron,gly that !!omeone who flouted authority in this way ought to
be struck dead for his temerity. ,
Directing ,a bolt of. lightning to a particular target is a pretty neat trick,
if indeed this was the case, though it is less mind-boggling than creating lightning quite literally out the blue.

or

See Pursuit No...", Third Qu!\flel' 1981, page 133, for Sabina' Sanderson'~ report "Was It
Collective PK?".and Harold Holland's letter to the editors in Pursuit No. 57, First Quarter
1982, page 45.

The Notes of Charles Fort

will be continued in
the next issue.

Folll'tb Qaut_1982

Pur"191

Astrology and Charles Hoy Fort

(Continued from page 173)

..spectrum of PSI abilities lack a proper scientific birth certificate. However, astrology and these phenomena cQntinu~ to' parade before the impotent criteria of the
laboratory. Like falls of toads from the sky, these not~quite
disciplines have been relegated to the domain of the damn.ed, and will likely remain in the category of crackpot
pastimes until the Old Guard dies off. My guess is that
astrology will,become very "in" some day and be taught
in universities once more, this time couched in tenns of
. bioenergetiCs. Energies once written of as "influences"
and "rays" will become more palatable ~'paragravitatic
vectors"- that alter and modify "meta-neural energies."
.But until those new tenns are drummed'up to explain
astrology or dowsing, we cannot with any measure of intellectual honesty dismiss these phenomena. They are persistent and wide spread, and our mental impot~nce in their
face simply reminds us that we have rio idea of the forces
at play in the creation of people or the planets they inhabit ..
At the risk of bending a few noses out of shape, I am
duty-bound to suggest to my brother Forteans that astrology
has passed the test of Fort's chart. And why not? They're
both preposterous.
. .
BIBUOGRAPHY
Adams, Evangeline Astrology, Your Place in. the Sun, Dodd, Mead
& Company, New York, 1927.
. Heindel, Max The Message 0/ the Stars, Fowler & Co. Ltd., London,

1927.
George, Llewellyn A 'to Z HoroscOpe Maker and Delineator, Llewellyn
.
.
Publications Ltd., Los Angeles, 1910.
Carter, Charles O. Astrological Aspects, Fowler & Co. Ltd., London,

1930.
Leo, Allen How to Judge a Nativity, Fowler & Co. Ltd., l,ondon, 1895.
Acker, Louis S. The Astrologer's Handbook, Harper &: Row, New York,

~.

How Mach Did You Know Aboat:U,O.?;

Here are the answers to the 50 QuestionsCompile~ ~y
Tom Burch in Pursuit 59, Third Quarter 1982
. ,

ANSWERS TO "TRUE ~R FAL~E' QUESTIONS

1. True
True
True
True
False

2.
3.
4.
5.

6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Falile
False
False
False
True

11.' False
12. True
13. False
14. 'True
15. True

Reminder

Two Conferences
SI'TU's President, Bob Warth, attended two noteworthy conferences
during his vacation this past summer.
.
The first was the U.S. Psychotronics Association's conference from
July 18 to 22 at Golden, Colorado. Among the notables attending were
Tom Bearden, Dr. Andrija 'Puharich, Dr. Bob Beck, Dr. Elizabeth
Raucher, Dr. Louis Leonardi, Dr. T. Galen Hieronymous, J. O. Gallimore, Riley H. Crabb, Rev. Henry.J. Nagorka, Dr. Leo Sprinkle,
William Bise, Dr. Dan Fry and Ruth Harvey.
The meeting was well-pr~pared with a minimum of expected problems
..
'from the hosting Colorado School of Mines.
The 1983 USPA conference is planned for Portland, Oregon, from
July 20 to 23. Membership information, details of the upcoming conference and a list of tapes l11ade at the 1982 conference may be obtained
from Bob Beutlich, Secretary, USPA, 3459 Montrose Ave., Chicago,
IL60618.
The second meeting Bob Warth attended was a seminar on "Healing
Modalities, Psychic Phenomena and Survival Evidence" which met in
Madison, Wisconsin, from August 6 to 8. It was notably well-organized
and it, too, was very well-received by those who attended. Hosts Walter
and Mary.1o Uphoff assembled such distinguished persons as Dr. Otto
Schmitt, Dr. C. Norman Shealy, Harold Sherman, Uri Geller, Dr. J. T.
Richards, Dr.' Berthold Schwarz, Rose Gladden, again Ruth Harvey,
Mrs. May Lemke, Anne Gehman, Masuaki Kiyota, and others.
Membership information and seminar tapes are available from: New
Frontiers Center, Rt. III, Oregon, WI 53575.
We hope we can encourage the Uphoffs and their allies in this important field to'hold a follow-up seminar in the very near future.

4.

6.
7.

8.
9.

10.
11.

ANSWERS TO 'MULTIPLE-CHOICE' QUESTIONS

12. Townsend Brown
13. Wright-Patterson AFB
Ohio.
14. Kenneth Arnold
Antonio Villas Boas
sighting
.
Chiles It Whitted
15. Batelle Memorial Institute'
Edward Cond9n
flying Saucers16. Charles Fort
Serious Busln~
17. Smithsonian Institution
1896
18. Nocturnallights
UFO abduction case
19.. The Day the Earth.
53%
Stood Stili .
...
GEPAN
20. Charles Hickson

.......1,192

Corrections, Additions, Etc.

Apologies to ~ichard D. Wright for three typesetting errors in his
guest review of David Bohm's book Wholeness and the Implicate Order.
The review, publi~hed in Pursuit No. 58, Second Quarter 1982, contained
.the following errors:
,
\
Page 81, paragraph I, line 4 should read': classical science within its
. limits, works his way through the (not "works' its way" as we had it).
Page 81, paragraph 4, line 9 reads correctly when the semicolon we
mispu~ched is'replaced with the comma Mr. Wright had in his text.. I
Page 83, left column, featured the omission of several words following
the first line of continuation from bottom of preceding page. The first
sentence should read: Astonishingly enough, pne cubic centimeter of
space is calculated to contain more' energy than the total energy of all
matter in the known universe.
'

. . ..

1. Jacques Vallee
2. Missionary
3. Allan Hendry .

5.

Memos at Miscellany

This issue of Pursuit fulfills your membership for last year, it being
the issue for the.Fourth Quarter 1982. If you have not yet renewed your
membership for 1983, please send your check for 1983 dues to SITU
. immediately so that we can keep' our journal coming your way ....
Alsa please note: If you have moved within the last six months and
didn't tell us, or if you are going to move, please stop by your local post
office and ask for a "change of address card;" fill in your name and the
old address where you have been receiving Pursuit, plus your complete
new mailing address with date' when effective; mail to SITU, P.O. ~ox
. 265, Little Silver, NJ 07739 USA .

1973.
Pellitier, Robert Planets in Aspect, Para Research, Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1974.

Michael Baran, whose book A tlantis Reconsidered was reviewed in

Pursuit No. 59, Third Quarter 1982, page 140, has asked us to advise
. prospective purchasers that the price of the book is 57.50 postpaid when
'ordered direct from the publisher: Exposition Press, 325 Rabro Drive,
Smithtown, NY 11787.

. 21 .. Ted Phillips
22. physical evidence .
23. photographic evidence
24.
. 25.
26.
27.
28.

radar/visual slghtlngs
Project Starlight
Thomas Mantell .
McMinnville. Oregon
hypnotic regression

29. J. Allen Hynek

30. Philip Klass .

31. astronomical
phenomena
32. James Oberg
33. National Enquirer
34. Army helicopter
35. Iran

Fourth Quarter 1982

THE SOCIElY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
GOVERNING BOARD
Robert C. Warth, President; Gregory Arend, Vice-President; Nancy L. Warth, Secretary
and Treasurer; Trustees: Gregory Arend, Donald DeLue, pro. tem., Steven N. Mayne,
Nancy L. Warth, Robert C. Warth, Martin Wiegler, Albena Zwerver.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. George A. Agogino, Director of Anthropology Museums and Director, Paleo-Indian
Institute, Eastern New Mexico University (Archeology)
Dr. Carl H. Delacato, Director, The Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured, Morton; Pa. (Mentalogy)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Director, Lindheimer Astronomical Research Center, Northwestern
University (Astronomy)
Dr. Martin Kruskal, Program in Applied Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton,
New Jersey (Mathematics)
Dr. Samuel B. McDowell, Professor of Biology, Rutgers the State University, Newark,
New Jersey (General Biology)
Dr. Vladimir Markotic, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Archaeology, University of Alberta, Canada (Ethnosociology and Ethnology)
Dr. John R. Napier, Unit of Primate Biology, Queen Elizabeth College, University of
London, England (Physical Anthropology)
Dr. Michael A. Persinger, Professor, Department of Psychology, Laurentian University,
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (Psychology)
Dr. Frank B. Salisbury, Plant Science Department, College of Agriculture, Utah State
University (Plant Physiology)
Dr. Berthold Eric Schwarz, Consultant, National Institute for Rehabilitation Engineering, Vero Beach, Florida (Mental Sciences)
Dr. Roger W. Wescott, Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew
University, Madison, N.J. (Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics)
Dr. A. Joseph Wraight, Chief Geographer, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D.C. (Geography and Oceanography)
Dr. Robert K. Zuck, Professor and Chairman, Department of Botany, Drew University,
Madison, N.J. (Botany)
ORIGINS OF SITU/PURSUIT
Zoologist, biologist, botanist and geologist Ivan T. Sanderson, F.L.S., F.R.G.S . F.Z.S., in association
with a number of other distinguished authors, established in 1965 a "foundation" for the exposition and
research of the paranormal-those "disquieting mysteries of the natural world" to which they had devoted
much of their investigative lifetimes.
As a means of persuading other professionals, and non-professionals having interests similar to their
own, to enlist in an uncommon cause, the steering group decided to publish a newsletter. The first issue
came out in May 1967. The response, though not overwhelming, was sufficient to reassure the founding
fathers that public interest in the what, why and where of their work would indeed survive them.
Newsletter No.2, dated March 1968, announced new plans for the Sanderson foundation: a structure
larger than its architects had first envisioned was to be built upon it, the whole to be called the Society for
the Investigation of The Unexplained, as set forth in documents filed with the New Jersey Secretary of
State. The choice of name was prophetic, for Dr. Sanderson titled one of the last of his two-dozen books
"Investigating the Unexplained," published in 1972 and dedicated to the Society.
Another publication was issued in June 1968, but "newsletter" was now a subtitle: above it the name
Pursuit was displayed for the first time. Vol. 1, No. 4 in September 1968 ("incorporating the fourth SOCiety
newsletter") noted that "the abbreviation SITU has now been formally adopted as the designation of our
Society." Issue number 4 moreover introduced the Scientific Advisory Board, listing the names and aBiliations
of the advisors. Administrative matters no longer dominated the contents: these were relegated to the last
four of the twenty pages. Most of the issue was given over to investigative reporting on phenomena such as
"a great armadillo (6 feet long, 3 feet high) said to have been captured in Argentina" -the instant transportation of solid objects "from one place to another and even through solids" -the attack on the famed
University of Colorado UFO Project headed by Dr. Edward U. Condon-and some updated information
about "ringing rocks" and "stone spheres."
Thus SITU was born, and thus Pursuit began to chronicle our Investigation of The Unexplained.

Printed in U.S.A.

ISSN 0033-4685

Pursuit Index 1982

Agoglno, George A., 98
Ancient Letters from Iberia, 39
Ancient Space flight: Search
for Evidence, 53
Another Death by lightning, 191
Astrology and Charles Hoy Fort, 172
Baran, Michael, 108
B.C. Bigfoot Report, 162
Bearden, Thomas E., 75
Bellam, Ernest, 138
Bird, Christopher, 19
Brown, Michael H., 161
Burch, Thomas B., 111, 192
Cahoon, Delwin D., 62
Causality and Synchronicity as
Natural Principles, 62
Chinese Connection, The: Evidence
of TransPaciRc Voyages In
Pre-Columbian Times, 23
Clark, Richard L., 126
Coleman, Loren, 155
Cox-Richards PK Experiments, The, 2
Cronin, Edward W., Jr., 100
Crystal Skull, The: Fine Fake or
Authentic Artifact?, 98
Darwinian Transformlsm:
A Realllrmation, 133
DeWitt, Dave,l46
Discovery of the Second Law
of Gravitation, 120
Earley, GeorgeW., 52,162
Eden, Daniel, 149
Editorials, I, 49, 97,145
Endless Procession, The, 99
Enlgmagrams, 52
ESPionage: Have 'Mind Control'
Techniques Supplanted the
Cloak and Dagger?, 64
Fish Story with a Curious Ring, A, 181
Fort, Charles, The Notes of,
Deciphered by Carl J. Pabst,
94,142,188

Further Notes on the Planetary Grid, 168

Further Notes on the Transformlst
Myth,132
Gallagher, Ida Jane, 39
Giza's Pyramids Do Not Show
Evidence for the Stability of the
Solar System Since c. 2700 B.C., 35
Green, Susan, 16
Greenwood, Stuart W., 53
Grise, Allan, 172
Gunnulson, Craig, 120
Hartford, Dale, 174
High Hopes for a New-Age Pyramid, 131
Higher Dimensions and The Barrier, 149
Hill, Boyd, 171
How Much Do You Know
About UFOs? (A Quiz), 111,192
Intelisano, Dr. Joseph L.,119,170
Kahn, E. J., Jr., 163
Keel, John A., 99
Larsen, Carl, 106
Lebelson, Harry, 57
Letters, 44, 86,139,185
Lorber, Nell 101.,133
Lorenzoni, Dr. Silvano,132
Macer-Story, E., 64
McCreery, Thomas, 35
Memos & Miscellany, 48, 192
Moore, Frances Mary,114
Morag of Morar , 50
Neidigh, Kim L., 42, 52
New Evidence for Psychic Phenomena, 161
Notes and Quotations on Thinking, 126
Obesity and the Enterprise, 122
Origins of Lemuria, The, (Part I) 29,
(Part II) 68, (Part III) 117
Osgood, Charles, 181

Pabst, Carl J. (See Fort, Charles,

The Notes of)
Parapsychology In China, 67
Parasclence Controversy, The, 146
Parting the Curtains of Prehistory
for a Look at the Nether World, 108
Planetary Grid, The: Cornerstone of
Science and Evolution, 6
Politics of Water, The, 19
Pounder, Colin, 157
Proposed Data Base for Unorthodox
Energy Science, 75
Sanderson, Sabina W.,191
Search for Ancient Aquanauts, 57
Singer, Jon Douglas, 29, 68,117
Sinkiewicz, John T., 6, 168
SITUations, 46, 71,135,180
'Soft Burning', 171
Speculations on Natural Explosions
at Old Hannah's Cave,
Staffordshire, England,157
Stalking the Cape Cod Cougar, 163
Strange Case ofthe Two
Charlie Wetzels, The, 155
Symposium:
(Pole Shift), 84: (Spook Lights), 138
Theatrical Ghosts, 114
Tracking the Yeti In the Snowfields
of the Himalayas, 100
Treatise on Anti-Gravity and
Light, A, 119,170
True Nature of New Milford's
Talking Stove, The, 174
Tuscarora Mountain T-Blrds, The, 106
Uphoff, Prof. Walter H., 2
Vampire as Reality, The, 42
Vermont's UFO Invasion, 16
White, John, 84
Wignall, Sydney, 50
Williamson, J. N., 122
Wilson, Fred, 131
Wirth, Diane E., 23

Book. Reviewed
After Man: A Zoology of the Future,
Dougal Dixon, 184
Atlantis Reconsidered,
Michael Baran, 140
Bigfoot Casebook, The,
Janet & Colin Bord, 78
Earth Changes Ahead, Frank Don, 83
Genesis, W. A. Harbinson, 184
Great Airship Mystery, The,
Daniel Cohen, 81
Great Exploration Hoaxes,
David Roberts, 182

How to Build a Flying Saucer (and

Other Proposals In Speculative
Engineering), T. B. Pawlicki, 79
Ice: the Ultimate Human Catastrophe,
Fred Hoyle, 80
Loch Ness Monster, Tim Dinsdale, 78
Mysteries of the Unexplained, Editors
of Reader's Digest General Books, 183

Parapsychological Impact ofthe

Accident at Three Mile Island,
Larry Arnold, 141
Terror, The, Michael D. Albers, 79
UFO Reports InvolVing Velilcle
Interference, Ma~ Rodeghler, 141
UFOs-AfrIcan Encounters,
Cynthia Hind, 183
Verdict on the Shroud, Kenneth E.
Stevenson and Gary R. Habermas, 182
Wholeness and the Implicate Order,
David Bohm, 81

,.

'Science is the Pursuit 0/ the Unexplained'

Dispelling the Sands of Time

and the Desert . . .
Journal of SITU
The
Society for the
Investigation of
The Unexplained

Radar aboard the space shuttle Columbia caught a momentary reflection

from a very ancient time when much of the Sahara was a fertile land,
freshened by lakes, rivers and many streams. In a long cycle of climatic
change the waters receded, leaving the soil to destruction by sun and wind,
and only dry riverbeds for remembrance. Jon Singer adds a Fortean twist to
the discovery, on pages 2-4.

Volume 16
Number 1
Whole 61
First Quarter
1983

..

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
SITU (pronounced sit' - you) is a Latin word meaning "place." SITU is also an acronym referring
to THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPlAINED.
SITU exists for the purpose of collecting data on unexplaineds, promoting proper investigation
of individual reports and general subjects, and reporting significant data to its members. The
Society studies unexplained events and "things"'of a tangible nature that orthodox science, for
one reason or another, does not or will not stuciy. '.
You don't have to be a professional or even an amateur scientist to join SITU.

MEMBERSHIP
Membership is for the calendar year, January-December: in the United States, $12 for one year; $23 for
two years; $33 for three years. Membership in other countries is subject to surcharge, to cover higher cost
of mailing. Amount of surcharge, which varies according to region, will be quoted in response to individual
request. Members receive the Society's quarterly journal Pursuit plus any special SITU publications for the
year 'Ofmetnbeiship.
SITU welcomes members' participation. Articles, photographs, newspaper clips, book reviews and other
contents including "letters to the editors" should be sent to Fred Wilson, 66 Bortic Road, P.O. Box 134,
Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 USA if they are to be considered for publication in Pursuit. Other mail, including
changes of address, library orders, postal errors, back issue requests, renewals, gift memberships and donations should be sent to SITU/PURSUIT at the post office box address at the top of this page. Please allow
six or more weeks advance notice of chan~e of address.
OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATION
SITU has reference files which include original reports, newspaper and magazine clippings, correspondence,
audio tapes, films, photographs, drawings and maps, and actual specimens. Reasonable research requests will
be answered by mail but, because of the steadily increasing demands upon staff time, a fee for research will be
charged. Members requesting information should enclose an addressed, stamped envelope with the inquiry so
that they may be advised of the charge in advance.
The legal affairs of the Society 'are managed by a Board of Trustees in accordance with the laws of the State
of New Jersey. The Society is counselled by a panel of prominent scientists designated the Scientific Advisory
Board (see inside back cover).
IMPORTANT NOTICES
The Society is unable to offer and will not render any services to non-members.
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Contributions to SITU, but not membership dues, are tax deductible to the extent permitted by the U.S.
Internal Revenue Code, and in some states as their taxIng authorities may permit.
PUBLICATIONS

--

--

The Society's journal Pursuit is published quarterly. In each year the issues are numbered respectively from
1 through 4 and constitute a volume, Volume 1 being for 1968 and before. Volume 2 for 1969, and so on. Reduced-rate subscriptions to Pursuit, without membetS'hip benefits, are available to public libraries and the libraries of colleges and universities at $10 for the calendar year.
The contents of Pursuit is fulJy protected by international copyright. Permission to reprint articles or portions
thereof may be granted, .~t the diScretion of SITU and the author, upon written request and statement of proposed
use, directed to SITU/PURSUIT at the post office box address printed at the top of this page.

ISOCIETY FOR THE

INVESTIGATION OF
THE

UNEXPLAINED
'SCIENCE IS THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'

Contents

'15
Page

Beneath Sahara's Sands

by Jon Douglas Singer
Traditions of Subm~n in Arctic and
Subarctic North America
by Ivan T. Sanderson
.
Higher Dimensions and The Barrier..:...Part II
by Daniel Eden
The E.T. Law
by George Andrews
British Bases at Power Points?
by Arlan Keith Andrews, Sr.
Fire-Walking on Mt. Takao
by James McClenon
Energy Forges the Armor
by Harriet A. Boswell
Wetzels in Wonderland,H
by Anne FitzGerald
The Pseudoscience of Antiufology
by Stanton T. Friedman
The Tectonic Strain Theory of
Luminosities (UFO Reports)
by M. A. Persinger
New-Age Energy Technology'
Newsnotes by Rolf Schaffranke
Science Is What Science Does
by Thomas B. Burch
SITUations .
Books Reviewed
Letters to the Editors
Obituary o~ Charles H":' Hapgood
The Notes of Charles Fort
Decipb,ered by Carl J. Pabst

5
8
10
11

12
14
16
17
21
23
35
38
41
:~

Front cover: NASA radar image superimposed on cutaway satellite

photograph oj identical area oj the Sahara.
Back cover: Grid-like pallerns thought to be Maya canals, as starkly
revealed by radar-Imaging Jrom above the rain-Jorested lowlands oj
Guatemala as we~ the qncient riverbeds beneath $ahara's sands.

42
45
46

000

going on 16'

Pursuit has completed fifteen years of continuous publication and now faces a future brigiu in prosp'ect, certain in opportunity and. firmly demanding our best. We are proud to
acknowledge and express thanks for some special friends
without whose help we could not have come this far. .
. You, the SITU member, top the list. Speech is useless until
it is hea.rd; writing is meaningless until it is read. Only afte~ one
or the other occurs can reasoning begin-and with it our work,
our worry and our reward in the knowledge that together we
are finding significant pieces of truth to fit into the puzzle of
the universe and its life.
Charles Fort, himself a curiosity for possessing the most
curious mind of our times, deserves unending thanks for opening the wide, wild world of strange phenomena to public
notice. Previous pages have enlightened various facets of his
life, and this issue highlights three major aspects of Fort's work
in timely sequence:
-from the past comes the massive evidence he compiled to
show that unexplained phenomena have been a perceptible pan
of universal life at least since international communication
made extensive data-gathering possible. For another segment
of "Fort's Notes" from the early 1800s, see pages 46-48.
-at present the influence of Fort's perceptiveness continues to be felt around the world, as we learn from the letter
and newsclip from Calcutta, on page 42.
-for the future, the usefulness of Fort's data in modern
research such as Dr. M. A. ~ersinger has been doing for several
years is described in the Special Report to SITU beginning on
page 21.

We are grateful for the remembrance of Ivan T. Sanderson

who founded SITU and guided the Society through adolescence to adulthood with spirit and enthusiasm scarcely
diminished by the terrible disease that wasted him. We appreciate the legacy of his scholarship, some of which is only
now providing the historical background necp.ssary to improved research of such recurring phenomena as Sasquatch and the
yeti (names less abhorrent to Sanderson than Bigfoot and
Abominable Snowman). A fine example is his "Traditions of
Submen in Arctic and Subarctic North America," a paper
which he edited following its fifst appearance and which is
republished beginning on page 5.
Also in mind are many others who have contributed much
to Purs!4it's prqgress, but our thanks cannot be adequately ex
pressed in the space available; postponed they must be, but not
forgotten.
Trying to compress so much of the vast spectrum of
phenomena into fewer than fifty pages only four times a year is
like getting into a tight pair of shoes. We hope you wilt take little note of our discomfort, but if it bothers you, please tell us.
We want you to enjoy your Pursuit of 1983.
-The editors

Pursuit Vol. 16, No. I, Whole No. 61, First Quarter 1983. Copyright 1983 by The Society for the Investigation of The Unexplained. ISSN 0033-4685.
No part of this periodical may be reproduced without the written consent of the Society. Robert C. Warth, Publisher; Freder'ick S. Wilson, Production
Editor; Martin Wi~gler, Consulting Editor; Charles Berlitz, Research Editor and Oceanographic Consultant.

Beneath

!Sahara~s' Sands

by Jon pODglas Singel'. M.A.

@' 1983

by Jon D.

ECENT research into the mysteries of the past led me

,
back to a strange discovery made by the Russian
mystic George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff. My fascination with
the origins of occult theories was, stirred when I learned
that Gurdjieff had taken a more than passing interest in
the ,Fortean aspects of archeological investigation and
discovery. It seems odd that Charles Fort did not mention
'
Gurdjieff" who died in 1949.
Early in his career, Gurdjieff claimed he ,had fo~nd a
rare, probably unique map of what he called "pr~-sand
Egypt." The map must have depicted an extremely ancient
region of pre-dynastic times, else why the reference to
"pre:.sand"? It was, perhaps, the last relic of a civilization
that was already dust when Niumer and his heir :Aha, the
first important pharaohs of the First Dynasty, took the'
throne of the Two Lands of the Nile around 3100 B.C.
Gurdjieff's father no doubt inspired his son's interest
in old legends of the desert. The mystic's sire was a professional bard who entertained audiences all across Turkey
with songs which set to music the traditional epic poeiry of
the tribal peoples. Later on, the younger Gurdjieff came
under the tutelage of an elderly Russian aristocrat, Prince
Yuri Lubovedsky.' The prince studied occult perceptions
and ancient myths which he collected from, around the
world, apparently with the same enthusiasm that Fort ap, plied to his massive note-taking of anomalous events df the
early 1800s. Unlike Fort, however, Lubovedsky is, almost
unknown today, and none of his research is available in
translation.
, He was especially interested in ancient legends of the
Deluge and the pre-Flood world. His search for the
ultimate meaning of life at length took him to the remote
S~rmoung monastery in central Asia, headquart~rs of a
Buddhist brotherhood. Gurdjieff also visited SarmQung
but returned to the West to teach the "new philosophy?' he
compiled from a mixture of western and eastern
mysticism. He taught and his students practiced a var:iety
of mental and physical, yoga-like and "Whirling DerVIsh"
exercises, all intended to awaken dormant parts of, the
mind to a high level of awareness.
In the course of his peripatetic journeys, Gurdjieff encountered an Armenian monk who showed him a 'strange
map of "pre-sand" Egypt. The 'fate of this map is
'unknown, but Gurdjieff's story was recalled by an unex-,
pected disclosure only weeks ago.
"
In November 1982 The New York Times and Science
and Time magazines published accounts of' fortuitous
discoveries made by NASA's space shuttle Columbia during the year-earlier mission which a faulty fu~l cell had
somewhat abbreviated. Pictures taken from orbit were
studied by various scientific'teams for more than a y~ar.
These were not photographs made by conventiohal
cameras; they were radar images recorded by a relativ'ely
new technology. Among the targets of the radar beams vyas
a SO-kilometer-wide area of the Sahara desert including lhe
northwest corner of Sudan and the southern portion of the
Pu ....112

Si~er

'

Nile valley in Egypt. What they refl~cted was processed by

high-tech, image-enhancing metliods utilizing computers.
The images reveaJed ,unmistakable traces of buried ancient rivers which flowed across a ,green Sahara during a
'fertile'time when the Ice Age irrigated the whole Earth.
How long the "green age" lasted has been variously,
estimated from a scarcely comprehensible 200,000 years
ago to a comparatively recent 10,000 years ago. Whenever
it came, the end of the lee Age caused a drying-up of the
region as rain patterns' shifted northward. Worsening
climate enhanced the gradual dessication of North Africa.
The great sands appeared, sweeping northward, eastward
,
and westward.
Excepted for a time were large areas now covered by
sand; ,these were ~till green as recently as 4000 years ago,
according to artifactual evidence collected over hundreds
of years before the space shuttle made its serendipitous
find. Relics and campsites dating back to the time of the
'ape-man Homo erectus, who lived 200,000 years ago, have
been excavated in ,the region. Neolithic remains and
Satellite cameras pictured only windblown sands In a 5O-km:-wide
strip of Sahara desert (abol/e). But Columbia's ladar Image
detected subsurface beds of ancient rivers (below) In the same
iuea-''topography that could only have been burled" since "'there
,was no trace of it on the SUrfilce." as U.S.G.S. research geologist
Carol9reed explained. Added John McCauley (also U.S.G.S.) who
headed the group of picnire analysts: "We were able to look
,through ilnd use radar ilS a time milchlne."

petroglyphs from about 7000 years ago were unearthed in '

, bordering areas such as Burg el Tutur' in northern Sudan.
" One petroglyph depicted a type of longhorned bovine upon
which the ancient Egyptian and modern Nilotic economic
systems both depended. Rock carvings from the western
Sahara identify horse-drawn chariots as imports by IndoEuropean invaders. The space-project f~dar found the best
evidence of all: dozens of aricient river beds which moved
water west and south of the Nile and may have converged
in a huge drainage area as liuge as the Caspian Sea.
'
TQere is an Arabic legend about the City of Brass,
located beneath the Sahara sands. Other old tales insist
that the Nile once flowed west, to converge with the Niger
0': empty into the Atlantic! Another story 'describes an inland sea in the Sahara. Geologists seem certain that Lake'
'Chad was much larger during the last lee Age than it now
is. Archeologists have recently unearthed ruin~ of a predynastic Egyptian-like 'civilization-a full-fledged
kingdom-in northern S~dan called Ta-Seti, or "bowland" in translation, the 'name reflecting the' fame of its
native archers. It is believed that much of the ancient
Egyptian population originated there, that later migrations
from the Near East and Libya modified the earli~r culture'
and seeded the dynastic'Egyptian civilization~ ,
Other evidence of geological changes which have affected the Sahara region and the Nile Valley was published
in' Science magazine in 1973. Aerial photogra,phs of the

Flnt Q.arte.. 1983

FI..tQ........ 19.S

Pu,...', S

, Great Pyramids of Giza were examined in an attempt to

solve the mystery of their alignment. The three Great
Pyramids are not aligned with the present due-north dir~c
Heavy line shows path
tion but deviate four minutes west of north. The misalignof space shuttle Columment was no r;nistake in planning or construction but was
bia on its flight incaused by continental drift, say physicists G. Pawl+y and
November 1981. In the
N. Abrahamsen; even now the continents continue ~o pull
dry' Sahara, radar
waves were ,able to
away from each other, so it is no wonder that ,after 4500
pierce to depths of ~ve
years, the bases of these structures are no longer true to
meters, reflecting from
their builders' projection.
bedrock.
More clues to the mystery of "pre-sand~' Egypt are
presented in John West's Serpent in the Sky. West builds
the case for a pre-dynastic Egyptian civilization with roots
in a much earlier culture and even suggests that it should .be
identified with Atlantis. He mentions both Gurdjieff and a
Thus there is a considerable body of circumstantial
lesser-known scholar and' mystic, R. A. Schwaller de
. evidence that a' pre-dynastic, pre-Egyptian civilization
Lubicz (born in 1891), ,who fought in World War I for the,
flourished in the Nile Valley at the end of the Ice Age.
Lithuanians against both the Germ~ns and Russians. An
Charles Hapgoodt attri~uted his Maps of the Ancient Sea,
Alsatian philosopher turned soldier, he w~s rewarded for
Kings to that remote era. Although the surviving maps he
his valor by the Lithuanian prince Luzace de Lubicz who
described are products of Renaissance or Medieval times,
not only conferred knighthood but also permission to add
ihey were allegedly copied from earlier Roman, Greek and
the prince's surname to his own.
'
. Egyptian maps deposited in the Library of Alexandria long
Schwaller de Lubicz pursued an eclectic career as'
before it was destroyed with all of its priceless contents by
scholar in mathematics, botany and metallurgy;, he also '--' Arab vandals in the seventh century.
,
tpok great interest in more exotic studies such as the 'arcane
'Was Gurdjieff's map of pre-sand Egypt one of the
technology of stained glass windows, alchemy and the
maps ofthe "sea kings"? Someday we may know. New arwritings of European and Oriental occultists. He visited
cheological discoveries are being made all the time, and a
Egypt in 1937, studied Egyptology for awhile, then
follow-up mission' of more-sophisticated radar imaging is
published his theory that Egyptian science was' highly adscheduled for a space shuttle flight in,August 1984. "The
vanced in very ancient times, that the system called
plan is to concentrate and 'get much more coverage of the
Pythagorean mathematics was known in Egypt long before
Sahara region," says' Charles Elachi who helped analyze
the Greek philosopher Pythagoras thought of it. SchwaJler
Columbia's 19th images at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
de Lubicz believed that Egyptian temples and other strucin Pasadena, California.
'
tures were planned according to a complex mathematical
Wonder will remain, however, about the Armenian
alignment and that basic engineering science was well
monk from whom Gurdjieff obtained his map. Did it start
understood by the time Egypt's dynastic history began,
its journey in Egypt or elsewhere? Was the Armenian in
about 4500 B.C.
.
touch with, Coptic Christians (both Armenian and Coptic
Both de Lubicz and West studied the Sphinx and both
Christianity date from about the same time)? Why was the
concluded that such aged erosion could not have been
map preserved? Finally, the most disturbing and perhaps
caused by wind-blown sand, as most Egyptologists have
the most eerje and provocative question of all: l;I0w well
claimed, but was rather the result of water actiondid Gurdjieff's' map match modern maps of pre-sand
speCifically, a combination of great floods from the Nile
Egypi-maps which can only be made by exotic scanning
and sea'water. Tradition asserts that the Sphinx was built
devices aboard a spaceship?
about 1400 B.C. by the pharaoh Thutmose IV after a,
tcharles Hapiood died in Fitchburg, Mass., on De&mber 21,1982. See
dream in which the gods comtn~nded' hiin to construct the
obituary, page 45.
monument. But West believes that the Sphinx was 'really
BIBLIOGRAPHY
built at a much earlier time, perhaps 13,500 years ago when
I.
Abrahamsen"
N.
and
Pauley,
G., "Do the Pyramids Show Continendrastic deluges backed up from the Nile Valley and may
tal Drift?," Science, March 2, 1973.
have reached Giza.
.
2. Blom, R. et aI., "Subsurface Valleys and Geoarcheology of the
West's photographs of the base of the Sphinx show
Eastern Sahara Revealed by Shuttle Radar," Science, Dec. 3, 1982.
rocks which do appear to have been smoothed by water ac3. Hapgood, Cha;les, Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, rev. ed., Turntion. He dates several floods in the Nile Valley from
stone Press Ltd., London, 1979.
15,000 B.C. to 10,000 B.C., the same thne-frame in which
4. Hulme, Kathryn, Meetings with Remarkable Men: My Impressions of
'the Film, pamphlet, Remar Productions, Inc., New York, 1979.
Plato placed the era of Atlantis. Both de Lubicz and Gurd,5. -Kane, Joseph and Toufexi's, Anastasia, "The Sahara's Buried
jieff are cited in West's book as agreeing that the Sphinx
Rivers," Time, Dec. 6, 1982.
was a pre-dynastic monument appropriated by Thutmose
'6.
Pennick, Nigel: Hiller's Secret Sciences: His Quest for tire HIdden
IV who then left his name on it (many examples of this
Knowledge of the Ancients, Neville Spearman Limited, Sudbury, Sufpractice abound throughout dynastic Egyptian history) ..
folk, England, 1981 .. p. 29.,

-.
*Before Egypt was united (c. 3100 B.C.) there were two kingdoms:

Shemau (Upper Egypt) and To-Mehu (Lower Egypt), fonned by the

union of smaller kingdoms and city-states. The predynastic cvilization I
refer to is of a much earlier time (c. 10,000 B.C.)., Most scholars,
however, dismiss such references as mythologiclil at best, and at worst, as
speculative or imaginary.

......1'4

7. West, John, Serpent in the Sky, Harper & Row, New York, 1979.
8. Wilford, John Noble, "Spacecraft Detects Sahara's Buried Past,"
The New York Times, Nov. 26, 1982.
9. Williams, Bruce, "The Lost Pharaohs of Nubia," Archaeology,
Sept.-Oct. 1980.

Pint Quad... 1983

I_..............

. ._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._~. . . . . . . . . . I. . . .

Traditions of Submen in
Arctic and Subarctic
North America
by Ivan, T. Sandenon
THE possibility of the continued existence of some fully
j
haired or furred human primitives, submen, or even
possibly subhominids on the continent of 'North America
has now for long been mooted. Most of these have
originated from north of a line that may be drawn from
about the 40th parallel (i.e., 80 miles north of San Francisco) on the west coast of the United States; north up the
eastern, face of the Cascades; around the Guttered
Scablands of Oregon; to the Idaho Rockies in the region of
the Salmon River. Thence, this line of southern demarcation crosses the Rockies to their eastern face in Montana,
and then runs (back) northwest to the lower Nahanni
Valley about the Laird River in the Canadian North West
Territories. From that point it travels southeast through
the northern third of Alberta, Sasklltchewan and
Manitoba to the south of the great Clay Belt, rimming
James Bay of Hudson Bay, and thence contjnues almost
due east to Cape St. Charles at the eastern extremity of
Labrador. Immediately west of Lake Superior, however,
one report emanates from the true wilderness area of extreme northern Minnesota. "
'
These reports were previously for the most part concentrated around 'the lower Fraser River area of British Columbia, and north up the coast of that province. In this
area Burns and others have reported upon many dozen
cases of alleged sightings of such creatures and finds of
their foot-tracks. They are, in that area called Sasquatches,
a coined name derived from several similar-sounding
names for them given by various indigenous Amerindian
tribes: The existence of such very large if not truly "giant"
(seven feet or over) creatures thereabouts has always been
fully accepted by the Amerinds and of later years has
become quite widely current among white people. In the
unopened strip of forested territory along the coast and on
the multitudinous islands off that coast their existence is
fully accepted by everybody" and it is notable that when
the Amerinds of that area speak of them in English; they
call them "apes" though they still assert that they show
many human traits-notably, being able to throw stones,
over-arm, with' great force and accuracy. It should be
noted that as Prof. Kortland has recently suggested, no '
animal, other than man, is known to be a~le to perform
this act.
The matter of Sasquatches, however, has until recently
been considered so esoteric that anthropologists have not
A lengthier version of this article appeared in 1963 in
Genus, a publication of the Italian Society for Genetics
and Eugenics which is sponsored by the National Council
of Research in Rome. A copy of Genus, with editorial '
changes specified in the author's handwriting, was (ound
among Ivan Sanderson's papers after his death. The edited
version was followed in preparing the article for Pursuit.

F..... Quarte.. 1983

only failed to take it seriously but alsQ have not found it

worthwhile reading the reports, all of which have necessarily been, by non-specialists without scientific training,
and have, unfortunately, been published in the daily press
or popular magazines. Nevertheless, the body of reports
from the British Columbia area that are, now on
record-and including, some official ones, and several
sworn affidavits-is quite considerable, and at least one
properly equipped scientific expedition was launched, in
1962, in pursuit of them.
'
There have, however, also been rumors and reports of
similar creatures made throughout the past century,
emanating from a very much wider area; in fact, from all
ov~r the subarctic and arctic regions of North America,
-north of the line demarcated above, and 'all the way from
Alaska to Labrador and north even to Greenland. During
the course of some twenty years' research into the question
of what have unfortunately become popularly and almost
universally known as "abominable snowmen," [and which
we have recently designated "ABSMs"], a number of these
reports came to our attention, but always second-hand,
even as regards'their alleged publication. It was therefore
decided some years ago to endeavor to track down the
original statements. This effort has now brought to light a
number of important item~ which are herewith discussedpreliminarily, but none of these is yet in any way exhaustively researched, as will be noted in the body: of the
text below. From each, a number of further references
have been obtained. At this stage of our investigations,
however, we have to put on record our surprise at the
wealth of this'material, and even more so at the recent date
of the publication of a great part of it. That such
reports-and coming from persons of such standing as
Knud V~ J. Rasmussen-could be universally ignored,
seems inexplicable .
.As will be further discussed below, Gladwin, over a
decade ago, suggested in a scientific-though in some
aspects wholly unacceptable-context, thlt several waves
of extreme prfmitives (including some, in his opinion, of
pigmy stature); of s,ubmen (in the form of Neanderthalers);
and possibly even of subhominids, which we would today
probably assign to the Pithecanthropine branch of the anthropoid stem of the Primates, crossed the Bering Strait
and populated the Americas. If Gladwin was right in this
basic suggestion, almost everything that we have to say
hereunder displays perfect conformity.
Pre-Amerindian Man was, in North America and probably South America. Nobody can any longer deny this
fact, for these proto-Amerinds have left us too many artifacts and encampment sites that, by radiocarbon and
other precise dating methods, have now been shown to be
of origins prior to the last, and possibly even to the onebut-last, southward' advance of the polar'ice. There is no

PuN.ltS

reason to suppose that all these types were wiped out prior
to post-glacial times, and there is no evidence that they
were so exterminated; ~hile there is now considerable
evidence that some may have survived until today in the
vast and as yet unexplored territories of th'e far north.
The Eskimos of today maintain a large body of tradition about a race c;>f very primitive people with revolting,
habits who occupied their territories prior to their own arrival. This tradition spreads all the way from Alaska to
Greenland and throughout the Canadian Arctic Islands.
These creatures are said to have been very tall, fully haired,
dim-witted and retiring; but to 'have fought savagely
among themselves, been carnivorous, and, to have gone,
naked, though theY built circular encampments of very
large stones with whale-ribs and'skin roofs. The Eskimos
say they had primitive stone and bone implements. They
are' 'referred' "to "-today' on 'Baffin Island a'nd north to
Greenland as "Toonijuk" but are called by many differ~nt
though similar names to the west.
,This tradition has been reported upon by many, including Rasmussen and, most notably, by Katharine
Scherman in her Spring on an Arctic Island. Rasmussen
has even stated that some of these creatures existed in
Greenland within the current century but were driven up
into some '''inaccessible' valleys" by, Eskimos. This, as
Scherman has pointed out, seems hardly credible since the
interior Qf that country immediately behind the narrow
coastal strip is an ice-cap. However, there are still large
areas of Greenland not fully explored despite massive airtravel over much of its periphery. Also, the extreme north,
around the Cape Maurice Jesu'p area, is not glaciated and
is extremely hard of access over land, and even from the
sea, due to its fjordlike topography.
These Toonijuk are said by the Eskimos to have been
of giant size and to have had some exceptional and, to
them as well as to us, disgusting habits. They are said to
have preferred rotten meat and, it is alleged, their females '
tucked meat under th~ir clothing '(?) to promote decomposition by their body-warmth. Further, since they did not
know how to cure skins, they are said to have wetted them
and then worn these raw to dry them; and then to have
used them for bedding. Perhaps the most peculiar custom .
'ascribed to the Toonijuk, as reported by Scherman, is that
young men were sewn up in fresh seal skins containing
"worms" (maggots?) which, by sucking their Iblood,
reduced their weight and so ma,de them fleet, lightweight
hunters. These maggots are believed by the Eskimos to
have been fostered in the rotting carcasses of birds and one
such-an auk-was said by Rasmussen to have been
discovered in Greenland in his time and to have been,
declared by the local Eskimos to have been left there by a
party of Toonijuk who, they said, had only just fled back
into those "inaccessible valleys" of the interior.
While regarded as being utterly primitive, the Tooriijuk
are said to have lived in underground houses (though without sleeping platforms) and to have, had pottery-or at
least "cooking pots"-and some weapons. In Greenland,
the Eskimos say that they went naked but that their bodies
were covered with feather-l~ke fur; in more westerly areas,
they are said to have used skin clothing. Everybody agrees
that they were very good hunters; could call game by voice
or gesture; and were so strong that they could 'back an
adult Bearded Seal. In addition to these details, Scherman
records-from information obtained from the Eskimos of

Purau'"

north Baffinland, as transcribed by P. J.Mur.doch, an

agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, who speaks fluent
Eskimo,.....-that the Toonijuk were not dangerous to the
Eskimo but, to the contrary, were very timid and cowardly, and were particula'rly afraid of dogs which they apparently did not understand. All agree that they fought a
great deal among themselves, but some Eskimos assert that
their own ancestors hunted ~own the Toonijuk individually and' so eventually exterminated them. Yet, Greenlanders
insist that even today ,some linger on in their country but
that they lire excessively wary-in fact~ much more so than
animals.
, Scherman further notes that: "Until 1902 an extremely
primitive tribe of Thule people lived on Southampton
Island, and som.e of their customs were those (alleged to
be) of the Toonijuk." [The Thule, along with groups nam-'
ed "the Dorset rsIanders 'and the Sarq'uaq, constitute known
previous inhabitants of the Canadian Islands and the far
north.] Scherman (1955) herself visited what was then
stated by the Eskimos of aaffinland te;> be a Toonijuk settlement on Bylot Island, and gives a clear description of it.
. In a small isolated valley her party was shown a series
of circular mounds. These proved to be composed of very
large stone~ half buried in the permafrost. Each circle was
dug out and ,had' obviously 'once been roofed; they were
entered by what had been a three-foot-high tunnel; were
paved with large flat stones; and had stone benches at the
back. Around the walls were very old rotten bones of the
Greenland Right Whale. The party was greatly impressed
by the ability of the original builders to have dug so deeply
into' the permafrost with only' crude stone and bone implements; and even more so, by their having transported
these enormous stones, which were not of local -origin,
even if they had had the use of dogs and sleds. Their
Eskimo companions told them that the Toonijuk could lift
rocks that no Eskimo could handle; that their houses were
roofed with whale ribs; and that two whale jaw-bones were
placed on either side of the entrance tunnel. However, this
,site, as Scherman remarks, showed abundant signs of having been occupied by Eskimos for long and frequent
periods since its original construction.
.. .
.
It is most significant to note that the description c;>f
these round-houses coincides very 'closely with the
Neolithic "Rou,nd-Houses" of the Shetlands, Orkneys,
and the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland which also were
circular, sunk about three feet, surrounded by stone walls
that rose some three feet above the ground, and had domed roofs made of a "wheel" of large.whale ribs over which
skins, peat-sod, or, other insulating material was placed.
The Eskimos still make stone igloos with ingeniously !:onstructed roofs of ov~rlapping stone slabs and which also
have runnel entrances, but they are of nothing like the size
described; nor do the stones of which they are built in any
way approach the size of those used in the structures said
to' have been built by the Toonijuk.
But of even more interest is the description of a nearby
cairn of very large stones which 'had partly collapsed. The,
interior of this is said to have been hollow, and in it lay a
.number of large human bones. One of the party leaned in
and ~xtracted what is said to have been a feinale pelvis; but
as there were no professional anthropologists 'in the party,
they very properly replaced this and closed up the cairn to
the best of their ability. Scherman quite rightly makes a
strong plea for this site to be visited by competent experts
I

and thoroughly examined before such potentially priceless

relics finally disintegrate; and she ends by asking the pertinent question" Aside from the Toonijuk, if they ever existed, who else could have been here?"
Her only other thought is that they could have been
Norsemen, whose sturdy build and stature, greater than
that of the Eskimo, coupled with their. propensity for
feuding, might have given rise to legends that in time
became transferred from one alien race to another; and she
ends with the extremely significant remark that there were
traditions and apparently detailed knowledge of White
Men among the Eskimos long before recorded history.
What is more, Scherman goes on to the effect that in the
year 1632 .. Captain Luke Foxe of the vessel Charles stated
that he visited an island upon which he found no living
people but a large number of small graves in which were
tiny human skeletons only four feet in length, surrounded
by bows, arrows, and bone lances. They were all adults,
and there is some implication that not all of them were
skeletons but might have been whole frozen bodies. His actual report goes as follows:
This island doth lie in 64d. and 10m. of latitude;l.
and I took this place to be the m. e. end of Sir
Thomas Buttons' Ut ,ultra. 2 I could see to the northeastwards of ~his at least ten leagues, but no land at
east, or southeast, it being as cleare an evening as
could be imagined. The land to be seen was from the
north northeast to the west southward.
The news from land was that this island was a
Sepulchre, for the savages had laid their dead (I cannot say interred), for it is all stone, as they cannot dig
therein, but lay the corpse on the stones, and wall
them abou~ with the same, coffining them also by
laying the sides of old sleds about, which have been
artificially made. The boards are some nine or ten
feet long, four inches thick. -In what manner the tree
they have been made out of was cloven or sawen, it
was so smooth that we could not discern, the burials
had been so old.
And, as in other places of those countries, they
bury all their. utensils, as bows, arrows, st~ngs, darts,
lances, and other implements carved in bone. The
.longest corpse was not above four feet long,3 with
their -heads laid to the west. It may be that they
travel, as the Tartar and the Semoaid; for, if they had
remained here,. there would have been some newer
burials. There was one place walled four-square, and
seated within with earth each side was four or five
yards in length; in the middle was three stones, laid
one above another, man's height. We tQok this to be
some place of ceremony. at the burial of the dead.'~
Nothing further is recorded or known of this discovery;
nor has the island itself been relocated. Again, Scherman
notes that the present-day Baffinland Eskimos firmly
believe that there were, in addition to the giant Toonijuk, a
I. There is no island exactly in this latitude. Probably the observation is
somewhat out, and that one of the islands off Cape Fullerton is the island
in question.
2. It seems, from the narrative, that Foxe must have passed near Tom
Island. As he makes no mention of having seen it, the fogbanks probably
prevented him (from doing so).
.
.
3. They seem t9 be people of small stature. God send me better for my'
adventures than these.

Flnt Qua"'eI' 1983

race of very small humans, or pigmies, in the Canadian

Arctic before the coming of their own people. And, once
again, we may note that hardby, in the neolithic RoundHouses of the west European Isles, there remains a very
strong tradition and much legend about "Little People"
(Pixies, Elves, Leprechauns, and so forth) who are said to
have inhabited the adjacent hills in early times.
We should note also that Gladwin's theory envisions
one of the waves of humanoids that entered the New
World as being a race of pigmy 'stature; related to the
ancestors of the Negritos and Negrillos, whom he suggests
arrived here after the Neanderthillers but before the
Amerinds and the Eskimos. There is nothing impossible in
this, fQr pigmies need not have "black" skins or inhabit
the tropics;' nor, conversely, need the skins of any who
reached the Arctic have been pale yellow. The skin-color of
animals is probably due more to percentage of oxygenation
than to temperature, quantity, or periodicity of sunlight
(see the work of Fage, Derouet, and W. D. and M. P. Bur-banck and Edwards on albinism in cave animals).
Primitives of small stature-four to five feet-could have
been of any skin-color; and just because all known living
"pigmies" have dark skin means nothing.
In 1953, a most curious little book entitled (perhaps
somewhat appropriately) The Strangest Story Ever Told
was privately published in New York by a Miss Virginia
Colp, in the name of her father.; Harry D. Colp. In a
preface, Miss Colp explains that this, as a manuscript, was
found by her mother among the possessions of her late
father, then some years deceased. The slim volume, only
46 pages in length, presents a straightforward story, starting in the year 1900 and ending in J925. It is published
without comment.
There is no confirmatory evidence presented in the
book, and we have been unable to trace any through other
.sources. Search has been instituted for the other persons
named or mentioned in the incidents recorded, but all
would now ~e gentlemen of very advanced age, while the
original author states categorically that he had given his
word that he would not disclose th~ir names. (His daughter
cannot be expected to break this trust.)
The book is divided into seven chapters, each of which
gives an account of incidents that were alleged to have occurred to a number of people in a somewhat limited
wilderness area east of Thomas Bay-and centered apparently around the headwaters of the Patterson
River-on the coast of the Alaskan Panhandle. Thomas
. Bay opens inshore from Kupreanof Island, which lies
~bout halfw!\y between Juneau a~d .Wra~gell. The latter is
Just south of'the mouth of the Stlkme River and is on the
north tip of Wrangell Island.
The story begins in 1900. Harry Colp at that time was
resident in Wrangell where he apparently worked for a
small sawmill. He had three partners in prospecting enterprises. :These he names "Charlie," "John.." and "Fred,"
for purposes of ident~fication. It appears that the firstnamed had learned from an old Amerind that free-gold
quartz in quantity was exposed on a scree in the area named, and the other three partners staked him to a trip by
boat to investigate. He left in early May and returned a
month later entirely dispossessed but for his canoe, a paddle, and the clothes he wore. He brought a piece of quartz,
shot through with gold flecks. He refused to discuss his
(Continued on page 48j

........'tl

! .

Higher DiDlensions .Qd The B~rrier

by Daniel Eden

(Continued from Pursuit No. 60, Foi:trth Quarter 1982)

Part II
aarrler Physics Notes
Part I, I described'the concept of a "barrier". that
Ia Nhigher
locks our world into a three-dimensional hyperplane of
space, Five categories. of data were presented
which seemed to provide possible evidence for both a
higher space (R.V and at least one fixed hyperplane (S3)
within this space.
'
In these notes, I will endeavor to further develop the
physical notion of the barrier. Also, I intend to point out
some of the unique and bizarre predictions that the model
makes.
To begin, I should say that the barrier force Fb is a real
physical force that can impart a kinetic energy
T = !hmv2 and a potential energy U(r) to any object that
has mass. Under-normal circumstances, we exist in a state
of stable equilibrium with respect to the barrier, that is,
T = .U(r) = O. However, any force that has a fourth,
dimensional component, F = F(x,y.z,q), can disturb our
equilibrium to give us a non-zero T and U(r).
The underlying framework of the model will be constructed from two bas~c notions which I w~ll call the
FUNDAMENTAL POSTULATES. They go as follows:
I. The barrier force Fb is an' attractiv~ force that acts
perpendicular to the S3 byperplane. It is directed toward
tbe hyperplane along tbe fourth spatial dimension q.
U. Regions of Ita space immediately surrounding the S3
byperplane have an intrinsic friction that dampens motion
along tbe, positive and negative directions of'the q-uis.
With these two fundamental postulates, a rational
model of higher space can be developed that has testable
implications.
The first prediction of the model is concerned with the
concept of a central force. A: central force acts. between
two particles with the following characteristics:
i. The magnitude of tbe force depends only on the distance
between tbe two particles.
Ii. Tbe force acts along the line joining the two particles.
The'barrier model makes the following prediction concerning such
.
, central forces:
A central force within our hyperplane will not act as an unconstrained central force in higber space.
. Why should this be? Fb is fixed in the direction that it
can act (Postulate I). Because it is fixed along the q axis, it
carinot always act along the line that connects two par-.
ticles. Ther.efore, any force that is central in S3 will be
found to have a new non-central component (Fb) in R.t.
This directly violates the second characteristic of a central
force. The conclusion is that there are no unconstrained
central forces. in R.t whose origins are within the hyperplane.
.
Why is this result so important? The two major central
forces in our world are the electrostatic force and the
gravitational force. It has been shown ihat if these two

PuN.lt 8

forces were allowed to act as unconstrained central forces

in R.t', then planetary orbits and.atomic orbits could not be
stable (Am. J. Physics, 37, p. 1222).
This has always been a powerful objection to the concept of higher 'spacJ-like dimensions. However. now we
can surmise that be.cause the barrier places a physical constraint on central forces, it thereby contributes' to the
stability of their orbital paths. To my knowledge, this is
the first physical model ever proposed that can even begin
~o address the problems of orbital. stability in a space of
more than three dimensions.
Now we' move' on, to another area where the model can
make i~teresting predictions. This concerns the motions of
smali displacements from equilibrium.
I am not prepared to advance the general formula for
the potential energy U(r) of the barrier. However, if we
limit our discussions to very small displacements from
equilibrium, we can use tlie following equation for an approximation of the motions to be expected: U(r) = !hkq2.
From this potential energy. the following equation for the
barrier force can be derived:
.
. .'Fb";' -kq.
This is the equation of a restoring force. The negative sign
indicates that the force is attract~ve ,and it is always
directed toward the origin (the hyperplane). The term k is a
constant and q is simply the distance moved into the fourth
dimension. The 'term q can be either positive or negative
with +.q being one direction and - q being the other direction along the q axis.
.Oscillation and Damping
Now suppose a small R.t bumps an object from our'
world into the + q direction of the fourth dimension. The .
barrier force will act to push it back. Howe:ver, the inertia'
. of the object will cause it to overshoot the origin and so it
will become extended into the' - q direction. The' barrier
again will push it back. In the absence of friction, the mass
will continue to oscillate forever in a state of simple harmonic motion. The frequency of this motion is given by
f

--~
21f~' m

"

However. there is good reason to pelieve that some

kind of natural friction is present in the real world. One indication of this is that poltergeist apports tend to be warm,
'or even hot, immediately after appearing in a room. In
frictional damping, the kinetic energy of motion is usually
converted into heat.
That nature should provide soine form of dampirig is
an important aspect of this particular model. At the very
least, we can surmise that a small damping force has been.
acting over billions of years ~o form the stable equilibrium
of planets and stars that we can see in our hyperplane.
Without some intrinsic damping 'in R.t. it seems that the
astronomical world would be morechaotic than it appears .
.Assuming that some such natural friction is involved
(invoking Postulate II), tlien simple harmonic motion is no
longer in operation~ When the frictional forces are small,
tI

Fbit Qaarta 1983

Most reported ca!ies of teleportation would seem to involve re-entry motion of these types. Apports of this type
would simply not oscillate after they have re-entered our
world. Also, .they would not tend to penetrate into space
on the other side ( - q) of the hyperplane.
However, there are also some very interesting cases reported wherein underdamped oscillations would seem to
be in operation. In his book Mind Over Space, Nandor
Fodor reported some cases of teleportation that have the
basic characteristics of underdamped motion.
One such case involved an anonymous Dr. Z, a friend
of occultist Dr. Franz Hartmann. After being teleported,

illustrations by the author

Figlire 1

-,

,,

the motion becomes "underdamped" harmonic motion.

Graphed over time, it looks like Figure 1.
The amplitude of the vibration (the dotted lines) falls
off as an exponential, q = Ae - bt, where A and b are constants. The frequency of the oscillation will tend to be
somewhat slower than the value calculated for undampedmotion.
In cases where the friction is greater, the motion is
either "overdamped" or even "critically damped." Here
the oscillatory motion is completely overwhelmed by friction. In these cases the object would return to our world
with no apparent vibration. Critically damped (a) and
overdamped (b) motions take the form shown in Figure 2,
graphed over time:

Dr. "Z appeared in a strange condition:- his body did not

'Seem to be entirely solid; it appeared to have a translucent
form which gradually re-solidified until the man was seen
. to be completeiy normal again.
This translucencY effect may be interpreted as a result
of the man's body vibrating in and out of our world until
damping forces restore a state of rest. There is no actual
change in the man's solidity, because the translucency effect is an illusion of motion. It is like rapidly waving your
hand back and forth and observing the resultant illusion of
loss of solidity.
Dr. Z's oscillations were probably on the order of
several cycles per second. This would seem to be near the
minimum rate -necessary to produce the visual effects
reported. Given half a chance, modern laboratory equipment could easily determine the exact rate of such oscillation. A high-precision, variable-speed stroboscope could
do the job. A more elegant method would be to monitor a
beam of low-intensity laser light as it passed through the
region of oscillation. Perhaps we will be able to utilize such
techniques to monitor barrier oscillation in the future.
Another case of translucency involved the (amous
Egyptologist Sir Ernest Wallis Budge. Fodor reports that
Budge met two men, "an African and an Indian," who
could fade out slowly, as did the Cheshire Cat in Lewis
Carroll's Alice- in Wonderland. Eventually, they also
would slowly fade back into our world.
Another Fodor report of phenomenal translucency
dates back to 1898 or so, when a French-Canadian named
Jean Durant received considerable publicity for his alleged
ability to fade out at one location and fade in at another
location. Three medical men were recruited to study
Durant's interesting talent; their inves~igation ended soon

oL-~~--~=========
. C(
Fint Quart_ 1983

Figure 2

after it began because the subject faded out but neglected

to fade in. He is still missing, some 85 years later .
. In my opinion, this translucency effect is the most
bizarre prediction of the barrier model; To think that a
man might oscillate in and out of our world at several
Citadel Press, New York, 1962.

.......'9

cycles per second is grotesque. However, as Hereward

Carrington might have been tempted to say, the universe
will astound us with new delights here, and old terrors
there, even as it primes us for the local asylum.
Another possible effect associated with barrier oscillationinvolves temporary weight loss. Some Russian scicmtists have been toying with the notion that limited portions
of the human body may become extended into R4. Furthermore, they postulate that any such "displaced mass" will
be hjdden from the. Earth's gravitation.
.
In 1977 a Russian immigrant to the West, Dr. August
Stern, claimed that cases of alleged levitation, and "partial
levitation" (i.e., partial weight reduction),:actually did involve such mass displacements into higher, space.
.
.

...

..

. I

The E.T. Law

. b, George Andrews

nR. Brian T. Clifford, who works for the Pentagon,

~ recently broke the news that contact between
residents of the United States and extraterrestrials or their
vehicles is strictly illegal, and that according to a
already on the books, anyone guilty of such contact
automatically becomes a wanted criminal to be fined
$S~Ooo.and j~led for one year. According to Dr. Clifford,
. whose commandng officers have been assuring the public
for the last js years that UFOs are nothing.. more than
hoaxes and delusions.to be dismissed with a condescending
.. smile: "This is really no joke. It's a very serious matter."
.. Th~re are two points I wish to make:

law

. I must admit that I do not altogether understand ~he

reasoning behind the idea that mass in ~ is unaffected:by
gravity. However, if we temporarily assume that this is
1211.101 Applicability. "The provisions oj this part
true, then we can determine what are the implications. for.
apply
to I.all NASA
manned and unmanned spoce
..
.
barrier oscillation.
. mISSions....
.
.
For instance, suppose that in the previously mentioned
. I could dismiss this whole controversy as a tempest in a 'J
translucency case of Dr. Z, a point is reached wherein 999'&
teapot if the above passage contained the word "only" so
of his body mass is being repeatedly displaced into ~. This
as to read: "The provisions of this part apply only.to all
means that he will have an apparent gravitational mass (m)
NASA manned and unmanned space missions ... ". Howwhich is far less than his original mass (mo). Being extendever, it does not contain that one little word which would
ed into ~, this bulk of his mass is simply hidden from
have made. all the difference. If the government was sudgravitation. His apparent weight (F = mg) will only be 19'&
denly faced with the accomplished fact of an undeniable
of his original weight (Fo = mo g). Strangely enough, the
. overt ET visitation, in the absence of any other legislation,
witnesses to Dr. Z's translucency actually claimed that he
this regulation could therefore be construed as being aphad become as light as a feather. (This case seems to supplicable to all space missions, NASA or non-NASA,
port the Russian hypothesis that mass can be hidden from
whether of terrestrial or extra-terrestrial origin. As it
gravity.)
stands, this law is applicable to UFO contact. The meaning
As the amplitude of Dr. Z's oscillations decreases exwould have to be stretched, but the loophole does exist.
ponentially, his apparent mass would approach his original.
1211.102 Definitions. (b) (2): "Touched directly or
mass, m ---+ iDo, in magnitude. The apparent mass will
in close proximity to (or been exposed directly to)... ..
been
be equal to the original mass when the oscillations a~e \
Even without including "indirect exposure, '~. !lnyone
finally damped to a halt.
.
involved in a UFO close encounter would become eligible
This suggests an easy method to determine "if an object
for indefinite quarantine under armed guard according to
is experiencing smali, underdamped oscillations. If you
the
above. By including indirect exposure, the NASA adcontinuously weigh an apport immediately after its alleged
is empowered to make the definition mean just
ministrator
teleportation,. it should show a gradual increase in weight
about
anything
he wants it to. An example of indirect exuntil the original weight has been reached. As the final apposure
is
given,
but an example is not a defini~ion. Unless
proach of m to mo is very slow, a sensitive weight scale
indirect exposure is defined precisely. it can mean almost
might be able to detect the change in mass, even .after a
anything. The possibility is not specifically ruled out that
considerable time has elapsed from the moment of telepor~
other
types of indirect exposure th.an the example given
tation, assuming of course that the motion has not been
subject to ov:erdamping or critical damping.
I suggest that the universe hasroom for al~ three modes
a new form of the barrier potential y(r) must be proPosed
of frictional damping. Our problem is to determine the cirwhich takes into account changes in Fb with distance. For
cumstances under which each mode will occur. Data such
instanc~,. does Fb vary. as ~
or maybe even as .l. ? In
r
.
~
as the thermal profile of fresh apports, the observed fre- .
quency of oscillations, and plots of any mass changes in
the futu!e, a more fully developed model should take this
time should serve to give us a fairly accurate measure of
into account.
.
the frictional forces involved as well as the strength of the
.To conclude these notes, the barrier model seems 'to
barrier itself.
cQrrelate some widely di~erse data ranging from the five
.Although I have pointed out the kinds of vibratory moca:tegor:ies mentioned in Part I to the poteQtiaJ ~U~biWY of
tion that can be expected, let me reiterate that I have used .
planetary orbits in space. It is my general contention t~at
only a rough approximation of the true barrier force~ The
.the barrier concept can provide us with accurate and test~
equations only apply to relatively small disturbances from
able insights into the nature of. higher space.
.~
equilibrium. In cases where the disturbing forces are great,
Daniel Eden will follow his, scaling of The Barrier ~th an a,rticle on "Short Range Teleportation Physics" in the next issue.
I

""....11 18

Fin. Qauta 191$

British Bases at
Power Points?
by Dr. Arlan Keith Andre , Sr.
HAT strange fascin!ltion causes
Man to gather and to build at
W
certain holy places around the world?
Wars have been' fought over many of
these so-called "power points" or
holy places-locations that seem quite
worthless to modern civilization.
Jerusalem, for example, has been such
a holy place since the beginning of
history, and yet remains a contested
area in the continuing Arab-Israel
conflicts. But, aside from pride and
historical significance, it seems to
have no other value that makes it
worth the blood of generations.
One possible explanation lies in
the concept of prehistoric ".power
points," scouted out and settled by
ancient sensitives. [n his book, The
View Over Atlantis, author John
Michell reported that many such sites
were purposely fortified to take advantage of certain natural energy
flows that are unknown today. These
power points still remain settled in
Great Britain, along straight lines
Following his investigative travels to
British "power points~" Dr. Andrews
returned to his home in Indiana to
continue work on a "book/comic, by
my son Kris (16), me, and another col. ~aborator, entitled The Timelost.
Should be out in Ju~e." .

called "leys" by their modern rediscoverer, Alfred Watkins.

While on a pleasure trip to esoteric
sites in England and Scotland it occurred to ~e that perhaps Modern Man is
making better use of the ancient
"power points" than he might realize.
One afternoon and night I visited the
Findhorn spiritualist commune at
Moray Firth, located near Inverness,
Scotland; on the shores of the North
Sea. Findhorn's settlement was directed by a trance entity purporting to
be aboard a UFO. The community has
flourished during .the past ten years
andis world-renowned for its powerful psychic vibrations and its gardens
of tropical plants in such a cold
climate. Immediately 1 was struck by
the fact that this "power point" is adjacent to the Kinloss Royal Air Force
Base. [ thought that the strategic
worth of that northern location probably determined the siting of the base.
Alfred Watkins, a British merchant, had a
vision in the early 1920s while riding through
the English countryside. near Hereford. He
seemed to see an ancient network of straight
lines connecting the various mounds, megalithic
sites and old churches. When he plotted all of
the sites-including crossroads, moats and
wells-he found many alignments. His theory
of alignments is explained in his book The Old
Straight Track (rec:ent edition: Ballantine
Books, 1973).

might be considered valid grounds to "quarantine" a person or group of persons. .

This iegislation was put through Congress without having been mentioned to the taxpaying citizens Congress is
supposed to represent. Thus from one day to the next we
learn that, without having informed the public, the Congress of the United States has created a wh~le new ~riminal
class: UFO contactees. The lame excuse offered for. this
bitter pill is that extra-terrestrials might have a virus that
could wipe out the human race; This is. certainly one of the
many possibilities inherent in such contact, but just as cer'tainly not the only one, and in itself not a valid reason to
make all contact illegal or to declare contactees criminals
. to~be 'fined :arid jailed immediately. The primary effect of
such a law would not be to prevent contact (which is often
involuntary), it would be to silence witnesses. If .enforced,
the law would prevent publication of contactee reports except under cover of anonymity, and unleash a modern Inquisition in the Land of the Free. However, it is unenforceable, so obviously absurd and .unfair that the public
will refuse to accept it.
.

Rnt Qua...e.. 1983

Not far away lay the mysterious

shores of Loch Ness, with its notthen-discovered megalithic stone
circles lying in the eternal darkness of
the' murky waters. And, of course, living in those waters is perhaps one of
the strangest creatures on our planet.
One of the most significant of the
straight-line "ley" tracks is the alignment that includes the Salisbury
cathedral, the ancient Stone-Age fort
called Old Sarum, and the most unforgettable megalithic structure,
Stonehenge. Long held in reverence or
fear by the late-coming Saxons and
Normans, Stonehenge has been a holy
site in legend for thousands of years.
Indeed; the recent improvements in
carbon-14 dating technique indicate
that these burdened stones are older
even than the Great Pyramid of
Egypt! The latest theories by scientists
explain the concentric circles of giant
standing stones as a bank of incredibly sophisticated astronomical
computers-hardly the work of naked.
savages. The modern-age tourist
might notice, as I did, that there is
very heavy British army helicopter activity in the "ley" area around
Salisbury, Old Sarum and Stonehenge. It would be interesting to know
the exact location of that base!
Warminster, England, is a worldfamous UFO center. Its most noted
author, Arthur Shuttlewood, said in
. his 1967 book, The Warminster
Mystery, that the nearby knolls called
Cradle Hill and Star Hill are thought
to be very strong "power points,"
(Continued on page 40)

The law is a joke. The citizens of the United States will

greet it with a resounding Bronx cheer, laugh it out of
court, and oblige Congress to repeal it. Those in the unenviable position Qf trying to enforce it will find themselves
like people with sieves trying to stop the ocean tide. If there
had never before in human history been contact with extraterrestrials, extreme precautions might be advisable, but
contact cases in rece.nt years number in the thousands and
tens of thousands. Are all these normally law-abiding
citizens to be declared criminals from one minute to the
next, fined, and automatically jailed for one year? What
other laws has Congress passed surreptitiously without informing thepublic?
What other surprises have our trusted representatives
prepared for us? No matter what they may be, one thing is
for sure: contact between humans and ext~a-terrestrials has
been occurring at periodic intervals ever since ....the
Sumerians built the ziggurats, and will continue to occ~r
whether the Pentagon likes it or not.

ru ....,t 11

Fire-Walking on 'Nt. Takao

.:.".

. by dalDes McCle~oD,,:Pb.D.

:":~.' .

The pyre is set ablaze' .

then covered with
cedar branches (right)
Photographs by the author

. with the' belief that human ailments

when transferredto.theboai-ds would'
:be destroyed in the flames. '. '.'
, , '. After raking out the .coals and
Polynesia, Australia, Africa, China,
throwing ceremonial salt on' them, the
Japan, Ceylon, India, and (by Indian
officiants led the Yaimi.hushi,all bareimmigrants) in Mauritius, Trinidad;
foot, across the glowing bed. The time
and Natal. Ritual fire-handling is also
was 3,1 I' p.m. Joining the lay people
practiced in numerous localities (for
who were weIcomed to follow, I took
example, by 'various independent
. off my shoes and socks and stood
holiness groups such as the "Free
among the crowd waiting to brave the
Pentecostals" in Southern Appalaembers. It appeared to me that .the
chia: Kane, 1982).
people who had walked before had
On March 13, 1983, I participated in
trampled out two pathways along
the fire-walking ritual (Hiwatari) at
which the glow was diminishing as
Mt. Tak,ao, Japan. This ritual is conembers turned to ash.'~This looks
.'ducted yearly by the Yakuo-in temple
fairly easy," I thought' to myself..
at Mt. Takao. Its function is to train
My state of mind was similar to that
Yamabushi, or mountain priests, who
of a person about to make his first
belong to the Shingon sect of Budparachute jump from an'a~rplane. The
dhism. The day on which I attended
continuous chanting of the priests
their ritual the weather was cool (apcontributed to the feeling of exciteproximately 50. F.) and rain was
ment. This state of mind is important
drizzling.
.
to an understanding of the "alteredThe ceremony began at 1:30 p.m.
consciousness" explanation often and
with a dramatic prologue. Officiating
tYP'ically given for the ability of the
monks brandished swords in ceremonfire-walker to perform his act with
ial fashion, shot sacred arrows into
befitting panache a~d no'sense of risk.
the air, and led the fifty or so participating monks in the chanting of
.As the time approached for me to.
Buddhist sutras. At 2 p.m. a huge . cross the coals' (two people. were' in
front of me) a priest z:aked the "fiery
pyre of wood, about eight meters
long, was set afire. ~pecial "nedegi"
bed to smooth our passage; another
(ceremonial wooden boards) were'
priest threw ceremonial salt in a pattern that vaguely established new
later added to the blaze in accordance
IRE-WALKING has been perF
formed in modern times in
Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, Haiti,

'.'walking lanes."'.1-.~8$ standing next

behind a very .ancient woman who
walked very slowly. i followed her
across.the coals a.nd made.Do attempt
to overtake her,' 'though '-'believe I
. would have walked much more'rapidly" if I had been given the chance.
. My 'feet were red and .nuinb' from
the cool air and drizzling rain. As I
crossed the embers I felt notl\ing.
After co~pleting the fire-walk (3: i 9
p.m.) I .inspected my feet. They were
u'nblistered. One of the priests pronounced a special blessing upon all
those wh9 had participated in the
ceremony .. (I counted about 100. lay
persons and blamed ,the rain for
pr~ventirig a larger attendance.) .
I heard of no on~ .getting burnt.
Among the reasons advan~ed for the
non-bli~tering 9f human feet during
. fire-walking, theories' having to do
with the Leidenfrost effect and others
involving the psychic'.state of the participants ~r~ t~e most prevalent. .
CQ.~.(l9S8) ~d Walker (1977) suggest that a 'thin "Iayer of water-vapor
-forms. ~nder the '~ol~s of the feet of the'
fire-walker, p'rot!=cting his 9r her feet
from. blisteri~. Tliis;theory is derived
from' the' Uidenfrost effect, 'observ'able 'in' any"'k~tcheJ.l:When you drop
water on flat surface, such as a fry.pan," ~d it ,is: $ufficiently hot, the

Pu,...I,12

'.

" . ~.

.'..,

'.;

;~.t:Qaad_1983

Raking out the coals

liquid rolls around on the surface in

, droplets that seem, to dance on the
thin layer of vapor beneath; but if the
surface is not hot enough, the water
immediately vaporizes. Ttie theory
holds that it water-vapor barrier protects the fire-walker's feet.
Coe (1978), who has himself engaged in many fire-walking and firehandling demonstration's, has modified his previou's 'pronouncements regarding the Leidenfrost-effect theory.
He now ~elieves that trance states of
mind can aid in conferring immunity.
to burns and professes to having
received this immunity in his own
,altered states of consciousness. Kane
(1982) supports belief in the necessity
of the trance state and cites his observation of various Pent!!costal holiness
groups ,in their practice of ceremonial
fire-handling.
During the 1930s Harry Price, a
psychical researcher, organized a
series of fire-walking tests '(Darling,
1935; Anonymous, 1935 1937 1938;
Price 1937). The tests indiCated that
fire-walking is not a trick, and that it
can be performed in a normal manner
with ch~mically untreated feet.
Moisture on the soles was seen as a
disadvantage since it may .cause hot
coals to adhere to the skin and raise
blisters." " .,
'

Price rejected the Leidenfrost effect

as an explanation for the non~listering. He reasoned that the low
thermal conductivity of burning wood
embers and the short time of contact
between the foot and ember surfaces
made fire-walking more of an athletic
exercise than a physical or psychic
phenomenon. He believed that co'rifidence and steadiness in wal~ing were
important' an:d that immunity was
somewhat limited. Demonstration
tests showed that participants could
walkover the coals a distance of 12
feet in 4 or less steps and maintain a

The first Yam(lbushi walk

total time of contact with the ember

surfaces of l~ss than 2.2 seconds
without getting burned. The experiments were performed with untrained
Englishmen as subjects, and no alteration of state of consciousness was
perceived and none appeared to be
needed.
However, the fire-walking reported by Coe (1978), Kane (1982),
Freeman (1974), Hansen (1982) and
others seem greatly to exceed the Price
experiments in terms of duration and
temperature. For example, Coe (1978)
described taking 60 coniinuous steps
across a pit in which the temperature
had reached 1200 0 F., and Freeman
reported a fire-walk over a 20-yard
distance in India.
My personal experience contributes
only slightly to the body of knowledge
about fire-walking that has accumulated over the past half century. At
Mt. Takao I observed that the coal.bed temperature did not appear particularly hot, probably because of the
drizzling rain and the thinness of the
bed. In only 1 hour and 2 minutes the
modest pile of :small logs, many no
larger than branches, burned down
sufficiently to be raked into a bed .of
coals. Although'there was no opportunfty to measure the temp,erature, it
seemed likely that this bed of coals
was much cooler than those described
in typical fire-walking tests elsewhere,
as in Price's tests, for example, where

James McClenon is a member of the

faculty of the -University' of
Maryland's University College (Asian
Division). Presently st'ationed in
Japan, he has been teaching sociology
classes in the Tokyo area.

F....t Q rtel' 1983

Pursull 13

temperatures ranged 'from 430 0 to

800 0 Celsius. (The ~eidenfrost effect,
when demonstrated :under controlled
conditions with a m~al plate, requires
a surface temperatur of between 200 0
and 250 0 C. before the plate is sufficiently hot for the effect t9 occur.)

Energy Forges t-'e Armor

by Rani_ A. BoaweU
IN these. days .of exciting develop'-

I.. ments 10 many areas of research, It ..

is no longer necessary for a'
"scientist" to fear. ridicule or
ostra~ism by his peers if he ventures .
into examining the fascinating challenges' of the paranormal. The dosing
decades of the twentieth century have
brought what was once labeled .
"superstition" or "pious, delusion"
out of the mire of bigotry and
materialistic prejudice.
The drive of the need to know has
tempered the bitterness which has

The author's walk .

In the Mt. Takao 'ceremony the coal
bed temperature must have lessened as
walkers tramped out the embers and
rain helped to extinguish the fire. The
Yamabushi walkers irho were first to
"complete the coutse" performed
under more stringent' conditions than
those who, like mysel:f, were positioned to walk later. Although "new"
embers were from tilfle to time raked
into the trampled paths of black ash,
the 'Overall temperature certainly
declined steadily, and the lay people
who were the last to walk encountered
the least risk of being burned. At
some point during the afternoon, the
surface temperature probably fell
even below the 200 0 to 250 a C. requirement for the Leidenfrost effect:
I am uncertain as to th~ exact process associated with the' fire-walking
phenomenon. At one time, I accepted
the Leidenfrost effect as a likely ex-.
planation of the non-blistering of the
walkers' feet. Now I am not so sure. It
still seems possible that a combination
of proc~sses may function at different
temperature levels to .inhibit blistering .. But no theory satisfactorily explains' (in a scientific manner) the
numerous' cases where' some firewalkers have been burned and others
have remained unscathed under iden- .
tical conditions. (For exemplary cases,
, see Kane 1982, Darling 1935, Freeman
1974, and F,igen 1969).

Pure.1t 14

At the Mt. Takao ceremony I did

. not observe, or hear of anyone who
burned his or her feet. It is my belief
that the relatively low temperature
and the trampling out of "walking
lanes" by experienced Yamabushi
should receive full credit for the admirable safety record compiled during
the afternoon of March 13, 1983.
REFERENCES
Anonymous, Demonstration of Firewalking, "
Nature, 136, (September 21) 1935,469.
Anonymous, "Fire-walking: Scientific Tests,"
Nature, 139, (April 17>' 1937, 660..
Anonymous, "Experimental Fire-walks,"
Nature, 142, (July 9) 1938,67..
Coe, Mayne R., Jr., "Fire-Walking and
Related.Behaviors," Journal of the American.
Society jor' Psychical Research, 52, 3; (July)
1958, 85-97.
Coe, Mayne R., Jr., '''Safely Ac~oss th~.Fiery .
Pit," Fate, (June) 1978, 114-86. . .
..
Darling, Charles R., "Fire-Walking," Nature
136, (September 28) 1935, 521.
.
'.
Feigen, G. M., "Bucky Fuller and the
Firewalk," Saturday Review, 52, (July 12)
1969, 22-23.
'
Freeman, James M., "Trial by Fire," Natural
History, 83; (January) 1974,54-62.
!
Hansen, G. P., "References on Firewalking,'"
personal communication obtained from the
files of ~e Foundation for Research on the
Nature of Man, March 10, 1982 (unpublished
I

bibliography).
Kane, Steven M., "Holiness Ritual Fire Handling: Ethnographic and Psychophysiolpgical
Considerations," EthOs, 10, 4, (Winter) 1982,
369-384.
.
Price, .Harry, "Firewalking," Nature, .139,
(May 29) 1937, 928-929.
Walker, JearJ, "Drops of water dance on a hot
skillet and the experimenter walks on hot
coals," The Amateur Scientist" 'in Scientific
American, 237, 2 (August) 1977, 126-131.
.~

long existed between science and

religion. We now are in times of happy prospect that the extremists in both
areas are convncing each other that
condemnation without investigation is
truly one'of man's greatest hindrances
to progress.
Semantic stumbling blocks are be-'
ing .swept aside in the rushing tide of .
searching and researching. Ancient
wisdoms repeatedly refer to man's
~'light," not always with that particular term, b!lt the principle to
'which it refers is increasingly clear.
Except for those extremists previously
mentioned, the religionist's word
"aura" now' is considered to be virtually synonymous with the scientist's
term "energy field" as it is applied to
the force field around objects, par-'
ticularly animate ones.
. Awareness of the presence of this'
energy field has been kept alive fot:
centuries by religious philosophies in"
spite of rejection by materialists.
Probing into the mysteries of natural
law by those of scientific bent no
longer draws furious charges of
"sacrilege" except from fanatical
religious zealots.
The acknowledgment of the aura as
a reality and, understanding of its .
nature and function are long overdue.
f\l!o living being is without one, and'all"
forms of matter radiate some form "of.
energy; but man's ability to think
makes his particular emanation of
energy important in its influence on
others and of b~nefit or detriment to
himself.
Art forms have depicted this manifestation by means of lines ndiating
from the simple stick forms in primitive cave drawings to the later practice of painting halos around the
heads of figures to represent highly
evolved individuals. Even the crowns
of royal authority were 'an early symbolism of such development since
rulers were considered to embody the
spiritual, moral and pliysil:ill iiaeals
man is nieant to express. Though most
frequently portrayed about the head, .
this energy field radiates from the entire body.
Ancient records and religious tradi- .
tions have shown that the aura has
many functions. Not the least of these

Flnt Q.art_ 1983 .

references is in the New Testament of

the Christian Bible. Ephesians 6:11-17
sets forth a description by St. Paul of
the protective role played by the aura
as the "whole armor of God." The
principle here expressed in religious
phraseology can be explained in more
scientific terms today.
As more research is done into the
nature of thought, it becomes increaslngly ciear that a thought based upon
conviction generates more energy than
one which is neutral or lukewarm.
Thought-energy is an importan~ fac., tor in the 'construction and maintenance of the auric field of all sensory
'-farms -of ~atter. Although what we
call lower anima.l forms and plants
have fascinating energy fields, the role
of the human aura is both pervasive
and influential.
For centuries it has been claimed
that only very "gifted" people could
actually see the aura. This idea was
nurtured, possibly, by the upper
hierarchies of the priesthoods of virtually every culture known to man; it
set the spiritual leadership apart from
the legions of followers! :Nowadays
most anyone who is willing to take the
time and put forth the effort can reactivate this natural ability which
functions so well i~ childhood but
diminishes in most of us with the
passage of time.
.'
The charge of "imagination,"
"hallucination" or "after-vision" no
longer presents a challenge to proof of
the existence of the auric field, thanks
la:rgely rto the advent of the Kirlian
technique of consistently registering
the radiation on photographic paper
or film.' This breakthrough has led to
experimentation with videotape and
other methods of capturing the elusive
light of the energy field, holding forth
more hope of discovering undeniable
evidence of its .reality, nature and ac:
tivity. After all, even our advanced
technology cannot photograph. or
measure anything which has no existence in some form or dimension.
To see the aura, one need only place
a subject in front of a non-reflective,
plain background (such as a home
movie screen) in a room dimly lit with
no shadows being cast around or by
the subject. Tll,e viewer then focuses
his eyes on a spot somewhere on the

face of the sitter, keeping' his gaze

steady until he feels as if his eyes were
going out of focus. It will then appear
that a light is gra.dually becoming visible around the head, growing both in
size and intensity while the gaze continues.
As the. practice is J;e~led, the field
becomes visible more quickly, and
color and movement become more ap-.
parent. Time is a vaiiable; one 'person
may see clearly in a matter of' minutes
while another may require hours of
training. This is extended sightperception; one is not accustomed to
using the sense of siiiJ.t to accommodate this frequency. In the same
way, a musician extending his sense of
hearing would be able to hear nuances
the average listener could not catch.
If the subject under observation is
capable of deep concentration, the
light can be made noticeably stronger
and more active if he' will think of.
something about which he has strong
feelings. Conviction in the mind of the
subject strengthens the field.
A rather crude analogy may clarify
the manner in .which thought energy
can be used to build and maintain the
protective shield to which reference
was made earlier.
An electric fan, without the current
turned on, will have an energy field
since it is made up of a certain number
of molecules vibrating at a certain frequency. The moment eiectricity ac-.
tivates the mechanism the results can
be appreciated immediately. The
energy flow is increased and directed
by the very design of the physical
. structure which is the fan. This flow
becomes stronger as the energy input
is increased. When the fan is in a state
of immobility its energy field is at a
minimum, just as the human body has
its lowest level of energy output while
in a state of suspended animation.
A small ball, such as a ping-pong
ball, tossed at a fan which is not activated, will strike the fan. Once the
energy output is increased, the flow
will deflect the ball from its target. As
the flow is strengthened by increased
power, a ball of greater size and
weight will be deflected also.' The
'energy field now serves as a cushion or .
shield.
.
And so. it is with the human aura.

The human body also is designed in

such a manner as to maintain a
minimal field while in a state of mental or physical inertia. Once the
"power" is turned on by the activity
of the mind, the strength or impact of
. the field is increased in proportion to
the moti.vation behind the thought.
In a somewhat mysterious way the .
nature of the thought-energy output
into die' human-energy field is a determining factor in the constructive or
destructive nature of the energy itself.
Constructive or positive thought produces the healing energy from the
hand of the healer, while destructive
or negative 'thought produces the devitalizi'ng emanation from one who is
intent upon weakening or destroying.
Regardless of the nature of the
thought-negative or positive-the intensity of belief or desire is the determining factor in the strength of the
energy flow. Nature must act .within
its own laws, and nature does not
question motivation.
In the instance of fire-walkers, for
example, the preparation for the
demonstration is aJ;l energy-building
mental discipline. Mishap is prevented
only when the power output for protection is sufficiently strong to create
and maintain the "cushion" which
prevents' actual contact with the hot
coals. Belief that the coals cannot
burn forges the armor, while the
slightest doubt causes chinks of
vulnerability. No fire-walker takes his
performance casually; it is an accomplishment for which he has been
prepared through some kind of
consciousness-raising ritual, as a general rule centering on the belief that
the coals will not burn him. It doesn't
matter whether his conviction is based
upon a belief in the protection of his
deity, a strong desire to show his
manliness, or a scientific understand-'
ing of the nature of the energy-as
long as he knows he will not burn, he
will not.
Could this be evidence of the
"whole armor of God"? Fear, doubt
and similar stress-emotions render us
susceptible to the intrusion of damaging influences and experiences. These
kinds of thoughts produce visible
streaks and patches of absence of light

Mrs. Boswell has spent more than 40 years researching t~e field she describes as "the unknown and unproven which man
encounters in his quest for understanding of his own mental, physical arid spiritual potentials in an effort to enrich his life. It
The course in parapsychology she taught in the public schools of Palm Beach County, Florida, was the first of its kind to be
offered for credit in any of the nation's public school systems.

........'15

(energy) in the auric field. They appear' to alter the structure of the field,
changing the nature of the whole erratically, breaking its shield-like construction, while the religionist's "faith
as a grain of mustard seed" seems to
be th~ switch that locks on the impenetrable armor.
Difficult ~ut not impossible to cap:'
lure on video-tape or film, the changing of the energy field. from weak to
strong can be captured. It is most likely that the shield which the faith of the
fire-walker produces could be so
registered, showing the intensity concentrated around the feet. In the case
of the handling of white-hot metal,
the strength of the aura would be
greatest around the hand. Thought is
an energy-flow, and will or intelligence give it direction or a target.
Research of this area should hold
great appeal for those of an adventurous nature. The aura is gaining increased recognition for the pint it
plays in the "laying on of hands" in
'holistic hea~ing, but its value may extend far beyond that application. A
better understanding of the aura in a
preventive role may be forthcoming
through further investigations of the
fire-walking and fire-handling
phenomenon.

Do You Believe in.

I'Qcognitlon?
DYes

0 No

Then consider the following and

re-evaluate your response:
SELF-TEST OF BELIEF
IN PRECOGNITION
1. Think back to a time shortly
before you first laid eyes on your
spouse.
2. Imagine (at that time) you and
your spouse-to-be walking down the
street in opposite directions right past
each other.
3. Discounting the factor of sexual attraction per se (and of possible
otherwise-intriguing aspects of hisl
her physical appearance), do you
believe you would have simply walked
right past him I her without any
strange or unusual internal response,
feeling, or reaction on your part?
Q your answer is anything short of
a resounding NOI, face up to thefact
that you DO believe' in precognition,
-Neil M. Lorber

Pursul'16

~----------------~--~
t
Wetzels in 'Wonderland II
t
1 / ,
t
Was It All Just Coincidence . . . or
i
.,
Was It Something They 8?
t
.I Loren'
Coleman ~ s article in Pursuit. Volume 15, Number 4,
t:
"The Strange Case of the
Charlie Wetzels", is not only
t
t peppered' with synchronous names, it is
of eightsl
195!
- First paragraph mention of Bigfoot
I,
tt
sightings .
July !
- Charles' Wetzel's birthday'
,.
t
Nov. !, 195! - his sighting of the creature
I
1888
- birth year of the second Charles Wetzel
I
Two

f~ll

July 2!. 195! - date of his Sighting

Furthermore, using the standard numerology system of assigning ,

digits to theletters of the alphabet:

t.

tAB

DE

I
I
t
listening, I
.

ST
1
U
VWX
Y Z
KFI, the radio station to which the first Wetzel was
t, breaks
down to:
K
F
I
2
6
9
2 + 6 + 9 .. 17 1 + 7 =
t

t
t
.t
I'
t
t
t
I

The name' of Jerry Crew, mentioned in the first paragraph is:

J

1 + 5 + 9 + 9 + 7 +

3 + 9 + 5 + 5

53

5 + 3 = !

Jerry Crew reported "strange incidents" near Bluff Creek:

B
2

F
6

C
'3

9 . 5

E
5

=444+4=8
In numerology, numbers have characteristic qualities, and 8
represents organization. In' true Fortean spirit, I must aSk:
Is there some organIzation effort represented in the network
of events, people, dates, places (and even a radio stationl)
represented here? I
.'

,,
,,
,,

t
t
t.
t
t
t
I

Incidentally, the author's name breaks down thus:

~

"A 'U' R E N
+ 1 + 3 + 9 + 5 + 5
5

+3 -

(yesl)

COL

E HAN
3 + 6 + 3 + 5 .+ 4 + 1 + 5

= 53

II

There are also a lot of l's in the story, but I won't go on

this way - other than to suggest that this whole thing may
be Bigfoot's signature:

Anne FitzGerald
P.S. Pursuit is great fun I

.,

t.
I
I
t
t
I
I

.,

---------------------

F..... Qa.rter 1913

The Pseudoscience of Antiufology

by StaDton T. Friedman
Copyright 1981 by Stanton T. Friedman.

WO examples of the pseudoscience of antiufology have

T
recently surfaced. Both involve the famous abduction
of Betty and Barney Hill by UFO occupants in New Hampshire in 1961 and the associated star-map work done by
Marjorie Fish. Both debunkers, Carl Sagan and the Amazing Randi, are members of that fascinating group of propagandists, the Committee for the S~ientific Investigation
of Claims of the Paranormal.
Dr. Carl Sagan is one of America's best-known scienfists. His picture has appeared on the covers of Time and
Newsweek .magazines. He has Illade several appearances
on the Johnny Carson show. Three of his books have
become best-sellers; for one of them, Dragons of Eden, he
was given a Pulitzer Prize .. His COSMOS series for PBSTV is in reruns and has been shown in many countries.
Much to his credit, Dr. Sagan has occasionally spoken
out on controversial issues his academic colleagues have
disdained to discuss, including, for eXample, the theories
of the late Immanuel Velikovsky. From the mid-1960s onward he has spoken out about UFOs. He was one of six
scientists who presented live testimony to a Congressional
symposium on llFOs sponsored by the House Committee
on Science and Astronautics in July 1968. He was a coorganizer of an all-day session on UFOs sponsored by the
American Association for the Advancement of Science at
its meeting in Boston in December 1969; he edited the proceedings of the session which Cornell Univ~rsity ~ress
published in book form in' 1972.
To raise one's hand in criticism of a colleague so
renowned is always risky. Motives become suspect, expectations are questioned, and the critic soon learns, ~f he
didn't.already know, that many people prefer not to hear,
listen to, or think about what the critic says or writes; they
only wish he would go away.
Such a role does not become the serious scientist; those
of us who wO(k in the labs and libraries of current and
historical investigation can only concur 'with the statement
of purpose embedded in a recent "message" from the executi"e council of the Committee for the. Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal: "We want to encourage public awareness of the need for scientific
evidence as a basis of belief." But what are we to think .
when one, two or several members of the committee, having subscribed to the purpose, :reject it in their actions and
continue to "discover" only such evidence as will fit a pet
hypothesis or personal speculation?
Admittedly Dr. 'Carl Sagan is a master of the written
and spoken word; his charisma on camera excites envy.
But a careful examination of what he has written and
spoken suggests thal he is much mor~ concerned with

cosmetics of style than with consideration of evidence. For

example, he has written and stated in forums such as the
Carson show that "there are interesting UFO sightings that
are not reliable and reliable sightings that are not interesting, but there are no interesting sightings that are
reliable and no reliable sightings that are interesting." The
statement comes across with Dr. Sagan's usual vigor and
aggressive confidence but without benefit of any data to
support it or any reference to .such data. No wonder: the
statement 'is completely at odds with the facts!
The largest .government-sponsored study of UFOs ever
made showed the exact opposite: the most reliable
sightings are the' most interesting because they are most
likely to be unidentifiable and not able to be classified as
insufficient information. Dr. Sagan has, of course, seen
these data in Blue Book Special Report 14 but has, for
whatever reason, consistently ignored them.
In his nine-minute presentation about UFOs on the
"Encyclopedia Galactica" segment (December 14, 1980)
of the COSMOS PBS television series, Dr. Sagan made
statements that were false and left out very significant information that 'was true; the result was a serious misrepresentation of UFOs and the Hill case and star-map work in
particular, communicated to a public which had every
right to expect the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth from so eminent a scientist. Alas for those unsuspecting viewers, there was, and is, a great deal of infor-'
mation about the Hill encounter and the star-map work,
all of it flvailable at the time but ignored by Dr. Sagan then
and since. John Fuller's book The Interrupted Journey is
based primarily on the tapes 'made' by the noted
psychiatrist Dr.' Benjamin Simon during some six months
of weekly regressive-hypnosis sessions. There are five
widely disseminated articles about the star-map work, in. cluding a series of pro and con comments which Dr. Sagan
has.

Sagan set the tone for the segment by saying "What

counts is not what seems plausible, Qot what we would like
to believe, not what one 'or two witnesses claim, but only
what is supported by hard evidence. Extraordinary claims
r-equire extraordinary evidence." This is a reasonable requirement, but within seconds Dr. Sagan appeared to have
forgotten it. "There must be other civilizations far older
and more advanced than ours," he intoned-without then
(or ever) providing any evidence to support his assertion.
Viewers might have expected this focus on evidence to
lead into a discussion of t.he extraordinary evidence offered
by the many multiple-witness cases, the more than 2000
landing-trace cases from 64 countries, the more than 3000

Nuclear.physicist Stanton Friedman is well known as a pioneer lecturer and writer on the UFO phenomenon.
...... Qt...... 1983

P ......, 17

pilots' UFO sightings reported fronl40 countries, the combined radar-visual sightings, the dozens of abductions that
have been investigated,' the remarkable similarity of
evidence from all over the world, and the still- and motionpicture footage that ha~ been validated by scientific investigation. Instead, Dr. Sagan unlimbered another o~e:.
liner and fired it safely over the heads of those on the other
side of the tube. "This subject," h~ said, "has more, I
think, to do with religion and superstition, than. with
science." . ' .
..
There is a large body of evidence and opinion taken
from large segments of the scientific community and the
general population concerning attitudes' about UFOS; it is
available in the public record for all to know:' .
-69% of scientists and engineers who expressed an
opinion about UFOs accept UFO reality, according to a
1979 poll;
.
. -all Gallup polls ,have shown that the greater the
education, the more likely is acceptance of. UFOs as real
(almost 3 to 1 among those with college education); .
-there are at least a dozen volumes of papers.written
by reputable scientists about UFOs; .
-there are five or more Ph.D. theses about UFOs; and
.. . -:-Sagan himself has published papers in volumes of
good materials despite his own lack Of investigation.
.

wards. But no viewer of COSMOS would have had any

. reason to believe there was more than one session or
suspect that such detailed recall was possible more than
tlVo years after the event.
. .
Sagan spent several minut.es misrepresenting the starmap work. He held up a drawing in which a number of
. points were connected by single, straight, ~olid lines, and
went on to say: "She was also shown a strange window
through which she could see a glowing pattern of dots connected with lines. It w~s, they told her, a star map displaying the routes of. interstellar commerce ... here's what
Betty Hill said it looked like." But the simple drawing .
shown by Dr. Sagan was not .at all what Betty drew. Her
.drawing,in response to post-hypnotic suggestion that it be
don~ only if remembered accurately, had two large circles
with five curved, solid lines between them: There were
solid double-lines connecting several pairs of stars farther
.up .. The lines are crucial because, as noted in the .book,
"the hea\ty lines 'were trade routes . ~ . the solid lines.were
places they went occasionally, and the broken lines were
expeditions~"
,
Another point-and-Iine drawing came into view and
Sagan noted it had been "widely publicized by UFO enthusiasts." He didn't mention that the enthusiasts were
scientists like myself. He further downgraded .both maps
(poor enough siqlUlants to begin,with) by getting rid of the
lines altogether; they were irrelevant, he said, because
"these particular stars are selected from a large catalog ... ;
our vantage point in space is aIso selected to make the best
Speaking of the Hill case, Sagan says: "They had
ob~erved, so they said, a strange moving light in the sky,
possible fit. If you can pick and choose from a large
by definition an unidentified flying object. It seemed to ,. number of stars viewed from any vantage point in space
you want, you can always find something resembling the
foUow them for miles ... after a time the .lighting patterQS
on the UFO changed: It appeared to land. It blocked the
pattern you are looking for."
It is strange indeed that nobody has found a better fit.
road, preventing them from driving on. They said they saw
mouthless creatures approaching who were ,not exactly Sagao's description was complete nonsense. He never mentioned the crucial work of Marjorie Fish, though tlie
human . . . At this point the story becomes still stranger.
record establishes that he was aware of it. Ms. Fish built
They lost all recollection of what happened in the next few
hc;)Urs. But weeks later, they said, they recalled $ome
total of 23 different 3~dii-m!nsional models of. ;qur lo~al
details and discussed the experience with others. Twenty~
galactic neighborhood. She examined the models from all
six months later, under hypnosis, they reported that a UFO
directions. She spent five years and thousands of womanhad landed and that the crew had emerged. They were caphours of labor trying to find a 3-d pattern that matched
what Betty had drawn and that met a set of well-spelledtured, they said, and then taken aboard the craft. That was
out ground rules. She found one, and on.ly one, pattern
the story . . ."
that matched angle for angle arid line-length for lineAnyone reading The Interrupted Journey w9uld know
length. No viewer who had not read one or more of the
this as a grossly distorted version of what happened, and
many published papers about the project would have
not just because the memory block occurred before the.
UFO landed or because it landed off the road, not on it.
learned the first thing about the star-map work or Marjorie
: Fish, or would have detected Dr. Sagan's massive
The actual observations by Betty and Barney lasted longer
misrepresentation.
than thirty minutes and involved the use of binoculars;
their description was of a large, round craft with two rows
of windows; it was seen from less than 200 yards away and
was no mere "light in the sky." The night was beautifully
. clear with a bright moon and lots of stars visible; yet the
, Under rigorol,ls examination, the pattern-stars recorded
by Betty Hill all turn out to be sun-like stars. They were
~ramatization by Los Angeles station KCET -TV showed
the w.ndshield wipers running! It had Betty and Barney . not pre-selected. They are' the. only ones th~t fit and the
only sun-like stars in. the specific volume of spacestaggeI:ing out of the car like absolute fools, beckoned by a
Close-Encounter-of-the-Third-Kind light, with no beings
a 2/3 cube-found by Marjorie Fish to snugly contain the
around. The first hypnosis session took place 27 months
map. Of special importance is the fact that only about onetwentieth of the stars near us are sun-like'stars. The chance
after the event; more significant were the ensuing six
that correspondence between what Betty drew and Marmonths of weekly sessions, most with Betty and Barney
jorie found could be coincidence is something less than o~e
hypnotized independently' and amnesia induced after-

......,'1.

F..... Quarte.. 1983

in a thousand.' The pattern also makes sense on a 3-d

"travel" basis (i.e., nearest star to nearest'Star); it inCludes
the sun and defines the large, round, base stars. Obviously,
a 3-d region of space with stars in it will appear different
when observed from different directions. No drawing or
3-d model can replicate the view from all 'directions at
once, although motion-pictures of it model taken from different vantage points might provide a reasonable simulation. No viewer could know without being told that the
base stars were Zet~ 1 and Zeta 2 Reticuli-the closest-toeach-other pair of sun-like stars in our neighborhood and
about 1000 times closer to each other than our sun is to its
nearest neighbor.
These simple but very important facts were not spelled
out prior to Marjorie Fish's map work; the accuracy of her
work has since been verified (and praised) by all of the
several astronomers who have checked it.' Still to be
answered is a crucial question: Is the identification of these
two special'stars as the base stars of the Hill map a coincidence? Or . . . ?
"
Less important but nonetheless puzzling is Sagan's
failure to mention Ms. Fish'~ work 'or refer to any of the
nume~ous publications which have dealt with it in considerable detail. The time constraints of telecasting could
,not have bothered him that much, else why would the last
portion of the UFO segment be devoted to ,showing pictures to the accompaniment of a script which could only
have been intended to entertain viewers; it was almost
completely devoid of evidential content; Why would a
scientist be so unscientific?
A clue to his misbehavior may lie within (or behind)
Sagan's closing comments: "The searcJt for alien civilizations retains its importance despite the striking failure of
the UFO evidence . . . . For mys'elf I find something irresistible in the idea of discovering a token-maybe a simple inscription-which could provide a key to understanding an alien and exotic civilization." Could,it also be that
,Dr'. Sagan is loath to' admit that important work
. establishing the probability of alien Earth-visitations might
be'accomplished by an amateur astronomer in her trailerhome, using evitlence provided under hypnosis by a social
worker and her postal-clerk husband, 'and not by such exa.lted seekers as himself?

Protests were lodged to 'no ayail with KCET-TV in Los

Angeles concerning what appear to be clear violations' of.'
the FCC fairness doctrine in the COSMOS segment. In
'controversial issues of public importance the FCC requires
that a reasonable opport~nity be provided for presentation '
of contrasting viewpoints; and deliberate attempts to
mislead or misinform the public are forbidden.
If the FCC equal-time rule offers only'delayed and insufflciimt remedy for'Dr. Sagan's journalistically and scientifically unethical TV segment, how much'more difficult
it is to 4eal with the even less-accurate' published presentation of similar material by one of Sagan's CSlCOP colleagues, the Amazing Randi, in his aptly titled book Flim
Fla,m (Lippincott-Crowel, 1980). We hope that articles
such as the one you are reading, leiters -to the editors in ~~e

Flnt Qu..... 1983

U.S.; Canada and beyond, and the con~ensus of many

study groups will serve to straighten olit his distortions.
Randi is a stage magiciap of considerable note and a
self-professed master of deception. That he is neither a
seeker.for truth nor of scientific or objective bent is clearly
demonstrated by his hatchet job on UFOs in general and
the Hill case and Marjorie Fish's' star-map work in particular. But Randi's main problem is getting his facts
straight.'
',"
Writing of the Hill experience, Randi says: "It was immortalized in John Fuller's' book Incident at Exeter."
TJtere are all of 6 liz pages abouUhe Hill case in Incident at
Exeter, but there are 350 pages about it in Fuller's Interrupted Journey. Randi,says: "It seems evident that Mrs.
Hill saw the planet Jupiter; talked her husband into believing it was a UFO and then imagined that she had been
taken aboard and made to forget the experience which she
remembered only after a dream of the supposed event kept
recurring. But when she 'had her story in full bloom. Betty
Hill was able to suddenly recall-three years af~er the
event-that she had seen a navigation map in the control
room and she sketched it for posterity. This map is one of
several that are said' to support the Hill claim."
It is difficult indeed to imagine a more inaccurate rendition of the Hill sighting, thpugh perhaps some other
CSICOP member could dream one up. Betty and Barney
Hill both observed the UFO through binoculars; sketches
of what ~hey saw are in the Interrupted Journey; and if it
was Jupiter or any other planet that was seen, how come
no astronomer has yet' told us that his more sophisticated
equipment had also noted two rows of windows on the
body and lights at the, outside extensions?
Barney Hill's re-Iiving of his abduction under hypnosis
has enormous emotional content, ,as anybody who has read
the book or, seen the TV movie "The UFO Incident"
would' know. Both he and Betty reported their sighting to
the U.S. Air Forc,e shortly after it happened. To say that
Betty' 'suddenly" recalled the experience is an absurdity to
anyone who examines the transcripts of the weekly hypnosis sessions which began 27 months after the experience
and ended 33 months afterward. ~obody connected with
the case says the map represented a navigation map.
Nobody says Betty was in the control room. She drew only
one map, responding to post-hypnotic suggestion which inclu~ed an important instruction: what she drew had to be
recalled accurately or she should refrain from drawing it.
As to Ms. Fish, Randi generously admits to her existence (which Sagan failed to note) and her relevance to
the Hill case. But when discussion turns to details of the
star-map work, he lets us see just how amazing the inaccuracies of the Amazing Randi can 'be. He says: "She
somewhat rearranged the viewpoint and redrew a section
of the constellation known as Reticulum to conform."
Total malarkey! Ms. Fish did an enormous amount of
painstaking work. She made accurate 3-d models' of our
galactic neighborhood, some with as many as 250 'colorcoded beads hung on nylon fi~hline, each bead representing a particular star in its proper location in space. The
base stars did, indeed, turn out to be located in the constellation of Reticulum, but the others are not. Randi
doesn't seem to know that a constellation is a quite small
,

'

Pu,.._" 19

1.

""

,.............

"
.

./
.

.
",-

...

" .

~~~
(" , .

..

.: .

..

region of. the sky containing siars. at nearly the" same

angular direct~on from Earth but, in most instances, riot
close to each other. They may even be" at greater distances
from 'each' other than they are from. Earth. '
. Randi also preSents a ': point~and-liile;dra:wing. a,nd,
claims that it shows what Betty Hill ,dre'Y. It clearly does
not, as anybody who had. looked
Beity's map would
know. Randi has sirigle, straight, dash-lines'making tip the'
p"ttern. No multiple or curved or solid Ii.nes are shown, yet
all are on Betty'S map; thus' Randi can do as SagaI): .did:
throw out the lines and say that there is no correspondence
between what Marjorie found from her 3-d work and what
Betty drew. This is a bit like comparing Marilyn Mon'roe
and a ciJ.'~s fat lady by looking at their skeletons and saying they are similar; the rest of the body is needed to get an
accurate picture.
..
Randi, unlike Sagan, has no professional astronomer's
axe to grind-not even an amateur astronomer's hatchet.
Magic, not science, is Randi's milieu. Both' men have
favored the pseudoscience of antiufology in a remarkable
mix of their talents, and there's no saying what effect this
may have on the attitude of a public already confused by
UFOs and possibly related phenomena. Whatever happens
next, neither magic nor pseudoscience should be,allowed to
slow the search for evidence or tamper with it, or denigrate
the obligation of science to investigate widely, to
hypothesize reasonably, and tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the ~ruth.

I"

.... 0"

REFERENCES

I. Dic"kinson, Terence The Zeta Retial/; Incident, Astromedia Publishing

Co:, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1975. Thirty-two page 8!n'xll rull-color

reprint of the oriainal December 1974 article or the same name by
Astronomy mapzine editor Dickinson, plus all the subsequently published letters ancl comments by Dr, Carl Sagan, Dr. Steven Soter, Dr. David
Saullders, Robert Sheaffer, Marjorie Fish, Jeffrey Kretch, etc. List price
54 but only 52.SO postage-paid from UFORI, POB 3297, Sta. B, Frederictcm, NB E3A 5HI, Canada.
'

......."

I.

...-.

. ....., .--' .' ____ \.,/.,

.:J.
"
--~
"
,

1,.",,-

,,'.

"A 'section of the

.........

--.
.'\

.- "....

c o'n s tell a tI 0 n

'-at...!..

.....
..... ~

Reticulum,
re'oriented and drawn ~
by MarjOrie Filii
with Hili's 'trade
, routes' added."

I
I'
I .

. '. f

'. .....
., ......

'I,{..
'1.-;: ..... , ....
. ... ...
~

~-

.---~------------

...

...

'
~.

~..

'....
.._--:--.,:,/

''The constellation
..
Pegasus as It appears on an' ordinary star 'map, .
. with Hili's 'trade
".
.
routes' added as she
. saw them."
..

at

. ... ".
.' .

Fuller's Interrupted Journey displayed the 1>above drawing In

slightly larger size with the following caption: "Under hypnosis,
Betty HID described a map she was shown 'by the leader' aboard
the ship.' Later, she sketched It. She said she was told that the
heavy lines marked regular trade routes, anef the brok"en lines
recorded various space expeditions."

.
.

. ...

I
:! I
I; T'"

, ; ___ .. J~,
....... t""
.....~.\.,
.............. .... ,"\\

"Betty Hili's drawIng of the aliens'

stellar navigation
map with 'trade
routes'lndlcated. '5'
designates the sun;
the arrow points to
the aliens' home
. star,"

.~.--=,-----.................
~'\
~
.r __ ~......

/.'

Randl's FIlm Flam Incorrectly attributed the 8rst schematic

drawing to Betty Hill, then sought to debunk the .. map" with
three similar drawings, two more Incorrect attrlbutloi.s and
8nally, an obvious mismatch:
.
. .

"v....

.,

.
.

,-. .1.,'
.

Drawings and caption quotations' courtesy of Stanton Friedman

....

..

...--------.
...........

...
.

,~

,,"
.

.-' ,

~,

",.~'---~.......
....

..
.
.
,
..

'

.'

.;,

.,

.. ..

~.
...... 1.. .
_.

..... "

...'._.

. . . . . . .-'-

.'

-...

-1IIiII...

--.__ .. _. -_e. __ .__ -:-,. _... I

1 '

'.."0.
I

. . . . . . . ... . : ,-

... - - .

~, ,
~

....

1/'/
(I
, I .J I

. r"

_1

I"~

"Is this star Rlap a good match

for the Hill map? If so.. then
anything ca., be'made to lit ..."

2. Dickinson, Terence Zeta Retkuli Update, 1980, 3500-w~)R1 update by

the current editor of Star and Sky covers several published criticisms of
the original work. UFORI, 50 cents from POB 3297, Sla. B, Fredericton,
NB E3A 5HI, Canada.
3. Fish, Marjorie E. "Journey Into the Hill Slar Map," Proceedings
1974 MUFON Symposium, Akron, Ohio, pp. 69-80. Available from
MUFON, 103 Oldtowne Rd., Seguin, 1exas 78155,'$4.
4. Fish, Marjorie E. "Validation of the Betty Hill Map," Pursuit
'January 1974, 7:1, pp. 4-8.
.
.
S. Friedman. Stanton T. and Slate, B. A~ii I'UFO: Sia'rl B~
Discovered," Saga July 1973, Vol. 46, No.4, p. 36 et sell' .... I , . '
6. Fuller, John G. The Interrupted Journey, Dial Press, New York, 1966,
304 pages. Out of print ill this hard-cover edition. There are several
paperback editions including Berkley Publishing Co., New York, 1974,
350 pages.

FlntQ...... l9U

Special Report to SITU

The Tectonic Strain Theory of

Luminosities (UFO Reports)
by M. A. P....lngel'. Ph.D.
--------------------------~-----Absttact--------------------------------~Numbers of UFO reports (UFORs) frequently increase weeks to months before seismic events. These
observations are commensurate with the explanation
that most UFO phenomena are associated with tecr
tonic strain within the earth's crust. Data from the
Center for UFO Studies and from Fate magazine
were examined through 1-, 3-, 6-, 12-, and 24-month
time frames within different-size spatial windows.
Temporal analyses employing six-month increments
within relatively large but homogeneolls tectonic
regions optimally demonstrated the relationship between UFORs and consequent seismic activity. In

Introduction
UMINOUS, spherical displays with mean durations of
L
about 10 minutes and spatial volumes in the order of 10
to 100 cubic meters have been frequently reported for hundreds of years. As soci8I beliefs and cultural explanations
changed, the names of these odd luminosities altered as
well. During the eighteenth century, these peculiar lights
were attributed to spiritual sources; during the nineteenth
century secular labels, such as "odd luminosity," "airship," or "peculiar meteor train," were applied. More recent nomenclature such as UFOs, extraterrestrial crafts, or
celestial guardians has reflected the interest in space
research and substitution of traditional religious beliefs.
Explanations for UFO-related luminosities have been
almost as numerous as the number of observations. Like
the labels used iii previous tim~s, the explanations often
r~flect the fads. and fallacies of a particular generation. To
date only one theory has been developed that can (a)
generate test{lble hypotheses, (b) be verified (or refuted)
with available data, and (c) be used to predict the occurrence of UFO reports. As a reflection of the central proce~s
involved, it is called the tectonic strain theory .of UFOs. 1,2,3
Recentl analyses emp~oying extrapolations4 from this
theory have elucidated several interesting properties of
Dr. Michael Peninger. is director of the Environmental
Psychophysiology Lab and full professor of psychology at
Laurentian University. Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. He is a
member of SITU's Scientific Advisory Board. His most recent contribution to Pursuit was an extensive research
report on "Odd Luminosities and Other Fortean Events
Before Earthquakes: The New Madrid Test" published, in
1981 (Vol. 14, No.2, pp. 69-79).

Flnt Q ...... 1983

.\.

the central U.S.A., UFORs tended to increase during

the six-month increment just before an increase in V
or less intensity earth tremors and to increase after
very large quakes. A percentage change. in the
number of low intensity quakes was preceded by a
comparable percentage change in UFORs. All major
types of UFORs correlated with the optimal seismic
measures; only the strangest type of reports were not
significantly related. \Th~ space-time scales at which
the phenomenon is most apparent strongly suggests
the central role of some fundamental geophysical
process.

UFO-related luminosities. Discriminant functions that accurateiy classified 95"" of the cases Charles Fort reported
as "odd luminosities" within Eur9pean space between the
years 1850 to 1900 accurately predicted all of the UFO f.Jap
periods between the years 1950 to 1980. In addition, these
functions indicated that UFO-like reports should have occurred during the intervening decades. During these
decades, there were no reports of UFOs and spaceships.
. There were reports, however, of mysterious -airplanes; foo.
fighters, and ghost rockets..
. When applied to the U.S.A., the tectonic strain model
has. been equally illuminating. Multipl~ regression equations derived from UFO reports collecte"- during the years
1950 to 1975 and applied to the years 1820 to 1949, accurately predict the famous 1947 flap. Interestingly, these
equations als.o predict that an unprecedented flap should
have occurred during the first half of the year 1897 .. Like
the European. data, these analyses also indicate that UFOlike flaps should have been present during the 1920s and
1930s. UFOs were not reported; odd airships and disappearing airplanes were often epidemic.
The central theme of this concept is that most (but not
all) UFO-related luminosities are associated with tectonic
strain within the earth's crust. As the strain accumulates
locally, the likelihoOd of UFO phenomena being generated
in .the vicinity increases dramatically. The specific locus oT
UFO occurrences reflects the local spaces traditionally
associated with strain accumulation (and release). Fault
lines Of fracture z~:)Des are obvious examples. . .. '
. Te~tonic strairi in this context is a hypothetical construct.,Although most geophysicists would accept the explanation that strain exists within the earth's crust, the existence of strain is inferred from distortions in surface
topography, tilDe-related, increased ellipsticity of round

Pu....l l i l

holes bored into rock beds, or rock bursts. Most of ail,

strain is inferred by the occurrence of earthquakes.
Tests of the tectonic strain theory of UFO-related
luminosities have involved the most observable correlate
of strain: earthquakes. Occurrences of earthquakes withi~
an area indicate that strain has existed and hence the conditions for generating UFO-like luminosities have occurred.
The theory dOes not state that UJiOs cause earthquakes or
earthquakes cause UFOs. Instead, the theory states that
a third factor, tectonic strain, produces both UFOs and
earthquakes.
The formal description of tbe tectonic strain theory is
important at this point in the history of UFO research for
two reasons. ~irst, it has been frequently misconstrued by
popular writers. Many journalists have .assumed that
UFOs occur only at the times of earthquakes. Consequently, UFOs occurring before or after earthquakes are not explained by the model. This interpretation is not correct.
Secondly, understanding the formal definitiori . of
theory allows one to apply it accurately. If UFOs are
assumed to be associated with tectonic strain, then most~
UFOs should occur before earthquakes. Ail earthquake
only verifies that stress and strainhave been present. Since
a specific area is prone to parti<iular patterns of seismic activity, they could be used to infer which strain conditions
are ,optimal ~o produce J1FO displays.
Ultimately, the precision of the tectonic strain theory
for predicting UFO events mus~ be determined by the
technology and methodology of the most relevant
discipline, in this case geophysics. However, the first-order
operations to determine the basic characteristics of a
phenomenon are the same in all of the sciences. To solve a
problem, the' frontier r~searcher must know the optimal
temporal and spatial windows in which to see it. Once
established, the internal consistency of predictions
generated from the theory and its reliable application in
different situations can be evaluated.
'
Methods

Fine resolution of any p!lenomenon is limited by the

measurement . procedure and apparatus. Elementary
positivism dictates that scientists do not directly study
principles or operations. Instead, scientists really measure
changes in instruments. We assume these changes accurately represent some fundamental and persistent process. .
.
We do not directly measure UFO-related luminosities.
Although most of us would agree that UFOs appear to
share common characteristics throughout space and time,
we ttave not measured the central processes. ~nstead, we
have recorded what people say about UFO events; they are
. presumed to have occurred. In short, we do not measure
UFOs, we record UFO reports (UFORs). .
.
AU scientific disciplines, from astronomy to zoology,
have invested significant .portioRs of their resources
towards the determination of the va!idity and the reliability~
~f central m~urement procedures; Evaluations of validi- .
ty ~re required to determine if the scientist is measuring
what he or she is supposed (usually on the basis of some
theory or assumption) to be measuring. Reliability is an indicator of the similarity of several repeated measurements
in the same situation.
Few studies have .ddressed tbis problem in UFO

Pllra.1t22

research. UFORs are often assumed to be totally valid and

reliable. If a person or group of people say they saw a
round disc with portholes, m.any researchers assume the
event (as described) actually occurred. If one researcher
finds that there was a 100% increase in the number of
UFORs in hissample, other researchers assume that this
increase would have occl,med if they had sampled as well ..
The many complex social-psychological and statistical processes that contribute to the UFOR measurement (what
people report) are ignored.
Before the technology of modem geophysics can be applied to UFO phenomena, the problems of validity and
reliability or" measurement will have to be carefuny considered.' There is, however,.a more fundamental presumption that must be recognized first .. If the contributing _
variables to UFORs are considered to be more or less consistent,: how wen do they reflect the number of UFO
events?
.
This question must be answered to determine the inherent. error in the "measurement apparatus," in this instance,. the human species. If each portion of the earth's
surface was viewed by a human being, twenty-four hours
of every day, then we could concl.u~e that the total sample
of UFORs closely approximates the total number of UFO
events. (We stiD would not know any more about the
validity of those reports, unless we had. some other in.:.
strumentation, such as video recorders obtaining informa-
tion simultaneously.)
If we assume. that UFORs are only a sample of the tot.al
UFO events that have occurred during a particular time
and in a specific space, then we can begin to analyze the
UFO characteristics by determining the relative variation
in different samples. Whereas one sample of UFORs with
a baseline of let's say 1000 records per month may suddenly increase to 5000 reports, a second sample with a baseline
of 10 reports may increase to 50 reports. AlthQugh the absolute number is different (and may reflect the number of
operators in the field organization), the relative changes
.
would be compatible.
. To test this reliability. across data samples, ,VJ~ORs
from two separate pools Jere obtained. The first poolwas
from CUFOs (Center for UFO Studies) in Illinois. The
monthly totals of various UFOR types were obtained on
computer tape for the years 1950 to 1970. The second pool
was obtained from the reports published in FATE
magazine. These reports had been placed on the master
data file involved with previous studies and only required a
. sort program.
.
All analyses were completed with SPSS software on a
Dec 2020 System computer. Since this report is concerned
with the UFO phenomena and not statistical methods,
sPecific procedures for determining distribution properties
(means, skewness, measures 9f variance) will not be .
discussed in detail. However, they cannot be ignored in
this research.
The CUFOS pool contained a~~ut ~OO. times the
number of reports contained within the FATE saplple:
Between the years 1950 and 1970, for example,. the numberof total UFORs. within the central U.S.A. from the
CUFOS pool wils about 8,000. A total of 80 repor\s were
sorted from the FATE sample for this period.
CUFOS.data are coded according to one of nine different types of UFO reports that reflect increasing properties of strangeness. A total of 2,200 of th~ reports were

specifically classified. The major portion of the reports for

this region, about 700/0 of them, were left in the nonclassified category. The correlation between each type of
UFOR and the non-classified types with the total number
ofUFORs reflected the numerical weighting of the sample.
For example, the non-classified cases, which characterized
most of the reports were correlated 0.70 with the total sample. Only types VIIl and IX were not significantly correlated with the main pool.
The F ATE sample did not contain elaborate internal
differentiations. In our original classification scheme, we
allocated six categories of UFO types, similar in concept to
the CUFOS file. However, the numbers of UFORs not
classified in the main "general" UFO category were so
small that they were not used in this analysis. The probiems. a'nd limitations of this procedure have been discussed elsewhere. s.6 .
Correlation analyses between UFORs per six-month increment (January-June; July-December) for each year between 1950 and 1970 for theFATE data and similar dataarrays from the CUFOS sample, demonstrated coefficients
between +0.40 and +0.70. All combined classifications
within the CUFOS sample correlated about" + 0.45 with
"general" UFORs within the FATE data. On the other
hand, TypeIll and IV reports within the CUFOS sample
correlated +0.65 with the FATE data. These types of
UFORs involve "odd luminosities moving with peculiar
trajectories," the kind most frequently reported in FATE
as UFO events.
Numbers of reports can 'be influenced by muitiple
measures of the "same" event or by c\usters of UFO
events related to the "same" process. Thus if a flurry of
UFO events occurred during a short period (a month)
within a populated region, UFORs could be escalated
significantly. Many of these UFORs would be in essence

..... as there has been a steady erosion in u., S. activity

in the basic sciences. there has been an increase in the
. ,., 'level oj such activity in Western Europe and Japan.
q that continues. we are in danger oj losing our posi-Val. L. Fitch, Professor
tion oj scientific leadership.

N. . .~ote.

; ....
. ....

":'.:

':

.. ".~ ~:'. ": ~

'Watch mel'

Ant Qiaart_ 1983

Sometimes a phenomenon can be overlooked if the

measurement is too crude or inappropriate. Total
numbers of .UFORs per unit time is ihe simplest form of

Energy
Technology

JJ

..

Measurements

New~Age

of Physics at Princeton Univer-sity, in an interview with U.S. News

" World Report magazine, June 21, 1982.

,:

repeated measures of the same phenomenon. In this instance, simple totals of UFORs would not be reliable
measures of UFO phenomena over time.
One way to attenuate this effect is to derive "flap
scores" for each increment. Instead of dealing with actual
numbers of reports, either a 0, 1 or 2 is considered. A "0"
refers to a low frequency period (even though there may
still be a constant stream of UFORs), while a "1" refers to
a typical flap period. A "2" designation is reserved for extraordinary flap periods. During 20 years within the central U.S.A., for example, there have only been about 4 or 5
(about 10% o( the time) superflap increments.
Correlations of flap scores between the FATE and
C;:UFOs data ,were much higher. Flap scores for Type III
and IV UFORs from the CUFOS sample correlated 0.80
with the flap scores for to\al UFORs within the FATE
sample. The major discrepancy between the FATE and
CUFOS data occurred for.the years 1966 to 1968. Before
and after this period, flap evaluations are re'markably
similar.
In general, we can conclude that some sytematic
response is being recorded. Two separate data samples,
one based upon written correspondence and field investigations and the second based upon newspaper reports
and personal interviews, demonstrated more or less si~ilar
fluctuations over time. The question of validity has not
been. answered. For now, we will assume that the number
9f UFORs are systematically related to the number of UFO
events.

bY Dr. RoH SchaRra.ke

West Germany: The prototype first motorcycle equip- '

ped with a "flux motor" (the inventor's designation for a
tachion field converter or gravity-field generator) of 2 KW
output has completed a test run of approximately 20,000
km without any repairs. Its principle of operation: The
T -converter is constantly recharging the electrical power
battery of the vehicle, resulting in an operation which is
noiseless, fuelless and.polution-free .... A new factory for
the production of gravity-energy-field converters in the
town of Oldenburg is scheduled to produce individual
home heating units. The design 'of automobile power
plants based on the same principle is also in preparation.
Probable efficiency factors of several hundred percent are
anticipated. .
!
.
Japan: Mazda . continues research on the "magnetic
Wankel engine" (45 HP) for electric automobiles, 'based
on the principle of Kure Tekko. The gravity research of
Prof. S. ,seike is now sponsored by Hitachi, after millions
of Japanese received updated information via popular

(Continued on page 45)

......... 23

measurement. With this procedure, the total numbers of

UFORs, regardless of category or classification, are correlated with the total number of appropriate seismic
measures. Figure 1 contains a scattergram of the relationship between UFORs and V or less intensity (Modified
Mercalli) quakes within the central portion of the U.S.A.
The correlation coefficient for this relationship is
+0.70. Stated alternatively, about 50% of the variance in
UFORs can be accounted for by knowing the seismic activity (or vice versa). Note the existence of the outlier. Thi~
single point, when' 25 quakes were associated with 850 .
UFO reports, has the potential to distort the relationship.
In this instanc,.. however, the removal of this single point
doc;s not appr'@t:iably lower the correlation coefficient. .
One way to attenuate the effects of "outliers" and the
existence of skewness within it data sample is to 'calculate
square root values. Most of my analyses include square
root values of UFORs and earthquakes as well as the absolute data. Calculation of square root values preferentially attequates the larger (outlier) values. Since they often
reflect non-linear processes and most statistical models are
based upon linear assumptions, square root operations fre.
quently reduce error measurements.
A non-linear process is something that may not be involved with the same source of variance as the other
. points. For example, a large outlier may reflect another
phenomenon altogether. One candidate that may contribute to the inflati~n of UFORs, especially during flap.

six

-....
I

periods, has been social facilitation. It is manifested in

non-systematic, excessive media coverage" or soCial climate.
Both contribute to "band wagon" effects.
Another measurement problem that has entered in
UFO research is the change in collection criteria or data
source. Whereas the FATE source has been subject to'
more or less the consistent selection criteria of the editors,
the massive CUFOS data sources have changed. A large
portion of the data before 1965 was derived from Project
Blue ~ook or related sources. Data after this period in: volve inputs from correspondence and specific field
groups. The sudden shift is 'clearly evident when the
cumulative record of the number of UFORs is graphed ~s a
function of years (Figur~ 2).
These' problems plague more than j~st the larger'
organizations like CUFOS. As interest changes and
specific field researchers join or resign from field committees, the absolute number of UFORs reCorded may change
dramatically. In addition, there is "habituation variance."
A me(Jiocre UFOR may receive excessive coverage following a paucity of reports while a very important UFOR may
be ignored if it is occurring during a large flap period. .
One.inieresting trend in many UFO organizations, even
in Fort's collection period, is the gradual and continuous
increase over time in UFOR numbers as the key investigators become more organized or more selectiye in
their interests. Often this increased slope of UFORs over.
time is misconstrued to .represent an increase in UFO

MONTH INTERVALS

CENTRAL u.s. A.
r= "'0.70
.

en
0:

a.
~
0

lL.
~

lL.

0:

m
~
~

.Z

10

15

25

20

NUMBER OF SEISMIC (CEANE) REPORTS

(1951-1965)
Figure 1. Sc:attergram of the numben of V or I... Intensity (Modified Mercalll) earthquake. within the central,
nOrtheutem and eaatem regions (CEANE) of the U.S.A. and the total number of UFOR. (&om CUFOS) In the central'
U.S.A. during the previOUS _.month Interval (-1) for the year. 1951 to 1965.

,.,...,,24

Flnt Quart... 1983

'Precise elucidation of the controlling variables of UFO phenomena should not

detract from the mystery of Fortean events. Indeed, it increases the appeal even
more .. For now we know there is an empirical handle by which we can open the.
door to even more profound discoveries.'
was beginning, two adjacent increments shifted from 20 to
200 UFORs during the six-month increment before an increase in earth tremor activity. A few years later, after the
organization had gained broader data coverage, two adjacent increments shifted from 200 to 2000 UFORs before
the same type of increased earth tremor activity. Ordinary
correlation analyses with absolute values would not detect
.
the UFOR-tectonic relationship.
However, the percentage change in UFOR measures
would clearly show the tectonic effect because the relative
change within the data samples would be the same for. the
same number of earth tremors. The only major deviation
from the pattern would occur at those key interface years
(increments) when the small data samples merge with the
larger data samples. This would be seen in a cumulative
record of UFORs as a sudden jump and maintained change
in the baseline.
In the CUFOS data file, a sudden jump in the numbers.
of UFORs occurred after the year 1965. After that year, :
the strong correlations between UFORs and earthquake
numbers dropped precipitously (shown in Figure 2). Even

ph'enomena when actually it simply reflects artifacts of

sampling procedures. The actual numbers of UFORs may
not have changed if the data sampling procedures had been
kept constant.
One way to attenuate this problem is to use measures of
percentage change over time. With this method, a given increment of analysis is used, let's say, six months. For
demonstration, a six-month increment was selected that involved the total number of UFORs during January to June
and July to December of every year in the data sample. To
calculate percentage change over time (a routine procedure
with SPSS software), the numbers of UFORs in a given increment is subtracted froni the numbers of UFORs in the
previous increment. The difference is then divided by the
total number of. UFORs in the previous increment and
multiplied by 100.
.
The m~asurement is called percentage change and indicates the relative alteration with respect to the previous
increment. A major advantage of this measurement is that
abrupt shifts in data sample numbers do not .adversely affect it. Suppose, during a period when a UFO organization

UFO REPOR1'S
CENTRALUSA
1.0

ALL USA

USA UFO REPORTS a 1()4 (-)

5

OUAKE EVENTS al()2 (---) .

0.8

en

It:

1&1

iL

0.6

IL

8
Z
0

ti..J

,,-

0.4

!AI

.
..---' .----

,e-'-

.. r

, ,'.

_e--' - _e----

_e'"

..--

::l

!AI

>.

~
..J

::l

2
::l
u

.e'"

0.2

Itt~

r
1951 10

55

57

59

61

63

67

69

YEAR
Figure 2. Correlation coefllclents between numbers of low intensity tremors and UFORs during the previous six-month
period as a function of years. The solid bne (small closed circlea) refers to the cumulative numbers of UFORs throughout

the U.S.A. from the UFOCAT 61e while the broken line (small closed circles) refers to the cumulative numbers of low in~
tensity quakes within the central U.S.A.
.

Flnt Quarter 1983

",.,...,,25

..

. ..
"

.:

. CENTRAl- USA
S.II ~ .MONTH INTERVAL.S (195 I ,1969)

--..

r =0.50
80

.r

~O,62.

40

.. 0

-40

-80

.n=28 . .,

.,

n~36

~--~~------------------------~---------------o
40
-40.
-80
80
% CHANGE IN ~ V MERCALLI TREMORS

Figure 3. Sca~tergram of the percentage change In nUl1!ben of Vor leSlI~tenslty earthquakes within the central U,S.A.
and the percentag~ change in total J,JFORs dUring the previous six-month periods for that region. Open circles rfdeftcHncremen.. after 1965, Two r values are shown, one for the years 19!;il t~ 1965 (n 28) and one for die years 1951 to 1969
(n

=36),

I .

Charts and tables for this article and map on faciI18 page were prepar~ by the author.

with the use of square root values, the large jump in the .. crements. If a UFOR flap was maintained for several sucnumbers of UFQRs recorded by that organization masks
cessive (six mOAths) increments, the percentage change
." . the effects. On the other hand, the FATE sample
measureswouldonlYindicatelargech~gesduringthefirst
: _.. demo~strated the same. intensity of relationship between
.portion of the flap. Maintained elevated values of similar
~c UFORs arid seismic activity; .regardless of the period.
magnitude would represent no relative change and hence
. . .1;h.e usef~lness of the pe.rcentage change measures (for
. would not reflect the ongoing flap. Obviously. both ab-:
.:'. ,-'both UFORs andnumbets Qf ear.th "tremors) can be seen iIi
solut~ and percentage change measure must be used in con.-. ...... Figures :3 aqd 4;' In Figure 3, the percentage chang~s .in
cert..
.
--, .".~.;... : . - UFOR& froOl the previous teinp~rarhic~emenqin.ihis ca~e .. '... A .second:ary disadvan~ge of this measure involves
.; ~ . s~.~ mo.nt~sJ were correlated with.lhe perce.ntage cha~gesln ...:..:. data,sampi.e"s 'with:relatively small UFOR numbers, such as
the ~FATE.~~pleli$ed i"n this analysis. If the sample
,....:.. _'..: '. :. the nu~~rs:of.appropriatesdsl:rikev.ents. As.~n:be
.. :: .-... ~ ..:".--._ .. ,f..egarilfess:ofthe change in ~bsol~te num~eis:of -UFOR~ ....... iulmber is very s~all, then Jl:Jteger. shifts from 1 to 2 or
,'\. -;;, ...c. in CUFOS data, the relatio~ship- with: seismic Die~suresJs: ..
from 2 to 4..would in.v--Qlve substantial percentage increases.
. ....'. :i"" .~;~ still.C1ear. The open ~ircls fndiCaie the'years. suspecte,f"of. . Whc:re~:.a shift from 2000 tQ: 4000 reports collected by the
.,::, ... __ -0 ;.
being .jnt.erfaces with changes in data ;sampling or soutce ..
same . .reseiltcners would .in. all likelihood .not respond to
.. '.' ..--::. .: . procedures (i.e~,.after 1965f
'..
. ... : . . : .... tecordiilg ~rtifacts; a shift from:Z to 4 in a small sample
... ' : ... '.:: ..- ".' . Figure.4 indicates that "the effect is evideri~ even when .:: .. could reflect. the .nuances of selection. An error of one
..' ..,.:-:.' ... specific types of UFORs are considered. It.demonstrates
report, in these instances, couldinfluenc:;e the measure by
'. _ ... ::.' .,:. : th.at .Type III and IV UFORs~ speCifically, ar~ PQsitively
50%. Most of"the time, these measures have not been very
.. ,~.-i":--:.' -'and systematically correlated. with percent~ge change iii
us~ftiUor. v..ery s.mali:sair\ple sizes such as the FATE series .
. . seismic ~tivity .. Type .1Ii and IV U:FORs . appear to: be .
.
... .
. .. .
.
.. modern examples.of the. classic luminosity reports men~
Optimal Increment of Space
tioned by Charles ForL
.. . .
:
The major disadvantage of this ineasure is that it
.
Our' previo~s wotkl,5 indicated that spatial increments
. reflects only relative changes from the previous in. in the order of one degree longitude-latitude blocks are
.;

seen;. -.: ..

, Purs.it26

Fint.Q.. . . l ' l I

CENTRAL USA
SIX MONTH INTERVALS (19511969)

en

Q.

'" en

fZ~
:lz

80

.,0
1&,12
Q.)(

>... en

.Qen
z:l
ClQ

."iij

.1&,1

Q.Q.

ZIL.

-40

1&,1

'#

Cl
~

., ..
,

>0::

"'0

40

.0

r =0.60
n=36

0::

-80

-80

-40

40

80

% CHANGE IN S V MERCALLI TREMORS

.F.ig\l!'e., Scattergram of the percen~ge change in the numben of V or less Intensity earthquake numben within the

_.~entra1 U.S.A. and the percentage change In Type JII and .TVJle IV UFOCAT luminosities during the previous six-month
perlods.

minimal areas to discern the large-scale relationships between UFO reports and seismic activity. Even with this increment, there was significant spatial displacement, that is,
the maximum relationship between UFO report numbers
and seismic activity could occur within adjacent increments. Increments the size of the United States as a
whole, were too large. They over-included areas With different seismic signatures and UFO patterns, producing an
average that masked important individual' differences .
within areas.
MISSOURI

To determine "window size," UFORs were selected for

the New Madrid states (Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana). The temporal increment
of analyses for this part of the study was' six months.
Measures of UFORs within these areas for January to June
and for July to December for these years were calculated
by computer. Total number of intensity V (Modified Mercalli) earthquakes or intensity VI-VII, were also determined from Boulder, Colorado, data sources for .these areas
and this period.
The various UFOR measures for the CUFOs and
FATE data were lagged 2 increments from the contemporary interval by SPSS software. Detailed descriptions of
symmetrical temporal lag analyses have been discussed
earlier.6 Such analyses Iilllow quantitatjve comparisons of
(Continued on neJdpage)

Ant Qauta 1983

TENNESSEE

The ......... _ndlng die NOlO Madrtd

,IlndIcalOd wIIh1. Ihe ellipse).

.......Ie _

..

'New Madrid'

P ......'27

UFORs during intervals (in this case, six-month increments) before, during or after the earthquakeS. Symmetrical lag analyses can be used to test the tectonic strain
hypothesis. If UFORs are associated with strain within the
ell.rth's crust, then the largest correlations should be evident in UFOR r:nea,sures before increases in earthquake activity.
I
Table 1 contains the correlation' coefficients for
numbers of V or less intensity (MM) quakes and the
various measures Qf 'UFORs during six-month increments
before, during Or' after the seismic activity~ Both the
CUFOs and the FATE ~ata are. shown. In addition, the
separate analyses for the' years 1950-1965 and.l~SO,to 1970
are also presented. As mentioned previously, either a shift
in data collection sources or sampling procedures (or both)
may have occurred in the CUFOS data during the latter
. period.
TABLE 1 .
Lag correlation coefficients between absolute numbers of UFORs
(ABUFO) or percentage chanse In UFORs (9'oUFOR) within the six: states
of the New Madrid resion and absolute number of earthquakes (ABQU)
or the percentll8e chanse in earthquakes (9'oQU) within the New Madrid
area or this area plus the surrounding states. Two data samples, one from
CUFOS and from FATE, are shown for two intervals (1952 to 1965 and
1952 to 1969).
SIX STAtES + SURlIOUIID

SIX STATES
LAG

A'IIJFO/
ABQU

%UJIOR./
ABQU

A'IIJFOI
ABQU

ZIIJOlII
ZQU

mroa/

IUFORI

ABQU

lQU

1952-1965 (18 ea...)

9!!!!!
-2

-1
0
+1
+2

-2
-1

+1
+2

-0.16
0.36
-0.04
-0.05
-0.08

0.02
0.13
-0.15
0.19
;-0.07

0.05
0.41
0.05
0.04
0.02

-0.19
. 0.28

-0.00'
0.08
-0.15
0.08
-0.05

-0.19
0.75*
-0.05
0.06
-0.31

-0.28
0.26

-o.a

-0~2

0.10
-0.04

0.04
-0.14

-0.06
0.47*
-0.33
0.22
-0.40

-0.30
0.47*
-0.22
0.31
. -0.45

0.08
-0~17
0.58* ,0.34
0.09
. -0.17
0.04 \ -0.06
0.04
-0.04

-0.36
0.22
-0.!!6
-0.05
0.01

~15

1952-1969 (36 cae.e)

9.Yl!!!
-2
-1
0
+1
+2

-0.01
-0.25
-0.28
-0.19
-0.07

0.00
0.11
-0.19
0.19
0.00

0.03
0.13
-0.28
0.35
-0.41

-0.23
-0.22
-0.04
-0.11

-0.11
0.39
-0.31
0.25
-0.29

-0.28
0.39
-0.31
0.29
-0.32

0.10
0.55*
0,"07
0.06
-0.03'

.:0.15
0.26
-0.14
0.00
-0.00

-0.27
0.17
-0.13
'0.08
-0.07

.m!
-2
-1
0
+1
+2

-0.03
0.40
0.04
0.04
0.04

'*

p< .01

-0.21
0.25
-0.17'
0.09
-0.01

-0.28
0.25
-0.21
':0.02
-0.12

l.

Three types of correlations between measures were

used. The fll'St correlation ABUFOI ABQU involved the iotal
numbers of UFORs and the total number of V or less
quakes. Total numbers are reported here since square root
values 'for either the quake or UFOR measures did ,not
significantly alter the mqnitude of the coefficients. The

........'2.

(>

second method (% UFORI ABQU) was the correlation of

the percentage change in UFO re~orts with the absolute
numbers of earthquakes. This was done in. order to determi.ne any effects in the relative change i'n UFORs that
could be tied to the absolute numbers (intensity of strain)
of quakes (or t~e inferred total strain release). The final
measure (% UFOR/% QU) involved correlations of the
percentage change in UFORs with the percentage change in
numbers of quakes. .
.
Two ~evels of spatial analyses were ~sed to determine
the optimal space parameters. The left portion of Table I
(under "Six States Only") contains coefficients. for correlations between UFQRs within the New Madrid states
and the earthquakes within that area only. The right portion of the 'table ('~Six States and Surround'~) shows the
correlations between UFORs within the New Madrid states
and earthquake numbers within this area plus the states
surrounding it.
.
Several patterns are clearly evident. First, the highest
positive correlations for the years 1952-1965 were (a two. year shift is required due to the nature of lag analyses) between earthquake numbers and the absolute numbers of
UFORs during the previous six-month interval (lag =
-1). In all other instances, the correlations between
UFOR and earthquake numbers are either less or negative.
This pattern corfflrms reports that UFORs proliferate during six-month intervals before increases in IV-V or less intensity earthquakes. 3
The second pattern is the maintained relationship between earthquake activity and antecedent UFOR numbers
within the FATE data sample. 'Correlation coefficients for
the two intervals of analyses (1952-1965 a~d 1952 to 1970)
did not change appreciably ( + 0.41 and + 0.40, respectively, for the first spatial analysis; + 0.58 and + 0.55, respec,tively. for the second spatial analysis). The Cl.JF.(:)S results,
however. demonstrated significant alterations when data
after the year 1965 were entered. The highest correlations
involved the percent change variables which tend to attenuate the effects of shifts in absolute numbers.
. The third and most important result is the difference
between the left and right portion of the table. Correlation
.coefficients between UFOR and', seismic measures are
. sig:p.ificantiy higher if the numbers of low intensity tremors
from the areas surrounding the New Madrid states are included in the analysis. For example, in the CUFOS data,
the correlation between earthquake measures within the six
states and antecedent UFORs was only 0.36. When the
UFORs from the previous six-month interval were correlated ,with earthquake numbers within the six states plus
the surrounding states, the coefficient was elevated to
+0.7'.
These data indicate that a substantial portion of the
variance in earthquake numbers required to explain
UFORs may originate from outside the area. Both the
. FATE and CUFOS data demonstrated that earthquake activity in the surrounding states contributes to the variation
in UFO report numbers within the New Madrid states.
This difference was quite large. Without seismic data from
the surrounding area only 12% ratlier than 50% of the
variance in UFOR numbers was accommodated.
Extrapolation of these resuits to other spatial regions
of the world would be premature at this time. Depending
upon the characteristics of local geology, t~e interaction
betweennear- and far-field stresses and the overall intensi-

Flnt Q.a"'e.. 19.5

0.8

0.7

f3

X
CI

CENUFOR VI CEANEQU
CENUFOR VI CENQU.~

0.6

:':)

Ii:

0.!5

CI

0.4

(I)

a:
~
::::)
Z

0.3

lIJ

~~

0.2

:':)

0.1

CI

o
I .3

12

24

a t (in months)
,;'"

.~.

. .10,..' .

TempOral Increment of Analysis

r.
1.

,.

Figure 5. Maximum r (correlation coefficient) values between

UFORs and earthquake numbers as a function of 'the temporal In
crement of analyses (In months) for UFORs within the central
U.S.A. and earthquakes throughout the central and eastern portion
of the U.S.A. (closed circles) and for UFORs within the central .
U.S.A. and quakes within that. region only (open circles).

ty of the strain' accumulation within crustal blocks, the

"optimal" area could change quite dramatically. The
critical feature for the UFO field researcher is that a
significant portion of the strain involved with UFORs in
his proximity may be manifested in strain displays (earth- .
quakes) many hundreds of kilometers away.
Optimal Increment of Time
To determine, empirically, the optimal temporal incre~
ment, data from CUFOS for the years 1952 to 1965 from
the centralU.S.A. were used. They were sorted into the
following temporal summaries: 1 month, 3 monihs, 6
months, 12 months, and 24 months. The one-month increment simply involved the totals of UFORs for each month
. during that period. Totals of UFORs for every two years,
starting with 1950-1'g5I, etc., determined the last incre.
.
ment.
Intensity V or less earthquake numbers for each of
these temporal increments were determined for the area
from which the UFORs were taken (the central U.S.A.)

Flnt Quane.. 1983

and for central, eastern, and northeastern (CEANE) sectors. The latter area was included in light of the analyses in
the last section. One would expect that even at large'areas,
earthquake activity from adjacent areas could contribute
to the UFORs within a region.
The results of both analyses are presented in Figure 5.
Like the analyses reported in the previous section, the
la,rgest correlation coefficients occurred between UFORs
and the earthquake numbers both within and around (in
this case the eastern halt) of the region. The bivariate relationship between UFORs and earthquake numbers within
the central section are still statistically significant,
although the magnitude is somewhat less.
. Quite clearly, an optimal temporal increment of
analysis exists within the CUFOS sample. Both spatial
areas indicate that maximum intensity bivariate correlation
coefficients occurred within' temporal increments of about
six months. Significant correlations between UFORs and
earthquakes were still apparent for the 3-month and I-year
increments. Shorter or longer inc~ements did not reveal the
relationship.
The coefficients presented on the vertical (Y) axis of
Figure 5 indicate the maximum r value of any increment
within the 2-year symmetrical lag .analyses. As one
would expect, the actual lag value .of the maximum r
changes with the analysis increment. Whereas the 6-month
increment analyses involved lag =' - I, the 3-month
increment analyses isolated lag =. - 2, that. is, two
3-month increments before an increase in earthquake activity. The I-month increment data demonstrated the maximum r at lag. = - 4, or 4 months before the change in
earthquake activity.
.
If this pattern is consistent, analyses increments of
larger than 6 months should not have demonstrated significant lag effects. Instead, the maximum r should have involved contemporary (no lag) intervals. TIiis observation
was clear with the 24-month increments and less evident
with the 12-month procedure. In the latter case, both the
contemporary and the previous (year) interval were comparable in r values. Since a 12-month increment could still
be dominated by the 6 months before the quake measure
while a 24-month increment would be weighted by three
other intervals besides the antecedent one, this pattern is
expected.
Yearly increments of analyses have produced very large
relationships between UFORs and earthquake activity,
particularly' in FATE data. In several previous studies6.7
correlations of greater than + 0.80 have been noted between UFORs and V or less tremor numbers within the
same year for the central U.S.A. and the New Madrid
states for the years 1948 to 1974: It is possible that, like the
optimal spatial increment, the appropriate temporal increment of analysis could vary in different places.
The major limit of the present analysis is theftXed time
span. For example,' in the 3-month increments, which involved total UFOR me~ui'es for January-March, A,prilJune, July-September, and October-December for each
year, the analysis window is not flexible. 'Implicitly these
analyses assume that the temporal lag between UFORs and
earthquake incidence does not change over the years.
It is quite possible that there is a "changing or
oscillating latency," much like a "moving average" within
the data train. Visual inspections of the data and extrapolations from the tectonic theory suggest this. effect. Indeed,

Pu,..u.,29

one expects that from time to time, the rate of strain acseismological perspective, tHis kind of strain could occur
cumulation should change as far-field stresses dominate
after single large or major events. The continuation of
the tectonic region., Consequently, the optimal temporal
strain or the adjustment to strain within 'the area is frelag between UFORs and tremors .would change as well.
quently indicated by a protracted series of low-magnitude
This relationship should not be confused with a change
. ~f~~rshocks.
in the number of treinors. A marked increase or decrease
~ ...Quantitative knowledge concerning the time between
in the number of V or less quak~s would still be reflected
the UFORs and the intensities of the quakes is important
systematically in the number of UFOR measures.
for both prediction and determination of mechanism. If
However, if the number of tremors within a given increwe assume that UFORs are associated with a specific intenment is also correlated with a change in the rate of strain
sity (or correlated type) of tectonic strain, then UFORs
accumulation, then the UFOR-seismic relationship could
should occur whenever this level of strain is present within
be markedly attenuated with a fixed-interval analysis.
an optimai area of the earth's crust. Since significant corIf the optimal latency between UFORs and s.eismic acrelation's have been noted repeatedly between IV -V or less
tivity ranged between 2 months and 8 months over several'
MM quakes and UFORs during the previous six-month
decades, then 3- 'or '6-month analyses would consistently
period, the strain levels that preceded these quakes would
be one candidate. .
miss the total pa~tern. Sometimes the relat~onship woul~
fall within the first lag while other tim.es, it 'would fall. Normally, within a given area one would expect the
within previous lags. \yitho"t taking the changing time-lag
luminosities to occur .first and then, as the strain increases
into. consideration, it may be 'difficult to isolat~ the into fracture levels, the seismic activity is precipitated. In
tricate dynamics required fo:.: prediction.
some instances, however, one would expect the strain to
One example of this pattern was found within the
accumulate past the typical fracture levels and to continue
I-month increment data for the years 1951-1955 in' the
to accumulate for some time. Since the optimal strain
CUFOS data. For this period only, V or less MM quakes
associated with UFORs would have occurred long before
'correlated between' +0.40 and +.0.60 with all UFOR
the ultimate large fracture,' UFORs could occur years
before intense quakes.
measures during the previous four months I Scattergrams
demonstrated an extraordinarily systematic relations~ip
. On the other hand, the optimal strain could occur after
for this period. In consequent periods, the optimal lag was
very large intensity quakes during. periods of ac;ljustno longer fixed but seemed to vary between one ~nd five'
ment. A typical large quake for: the central and eastern
months.
portion of the U.S.A. would be intensity VII or 'greater
There may be still longer optimal increment.s, especially
MM. The last instance of a VII occurred in Kentucky durif very slow shifts in seismic baseline activity occur over
ing 1980. If optimal strain did occur after large quakes,
. decades. The data arrays for the central U.S.A. are too
then UFORs should occur not before but afterwards. Symshort for long-term analyses. However, time-series of earth-.
nietrical lag analyses would demonstrate ~ignificant
quake activity in central Europe clearly indicates an 11- to
"positive" lags.
\
.
12-year and possibly a 2O-year periodicity in the numbers
To test "this hypothesis, symme~ric.aJ..l!l&' "!t.!l:ly~~ _w~r~
of seismic events. UFORs 'would. ride on this baseline as
completed for the three UFOR measures and either, ~ or .
well. Most year-to-year UFOR fluctuations would reflect
less intensity quakes or VI or greater, intensity quakes
the immediate change in teCtonic strain.
,
within the central U.S.A. and the central, eastern and
The absolute 'number of UFORs should crest during
northern (CEANE) U.S.A. The analyses were applied to both
p~ak seismic decades. A conspicuous shift in the baseline
the CUFOS ~nd FATE data samples for the two intervals
of numbers of UFORs was obvious in Great Britain duri~g
(1952-1965; 1952-1970). Six-month analysis. increments
were used.
.
the great seismic bursting between the years 1890 and 1896.
and 1900 to 1914. A worldwide escalation of UFOs,
The resul.ts of the CUFOS analyses are shown in Table
2. Again, for the smaller quakes (V or .less), the most'
sampled from sources in Europe, the U.S.A. and South
significant effect occurs between earthquake 'numbers and
America, reflected the unprecedented peak in ~orldwide
the numbers of UFORs during the previous six-month
seismic activity between the years 1905 and 1908. Such activity levels were. not evident again .on a 'worldwide basis,
period (lag = - 1). This rclationstiip is evident for all
measures .during the 1952-1965' period. The trend is even
for either UFORs or !!eismic activity, until the year 19~41
obvious within the longer period, particularly.in the percent change evaluations, although the correlation coeffiOptimal Earthquake Intensities
cients are barely statistically significant.
.
.
UFOR measures' do not ap~ar to be systematically
Most luminosities, as measured by UFORs, should
correlated with the numbers of \ VI or greater inteilsity
become more evident during periods of increased tectonic
. quakes within the appropriate regions'. The only significant
strain or changes in strain. As early as 197.4, when Space'correlation between UFOR measures and the larger intenTime Transients and Unusual Events was being written,
sity quakes occurred with percentage change measures in
the clearest seismic-UFO relationship involved IV-V or less
the central-northeastern regio~ (CEANE) only. In' this
MM intensity quakes. Technical works publish~d" since
area, a significant percentage increase in UFORs occurred
then have emphasized such small-intensity quakes. In
during the six-month' increment after an increase in the
general, they are equivalent to approximate 2.0 to 3.0
number of VI or greater quakes. This relationship was not
.
.I
magnitude events.'
evident in the central region only.
The tectonic strain model does not necessarily preclude
Correlations within the FATE sample demonstrated a
'other relationships. Since the critical factor is crustal
similar pattern. Low intensity (V or less) quakes were most
strain, luminosities could also occur, theoretically at least,
correlated with total UFOR numbers during the previous
after earthquakes, if strain was still evident. From a strictly.

"3.

ru....

Fbi Qa..... 1913

. . .

:.'

..
:..: .. '
~ :: .

'-;'

. :,.::'

.'.

-.

.-

~ABi:E 2 ... ...:.. .... .-.... :. . _. . ...

. . . . , ..
. . ..:.:. .. T~BLE.3.. . .. :
.
.. . .. .: .... ~:; ~{..
Lag correlation. coefficients between _absolute numbers:..of ::UEORs .. , . ..I..,ag.: ..correJ.t~Qn: ~~efficieQts .\1etween absolute ...numbeIS of l)FO~s . :.. ..... .
(ABUFO) or percentage change ill UfO~~.J~UfQ.Iiranct tlie absolute. ..(~BOF.O) 9r~C:ent8ge c~~rige ip tJFORs (%UFOR) a!l~.the. !lb~o!ule ... ~.:. . .. ~
number of either V or less intc;nsity or VI :o.r gre~ter :i~tensity ,quake~ . ... -nuinbel; either v .or.less in~~ri,sity. o~ v~ or ~reater .intensity ciuak~(~B: ..
(ABQU) or the percentage changejn either (%QUHor CUFOS-rcc9rc!ecJ . . QU) Dr thd .perC"entage change in either. measure (%QU}. for_ F.A.TE: -:.: ... .
data for the central and the southeastem:-,and nortlieast~m 'lOrS. .... repo!1ed "d~ta'rJ:o.in ihe c~Atra1a"nd the southeastern and ri"rtlieasterri.i~- . ':.... -, .
(CEANE) ofthe U.S.A. for two periods 19S2 to .1965 anQI9~,io 1969.:.:: . to~.S:(CEANEro(the U.S.A, .. :. .
.. .
.
..

0'

------------=--.;...---_......:....'--""""'""-'....:...:..,-,-_..
ZUFOal.Zqu .

ABUFO/ABQU

>VI

$.V

~VI

>. .. :."...

,., ".
., ,.
LAG

-".

ABufo/ABQU
~y

~YI

. ,

ZUFOR/ABQU
.~Y.

~VI.

Z1!FdalzQu...... :~

..

~v

~.v.l

.:--.

1952-1965

-2
-1
0
+1
+2

-0.09
0.70*
-0.06
0.14
-0.13

-0.20
O.ll
-0.07
0.18
-0.32

-0.28
0.49*
-0.21
D.18
-0.40

-0.33
0;22
-0.13
0.23
-0.60*

-0.39
-0.39
0.47*
0.34
-0.22
-0.20
0.51*
0.34
-0.42 . -0.57*

-2
-1
0
+1
+2

0.07
0.53*
0.15
0.20
-0.11

-0.01
0.10
0.14
0.47*
0.02

. -2

-D.05
0.52*
O.DD
0.09
0.27

0.D5
-D.04
D.14
-0.12
,O;OD

-O,ll
D.44
-0.33
0.10
-D.4D

-0.11
D.04
D.D2
0.01
-O.ll

-0.40
It. 53*
-0.38
0.43
-0.61*

-2
-1
0
+1
+2

0.02
0.35
0.02
0.27
-0.11

-0.06
0.01
0.12
-O.ll
0.01

-1

+1
+2

-0.40
0.02
O:ll
-0.D7
-0.11)

1952-1969

-0.04
0.07
-D.14
-0.D3
'-0.34

-0.06
O.DD
-0.12
0.32
"D.41

0.08
0.D1
-0.19
0.15
-0.36

-0.12
0.D9
O.DD
0.16
0.07

-O.lD
-0.03
-0.02 . 0.08
0.08
-0.20
. D.18
D.37
-0:38 . -0:713

-0.05
D.40
-0.37
0.34
-0.16

-0.D2
0.00
0.24
-0.21
."0.15

1952-1969

. CIWI\!

-2
-1

+1
+2

-D.24
0.15
-D.09
-D.01
-D.20

-0.21
0.06
0.05
0.14
-0.27

-D.23
0.41
-0.19
0.20
-0.32

-0.34
0.19
-0.03
0.17
-0.54*

-0.40
-0.37
0.30 . o.:h
,:"0.16
-0.12
0.30
0.45*
-11 .. 40 .. -0.54.

-D.15
0.37
-0.22
0.D6
-D.24

-D. 22

-D.42
0.50*
-0.21
0.25
-D.45

-2
. -1

0.09
.D.49*
0.15
+1 .. 0.23
+2
-D.08

-0.23
0.11
0.15
0.46*
0.01

0.05
0.07
-0.08
-0.04
-0.25

0.11
0.04
-0.05
0.29
-0.41

-2
-1
0
+1
+2

-0.03
-0.06
-0.12
-D.ll
-0.D4

-0.07 .
0.19
0.07
0.14
-0.31

O.OS
0.08
0.04
-0.07
0.00

. (LDI
-0 .11
-O.Dl
0.04
0 . 03 _. -0.13
0.1,3
0.38
-~.27
. -0.42

:~:.;:

-2
-1

+1
,+2. 4'

-D.23
0.07
-0.11
-0.08
-D.15
, .. .;

.,

0.00 .
0.00
0.16
0.11
0.06,.'
...

0.00

0.10
0.D1
-0.19

-0.11
-D.07
0.15
0.00
-0.24

0.00
0.33
0.D5
0.28
~.D5

-0.11
0.34
-0.26
0.30
-0.32

..

. D.09
-0.02
0.24
-0.09
-0.20

~ p<.Ol

six-month interval. Again, unlike the CUFOS data sample,

after VI or greater quakes. Note, however, that the abthe tendency for UFOR numbers to increase during the sixsolute numbers of UFORs may still be quite elevated, even
maintained at flap or near-flap levels. However, the
month iJ}terval before an increase in intensity V or less
quakes was evident for both intervals of analysis.
,
relative number of UFORs would decrease.
A similar but weaker effect was also noted for la:rge~
This pattern should not be .ignored because of its apquakes in the FATE sample. As canbe seen in Table 3, the
parent complexity. Since someof the largest negative and
most significant correlations in the CEANE 'region of the
positive correlations for both the small and large quakes
occur wiih the percentage change measures, there is a
U.S.A. occurred between the numbers of VI or greater
strong possibility that a significant portion of UFORs are
quakes and the nu~bers o~ YFORs during the following
six-month interval. It i~ also apparent somewhat in the
coupled to some.tectonic processes associated with change
in strain parameters.
percentage change measures. Like the CUFOS sample, the
The absence of significant correlations between UFORs
FATE s.ample did not indicate any significant quake correlatio~s between UFORs and VI or greater quakes within , and large quakes is not conclusive since only two lag increments (one year) were. used. UFOR numbers may inthe central section only.
Although positive correla~ions are important
crease several years before the incidence of t1'!e larger
demonstrations of the tectonic strain . theory, large.
quakes within the. central U.S.A. Previous reports, based
negative correl~tions are importarifas well. Within both
upon FATE data for the New Madrid section only, inthe CUFOS and FATE samples, several me.asu(es showed.
dicated that UFORs increased one.to:three years before insystematic negative correlations between VI. or greater . creased large~intensity quakes;6 . . ...
quakes and UFORs two i~crements later. Stated i~ .an
.:... Fort's data. for Oreat Britain .during the years 1850. to
alternative manner, an increase in VI or.gr.eater quakes is
1910 also indicatea "quake intensity-dependence" for -th~
associated with a very significant percentage '"decrease in
optimallag in UFORs. Whereas nor-mal seismic activity:
..
UFORs compared to the previous interval.
.. wasassociated with "'luminosities" within the same year,
Ttie critical feature here is the percentage. change with
peak numbers of luminosities wer~ reported one to two'
respect to the previous increment. 1n these instances, th~re
y~s before a,bove-averag~ seismic intensities. In the tW9
would be a relative d~ease in. tJFORs .a~p~t. one y~
: instanc;e~ of exi~~~rdiriary seismic events in :Great B(it~i~,

FINt Qaut... 1983

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UFO CLASSIFICATION (UFOCAT) TYPE

,9

Figure 6. Maximum correlation (r) coefllclents between numbers of V o~ less inte~ty tremors and numbers of UFORs
for the different UFOCAT daa&lftcadon types. using six-month Increments of analysis. The UFOCAT classification Increases &om least to greatest "strangeness" of the report .
.~

.~:

UFOR activity began to increase three years before themajor shock.

Determining Optimal Types of UFO

~eports

One of the fi:t:st conclusions obvious to the experienced

UFO researcher is that all reports do not sllare the same
properties. Most professional organizations recognize case .
differences as indicated by their uses of UFOR categories.
For example, Hynek's now-famous triad involves close encounters of the first, second and third kind.
Objective and consistent differentiation of UFORs are
critical procedures. Except for the unusual nature of UFO
reports, there is no reaSon, a priori, to assume that all UFO
reports originate from the sam~ s,ource of variance. We
may be looking at quite different phenomena, each with a
different mechanism. If this assumption is true, then any
attempt to explain all UFO repc;>rts by a single theory (as
opposed to an empty or non-testable explanation) must.
fail..
.
. "o.verinclusion of many fundamentally different
phenomena within the same arbitrary rubric has been a
repeated Impedence in the history of science. At one time,
the diseases we now c~ll pneumonia, influenza, cancer and
emphyseQla .were all placed, on the basis of superficial
. similarity, under the label "vapors."
One can imagine. what" would have happened if
penicUlin had been discovered during this period. Since
this drug would optimally treat only the cases we now call

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,.

pneumonia and not all the cases called "vapors," -the efficacy of t~e drug would probably have been gravely
underestimated. In fact, penicillin most likely would have been
dismissed on the Qasis that it treated only "some" cases of
vapors.
.
A similar problem may exist within UFOR "label
systems. Both statistical and experimental analyses indicate that some UFO reports are heavily loaded by natural
processes associated with tectonic strai"r while others are
,influenced primarily by s,?cial conditio.ns, personality
variables, and even transient brain dysfunction. We must
realize, of course, that in a statistical universe, there may
even be some cases that are beyond ourpresent methods of
understal\~ing. In fact, some UFORs may be unique; the
events may happen only once.
Frankly, I do not expect the tectonic strain theory to
exphiin all valid UFO rep,?rts. Analyses to date indicate
that ;this theory can accommodate at least. 50% but not
more; than about 75 % of classic UFO cases. This asymptote may reflect the limit of the model itself or it may
reflect the data sample. Most of the empirical tests for the
theory have involved total UFO reports, that is, the summary of aU -classifications froni either the CUFOS or
FATE samples.
.
To test the relative relationship between different types
of UFORs and optimal seismic parameters, separate
analyses were completed for the nine types of UFORs according to the'Saunders classification (CUFOS). The central theme for this classification is increasing
FInt Q.....t_ 1985

"strangeness" of the phenom~na. Whe"reas Type I and II

UFORs involve lights in the sky that could relate to ordinary meteoric or astronomical events. Types III and IV
describe luminous events ~ith mUltiple non-linear trajectories.
Type V or greater events include reports of UFOs moving within the observer's frame of reference. They include
Hynek's encounter cases, Vallee's Type I classification and
Keel's low level events. While Type VI reports involve
"landing" descriptions and Type VII reports involve the
observation of occupants outside of the object, Type VIII
and IX reports require more bizarre information. Communication with beings or long-term physical changes in
the observer are two criteria.
Figure 6 displays the final analyses of the maximum
correlation values (with lag = - 1) between the different
types of CUFOS classifications and consequent seismic activity. The analyses involved six-month increments during
the 1950 to 1965 period. As cf,ln be seen clearly, all of the
major types of UFOR classes were significantly correlated
with consequent increases in V or less intensity earth
tremors. Even Type V and VI classifications, where the
UFO enters the observer's" frame of reference, were
significantly correlated with the seismic events.

The most conspicuous deviation from this relationship

involved the Type VIII and IX cases. Goefficient values for
these cases are not statistically significant and negative.
Because of the smaller numbers of cases within types of
UFO reports as the strangeness increases, partial correlation analyses were completed with UFOR type, numbers of
reports and seismic activity. The correlations between
quake numbers and UFORs were not artifacts of simple
differences in the number of reports. When the variances due to difference in numbers of UFORs in the
various categories were held constant, the correlations between- UFORs and seismic activity were not affected.
These results indicate that components of most UFOR
categories could be accommodated by the tectonic strain
theory. The failure of any significant portion of the two
strangest types of UFOR classes to be correlated with
earthquake numbers suggests that they may be associated
with other sources of variance not related to tectonic
strain. At this 'time, no variables have been isolated empirically that could accommodate the variance in these
'
"
types of reports.
One cautionary statement is in order. Even though
most categories of UFORs were correlated with V or less
quakes, the r values indicate that between only 100/'0 to
30% of the variance in these reports can be accommodated
by knowing the consequent seismic pattern. This may indicate that a significant portion of the UFOR variance for
all types of classifications may" still involve non-seismic
factors.
General Discussion
Several important results have emerged from this
study. First, different data pools collected by different
agencies confirm the variation in reports of UFOs during
similar periods. Both data samples also confirm the correlation between these reports and the later occurrence of
certain intensity earthquakes. Secondly, different types of
UFORs were correlated with specific earthquake activity,
thus suggesting a central process for which different labels
have been given. Only the strangest of UFO types did not
correlate with seismic measures.
Flnt Quarter 1983

The third result involves the isolation of at least one

optimai space-time frame. Although three levels ~f spatial
analysi~ and five different time frames were used, the relationship between UFORs and seismic activity was strongest
at particular values. UFORs within the six states adjacent
to the New Madrid region, for example, were best explained when seismic activity fI:om the surrounding states
was included as well. This:J)attern was seen primarily with
a six-month incremerit of analyses.
These parameters have several important implications
for UFO research. Existence of a phenomenon at this level
of space and dunition strongly suggests the operation of a
geophysical process. Primary involvement of meteorological variables (which vary in the order of several days)
seems unlikely. Long-term sources of variance, such as
solar variations or correlative geomagnetic factors, cannot
be eliminated.
"
Although large-space, six-month time~frames may be
routine geophysical parameters, they are far beyond the
limits of human perception. Human beings, including
UFO researchers, exist within time-frames of a few days
and spatial boundaries of a few hundred square kilometers. We expect to see things happen quickly, within a
week or SQ, not slowly undulate over tens or hundreds of
weeks.
Human observation of a phenomenon that exists
within a temporal window of several months to a year is
like the measurement of the millisecond actlonal potential
measured in pic;osecond intervals. There are just too many"
increments to clearly see the phenomenon. Because of the
large time required to see the whole, we experience sensory
overload. We are left with a long series of apparently
empty bins of time; often there is a compulsion to fill those
bins with irrelevant information.
The tectonic theory can predict accurately when
UFORs will occur within a particular space. Although "the
operations are complicated, they are ~ot beyond the skills
"of "the dedicated scientist who has access to computer software. However, because the phenomenon exists at a level
of months, the predictions must occur within this period.
The most conservative interpretation of this statement is
that prediction "to the nearest week may be beyond the
limits of the data or the model, or both.
Other sciences are faced with comparable problems. At
the level of decades or centuries, seismologists can predict
earthquakes with great precision. Within the increments of
years, behavioral scientists can predict, with great accuracy, the occurrence of psychological crises. Using daily
windows, meteorologists can forecast the weather.
Only when the technicians of science go beyond the
limit of the phenomenon" being studied d() the problems
arise. When the seismologis"t attempts to use models molded from increments of decades to predict the occurrence of
the next-earthquake to the nearest day, he fails. When the
meteorologist attempts to predict weather four months
from now, to the day, the accuracy degenerates to noise.
When the behavioral scientist attempts to determine when
you will have a personality crisis to the nearest minute, the
error is humiliating.
One solution to this dilemma is to expand secondary
and tertiary components of the equation. Although the
fundamental phenomenon may be controlled by longduration sources, finer prediction could be made by introducing more transient factors. The latter would ride

Pursu"33

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upon
slow-moving :bas~line of the f~~rrier like' s~ail
. ~d, qii'"December 26, 1979
extraordinariiy rare 4.S R
._..
- \Vavelet~ :upon the deeper body of water. The~e variables
quake rQCked GlasgQw, Scotland. A quake of this intensity
:-~"2.:':'-- ... .~~Id.~b~::con.sidered "trigg_er variables,'~ di.at-is,. e.~~nts
.. _had ~!lt ()~rred in this area for about 200 years. .
,_i:~..,:~: _.. - t:hafpr~c~pj_tat~ the phenomenon, givelJ. the. primary condiSI9w'J~ctonit strain. accl,l~ulation and consequent low,.~;-:"::"i;>'::;;?ifOrUS P.r~seirt.: -:~ ......-.. :~ . '.. -: .. .>
~ ...: ::: ' .. :.. , ,_ .. : .-~:.:: :: .. ~:':: . :~.': levelearthqpaJre activity (3uchas the V or less Modified
-:.;:. .
The data patterns cI~arIy indicate that Hn:' occurrcmee.:.. . MercaUf'quakes.in the O:S.A. ~nd the tremor swarm from
of UFORs within -incremenis ofsi~ months' are ~nfluenced . St~ke-on-Trent)a~e assocJatedwith the classic 1- to 100day
by ~he imminent tectonic strain.w.ithinthe ~ea .. Howev.er,
.bursts. ()f flap .reports. superimposed upon an elevated
. baseiine:.of UFORs dJ,at'lasts for . ~everal months to years .
.. .:- the.r~ shOl,l1d 'be other varl~bles', triggersi.imJ11i~. that could
. allo:w the UFO scientist tonarrow the tempotann~r_ement"
.-Ifthe stK:.ain continues:.imd a large, rare quake is imminent,
of prediction even further. By adding these variables io the
the more energetic and bizarre.UFO~related reports should
equations, finer resolution, perhaps to the nearest week,' begin to proliferate. Interestingly, the Rob Taylor case occould be accomplished.
curred on November 9, 1979, less than two months before
the Glasgow seismic event and within SO kilometers of the
.probable trigger events appear to be the passage of an
. . air rna.ss or the occurrence of. a. geomagnetic storm. Inepicent~r.
.
.
: terestingly,. several unptiblished accounts suggest. that
. "In~!te .Soviet". Uri~~~ the recent U:FOR 'flaps between
. intense and well-documented luminositie~ (in the. U.S.A.) .. F~bruary and." early- Mar.~h, 1982 were clearly associated
. wi~h intense geomagnetic storms on the day or days shortly
are associated almost invariably- with excessive perturbations in the ionosphere on the day of ihe observation.
before the displays; These UFORs have been particularly
. Usually these perturbations appeared to be correlated,
energetic episodes, suggesting that strain is still building
often with lag times from hours to days, with.geomagnetic
within the area. This recent epoch of UFORs appears to
have begun in May, 1981, during which time, allegedly,
storms triggered by solar flares.
thous~nds of witnesses observed luminosities over major
When the UFORs from Fort's data or from contemporary sources are printed as daily data streams, which are
cities in the U.S.S.R. According to the tectonic strain
extraordinarily difficult to perceive as a unit (especially
model, this unusually bright event would have: been the
prodome to the VIII'intensity (S.O R) quake that vibrated
over several decades), a general, geomagnetic connection is .
clear: UFOR flaps are associated predominantly with sudthe general area on November 13, 1981.
.... :,. - .den .. increases in geomagnetic disturbances within the
Certainly, a major breakthrough in the application of
............... :..previous week or so. The convers~ does not hold. All
the tectonic strain model to the UFO problem would re.~. .. ...;... ge9magnetic disturbances are nc,>t associated with" UFORs.
quire the discovery of some simple measure that direc.tly
... : ...... . ... However;. this is exactly the kind of relationship that
monitors strain within local and larger areas. Such a
'. . . -. c;nle would expect from the tectonic strain model. UFORs
measurement may require a matrix of instruments strat~gically placed over a large region or perhaps a special
. :: ;-~'.. . :.. .could .b~ triggered by a process associated with .Ii re~ent
.
geomagnetic. perturbati~n, but only if the. precoD(~i- ...adap~tion of satellite reconnaissance. Tectonic strain.tJop...,-th~ teCtonic strain-existed during Hie: ~iine: .If the." .-relate~ shifts. i~ pa/.tetns of spectral absorption lines .from
. ..... str"airi .conditions were not optimal, then no amount of: large composite areas are a possibility. The pre"cise tech.. :. geomagnetic stimulation. would precipitate the occurrence --:- nology is not evident at this time.
. - ..of the processes leading to the UFOR..
. . _.
The tectonic strain theory accommodates all of the maConsequently, the close temporal contiguity. between
jor characteristics of UFO phenomena. There are,
an unusually large solar flare and geomagnetic storm-(A.p
however, many.other pat~erns hidden within the complex
indices greater than SO) or especially it sudden, large infield of Fortean data. UFOs or Odd luminosities are only a
. crease (e;g., Ap indices greater than 100 have. been noted'
mor~ tractable segment oj this contjnuum. Precise elucidain the UFO literature). The 1967 and 1972 flaps followed
tion !of the controlling variables of UFO phenomena
- . unusually intense geomagnetic disturbances. During tl:tes~. .
should not detract from the mystery of Fortean events. Iny.ears, the UFORs occurred in areas that later demon- . . deed, it increases the. appeal even more. For now we kJ)Ow
strated an increase in. seismic activity, thus indicating the
.there is an empirical handle by which we can open the door
. existence of strain within the region at the time of tne
. to even more profound discoveries.
UFORs..
Within the framework of the tectonic strain model, Dr.
. Brian ~rady (personal. communication) and his colleagues
. . The pattern can be seen outside the U.S.A. as well. For
at the Department of the Interior (Bureau of Mines) have
example, the bout of UFORs reported in Great Britain
(pa~ticuiarly the St. Brides Bay region) between 1974 and
isolated a phenomenon that appears to be a fundamentally
1977
were
most
.
likely
linked
to
the
tremor
swarm
near
unknown
physical condition. Just before fracture of r~k
.'"
..
Stoke-on-Trent
during
1975
and.
the
(infrequent)
VII
insamples,
small
luminosities are emitted that demonsirate'
::tensity. . quake near Chester, England on July 8, 1980.
spin, ejection of plasma-like material, and alterations in
radio frequency emission. The calculated magnetic field
:(Although', higher-intensity quakes are unusual in Great
. Britain today, they were more frequentj as were major
strength of this neutron star-like cond~tion achieves intenclusters of UFORs, during the coUection period o( Charle~. s~ties t~at could influence automobile engines and elec---: _. : Fort.)" - .....:. .
.
..
:.-. . _ . :..... . . .....: .. ' :.~.- tdc8I .sYS:tem~~ En~rgy flux, if the luminosity were suffiSince.Jhe "land: mass of Oreat- Brjtai.n is "rel~tiv:elY:~~ilQ ,: . '.. iently: large, co.uld .~arbo~ize life forms or burn holes
~.": :- . . . :. :. <~.. co~pared"to the are.as Tn the U-.~.A; thllt:.are req\iir~4.Jo ..__ . thro.ugh, the."eil.t.ir.e Qrgan~sm. ...
. .
/.~ ', ...-..: ........._. ~lu,eidai~ t,he maximu'rp .reladoD:s"'.ip:b~i~een:n:umber~:of: .. : There ..are.m~~Y odier questions to be answered. What
<:: .. : .: ." ,.'.:.. :.UF'ORs and earthquakes, .the teCtonic 'strain model" would .- . i$ .the connection source. for the time-lagged relationship
. _i.:'~: ~ c.::_::: .:.predict: Utat earthqu.ake activity .o.utside ."the. major flap : _between . U~ORs and poltergeist reports? Why should
~ ::'.'.>:::. .... .' t:cgion should have contributed to the obse(Vations. In- . unusual: weatJ:1er conditions. and meteorological extremes

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Science Is What Science Does

,Why Critics Are 'Wrong About UFO Research
by Thomas B. Burch

June 24, 1947 a private pilot named Kenneth

Arnold reported seeing nine disc-shaped objects
flying in formation over the Cascade mountain range
in Washington state. Arnold's reported description
of these unusual aerial objects and their attendant.
flight characteristics gave birth to the term "flying
saucer" and laid the foundation for a controversy
that has continued to the present day. '
Most of the established scientific community failed
to take Arnold's sighting report seriously back in
1947. The 1940s became the 1950s. The 1950s became
the 1960s. UFOs, often described by' government

8.

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officials as "the product of postwar nerves," continued to be seen and reported by people from all
walks of life. Yet few members of the scientific establishment saw fit to conduct investigations into' what
had become a most persistent and obvious challenge
to science.
.
Some. scientists, like atmospheric physicist James
McDonald, recognized that science had collectively
shirked its responsibilities by failing to acknowledge
and confront the reality of the UfO phenomenon.
In March. 1968, during a speech delivered to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Dr:
McDonald stated: "Our collective failure to examine
the scientific aspects of the UFO problem will, I fear,

BEL!'EVE 1J.IER~S

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IN 'fi.4E 5OLA~ s'fSreN\?

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bursts in UFORs? Is the traditional sequence of

alterations, Fortean displays and large earthquake
nl""II,'rp'r'll"F'" related to some central source? Do UFORs acmodate the ' variance in the political and re'ligious
that accompany flaps, or are both controlled by a
variable? Are rock falls or the continued stream of
IIIU'I;:'LIUlo;; within the same space, indices of some fundaprocess hidden within their temporal infrequency?
Although the answers are unknown at this time, the
nelthc'd(JIIO!~y to find them is clear. Quantification of the
and t!i.e application of appropriate, contemporary,
methods are essential. These problems can only
by the competent usage of multivariate
........,..." such as discriminative, multiple regression, and
even canonical analyses. With these techniques,
can determine the variables that discriminate periods
rock falls, obtain the equations that predict UFORs on
basis of seismic-geomagnetic data, or isolate the funcupon which different Fortean variables and en-' .
1I"'III1IIO;;I,U'U events cluster.
The computer harlware is available; the software can
obtained. Any young Fortean scientist with a proficient
InCler!itanamg of num'erical analyses and the capability to the concept of changing temporal increments and

nrf'oroprlp

By permission of Johnny Hart and Field Enterprises. Inc .

.spatial windows, could contribute immensely to the

understanding of these phenomena. The recondite patterns
are there, waiting.
.
REFERENCES
I. Michael A. Persinger, "Transient Geophysical Bases for Ostensible

UFO-related Phenomena and Associated Verbal Behavior?" Perceptual

and Motor Skills, 1976,43,215-221.
2. Persinger, "Possible Geophysical Bases for Close UFO Encounters:
Expected Physical and Behavioral-Biological Effects." In R. D. Haines
(Ed.) UFO Phenomena and the Behavioral Scientist (Scqrecrow Press,
Metuchen, New Jersey, 1979), pp. 396-433.
3. Persinger, "Geophysical Variables and Behavior: 111. Prediction of.
UFO Reports by Geomagnetic and Seismic Activity." Perceptual and
Motor Skills, 1980, SO, 791-797.
4. P.ersinger, "Geophysical Variables and Behavior: VII. Prediction of
. Recent European UFO Report Years by Nineteenth Century Luminosity
and Solar-Seismic Variables." Pe~ptual and Motor Skills, 1983, 56,
91-95.
S. M. A. Persinger and Gyslaine F. Lafreniere, Space-time Transients
and Unusual EvenlS (Nelson:Hall, Chicago, 1977).
6. Persinger, "Odd Luminosities (UFOs) and Olher Fortean Events
Before Earthquakes: The New Madrid Test." Pursuit, 1981, 14, (2),
69-79.
7. Persinger, "Geophysical Variables and Behavior: VII1. Specific
Prediction of UFO Reports Within the New Madrid States by SolarGeomagnetic and Seismic Measures." Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1983,
56, 243-249.

Purau't 35

,1

be held against the sc;ientific community when the

are not active participants in the field of inquiry now
known as ufology.
.
.
full dimensions of the' UFO eyidence comes to be
A woefully uninformed media has assisted in the
recognized. The sooner we take a serious stance and
advancement of this inaccurate and undeserved stereoconfront the UFO questio!l with adequate scientific
type througt! its tongue-in-cheek approach to UFO
talent and staffing, the l~s embarrassing will be the
journalism. The discussion and presentation of UFO
ultimate admission that we have been overlooking a
reports by tti~ electronic media is invariably treated
problem of potentially enormous importance to all
humanity. II
.
as the "funny news" and relegated to the end of
scheduled radio and television broadcasts. The treatWhat' impact Dr. McDonald's statement had on
ment of UFO phenomena by the print media fares no
his scientific peers cannot be accurately measured.
better. Responsible newspapers and newsmagazines
Nevertheless, after 20 years of evasion and denial,
shy away from the UFO mystery al~ogether and leave
the scientific fraternity slowly came to the conclusion
the coverage of UFO repOrts to tabloid journals. And
that the UFO phenomenon was not going to go away.
these tabloids, as informed readers well know, are
Some scientists were irritated by this conclusion.
Others became just plain curious. .
more concerned with their headlines than they are
with their facts.
.
In the past decade an increasing n~mber of physAnother method used by critics to discourage legitical and social scientists have entered the arena of
imate UFO research is the over-simplification of the
UFO research, having taken the time to dispassionately
phenomenon's probable cause. Those that argue
.study and evaluate the data associated with the UFO
against the reality of the UFO phenomenon usually
controversy. After analyzing the data. they concluded
base their arguments on the assumption that extrathat UFOs represent a vividly real, but as yet unterrestrial societies, if they do exist, could not possibly
known, phenomenon. These same scientists recogovercome the vast distances between our world and
nize, and will readily admit, that the large majority
theirs. Therefore, the skeptics maintain, UFOs canof UFO reports can be attributed to prosaic causes;
not be navigating within our atmosphere and hence
however, a significant volume of the same reports,
do not exist. While this assumption may uitimately
after qualified analysis, cannot be accounted for
prove to be valid, science would be ill-advised to
through the application of standard scientific criteria.
close its textbooks and consider our current laws of
Wishing to gain a greater understanding of a: currently
physics sacrosanct. More important, however, is the
unknown phenomenon, these scientists decided to do
fact that most UFO researchers do not necessarily
what scientists are supposed to do-probe the phe subscribe to the extraterrestrial hypothesis. My familnomenon in the hope that it can eventually be underiarity with current UFO research party lines indicates
stood.
.
only that UFO research scientists consider the. i:,"-J:a-.:
Critics of UFO research, for reasons that I have
terrestrial hypothesis as one possible cause: of the
never been able to comprehend, argue vehemently ..
phenomenon.
'J ,
against movements: to legitimatize UFO research.
Admittedly, the extraterrestrial hypothesis has
These critics, many of them members of the scientific
been the most pbpular pro-UFO theory over the
community, seem to be saying that some phenomena
course of the past 3S years. However, it is not the
should be studied,' but other phenomena should foronly theory under consideration by UFO researchers.
ever remain unknown. This uqfortunate and misOther thCQries wHich attempt to account for the cause ..
guided attitude does not align itseif with the tenets of
of the UFO effect include the manifestation of psychic
science. Science, as defined by Webster, is i'the posor paranormal phenomena, as well as the serious
session of knowledge a~ distinguished from ignorance
consideration of UFOs as the product of an as yet
or misunderstanding.'~ The critics of UFO research
unknown prosaic phenomenon. This "unknown" is
therefore seem to be critics of science in general, as
significant and should be considered carefully by
well as critics of UFO research in particular; thus
UFO critics populating the scientific community.
their arguments should be of little value to the true
For too long, UFOs have been dismissed and exscientist.
plained away as so-called natural.causes when, in
Those opposed to~UFO research have managed to
fact, these natural causes are only vaguely defined
stereotype all UFO proponents as UFO "buffs,"
and exist as little more than scientific theory them"enthusiasts," or "believers." They acknowledge
selves. Embarrassingly little is actually known about
litde di$tinction between .qualified research scientists'
ttIe "plasma effects'' and "ball lightning" so often
and the non-critical consumers of sensationalized,
used by skeptical scientists to explain away UFO
tabloid-style journalism~ The stereotyped "UFO
reports. The critics' willingness to use these poorly
bufr' is generally depictedas a naive, undereducated
understood natural phenomena as catch-all solutions
and dis~inctly gullible individual who is willing to
-of UFO problems demonstrates a rather cavalier .
accept anything and everything written or spoken
. application of the scientific method and does little
about "flying saucers" and the "space brothers."
more than obfuscate an already paradoxical issue.
Regrettably'" many people do accept these fanciful
, Hallucination, mass hysteria, postwar nerves,
Hollywood movie themes all too willingly. :Qut such
temperature inversions and weather balloons are the
individuals, often referred to as the '~lunatic fringe,"

....,..."36

Fll'llt Quarter 1

"golden oldies" in the critics' bag of conventional

attributions. And the skeptics' selection and use of
"natural cause" explanations is subject to periodic
change. Like the width of a man's tie or the height of
a woman's hemline, some natural-cause explanations
are at times more fashionabl~ than others.
A popular natural-cause explanation in vogue
today is the "piezoelectrical discharge" theory offered
by Dr'. Michael Persinger of Canada's Laurentian
University. This theory suggests a potential relation-.
ship between some forms of electrical discharge aild
some aspects of UFO phenomena. Based upon preliminary findings to date, there does seem to be some
such relationship. Dr. Persinger should be congratulated for his identification of a viable point of departure for further in-depth examinations. Perhaps a
detailed investigation of the properties of piezoelectric energy will provide science with a useful piece to
the UFO puzzle. Further study certainly seems warranted. However, it would be premature to suggest.
that Dr.' Persinger's preliminary effort constitutes the
final answer to UFO sightings; yet this is precisely
what is being suggested today.
In recent years there have been a number of substantially documented and thoroughly researched
UFO sighting reports which have provided not just
the standard anecdotal accounts, but physical-trace
evidence as well. The witnesses' credibility has stood
up to scrutiny; their stories have been corroborated
by various forms of supportive evidence and testimony. UFO scicfutists and researchers, representing
fields in both the physical and social sciences, have
cG)JJ.sidered the facts related to these cases with great
care: After considering numerous alternative explanations ranging from hoax, hallucination and
misidentification to a plethora of candidate "natural

cause" explanations, the UFO scientists were unable

to isolate or identify any viable prosaic explanations
for these UFO sightings. No statement was issued
saying that the witnesses had' actually seen vehicles
from outer space. All that the UFO scientists said
was that the UFOs appeared to be genuine unknowns.
This is a pretty tame statement coming from individuals who have been stereotyp!=d as "UFO buffs."
Where is the sensational commentary representative
of UFO "pseudo-science"? The answer to this question is simple: there wasn't any. But this did not deter
the skeptics from offering their own simple explanation of the reports; these sightings were attributed to
(you g~essed it) piezoelectrical discharge!
Today, after 35 years of heated. protracted argument, UFO research remains imprisoned in Iil scientific
-limbo. While it is true that an ever-increasing number
of scientists are joining the UFO research community,
their 'participation is solely on an i.ndividual and voluntary basis. No organization or institution is yet
willing to sanctiop or underwrite their scientific efforts
because labels such as "UFO buff." "pseudo-science"
and "lunatic fringe" are still regarded as synonyms
for "UFO research." And without financial support,
little can be done to advance scientific knowledge in
this. or any other, field.
The tragic irony of this situation is ~hat UFO scientists, regardless of their qualiOcations or expertise.
have little control over the destiny of ufology. As
long as the critics. explain away UFO sightings with
simple armchair pronouncements. as long as tabloids
continue to churn out their unique brand of irresponsible, sensational journalism, and as long as UFO
reports are treated as "funny news." the stigma of
illegitimacy will continue to thwart objective UFO
research. And science will be the poorer for it.

73" in TV Poll Believe So_e 'UFOs Are Extraterrestrial

. TV-Ontario produces a public-opinion show called
'''Speaking' Out." In a format resembling a number of
audience-participation shows on U.S. television, the
program opens with a heavy question. The moderator then
introduces two people who debate the matter, one in'the
affirmative and the other taking the negative position.
Viewers are invited to phone in their opinions and comments arid put questions to the debaters. At the conclusion
a poll is taken and the results tallied.
The question asked on the February 3 program was:
Do you believe tbat some UFOs are
extraterrestrial spacesbips?
Taking the affirmative side was Stanton T. Friedman
of Fredricton, New Brunswick, a well-known physicist and
lecturer. [See his article in this issue, pages 17-20.-Ed.}
His opponent was Dr. Robert F. Garrison, a University of
Toronto astronomer.
Friedman, who spent 14 years as a nuclear physicist
working on the development of various advanced nuclear

and space systems, focused the viewers' attention on welld'ocumented sightings from allover the world, including
landings, abductions, multiple-witness events and radartracked cases. Dr. Garrison reaffirmed his personal belief
that there is other intelligent life in the universe but said he
did not consider the evidence of Earth visits adequate.
In the poll that followed the debate, 1244 viewers participated and the electronically tabulated score was: Yes.
908 (73%); No, 336 (27%). 'These resulis were consistent
with a Gallup Poll taken in the U.S. in 1978 which showed
that 74% of those with a college education accept UFO
reality. .
.
Carol Fripp. producer of "Speaking Out," said that
the total vote was larger than is usually recorded on the
show. "We were also pleased and surprised that more than
7800 people tried to call in ... during the hour-long phonein portion," she added. "Obviously, a lot of people are
very much interested in a scientific discussion of this con~
troversial question."

........,'37

':::J'

' . O~

mostly contemporary curious and unexplained events

are reported. ~embers are, urged to send In newsclippings and reports they
deem responsible. Please be sure to includethe source of reference (na~e of newspaper or periodical), city of publication, date of Issue In which article appeared, and your
ftnt Initial and last name (or membership n~~ber only, If you prefer to' be cr,edited in that way).

_~

Do Mystery Messages
Date 'Stones to

Some of the carved ~tones Dennis Moore found on his land

near Cedar Springs, Mich. Compare size with coffee cans.

15,000 B.C.?
A.n unusual stone caught Dennis Moore's eye
as he sorted rocks for a house he was building
near Cedar Springs, Mich. It was oddly shaped
and bore inscriptions of some sort. At first he '
tossed it aside. But when he discovered six more
like it, he decided to find out if they had any
significance.
"It took me awhile to figure out that
someone, long.ago, had banged a pattern into
them, ,,' said Moore, a self-employed plumber.
With the help of his father, Edward, Dennis
Moore scoured his 12-acre property and turned
up, besides more inscribed stones, a number of
well-defined prehistoric tools used for carving
wood and bone, and a copper knife.
The absence of pottery and arrowheads indicated that the tools belonged to a very old
tribe, one that may have hunted mastodons
around 10,000 B.C., said the elder Moore. During the five years since the discovery of the first
inscribed stone, the Moores have read extensively on geology, archeology and anthropology
to help them understand their discovery. Casts
and photographs of the stones have been examined by experts such as archeologist George
F. Carter and Dr. Barry Fell, founder and director of the Epigraphic Society.
Dr. Carter, a professor at Texas A&M and
the author of Earlier Than You Think, said
comparable stones have been found in gravel
under glacial deposits in the Great Lakes
, region. Cryptanalysts associated with the
Epigraphic Society are still trying to translate
the symbols on the Moore stones. Some of the
carvings are in alphabetic shape and resemble
our "A," "P" and "Y." Other inscriptions
look like stick-figure birds with eyes, beaks and
wings crudely but effectively delineated by arrangements of straight lines of varying lengths.
Dr. Fell has tentatively identified the writings
as Tifinong, a pre-Bronze-Age script used by
Scandinavians around 15,000 B.C. Although
Tifinong is one of the 20 very ancient scripts
catalogued by the Epigraphic Society, the
decoding of the symbols may have to await the
construction of a Tifinong' glossary, and that
may be years away, according to Dr. Fell.
SOURCE: The Detroit News, Mich., 1/13/83.
CREDIT: W. Kingsley.

"HH
In Santa Monica, Calif., Dominic Varady
was in his living room, watching the movie
"Meteor" on TV. The exciting part had just
begun: A giant space rock was hurtling inexorably toward Earth. As he tensed to await the
impact, Varady's concentration was shattered
by an eerie c-r-u-n-c-h that shook his house, rattled dishes and set all the dogs in the
neighborhood barking. Earthql,lake?

P.N."38

Closeup of a stone shows inscription.

I

Varady made for the door, rushed out front

and loo~ed about. Foundation, walls and roof
were intact. He ran to the rear and there it was:
a hole' big ,enough for a grown man to climb
through-not in the roof of his home but atop
the small, unoccupied guest cottage in his back
lay sp'rawling
yard. Inside, a pile of smasl)!=d
on the floo....
,
After looking at the hole' and the icy meltdown, tJ:!e police' descrilieil, the probable intruder as "a single frozen cijunk of ice about

ice

Ihree feet wide arid weighing about' 200

pounds." To complete their report, the officers
checked with the FAA at Los Angeles Interna'tional Airport, where everybody knows but
does not like to admit what can happen to people like Dominic'Varady when their property
lies within an aircraft approach;path. Sure
enough, several pilots who landed their
transports about the time of the incident had
reported ice accumulating on the wings as they
flew through a severe storm-front nearby.

Flnt Quart... 1983

Varady was not reassured. He wanted compensation for the damage to his roof and said he
would take the perpetrator to court, if necessary. But with sO many airlines providing
similar service to his area, how could, he decide
which one to take?

evidence o(wounds or other external damage;

present theory allributes the remarkable state of
their preservation to the onset of a natural
quick-freezing process, sustained by millenial
storage in Yakutia's deep permafrost.
From their cOntinuing stl!dy of Elephas

primigenius the Russians are learning much
. about animal life in prehistoric times and finding important clues to its beginnings .. They hope
to recover many more specimens and have
Even more frustrated was Judy Reeves of
r~atedly voiced their need for suppon, not inBelleville, Ill., who came home from work one
terference, from the goven~ment if their st~dies
day in September to find some of her tomato
are to continue.
.
plants destroyed and her garage roof damaged
Th!= scientists' hopes were badly jolted when
by mysterious S-inch-Iong, 2-inch-wide,
they learned what happened to an apparently
E-shaped metal objects. The objects were alS9
large number of speciinens whiCh might have
embedded in roofs, yards and on window sills
been r~oved intltct with proper tools and inof four houses in the neighborhood. To this
telligent supervision; instead, the mammoth reday, neither Mrs. Reeves nor any of her
mainswere ripped. from their frostyabode by .
neighbors has the slightest idea what the objects
. . b~lId.ozei's, torn by the blades of power shovels
are or where they came from, or whether more
may be "on the way."
.. . - . and vandalized by the :~~r!ters wit!! the. ap- .
parent acquiescence of tbosein cliarge.
The bulldozer crews were not out. to get mamThe monstrous webs are not caterpillar
moth remains. They- were digging for gold. The
"tents" and they do not house the larval gyPsy
Soviet press:.would: hardly have .nc;niced the
moth so abhorrent 10 fruit growers and suburunintentional diScovery of a neW crop of mam~
ban householders.
moth specimens, or told what happened to
,This shilling tree was spotted by
British' .
them, if an unidentified engineer hadn't visited
free-lance photographer. near a_ village :in the ....
the gold-digging site when he did, and hadn't
Kumaor. HiIlsof India. His:examination:reveal-.. :.
takel\the trouble; at some risk of censure, to
ed nothing about or ii'lthe tree tlijlt ..n1ighihave -_.
write a letter to the editor of Pravda, the official
. caused the webs to form; no caterpillars, no:--:
n~spaper of the Communist Party. He wrote
spiders. Villagers said the webs "just came, onof his feelinj of-horror when he saw operators
ly a little while ago." They added that no other
stop their machines and remove Iengths of tusk
trees they knew about had ever been similarly
and chunks of .frozen flesh that could only be
affected. So far, the strong webs have withthe
same
kind
of
mammoth
remains
he
had
Fearing for tlie safety of her daughter and the
stood the high winds and heavy rains that often
fo.und pictured and described in. scientific
8-year-old's playmates who might be injured
rock the area, and the covering does not ap,pear
reports of earlier discoveries. What's worse, he
when handling any objects still undiscovered,
to have harmed the tree_ Birds, however, stay
compl~ined, "some of the guys were ~utting up
Mrs. Reeves has spent hours.and days at a time
away from it.
tusks and others were feeding pieces of flesh to
seeking a solution of the problem. First she callSOURCE: BIPS via Outdoor Life, 12182.
their
dogs."
ed the local police, but "they thought I had
CREDIT: W. Kingsley.
"I reported the malter to the mining opera-.
been drinking," she said. She took a sample to
tions managers in town," the writercontinued,
Scott Air'Force Base to see if the metal might
"and they told me their project was 'not in the
have fallen from a plane, but no one had ever
business' of preserving mammoths. 'Gold is
seen aircraft parts of that shape.
what matters,' they said. 'There are plenty of
early 19005, in what was then German East
The FAA office in St. Louis sent a man to
other mammoths about the place. We haven't
Africa and is now Tanzania.
collect a sample for analysis. Troy Sims, an
got a plan for mammoths that has to be fulfill"I was amazed by the size of the bones and
FAA safety inspector, speculated that it c;ould
the enormous number of them," said Alan
ed, but there is one for gold ... '
be part of an "E.T."-nothing to do with
In an editorial, Pravda backe~ the engineer
Charig, .. leader of a team from bondon's
Spielberg's movie, he hastened to add, just an
and quoted Prof. Nikolai Vereshchagin, chairNatural History Museum which spent more
abbreviation for "electrical transformer." Sims
man of the Soviet Committee for Mammoth
than two months working on a hillside in
thought that some types of transformers conStudies. He urged immediate action by the
Sichuan Province, about 1,000 miles southwest
tained E-shaped metal stabilizers, but workers
highest authorities to prevent fun her scientific
of Peking. Charig said the bones belonged to
at the local electric utility told Mrs. Reeves that
. and cultural vandalism of mammoth remains by
three types of dinosaurs that roamed a
her items were too small to have come from any
persons whose only motivation was "greed and
prehistoric river near Wangcang about ISO
of their transformers.
ignorance." The chairman of the study. group
million years ago. They included 8S-foot-Iong
"Everything about this is unusual, ". said
noted that adult mammoth tusks found earlier
sauropeds with enormous necks and tiny heads;
Sims. "The objects did not come from part of
measured up tQ 10 feet in length, weighed more
stegosaurs suited from head to tail in bony
an aircraft, and we don't think they fell ou~ of a
plane."
.than 200 poun.ds and could easily fetch (the
armor-plate; and carnosaurs, the flesh-eating
. equivalent of) 5100,000. --Mammoth-ivory is
bipeds.- According to Charig, the b9nes were.
SOURCE: UPI in St. Louis Post-Dispatc~,
.
marked
up
to
fantastic
values
when
worked
into
discovered
"sticking out of a hillside" and first
12128/82; St. Louis Globe-Democr.at, 912182.
. . "genuinely antiqlcle" brooches, buc:kles;pend. reported by.a miner tw.Q years ago;"-'.'We foim4
CREDIT: R. Nelke.
.
. ants. and similar gac!getry, he declared.
a thick layer of1liem, all mixedyp,_I!s-were the. __
SOI,lRCE: London DQi/y Telegraph, England, via
similar bones found at the site or: (hc;Dinosaur --.
The Sun, Baltimore, Md., 3/20/83.
NationaI"Monument in Utah," Charig said.
In the. USS.B CREDIT: H. Hollander.
..
SOURCE: AP from London via The Tennessean, .
"
... ~~ ..: . _ . . .. Nashville, 1/22183.
. - .. - :

E.T.s?

Cobweb Traa -.

Golda. Da.

Nonhern Eurasia was the favored habitat of -. -

.:- .~ .~- ...

DI.o.au
M~ i~tFi.!uing .~nd PCr~Ps

".

~REDiT: H . H"oJlan!1 . . ~ ....... ~

~.

the mammoth, the furry, long-tusked elephant

.
CO.. ..ctlO....
~\&;aA
ancestor that lived until the late Pliocene -about . --.
.
. __.
.
_-..
f.
~.. .
'!Iillion years ago. II! recellt years,.' Soviet . .
even ,*"or. J!D- .... .
Elephants
sCIentists have recovered a number. of
ponant to SCIence than t1:Je m~m9th reu;lalDS . ..-.
.
. ..
.-.
. . -_
_ ..._
fine specimens, almost full-fleshed though
dug up in nonhern Russia was the recent un. However histrionically it may. advertise its
somewhat shrunken, and still coverec;l with the
earthing of' dinosaur bones in China which
"white elephants," the next .flea '.market;'
are said to be vinual look-alikes of bones
bazaar, auction or garage sale you atte!ld will
reddish fur that characterized them in life. No
one is quite sure why the mammoths died off,
discovered in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming,
probably not include any live plI:!=hyderms
but specimens so far recovered do not show
U.S.A. in the late 19th century and, during the
among the merchandise offerings,:",m.uch . less

fo~r

PInt Qaut_ 1983

Whit~

fo~ .Ba.l- ..

........1'39

. ..-...

any trunk-equipped beasts that might be

perceived as beige, "off-white" or otherwise
deviant from the standard black or Oxford gray
long preferred by elephants of respective
African or Asian origin.
Perhaps you thoUfht "white elephant" was a ,
mere epithet or figure of speech? Usually it is,
but not always, and not everywhere. In
southeast Asia, for example, light-skinned or
"white" elephants are for real, and the small
herds are rare enough to receive special protection from the natives of Burma and Thailand
who regard the quasi-albinos as sacred symbpls.
Now comes a repon of a mysterious herd of
white elephants roaming the forests of A~eh, a
northern province on the island of Sumatra in
the Indonesian archipelago. Emil .Selim, tile
country's minister of population and environment, issued a statement from his heaquarters
in Jakarta, Java. Responding to the first-hand
reports of several villagers, Sc\im said "I believe
them. I have heard similar reports before, and a
good indication of the white elephant's existence" is that he was adopted some years ago
as "the emblem of our regional military com,
mand."
"It is a pity that nobody has been able to take.
a picture of the white elephants, but 1 am sure
they exist. ; .. This is a very rare species and we .
must arrange to put them in a wildlife park so .
the species will not disappear," Selim added.
If he finds them, Se1im would like to relocate
the elephants to Leuser National Park, about
fifty miles away from their reported habitat.
SOURCE: UPI in Schenectady (N.Y.) Gar.etie,'
3/24/83.
CREDIT: R. Girard. ~

Unblinded Love
In Hereford, England, the heartbreak of a
breach with her boyfriend drove blind Yvonne
Brown to bang her head against a wall in her
college dormitory. Suddenly, she could see. The
impact restored the sight she had lost to an eye
disease at the age of 11.
Soon after her remarkable recovery, Miss
Brown, who is 18, became the bride of 2O-yearold Peter Rutherford. He admitted to breaking
off their relationship four months earlier
because he "could not cope with loving a blind
woman."
SOURCE: St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 3/7/83.
CREDIT: R. Nelke. ~

British Base. at Power

Points? (Continued from page JJ)
used by the UFOs as entries to this
dimension. Mr. Shuttlewood told me
that he believes that the UFO occupants sometimes obtain power from
unknown sources located within the
two hills. My personal photographic
and meditative explorations of the
hills did not turn up any UFO
sightings, but by this time I was sensitized to other factors in the British
mysteries: there, atop Cradle Hill, was
an armored-unit base of the British
army!

Pu",.'t.O

It Wasn't the Raven

understanding and being able to explain it. The

two physicists agreed that "no firm conclusions
About 1:30 a.m. on January 19, lookouts
as to the nature of ball lightning seem at all
hiding in church catacombs caught a glimpse of
possible at this time."
the mysterious stranger who each year on the
Burbridge and Robertson speculated that the
birthday of Edgar Allan Poe places a gift of
event they investigated may have been an eleccognac arid roses on the storyteller's grave in
. tromagnetic abberation involving a mass of air
Westminster Church yard, Baltimore, Md. .
and perhaps other lightning-created gases in
"We saw a well-dressed man enter the gravewhich small loops of electric current or some
yard carrying three roses and a bottle of
other effect behaved as tiny magnets. They view
cognac," said Jeff Jerome. "We made no atthis combination of influences as consistent
tempt to talk to, photograph or otherwise
with the blob's motion; it seemed to be guided
hinder the man. Without saying.;B word, he told
by the local geomagnetic field as well as by air
us what we wanted to know-that someone livdrafts.
ing is making this annual toast to Poe." .
Martin A. Uman, an electrical engineer on
Jerome is curator of the Poe House museum.
the faculty of the University of Florida, calls
He was one of five volunteers who locked ,.- this "far-fetched," yet concedes that the
themselves in the catacombs of the 19th-century
Australian scientists' observations are "of con- .
Westminster Church in an attempt to find out
s"iderable interest." Uman notes that "reports
how the mementoes appear on Poe's tombof ball lightning can be found in both ancient
stone. For the past 34 years, three roses and a
and modern literature, and the similarity in
half-empty bottle of cognac have been
described size, color, smell, duration, sound at
discovered on the grave of the American writer
demise, and physical damage lends overwhelmwho was born Jan. 19, 1809. Poe died and was
ing support to the view that ball lightning is a
buried in Baltimore after being found semireal phenomenon. . . ."
conscious in a downtown doorway.
. A typical lightning ball is round or oval. Mrs.
Sale's flat blob was unusual in this respect.
SOURCE: UPI dispatch .from Baltimore in
Sizes range from roughly that of a marble to
Plattsburgh, N. Y; Press Republican, 1120/83.
that of a basketball. The ball glows, lasts a few
CREDIT: J. Zarzynski.
seconds, then disappears, often in an explosion.
A. British physicist,; Paul Davies of the
~
University of 'Newcastle-on-Tyne, sums up the
Too-Close Encountel'
present state of investigation of the ball lightning phenomenon: "It's all very scary, and one
For Mrs. E. V. Sale of Te Ngaere, New
wishes the theorists would do a better job in getZealand, What happened in her living room durting tei the bottom of it."
ing a thunderstorm was like a scene from a midnigtit horro~ movie.
SOURCE: Christian ScienceMonitor, 1/3/83.
Lightning struck nearby. Then a flow of light
CREDIT: B. Greenwood.
came in under the door. It settled in a blob
beside metal tools on the floor. "Arms" flowed
~
out of the blob, weaved between the tools, then
contracted, only to be extended again. SuddenDid You Know That .~.
ly, the blob drew in the "arms'; and disapBenjamin
Franklin, America's premier scie~list .
peared under the door. The episode lasted.
of the 18th century, was right in his concept of
about I S seconds. There was no sound or odor.
the lightning rod, but wrong in advocating a
Such is -the latest eyewitness account of a
sharp-tipped rod because blunt rods are better?
phenomenon that is rarely observed but conDr. Charles B. Moore, a New Mexico
tinues to baffle scientists-ball lightning. In
physicist and science historian, credits
reporting their investigation of Mrs. Sale's exFranklin's sworn enemy, King George Ill, for
perience, physicists P. W. Burbridge and D. J:
promoting the better path for electrical bolts to
Robenson of the UniVersity of Auckland emtravel by having rods with knobbed tips placed
phasized their confidence in her description of
around his palace.
the event. "She is an amateur astronomer,"
SOURcE:Printing News, New York.
they noted, "and used to making careful obserCREDIT: #269:i.
vations." But bel~eving in a phenomenon and
having faith in the reporter is not the same as

A few days; 9bservation do not

constitute a survey of British military
bases, and there must surely be other
"power points" of mystery in England that do not have military units
nearby. Or are there? Is it merely a
coincidence that three such famous
sites of esoteric 10J;'e should be located
side by side with centers of the
nation's power?
Perhaps the architects of Britain's
military might were taking no chances
when they decided to locate their
bases around the focal points of
psychic activity. Consciously or unconsciously, the spirit of the Isles

might have led military planners to

choose the holy places - enclaves
wherein to gather spiritual force,
sanctuaries that guard the soul of the
British people.
Apparently Modern. Man, though
smug and cynical, is still coaxed by the
Earth Mother. And this brings up
another question: Are we also to be
disciplined for abuse and neglect?
REF.ERENCES
Michell, John The View Over Ailantis Ballantine Books, New York, 1972.
Shuttlewood, Arthur The Warminster Mystery
Neville Spearman, London, 1967.

Flnt Q rt... 1985

Books Reviewed
THE .. ANDR~SSON AFFAIR: PHASE II by Raymond
E_ Fowler (Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Crrjfs, New
Jersey, 1982,278 pp., Illustrated, .hard cover, $10.95)
Reviewed by Robert Barrow
This is a sequel to Fowler's The Andreasson Affair
(Prentice-Hall, 1979), and describes the ongoing UFO and
UFO-entity encounters claimed by witness Betty
Andreasson Luca. The current title, however, takes the
story considerably further and discusses UFO and.
paranormal activity supposedly experienced by her husband,. Robert, and other witnesses, as well as by herself.
While Fowler's initial book on this series of events
focused upon and reverberated with the religious and absolutely bizarre qualities of the Andreasson story, Phase /I
entertains a new context with the .introduction of another
"star" character, Connecticut hypnotist Fred Max. In
1980, Max (who possesses a bachelor's degree in
behavioral psychology and routinely, so we are informed,
uses his talents to assist local physicians in clinical practice)
instituted hypnosis sessions with the Luca couple, and .
subsequently learned of their separate, early, unrecalled
encounters with UFO entities. A total of seven incidents
was brought to light between the two of them.
Readers familiar with the original book will find Phase
II no less intriguing, and certainly no Itss difficult to comprehend in terms of the peculiarity of the chain of events
described. Well-executed drawings, done by Betty
Andreasson Luca herself, help to express her emotions and
recollections about all of this, whatever its meaning. (She
also illustrated Fowler's recent UFO-fictional offering,
The Melchizedek Connection.) Especially prominent in
Phase 11 are transcripts of.. Fred Max's hypnosis sessions
with the couple, and I found these quite interesting.

UViNG WONDERS by John Michell and Robert J. M.

Rickard (Thames and Hudson, Inc., New York, 1983,
176 pp_, profusely Illustrated, $9_95)
Reviewed by. Sabina W. Sanderson
This is a splendid book for which Messrs. Michell and
Rickard are to be congratulated. Certainly it should make
a welcome addition to any Fortean library-or general
library, for that matter. The subtitle, "Mysteries &
Curiosities of the Animal World," is a bit misleadfng.
Though the bulk of the book does deal with a wide variety
of animal Forteana, the authors also include a judicious
sampling of vegetable wonders as well.
The book has few faults, and my two major complaints
have nothing to do with the content. There are some
monocolor drawings, and the publisher has seen fit to print
the text on tQP of some of them. Since the print is rather
small, it is difficult to read when printed over a " mottled"
color. Secondly, and I'do not know whether this is general
or whether I received a flawed copy, the gluing is very
poor, and the book started to fall apart even before "I
finished reading it.
There is an index of names but no subject index, which

Fin. Qu..... 1983

.'

would have been helpful, though the table of contents is

fairly detailed, making this something less than a fatal
flaw. Also, just for the record, Ivan did not spend "his
childhood amid Scottish Highland lochs"; I can recall no
other factual errors in the book.
.
The work is divided into four parts: "Cryptozoology,"
"liints of Teleportation," "Wonderful Creatures," and
"ContrQversies and Curiosities. II The first two are probably self-explanatory, the first dealing with such things as
neo-dinosaurs, out-of-place animals (here restricted
primarily to Britain), with an excellent brief history of
cryptobiology; and the second with both apparent and
possible teleportation of animals and vegetables (termite
and ant queens vs. animal and vegetable showers, for example). Part Three has to do with everything from talking
dogs and cats and calculating horses to martyred animal
baby-sitters. Part Four includes a miscellany ranging from
the famous (or infamous) man-eating tree to odd eggs and'
. rat kings (though here they did miss a modern case with a
photograph; to be found in S.I.T.U.'s files-but nobody's
perfect, anq they make no claim to have produced an exhaustive work).
One of the greatest merits of the book is that it is not
simply a "seed catalogue. II The authors have sought explanations for various phenomena and devote two
chapters specifically to theories, clearly labelled as such:
"Life After Extinction; a Theory of Revivals" and "An
Unknown Force Behind Animal Distribution." There are
no exaggerated claims made for either, and both are worth
considering. The authors draw on a wide range of sources,
from mythology and folklore to the accounts of
naturalists, and do not hesitate to point it out when a
story, reputed to be factual, has a multitude of parallels in
patent folklore, though here too they have an ingenious
theory.
.
Their accounts are balanced, with no attempt to burke
contradictory evidence, though they are justifiably hard on
explanations that are worse than the phenomenon in question. They write well, with occasional humor (even the illustrations. include a few well-chosen cartoons), and with a
refreshing lack of pomposity. I think Charles Fort would
have liked them and their book.
.
MONSTERS AMONG US by Brad Steiger (Para

Research, Rockport, Moss_, 1982, 166 pp.,. $9.95)

Reviewed by Sabina W. Sanderson
This book engenders an awful temptation simply to
quote in its entirety a play review that appeared many years
ago: "No."
I'm sure Brad Steiger is a ni~e person, but as a writer of
Forteana he is a menace, giving equal credence to Boris
"Porshenev" (sic) .On ABSMs and Raymond Bernard on
the "Hollow Earth," and failing to mention facts that
don't suit his theories. This book is strictly for people like
the young friend of mine who said, "I don't care whether
it's fact or fiction, just so it's entertaining."

Pu",.'t 41

-. -

..

- ,..

---.

',:- .

. ; . '::", -.

','

-.

My sources are:
. 1. H. P. Blatvasky's Isis Unveiled. (I hope this iden-

tification is correct as the reference was read several ye~rs

ago.) If I recall it correctly, the test detailed the evolution.
of the First through Fourth Root Races including maps. It
was related that the Master-s (possi.bly Etheric) built and/or
were in charge of building this Pyramid system .
. 2. Saga magazine, October 1973, p. 40, "Mysterious
PYl."amids Around the World." James Gaussman, a World
War II pilot from New Orleans, Louisiana, reported
sighting this Pyramid system. Coordinates will not be
give~; but a little research will yiel.d -the results. Note the
. _ :)o~~tion ~f the Brahrvaputra River in India arid the Gobi
...... -:; Oesert; the latter is believed to be theseat of the Third
. :. :: .....~ .: Root -Race.,'-a~co.rding to Blatvasky: ... ... _.-~. ..Please print this letter in Pursuit as clarification for all
. _the readers. By the way, if some- Qf our reader-Sf have the
time and financial means, possibly ~n expedition into this
area to rediscovd these Pyramids would be in order. . .
.
. -0" Joseph Intelisano
I have been a member of S.I.T.U. for almost a year
now and have recently d0ne a bit of plugging for our
organization..
. .
.
It happened.i~ke this: I write a regular column for The
Telegraph, a national Sunday newspaper published here,
under the title (what else?) "Twilight Zone."
In last week's issue I decided to do a kind of retrospective on Charles_Fort, and thereby talk about S.I.T.U. (See
photocopy enclosed.) The response was fantastic-everybody wanted to join. I shortlisted a group of people I
,. thou~ht would benefit and sent them the address, P.O.
Box 265; Little Silver, NJ 07339, U:S.A.
-Mukul Sharma
Calcutta, ~.ndia

PUNU't 42

~~:::---~--:-:-.-------------

.~

.....

My current residence in .panama is the result of a request to change assignment from Arizona to this new duty
station. I've seen quite a bit~ heard much more, and read
enough to know thai many a queer-thing exists or comes to
pass in this scientific and ordered world we live in today.
I enjoyed Pursuit No. 59. The format and content of
the articles is moving toward a much easier-to-read-anddigest magazine. 1 especially liked the article "How Much
Do You Know About UFOs?" by T. B. Burch.
-(Sgt.) Terry W. Colvin
The review of the Stevenson-Haberma~ book on the
Shroud of Turin prompts this letter.
.
The hypothesis of the shroud is that a mysterious vital
radiation, emitted at the instant of Christ's Resurrection,
printed a negative image of his body on the fabric. H9wever, if you wrap a fluorescent tube with photographic
film, you will get an evenly exposed image, i.e., the tonal
range is zero; and if you put a film over a corrugated
source of radiation, bars of density will be produced in the'
exposed image. The bars will be light where the film is in
contact with, the radiating surface and dark over the
depressions.

~..i.J I J J.

-Dr II

~?'J

r ,i

------I I'

The above diagram shows that wherever the film is in contact with the radiating surface, the intensity of radiation'
received by the film is exactly the same as the intensity .
emitted by the source. The respective surface ratios are 1: I.
But a depressio~ in the light source increases the'ratio p{
emitting surface over the receiving surface, so the intensity
of radiation on the film is also increased.
.
Since the image on the shroud is darkest where the
fabric is in contact with the body and Iightelit over the
depressions of the body, the image on the shroud could not
possibly have been made by radiation emitted from the
body without violating all the laws of optics and
mathematics. The "experts" who eXamined the shroud
declared the image to be a negative, and they asserted the
impossibility of any medieval artist having a concept of a
photographic negative, much less the skill to portray it on
fabric.
This is another flagrant example of book people pontificating on crafts without knowing what they are talking
about. It is traditional in the study of graphic representation to "feel" the form of the model with the marking tool
on the drafting surface. The image created by this e~ercise
translates the surface-form of the model into light and
dark areas correspmlding to salience and depression. The
resulting image is of exactly the same kind as the one on
Shroud of Turin. Not only is this student exercise tradi.. M ..... '_.

r"vii ..w,.tI

on the Shroud by Kenneth E. StevensOn and Gary R. Habennas,

by Dennis W, Prater in Pursuit No. 60, fourth Quarter 1982.

tional throughout the millenia of art; it is the subject'of a

modern classic, The Natura/ Way to Draw by Nikolaides ..
Thus, the image on the shroud is not a negative!
The image, moreover, conforms to all the characteristics produced by the diffusion transfer process: If a solid
model is coated with a wet coloring agent and then covered
with a soft, damp fabric, 'more or less pressed against the
surface contours of the model, the coloring agent will offset onto the fabric and diffuse toward the parts of the
fabric that did not make contact with the model's depressioJ;ls. The result is a replica of the Shroud of Turin.
Reproducing the kind of image that characterizes the
shroud by the use of traditional artists' methods, of
course, blows away the "mystery. " Naturally, the
shroudists prefer to ignore the facts and continue to purvey
their product to a gullible and eager market.
- T. B. Pawlicki
As a former astrologer and current novelist of horror
and the unexplained, I,greatly appreciated Allan GrisE's
article "Astrology and Charles Hoy Fort" published in
Pursuit No. 60 (Fourth Quarter 1982). It seemed to me,
. because of its bibliographic sources, an authentic and persuasive evaiuation of Fort's horoscope.
I While referring to the same sources as Gris~'s, during
my five-years-plus as an astrologer in the '60s, I parti.cularIy treasured the findings of an old Englishman whose name
was Dr. W. T. Tucker. To substantiate the Pursuit piece
and perhaps to "renovate" Tucker's invaluable life-work,
I would like to interpret Charles Fort's horoscope in terms
of the late Britisher's definitions:
.
Sun conjoin Uranus-Self-stimulating; excitable
Sun oppose Saturn-Gravity of manner
Mercury conjoin Mars-Incessant mental activity
Mars square Neptune-~ebel1iousness
. . . adding thereto an extract from Grant Lewi's
Astr%gy for the Millions which describes people with the
Sun in Leo:
"(Will) take on infinite work and go to infinite trouble
... Leo is acutely. aware of himself, always standing off and
appraising the effect he is making. He will usually be
found, if not conventional, at least discreet. Self-approval
replaces conscience; he'll do anything if he thinks it is
right, and will brave public opinion if his self-approval is
sufficiently important to outweigh the loss of public approval."
;,
-J. N. Williamson
Having just finished reading the Fourth Quarter 1982
issue, I would like to cQmment on several things. First, 1
hope you give author Daniel Eden full encouragement for
his "Higher Dimensions and The Barrier." He is the kind
of author who helps rather than hinders. Furthermore, his
approach is right along the fine line of small steps by which
true science grows. My own position is not to upset science
but to find ways whereby our present science can grow into
more remote areas, and I sense this attitude in Mr. Eden.
I was also glad for the article "New Evidence for
Psychic Phenomena" from the Reader's Digest for May
1981. 1 hope you pUblish. a follow-up on Schmidt's
research. I would like to 'know whether anyone has ever
taken seriously the idea that probability hits of the kind
studi~d can coine from an All-In-the-Head (AITH) theory

PurI, 43

"

based on a presumed feedback in time from the mind's

meinory storage.
. '
As a highly introspective person, I s~m to recall 10stances where my subconscidus mind hap taken sensory experience (intruding) and represented it ,mom!lrits after
channels were freed. I've also had an ES1? dream that
could be explained in this way...
.
~",
Why doesn't Schmidt make an absolute repl ca of an
otherwise random string of micro-,determined e ents and
then let his subjects ,perform the test?' I predict they; would
also score positively under these circumstances, provided
they "wanted to" and ~ere aware that they .would "~ear~"
of the results. This would be a test of entirely subjective
causality, independent of the ','outer" world.
-Harold A. Youtz
I

I have recently noticed another error in Tom Bearden's

concept of a scalar wave (Pursuit No. 55, Third Quarter
1981).
,
On page 108 he suggests 'that to generate the Tesla
wave, you must cause variations in a given ele~trostatic
potential (SEP). Presumably, to vary the SEP you must
add or remove electrons (or ~earden's hypot/leticaI massless ~harge, if you prefer). However, by adding or removing any amount of charge from a' system, you will
automatically change the electrical field surrounding the
. system; a changing electrical field is precisely the entity
that generates normal electromagnetic waves.
Bearden has failed to notice that his original electrostatic situation has "been converted into an elec, trodynamic one, merely by varying the original SEP. The
waves s9 generated are not longitudinal scalar waves.; they
are normal" transverse E-M waves.
,
Despite his theoretical problems, Bearden is to be praised for the excellent literature searches he has instituted. As
he has so clearly pointed out (Pursuit No. 58, Second
Quarter 1982), creatiye" maverick scientists simply do not
have the time to pour through hundreds of technical journals to find' the little oddities that lead to new breakthroughs.
"
'
The massive undertakings by William Corliss also help,
in this direction." Literature searches' for anomalies do
point the way to new vistas in science!
-Daniel Eden

-:
" ;, ,

The following notes should be helpful in keeping SITU

members abreast of recent developments in our research
program at The Bigfoot Project here in Seattle:
In early 1983 the National Cryptozoological Society
was formed in Seattle, on an informal basis, so that Forteans who wisiitO'Tnvestigate non-biological as well as
biological origins of anomalous animals (Bigfoot, -Nessie,
phantom kangaroos, panthers, Big Bird, etc.) m~y join
with interested scientists who ~ave shown a serious attitude
toward this field of inquiry. The NCS feels that Bigfoot,
Nessie, et aI., may well not be in the same class as the
coelecanths and okapi, and that research should not be a
priori limited to only biological realms. The NCS also
takes the stand that none of these creatures should be shot,
shot at, or tranquilized simply to satisfy the demands of
science. The NCS sponsors The Bigfoot Project and The
Water Monster Project. Annual membership is $9.99 with

f:

PI

publications or $2.00 ~ithout pUblications. For further information, write to NCS"Box 31990, Se!ittle; WA 98103.
Grover Krantz, an anthropologist and board
member of the International Society of 'Cryptozoology
based in Tucson, ~nzona. has released much information
about the toe-prints with dermal ridges fou"d in some of
the Walla Walla tracks. Krantz feels that these markings
virtually prove that Bigfoot exists as a hominid primate.
We respectfully suggest that these markings mean only that
something very heavy and ,two-legged walked through.the
woods in the Walla Walla wa~ershed. The creature mayor
may not be a primate, or even an animal. Toe-prints, n.o,
matter how impressive, will not do, any more than hair
' and blood samples.
We have found further evidence that Bigfoot may
come in at least three models: (1) Ape-like but erect
creatures, (2) Wild and la'rge Indians, and (3) Hairy, smelly, red-eyed, indestructible aliens related" to UFOs. Much
has already been written about (1) and (3), s,? we would
like to contribute our data on (2).
,
The "wild Indian" type of Bigfoot h~s long
known to Indian tribes as the "stick Indian," a large, even
gigantic creature that lives as a Stone.-Age hunte"r-ga~herer
once did. Now reputedly an outcast, It throws sticks 10 the
night as a sign of willingness to trade game Jor In~ian
tobacco (or the white man's che~ing tobacco). Our ~roJect
recently interviewed a part-Indian man who was kidnapped in' 1968 while camping-out alo~e on "~t. Ho?d,
Oregon. He claime~ he spent four days 10 captlVlty, dunng
which time:he observed that his captors were between 6 Vz
and 7 feet tall and had feet 17 inches in length; they used
only stone knives, he said, and hunted deer, gathered roots
and berries," fed him well, and were very harmless and
friendly. We ,b~lieve the "stick Indial'!s'" to. be n_~~~~~_!_~O
use little if any fire; ~hey have large brow-ridges which may
explain that they are surviving Neanderthals and the.refore
"outcasts" in our present age. They wear no clothes (not
in the summer, anyway), yet are not hairy as are the type
(1) and (3) Bigfoot creatures, but ~row:n-skinned:
" These findings have been confirmed by a bUilder who
reparted the best-ever sigh~ing by a white man of a t~pe (2)
Bigfoot in the Everett-Lake Stevens area' of Washmgton
state. It has become clear that any person who fires a rifle
at such a 'creature could be justly charged with murder or
attempted- murder of a human being, and a rare one,
whether or not of Neanderthalic origin.
I
Biologist "Clyde M. ~enger reported in Th~ Skeptical
Inquirer magazine that intensive searches by himself and
his students begUn 18 years ago have revealed nary a trace
of Bigfoot in any caves in the Chuckanut' Mountain and
Mt. St. Helens areas. We are not surprised. Our own
research and John Green's also, shows that Bigfoot
doesn't use caves but sleeps under trees. According to our
informant on the "Tuni-k~," as the Warm Springs tribe in
Oregon call their Bigfoot, the creatures curl up close for
warmth as a pack of dogs would. What they do in winter is
unclear, but Warren Scott reports that they q.ig out dirt
caves and don't use natural caves; and Muchlat Harry
claims they sleep under ledges and confirms that they avoid
natural caves. (Indians, when asked why Bigfoot doe~n't
use daves, ,have a sensible answer: "Would you sleep 10 a
I h
I
't?")
pIac~ Wit on y one ex~ .
-Jon Erik Beckjord

I....:.r.u.".4.4.______..____________._______

Flnt Quarter I

CHARLES H. HAPGOOD
I frequently receive communications from people who
wish to consult me concerning their unpublished ideas. It
goes without saying that these ideas are very seldom
possessed of scientific validity. The very first communication, hO'r1'ever, that I received from Mr. Hapgood electrified me. His idea is original, of great simplicity, andif it continues to prove itself-of great importance
to everything that is related to the history of the earth's
surface. ...
Albert Einstein wrote this and more in a foreword to
Charles Hapgood's milestone book Earth's Shifting Crust,
published in 1958.
Einstein predicted that Hapgo<,>d's theories would have
an impact on the scientific community. They certainly did.
For a long time, well into the '60s, the response was
generally negative. Then, as a new generation of scientists
came on the scene, bringing with them less. prejudice,
clearer insights and more tractable research methods,
Charles Hapgood's ideas began to gain adherents. Over
the course of twenty years, the voices of his supporters
grew in number and strength until something of a clamor
arose for him to update Earth's Shifting Crust (it had'
undergone a modest interim revision for reprinting and retitling as Path of the Poles). Hapgood completed the revised manuscript and mailed it off to the publisher only weeks
before his death. We eagerly await its publication.
Summarizing Hapgood's theory, Einstein wrote:
A great deal of empirical data indicates that at each
point on the earth's surface that has been carefully S41died,
many climatic changes have taken place, apparently quite
suddenly. This, according to Hapgood, is explicable if the
virtually rigid outer crust of the earth.undergoesfrom time
\

....

a ....

j-,.

'.

to. time, extensive displacement over the. viscous, "Iastic,

possibly fluid inner layers. Such displacements may take
place as the consequence of comparatively slight forces exerted on the crust, derived from the earth's momentum of .
rotation, which in turn will tend to alter the axis of rotation of the earth's crust.
As Einstein noted, Hapgood did not confine himself
"to a simple presentation of this idea. He has also set
forth, cautiously and comprehensively,'the extraordinarily
rich material that supports his displacement theory."
Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings was another of
Hapgood's .books that laid early claim to scientific immortality with the same cautious comprehensiveness which
Einstein so warmly applauded. Charter S.I.T.U. member
. Dr. Neil M. Lorber wrote in 1968 that Hapgood's Maps
seemed to fulfill all the expectations aroused by its subtitle,
"Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the lee Age." The
reviewer adde.d that "this highly technical and scholarly
work is of particular interest to Forteans." Time has proven the accuracy of Dr. Lorber's assessment. Pursuit has
published more than 60 issues since 1968 and in most of
them, as in the issue you are now 'reading, one or more
references have focused on the remarkable maps that
Hapgood attributed to his '~Ancient Sea Kings."
In his later years. Hapgood wrote several. books based
on the life of spiritualist Elwood Babbitt. The final work in
the series, The God Within, has just beed published.
Professor Hapgood's teaching career began with. his
graduation from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences; it lasted 37 years (18 at New Hampshire State
College 'in Keene) and ended with his retirement in 1969.
Si"nce July he had been living in Fitctburg, Massachusetts.
He died there on Decembe! 21, at the a:ge of 78.

New-Age Energy Technology

(Continued from page 23)
science magazines. It is interesting to note that Saudi
Arabia has announced an investment of $100 million in
Hitachi stock.
France: The "Kromrey" converter has completed tests
at the Institute for Magnetostatics at the University of
,Strasbourg .. One prototype delivered 700 watts at 600-1200
RPM, at a fairly uniform rate. France, however, is the
No. 1 developer of nuclear energy in Europe and is reluctant to devote much attention'to a revolutionary new
technology which could result in drastic curtailment of her
well-developed nuclear industry. and the export business
associated with it.
Denmark: A physicist at the University of Copenhagen
named Jensen has reported test results of 300% efficiency
with a specially designed 5-coil transformer in connection
with a tach ion field converter based on the principle of the
"N" machine. First reports were presented at the International Conference on Energy Technology in Hanno.ver in
Novem~er, 1980.
'
England/U.S.A.: A "bullet train" based on British
Prof. Erit; Laithwaites magnetic levitation system is being.
considered as a way to speed travel between L~s Angeles
and San Diego, California. Japan and West Germany are
already operating high-speed experimental trains, suspended magnetically to reduce friction, that may soon attain

Flnt Quarter 1983

R ..KROMREY

ELECTRIC G5i:RATOI

speeds of more than 200 miles per hour. The LaithwaiteEastham method would use electromagnetic forcefields ind~ced over an aluminum-topped concrete track. If and
when construction is undertaken, the projec~ will'probably
be turned over to a Japanese firm as the prime contractor.
Pursu" 45

The Notes of Charles Fort

Deciphered by Carl J. Pabst

ABBREVIATIONS

** .
1#
Ac to

A. J.

sci

(A I)
~deChimie

AD Reg
Arcana of sci
Arch. des Decouv ..
Archiv. Verein Freunde
Natur of Mecklenburg
.~.Reg

Astro
rattrib

,sA
bet
Bib. Univ.
BO

B. R. Success

Dr. V Assoc
b. &now". .
Bull Soc. BeIge D' Astro
(C)
(Ch)

For some obscure reason, Fort cut a

point on the left side of the note: .
[7]
According to
A;"erican Journal 0/ Science
[ 7 Almanac 7 ]
Annales de Chimie
Annual Register
Arcana of Science I
Arciri~ des Decou.vertes .
[?]
Astronomical Register
Astronomical
attributed
Report 0/ the British Association /QI' the
Advancement 0/ Science
between
Bibliographie Universelle
"It is clear from the arrangement of the
notes that he [Fort] was searching his
chronological arrangement. and plucking
out specific notes for a future book in
which he would refer to these data as
opprobrious to the Scientists for their
odor, 'B 0'." (The Fortean,
.
113, p. 14, c. I)
Succession of black rains
[7]
black snow
Bulletin de la Societe Belgium
D'Astronomiqw [7]
[7]
Chaos [Fort's working title for

New Lands]
Cor..
C.R.
(Cut)

D~I77

dept.
detmet
dets ofphe
Disap I Extraord
dist. thunder
E.limb
Bdin Jour Sci

Eng

EnI. Mec.
Ext. Discovery
(F)

F. baD
(Frgs)
Os
Ge!It's Mq
h.
Hun
Inf. conjunction

CQrrespondent
Comptes Rendus
illustrated
The Book of the Damned, page 177
department
detonating meteor "
details of phenomena
Extraordinary disappearance
distant thunder
Eastern limb
Edinburgh Journal 0/ Science
England
.

English Mechanic
Extraordinary Discovery
Fletcher'~ List
Fireball
(Frogs)

"

Georgia

Gentleman's MagaVM
hours
Hungary
Inferior conjunction
{IO
Italy
Jour Amer. Museum Nat Hist Jourflfll of the American Museum of
Natural History

Jour. Roy Inst Gt. Bri,tain

Journal 0/ the Royal Institute 0/

Great Britain

Kaspar Hauser
"An enterprising new member has
undertaken the task of checking the
references in Charles Fort's NOTES
BSoprinted in the Magazine,
.
especially and primarily those
gathered from the Reports of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science. This welcome
refinement of details is forwarded
by H. A, Kiesewetter, of Buffalo,
who is assisted in the work by"
Mrs, Kiesewetter." (The Fortean,'
1110, p. 146, c. 1)
Kentucky
~y.
La Belgique Horticole
La BeIg. Horticole
La S. P. Tous'
La Science Pour Tous
Light
Lght
LinlUlef1n Society Transilctions [7]
Lin. Soc Trans.
(7)
L'Institut
Living Ag~
Liv Age
London Times
L.T.
J
luminous [intensity 7] of one [candle
lum.ofone
power 7]
. Mag Nat Hist
Magazine 0/ Natural History
Mechanics' Magazine
Mechanics' Mag
Memoirs 0/ the Royal Astronomical
Mem. R. A .. S.
Spciety.
MelDS Nat. Acad. of Sciences Memoirs 0/ the National Academy 01 .
SCiences
I
r!;
.. r I) rr ~u;;
meteorite
metite
Monthly Notices
M Notices
Monroe County
Monroe Co.'
mouDtain
-mt.
mutilation
New Jersey
N.J . .
No More
N.M ..
[7,]
(N)op
New South Wales
N. S. Wales
Object
Obj
OpPosition of Mars
Op. Mars
page
p.
K. Hauser
Kiesw.

(P)

[1]

Penny Mag
phe
PhilMq
P.P.

Penny Magazine
phenomena
Philosophical Magazine

q and geolog
Q~ Jour. Roy Inst
S.'Car.
Smithionian Inst R~t.

earthquake and geological phenomena

Quarterly Journal 0/ the Royal Institute
South Carolina
Annual Report 0/ the Smithsonian.
Institution
, Somnambulism
stationary
South to North
Southwest to Northeast
Symons' Meteorological MagtUine
Tennessee

Somnamb.
stat.
StoN
S.W.toN.E.
Symons Met

Tenn.

(7)

tho storm
Trans Bombay Geog Soc
Trans. Perthshire Soc
Met. Sci
Tr. Roy Soc Edin
Va.
vol.
Volc
zod light

thunderstorm
Tra1lSllctions of the Bombay
Geographical Society
Transoctions of the Perthshire Society
of Meteorological Science [?)
Transactions of the Royal Society
of Edinburgh
.
Virginia
v()lume
Voleano
zodiacal light

Notes continued from Pursuit No.

60, Vol. 15, No.4, Fourth Quarter
,
1982, page 191.

1828

Sept 14 / Catalonia, Spain I "Extraordinary storm, accompanied by

Iulil of most unusual size. I BA.
'54-1961 Q on 15.
Sept 1~-15 I nigh[t] / Murcia.
S'pain I disastrou.s q / Arch. des
Decouv. 1829~198.
Sept 29 I Norwich. Eng / shaft of
light in sky I Mechanics' Mag

June 4 I (F) 9 a.m. 17 miles S;W.

of Richmond, Va. / metite I A. J.
Sci 15/195/161191 I
[Reverse side] Looked very much
like voicanic rock.
.
22~192.
June 6 I Great q I Kashmir / 1000
Sept
29 I Great beam I Phil Mag
killed / BA 'II.
.
214 I index I lum. 'of one. .
June 8 I Vole I Goentoes, Java I Oct I I Canary Islands I II [Light
N.M. / C.R. 70-878.
Quake/ BA 1911].
June 8 or 10 I Canton de Vaud, Oct 3 I Beam I [Land. Times). 3-e
Switzerland / Painted Ladies I I 4-4-b I 1-3-a / Rainbow phe I
from S to N I column 10 or 15 feet See Sept"29, 1829.
[Reverse side] broad I for 2 hours
Oct 5-8 I Emilia, Italy I I I [Light
I Athenaeum 1828/891.
quake I BA 1911).
June 15 / Smyrna I I I [Light
Oct 9 I Italy, north of GenQa I 11
quake I BA 1911].
June 16 I [London Times], 5-b I I [Medium quake i BA 1911].
Oct 9 I () (It) I q and geolog /
Sunspots.
summer I BO I Teleport I In See next. I Piedmont I flames
Amer Jour. Sci, 16-41, Joseph E. from a crevice? I See 1805 and q.
Muse ~U~ .0J ditch that had been Oct. 10 I Turin I Fireball I BA 60.
dug' upon his farm near Cam- Oct 9 I Oct 10 II Turin - Genoa,
bridge, Maryland, in land ten feet etc. I qs I a met on 9th I BA.:~4.
above a river that was a mile away.
The work .was interrupted by rain Oct 10 I (It) I det met / Piedmont
that continued 10 or 12 days. The I and q ( See 1805.
rain water
Oct. 10 I Violent q in Italy[Reverse side] filling the ditch con- many villages ruined. '~Sev.eral
tained hundreds of fish, two kinds persons said they had seen a
of perch. They could not have lumino.us meteor shortly
developed from fish spawn in so [Reverse side) before the shock. I
short a time: they were from four
B. Assoc, '54-197.
to seven inches long. There had Oct 13 I St Lawrenc[e) I -Dark day
been a similar occurrence' several I smoke I rain bitter with effects (
years before. In a ditch unconnectsmoke fell I Areana of Science
ed with any body of water had
1830/237.'
appeared many perch, some of
Oct 17 I (It) I.The concussions of
them a foot in length.
the 10th repeated' at .Voghera till
June 30 I 15 h. lOp. Mars / (Athe 17th. I See 1805.
I).
Oct 20 I as:ro II.Lond. Times). 3-c
July 27 I - 20 h I Ven,us / .Inf.
. I Nov. 12-3-c I Comet of 1835.
conjunction l(A 1).
Oci '!rli 0~t.24.I.Lorii:i~n. Ti";es).
summer I Fish / Cambridge; 2d i q .,.:... Genoa' /See Oct. 9..10: Maryland I Am. J Sci 1"(i/41. . . '.
Oct. "29 / India I .Ii / [M~ium
Aug 9 / Caucasia I III I [Heavy' quake'l BA .19~ I). :
quake I BA 1911].
NQv.5l-Mars jn:quadrature.: :...
Sept. 7 / Honan, Ribblesdale I
Nov. 6 i Ca' Tow~' 1'M:~teor /."
Met size moon I brilliance =' BA54.
pe
sunlight I BA 54..
Nov. 9 I Philippines I II I
Sept 14 I Tarragone, Spain /
[Medium quake I BA 1911].
Storm / lightning I terrific conNov 11-12 I In Isere, France, large
cussions in the sky I
[Reverse side] fall of hailstones 'of meteor and others smaller. I C.R.,
"4 or 5 ounces and more each I 3-50.
Nov. 21 I I p.m. l Mysterious exArch ..des Decouv. 1829-187.

FInt Quart_ 1983

plosive sound heard by the

naturalist Roth,
[Reverse side) in Switzerland. I
Bull Soc. Beige D'Astro, 4-196.
Dec 3 I (London Times), 3-d I 102-c I 19-3a I Somnamb.
Dec 16 I [London Times), 3-f I
Storm - frightful at Portsmouth.
Dec 18 I q. diea waves I Japan I
1111 [Heavy I BA 1911).
Dec 29 I. 10 a.m. I Great q.
Celebes, and sea rose tremendously. I !3A 54.

1829
(unless otherwise indicated)
/ (P) I Bushmills, Ireland I frogs I
~'half-formed" I Arcana of Sci.,
1830/217.
/ Persia / Manna I 0-53..
[BCF, pp. 53-54:
. In 1829 (Timb's Year Book,
'1848235) in Persia fell a substance
that the people said they had never
seen before. As to what it was,
they had not a notion. but they saw
that the. sheep ate it. They ground it
into flour and made bread, said to.
have been passable enough. though
insipid.
That was a chance that science
did not neglect. Manna was placed
upon a reasonable basis. or was
assimilaied and reconciled with the
.systeD:! that had ousted the olderand less nearly real-system. It was
said tha't. likely enough, manna had
fallen in ancient times-because it
was still falling-but that there was
no tutelary influence behind itthat it was a lichen from the steppes
of Asia Minor-"up from one
place in a whirlwind an!! down in'
another place." In the American
Almanac. 1833 c71. it is said that
this subs\ance-"unknown to the
inhabitants of the region"-was
"immediately recognized" by
scientists who examined it; and that
'''the chemical analysis also identi
fied it as a lichen."
This was back in the days when
Chemic!!1 Analysis was a god.
.since fhen his devotees have been
shocked and disillusioned. Just
~ow 'a chemical analysi.s could so
'botanize:I'don't know-but il.was
Chemical Analysis who sp.oke. and
spoke dogmatically. Ii seems to me
that the ignorance of inhabitants,
contrasting with the local knowledge of foreign scientists. is over. done; .it there's anything good 'to
eat . within any distance cOIlveni!=ntly'
covered by a. whirlwind-inhab..
'Iulnts know it. I have data'of other
:falls. !.i"Pe.rsia and Asiatic Turkey,
. of.edlb~e subst.~n.ces. They 'are all
dogmatically said to be "manna";
and "ma.nna" is dogmatically said
to be i. species of lichens from the.
steppes of Asia Minor. The position
that I take is that this explanation
was evolved in ignorance of the fall
of vegetable substances, or edible
slibstances, in other parts of the

world; that It IS the familiar attempt to explain the gkneral in

terms of the local;. that, if we shall'
have data of falls of vegetable substance, in, say, Canada or India.
they were not of lichens from the
steppes of Asia Minor; that, though
all falls in Asiatic Turkey and
Persia are sweepingly. I\nd conveniently called "manna" showers,
they have not been even of the
same s.ubstanc~. In one instance tile
particles are said to have b.een
"s~eds." T.hough, in Comptes
. Rendus, the substance that fell in
1841 and 1846 is said to have been
gela'tinous, in the Bull. Sci. Nat. de
Ne~chatel, it is said to bave been'
of something, in lumps the size of
a filbert, that had beeri ground'
'into flour; that of this flour had
been made bread, very attractivelooking. but flavorless.)' .
I Vole reported in N.S. Wales I
Geni's Mag 1182911/636,
Jan I Unusual fall of rain in Lakes
District I Tr. Roy Soc Edin 2241.
month of Jan I q and .aerial .~nd
stationary I (Cut) ( Shocks all!lost
daily at Patras. Greece; always
accompanied [by) atmospheric
(d)isturbance.
[Reverse side) B Assoc-S4-2QI.
Jan1 I [London Times). 3-f I
Aurora I Hull.
JlIn 10 I [London Times), 2-f /
24-2-c I 31-4-a I Feb 95-f I Trance.
JanAprii I # ISeries of fires I
(+) / Rheims I An Reg 1829/138.
Jan 3i-Ap 9 I Fires I An. Reg.
1829138 I Boy Lambert Canizot,
who lived with father, at Sommerville, (Hermouville) France. Jan 31,
house took fire on thatched roof.
whic[h) sloped down to a few feel
of the ground. Feb 9, at 9 in morning, another fire in an out house.
Bov was first to see it, and spread
the' alarm.
[Reverse side) Same day, another
fire on another thatched roof. The
boy gave the alarm. On 15th, in
afternoon. a shoe full of dead
embers Jound near a pile of straw.
Shoe belonged to the boy's small
brother. "It was evident" that the
cinders had been so carried. 3 days
later, at9 in the morning,
[Second page) in the home of one
LalUc. fire on lower part of thatched
roof-heated cinders found near it.
The boy gave the alarm. Feb 24.
house of one Deen afire on thatch
a 'few feet from ground'.. March 14':"'"
imother house-thatch. near
[Reverse side) ground-boy gave
the alarm. Other fires-then
Canizot was seen thrusting his hand
into a thatched roof-he saw he
was watched and crept away on
hands and knees. A little later fire
burst out here.
[Third page) The boy was arrested,
found guilty and sentenced to ~
years imprisonment in the House
of Correction.

Pur.u't 47

IS20 I Flammarion, ".The Atmosphere," p. 472 I "Xavier <!e Maistre

declares that a young girl was carried off by a [w)hirlwind' .
[Reverse side) but it is not said to
what height." III
6 - 16 - 6
2 12 6
29

[probably not .related)

9
[note cut off].
IS21 ab first of Aug. I BO I A Boa
constrictor I unknown ort Island of
St Vincent I shot I was bet 14 and
15' teet long I
[Reverse side) Q. Jour. Roy Inst
12-42S.
[IS24 July) I Singular disease in
Italy I LT, IS24, July 24-2-b.
Feb. 7 I ab 3 p:m. I Capt Sturt, .
exploring Southern Australia,
.camped on the bank of the Darling
[Reverse side) River. Heard what
seemed to be the report of a gun 5
or 6 miles away-"heavy piece of
ordnance. " Great mystery to him,'
and he could in no way account for
it. I Nature-SI-127.
Feb 21 I Disastrous q throughout
south of Iceland I BA S4.
Feb 21 and 22 I south of Iceland I
Shocks-q I farms destroyed I
[Reverse side) Smithsonian Inst
Rept. ISSS-SIO.
Feb 24 to March 10 I Several qs
a day around Lake Baikal I Mag
Nat Hist 6-301.
March I Spain I qs I also meteors
and halos around sun and moon I

BA 54-p. 211 I [Kiesw. "should

be Oct 24, Granada' ').
March I Slight" shocks in Murcia.
Went on at least to Ap., IS33. I See
BA54.
March S I [London Times), 7-a I
Ext. Discovery.
Mar S I Irkutsk, Siberia I' Said
severe q felt several hundred milesbut no damage recorded.
I A. c1a,ttering noise heard-It was
Dr. Erman's conclusion noise was
overhead and not
[Reverse side) subterranean. The
noise "seemed to recur according
to a certain rule{' Vibrations were
felt up to the 1Z2nd. I B Assoc
541201.
[BCF, p. 403:
We have had records of quakes
that occurred at Irkutsk, Siberia,
and of stones that fell from the sky
to Irkutsk. Upon March S, IS29,
a severe quake, preceded by clattering sounds, was. felt. at Irkutsk.
There was something in the sky.
Dr. Erman, the geologist, was in
Irkutsk, at the time. In the Report
of the British Association, IS54-20,
it is said that, in Dr. Erman's opinion, the 'sounds that, preceded the
. quake ,were in the sky.)
Mar 19 I J2:30 a.m. I Maling,
Dalecarlia, Sweden I q and, met
sound I BA 'S4.
March 21 I q. I Murcia, Spain I
Fearful nois[e) and a column of
fire to the east.
[Reverse side) ward of Murcia. I
L.T.,Ap.l4-4-all

[Front side) At Benejuzar, four

craters opened, 2 of which threw
out lava. I
[Reverse side) L.T. 16-3-c.
March' 21 I S:20 a.m.' I Violent
shocks in Jamaica I BA S4.
March 21 I Q in province of Murcia-severe. 2 salt- lakes, water
disappeared. At 'Benejuzar, 250
,
perished. I A. Reg., p. 63 I
[Reverse side] Here, at B., 4 craters
opened and threw out lava. Out of
all towns by Ap. 3, more than
3,000 bodies dug out. A ,column of
fire was seen toward the eastward
of Murcia.
.
March 21 I 6:30 p.m., in Murcia.
Premonitory sounds like thunder
heard 3/4 hour. It was like
,.
[Reverse side) 'cannon fire. I BA 54.
March 22 I Sound like cannon
firing and shocks I Ancona, Italy I
BAS4.
March 22, 2], 24, ]0 I Shocks I
Jamaica I BA 541 [Kiesw. "27 great
severity").
Ap I, 6, 16,24-1 qs and rain I Q's
in Spain. "Heavy rain fell almost
the whole
[Reverse side) month through, in
Spain, producin'g great inundations." I BA '541
[Freint side] See June 1.
April I Heavy rains and noods
almost whole month in Spain: I
BA54.
April I "Heavy rain fell almost the
. whole month through in Spain,
producing great inundations. I
BA 54-204.

Ap. 2 I BO I Volc eruption near

Hudson's River, N. S. Wales,
reported. I Mag Nat Hist 6~301.
Ap. 2 I Leon, Spain I q., precede~
by violent storm of rain and snow I
BA 541 [Kiesw. "should be 10th").
Ap. IS I q. I Murcia, Spain I LT,
May20-S-e.
,
Ap. IS I Smaller q's on 16th and
17th. On ISth, almost equal to
21st March. I BA 54.
Ap. 23 I In Baden I severe q I
9:30 p.m. I sound like thunder I
severe
[Reverse side) snowstorm.
[IS)29 [Ap ]0) I Lght I [London
Times], Ap 30/4/d.
May 5 I Q in Salonica and a mt.
poured out reddish water. I BA 54.
[IS)29 [May 7) I Light I [London
Times), May7/6/d.
May 8 I Forsyth, Ga I (F) I Farrington I Mems Nat. Acad. of.Sciences, vol. 13 I
[Reverse side) 13-.
May S I Stone of Forsyth,. Ga. I
bet.] and 4 p.m. i,A. J. Sci 18-38SI
[Reverse side] Greatly resembles
stone of May 9, 1827.
May 21 to early in Dec lit, Sounds
I (+) I See ISI6. I at Albano
Laziale 141 detonations not accompanied by quake.
May 22 I [London .Times], 4-c I
Storm/lsle of Bourbon.
May 22 I Oraz, Austria I q preceded by uninterrupted rain for S
days I BA 54-206.
(To be continued)

Traditions of Subinen in Arctic and Subarctic North America

(Continued jrolJ'l poge 7)

. trip and borrowed money to take a ship out of Alaska for

good. Before leaving, however, he told Colp his story.
Shorn of irrelevant details, this is to the effect that,
. having climbed a tree on a hill to get his bearings after
some days of prospecting, he saw a band of humanoid
creatures, covered in thick hair, rushing towards him up a
slope. He described them as "the most hideous creatures. I
couldn't call. them anything but devils, as they were neither
men nor monkeys, yet looked like,both. They were entirely
sexless (no visible genitalia or mainmary glands, presumably: Author), their bodies covered with long coarse
hair, except where scabs and running sores replaced it."
"Charlie" recounted that he had slid down the tree,
thrown his already damaged gun at the first, then run for
.his canoe-. apparently most closely' pursued by the
creatures. He was unable to give a clear account of what
followed, but he finally found himself in the bottom of his
canoe, adrift after darj,(, and managed to paddle back to
Wrangell.
Toe next' five chapters of the book relate the experiences of first "John" and "Fred"; then" John" and the
author on two trips, three years apart; then the author and.
a Norwegian identified only as "Ole." These trips took

Pura.lt 48

pia& respectively in July of 1900 (immediately

"Charlie's" return and departure); September of that
year; 1906; 1908; and 1911. In 1914, Mr. Colp says that he
sent in two men to investigate-a half~Russian and a
Japanese; in 1919 he sent in three men but they came out in
two weeks with three completely different 'stories-one
that they had never beel). to Thomas Bay; one that they had
gone to another part of it; and the third that they had gone
to the area designated, up the'Patterson River, and had
found everything as Mr.' Colp had previously stated, including two odd-shaped lakes-but no gold. This was the
final enigma that apparently caused Mr. Colp to give up
what had been almost a quarter-century of investigation.
The complete contradictions in the stories of these
three men were not by any means the oddest events alleged
to have .occurred in this district; and not only to them, but
to Mr. Colp, himself, though he seems to have been less
'. affected psychologically than any of. the ;others. These
events need not concern us except to remark that they
sound not just improbable but altogether inexplicable.
Through all these stories there runs, nonetheless, a thread
of reference to hairy, stinking humanoids.
(Ivan Sanderson's article will be concluded in the
,issue.)

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION 'OF THE

UNEXPLAIN~D

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 01739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
GOVERNING BOARD
Robert C. Warth, President; Gregory Arend, Vice-President; Nancy L. Warth, Secretary
and Treasurer; Trustees: Gregory Arend, Donald DeLue, pro. tern., Steven N. Mayne,
Nancy L. Warth, Robert C. Warth, Martin Wiegler, Albena Zwerver.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. George A. Agogino, Director of Anthropology Museums and Director, Paleo-Indian
Institute, Eastern N.ew Mexico University (Archeology)
Dr. Carl H. Delacato, Director, The Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured, Morton, Pa. (Mentalogy)
~
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Director, Lindhejmer Astronomical Research Center, Northwestern
University (Astronomy)
Dr. Martin Kruskal, Program in Applied Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton,
New Jersey (Mathematics)
,
Dr. Samuel B. McDowell, Professor of Biology, Rutgers the State University, Newark,
New Jersey (General Biology)
Dr. Vladimir Markotic, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (Ethnosociology and Ethnology)
Dr. John R. Napier, Unit of Primate Biology, Queen Elizabeth College, University of
London, England (Physical Anthropology)
Dr. Michael A. Persinger, Professor, Department of Psychology, Laurentian University,
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (Psychology)
,
Dr. Frank B. Salisbury, Plant Science Depar1:ment, College of Agriculture, Utah State
University (Plant Physiology)
Dr. Berthold Eric Schwarz, Consultant, National Institute for Rehabilitation Engineering, Vero Beach, Florida (MentaI'Sciences)
Dr. Roger W. Wescott, Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew
University, Madison, N.J. (Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics)
Dr. A. Joseph Wraight, Chief Geographer, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, ,Washington, D.C. (Geography and Oceanography)
,
Dr. Robert K. Zuck, Professor and Chairman, Department of Botany, Drew University,
Madison, N.J. (Botany)
'\
ORIGINS OF SITU/PURSUIT
Zoologist, biologist, botanist and geologist Ivan T. Sanderson, F.L.S., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., in association
with a number of other distinguished authors, established in 1965 a "foundation" for the exposition and
research of the paranormal-those "disquieting mysteries of the natural world" to which they had devoted
much of their investigative lifetimes.
As a means of persuading other professionals, and non-professionals having interests similar to their
own, to enlist in an uncommon cause, the steering group decided to publish a newsletter. The first issue
came out in May 1967. The response, though not overwhelming, was sufficient to reassure the founding
fathers that public interest in the what, why and where of their work would indeed survive them.
Newsletter No.2, dated March 1968, announced new plans for the Sanderson foundation: a structure
larger than its architects had first envisioned was to be built upon it, the whole to be called the SOciety for
the Investigation of The Unexplained, as set forth in documents filed with the New Jersey Secretary of
State. The choice of name was prophetic, for Dr. Sanderson titled one of the last of his two-dozen books
"Investigating the Unexplained," published in 1972 and dedicated to the SOciety.
Another publication was issued in June 1968, but "newsletter" was now a subtitle; above it the name
Pursuit was displayed for the first time. Vol. I, No. 4,in September 1968 (!.'incorporating the fourth Society
newsletter") not~--1hat "the abbreviation SITU has now been formally adopted as the designation of our
Society." Issue number 4 moreover introduced the Scientific Advisory Board, listing the names and affiliations
of the advisors. Administrative matters no longer dominated the contents; these were relegated to the last
fopr of the twenty pages. Most of the issue was given over to investigative reporting on phenomena such as
"a great armadillo (6 feet long, 3 feet high) said to have been captured in Argentina" -the instant transportation of solid objects "from one place to another and even through solids"-the attack on the famed
University of Colorado UFO Project headed by Dr. Edward U. Condon-and some updated information'
about "ringing rocks" and ~'stone spheres."
Thus SITU was born, and thus Pursuit began to chronicle our Investigation of The Unexplained.

Printed in U.S.A.

ISSN 0033-4685

Maya Canals in Guatemala Revealed by Radar

Radar imagery as an archeological tool came of age in 1978 when grid-like patterns were found in Guatemala's central
lowlands. Upper photograph shows the raw image of the rain-forest canopy. Lower photograph shows patterns found in
the radar imagery. Ground exploration later confirmed that the lattice-like lines are probably remnants of irrigation
canals dug by the Maya between 250 B.C. and A.D. 900. The dark formations in both photographs are lakes and rivers.

Volume 16
Number 2
Whole 62
Second Quarter
1983

'Science is the Pursuit 0/ the Unexplained'

A Train of UFOs
by WalTen 99& (as told to Bob Warth)

For the past several years Warren Egge has sailed the oceans, photographing many aspects of aquatic
life but with particular attention to the plight of the humpback whales. Warren, with his friend Lou
Burlingame and both their wives, left Sea Bright, New Jersey, Sunday afternoon, June 5,1983, aboard
the Egg~s' 44-foot, two-masted ketch Beluga. Their destination was Bermuda. His story is as follows:
The sun had set in the evening of June 6, and at 21 :30
hours EDT, Lou and I came on deck to pull a double
watch so that our wives could get four hours' sleep
before they in turn replaced us.
We were heading in a southeasterly direction at
about six knots and were about 150 miles due east of
Cape May, N.J. at 21:50 hours when I took a LORAN fix
of 71 05" N, 38 0 55" W. There was the usual sea-haze
that obliterated our view of the horizon; however, I
estimated the horizontal visibility to be 5 miles in all
directions. The sky was clear and star-filled, with no
lingering pollution as found on land.

About 22:00 hours EDT I first noticed a two-tone

blob of light (Fig. 1) approaching from the west. Both
Lou and I observed it for about 7 to 9 seconds as it passed silently overhead. Later, we agreed that there were
only two shades of blue in the coloring of the object.
The interior of the blob or ball was similar to the Iightblue part of a Bunsen burner flame, while a darker blue
corona surrounded the center details and swept back in
a long tail.
It didn't seem like a solid object. It was a lighter blue
in the center, translucent like a burner flame, or even
(Continued on back cover)

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 07139 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
SITU (pronounced slf - you) is a Latin word meaning "place." SITU is also an acronym referring
to THE SOCIElY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPlAINED.
SITU exists for the purpose of collecting data on unexplaineds, promoting proper investigation
of individual reports and general subjects, and reporting significant data to its members. The
Society studies unexplained events and "things" of a tangible nature that orthodox science, for
one reason or another, does not or will not study.
You don't have to be a professional or even an amateur scientist to join SITU.

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THE QUARTERLY
JOURNAL OF THE

-t

ISOCIETY FOR THE

INVESTIGATION. OF
THE'

UNEXPlAINED

'SCIENCE IS THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'

Contents
Thefull "cover story" is printed on the cover of this issue, under the illustrations, so that you may share, insofar as possible, the experience 0/ the
witnesses and know some part of what they sensed, as the silent train of light
passed overhead and into never-to-be-forgotten memory.

Page

EDITORIAL:

The Sande.-.on Prescription

Ivan Sanderson, SITU's founder, talked early,
late and often about education. He thought of education as neither art nor science but as a function of living; the acquisition of knowledge he saw as a natural
process, a habit like breathing or walking, formed so
early in life that no one ever remembered learning to
do it. Teaching, in his view, had little to do with
education but everything to do with training, and he
never missed an opportunity to explain the difference
. between technique and knowledge, between training
and education.
'
All the talk now going on about the "crisis in
education" has suggested that newer members of
SITU might welcome an opportunity to become better acquainted, and veteran members would appreciate refreshing their memories, with Ivan T.
Sanderson's prescription for alleviating educational
malaise, writte'n originally for Pursuit in 1971 (Vol.
4, No.1). The essential ingredients are here
reconsiituted for the use of practitioners, patients
and others who may wish to test his remedy. We
quote:

Vaults of Time
by Andrew Paul Tomas
Physics of Short-Range Teleportation
by Daniel Eden
Space Law-"Contact with Extraterrestrial Life: Some
Legal.Considerations," a Library of Congress R~port
. by Daniel Hill Zafren
'
Now You See It ...
by Sarah Fitzjarrald
More Clues in the Search for Ancient Aquanauts
, by Harry Lebelson
Niagara Fishfalls
by Dwight Whalen
The Ultimate Cover-Up ,
by Robert C. Girard
How the Psychic Consultant Aids
Decision-Making in the Business World
by Roderic Sorrell
Relativity and the Afterlife: Is There
LIGHT After Death?
by Arlan Keith Andrews, Sr.
Hallucinations and Illusions
by Sue Blackmore
Shamanism
by Michael Baran
Loch Ness "Monster's" Fiftieth Birthday
Is Quietly Unobserved
by Joseph W. Zarzynski .
Traditions of Submen in Arctic and Subarctic
North America (concluded from previous issue) ,
by Ivan T. Sanderson
Symposium
A Cat Called Calico
by SabinaW. Sanderson

82

think.

SITUations

86

Books Reviewed
Letters to the Editors
The Notes of Charles Fort
Deciphered by Carl J. Pabst

89
92

The primary duty of educators should therefore

be to stimulate the pupil, of whatever age, to use
whatever' "brahls" he. or she has to comprehend
reality. The best w~y' to do this is to present them

94

(Continued on page 96)

50
54
56
59
61
64
67
70
72
73
75
78
79
80

The real trouble of course is that we don't have an

educational syst~m, in that we are still trying to teach
rather than edu'cate. Teaching is a technological process suitable oilly for imparting techniques; education is or should be a mental exercise, and not just to
encourage learning but to foster understanding. It
should be offered in three fundamental
aspects-simultaneously-ell the provision of factual information, (2) the principles and methodology
of classification, and (3) and most important of all,
the stimulus to cerebration. The last is defined by the
dictionary as: "Action of the brain, conscious or unconscious" (please note)-in other words, how to

Pursuit Vol. 16, No.2, Whole No. 62, Second Quarter 1983. Copyright 1983 by The Society for the Investigation of The Unexplained.ISSN 0033-468'.
No part of this periodical may be reproduced without the written consent of the Society. Robert C. Warth, Publisher; Frederick S. Wilson, Production
Editor; Martin Wiegler, Consulting Editor; Charles Berlitz, Research Editor and Oceanographic Consultant .. '
.

VAULTS OF TIME.
by Aadrew Paul Tf;t....

.\

Ancient Greeks believed that most. of their myths were disguised

history, and they were right. Heinrich Schliemann considered the
Iliad as 'a story of act:ual'events and found Troy. Arthur Evans took
the legend .of the Minotaur seriously and discovered the Mi.noan
civilization on the island of Crete. As the collective memory of the
. human race, legends often resound as echoes from the distant past.

A myth of antiquity declares that before their return to

the' stars, the divine civilizers of early m'ankind buried
treasures with the help of men; in order to mark,the whereabouts of their 'ti~e capsules,". they raised huge monuments. Modern scientific sPeculation has reached a
similar, conclusion. Dr. Frank Drake, an American
astronomer, said some 25 years ago it was possible that the
visitors from space could ~ave hidden artifacts under ar- .
cheological ruins. Dr. Matest Agrest, a Soviet physicist,
wrote: "We may.assu.me that ancient astronauts took
special care to preserve the evidence of their visit for the
benefit of future, more enlightened generations.
.

Legen:ds, of the "treasure of the gods" are

strangely similar in countries separated by vast
oceans or waDed-in by lofty mountain ranges.
Hindu folklore speaks of flying Nagas, the serpentgods. who live in underground palaces and whose deep
caverns' store fabulous treasures illuminated by flashing
precious stones. Tibetan Buddhists believe that some of
their sacred books had been kept in the Naga caves after
the death of the Buddha' and then released to the world.
Such is the old tradition of India and Tibet;
China is called the "Celestial Empire" because it was
founded by the Sons 'of Heaven who had arrived in a fiery
drasoo from the star Regulus. The ancient" books of China
,say tIlat there exists a community of statmen in the Kun '
Lun '~ountains in central Asia which is' ruled by Xi Wang
Mu. the goddess of the West. The companions of this
legendary queen are said to have the ability to travel to
faraway stars. A third-century Chinese scholar, Ko Yuan,
wrote that aU knowledge had come to mankind from the.
learned immortals of the Kun Lun; a huge underground
library is said to be in their possession on the border of
Chiila and Tibet.
.
During an expedition to central Asia, Nicholas Roerich
and his son, Dr. George Roerich, an orientalist, saw old
bQOks in Tibetan monasteries in the 19205 which had
descriptions of "iron serpents" that traveled in space and
carried dweUers of other worlds." The Roericlis also knew .
aoout a deep grotto under the Potala' Palacein Lhasa
which held artifacts of the sky gods. .
In, his Treasure 0/ the Snows. Nicholas Roerich.
describes crossing the Karakorum Pass. Pointing to the
rocky. ridge, his native guides said: "Deep down there are
:exteilsive underground: vaults and in them are gathered

treasures from the beginning of the world." Roerich

recorded Tibeta~ legends about tt;.easures buried in the
Himalayas by the servants of celestial visitors. In the same
book he wrote: ~Soine. have even seen the stone door
which has never. been opened becal,lse the date has 'not arrived." He added that mighty guardians protect the sacred
. caverns by waUs of fire which destroy all intruders.
Writing about the desert folklore of central Asia,
Helena Blavatsky found a similar reference to include in
her book The Secret Doctrine a century ago: "Built deep in
. the bowels of the earth, the subterranean stores are secure
and their entrances' are concealed; there is little fear that
anyone would discover them."
In his autobiography Beasts, Men and Gods, Ferdynand Osseildowski described his adventures in Mongolia in
the 19205. The lamas confided in him that the secret
galleries and crypts were flooded with a soft light; none but
the wisest.among them had the right to enter these tunnels.

Across the Pacific Ocean, far away from Asia,

we enCounter similar legends.
In Mexico there is a myth that Quetzalcoatl buried 52
golden tablets containing the history of the world up to the
time he became ruler of the Toltecs. When the Spanish
conquistadors heard the tale, they started searching for the
buried tablets, but neither they nor anyone else ever found
Quetzalcoa,tl's treasure.
.
'. Garcilasso de la Vega (1535-1616), a descendant of the
great Incas, wrote that the treasure of the Children of the
Sun lay buried in the Andes. The Spaniards left chronicles
. about crypts under Cuzco and SachsayhuaJIlan. They also
recorded an Indian legend describing an extensive system
of tunnels in Peru and Bolivia. British author Harold
Wilkins says that there are secret native societies in South
America which guard these galleries and vaults and their
hidden treasures, particularly the Golden Image of the Sun
wh.ich disappeared from Cuzco during the Conquest.
Aniong the arcliives of Cuzco is a parchment written by
Felipe de Pomares about Carlos Inca, descendant of an Inca emperOr. He had been insulted by his Spanish wife, who
loudly' proclaimed that he was "only a poor Indian." To
teach her a lesson, he. took her blindfolded one night to a
concealed vault under a Sachsayhuaman hill. There Carlos
removed the blindfold and in the light of his torch the
. Spanish lady saw gold statues of Inca kings and artistically
fashioned: jewelry displayed about the chamber ..

.SecoDd Quut8l' 1983 .

The chronicles of the conquistadors mention a vault

with a precious crystal which only kings and priests were
allowed to see. These writings assert that the crystal showed pictures of the past and the future.
Mme. Blavatsky, 'mentioned above, visited the Sun
Temple in Cuzco. She asserted that a map of the tunnels
and caves in Peru was in her possession at the' time she
wrote about her visit. It may be the same chart as the one
now said to be under the custodianship of the Theosophical Society in Adyar, India.
Erich von Daniken's Gold of the Gods describes th~
subterranean galleries discovered by Juan Moricz in
Ecuador. He alleged that they held metallic books containing the history of a vanished civilization. The walls and
ceilings of these vaults are finely polished, a fact which indicates that an advanced technology was used in their construction; details of the process or method are unknown.

In Babylonia, as elsewhere in the Middle East,

we find many legends. of the Vaul~' of Time ..
Sumerian sources state that their first kings were. survivors of the Great Flood, sent to the Near East by the sky
gods to rehabilitate the human race. The 4,700-year-old
Epic of Gilgamesh speaks about wise Gilgamesh .who
engraved on a stone the story of the Flood, including the
flight of the gods. into the sky as the waters rose.
Flavius Josephus, first-century Hebrew historian, wrote
that before the Deluge, the ancients. inscribed their scientific discoveries upon monuments. He indicated that one
of the monuments was in Syria. There actually is a :stone
structure in Lebanon which nevertheless could be 'the
monument of Flavius's report because Lebanon has
belonged to Syria during more than one period in the
history of that restless region. The monument is called
"Baalbek." The French scholar Count de Volnay wrote
about it in 1787. He said that Arab sources had told him
the gigantic stone slabs of the Baalbek pbitform had been
put in place only to protect the priceless .treasures in the
vaults below.
.
. Gnostic mystics produced a curi~us work in the se!=<?nd
century entitled The Book of the Cave of Treasures in
which the following passage appears: "In the time o( the
Flood, Noah took with him into the Ark books of hidden
mysteries. They were later placed in the Mountain, of ~ic
tories to the east of the country of Syria, in. a grotto."

Nowhere is the lore about secret vaults more

abundant than in the Land of the Nile.
The so-called Leiden Papyrus, dated to the first' century, was discovered in the tomb of an Egyptian priest and
sent to the Dutch city of Leiden, hence its name. The
papyrus spells out a ritual of initiation. Dedicated to
Osiris, the ancient document describes dark corridors and
an illuminated crypt with seven doors. The Greek historian
Herodotus, who wrote c. 450 B.C. a monumental survey
of the whole of mankind's history, stated that .the god
Osiris had appeared some 15,000 years before. hi~ time.
Herodotus borrowed his chronology from .the ':ijgyptian
priests, saying: "They claim' to be quite certain of these
dates for they have always kept a careful written record of
the passage of time." Herodotus wrote from experience:
he had been shown 345 statues of Egyptian high priests in
lineal succession beginning with the year 'II:,7951 B~ C..

Secoad' ,Quaite.. 1983

A Roman historian of the fourth century by the name

of Ammianus Marcellinus believed in the reality of secret
vaults in ancient Egypt, built to safeguard historical
records and artifacts. He claimed that the subterranean
passages and chambers had been constructed by men before the Flood to insure that vestiges of their civilization
"Would be preserved. The writings of Crantor" a Greek
comm!=ntator of Plaio (300 B.C.), speak of secret
monuments in Egypt which contained the history of Atlantis. He said that certain privileged Greeks, Solon and Plato
among them, had seen the monuments.
When the Arabs occupied Egypt in the seventh century
they encountered Copts, the descendants of ancient Egyptians; in the course of time, Arab scholars recorded many
'Coptic legends. The works of Masoudi, Makrlsi, Muterdi
and Biruni, who lived in the tenth century, are stiD in existence. So are the writings of ninth-century Arab
historians Ibn Hokim and Abou Balkh. These scholars
wrote extensively about prehistoric treasures. They also
,handed down a Cop~ic legend which bears quoting:
Three hundred years before the Great Flood a ruler
of Egypt, called Surid, had a strange vision of the
. whole earth turning over and the s~ars falling down.
The king assembled his 130 priests and asked them to
I
explain his. frightening dream. The chief priest. astronomer predicted a world cataclysm, whereupon
.. the king ordered that the three Giza Pyramids be
built in order to provide secret underground vaults.
He filled the vaults with all kinds of treasures as well
as written records about the sciences of astronomy,
mathematics and physics. According to Al Hokim,
some very unusual things were deposited-iron objects which did not rust and glass that could be bent.
(Were these rustless steel and plastics?) Mechanical
statues (robots?) were installed in every pyramid so
as to prevent anyone from' entering the concealed
storehouses. When everything was finished, the
priests "planted invisible spirits to guard the entrances fro~ intruders except those who, by. their
conduct, were worthy of admission."
Muterdi and other Arab writers narrate that explorers
of the Khufu Pyramid saw in its depths stone doors open
and close by themselves, and flashes of light in the' dark
corridors were' also observed. At the bottom of a 3OO-foot
well in Giza are three abandoned tunnels, one leading to
the Sphinx and the others in different directions. They are
heavily blocked with stones and sand. Dr. Egerton Sykes,
the famous Egyptologist who lived in Cairo for several
years, told me in London that the location of the tunnels
was well known but the cost of clearing them was prohibitive. In their present state they do itot add much to our
knowledge of the area and its monuments; but someday
they may provide invaluable links to the Vaults of Time.

Of special interest is the tradition of Rosicru.ci~~s ~nd Freemasons.

"
. : .. The Rosicrucian manifesto printed in Germany in 1614
and addressed "to the learned of Europe" recounts the
opening of the tomb of Christian Rosenkreuz. His
sepulcher had seven doors leading to storehouses; the vault
was brilliantly lit by an "artificial sun" in the ceili~ .. This
is ,strangely reminiscent. of ancient Egyptian texts about

.......1151

secret crypts, though written in language which the German .Rosicrucians could not have understQod in 1614;
the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics was not possible until well after 1799 when- the Rosetta Stone was
discovered.
In its rituals, FreeQlasonry maintains a tradition of an
underground crypt where priceless articles from a bygone
age are kept .. In 1789 Count Alessandro di Cagliostro was
arrested by the Inquisition for establishing an Egyptian
Rite Masonic lodge in Rome. He was thrown into a
dungeon where he died' six years later. Church officials
found among his effects a curious manuscript written in
French and attributed to another mystic, Count de St. Germain. When Napoleon Bonaparte took Rome in 1798, one
of his generals reclaimed the confiscated manuscript from
the Vatican; it was returned to French custody and is now
in the library at Troyes. The manuscript, full of allegories
and symbols, bears the name La Tres Sainte Trinosophie.
It arouses a suspicion that its author might have visited the
hidden' vault in Egypt. Section ~, marked with a symbolic
pyramid, states that a deep underground gallery led to a
round, .brightly lit hall with crystal walls.
In his Memoirs Count Cagliostro wrote about his
yoyage to Egypt: "I entered such places as no ordinary
traveler ever entered before." In the Trinosophfe
manuscript found in Cagliostro's possession at the time of
his arrest, there is an interesting description: "At last I
found a door that opened on a flight of stairs which I
descended. After a long march I came to a chamber in the
middle of which shone a crystal star."
The tradition of 18th-century secret societies conce~n
ing passages and rooms under the Pyramids was suitably
formulated by Christian Pitois who wrote under the name
P. Christian. He served in the French ministry of education in the reign of Napoleon III and was a scholar and
writer and a dignitary of the Rosicrucian lodge in Paris.
His book Histoire de la Magie was published in France in
1876; in colorful language it discloses information pertinent to our quest:
The Sphinx of Giza served as the entrance to the
sacred subterranean' chambers. This entrance,
. obstructed. in our' day by sands and rubbish, may still
be .traced between the forelegs of the crouched co. lossus. It was formerly closed by a bronze door
whose secret spring could be operated only by the
magi. In the belly of the Sphinx were cut out galleries
leading to the subterranean part of th.e Great
Pyramid.

The Druzes of Lebanon and Syria also preserve

knowledge about the secret vaults of Egypt.
Their doctrine teaches that mankind was created by the
Sons of God who came from the heavens. They revere.
Thoth-Hermes, the cosmic messenger. The Druzes have
coded books which only five initiated chiefs own and
understand. I have met two of. these learned men and heard
them speak perfect French, English and Arabic. Like the
Freemasons, the Druze initiates possess s,ecret recognition
signs and passwords.
In response to my questions as to the hidden treasuries
in Giza, the late Prince Kemal Joumblat replied that his
oath prevented him from discussing this great mystery.
Ho\y~er, he challenged me to disclose my own knowledge

.......,t52

and said he would stop'me if my information ,was wrong.

After listening calmly to what I had to say he added an important fact: In the course of centuries, he said, initiated
. Druzes had left their" sealls and signatures on the walls of
hidden galleries leading to the ancient crypt. The presence
of these graffiti suggested that the Druze chiefs had been
inside the subterranean passages. The anci~nt storehouse
would be opened 'before the end of this century, Joumblat
predicted. He did not deny that the Druzes, together with
other fraternities, were presently guarding the entrances to
the vaults.
.
In the collection of so-called Mahatma Letters, first
published in London in 1923, is one from a sage of the East
named Koot Humi, written to Alfred P. Sinnett, a British
journalist in India. The letter was written in 1882 at a time
when British troops 'occupied Egypt.' The Himalayan
master expressed apprehension about the British military
operations which could "invplve such local consequences
to the body of occultists still remaining there and to what
they are guarding; that two of our adepts are already there,
having joined some Druze brethren." (Quotation is from
Letter XV!.) Sinnett explairied the cause of this alarm in a
book, Selected Fruits of OcCUlt Teaching, published in
London about 60 years ago:
The purpos~ of the Gre;!t Pyramid was the protection
of some tangible o~jects of great imp9rtance having
to do with the occult mysteries. These were buried in
. the rock, it is said, and the pyramid was reared over
them, in form and magilitude being adapted to render it safe 'from the hazards 9f earthquake and from
the consequences of submergence. beneath the sea.
It appears that many remarkable incidents have taken
place in' the Khufu Pyramid .. On August 12, 1799
Napoleon Bonaparte, then only a general, went inside the
Great Pyramid and asked to be left alone in the King's
Chamber. After awhile he returned, obviously shaken, but
refused to explain what had happened. When Napoleon
became emperor in 1804 he confided to his close friends
that in the pyramid he had. received a revelation about his
destiny. Before his death in exile he almost"disclosed to a
companion what had actually taken place in the King's
Chamber but then changed his mind and said: "You'd
never believe it anyway."
.
In the 1930s two close friends"of mine, husband and
wife, saw a repetition of extraordinary happenings at the
Giza Pyramids like those reported by Arab writers a thousand years ago. Although both had given a .pledge of
secrecy in respect to the location of a secret entryWay near
the SphinX, they shared :with me a portion of their amazing
experience inside the monument.
My friend was an official of the International
Municipal Council of Shanghai, China, in 1933 when he
received his all-expense-paid, six months' vacation in
Europe-a fringe benefit accruing to European employees
every five years. He and his wife boarded a Erench ocean
liner in Shanghai and disembarked at Suez for a stopover
in Cairo. Informed of their affiliation with an esoteric
fraternity connected with the Egyptian Rite of Cagliostro,
an Egyptian initiate came to their hotel and took them to
the Sphinx late at night. There he opened a secret door and
led them' down a long underground corridor where. they
noticed a light in ~ the ~tance; As they approached,. the

. Secoad Quart.... 1983

light spread and took the shape of a luminous curtain,

blocking their further advance and indeed, any view of
what might lie beyond. They came to a hal~ in front of the
barrier and suddenly a succession of holographic scenes
from the past and of the future appeared as if projected by
an optical time-machine hidden behind the fiery curtain.
They observed scenes of the coming World War 11, six
years before its outbreak. This evidence of a superior
technology at work in that underground passage provoked
the question, Did Napoleon see similar pictures that prophesied his victorious campaigns and subsequent downfall
when he made
historic visit to the King's Chamber?
In his book The Great Pyramid, Tom Valentine relates
a curious story about Kirig Farouk of Egypt and an American colonel who was on "the staff of the U.S. military
attache in Cairo in 1945, near the end of World War H.
One evening, at a diplomatic reception, the king and the
colonel opened a conversation about Freemasonry. On the
spur of the moment, Farouk invited the American to take a
ride to the Sphinx. (It may be surmised that the officer had
been pledged to secrecy.) When they reached the Sphinx,
Farouk touched something on the monument and a slab
door opened. King and colonel descended into a passage
along which they proceeded to a 18,rge chamber where a tall
figure stood guard-apparently one of the robots mentioned by Arab. write!:s in the tenth century.
There are some blank spots in this story which 1 will try
to "fill in. The colonel was very likely an American
Freemason, while Farouk must have belonged to the
French-speaking Grand Orient Masonic Lodge which accepted Mohammedans. The lodge has been linked with the
Egyptian Rite of Cagliostro and the Rose Croix Fraternity,
both of which cherish the tradition of pyramid vaults.

his

There is on record another alleged discovery of a secret

storehouse in the Khufu Pyramid; it is attributed to the
eminent British archeologist Sir Flinders Petrie (1853-1942)
and an American biblical archeologist, John O .. Kiimaman
(1876-1961). Dr .. Kinnaman, who held both Ph.D. and
D.O. degrees, wrote a book titled Diggers for Facts in
which he described his archeological work in Egypt and
Palestine, some of it done in association with the great Sir
Flinders. Shortly before his death in Sacramento, California, Dr. Kinnaman confided his str~nge story to a local
teacher named Willi Semple:
It was during their exploration of the Great Pyramid in
1924 that Kinnaman and Petrie discovered by accident a
hidden vault which they entered through a gallery on the
south side of the pyramid and descended to a great depth
before reaching it. In Dr. Kinnaman's words, "It contained things yo~'d .never believe." In a lecture given some 25
years ago, he described some of the things they saw; an
anti-gravity machine and "thousands" of enigmatic
crystal prisms were the most sensational. The two ar.cheologists presumed that these artifacts had come from
the legendary empire of Atlantis which, according to
Plato, was destroyed by a geological. cataclysm some
12,000 years ago.
..
..
According to teacher-confidante Willi Semple, who
told the story in the July 1962 iss~e of the RoSicrucian
Digest, Sir Flinders and Dr .. Kinnaman decided not to
make their fantastic discovery public because "the world'
in general is not ready to understand and cope with this
knowledge, much less re!llly believe that it actualiy exists. "

Second Qaatter 1983

Admittedly, Semple's story can be questioned.

However, the decision of the two archeologists to seal their
lips can perhaps be explained by the tense situation in
Egypt, then occupied by British troops. Revelations about
an advanced civilization which had existed before the
legendary Flood could have been as upsetting to the
Islamic world as to the biblically oriented Anglo-Saxon
culture which Dr. Kinnaman and Sir Flinders represented.
Thousands of miles east of the Great Pyramid an even
greater natural pyramid towers above the clouds-Mount
Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas, third highest peak in the
world. In the Tibetan language, Kanchenjunga means "the
five treasuries of the great snow." It is suitably dedicated
to Lakshmi, the Indian goddess of treasures, who was
reputed to have descended on the mountain after her
celestial voyage. On the western side of this snow-capped
peak lies a valley with a lake. Located "somewhere near" a
cluster of houses with Chinese roofs there is a secret
underground museum which selected lama novitiates from
Himalayan monasteries are allowed to visit on rare occasions. It contains not only relief maps of vanished continents and skeletons of prehistoric giants but also texts
from another planet.

Now for the crucial question about the Vaults of

Time: Why were they built in the first place,
an~ for what purpose?
In the snowy Himalayas I received an answer which
seemed very logical. My oriental communicator said that
evolution follows a circular or spiral path and passes
through parallel situations in the course of cycles. This is
the law of eternal recurrence taught by the Buddha and
Pythagoras, and it is referenced in Hindu scriptures which
tell of a time when mankind had "a terrible bomb" that
shone "like a thousand suns." (In one of his articles,
atomic scientist Robert Oppenheimer referred. to this ancient nuclear weapon.) In Eastern folklore and sacred
books are many references to predecessors who destroyed
themselves by triggering ~ vast geological catastrophe. My
communicator declared that the opening of the Vaults of
Time would come during the prologue of a planetary crisis
as a stern warning: "What happened to that lost civilization, can also happen to you." But until exhibits froin a
bygone era .become visible on our TV screens, their reality
and message are likely to remain in the domain of ancient
tradition.

We have traveled a long way. from the Egyptian tomb

described in the Leiden Papyrus, the secret places mention- .
ed by Herodotus,.Flavius Josephus and Ammianus Marcellinus, and more recently by Arab scholars. The legends
of Maya priests watching the golden tablets of Quetzalcoatl, of the Naga serpents guarding the treasures of the
sky gods in the Himalayas, and of secret fraternities protecting the treasure of the Sphinx, immortalize the lore of
the Vaults of Time.
We ourselves have buried several time-capsules in this
century. In 1938 the Westinghouse capsule was sealed in
New York; it contained a.large number of microfilms. In
1940 at Oglethorpe College in Atlanta, books, I)ewsreels,
recordings and models were sealed within a "Crypt of
Civilization." The people of antiquity could have done the
same thing thousands of years ago.
~

Purau" 53

Physics of Short-Range Teleportation

by DaDiel Eden
N "Barrier Physics Notes" (Pursuit No. 61, First
Quarter 1983) I used two fundamental postulates to
set up a tentative model of higher space. An important
deduction from this model was that objects can "oscillate"
for a time, in and out of our world, by a process called
"barrier oscillation." The equation to characterize this
oscillation is:t

Actually, fb will not be the frequency value that we will

"measure" in our world. Instead, we will observe exactly
twice this amount. Why? Because a single barrier oscilladon of one cycle actually penetrates through die origin
(our world) two different times: "one" on the downstroke,
and "two" on the upstroke, so to speak.
. The frequency that we will actually measure I propose
to call the coining frequency~ fc' in deference to SITU
member Tom Bearden who has documented this effect in
his book Excalibur Briefing. In the book he shows several
photographs of UFOs that seem to be appearing and disappearing in rapid succession; he says "I often refer to this
type of action as coining, since it resembles a bright
quarter or nickel that is photographed by stroboscopic
light while rolling around."
.
The coining frequency is related to the barrier frequency as follows:
fc .= 2 fb
We must remember to utilize this conversion factor
whenever we wish to go from actual experimental data to
theoretical calculations.
. Barrier oscillation is a very important phenomenon
because it can give rise to a natural means for an object to
make short-range "skips" through seemingly solid walls or
other obstructions. When a.mass is barrier-oscillating and,
is aiso given a component of velocity directed toward a
wall, it will have a tendency to swerve around .the wall in
It can ~o this in such a way as to miss the wall com-

a...

-It may be necessary to add a Third Fundamenlal Postnlate to the first

two. This involves a restriction on the possible rotation states available to
a macroscopic mass moving in R... Such a restricti.on prevents mirrorinversion-rotations of large-scale objects. This postulate would act to
preserve the distinction between the left- and right-handed objects we see
in our world. That nature should inhibit certain rotational states on a
macroscopic level ~y seem absurd; however, such restrictions do occur
on the atomic level. For example, the direction of orbital angular momentum for electrons moving around the hydrogen atom takes on fixed
parameters when the atQm is exposed to an external magnetic field. To
call this space quantization is a pretentious way of saying that certain
directions of rotation are sometimes prohibited in nature ..
tActually, the barrier.frequency equation thatwe are using ign~r~sthe:'
slowing of oscillation that will be due to the "intrinsic friction" (second
FIUldameDIaI POItulate)in R... A possibly better approximation might be
the following:
fb =..1.
u
2"1T .
4(m)2
Heie "u" is the coefficient of friction and the frictional force is aSsumed
to be of the form: F(frictioDaJ) = u-v.
..

V:k~

pletely. In the following abstract diagram, imagine thanhe

x-axis is a one-dimensional world called Lineland. The
q-axis represents a higher space into which a onedimensional object is vibrating. The diagram traces the
path that the mass takes when it vibrates around a' onedimensional obstruction, or line segment, called /1x.
This diagram shows one complete barrier cycle, or a
trl,lcing that is exactly one-wavelength long. If you study
the diagram, you will be able to make a general observation that the wavelength A must be at least twice the
thickness of the obstruction. That is, A ? 2 e /1x.
Now, the wavelength of any wave is a function of both
the frequency (fb) as well as the speed (v) by which it.
travels. An equation that relates these factors is A = v/fb.
This gives us a way to estimate the minimum velocity that a
mass must have to penetrate any given wall thickness (/1x):
A= v/fb or equivalently, v = ~efb'
and, since A = 2 e /1x, then the minimum velocity is
v min.= 2 e /1x ef b or in coining frequency, Vmin= /1x efc'
.
.
Now if/we had some kind ofa general expression to
describe the motion of a mass when it oscillates around a
wall, then we 'would have an equation that. effectively
describes short-range teleportations. In fact, there is a
mathematically precise formalism to describe this motion.
It is simply the equl!otion of a sine wave. Thus, we can immediately. write the equation for a short-range .teleportation as follows:
q = A sin (2'TT x 4,

where, A = the "amplitude" into ~

X = the wavelength
<P =. a phase constant
In this equatiOt;l, the term "x" represents the distance
.along an imaginary straight line that should be drawn from
the object (when it is in our world) over to the wall, and
then on behind the wall. It is only when the oscillating
mass intersects with this imaginary line that we can observe
it. During most of its motion the mass will not be visible to
us because it will be displaced into higher space. The term
"q" represents this higher space, and the equation as a
whole actually traces out the path that the mass will take
both in our world and out of it.
lt is the series of intersections with our world that
causes the object to look like it is coining.;' Besides UFOs
which coin, another possible illustration of the effect is
given in Raymond Fowler's book The Andreasson Affair
(1979). In the book, abductee Betty Andreasson described
hQw some humanoids walked through her closed door in a
sort of slowed-down coining. She said that the creatures
moved in a "jerky motion, leaving a vapory image
behind. I I Betty drew a sketch of this phenomenon; it
shows a humanoid moving in exactly the manner predicted
by our teleportation model. By the way, assuming her
sketch is reasonably accurate, it bears witness that the
creature;s apparent wavelength was at least twice the

SecoDd Qaarter 1983

.....

....... .

1 WAVELENGTH = A

...........

X-AXIS

q = 0

- q =-A

thickness of the closed door. This, as we have already.

shown, is the minimum wavelength that would be needed
to penetrate such an obstruction.
I do not wish to intrude upon the issue of the "reality"
of the alleged humanoid events described; I seek only to
demonstrate as simply as possible the means by which this
model can make predictions. We can, if we wish, ignore all
humanoid and UFO-type cases and still find plenty of Fortean evidence to test the model.
One annoying technical snag .that I see in our equation
is the amplitude term "A" . How can we determine the
amplitude, or distance, that an object moves into higher
space if we cannot normally see it move in that direction?
Perhaps a trained OBE-er could help? Alternatively,let me
suggest a somewhat indirect method by which we can determine "A":
.
The total energy of the barrier oscillating system is the
sum of the kinetic plus potential energies, E = T + U(r).
Here we only consider the energy actually due to oscillation, not the energy associated with any translational motion (observable in our world). This will simplify the
physical argument. When the mass has extended its full
length into ~, then all of the energy will be in the form of
potential energy, thus:
E = U(r)max = ~k(qmax)2 = ~kA2 which means,

=~

f2E

VT

Here we have an equation that relates the total energy

of oscillation to the amplitude. N9w, if we could only
measure "E", then we would be able to calculate "A"
In fact, we can get a measure of "E" because.all of the
~~ergy of oscillation is, presumably, going to be turned

Second Quarter 1983

into waste heat (see my argument in "Barrier Physics

Notes") .. Therefore, by measuring the heat absorbed by
the mass, we will be able to determine the original total
energy "E" and thus "A".
Example Problem: Suppose a chunk of iron with a
mass of 1.0 kilogram (approximately 2.21 Ibs. "weight") is
subjected to barrier oscillation. Immediately after it has
returned to normal, we find that it has. been raised 10 C
above normal room temperature. Let us assume* that the
barrier constant "k" is given by K = 6.45 x lOS kg-Hz2.
What is the estimated total energy "E", and what is "A"?
Answer: The energy of oscillation, having been converted into waste heat, is given by E = met ,where m =
mass, c = specific heat (for iron, c = 0.11 cal/gC), and
t = the tempera~ure' increase:
E = (1000g) (0.11 cal/gC) (l0C) = 1100 calories
Or by using a conversion factor (1 calorie = 45
kg-ft2_Hzl), we find that E = 4.95 x 1()4 kg-ft2_Hz2. If we
plug this value into our amplitude equation, we have:
A ="l /2.(4.95) x 104 kg-ft2..Hz2)
V 6".45 x lOS kg-Hz2
= 0.39 feet
= 4.7 inches
. From this demonstration calculation we can see that the
displacement into ~ may not be very large. This is fortunate, because large os<;iIlations are less weD approx-.
imated by our equations than are the smaller ones, due to
the "small displacement" assumption that was used to
(Continued on page 58)
*The value that I give for "k" should not be taken too seriously. It is the
result of some crude estimations based on imperfect data. It is included
here only to illustrate the Calculational procedure to find "A"

Pu,..'S5

Space Law
, After reading George Andrews' article "The E.T. Law" iil Pursuit No~ 61 (First
Quarter 1983), pp. IO-ll, SITU member Gene Kelch sent a photocopy to his Congressman, Rep. Lawrence Coughlin, 13th DistriCt, Pennsylvania. "Mr. Coughlin
responded as follows:
"Enclosed is information" from the Library of Congress which I trust will
your questions in this regard. As you will note, there is no federal
law making it illegal to have contact with extraterrestrial entities. However, "
there is a regulation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) governing certain extraterrestrial exposures. This regulation is
explained in detail in the attached m~terial."
~nsw.er

"

"

The attachments consisted of a staff report submitted January 27, 1983 by the
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress," with a copy of the NASA
regulation appended. The ,report and the regulation are reprinted here in full, ~nd
SITU thanks Mr. Kelch, Rep. Coughlin, and Daniel Hill Zafren who wrote the
report, for a, most helpful contribution to our thinking. - The editors

Contact with Extraterrestrial Life:

Some Legal Considerations
by Daniel Hill Zafren
Specialist in American Public Law
Congressional Research Service
The library of Congress

It would be presumptuous for modern man to assume

that in this infinite vastness of the cosmos, the homo sa- "
piens on Earth were" the only manifestation of intelligent
life. Of course, "our present technological methods and
scientific tools seem vastly inadequate to permit any direct
conta."ct with extrasolar civilizations. However, for the
generations to' come who will be able to advance" far
beyond,the present destinations of our spacecraft or the
reaches oftoday's lasers and radiotelescopes, the discovery
of such life is highly probable and will. be an extremely
fascinating and challenging task. I "
As space technology 'advances, scientific interest and
examination increases as to the possibility of encountering
nonhuman intelligent beings. Popular curiosity has been
" aroused by the recent hit movie "E.T." Certain commentators on the law of outer space have recognized for a
number of years that whether in the discussion or decisions
on the legal status of celestial hodies or otherwise, such
eventualjty will represent Ic;:gal issues as well as other"
problems. 2 " fact, there is one outstanding present legal
issue -Which is' of itself quite fasCinating and related to law
ill general and to other areas of technology, Should laws be
fashioned to meet a future possibility before it happens
when Circumstances may be speculative? Should laws be
mad~ t9 control or otherwise regulate new technology
before that techn~rogy',becomes developed to a point when

In"

"/..

. '.

. I p.

.......
1'56
'f."'"
"

I.

""."

111'

.:

.,

Washington, D,C,
2054;0

it is known or can be predicted witl:t reasonable assuredness

what it does, can do, and ~ho or what "will be affect~d"by
it?

There is diverse opinion by space law obs,ervers on an
answer concerning contacts with extraterrestrial life. Some
indicate that if in the course of space research extraterrestrial inhabitants are met, some adquate interplanetary
law should be considered, but that at the present time such
a philosophy of law is in a remote domain and" therefore
premature,J One has even stated: "The science of space
law renders a disservice to its own credit by including
"speculative conditions in its subject matter. Our legal relations with cosmic beings are Utopian questions, .. (Law)
is a social reality based on technical, economic and social
foundations; therefore the science of law should be engaged with actual facts, real social' phenomena, and nofhave
recourse to the world of science fiction. "4 On the other
hand, others believe that law as a social science must be
kept parallel to the natural science recognition of the
possibility of other forms of cosmic life, and that if such
other life is" discovered without prior thought to such a
legal problem then we are faced with the woefully inadequate choice of proceeding with no rules or guide, or simp-"
Iy extending existing rules. 5 The legal thOUght that seems"to
have the most support in this direction is the development
of "metalaw", which is based on a humanitarian concept
Second Quarter -1983

with the following basic premise: "We must do upon

others as they would have done unto them. To treat others
as we would desire to be treated might well mean their
destruction. We must treat them as they desire to be
treated: "6 This "metalaw" concept has been given booklength treatment. 7 Recognizing certain initial problems
such as contact not being made with the extraterrestrial life
itself but with some mechanical or robot emissary, or
through telecommunication, criteria are fashioned for
characteristics to which metalaw can apply-life, intelligence, detecta~i1ity, three-dimensionality, and a will to
live-eleven specific rules are proposed:
1. No partner of metalaw may demand an impossibility ..
2. No rule of metalaw must be complied with when
compliance would result in the practical suicide of
the obligated race.
3. All intelligent races of the universe have in principle
equal rights and values.
4. Every partner of metalaw has the right of selfdetermination.
5. Any act which causes harm to another race must be
avoided.
.
6. Every race is entitled to its own living space.
7. Every .race has the right to defend itself against any
har~f... 1 act performed by another race.
8. The principle of preserving one race has priority over
.
the deveiopment of another race.
9. In case of damage, the dama:ger m,ust restore the
integrity of the damaged party.
10. Metalegal agreements and treaties must be kept.
11. To help the' other race by one's own activities is not a
legal but a basic ethical principle.
If some form of extraterrestrial life "visits" the United
States, such would be subject to the territorial jurisdiction
of the United States. Any person or object that enters such
jurisdiction is within potential legal control by the United
States. Thus, depending on the particular facts and circumstances, any number of federal laws and regulations

might be applicable concerning such physical presence.

Presumably, such a "visitor" would also have the benefit
of the protection of those laws as well as would any alien
visiting the United States, including relevant constitutional
rights. Theoretically, some laws of those States in which
the "v~sitor" or its transport is present may. also be potentially applicable.
The only federal measure that specifically pertains to
some aspect of extraterrestrial life is a regulation of the
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
governing certain extraterrestrial exposures, and which is
set forth in Part 1211 of Title 14 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (set forth as an Appendix to this paper).
Basically, it provides for authority to impose quarantines
in the event that a NASA manned or unmanned space mission returns from contact with the atmosphere of a
celestial body and carries back to Earth some form of life
or matter as a result of that exposure. A criminal penalty is
set forth for a violation of any such imposed quarantine.
The regulation would not appear to cover an instance
where a life form "visits" here on a mission of its own.
Some interesting international legal questions might
arise in the event of such a "visit." For example; would it
.be an activity concerned with the use and exploration of
outer space so as to make applicable any relevant provisions of space law treaties to which the United States is a
party? In any case, what obligations ~ould the United
States have in affording other nations access to the visitor
'or participating in the contact with that visitor, or sharing
the .results of such a meeting?
REFERENCES
. I. Wernher von Braun, in "Foreword" to E. Fasan, Relalions wilh Alien
Intelligences (1970), p. 7: .
2. For a synopsis of some authors' ideas on this theoretical problem, see
G. Gal, Space Law (1969), pp. 202-204.
3. N. M. Matte, Aerospace Law (1969), p. 354.
4. G. Gal, Space Law (1969), p. 205.
5. A. G .. Haley, Space Law and Government (1963), pp. 409, 413-414.
6. Ibid., p. 395.
7. E. Fasan, Relations with Alien Intelligences (1970).

---------------------------------APPENDIX--------------------------------PART 1111- EXTRATERRESTRIAL EXPOSURE

Sec.
1211.100 Scope.
1211.101 Applicability.
1211.102 Definitions.
1211.103 Authority.
1211.104 Policy.
1211.105 Relationship with De
partments of Health, Educa
tion, and Welfare and
Agriculture.
1211.106 Cooperation with
States, territories, and
possessions.
1211.107 Court or other process.
1211.108 Violations.
Authority: Secs. 203, 304, 72
Stat. 429, 433; 42 U.S.C. 2455,
2456,2473; 18 U.S.C. 799; Art. IX,
TIAS 6347 (18 UST 2416).
Source: 34 FR 11975, July 16,
1969, unless otherwise noted.
1211.100 Scope.

This pan establishes:

Secoad Quarter 1983

(d) "Quarantine period" means a

period of consecutive calendar days
as may be established in accordance
with 1211.104(a).
(e) "United States" means the 50
States, the District of Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,
the Virgin Islands, Guam,
American Samoa and any other ter
ritory of the United States, and in a
territorial sense' all places and
waters subject to the jurisdiction of
the United States.
1211.101

Applicability.
The provisions of this part apply
to all NASA manned and unmann
ed space missions which land on or
come within the atmospheric
envelope of a celestial body and
return to the Earth.
1211.102

Definitions.
(a) "NASA" and the "Administrator" mean, respectively the
National Aeronautics and Space

Administration and th'e Admin

istrator of the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration or his
authorized representative (see
1204.59 of this chapter).
(b) "Extraterrestrially exposed"
means the state or COlldition of any
person, property, animal or other
form of life or matter whatever,
who or which has:
(1) Touched directly or come
within the atmospheric envelope of
any other celestial body; or
(2) Touched directly or been in
c1qse proximity to (or been exposed
indirectly to) any person, property,
animal or other form of life or mat
ter who or which has been extrater
restrially exposed by virtue of
paragraph (b)(I) of this ,section ..
1211.103.

Authority.
(a) Sections 203 and 304 of the
National Aeronautics and Space
Act of 1958, as amended (42 U.S.C.
2473, 2455 and ~56). .

(b) 18 U.S.C 799.

(c) Article IX, Outer Space Treaty, TI:AS 6347 (18 UST 2416).
(d) NASA Management Instructions 1052.90 and 8020.13.
1211.104

Policy.
.(a) Adminislrative actions. The
Administrator or his designee as
authorized by 1204.509 of this
chapter shall in his discretion:
(I) Determine the beginning and
duration of a quarantine period
with respect to any space mission;
the quarantine period as it applies
to various life forms will be an
nounced.
(2) Designate in writing quaran
. tine officers to exercise quarantine
authority. .
(3) Determine that a particular
person, property, animal, or other
form of life or mailer whatever is
extraterrestrially exposed and
quarantine such person, property,
animal, or other form of life

Purau S7

whatever. The quarantine may be

Receiving Laboratory Quarantine 1211.105 Relationship with
Actions taken in accordance with
based only on a determination, with
Station.
the provisions of this part shall be
Departments of Health, Educaor without the benefit of a hearing,
(2) Other quarantine stations
tion, and Welfare and .
exercised in cooperation with the
that there is probable cause to
may be established if determined
applicable authority of' any State,
Agriculture.
believe that such person, property,
necessary as provided in paragraph
(a) If either the Department of 'territory, possession or any political
animal or other form of life or
(a)(4) of this section.
subdivision thereof.
Health,.Education, and Welfare or
matter whatever is extraterrestrially
(3) During any period of anthe Department of Agriculture exexposed.'
nounced quarantine, no person ercises its authority to quarantine
1211.107 Court or other
(4)' Determine within the United
shall enter or depan from the limits an extraterrestrially' exposed perprocess . .
States or within vessels or vehicles
of any quarantine station without
(a) NASA officers and employees
son, property, anim~l or other form
of the United States the place,
permission of the. cognizant NASA of life or matter whatever, NASA
are prohibited from discharging
boundaries, and rules of operation
quarantine officer. During such w ill , . except as provided in
from the limits of a quarantine
of necessary quarantine stations.
period, the P.osted perimeter of a
paragraph (c) of this section, not
station, any quarantined person,
(5) Provide for guard services by
quarantine station shall be secured
property, animal or other form of
exercise the authority to quarantine
contract or otherwise, as may' be
by armed guard.
life or matter whatever during im
that same person, propeny, animal,
necessary, to maintain security and
(4) Any person who enters the or other form of life or matter
announced . quarantine period in
inviolability of quarantine sta.tions
limits of ,my quarantine station
whatever. In such cases, NASA will, compliance with a subpoena, show
.and quarantined persons, property,
during the quarantine period shall
offer to these departments. the use . cause of any court or other authorianimals, or other form of life or
be deemed to have consented to the
of the Lumir Receiving Laboratory . ty without the pri~r approval of the
matter whatever.
quarantine of his person if it is
General 'Counsel and the AdQuarantine Station and such other
. (6) Provide for the subsistence,
determined that he is or has become
service, equipment, personnel and
nunistrator.
health, . and welfare of persons extraterrestrially exposed.
. (b) Where approval to disch'arge
facilities as may be necessary to enquarantined under the provisions of
(5) At the earliest practicable
a quarantined person, property,
sure an effective quarantine.
this part.
. ' time, each person who is quarantin. (b) If "either the Department of. animal or o.ther form of life or mat(7) Hold such hearings at such
ed by NASA shall be given a' Health, Education, and Welfare or . ter whatever in compliance with
times, in such manner and for such
reasonable opportunity to comsuch a request, order or demand of
the Department of Agriculture expurposes as may be desirable or municate by telephone with legal
ercises its quarantine authority,
any court or other authority is not
necessary under this part, including counselor' other persons of his
given, the person to whom it is
NASA shall exercise the authority
hearings for the purpose of creating choice.
to quarantine an extraterrestrially
directed shall, if possible, appear in
a record. for use in making any
exposed person, propeny, animal
court or before the other authority
For
example,
if
person
or
.
thing
determination unde'r this part or for
and respectfully. state his inability
or other form of life or matter
" A" touches the surface of the
the' purpose of reviewing any such
to comply, relying for his action
.. whatever. In such cases, NASA will
Moon;
and
on
"A's"
return
to
the
determination.
inform these departments of such , upon this 1211.107.
Eanh,
"S"
touches
"A"
and
(8) Cooperate with the Departquarantine action and, in addition,
ment of Health, Education, and . subsequently, "C" touches "S,"
1211.108 Violations, : .
may request the use of such service,
Welfare and the Department of all of these-"A" through "C" inequipment, .personnel and facilities
. Whoever willfully violates, at-Agriculture in aci:ordance with the clusive-would be extraterrestrially
of other Federal departments and
tempts to violate,' or conspi.res to
exposed ("A" and "S" directly;
provisions of 1211.105.
agencies as may be necessary to en- . violate any provision of this part or
"C" indirectly).
(9) Take such other actions as
sure an effective quarantine.' .
'any regulation or order issued
may be prl.!dent or necessary and
(c) "Quarantine" means. the
(c) NASA shall quarantine
under this pan or of any quarantine
which are consist~nt with this part.
detention, examination 'and decon- . NASA aStronauts and other NASA
station in disregard of the quaran(b) Quarantine. (I) During any tamination of any person, properpersonnel as determined necessary
tine rules or regulations or without
period of announced quarantine, . ty, animal or other form of life or
and all NASA property involved in
permission of the NASA quaranthe property within the poste.d
mailer whatever that is extraterany' space mission.
. . tine officer shall be fined not more
. perimeter of the Lunar Receiving
restrially exposed, and includes the
than $5,000 or imprisoned not more
'Labora'tory at the Manned apprehension or seizure of such
1211.106 Cooperation with
than one year, or both (18 U.S.C.
Spacecraft Center, Houston, Tex.,
person, property, animal or other
States, territories and
799) ..
~ designated as tl;!e NASA Lunar
form of life or matter whatever.
possessions.

Physics of Short~Range Teleportation

(Continued from page 55)'

derive the original. force equation (referred to in "Barrier

. .. '
.
Physics Notes").
An interesting feature of thi$ displacement is that it
'holds for every atom in 'the 'chunk of iron. When the mass'
gets displaced there should be nothing of it left for us to
see. Even a tiny displacement of a three-dimensional object
into ~ completely hides it from our view. Similarly, .even a
small displacement of the object can allow it to teleport
through an obstruction if it has enough speed.
If .large displacement into lt$ seems to be involved in a
particular case, then 'we should probably seek a better approximation of the barrier-force equation than I have
uti~d. At this point it may he up to experimentalists

(Forteans, presumably) to determine the range over which

the present equations seem valid.
It will be some time before we can have any real confidence that equations involving higher space are describing reality. The very nature of the "evidence" suggests that
it would tend to be excluded by mainline scientific publications. You are not likely to find Scientific American
describing the temperature increase in poltergeist stones,
or Nature magazine seriously considering the Betty
Andreasson abduction. As skeptical but open-minded Forteans, we may have scored an iinportant "advance"
beyond the conventional-science media. I say, let's run
with the data, and make a go of it! . ~

The editorial office of Pursuit is being moved this' fall from its present location to Montclair, N~
Jersey. After November 15, manuscripts; photographs, newsclips, book reviews and other\ contents, including "letters to the editors," should be addressed as:follows iftheyare to be considered
for pUblication in Pursuit:
' .
Fred Wilson, P.O. Box 1895, Montclair, NJ 07042 USA
All other mail, such as changes of address, library orders, po.stal errors; back issue requests,
gift 'membe~ships and donations, shoulti continue . .!~ be ~~~t .to SIJ.Y/~l!~.~U~!,
. .. .. ~ ,' ... , rrenewa!s
-P.O. Box'265, Little Silver, NJ 07739 USA.'
.
.'
'"
., r .. '..
-'
..... ' ..

". Important
'. Notice!
..

1 "

P.N.'tS8

'SecoDd Qaut8l' -1983

Now You See It

by Sarah Fit7,larrald

F I were a fanciful person, I might

Itache
say that my grandfather's muscup is sitting there on the shelf
behind the glass doors of the china
closet, mocking me. But there have
been too many science and economics
classes in my life to lend myself.-to
very much fantasy.
However, what happened to the cup
defies everythip,g that is now known
about the natural order of things, and
I would not blame anyone for not
believing it. Even my good husband,
Mac, still balks at accepting the facts.
And how can we explain the disappearance or"the cup from our house in
Arkansas and its subsequent r~ap
pearance in my sister's home in
Phoenix, Arizona? We can't; yet It
happened.
. .
To begin with, the china closet is actually a curio cabinet. Built into the
wall, its four large shelves hold a wild~
ly assorted collection of memorabilia-objects with more sentimental
value than monetary worth. Also
among the clutter is my grandfather's
mortar and pestle and the small
balances he used to weigh the herbs
and chemicals he ground into medicines while he was a practicing
physican after the Civil War. He died
in 1887 when my mother was not quite
three years old, so she could tell us little about him except that he was a
doctor.

My sister Mary is my fraternal twin.

and she and her husband David have
lived in Phoenix for several years.
There has been some controversial research on identical twins, but psychOlogists seem to be in general agreement
about fraternal twins and say they Iq'e
siblings who just happen to be born at
the same time.
Although Mary and I can attest to a
rather unusual closeness. that goes
beyond the typical sibling re~ation
ship,. neither of us has ever .taken
psychic phenomena as seriously as
some people do. We accept what we
have, and it is really no big deal. At
one time we conducted some amllteurish experiments in telepathy, but the

SecoDd Quarte.. 1983

results were more disappoin~ing than

spectacular.
Several years ago, I tried to reach
Mary by telephone one weekend, but
she and David travel rather extensively and I realized after the third tryon
a Friday evening that they were not at
home. All day Saturday and Sunday
morning I thought about them and
continued to dial their number, Each
time I let the phone ring awhile, thinking, "Mary, wherever you are, answer
_ your phone."
Sunday afternoon when our phone
rang, I spoke into the mouthpiece
even before I had the receiver clasped
. to my ear: "Hello, Mary."
She was in a public phone booth in
San Francisco and said she knew I had
been trying to reach her, but this was
the first opportunity sh~ had had to
get back to me.
Except for a few episodes such as
this and some events which are no
more coincidental with us than with
other members ofthe human race, we
are not very psychic~ I can find water
with a dowsing stick (if that is
psychic), and Mary lays claim to an
out-of-body experience (more about
this later).

. When our mother died in 1964,

Maiy a,nd I and our brother shared the
things she had left. That is how I acquired the mustache cup and the other
curios. The cup has been around a
long time and I am often asked to
"show it" because most visitors to
our house are immediately attracted
by the curio cabinet.
We grew up in a small town in western Oklahoma, and every spring during Memorial Day weekend the town
plays host to our high school aluIIini
association's "convention." It is always nice for me and Mac to go and
meet Mary and David there and visit
with them. We had attended sever~ of
the alumni meetings befor.e 1978 when
the weird series of events began.
During the Christmas holidays of
that year we had overnight guests
from Minnesota. Our daughter lived
. there the~ and the visiting young

couple and their four children were

friends of hers (and ours).
Mac romped and played with the
youngsters while I showed off the
"goodies" in the curio cabinet to
young Mike and his wife, Penny.
Mike was proud of his heavy beard
and mustache and he picked up the
cup, held it to his lips and remarked,
"Wow, Penny! Just what I need!"

After the holidays were over, and

sometime in early January of 1979, I
took what I can only call "a real
housecleaning fit." I thought it would
be a good idea to take an inventory of
the things in the curio cabinet and
mark each item with its origin and.
date for the benefit of our children
who might someday wonder where all
the things came from. It was not until
the seCond day of this tedious chore
that I missed the mustache cup. It was
nowhere to be found.
Mac's immediate response was that
Mary and David had gotten it when
they were last here. I had told her that
she was welcome to any of our
mother's things. but I knew she had
not asked for. or taken, the cup. After
much diligent thinking back, I remembered that their last visit to our hou~
was in 1975-for the past four years .
we had done our visiting only at the
alumni reunions.
Mac persisted, however. and suggested that I write to Mary and ask
whether she had the cup. I knew from
.the letter I received in reply that she .
was rather miffed. She asked. quite
pointedly what had happened to the
mustache cup. I called her and assured
her that I would be only too delighted
if it were safely in her possession.
After moping around a few days I put
the cup out of my mind. except when I
glanced at the shelf where it was
always kept.
We went back to the hometown for
the alumni meeting in the spring of
1979. and I recall it was a good year.
Mary and I talked about the cup and
wondered who might have taken it.
More than the usual number of graduates from our class attended this re-

runult59

union. The gracious classmates who

still lived in the area outdid themselves
in giving parties and luncheons.
At one party, as the women were
visiting in the living room and the men
had found refuge in the den, one of
our classmates told about an out-ofbody experience when she had "nearly
died on the operating table" the year
before. She related that after she had
regained consciousness from the
anesthesia, she told her doctor about
"floating" above the scene and
repeated some of the conversation she
had heard between him and the other
doctors and the nurses, during the
surgery. Her doctor merely shook his
head and said that wasn't the first
time he had heard such a story.
It was, however, the first time at
one of our conventions that the conversation had ventured into the realm
of the unusual and unexplained. Thus
encouraged, my sister then told about
her out-of-body experience, and it was
a surprise to me since I too was hearing the story for the first time.
Just as she was dozing off for a nap
one afternoon, said Mary, she found
herself in Paris, France, where she
saw and heard a man and his wife engaged in an ordinary conversation.
(I did not think to ask if they were
speaking French; Mary does not speak
French!)
I remember thinking, "Everybody
wants to be psychic!", and as quickly
as 1 could, I steered the conversation
away fromout-of-body experiences. I
had the feeling that Mary was making
a face at me mentally-the same kind
of face we used to make at each other
as children.
After the alumni meeting we return-
ed to our respective homes and kept in
touch as usual by letters and telephone
calls.

Some weeks afterward a young

woman dropped by who had visited us
before and had seen the mustache
cup. She not only remembered it but
described it and reminded me that she
had scolded her twelve-year-old
daughter for picking it up.
In September, (1979) I visited our
daughter and her family in Minnesota. I called our young friend Penny
and asked her if she or her husband
remembered seeing the cup when they
visited us during the Christmas
holidays. "Yes," she said. "Don't

P .....'t60

you remember Mike holding it to his

lips and saying it was just what he
needed?" She further described it in
detail.
, Another Christmas came and went,
and early in 1980 (I can't recall the exact date) Mary called from Phoenix.
"Light a candle," she said.
"Why?" I asked.
She laughed and said, "You should
ask forgiveness for all the mean things
you have thought about whoever
might have taken the mustache cup."
She added, "We have the cup."
She said she found it wrapped up in
a Fort Smith newspaper and lying on
top of some things in a box in the
closet. At that moment we were so
pleased it had been found that the .
strangeness of the disappearancel
reappearance did not immediately get
thrQugh to us. Much later that night 'I
startled Mac awake by suddenly sitting straight up in bed and saying,
"She can't have Grandpa's mustache
cup! It's impossible!" By this time
Mac had just about had it with the
cup, so he mumbled something and
.
went back to sleep.
I called Mary the next evening and
asked her about the date on the Fort
Smith newspaper. Sh~ told me calmly
that she had already thrown it away.
Mary holds a record for "neat and
clean;" discarding the pap~r was normal for her, but it was a jolt to us both
when we realized she had destroyed
the only clue to when it all happened.
If only we knew!
"Do you remember. ever taking the
cup from- our house?" l asked.
"No," she replied. "If you recall,
you offered it to me, but I would not
even take it in my hands because I
thought l might drop it and break it. "
I teased her then and told her she
might have come and gotten it'during
another out-of-body experience. I ad- .
ded that I wished, the next time it
happened, she would at least wake me
so we could have some coffee together.
She and David kept the cup until
the next alumni meeting in the spring
of 1980. They were not abou.t to send
that mustache cup with all its hocuspocus through the mail. They wrapped it in tissue paper, put it in a heavy
cardboard carton and sealed the carton with strQng tape. When we were
together again they gave me the car. ton. I opened it, held the cup in my
hands, and turned rather cold all over.
I was seeing it, but I still could not

believe it. The reaction from Mac and

David was noncommital courtesyand who could blame them, with their
logical minds?

A few .months later, Mac and I

received another small shock. The
high-school classmate who had related
her out-of-body experience duriitg
surgery stopped by to see us. I told her
about the cup while Mac listened in.
She countered with a story about her
silver pocket knife that had been a gift
from a friend.
'She was driving alone to western
Oklahoma where her parents lived, to
be with her mother and h~lp out during an aunt's terminal illness; Enroute, she used the pocket knife to
peelherself an orap-ge. When she got
.to her destination, she left her car at a
garage for Ii maintenance check and
unthinkingly left the knife on top of
the dashboard. When she later realized what she had .done, she borrowed
her mother's car arid rushed back to
the garage, but the knife was gone. .
Several months after that, she said,
she decided to sell a house she owned
in a .small town in northern Arkansas.
She had lived in the house briefly at
one ti~e and later rented it for income. There were some old trunks
stored in the attic and as she was
cleaning them out, she found her
silver pocket knife in an old p1,lrse in
one of the trunks. She had not been
inside the, house for 'two or three
years, and she knew she had stored the
trunks in the attic much longer ago
than that.
There is always a temptation to
. jump to conclusions and read things
into events which are just not there.
But the thought occurs to me occasionally, when I look at Grandfather's
mustache cup" what a weird coincidence it is that two people who related
out-of-body experiences should also
be involved in disappearancel
reappearance phenomena.
Mary and David are not the real
names of my sister and her husband.
They are very private people, and
when I suggested one time that we
send our story about Grandpa's
mustache cup to the television show
"That's Incredible!", Mary cheerfully announced that she might commit
mayhem.
~:~.I'.:.

Sec~.d Quan...

i9.3

More Claes

in the
Search
for
Ancient
Aqaanaats
by Hany L.b.ISOB
N the previous article I mentioned
IMarcel
two French anthropologists,
Griaule and Germaine
Dieterlin, who suggested the possibility of prehistoric visitations to the
Dogon tribe in Male, West Africa, by
intelligent, amphibious extraterrestrial beings. These creatures,
known as "Nommanes," were the
equivalent of the Sumerian/Babylonian "Oannes, " legendary fishlike beings somewhat resembling men.
Recent research has uncovered additional documentation which indicates
these cultures were not alone in experiencing alien contact.
.
In his book Spacemen In The Ancient East, W. Raymond Drake
draws evidence in support of these
contentions from Tibet's Sacred
Books of Dzyan, in which the Lhas of
the High (known as the Dragons of
Wisdom), interacted with men who
had fish-like bodies. Tibetan history,
veiled in myth and legend, describes
the Lhas as ancient Asiatic "spirits"
who built the Celestfal City of Lhasa.
The Lhasa of legend was located on a
mysterious island in central Asia; it
was inhabited by the "Sons of God"
who worked magic and dominated
Earth and Sky with wonders.
The ancient aquanaut theme persists amid much contemporary specNeville Spearman, London, 1968.

Second Quarter 1983

ulation about" the possibility of extraterrestrial visitations by reptilian

creatures. In an article titled "Life in
Darwin's Universe," in the September
1979 issue of Omni magazine, author
. Gene Bylinsky tried, through a combination of biological and physiolog. ical methods, to examine the probabilities and improbabilities of the appearance that alien beings are likely to
take. Among his conclusions: "If reptiles became a planet's dominant life
form, there is no reason why they
could not" develop superior brains."
The famous Early Patterson enco~nter of October 17, 1973 involved
much more than the ex-Vietnam
pilot's description of a "thing" about
15 to 20 feet high, "shaped like a
saucer and a coffee cup" which he
said "filled up the highway from one
side to the other and was hanging off
the shoulder on both sides" of Rt. 82
near Eupora, Mississippi. Thousands
of reports more or less like his have
zapped across the airwaves and pulsed
the world's phone lines periodically
during three decades. What gave Patterson's sighting special significance
was a second "thing" that "came out
of the top" after the first "thing"
landed: a creature about 6'3" tall that
"looked like a catfish" from the waist
up, had two arms with two hands that
"looked like fish or seal fins" -and it
had webbed feet! Most remarkable of
all was the "one big eye in the center
of the head" which, as Patterson put
it, "glowed like a flashlight."
On a summer night in June 1970,
tractor-trailer driver Chuck Henderson experienced a somewhat sim~lar
phenomenon. Henderson and his
friend, Walter' Harlock, both of Clinton, Iowa, were walking early one
evening in a field known as Bulger's
Hollow, close by the Mississippi River
some four or five miles north of town,
when they encountered a six-foot-tall
humanoid creature.
"We had a head-on confrontation
after the being walked up the riverbank and stood facing us at a distance
of about ten feet," said Henderson.
The creature had a large head with
glowing red eyes and a slit for a
mouth. It was broad-shouldered, had
dark, dull-gray skin of a scaly nature
Early Patterson described his encounter in
detail in a taped interview with station manager
Jack King at radio station WROB, West Point,
Mississippi, a few hours after the sighting. A
verbatim transcript of the tape was published in
Pursuit No. 58, Second Quarter 1982, page 61.

A sequel to Harry Lebelson's

article "The Search for Ancient
Aquanauts," published in Pursuit No. 58, Second Quarter
1982, pages 57-61.
and appeared to weigh about 250
pounds. The creature stood facing the
two startled men for approximately
one minute, after which time it scampered down the embankment and disappeared into a wooded area along
the river. Althou,gh no UFO was seen
at the time of the encounter, reports
of UFO activity had been circulating
in the vicinity of Clinton for at least
five yeats.
Petrified Forest National Park,
which encompasses 93,493 acres of
desert badlands in northern Arizona,
is an apparently inexhaustible store-

From a distance of 10 feet the creature's

eyes seemed: to "glow."

Punu',61

house of new knowledge for paleontologists. During the summer of 1982

a team headed by Robert Long of the
University of California, Berkeley,'
.discovered three species of fossilized '
animal skeletons from the Triassic
~riod previously unknown to science.
One of the species was the Placerias, a
mammal-like creature about the size,
of an adult rhinoceros. It had huge
tusks, probably traveled in herds and
is believed to be the largest planteating reptile ever to roam the
Petrified Forest. Most notable were
the creature's three eyes, one of which
was conjectured to be a light-sensing
organ located in the middle. of its
forehead. Whether the third eye had
reflective qualities or "glowed like a
flasJtlight" as did the one big eye seen
by Early Patterson, we will never
know; the tissue of Placerias's eye
dessicated eons ago. When asked to
speculate, paleontologist Long
replied: "I hesitate to guess the prop
erties of the third eye of the Placerias.
The delicate quality of its fossil pieces
makes evaluation slow.~'
.Biologists conjecture that highly intelligent, land-dwelling life-forms
would possess a body shape with
many humanoid features. regardless
of th~ basic evolutionary stock. In his
article "Probing the Cosmic Haystack" in the Canadian magazine
Equinox. scientist Terence Dickinson
reasons that a. certain similarity
should be evident among these lifeforms because of the strong chemical
and biological evidence for lifemolecules everywhere in the universe
being substantially the same size as
life-molecules on Earth. He argues:
."This is simply the best utilization of
the key connecting-element carbon.
which is the required link for life as we
know it." Dickinson also believes that
for a being to operate on land. there
seems to be no effective alternative to
Paired. jointed legs and arms; muscles
cannot be fully effective without an
anchoring framework.
. The late biologist Robert Bieri
thought that intelligence requ,ired a
.certain siZe. He believed -that an
animal must have a sufficiently large
body to support a large brain. Small
,brains, he said,. as evident in earthly
creatures, do not have the brain connections necessary for abstract
reasoning. He also notes that the location of the central nervous system and
~Qiiot~ by Terence Dickinson

look: It looked like a honeycomb effect with a spider web going all'
through it. It had all sharp-cut corners
like a beehive effect allover." His
description closely matches one given
by Oscar Magocsi. a Canadian electronics technician .who encountered a
UFO while on vacation in 1975. He
observed the pearl-gray honeycomb
pattern throughout the craft and said
it looked more like fiberglass than
metal.
.
.
Do fish-like reptilian-type creatures
really exist? Are there hig~y in-
telligent. amphibious. extraterrestrial
beings here today. with. sophisticated
vehicles made of honeycomb-sandwich core material like that used in
Modeled head of the Placerlas showing
such
military aircraft as the Navy's
the "third eye" centered In forehead.
F-14? Or are the ancient myths and re- .
the main sensory organs close to the cent eyewitness accounts of alien
brain has been the logical pattern of. . visitations the recycled product of
development for all higher forms of overcharged imaginations? Could the
life on Earth; he sees an evolutionary . fish-like creature witnessed by Early
advantage in hav~ng a .head with the Patterson have been a visiting
important things placed in it.
counterpart of an earthly crewman
Another recurrent question :posed dressed in protective gear?
by the Early Patterson report and
other well-documented sightings has
to do with the honeycombed structilral design of the UFO. Patterson
said: .. It appeared to have ~ funny
"

".

Members of a nuclear acddent control

team dressed In protective sear for a
training ~erdse at Fort Ord, CaUfornla.

:.' .. :.> :;,. <.

Formerly described as exotic, flberg\ass and
other new-age substances are now formulated, fabricated and applied to maximize
heat-loss from critical outside surfaces of air
and space vehicles. Phot~ above shows .
honeycomb core of heat-resistant phenolic
(HRP) fiberglass being removed from uncured
adhesive. This type of fiberglass protects as It
ventilates the sensitive electronic equipment
Inside the nose radome ofRiost heavy aircraft,
.
Including the F14.

Wlj,s the vehicle from which the

creature emerged perhaps a prototype
U.S. military aircraft. forced by some
(classified) malfunction to abort its
test mission and make an emergency
landing on a Mississippi highway?
It may be just as well that answers
to these questions seem likely to
develop slowly. We need. ti~e .to
ponder a suggestion from astronomer
Robert Jastrow: "If in fact extraterrestrials do exist. perhaps occasionally
they might look in on Earth to. glimpse
the latest tribal squabble and wonder
when we will emerge to seek our place
in the galactic. community. ". ..
S.~Dd

Qaut_ 1983

If extraterrestrials happened to glimpse a U.S.

Navy F14 from below, they might well shudder
at the latent deadly power apparent in the six
missiles slung underside. But suppose the "eyes
In the skies," If there are any, happened to
focus downward. A topside view of the Grum
man "Tomcat" would reveal something that
must by now be entirely familiar to all oc
cupants of the nearby universe: the honeycomb
pattern and "peculiar skin" of UFOs. which
have been consistently noted in a variety of en
counters by credible eyewitnesses. Drawing
shows placement and patterns of skin materials
on F14 topside.

fi~~.~n:;.}\:;."./ ';:'!,' ". '.'

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:~:

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'

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,

,'"

"
~

:'

: :.

.m

TITANIUM

BORONEPOXY STRUCTURE

1%]

HONEYCOMB CORE
J J

Secoad Quarter 1983

.'

l ..

PuN.ltA

Nialla.ra

Fisla/alls
.......,-

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~Y

Dwight Whalen

N June 30, 1819, a fish fell from the sky onto Main
O
Street, Buffalo, New York, near the Phoenix Coffee House. It was.a l3-inch herring weighing nine ounces.
Many people reported seeing the fish at a height of 20 feet
before it struck the ground.
"A bird must have dropped it."
"Someone tossed it ov~r arooftop."
"A whirlwind or waterspout must have swept it out of
Lake Erie."
... That Buffalo-bombing fish conceivably could be explained by anyone of these possibilities-or none of them.
.The p~enomenon of fish and frogs falling from the sky in
various quantities, usually during a heavy thunderstorm, is
well-authenticated the world over. But it is still not well
understood. Some attribute fishfalls to the action of
whirlwinds. Passing over ponds, streams, rivers, or lakes,
The notes and books of Charles Fort are replete with references to ~'fish .
falls" and "frog falls" which he found numerously reported during the
first half of the 19th century. An example is the February 19, 1830 fish
fall near Feridpoor, India, soberly recounted in two scientific journals of
the time; some 90 years later the reports were noted and excerpted by
Charles Fort. These excerpts are included in the segment of Fort's Notes
published in this issue, page 95, last column. -Ed.

PUr" 64 .

----

their violent tornadic force can suck up fish shoaling near

the surface and deposit them on land, according to this
hypothesis.
Plausible as this explanation sounds, it raises hard questions for Forteans: Why do fish and frogs usually fall
without associated items of their environment-mud, pebbles, weeds, shells, etc.? Why are the fish nearly always
small ones, and the frogs only thumb-nail size? Why are
the fish usually o.ne specific kind only, with an occasional
"red herring" thrown in?
In searching out reports of Fortean phenomena on the
Niagara Peninsula and in western New York state I have
scanned over 100 years of Niagara Falls newspapers. Many
baffling reports turned up, but they all pivot on one
historic fact: lands that lie along the Niagara River and
nearby Lake Erie and Lake Ontario have been repeatedly
bombarded with rainfalls of fish.
Could this be explained, I've wondered, in terms of a
southwest wind pattern whereby whirlwinds and waterspouts, vacuuming fish from Lake Erie, would deposit
them inland along the Niagara River? 1 have read of
waterspouts on eastern Lake Erie and have one old record
on file of a waterspout spinning down the upper Niagara.

Second Quarter 1983

But none of these were seen to scatter fish through the air.
For some bewildering reason, as the following chronology will show, Niagara is a corner of the world
historically favored for fishfalls. Perhaps the strangest
feature of all is that from 1937 through 1940 fish rained
down along lands bordering the Niagara River each year,
never falling much more than a mile from shore, and
usually landing a lot closer. That's pretty accurate
shooting for whirlwinds!
Prominent among the fish falls and possible frogfalls
listed here are two locations within New, York state but
outside the Niagara region-Canandaigua, about, 100
miles east of Niagara, and Ithaca, about 50 miles further in
a southeasterly direction'. .I have included their reports
because of the reasonable proximity of these localities to
"The Honeymoon Capital of the World" (or should it not
also be called "The Fishfall Capital of the World"?).

1859

"The Canandaigua Messenger is responsible

for the following story," said the Niagara
Falls Gazette, August 9: "A fish six inches in length was
shown us yesterday, by Thomas M. Howell, Esq., which
was seen to fall from the clouds during a shower on Mon- ,
day. That the fish came down, Mr ..Howell knows, but
how it came up there who can tell? We have heard of frogs
and worms coming from the clouds, and small fish even,
but chubs six inches in length exceeds anything we ever
heard of!"

1879

A rainfall 'of fish occurred at Stonebridge,

Ontario, an old settlement near the shore of
Lake Erie. The Weiland Tribune reported: "This appears
to be an age of wonders and the latest that has taken place
here was a rain of little fishes, about the 15th of April.
Several were found alive in temporary puddles along the
roadside which connect with no stream whatever where
fish exist. One little fellow about two inches in length was
placed in a glass jar at Mrs. Whiteman's Hotel, where it is
still alive and apparently enjoying itself, the water being
changed daily.
"To make it more certain that these fishes did not come
from the canal or lake or any adjacent water, the specimen
at Mrs. Whiteman's is wholly unlike any fish known to
residents of the place. Old 'salts' and others have examined
it, but cannot give it a name, and it is commonly called 'the
Stonebridge fish.' It has a number of spines like little,pins
along the back which it erects and depresses at pleasure.
There is no fin connecting them, and when erected they
look like little swords standing in a row."

1900

Dr. E. W. Gudger, a noted authority on rains

of fish and frogs, wrote in a-January 1929 article, "More Rains of Fishes" (The Annals and Magazine of
Natural History, Ser. 10, Vol. 3), of minnows found on a
Buffalo street after a heavy downpour:
"Mr. Bailey Williams, of 5 West 125th Street, New
York City, wrote me in July 1922 that after a'hard shower
in the summer of 1900 he and his boy companions found
fishes in the puddles at the intersection C?f Barthel and
Genesee Streets, Buffalo, New York. These fishes were so
abundan~ that ' ... we boys dashed excitedly about at th.e
close of the shower gathering the little fish in tin cans from
the puddles in the asphalt.' These w~re fishes of a kind well
known to the boys as being found in a creek not far
away."

Second Quarter 1983

190 1

"All Ithaca is suffering from a frog pest after

the recent heavy rains," reported the Cataract
Journal, July 8. "The frogs have appeared in great
numbers. The ground in the vicinity of Penwick Park is
covered with them.
"A train which left for Auburn late Saturday night had
difficulty in working its way'through the myriads which
appeared on the track which became so slippery from the
ones killed that the wheels would not take hold of the rails.
"Traffic on a branch of the Ithaca street railway line
on Stewart Avenue has been impeded and thousands of the
frogs appeared in the vacant lots of the Fiske-McGraw
mansion.
"The little animals have invaded houses and destroyed
many of the gardens of the residents of the lower part of
the city. It is difficult to proceed on walks in that vicinity.
>"It is thought that the frogs came d~wn during the
heavy rains of Saturday. Another explanation is that they
have come from the swamps south of Renwick. As a result
of the wet season, many pools are left in that vicinity,
affording opportunities for the breeding of tadpoles."

1902

" 'Was Lockport visited by a shower of frogs

this morning?' asks the Union-Sun of Saturday." The Niagara Falls Gazette reiterated, March 31:
"Wherever they came from, the sidewalks and streets
abounded in frogs after the heaviest downpour of rain this
forenoon. Aristophanes wrote of 'The Clouds' and 'The
Frogs/but did not connect the two in the relationship of
source and supply. There were clouds and showers this
morning and after them a deluge of frogs. In the popular
mind, s.howers of frogs from the clouds are not unusual.
"Will Lerch of the Staats newsroom fou,nd three large
frogs this morning on the stone sidewalk in front of the
Hodge Opera House. In other parts of the city frogs were
reported in large numbers. Mr. Lerch called the attention
of a Union-Sun man to the frogs on the Market Street
sidewalk. They were not the bull frog, but the marsh frog,
rana palustris, which is sometimes called the grass frog or
leopard frog because of its spotted body. This variety
clings especially close to vegetation, but hundreds of
specimens were found on the hard pavement this morning,
blocks away from a spear of grass."

1927.

Following a thunderstorm on the night of July

13, Frank Hagar of Almond Street, St.
Catherines, Ontario, was amazed to find a number of fish
sprinkled about his backyard.
"The fish were not large but were visible nevertheless, "
reported the St. Catherines Standard. "One perch measured nearly four inches in length. How they got there is
not known beyond the supposition that they descended
from the rains during the night."

1933

A downpour on the morning of May 24 had

just expired. From his shanty at the Portage
Road railway crossing, Niagara Falls, New York, flagman
John Fornadellooked out the window to see if the rain had
damaged his tomato plants. On the ground beside the
shanty he was surprised to find 14 little fish. Scattered in
groups of three, three, and eight~ they were chubs ranging
from two to three inches long. Some were dead, as if killed
in falling, some were alive.
There was no brook, pond, or any other body of water
within a half mile of the railroad crossing that might have

Pursu't 65

serv.ed as their habitat. No one saw them fall from the sky,
but none of the minnows had been hooked and no one saw
anybody place them by the shanty. Fornadel fed them to
his c~t.

1937

Following a night thunderstorm, May 28, Fort

Erie, Ontario, residents were puzzled next
morning to find several acres of farmland on Bertie Road
dotted with minnows. The place was more than a mile
from the Niagara River and a little farther from Lake Erie.
.Local fishermen claimed that minnows sometimes rained
dO,wR along the fringes of Lake Erie during sun-showers.
The Batavia paily News of October 6 reported the story
of Mr. and Mrs. James P. O'Donnell, who said they
witnessed a shower of tiny frogs in a storm near Clarendon, New York, the previous evening while driving to
Anthony Sobo's farm.
, "I thought there were leaves coming down witlt the rain
at first," -Mr. O'Donnell told the News. "Then 1 could see
the frogs hopping around on the road."
,"I .thought they .were frogs," said Mrs. O'Donnell,
"but 1 knew Jim would tell me 1 was cra,zy if 1 said
anything about it. Neither c;me of. us said anything about
frogs until we got to the farm a:nd Mr. Saba ... asked us if
we had ever seen it rain frogs before." . '
The News asked Mr. O'Donnell if he could explain the
frog sbower. .'
"Sure," he replied, "that's easy' enough. They are
drawn up when the sun draws water. I've seen snakes and
worms on the ground that had b~en drawn. up in just
that way."
.
The same night the frogs rained on the O'Donnells,
"hordes of jumping frogs startled and surprised many
motorists on No. 20 Highway between Allanburg and
FonthiU, Ontario," reported the Niagara Falls Evening
Review. "According to reports .of motorists, thousands of
frogs filled the highway, and the hundreds killed by cars
made driving precarious. Those .who understand frogs
declare that the unusual scene was perhaps caused by the
fall migration to deeper water for the winter." The following night more rain and more highway-hopping frogs were
reported from various parts of the peninsulll,..

"No longer is it correct to say, 'It's raining

cats and dogs,''' said the Niagara.Falls Ev~n
tog Reyiew, .February 16. "What you sbould .say is, 'It's
raining fish.' The fact is, it did rain fish here during the
heavy rain storm the first of the week according to Mrs.
James Hardy, of Leader Lane, near River Road, who
claims she found seventeen minnows on her lawn, which
she is sure came with the rain.
"The fishes were between two and three inches long,
and. apPeared not to have been handled. Their silvery
scales shone just as if they had been taken from the water.
~he placed some of them in a "owl of water, but none
revived.
.
'''I'm sure they came down with the rain,' declared
Mrs. Hardy, 'because they were not on my lawn prior to
th,e storm.' Where the fishes origitlally c~me. (rolIlj still. remains a mystery, but it is quite apparent they did come
during the rain storm."
.
On the morning of June II, farmworkers in Queenston,
Ontario, found thousands of fish, from two to three inches
long, strewn about the orchaJ,"d of Colonel Harold C.
Sheppard. A heavy rain had fa:llen the night before. M,any

1938

Pu"'.'t66

. of the fish were .lodged .in the branches of fruit trees. A

hundred were found alive. Next .day, Doubting Thomases
came from miles around to see the evidence for themselves.
'Someone recalled thai'a numbe~ of people had reported a
fish fall near St~ Cather~nes "several years ago."
.
. 'By the strangest coincidence, less than 48 hours before
the Queenston .minfiow. shower another Niagara fish'
phenomenon had' been seen in the Niagara River below the
American and Horeshoe Fails .. Jack Cowie, a fireman on
the Maid of the Mist tour' boats, reported seeing an extraordinary creature in'the river on the morning of June 9.
As the Maid chugged' past the Ca've of the Winds, CQwie
said he saw a huge fish," H) or 12 feet long, leap out of the
water. An unidentified passenger saw it, too; .
Cowie:: told the Niagara Falls Evening Review, "Ii certainly did not look like anything I have ever seen at the end
of a lin~."
"
.
.
.
It was spotted again a few. days later, according to the
Review of June '14:
. ' ..
"Yesterday an official of the Mai"d of the Mist Com~
pany was rewarded after a long vigil, .by seeing the fish, if
fish it be, splash abo~i in the water of 'Big Eddy' near the
Maid of the Mist landing'. Several other people also saw the
threshing of the water and ran to the river's edge, but 'the
water :hecame'calm aile;! the 'thing' did not put in another
. appearance."
..
.
Great Lakes sturgeon of up to seven feet long have been
verified, but 'nothing 'like" the monster Cowie claimed he
..'
.
.
. glimpsed.
In an early evening thunderstorm at Buffalo,
September 29,. hundreds of minnows poured
from the sky onto lower Main Street; opposite the Lehigh
Valley Railroad termiiull. Frank Thompson, a porter at the
terminal, said the fish'covered the street from curb to curb.
He scooped up a handful for proof. The rest were soon
ground into slime under the 'wheels of passing cars.

1939

1940

Finally,. afier. two' years of intensive target

pra,ctice, the fish hit the bull's-eye. A shower
of minnows fell ~n parkland directly opposite the thundering Niagara Falls cataracts~ The Niagara Falls Evening
Review, July 29: "A fr~akish incident which accompanied
the tempestuous ra~n' storm last Thursday m.orning was
told .,by park poli<;e. today. After the storm? accordi~g to
their .story, the v.icinity near the arch entrance to Queen
Victoria Park was literally covered with a ~mall species of
fish, which apparently fell with the violent downfall of
rain .. Park road, crews were"called outto clean the fish from
. the road."
With these" fish. falling within sight of the 'majestic
American and Horseshoe Falls; was some kind of "need"
at.last satisfied? 'Permit" nie'a flight of fancy. I have pored
through 75" of the' Niagara Falls Evening Review from
"1940 to. 1960 without .rmding another reported' fishfall. It is
almost as if falling at the' Falls was what these creatures
were attempting all the while. For years fish fell near, far,
up and down ~long the leJ:lgth pf the Niagara River, never
quite landing at the wondrous cataracts. Once they dido,
they' seem to have stopped falling in the Niagara region
altogether. Like tourists who for years longed to visit the
Falls, they finally succeeded and were satisfied. There was
no urgent need to return...
.
.
.. ~ut return theydid~of( target, as usu~l~tPoqg4 not

SeCoR .Quliner. ,1983

The Ultimate
Cover-Up

Whatever happened to Ufology-you 'remember that

often mystical neo-science which flourished some years
back when the skies and the newspapers were cluttered
with Unidentified Flying Objects? Was Ufology, as John
Keel has suggested, killed o(f by Hollywood in a surfeit of
special-effect products such as "E.T.," "Hangar 18" and
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind?" Did Ufology, as
Keel has also suggested, commit suiciqe by allowing so
many of its house organs to decline and die? Or was
Ufology just a vivid dream that failed to come true-after
30 years or more, did its fair-weather friends finally tire of
waiting at the White House lawn for the promised extraterrestrial landing, turn their backs and head quietly for
home?
Ufology is still alive, but not well. Ufology w~an oppprtunity given to us, but most of us failed to understand
that and failed to put The UFO E~per.ience into its proper
perspective in a larger panorama. We failed to grasp .the
opportunity even though The UFO Experience was changed for us. during its tenure on Earth, its content being
deep~ned dramatically from those siIllple fly-:over days of
the late 1940s into the extraordinarily complex abduction
cases of recent years, as if to club us over the head, screaming "It's so obvious! Think about this, you .dolts!"
Ufology was handicapped, to be sure, by.the rise of the
hoaxers, the rise of the space-brother mystics; the rise of
the debunkers, the rise of personaiity clashes within the
UFO community: But most of all, Ufology was doomed
from the beginning because of the humancondition, bringing to mind Walt Kelly's famotls,bull's-eye,:"We have niet
the enemy and he is us." It is we who have fumbled the
ball. But, this was a nearly inevitable outcome. We had
been sent out onto the field by our coaches, not having
been told the rules of the game, or to whose team' we
belonged, or who owned" the franchise and what his principles might be, and not even who invented the game or
who thought of any of this in the first place! .
And not'
coincidentally~ as
. This smacks of a Cover-Up.
.
. .

Ufology wanes, the "Larsen File" and "Critique" herald

the waxing of the next opportunity being given to us: The
Age of Conspiracy. Here is your chance to leap into the advance ranks of conspiracy study. For when you finish this
article you will possess an advantage which first-generation
Ufologists did not enjoy: the panoramic view needed to
put this "Son of Ufology" into proper perspective. .
. It is important for us not to waste time focusing on
minor or insignificant conspiracies such- as U.S. and
. foreign. government UFO cover-ups, CIA-KGB games,.
Hollow Earth and pole-shift conspiracies, or even such old
favorites as Watergate and the Kennedy assassination.
These are actually red herrings, in effect representing the
workings of a far more ominous mechanism embracing a.
master conspiracy: the Conspiracy to Keep Us Human.
This is the heart of the matter. The minor conspiracies
keep us occupied, sometimes for centuries, and are designed to prevent us from detecting and recognizing the nature
of the Ultimate Conspiracy. Virtually all of our everyday
conspiracies ma,y be dismissed as being relatively unworthy
of our concentrated attention; if they are of the human-tohUma,n variety, .such as a Roswell-type cover-up or a
Watergate, then move on to bigger game. It is far more
enlfghtening. to determine the parameters of the great nonhuman-to-human conspiracy. To do this will mean that for
the first time in your life you willlJe using your eyes to see
and your ears to hear.
.
It is quite difficult to grasp the concept of the Ultimate
Conspiracy. This is because all things within our
3-dimensional environment have been put here for human
consumption. The first of several word-pictures to be
employed in this article may help to clarify: we are enclosed in a~ egg whose interior has been completely silvered.
No matter in which direction we look, we see ourselves
"(humanity) reflected back upon us. We assume we are
secure. We marvel at the harmony apparent in all
things-the "balance of nature." We become experts in
various disciplines and skills, learning all the rules,
developing degrees of authority which allow us to lead and
command the respect of the less-expert, while at the saine
time respecting and believing the authority of those who
are expert in areas in which we are not. This we call
"civilization," based on our utilization of all the things in
our 3-dimensional environment. This permits our egg to
glide relatively smoothly through time and space, for the
egg is not allowed to wobble too dangerously. True,
countless numbers die in wars, famines, accidents,
murders, natural catastrophes and the like-but then, such
events are part ofthe Conspiracy-coacts of God," our experts in human-to-divine relations sometimes call tbem.
We sometimes meditate on the seeming unfairness of
life-and then doze off for another night's rest, for we
must be fresh for tomorrow's day at the office, factory or

by much, considering it may have been their first visit in

., . '" c. .
thirty-eight years:

Mountain l{.oad. area, but no one reported any twisters

tQuc~ing down.
.

A rippiitg gale struck -Niagara Falls, liN iY .:,

Something causes fish to rain. from the heavens.

Something must explain why tlle phenomenon has occurred in and around Niagara ~o persistently for over ISO
ye~rs. Who knows? Maybe the beautiful Falls of Niagara
is one of the world's unnatural wonders.

by Robert C. Glral'd
(Disclaimer No.1) This is a message.Jts content does not
originate with the writer, nor does the writer know if the .
message (which was a seed planted within him two years
ago under unusual circumstances) .represents a seedling, a
well-rooted sapling or a mighty oak. T~e writ~r has only
recently come to understand and to accept the fact that he
was intended to communicate it, find now. - !he Editor

1978

1 ,.

June 12, uprooting tree~ and :knocking down

power lines. In its aftermath, John Baltzly of Van
Rensselaer Avenue found 20 little fish in his yard.
'There must have been a twister or something, " he told
the Niagara Falls Gazette. .
.
A funnel-shaped cloud had been s~otted 'in the Upper

.eco.d Quarter 1983

I.

farm. This is our frame. of reference; it is all we know, and

we "can't" do anything about it.
Our word-picture has more: In addition to the silvered
egg and all the things it contains for our use, we are maintained in a hypnotic trance-condition. We would quickly
tire if things didn't constantly change. Our interest must be
kept up. We must have our "thrill-quotienC' filled and
refilled. Our experts help some, by introdl,lcing a steady
flow of innovations, improvements' and inventions' into
our environment by discovering new ways in which to rearrange the things (right down to the atoms) which are here
for Qur use. Our advertising people, P-R representatives
and politicians create the needs and desires in us to want
and need these things. We take. the things seriously. We
come to like them. They are worth "working" for. We
rarely, if ever, trouble ourselves to ask: "Where;s all of
this evolution coming from?"
We create some of it, but the really important impetus
comes from outside the egg. Each of us is a combination of
transmitter and receiver. We are constantly beaming impulses ("Tulpa"-a word not to be found in my huge
Webster's International, perhaps. for good reason) outward, throughout the 3-dimensional environment (which is
porous to certain radiations) and beyond. O~ce r~leased
from our psyches, these impulses acquire an existence of
their own and even go on to create Tulpa-children, each
bearing the mark. of their original creator. We create
Tulpas day and night, consCiously and unconsciously. We
also receive these impulses from all sides and dimensions,
and we sometimes are impelled to act upon them. It goes
something like this: in a June 26, 1983 newspaper story
concerning the sacking of the deputy editor of the Vatican
newspaper after he had published a story saying that" ...
Polish labor leader Lech Walesa was politically finished"
even as the Pope was still in Poland, the following appeared: "The Vatican official said (Rev. Virgilio) Levi was
not in Poland for the trip and the official said he could
'not imagine' what prompted Levi, who had been the
newspaper's deputy director since 1972, to 'write such an
article 'without knowing exactly what went on in
Poland. '"
.
If you are using your eyes to see and your ears to hear,
your daily newspaper will reveal many such incidents.
These Tulpas are the link between human and between
human'and non-human. They are the mechanism through
which the Ultimate Conspiracy is maintained, reinforced
and changed constantly for us. A human-to-human Tulpa
will be roughly limited to 3-dimensional affairs within the
egg. But a non-human-(or other-dimensional)to-human
Tulpa may introduce a "mutation" within the societal
egg-an externally introduced change forward, backward
or sideways.
.
What is the origin, for example, of Legionnaire's
Disease or AIDS? Where was acid rain in the year 1928,
when the smokestack industries truly lived up to the name
and countless thousands of steam locomotives belched
clouds of coal-smoke into the atmosphere?'Why does the
era of vulcanism seem to be building up inthe CaliforniaOregon-Washington area-possibly on a scale making the
eruption of Krakatoa seem as harmless as the eruption of a
pimple on an adolescent's face? On the other hand, why
have certain cold-war tensions relaxed somewhat in recent
years? What caused the 1982 gypsy moth invasion in the
northeastern U.S. to suddenly cure itself? Why was the

Purs.'t 68

winter of 1982-83 so benevolent (or at least mercifully nonwintry) in the northeastern U.S.? Man is not responsible
per se for these large-scale mutation-events within the egg.
Rather, it is a push-pull proc'ess, in which tensions are
alternately thrust upon us or relieved on a macrocosmic to
microcosmic scale, as if a virtuoso pupeteer with 10,000
hands controlling 50,000 strings is performing, forcing our
egg-society to rivet its attention on the illusion while failing
. to notice at all the virtuosity of the manipulation. Under
our carefully prepared ethic we are quick to seize on these
mutations and to capitalize on them by finding new arrangements among the things which are here for our use.
Not only does it behoove us to reflect on this process, but
we had better damn well be able to distinguish among different Tulpas and be able to recognize them for what they
are or are not. One's very survival is at stake!
The Tulpa-process may be considered a "connection:"
Most connections are human-to-human, the kind we are
most likely to act upon, and are designed to maintain and
promote the status-quo within the egg. Others-a few-are
designed to introduce mutations into society, to prevent us
from stagnating. But there is another class of Tulpa, also
originating from beyond the egg, which is designed to provide surreptitious clues from which we may arrive at the
Truth if we are astute and careful observers. Some of the
Tulpas reach us in the 'form of .. phenomena .... Our
primary interest lies with these, for our purpose'here is to
focus on concepts which will lead to our greater understanding and advantage. The most important aspect of a
Tulpa is this: it is made in supreme confidence. It is a connection very like the one we make when we entrust a valued
friend with an important secret.
Another word-picture: one day a stray dog 'appears in
your backyard. There is no direct communication between
you and the dog-the levels of understanding are different-yet a kind of bond is struck immediately. You
know from the dog's appearance-filthy, flea-bitten, with
its ribs showing-that it is in need, and therefore you bring
it a generous platter of table scraps. The next day the dog
comes back, and this time you give it a meal, a bath and a
flea collar to boot. A few more days of this and the dog is
much improved dver its former condition. You, however,
remain disinterested, in the sense that you do not relate
directly to this member of another species/level of existence, nor do you trouble yourself about what the dog.
does or where he goes after his visit. Perhaps you are not in
the market for a house pet just now. But one day' you see
the dog coming again-this time bringing ten other hungry
strays with him .. It seems he has told his associates about
the wonderful phenomenon-the connection-which has
befallen him. What is your reaction then? You chase them
all away, or call the dog-catcher; none are welcome at your
door from that day on. The dog proved to be his own
worst enemy. He told. He betrayed a supreme confidence,
meant only for him.
We egg-dwellers do the same. We tell. In fact, the entire
b04y of UFO-Fortean-cryptozoological-paranormallitera- .
ture is nothing less than a sad record of broken connections, of things that might have been, had the percipients
and the authors not been S9 foolish as to reveal too much.
Any phenomenon, be it a ghost, a vivid dream, a
Bigfoot sighting or a UFO, q~alifies as a connection. It
does not fit into our carefully controlled 3-dimensional
environment;. it violates our physical laws and ou'r underI

Second Quarter 1983

standing. Some humans experience many of these events

("psychics," we call them), while others have become so
deafened to these impulses' that they virtually never
undergo any (such persons often go on to become
"debunkers"). We may think of a phenomenon as Square
1. But because we are hypnotized to concentrate on the illusion rather than on the manipulation in the Conspiracy
To Keep Us Human, we are conditioned with the overwhelming urge to report a phenomenon to our fellow
human. Re-Iive your own "paranormal experiences."
When you awoke from an intense dream,' did you not tell
your spouse or a close friend as soon as possible? When
you spotted that UFO, didn't you 'run to'tell someoneanyone? And that puma in the garden ... ? In effect, you
brought those ten stray dogs to your benefactor's door,
and at that moment your benefactor shooed you away in
disgust, for good. You never made it past Square 1, nor
will you make it b~yond it when the next connection is
made if you continue to react like that. Your co~ditioning
nipped a threat to the Ultimate Conspiracy in the bud.
If you would attempt to reach S'quare 2 and b~yond
(which you certainly can do), you must begin to investigate. The true investigator will not reveal his discoveries prematurely, knowing that his connections are vital to
his quest for greater understanding-and possibly, to
greater advantage over his fellow human. He knows the
consequences of betraying a supreme confidence: back to,
Square It
'
It is an excruciating ordeal to overcome that terribly
urgent need to "share" a paranormal experience. This is
because you have been conditioned to struggle against the
"impossible," that which will mark you with the stigma of
"weirdness," that which will set you apart from your peers
in the egg. You feet as if you will go mad if you do not
report a possibly prophetic dream or a UFO abduction.
You do not realize it, but you have been conditioned to
seek the attention of your fellow egg-dweller. This is a
defense mechanism introduced by The Others who control
the egg-environment, for they are keenly aware that 1)
there is a diametrically opposed intelligence which would
lead us to an open, as opposed to a closed environment,
and 2) that connections between human (inferior) and nonhuman (more advanced) levels will be severed as a result of
the sharing process. The investigator's only recourse, then,
is to remain silent until he has made his great personal
breakthrough-and sees through the walls of the silvered
~.

The truth of the preceding paragraph may be detected if

you will stop to consider the demises of some of the ,wellknown "psychics" and other experts in various fields.
How often has a "psychic" had a wondc:rful track
record-until he or ,she becomes a media-event? How fast
does that talent seem to desert the "psychic?" Or how
often has an "expert" pontificated on some aspect of life
from within his egg-reflected frame of reference-only to
be proven dead wrong? Why did his "expertise" suddenly
fail him?
Another word-picture: in the beehive are countless
identical eggs. One, however, is singled out' to receive the
exclusive "Royal Jelly" which will transform it into the
queen, the leader of all, the center of gravity for the entire
'society. All others are relegated to subservient roles in the
bee-society, and must obey implicitly or be, killed. It is the
same in the silvered egg. Some are chosen-disinterSecond Quarter 1983

estedly-to receive a kind of jelly which is royal with

respect to the insipid flavors "enjoyed" by the rest of
society. The feedings may be withdrawn at any moment if
the chosen subject proves to be unreliable. The shell of the
egg is porous to other-dimensional influences/impulses/
Tulpas. If we would only understand, af/ything and
everything is possible, even inside the egg. But the control
over the egg-society is so severe, and even members of the
society, like so many hypnotized worker bees, are conditioned to police society of "security risks," that we are
conditioned to rebel against the "impossible."
The individual who has reached Square 2 discovers,
however, that his problems are not over, but are, in fact,
only beginning. He knows that the Conspiracy To Keep Us
Human is a zealously guarded'state, the absolute necessity
for The Others. He knows that there are methods of
eliminating "troublemakers" which would make the CIA
and the KGB drool with envy. Yet he is also driven to help
those who have 'eyes to see and ears to hear; they must be
instructed, albeit in a disinterested manner, to keep the
Truth alive. To speak directly, to identify and expose The
Others and their conspiracy, is to invite instant annihilation-for we are all being "monitored" at all times. But to
speak indirectly, via the parable or the word-picture-thQt
is a different story. This is permitted, for it betrays no connections direc'tly, and is a subterfuge which is permitted by
The Others because it falls under the heading of "sharing"
experiences, which is actually part of the built-in defense
mechanism in the egg-society.
Our quester on Square 2 recognizes one more thing: his
own survival is essentia.l. And that he travels alone. One
last word-picture will convey the message: in the male
testicles are 100,000,000 sperm, all awaiting the inevitable
scramble-horn. We can imagine them-some playing
pinochle and drinking beer to pass the time, some napping,
some writing letters home, some fired with desire to Get
On With It, some praying for guidance, some reading the
textbooks concerning their mission, some swimming extra
I,aps in the pool to give them extra stamina. When the horn
blares and the upheavals begin, all hundred million are
, launched within a few seconds, swimming furiously. But
only one (and in rare cases, two) will reach the goal-will
go on to unite with an alien entity and create an independent life-form. Which one? The one best prepared, the one
who did not jeopardize his own chances by helping stragglers, the one who understpod The Conspiracy Within The
Testicles. The others were lost quickly, dead in tangled
clots of themselves, dead of early exhaustion, dead or fear,
dead from lack of desire, dead for lack of reliability, dead.
We can hear 99,999,999 screams, sighs, death rattles as
they perish.
Whatever happened to Ufology? It is not imp9rtant.
Only the Conspiracy To Keep Us Human is important.
(Disclaimer No.2) The writer considers himself indebted
to one who understood the silvered egg and who managed
to teach himself to see beyond its shell. The writer is aware
that as a beginner, he may not survive to see this work in
print. If this should prove to be the case, do not lament; he
has simply miscalculated and has paid the price. It will
remain for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear
to carry out the rest of the investigation. -The Editor

Pursu't 69

How the Psychic Consultant

Aids Decision-Making in
. The Business 'World
by Roderic SoneU
R.E.N. Sorrell 1981

psychic area, such unreasoned' fear

still bothers many a solar plexus.
istics are unlik~ly to 'be found' fully
Organizations find various uses for
developed in the saine person, it. is psychic consultants, though as can' be
decision in an effective an~ haralso evident that geniu~ ...,.:- in any field
seen in the following excerpt from. tv
. monious manner is also of great im- takes into account the intuitive as' QUide (October 3-9, 1981) the conpor:tance; but if the initial decision is
well as tne logical faculties. The
~ultation sometimes takes place in
not correct, no amount of administraseer!!t:
' ..
fo.1lowing extract f!;'om Science pigest
tive. skill will right it.
(July
1981)
illustrales
the
point:
'
Two different skills are used in
. "Psychic Beverlee Dean gained
f~~e last year when it ~as revealed
making decis"ions. The first is the ". . . the German chemist Friedrich
tha.t she had spent two years onABes
ability" to carefully .evaluate past
Kekule shoPk the world of chemistry
p~yrol~ as' a creative consultant to help
r~cords. and then project what. will
when he found the structure of benhigh
management decide what shows
happen in the future. This is extra~
zene, a problem that had baffle~ him
to make ... .
.
polating: the estimation of something during years of research.:. Sitting
.'
Psychics
work
in
different
ways.
before a fire on a cold winter night,
unknown on the basis of known facts;
My
.colleague
and
I
frequently
make
off.
and
envisioned
Kekule
dozed
'rhe second necessary skill is the abiliuse ofthe I Ching or Chinese Book of
chains of atoms that writhed about
.ty to grasp the whole situation, and by
like snakes. When one of . the
Cha.n.ges. 'This form of divination has
an intuitive leap, arrive at a satisfac"snakes"
took
its
tail
into
its
mouth,
been in use for 'over five thousand
tory conclusion.

Kekule
awok~ "as if struck by'lightof the I Ching and
.yeare.Knowledge
The future is never an exact and
ning"; hi"s problem was solved. Carthe Confucian classics was among t.he
predictable projection of the past;
bon compounds such as benzene' are
prime requirements for a government
unknown elements' may crop up and
not open structures but closed rings
post in Chil)a until the communist
alter the entire situation. This is the
resembling the snake in his dream.
regime
took over. For thousands of
limitation of the extrapolative
"Let qs learn how to dream, gentleyears, 'court astrologers had advised'
.men," Kekule later told a group of
method; it can never take-into account
emperors and kings.
coHeagues, "and then perhaps we will
the unexpected.
The Book' of Changes contains
discover
the
truth."
r
'
The second ability somehow does
sixty-four
chapters. Each chapter has
manage to take into account the unexThe situation can be summed up as
a name: "Conflict," "Harmony" and
pected and the unknown. In popular
follows: We tend to be either logical
'''Stagnation'' are examples. .Each
parlance it is variously called "gut
or intuitive in our decision-making.
co~tains six paragraphs and
chapter
feeling," or "hunch," or "instinct,"
The optimum 'solution is reached by
each paragraph describes a different
.
'or "intuition," or just "luck."
making use of both methods in a comvariation on the theme of the chapter.
~ Psychologically, the first method is
plem'entary fashion.' The business
For 'example, th!= fifth paragraph' of
called logical or vertical thinking. This . world tends to favor the logical mind,
the
chapter called "Conflict" advises
means "working it out, .. step by step ..
but changing times demand that the arbitration as' a successful course of
In the second method, called intuitive
intuitive element be added .to the
action. The second paragraph of the
or lateral thinking, the conclusion is
decision-makin~ logic being used. It is
same chapter warns against confrontreached first; how we got there. is
like two hands working together.
ing
an enemy bigger than oneself.
worked out afterwards.
The psychic consultant can provide
The
psychic process leads the conMedically the two processes are
the intuitive 'element, but there is
sultant to one or more paragraphs in a
described as left-brain and right-brain
sometimes a strong emoiional re-'
particular chapter which desctibe the .
functions. The left hemisphere of the
sponse of rejection to such an idea'.
situation
and advise on it. A second
brain works on a conscious, partiThis response is the psychological
chapter
is
also consulted; this incularized basis with specific facts. The
condition of "misoneism"-a fear of dicates the nature of the outcome.
right hemisphere works on an unconthe new and unknown. Despite emiHere are some brief examples of
scious, holistic basis, making use of
nent and reputable research. into the
readings'
given:
apparently irrelevant data to arrive at
., .. \ Ref. 1-48 July 30, 1980 .
.Roderic' 'Sorrell ~ k: ii" ps:ichi~' .con:.
a co.nclusion.
between
sultant who divides his
On' the one hand, we are working
Question: .Should we enter into a
the Ub.ited States and the United.
from the known (the past) to predict
'partnership with R.F. in this quickKingdom. His previous article in Pur~
print franchise?
.
t.he unknown (the future). On the
suit (No. 55, Third Quarter 1981)
. The client in this c~se was inquiring
other hand, we grasp the whole picreported on his .use of the I Ching in
ture and .see the future directly.
about setting up a junior executive in
'making political predictions. '.. .' t,
Ii franchise operation. The proposed
'. Although the two sets of characterAKING the right decision is
M
.the essence of the successful
business person. CarrYing out that

time

......._" 70

Second Quai1:... 1983

partnership was with the current franchise owner. The franchise was in a
rundown condition; the owner R.F.
was ill and likely to retire soon:
Answer: The first chapter, describing
the current situation, was called
"Careful Conduct." Two paragraphs
of this chapter were pointed out for
special attention. Here is a modern in-"
terpretation of these paragraphs (The
1 Ching Workbook by R. L. Wing,
Doubleday, 197~):
"Maintain an ambiance of mOde~ty"
"and moderation. Do not harbor expectations or demands. Do "not ge( in~
volved with the dreams of others or
hold overly ambitious goals. In this"
way you will meet with good
fortune: ..
"What"you propose to do is dan- "
gerous, yet your awareness of ~ch
danger will give you the strength to
sucCeed. The time requires a firm
commitment to your endeavor. Q you
do not have a real commitment in"
your heart, reexamine your path. ..
The second chapter, describing the
future situation, was called "Biting
Through an Obstruction with Clenched Teeth." The advice was for the
junior executive. I said that he should
tread carefully in this situation. I
warned him against going along wit.\1
ambitions others had for him without
a firm personal commitment of" his
own. The reading confirmed the poor
condition of the franchise.
I advised the senior executive "to
honestly find out whether her junior
really wanted this partnership. If he "
did want it, his determination would"
see him through a difficult situation.
He would not prosper, but he would
survive.
In this example, the intuitive answer
closely matched the apparent situation. This meant that the logical
evaluation of the situation harm"onized with the divinatory evaluation, a"n
ideal instance of "one hand supporting the other." It turned out that the"
partnership was undertaken and a"
year and a half later was found surviving though not thriving, as had been
indicated.
Ref. 1-80 September i 980
Question: Will A.L. buy the" printing company from B.D.?
The company was owned by B.D.
The client was a senior executive in the"
company and wanted to know if A.L.
would buy it, for the purchase would
surely! aff~~t his career.

Secoad Quarter 1983

Answer: The first chapter indicated

was called "Increase." Two paragraphs were specifically mentioned.
One "of them referred to the client and
the" other referred to A.L. An interpretation of the first paragraph (The 1
Ching "Workbook) states:
""You have the opportunity to act as
a mediator between someone in a
higher position than yourself and
those below you whom you represent.
"If you expT't!ss yourself in a reasonable
manner, and make benefit to al/ con:
cemed the first priority of your interests; your advice will be followed.
This influential position can have far~
reaching effects. ..
The client was in the position of
"mediator. He knew A.L. personally.
"He was in favor of the sale because it
would give him "the opportunity to expand from a stifling position. But the
final decision" was B.D. 's; he owned
the company. The"paragraph for A.L.
said:
"While you seem" to have the means
to benefit others," you actually do not.
This "is not in accord with the demands
of the time. You will lose your position of influence and. become open to
attack. This is unfortunqte indeed."
It meant that the sale would not
take place; the client, however, would
benefit from the encounter at a later
stage since the second chapter, referring to the future and called
"Adapting," signified a new situation
""or position to be adapted to.

" Nine months later "the client returned and asked about "a proposed
"move from his position with B.D. to
A.L.'s employment. He was slated to
head up a new company which would
give him" opportunity for the expan" sion he wanted. This became the subject of the next case history:
" """ "Ref. PL-121 June 30, 1981
Question: What are the client's prospects with A.L.?
Answer: The first chapter was called
""Small Gains." It pictures a time of
transition that can only be managed
by careful attention to detail. One
paragraph" is referred to which states
(in The Portable Dragon by R. "G. H.
"~Ju. ~P!T. Pr~ssG.974, a ~ransl~tipn
of the Ching):
"Because of the lack of able
helpers, the prince is unsuccessful in
his attempts io set the world in order.
J(e "searche~ i!'llefJtly for t"e t:eq~ired
talents among. t~os~ who" ha~e refired

from the public scene. The right man

with a demonstrated record of
achievement is finally found and the
diffiCUlt task completed. ..
This means that A.L. (the prince)
needs a highly qualified assistant
(h'elpers) for his new company (to set
the world in order). He searches out
the client who has reached the limit of
his potential in his current position
(retired from the public scene)." He
takes him on as head of the new company (difficult task completed).
The second chapter was called '~At
traction." It said that a gQod relationship would develop between the client
and his new employer. The events
followed as predicted.
A final example: "
Ref. 1-68 September 1980
Question: The next year for my mailit go and how
order business: how
to handle it?
Answer: The first chapter was called
"Moderation." The paragraph in the
"chapter (in I Ching Workbook) said:
"If you can carry out your proposed endeavor quietly, competently
and thoroughly, without obvious announcements of your intentions, you
can achieve even significant aims.
With a modest and disciplined attitude, you do not create resistance or
invite challenge. ..
The business had recently been
started. My advice was that it would
need hard, steady work before it succeeded. Any laziness would end in
failure.
"
The second chapter was called
"Defeat of the Light." This meant
that the business would not survive.
but personal benefit would be realized
by the client"in terms of the experience
gained.
We learned sometime later that the
mail-order business had not succeeded
and that she, the client, had become
involved in other business.

will

From these case histories it" can be

seen how the psychic consultant- is
valuable to the business community.
The advice given no more robs an executive of the decision-making function than does"an analysis of projected
pro"fit and loss figures. It simply
provides another tool useful to the
management of a career or of a
business-a professional service
available on a consultancy basis.

".~"
"PuN.II 71

Relativity and the Afterlife:

Is There LIGHT After Death?
by Arlan Keith Andrew., Sr.
1

HEN Einstein delivered his universe-shaking Theory

I
of Relativity, did he alsp establish the final proof of
the Afterlife? In the ~wesome mat~ematical description of
t~e intertwining of Time, Space, and Energy, can .we find
direct proof of survival after death? There is evidence that
I'
answers
YES.
I An amazing correlation exists be,twe~n ~he two fantastic
cpncepts-the mind-boggling universe of Relativity and
the shadowy, mysterious wo~ld of the Afterlife reported in
h'undreds of Near-Death Encounters-a unique direct link,
tbo incredible to be coincidence, describable only in terms
dutside ordinary human experience.
I Einstein invented a new mathematics to describe what
h;is intuition revealed to him: that the Universe itself, even
Space, curves and twists, and that only Light is somehow
free of such constraint, save its own speed. However, persons who have returned to life after seemingly undergoing
dFath, report directly similar phenomena.
! If we are to compare experiences in terms of the Theory
of Relativity and in terms of Near-Death Encounters, \ye
hjilVe to ,understand both concepts clearly. They are quite
e~y to understand in broad terms.
'

What Is Relativity?

Einstein knew that experimental results show that the

speed of light is a constant, regardJess of how.fast the lightsource moves. As contrary to so-called "common sense"
as it may seem, the light coming from a light bulb in your
living room is going at precisely the same speed as light
coming from a beacon light on a Jupiter-bound spacecraft
doing 25,000 miles per hour! To accommodate this experimtmtally proven fact, it is necessary that Space curve on
itself, and that Time go at different rates for people traveling at different speeds. As ~ontrary to common sense as
these statements seem, they have been proven time and
again.
In our ordinary slow-paced world, these effects do not,
occur in any measurable degree. It is only near the speed of
light-186,000 miles per second-that Relativity becomes
important, and only at that speed does o'ur common sense
begin to fail.
'
'
Relativity's bending and stretching of Space and Time
occur every day in the high-speed nuclear research facilities
around the world. And of course, the radio, TV and
microwave transmitters emit their electromagnetic waves
at the speed of light. We are used to tnese devices and take
no notice of their Relativity effects. Precise tests on
jetliners and even 'satellites detect, only a very small
Relativity effect. So we are safe in our common-sense
world for the foreseeable future.
'
To a being traveling closer and closer to the speed of
light, however, Time slows down (also contrary to common sense-but also proved over and over again). Such a
being would have a wild ridel As it approached closer and

, Pu,.".I, 72

Closer to the speed of light, the effects' of Relativity would

make the whole horizon appear to contract in front of the
direction of travel, eventually shrinking to a single, bright
spot of light. The visual effect would be of a fast trip down
an endless tunnel. At the precise moment of attainment of
light-speed, there is no telling how a person would perceive
his or her surroundings.
What Is a Near-Death Encounter?
Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and others have studied
closely the accounts of persons who have apparently died
and then revived. Of those who had memory of the interval
between blackout and wakeup, many of the hundreds of
subjects in the investigations reported phenomena which
are describable only as "Near-Death Encounters."
, A composite, typical "encounter" finds the dying person hearing a humming noise which' fast diminishes, after
which comes awareness of a rapid trip being made down a
seemingly endless tunnel of darkness, toward a bright spot
of light at the end. Suddenly, 'the trip ceases and the sub.
ject finds him/herself confronted by a being of "pure
light" and experiences a sensati,on of overwhelming contentment and serenity. Sometimes the subject sees an entire
lifetime "spread out" as if for review. Nearly every report
of such an encounter includes mention of a desire to "go
all the way" and to stay" over there. " Obviously, we have'
no reports from or about those subjects who might have
chosen to stay, since all of our witnesses have returned.
The Tibet,an Book of the Dead and other ancient
references des\=ribe similar phenomena associated with the
dying process. There seems to be adequate historical precedent for the currently fashionable research now ongoing.
Relativity vs. "Encounters": Are They Similar?
Various critics of the Afterlife Theory of Near-Death
Encounters include Dr. Carl Sagan, who proposes that the
experience is merely a replay of the phenomenon of birth:
out through a "dark tunnel" into "bright light," with a
"superbeing" at the end of the trip. However, in his TV
series "Cosmos" Sagan presented a sequence of the predicted effects of traveling at nearly the speed of light.
There, on his own show, were all the reported phenomena
of the Near-Death Encounter: the impression or'speeding
through a darkened tunnel, the bright light at the end. Inpeed, Sagan indicated that, to an observer traveling at exactly the speed of light, Time would stand still and there
would be an "Eternal Now." Is this coincidence, or is it
another correlation with the ancient promises of eternal
life in a, timeless piace?
Relativity theory essentially predicts that at light speed,
Time would run backwards for the person traveling at that
rate. This would account for an observer merely reviewing
Time from his own perspective, that is to say, his own
lifetime.
So her~ we have a physical effect that has only been

Second Quarter 1983

Hallucinations and Illusions

by Sue Blackmore

have long been studied by psychical

researchers as well as psychologists. In fact, one of
the first studies carried out by the Society for Psychical
Research in the 1890s was the "Census of Hallucinations,"
and there is still much to be learned about the paranormal
from the study of hallucination and of illusion.
Even defining an hallucination is difficult: roughly
speaking it is an apparent perception with no correspo.nding object-in otlJer words, seeing, hearing, or feeling
something which is not physically there. Of course, .hallucinations may be perceived through any sense-sight,
hearing, touch, and so on, but here I shall mainly discuss
ALLUCINA nONS

vision.

Some people only count as a true hallucination one

which convinces the person that it is real, but such hallucinations are relatively rare. Very often, especially with the
use of certain drugs, the person sees something and knows
it is hallucinatory, but this does not make it go away, or
seem any the less realistic. These have been called pseudohallucinations; I shall refer to both kinds as hallucinations.
I have included illusions because, in many instances,
people do not hallucinate in the absence of any stimulation
when there is nothing else there at all, but they do mistake
one thing for something else. For example, I frequently
think I've seen my cat out of the corner of my eye when,
in fact, it was only a coat on a chair or a cushion on the
floor that I saw. This is no~ really an hallucination but a
described' by Relativity Theory in this century, .and direct
reports from the accounts of "witnesses" who independently report the same phenomena. Both paths of knowledge lead to very unusual results-the tunnel, the light,
the slowing and reversal of Time. Can this be mere coincidence, or does the human mind possess the electromag- .
netic qualities of light waves? Does our consciousness
wend loose from the body, undergo a humming vibration
in the process, then spring free at the speed of light? If so,
then the human soul rides the infinite spaces of the wide
universe with Time slowed to a single moment in the Eternal Now. And when the soul finally realizes its new
state-total immersion within the.ebb-and-flow of the universal pulse of electromagnetism-then the final contentment arrives and Paradis~ is at hand. .
.
How near the ancient promise: eternal peace, eternal radiance in a literal sense, and a complete union with th~
Oneness of the All-the fulfillment of all religious goals,
and possible in a real, physical sense, not merely in a
metaphysical or spiritual sense.
Because of the potential importance of this fantastic
correlation between mathematics and mysticism, I would
suggest that researchers in both fields compare their detailed results ever more closely. Perhaps experiments can be
designed to further complement the similarities already
found. Maybe, at long last, the Afterlife can be proven
scientifically, and the human race will finally mature.

Second Quarter 1983

rather common kind of illusion. Nevertheless, the two are

related and might be seen as ends of a continuum. At one
extreme are full-fledged, totally convincing hallucinations,
perceived in the absence of any stimulus at all, which are
very rare. At the other extreme are various types of simple
illusion to which almost everyone is subject.
Starting with the simple illusions, almost everyone sees
the two vertical lines as unequal in length in the following
figure:
This was specially designed to
trick the eye and brain, and it does
so very effectively because of the
way in which the visual system works.
In this example the brain is carrying
out its normal processes, but these
are inappropriate in this situation,
and an error results.
Other errors occur because of the complexity of the
task and the shortcuts the brajn has to take in organizing
perception. All the time it is analyzing the masses of information coming in and trying to make sense of it all in the
easiest possible way. Usually any mistakes are short-lived.
One looks again and sees the cushion, not the cat; one asks,
"What did you say?" and on the second or later attempt,
comes to the right conclusion about what is meant. We
constantly test reality, not only making sense pf what we
see, but separating "reality" from imagination. Although
most people are capable of at least fairly vivid imagination, they rarely confuse it with "the real thing." Under
certain conditions, however, the distinctions do break down,
and that is what we are Interested in here.
When we mistake some everyday object for something
else, three factors are important: (1) the nature of the object,
(2) the conditions under which it is seen, and (3) the state
of the persQn looking. Obviously, unambiguous and familiar objects are the least likely to be confused. When we
are familiar with something we need hardly give it a glance
to identify it, but new things, and old things in unfamiliar
surroundings, tak~ a longer look and can be mistaken for
something else.
When anything is seen very briefly, in poor lighting, or
on the periphery of the visual field, or in any other way
degraded, mistakes are more likely. The brain has less information to go on and will make "guesses." Its guesses
will be reasonable in the circumstances, and since the brain
is only doing what it normally does all the time, they can be
very convincing guesses, too. One sees what one expects to
see. This is a very powerful effect, and occurs all the time.
Next, the condition of the person is vitally important.
If you are fresh and alert you are less likely to make mistakes than when you are tired or under stress or after taking
Dr. Stle Blackmore is a parapsychologist at the Brain and
Perception Laboratory, University of Bristol, England.
This article is reprinted from the May 1981 issue of the
British quarterly Common Ground by kind permission of
the publishers, Kevin and Sue McClure, and the author.
Pursuit 73

certain drugs such as alcohol. The brain gets lazy or changes

its responses, and more mistakes get through. Disc-jockeys
competing for the staying-awake record have mistaken
coats for piles of live snakes, and cups of coffee for steaming lakes full of monsters. These are extremes, but we all
know about pink elephants; interestingly, it is often small
animals and caricature people that are seen: in hallucinations.
Thus we can see that these illusions/mistakes tend to
occur when an unexpected object is seen under poor conditions by a person who is tired, stressed, or drunk. And
what is "seen" will often be what is expected, hoped for.
,or feared.
,
'
'furning now to hallucinations, it is interesting that
there is so much consistency in what is experienced under
, different conditions. Hallucinations can occur with sieepdeprivation, during sensory deprivation (when a person is
kept for some time in a soundproofed rooin, or even floating in a tank of tepid water) and when taking certain drugs
such as LSD, mescalin or hashish. Of course, hallucinations
, also occur as symptoms of certain types of "mental illness,"
but we need not consider these here. Remarkably similar
hallucinations can occur in fevers, when waking up or falling asleep, and in crystal gazing. This has been known since
ancient times when people first began experimenting with
,opium and hashish, but recent systematic research with
hallucinogenic drugs has confirmed the early findings.
In the early stages of typical hallucinatory experiences,
simple geometric forms predominate and are seen even in
total darkness. They tend to take four forms: the spiral,
the tunnel, the cobweb, and the hlttice or checkerboard.
Colors which begin with blues ,and yellows shift more to
red as the experience deepens. Next, more complex imagery
may be seen against a background of, or within, a tunnel
form. Often a tunnel has a light at the eJ).d of it, and the'
person seems to be traveling along it with complicated visions
seen only at the edges. This is particularly interesting because the tunnel is a common feature of near-death experiences, in which it is often interpreted as a pathway to another
world, and the light at the end is seen as Christ, or some
,other religious figure.
, Tunnels are also sometimes forerunners of mystical
and o1,1t-of-the-body expe.-iences, and Robert Crookall,
among others, has interpreted them as being caused by the
astral body drawing out of the physical. However, since,
there are sound physiological reasons for expecting tunnel
forms in hallucinations, many people would prefer to reject the more esoteric types of explanation.
When the hallucinatory experience further deepens,
more complex imagery begins to appear. This is imagery
from memory, and is often characterized by scenes from
earlier life, by caricature people and animals, and by very

pleasant sunlit scenery. At first, the images may be seen

within a tunnel-perspective and are described by subjects in
drug experiments as "like ... (something or other)" or
','as if ~ .. ", blit gradually this gives way to,complete'identification with the hallucinations, and the subjects describe'
them as totally real. Subjects may fly around over hallucinated scenery, take part in imaginarY dramas, and sometimes experience mystical states. In some experiments it
has been found that subjects taking hallucinatory drugs
have frequently seemed to leave their bodies.
An understanding of hallucinations can give a bett~r
insight into various supposedly psychic phenomena, 'for
example, the near-death experiences alieady menUone,:!;
Since there are many physiological changes occurring 'when
,a person is close to death, we would expect them to hallucinate. Some features of the typical near-death experience,
such as the tunnel, can be seen as typical of hallucinations
in general, and require no special, paranormal interpretation.
What now, becomes important is to use what we know
about hallucinations to determine whether every aspect' of
the near-death experience can be best seen as hallucinatory, or whether there are aspe'cts which do point tQ a life
after, death.
"
I have been particularly interested in out-of-the:.body
experiences (ODEs). It is now my opinion that they 'are
best understood as a form of altered state of consciousness
in which the "astral world" is created from memory' under
hallucinatory conditions. I think the evidence better fits
this view, than that something leaves the body in'an ODE.
Whether this proves to be the right interpretation or not,
the study of hallucinations can assist us in the further investigation of ODEs. '
.
From a similar 'study of the vision,ary element of apparitions, hauntings and some kinds of clairvoyance and
UFO perceptions, we should be able to find out if these
bear the hallmarks of hallucination, or, contain elements
only explicable on paranormal grounds. If many of these
events are actually hallucinations, it may be that the hallucinations themselves act as vel)icles or mediators for the
action of psi. This may be so as much for ODEs as 'for
crystal gazing or for apparitions. If it is so, then we clearly
need to know a lot more about the relationship between
ESP, psychokinesis, and hallucinations.
BIBUOGRAPHY
Blackmore, S. J. Parapsychology and OBEs, Society for Psychical Research, London, 1978.
Crookall, R. The Studj and Practice of Astral Projection, Aquarian
Press, 1961.
Crookall, R. The Interpretation of Cosmic and Mystical Experiences,
James Clarke & Co., London, 1969.
'
Moody, R. A. Life After Life, Bantam Paperback, 1976.

Second-Chance SITUations
As pointed out by the authors of the two
preceding articles, a familiar scenario for the
"near-death encounter" includes three
elements: I) the tunnel, 2) the "light at the end
of the tunnel," and 3) the subject who in such
case is also the witness.
, Less familiar is another scenario in which'the
supposed demise is reversed in the presence of
external witnesses and the subject revives with
little or no recollection of a close "brush with
death."

P.,...lt 74

In Champaign, lllinois, a young woman who

was believed dead from an alcohol-and-drug
, overdose" stirred and began breathing as a
pathologist 'made ready to perform,an autopsy.
The woman, about 20 years old, was found
lying on the floor of her apanment after
neighbors called police. The responding officers
were unable to note any' vital' signs iIi the
woma,n's body, Being unsure of what might
have 'caused' the deafli, they sealed the 'apartment pending the arrival of homicide detectives.

Two hours elapsed before a team of investigators reached the scene. Detective Gary Wright
will long remember, his words as he confirmed
the death: "Not once did she seem to move,
breathe or twitch."
But minutes after she had been placed on the
autopsy table in a' hospital morgue, Wright
no'tieed her breathing and she was rushed to the
e,mergency room. Two days after admission,
she was released from the hospital in "satisfactory" condition.
"I'm telling you, I've seen dead people a hunsaid
dred"I ,times in my life, and she was ...d~d,"
f.
" ,
(Continued on page 86)' i, ", , '
~.

Second Quarter 1983

...

Slaamanis...
n

an

enn

en

(Pronounc:ed SHAH-manism)

by Mlcha.1 Baran
, TEBSTER defines shaman as "a
W priest or conjurer ,of shamanism" and shamanism as "a primitive
religion of northern Asian, European
and Amerindian' groups, in wbich the
unseen world of gods, demons and
ancestral spirits is conceived to be
responsive only to the shamans_" The
pervasive similarities of shamanism
among widely separated ethnic groups
hints of some common, probably
remote, root-source. Such ali antiquity is also suggested by the cavedrawing (bottom, right) which most
experts have concluded represents a
sorcerer, probably dating back to the
Paleolithic Age.
Shamanism is or has been practiced
among primitive populations in both
Americas and in Europe, Asia,
Africa, Oceania and Australia.
Despite the shaman theme's ubiquity
and prominence in ancient culture,
20th century lit~rature has dealt
sparsely with it. There seems to be only the one comprehensive treatise,
Shamanism by Mercia Eliade, a
SOO-page book published in 1964. 1
Eliade derived most of his data from a
spate of works by 19th-century Russian and Asiatic scholars, written at a
time when tribal shamanism had passed its golden age but still retained
much of the vigor it displayed prior to
the inroads of Western ideologies.

This modern shaman,

In traditional regalia, Is
about to begin the ritual
of therapy for an aIIIIcted
member of his tribe In
, the Ivory Coast region
of West A&lca. Independent since 1960 and now
one of the more prosperou. repubUca on the
A&lcan condnent, the
Ivory COBSt hu about
60 tritJal groupe. T!ibal
languages and animist
faiths predominate.

From S_ _ '5 Vii. by Hassoldt Dis. Copyright 1955. 1983 by Hassoldt

P. DUllon, Inc,

Dow. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. E.

predisposition toward nervous afflictions such as violent mood swings

(what modern psychiatry describes as
bipoJ,ar behavior. or mania), and in

some groups neurotic individuals and

even epileptics seem to be preferred.
However, the Yamans of the Tierra
del Fuego region at the southern tip of

Abbe Breull's famous copy of the

Sorcerer, a depiction found on
a wall of Les Trois Freres cave In
France. Original dates to the Magdalenlan period. c. 17.000 B.P.

Technique of Ecstacy
The shaman establishes liaison with
the'unseen forces of the "other side"
and acquires his occult privileges and
powers through what Eliade calls a
technique of ecstacy. The novice
usually receives introductory training
in his future vocation from older
shamans (the "masters"). Shamanist
doctrine asserts it is also possible to
obtain instruction through dreams
from ancestral shaman spirits. Among
the Lapps of northern Europe, where
'shamanism still persists, the vocation
is transmitted by family.
Candidate practitioners are
sometimes selected for their,
Secoad Quarter 1983

. ;1

From Secrets of the Ice Age by Evan Haddlngham.

Copyright 1983 by Evan Haddingham.
.,.;" Used by permission of Walker 8 Co.

Pursuit 75

South America lean toward the selection of ascetics and other contemplative types. Generally, a capacity forintense ecstatic experience is the domi~
nant quality sought in the candidate
shaman.
.
The legendary era of the great
shamanizers has long since passed and
the role of today's shaman is usually
that of a symbolic ritualizer. Even today, however, some belief remains
among inhabitants of both polar regions that their practitioners actually
enter a "true" trance and communicate with beings from the "other
world." Studies of the shaman phenomenon in the last century suggested
that Arctic and sub-Arctic shamans
were the best because they attained the
most complete trance-states. Pre~ent
day clan-groups in Siberia consider
shamanism to be nearing total,
decadence, but according to their
tradition the early shamans were like
the gods themselves and regularly performed feats far beyond anything in
the lexicon of modern practitioners.
The Lapps beiieve that in ancient
times their shamans were able to fly
through the air.2 The Yakuts of northern Asia say that "not long ago
there were shamans 'who really flew
into the sky": according to legend, a
white charger "sailing" through the
air was followed by the shaman's
magic drum, and the shaman himself
brought up the rear of the procession. 3 The Caribes of the southwest
Atlantic believe their old shamans actually met the highest-ranking spirits,
physically saw the!Il, and had the
ability to return the dead to life; today's Caribe shamans are far less
capable, only occasionally effecting
cure through the attainment of a
super-ecstatic trance-state.
In the early history of the Shaker
religious sect in the U.S., certain individual members were allegedly
capable of returning the recently
deceased to life. Amerindian shamans
who joined John S'ocum's primary
Shaker group replicated many of their
own traditional mystic themes and
rituals.
-The Shakers were a sect, though often
misidentified as a cult. Roben Bellah4 defines a
cult as an "aberrant" individualist-oriented
splinter grouP. a recent example being Jim
Jones' infamous Guyana colony. Sects, on the
other hand, are exclusive social groupings
which attempt to work harmoniously within the
existing culture although rejecting certain of its
values and embracing some precepts that the
mainstream culture abjures_

Pursu.t 76

Aleut totem. Bird at the top

typically denotes the heavenly
aspirations of the tribe.

From SpIICGhips in I're-Histo'1 by Peter Kolosimo.

CopyriSht 1976 by Peter Kolosimo_ Published by
arrllllJ....... t with Lyle StuBn_

Apprentice Sorcerers
The major event in the life of a
primitive shaman is his initiation.
Many groups In the Americas and in
Australia hold initiations in caves, to
symbolize the candidate's visit to the
"underworld." In Asia the initiate lies
comatose within a large tent. From his
physical body the future .shaman's
soul ventures forth to visit the place of
the spirits where it is subjected to a
variety of symbolic tortures-ecstatic
dismemberment, di~embowlment and
decapitation. After several days to a
week, the soul returns to the body and

so fills it with other-worldly shamanpower that the returnee may need to

be re.,instructed in such basics of realworld living as what to eat and how to
get dressed.
The other members of the tribe now
consider him to be a "ghost" of his
former self as he assumes a unique
place in the tribal society. Like our
modern physician, he typically enjoys
the highest respect. He does not participate in social activities in quite the
same way as others in the community.
His affiliation with the "other world'~
sometimes extends to having a I 'celestial wife" in place of a phys~cal one.
The shaman is truly a key member of
the clan; the clan "liv.es" in him as it
does in no one else because that is
where its ancestral spirits and demigods also abide.
. Depending on the route taken in his
mystical soul-journeys, a shaman is
usually one of two kinds: the "white"
shaman ascends to celestial heights
where he becomes a servant to the
. white demigods; the less-common
"black" shaman (kara kam in Altaic)
descends to the underworld. Only
Yakut shamans are said to be able to
invoke both higher (celestial) spirit-

SecoRd Quarter 1983

forces and those of the inferior, or

nether, realm.
To reach the goal of his celestial
journey the white shaman must pass
through a certain "gate" in a twinkling, before it "shuts." The ascent is
symbolized in some tribal traditions
by a tall tent-pole which the shaman,
in a kind of controlled semi-trance,
climbs to the top. The classic symbol
of the white shaman is the bird, and it
is typically featured at or near the top
of tribal totems such as those carved
by the Eskimos and Aleut Indians (see
photo above).
Shamanistic practices in the northern hemisphere focus on the polar
region, especially on the Pole Star
which points to the heavenly ascent's
ultimate goal. The Pole Star, commonly called "meru" by primitives,
has embodied the loftiest aspirations
of many cultures since very ancient
times. The Amerindians referred to it
as "Mount Meru." The Kalmyks of
northern Asia call it "Mount Sumer"
and the Buryats perceive the Pole Star
as resting on the summit of the cosmic
mountain that marks. the "center of
the world." According to the 19thcentury mystic Helena Blavatsky, the
root-race Lemurians regarded the
North Pole as "heaven."
That a soul-entity's celestial
journey proceeds toward the polar
region calls to mind the similar patterning of the Earth's magnetic fields
which converge there. A speculative
correlation of the ancient shaman
scenario derives from experimental
physics which recently verified the existence of isolated, self-sustaining,
small energy fields called solitonsmicroscopic systems that some physicists believe may provide a path to
scientific evidence for the existence of .
a soul-entity.
Case Histories
Anecdotal accounts abundantly
hint of more substance in the shaman
phenomenon than mere power of suggestion and primitive superstition. For
example, in 1981 the Journal of the
American Medical Association published an article in which a physician
named Richard Kirkpatrick cited the
case of a patient with medically confirmed end-stage kidney disease who
was apparently suddenly and completely cured followirig a visit to the
village where she had grown up. and

Secoad Qual1er 1983

where she was ministered to by the

local shaman. s The physician-author
concluded his report with a question
which he made no attempt to answer:
"How in the world did a village witchdoctor cure terminal, medically intractable nephritis?"
In former years, until about 1940,
the medical literature was fairly well
dotted with similar anecdotal accounts as well as general surveys of
witchcraft phenomena, cult-medicine
and the like; these were mostly "outside" overviews or case reports that
lacked scientific documentation. But
an article in the American Journal of
Surgery in 19366 included .~nough
evidence not only to establish the
credibility of the report but also to
suggest that one shaman, at least, may
have understood the "whole-person"
approach to healing long before doctors of the present generation began to
gather their myriad specialties under
the umbrella of "holistic medicine."
Following is a summary of the
published report by Harlow Brooks,
M.D., of Bellevue Hospital in New
York City:
During an extended stay at a Navajo Indian reservation, Dr. Brooks
observed a young Navajo female patient with rapidly generalized tuberculosis. The relentless deteriorative
course of the disease seemed to have
been dramatically altered following a
shaman's ministrations. At the mission hospital the young woman was
reported having soaking sweats nightly, with accompanying high fever and
a "constant" racking cough; her profuse sputum contained bacteriologically confirmed tubercle bacili.
Dr. Brooks further stated that she
had "widespread tuberculous lymphadenitis" (generalized tuberculous
infection of the lymphatic system). As
Dr. Brooks put it, "Since little could
be promised by the white physicians,
the relativ~s decided to resort to Indian measures." A' native healer well
. known for his curative achievements
was called upon. According to Dr.
Brooks, the rigors. of the week-long
ritual almost applied the final quietus
to the weakened patient; yet, according to the report, when Brooks saw
her later on the reservation, he found
her smiling and happy about the apparent reco~ery and her completely
changed health status. While no
medical tests-follow-up X-rays and
the like-were performed, Dr. Brooks
affirmed that the young woman's ap-

pearance and attitude fully expressed

the self-confidence of a normal,
healthy person.
A Revitalizing Force?
As I suggested in a previous Pursuit
arti((le,7 there is a possible mechanism
by which a biologically eutropic, pantherapeutic, rejuvenative entity could
exist occultly in nature. If a theoretic
model of a subterranean cavitated and
energized world postulates that life
itself could have arisen from the sustained energization of such regions,
and all bio-systems including surfaceman's should later be re-exposed to
energy field conditions simulating that
ambience, the bio-optimal state would
be reconstituted, and dramatically
therapeutic, perhaps even revivifying,
effects might be the result.
Residents of the fabulous subterranean realms of Shamballah and
Agharti. accessible only through
closely guarded cave-openings in
Tibet and in Brazil's Mato Grasso
region, are said to enjoy an enormous,
even permanent, longevity, free from
illness and disease. One is readily led
to the further conjecture that certain
privileged agencies on the surface, like
the shaman, become allied with the
technology of such a culture and thus
gain access to a biologic force wholly
outside our modern experience.
Visitors to primitive areas sometimes experienc~ afflictions that
border on the bizarre. For example, in
.his book The Sorcerer's Village,'
Hassoldt Davis relates what happened
after he incurred the enmity of a
native porter by firing him: Davis
became aff1i~ted with a painful hemiparalysis of one entire half of his
body, from the top of his head to the
tips of his toes. (This pattern does not
conform to any known "stroke" syndrome [cerebral vascular attack]; in its
classic form the hemi-paralysis always
affects a more delimited, circumscribed body area; in addition, a "stroke"
of such magnitude would inevitably
be associated with some disturbance

*The intense energization of very deep (subcrustal) strata is obvious when a volcano erupts.
Theoretically, it is possible that a "transitional," uniquely energized stratum exists at
somewhat less abysmal depths. The violent electronic (lightning) activity often associated with
volcanic eruptions could not occur unless the
subterranean materials were magnetically
energized so as to induce electronic discharges
in the atmosphere on contact,S

Pursuit 77

of consciousness and mental confusion, which did not occur in Davis's

case.)
As any sensible, civilized person
would do, Davis first sought the
assistance of the area's missionary
physician but was advised to engage
instead the services of a sorcert:r, and
without delay, in order to have the
curse removed. Davis did so, and he
promptly recovered.
. For the edification of skeptics it
should be noted that Hassoldt Davis
was a down-to-earth individual,.
circumspect, self-disciplined and so
respectful of truth that he won a
special accolade from Ernest Hemingway: "magnificent" was the only
word for Davis's book The Jungle and
the Damned. said Hemingway. .
Contemporary medical and surgical
technologies, for all their sophistication, are direct descendants of medicine's struggling past, going all the
way back to the art (and certainly very
often, artifice) of the primitive tribal
healer. Many herbal concoctions and
some theoretic formulations of disease
dating to pagan times persisted into
the classical and medieval periods. In
the pre-modern era of medicine,
quackery and patent medicines were
everywhere, undeniable evidence of
the ineffectiveness' of standard
resources available to the physicians
of yesteryear.
The 19th century saw Morton's introduction of ether as' a general
a~esthetic in surgery, and the work of
Lister and Semmelweis established the
critical importance of antisepsis. The
turn of the century heralded the appearance of a broadly effective array
of medications for'diseases. .
Today, .. prescribe-and-pray"
medicine and painful, sepsis-prone.
surgery are but an un.treasured
memory for civilized cultures. Yet
even now, in areas where primitive
gropps have access to modern health
care, the tribal shaman continues to
occupy an important place in community life.
Why does the primitive mind cling
to ttte shaman mystique? Is it simply a
matter of blind loyalty to venerable
tradition? Or has a mysterious,
powerful, biologic force long been
known to primitive cultures?
REFERENCES
'1. Eliade, Mircea, Shamanism,
Books, New York, 1964.
2. Ibid, p. 224.
. ",
3: Ibid., p.233.

Pur.uit 78

Pantheon

Loch Ness 'Monster's'

Fiftieth Birthday Is

. Quietly Unobrved
cause of science seem to acquire a
mysterious affinity with the. legendarY
Loch in both name and crew-attitude.
ONE of the world's most famous
But the most spectacular craft ever
phenomena celebrates its fiftieth
seen in the region was a 6,000 hp.
anniversary in mQdern history. tbis
year.
speedboat called Crusader~ brought to
LOCh Ness on a mission that had nothOn April 14, 1933 a Mr. and Mrs.
John M:ackay reported "an' enormous
iIig to do with water I!Ilimals. ItS
animal rolling and plunging" in Loch
owner was John Cobb, ~n English~
man who set out in 1952 to capture ihe
Ness, ,Scotland. The published ac. count of the sighting in a local
world 'speed record. During one of \ts
newspaper, The Inverness Courier, on
runs the Crusader reached 206'Iitph
before it ran into a patch of iurMay 2, 1933, attracted international
bulence and broke apart. Cobb. died
attention and touched off unendins
speculation as to what mysterious
from crash injuries sustained while
.animal(s) the Loch might contain.
. breaking the record in a.vessel ~ed .
"for his. personal quest.
.
The Coprier editor, Dr. Evan Barron, e.dited his correspondent's article
Individual Nessie explorers' and
and wrote in the word "moDster;" the
even some of the sCientific organizaname stuck, and inaccurate though it . tions have seleCted nariles for vessels
that aptly 'describe' their' mission.
may yet prove to be, ~ 'monster"
What could be better than the Hunter,
seems likely to remain the preferred
used by the American-based Academy
identifier for the Loch Ness phenomof Applied Scien~? Next on line you
eno~ among media writers.. Mos~ onthe-scene investigators, however, will . see a boat named Kelpie, and st~t to
probably continue to speak of their
wonder about people being a little too
cutesie; you feel better after yo,," learn
search for "Nessie," a name which atthat "kelpie" in' Lowland Scottish
taches no hint of potential-violence to
either the hunters or the hunted.
dialect means "water monster." Tim
There is no report of any special . Dinsdale, the pioneer Loch Ness searcher, preferred an equestrian version,
observance being held to mark the fifin plain English. .He called his craft
ty years of modern "monster" history
at Loch Ness. But another visit to the
Water Horse and gave the same name
to his book about Nessie. Owners of
loch country in the summer of 1982,
vessels more recently arrived have felt
followed by a,reqQest fr~m SITU for a
. report, suggests that Pursuit readers . pressured to advertise their state-<;>fmay find some sidelight impressions
the-art equipment with exotic referof t~e place more interesting than havences such as New Atlantis, the name
ing to wade through another pile of . given to a boat operated last summer
.by the Loch ~ess & Monu 'project. In
statistics.
the 19605, when underwater was the
The aliure of the Scottish lochs, and
Loch Ness in particular, is in- . way to go, two submersibles appeared
on the Loch with the names ViperflSh
escapable; it springs from many
and Pisces inscribed on' their bow~.
sources and fmds expres~ion in unexlIut the strangest vessel ever' tQ
pected ways. For example, some of
the vessels that furrow its waters in the
(Continued on page 88)
4. Bellah, Robert, Science 0; MBy 1983, p. ;6.
,. Kirkpatrick, Richard, "Witchcraft. and
Lupus E.rythematosus, I I Jo,;;n'iz{ "0/ the'
Americlln Medical Associlltion, May", 1981,
p.24'.
.
6. Brooks, Harlow, AfMrican. Jounull of
Surgery,. Jan. 1936, p. 184.

8. Stemman, Roy, Atillntisand the Lost Lands,

Aldus Books, London, 1976, p. 100. (I'he
volcanic-electronic atmospheric phenomenon is
Shown' in a photo of the 1963 eruption that
created the isle of Surtsey south of Iceland.).

9. Davis, Hassoldt, The Som!ret"s YUillge,

Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1955 . ., .'

7 Baran' .Michael, "Parting the Curtains of

p'rehisto~:;' Pursuit No. '9, .Third .Quarter..
1982, p. 108.
.

~ecoDd

QUader 1983.

Traditions of Submen in
Arctic and Subarctic
North America
by I.,an T. Sand....on
In the previous issue the author told us about a book'entitled "The Strangest Story Ever Told" by one
Harry Colp "which gives an account of incidents that were alleged to have occurred to a number of people
in a somewhat limited area east of Thomas Bay-and centered apparently around the headwaters of the
Patterson River-on the coast of the Alaska Panhandle. " Sanderson's last sentence, before he got cut off
because of our lack of space, was, "Through all these stories there runs, nonetheless, a thread of reference
to hairy, stinking humanoids. " The article now continues: .

But it is the 18st ch~pter of Harry Colp's book that is

The first relates an incident alleged to have occurred
the most interesting. In this he tells, albeit second-hand,
about 1911 in th~ northern tip of Minnesota. According to
a lady who was a resident of the area at the time, two men
the history of a trapper in 1925 who penetrated the same
area but up the Muddy River from the south. This was
were hunting in the deep forest s~eral miles from a small
.related by a farmer resident at the mouth of that river.
town when they noticed some strange foot-tracks. FollowThe trapper had laid out a line of traps up to one of the
ing these, they came upon what they described as "a
odd-shaped lakes mentioned above but had had to take up
human giant which had long arms and short, light hair,
covering most of its body (italics mine). One man remained
this fine because all the traps along it were sprung by some
creature that left foot-tracks of a nature that this. trapper
. while the other ran back to tQwn, collected a posse, ~d
had never encountered before in a lifetime in that general
returned. The woods were then beaten for a considerable
area. He tried to trap the creature itself but failed; and
distance but nothing more than the tracks was found. Northen, one night, his dog vanished after alarmed barking
them Minnesota is on the southern fringe of the great
and a disturbance. Following its tracks he found them
northern boreal fores.ts and, even today, little but a
paralleled by the unknown's and then, at sonie distance,
highway separates it from them. If ABSMs existed in those
forests in 1910, there is no reason why one should not have
those of the dog stopped abruptly. The trapper followed
the unknown's but discovered in time that it was just ahead
wandered south to this point. Of significance in this report
of him, for it made two complete circles back to the point
is the color of the hair. It agrees with several reports of the
where it had presumably picked up the dog!
larger Sasquatches.
The trapper described the tracks as being for distances
The other item of interest is a series of new expressions
bipedal but then-alternating with these stretches-quadon the nature of the famous "Wendigos" or "Wentigoes"
rupedal. The hind prints he described as "about seven
of the northern-forest Amerinds. These ghosts, spirits, or
demons of Amerindian ~yth and legend have always had
inches long and looked as if they were a cross between a
two-year-old bear's and a small barefooted man's tracks.
much in common with the "Trolls" of Scandinavia and
You co~ld see claw mark~ at the ends of the toes~ toe pads
other traditional humanoid monsters in other parts of the
. and heavy heel marks; between toe-pad marks. and heel.
northern subarctic. In a brief artick for a Canadian
magazine, a retired fur-trader related a description of
marks was a short space where the foot did not bear so
heavily on the ground, as if the foot were slightly hollowed
Wentigos given to him by an old Cree of Amisk Lake,
or had an instep. The front set loo~ed like a big raccoon's
named George Custer. This, like other previous descriptracks, only larger."
tions, stated that Wentigos were mentally unbalanced perIt should be pointed out here that the Amerinds farther
sons who did Qot respond to treatment by local medicinemen and who, being exiled to the woods, developed "Certain
south on this coast speak of these creatures as "apes," in
English; while several reports of the Meh-Teh type of
. supernatural aspects. However, George Custer's descripABSMs, made by ~tive Nepalis in the Himalayas, speak
tion mentions that medicine men could "smell" them at a
of these creatures occasionally dropping onto all fours like
great distance; that they traveled in packs like foxes;
a gorilla. Further, the outline ofa raccoon's front feet are
followed .trail$ but always kept off them; defended
not unlike a diplinutive man's but for the prominent claws.
themselves by biting; lived underground; and were fmally
exterminated by his people. In fact, it seems clear that
The trapper is stated to have returned to his camp but
never. to have been seen again. His effects were found three :. .. .there is much of ancient factual observation of ABSM-type
weeks later, and a number of his traps were;spiuni.....\ ...... ,:;~;~pri~i~ives ~volved in the tradition of the Wendigos-a.
The author has received over the past fifteen years a .. tradition which, incidentally, is spread almost all.across.
number of let~rs from interested parties, giving accounts
Canada. (The Wendigo, Windigo, Whitico, or "Iceof alleged ABSMs in a large number of localities spread all
Giant" of the Algonquins is of the same tradition.)
across Canada from the Mackenzie, Stikine, and Rocky
One of the most extraordinary accounts of what we call
Mountains in the west, .to Labrador in the. east. Two ,of
.ABSMs that has come to my attention may be found in a
these warrant special comment.
book entitl.ed True North by Elliott Merric.k, and concerns
SecORd Quarter 1983

PurI, 79

certain affairs on the Traverspine River at a point where

that stream flows into the Grand or Hamilton River near
Goose Bay, Labrador; and specifically.at the homestead of
a family named Mjchelin. The date was about 1913. The
author of this book regarded the report as a "ghost-story"
and. notes that such are very real in what he describes as
"this land of scattered, lonely houses and primitive fears."
However, in the light of discoveries made since his book
was published, one may. perhaps now legitimately consider
it in quite another light. It is best quoted dire!=tly; and for
permission to do this we are indebted to the publishers,
Messrs. Charles Scribners & Sons, of New York. The perti~ent passage reads as follows:
About twenty years ago one of the little girls was
playing in an open grassy clearing one autumn afternoon when she saw come out of the woods a huge
hairy thing with low hanging arms. It was about
seven feet tall when it stood erect, but sometimes it
dropped to all fours. Across the top of its head was a
white inane. She said it grinned at her and she could
see its white teeth. When it beckoned to her she ran
screaming to the house. Its tracks were everywhere in
the mud and sand, and later in the snow: They
measured the tracks and cut out paper patterns of
them which they still keep. It is a strange-looking
foot, about twelve inches long, narrow at the heel
and forking at the front into. two broad, round-ended
toes. Sometimes its print was so deep it looked to
weigh 500 pounds. At other times the beast's mark
looked no deeper than a man's track. They set bear
traps for it but it would never go near them. It ripped
the bark off trees and rooted up huge rotten logs as
though it were looking for grubs. They organized
hunts of it and the lumbermen who were then at Mud
Lake came with their rifles and layout all night by
the paths watching, but with. no s.uccess. A dozen
people have told me they saw its tracks with their
own eyes and it was unlike anything ever seen or
heard of. One afternoon one of the children saw it
peeping in the window. She yelled and old Mrs.
Michelin grabbed a gun and ran for the door. She
just saw the top of its head disappearing into a clump
of willows .. She fired where she saw the bushes moving arid thinks she wounded it. She says .too that it
had a ruff of white across the top of its head. At
night they used to bar th~ door with a stout .bi~ch
beam and sleep upstairs, taking guns and axes with
them. The dog~ knew it was there, too, for the family
would hear them growl and snarl when it approached. Often it must have driven them into the river, for.
they would be soaking wet in the morning. One night
the dogs faced the thing and it lashed at them with a
stick or club, which hit a corner of the house with
such force it made the beams tremble. The old man
and boys carried guns wherever they went, but never
got a shot at it. For two winters it was there. They
b~lieve to this day it was one of the devil's agents or
more likely "the old feller" himself.
This item was kindly brought to our notice by Mr.
Bruce S. Wright, director of the Northeastern Wildlife Station, operated cooperatively by the Wildlife M~nagement
Purs.'t 80

Institute of Washington, D.C. and The University of New

Brunswick at Fredericton, N.B., Canada.
From the reports cited above, together with the nowmassive reports of the Sasquatches which have continued
for over a century-and the numerous other isolated incidents claimed by people to have occurred all across
Canada, it would seem manifest that at least one, if not
two (should the pigmies of the Canadian Arctic Islands be
rediscove~ed in skeletal form) type of hairy primitives or
submen were once widely distributed over the arctic and
subarctic belts of North America. Further, it would now
appear to be inc.reasingly difficult to assert positively that
none of these could have survived until toClay.
The obvious question is then-and it is quite permissible-what exactly might these creatures be?
We have mentioned the name of Gladwin. This student, though never professionally employed as an anthropologist or archeologist, prosecuted a great deal of
worthwhile and original field work; and the foreword to
his bo~k was written by none less than Earnest Hooton. In
this preface, moreover, Hooton states that, while several
of Gladwin's opinions were not then acceptable to
established thinking, his basic thesis required most careful
consideration. This thesis states simply that several waves
of Hominids passed over the Bering Strait from eastern
Asia and thence spread all over the New World. Gladwin's
chronology hints at, first, subhominids (such as Pitheean-
thropines) 'arriving; next, Neanderthal types; then
represe~tatives of what we call Primitiv~s (as represented
today by the Bushmen, the Negrillos, and the Negritos);
then some early Modern Men of, in his estimation, a ProtoCaucasoid, or Austraroid type; and final\y, the Mongoloid
Amerinds and Eskimos.
Whether aU these types did so immigrate to the New
World is, of course, very far from being accepted; in fact,
it is 'only very recently that it has ever been considered that
any hominids, other than modern Mongoloids, ever reached North America. But, the possibility that more
primitive peoples did so, cannot be positively denied; while
there seems to be some valid reason for supposing that
some did. The Pekin Pithecanthropines lived at the same
latitude and on the edge of the same vegetational belt as
. the ABSMs of Canada, and we have recently received information from Professor B. F. Porshnev, of the Russian
Ac~demy of Scien~es, that ABSMs haye lately been
reported from far eastern Siberia. There is no reason why
such creatures should not have crossed over the Bering
Strait. If they did so, in either the first or middle Interglacial, along with several other large mam~a1s, there is
no reason why, later, more-developed types such as the
Neanderthalers (who were available in far eastli:rn Asia)
should not also have done so; and still later , the NegritoNegrillo or "Pigmy" 'type; then the Proto-Caucasoid, or
Australoids; and finally, Mongoloids. As each of these
successive waves of more highly "cultured" races appeared, the former immigrants must have been pU$hed
back into the less-hospitable areas.
.
And, it is from ju~t such areas throughout South, Cen~ral, and North America that reports of hairy primitives
and other ABSMs emanate today!
REfERENCES
Burbanck, W. D. and M. p" and Edwards, J. P. (1948), Toleration of
lowered oxygen tension by cave and stream crayfish, Ecology. 29, 3, pp.
3~S-367, Brooklyn.

Second Quarter 1983

Symposium
Habeas Corpus?
Were it a highly -likely thing that Nessie, Morag,
Champ, Bigfoot, the Yeti, assorted sea monsters an.d such,
were just a tad away from being discovered as bonafide
animals, as were the coelecanth, the okapai, et al., then I
could see some merit in "cryptozoologists" presenting a
united front to the public and to the skeptics at the
Smithsonian and the British Museum of Natural History.
But this is not the case, and anyone who thinks it is, is
looking only at selected facts and ignoring those that don't
fit.
Item: The famed Loch Ness Monster was first reported
over 1400 years ago. Reported sightings now average 14-20
per year, not to mention the many that go unreported for
the usual reasons. The loch is a lake and a mere 24 miles
long. Lake Superior it is not. Lake Champlain it is not.
True, it is deep. However, not once, during 1400 years, has
any act of nature or act of man produced'even one smelly,
bloated carcass, either in a net or washed up on a beach, or
floating, or caught on rocks or damaged by collision, or
any of the ways that whales, for example-in habitats that
are thousands of times deeper than Loch. Ness and Loch
Morar and tremendously colder-manage to die, get
caught, wash u'p, etc., weekly all over the world.
Item: Reports by white men of Bigfoot, the Yeti, etc.,
started in the 1700s and 1800s. Indian and native rep.orts
go back as far as their oral history. "Wildman" reports in
Europe date to the time of Beowulf. Yet despite all the ac-

Hyperresonance
Einstein's time-relativity principle, as applied in his
Special Theory of Relativity, can be theoretically related to
"hyperresonance" models, and certain paranormal
phenomena, such as have been attrib\Jted to UFQs in
flight, may then be better understood.
Time-relativity, of course, refers to the concept that
time is actually a fourth physical existential dimension;
aod this depends on the relative conditions of motion of
different physical systems. Time is seldom manifested
perceptibly as a physical dimension because differential
motions in the surface world are not comparable in terms
of propagation to the velocity of light. Einstein used the
Burns, J. W. (1920), Introducing B.C. 's Hairy Giants, Maclean's
Magazine, (April I), Toronto.
Colp, H. D. (1953), The Strangest Story Ever Told, Exposition Press,
New York.
Derouet, L. (1950), Respiration oj the Cave Spider Meta menardi,C. R.
Acad. Sci., 230, 14, Paris.
Fage, L. (1931), Biospeliologica, ~rch. Zool. Exp., T. 71, Paris.
Foxe, Capt. Luke (1894), 2 vols., Nos. 88 & 89, The Hakluyt Society
Works, London.
Franklin, S. (1959), The Sasquatch, Weekend Magazine, Aprif 4, v. 9,
No.14, Canada.
Gladwin, H. S. (1947), Men Out oj Asia, McGraw Hill, New York.
Konland.t, A. (Current studies at the Zoologisch La~oratorium, Amsterdam University, Amsterdam, Holland).

Second Quarter 1983

cidents that produce dead bears, dead cougars, dead

coyotes, dead cow.s, dead yaks, dead people and dead
wolves, not to mention hundreds of alleged shootings of
Bigfoot-type creatures, not a single verifiable killing and
recovery has occurred. No zoo, no museum, no college has
a certifiable Bigfoot/Yeti/Wildman type of creature on
file. Yet the sightings have passed 4,000 on record, and no
doubt there are thousands' more unreported. Encounters
with trucks, cars and trains continue; track photos continue to be taken, blood and hair samples collected and
casts made of footprints, but no solid, dead or wounded
physical Bigfoot/Yeti/Wildman turns up.
We are in a different game than that played with the
coelecanth, okapai, gorilla or platypus. This one is played
in a different ballpark. Let's realize that we are dealing
. with anomalous animals or creatures, not simply hidden or
undiscovered animals. I suggest that all tools available be
used on the problem, including ESP and psychic help, in
addition to the usual scientific tools. I suggest that semiscientific prejudice be tossed out the window. If we are going to play the game of science, let us look at all the data,
not just what fits our pet theories. ResearclTers of all persuasions should be able to work together toward a common goal-which I suggest is knowledge. The present
methods are just not working.
I therefore offer' an expanded definition: Cryptozoology is the search for undiscovered, unclassified and
anomalous creatures and/or animals.
~Jon Beckjord
simple modei of two observers, one on the ground, the
other on a moving train, to exemplify that the perception
of different events occurring at a distance (event-horizon)
differs very slightly because of factors relating to the propagation of light. In attempting to apply this principle to
variable subatomic resonance, it should first be noted that
photonic light-quanta are behaviorally similar (in quantum
unit size and velocity of propagation) to. all other energy
transmissions-gravitonic, electronic, etc. I believe it is
reasonable to.substitute "subatomic dynamics of different
objects within a given time-event horizon"-say, UFO and
surface observer-for Einstein's "photonic propagationdependent event horizon as perceived by objects in varying
. (Con"tinued on page 85)
Merrick, Elliott (1933), True North, Chas. Scribners & Sons, New York.
Moody, H. (1960), Canadian Christmas, Atlas Steel~ Ltd., Weiland, Ontario ..
Porshnev, B. F. (1962), private communication.
Rasmussen, K. V. J. (1929 and on), 10 volli. Reports oj the Fifth Thule
Expd. }.921-4, the Danish Expedition to Arctic North America, Glydendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag, Copenhagen.
Sanderson, I. T. (1961), Abominable Snowmen-Legend Come to Life,
The Chilton Company, Philadelphia.
Scherman, K. (1956), Spring on an Arctic Island, Little, Brown and Company, Boston.

..i

i.:

i: t .

. i, ':

Pursuit 81

PholD '" lb. eal'-. MlIJIl91S

A CAT

CALLED
CALICO
by Sabina W. Sand....on
URING the spring of 1982 my cat population was hit
killed a
by what was probably a viral infection.
D
couple of kittens but the other cats seemed to recover comIt

pletely. The only thing that I notic.ed after the epidemiC

had run its <;ourse was that Calico. a calico-and-white
female, underwent a definite change in personality. She
became a loner and would sleep in one corner while all the
others curled up together in another corner. She also seemed rather nervous, ducking as if startled if I bent down and
stroked her, and reacting rather violently toward any cat or
kitten that sneaked up behind her. She also became apparently mute, never purring or mewing .. Otherwise she
seemed normal and went about het daiiy routine of ridding
the place of mice.
.
.
At the very beginning of August I was distressed to see
her coming down the stairs (see illustrations) in a very odd
fashion. Each footstep took several trials before she finally
planted her foot firmly on the step. My first thought was
that she might have had a very ~i1d stroke that had af. fected her gait, but I was puzzled sin.ce she displayed no
difficulties in walking, olice she was down in the areaway.
or any symptoms or signsafter she had curltid up in the sun
on one of the steps.
On the afternoon of August S I was in my office sorting
some papers when I noticed Calico walking quite normalIy. though perhaps a bit cautiously. across the lawn on the
other side of the driveway. She contin\1ed to walk str~ight
into a large piece of farm machinery. and it dawned on me .
that she was blind.
I went Qutside to watch her. She had backed off a bit
and then made a considerable detour around the machine
until she. found the path to my veget!lble garden and
followed its familiar course. Her progress back to the
house provided ample confirmation of my diagnosis as by
Pursuit 82

trial and error she found a way between the vegetables and
the weeds back to the path and home across the drive and
lawn r
.
I spent a couple of rather bad days weighing the
possibility that it might be kindest to have her euthanazed.
I had lost several cats to marauding dogs and wild predators, and Calico was presumably far more vulnerable
than any of these viCtims had been. However, after observ~
ing her for several days I decided that she was .getting
about quite well and should be permitted to live out
whatever life-span fate chose to award her. Examination
revealed no other physical abnormalities; apart from the
blindness and the fact that her eyes are green in reflected
light; rather than amber or red (depending on the angle
and light source), she appears to be a perfectly normal cat ..
The downstairs room in my house is a kind of general~.
purpose area. one corner of which serves as a bedroom:
Glass doors open onto the sunken patio where the cats are
fed and have their sleeping quarters. The cats are fed shortly. after I get uP. and I noticed that Calico, usually basking
at the top of the steps, started down as soon as I turned the
radio on, my first act on arising. She waited just to the left
of the door but proved very independent right from the
start, rejecting attempts to push her toward the food di~h.
She reminded me forcibly of a line in an early television.
commercial: "Please, mother, I'd rather do it myself."
She preferred to come down the side of the steps near
the wall but seemed to know how many steps there are, ob- .
viousiy relaxing when she reached the top or bottom of the
stairs. She seemed to have a mental picture of the local
topography and spatial relationships and it became apparent that she was using the character of the footing as a
major aid to navigation. On the 9th of August I watched as
she traveled up the drive almost to the barn where she was

Second Q":.rter 1983

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chased into some small grass by Golden Eyes, a tommy

much inclined to throw his weight about (he tangled fatally
with a car not long afterward). Calico returned over the
woodpile and across the gravel drive, with a sharp right
turn when she hit the lawn in front of the house, and a
sharp left when she hit gravel again, following this to the
'
concrete apron at the top of the stairs.
On that same day she presented me with a mystery. 1
found her sleeping on top of the "cat box" (originally intended to be a planter), up on the right-hand shelf which
forms one. side of the patio (see illustration). 1 couldn't
figure out how she got there and so kept a close eye on her.
She proved to be most ingenious.
She came part way down.the stairs (to "X") and then,
standing on her hind legs, felt with her front paws for the'
end of the upper side wall ("A"), gauged the angle, adjusted her stance and jumped up beside the box. Here she
sat for a bit before climbing onto the box. At that time the
box was only about four inches from the edge of the shelf;.
1 pushed it farther back to give her more room ~o land on.
She descended by reaching down with one paw until she
felt firm footing on the ledge. She then dropped down onto
a trash can from which she jumped to the floor.
She kept this up for several weeks, reassuring .to me
since she could hardly have fouhc;l a safer place to sleep,
but by the 25th she preferred to sleep on a chair in the patio
during the day, and shortly thereafter gave up the box al-.
together.'
.
She suddenly "remembered" and continues to use
another means of self-defense. There is a gap between the
blocks that support the front edge of the roof on the left
side of the patio (facing outward), and she ducks through:
this onto an upper ledge where she is safe from any animal
too large to get through the hole. which means most of
them. Opossums do come down into the patio to help
themselves to cat food and occasionally they visit the
ledge, but there has never been an~ kind of confrontation,.
each animal pretending the othe~ Isn't th~~e .. :'. '. "'"0;-:;" .r

Secoad Q l'tel' 1983

During this initial period she did a fair amount of

"traveting" on the 2~st. turning up at my landlord's h()use
some 100 yards away, apparently to investigate his cat's
food dish, and returning safely to my house. The next day
the landlord saw her disappear into an overgrown field
some distance past my house in the other direction and
reported that she looked as if she were "going hunting."
She was missing until 6:45 p.m. on the 23rd when she turned up in perfectly good health. She seemed somewhat affronted by the welcome 1 gave her which suggested a certain lack of faith in her ability to take care of herself..
From this' time on, her confidence seemed to 'grow
steadily. She no I.onger waited by the door for the morning
feeding but came to the dish directly from wherever she
happened to be when she was alerted that food was on the
way, either by the behavior of the other cats or, on occasion, simply by the click of the latch. The steps gave her no
trouble at all. Also, she became quite friendly with the kittens and took to sleeping with the other cats.
It was about this time that I made a decision: since she
could no longer hOnt '(sQ far as 1 knew, but see below), her
diet should be augmented. by a special breakfast. Attempts
to feed her inside the downstairs doorway did not work
well, so after a few days J decided to feed her upstairs. I
therefore"went out the front door, found her. carried her
inside and fed her in the entryway, raised one step from the
general floor level. This was repeated the next day. On the
thiJ::d day I waS fixing her breakfast when I heard mewing
outside and discovered tha,t Calico had turned up on her
own. She maneuvered neatly around the outer (storm)
door when I opened it, had her breakfast, and then sat
there purring until I put her out. Why she had remained
mute for so long I don't know, but she now purrs so loudly
sometimes that for a moment 1 think something has gone
wrong with the refrigerator; she sounds like a motor laboring in a brownout! She likes being petted but as a rule does
not ti\ce being picked up or, in particular, carried, because
she loses her orientation.
She discovered the edge of the step down from the entry but hever attempted to negotiate it; she had never been
inside ~efore and had no idea how much of a drop there
was.
.
. . .T~ings contip:ue'd pretty much the same until the 23rd
of September' ~hen 1 started off on my daily walk. I had
gone about fifty feet down the lane when I heard the patter
of little feet coming behind me and turned around to find
that Calico was trotting after me. She followed me all the
way up the farm road to the top and then, with some difficulty but in determined fashion, along a rather overgrown track some SOO feet into the upper field wher~ I was
keeping an eagle eye on an orchid. We then walked all the
way back togetl1er, a total distance of over a mile and a
half. She stuck quite close to me, and 1 found that she did better
if 1 kept up a running conversation with her. She went with
me again the next day but declined to go out into the upper
field, waiting for me in the road between two bits of
woodland and, from the sound of it, giving the squirrels
and chipmunks
the wiinwoms just by being there. On. this
.
A Nodding Ladies'-Tresses (Spiranthes cernua). I must note that I take
violent exception to John Kieran's statement in Footnotes on Nature (p.
222.) that they are "not much to look at" and are a "mediocre representative of an aristocratic.family." He obviously didn't inspect them with
his -magnifying glass;~ lhe indivUlual blossoms are exquisite.
I~.:

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Purau.t 83

occasion I found that an occasional word of encouragement was all that was needed; she was following the sound
of my footsteps.
She missed my departure the next day but, as reported
by my landlord, attempted to follow, traveling at a run
down the road to the bridge (2110 mile) where she apparently gave up and went home again. On subsequent
days she followed me down to the pond and up the hill
across our country road, and 1 could not help thinking that
she was using me to do her borough surveying without fear
of getting lost. I never saw her across the main road again,
but traveling down a newly made farm road toward the
pond and then turning off into a field beCame a daily
routine for her. She also continued to take walks with me
on occasion, though this became a bit of a trial when the
leaves started dropping. Her hunting instinct remained
strong and every time she heard a crackling sound--':almost
always a leaf dropping- she wanted to investigate it. Our
progress was extremely slow, and I finally resorted to car, rying her part of t,he w~y home. She was very annoyed!
For some time after she became blind 1 scrupulously
avoided moving outdoor furniture, flower pots, and such,
since she. seemed to use these as landmarks, but eventually
it became necessary to put things away for the winter.
Calico never showed any sign that she found this disconcerting and in fact adapted easily to the introduction of
new items, or the rearrangement of old ones, in 'and
around the patio.
Her peregrinations were disrupted rather badly the first
time it showed (December -21). Though the accumulation
was little more than an inch and did not really cover, the
grass, she lost her usual navigational aids and became very
reluctant to leave the shelter ofthe patio. On Janu~ry IS it
snowed again, roughly six inches this time, and my landlord plowed the driveways and farmyard pretty thoroughly, though this did not of course remove all the snow.
Calico took this snowfall pretty much in her stride. In particular I watched' her plow her way across the lawn almost
to the edge, then turn left and follow a pretty fair approximation of' her usual path back to the ,concrete apron
without setting foot on the plowed area. How she judged
the distances, 1 don't know.
The third snowstorm caused her very little grief. With
again about six inches of snow on the ground, she plowed
her way across unbroken snow to the barn and apparently
spent the day there. She came home just before dusk, this
time using plowed paths, but stayed only about ten
minutes. She showed no inclination to come inside and I
watched as she stalked majestically back toward the barn,
where presumably she spent the night.
The blizzard 'of '83 caused her some problems the day
after the storm. I don't know what the official figure was,
but we had a basic accumulation of about 18 inches of
snow with, of course, considerable drift~ng. My landlord
used his bulldozer to clear preliminary paths about the
place, thus creattng a kind of maze, and Calico kept
running into two-foot walls of snow. She eventually
figured things out: she climbed the "wall" and slogged off
across the snow toward the barn. Here she was stymied,
since her usual entry-a hole in the wall-was completely
- blocked. She returned home by a somewhat circuitous
route, but considering the conditions did remarkably weli.,
Later on, she regularly climbed up and over a small mountain of snow to reach one of her usual paths' to the barn.

P.ra.'t84

To go back a bit, at about the time of the first snowfall

all the other cats had died or disappeared (Mope Jr.,"miss-,
ing for two weeks, did turn up again just before
Christmas)-so much for Calico's "vulnerability"-and
the weather took a turn for the worse. 'I decided that Calico'
could come in for the night, partly as a safety measure, and
let her in just before I went to bed. She parked herself inside the door. In the morning when I sat up and put my
feet down over the edge of the bed, 1 encountered something
warm and furry, definitely not my slippers, and discovered
that she was curled up right next to the hassock that serves
as a bedside table.
The next night when I let her in she made a beeline for
"her corner." Subsequently it became clear that sne had
'explored pretty thoroughly and had made it mental map of
the place. 1 noticed that she seems to make considerable
use of her whiskers in avoiding table and chair legs. She is
also able to go directly to her food and water dishes near
the door, and uses the litter box which I showed her once.
She took a dim view of the stair~ until February 14
when she made her first cautious exploration. -The bottom
step is only a couple of inches off the floor and she had no
problem with this but then tackled the second step where
she sat for some time before coming down again. The next
night she climbed to the top, where the hard, recently
polished floor unnerved her a bit, giving her no purchase. 1
don't know whether it was this or simply that she found
nothing of interest upstairs, but she has not, as of the time
of writing this, been up since-so far as I know.
Occasionally'she plays, sometimes with Mope Jr. but
more often by herself, batting pebbles or leaves about in
what looks to me like practice for mousing, or getting
under a plastic sheet that covers the woodpile and playing
With a torn strip thilt hangs down or, even more fun apparently, snaking her paw through a rent in the plastic and
dabbing at things outside, including Mope Jr.
1 don't know whether Mope Jr. realizes that Calico is
blind or for that matter whether she knows what blindness
is. When the weather turned really cold 1 relented and let
Mope in for the night, whereupon, after a few minor contretemps, her behavior was very odd. Sne seemed to model
her behavior on Calico's. The latter is the perfect house
cat: she never jumps up on tables or shelves or tries to help ,
'herself to my dinner. Mope picked a spot at the top of the
stairs in the direct flow of warm air from the convectiontype wood-burning stove and, apart' from visits to their
food and water dishes or the litter box, stayed there unless
1 went upstairs, ,when she follows me about to see if I was
doing anything interesting. The past tense is due to the fact
that she eventually sinned away her day of grace. I could
put up with the unnerving spectacle of her coming down to
watch birds on television, tail twitching, but when she
showed a predatory interest.in my goldfish, she was exiled.
Calico does not of course watch television, but she
seems to like music and on a number of occasions has
parked herself right by the tape recorder (which sits on the
floor), apparently listening intently. She appeared to be
particularly taken by a recording of Rachmaninoff's Piano
Concerto #4.
The one thing I have not yet been able to determine is
whethe~ Calico hunts successfully. She has extraordinarily
,

*This is played so infrequently that there may be those who will think this
is a typo _ It isn '[.

Second Quarter 1983

fast reflexes, as I learned the hard way on one occasion

when I put my hand down in front of her nose without
speaking to her first-she was half asleep and I startled
her. My reflexes are pretty good, but hers were a lot better,
and it is possible that she can catch mice. Rather early in
her blind career, she was sitting near the vegetable garden
when one of the kittens approached her. On hearing the little rustling noises in the grass she swiveled round and came
down hard with both forepaws, missing' the kitten by a
mere fraction of an inch. (It bolted in obvious fright.)
My landlord reported that she did take a mouse away
from one of the kittens, this not very long after she became
blind, and in mid-autumn she very nearly caught a wood
rat that had got down behind the wood stacked on the lefthand shelf in the patio. She probably would have caught it
if I hadn't decided to "help." It is interesting that none of
the other cats caught it as it made its escape, and in fact
they never even seemed to know what was going on.
Calico now disappears for hours at a time, sometimes
in the direction of the barn and, as noted earlier, unless
there is snow, daily into the field beyond the stream. When
the weather is warm enough and the snow is gone, I plan to
take a day off and follow her about to see what she does,
and specifically whether she can hunt successfully.
Calico's is an ongoing saga and this article could be
continued indefinitely as each week, at least, produces
some new evidence of her ingenuity. I am afraid that at the
moment she is being thoroughly spoiled. She is adept at
taking advantage of my tender heart and soft head and
browbeats me into letting her i~ if the weather doesn't suit
her, to snooze comfortably on a cushion she has com-'
mandeered, while Mope Jr. is heartlessly left to her own
devices outside. Actually -there are a number of places
where Mope can find more than adequate shelter; she really doesn't need to be coddled. Nor, in,fact, does Calico,
who simply doesn't see any good reason why she should
put up with less than optimal conditions when she can bul-

Symposium
(Continued from page 81)

states of gross motion;" and that Einstein's two observers,

one on the ground and the other on the train, are
analogous in terms of time-event horizon to the UFO-andsurface-observer pair. In the latter case, however, the
relative motion occurs on the subatomic scale and the conditions of time-relativity are quite different from Einstein's
example.
Generally speaking, subatomic dynamic transmissions
are chaotic by comparison with Einstein's orderly illustration of a single train in which both observers and event are
relatable by simple rectilinear coordinates. Nevertheless,
with an enormous number of particles resonating in every
conceivable direction in each of the multitudes of atoms of
two different objects, there will be many at any random
moment whose directional orientations will conform to the
conditions for differential time-event horizons, should the
atoms of the two objects be in different states of
resonance. Proton accelerators have demonstrated that
nuclei can be split and that a single proion gives off a
myriad of different particles which vary somewhat in size
but are all roughly of qua~tum-unit dimensions: mesons,
Secoad Quarter 1983

ly me into letting' her lead the life of Reilly. She will find
me less amenable as the weather warms up, though my impression is that this won't bother her; she is already
demanding to be let out in the morning, usually at some
ghastly hour.
Barring illness, and provided she stays off the main
road-and, she shows a healthy respect for cars and tractors, bolting in the direction of safety when she hears one
coming*-there seems to be no reason why she cannot live
to a reasonably ripe old age. The only other real peril is
dogs that kill cats. (I wouldn't mind this so much if they
killed for food but they don't; they kill just for the fun of
it.)
None of this may seem terribly Fortean, but a blind
animal is generally cpnsidered to be fatally handicapped
unless it is a house pet living in a very restricted and protected environment; in the latter case blindness is usually a
concomitant of old age and the animal is relatively sedentary. Calico is a young animal, three or four years old at
most, arid has never lived inside. Her adjustment to being
blind has been, I think, rather remarkable, though it must '
be'admitted that she has always appeared to be a very inteUigent cat. Mope Jr. is very sweet but not terribly bright,
and I seriously doubt if she could cope with blipdness as
Calico has.
Certainly one cannot with safety make any assumptions concerning animal behavior on the basis of Calico's
performance. Even if Calico proves to be able to hunt successfully, she' is not dependent on this ability as a wild
predator would be. It would be premature to speculate on
possible parallels in wild animals, but Calico's behavior
provides another bit of proof that animals not only think
but reason as well. "Instinct" my foot!
*Oddly enough, she shows relatively little fear of my car. Possibly she
recognizes the sound of the engine and knows that thaI car is not going to
run her down.

bosons, pions, neutrinos, electrons, photons, etc. Hyperresonance 'means a greater number of smaller particles in
free quantum motion within the atoms of one object than
in the atoms of another object. If there are more unbound
subparticles in free ,quantum motion in one physical object, that object will possess a different time-event horizon
than a second, less-energized ,object.
In the UFO-and-surface observer scenario, the timee.vent horizon is the stage on which the "gross objects" are
the players;, their roles are determined by the relative motion or inertia of their atomic substructures and can be
translated three-dimensionally to each other, and to third
points, such as other atoms in space or on the ground.
One can rationally propose' that semi-quantum
phenomena, such as the apparently fabulous speed of the
UFO, are mainly a manifestation of vastly differential
time-frames; thus the Special Theory of Relativity may
open a way beyond Qur pe'rceptive horizon to a new
understanding of time and quantum dynamics. An essential, but currently debatable, prerequisite for considering
the above model is the true existence of such paranormal
phenomena as UFOs.
,-Michael Baran

PUNu't8S

In ,this section, mostly conte-pporary curious and unexplained events

SardIDla'. Nuraslal
"The towers are huge; only a gia,;t could have
built them. Who else could have lifted such
tremendous boulders so high?'" , ':: ' .; :,' ; :
_ TOUR-OUIDE RHETORiC ~,i:;
HEARD OFTEN ON SARDINIA

could have built them'! is a legendary hand-medown that m9 dern-day ~hitects,.'engineers and
craftsme:n.agree .~~~,u'd- ~ throw~ out. Exactly
~~w ,the ,nu':lghl ,~c:re bwlt ,remll!ns as m~ch a
~ys~er' ~,sw~Y t~ey ~ere ~ullt. ~ut t~e artlfac~s
of ,Bronze Age tribes IR thIS region picture their
people as quite like the present-day Sardinians
m stature and appearance: shon, full-bodied,
broa.d-shoulder~, an~~~ng .but gian~. As they
had IR other ancient cI~lIizauons, ord~nary men
m.oved, dressed and f~t,ed, the maSSlve ,sto~es
~Ith,o~,t monar, cre!lUng struct)lres of a. s~
sl~flcantly larg~ to CI1-se people of. later times
to wond,er at their pro~es~. , I
S9URCE: The Inquirer, Philadelphia, ,2127183.
CREDIT: H., Hollander.-

Such language is wasted on even the unsophisticated visitor who views for the first
time, close-up, the great stone towers on the
Mediterranean island of S~rdinia. The sight
alone is enough. to inspire the deepest feelings of
awe and trigger several minutes of fantasy' indulgence. Speculation and questions come later,
when the visitor learns that the ruins of more
than 7000 similar ancient towers have been
discovered on an island that encompasses about
the same area as the state of New Hampshire.
Called nuraghi in Italian, the towers were the
product of a Bronze-Age culture which
flourished c. 3500-1000 B.C. At some time dur; ! SecoDd CbaDCa:
ing the early part of that period, the first
- (ContiiJuedjrom
74j
nuraghi appeared. They were' basalt or
Det. Wrig~t. "I saw a resurrection. I'm going
limestone structures with one tower and a single
to my grave believing she had a second chance
chamber. Refinements in the basic plan
, and this is a miracle." ,
,i responded to some unknown need and 'the arDr. Stanley Bobowski, the pathologist who
chitecture grew more complex. Some towers
were built three stories high, with large central
-had been sch~duled to perform the autopSy, admittC!1 to sharing the belief at first that the '
chambers at each level and interior staircases
woman was a OOA ("dead on arrival"). "Her
for easy access. In time; other nuraghi were
temperature was so low she" didn't have to
trans fanned into multi-turreted complexes ~ith
breathe or have a fast pulse;" he said. This gave
appended settlements of stone huts.
the appearance of death but it really was a son
Little else is yet known about the towers.
of hibernation, Dr. Bobowski explained. He
Most historians and archeologists believe that
called the incident a medical'''fluke'' of a "very
the massive style of construction could have
rare" kind.
been dictated only by a need for security. 'Critics
of this theory point out that many of the towers
. II!
lacked bastions and were situated iii the' worst
Fluke of quite a different sort are found in
possible places on the island to resist attack,
ocean waters' far distant from landlocked Ilwhether overland or from the sea.
linois; and a recent report is convincing that not
Other historians, speculating that the towers
'all fluke stories currently being bandied about
were silos or granaries, are not much dissuaded
the cbndo colonieS on ,southern Florida's "gold
'coast'~ are fish tales; ,Take tlie strange case of
by skeptics who wonder what' huge croPs the an, Earl AlleiJ .. for example: '
'
cients could have planted' to need 'all that
storage space for their harvests.
Mr. A1le~, 59 years old, was aboard a 22-foot
In still wider-eyed views, the towers are seen '
fishing boat when he slipped and fell into the
as administrative headquarters of local chiefIntracoastal Waterway near Miami. According
tains, or as temples of worship. Some claim that
to repons, he was still in the water-very still,
the multi-storied style provided "business
and face down-when Metro-Dade Police Ofclass" accommodations for officials-large
ficer Bart Cohen came by in a patrol boat.
meeting rooms at ground-level and family living'
Cohen radioed' his hea'dquaners that a drownquaners above. Students of esoteric cult pracing victim~s body had been sighted and would
tices disagree, saying that such limited concepts'
be retrieved. No sooner had the rescuers pulled
leave unexplained the far greater nUIRber of
~he rescued aboard than the "victim's body"
one-story towers. Whereupon they delight in
jerked to a sitting position and "spat out a
pointing to the fairly uniform shape of all the
f~untain of water." Then Allen began to flail
towers in which design is still discernible; all
about with hIs arms and Cohen's amazement increased to total: ",He had definitely been under
had to be places of assembly where the perpet-uation of life was celebrated in worship of the
, water;"face down','" said 'Cohen, a six-year
human phallus, grossly simulated in piles of
veteran cop and fonner lifeguard.
.
, Following 'treatment for submersion, Allen
stone.
Whatever their purpose, the nuraghi towers
was interviewed in the hospital. He told
are unique in Sardinia. There are no nuraghireponers he couldn't' remember imything about
type structures elsewhere in the Mediterranean
his two-hour ordeal. "I remember hitting the
world, not even in nearby Corsica, nor on the
water, and that's it," he said. The next thing he
European mainland. ,,- .'
-"h:called-was "the 'police 'pulling me out of the
The tour-guide suggestidn that '''only' a giant
,,' wate( up into that 'boat'. 'I 'remember thinking

page

Purs.." 86

"Where was I?'" Allen admitted to having consumed eight cans of beer before falling into the
water but insisted he wasn't drunk and said it
was "possible" tie floated on his back most of
the time.

Less mysterious but far more significant was

an Asiatic fluke that "raised" a Chinese woman
from'the grave and provided a powerful incentive for the recent adoption of a new definition
of death in the Peoples Republic.
A peasant woman "died" in a hospital, in
East China two years ago. When her son visited
her grave the day after she was buried, he heard
a faint voice crying "I'm not dead. Quick, let
me out." -Thinking he had heard a ghost, the
son ran back to the village and rounded up
several'residents to come with him to hear the
voice and help him investiP,te.
- The best way to begin, they de<;ided, was to
dig up the coffin. As soon as it was opened, the
OCj:upant sat up and began conversing with her
son: She was taken back to the hospital and the
official process of self-criticism commenced.
On the negative side was the hospital's
original mistaken ~nclusion that the woman
~as dead. True, her heart ;and her breathing had '
stopped; her brain, however, had not. Positive
factors were the local customs that provide4 for
burial instead of cremation and directed that
the coffin lid be rather loosely affIXed and the
grave mound raked only lightly so air could
enter and anyone within might recover if ,they
were otherwise able.
This incident did much to bring the Chinese
Concept of death into closer alignment with
modern Western views. Formerly, a person was
ruled dead if the heart stopped beating and
breathing stopped. Now, said the national
newspaper Guangming Daily, a person is cer,tificably dead only after brain, activity ceases.
SouaCES: UPl- The New York Times, AP - St.
Louis Globe-Democrat, 4/18, 5/18/83; UPI Chicago Tribune, 6/30/83.
CREDIT: S. Guadagnoli, R. Nelke, F. Wilson.

Pa. . fol' 8efre

at?
"
'

Are there sleek black panthers lurking near

the city's water treatment and sewage plants,
gobbling up the sc;raps discharged from the
local Jeno's pizza factory?
,
If you call the Division of Wildlife, they will
patiently explain that the last panthers disappeared from the state in the mid-1800s. Ask
them if panthers-if they were here-would like
pizza with sausage for a midnight silack and
they will laugh uncontrollably for, about" 30
seconds. But the panthers, whether they exist or
not, are something more than a laughing matter
in the town of Wellston, Ohio.
Bill McCumber, who' works at the water
treatment plant, has said that he saw one of the
, cats about three months ago. Now'he won't-'taIk

SecODd- Quarter 1983

Location and details of the Poverty" Point excavation site.

Piecing-In the Puzzle of Poverty Poiat

About the time Bronze-Age residents of Sardinia were putting up their nuraghi (see opposite
page), unknown tribespeople in North America were building earthen structures as large and as
mysterious as anything that has yet come to light in the Old World. A notable example is the largest
of four mounds at Poverty Point, located in what is now the northeast corner of Louisiana. The
mound stands 70 feet high and contains 35 times the volume of Egypt's Great Pyramid. The Cahokia
Mound in Illinois and the Emerald Mound at Natchez, Mississippi, are even larger in terms of cubic
yards of earth-dug up, placed in baskets carried by human hands or on human heads and shoulders,
.
and dumped at the site according to an orderly plan.
Human bones recovered from bUrial grounds atop the mounds at Cahokia and Natchez give ample proof that people lived there over a period of at least ten centuries. But o!.lly ~ne bone has so far
been found in the Poverty Point main mound, and archeologists see that fact as a tiny piece of a puzzle they say may take as long as SO years to put together.
..
The three smaller mounds within three miles of the largest mound are somehow related; but most
mysterious of all are the six "concentric circles"-ridges tl"\at spread like gigantic waves of earth from
the slope of the largest mound to the banks of the Bayou Macon River, a tributary stream that
meanders southward many miles before merging with the Mississippi (see diagram above).
At" eye-level the ridges are scarcely visible; from the air the circular pattern is well defined, and
the IS-foot-wide, tree-covered top of the main mound is likewise apparent along its entire length of
700 feet. "There's nothing like this anywhere else in North America," saysSharon Goad, an archeologist from Louisiana State University. It "shows a system of ridge-building that you don't find
much of until 200 B.C., but the Poverty Point Indians had already abandoned it for all practical purposes by then."
Poverty Point, named for a nearby plantation, was inhabited as early as 6000 B.C., but most of
the evidence points toward full-scale occupation between 1800 and 300 B.C., at times by as many as
5,000 people. Excavations have yielded ISO,OOO artifacts, including thousands of spear points, stone
beads, small stones worked into drill-bits, clay statues, and plummets which were probably the
.
weights of bola weapons.
Dr. Goad, who is directing a three-year project at the site, says that the m~t puzzling thing i~ the
age of the ridges and mounds; they were built about 2,000 years ahead of similar man-made formations elsewhere in the world. Yet the people who built them were "hunters and gatherers," says Dr.
Goad. "The question is, how did they manage a cooperative effo~t to get p!=ople to do this?" .
Why they did it is another pari of the puzzle. Dr. Goad says there is no evi~~nce that the circular
arrangement denotes an ancient astronomical laboratory "like Stonehenge,~' as some imaginative
writers have speculated. Neither does she believe it was intended to be used only as a ceremonial
center; the diggers have found contradictory evidence of homes at the site. The heavy concentration
of population, evidenced by the thousands of personal belongings recovered, and tests that show
some of the artifacts made of stone that came from outside the area, tend to support Dr. Goad's
preliminary hypothesis that Poverty Point was a trading center.
The mounds at Poverty Point have been known to archeologists for more than one hundred
years; the ridges were discovered more recently. Samuel Lockett mentioned the mounds in his survey
of 1872 for the Smithsonian Institution. The "concentric circles" lay unnoticed beneath their
farmland cover until 1950 when an archeologist discovered them while casually inspecting some aerial
photographs taken at low altitude. The contours were soon verified on the ground and serious investigation commenced.
SOURCE: UPI - Schenectady (N.Y.) Gazette, 3/1/83. CREDIT: R. Girard.
.~
about the incident. Jim Adkins, who works at
the nearby sewage plant, said McCumber is not
the only one to have seen panthers a~ound one
of the ponds near the plant. He said the
sightings started about three years ago. "We
dop't like to go out alone at night in case we
meet up with one of them," said. Adkins, who
has yet to claim confrontation with I! panther.
cA spokesman for Jeno's pizza factory sai!! no
Seco~d

Q.an... 1983

company employee has had tl1e bad luck to have

a five-foot black catcross his path.
.
Bill Carper, the Jackson County game protector, said a search turned up "many responsible people who claim there are big cats there. "
He listed McCumber, several other plant employees and a Pelie;: officer among those who
believe they have seen a panther. Carper said his
search also ~~r~ed up!~~ts of dog tracks aro!1nd

the Jeno's plant. "It's just not the type of area

that would attract wild animals," he said. "It's
my conclusion that they are dogs."
Carper's wife, Marianne, has her own opinion about people in an area that has also produced several reported Bigfoot sightings. "The
\ moonshine does something to them," she said.
"There's some real colorful folks around
here."
SOURCE: Columbus (Ohio) Citizen-Journal.
CREDIT: W. Jones.

Missouri Spook Light

It's known as the Hornet Spook Light and its
home is a rural area south of Joplin, Missouri.
It has been seen and lavishly written about for
more than 80 years. It has been studied by field
researchers from the National Geographic
Society, the University of Michigan, the University of Arkansas, the National Bureau of Standards and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
All of the investigators agree that there is a
moving light, but asking what it is gets little
more than a shrug of official shoulders or a
tossed-off "that's a good question."
~peculations abound. Some people dismiss
the light from serious consideration in the belief
. it is only an optical illusion, a reflection or
refraction of lights on cars and trucks traveling
. on a nearby highway. Others say it is foxfire, a
luminescent gas given off by decaying wood; or,
it is plasma, an ionization of atmospheric gas
that causes a glow.
The failure of "hard science" to deliver a
credible explanation of a recurring event often
provides the incentive needed to move the investigation onto another plane (where it may
have belonged in the first place). That's what
happened this spring in the search for the source
of the -Hornet Spook Light.
.
Dale Kaczmarek, president of the Ghost
Research Society based in Oak Lawn, Illinois,
headed a group that visited the Missouri site in
May. They brought along various types of
cameras and film, intending to do a better investigative job than had been done by ~he institutional agencies. The group stayed long
enough to view the light under "perfect conditions," .which Kaczmarek said included clear
weather and times between 11 p.m. and 12 midnight "when the traffic slows down" and the
light is not being "chased" by other researchers
and curiosity seekers. He noted that the light

't 87

P.r

"moves around a lot and seems to react to

(other) light, movement and sound."
Kaczmarek believes the Hornet SPook Light
is not caused by reflections and refractions of
vehicle lights because it varies in size, shape,
brightness, color, distance and movement. He
also disputes the theory that it is anything as
rare and sporadic as foxfire; the Missouri light
is seen nightly except under the worst weather
conditions.
On one visit, the group spotted the light at a
distance of 75 to 100 yards, directly above a
farmhouse. "I thought the barn was on fire,"
Kaczmarek said. "That's how bright it appeared. : .. We didn't actually see a ball of
light. We saw a diamond-shaped object with a
hollow center" ... and "you could actually see
trees and bushes through it." He said he would
best describe the light as looking like a super
nova light or exploding star that pulsates as it '
sends off gas; the pulsations of intensity and
flickers like candlelight leave a shimmer or glow
in the "wake" of the light.
The phptographs taken at the site have been '
used to gather a variety of opinions, including
those of reputable psychics. One of the latter
said she felt that the Hornet Spook Light was .
not a light but rather "some type of a doorway,
perhaps to another dimension, out of this very
plane."
'
SOURCE: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, 5/18/83.
CREDIT: R. Carson.

~
Poltergeist Profiles
A roundup of apparent poltergeist activity in
recent months suggests that these hyperactive
ghosts are not much different from ordinary
live people: some are friendly and devoted to
good works; others are ineffectual and invite
doul)! they even exist; only a few are real baddies, and these sometimes wreak havoc beyond
the limit of human imagination. The following
examples fit the descriptions in categorical,
order:
The ghost of the Irish Castle on Chicago's
South Side produced a vision, visible to many,
,of a little Irish girl in a long white dress and a

Loch Ness 'Monster's' 50th

reach Loch, Ness from across the sea
must have been the ship that bore the
Irish missionary St. Columba on his
journey to proselytize the western
Scots. Ancient history credits Columba for a primary sighting of Nessie
back in A.D. 565; and" according to
Peter Costello, au!hor of In Search of '
Lake Monsters, the saint's ship has
"re-materialized" before the startled
eyes of witnesses on three occasions
within our century: in 1902, 1942, and
1962. The 1942 eyewitness testified
that the apparitional vessel was
"spotlighted by something fluorescent, whitish and bluish and magical. .
. . She looked like an ancient craft
from biblical times."
A final look around the Loch calls
to mind a story that even the most
Pursuit 88

wee hint of a brogue in her speech. What IrishAmerican heart would not be stirred, and
pocketbook plucked, by so lovely a sight and
sound? Money collected from viewers soon
reached a total of $150,000. The funds will
assure restoration of Ihe Irish Castle to some
semblance of its former glory and prevent the
sale or demolition once contemplated by the
owners who had allowed the structure to
deteriorate almost to the point of no return.
Strange happenings at SilT1Pson College in
Indianola, Iowa, suggest that the Old Chapel
may be haunted, but campus opinion is divided
over who or what is doing the haunting. In the'
1930s, a student fell to her death from the top
of the chapel. Some people believe' that the
young woman's ghost still walks about at night
. inside the building. Others blame nocturnal intruders but admit that their means of access is
unclear since the windows were boarded up and
the doors locked and barred when the new
chapel was opened and the old building turned
into a storage facility. Three break-ins have occurred this year, but nothing was taken. George
Ewers, the superintendent of college buildings,
fixes blame on "ghost hunters" rather than the
ghost itself. He also rejects the suggestion of
anti-poltergeist forces operating from outside
against a counterpart inside. Ewers says he has
been in the building many times at night and has
never seen a ghost nor heard the eerie echo of
, footsteps other ihan his own. "
'
In Wharncliffe, West Virginia; flames
leaped from electrical outlets and closets in a
home occupied by a c1ergyma'n and his wife,
and when the couple moved to the church next
door, bulletin boards there ignited. A mystified
fire chief called the series of blazes "like
something you'd see in a movie."
"It beats all I've ever seen," said Jerry Grimmett, chief of the volunteer fire department
called from the neighboring town of Gilbert
when the outbursts began in the home of the
Rev. and Mrs. 'Gene Clemons, The couple reo
ported seeing "fire shooting six inches" from
the electric outlets, said Kendall Simpson, the
assistant fire chief.
Isolated fires continued even after firemeQ
had turned off the power and the Clemsons
began moving their belongings into the church

next door, the chief said; After controlling the

flames, firemen called the electric utility and the.
responding crew disconnected all power except
the ground wire at a pole behind the house.
Soon after the firefighters arrived back at their
station ten miles away, they were summoned
back to the Clemons home where they discovered'scorched trash cans and burned roller
.
skates in a closet.
At that point, according to the chief, his men
disconnected all three of the power lines at the
street corner while the Clemons family continued to move furniture and household belongings into the basement of the church. It was
then that two bulletin boards at the church were
foun9 smoldering, the chief said.
SOURCES: AP - The Morning News, Wilmington, Del., 4/12183; USA Today, 5123/83;
AP - Chicago Tribune, 6/16/83. '
,
CREDIT: H. Hollander, F. Wilson, ~, Paulsen.

~
Person ,to Person?
Trying te) make a long-di~tance call is often
difficult, but scientists at Stanford University
are engaged in a near-impossible task: making
contact with extraterrestrial life. The problem
lies not in sending the messages but rather in
determining 'whether any have been received
and if a reply has been sent.
A multi~channel spectrum analyzer has been
developed which can scan 74,000 different
sounds simul'aneously, and it's only a prototype. A later version will be able to scan 8
million channels at once.
The prototype will be focused on 778 stars
that are within 1,000 light years of Earth. At
that distance, any signal received
have been
sent during the Middle Ages on Earth, and the
civilization. that sent it will be much older and
more advanced thim ours.
The project has a current budget of $1.5
million, but the final cost is likely to be much
higher-especially if any of the incoming
messages is se1lt "collect."
SOURCE: The Atlanta (Ga.) Constitution, 6/83.
CREDIT: Member #692.

will

~irthday Is Quietly Unobserved (Continued from page 78)

hostile Nessie critic would hardly dare
newspaper put it, "went to join its ain
folk."
to deprecate. The tale involves neither
a research vessel nor a ghost ship', but
Joseph Zarzynski is the director of the
rather, a wooden effigy.
Lake Champlain Investigation, a
In 1969 a 30-foot-long model made
research organization devoted to the
of wood was used during the filming
identification and protection of
of "The Private Life of Sherlock
"Champ," the collective given name
Holmes." The model's quasi-plesfor water animals of unknown species
iosaur configuration featured three
in our nation's second largest lake
huge humps, a long neck, and a gar~
system. Zarzynski enjoys a close
goyle head; apparently it bore a close
liaison with the many groups in the
resemblance to what the producer
United K;ingdom similarly concerned
thought Ne~sie should look like. Alas,
with the anomalous water animals of
soon after the filming began, the big
the Scottish lochs. This report was
dummy plunged to the bottom of the
prompted by his sixth visit to the loch
Loch, as it was being towed through
country. He is already making plans
choppy water. Tim Dinsdale wrote a
to go again in 1984.
suitable epitaph iii his book, Project
Water Horse: The monstrous model
was really not lost but. as a local
Second Quarter 1983

Books Reviewed
PSI CAN BE A BUCKING BRONCO
Dr. Berthold Eric Schwarz is a psychiatrist with impeccable academic credentials who has used the methods of
his profession to examine highly unusual and extremely
elusive, yet persistently recurring, phenomena in a trilogy
of master-work.
The first volume is Psychic-Nexus: Psychic. Phenomena
in Psychiatry and Everyday Life (Van Nostrand Reinhold,
1980). This book investigates religious ordeals involving
temporary psychosomatic immunity to fire, strychnine, .
and poisonous snakes. It then explores the subjects of
telepathy, t~lekinesis, precognition., genius, and interspecies (human-animal) telepathic communication. Its
final chapter concerns a UFO contactee with the ability to
make inter-dimensional photographs, using equipment
that had been thoroughly checked to eliminate any pos,
sibility of fraud.
Among the many nuggets of concentrated perception
that are scattered through Or. Schwarz's text is this particularly astute statement: "It cannot be stressed enough
that the psychic function blasts the time-space barriers and
is seldom the same when it is confined to the laboratory
where telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition are ascep-
tically separated, often stripped of emotional valence, and
reduced to ciphers. Psi can be a bucking bronco. You cannot tell which direction it will take and what surprises
await you. In life, as seen in a clinical situation,. these
variegated aspects of psi are often intermingled or occur in
rapid-fire volleys that pierce the time-space barrier,
shooting back into the past, as well as staying with the
present and on occasion leaping into the future. Psi has no
boundaries. The definitive laboratory tests for psi have yet
to be devised."
The rest of the trilogy has just been published as a twobook set under the title UFO-Dynamics: Psychiatric and
PSy'chic Dimensions of the UFO Syndrome (Rainbow
Books, 2299 Riverside Dr., Moore Haven, FL 33471).
As a psychiatrist already known for his investigations
of a wide variety of different types of paranormal
phenomena, Dr. Schwarz found himself being. called in on
cases involving UFO contact with ever-increasing frequency. Many of these requests for his services came from
reputable research organizations which had already screened the contactees and checked out their stories, and were
submitting the cases to multi-disciplinary examinations by
academically qualified specialists in different fields.
Psychiatric evaluation showed these cases to be of high
complexity and very difficult to understand. Neat, conventional theories did not fit the facts of what had happened.
Berthold Eric Schwarz graduated from Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Medical School and received his M.D. from New York University
College of Medicine. After interning at Mary Hitchcoc.k Memorial
Hospital, Hanover, New Hampshire. he became a Fellow in Psychiatry at
the Mayo Foundation and received an M.S. degree from the Mayo
Graduate School of Medicine. Dr. Schwarz is Ii' diplomate of the
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. a Fellow of the American
Psychiatric Association and the Academy of Medicine of New Jersey. He
is a charter member of SITU's Scientific Advisory Board.

SecoDd Quarter 1983

. Review by George Andrews

Dr. Schwarz describes first-hand field and office inter. views with individuals claiming UFO contact. He probes
the role of the unconscious mind in such adventures and
considers them from the psychic as well as from the
psychiatric point of view. He compares the enormous
discrepancy between the widespread public interest in
UFOs expressed through the popular press and the nearly
total absence of serious scientific research in this
academically taboo domain. Although the findings of the
"Condon Report" were negative, that did not put an end
to the sightings. As UFOs apparently will not go away, we
may as well distill what meaning we can from the substantial bulk of information already on file. Many close encounters are assoCiated with telepathic communications,
telekinesis, teleportation, precognition, materialization,
dematerialization, the causing or healing of diseases, and
entities or humanoids of varying sizes, sh~pes, and colors.
Dr. Schwarz points out that frequently close encounters
are repeater-experiences: the individual has had previous
UFO experience, or will have a subsequent UFO experience. Sometimes psychic experiences are intermingled with
UFO experiences. Many close-encounter UFO cases have
striking parallels with spontaneous psychic events that are
not UFO-related. Whatever the physical parameters of
UFOs may be, their psychiatric and psychic aspects are in
need of attention.
After describing the Presque Isle, New Jersey, case of
July 31, 1966, Dr. Schwarz asks if it is likely that the group
involved had an objective, reality-bound, close encounter
with a UFO. Psychiatric evaluation indicated an affirmative answer.
I'll bring this review to a close with some direct quotations that give a glimpse of the sparkling jewels of insight
to I::le found in UFO-Dynamics:
. "The Mayo Clinic collaborative investigations of whole
families by a team of highly skilled physicians has provided
a major breakthrough to the question of trauma, fact versus fantasy. These up-to-date studies seem applicable to
the problem 'of validity for the UFO experiences. For example, one such study of 91 patients and the relatives
revealed that the majority of schizophrenic patients had
actual traumatic assaults by parents or parental surrogates.
It was clearly demonstrated how the first schizophrenic
delusion represented in "a striking, specific manner the
essence of a parental assault." By analogy and comparison
to the first schizophrenic delusions, the UFO experiences
of the .healthy subjects-those who did not suffer from
gross psychopathological distortions-take on even greater
significance for objective reality. Fantasy and delusion ve-:,sus objective reality is a complicated process, but for the
skilled therapist experienced in collaborative psychotherapy dealing with both parent and child, it is entirely
possible to separate fact from fantasy. In a healthy person
the task is that much easier. Therefore, in the absence of
psychodynamic motivation for conscious or unconscious
fabrication, it seems reasonable that the four UFO ex-

Pursuit 89

amples are factual and objectively correct. The problem is

the interpretation .... While it is evident that the physician
will undoubtedly come across some crackpot and irresponsible accounts, as a practitioner of an ancient art and
science he should scrupulously avoid ridicule and keep an
open mind lest he unwittingly discourage significant
reports from those who have had valid experiences, and
thus inflict damage on them. A condemnatory attitude is
as scientifically reprehensible as a guUible one. As Dr.
Adelaide Johnson said, in Psychoanalytic Quarterly (Vol.
I, .No. 25), 'We can now see, that in years, past, patien~s
were lost or driven into psychosis by our failure to believe
them because of our conviction that 'much of their account
must be fantasy.' ... In thirteen years of private practice
in which I have seen 3,391 patients in psychiatric examinations and have participated in thousands of hours of psychotherapy, 1 have never noted symptoms related to
UFOs.
"A similar finding was confirmed on questioning
Theodore A. Anderson, M.D., a senior psychiatrist, and
llenry A. Davidson, M.D., then medical director Qf the
Essex County Overbrook Hospital. Dr. Davidson recalled
no patients with gross UFO symptoms out of 3,000 in~
patients, nor among all those presented to the staff while
he was superintendent;, nor of 30,000 patients who' had
been hospitalized since the tum of the century. My own
check of standard textbooks and journals in ps'ychi~trY,
psychoanalysis, and neurology also confirmed this absence
of UF0-like experiences in various 'nervous' and rnental
diseases . . . . A computerized search of'the 'medical
literature in the National Library of Medicine's 'Medlars'
system retrieved zero citations coveriilg-the years 1964 t~
1973. In view of the dearth of data both froin practice and
the medical literature then, it is indeed interesting that in ,
the past, and even currently, the media and official statements have seen fit to attribute much of UFO phenomena
to psychopathology-hallucinations, delusions, religi,ous
wish-fulfillment, etc. What a specious way to stigmatize
and intimidate those who, might have ,had UFO experiences! ... Why hasri'tthere been an outcry, if not raucous
laughter, ovei'the recent totally unsupported allegations of
psychiatric pathology for masses of UFO witnesses by
those who are not psychiatrists? . . . In many cases and
maybe most, the underlying force, for both psi and the
UFO experience could be identical. . . . Is there, and has
there always been, another dimension that surrounds us?"

THE CATALOGUE OF UFO PERIODICALS by Tom

Lind (privately published by the (luthor~ P. O. Box 711,
Hobe Sound, Florida 33455,,1982. 281 pp., $13.25
postpaid)
Reviewed by Robert Barrow
Everything you ever wanted to know-and didn '/ know
you wanted to know-about UFO publications? Not quite,
-but Tom Lind does provide a good' deal of nostalgia and
current information on American and international: UFO
journals, magazines, newsletters, bulletins and various
other formats in a bibliographic package that might, best be
termed a researcher's delight.
Literally from A to Z, LiJ).d conducted an exhaustive
search fQr early defunct and ongoing UF:O-relateci periodicals. By his own admissiop, his efforts 'yielded ov~r

Par.alt 90

1100 titles. Should the reader have any doubts about the
thorough intent poured into this project, consider, for example, that Lind discovered no less than eight publications
whose titles start with the word "Probe." Obviously, this
reviewer would prefer not to count the number of periodicals that have titles which begin with the term UFO.
, Generally, each title listed on the 8-1I2xll-inch pages
includes country of publication, publi'sher, editor, address,
date of first and (if applicable) last printing, and frequency
of appearance; a liberal number of footnotes offer interesting historical details.
Particularly helpful is Lind's decision to refine his
bibliography enough to show whether publications deal
primarily with UFOs or happen to branch out into categories such as ancient mysteries, contactees, religion, the
occult or space exploration.
Of course, it would be impossible for a few errors not to
have crept in during preparation of a reference source of
this magnitude, and a, few mistakes have indeed been
made. However, Lind is attempting to solve this probJem
with the issuance of update sheets now and then which
contain,corrections as well as information on othet current
or old UFO periodicals he learns about.
Yes, there is a rather lengthy listing on page 161, sandwiched between the PUFORG Newsletter and Pyramid
Guide, about a journal called fursuit.

INSIGHJS INTO PREHISTORY ~y Michael Baran (Exposition Press, Inc., 325 Rabro Drive, Smithtown, NY
11787-0817, 1982, 114 pp. with figs.; biblio., notes,
$8.50 postpaid)
Reviewed by Jon Douglas Singer
This book is a sequel to Baran's earlier work, Atlantis
Reconsidered. He not only assumes that Adantis and
Lemuria actually existed but that both were adval'l;ced
'technological civilizations replete with "science-fictional"
,achievements; what destroyed them was their abuse of
technological devices and occult powers derived from
mysterious crystals and from electromagnetic energy
sources buried beneath the Earth.
'This work is an improvement over Baran's first book,
bJ,lt that'does not exempt it from criticism on a number of
grounds. We are told by a note on the jacket that Baran is'
a native Bostonian, that he earned undergraduate and
graduate degrees in biology and physics at Boston University, and that 'he is'credited for technical articles published
in scientific journals and is mentioned in Who's Who.
From an author with such qualifications one would expect
a much better account of current research on Atlantis than
is summarized in this book. '
What are some of Baran's clues to the existence of tbe
lost civilizations of pre-Egyptian times? On page 4, he tells
us that a researcher named Richard Wingate found the
legendary Fountain of Youth on Bimini Island in the,
Baltamas, EIolocaie which has long been lInked to the Atlan,tis tale. This mysterious' fountain, according to Baran, has
fantastic curative powers, including the alleviation of
geriatric symptoms such as wrinkles and arthritis. Alas,
there are no 'further details on Wingate's work.
Wingate, howev~r, is known to have explored many of
the ,ex~~nsive, submerged stone structures around ~h~
Baharnas; he has concluded t~at at least s<?m~l!J;'.s=,rl,1~p_~~~f"
SeCORd Q~.r;ter

1983;

antiquity, not just beachrock formations as skeptics have

asserted. By careful examination of certain jetties located
along Miami Beach, Florida, Wingate learned that they are
nQt modern construction materials but were composed of
huge stones taken during the 1920s from sunken ruins
located on the Bahaman Grand Banks. He found symbols
cut on many of the stones which could not be modern graf-_
fiti but appeared to relate in some way to the ancient
mystical inscriptions that typically adorn Old World
megalithic sites.
It seems odd that Baran did not refer to this extraordinary find despite his apparent knowledge of Wingate's
work. Baran also undervalues, with but one fleeting
reference, the explorations of Dr~ David -Zink who
reported the results of his years of research at Bimini in
The Stones oj Atlantis. Zink's book sturdily supports the
theory of ancient, man-made origin for the Bimini ruins.
On pages 28-29, Baran adduces further evidence for advanced technology in prehistory. He quotes passages from
Rene Noorbergen's Secret oj the Lost Races which attribute the catastrophic destruction of certain cities in ancient India to intense heat from a nonvolcanic source.
Baran draws the conclusion that these cities were destroyed
by thermonuclear weapons, citing evidence that the stones
were vitrified or melted. According to Baran, the ruins are
located in northern India in the region between the Gang~s '
River and the Rajmahal Mountains as well as in the
forests of the Deccan. Other vitrified ruins are supposedly _
located in California's Death Valley, but to the best of my
knowledge there are no orthodox archeological texts -on
California prehistory that mention them, and no
photographs to show that they even exist.
'
On page 29, Baran describes the work of ex-NASA
scientist Maurice Chatelain who claims that machine,.
tooled artifacts, made of metal, have been found in coal or
rock strata hundreds of feet underground. If these fossil-_
encased artifacts (OOPARTS in Ivan Sanderson's acronym)
are- authentic, they must be millions of years old and thus
could not be evidence of Adantis. Only the daring would
speculate on what they might be evidence of: ancient
astronauts, perhaps, or time travelers from the distant
future, or a super-race of intelligent beings which -evolved from an unknown primordial species, flourished for a time
but later declined and became extinct by the end of the
Cretaceous period, about 65 million -years ago.
A lengthy footnote on page 79 suggests that the study of
ancient place-nattles may reveal tangent clues to Atlantis.
Taking his cue from a note in Helena Blavatsky's The
Secret Doctrine which equates the biblical "Race of Cain"
with the Adanteans, Baran dissects a number of ancient
place-names with "-ca" in them and categorically denotes
three ancient neolithic sites in Turkey-Catal Huyuk,
Alaca Huyuk, and Canoyu as Allantean colonies.
However, these sites date to c. 6000 B.C. and there is no
direct evidence linking them to Atlantis. The names given _
by Baran are modern Turkish ones, not older than the era
of the Turkish invasions of A.D. 1100-1500. We do not
know the ancient names of these places.Baran's work suffers "from his continued reliance on
largely discredited occult writings about Atlantis and
Lemuria, especially those of Helena Blavatsky, founder of
Theosophy, and Col. James Churchward, the author of
several books on Mu. Blavatsky's volumes are mostly imaginative despite the reworking of material from folklore-

Secoad Quart... 1983

and mythology. Churchward's works are based on his suppositious discovery of the Naacal Tablets, brought from
Mu to India and Tibet. To the best of my knowledge,
nobody has ever verified the existence of the tablets, so
Churchward's books are best read as science fiction.
, Baran also refers to Edgar Cayce, the only occult writer
in modern times whose writings about Atlantis have been
partially verified- by the discoveries around Bimini which
Cayce predicted as far back as the 1920s and 1930s. However, -Baran then proceeds to accept as factual Cayce's enthushlstic descriptions of Adantean energy-producing
"fire crystals."-Unfortunately, no such crystals have been
discovered - (with the possible exception of Dr. Ray
Brown's enigmatic crystal baIl which he claims he fouild
inside a submerged pyramid while diving alone "somewhere" in Bahamiill'i waters).
, My firuiI criticism of Insights has to do with Baran's apparent support of the Hollow Earth Theory. The author
surmises- that prehistoric tribes and monsters migrated to
and from the surface via cavities which lead down to the
nether world, but his one or two bits of evidence are not
convincing. For 'eJ!:ample, -he thinks there may be a bottomless pit beneath --the Altamaha River in Georgia, near
the spot where-a serpentine water-creature was sighted by a
couple of fishermen a: few years ago. Also, the anomalous
tree, Gordonia Altamaha or Franklinia, is only found in its
natural state in that region. Baran- is persuaded that the
tree may have originated beneath the Earth and that seedswere transported to the surface along passages from the
sub-world.- Further -exploration of "the lost world of th~
Altamaha" may improve on this eVIdence which, though
tantalizing, is far from c.onvincing. There are indeed ruins,
which I and others have described, of age-old man-made
tunnels, possibly even underground cities, but these are not
proof of a hollow Earth, nor can they be linked directly to
Atlantis.
Baran is at his _best when he presents occasional bits of
hard evidence for Atlantis or other lost civilizations, but
his work is marred by continual references to long out-ofdate -material. He is on'tHe right track when he discusses
old legends of sunken islands or the Great Flood; some of
these are Indian folk tales -and Eskimo myths, and a littleknown Lithuanian' storY'is particularly charming. Sunkencity legends are pleritiful-in' the folklore of natives who live
-alQng the southern shores of the Baltic, for example. But
legends are not enough; they need to be supported by hard
evidence in the form of ruins or artifacts. I suspect that
Atlantis and Lemuria, or civilizations like them, may have
existed, but not as technical superpowers. The ancients
could have had megalithic cities without science-fictional
devices. Contemporary research suggests that these communities were probably located along the now-submerged
portions of the continental shelves of the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans or on small, now-sunken volcanic islands.
REVIEWER'S REFERENCES
1. Wing_te,- Richard /,.OSI Outp'ost 0/ Aliantis (Everest House, New
Yo~k, 1~80), _,
, _ - ,_-, ,
_2, Zink, David The Siones 0/ Allantis (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.,1978). 3, See back issues of Pursuit, 1970-1974 for articles on "OOPARTS, I I
4. Singer, Jon, artides on Hollow Earth Theory in UFO Review, New
York, issues 10, 11 and 12, 1981.
s: Sing~r, -J~il, a~ti~les_on' Atiii~-tis ~d Lemurillih Pursuil, Spring 1980.
Fall '1980; :lst, 2n(i'i:n(r4th'~Quarti:i'S 1981; -2nd and 3rd Quarters 19~2.

Pu...."91

Letters. to the Editors

1 would like to comment on Daniel Eden's letter (Pur- .
suit No. 61, First Quarter 1983, page 44) regarding a su~
posed error in my scalar wave concept.
Basic electrostatic ana electrodynamic concepts are certainly familiar to anyone completing the M.S. degree in
nuclear engineering at Georgia Tech, as I did in 1971. Rest
assured 1 did not fail to notice that in present theory E =
- V - A, and he underestimates my theoretical background in assuming what would be a very elementary error
indeed.
.
However, unknown to most working scientists and
engineers, the entire foundation of physics-including particularly electromagnetic theory-is in serious difficulty,
and has been for some fifty years 'or so. Foundations
physicists know this to one degree or another, but foundations work is rarely of interest to th~ more-casual working
scientist/engineer, or even t() most university professors.
Specifically, in my approach the standard equation E =
- V is quite wrong in vacuum, but it is correct in the electron gas in a transmitting or receiving antenna, or
radiating/absorbing object. The electron gas waves are
what we always detect and measure, not the vacuum
waves. Briefly, force may be taken to be mass x acceleration (nonrelativistic case) which means that force consists
of a 'slightly smeared (in time and length) accelerating
mass. A true definition is an identity, and since force is
defined as the time rate of change of momentum, and
momentum as mass times velocity, one can see that-a
priori from the definitions-force is and consists of the
presence of mass. Hence, neither a force nor a field of
force can exist in vacuum, which is the absence of mass.
Hence, no E field or B field exists in vacuum-else one
must throw out the basic definitions at the heart of
physics.
Since.transverse (Hertzian) vector EM waves are specified in terms of E and H force fields, they do not exist in
vacuum. Transverse Hertzia:n vector waves are matter
waves a priori, a,.nd do exist in the electron gases of
transmitter /receiver antennas. Longitudinal (zerotransverse-vector, hence "scalar") waves exist in vacuum,
just as Tesla stated. Hertzian transverse waves are caused
by precession of charged particles side-to-side when exposed to a passing longitudinal scalar wave in vacuum.
Together with Dan Eden, I am a great admirer of the
fine work being done by William Corliss; he is simply a national treasure. I've also been admiring Dan's own series
of papers in Pursuit, and am eagerly awaiting his next article dealing with teleportation physics.
In addition, I commend Dan for the gentlemanly tone
and professional manner of his letter expressing disagreement. Far too often among us Forteans and investigators
of the paranormal, personal attack and abuse are immediately heaped upon anyope with an opposing view or
insight. It is not at all necessary that we Forteans
. agree-even on basics-with each other individually. Any
of us can be wrong; far too little is presently understood of
the b~ic causative ~actors and mechanisms of the phenom-The third article in Daniel Eden's series on "the barrier physics" begins
on page S4 of this issue. -Editor

Pursu't 92

ena; Ultiniately, experiment will have to confirm or negate

(or, more likely, significantly modify) any theory or model
anyone presently advocates. What is important is that we
all continue to share our findings in open forums such as
Pursuit, and in case of disagreement, we share our disagreements calmly and like gentlemen. .
It is gratifying when criticism is offered in a professional, unemotional manner, and I'm happy to furnish this
additional information showing a deeper basis for my ap-'
proach to a new electromagnetics.
-Tom Bearden

1 would like to correct some errors (my fault mostly) in

parts 1 and 11 of my article "lIigher Dimensions and the
Barrier" in Pursuit Nos. 60 and 61.
Part I, page 154. I mentioned the tunnel effect, also
called "barrier penetration" by physicists. I should have
emphasized that the physicists' general use of the term
"barrier" should not be confused with my specific use of
the term 'the barrier."
Part I, footnote on page 177. 1 wrote a force in terms of
its vector components. However, each component should
have been followed by a letter representing a "unitdirection-vector-component." For non-technical readers,
this is simply a way for a person to keep up 'with which
direction each component is acting in space.
. Part II, page 8. A word was inadvertently left out of the
first line under the subhead Oscillation and Damping. It
should more correctly begin: "Now suppose. a' small R4
force bumps an object ... ". (The word "force" was left out.)
Part II, page 10. Toward the end of the article I sought
to describe the effect of the "Russian hypothesis" (that
Earth's .gravity does not extend into R4) upon an object
that was "barrier oscillating." I wrote in terms of an "apparent mass" which was less than the "original mass,"
when I should have described an "apparent acceleration"
which is related to the frequency of the oscillation. It is not
the mass that has changed in the situation; it is the acceleration (g) which has become weaker. This concept may
lead us a step closer to the-dream of Ivan Sanderson, that
we should develop a "new mechanics of motion" for slowfalling poltergeist stones, and the Russian hypothesis
about human "levitation" as well.
- Daniel Eden

I feel obligated to issue a strong reply to Mr. Pawlicki's

. letter in Pursuit No. 61 which was cri~ical of my review of
the book Verdict on the Shroud by Kenneth E. Stevenson
and Gary R. Habermas.
Mr. Pawlicki may be an expert in some fields, but it
would do him well to read the books he criticizes. His basic
. objections were covered quite effectively by the authors in
chapters 6, 7, and 11. He does not seem to understand the
meaning of the word "negative" when used in reference to
the shroud.
.
Secondly, there is no evidence of. anything remotely like
the diffusion process used in the production of t~e shroud.

Second' Q.an_ 1983

Finally, the use of Mr. Pawlicki's suggested methods results in a grossly distorted image, not the highly detailed
image portrayed on the shroud.
-Dennis W. Prater
Readers of T. B. Pawlicki's letter in Pursuit No. 61
(First Quarter 1983), concerning Verdict on the Shroud by
Stevenson and Halbermas (fursuit No. 60, Fourth Quarter
1982), should realize that:radiation from the human body
does not behave in the same manner as light emitted from a
fluorescent bulb, as applications in radionics and nuclear
magnetic resonance (NMR) bear out. While Pawlicki's
point is well-made, it just may not cover everything.
Furthermore, if the shroud itself be analogous to
photographic film, then, of course, we must keep in mind
that there are both positive films and negative films;
therefore, it is hard to say that the image must be positive
and not negative.
The energies we are dealing with are probably a little
more complicated than we are accustomed to, and certain
simple explanations may be misleading.
-Hillyer Senning
In the first part ofthe reprinted article "Traditions of
Submen in Arctic and Subarctic North America" (Pursuit
No. 61, First Quarter 1983), the late Ivan Sanderson noted
the geographic predilection of the large-footed hairy
creatures for the region of North America north of the
40th parallel and near the western coastline. He also
pointed out the apparent antiquity of the phenomenon, as
indicated by identical themes in the ancient legends of the
Eskimos. Netsilik Eskimo legends have it that. giant beings
called the Tunrit preceded their earliest ancestors in North
America (Balkci, Asen: "The Netsilik Eskimo," Natural
History Press 1970, page xv).
Sanderson described this subject as "esoteric," our
customary reference points affording no clues as to where
such homonids-if that is what they are-came from.
However, if one is willing to venture into certain bodies of
cultural esoteric tradition, analogous themes are found:
-H. P. Blavatsky, in The Secret Doctrine, Cites a tradition of the Tibetan Lhasa that the earliest race to inhablt the
legendary land of Lemuria in the Pacific was gigantic in
size, "ape-like," and "unable to reason in our sense."
. -Tibetan tradition holds that the Second Race of
humanity (the one creatively preceding the Third, or
Adamic, Race) was "without reason or sense." (Blavatsky, Th"e Secret Doctrine, the 49 slokas)
-Scandinavian mythology records that the race which
"bred" modern man (via a selective asexual process) was
gigantic in size. The Norse term for the pre-human
creature was "Ymir." Ymir was later "slain by the gods."
. -Aztec legend claims man's First Land was "ruled by
giants" who were "eaten by animals" when the First Age
("EaJ;'th Sun") ended in catastrophe.
.
The present-day ape-like hominid's habitat-mainly
eastern Asia a!ld western North America-suggests a connection with the ancient legends concerning Pacific
Lemuria. It is at least food for t~ought. .

In the same issue of Pursuit, Harriet Boswell, in her interesting article "Energy Forges the Armor," states that to

Secoad Quarter 1983

see the aura, one need only place a subject in front of a

background such as a movie screen in a dimly lit room and
stare at a fixed point such as the subject's face; a light
eventually appears around the head, which Mrs. Boswell
identifies as the "aura."
I would have liked some scientific discussion substantiating this claim. I do not doubt the existence of the auric
effect-which can be demonstrated conclusively through
Kirlian photography; however, I do question whether it
can be seen under fairly ordinary conditions by simply
"staring. II.
A visual effect which could be analogous is the so-called
"McCullough effect." If one stares at a computer video
display long enough, one may see a pink fringe at the edge
of a white paper. The McCullough effect is thought to
result from an adaptation of brain cells receptive to color. form stimuli. The familiar "a.fter-image" effect is believed
to originate in the retina of the eye.
Without documentation, I am left with an element of
. doubt concerning Mrs. Boswell's identification of the
movie screen effect as "the aura."
-Michael Baran
Although editors dori't agree with me, I believe that" the
social psychology prevailing in science is the critical factor
that determines why mysteries defy solution, why obviously true solutions are denied, and what (and whose) solutions are accepted. Solutions presented to the public
without including the unpleasant facts of suppression contribute to the prevalence of erroneous beliefs about the
operation of the scientific enterprise, vitiate the solution
and ensure that suppression will continue. The problems of
free energy, for example, do not remain unsolved simply
because the technology defies human ingenuity. Free
energy is unavailable because Tesla is suppressed-and
before Tesla, who knows how many others. Henry Moray
is incontrovertibly suppressed.
The b~lief that only minds of the greatest genius can
possibly solve the great mysteries is a psychological rationalization. determined to perpetuate and protect suppression. This canard makes it easy to blame suppression
of truth on wicked, reactionary and avaricious parties
holding the reins of power. But this is not true. The most
vehement agents of suppression are the very researchers
.and i"nterested lay people seeking solutions. By believing
that the solutions they seek are superhumanly difficult,
they are excused from trying sincerely to tackle the problems in an efficient and intelligent manner. The social
penalty for blowing the whistle on the conventional
wisdom is social and economic ostracism, as Velikovsky
and most other radicals have found out-including myself.
These penalties are not imposed by powerful parties but by
the people nearest us-our colleagues in the crime of suppression .
-T. B. Pawlicki

. Letters to the editors are aiways welcome. Please send to

Fred Wi~on, P.O. Box 1895, Montclair, NJ 07042.. Letters
may be edited for clarity and abridged as necessary to
assure fair sharing of the limited space available.

Pursu't93

The Notes of Charles Fort

. I

D.~ph4!INd bv Call de Pabat

ABBREVIATIONS
(eDA)

library call letters

about
A,ccording to
(1 AI!Ilanac?)

ab
Acto
(AI)
Amer
AmJ. Sci
An Reg
ap.
Arc Sci
AstroReg
attrib
BA.

appear~ce

Arcana of Science
Astronomical Registerattributed

Report of the British AssociIItiOn for the,

Adllflncement of Science .
The'Bqoks of Charles Fort
between

.'

Bull Seis Soc. Amer

Cel.Objs.
Clinton Co., Tenn
Cor

British Museum (?]

"It is clear from the arrangemell.t' of the '
.notes that he (Fort) \vas searchiRl liii
chronological arrangement and piUi:king
out, Specific notes for a. future.book in
. which he would refer to theie 'data as '
opprobrious to. the Scientists for their
odor, 'B 0'," (The Fortf!ll1l,II3, p. 14, c. I)
Transactions of the BotrtbGy Oeograph- ,
iCilI Society (L(?) I

Bulletin of the Seismographic ,Society

ofAmericrl .
CelestialObjec.ts
Clinton County, Tennessee
Correspondent .
.

Comptes Rendus ' ..

The Book of the /)Qmned,
Journal des DebGts

C.R.
D-62
Deb.
det. met.
dets.
dlst. artillery
DrW
ext. light

'. extraordinary light

F.

, . .Fletcher's List

detonating meteor
detonations:
distant artillery
. Doctor Wartm&.;n

'!

F.baIl

Fi~baII

Finley's Rept.
(Fr)
Gents Mag
Greg's Cat of Meteors
G'slsland
Inf conjunction
It Sounds
Jour des Deb.

Finley's Report

page 62

.'

France

Gentleman's Magazine
Greg's Catalogues OJ Meteors
Graham's Island
Inferior conj\lnction
Italian Sounds

(Continued from Pursuit No. ~/i' . NileS Register of, cOpyiRl from ,the
First Quarter 1983, page 48) Maine Patriot. /
.
. , . '. : '

1829
May 28 / See 5th. / Monroe Co.,
Ga. / fall ofstoncs / C.R. 3-5 I /
(Reverse side] I think this is' ntlW5-.
papers of 28th.
"
May 30 / Eels / not said wher~ I"~

r.,..uJI94

. pounds
Locus (?] of Meteors
London Times

Magadne ofNatural History

Magadne ofPopular Science (P[?])
Meteorite

Meteorological MagQ'line '

meteor train

M,Noti~

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

'Mts
N.M.
N,orN.W.
N .. Reg.

Mountains
No More
North of Northwest .
Niles~ Weekly Register

NS

New Series
New York
observation

N.Y,-

0&.
OM..

Observatory

Oh

(1)

OpMais
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Opposition of Mars
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phenomena

Philosophical Transactions

PbjlTrans.
Polt
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.R;A.
RecSci'
ReptB.A.

Poltergeist
earthquakes
. Right Ascension

Recreotive Science
Report of the Britis.h As.socilltion for the
Adllflncement of Science

/1/ (Reverse side)

Sch
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probably not related

Schomburgk
Sound phenomena
s~ntaneous generation
sulphurous fog
Switzerland
volume
volcano
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library call letters

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Metite
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American JourtUllofScience
A nnual Register

BCF
bet
Bib. Univ
B.M.
BO

JourtUll of the Franklin Institute

JourFlnst
Kingston, MisS

lReVetse :siciej Said 'feu it)eW r~'

I

north of Capital HiII-presUQl8b1y

fell in capital of Maine. / A fall of
eels: "They were of' various
sizes, generally from a foot .to
a foot 'and a half in length." '.,

livins"

i~:j, I, Murc~~ ~ ~e!ies/ q~. / ~an.~, :

lune / Huesca, Spain / spriRl of

187)1/ Met1te I qs of 1883, etc.,

heie..:,'

June I / q in Spain / 7th, "violent

storm of rain, producing inundations" / See Ap. 1.
June I to 5 / 68 shocks in Valencia,
S~n.
~ 7th, a violent storm
pr'oduc:uig' inundations." . /

';pn

BA''54-206.

[June] Murcia, Spain I mets there /

Aug 18, 1870 / Nov 5, 1851 /
Dec: 24, 1858 / Catalonia I
(R~verse side] Huesca, Spain /
sprill8 of 1871.
June 7 / Violent fall of rain, produciq floods / Valenci., Spain /
BAS4.
(June] / See Murcia, Spain. / See
July 8,1811, near Murcia.

SecoDd Quart... 1983

June 10 to 15 I 24 more shocks I tho storm I Arcana of Sci 1830-217. hardening into stone, without
Valencia lone very severe I BA 54.
Sept 6 I Cremona, Italy I I I [Light being pressed out-but the famous
May, June and July- I Remark- quake I BA 1911).
Nicaraguan footprints were found
able th storms in many parts of Sept 9 I Krasnoi-Ugol, Rjasan, in a quarry under eleven strata of
Europe. I BA 54-208, 206.
solid "rock. There was no discussion
.. Russia I Met-ite. I (F).
.
of this c:latum. We only take it out
June I Shocks in Murica continued
Sept 9 I Rasan I Stonefall I ac to for an airing.)
occasionally at least to Ap. 17, Kamtzl BA67-416.
IS33.1 BA 54.
Nov. 11 I Volc I Bromu I Java I
Sept 1S I Violent local whirlwind, C.R~ 70-878.
June 15 I (+) I See preceding. I
all calm around it, at Oorschoff,
Ice I Spain I N I (0-276) I See . Pskow, Russia. I
Nov 13 I See Nov. 19, 1830. I
July 24.
Prague I Met fell and burned sur[Reverse side) Arc Sci 1830-246.
face of a field brick red. I BA
June 15 I "On June 15, IS29 there
Sept 18 I after 7 a.m. I 2 strolll 65/128 I [Kiesw. "See note on
was a hailstorm at Cazorta, Spain
. shocks at Calcutta I Arc. Sci 13 Nov 1835").
that crushed in houses
'30-170.
[Reverse side) ; some of the blocks
Nov IS, 19 I 2 ireat q's I China I
Sept.
26 I Fireball, ac to KamtZ I BA'll.
.
of ice weighed 4Vz Ibs." I Flamstones,
ac
to
Baumhauer
I
Dusselmarion, The Atmosphere, p. 445.
Nov 19 I Metite I stones I ac to
dorfl
[DCF, p. IS5 I See May 8,1802)
BA'60.
[Reverse side) BA 60.
June 25 I Treves I After a storm a
Nov.
191 Great q I China.
Sept. 26 I Shocks and volc erupmoving column like a chimney in
Nov. 231 Bucharest I q and "strong
tions I 27, 28 and Oct 1 I Chile I
the sky, discharging smoke and Am. J. Sci 2-12-426.
atmospheric perturbations. I I I
fire. I Annales de Chimie,
BAS4.

Sept 26 I q I Chile I l [lightj" I

Dec., 18291
I
China
I
III
I [Heavy
Nov.
24
BAli.
(Reverse side) Moved with sounds
q~e/BAI911) ..
like those of great numbers of Sept 24 I Murcia, Spain I q i
clattering stones. for 18 minutes "Storms and heavy rains con- Nov. 24 I S.W. Russia and Rouit discharged fires, itself a great tinued to prevail in many parts of mania I III I [Heavy quake I
BA 1911).
greyish mass, finally disappearing, E!lrope during this month. I I I
BA '54-210.
,.. NC;W 26 I ab 4 a.m. I from Transylleaving a strong odor of sulphur.
vania tQ JCieff, Russia I violent
June 25 I dets of phen of Treves I Sept 29 I See F. I Krasnol-Ulol,
(Reverse si~e) q-;-in Moldavia,
. An. de Chimie, 1829, p. 420, of one Kasan Russia I Metite I BA, '60.
shocks followed by a heavy fall of.
. of the vols I
Sept 29 I Ext aurora or zod lisht I
[Reverse side) P. P. 1495.
Phil Mag 2/4/465. I See Sept 29, snow/BA~.
.
Nov 27 I Monc:lavio and Todi.
July I I q I rain I Hungary I Red- IS28.
dish clouds on horizon and an IS28 ab Oct 1 I Aubonne (Vaud), Italy I q preceded by violent gust
appearance like lightning. I q I
Switzerland I Brilliant let meteor Qf wind I BA 54.
heavy rain I preceded by some hai[l) "followed by gusts of wind. and Nov. 27 I La Rochelle I ROche-
BA '54-208.
.
fort (Char-Inf.) I q-explosion
snow
[Reverse sid~) showers." Several seemed high in air. I B As. '54 I
July 10 / Aurora? I Near Namu? I
4:05 p.m.-shock again at S.
shocks were felt. I BA 54.
Cor. to Mag of Nat Hist. 3-199 I
6 p.m. I Appearance like a
Nov 29 I 4:05 p.m. I La Rochelle I
Oct. 17 I First attack on K. Hauser.
[Reverse side) rising sun. Upon a low [BCF, pp. 703-710 I See May, 1828.) Sound appeared to be high in the
bank of clouds-shafts of light
air and was thought the explosion
Oct 19 I Det met I Cape Town I
divurging from a luminosity like the
of a meteor, by many persons. I
BA60172.
sun clouded over.
An. de Chimie, Dec 1829.
Oct 25 I Fog in London I on sun
July 20 I Fishes I Moradabad, India
Nov 30 I Siberia I I I [Light quake I
seen (N.E.) a large spot near the
I Lin. Soc Trans. 1617641 (0-84).
BA 1911].
center I Mag of Nat Hist 5-396.
[DCF, p. 861 See July, 1824.)
Dec 221 after,lBlS I Phe c:ontinuiq
. [BCF, pp. 157-158:
.,
at Belley. dept. of the Ain. I fo[r)
July 24 I bet 10 and II p.m. I
A bizarre little lost soul, rescued
m[s)tance, Dec. 22. 1829. seve[r)aI
Murcia, Spain I Shocks, violent
from one of the morgues of the
land Jan 5, 1838.
.
storm, and hail of unusual
American Joumtll 0/ Sciencr.
[Reverse side) size. "Some of the
An account, sent by a corresponhailstones weighed 10 or 12 ounces."
1830
dent, to Prof. Silliman, of someI DA '54-208.
thing that was found in a block.of 1830 and for 18 months I House
Aug I "The storms of July still marble, taken November, 1829, near Chesterfield, occupied
from a quarry, near Philadelphia [Reverse side) by a Mr. J. Ashwell I
continued in many parts of Europe.
(Am. J. Sci., 1-19-361). The block Bell ringiq I See Major Edward
IDA 54-210.
'
was cut into slabs. By this process, Moor's "Bealing's Bells. I I
Aug 4 I Hungary I II I [Medium
it is Said, was exposed an indentation /Fishes I herrins / Islay, Sc:otIand I
quake I BA 1911).
in the stone, about one and a half .Bus Mec. 108/11S.
Aug 7 I 3 a.m. I Colmar, elc. I
inches by five-eighths of an inch. Jan 100etc.1 Immense 8rDup of
q and sound like disl. thunder I
A geometric indentation: in it were sunspots I E. limb of SUD I
BA54.
two definite-looking raised letters, [Reverse side) 011 17th, 3 JlOUPS
Aug. 141 Gumbinnen 13 fireballs I
like "I U": only difference is that and one isolated spot. I An. de
BA 54 I [Kiesw. "should be the corners of the "U" are not Chimie IS300392.
vol. 60").
rounded, but are right angles. We
are told that this block of stone Jan 18 I Philippines I III [Heavy
Aug 14 I (F) I Deal, N.J. I MeqUilkel BA1911).
.
.
teorite I Farringtons list I Mems came fro~ a depth :~f seventy or
eighty feet-or that, if acc:eptai!~e; F~.I q IIJ!d (08 / Aaraql, HUD88rY
Nal Acad of Sciences, vol. 13.
.
this lettering was done long, long 110:40 a.m. I BA 54 /
Aug 15 I Hun I (London Times),
ago. To some persons. not sated (Reverse side) Ab an hour later
3-a I q I Hungary.
with the commonness of the in- "the beavens became obscured by
Aug 261 Parina I Met I [BA) '541
credible that has to be accepted. it clouds as before. and a thick fOS of
[Kiesw. "should be. vol. 60").
may seem grotesque to think that a clisagreeable smell prevailed for
.
Sept I (Frgs) I Rouen, France I
an indentation in sand could have 3 hours.
multitudeof young frogs in a heavy . tons of other sand piled u~ it. a,ild Feb 81 q":"rol'l A8ram I "A foi

SecoDd. .Q~'arter
1983
. '.

baving a very bad smell spread itself"

abroad and lasted for three hours. I I
IBA '50175.
. Feb 9 I [London Times), 3-11 q. I
ValParaiso.
Feb. II I (F) I Bedrordshire I
Met explosion I "Things Not Gen- .
eralIy Knowq, I I p. 30, by E.J. Lowe.
Feb. IS 1(+) I Launton. Bicester,
Oxfordshire I Metite I (F) I (Nature
94/258).
Feb. IS I Birmingham I Met =
Moon I N.E. to S.W. lab.
7:30 p.m. I BA 541 (Kiesw. "should
be vol 60").
Feb 191 Fish-"mut" I India 138
I (0-84. 85).
(BCF,p.86/SeeJuly.1824.)
(BCF, pp. 87-88:
Amer. Jour. Sci., 1-32-199:
That according to testimony
taken before a magistrate, a fall
.occurred, Feb. 19. 1830, "Dear
Feridpoor, India, of many flSties,
of various sizes-some whole and
fresh and others "mutilated and
putrefying. I I Our reflex to those
who would say that. in the climate
of India, it would not take long for
fIShes to putrefy, is. that hilh in the
air, the climate of India is not torrid.
A!1OIher peculiarity of this fall is
that some of the fIShes were much
Jarser than others. Or to those who
hold out for sesresation in a whirlwind, or that objects. say, twice as
heavy as Others would be separated
from the lighter, we point out that
some of these (lShes were twice as
heavy as others.
In the Journal 0./ the Asiatic
Soc~ty 0/ Bengal, 2-650. depositions of witnesses are given:
"Some of the fish were (resh, but
others were rotten and without

heads."
I I Among the number which I got.
five were fresh, and the rest stinking
and headless. "
They remind us of His Grace's
observation of some pages. back.
According to Dr. Buist, some of
these rlShes weighed one and a half
pounds each and others three
pounds.)

March I Maury Co., Tenn. I Tornado I Finley's Rept.

I Near (Dunkeld), Perthshire I
(?). I (0-84) I fish I Liv Age
521186.

**

[BCF, p. 861 See July, 1824.)

March 7 I -3 h I Venus Iinf. conjunc:tiOQ I (A I).
Mar. 9 I Fish I island of Ula I
Arayleshire I Penny Mag. 12/127.

**

(BCF. p. ~61 See July, 1824.)

March 9 I Cauc:asia I III I (Heavy
quake I BA 1911).
March 13 to May I Submarine
explosions near Iceland I
[Reverse side) Smithsonian Inst.
Rept 1885-510.

PuN.'t 95

Ap. 1 I (London Times), 4-b I Met

I London.
Ap. 61 Vesuvius active. I BA '54.
Ap. 12 and 23 I Guatemala I 111
each time I (Heavy quake I
BA 1911).

A stone fcll, May 17, 1830, in the:

rumblin8 sound in the earth."
"c:arJhquake region" around ComMilne's own conclusion-IOU is
rie. It fell at Perth, 22 miles from
plain that there are, connected with
Comrie. Sc:c: Fletcher's List, p. 100.
the earthquake shocks, sounds
Upon Feb. 15, 1837, a black powder
both in the earth and in the air,
fc:11 upon the Comrie region (Edin.
which are distinct and separate."
New Phil. JOUT., 31-293). Oct. 12,
If, upon the 23rd of October, 1839,
Ap. 14 I Violent q I St Domingo,
1839-a quake at Comrie. Accordthere was a tremendous shock, not
W.lndiesl BA 54.
ing to the Rev. M. Walker, of Comof subterranean origin, but from
Ap. 27 I also Etna I Vesuvius I
rie, the sky, at the time, was "pecua great explosion in the sky of
great eruption I Mag Nat Hist
liarly strange and alarming, and
Comrie, and if this be accepted,
6-301 and 302.
appeared as if hung with sackthere will be concussions some-'
cloth." In Mallet's Catalogue
where clse. The "faults" of dogma
May 9 I Persia I II (Light quake I
(Rept. B; A., 1854-290) it is said will open; there will be seismic
BA 1911). '
May 12-22 I China I II I (Medium that, throughout the' month of phenomena in science. 1 have
OctOber, shocks were fclt at Conirie, a fc:c:ling of a conventional survey
quake I BA 1911).
'sometimes' slight and sometimes of this Scottish sky: vista of a fair,
May IS I Dust I Malta I and at seyere'"f"like' 'distant thunder or
blue, vacant expanse-our susSardinia I A. J. Sci 2/11/]73.
reports of artillery"-"the noise
picions daub the impression with
sometimes seemed to be high in the
May 16 I vole and dust cloud I
black alarms-but also do we
Great eruption of Etna-fall of air, and was often heard without
project detonating stimulations
red dust. Yeta writer in
, a n y 'sensi~le shock!' Upon the
into the fair and blue, but un[Reverse side) Mag of Nat Hist 23rd :of Oc~ober, occurred the
occupied and meaningless. One
1833-298 says that the dust was of ~os~ v,iolimt qJ1ake in the whole
cannot pass this single occurrence
cause attrib to the eruption, but series, of p'henomena at Comrie.
by, considering it only in itself:
that inasmuch as the
" See, the Edin. New Phil. Jour., , it is one of a long series of quakes
[Second Pille) principal depositions '"vol.
AI~ data in this publication' of the earth at Comrie and phenomwere south of Etna, the substance .were collected by David Milne.
ena in the sky at Comrie. We have
was brought from somewhere e1se- According to the ~ev.,M. Maxton, stronger evidence than the mere
[Reverse side] He thinks from the ,of,F,oulis Manse, ten miles from
supposition of many persons, in
Sahara.
,
, ,Comrie, 'rattiing sounds were
and near Comrie, that, upon
16 I at Siena I' An organic 'heard
in the sky, preceding the
Oct. 23, 1839" something had
I
materia(l) collected from leav[es) o( I ~hock . that w~s felt. In vol. 33,
occurred in the sky, because sounds
trees in the Botanical Garden of p.' 373, of ,the JourNll, someone seemed to come from the sky.
Siena. Thought to have fallen from who had lived seven miles from
Milne says that clotheS, bleaching
the sky.
'
Comrie i,s quoted: "In every' case,
on the grass, were entirely covered
[Reverse side) Said to be ve8etable am in~lined to say that the sound
with black particles which preprocc:c:ded' not from undergrQund.
malter.
sumably had fallen from the sky.
The shocks were felt in November:
May 161 Siena I Organic matter.
The sound seemed high in the air."
in November, according to Milne,
Someo~e who lived. at. Gowrie,
'May 161 Elna-ashes lo Calabri~
a powder like soot fell from the
8 villages destroyed I Gent's Mag forty ~!1es from Comn~, ~s quoted:
sky, upon Comrie and surrounding
100/11551,639.
"lJIe most' gener~1 o~mon see,ms
regions. In his report to tl\e British
to be that the nOise accompanymg
May 17 I (F) I fell in tho storm I
Association, 1840, Milne, reviewing
the concussion proceeded from
Trans. Perthshire Soc Met. Sci
the phenomena from the year 1788,
above." See vol. 34, p. 87:
7/pt. 21 City of Perth.
says: "Occasionally there was a fall
another impression of explosion
of fine, black, powder. "}
overhead and concussion under[BCf, pp.403-405:
neath: "The noises heard first
The situation at Comrie, PerthAug 9 I Shower ice I Staffordto be in the air, and the
shire, is similar [to Irkutsk, Siberia). seemed
shire I Edin. Jour Sci 91354.
, '

32;

MaY

'I

Aug 19 I Kioto, Japan I III I

(Heavy quake I BA 19,11).
Aug 29 I Spots seen, in Algiers, on
sun, almost across disc in a line.
'Sept I, had collected in [Reverse
side) 2 groups. I Athenaeum
1833/405.
Aug 30 I Fall of fine sand at Tripoli
I Galignani's Messenger, May 25, '
1870/
(Reverse side) It was as hot as if it
had come from a furnace.
last of Aug I near d' Avallon
(yonne) I frgs I (L'lnstitut
2-386).
Sep 19/Op. Mars'l Mem. R.A.S.
6/223.
up to Sept 25 I Noted in Scotla[nd)
I Auroras I Before and after,
nearest were May 5 and Oct 5. I
Sept. 7, 10, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 212S I Annales de Chimie, Dec., 1830.
Nov 19 I Sc:c: Nov. 13, 1829. I
Prague I little red stones? I
BA'60.
.
Dec 4 I R~ssia and Taman Peninsula Ill[Light quake I BA 1911).
Dec 14 I. Insects I Orenburg, Russia.

10-92.

**

(BCF,p.96:
Fall, with snow, at Orenburg,
Russia, Dec. 14, 1830, of a multi, tude of small, black insects, said to
have bc:c:n gnats, but also said to
have had nea-like motions. (A mer.
Jour. Sci. 1-22-375;)]
Dec. 141 Warsaw IF. ball I BA 60.
Dec. 31 I q. I India I Chittagong I
I (Light) I BA 'II.

183.
Jan-Feb I Messina I 1 I (Light
quake I BA 1911).
(To be continued)

The Sander:-son Prescription

(Continued from Contents.pf:l~e) , :

with ,enigmas and paradox!!s, which is to say the
unexplained. Parroting the explained i,s a pure waste
of time. This can be looked up in textbooks. B,ut our
so-called system is today collapsing primarily because
the second essential has been wholly ignored. This is
taxonomy or the expertise of classification.
It is quite useless to try to come to a decision
about anything unless you know the facts, and you
can't gather these if you can't find them. What is
more, no amount of technique that you may have
been taught will help you if you have never been
presented with an overall set of pigeon-holes into
which you can put anythiQg and everything, and the
outer limits of which have been defined, and the division and subdivision of which have been laid out for
you. The Three 'R's' are techniques. J'hey do not
constitute education, let alone knowledge.
The best teachers start each, semester with a

Purs." 96

'

definitive course in taxonomy, then proceed ~o the

main subject for the rest. Since competence in the
three 'Rs' should be implied by a certain age, books
to read and lab work to be done are listed on a
blackboard, and the educator is then free to devote
, his or her entire time to ~timulating the interest and
inquisitiveness of the pupils. The collecting of credits
is assinine, and defeats its purpose which is ~he'
assimilation of facts. Facts cannot be assimilated in
lumps without reference to all other facts. All subjects should be taught simultaneously and continuously up to a certain'level, and examinations be
held in each and all at the end of each semester.
A.bove this level only one specialty should be taught,
and on the assumption that the pupil is by then
educated. The one subject that should be added to
the three 'Rs' is geography, and this s~ould be con-'
tinued until degrees are bestowed. This is the European system; and i~ is a system.
~

SecoDd'Quan... 1983

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
GOVERNING BOARD
Robert C. Warth, President; Gregory Arend, Vice-President; Nancy L. Warth, Secretary
and Treasurer; Trustees: Gregory Arend, Donald DeLue, pro. tem., Steven N. Mayne,
Nancy L. Warth, Robert C. Warth, Martin Wiegler, AI~ena Zwerver.

Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

George A. Agogino, Director of Anthropology Museums and Director, Paleo-Indian
Institute, Eastern New Mexico University (Archeology)
Carl H. Delacato, Director, The Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured, Morton, Pa. (Mentalogy)
.
J. Allen Hynek, Director, Undheimer Astronomical Research Center, Northwestern
University (Astronomy)
Martin Kruskal, Program in Applied Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton,
New Jersey (Mathematics)
..
Samuel B. McDowell, Professor of Biology, Rutgers the State University, Newark,
New Jersey (General Biology)
Vladimir Markotic, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Archaeology, University of Alberta, Canada (Ethnosociology and Ethnology)
John R. Napier, Unit of Primate Biology, Queen Elizabeth College, University of
London, England (Physical Anthropology)
Michael A. Persinger, Professor, Department of Psychology, Laurentian University,
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (Psychology)
Frank B. Salisbury, Plant Science Department, College of Agriculture, Utah State
University (Plant Physiology)
Berthold Eric Schwarz, Consultant, National Institute for Rehabilitation Engineering, Vero Beach, Florida (Mental Sciences)
Roger W. Wescott, Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew
University, Madison, N.J. (Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics)
A. Joseph Wraight, Chief Geographer, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D.C. (Geography and Oceanography)
.
Robert K. Zuck, Professor and Chairman, Department of Botany, Drew University,
Madison, N.J. (Botany)
ORIGI~S

OF SITU/PURSUIT

Zoologist, biologist, botanist and geologist Ivan T. Sanderson, F.L.S., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., in association
with a number of other distinguished authors, established in 1965 a "foundation" for the exposition and
research of the paranormal-those "disquieting mysteries of the natural world" to which they had devoted
much of their investigative lifetimes.
As. a means of persuading other profesSionals, and non-professionals having interests similar to their
own, to enlist in an uncommon cause, the steering group decided to publish a newsletter. The first issue
came out in May 1967. The response, though not overwhelming, was sufficient to reassure the founding
fathers that public interest in the what, why and where of their work would indeed survive them.
Newsletter No.2, dated March 1968, announced new plans for the Sanderson foundation: a structure
larger than its architects had first envisioned was to be built upon it, the whole to be called the SOciety for
the Investigation of The Unexplained, as set forth in documents filed with the New Jersey Secretary of
State.The choice of name was prophetic, for Dr. Sanderson titled one of the last of his two-dozen books
"Investigating the Unexplained," published in 1972 and dedicated to the SOCiety.
Another publication was issued in June 1968, but "newsletter" was now a subtitle; above it the name
Pursuit was displayed for the first time. Vol. I, No. 4 in September 1968 ("incorporating the fourth Society
newsletter") noted that "the abbreviation SITU has now been formally adopted as the designation of our
Society." Issue number 4 moreover intioduced the Scientific Advisory Board, listing the names and afliliations
of the advisors. Administrative matters no longer dominated the contents; these were relegated to the last
four of the twenty pages. Most of the issue was given over to investigative reporting on phenomena such as
"a great armadillo (6 feet long, 3 feet high) said to have been captured in Argentina" -the instant trans
portatlon of solid objects '"from one place to another and even through solids" - the attack on the famed
University of Colorado UFO Project headed by Dr. Edward U. Condon-and some updated information
about "ringing rocks" and "stone spheres."
Thus SITU was born, and thus Pursuit began to chronicle our Investigation of The Unexplained.

Printed in U.S.A.

ISSN 0033-4685

(Continued from front cover)

like a halogen lamp. And, there appeared to be a
V-shaped "shock wave," then several individual dashes
or light blue spots that seemed to trail off into the
darker blue of the tail (Fig. 2).
Within 10 or 15 seconds after the object disappeared
toward the east a second blue blob of light approached
from the west, that is, from the direction of the New
Jersey coast. This sequence of objects or lights continued until at least a dozen more of the things flew by
during a period of some 10 or 15 minutes.
I should note that as we witnessed the succession of
objects, our boat was traveling on an unchanging
course. The first object traversed the sky from west to

east almost directly over the bow. The second passed

directly overhead, and all the objects that followed were
successively behind us until the last one we saw was approximately 45 0 above the horizon past the boat's stern.
Also, some of the objects traveled in clusters of 3 or 4,
but in different sizes as if, perhaps, they were traveling
at different altitudes but at the same speed and direction
relative to each other.
We had no frame of reference to judge the size,
speed or distance of the objects. Since they appeared
about 45 a above the ocean's surface after our boat had
moved approximately one nautical mile, we can 'only
guess that the objects were about a mile high above the
ocean in their course.

It should be noted here that Warren said he served nine years with the U.S. Air Force as an aircraft
mechanic and in his last four years as a senior photographer. He also said that he could not identify the
objects with any conventional aircraft in his experience. He greatly regretted that neither Lou nor he
had gone below deck for any of the half-dozen cameras they had brought along with several types of
film and an assortment of lenses. He said they both were overwhelmed by what they were watching,
and of course they did not realize that each object would be followed by another until the last one
disappeared.
Anyone having other information that might be useful to corroborate or add details to the above
report, or provide evidence of a related sighting of objects, is encouraged to share that information
-R.C.W.
with us.

Journal of SITU
The
SOciety for the
Investigation of
The Unexplained

6Sc ience is the Pursuit 0/ tile Unexplained'

Atmospheric
Light Show

Volume 16
Number 3
Whole 63
Third Quarter
1983

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver. NJ 0773~ USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
SITU (pronounced.,," - you) is a latin word meaning '"place." SITU is also an acronym referring
to 1HE SoclEn' FOR TIlE INVESnGAnON OF 'DtE UNEXPlAINED.

SITU exists for the purpose of collecting data on unexplaineds, promoting proper investigation
of Individual reports and general subjects, and reporting Significant data. to its members. The
Society studies unexplained events and "things" of a tangible nature that" orthodox SCience, for
one reason or another, does not or wiD not study.
.
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' .
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...

Tt:I;E QUARTERLY
, JOURNAL OF-THE

rSUlf

ISOCIETY fOR THE

INVESTIGATION OF

THE
UNEXPLAINED

'SCIENCE IS THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'

. Toward
Page
Geological Evidences of N'fah's Flood
by Evan Hansen
.

98

Zhou Guoxing's Analysis of.the "Zhuantang Ape-Man"

Comments by Jon Erik Beckjord
.
The UFO Name Game
by John Keel

105
'106

Memos & Miscellany

108

Don .Pedro: The Southwest's Most Famous Curandero

by George agogino

109

The UFO Duality: ~emotely Piloted

Extraterrestrial Spacecraft
by Harry Lebelson

III

Ve~icles

and

Wider View

" ... the $cientist is wiser not tO'withhold

a sin.gle finding or a single. conjecture
from publicity."
-J. W. 'VON GOETHE
While a vast majority of our membership and readers have been complimentary concerning our choice of material ,for
Pursuit" some Fortean "fundamentalists"
seem vexed that we have dared to publish
commentary on energy anomalies, fields
of parapsychology, even on the mysteries
of astrology-to name a f~w.
In looking . for the cau~e(s) of unex. plained phenomena we felt it was time to
expand our horizons in the quest for
truthful answers. After all, Charles Fort
started it when he brought anomalies to
the public's attention in his four books.
the fifty 'years since Fort's death,
thousands more such reports have been
collected' by his faithful followers. This
growing collection of data, while essential
to the development.of theories on the fundamental causes of anomalies, should not
ritually supplant the work of serious investigators but should supplement it.
For instance, Dr. Michael Persinger's
efforts to unify Fortean data must be encouraged and made known. Dr. Thomas
Bearden wants to have'a computer network established to exchange new data.
He further believes that concepts of
energy that Nikola Tesla pioneered a century ago and which are now only beginning to be understood and applied, may
eventually explain many types of
anomalies that Forteans have recorded.
. We hope that both Charles Fort and
Ivan,T. Sanderson, wherever they may be,
do understand and agree with the goals 'of
Pursuit. 1 like to think that Ivan is still
saying, as he often said' when 1 knew him,
"let's get on with it."
-R.C.W.

In

Solving the Riddles of Nature and Other Hobbies

by Mark W. De Lawyer

115

Atmospheric Light Show

by Michael.D. Swords with Edward.G. Curtis

116

Report 011 Four Conferences

by Robert C. Warth

120

Science, Proof, and the Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis

by ~asqual S. Schievella

122

Comments on the New Tesla,Electromagnetics (Part 1)

by T. E. Bearden

126

The Highgate Vampire

by Paul B. Thompson

131

SITUations .

134

Letters to the Editors

138

Books Reviewed

139

The Notes of Charles Fort

Deciphered by Carl J. Pabst

142

Cover cartoon by Michael D. Swords

Pursuit Vol. 16, No.3, Whole No. 63, Third Quarier 1983. Copyright 1983 by The,Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained. ISSN 00334685.
No pan of this periodical may be reproduced without the wrillen conseR! of the' Society. Robert C. Warth, Publisher; Frederick S. Wilson, Production
Editor; Martin Wiegler, Consulting Editor; Charles Berlitz, Research Editor and Ocea.nographic Consultant.

Ge~logica'

Evidences
. NOAH'S FLOOD

0/

.. by Evan Hansen . .
F ALL THE CONFLicTS between sCience and religion," there is ~ne
subject tha,t has suffered more misunderstap.ding thaIl: almost any qther.
This is .the dispute over the reality of the biblical story of Noah's Flood. The
conflict is not the result of lack of physical proof, but arises from the fact that
advocates on various sides of the issue have been so long antagonistic to each
other that no one se~ms willing to responsibly consider either t~e claims of.
others or even evidence that favors their own: position. .
.
This article is pres~nted in the hope of shaking up c~rtain people to examine the available evidence at hand, cease pandering to blind prejudice, and
.. . .. get on with the important" task of determining the truth.
. , rheology is left to the reader. Whether there is a God, the nature of God,
. or whether God cause(Lthe Flood are .questions iJ;ltentionally. omitted from
disc)Jssion; suc~ matters are indeterminable wit~in the scope of this. report, are .
~ot necessarily dependent on phy~ical "proof," and will be touched upon only
to explain ho~ I jbecame interested in Noah's Flood and why lhav~ work~d
long and hard ~o lasse~ble the ~vidence of its reality which follows. . .

.'

Because I was ~m into a religiou$ f~ily, my early training was to accept the Bible as fact. I; was 16 years old when
my father took me prospecting for unulium.in-the canyon country of eastern Utah, and that experien~ hooked m~ on geol9gy.
It was no difficult task to find convincing evidenc~ that this land
. had been subje'Cted to a catastrophic flood, but of a kind that'
. bore no similanty to the faniiliarone told about in church. While
still in my teens,.! became convinced thlat finding the truth would
require total rejection of both side~ of the conflict before
reconstructing the picture piece by piece';. matching fact to fact
and. discarding many old assumptions ~nd assertiOns as misfits.
It has taken much of my lifetime to re~onstruct a viable theory
that matches both geology and the Bible.
The Delphic. Oracle. once declare~ that Socrates -was the,
wisest ~n in Greece. Asked by hisl followers to comment,
Socrates pondered awhile, then said ~e pronouncement was
probably true because' 'the only thing I know for certain is that
I know nothing at all." Since no otherl Greek was wise enough
to be so certain of his own ignorance, Socrates' reply probably
did indicate that he Was wisest. A+yone like myself who
becomes involved in a subject as broad and deep as this must
surely agree that educa~ion consists o~ I~rning to be aware of
one's own ignorance. No d~ubt furtherlresearch will modify the
evidenc~ offered here, bu~ I firmly. believe the basic concept
I
. .
. will be sustained. .
Perhaps the best place to start is with the biblical account
in Genesis 6: 14-8: 19. Whatever opinion the reader may hold
about ~eological matters, there is noldenying that Noah was
an ordinlll)' man; and, if we grant that lie was a truthful witness,
all we can expect is that he recorded whkt he experienced. Noah,
of course, had no way of kno~ing what happened in Australia,
Africa, Asia or Ameri~a, and stateme~ts such as the one in
Genesis 7: 19 that "all the high hills that were under the whole
heaven were covered" must not be taken literally; "the high
hills" means only those within Noah's view. '
Let's examine the story in sequence. Genesis 7: 11 states..that

Pur

't ,.

. .

"the same day were ail the fountait.J.'l of the great deep broken
up." Since the "great deep'~ can only be the ocean, what occurred was a ~sunami, or as it is C9.1JlIl)only caHed, a tidal wave.
It inundateifthe land and was followed by forty days and nights
of rain. Water rose over the land until the ark floated.
.
In verse 20, tht: Genesis account takes a statistical tum: "Fifteen cubits did the water prevail; and the mountains were
covered. " These mountains, however, could ~ot have stood
much above sea level or the surrounding land. The classical
dimension of a cubit was the distance from the elbow to the
tip of the middle finger, a length which varied proportionately
to stature. Modem scholars have long since fixed the length of
the "common cubit" at 18 inches, but there were "uncommon"
cubits as long as 21 inches. Even allowing a longer cubit, the
water depth at flood stage could not have been ,much more than
thirty feet.
. .
. Another mistaken assumption, that the ark groun~ed on the
highest peak of Mount Ararat, is also. contradicted by logic,
careful reading; and common sense. The highest peak in the
Ararat Rangerises 16,946 feet above sea level - which converts to a flood water depth of 3.2 miles. But the script doesn't
say;'. 'highest;" Genesis .8:4 refers only to the "mountains of
Ararat" - plural, not singular: This can best be understood to
mean "somewhere in the Ararat Range." .
Additional evidence is addu~ frPm Genesis 11:2 which says
that on leaving Ararat, "they journeyed from the east" to reach
"'a plain in theland of Shinar" (a location ~tween the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers, now called Sumer). Since the peak we
call Ararat is north ofSumer, it cannot be the place where Noah \
landed. The real landing place must be in the Zagros Range,
the only mountainous area east of Sumer. (Origihal place-names
are not necessarily the same ones now in use, especially when
a place may have remained unnamed for so long a time that
its true-location has ~n lost from memory.) Perbaps the biblical,
historians men~oned the "highest" peak because they assumed
that the ark would ground on the first peak to be e,,:posed when

Third Quart... 19.3

the waters receded. Better reasoning challenges that assumption arid suggests that the ark grounded wherever it happened
to be' at the moment there was no longer 'enough water to keep
it afloat.
,
According to the record, the rain ended after forty days, but
the ark. continued to float until the 150th day. If the ark ground'ed on any peak anywhere, how could it remain afloai 110 days
after the rain stopped? Even a child knows that water runs
downhill. No matter,how heavy the rain may have been, the
peaks would begin to "rise" immediately the rain ceased within minutes, not months. The Flood began on the seventeenth
day of the second month and the ark gounded on the seventeenth
day of the seventh month, according to, Genesis 8:4. But it took
until day one of the tenth month for the tops of the rriountains
to become visible - seventy-three days afJer the ark grounded.
Heavy mist obscured the view out the window long after the
rain quit, and mother seven months went by before the occupants
_could leave the ark. T~ey were inside fol' one year and ten days.
Why would they remain in the ark that long if it grounded within
150 days? And why did they send out the raven and the dove?
What of the olive leaf? How could a tree still bear leave~ after
'
a year unde!;, water?
These clues add up to the reasonable conclusion that the ark
did not ground on a peak; instead, it was trapped in a basin-like
valley at a relatively low elevation where the drainage was sluggish and the drainage-time lengthy. The window in the ark would
have been made small lest it diminish the strength of the craft;
the usefulness of a messenger bird would be -indicated by, the
limited view available to those on board. '
If the first happening was a tidal wave, the ark could have
been pushed up into the mountains, but not across more than
two or,three ridges. Once the ark reached a "basin" filled with
water, it would move with the current toward the outlet where
. it would ground while the water remained deep (or many weekS.
The height of the ark was thirty cubits and we may suppose it
was constructed of huge, solid timbers so that after taking on
its heavy cargo, half the hull was probably submerged. Thus
is might find bottom in twenty to thirty feet of water. It could
never be carried to the outlet of the ba$in but w.ould be trapped
hundreds of feet from sho~ where it would remain until the
water evaporated. That the ark was not depopulated 'until a year
after a forty-day period of torrential rain is a reasonable expectation - one which'remodels the story of the Flood in tenns
that are fully acceptable to modem science.
Our present churches originated during the Middle Ages,
when science simply did not exist. Small wonder that muth ignorance and superstiti()~ was enshrined as fa~t., Today we are
under no such limitations. We do have science, and we have
records of many ancient cultures to compare with our own. What
follows is a reconciliation of the biblical story of Noah's Flood
with the erosion effects in the mountains around me that I have
known abo~t since teen-age and have intensely studied in more
recent years.
I have a friend, Dave Palmer, who lives in California. He
spends his vacations in Utah just so we can argue. In one of
our discussions :we got to ,talking about the reality of the Flood,
and the two of us drove up into the hills to see an erosion channel I kriew about. There was no doubt in my mind that tlle channel had been caused by erosion, and he quickly agreed. It was
of much greater size than any modern erosion could produce.
- By reference to a topographical map we were able to calculate
the approximate size of the' area that drained into the channel.
t Here was "hard evidence" of just such a catastrophe as the Bible'described! During the next several months I was to revisit

Third Quart_ 1983

Did Noah's Ark Land.on

,Ararat's Highest Peak?
Former Astronaut's Second Expedition
To Search Anew .for Evidence
In the summer of 1982 former U.S. astronaut James Irwin led,
an expedition to Mount Ararat in Turkey. He wanted to find
evidence that Noah's Ark came to rest on the 16,946-foot peak
after the biblical Great Flood subsided. Irwin's attempt was cut
short when he fell 100 feet from an icy ridge and was found only
after,an 18-hour search by his associates; he then spent more than
a week in a hospital, recovering from bruises and other injuries.
, Irwin returned to Turkey this summer, determined to resume
his quest His 23-inember reconstituted team includes scientists
from various disciplines and weU-equipped, professional climbers.
The 52-year-old former astronaut regards his efforts to reach the
summit of Ararat as only a bit less daunting than his ride to the
moon abo.ard the Apollo-Saturn IS mission in 1971. Although
Irwin himself failed in last year's attempt, two other Americans in
his party did conquer the glacial slopes to ,arrive at the "highest
peak," where the Book of Genesis alleges the Ark grounded:
Turkish authorities have expressed enthusiasm for Irwin's
search and have given the expeditions much logistical support._be_ing mindful of tribal iegends based on the Koran which closely
parallel the western, biblical version of Noah's story.,ach winter,
Kurdish tribes in the Ararat region hold prayer rites in tribute to
Noah, and some local Moslem mullahs even _claim to be his kin.
Kasim Gulek, a former member of the Turkish parliament. was
asked ~hat he thought the searchers might find. "I believe Irwin
will find important things this time," he answered.
UPI' from Ankara" Turkey, v-ia Schenectady (N.Y.)
Gazelle,8/l7i83. CREDIT: R. Girard.

SOURCE:

,the hills,many ~imes to take measurements, while Dave used

his ,access to the -~oUeges in Caiifomia to collect other data.
I have been fanning since 1963". We irrigate with sprinklers
now.. buffor the first fi(teen ye~rs we flood-irrigated out of,ditches. Those tedious years of shoveling-up washed-out irrigation ditches provided ample opportunity to observe the laws of
erosion and the deposition of sediment. "
The exact fonns that occur in my ditches are also found in
the mountains, the only difference being size. So while Dave
was searching out data, I was taking measurements of land
fonns, hoping to work out the amount of rainfall by comparing
the mountain fonns with miniatures created under known conditions Doth by natural rainfall in a vast area and in my ,ditches.
Anyone who is willing to go out in a rainstonn and sit beside
a ditch for long enough to watch,water move sediment can see
,for himself or herself a similar demonstration of erosion and
deposition of soil. Such miniature fonns can then be compared
"to mountain fonns and the differenCe of size used to calculate.
'
the amount of rainfall.
'Because I live close to the southernmost ann of Lake Bonneville (which covered western Utah during Pleistocene times),
it seemed to me the ideal place to stUdy the effects of catastrophic
flooding. My study of miniature forms had already shown that
evidence of flooding is not to be found everyWhere. If land is
basically flat and'level, the effect will be very slight. Perhaps
shallow channels will be cut, or sediment deposited on the old
surface, but such effects occur under ordinary conditions. Good
evidence of catastrophic flooding is found in a locale where high
mountains drain'into cominon channels and there is a "basin"
to collect water as a standing lake, with outlets at known levels.
Fortunately for our study, this immediate region has all Of the
required features.
'
Dave discovered a report made by' the U.S. Geological

Pursuit 99

ti~il by an open inind may reveal much about what caused it

Suryey at Menlo Park which gave us ,necess~ry data on Lake
Bonneville. Vital to our investigation w~ the fact ~t Bonnevill~
, all ,to h~pp~n. , '
.
, The energy Qf any mo-/ing object, water included, is half
had only one out,let - past Red Rock pass, into the Sna~e River,
, past what is now Pocatello, Idaho. This'outlet was 5140 feet
the : Q1ass multiplied, by the square of the veiocity. the
above sea level. Beyond that elevation it ,:was impossible for, the, _ ~ignificilDce is that water moving at high speed is more erosive
lake to rise unru::r ordinal)' conditions; excess water would simply
,than a larger flow at lo~ speed. Of course , if more wa~er is mov-,
overflow and the level of the lake would remain at or below
ing on a gi~en' slope, the ,speed increases with volume: So both
this limit. Indeed, the same 'level is rriaintained throughout the
work tdgether.
'.,
':'
,
enti~ Bonneville basin. It is' marked by the most prominent ter':
Using a lake 'bi.i:sin in a' study 'such as this is advantageous
race line wherever one is to be seen. Not all locations are nQw
, ,because it enables very drastic changes in water-speed to show
at the 5140-foot level because of. isostatic, reb(jund, but the
their effects in an area small enough to aid our comprehension.
amount of rise is always in a direct ratio 'to water depth.
If mountains are exposed above water level, the speed of flow
The tenn isostatic equilibrium is used to descri~ a floating
will be',great because of steep slopes in the canyons. Up,on
object's state of rest when it has reach~d a stable depth. The
reaching standing lake water, the speed is greatly reduced, thus
crust of the Earth is a Iighter'rock than the semi-molten rock
forcing the flow to drop its, load of sediment. In such an area,
of the core. That is why we have continents instead of a unifonn
many "separate cO!1~itions cim exist in close order and we are
surface at one common levei:' A more familiar example is a'boat
given an accurate jdea of the cause of ~ach thing tha~, forms .
floating in water. As c;lrgo is added. the boat sinks deeper until
. Fig: 1 'shows a h9rrow pit alongside a rpad. During summer
it displaces water equal to the added weight of the cargo; 'as'
rains; it wa~ fiI,1ed with, water about a foot deep. Above this
cargo is unloaded, th~ boat rises, proportionately to the ~eight :
water level. the
rain has I
cut',
many
channels in ~he exposed sur,
'
removed. When the boat no 100ige,r rises or sinks, it has reach~ ,
'face. Sediment was dropped below the water level to form a
ed ,equilibrium.
,
'.
.. bajada (pronounced' ba~ha~da; the woid translates from Spanish
, The water in Lake Bonneville had the same ~ffect on the crust
as, ~ descent or slope). As a:'geological.tenn, bajada is com-,
of the Earth as adding cargo to a' boat: it, sank 'deeper into the
, monly uQderStood''to mean Ii succession of overlapping alluvial
core. When Bonneville ~ried up, the weight of the water was
... fans. Since a bajada ha.s 'its top eage at the same level all along
remov'ed and the crust rose to compensate. In places of greater
.the ~tructu~. it shows 'where,water stood, if only briefly. If no
depth of water, the top terrace is now at 5200 feet or' higher.' .
staqdipg water existed, big flows would start to drop sediment
but in shallower depths it has risen only slightly or not at all.
'at a higher level. '
,
, At any rate, the uplift remains proportionate to tJ:te water ~ep~.. I
: T-wo factors,can ca~se sediment to drop: either when the flow
Since the core of ,the Earth, is not liquid but is plastic, the, re. reaches-stariding ~ater. or when it encounters less slope., Both
bound to a stable level requires centuries whereas a boat reaches
conditions reduce w'ater-speed"letting sediment fall. There are'
the state of equilibrium almost instantly. 'The PIOCC<!!s.is the ,same. , ,', several 'w:~y.s to tell which,is th'e cause, but the realistic princiwhatever the time fac~or. ' '
",
plc~ is that standing wa~er puts the start of deposition at water
The outlet of Lake Bonneville was stable 'a~ the 5140-foot. I level. regardles~ of the size of the flow.. '
Fig. 2 shows the bajada'in the mountain' at the north' of this
level for a long enough time to fonn a major ierrace at'iluit elevation throughout the Bonneville basin. But when 'the, Flood hit,
Valley. Note that the ~ajada starts at the's~me level ,below the
the outflow of water was so great that it cut the channel to the
peaks as in the mouth ofthe canyon which is centered in the.
4800-foot level. Bonneville drained to that point; below it, the
photo. Comparison with Fig. 1 shows the ~imilarity of peaks
water evaporated. Every terrace line'below 4800 feet is wave, ,,~xposed to'rain in both. as well as identical fonns of sedimerit
, cut, while those above 4800 feet are deposition terraces. Once
deposition below the water level. This huge bajada top stands
about 6000 feet above and throughout the Bonneville basin; it
we compensate for
isostatic rebound, it beGomes clearly eviindicates a one-time water level at that depth, however briefly
dent that no terrace of any kind can exist above the. 5140-foot
level under nonnal conditions; only a catastrophic flood of
it may have held there. The natural markings indicate two
gre;lter magnitude than the outlet capacity could rise above that
separate floods spaced by a lengthy interval or two stages,of
a siQgle flood event. Since present evidence points both ways,
~~.
~
With this in'fonnation for gUIdance, it was possible to view
this I;lnd other questions cannot be answered until more evidence
the channels leading into Bonneville as historic signs, posted
'is found. My inclination is to believe that both kinds of flooding
,probably occurred:' , '
to tell about the amounts of water ~at once flooded, this lan~.
Because of ,my 15 years' experience with irrigation ditches, I
; Fig. 3 s~ows the two types of terrace fOmiations. As sedifound the observed landfonns easy to iriterpret. The. adjacent
ment is dropped by-,a flow of water hitting 'a standing lake, the
photographs show miniature land fonns as they developed under
reduction 'Of speed of the water is sudden. Virtually the e~tire
observed conditions; the mou~tain forms are shown in large
" load of sediment is drqpp~d in a very short space. Everything
, photos for comparison. These illustrations may help to guide
but silt and clay fall' immediately. A clear terrace.fonns, with
readers who wish to investigate similar effects possibly apparent
a convex' edge~ ~eavy s.ediment - boulders, rocks, gravel and
in' their own regions.
'
,
some soil -' fall out as soon as the standing water is reached.
Progressively finer s~diments drop as the fl~w spreads wider
Erosion/deposition depend on two factors: ope is the v'olume
of' water; the other is its speed. A common misconception of
and wider. Then, as the sediment fi,lls the depression of the lake,
the water beco~es shallower and water speed increases until
conventional geology is that a srpall flow over a long time-period
the sediment rolls ,across the surface of the terrace and drops
will produce the, same effe~t a~ a catastrophic flow for a shOJ1 .
at the, edge as' soon as deeper water is reached. The top of such
time. This has led to an overly'extended time estimate and a
a terrace is' a gentle .slope lI;nd the edge is convex; any convex
reduction of estimated ~ater flow. Once the misunderstanding
te~ce may thus' be identified as a result of the deposition.
, is corrected, virtually everything else in conventional geology'
,A standing body of water also cuts terraces, but in a conupholds this theory. Its acceptance does not require anyone to
cave form that indicates w~ve action. The wave action moves
abandon established principles' of geolQgy; however, 'considera-

the

Pur

't 100

Third
Quartel' 1983
I

Fig.l - ..- .

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Third Quarter 1983

Pursuit 101

in suspension ..Even if.no lake is present', the flow will reduce

sediment but can't cany it away'. rIte sediment can only drop
speed'o~ce it is no longer confined by the walls ofthe canyon:
again below the depth of wave-cutting. A wave-cut terrace is
The flow spreads out and the depth of water lessens as the flow
a concavity with the backwa~h sediment depOsited immediatewidens: Boulders drop fi~t, at the mouth of the canyon. As the
ly below. Since Fig. 3 shows the resUlt of rainfall bringing in
flow continues to widen and becomes increasingly shallow, each
a deposition 'terrace, and of later wave action cutting a concave
size of se~iment falls out in sequence. Sediment continues to
fonn, both the convex and concave shapes are evident. All terbe carried until the flow spreads so wide that the water can no
races below the 4800-foot level in "the Bonneville basin are wavecut,' while those at 5140 feef8Qd above are c.onvex, indicating
longer hold any material in suspension. The result is a pile of
sediment that spreads even wider the farther the flow travels
the latter as deposition temces. .
'.
beyond the canyon' mo~th. Beca,use such a flow spreads like.
. Fig. 4 shows a convex 'dePosition terrace located northwest
. an open.ing fan, it was given that name.
'.
of Lund, Utah. This is clear evi~ence that Bonneville had wa~er
Conventional geOlogy misinterprets the cause .of fan- .
deeper than 5'140 feet. When I began this study, my first map
.fonnation. It assumes diat sediment fills in a channel, forcing
was in a scale of 114 inch to the mile and it showed this terrace
subsequent 'floods to cut a new channel' alongside; thus the fan
at the 5400-foot level. Later; I noted on a map of l~lrger seaie
is the sum' of hundreds of different flows. This is wrong!
that the north end of the five:mile-Ipng terrace'stands at 5300
Repeated- behavior 'of miniatures "indicates' that alluvial fans
feet and the south end at 5200 feet, so perhaps one end .rose
fonn only when the surface of the fan is submerged. When the
~nd the other end subsided; further study is needed to account
for the difference. One other terrace in the valley stands at 5290
water flow further diminishes, it cuts a smaller channel across
the face of the fan. and redeposits a new, smaller fan at a lower
feet. On the basis of eviderice so far compiled, it seemssafe
level, as shown in Fig. 5.
.
to say that this end of Bonneville had,roughly 150 feet more
water depth than it would have had without the intervention of
The bajada is a fonn halfway between a terrace .arid a fan.
a catastrophic flood ..
.It takes shape only where there is standing lake water; moreover,
In my judgment, the effects of isostatic rebound "need not
the flow must be shallo~ enough and the a~ount of inflow sufbe considered. At this end of Bonneville, with the valley' surficient (from many canyons entering side. by side).to cause a
face at 5130 feet, there was virtually nQ depth at all - only
current in the lake itself. The movement of the sediments is
lateral and a smooth unit is formed instead of a'patte'm of several
swampy conditions. I have located the 5140-foot line, always
within 20 feet of 5140, in several places, including the valley
unrelated fans; coalesced alluvial fans, in contrast, show clear
bo",ndaries' betw'een individual fans. Fig.1 shows the smooth
immediateiy below this terrace. The 5300-foot line is apparent
throughout the southern third of the. Bonneville basin, b~t it fades .
unification that has taken' place despite the many sources .of
to nothing at the north end. There is no doubt that water did
sedirrient.
.
. ..
--'
"Fig. 5 reveats' anot~er clue. TIie wave-cut terrace shows the
stand 'at roughly 5300 feet, at least l"ng' enoughto'deposit a
terrace. It was the last event.ofthe Flood; when the' rain ended,
level of standing water when the rain ended. Note that a channel was cut iii the sediments abov'e the water-line; but it ends
we became a desert immediately ari~ ~he evidence dried out for
pennanent preservation.
.
at the water level .. The' same .feature is evident in t!te _channels .
Alluvial fans provide additional strong' evidence of
which coine aut or-all the canyons that drain into the' BODileville
catastrophic flooding. These are the resUlt of streams of water basin. The elevation where the. channels end is roughly at the
loaded with sediment hitting a, more inoderate slope and drop- .
5300-foot level, thus confirming the terraces as true water lines.
ping their load gradually. Whe.n confined by a canyon, water
Fig. 6 shows a spot where rain filled in a borrow pit along
moving down a steep slope ~~n hold an unbelievably big load
.a road with alluvial fan ~nd terraces forming~ The b~rrow pit

Fig. 4

Pursuit 102

. Third Quart... 1983

Fig. 6

FigoS

slows water speed, and since friction IS greatest against the bottom because of the weight of water above, the bottom water
-wiII be -dropping sediment at the same time the sides are being
cut wider. The resl.llt is a wide, flat bottom, not a V-shaped one.
Every channel, large or small, must form at a variable ratio of
width to depth; variable factors include steepness of slope and
amount of material in suspension. It is difficult to work. out a
formula that .will give an accurate measure of water volume if
only. channel sjze is considered. '
Fig. 7 shows a channel cut by the Flood. The location is
northeast of Beryl , Utah, near a railroad siding called Zane. This
is the channel that inspired my study. The photo was taken just
above the point where the flow reached standing lake water.
Here the channel is nearly a qu~rter-mile wide. The top of the
. bajada is visible at middle-distance.
I used the Zane channel as the basis for calculating water
depth, since further upstream it is diverted by a ledge of volcanic
rock into an S-curve; a constriction which reduced the width
to 200 yards. Erosion marks on the ledge enabled me to measure.
water depth as 20-25 feet; the slope is about 100 feet per mile.
This suggests a good-sized river by any comparison - certain-

was full of water, so the sediment formed a deposition terrace

as the flow reached standing water. The part crossing the road
was above water and subject only to the inflow effect. The result
is a classical alluvial fan on the road itself. The flow diminished until it could no long~rcover the whole fan at one time.
But the borrow pit, being lower, w.as draining away the water,
so the reduced flow went into it instead of crossing the road.
(One of the easiest forms to reproduce in miniature is the alluvial.
fan. Just by running a garden hose into a pit, anyone can forin
miniatures and observe the action.~ .
Another point of interest in Fig. 6 i.s the incoming channel:
it is not V-shaped, as many people assume a channel should
be. Instead, it has a wide, flat bottom. Erosion doeS not occur
in the bottom, but it does cut the sides, and the gravel deposited
helps to shield the bottom against cutting. The process becomes
clear once it is understood that suspension of sediment is a factor of water speed. Visualize a channel on a constant slope. If
the channel is constricted in either width or depth, the water
speed will increase; the flow's ability to hold sediment will also
increase, and erosion occurs. But if the size of the channel is
enlarged,_ the water slows and sediment is dropped. Friction

Fig. 7

Tblnl Qaalter 1983

Purs l03

Iy a bigger flow than the present Colorado River. However, my

map showed that the channel drained an area of .only 90 square
miles (it measured eight miles wide by II' miles long)". Only
as a result of catastrophic flooding could enough water collect
. to form such a channel. * .
..
Every canyon draining into the valley has a' channel of similar
proportions. For example, a few miles east of Zane there is ,a
ch!lnnel that drains an area eigHt by twelve miles; the c~anneI
is 220 yards wide. Each chimnel, reganiless of size, .ha.s a
modem flood-channel cut into its floor. hi every instance the
width of the modem channel is approximately 10% of the old
channel's width. In the above example Of a 200-yard-wide' channel there is a modem channel about ~O yards wide. Since the
same depth ratio also holds, we' may assume th~ a flash flood
of present times would not exceed 1% .of the' total amount of
water dispersed during Noah's Flood. While this is orily a rough
estimate, it gives an impressive idea of the huge water flow re:,
.
quired to cut such channels.
Following the same channel.upstream, we come to a 'place
where an extrusion of volcanic rock protJ:Uded into' the channel
and diverted the flow. The Fig. ~ photo was taken from the protruding iedge which diverted the water to the left where it hit
the hill and gouged out a high, narrow cut in t~e solid rock:
Most of .the ledge soon' erod~ and .the flow moved farther' to
. the right where it dug a wider, shallower cut. The combined
width of the two cuts is 190 yards. The modem'flood channel.
.
,
.

can be seen on the floor of the old channer This is no unique

formation; wherever such a flow hit an obstacle, it always made
.
a cut of similar dimensions.'
Fig. 9 shows a similar formation west of Modena, Utah,
where th~ Gold Spring Canyon joins the main canyon. The
drainage area covers some 90 square miles and is about the same
size as the Zane canyo!') described above. But instead of striking a-glancing blow as it did t~ere, the flow here hitdead-center.
This hill also is volcanic. rock - hard enough to scratch glass,
brittle enough to shatter under a massive force suddenly applied ..
yet impervious to the aC,tion of ordinary erosion. The face of
the cut. measures '35 yards from top to bottom and is 150 yards
. wide, but the modem channel is only about 20 yards wide and
diverts before it reaches the hill. Hpw so small a flow could
cut 150.yards out of rock that hard over a.ny time-span is a question. no amount of imagination an answer.
Th strongest evidence of catastrophic flooding rather than
smaller flows over longer times is the size of the material that
has been moved. The size of s~iment is in direct proportion
to the size of the flow. In the example cited above, the flow
from the 220-yard-wide channel met the standing water of Lake
Bonneville at the 5300-foot. level (clearly defined shorelines
show where the lake ended). The flow carried rocks, each as '
big as a ton, Ii distance of 500 yards past the shoreline and dropped smaller stones as far as the eye can see. At five miles from
the mouth of the channel the rocks are stiII of a size that I can

*This is how I calculated water flow: First. I took 5280 squared, to get the.
number of square feet in a square mile. Mulliplying this by 90gave the water- .
shed area. Next. I'mullipJied 600 feet (of channel width) by both 20 and 25
to get a ('ross-section in feet. If the water was .moving past a point. at I mph,
the number of cubic feet passing per hour would thus be counted, I divided
this into the watershed area and fig'ures just above and just below 35 resulted.
This meant that if the water was mo~ing about 35 mph: rainfall had to.be one

foot per hour. Since we have no rivers of 6OO-foot width and 20-to 25-foot depth
on a slope of. 100 feet per mile. we have no way to know the speed of such
a flow. Because the 35 mph speed seems both logical and possiblE. I estimated
a rainfall.of roughly one foot per hour to cutjthis channel. If water in such a
channel moves faster than 35 mph. the rainfall was greater: if it'moves more
. slowly than 35 mph, the rainfall was less. This is only a bal.lpark estimate. Anyone
who can improve on it will get my sincere thanks. -E:H.
:,

:",,','

Fig. 8

Pursuit

no..

Third Quarter 1983

",:
: :.

~:~.~;:
."

.~ ~ ~

','

;:~"

..

:.~

~':~.~~

.:

~::. . ~ :

Fig ..9

roll, but n9t lift even slightly; this suggests a weight of .about
500 pounds. There is just no way a modem flash flood could
carry rocks that size over such a distance.
Another example: Cedar City, .Utah, is built on the alluvial
fan at the mouth of Cedar Canyon. The industrial section at the
west edge of town is five to six miles distant from the mouth
of the canyon. Excavation forthe industrial construction revealed
many rocks the size of a compact car. They were so big that
the developers didn't even want to think about the expense of
blasting them to manageable size and hauling them elsewhere.
The solution pleased everybody: the lar~est boulders were left

Zhou

Guo~i.ng'~ Analys~s

. in place and the factory grounds were attractively landscaped

around them. It seems to me they have their own story to tell
about the Flood: The canYOI1 drains an area of less than 150
square miles; to move rocks. of that :;ize a distance of five or
six miles from the mouth of the canyon would require rainfall
of nearly one foot per hour.

Evan Hansen's modem realization of Noah's Flood is being

published in two parts. Part two will 'appear in our next issue.
.
-:-Ed.

of the 'Zhuantalig Ape-Man'"

Comments by Jon Erik .8eckjord

The 'Zhuantang Ape-Man' won instant
fame in 1980 when a team of scientists.
searching in vain for evidence of the yeti
in central and eastern China. fount! instead
the remarkably preserved remains of an
unkno~n animal at first thought to be a
fonn of ape.
Zhuantang is the name of the village
where the creature was killed. in May
1957, by a group of women aft~r it had
attacked a young girl. The villagers immediately dismembered the body, but a
young biology teacher' named Zhou
Shousong recovered the hands and feet
and' gave them sanctuary in his school.
laboratory. When the scientific team"
tracked down the teacher at a different
school 23 years later, they found the remains still so lifelike that the finest details
came o.ut on film with a sharpness that
flouted all thought of later "enhancement," by computer or otherwise. (See
anicle and photos:in Pursuit No. 54, Se.
cond Quaner 1981, pp. 64-66.-)
The hands and feet were taken to the
Academy of Sciences in Peking for ex-

Third Quarter 1983

amination by one of China's top

zoologists, Dr. Zhou Guoxing. His report
has been. long awaited by "wildmen
researchers" everywhere. We hoped his
analysis would give a c1ue'to the identity
. of the yeti, perhaps even Of the Nonh
American Bigfoot.
But alas. we find that the physical
proof of either of these creatures eludes
us still. for Dr. Guoxing believes the
hands and feet came from a new species
of . macaque. albe!t a large one. The
creature, . he claims, was not ~ven a
pongid. but a monkey.
Whether or not Dr. Guoxing's judgment is correct, this is not the first time.
within our century that a new, large
species of monkey hlJs come. on the
zoological scene'. While on a'-trip into the
Wilds of Venezuela in 1917, Swiss
geologist Francois de Loys shot a large.
monkey that resembled in some ways the'
spider monkey of Central and SOlith
America. M. de Loys said that the
. monkey he shot was one of two sighted
by, members of his pany.

The deceased monkey was placed in sitting position on a wooden box: a heavy
stick. angled from under the chin to the
ground, kep.t the'. body erect while
photographs were. taken.
Much controversy swirled around the
de Loys trophy. At first called a "manb~ast," the creature was later renamed
"Loys' Ape." Unfonunately. de Loys
was not able to bring it from Venezuela
to a!1y place where a thorough scientific
examination could be made. He said that
. it-weighed 112 pounds, was five feet tall,
and had n.o tail. Curiously. the Chinese
recited almost identical.staiistics for the
"Zhuantang Ape-Man": weight about
100 pounds. height five feet. and no tail. '
(The South American spider monkey,
however. has a notoriously long tail),
Dr, duoxing's "monkey" classification may be a comfonable category for
both these creatures, and .funher investigation may fix responsibility for many yeti
anq Bigfoot repons on some fonn of ape
with monkey characteristks.

Pursuit 105

The UFO ,NaDie Game'- .......

:by John Keel

' 'Nsettlers
-August 7, 1806, a group 6f
0
around the odd Iuitural'"
formation, called ,Chimney
--in,

Roc~
. North, Carolina, ob"s'erveci an unusual
phenomenon:. 'A~rding to the Rev.
George NeWton, who :published a letter deScribi~,' the' :,episode in-, the
Raleigh, N.C~ Register,ofthat month,
a large group of lurilinous objec-ts a~
Peared in'the "air' around the' h~gh column' of 1'0ck.:'Some' of- the 'objects
assumed' the forDis 'of humait"i)eings,
and their luminosity was blinding. A
si'miiar fori'nation of lights reappeared
there in 1811. The local 'Cherokee' In- "
dians' have legends about the place
dating back hundreds of y~ars,'One of t"'e p~incipal witne~ses: namoed in the Rev: Newton's account was
Mrs. Patsy Reaves. One hundrC:d and
fifty-nine' yearS later a Johl}, Reeves
became involved.' in a sensational,
widely-publiCized flying saucer landing in 'Florida. The "following spring,
in 1966, a family named Reeves near
Salem, Oregon, became plagued with
stra!lge spheres of light,' apparently
under intelligent control, which inov~
-ed, about the rooms of tbeir' house.
Several police officers and reporters
called to the scene also witnessed the
phenomenon..
,
, On the surface, these incjdents appear to be unconnected coincidences.
The witnesses involved were unrelated
and were widely separated' by space
and time. '
" In December 1%7, the Silver Bridge
spanniQ.g the, Ohio River at Point
Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed,
carrying" 40' people to' their deaths.'
Point p.leasant had been very much in '
the news that year- because nf the
alpi~st :c~lDstant UFO sightings: One
ofthe'bridge victims was an Air Force
officer named A1vie Maddox.,
'Three months later a police officer. '
in Texas-named Alvis Maddox was
mentioned in the press' after allegedly,
seeing and pursuing a flying'saucer in
an area where another 'man" Carroll.
Watts, was claiming ',repeated visits
from UFOs. :' , ' , , " ,
Another famous incident revolved
around a Californian Darned Rex
Heflin who took a series"of controversial photographs of a flying' sauce,r in
1965. On APr:i1 2', ,~971,;one Morris
. . .: :. -,

~eflin reportedly saw a 'cir~ular

The TenMost Common

Surnames in the U.S.
Surname

Number of Persons

1. Smith
1,678,815
2. Johnson
1,623,266
1,079,986
3. William~,(o'n)
'~. B,rown
'~51,320
5. Jones
' 922,913
,807,0~
6. M~lIer,
7. Davis
,729,371
,,8. Martin(ez), '(son), 678,850
9. A-nders(on) ", 589,676
10. Wilso~
,552,993

metalli,c flying !llachine" near

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ..
Is the repetition of these names
meaningless?
, ,Ovenhe past 28 years, hundreds of
thousands of phenom~nal events have
be~n described in newspapers; mag'azines and, books, an~ hundreds of
Source: u.s. Social Security
tl1o!-l~ands of. witnesses have been
,
Administration
named, in print. When dealing' with
such a large body of. evidence, 'or
Specific Names in the
population, certain laws of probabiliNew York (Manhattan)
' ty should surface. We might expect
Telephone Directory
that more Smiths would see: more
UFOs than anybody else, simply
Surname
Approx. Number
' - because there are mOore Smiths
1. S,mith
4,300
around. But in actuality, the name
2. Johnson
2,500
Smith rarely appears in,a UFO report.
3. Williams
3,120
'We might also expect the witness
'3,840
, '4. 'B'"owo
populations to conform to the na- . ,5. Jones
2,160,
tional distributions, racially and
6. 'Clark'
1,,200
religiously. Thus 10% Of all witriesses
'7. Allen'
960
should ,be black because 10% of the
" 'S,. Hill '
480'
population is black, Five percent
20
9. Maddox
should be :Jewish, 20% should be
10. Reeve(s)
13
Catholic, and so on. However, it
11. Reaves
13
doesn't work out that way. Sighting!;
4
12. Heflin
'of flying saucers and related phe\3
.3~ a. Kiehl
Domena appear'to occur on a', selected
14. b. Kiel
9
basis.
'7
15. c. Keel,
Among the names most" frequently
noted in l,JFO reports a.re Hill, Allen
, and Clark. Naturally, a great many
compiled' from the New York City
other names also appear. Statistically,' , (Manhattan) telephone book, a direc-'
if 1,000 random event~ are reported . ,'tory which lists in total approximately'
this year, the names and backgrounds
900,000 people. Of these, only 13 are
of th~ witnesses should balance out
named Reeve(s) and ten spell it
roughly to the distribution of the naReaves, 23 out of 900,000. (There are
tional population.
4,300 Smiths.) If a, flying' saucer
What are the odds fQr someone
should appear over New York City,
r)amed Reeves seeiQ,g a UFO, (or a
and if it should be seen by only three
~ghost, for that matter) this year? They
people, the .odds ar.e far greater that,
are approximately 400 million to 'one.
one of those people would be J.lamed
, Adjacent are two boxe!1listS, one
Smith rather than Reeves.
showing the ten most common surHeflin is an even rarer name. 'Only
names in the United States. These, .four Hetlins are listed in the 'phone
names should dominate the massive ,book. Yet two Heflins have,not only
'been involved'in important"'UFO insighting, data of the past 28 years.
They ,don't.' Jones, for example, is
cidents, but hav~ experienced follow~
number five on t"'e list but- rarely apup events as well. Rex Heflin allegedly
pears in UFO reports. The most ,received visits from: bogus Air Force
outstanding case was the low-level , ,officers after the' existence of his
sighting,of a metallic sphere reported
photos was, reve~ed. Morris Heflin
by ,Tad Jones over a highway near
saw 'his mysterious UFO' ,a' 'second
Charlestown, West Virginia, in
time, on May 8, 1971. This is,,like
,J anuary 1967.
'lightning striking in the same place
' The second box gives inform~~ion
twice .
~w

Quart_ 1983

Another rare name is Kiehl. Only

three Kiehls are listed in the Manhattan directory. Shortly after the
author's interest in the UFO phenomenon became publicly known in 1966,
one William J. Kiehl surfaced on the
U.S. West Coast and revealed an incredible sighting which had taken
place 50 years earlier in Canada.
As a boy he had seen a saucershaped object hover over a lake, he
said, and little men were visible. His
story, remarkably detailed after such
a long lapse of time, appears in the
opening chapter of Coral'Lorenzen's
book The UFO Occupants. So far as
is known, no other Kiehls/Kiels/Keels
have been witnesses to any reported
phenomena. This makes William J.
Kiehl's account all the, more
remarkable.
.
The name Clark is number 18 on
the Social Security Administration's
list. There are at least 385,206 Clarks
in the United States. A number of
Clarks are prominent in urology. Over
the years several Clarks have been
named in sighting reports.
Hill is another name that seems to
pop up frequently, the most famous
~eing the late Barney Hill who sup~
posedly underwent an extraordinary
contact experience. Incidentally,'.he
was also one of the few blacks to
'become publicly identified with' the
phenomenon. t1ill ranks as number 32
on the list (there are 289,655 of them,
480 of whom are listed in the Manhattan directory). Another famous contactee, George Adamski, bore an even
scarcer name. A mere three iue listed
in Manhattan.
In a long line of controversial contact reports, the ufonauts have igen~
tifled themselves with variations of
the name AlleQ. Radio personality
"Long John" Nebel frequently commented on this Allen cQrrelation. The
surname, Allen is number 26 on the
Social S~curity Administ.ratioo's list,
and about 960 AlIens are listed in th
New ork telephone book. Like
Clark, Allen has appeared frequently"
in sighting reports and a number of
AlIens are important in UFO. lore:
Carlos Allende, Dr. Gordon Allen,
and the Alyn mentioned by assorted
contactees.
,
If UFO sightings are completely
sporadic'and accidental, as most UFO
enthusiasts believe, then many of
these coincidences would have been
next to impossible. Apparently there
is a hid~en factor here -' a factor of
Third Quarter

~983

selectivity. Either the phenomenon

itself selects certain witnesses because
of some obscure genealogical factor
(this was, incidentally, one of Adamski's claims), or, if we care to be more
pragmatic, certain strains in certain
families suffer inherited traits which.
make them prone to hallucinations or
psychic experiences. There is, in fact,:
interesting evidence that psychic ability is inherited.
-Ralph Bl~m, the New York writer
who authored Beyond Earth: Man's
Contact with UFOs, told me that he,
too, is concerned with the strange
coincidences involving names. Many
of the place-names and surnames in
UFO reports, he points out, refer to
water in various w!lYs; The name
Reeves is similar to a French word
meaning "river bank." In 'English,
"reeve" is a nautical term meaning to
pass a rope through a hole.
In the Flying Saucer Review
.magazine special, "Beyond Condon,"
and in my books, 1 have pointed out
that, the' names adopted by the entities
uS!lally- have rQots in ancient mythology. But 1 have always been baffled
by Woodrow Derenberger's alleged
contact (West Virginia.~ 1966) with an
entity who called himself "Cold."
This might be explained by John Mitchell's research into ancient leys (The
View Over A llantis, Ballantine
Books). He points out (page 10) that
the name~ "Red! White and Black are
'~live Gr~aves,

Meet Clive Greaves'

Clive Greaves .went to a party in New York

several years ago and was .told he wasn't Clive
Greaves. Clive Greaves went to Connecticut
realtor a few year'S later and was told HE wasn't
Clive Greaves.
.
A Kafkaesque nightmare~'
No, just a case o~ two Clives with t~e same
qreaves.
Clive W. G.reaves, the one who went to the
party, has been. living in New York for ten
years. He is a native of England and president
of the Distillers Co., Ltd.
Clive L. Greaves, the one who went to the
realtor, is president of the Economist
Newspaper a"roup Ltd. He used to live in Lon. don but settled in New York City when he first
carne to the United States. He now lives in Connecticut, and that is part of the story.
At the party several years ago, Clive W. ran
into a friend of Clive 1.:.
"You're not Clive Greaves," the man insisted.
Since then, the Clives' lives have been moving
closer together. In addition to the mirrored
names and business titles, they are beginning to .
have mirrored existences and the prol1lems that
go "I'ith them.
The two men, besides having offices near
each other, also live in neighboring Connecticut

common [along ley routes]; so are

Cold pr Cole, Dod, Merry and Ley."
During my wanderings in West
Virginia 1 (ound traces of leys, and it
may be that Derenberger's first encounter took place. at a point along an
erased ley. UFO events, . like religious
events, are often allegorical and contain subtle, hidden Clues.
It would take a computer project to
sift and correlate the many thousands
of names mentioned in the reports of
the past 28 years. Statistically, as
already stated, these reports should be
dominated by' Smiths, Johnsons,
Williamses, Browns, and so on. In actual fact, less widely distributed
names tend to dominate the reports.
Those who have investigated and
reported phenomenal occurrences in
their own areas might list the .names of
all the' people involve9' and try to
determine their. inter-relationship, if
any ..
It is always important to. collect additionilily the racial and religious
backgrounds of the witnesses. An extraordinary number of American
witnesses are either full-blooded Indians or have .some Indian blood in
their background. In a case investigatec;l ..in Indiana during the
mid-70s, the only Indian within a
200-square-mile area reported
undergoing a series of repeated experiences with low-flying UFOs.
Flying saucers are not only defying

communities. Clive L. has' a home.ili New Canaan. Clive W. lives in Darien.

.
Clive L. said when he went to the' realtor to
buy his home, "the realtor said I wasn't Clive
Greaves, that lie knew Clive Greaves. It seems
Clive W. went to the same real estate man."
SiQce their offices are near each other, they
also happen to frequent the same restaurants,
which often results in reservation pr.Oblems.
"Clive W. went to '21' last weeK:" Clive L.
said, "and they told him, 'Don't be ~idiculous,
your luncheon is tomorow.' You set, I was to
have lunch there the next day. He wasn't very
pleased.~'
.
. So last week, the men decided to resolve at
least the lunch problem by dining together Clive Greaves, party of"two at '21' - and they
discovered other similarities.
. Both have wives whose first names begin with
J. (Janet is Clive L's and J~nnie is Clive W's.)
Each has a son and a daughter, and each has
two aunts named Ivy and Violet.
. "We als.o found out we were both keen golfers," Clive L. said. "He's threatening to play
me. I say threatening because he's far better
than me. If it. were anyone else, I'd practice like
hell to save the family name. But in this case
there's no need to save it."

Purst 107

the laws of gravity and inertia; they

are also defying the laws of probability in their uncanny selection' of wit,nesses. If UFOs are genuine ultrater- ,
restrial (inter-dimensional) or extraterrestrial phenomena; then all this is
an indication that they know, more '
about us as individuals than we can
suspect or rationalize.
Skeptics, and those who would' try
to wish the whole thing' away, might
scoff that we are merely dealing with
coincidences. It, is, in fact, very true
that incredible coincidences abound in
Fortean experiences. Some .investiga~
tors who are unprepared for 'the long
arm of coincidence are often stag-'
gered ~y the suddCin multiplication of
events. Dr. Jacques Vallee, for exam7
pie, was caught up ,in a serie5 of
games, the nature of which was
familiar to students of psychic phenomena, but Dr., Vallee knew aln:tQst,
IJ.othing about psychic lore and was
quite taken aback., According to, his
book Messengers of Decept~o,!o after
spending ,months of game-playing
with an imaginary Order of
Melchezedek in the belief that its
ptembers were behind ~he flying
saucer enigma, Vallee climbed into a
taxi in Los Angeles and discovered his
driver's name was Melcheiedek. ,It
gave him pause.
'
I'll never forget the time that author
Ralph Blum, his wife and I managed
to flag down a taxi on a cold, rainy
night in Manhattan and found our:
driver-'s name was aIsp Raiph Blum!
,Since there are about I 1,000 taxis in
New York City, the odds for this happening were probably 11,000 to 1.
Anthropologist Ldren Coleman
discovered ari even stranger 'coincidence. In 1958, two unrelated men'
named 'Charles Wetzel were involved
in bizarre monster incidents. One apparently ran over a huge humanoid in
Riverside, California; the case received extensive publicity at the time. The'
other Mr. Wetzel. had an encounter
with our six-foot-tall kangaroos near
Grand Rapids, Nebraska, that same
year. Th'ere are only 23 Wetzels,in'our
trusty Manhattan directory. The
chances for two men named Charles
Wetzel being involved in paranormal
experiences in the same year must be
astronomical. (See Coleman's full
report in Pursuit, Fourth Quarter
1982, pp\ '155-156.)
,
Wamsley is another rare ,name that
seems to bode ill for those who own it.In ,The Mothman Prophecies, I ex-

Purs.'t 108

,'MelDqs, ~is'cellany
"

' "

. Please take notice that Jl1,arti~les"ph'ot~grapl:t~, ,new5clips, book reviews,and

other contents including '(leiters to' tp,e: editors'~, should now be sent directly to
' SITU headquarters in Little Silver, New Jen~ey', iJ they are to be considered for
" "
, '.. ' , ,
'
' ,
publication' in Pursuit., ,I
Henceforth, everything per~aining to yqur':meiTI6ership in SITU and all-corresponden<;;e relating'to tHe
contents, production,and
mailing of Pursuit will' be
I
,"
handled at one address, which is: , .', .... ' ,
SITU/PURSUIT
P ,0. Box,265 .
" " '. Little Silver., :NJ 07739, USA
, : telephone: '(201) ,842-5229' ,
This change is being 'm~de' i~' th~ i~tefest of improving our !;e~vice to
members. By centralizing' operations ,at' ~rie-address, we hope to eliminate those
,delays which,inevitably occur w~en, c6mmQniCations responsibilities are shared
by two,or ,more offices lobated many, miles apar.t.'
,
, The informati?n prin~~ irisl~e ~h~ ,f~OQt. c'o.ver o~ thi.s is~ue has ~ee~ revised to
accomtnodate ,thIs change; also mcluded are gUldehnes for ordenng "back
issues" of PurSuit. Plea~e turrt to 'the 'inside front 'cover and read the three
"MEMBERSHIP."
paragI:aphs under the first subh~ading,
. ,-,

'

Tne, number of newsclips contributed, to our SITUations columns has risen

remarkably iireach quarter of the past year, and there has been a correspondirig
(Cominued'fJ,n page 137)
plained how members of a' family"
was collecting, Ambroses. Are the.y
named Wamsley were among the first
also ,collecting Wamsleys?
:, The big question confronting the
people to become involved .in the
Mothman sigl)tings of 1966 in West' behavioral scientists now immersed in
UFO studies is: Do the UFOs actually
, Virginia; and sad1y to report, some
select their witnesses, or do specific
'members of the family ,were on the
. Silver, Bridge when it col!aps~d iQ, people tend to create the experience
December ,1967 and all we're drowned.
f.rom within, themselves by some unEight years later, some Wamsleys livknown me'1tal process? Why, do the
ing in New Jersey were startled to see ,Allens, Hills, Reeves, Heflins and
a brightly ,illuminated UFO hovering
Wamsleys see more of these things
just outside their' house. While they
,than the Smiths, J o'bnsons 'and
(two adults and two teenagers) watchBrowns? We are obviously dealing
ed in astoilishment, the object glided, _ with something far more complex,
o'ff down the street'in the direction of
than simple coincidence.' There seems
a high-rise development known as the': ' to ,be a hereditary factor, at work in
St'onehenge Apartments. Their ' many cases in which several genera;
~ions of a single family all become en- "
sighting'marked the beginning of the
tan,gled in paranormal events. The
famous "~toJ;leheng~ ianding," Qne
:of the best llFO sightings of tpat year. , phenomena somehow single out cer,A newcomer io the UFO "field, an "ar-' .lain" i~dividuals, even in crowded
tist named Budd Hopkins, investi~' 'cities,.-:.. and leav,e ~h~ rest of us
gated the Stonehenge affair and lat~r,' "alon~. These are hardly the kind of
described it in his book Missing Time.
'games, that won~erful extraterrestrial'
'be~~gs' .from some' other world with ,a
Hopkins was unfamiliar with' the
earlier episode in West Virginia'.
superior technology would play.
There ate, only two Wamsleys listed
Rather, :all of the J!lanifestations, no
matter, how physical they might seem,
in the Manttattan phone book', so it is.
a really rare name. Yet the UFO phe~ , an~ closely. related to us and to our
nomen<:m has singled out two Wams- .' ,miJ:1ds.
'
,
,
ley famili,es ,in two very impo~tant, "
I alvyays keep in mind Ian Fleming's
cases! How? Why? ,Back iJ;l the,1920s~ , ,defi~ition of events which repeat
Charles Fort noted that people named': . themselves: '~Once is happ~nstance,
Ambrose se~med to be disapp,earing. . :tw,ice is coincidence, three times is
He .concluded that sOtueone ,out there' ,~~~my action."
~
,. ...... : .
Third Quarter 1983
, ,

..... -

.,

Don Pedro: The Southwest's

"Most Famoas.

Curandero
by George A9Dogino
.

This al1icle is based on field work and intervi~ws by the

author'plus gene,ral information from the book New Mexico Folklore 0/ the ~io Abajo by Jose Ortiz Pino, HI; a
book edited'in 1951 by M. Hudson titled Tone the Bell
Easy., .snd several short papers by J. Frank Dobie. My interviews were with curanderos in' Portales, New Mexico;
Alice, Texas; Douglas, Arizona; and the Mexican communities of Chihpahua, Satillo, Guanajuato and San Bias.
Bobbie Ferguson, u.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Amarillo,
. Texas, served
as a consultant
and as editor of the paper.
.
.
'

brujo (bruja). As mote-cosmopolitan methods of healing

have diffused in remote areas of the southwest U.S.A. and
northern Mexico, the curandero has slipped from being the
primary or ,sole source of medical attention to a sc=condary
. or supplementary role in treating the sick. If a cure is not
quickly forthcoming, the curandero is often replaced by a
more orthodox medical practitioner.
This does not mean that cutanderos are an endangered
species, for many: middle-aged and elderly Spanishspeaking people in rl.!-ral areas still prefer, and have faith
'in', the curandero's style of medicine. But few are entering
the field, and most ,of the curanderos presently practiCing
are in the same. age bracket as their clients.
The curandero and his patients view illness in the context of their religious anc! social life; illness is not a chance
event but is inextricably bound to the religious history of
HE CURANDERO, or folk healer, is ri~t a pi-ofes:',
the' in~ividual and his group. According to the curandero,
sional in the sense that he has had formal tr~ining "in
. the. younger. generations hav~ lost touch with the folkthe art of medicine; indeed, few curanderos' today 'earn: a . . wisdom of preceding generations and with the values of the:
church and famiiY. Particulariy criticized are such trends
complete living by their practiCe. They are members of the
community, and most are regarded as specialists' because
as mothers seeking employment outside the home, children
they have learned more of the popular medic~llore of the . ' having, little direction and supervision, illegitimate births
culture than have any other barrio (neighborhopd) pc::ople. .., ,'. becoming aU too frequel1t, arid the crime rate soaring.
Curanderos have won great pr~stige, nO,t only 'in tlie , : Those who grow up undisciplined by traditional boundaries' and values get '''an enemy in the brain" which
southwest U.S.A. but throughout northern Mexico.
'
While some curanderos do claim supenlatural .insight . .. prevents them from developing those qualities of character
a,nd the ability to foresee the, future, these attrib,utes are'
, which make p'eop,le free of m~ntal illness. Acceptance of
not essential aspects of their role. Most healers leam' .' 'the mate.ri:a~istic values of American society is also opposthrough apprenticeship to an older curander9, never ,by ,
ed, as fs the ~merican idea of the equality of the sexes
starvation, flagellation, isolation, o,r other suffering. ,.,
, which the curanderos say has challenged the traditional
The power to heal is not looked upon with aw~,.and fe~ ,
concept. of family and made many women discontent with
curanderos are overwhelmed by their own healing powers.
th~ir lot. .,
'
,
, A.ccording,to most curanderos, tfie avoidance of sin is
Abuse of the healing power only leads to i~s loss. The
always within the power of the individual through the
bolic accouterments of the healer's authority" such !is rattles, drums, ma~ks, and fetishes, are negligibl~ iIi Mexicl!-n~
grace pf God and with the help of the Holy Spirit. The
devfl can ente.r ,Ii person's life only' when he or she volunAmerican culture. As. healing derive~, from .. God,:' th~
curandero relies heavily on religious paraphernalia 'such as
taJ;'ily moves away from the moral ord'er or displays
wea!<ness througl) carelessness.
crosses and pictures of saints. Many heale.rs ma,intain
Successful curanderos are generally intelligent people
'assistants wlio, being also apprentices, preserve the system
with strong ego and dominant personalities. The atmosfor future generations. In a society where others are
phere they create brings into play both mystical and Chrissuspected, the religious healer's ,motives are unchallenged
tian elements. Frequently an assistant curandero questions
and trusteq. However" the power to do good also indicates
the new patient and'prepares the'individual psychologicalthat the healer, if he wanted to, could become a witch or

sym- '

Third Quarter 1983

Pursuit 109

Iy. The patient may be placed in comfortable surroundings

in front of a.cross or santo and subje~ted to dim light or
soothing music. The assistant will probably explain what
he feels has caused the illness, based on a review of the patient's history and the apprentice curandero's diag'nostic
Jechniques. Consultation then follows between the assis. tantand the master curandero who will take charge and effeet the recoverY," using herbs, psychological reinforcement, and various mystical charms or incantations.
Almost always the curandero will explain to th~ patient
that his power. to cure is an extension of, or is' derived
from, his favored position withinthe Christian religious
framework.
The asssistant and sometimes even a master curahdero
may have chosen the curing profession as a second career.
Many elderly, alone .and nearly destitute people ae attracted to work that helps others like themselves .. Age embodies respect and a lifetime of. knowledge, a~d often only
a short period of apprenticeship .is necessary to establish a
pra4;:tice. The curandero's skill, intuition, humility and interest in people are important, but a religion-oriented appro~~h is his'. paramount virtue ..While his reputation is
built upon success, he is nor blamed for failures because .
the communityaccepts the role of Go(J'swiil.in all matters~
of health. ~aith is the key factor: .. I
.
. ,.; ... ...
".'

.... Perhaps the .inost famous of the old-time curanderos

was Don Pedro Jaramillo, born in' the Mexican state of
Jalisco sometime between 1830'and 1835. He first came to
the United States in 1881, apparently with Ii group that was
b;ringing' in Mexican liquors Jor. a Spanish-American
, celebration near Laredo, Texas. He returned to Mexico for
a .time and worked as a laborer and sheep-herder, but'
about 1885 he came ba~k to the U.S. to hire on as a hand at
the LQs Alamos Ranch, one of the largest cattle-spreads in
the a~ea in those days. 'Don Pedro had come amongst his
peers, for most' of the other ranch hands wer~ also of
Spanish-American extraction and many were' illegal, imni~gr~lIlts from Mexico, as he was.
:.
ShQrtly after his arrival at the ranch, Don Pedro
became' affliCted \\.-ith 'a disorder of. the nose: From ali indications, it was tumor.. He.suffered from the ailment for
severai months, them' one day 'stuck his nose into the soft
mud alongside a stream, hoping to ease the pain. The cooi
mud -brought satisfaction and, surpriSingly, relief. For
three days he continued to dip his face in the pool of mud.
By the'.end of the third day the tumor had .receded, but a
large sear was to remain 'on his nose at the point of affliction fo.r. the rest of his life. It. was shortly after- this healing
experience that Don Pedro began to believe in a dream or
vision in which he was. told by 90d that he should take up
the duties of a curandero in this remote area of soutltern
Texas where doctors were few and medicaHacilities scarce.
Don Pedro's cures were mostly very simple and many
of them could best be described as psychosomatic treatment. The recovery rate of his patients was truly amazing
and 'his reputation spread throughout sou~hern Texas and
into northern Mexico as well. Patients came from as far
away as central New Mexico,' and .one patient for whom
doctors in Chicago had given up hope, traveled all the way
. from Illinois to Los Alamos to receive a new lease on life.
One of Don 'Pedro's early successes was a patient he
cure~ of a severe affliction. The patient was the owner of

the 'ranch where Dori Pedro "Worked, and 'as an expression.

ot' gratitude he deeded a cottage and one hundred acres of
good land to the curandero. Now Don Pedro could quit his
ranch job arid dispense curandero cures full-time from his
very own medical facility! .
Most of Don Pedro's medicines ~ere things he grew:
garli(!!, oranges, miscellimeous fruits, and berries. He .
. started all prescriptions with '''In the name of God .... " .
and continued to stress that the cures were' not of his doing; he simply dispensed the medicines and God performed
the miracles. His treatments might consist of t~lIing a 'patient to drink a glass"of w:ater with the left hand at dawn
for three consecutive days; ono take a bath on three consecutive m.ornings using a soap Don Pedro had prepared.
One unusual treatment of stomach disease required
wrapping a new and unopened bottle of castor oil (then
costing abput 10 cents) in a new and: unused handkerchief,
and binding said items to the stomach. With this gear in
place,. the patient was .required to walk two miles in shoes
filled with tomatoes - fresh out of the can. In addition, a
clove of garlic was added, to the contents of one shoe, the
same to remain on the foot overnight. A more attractive
prescription, for many, was chug-a-lugging a bottle' of
whiskey until' collapsing from the effects of the
"medicine." In such a case, the directions continued, the
patient was to be left where he fell, unattended until he
sobered up.
.
Don. Pedro worked with livestock as well as humans.
A seriously ill horse .was brought to h.im. Its owner was in- .
structed to 'tie the a'riiinai to a China tree for one hour,
beginning at high nQon: .Following the' "releas~" of the
disease, the expectation was that the horse would live but
.
the tree would die.
. ..../.
. There was a Spanish-American named Antonio' de la
Fuente who asked to be treated for asthma~ He was instnicted to'ride his horse into a pond at midnight until.both
, he arid the horse were well soaked~ He was then. to ride the
horse home,. dismount~ wrap himself in dry garments over
his wet clothes, and sta,y in bed until all the clothing was
completely dry. The treatment should have killed him, bllt
the man's health improved. Asthma is often psychosomatic in origin, and this probably'was such a case.
. If one cure failed, Don Pedro offered another. Ayoung
l~dy s)Jffering -from "susto" (fright) was first ordered to
drink a 'small bottle of olive oil each night at bedtime.
When this failed to effect a cur~, the fonriula was changed
and she was inktructed'to eat a can oftomatoes each morning before bre~kfast. .
II) my interviews with Spanish-Americans in the Los
Alamos. area of Texas, a number of the padents' descendants informed me that Don Pedro's favorite remedies inclu~ed repeated prayers, or washing the ~fflicted parts 'of
the body with yellow soap while praying for a successful
outcome and restoration of good health.
. It is certain that Don Pedro wrote his own prescriptions
and;was in all ways quite literate. Every few days he traveled .four miles to the Falfurria post office, returning with
dozens of letters requesting 'medical ~ssis~ance. They were
promptly answered. The volume of -mail he received and
, the large amounts' he.spent on stamps aroused the suspicio.ns of the postal. authorities, and a postal inspector wa's
sent to investigate. He was soon able to assure his superiors
th~' no. fraud was in progress.
.'
Don . Pedro's success did
little
to
improve
... "
.'his material
.

Pu...." 110

"

Third Qauter 1983

The UFO Duality:

RPVs and Extraterrestrial Spacecraft
by Harry
A Gallup survey in 1966 showed that
40% of the American people polled
thought UFOs were real. By 1974, the'
number had increased to 54%. In
1980 the figure rose 'to 60%. Today,
that statistic is an amazing 80% of
Americans polled.
UFOs are alive and well; they are
traversing the airways of not only the
United States but of much of the rest of
the world. They appear to reign supreme,
outdistancing our jets, outfoxing our
radar, and defying the world's most
sophisticated security system, Much
privileged information, hitherto withheld
from the public, has recently come to light
through documents secured from U.S.
government agencies under the Freedom
of Information Act: There seems to be a
physical phenomenon for which oW' scientific ,and political establishments are
unable to offer a reasonable explanation .
. Yes, the Force is with us. The question'
is, What is the nature of that Force?
, Our government's public profile of a
"hands off' policy regarding the investigation of UFOs has left it in the hands
of civilian investigative groups which,
over the last 33 years, 'have failed to prove conclusively that UFqs are a scientific
fact. The field of inquiry has mudded, The
public has refused to recognize the duality of a phenomenon whose highly guarded secrets are only now being extracted
from the vaults of government secrecy.
Discussing the subject of UFOs du~ng

~ebel.oD

a debate in the British House of Lords on

January 17, 1979, Lord Kings Norton
said: "I am sure that many-and perhaps
most-of the sightings recorded and reported are terrestrial in origin. Aeroplanes
with navigation lights glowing at night;
satellite-launching rockets burning up on
re-entry; remotely piloted vehicles, now
beginning to be called RPVs, up on trial
.
flights . . ,"
RPVs? Something new has been added

comfons. His house, land, and clothes were anything but

pretentious. Most of his income was devoted to helping
others. At his death his small estate looked, and was, run
down; only $1500 in cash could be found. A good deal of
his money was spent to provide food for patients who arrived while he was "on tour," helping others in distant
cities. He bought sugar by .the barrelful and groceries
enough to feed dozens in his absence.
Don Pedro's work was brought to the attention of both .
the, Roman Catholic clergy, and physicians generally, in
central and southern Texas. His closest "competitor" was
a doctor, J. S. Strickland, who never really entered iJl.to
competition with the famous curandero but said, '.'How do
I know that 0011 Pedro's prayers do not do more good
than .my pills?"
..
... .
Though he was a poor horseman, Don Pedro traveled
frequently to towns many days distant from his home. He
wrote in advance to each location, notifying the people of

Third Q_arter 1983

to the vast lexicon of possible explanations for UFOs by a distinguished member

of the House of Lords, whose remarks
sho~Jld be treated with d1l:e respect; this
former chairman of .the British government's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is also a former direc. tor of special proj~ts for the British
MinistIy of Aircraft Production, a former
president of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a fellow of the Imperial College
of Science and Technology.
Some UFOs maybe perfectly "real"
in the sense that they are actual objects
. constructed by intelligent beings. These
intelligent beings, at least in some cases,
are ourselves, and those UFOs hurtling
through space are the product of our own
technology, without them havi,ng the

EarJy prototype disc tested by the U.S. Air Force .

. his impending visit so that all who n~ed him could come
to an appointed place at the proper time. Often he .was accompanied by a French priest, Fr. Yard, Who ministered to
the soul while Don Pedro ministered to the body, Both
men believed that they were jointly doing the. work of God.
Don Pedro Jaramillo apparently died quite suddenly,
. on July 3, 1907, the cause either a stroke or a heart attack.
. He was buried in a Falfurria cemetery, .
When I traveled in southern Texas last year, I was-impressed with the numerous drawings and tintype
Pilotographs of Don Pedro that are prized as relics in
homes and in churches, AIt.hough badly faded, they show a
bearded and giant Spanish-American about seventy years
old, with piercing eyes and a scarred nose to recali the affliction he cured himself and the dream that launched his
career. His pictures are stained by candle- and fingergrease and worn from repeated handling, but seventy years
after his death, Don Pedro's image still cures,
~

Pu,..."lll

Disc-shaped craft commercially manufactun!d in the United States.

slightest connection with either outer

Notable features include the following:
space or extraterrestrial life. That is the,
1. RPYs frequently perform tight,
crux .of the whole enigma of the UFOright-angle turns, as do UFOs. .
the misidentification of UFOs by untrain2. Typical RPVs make swift ascents
ed obselVers. Remotely Piloted Vehicles
and descents.
(RPVs), also called Remotely Controll3: Many RPVs used in secret aerial
ed Vehicles (RCVs), are not conventional .
reconnaiss.ance are designed to cruise at
airc.raft, and when in flight they exhibit
altitudes of about 100,000 feet. At such
performance chQracteristic!i easily.
heights; they catch and reflect sunlight
, associated with the concept of extrater. above the darkened surface of the Earth,
restrial spacecmft.
and the reflections appear. to ground
: In the quarterly journal of the Royal
obselVers as brightly moving objects in
the night sky.
.
United SelVices Institute for Defense
Studies in London (December 1973 issue)
4. RPVs are amazingly quiet; accordis an article by- Bill Gunston titled "Uning to Gunston, ".they could not be heard
manned AirCraft-Defense Application of
by the average man at a distance of 300
the RPV, ., which contains news and infeet." UFOs likewise are often describ r
formation about Remotely Piloted
ed as being silent when obselVt!d. At other \
Vehicles. Gunston tells of a vast number
times, both UFOs and RPVs have signalof relatively cheap and often expendable
ed their presence with a "humming"
sound heard during close encounters .
craft resembling 'flyins. saucers," now
. 5. UFOs obselVed "coming out of the
being manufactured both in England and
the United States. They range in size from
sea" may have been RPVs launch~d from
mini-RVPs only a few feet wide to RPVs.
submarines.
with wing spans exceeding 100 feet. Ten
6. Many UFOs have been reported in
y.ears ago,. Gunston made this forecast:
the vicinity of military, bases; RPVs are
deployed a~ s.uch installations.
"Even allowing for increasing austerity
in the U.S. military budgets, the consen7. f\ ir traffic controllers often mistake
RPVs for UFOs because airportpersonsus in WashingJon is that over the. next ten
years, American jet firms will build
nel are as unware as the rest of the general
10,000 engines for RPVs, as well as a
public that RPVs exist. '
I
similar number for cruise-type missiles
. 8. R~V~ are unkilown to all but a fe~
specialists in the U.S. military. It is to be
!lJld targets." With 1983 here now, one
can assume that these sophisticated craft
expected that members of our armed
are widely deployed and hard at work
forces who chance to see.a UFO may not
realize that what they are really looking
qverseeing and monitoring possible espionage by spy satellites and other remoteat IS an RPV in flight. A "conspiracy",
sensing systems.
is unnecessary; ignorance is enough!
9. RPVs are typic,ally undetectable on .
It is inconceivable that a major power
in the world today could keep its defenses
radar screens. According to Bill Gunston,
at a level of serious strength without
"RrVs are known as 'minimum-signature
Remotely Piloted Vehicles. Whether
aeroplanes' with radar reflectivity 'amazingly close to zero"-thus to add one
manufactured in' the U.S., Britain, the
USSR or elsewhere, these pilotless craft
more disparagement of our efforts to
exhibit performance characteristics
. separate the RPVs from the UFOs,
These exotic cap!lbiliti~s.are p~rt qfthe
remarkably like those of vehicular UFOs.

reason why military and civilian officials

try to discredit UFOs; they. want to prevent attention being drawn to RPVs. By
now it's evident that RPVs explain a fair
number of UFO sightings, There ar:e too
many RPV s around for them not to be a
major component of the UFO phenomenon. After 36 years of secrecy, it is time
for consensus that'RPVs are a reality and
that" they are ampilg the pieces w.e need
to fill-in the UFO puzzle.
Some of the pieces are strongly colored
by person~ involvement: The experience
.ofa member of the Air Force Test Wing
at Eglin Air Force Base is an example.
One day in August 1973, while riding
around the base in a jeep, Gary Merrill
and another airman noticed a strangelooking buil~ing at the end of a rllnway.
It was completely boxed-in by a chain link
fence. which ran diagonally across the runway with a gate a,ttached to the fence. The
building was located in a top-security area
to which both men had access. The
hangar-like structure, about 300 feet wide
and 30 to 40 feet high, had two doors
which sloped up from the lO-foot-high
sides of the building toward the center
rise. Each door was approximately 150
. feet in yvidth.
Some days later, in a conversation with
Jerry -Brogden of V~l Pariso,' Florida,
,Merrill mentioned the _strange bUilding.
"Don't you think it's kind of weird?" was
his question to Brogden, the head of Wire
Maintenance, Communications at ~he
base.
Brogden replied: "I'llgive you about
14 days until a flying saucer shows up
down here from out in California."
.
One evening ten days .after that conversation, Merrill sighted a UFO just outside.
Eglin Air Force Base; at Fort Walton
,Beach which forms the outer perimeter of
the base. The object, first seen hovering
about ~ftY feet. above some pine trees, was

Third Quarter 1983

An eyewitness sketch of a UFO

. seen by a police officer at
Wanaque reservoir, New Jersey.
in 1966.
'

United States "Skyspy," an early

remotely piloted vehicle (RPV).

disc-shaped, metallic in texture, and had

no apparent entrance;exit or windQws. It
looked to be about 150 feet in diameter,
and a faint "whooshing" s~und could be
heard emanating from the bottom.
Although the stereotypical appearance
suggested a storybook UFO, the ainnan
noted two differences: this object
displayed from its underside a blue glow
resembling that of a high-voltage arc; and
the trees directly in its path remained motionless and seemed not in the least af-.
fected by airflow as the objec;t sped just
above their tallest branches. Had the airman seen an extraterrestrial spacecraft that
August night in 1973, or was it a vehicle
of earthly origin-perhaps an RPV?
A letter to. the late Senator Wayn.e
Marse contains a debatable statement by
Colonel Frederick H. Fahringer of the
Department of the Air Force, Congressional Inquiry Division of the Office of.
Legislative Liaison:
.
In 18 years of investigating over
9000 reports of UFOs, the evidence
has proved beyond reasonable doubt
that all reported aerial phenomena
have been objects either created and
sent aloft by man, genelated by atmospheric conditions, or caused by
celestial bodies or the residue of
. activity.
.. "
meteonc
Although this pronouncement has a ring
of truth to it and some UFOs tiave been
proven to be man-made, or misidentifica-

Third Quarter 1983

tions of objects seen at night, the reality

"I need a little excitement."
of UFOs is much more complex. .
More than excitement came into the
Another possibly man-made UFO was
lives of Betty Cash, 52, ,Vickie Land.rum,
spotted by two respected businessmen
56, and Landrum's grandson, Colby, on
along Highway 17-A near Summerville,
the night of December 29, 1980, Their
South Carolina. In an August 4, 1979
nightmare began .when Betty Cash stopfront-page story in the Charleston News
ped her automobile On a country road outside Houston, Texas, as "an extremely
and Courier-Evening Post; Edward M.
Jones, vice-president of the E.M. Jones
brig~t, luminous object" hovered over the
auto dealership and Keith Major, one of
road less than 100 feet ahea~, Overcome
by curiosity, both women left the car to
his sillesmen, told how they encountered
get a better view; immediately they were
"the weirdest thing we ever saw in our
enveloped by an incredible surge of heat
life." Jones went on to describe the incithat emanat.ed from the brightly lighted
dent: "We had Just finished playing golf
VFO. A frightened Vickie Landrum fled
at around 6:30 p.m. and were loading the
the scene to rejoin. her grandson in the car.
, car in a parking lot across from the dealerCash remained exposedto the "diamond. ship. All of a sudden.I noticed, hanging
shaped object" for several minutes. After
. over the trees about 200 feet away, a shiny
the object drifted away, the trio continued
. metallic object shaped like a hamburger
their journey, but only a few miles furbun. It made no noise as it spun on its
ther along, the object appeared again. This
axis. It appeared to be approximately six
time, however, they also saw "what lookto eight feet in diameter."
In an attempt to find out more about the
ed like helicopters circling around the
UFO." As Cash put it, "there were a
sighting, Jones checked with the Summerville Airport and was told the object might . large amount of them surrounding the object, as though it were in some kind of
have been a small silver-colored airplane.
trouble." Shortly afterward, both the
Jones discounted that possibility and emUFO and the helicopters vanished in the
phatically asserted that what they saw
night sky.
"had no wings, no propeller, no jets,.
In an investigation of the incident conmade no noise, and cOlddn't have been
ducted by NASA scientists, the military
a balloon bec.ause it shot off and disapdenied they were involved in any way.
peared so fast. " Both men then called the
Charleston International Airport, but no . But ~~tty Cash and Vickie Landrum
one in the control tower had seen anything . became very ill; their symptoms were
diagnosed as. those of radiation poisoning
resembling a UFO. "I wish I could have
seen it," a control-tower spokesman said.
(loss of hair, impaired vision due to

Purst 113

cataracts, and boils erupting 'on various

divulged for fear of harassment),
cover and concealment and radioed
parts of th~ body), The women filed suit
'related the followil1g: At approxa 10-13 distress to Lima Control.
in federal court in an effort to recover
Jenkins responded to Raeke's posiimat~ly 0020 hrs., he was driving
damages from the government; the suit
east on the Coyote Canyon access
tiori and carried Raeke back to their
alleges they were irradiated during faulty
road ,on a routine building check of
vehicle. Jenkins then returned to the
testing .of a military prototype aircraft.
an alarmed structure. As he aprear fence line to stand. guard.
Could this incident have been as the
proached the ,structure he obserVed
Jenkins observed 2 intruders dresswomen claimed, or was it perhaps a real
ed' in the same unifonns, walk
a bright light near the ground, behind "
encounter with an extraterrestrial vehicle
the structure. He also observed an
thro\lgh the rear fence line' of L-9.
or UFO?
object he first thought was a
Jenkins challenged the 2 individuals
Over the last 36 years only a small porhelicopter. But after driving closer,
but they refused to stop. Jenkins
tion ,of the available evidence has been
he observed a round disc-shaped
aimed and fired two rounds from his
Scientifically evaluated to prove the ex-, object. He attempted to radio for a
M-16 rifle. One'bullet struck one
istence of UFOs. Indeed, much of the
backup patrol but 'his radio would '
intruder in' the back and one bullet
evidence has remained hidden under
not work. As he approached the obstruck one intruder in the helmet.
layers of official classification. But the
ject on foot armed with a shotgun,
Both intruders fell to .the ground,
spirit of free inquiry has been making
the object took off in a vertical
however, approximately 15 seconds
some gains lately in its historic conflict
direction at a high rate of speeed.
later both returned to, an upright
with official paranoia.,Ne~ York City atThe guarc! .was a former helicopter
position and fired several flashes of
torney Peter A. Gersten, representing
'mechaniC in the United States Arlight at Jenkins. Jenkins took cover
Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS),
my and stated the object he observand the light missed Jenkins. The
a Washington, D.C.-based public-interest
ed was not, a helicopter.
2 intruders returned to the east side
group,_ recently brought suit against the
of the hill and disap,peared. Jenkins
The report further notes that the object
National Security Agency (NSA), the
followed the two and observed them
was again ,Seen by three other security
Defense Intelligence' Agency (D IA), and
go inside a saucer-sha~ object ap" policemen on August 22, 1980 over
the Fed~ral Aviation Administration'
proximately 20 feet in diameter and
another alarmed structure, and that both'
20 feet thick. The object emitted a
(FAA). The plaintiff demanded'access to
/!.larmed structures contain~d supplies of
a large number of official reports of UFO
glowing g~nish light. Once the inHQ CR44, a nuclear material.
activity held' in the agencies' classified
truders were' inside, the object
files. As a result of the suit, many of the
climbed vertically upwards and
These are just two examples culled
disap,peared over the eas~ern,
documents were made public.'
I
from the m01 than 1000 documents obhorizon.
'
,
One -~xample is an official Air Force
tained: by attorney Peter Gersten' from
report that details an incident which took
various, government agencies. These
Additional information 'in the three-page
place near Ellsworth ,Air Foree Base in
,papers conclusively 'show that the U.S.
document
reveals that airman Raeke was
South Dakota on November 16, 1977,
government has withheld important infortreated at the base hospital for second- and
Following is a verbatim extract from that
mation due to, they state, "the alarmist
thiro-degree radiation bums to each hand
report:
~ndencies of the American Pl!blic and the
. shortly after the incident. Following treatfear of a possible breakdown of America's
An alann activation inspection at
ment he was airlifted to an unspecified '
funaamental institutions, such as gove'irtsite L-9 of the fence perime~r was
location.
ment and religion."
made by Ainnen 1st class Kenneth
The site L-9 base houses a missife
Although, members of the scientific
Jenkins and Wayne Raeke, They'
security squadron and has sophisticated
community generally lean toward a more
observed a bright light shining'vermonitoring devices throughout the area.
rationalistic and scientific view ,of the
tically upwards from the rear of the
When Missile Maintenance checked the
ongoing'UFO phenomenon, it has taken
fence line. Jenkins stayed with their
missile warhead, they, found the nuclear
some recent breakthroughs to marshal the
vehicle ~d Raeke proceeded to the
components missing.
kind of support that enthusiasts have long
source of the light to investigate. As ,.
~ Among other government documents
and ,loudly expressed for the' extraterhe approached the, crest of a hill, he .'
released were those which detailed a series
restrial hypothesis. A new basis for that
observed an individual dressed in a
of UFO intrusions of restricted airspace
theory has been put, in place by Sir Fred
, glowing green metallic unifonn and
above Kirtland Air Force Base, in New
Hoyle, an internationally recognized
wearing a helmet with a visor.
Mexico during the summer of 1980. The
astronomer and mathematician. In his
Raeke immediately challenged the
Manzano' Weapons Storage Area is
book Evolution from'Space, published by'
individual, however; the individual
located in the Coyote Canyon area of the , Simon,and Schuster and co-authored with
refused to stop and kept walking
base, and the base itself is part of a huge
British scientist Chandra Wickramastowards the rear fence line of L-9.
maximum-security_test range share by,the
inghe, Hoyle maintains that life stemmRaeke aimed his M-16 rifle at the
Air Force Weapons Laboratory, Sandia
ed from microgenetic fragmerits brought
intruder and ordered him to stop.
'Laboratories, the Defense Nuclear Agenfrom outer space in "exactly the right size
The intruder turned tow~rds Raeke
cy, and the Department of Energy.
to ride on the light waves of stars" arrivand aimed an object,at Raeke which
Following is a summary information con- ,
ing at peak intervals; thus he explains the
emitted a bright flash of intense
tained in one of the documents.
sudden bursts of new life-forms shown by
light. The flash of light struck
the fossil record. The author believes that
On II, Aug. 80, Russ 'Curtis,
Raeke's M-16 rifle, disintegrating
"we received life with 'the fundamental
Sandia Security, advised that on 9,
the weapon and causing ~ond
b,iochemical problems already solved."
Aug. 80, a Sandia security guard
and third-degree bums on Raeke's
Another scientist, Dr. Cyril Pon, (who wishes his name not to be
hands. Raeke immediately took
,

Pursu't .14

Third Quarte.. 1983

Solving the Riddles of Nature and Other Hobbies

by Mark W. DeLawyer

Dedicated to Vincent H. Gaddis

T has often occurred to me, late at night while

Iorder
writing still another letter or filling out a money
for some latest bit of "evidence," that" I must
surely be out of my tree. What in the name of the
Bermuda Triangle am I doing this for?
That is a question I am sure you all have asked at
least once. Why do we bother to try and pry some
answers out of Mother Nature? Especially, answers
that she has, over" the years, been rather reluctant to
communicate?
Nothing in our line of inquiry is ever simple, so
there must be a variety of reasons why we. "bother."
. Plain old curiosity comes to mind first, but that
doesn't begin to explain all the time, money and
talent involved.
I think our first job should' be to determine just
what sort of person is a member of SITU. What manner of beast is this, anyway?
More than anything else, he or she must be a
restless animal, not nec~ssarily well-versed in the
classic academic disciplines but possessing a smattering of knowledge about a variety of subjects. There
must be present a fair amount of common sense, and
most of all, an urge to learn. A questioning attit~de
also comes in handy, .for above all there floats the
eternal WHY?
I will not mention names, but why, for example, is
that learned fellow ill Alabama trying to convince
electromagnetic wav'es to act in a manner contrary to
the way they have been instructed to act by the
American Institute of Physics? Such,audacity!
And just what is that gentleman in Utah trying to
hit with a bolt of artificial lightning, and for what
purpose?
'
How can you explain our fearless leader's
maniacal need to receive phone calls in the middle of
the night, get a great deal of mail, and (perish the
thought!) live in New Jersey?
Wherefor is the fine young gentleman currently
typing this paper so consumingly interested in ships
that disappear, and a Navy vessel that couldn't make
up its mind what port it was going to stay in? What.
will the consuming interest get him? Probably not a

blasted thing. With the filing cabinet full of information I have, and a shovel, YO'u can dig a hole.
Why indeed, you ask? Perhaps it's to add another
bit to the collective knowledge that we hold sacred.
Perhaps it is to make a name for myself. Perhaps it is
for the same reason that people climb mountains because they're there. All I know is that there are
'mysteries around, and the very fact that they exist is
enough to annoy me. Something is wrong with our
determination of how a little part of the world works,
and I would like to rectify the 'something." I think
that probably covers the majority of the SITU
membership. We are all just a bit mad, bu't if we are
all mad enough, who knows what we might come up
with?
Sure, we don't always agree on just what it is we
have found, or for that matter, just what it is we are
looking for. Instead of quietly cursing this streak of
hypercuriosity, we might better take time to thank
our Maker (or makers, if-.you prefer) for leaving a
few bits arid pieces unexplained. If it weren't for the
world's little anomalies, none of us would have a
hobby. What would we do then? How could we wor~
off whatever compulsion we have to delve into mat-:
ters such as these? I can't tell you why I spend my
spare time and hard-earned money in such a way, ex~
cept to repeat what Harry Chapin once put into
song: "It Just Makes Me Whole."
.
.,
I enjoy this, I wor~ hard at it, and to be perfectly
frank, I need it. Who could ask for a better explanation? While we pound our hearts out searching for
clues to nature's mysteries, we should take the time,
every so often, 10 rejoice in the spirit of the thing.
Enjoy your digging, and keep at it!
As a parting thought, we might consider what
Newton said about knowledge: "I feel as though I
am standing on a beach, occasionally picking up
grain of truth while the whole ocean of knowledge
laps at my feet." If you are a member of SITU, you
should consider yourself as one of those fortunate
few lucky enough to have come to the same beach ...
in a pair of hip-waders:
~
Happy searching!

namperuma, direcior of the University of '- 1969; he concluded that "the results of
my research, fuMed by NASA; suggest
Maryland's Laborato~ of C/lemical
. Evolution which specializes in the origins
that life elsewhere in the universe is more
of life, seems to agree with Hoyle. Invited
likely and that chemical evolution, the
natural creation of life's chemicals, is.~
to describe his findings at a September
very reasonable process and far more sim1983 meeti~g of the A.merican Chemical
ple than previously thought.~'
Society in Washington, D.C., Dr. Ponnaperuma presented the first-ever' solid
Scientist-author John Gribbin, writing
evidence that the base substances found
ilJ. New Scientist magazine (November 18,
in the genes of living creatures on Earth
1982), sums it up well by suggesting
. "perhaps the ETs are'interested, but watare produced extratelTestrially. He said he
found the five bases-adenine, guanine, -. ching us with the minimum of incystine, thyamin, and uracil-all present
terference; perhaps "they" are trying to
in a meteorite recovered in Australia in
. guide us to maturity and have by some

Third Quarter 1983

subtle means kept us from annihilating

ourselves these past three decades.
Perhaps they have advanced far beyond
our material needs and exist on some
higher plane to which, hopefully, they
wish we may someday elevate ourselves.
Finally, perhaps man should ask himself
. the ultimate question: Must a civilization
sophisticated enough to someday colonize
the Galaxy, adopt aggression as an evolutionary imperative and develop weaponry
powerful enough to destroy its own
civilization and also those out in space?"
.

Pursuit 115

\
.......

..... '

ATMOSPHERIC'
LIGHTSHOW
.
, '

.', .

by .Michael D. Swords
wjth Edward G. Curtis

.~.. ~ .... ~tted l\nf. : :. '

Ca\a @i ~\'.nk-" .i""'tA~d,~
.":
cO &1\",....

'.

oS ~~ CI!\~~.~ .
.

.,A... . l

...........,.
..

Q'.

CO

to

, .

...,.

'oM"
.... &"_.
I
.
t

'"

.
"

..- II".:,

:..,

,"

..

j.

':"

...--..,.,.-----------.....- . . .

., i/ .

. ...,

--~11111!1

THIS is a whale of. a tale: maybe nQt as.exciting as a

I. UFO abd~ction, but the principals migh,t dispute th~t:
The folloVing report is motivated by three factors: 1) A
desire to let the readership contemplate an extremely odd
and complex phenomenon; 2) The need for a vehicle to .
make a few point~ about par"anormal experiences; and 3)
an urge to get the incident down in print so that William
Corliss might be able to extract.it for his "Sou'rcebooJc .
Project" and thus save it from the wastebin of scientific
anomalies.
.
'

The Exp~rience
Place: A semi-rural highway between Sturgis and Mendon, Michigan.
Time: 3:00 to 3:30 a.m .. , Thursday, June 10, 19~2.
The witnesses: T.wo women in their htid-20s, residents
of Sturgis.
.
.
.
. Prelimina"ries: The young women were visiting friends.
on a farm in Mendon. The previous evening they had lpoked unsuccessfully for the Northern Lights; knowing that a
large solar flare had occurred which was prediCted to cause
large auroral displays. Wednesday was a cloudy, rainy day
with unusually poor television reception; static electricity
caused snarls in one ofthe women'shair, and tha~ evening,
the radio failed to pick up signals, either AM or FM. One
witness seemed to be disoriented, even taking wrong roads
during driving jaunts af(;)Und erstwhile familiar areas.
The event: At 2:30 a.m., the two friends decided to
drive back to Sturgis. Visibility was very poor due to fog. ,

/
Cartoons by Michael D. Swords

.<. . .

They took M~66:~~~tli almost all the way. Rain began ...
and an odd ,ridn it was. The fluid was "a brown, gooey,
jellish'sliIile;'that smeared when wiped by tile wipers or a
tow.el. W.hen the rain stopped, the goo dried on the glass.
The engine .overheated and vapors poured over the hood.
.A s.trong "rotten-egg odor" was in ~he air. Then the engine
died and the brakes quit, but the car kept moving down the
highway. The driver could not escape the thought that her
vehiCle wasmoving under some kind of power that neither
inertia. nor gr"avity could .explain. Both women began to
. .
panic a little; it was about 3 a.in.
On the right was a closed outdoor-indoor market. The
driver steered into the parking lot .. Suddenly, unaccountably~ the auto sla"rDpIed to .~ stop. The passenger felt the
interior heatirig up and screamed that the car was about to
burn. -The two women scrambled out and walked back to
the' road. As they back-tracked alorig the route, they
re.membered a restaurant they had passed; the thought of
finding it. still open." and being able to phone for assistance
.
hastened their .steps.
Fifty yards along,.they encou'ntered' "millions of small,
. 2 to l feet i~ length, rays of ligil,tning flashing everywhe~e,
around .our .feet, oUfr"legs, over our heads, everywhere in
the air. The air was filled with them." Looking back
towai-a their car,' they w-atchedlhe flashes "coming from
. behind the trees, ieaehing high into the sky; spreading
:.across a ver'i large -area was a pink-orangish-reddish
:fluorescent glow ~ith streams of light running from high in
the 'sky:down to this brilliant red glow."

. -!

Pursu"116

./
"/

,'

Third Quarter 1983

Five minutes later the cloud-cover moved in, and the show
was over. Ten minutes later their friend arrived .

. Evaluating the Event

.. , ....

[]

rn

8
o

The Aftermath

QtPE;]
0'

The two witnesses were nearly ~y'sterical at this poin-t".' :

They turned back, and as they ran,th~ grass and weeds at
roadside were standing straight up and glowing. The flying
"lightnings" shot everywhere, displaying a. rainbo,," spec-:
trum as they passed. At the ~a:r, they foundt~e wipdows,
steamed-over and the ioterior so hot ~hat fu'rther warnings
not to try to take it anywhere were unnecessaty .. Oncenitire
running back to the road, they looke'd sou,th .. About 100
yards away, "deep :red lines" were "danc.ng~' inli 'gtoup,:
"It looked like a bunch of little kid~ ito taller tl)an fwo
feet, outlined in what I imagine to be infra-red, dancing
around in the road."
. . ,
Still dodging the "lightnings,'; the. womer:t ..could.not
avoid the rain that followed. There were four trailer-homes
nearby; they ran to one and pounc;led on: the. door: After
several minutes, an apprehensive young woman le~them
in, backed away, and pointed to the p.hone. She w.ould'.not
come anywhere near them, nor look outside. they called a
friend. It was 3:25 a.m.
Outside, the light show was' still going on, but fading.
Another attempt to start the car was umlvaili,n$; !Sui ~y' this
time the hysteria had passed. Facing the glo.w" tlley ~a~ only the giant ."aurora;" seen side~ay~, the ~'niillions'~ .of
rainbow light-filaments were still zipping throul'h tlie air ,.
.

... -.

Michael D. Swords is associate professor Qf natural science

at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo; 'Michigan.
Edward G. Curtis is the major lecturer and operator at the
-Kalamazoo Public Planetarium.
Thlnl Quarter 1983

The two women were apparently the only witnesses of

the Sturgis Light Show. They experienced excitement and
exhaustion in about the same degree. Both felt that their
fj-iend?~ car (used.to go back to the sta:lled auto to retrieve
belon~ings) gave off the same "rotten-egg odor" that they
had noted at the start of the experience. Their car battery
was 'found to be completely dry and discharged. One
. witness complained that her skin remained demoisturized,
her hair snarled, a:nd her general energy depleted following
the event. .,
. ; Perhaps more significant was the p&ychological aftermath. 'Quite naturally, both women were fixated by the experience. One witness rapidly returned to a "normal" state
of int~rest while going about her daily program. The other
witness remained intensely fixated for many weeks. For
her, the events were passionately intriguing. Every odd
.. fact, every fleeting observation, seemed a candidate for
'.~ synthesis into the phenomenon. She sought out a multitude
.. of ordina.ry and esoteric ideas in an attempt to construct
tenuous hypotheses. Perhaps "obsession" is too strong a
~ord to use, but her relation to the event verged on that
sort of fi~ation. At one point, she stated that "these events
have changed our liYes in more ways than one."

The authors were fortunate to be contacted soon after

the occurrence, when the witnesses called .the Kalamazoo
Public Planetarium and Western Michigan Unjversity to
ipquire a~out the phenomenon. We drove to Sturg~ and
interviewed the witnesses, a family member, and a close
friend of the two. All seemed co.ncerned and genuine, and
were fully aware of the change that had come over the one
witness who broke down, sobbing and shaken, while the
other witness calmly retold the story. The "feeling" that
we got from the incident was that the reports were consistimt; detailed, and in inost respects, calm and rational; the
wit~esses were honestly trying to find out what was going
on, with no .ulterior motives in mind; and the supporting
." family and" the friend were absolutely convinced that
'something had happened. Even the more-affected witness
was not yet embroidering the event with her later ecleetic
theories and synth.eses. At this time, our "preferred
hypothesis" is that something extraordinary, prohably
meteorological in nature, occurred in a very small area,
and its ~wo observers were affected in dramatic but natural
ways.
. . ,
Electromagnetic effects: The main features of the electromagnetic phenomena seem to be the giant "aurora,"
the low-level electric displays, and the malfunctioning of
the car engine. Are these effects, "reasonable"? Do they
have any precedent? Pertinent notes are found in Corliss'
198? "Sourcebook Project" titled Lightning, Auroras,
Nocturnal Lights, and Related'Luminous Phenomena:
Auroras have often been des~ribed ,as having brilliant
reddish arches that fill half the dome of the heavens, or as
dancing, flame-like manifestations. Less frequently, Corliss' sources speak of '.'Iow-level auroras" which extend all
lhe way ~o the ground and have even been "walked into; ".
auroras
associated with "ozone . odors" or "sulfur-like
. .

".

- Pursu" 117

'smells;" auroras misplaced in their direction (not centered

on. north); auroras that interfere with radio reception, and
auroras that produce physiological effects; also, colored
light-effects very near the' body; moving, surface-level,
electrified light patches; unusual static electric discharges
which may stall autoIQobiles; "brush discharges" of St ..
Elmo's Fire; quick, bright, silent light-flashes at groundlevel; colored lightning; .and "flames" or "will-o' -thewisps"that "dance" on ground surfaces. Any or all of
these phenomena could. be related to the Sturgis Light
Show experience.
.
As one reads the scientific literature of the 198os, there
is a tantalizing impression that se'veraf extraordinary
meteorological phenomena related to elcctromagnetics,.
cosmic rays, earthquakes and plate movements, and the ,
poorly understood state Of matter called "plasma," are .
just sitting there, at the edge of our mi"nds and instruments, .
waiting to be understood. The famous phantasm called
"ball lightning" is one of these critters, and it seems to be
moving at long last into the perception Qf Establishment
Science.
None of the electromagnetic effects in the Sturgis Light
Show seem impossible, and many of them seem almost
familiar, though intensified and spectacular.' The prece- '
dent occurrence of the large solar flare might even make
them likely. The influence 'of solar storms on auroras and
the Earth's electrical systems is. well known, even if not
well understood, and recent articles suggest correlations
between cosmic radiation and very-high-energy terrestrial
. events such as lightning storms. At Sturgis, the really odd
thing, electromagnetically speaking, was the direction 'of
the aurora: southwest at an angle of about 254 a around the
circle from north.
Displaced auroras have often been reported but never
satisfactorily explained. In this case, two possible clues
may lie along a line that angles about 254 0 from the site of
the event. That vector splits a chain of lakes that hides a
very old fold in the subsurface; it also targets the electric
power pla!}t a few miles away in Sturgis' sister city, White
Pigeon. Although. the area is not particularly active geologically, the possibility of localized electrical-field
anomalies along fault lines, a's envisioned by Persinger and
Lafreniere in Space-Time Transients and Unusual Events,
should be kept open as an alternative explanation. The
idea that power plants and high-voltage transmission lines
. project artificial electrical-field anomalies is also under
much discussion. Perhaps abnormal atmospheric fields
plus unusual natural or artificial electricity-related .surface
features can coalesce to produce occasional spectacular
and localized anomalies.
Atmospheric effects: The most striking non-electric'
aspect of the event was the "Fortean Fall,'' the gooey rain..
which heralded the electrical display.' Both Charles Fort
and William Corliss have catalogued many odd "rains,"
including several colored, bloody, organic, stinking, even
"brown, gooey, jellish" ones. Most of these reports are
simply anecdotal: they tantalize the reader but stop short
of analysis. A few have been attributed to assorted algae,
Nostoc, fish or amphibian spawn, and various organic and
even inorganic suDstimces. This particular "goo" was
light, the fall was of brief duration, and very little of the
substance was saved.
.\
On inspection, the sample sho,wn to the auth~rs was
seen as brown, filamentous and obviously organic; under

Pursu't 118

the microscope, it looked much like the mix of simple

pond-life that one sees inhabiting stagnant pools. The sample had' no distinct .odor, despile the ~itnesses' conjecture
that it.was one of the sources of the.rotten smell noticed
.during the event. The material could be a "lighter version"
of the '!mud-like slime" described by' Persinger and
Lafreniere in'their brief note about a fall at Terre Haute,
indiana, in July 1963. The apparently unprecepented thing
about the Fortean FalLat Sturgis was its temporal association 'with spectacular auroral effect.s. Was it coincidence'?
Internal effects, sense perceptions: In considering sense
perceptions told after the fact, it is difficult to 'make secure'
evaluations. Were tl}e percipients observing the external'
~vents normally, as would any of us in an unaffected state'?
While they were observing, were their p~rceptions enh~nc
ed by electrical fields, or adrenalin, or "factor x"'? Were
they' mis-observing, hallucinatlrig in response to .stress,
bombardment, suggestibility'? It is with humility and circumspection that we offer these tentative evaluations:
I. The consistency of the wrtnesses' reports does not
favor assumptions of large-scale mis-observation or hallucination. .
'2. In other aspects, the reports suggest some abnor.:
mality in the observations :due to the excitement of the per.
cipients' central nervous sys~ems,
3, Both the "fear factor" and 'unusual electriCal field
effects could, and perhaps should, have distorted and lor
enhanced sense perceptions to some degree ..
Can we separate external reality from internal creativi~
ty'? Not with' any certitude in this case, but we can. make a
guess or two.
-Lights: The descriptions of the light effects were sufficiently detailed and intens~ to indicate an excited central
nervous system picking up information externally pre~
sented but normally not tuned in by casuai, everyday alertness. ',Hyper-alertness" often OCCUl:s at moments of
threat, when it almost seems that time itself slows down
and allows us to observe more detail. Certain drugs', also,
stimulate hyper-arousal, and some. individuals, being
chronically in this state, are' called hormon'e-imbalanced
. schizophrenics:.
.
Electrical arid magnetic fields 'are' knpw'n to distort,
depress, .or enhance central nervous functions in a variety
. of poorly understood .ways. A common sort of hallucination (especially in.dnig cases) which may come with hyperarousal, is "'synesthesia," a cross-wiring of senses i.n which
one intense sensory input (example, sound) might express
itself inappropriately in other sensory awareness (example,
colors, odors). This, unfortunately, confuses the situation
as to external versus internal "realitiesY
Odors: The "rotten .egg" odor. of the "slime" and car
engirieS1Ilay not be much of a mystery. On ttie one hand,
such ~dors have often bee'n described in associa~ion with
Fortea,n Falls and auroras. Moreover, different people will
describe "sulfur" and '''ozone'' or "elect~ical" odor. as
nearly the same. Given a small amount of ozone or even
decaying organic matter in the air, plus a hyper-aroused "
central nervous system, the "sulfur" smell could seem
significant.
., .
Touch: Feelings of "crawlings" and irritations. on the
body in the presence of stati~ electricity are common, even
when no discharges are in evidence; field-effects alone
seem able to trigger these sensations. In this case, the
powerful touch-perceptiob was temperature - the intense

Third Quarter 1983

heat of the automobile. This symptom is difficult to ac"

witness is not necessarily grounds for discarding the entire
count for, even in hyper-arousal. How really hot could the
incident. It makes the path to truth thornier, but to simply
car have become at 3 a.m. on a rainy, humid night? Could
turn away is not to seek the path at all.
a battery-dry, overheated engine develop enough heat in
Summary
the passenger compartment to create panic in a hyperaroused nervous system?
1. It was a whale of a tale, and it seems to have been an
Internal.effects, the 'aftermath: No one could blame
essentially "true" tale, a reflection of actual events.
either of the witnesses for being interested, even fixated,
2. A very intense meteorological anomaly seems to
about what had gone on. The differences between the two
, have occurred north of Sturgis, Michigan, on the morning
witnesses was notable and. the one weiman's fixation long
of June 10, 1982.
after the event is difficult to explain. Professional "people
3. The experience excited and scared the witnesses, and'
observers" (both within psychology and outside the field) .'
suggested analogies to other. paranomal events such as
have known about intense experiences changing people's
UFO encounters.
REFERENCES
lives for as long as such observers have been around.
Balloclelli, Joseph H., Electromagnetism, Man, and the Environment,
"Mystic experiences," "revelations," "great dreams,"
Weslview Press. 1976.
even "UFO abductions and close encounters" - all these
Corliss,
William R., Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena.
have been chronicled as life-altering events. Emotionally'
Sourcebook Projecl, 1977.
powerful, intensely involving incidents take on dimensions
Corliss. Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights, and Related Luminous
perhaps larger than they should. In the Sturgis case, the
Phenomena, Sourcebook Projecl, 1982.
fixated witness'began rapidly correlating all manner of inCorliss. Tornados, Dark Days, Anomalous Precipitation and Related
cidents in her l,fe immediately before and after the event in
Weather Phenomena, Sourcebook Projecl, 1983.
a seemingly frantic attempt to build upon the single
Fori, Charles, The Books of Charles Eort. Henry Holl, i94l. .
episode; and, she 'began an eclectic reading campaign
Haines, R.ichard E. (ed.), UFO Pheno,,!ena and the Beha~'ioral Scientist,
which occasionally bore fruit in tenuous and often super-- Scarecrow. 1979
. ficial and naive theories about what may have been behind
Hendry, .Allan, The UFO Handbl!ok. Doubleday, 1979.
the events. This witness somewhat naturally (we certainly
Lliluradu, J. G. el aI., Biologic: and Clinical Effects'of Low-.Frequency
Magnetic and Electrical Fields, Charles C. Thomas, 1974.
in no way condemn her behavior) was so anxious to exPersinger, Michael A. & Lafreniere, G. F., Space-Time Transients and
plore her intuiiion of "significance," and while doing so,
Unusual Events. Nelson-Hall. 1977.
to remain partially within an entrancing experience which.
Taylor, Gordon Rattray. The Natur.al History of the Mind, Penguin,
otherwise would fade away, that she was in the process of
1979.
..
altering the event i"nto something that it was not.
~.
We were fortunate to get to the scene' just a few days
after the incident and were able to catch the stories apALLENV. NOE
parently fresh and unadulterated, but the dangers of obSITU lost one of its earliest members when Allen
fuscation were already apparent. Point One: It is vital to
Noe died on July 11 at the age of 65. He was an
get to the scen~ and query the relevant observers as quickly
associate and neighbor of Ivan Sanderson. Their
as possible, because it is very likely the stories will change,
friendship began soon after SITl,J's founder took up
even inextreme and dramatic ways, regardless of the honresidence in Columbia, N.J., only a few miles from
esty of the witnesses.
Blairstown, where Allen lived most of his life.
The fixated witness continued to try to correlate, colAllen was elected to our Board of Governors early
lect, and- speculate for weeks after the event, caIling the inin 1971 and to the adjunc;t Executive Board when it
vestigators frequently_ to present various "new ideas." It
was later constituted. Also in 1971. he was elected to
was obvious that with any encouragement whatever from
. the office of treasurer, and he served in that capacity
an external "authority figure," she might have gone in
until December, 1973. He had just taken up. new
most any direction with her beliefs. She was extremely sug- .
duties as our director of oper~tions whed his health
gestible and we realized that we and her close friends and
began to fail and he asked to be relieved of all adfamily had an important ethical responsibility to ensure
ministrative responsibilities. His resignation was acthat no "loose talk" or Pollyanna-ish "humoring" of her
cepted with reluctance anI;! with many expressions o"r
unfounded ~onceptualizations would send her down some
gratitude for his keen interest and faithful work that
potentially dangerous path. Of course, honesty was
contributed much to the. upbuilding of our Society.
'primary. If h~r thoughts seemed well-founded, we reAllen Noe served in the U.S. Army during World
sponded accordingly. Point Two: Experiencers of intense
War II. Resuming civilian status at the end of the
events are often psychologically fragile regardless of the
war ,. h'e continued to serve the government as a manexternal reality or" the events; investigators should treat
power analyst for the Army Munitions Command,
them with appropriate hum.aneness and care.
Dover, N.J., for 26 years until his retiremeiu in 1973.
If our witness had already synthesized some:.bogus eleHe is survived by his wife, Mary, and two sons,
ment in her story, or later added 'something to it that turn'Richard, of Atlanta,. Georgia, and Charles, of Santa
ed out not to be true, the tendency would be to discredit
Clara, California.
.
the incident. But it is quite natural for certain types of perThe officers and directors of ~rr.U join in expresssonalities to attempt to add inappropriate or irrelevant
ing sympathy to the N(,le family for the loss of their
material to an intense experience;' iri. fact it should be exhusband and father, one who was also our colleague
pected. Such people wiU do so honestly, naively perhaps,
and friend.
but not necessarily "crazily;" Point Three: The inclusi.on
....:....R.C.W.
of a bogus eleme~t in a story of inten.se significanceto ihe

Third Quarter 1983

Pursul,119

Report on Four Confe~enCeS--~by Robert c. Wa~h

I was pleased to'be able to represent SITU in attending four major conferences during the
past summer. Space does not permit more than a brief-mention abollt each conference, but I
would encourage Pursuit readers to attend one or more such meetings in-the fUture int is convenient to do so ..
Organizers of these meetings devote many hours and a considerable financial investment
to make the events comfoitable and interesting to visitors. Most rewarding to observe is the
'enthusiasm of' both ,the iecturers and the attendees. Each conference usually concludes with
everyone exhausted but wishing he ~or she had the stamina and the time to keep it going for
another few days,or a week, when it is realized that only the surface has been scratched of all
:
there is to be learned and discussed.
Some of the lectures I feIt"would be of particular interest to ~ITU members, and the lecturers have graciously extended permission to share their subject matter in the pages of Pursuit. Omitted from thissummary in order to conserve space are the speakers' academic titles
and/ or details of professjonal backg'round. Further inf9rmation about each speaker, and ~he
text of the lecture if it is available on 'paper or tape, may be. obtained from the respective
organizatipn at the address listed.
. .
The U.S. Psychotronics Association (formerly the U.S .. Radionics Association) met this year on the
beautiful campus of the University of Oregon in Portland, July 20-24.
.
.
The only regret as expressed by some was that, because of th'e number of speakers, dual conferences had to be
held in two separate conference rooms. This qleant that attendees were faced with a sometimes difficult choice,
and there was a good deal of distraction in both rooms as individuals shuffled about, tryi.ng to decide which talk
was the more interesting or useful.
. .
Some of the lectures, while innovative, were technically difficult to comprehend except, perhaps, for a doc~
tOrlll candidate. Other talks were remarkably 'simplified and relied more on demonstration than in-depth,
analysis. '
. ' .
By the end of thiS conference, there was little doubt left, with this writer, that a very great potential exists for
a major breakthrough in the near future for the cQntrol and cure of certain physical ailments by the use. of elec.
trical energies (neuroelectric medicine) in conjunction .with tradition~l medicine..
Regarding fundamental physics, Tom Bearden said: "The present electromagnetics is a special'case of the
new, more fundamental'electromagnetics originally discovered by Nikola Tesla, just as Newton's physics is a
special case of the Einstein relatavistic physics." Here, too, an exciting breakthrough is anticipated which should
take us well beyond the presently "accepted" concepts in these fields.
.
.
.
These were the basic themes of the conference:'
1) Medical alternatives: color/light; sound/music; crystals in healing.
2) Physics: free 'energy, Tesla technology; antJ-gravity .and ELF radidnics.
3) Radio.nics/radiesthesia: new instrument designs; new theoretical concepts; agri~ultunil psych.otronics.
Significant .sch~dules were: Marcel Vogel "The De' La Warr Camera;" Loren Parks "Simple Healing for
. Some Chronic Conditions;" Marcel Vogel "Crystal Design for 'Radionics Use';" Benedict Aru.1 "Cancer, A .
Phrohomoestatic Systemal Strategy;" George Hathaway "Non-Conv. Energy Tech.;" Bob Beutlich "Pendulum & Meditation, Past" & Present;!' James Kness "Some Electrical Engineering Problems in Free Energy
Technology;" Kath. Joyce "Psychotl'onics & Pythagorean Platonic World View;" Sam Lentine "'Consciousness, Vibrations and the Patterns of Crystallization;" Riley Crabb "World Power of Grid Systems and
ELF Waves;" Steven Rosenblatt "Kirlian Photography & Electro-Acuscope in Clinical Practice;" Preston
Nichols "From Telepathy to Vacuum tubes;" Lutie Larson. "Radionic B~lancing & You."
Walter Uphoff "PK 'Er'fects Captured on Film;" Lia Delissant "Vitally Intensified Music;" Ed Skilling "The
Hendershot Generator;" Dennis Stillings "Slides of Historic Radionics Equipment;" T. Galen Hieronymous
"Eloptic Energy & Agricultural Innovations in Lab.;" Sarah Hieronymous '~E1optic ~nergy & Plant Genetics;"
Bill Bise "Liquid Psychic SensQr;" -Jim Faubel "Subtle Ener:gy The9ry & the Chakaras;" J. G. Gallimore "Solid
S'tate Psychic Sensor;" Harold Ine "Lithium, the Ultimate!Crystal Component;" Dennis Edmondson "HyperNumbers, a la Charles Muses' Hyp~r-Space;" Peter Kelly."Report & Update, Interdimensional Science;" Toby
Grotz "Spec. Anyl. of Lakhovsky Multi-Wave Osc.;" Jerry Freidensuiin "Energy Towers & Agri-Radionics;" ,
.
Panel Discussion "BioI. E'ffects of EM Fields."
Wm. Bauer "Neuro-Electric Medicine;" Charles Whitehouse "New Crystal Designs in Radionic Devices;"
Andrija Puharich "Successful Treatment of. Mammary Neoplasms;" Gary Fleck "Crystal Healing & Energy
Attunement;" Jack Houck "Conceptual Model of Paranormal Phenomena, a Demonstration of Spoon Bending;" K. D. S. Khalasa "Sound and Color Using Kinesionics;" Eliz. Rauscher "EM Phenomena in Complex
Geometrie~;" Tom \!alone "One Piece Faraday Generator;" Tom Bearden"New EM, Where 'Old Math' Took
Pursu't 120

Third Qaarter .1983

the Wrong Turn;" George Freitiott ,"Electro-Vib. Med., Oxidation & c:ancer - the Suppression of Successful
Therapies & Utilization Today;" Jerry Friedenstein "Agri-Radionics in Resonance with Earth;" Bob Beck
"Neuro-Electric Therapy, Micro-Electric Brain Tuners - Tomorrow's 'Miracle Cure;?"
Ed Skilling "Circuits & Const. of ELF-TEN Units;" Erwin Stark "The Connections with Tomorrow;"
Isabelle Orion "Bio-Training/Fantasy Tech., Analogies with Brain Research;" Bob Beutlich' "Genetic Code
,
from the Kabbalah."
Those wishing further information may contact Bob Beutlich, 3459 Montrose, Chicago, IL 60618. The next
meeting is tentatively scheduled for June 27-July I, I9~4, at Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, Georgia.
, Two weekends later, after a lO-day polte~geist investigation/vacation in West Germany, I was in Chicago to
attend the 10th Anniversary World Conference ,of the Ancient Astronaut Society, held on August 6-7.
After welcoming addresses by Gene Phillips and Erich Von Daniken, Andrew Tomas delivered his "Vallits of
Time" (published in Pursuit No. 62, Second Quarter 1983, pp. 50-53). Vaughn Greene described his investigation centered in Japan, of what he believes are hundreds of exam'ples of "The 6000-Year-Old Space Suit." Pasqual, Schievella's talk appears on pages 120-124 of this issue of Pursuit~ Walter Ernsting from Ireland spoke on
"Fantasy, Science and Mistakes," and Gerardo Levet from Mexico lectured on" Ancient Rock-Molding Techniques - Myth or Realiiy?'"
'
On the second day, Gene Phillips gave a slide presentation of ~he AAS member expedition to Petra and
Malta. Richard T. Crowe spoke on his studies of the "Mysteries of Ancient Irelan~L" Stuart T. Greenwood's
talk was entitled" Ancient Astronauts - An Aerospace Engineer's Search for Evidence." After lunch, George
T. Sassoon of England discussed "The Holy Grail - An Extraterrestrial Object?" Zacharia Sitchin spoke of
"The Earth Chronicles" (his address will appear in Pursuit No. 64), and Erich Von Daniken closed with his
"The Strategy of the Gods."
For believers of the ancient astronaut hypothe'sis, the evidence presented by these lectur.ers seemed to me to
strengthen and expand the concept that our Earth was visited, observed and possibly settled by outerspace intelligences long before and during' our recent 6000-year-plus attempt at civilizing this planet.
The next conference is being 'planned for Switzerland in 1985. Interested persons should contact Gene M.
Phillips, AAS, 1921 St. Johns Ave., Highland Park, IL 60035.
,
From September 9 to 11, the Second International Symposium of Non-Conventional Energy Technology
was held in Atlanta, Georgia.
'
This conference was closely related to the USPA meeting in Portland, Oregon, six weeks earlier; the efforts of
the late Nikola Tesla were frequently discussed as were new and ,useful advances in the slUdy and application of
energy for mankind. Often the phrase was reiterated: "Einstein was wrong - Tesla was right."
There were lectures and demonstrations of the practical importance to us of the research and present development 'of liquid-fuel conservation devices, particularly for automobiles. Stili unexplained is the way in which proper application of magnets can reduce gasoline and diesel fuel consumption.
Notable, too, was, the concern expressed by manY,of those present that our current high level of fuel consumption is causing severe atmospheric changes. It flags a warning that we must reverse the amount of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere immediately if life on Earth is to continue.
Perhaps more than can be explained here is the Fortean nature of the principles underlying much of this new
energy work, and many of the paranormal phenomena reported in the pages of Pursuit may have explanations in
the fundamentalresearch being conducted by these brilliant and imaginative scientists.
Here is a summary of the lectures which followed the opening address and welcome by the chairmen, Ken
MacNeill and George 'Hathaway: C. Wallace "Design a,n~ Engineering;" L Adams "Magnets and Fuel
Economy;" A. Pezarro "Oil/Gas Exploration Devices;" J. Draper "Advanced Hubbard Coil;" G. Hathaway
"Test al'ld Measurement Techniques;" P. 'Brown "Variable Reluctance Generators;" 'c. Moss "Mandala;" W.
Baumgartner "Energy Unlimited Overview;"G. Hilscher "Advanced Technology in Europe;" M. Bradford
"Universal Law in Alternate Energy;" F. Gibson "Electromagnetism and Graviration;"'T. Bearden "Classical
E-M Theory Re-evaluation;" B. Maglich" "Aneutronic Energy Systems;" S. Reed "Advanced Electric
Automobile;" G. Obolensky "A.dvances in 'Tesla Technology,~;" R. Nelli "Energy and Paranormal
Phenomena;" P. Callahan "Tachyon Energy Fields;" M. Vogel "Bio-Energy Systems Experiments;'" N. Harthum "V. SChauberger - Theory and Devices;" K. MacNeill "Extending Gas Mileage;" T. Valone "Faraday
Homopolar Generator;" R. Bourgoin "Thinner is Better;" A. Trombly "North American Energy
Technology."
,
.
Those wishing further information should contact Ken MacNeill, P.O. Box 9478, Winter Haven, FL 33880.
'The next related meeting, .Ken tells me, will probably be in San Diego in mid-summer. Contact Ken'MacNeill .
a fter April I, 1984.
On June II the annual membership meeting of the InternationaJ'Society of Cryptozoology was held in a
one-day. conference at New York University, New York City. ,
,
A disappointment for this observer was that only a few score people, including the organizers and lecturers,

Third Quarter 1983

(Conlinued on page /30)

PGlJrsuit 121

Science, Proof, and the

A~cient AstrQnaat Hypothesis
S~

by Pasqual

Schievella

",.)'

IUr:

That extraterrestrial intelligences visited tiarth in antiquity:hd

altered the course o~ human histo~ is an old hypOthesis, .qft '
fered anew. by Erich von DNniken .. '1'-lthough I am ~ympath~lic
to this thesis, the main thrust of this paper is a criticism ofthe_
behavior of critics, particularlyscie~tists, in the broadest .!!e~se
of that term. As a historical hypotHesis, themerits of th~~~n~
cient astronaut hypothesis should' be weighed against 'P,le
available evidence with ri~orous sJientiflc scrutiny.
.' . :, ::.
Unfortunately, this has. not" occurred. Instead the scien~f.ic
community has attacked both the hypotht;sis and v0ll; Di~\ken
with outrage and abuse: His evidence has been dismissed 'with
ridicule. The hypothesis is assailed .with fallaCious reasoii.l~g
and an appeal to authority. I?qilally disturbing is $e stony, .silence
of ,. experts" regarding the evidence for the hypoth~sis. 'T~ls
silence, and the attacks '!If critics like Ronald StQryl supported
by Carl Sagan, clearly show that a scientific evaluation is .not
f~rthcoming.
. . . ,.
'~..
.:;;.
...... ~ ;:,
In what follows, I shall attempt to .present the case for \l.on
Daniken. I shall then examine som~ of the criticisms freque~:lt- .
Iy made against the ancient astronaut hypathesis.
..
It should be noted at the outset that this examination of such
irrationality on the part of many ~d~ntis'ts is in no way ~o ,,~e
interprefed as my having a lack of faith in science. In poi~~,of
fact, I have as much faith in science as some believers,.,hrve
in the existence of an anthropomorphic God. Theistic r~lth,
however; has evolved out .~f t~e irrational hopes, fears, and
reification of the unknown." It is a faith for which there iS,no
evidence, in any reasonable sense of that term. Iris indeed,
often than not, a faith in spite of evidence to. the contrary:'My
faith in science, on the other hand, has evolved from ',the
achievements of science, from. its rational and self-corrective
method, and from the public evidence it. has offered, ho~~v~r
incomplete, in fulfillment. of its predictions. It must be
understood, then, that I am an aident proponent of science, That
is why I ~ecome ~o ~st\1rb~db:y dog~ti~~iike(:~.Sag~~.w.h~
destroy the credibility of scienc~ by. claimirig' for it m:onnJi;iIi
iJ can deliver and by ~fu.sing to give the' arideot ast~na~t
hypothesis the scientific consideration it deserves.

more

.,'; . . . i.

The Case for Von Dlniken . ........ .

It is common knowledge that it is b~th pOssibie and piob~ble

that intelligent beings exist e.lsewhere in the univ~rse.::Eyen

Sagan admits that. To assurrie otherwise is to regress to th~ Middle Ages, when it wasbelieved that the earth was theceoter
of the universe and man the supreme creatio~.
:....
Historian Will Durant, in his Story of Civilization, suggests
that we are not ~e<:~ssar,!J~.. the descerdants .of ~e prlrii,itive
cultures to which a~!tae9}!ogj~ts aita;~nihropol<?gisis. Jik!! t9.at~.
tribute our an~esiry:::~.~~t;Wes~is: .~nd :t.tt~ ?riY~t~?~~~~af.~i~ff~i
has not explamed, suggest the POSSibIlity that ancIent. space

,
'\
. .
travelers visited earth. No argument based on such data a~ problems of interglactic travel and the vastness of space' has yet
proved that superior intelligence could not accomplish what we,
W:ith our few centuries of Ii!llited scientific technology and
" th~ory~ believe to be. impossible.
. It is both possible and probable that ancient astronauts did
. 'visit earth. This cannot be denied unless one holds that evolution is impossible, or that there is no evolution and God created
only us (a point that raises questions on which no evidence could
be brought to bear), or that such.evolution as there has been
took place only on earth, or that except for us there are.no
.as~ronauts or other intelligences 'in the universe, or that the
e'Vidence IS all in as to our origin, or that we have absolute
k110wledge about these things, and the like. Surely no enlightened person could hold such medieval ideas .
. Unless we deny the possibility of evolution elsewhere in the
u~iverse or pn;tend to an absolute knowledge regarding our past,
we must recognize at least the possibility that technologically
advanced civilizations may have arisen elsewhere and that they
may have visited us in the remote past,.
. The ancient astronaut.hypothesis, then, is at least possible.
"As to proof of von Daniktjn's theories, it must be noied that
the ancient astron~ut hypothesis cannot be expected to follow
the rigid rules and standards of proof set for natural science.
.~ modes of proof are primarily like those in the social sciences,
such as psychology, .sociology , and anthropology. To expect
formal rigidity in such informal disciplines is to demand what
.~~not be. Nevertheless, one would expect scientists to permit
von Daniken to extrapolate from his data, since they themselves
~ccept extrapolation as a kind of evidence permitting further advances in science.
::~.What. could conslitute .proof for ~e ancient astronaut
Hypothesis? We are not likely ~o find an ancient astronaut. As
.yO:n DaQiken points out, "crashed" spaceships from the distimt past would probably long ago have disjntegrated or possibly
~ave been carried away piecemeal. What then?
.
. Von I;>iiniken's thesis explains hitherto inexplicable mysteries
none of which has received any elucidation from academic minds
.. fettered by prejudices and preconceptions. It is.not fatal.to the
.hypothesis that critics find errors. Taken as a whole, von
.Daniken's findings point convincingly to the" likelihood of extraterrestrial interference in man's distant past. That is not to
deny that von Daniken manipulates many of his facts to adapt
thein to the ancient astronaut hypothesis. But what scientist does
not do this when he formulatfs a fheory?
. . The ancient a~tronaut hypothesis is little different from most
of re.corded history. The hypothesis requires only' 'validation"
of the reported data through correlation of those data with the
unexplained and wondrous technical artifacts of the distant past. '
The proofs of the ancient astronaut hypothesis can be found in
th~ logic of both possible and pro~able events, in the historical,

Copyright 1983
...

by

Pasqual S. Schievella

Pur'" 122

./

Third

Qa~rteJ'

1983

even though predominantly religious, documents *at'are hela

in such high historical esteem throughout the world, 'anl;l in the
ancient artifacts that cannot be explained in terms of the sup,posed knowledge and capabilities of antiquity. Any my.tholpgist
will readily insist that much of mythology' is' but disgulseP
history. There remains only to break the code of the expre~~. '
sions of antiquity and to translate them into the speech patterns,
of a space-age language.
George Sassoon2 explained, even
the word "Glory" in ~e scriptures turns out to be highly pro~ ~
able reference to a space craft. All these,'studiedas a body of
coherently describable data, point to extraterrestrial iriterircp-'
tion. Furthermore, the descriptions in ancient documents, w~en, '
coupled with emprjcal data, considerably weaken the argument
that tenestriaIs are reslX>nsible for those artifa~ which'obviously
were beyond their linguistic, conceptual, and technical abilities.:
Let. us consider some of those wonaers. A few should suffice.'
At the Bay of Pisco, south of Lima, Peru, there is an enor:
mQus trident engraved on the side of a hill pointing (we can'
now say with ac,curacy, thanks to the intensive research <?no~f
Blumrich3 ) directly at a small island by the name of Isla B)jm~
ca. In addition, not far from the small 'city of Nazca',' Peru: one
can find what are now called the Nazca ground drawings;.Inscribed on approximately thirty square miles of arid NaZca J>!iin,pas are huge drawings of a spider, a monkey, a hummi~gbird,
.I and the like. They are so large that they can be recognized only
from the air. Other drawings could easily be mistaken f~r aircraft landing strips. Some are merely straight (often 'paralle~)
lines running across rough terrain and up mountainsides, ap-'
pearing to deviate not an inch - sometimes almost, ten
kilometers (6.21 miles) long, as if cut by a laser beam',fro~:
on high. As to their squrce and meanings, there are,no ac~~'
explanations. A NASA engineer, Robert Earle,:claims t<:>, haY,e,
detennined that most of the line's poi~t to i~portant:geog~ph,i'c:::
'
locations on the earth. 4
Another unexplained mystery is that of the terra~s '~f,
Baalbek in Lebanon where huge stone blocks sixty feet long.
and said to weigh 2,000 tons have been moved into p'aee: 'IJl~y':
are so massive that even our modem technology ccAJld not han-,
' . '
dIe them.
Then there are the so~called "fortress" walls:'at'Sac-'
sayhuaman, outside the city ofCusco in Peru. There, are'
thousands of enonnous stones, many tons in weight, fitting,
together as closely and as neatly as the pieces of a jigsaw ,puz- ,
zle, without any kind of connecting adh~~ive. The thin ,edge:
of a sheet of paper could not be inserted between ,them..
'
Another marvel is the recessed, quadrangular ,wall" at,
Tiahuanacu, outside of La Paz, Bolivia, The inside surface is,
studded with sculptured faces apparently represe~ting' every
racial type on earth. There are many hundreds of ollier ulie~~:,
plained mysteries which most scientists show no inclination'to
investigate. I shall mention only one more: the ~ystery of.lhe
existence of models of sophisticated aircraft.' Some of these'
models show a separation space indicating the PQssi~le exist~n~'
of nuclear engines,S Such models, which are in muSeums '
throughout the world, have been tested and found to t;;e
aerodynamically accurate, in design. They are' amazingly ,i~~:
teresting artifacts because they correlate so well with the m~y :
scriptural descriptions of flying machin,es emitting smoke, f~;:
and thunderous noise.
'
Even if we accept the claim that all these things originated
with terrestrial beings, we would be hard-pressed to explilin the'
disappearance of such superior civilizations.
have found ~o
document~ry or, indeed, evidence of any kind to suppart:.a terrestrial origin for such technological achievements.,
' ::

As

We

'.

~' .. : -

:" It'seenis,:theri, as'von Dilniken reite~tes, that it is time to

'bring to bea{upon these fasc~natirig mysteries, and the descriptions' of,them in:the languages, ~f'an~quity, new perspectives
ari,d,viable hYMtheses mAde: p<?ssible by the more sophisticated
18:ng~age '~nd kriowle,dge of our,day.
"
" 'If.sCi~J;1tific,and ~lig~ous institutions would allow it, and if
'govemmeflts or'fmindations would, advance funds to support it,
,researCherS ,couid ,feed <4ita from all over the' world into com'i)\.it~ri;'tp de.teiriiiiic'ihe cOmp8rative similarities among empirical
',d~sryi)tions' of. ~:'gods fl'9m space" and to determine whether
these de~ri~ioils are; '8S the critics prefer to believe, nothing
more than the creations: of insane minds or over-fertile imaginatibns'." -Supplemerited "by co~pute'rS: experts in comparative
<li~~~~tic:~:;,t-:ansl~ti~n, an~ient c,~.1ltures, a~d ancient languages
'should ,be able 't9 determifle','whether the ,technical data, con'Cept~" 'Il~d' achieveinen,ts~ fC?und in, museums,' existing at ar'.~haeologi~ar ,sites" and de,sc~bed in histori~al and religious
documents cO\1ld have originated with a pre-scientific people
who '!!lfOke:oniy non:technical,alid unsophisticated language.
Surely, 's:Uch" ail ,effort would bring-more probable results than
,wilr~h~"ex~~l(iitu~ of.~und~ds,of ~iIlions of dollars from an
'impiJlse' technology, attempting to discover evidence of the ex'isteoCe i;I{extra-terrestrial intelligences"':' an effort with which,
oJ jievertbeless heart~ly agree. However, 'there is even less of a
"'smidgen,",to use a favorite word ofC~rl Sagan's, of evidence
In spa~"'.n fa~, ~here is no e,v~dence except for the "evidence'"
ofextra-terrestnal i~terference (in the development of man) right
~ere' Oli 'Earth ,as it had been :Qffered throughout our' hi~tory by
ancient" astronaut 'theorists:
. ,
,, '
":::As)t.s~s"now, the :8J.lCient:astronaut hypothesis is primarily
a lji~torical by~~esi~ and ,peripherally a scientific one. It is
foundcl;l' on ,doelunentary, aJid .circu,mstantial ev.idence and;, in
~~~~ase,s';. on:h~ evi~e~Ce ~t inay be denied except by stret- '
c~i~g the, fa'c;is beyond: reason and probapility. ' ,
,', "~a~y:Pl9fessio~als,~ sympathetic to von:Daniken's concerns;' (\mo,rig the millio~~ who read his books are scientists,
p~'il~soph.ei-s'; 'ai:c~~eo(ogists, anthropologists, engineers, and
sc)iolars. from every ,field.: This, is what apparently frightens
scientislldilC-e:Sagan,. who ,seems to be making every effort' to
sitence, schol~rS' wtto' ~re inclined~ to take the ancient astronaut
hypothe!!is se;ioiJsly.'H even'gOc!! sO'far as to suggest that if
we'4o'ilot agree,with)ijrP', we are not'reasoning persons. Such
attacks, are: app.a~ntly" calculated to i~timidate the reader, 'partiC;J.I~arlY:if he.'is,~':schoJ~. With such ,a modus operandi, it is
not at all surprising to s@ that the critics of the ancient astronaut
hyp()~'esi,~, ,find ,s~pport from. represeritative~ ot the church, an
~l.al)ce, tJtat :wQuld surely am~se Galilee,.
','
,
': ~uch o(th~:negative criticisl1l'o(Eri~h von Daniken and
th(r'ailci~nl ~str'o~aut hypothesis,en'lanates from a small number
of sclentists'led;:it seems; by Carl Sagan, who claims that there
is'goJ a' ",s~~dg~n'Qf.ev~dence~' ,fqr the hyp6thes,is. The claim
is' that' they ,prove their theories, whereas the ancient astronaut
th~rists:d~ D9t.,:I wish to remind'Sagan and his followers that
there a~ 'iliJioy kinds of proof. Sagan .knows, but he appears
to 'prete~4 otherWise, thai proof Can 'be n'?l oDIy empirical, observational:ex~rime~tal, or inductive (as he seems to imply), but
al~ theOn:ti~;,logi!=8I, mathematical, hypothetical, deductive,
statistical, :probible; and d~umentiuy. These vlirious forms accouni'for much 'criticaJ and fundamental examination within the
Sien~ themselves. the' ancient astronaut theorists' use of many
of these. kinds otproof is no less valid than the scientists' use
oftliem:,'Hen='fi~sist ~at.evidence, proof, ~d knowledge must
be"possible, .probable; public, and predictable. They must be
, direCtly or' indirectly verifiable and compatible with a com-

'.
".1,

,,"

~.

;',

';

.:

Purs."123

prehensive body of relevant facts, theories, generalizations, and

hypotheses. To the degree to which these elements fit coherently
without contradiction, to that degree we can make legitimate
claims to having evidence, proof, or knowledge.
A deliberate ignoring of these different kinds of proof is the
modus operandi .of those scientists who are guilty of dogmatism
and prejudice. Are von Daniken's scientitic crhic;s suggesting
that there is no truth or .knowledge except for that found in the
natural sciences? 'Would &lgan and his followers claim that there
is not a "smidgen of evidehce" that Lincoln was shot at Ford
Theater, or that the history of the United States occurre~ substantially as written, on the ground that no one.alive was thereto .
s~e it happen? Would they question the documents that record
Fleming's discovery of penicillin, or Caesar's having ruled
Rome? Such knowledge cannot be verified by the techniques
of the natural sciences, by experimentation, or by unfalsifiable
data ..
Of course science must conduct its search for truth objectively. But science is not scientisls. The latter arc far from infallible and often far from objective;'a few are even dishonest"
prone to authoritarianism and dreams of scientific infallibility
even whenthey adniitthey are speCUlating. They forget that
the present achievements of science constitute little more than
- an embryonic development in the continuing search for truth.
In elevating themselves to the.thro.ne of infallibility., they imply.that they alone hav~ the key to the mysteries of the unive.rse ..
They display the worst kind of parochialism in failing to see
mat there are problems of a kind that cannot be solved by a study
of subatomic constructs or of molecular strlIctures. To make mat-.
ters worse, the technical achievements of science are often conflated with scientific certainty, misleading the layman into
believing that the.prod.ucts of technology - such as television,
Quclear'weaPonlY, a.nd space travel - are ample proof that what
~cientists say is ipso facto true.
.,
:. Although von Daniken is no stranger to scientific concepts,
he has never pretended to be a scientist. His critics ignore this,
however, and argue against their own assumption that von
Daniken thinks he is a sCientist. They then proceed to show what
he himself admits. - that he is not. This straw-man approach
is typical of much of their criticism. Indeed, it is to our benefit.
that von Daniken is not a scientist. As someone has said,
"Science is too important to leave to scientists." The ideas von
Dliniken expresses have been posed, as von Daniken says, .
thousands oftjmes in the Pitst. Noone before, however, and
especially not Sagan, was sufficiently daring 'or provocative to
raise to World-wide awareness the possibility and the probability of extraterrestrial intelligence.
..
.'
Various critics have referred to von Daniken's research as
"pseudoscience," and claim that it belongs with occult
literature. Aside from their not being able to distinguish between
the oc~ult and the ancient astronaut thesis; this can hardly be
called:a scientific disproof of the hypothesis. It sounds more
like the voice of embattled authority proclaiming' 'truth" loudly
and anxiously. Can such a respOnse be attributed to von
Dliniken's critics' annoyance with his provoc~tive style? It is,
after all, very strange that they ~ave not attacked with the same .
concentt:'lltion and intensity any of the hundreds of other ancient
astronaut theorists - ' enthusiasts from Homer to Josef
Blumrich. 6 Is)t because these others have not exposed the unwillingness of scientis'ts to concern themselves with the ancient
. records buried in the world's archives, waiting' to be d~ciphered?
Is,it because von D'aniken is shaming scientists and othe~
authorities for their lack of integrity? Is it because they do not
like having their self-limited search for truth exposed? Is it

Purit 124

because they wish to ignore certain facts that abound throughout

the world? Is it becal,lse they are afraid that the generous research
appropriations they receive might be diverted to this cause?
Indeed, von Daniken's persistence and his provocative and
accusatory style of writing have not endeared him to the world~s
scientists, nor to its religious leaders. However, if his questions
are not proper, it should be easy.to demonstrate that fact. Scientists certainly have not shown von Daniken's characterization
of them.to be wrong, and what is worse, their unscientific
responses support his contentions: Nor have devastating proofs
against his hypothesis been demonstrated. Certainly character.
assassinatio~ and weak claims will not do.
The attacks and negative respo.nses from rerigious institutions
(and individuals like the contributors to Some Trust in Chariots,
partly edited by the Reverend B.B. Thiering, Chaplain ofCranbrook School) are c:asily unde~tandable, in view of their special
interest .. One would expect, however, a more sympathetic attitude from the Sagans of the scientific community. Their approach thus far smacks entirely of dogmatic authoritarianism.
Obviously science cannot be expected to preoccupy itself with
claims that can be shown to be filled with internal contradictions, ambiguities, and meaningless terms. But such is not the
case with von Daniken's thesis. .
Consider, las a typical ~ttack on von Dllniken, Story~s The
Space-Gods Revealed. In his foreword, Carl Sagan suggests that
Chariots of the Gods? is "pop religion." It is in fact an attack
on religiops claims. Moreover, Sagan sets the tone for disbelief
before Story presents his so-called evidence. He makes it clear
that"":" in his view - von Daniken is trampling where he 90es
\lot belong. As Sagan has said on his "Cosmos".progra~, putting the cart before the horse, the amateurs scare away the professiona).s. But that is .no more than a lame excuse for their failing to deal with the problem, certainly not an expl/!-nation. In
.. fact, amateurs tread where the professionals refuse to go. Someone has to investigate unsolved mysteries. Further still, without
discussing the extremely complex nature .of the term
"evidence," Sagan dogmatically .states that there is noevidence
for ancient astronauts. Both Story and Sagan put words into von
Daniken's mouth _words like "dummies" in reference to our
ancestors. Von Diiniken does not claim that our human ancestors
were "stupid," or that they were not genetically similar. He
merely suggests that they could not have had the knowledge implied by some of the artifacts from the past, however they may
have received. the genes we have inherited. He is quite correct.
They lacked a sophisticated technical language, concepts, and
insights needed to solve such problems. Story and Sagan invariably associate von Daniken with strange ideas and mystic
cults, branding him gUilty by association.
. Following Sagan's foreword, Story's boo~ is permeated with
carefully chosen emotional words and ad hominem attacks
calculated to ridicule von Daniken's ideas; he resorts to laughter
and derision when logic and conclusive evidence are lacking.
His handling of von Dan,iken and his theories is a paradigm of
sloppiness cleverly concealed from those who lack logical train-
ing. Story confines himself pri1Jlarily to von Daniken's earlier.
writings. Von D'aniken was inexperienced with literature in matters of scholarly research (he did not even graduate from high
school). He felt he would be better received ~f he colored his
writings with a fictional style. Thus these works are vulnerable
to attack. However, Story cleverly av~ids criticizing hundreds
of facts aQd data from other of von Daniken's books. There,
he would be unable to draw on present-day accepted explanations, and on authorities with their pet theories to protect. Von

Third Quarter 1.983

the ancient astronaut hypothesis

cannot be expected to follow the rigid
rules and standards of proof set for,
natural science. Its modes of proof are '
primarily like those in the social
sciences, such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology. To expect
formal ,rigidity in such informal
disciplines is to demand what
callnot be. ~
~

Daniken insists we must marshal new interpretations based on

present-day language, knowledge, and concepts.
The clearest indication of Story's philosophical and critical
incompetence is seen in his treatment of von 'Daniken's explanation for the Nazca ground drawings. He says sarcastically, "The
runways are not needed for space flight. What were the ancient
astronauts flying - World War I biplanesT' Has StOry not heard
of our space shuttle which requires a runway nearly three miles
long? He implies that long landing strip,s would not have been
needed, And, indeed, they may not have been. Nevertheless
his remark assumes a great number of facts he could know nothing about, such as landing requirements, speed capacities, and "
so on, By suggesting that astronauts could have landed only in
daylight, moreover, he is guilty of arriving at solutions in tenns
of our limited knowledge, precisely as von Daniken has
charged. The extraterrestrials might, among other possibilities, '
have been sensitive to a far wider band on the spectrum than
we l'!-re, enabling them to ,see at night; or they may have had,
instruments to amplify other fonns of light that appear as
darkness to us. Story also refers to the "soft, sandy soil of the
Nazca pampa." But age, weather, heat expansion, and the like,
could have destroyed the original soil surface. Again he is assuming that their' 'vehicles" would he like ours, having similar landing gear. Finally, Story repeatedly appeals to the very authorities
whose theories von Diiniken places in question.
Story is unimaginative, and too lacking in forward-looking
concepts to consider that the unthinkable may be true, as it so
often has been in the past. H,is speculations will seem reasonable,
to those conditioned to think within present-day parameters. But
that is precisely what von Daniken brings into question. It is
scarcely necessary here to rehearse the list of great pioneers and
discoverers like Columbus, Galileo,' and Pasteur, who were
mocked and hounded during their lifetime primarily because their
insights and theories ran counter to the "accepted" wistlom of
the establishment of their day.
their predecessors
Have today's pundits leamed,nothing
whose arrogance they mimic? They speak knowingly, however
mistakenly: "~owing" that theories are fact; and . 'knowing"
that there is no real, hard proof for the ancient astronaut
hypothesis. From a philosophical and even a scientific, standpoint, there is no such thing as absolute proof - not even in
the most seemingly solid sciences. By i'real" or "hard"
proof, Sagan actually refers to unscientific proof, for he seems
to mean proof that is immediately accessible to our sense
faculties. This is exactly the kirid of proof that once led the world '
to believe in a solar,system with the earth at its center and the
'sun visibly revolving arou)1d it.

from

Third Quarter 1983

Story accuses von ,Daniken of not being aware "of the archaeological and historical facts." He will not accept that von
Daniken is aware, and rejects them, refusing to accept
hypotheses as facts. Yet Story himself claims to know the facts.
He credits our ancestors with knowledge and co~mon sense even with simple techniques and equipment for moving objects
weighing many tons - some up to eighty tons. He accepts their
"empirical" ,descriptions of how they are supposed to have moved the huge statues (Moai) on Easter Island. ,He would deny
that our aJ:\cestors' descriptions of ships in the:: sky with flaming
tails, accompanied by thunderous noise and tremors of the earth,
are empirical descriptions. He does not explain his criteria for
choosing one description ,and rejecting another. But more than
that, ,he seems to suggest that there are no ancient mysteries mysteries that the ancient astronaut hypothesis might explain.
In discussing the date of an ancient artifact, Story attempts
to cast doubt on the accuracy of von D~niken's infonnation by
use of the very subtle techniques of leavi!lg out crucial tenns
from von Daniken's comments, such as substituting "archaeologists" for von' Daniken's "sol)1e archaeologists."
Although there are endless examples of distortions, innuendos, and illogic expressed by von Daniken's critics, we cannot
dwell on them longer.

Conclusion
Von Daniken's critics seem to insist on'one standard for him,
that is. the empirical and pO,sitivistic methods, whereas they
themselves rely heavily on theoretical or other methods. But they
, do not, with the same fervor, attack creationism in the Book
of Genesis or the Christian belief in a non-material God. In this
respect, we would do well to listen to P.E. Pothier of Bethesda, .
Maryland. In answer to an article, that included attacks on von
Daniken, by Kendrick Frazier, published in Science News of
9 June 1976. Pothier 'said:
May I remind those who deplore the increasing in~erest
in the, occult, as evidenced by the proliferation of occult
books, that the number one all-time, best seller remains
the Holy Bible, the Manifesto of those bastions of occultism, the established churches. If ... one must persist
in this silly witch hunt, let him take on an enemy big
, enough to pose a serious threat to science and society. In
the name of its peCuliar fonn of occultism the Christian
Church set up the Holy Inquisition to silence all heretics
'including scientists. It burned their books as well. It forbade and forbids all practical means of population control. In California it even forbids the teaching of evolution as fact. The "parascience cults" have done none of
these things.
.,
,If scientists really want to banish irrationalism from
the world, let them hurl their challenge aJ the citadel of
occultism - the Church.,

If science sees its moral character, and scientific ethic as including the responsibility to warn the world of what is and is
not rational, then it' has a responsibility to do so with a' nondiscriminating approach.' If it attacks; yon Daniken, it has a
responsibility to attack Reverend Moon, Billy Graham, Robert
Schuller, Oral Roberts, and all the 'highest priestS of irrationalism
- religious, political, and scientific, across the world. I have
yet. to hear any scientist attack Pope John Paul II because he
said, "Faith is the highest fonn of reason." Have they lost the
courage they manifest against 'Erich von Diiniken who, unlike

PuN." 125

.:".;'

'.

\ : . . .. - '.

. ,-

'.'

..

'~'/':':

."'..
;.'.:"',
.'

,'.

'

..

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the satraps of institutional. religion, is' po~e.rles~ to.di~ct.the :

wrath of gods and ~f ~e .wor;ld iJp~)D their'h~~. As a h~~~slic''''
community, science should 'attack ideas, ncirpiopoJ)en~ 0f'idei!S..
It should resort to the sCienti~c I'!lethods;: not .to the iyrannjcal.
voice of dogma and authQritarianism.. :.', .. ' .:'.::. '. '.1:.
Scientists should do' well;. therefore, 'ti)" admit'that ailci~nt"
astronaut theorists have:a' right to.'1lse .ih~ .s~e: kinds: o~ proOf'
science uses in both the '.'hart;'; an,d "'soft" .sci~nc!!s. Th~}/
would do well to examine the' evidence arid data with theob.:!
jectivity they. claim. t~ use in' the' ; 'ham '.:'. stiences. .Ev~rr'Dr ;._
Truzzi, who accoMlng to ihe'N~w 'York Times nas'broken~away' .
from the "Committee for.the,SCiel)titkInveS~gaiiQit'qf.C18iri:i~ ..
of the Parano~"" has said tIiat:the.group was '.'more~preoc:
cupied.with denouncing': .:.., t~ with.~nYestigating: ~'.(j~ Trui;:,
zi 's coriviction. that claims. to truth in those 'areaS nor.mally not
considered to fall within the ~e~~' p( accepi~ ~ieilc~ ~u~~
"not be dismiss!!d
of iia:nd~" ~: Ii is.incuiJ;lbenfQn: Sci~!lc,e.:to .
be scientific about.' those . hypothese~, : '~numers .;ih~( present:
legitimate puzzle areas for scieQce,.": which 5Pole si::i~J1(j'sts' arid.
also philosophers are ~prone, to 4en~)ljnce.~fore inyesi!gating~ ~
They would do well to lendth~ir.fQt~rest;tliei(methoqs;~ir-,
techniques, and their. moral and 'financiaLsupport In' .a:Sef;o.lis"
sear:ch for historical kno~ledge:reliltirig"to'ihe!lri~.i~nt ~irol)8~t' .
hypothesis. It has toolong~n nOl only igncired bilfunsierj".
tifically prejudgedas. i~probable 'in .~~val).ce ~(:.~h~ ~ n.~
research. If that is'science, then.lhayclong r:nisundlj(6Qd wf!ilf
science is. .
' . ' . ' ." :'-: .':' '. '..' "". ' .' .. ',' .' : .' :
to Erich vOI(D.anik'~~:
o.nlY ~,opeiha(.
. More
his efforts will cont~riu~t9 pr;o~per.: '::: :..... :........ ~'. ':' ; .::--.:'.,.
.
:
"
NOTES.'.:." ': ...:;. >;'; .

out.

,We' carl

power

'<: ..... ,'.

1. L. Ron~ld Slory'" The SPac~Gods' Re~;';'i.d (thiinKed 'fro.ii: T,. ~

Space-God HOfIX under llirea' of suit) (New Y6rk:Harper,& '~~w; 1976)..
. 1. Co-author (willi Rodney:Dale)' of. TNe MQnnal.'ai:hiir~ .(Lo"d~Di
Granada PublishhlgCo., 1979)'. " ...... ':- ' : '.', ' .. " .. ,'.; ..~':,,'
'3. Josef' F. Blumrleh .w~te ~The "SjHlc'Uhlps .0rEu"~1 (~w; York:'
Bantam Books, 1974). His initilillnte"t ~.s. to dispro.ve.voil.n.lUlike~'.s
thesis. Of his change of ini~; he writ~!!, ,.iHa~iy I!Y,r.'~!l1 ~ 'toia"'l~feal
so rewarding, so fascil!alhii .~" '!!o. ~e~ighl.ful.:' .BI~~.rlch 'iii':~ .re~red
engi"eer, f~rmer direclor ofSySlems bioul tiranch o'f NASA;'w!Jo .cootrlbuted to the designini' ~nd bulldlng of thl! Sa~rn v.: ~oc.ster.Heh"s.
since ~"ken !lut "ate'nts for. 'design~ 'based' on: Ezeki'll's' "tehnical~'
descripti0ll!l.
. ..'
.'
. ' '. '.
'.
4. Robert Earle, Pr(!of of Anciehl Ast'OIUIllts;. ~.azCa Sk~~chbo~ks ~, II, III (Bay Village~ Ohio: Rober.t'.Ea.te~ I, 1975; 'II, 1976; III, 1978)o'ln.
priy'ate correspondence, Mr.Earle h~daiined thafai'a reslilt of slx'yean
of study and six months of'ln-the-flea,t exploratio~ in:ihe',c~~pany of ar-
chaeologlsts, he has dis~overed.the re,al. meaoing ophe Na.zcan ruaway.
arrows:.:they are an astronomical chart .of lliiterolds a!id. come~ - o~.
which the aliCient astronauts hltched. "'piwbad~''':'~iI~ io ~ake them. t!l
various places in their .travels: No less than one-quarter of the Nazcali
ground drawings, he states, .are of hu~mlngbird g~~s whl~h, h~ insi~~Si
are depi~tions of hovering spacecrafi. :' .' : . .'. ..' '. . .'. .' ,," "::'r: .
: 5. pr. Stuart W. .Gree~wo'qd, aerospace ,eilgl-.i!er, ~ member"of :the
Bri~lsh InterplanetarY Society; 'an~': of 'the .. A,~eriean.'lnstilu,e~' .~i,
Aeronautics and' Astronautics agrees that the.'interpretBtioli of' Ii' Duclear
....: ..... " '. '. ":; .
separation space is possible:' . ........ ..,
.. 6. To mention o~ly s f~:' jaCques' Dergler; .scleatlst ~nd' .w"t~r
(deceased): Les Ext,a-Te"estns. dan.s,L 'Hlsto;;e and other booksitOO'
numerous to meatlon;'Richard T. Crowe; rilylhologlsUri i~h hlsiory:and.
folklor.e; Raymond Drake; author !,:~~. r~rC~er o~ legends:' a'series, .e'!7 .
titied Gods 01' Spacemen?, and many .other books~, Walter. t;rnsting~
au.ihor of many novels; Dr~' S~u~i T. G~nwO!Jd, P~f~f of
AerospllCt! Eagineerlng, author, an~ lecturer; Dr. DI~p'Kuman~,
_Sanskrit scholar, author of nuin~roaI articles on S.RI~rit texti.deM;r1biR',
Gods as extraterrestrial' Beings and' .IIMlr: aile'. 0; .'~viima~, .....~J.I.I
devices; Gerardo Levet, mechanical eilglneer: Mision yltal en.J Pllln_1II
nerl'fl;
Luis E. Na~ia".cosniolo'ist turd ProfessOr .0/ p'hliostip(rY.:;A
Brid,. tD the Stan; George Sasiooa,. ~r~aiCs eRiin~r....ci:IlnP.Isi:
The Manna Machin. (c~iatbored with Rodney'DllIe); ZeChuii 'Sltchili, .
Hebrew scholar: TIV Ea,th' Chl"Oniclu;'RoherJ K. G'-Temple. 'el~w of
tbe Royal Astronomic'" Sotiety and scl!Giar .In .0rteIIIiII ~ud"',.lid
Sanskrit: The 'sirius MYste"'.! ~ ". .
" . ,.'. .... ..'

Dr.

Pu,...'~

126.

' . .'

:".

:"

.'

, . -

T: E. Bearden 1982

:.. .
. Part I
.
". ;.D~CI'~pancies; in Preseat EM Theory
There'are at least twenty-two major discrepancies presently
existing' in conventional electromagnetics theory,' This
paper presents a summary oj-those /laws, and is a jurther '
c.omment~ry on my discussion oj scalar longitudinal Tesla
willies ,in' a previous paper. "Solutions to Tesla's Secrets
a~d:the Soviet Tt:Sla Weapons." Tesla Book Company,
191J-J and 1982.
i~~ti~/arIYwish to exp"~s my d,eep'aJ,preciation to two
()J:my'jrieitds .and colleagues wllo at this time, I.believe,
~~h to':;emain anonymouS. 'One oj'the two is an exper.imental genius who can produe:e items on the bench that
40 ~oi. wor~ by orthodoxtheo;y. The second is a master oj
materials sCience and eleetromagnetics theori I thank
t~m: both jor their exceptional con,tributions and stiumli
regarding' pote~tial shortcomings in present electromagneticstheory. and. their jorbearance with the many discussions'. w,e have'held o,! this and related subjects.
It~'goes without saying thaI' any errors in this paper are
sirfctly' my ..own, and not the jault oj either oj my
distinguished colleagues..
:.:.

.".

1~' '.

In present electromagnetics theory, 'charge and charged-mass are. falsely made identical. Actually, on acharged
pai-tide, the "charge" is the flux of virtual particles o'n the
"~~are particle" ~f observable mass: The c~arged particle ~
th(1s'.8 ':'system" of. true massless~har'ge coupled to a bare
. chargeless mass, The observable "mass" is static, threedimensionai, and totally spati~l. '''Charge'' is dynamic,
four-dimensional or more, virtual and spatiotemporaL
Fur~l:Ier, the ~harge and observ~ble mass can be decoupled,
contrary to present theory .. Decoupled charge - that is,
the ab~ence of mass -. is ~imply what we presently refer to
as ."vacuum.". Vacuum, spacetime, and massless charge
a:re'all ide~ticat Rigorously, we should utilize any of these
tl;lree as' an "ether," as ~uggested ,for vacuum by Einstein
himself. (see. Max 'Born, Einstein's Theory oj Relativity,
Revis~d Edition, .Dover Publications, New York, .1965, p.
224)~ And all three of them are identically anenergy - not
energy, but more fundamental components.of energy.
'2 . 'Electi'ost~tic potential is .regarded as 'a. purely threed,'me'Bsional spatial st.:ess. Instead, it is the intensity of a
many~dimensional (at least 'four-dimensional) virtual flux
~nd. a. stress 'c:>D all four dimepsions of spacetime. This is'
easjly'seen, 'once one recogn'izes that spacetime is identically nlas'sless charge .. (I t i~ not "filled" with charge; rather, it
;s cha(ge!) Just as, in a gills u'nder pressure, the 'accumulati<:?~ l~f; ad~itional . gas' -further stresses th~. ~~s, the '. a~"
cumulation of .charge (s'pacetime) stresses charge
(sp'~cetime). Fu~ther, if freed from its atta:chment to mass,
. ~J)~rg~ carl flow exclu~ively in time, exclusively. in space, or
iii :liny. combination of the two. Tesla, waves - which ate
sa:lar'waves in pure massless charge flux itself - thus '~an
exhibiLextraordinary characteristics that Qrdinary vector
waves. do. not possess. And Tesla waves have extra~~~fD:siori~~ degrees of freedom in .which to move, as com-

.,!,N :'.
:

Comments on th

".

Tbinl QuaneI' 1983

ew ~esla

Electromagn~tic~

pared to vector waves. Indeed, one way to visualize a Tesla

scalar wave is to regard it as a pure oscillation of time
itself.'
~
3. Voltage and potential .are often confused in the
electrostatic case, or at least thought of as "composed .of
the same thing." For that reason, voltage is regarded. as
"potential drop." This also is not true. Rigorously .. ~he
potential is the intensity of the virtual particle flux at a
single point - whether or not there is any mass.at the point
- and both the pressure and the point itself are spatiotemporal (four-dimensional), not spatial (three-dimensional)
'as presently assumed. Voltage represents the' spatial i.ritersection of the difference in the potential between two
separated spatial poi~ts, and always implies at least a'
miniscule flow of mass current (that is what ma-k~s' it
spatial!). "Voltage" is spatial and depends upon 'the~
presence of observable mass flow, while scalar el~ctrostlitic
potential is spatiotemporal and depends upon the absence'
of observable mass flow. The two are not 'even of the same,
dimensionality. .
.
4. The charge of vacuum spacetime is assumed to. be.
zero, when in fact it is a very high value. Vacuum has no
mass, but it has great massless charge and virtual particle'
charge flux. For proof that a charged vacuum is the seat of
something in motion, see G. M. Graham and D. G. Lahoz,
"Observation of static electromagnetic angular momentum in vacuo," Nature, Vol. 285, May 15, 1980, PRo
154-155. In fact, vacuum IS charge, identically, and it is'
also "spacetime" and at least four-dimensional.
.:.
Ill'.

5. Contrary to its present usage, zero is dimensional and'

relative in its context.A three-dimensional spatial hole, fOr
exa.mple, exists in time. If we model time as a dimension~.
then the spatial. hole .has one dimension in 4-space. So' a
spatial absenc~ is a spatiotemporal presence. In the
vacuum 4-spac.e, a spatial nothing is still a something'. "The
"virtual" concept and the mathematical concept ofa'
derivative are simply two present ways of unconsciously'
addressing this .fundamental problem of the dimensional
.
relativity of zero.
6. The concepts of "space" and "time" imply thai .
spacetime (vacuum) has been separated into two parts. We
can only think of a space as "continuing to exist in time.'; .
To separate vacuum spacetime into two pieces, ail opera~
tion is continually required. The "operator" which accomplishes this splitting operation is the photon interac- .
tion, the interaction of vector electromagnetic energy or~
waves with mass. I have already strongly' pointed out this
effect and presented a "raindrop model" of first-order
physical change itself in my book The Excalibur Briefing,'
Strawberry Hill Press, San Francisco, 1980, pp. 128-130..
7. "Vector magnetic potential" is assumed to' be always'
an aspect of (and connected to) the magnetic field. In fact,
it is a separate, fundamental field of nature and it can be'
entirely disconnected from the magnetic field. See Richard .
P. 'Feynman et aI., The Feynmaf! Lectures on 'Physics,
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., New York, 1964, Vol. II,
pp. 15-8 to 15-14. Curiously, this fact has been proven for:
years, yet it has been almost completely ignored in the
West. The" 'ilx" operator, when applied to the A-field,
Third Quarter 1983

by T.

E~

Bearden

makes B-field. If. the' 'il x operator is not applied, the

"freed" A-field possesses much-expanded characteristics
frpm those presently allowed in the "bound" theory.
S:pecifically, it becomes a scalar-or "shadow vector" field;
it'js not a normal vector field.
8.' The speed of light in vacuum is assumed to be a fundamental constant of nature. Instead, it is a function of the
intensity of the massless charge (lux )that is, of the
magnitude Qf the electrostatic potential) of the vacuum in
which it moves. (Indeed, since v;icuum and massless charge
are' one 'and the same, one may say that the speed'of light is
a'functfon of the intensity of the spatiotemporal vacuum!)
THe higher the flux intensity (charge) of the vacuum, the
faster the speed of light in it. This is an observed fact and
all'eadY'shown by hard-core. measurements. For example,
dis.tinct. differenc.es actually exist iri the speed of light in
v't[cuo, when measured on the surface .of the Earth as 'compared to measuremegts in space away from planetary
masses.' In' a vacuum on the surface' of the Earth, light
moves significantly faster. For a discussion. and the
statistics, see B. N. Belyaev, "On Random Fluctuations of
th'e Velocity of -Light in Vacuum," Soviet Physics Journal
No. II, Nov. 1980, pp. 37-42 (original in Russian; translatieri by PlenLim Publishing Corp.). The Russians have been
using this knowledge for over two decades in their strategic
psychotronics (energetics) program; yet hardly a single
U:S .. scientist is aware' of the measured variation of c in
.~acuo. In' fact, most Western scientists simply cannot
beHeve .it when it is pointed out to them!
.9 . .Energy is considered fundamental and equivalent to
work. In fact, energy arises from vector processes, and it
c!1~ b.e. d!sassembled. into more fundamental (anenergy)
scalar .c.ompO"nents, since' the vectors' can. These scalar
components individually can be moved to a distant location without expending work, since one is not moving
force vectors. There, the scalar components can be joined
.an4 reassembled into vectors to provide" free energy" appearing at a distance with no loss between the initial and
distant: points. For proof that a vector field can be replaced
by{and'considered to be composed of) two scalar fields,
see E. 'T: Whittake'r,' Proceedings of the London
Maihemaiical Society, Volume I, 1903, p. )67. Byexten-.
sion, ,aoy vec~or wave can be replaced by two coupled
scalar waves.
10.' ."I:he classical Poynting vector predicts no longitudinal
wa,,~.:.pf energy from a time-varying, electrically charged
source. In fact, an exact solution of the problem does
al,ow this longitudinal wave. See T. D. Keech and J. F.
Corum, "A New Derivation for" the Field of a TimeVa.rYilJg Charge in Einstein's Theory," International Journal of.Theoretical Physics, Vol. 20, No.1,. 1981, pp. 63-68,
fOI: the proof.
~.

"Il.,/':

. 'I"

'.

i..1 ., I

1l.,.,:The pref;ent concepts of vec1.(~riand -soalar are severely

limited, and' do not permit the explic:if. consideration of the
internal, "finer-grained structures of a vector or a scahir.
That is, a fundamental pr061em exists with the basic
assumptions in the vector mathematics itself. The "space"
of a vector field, for example, does not have inter-nested
sublevels (subspaces)' containing finer "shadow vectors"

Pursuit 127

or "virtual vectors." Yet particle physics has already.

always occurring with - and locked' to - mass. Indeed,
discovered that electrical reality is built that way. Thus one
charge .is not necessarily quantized, just as it is not
should actually use a "hypernumber" theory after the
necessarily locked to mass. Ehrenhaft discovered and
manner of Charles Muses. AI scalar is filled with (and comreported fractional charges for years, 'in 'the '30s and '40s,
posed ot) nested levels 'of other "spaces" containing vecand was ignored. See P. A. M. Dirac, "Development of
tors, where these sum to "zero" in the ordinary observable
the Physicist's Conception of Nature," Symposium on the
frame without an observable vector resultant. In Muses.'
Development of the Physicist's Conception of Nature, ed.
mathematics, for example, zero has' real roots. Real
Jagdish Merha, p. Reidel, Boston, 1973, pp. 12-14 for a
physical devices can be - and have been - constructed in
presentation of some of Ehrenhaft's results. Within the'
accordance with Muses' theory. For an introduction to
la~t few years Stanford University researc;;hers also have
Muses' profound hypernumbers approach, see Charles
ppsitively demonstrated the existence of "fractional
Muses' foreword to Jerome Rothstein, Communication,
charge." For Ii. layman's description 9f theirwork, see "A
Organization and Science, The Falcon's Wing Press, InSpector Haunting Physics,'" Science News, Vol. 119,
dian Hills, Colorado, 1958. See also Charles Muses, Ap January 31, 1981,. pp. 68-69. Inc;leed', Dirac in his referencplied Mathematics and"Computation, Vol. 3, 1976. See
ed anicle poil)ts out that Millikan himself -.in his original
also Charles Muses, "Hypernumbers II," Applied
oildrop experiments - reported one measurement of fracMathematics and Computation, January 1978.
tional charge, but discounted it as probably due to error.
1~. Presently, things are always regarded as' traveling
12. With the expanded Tesla electromagnetics, a new
through norm,al space. Thus' we .use. or model oniy the' most
'conservation of energy law is required; Let us recapitulate
elementary type of motion - that performed by vector
for a moment. The oldest la'w called for the conservation
electromagnetic energy. We do' not allow for thing's to
of mass. The present law calls for the conservation of
"travel inside the ~vector flow it~elf." Yet, actually, there is
"mass and energy," but' not each separately. If mass is
a'second, more subtle' flow inside the first, and a third,
regarded as simply another aspect of energy, then the preeven 'more .subtle flow inside the second, and so on. We
sent law caUs for the conservation of energy. However,this
may operate inside, onto, into, and o~t of energy itself assumes that energy is a basic, fundamental concept. Since
and any anenergy component of energy. There are hyperthe energy concept is tied to work and the. movement of
vector forces, it implicitly assumes "vector movement'' to , vectors and hyperscalars unlimited; within the ordinary
vec~ors and scalars we already know ~ Furthermor,e, these
be a "most fundamental" and irreducible concept. But as
"internal flows'" can be engineered and utilized, allowing
we' pointed out, Whittaker showed that vectors can always
physical reality itself to be directly engineered, almost
be further broken down into more fundamental coupled
without limits.
scalar components. Further, Tesla discovered that these
"coupled. components" of "energy" can be individually
16. We always assume everything exists in time. Actualseparated, transmitted,. processed, rejoined, etc. This
ly, nothing presently measured exists in lime, because the
.directly implies that energy per se neecl not be conserved.
physical detection/measurement process of our present inTh,e. new' law therefore calls for the conservation of
struments destroys time, ripping it off ~nd tossiflg it away
anenergy, .the components of energy. These components
- and thereby "collapsing the wave function." Present
may be coupled into energy, and the energy may be further
scientific methodology thus is seriously flawed. It does not
compacted into mass. It is' the sum total of the (anenergy)
yield fu'ndamental (spacetime) truth, .but .only a partial
components.- coupled and uncoupled - that is conserv(spatial) truth. This in turn leads to great scientific overed, not the matter or the energy per se. Further, this consights. For example, mass do'es not exist in .time, but mass
servation of anenergy is not spatial; rather, it is spatiotem. x t1me(masstime) does. A fundamental constant does not
poral in a spacetime of at least four or more dimensions.
exist in time, but energy x time (action) does. Even space
13. Relativity is presently regarded as a theory or stateitself does not' exist in -time - spacetime dges. We are
ment about fundarpental physical reality. In fact, it is only
almost always one aimension short in every observable we
a statement abo'ut FllRST ORDER reality - the reality
model. Yet we persist in thinking spatialiy, and we have
developed instruments that d.etect and measure spatially
that emerges from the vector interaction of electro. magnetic energy with matter. When we break down the
only. Such instruments can never measure and detect the
vectors' into scalars (shadow vectors or hypervectors), we
phenomenology of the nested substrata of time. By usi~g
immediately enter a vastly different, far more fundamental
scalar technology, however, less limited instruments can
reality. In this reality, super\uminal velocity, multiple
indeed be constructed - and they have been. With such
universes, travel baCK and forth' in time,. higher dimennew instruments,. the phenomenology of the new elecsions, variation of all "fundamental constants" of nature,
tromagnetics can be explored and an engineering
technology developed. .
materialization and dematerialization, and violation of the
'''conservation of energy" are all involved. Even our pre17. We do not recognize the,connection between nested
sent Aristotlean logic - fitted to the photon interaction by
levels of virtual state (particle physics) and orthogonally
vector light as the fundamental observation mechanism rotated frames (hyperspaces). Actually, the "two are idenis incapable of describing or modeling this more fun. tical, as I showed in the appendix to my book; Th~ Exdamental reality. Using scalar waves and scalar interaccalibur Briefing, Strawberry Hill Press, San' Francisco,
tions as much su.btler, far less-limited observation/detec1980, pp. 233-235. A virtual particle in the laboratory
tion mechanisms, we must have a new "superrelativity" to
frame is an observable particle in a hyperspatial frame
describe the exp.anded electromagnetic reality uncovered
rotated more than one orthogonal turn away. This of
by Nikola Tesla ..
course implies that the hyperspatial velocity' of all virtual
particles is greater than the .speed of light. The particle
14. "Charge" ~s assumed. to be quantized, in addition to
I

Pursu't 128

Third Quarter 19113

physicist is already deeply involved, in hyperspaces and

hyperspatial charge fluxes .without realizing it. In other
words, he is using tachyons (particles that move faster than
light) without realizing it.
18. Presenlly, quantum mechanics rigorously states that
time is not an observable, and ,herefore it cannot be
measured or detected. According to this assumption, one
must 'always infer time from spatial measurements,
because all detections and m~asurements are spatial. With
this assumption, our scientists prejudice themselves again~t
'even looking for finer subquanta.l measurement methodologies and instrumentation. This, present limitation actually is a result of the type of electromagnetics we p'resentIy know, where all instruments (the "measurers';) have
been interacted with by vector electromagnetic energy
(light). Every mass that has temperature (and all 'masses
do!) is continually absorbing and emitting photons, and in
the process they are continually connecting to' time and
disconnecting from time. If t.ime is continually being carried away from the detector itself by its emitted photons,
then the'detector cannot hold an,d "detect" that which it
has just lost. With Tesla electromagnetics, however, the
fundamental limitation of our present instruments need
not apply, With finer, instruments, we can show there are
an infinite number of levels to "time," and it is only the
"quantum level time" which is continually being lost by
vector light (photon) interaction. By using subquantal
sc'alar waves, instruments can move to deeper,levels of time
..:... in which case the uPl?er levels of time are measureable
and detectable, in contradistinction to the present assumptions.
19. In the present physics, time is modeled as, and considered to be, a continuous dimension such as length. This
is o(Jly a gros's approximation. Indeed, time is not like a
continuous "dimension," but niore like a series of "stitches," each of which is individually made and then ripped
out before the next stitch appears. "Vector light" photons
interact one at a time, and it 'is this interaction with mass
that creates quantum change itself. The absorption of a
photon - w,hich is energy x time - by a spatial mass converts it to masstime: the time was added by the photon.
The emission of a photon tears away the time, leaving
b~hind again a spatial mass. It is not accidental, then, that
time flo)Ys at the speed of light, for it is light which contains and carries time. It is also not accidental that the
photon is the .individual quantum. Since all our, instruments presently are continually absorbirig antJ emitting
photons, they are all "quantized," and they accordingly
"quantize" their detecti'ons. This is true because all detection is totally internal to the detector, and the instruments
detect only their own internal changes. Since these detections are on a totiilly granular quantized backgrountJ, the'
detections themselves are quantized. The Minkowski
model is fundamentally erroneous in its modeling of time,
and for that reason relativity and quantum mechanics conto resist all attempts to successfully combine them,
uantum field theory notwithstanding.
Presently, g~vitational field and electrical fit:ld are
nsidered mutually ex.clusive. Actually, this is also unIn J974, for example, Santilli proved that electrical
and gravitational field indeed are not mutually exsive. In that case, one is left with two possibilities: (a)
are totally the same thing, or (b) they are partially the
Quartel' 1983

same thing. For the proof, see R. M. Santilli, "Partons

and Gravitation: Some Puzzling Questions," Annals of
Physics, Vol. 83, No. I, March 1974. With the new Tesla
'electrpmagnetics, pure scalar waves in time itself can be
produced electrically, and electrostatics '(when the charge
has been separated from the mass) becomes a "magic"
tool capable of directly affecting and altering anything that
. 'exists in time -'- including gravitational field. Antigravity
and the inertial drive are immediate and direct consequences of,the new,electromagnetics.
21. Presently, mind is considered metaphysical, not a
part. of .physics, and not affected by physical' means.
Literally, the prevailing belief of Wes~ern sciernists is that
man is a mechanical robot ~ even though relativity
depends entirely upon the idea of the "observer." Western
science today thus has essentially become dogmatic, and in
this respect borders on a religion. Since this "religion," so'
to speak, is now fairly well entrenched in its power in the
state, Western science is turning itself into an oligarchy.
But mind occupies time, and when we Ipeasure and affect
time, we can directly measure and affect mind itself. In the
new electromagnetics, then, Man regains his dignity and
his humanity by restoring the reality of mind and thought
to science. In my book, The Excalibur Briefing, I have
already pointed out the reality of mind imd a simplified
way in which it can be modeled to the first order. With
scalar wave instruments, the reality of mind and thought
can be measured ~in the laboratory, and parapsychology
becomes a working, engineering, scientific discipline.
22. Multiple-valued' basic dimensional functions are
either not permitted or severely discour.aged in the present
theory. For one thing, integrals of multiple valued
derivative functions have the annoying habit of "blowing
up" and yielding erroneous answers, or none at all. And
we certainly do not allow multiple types of time! This leads
to the absurdity of the present interpretation of relativity,
, which permits only a single obServer (and a single observation) at a time. So if one believes, as "absurd" a thing as
the fact that more than one person can observe an apple at
the same time, the present physics fails. However, the acceptance of such a simple proposition as multiple
simultanous obs.ervation leads to a physics so bizarre and
incredible that most Western physicists have been unable
to tolerate it, much less examine its consequences. In the
physics that emerges from multiple simultaneous observa- ..
tion, all possibilities are real and physical. There are an in. finite number of worlds, orthogonal.to one another, and
, each world is continually splitting in~o additional such
"worlds" at a stupendous rate. Nonetheless, this phy'siCs
was worked out by Everett for his doctoral thesis in 1956,
and the thesis was published in 1957. (See Hugh Everett,

III, The Many- World.s Interpretation of Quantum

Mechanics: A Fundamental Exposition, with papers by J.
'A. Wheeler, B. S. DeWitt, L. N. Cooper and D. Van
Vechten, and N. Gr~ham; eds. Bryce S. DeWitt and Neill
T. E. Bearden's most recent contributions to our pages include "A Conditional Criterion for Identity, Leading to a
Fourth Law of Logic" (Pursuit No. 49, Winter 1980);
"Tesla's Secret and the Soviet Tesla Weapons" (Pursuit
No. 55, Third Quarter 1981); 'and "Proposed Data Base
for Unorthodox Energy Science;' (Pursuit No. 58, Second
Quarter 1982).

'Pursuit 129

Graham, Princeton Series in Physics, Princeton University

To understand the new electrom'agnetic reality, one rePress, 1973.} Even though it is bizarre, Everet~'s physics is
. quires. a new, expanded logic which contains the old
entirely consistent with all ~he present experhiierital' basis
' . A"~totlean logic as a subset. [ have already pointed out the
of physics. The present electromagnetic theory ~s ~'ori:new logic in my paper, '~ Conditional Criterion for [denstructed for only a single "world" or uruveise ....:...' or .
lily, Leading to a Fourth Law of Logic .. 1979, available
"level." The expanded theory, on the other hand; contains
from the National Techn'cal [nfo'rmation Center. ADmultiply nested levels of ~irtual-state charge -'aqd ~h~se.
A07J032: '
levels are identically t~e sa~e as orthogonal uniyerses~ ,or .'. ". Even, as "logic is extended quantum mechanics quantum
"hyperframes." Multiple kmds - and. values - of time
electrodynamics. and reldtivity are drastically ~hanged by
also exist. The new concept differs froin. Everett'S, .'
the reS/a' electromagnetics, as [ pointed. out tn my paper.
however, in that the orthogonal universes' interCom~ . -". ~SOIUI;Ons, to .Tesla's Secrets and . the Soviet Tesla'
m~nicate.in the virtual, state. That .is, ~n .observable:io one
Weapons~" Tesla Book Company. 1580 Magnolia,
. un~verse IS always a Virtual quantity, m each Qf..t.J:le .Q~h~r. . . Millbrae; .California 94030. 1980.
.
umverses. Thus one can have multl-lev.el, .'contmultl~~" '.' . ; ..".....
.
, .',
, .
and "discCintinuities" simllltaneously, wiihoutlogical cQ,,~.
T~ present electromagnetlcs IS .!ust a ~pecl~1 case oj a
flict. It is precisely these levels of charg~ .....,.. these leVels of .
much more fundamental electromagnetlcs discovered by
scalar vacuum - that lace together the 'discOntinuous" .: Nikola Tesla, just as Newtonian physics is a special case of
quanta generated by the interaction of vecto"r'ilgtit with' ... .te/'!tivislic,physics. But in the electromagnetics case. the
mass.,
. .
.....
~ diJlere"'c~ between the old and' the new' are far more

;.

'. "

.. "

::'. '. drastic.and profound.

--------------------------------------------ADDITIONALREFERENCES----------------------------------____
---------------;
'L
... '...
Boren, Dr. Lawrence Millon, "Discovery of the Fundament.I'Magnellc. '. for Theoretical Physics, Exposition Press, Smithtown, New York, First
Charge (Arising !rom the New Conservation of .Ma&n~1c Eile~),',' :',' EdI~lon 1981, pp. 15-10.
1981/81 (private communication). Dr. Boren has a cogent argumeiit th~t " _. _gnat'ev, Yu. G. and Balakin, A. B., "Nonlinear Gravitational Waves in
P.lasina," Soviet Physics Journtll, Vol. 14, No.7, July 1981 (U :S. translathe. positron is the fundamental unit of magnetic charge'" His .the0rY thus
assigns fundamentally different I!atures to positive cha~e anci\n~t!.!:e
. lion, Consultants Bureau, New York, January 1981), pp. 593-597.
charge. In support of Dr. Bortn, one should note Ihat the "positive" end
. Ya~;: J~seph C., "Relation of the second law of thermodynamics to the
,of circuits can simply be "less negative" than the .. n...... tl"e" eJid. "I~
-... ' . power: conversion of energy nuctuations," Phys. Review A, Vol. 2.0,
other words, the circuit works simply from 'higher accumuladon of.
.
.
' " end) Nowhere need tm..
"-'"- be positive
. '.,
No.4,
.
. . ..
. charges (
'negatlve
th
e "
positive
..
. , ..October 1979, pp. 16J4-1618.
.. ' .
charges (protons, positrons, etc.) to make the circuit work. Dr. BOren's .' Desan,ls, RomanQ M. et al., On the AnalYSIS of Feedback Systems with
theory though dramatic at first encounter .nonetIierels ~n close and , .. " Ii Multipower Open Loop Chain," October 1973. available through the
,
meticuious examination - particularly sin::' he has been able to pthlr. ' '. .pereiise Technical Information Center (AD 773188);
experimental data which support his theory and dlsal~' with P~ial.
. ~rianeau~'Peter, "Electromagnetic jet-propulsion,in the direction of cur'.
. ", ~
. ",lit now," NatuTtl, Vol. 195, January 18, 1981, pp. 311-312..
theory.
Eagle,'Albert, "An Alternative Explanation of Relatlvl.y.:P"';no..:.e... ;~,'.: .. ~;(;ni,:,ity .a~d acc;eleratlon aren't alw.ays equivalent," Ne"w Scientist,
Philosophical Magatine and Journal 0/ Science, No." 191, D~mber:
: September 17, 1981, p. 72.3:
1939, pp. 694-70~.
' , .'
.' ':'. ' ' .' .. Gonyaev, V. V., '~Experimental Determination of the Free-Fall AcceleraEhrenhaft, Felix and Wasser, Emanuel, "Determination of the Size lind
. (Ion .of a Rela~i"istlc Charge' Particle. 11. A Cylindrical Solenoid in a
. ' ..... Ime.~ndependent. Field of Inertial Forces.... I:.vestiya YUZ. Fi:.ikti,
Weight of Single Submicroscopic Spheres of the Order of MagnitUde'" j.':
4 x 10( ..,5) cm. to 5 x 10( -6) cm., as well as the ProductlonofReaII.n~ ." No.7,"'79, pp. 18-31. English Translation: SOlliet Physics Journal, No.
ages of Submicroscopic Particles by Means of Ultravlolel.Ught,'" P.hl~., .. : ':1; 1~?, pp; 819-833. If one understands the new; expanded electromagMag. and Jour. 0/ Sci., Vol. II (Seventh Series), No.7, July 1~;' pp,
~etlcs, this Sciylet paPer indicates a means of generating antigravity and
30-51.
.
.' pn",'lnertial,flelds.
'
.
Ehrenhaft and Wasser, "New Evidence of the ElIlsteilee. of Charges .' .' Sc:halfra.-ke, R., "The Development of Post-Relativistic Concepts in
Smaller than the Electron - (a) The Micromagnetr (bJ Tl'!e Law of
Physics and Advanced Technology Abroad," ~nergy Unlimited, No." 11,
Resistance; (c) The Computation of Errors of the Method," PhIL'MQ., .' 'Winter 1981, pp. 15-10.
.
and Jour. 0/ Sci., Vol. V (Seventh Series), No. 18, February 1918, pp. ' . Pre.kschat, F. K., A Critical Look Qt the Theory 0/ RellJtivity, Library of
115-141.
'
'.' Congress Catalogue No.' 77670044. Ex'tensive compilation. of
See also Ehrenhaft's last paper dealing with the eleclronlc charge, In'
measurements of the speed of light. Clearly shows the speed of light is nol
Philosophy 0/ Science, Vol.,8, 1941, p. 403.
. .'
.'
, . eon~tan" bul changes, sometimes even daily.
.
~~,
McGregor, Donald Rait, The Inertia o/the Yacuum: A NeW foandatlon ~'
~
~

Report
on Four-'CP"fetences
.'
. '
.'

:''(Continued from page 121)

.'

attended the meeting. Considering Its metroPQlitali iocation', so ~mall a turnout was truly unfortunate, 1 felt.
The welcoming address was by Joseph .Gennaro, Jr.; 'he was followed. by ISC President Bernard
Heuvelmans who spoke on".'Cryptozoology, th!=.P~st and the Future." J. Richard Greenwell's message ended
the morning session.
'.
, ....
".
.
Afternoon slide talks were: "Is there a: Giant Octopus?" by Joseph Gennaro, Jr.; "Searching for Mol<ele.
Moembe" by Roy Mackal; "Sasquatch and the. Walla Walla Evidence" by Grover Krantz; and "Closing the Net
on Nessie" by Robert Rines.'
..
"
'.
.
Those wishing further information may contact J. Richard Greenwell, ISC, P.O. Box 43070, Tucson, AZ
85733. The next meeting is tentatively sch~dulea.foi the University of Par'i~ VI, France, 'in the summer of 1984;
more information after April 1, 1984.,,<t{S.;,.;.;:. ,,: ..... '.' ::... .

..

. .'

.. :'.:: ;"
.

,,'

'

..:.~ ....

~";.

"

':.

:..

,.
~.

Pursuit 130

Third Quarter 1983

'.

' or ~

The Highgate. Vainpire "

: ' '1;'

1-~1.1..

Among the best known cases of

paranonnal phenomena are those stories
which are so clouded by innuendo, fraud,
")\. .,',
il...... ~!
and just plain weird details as to be ma(,ideningly inconclusive. UFO bllffs are still
. ',. ;:':'~'
'j.~!:
.
wrangling over the verity of the Maury
Sketch map of' Highgate 'c:~inetery and vicIniIsland case, while parapsychologists are
ty. A:. Hlgbgate Cen\"lrtery West; B.B:
I
Highgate C\e~etery EaS"t;'"!C: Waterlow Park;
to this day weighing the evidence of .the
D: Ho.SP.i~I.\.~rounds; :E;'. Church; F,F,F:
haunting of Borley Rectory. Extraordinary
Swains Lane.
.
. ,.
events require extraordinary evidence if
.: ~'.:.,
they are to be accepted as genuine. Yet
WEST
.~; .' ~
....
when evidence is contradictory, or the eccentricities of human behavior overshadow the parar onnal phenomenon
of a sharedvis~tin they had while walkfeel urges. to walk about in the night. On
itself, the most interesting cases become
ing througti l-ii'ghgate. They claimed to.
the right side of her neck, over the carotid
open up and the dead
have seen
the most frustrating for later ~nvestigators.
artery, were two small wounds, like
punctures.
Consider the case of the Highgate vamarise from "t~~~,.., A!! ,~PP'Q as the girls
pire. Was it an actual specimen of the
spoke to each other, th.e vision would
Manchester and Keith argued the
likelihOod of Elizabeth being the victim .
fabled'undead, or the fanciful creation of
cease. One :of)~e girls;:.~!izabeth Woja group of occultists? From .books ,
dyl~, thereaft~J;.l\uffered from nightmares.
. of a vampiric attack. A traditional array
newspapers and letters, the following acShe dreamt' 9.f..a. :malign~llivid face peer-.
of protective devices was installed in the
ing in her beclroom wirtdow.
.
.
count of the Highgate vampire has been
Wojdyla flat: crosses, holy water, garlic,
Anotherof Mancheste~~ acquaintarices . and salt. Keith kept a vigil over the dorpieced together. I make no claims for the
had a simlar experience~: This uimamed
mant woman after she began to wander
accuracy of these sources except" to say
fellow took his girlfriend.for.a stroii.in'the
that I found gen.eral agreement among all
in the night. He once found her at the
cemetery. A~ :they walked';down Swains
of them as to the facts, and I have no
north gate of Highgate cemetery, staring
reason to suspect that any evidence was
through the iron rails at the tombs beyond.
Lane, the co~iii,~!passed the north gatefalsified or testimony distorted to favor
. From the time the anti-vampire imthe some 'loc~,~~p wherf.~W.~ .schoOlgirl~
had their visiIjlQ,' To the consternation'of
plements were in place in her apartment,
anyone's personal theory or reasonable
the strollers, ~y saw a laqe.-.figure stand'Elizabeth's health gradually improved. On
conclusion as to what happ~ned ..
ing inside -th~, iron fe1lOO~ its face a
Highgate cemetery, in the village of
one occasion something unusual disturbrepulsive mask. The couple watched in
Highgate (now a suburb north of Loned the nightly vigil: a violent gust of wind
fear and appreh~nsion aSJt-ile specter fad- .
blew in a window, upset a vase and scared
don), was opened in 1839. The cemetery
cd into the\'ey~"ing darkness.
Keith out of his wits. But there were no
is bisected by Swains Lane, a winding .
"',;:!
.
other incidents, and by Christmas 1969,
road which divides the older western half
All . this was .quite. e~~e but hardly
of the graveyaro from the newer eastern .
Elizabeth Wojdyla had apparently
evidential. Both,. ynderw:~ and Manportion. Many prominent Victorianll were
recovered from her debilitating malady.
chestercolleeted'filore reports of the phanEven as the attack on Elizabeth. was
buried in the older part: George Eliot, the
tom figure. niere~was an interim of nearly
warded off, the Highgate phantom atRossetti family, Michael Faraday, and the
30 months. bef6re the case'took a more
tracted other attention. The local paper,
parents of Charles .Dickens. The most
serious tuni: 'In' the summc:r of 1969,
the Hampstead and Highgate Express,
famous grave in the eastern burial grounds
. Manch~ster: . :~y. chance l; ?net up with
. received numerous letters in February
is that of Karl Marx.
Elizabeth W.oj(,iyla again"IShe was' in v~ry
1970 from residents who had seen the
For seven years - 1967 to 1974 poor healthi hedace was paie, her voice
specter. Here are some excerpts:
Highgate cemetery was the scene of
weak, and she' had lost,! considerable
strange nocturn.al goings-on. Passers-by
weight. Finished with school, she was
On three occasions I have' seen what appeared to be a ghost-like figure inside the gates
noticed a figure dressed in dark clothing
now living in-'aIi 'apartffiein near the.
at the top of Swains Lane. The first occasion
skulking around the old graveyard. They
graveYIlr'd., Her nigbtm,ares..blJd returned,
,i' J. ~ .. "l~jc.
was on Chri.stmas Eve [1969J, I saw a grey
described the phantom as moving "with
but now the malevolent' figUre would enter
figure. for a few seconds before it disappeared
incredible speed and swift, long strides"
her room, stand ~t the foot .of her bed and
... [the writer saw the figure twice more and
through the heavily overgrown pathways
stare .. When it ~uch'~ .~~~, its grip was
concludedJ I can think of no other explanation
of the cemetery. Some of these early
~cy. After .the J~~sitat~oiill,::.~fie felt dizzy.
than this apparition being supernatural.
and weak.
..
reports found their way to Peter UnderThe ghost 'will sometimes appear nightly for
president of the Ghost Club.
The woma~~s physical. symptoms were
abQut a week, and then not be seen again for
Rumor and press coverage circulated the
similar. to those of.' perniCious anemia.
perhaps a month. To my knowledge the ghost
theory of a ghost haunting the place.
Manchester' ima EHzabeth s boyfriend,
always takes the fonn of a pale figure and has
To Sean Manchester, president of the
. Keith, cons~lted on.h~r p!pl?lems. Even
been appearing for several years. .
Occult Society, the reports seemafter a regimeQ,oryiian.ii.n~:~d iron pills,
My first reaction was that it was somebody .
ed to indicate that more than a mere ghost
Elizabeth did riot iinprove. "Moreover, she
"mucking about, " but looking back, it seems
was at large. In early 1967, Manchester
was having waking experiences of strange
strange that the thing made no sound and seemed to disappear into nowhere.
.
heard from two schoolgirls who told him
presences in her.apartment,. and began to

"

graves

"1

":

Qaal'ter 1983

Pursu" 131

I am not at all surprised at the ghost experiences. I have also had a strange happening at the lower end of Swains Lane. A feeling of fear came over me and I started running with a hopeless thought I could not get
away . . . whatever it was had vanished
without a trace . . . My advice' is to avoid
Swains Lane during dark evenings if at aJI
possible. .
.

the depths of the "moldering graveyard,

Lusia'led them to a sunken circular cluster
, of burial vaults. Pausing in front of one
vault, Lusia tugged vainly at the handle
of the large iron door until Manchester.
pulled her hands away to forestall possible injury. As th~ three stood outside, they
distinctly heard a deep booming sound
from within the tomb.
Convinced he was dealing with a gen~
The authorities took little notice of the
'. Highgate' phantom until evidence turned,
uine specimen of the undead, Sean Manup that occult rituals were being performchester told the Express that the best
ed in the secrecy of despoiled tombs.
course of action was the traditional stak. Debris discovered included the remnants
ing through the heart . followed' by the
of black-magic paraphernalia - black
.beheading of the corpse. Manchester's
candles, sulphur, blood, and ashes. The
remarks did little to discourage the hoard
police started watching the cemetery after
ofthrill-seekers, occultists, and would-be
residents nearby complained that g'raves
vampire hunters. that gathered along the
were being opened and desecrated by un-.
unkempt paths of Highgate cemetery.
scrupulous occultists.
Manchester guided' Sandra Harris of
Sean Manchester heard of an attack by
Thames TV 1;>11 a tour or-the vault area in
the phantom in FebrualY 1970. A young
the second week of March. While at-man 'was set upon and knocked d<!lwn by
tempting to film an interview for the staa tall man whose face was like "a wild
tion's "Today" program, Hams' team
animal." The fellow was 'spared serious
was'beset with odd difficulties. The whisinjury when car headlights lit up the a'rea
tle of the whid around the tombs interfered
and forced the phantom to retreat into the
with the sounq "recording. The camera
farther reaches of the cemetery ..
director fainted. Eventually the whole
crew, rather ranled, moved away from the
~ombs and finished the interview in
Swains Lane.
As a result of the n; show, a large
What ,had occurred up to this time
crowd of people infiltrated the cemetery
would hardly convince the neighbors that
on the night of Friday, March 13. Mansomething dangerous was going on in
chester led a group of nearly a hundred
Highgate cemetery; after all, the British,
persons to the tomb that Lusia had tried
are .quite at home with ghosts. But in
to eilter. The heavy iron portal still would
February and March 1970 an undeniably
not
budge, so the president of the British
sinister new aspect developed in the caSe.
Occult Society was lowered through a
. Dead anirnitls were found in the cemetery
h~le in the roof of the tomb as the glare
and in nearby Waterlow Park (see map).
of police searchlights swept ovef the
. Mostly nocturnal varmints, the unfortunate cr:eatures had been .lacerated and '. crowd of thrill-seekers. Descending twenty feet by rope, Manchester' and two
were drained of blood. The obvious
. helpers searched the vault for signs of the
association was made with the ghQst. The
vampire. They discovered three empty
Hampst~d' and Highgate Express ran a
coffins. These they lined ~ith garlic; a
front-page story on February 27, 1970
. cross waS placed within each, and salt and
headlined "Does a. Wampyr [sic] Walk in
holy water were sprinkled about. 'The
Highgate?" A week later, the paper askvampire-hunters'then withdrew.
ed "Why Do the Foxes Die?" As hapAbeut 2 a.m., while Mimchester and
pens with so many types of paranormal
six close companions were still 'standing
phenomena, the visual manifestations had
watch at the entrance of the tomb, the
given way to. physical traces and the
booming sound ~u..re!i from within' -:-'
parallels to other cases became clear.
a subterranean pulsation which the men
. Another young woman fell into the
could feel as well as hear. Having sighted
same pattern of weakness and soinnamno phantoms, the group dispersed at
bulism that had afflicted' Elizabeth Wojsunrise.
dyla three years previously. The new victim, identified by Manchester only' as
"Lusia," had two' wounds on her neck.
, 'too. She developed a penchant for walkThe local hews media' coritinued to
ing to Highgate whilst asleep. i.usia's
receive stories from nearby residents of
strange, menacing figures seen in the
sister kept in close contact with Mancemetery. Apparently there were no ac- .'
,ch~ster during this time, and the two of
them followed the entranced Lusia into.
tual attacks during the spring and ~arly,

Pursuit 132

summer of 1970, but in August, things got

. ugly:
.
The charred, headless body of a woman,
missing an arm, was found beside a broken
vault in Highgate cemetery. N., yesterday,
. Police went there after two girls. found the
body, which had been removed from a family
vault. The woman was buried 44 years ago.

The police believed that some person.

.or persons,' had used the corPse in a
necromantic . ritual. Actually, some
zealous amateur vampire-hunter was
probably obeyingthe instructions of Montague Summers, who wrote copiously
about vampires and witchcraft earlier in
this century. His advjce:
When the stake had been thrust with one
drive throu'gh the Vampire's heart, his head
should be cut off, and this is to be done with
the sharp edge of a 'Sexton's spade, rather than
with a sword. The only certajn methods of
destroying a Vampire appear to be either to
.'consume him by fire, or to chop off his head
with a grave digger's shovel .. '. to burn the.
: body of the Vampire is generally acknowledge
to be by far the supremely efficacious method
of ridding a district of this demoniacal pest ...

The grave desecration received far more

attention than the reputed vampire; the
citizenry made it clear they expected the
authorities to protect cemeteries from
gross libuse. On' August 29. 1970. police
arrested a man for penetrating an enclosed area i,n Highgate cemetery. This man,
Allan David Farrant, had been among the
large n!-lmber of people' who had searched for'the vampire sOme months before.
His a:ctivitic<s would contribute greatly to
the fog of skepticism that settled over the
entire affair. (In some accounts, he gave
his name as Robert Farrant.) Frankly admitting he was looking for' the vampire,
Farrant was released ,immedia,tely following dismissal of his case for the reason that
vampire-hunting is not illegal in Britain.
As Farrant's counsel remarked. "It is akin
to people spe,riding fortune.s looking for
the Loch 'Ness monster or some other
creature."(
,
Sean Manchester found the I:!eadlessbody report distutbing for another reason.
With three associates, he had taken Lusia
to the Highgate cab!.combs the same week
the body was found. While in a trance
state, she indicated that the thing they
were seeking lay behind another iron'door
- the door in front of which the headless
body had been found: This door yielded
to' pressure and admitted the group. Undaunted by a pervasive stench, they approached a coffin w~ich lay in the rear of
the chamber. Inside they saw the object
of their search. It appeared to be the body
of a recently dead man, yet the vault had
not had ail official addition'in a hundred

Third Quarter 1983

years. Manchester raised an aspen stake

. to impale the corpse, but his companions .
protested that such an act would be b~th
felonious and sacrilegious. A hasty conference in the tomb produced a' compromise; instead of doing violence to ,the
body, an exorcism would be read over the
coffin.
Dl,Iring the ceremony, a de~p rumbling
tone echoed through the vault. The participants were terrified, but they managed to complete the ritual. ~ater, the entrance to the tomb was sealed with
masonry; imbedded in the mortar were
bits of garlic.

loss of blood. In the summer of 1973, the

Occult Society investigated a house
reputed to 'be haunted. The structure,
nicknamed "House of Dracula" by local
children, was not far from the cemetel)'.
Scribbled on the interior walls were
glyphs and sigils of black magic. Joined
by a clairvoyant, Manchester and a friend
checked the place out. A suffiCient
number of suitably ghostly impressions
was obtained 10 convince Manchester that
the vampire was' linked to. the house by
the unholy rite~ of Satanists.
For the third time, David Farrant was
caught by police while leaving Highgate
cemetery. They took from him photos of
a nude girl dancing in a tomb. As several
graves had been tampered with during the
Thus ended the .first phase of the
pI"e;Ceding months (in Janual)' 1974. an arHighgate vampire stol)'. According to
chitect who parked his car overnight near
Manchester, the exorcism was not suffithe graveard found a corpse in the vehicient to'tenninate the activities of the vamcle next morning), Farrant W!lS charged
pire, so the Occult Society. continued to
with grave despoilation, illegal possession
probe for signs of renewed vampirism.
Manchester himself made a trip to, of I,l pistol! and pet~y theft. Billed as the
Romania in 1972 to collect data on the
denouement in the "Nude Rituals Ca~,"
. Farrant's trial in June 1974 was as much
vampiric traditions of that country.
a media' event as -it was a court proThroughout 1971, persistent reports circeeding. Shortly before the trial, Farrant
culated about occult practices in the
and a co-defendant; John Pope~ sent clay
cemetel)'. On October 8, 1971, police apwitch dolls with pins stuck in them to the
prehended a man with a camera in the
detectives working on their case. These
company of a naked woman. They had
dolls were meant as warnings to the ofbeen creating photos of bla~~~magic
ficers not to testify, but the voodoo-like
ceremonies inside a tomb. Who should
threat was of no avail.
the man tum out to be but Roberti
.The prosecution.at Farrant's trial claimDavid/Allan Farrant, the same person
'ed he was in fact the Highgate vampire
caught a year before while prowling
and was responsible for the damage,
Highgate with a hammer and stake. The
phantom sightings, and'magical graffiti
matter was made murkier by Fa~nt's
found allover the cemetery. In his trial
claim to be the' "high priest" of the British
testimony, Francis King, author of several
Occult Society, as well as a practitioner
books on the histol)' of magic, identified
of Wicca (the revived.pagan religion of
markings from the floor of the tomb as
witchcraft). Sean Manchester deniedany
ones used in necromancy - the raiSing
connection with Farrant and asserted that
of the dead for prophecy or aid ill finding
Farrant bad never been a member of the
hidden objects.
B.O.S. Once again Farrant was released
David Farrant was found guilty. He
from custody.
received a sentence of four years and eight
Manchester's trip to Romania, an exmonths in prison; he was also required to
perience somewhat ove~rawn by his
pay court costs of 750 pounds. Outrage
romantic imagination, led him to theorize
that the vampire of Highgate was a cer- . over the antics of Farrant and other occultists inspired the formation of the
tain Wallachian nobleman whose body
"Friends of Highgate Cemetery.," a
was transported to England in the early
eighteenth centul)'. It was deposited (so
gro~p dedicated to cleaning up the burial
ground and protecting it against further
the story went) in an ancient fortress
vandalism.
.'
which once stood on a hill that eventUaiWhat of the vampire? According to
Iy became a part of a Highgate cemetel)' .
Sean Manchester's unpublished manu~
Though never explicit, Manchester'plainscript- The Vampire Exhumed, the same
Iy believed he was dealing with no one
monster over whom the exorcism was
less. than Vlad Tepes, the true Dracula of
histol)'.
.
read in 1970 continued to feed for a time
on his victims, notably Lusia. UltimateAs the theories and speCUlations
Iy, the vampire was apprehended and met
multiplied, weird things continued to hapits enc;l as folklore demands: a stake was
pen. Lusia was suffering from nightdriven into its chest ~d the body was
mares, somnambul!sm, and anemia from

Third Quarter 1983

beheaded. Thus the ~ampire of Highgate

passed into histol)' in the fall of 1974.

Assembling the events of the Highgate

affair in chronological order has not been
easy. No single source generally available
tells the whole stol)', and there is much
about the case which strains credulity. The
principals were all deeply involved, and
the commibnent of Sean Manchester to an
occult view of events colors evel)' description he gives.
Before his ir:nprisonment, David Farrant
dueled with Manchester over the use of
and abuse of the name of the British Occult Society. Farrant denounced Man.chester and his friends for making up the
entire vampire' stol)'. He PO~ilted out correctly - that in 1970 a group of
amateur filmmakers had produced a
movie in Highgate cemetel)' and titled it
"Vampires By Night." Farrant also accused Manchester of dealing in fraudulent
phOtography; he assert~d that Manchester's photos taken in the cemetery
were not those of It vampire's body as
claimed, but were, in fact, photos of an
actor.
I am inclined to accept the police theal)'
that most of the sightings of the' phantom
figure were inspired by, or resulted from,
the antics of David Farrant and his colleagues. Yet they should not bear all the
blame for those seven years of strange
phenomena. One feature of the tale is
distUluing in its familiarity: the dead
animals in the cemetery and park have
their counterparts throughout the world.
If there are forces, or beings, out there
which prey upon humanity, they might as
well be labelled vampires as ghosts,
UFOnauts, or ultraterrestrials. The names
may change, but the elusive paranormal
game continues as it always has.
REFERENCES
Hampstead and Highgate Expnss: Feb. 6, -13,
20,27, March 6,-1970.
Leiter rrom Jean B. Paleman, Aug. 6, 1975.
London Times: Aug. 7, 30, 1970; June 11, 15;
July Z, 13, 18, 1974. .
Occult, newsleller of Ihe Brllisb Occult Sociely,
Vol. 14; No. 11, March)3, 1981.
Summen, Montag~e, The Yampin: His Kith
and Kin, Univenily Books.
Syll!aine Super Star, privately published by
Mouvement Nouvelle Civillsalion, Paris,
France, ca. 1980. Sylvalne Charlel is a .French
aelress who made the acquaintance or Sean
Manchest.er in 1979. Her biograpby contains
references to the'Highgate Cemetery case.
Underwood, Peter, The. Vampire's Bedside
Companion, Leslie Frewin, London, 1975.

Purault 133

.; ,:...
.-i:.
In this section;' mqsdy contemporary cUrious and unexplained' events
~

.I

Dogs Smarter 'Than People?

Even if it was a Friday, May 13 should have
been a joyous day, for Percy, a canjne resident.
of Barnsley, England. He was .only a tiny
chihuahua and just twO years old, but he agrecd
with his folks, the. Ha,rrisons, who blunted all
criticism of his miniature-sausage 'appearance
by explaining. that one dog-year equals seven
. people-years, and if 2 x 7 equals 14, and 14 is'
adolescence for people, isn't two the age of
adolescence for dogs? So what if his 'owner,
daughter Christine, still thought of him a$ a
mere puppy; Mick, the Jack Russell terrier who
lives down the block, certainly knew betfer.
J:>idn't it always happen that he'd start chasing
me, and I'd end up chasing him?
Such doggy thoughts 'and the warm spring
sun convinced the little chihuahua that the
world itself was adolescent that May morning as
once again he chased his, terrier pal under the
fence and across the highway in back of the
block where they lived. '
The driver of the car hell-bent fro'm Manchester to Hull probably didn't even see the'littie dog that bounCed off his hubcap and hurtled
in a low trajectory to slam against the fence,
near the hole he had wriggled throug~ moments
earlier. But Percy's owner, Christine, saw it
happen, and with ascream loud enough to be
heard in either Manchester or Hull: she dashed
to the spot where her "baby". lay. He didn't
seem to be breathing. His eyes were gla.zed and
she could feel no heartbeat. Sqrely, Pen;y was
~~.

'

With the little dog cradled in one' arm.- her

eyes' half-blinded by tears, the young woman
rummaged through a ,heap of miscellariY in the
tool-shed until she found a small sal;k: Sh~lac
ed the tiny form inside and folded the cloth as
tenderly as if it were a shroud. Then'she dug
shallow trench in the corner of the garden
nearest the house, and having laid her little pet
to rest, she bade him a sorrowful good-bye. ,

Christine went off to 'work and her parents .

left the ~ouse a short time later to go shopping.
When they were back in the' kitchen, pUlling'
things away, Christine's mother happened to
glance out the window. There, by the garden
corner where Christine had scooped out Percy's
grave, was Mick, the Jack Russell terrier,. his
jaws clamped on a loose end of clotli that stuck
out from a hole now rimmed with paw-scratches, to the large number of whi!=h he was now
adding as he simultaneously dug and tugged
with . such ferocity as neither humans nor
animals display except in dire emergency.
Mrs. Harrison called her husband and the
two rush'ed outside. They were through the
cellar doorway in a matter of seconds, yet too
late to confront Mick at the site of his '~dig."
Already, he had the sack out of the ground' and
was dragging it toward them, all the while
growling signals of distress.
Getting Mick to drop his burden wasn't easy,

Purlt 134

I-~.

.'~

'. " ; ... ": .

.' ;. I

~:

b!lt when. Mr. l:I\II.rison f(nany gained possession of the. sac.~,and, '~!ls .. folc;ling the cloth
prep!lratory tQ., J!=-iN~rmeiil, . his fingertips
caught a fai~.t pl,I.!~ation.rro~. ~ithin. He open~
ed ttle bag lj,nd ":it.~ .U,l~osq:~re, 9!=bouched the
content~ onto his. ~xt~f\4e.c;I, hand .. What .he held
190ked no inore alive than.any, other small dog
after a I~sing jO!l~~. ~i.tp t.h~; front end o~ a
speeding car. BY,t., r.if\8ep'p'~. ;,gently pre~sed
against the chi/:l,",~J1ua~~ .J1I!tUr,cllly hairless skin
now detected a m.9ye~FQL~f. !",,,gs.
.......... ... _ .........
It was Chris~.in~. Hl';~fi~9.J:1'~ ,turn to express
disbelief when she' returned. home from, work.
'First, there wa~ Percy;.definitely"alive although
somewhat w.obblY 01) ~i!djiris;'and as happy as
ever tQ greet he.r. Th~rHliiire.w~r~ all those pawmarks around t.he!,~(~~~:siie'.;!ln,d her parents'
.
story of Mick's~~r.,!ic. (c;scue, ,
Neither the Har,risons:nor'iheir neighbors are
willing to gues's ~tats.oh of'se~se, more finely
tuned than' ari.y o'f"theirs,' could ha've inspi red
one animal to sa~e'~noiber of its species from
dying twice on. i.~e\imle d~y' . A-nd on a friday
the I~th, no le~s!.: .. ',:" :........ ':
.
SOURCE: AP rr.gm.B.~~p~leY:,El).gland, via PressJournal, Vero !JJJllcti, Fla.,, .5/~\4183.
CREDIT: B. Schw..z;: .. ".. '.-;',.

'"

::,~;; ~i .."...~~

; ....

-.'
Hundreds of,villagers.ar.e.f1Ocking to a thatched hut in avilla~,60.milesnorth of Bangkok,
Thailand; to fork,out $1-:30 and, pay.homage to
a '~holy.',~ albino "cobra that .-Bips tea;. the'
Bangkok ,Post., newspap~r."Jha~ reported.
Albinism.is conside~ed a. s,ign :of divinity in
Thailand,- where.:,the,:Thai .~irtg, maintains a
stable oLalbino .elephants; . " .: . '.
-The sacred. snake reportedly:sleeps'in front of
an electric f!l~ ..:it.was laks:n; fr.om a pond by a
villager named Mani!',Sikaya;who,immediately
brought it to.a ,ldeal:.spiritualist. The.medium
pronounced the 4Vz-foot-Iong 'reptile ,sacred,
according to the Teport.. Manithas since' amassed a small fortune,- charging. fellow-villagers up
to $1.30 each tli) ,pay homage 40 the snake with
prayers, joss .sti~k6 and candles .. ' .
SOURCE: UPI in<NJJshville"Tefi~sSeQn, 7/1'8/83.
CREDIT: H. Holland::
.
,.. ,", ,... ,

,"~~':".'..
.
.-

'1.8 Billion -Years Ag6

Chinese geologists say they have discovered
thilt tiny forms 'of'life' with a nl!cleu5 and h,iembrane existed 1:8 billion"years ago - 400 million years' earlier than' p.relli"oasly thought. .
Chen Jinbiao. of the' Tiilnjiil lristitu.u: of
Geology ahd MineralS'aiuiou'nced tlie tliscovery
.
.
at an international symposium;'"
SOURCE: NQsh~'iIIe iemies~eii;j~912.3/83.
CREDtT: H. Hoiland.
"
..... ,.,.
. . . t.

. Berserk Bird Beaks Baldies

For almost a'month this summer, a berserk
blackbird spread terror up and down a busy
street in Santa Monica, California. His perch
atop a restaurant building gave him a pan. oramic view of the sidewalks below" and the
sight of a skinhead or balding male was enough
to trigger his predatory instincts. With a swoop
and a dip, he would land on his target"claw at
whatever hair was there, give a peck or two, and
. then flyaway.
To C. J. Hafner, manager of the restaurant,
it was the fqnniest thing he'd ever seen.
"Everyone's' just defending themselves and
kind of screaming," Hafner said. ~.One man
who was hit by the bird turned around and put
up his fists to fight, and there was nobody
there."
.
,
Sue Foster, a 'Red Cross worker who witnessed'some of the attacks, noted t~at "the biid's
favorite targets seem to be bald men." Fred
Anderson, a veteran.TV reporter sent from Los
Angeles to investigate the attacks, couldn't
agree more. tie is more thaI). slightly bald, a
condition which he attributes to occupational
dis~ase brought on by his j~b. Su~e enou'gh, he
had no sooner stepped from his'car than he felt
the flutter of wings and the prick of a beak
against his barely bare noggin.
.
Officers at the Santa Monica Animal Shelter
did' not know what 'to make of the attacks and
simply filed the complaints they received. But
Kimball Garrett, ornithologist at the Los
Angeles County ~useum of Natu.ra~ Histo.ry,
thought he had the answer. "ThiS IS nesllng
time," he noied, "and the bird's eggs have
probably just hatched. These birds can be very
aggressive . and proteCtive when they see
. anything ~hey perceive as a predator." Blit the
bald and the balding may still be wondering
~hich is the predator-the bird or the quarry?
.'
,
CREDtT: AP in Asbury. Park (N.J.) Press,
6/12/83.

CREDtT: Member #432. .

~.

Writ Issued for' E.T.

The .U.S. Air Force has beeri served with a.
writ of "habeas corpus extraterrestrial"
demanding that it come up with the body of
E.T. within 60 days. The writ was filed by Larry
W. Bryani of Alexandria, Va. It contends that
the Air Force has the bodies of "one or more
occupants of crash-landed UFOs of apparent
extraterrestrial origin." According to Bryant,
the Defense Department, Air Force, Army,
State Department, FBI and the National Security Agency have engaged in a massive cover up of
UFO cases and cloaked known instances of
UFO encounters in a "veil of secrecy."
SOURCE: Scripps-Howard News
7/15/83.. -

CREDtT:' Member 11826.

Third Quarter 1983

",

Pussy Feat
An airline stewardess who deported her cat to
her parents' home 780 miles away claims he
found his way back to her apartment in 17 days.
Nicole Windt left her Rusty with her parents
in Ceres, 60 miles north of Cape Town, South
Africa, because she didn't think he ought to be
cooped up in her Johannesburg apartment. On
August 26, Rusty disappeared from the parents'
home. On September 12, Nicole heard loud
meows at her front door. '"I immediately.
recognized my Rusty," she said. "He was thin
and worn, but his bushy tail, like a squirrel's,
and his long mane, were the same. I called him
and he jumped around, sidling up to me and I
picked him up, crying like a child."
SOURCE:' AP in Asbury Park (N.J.) Press,
9118/83.
CREDIT: N. Warth.

~
-Nutty Putty
City council officials in Bonn, West Germany,. say they have had numerous complaints
that crows have been eating the fresh putty they
peck from 'newly installed window frames; then
they see their reflections in the panes and
become aggressive, smashing the glass.
.. According to the London Daily Telegraph,
the crows become intoxicated by the chemicals
in the putty and seem to acquire an addiction
much like the drug habit that enslaves so many
humans. Like people "snowbirds," the crows
need their daily ':fix," and the destruction they
caused in a new subdivision being built in the
Bavarian suburb of Traustein had the council
members up in arms-literally: They suggested
shooting the crows. The developers, anxious to
preserve good' community relations and a
friendly sales environment, chose instead to
cover the windows with plastic sheeting. That
way, neither the windows nor the crows would.
.
need to be "fixed" anymore.
SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7124/83.
CREDtT: R. Nelke.

,~.

Spirits Bla.med in Stonings

Angry ancestral spirits are blamed for an outbreak of stone-throwing in a suburb of Harare,
Zimbabwe, and the city coun~i1 is pla!lning an
appeasement ceremony for the restless ghosts.
Residents in a new housing development on
the edge of the Zimbabwe capital said their
homes were being stoned by spirits annoyed at
the houses being built on top of their old
graveyard.
.
The residents are trying to find out which of
their ancestors were buried ther~ so that they
will be able to plan the appeasement ceremony
for the best possible effect.
SOURCE: Reuters in St. Louis Globe-Democrat,
7i22183.
CREDIT: R. Nelke.

~
Something Fishy Going On
Who would expect to fhid a monster fish in
the far-inland waters of Flathead Lake, Montana? Only a dedicated lover of fish-tales. True,
there is a legend that the lake is home to some
kind of monster bearing strong resemblance to

:rtalnl Quarter 1983

".

:.Tote&~Sever"c:l"Arm. Mile.TQ Have It Put Back On

After:. biling' machine lore off his' iefl arm
'3~-yelii'-0Id: farm
just below the. .s~oulder,
. wo~ker picked up'the limb ari(i 'w~ked nearly a
mile'for help., Tlie arm was re~ttached'.in 10
hours o'f surgery ..:
":~:." '. , ;,,: .
Roy Tapping was at 'work on a farm in Henton, England".40,'miles no;th~est Of London,
whe.n his left; ii~m got ca~g~t ,i!.!. tile' machjne.
Ambulance attendalits'Said .thar despite.intense
pain and loss or: blood, rapping carried. his
severed arm across a field to aneighboring farm
nearly a' mile' distant.' The neighbor,. Eddie ..
Monck, said he was feeding his,horses when "I
saw Roy ~taggering across the paddoc~Jo.wards
me. He had no clo'thes on, aparrfrom his boots:
Everythingelse h~dbeen torn away. Me'was
covered with bloo~. ", " ::' '. '.. :i.~_,., ... :
''1 ran to c~llan.ambulance.. '.' ~e.waited ..
together for about lis' minute~.: He\V8s amazingly calm. I was in'a worse state thim he was." .
~. Yes~ he:wlls
amazing,. Very
..
. tirave, and joked

about all sorts of things," said ambulance attendant Theresa O'Neill.' She and her coworker, Barrie Potter, put Ihe arm in a plaslic
bag, packed il in ice and drove Tapping and his
arm ten miles to Ihe hospilal.
"He said his crickel season is now over, so I
said he would have to learn to calch with one
nand,;' Miss O'Neill said.
The doclors also noted Topping's good
hU!Dor as he lay fully conscious awailing
surgery. "He's a very lough fellow .. , the sort
who feels it is almosl obligalory to joke about
it," said Dr. Bruce Bailey, head of Ihe
hospital's surgical learn. Bailey said it was too
soon to tell how much use Tapping would have
of his re-attached arm.
SOURCE: AP flom Stoke Mandeville, England,
via St, Louis Globe-Democrat. 6129/83.
CREDIT: R. Nelke.

a sturgeOn; 'ltie ~X;ll~m~fe~er' w~~se 'females.

yield the:delica,e egas favored'.by go~r~~t5. Bui'
the fish, that ,DanKnight" t~!d about was 'illittle
too muc!1., H~~s .from Missoula 'and he .saiIJ ihe .,
sturgeon he saw in' Yellow. .La~e w~ abolw2S
feet long;' and his five l1uddiessaidyesit was a
sturgeon and'it:~as inllybe eve,,'30 feet long. It
had to 'be," becalise' it .brOke the' surface."and
cros~ed jlisi ahead. of" the bQ\ 'of t~eir boat..
A" 'more 's~~ropinion.:.came fr9m Laney
Hanzel, Ii biologi~t who' ~as',spent years siudy- .
ing the fish population of' Flathead .~ak~ .~ilh
sonar and nets. "The chance ofa sturgeon being in the' lake is surely. apo~!~ilitY;:b.ul2S feet
I don't know about," he said. Neit~er 'he nor
divers . from the .. state. I;)epar\ment of :Fish,
Wildlife and Parks have' ever seen such a
monster - not once in 'the thouSands of- hours
they have' spent o~\'the laJc:e.: .,"... '. '.. ::. .

Shipman got his license 'back lasl month,

almost a year after the fish was caughl by a
commercial boat al Sunset Beach, North'
. Carolina. The fisherman found Shipman's leenage face gazing up from the ribs of the mackerel
when he cut open a few of the fish for a beach
meallasl OClober. He threw the Ii.:ense into the
.glove comparlment of his car and didn't give it
. much further thought until he and a friend gOI
to lelling each other fish slories. Then the
fisherman was reminded to call Shipman and
asked whether he had misplaced anything nOI lately but years ago, when 'he first slarted
'driving a car. Shipman remembered how he had
lost his driver's license when he went swimming
with his wallel in his swimsuil pockel II years
before.' And the fisherman told him how he had
caught the mackerel off Sunsel Beach, eight
miles nor.lh of Ihe beach where the 27-year-old
man had spent his 161h birthday,
. . .
:-.' .
But another' legend about'~no",er'!ake in not- . SOURCES: Philadelphia Inquirer, 9118/83; AP in
Vero Beach, Fla., Press-Journal, 7118/83; AP
so-far-away Wisconsin says that a monster
in USA Today and The Burlington (VI.) Free
muskie lives there' and has made' a fine 'art of
Press, 9110/83.
evading fishermen. THe m'uskie, however, is
CREDtTS: H. Hollander, B. Schwarz, D. Whitbelievea to be' only about 7 feet long...
comb, J. Zarzynski.
Amber Fairley; a 13-year-old Chicago girl
'visiting in Hurley, '!ias swimming in Island Lake
when som~thing bit her foot imdp'ulled. ". was
swimming DY a:raft in ~bout 17 feel of water,"
Dig Brandy, Dig the Man!
she- said. "I felt a' jerk on Q'Y leg and I went
down. I felt a pain in my foot .and I panicked
"If it wasn'l for Ihat little dog, I wouldn'l be
and kicked and screamed. But no one believed
here," said Clifton Perkins.
:
'.
me at first.~'
The Kentucky farmer gives full credit 10 his
When they g'ot her Qut Qf th,e water, unbelief
four-year-old mutt, Brandy, for savi"ng his life
changed to .am~zeinent . ~s her mother and
after he accidentally ran himself over with his
others nearDyviewed her bloodied foot. "You
traclor. Perkins said his tractor had been left in
could. see all Ihe teeth marks;" said Mrs."
gear, and'when he turned it on, il began rolling
Fairley, "The..t'~h apparent!;y .got. her from !!Ie
'and knocked him over. A rear wheel rolled over
back and bit her' fool all the wily across the
his leg and smashed into his rib cage, imd by the
arch:"
.. '
.
time the tractor Slopped, "the wheel was on my
Amber was taken .to a hospital and the wauna
head." .
was closed with 13 stitches., The doclor who
The S9-year-old farmer starled clawing at the
treated her believes the wound was cause(i" by a.
. ground, Irying 10 get free, and the dog imitated
muskie bite."
....
~
him. "I dug and dug 'til my fingers were raw
and Brandy was with me all the way;" he said.
Much happier, certainly mo~e r~waidini, and
He and the dog managed to get him free and he
mysterious as alilet-O\lt, was Ricky Shipman's
began crawling loward the house. "I can barely
experience wit~ ail 8~pound Spa.nish ina~~erel
of only 18 in~hes ,length.
..,.
remember, but they said you could slill see Ihe
. Ricky had jilst turned 16 and was. whooping il
claw-marks Brandy made helping 10 drag me,"
Perkins said. He finally made it 10 the house
up witli a .bunch or' buddia on the beach al
and his bed, where his wife found him when she
Ocean Drive Beach, South Caroiina, when iiis
returned from town three hours laler.
plastic-coated driver's. licenSe waS'IOst in' the
Perkins was taken to .a hospital, where he
Atlantic <><:ea!'l in 1~2. '. ' . ',.,

'.' '-. .'

..

':"

..

Pursuit 135

spent two weeks undergoing repairs of a broken

pelvis, four broken ribs, a broken left shoulder
and collarbone and a broken right cheekbone.
When he left the hospital for his mother's house
to begin a lengthy period of convalescence,
Brandy rejoined him. "He stuck with me all the
way, and he's not going to leave' no-w," Perkins
said.
.
SOURCE: AP in Asbury Park (N:J.) Press,
2/20/83.
.
CREDIT: Member #432.

~
Dolphins to the Rescue!
Querijn Fikke, a 35-year-old Dutch pilot, was
flying his helicopter from Surabaya to Banjarmasin in the Indonesian archipelago when it lost
power and crashed into the Java Sea.
Fikke grabbed a rubber lifeboat, inflated' it,
and settled down to await !l response to hi~
radioed "mayday;" Apparently his transmission was unheard by human ears, but soon he
noticed dolphins approaching. Shyly at first,
they swam alongside the tub-shaped. craft while
.he attempted to paddle. Then g~owing bolder,
one or two.would detach themselves from the
small herd and from time to time give a gentle
push to the stern pf the boat, always in the'.
direction of land. After eight days 'and nine
nights of paddling and being pushed, Fikke
reached West Borneo. He couldn't have made it
without the dolphins' help, he toid authorities,
but added ~'I just don'.\ know how to thank
them."
SOURCE: UPI in Nashville Tennessean, 7121/83.
CREDIT: H. Holland.
'

EI Nino Gone-for Now

A climatic condition that affects the entire
Pacific Ocean, EI Nino ("The Child" in
Spanish), was named by South American
fishermen after the Ch~ist child because the
phe'nomenon usually starts at about Christmas
off the west coast of Souih America. Eight EI
Ninos have occurred in the last 40 years. The
most recent EI Nino started' in the spring of
1982 and began to abate toward the end of July,.
according to the National Weather Service .
EI Nino occurs when the trade winds, which
usually blow along.the,equator from east. to
west, slacken or. reverse, blowing the warm
western P,acific water against the coast of Peru
where it breaks into currents going north and
south. The effects, always varied and
widespread, are sometimes weird.
For example;, the temperature 'of the water
off the coast of Washington state has been
about 65 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 55-58
degrees. Both scientists and fishermen have
noted the presence of 300-pound sea turtle;s and
ocean sunfish, marlin and, several species of
sharks, and sailfish-alfin aregion far north of
thei! usual habitat. A scuba diver even reported
sighting a thin-nosed barracuda. Jack mackerel
and bonito, both more common in southern
waters, have been t.aken in abnormal catch patterns in a coastal fishing season that authorities
extended until after Labor Day for the first time
...
since 1977.
. Much further 'west in the Pacific, EI Nino's
notable .effects on the fish burgeoned into. a
spectacular series of event's on Christmas
Island, the 200-square-mile coral atoll dis9Dver~d by Capt. James Cook in 1777. When

Pursuit 136

EI Nino came, the fish left in such numbers that

birds could no longer nourish themselves, or
their young. Almost 17 'million birds representing 18 species vanished.from the island, the first
such massive exodus ever recorded on a tropical
island. The retreat" was particularly devastating
for thousands of nestlings that starved to death
.
after being left behind. '.
Six months later, as EI Nino abated, members
of most species had returned to begin rebuilding
their numbers. Dr. Ralph W, Schreiber of the
Los Angeles County Natural History Museum
says.that many of the birds were probably living
in the air above distant waters while waiting for
conditions to change, These types 9f birds
spend most of their lives living in the air, hovering on air currents and diving down o!=casionalIy, according to Dr. Schreiber, all' ornithologist
who has studied the birds of the equatorial
island for many years;
SOURCE'S: ~P, in St, Louis Post-Dispatc:h,
7121/83; The Sun (Baltimore, Md.), 9/11/83;
. Th,'Scar-Ledger (Newark, N.J.), 9/4/83.
.
CREDITS: R. Nelke, H. Hollander, M. Wiegler,

':.~
The Loch Ness Maybe
Well-known Bigfoot searcher Jon Erik Beckjord.left his Pacific Northwest bailiwick in midsummer to jpin the hunt for the anomalous
creatures, monsters or whatever that are believed to inhabit the lochs of Scotland. He spent
three weeks in August on a close surveillance of
the surface of Loch Ness, ilsing a video camera
that could film 24p hours !lon-stop. It recorded
what appeared 10 be a long black object swimming, but .Beckjord conceded that the frames may
'show only a freak wave. .
.
.
"I'm calling it ~The'Loch Ness Maybe;'" he
said. "It was '15 to 20 feet 'IQng, shaped like an :
overturned boa~, an~ appeared to swim' across
the light swell on the hike, surfacing four times
like a porpoise.~'
.
A secQnd sighting tWQ days after the tirst
revealed something moving 'beneath the water
twice in an hour, he said.
SOURCE: AP in Austin (Texas) Americ:an
Scatesman, 8/17/83,
CREDtT: D. Palin. '
.
~

'. Frog's Throat

. Grows a Foot .
A recent newcomer to the Oklahoma City
zoo is a common toad with an uncommon appendage: there's'a four-toed foot growing from
its throat. Three children spotted the tiny
creature while pla,ying in a backyard in Noble, a
small town near Norman, Okla. They named
the toad "Freaky Frog" because they'd never
'seen nor heard of a frog with a fifth foot that
stuck out of its throat.
"Neither have I," said Dr. Vernon Hutchison,.a research biologist at the University of
Oklahoma in Norman. "There are lots of .
reports of amphibians with extra digits, but I
don~t recall one from the throat." He identified
the creature as a Woodhouse's toad and said
tliat the spare foot could have fo~med if there
had been "some injury during the early
development of the egg." Dr. Hutchison hopes
to borrow the toad from the zoo for further
study,
.
SOURCE: St, Louis Globe-Democ:rat, 7/14/83.
CREDIT: R. Nelke.

Birth Abduction Victim?

A 16-year-old boy found wandering alone in
a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., bus station may have
been abducted at birth and raised on the run to
hide his true identity.
Police know little about the boy, who calls
himself Raven Darkholme. Apparently he has
moved from place to place for 14 of his 16
years. H~ has told authorities the same story
over and ov~r again since he called police from
th~ bus station in late July to report his bags
had been stolen. He daimed he was abandoned
by a woman he knew as Amanda Ste.uwart, a
friend of his mother who adopted him when the
mother died, The woman Insisted on dyeing his
hair blond and told him it would be
"ridiculous" to enroll him in a school for a
month and then take him out when they moved, '
the boy said.
Although Darkholme helped a police artist
create a picture of Aman,da.Sieuwart, he impressed a detective as fearful of discovering the
truth .about his background, '.'He's afraid that
somebody will come forth and claim him,", said
Det. Sandy Ledegang. "A":!anda's the only person' he's knowri as a mother."
The only. infonnation. he has been able or
willing to provide is that he, Steuwart and her
son, 'Scoil, traveled across the country until
1977 when Scott died in a car accident in EI
Paso,. Texas. Shice then, Darkholme and
Steuwart continued their travels, never staying
in one place for more than a few months.
Although he can read and write, the boy told
police he had never attended school or played
with mher children. He claims he learned all he
.knows by watching television and, reading the
books that Steuwart brought him,
. Circuit Judge Robert Scott ordered the boy'to
remain in' a foster home until 'authorities 'can
determine more about his bac~ground: Caryn
Grainer,' his court-appointed foster mother,
says 'she intends to have Darkholme tested for
admission to Fort Lauderdale high school in the
fall. "He's very intelligent, very bright, but very
. overwhelmed,'" she said.
SOURCE: UPI in Schenectady (N.Y.)
8(17/83.
.CREDI:: R. Girard. ~

'Cave Worms 3-5 Feet ,Long

,

In an underwater cave off the Hawaiian

island of Maui, a scuba diver has found what
may be an unknown, species of worm. Although
they somewhat resemble in appearance the common acorn worms found in Hawaii, the cave
worms are three- to four-times longer, range
. from th.ree to five feet in length, and average
about one inch in diameter, The acorn worm, so
called because its head. resembles an acorn,
a larger proboscis and is bright yellow, while the
cave worm is translucent pink.
"It's nothing like we've seen around
Hawaii," said Michael Hadfield, a professor of
zoology at the Universitv of Hawaii. "It
mystifies me that there is a "large worm that, as
far as we know, lives in only one cave 90 feet
down in the'water."
Hadfield said he has been unable to find
anything about the worms in scientific literature
and has asked the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington for any i!lformation they may
have.
SOURCE: AP in Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/18i83,
CREDIT: H. Hollander,

I;>id a Meteor Kill the Dinos? .'

A layer of clay found in' Denmark and on the
bottom of the Pacific Ocean bolsters the theory
that a very large meteor struck the Earth 65
million years ago, about the time the dinosaurs
became exlinc!.
The clay mineral smectite found in two drill
core samples seems to be a decayed form of
glass dust such as might have been produced by
a large meteor impact, says a California researcher, Dr. Miriam Kastner of Scripps Oceanographic Institute at La Jolla. The samples
came from the Stevens Klint region of Denmark
and a deep-sea dri!ling project in the northcentral Pacific.
Layers of smectite, a common decay product
of glass, have previously been found in 36
places around the world, indicating the debris
was evenly spread across the planet. Dr.
Kastner said scientists could not be sure the
meteor caused the dinosaurs' extinction, but the
fall occurred abo!.t the ti'me we had major extinctions. The question is, "Did it cause the extinction or was it 'coincidental?"
Drs. Luis and Walter Alvarez of the University of California at Berkeley first theorized in
1980 that the dinosaurs died out at the end of
the Cretaceous period after a meteor roughly six
miles across struck and threw millions of tons
of debris into the atmosphere, cooling the
planet and burying or killing their food supply.'
This theory was based' partly on the finding

of high levels of iridium in the smectite I'ayers,

Smart Trees
iridium being a thousand times more prevalent
The
idea
that
trees can talk is gelling support
in meteors than on tne Earth's surface. The
from two New England,biologists. Ian Baldwin
samples found in Denmark and in the Pacific
and Jack Schultz of Dartmouth College report
also revealed high concentrations of iridium as
evidence
that leaf damage to poplar and sugar
well as unusual amounts of platinum, gold, .
maple trees prompts nearby undamaged trees to
nickel and cobalt, also common in meteors.
change the chemical makeup of their leaves.
Dr. Kastner said the smectite layer at the two
The researchers. say that the chemical changes to
sites was extremely pure, suggesting it was
damaged and undamaged trees alike are quick
deposited in a single catastrophic even!. Paleonenough and sufficient to discourage insect attologists who have sought to confirm the
. tacks. Although the leaf damage was caused by
catastrophe theory of dinosaur extinction have
humans, the trees responded as if insects were
found evidence in microscopic marine plant
doing the damage,. as would normally be the
fossils of a sharp rise in temperature and then
case.
prolonged cooling within 10,000 years of the
Baldwin and Schultz said that an airborne gas
suspected meteor impact, she said. . .
.
- possibly ethylene produced by wounded
A meteor landing in the ocean might have
plant tissue from the damaged trees
thrown up water vapor, heatingthe atmosphere
stimulated the defensive chemical changes jn
through a "greenhouse effect" by trapping
neighboring trees, .
heat, Dr. Kastner speculated" noting that when
A similar report based on research at the
the water condensed and the debris remained in
University
of Washington was issued in June by
the upper ai~, the atmosphere wo~ld cool.
the National Science Foundation. Gordori'
e There is no indication where the purported
Orians and' Qavid Rhodes, who did the
meteor might have struck; about 20 per' cent of
'research, placed tent caterpillars and fall webthe sea floor has been thrust beneath other
worms on the leaves of ' willow trees. NO! only
plates of the Earth's crust in the past 65 million
did trees damaged by the insects change the
years, Dr. Kastner noted.
makeup of their leaves to make them less apSOURCE: AP by Peter Coy in Schenectady
. petizing to insects, they reported, but so did
(N.Y.) Gar.ette, 8/22183.
neighboring trees not exposed to the insects.
. CREDIT: R. Girard.
SOURCE: UPI in St, Louis Post-Dispatch;
7/10/83.
CREDIT: R. Nelke.

Memos &. Miscellany

(Continued from page 108)
incr~ase in -the variety of SITUational events reported.
That's good news! Not ~o good, however, is to know that
only a tiny percentage of SITU's far-ranging membership
provides this input.
. ,
If you enjoy reading SITUations, yet seldom or never
clip anything Fortean from the newspapers or magazines
you buy, see or subscribe to, why not begin this week to
. return some of the pleasure other members have been giving you? All you need to get started is a pair of scissors, an
envelope and a postage stamp. Please also' write on each
newsclip the name of the publication, the date of issue, and
your name or membership number to assure proper credit
to the source and you as contributor.
... ... ...
ADDITION

The following needs 'to be added to Andrew Pa~1

Tomas' paper "Vaults of Time,". delivered to the recent
World Conference or',the Ancient Astronaut Society and
published in Pursuit No. 62, Second Q.u~rter 1983, pp ..
50-53:
SOURCES
R. Ballard, Solution of the Pyramid Problem, New York, 1883.
L. Cottrell, The Moun/ains of Pharaoh, I.,ondon, 1955.
M. P" Hall, Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic & Rosicrucil!n Philosophy,
Los Angeles, 1947.
.
R. Howard- Vyse & J, S. Perring, Operations carried on at the Pyramids
ofGir.eh, London. 1840-1842.
W. Kingsland, The Great Pyramid in Facl and Theory, London, 1932.
J. O. Kinnaman, Diggers for Facts, Haverhill, Mass., 1940-=1947.
Mahatmq Letters to A. P. Sinnett, London, 1926.
W. M. F. Petrie, The Pyramids and Temples of Gir.eh, London, 1883.
N. Roerich, Hearl of Asia, New York, 1929. .

Third Quarter 1983

A. Tomas, Atlantis, from Legend to Discovery, LOildon, 1972.

A. Tomas, On the Shores of Endless Worlds, New York, 1974.
A. Tomas, Shambhala, Oasis of Lighl, London, 1976.
p, Tompkins,'Secrets of the Greal Pyramid, London, 1971.
H. T. Wilkins, Mysteries of Soulh America, London, 1946.
T. Valentine, The Great Pyramid, New York, 1975.

Mr. Tomas -was born in S1. Petersburg, RUSSia, and

now .lives in California. In addition to the books listed
above, his published works include We Are Not the First
(1971), .The 'Home of the Gods (1972), Beyond the Time
Barriers (1977), and Mirage of the Ages (1983) .
... ... ...
.

"

CORRECTION

Due to an editorial error, an incorrect caption appeared

below the first two photos in Dr. james McClenon's article
"Fire-Walking on Mt. Takao" (Pursuit No. 61, First
Quarter. 1983, p. 12). The caption read: "The pyr~ was set
ablaze ... then covered with cedar branches.;' However,
the author advises that the cedar branches are piled up
. before a typiCal ceremonial fire is set ablaze. We apologize'
for our. misunderstanding and thank Dr. McClenon for his
correction.
... ... ...
At his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka, author-psychic
Arthur C. Clarke has installed a. word-processing system
which, he says, Ilas "provoked. thoughts about the electronic future." His letter to ll~me magazine cites a problem
that many forward-thinking writers enc'ounter these days:
. "When, 18 year.s ago, I was writing 2001: A Space
Odyssey, the or.iginal artifact was a messy ,manuscript,
which had at least been touched by human hand. What's
the going rate inthe rare-book trade for Odyssey /I - a
5-inch diskette (single side, soft sector, single density, rein. forced hole. .)? Until I know, I won't press the erase
button."

Pursuit 137

Letters to the, Editors

also means those who "died" and came back would be less
than they were before.
"
'
M~. Andrews is mistaken when he claims relativity
theory states that at light speed, time runs backwards.
What is does state is th,at as o,ne approach~s the speed of,
light the passage of time slows down relatively to the rest
of (he univers'e. Presumably, at the speed of light it would
cease '- not run backwards. (There are theories, how~ver,
thlj.,t if an object could move faster than light, it would
move backwards in time -, but, that is pure speculation.)
Carl Sagan is probably correct when he calls these experiences a replay of the birth experience. The unc'onscious
is giving symbolic form. to an event otherwise incomprehensible to the conscious mind.
-Kim L. Neidigh

An Open Lettei' to the Membership

As I, was reading the "Letters to t~e Editors'" columns~:'

in the Second Quarter 1983 issue of Pursuit, it occurred to'
me that something was amiss. What I read seemed less,lik~
a journal devoted to the Art of Free Thinking in Rese~rch,
and more like a page from the Harvard Law'Review.
It seems to me that SITU is in danger of falling into the"
very same trap that has snared so many "scientific"
organizations: professional, snob bery. Gentlemen, please! '
If you need criticism from a "source" concerning our
research, it is most likely available from any "established
scientific institution." We needn'i dish it out to each
other.
The Society for the Investigation of The Unexplained
was set up to give consideration to those areas of nature
,More, on 'Space Law'
that orthodox science was unable, or unwilling to approach. If most of the 'articles printed in Pursuit were sent,
According to Rep. Coughlin [Pursuit No. 62, Second
instead to, say, The American Journal of Physics, you can
Quarter 1983, pp. 56-58]: "As you will note, there is no
well imagine the acceptance rate we would have. It is our
, , federal law making it illegal to have contact with extraterjob to take over the areas that the scientific community
restrial entities. However, there is a,regulation of the Nadoesri't care to discuss. However, we 'must avoid interna:l
tional Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
sniping and name-calling, or all will be'lost. ' '
,
governing certain extraterrestrial exposures~" "
l;here are members of SITU who have a fiu greater
, Rep. Coughlin neglects to mention that this NASA
background in the formal sciences than I do; tt:aere are also
,regulation was pQssed by Congress on July 16, 1969.
those wh,o do not. In either case, their opinions are to be
Although technically it may be' no more than a NASA
respected, if not agreed, with. If we do not support each
r-egu.1ation, insofar as the all-important question' of enother in these admittedly outlandish areas, then who will?
forcement is concerned, its passage QY Congress insures
No one!'
that 'it could (if desired)'be enforced just as if it were a
I wish to offer a suggestion concerning future criticism
federal law.
of our fellow-members' work. If you have a question or
, 'I found Mr. Zafren's comments to behighly.lucid and,
suggestion, by all means voice it. But let's keep the veiled
very ihteresting. He states: "The regulation would not ap,_sarcasm and 'pettiness t9 a minimum. We are all in this
.pear to cover an instance where a life form 'visits' here on
organization to establish one thing: the tl'uth,- whatever it
a mission of its own." What the debate hinges u,pon is the
'may be. However human the temptation to resort to per- .
applicability of the regulation. According to "1211.101:'
sonal criticism, let us try to keep it out of the pages of Pur"Applicability. The' provisions of this part apply to all
suit. Leave it to our detractors in the "real world." God
NASA manned and unmanned space missions .. ' .. "
know~ there are enQugh of them.
'In the absence of any other legislation pertaining to this
-Mark W. DeLawyer
particular subject, this Congressionally-approved regulation establishes a legal precedent. As I made ~Iear in my article, I could dismiss,the whole controversy ils a tempest in
'Tunnel Ahead: Turn on Lights'
a teacu'p if the passage quoted above contained the word
"only," so as to read: "The provisions of this part apply
Arlan Keith Andrews, Sr~, in his article ~'Relativity and
only to all NASA m.~nned and unmanned space missions ..
the Afterlife: Is There Light After Death?" (Pursuit No.
. ." However,' it does not contain that one little word
62, ,Se~ond Quarter 1983), believes t~at the imagery of
which would have made such a 'big difference. If the
near-death encounters may be explainable in terms of
government should suddenly be faced with,the accomplishrelativity theory. Although intriguing, this idea has much
ed' fact of an undeniable overt E.T. Visitation, in the
I
' ,
against it.
absence of any other legislation pertaining to this subject,
If th~ reports of tunnels with lights at the end are due to ,
, thjs reguiation, could therefore b~ construed as being apthe soul leaving the body at the speed of light, what causes
plicable to 'all space missioris, NASA or non-NASA,
it to return? Something must force it to turn around ,and
whether- of terrestrial or extrflterrestrial origin. As it
come back at the same speecl. No known p'hysical force
stands, this federally backed regulation could be applied to
could do that.
UFO contact: the meaning'would have to be stretched, bpt'
Also,as a beam of light travels, it loses cohesi9n.
the
built-in '"loophole does 'exist.
,
Energy ,diffuses, becomes absorbed, and' is constantly in~
The reason I find it necessary to take a stand on this
fluenced by outside forces. (rhis is why, if aliens were
matter is that the way this legislation is phrased appears to
listening to our old TV and radio broadcasts, all they
be deliberately ambiguous, and thereby literally loaded
would receive would be static.) If such is the fate Of the
with
d~ngers to our Constitutional rights as citizens. The
soul, then individual survival would be impossible. This
, I

Purs.it 13,.

Third Quarter 1983

way it was foisted on the public is ve~y suspicious: put

through Congress buried in the 1,211 th sub-section of the
14th section of a batch of regulations very few members of
Congress probably bothered to rea~ in its entirety, and'
which was apparently passed without public debate or any
awareness at all of its potential implications ..
I agree with Mr. Zafren that "Space Law" is necessary.
I also agree wholeheartedly with the concept of "metalaw"
outlined by him. However, as things stand in present-day
reality, "metalaw" is no more than a hypothetical concept
without official backing. The reality we are at 'pres(nt faced with is the NASA regulation under discussion, which I .
think should be repealed and replaced with clearly worded
legislation, not open to interpretation in a multitude of different ways, and passed by Congress openly instead of slipped through "under the. table" without the public being in-
formed ..
Besides the NASA "Extraterrestrial Exposure" regulation, there is also the little-known U.S. Service regulation
JANAP-I46 which provides a penalty of up to ten years in
prison and $10,000 fine for anyone in governinent service
who makes an unauthorized public statement about UFO
-George And:re~s
phenomena.
.
Mut~

Question

1 was fascinated by Sabina Sanderson's study on aQimal

betlavior (Pursuit No. 62, "A Ca~ Called Calico"). 1 was
puzzled by the cat's becomi!1g mute, "never
or mewing," following ail apparent viral infection.
What 1 find unusual is that, although - strangely - no
really knows how cats purr, t.he theories I'm familiar
all agree that purring isn't vocalization, but rather an
invohJlntlirV sound produced in the thorax, more akin
to raling in some pulmonary disorders in
UIIIIAll~. I'm surprised that an infection could affe<;t two
types of sound production simultaneously.
-D. A. Neiburg

The Seve~ Pyramlds of Sh,~nsi

The mysterious pyramid system in China, mentioned by

Oleson and Dr. Joseph Intelisl;lno inPursuit No. 61,
Quarter 1983, p. 42, may be the same one
by a U.S. Air Force pilot during World War
while on reconnaissance over the Shensi region. A
of the largest of the seven pyramids appeared
the November 1950 issue of Fate, and an article publishin the January 1956 issue of the same magazine gave a
description of the system.
The pyramids of Shensi are 'believed to be located near a
or caravl;ln route which runs from Peking to the MedSea. The psychic R. C. ("Doc") Anderson is the
westerner 1 am aware- of who claims to have visited
pyramids, ~nd he described the largest of the seven as
twice the siie of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.
Due to the simple fact that these pyramiQs are located '
nd the bamboo curtain, an expedition to them such as
. Intelisano suggests would be unlikely ,any time soon.
,"Doc" Anderson reported a tradition the local inbitants told him' about: it holds that when the pyramids
finally explored and their hidden chambers discovered, '
''''',AII',IU will find in them records that give the lost history
f the world.
-Bruce Walton

Books Reviewed
THE DEATH OF ROCKETRY by Joel Dickinson with
Robert Cook (C.I.P. Systems, In'c., P. O. Box 2997. San
Rafael,
CA 94901, .1980, 122 pp., $17.50)
.
Reviewed by Robert Barrow
,

Conventional, garden-variety ph'ysicists, beware!

. Despite the merits of this book, the aforementioned are
almost certain to deride it without reading a single chapter.
Why? Simply because the authors dare to prove by
mechanical demonstration that "Newton's laws of motion
are not totally correct." Since Isaac Newton is a hero to
science, this otherwise, !1lodest declaration .will be nothing
short of an outrage to the organized nuts-and-bolts folks.
Of Newion's three laws of motion published in 1687,
the one particularly disputed here is the third - that for
. every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In
essence, no force can occur unless at least two bodies are
involved: one which exerts a force, and one upon which the
force i~ exerted. With that'made clear in this book, sheer
murder:begins to take place on Mr. Newton's laws.
To teU the story of Isaac Newton's alleged shortcomings, the history of one Robert Cook must be told. This is
accomplished in depth by writer-mathematician Joel
Dickinson who,. t<? the reader's good fortune, has the talent
to make especially difficult science interesting to the nonprofessional. .
.
Cook, depicted by Dickinson as a genius-level inventor
of limited formal ~ducation, having poured 'seve'ral years,
,of effort, personal,funds and eventually borrowed money
into his work, reportedly has developed a "reactionless
drive." Apparently as far away from the familiar
perpetual motion description as one can get, Cook's proc.ess does require a (very) tiny bit of energy. The glory.
however, of Cook's reaction less drive system - and its
slap to Newton's face - lies' in its ability to propel
something without the need to react against another force
or medium. Instead, as Dickinson describes it, "the reactionless drive utilizes internal forces generated from within
the system itself." .As Cook developed and refined his prototype of the
Cook Inertial" Propulsion Engine (CIP), he encountered
the predictable lot of skeptical, if not downright negative,
scientists. In the eyes of several, Cook's first' sin was his
brazen attempt_to overcome' the god-like laws of Newton.
His second was his lack of a college degree and, for that
matter, almost any for~al education. During his costly
and extensive travels on the road with his machinery, Cook
found agencies, such as NASA rudely skeptical of his
theories, at first.
,
United Air Lines, on the other hand, discovered much
of .importance in Cook's ideas. Their findings are p'rinted
along with many informative illustrations and documentation of Cook's struggles, encounters and eventual successes.
Particularly eye-opening is Rocketry's insight o'n the
devastating hardships facing nearly any American inventor
whose labors confront seemingly insurmountable obstacles
when big money and/or proper academic credit is missing.
If, as is Claimed, the CIP system has - right now - a
Pugosuit 139 .

90%-plus efficiency potential ov'er the energy-wasting 2% .

o(contemporary rocket engines (causing, .thus, the "death
of rocketry")," is it not frightening to think that such a
discovery nearly failed to become known to science?
Much good can be said about this large-format book.
,At publication in 1980, Cook's work was being heralded
.' widely as the answerto cheap and highly efficient. energy,
space and commuter travel, air cargo transport, and a host
of other activities. Whatever happened since 1980, and
whether this is the sort of thing that the oil-producing industry and various conflicting special interest concerns will
wish to embrace in the name of a better life for all the
world, remains to be seen. "The answers are here," the
authors insist in the introduction, aJmost pleading for us to
believe in them. "We hope the world will listen'."

sions as his earlier books. With a projected one

volumes a' year, it is clearly a long-term project.
Any review of such' a monumental effort has to tread
thin line between nitpicking and backslapping. It must
prefaced 'by the acknowledgment that Corliss has
done more for Fortean science than. most previous
pilers even attempted, not only by making huge. cUIIIUUIIIL:
of obscure data available, but also by placing
framework of strict scholarship that renders, it acc:eptallilf
to even conservative sCientists. .
With such deserved klJdos aside~ it must be
that there are problems with the 'Catalog Series in
and With LANLRLP in particular. The primary problem
notably, unrel~ted to the. content or organization of
book. It is, rather, a consequence of the nature of
Sourcebook
Project, itself, and as such, requires. a
* * *
Shortly before publication of this iss!le of Pursuit, the
backtracking"
reviewer received updated information from inventor
Those of us who ,learned of Corliss' work in its
Robert CoOk on his CIP engine and on his efforts to prove
stages probably invested in' most; or all, of the "rioi.,,,,,
Newton wrong. Cook claims that the scientific fundamenlOoseleaf Sourcebook volumes. At about ten dollars
tals of his syst~m were" fully p'roven" in April 1982. Furbook, that. represented one hun<:lred' dollars, u
nr h .. nH\lI
tionably a bargain for the. first really
thermore, "a complete. parametric study ofthe system has
been made by an MIT grad~te engineer with over 35
library of "respectable" 'anomalies ever published.
years' experience, and he concluded tpat we have the most\
,problem began to appear' when the harsh realities.
efficient propulsion system in the world.... all scientists
publishing forced Corliss ,to abandon the looseleaf
and engineers who have seen the models work have com~
in .favor of hardbound books. The ~hange-over
to the c~riclusion that the system indeed works and that Sir
evidently un~voidable, but "it did have disadvantages.
Isaac Newton.was wrong; over 200 have made that state-'
off, .the uniql,le flexibility df a loo~eleaf. format was lost.
ment." Apparently, one of the impressed witnesses is
the 'hardbound Handbooks, along with Corliss' plans
astronaut Gordon Cooper, w)1.o states in CIP literature ) publishing addenda pages.
among a sprinkling of quotes .from scientists and
\ Even more upsetting to the individual (as opposed
engin~ers, "This system will propel for pennies on the
. organizational) Fortean was the fact that rost of his
dollar. "
"
, vestment in Sourcebooks was suddenly rendered
Cook and CIP are curre'ntly attempting to raise
dant by publication of the Handbook Series. ru"IIV'Uf>'
substantial funds to build a'llyi~g model. (lan4-based proCorliss suggests that duplication between
totypes have already been accomplished, as detailed in the
volumes in the two series is rare, my experience is that
book). SITU memb~rs interested. in' learning more ma~ insimply one way: the Sourcebooks 'duplicate little of
quire of Robert Cook directly (P;O. Box 463, Presidio,
much larger Handbooks, but the latter duplicate most
Texas 79845).
.
'
....
th~former .. And now, the Catalogs promise to
I f, by some chance, all of t~i~ would be enough to make
.everything in both previous series.
poor Sir Isaac Spill in his grave, the philosophical question
, Considering the cumulative costs of the previous
of whether he would do so via reactionless drire must be
longtime purchasers may well be irked by the aplpealrarlc,
addressed.
.
,
'
of a whole new series, one which includes a great deal
new material, but also repeats much, some of it for .
LlGHTN,ING, AURORAS, NOCTURNAL LIGHTS,
third time. Also troubling to those who envision" a
AND RELA TED LUMINOUS PHENOMENA, compiled
plete set: the Catalog Series is to be kept up-to-date
by Wjlliam R.. Corliss. (The Sourcebook Project, P.O.
means of periodical addenda volumes, the first of which
. Box 107, Glen Arm, Maryland 21057, 1982, 2.42 pp.,
already available. So, an investment in the
Sourcebook Project is, like a,diamond, forever.
$12.00 post"aid)
. .It must be pointed out that none of the a~ove is really
.
Revi~wed by Kenneth W. Moak.
drawback for anyone but tl;le less-than-wealthy indi
Libraries, schools, and research organizations will
In case there is any Fortean who hasn't heard, WilHam
be bothered by the redundancy. For that qtatter, most
Corliss' Sourcebook Project has entered a new phase of its
. us can-arrange a four or five'hundred dollar expc;nditure
evolution. With the publication of this title, Corliss begins
it is strung out over twelve years. But it, is a nagging i
the almost unbelievable ta:;k of cataloguing every
tion to have all those Sourcebooks and Handbooks just
;ting there. . .. .
anomalous event to be found in 'accepted scientific
literature. The new Catalog Series also includes definitions
Returning to the volume at hand, LANLRLP is free
and evaluations of all event-categories, comprehensive and
any glaring faults; what shortcomings there are tend to
complex indexing,' and very satisfactory dig~~ts of
more puzzling than annoying .
noteworthy individual cases. The Catalog Series is to 'be, in
. COI:!iss prefaces each category of anomalies with a
short, an attempt at compiling an encyclopedia of the
explanatory paragraphs, .including a numerical rating
reliability of reports and anomaly value. This is an
anomalous. Corliss envisions at least twenty-five volumes,
cellen~ idea, but in some cases the ratings seem rather
likel~ more, arrang~d generally in the same system of divi,

IPJJ4l1'sudt 11.4'

Third Quarter 1

..LET'S HOPE THEY:RE FRIENDL Y by Quentin Fogarty

(Angus '& Robertson Publishers, P.O. Box 290, North
Ryde; N.S. W. 2113, Australia, 1982, 178 pp., illus., soft
cover, $9.95)
.

bitrary, particularly the anomaly evaluation. For instance,

Corliss assigns ball lightning a lower "strangene'ss". rating
than noct~rnal lights. This is a bit puzzling,. considering
the mutual lack of explanation (or multiplicity of explanations) and the possibility that the two phenomena are
closely related. Of course, the ratings in no way affect the
validity of the data, and remain very u.seful tools for
abstracting.
Another feature, the reference to possible explanations, .
while very illuminating, is marred by the absence of any.
"fringe" theories. Thus the section on Iioct.urnal lights
fails to mention Sanderson's aeriallifeform hypothesi~, or
the more specialized "critter" theory of Trevor Constable.
One gets the.impression of an unfortunate "hard science"
bias on Corliss' part here, where freewheeling comprehen,
siveness could be most valuable:
Slightly more disturbing is t.he possibility of omissions.
I was surprised t.o find, under "White Water or Luminous
Seas," no mentlon of the publicized astronauts' observations of white water in the Gulf Stream area. This is a particularly odd omission, since that phenomenon received
considerable attention due to a possible connection wit~
the Bermuda Triangle .. O~e can only w~:>nder how many
other accounts have slipped through the compiler's net.
Finally, an even smaller"quibble might be made over the
occasionally confusing system of cross-referencing and
alphanumeric coding; it is a little daunting to the casual
reader. However, given the mass of material to be
digested, it is probably the least unwieldy mode of
organization.

Reviewed by Robert Barrow

Whether. or not the reader knew the slightest thing

about UFOs would not have mattered a whit by the end of
1979's first week, so long as some contact with TV, radio
or the priilt news media was maintained. At this time, the
world's press bristled. with astonishment over reports that
an airborne television film crew off the coast of New
Zealand had accomplished a motion picture o(UFOs Qn
December 31, 1978; subsequently, there was evidence of .
radar contact as well. .
Among the witnesses on the fateful flight of this particular Argosy. aircraft was Melbourne TV journalist
Quentin Fogarty, who wisely summoned his professional
talents to create this revealing anatomy of a UFO incident
and its aftermath. The author's highly attractive writing
style progresses much like a cross between a reporter's
notebook and a step-by~step documentary as he begins
. with a period as innocent as Christmas of 1978, and then
leads us into a series of months that he and the other participants will never forget.
.
Of course, Let's Hope explores the UFO movie in depth
(complete with four. glossy pages of color frames), but the
celluloid capture of the enigma is only part of the story.
Fogarty and his companions (other witnesses aboard the
plane were a cameraman and his wife, a sound technician,
With the nitpicking done, time for backslapping.
another TV journalist, .the pilot and the first officer) subseLANLRLP is a superb reference work. The volume df data in
quently" get caught up in the - inevitable? - web of
it is staggering, much.more than would appear likely from
government officials bent on censorship, unwelcome
its size (about 7 x 8 inches and a half-inch thick). Each:
publicity, erroneous rumors and the usual lot of the
category is thoroughly analyzed in the introductory
predominantly religious. .
.
paragraphs, many (if not all) possible explanations are sugTo further substantiate the story behind the story,
gested, and related phenomena are -listed. There are
Fogarty includes a chapter entitled "Dr .. Bruce Maccabee's
numerous illustrations, both line and photograph, and the
Findings." Maccabee, an optical physicist employed as a
references are overwhelming. In addition, particularly inCivilian at the U.S. Navy's Surface Weapons c.enter in
teresting or characteristic examples of each category are
Maryland, performed an exhaustive analysis of the New
presented in case-book fashion, enough to make for en~ealand film in conjunction with several colleagues. The
joyable reading by even the most casual anomalist.
apparently inescapable conclusion is that this is a genuine
Possibly most impressive of all, there are no less than
film of an unknown.
..
.
five separate indexes, covering time, place, and nature of
Debunkers and their ill-informed, characteristically inevent, first author, and source.. These alone should prove
stant, solutions to the Iscenes photographed from the winindispensable to serious investigators, particularly those
dow of the Argosy airplane consume other sections of the
exploring statistical correlations. The author promises
book; it is hardly reassuring to be reminded that debunkers
even more elaborate indexing as the series develops.
. and skeptics often tend to be equally ignorant and chronThe book is hardbound, durable, and reasonably pricically assinine, whatever the country'ed, wtth a layout more reminisc~nt of the Sourcebooks
Did any of the witnesses involved in this bizarre incithan the Handbooks. As previously mentioned, supdent benefit from the sightings and tbe frenzied publicity
plements will be available as individual volumes, the nextthat followed? Consider the author's point of view:
best thing to a looseleaf format.
"Friendships have broken,' marriages' suffered,. and peoThe new Catalog Series is certainly essential for any I ple's'.hopes and aspirations have taken a tumble. This is
.organization with Fortean interests, as well as any serious
not simply a story aboqt UFOs, it is also a very human acgeneral researcher. However, for casual readers, or those
count of what happened to a group of ordinary people who
investigators whose lines of interest are very specialized,
found themselves caught up in an extraordinary
situation."
.
.
.
the new format is probably too detailed and comprehensive to justify a large expenditure. I.f LANLRLP is typical.Of
Please note that SITU /PURSUIT now has only
future volumes, it is safe.to say that every Fortean will
one address:
eventually find one or more books in the series that he canP.O. Box 265
not do without, but unlike purchasers of the original
Little Silver, NJ 07739 USA
Sourcebooks, few will try to accumulate a full set.
I

Third Quartel' 1983

Pursuit 141

The Notes of Charles Fort

Declph~l'ed by

c ........ P.bst.

ABBREVIATIONS
(DA)
ab
Acto
(AI)
Amer
AmJ. Sci
~n'Reg
ap.
Arc Sci
AstroReg
attrib
BA
BCF
bet
Bib. Univ
B.M.
BO

Bombay Geog. Soc (L)

Bull Seis Soc. Amer
Cel. Objs.
. Clinton Co., Tenn
Cor
CR.

0-62
Deb.
det. met.
dets.
dist. anillery
DrW
ext. light
F.
F. ball
Finley's Rept.
(Fr)
GentsMag
Greg's Cat of Meteo,s
G's Island'
Inf conjunction
It Sounds
Jour des Deb.

library call letters .

, . about
According to
[? Almanac?)
New York American
. American Journal 0/ SCie'.'ce
Annual Regi.fter
appearance
Arcana o/Science
Astronomical Register
attributed
.Report o/.the British Association lor the'
Advancement 0/ Science .
The Books 0/C;harles Fort
between
Bibliographie Universelle
British Museum (?)
'~It is clear from the arrangement 'of the
. notes that he [Fon) was searching his
chronological arrang~nient and pluckipg
out specific notes fQr a future book"in
which he would refer to these data as .
opprobrious to the Scientists for their
odor, 'B 0', .. (The Fortean, #3, p. 14, C. 1)
Transactions 0/ the Bombay GeographiCal Sociiuy (l[?))
Bulletin 0/ thrt ~SeismolJ,raph'ic Society
o/America
Celestial Objects
Clinton County, Tennessee
Correspondent
Comptes Rendus
,
The Book of Ihe Damned, page 62
Journal des Debats
detonating meteor
.1
detonations
distant anille~y
Doctor Wanmann
extr!lordinary light
Fletcher's List
Fireball
Finley's Report
France
Gentleman'S Magaline
Greg 's Cat~/()gues ofMeteors
Graham's Island
Inferior conjunctipn
Italian Sounds .
Journal des Debats

(Conlinued from Pursuit No .. 62,

Second Quarter /983, page 96)

1831
Jan,2 I q 1.ltaly (Basilicata) I.BA
'II.

Jan 2 I 3 a.m. I Aerolite in village

of Mangapalnam, Cadapa:h,
India I

Pura.',142

Journal 0/ the Franklin Institute

Kingston, Mississippi
[?]
La Nature
La Science Pour Tous
. pounds
locus [?] of Meteors
London Times
Magaline 0/ Natural History
Magaline 0/ Popular Science (P[?))
Meteorite
.MeteorolC!gical Magaiine

Jour F Inst
.Kingston, Miss
\
l-:
laNat
la Sci Pour TQus
lbs
Loco Met
IT
MaS of Nat. Hist
Mag. Pop Sci (P)
Metite
Met Mag
J:lIet train
MNo~icCs
Mts
NoM.
NorN.W.
N.Reg
NS:,,,
N.Y.
ob.
Obs.
Oh
OpMars
p.
phe.
Phil Trans.
Polt
q's
R.A.
RecSci
Rept B.A.

I 1~ [Reverse side)
Sch
Soundphe
spon. gen.
suI-fog
Switz
vol ..
volc
.. W.Indies
: wid ..
YB

YRA '.
++

m~eortrain

Monthly Notic,es 0/ the

nomicatSociety.
Mountains
No More
North of Northwest
Niles' Weekly Register
New Series
New York
'.
observation
Observatory
[?]
Opposition of Mars .
page
phenomena
Phil~ophical Trans,!ctions
Poltergeist
earthquakes
Right Ascension '
Recreative Science
Report oj Ihe British Association lor
A d)lancement 0/ Sc,ience
probably not related
Schomburgk
Sound phenomena.
spontaneous generation
sulphurous fog
Switzerland
volume
volcano
Westln~ies

wild
Year Book 0/ Facls
library call letters

. [Revcrse side) Trans Bombay Geog

Soc 9/199.
Jan 7 1 A I France I ~.J.S. 20/396.
Jan. 7 I Auroral phe? 1 Ger~any I
Nalure 27-297.
Jan 12 I Berlin I F. ball I.B~ '60.
[1831 Jan 13) Disap I Extraord 1
LT, 1831, Jim 132f..
. ..
Jan 28./ Gotha 1 F. ball I BA 60.

Feb. 121 Solar eclipse I A. J. Sci.

.22-189.
Fe" 19 to 25 I Etna 1 BA '54/224.
Ap I~ 1 '22 May 19, 1806. I
Reported by a sea captain at 0 0 22 '
Sand
[Reverse side] 23 0 27' W. I rumbling sound and sharp siock to
vesSel.

Ai>. 13 1 Shocks I. Armenia

Sweden 1 Auslria 1 See mile, 151
1 BA II. .
May / 2nd allack on K H~.user.
[~CF,

pp. 70.3710 1 See

1828.)
May 7 I Hail 1 3 inches
cumference I Ohio, Ky."/
Register, 2151.

. Third Quarter 1

May 7 I Tornado I S. Car. I Niles

Register, 21st.
May 13 I Vouille (Vienne) I
. stonefall I C.R. 581226 I (F) I
Poitiers, ac tl? F.
,
May 13 I Particulars I Metite I
Vouille (Vienne) I particulars.
[Reverse side] La S. P. Tous 9-93,
May 26 I 11:18 a.m. I Shm;.ks,
Genoese Coast (llaly) II II: I 5 a.m.
I Marseilles 11/ BA 54.
May 26 I II Sounds I San Remo I
Sound phe I See 1816.
May 13 I B.M. I Fletcher i Metite I
Ap. 13, 1831 I Vouille, France /
May 13, 1831 I F.
June II I Clinton Co., Tenn'! Tor
nado I Finley's Rept.
June 28 I 5 p.m, I shocks I Sicily I
BA 54,
June 28 to July 2 I (to Oct the effects) II Submarine volc berore ap.
of island of Ferninandea. Then in
creased activity. Said that the
volcanic materials
[Reverse side) formed the island. I
At Palermo the haze noticed July
23, 24, 25, and again Aug 4, 5, 6.
Upon Aug 8, the sun was whitish
blue and there were afterglows.
Then, 5 dates in Aug. and 3 in Sept
[Front side] and 2 in Oct,
afterglows noted at Palermo. I
C.R. 102-1061.
July 2 I -- Sicily II 13 .- Parma II
14 -- Parma II shocks III BA 54. .
July 5 I Cannonading heard at
Schmaleninken. Auributed to
[Reverse side] a bailie between
General Gielgud agains[1] Tolstoy
and Rennenkampt. I Jour des
.
Deb., 20-2-1 I
[Front side] Not heard on the 6th. I
War between Poland and Russia
--in Deb. 17-1-3, said that Gielgud
was on 5th "Au dela de Memel.
July 9 I G's island I See Jan 3,
Ili32 .
July 9 I The new island I Niles'
Register (*DA), vol 41, p. 71, 77,
327,438.
July 9 I .Grahams Island -- see
Lyell's Principles of Geology.
July 9 I Ship Crawford, 16 miles
from Sicily -- submarine volc eruption. I Niles Register, Sept 24 I
New Island seen next day from
another vessel (N. Reg, Oct I). I
See Jan 3, 1832.
July 13 I The New Island -Graham Island, southern shore of
[Reverse side) Sicily I Phil Trans.
1832-237 I was first seen on 13th I
was a volcanic crater.
July 14 I Many shocks, Murray
Bay, Gulf of SI. Lawrence. .
[Reverse side] Preceded by subterranean noise which seemed to come
frm N or N.W. I BA 54.
July 15 I Clermont, etc. 14 p.m. I
tremendous storm I great fall
[Reverse side) of hail I Sheep swept
away by torrents. I Jour des 'Deb,
July 19.

Third Quarter 1983

. July 18 I q's I June and July I 11

[Medium) I BA I I Sciacca (Girgenti).
.
July 18 I Poitiers, Frilnce I stone
weighing 40 Ibs I Greg asks whether
May 13. ( (See.) I BA 60.
July 18 I Tuscany I "A.meteoric
detonation in air?" BA 54.
July 18 I (q) I Foligno, Tuscany,
lIal(y] I Metite. I BA '60 I See May
Hi, '34.
July 20 I Cayuga Co., N. Y:, I To':nado I Finley's Rept.
July 27 I (Fr) I Besancon (Doubs) I
qs and explosiv[e) sounds l BA '54
or '60.
July 27, 28, 29 I Celebration in
Paris I Cannon fire, etc. I J. des
Deb 261-3.
.
July 28 I (Fr) I Vouille I MJtite and
3 dets: I BA 671416.
August I Month of lurid sunsets,
Malta and Sicily, allrib to
[Reverse si!le) dust from the new
volcano of Graham Islan.d. I Phil
Trans 1832-252.
Aug I Blue sun I See Oct. 12.
Aug 4 I A "waterspout" burst
upon the Clidagh Mts (Kerry),
Ireland. A nood 15 feet deep and
900 wide poured .
. .
[Re~erse side] down. Not said any
waterspout seen. I Gents Mag
101121168.
Aug 14 I Shock near Naples while
Vesuvius in eruption I BA 54~
Aug 17 I Sat., Sun and Monday
before II At Mobile I bluish or
greenish sun. - .
[Reverse side) Mornings and bet 5
and 6 p.m. I Am J. Sci 21/198.
Aug 31 ". Africa II 9-- Russia and_
F..rance II 10 ,- Paris II 15 -. New
York 11.31 -"- China III fog like the
Siberian I La.Sci Pour Tous 19158
I See May, 1822.
Aug 12 I At Philadelphia, for a
long time after sunset, "the
Western heavens seemed like one
vast sea of crimson name, lit up by
some invisible agent." Then not a
star to be seen but the moon was
visible, "green and ghastly."
[Reverse side) The same
phenomenon at New York and "by
many allributed to burning
meadows in the direction of
Newark. I N.Y. American, Aug 16,
'31. Aug 3 I Blue sun I Bermuda I YB
'411267 II Upon the 11th, great.q
and hurricane throughout
[Reverse side) West Indies not
Bermuda. I BA 'II II At Barbadoes -- Hurricane, q and volcanic
eruption. 3000 persons perished. I
BA 54.
.
Aug'31 La Sci Pour"Tous 15-58 -- a
dry fog was first observed upon
coast of.Africa: 19 -- Odessa and
central France! I 10 -- Paris I 15
--New York I end month -- Canton,
China II Said that" the most extraordinary thing was that this

'smoke or dry fog

q and volc. eruption. 3000 persons
perished. I Rept. B.A., 1854-226.
~everse. side) seemed to disappear
'in! 'part with the selling of the sun
Aug II I Blue sun at Bermuda. I
!l!1d to return at sunrise -- nights Said that early in August, blue sun
.very clear and stars very visible
for some days in
--that some fog remained and was -(Reverse side) succession along the
phosphorescent and !,ppeared to
Atlantic Coast. I Jour F. Inst
occupy the higher regions of the at3/1157.
mosphere.
.
Aug 12 I Sun as seen at Alexandria
Aug 3 I A~ to M. Arago, in "The
I Va? I Niles Weekly Register, Oct.
Comet" (p. 13 of translation), on
1,1831, p. 96.
coast of Africa, sun not visible until
Sept - Oct I China I qs I II
15 or 20 degrees above horizon.
[Medium) I BA 'II.
"At night, the -sky sometimes
Sepl.
6 - Nov. I I Wartmann's
becaine clear; and even the stars
planet I C.R. 21307 I (3) Planetary
were
object observed ac. Dr Wand his
[R~verse side) visible. This last cirassistants
cumstance, so worthy of remark,1
(Reverse side] at Geneva.
have received from M. Berard, one
of the best informed officers of the. (BCF, pp. 412-413 I See July 31,
French Navy.
1826.)
Aug 9, etc. I Nothing in Jour des
Sept. 9 I See May 26, '08. I WesseDebats..
Iy, Moravia, Austria I Metite I (F).
Aug 10 I W. indies I Great hurSept 10 I From 10th, water in wells
ricane and "innumerable fireballs"
at Parma was troubled. I BA 54.
1/11. J. Sci 36-1741
Sept II I Italy I Parma and
[Reverse side] At Barbadoes, ac to
Modena I q I I (Light) I BA 'II.
another quotation.
Sept 12, 13 I Other shocks I Parma
Aug 10 I Barbadoes I Evening of
to Venice I BA 54.
the, lOih, clouds cOllel!ting in deep
masses and then nying away "with
Oct to Feb., 1832 I qs in Perugia,
a rapidity of motion almost incrediItaly I 11 I (Medium I BA 1911).
ble" until 9 p.m. Then calm -- then
0111. 8 10 h I Venus I Inf conjuncat 10:30 wind'again ~ith increasing
tion I (A I) ..
violence until
Oct
9 I Peru I 11 I (Medium quake
[Revers~ side) 5 a.m. of the 11th
I BA 1911).
(this was the hurricane). I N. Y.
Oct 12 I Red lights in sky long after
American, Sept. 5 I There is no
sunsel. I Oct. 13 .- sun silvery at
volcanic eruption mentioned.
noo~,
"Hollow subterranean noises were
(Reverse si?e] and between 3 ,and 4
also heard and some imagine we
p,m. greenish blue. { Nature 30-32.
were visited by an earthquake." II
On 12th in St. Domingo many lives
Oct 20 I Wirtemberg I Meteor I BA
lost -- ocean rose and nooded
54.
towns. I American, Sept 13 II
Oct 31 until Jan 13, 1832 I (It) I
[Second page] Hurricane. reached. Frequent concussions in Umbria. I
New Orleans on 16th and 17th. I
(See 1805.) I Upon Jan 13, 1832, q
Amer _. Sept 15 I Cuba on 13th. If
and a fall of muddy water?
it was all
. one.
.
Oct 27 to Jan 13, 1832 I (It) I
Aug 10 I Sch I night I Hurricane I
Sounds. I Umbria I See 1816.
Barbadoes I (Schomburgk, History
-Nov
12 I Mets I A, J. Sci 30-374.
of Barbadoes, page 53) _ I
Nov. 12 - 13 I Remarkable fall of
Mor[n]ing, all trees blown lea ness I
mets I Capt. Bernard, off coast of
Thunder and lightning, "more like
Spain I Dr. Miglet iri Ohio I Mag.
sheets of fire. "
Pop Sci (P) 3/62 I (Arago).
[Reverse side) Extreme redness of
the sky on ev[en)ing of the 9th
Nov 13 I Bruneck I F. ball I BA 54.
_"At one time the whole atNov 13 I Kioto, Japan I 11 I
mosphere presented the appearance
(Medium quake I BA 1911].
of livid name." Overpowering sulNov. 13 I N. of Spain I Large
ph!lrous odor. Then "fiery meteors
fireball I BA 54.
were seen falling from the heavens.
[Second page) Next morning 12 I Nov 17 I Sweden I q in a tempest
and ext. light in northern horizon
vessels high inland. Debris and
and great detonation I
heads, hands, and feet of the dead.
[Reverse side) C.R. 17-622.
I No volcano.
Nov 17 I Sweden 16: 15 a.m. I (q) I
Aug II I W. Indies I q I III
Swardsjo, near Fahlun. -- storm
(Heavy!' I and hurricane I [BA
--detonati(on) I light in sky I BA
1911).
'54.
Aug II I Bermuda I Said sunlight
Nov. 26 I Soge I Fireball I [BA)
been peculiar on 10th. On 11th -'60.
.
(Reverse side] dark from early
Nov. 26 I Aerolite? I See Nov. 29,
morning. I Rept B.A., 1840-11.
1809.
Aug II I from 2:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. I
Nov. 291 Hildburghausen I Met =
Hurricane I West Indies I
(Reverse side] Barbadoes hurricane, . moon, rose in W. I BA 60.

Pursui,143

Nov. 29/ Thuringerwald / Severe' q

and met / BA '54 /0-228,.,
[BCF, pp. 240-241 / See Aug. 7,
1804.]
Dec 3 / 7:50 p.m, / Trinidad /
unbearable heat / violent q /
followed by lieavy showers of rain /
BA 54.
.
Dec 3 / Trinidad and St
Christopher, W. Indies / 11 /
[Medium quake / BA 1911].
Dec 8' / Bath and Herefordshire /
large met / daylight / BA 60.

, 1832
Jan 2 / Bordeaux / F. ball'/ [BA]
'60 / N.E. to S.W.
Jan 3 / Where Graham's Island (see
July 9, 1831) had been, was playing
a column of water, boiling 10 to 30
feet high. /
[Reverse side] Niles Reg,ister,
March 31; 1832.
ab Jan 12/ Volc / Hawaii / Am J.
Sci 25-201.
Jan 13 / Foligno, etc" Italy /
violent q preceded and followed by
violent rain and hail/See 27th, /
[Reverse side] BA 54.
Jan 16 / Vole / Goentoes / Java /
C.R. 70-878.
.
,
Jan 2Z / Central Asia I. III / [Heavy
quake / BA 1911].
Jan 23 / Zurich / Fireball / BA 60.
Jan 27 / at Foligno / Another slight
shock preceded by detonation in
air, / BA 54 / See Jan 13.
Feb 7 / Lavenberg / Fireball / BA
60.
Feb 16/ Vesuvius, which had been
quiet since beginning of year j
smok~ and stones on 20th -- continuing to end of Mardi /
[Reverse side] BA 541230,
Feb 21/ N.W: India / III / [Heavy
quake / BA 1911].
Feb. 21 / Naples and neighborhood
/ I / [Light quake / BA 1911].,
March / Combustible yellowish
substance / Kourianof, Russia /
0-62.
[BCF, p. 63:

Annual Register, 1832-447:

That, March; 1832, tliere f~lI, in
the fields of Kourianof, Russia, a
combustible yellowish substance,
, covering .. at least two inches thick,
an area of 600 or 700 square feet. It
was resinous and yellowish; so one
inclines to the conventional explanation that ;t was, pollen from
pine trees -- but, when torn, it had
the tenacity of cotton. When placed
in water, it had the consistency of
resin. "This resin had the color of
amber, was elastic; like India rubber', and smelled like prepared oil'
mixed wilh wax. "] ,
March 7 / Cutro, Calabria / Large,
det. met. / BA 60.
March 7 / (It) / Met a,nd del/on
8th, big q / Calabria / BA 54.
March 7 / (It) / Cutro, Calabria /
det. met. / B.A., '60.

Pur it 144

March 8 / CUlro, Calabria, "completely' destroyed" by a q, / BA

541231. '
Mar~h 8 / Cotrone and Calabria,
Italy i 111 / [Heavy quake / BA
1911).
March 8 { Aftc;r 7 p.m" ,q.
Calabria. "On the 7th a luminous
meteor was observed 'at Po- ,
. [Reverse side) tenza, which lasted,
nearly a minute and was followed
by ail explosion'like that of a cannon. I BA ,54.
March 8 /(It) / Calabria I ~eteors
-- hot' water from' fissures '!
sulphurous odor / See 1805.
Feb, to Ap, etc.) / (,+) / Ret:ipro~al
voks I mets / q's / Feb, to Ap, etc.,
1832. '
March and April"l (It) / Sounds /
Calabria / Sounds like cannonading / supposed b~ subterranean I See 1816.
March 13 / (It) 1 It / Meteors and
flashes and qs / Parma'/ See 1805.
[Reverse side) and reddish tini in
'sky before (avant) and during the q
/ See 1805; / but p. 357. '
March 181. [LT), 4-& / q. / Crieff /
. in Index / but 18th is Sunday.
March 22 /'Goethe dying / Lewe's
l:ife of Goethe, copied.in ReligioPhilosophical Journal, March 16,
1872, YRA -- a whistling sound
heard, and + +
,
[Reverse side) sounds as if of chopping wood -- then loud tramping
sounds, Story of a spirit that app~ared, sang, vanished. "
March 31 ! Irkutsk .I B Assoc
'54/232.
Ap. II/Oil / Wolokalamsk",
Holland / (0-63).
[BCF, p. 64:
As to other falls, or another fall,
it is said in the Amer. Jour. $ci.,
1-28-361, that, April 11, 1832
--about a month after the fall of the
substance of Kourianof' -- fell, a
substance that was wine-yellow,
transparent, soft, and smelling like
rancid oil. M. Herman, a chemist
who examined it, named it "sky
oil." For analysis and chemic reactions, see the Journai. The ,Edin-

burgh New Philosophical Journal,

13-368, mentions an "unctuous"
substance that fell near Rotterdam,
in 1832, In f:omptes Rendus,
13-215, there is an account of an
oily, reddish matter that fell at
Genoa, February, 1841.)
Ap 11 / Tirkut,' India / Fireball /
BA60.
May / Luminous spot on Mercury
in transit / M Notices 38/338.
May 7 / Kingston, Miss I afternoon
/ "Terribly destructive tornado /
Finley's Rept.
,
[May 5) / A Vulcan by Fischer /
Cosmos NS 42/467 / (n9 more) /
(3) / '

..

[Reverse side) CR 83-719.

[BCF, p. 340 i See Nov, 9, 1802.)

May 5 / Transit Mercury / Obs.

'be no commonplace expl!lnat
29/416.
for such spectacles, or they
have occurred oftener; __ .. __ .L_' __
May 20 1 Bengal, India / Fireball /
the Mare Crisium is a wide,
'
N. to S, / BA 60.
region, and' at times there may
May 31 / Riga / Fireball / B.A., 60.
been uncommon percolations
May and Julie / BO / Hosts of mice
sunlight, and I shall list no more
appeared in fields or' Invernessthese interesting events that seem
shire,and Ross-shire. So'man'y that
me to have been like carnivals
foxes, with a great new supply of
the moon.)
food, stopped their ordinary
depredations.
,
July 23 / Vesuvius had been
[Reverse side] They were brown,
since about beginning of
with white ring around neck, a'nd
Greatest eru'ption July 23
tail tipped with white. Cor to Mag
[Reverse side) and continued
29th. ( Arc. Sci 1833/253,
of Nat. 'Hist 7-182 wrote t"at he
had seen several specimens and that
July 23 / Tremendous erupti[on)
tben he could find 'no mention in , Vesuvius / to Aug 16, 1 BA 54 /
books.'
,
[Reverse side) LT, Sept 3-3-a,
[BCF, pp. 592-593:
July 23 i volc and rain / Erupt'
In May, 1832, mice appeared in
Vesuvius, On '24th, "
the fields of Inverness-shire, , storm and hurricane. / LT,
Scotland. They were in numbers so
3-~'-a.
'
great that foxes turned from their
Juiy 23'- Aug 16. / again on Sept
ordina~y ways of making a living
'/ / Vesuvius / 23 to 16 -and caught mice. It is my expresdous / BA' 54-233.
sion thanhese mice may have arrived'in Scotland, by way of neither
July 24 / Meerut, India I,
land nor sea. If they were little
dazzling ineteor i BA 60,
known in Great Britain', the occurJuly 29 / Jersey / Rumbling
re'nce of such multitudes is
'and vibrations / [London
Aug 3-3-b .
mysterious. If they were unknown
in Great Britain, this datum'
Aug / An R:eg, 32-448 / That,. in
becomes more interesting. They'
time of extraordinary
were brown; white rings around
't~ough in a rather damp plain
Lake Geneva fire took place in
necks; tails tipped with' whjte. In
the'Maga1.ine of Natut:ill History,
,c~metery Plain' Palais, at
7-182, a correspondent wr,ite"s'that - in high grass on the graves
he had examined specimens, and, cypress trees attrib to spon, gen.
had not 'been able to find them
Aug 4/ q. 18:30 a,m, / Cheshire
mentioned in any book.) ,',.
[London Times) 7+3.
June 20' / (List) q / Mauna Lo~ /
Aug 8 1 ~ole I Goentoes( Java
List in Bull Seis Soc, Amer 5-46 / A
N.M. 1 C.R. 70-878.
J Sci 25/20 I.
Aug 13 1 Vole/ Goentoes, Java
June 23 / 3 luminous things or
C.R. 70-878.
meteors that rose from the
Sept. 3 / [L.T,), 3-a: / Vesuvius /
Ijoriz[ori) and united. / Delhi, India
29-3-b / a volc island.
/ Archives des Descouvertes
Sept. 4 / II :45 p.m. 1
1833/19'1
meteor / Bury St. Edmunds /
[Reverse sid~) See Nov. 13. / Rec
Nat Hist 6-77.
Sci 1/136 / B. 'Assoc 1850-120 /
Sept 16 / Vesul(ius again / BA
(/833).
June 28 / Cape Verde Islands / Fall
Oct 6 1 -- Berlin / 12 or 13 -of 'greyish brown ashes, with a
logne I. 13.-- Ulm / 14 -- Tyrol
slightly
124 -- Grunewald / 20 -- Bonn
Fireballs. 1 B.A., 1854,///
[Reverse side) sulphuric odor. /
. Tasmanian Journal 1-333.
[Reverse side) 1832'./ March IS
Berlin' / Fireball'/ BA 60.
June 29 / II. p.m. / Great met. in
Wiltshire, etc, -- illuminated like
Oct 14 / Tyrol/met train 1 B.
'daylight / Arc. Sci:, 1833-761.
'60.
Oct 19 ( England / Fireball 1_
June 29 1 Plymouth and Brest /
Me!eor / BA 60.
60.
,
July 4 / by Webb -- Mare Crisium
Oct 3 t ( Oreat eruption of
speckled with minute dots a[nd)
--not cease till Dc;c, / BA '54,
streaks of light / Astro Reg 20/165
Nov, / Formosa / III /
1 [Reverse side) Webb, Cel. Objs., quake / BA 1911),
p.89.
Nov. / See May 19,
Reported by a sea captain, at 0 0 22
[BCF, pp. 397-398:
'S, and 21 0 15' W,
For Webb's account of a brilliant
[Reverse side] concussion as if
display of minute dots and streaks
struck a reef.
'
of light,. in the' Mare Crisium, July
Nov.
/
All
northern?
Mets seen
4, ~832, seeAstro. Reg., 20-165. I
Pernambuco, / BA 50-131.,
have records of half a dozen similar
illuminations here, in about 120
years, all of .them when the Mare
Crisium was in darkness. There can

Third.Quarter 1

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265,'Uttle Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
GOVERNING BOARD
Robert C. Warth, President; Gregory Arend, Vice-President; Nancy L. Warth, Secretary
and Treasurer; Tr:ustees: Gregory Arend, Donald DeLue, pro. tem., Steven N. Mayne,
Nancy L. Warth, Robert C. Warth, Martin Wiegler, Albena Zwerver.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. George A. Agogino, Director of Anthropology Museums and Director, Paleo-Indian
Institute, Eastern New Mexico University (Archeology)
Dr. Carl H. Delacato, Director, The Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Beain InJured, Morton~ Pa. (Mentalogy)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, DirectQr, Undhelmer Astronomical Research Center, Northwestern
University (Astronomy)
,
Dr. Martin Kruskal, Program In Applied Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton,
New Jersey (Mathematics)
,
Dr. Samuel B. McDowell, Professor of Biology, Rutgers the State University, Newark,
New Jersey (General Biology)
,
Dr. Vladimir Markotlc, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Archaeology, University of Alberta, Canada (Ethnosociology and Ethnology)
Dr. John R. Napier, Unit of Primate Biology, Queen Elizabeth College, University of
London, England (Physical Anthropology)
Dr. Michael A. PerSinger, Professor, Department of Psychology, Laurentian University,
"
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (Psychology)
,
"
Dr. Frank B. Salisbury, Plant Science DePartment, College of Agriculture, Utah State
University (Plant Physiology)
,
Dr. Berthold Eric Schwarz, Consultant, National Institute for Rehabilitation Engineering, Vero Beach, florida (Mental Sciences)
,
Dr. Roger W. Wescott, Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew
University, Madison, N.J. (Cultural Anthropology and Unguistics)
Dr. A. Joseph Wraight, Chief Geographer, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D.C. (Geography and Oceanography)
Dr. Robert K. Zuck, Professor and Chairman, Depart~ent of Botany, Drew University,
,
Madison, N.J. (Botany)
ORIGINS OF SITU/PURSUIT
Zoologist, biologist, botanist and geologist Ivan T. Sanderson, F.L.S., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., In association
with a number of other distinguished authors, established in 1965 a "foundation" for the exposition and
research of the paranormal-those "disquieting mysteries of the natural world" to which 'they had devoted
much of their Investigative Ufetimes.
As a means of persuading other profesSionals, and non-professionals having interests similar to their
own, to enlist In an uncommon cause, the steering group decided to pubUsh a newsletter. The first issue
came out In May 1967. The response, though not overwhelming, was su8lcient to reassure the founding
fathers that public Interest in the what, why and where of their work would Indeed survive them.
Newsletter No.2, dated March 1968, announced new plans for the Sande~n foundation: a structure
larger than Its architects had first envisioned was to be built upon it, the whole to be called the Society for
the Investigation of The Unexplained, as set forth in documents 61ed with the New Jersey Secretary of
State. The choice of name was prophetic, for Dr. Sanderson titled one of the last of his twodozen books
"Investigating the Unexplained," published in 1972 and dedicated to the Society.
Another pubUcation was issued in June 1968, but "newsletter" was now a subtitle; above it the name
Pursuit was displayed for the first time. Vol. 1, No. 4 in September 1968 ("incorporating the fourth Society
newsletter") noted that "the abbreviation SITU has now been formally adopted as the designation of our
Society." Issue number 4 moreover introcluced the Seienti8c Advisory Board, listing the names and alliliations,
of the advisors. Administrative matters no longer dominated the contents; these were relegated to the last
four of the twenty pages. Most of the issue was given over to investigative reporting on phenomena such as
"a great armadillo (6 feet long, 3 feet high) said to have been captured in Argentina" -the instant transportation of solid objects '"&om one place to another and even through solids" -the attack on the famed
University of Colorado UFO Project headed by Dr. Edward U. Condon-and some updated Information
about "ringing rocks" and "stone spheres."
Thus SITU was born, and thus Pursuit began to chronicle our Investigation of The Unexplained.

Printed in U.S.A.

ISSN 0033-4685

". . . the scientist is wiser not to withhold

a single finding or a single conjecture
from publicity. " -J. W. VON GOETHE

4Sc ience is the Pursuit of the Unexplained'

Nikola Tesla, seated in his Colorado research station, keeps on

reading as 12 million volts of electricity surge overhead in one of
his early demonstrations of "man-made lightning." See page 176.
Journal of SITU
The
Society for the
Investigation of
The

Volume 16
Number 4
Whole 64
Fourth Quarter
1983

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail:SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, little Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
SITU (pronounced sit' - you) is a Latin word meaning "place." SITU is also an acronym referring
to THE SOCIElY FOR mE INVESTIGATION OF ntE UNEXPlAINED.
SITU exists for the purpose of collecting data on unexplaineds, promoting proper investigation
of individual reports and general subjects, and reporting significant data to its members. The
Society studies unexplailled events a"d "things" .of a tangible nature that orthodox science, for
one reason or another, does n~t .or w~.I .. not:studY.
. ~.
.
You don't have to be a professional' or even an amateur scientist to join SITU.

MEMBERSHIP
Membership is for the calendar year, January-December: in the United States, $12 for one year; $23 for
two years; $33 for three years. Membership in other countries is subject to surcharge, to cover higher cost of
mailing. Amount of surcharge, which varies according to region, will be quoted in response to individual request. Members receive the Society's quarterly journal Pursuit plus any special SITU publications for the year
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IMPORTANT NOTICES
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PUBLICATION.
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Reduced-rate subscriptions to Pursuit, without membership benefits, are available to public libraries and
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proposed use, directed to. SITU/PURSUIT at the post office box address printed at the top of this page.

.-

THE QUARTERLY
JOURNAL OF THE
.

rSUJt

ISOCIETY FOR THE

INVESTIGATION OF-

THE
UNEXPLAINED

'SCIENCE IS THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'

Contents

-Now It's Tesla's Turn

Page

A Histo!ic Breakthrough
by George Andrews
My Fortean Vacation - A Comprehensive Repo~ .
on a UFO Sighting
by Christopher W. Pepo .
Earth Chronicles and the Giza Forgery
by Zecharia Sitchin
Unidentified Areas of Obfuscation
by Eugenia Macer-Story
The Sociology Of Haunting Investigation
by James McCI~non
Ghosts in Caves?
by Gene Gardner
Geological Evidences of Noah's Flood (Part II)
by Evan Hansen
.
Stoned on Annie Taylor
by Dwight Whalen
.
A Particle-Energy Theory for the Kirlian Phantom-Leaf
Effect and Spontaneous Human Combustion (
.
by Michael Baran
Crows, Dolphins, and Hailstones - Comments on
Previous SITUations Reports
by George Sassoon
The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla
.by E. J. Quinby
Comments on the New Tesla Electromagnetics (Part II)
by T. E. Bearden

150
156
158
161
163
171

173
175
176
180

188
"E.~.

Law")

Cover: l?Ol photograph of Tesla in his

"lightning laboratory," reprinted by pennission
from Radio-Electronics magazine
.

147

183
186

SITUations

Books Reviewed
The Notes of Charles Fort
. Deciphered by Carl ~. Pabst
Thank You, Senator Specter!
(Letter from .NASA explaining the

14.6

192

You may have asked yourself, "Why

is it that we, a so-called Fortean organization, seem to give Nikola Tesla, the scientist and inventive genius, more attention
than Charles Fort did?" After all, Fort
. and Tesla were contemporaries, and they
carried on their investigations just afew
hundred feet..Jrom each other in New York
City for perhaps a decade.
Tesla had his fourth New York
laboratory on the comer of Fifth Avenue
and 40th Street - directly across from the
main Public Library where Fort toiled for
years until his eyes dimmed and he had
to suspend his research in order to save
what remained of his sight. .
During the same periOd, Tesla and his
secretary frequented the library reference
rooms. While we may assume that Fort
and Tesla were casually acquainted, if
only to exchange a nod or a smile while
passing in the hall, there is no evidence
that the two men ever "met" to chat informally or exchange views. To the best
of our knowledge, Tesla's name appears
in only one place in the published works
of Charles Fort. In chapter 32 of his book
. New Lands, Fort mentions' 'Tesla, " not
the "Mr. N. Tesla" or the "Nikola
Tesla" that would come more naturally
to Fort's peculiar journalistic style. The
lapse was no discourtesy but simply
reflectecl common knowledge. Readers of
1923, when the book was published,
knew "Tesla" as people today "know"
Einstein.
Both Fort and Tesla paid the usual high
.price of nonconformity. Their concepts
\yere ridiculed and their ideas mostly ignored, especially in their l~!ler years.
Tesla's early suceesses were forgotten and
(Continued on page 149)

Pursuit V~1. 16, No.4. Whole No. 64, Founh Quaner 1983. Copyright 1983 by The .~iety for the Investigation of !he Unexplained, ISSN 0033-4685. No
pan of !his periodical may be reproduced without !h.e. written consent of !he Society. Roben C. Wanh, Publisher; Frederick S. Wilson, Production Editor; Manin
.
Wiegier. Consulting EditQr; Charles Berlitz. Rese~rch Editor and OCeanographic C o n s u l t a n t . .

A HISTORIC BREAKTHROUGH
..

'

'

..

b.y George .Andr~w~

.
..'
.
.
French authorities recently released the details of a UFO "landing case which provides irrefutable
hard scientific evidence that.. UFOs are physically reaJ objec,ts, that they cannot be explained: away .
in tenns of "earth lights", (piez~electric ph~nomena generated by subterranean stress), and that they
are not from this' planet.
.
.
\

. Trans-en-Provence is a little villiige

The police ~olle<;ted samples of spil and
near Avignon. The incident took place
vegetation along a straight line tfiropgh. the
at 5: 10 p.m. on January 8, 198L
impact site. writing o~ each ~mple its.
rJ\.~"""LU Nicolai, age 55, a retired maSon
distance from the impact site. Upon their
who is. now a farmer, saw a strange "ir-
return'to Draguignan, .they transmitted
land in his garden, where it remai'noo
their repOrt and the samples to GEPAN
for about one minute. It then-took off and
(GrouP. for the Study of Unidentified
disappeared over the horizon.
. Aerial and Space Phenomena) which is a
. Mr. Nicolai thought th!lt it was probbranch of CNRS (National Center for
ably some sort of experimenW craft beSpace Research, the French equivalent of
ing tried out by the French Air Force, as
NASA). GEPAN passed the samples on.
he lives near the Canjuers base.: He did
to the INRA (National Institute of
not believe in flying saucers. That evenAgricultural Research) aQd several "Other
ing he described what he had seen to his
government research institutes for
.wife Jeanne, age 52, when she got home . analysis. GE.PAN personneI visited the
from work. The next morning she went
site to take further .samples on two subse-with him to look at the markings on the
quent occasions.
'ground, then. told a neighbor about the inOn June 17" 19~3, after two and a half
Cident. The frightened neighbor informyears' of analysis,\ a bulky preliminary
~d the police.
report-which assembled data from the dif1 A contingent of the braguignan police'
, ferent laboratories Was turned in. Other
came to Mr. Nicolai's farm. He describexaminations have been conducted since
f:d the craft to them as approximately 6 then. The results are only now beginning
. feet in height and 71h feet in diameter.
to be made public, . .
The color was a dull gray, like that of
Government scientists attribute the ci;~
lead. The shape was flat and circular;
cular outline to a soil fracture caused by
bulging sligbtly above and below. The . the combined action of strong .mechanical
craft rested on smail tele~ic legs. There
pressure and heat of about 600 (about
11000 F.).
was ho light, and no smoke or flames.
Dr. Bounias, Director of the. Biohemical
There was no sound except for a faint
Laboratory at INRA, personally .took
whistling. It first appeared at a distance
charge' of the examination of the. plant
of about ISO feet, like a
ofstone falling. However, it came down lightly on the
specimens. He:carried "Out the analy~s in
ground. He approached. it, and could
the most rigorous fash~on possible. first
he established samples from plants of~e.
~learl.y see the craft. He had adv~nced
about thirty paces towafd it, when it took . same species (alfalfa) taken at different
off at very high speed. When he saw the
distances frorp the point of impact. Then
object from beneath, it was round and,had
he and his assistants meticulousiy analyJour portholes.
.
sed the photosynthetic pigments (such as
. The police reported that there was a cir;..
carotene, chlorophyU and xantophyle), the
cular outline about half to th~-quarters
glucid~s, the amino acids, and other conof an inch deep and 7 % feet in diameter,
stituents. He found differences sufficientwith skid marks at two places. The site
ly important that the statistical signihad the appearance o( a circUlar stain, beficance of the results is irrefutable. Cering ~er in color than its sunoundings.
tain substances which were present in the

mass

Summarized from articles in Liberation (Paris), ,Nov. 14, 1983 and France-Soir (Paris), Nov.
19, 1983 by Jean-,Yves CBIgha, and Jan. 4, 1984 by Fmncois Cam:; tIanslation and summary
~ George Andrews.

close-range samples were not present in

those taken t'\lrther away, and vice versa.
The biochemical trauma revealed by examination of the leaves diminished as the
distance from the UFO impact site increased. Some of the plants had been
dehydrated, but were not burnt or carbonized. The following year, control
samples were taken from the site, which
confirmed the changes made in the
\.:egeta~ion.

After completing the analyses, Dr.

Bounias made this formal statement: "We
worked on very young leaves. T~ey all
had the anatomic 'a!1d physiologic
characteristics of their age. However, they
had the biochemical characteristics of advanced senescence (old age)! This bears
no reSemblanceto anything known to exist on our planet." Dr. Bounias refused
to speculate about the cause for the strange
facts he had established, or to propose any
explanatio~ at all for' them.
Professor Jean-Pierre Petit is a -researcher' at the National Center for Space
Research who specializes in the study of
magnetohydrodynamics, and who. dOes
not share Dr. Bounias's inhibitions. Professor Petit has been investigating UFO
phenomena for twenty years. He declared
thai he would gladly exchange all research
previously carried out during two decades
. for this one case because of the quality of
the. evidence involved. He stated
:categorically: "this is the first UFO case
I lqJ.ow of which is scientifically accep. table. It is necessary to give serious.~on
. sideration to the hypothesis of 'space-Ship
of unk'nown origin' because o~t of all the
.. possible explanations, it is the one whicJt
fits best with ~ INRA laboratory results.
This space.sliip cannot be of terrestrial
origin. If such an aircraft existed on this
planet, we would know aJx>~t it. No one
on this planet knows how to make a craft
. capable of performing' like a UFO.
Therefore, all the indications are that they
come from el~where."
.~

'.

r.,..t

146

Foul'tla Quarter 1983

My .Forte... _Vacation
A 'CoDiprehenslve Report on
.

'

a UFO Sighting
.

by Christophel' W. Pepo
Drawings by tbe author,

I am writing this a few days after the

'event, from notes and sketches done at the
time, The date is August 5, 19~3. I'm on
the beach at Point Pleasant, New Jersey;
nearest street off the boardwalk is
Foreman A9.enue. This is approximately
the place where, in bright daylight on
Tuesday, August 2, my eight-year-old son .
and I saw two metallic-looking discs in
the sky.
.
Few people who don't know me will
believe the following, because I am not
a disinterested observer. I ama member
of INFO, SITU and the Intematiomil
Society ofCryptozoology (IFC); I am also
an illustrator of fantasy-related material,
some of which includes such subjects as
flying saucer's. Naturally, I can't let what
I saw go unrecorded, no matter how
suspect my motives may seem to s\(eptics
and fellow-Forteans alike.
Before beginning a detailed account of
this happening, I should first make clear
that I have read many books on Unidentified Flying. Objects and believe they
have indeed been observed, but it has
always been my opinion that the majoriNORTH
SAUCER DIRECTION ~
SOUTH
ty of reports - ~hose dealing with lights
. No visible exhaust trail .
and electromagnetic .effects - are caused by seismic piezoelectric activity, as
'the indigo horizon; one memorable bolt
chance, wasting precious seconds in an' atstudied and described by M.A. Persinger;
tempt to rationali?:e and '.'identify away"
sped from cloud to cloud, then do~nward
and the cases of objects that appear to be
an unknown,
.
.'
to the ocean.
more tangible are weather balloons or
Tuesday, August 2, the day of the
Saturday, July. 30, was the 4at~ of our
other misidentified man-made objects,
sighting, was sunny, the sky a cle!lI' blue,
. and that encounters with UFO folk are
~rrival in Point Pleasant for a week's
interrupted here and there by wispy puffs
vacation. It was to be our third summer
self-delusionary confab~lations or outright
of small c.louds, the sea filled with
at ':Canary Cottage,~' a small guest-house.
frauds. So, much as I'd like to, I still can't
conveniently located one block south of
jellyfish washed inshore by the: storm.
believe we're being visited by "ETs."
, Foreman Avenue and about lOO.feet off.
About 4:50 p.m., while my wife ~ent to
My primary reason for joining Fortean
the boardwalk. The next day, Sunday,
get some sodas andmy son continUed digoF'ganizations was an interest in crypwas- our first. day ~t the beach, but a peaging in the sand, I decided to take a sunt<koology, not UFOs; I belong to that
soup fog and much seaweed in the .surf . nap. The boy was busily shoveling abo\lt
group which endorses zoological'explanamade swimming unpleasant. On Monday,
tions for enigmatic-creature sightings, not
30 -feet inshore from the line of s4rf and
the arrival.of August was heralded by a
th~ ethereal speculations espoused by
I was sprawled out on our blanket, another
violent 'electrical storm; spectacular
many other Forteans. Generally speaking,
30 feet or so fuither inland. Lying on my
I classify myself as a cautious believer in
lightning flashes and thul!~erda.s affi~
baCk, feet toward the sea, I was:gazing
ed our decision to avoid the beach for yet
anomalous phenomena but a skeptic of
at the sky through a pair of pqlarized
most unorthodox theories which attempt
another day. One tremendous clap shook
glasses when I spotted two silver-white,
to explain them.lt was probably because
our cottage so hard as to set off the firemetallic-appearing, disc-shaped objects
of this attitude that I refrained from imand smoke-alarms. )'hat night" the storm
(see drawings). ,They were traveling noM
moved out to sea while we )vatched a
mediately taking a pi~re of the subject
to sOuth very slowly, approximately 20
vivid
lightning
display
backgrounded
by
sighting; I -missed a once-in-a-lifetime
d~g~~ above the ~orizon. (I es#mated
.
.

Fo.rtIa QuaneI' 1983

Pursu't 147

the elevation by segmenting the sky with

a pencil from horizon to verti<;ally
overhead. The twin objects appeared to
be about one-fifth the distance up from the.
ocean.)
f
I lay there watching them, bemused and
amused because I could plainly see their
disc-like shape and their slightly wobbling
motion. The lower object, just forward of
the other, intermittently showed a reddishblack underside, just as any saucer-shaped
object would' whenever its bottom tilted
away f!;Om the sun, ""hich at that time Of
day. was directly behind me.
. My first thought was that the objects
looked and behaved like all the "standard
daylight discs" I had read about, and they
probably were an escaped pair of those
silver, oval or lozenge-shaped balloons
that arnold on boardwalks everywhere.
These balloons seemed to be receding,
gaining altitude faster than they were
traveling southward. Then. as I watched
the two plainly discernible discs pass in
front of a smaJl cloud, my balloon theory
was instantly refuted on two counts:
- The wind, strong all day. was com.ing from the south. as indicated by the
brisk movme~t of clouds, so how could
a couple of light, helium-filled toys be
tra~eling against such, wind? Yet that's
what the two objects were doing.:
-As I-stood up, startled by this obser vation and hoping to get a better look, a
jet airliner (probably a Boeing 747, judging by the "big hump" up fro.nt) flew
diagonally across and under the lower .
disc, only partially obscuring it and making its size a lot bigger than any kid's
b81loon I ever saw. The visual comparison
was incredible: the disc's. apparent" '
diameter was about one half the jet's!
I called my son to come and watch with .
me. As we did, the two discs, now one
- 'half the size I first observed them to be,
disappeared into the cloud. By then I had
my camera O\lt, ready and waiting to snap
their reappearance. Neither one showed
again. The next. "appearance" was'
another jetliner which passed directly
through the same cloud; the conventional
craft looked to be about half again the size
(diameter) of either one of the vanished
discs. J. also noticed something which
looked like a star following the airliner;
the star-shaped object was visible for only a few' seconds as it paced the jet on ,a
northward course towani the New York'
airports. When'the cloud dissipated, no
visible evidence remained of the star or
the discs. I asked a woman nearby for the
time; it was 5:07 p.m. I estimate the'
whole sighting incident consu~ed between three and five minutes ..

Pursu't 148

NORTH

.... WIND DIRECTION

Light reflections from upper.surfaces of discs

SOUTH

NORTH'

Jet partially obscures lower disc

SOUTH _ .

Fourth Quart... 1983

We stayed on the beach for another

hour or so, ~bsetving seagulls, kites, and
prop and jet aircraft-of several kinds and
at various distances. None could be
mistaken for Jhose discs. If any reader is
interested in knowing more of what they
looked like~ I refer to a photograph in J.
Allen Hynek's book, The U.F.O. Experience, as picturing a disc very much

like the pair I saw, except the edges in my

sighting were rounded and did not cutve
out to a rim. Hynek's photo, numbered
4&5 and designated'DD-6, is credited to
Warren Smith.
Now to top off this story with some
. more synchronistic events. The night of
the sighting, after we returned from' the
boardwalk. rides and arcades, we sat on

one of the boardwalk benches to g~ out

at the Atlant.ic and up at .the star-fill~ sky
for awhile before retiring. I had just begun
to describe details of the disc-sighting to
I!IY wife, who'had missed it, when my son
and 1 at almost the same instant looked
heavenward and saw a shooting star flash
by, s~on followed by a second, and then
a third one that left a smoky, greenish
trail. The third shooting star and a fourth
which followed it were also obsetved by
my wife.
Today .. as we' were getting ready to
leave the beach (about 6 or 7 p.m.), we
heard a booming sound. It brought an exclamation from my wife and an attempted explanation from me. -I was trying to
pass it off as the noise of the surf stirred
up by the incoming tide,. when my son
pointed to the. horizon at sea on the
. southeast. All th~e of us watched and
wondered about a large, dark puff of
smoke that arose., then .drifted off in a
southerly direction.
Of what significance were these extraneous events? 1 do not know. Perhaps
the sighting just made us more aware of,
or more sensitive to, any unusual occurrence aloft or at sea.
And what do I think I saw? I can only
say,. Unidentified Flying Objects.

Editorial
NORTH

Discs partially obscured by cloud

SOUTH

(Continued from Contents page)

his later research discredited or suppressed
even as his prophetic imagination began
to sketch outlines of the electronic New
Age 'in which we now live. He was virtually "put out to pasture" before he
could peJfect and demonstrate many of his.
futuristic theories.
Fort also was derided and scorned, but
his disciplined study of nature's ano~ies
and the length and breadth of his research
won the admiration of a number of literaI)'
peers, Some of whom gathered to fomi
The Fortean Society. Scientists, however,
have generally Shunned Fort's conclusions
in the books he published.
Now Tesla's work is being re-examined
here and in other countries by both
historians and scientists. Indications are
that Tesla's laws of electromagnetism
may answer some of the questions that
Fort posed to his readers from his vast Collection of data. And, this is where we
come in.
-The editors

NORTH

Second jet partially obscured by same

cloud. Star-like object follows.

Foanh Quart_ 1983

SOUTH

If you are planning to move, please send notice

of your new address as soon as possible to:
SITU/PURSUIT, Box 165, Little Silver, NJ
07739.
\

Pursu't 149

Earth ,Chr~nicles and the Giza: Forgery,

by Zec:haria Sitc:hin
"Come seart:h with us" is the motto of the Ancient Astronaut
Those who have read my first book. THE TWELFTH
Society. It, is a search for the true interpretation of ,ancient
PLANET, know that the Greeks were relatively latecomerS to
monuments and ancient texts; it is an effort to look'at ancient,
~tte realm of such beliefs'. Before them were the Assyrians and
depictions and see in them .what the ancient artist had really
Babylonians, Hittites and Egy.ptians. They all worshipped gods
meant to depict. It is a study of mythology and archeology, of
overseen by a pantheon of twelve, gods of Heaven and Earth.
anthropology and geography, of astronomy and linguistics, of
And they all drew theiI: beliefs and their knowledge from one
the Earth and of the Heaven's.
,
common source: the SUMERIANS.
",
: Unfortunately, when the Society was formed, the notion had
'As is now known and established beyond doubt, it was there,
emerged that science and Ancient Astronauts are in conflict.
in Sumer- in southern Mesopotamia Ooday's Iraq) - that our
This is as fallacious as the notion that Science and Creationism
present civilization, religion, sciences, laws - had begun. Six
are contradictory. I hold to the contrary. Those of you who had ,
thousand years ago, It was there that it was first written down
read my books know that I have bro!lght Bible and'Scit:nce into
that many, many thousands of years earlier, astronauts from
harmony. Indeed, my conclusions - and the INCREASING
anot~er planet had come to Earth. The Sumerians called ,them
CONFIRMATION THEREOF - would not have been possiDIN.GIR'- "The Righteous Ones of the Rocketships." When
they had come to Earth; Man as we know 'him --.! we, Homo
\ bl~ without the scientific discov'eries of the past and of the
present.
, '
sapiens - did not yet exist. They created us later througl:l genetic
:Most of you, I assume, are familiar with my. beliefs and the
engineering, combining their genes with that of Apewoman to
long road which brought me to them., It all started when, as a'
jump the gun on Evolution. Th~ tales of Earth's creation, of
schoolboy. studying the Bible in its original Hebrew language,
The Adam. of the fertile Eden, of the Tower of Babel. and of
w reached chapter six of Genesis. We read the verse stating
the Deluge' -, all the tales that' we know from the Book of
that the Deluge. the Great Flood, had occurred at the time
'Genesis. have been fou,nd in the Sumerian writings, inscribed
"When there were GIANTS upon the Earth." But I raised 'my
in a 'wedgelike 'script on clay tablets. Bringing those texts
hand and said to tbe teacher: "Why do you say 'Giants' when
together in my books. I,have called them The Earth Chroni~les.
the Bible says N~FIUM, which means "Those Who Had Com~
, As a st~dent of archeOlogy, I never ceased' to be amazed by
Down to Earth .. ?
the fact that every archeological find. in the lIlear East confirms
Instead of an explanation I received a' reprimand: You do
the biblical data. The names of Egyptian Pharaohs and Assyrian
not question the Bible, the teacher said. and told me to sit down'
kings are 'confirmed. Cities named in the Bible have been found
and stop asking silly questions.
, ' not only in Israel and Transjordan - the ancient lands of Ca,naan, - but also, in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria. ,Asia Minor,
But that "silly question" was the seed from which my
Mesopotamia. Tools. weights' and measurements, trade routes,
res,earch and my writings had blossomed., For. who inde~d were
~e Nefilim? Why did the Bible call them so? And, why were
custor,ns. cl~~hing, industries - ~velY.thing the Old Testament
tbey described as "the sons of the gods"?
,
describes has been found to bevalid. true, accurate; and even
During the many years that followed. in which I engaged
the fabled land pf Shine'ar, where the Tower of Babei was built.
in biblical scholarship, I have looked up every available comwas proven to be the Hebrew name for Sumer. and, the Tower
mentary on the first eight verses ofChapter, six of Oenesis. And
a true description of its ancient ,ziggurat 01' "step pyramids!"
I was stunned to come upon the foIlowfng explanation, by a 19th
And the reasdn for the Bible's concern with the history and pre '
history of that land was that it was the biithplace of the Hebrew
century Jewish scholar (called the Malbim):
,
"In ancient times the ruler8f of countries were the sons
pe,opl~: its magnificent capital city. UR. was indeed the city
from which Abraham had migrated to Canaan.
'
of the deities who arrived upon the Earth from the
And ,then came the rea,l question:.If all the events, people
heavens; and they ruled the Eanh. and married wives
from among the daughters of Man ... They were the son,s
and places described in the Old Testament in historical times
of the deities who - in the earliest times - had come
were true - .could it be that their source, the Sumerian EARTH
down from the heavens upon the Earth; and that is why
CHRONICLES - we~ also ,tales of fact. not of fiction, in
they called themSelves Nefilim, meaning 'Those Whe
regard to pre-histl?ry ~ in regard to the N~filim and their havCame Down ...
ing come to Earth in rocketships?
',' " 'j
All this. the Malbim quickly added, were tales of the pagan
The Sumerian records - textual and pictorial - as J (i~.t: '
g04s - tales of no conCern to a devout'person believing in a
unfolded in THE TWELFTH PLANET - a~ amazing,ili t~eiJ'
detail and scope. They are recorded on day, tablets which were:
one ~d only God.
,
But if so, why did the' Bible include the tale in its ancient
found by ;u:cheologists an!i deciphered and ~slated by scholars
laboring for over a century and a half. They tell us WHO had
'records?
come here. and WHY, and WHEN; and they tell us FROM
~e' "pagan tales" to which the Malbim had referred are the
WHERE they had come. Not from some planet in another star
, ancient tales that our scholars call "mythologies" - a term
system. travelling'endless time at the
of light. No'; 'they
which automatically suggests thai they 'are myths rather than
came from another planet in OUR OWN SOLAR S.YSTEM truths. We are all familiar with ,the Greek mythological tales,
from a planet which the ,Sumerians c~led NIBIRU (meaning
of Zeus and Apollo, Aphrodi~ and Athena; of the gods and
, "Planet of the Crossing") and the Babylonians later called
goddesses who were so humanlike and yet supposed)y immorMairJuk.
.
"
'
tal - ruI,ed by twelve Olympians,' roaming the skies. using
Many ~ not hundreds but thousands - of astronomical texts
IigittJiing weapOns, and affecting the course of men and nations.

speed

Pursu't ISO

Fourth Quarter 1983

..

MARS

[ARIH

OMOON

,'0
(0

G
G

Zecharia 'Sitchln '

.0

V[NUS

0
PlUIO

NIPIUNl

UIIANUS

Fig. I Ancient clay' tablet with author's interpretive diagram show's Sumerian
concept of a twelve-memb~r !tolar system (Sun, Moon, and ten planets).
I

and records have been' found in the'sands of Mesopotamia. Many

of these texts tell us that the Solar System has twelve members
- the Sun; the Moon (for well-founded reasons, the Sumenans
considered it a celestial body in its own right); and ten - not'
nine - planets. The one-more planet was the planet they called
NlBIRU. They also described this l2-member ~olar System pictorially (Fig. 1).
.
,
.
A long and well-known text, recited in ancient times during
the New Year festival, summarized Sumerian knowledge of the
creation of the Solar System. It is a- cosmogony that answers
more puzzles than' any modem theory! And it relates how a
celestial body coming from outer space was increasingly drawn
.nto the center of our Solar System, leading to a collision with .
an ol~en planet called TIAMAT. It was' as a result of Tiamat's
breakup that the Earth, the Asteroids and the Comets have come
about. It wa.s the celestial event as a result of which the invader .
. - NIBIRU/Mantuk - ~as forever caught .in a vast ellipti.cal

Fourth Quarter 1983

orbit in our solar system, becoming the twelfth member of thai

system. In my book THE TWELFTH PLANET I produced as
evidence a Sumerian pictorial depicti<,ln showing the Sun - .not
*e Earth. - in tl)e center, sUlTOunded by all the planets known
to us today, plus'one mote. The amazing thing aboufthis anyears ago we
cient depiction is of course .the fact that until'
did not lqlow of Uranus and Neptune, and until fifty years ago
we were not aware of Pluto ... But the Sumerians knew of them
6,000 years ago!
.
There are texts dealing with interplanetary travel, from the
Home Planet of the Nefilim to Earth. In those texts the Earth
is called THE SEVENTH - a designation possible only if one
counts as he travels from the outs~ in. In these texts, the planets
encountered are named and'described:
Pluto, the first to be encountered, was called "Guardian
of the Upper or Outer Part" of the Solat System;
Neptune"s name meant "PlaneJ of Swamplands;"

iso

PursuIt 151

Uranus, caIled "The Twin" - as indeed it is a twin of

Neptune in size and appearance - was caIled "Planet ~f
Bright Greenish Life;"
Saturn, the giant planet, was caIled "The Great Destroyer;"
Jupiter was called "True .Guide in the Heavens;"
Mars bore a name indicating that it has water upon it;
And at the end of the space voyage there was Earth, the Seventh
Planet.
.
I want _you to join me now in skipping over the thousands
of years. I want y.ou to switch to the present, to N .A.S.A. and
Cape Canaveral, to Mission Control Center in Houston. to the
marined flights to our Moon and to the incredible feats .Of the
unmanned spacecraft that had probed Venus and "Mars, Jupiter
and Saturn; to the u.s: Naval Observatory in Washington an~
to other sites of telescopes and computers; even to our television screens, as nt;ln and machines perfonn the miracles of showing us worlds millions of miles away from us. .
. And what do we see? We see confinnation of every concept
and every notion. every fact and ~very detail recorded in the
Spmerian clay tablets! _
.
Let us take the simple fact of a planet having its own
satellites. Mars, we now know, has two of them; Jupiter, at least
13: Saturn as many as 23; even far-away Pluto has its own I~rge
moon. Now, how could man thousands of years ago - ~ithout
telescopes or spacecraft - even conceive of the idea that
c~lestial body, like Earth or other planets, could have smaller
. bOdies revolve around it? Such a notion is an utter impossibility.
Yet the fact is that the Sumerians knew that a planet can have
satellites, and even more than one. Nibiru/Marduk. they wrote~
had seven satellites when it entered the Solar System. Tiamat;
the planet that was destroyed. had eleven.
Based on recent spacecraft explorations of Saturn. scientists
now consider-its piggest moon, Titan, to be a planet-in-themaking that did not (or not yet) detach itself from its mother
planet (Titan is the size of Mercury). Scholars are of the opinion ~t Pluto was once a satellite (of Nepfune. they think) which ..
did manage to detach itself by some unknown force. And 10 and behold - some astronomers now even think that our
Moon was a celestial body in its own right that got caught by .
Earth!
Well. that is e~ac.tly what the Sumerians have stated in their
New Year's text. And they also state that Pluto was a satellite
- not of Neptune. but of Saturn; and that it was the invading
Nibiru/Marduk Which caused it to be detached and to have its
own, very unus~al orbit...
.
.
Scientists speculate how life on Earth might have begun, and
some of them - including Nobel prizewinners - have offered
the bizarre possibility that life was implanted here from
elsewhere. Well, there is nothing new in that either, for the
Sumerians wrote that life was brougIlt into our Solar System
by Nibiru/Marduk.
.
But to have life on it, and to have been the home; planet of
highly intelligent beings who could engage in space travel,
Nibiru had to have the three prerequisites for such .life: .heat,
water and an atmosphere. How could a planet which sails off
into the deep freeze of outer space, so far away from d'!e Sun,
have any of these? When my conclusions were 40ubted on this
point, all I could answer was that the Sumerians described Nibiru
as a watery planet, a radiant planet - that is, a planet which
has its own heat source.
It sounded implausible.- until. the discoveries by the
spacecraft of NASA. Again, the Sumeriaris appear to have
known what they wrote: Instead of cold, dead planets, NASA's

Pursuf,152

spacecraft found worlds with heat, with water, with atmosphere!

Near Jupiter, a mysterious pea~ source twenty times hotter than
th~ Sun was found. Jupiter and Saturn, and Uranus and Neptune too, were found to generate their own internal heat. And
all of them, plus some of their siltellites, had atmospheres. Some
still ptoouce n~w ones by volcanic activity. The spacecraft actually Iphotographed volcanic eruptions in ~ction! These eruptions are
also, of'course,
evidence of internal heat sources. Titan.
I
.
.for one, was deemed to be a planet which mayor co.uld have
some fonns of life on i t .
.
Antl, above all, there is water- water, everywhere! Mostly
frozenl, in the fonn of ice crusts and ice sheets that melt and
grow With the seasons; and in all probitbility flowing waterbelow
th~ surface of both planets and satellites. .
.
.. Mars, the evidence clearly shows, once had flowing waters
on its surface, which shaped its topography: rivers and lakes
and even oceans; and it may still hav.e underground water aplenty. (It may be worth mentioning here that a good part of our
.own water on Earth is also found underground.) Eu~pa, a
J.upiter moon, has a crust of water-ice and may have (I quote, .
from the NASA reports) "ice-covered oceans." Another Jupiter
moon is alive with volcanoes which spew out gases including
water-vapor. A moon of Saturn is co~ered with snow ~nd par. tides of water-ice - and so on and on.
And what about the supposedly dead planet Uranus, which
the Sumc;rians. described as having water and presumably vegetation which gives it a greenish hue? Here is wtuit the NASA scientists reported two years ago as the spacecraft Voyager 2 left,
Saturn and was hurled towards a rendezvous with Uranus in
1986: Uranu~, theysaid, has a rocky c?re probably surrounded
by a mantle of water; its atmosphere reveals the presence of .
hydrogen, helium, carbon,. nitrogen and oxygen ... and its ap.. pearance is "bluish-green." These are the e~ct Sumerian
words!
, . Last month, the space program marked a unique milestone.
For the first time, a man-made object - the unmaDl:Jed spacecraft
Pioneer 10 _. crossed over the orbits of the outennost planets,
. and headed ipto unkno"l'n space; but its mission.has not ended.
.It may yet perfonn one more. task: it Ipay provide proof of the
existence of the o~e-more planet.
Three years after~y first Qook was published, astronomers
at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington detennined that
Pluto has a moon. This has meant that the mass of Pluto is
smaller than tUtherto. believed. This if"! furn'meant that Phlto alone
cannot account for gravitational disturbances in the orbits of
Uranus and NeptJne, as well as its own. This means that there
is one more celestial body orbiting beyond them.
As the two Pioneer Spacecraft . Pioneer 10 and II, are
heading into space in different directions, NASA scientists hit
,on the idea that if they could measure the gravitational pull that
emanates from beyond Pluto, they could p~vide a clue to the
identjty of the mysterious celestial body. If the pull would be
about equal, it means a very large body - perhaps a "darkstar" type of o.bject. But if the pull will be stronger on one
. spacecraft and weaker or hardly noticeable by the other" it means
Ii smaller body of planetary dimensions ..
Most astronomers believe that what will eventually be fo ... nd
WILL BE'A PLANET. I can infonn you that, in private.communications, I aD]. advised oy the NASA ~eam that a,s of two
weeks ago, Pioneer 110 had not reported back any pertinent data.
This is n~t bad new~;. it is good news; it means that the eventual gravitational pull 1I)at wiJI be measured, willbe reported
by one spa~ecraft only (Pioneer IT) and not by both. This means.
A PLANET! I can also report to you, based on private. com-

. Fourth Quarter 1983

munications, that the astronomers at the U.S. Naval Observatory

do not take seriously the speculations about ."dark stars" and
"black holes" out there; they ARE ANTICIPATING A
PLANETARY DISCOVERY.
As you know, the person who first comes up with the
evidence of a new celestial body has the right to name it. Some
have asked me whether I have or will claim this right. My. answer
is; that the planet has already been named. The Sumerians had
named it; they called it NIBIRU.
What is the significance of all that?
.
The significance lies in the simple fact that the Sumerians
had no way of acquiring all their amazing, yet accurate,
knowledge of astronomy on their own. Indeed, they themselves
sta~e that all that they know .was told them by the astronauts
who had come from. Nibini.
This, then, is the significance: If Nibiiu exists - ancient

GIZA

astronauts exis't!
. And if the Sumerian tales of the astronauts' coming to Earth
were true, then the rest of their tales were true: Records that
tell us how they came here, and who their leaders were; how
two brothers vied for the love of their half-sister; how their sons
fought for control of Earth." Tales that show that the reason for
their coming was the;. need for gold - gold particles to ens",re
their survival on their own planet. That they first tn~d fo obtain
it from sea waters, but had .to revert to back-breaki.ng gold
mining.
But the rank and file astronauts eventually mutinied, and their
scientific and medical experts then created a "Primitive Worker"
- the biblical Adam, "Earthling" - by fertilizing with their
male sperms the egg of an Apew01i1.an. The procedure, which
called for re-implanting ~e fertilized egg in 'the wombs of female
astronauts, not back in Apewoman - preceded by 300,000 years
the just-announced successful "Trarisferred Embryo" technique developed in California. The de~iled Sumerian texts
describing the procedure sound like an article from an ancient
edition of the New England Journal of Medicine... .
The mingling of astronauts and Earthlil].gs then followed, and
the Deluge - all described.in greater detail than in the Bible.
It wiped offthe face of the Earthall.that th.e Nefilim had built
on it .. including their Spa~eport; and w.hen it was over, all had
.'
to be started all ov~r agan.
This is where my second book. THE ST AIRWAY TO
HEA VEN, picks up the story. Ii shows that the post-Diluvial'
Spaceport was in the Sinai Peninsula, and that both Sumerian
kings and Egyptian Pharaohs sought to go there to be taken aloft
- actually or symbolically - so that they too c,?uld escape mortality by joining the "gods'" on their planet.
As before the Deluge, a triangular or arrowlike Landing Corridor leading to the Spaceport had its apex on the twin-peaked
Mount Ararat. Its southeastern anchor were the two highest
peaks in the Sinai peninsula. B~t the Nefilim could not find the
necessary twin-peaked northwestern anchor in the' flat
topography of "Egypt. Their answer, I have suggested, was to
build two artificial mountains: the two great pyramids of Giza.
For 'centuries man had wondered at the size and magnitude
of these two artificial mountains, and at. the complexity and
mystery of the inner structure of one of them - sloping passages,
enigmatic niches, precisely positioned chambers and other
features which can be explained only by the familiarity of the
builders with astronomy, geography, mathematics, geometry,
trigonometry, gravity and - of course - structural engineering. Together with the smaller Third Pyramid and the adjoinling Sphinx, the Giza complex had stood unique and unyielding
to the ravages of man, nature and time. 'The ancient Egyptians

Fourth Quarter 1983

SAKKARA

Red p,.r
DAHSHUR

...n;',..
MAIDUM

General location of the many pyramids of Egypt

deemed .these pyramids to have been "stairways to heaven,"
and the Sphinx to have protrayed the face of the "Falcon-god
of the Horizon." YEr, as every textbook written in the past
100 years will tell you, the Great .Pyramid was built by the
Pharaoh Cheops (Khufu in Egyptian); its great twin by a successor of his, Khefren (Khafm in Egyptian) who, these books
. say, also built the Sphinx; and the smaller Third Pyramid was
built by the Pharaoh Mycerinus (Menkara in Egyptian) who ruled
after them ..
Just as the J:1otion that our Sun has only nine planetshadconflicts with the ancient information of ten planets (making up a
system of twelve with the .Sun and Moon), so did the accepted .
notion that human Pharaohs had built the Giza pyramids conflicted \1Vith the Sumerian and Egyptian evidence that the post-
Diluvial spaceport was in the Sinai peninsula.
To solve the problem, I engaged in extensive research. On
the one ha9d I had the Sumerian Chronicles - such as tJte EpiC
of Gilgamesh - and the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, as well as
pictorial evidence from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The
evidence, which I reproduce in my second book, THE STAlR~
WAY TO HEAVEN, is unambiguous. The Spaceport WAS in
the Sinai peninsula; the Sphinx gazed inits direction precisely
on the.thirtieth paral...!el, and the twin great pyramids were part

Pursuit 153

of the Landing Corridor. And on the other hand were the textbooks of nowadays, saying Cheops, Khefran, Mycerinus ...
. Who was r i g h t ? '
.
Just as in matters of astronomy: so in this regard too. I had
no doubt: the ancients knew more than we do, for they had better teachers
then we do: they had the Ancient Astronauts
as their
\
.
teachers,..
.
_
.
So I set out to find out'WHO and WHY had brought about
the assumption of Pharaonic builders of. these particular
pyramids. Now. as 'you all know, there are many.pyramids in
Egypt. With the exception of the Giza pyramids, they are
smaller, crumbling or.decayed s,ructures. And quite unlike the
Giza pyramid,s, they contain decorations, paintings, and
hieroglyphic inscriptions which. among other things, dearly state
the'name oftheir Pharaonic builder. By contrast, the three Giza
pyrami~s are totally naked"":" no decoration, no painting., no
coloring, nb inscription whatsoever. Well, ALMOST no inscription whatsoever. And this brings me to the FORGERY that was
perpetrated within these pyramids. some 150 years ago.
What I found out was that textbook author X based his
references to the three Pharaonic rulers as builders of these three
'pyramids because the earlier textbook W said so. Textbook W
. referred to the writings of the known earlier Egyptologist" V;
V relied on the works of U; U of T. and'so on backwards. until
I reached the yirginal source, so to say, and found Mr. "A."
He was a British Colonel named Howard Vyse who came to
Egypt in the 1830's. Fascinated by stories he heard of secret
chambers within the Great Pyrami~ and the Sphinx, he saw visions of fame and riches if he could find. these hidden treasures:
A wheeler-dealer by name of Hill told him that for the right .
sum of money he could obtain for Vyse a permit for exclusive.
~xcavation rights at Giza. Vyse went along, ousting the It~lian
excavator frofn whom he had heard of the secret chambers in
the first place. After more than a year of hard work and great
expeJ;lse, Vyse had nothing to .show , for his efforts.
Running out of money, time and workers, Vyse resorted to
the use of gunpowder within the Great Pyramid. Above the
. largest chamber within the Pyramid, nicknamed the "King's
Chamber," a narrow space supported by granite beams had been
discovered some seventy years earlier by an explorer named
Davisc;m. The explosives used by Vyse reveal~ a crack in the
ceiling of Davison's chamber (as it came to ~ called); and this
in tum led to the disco,ve!y by Vyse of four more narrow spaces
or, as he had called them, "Chambers of Construction" above
Davison's Chamber.
. Now, Davison;s Charitber was bare and barren as all ~e. other
chambers and passages within the Great Pyramid. yyse too .,.to judge by his own jOJ,lrnals .- had found the other upper
chambers to be so'. In each case, he sent Mr. Hill to crawl into
these chambers with brush' and paint to 'inscribe within' the
chambers the names whicJt he. gave them - first, quote, the
glorious name of Wellington, unqu~; then that of Lord Nelson;
.then of a visiting dignitary, Lady' Arbuthnot; and then of the'
British Consul, a Col. Campbell. In each case, after the passage
of a day or more after the discoveiy of a chamber, other marJ{- '
ings - "masons' markings" per Vyse - were suddeniy
discovered. And finally, in front of assembled witnesses, there
. were found among the markings, cartouches bearing the
hieroglyphic name of Cheops; Ever since then - the year was
1837 - the textbooks .began to' report the myth that it was
Cheops who had built the Great Pyramid, This, my friends, and '
this alone, is the basis for the ascrib,ing to the fourth dynasty'
Pharaoh Khufu the construction of the Great Pyramid. This hal!
so remained, incidentally, although the tw" I ....ding Egyp--'

Pursul'154
I

\.

KINer&

CHAMBER
J

Inside tlie Great Pyramid, Ho~ard Vyse's "chambers

of construction" are shown above the King's Chamber.
t()logists of the tim~, Samuel Birch of the British Museum and
Carl Lepsius of the Berlin University, both found inconsistencies and errors in the hieroglyphic markings, including the faCt
that not one but two royal names appeared .to be written on the
walls,..
.
Flushed with its success, thesame team turned to the other'
structures at Giza. And, 10 and behold, the sar:ne team came
up with the WRITTEN evidence that the Pharaoh Mycerinus
(Menkara in Egyptian) had indeed built the Third Pyramid!
This second feat was achieved by discovering ,...- In rubble
already searched previously by others .:...- of the' remains of a
mummy, and of its wooden coffin. And the coffin bore an in-'
scription in hieroglyphics~ including the royal name Men-KaRa...
' . '
.
Some - but not all. mind you, NOT ALL - 'recent textbooks will include blushingly a short paragraph. If you happen
. upon one of these. few textbooks, they will mention in'passing
that after ra~lio-carbon dating had been developed in the 1930's,
the remains' of the mummy and of the coffin were tested':' The
carbon dating revealed that the de,ceased had lived in Christian
times - not some two and a half millenia earlier; anc;l that the
coffin was' from a much later dynasty, not from the early Fourth
Dynasty.
'
,
So; it is clear, someone had put together.a wrong coffin remnant with a more recent skeleton, brought them into the pyramid,
, hid them in the rubble - and, when witnesses were present,
. "found" them to claim ,a glorious archeological and Egypt- .
ological discovery!
.'

In the course of his research, Sitchin

managed to see th~ Hill facsimiles in
the British Museum in 1978. It then
became evident to I:tim that the inscription of the Pharaoh's name was
not just a forgery:. but a clumsy

____ ____ ________

~

((3

~~~

the forger wrote

(KH-u-f-u~

(<.:> '!? ~ ~ )

which reads RA-u-f-ti.,

~------~~-------Fig.2-------------------------------------

And who were the so-called discoverers, the perpetrators of

this fraud? The same Vyse andHill and. their helpers ...
This,then led me to the question: If this team could have
peipetrated one archeological fraud - could they have also
perpetrated an earlier one? In other words,could it be that Vyse
and his helpers found also the other narrow chambers bare of
any inscription, but that as Hill had gone in to write with red
paint the "glorious names" ofWelli~gton, Nelson etcetera, had.
also added a couple of ancient names??
. Following .the leads as a detective, my SUSpicions grew the
more the true events and personalities had unfold~. The clincher came wilen, after much searching, the British Museum
found for me the actual facsimiles that Hill had made of the
inscriptions, and which Vyse th:en dohated to the Museum with
great fanfare. It appeared that except for the German Carl Lepsius a couple of years after the everit, NO ONE had 'Iooked at
these facsimiles. It also became evident that NO ONE had gone
into the narrow chambers to check up on Vyse's claims; and
that when Lepsius had tried to do so, Vyse stopped him.
When I examined the facsimiles, the act of forgery became
evident. Because Mr. Hill, ignorant of Hieroglyphics, had written in not only two names instead of one, but had also
MISSPELLED the key name, KH-u-f-u,' writing instead RAu-f-u (Fig. 2).
.
I thus reached the conclusion, that Vyse had NOT found the
name of Cheops, or of any other Pharaoh, inscribed inside the
Pyramid; and that it washis sidekick Hill who had perpetrated
the forgery in his betJalf.
If I am right, then the way remains open for my claim that
the Nefilim, not the Pharaohs, had built the Giza complex. If
I 'am right, then a major cornerstone of Egyptology and
Pyramidology has been shaken loose, requiring major textbook
revisions. IF I AM RIGHT ... IF... But am I right? Apan from.
my logic and circumstantial evidence, is there other- proof -'
an eyewitness, perhaps?
.
.
Neetlless to say, I have expected no one who may have lived 150 years ago, and been to Egypt in 1837, and present at
the pyramids, and privy ,to Vyse's and Hill's schemes ~ to still
be alive and come forward and say: Yes, Mr. Sitchin, you are
right, because I SAW THEM DO. IT.
. , T~)\ have such an eyewitness would be tantamount to a
miracle.
But, my friends, the miracle had come about!
Let me tell you what happened.
Last May - just over three months ago - I received a letter .
in the mail. Thewriter,livinginPittsburgh,Pennsylvania, inu-oduced himself as an engineer. I have read your bookTHE
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN, he wrote, a year ago. But it oc- .
curred to him that he should'write me only after he had read
two 10Ilg articles about my forgery conclusions, published in
the Pittsburgh Press. What you write, he said, is not new to
me; the fa'fl of the forgery by Col. Vyse and Mr. Hill has long
been known in my family ...

Fourth Quarter 1983

forgery. Instead of spelling out

Needless to say, when I read this letter, I was flabbergasted.

Can it really be - a -witness after 150 years? I wrote to him
at once. HOW is it kno~n in your family, I asked. As subsequent exchanges, by letter and phone; with accompanying
documents, have establishe,d, this is .the lstory:
.
The family of my Pittsburgh fan originated in England. When
the elders of his family began to go the way of all flesh, he stil.lted
to sit down with his mother and other surviving relatives, and
asked them to tell him of the family's history and roots. In ,1954
.- thiny years ago.- a cousin of his mother who had kept certai l1 family letters, spoke of the man ~ho was first in the family
to migrate from England to upstate New York.. His name' was
Humphries Brewer; he was tl'te great-grandfather of the man who
had written me.
Humphries B,rewer, this long-ago record relates, had ~one
to Egypt in 1831. He.was a quarry-master, a graduate of Berlin
Universjty; and tie was recruited by the British Medical Serviceto help build in Cairo an eye hospital. The project was abandoned due to the ineffectiveness of the treatments. So Humphries
Brewer joined the team of Howard Vyse at Giza, helping with
structural measurements and as an expen on the use of
g~npowder.

And, while there --:- he saw - he WITNESSED - Mr.. HilI

go into the pyramid with paint and brush, supposedly to touch
.up markings that he had found there, but actually to paint new
ones!
Though it was none of tiis business, Humphries Brewer objected~ and "had words" with Hill and his helper Raven. As
a result, he was ordered off the site and prohibited from coming back to the pyramids .. All this, Humphries wrote to his father,
back in England. Some years .later, the Berlin professor ~arl
Lepsius asked Humphries .to .accompany him to the Great
Pyramid;. but Col. Vyse blocked their way.
. Now, my friends~ everything else in the Humphries Brewer
record is true: the dates, the discovery of casing stones he had
witnessed" the eye hospi~l project, even the name of the 'doctor who headed the project. So" I have every reason to believe,
is the eyewitness report of the. forgery.
It is an incredible tale - but it is true. The biblical tales,
when they dear with prehistoric times, sound incredible or in
conflict with sCience; but they, too are true. And the Slime~an
tales - their EARTH CHRONICLES - of the planet Nibiru
and "its astronauts - are, I am convinced,.also true.
Few people have the fortune of having their controversial
- perhaps. even outrageous - theories meet confirmatiQrt so
soon. As mine become proven right; I have, no one else but: the
scientists ofour time to thank for their supportive~discoverie~.

'Transcription of Zecharia Sitchin's address to !lte 10th Anniversary

World Conference of t~e Ancient Astronaut Society, Chicago, Illinois,
August 7, 1983.

Pur.u"155

Unidentified Areas of Obfuscation

,

. by Ei:tgenia Macer-Story
Coprright 1984 by E. Macer-Stol)'. All rights reserved.

If you should 'glimpse what you construe as greenish pipesmoke drifting into your living room without logical cause, h~mg
onto your chair. This may not be localized air pollution. You
may be about to disappear..
In the popular paperback Without a Trace* Charles Berlitz
nentions the possibility that ships and planes lost in the Bernuda Triangle may be surrounded by "electrqmagnetic fog"
at the time of disappearance. He bases this opinion on sightings
of strange clouds, both in the air and u'ndersea, which involve
such unusual phenomena as the malfunctioning of navigational
instruments while entering a "greenish-white" haze.'
It is romantic to think of cannibal clouds' in the famous
Triangle. However, this foggy elt~ctrical obfuscation may not
be confined to geographical "hot spots.. " Berlitz has also
::atalogued the strange disappearanc~ 'of an entire British regim~nt, which marched intQ a "breadloaf~ shaped cloud in Turkey
in 191-5. This is not unlike the story of the Pied Piper. Perhaps
they were tired of Middle Eastern cuisine and thought they saw
;( giant English muffin in the sky.
In his. text The Science and Wonders of the Atmosphere,t
Stanley David Gedzelman, a professor of meteorology, displays
. a "mountain wave" cloud formation which DOES look a lot
like a classic disk-shaped.UFO, and comments that this type
of cloud is often seen near Mt. Rainier - where Kenneth Ar-:
nold saw his f!lmous saucers on June 24, 1947. Although the
saucers which Arnold reported were of s~ining m'etal; it is entirely possible that the aerial disks seen in newsphotos from all
over the world ARE perpetrating clouds, but not "mountain
wave" clouds. Clouds are visible due to the change in density
caused by molecular alteration under change of temperature: The
Iifference in density between 'cloud-shapes and the surrqunding
Itmosphere causes refraction of light ~t the atinospheri!= inter- .
face, and so we literally "see" a change of temperature.:f
Similarly, should the electromagnetic state of.an area change
significantly, this 'niight cause foggirig near the interface due
to molecular changes similar to the rapid temp-electric changes
which occur during thunderstorms..
Change in the electromagnetic state of an atmospheric or
undersea area causes a change in the potential movement of the
normally-fluid refracting medium, and this would be pt';rceived .
{isually as a "cloudy" sh~pe. I am not, however, suggesting
(hat UFO disks and odd aerial triangles are naturally-occurring
.
,
lenticular c l o u d s . .
Brian Lynch, UFO co~tactee, ** phoned me as I was getting
(ogether the basic ideas for this article, to relate that a friend
of his, who had just read an article on how some UFOs are really
lenticular cloud's, ran into Brian accidentally. on the street Just as a real lenticular cloud passed overhead. I wonder why
. - in the gestalt of this moment - they ASSUMED it was a
lentiq.dar cloud, imd not a UFO. Brian tends t.o be down-to.. Ballantine Books, 1977.

t lohn Wiley and Sons.

19~O.

Concepts of interface are discussed in the specialized essay' 'On the Possibility
of Additional Surfaces" which is available from Raven Press, the author" s personal monograph service.
'
.... The Skyo UFO Sighting by E. Macer-Stol)' in Metascience, Winter 198.0.

'. earth about his unustial,experience's and it is obvious that his

syndfronistic abilities have nothing to d~ with meteorology,
unless' he should decide to become a weather newscaster and
a,stound America by creating the weather .he forecasts.
The basic reality of the UFO experience - although it may
be involved with the expanded consciousness which caused Brian
to phone after a year with art aneCdote on clouds just as I was
getting together my first and only article specifically on obfusca)i~n - is that ordinary people are experiencing what they construe to be solid vehicles, lights and/or weird-looking "alien"
beings which maneuver oddly, then disappear. :
Desperate to explain the~e .phenomena , psychologists have
offered the opinion that people do not actually "see" these 00 dities but that a mechanism of the brain/mind intersection is ac-:
tivdted - as when the brain tissue is stimulated .by an electric
neetlle ~ so that while literally "hallUcinating'" it may also hold
true that consciou.sness is being manipulated by an energy field
or ESP impression of some sort. In this w.ay a camera could
be made to "hallucinate" also, using the ESP electric field to
impress an odd image on fiim.
.
The extreme of this psychic-manufacture theory is Thomas
Bearden's opinion that. the coiIective species-sur:vival
mechanism, with possible assistance from extraterrestrial intelligence, has put together collective psy~hokinesis UFO
"mirage.s'' which are solid and functional. Bearden sees these
solid UFO mirages as a possible communications device design ed to eventually unite humanity. Or is it to disunite humanity?
Certainly. there are few concepts. with 'as much divisive potentiaI' as the notion that groups of people thinking' together can
produce solid space-vehicles.
.
Distinctions tendto blur in the UFO field; there is such a
welter of unanalyzed .'information. I myself have "seen" the
linoleum in my hallway ripple and take On sea-form contours,
and on another occasion looked into the mirror and glimpsed
- not my. - but what could well be construed to be the il11age
of Cornelius Agrippa* since I was then wearing a medallion
embossed with his sigil. 1 take these perceptual alterations t~
be communications from my sub- and/or super-conscious to my
..
mundane awareriess.
In the first case, I was reminded of the perceptual effort of
heat changes in the atmosphere, and the second case re!"inded
me that 'my necklace was not just pretty but also symbolized
real experiences.
In the July/August 1981 issue of Science Digest, John.E.
McCosker descri.bes how experimenters found a white shark, .
caught near San Francisco, so sensitive to electricity that it simply banged its head against the area of the fish roundabout where
there was a slight electrical leak, and - when it was found that
the tank'could not be fixed by draining. the water - finally had
to be released into its natural habitat of sea water which was
not electromagnetically. altered.
.
,
. Martin Ebon tell~ in his book The DeviJ's Bridet how both
psychiatrists and'clergy have used electricity applied to the body
or directly to the brain to effect an "exorcism" of the devil,

* A Renaissance magus.
t The Devil's Bride by Manon Ebon (Harper & Row, 1973) is a slUdy'ofthe
psychological and pa~psychological aspects of exorcism.
\.

Pu .....t 156

Fourth Quarter 1983

the latter having told exorcists via the mouthpiece of the medium
Frequently. animals will behave oddly both before and after
UFO sightings,and it is a bit ~f folk wisdom that unrest among
that he/she became uncomfortable at the loud SOUNDS of the
livestock and/or honeybe~s foretells a death. the sighting of a
electricity within the nervous system of the patient. Similarly,
ghost, or some other interdimensional experience. Like the white
if an area of the atmosphere has been electromagnetically
shark, these.animals are probably sensitive to electrical changes
altered, Elr is naturally different electro-:nagnetically, odd
which affect the nervous system. What do they "hear?" Is it
behavior might be observed in the presence of atmospheric fog.ging. Just as it is odd to jump deliberately into the water and
possible that bees. sharks and dogs can "hear" a shift of
drown or disappear, as may have happened to the crew of
molecular density? Certainly, sharks, whales and dogs can
deserted ships found in the.Bermuda Triangle, it is decidedly
literally hear sound pitched higher and lower than sound audible'to the human ear.
.
odd for an entire' regiment to march briskly into a localized area
Sound vibrations move at roughly the same speed as
I} of unusual ground-fog. If I were one of these soldiers, I might
at least have broken step slightly as the ranks in front of m~
molecules. If the density of the conducting medium, such as .
air or water, were altered - the literal SPEED OF-SOUND
vanished, if that is what they seemed to be doing. It is possible
that, like the disoriented shark batting against the electrified side.
would vary. For the meteorologists in the audience, this equation is P = 1/300py2, with p equal to density or mass/volume.
of a tank, the men who disappeared THOUGHT they were goNormally y2 (molecular yelocity) equals 300 times 1000
ing down to the other side of an ordinary hill, but in actuality millibars of pressure (P) at sea level divided by 1.2 kilograms
the other side of this hill was not there in 1915. Perhaps they
marched down the other side of the hill at some other point in
per cubic meter (p) atmospheric density of sea level (V2 =
time, emerging as part of the current Arab/Israeli crisis. It is
3OOxI000/1.2). When density is varied, the SPEED OF SOUND
true that in 1980 UFOs were reported by the UPI as hovering
varies, as in y2= 3OOx1000/I, which obviously gives a difover Israeli combat positions. Why on earth would UFOs be
ferent molecular speed as the denominator of p is varied. The
addition of electromagnetic energy to an atmospheric area afreported in conjunction with border conflicts in the Mideast?
fects and varies molecular behavior, including velocity. This
Thomas Bearden may have.the answer. Subsequent to the bombmicro-change in velocity, if gravity remains constant; will be
ing of an lraqui nuclear reactor in June 1981, statements were
reflected in micro-alt.eration of density, including change of atmade by the Israelis that the destruction of this manufacturing
mospheric temperature. "Cold winds" have often been reported
equipment was being undertaken for the global purpose of ensuring that there would "never be another holocaust.'
in. the presence of mediu'!1s "channeling" ESP energies. A
It is a constant theme in mystical ufology that UFOs may have
rather large or powerful' 'mechanical medium" might even be
able to .cause large, unusual atmospheric or submarine clouds
appeared just subsequent to World War II as a response to the
to form.
military use of nuclear power. Or perhaps a primal horror and
collective thrust for sl,lrvival have appeared objectively as a
. Currently circulat.ing in underground ufology circles, along
response to sophisicated technology which is not popularly.
with the neo-Nazi conspiracy rumor, is the notion that
understood. Currently making the rounds of the ufology
underground is a neat little chain telegram from Paranoia City
somewhere benelith the seas of the Bermuda Triangle - and
-;:recently attributed by an astrologer in Woodstock, N. Y .. to
possibly also' in other undersea locations - there exist abandoned mechanisms from a previous supercivilization which are
Uri Geller's psychiatrist, Andrija Puharich - that neo-Nazi
now generating unruly rays of interdimensional energy. This
elements personified as the "Darius Foundation" are buying
is difficult for the u.ninitiated to comprehend. If this has actualup key geomagn~tic areas in order to achieve interdimensional
ly happened, why hasn't such apparatus been detected and
domination of the planet Earth. If this is true, I wish the fascists
luck with the Bermuda Triangle: Behavior there does not seem
described in specific detail?
to obey ANY known laws, and it does not seem that ownership
It is far more likely that there is something geomagnetically
odd about certain areas which may be conducive to interdimenof areas such as the area of Canada which contains true magnetic
\ sional UFO fogging and/or the appearance of unusual circular
north would automatically lead.to world dominion, but stranger
aircraft,.th~n any idea that Atlantean pyramids are still blinkthings have happened - even on the stock exchange. It is con-.
ing eratically on and off after one hundred thousand years. The
venient for the Manicheans among.us to ha:veas symbolic obe.11.iptical profile of reported and photographed UFO craft strongjectification of our ethical difficulties geomagnetic Nazi land
speculators as versus Israeli UFO apparitions, perhaps manned
ly suggests that the propulsion system of these vehicles is using.
by persons who are mentally bending spoons and keys as ttiey
a pseudo-sonic resonator system of some sort to actually changeadjust the navigational equipment. This is an allegorical image.
molecular density in the AREA of the sighting. If you look
carefully within die rectangular, 'or even triangular, frame of
based on past world trauma.
.-'
your stereo speakers, you will discover several circular
But what has this' tragic philosophical allegory to do with the
resonators. The most effective diaphragm shape for sound procurrent relationship of c1oud-sightings to UFO phenomena?
pagation within this continuum is circular. There is' probably
Logically, nothing at all. It is understandable that people should'
a connection betwc<en the electromagnetic frequencies and
want to fit unidentified, possibly military, airships into' the
molecular vibrati(;m, involving a transducer energy as yet unidenmanageable framework of possible terrestrial .. conspiracy.
tified, which causes electricity applied to the nervous system
However; if there is a terrestrial conspiracy behind these
manifestations, it is considerably more sophisticated than overt
to be "heard" as a crack by mental entities -literal "cracks;'
warfare within international patterns which have already been
or "spirit raps" involving a Change in molecular aenslty simestablished by past conflicts. Scientifically, the aspect of these
ilar to the cracking of wood in heat or cold to be taken as signals
cloudy phenomena which is mos~ interesting and least inof interdimensional presences. Since the frequency of molecular
vestigated, is "sonic. " ,The resident "spirits" of patients being
vibration is ti:te constant, 'as in the quartz watch by which we
e'xorcised of demons by electricity, as described in Ebon's book,
measure the passage of "time," it is evident that the energy
complained of "hearing" the electrical stimulus as "cracks'~
being sonic-transduced must be in some way a "time" energy
or "noise."
_ .. (Continued on page 182)
Fourth Quartelt 1983

Pursuit 157

.THE SOCIOLOGY OF
HAUNTING INVESTIGATION
by dalDes

~cClenon,

Virtually, every society since antiquity has considered the

possibility that those who die might somehow intrude into the .
affairs of the living. One category of th~se alleged visitation~
has been labeled as ''hauntings.:' The investigation of haunting phenomena falls within the realm of psychical research or
parapsychology (a more modem tenn). Haunting investigations
may shed light on the nature of cotJsciousness, the role of the
paranonnal within our society, and the role of belief sy.stems
on anomalous experience. Ironically they have: not,. as of yet,
furnished evidence that "proves" that the human personality
survives death. The nature of the scientific orientation and of
the haunting phenomena create this paradox. .
One aspect of the inability of haunting phenomena to answer
the question of life after: death springs from' the nature of
theoretical issues that exist within parapsychology. The "survivalist" position is that the human personality or souI"survives
death. A survivaIist might hypo~hesize that "entities" which
do not have physical bodies contribute to haunting experiences
\for the living. A modified version of this hypothesis suggests
that human personalities "surviv~" but only in a partial ~r highly
modified form. A body of evidence derived from mediums,
brink-of-death visions, apparitions, out-of-body experiences, and
reincamatjon research supports.these orientations, but the issue is
framed in such a way that it is not .. at present, resolvable through
scientific means. The problem .is. not that" this body of evidence;:
does not support belief in the paranormal. Many of those who
-have gathered this evidence see.it as "p~v,ng" the existence
of paranormal phenomena. The problem lies in the explanatory
power of a counter:hypothesis that- has ~n deemed by many :
to be more scientific.
.
The alternative theQretical orientation, which has been labeled
the "super-ESP" theory attributes haun.ting experience to vast
extra-sensory powers possessed by persons still living. A perSon may be using his or her own paranormal ability to create
the recurrent, localizedapparitionsand unexplained imitative
noises (walking, cI)ling, moaning. whisP.ering, etc.) that are
associated with hauntings. this explanation seems to appeal to
individuals who are scientifical.ly oriented since it allows the.
dismissal of a world 'of spirits, entities, demons, and all manner of philosophically messy constructs. On the other hand, the
rejection of the survival-after-death theory on philosophical
grounds illustrates the intrusion of ideological factors into the
scientific arena. Ipdeed, it may be that resi~tance to belief in
life after death might be an aspect of a latent scientific ideology
devised during early struggles between proponents of science
and supporters of religious faith. Thi.s resistance may even be:
an explanation for modem attitudes regarding death. In 1982,
George Gallup reported that while 67 % of a national sample
endorsed a belief in life after death, only 16% of the scientists
in.his sainple did. Beliefin survivai after death may be deemed
"unscientific. ..
.
It might be supposed that with the rise of science as a dominant ideology within Western society, the experience of hauntiogs would have decreased. Although the experience of some
anomalo~s phenomena such as me~ds, werewolves, ~d

P .....lt.1S.

Ph.D.

uni~rns seems to have deCreased, haunting ex~rience. does not

fall in this category. Apparitions and hauntings are apparently ~
a perennial feature of human experience. They have .been
reported in all societies of which we have detailed records and
are .far more prevalent than might be expected. For example,
in 1890, an "~nglish Census of Hallucinatiomi" conducted with .
a ~ample of 17,000 people, found that 9.9% had experienced
an apparition. Modem polls have found 'an equivalent rate of
experience. John Palmer, in a.study p':lbJisht:d in 1979, found
that 7.% of his random sample of residents of Charlottesville,
Virginia, felt that they had lived in a house believed to be
haunted: The modem haunting experiC?nce ~as been found to
h~ve universal' featu.res that transcend any particular culture.
Charles Emmons found that 4.1 % of the individuals contacted
in a 'random telephone survey of Hong Kong Island', condUcted
in 1980, had experienced ~. ghost. A large segment of the
American sOciety. has. experienced a1ieged intrusions of the dead.
In a study published in 1976, McCready 'and Greeley found that
27% of a random sample of Americans reported that, at least
once, they had felt as though they' "were really in touch with
someone who died." .
Ironically, t.he scientific method cannot, at present, resolve
the issbe as to whether. survival after death is reality even tho~gh
tht( experience of phenomena that seem applicable is
"sociologjcallY" real. Anyone 'who reports seeing an apparition
hearing the imitative noises associated with a 'haunting
may be creating (or imagining) the phenomena with his or her
own mind. 'This present study will point out that evidence
generated through collection of haunting investigations seems to
compound the irony. Many (and perhaps most) cases furnish
no evidence regarding life after death. Most cases give no details
as to what it is that might live since the majority of recurrent
localized apparitions Seem quite aimless and unintelligent. A
discussion of a single case will illustrate the' types. of infonnation that these cases generate and the conclusions that might be
drawn from them. These conclusions are sociological in nature.
Although they do not directly pertain to the "life after death"
issue, t,hey still maY'be .considered valuable in that they shed
light on our attitudes to~ard death and toward the pafl!,normal.

or

The Example Case:' A B~timore Haunting

.,

On Septem~r 29, 1979; I was informed of an appa,rerit ~nt

ing case. by the Psychical Research Foundation (presently in
Chapel Hill, N.C.). A family in Baltimore reported unexplainable voices, whistling, bed moving up and down, feeling of
'biting at legs, and the appearance -Of an orange-,yellow ball of
light. As a'sociology instructor at the University of Maryland,
I was familiar with interview techniques and the methods of participant observation. Consequently; I decided to ~t this haunt-:
ing case as merely another fonnof human behavior, one which
should be subject to sociological analysis. These cases are such
that it is rare that evidence can be generated that cal) establish
the paranonnal quality of any particular case sinfe the investigator m~st depend, to a large deg~, on human testi~ony.

Fourth Qaarter 19.3

. On September 3Q, 1979, I interviewed each of the family

people in "old-time" clothing, i.e., "like back in the 1800s."
members and was overwhelmed with description after descripo.n October 5, 197~, I s~nt the night in the room where
tion of ostensibly paranonnal experience. The family consisted. '
much activity had occurred. Although a few'minor knocks were
of9 individuals and three generations. The married owners were
heard, no major incidents were experienced by myself or the
62 and 63 yearS' old; their two unmarried sons were 36 and 27;
Qther indIviduals during,the early evening except the. "itching
and burning" feeling on the face. I fell asleep at arol;lnd 3:30
two divorced daughtt;rs were 33 and 30; each daughter had a
a.m. I assumed tl,.at the suggestive atmosphere was a probable
son (ages 9 and 7). The wife's. retired sister (age 72) also lived
with the family ..
cause for ~he unusual feelings I had on my face all evening ..
Experience of the phenomen~ was not distributed randomAt around 6:30 a.m., I !lwoke and observed an elliptical red
ly. One son (age .36) and the two daughterS reported the most
light on the wall by a window. This light lasted approximately
30 seconds ana may have been caused normally (although the
experien~s. The two grandsons reported no' experiences.
shade wa~ drawn). As the light faded, someone in the room I
l'he family reported that they moved into the house on April
29, 1979, and began hearing unusual noises (knocking sounds)
began moaning as if having a nightmare. The sound ofa knock
came from the wall beside me. I woke the people in the roOm
almost immediately. About a month'later, one daughter had a
and inquired if they had witnessed the events I had observed.
strange nightmare which awakened her.' She awoke seeing a
One son (age 36) stated that he was having a dream in which
bright yellow ball of light on the wall; she felt horrified; yet
could not mo~e. This began a series of nightmares involving
he was crawling over the floor towards my bed because "it"
wanted me out ofthe bed. In his dream, "it" felt I had to wake
images of herself in demeaning situations associated with
up, to get up. The others heard the rap but were not in a posiunusual and distorted individuals. Although unaware Of her
sister's experience, the other daughter, and also the wife, had
tion to see the light. Later, I attempted to duplicate. the light
separate experiences 'of seeing a large orange ball of light on
that I had witnessed through normal means but could not devise
the wall.
.
an 'easy" explanation since the shade wa~ quite heavy.
Numerous experiences occurred during an evening in which
We all went back to sleep. At about 7:30 a.m., I was awakened again when the bed I was sleeping on started vibrating. It
three family members stayed up' all night in the room where the
phenomena seemed to be centered. One daughter made a , . seemed equivalent to ~ minor .earthquake yet I observed no
earthquake-type of effects occurring in the' rest of the room (no
vigorous but unsuccessful. attempt to photograph the strange
lamps o~ pictures swayed). This experience lasted for perhaps
lights. The lights seemed stimulated by her efforts. The lights
half a minute. Fraud could not be precluded as a possible extook the form of "an orange ball" which was "the size of a
planation for these experiences.
tennis ball" and of "an orange zig-zag snake-like light on the
I have visited this house on numerous later occasions yet have
floor." Later, a tugging occurred on one woman's sleeping bag
not observed any further phenomena. The family members have.
"and even later, some unexplained thing touched the leg of the
described various apparitions, and unexplaine9 lights, bddsecond woman. None of the visual or sensory experiences were
shaking, and sounds. The frequency of experience does not seem
verified 'by two people at the same time although auditory raps
to be following any pattern although expeJiences may be mQre
were perceived by all. .
.
The distu~ances began occurring on almost a daily bas~s .. freql:lent during the summer months. Experiences ate not
distributed normally among family members. Some have }1~d
sometimes taking the' form of a feeling on the face or ankles
many experiences while others have had only a few.
(a numbness, itching, tingling or burning sensation). The dis. Belief in the authenticity of the phenomena does not seem
turbances also manifested unexplained knocks, voi~es,. whistlto be required for an experience to Occur. One son (age 27) haring, music, and the sound of percussion instruments.
,
'bored a high degree of skepticism yet was later "paralyzed"
The phenomena seemed .to be perceived in different ways
while. he o.bserved an apparition of a woman in his room. F(eby different people. Some saw apparitions, some merely saw
quently haunting cases "stump" the resident skeptic who had
lights, some were "paralyzed" in a peculiar fashion. On one
previously mocked those who had reported experiences.
occasion, a daughter (age 30) was observed to tum slightly
It should be apparent from this brief description of the case
orange when this paralyzation occurred. At the same t~me, the
that little evidence has been generated concerning its.authenair surrounding her took on' a "strange misty quality."
tic~ty, much less whether a bodiless "entity?' or "entities" are
The male owner of the hou~ (Mr. M.) decided to investigate
producing the phenomena' rather than a living person. What
by spending the night in the bed which seemed to be the ce~ter
becomes appare~t, through investigation of a large number of
of many alleged paranormal events. He made a particular efcases, is that various patterns of behavior tend to be associated
fort to maintain a normal state of consciousness -and planned
with these types of experiences. These patterns reflect not only
to signal his older son should anything abnonnal happen: During the night, he felt a 'funny feeling," as of someone pushing
the form that the haun~g ex~rience takes but the culture within
which the hauntingoccuIS. .
.
under his feet. Then he heard a knocking noise. He became
. frequently, the individ.ual who experiences a haunting is ___ _
Paralyzed and was unable to signalhis son who was resting on
stigmatized as aeviant. The Baltimore family found that if they
the floor. This h~ppened again a short time later while the son .
described their experiences to "outsiders" they were frequent- .
was watching. The entire side of the mattress under Mr. M. 's .
. ly considered strange. The popular media has presented: a
feet (and his feet also) was raised up about 8-12 inches as if
distorted. image of the paranormal which increases the stigrrta'
to throw him out of bed. Bed vibrations and bed-shaking became
of its experience. The family, themselves, were fearfu.l dial they
a part ofthe'haunting experie~ces that various family members
. we~ going collectively insane and part of my investigation w~
reported.
an analysis of that possibility. It is my observation that all the
Ministers of various religions attempted to alleviate the disturfamily members seem to be'sensible, honest people. I have
bances but were successful in only causing temporary
ed this opinion through interacting with them for over three
abatements. No one was certain as to wh8.t was causing the
disturbances. The only consistency that seemed to exist in the
ye!lrs.
.
apparitions or in the nightmare dreams were that they involved
.Frequently, individuals who experience hauntings feel troubl-

fonn-

fourth Quarter 1983

P~rsult 159
I

ed, terrified, and helpless. No fonnal agency is available to help

dreams which give her experien~es a human but malevolent
alleviate this difficulty and doctors, psychiatrists, counselors,
form. Another has nicknamed the lights that he has seen as "Bilpolice, and social workers frequently contribute to the stigma
ly, the ghost."
suffered by an individual who claims an ex.perience. The ..ead
Family memberS have attempted to detennine the history of
of the Baltimore family and his wife attributed 'the phenomena
the structure that they live in and of the land.upon which it sits.
to demons and, consequently, felt stigmatized by the fact that
No history of violence or other factor that might result in a haunttil. ti!eir own prayers were unsuccessful in alleviating the problem. _
ing has been uncovered, Mediums and fortune tellers have been
Like the ex.perience of UFOs, it might be assumed that the ex.- . . . consulted on various occasions with the hope of discovering the
perience of hauntings is under-reported due to .the stigma
identity of the haunting age.nt. l!nfortunately; no.two.messages
associated with it.
..
obtained thro'ugh these means have agreed.: Nonscientific in- People sometimes contact the Psychical Research Foundadividuals, who accept the survival-after-death hypothesis fretion hoping to alleviate their haunting stigma. The Baltimore
quently assume that such messages are accurate when, in fact,'
family hoped that I might have infonnation regarding the nature
they often contribute little to the resolution of a case .
. of their ex.periences. Unfortunately, parapsychology is not an
Attempts to exorcise the phenomena have ,also failed. This
advanced enough science to supply very complete information
. is not uncommon with these types of cases. Dr: William Roll,
regarding hau~tings. Little consensus ex.ists 'within the field .
of the Psychical Res~arch Foundation, has collected 116,
regarding means of alleviating hauntings which are considered
poltergeist .cases out of which exorcism and related activities
to be negative. Although parapsychologists such as Dr. Gerwer:e tried in 30. The phenomena ce!lsed in 4 cases, temporaritrude Schmeidler have successfully demonstrated in' a quanly ended in 4 cases and 'intensifIed in 5 cases. In the remaining
titative manner that paranormal aspects surround some hauncases, the efforts had no effect. In general, Roll found that exting cases, thi.s tells little about controlling the t;x.perience.
orcism w~s ineffective' "in dealing with these types of cases.
Scientific investigation has led to the classification of various
It might be noted that although haunting cases infrequently
forms of paranormal ~x.perience. A general tendency ex.ists for
generate eviden<:e that supports the 'survival-after-death
recurrent cases to fall into two broad categories, hauntings and'
hypothesis, the experienc~ of them generates belief in that-orienpoltergeists, although the two frequently overlap. Hauntings are
tation.: Most of the Baltimore family members had not considered
this question to any degree previous .to their experience of the
generally associated with a structure or location' and typically'
involve apparitions and imitative noises. Poltemeists are said
haunting. During my. investigation, they all came to believe in
to center about a living agent and are characterized byknock-.
life after death even though they were open-minded in regard
ing noises, .furniture moving or toppling over, and levitation or
t6 the sl,lper-ESP theory: This pattern regarding influence. of
:eleportation of objects. The living agent is frequently a. young
belief is prevalent within much of psychical. research. Although
adole~ent although cases ex.ist where there is' no living agent.
. scientific studies seem incapable of rea~hing consensus, inIt has 'a1so been hypothesized that family tension contributes to
dividual experiencers frequently form firm .opinions regarding
. these phenomena.
.
not only the authenticity of paranormal events, but the "tra~s
. This hypothesis has led to the tendency of poltergeist incending" nature of these events. For the experiencer, the ex'vestigators to seek to find al) unusual level"of tension within
perience transcends any interpretation that science might attribute
to it.
'
the family situation. Such a finding leads to the feeling that the
case has been scientifically "solved" since thiS tension may 'ex.Individuals who observe haunting phenomena frequently react
plain the poltergeist phenomena. .
.
with fear; This is probably a result of the association of the ex. At times, it is difficult to distinguish hauntings from
perience with death. It is rare (though not unknown) that inpoltergeists, and even the ability to classify a particular case
dividuals arephysically harmed by the experience of a hauntcontributes little to attempts to control the phenomena. Th~
ing: .n the Baltimore .case, one woman became .e?ttremely terBaltimore family has witnessed the physical movement of obri~ed when she ~bsc;rved a tea bag fly out of a tea cup in an
jects. Does this mean that they suffer the.effects of a poltergeist?
. inexpI'icable manner. Taken at face value, such an incident
If so, no central agent is apparent. Parapsychological literatUre
should not be intrinsically terrifying. It would be nonthreatensuggests that a reduction in family tension is advisable, but tening' except for the attribution of paranormality and its assumed
sion is not particularly' apparent in me Baltimore case. During
.relation to death (and demons). It would seem thatparanormal
. the first years of my investigation, conditions in the house w~re
evepts have the role of supporting religious' assumptions and
somewhat crowded, but not particularly tense. It has been a year
therefore tend to trigger both fear and belief in life after death.
since one of the married daughters moved.o~!, taking her son,
On' the other hand, investigatiol1 of haunting cases Q'light conyet the haunting continues.
.tribute. to understanding the means by which observing these
One patternwhich is common in haunting cases' is' the ~t
eve~ts come to be perceived as fearful and the role that this ex:t~mpt to "normalize" or "humanize," .the paranonnal. The
perience plays in triggering belief in life after death.
.
Baltim",re family has attempted t9 adjust to what had originally. '
In conclusion, it should be_noted that hal!nting cases are
seem unbearable, horrifying, and weird. They attempted to .
unable, in genetal; to supply complete or finn evidence regarding life after death. This irony .is a result of a' latent ideology
sell their house but were unsu~cessful due to high interest rates; ,
within science that has encouraged the development of a counterThe present strategy onthe part of some of the family has been
. hypothesis thai can explain any haunting phenomena without
to accept the life-after-death hypothesis and to attempt to interact with the "ghost" or "entities." This attempt seems to
belief in survival after death. On the other hand, investigation
of haunting cases might 'contribute to understanding the means
have little effect on the experience of the phenomena. Those
who have experienced the' phenomena the most have attempted
by which observing these events come to be perceived as fear. ful and the role that this experience plays i~ .triggering belief
to attribute a human personality to it. Although no pattern has
.
in life aft~r death. .
emerged regarding the identity of the apparitions which' have
Understanding attitudes toward death should be granted a
.. . been observed (it.is uncertain that the same one has ever been
higher priority in our society.
Such an understanding .could con'seen twice), one family member had attributed meaning to her
.

Pursuit 160

Fourth Quarter 1983

GHOSTS in CAVES?
by Gene Gardner
It was a crisp, clear night, not unlikt; any other Missouri night
in early December, when the darkness makes the stars stand
, out big and bright. The sweet sound of a hound barkir,tg on-trail
echoed through the hollow. The woods were illuminated only
by the bObbing headlights of two raccoon hunters hurriedly making their way over a brushy ridgetop.
.
"Hear that? I think old Brownie barked on tree," one man
said.
The dog's owner replied, "I don't know. He sounded funny
to me. Let's get down there quick and see what he's cornered."
The two finally arrived at the entrance of a large cave.
Brownie stopd the~, peering into the dark passageway, -walking nervously from side to side, growling and barking.
"Look at the hairs on his back --:- standing straight up!"
"Maybe he kDows sOmething we don't. He looks .scared-to
go into the cave. "
.
"There hasn't been a raccoon born that old Brownie wouldn't
tackle. He was born a fighter," the dog's owner said. "But if
he's scared to go into that cave, there's something bigger and
meaner than a coon in there: You can bet your boots if old
Brownie isn't going in there, neither am I!"
"Get your dog and let's get outof here. I've heard stories
about big cats in these hills, and caves are spooky places
anyway."
. .
. I have been to more than 600 Missouri caves since 1978,
met a lot of people in my travels and have always enjoyed
visiting with them. It seems as though just about everyon~ has
a story that relates to caves in .some way. A lot of them are about
hunting and dogs.
Dogs, especially good hunting dogs, have remarkably ~n
senses. If a proven dog cowers in fear, then there might be good
reason for man, too, to be afraid.
.
- I've heard several versions of the story. Som~times, dogs

Bones of a sabre-toothed cat on left are much smaller than the bones
of a'~anthera leo atrox, ~th resident in Missouri centuries ago.

tribute not only to the science of anomalous experience, but to

the wisdom required for living in our modem age. Haunting
experience hints that a reality' exists which exceeds the physical
reality accepted by science. Sociologic!Uly, haunting investiga~
tion reveals the assumptions inherent within the latent ideolqgy
of science, an ideology that seeks to deny certain syst~ms of
belief. Although "unproven" by science, survival after death .
remains a distinct possibility and aclqtowledging haunting experiences as a legitimate, sane form of human perception increases the probability of that possibility.
REFERENCES
Emmons. Cl&arles F . Chinese Ghosts and ESP, Meruchen. N.J.: Scan:crow Press,lnc .
1982.
.
.
Gauld, Alan and A. D. Comel, Poltergeists, London, BQSlon, and Henley: Roudtdge
and Kegan Paul. Ltd. 1979.
Gallup, George. Jr., (wirl! William Proctor), 'Adventures In Immortality, New Yod::
McGtaw-Hill, 1982.
.
..
Palmer, John, "A Community Mail Survey of Psychic Experience. " Journal of . .
American Society for PsycbIcaJ Research, Vol. 73, 1979,221-251.
Roga, D. ScoIr, "The Poltergeist and Family Dynamics: A Report on a Recenllnvestigalion, " Journal or the SocIety for Psycbical Research, Vol. 51, 1982, 233-237.
Roll, William G., "Poltergeists, " pp. 382-413 in Handbook or PanpsycholOllY, (Benjamin B. Wolman, ttl) New Yod:: Van Nosttand Reinhold Company, 1973.
Schmeidler, G. R., "Quatllirative Investigation of a 'Haunted House, ' .. JoumaJoUIie
American Society for PsycbicaJ Research. Vol. 60, 1966, 137-i49.

Fourth Quarter 1983

'

go into the cave - undoubtedly after sOme stem persuasion from

their owners - and return whimpering, tails tucked between
their legs". .
.
.
I guess old Brownie could have trailed a big cat into the cave.
And he might well have had second thoughts about cornering
.a hundred-odd pOunds of sharp claws, teeth and muscle in such
a dark, tight place. It's easy to blame the dog's fear, but maybe
we could stretch our imagination just a little further than the
old storyteller did. If we were the least bit superstitious, we could
say that maybe old Brownie could sense the ghost of a really
big cat, one that died in the cave. thousan4s of years ago.
. Seveial large cats and catlike carnivores roamed Missouri
about 12,000 years ago. During a sPecial study trip to a cave
in the south-central part of the state, we discovered a track left
by one of them. Jerry Vineyard, assistant state geologist, spotted the first track, but James Vandike and Bill Palmer, both of
the Missouri Departinent of Natural Resources, and I soon found
several more.
.
One perfect track was more than seven inches across from
toe to toe and about one and one-half inches deep. At first we
thought it might have been made by a sabre-toothed cat (incorrectly called a sabre-toothed tiger). James Vandike's investigations proved that an even bigger cat could have made the l!3clcs.
He obtained the reconstructed skeletal foot of a sabre-toothed
cat (Smilodqn) and one of a larger species of true cat (Panthem
Jeo atrox). ~fthe name leo rings a bell, it's because this pantherlike cat is an extinct subspecies of the modern-day lion. Only
this cat was bigger than the African lion.
The bones of Panthem's .foot measured more dian 29 cm
(I11h inches) from toe to heel. The four toe bones matched the
toe prints in the plaster cast of the cat track we made in the cave.
The foot of the sabre-toothed cat was obviously smaller and-did
not match up with the plaster cast.
The tracks we found are the second such ancient tracks
discovered in Missouri (the others also in a cave), but by far
. are the largest. The-discovery of these footprints stirred the excitement and curiosity of paleontologists throughout the nation.

Pursuit 161

These unique tl"a:cks maY very ~ell remain one of nature's un- .
solved mysteries.
' .
I can vividlyrecall one experience 'during a nighttime visit
to a cave near Pomme de T~rre Lake. We were quietly crawling along on our hands and knees through a narrow part of the.
cave. 'Bats fluttered nervpusly by bur heads, ,frightened by our
lights, which were growing ever dimmer. .
"Was that you making that sound?" my assistant asked. I
had made eerie sounds in caves before, as a joke. '.
.
. "No," I said. Then I heard it, too - a low, slow growl com- ing from up ahead, around the comer.
. . ' ...
My better judgment, like old Brownie's, took over, and I
said to my assistant, "~t's get out of here." She was already
one step ahead of me - which is h~rd t? do in a small crawlway passage .
.We stopped at the entran~e to catch our breath and look for
animal signs. The bark of a large tree just outside the cave was
'scratched up. Some animal l1Pparently was using the tree as a
shortcut to the steep, rocky hillside above it.
.'
I have heard growls arid other frightening sounds ina few
more caves since then. Sometimes it's so quiet in a cave that
. you can hear your own heart pounding. I have often sat there
in the total darkness, fantasizing about other animals that once
Cla;- ma~ks on a cave wall in eastern Missouri are probably rrom.
may have passed by the same spot.
.
a black bear, a .much smaller species tllan the giant cave bear.
There are a lot of '~cave ghosts" that could be .far scarier
than any modem cat could ever hope to be. If you were hunting
.
.
in the Missouri ~Zarks around 1"850, your dogs could have
one site. They were forest dwellers but liked an arid climate,
chased a black bear intQ a cave. Bears commonly used caves
w~ich sheds some ,light on what the Missouri landscape and
.
climate must have lbeen in the past. ' . ,
as dens, and their' 'beds" still can be Seen in the mud of a-lot
The fossilized 'remains' of a lot of ice-age animals have been
Qf Missouri caves. If ~e could go back even further in time,
.preserved in Missouri caves. Some caves can be thought of,as
say 10,000 to 20,000 years ago to; the Pleistocene epoch, we
. massive gmveyards, where the remains of dead animals.are pil~
could see giant short-faced bears. These were huge bearS, as
layer after layer. Such places are important and worthy of probig or bigger than grizzlies, and once were abundant in Missouri.
We found the remains of one of these giant cave bc;ars in Round
tection. Camels, ground sloths. and even alligators once roamed the Missouri Ozarks. How would we have known about them'
Spring Cavern in Shannon County. Their remains have also been
found in Pulaski and Camden counties.
if tlteir remains had .not been preserved i~ .caves, like a natural
museum?
.
Now, if one of those big bears wereri't enough to tum the
. I can' remember standing in that south-ceritral Missouri cave,
tail of any dog, then how about a wolf? Even larger than timber
wolves, which can weigh up to 170 pounds, dire. wolves
silently staring at the giant cat prints in the mud floor. The
~. yellowish flame from.my caJbide lamp flickered. casting ghostly
roamed the Missouri Ozarks only 500 to 13,000 years ago. Their
shadows which- danced upon the cave wall. I... seemed strange
remains have been found in caves in several Missouri counties.
to think that only time sepamted qte from .being face' to face
Where there
carnivores, there must also be prey. One
ancient animal that served as prey was the flat~faced peccary.
with a big, ferocious cat. I swallowe4 the lump in my dry throat
and shrugged off the possibility that 'the low, muffl~d sound I
These piglike creatures roamed the Missouri Ozarks in small
. just heard. could have been a growl. After all, there are no such
herds at about the same time as dire wolves, giant cave bears
and big cats. The well-preserved remains of two peccaries were
things as ghosts in caves '.' ; are there?
~.
discovered in a 'DeP.llrtment of Conservation cave, just to name

are

. New Evidenc. of 'Ape-Men' in China.

China's Wild Man ReseaJt:h Association has
reponed new evidence of ape-like. creatures
similar' to Bigfoot and ,the Abominable
..
Snowman.
.
'
In a repon concluding 35' months of field
research, Liu Minzhuailg. association chair~
man and member of the Chinese Anthropological Society, said he has. hair sampJes
and 1,000 footprint specimens from the .
creatures.
The Yangcheng Evening News said Liu
presented the repon at a recent meeting of the
Science and Technology Institute of Guangxi
. province. a hilly region where the "ape men"
have been reported.

P.N.'t 162

Since 1976, Liu and a "Wild Man Investigation Corps" have made five trips to Hubei,
Sichuan and Hunan provinces and other places
the wild men are believed to live.
"In his repon. he presents evidence that
other members of the corps !lave seen with
their'own eyes. such as footprints of the. wild
man, habitats, hair and other material
evidence," the newspaper said. "Also.included are bits of the wild man's glossy golden hajjand photos of footprints. " .
. Liu said most of the-l,OOO specimens of
footprints of the Chinese "ape men" were 16.5
i~s long and 31 of them were 19 inches
long.

.Three members of a team h~nting for the

creatures last year said they spotted one in the
Shennongjia Mountains of Hubei province
They said it was tall, erect and covered \v.ith
reddish brown fur, a description thatrcoiifonns
'. with other reponed sightings.
An'earlier repon by other Chinese, scientists
said the footprints indicate tl181' the creatUre,
. full grown. is more thari eight feet tall and
. weighs. about' 550 pounds .
The footprints reportedly are human in
general fonn, and the hairs found are similar .
to those of the great apes but have cenain
human characteristics~
.
SOURCE: 'UPLin Schenectady (N.Y.) Gazette. I
11129/83.
CREDIT: R. Girald.

Geological E~idences

0/
NOAH'S FLOOD

by Evan Hansen
.EDITORS , NOTE: The first part of this article appeared in the
previous issue, Pursuit No. 63, Third Quarter 1983, pp. 98-105.
The following seCond and concluding part develops additional
evidence of catastrophic flooding and moves on to assign the
cause. Gravity and the Earth's rotation, subOCeanic rifts, earthquakes, continentaJ"drift, and polar shi.ft are all conside~. Central to the author's theory, however, is the incredible volume
ofthe water itself; amassed by weeks ofrainfall at a l7lte ofabout
one foot per hour, accumulated over an exemplary area of less
than 150 square miles, it rose within the constriction of canyon
walls and finally found release as Ii force capable of moving
rocks "the size of a compact. car" over distances of five to six
miles.
.
.
. PART II
When flows are greater than this, the evidence is. too vast
to, see from the surface, let alone to photograph. For instance.
Highway 89 drains two valleys with a watersHed area of almost
2000 square miles. Just north of the Big Rock Candy Mountain, this canyon makes an S-turn. The water was so deep here
that it flowed right over the top ofa mountain that rises to a
height of more than 1000 feet..
.
When we consider such hl,lge places as the Colorado Ri~er
drainage area, the magnitude of erosion escapes comprehension.
The Grand Canyon is five miles wide and a mile deep, but as
big as that is, it still couldn't carry all the water. The overflow
crossed what is now the Navaho Indian Reservation to a'width .
of more than .JOO miles. In.the Painted Desert, erosion left hundreds of volcano stems that stand out like the trunks of dead
trees; the lava plugs inside the cinder cones were too hard to
erode away, but the cones and supporting earth below them were
all removed. Everyone who has seen a Western movie has ~een
this site. Its mesas an9 pinnacles fonn such spectacular
backgrounds that even stories supposed to be "tall Texas tales" .
are .still shot in Monument Valley. Yet more incredible is the
general absence of curiosity abollt what fonned those mesas and
pinnacles!
There is only once force in nature that has ttte ability to cut
these fonnations. In geology .it is called a ,"braided flow" of
water. and this is the way it works:.'
.
. I When water crosses essentially level terrain, it spreads out
too far to c~t a single channel but still flows to low ground.
High ground remains uncovered, as "islands." A~ the water
cuts deeper, these islands have their sides cut away but not tht?ir
tops, which remain above.water. The low ground is cut deeper
and wider, making the islands even smaller. When the. water
stops flowing, each island stands out as a mesa if it has remained fairly large, or as a pinnacle if it is only a small remainder.
Anyone willing to do a little field-work i"n a heavy rain (3 inches or greater) will see the process in miniature, especially in
places where water falls frOm high ground to low, as at a roadcrossing ..

Fourth Quarter 1983

Satellite fllms show that the Mississippi River has cut a channel more than 100 miles wide. It may have- been even wider
for a brief tiine; the photos show a series of north-south lines
between the river and tJie Rockies. Interpreting the lines will
take on-site study which may answer the obvious question, If
these are not water lines, what are they? Are they markers of
the m~lt from the pol~r ice cap which had to flow out the
. Mississippi,.puiting a great deal more water in it than came from
other areas affected only by rain?
.
The melt from ice caps had to cross Nebraska, and this was
the making of the Nebraska Sandhills. These are, in fact, rip- .
pie marks. Everyone who has seen ripple marks left by ordinarY
floodiI)g will recognize the pattern. in,spection of satelli~e ,photo~
of Nebraska will remove all doubt that unbelievable flows of
water crossed the state. Marks made by ripples in excess of five
miles between crests are too big to be seen except in the satellite
photos that also show "kettle holes,." hollowed out by the burial
of huge blocks of ice which later melt.
.
_After more than a century of dispute, most authorities no", _
agree that catastrophic flooding fonned the Scablands of'
. Washington state. When NASA analyzed the first LANDSAT
shots in 1972 there was no longer doubt that flooding had occurred. The !=lincher was the dark-cplored basalt covered by soil
of lighter color. When the erosion had stripped away the soil,
the color contrast w~ too sharp to deny. Hundreds of other loea-.
tions could provide acceptable evidence of flooding were it not
for the absence of color con.trast; when deep layers are the samr.
color as the surface, the camera has nothing to offer in evidence.
. -Even after strong suspicions of catastrophic flooding began
. to mount, efforts were made to assign a non-catastrophic cause.
Eventually acCepted was the idea that a huge lake in Montana
- Lake Mis!iOula - was created.when glacier ice fonned a dam
on the only outlet; a sudden breakUp of the ice allowed the entire lake to drain across the Idaho panhandle and spread across
Washirigton' state in a matter of days. *
Lake Missoula: held' 500 cubic miles of water, but not all of
it was available for immediate release. Since there were two
parts to the lake and 75 % of its water was held in the part above
a constriction called Eddy Narrows, only 120 cubic miles was
avail~ble for inimediate release.. The rest would drain at a slower
rate, as detennined by the capacity of Eddy Narrows. The area
of Washington state covered by the tlood waS roughly 100 miles
. wide and a little more than 150 miles long. At the south end,
Wallula Gap drained into the Columbia River, but before a single
drop could reach the river, the whole area had to be under water.
If 120 cubic miles of water could spread at once and equally
over that area, the depth would still be only a little more than
40 feet. If the same volume had spread gradually, as a lake being drained, part would be past the outlet by the time the last
of it left the lake, the depth remaining considerably below 40
feet. But the shorelines indicate depths in excess of 400 feet.
Moreover, Wallula Gap was too small to carry the volume of
water; it was discharging a cubic mile of water in about 70
S~ial #144 by Vil:torR. Baker, "Paleohydrology and SedimeRtationofLakC
Missoula Flooding in Eastern Washington, published by Dept". of Oeologic:al
Sciences, University of Texas, Au~, Tex.
II

Puntu',I63

An obvious. example is at the point of the niounta,in at the

1.ninutes. but it still constricted the flow so that 260 cubic mil~s
south end of Salt Lake Valley. Fig. 10 shows the clear terrace
''las held back.
.
on the east. The 5140-fool'level is several hundred yards across.
How could -a hydraulic dam hold back 260 cubic miles of
At the base, the 4800-foot Iin~ is. seen, with erosion cutting the
'~ater when only. I~O cubic miles was available for immediate
expo.ed face between the two eJevations. The Fig. II photo
~lease and had to cross more than ISO miles before reaching
was taken at the sa~e spot looking west, where there IS no terthe dam? Even if the entire volume of 500 cubic miles could
race at all. The left.side of the photo shows a stand-line at'the
whole Scablands area, the
spread at .once and equally over
5140-foot level'where the "narrows" constricted the water as
depth would be under 200 'feet -:- less ~n half the depth that
it passed from the south. But the right side of the photO shows
actually existed. It' seems clear ~t the amount of water which .
the valley widespread again, and not even the stand-line can
hit the Scablands qJ.ust haye been something like ten times the
be seen. Since both sides held the same lake, why a large teramount held in Lake Missoula. Furthennore, satellite photos
race on the east and almost nothing on the west?
show that only a small part of the water crossed Idaho. An ice
My guess is that a surge of water from the' northwest
dap shielded the north edge of the Scablands from' erosion, and
deposited sediment over the terrace. I found a valley in Nevada .
the water came directly off the ice with no river to carry it away.
where the terrace did show on the .west, but .only below a tall
~robably 90% of the water was melt from the ice cap; less likepeak; 'Iow mountains on either side had allowed water to cross
ly, it might have been a surge of ocean water.
.
and it buried the terrace. Other evidence, such as gravel beds
. I~ seems more than coincidental that floods hit the Scablands
west .of a ro!ld, and bare rocks on the east, suggests a surge of
a~ the same time Lake Agassiz flooded th~ Dakota region an4 .
water from $e northwest. But such clues are still unclear. All
Lake Bonneville drained. If ever a serious attempt is made to
we know at present is lhat unequal terracing does exist and must
date these floods, I expect the dates to be at the end of the
be explained before we can understand what actually took place.
Pleistocene and all the dates to match. Similar marks of flOoding
are apparent in preliminary inspection of satellite photos of the
The Cause of Noah's Flood
Middle East aJ;,ld North Africa; when these are analyzed and the.
.floods are dated, I believe they will also match.
The biblical account of NQah's Flood has promoted much
We find other.clues hereabouts that have no such obvious
misunderstanding. As written in the Book of Genesis, the story
origin, but they must be mentioned even though pure speculadescribes a flood 'only a few yards deep instead of more than .
tion is all we have to aid our search for their cause. Throughout
. three miles deep. Physical evidence in North America,
Utah and Nevada the tenaces on the east side of valleys are clearspecifically in the Lake Bonneville basin of Utah, tells of a flood
ly marked; on the west they are either abselJt or, if present, are
of 'the magnitude of approximately one foot per hour of rainminor stand-lines. The conventional explanation is "prevailing
fall. It. raised the Bonneville level some 150 feet above the
winds from the southwest." But in the Bonneville basin the I~nes
overflow point.'
.
..
below 4800 feet are wave-cut terraces which fonned as the lake
In the Middle East, the Tigris-Euphrates valley is notably
evaporated. These are equally clear on both east and west. The
absent ones are the deposition terraces of 5140 feet and above. wider than the valleys of Utah. When the watershed of both

Ute

~lg.I0

h"s.'t 164

Fourth Quarte.. 1983

regions is related to the size o.f the valleys, it becomes clear

.that the IS-cubit depth stated in the Bible was probably caused
by a rainfall of almost the same magnitude that flooded Utah.
Catastrophic is the only word to describe such an event which
certainly would wipe 'out civilization, and from .the geological
standpoint it seems well within' the realm of possibility. .
Further confinnation of the reality of such massive flooding
is found in the "flood traditions" that virtually all peoples of
the world have perpetuated. For example, the .Navaho Indians
say they escaped by climbing. the San Francisco Peak near
Flagstaff, Arizona, and the Flood ended when the Grand Canyon drained away the water. Satellite photos show that this peak
did remain above water, and thus we are able to authenticate
evidence from another bit of history encased in legend. That
so many variations have developed around the central theme
of the Noah story confinns that diey are similar histories. If all
or most Flood traditions described survival on a boat during a
4O-day rainy period, they would be dismissible .as copycat
teachings, but the many versions of the Flood story suggest that.
survival happened world-wide and was achieved by ~ch group
in its own way.
Consider also the survival. of animals in Africa, Australia and
the Americas; in no way should this be attributed to their voyage
on the Ark. Even if Noah had collected a multitude of beasts
and had kept them safe until the time of their release, how could
they then cross oceans and deserts? How did the kangaroo reac;h
Australia or the elephant reach Africa? Why are the -Asian
elephants a different species than the African? Why the sudden
extinction of American elephants? Any explanation must take
such questions into account.
.
I believe a logical theory is beginning to emerge .from 10llg
study of the observable facts. While it is expected that further
research will modify the following explanation, the basic concept will surely be confinned.
.
.
.

*Alfred Wegener, The Origin ofConlinenls and Oceans, Ir. from German by
John Biram. Dover Publicalions, New York.

:..

{:

:.
~

Among the observable facts most useful in building any Flood

theory are those adduced from physical clues by Alfred
Wegener, a Gennan scientist who worked them into a theory
of "continental drift" which he proposed a.round the tum of the
century. His continuing study of the movement of continents
led him to publish four revisions of his theory, the last of which
appeared in 1928, shortly before his death. *
Wegener based his t.heory on the fact that South America and
Africa "fit together" like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. This
observation was nothing new; people had been aware of the intercontinental "fit" since the first maps of America began to
stir European minds. But Wegener was the first to carry ~e idea
forward until a full theory became established.
Considering the limited amount of infonnation that was
available to Wegener in the early decades of this century~ his
accomplishment was truly astonishing. In many respects, his
1928 revision is still the most complete discussion of continental drift yet publi~hed. Although findings in the last half-century
have done'much to improve Wegener's hypothesis, anyone who
wishes to add to hisor her knowledge of continental drift would
do well to read \yegener's last revision as background.
Wegener's theory would likely have been accepted in his
lifetiqle except for one mistake; it was more of an oversight than
a mistake, but it prevented acceptance until deep-sea core drilling in the 1960s proved that continental drift is real.
In simplified tenns, drift theory holds that the Earth has a
solid crust of silicate-aluminum rock which floats on a core of
silicate-magnesium rock. The sial rock is lighter than the sima,
which is why it fonns the crust (a process similar to the fonna.,.. tion of a floating crust of ice on a body of water). However,
tl!-e core of sima rock is plastic and holds enough heat to keep

!.

". t .. ".

FIg. 11

Fourth Quarter 1983

Pursu't 165

it near the ~elting point; melting would take place except for
the great pressure that maintains a near-solid viscosity. The core
.
does defonn under stress, but very slowly.
The sial crust is relatively thin, averaging about 35 miles
. deep, with more thickness under mountain~ and less under
plains. When the crust fractures enough f9r molten -rock to intrude into the 'crack, the rock hardens and prevents the crack :
from closing. Further stress will .make the crack I;lrger rather
than break a.new <;rack, since materials tend to rupture at their
weakest point. If the stress continues, the crack kee s growing. Given enough time, the crust is fon:ed apart un iI water
enters, fonning a new "ocean" between the blocks. hen one
~r both blocks ride over the sea-floor on the oppos te side,
pushing up mountains in the process.
The AtlantiC Ocean is said to be the result of . is everspreading fracture. Wegener colleCted a fo~idable ody of
evidence to support his theory which attracted abo t equa\. ,
amounts of support and criticism, the latter mostly from uthority
types who seem. always reluctant to co~sider n~w ideas. Then
came the "Glomar Challenger" and the deep-sea drilling of the
1960s. The core samples brought aboard 'the resean:h vessel
-reinoved all doubt that the sea-floor was sima .rock , not sial rock.
. A rift that runs from pole to pole lies a1~ in the exact center
of the Atlantic Ocean\ and fonns a series of offset blocks, the ..
east side matching the west side. The rocks are datable 'by two
methods. One method: compares the decay of "~dioactive
material to stable elements, the ratio determining the age. The
second method of dating -is by magn~icreversaI: If molten rock .'
. containing iron cools in a magnetic field, the trapped iron will
be aligned with the field. By magnifying the principle to global
proportions, scientists were able to determine that the Earth's
magnetic poles had reversed repeatedly throughout our planetary
history.
. In the ocean, both magnetic reversal and radioactive dating
showed that" rocks east of the rift matched those to the west - .
not "almost" or "closely" but so exactly. that rock samples

" RIFT

Moveme~t

is opposite
'.

"

<

!\Iovernent is same, but

at different speed

I
RIFT

taken five miles east of the rift were found to have the same.
'age and magnetic ~rientation as rock samples, taken five miles
west of the rift; Similarly, rock taken six miles east of the rift
had a different magnetic. reversal and a greater age than that taken
five miles from the tift - but ~xactly the same magnetic reversal and age as rock taken si~ miles west. of the rift. The tes~ was repeated again and again, all over the ocearts. In every case
the result was the same: a rift in the center of the ocean had'
rocks at equal distance~ to both sides which matched; the farther from the rift.' the older the rocks.
"Wegener's theory would have been more readily ac~pted
if he ~ad been able to add to his c.oncept a mechanism capable
of providing enough energy to move a continent. The inertia
of a mass.of continental size and tHe friction of sliding again~t
an ocean floor posed such a vast energy requirement that most
geologists remained set in their belief that drift was' 'impossi-'
ble." Wegener. made an effo~ to meet the objection. He described the energy soun:e as a "flight ffOm the poleA." In his
view, two fon:es were 'at work. One was the distoJ;tion of gravity
by the bulge of. the equator. (The Earth is of greater diameter
.: at the equator than at the poles, so he reasoned that the increased mass would pull toward the equator.) 1:he second fon:e, rotation of the Earth at a 'rate of almost 1000 mph at the equator,
enhances the first, and the two fon:es act together to produce'
enough energy to move contineI:lts. This all sounded quite logical
and attempts were made to measure #1e fon:es and their effect.
Unfortunately for Wegener's theory, the efforts failed to find
evidence of an "equatorwa,rd p~II," either by gravity or cen. trifugal fon:e.
.
'
: When my own study had taken me to this point, it became
.clear that finding the soun:e of energy ~was essential to fi!rth~r
progress I in understanding continental movement.' The more I
thought about "it, the more firmly I became convinced that
Wegener was basically correct.' The rotation of the Earth had
to create enough energy to move continents. Perhaps, then, it
was the detection effort that should be faulted.

RIFT

Transform Fault

'.

.I

Fli12

Pursa"166

Fourth Quarter -1983

,\

Deep-sea measurements had disclosed the rift pattern sketched in Fig. 12, Rifting was greatest at the equator and gradually
diminished toward the pole. The variation of rifting had broken
the crust into blocks, each one moving independently of the rest.
Virtually every geological fonnation can be traced to rifting
as its source. Each block has a center in which the two sides
move away from each other. This creates' a boundary at the next
block whe~ the two $ides 9f the fracture move laterally past
each other. The result is called a' ""transfonn fault." Depending on the rel~tionship to the blOCk' next to it, a transfonn fault
can move both sides in the same direction at a different speed,
or the two sides can move in opposite directions. If there is continental rock overlaying the system, it will show at the surface
in a variety of tensional and compressional" fonns that create
all the structures known to geology.
In order to fully understand the behavior of the rift system,
the' use of a globe is recominended. ~ vernal description simp.:
Iy cannot convey the same understanding that can be gained by"
holding a globe in one's hands and tracing out.the rift pattern
on a global basis. Anyone can sketch "a' selection of features that
are important, but no plane surface or flat projection can cor':
recdy show the structure of a sphere. Only by holding a globe
at the hypothetical pole and rotating it can one comprehend the
rift syste"m.
Continuing my study, -I noticed that the rift was more active
at the equator than near the poles. Clearly, Wegener had to be
correct in identifying centrifugal force as the energy source; only
centrifugal force would diminish with distance from the equator."
The other force that required further consideration was gravity.
Both forces"manifest themselves on the Earth and between Earth
and the Sun and Moon." Somehow it had to be an interaction
of these forees that moved co"ntinents, but how was" I to con,duct an experiment to measure the interaction?

Wood chips move

to center
,

Solder nail to
bottom of can
Clamp nail in
electric drill

--+
Fig. 13

After much thought, I devised the following experiment, illustrated in Fig. 13: Take a~, clean~, solder"a big-headed
roofing nail to the bottom in the exaCt center and clainp it in"

FolUth Quanei' 1983

the chuck of a variable-speed electric drill. Keeping ~e assembly

upright, add water to the can and tum on the drill to lowest speed
- just 'enough to niake the wate"r climb up the !iides by centrifilgal force. Then note what happens when two common
materials are placed in the water: A pinch of sand flows im- .
mediately to the edge; it is heavier than water and so responds
to centrifugal force. Wood chips, however, move to the center.
I"
The simplest oversight that obviated Wegener's energy
hypothesis began to dawn on me. E~nstein based his theory of
relativity ~n the observation of the equality of gravitational a:nass
and inertial mass. In plain language, this means that anything
" that floats by force of gravity will have a negative response to
centrifugal force, which is simply a function 9f inertial ~ass.
Wood is lighter than water, so "it floats. Wood also haS a neg!ltive
response to centrifugal force to the exact degree it floats; "thus
it moves to tht'; center. Continental rock, being lighter than the
rock of the core, also floats. In respect to the "centrifugal force
of the Earth's rotation,., the crust weighs almost zero, so it must
, move toward the poles, not away from them as Wegener
thought. Moreover, if a floating object is pushed below its
natural level, the "forces increase; if it held above the level of
equilibrium so that it is no longer floating, then the nonnal pull
is felt. Anothe,r experiment is more definitive but more difficult
,"
"
to do correctly:
Fill a large container, such as a bathtub, with water and let
it stand until it becomes stable. Protect it from external influences
such as vibration and stray air-currents. Then place a floating
object* in the center. If it is left undistuibed you will note that
it moves to the north edge of the tub.
Experiments like these are invaluable to our understanding
I of the interacting" forces. They show that the' centrifugal force
of the rotating Eartli does create a bulge at the equator, but the
increase of gravity' "is less than the downhill slope. An object
~oving from equator to pole will drop about "35 miles n~rer
to the center ofthe EartJt. It's the same thing as going"downhill
anywhere. Wegener correctly identified the source of energy
able to move continents, but he misperceived the direction of
the movement.
Once again taking globe in hand and tracing the pattern of
the Atlantic rift network, we can see evidence that North
America did indeed move northward as it moved away from
Europe. But Africa and South America straddle the equator, so
they are pulled in both directions and therefore cannot move
pdleward. North of the equator, eacti of the two southern ontinents" has a bulge on the west while their larger interior areas
lie soupt of the equator. One effect is that lJoth southern continents are "twisting clockwise; the west moving north at the same
time the east is moving south. Island chains off the coast of South
America show the line of the twist. In Africa, the twist is narrowing the western end of the Mediterranean at Gibraltar "while
on the east it is stretching and thinning the Aegean sea-floor.
Long ago, Arabia split away from Africa and the Red Sea fo,-med. Compiession in the west at the same time tension occurs
in the east provides evidence of a clockwise rotation in respOnse
to poleward drift; the inland rift under eastern Africa is a further aCknowledgment of clockwise rota,tion.
The "two forces need also to be considered as they apply to
the Sun and Moon. Everyone knows that tides are created by
the gravity ~d centrifugal force of the Sun ,and Moon reacting
. on the Earth. The. same tidal forces also affect the crust of the
*Avoid using foam plastic or'anything else of small mass; even the slightest
puff of air will deflect it: Best results are obtained with something that bvely
floats, such as a met8J ~e-cap,

Pursu't Ui7

Earth, but to a lesser extent because of the resistance of the rock.

From personal experience I know that tidal forces do move the
crust. I worked in a coal mine for three years. It was a small
mine, overtime was encouraged, and we could work early or
late if we wanted to "ml the bin". and thereby earn a day off.
During all three years, I was underground "aroun~ the c1.ock."
at one time or another. I found that rock movements occurred
at 12-hour intervals, c~rresponding to the position of the Sun
and Moon. If the rock over my head was moving in response
to tidal forces, the entire crust must respon~ in similar fashion.
all know that th~ Moon orbits the Earth, but the Eaith
also orbits the Moon to a lesser degree. The pull of grav.ity.
toward the Sun and Moon on the near side is exactly equaled
by the pull of centrifugl;ll force on the opposite side. A double
stretching of the Earth's crust occurs halfway between. But theEarth itself is rotating, so the pull" i~ really a lift-and-relax
Sequence, repeated every twelVe hours: Inevitably; the CO!lStant flexing fractures the rock of the Earth's crust.

In addition to tidal flexing, the Earth's rotation generates cen-.

trifugal force. Since ths force is maximal at the eq~tor, the rifting at the equator is greater than at the poles. 1Jtis "two-way
stretch," between tidal pun of gravity and centrifugal-force pull
in the opposite direction, is illustrated in Fig. 14.
Even if the forces lift the Earth's crust only a few inches,
the 12-hour cycle of flexing will cl!-use the crust to fracture. As
soon as a fracture widens sufficiently, molten rock enters; the
rock then cools and forms a wedge which prevents the crack
fro~ closing ~xcept at the ends. Since rock fractures along lines
of least resistance, the ends, being now weakened by the intervention of the wedge, will bear the full force of the next flexure; thus new' cracks are formed, filled in, then extended in
ceaseless repetition. Though the effect ofa single 12-hour flexure may be too ~malr to detect, the cumulative spread will.
amount to several inches in less than a year's time; over eons,
it forms oceans. .
.
For every inch'the ocean spreads, the contintents are moved
apart an inch. America is moving westward more than Eurasia
and Africa are 'moving eastward. Part of the explanation lies
in the smaller mass of our continent. More influential, however, .
is the westward pull of the Earth's rotation. As America was
pushed over the Pacific sea-floor, the friction raised up mountains in the west: the Andes in South America, and the RockieS, I
Sierras and Cascades in North America. The weights and pressures involved are beyond comprehensi!ln, yet .the continents
do not Simply move an inch every time the rift opens an inch.
When movement is blocked, the energy accumulates until it be- ,
comes powerful enough to overcome the blockage. lithe blockage is small and brief, earthquakes of energy sufficient to break
it may be long delayed. The longer the stress builds beforebreak ing, the more severe the quakes will be - and the greater will
be the distance the continent moves in a single "slip."
Now imagine what wowd happen if the blockage of a certain fault line were suddenly released, to allow a slip of several
miles. Certainly, one reslJlt would be a new pole of rotation;
the greater the movment, the greater the polar displacement.
If the movement and displacement were enough to cause the
polar ice cap to melt' at its present location. and a new cap to
freeze at ,a different location, the climate and the wel.Jther would
be affected in drastic and dramatic. ways. Granting that it could
happen, the obvious next question is, Has it ever happened! .
The physical evidence says yes, and it underlies my belief that .
the resulting weather-catastrophe was the biblical Flood.
The "Ice Ages," when Europe and North America were
covered by ice, are familiar to everyone who has ever studied,

~resent

pole

Ar-.----Centrifugal ....
force ...

We

Parsait 168

Rifting of Earth's crust

by stretching between
and centrifugal force

or idled through,. a survey article or book on geographical

history. (My reference .map of the ice cap is printed in the Encyclopedia Bnttanica under the heading" PI~istocene Epoch. ")
The outline show a normal polar cap, not "a whole world under
ice" as some misinformed artists have envisioned it. The outline
covers England and northern Europe, but by dle time it reaches
mid-Russia, the boundary is much farther north than at present.
The El!-~pean ice boundary-is one segment of a rough circle
~t girds the globe at a latitude of about 60, and the J:x>undary
of the American ice cap appears as another segment of the same
circle. From the Great Lakes northwest across Canada a .line
of glacial lakes follows a broad curve at about the same latitude,
60. Westofthis line was an "ice-free Corridor. The RockY Mountains were under ice as far south as Utah and Colorado only
because of great altitude; without the mountains, no glacial ice
would likely extend southward beyond the line of lakes. If a
compass is set so as to follow the curve of the lakes across
Canada, the radii will intersect at a point off the southeast coast
of Greenland.
' .
This done, the next step in our rollback oftime is to transfer
the boundary of the; Ice Age from the flat projection of a map
to the spherical surface of a globe. The outline so drawn will
differ from the present glacial boundary in two ways: it will .
appear to be moreextensive, and it will look lopsided.when
. viewed from the present north-pole position. No need to worry,
however. Keep in mind that glaciers are as much a function of
altitude as they are of latitude. The famous Mt. Kilimanjaro in
Africa is almost on the equator, I;>ut it has a glacier. ~emernber
also. that an ice cap oyer. ocean water will melt more rapidly
. than one over land - a prin~iple made obvious .by comparison
of the huge Antarctic ice cap which covers mostly land, and
the smaller Arctic cap that is mostly over ocean. Some adjustment m~y fairly be made to compensate for the altitude-effect
on the boundary transferred from map to globe. What ~mains
is still a lopSided form - until you realize that it's the pole and
riot the ice cap that's out of whack. Then, if you "move" the
pole either by mar~ or mind's-eye to center within the boun-
dary. the ice-cap shape is restored. Even more interesting: the
loca.tion of the pole is off the southeast coast of Greenl~d, at
or close to the intersection of radii projected from the Canadian .
"an:: of lakes" as above described.

Fourth Quarter 1983

(
Gravity

-'

If there was a polar sbift; we should find similar evidence

in the southern hemisphere, and we do . .Australia and New
Zealand show glacial phases identical to those in the northern
hemisphere. Unfo~nately, continental drift and polar shift haye
not appealed to invest~gators ,south of the. equator as subject~
worthy of extensive study. One report, by archeologist Richard
S. MacNeish, is exceptional: Published in Scientific A~rican
magazine for April 1971 under the title "Early Man in the
Andes, " MacN"eish' s paper was based on his effOJ;ts to date some
very early hu~an remains in the Ayacucho Valley of Peru. He
discovered evidence of glaciation in patterns significantly like
those in the northern hemisphere. By correlating artifacts in each
glacial phase, he hoped to construct a valid time-frame. Much
to his surprise, he found a total reversal of phase: when the north
was cold, Ayacucho was warm, and vice versa. He c~nfessc;d
his bewilderment:
.
If the Ayacucho evidence holds true for Andean glacial -

activity in general, the South American glacial advan~s

and retreats do not coincide with those of the Wisconsin
glaciation in North America. This apparent lack of correlation presents interesting problems. If glaciation is caused by worldwide climatic changes, why are. the South
American oscillations so unlike the North American ones?
If, on the other hand, widespread climatic ctumges are not
the cause of glaciation, what is?
\

Good question! How about polar shift? The Wisconsin glaciation had four phases with three wann intervals. There is evidence
of sudden change between, warm and col~. If the cause 'Vas a
huge slip of a fault line, the change of weight distribution of
the Earth's crust could be expected to move the poles very mpidIy .. Would this then explain why Australian phases match those
of the north while Andean phases are total reversals? Yes, emphatically so.
Assume that the north pole was southeast of Greenland; put
one finger on a globe at that location and another finger where.
a matching south pole wOuld be located. Your second finger spots
the south pole at a point half-way between Antarctica and the
eastern shore of Austmlia. While this accounts for a south-tonorth match, it places the Ayacucho region too c~ose to the

Fourth Quarter 1983

.equator for gla~iers to form. If, however, the pole is moved to

'the other side of Antarctica, Ayacucho will be close enough to
the pole for glacie~ to form but both Australia and North
America/Europe will be warm, Thus polar shift offers a
reasonable explanation for the .phase-reversal.
~ Figure 14 shows how a rift formed in line with the axis of
rotation places the present pole out-of-line with the rift network
under the oceans. But when the revised.polar location is compared to the rifts, iUl do line up. The Atlantic rift fits the revised pole position perfectly. The Pacific rift also fits this polar
location except between Australia and Antarctica, where the
sepamtion occurred at a much' earlier time. Even the rift that
split Baja California away from Mexico comes into line with
the revised polar position.
.
-What other polar positions are suggestible from this evidence?
If the Ayacucho glaciation resulted from proximity to a south
pole position between Antarctica and South America, the
matching north pole would have to be northwest of Alaska in
the region of the Lyakhov Islands. Do rift patterns under the
ocean fit such a polar position? Yes. In the North Pacific, 1;>etween Hawaii and the U.S. coast is a series Qf fracture zones
- the Mendecino, Murmy, Molokai Clarion, and a half-dozen
smaller ones - that line up with such a polar position. The Ninety East Ridge, an undersea ridge south of the Bay of Bengal,
also lines up, as does the Atlantic rift which is on a direct line
with the south Greenland pole. There are many older polar posi1ions worth studying, but the further back in time we go, the
more obscure the evidence becomes.
Again refer to the globe and note what happens when the
line of the European ice cap is extended westward to the midAtlantic rift and the line of the American ice cap is extended
eastward: The American line comes about 600 miles south of
the European line: But, if this were a true polar ice cap, the
lines should meet --: unless the Earth moved 600 miles.
Now lay a mark along the center of inass for America, pointing poleward. Do the same for Eumsia and bring the two inarks
northward to the point of intersection, just north of Greenland
. where they meet head-on. This is the location of'a huge lateral
slip called the Nansen Fracture Zone (Fig. 15). Eastward, it
extends almost to Europe; westward, it runs in a virtually stmight
line, crosses land at approximately the Canada-Alaska border,
and continues along the Aleutian Islands. The Atlantic rift passes
.east of Greenland until it reactles, and is cut off by, the Nansen
Fmcture Zone. But 60Q miles to the west, the rift ~ontinues
northward, and from another point 600 miles further westward
another extension also treks northward. Such is the "stage" on
which the Nansen Fmcture Zone enacts the role of a tmnsfonn
fault with severe left-lateral movement. The only way the play
becomes intelligible is to visualize the original rift as once extending past the Nansen Zone in a stmight line; after muth
spreading in the usual manner, the northward thrust of the con-tin,ents met at the Nansen Zone and the rift slipped back 600
miles. When the rift crossed the zone and again opened in the
usual manner, the northward move~ent of the continents pushed it back another distance of 600 miles. (To get an idea of the
di.stances involved, .locate Spitzbergen on a map or globe and
realize that the tiny archipelago was once the northern tip of
Greenland! )"
If the Atlantic rift passes the Nansen Zone, the location of
the fonner pole is shown to be north of the farthest extension
o{the rifts, for ,:ccording to the energy-source theoIY, a rlft~
.. not extend past a pole. Thus w~ come back to the Lyakhov Island
region where the pole would have to be if the Ayacucho Valley
glaciation resulted from polar shift. If the last 600-mile slip is

Pursu't 169

o
Approximate position
of Lyakhov Island pole

NANSEN FRACTURE ZONE

_-.----- I

Greenland

Are the natural forms I have enumerated true relics of a

Pleistocene "Flood? Was polar shift involved? The evidence is
!!cant; piecemeal, and much of it is legendary. What mix of tradition, allegory, symbolism and ancient sociology "authorized"
.the biblical'account that tells us:' "In the six hundredth' year of
. Noah's life, in the second month, the. seventeenth day of the
month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep
broken.up .. :"? If "the great deep" means the ocean, could not
"all the fountains" as understandably describe a tsunami roiling in from the north;.~nt on its destructive way by a sudden,
violent pol~ shift?
As for dating, it is my belief that the Bible story lost at least
. a thousand years between the Flood and.Abraham. The Bible
was written by humans - people with the same strengths and
weaknesses and most of the social attitudes that still prevail
among us. Without benefit of the science and technology we
so proudly hail, those biblical' writers :rea<;hed beyolld ttie
megadistance of their own past 'and brought forth some magnifi-'
cent perceptions of ~ ancient world they could only guess about,
.
since it had no literacy.'.
. Geology dites the end of the PI~istocene Epoch at about
10,000 years before present time. In the Bible, the Pleistocene
is said to have ended about 4~()() years ago. As anci~nt times
are reckoned, the discrepa~cy is unimportant; -moreover, it
'allows the possibility that a great catastrophe may have been
followC;d by a similar though less drastic event. I have found
physic.al evidence that seems to show two periods of intense
flooding with a calm period betwee!?-.

***
.0
Approximate
position of
pole before
last slip

Fig. IS

inoved baCk ~ntil the rifts match on both sides' of the Nansen
F~cture Zone, the boundary line of the ice caps of America
and Europe meet .at a point. in mid-ocean. Adding au this together
provides a substantial body of evidence that t,he Nansen Zone
fractured in' historic times, relocated the pOle, and caused the
catastrophic w~ther-distulbance-known as Noah's Flood.'
It seems questionable that a slippage'of600 miles would oc- .
cur as a single event. More likely would be a series of smaller
slips, cumulatively sufficient to redistribute the weight of the
crust and move the pole of 1'Qtation to its present position. In
a f~w violent displacements or in many smaller. ones, the 600
miles eventually accumulated. It happened in historic times at
the end of the Pleistocene Epoch.
Is there a way to test a geophysical theory that cannot be
. validated by repeating the experiment? Yes. One good way is
to consi~ the other, possibly related natural mysteries,it might
help'to solve.
..
If this Flood theory i~ valid, the full force of the. catastrophe
would devastate the northern he~phere; Australia, Africa and
South America. would also be affected but .less than half as
severely. Does this explain why fewer:extinctions of anirniUs
occurretl there than in. the north? The Afrir.lln fauna are still
genuine Pleistocene forms, as. are those in South America; .
Australian fauna'date to a' still-earlier period. .
But even in North America, extinction was' far from total.
Many hundreds of species, including humaits, nianaged to survive and pass on their story to us in a variety of ways.

This study is still in the research stage. In its future the only
certainty is that some aspects of the theory will be modified to
take account of clues yet to be discovered and evidence still to
be compiled. However, the basic concept I believe ~i11 endure;
summarized, it postulates that:
. * Continental drift is caused by the interaction of gradual
sea-floor spreading of rifts created by the gravity of the Sun and
Moon stretching ag~nst the centrifugal force on the opposite
side; the slow spread of these rifts is stored in the Earth's crust
as elastic stress.
.
,
* The continents move poleward under the centrifugal force
of the Earth's rotation;fmovement of continents is s.low, small,
and infrequent, due to friction.
* When fault movement is blocked, the forces accumulate
great strength; when they are released the Nansen Fracture Zone
moves effectiyely to relocate the poles; the ice cap melts; drastic
changes of climate and weather ensue; very rapid pole shift
causes sudden catastrophe.
.
_* A pole shift. of major proportions occurred in historic times,
at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch; it wiped out civilization
but not the human race and not all of tbe world's fauna .
* The Bible story is' important evidence of Noah's Flood;
tb.e traditions of many ethnic groups support it; probability is
strong thai such grou~ have the same event in their heritage;
as in the case of disaster survivors today, each witness knows
only what- happened to h~m or to her in whatever were the immedia~ surroundings at the time of the occurrence.
. * Geological evidence gathered locally show~. that floodwater rose at roughly the rate of one foot per .hour; similar
proof of catastrophic' flooding probably exists in many areas of
the ~Qrld; here in Utah it" IS available for 'all to see.
.

~
.

P.rs.'t 170

Fourth Quarter 1983

Ston~d

on Annie Taylor
by Dwight Wh:a1en

When Mrs. Annie Edson Taylor, a dancing teacher of 63,

packed herself into a wooden barrel to waltz over Niagara Falls,
October 24, 190 I,. everyone feared one thing: rocks. Impact on
the big rocks below the Horseshoe Falls wouJd shatter her keg '.
like an eggshell. By' the greatest luck, she plunged into
unobstructed water and was quickly rescued.
Notoriety assured, Annie expected to reap a fortune telling.
her tale to captivated listeners across America. But while her'
body had not been dashed upon the ~ks, her hopes of moneymaking were. The pot of gold she saw at the end of Niagara '.s
. rainbow was anything but a stone's-throw away.
Stones. In researching this reJ;Jlarkable woman's story for a
book I'm writing (to be called "The Lady Who Conquered
Niagara"), I find myself repeatedly, unexpectedly, stumbling
over s.tones. Or should I say, bombarded by them! I can't seem
to dodge discovering strange stories of stones falling from the
heavens, falling in ways as wildly unlikely, frightening, and
dangerous"":' in one case, fatally so - as Annie's own fall.
Reading an old microfilmed newspaper, rooting out information on "The Queen of The Mist," as she dubbed herself, I
seem to inevitably fjnd a Fortean gem like the following report
from the Buffalo Express, October 27, 1901:
WHO THREW STONES?
Mysterious Fusillade Scares People
In Ohio Town
.
Missiles Came From Where No One Knows;
,
Seemingly From a Clear Sky

,--

Pomeroy, Ohio, Oct. 26 - The little village of Harrisonville,

eight miles fro:r:n this city, is terribly wrought up over the
mysterious stoning of houses and people there in broad
daylight. It began on Sunday afternoon, October 13th, when
a small bowlder came crashing through the window\of Zach
Dye's house, a half mile out of town. The family were all at
home; and at once ran out to see who had thrown the stone,
but no one could be foun<:i, !lotwithstanding the house stands
in the open and several hundred yards from any object large
enough for aman to hide behind. While the family members
stood about in the yard in open-mouthed wonder, other.stones
.
pelted the house, coming from where no one knows.
On Monday afternoon, at about the same hour, a shower
of stones fell right in the heart of the little village. The fir,.t
intimation the citizens had of it was when a piece of rock
came through the. plate-glass door of a store. When the proprietor and the customers ran outside to see who had thrown
it, there was no one in sight. An alarm was given and the
citizens came out with their gUns, and, notwithstanding the
stones continued to faD about them, they were unable to tell
whence they came. One man, William Alkire, was hit a glancing blow on the arm, but was nofseriously injured, while
James Clay, a one-legged man who was standing in front of
his house shouting to the excited populace that it was probably nothing more than a lot of mischievous boys, had his
crutch knOcked from under him and broken by a large
bowlder, which struck it about midway.
On the third day, when the stones began to fly through the
air, the entire population thronged the streets. They were lined up and counted, to see who it .could be that was throwing
the stones. Every man and boy in the village was found to
be in the line, and still the dangerous missiles flew through
the air.

Fourth Quarter 1983

After her business manager absconded with her oarrel in

January 1902, .Annie spent time in the Auburn; N. Y., area plotting to get itlback. I found this item in the Auburn Dai~y Advertiser of March 20, 1902:
STRUCK BY A METEOR
.

. Near Indianapolis; Ind . ...:.. Thomas Sloanehad a close call

. when a meteor about as large as his fist struck in the opening of his right overcoat pocket, passed through it,burned
his leg in a painful manner and then entered the earth to. such
a depth that his neighbors are still digging for it.

Annie's manager sold her barrel to a Chicago theatrical company for use as a promotional gimmick for a play called "Over
Niagara Falls." On August I~, '1902, a police raid snatched
the cask from a de~ment-store window. Scanning the Chicago
. Tribune for this period, I caJIle ac1'Qss:
MAN KILLED BY A METEOR

San Antonio, Tex., Aug. 17 - (Special) - A sheep herner

named Ramon Cruz was killed in Edwards County by a fragment of a meteor that was shattered by coming into conflict
with a huge .bowlder on which he was seated last Friday.
Details as to the exact time and the circumstances are now
known. A pieCe of meteoric stone weighing an ounce was imbedded in his skull. Near the body wasfound a piece of the
meteor weighing five pounds, and seven !Small fra~ents.
The odds against anyone being struck by ~ meteorite are duck! -astronomical. The odds against it occurring to two pe0ple in the United States within a six-month period are ultraastronomical. But perhaps the strangest part, coincidentally, is
that Annie Taylor's life is linked to the Jocales where these
murderous meteorites fell.
The first struck ''near Indianapolis, Indiana." In an
autobiographical sketch which she published' in 1902, called
"Over the Falls," Annie claimed to have lived for a time in
Indianapolis, and '~taught dancibg in Lafaytette," a tOwn near
Indianapolis.
\
.
.Edwards County, Texas, where Ramon Cruz was struck in
the head and killed by a meteorite, is npt far northwest of San
Antonio. According to her own account, Annie served as an
associate high school" principal in San Antonio from 1878 to
1881. In fact, one of the reasons she gave for barreling over
Niagara concerned San Antonio. She owned small ranch there,
she said, and hoped to earn enough money iecturing about her
Falls ride to update the property 'and make it her pennanent
home.'
.
. One time near San Antonio, she barely missed catching a
fatal "meteorite" in dte head herself. ,. A gang of Jesse James'
, men," Annie related, waylaid a stagecoach she was rilling between San Antonio and Austin. When she refused the bandits'
demand for m~ney, one of them pressed a pistol to her head.
"Blow away," sh~.told him, "I would as soon be without brains
as without money!" He let her keep both.
In the matter of strange stone showers, Annie Taylor was

P.ra.'t 171

once in the immediate proximity of one .. Charles Fort, in his.

book LO!, describes "three showers of hot stones" which fell
near the building of Jhe Charleston News and Courier, September
4, 1886, four days after the devastating Charleston., Sou'th
Carolina, earthquake (The Complete Books of Charles Fort, p.
56~). Referring to details published in the Richrpond Whig, Fort
say.s $e paper was informed "that the stones, which were flint
pebbles, ranging from the size of a grape to the size of a hen.'s
egg, had fallen upon an areaof75 square feet, and that about
a gallon of them had been picked up."
Onthe night of the earthquake, August 31, who should be
one of those rocked in their chairs at Charleston but Annie
Taylor. She said she was sitting in the parlor of a friend's home
listening to a music recital when the. cataclysm struck. She
reacted with stony composure and scientific interest . 'Her first
I
..
tl'lought was as to the effect an earthquake has on the
temperature, '\ said the Buffalo. Express in 190 I. ., She got up'
and looked at a thermometer, noted the state of the mercury,
and later observed that within an hour the temperature had fallen
2~.degrees."
.
.
Having retrieved her barrel froin Chicago in 1902, AJ:lnie
hired a new manager and to~~the barrel on a tour that autumn.
She was exhibiting at Trenton, New Jersey, the' first week of
October. A farm near Trenton, says 'Fort in LO!, was the s<;ene
,ofa stone shower in June 1884 (The Complete Books of Charles
Forr, p. 561). The. Trenton Evening Times, October 2, report~d:
,

SHOWERS OF STONES SCARE PEOPLE

" IN LITTLE VIL~AGE .

By Publisher's Press Direct-Wire

Wheeling, W. Va., Oct. 2 - The suburban village of
Parkview, four miles east of this city, is the. scene of great
. excitement over fifteen showers of stones.
'
During the last two days showers h~ve been frequent and
some damage has been done to property. A house was badly
damaged. The stones are the size and shape of cobblestones.
The larger that have fallen are jet black and very hard,
while a number of snowY white ones have also fallen. The
white coating has the appeara~ce of lime.
Many of the people from here have visited the village and
have brought some of the'stones to the city. "

./

I cannot find a personal connection between Annie and.

Wheeling, We~t Virginia, nor the site .of the earlier stone
showers, Harrisonville, Ohio. However, the same October 2 editior~ of the Trenton Evening Times reported the following from
a town 20 iniles north ofthe New Jersey capital., .
,

BELIEVE IT RAINED FISH

AT BLOOMSBURG

Flemington, Oct. 2 --: After the heavy shower Sunday a~

noon ma~y small fish were discovered in the streets. As no
stream of water could have overflowed its banks and reached the .place, it remains a mystery how the fish cam~ to be
. there. Many, however"have accepted the theory that they
.
came down with the rain.
It is interesting that a probable fish fall took place that close
to Treritonwhen Annie was there, and.interesting that I should
discover .i~. I have documented numerous instances of rainfalls
of fish in the Niagara Falls area ("Niagara FishfaIls," Pursuit,
No. 62, Second Quarter 1983).
.
Getting back to the stonefalls, the woutlding meteorite near
.Indianapolis struck While Annie was feeling the wounds of
. betrayru. The meteorite that killed a .sheep-herder near San Antonio struck on the very day Annie made' "the kill" of recapturing her barrel in C~icago. The Harrisonville ston~-showers
began. on October 13, 190 I, the same. day Annie arrived at
Niagara to begin preparations for her barrel-ride. The 15 stoneshowers outside Wheeling <><:curred during Annie's exhibition
at Trenton - where again' her barrel was stolen by an
~nscrupulous manager, thiS time for good'.

* * *

Abruptly the stones stopped falling. I have searched. two

decades of Niagara newspapers, gath~ring bits of data on Annje's twilight years, without finding a report of a killer meteorite
or an inexplicable stone .shower. It is surprising and remarkable
that these phenomena occurred, not "only so relatively frequent:"
Iy during a 12-month period in the U.S., but" at times of
significance to Annie, as if laying cosmic emphasis on the struggle she waged to win ~ortune with her oaken 'keg.
AFTER-THE-GRAVE STONES
Annie Edson Taylor died, stone-blind and
stone-broke., in the Niagara County poorhouse, Lockport, New York April 29,,1921.
Annie's name returned to the heaaunes
in 1980 when the Bay Area Chamber of COMmerce, Bay City, Michigan, attempted.to have
her body disinterred from. Oakwood Cemetery
'\ in Niagara: Falls, N. Y., and reinterred in Bay
City, the town where she conceived her FallsIshooting scheme and had her barrel constructed; In a violent May stonn that year at
Orange, New Jersey, large hailstones fell with
tiny iron pebbles inside (Pursuit No. 52, Fall
1980, p. 173). A~n, Annie's movements can
be traced tp the locale of a strange stoneshower. Negotiating with the Edison
.Biography Company to have "moving pic~
tu~s" made depicting her barrel-ride over
. Niagara; Annie spent several days in June,
1903, at Orange; N.J .
.. ~
,

PurSuit 172

F.ourth Quarter 1983

~.rticle-Energy Theory
,
.lor the
.
Kirlian Phantoni-Leaf Effect
and
Spontaneous Human Combustion

. by Michael Baran
Two bona. fide modem mysteries are the
phantom-leaf effect of Kirlian photography and the rare, hut well-documented,
phenomenon referred to as spontaneous
human combustion.
Occult metaphysicians have suggested
that a bizarre syndrome that !!ometimes
strikes practitioners of the mystic art of
,Kundalini, the so-called. "Kundalini
Fire," may represenra rational theoretic
model for spontaneous human combustion. Kundalini is ~ased on a postulation
that the human entity comprises three
dynamically int!!racting components: the
psychic, or mental, force; second, an
"electrical-energy" component (both of
these being mediated through the central
nervous system); and third, the physical
body mass. Kundalini is a potentially
hazardous undertaking in which a person
attempts to psychically channel his' 'electrical energy" into a specific body area,
for example, the cognitive sphere, orthe
sexual. It is Claimed by those versed in
Kundalini discipline that if the procedure
is not done properly, a real possibility of
"circuit overload" exists. In this case, of
course, it is more than an electrical fuse
that may be "blown;" extremely harmful and even fatal consequences can
ensue.
Whether or - not the Kuridalini Fire
scenario represents a mechanistic model
for spontaneous human combustion, it
does not provide an explanation for the
seemingly bizarre results in SHC victims,
Photo of phantomleaf effeCt by H. G. Andrade and Luis Zanin, Directors of Research, Brazilian
in terms of particle-energy physics. This
.
Instllute of Psychobiophysicalln"istigation.
article proposes an energy sub-particle.
ed to be the smallest building-block of the
tonic emissions are thought to be the
model that coherently accounts for SHC.
atom. Gravitons all are roughly of a
essential by-product of atomic dynamics.
The same model also may explain the
similar si:ze and velocity of motion (quanKirlian phantom-leaf effect.
0
Atoms and molecules are not perfectly
tum velocity). Being in constant motion,
round; their tendency to be oriented
Many physicists believe that all atoms
gravitons are basically. tiny packets of
toward a certain. directiol) or plane. in
constantly emit and re-absorb ultra-tiny
energy. Atoms ~re structurally compos. space is called polarization. This propersub-particles categorically referred to as
ed ofaggregate units ofvarying size. The.
ty is closely identified with the particlegravitons. Actually, gravitons are believlargest sub-atomic umts are the neutrons
aggregate unit's electromagnetism; the
ed to vary Somewhat in size, from the
relatively larger semi-quantum sub-units . arid protons, which in tum are made up
greater the polarization of an atom or
called mesons, baryons, and so on, to
of smaller aggregates cailed quarks. The
molecule, .the greater its electromagnetic
minutest building-blocks, the gravitons,
energization. (Actually, electrons, the
smaller units like electrons and 'photons:
are believed to be in a state of constant
spinning, electrically charged quantum
to the ultimately minuscule sub-unit callsub-units that orbit around the outennosf
ed the neutrino, a quantum particle believ- . dynamic emission-and-retention. Gravi-

.FolII'tb Quarter 1983

Pursuit 1'3

limits of the atom, are the electronically

, Mystic theorists claim that veg~tive lifeThe, same' concept ,~ mass-directed
forms are capable of emotion. The vast
active units. In a highly polarized atom,
resonance of emitted sub-atomic quanta
majority of phantom' experiments have
electronic activity is e'nhanced, i.e" tlIe
- can also be applied to an explanatory
been done using leaves, and it may be that
, electrons are more f~ly, react~ve.)
mOdel for the singularly peculiar physical
It is possible to explain the enigmatic
findings in victims of spontaneous human
the way the leaf is handled affect,S the
reprOduction of auric images. Moreover, '
combustion, a phenomenon for which
energy manifestation of Kirlian photography, called the "phantom-leaf' phein successful attempts, if a portion of a
science has no explanation at present.
r nomenon, with the particle model we have
leaf is re~oved with a pair of scissors and , Such findings indicate a very different
a Kirlian photo taken immediately, 'it is '
just outlined. Before describing, the extype of combustion from that with which
planatory model, it would be helpful to
often possible to obtain an image of the
we are familiar, To cite a typical case, a
review a few basic concepts involved in'
piece that is no longer there. Phantom im- , "nineteenth-century physician' named
the Kirlian process.
, '
ages, tend to be brighter and hazier than
DeBrus reported that a man ',s hands were
the solid image, similar' to the "normal"
, A Kirlian photographic 'impression is
observed to bum, off and on, with a
'obtained by passing an artificial elec-" , aura.' A very impoitant point is that all
strange blue flame, after he had tried to
such photos show the p~antom-portion
tromagnetic field through an object, such
extinguish a fire in the clothes of his
perfectly aligned ,with the intact portion
as a hand or a leaf, and recording the imbrother. Many cases have occurred while
age,on a plate. Photos taken in thisway.
of the leaf. Referring back to the present
. the victim was resting in a chair or in bed.
capture not only an image of the object ' "atmospheric" theory of the Kirlian aura,
In ,quite a few cases, but by no means all,
it seems reasonable that if the phantom efbut/also, exte~ding out from'its edges a
the victim was' known to have recently'
fect were something happening "in the
short distance into space, a bright and
overindulged in alcohol. V ictims have
r, air," one might expect a less preci!!elyslightly hazy zone called the "aura."
ranged in age from infancy to 114 years.
,reproducible manifestation than the phanOrdinary combustion is the result of
The currently accepted th.eolj to explain
'tom exhibits.
'
the aura proposes that it is essentially an
heat-induced stimulated-movement' ,of
atom'ic and molecular particles, If a
If the phantom-effect is not due,
atmospheric effect. This theory postulat~s
ionization of the air by electrons from the
',material's ignition temperature is reachthat as the artificial energy field passes
through the object, it excites electrons to
ed, and if oxygen is present, the material
oDject, what is it due to? It can be explain~
'ed' by using the particle-energy model
escape from it into the nearby air. Supwill bum. In the case of organic, or
posedly these electrons then combine with
biological; materials, a major component
outlined at the beginning of this article.
"If we assume that interactions ("colliI'!itrogen atoms in the air, ionizing them.
of the flainmable substance is carbon; carAs the nitrogen atoms quickly lose the
bon dioxide is formed and a carboniferous
sions") between gravitons and atom~ are
electrons in order to ,return to the unmore frequent the denser, or more crowd- ' ,residue is left where there has been incomplete oxidation of the burning
ed, the atoms are, then it follows that
ionized state, they leave'their image as the
,material. In spontaneous human combusaUra. An apparent defect in this theory is , , gravitonic emissi9n patterns will reflect a
tion,'however, there typically is an amazthat it fails to account for a, phenomenon
directional orientation. By saying that
gnlvitons (atomic energy ~missions)
associated with Kirlian photography calling absence of residue. Dense tissues,
ed'the phantom-leaf effect. The phantom
bones'in particular, are consumed in toto.
resonate directionally with atomic mass ..
, Ordinary combustion of human tissues
effect is not constantly reproduc,ible; some, , we are saying that the denser the ato~ic
labs obtain a phantom image as much as '
mass OCcupying a given volum~ of space,
requires extreme'temperatures - ,over
the greater the moqjhic polanzation of the
30 .per cent of the time, while other labs
3000 degrees Fah~nheit. Such temseem unable 'to produce it at all. Techni- & other atoms in'the local vicinity. What this
peratures can be achieved only under
que is clearly very important; the photo'
special conditions such as are provided by
means in the leaf s case is that all its
must be taken very soon after the partial
a pressurized crematorium, The enigmatic
myriad atoms are in directional resonance
, with' each oth~r; while some gravitonic '
, excision or the phantom effect will not be
aspect this seems to lend the self-ignition
observed, no matter who is doing the proemissions may,radiate out randomly into'
phenomenon is seemingly compounded
space ,near the,leaf (aura), the prepon- ' , , by the fact that ordinarily highly-flamced~re. This type of experimerital effect
is also seen in parapsychological testing.
mable Clothing and upholstery that were
derant gravito1'1ic energy emissions occur
Researchers in telepathy, clairvoyance
in intimate contact with the victim are
withil}, the leaf itself, because that is where
and psychokinesis refer to it as the "exoften riot only unburned; but noi even
atomic mass is greatest. A leafs atomic
perimenter effect," i.e., experiments that
mass corresponds with its yisual shape,
, singed.' In a carefully studied case that <?C:
appear well-controlled, impeccably'
the surrounding sp8~e and, atmosphere
'cu~ in 1776, a priest named Don Gio
documented scientifically, and which
Bertholi was spontaneously self-ignited.
contributing a negligible amount of mass.
demonstrate the validity of a certain
The victim's tuiir was not so much as
Thus the atomic gravitonic emission in a
psychic phenomenon, cannot be duplisinged, while the head an,d cap were totalleafs vicinity normally corre~ponds
cated by a second researcher. All with the '
ly consum~d. In its issue of April 21,
almost exactly to the leafs <vP. atomic
1888, the,Brit~sh Medical Journal reported
Kirlian phantom-leaf efi'ect, this has led
mass, 'arid the energy e'mission pattern
on a case that occurred in Colchester,
unsuccessful experimenters and authori- , 'corresponds almost exactly to,the leafs
tative figures from the ,"debunker" scienngl~i1d, in which the victim, an elderly
shape. If a portion of the leaf is removtific, community to question the, validity
ed, the atoms that comprise the ,remainder , drunk, was virtually totally consumed
of the phenomenon.
'
while lying in a hayloft. Although the loft
would be expected to briefly "rem~mber"
It should be noted in connection with
was full of dry hay, both loose and in
it, and its shape, in the form of the overall
r bundles, it was "not even scorched." In
this point that leaves come from plants,
vectored pattern traced out by their myriad
and plants' are said to respond to exgravitonic emissions. This (the gravitonic
other cases, underwear caught fire but the
traneQUs factors;, for example, music is
emissions) is what I believe the Kirlian efouter clothing did not. Another odd result
said to affect a plant's growth pattern.
,that seems to occur with fair regularity is
fect actually represents.

to,

"

P .....ul'174

Fourth Quarter 1983'

Crows, Dolphins, and Hailstones

that the victim's hair remains unsinged

although the rest of the ~y, including
(Co __ ents on Previous SITUation Reports)
the parts to which the hair was attached,
. is totally consumed.
Among the items in the p~vious issue
some Russians feeding them little bits of
Spontaneous human combustion clearwhich I found most interesting were the '. . rotten meat. It seems the birds nest in the
ly represents a different process from orreports about the putty-eating crows in . spires of St. Basil's.Cathedral and in the
dinary combustion. This writer believes
towers of the Kremlin. Trust the Russians
Bonn, West Germany (PurSuit No. 63",
it -can be explained using the same partito cherish such horrible birds ..
Third Quarter 1983, p. 135) and the
cle model we have applied to the Kirlian
Nevertheless, hooded c"?ws are highly
rescue by dolphins of the pilot whose
phantom-leaf phenomenon. In ordinary
intelligent, even psychic. They fly lazily
helicopter crashed in the Java Sea (p.
combustion, molecules and atoms are
overhead if you don't have a gun, but just
136).
thermally stimulated, but the nuclear
think about shooting them and they disapPutty-eating by crows is notunique. We
structure of'atoms does not change. Carpear completely. Hoodie-shooting is the
h!ld a similar case recently in Tobermory,
bon remains carbon, although it is conmost demanding sport in which I have
Isle of Mull, Scotland, where.a huge rubverted to a gaseous state. In spontaneous
ever engaged. A hoodie=-shoot involves
human combustion, the absence' of : bish dump was not only an eye- and nosecomplex teamwork, using cars, boats,
.sore p~t harbored 'every variety of infecresidues indicates oxyge'n availability is
Landt:Overs, rifles, shotguns, walkieOf
course,
vermin
of
all
kinds
contion.
not a factor; in addition, it may reflect a
talkies, the lot. If you get a couple of birds
tributed to the mc:ss: not the leas~ being
somewhat greater consumption. of the
by-the end of the day, you are doing well.
the flock of 'hoOdies' , - as hooded
atoms theinselves. The latter would.ocAnd if you get even one, you will be made
crows are colloquially known.
cur if nuclei were breaking down and losaware pf what I believe is truly unique
There are two sorts of crows in Europe:
ing their sub-particulate building-blocks.
about crows: they exhibit great distress at
the black or carrion crow, and the gray
When the term "thermonuclear decay" is
the d~th of a companion and make a fuss
or hooded crow. The former is all black;
mentioned, the chain-reaciion process
over the corpse, eyen though they must
the latter has a gray saddle. Though the
usually comes to mind most readily, but
know that by so doing. they are putting
two species can interbreed, the hooded
it does not follow that such reactions are
themselves. in danger. Quite a contrast to
crow is found only along the western
necessarily explosive. Limited and consheep anc! cattle which hardly notice the.
seaboard and in eastern Europe. We have
trolled nuclear-breakdown processes ocbody of an erstwhile friend lying about.
hoo~ed crows in Mull, but travel only--a
cur in th9se situations wh~re a certain
few miles inland to find only black crows ..
spatial pattern of mass-energy variables
As to the di>lphins, they have long been
exists; examples .being the sun or a nuclear
. After some twenty years of listening to,
known as rescuers of humans in danger
complaints from the island' public, folreactor. As it may occur in the' self~
of drowning. The earliest account, I
ignition . phenomenon, sub-particulate
lowed by' much deliberation, the local
believe, dates back to Roman times. Like
combustion would not be'simply an excouncil finally adopted a more hygenic
humans, dolphins need to. breathe, and a
cessive random kinetic motion of
method of garbage disposal. As a result,
sick dolphin will likely be carried to the
the hoodies and other vermin began peckmolecules and atoms, but an accentuation
surface on the backs of its mates. 'Pushing
. a 'rubber dinghy to shore would be a
of a pre-existing resonance - overing the putty out of windows, starting ~ith
resonance of the much-smaller.quantum
newly-built houses, then' attacking older
natural extension of this behavior.
. In recent issues of Pursuit, especially
windows: The whole thing assumed
.particles we call gravitons. If, as proposin the Notes of Charles Fort, there have
.plague porportions, as. reported in the
ed above, gravitons are normally in a state
been a number of references to remarkable
Oban Times newspaper and. elsewhere.
of cOQstant directional resonance with
falls of objects. That these falls continue
The general explanation' fixed responlocal atomic mass, then ~ over-resonance
.to survive both time and explanation was
sibility on the linseed. oil in the putty._
also would be preferentially manifested in
the direction of the densest atomic mass
Linseed oil, an edible oil, attracted the. . illustrated about a year ago in the Man-'
chester area. Very large hailstones fell,
in proximity.to it. Thus, in spOntaneous
birds by its smell. Being starved, th~y ate
g~en greenhouses were demolished, and
. iund the lead as well. However, they did
combustion, relatively mass-dense
'cars severely dented, but the fall' took
not seem to suffer from lead poisoning;
materials like the head and cap of a vic-,
. ,place over an area only a few hundred
tim could be consumed, while the' lessthe hoodie population declined slowly,
yards square.
densely structured scalp-hair would not.
probably froJ:l1 starvation, not poisoning.
A friend preserved some of the stones
Likewise, a victim's body might be con-.
On my one 'visit to Russia (like
in his freezer, where their size is still evisumed in toto while' a light-textured
Napoleon and Hitler, I found one excurdent but other characteristics in doubt
material like hay would be unaffected,
sion sufficient) I attended a gala perforbecause they have not yet been analyzed.
even when in immediate contact with the
mance by hooded crows in Moscow, of
They should be evaluated 'for chemical
victim.
all places. Our tour announcement had
Today there is a strong feeling among
content. and the proportions of their
listed as a "special attraction'" a nocturhydrogen and oxygen isotopes measured.
scholars in the parapsychology field that,
nal visit to Red Square to engage in illegal
for all our Space Age achievemen.ts, o,ur
Any suggestions as to where and by
currency deals. (The idea is to stand in
knowledge-base of physics contains a maRed Square at night, talking loudly in
whom this could be done will be most
gratefully considered - especially by my
jor conceptual gap,or gaps, analogous to
English; after a while some fellow comes
friend who wants ~e stones out of his
up and tries to sell you rubles for dollars.)
the existence of an abysmal "black hole"
While this was going on, I heard the
freezer.
in the midst of an otherwise well-ordered
-George SasSOOIl .
galaxy.
familiar '~kark, kark" cry from the dark.
Wanninster, Wiltshire
sky above. Next morning I investigated, .'
England
and there was a huge flock of hoodies with

Fourth Quarter 1983

Pursuit 175

The Life and' Times

0/

by E. d. Quinby
.
\

.NIKOLA .YESLA
To Tesia, that was sheer nonsense. It seemed much more
.Iogical to eliminate the commutatOJ: at both generator and motor,
and use AC through the whole system. But no one had ~ver built
Ask any electrical engineering student today to tell you
something about Nikola Tesla, and you are likely to get a blank
a motor that could operate on 'alternating current, and Tesla
struggled mentally with the probiem. Then.one day in February,
stare. Or the counter-question: Who was Tesla? It seems
1882, while strolling with a classmate named Szigetti in a
, preposterous that our educators should have ignored 'entirely the'
Buda~st park, he sudderuy blurted out: "I've got it! Now watch
"father" of our Alternating Current Age, but such is the fact.
me reverse it!" At,that moment he had visualized the rotating
Something should be done about our.technical education system!
magne~ic field, which would revolutionize the whole electrical
Born July 9, 1856 in the village of.Smiljan in what is now
industry. He saw the magnetic pUll raci~g' around the stationary
Yugoslavia, Tesla rose from. relative obscurity to a top Position
. field (stator) of his motor while the armature (rotor), attracted
in the scientific' world. He became a millionaire at age 32 through
by .the mc;)Ving field, chased around after it faster and faster
his important inventions, but later faded into obscurity and died
until it was revolving at the same rate. He would need no
n~rly penniless. '
s,-,:"itching to the rotating element - no commutator!
His father was a clergyman. His mother, though she never
. Subsequently he worked the whole alternating-current eleclearned to read and write, was known in the community as an
trical system out in his mind - including alternators, step:up.
inventor of domestic labor-saving devices, and it is to her that
and step-dow~ transformers for economical transmission and
Tesla attributed much of his inventive genius. The young Tesla;
delivery of electric power, 2nd AC motors to supply mechanical
opposing his father's urging to study for the ministry, insisted
power. Impressed by the wealth of available water power
on. a career in engineering. His mother encouraged him. He at going to waste arourid t~e world, he visuaJized the harnessing
tended the polytechnic school at Graz (now part of Austria),
of that great supply with hydro-electric plants capable of
specializing in physics and mathematics, and continued nis'
distributing the powerto1where it was needed. He startled felloweducation at the University of Prague. There he took a course
students in Budapest by announcing: "Some day I will harness
in foreign languages so that he would be able to read foreign
.
Niagara Falls."
technical literature. He became proficient in English: French,
The opportunity and fo~une Tesla sought in the promised
and Italian, in addition to German and his native Serbian.
land did not come easily. 'When he met Edison, then actively
Fi.nishing at Prague in 1880, he. took i post-graduate courSe'
engaged in deveioping a market for his incandescent lamp
in BlJdapest, where he debated the merits.of alternating current
through his pioneer ~rl Street plant in New York,. Tesla began
with his professors. He then went-to work for a Paris telephone
with youthful enthusiasm a description of his altemating-current
company, where he acquired considerable experience with D~ \
system. "You are wasting your time on that theory," ~he great
dynamos and motors.
.
.- man told him, dismissing the idea promptly and finally. .
For a year the tall, gaunt- Yugoslav struggled to keep from
Problems with Direct Current
starVing. in this strange land. At one point he dug ditches to make
a living. But the foreman of the Western Union ditch-digging
In those' early days, direct current .. was universally
project on which he was working listened .to the visionary
acknowledged to be the only practical medium for. generating ,
descriptions of new electrical syStems that Tesla related during
transmitting, and using electricity for heat, light, or power. But
lunch~oljrs.and introduced him to a ~ompany executive nam. DC resistance losses were so great that a power plant was needed
ed A.K. Brown. Fascinated by Tesla's vivid plans, Brown and
for every square mile served. Early incandescent lamps, glow.an associate decided to take a flyer. 'They pilt up a limited amount
ing none too brightly on 110 volts even close to the power plant,
of mon~y, with which Tesla set up an experimental laboratory
becaine pitifully dim on the power that dribbled from the lines
at 33-35 South Fifth Avenue (~ow West Broadway). There Tesla
less t,han a mile away. And everyone believed that motors could
set up a complete demonstration of his system, including a
J
run only on DC. An aliernating-current motor'was considered
. an impossibility. .
. '
.
generator,. transformers. transmission line, motors, and lights .
He worked tirelessly, and .without drawings; the plans for every
That was the picture when~ in 1884, young Tesla stepped
detail were indelibly etched in his mind. He even included two':.
off a ship in New York, his head full of ideas, and four cents
phase and three-phase systems.
. .
in his pocket. His experience had convinced him that the com- .
W.A.
Anthony
of
Cornell'University
exaririned the
Professor
mutator in direct-current motors and dynamos was an unnew AC system, and promptly 'announced that Tesla's synnecessary complication, causing endless troubles. He realized
chronous motor was equal i~ efficiency to the best DC motors.
that the ..~ generator" actually produCed AC, which was converted to DC by the commutator. Then, to get that DC to proAlternating Current Arrives
duce
motion in a motor, the process had to be reversed.
The armature of each electric motor was equipped with a rotating
Tesla attempted to patent his syst~m under a single comswitch (commutator) that changed the polarity of its magnetic
prehensive patent covering all its components. The Patent Ofpoles just at the right instant as it rotated to supply AC ~o the
fice would not approve the all-in-one application, insisting on
motor

rotary

Purit 176

"...-

.Foarth Qaartel' 1983

separate applications for each important idea. Tesla's applications, filed in November and December of 1887, resulted in the
granting of seven U. S. patents in the next six months. In April
1888, he filed for four more patents, covering his polyphase
system. Those too were promptly granted, as were 18 more U.S.
patents later in the year. Numerous European. patents soon
followed. Such an avalanche of patents, so promptly issued, was
without precedent. But the ideas were so novel - completely
absent was any element of interference or "anticipation '.' - that
the patents were issued without a single challenge.
Meanwhile Tesla staged a spectacular lecture and demonstration of his AC system -single-phase and polyphase - at .a.
meeting of the AlEE (now the IEEE) in New York. The
engineers of the world were made aware that the limitations on
electric-power transmission by wire had been removed, opening the door to tremendous expansion.
But who would adopt this obviously better system? Certainly not the established Edison-General Electric organization it would have made their whole investment obsolete. Apparently
Tesla was stuck with no market, no customer for what he had
to offer.
It was at that moment that George Westinghouse walked into Tesla's laboratory and introduced himself. Tesla was tl:len
32 years old, Westinghouse 42. Both were capable inventorS,
accomplis~ed engineers, and electrical e!lthusiasts.
Westinghouse listened to Tesla's explanations, watched his
demonstration, and quickly made up his mind.
.
" "I will give you one million dollars cash for your alternating
current patents, plus royalties," offered Westinghouse.
"Make that royalty one dollar per horsepower, and it's a
deal," repliedTesla, without apparent excitement. As simply
as that, the two men arranged the historic deal and shook hands
on it.
Tesla had arrived. But he was not a man to forget those who
had placed their faith in his ideas, and promptly signed over
half his million-dollar fee to Brown and his associate, who had
financed his laboratory. Although Westinghouse's backers later
forced .him to get a release from Tesla on the dollar-perhorsepower part of the agreement, such was the friendship that
had developed between the two men that an amicable settlement
was quickly reached: Tesla relinquished the royalties that would
have supported him and his research efforts for the rest of his life.
The phenomenal success of the Westinghouse AC-systems
across the nation made it clear to General Electric engineers that
they would have to get a license from Westinghouse if they were
to keep up with the rapidly expanding electrical industry. The' .
license - negotiated at a handsome fee .- wal! a. fejlther in
Tesla's cap; he never forgot Edison's statement that there was
no future in alternating current and that experimenting with it
would be a waste of fime:
A Dream Realized
In 1890, the International Niagara Commission began its
search to find the best way of using the POWer of Niagara Falls
to generate electricity. The scientist Lord Kelvin was appointed
. chairman of the commission, and i(lll1lediately announced that
a DC system would obviously be best! It was not easy to
challenge that world-famous authority, but Kelvin eventually
came to reali~ that if power .were to be transmitted even the
26 miles to Buffalo, AC would be necessary. Th~, it was decided to use Tesla's system and generate AC with massive water
turbines. Bids were invited by the newly fonned Cataract Construction Co. in 1893. Westinghouse won the contract for ten

Fourth Quarter 1983

Tesla's "w!Jrld-wide wireless" tower on Long Island was 200 feet high
and the hemispherical top was about 100 feet. in diametlV' The project was
never completed and the tower was dismantled during World War I.

5000-horsepower hydro-electric generators, and General Electric t~ contract for the transmission system. The whole system
including the line and the step-up and step-down transfomi"ers
followed Tesla's two-phase design. He desi~ned the big
alternafors with external revolving fields and intc:rnal stationary
armatures, to minimize the .weight of the moving members.
That historic project created a sensation, for nothing of that
magnitude had been ,attempted up to that time. The ten big
2250-volt alternators, revolving at 250. rpm and delivering 1775
amperes each, produced an output of 50,000 horsepower, or
37,000 kilowatts, 25 Hz, two-phase. The rotors were 10 feet
in diameter and 14 feet long (actually, -14 feet high in those vertical generators) and weighed 34 t!lns each. The stationary
members weighed 50 tons each. The voltage was stepJPl up
to 22,000 for transmission.
Tesla's pioneer work in radio ("wireless" as ir'was then called) went beyond just Morse code communication. In 1898 he

Pursuit 177

staged a spectacular demonstration of remote control without .

wires at the original Madison Square Garden in New York City. .
A portentous Electrical Exhibition was then in progress, and
in the center of the vast arena where Barnum and Bailey's cir- .
cus usually performed he had a large tank built and filled with
water. Afloat on that small lake he had a 3-foot iron-hulled boat.
Inside the hull was a radio reCeiver and an assortment of electric motors, driven by a storage battery, to perform various shipboard functions. The receiver's antenna was mounted on the
boat's mast. .
.. . . .
.
From the opposite end of th~ auditorium, Tesla p~t the vessel
through a variety of maneuvers, including sailing f9rward, steering left. and right, stopping, reversing, and lighting the lights
in its rigging in response to audience requests. The impressive
demonstration of course stole the show" and made the front
page of the daily newspapers. But how many dreamed that one
day, using those same radio-remote-servo-controlj>rilJciples, we
would land a man on the moon?
'
Mathematical Wizardry

'

Tesla's mathematical genius stood him in good stead in the

. design of the AC equipment for Westinghouse and GE. (In his
early stud~nt days, he solved complex probleQIs in his head,'
without pencil and paper. His teachers suspected him of
cheating, but. young T~sla, it turned out, had memorized whole
logarithmic tables!) The now-established frequency Qf 60 Hz
stems from Tesla's mental calculations, which convinced him
that ii was ,the most practical frequency for commercial use. At
higher frequencies, AC motors would ,become ineffiCient; at
lower frequencies they would require too much iron. Lights
would' also flicker at low frequencies.
Though the Original Niagara'Falls plant was designed for 25
Hz to accommodate the limitatiqns 9f the.early Westingtiouse
turbine' generators, subsequent expansion included conversio'n
to 60 Hz. Today power from Niagara' i~ transmitted all the way .
to New York City; 360 miles away, and at times is f~ over
the Northeast power grid for much grea.ter distances. RememDer,
when Tesla arrived in New York, the IimitJor efficient power- '
transmission was less than a mile!

Police station over a block away began to dance around

as Tesla confirmed his mathematical theories of
, resonance, vibration, and ."natural periods,"
mys~eriously.

World's Most Powerful Transmitter

Investigations of high-voltage and high-frequency electricai

transmission led Tesla to build and operate the world's most
powerful 'radio transmitter on a mountain near Colorado Springs.
Around the. base of a 200-foot mast, he build a 75-foot diameter
air-core transformer. The primary was only a few turns of wire.
The secondary within it was 100 tums,'W feet in diameter. Using power from a generating station. several miles away, Tesla
c~ated the first man-made lightning. Deafening bolts 100 feet
long leaped from the 3-foot copper ball at the top of his mast.
He was using voltages of the order of 100 million - a feat not
to be equalled 'for'a half-century.
. Tesla burned out the power-plant generator: with his first experiment, but repairing it, continued his experiments until he
was able to.transmit power. withQut wires 'for a ~istance of 26
miles. At that distance he was able to light a bank of 200 incandesce",t lamps - a. total of 10 kilowatts. Fritz Lowenstein,
later to become famous for tiis own radio patents, witnessed that
spectacular accomplishment as Tesla's assistant on the project.
By 1899, Tesla had somehow: spent. the last of the money
he got from Westinghouse for his AC patents. Colonel John
Jacob ,AstoI; came to his fina~cial rescue, and put up the
necessary $30,000 for the Colorado Springs experiments. Now,
that money was also gone, and Tesla returned to New York.
Enter J.P. Morgan

In New York: Tesla was prevailed upon by his friend Robert

UnderWood Johnson, editor of Century magaz;ine, to write a
feature' . story" describing his accomplishments at Colorado
Springs. But the story Tesla turned out proved to be an involv.ed discourse on the' subject of philosophy an<J "the mechanical
'process of humanity. " Although of the highest 'literary quality,
the treatise said little about the powerful transmitter at Colorado
. Springs. Johnson had to return the manuscript three times before
getting some covereage of the subjl;ct he had rt(quested,
In the end, the article was published under the title "The
, High-Frequency Pioneering
Problem of Increasing Human Energy." Ii created a sensation
when it appeared in print. One, of the readers who was deeply
During his research in high voltage and high frequency, Tesla
impressed was John Pierpont Morgan,. who' had financed the
adopted a most sensible practice, When handling high-voltage
General Electric Co. in its pioneer DC days, and later, its part
. apparatus, he always kept one hand in his pocket. H.e insisted
in the' Niagara Falls project, Morgan was fascinated by the
that all his laboratory assistants take that precaution, and to this
genius of Nikola Tesla, by his spectacular accomplishments,
day that is always done by sensible experimenters when work-.
ing around potentially dangerous high-voltage'equipment.
and by his winning personillity. Tesla soon became a ~gular
. Tesla's work with high frequencies and in the field of higQ
guest. at th~ M~rgan home. Impeccably dresscrd, always the
voltage paved ~ way for ~odem electronics, although the word
polished gentleman with European manners and cultured speech
in several languages, Teslabecame a favorite of New York and
had not yet even been coined. With his unique high-frequency
tran~formers, now' called TesIa coils (see cover), he showed
Newport society. Many prominent matrons regarded him as a
that he could actually pass millions of volts harmlessly through
.. good catch" for their daughters, but Tesla fnsisted that there
his body to glow-tube lamps' held in his bare hands. They would
. was no room 'in his life for women and romance - they would
light upto full brilliancy from the high-frequency, high-voltage
interfere with his research efforts.'
.
Historians differ on what motivated Morgan t9. finance
currents. In those early days he'was actually demonstlJlting neontube and fluorescent-tube lighting!,
.
Tesla's next big proje,:t. Some believe tha~ he was genuinely
interested in the wireless transmission of ROwer. qthers argue
Tesla's experiments with high and low frequencies sometiffies
had' unexpected results. Studying slow mechanical vibrations, .. that - in the light of subseqlJent developm~nts - ~it seems obhe caused a virtual earthquake ill the vicinity of his new
vious that Morgan's interest was in getting control of Tesla and'
laboratory on Houston St. in New York City. His mechanical
his achievements to protect the Morgan investments in the electrical industry.
.
oscillator, operating at close to the natural period of the building
itSelf, threatened to tumble 'the old structure. Furnishings in a
:Finding that Tesla was broke ag~n, Morgan agreed to unde~PUNU"

"178

t . \.

Fourth Quarter 1983

'write Tesla's project oftransmitting electric power,without wires.

In 1904, Tesla acknowledged in Electrical World and Engineer
magazine: "For a large part of the work I have done so far I
am indebted to the noble generosity of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan."
From that alliance sprouted the fantastic "world-wide
wireless" tower on Long Island (See photo, page 177). Its design
:
embodied many of Tesla's' boldest dreams.
World-Wide. Wireless
The strange structure thllt slowly rose near Wardenclyffe, in
the hilly portion of Long Island, mystified all observers.
Resembling a huge "lushroom, except that it was not solid, it .
had a lattice-work skeleton, broad at the base and tapering toward
its 200-foot top. There it was capped by a 'IOO-foot diameter
hemisphere. The structure was made of stout wooden members ..
joined by copper gussets bolted to the wood with sturdy bronze
bolts. The hemispherical top was. draped over its upper surfa~e
with copper mesh. There was,no ferrous metal in the entire
structure.
The famous architect Stanford .White became so iinerested
in the project that he did the design work without charge, assigning one of his best designers, W.O. Crow, to the task ..
Tesla commuted daily to the construction from his qu~rters
in the old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. on 34th St., riding the streetcars to the Easi 34th St..ferry, then the paddle-wheel steam ferry
to Long Island City and the Long Island Railroad to Shoreham.
The railroad's dining service prepared special meals for him so
that his supervision of the project would not be interrupted.
When the IOO-foot-square brick PQwer.plarit was. completed
near the base of the big tower. Tesla began moving his Houston
Street laboratory into the structure. Meanwhile. various annoying delays were encountered in the manufa<:ture of the radiofrequency generators. Several glassblowers. were busy fashioning special tubes, the design of which remains a mystery to this
day.
Tesla's Vision'
Meanwhile, Tesla issued a descriptive brochure that revealed
his far-reaching insight .into the future of the great industry that.
at that time (1904) was limited to dot -and-dash telegraphy. That
document has persuaded many that the man was actually clairvoyant. He announced that the world-wide wireless system was
being prepared to provide a variety of facilities, most of which.
we take for granted today. They included the interconnection
of the existing telegraph exchanges allover the world; the
establishment Qf a secret and non~interferable and non-interfering
government telegraphy service; the interconnection of all
telephone exchanges in the world; a worldwide news distribution service in connection with the press; a worldwide private
communication service; the interconnection of all stock tickers.
of the world; inexpensive clocks that ~uired 'no attention yet
were very accurate; the transmission of typed or' handwritten
characters; the establishment of a marine navigation .system, and
more. Much of what he described became reality within his
lifetime.
In the Electrical World and Engineer of March, 1904, Tesla
revealed that the Canadian Niagara Power Co. had offered him
inducemen~ to locate his wireless power-transmission project
at their plant, and that he proposed to use those facilities to
.distribute 10,000 horsepower at a potential of 10 million volts.
The Niagara project never materialized, but may' have had
some influence on the fate of the spectacular Long Island project. For reasons that have never come to light, J.P. Morgan

Fourth Quarter 1983

had a change of heart, and Tesla's financial fountain suddenly

went dry. At first Tesla refused to believe that Morgan would
not arrange for the nearly finished job's completion, but
Morgan's withdrawal was abrupt and final. Historians of the
industry wonder why. Did Morgan lose patience? Did engineers
of high repute convince him that Tesla's visions," so openly .
revealed in the brochure, were nonsense, and that he was wasting
'his money on a hopeless drea,m? Did he suspect that Tesla was
diverting time and money to the Niagara project? The facts will
. probably neverbe kDown. Tesla said, however, that Morgan
"carried ol-it his ge<nerous promise to the letter and it would have
been most unreasonable to expect from him anything more."
But almost in the same breath, Tesla said, "I am unwilling to
accord to small-minded and jealous individuals the satisfaction
of having th.warted my efforts. These' men are t9 me nothing
more than microbes of a nastydisease. My project. was retarded by laws of .nature." As for the tower, it was dismantled,
althOugh with considerable difficulty, for "security" reasons
'during World War I.
The Radio-Frequency Alternator
As early as 1890 Tesla built /.ligh-frequency AC generators.
One, which had 384 poles, produced a lO-kHz output, He hiter
produced frequencies as high as 20 kHz. More than a decade
was to pass before Reginald Fessenden developed his RF alternator, 'which h~d an output of 50 kilowatts. That machine was
scaled up.to 200 kilowatts by General Electric, a!1d put on the
'-market as the Alexanderson Alternator. named after the man
who had, supervised the job and who had' built some of
Fessenden's earlier alternators.
.
.
When it appeared that British interests (already in control of
most of the world's cabies) were about to acquire thepatents
for that machine, the Radio Corporation of America was organized at the urgent suggestion of the United States Navy. The
new company was fonned in.1919, around the. Marconi Wireless
Telegraph Co. of America, and the powerful bl!t inefficient Marconi spark transmitters were replaced by the highly successfuL
RF alternators. The first one was installed at Ne'w Brunswick,
New Jersey, at radio station WII. The machine produCed a 200
kilowatt, 21.8-kHz signal, and handled commercial traffic that
previously was transmitted over cable. That was the first co~
tinuously reliable trans-Atlantic radio service. Those alternators
perfonned so well that a whole batt~ry of them was ordered;
they were installed at Radio Central, Rocky Point, Long Island.
Ironically, it would have been almost in the shadow of Tesla's
tower, if that structure had still been standing.
Thus Nikola Tesla's world-wide wireless dream was fulfilled
some three decades after he initiated the proiect, ani rimt where
he started it, using the type 01 transmitter he devised ..
. One of the giant 'radio-frequency alternators has been preserved in the Smithsonian ~stitution; it served originally at trans. Atlantic transmitter
station
.
'
..WSQ at Marion, Massachusetts.
Radar'and Turbines
Tesla continued active research in many fields. In 1917 he
s.uggested that distant objects could be detected by sending shortwave impulses to them and picking up the reflected impulses
on a fluorescent screen. (If that does!)'t describe radar, what
does?) He described cosmic rays 20 years before other scientists discovered their existence.
At various times up to 1929, he devoted. his attention to a
"buckCtIess" high-speed turbine for steam or gas. Friction be-

Purau" 179

tween the increasingly irascible Tesla and some.ofthose working with him on tests at the Edison' Waterside Power plant and
in the Allis-Chalmers factory did not help his cause, but many
respected engineers today agree that we have not heard the last
of the Tesla turbines with their smooth-rotor discs.
As the years passed, less arid less was heard from him. Occli'sionally some reporter or feature writer would \ook him up and manage to get an interview. His prophecies became increasingly strange and involved, leaning toward the abstract and delving into the occult. He never acquired the habit of writing notes,
always claiming (and provi.ng) that he was able to retain complete detailed data on all his research a!1d experiments in his
mind. He said that he intended to live to 150, and upon reaching
age 100, would write his memoirs. which would include a detail.ed record of all of the data he had compiled: At his death, during World War II, the contents of his safe were impounded by
military authorities, and nothing has been heard since as to what
'. records, if any, were there.
.
.
. One of the peculiar inconsistencies afTesla's character was
revealed when two high honors were offered him, and he rejected the one but accepted the other. In 1912 it was announced
that Nikola Tesla and Thomas A. Edison had heen chosen to
share the Nobel Prize, including the $40,000 honorarium. 'Tesla
could, well have used the $20,000 at the time. Nevertheless, he \
flatly refused to share an honor with Edis~n. However, when
in 1917 the AlEE's EdiSon Medal ~ founded by' anonymous
friends of Edison - was awarded to Tesla, he was persuaded
to accept it, after first refusing.
.

,Comments on
Part II
. The S.cret of Electrical
Free En~rgy

. The Esteemed Eccentric

.

Tesla's natural demeanor was that of the aristocrat. WitI:J the

passage of time and-depletion of his resources,. he sank into a
condition of genteel ,poverty. Continuing to live in the best
hotels, his credit would become exhausted and he would be forced to seek other quarters. Finally, moving into the newly opened New Yorker, he found his problems solved. Some of the
organizations.for which he had m8de millions aJ:langed with the
hotel management to take care of the aging genius.
, Tesla insisted on carefully'w.iping each item of silverware,
china, 'and glass before starting a meal, using a fresh napkin
for each. In view of that effort to achieve. perfect sanitation,
'it seem~ inconsistent that the maids.reported Tesla's roo~ to
be an "unholy mess." It wasn't Tesla's untidiness they complained about - it was the pigeons! When he was not f~eding
them out in the park, he fed them in his room, whe.re he left
the window open'so they could come and go.
The gold-plated telephone beside his bed, over which 'he' ,
could speak to anyone anywhere in the world without charge,
was the roost of his favorite pigeon, a white one with gray-tipped
wings .. "When she dies, I will die," pre:!icted Tesla. And Ill)
it was that one day in January 1943, that favored bird paid him
her last visit. "She was dying, " lamented the lonely, unhappy
Tesla. "I got her message, through the brilliant beam of light
from her eyes."
One of"the maids, observing that the "Don 'f Disturb" sign
had been hanging on Tesla's doorknob for an unusually lortg.
time, used her passkey to' investigate.' Tesla had passed to his
reward, leaving his gaunt 87-y~ar-old frame peacefully in bed.
The maid fed the mourning pigeons, gently ushered them ont,
and closed the window.
~
Reprinted from Radio-Electronics magazine, August 1983

Copyright Gemsback Pub. Inc., 1983

Present electromagnetic theory is oniy a special case of the

much. more fundamental electromagnetism discovered by Nikola
Telila at the turn of the century..
.
Pure vacUl,im is pure charge flux, without mass. The vac.uum
has a very high electrical potential - something on the order
of 200 milI'ion vplts, with respect to a hypothetical zero charge.
. Thus in an ordinary electrical circuit, each, point of the .
"ground'~ - which has the .same potential as 'the vac;:uum - .
actually has a non-zero absolute potential. This curcuit ground
has a value of zero only with respect to something else which
has the same absolute electrical Potential.
Voltage, which is always assoCiated with a flow of electrical
"mass" currerit (even if only a Il!iniscul~ flow), is;. by defini-:
tion, a difference dropped in potential when a charge mass f!1Oves
between two spatially separated points. What we have termed
"electrical current" only flows where there is a suitable conducting medium between things which have a difference in absolute potential. Furthennore, between any two paints in any
material, there is considered to exist 'a finite resistance -. if we
apply a voltage and have a mass current flowing between the
two points! The simple statement that'V = IR irrevocably ties
together voltage drop, mass current, and resistance between two
points. Rigorously, to have one of the three is to have them all.
To lose one is ~o lose all three. Immediately we see a major
error in present theory: One can hav.e a "difference in scalar
potential" between two points without having a "voltage drop"
between them. Specifically, if no mass cuiTent flows between
them, no resistance exists bet-ween them, and rio voltage drop
exists between them.
.
.
In the same fashion, one can have Ii "scalar wave" through
the vacuum without a voltage wave'. In that case, the wave 'has
no E-field and no H-field. The only reason one has a. E-field
around a statically charged object is because the charged electrons acculTlulated on the object are actually in violent motion ..
It is this motion of th~ charged ma~~s that produces E-field
- as well as H-field whenever that entire E-field ensemble
moves through laboratory space. .
.
Now let us reason together in the "approximate" manner
utilized in present electromagnetiC theory. For example, let us
examine a bird sitting on a high tension line.
. .
: The bird sits on the high tensiori line without a flow of mass
electricity, becau~ there is no significant difference in potential drop between the bird and the line. Specifically" between
the bird's two feet - each in contact with a different portion
of the .line - there exists no potential difference. This is true
even though, with respect to the vacuum, each foot i's at a potential that would be "lob~ooo volts higher, " were a mass current
fl.owing. And it is true even though 'the absolute potential of
each foot may be some 200.1 inillion "volts, " were ~ mass cur' .
rent flo\iVing.
Now an interesting thing happens to the bird when he flies
through the air to light upon the' high tensio.n wire. As he flies

. Fourth Quarter 1"983

Pursu"'lao
\

New Tesla ElectroDlagDetics

by T. E. Bearden

"
.'C

;J:!, .~.

<:. ~ \~. ~' ;; .

'-),'1 . \

~f5~:

<;

Radio~rrequenc)" allernators, such as this earliest one installed at'New Brunswick. New Jersey. made possible the
'(irst reliable intercontinental radio .communlcations "and valldaied Tesla's concept of '.'world-wlde wireless."
toward the wire, he is flying through the massless electrostatic
Potential field of the wire, for that field extends an infinite
distance away from the wire_ The electrostatic potenlial field .
- pure O-field - is actually' the spatio-temporal intensity of
the massless charge at a point. In other words, as the bird flies
to the wire, he flies into an increasing "massless charge" potential, building up to 100,000 "volts~' higher than the earth.
However, very little (if any) "mass flow" potential difference'
is experienced upon his body in approaching the wire, and so
essentially no "charged mass currents" are induced in his body.
Thus the" little flier. safely navigates into the teeth of a very high
electrostatic potential, Iig~ts upon the wire;and is not "fried",
in the process. When he lights on the wire, his body has reached the electrostatic potential that each foot's contact point has.
Again, there i~ no mass current flow.. But his body is immer:sed
in an increased flux of massless charge - which is 'what the
electrostatic potential represents. And each "virtual particle" "
flow in that charge potential represents a "massless (scalar)"
electrical current.
The point is, one can .have any amourit of massless charge
flow - "scalar" current - without any mechanical work be:'
ing done in the system. All electrical work in a circuit is done
against the physical mass of the charged masses that flow.
Rigorously, force is defined as the time rate of charge of momentum. Even in the ~lativistic case where F = rna +' v(dmldt),
change of momentum requires mass movement. No mechanical
work, and hence no energy, is expended by massless charge
flow.
.
That is why'the vacuum ~ssless charge - which is composed of a very high flux of massless "particles" - nonnally
does no work on our systems, and expends none of its very high
'potential energy. " It is exactly the ~e as the bird which flew
into an increasing scalar ~eld as it approached the high tension

Fourth Quarter 1983

wire '- no work was done upon the bird by.the increasing scalar
.flux currents encountered by its body.
By existing "in the vacuum," so to speak, we (the whole
earth) are as birds sitting on a high tension line! Ulltil we create
significant difference in potential, via our pres.ent electromagnetic circuits, no current can flow - anywhere. Even
if we produce potential differences, wt;: must have a conductor'
and charged masses to flow, if we wish to produce mechanical
work. Presently our electromagnetic theory allows us to create
a difference in potential within different parts of a circuit, but
only by moving and shifting charged mass. We therefore have
to do work on this electrical mass in moving it around, and we
only get back the work we have put mto the circuit. In other
words, presently all we do is "pump" electrical mass.
Now notice what would happen to the bird on the line if we
substantially "pulsed" the potential on the line. Suppose we
"pulsed" it such that the bird's physical system - considered
as a circuit containing a capacitance, a resistance, an inductance,
and. many free electrons - became resonant to the pulsing frequency. In that case the. "bird system" would resonate,' and a
great deal of electrical mass w~uld surge' back and forth in the
body of the bird. In the bird's body, voltage would exist, charged
mass current would flow, work would be done, and the bird
.
.
would be electrocuted.
Also, note ~at, without mass movement, electromagnetic
vector fields are not produced (and a portion of the difficulty
lie~ with the actu~ vector mathematics it.self). Scalar (nonvector) waves contin~y penetrate "space" where there is no mass
movement. This means there can exist a "delta-O" without a
voltage or an E-field. The present theory does not allow this,
'because it always uses "q" (charge) to be charged mass. BriefIy, without belaboring the point, let us just say that it is the
mechanical spin of the individu8l charged particle - such as "

Pursuit 181

,the

electro~ - which "entangles~' or "knits together" or

tion, which' oseillates time as. well as space. To a negative energy,

well (positive .time), the oscillation of its "time stream" in,creases the well's ,negative potential during 6ne half-cycle and'
decreases its pot~l'ltial for the other half-cycle. Thus during half
the oscillatory cycle, negative energy electrons ,may~ be lifted
from the Dirac sea if the oscillation is sufficiently intense.,
"
I
Therefore we' obtain an a~ndant vol~ge and flow Qf mass
current through the load. This'voltage and current, by th~ way,
are essentially limitless, and are free for the asking, assuming
~he proper ,"vacuum oscillation" is initiated and maintained so
that electrons are continually being lifted from the Dirac sea
by the time oscillations, and fed into the circuit.
Standard electromagnetic theory assumes that the vacuum
potentiitJ. is zero. It does not recognize the existence of massless
charge~ ~ted from charged mass. Therefore, orthod~x seien-,
tists have never looked for a way to engineer the vacuum,
because they have not realized it is composed of pure massless
charge. Electrical physics has almost hopelessly confused charge
and charged mass, thereby elimiDllting scalar longitudinal electrostatic waves. Expressed in the bird/high tension line analogy,
the present elec.tromagnetic theOry restricts us to walking along
the high tension line, laboriously cai1ying small batteries, and
power ,units, unaware of the limitless, surging power beneath '
out very feet.
'
Electromagnetically, we have been r:ather lil:ce one of the five
'blind men who touched an,elephant. We have only touched. one
small ~rtion of the electromagnetism "elephant," yet we
thought ~e had grasped the entire beast.

"co~ples"

independent scalar waves into vector waves. A vector

wave is simp~y two coupled scalar waves. The entire force field
concept - such as the E-field and the B-field - is operational:.
ly defined in tems of the force exhibited on a test particle, or
test mass. Rigorously, a~E-field does not exist as a force field
in vacuum, but as two coupled scalar O-fields "'tumbling about
each other." When these two coupled, tumbling fields meet a
spinning electron, e.g., the force emerges on the electron ~s.
In short, movement of a rotating ma~s changes delta-O to
"voltage", creating the V /I/R triad. '
I
'By "accuinulating charged mass particles:' - such as electrons - one certainly can increase the value of 0, which
represents the charge intensity or "scalar electrpstatic potential." However, that- is not.the only way to inc~ it. Resonance
and rotation of charged masses call also be 'appropriately
employed to vary 'the vacuum charge potential 0" under t~e
proper circumstances.
,,'
,
By the correct appliCation of rotary 'principles and Tesla electromagnetic theory, it is possible to os<:;illate - and change the vacuum potential itself, in one part of an electrical system.
. Thus by correct procedures a. part of a system can be electrical"
ly altered so that the absolute value of its "ground" (va~uum)
potential differs significantly from the normal vac':!um-ground
potential of the remainder of the circuit. I~ other words, we shift
the vacuum-grQund potential of part of the cin;uit by, oscillating
the massless vacuum charge itself, and in so doing we gain a
substantial~ oseillatory electrical potential difference between
that part of the circuit and the normal ground potential of the, '
rest of the system. Then we connect the two parts of the system
by means of a conductor containing 'a load in the middle,'
In every conductor, a large number of "free ~lectrons" are
available. If we os~illate the \ actual vacuum charge itself,
, unlimited additional free electrons also become available from
'the Dirac sea, since parti~ "unstripping", of the negative energy
wells (each containing an electron) occurs. This "unstripping"
of the potential of the well is due to vacuum ,po~ential oscilla,

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

leagues who at this time', I believe, wish to remain anonymous. I thank them
bo,th f~r their exceptional contributions and stimuli, and their forbearance with
~ ma~y discussiol1.' we have held ~on this and related subjeCts,
Also; it goes 'without saying that any errors in Ihis paper are strictly my own.
and not the fault of either of my dislinguis~ed colleagues.

Unidentified Areas of Obfusca(ion

if it affects molecular pulsing. In fact, time-loss on watches and

-mental time-befuddlement haS been reported by,pilots navigating

in the Bermuda Triangle and by various ,UFO contactees.', A person Could run on this way speculatively without limit
and nothing concrete could come out of it, so I offer a specific
incident which occurred to me in company with the photographer,
George Brown in the Catskill Moun~ns near Poughkeep'sie,
New York. The Catskills, like the Bennuda Triangle, have been'
reported for centuries to be "haunted:" While driving me to
Boston to interview, a UFO 'contactee, George took th~ wrong
tum and went up in ~o tHe Catskills ,instead of straight north.
,(It was understandable that he might automatically 'make the
,wrong tum, since his brother lived in Poughkeepsie.) Once we
were up in the mountains, the fog closed in. We came to an'
intersection near a highway interchange 1Pl~ George turned left,_
directly into a strange ground fog which seemed' to have a
definite "interf~ce" bet~een the clear air:and the foggy, unlike
nonnal fogs which billow and taper at the edges. Ten seconds,
after the car turned, we went into a skid and began to move
'sideways into the path of a ear coming full speed' in the other
direction. I remember being incredulous about this ,impending
accident since I was sure' that w~ were going to get to Boston; .
I was also sure that we were going to c,rash into, the, oncoming

PuNIi't 182

'

Ag~n i wish to express my deep appreciation to ~wo of my friends and col-'

((::ontinued from 'pQ~e 157)

car! However, we passed within one inch of the side 'of the onby jack-knifing sideways, and then somehow
moved forward and then sideways again' across the highway and
the dividing median, ending up safely positioned on the right
side of the exit leading from the interchange.,'
r
: Having been over this incident many times in retrospect, I.
am convinced - and so is George, the driver - that extraordinary intervention caused the car to move the way it did like
a little bumper-toy on remote .control. I am also certain, though
I cannot "prove". this, that the instantaneous fogging just before
we went into-the-skid was part or'the atmospheric preCondition
which assisted' in affecting the behavior of the car. Perhaps
'George and I - both being psychic - interli.nked to save
ourselves under unusual conditions by psychokinetically affecting'the steering mechanism of the car. I would be extremely
interested in hearing other ~tories .about unusual fogging as connected with UFO, ghost and engine animation and/or de- ,
animation by what appear to be'intelligent energies. It may be,
that" disks are the 'source of .a larger AREA alteration ",hich is
similar,to the natural geomagnetic difference in areas such as
the Catskills and the Great. Lakes iron range,'
co'~ingvehicle

~
Fourth Quarter 1983

section, mostly contemporary curious _and unexplained events'

..
Scrambled Bird"Brains
About 1,500 collisions between birds and
planes are reponed by pilots'each year, The
Federal Aviation Administration estimates that
the birds cause between $20 million and $40
million damage annually to aircraft engines,
and sometimes the encounters cause crashes,
Allen Counter, a_professor'of neurosci~nce
at Harvard, believes that when the birds fail
to notice a plane coming, they cannot hear it.
However, the roar does more than damage
their hearing. "It scrahtbles their brains;" he
told a November meeting of the Neuroscience
Society ..
He based his conclusions in pan on a comparison of the hearing of seagulls captured at
Logan International Airpon in Boston and
those captured on Monomy Island off Cape
Cod. He wired the birds with electrodes that
measured electrical impulses produced in the
birds' brains when they hear soD:lething. Then
he turned on a jet-noise simulator. All but 10% .
of the activity stopped inside the pan of the
birds' brains responsible for hearing.
Noting that hundreds of biiQs congregate on'
the ends of runways, especially at airports near
water, Counter.assened that many of those
birds have listened to jets all their lives and
serious loss of hearing results. They "are exposed every 40 seconds to anywhere from 90
to 100 decibels. That's a lot of noise. The brain
response is obliterated; the noise masks out any
synchronized signal," he said. As a result, the
birds do not hear thl( planes and are also
unaware of warning cries from soaring gulls
that spot inbOund and outbound aircraft.
SOURCE: AP in Asbury Park Press, ,
11/27/83. CREDIT: Member #432.

Macho Birds, Texas Style

As Prof. Counter was preparing his repon
'on jet-deafened birds for the meeting of the
Neuroscience Society, Texas wildlife
biologists were face~ with a diff~rent kind of
bird mystery. Eight years' after witnesses
sighted a large feathered creature gliding over .
the streets of San Benito, repOrts ofth.e legendary "Big Bi~" continued to disquiet the Rio
. Grande Valley, Outsize birds have also been
spotted over the past four years in the Big Bend
area of Texas, 650 miles northwest of the area
where the first sightings occurred.
Notable among many sighting reports from
south Texas in 1975-'76 was one from school
children at Robstown who said they 'saw a
winged creature zoom by their playgound, 'and
residents at Rio Grande City reponed a "Big

Fourth Quarter
1983
.
\ ,

Bird" roosting on the Starr County Courthouse'

roof..
.
"Descriptions of the flying c~ature vary. To'
some' witnesses, what they saw was an extremely large feathered bird; others have noted
only a shadowy; pterodactyl~like silhouette.
In a recent encounter, paramedic James
Thompson reported seeing "a pte~ctyl-like
bird" ten feet" long glide'like a model ai!plane
across the' road as he drove his ambulance
.along 'a highway four, miles east of Los
Fresnos. Thompson said his co-workerS
nicknamed him "Bird Man" after he told a
newspaper about the sighting, but he doesn't
feel haraslied. "I know what I-saw," he
. declared. "It h,ad a black or grayish rough tex. ture. I'm quite sure it was a. hide-type

Flipped-Out Vultures

Another strange bird story emerged in

Florida as winter residents began returning
home following vacations in cooler northern
climes. Amorig the returnees were Jeffrey and
Elyse Vah;ante of Punta Gorda. They liked
ev~rything about the house they had purchased
only six months before - everything, that is,
except the vultures. A band of about 40 of the
stinkers had selected the Valcante residence as
their home, for no apparent reason, In sporadi!=
forays, they would'swoop down, claw at the
roof, rock the television antenna, peck at win-
dows and doors, and depan. only when
Valcante or his wife thre.w stones at them;
As summer approached and the weather
turned from warm to hot, the attacks subsided
covering.~' I
and the couple left for vacation in a carefree
Thompson said the creature's head looked
mood.
something like a BrahiTia bull's hump on the
But when they returned home, they found
back - "ct1most nO.neck at ail," a small pouch
their almost-new screened enclosure redu'ced
near its throat "someth~ng like a pelican's
to shambles. Valcante said he at first "thought
pouch," and a tail that ended in a kind of fin.
a storm had come through the area." But the
A similar description was given by three San
"horrend.ous smell" and information from a
A"tonio sch09lteachers who were driving from
neighbor tipped Valcante that his home had
one campus to another when they spotted two
been beseiged by the flock while he was away.
large birds circling over some cattle south of
Patrolman Paul lackorilin of the Punta GorSan Antonio. In the school library they found
da police reponed that the winged vandals
drawings and photographs of fauna restora"caused $400 worth of damage by pecking at
tions; those which most closely resembled the
the screens and removing entire panels of
creature they saw were of the pterodactyl, an
screening from the enclosure." About 15 .
extinCt" flying reptile.'
'.
.
vultures seemed to be standing watch in the
According to Lucille Muchmore, however,
area when he completed his investigation,
the oversize birds seen in the Big Bend area
. Jackomin said.
all have feather. Muchmore' is a retired
The problem was duly passed along to the
registered nurse and a co~sppndent .for the
Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish CommisAlpine Avalanche newspaper. She reported
sion: Officer P!lul Blanchard said he hadn't
details of a recent sighting near the remote minheard of anything so pe!plexing since a pack
ing ghost townof Terlingua close to the Texas- . of vultures pecked the stuffing out of boat seats
Mexico border.
hung out to dry in a marina about ten years
Big Bend .resident Lorraine Jeanes told
before. That problem, he recalled, was handled'
Muchmore that she saw a bird about three feet
by setting out live traps with spoiled meat for
tall with a six-foot wingspan standing in the
the vultures. to peck at. "But that was in an
road. Another witness described a creature that
area whtl.re they had the manpower to do it, "
"looked like a penguin." Muchmore has been
he said. "It might worlc here '" but I just don't
collecting-"Big Bird" reports since she began
know what we're going to do."
writing for the newspaper four years ago. She
SOURCE: AP in Asbury Park Press, 9/25/83.
insists tlult the people who report are "reliable
CREDIT: Member #432.
People," not given to wild story-telling';
"'they're .serious about it," she says. .
AI Schriver, a biologist with the LagunaAtascosa Wildlife Refuge near the Texas coast,
Fatal Mistake
said he and other biologists' 'have kinda kicked
Asked what he knew about a woman's skull
around" the reports. ". don't doubt that these
unearthed ~y peat-diggers in a bog 300 yards
people are seeing something, but what they're
from his home in Chester, England, Peter
seeing remains to be detennined."
Reyn-Bardt startled detectives by confessing
SOURCE: Daily Texan, Aus~n, Tex .
11117/83. CREDIT:. K. Neiiligh.

to the murder of his' wife 22 years ago, The

skull, however, was not that oftbe m~rdered
wife; scientific examination showed that it

Pursu't 183

'

belonged to a woman who had been dead for

more than 16 centuries. "But the supreme
irony is this: Its discovery led directly to the
arrest of the defendant and to his detailed con. fession .' the prosecutor told the trial jury .
. Reyn'-Bardt, a 57-year-old former ai~line .
employee who is now out of wo~. h~s since .
revoked his confession and hopes to Win a verdict of manslaughter instead of murder for
which British law now prescribes a maximum
sentence of life imprisonment.
.
'
Giving evidence at his trial: Reyn-Bardt ~id
that one day in June 1961. hiS estranged Wife,
Malika: came to the cottage 'he was sharing
with another man. He ~called that at first he
and his wife chatted amicably, but when 'the
discussion turned to money. she threatened to
'expose his homosexuality unless he gave her
. more than he could afford. She then lunged
at his face with her long fingernails." He
grabbed her shoulders and did not. realize ~.e.
had killed her until he stopped shaking her. ,
was terrified and could not think clearly. The
only thing that came to mind was to hide her. "
he told the court.
Responding to questions based on his confession. Reyn-Bardt said he cut hi~ wife's I.egs.
arms and head from her torso with an ax and
buried the parts in a drainage trench on the
edge of the peat -bog near his home - the same
bogin which the ancient woman's skull had
been so well preserved that some of the hair
and one eyeball were still intact.

Caroga Lake

SOURCE: AP in A.~bury Park "Pre.~s.

12/18/83. CREDIT: Member 1/432.

I'<

the-year award was Noiman Gauthier. a

psychic research from Manchest~r . New
\ Hampshire.' He was granted permission to
monitor the noises and detect a possible ghost.
.Capitol Punishment
He set up recording equipment on the fifth
Over the years. oral history and local legend
floor. placing the microphone on a table along
have told of strange happenings duJjng prewith a vase of fresh-cut flowers and a small
. dawn hours at the state capitol building in
dish of incense .. 'When I stay' overnight with
Albany, New York. There have be~n reports.
my recordir:g equipment I'm about 35 percent
of fleeing specters. slamming doors and a
successful in picking up sounds that do not
~ariety of "bumps in the night. " but such nocemanate from our dimension ... said Gauthier
turnal activity has been noted 0l!!y on the fifth
in a press preview.
floor of the 1000year-0ld building.
Alas for the' capit~rs ghost-fanciers.
The identity of the fifth-floor ghost varies
Gauthier drew a blank.. During seven ov~rnight
ttie tale. and the heritage
with the telling
. hours spent inside the building. the" researcher
of the building allows in impressive choice:
'heard nothing. saw nothing. and his equipment
-Cormack Williams. a construction
recorded nothing that could possibly be
-foreman, was on a scaffold inspecting work
evidence of a haunting. "This is one of my
being done high above the Assembly floor
failures." he admitted.
when he plunged to his death in 1877.
. A few ghost aficionados. however. thought
-One year later, a noted American arti~t.
that the experience should be viewed as a sucWilliam Morris Hunt, completed some
cesS for the ghost rather than a failu re of the
dramatic murals on the Assembly chamber
stalker. Once again. the mysterious entity had
ceiling. His work was highly praised and Hunt
tJemonstrated its skills of avoidance and
felt assured of a lifetime appointment as
elusiveness. just as 'it had done a few years
"capitol artist in residence." But the ~ppoint
back. when a television crew guided,by a local
ment never came through. Hunt grew Increaspsychic was stationed overnight on the fiftJ!.
'-ingly despondent and a move to Massachuse~s
floor. All they saw were the flickering shadows
failed to assuage his bitterness. He. commltof distant car lights, and'all they heard' was an
'ted suicide in 1879.
..
occasional cough or shuffling of feet - near-.
-Samuel Abbot, a 'night watchman, died in
by and unmistakably their own.
.
the 1911 fire that .gutted the capitol library
SOURCE: Schenectady (N.Y.) Gazette, 10/18
rooms. He was the only casualty of that fire.
and AP in Glens Falls. N. Y. Post Star.
10124/83. CREDIT: 1. ZarzYnski.
Ghost-stalkers, however. are always'more
enthusiastic than those who merely recount the
tales. This year's candida~efor a stalker-of-

PurlJJUBit US.n

Subject: Sighting of an unu~ual object.

Location: East shore' of East Caroga Lake,
'Fulton County. New

Yo~ .

. Description: Many a,nd varied, i.e., 40 inches

to 40 feet. "Long and sna~ish looking" and
"very shiny, wet-like a.nd dark brown. " Two
protuberances sticking out of the water about
25 to 30 inches apart: Dark gray. The same
color as the lake. Possibly a large muskellunge
or northern pike.
.

Sighting Conditions: Early evening (between

6 p.m. arid 7:30 p.m. sporadically). Sun was
setting. no appreciable wind. lake was calm.
Weather was warm.
NumberofM(itnesses: 16 to 20. mostly adults.
Alerted to the possibility of a sighting of an
unusual object in a'locallake, I retrieve~ my
preliminary inf~rmation from ~n article
published in the Leader Herald newspaper of
Gloversville, New York. and the~ began to
make some inquiries .into the matter. I contacted Lewis Decker; the Caroga Lake campsite superintendent. Mr .. I)ecker said that he
was on duty alone, at the registration desk,
when a group of childreQ approached hi~ ~nd
said that there had possibly been a capsIzing
of-a boat. and a man was floundering approximately 150 to 200 feel offshore. Unwilli.ng
. io leave his post unattended. Decker remained there - knowing that a number of ablebodied people .were., down on the beach and
could render assistance if needed. After a short

Fourth
.... Quarter 1983

belonged to a woman who had been dead for

more than 16 centuries. "But the supreme
irony is this: Its discovery led directly to the
arrest of the defendant and to his detailed con. fession .' the prosecutor told the trial jury .
. Reyn'-Bardt, a 57-year-old former ai~line .
employee who is now out of wo~. h~s since .
revoked his confession and hopes to Win a verdict of manslaughter instead of murder for
which British law now prescribes a maximum
sentence of life imprisonment.
.
'
Giving evidence at his trial: Reyn-Bardt ~id
that one day in June 1961. hiS estranged Wife,
Malika: came to the cottage 'he was sharing
with another man. He ~called that at first he
and his wife chatted amicably, but when 'the
discussion turned to money. she threatened to
'expose his homosexuality unless he gave her
. more than he could afford. She then lunged
at his face with her long fingernails." He
grabbed her shoulders and did not. realize ~.e.
had killed her until he stopped shaking her. ,
was terrified and could not think clearly. The
only thing that came to mind was to hide her. "
he told the court.
Responding to questions based on his confession. Reyn-Bardt said he cut hi~ wife's I.egs.
arms and head from her torso with an ax and
buried the parts in a drainage trench on the
edge of the peat -bog near his home - the same
bogin which the ancient woman's skull had
been so well preserved that some of the hair
and one eyeball were still intact.

Caroga Lake

SOURCE: AP in A.~bury Park "Pre.~s.

12/18/83. CREDIT: Member 1/432.

I'<

the-year award was Noiman Gauthier. a

psychic research from Manchest~r . New
\ Hampshire.' He was granted permission to
monitor the noises and detect a possible ghost.
.Capitol Punishment
He set up recording equipment on the fifth
Over the years. oral history and local legend
floor. placing the microphone on a table along
have told of strange happenings duJjng prewith a vase of fresh-cut flowers and a small
. dawn hours at the state capitol building in
dish of incense .. 'When I stay' overnight with
Albany, New York. There have be~n reports.
my recordir:g equipment I'm about 35 percent
of fleeing specters. slamming doors and a
successful in picking up sounds that do not
~ariety of "bumps in the night. " but such nocemanate from our dimension ... said Gauthier
turnal activity has been noted 0l!!y on the fifth
in a press preview.
floor of the 1000year-0ld building.
Alas for the' capit~rs ghost-fanciers.
The identity of the fifth-floor ghost varies
Gauthier drew a blank.. During seven ov~rnight
ttie tale. and the heritage
with the telling
. hours spent inside the building. the" researcher
of the building allows in impressive choice:
'heard nothing. saw nothing. and his equipment
-Cormack Williams. a construction
recorded nothing that could possibly be
-foreman, was on a scaffold inspecting work
evidence of a haunting. "This is one of my
being done high above the Assembly floor
failures." he admitted.
when he plunged to his death in 1877.
. A few ghost aficionados. however. thought
-One year later, a noted American arti~t.
that the experience should be viewed as a sucWilliam Morris Hunt, completed some
cesS for the ghost rather than a failu re of the
dramatic murals on the Assembly chamber
stalker. Once again. the mysterious entity had
ceiling. His work was highly praised and Hunt
tJemonstrated its skills of avoidance and
felt assured of a lifetime appointment as
elusiveness. just as 'it had done a few years
"capitol artist in residence." But the ~ppoint
back. when a television crew guided,by a local
ment never came through. Hunt grew Increaspsychic was stationed overnight on the fiftJ!.
'-ingly despondent and a move to Massachuse~s
floor. All they saw were the flickering shadows
failed to assuage his bitterness. He. commltof distant car lights, and'all they heard' was an
'ted suicide in 1879.
..
occasional cough or shuffling of feet - near-.
-Samuel Abbot, a 'night watchman, died in
by and unmistakably their own.
.
the 1911 fire that .gutted the capitol library
SOURCE: Schenectady (N.Y.) Gazette, 10/18
rooms. He was the only casualty of that fire.
and AP in Glens Falls. N. Y. Post Star.
10124/83. CREDIT: 1. ZarzYnski.
Ghost-stalkers, however. are always'more
enthusiastic than those who merely recount the
tales. This year's candida~efor a stalker-of-

PurlJJUBit US.n

Subject: Sighting of an unu~ual object.

Location: East shore' of East Caroga Lake,
'Fulton County. New

Yo~ .

. Description: Many a,nd varied, i.e., 40 inches

to 40 feet. "Long and sna~ish looking" and
"very shiny, wet-like a.nd dark brown. " Two
protuberances sticking out of the water about
25 to 30 inches apart: Dark gray. The same
color as the lake. Possibly a large muskellunge
or northern pike.
.

Sighting Conditions: Early evening (between

6 p.m. arid 7:30 p.m. sporadically). Sun was
setting. no appreciable wind. lake was calm.
Weather was warm.
NumberofM(itnesses: 16 to 20. mostly adults.
Alerted to the possibility of a sighting of an
unusual object in a'locallake, I retrieve~ my
preliminary inf~rmation from ~n article
published in the Leader Herald newspaper of
Gloversville, New York. and the~ began to
make some inquiries .into the matter. I contacted Lewis Decker; the Caroga Lake campsite superintendent. Mr .. I)ecker said that he
was on duty alone, at the registration desk,
when a group of childreQ approached hi~ ~nd
said that there had possibly been a capsIzing
of-a boat. and a man was floundering approximately 150 to 200 feel offshore. Unwilli.ng
. io leave his post unattended. Decker remained there - knowing that a number of ablebodied people .were., down on the beach and
could render assistance if needed. After a short

Fourth
.... Quarter 1983

Boo.ks Reviewed
THE EVIDENCE FOR BIGFOOT AND OTHER MANBEASTS by Janet and Colin Bord ('ll'he Aquarian P~ess,
Wellingberouglt, Norihamptonshire NN8 2RQ, England,
1984, 160 pp., iUus., +2.50)
. .
. Reviewed.by Sabina Warren Sanderson
This book is one of a series being published by ASSAP
(Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena)
in England. If it is representative of the series -=. and I see no
reason to assume that it isn't - ASSAP is certainly to be commended. It does indeed provide i'a comprehensive, impartial
.and up-to-date assessment of the evidence" for ABSMs around
.
the world, as claimed in the publisher's note.'
The first three chapters present a concise summary of reports
of hairy man-like creatures by regions: North America; the
Himalayas and USSR; and China; Australia, Southeast Asia;
Africa and S~dt Amerlc!l. Of p~rticular interest and value are
the reports from China and Australia, most of them dating from
the 1970s, though some earlier cases from Australia came to
light as a result of the publication of clirrent sightings. Passing
. mention is also made of reports from Japan and the Arctic (the
Toonijuk) and of rumors from New Zealand.
'
Chapter 4 provides an excellent survey of material evidence
- footprints and tracks, excreme~t and hair samples, photo~
graphic evidence, and vocalizations - and behavior"patte.:ns,
including diet.
.
The weird reports are covered in Chapter 5, "Non-Physical
Bigfoot and the UFO-link," which steers aneat course straight
down the mi"dle, being neither sensationalist .nor selfconsciously sceptical.. .
The final chapter, "Searching for AnsW'ers," summarizes
possible identifications, all t~e way from the occasional hoax
through prehistoric survivals (e.g. Gigantopithecus and Neander- .
thal Man) to possible "psychic" phenomena. They conclude
that "It would need a total disregard for man's powers of obser vatian and honesty before on~ could throw out the complete body
.of firsthand witness accounts. We also have the footprints, hairs,
faeces, and Roger Patterson's cine film, all soft evidence but
nevertheless difficult to discard except by a total sceptic with
a complete incapaeity for new, ideas. We beiieve that the
evidence sPeaks for itself, in a voice too loud to be igno~d for
much longer."
The book is fully annotated (there are about twelve pages
of Notes), and includes an excellent bibliography and a good
index.
.
.
I recommend tJte book mos~ highly, particularly as an jn troduction to the subject, bu,also as anaddition to any Fortean
libral)' in that it contains matenalnot readily available elsewhere.

..

MYSTERIOUS AMERICA by Loren Coleman (Faber &

Faber, Inc., Winchester, Mass., 1983,301 pp., i1bis.,
back, $9.95)

paper-

Reviewed by sabina Warren Sanderson

It is not Clear to' me what ~e author intended by thi~ book.
In the opening chapter it is implied that it is a kind of Fortean
tourist guide, which for the most part it isn't. (For. !ill practical

P .....I'186

purposes it simply ignores geologica).' and archaeological oddities, which do have the advantage of being there whenever
one wants to visit them.) Neither isit primarily an account of
his on-the-spot investigations, many of the items being culled
from newspapers, some of them published long before Mr. Cole~an was born. There is nothing wrong.with this, but the book
is probably best looked upon as a general reference work, less
helpful to 'tourists' than Mr. Coleman p~sumably intended.
Chilpter 1 does list a number of books and journals useful
as sources of information on Fortean sites and events (with a
curious omission" will come back to later), and Chapters 2
through 4 cbnst,itute a kind of grab-bag, discussing in varying
detail a wide variety of unexplainoos .
The major part'of the book is entitled "Creatures Aplenty"
and deals with 'everything from the "'Dover (Mass.) Demon,"
a small gnomeHke creature, to' phantom panthers and the Jersey
Devil. Much of the material will be old-hat to seasoned Forteans but will Undoubtedly interest those new to the field. I must
admit that I was a bit glassy-eyed by the_ time I finished the
chapter on kangaroos -;- Ii seed catalogue if-there ever was one;
it would have been better to report a few representative cases
and relegate the remainder of tht: ~ports to an appendix as was
done with alligators, for example:
There .is some curi~us duplication and a specie~ of
schizophrenia apparent here as well. For example, 'Nellie the
. Lion' is included in ~e chapter on phantom panthers and in that
on maned mystery' cats; and the author in one chapter suggests
. that phantom 'panthers' are jus~ that - phantoms - though they
leave tracks and occasionally other traces, ~ then in the chapter
on maned cats suggests that both are real animals, the females
and th~ ,milles, resp:ctively, of a suiviving populat~o~ of Pan::
thera JeD atrox, the giant American lion of the Pleistocene. (In-.
cidentally, Iquestion his s!atement that pumas "do not prowl
during the day. ' ')
,
.. Included in this section is a chapter on "The North American
Ape, " in my opinion the best in the book, in which Coleman
nulkes a very good case for an ape population in North America,
either imported along with slaves from Africa or, more likely,
. indigenous.
'
\
The third secti~n, "Phantoms Afield," includes one UFO
oCcupant case; the 'Mad GasSer of Mattoon' and his 'kin~; phant0l!' clowns (a rather sinister bunch); and the 'Wandering
Nephites,' bearded gentlemen apparently connected with bQth .
the Mormon Chuq::h and the legend of the Wandering Jew.' The
latter two may be new to many Forteans, but in neither case
is ~ere sufficient evidence to permit any definitive classificatjon; i:e. the clowns .may be a case of copy~at pathological
behavior, particuJarlyin view of the appalling number of children
kidnapped in this country every year.
The final section of the text is called "Fireside Thinking"
!lIld indu~s two chapters: "The Name Game, " an intriguing
. discussion of names of persons an<i" places connected with Forlean phenomena (Warren is one of them, by the way); and
"Some Concluding Thoughts After Some Years on the :Trail."
Here I simply must put the record straight.
It is perhaps a quibble on my P!p'l, but I should have said'
that Loren Coleman had been corresPQn~ing with Ivan Sanderson, rather than the other- way round as Coleman has it, this
if only because Ivan's first' Fortean articles were published in
the ririd-l940s, whereas (:oleman's "first article of.note" was
Foul'th Qual'ter 1983

Boo.ks Reviewed
THE EVIDENCE FOR BIGFOOT AND OTHER MANBEASTS by Janet and Colin Bord ('ll'he Aquarian P~ess,
Wellingberouglt, Norihamptonshire NN8 2RQ, England,
1984, 160 pp., iUus., +2.50)
. .
. Reviewed.by Sabina Warren Sanderson
This book is one of a series being published by ASSAP
(Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena)
in England. If it is representative of the series -=. and I see no
reason to assume that it isn't - ASSAP is certainly to be commended. It does indeed provide i'a comprehensive, impartial
.and up-to-date assessment of the evidence" for ABSMs around
.
the world, as claimed in the publisher's note.'
The first three chapters present a concise summary of reports
of hairy man-like creatures by regions: North America; the
Himalayas and USSR; and China; Australia, Southeast Asia;
Africa and S~dt Amerlc!l. Of p~rticular interest and value are
the reports from China and Australia, most of them dating from
the 1970s, though some earlier cases from Australia came to
light as a result of the publication of clirrent sightings. Passing
. mention is also made of reports from Japan and the Arctic (the
Toonijuk) and of rumors from New Zealand.
'
Chapter 4 provides an excellent survey of material evidence
- footprints and tracks, excreme~t and hair samples, photo~
graphic evidence, and vocalizations - and behavior"patte.:ns,
including diet.
.
The weird reports are covered in Chapter 5, "Non-Physical
Bigfoot and the UFO-link," which steers aneat course straight
down the mi"dle, being neither sensationalist .nor selfconsciously sceptical.. .
The final chapter, "Searching for AnsW'ers," summarizes
possible identifications, all t~e way from the occasional hoax
through prehistoric survivals (e.g. Gigantopithecus and Neander- .
thal Man) to possible "psychic" phenomena. They conclude
that "It would need a total disregard for man's powers of obser vatian and honesty before on~ could throw out the complete body
.of firsthand witness accounts. We also have the footprints, hairs,
faeces, and Roger Patterson's cine film, all soft evidence but
nevertheless difficult to discard except by a total sceptic with
a complete incapaeity for new, ideas. We beiieve that the
evidence sPeaks for itself, in a voice too loud to be igno~d for
much longer."
The book is fully annotated (there are about twelve pages
of Notes), and includes an excellent bibliography and a good
index.
.
.
I recommend tJte book mos~ highly, particularly as an jn troduction to the subject, bu,also as anaddition to any Fortean
libral)' in that it contains matenalnot readily available elsewhere.

..

MYSTERIOUS AMERICA by Loren Coleman (Faber &

Faber, Inc., Winchester, Mass., 1983,301 pp., i1bis.,
back, $9.95)

paper-

Reviewed by sabina Warren Sanderson

It is not Clear to' me what ~e author intended by thi~ book.
In the opening chapter it is implied that it is a kind of Fortean
tourist guide, which for the most part it isn't. (For. !ill practical

P .....I'186

purposes it simply ignores geologica).' and archaeological oddities, which do have the advantage of being there whenever
one wants to visit them.) Neither isit primarily an account of
his on-the-spot investigations, many of the items being culled
from newspapers, some of them published long before Mr. Cole~an was born. There is nothing wrong.with this, but the book
is probably best looked upon as a general reference work, less
helpful to 'tourists' than Mr. Coleman p~sumably intended.
Chilpter 1 does list a number of books and journals useful
as sources of information on Fortean sites and events (with a
curious omission" will come back to later), and Chapters 2
through 4 cbnst,itute a kind of grab-bag, discussing in varying
detail a wide variety of unexplainoos .
The major part'of the book is entitled "Creatures Aplenty"
and deals with 'everything from the "'Dover (Mass.) Demon,"
a small gnomeHke creature, to' phantom panthers and the Jersey
Devil. Much of the material will be old-hat to seasoned Forteans but will Undoubtedly interest those new to the field. I must
admit that I was a bit glassy-eyed by the_ time I finished the
chapter on kangaroos -;- Ii seed catalogue if-there ever was one;
it would have been better to report a few representative cases
and relegate the remainder of tht: ~ports to an appendix as was
done with alligators, for example:
There .is some curi~us duplication and a specie~ of
schizophrenia apparent here as well. For example, 'Nellie the
. Lion' is included in ~e chapter on phantom panthers and in that
on maned mystery' cats; and the author in one chapter suggests
. that phantom 'panthers' are jus~ that - phantoms - though they
leave tracks and occasionally other traces, ~ then in the chapter
on maned cats suggests that both are real animals, the females
and th~ ,milles, resp:ctively, of a suiviving populat~o~ of Pan::
thera JeD atrox, the giant American lion of the Pleistocene. (In-.
cidentally, Iquestion his s!atement that pumas "do not prowl
during the day. ' ')
,
.. Included in this section is a chapter on "The North American
Ape, " in my opinion the best in the book, in which Coleman
nulkes a very good case for an ape population in North America,
either imported along with slaves from Africa or, more likely,
. indigenous.
'
\
The third secti~n, "Phantoms Afield," includes one UFO
oCcupant case; the 'Mad GasSer of Mattoon' and his 'kin~; phant0l!' clowns (a rather sinister bunch); and the 'Wandering
Nephites,' bearded gentlemen apparently connected with bQth .
the Mormon Chuq::h and the legend of the Wandering Jew.' The
latter two may be new to many Forteans, but in neither case
is ~ere sufficient evidence to permit any definitive classificatjon; i:e. the clowns .may be a case of copy~at pathological
behavior, particuJarlyin view of the appalling number of children
kidnapped in this country every year.
The final section of the text is called "Fireside Thinking"
!lIld indu~s two chapters: "The Name Game, " an intriguing
. discussion of names of persons an<i" places connected with Forlean phenomena (Warren is one of them, by the way); and
"Some Concluding Thoughts After Some Years on the :Trail."
Here I simply must put the record straight.
It is perhaps a quibble on my P!p'l, but I should have said'
that Loren Coleman had been corresPQn~ing with Ivan Sanderson, rather than the other- way round as Coleman has it, this
if only because Ivan's first' Fortean articles were published in
the ririd-l940s, whereas (:oleman's "first article of.note" was
Foul'th Qual'ter 1983

Boo.ks Reviewed
THE EVIDENCE FOR BIGFOOT AND OTHER MANBEASTS by Janet and Colin Bord ('ll'he Aquarian P~ess,
Wellingberouglt, Norihamptonshire NN8 2RQ, England,
1984, 160 pp., iUus., +2.50)
. .
. Reviewed.by Sabina Warren Sanderson
This book is one of a series being published by ASSAP
(Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena)
in England. If it is representative of the series -=. and I see no
reason to assume that it isn't - ASSAP is certainly to be commended. It does indeed provide i'a comprehensive, impartial
.and up-to-date assessment of the evidence" for ABSMs around
.
the world, as claimed in the publisher's note.'
The first three chapters present a concise summary of reports
of hairy man-like creatures by regions: North America; the
Himalayas and USSR; and China; Australia, Southeast Asia;
Africa and S~dt Amerlc!l. Of p~rticular interest and value are
the reports from China and Australia, most of them dating from
the 1970s, though some earlier cases from Australia came to
light as a result of the publication of clirrent sightings. Passing
. mention is also made of reports from Japan and the Arctic (the
Toonijuk) and of rumors from New Zealand.
'
Chapter 4 provides an excellent survey of material evidence
- footprints and tracks, excreme~t and hair samples, photo~
graphic evidence, and vocalizations - and behavior"patte.:ns,
including diet.
.
The weird reports are covered in Chapter 5, "Non-Physical
Bigfoot and the UFO-link," which steers aneat course straight
down the mi"dle, being neither sensationalist .nor selfconsciously sceptical.. .
The final chapter, "Searching for AnsW'ers," summarizes
possible identifications, all t~e way from the occasional hoax
through prehistoric survivals (e.g. Gigantopithecus and Neander- .
thal Man) to possible "psychic" phenomena. They conclude
that "It would need a total disregard for man's powers of obser vatian and honesty before on~ could throw out the complete body
.of firsthand witness accounts. We also have the footprints, hairs,
faeces, and Roger Patterson's cine film, all soft evidence but
nevertheless difficult to discard except by a total sceptic with
a complete incapaeity for new, ideas. We beiieve that the
evidence sPeaks for itself, in a voice too loud to be igno~d for
much longer."
The book is fully annotated (there are about twelve pages
of Notes), and includes an excellent bibliography and a good
index.
.
.
I recommend tJte book mos~ highly, particularly as an jn troduction to the subject, bu,also as anaddition to any Fortean
libral)' in that it contains matenalnot readily available elsewhere.

..

MYSTERIOUS AMERICA by Loren Coleman (Faber &

Faber, Inc., Winchester, Mass., 1983,301 pp., i1bis.,
back, $9.95)

paper-

Reviewed by sabina Warren Sanderson

It is not Clear to' me what ~e author intended by thi~ book.
In the opening chapter it is implied that it is a kind of Fortean
tourist guide, which for the most part it isn't. (For. !ill practical

P .....I'186

purposes it simply ignores geologica).' and archaeological oddities, which do have the advantage of being there whenever
one wants to visit them.) Neither isit primarily an account of
his on-the-spot investigations, many of the items being culled
from newspapers, some of them published long before Mr. Cole~an was born. There is nothing wrong.with this, but the book
is probably best looked upon as a general reference work, less
helpful to 'tourists' than Mr. Coleman p~sumably intended.
Chilpter 1 does list a number of books and journals useful
as sources of information on Fortean sites and events (with a
curious omission" will come back to later), and Chapters 2
through 4 cbnst,itute a kind of grab-bag, discussing in varying
detail a wide variety of unexplainoos .
The major part'of the book is entitled "Creatures Aplenty"
and deals with 'everything from the "'Dover (Mass.) Demon,"
a small gnomeHke creature, to' phantom panthers and the Jersey
Devil. Much of the material will be old-hat to seasoned Forteans but will Undoubtedly interest those new to the field. I must
admit that I was a bit glassy-eyed by the_ time I finished the
chapter on kangaroos -;- Ii seed catalogue if-there ever was one;
it would have been better to report a few representative cases
and relegate the remainder of tht: ~ports to an appendix as was
done with alligators, for example:
There .is some curi~us duplication and a specie~ of
schizophrenia apparent here as well. For example, 'Nellie the
. Lion' is included in ~e chapter on phantom panthers and in that
on maned mystery' cats; and the author in one chapter suggests
. that phantom 'panthers' are jus~ that - phantoms - though they
leave tracks and occasionally other traces, ~ then in the chapter
on maned cats suggests that both are real animals, the females
and th~ ,milles, resp:ctively, of a suiviving populat~o~ of Pan::
thera JeD atrox, the giant American lion of the Pleistocene. (In-.
cidentally, Iquestion his s!atement that pumas "do not prowl
during the day. ' ')
,
.. Included in this section is a chapter on "The North American
Ape, " in my opinion the best in the book, in which Coleman
nulkes a very good case for an ape population in North America,
either imported along with slaves from Africa or, more likely,
. indigenous.
'
\
The third secti~n, "Phantoms Afield," includes one UFO
oCcupant case; the 'Mad GasSer of Mattoon' and his 'kin~; phant0l!' clowns (a rather sinister bunch); and the 'Wandering
Nephites,' bearded gentlemen apparently connected with bQth .
the Mormon Chuq::h and the legend of the Wandering Jew.' The
latter two may be new to many Forteans, but in neither case
is ~ere sufficient evidence to permit any definitive classificatjon; i:e. the clowns .may be a case of copy~at pathological
behavior, particuJarlyin view of the appalling number of children
kidnapped in this country every year.
The final section of the text is called "Fireside Thinking"
!lIld indu~s two chapters: "The Name Game, " an intriguing
. discussion of names of persons an<i" places connected with Forlean phenomena (Warren is one of them, by the way); and
"Some Concluding Thoughts After Some Years on the :Trail."
Here I simply must put the record straight.
It is perhaps a quibble on my P!p'l, but I should have said'
that Loren Coleman had been corresPQn~ing with Ivan Sanderson, rather than the other- way round as Coleman has it, this
if only because Ivan's first' Fortean articles were published in
the ririd-l940s, whereas (:oleman's "first article of.note" was
Foul'th Qual'ter 1983

Boo.ks Reviewed
THE EVIDENCE FOR BIGFOOT AND OTHER MANBEASTS by Janet and Colin Bord ('ll'he Aquarian P~ess,
Wellingberouglt, Norihamptonshire NN8 2RQ, England,
1984, 160 pp., iUus., +2.50)
. .
. Reviewed.by Sabina Warren Sanderson
This book is one of a series being published by ASSAP
(Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena)
in England. If it is representative of the series -=. and I see no
reason to assume that it isn't - ASSAP is certainly to be commended. It does indeed provide i'a comprehensive, impartial
.and up-to-date assessment of the evidence" for ABSMs around
.
the world, as claimed in the publisher's note.'
The first three chapters present a concise summary of reports
of hairy man-like creatures by regions: North America; the
Himalayas and USSR; and China; Australia, Southeast Asia;
Africa and S~dt Amerlc!l. Of p~rticular interest and value are
the reports from China and Australia, most of them dating from
the 1970s, though some earlier cases from Australia came to
light as a result of the publication of clirrent sightings. Passing
. mention is also made of reports from Japan and the Arctic (the
Toonijuk) and of rumors from New Zealand.
'
Chapter 4 provides an excellent survey of material evidence
- footprints and tracks, excreme~t and hair samples, photo~
graphic evidence, and vocalizations - and behavior"patte.:ns,
including diet.
.
The weird reports are covered in Chapter 5, "Non-Physical
Bigfoot and the UFO-link," which steers aneat course straight
down the mi"dle, being neither sensationalist .nor selfconsciously sceptical.. .
The final chapter, "Searching for AnsW'ers," summarizes
possible identifications, all t~e way from the occasional hoax
through prehistoric survivals (e.g. Gigantopithecus and Neander- .
thal Man) to possible "psychic" phenomena. They conclude
that "It would need a total disregard for man's powers of obser vatian and honesty before on~ could throw out the complete body
.of firsthand witness accounts. We also have the footprints, hairs,
faeces, and Roger Patterson's cine film, all soft evidence but
nevertheless difficult to discard except by a total sceptic with
a complete incapaeity for new, ideas. We beiieve that the
evidence sPeaks for itself, in a voice too loud to be igno~d for
much longer."
The book is fully annotated (there are about twelve pages
of Notes), and includes an excellent bibliography and a good
index.
.
.
I recommend tJte book mos~ highly, particularly as an jn troduction to the subject, bu,also as anaddition to any Fortean
libral)' in that it contains matenalnot readily available elsewhere.

..

MYSTERIOUS AMERICA by Loren Coleman (Faber &

Faber, Inc., Winchester, Mass., 1983,301 pp., i1bis.,
back, $9.95)

paper-

Reviewed by sabina Warren Sanderson

It is not Clear to' me what ~e author intended by thi~ book.
In the opening chapter it is implied that it is a kind of Fortean
tourist guide, which for the most part it isn't. (For. !ill practical

P .....I'186

purposes it simply ignores geologica).' and archaeological oddities, which do have the advantage of being there whenever
one wants to visit them.) Neither isit primarily an account of
his on-the-spot investigations, many of the items being culled
from newspapers, some of them published long before Mr. Cole~an was born. There is nothing wrong.with this, but the book
is probably best looked upon as a general reference work, less
helpful to 'tourists' than Mr. Coleman p~sumably intended.
Chilpter 1 does list a number of books and journals useful
as sources of information on Fortean sites and events (with a
curious omission" will come back to later), and Chapters 2
through 4 cbnst,itute a kind of grab-bag, discussing in varying
detail a wide variety of unexplainoos .
The major part'of the book is entitled "Creatures Aplenty"
and deals with 'everything from the "'Dover (Mass.) Demon,"
a small gnomeHke creature, to' phantom panthers and the Jersey
Devil. Much of the material will be old-hat to seasoned Forteans but will Undoubtedly interest those new to the field. I must
admit that I was a bit glassy-eyed by the_ time I finished the
chapter on kangaroos -;- Ii seed catalogue if-there ever was one;
it would have been better to report a few representative cases
and relegate the remainder of tht: ~ports to an appendix as was
done with alligators, for example:
There .is some curi~us duplication and a specie~ of
schizophrenia apparent here as well. For example, 'Nellie the
. Lion' is included in ~e chapter on phantom panthers and in that
on maned mystery' cats; and the author in one chapter suggests
. that phantom 'panthers' are jus~ that - phantoms - though they
leave tracks and occasionally other traces, ~ then in the chapter
on maned cats suggests that both are real animals, the females
and th~ ,milles, resp:ctively, of a suiviving populat~o~ of Pan::
thera JeD atrox, the giant American lion of the Pleistocene. (In-.
cidentally, Iquestion his s!atement that pumas "do not prowl
during the day. ' ')
,
.. Included in this section is a chapter on "The North American
Ape, " in my opinion the best in the book, in which Coleman
nulkes a very good case for an ape population in North America,
either imported along with slaves from Africa or, more likely,
. indigenous.
'
\
The third secti~n, "Phantoms Afield," includes one UFO
oCcupant case; the 'Mad GasSer of Mattoon' and his 'kin~; phant0l!' clowns (a rather sinister bunch); and the 'Wandering
Nephites,' bearded gentlemen apparently connected with bQth .
the Mormon Chuq::h and the legend of the Wandering Jew.' The
latter two may be new to many Forteans, but in neither case
is ~ere sufficient evidence to permit any definitive classificatjon; i:e. the clowns .may be a case of copy~at pathological
behavior, particuJarlyin view of the appalling number of children
kidnapped in this country every year.
The final section of the text is called "Fireside Thinking"
!lIld indu~s two chapters: "The Name Game, " an intriguing
. discussion of names of persons an<i" places connected with Forlean phenomena (Warren is one of them, by the way); and
"Some Concluding Thoughts After Some Years on the :Trail."
Here I simply must put the record straight.
It is perhaps a quibble on my P!p'l, but I should have said'
that Loren Coleman had been corresPQn~ing with Ivan Sanderson, rather than the other- way round as Coleman has it, this
if only because Ivan's first' Fortean articles were published in
the ririd-l940s, whereas (:oleman's "first article of.note" was
Foul'th Qual'ter 1983

Boo.ks Reviewed
THE EVIDENCE FOR BIGFOOT AND OTHER MANBEASTS by Janet and Colin Bord ('ll'he Aquarian P~ess,
Wellingberouglt, Norihamptonshire NN8 2RQ, England,
1984, 160 pp., iUus., +2.50)
. .
. Reviewed.by Sabina Warren Sanderson
This book is one of a series being published by ASSAP
(Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena)
in England. If it is representative of the series -=. and I see no
reason to assume that it isn't - ASSAP is certainly to be commended. It does indeed provide i'a comprehensive, impartial
.and up-to-date assessment of the evidence" for ABSMs around
.
the world, as claimed in the publisher's note.'
The first three chapters present a concise summary of reports
of hairy man-like creatures by regions: North America; the
Himalayas and USSR; and China; Australia, Southeast Asia;
Africa and S~dt Amerlc!l. Of p~rticular interest and value are
the reports from China and Australia, most of them dating from
the 1970s, though some earlier cases from Australia came to
light as a result of the publication of clirrent sightings. Passing
. mention is also made of reports from Japan and the Arctic (the
Toonijuk) and of rumors from New Zealand.
'
Chapter 4 provides an excellent survey of material evidence
- footprints and tracks, excreme~t and hair samples, photo~
graphic evidence, and vocalizations - and behavior"patte.:ns,
including diet.
.
The weird reports are covered in Chapter 5, "Non-Physical
Bigfoot and the UFO-link," which steers aneat course straight
down the mi"dle, being neither sensationalist .nor selfconsciously sceptical.. .
The final chapter, "Searching for AnsW'ers," summarizes
possible identifications, all t~e way from the occasional hoax
through prehistoric survivals (e.g. Gigantopithecus and Neander- .
thal Man) to possible "psychic" phenomena. They conclude
that "It would need a total disregard for man's powers of obser vatian and honesty before on~ could throw out the complete body
.of firsthand witness accounts. We also have the footprints, hairs,
faeces, and Roger Patterson's cine film, all soft evidence but
nevertheless difficult to discard except by a total sceptic with
a complete incapaeity for new, ideas. We beiieve that the
evidence sPeaks for itself, in a voice too loud to be igno~d for
much longer."
The book is fully annotated (there are about twelve pages
of Notes), and includes an excellent bibliography and a good
index.
.
.
I recommend tJte book mos~ highly, particularly as an jn troduction to the subject, bu,also as anaddition to any Fortean
libral)' in that it contains matenalnot readily available elsewhere.

..

MYSTERIOUS AMERICA by Loren Coleman (Faber &

Faber, Inc., Winchester, Mass., 1983,301 pp., i1bis.,
back, $9.95)

paper-

Reviewed by sabina Warren Sanderson

It is not Clear to' me what ~e author intended by thi~ book.
In the opening chapter it is implied that it is a kind of Fortean
tourist guide, which for the most part it isn't. (For. !ill practical

P .....I'186

purposes it simply ignores geologica).' and archaeological oddities, which do have the advantage of being there whenever
one wants to visit them.) Neither isit primarily an account of
his on-the-spot investigations, many of the items being culled
from newspapers, some of them published long before Mr. Cole~an was born. There is nothing wrong.with this, but the book
is probably best looked upon as a general reference work, less
helpful to 'tourists' than Mr. Coleman p~sumably intended.
Chilpter 1 does list a number of books and journals useful
as sources of information on Fortean sites and events (with a
curious omission" will come back to later), and Chapters 2
through 4 cbnst,itute a kind of grab-bag, discussing in varying
detail a wide variety of unexplainoos .
The major part'of the book is entitled "Creatures Aplenty"
and deals with 'everything from the "'Dover (Mass.) Demon,"
a small gnomeHke creature, to' phantom panthers and the Jersey
Devil. Much of the material will be old-hat to seasoned Forteans but will Undoubtedly interest those new to the field. I must
admit that I was a bit glassy-eyed by the_ time I finished the
chapter on kangaroos -;- Ii seed catalogue if-there ever was one;
it would have been better to report a few representative cases
and relegate the remainder of tht: ~ports to an appendix as was
done with alligators, for example:
There .is some curi~us duplication and a specie~ of
schizophrenia apparent here as well. For example, 'Nellie the
. Lion' is included in ~e chapter on phantom panthers and in that
on maned mystery' cats; and the author in one chapter suggests
. that phantom 'panthers' are jus~ that - phantoms - though they
leave tracks and occasionally other traces, ~ then in the chapter
on maned cats suggests that both are real animals, the females
and th~ ,milles, resp:ctively, of a suiviving populat~o~ of Pan::
thera JeD atrox, the giant American lion of the Pleistocene. (In-.
cidentally, Iquestion his s!atement that pumas "do not prowl
during the day. ' ')
,
.. Included in this section is a chapter on "The North American
Ape, " in my opinion the best in the book, in which Coleman
nulkes a very good case for an ape population in North America,
either imported along with slaves from Africa or, more likely,
. indigenous.
'
\
The third secti~n, "Phantoms Afield," includes one UFO
oCcupant case; the 'Mad GasSer of Mattoon' and his 'kin~; phant0l!' clowns (a rather sinister bunch); and the 'Wandering
Nephites,' bearded gentlemen apparently connected with bQth .
the Mormon Chuq::h and the legend of the Wandering Jew.' The
latter two may be new to many Forteans, but in neither case
is ~ere sufficient evidence to permit any definitive classificatjon; i:e. the clowns .may be a case of copy~at pathological
behavior, particuJarlyin view of the appalling number of children
kidnapped in this country every year.
The final section of the text is called "Fireside Thinking"
!lIld indu~s two chapters: "The Name Game, " an intriguing
. discussion of names of persons an<i" places connected with Forlean phenomena (Warren is one of them, by the way); and
"Some Concluding Thoughts After Some Years on the :Trail."
Here I simply must put the record straight.
It is perhaps a quibble on my P!p'l, but I should have said'
that Loren Coleman had been corresPQn~ing with Ivan Sanderson, rather than the other- way round as Coleman has it, this
if only because Ivan's first' Fortean articles were published in
the ririd-l940s, whereas (:oleman's "first article of.note" was
Foul'th Qual'ter 1983

Boo.ks Reviewed
THE EVIDENCE FOR BIGFOOT AND OTHER MANBEASTS by Janet and Colin Bord ('ll'he Aquarian P~ess,
Wellingberouglt, Norihamptonshire NN8 2RQ, England,
1984, 160 pp., iUus., +2.50)
. .
. Reviewed.by Sabina Warren Sanderson
This book is one of a series being published by ASSAP
(Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena)
in England. If it is representative of the series -=. and I see no
reason to assume that it isn't - ASSAP is certainly to be commended. It does indeed provide i'a comprehensive, impartial
.and up-to-date assessment of the evidence" for ABSMs around
.
the world, as claimed in the publisher's note.'
The first three chapters present a concise summary of reports
of hairy man-like creatures by regions: North America; the
Himalayas and USSR; and China; Australia, Southeast Asia;
Africa and S~dt Amerlc!l. Of p~rticular interest and value are
the reports from China and Australia, most of them dating from
the 1970s, though some earlier cases from Australia came to
light as a result of the publication of clirrent sightings. Passing
. mention is also made of reports from Japan and the Arctic (the
Toonijuk) and of rumors from New Zealand.
'
Chapter 4 provides an excellent survey of material evidence
- footprints and tracks, excreme~t and hair samples, photo~
graphic evidence, and vocalizations - and behavior"patte.:ns,
including diet.
.
The weird reports are covered in Chapter 5, "Non-Physical
Bigfoot and the UFO-link," which steers aneat course straight
down the mi"dle, being neither sensationalist .nor selfconsciously sceptical.. .
The final chapter, "Searching for AnsW'ers," summarizes
possible identifications, all t~e way from the occasional hoax
through prehistoric survivals (e.g. Gigantopithecus and Neander- .
thal Man) to possible "psychic" phenomena. They conclude
that "It would need a total disregard for man's powers of obser vatian and honesty before on~ could throw out the complete body
.of firsthand witness accounts. We also have the footprints, hairs,
faeces, and Roger Patterson's cine film, all soft evidence but
nevertheless difficult to discard except by a total sceptic with
a complete incapaeity for new, ideas. We beiieve that the
evidence sPeaks for itself, in a voice too loud to be igno~d for
much longer."
The book is fully annotated (there are about twelve pages
of Notes), and includes an excellent bibliography and a good
index.
.
.
I recommend tJte book mos~ highly, particularly as an jn troduction to the subject, bu,also as anaddition to any Fortean
libral)' in that it contains matenalnot readily available elsewhere.

..

MYSTERIOUS AMERICA by Loren Coleman (Faber &

Faber, Inc., Winchester, Mass., 1983,301 pp., i1bis.,
back, $9.95)

paper-

Reviewed by sabina Warren Sanderson

It is not Clear to' me what ~e author intended by thi~ book.
In the opening chapter it is implied that it is a kind of Fortean
tourist guide, which for the most part it isn't. (For. !ill practical

P .....I'186

purposes it simply ignores geologica).' and archaeological oddities, which do have the advantage of being there whenever
one wants to visit them.) Neither isit primarily an account of
his on-the-spot investigations, many of the items being culled
from newspapers, some of them published long before Mr. Cole~an was born. There is nothing wrong.with this, but the book
is probably best looked upon as a general reference work, less
helpful to 'tourists' than Mr. Coleman p~sumably intended.
Chilpter 1 does list a number of books and journals useful
as sources of information on Fortean sites and events (with a
curious omission" will come back to later), and Chapters 2
through 4 cbnst,itute a kind of grab-bag, discussing in varying
detail a wide variety of unexplainoos .
The major part'of the book is entitled "Creatures Aplenty"
and deals with 'everything from the "'Dover (Mass.) Demon,"
a small gnomeHke creature, to' phantom panthers and the Jersey
Devil. Much of the material will be old-hat to seasoned Forteans but will Undoubtedly interest those new to the field. I must
admit that I was a bit glassy-eyed by the_ time I finished the
chapter on kangaroos -;- Ii seed catalogue if-there ever was one;
it would have been better to report a few representative cases
and relegate the remainder of tht: ~ports to an appendix as was
done with alligators, for example:
There .is some curi~us duplication and a specie~ of
schizophrenia apparent here as well. For example, 'Nellie the
. Lion' is included in ~e chapter on phantom panthers and in that
on maned mystery' cats; and the author in one chapter suggests
. that phantom 'panthers' are jus~ that - phantoms - though they
leave tracks and occasionally other traces, ~ then in the chapter
on maned cats suggests that both are real animals, the females
and th~ ,milles, resp:ctively, of a suiviving populat~o~ of Pan::
thera JeD atrox, the giant American lion of the Pleistocene. (In-.
cidentally, Iquestion his s!atement that pumas "do not prowl
during the day. ' ')
,
.. Included in this section is a chapter on "The North American
Ape, " in my opinion the best in the book, in which Coleman
nulkes a very good case for an ape population in North America,
either imported along with slaves from Africa or, more likely,
. indigenous.
'
\
The third secti~n, "Phantoms Afield," includes one UFO
oCcupant case; the 'Mad GasSer of Mattoon' and his 'kin~; phant0l!' clowns (a rather sinister bunch); and the 'Wandering
Nephites,' bearded gentlemen apparently connected with bQth .
the Mormon Chuq::h and the legend of the Wandering Jew.' The
latter two may be new to many Forteans, but in neither case
is ~ere sufficient evidence to permit any definitive classificatjon; i:e. the clowns .may be a case of copy~at pathological
behavior, particuJarlyin view of the appalling number of children
kidnapped in this country every year.
The final section of the text is called "Fireside Thinking"
!lIld indu~s two chapters: "The Name Game, " an intriguing
. discussion of names of persons an<i" places connected with Forlean phenomena (Warren is one of them, by the way); and
"Some Concluding Thoughts After Some Years on the :Trail."
Here I simply must put the record straight.
It is perhaps a quibble on my P!p'l, but I should have said'
that Loren Coleman had been corresPQn~ing with Ivan Sanderson, rather than the other- way round as Coleman has it, this
if only because Ivan's first' Fortean articles were published in
the ririd-l940s, whereas (:oleman's "first article of.note" was
Foul'th Qual'ter 1983

Boo.ks Reviewed
THE EVIDENCE FOR BIGFOOT AND OTHER MANBEASTS by Janet and Colin Bord ('ll'he Aquarian P~ess,
Wellingberouglt, Norihamptonshire NN8 2RQ, England,
1984, 160 pp., iUus., +2.50)
. .
. Reviewed.by Sabina Warren Sanderson
This book is one of a series being published by ASSAP
(Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena)
in England. If it is representative of the series -=. and I see no
reason to assume that it isn't - ASSAP is certainly to be commended. It does indeed provide i'a comprehensive, impartial
.and up-to-date assessment of the evidence" for ABSMs around
.
the world, as claimed in the publisher's note.'
The first three chapters present a concise summary of reports
of hairy man-like creatures by regions: North America; the
Himalayas and USSR; and China; Australia, Southeast Asia;
Africa and S~dt Amerlc!l. Of p~rticular interest and value are
the reports from China and Australia, most of them dating from
the 1970s, though some earlier cases from Australia came to
light as a result of the publication of clirrent sightings. Passing
. mention is also made of reports from Japan and the Arctic (the
Toonijuk) and of rumors from New Zealand.
'
Chapter 4 provides an excellent survey of material evidence
- footprints and tracks, excreme~t and hair samples, photo~
graphic evidence, and vocalizations - and behavior"patte.:ns,
including diet.
.
The weird reports are covered in Chapter 5, "Non-Physical
Bigfoot and the UFO-link," which steers aneat course straight
down the mi"dle, being neither sensationalist .nor selfconsciously sceptical.. .
The final chapter, "Searching for AnsW'ers," summarizes
possible identifications, all t~e way from the occasional hoax
through prehistoric survivals (e.g. Gigantopithecus and Neander- .
thal Man) to possible "psychic" phenomena. They conclude
that "It would need a total disregard for man's powers of obser vatian and honesty before on~ could throw out the complete body
.of firsthand witness accounts. We also have the footprints, hairs,
faeces, and Roger Patterson's cine film, all soft evidence but
nevertheless difficult to discard except by a total sceptic with
a complete incapaeity for new, ideas. We beiieve that the
evidence sPeaks for itself, in a voice too loud to be igno~d for
much longer."
The book is fully annotated (there are about twelve pages
of Notes), and includes an excellent bibliography and a good
index.
.
.
I recommend tJte book mos~ highly, particularly as an jn troduction to the subject, bu,also as anaddition to any Fortean
libral)' in that it contains matenalnot readily available elsewhere.

..

MYSTERIOUS AMERICA by Loren Coleman (Faber &

Faber, Inc., Winchester, Mass., 1983,301 pp., i1bis.,
back, $9.95)

paper-

Reviewed by sabina Warren Sanderson

It is not Clear to' me what ~e author intended by thi~ book.
In the opening chapter it is implied that it is a kind of Fortean
tourist guide, which for the most part it isn't. (For. !ill practical

P .....I'186

purposes it simply ignores geologica).' and archaeological oddities, which do have the advantage of being there whenever
one wants to visit them.) Neither isit primarily an account of
his on-the-spot investigations, many of the items being culled
from newspapers, some of them published long before Mr. Cole~an was born. There is nothing wrong.with this, but the book
is probably best looked upon as a general reference work, less
helpful to 'tourists' than Mr. Coleman p~sumably intended.
Chilpter 1 does list a number of books and journals useful
as sources of information on Fortean sites and events (with a
curious omission" will come back to later), and Chapters 2
through 4 cbnst,itute a kind of grab-bag, discussing in varying
detail a wide variety of unexplainoos .
The major part'of the book is entitled "Creatures Aplenty"
and deals with 'everything from the "'Dover (Mass.) Demon,"
a small gnomeHke creature, to' phantom panthers and the Jersey
Devil. Much of the material will be old-hat to seasoned Forteans but will Undoubtedly interest those new to the field. I must
admit that I was a bit glassy-eyed by the_ time I finished the
chapter on kangaroos -;- Ii seed catalogue if-there ever was one;
it would have been better to report a few representative cases
and relegate the remainder of tht: ~ports to an appendix as was
done with alligators, for example:
There .is some curi~us duplication and a specie~ of
schizophrenia apparent here as well. For example, 'Nellie the
. Lion' is included in ~e chapter on phantom panthers and in that
on maned mystery' cats; and the author in one chapter suggests
. that phantom 'panthers' are jus~ that - phantoms - though they
leave tracks and occasionally other traces, ~ then in the chapter
on maned cats suggests that both are real animals, the females
and th~ ,milles, resp:ctively, of a suiviving populat~o~ of Pan::
thera JeD atrox, the giant American lion of the Pleistocene. (In-.
cidentally, Iquestion his s!atement that pumas "do not prowl
during the day. ' ')
,
.. Included in this section is a chapter on "The North American
Ape, " in my opinion the best in the book, in which Coleman
nulkes a very good case for an ape population in North America,
either imported along with slaves from Africa or, more likely,
. indigenous.
'
\
The third secti~n, "Phantoms Afield," includes one UFO
oCcupant case; the 'Mad GasSer of Mattoon' and his 'kin~; phant0l!' clowns (a rather sinister bunch); and the 'Wandering
Nephites,' bearded gentlemen apparently connected with bQth .
the Mormon Chuq::h and the legend of the Wandering Jew.' The
latter two may be new to many Forteans, but in neither case
is ~ere sufficient evidence to permit any definitive classificatjon; i:e. the clowns .may be a case of copy~at pathological
behavior, particuJarlyin view of the appalling number of children
kidnapped in this country every year.
The final section of the text is called "Fireside Thinking"
!lIld indu~s two chapters: "The Name Game, " an intriguing
. discussion of names of persons an<i" places connected with Forlean phenomena (Warren is one of them, by the way); and
"Some Concluding Thoughts After Some Years on the :Trail."
Here I simply must put the record straight.
It is perhaps a quibble on my P!p'l, but I should have said'
that Loren Coleman had been corresPQn~ing with Ivan Sanderson, rather than the other- way round as Coleman has it, this
if only because Ivan's first' Fortean articles were published in
the ririd-l940s, whereas (:oleman's "first article of.note" was
Foul'th Qual'ter 1983

Boo.ks Reviewed
THE EVIDENCE FOR BIGFOOT AND OTHER MANBEASTS by Janet and Colin Bord ('ll'he Aquarian P~ess,
Wellingberouglt, Norihamptonshire NN8 2RQ, England,
1984, 160 pp., iUus., +2.50)
. .
. Reviewed.by Sabina Warren Sanderson
This book is one of a series being published by ASSAP
(Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena)
in England. If it is representative of the series -=. and I see no
reason to assume that it isn't - ASSAP is certainly to be commended. It does indeed provide i'a comprehensive, impartial
.and up-to-date assessment of the evidence" for ABSMs around
.
the world, as claimed in the publisher's note.'
The first three chapters present a concise summary of reports
of hairy man-like creatures by regions: North America; the
Himalayas and USSR; and China; Australia, Southeast Asia;
Africa and S~dt Amerlc!l. Of p~rticular interest and value are
the reports from China and Australia, most of them dating from
the 1970s, though some earlier cases from Australia came to
light as a result of the publication of clirrent sightings. Passing
. mention is also made of reports from Japan and the Arctic (the
Toonijuk) and of rumors from New Zealand.
'
Chapter 4 provides an excellent survey of material evidence
- footprints and tracks, excreme~t and hair samples, photo~
graphic evidence, and vocalizations - and behavior"patte.:ns,
including diet.
.
The weird reports are covered in Chapter 5, "Non-Physical
Bigfoot and the UFO-link," which steers aneat course straight
down the mi"dle, being neither sensationalist .nor selfconsciously sceptical.. .
The final chapter, "Searching for AnsW'ers," summarizes
possible identifications, all t~e way from the occasional hoax
through prehistoric survivals (e.g. Gigantopithecus and Neander- .
thal Man) to possible "psychic" phenomena. They conclude
that "It would need a total disregard for man's powers of obser vatian and honesty before on~ could throw out the complete body
.of firsthand witness accounts. We also have the footprints, hairs,
faeces, and Roger Patterson's cine film, all soft evidence but
nevertheless difficult to discard except by a total sceptic with
a complete incapaeity for new, ideas. We beiieve that the
evidence sPeaks for itself, in a voice too loud to be igno~d for
much longer."
The book is fully annotated (there are about twelve pages
of Notes), and includes an excellent bibliography and a good
index.
.
.
I recommend tJte book mos~ highly, particularly as an jn troduction to the subject, bu,also as anaddition to any Fortean
libral)' in that it contains matenalnot readily available elsewhere.

..

MYSTERIOUS AMERICA by Loren Coleman (Faber &

Faber, Inc., Winchester, Mass., 1983,301 pp., i1bis.,
back, $9.95)

paper-

Reviewed by sabina Warren Sanderson

It is not Clear to' me what ~e author intended by thi~ book.
In the opening chapter it is implied that it is a kind of Fortean
tourist guide, which for the most part it isn't. (For. !ill practical

P .....I'186

purposes it simply ignores geologica).' and archaeological oddities, which do have the advantage of being there whenever
one wants to visit them.) Neither isit primarily an account of
his on-the-spot investigations, many of the items being culled
from newspapers, some of them published long before Mr. Cole~an was born. There is nothing wrong.with this, but the book
is probably best looked upon as a general reference work, less
helpful to 'tourists' than Mr. Coleman p~sumably intended.
Chilpter 1 does list a number of books and journals useful
as sources of information on Fortean sites and events (with a
curious omission" will come back to later), and Chapters 2
through 4 cbnst,itute a kind of grab-bag, discussing in varying
detail a wide variety of unexplainoos .
The major part'of the book is entitled "Creatures Aplenty"
and deals with 'everything from the "'Dover (Mass.) Demon,"
a small gnomeHke creature, to' phantom panthers and the Jersey
Devil. Much of the material will be old-hat to seasoned Forteans but will Undoubtedly interest those new to the field. I must
admit that I was a bit glassy-eyed by the_ time I finished the
chapter on kangaroos -;- Ii seed catalogue if-there ever was one;
it would have been better to report a few representative cases
and relegate the remainder of tht: ~ports to an appendix as was
done with alligators, for example:
There .is some curi~us duplication and a specie~ of
schizophrenia apparent here as well. For example, 'Nellie the
. Lion' is included in ~e chapter on phantom panthers and in that
on maned mystery' cats; and the author in one chapter suggests
. that phantom 'panthers' are jus~ that - phantoms - though they
leave tracks and occasionally other traces, ~ then in the chapter
on maned cats suggests that both are real animals, the females
and th~ ,milles, resp:ctively, of a suiviving populat~o~ of Pan::
thera JeD atrox, the giant American lion of the Pleistocene. (In-.
cidentally, Iquestion his s!atement that pumas "do not prowl
during the day. ' ')
,
.. Included in this section is a chapter on "The North American
Ape, " in my opinion the best in the book, in which Coleman
nulkes a very good case for an ape population in North America,
either imported along with slaves from Africa or, more likely,
. indigenous.
'
\
The third secti~n, "Phantoms Afield," includes one UFO
oCcupant case; the 'Mad GasSer of Mattoon' and his 'kin~; phant0l!' clowns (a rather sinister bunch); and the 'Wandering
Nephites,' bearded gentlemen apparently connected with bQth .
the Mormon Chuq::h and the legend of the Wandering Jew.' The
latter two may be new to many Forteans, but in neither case
is ~ere sufficient evidence to permit any definitive classificatjon; i:e. the clowns .may be a case of copy~at pathological
behavior, particuJarlyin view of the appalling number of children
kidnapped in this country every year.
The final section of the text is called "Fireside Thinking"
!lIld indu~s two chapters: "The Name Game, " an intriguing
. discussion of names of persons an<i" places connected with Forlean phenomena (Warren is one of them, by the way); and
"Some Concluding Thoughts After Some Years on the :Trail."
Here I simply must put the record straight.
It is perhaps a quibble on my P!p'l, but I should have said'
that Loren Coleman had been corresPQn~ing with Ivan Sanderson, rather than the other- way round as Coleman has it, this
if only because Ivan's first' Fortean articles were published in
the ririd-l940s, whereas (:oleman's "first article of.note" was
Foul'th Qual'ter 1983

Pursuit Index 1983

Agogino, George. 109
Andrews, Arlan Keith. Sr., II. 72
Andrews, George, 10, 146
Atmospheric Light Show, 116
Baran, Michael, 75. 81. 173
Bearden, T. E., 126, 180
Beckjord, Jon Erik. 81. \05
Beneath Sahara's Sands, 2
Blackmore, Sue, 73
Boswell, Harriet A., 14
British Bases at Power Points?, II
Burch, Thomas B., 35
Cat Called Calico, A, 82
Comments on the New Tesla Electromagnetics I, 126; II. 180
Crows. Dolphins and HailstonesComments on Previous SITUatior.
Reports. 175
DeLawyer. Mark W., 115
Don Pedro: The Southwest's Most
Famous Curandero, 109
Earth Chronicles and the Giza
Forgery, 150
Eden, Daniel. 8, 54
Editorials on contents pages I, 49,
97, 145
Energy Forges the Armor, 14
E. T. Law, The, \0
Fire-Walking on MI. Takao, 12
FitzGerald, Anne. 16
Fitzjanald, Sarah, 59
Fort, Charles, The Notes of,
Deciphered by Carl J. Pabst,
46, 94, 142, 188
Friedman, Stanton T., 17
Gardner, Gene, 161
Geological Evidences of Noah's
Flood I, 98; II, 163
Ghosts in Caves?, 161
Girard, Robert C., 67
Habeas Corpus? (in "Symposium"), 81
Hallucinations and Illusions, 73
Hansen, Evan, 98, 163

Higher Dimensions and The Barrier II, 8

o Highgate Vampire. The. 131
Historic Breakthrough, A, 146
How the Psychic Consultant Aids
Decision-Making in the Business
World,70
Hyperresonance (in "Sym:JOsium"), 81
Keel, John A., \06
Lebelson, Harry, 61, III
Leners to the Editors, 42, 92, 138
Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, The, 176
Loch Ness "Monster's" Fiftieth
Birthday Is Quietly Unobserved. 78
Macer-Story, Eugenia. 156
McClenon. James. 12, 158
Memos & Miscellany. \08
More Clues in the Search for Ancient
Aquanauts. 61
My Fortean Vacation - A Comprehensive
Report on a UFO Sighting, 147
New-Age Energy Technology, 23
Niagara Fishfalls. 64
Now You See It ... , 59
Obituaries: Hapgood. Charles H .. 45;
Noe, Allen V., 119
Particle-Energy Theory for the
@
Kirlian Phantom-Leaf Effect
and Spontaneous Human
Combustion, A. 173
Pepo, Christopher W., 147
Persinger, M. A., 21
Physics of Short-Range Teleportation, 54
Pseudoscience of Antiufology. The. 17
Quinby, E. J 176
Relativity and the Afterlife~
Is There LIGHT After Death?, 72
Report on Four Conferences, 120
Sanderson, Ivan T., 5, 79
Sanderson, Sabina W., 82
Sassoon, George. 175
Science Is What Science Does, 35

Shaffranke, Rolf, 23
0
Science, Proof, and the Ancient
Astronaut Hypothesis, 122
Schievella, Pasqual S., 122
Shamanism, 75
Singer, Jon Douglas, 2
Sitchin, Zecharia, 150
SITUations, 38, 86. 134, 183
Sociology of Haunting Investigation,
The, 158
Solving the Riddles of Nature and
Other Hobbies, 115
Sorrell, Roderic, 70
Space Law - "Contact with Extraterrestrial
Life: Some Legal Considerations,"
a LibraI)' of Congress Report, 56
Stoned on Annie Taylor. 171
Swords, Michael D. with Edward G.
Curtis, 116
Symposium, 81
Tectonic Strain Theol)' of Luminosities
(UFO Reports), The, 21
Thank You. Senator Specter! (Lener from
NASA), 192
Thompson, Paul B., 131
Tomas, Andrew Paul, 50
Traditions of Submen in Arctic and
Subarctic 'North America (in two
parts), 5, 79
Train of UFOs, A, cover No. 62
UFO Duality: RPVs and Extraterrestrial
Spacecraft, The, III
UFO Name Game, The. 106
Ultimate Cover-Up, The. 67
. Unidentified Areas of Obfuscation, -156
Vaults of Time, 50
Warth, Robert C., cover No. 62; 120
Wetzels in Wonderland II, 16
Whelan, Dwight, 64, 171
Zafren, Daniel Hill, 56
Zarzynski, Joseph W., 78
Zhou Guoxing's Analysis of the
"Zhuantang Ape-Man", \05

Books Reviewed
Andreasson Affair, The: Phase II,
Raymond E. Fowler, 41
Catalogue of UFO Periodicals, The,
Tom Lind, 90
Death of Rocketry, The, Joel
Dickinson with Robert Cook, 139
Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified
Sounds and Related Phenomena
(A Catalog of Geophysical
Anomalies), compiled by
William Corliss, 187
o

Evidence for Bigfoot and Other

Man-Beasts, The, Janet and
Colin Bord, 186
Insights Into Prehistory,
Michael Baran, 90
Let's Hope They're Friendly,
Quentin Fogarty, 141
Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights
and Related Luminous Phenomena
compiled by William R. Corliss, 140
Living Wonders, John Michell and Robert

J. M. Rickani, 41
Monsters Among Us, Brad Steiger, 41
Mysterious America, Loren Coleman, 186
Psychic-Nexus: Psychic Phenomena in
Psychiatry and Everyday Life,
Berthold Eric Schwarz, 89
Tales of the Uncanny, selected by
eds. of Reader's Digest, 187
UFO-Dynamics: Psychiatric and Psychic
Dimensions of the UFO Syndrome,
Berthold Eric Schwarz, 89

-Science is tIae Pursuit 0/ dae Un",,"'n'"

Section of the Passa"ges of the Great Pyramid

See "The Water-Powered Pyramid'.' page 2

Volume 17
Number 1
Whole No. 6S
First Quarter

Journal of SITU
The
Society for the
Investigation of
The Unexplained"
'.'

..

1984
:.'

"

..

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265. little Silver. NJ 07739 USA Teleph~ne: (201) 842-5229
SITU (pronounced sit' - you) is a Latin word meaning "place." SITU is also an acronym referring
to THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPlAINED.
SITU exists for the purpose of collecting data on unexplaineds. promoting proper jnvestigation
of individual reports and general $ubjects, and reporting significant data to its members. The
Society studies unexplained events and "things" of a tangible nature that orthodox science, for
one reason or another, does not or will not study.,
~
You don't have to be a professional or even an amateur scientist to join SITU.

MEMBERSHIP
Membership is for the calendar year. January-December: in the United States, $12 for one year: $23 for
two years; $33 for three years. Membership in other countries is subject to surcharge, to cover higher cost of
mailing. Amount of surcharge. which varies according to region. will be quoted in response to individual request. Members receive the Society's quarterly journal Pursuit plus any special SITU publications for the year
of membership. "Back issues" (issues of Pursuit dated prior to the current publishing year) are available in
limited supply for most, but not all, quarters of past years. Send check or money ord~r for total amount with request identifying issues desired by Volume, Number and Year. Price is $3.00 per copy, postpaid within the U.S.
Please allow four to six weeks for delivery.
SITU welcomes members' participation. Articles. photographs. newspaper ~nd magazine clips. book
reviews and other contents including "letters to the editors" should be sent to SITU I~URSUIT at the above ad
dress if they are to be considered for publication in Pursuit. The Society assumes no responsibility for un
solicited material and will not return unaccepted manuscripts unless provided with an addressed return
envelope bearing sufficient return postage.
:
All mail. including changes of address, library orders, postal errors, back-issue requests, renewals. gift
memberships and donations, should be sent to SITU/PURSUIT at the post office bo~ address at the top uf this
page. Please allow six or more weeks' advance notice of change of address.
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research requests will be answered by mail, but because of the steadily increasing demands upon staff time. a
fee for research will be charged. Members requesting information should enclos~ an addressed, stamped
envelope with the inquiry so that they may be advised of the charge in advance.
The legal affairs of the Society are managed by a Board of Trustees in accordance with the laws of the
State of New Jersey. The Society is counselled by a panel of prominent scientists designated the Scientific Advisory Board (see inside back cover).
IMPORTANT NOTICES
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The Society does not hold any political. religious, corporate or social views. Opinions expressed in Pursuit concerning such matters, and any aspect of human medicine. or psychology, t,he social sciences or law-.
religion or ethics. are those of the individual member or author and not those of the Society.
The Society's membership list is restricted to mailing the journal Pursuit and special SITU publications,
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Contributions to SITU. but not membership dues. are tax deductible to the extent permitted by the U.S.
Internal Revenue Code, and in some states as their taxing authorities may permit.'
PUBLICATION
The Society's journal Pursuit is published quarterly. In each year the issues are numbered respectively
from 1 through 4 and constitute a volume, Volume 1 being for 1968 and before. Volume 2 for 1969. and so on.
Reduced-rate subscriptions to Pursuit. without membership benefits, are available to public libraries and
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:
The contents of Pursuit is fully protected by international copyright. Permission to reprint articles or portions thereof may be granted, at the discretion of SITU and the author. upon written request and statement of
proposed use. directed to SITU/PURSUIT at the post office box address printed at the top of this page.

THE QUARTERLY
JOURNAL OF THE

-t
RI

ISOCIETY FOR THE

=Sl1GAll0N OF
UNEXPlAINED

'SCIENCE IS THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'

Contents

Why Tesla?
Page

The Water-Powered Pyramid

by David A. DeWitt

Defense Against Earthquakes? or Earthquakes fQr 'Defense'?

by Hany Lebelson
9

Shortly before his death in 1973, SITU's founder, Ivan

T. Sanderson, wrote an editorial for Pursuit titled "A Fifth
Force." In it he stated, "This fifth force is certainly involved in various aspects of SSP (meaning Super-Sensory
Proclivities) and it would now seem to be the major force
operative in the true psychic field and possibly the only
one acting therein."

If The Well Runs Dry

by Sarah Fitzjarrald

II

Dinosaurs in Pre-Columbian Art

by Diane E. Wirth

John White further expanded on this so-called fifth force

in his book Futwe Sciences as having been variously labeled and described by many investigators over the centuries.

13

The Magic Spark

by Paul Thompson

17

Calico: A Progress Report

by Sabina Wanen SandelSon

21

An "Electronic Poltergeist"
by Raymond Bayless

Now, there is a steadily growing interest in the work

done by Nikola Tesla in this regard for there are those
who do believe that a greater knowledge ofhis experimentS
and discoveries in the late 1900s may give us an important clue and possibly an answer to the origin of 'supernatural' phenomena - those unexplaineds - that we investigate and report on to our readers.

23

The Insectry
by Philip S. Callahan

25

Star Wars Now!

by T. E. Bearden

29

Energy and Paranonnal Phenomena

by Raymond A. Nelli

33

Lost Cities of France: Fact or Folklore?

by John Douglas Singer

37

SITUations

40

Books Reviewed

41

Letters to the Editor

43

The Notes of Charles Fort

Deciphered by Cad J. Pabst

45

After you have read the articles in this issue of Pursuit

by Thompson, Nelli, Bearden and Callahan you, perhaps,
can better understand why Tesla's work is becoming increasingly significant.
Tesla came to this "land of opportu;nity" from
Yugoslavia. Ironically, the deliberate neglect of
Tesla's genius by a few financial magnates to protect
their personal profits then may have caused the present threatening predicament, as Bearden describes
it, from an alien, non-capitalistic nation that has
possibly investigated, developed and already used
Tesla's discoveries to our disadvantage.
R.C.W.

Pursuir Vol. 17. No. I. Whole No. 65. First Quaner 1984. Copyright 1984 by The Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained. ISSN 0033-46115. No
pan of this periodical may be reproduced without the written consent of the Society. Robert C. Warth. Publisher and Editor; Nancy Warth. Production Editor;
Martin Weigler. Consulting Editor; Charles Berlitz. Research Editor and Oceanographic Consultant.

THE WATER-POWERED PYRAMID

An Amateur Egyptologist Discovers
The Secret of Pyramid Construction
by David A. DeWitt
If it is possible to laugh from one's grave; the Pharaoh Khufu
must be hysterical after all these centuries in his undiscovered
tomb. Up to now, the most renowned historians, an:haeologists,
engineers and an:hitects have failed to definitively detennine
the method of constructing the Great Pyrainid at Giza, which
was completed before the end of the 23-year reign of Khufu,
or Cheops, as the Greeks called him. There is no lack of theories;
from the time of Herodotus until now, dozens of proposals have
been advanced but not one has been universally accepted as a
proof. It seems that "pyramid power" is actually tile mysterious
ability of that great structure to withhold the secrets of i~s construction for nearly five thousand years.
It is no minor mystery. The Great Pyramid of Khufu, one of
three at the Giza site, is among the grandest construction pro-.
jects ever undertaken by man. With respect to the human energy
ex.pended and the amount of building material used, the Khufu
pyramid was the largest single structure built until the mid-1930s
when Hoover Dam was completed. About two and a halfmillion
hand-cut stone blocks were used in the construction, some of
which weigh as much as seventy tons. These blocks were
transported over twenty miles from the quarry to the building
site, probably by barge. The area of the base of the pyramid
is thirteen acres, the height is 481 feet, and the precision of construction is almost beyond understanding.
The base was leveled with such accuracy that the southeast
comer is less than an inch lower than the northwest comer. The
casing stones were cut and fitted with precision to one-fiftieth
of an inch. So given all this data and the fact that the Great
Pyramid weighs over six and a half mil/ion tons, how was it
built?

--=--=--'-

......... .. " .. ,....

.:

"

~;

Ramps, Rockers, and Concrete

There is archaeological evidence that the smaller and less
sophisticated pyramids were constructed with the use of ramps.
Loads of small stones and. rubble were hauled up ramps,
dumped, and fashioned into a core of roughly pyramidal shape.
Later, smooth casing stones were fitted over the core, completing
a structure of geometric perfection. Egyptologists have been so
enamored of the ramp theory that they presume the three Giza
pyramids must have been built the same way, despite the many
difficulties such a theory encounters. The later pyramids were
not built of rubble but from carefully quarried stone blocks.
Tradition, from time to time enlivened by writers and filmproducers, depicts teams of slaves by the hundreds, manhandling the blocks up a ramp or series of ramps, using ropes to pull
them and cross-cut tree trunks as rollers. Yet hauling three-ton
blocks up an incline with ropes and log-rollers is both clumsy
and inefficient.
The major objection to the ramp theory is that building a large
pyramid in such a way would involve two to three times as much
work as needed: First, the ramp would have to be constructed;
only then could the pyramid be built; and finally, the ramp
material would be removed. According to some estimates, the
amount of material in the ramp would exceed that of the Khufu
Pyramid! Of course, such an objection can be oven:ome if we
accept as fact calculations that as many as 360,000 slave laborers
Pursuit 2

were involved at some time in the project. To build just the

Khufu Pyramid with a ramp would have required a standing
work force of 25,000 laborers working every day for 25 to 30
years. The support-manpower to provide food, clothing, shelter,
and construction tools and materials could easily have doubled
the manpower requirement; and, at the head of the operation
there would have had to be a separate, semi-skilled work force
to man the quarries and transport barges.
Given the huge manpower needs for ramp construction, how
did a small country like Egypt, with an estimated population
of two million, feed all those workers? Who grew the crops while
the laborers were building a ~omb for Khufu? Where did all th~
log-rollers come from? Since Egypt has no forests, what tlistant woodlands were denuded, what methods of rough-finishing
and transport were used to provide the estimated requirement
of 26 million log-rollers cut from trees? How was the rope over five million lengths - manufactured?
Considering these unanswered questions, it seems odd that
experts still insist that ramps were used. Also, they conveniently
forget that there is not one shred of historical evidence to sup-
pon the use of ramps at Giza. The oldest surviving account of
the Khufu construction comes from the Greek historian
Herodotus, who visited Egypt about 500 B.C. and received infonnation from Egyptian priests. They never mentioned ramps,
telling him instead that "machines" made from short wooden

first Quarter 1984

planks were used to raise the stones into position. Most historians
have concluded that the priests were lying to Herodotus because
the concept of machine-built pyramids seems absurd. But as we
shall soon see, there is another, more logical interpretation of
Herodotus' report.
To overcome the log-roller objection to the ramp theory,
Boston engineer John Bush has theorized that the Egyptians
fashioned "rockers" to move the stone blocks up the ramp.
Rockers are wooden devices flat on one side, rounded on the
other, which. when !lttached to the four flat sides of a block,
convert it into a cylinder which can be rolled. Rocker-shaped
wooden artifacts of the kind described by Bush have been found,
which he feels confirms his theory that the stone blocks were
rolled up the ramp quite easily. thus dispensing with most of
the manpower need. Bush has even fashioned full-sized models
of the rockers and ha~ moved two-ton concrete block up small
inclines.
No Wheels in the Old Kingdom
But the Bush theory has many problems. The most telling is
the fact that converting cubes to cylinders requires use of the
wheel. There is no evidence that the Egyptians had wheel
technology during the Old Kingdom when the Giza structures
were built. The rocker artifacts found in Egypt date from the
Middle Kingdom, when the wheel was introduced into Egypt
in the form of chariot wheels used by the invading Hyksos.
Bush's theoty also must deal with the same objection to the ramp
theory in general - the trebling of the work load. Other difficulties with the Bush theory include the amount of rope needed - in some cases ropes 3000 feet long - and the problem
of the ropes getting tangled as the huge stones were rolled up
inclines.

The article uses terms like "plastic megaliths," "molecular

glue, " "artificial stones" and other catch-phrases in an apparent
allusion to some mysterious, alchemic process developed by the
Egyptians to bond together loose rocks in cubic molds. However,
when the Davodivits theoty is analyzed, it is nothing more than
a proposition that the Egyptians invented Portland cement.
Amateur Egyptologist Tom Crowder has examined the ingredients of Davidovits' proposition and compared them to cement
(see box). His conclusion: that Davidovits "is convincing some
people he has discovered something new by disguising it through
scientific-sounding names like 'geopolymers. .,

Ponland Cement

Davidovits Fonnula

Lime (CaO)

60-67%

Limestone rubble

Silica (Si02)
Alumina (AI203)
Magnesia (MgO)

17-25%
3-8%
.5-6%

Nile River salts

Alkali Oxides
(Na20+K20)

.5-1.3%

Locally obtained salts

Sulphuric
Anhydride (SO)

1.3%

Acidic plant saps

There are many objections to a theoty that the Egyptians built

the pyramids by using concrete. First, archaeological evidence
proves beyond a doubt that stones were quarried and transported
to the Giza site; quarry tool artifacts have been found and basrelief illustrations clearly show workers cutting and transporting stones. In order for the Davidovits materials to bond
chemically, they simply cannot be stirred together. For example, the limestone first must be burned to produce calcium carbonate in a form suitable for cement. And even if the Egyptiims did invent cement in order to cast concrete, why was the
mortar used to join the casing stones a primitive plaster composed of impure gypsum? Despite the hyperbole about
"moldable rock," the Davidovits theoty is best dismissed as
wishful thinking.
Hydraulic Hypotheses

'!.

.. ~ I1)Ore reasonable explanation for the rockers is that they were

u.sed in the holds of Egyptian ships to support large, heavy objects without piercing the thin hulls. The rounded part of the
rocker would fit the bottom curve of the hull and the flat would
support the weight of the cargo. Thus the true purpose of rockers
would be to distribute cargo weight evenly in the hold of a ship
rather that to move objects on land.
A new pyramid construction theoty with neither ramps nor
rockers has been advanced by a French chemist, Joseph
Davidovits. An article by Douglas Starr in Omni magazine for
Januaty 1983 offers the following explication of the Davidovits
hypothesis: the stone blocks used to build the Great Pyramid
were not quarried and hauled; rather, they were cast on the spot.

First Quarter 1984

The latest rage in pyramid construction theories is the conjecture that the gigantic stone blocks were moved into place by
flotation. At least three pyramid enthusiasts have postulated
various hydraulic systems, and apparently their theories were
conceived independently. All three men are outside the academic
school of Egyptology and thus have encountered great resistance
to their ideas. Like most scientists, Egyptologists and archaeologists take a dim view of amateurs dabbling in their fields,
regardless of the quality of the interlopers' theories.
In the early 19608 an Ohio shopkeeper named Edward Kunkel
first proposed that the millions of massive stones used to build
the Great Pyramid were moved about with the use of hydraulics.
His lheory on the idea that water from Lake Moeris was channeled into the construction site, where an elaborate series of
passages inside the pyramid turned the project into a gigantic
ram pump. By building a connecting canal, complete with locks
and gates, the stone blocks could be floated into place on barges.
Compression of air in chambers beneath the pyramid, caused
by water flowing down descending passages, would set up
oscillations These fluid oscillations, controlled by internal
Pursuit 3

valves, moved the water upward in the structure in a series of

"squirts." Water flowing back out of the pyramid was discharged into the Nile.

stones dropped from barges and positioned by workers in the

water. Yet BaIT never adequately explains how the workers raised the water at least l3G fep.t into the reservoir. Since there is
no evidence of a natural reservoir on the Giza plateau, the Egyptians would have been forced to build one. Thus Barr is back
to the same problem the ramp theory encounters - at least a
trebling of the scope of the construction project.
"It's only a theory," Barr told the Southern California
newspaJX.r Sun-Telegram in 1977, "but it's the only logical one.
All the others are illogical. " Unfortunately for amateur Egyptologists, Barr's "logic" is not a good example of scholarship.
Of all the pyramid construction theories reviewed here, his is
the weakest, being poorly reasoned and totally without any supporting archaeological, historical or geological evidence.
The third proponent of the hydraulic hypothesis is far more
rigorously scientific. On November 14, 1980, Thomas J.
Crowder, a manpower-planning specialist for the Xerox Corporation, introduced his water power theory to a joint meeting
of the Los Angeles chapter of the Organization of EgyptianAmerican Scholars and the UCLA Egyptian Club. In presenting his hypothesis, Crowder called for a re-evaluation of the
findings and statements of Herodotus, based upon a more precise
translation of his references to the pyramids.
"My method of building the Great Pyramid exactly matches
the description that the priests gave to Herodotus," he said. "It
is an extremely practical and efficient way to build a pyramid.
Herodotus tells us quite clearly that the burial vaults of Cheaps
(Kbufu) were made into a 'sort-of island with water from the
Nile and that the stone blocks were transported across the Nile.
He also says that the water for the Nile came through both a
canal and an artificial duct. We call that canal the 'causeway'
today, but the artificial duct has not been previously identified.
The real problem comes from the word 'machine,' which
translators used to describe the mechanism which raise the stone
blocks into position."
Crowder discovered that most Egyptologists assumed the
priests were deceiving Herodotus because no one could conceive of the Egyptians building a machine out of short wooden
planks which could raise three-ton blocks. The word at. question is the Greek machana, which in the Doric dialect usually
means' 'machine. " But Crowder noticed that translator George
Rawlinson often intelpreted machana as "boat" when the word
was used in conjunction with water. Further etymological investigation proved that machana indeed had several meanings,
the first two being "machine" and "boat." Since the Nile river~
barges had been constructed out of short wooden planks which
were morti!.c:d together, the pieces of the puzzle began to fit.
"With water definitely at the building site," concluded
Crowder, "Herodotus actually said that the priests told him boats
or barges were used to raise the stones and build the pyramid.
At no point in the narrative are ramps mentioned."
After answering the question of the machana translafi'on,
Crowder attacked the next problem, which has been the downfall
of other hydraulic theories: the source of water to construct Ii
system of locks so that the barges could be lifted as the pyramid
was being built.
"It's just not practical to divert the water from the Nile or
Lake Moeris - it would have to be raised too high, .. he theorized. "The water had to originate at the construction site and tlow
down to the Nile."
Crowder's subsequent search for the source of the water led
him back in time through geology and mythology. and he eventually concluded that during the time the pyramids were built.
two Nile Rivers flowed through Egypt.

" fllivutket '1'i 'i!~ 1j

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"A hypothesis such as this is a lonely journey into the realm

of the unknown," wrote: Kunkel in the introduction to his
privately printed book, The Pharaoh's Pump. "Lonely" was
an apt adjective, for this theory was thoroughly debunked by
Egyptologists and engineers. Although his generalized concept
of an hydraulic theory was prophetic, as we shall see, his system
simply would not function. First, his idea that the water to run
the system was channeled from Lake Moeris (now Birket
Quarun), is not practical. That lake is 37 miles southwest of
I Giza site and lies 148 feet below sea level. Any water
I
to Giza would have to be raised 328 vertical feet.
have been more practical to use water from the neaIby
and raise it only 130 feet. Second, despite the fact ~e built
model of the ram pump which worked in tests, Kunkel
explained how the Egyptians could make a gigantic ram
operable while it was under construction, which would
necessity for moving the huge stones.
key to all the hydraulic theories is the source of the water
sUlliplic=<i to the pyramid. Another theorist, California insurance'
James BaIT, has proposed In his unpublished book, The
FI,,,,t.'na Stones, that the Egyptians diverted vast quantities of
the Nile into a reservoir large enough to contain the
The pyramid was then built under water, with the

First Quarter 1984

..

wt- CrOld'tf ~
~~~~

"While no water may be present today in the limestone

beneath the Giza plateau, the tunnels carved by the earlier
periods of high flooding probably still exist," Crowder
speculates. "And these tunnels carried water during the Nile
floods of Khufu's time when the climate was wetter. I concluded that the source of water needed to make the building method
described by Herodotus completely viable was an underground
river somewhere in the limestone strata beneath the Great
Pyramid. I also concluded that this river, or at least the tunnel
carved by the flow, still exists and that it is the mythological
underground Nile mentioned in the Old Kingdom religious texts.
found in the 'books of the dead.' "
Crowder believes that the underground river originated in the
Sudan, paralleled the course of the Nile, and is closely connected
with Old Kingdom burial rituals. Because tunneling for water
was so common in such desert regions, even as far back as
prehistory, he theorizes that while searching for an underground
location for tombs, Egyptian priests discovered the underground
river and diverted its flow upward to the pyramid building-site
by constructing a dam across the channel. During the flood
season, the flow created head pressure powerful enough to form
a hydraulic system as the pyramid was constructed. And
Crowder's theory answers the question of how the pyramid foundation was leveled so accurately, since water seeks its own level.
With water at the site, retaining walls about 40 feet high were
built to contain the water as construction began, and the excess
water spilled over the east wall into a canal which ran down
to the Nile. This is the "causeway," where locks were built
~ that the barges loaded with stone blocks could be floated up
to'the construction site. Crowder explains how the pyramid was
actually built (see accompanying illustrations):
. . The pyramid itself was built to contain the water within
its walls as its height rose above the retaining wall reservoir. This was accomplished by routing the water from
the tunnel in the plateau through the internal passages of
the pyramid to the top of the structure as it was increased
in height. A shallow reservoir used by the barges to float
the stones into position was maintained on top of the
pyramid structure. The method and sequence of laying the
stones pushed this reservoir even higher during the
building process.

First Quarter 1984

To raise the barges from the retaining wall reservoir surrounding the pyramid up to the shallow reservoir on top
of the pyramid where the work was being done, the Egyptians built canal sections with lock doors into and up the
north face of the pyramid as they went. Four canal sections were needed to reach the planned height of the
pyramid, and each successive canal section was made
smaller. As the pyramid was completed to the top of a
canal section, the passage supplying it with water was
blocked off and the water was routed to the next higher
section. The overflow from the highest canal section would
fill those below and eventually the causeway, allowing
continuous operation of the system.
The canal sections were built with locks of wooden
planks and drains to allow the filling and emptying of the
.canal sections so the barges could be floated to the top
of the pyramid. After the pyramidion was placed on top
of the pyramid, the Egyptians removed the four canal locks
and filled in the spaces. Then they dismantled the dam
on the underground river so that it would never again enter
the pyramid.
The River of the Dead
The western desert of Egypt was formed of limestone beneath
a shallow sea in the distant past and then, through geologic activity, was thrust up to become dry land. For millions of years
this great limestone mass was folded and eroded by geologic
activity and the rains which feU across northern Africa. These
processes formed the Nile Valley, and the Nile River still carries the runoff from rains which fall in northeast Africa. During its geologic history, the Nile Valley has been subjected to
countless high flood levels caused by alternating periods of
cold/dry and warm/wet climate. The last of the warm/wet cycle which caused the highest flood levels was just ending.at the
time of Khufu. The high flood stages ofthe Nile probably caused
the limestone under the western desert to emde slowly away.
in a manner similar to the formation of the Carlsbad Caverns
beneath the Pecos River Valley in southeastern ~cw Mexico.
There are many examples of eroded limestone tornlatillDs
beneath the Earth's surface: those with sinkholes and
underground rivers are called karst fomlatillns.
Pursuit 5

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Crowder now believes that no more than 4000 men were involved at anyone time in the construction of the Khufa pyramid.
and that they completed the project in 13 to 20 years by working only during the three-month Nile flood season. This estimate
is supported by results obtained from a computer-based model
constructed by hydro-mechanical engineer Dr. Daniel
Radulescu. who performed an extensive series of analytical
evaluations of the Crowder theory. Dr. Radulescu concluded:
"The internal passages of the Great Pyramid do form a flow
system that was capable of being used to build the pyramid."
There is now hard evidence which suggests that Crowder's
underground Nile, or at least the tunnel where it ran, actually
exists. In 1977, SRI International, working under a grant from
the National Science Foundation, conducted field experiments
on the Giza Plateau with sophisticated remote-sensing devices.
The team of Lamben Dolphin. Ali Moussa and Gamal Moktar
entered the subterranean pit known as Belzoni's Chamber
beneath Chephren's (Kahfre's) Pyramid. They set up sounding
equipment and measured echo patterns in the bedrock beneath
the plateau in order to search for voids in the rock which might
indicate the missing tombs of Khafre and other phamohs. The
results of their experiments, published as Applications ofModem
Sensing Techniques to Egyptology, were quite dramatic. Two
voids were found beneath the burial pit under the Khafre
Pyramid, one at 92 feet and the other at 131 feet. The researchers suggestt:d in their repon that test drillings with a borescope
camera be done to determine if the voids were geologic in origin
or man-made. To date, however, such experiments have not
been performed.
"The two voids beneath the Khafre Pyramid are strikingly
similar to those I have proposed in my theory ... says Crowder.
"The lower void could be the underground river cavern and the
Pursuit 8

Ptlve....

upper void could ~ the tomb of Khafre. But it will take funher
testing to prove it. and I don't think the SRI proposal of drilling
into those voids is the right approach. If the underground Nile
still carries water, drilling holes into those voids could destroy
any artifacts inside them."
Tom Crowder, amateur Egyptologist who may have solved
one of history's greatest mysteries, next wants to tackle the missing tombs. "Deep within the limestone of the Giza Plateali there
is another Nile," he says. "It is called the River Through the
Underground, and somewhere along its dark and twisting course
lie the yet-undiscovered tombs of Egypt's greatest. phamohs:
Snofru, Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure."
..
Such a search would neCessitate an elabomte scientific expedition and the cooperation of the Egyptian government,. but
Crowder believes the rewards would far outweigh the expense
and difficulties. "If the discovery of the boy-king
Tutankhamen' s tomb is any indication, there can be little doubt
that those hidden tombs contain material wealth that is almost
beyond comprehension."
~ut perhaps even more imponant than riches are the
documents which may be discovered in those underground
chambers constructed by the priests to safeguard important
records. Crowder speculates that even more mysteries may be
solved by the discovery of the tombs. "The Greek statesman
Solon was told by the Egyptians that the survivors of Atlantis
gave the records of their destroyed civilization to the Egyptian
priests for safekeeping," he points out. "Yet these documents
have never been found. Are these records also hidden in the
chambers along the River of the Dead?"
To answer Crowder's question, all we must do is find that
underground Nile. Perhaps then we will have the last laugh on
Phamoh Khufu.
First Quarter 1984

Defense Against Earthquakes?

or

Earthquakes for 'Defense'?

by Bany LebelsoD
The searr:h for a Telsa Earthquake Weapon

It had the scenario of a science fiction

thriller. The year was 1898. Tl)e place,
46 East Houston Street, New York City.
A gaunt, tall, thin figure dressed in black,
attaches a tiny electromechanical
oscillator to an iron pillar which protrudes
down through the center of his loft
building to the basement below. Flipping
a switch, the dark figure settles "into a
straight-backed chair as vibrations from
the oscillator travel down the iron pillar
with escalating force. Nearby buildings
begin to shake apd windows shatter as
panic stricken citizens pour into the
streets. The man responsible for this unprecedented incident and creatOr of the
first man-made earthquake is noted scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla. The idea
of producing and setting off a controlled
earthquake of catastrophic proportions
was not foremost in the mind of the
talented inventor as he delvett into
research on very high-voltage, high frequency, electrical phenomena near the end
of. the 19th century.
What he produced was a mechanical
vibrator mechanism which could be adjuited or tuned over a wide range of frequencies, including the ultrasonic range.
What resulted from that device was a
number of remarkable experiments with
earth-shattering results, from which
evolved the concept of "telegeodynamics." This new science dealt with
the transmission of powerful impulses
through the earth to distant points to prodUce destructive effects of large
magnitude. In other words, if properly
designed, a large vibrator device could
presumably be used as an earthquake
weapon with a predetennined range of effectiveness or modified to reach any area
of the globe.
Today, echoes of those rumblings still
exist in the sanctity of experimental
laboratories in both the United States and
the Soviet Union where research is now
being conducted in a race to find an earthquake weapon based on Nikola Tesla's
original research. However, official
United States Government response to the
development of a Tesla earthquake
First Quarter 1984

weapon has been to feign disinterest. In

responding to a letter from a Battelle
Columbus Laboratories official in Columbus, Ohio, requesting that the government
get involved in earthquake weapon
research, a high official in the United
States Defense Department called the
theory "hogwash ...
The small fractional horsepower
mechanical vibrators built by Tesla in
1894 now seem like child's play and hardly more than toys compared with the
technologies which were developed in the
field of ultrasonics by many modem
counbies including in particular the USSR
after World War II. These advances constitute a great step forward in this area.
The most recent ultrasonic generating
devices are regarded as highly secret due
to their obvious military applications. It
is worth taking note however, of what was
available in tenns of u1tmsonic power output as early as 1958.
It should be noted that Tesla's experimental vibrator, with only fractional
horsepower, was successful in creating a
local earthquake. In 1958 a "super-highpower ultrasonic focusing" device was
developed by L.D. Rosenberg and M.G.
Sirotyuk at the Acoustics Institute of the
USSR Academy of Sciences. Since that
time one can suspect that the Soviet 28
hp device has been perfected to achieve
still higher intensities.
By geophysical definition "an earthquake is a sudden, transient motion or
series of motions of the ground originating
in a limited region and spreading from
there in all directions." The earth experiences periodic motions of a few inches similar to the daily tides, including very
fine tremors which are caused by the same
forces. A real earthquake, however, must
be transient; it begins, lasts for a while,
and ends. Quakes originate in a limited
region which is called the focus or
hypocenter. The majority of all earthquakes originate at points less than 50 km
deep, which is the "crust" layer of the
earth. The tenn "epicenter" is the point
on the surface of the earth directly above
the focus, where the shaking is most pro-

nounced. Energy that is released by an

earthquake travels in the fonn of shock
waves or seismic waves through the earth.
As for major causes of earthquakes, they
seem to start along fault-lines in the
earth's crust, the San Andreas fault in
California being a classic example.
Faulting itself is believed to be the result
of a sustained accumulation of shearing
stresses in the rock layers of the earth's
crust until such times as the breaking point
is reached. The stress energy in the rock,
upon rupture, is released as shock or
seismic waves resulting in fore shocks,
" main shocks, and after shocks.
It is to the area of geophysics that the
Soviets over the past 10 to 15 years have
applied ultrasonics (the use of frequencies
above the range of human hearing). The
United States, Japan, and India have also
achieved some success in this area, but
the Soviets appear to be far ahead of other
countries in this research. This is mostly
due to the fact that the Soviets are highly
organized, well-staffed and make a continuous effort toward new breakthroughs.
This inv.olves entire institutions or several
institutions working together. Their collective efforts are continuously monitored
and pbshed ahead by a so-<:aIJ.ed Problem
Council under the aegis of the Academy
of Sciences or the State Committee for
Science and Technology. Among those
entities involved in geophysical
ultrasonics are: The Institute of the
Physics of the Earth, a facility under the
supervision of the Academy of Sciences,
in Moscow, The Council on Geophysical
Methods of Research, and The Interdepartmental Geophysical Committee
(spearlleads studies on the earth's internal structure). The key personalities in ~
plied ultrasonics research appear to be:
Yu. V. Riznichenko, a Con'esponding Member of the Academy of
Sciences, who is in charge of the
program.
Yeo V. Karus, whose specialty is
the application of geoacoustical
methods to the study of the physicomechanical properties of rocks.
B. N. Ivakin, who speciRlize'!l in the
Pursuit 9

modeling of seismic waves by

ultrasonic waves.
Geophysics or "geoacoustics" is aimed at better understanding, warning
against, and prevention of, catastrophic
,earthquakes, mine collapses and similar
disasters. There is nodefmitive statement
that ultrasound is being used to precipitate
a deliberately planned localized earthquake by means of high-power ultrasonic
apparatus. However, studies published by
members of the Institute of the Physics of
the Earth since 1966 give the impression
that the deliberate triggering of an earthquake could becom~ a reality. A process
has been suggested whereby powerful
fluxes of ultrasonic waves, in either single
beams or in phased arrays of beams could
be made to impinge on a geological fault
and loose enough of their energy fracturing and pulverizing the rocks contained
in the seams of the fault to cause a
~ipremature" e8rthquake. The earthquake
would have eventually taken place
naturally, due to the usual shear stress increase along the fault, but in this case it
was speeded up by very rapidly weakening the fault by focused ultrasonic energy.
If this could be done by concentrating
ultrasonic beams over a reasonably short
period of time, it would constitute an
earthquake weapon.
During the fall of 1967, Soviet high
, .. voltage specialists from several major
research institutes in the USSR held a
restricted attendance conference on highpower electronics and similar subjects.
One of the articles obtained from the conference papers which were published ~n
Soviet technical journals was authored by
Professor A. A. Vorob'yev, president of
the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute. The professor, who was editor of the entire proceedings of the conference, presented a
paper titled "On the Problem ofInitiation
of Earthquakes by Underground Electrical
Stonn DischaIges." The theolY that
Vorob'yev proposes is that there is a kind
of compound mechanism to earthquake
initiation, in which the initial energy is
due to gradual development of shear
stresses, accompanied by cracking, and
resulting in the storage of electrical
energy. Eventually sparking occurs with
the resulting fonnation of plasma and
catastrophic energy .release through shock
waves. Vorob'yev points out that earthquakes are often "preceded by anomalous
electrical and optical phenomena in the atmosphere such as sky luminosity, often
referred:to as St. Elmo's lights." As a
result of Vorob'yev's paper, many Soviet
scientists began pondering how the electrostatic mechanism of earthquake initiaPursuit 10

BEST WISHES, FRED!

We are sorry to report that our fonner editor, Fred Wilson, who has been largely
responsible for the improved fonnat and appearance of PURSUIT for the last few years
is leaving us for a well-deserved, out-of-state retirement.
Though he has indicated he may be available for special editing tasks, we realize
that we will sorely miss his experience and sound judgement. We all wish him Godspeed
and good health.
.
Readers and authors are again reminded that all PURSUIT/SITU services and functions operate from one address:
.
SITU/PURSUIT
P.O. Box 265
Little Silver, NJ On39
Telephone: (201) 842-5229
It would help if you do not combine different requests in the same envelope, and
also, if in the lower left comer you indicate the nature of the request (manuscript,
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the correct person or department. We appreciate your cooperation and patience during
this transition period.
.
tion could be implemented technologically
by existing electrical engineering means
or even developed from scratch.
Vorob'yev himself stated: "The phenomenon of electrical discharge in the
earth's crust can be realized artificially,
with the aid of technical means."
It now appears that Soviet scientists
may have achieved that end. According
to Michael Golovin of the Defense
Systems and Technology Section of Battelle Columbus Labonttories in Columbus, Ohio, "From about mid 1975 it was
revealed by high-ranking Soviet scientists
at various international conferences that
a high power MHD (Magnetohydrodynamic) generator was about to be
tested. The location of t~e tests was on
the Pamir plateau test range of the
Schmidt Institute of the Academy of
Sciences, USSR, also known as the Institute of the Physics of the Earth, only
recently renamed." The pulse obtainable
from this device according to scientists
"surpasses by 30 times the capabilities of
an ordinaty geophysical station," whereas
before, the deepest depth scientists were
able to look into was I or 2 km; however,
with a MHD device, the earth could be
probed to depths of 30-40 km. The actual
news about the Pamir MHD generator
came out on March 13, 19n, a day or two
after a disastrous earthquake had leveled
part of the city of Bucharest, the capital
of Rumania. The news surfaced in
"Krasnaya Zvezda" newspaper, the
organ of the Soviet Defense Ministry.
Strangely enough it did not appear in
Pravda, ~vestiya and other civilian Soviet
papers or any ,known Academy of
Sciences publication. The question that
arises from all this is: What does the

:Soviet Militaty have to do with this item,

unless perhaps Utey're behind the program? Could the Bucharest earthquake
have been the result of a demonstration
of a prototype earthquake weapon? And
while we're on the subject, could the
disastrous earthquake that struck Peking
around noon-time in 1976, one year
before the Rumanian disaster, have been
the result of that same weapons testing?
,The world knows quite well that both the
Peking and Bucharest Communist regimes
are hostile to the USSR's brand of Communism. It might well be that they were
being "taught a lesson of devastating proportions. " Another piece of interesting infonnation turned up by Battelle Laboratories research scientists is that the Pamir
plateau, where the tests took place, is
equally distant from both Peking and
Bucharest.
In fact, according to a 1980 letter to Dr.
Edward Teller, the father of the H bomb,
from J.E. Backofen, an associate at that
time with the Defense Systems and
Technology Section at Battelle labs, "interest was expressed as early as 1978, in
United States building codes and regions
of earthquake susceptibility by a Soviet
exchange team of about 25 scientists who
worked at the United States Anny "cold
Regions Laboratory in New Hampshire. "
Michael Golovin of Battelle Columbus
Laboratories feels that whatever the case,
with these and similar questions for
guidance, a sched.ule of priorities should
be drawn up by the United States and a
logical research program instituted along
with.a systematic monitoring of pertinent
Soviet writings in this area.

First Quarter 1984

1/ the Well Runs Dry

by Sal'ah FibJal'l'ald
In the vast realm of the unexplained
there is probably no more mystifying
phenomenon than that of water dowsing. It
defies explanation. Is it something
psychic? Does it have something to do
with a force field? Is there perhaps
something in the dowser's body which has
an affinity to underground water streams?
And what about the instrument used why would a forked branch from a tree
work as well as a metal rod, or two metal
rods? Nobody knows - yet.
Dowsing is not as widely practiced as.
it once was for the obvious reason the shift
in population to metropolitan areas with
reliable water supply systems made it unnecessary. But in the area where we live
(Western Arkansas-Eastern Oklahoma)
dowsing is alive and well. Except here it
is more often referred to as water
witching.

It was a cold, cloudy day in January,

1946, w~en my Uncle Herman discovered
that I was a dowser. My husband, Mac,
our four-year-old son, and I were visiting
him and my Aunt Maggie, and if he
hadn't been one of my favorite people, r
wouldn't have gone out in weather like
that.
In the small Arkansas town where they
lived, Herman was considered by some
to be stubborn, cantankerous and eccentric. He was, too. But when I was a child
growing up and we used to visit his family, Herman rescued me from more than
one rowdy game of tag (or a squabble).
with the rest of the youngsters. I was the
smallest of the lot and even though I probably deserved all I was getting, Herman
stepped in and kept me from getting too
many injuries. So it was only natural that
. 1 felt a special affection for him.
'He was a dowser and Herman had
witched many wells in his time. He refused to accept recompense of any kind for
the service and worked for several years
for a water drilling crew without extra
pay.
On that cold winter day he took me outside, cut a small forked branch from a
tree, trimmed it, and showed me how to
hold it. To say that I was astonished when
the small branch dipped suddenly
downward is p.utting it mildly! Only
another dowser can appreciate the sensa-

First Quarter 1984

tion of holding in one's hands an uncontrollable force!

Herman walked me all around the house
and laughed delightedly when he told me
to pace the path directly over the stream
of water leading to his well. I would no
sooner tum the stick upright when it dipped again, and then again.
And then he did something else. He cut
a small slit in the end of the fork, inserted
a silver dime and handed it back to me.
He took a silver dollar from his pocket and
tossed it into a large patch of dry grass
and told me to go find it. I felt certain that
he was going to be a dollar poorer and
wished for just a small gleam of sunlight
to reflect the coin's whereabouts. But
again to my surprise, the stick dipped and
I picked up the coin.
We finally went into the house and I
realized that my hands were cold. I went
over to hug the wood stove and Herman
proudly announced that I was a water
witch. Mac's eyes twinkled and he
remarked that he had known for quite
some time that I was a "witch."

Six years and another child later, Mac

and I bought a farm about forty miles from
where Herman and Aunt Maggie lived.
One of the first things I did was to witch
the water well. I had some doubts about
its location, and since I have never considered myself more than an amateur, we
couldn't wait to invite them to Sunday
dinner so that Herman could check it out.
He confirmed my misgivings.
About ten feet from the well was a spot
where two underground streams intersected, the ideal place for a good producing water well. We had installed plumbing in the old farm house and we knew
for sure that we would have to conserve
every drop of water we could.
We lived on the farm eight years and
we were still not prepared for one dry
summer when the well gave out completely. We were forced to carry drinking
water from a neighbor's well, haul water
from the farm pond in ten-gallon milk
cans to 'do cleaning chores and flush the
commode, take the dirty clothes to a laundromat, and take our daily baths every
afternoon when we went for a swim in a
nearby creek.
But we took it in stride and accepted the

problems with that pioneering spirit often

found in the young and vigorous. Mac and
I had started a small business and we were.
putting every spare dollar back into it that
we could afford, so we made do with what
we had.

Our friends and relatives who lived outof-state enjoyed visiting us at the farm in
spite of the water shortage. Our way of
life was to them a matter of inconvenience
for a few days at most, and there was a
certain attraction about "roughing it" in
Arkansas.
We had two guests who remain in my
memory because of water witching. The
first was a brilliant young man who had
married one of our nieces. They had two
children and lived in Los Angeles, where
he taught school. He was Jewish and enjoyed nothing more than getting me involved in long and tedious discussions
about philosophy and religion, discussions
which got us exactly nowhere.
Once, during one of the sessions, I
remarked with some exasperation, "I bet
you don't believe in water witching!"
His response was a rather derisive incredulity that I would depart that far from
common sense. With that, we had him
promptly outside with a witching stick in
his hands. Of course, I knew where to tell
him to walk.
By that time the whole family were just
about fed-up with our head-butting
harangues; and all rushed out to get in on
the fun. It would have been difficult to
decide who among us was more surprised when the small branch started turning
downward. He couldn't believe it himself
and kept walking, trying to keep the stick
from moving.
Once he stopped, and with his brown
eyes snapping with excitement, he asked
me if I was somehow getting into his
mind. I assured him that I was not.
Everybody in the group had to try his
hand at witching but the little forked stick
responded to none of the others. Mac and .
our youngsters had already learned that
they were not dowsers.
Needless to say, during the rest of their
visit witching was "in" and philosophy
suffered, but we had a lot of fun. When
they returned to Los Angeles our niece
wrote back that he was determined to

Pursuit 11

and the driller, an honest man, drilled fifty

feet deeper at his own expense to give us
a reservoir.
The day after the drilling was finished
we went to the farm and found that the
water level had risen only to about thirty.
five
feet below the surface. I decided I
*
*
*
wasn't such a great witch after all.
At another time one of our guests' was
Six months u.ter we received a frantic
a man who has a degree in electrical
telephone call from the tenants because
engineering from Purdue University.
the water was very muddy. We told them
When we brought up the subject of dowsto tum on the faucet in the kitchen sink
ing to add a little spice to the usual swimand let the water run until it cleared up.
ming, fishing, and ttamping through the
Soft shale had caved in below the casWoods, he could not believe that in an
ing but fortunately did not damage the
enlightened age like ours there were
submerged pump.
people who believed in that "nonsense."
In time those tenants were replaced by
He JIUlintained that it was a complete
a young family who owned some horses.
fraud and that if a stick moved in one's
One evening they told one of their
hands it was because of the way it was
youngsters to tum on the water hose
held. When we got him outside to try, I
leading to the watering trough. Then they
was. not sure which of us was the more
went to a movie and forgot to tum off the.
swprised when the branch began its steady
water.
motion downward. But he kept his comThe next morning they discovered that
posure, vowing to everyone present that
they had the wettest hillside in the counit was in the way he was holding the stick.
ty but the water was still flowing and the
There remained a few questions
pump. was still running in good shape.
however. He could not explain why he
After we sold the farm in 1977 the old
could not stop the stick from dipping in
fannhouse caught fire and burned to the
his hands and the rest of the group
ground. It has been replaced by a modem
couldn't even get it to budge when they
home, and, as far as we know, the well
held it the same way. Neither could he say
is still supplying plenty of water..
why the branch responded to the same
By 1971 our son was grown, marri~
places for both of us (and two other
and had two children. He alld his wife
dowsers).
bought ten acres in the Fort Chaffee area
To this day he has not changed his
and built a new house. I was asked to
mind. The experience proved conclusive-
witch the spot for a well and they hired
ly to him that since he did not believe in
the same driller we had used for our fann.
dowsing and the stick moved in his hands
The same dowser again confirmed my
anyway, it must be a bunch of malarkey.
finding.
What it proved to me was that dowsing
Unfortunately, the marriage fell on hard
is not necessarily reserved for believers
times, a divorce ensued, and the well gave
only!
out.
Our ex-daughter-in-law kept the house
*
*
*
and acreage and has just recently married.
The first thing her new husband did was
Our small business began booming and
to have another well drilled. It was like
we were forced to move into town. The
a re-run on television. It was the same drilltwenty-mile drive to the farm was a luxing company except that the owner, the
ury Mac could no longer afford, especialoriginal dowser, had died. He was replacly after working long hours everyday at
ed by another dowser. I was invited to
our small plant.
witch another well and it was confirmed
We rented out the fann and did not exby the dowser.
pect tenants to put up with lack of water
It is his belief and mine that the blasting
so we proceeded to have a new well drilland heavy artillery practice at the nearby
ed. The drilling company was not the
fort could have caused a shift in the
same one Herman had worked for but
underground water flow. The new well
they, too, had a dowser. He was unaware
has three streams of water running into it
that the well had been witched and we
and promises plenty of water.
were pleased to see that he chose the same
pace Herman and I had found.
The first stream of water was about
*
*
*
seventy-five feet deep and the second one
My Uncle Herman and Aunt Maggie
was reached at a hundred and twenty feet.
are both gone now and I remember them
Both streams were disappointingly small
witch their whole section of town.
Our niece and her husband were killed
in a car wreck several years later and the
world was diminished by the loss of two
beautiful young people.

Pursuit 12

with great affection. Herman was definitely different from other people. Some of
his ideas were what is now known as "far
out," and knowing him gave me some interesting mental gymnastics.
He was never a church-going man but
he listened to every radio preacher on the
air waves and read his Bible every day.
Once he took a pair of scissors to a large
world map, cut out the continents and then
fitted them together. "What do you think
of that?" he asked.
I wasn't yet a teenager and it impressed me. I had never healdofWegenerand
his theory of continental drift, or plate tectonics, and I wondered if Herman might
have gotten the idea from ~ favorite
preacher. He saw that I was rather
stumped and he tapped the Bible and told
me to read the story of creation in the first
chapter of Genesis.
Herman also leaned heavily toward
Bible prophecy and talked a lot about living in the "last days." "Armageddon,"
he used to say, "is going to start in the
Middle East."
He could spot an injustice as easily as
he could witch a water well, and he minded not in the least tackling the town cour,ciI or the local school board when he
thought something was unfair to a citizen
or a school child. And there were times
when I thought that Armageddon was
about to start in his home town.
Most of his fellow citizens never knew,
or had forgotten, about the flu epidemic
of 1918. It was before my time, and after
he died one of the older members of the
family told me that when most people
were terrified even to enter a house where
there was illness, Herman and a few
others nursed the sick, and when
necessary, prepared the dead for bUiiaJ..
What I remember most about Herman
is that he was one of the few peo.ple in
my life who dared me to open my mind
to possibilities not found in text books.
Neither he nor I ever stuck a dime in
the fork of a stick and went looking for
money on the ground. While Arkansas
can boast a diamond mine near the small
town of Murfreesboro there never seemed to be much money lying ~und.
Herman's legacy was greater than money.
But sometimes I wonder what might
happen if I were to attach a diamond to
the end of a forked stick (if I had a diamond) and go to Murfreesboro? The
"mine" is about a five-acre plot of ground
which is plowed up frequently to bring the
diamonds to the surface.
It is just about right for witching.

First Quarter 1984

Dinosaurs in Pre-Columbian Art

by Diane E. Wirth
Five unrelated sites in the Americas have yielded artifacts inscribed with clear depictions of the dinosaur in tena
cotta, stone and metal. All of the objects h~ve survived the skepticism of scientists and historians during the 25 to 60
years since discovery; so far, none has been proved fraudulent.
The peculiar nature of the illustrations is fascinating, but they should not be viewed as making claim that dinosaurs
existed up to immediate pre-Columbian times. However, if these are authentic works of art, they do provide evidence
that the ancient peoples who made them had knowledg~ of the dinosaur's existence in times prior to their own.

;.,.':.:...:,.--;' ...:... :: .,'.. ,....

,. .'....

. ... : .
~

. .
Courtesy 01 Cydaae COe)'

Experts who have studied these pbotographs of the Granby Stone say that it portrays a stylized man or god wltb an ancient Cbinese
inscription on his breast, ca. 1000 B.C.I or equal interest are the animal figures drooping over the back and sides - a dinosaur and
a mammoth clearly visible in photo at right.

THE GRANBY STONE, a 14"-high, 66-pound granite

statuette, was discovered by accident in 1920. The object was
encountered at a depth of six feet by ranch hands digging
on the William M. Chalmers property near Granby, Colorado. Neither the diggers nor their boss seemed aware that
what they found might be an artifact of great antiquity and
importance. Had it not been for a stir of curiosity that
prompted other residents at the ranch to record a few details
and take photographs, we would have no knowledge of the
object or the circumstances of its discovery.
The stone has long since disappeared and, as one in-

vestigator wrote to the author in October 1982, ... the many

of us who have been trying for endless years to track it down
have so far failed to located it." Searchers have been equally frustrated in their efforts to trace the vanished negatives
from which a few prints (reproduced above) were made at
the time of discovery. If descendants of Chalmers or his.
neighbors, or any of the witnesses' children could be found
still living, they would scarcely remember any useful addenda
to a childhood experience of more than 60 years ago. Even
the site is gone, for the Chalmers ranch now lies submerged
beneath the waters of the Granby reservoir.

The classic dinosaur profde scratched on tbe blade only adds to the mystery of a leaden sword discovered In the A.rIzona desert almost
SO years ago. Still under investigation is whether it provides artifactual evidence or incunlons to America by transoc:eanlc peoples,
centuries before the time of Columbus.

First Quarter 1984

Pursuit 13

THE ARIZONA SWORD bears only one inscription - the

outline of a dinosaur occupying more than half the length
of the blade. The representation, like that of the Granby
Stone, is of a brontosaurus, a large, herbivorous and supposedly rather amiable type of dinosaur.
The sword was found in 1925 in a limekiln near Tucson,
a site where diggers unearthed a variety of unusual artifacts
in the years between 1924 and 1930. Many of the objects
were made of lead, including the sword shown above and
a cross that weighed over 60 pounds. Later excavations were
sponsored by the University of Arizona. The scientists were
ciS fortunate as their amateur predecessors in respect to the
quantity and quality of apparently ancient objects extracted
from the crusty soil. Some of the objects were adorned with

pictographs; others bore language inSCriptions. UA's Professor Frank H. Fowler translated the Latin script and said
that it matched a style prevalent from A.D. 560 to 900.
Hebrew lettering was also found, and the experts g.enerally
agreed that the creators of the objects were of Roman-Judaic
.
origin. 2
Even though the Tucson artifacts were found beneath an
undisturbed layer of caliche (crusted calcium carbonate), and
many were scrutinized early-on by some of the Southwest's
leading scholars, the problem of credibility persists. Future
investigators wiII have to explain whether - and how and
when - a hoard of relics so representative of early RomanJudaic civilization Could possibly arrive in a remote desert
of the American Southwest.

The following three sites depicting dinosaurs have fueled a whole series of no-win controversies, and much has
been written in scientific journals and books concerning them. The genuineness of the sites has not been established.
Several pieces at each site are bizarre. Their enigmatic character has led many scholars to discredit them altogether.
Other academicians, though .more tolerant, feel that additional research needs to be done before anything definitive may
be claimed.
:

.:

.:.:.".
. . . :".

.:

... : ... :
: ":.:"
".: ..

. ~. : .. ".: .. :0...

...

.".

:. .

Unmistakably, it's a brontosaurus that seems to be entering from the right to join a strange tableau. This is a graphic sampling or
some 32,000 ceramic figurines inventoried by investigators at the site or the Julsrud Collection, Acambaro, Mexico.

THE JULSRUD COLLECTION. The late Waldemar

Julsrud, a Gennan national, excavated, collected and housed
some 32,000 pieces of ceramic, stone, jade and obsidian during his residence in Acambaro, Mexico, from 1945 to 1952.
It is an extraordinary collection.
Did Julsrud uncover a lost civilization? Mexico has many
intriguing sites of great antiquity, and for each one that has
been excavated, another ten are untouched. The variety of
styles among these pieces is most remarkable. Were they
made by different peoples, or were they exhibits in an ancient museum, selected to memorialize various cultures?3
Julsrud is said to have enjoyed an excellent reputation
throughout his seven years of residence in Acambaro. His
in~rest in pre-Columbian artifacts seemed entirely scientific
and he never attempted to commercialize his find. However,
his efforts to bring professional archaeologists to the site were
unavailing. Generally it was believed to be a fantasy that he
Pursuit 14

had found authentic sculptures of dinosaurs along with

representations of the one-humped American camel of the
Ice Age, various other extinct species, and a few animals
that never existed.
Tests perfonned on pieces in this collection include
radiocarbon analysis and the newer technique called thermoluminescent dating. Because clay contains radiocarbon as
a result of vegetable matter or carbon absorbed in the process of baking, the radiocarbon method is Popular for dating
ceramics. However, such dating gives the approximate age
of the clay, which is not always a reliable indication of the
date when an object was sculpted.
The late Professor Charles Hapgood actively participated
in an investigation of the Acambaro pieces. He sent several
samples to a New Jersey laboratory in 1968 for radiocarbon
dating. The laboratory report suggested dates from as early
as 5430 B.C. to as late as 1640 B.C.
First Quarter 1984

A more precise methods of dating, by thennoluminescence,

was perfonned on several pieces in a testing laboratory at
the University of Pennsylvania. In order to date a ceramic
object by this process, one must be able to infer the rate at
which that particular object converts radiation into stored
thennoluminescence.
The laboratory technicians at first suggested dates of ca.
2500 B.C. but changed their opinion several years later, contending that "no constant relationship between natural and
artificial TL could be determined; thus they [the pieces] could
not be dated by the usual method. "4 Currently these technicians are of the opinion that the objects they tested from the
Julsrud Collection are not authentic. Many respected proponents, however, continue their quest to establish authenticity, and the debate goes on with no end in sight.

And ...

One or several lea Stones that portray the dinosaur, this ornamental rendering might well have been the "art nouveau" or its time.
"'olo Robert CIuorruux

Iftbis image on a baked-clay tablet in the Crespi CoUectlon is a genuine artifact, it offers soUd evidenee that at least one ancient human
had a good idea of what a live brontosaurus looked like.

THE CRESPI COLLECTION. In Cuenca, Ecuador, 8,100

feet above sea level, is another sizeable collection of purported artifacts - literally hundreds of them - kept under
lock and key at the Cl)urch of Maria Auxiliadora. 5 Jivaro
Indians in the area share the devotion of the priest in charge,
Fr. Carlo Crespi, and have for years brought him pieces from
caves within the jungle. The items are incredulous in nature,
ranging from gold plaques, valuable for their weight alone,
to illustrations of Egyptian and Assyrian motifs, and once
again, portrayal of a dinosaur.
There seem to be two possible explanations as to how this
collection came into being. Either the gathered, objects are
an extravagant and expensive fraud committed by unknown
persons for an unknown purpose, or the collection is in part
authentic. The latter appears to be the more reasonable'
choice. Some pieces are clearly fakes, a few having been
obviously fashioned from olive oil cans, but earlier pieces
that were brought to Fr. Crespi are examples of ,fine craftsmanship. They are in the style of Old World artifacts that
only artisans who had a thorough knowledge of Egyptian,
Assyrian, African and Chinese techniques would be able to
imitate. Moreover, linguistic specialists have identified inscriptions on some of the plaques as classically pure Egyptian, Libyan, Celli-Iberian, and Punic (the latter a fonn of
Phoenician).
First Quarter 1984

THE leA STONES provide the most numerous I;lnd varied

representations of the dinosaur in pre-Columbian art. Dr.
Javier Cabrera of Ica, Peru, is in possession of a vast collection of inscribed stones now ,nearing 20,000 in number. 6 Dr.
Cabrera is no less of an anthropologist for being a surgeon
and holding a professorship at the University of Ica as well.
He is of the opinion that these stone archives were either incised by the first civilized people on our planet or made by
a more recent people who inherited great knowledge from
their ancestors.
Like the Cuenca artifacts, the designs on these stones are
of a complex nature and quality that would baffle any attempt by modem natives to imitate. Extinct animals, for example, are drawn in precise detail, including several varieties
of dinosaurs.
The first stones brought to the Ica museum were found in
1955 by two brothers by the name of Soldi. Until 1973, the
curator of the Callao Naval Museum also brought pieces
which he procured from the Ocucaje Indians. In addition,
excavations were carried on by a fonner rector of the National University of Engineering, Santiago Calvo, and by Alejandro Pezzia, a university professor. Stones similarly incised were found deep within pre-Columbian graves.
In Peru, as in most historic sites throughout the world,
counterfeit "stones" a", produced by natives and sold to unwary tourists. The Ica Collection may possess some
fraudulent pieces, unwittingly added to the genuine artifacts
obtained in Ocucaje. However mild or harsh one's judgment
may be, it should always support the barrier that separates
"possible" from "improbable" while allowing "evidence"
to proceed toward "proof."
Pursuit 15

The uniqueness of these and thousands of other New World artifacts lies in their apparent response to Old
World cultural influences. Many scholars now support the concept of pre-Columbian transoceanic voyages from
both the East and the West. If these artifacts are authentic, they must lend further credence to the transoceanic
hypothesis.
The Gmnby, Tucson, Acambaro and Cuenca artifacts portray the brontosaurus; however, the lea Collection
includes other varieties of the dinosaur - tylosaurs, tymnnosaurs, and stegosaurs in addition to the brontosaurus.
Although bones of these creatures have been found from pole to pole, the influence of sea-floor spreading should
not be discounted; dinosaur remains found close to the present pole may have been transported there by natural
forces along with burial sites that once were in more southedy locations.
No dinosaur bones have been found in sedimentary rocks less than 70 million years old. Except for the folding,
warping and erosion of the Earth's crust, they would all be buried under approximately two miles of rock. Since
there are no remains of homo sapiens buried that deep, we may reasonably assume that skeletons of many animals
now long extinct were found nearly intact by ancient peoples who were wise enough, or advanced enoughin mind's-eye
perception, to know how the live creatures looked. Perhaps also they learned as much from the storied legends
of their past as we have learned from the records we call history.
.
REFERENCES
I. "The Chinese Connection; Evidence of Trans-Pacific Voyages in PreColumbian Times," by Diane E. Winh, Pursuit No. 57, First Quarter 1982;.
and Ancient Chinese Sojourns in the Beautiful Continent," by Cyclone
Covey, The Wake Forest Magazine, March 1972.
.

4. Letter from Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania, to author, Nov. 30, 1977.
5. Lost Outpost ofAtlantis by Richani Wingate, Everest House (1980) and
The Gold ofthe Gods by Erich von Daniken, G.P. Putnam's Sons (1973).

2. CaJaJus by Cyclone Covey, Vantage Press, New York (1975).

6. The Mysteries of the Andes by Roben Chanoux, Avon Books, div. of

3. Anicles including numerous photographs in "The Acambaro Figurines"
by Ronald Willis, The INFO Journal, Vol. D, No.2, Spring 1970; and
Mystery in AcllJ1lbaro by Charles H. Hapgood (1973).

Hearst Corp. (l9TI).

General view of a portion of Julsrud Collection. Courtesy of Charles Hapgood

Pursuit 16

First Quarter 1984

;.::.'.::::.

The Magic Spark

Human Bioelectricity and Psi

by Paul B. Thompson
Bioelectricity is the rather vague term used to describe the
ability of living organisms to generate electricity and electromagnetic fields by chemical processes associated with life
fimctions. Despite the Frankensteinian connotations of the word,
bioelectricity has for centuries been observed in nature, and indirectly led to the modem discovery and understanding of
electrophysics.
In 1774 John Walsh, F.R.S., wrote to Benjamin Franklin
to tell him of his (Walsh's) proof that the shocks of the torpedo
ray (Torpedo maloptenuus) were in fact the same electricity that
Mr. Franklin had drawn down out of the atmosphere in his
famous kite experiments. I Franklin's work had made him the
wodd's leading figure in the field of electrophysics, so Walsh
was eager to tum Franklin's attention toward his own experiments with electrical animals.
Of all living things, certain marine animals make the most
noticeable use of electricity. Some predators, such as the electric eel (gymnotus electricus) and the torpedo ray (two types
- Torpedo mannorata and Walsh's T. malopterurus) use strong
currents to stun other fish as prey. 2 Other fish, like the glass
knifefish, star-gazer, mormyrid, and certain catfish, use electric fields as navigational aids, like radar.'
How do eels and rays generate their power'! Eels can develop
currents up to 600 volts by contractions of special muscle cells
which constitute neady half of the body. The muscle cells are
amnged in three strips and each cell can produce about onetenth of a volt. Because the cells are linked in series, the aggregate force i$ usually several hundred volts. The current is
of low amperage, but the eel is able to pulse out toward its victim 400 or more shocks per second. 4 The eel's electric cells are
modified muscle laterals. They are considerably larger than the
animal's motion muscles and contain more electrolytic saline
solution. The head of the eel acts as the positive pole and the
tail serves as the negative pole. 5
The modem study of bioelectricity actually dates back to 1786
when an Italian scientist, Luigi Galvani, noticed that the muscle cells of a dissected frog's leg contracted when contact was
made with certain metal instruments on the lab table. 6 Galvani
believed the .effect was due to some special power in the muscle tissue. Later, Alessandro Volta demonstrated that the weak.
currents were produced by the contaci of metals with acidic or
saline solutions. 7 Galvani and Volta were both partly right. The
same ingredients that make up the so-called "wet battery" are
present in the form of muscle cells in vertebrate animals; the
brain controls the contraction and expansion of the muscles by
means of tiny impulses of electricity.
Until the 1930s it was not proven that human bodies could
generate real amounts of electricity biologically. Several Yale
University scientists then began to investigate the possibility that
human bodies carried bioelectric energy apart from the minute
neurological impulses long known. Dr. 8.S. Burr, professor of
anatomy, along with Dr. C.T. Lane and L.F. Nims, developed
a fine microvoltometer. With it they discovered that plants exhibited electrical fields which varied in intensity with lunar and
seasonal changes. Burr and Dr. L.J. Ravitz, also of Yale, tested
humans and found similar patterns. More than 430 people were
First Quarter 1984

tested at Yale, Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania, and 30,000 profiles of bioelectrical activity were
obtained.' The identity of bioelectricity was established and new
tools were fashioned to make use of it. Among these were two
physiological monitoring devices that today's medical practitioners would not know how to get along without: the electroencephalograph (EEG) and the electrocardiograph (EKG),
both based on bioelectric activity.
Dr. Burr was also interested in the rhythms of change to
which the bioelectric fields responded, especially in relation to
lunar phases. IO Contemporary research and claims made for
"biorhythms" seem to continue this line of thought. But what
of possible links between bioelectricity and various manifestations of psi? Parapsychologists have constructed many tests to
find out whether bioelectric energy has a relationship to psi
phenomena. Notable among these efforts were the experiments
done in the USSR by Leonid Vasiliev. (Soviet investigators have
always leaned toward a "material" theory for psi, one that is
both scientifically acceptable and Marxist.)
Vasiliev's subjects were placed in Faraday cages to screen
out the electromagnetic spectrum. II Apparently the cages did
not interfere with the operation of ESP. Later work along these
lines was done by Inyushin, Targ and Puthoff, and others.
Bioelectric EM theories have been advanced by Wheeler and
Feynman, Ruderfer, Pauli, and others. 12
Psi force penetrates a Faraday cage, but EM radiation cannot. Does this kill bioelectricity as a viable answer to psi
phenomena? Theoretically yes, but it seems to me that many
features of spontaneous psi have a strong relationship to bioelectricity, and that the best explanations for some phenomena on
the fringe of parapsychology may be bioelectric ones.
A Bioelectric Theory of Psi
A large portion of the human body consists of muscle. Muscle cells are generally larger than other cells. Muscle cells contain solutions of potassium or sodium chloride, electrolytic salts,
and proteins of either acid or alkaline composition. Such
materials can act as a tiny battery, with the proteins serving as
"poles" for the dischaige of current. Assuming a potential of
one-tenth of one volt per cell Oike the eel's), one cubic inch
of cells could produce 400,000 volts! 14 Most people would say
this was impossible; after all, how could a body stand such high
voltage? But voltage by itself does not hanD tissue; it is amperage
that causes the buildup of heat that damages and destroys. 15 It
is quite possible for a human to be "charged" with an impressive
amount of voltage, yet suffer no ill effects whatsoever.
The process of K.idian photography involves charging an object with electricity, then discharging the energy onto a photo
negative. The resulting corona image is widely believed to represent tti"e "aura" or life-force field of the object photographed.
The occult significance aside, the corona image depicts the
bioelectric field magnified by the current of the Kidian device.
When we consider psychokinesis (PK) - the force believed
able to move or influence objects at a distance without direct:
physical contact - there is immediately suggested a similarity

I'

Pursuit 17

to static electricity. Static electricity is an imbalance of electrons, either in excess or absence, on the surface of an object.
Thus a comb run brisldy through the hair will acquire additional
capabilities, such as to pick up bits of paper, disturb ping-pong
balls, even bend a stream of water coming out of a tap. As soon
as the electron-imbalance is corrected, the charge dissipates.
Many PK effects are like that. The agent, through concentration or some exertion of the subconscious, manages to influence falling dice or move a matchbox across a table. PK
testing has shown a U-shaped curve of falling-off of perfonnance
as the test progresses, but recovery at the end of the test. 16
Russian researcher Victor Adamenko has made a considerable
study of "static electrical PK." He and his wife AlIa found that
objects could be moved on a plastic cube by PK, appare~tly
by using the same techniques as the famous Madame Kulagina.
However, Mme. Kulagina's perfonnance is more refined as she
chooses her targets among a group and moves only specific
ones,17 At the 1972 Moscow Parapsychology Conference Victor and AlIa Adamenko demonstrated their findings. Some
observers objected that what they were seeing was controlled
static electricity at work, not PK. Mme. Adamenko then showed that she could transfer her ability to Dr. Stanley Krippner
by touch, then remove it so that neither could move the target
objects again. Thus it became clear that the borderline between
PK and static electricity had been crossed. II
As far back as 1959 the relationship between PK and bioelectricity had been explored by Mayne R. Coe. Dr. Coe found by
experimenting that he could move small objects (matches, pins,
etc.) with motions of his hands and static electricity. Like
Adamenko, Coe shielded his targets with clear layers of
ceUophane and noted that the action of the quasi-PK force was
only delayed, not stopped. 19 The best conditions for static electricity were identical with the most effective PK test-conditions:
cool temperature and dry, still air. 20
On a small scale, PK can act like refined static electricity.
'But what about so-called "macro-PK" or the violent periodic
disturbances of poltergeists (RSPK)? Can bioelectric fields be
held responsible for such events?
In studies of RSPK by Fodor, Carrington, and RoU descriptions have been compiled of the persons thought to be the source
of the distuIbances. They are often young people with some kind
of mental or physical distress. Persons with neurological
dysfunctions like epilepsy and chorea also figure as RSPK
sources. 21 The mental anguish of adolescence is well known to
all; conditions of chorea and epilepsy are "short circuits" in
the brain's attempt to send its electrical impulses to the rest of
the body. During puberty the stress of rapid physical growth
is coupled with the beginning of sexual maturity and awareness
thereof. Honnones are pumped into the body, and the chemicophysical changes are great. Manifestations of the poltergeist are
the occasional result of all these pressures.
A well-known fact of physics is that EM fields tend to force
objects within their influence to confonn to the lines of force
present in the field. Using the bioelectric theory, the effects of
RSPK can be seen as the result of a biologically generated EM
field asserting its force on physical objects. The process of the
selection of the objects is unknown - but is probably indicative
of where subconscious stress wants to be expressed. ("I wish
that Mother's favorite vase would smash on the floor! ")
Is there evidence that bioelectricity may be responsible for
PK or RSPK? To Coe's and Adamenko's research we may add
pertinent clues gleaned from case-reports such as this example:
*Fodor & Carrington, Haunted People; Roll, The Poilergeisi.

Pursuit 18

In 1846 a 14-year-old French girl, AngeJique Cotlin, became

widely studied because of the peculiar things that happened
around her. For weeks she exhibited strong PK, RSPK and electrical powers. Heavy furniture moved when she came near; light
objects clung to her skin; compasses rotated when placed close
to her body; her bed moved and rocked while she slept in it. 22
Mlle. Coltin was greatly distressed by these events and often
became "hysterical" (epileptic?) when they occurrec;l. The girl
was investigated by the Academie des Sciences. After awhile
the ,"power" faded away, as from a drained battery. No explanation was offered by the academicians. 23
Human magnets are known for their ability to attract and affect metallic objects, and the magnetism can last for years. 24
The lamas of Tibet and certain yogis are reputed to have talents
which allow them to perfonn PK and even levitation. Dr. Coe,
curious as to their methods, studied Kundalini yoga and after
following the prescribed regimen of fasting, ,exercise and strict
diet, claimed he could accumulate bioelectricity and discharge
it as readily as an electric eel. 25 Coe described the current as
both high in voltage and low in amperage. He theorized that
a lama or yogi who gave off sufficiently strong impulses of
negative electricity could "levitate" by repelling the Earth's
natural negative charge. Somewhat similar abilities are attributed
to the saints and "holy men" of the Middle Ages who, in their
asceticism, followed yoga-like regimens and went forth to perfonn miraculous deeds. In the more recent past, some of the
noted physical mediums may have had innate bioelectric abilities
which produced seemingly genuine seanccH:ffects. D.O. Home,
in particular, had talents which (unless they were fraudulent)
may have owed something to bioelectricity. 26
As healing is accelerated by low-voltage direct current (lOv)
applied externally, so may "psychic" healing have bioelectrical
aspects. An important exception to the bioelectric theory,
however, is ESP, specifically telepathy and precognition. The
concept of "mental radio" has been discarded by most major
researchers; repeated tests with Faraday cages have yielded
significant results where EM radiation could not have been involved. Nevertheless, the bioelectric potential of the human body
may account for much PK phenomena, and it seems likely that
such energies are directed by as-yet-unknown centers in the
brain. Future research along the lines of Adamenko and Coe
could be most valuable in establishing the true role of bioelectricity in human behavior.
Fringe Phenomena-Bioelectric Theories
Fire-walking. The strange practice of fire-walking is known
throughout the world and has been practiced by almost every
culture at some point in history. The most regular practitioners
today are the Polynesian Islanders. Their brief "walks" are
mostly for the entertainment of tourists. The short traverse of
the shallow trench filled with hot coals poses no problem for
those who move briskly and are accustomed to heat. 27 Far more
impressive are the walks done with much ceremony by Shinto
and Buddhist believers in Japan, by Hawaiian Kahunas, and by
Moslem mystics in Indi.l and Pakistan.2I These fiery ordeals
involve traverses 90 to 150 feet in length, over glowing coals,
lava or hot stones. How is it done w~thout hideous bums being
inflicted?
A common annchair opinion is that "ecstacy" felt by the
participants induces a kind of self-hypnosis that protects the
celebrants. However, hypnosis and autohypnosis, while certainly
capable of blocking-out pain sensations, can scarcely protect
the skin from being incinerated. The mental state of the fire-

First Quarter 1984

walkers is indeed important, but for a different reason.

It was discovered by Inter-Probe Laboratories of Chicago,
in 1969, that an electrostatic probe could reduce the temperature
of an object exposed to high heat. A piece of tissue-paper was
held on an electrostatic probe within the flame of a torch; the
tissue did not bum, it didn't even scorch. 19 Further tests showed that an' electrical heating coil was cooled at a point where
the probe and its ES field touched. 30 It was a major discovery ,
and as usual in the case of large breakthroughs, new questions
arose in the wake of old questions answered. Speculation began
to focus on bioelectricity and possible conjunctions with a variety
of unexplained phenomena. Not the least of these is the firewalking phenomenon; it poses an intriguing question within the
context of this study: If artificial ES fields can insulate or disrupt
a heat-source, could not a biological ES field protect' a firewalker?
During the past twenty years occasional visitors from Western
nations have bc:en allowed to participate in ceremonial firewalks. Neither reports of injuries nor complaints of pain have
come out of any of these events. *
When Prof. Edward G. Stephenson of the Imperial Naval
College in Japan took part in a Shinto fire-walk in Tokyo, his
bare feet received only a slight sprinkling of salt before he made
his walk. Prof. Stephenson stepped gently along the 9O-footlong trench of glowing embers and said he felt "no heat but
only a tingling sensation resembling light electrical currents playing around his feet. "31 Other Caucasians have reported similar
feelings while fire-walking. A Honolulu botanist, Dr. William
Brigham, walked with three Kahunas over molten lava near
Kilauea. Brigham observed all ritual aspects, but insisted on
wearing his boots on the ISO-foot walk. His boots were ruined,
but neither he nor the Kahunas were injured. 32 Theoretically,
an ES field could protect shoes as well as flesh. Although Dr.
Brigham lost his boots, other Westerners have made walks that
not only didn't bum feet but didn't bum their shoes, either. 33
My concept of fire-walking is that the practitioners, in their
fervor, self-hypnotize themselves and thus activate a brain-center
that puts a bioelectrostatic field around the body. It would be
a fascinating project to do a series of detailed voltometer (or
Kirlian-photo) readings on fire-walkers before and after a
ceremony. In some such way a possible relationship between
ES fields, bioelectricity and fire-immunity might be established.
Radiesthesia. An aspect of dowsing, radiesthesia is the art
of finding hidden things through a sensitive person, the dowser.
Dowsers claim that "vibrations" from certain things like
underground water, gold and other minerals can be detected by
passing in close proximity a divining rod or pendulum which
acts as an indicator of location.
A Dutch geologist, S.W. Tromp, studied dowsing for many
years. He gathered data on all manner of bioelectric phenomena,
the natural radiations of the Earth and atmosphere, and came
"to the conclusion that human beings could be sensitive to variations in the magnetic and bioelectric fields found in nature. 34
He also decided that the divining rod was in fact an antenna
for the reception of natural radiations, the effects transmitted
through the body's neurological circuitry, thus making the
dowser an organic radiation detector.
It is significant, if Tromp is correct, that in recent times
.A recent participant was James McClenon of the University of
Maryland's University College (Asian Division). He witnessed and
photographed a ritual ceremony and himself fire-walked al MI. Takao,
Japan, on March 13, 1983. His report of the experience appeared in Pursuit No. 61. First Quarter 1983. pp. 12-14. (A subsequent article by Dr.
McClenon. "The Sociology of Haunting Investigation." can be found in Pursuit No. 64. Fourth Quarter 1983. pp, IS8-160.)-Ed.

First Quarter 1984

dowsers have been among the most vociferous complainers about

EM pollution from radio, TV, microwave and other broadcasts
which they claim disrupt dowsing sensitivity. Nowadays many
practitioners of dowsing use metallic rods instead of the traditional forked twig or branch, metal being a superior conductor
of electricity. Yet to be understood, however, is why some
dowsers can work on maps of an area and find their targets as
unerringly as at a site of which they have no foreknowledge.
Spontaneous human combustion. This grim subject has never
received the attention it deserves. SHC is the consumption of
a human body by fire of apparently internal origin. It ridicules
reason to believe that a mass of human flesh, blood and bones
weighing 100-200 pounds could reduce itself to an almost
weightless pile of fine ashes within a few minutes, or even hours.
Yet the pages of history are replete with reports by first-on-thescene "witnesses" in the aftermath of fatalities which are
describable in no other way. Statistical studies of these reports
place a high preponderance of the victims in four categories:
I) the aged, 2) women, 3) obese, and 4) alcoholic. 35 Usually
the combustion of the body is complete; in a few cases one or
more extremities - a hand or leg - have escaped total
destruction. 36 The most peculiar detail of SHC is that notwithstanding the tremendous heat required to completely consume a body (upwards of 3000 0 F. for human bone), the surroundings of the burning are never burned, nor do structures
catch fire. 3? Highly flammable material, like paper, has been
found unscorched within a few feet of SHC victims. 3'
What kind of fire can originate within a living body that is
90% water, yet reduce it to ashes? Commercial crematoria have
to resort to grinding up large bones which are resistant to calcination. Various theories of external application of flammable or
caustic materials to SHC victims do not bear up; attempts to
duplicate SHC-like effects with cadavers have not approximated
SHC.39
In the 19th century several European scientists read papers
on SHC to meetings of their learned societies. 40 Certain older
. medical textbooks describe cases of SHC: Forensic Medicine
(1922 edition) by Dixon Mann, M.D.; Gould and Pyle's
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine (current), and others.
Novelist Eric Frank Russell, an Englishman, recorded 19 victims of SHC in 1938 alone, just by checking newspaper accounts. Oddly, the most famous case of all is a fictional one:
Charles Dickens has one of the characters in his novel Bleak
House die in this grisly manner.41 .
Under certain conditions, humans produce bodily by-products
that are flammable. Most common is hydrogen sulphide gas,
given off by the digestive tract. The muscles contain amounts
of an energy-storing (endothermic) chemical called phosphagen.
Phosphagen is made of phosphoric acid and methyl-guanidineacetic acid; the compound is flammable, even explosive. Normally it is metabolized by the muscles during exercise. If we
recall that sedentary, obese people are the most common victims of SHC, it is assumable that such types have large, unused
deposits of phosphagen in their bodies. 41 That resistance to current causes heat is a basic fact of physics; it is also the operating
principle of the incandescent light-bulb, hot plate, toaster and
electric iron. If by now the concept of human bioelectric energy
is acceptable to the reader, the following is posited as an explanation of SHC:
-the victim is elderly. inactive. overweight, and mildly
alcoholic;
-alcohol tends to linger in fatty tissues;
-when a physical crisis occurs, such as a heart attack, it triggers a discharge of bioelectrical power strong enough to ignite
Pursuit 19

the phosphagen and the alcohol-laden tissue;

-the fire is fed by the combustible compounds rather than
by air; when these are consumed, the fire dies out.
As Vincent Gaddis says, "Now you have an excellent excuse for playing golf or otherwise leading an active life.' '43
Poltergeist fires. Poltergeists most o~en manifest themselves
as disturbances of household items, queer sounds or lights, or
showers of stones. These are disquieting enough, but when unexplained fires break out allover a residence, the cause may be
an RSPK incendiary.
Sometimes such fires occur along with other RSPK
phenomena, or they may be the only manifestation of the
poltergeist syndrome. Investigators have often blamed children
for setting fires they call "suspicious in origin" but without
suspicion of arson.
Also to be considered are the possible effects of bioelectrical
energy subconsciously directed through walls of buildings; might
not the result be similar to the effects of electricai wiring that
is overloaded - i.e., heat, and combustion of surrounding
materials?
For whatever reasons, the number of poltergeist fires has been
on the rise since the 1940's.44
.

***

The bioelectric theory has intriguing possibilities for parapsychology. Already physicians are learning to accelerate the
healing process by using electricity, a technique which maybe
a late imitation of a natural process. The relationship between
PK and electricity has been disclosed and more evidence will
advance our understanding. It seems to me that bioelectricity
has been neglected by parapsychologists because it is obivously not THE answer to the hows-and-whys of psi. Yet a general
explanation for psi may not exist., and only when all aspects
are thoroughly examined will tiuth bec!lme known.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Burr. H.S . "Bioelectricity: potential gradients," Medical Physics, Vol. 2. Year
Book Publishing Co . 1950, pp. 90-94.
"Evidence for the Existence of an Electrodynamic Field in Living
Organisms," National Academy of Sciences Proceedings, Vol. 25. 1939,
pp. 284-288.
"Moon Madness." Yale JoumaJ of Biology and Medicine, Vol. 16. No.
3, 1944, pp. 249-256.
Gaddis. Vincent. Mysterious Fires and Lights. David McKay Inc., New York,
1967.
Krippner, Stanley, and Daniel Rubin, ed . The Kirlian AUnJ, Anchor Books.
Garden City, New York, 1974.
Michell. John, and Robert Rickard, Phenomena: A Book of WondelS, Pantheon Books, New York, 1977.
Moss, Thelma, The Probability of the Impossible. Plume Books, New York.
1974.
Plonsey. Robert, Bioelectric Phenomena, McGraw Hill Book Co . New York,
1969.
Randall, John L., Parapsychology and the Nature of Life. Colophon Books,
New York, 1975.
Ravitz. Leonard, "Daily Variations of Standing Potenlial Differences in Human
Subjects," Yale Joumsl of Biology and Medicine, Vol. 24. No. I, 1951.
pp. 22-25.
Suckling. E.E., Bioelectricity, American Institute of Biological Science, Boston.

1962.
Thurston, Herbert, The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism. Bums and Oates.
London. 1952.
Tromp. S.W . Physical Physics. Elsevier Publishing Co., New York, 1949.
White. Rhea. ed . Surveys inPampsychoJogy. Scarecrow PR:ss. Metuchen, N.J.
Wolman. Benjamin. ed . Handbook ofPanlpsychoJogy, Van Nostrand Reinhold
Co . New York. 1977.
REFERENCFS
I) Suckling. p. 19
2) Tromp. pp. 6-7

4) Gaddis. p. 175
5) Suckling, p. 21
6) Ibid., p. 1
7) Ibid.
8) Burr, NAS. pp. 284-288
9) Gaddis, p. 157
10) Burr, "Moon Madness," op. cit.
11) Rhine, in Wolman, p. 37
12) Chari. in Wolman. pp. 811-812
13) Gaddis, p. 178
14) Ibid.
15) Ibid.
16) Moss. pp. 119-121
17) Ibid., p. 128
18) Ibid .. pp. 128-129
19) Gaddis. p. 175
20) Ibid., p. 174
21) Ibid . p. 179
22) Ibid . p. 170
23) IbiCl.
24) Ibid., p. 171
25) Ibid . p. 176
26) Ibid., pp. 117-120
27) Michell, pp. 28-30
28) Ibid.
29) Design News, October 27, 1969
(cover stoty)
30) Ibid.
31) Gaddis. p. 143
32) Ibid.
33) Ibid., p. 144
34) Tromp, chapters n, III
35) Gaddis. p. 219
36) Ibid.
37) Michell. p. 34
38) Gaddis, p. 249. others
39) Ibid . pp. 257-259
40) Ibid., pp. 218-219
41) Ibid . p. 220, 223
42) Ibid . p. 262
43) Ibid.
44) Ibid., chapter 10

.&

Jill(

.&.

Jill(

.&

Jill(

Long-time reader and member, RAY NELKE advises

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3) Suckling. p. 21

Pursuit 20

First Quarter 1984

Calico: A Progress Report

by Sabina Wanen Sande..son

In the Second Quarter 1983 issue of Pursuit I reported on the

behavior patterns of my cat Calico, who became totally blind
at the beginning of August 1982, presumably as the result of
an apparent viral infection during the spring of 1982. I am happy to report that as of the time of writing (Spring 1984) she is
alive and well and more independent than ever.
Before reporting on herprogress and activities, I should like
to clear up a question raised by D. A. Neiburg in the letters
department of the Third Quarter 1983 issue of Pursuit. I had
noted in my original article that after the' infection ran its course,
Calico became apparently mute, never purring or mewing.
Neiburg notes that "although - strangely - no one really knows
how cats purr ... *I'm surprised that an infection could affect
two unrelated types of sound production simultaneously. " In
fact, I have always thought and am now convinced that this
muteness is psychological and not physiological. On both occasions when she has been noticeably pregnant, she has again
become 'mute' until after the kittens were born, at which she
started 'talking' again. I believe it is part of her defense system.
Since she cannot see what is on the horizon, as it were, she does
nothing to advertise her presence.
On the other hand, she has a fiendishly simple method of de8ling with dogs. I don't know whether it would work with a confirmed cat-killer (and I hope never to find out) but it works
beautifully with all the others. She simply sits there or, if really
alarmed, stands up, arching her back and puffing herself up,
but she doesn't run. Dogs are first nonplussed by this 'abnormal' behavior and gradually become completely unnerved and
retreat, looking back apprehensively from time to time.
The major question left unanswered in my previous article
was whether or not Calico can hunt successfully. The answer
is yes. Rarely I have seen her with a bird, but I suspect that
these she fmds already dead - they do occasionally fly into
things and break their necks. On the other hand, she actively
~hes for the nests of mice and voles - heaven help any
babies nestling therein - and I have seen her pounce on unwary adults. And about three weeks ago she turned up carrying
a garter snake abOut 18 inches long; it was definitely alive on
arrival but didn't stay that way very long.
Calico still has a small bowl of milk inside in the morning,
and unless I am unusually early or late in rising, I find her
waiting at the front door. I no longer give her extra cat food
(per se) with this meal; she eats from the community dish in
the 'areaway, but it is my impression that throughout the day
she tends to eat less than the other cats do, suggesting that she
is getting a fair amount of food elsewhere. (The amount of milk
she gets is certainly not enough to keep her going all day.) Ob- .
*Back in 1963 the the columnist Cassandra noted that "With immense solemnity a Gennan zoologist, Dr. Paul Leyhausen of the Max Planck Institute for
the Physiology of Behavior at Wuppenal (there's a fine address for you), has
been trying to find out what makes cats purr." (Italics mine) Cassandra went
to his cat Bulgy' 'who purrs most of the day and ha!f of the night and can purr
while his mouth is full of boiled fish" and asked him. Bulgy's answer was that
"The world and all its wonders are built for the enjoyment and happiness of
myself alone so thar I may make a joyful contented purring noise unto the Lord. "
I just thought you'd like to know.

First Quarter 1984

viously it is very difficult to be sure about this, though I can

say with certainty that she is quite casual about it when I put
food out, unlike the now year-old kittens who carry on in a
fashion reminiscent of feeding time at the zoo, leaping about
in a near frenzy on occasion and behaving as if they hadn't been
fed in a week; this even when there is still some food in the
dish and in spite of the fact that they all hunt.
Calico also proved to be an excellent mother. In April 1983,
when it became obvious that she was due to kitten at any. time ,
I began letting her in at night and provided her with a nice box
which she investigated, along with all other possible places in
which to have kittens. At about 3 a.m. on the 14th I was wakened by the cries of kitten #1. They dido't seem to be coming from
the 'right' direction, i.e. the box, but I decided to ignore this
and go back to sleep, planning to cope, if necessary, in the morning. About twenty minutes later kitten #2 arrived, and it dawned
on me that the kittens were producing stereophonic sound and
Calico was mewing an SOS. On investigation I discovered that
kitten #1 had been born under the stairs and had crawled under
the bottom step, which is only about 1 'h inches off the floor.
I extracted it with some difficulty and took it to join its sibling
in the box. It was not until the (proper) morning that I noticed
that Calico, clever puss, had cut the umbilical cords at the
placental end, leaving about six inches of cord. (I cut off the
excess when they had dried thoroughly.)
Calico didn't leave her kittens except to eat or visit the litter
pan until the 20th when she announced that she was ready to
take a short walk outside.
On the 21st Mope had two kittens, which she insisted on having in Calico's box. Calico took it all very calmly and helped
to clean the newborns. Thereafter both nursed all four kittens
indiscriminately - standard behavior with my cats.tWith Mope
on hand to help, I moved the box outside. On the 10th of May
I heard frightful yowls and dashed to the door, to find that Mope
and Calico were driving off an' opossum that had come down
into the areaway. I don't think it was after the kittens - just
the cats' food, as usual- but Mope and Calico weren't taking
any chances. Alas, Mope was found dead beside the road on
the 8th of June. On the 10th, Calico routed an opossum on her
own. I stood by just in case, though this time the kittens really
were in no danger, having retreated into the woodpile.
Calico's instinct to 'teach them to' hunt was strong but suf-'
fered from practical handicaps. She brought the kittens worms
- not normally a major item in a cat's diet though one species
of Badger practically lives on them - an~ an occasional baby
mouse or field vole. Fairly early on she led the kittens out into
a somewhat overgrown field, all the while uttering a cry that
I have heard used onlyby mother cats to their kittens and which
apparently translates as "Follow me, children." About an hour
tSeveral years ago one of the cats had stillborn kittens about six weeks after
the other cats had kittened. She promptly took to nursing the six-week-old kittens, but the episode was more than a bit trying because she insisted on treating
the kittens as if they were the age hers would have been had they surviVed.
She spent most of her time hauling the kittens back into the box, and they spent
most of their time climbing out. She didnt relent until her calendar said it was
time to allow this.

Pursuit 21

later Calico returned alone, uttering distress cries, and it occurred to me that she might have 'mislaid' the kittens. I went out
to meet her, speaking quietly to encourage her, and she immediately turned about and made severai abortive forays in a
particular direction. I called the kittens (Calico's voice has
always been very quiet) and in very short order they emerged
from the weeds almost directly ahead where, presumably, they
had decided to take a nap. Calico at once resumed her 'maternal' cry and led the kittens back to the house. I don't believe she
tried this again for several weeks, at which time the kittens could
be counted on to find their own way back. (By now they also.
knew how to get up on the house roof by climbing a ladder intended for chimney cleaning exercises; they sounded like a herd
of smallish elephants galumphing about.)
Calico's litter this year was not stillborn but none of the kittens lived more than a few minutes. Two were very tiny, and
Calico treated all three with what I can only call contempt,
though again she cut the cords at the placental end. (Little Mope,
without ever looking particularly pregnant, presented me with
four kittens, all with their umbilical cords cut neatly about one
inch fro.m the kitten, which is normal for a cat who can see what
she's doing.)
Calico still goes for walks with me on occasions of her choice.
By which I mean that if she has decided to join me on my walk,
there seems to be no way that I cari sneak out of the house and
get past or around her. It's not that she lies in wait for me. She
is, so far as I can make out, using some sort of ESP or built-in
radar. Cunningly I leave the house as quietly as possible, nip
round the back of the house and across a stand of Christmas
trees down to the lane, only to find that Calico is intercepting
me at the bend of the road or even as far down as the bridge
(see map) .. The only thing that really works is bribe!}': I feed
her a bit of cheese or some other special treat and scurry off
while she is busy eating.
.
I realize that this last is perfidious behavior on my part, but
it really is a bit of a trial to have her along. If the other cats
accompany me and decide on a separate excursion, I desert them
without compunction, knowing that they can find their way
home. I dare not do this with Calico beyond a certain
geographical point, and have therefore to spend quite a lot of
time exhorting her to get back on the path and follow me. Also,
in hot weather, she tends to pick a nice shady spot along the
road, lying down there and announcing clearly that she will wait
for me there. This means that I have to retrace my steps rather
than make a circular tour, which I don't like to do. Fortunately
for me, she doesn't care to go along eve!}' day and in fact rarely goes more than once a week, and in hot weather even less
often.
There was one rather memorable walk with all five cats. A
bit of 'histo!}" is necessary here. The two boys, Caligula (so
called because of his little white 'boots') and Gabby, about
whom more anon, often go with me at least part of the way.
Caligula almost never opens his mouth, but Gabby almost never
shuts up, carrying on a nearly non-stop 'conversation' embodying a quite remarkable variety of sounds. The lane is currently
. blocked at intervals by recently downed cedar trees, which are
extremely dense and prickly and present a fonnidable barrier
to Calico, though not, of course, to the other cats. On the occasion in question, we had not gone far beyond the bridge when
Gabby's behavior changed. He switched to an unvarying little
cry which he kept up continuously throughout our walk of about
two miles; Calico immediately fell in right behind him and
stayed there, and he led her around all the obstacles. It was quite
uncanny. Normally Calico copes with barricades and such by
Pursuit 22

l,l,..C.JJ.LTlVtaT ~
~,lL ~

STYLIZED SKETCH MAP OF THE PROPERTY. (Not to scale)

X - Interception Point
- Apparent limit of Calico's solo journeys.
... - Our usual route

a process of trial and error. (My attempts to teach her 'right'

and 'left' have not been particularly. successful; I think she is
more impressed by my tone ofvoice than by the actual words.)
She is quick to learn and in short order memorizes the various
barriers and the way around them.
Calico spends a fair amount of time in the bam, presumably
a good hunting ground, but she also does a iot of traveling on
her own. She knows the pond and bridge. areas quite well and
often leaves me when I tum off the lane toward the pond on
our return journey, making her own way home from there. Also,
I have encountered her well up the lane from the bridge, i.nvestigating the hedgerow that marks the property line. I don;t
believe she crosses the boundary, though I am not sure ofthls.
She does not, as far as I know. cross the county road unless
she is with me, and (happily) the sound of a car far down the
road sends her scurrying back down the lane or into the bam.
For reasons unknown to me, walking down the driveway from
the count!}' road to my house often brings on kittenish 'attacks'.
Calico scrunches down and waggles her behind, giving a good
imitation of a lioness about to spring. and then playfully 'attacks' my foot. She is also largely responsible for the collection of large pebbles ttiat accumulate on the back steps. She bats
them around for minutes at a time; presumably as practice for
(Continued on page 24)
First Quarter 1984

An "Electronic Poltergeist"
by Raymond aayless
In early July, 1978, I received a telephone call from a Miss
Gladys Gordon. She described telephonic and paging system
disturbances plaguing a very large industrial plant where she
occupies an excellent and respected position. She described the
history of the disturbances and the strange phenomena which
had taken place and kindly offered to call me when the next
episode occurred so that it could be witnessed.
A few days passed and at about 2:45 pm, July 21, Miss Gordon called and said that the disturbance had been very active
fot several days and at the moment was in full flower. She suggested that I immediately join her at her place of employment.
I called Scott Rogo, a colleague, and asked him to join me at
the plant; I then drove on to meet Miss Gordon.
The traffic was extremely heavy but I managed to arrive about
3:30 pm. I gave my name to the receptionist and was thoroughly
interested to hear her and another young lady spontaneously
remark that the sounds and general electronic interference had
been very intense that day.
I was told that Miss Gordon had left the building for a short
time, about ten minutes previously, and her departure interrupted
the disturbance. During this conversation Miss Gordon came
to the reception area and then led me back to her office; while
walking I heard several comments along the hallway to the effect that "Gladys" was at it again, etc.
During our first telephone conversation Miss Gordon had mentioned that when the telephonic and paging systems .became
useless due to the reception of high-pitched "electronic" sounds,
she would leave the building for short periods of time. When
she did this, she explained, the disturbing shrill sounds would
die out and normal operation of the communications systems
would resume.
I was seated in her office when she recounted the history of
the strange case in detail and told me about the plant equipment
and its accompanying intense radio-frequency output. Due to
previous difficulties with a nearby airport control tower and its
communications system, the manufacturing equipment had been
heavily shielded, but in spite of these measures a large output
of radio frequency still occurred. This output, I believe, was
responsible for my tape recorder being rendered inoperative by
the reception of high-pitched sounds.
Mr. Rogo arrived at 4: 15 pm and our discussion continued.
The electrical oddities, we were told, actually began in August,
1977. She and other members of the company soon discovered
that she was the focal point of the activity. Her office phone
and other phones that she might use would become completely
dead and silent or would emit the usual high-pitched, "electronic" sounds that completely drowned out any possibility of
communication. The buttons or stations at the telephone base
would light up apparently at random and the paging speakers
throughout the plant would give out extremely loud "electronic"
sounds. Miss Gordon remarked that on occasion her electric
typewriter and calculator were affected, a statement later verified
by the plant's general manager.
Miss Gordon said that during a day of particularly intense activity, she could "sense" the radio output, "I can feel it in my
body," she said. Other employees of the company confirmed
. having heard her make this comment immediately prior to an
outbreak of the disturbance.
First Quarter 1984

The phenomena had undergone some changes as time passed. For example, she said that the tone of the sounds "now goes
up and down." She also insisted that when "things were active," other telephones that she used became subject to the same
disturbances that plagued her office phone.
At 4:47 pm while we were talking, a paging speaker set in
the ceiling just outside Miss Gordon's office suddenly began
to emit a continuous intense, high-pitched "screech. " The racket
was echoed by other speakers up and down the hallway and undoubtedly throughout the entire plant. Any attempt to communicate via the paging system would have to be postponed as
the system, for the time-being, was rendered totally inoperative.
Quickly following this bizarre outbreak, the various illuminated buttons on the base of Miss Gordon's desk telephone
began to light up in, as far as I could tell, a random fashion.
While this fascinating activity was underway I she picked up the
telephone several times to demonstrate that it would either be
silent or produce the same type of sound as the paging speakers.
I was handed the telephone several times, also, and on each occasion it was either completely silent or swamped with a tone
like that from the hall speakers. After listening, I handed the
phone to Mr. Rogo and he verified the weird interference or
equally strange silence. At 4:49 pm the bizarre noises suddenly
ceased.
A second outbreak, seconds later, began starting with the paging speakers and, as before, the telephone prefaced its peculiar
behavior with the buttons lighting up. When the instrument was
picked up, it was once more either silent or squealing shrill tones.
At 4:53 pm the second flurry of activity ended.
For a third time, at 5:07, there was a quick (seven-second)
period of activity but it was of diminished intensity and confined to the speakers. Miss Gordon, Mr. Rogo and I left the
beleaguered building a few minutes after this outbreak.
Interestingly, a small electric clock on Miss Gordon's desk
operated quite normally during the three periods of disturbance.
I had brought a small pocket compass with me to test for the
presence of any possible electro-magnetic oddities but it yielded no peculiar behavior.
On September 19 I paid a second visit to the plant. Only one
abnormal incident occurred during my stay of about forty-five
minutes: the speakers began their usual misbehavior but the duration of the disturbances was short and the actual volume of sound
much less than that heard previously.
Miss Gordon introduced me to several of her associates and
some of them contributed relevant information. Miss Audrey
Smith volunteered the most important item when she told us
that she had been the focal point of a somewhat similar disturbance about one year previously, prior to Miss Gordon's employment. Miss Smith's telephone had been affected by the "electronic" sounds, but the paging system had not been influenced. She also remarked that after the installation of new telephone
and paging equipment the disturbances had ceased. Agreeing
with Miss Gordon, Miss Smith said that she, too, frequently
"felt" the radio output bodily.
The plant's general manager, Ceil Vance, joined us in Miss
Gordon's office and said that in his presence her electric
typewriter and calculator had misbehaved during one outburst .
He further stated that he felt the radio output bodily, an obserPursuit 23

vation all present considered important of itself besides providing

confinnation of the Gordon and Smith statements.
Leslie Butterworth, vice-president of sales, also joined our
discussion and he finnly asserted that a relationship between
Miss Gonion's presence and the disturbance, had definitely been
established.
On August 10 I visited James Tyler, vice president of a prominent company specializing in telephonic communication"
systems, and he kindly allowed me to tape his comments on "
the Gordon case. It was his finn that had installed new and revised equipment within the industrial plant and, as reports of the
strange behavior of the communications systems reached him,
he began a review of the circumstances in an attempt to resolve
the many problems that had been encountered.
He stated that the phenomena began after the original
telephone system had been revised and some additions made.
Miss Gordon's desk phone was then changed but that had no
effect. Next, the button connections on the base of her telephone
were revised but that gave no relief. Finally, the lines to the
phone were isolated and stiIl nothing changed.
As Mr. Butterworth, the sales vice-president noted: "Inasmuch as we were changing the system to a much larger one
... it might have had an effect on the disturbance. We used different relays, different circuitry, but these changes had no effect. It still happened. There are only certain basic things that
happen in telephone equipment and once you have checked these
functions, then you know that you have done everything to correct anything nonnally out of order. But it still happens."
One last incident occurred on May 17, 1979: Miss Gordon
telephoned at 2:20 pm and my wife, Maljorie, answered the
call. At first Miss Gordon's voice was clear but it soon faded
and was covered by high-pitched "electronic" sounds. My wife

could not hear because of the interference and both women hung
up. Miss Gordon called later to tell me that the phenomena had
continued and, in fact, had become even more intense. She added that her outgoing calls seem to affect other people's phones.
Miss Gordon insists that the disturbances are related to emotional states and claims that her car radio and the telephone and
television in her apartmen~ also continue to be affected.
Equipment at the plant still emits a heavy output of radio fre-'
quencies and in spite of careful shielding, a certain amount of
radiation escapes. Several people employed at the plant have
said that they can, at times, bodily feel the radio output, and
herein, I think, lies a partial explanation of the phenomena.
It seems unlikely that two individuals, at different times and
not in the presence of each other, can be "poltergeist agents."
Possible, yes, but not likely. Therefore, I suggest a "nearphysical" foundation - in this case actual radio emissions,
electro-magnetic fields or transmissions. The two young women
are, I suspect, actually serving as "detectors" and modulate
radio frequencies into a fonn that is intercepted or "picked up"
by electronic equipment, in this case telephones and speakers.
One of the case's unique attributes is the close relationship between the occurrances and nonnal "physical" activity," a
characteristic that perhaps removes it from the poltergeist
category. In that, the phenomena are so closely allied to "normal" physical effects and that the "raw material" for the
phenomena encountered is actual radio emissions, and that more
than one unrelated person can trigger the manifestations. I think
that the case can be tenned a proto-poltergeist disturbance.
Credit: THETA, published by Dr. William Roll

Calico: A Progress Report

"mousing (they are approximately mouse-sized), chasing them
down from step to step until she loses interest and goes off after
the real thing.
She remains on reasonably good tenns with the other cats
though she still doesn't like being sneaked up on. In particular,
there is a bit of sparring when we encounter one of the other
cats far afield. Both Caligula and Gabby have taken to visiting
the upper woods on their own, and Calico tends to stay on the
defensive until they have identified themselves properly, which
means touching noses very gently, at which point her expressions says clearly, "Oh, it's you" and she" settles down. She
appears not to recognize their voices though she knows mine.
In particular, if I waken her by crunching across the gravel drive,
she looks very mildly apprehensive until I speak to her. Oddly,
she is rather afraid of my landlord though he has never done
her the slightest hann. The only explanation I can come up with
is that she associates his voice with loud and potentially
dangerous machinery - tractors and such - which she avoids.
She rarely uses the 'escape hatch' nowadays and seems to have
a very clear idea of where she is and is not safe from cars on
the property as well as on the county road, not bothering to move'
ifshe knows she is on a spot where cars don't go, but clearing
off if she happens to be in the driveway.

(Continued from page 22)

She adapts quickly to changes in her environment and takes

advantage of any useful improvements - useful to her, that is.
On our return from a walk on a particularly hot day, she went
off to the left just before we reached the old bridge. I thought
at first that she had got muddled about where we were. Oh dear
no! "She had discovered that the lengths of large culvert pipe
lying near the stream were justJthe thing for a hot day. She curled
up inside the shady end of one of them. The top of the pipe
gets hot, but the bottom, lying on damp earth, stays nice and
cool, and the pipe is large enough for breezes to blow through
it. Altogether most satisfactory.
I admit that I believe Calico to be unusually intelligent. Certainly she has more brains than any of my" other cats do. Occasionally their behavior is, frankly, stupid: I have never seen
Calico do anything even remotely stupid. And in addition to
being intelligent, she is, I think, dauntless, and will survive"
anything short of catastrophe.

First Quarter 1984

Pursuit 24
,./:":"

The Insectry
by Philip S. Callaban
All rights reserved ACRES, USA April 1983

CLOUD

.0.

o
o

Plant scent rising from a crop is wann and concentrated at the crop level. It cools and
becomes more dilute as it rises into the atmosphere. Up-drafts are generated by surrounding objects such as pine trees. I studied this up-draft phenomenon by shooting
toy rockets into the air and watching the falling parachute rise up as it crossed the boundary between the cooler forest and wanned soil of the crop area. A com earwonn moth
migrating above such a crop would fly into the dilute, cool scent (molecular) upper
region and the spine sensilla of the antenna resonate to the coherent molecular scatter
IR frequencies. Since it has been demonstrated to me, utilizing Fourier transfonn spectrophotometeric techniques, that the IR coherence shifts to shorter and shorter
wavelengths (higher frequencies) as it becomes more dilute and cools, the crop scent
presents a smooth shifting signal from long wavelength IR at crop level (across a 1
mu band) to shorter IR wavelengths up high. Since the moth has short spines (sensillum)
at the tip and longer ones at the base, it is able to follow the scent directly to the crop.
In other words, the coherent frequencies scale along not only direction, but distance
from the crop. Sex scent (pheromone) and ant trails wolt by the same shifting-wavelength
mechanism. This, of course, explains why so many insects have graduatc:d (long to
short) sensilla along their antenna. The shape of the free-floating molecule and
wavelength from the environment (blue-green, near IR or whatever) detennine the
coherent (inelastic) scatter radiation from the attractant scent. God's ways are more subtle
and beautiful than we often realize. -Dr. Philip Callahan.
First Quarter 1984

The parking lot is west of the Kansas

State University footbaU stadium. In 1955
it was not a very large stadium nor was
the football team known for its prowess.
In fact, the word to follow "Kansas
State" back then was "College;" the
Manhattan, Kansas, institution did not
achieve university status until 1959.
In winter the snow would blow in
streams of rippling waves across the flat
asphalt of the parking lot and stack the
flakes like marshmallow pillows against
"the several sides of the small white insec-"
try where I worked in the spring and
summer.
During the dull gray days of winter, the
insectry was closed down; in summer, I
spent most of my nights in the ancient
white building.
The insectry was (or perhaps I should
say is, since it is still there) more of a shed
than a building. It sets on a small clearing to the south of the parking lot. Since
the snow always blew from the north, it ":
was caught and stuck to the weed-dappl~ :_;:
"surface of the ground. I suppose that waS ;,;':.:"
for the good, since the dead weeds trap- .
ped the water from the melting snows in
the spring and softened the hard-day pan
for my yearly planting of com near the insectry. I used the com to feed the insects
that I reared inside the screened-in, "stone
age" laboratory, for that is what an in- '-~'
sectry is - an open-side laboratory for
studying insects.
"Of course, in the winter, the high
screened walls were not opened. Long
board shutters suspended from above,
closed down over the sides and blocked
out the winter gray from the inside of the
shed.
In the summer the shutters were hooked up to the eaves of the roof and the room
became light and airy, though slightly
musty from old cobs of com. I worked
mostly at night (from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.),
and into eady morning, observing the
night-flying com earworm moths
[HeJiothis zea (Boddie)] that I studied for
my doctoral dissertation. During the day
I could see from the bench where I sat the
three white, fann-style, two-storied
houses that bordered the insectry lot. I
watched a spring-nesting cat bird feeding
her young in the shrubbery alongside the
first house. I never bothered the cat bird,
even though she picked open the ends of
my com ears and stole the larvae of the
com earwonn moths that I reared for my
research.
" The insectry is still there, because
unlike prevailing institutional practices,
that, in these days, lead to ripping and
tearing things apart to replace them with
Pursuit 25

,',

',"

dreary, windowless buildings, Kansas

chemical in the silk that either repelled the
State has a tradition of holding onto the
insect, like the newly discovered mosquito
repellents, or conversely, an attractant
old and cherished.
chemical" in the silk that was missing in
Not long ago I learned that they now
'the resistance varieties. Since I was bored
call the little white insectry the Painter
to tears in chemistry laboratories, I had
Building, after Professor Reginald
no intention of spending my graduate days
Painter. I was working under the direcin a chemical factory. It reminded me too
tion of Dr. Painter who was one of the
much of the insecticides that I detested.
most astute, and earliest of the great
From my Air Force days, I was well
ecologists, long before the world even
trained in electronics and had been inknew what that word meant. Dr. Painter
terested in photography from the day I
was responsible for developing varieties
photographed my first wild bird. Dr.
of wheat and com that are resistant to
Painter soon discovered that I had no
damage from insects. His work on what
plans for taking the standard chemical trail
he called breeding "host plant resistance"
saved Kansas from becoming buried in the _ to my degree, but rather a physical trail.
Knowing of my electronic and optic
insidious and deadly insecticides that are
background, he never attempted to divert
slowly killing the soil, and sometimes
me from my research goal. It was my ex.wildlife, allover our countryside.
periments with the physics of light and its
Professor Painter, who was a world
effect on the reproductive behavior of my
authority on com, spent many of his summers in central America and Mex.ico " night-flying com earworm moths that led
studying "Teosinte, the wild ancesior of
me to have a life-long distaste for what
com. He died in Mexico City while workI call "either-or" science.
ing on a Rockefeller grant after his retireModem technology is rampant with
ment from the Kansas State faculty.
simple-minded solutions based on some
Most of Dr. Painter's graduate students
single theory or belief as to how nature
were studying new varieties of com- and
works - in short, "nature works either
wheat-resistant to insect damage, but
this way or that way. " Of course, nature
when I asked to work under Dr. Painter,
does not, and as John Muir, another
early ecologist said, "Everything is conI told him I did not want to search for new
nected to everything else." Since alllivresistant varieties but rather to find out
why certain varieties were resistant to ining creatures survive bathed in a sea of
gas called the Earth's atmosphere, it
sects and others were not. In the early
should be obvious that everything on
19505 the field of entomology had become
Earth is connected to everything else.
so enamored by the success in controll-"
Victorian-Age physicists considered
ing insects with DDT, there was a trementhat all the universe was ~onnected dous pressure to work only on chemical
methods of control. Dr. Painter's elegant
planet to planet, star to star - by an
unknown and undetectable medium callwork was, and still is, pretty much iged the ether. That is probably one of the
nored. Although resistant varieties work
most astute concepts ever thought up by
ecological perfection, the methods of
mankind. It enables the mighty of physical
breeding plants resistant to insect damage
research to envision electromagnetic"
is long-term and entails hard field-work.
energy as traveling in waves like the ripThere is no instant success, as with the
ples of disturbed water: "Disturb" the
overrated poisons.
water and out go waves to "disturb"
Dr. Painter felt that if we could find out
receivers far away. With no theoretical
why certain varieties of com were resismathematics background at all, although
tant to insects, more research money
he was a competent mathematician, the
would flow toward the few researchers
great Irish physicist, John Tyndall, was
engaged in breeding insect-resistant
enabled to envision the concept of a
varieties. He was therefore delighted
vibrating ether disturbing the gases of the
when I suggested trying to find out why
atmosphere so that they oscillated and
some of the com varieties that worked and
emitted infrared light. He called the emitwere discovered through a lengthy screented energies long-wave calorescence, and
ing and breeding process (plant and select,
utilizing this ether-gas oscillator theory,
plant and select, etc.) were resistant to
invented the first infrared spectrophocom earworm damage. The night-flying
tometer to measure the frequencies of his
com earworm moth simply did not lay
"vibrating" gases in the infrared region
eggs on the com silk of such resistant
of the spectrum. That is a region of the
varieties.
spectrum at least as important as the visiProfessor Painter assumed that I would
ble, for it is the spectral region where
take a chemical view of host-plant
molecular vibrations occur at what
resistance and search for some nebulous
Pursuit 26

biologists call "room" temperatures, that

is, from about 300 to 1100 F., the range
of Earth temperatures.
Of course, John Tyndall had no
knowledge of coherence in electromagnetic radiation - that had to await the
discovery of radio waves by Hertz. It was
not Hertz, however, who discovered how
to produce coherent radiation, but another
great scientist, the Serbian-American
Nikola Tesla. I call Tyndall and Testa
"the two great T's." Tesla invented the
first resonant circuit that put radio waves
in step (called coherence). Coherence
merely means that the physical system
forces all the waves to go out together like
soldiers in step, thus:

so that they add like this:

instead of helter skelter like this:

where they sometimes add and sometimes

subtract the dips and peaks, and thus there
is no amplification and they cannot carry
very far like this:

In graduate school, I never heard of

either Tyndall or Tesla since I never took
a physics course. Even if I had, I probably
never would have heard of either of these "
giants". Although much of what we know
about electromagnetic energy is based on
their work, it has been utilized by others
with no credit given. That is always the
First Quarter 1984

fate of scientific generalists - they make

most of the original scientific discoveries
and the specialists utilize their work to
reap the honors and rewards. The proof
of this is that nearly everybody knows
about Marconi, who really did not invent
radio, but not one person in 10,000 has
ever heard of Nikola Tesla, who did.
Although John Tyndall first described
light scattering from small particles, Lord
Raleigh, who explained it mathematical-"
ly, is honored for its discovery. Had Lord
Raleigh not read Tyndall's work on scattering of light from small suspended solid
particles, he most likely would not have
set out to explain light scattering from
gaseous molecules. The 1953 edition of
the Encyclopedia Britannica states that
although John Tyndall was a great
teacher, he was not a great scientist. That
is quite a statement about one of the"
greatest geniuses of all time - so much
for the Encyclopedia Britannica!
It was in that little Kansas State insectry that I made my first "black box"
discovery. It was a "black box"
discovery literally if not figuratively. I
constructed a big, glass-fronted cage to
obselVe my moths at night. Like all the
other researchers in entomology, I painted
my cage black. After all, night time is
black - or is it? I later discovered I would
have done better had I lined the cage with
shiny aluminum like a carnival fun house.
The reason for that lay in what I still call
my "com silk experiment."
Com earwonn moths do most of their
mating and egg laying during what I call
"the hour of the wolf' (taken from the
East-European literature) about 3 a.m. It
is the time when werewolves strike. We
know now from NASA work that at that
time the sky is filled with blue and nearUV which our dark-adapted eye rods
cannot see (our cones see blue color only
during daylight).
I first noticed that although the hairy
com silk I placed in the cage supposedly
gave off a scent, the moths would almost
always lay their eggs on a hairy piece of
white cloth that I hung in the cage for the
moths to cling to during daylight when
they were asleep. The white cloth always
outperfonned the host-plant com silk.
Why?
I modified my cage by cutting round
holes in each end and covering the holes
with white cloth. I projected low intensity light on the round cloth panels at either
end of the cage and compared egg counts
on the cloth to those on prefened host
plants.
The results were astonishing - the com
plants might as well have not been in the

First Quarter 1984

cage. Over 95% of the eggs were on the

critics all assured my graduate commitlow-intensity lighted cloth, and hatched
tee (particularly critics from chemistry)
there, even though there was no com silk
that for a spine to resonate to a frequento feed on.
cy, the frequency would have to be
I put colored filters over the light and
coherent, and whoever heard of coherent
tested one color against the other. The
infrared radiation at room temperature? In
shortest wavelengths always won out.
fact at that time, 1953-1955, the laser had
Yellow was better than red, and green betjust been invented and everyone "knew"
ter than yellow, and blue or purple best
that one had to put tons of energy into a
of all. Since I have been a photographer
light system, visible or IR, to get coherent
and waten:olor painter from childhood, I
light out. The committee insisted I take
understood that the human-eye-mediated
such untenable speculations out of my
approach to colored surfaces made no
thesis, which I did as far as the spine sensense at all where night-flying moths were
silla (receiver) part was concerned; but
concerned.
with a wink from the astute Professor
I did not know much about light scatPainter, I put the molecular scatter
tering in those days but I did understand
(transmitter) portion back in the discusthe physical explanation" for the blue sky ,
sion of my thesis. (I published dult part
which states that when light passes
of my dissertation two years later, in
1957.)
through the molecular particies of the atmosphere, wavelengths are scattered by
It was to be 1965 before I could get a
the small molecules in all directions, and
journal to publish my antenna paper,
some come out at longer wavelengths than
which in essence stated that "the antenthe wavelengths of the original colored
na really was an antenna and resonated to
light. When a light wave smacks into a
infrared coherent frequencies." I was not
small-diameter wall, so to speak, it
allowed to use the tenn coherent, for my
bounces off depending on the shape of the
critics still insisted that room-temperature
microscopic wall, and usually "shudIR could not possibly be coherent. In
ders" at a different vibration frequency
order to get around that typical tunnelthan it did when approaching the
vision way of thinking, I coined the word
molecular wall. Snap an elastic band
"MASERLIKE," knowing anyone with
against a solid wall and note the
even a shred of intellectual honesty would
phenomenon. That scattered light waves
understand that any radiation that was
might change frequency should be obmaserlike must be coherent.
vious, but was not until John Tyndall exIn a second" paper published from my
plained it.
thesis, I pointed out that the last two abI decided that although what was godominal segments of the female were
ing into the system might be blue, what
responsible for signaling to the male, and
was scattered off of those little cloth hairs,
that she probably released a scent. I furor perhaps scattered from" com-scent
ther described the entire reproductive
molecules floating close to or stuck onto
behavior of that moth. I utilized counts
the cloth hairs, must be longer
of spenn sacks (spennatophores) to deterwavelengths (IR) than the incoming blue
mine the number of times a female moth"
wavelengths. Only longer wavelengths
had mated. That paper was the first detailwould match the length of the antenna
ed reproductive work on a member of the
sensilla (spines) which measure in the
family of moths called Noctuidae (owlet
micrometer (IR) wavelengths. Even if the
moths). The Noctuidae family contains
longer wavelengths were scattered from
many economically damaging species
the scent and not from the cloth hair, the
besides the com earwonn moth, such as
results would be the same since I had com
annyworm and cutwonn moths. It is the
silk in the box. Scatter from the com-silk
most destructive, agriculturally speaking,
mOlecules would always be greatest
of insect groups. In later years, almost all
closest to the higher-intensity blue light.
the work being done on moth reproducI had put a water-filled, glass flask betive behavior was based on that one paper
tween the white light bulb and the colored
from my dissertation -" although it is
filters to block out any direct infrared
seldom or never quoted these days.
radiations given off by the blackbody heat
After I left Kansas and went to Louifrom the light bulb.
siana State University to join the EnSince the moths could find the blue-" " tomology Department, I set up experlighted cloth surface even with their eyes
iments based on the assumption that if the
painted out, I knew that it must be the senmechanism of attraction was IR-scatter
silla (antenna spines) that picked up the
radiation from scent molecules, whether
frequencies. Wh~ I wrote that in my
plant or sex scents, then the molecular
diesis, I was in immediate trouble. My
wavelengths would be amplified, not by

Pursuit 27

painting cages black, but by lining each

cage with highly reflective aluminum.
After all, that is what laser scientists do.
They put highly reflective mirrors at each
end of the resonant cavity tube that contains the gas to be lased. The wavelength
energy bounces back and forth between
the shining mirrors and shoots out the end
through a little hole in one mirror.
I lined one of my little moth-behavior
cages with aluminum and a second with
black construction paper. By counting
spennatophores in each female moth, I
could determine how many times each
female had mated. By 1956, I was certain that Noctuid moths, by means of the
pumping movements at the tip of the abdomen, release a chemical sex-scent
(pheromone). Since the pheromone would
float around in the little cage it would be
radiated from aU sides by the low-intensity
light reflected from the aluminum sides
of the cage. Therefore the blue (most attractive color) hitting the sex-scent in the
aluminum cage would stimulate a strong
IR signal, but inside the black, paper-lined
cage most of the visible energy would be
absorbed by the black sides, and thus,
would not scatter to longer IR frequencies
from off the oscillating pheromone.
That, of course, is exactly what happen-

ed. In the black-lined box I got only 30%

mating and in the aluminum box over
100% mating,; some of the females even
mated 2, 3 and up to 6 times in the
aluminum box. I knew from that one experiment that my maserlike (coherent) IRantenna theoty had to be correct. It was
1965 before, while working with my colleague Dr. Wendell Snow, we published
my aluminum-box experiment. Dr. Snow
ran the critical experiinents in large
chambers with controlled tempemture and
humidity so that all the atmospheric
parameters would be constant.
Since those days, I have run hundreds
of experiments where I take an insect attraCtant (collectively called semiochemicals by entomologists), and by ~e use of
shining aluminum, reflected visible, nearUV, or near-IR mdiation on the attracting
chemical, have raised the behavioral
response of the insect, whether feeding
(plant scent), mating (pheromone), or
following chemical trails (ants), hundreds
to thousands of times above what it w"uld
be under lower scatter-light intensities. I
know now that these far-infrared,
coherent, scatter frequencies are a control
mechanism in all of the life processes; for
I have gotten them even from human
breath. Simple logic teaches that life could

Our Western "Nessie"

Floating lazily on a rubber raft, near to dozing beneath the bright sun, a cold one in hand,
the other dangling in the crystal clear water of
Lake Tahoe. Not a care in the world.
But, wait - what was that dark shape moving just beneath the surface'! Eyes suddenly
focus, straining to see below. Was something
there or not? The hand jerks out of the water,
clutching the puny safety of the raft.
Fear of "what's down there" is part of
Tahoe's folklore. Story tellers claimed it was
connected underground to neamy Donner Lake.
Others said it drained into the mines of Virginia
City 20 miles east. Some even claimed it drained far beneath the earth into the Pacific Ocean.
Less than a decade ago, scientists using sonar
proved that beneath its 22 by 12 mile shimmering surface, there is indeed a bottom to Lake
Tahoe. But, at an average of 989 feet and
reaching 1,645 feet at one point, it is one of
the deepest lakes in North America.
Many of Tahoe's legends are told for the fun
of it. But one of them causes the smile to
weaken a little, for it tells "fTahoe being home
to a huge underwater predator with a taste for
human flesh.
The Washoe Indians, Tahoe residents for
thousands of years, wamed early settlers not to
venture too far from shore because of the
monster waiting to prey on the unwary.
The settlers soon began to add their own tales
of strange huge forms swimming in the lake.
The stories gained credibility because so few
of Tahoe's drowning victims were ever found.

not be controlled by static (incoherent

radiation) from oscillating molecules any
: more than we would use static to control
our communication satellites. The living
molecular communication system must of
necessity operate by a mechanism of
coherent molecular-frequency emission.
It has been a long, long trail from the
insectty to my present ability not only to
stimulate scatter coherence from insect attractant chemicals, but also to actually
tune to the narrow-band, infrared
(maserlike) emissions with the first commercial IR Fourier transform spectrophotometer ever built. It was bought
and modified by me to detect the coherent
IR frequencies at a time (1969) when most
researchers had never even heard of such
a system.
Since most of my papers today mainly
appear in physical journals, many believe
me to be a physicist; however, since I
never had a college course in physics, I
still consider myself an entomologist or,
perhaps better yet, a naturalist who first
became enamored with the small brown
moth that flew during the "hoUr of the
wolf," that I studied years ago in the litde white insectry by ~e football-field
parking lot at Kansas State College.

Creatures of Tahoe

Scientists say that is because the lake's

unusually cold water retards decomposition,
which causes a body to float in most lakes.
Pat Murphy of the Tahoe City Public Utility
District says two fishermen claimed in the 1950s
to have spotted the body of a young woman
floating beneath the surface, perfectly preserved and clothed in a Victorian ball gown dating
to the 1880s.
. .
But the tales come not just from the oldtimers.
Even in the 198Os, the lake by now one ofthe
most popular vacation spots in the West, the
Coast Guard still gets an occa.sional monster
report.
In June 1982, waterskier Kris Beebe saw
something black, slimy and huge swim past as
he waited for his partner to tum the boat around.
Jerry Jones saw it, too, from the boat. "We
didn't just think we saw it, we saw it," said
Beebe. "It wasn't threatening us, it was just
gliding right past. We checked into everything,
diver, subs, everything and we're convinced it
was some very, very large creature."
Their story gained credibility because both
were police officers and they were not drinking that day.
It was not the first such report. Former Tahoe
Coast G~rd chief Don Anderson said there
have been ma~y sightings of "creatures," but
he believes most were wind-created pattems that
seem to glide across the lake.
Murphy said he has seen that phenomenon.
"Sometimes when you have a wind on the lake
and the water is real calm it almost looks like

a big snake going through the water," he said.

But Beebe and Jones were only"25 feet from
whatever they saw.
Such reports date back to Indian legends of
a large animal with a lizard-like head and long
neck reminiscent of the Loch Ness monster in
Scotland. One such report is related in "Tales
of Tahoe' 'by David Stollery. The legends say
the creature made lunch out of those who went
too far onto Tahoe.
But, as with Nessie, scientists have been
unable to find anything that would explain it.
Strangely, similar tales were told by the tribes
living around Walker and Pyramid Lakes, remnants of an ancient sea that once covered much
of Nevada.
"The University of California had a'submarine down there in 1979 and they didn't see
anything," said Coast Guard boatswain's mate
James Cavin.
"Of course, I imagine a monster would stay
away from a sub. You never know what's down
there. It's really a deep lake and there are
crevices at the bottom that could hide things. "
Bill Bechdolt of Tahoe City, a lifelong resident of the Tahoe Basin, says maybe what
Beebe and Jones saw was "Herther," the big
fish in Tahoe ... 8echdolt said several fIShermen
have claimed over the years to have hooked a
fish so large it broke the strongest lines or ripped rod and reel from the mounts on the stem
of the boat. "The one guy who claims he saw
it claims it's about 16 feet long," said 8echdoit.
(ContinUed on page 42)
".

Pursuit 28

rll'St Quarter 1984

STAR WARS NOWI

The Bohm-Aharonov Effect, Scalar Interferometry,
and
Soviet Weaponization
T. E. Beal'den
The Search for a Tesla Earthquake Weapon
All rights reserved. T. E. Bearden 1984

. EDITOR'S NOTE; We have published Several papers by Lt. Col. Thomas E.

Beanlen (US Al7JJY, Ret.) in previous issues ofPURSUIT. We realize that some
of Mr. Bean/en's material was diflicult to comprehend, but we felt it was involved with the unexplained phenomena we an: investigating and was, therefore,
wonby for inclusion in this journal.
Mr. BeaIden utgently requests, now, that we can:fully review his latest paper
with an open mind since it "contains the basic mechanisms used in the Soviet
scalar electromagnetic (res/a) weapons. .. And, he states funher, "the situation
is grave."

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to thank Drs. Harold Faretto and Jack Dea for invaluable assistance, and basic infonnation on building a precision scalar wave detector. In addition, I am most grateful to
Mr. Hal Crawford for his marvelous special drawings and his
kind pennission to include them. And lowe a very special debt
to Mr. John Bedini for his fundamental laboratory and bench
work and his willingness to share his results and insights with
me.
Also, I wish to express my deepest appreciation to Mr. Josh
Reynolds, Essentia Research, and the Association of
Distinguished American Scientists for financial support on this
project.
Without the invaluable assistance of these persons, this effort would not have been possible.
Tom Bearden
ABSTRACT
The Bohm-Aharonov Effect shows that, even in the absence
of electrical and magnetic fields, the potentials cause real effects to occur in the field-free regions. Using this principle,
beams of pure potential without vector force fields (without E
and H fields) may be deliberately produced and intersected at
a distance to cause effects in the interference zone, in contradiction to classical mechanics.
Essentially, energy may be produced directly at the distant,
interference site or extracted from it, without energy transmission through space.
Implications for weapons built on these concepts are given,
and several types of such scalar electromagnetics weapons are
discussed. The use of the "cold explosion" is detailed and
evidence of its extensive testing is given. The basic mechanism
for Soviet weather control over North America is briefly
presented and a more extensive reference given.
First Quarter 1984

Evidence of massive Soviet weaponization of these effects

for nearly three decades and of Soviet scalar electromagnetics
weapons testing on a global scale exists in the open literature.
Selected examples and related information are itemized.
The Bohm-Aharonov Effect
Originally electrical and magnetics experiments and ideas
developed primarily in terms of statics, and great difficulty was
experienced in combining the two and passing to a more dynamic
theoretical representation. With the advent of Maxwell's equations, electricity and magnetism were combined into an elegant
electromagnetic theory, and these equations then served as the
basis for the development of modem theory. Gradually potentials were relegated to a position of inferior importance, and they
even came to be regarded as purely mathematical conveniences
by most scientists.
However, with the advent of Aharonov and Bohm's seminal
paper [a], it became crystal clear that potentials are in fact real
entities, and they can directly affect and control charged particle systems even in a region where all the fields and hence the
forces of the particles have vanished. While this, of course, is
completely counter to the conclusions of classical mechanics
[a, p. 485], it follows inescapably from quantum mechanics.
With Chamber's direct experimental proof of the predicted
Bohm-Aharonov effects in 1960 [b], this new viewpoint was
firmly established for quantum mechanics and quantum electromagnetics in general. Indeed, the Bohm-Aharonov effect even
affects gauge theories, requiring the concept of nonintegrable
phase factors and global fonnulation of gauge fields. [c] Thus
increasingly it is the potentials that are primary physical entities,
and the fields are of secondary, derived importance in modem
quantum electrodynamics.
Yet the full weapon implications of the Bohm-Aharonov
discovery have not yet penetrated the minds and consciousnesses
of Western physicists, electrical engineers, and weapons
analysts. Indeed, an extended treatment of such implications has
not even been addressed in the literature. This may be somewhat
understandable, since it required over 30 years for physicists
to realize the primary actuality of the potentials in the first place
[d, p. 15-12] .. Nobelist Feynman states it succinctly: "It is interesting that something like this can be around for thirty years
but, because of certain prejudices of what is and is not significant, continues to be ignored." [d, p. 15-12.]
Slowly, however, the overwhelming importance of the scalar
electromagnetics indicated by Bohm and Aharonov has been
noted by this analyst, and work to investigate and apply this

Pursuit 29

"rich new region of quantum electrodynamics is now most certainly warranted. Indeed, it is imperative that an effort of the
highest priority be mounted immediately, for our very survival
is gravely threatened by scalar electromagnetics weapons already
in the hands of the Soviet Union. And at this moment we have
absolutely no defense whatsoever against them.
Scalar Electromagnetics
We first define scalar electromagnetics as the quantum
mechnical effects and influences that can be accomplished by
electrical and magnetic scalar potentials, even in the absence
of eleCtric and magnetic fields, or - in other words - that can
occur even in otherwise zero-E (electric) and zero-B (magnetic)
force-field regions. Note that this definition includes as subsets
both the ordinary classical EM field approach and the more fundamental approach of quantum electrodynamics. In the latter
approach, one replaces the fields E and B in modem theory with
the 0 (electrostatic scalar potential) and A (magnetic vector
potential), with the view that these potentials create and E and
B fields in the first place. The Bohm-Aharonov effect shows
that the E and B fields can remain zero, and yet the potentials
can still cause physical effects.
Thus scalarelectromagnetics encompasses two cases: (I) the
normal case, in which the potentials are viewed as first creating
the fields E and B, and these force fields in tum product physical
effects on charged particle systems; and (2) the case in which
fields E and B are zero, yet potentials still exist and produce
physical effects on charged particle systems. "
Indeed, we assume total primacy of scalar potentials, after
the work of Whittaker [e), holding that all the effects of present
electrodynamics can be produced by utilization and interference of two or more scalar potentials.
Note particularly that one may deliberately create the zerofield, pure potential condition by opposing magnetic and or electrical fields so that they sum to zero. (Figure 1). That is, the
"zero fields" can be resultant vector zeros, where the combining vector components still exist. In this case one creates a
deliberate, artificial scalar potential which contains all the
energies of the separate infolded [Bohm's term] vector fields
used to make the resultant vector zero. All this infolded energy
has been transformed to stress ofspacetime, or pure potential. "
(Table 1) However, it does not have a randomized substructure
as is usual in quantum electrodynamics, but has a determined,
known substructure consisting of the constructed infolded E and
B field vectors.

Table 1.

CONSERVATION OF AN ENERGY IAEI:

IAN EXPANDED ENERGY CONSERVATION LAWI

I. CDISEBIATIOI QF CHARliE:
- ~CHAR.E'" = lASS IMel .. CHABSE !lEel
-\Ie\ + IAEII=I,
.
"
2. COISERlAnOI OF E.~IS':
- D'IAIIC ENERS' 18
- EIEI.' EtUIlALEICE DF MASS IMEI
-IEI+ IIEI = "2
I. ADDII. III AID 121:
of: /AEel + lEI + 'MEl 1& I, + IZ II 13
4. LEmll III-Ilel + IIIEI.
III + IEI+ IAEel II 13
I. umRIIIII=AEI.IEI=IAE21.IAEel=AE3'
AEI + AE2 + AEa =13

'Ic'

-10

Conceptually, a magnetic pole is such a spatiotemporal stress

potential - but usually with a randomized substructure - as
is an electrical charge. "
Now it is fundamental that only the envelope is "observable,"
and the infolded substructure has become "virtual. " But by having a deliberately designed and controlled substructure, one has
turned quantum mechanics inside out. One can now control and
engineer the probabilities themselves, and even determine which
eigenvector state of a propagating ShrOdinger wave will be produced in the collapse of the wave function. Indeed, in theory
one can control when the wave function collapses, and under
what circumstances. Einstein was correct after all; once we
discover His more subtle control mechanism, God does not actually play dice with the universe.
I strongly point out that this is a fundamental change to present quantum mechanics itself. In the axioms of quantum
mechanics, the basic virtual state background activity of'the
universe is assumed to be totally statistical. If it can be made
deterministic, then one should be able to "engineer" the presently probabilistic quantum interactions as desired. In short, one
would have directly implemented David Bohm's "hidden
variables" in a controlled, non-statistical manner.
Awesome implications follow from such capability; literally
one can directly engineer the present quantum mechanical structure of physical reality itself, since one can engineer, affect,
and control the fundamental virtual processes of nature. A potential is a "point" function, and it can be used to penetrate to
any degree of fineness desired. Simply by making and utilizing
artificial potentials with deliberate substructures, one can
engineer the virtual particle interactions that produce all the
physical forces of nature, bind the nucleus together, and control and CREATE the world of macroscopic changes we think
we inhabit.
Conceptually, a magnetic pole is such a spatiotemporal stress
potential - but usually with a randomized substructure - as
is an electrical charge.
Note also that, if one rhythmically varies all the individual
summation vectors in the substructure by the same factor, one
produces pure potential stress waves -- scalar waves - without
ever creating external electric and magnetic fields. These are
pure waves of spacetime, and they are oscil.lating curvatures of
spacetime itself. They are pure waves of compress~on and
rarefaction of the massless charge of spacetime, and are pro~
perly represented as longitudinal waves rather than transverse

Pursuit 30

First Quarter 1984

E'igure 1.

-__

~.. 0

SCALAR ii-WAVE PRODUCTION

7_E ~TUAL

aROUND
SPINNING
CHARGED PARTICLE
WILL NOT PRECESS

,.

-c:

-$

+~

---

COMPRESSIVE
STRESS

~=O--~~~-T~r-~

-;

STRESS LEVEL
ON SPACETIME

waves. Thus they are nonHertzian in nature. Among other

things, they may be used to generate mass and inertial field
directly, but that is beyond the scope of this paper.
Wireless Transmission of Energy at a Distance
To illustrate one remarkable though typical implication of this
new breakthrough area, we point out that, by changing the potentials while keeping the force-fields zero, one can directly produce energy at a distance as if it were transported through space
without losses, even though no energy transmission through
space in the normal fashion occurs as such. Indeed, it may even
be possible to utilize pure potential waves to "transport" the
energy at any velocity - not limited by the speed of light since in some cases a potential (for examle, electrostatic scalar
potential) can be regarded as having infinite velocity, simply
appearing "everywhere at once." [f]
Electrostatic scalar potential, for example, may be regarded
as a sort of "locked-in stress energy" of vacuum, as can any
other vacuum potential. Changing the potential in a region or
at a point changes the amount of "locked-in" or "infolded"
vacuum energy available or stored in that region or at that point.
Yet simply changing the potential at that point or in that region
need not involve any local expenditure of work there; the work
may be expended elsewhere, and the results realized directly
at a distant region by a change in that region's potential, according to the Bohm-Aharonov effect. In the remote region, charged
particles are imbedded in vacuum potential by their virtual particle charge flux, and in the induced potential gradients the imbedded particles move, producing electrical and magnetic forces
and fields and performing work.
This is somewhat analogous to "putting energy in here" and
"extracting it out there" without any travel or losses in between
- Nikola Tesla's old "wireless transmission of energy at a
distance without losses" idea. Note that, quantum mechanically, we may take the view that this is a very special class of
macroscopic "energy tunneling" phenomena, as illustrated in
Aharonov and Bohm's original paper [a]. Essentially energy is

put into the system at the locations where the scalar potentials
are produced, and is recovered at the distant interference zone
where .particle effects are produced (Figure 2).
Figure 2.

VECTOR
ENERGY ZONE
(ENERGY BOTTLE)

To pursue this single example and further show its implications, we point out that in theory one may deliberately make
a beam containing zero electric and magnetic fields, simply by
properly phase-locking together two or more beams of oscillating
ordinary E-H electrical energy, all at the same frequency. In
the perfect hypothetical case, for example, two single-frequency
beams phase-locked together 180 degrees apart would create
such a zero-field or scalar-wave beam (Figure 1). In the real
world, one would be phase-locking two beams containing narrow bandwidths, and how much zero-field beam is obtained at
the center of the bandwidth would depend on the "Q" (sharpness) of each beam. To purify the beam, it could first be
transmitted through a grounded Faraday shield, which would
remove most of the orthodox E-H field components not properly zeroed. By successive Faraday "stripping" of the beam, a
scalar beam as pure as desired can be obtained. Hal Crawford's
artistic concept of a large scalar interferometer weapon is shown
in Figure 3.

courtesy Hal Crawford.

First Quartet 1984

Pursuit 31

Some Characteristics of a Scalar Wave Beam

Such a beam is. totally undetectable by a nonnal E-H detector, since it does not produce nonnal fon:e-field-induced accelerations of particles (such as the free electron gas in an antenna
or the conduction electrons in a Faraday shield). Thus this wave
is usually nondetectable except by unique detectors specifically designed to detect 0 and A potential in the conditon of zero
E and H.
This scalar beam also is capable of strong penetJ3tion of ocean
water, since free ions do not absorb nearly so much of it as for
an ordinary E-H field beam. Thus one may speak of megahertz
and even gigahertz beams and signals transmitted through the
ocean (and through the earth). In fact, an associate of the author
appears to have developed a prototype underwater transmission
system, including a sendtive scalar wave detector. Even an
underwater radar appears quite feasible.
A Sensitive Scalar Wave Detector
Very briefly we present a method of making a very sensitive
scalar wave detector so that direct measurement and quantization can be established.
First, we regard one oscillation (one wavelength) of the scalar
potential wave as a longitudinal photon. Note that this photon
contains a substructure, which may be deliberately detennined
(when artifically made) or randomized (when natumlly made
in the idealized case).
For convenience we represent nonnal linearized vacuum
(spacetime) as a horizontal or longitudinal vector (Figure 4),
implying the direction of motion of the wave in the laboratory
frame. By horizontal position ~ our diagram, we imply a linear,
uncurved spacetime and non-rotated frame. We represent the
longitudinal scalar wave as a horizontal vector, and the usual
Hertzian wave as a vertical or "tmnsverse" vector. We visualize
a normal detector as detecting only a vertical or "ti'ansverse"
vector, as we have illustrated in Figure 4.

Hertzfln Naye

- - - - . . . Sellll" Waye
Dfrectlon of IIIYe Matlon In Lib FrlJlll!

Figura t.

Linaar, uncurved laboratory frame.

As can be seen, in a linear, unrotated or uncurved spacetime

a pure scalar wave has no vertical component projected upon
the laboratory frame vector, so it is not detectable by nonnal

detectors.
To detect the scalar wave, of couise we could bend it so that
it has a projected vertical component in the laboratory frame
(Figure 5). However, this would be an impure wave, not a pure
scalar wave, and that is not what we wish.
Bent Lon~:dln~
Sell II"
Trlnsvel"Se Projection

L:. _-1

_ _ _ _ _ L.b FI""
~

Figura 5.

~t,,~

<:::::: ......... ...

~bo""to~

Apparent TrlnsYel"Se Projection

....~.

.~"',.

Figura 6.

'aDding tba laboratory apacati. . fr ...

producea a tranavaraa componant.

vertical component. We conduct the detection current out of the

"bent spacetime" region to an outside (nonnal) detector, and
we then have a scalar wave detector.
To illustrate, we show conceptually how this has been successfully done. Figure 7 shows the concept. First, we utilize
a magnetic pole to provide the infolded energy (potential) to
bend or curve spacetime. To reach good sensitivity, we need
a pole strength connected with a magnetic field strength of
40,000 Gauss or higher. We utilize a small supen:onducting
magnet, which can reach field strengths of from 40,000 to
80,000 Gauss.
OsCilloscope

Shielded
"Cable

Insulated
Plug.

Figura 7.

A aanaitiva acalar wava

datacto~.

Then to prevent detection of superfluous "nonnal" radiation,

we shield the entire magnet in a grounded Faraday cage; as
shown in the figure. Hertzian waves will be .grounded in this
shield, while scalar waves will readily penetrate it undiminished. In other words, the Faraday cage serves as a "stripper,"
to strip away. the ordinary waves, leaving only the scalar waves
to penetrate inside. An ordinary wire lies at the top of the
magnetic pole, in proximity to it. The wire IUDS out of the Fara-
day cage through an ins1l1;ated port to a resonant tuning ciIcuit,
which is sharply tunable over the range of frequencies we are
interested in. A preamp amplifies the output of the tuner, and
in tum feeds t.be input of an oscilloscope or Other detector.
With this detector we can select the frequency desired, and
. detect any passing scalar waves of that frequency. By other variations of amps and preamps, regenerative circuits, etc., we can
obtain all the sensitivity desired, and utilize ordinaly detection
equipment already well-known and highly developed.
REFERENCES
a. Y. Aharonov and D. Bohm, "SignirlC8llCe of Electromagnetic Poten
tials in the Quantum Theory," Phys. Rev., Second Series, Vol. 115, No.3,
August I, 1959, pp. 48S-491.
b. R. G. Chambers, Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 5, 1960, p. 3.

c. Tai Tsun Wu and Chen Ning Yang, "Concept of nonintegrable pbase

factors and global fonnulation of gauge raelds," Phys. Rev. D, Vol. 12, No.
12, IS December 1975, pp. 3845-3857.
d. ~ P. Feynman, Robert B. .Leighton, and MaIIhew Sands, 77Je Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume D, Section 15-5, pp. 15-8 to 15-14.

Rotating tba iongitudinal wava producaa

tran8veEse ca.poaent.

A better way is to bend or curve spacetime.itself in a small

region, so that a longitudinal wave that passed through that
region now possesses a vertical component with respect to that
region (Figure 6). Thus a nonnal detector there will detect that
Pursuit 32

Longitudinal Sellir lIave

c. E. T. Whittaker, "On an Expression of the Elec:troIllllpCtic Field Due

to Elec:trons by Means of Two Scalar Potential Functions," Ptoc. LoDd. MIIIb.
Soc., Vol. I, 1903, pp. 367-372.
f. John David Jacbon, Classical Electrodynamics, Second EdiIioD, Wiley,
New York, 1975, p. 223.
(To be concluded in PURSUIT, 2nd quarter 1984)

Arst Quarter 1984

Energy and ParanorDlal PhenoDlena

by RayaaoDd A. NeUi

There are aspects of alternate energy, such as the Hubbard

generator, the Ecklin motor, the Moray device, Tesla scalarwave technology, the Hendershott generator, the BifeldBrown/Hooper & Wallace Antigravity .devices, the Searl
levitating generator, Mobius coils and propulsion systems,
Mobius Effects on electrical transmission configurations, and
probably a couple of dozen other devices and systems which
I have not yet had the pleasure of learning about the areas being investigated by HEER* encompass somewhat more objective
and broader aspects of alternate energy technology. We are of
the very firm opinion at this point, or until we discover facts
or evidence to the contrary, that to most" effectively make and
use such devices in physical reality, we must first understand
what the energy is that we are trying to tap and' control, and
from where it originates.
Based on many years of experimental studies with electrical
fields and discharges of high voltage of varying energy densities,
we believe that the very essence of all energy in reality physical and non-physical - may indeed be what we currently
recognize and label in physical reality as electromagnetic energy.
However, in its more subtle and less measurable forms, we
believe this energy to be of such extraordinarily high frequency
as to be non-measurable by our conventionally utilized physical
devices which are borne of physical reality and consequently
have certain physical limitations which prevent the detection of,
or provide the alteration or destruction of, the very things we
seek to measure.
An interesting example of such elusive limitations may be set
forth by relating a series of subjective experiments I devised,
using a living organism as the detector. I assembled a series
of simple electrical devices to provide carefully controlled
elecrical shock to myself at varying voltage, current and frequency combinations to determine the subjective effect on my
own living biosystem.
It was interesting to notice at the outset that the conventional
description of electrical shock held true; that is, when an electrical potential was applied across my living tis~ue, the contractions which occurred varied in intensity - directly with the
amount of power conducted therethrough. (The typical threshold
potential of feeling such contractions varies greatly with each
individual's skin-conductivity, i.e., cellular and surface
moisture, and muscular fluid content. The usual threshold seems
to be in a range of from 18-38 volts.)
The frequency of such contractions was clearly and easily
detected to vary directly with the applied frequency of the shocking potential. This led to an accidental discovery which I feel
is critically important. In the process of building these devices,
quite unhappily I received a few accidental shocks of intensity
far beyond anything to which I would deliberately expose
myself. Some of the shocks were 60 Hz line current across both
hands; I was barely able to break free, and the experience was
a sobering one. When the intensity of a shock causes muscular
contractions to the point of nearly arresting one's ability to
respirate, the natural reaction is to become a bit gun-shy for
awhile.
Two other instances were equally unpleasant but highly educational. One of these was a serious 30 KV RF shock which
resulted in tissue destruction at the point of contact and left a
First Quarter 1984

neat little hole in my palm which took about three years to

disappear. t The other instance was a OC shock of about 90 volts
from a small bank of photoflash batteries. At this point a
fascinating thing registered on my mind: In both cases, the shock
was subjectively identical. That is to say, both the DC shock
and the RF shock felt the same, notwithstanding the tissuedestruction of the RF shock caused by its extremely high potential. In both instances, the feeling was a powerful pinching/burning sensation. Repeating these shocks under less unpleasant
and better-controlled conditions led me to a very strong subjective conclusion, which is that direct current simply does not exist.
We have designed hundreds of quantitatively analytical
measuring devices which are highly responsive to various frequencies and potentials, but the currents we measure with "electrostatically" sensitive devices are of a more capacitive nature.
Thus the question was raised; when we utilize a "OC" voltmeter
or ammeter for measuring so-called "direct currents," if they
do not really exist, how do our meter coils develop the magnetic
field that causes deflection?
Those of us who have experimented with very high voltages,
particularly in induction coils, are quite familiar with the intertum and inter-layer "capacity" effects resulting in dielectric
punch-through when certain potentials are reached. Are we here
dealing with "electrostatic effects," "electromagnetic inductive effects," "capacitive effects," "magnetic effects," or
perhaps even "gravitational effects"?
I submit that we are dealing with all of them simultaneously;
it is the differences therebetween which we tend to categorize
and pigeonhole as electric, magnetic or gravitational effects. I
submit that they are all slightly different manifestations of a
greater, more generic energy of such high electromagnetic frequencies as to defy detection and categorization via normally
utilized "instrumentation" borne of physical reality. In some
instances, the biosystem is infinitely more accurate as a subject
detector, but not for quantitative evaluation.
Perhaps the very essence of this "energy" in its ultimate form
can be "categorized" or "labeled" as Consciousness itself. It
is not my intent, nor was it ever, to delve into highly esoteric
areas behind which one could hide and set forth indeterminable
vagaries which forever fascinate and interest people but fail to
provide the critical links and knowledge between physical and
non-physical reality. It is my contention, however, that such
links indeed do exist and may, with some hard work and practice, be controlled by physical man to al!~viate the interminable
destruction and consumption of physical mass to generate minute
and inefficient quantities of energy. Persistence in our current
direction of such consumption must ultimately create such gross
imbalances in man's physical world, ar.d perhaps destroy
physical man himself.
We know well, from the proliferating documented material
on Kirlian photography, extrasensory perception, radionics,
psychotronks, and much more than can be discussed here, that
the living biosystem indeed is energetic in its nature and is in
obvious electromagnetic communication (Consciousness) with
every other living biosystem and more. We know the brain
emanates electromagnetic radiation of various types, some of
which are detectable as sinusoidal-like waves. These, however,
I submit are a function of the living biostructure. The ConPursuit 33

sciousness operates on little bursts of energy, . much like

capacitive discharges. These cascade-like discharges may carry
incredibly powerful harmonics of indeterminably high frequencies which are unmeasurable by physical devices and may be
the key to the omnipresent communication between each and
every individual Consciousness. These may comprise the very
source of limitless energy we seek to tap and utilize in physical
reality.
How, indeed, do we obtain such energy? Well, before we
can utilize it, we obviously must first understand it. I submit
to you, that if we bury ourselves in laboratory experimentation
without first understanding that the very physical devices we
seek to build may be doomed to failure unless we realize that
in some ofthe areas we are working, our very thoughts and attitudes can physically affect the device we are building or the
success of its operation, or the repeatability of an experiment.
We cannot isolate ourselves as robots building other robots,
but we can be aware of the fact that we are an inseparable part
of what we think, build or operate. For example, if we work
with an extremely high-Q electrical resonant circuit, say a Q
of about 4000 or maybe even 10,000, and we're dealing with.
a band-width of 1/2 Hz, not only will the most minute changes
in physical environment shift the resonant point immediately,
but so will even the normal EM radiations from our biosystem
brain. If we have powerful thought-activity, the cascade
discharges in the synapse areas alone could play havoc with such
a delicate circuital balance. It was never my intent to attempt
to understand the nature of our very existence, to delve into areas
which can be devoid of hard experimental repeatability, but years
of study and experimentation have led me to understand that
there really is no such thing as "esoteric" or "paranormal"
phenomena, but only phenomena non-measurable with devices
borne of physical reality or understandable in conventionally
perceived terms. There is no separation between physical and
non-physical reality, and there are links which may be established therebetween. These may be directly or indirectly related to
the individual Consciousness of each living entity. There are
both direct and indirect ways to use "Consciousness energy"
to affect reality. In the highest forms of practice, this involves
using the Consciousness directly or aiding it indirectly by
physical devices which can act to amplify and channel such
energies.
A few of my distinguished colleagues have investigated these
. areas to some dep,h as exemplified by some of the concepts being developed in the areas of crystallography, light, sound,
hyperspace, radiqnics, psychotronics and Kirlian aura. I have
done many subjectively successful experiments in "reality creation" which will be discussed in significant detail in my upcoming second volume on paranormal phenomena.

***

Digressing momentarily back to the days of Atlantis and

Lemuria some 13,000 years ago, it is alleged via Psychic Inputs, some limited biblical interpretations, and in some of the
barely understood Dead Sea Scrolls, that the Atlanteans utilized a great power-crystal operated from sunlight for energy, com~unications, levitation, and weaponry. This smacks strongly
of some of the so-called "soft particle" co~cepts set forth by
Joe Cater in his book The Awesome Force. I currently see no
strong evidence for the physical validity of a "soft particle"
theory, but I am thoroughly investigating the principle to determine whether or not there are any effects at all. How we label
these effects is completely irrelevant. We will publish the results
in our books or follow-up reports. In each area of experimental
investigation we.plan to publish results and procedures in signifiPursuit 34

cant detail, clearly indicating whether or not positive results occur; and we welcome constructive criticism to improve such experiments, should results be negative. If, for example, there is
a notable effect achieved by such a multiplicity of front-surface
reflections of light as purported by Cater and Dr. Richard L.
Clark, we will thoroughly document the measured or observed
results. We fully expect that some notable phenomena may be
be caused, especially since there is a very strong similarity to
the internal stimulation of light which causes the coherent laser
beam.
Our objective, therefore, is to find viable links between
physical and non-physical reality which will enable us to channel, in usable ways, the enormous field of energy within which
we not only dwell, but of which we are an intrinsic and inseparable part. We must all, in our experiments and investigations, steadfastly maintain as much objectivity and honesty as
humanly possible. We are dealing in areas which many individuals of the conventional and powerful Scientific Priesthood
regularly and viciously denigrate, sometimes to the point of profeSSIonal or even physical violence. Objectivity and honesty are
the most powerful tools we have with which to work. I am a
firm believer in the principles of truth, knowledge and understanding. While I fully realize that one man's reality can be another
man's fantasy (and vice-versa), all new things should be
presented in a light which will bear the utmost scrutiny.
Regardless of those who would mindlessly dismiss and deride
new concepts without making the effort to investigate them, the
truth will, indeed, eventually be brought to the surface.

***

Continuing now to look for the viable and usable links between physical and non-physical reality, we have been drawn,
by years of observation and experimentation with electrical
discharges and many other phenomena, to the following tentative conclusions which we feel are valid until we either
discover or are shown otherwise:
1. All existence is comprised of a pure energy "gestalt"or
"all that is," which in our recognizable terms may be a form
of "Pure Consciousness" comprising incredibly high frequencies beyond our present instrumentation measuring capabilities.
2. Electric, magnetic and gravitational fields represent three
slightly different manifestations of this more generic energy of
"Consciousness" in physical reality.
3. This enormous energy within which we exist and are an
inseparable part of, may be channeled (not tapped) from nonphysical to physical reality by the proper manipulation of these
high frequencies with some forms of crystalline devices and
special geometrical shapes, using resonance principles, i.e, the
Moray generator, pyramid phenomena, and Gallimore
experiments.
4. All physical reality is comprised of a lower energy state
of this great gestalt of high-frequency energy of Consciousness.
much like ice as opposed to steam. Another perception of
physical reality would be as "holographic" projections of the
higher energy states to lower in-phase resonating states which
project the illusion of solidarity to our individual consciousness
in so-called physicality>
5. Time does not exist in absolute terms. Temporality is a
subjective illusion caused by our consciousness being forced to
perceive events in a linear fashion when focused through our
physical bodies. Such temporal illusions may be readily
transcended in meditative or similar states.
6. The nature of existence is incredibly dynamic and
pUlsating. There is absolutely no statism anywhere in existence.
Were there statism. existence itself would simply cease to be.
First Quarter 1984

The very essence of existence appears to comprise a pulsating

gestalt of energy devoid of temporality and inherently omniscient and omnipresent.
7. The channeling of higher energy (i.e., non-physical) states
into physical reality should result in lOO%-efficient energy
transfonnation with no imbalance within the physical biosphere.
The above conclusions are based on physical, experimental,
psychic, historical and specUlative inputs. In the process of our.
experimentation in physical reality, we hope eventually to be
able to provide detailed, repeatable experimental procedures
which will be within the realm of any researcher without his
having to spend tens of thousands of dollars building elaborate
experimental setups.
Once the links between physical and non-physical reality are
established, we believe that all physical reality may be transcended. In other words, "time-travel" - physical time travel, not
just Consciousness time-travel - will be a repeatable, workable
reality and energy will be viable and unlimited in its availability in physical reality. I certainly hope that physical man will
be wise enough to evolve to his capabilities without destroying
his phyiscal world during this evolutionary transfonnation.
We at HEER are currently attempting to construct, with som~
difficulty, an extremely powerful high-voltage ion generator
which we hope will enable us to further experiment with the
alleged "DC" field that we believe is an extremely highfrequency alternating energy field closely related to the actual
structure of space-time and the energy "gestalt" of "all that is."
The scalar fields of non-Hertzian "waves" may be a
manisfestation in physical reality of a workable tool in spacetime. I believe the work already being done today may well confinn this.
As to the nature of the so-called "antigravity" or "electrogravity" field, as addressed in my first book, "Antigravity
and UFOs, .. this may be produced in any number of ways as
demonstrated in the Brown patents (i.e., the well-known BifeldBrown effect), the Wallace patents and the Hooper gravity
generators, and in thereto-directed experiments presented in my
Volume I.
The Searl generator may utilize some type of Mobius electromagnetic configuration which might have the reverse effect
of the reverse-induced magnetic field in transfonner action. that
is, where in an induction configuration an opposing magnetic
field is created, the Searl device might use Mobius electromagnets which could possibly provide a vector-reversal of
this field such that, as magnetic energy is input to the rotating
generator, instead of resisting magnetic force being developed,
an assisting magnetic force is produced which would have an
incredibly powerful self-sustaining effect, once a certain point
is reached. I believe at this point that the resultant levitation
is a combined effect of Bifeld-Brown and Hooper gravity
generation which creates the inertia-free ether vortex in which
the device operates. The Paget craft may operate iri a very similar
manner. Unfortunately, detailed data on Searl's generator appears difficult to retrieve for many reasons, not the least of which
is British Security.
There is such a preponderance of speculative data coupled
with communications leaks in many of these areas, that I do not
feel the "secrets" ofany truly successful device in our area of
research can either be held as proprietary or otherwise concealed too much longer - nor should they be. We at HEER are trying to put into print all of our experiments, ideas and speculations in order to get as much infonnation as possible out to the
public. We do not dismiss any theory or speculation, provided
it is not totally devoid of fact, reasonable logic or even reasonable
speculation. We do strongly avoid coll~boration with those who
First Quarter 1984

are absolutely certain that they know all the answers or who
persist in their ideas with dogmatic close-mindedness. A closed dogmatic mind has no room to learn to grow. On the other
hand, any idea we come across which appears to have any merit
whatsoever, we believe is worth checking-out, to satisfy its
degree of credibility to ourselves. We will not, nor should
anyone, dismiss a bizarre idea, no matter how poorly it may
be conceived or presented, prior to checking it out thoroughly
both with laboratory and thought experiments.
We are living in an age of transition, where mankind will
evolve to a different level. The process has already started and
will continue over the next five to twenty-five years, I think.
Hopefully, the transitions will not be a painful one. But those
who have read some of the possibilities of the horrors of what
could occur during the transition should not fear it. The transition wjJJ be made by every conscious entity, and whether or
not it is painful or pleasant is really of little consequence, inasmuch as pain is a part of experience in physicality, and it is
one of the many contrasts required to give physicality meaning. Without the counterparts of pain and pleasure, good and
evil, struggle and reward - all pulsating contrasts - physicality,
and perhaps existence itself, would simply cease to be. Physicality is a marvelous unending (in our temporal tenns) game which
gives "being" its meaning. The contrasts of physicality are the
catalysts of existence.
Reality in all the many fonns it takes, provides a totally
malleable substance, fully manipulable by every single consciousness entity of existence, both individually and en masse.
We each create our own realities - sometimes in readily
recognizable tenns, at other times in not readily recognizable
tenns. For example, if you decide you're going to.build a table,
when the idea hits you, you immediately start imaging the table
and how you want it to look. The imaging is visually an agglomeration of tables you have seen in the past, and your mind
scans, compares and modifies features and construction details
to meet your particular needs. This imaging, once you have
decided your final configuration, becomes an instantaneous
thought-fonn or reality in a non-physical dimension, or virtualstate reality, if you will.
You then proceed to list the hardware and lumber you need
to construct this thought-fonn, and you may further push it
towards evolving into a physical reality by sketching it on paper.
Now you've gone a step further toward physical materialization of your thought-fonn reality. Next, you ac~ually go out and
purchase the raw materials (already congealed and shaped
energy-fonns) you take them to your workshop and start to cut,
shape, drill and assemble until you""have completed your
physical-reality via physical channels. The actual operatives involved in creation of reality may easily transcend the intennediate and cumbersome steps of manipulating already existing physical matter. The conscious procedure you followed,
and follow every day of your life in physical fonn, involves
imaging or virtual-state thought-fonns, then an intennediate step
of congealing the imaging on paper, and finally, progression
to three-dimensional space-time.
Now suppose you were able to simply proceed directly from
thought-fonn to physical congealment or energy assemblage.
Then you would have evolved to the point where your electromagnetic consciousness directly controls energy. This is indeed possible. Tom Bearden has presented some very worthwhile ideas along these lines. along with what appears to come
very close to the actual modeling of the links between physical
and non-physical reality. I will further expand very greatly on
this subject in my second volume on paranonnal phenomena,
in non-mathematical and non-technical tenns with actual exerPursuit 35

cises that will pennit subjective but highly convincing proof of

such phenomena; These exercises will be presented in a manner which will teach one to control his own reality while also
affecting the reality of others.
This may appear to have dangerous implications, and well
it does, but not as uncontrollably as some may think. Although
we can powerfully affect the thoughts and actions of others, we
can only do so within the limitations of others' root-belief structures. That is how voodoo works. The victims are convinced
of the power of the witch doctor. They are brought up in a
religious-cultist culture which powerfully affects their root-belief
structures in favor of the witch doctor's power. This is all he
needs. Now they are convinced that he can, with his little voodoo
dolls, inflict pain, injury and suffering upon themselves, and
indeed he can! They have opened the electromagnetic
consciousness-linking channel between them and him, giving
him such power by vinue of their combined belief-structures.
We are not talking magic here; we are discussing very real
energy operatives under conscious control of the involved entities. Such belief structures provide the very same operatives
for faith-healers and lunatic-fringe cultists who would combine
their energies to override that of the individual. This, also, is
dangerously possible. There are other methods of amplifying
consciousness-imaging energy that use crystal.devices to give
an individual somewhat inordinate power.

Cougars are Reported on thea

Prowl in Upper Peninsula
They are big cats, reddish-brown in color,
with stocky bodies and long tails.
Cougars? Maybe.
Il appears that cats believed long gone from
the state are stalking the woods of the Upper
Peninsula in Escanaba. The last cougar was
thought killed in the U.P. some 60 years ago,
but if you believe scores of recent eyewitness
repons, the animal is back.
Mike Zuidema, a forester for the Depanment
of Natural Resources (DNR) in Escanaba, is
convinced the cougar is here again. He has spent
the last two years compiling sightings for the
depanment.
"There are too many reputable people,
knowledgeable about the woods, who have seen
these large cats," he said. "Whether a cougar
or not, we won't know until we get some hard
physical evidence."
That's been the problem - verification.
No one has ever obtained a clear track of the
animal for positive identification, nor has a carcass ever been found. What the DNR is waiting
for is a "hot" sighting to utilize the best method
for trapping cougar - dogs.
"We have people with dogs that can track a
cougar," he said. "They are just waiting for
us to call them, day or night."
Zuidema's interest stems from an incident in
1981, when he saw a large cat with an extremely
long tail cross a road in front of him. .
Other witnesses have included dairy farmers,
hunters, foresters, trappers, loggers, crosscountry skiers and hunting camp owners, according to Zuidema.
Sightings have come from all over the Upper Peninsula, as far east as Drummond Island
and west to Watersmeet.

Pursuit 36

I would not want people to run around in a panic, thinking

that someone who was out to get them would have them at their
mercy by using such techniques. It isn't so. The greatest danger
to an individual which weakens his ability to protect himself
against such an attack lies in the weakness of his .own belief
that he may not have equal power rooted in his belief structure!
The most insidious element which feeds such weakness is fear.
We must fear nothing! Do not fear the corporate monopolies,
the police state, some of the mindless and violent drug cultures,
the lunatic-fringe groups, or death itself. All these are part of
the very necessary contrasts which maintain the physical-world
reality wherein we exist! We will evolve beyond these points,
physicality being only a ponion of the transitional experience.
We should enjoy the game of existence, play it as we must,
and relish our little discoveries of physical reality, creation and
manipulation, because this is why we are.
So, in conclusion, the only religion or belief-structures I would
recommend are those which purpon love, learning, understanding, caring, sharing and discovery - all fascinating contrasts
which make "being" palatable. The only real evil is to deny
others the same experiences.
*Acronym ror Ihe author's resean:h organization: High Energy Electrostatics
Resean:h, P.O. Box 5286, Springfield, VA 22150.
tRadio-rrequency (RF) bums rrom inside outward in living tissue [Ed.]

Within the last few months, there has been "They don't like people and probably tend to
a rash of sightings from a small area on the stay in isolated areas. It's imponant for people
Delta-Menominee county line near the village to know that they aren't going to hann you."
of Perronville, 25 miles east of Escanaba.
If the animals are cougars or mountain lions
Bob Hafeman, postmaster in the village of - also called pumas, panthers and catamounts
Wallace in Menominee County, doesn't know - why are they back in Michigan?
if he saw a cougar in October, but he says it
"It's hard to say where these animals came
was a very large cat.
from, since.mountain lions were believed to be
The cat ran across the road and stopped beside eradicated from Michigan by the 19205,"
a creek. Hafeman was able to get within 50 feet Zuidema said.
.
before the animal jumped and swam across the
"I don't think this is a remnant population
stream.
from that period. More likely they were brought .
For a moment, it stood on the other side look- and released here by someone, or they have exing back at him.
tended their range from other areas.
"It was dark brown with a long tail, definitely SOURCE: Detroit News
a cat," he said .. "It was only 35 to 40 pounds, 1112/84
but I wouldn't want to meet it alone in the mid- CREDIT: Mr. & Mrs. William Kingsley
dle of the woods."
Dan Kolich of Escanaba says he was on his
way to a hunting camp over the July 4th when
he saw a cougar standing in the road eating a
pine snake.
"I've seen a bobcat before and this was no
bobcat," he said. "Right away, I thought it was
a mountain lion."
Bobcats, or lynxes, are much smaller than
cougars and are relatively common in Michigan
woods.
Ray Juetten, a DNR fish biologist in Baraga,
is cenain he and another employe saw a cougar
Information on Col,JgarsIMountain Lions
in 1977 near Lake Gogebic in the western U. P.
Seen in this Area
"There was no question in my mind what it
was," he said. "It ran right in front of the truck.
[;!s (hfiln)@JID (hODtm
It must have weighted 100 pounds. I know what
I saw and that was a cougar."
ODYSSEY Scientific Research
Disbelievers say that if cougars were in the
U . P., one would have been trapped or shot by
P.O. Box 3562
a hunter, but Zuidema discounts this, say~ng the
Baltimore,
MD 21214
lack of such evidence may be due to. 'the
(301).254-2517
cougar's well-known elusiveness.
'.
"These are shy, harmless animals," he said. ....- - - - - - - - -_ _ _ _ _......

WANTED ALIVE

CONTACT: D@lIDm

Lost Cities of France:

Fact or Folklore?
by JOD DODglaS SIDger, M.A.
(French legends describe mysterious lost cities which are apparendy neither Greek nor Roman. Are they Celtic,
Pre-CeJtic, or Dark Age Frankish?)
Copyright, 1984 by Jon Douglas Singer, M.A.

Ker Ys, A Lost French City

There are many tales of lost cities in France and especially
in Brittany. English and American researchers have neglected
this aspect of archaeology despite the fact that it is relatively
easy to visit the locations, and there are neither major political
crises nor devastating tropical diseases to worry about. It is odd
that so many of our archaeologists probe the dangerous jungles
of Latin America for artifacts of antiquity when they can spend
less effort on expeditions to the benign countryside of France.
At this rate, they will probably miss the opportunity to discover
the ruins of a lost city which sank in the Dark Ages.
According to legend, Ker Ys (spelled also Ys, Is, or Ker Is)
was located in western Brittany. It was ruled by King Gradlon,
who lived in the late fifth century A.D. Gradlon (also called
GraUon) fought against northern pagan invaders and when the
war was over, his victorious kingdom became the seat of commerce and art. His people were the Britons from Britain.
.Although they were at first refugees, their numbers increased.
.EventuaUy they took over all Armorica from the Gallo-Roman
people and its name was changed to Brittany. Gradlon, one of
many kings, ruled a land which was called Cornouailles in
modem French. Research indicates that Gradlon was a historical
character although he was not mentioned in major chronicles.
Most historians do not believe that Gradlon ruled Y s because
they say his capital was the "modem" city of Quimper.
As Ys prospered, some of the people followed the paths of
luxury, sloth, and sin. Among them was Dahut, daughter of
Gradlon. She took many lovers, including the Devil in disguise
as a handsome visiting nobleman. Witchcraft and druidism began
to flourish despite warnings by the holy St. Guenole. In the end,
the sinful city was submerged by an angry God. Only Gradlon
escaped. To this day, local people claim that they can see ruined walls beneath the sea. The legend is supported by the very
name of the town. Historian Rachel Bromwich states that Ker
Ys means, "the bottom fortress," while researcher Maria
Tymoczko suggests that Ys or Is is short fo izel which means,
"low" in Breton.
The city's appearance varies from text to text, but most of
the writers who described it in detail said that it was quite large,
sunounded by high walls around 30 feet tall, and that there were
great gates opening to roads or canals which let in seawater.
The city was below sea level similar to some Dutch cities so
the excess water ran into huge collecting basins called Puits
(wells). The location of one Puit was at Gorle-Greis; there were
eleven others.. Another legend stated that Ys was at the junction of seven Roman roads which met at the sea. A third tale
said that the city had thousands of people and a hundred
cathedrals. There were many castles and turrets with many windows. The roofs had a shining crystalline substance. The king's
palace was originally a rather somber place built of oak, granite
and iron. As prosperity increased it was rebuilt like a Byzan-

First Quarter 1984

tine palace with much marble and gold. There was also a metal
like gold but of "unearthly" origin (orichalk?-J.S.). There were
ornate royal gardens and Dahut's stables were paved with red,
black and white marble. Lastly, there were probably some druid
temples. The king had charge of a golden key which opened
the gates. At one point, Dahut stole the key and opened the gates
at the wrong time, thereby flooding the city.
Theories vary about Ys. Lewis Spence suggested that it was
either in Atlantis or an Atlantean colony. Egerton Sykes suggested that it was built by megalithic peoples influenced by
Egyptians around 2000 B.C. There is no clear-cut evidence supporting either of those theories. Hermann and Georg Schreiber
decided that it was a Gallo-Roman city taken over by the Britons
(Bretons) and that it was destroyed by great storms which actually took place in the late fourth or early fifth century A.D.
It is fascinating to learn that Alexander Krappe, a folklorist,
learned that the seventh century A.D. "Geographer of Ravenna" has depicted on his well-known map a city called Chris
or Keris in the vicinity of Brittany! Since the sixteenth century,
people have sighted walls under the sea near Quimper in the
Bay of Douarnenez, but no archaeologist has yet found them.
I list the sightings in chronological order on Table I. Only one
archaeologist searched for Ys, Captain Phillipe Tailliez. He explored the Bay of Douamenez in 1950 but found nothing.
Modem equipment used by divers may prove him wrong. Other
early archaeologists searched for ruins elsewhere and found
nothing until contemporary investigators found sites by using
up-to-date equipment.
Other Lost Cities in France
I have found during my research on Y s that there are around
thirty or so other tales of lost cities in France. I can summarize
only a few such reports here. St. Malo, on the north coast of
Brittany, is a good place to look for some of them. Alexander
Krappe said that the sailors of St. Malo believed that they saw
the buildings of the ancient city ofChausey near the cliffs. The
city was destroyed by a cataclysm. (See Table 2) A similar
legend concerning the same locality states that the city of Gardayne or Gardoine was destroyed by a flood in the eighth century A.D. during an attack by the monarch Charlemagne. In
their book, Vanished Cities, Hennann and Georg Schreiber
reported that they learned that a flood had indeed struck the area
in the eighth century A.D. Just to the east of St. Malo is the
town of Cancale. The Schreibers learned that as recently as 1957.
local people had claimed that they saw ruins of buildings beneath
the sea there. The local people thought that Ys was located there.
but the Schreibers thought that the sunken city at Cancale was
more likely lost Gardoine. as they spelled Gardayne.
Professor H. H. Johnson wrote in 1907 that the people of St.
Raphael on the south coast of France in Var province believed
in a sunken city whose name he did not record. The inhabitants
Pursuit"37

English Channel

1 Chief locations of Ker Ys

1 &: 3 Chausey &: Gardayne

9 Dark Age merchant city of
QuentoYk: vanlshecl
c.800-900 A.D.

Paris. ___

~.-

_ __

NORTHERN FRANCE

heaid submerged bells ringing (a common occurrence in this

type of legend). Fishennen dove to try to find the city; all attempts in 1907 proved fruitless. Perltaps Ii modern search with
minisubs could be conducted.
A similar tale is that of Issarles. This city sank in a volcanic
craterlake northwest of Ardeche, on the border of Haute-Loire
and Lozere in the northern Cevennes Mountains. Its ruins are
visible on a clear day. Its name, by the way, may not be related
to Ys.
In The Mystery ofAdantis, Charles Berlitz reports that French
diver Jacques Mayol found a submerged mine five miles due
south of Marseilles. It was 60 to 120 feet deep and a mile long.
There were vertical shafts, quarries, and ancient slag heaps.
Berlitz guessed that it dated to Cm Magnon times.
Serge Hutin reported on some fascinating ruins near Lyons,
along the Rhone River. One group of ruins are artificial tunnels
called sarrasinieres by local people in the mistaken belief that
medieval Arab (Saracen) invaders built them. Hutin said that
they were pre-Celtic and megalithic, possibly even Atlantean.
Nearby them on the old bed of the Rhone is a large ruined city
of unknown age and origin. It had impressive embankments of
black stone. When the old Rhone changed cour.;e, the city was
stranded. Hutin said no archaeologists had investigated it. Incidentally, there are two sunken city legends in the same region
near Lyons. They are in Lake Marlay and Lake Maras, respec-

tively. The cities are nameless. In view of Hutin's reports,

perltaps a more thorough on-site investigation is called for.
The last report in this survey dates from 1981 when archaeologist D. Fonquerle reported on the discovery and excavation of a large submerged Bronze Age settlement in the Thau
Lagoon on the coast of Languedoc near the town of Sete. This
is not far from the famous city of Montpellier. Radiocarbon-14
dated submerged wooden posts to 3350-3150 B.P. (Before Present) orc.1370 B.C., the middle of the Bronze Age. Some ar:
tifacts dated to the Neolithic and Iron Ages as well. It was inferred from the type of artifacts found that the people were mostly cattleherders and fanners. Fonquerle concluded that, contraIy
to popular belief, much rapid submergence of land had occurred in recent times since the Iron Age.
It is clear, then, that there really are mysterious ruins of
unknown origin on dry land or beneath the waters throughout
France. Some, as is the case with Quentovic near Etaples, are
accepted as real places mentioned in chronicles, but archaeologists have not yet found them. Other lost cities such as
Y s have not been found by archaeologists, but many people
claim that they have seen ruins beneath the waves. Are these
hallucinations, natural fonnations, or are there really ancient
ruins oflegendary drowned metropoli? At least two submerged
ruins have been found. Who knows what a thorough search for
the others would find? Certain folktales may be memories of
half-forgotten events and catastrophies of the distant past. A
search may be rewarded with the discovery of an actual sunken
city which may be, ..... half as old as Time."

4 Nameless sunken city at St.

Rapbael

Bay of Biscay

10

7 Lyons

5 Issarle's (approx. location)

6 Berlitz's &: Mayol's sunken

mine

7 3 lost cities and mysterious

tunnels here
8 Bronze Age sunken town
10 Cornet's sunken plateau

Pursuit 38

First Quarter 1984

TABLE I: SIGHTS OF YS AND SUNKEN WALLS LINKED TO YS

c.1515:
1588:
1858:
1946:
1969

&:
1975:
1975:

1979:

Pierre Le Baud wrote that in his time, local people saw sunken ruins beneath the sea.
Bertrand d' Argentre wrote that the people of Quimper pointed out sunken ruins such as the remains of
walls which were so well-mortared that they withstood the Atlantic waves.
Souvestre, author of The Breton Hearth, reported that sunken ruins were visible in his day in the Bay of
Douamenez. Historian Rachel Bromwich investigated this report but found no further data and apparently
did not use any minisubs there.
Rene Thevenin reported in Les Pays Legendaires that in his own time, when the weather was clear, one
could see the ruins of a sunken city in the Bay of Douarnenez.
Charles Berlitz in The Mystery ofAtlantis wrote that a few years ago (date not given) there was a tremendous
ebb tide off the Breton coast which exposed the sea floor for a brief time. For a while, piles of rocks,
seemingly man-made structures, were visible. Before scientists could arrive, the sea had returned and the
ruins, if such they were, were not relocated.
Robin Palmer in Demons, Monsters, and Abodes of the Dead reported that the fisherfolk of Brittany could
see the ruins of Y s beneath the 'sea and occasionally heard the bells of submerged cathedrals ringing as
th~ waves rocked them back and forth. (New York, Scholastics Book Services, 1975)
Deirdre Cavanagh, translator and illustrator of Charles Guyot's The Legend of the City of Ys, said that
a Breton friend, Jacques Monteil, pointed out a place where old roads led to the shore and ended abruptly.
He insisted that Ys sank there.
TABLE 2: EVIDENCE FOR CATACLYSMS

395 A.D.: The Schreibers report that a great flood hit Brittany at this time.
441 A.D.: An even greater flood struck in the middle of the night. The Schreibers think this could be an alternate
date for Ys' sinking. If it sank this early, that could be why it is not mentioned in Gregory of Tours' History
of the Franks.
685 A.D.: Thomas Jones' translation of the Welsh Chronicle of the Princes (Cardiff, Univ. of Wales Press, 1955),
p. 3 notes that in this year a great earthquake hit Brittany. Could Ys have sunk then?
1925: A mysterious submerged plateau, never noted before, is found in the Gulf of Gascony (Bay of Biscay)
at 457' north and 357' west by Lt. Comet on French naval ship Loiret. Plateau is 50 miles long and
34-70 meters deep. (Reported in NY Times, summer, 1925 and in Lewis Spence's The History of Atlantis.) By coincidence or by choice, science fiction writer Jack Vance located the equally mysterious country
of Lyonesse here in his 1983 novel, Lyonesse. Inquiries by Spence to M. Fichot, Director in 1925 of the
French Naval Ministry'S Hydrographic Office, concerning a proposed expedition there were never answered.
1979: Maria Tymoczko in introduction to Guyot's novel of Ys wrote that the geology of Cap Sizun, 'where she
located Ys, was poorly understood and local floods or upheavals could sink cities there.

BIBUOGRAPHY
Basset, M. Rene, "Les Villes Englouties, ("The Sunken Cities") in Revues
des Traditions Populaires, Vol. V-XXX, 1890-1915.
Berlitz, The MysteIy of Atlantis, New York, Avon Books, 1975 (reprint of
1969 edition), p. 145.
Bivar, A.D.H., "Lyonnesse, The Evolution ofa Fable," Modern Philology,
FebnulIY, 1953, pp. 162-3. Bivar did nOI exclude the possibility that
a local flood occurred there in the Dark Ages.
Bromwich, Rachel, "Cantre'r Gwaelod and Ker-Is," in The Earfy Cultures
ofNonhwestem Europe, ed. by Sir Cyril Fox and Bruce Dickens; Cambridge, England, at the Univenity Press, 1950. Claims that there appean to be no historical evidence for the city nor was there any apparent
evidence for the great eanhquake which supposedly leveled it, alleast,
no great floods or submetgence of land occurred there since the Bronze
Age. Bromwich thought that Gradlon (Grallon) was real and he died
in c.SOS A.D. A medieval epic, the 12th century Lsi de Graelent, honored
his exploits. Bromwich added (p. 235) a tradition preserved c.1617 by
Jehan Moreau which located Ys in the Baie de Trepasses (Dead Men's
Bay) near Quimper, between the Pointe du Van and the Pointe du Raz
when: submeJged edifices could be seen and where a road stopped abruptly OD the shore: the road fonnerly led to Ys.
Carey, Mn. M. Carey, Fail}' Legends of the French Provinces, New York,
Thomas Y. Crowell &; Co. (no date).
Eudes, Olivier, Ys et les Villes Englouties, Renoes, Brittany, France, Editions
Ouest France, 1979 (I thank my Breton contacts for this book).
Hansen, Lucille Taylor, The Ancient Atlantic, Amherst, Wisconsin, Amhersl
press, 1969. Places Ys in Lyonesse, the lost land west of Comwall.
Suggests Adantean connections.

First Quarter 1984

Hodges, Richard, "Frisians and Franks," An:haeoJogy,lanuary/FeblUlll)', 1984.

In a discussion on Dark Age trade noted that the ancient city of Quentavic, founded by Fnmkish and Frisian Germanic men:hants, disappeared
after the decay of Charlemagne's empire during civil wars and Viking
raids. Its site, possibly near Etaples, northwest France, hasn't been found.
Hutin, Serge, Alien Races and Fantastic Civilizations, New York, Berkley'
Medallion Books, 1975 (first pub. in France by Editions J'Ai Lu, Paris,
1970), pp. 80-81. On p. 79, Hutin said that Ys was real and located
in the Bay of Douamenez. He noted that several great floods occurred
in the Bronze Age after the time of Adantis. He wondered why no archaeologists had looked for Ys.
Johnson, H.H. Professor, "Submerged Cities," The Celtic Review, Vol. m,
1907.
Krappe, Alexander, The Science of Folklore, London, Methuen &; Co. Ltd.,
1965.
Schreiber, Hermann and Schreiber, Georg, Vanished Cities,lIaIIsIated by RicIwd
and Clara Wilson, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1957.
Spence, Lewis, The Histol}' of Atlantis, New York, University Books reprint
edition, 1968.
Sykes, Egerton, "Sunken Cultures of the North Sea and the English Channel,"
May/June, 1973. See also his edition of Ignatius Donnelly's Atlantis:
The Antediluvian Worfd, New York, Gramen:y, 1949 for a discussion
of Ys and Adantis.
Anonymous, A Prehistoric Settlement Submerged in the Thau Lagoon
(Languedoc)," The lntemalional Journal of Nautical ArChaeology and
Underwater ExplOnltion, February, 1981.
See also Tymoczko, Maria and Cavanagh, Deintn:'s, introductions to the English
translation of Charles Guyot's The Legend of the City of Ys, trans. by
Deirdre Cavanagh and an introduction by M. Tymoczko, Amherst,
Massachusetts, Univenity of Massachusetts Press, 1979.

Pursuit 39

~
~

O~

In this section, mostly contemporary curious and unexplained events

are reported. Members are urged to send In newsclipplngs and reports they
deem responsible. Please be sure to include the source of reference (name of newspaper or periodical), city of publication, date of Issue In which article appeared, and your
Rrst initial and last name (or membership number only, If you prefer to be credited in that way).

O.p

Search for doseph's Secred

.. ~..

::.<,.;

':,.'

Almost 4,000 years after Joseph of the Old

Testament saved the ancient Egyptians from
starvation by stockpiling grain in the desert,
Israeli scientists are puzzling over his methods
in hopes of offsetting famine in drought-ridden
Twentieth Century lands.
By a barren stretch of road in the western
Negev desert, a white-domed tent rises on.
cracked sandy-colored ground. Inside are stored.
550 tons of wheat.
The wheat is the object of a joint US-Israeli
research effort to perfect grain-storage methods
in the desert.
Professor Moshe Kalderon, who heads the
project at the government-financed Volcani Institute, said in an interview that his team is
.'utilizing elements of the desert climate that are
. 'traditionally regarded as man's enemies:
-Cold night air, which kills insects incapable
of surviving at temperatures lower than 59
degrees Fahrenheit.
-The summer heat, which can reach 122
degrees and also destroy insects.
-The arid climate year-round which inhibits
mold.
.
Mr. Kalderon said he did not know how
Joseph did it, storing grains during the seven
"plenteous years" in preparation for the seven
"lean years." All it says in Genesis is: "And
Joseph opened up all the store houses and sold
unto the Egyptians and all the countries came
into Egypt to Joseph for to buy com."
. One of the theories Mr. Kalderon suggested
was that Joseph, the Israelite who acted as the
Egyptian pharaoh's viceroy, used mud huts and
sealed them hermetically with ashes, much as
some Africans do nowadays.
Another member of Mr. Kalderon's team,
Jonathan Donahaye, speculated that Joseph may.
have stored the food in pits in the ground, as
nomadic Bedouin tribes do to this day. The
disadvantage of that method, Mr. Donahaye.
added, was that moisture from underground
water could breed mold.
Mr. Donahaye, a British scientist working
toward a doctoral degree in insect control at the
Volcani Institute, said in an interview that the
team is trying to perfect hermetic sealing of the
tent to fight insect infestations.
"If they can't breathe, they'll die. We have
very few resources against pests, because we're
dealing with what will one day become food and
we can't poison it with too many insecticides. ".
The scientists are also experimenting with
funneling gases such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide into the tent to replace oxygen and create
a "controlled abllOSphere" in which insects cannot live.
Mr. Donahaye pointed to glass vials housing
Pursuit 40

flower beetles, in which their resistance to

various gases is being tested in laboratory conditions at the institute near Tel Aviv.
.
The advantage of the tent, which looks
roughly like a muffin the size of a beach cottage, is its mobility and low cost. In emergencies, Mr. Donahaye said, it could be a portable
silo for areas hit by drought or it could be used
as a "buffer stock" in countries with little
rainfall.
SOURCE: AP in The Sun Baltimore, MD
3/18/84
CREDIT: H. Hollander

FossU Sassests II-foot Cadlsh

Fossilized bones found in Arkansas have been
identified as the skull of an extinct catfish that
may have been 10 feet long and up to 1,500
pounds, say a state scientist.
John D. McFarland, a paleontologist with the
state Geological Commission, said that the fish
must have lived 40 million to 45 million years
ago when shallow sea covered the region.
The commission won't say exactly where the
bones were found because it doesn't want
unauthorized diggers poking around, he said.
SOURCE: AP in The Nashville Tennessean
12/16/83
CREDIT: Harold Holland

AsiaD Bird Foand

SpeDdiD. Winter on Coast
A sparrow-like bird from Asia has been found
along the California coast, the latest in a series
of birds found on the wrong side of the globe
this winter.
"The idea of it appearing here has gotten us
all excited," said Ron Levalle, an ornithologist.
. 'I even quit watching the 4ger game to go look
for it. Basically, this bird is on the wrong side
of the ocean."
The sighting of the rustic bunting just north
of Eureka, 90 miles south of the Oregon border,
was the first in the lower 48 states, according
to ornithologists. Normally the bunting breeds
in Siberia and migrates to China and Japan in
the winter.
Last week another Asian bird species, the slaty backed gull, was reported for the first time
along the Mississippi River near St. Louis.
"We're not sure what's causing allthis, but
there's been more first sightings this winter than
anyone can remember," said Richard Erickson,
a biologist who is one of the experts who saw
the rustic bunting this week.

So far this winter, he said, two other Asian

birds rarely seen in the Western Hemisphere,
the brambling and the Siberian accentor, have
been seen along the West Coast.
The rustic bunting is a small brown-feathered
bird with broad stripes across its cheeks and
white tail feathers. It was first sighted last
weekend by Gary Strachan, a state park ranger
at Stone Lagoon State Park.
"I only had a half-second look at it, and then
it disappeared into some willows," Mr.
Strachan said. He went home to consult his bird
books and found a drawing of a rustic bunting.
He returned the next day with Mr. Erickson and
another bird watcher, Gary Lester and Mr.
Erickson saw the bird.
Since then, at least a half-dozen experts have
sighted the bunting .
SOURCE: A.P. in N. Y. Times
1/15/84
CREDIT: H. Hollander

~
Earthbeat
While searching for Einstein's undiscovered
gravity waves, a team of physicists from the
University of Rome has unexpectedly determined that the Earth pulsates precisely every twelve
hours. So far, the scientists are unable to pinpoint the reason for the phenomenon.
The team made its finding by monitoring
hugh, aluminum "antennas" in Frascati, Italy
and Geneva, Switzerland. They were expecting
small signals which would correspond to gravity
waves passing through the aluminum. (The
elusive gravity wave was predicted theoretically
by Einstein but has yet to be physically observed.) Instead, the scientists got regular, twicedaily pulses that were 100 times larger than
those predicted for gravity waves.
They have observed the pulse for about a year
and have searched for but not found any equipment errors. The "Earthbeat" seems to recur
on a pattern that is relative to the Earths movement through the universe, rather than around
its own axis. According to Italian physicist
Guido Pizzella, the precise timing of the pulse
indicates it is unlikely to result from some
"trivial terrestrial effect."
Other scientists disagreed, however, saying
that pulse could be the result of tidal movements
within the Earth's crust. An interaction between
solar and lunar tides could be peaking every
twelve hours and causing the pulse, said scientists at the University of Bologna.
SOURCE: EasrWest Joumal
2/84
CREDIT: K. Waldron
(Continued on page 42)
First

Quarter 1984

Books Reviewed

PSYCHIC WARFARE: THREAT OR ILLUSION?

by Martin Ebon; McGraw-Hill; $15.95; 282 pp.
MIND WARS by Ron McRae; St. Martin's Press;
"
$12.95; 155 pp.
Reviewed by George W. Earley
You remember the scene. Luke SkYwalker is attacking the
Death Star when the discarnate voice of Obi-wan Kenobi intones: "Trust the Force, Luke!" and Luke turns off the targeting
computer, drops the nuke on instinct, and blows the Death Star
into a billion sparkling bits.
The audience loved it, although most of them walked away
convinced that The Force existed only in the reel -- as opposed
to the real -- world.
But does it? IS The Force simply a convenient (and much
beloved) science fiction gimmick to allow the nature boys to
whomp the technologists? Or does it really exist?
You won't get a positive answer to that question from either
Ebon or McRae, but you will get a fascinating behind-the-scenes
look at what appears to be a strong interest in paranormal
research by both the Soviet Union and Uncle Sam. Ebon looks
at activity in both countries; McRae at just the U. S.
"
From Ebon we learn that the Soviets (as PURSUIT readers
doubtless know) have been researching PSI phenomena for years
and apparently take it seriously; in 1977, they kicked out Los
Angeles Times reporter Robert Toth for possessing "state
secrets" about Soviet PSI research.
Ebon's recounting of Soviet experimentation over the past
several decades makes it clear that communist authorities have
had mixed feelings about paranormal research. Their controlled press has seesawed between acceptance and disbelief, while
researchers have been both praised and imprisoned. Right now,
belief seeins to have the upper hand and, as Ebon points out,
parapsychology's potential does seem to fit neatly into the Soviet
view of the mind as "little more than a complex electro-chemical
apparatus .. .in practical terms Soviet science views the brain as
an apparatus available for probing and manipulation."
And while we can't be sure just what military use they may
be trying to make of it, events in Daguio, in the PhiIlipines,
provided an almost comic relief example of one possible Soviet
use of mental manipulation.
"
The setting was the 1978 World Chess Championship, with
Soviet Chessmaster and World Champion Anatoly Karpov being challenged by Soviet defector Viktor Korchnoi. In Karpov's
entourage, much to Korchnoi's distress, was Dr. Vladimir
Soukhar, "whom Korchnoi," writes Ebon, "identified as a hypnotist and parapsychologist. " Korchnoi lost both his protest over
Soukhar's presence and the chess match.
Yesterday, the World Chess Championship ... tomorrow, the
world itself?
There is American interest in PSI phenomena too, beyond that
of Hollywood and science fiction tales. How much of it is sparkFirst Quarter 1984

ed by amateur activity in this country and how much by what

our military knows (or thinks it knows) of Soviet activity is not
clear, but Ebon quotes extensively from "The Mental Battlefield" which appeared in a 1980 issue of MIUTARY
REVIEW, the official journal of the U.S. Army. Written by
Lt. Col. John B. Alexander, Ph. D., it dealt with psychotronic
warfare and called for "more coordinated research in the realm
of the paranormal."
Judging from Ebon's quotes from Alexander's material, he
draws quite heavily on the ideas advanced by retired Lt. Col.
Thomas E. Bearden whose controversial speculations have appeared in several forteanesque publications, including

PURSUIT.
Even the CIA got into the paranormal act. Ebon reprints the
text, obtained recently under the Freedom of Information Act,
of 1952 (!) paper on the potential use of extrasensory perception for "practical problems of intelligence. "
It is those "practical problems" and' their possible paranormal solution that occupies McRae's book. For if, as he points
out, paranormal powers actually exist and can be made to function with reliable repeatability, their value in warfare (or under
benign guidance) is obvious: mindreading spies could learn the
most closely guarded secrets, telekinetics could induce heart at" tac~, immobolize computers, or cause or prevent nuclear explosions, while psychics with precognitive powers could foresee
an enemy's intentions and instruct diplomats on the means of
defusing a situation that might otherwise lead to a planetwrecking war.
It may all sound like STAR WARS, but as McRae documents
in this "true story of secret government research into the military
potential of psychic weapons," considerable time and money
has already been spent to (hopefully) insure there's no "psychic
gap" between the U.S. and the USSR.
Skeptics -- most "notably the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) -- charge
that no scientific evidence exists for psychic phenomena and
that therefore any research into the subject is futile. Uri Geller
-- the Israeli spoon bender -- is a demonstrable fraud, says
CISCOP, as are all other 'psychics' they've investigated.
CSICOP makes a good case against psychic research. Certainly magician James Randi has demonstrated how the will of
many researchers to believe in psychic abilities has enabled
tricksters to fool scientists and manipulate laboratory tests.
However, I can't help wondering why, if paranormal research
is all a waste, it hasn't been singled out by Senator Proxmire
for one of his "Golden Fleece" awards.
Between them, Ebon and McRae have written two very interesting (and somewhat disquieting) books about a phenomenon
few in this country wish to take seriously. On balance, Ebon's
is probably the better book -- there's more material, including
a lengthy appendix containing translations of Soviet, Red
Chinese, and East German papers on various aspects of psychic
research. However, both books are well-written, well-indexed
and have extensive (and overlapping) bibliographies well suited
to enable the interested reader to pursue the topic further.
Pursuit 41

ALIENS ABOVE, ALWAYS, by John Magor, Hancock House, 1983, 158 pps., $11.50 (available from
CUFOR Books, P.O. Box 758, Duncan, B.C.,
Canada V9L 3Yl).
Reviewed by Robert Barrow
Always was added to the title by the author just before publication, "and so dedicated this book to the enduring nature of the
UFO presence". John Magor realizes that, while public interest
in UFOs is currently low, the mysterious goings-on continue,
as they "always" have.
Readers of this provocative report will make no mistake about
the author's conviction that the aliens in question are 100% certified extraterrestrial in origin. He finds the evidence for beings
from one, or more likely a host of other worlds too overwhelm!ng by comparison with theories which suggest time/space
dimensions and other esoteric ideas. Clearly, Magor's fine style
and approach to his belief that visitors from space come here
frequently make this worthwhile reading. Like a whodunit detective, he builds his chapter-by-chapter case for the aliens' possi(Continued from page 40)

Yoath KiUs 6-foot .Lizard

ble motives and explains how various UFO characteristics could

relate to their goals.
Most unusual is Magor's research into beIl jar-like apparatus
sometimes associated with UFO incidents (an actual full-color
photo on the back cover of an alleged beIl jar accompanied by
what seem like ape-like figures is quite intriguing). The importance of the beIl jar to the aliens' environment is discussed
and woven among the threads of other UFO evidence as the
author explores how UFO craft make peculiar ground markings
and why they have an interest in our planet's power sources.
. 'Antonio's Ordeal" and other instances of UFO abductions are
detailed as the controversial area of cattle mutilations perfonned
by UFOs is introduced.
Suggesting how all of the usual, and sometimes not so well
known, pieces of the UFO mosaic fit into place is the task Magor
sets out to complete, and he has accomplished a nice book for
thought, though he occasionaIly seems to reach a bit far to tie
things together - an unavoidable dilemma that one must resolve.
to live with, since the definitive truthful interview with a willing alien still seems hard to come by to settle the why-and-whatfor questions.

on the Black Sea. Soon after takeoff,

thunderclouds were spotted about 60 miles from
the cmft's flight path.
"Suddenly, at the height of 1,200 yards, a
fireball about four inches in diameter appeared
on the fuselage in front of the crew's cockpit.
It disappeared with a deafening noise, but reemerged several seconds later in the passenger's
lounge, after piercing, in an uncanny way, the
airtight metal wall," Tass said.
"The fireball slowly flew about the heads of
the stunned passengers. In the tail section of the
airliner it divided into two glowing crescents
which then joined together again and left the
plane almost noiselessly," the agency said.
SOURCE: AP in The Philadelphia Inquirer
1/26/84
CREDIT: H. Hollander

In these days of dungeons and dragons and

other romantic fantasies, Rodney Cameron is
about as close to a real dmgon slayer as you'll
want to find in Ohio.
Instead of a magic spear or enchanted sword,
the 19-year-old used a 22-caliber rifle to bag
an African lizard nearly 6 feet long.
Cameron, a high school senior, said he was
walking around a pond in his family's backyard
when he saw the lizard.
The unlucky beast likely would not have survived for long in Ohio's climate even if
Cameron hadn't shot it six times, a game official said.
The exotic Nile Monitor lizard was 5 feet
II \4 inches long and weighed about 35 pounds.
Abmms said he hasn't been able to find out
how the lizard got into the pond and doubted
whether he ever would. Abrams said of whoever
WiDDer Saved by Horoscope
knows its origin: "They may be afraid to come
Maurice Hay would be a man with a skinny
out now. I don't know if the person will ever
wallet and no job if not for his horoscope.
surface.
Hay. 63. thought he won $10.000 in the
SOURCE: AP in Schenectady Gazette
Western Express Lottery recently. only to learn
2/84
that his "winning" number Was a printing
CREDIT: Bob Gimrd
.mistake in the morning edition of the Winnipeg
f'ree Press.
Good thing he scanned his horoscope that
morning. It told him not to act rashly about quitting his job in the provincial government.
F1yiag? Have Another Martial
"I don't usually read my horoscope but I just
Tass, the Soviet news agency, reported that happened to that morning." he said. "It was
a fireball invaded the interior of an airliner and a funny coincidence."
II was that afternoon when he got the bad
"flew above the heads of the stunned
passengers," then disappeared out the tail news from lottery ofticials. he was not a winner.
"I had illY moment of joy. but we live I'm
section.
There were no injuries but radar and other tomorrow," he said with a shrug.
equipment aboard the plane was damaged by SOURCE: UPI in Thl' GazL'uL'. Schenectady.
the "visiting firebalI," which left two holes in NY .
the plane, an I1yushin-18. Tass said the plane 3/17/84
took off in good weather from the town of Sochi CREDIT: Joe Zarzynski

Pursuit 42

,(Continued from page 28)

Sciemists say Tahoe's largest known denizens
are Mackinaw, a variety of lake trout known
to surpass 60 pounds. Murphy added that
seveml scuba divers have claimed they saw
"mackies" over 6 feet long.
But some fishermen say there must be
something else down there. There are reliable
reports of trophy-sized Mackinaw billen in half
by a foot-wide set of jaws as the fish was reeled in.
John Rousch, in his book, "Su,'cessful/v
Fi.~hing Tahoe .. theorized that the monster fi;h
could be sturgeon. gar or muskellunge accidentally planted with lake trout at the tum of the
cemury. Sturgeon as long as 26 feet have been
caught in Russia. The largest North American
catches are about 10 feet long. but they weigh
hundreds of pounds. Maybe that would explain
"Helther. ..
Rousch speculated the teeth marks could be
from a muskie. a hugh variety of pike and a
voracious predator. But. he wrote. some believe
the monsters are descendants of prehisioric
Ichthyosaurs that once lived in Lake Lahontan,
the ancient inland sea that once covered much
of Nevada.
Evidence of what those creatures were like
can be seen at a state park outside of Berlin.
a tiny community in centml Nevada. where
skeletons of Ichtheosaun; with jaws six feet lung
and bodies upwards of 60 feet are on display.
While more than happy til dis~uss the
legends. most longtime Tahoe residents say they
are unconvinced. "It seems the more you know
about the water. the less mysteries you see."
said Cavin. But he pointed out that with Tahoe's
depth and size there's plenty of room Ii.lf the "
unk~own.

SOURCE: UPI in ThL' Auburn Journal. CA

3/18/84
CREDIT: Robert Car.;un

First Quarter 1984

Letters to the Editors

Dear Editor,
I received Pursuit #64 today. Another excellent issue.
However, I should like to offer a written reply to Zecharia Sitchin's article, "Earth Chronicles and the Giza Forgery".
(Perhaps you can consider this an official letter to the Editor.)
Some things never change. Skeptics and believers are alike
in their inflexible attitudes about their ~t theories. Quite franldy
though, I am getting tired of people who continue to be mystified
by Egyptian pyramids. So much nonsense has been written about
the Giza group that the sound archeological work which exists
on pyramids remains buried under heaps of drivel.
The modem study of the pyramids of the Nile valley began
with the Italian adventurer Belzone at the tum of the 19th century. Since then, almost all the pyramids have been either plotted on maps, entered, or identified. The work on them continues
today, and the current generation of native Egyptian archeologists are happily free of the romantic notions of the early
European investigators.
Pyramids are - were - tombs. It's that simple. How can
I be so sure? The great mass of evidence does not permit any
other interpretation. Studies clearly show the evolution of the
pyramid form from the mastaba tombs of the archaic dynasties
(Dyn. I-II) to the sudden inspiration of the architect Imhotep
in Dynasty III. Imhotep, who was later deified for his genius,
squared off the rectangular mastaba and proceeded to pile even
smaller mastabas on top of the base. The resulting Step Pyramid
(not 'Steppe") served as the tomb oflmhotep's sovereign, King
Djoser. Moreover, the pyramid did not stand alone. It was surrounded by a large wall, in which shrines to the memory of the
Living God (Djoser himself) were served by a loyal priesthood
for many, many years.
Djoser's successors built their own step pyramids. We can
see from their efforts attempts to improve upon Imhotep's
design. Usually these did not work out well. The lower stages
of the pyramid of Meydum have fallen away, leaving the rest
of the structure looking like a medieval tower. Other cheaply
built tombs have eroded away as time and stone plunderers
reduced their outer coverings.
Few occult minded pyramidologists or Ancient astronaut enthusiasts are familiar with the pyramid of Sekhem-ket. This unfinished step pyramid was discovered in the 1950s by Dr.
Ghoneim of the Egyptian archeological department. Some of the
most interesting questions about pyramids were.answered by
close examination of Sekhem-ket's tomb. For one thing, the
builders' ramps were still in place around the base. Remember
all those wild theories about space ships levitating blocks of stone
for the poor primitave Egyptians? Well Sekhem-ket's tomb,
never completed, has its ramps in place. The conservative scientists were right all along; the Egyptians pushed their stone blocks
into place with nothing more than the lavish use of human muscle
power.
The burial chamber of Sekhem-ket yielded some sUiprises too.
In the rough hewn vault, an enclosed sacrophagous was apparently still sealed shut. Atop the stone case were withered
flowers - a last offering to the Living God. When the seals
were broken, the sacrophagous was empty! There were no signs

First Quarter 1984

it had been used. What happened to Sekhem-ket? Why was his

tomb unfinished? It may be he died under circumstances which
did not allow his people to recover his body.
It is apropos to point out here that the tombs of Old Kingdom
pharaohs were not highly decorated, as were the rock-cut tombs
of New Kingdom (Dyn. XVII-XX). This was directly related
to the different religious procedures in the Old Kingdom. The
great pyramid kings had long causeways leading from their
tombs down to the valley of the Nile, where funerary temples
were built. Here the descendants of the king, or pious pilgrims,
could make offerings to the dead king, now restored to the company of the immortal gods. Herodotos, the Greek traveller and
historian, saw the funerary temple complex for the Great
Pyramid at Giza; he described it as being fully as remarkable
as the pyramid itself. Why, I may ask, did ancient astronauts
include a funerary temple with "their" Great Pyramid? Ruins
of the causeways and temples of all the Giza group still can be
traced.
So we must consider: who built the Giza pyramids? It would
be very stubborn to persist in the belief they are not tombs, but
the matter of identifying who had them built is a valid question.
The answer seems to be Khufu, Khephren, and Menkaure.
The ancient Egyptians referred to the Great Pyramids as Khuit
Khufu, The Horizon of Khufu. The valley temple and causeway
were dedicated to Khufu. The subsidiary tombs of family
members and courtiers all indicate Khufu as their master and
patron. What more proof is required? The Nile Valley has seen
many upheavals in its 4,000 year history; more than likely
Khufu's body, along with his funerary objects were looted in
the First Intermediate Period (Dyn. VII-X) when central authority broke down. Tales from the days of Caliph AI Mamoun about
breaking into the Great Pyramid and finding a gold wrapped
mummy are either spurious or were a later, intrusive burial.
Sitchin's article is very careless in matters of Egyptian orthography. Over the years, renderings of ancient Egyptians'
names has improved. Nevertheless, popular literature does not
reflect this trend. For example, the hieroglyph 0 , is best
rendered as Re (pronounced "ray") instead of the incorrect Ra.
I suppose the latter spelling is popular due to the efforts of Thor
Heyerdahl and his "Ra Expeditions" across the Atlantic.
Egyptians kings had very complex names. This was mostly
due to their religious duties to the cults of th~ gods. Thus the
king would have a Horus name, as he was the incarnation of
the god Horus; in the Old Kingdom, the pharaoh often had a
nebty name, which signified his rule over both Upper and Lower
Egypt. Khufu was also known as Medjdu (his Horus name).
Some Egyptologists spell.the Great Pyramid builder's name
Khufwey, which is a shortened verson of his name
Khnomkhufwey. .
As for the charge of forgery against Hill and Vyse, this is
a very serious charge to make against a scholar, especially one
who is dead and cannot defend himself. It may be that Hill did
what is alleged; however, other explanations do come to mind
as well. After all, why would Hill change the painted marks?
Recent repainting would be obvious. What is Hill supposed to
have changed the cartouche from? If he added completely new
ones, he may have simply mistaken the KH symbol for the RE

Pursuit 43

hieroglyph. Since Champollion had begun to decipher,

hieroglyphs only a few years before Vyse's expedition, it does
not seem to me to be so sinister that Hill made a mistake. The
point is, a forgery is committed to disguise or obscure the true
ownership; and since Khufu did build the Great Pyramid, Hill's
grafitto, though incorrect, amounts to little more than a latter
day ascription. Finally, in contrast to Sitchin's contention that
no new study of the Giza group has been done since Vyse,
serious investigation of the pyramids has been done many times ,
since. (e.g., Petrie's in 1881-2).'
It is a pity so much careless and extravagant theorization has
gone into the Giza pyramids. Other structures in Egypt are far
more interesting; indeed, the only distinction of the Giza group
is their size. For sheer ingenuity, amounting to architectural
genius, consider the pyramid of Amenemhet m at Dahshur.
Within this moderate sized pyramid is a labyrinth of tunnels,
trapdoors, and passages all calVed in the hardest stone. Khufu's
tomb, though huge, is constructed almost entirely of limestone.
I urge Zecharia Sitchin and all those with a sincere interest
in the monuments of ancient Egypt to read the responsible, scientific authors who know the pyramids firsthand. Among the best
books are Ahmed FakIuy's The Pyramids (University of Chicago
Press, 1969); Mohammed Ghoneim, The Lost Pyramid (about
Sekhem-ket's tomb). I.E.S. Edwards' The Pyramids of Egypt
(1947) is good, if out of date. With honest scholarship, the
needless mysteries which exist primarily in the minds of the
mystified will hopefully give way to a better understanding of
the undeniably great civiliation of the ancient Nile. Great
enough, I might add, to not need the intelVention of angels, extraterrestrials, or occult teachers.
Paul B. Thompson
SITU Member 3416
P.S.
Upon further reflection, I have a suspicion that the cartouch
Hill is reputed to have added is not read as "Ra-u-f-u" as Sitchin says; it may in fact be the cartouche of Khufu's successor,
Rededef. I will consult my hieroglyphic dictionary and let you
know.

* * *

Here is a Letter to the Editor for the next Pursuit. I'm- also
sending copies of it to Senator Specter and John F. Murphy of
NASA. If you have an opportunity, please express my gratitude
to Gene Kelch for following through on this. Here's the text:
According to Mr. Murphy's response to Senator Specter, concerning his inquiry about NASA regulation 1211.101: "It was
not intended to, nor did it, implement any specific law passed
by Congress regarding the subject of extraterrestrial exposure
on Earth."
Although the regulation did not implement any specific law,
the regulation was itself passed by Congress on July 16th, 1969,
which endowed the regulation itself with the status of federal
law. As the only federal law on the books dealing with the subject of extraterrestrial contact, it establishes a legal precedent.
I accept that NASA's authority only applies to NASA missions,
but what about the legal precedent established to interpret and
enforce this NASA regulation (which is also a federal law) in ,
the manner I have suggested?
George Andrews

There is an item in a batch' of material just received that seems

to me of considerable potential importan<:e. It is from a Frenchlanguage publication entitled "Les Nouvelles- de Moscou"
'("The Moscow News"), No. 46, 1983. If it's a weekly, that
would make it mid-November. Credit is given to the original
Russian source as "Sovietskaia Rossia," no date given. Here's
my translation:
EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS AGAIN?
A large cave painting made by Bronze Age artists has been '
discovered in the upper part of the Ienissei River section of
southem Siberia by an expedition from the Institute of Archaeology of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
An enonnous meteorite fell in this region between three an4,
four thousand years ago. Specialists say the damage resembles
that caused by the Tungouska catastrophe. It seems that it. is because of this incident that the place was considered to be
sacred_ Cave paintings and enigmatic symbols cover the rock
faces that fonn majestic stone stailWays.
One photograph depicts an astonishing face or mask. It is not
possible to ignore its resemblance to the depictions of "extraterrestrials" that were found in the Sahara.
Mr. Devlet, who headed the expedition, says: "There are indeed similarities, but the fact is that it is a ritual mask."

So there you have it: another Tungouska site between three

and four thousand years old that was also a Bronze Age
ceremonial center with gigantic stone stairways and at least one
face resembling the Tassiliji depictions in the Algerian Sahara.
And southern Siberia is the most likely region for the location
of the now-vanished Shambhala.
Are there any SITU members on the other side of the Iron
Curtain who might check this one out? Even copies of the expedition's photographs would be well worth acquiring:
-George Andrews

* *

There are a great many scientists today who believe humaruty

may have received visits from extraten'estrials in the past. Where
they disagree with ancient astronaut proponents is over the question of evidence. There is much' about our origins that remains '
unknown, and this is where von Daniken and company step in.
Their one basic thesis is this: We don't know how it was done,
nor why; therefore, aliens must be involved.
We need to remember that a real mystery is just that - ' Ii '
mystery. It should be examined on its own tenns and not'
forced to fit anyone's preconceived theory, whether it be Carl
-Kim L. Neidigh,
Sagan's or von Daniken's.

ERRATA: We regret that we failed to properly credit the

"Ghosts in Caves" artich: in PURSUIT No. 64" Fourth
Quarter, 1983. It should have read: "Copyright 1983 by
the Conservation Commission of the State of Missour,i.
Reprinted with permission."

Pursuit 44

" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . - : - - - - - -_ _ _..',-_ _ _ _ _ -".:_

First Quarter 1984

_ _1_ _ _-

The Notes of Charles Fort

De~ph~l'ed

bv C.... d. Pab.t

ABBREVIATIONS

abo
Acad of sci
acto
(A I)

Am. J. Sci ..
An. Reg.
An: Sci
Atttib
B.A.

Bet
Bib. Univ
BO

BritAssoc
Cent Arner
Conri.
cor
CR
(Cut)

D-SS
Dept.
del met

dets
E
Edin N. P. J.
(F.)

Finley's Rept.
(Fr)
frgs
Ga.
Gelat
Gents Mag
Geog Mag
h

Inf conjunction
Inlro to Met
(It)

J. F. Inst.
Jour Asiatic Soc Bengal
Jour des Deb.
lour Soc
K: Hauser
I:.a

Lat

L: Institut
. Loc mets

Long

L.T.

First Quarter 1984

For some obscure reason, Fon cut a point on

the left side of the note.
Aurora
about
Academy of Science
according to
[ ? Almanac ? ]
American Journal of Science
Annual Register
Arcana of Science
Attributed .
RepOI1 ofthe British Association for the Advancement of Science

Between
Bibliographic Universelle
"It is clear from the arrangement of the notes
that he [Fon] was searching his chronological
arrangement and plucking out specific nOles
for a future book in which he would refer 10
these data as opprobrious to the Scientists for
their odor, 'B.O.' ... (The Fonean, #, p. 14,
c. l)
Repon of the British Association for the Advanc:ement of Science
Central America
Connecticut
cOlTCspondent
Comptes Rendus
illustrated
The Book of the Damned, page 8S
Department
detonating meteor
details
East
EdinbutBh New Philosophical Journal
Fletcher's List
Finley's Repons on the Characters of 600
Tornadoes
France
frogs
Georgia
Gelatin
GentJet1UUI's Magazine
Geological Magazine
hours
Inferious conjunction
Introduction to Meteorology
Italy
Journal of the Franklin Institute
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal
Journal des Debats
Journal ofthe Society for Psychical Research
Kaspar Hauser
Louisiana
Latitude
I?]
Locus [?] of meteors
Longitude
London Times

l.um obj
m
mag

Mag. Nat. Hist.

Mag of Pop Sci
Mechanics Mag
Met
Metite
Miss.
Mo
M. Post
Mts
M.W.R.
N

Nand Q
N. Eng.
Niles Nat. Register
N.J.
Nor Car
N.S.
n.w.
N.Y.
Op Mars
p.
CP)
Pa.
phe

Phil Myst Agents

Polt
proc. Amer Phil. Soc
q

Rec Sci
Ref
Religio-Ph. J.
Rept BA
1/1 [Revene Side]

S.C.
Spon comb
"sub." sounds
s.w.
CT.)
Tenn.
Thompson, Met.
th. storm
Trans. Geolog. Soc.
Trans Merc
Va
(ver.)
vol
Volc
vs
W

w. spout
(YRD)

Luminous object
minutes
magnilUde
Magazine of Natural History
Magazine of PopUlar Science
Mechanics Magazine
Meteor
Meteorite
Mississippi
Missouri
London [?] Morning Post
Mountains
Monthly Weather Review
North
NOles and Queries
New England
Niles' National Register
New Jeney
North Carolina
New Series
nonhwest
New York
Opposition of Mars
page
[?]

Pennsylvania
phenomena
Philosophy of Mysterious Agents
Poltergeist
Proceedings of the American Philosophical
Society
earthquake
Recreative Science
Reference
ReJigio-Philosophicai Journal
Repon of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
.probably not related
South Carolina
Spontaneous combustion
subtemnean sounds
southwest
[?]

Tennessee
Thompson, Introduction to Meteorology
thunderstorm
Transactions of the {?J Geological Society
Transit of Mercury
Virginia
I?]
volume
Volcano
versus
West
waterspout
library call leiters

Pursuit 45

(Continued from Pursuit No. 64)

(BCF: pp. 382-384:
At the meeting of the Royal
Astronomical Society. Jan. II. 1878.
was read a paperW. F. Denning: It was
by its implications one of the most exciting documents in history. The sub
ject was: . 'Suspected repetitions in
meteor-showers." Mr. Denning listed
twenty-two radiants that lasted from
three to four months each.
In the year 1799. Humboldt noticed
that the paths of meteors. when pans
of ~ne display. led back to one point
of common origin. or one point from
which all the meteors had radiated. This
is the radiant-point. or the radiant.
When a radiant occurs under a constellation. the meteors are named
relatively. In the extraordinary meteoric
display of Nov. 13-14. 1833. there was
a circumstance that was as extraordinary as the display itself: that, though
this eanh is supposed to rotate upon its
axis. giving to the stars the appearance
of revolving nightly. and supposed to
revolve around the sun. so affecting the
seeming motions of the stars. these
meteors of November. 1833. began
under the constellation Leo. and six
hours later. though Leo had changed
position in the sky. had changed with.
and seemed ~till coming from. Leo.
There was no parallax along the great
base line from Canada to Florida.
Then these meteors did come from
Leo. or parallax.or absence ofparallex.
is meaningless.
The circumstance of precise position
maintained under a moving constellation upon the night of Nov. 13-14.
1833. becomes insignificant relatively
to Denning's data of such synchronization with a duration of months. When
a radiant-point remains under Leo or
Lyra. night after night. month after
month. it is either that something is
shifting it. without parallax. in exact
coincidence with a doubly shifting constellation. which is so unthinkable that
Denning says. "1 cannot explain." or
that the constellation is the radiantpoint. in which case maintenance of
precise position under it is unthinkable
if it be far away That the stars are near.
Think of a ship. slowly sailing past
a seacoas~ town. firing with smokeless
powder. say. Shells from it burst before
quite reaching the town. and all
explosion-points are in line between the
city and the ship. or are traceable to one
such radiant. The bombardment continues. The ship moves slowly. Still all
points of exploding shells are trdceable
to one point between the ship and the
town. The bombardment goes on and
goes on and goes on. and the ship is
far from its first position. The point of
exploding shells is still between the ship
and the town. Wise men in the town say
that the shells are not coming from the
ship. They say this because formerly
they had said that shells could not come
from a ship. They reason: therefore
shells are not coming from this ship.
They are asked how. then. the point of
explosion could so shift exactly in line

Pursuit 46

with the moving ship. If there be a W.

F. Denning among them. he will say.
"1 cannot explain . But the other wise
men will be like Prof. Moulton. for instance. In his books. Prof. Moulton
writes a great deal upon the subject of
meteors. but he does not mention the
meteors that. for months at a time. appear between observers and a shifting
constellation.
.
There are other considerations. The
shells are heard to explode. So then they
explode near the town. But there is
something the matter with that
smokeless powder aboard ship: very
feeble projectile-force. because also
must the shells be exploding near the
ship. or the radiant-point would not
have the same background. as seen
f10m different pans of the town. Then.
in this town. "inhabitants. provided they
be not wise men. will conclude that. if
the explosion-point is near the town.
and is also near the ship. the ship is near
the townLeo and Lyra and Andromeda argosies that sail the sky and that bombard this eanh - and that they are not
far away.
And some of us there may be who.
instead of trying to speculate upon an
unthinkable remoteness. will suffer a
sensitiveness to proximity instead; enter
a new revolt against a black encompassment that glitters with a light beyond.
and wonder what exists in a brilliant environment not far away - and a new
anguish for hyperaesthesia upon this
eanh: a suffocating consciousness of the
pressure of the stars.
The Sic1e of Leo. from which come
the Leonids. gleams like a great
question-marie in the sky.
The answerBut God knows what the answer to
anything is.
Perhaps it is that the stars are very
close indeed.)
1833 Nov. 24 I Vesuvius in eruption
I Mag. Nat Hist.7-292.
1833 Nov. 25 I Blansko. Moravia.
Austria I (F).
1833 Nov. 25 I Presburg lAue.
Hungary I 3 stones I B A 49/2 I See
for other mets of Hungary.
1833 Nov. 25 I (F.) I Metite I Blansko. Moravia I
For description. see Athenaeum. before
1833 Jan. 13. 1834.1 See May 22. '08.
1833 end of Nov. I Fall of stones I Kandahar. Afghanistan I BA 60 I
(Reverse side) Ac to Arago. end of Ap .
1834.
1833 Dec I Formosa I II I (Medium
quake / BA 1911).
1833 Dec 4 I Mexico / II (Light quake
I BA 1911(.
1833 Dec 7 I Japan (Sado) I and sea
waves / II I (Medium quake I BA
1911).
1833 Dec II I Exception fall mets I
Parma I L.T .. 1837. Jan 4/6/2.
1833 Dec II I Herefordshire I Fireball
I BA 60.
1833 Dec II I Similar phe at Panna.
to Dec II. 1836 I Se ( e ).

1833" Dec 12 I Great meteor I Yucatan

I C.R. 6-8661 (Reverse side) Told of
in a book on a voyage to Yucatan. I So
in Yucatan?
1833 Dec 14/3rd attack on K. Hauser.
(BCF. pp. 703-710 I See May. 1828.)
1833 Dec 18 (L.T.)2-e I Chichester I
mill blown down.
1833 Dec 27 or 28/ Stones at Volhynia.
Russia I BA 60.
(BCF. pp. 202-203:
Haase had collected repons of twenty
observations like Lescarbaults. The list
was published in 1872. by Wolf. Also
there are other instances like
Gruthinsen 's:

Arner. Jour. Sci .. 2-28-446:

Repon by Pastorff that he had seen
twice in 1836. and once in 1837. two
round spots of unequal size moving
across the sun. changing position
relatively to each other. and taking a
different course. if not orbit. each time:
that. in 1834. he had seen similar bodies
pass six times across the disk of the sun.
looking very much like Mercury in his
transits.)

1834
1834 Jan 2 I Zeitz. Saxony I Stone fell.
ac to Baumhauer.
(Reverse side) Ac to Chladni. only a
piece of granite and mere newspaper
humbug. I BA 60.
1834 Jan 22 / Peru / great q I (BA) '11.
1834 Jan 30 I Gainsborough I E to W.
I Fireball / Ba 60.
1834 Feb 2 / During torrential rains.
pan of Mt. Telo Mojo. Java. sank. carrying houses.
(Reverse side) On Feb. 26. a vole outburst in Palambang. I L.T .. July 4-2-c.
11134.
1834 Feb 2 - March 27 I (Poll) I Polt
- bells in a hous(e) I Bealings. near
Woodbridge. Suffolk I
(Reverse side) Jour Soc 9-27. R. Ac
38341.
1834 / Poll I Woodbridge. N.J.
Rogers. Phil Myst Agents. p. 38.
1834 I The two Woodbridges.
1834 Feb 2 I Began door bell ringing
in home of Major Edward Moor.
F.R.S .. at Great Dealings. described by
(Reverse side) him in his book "Bealings Bells. Lasted 53 days. / See
183011.
1834 / "Philosophy of Mysterious
Agents." by E. C. Rogers (YRD) p.
381 Town of Woodbridge. N.J .. home
of Mr. Joseph Barron - phe accompanying a servant girl ab 14 years old. At
(Reverse side) first a loud thumping apparently against the side of the house
after all to bed. and at intervals all
night. Next evening. the girl passing a
window. the house was jarred. the win!low broke with an explosive sllUnd.
and the girl was seized with a violent
spasm.
(Second page) Sounds continued lind
with them the girl had spasms. Thumping ceased at daylight. Each night
began a little earlier until at noon.
Whatever room girl placed in: there

were the
[Reverse side) thumping sounds - 5 or
6 in succession - an interval and then
a succession. Girl seemed good health
and the convulsions stopped. Some phe
continued.
1834 Feb 4 I Upper Silesia I Fireball
I BA 60 I = moon.
1834 Feb 12 I Lancaster. Pa. I Shock
like explosion of a powder mill I BA

60.
1834 Feb 13 - 17 I Shocks I Italy I BA

60.
1834 Feb 20 I midday I Aurora I
Westmoreland I L.T. 26-3-c.
1834 Mar 101 Hirschberg. Silesia I
det met / BA '60.
1834 Mar 271 Great Dealings Bells
stop.
(Reverse side) 27th last day of ringings.
1834 Ap 15 - 17 I Shocks I Italy I and
loud explosive sounds I BA 60"1 ab
March 21 and May 2 - to Aug 2 I
(Reverse side) See Ap 15. 1835.
1834 early I At Kandahar. Afghanistan.
fall of stones followed by dry fog which
obscured the sun
(Reverse side) three days. / C.R. 3-51
/ (See end of Nov . 1834.)
1834 Ap. 191 Afghanistan I stones and
obscuration I 0-168 I
[Reverse side) Ac to a Baltimore
newspaper of Ap. 19.
[BCF. p. 176:
Super-Sargasso Sea and the beaches
of its floating islands from which. I
think. or at least accept. pebbles have
fallen:
Wolverhampton. England. June.
1860 - violent storm - fall of so many
little black pepples that they were
cleared away by shoveling (La. Sci.
Pour Taus. 5-264): great number of
small black slones that fell at Birmingham. England. August. 1858 violent storm - said to be similar to
some basalt a few leagues from Birmingham (Repl. Brit. Assoc.. 1864-37):
pebbles described as"common waterworn pebbles" thai fell at Palestine.
Texas. July 6. 1888 - "of a formation not found near Palestine".
(W. H. Perry. Sergeant. Signal Corps.
Monthly Weather Review.' July
1888): round. smooth pebbles at Kandahor. 1834 (Am. J. Sci .. 1-26-161):
"a number of stones of peculiar formation and shapes. unknown in this
neighborhood. fell in a tornado at
Hillsboro. III . May 18. 1883." (MOIIthly Weather Review. May. 1883.)
1834 early in April I Shropshire I shock
/ L.T .. April 14. 1836-5-e.
1834 May 3 I pollen'! I 11 :30 - 12 I
Very heavy rainfall and sulphur so thick
(Reverse side) that it was scraped off
the pavements. I Mag. Nat Hist 7-304
/ Rodelheim. near Fr.mkfon.
1834 May 15 I Bunzlau I Meteor / BA
60.
1834 May 16 I In Tuscany / qs and
"sub." sounds I See July oJ. / BA 50J
/ See July 18. '31.

First Quarter 1984

1834 May 16 I Shock in Tuscany The evening before. magnetic

perturbations
[Reverse side] had been observed at
Parma.
1834 May 161 Japan I q III [Medium]
IBAII.
1834 May 16 or 17 I Bloodfish I India
I D-43 I See May - 1833.
[BCF. pp. 41-44 I See August 13.
1819.]
1834 May 21 I 1:30 a.m. I det met I
Hanley. Worcestshire I Mag. Nat. Hist
7-296.
1834 May 231 Asia Minor II
[Light
quake I BA 1911].
1834 May 23 I Dry fog I dry fog on
Hanz Mts I 21 to 24. at Munster I 25th.
at Orleans I Thompson. Intro to Met.
p. 120 I
[Reverse side] In July and Aug - at
Halle. Freiberg and Altenburg I 479.
1834 last of May and first of June I Dry
fog I France I Cosmos 14/676.
1834 June 7 I Philadelphia I toward
s.w./8 p.m. I brilliant white meteoric
light
[Reverse side] reaching from zenith to
horizon I BA 60.
(1834) I 1833 I June /I (Fr.) I Jouy I
fall of frogs I said that
[Reverse side] drops of water that fell
with them not more numerous. I
Magasin Pittoresque - 4/371.
1834 June I at Jouy. France I Letter
from M. Huard to French Acad of Sci.
read Oct 28 I
[Reverse side] shower of little toads.
and received them on his umbrella I
Leisure Hour 3-779 I quantity
prodigious.
1834 June 9 I Banff I Pollen in rdin I
Thomson. Met .. p. 151 I See June 9.
1879. 11/
[Reverse side] 30851. I 0851.44.
1834 June 12 I Metite I (F) I Charwallas. 30 miles from Hissar. India I
A. J. Sci. 2111136 I
[Reverse side] Edin N. P. J. 53/246.
1834 abo June 8 I (June 12) /I Metite
I near H issar I detonations heard 112
hour before it fell I
[Reverse side] Jour Asiatic Soc Bengal
3/413 I See Feb. 28. 1857.
1834 June 121 (F) I Met stone I Hissar.
India I Edin New P. J. 53/246 1/1
[Reverse side) 18- I Sept. 8 I Met
stones I Sandwich Islands I Edin new
Phil Jour 40/204.
1834 June 181 q. I Island ofCephalonia
I (Greece?) I BA 54 I severe shocks.
1834 July 4 I 1:45 a.m. I See Oct 4.
I Panna. Milan. Genoa. etc. I q I at
Milan. a hissing in air I See May 16.
1834 July 41 See Aug. 4. '35. I fireball
IS. Herefordshire I BA '60. I
[Reverse side) 9: 15 p.m. I '521183.
1834 July 10 - 22 1 q I III [Heavy] I
China I BA '11.
11134 July 10 - 22 I or June 28 - July
19 /I different authorities I 1111 China
I [Heavy quake I BA 1911].
1834 July 121 morning 1 Near Ripon.
England. tremendous explosion heard

First Quarter 1984

and a fissure found in a field. I

[Reverse side] Gents Mag, N.S ..
2/205.
1834 July 18 - 23 I Aug 23 - 25. 27
- 2911 Vesuvius I Arc. Sci 1835-272.
1834 July 25 I evening I Phe I J. F.
Inst. 1834. vol 14 - 222 - 224.
1834 July 28 I (It) I [L.T.] 5-b I q I
Piedmont.
1834 Aug91 Mussels I N.S.I M.W.R.
45/2201
[Reverse side) L.T .. Sept 30. 1834 I
Some weighed 2 ounces.
1834 Aug 9 I Fell into the yard of the
jail at Pittsburg. Pa.
[Reverse side) mussels. lillIe frogs. and
several stones. I L. T . Sept. 30. 1834.
1834 Aug 14/4:05 p.m. I Utica. N. Y.
I Tornado I Finley's Rept.
1834 Aug 16 - 17 I midnight I Norway
I shock and brilliant fireballs I BA 541
[Reverse side] At Snaasen. no shock
felt. but western horizon seemed on
lire. I
[Front side] On 23rd. 7 and 9 a.m ..
shocks at IIvidsoe. Norway. I Sept. 3
- 8 p.m . severe shocks. /
[Reverse side] Night. Sept. 4 - 5. slight
'I .. Hardanger. Norway.
1834 Aug 16 - 17 I Norway succession
I 'I/lIvidsili:. Norway / See Sept 3. I
and met I On 23rd. 7 and 9 a.m .. qs
at IIvids&.
1834 Aug 18 I Vesuvius began I and
till 22nd I then 27 - 19. renewed
violence. /
[Reverse side) Gents Mag. N.S ..
2/420.
1834 Aug 27 - 29 1 Vesuvius renews
after subsiding. I
L. T .. Sept 22-3-a.
1834 last of August I Vesuvius I
preceded by drying of wells I A. J. Sci
28-199.
1834 Aug 24 I Vesuvius active and
following days. I BA 54.
1834 Aug 26 - 30 I Vesuvius I Mag Nat
Hist 8/130.
1834 Aug 26 I Padua I hail with gray
powder in I Bib. Univ 57/391.
1834 Aug I Brick I Italy I (D-114) 148.
[BCF. p. 119:
Pieces of "furnace-made brick" said
to have fallen - in a hailstorm - at
Pl!dua. August. 1834. (Ellin. New Phil
Jour.. 19-87.) The writer offered an explanation that started another convention: that the fragments of brick had.
been knocked from buildings by the
hailstones. But there is here a concomitant that will be disagreeable to anyone
who may have been inclined to smile
at the now digestible-enough notion that
furnace-made bricks have fallen from
the sky. It is that in some of the
hailstones - two per cent of them that were found with the pieces of brick.
was a light grayish powder.]
1834 Aug 27 I Atmosphere at
Chichester. etc .. suffocating. I 7 to 8
p.m .. thunder heard.
[Reverse side) "The appearance of the
sunset was extraordinary .. I BA 54 I
Loud report and q. / See BA for

Chichester year back. I q's and rains

here.
1834 Aug 27 I Chichester I Aug 3.
1835 1 metite. Herefordsh [ire) I Aug 4.
1834 Aug 27 I Whirlwind near
Chichester I 3 hours later, a. (q) I Edin
N P. J 311121 1 (Cut) /
[Reverse side] Rept BA. '54/247.
1834 Aug last I BO I L Institut. vol.
21 Meeting of Fr. Acad . Oct 13. 1834.
Col. Marmier. letter frol}1 him read he was near a small village in department of Seine-et-Oise. A rain of innumerable little toads from
[Reverse side) a great cloud. 1 .
[Second page] BO I Frgs / were innumerable. I
letter from M. Huard, frgs of Jouysaw them fall and caught on his umbrella I Even M. Gayet not clear that
tadpoles as that frgs not yet fully
developed.
[Reverse side) Says that most of them
had the posterior part elongated into a
tail; that is to say, in the tadpole state.
1834 Sept 3 I Norway / abo 8 p.m. /
See "Aug 16 - 17 / Shocks and W.
horizon
[Reverse side] "seemed to be all on fire
and constantly lit up by lightning. / BA
54.
1834 Sept 161 hot wind III p.m.I"A
sudden gust of hot wind from the east.
fierce as if from
[Reverse side] a furnace." at Dublin.
. blowing in gusts for a minute, Ab. 2
hours later. it appeared at Carnarvon.
from the n.w. /
[Front side) Mag Nat Hist 8-28.
1834 Sept 18 / Violent whirlwind at
Breadlow. Bucks I L.T. 22-3-a.
1834 Sept 20 - 21 I night I Hurricane
I Dominica I L.T. Nov II-I-e.
1834 Sept 21 I 11:20 a.m. I (BA 54)
I Another shock at Chichester - had
been extraordinary and unseasonable.
hot weather. See whole
[Reverse side) series of Chichester and
heat.
1834 Sept 29/7: 15 p.m. IS. Herefordshire I Met I BA 52/184.
1834 Sept. 28 - Oct I I Spalding 28th. "very small. black flies" I 29.
30. Oct. I. at
[Reverse side) Colchester and
Chelmsford (Essex Standard) I 29th.
Halifax and York I also in Devonshire.
a column 3/4 miles long /
[Front side] Mag Nat Hist 7-611.
1834 Oct or Nov / Lum obj / Oswego.
N.Y. I See Lum objs.
1834 Oct 4 I 8 p.m. I Parma. etc. 1
violent shock 1 loud hissing sound I BA
'54 I See July 4.
1834 Oct 4 I Italy I (Bologna) I I I
[Light quake 1 BA 1911].
1834 Oct 6/3 and 7 a.m. I Carthagena.
Spain. I Later in same day. a
tremendous
[Reverse side] tho storm. I BA 54.
1834 Oct / Ref to Fr Acad and frgs =
vols of L'lnstitut 2, 4. 6.
1834 Oct. 13 I frgs I Case recorded by
Col. Maunier I oot said where I Rec Sci
3-333 /

[Reverse side) See Leisure Hour 3/779.

1834 Oct 15, 16, 17 I in N.N.E.
Hungary I It had rained only 3 times
since May. Then
[Reverse side] came "dreadful weather.
lilllowed by violent shocks. 1 BA 54.
1834 Oct 17 / Burlington Sentinel I
nothing.
1834 Oct 17 / Intense darkness I
Quebec I Niles National Register
571192.
1834 Oct 17 I Darkness and black rain
I Montreal I supposed from forest fires
I Mag Nat Hist 8-137.
1834 Oct 20 I Meeting of this date by
French Acad Sci .. M. Peltier told of
great shower of small toads that
[Reverse side] he had witnessed and
felt. years beflore) at Ham (Somme).
Leisure Hour 31779 I felt them hit his
hand.
1834 Oct 23 I at Dieppe I in the hurricane I "Many North American
birds." I Mag Nat Hist.8-23.
1834 Oct 28 1(+) I(Tadpoles) / M.
Gayet tells of meeting of French Acad
Sci of [Oct 28] that in summer of 1794
[Reverse side] he had seen shower of
little toads. many still in tadpole state.
1834 Nov 3/ (P) I (Cut) I Shaft of light
in evening sky - Liverpool I
Mechanics Mag.22/128.
1834 Nov 31 ab.'8 p.m. I at Liverpool
I A band of light from a point near the
[Reverse side] western horizon to a
point near Jupiter ab 20 degrees above'
eastern horizon. I L.T . Nov 7-3-a.
1834 Nov 12 I See Quads. Jan. 2.
1834 Nov 12/ (Nov) I (volc) I 2 p.m.
I s.e. China I Air suddenly darkened
and so continued on 13th. I Mag Nat
Hist. 8-422 I
[Reverse side] A dim light. and air appeared to be full of "smoke without
smell". 4 p.m. - a brown dust without
smell. of a salt taste - no known
volcano.
1834 Nov. 12 and 131 A thick shower
of ashes fell near Tsourou Koitou.
[Reverse side) "on the frontiers between Russia and China". / Tasmanian
Journal 1-327.
1834 Nov 12 I See this and following
vols. A. J. Sci. I Prof.Olmstead to support his
[Reverse side) theory gives instances of
Leonids this year.
1834 Nov 12 - 13 I Nothing unusual
reported from N. Eng., N.Y., Nor Car.
S. Car. Florida. La. Mo. etc. I A. J.
Sci 28-3071
[Reverse side] And yet Prof. Olmstead
at New Haven. and Mr. Twing in
N.Y .. reported them from I a.m. till
daybreak.
1834 Dec 15. 161 Marsala and Palermo ab 50 miles apart.
1834 Dec 15 or 10 I Many stones I
night I Marsala. Sicily I BA 60.
[1834 Dec] I BO l"At Marsala. on the
southern coast of Sicily. on a serene
day. there appeared in the sky a small
black cloud. which
[Reverse side) gradually extended itself

Pursuit 47

at last disgorged itself in a shower of

stones, which broke the slates and roofs
of the house." I Niles Register, Aug
8,1835.
1834 Dec 16 I voc and substance 14
a.m. I Hurricane I an immense shower
of yellow hailstones I Mag. Nat Hist
8/143 I
[Reverse side] At Palenno.
1834 Dec 17 I Neuhaus, Bohemia I
Stones, ac to Boguslawski I BA 60.
1834 Dec 21/- 3 h I Venus InfConj
Sun I (A 1).

1835
1835 about I The Bell witch (Bell family) I Robenson Co., Alabama I ReligioPh. J., Oct 9-1-2, 1875.
1835, etc. I Haunted hous[e] of Wellingron, Tyneside I Jour Soc 5-331 I
[Reverse side] See June, 1840.
18351 Halley's Comet I Letter received by Littrow (director of Observatory
of Vienna) from Sir John Herschell
[Reverse side] that Halley's Comet,
positively expected in August. would.
not be visible because it had long
changed ilS orbit. I L.T., Ap.23-3-d.
1835 Jan, early in I Vesuvius I An
Reg.'35-1.
1835 Jan 2 I Op Mars I (A 1).
1835 Jan 2 I Extraordinary display of
melS at Mornez. near Geneva. I Proc.
Amer Phil. Soc 13-501.
1835 Jan 6 I Great q. I Mexico I BA
'11.
1835 Jan 61 Mexico I ill I (Great quake
I BA 1911].
1835 Jan 12 I Breslau I Fireball I Ba 60.
1835 Jan 131 (ver)1 Ferriginous sand
at Lobau, Saxony I Cr 3-77.
1835 Jan 13 I Meteoric dust I Lobau.
Saxony I L' Astro 2/84 I following explosion of bolide.
1835 Jan 131 Berlin I Fireball I Ba 60.
1835 Jan 18 I Lobau I 4::'0 p.m. I A
"curious account" in 10th Sup to
Chadlini - in Poggendorf's Annalen.
vol. 4. I D-68.
BCF. p. 70:
Fall of small, friable, vesicular
masses, from size of a pea to size of
a walnut, at Lobau, Jan. 18, 1835
(Rept. Bril. Assoc. 1860-85).]
1835 Jan 19 I [L.T.] 7-a I Vesuvius.
1835 Jan 191 Great volcanic eruption
I w. coast Central America. I Mag of
Pop Sci 21284 1/1
[ Reverse side] 20 I 271.
1835 Jan 19 - 231 atCou5equina/13N
and 87W. I Great eruption I Mag Pop.
Sci 2-2871
[Reverse sidel.Said that the ashes reached as far as Chiapa in the north - "upwards of 400 leagues to the windward
of the volcano, thus proving the existence of a counter current of wind in
the higher regions of the atmosphere. "
[Front side] There were deluges of rain.
,. At this season such an occurrence was
extraordinary and almost unprecedented
in Central America.
1835 Jan 20 I Eruption of Cousequina
Mexico. After that the same brilliant
sunsets and sunrises

Pursuit 48

[Reverse side] as those attrib to

Krakatoa. I Houston, Volcs and Earthquakes, p. 93.
1835 Jan 20 I Volc.1 Cent Amer I Col, umn in L. T., June 30-6-a.
1835 Jan 30 I Great q. Chili I and ex ~
treme voleanic phe I Mag of Pop Sci

2/278.
1835 Jan 20 I The volc I The shower
of dust lasted till the 27th. I Arc of Sci
1836-261.
'
1835 Jan 20, etc. I Vole I Nicaragua
I A.J. Sci 28-332 (good).
1835 Jan 20 I Three volcs b!lrst out
simultaneously in the Andes, ac to Darwin (Trans. Geolog.
[Reverse side] Soc., March, 1838). I
Osomo, Lat 40S I Concagus. 32S I
Cousequina Lat 13N lOs and Cos are
3700 miles apan.
1835 Jan 20 - 23 I Violent shocks I
Honduras I BA 1911-50.
1835 Jan 22 - 231 (T.) I night I L.T.
Ap. 16-3-d I Letters from Belize. Supposed great volc eruption somewhere
in Cent Amer. Sounds like gunfire
heard and it was supposed that a vessel
was in distress. Not known
[Reverse side] up to Feb. 13 where it
was. So like gunfire that guns at fon
in Belize fired in answer to the supposed
ship. BoalS were sent off to find the
ship. On 24th a vessel came in reporting the fall of ashes of Truxillo.
[Second page] In Guatemala the sounds
heard and thought gunfire and the
troops ordered under arms. This second
cor had heard that the vole was at San
Salvador, ab 90 miles from Belize.
[Reverse side] Evidently no sand fell
at Belize. /I L.T., May 5~31 Eruptions,
one at San Salvador and one near Belize
(doubtful? I say.) One near Truxillo.
1835 Jan 23 I (Lac melS) I At Bogota,
from I to 8 a.m., sounds of meteors.
Meteors and the sounds were like firing of anillery and musketry.
1835 Jan 23 I Said that the sounds were
"produced by the bursting of meteors
in the sky". Not said were seen. I Niles
Register, May 16, 1835.
1835 Jan 23 - 26 I( +}/ (volc dust vs
trade wind elsewhere) I Volcanoes in
Central America. Dust fell 800 or 900
miles away. I Mag Nat Hist 8-428 I
, [Reverse side] But "the dust falling at
Jamaica was supposed there to come
from the eastward . , Writer thinks was
carried rar beyond Jamaica "and also rar
, above the trade wind, and then falling
to and carried back by the trade wind.
1835 Jan 24 - 25 I Sky obscured and
ashes falling in Jamaica from vole of
19th. I Mag Pop. Sci 2-287.
183S [JID] J Chili I At to M. Domeiko.
of the University of Santiago, the
volcanoes of Chile showed no
pertUrbations.
[Reverse side] There was some activity at the time. M. D was at Uanquihue
and it smoked with neither increase nor
decrease. I The Student 4-147.
1835 Jan 231 Quito, Equador I noises
in sky I 7 hours I BA '60 I
[Reverse side] 1200 miles from the
volcano.

1835 Jan. 29 I Wallachia I Stones that

burned like coals I An. Reg 1835/338.
1835 Feb 6 I q. I Tuscany, Italy I BA

60.
1835 Feb 61 Panna I Fireball I BA 'II.
1835 Feb 8 I 16 qs I Tuscany places
ofl See Ap 15-17,1834./On24th,at
[Reverse side] Palermo, "flashes of
lightning daned for a panicular group
of clouds" during shocks. I BA 54.
1835 Feb 9 I See May 19, 1806. I at
57' S and 25 39' W. I Vessel has a
sharp shock as if struck reef.
1835 Feb 12 I Ship -'severe q. I 10
h, 15 m I Lat 18,47 m N. I Long
61' 22 m W I L.T., March 28 (
[Reverse side] Lasted abo a minute but
no uncommon ripple on the calm water.
1835 Feb 15 I Violent tho storms,
destroying churches in Yorkshire and
in Gennany.
(Reverse side] Also th storms on 21st
and 2200. I Mag Nat Hist 8-428.
1835 Feb 20 I 11:30 a.m. I Great q.
C~ile I 2 eruptions of dense smoke from
[Reverse side] the sea. Q followed by
rain and windstonns. I BA 54.
1835 Feb 20 111:30 a.m. I q - Chile
I Tidal wave rolled in 28 feet above
high water mark.
[Reverse side] 2 eruptions of smoke
from the sea. I BA 54.
1835 Feb 20 to March 4 I 300 shOcks,
all over Chile I Geog Mag 4-207.
1835 Feb 20 I 11:30 a.m. I Chile I q
I Message from town of Concepcion "This town has ceased to exist. sea
rose 33 feet, landed a vessel in the toWn
square. I L.T . July 6-2-d.
1835 Feb 20 to March 6;and on'l7thl
II a.m. I q. I Chile I A. J. Sci 28-336
I Attrib to a volc in Lat 36 and 30
leagues from a coast. I sea wave 30
feet.
1835 Feb 24 I See Feb 8.
1835 Feb 26 I Columbia, Haiti,
Venuzuela I III I [Great quake I BA
1911].
1835 March 13, etc. I Vesuvius I Arcana of Science 1836-259 I
[Reverse side] etc. in L. Times, Ap
8-4-f.
1835 March 22 I At Fortress
Troizkosaffsk, Russian and Prussian
frontier, 9 p.m. "a remarkable
[Reverse side] meteoric appearance and
noise". I BA 60.

1835 March 23 I Cuneo, Italy I q I ]

[Light] I BA 60.,
1835 March 23 I 2:07 a.m., severe
shocks I 4:23 a.m. - "Flashes of
lightning daned from a panicular group
[Reverse side] of clouds - and 3 other
shocks. I B.A., '54.
1835 Ap. I I Vesuvius I violent after
long quiet I BA 54.
1835 Ap. 2 I Vesuvius I violent eruption I A. J. Sci 28-340.

ing Sea I IU I [Heavy quake I BA

191!1.
1835 Ap 15 ( Slight shocks, Borgotaro,
Tuscany, place of Ap 15, 1834.
[Reverse side] On 20th 2 p.m., severe
shock and detonations. ( BA 54.
1835 Ap.21 I Russia, Bessarabia,
Bucharest III [Light quake I BA 1911].
1835 Ap. 25 ( 3:45 a.m. I Borgotaro.1
Another shock and "very intense
noise". I BA 54 I
[Reverse side] On Aug I, sound heard
here.
.
1835 May I Edinburgh I Polt I "Footfalls, p. 253.
1835 May I Cacciatore's planet (Nature
18-261.
1835 May II and 14 I Cacciatore's
planet I C.R. 9/141, 424.
[Reverse side] Details I See Nature
18/261.
[BCF, pp. 4'12-413 I'See July 31,

1826.]
1835 May 13 I Sumter District, S.C.
I rornado I Finley's Rept.
1835 Mayl4 I afternoon I Macon,
Georgia I Tornado r Finley's Rept.
i835 June 13 I Konigsberg I Fireball
I BA 60.
1835 June 15 I 12:29 a.m. /I June 17
I 12:29 a.m. /I June 20 I exact time not
given 1/1 loud detonations
[Reverse side] and slight shocks I Majorica I An Reg '35-94.
1835 June 19 ( Waterspout I New
Brunswick I A.l. Sci 36-1151 5:30p.m.
1835 June 19 I .. p.m. I Tornado (
Finley's Repl.
1835 June 19 I 5:12 p.m. I New
Brunswick, N.J. I Tornado I Finley's
Rept (
[Reverse side] Tomad[o] and W. spout.
1835 July 16/22 h I Mercul)' I Inf conjunction sun I (A 1).
1835 July 171 Milan and Winemberg
I 8:30p.m. I S.E.to N.W. (detonating
meteor I
[Reverse side] exploded over
Winenberg I seen at Stutgardl and other
places I no stones mentioned I BA 60.
1835 July 18 I Aarbus and Berlin (
Fireball I BA 60.
1835 July 20 I Russia III [Light quake:
( BA 1911].
183~ July 30 or 31 or Aug. 1.1 2:30
p.m. I Dickson Co. Tenn. I Loud'
detonations I irori found later I BA
60-75.
1835 July 31 or Aug. 1 I Met iron I
Charlotte, Dickson Co, Tenn. I (on
other notes) "F" = Fletcher's InllO to
Study of Mets.
[BCF, p. 381 I See 182711.]
1835 Aug. 31 Chichester I bCt. 11 - 12
p.m./2 shocks I L.T., Aug II, 1835.

(To be continued)

1835 Ap. 91 Lat. 7N. and Long 99W:

I Vessel sailed SO miles through thinly'

scattered pumice stones. I Niles
Register 51-66.
.
1835 Ap

14/Pribilof Islands, Ber-

First Quarter 1984,

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, little Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
GOVERNING BOARD
Robert C. Warth, President; Gregory Arend, Vice-President; Nancy L. Warth,
Secretary and Treasurer; Trustees: Gregory Arend, Steven N. Mayne, Nancy L.
Warth, Robert C. Warth, Martin Weigler, Albena Zwerver.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. George A. Agogino, Director of Anthropology Museums and Director, Paleo-Indian
Institute, Eastern New Mexico University (Archeology)
Dr. Carl H. Delacato, Director, The Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured, Morton; Pa. (Mentalogy)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Director, lindheimer Astronomical Research Center, Northwestern
University (Astronomy)
Dr. Martin Kruskal, Program in Applied Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton,
New Jersey (Mathematics)
Dr. Samuel B. McDowell, Professor of Biology, Rutgers the State University, Newark,
New Jersey (General Biology)
Dr. Vladimir Markotic, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Archaeology, University of Alberta, Canada (Ethnosociology and Ethnology)
Dr. John R. Napier, Unit of Primate Biology, Queen Elizabeth College, University of
london, England (Physical Anthropology)
Dr. Michael A. Persinger, Professor, Department of Psychology, Laurentian University.
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (Psychology)
Dr. Frank B. Salisbury, Plant Science Department, College of Agriculture, Utah State
University (Plant Physiology)
Dr. Berthold Eric Schwarz, Consultant, National Institute for Rehabilitation Engineering, Vero Beach, Florida (Mental Sciences)
Dr. Roger W. Wescott, Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew
University, Madison, N.J. (Cultural Anthropology and linguistics)
Dr. A. Joseph Wraight, Chief Geographer, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D.C. (Geography and Oceanography)
Dr. Robert K. Zuck, Professor and Chairman, Department of Botany, Drew University,
Madison, N.J. (Botany)
ORIGINS OF SITU/PURSUIT
Zoologist. biologist, botanist and geologist Ivan T. Sanderson, F.L.S . F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., in association
with a number of other distinguished authors, established in 1965 a "foundation" for the exposition and
research of the par.,.normal-those "disquieting mysteries of the natural world" to which they had devoted
much of their investigative lifetimes.
As a means of persuading other professionals, and non-professionals having interests similar to their
own, to enlist in an uncommon cause, the steering group decided to publish a newsletter. The first issue
came out in May 1967. The response, though not overwhelming. was suRicient to reassure the founding
fathers that public interest in the what, why and where of their work would indeed survive them.
Newsletter.No. 2;.dated March 1968, announced--new.plans for the Sanderson foundation: a structure
larger than its architects had first envisioned was to be built upon it, the whole to be called the Society for
the Investigation of The Unexplained, as set forth in documents filed with the New Jersey Secretary of
State. The choice of name was prophetic, for Dr. Sanderson titled one of the last of his two-dozen books
"Investigating the Unexplained." published in 1972 and dedicated to the Society.
Another publication was issued in June 1968, but "newsletter" was now a subtitle; above it the name
Pursuit was displayed for the first time. Vol. I, No. 4 in September 1968 ("incorporating the fourth Society
newsletter") noted that "the abbreviation SITU has now been formally adopted as the designation of our
Society."lssue number 4 moreover introduced the Seienti&c Advisory Board, listing the names and affiliations
of the advisors. Administrative matters no longer dominated the contents; these were relegated to the last
four of the twenty pages. Most of the issue was given over to investigative reporting on phenomena such as
"a great armadillo (6 feet long, 3 feet high) said to have been captured in Argentina"-the instant transportation of solid objects '"from one place to another and even through solids" - the attack on the famed
University of Colorado UFO Project headed by Dr. Edward U. Condon-and some updated information
about "ringing rocks" and "stone spheres."
Thus SITU was born, and thus Pursuit began to chronicle our Investigation of The Unexplained.

Printed in U_S.A.

ISSN 0033-4685

Journal of SITU
The
So.:iety for the
Investigation of
The Unexplained

Number 2
Whole No. 66
Se..:ond Quarter
1984

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT. P.O. Box 265. little SiI~er. NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
SITU (pronounced sit' - you) is a Latin word meaning "place." SITU is also an acronym referring
to THE SOCI~lY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPlAINED.
SITU exists for the purpose of collecting data on unexplaineds, promoting proper investigation
of individual reports and general subjects, and reporting significant data to it~ members. The
Society studies unexplained events and "things" of a tangible nature that orthodox science, for
one reason or another, does not or will not study.
You don't have to be a professional or even an amateur scientist to join SITU.

MEMBERSHIP
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THE QUARTERLY
JOURN.F THE

r.SYlt
'SCIENCE IS THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'
i

Page
The Planetary Grid: A New Synthesis
by William Becker and Bethe Hagens

50

When The Moon is in Perigee

Hypothesis of a Soviet Scientist

73

Was It An Extraterrestrial Spacecraft?

by Luis Schoenherr

74

Life Force, Psychokinesis and The Electric Girl

by Dr. Michael D. Swords

76

The Infrared Factor

by John Keel

".:J

78
80

News From Another World: The Nebraska UFOCrypotozoology Conference

by Michael D. Swords

UNEXPLAINED

We are pleased to be able to present The Becker-Hagens

report to our membership in a complete, single-issue
article.
As they explain, they have done some exhausting
research in a remarkably short period of time. We feel
confident, as they do, that there is still a great deal more
to be learned as you will see by the various possible relationships they have already begun to investigate.
In fact, the following ~as sent to us by them, but, too
late for inclusion in the main body of the article:

PhDadelphia Experiment
Grid Coincidence'
.
In the course of reading The Philadelphia Experiment
by William Moore and Charles Berlitz we discovered an
interesting coincidence that put the path of the disappearing destroyer U.S.S. Eldridge running close to and parallel
with the major grid line connecting the Philadelphia Navy
Yard with the Norfolk dock area and onto the 'Bennuda
Triangle' point #18. Could the vessel in its alleged time
travel and disappearance' have been on this grid coordinate
line?
.
We hope our readers will pass on their ideas to them
directly and t~ us, too.

81

Grandfather Is Here To Stay

by Sarah Fitzjarrald

86

SITUations

88

~STlGATION OF

The Becker-Hagens Report

Contents

Solving The Mystery of Ball Lightning A Military/Scientific Imperative

by Harry Lebelson

ISOCIETY FOR THE

Letters to the Editors

91

The Notes of Charles' Fort

Deciphered by Carl J. Pabst

'93

*****
~over photo: "A dragon line is on/y' so wide as the crack)n the
.
cosmic egg." A Becker-Hagens drawing.

'*****
Long-time Pursuit readers know that' we usually do not
run long, technical articles in their entirety. However, due
to the .timeliriess of the material, and its importance, we.
trust that our decision to depart from that standard will
be accepted.
-The Editors

*****
Bill Becker (Professor of Industrial Design at the University of
Illinois. Chicago) and Bethe Hagens (Professor ofAnthropology
at Governors State University) are a husband-wife team. In 1981,
they statted a product and graphics design pattnership. Conservative Technology. Contact them at /05 Wolpers Road, Parle
Forest. Illinois 60466.

Pursuit Vol. 17. No.2. Whole No. 66. Second Quaner 1984. Copyright 1984 by The Society for the Investigatio~ of the Unexplained. ISSN 0033-468S. No
pan of this periodical may be reproduced without the written consent of the Society. Roben C. Warth. Publisher and EdilOr; Nancy Warth. Production Editor;
Manin Wiegler. Consulting Editor; Charles Berlitz. Research Editor and Oceanographic Consultant.

The PlanetarY Grid: A New Synthesis'

"The experience of life in a Jinite, limited body is speciJically for the purpose, of discovering
and manifesting supernatural existence within the Jinite. "
A.ttributed to Pythagoras

by William Becker and Bethe Hagens

Introduction
We've entitled our current exercise in planetary grid research
"A New Synthesis" - and indeed we hope it is. All that may
be new about our work is that we have simply found a unique
blend of the previously "unblended" ideas of others. Those,
others are true visionaries in the areas of unexplained earth
phenomena, hum;:ln history, discovery, and the art-scien<;e of
geometry (earth measure). Over the last year and,six months,
we've received literally hundreds of letters from researchers all
over the globe - who are seeking a comprehensive explanation for a continuum of phenomena and events which traditional
science emotionally 'rejects as "impossible," '~hallucinatory,"
and/or "unquanitifiable." Yet the events continue to be
'cataiogued, with many reports suppressed or labelled "fraud"
by orthodox scientists. Worldwide networks of questioning
theorists persist and grow with each ~port. We will try to men- ,
tion 'as many of our correspondents as we can within the text
of this artiCle. Seveml'contributors, listed at the ,end, have truly
'tranSformed our view of this work.

*****

in 1200 A.D., a new energy began to move within the cultures

of the West. After centuries of obedient reflection within the'
established, order of Roman Christi"anity, the spirit of individualism and exploration began to emerge. The 14th century great plagues of Europe, in which one fourth of the Continental population had died - with three out of four persons
afflicted, had awakened in the West the archetypal imperative
to "control Nature or die!" By the 15th century, Leonardo da
Vinci and the multi-disciplined geniuses of the Renaissance had
rediscovered the lost scientific principles of pre-Christian Greece
and Rome, and had invented the "view point" of the individual
, within their perspective drawing and painting systems. Paintings
arid public murals now began to put the individual at'the center
of a "world view" which, for the first time in centuries, con, veyed the notion that through individual effort and analysis, the
person - the viewer - could come to order and "control" the
often hostile natural environment.

This "individual point of view" (perspective view point on

"horizon") required "detached awareness" (standing distant'
from that which is viewed) and a consummate dedication to
visual detail and analysis in orner to "render an in-depth perspective." The writing and journalism of today still ring with the
Renaissance archetypes.
Now it is 500 years later, and Leonardo's manifest symbol
of individual view point and detachment has brought us to viewing video discs of the earth as seen from the moon. It has also
brought us to the uneasy' conclusion that our pre-Renaissance
imperative to control Nature (literally "that which is born") or
die has ushered us into a technologiCal malaise wh,ere most of
our man-made "natural" ,control systems ~re in crisis especially those systems which exploit, pollute, or dramatically disturb the biospheric processes .of the earth.
Just as the perspective pictorial systems of the ,Renaissance
a~!~!s ,"brought into focus" the unspoken cultural archetypes
of~t9,~irtime, we feel that the current network ofplailetary grid
re~v~rchers (of whom we are a part) may be on a similar path
to\V~rd developing a unifying symbol of a new earth: a paradigm
as ,transcendent over our passing "Iron Age" as the Renaissance
was over the Dark Ages. What may make the proposition even
mq're fascinating is the parallel analogy that - just as the driving force behind the creative energies of the Renaissance was
the rediscovery of Greco-Roman science/philosophy; so with
our planetary grid theorists, the driving force behind most
research efforts is the continuing flow of evidence, both physical
and metaphysical, that th~ existence of Pre-Egyptian Civiliza- '
tions - some with highly advanced technologies - is now no
longer speculative, but a necessary assumption for developing
any comprehensive archaeological treatise. l We believe 'that the
planetary grid is an ancient, model that brings control through
Illustration #1
These stones on display at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England suggest a life of creative intellectual syn- ,
thesis for the Neolithic craftsmen who crafted and' 'wrapped" them with leather thongs. '

r------------------' ""----'-

Pursuit 50

Second Quarter i 984

comprehensive understimding and not through detached myopic

analysis/manipulation. The contemporary video artist/philosopher Dan Winter expresses the idea beautifully .. 'Our
destiny is to encounter our embracing collective mind with increasing intimacy and resonance. We awaken to a love life. in
which personal love expands to planetary love - through this
touching new body of mindfulness. A new body of mind
crystallizes among us. "2

Planetary Grid Researchers:

Prehistoric to Present
The oldest evidence of possible planetary grid research rests
within the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford, EngIand ..On exhibit
are several ha.nd-sized stones of such true geometric proportion
and precise carving that they startle the casual viewer. Keith
Critchlow, in his book .Time Stands Still, gives convincing
evidence linking these leather-thonged stone models (see illustration #1) to the Neolithic peoples of Britain - with a conservative date of construction at least 1000 years (ca. 1400 B.C.)
before Plato described his five Platonic solids in the Timaeus.
And yet. here they are - the octahedron, icosahedron,
dodecahedron, tetrahedron. and cube all arrayed for comparison
and analysis. Other multi-disciplined archaeOlogical researchers
like Jeffrey Goodman 3 and A.M. Davie 4 have dated the stone
PoIYhedrato as early 20,000 B.t. and believe they were used
as projectiles or "bolas" in hunting and warfare. Davie has seen
similar stones in northern Scotland which he attributes to tJ:te
early art of "finishing the form" of crystalline volcanic rocks
which exhibit natural geometry. -He dates these artifacts to at
least 12,000 years before Plato (ca. 12,400 B.C.). Critchlow'
writes, "What we have are objects cleany indicative of a degree
of mathematical ability so far deni to Neolithic man by any
archaeologist or mathematical historian." In reference to' the
stones' possible use in designing Neolithic Britain's great stone
circles he says, "The study of the heavens is, after all, a
spherical activity, needing an understanding of spherical coordinates. If the Neolithic inhabitants of Scotland had constructed
Maes Howe (stone circle) before the pyramids were built by
.ancient Egyptians, why could they not be studying the laws of
three-dimensional coordinates? Is .it not more than a coincidence
that Plato as well as Ptolemy, Kepler, and Al-Kindi attributed
cosmic significance to the~e figures." Yet another historian,
Lucie Lamy, in her new book on the Egyptian system of measure
gives proof of the knowledge of these basic geometric solids
as early as the Egyptian Old Kingdom, 2500 B.C.
.
We agree, in general, with all the above researchers that the
crafting of sophisticated three-dimensional geometries was well
within the capabilities.of Pre-Egyptian civilizations. With the
concept that knowledge of these geometries ~as necessary to
the building of stone circles and astronomical "henges" - we
also agree - and would add that we have evidence that suggests that these h~nd-held stones were. "planning models," not
only for charting the heavens and building calendrical
monuments, but were also used for meteorological study; to
develop and refine terrestrial maps for predicting major ley lines .
oftelluric energy; and, in conjunction with stone circles, were
used to construct charts and maps for worldwide travel long
before the appearance of th~ pyramids ..
Take another look at the five Neolithic stones. Notice the
placement of points on not only completed intersections where
thongs connect - but on the "open comers" where thongs might
be added. The central figure, the dodecahedron, has all twelve
centers of its pentagonal faces marked with points for further
"wrapping" - as with the cube figure to the far right. Its cor-

.
.'
ners are defined similarly by marked open points. Now note
the tetrahedron, the second figure from the right. Its four vertexes
.or corners. which traditionally define four triangles, have already
been bisected by a second array of thongs defining another
tetrahedron overlapping the first at midpoints. It is our contention that these stones were not wrapped and marked with leather
to facilitate their use as "bolas" or projectiles. The stones and
their varied nets are too delicate and complex to have been used
as hunting and-warfare shot. Their appearanc struck us initially as ritual objects similar to the decorative reed spheres found,
in Southeast Asia; or as religious symbols such as the mysterious
bronze and gold spheres found in France and Vietnam - which
some say depict the ancient text of the Tao Teh Ching. It may
well be that all of these hand-held objects served similar plan. ning and mnemonic functions for the people who tre!/.sured and
crafted them. (See illustration #2)

-as

Second Quarter 1984

Illustration #2
Gold and bronze figures exhibiting twelve facets and twenty "horns" have been unearthed in France and Vietnam.
Vietnamese war veterans recognize them as sacred Taoist
objects marking acupuncture points.

Viewing the stone polyhedra together. we can only conclude

as Keith Critchlow does - that their intended use was for the
study. comparison. and analysis of spherically determined
systems of geometry. Given the apparent use of these stones
as "planning models," and given the apparent "extra wrap"
of thongs on the tetrahedron - consider the result if the Neolithic
craftsman of these forms had decided to discover the ultimate
in delineated spherical geometry models. a single sphere upon
which would be combined all the wrappings and points of all
five solids.
Pursuit 51

. The inost direct route to such a figure is as follows: Take the

Icosahedron wrapping pattern and combine it with the existing
~tle~ of points and thongs on the dodecahedron. The comb~natlo.~ of .fig~res provides a fonn composed of 15 "great
~Ircles . which mtersect at 62 predicted common points. S (See
illustratIOn #3)

Dodecahedron

Icosahedron

Illustration #3
The Neolithic craftsman could easily have created this
beautiful polyhedron - which requ"ires the overlap of a
dodec and icosahedron. Fifteen "great circles" or
"equators" of leather thong create the 120 Polyhedron.
This. figure . which synthesizes the dodecahedron and
icosahedron with its 120 triangles, was not only known to the
Greeks but to other civilizations much earlier. We believe that
its geometry can be applied in two fonns: the "girded sphere"
or marked stone used for mapping, dowsing, or geometry (earth
measure); and the annillary sphere or "celestilJl basket" used
as an astronomical device to measure time via the solstices and
daily sunrises .. T~e ~nnillary sphere casts a shadow on the captured stone wlthm Its framework (see illustration #4) - thus
echoing the ancient analogy "As above,. so below. "6.
Returning to the creation of our ultimate spherical model. the
second step would be to take the other figures - cube.
tetrah~~n, and ~edron - and layout their line arrays over
. the eX.lstmg 62 pomt pattern. You will fihd that not only is the
62 pomt system of vertexes compatible with the icosahedron
and dodecahedron - but that all the leather thong patterns of
all the polyhedral stones are precisely "mappab.le over those
same 62 vertexes. In fact, our surprised craftsman would soon
discover that all five stone arrays can be overlapped one upon
the other with different comer matchings until a beautiful
polyhedron with 121 "great circles" and 4.862 points has been
developed. This is the ultimate single sphere pattern which
houses all five Platonic solids within multiple orientations (see
illustration #5). This is the same fonn that was used by R.

Pursuit 52

Illustration #4
The Minoan archives in Crete catalog the carved granite
figure in which our annillary sphere rests as an unknown
object. These were of such imponance that archaeologists
have cast concrete replicas for their restorations at
Knossos. Notches in the top of the stand have led some
to suggest that these might have been some sort of spit
barbeque device.
.
Buckminster Fuller for his domes and, in our research, we have
calle~ it ~he Unified Vector Geometry (UVG) 120 Sphere. We

conSider It the key component in our proposed "new synthesis"

of. planetary grid research.
.
Plato's description in the T/maeus of a cosmol~gy based on
the five regular volumes (tet~hedron, octahedron, cube,
icosah~dron. and .dodec.ahedron) echoes Pythagorean teaching
. regardmg the mamfestatlon of the infinite within the finite. Plato
postulates a metaphysics in which the four elements of Greek
science - earth, air. fire, and water - are associated with four
of the five solids. He mysteriously reserves his description of
that most noble fonn uSed by the Creator to fabricate the universe
as "a certain fifth composition." Tradition relates the cube to
earth, tetrahedron with fire, octahedron with air, iCQsahedron
with water, and the dodecahedron with the universe or
"pranalaether." Because he had written that "The earth viewed
from .a~.ve, rese~bles a ball sewn togethe: from twelve pieces
ofskm. we believe he related the dodecahedron to Gaia the
living planet ~arth. We also propose that Plato's mysterious
"fifth composition" is more complex than the dodecahedron
- but based upon it. We suggest that Plato's most noble
framework for building the universe is a fonn which unifies and
supports all theforces operating simultaneously within the five
IIIustr~tion

#5 (See page 53)

Second Quarter 1984

FIRE

Tetrahedron

AIR

EARTH

WATER

GAIA
UNIVERSE

Dodecahedron "
"

Icosahedron
"

"

Pythagorean Cosmic Morphology

~Becker-Hagens
Second" Quarter 1984

1984
Pursuit 53

5000

.~

\s1J

--

inch I

foot

~~
,~
o circle =

10000/.8338

STADIUY

HILL 377

.....

~~O

,._ \,\P'

MOSQUE,

TOMBS

foot

'l'"
to

HILI. 591

Reprinled wilh penni.sion of Ih. aUlhor from World',. Oldest Q M"P 6018 B,C,

Illustration #6
The world's oldest map. which Richard J. "Dick" Ben, son dates to 6018 B.C., depicts the elegant theory of
mathematics embodied in the planning'ofthe city of Cairo.
T~e megaliths shown are (C) Cheops, (K) Kephren, (M)
Mikerinus, and (S) Sphinx. Benson',s work may well provide a helpful, radically new framework for historical
,linguistics as well as uncover a ,lost si~plicity in the art
and numbers of geometry.
regular solids, the four primary elements, and the earth (Gaia)
itself - the Unified Vector Geometry 120 Sphere. We further
contend that this sphere is the pattern upon which the ancients
built their armillary spheres, which to this day,are used to cast
shadows for reading the solstices and equinoxes.
Contemporary researchers like Donald Cyr7 and Sir J. Norman Lockyerl, experts in archaeoastronomy, have again and
again detected in the site layouts of ancient stone circles and
cities. a circular plan of radiating lines diverging from sacred
centers at angles of22 +, II +,46 + , 90, i20 and 180 degrees.
These radiating lines, it was found, consistently align, with standing stones, stone circles, and sunrise/solstice marking points on
mountain peaks and crest "notches" surrounding the site. A
related set of angles in the Megalithic landscape, '23 'h and 47
degrees, is ~qually regular but does appear to relate to celestial
phenomena of the common variety. In many cases, these and
the other angles link one sacred site to another miles distarit.
The basic triangle in our Unified Vector Geometry (UVG) 120
Sphere exhibits just these angles, at intervals strangely correspondent. with those found by Lockyer, and Cyr and others.
Plato had travelled extensively while making note:s for the
Timaeus. His visit to Egypt would have brought him iil touch
with, the historian/planners of the city of Cairo.
Engineer/geometer Richard J. "Dick" Benson9 believes that'
Cairo is possibly the most ancient surviving example of a precise
geometric site plan based,not only on the angles discovered by
Cyr and others but-on angles which connect sites across con-' ,
tinents and which - again - are almost eerily, similar to those
in the UVG 120 Sphere. (See illustrations, #6, #7)
Pur~uit

54

..
..
.

HII.Ll'S

to

HILL

551

to

'I:!LL 190

'.

~ft.

1-\...
~

'0 \ ...

CAIRO ALIGNMENTS FOR WHIDDEN HALOS"

Reprinted wi'" pennission of Ihe editor from Sronherrgr: Viewpoinr,

Illustration #7
Donald Cyr is encouraging the use of a simple Halo
Sighting Template to be superimposed on maps of ancient
sites in order to detect alignments that may indicate' 'hidden halos" - atmospheric events that were almo!'t certainly a part of the daily life of Megalithic man. This sort
of research will require the cooperation of compartmentalized scientists in astronomy, geology, archaeology, and
other disciplines - but may recreate a holistic approach
to Gaia that supported the lifestyle of the ancients.

Dlustration 418 (See page 55)

,
The U.S. Navy has analyzed the Piri Reis map and determined that it is a correct circular grid projection from
Cairo. The half diamond .(outlined by grid points 37, 19,
20 and 38) which contains the complete construction 'infill of the original map shows a superficial, though perhaps
indicative, resemblance to two Basic Triangles of the UVG
, system we propose.

Second Quarter 1984

t)

t;t""

FRACTURE ZONE INOtCATOR

---,.1

-. ..

II

The Expanded
Cartography ofAdmiral
PiriReis
Second Quarter 1984

Pursuit 55

Could Plato have avofded in the Timaeus a direct reference

to the simple dodecahedron as his framework for universal creation because he was still searching for,"a certain fifth composition" which would satisfy the magnificent site plan of Cairo
that Benson's map implies?,Or was he restricted by a secret vow
to,the Pythagorean Brotherhood not to reveal to the world the
true form'ofPythagoras' compOund polyhedron, which held all
the solids within its form and had been used in the global grid
and armillary sphere "planning models" for Cairo and other
sacred 'cities?
,
'
Since Plato, history has lightly sketched what seems to have
been a sub rosa quest for a Ca~ro-centered mapping system,
which would "square the circle" a~d/or s1'!ow the way to the
Holy Grail. (Interestingly, a 13th century writer named Wolfram
described the Grail as a "precious stone fallen from heaven. ")
Curious artifacts like'the'Piri Reis map, 'dated 1523 A.D., but
believed to be a copy of an ancient, Greek original; sho~ ','wind
rose" lines converging on Cairo with angular divisions of22 +
.. and II + degrees (see illustration #8). Could this map have been
an extension of the site lines and solstice/sunrise markers which
encin:le ancient Cairo? Viewed "from above," the major'points
on the Piri Reis map so nearly approximate points on our UVG
120 Sphere that we have included a sketch using our geometry
and Piri Reis' lines which attempts to complete the missing portion of the world map the Admiral originally drew.
The Piri Reis map and another unique document, the Buache
map of 1737, contribute much toward our contention that early,
possibly Pre-Egyptian civilizations possessed mathematical,
astronomical, and geophysical skills equal, to those in this confused "Iron Age. ",Both maps possess highly accurate and unique views of the cont~nent ,of Antarctica not known, supposedIy, before the International Geophysical Year of 1958. (See i1lust~t,ion #9) The Piri Reis map was fou~d in Istanbul in 1929

'";IiiS::

....

~~+-~~+-~~,~
PJIj!jftIHI

D1ustration #9
The Buache Map of 1737 shows Antan:tica correctly
without, its 'ice cover and may indicate everything from
a dramatically different earth climate, than today to a
technical capacity beyond thai generally attributed to
human culture 10,000 years, ago. The map provides an
interesting piece in grid theory: the centers of all UVG
10/12 Pen~gons fall at, the edges of continents or in
oceans.
Pursuit 56

and is said to have been copied from a map origi,nating in the

library in ancient Alexandria. The Buache map of 1737 is said
also to be the result of copying ancient Greek maps. Both maps
astonishingly depict Antarctica's true land masses through their
icy cover - though instruments to detect such land masses were
not invented until 1958. Even if the maps are complete frauds,
they still' predict Antarctica's true profile thi rty years early.
, The matter of maps which can't exist - 'but do - is a kind
of continuing corollary avenue of resean:h compatible with
Unified Vector Geometry. The maps of the so-called mythical
continents of Mu and Pan (as described in the channelled
, Oahspe, A New Bible in the Won:ls ofJehovih; in the writing's
of controverSial scientist/philosopher Sir James Churchward; and
in revelatIons of ~he Lemurian Brotherhood to the Lemurian
Fellowship in Ramona, California) were all made long before
the geophysical year studies and the' contemporary pioneering
ocean cartography of Marie T~arp and Bruce Heezen (see illustration #10). Notice the remarkable patterns of mountain
ridges running 270<:: around Hawaii; the flat "plain" to the northeast; the boundary through the western quarter of the United
States and Canada which marks the division between the Pacific
plate and the North American shield. Whether or not these continents existed is a less important question than how ,accurately
the maps mesh with the best contemporary scientific knowledge.
The correspondence is very close.
"
Returning to the 'maps of Piri Reis, Buache, and the ancient
sea kings, what kind of planning models would an ancient
mariner need to construct such maps? Ivan Sanderson, researcher into the unexplained, asked such questions in the 1960s
and 70s - and with several associates, he set out to "pattern
the mysteries" by taking full advantage of modem communication technology and statistical data analysis. His' success was
'startling. His 1972 article in Saga magazine, "The Twelve
Devil's Graveyards Around the World," plotted ship and plane
disappearances worldwide, focusing attention on 12 !lreas"equalIy spaced over the globe, in which magnetic anomalies and other
energy aberrations were linked to a full spectrum of strange
physical phenomena (see illustration #Il).
Highest on Sanderson's statistical priority list was a lozengeshl;lped area east of Miami,.in the Bahamas, on the western tip
ofthe infamous Bermuda Triangle. This'area's "'high profile"
of strange events, Sanderson c.oncluded, was mostly due to the
enormous flow of air/sea traffic in the area. Other zones of
anomaly, though less familiar, were equally ric.h in disappearances and space-time shift occurences: A pilot flying with
passengers near the Hawaii zone suddenly found himself in a
"dead zone" without instruments and unable to communicate
beyond the cockpit. After flying some 350 miles, the
"phenomenon" lifted and the pilot found that tower officials
could find no measurable time had elapsed between the beginning of his "dead zone" experience and its end.
Another area of continuing disappearances and mysterious
time-warps is the Devil's Sea located east of Japan between Iwo
Jima and Man:us Island. Here events have become so'sinister
that the Japanese government has officially designated the area
a danger zone. Sanderson theorized that the tremendous hot and
cold currents crossing his most active zones might create the,
electromagnetic gymnastics affecting instruments and vehicles.
His theory is now bei,ng balanced against several.
These same areas, in the pattern of an icosahedron, have been
mapped out in the Keys of En~h (1977) by J. J. Hurtak but

D1ustration #10 (See page S7)

Second Quarter,1984

+0
w

l.

.III:

-s .
-I
.,

.,!
I

Seco~d

Quarter 1984

Pursuit 57

120

Pursuit 58

150

180

150

120

Second Quarter 1984

Wustration till (See page 58)

The lozenge-shaped anomalies of electro-magnetic aberration were identified by Ivan Sanderson in the late '60s
and were the impetus for a worldwide reinvestigation of
practical whole earth geometry. A source of confusion has
been over the location of equally spaced points zig-zagging
the globe 360 from the equator. This is not point latitude
but rather the angle of incidence with the equator (as
shown above).
lliustration tl12
In his tour de force The Book of Knowledge: The Keys
'of Enoch,. a meta-linguistic code document of linguisticcybernetic information, Dr. J.J. Hurtak proposes areas of
artificial (above) and natural (below) time warp areas used
for contact by the Brotherbood. Numbers reflect planetary
grid coding pomts we have adopted that duplicate the
original Russian system.
are explained as natural time-warp contact areas used by the
Brotherhood. It is not unreasonable metaphysical theory to
assume a pulse to the universe, an electromagnetic heartbeat
which makes time appear to go backward and ahead - for planes
of existence to manifest and disappear. What better spots for
contact than Sanderson's? (See illustration tl12)
Ivan Sanderson and his energetic colleagues are surely the contemporary rediscoverers of what has come to be called the
"Planetary Grid" - so named by Christopher Bird in an arti-.
cle which appeared in the New Age Joumal of May 1975. Bird's
writing brought to light that a truly "morphogenetic~'IO
worldwide research effort, involving earth/human origins arid
grids, had taken off parallel to and as a result of Sanderson's
work.Bird wrote about three Russian researchers (Nikolai Goncharov, a Muscovite historian; Vyacheslav Morozov, a construction engineer; and Valery Makarov, an electronics specialist)
who had published an article entitled .. Is the Earth a Large
Crystal?" Their work, supportive of and following immediately upon Sanderson's, had outlined a worldwide grid of points
nearly identical to Sanderson's 12 and had added 50 more. These
occured where Sanderson's global icosahedron overlapped the
Russians proposed combination of icosa and dodecahedron.
These new lines and points, in conjunction with Sanderson's,
now matched most of the earth's seismic fracture zones and
ocean ridge lines as well as outlined worldwide atmospheric
highs and lows, paths of migratory animals, gravitational
anomalies, and even the sites of ancient cities. I I
The tradition established by the Russians with the overlapping icosa/dodecahedron grid has been adopted by almost all grid
researchers with the exception of New Zealand's Captain Bruce
Cathie who is working with the cubeoctahedron (Fuller's vector equilibrium model, briefly discussed in the next section of
this article). Among the rest, there are some common themes
in the predictive science of the grid and some dramatic
divergences. Those involved in what might be t)'tought of as
"classic geometrics" use the model to predict physical events
and measurable phenomena in the tradition of Ivan Sanderson:
Athelstan Spilhaus (faults, seismic activity, continental drift);
J.J. Hurtak (time warps, evidence of paraphysical grid line connections among pyramids in the Americas); A.M. Davie (coincident events). Another branch of theory centers in harmonics.
Bruce Cathie is meticulously charting the courses of phenomena
grouped under the title of "UFO." Michael Helus has undertaken a universal theory of harmonics that he calls Astrosonics"

Second Quarter 1984

and is attempting to develop a practical health technology for

people to get "in tune" with Gaia by reactivating the harmonics
of the cosmic time and place of their birth. He believes that
planetary grid harmonics can and will be manipulated if we do
not develop a responsible stewardship for this profound and
powerful resource. John Sinkiewicz has developed a theory not
unlike that of Oonald Cyr - that we may be making an enormous mistake if we assume that "Nature" is natural, that it's
always been like this - with wild climate swings, tornadoes,
pole wobble, and the like. Sinkiewicz believes the earth energy
grid is out of alignment, is no longer anchored at the north and
south poles, and that New Age spiritual communities around
the world are gradually rediscovering the new grid and building
their sacred sites in accordance to activate it. Ray Stoner, working with shamans among the Central American and North
American Indians, has gone a step further and is searching the
museums and ruins for potential pieces of the grid "power
system" h~ believes was once in operation arol,lnd the world
and centered in the pyramids. His is potentially the most
politically revolutionary theory since so many key "artifacts"
(such as the unusual stone yoke shown in illustration # 13) are
found in the museums and collections of the very wealthy.

Photo: Howard Kisor

Illustration #13
Archaeologists hypothesize that "stone yokes" such as
this one on display at Chicago's Field Museum were worn
by Mayan athletes during their strenuous and violently
competitive games. These yokes measure approximately
24" by IS" and are about 4" in width. They appear to
be carved from solid granite and weigh perhaps several
hundred pounds. Ray Stoner has noticed a resemblance
to magnets, even down to carvings of heads facing opposite directions on the two poles. In our opinion, the object is incomplete, perbaps requiring some sort of attractive base plate.
Pursuit 59

 BEGk'ER- HA(;Et-lS
Pursuit 60

1984

Second Quarter 1984

Illustration #14 (See page 60)

A dragon line is only so wi~e as the crack in the cosmic
egg.
The work of both. Stoner and Sinkiewicz provide something
of a bridge to the work of the dowsers, notably Christop~erBird
(who dowses for information); Terry Ross (former President of
the American Society of Dowsers who practices a kind of dowsing of manifestation for needy Third World countries); and the
thousands of dowsers here and in Europe who are slowly uncovering a transcontinental network of lines based on a kind ~f
sixth sense of the flow of Gaia and the "ley" of the land. ThiS
'same type of work has been carried on in China and Japan for
thousands of years as Geomancy - the identification of archetypes of the tiger and the dragon in the landscape, and ~he
siting of buildings and .their functions with respect to balancl~g
these forces with the fl.ow 'of underground water and cosmic.
energy. (See illustration # 14) A branch of dowsers in this country
(including Tom Bearden. Ken MacNeill, Toby Grotz, and
WaIter Baumgartner) are pushing the politics of grid research
into the development of practical "free energy devices" that
will be decentralized. affordable, and supportive of personal
freedom.
A New Synth~si~:
.

Predictions and Speculations

In 1983, upon first seeing a drawing of the Russian planetary
grid in Moira Timms' bo~k PropheCies and !'redictions. we im- .
mediately recognized the work of R. Buckmmste,r Fuller - who

Second Quarter 1984

had spent a lifetime developing his models and theory of

"nature's comprehensive building system." There before us.
adapted from Chris Bird's article, was a drawing of an "incomplete" geodesic sphere - in fact. the exact sphere up~n
which Fuller had based his geodesic domes and much of hiS
theory of synergetic geometry. With the simple addition of 60
lines which connected the vertexes of Sanderson's icosahedron
to the' vertexes of the added Russian dodecahedron we had
duplicated the Neolithic craftsman's model a.nd .establish~d
Fuller's 15 "gre!lt circle" polyhedron as a key Imk m the ch~m
of grid ideas. After locating Bird's origin.al article and fi~dmg
the Russian work in Chemistry and Life, a USSR sCience

Illustration #15
Our goal in producing EarthStar was the creation of a map
tliat would be comfortable to an audience oriented to the
equatorial linearity and continental positioning of a standard Mercator map. It depicts major river systems, seismic
zones, major ocean currents and the lines of the UVG 120
Polyhedron. The map is an excellent tool for ~istance
estimation, as the sides of the Basic Triangle measure
1400, 2200 and 2600 miles respectively. (An interesting
numerological coincidence: the sides of the Basic Triangle
add up to 6200 miles, or one-quarter of the circumference
. of the earth). We believe that this map was used by ancient navigators of the seas and skies, who would have
found these great circle routes the most convenient and
efficient for long-distance travel.

Pursuit 61

Illustration #16
. '-The UVG 4/30 Diamond centers on Eartl1Star will provide, we believe, the most fertile zones for research into
the ancient history of the earth because they appear to be
so geologically stable. In addition. there' is a surprisingly
full history of advanced cultures in these areas already.
established: the complex of Alexandria/Cairo/Jerusalem
(point I): a possil;>le nuclear waste storage area postulated
by Jalandris in Gabon (point 40): the People of the Four
Comers (point 13): the sacred lands of the Hopi (point
17); the sacred lands of the Australian aborigines (point
:44); the vast complex of megaliths. and stone circles in
the British Isles (point II); the extraordinary Ugansk Bay
Eskimo art complex (point 9); the ancient splendor of
Amazonian cities now buried in' vegetation (point36); the
Argentine Tafi megaliths (point 48); the cOI:ttempqraiy site
of major Soviet defense research (point 5). and the riearIy unmatchable biological splendor of the Galapagos
Islands (point 34). .
.

::;}'\::(~')1~:;{::""~:~:;::,~':<::~/(~W8~lr,~:~\,tw~~:'::f;\
": .

Pursuit 62

magazine, we went into what many researchers, writers an" artists call "curiosity/compulsion syndrome." Everything we
seemed to hear, see, read, and even eat related "in some way"
to' the planetary grid. Three months after glancing at that Russian drawing, our library had totally changed, cardboard and
store-bought globes littered our tables, and we were driving to
Washington, D.C. to meet with Chris Bird.
Since that time nearly a year ago, a cascade of information
from friends, students, co-researchers, and others has brought
us to this current presentation.
. We propose that the planetary grid map outlined by the Ru~
sian team Goncharov, Morozov and Makarov is essentially'correct, with its overall organization anchored to the north and south
axial poles and the Great Pyramid at Gizeh. The Ru~sian map,
however. lacks completeness, .in our opinion, which can be acCOmplished by the overlaying of a complex, icosahedrallyderived. spherical polyhedron developed by R. Buckminster
Fuller. In his book Synergetics 2, he called it the "Composite
of Primary and Secondary Icosahedron Great Circle Sets." We .
have shortened that to Unified Vector Geometry (UVG) 120
Sphere, because of the form's ~Iegant organization of12l "great
circles" running through its 4,862 points. We use the number
120 due to its easy comprehension as a spherical polyhedron
with 120 identical triangles - all approximately 30e., 60" and
90 in composition. All other forms' within our Unified Vector
Geometry use shape names and numbers which refer to the quantity of smallest UVG Basic Triangles. w.ithin a given form and the number of named forms in the UVG 120 Polyhedron
or Sphere. Thus, when we refer to our "Pac-Man" pentagons
which appeared in our first planetary grid map, you should know
that we also call them UVG IOIl2 Pentagons. because ten of
our Basic Triangles create each pentagon and there are twelve
'pentagons in the UVG 120 Sphere and Polyhedron.
In our commercially available EarthStar foldable giobelmap,I2
we use the UVG 4/30 Diamond '(or rhomb). Within this diamond are 4 Basic Triangles. and there are 30 diamonds in the
120 Polyhedron and Sphere (see illustrations #15. #16). This
figure permits not only easier assembly of the UVG 120
. Polyhedron (in the form of the rhombic triacontahedron) than
our pentagon-based hexakis icosahedron, but also permjts easy
. orientation to the four compass points when working with the
globe or map (see illustration #17, and chart).
And now we come to our most fascinating discovery of'all
- the predictive utilization' of the Basic Triangle. It is this figure
which we knew to be the result of multiple mappings of all five
regular Platonic solids Qn the surface of a sphere or combined
polyhedral form (icosahedron and dodecahedron) like the hexakis icosahedron and/or rhombic triacontahedron. What we
hadn't known until recently'was that R. Buckminster Fuller had
not oilly drawn and analyzed the Basic Triangle, but had also
noted ali its internal angles in planar and spherical notation (See
illustration #18). Also what we hadn't known until quite recently
was that this triangle could predict so many kinds of events and
geographic patterns, at so many times and places throughout
human history. As mnemonic tools. the UVG Basic Triangle
and 120 Sphere store and integrate biology, metaphysics.
mythology. astronomy, geology, human struggle - or in the
words of Pythagoras. "the supernatural within the finite."
.
IUustration #17 (See page 63)
The geometry of EarthStar is the rhombic triacontahedron
projection method developed by R. Buckminster Fuller..
We have continued to use the numbering system origiruilly
published by Russian researchers.

Second Quarter 1984

C/'I
ft)

a
;::J

D-

Planetary Grid Pr"qjection

:)

61

61

!l
!!I

....

31

31

RHOMBIC TRIACONTAHEDRON

"'0

~::;:
0'1
C/o)

. AC BC -

1400 mi.
2200mi.

AB -

2600 mi.

Becker-Hagens
01984

3600
22.240 "= 16.187

"BASIC "TRIANGLE"
Uhified Vector Geometry (UVG)
Pursuit 64

SecondQuart~r

1984

Illustration #18 (See page 64)

Within the Basic Triangle's 30, 60 and 90 degree angles
(whose lines and vertexes define 120 of those triangles,
62 major grid points, and 15 major great circles) are arrayed 45 intersection points and 16 lines which manifest
106 minor great circles and 4800 minor points over the
face of the globe (UVG total is 4862 Points). By noting
the three numbers for the Basic UVG Triangle followed
by a single number for a minor grid point (example Oxford, England falls near 2-11-20/2 on our European
maps); two numbers for a minor grid line (example - Italy's boot heel is defined by Basic Triangle 2-1-20/43-28
minor line).

*****

On September 1, 1983, in the pre-dawn sky, a 747 jumbo

jet is cruising over the last island in the Aleutian chain. The
Korean pilot is relaxed and tiaving coffee as his autopilot is switched onto "Red Route 20," the standard course set for all
airliners out of Anchorage to avoid coming within 25 miles of
Russian territories north of Japan. At 3: 18 a.m., Japan time,
the pilot radios that his position is 115 miles south of Hokkaido
Island in northern Japan. Ground radar, however, locates the
plane 115 miles north of Hokkaido and wen into Soviet airspace.
At 3:27 a.m.,. a garbled distress call goes out from the plane
- the last message to be sent from KAL 007. Glance at our
illustration of the path of the plane on the UVG 120 Sphere and
imagine this scenario. KAL 007" crosses planetary grid point 6,
approximately 1800 miles east/southeast of Anchorage, Alaska
about 1:00 a.m. Thursday, Sept~mber I, 1983. The positions
of the sun and moon begin bringing enormous energy into the
vector line which stretches from the tip of the Aleutian chain
to the Mongolian/Soviet mainland west of Sakhalin Island. (See
illustration # 19). Silently, without alerting Captain Chun the
pilOl. the geo-compass in the autopilot's guidance system is..
slowly pulled 22.24 off its corrected north bearing, altering the
course of the plane by that amount while simultaneously beginning to energize and speed up the magnetic odometer in the
plane's computer navigational system. A fractional addition of
a mile is added to each actual mile travelled at an accelerating
rate. As the crew and passengers talk about the festivities ahead
in Seoul, other smaller aircraft appear behind the 757 airliner.
No communication. takes place because the pilots of the smaller ..
aircraft are never given international radio frequencies for fear
they will defect. Then an explosion, and another, th!lnder into
the ears of the crew. Captain Chun begins his radio distress call,
but in four short minutes the lives of all 269 aboard are gone.
Compare the abov~ to the flight of KAL 902 out of Paris,
bound for Anchorage. The date is April 20, 1978. In the predawn sky over grid point 11, in northern Scotland, the 707's
guidance system compass begins to read to an energized line
running up from the Bermuda Triangle. Captain Kim Chang
Kyu, a veteran KAL pilot, doesn't notice the bearing of his plane
changing slowly to 82.25 off his near polar great circle route.
The plane moves onto an infill grid line over Greenland. By
the time the plane moves into the next basic grid triangle, a
passenger notices that the Arctic sun which had been on his right
is now on his left. Before he can alert Captain Kyu, a Russian
missile slams into the fuselage, killing two passengers and forcing the plane to land on a frozen lake south of Murmansk. As
Russion troop vehicles appear on .the shore, Captain Kyu
apologizes to his passengers saying that he had felt something
had gone wrong with his compass before the Russi.anplanes had
appeared.

Second Quarter 1984

Illustration #19
An activation of the grid system appears responsible for
the demise of two modem jetliners dependent upon computerized navigational systems. On September I, 1983.
KAL 007 left An~horage (A) on an intended flight to
Seoul, South Korea (K). It was diverted down a minor
grid line to a crash sight near Sakhalin Island (S). KAL
902 left Paris (P) bound for Anchorage (A) on April 20,
1978 but was diverted down a minQr grid line and shot
down near Murmansk (M) in the Soviet Union.
Both incidents, KAL 007 and KAL 902, were based onpredawn crossings of major grid points (6 and 11) by sophisticated
aircraft which then, unbeknownst to their crews drifted off their
programmed course and followed minor grid lines until shot
down by.uncommunicative Russian pilots.
We predict that there will be other incidents such as these occuring in the future, and not just off the Russian coastline. We
feel that incidents such as these help pinpoint the evidence about
which Ivan Sanderson theorized in 1972 - that there is a predic- .
table physical pattern of energy events working through the
system Chris Bird called the planetary grid.
The "predictable physical pattern" was discovered in quite
a different context from earth.energy research. While discussing
the physical structures which support his theories of geometry
(in Synergetics J), R. Buckrninster Fuller presented evidence
that the micro-photography of balloon skin layers has, under
near ideal conditions, produced visible patterns identical to our
UVG 120 Sphere surface structure. As interior gas molecules
ricochet off the inner surface of the balloon, theymanifest their
kinetic energy in "great circle" patterns of "shortest distance"
frequency. If the ambient temperatureofthe balloon's exterior
can be delicately balanced and equalized .- the pattern of the
.
UVG 120 sphere can.,~ecome. visible. .
Given that the earth's original formation was based upon the
clustered gravitational packing of quadriJIions of vibrating
cosmic dust particles and ga~es, in the early eons of our solar
system - we feel the analogy of the balloon skin is strongly
comparable to the lines of vectorial energy we hypothesize are
transitting the earth's surface. Our Basic UVG Triangle reveals
Pursuit 65

Pursuit 66

Second Quarter 1984

Illustration #20 (See page 66)

R. Buckminster Fuller's configuration of electromagnetic
band widths (small sphere) is a hidden master pattern in
the UVG 120 Sphere. The similarity to hand-held
decorative reed spheres from Southeast Asia is further
evidence that such "planning models" have ~n in common use throughout human history. "If you could only
see the reams of trucing paper which spill out of the
drawers in my oftice," writes A.M. Davie. "I have been
doing the same exercise with electromagnetic band widths
for years. To forecast an event in the Catastrophe Theory,
this principle must be used. Whether on a Planetary scale
or down to full Earth surface scale of fractions of inches,
it is basically the same theory .. .1 have done experiments
(with band widths of frequency tunability) in the lab and
found the same experiences as reported in the Bermuda
Triangle and uFO incidents. This experiment is too
dangerous to repeat, and Edinburgh University has agreed
to a ban on all attempts to re-enact the experiments. It
is potentially lethal. The theory of this phenomenon was
known to Artistotle .. .It is definitely TIME-SPACECOLOUR-HARMONY syndrome in content, and
therefore obeys a numerical law of nature to allow
forecasting the event."
a 120th section of these energy lines - and we think that it is
totally predictable to find detailed physical manifestations of
these lines, particularly on continental land masses.
A possible piece of supporting evidence comes from the
Vail/Cyr canopy theory - which proposes a more equalized
world climate during the Megalithic period (see footnote 7). If
the global climatic ambience were more regularized than it is
today, it is possible that grid energy manifestations were also
more visible and potentially more available for applied use. Extending the speculation back further in time, the deluge myth
found i.n the myths of virtually all cultures can Perhaps be traced
to some (Atlantean?) technological endeavor that caused a partial and devastating collapse of the canopy. Before this collapse,
the poles may well have been free of ice (hence the existence
of maps such as Piri Reis and Buache). Polar ice caps may have
formed relatively rapidly in the period of climatic disequilibrium.
In this light, Cyr's Megalithic canopy theory is correspondent
with our own findings in analyzing Megalithic sites. We have
documented in the illustrations of Ireland, Britain, and Europe
which follow; a patterned interface of man-made constructions,
dating to the Megalithic period, which correspond to our
proposed "infrastructure" for the icosa/dodecahedral planetary
grid. New evidence that we are just beginning to analyzeD, and
which includes patterns of mounds within the central United
States and the curious "lines" of the Nazca area of Peru, exhibits the same close correspondence. This proves to us that past
cultures have been aware of, and attuned to, the energies of the
UVG 120 Sphere.
A second analogy to earth's processes we. feel comfortable
with is the Russian crystal earth concept,. whereby coalesced
volcanic matter which formed the earth settled initially into a
crystal for (UVG 120 Polyhedron). The Russians theorize that
with rotation and centrifugal redistribution of molten surface
material, the earth soon took on its spherical form but retains
the deep crystal structure and its predictable manifestations. One
of these is based on the principle that crystal edges and vertexes
cany most of the thermal, structural, and electromagnetic energy
events developing from within and imposed upon the surface
material. Satellite cameras and infrared/radar intruments have
Second Quarter 1984

already documented thermal/structural energy developments

along the globe's UVG 120 Polyhedral edges. It remains for
traditional science to develop instruments as ~ensitive as an experienceddowSer's "earth sense" before the full spectrum of
the earth's electromagnetism can be tuned like a "crystal set"
radio to a wide range of frequency band widths. (See illustration #20)
It is clear to us that Megalithic peoples knew all that we now
know about the planetary grid and then some. The stones which
they so carefully placed upon ley lines were used to c~mmunicate
with anyone else linked via common telluric energy flows. (See
illustration #21) These energy flows are being mapped today

Illustration #21
Unobstructed minor grid energy lines focus into a Basic
Triangle comer in the British Isles, which have probably
the largest clustering of megaliths in northern Europe.
Stone circles are indicated by dots.

Illustration #22 (See page 68)

Both ley line hunters and dowsers have wondered at the
persistent site line-ups of anCient megaliths and more recent sacred constructions (cathedrals, capital cities,
shrines, etc.). The diamond-pattern line superimposed on
our map shows a transcontinental system of energy ley
lines published by Golin Bloy an experienced dowser in
Europe. Most of the line has been confirmed by dowsing. The correspondence with the UVG 120 Sphere is apparent. In Triangle 11-20-2, we find Oxford (2); North
Sea oil deposits (4-5-6); Rotterdam (9); Hameln, village
of the Pied Piper (17); Berlin (13); Chartres (17); Alta
Mira (24); Frankfort (19); Barcelona (35); Cordoba (32);
Hamburg (12); and Lourdes (line 24-36). In Triangle
20-2-1, we find Athens (10); Delphi (19); and Assisi,
home of St. Francis (43).
Pursuit 67

,EGYPT

,
~ursUit

68

LIS Y A

.l
\

Seconci Quarter 1984

.. .

!11-------rf~r~~~~J)~-.~,-----~~~~~~TT\~.~~~7--~~----I
~

Sefirotic.
Tree
of the Kabbalah
~

iil

::;:

~......

~\)~

.,

~1983 Becker-Hagens

Illustration #23 (See page (9)

"The tree can be understood as representing the chakras
in the body of universal man. the Anthropos ... Adam Kadmono Sacred anatomy = sacred geography. There would
be a number of connected patterns of 'trees/men' covering the surface of the globe which, depending upon the
scale or application, might correspond to the 'root races"
or 'sub-root races' or perhaps even the twelves 'tribes'
of Israel (mankind). As there are ever finer gradations of
'trees' within the Sefirotic Tree. the 'extended trees' 'would
create chains and great circles woven across the sphere
like the electromagnetic band wi!Jths of frequency tunability. " Communication from Robert Gulick in Englewood,
Colorado.
both by dowsing groups interested in this rarest form of "harmony of the spheres" and ley line hunters (such as John Michell
and others in the great tradition of Alfred Hawkins) who wonder
at the coincident siting of modem towns and significan.t structures upon ancient stone remains from the past. (See .illustration #22)
We also hold that a major reason why Megalithic groups were
so interested in astronomy and the precise calculation of solar
and lunar phases was that within these calculations rested the
predicted "pulses" of energy through the grid at different times
Of. the year. Captain Bruce Cathie. an airline pilot and prolific
gnd researcher from New Zealand; has theorized for years regarding.the grid's pulsing harmonic pattern and how it might relate
.to UFO and "sky light" phenomena. UVG is applicable to this
research in a curious way. R. Buckminster Fuller was constantly
experimenting with spherical packing - how many equal sized
spheres can you fit into a given polyhedron, and how can the
. arrangement be shifted (keeping the same number of spheres)
into a different one. As it happens, the UVG 120 Polyhedron
shifts back and forth with the cubeoctahedron (or vector
equil ibrium model, as Fuller calls it) that Cathie uses and that
seems to map UFO phenomena. We can hypothesize the heartbeat of Gaia.
The ancients evidently patterned their universal and local
holidays and feasts to conjoin with the interlocking events between the grid and solar system energy fields. Both KAL 007
and KAL 902 tragedies occurred during significant holiday
periods - 007 during a major Hindu feast for Vishnu, and 902
during Good Friday/Passover. We have also come to speculate
that the stone polyhedra introduced early in this article may have
been u'sed as charts and terrestrial guides for large pilgrimages
which too~ place over major regioris of the globe. (See illustration #23) Spiritually and intellectually hungry travellers may
well have visited major energy collection points on the grid.
each having its own flavor and delight. The hand-held model.
or map, attuned as it was to the solar system and to the
monuments and towns one would pass along the way, was a

Footnotes
I. Let us pmy that annther plague (AIDS. cancer. hean disease ... ) will not
be necessary in completing this scenario.
2. Taken from "Gathered Noles Among Friends on: The Crystal's Dan,e."
a publication from Chrystal Hill Farnl. 9411 Sandrock Rd .. Eden. NY
14057.
3. Jeffrey Goodman is a highly controversial. free-thinking independent ar
chaeologist and author (We Are the Eanhquake Generot;on: The Gene.~;s
Mystery) who was among the earliest pioneers of "psychic archaeology. "
His current work focuses on heallh and crystals.
4. We want to thank Roben Cowley of the Research into Lost Knowledge'
Organization (RILKO. 8 The Drive. London Nil 2DY England) for introducing our work to A.M. Davie of Alloa. Scotland. In our long. enjoyable correspondence with Mr. Davie. we have found him to be a gil\ed
scholarofancientlanguage~ and cultures. a keen observer of coincidence.

Pursuit 70

comp'lete tool for the voyager.(See illustration #24) It may even

have charted the cycle of transcontinental festivals in much the
same way that the Australian aborigines are able to coordinate
h~ge religious gatherings with (seemingly) no deliberate planmng. The "bureaucracy" is maintained only in the flow oftime
through lines of kinship. lines of sight, and sacred lines of the
tchuringa.

Illustration #24
L. Taylor Hansen, in a little known book entitled He
Walked the Americas, presents over thirty years of
research documenting the presence of a white-robed fairskinned man known throughout the mythologies of the
Americas (among many other names) as The Lord-ofWind-and-Water, Tah-co-mah, or Kate-Zahl. the Prophet.
The map shows the path of his pilgrimage, beginning in
the western ocean, circling the major American grid
points, and ending in the eastern ocean horizon. It is possible that "Jesus Christ" is our surviving mythology of
sacred pilgrimages on the "Gizeh Crystal."
and (as evidenced by repons of his work with SRI in California) inventor
Ill' a predictive system for events as seemingly unrelated as eanhquakes.
~pllntanl'(lUS combustion. cardiac infarction. mechanical failure. and crime.
5. We call this figure the Unified Vector Geometry (UVG) 120 Polyhedron.
and hope that the new planetary grid terminology we introdul"e will be
both clear as well as reflective of the ancient and modem contributors to
ib development. In one of his first letters. A.M. Davie wrote: "I came.
lin one word yesterday which has been adopted by modem mathematics.
and causes me considerable problems. Where two lines intersect. the word
til describe this intersection is now termed . Vector . "An BheachdOr"
i, the ancient name for 'The Golden Circle.' and is a geometric figure
Ill' definite lineal measurements associated with the movements of the Solar
System. The word 'Bheachd. pronounced as 'Vect. is according to my
dictionary: Notice. Attention. Observation. Perception. Feeling. Ambition.ldea~. Conception, Distinct Recollection/Memory. Opinion. Behavior.
Sense/Wisdom. Judgment. Conceit. Aim. Intention. Carriage. Vision.
Eyesight. Surity. Co~enant. Multitude. CIRCLE and RING."

. Second Quarter 1984

tl. Curiously. annilla. the ro"t in annillary ~phere~. ha, the me.ming of

"iron ring" and "golden l"Oronation bmcelel.

7. Donald Cyr. editor of Stonehenge VieWpOint. and hi~ friend Lawrence W.
Smith have championed and greatly expanded the ide:ls of Isaac N. Vail
since their high school days in the 1930s. As an arehaeoa~tmnomer. Cyr",
notion is that much can be gained in understanding past civilizations if
wc do not make the unifonnitarian assumption that things (such as climate)
hi1ve always been roughly as they are now. The VaillCyr . "Canopy Theory"
suppose~ that during the Megalithic period. a layer of ice crystals fornled
over the earth at a height of about fifty miles. This could have produced
something like the greenhouse effect - a mild. relatively windless climate
with the atmosphere at the dew point - over much of the earth. with ~pec
tal'ular halos around the sun and moon. The light of the sun shining through
the ice crystals would have been so brilliant that it would have been impossible to gaze at it directly. Because of the optics of light refnlctiun
through the ice crystals. however. each halo edge would fall'22 degree~
from the center of the 'sun - with a less lommon. but equally regular
secondary halo occuring 46+ degrees from the center. This glorious sky
phenomenon could have given man the world over a predictable commun
unit" of measure. A related effect of the canopy may also help explain the
seemingly phenomenal knowledge of astronomy among the ancients. Joe
Jochmans (writing as Jalandris) received an honomry doctomte for his interpretation of Genesis based upon canopy and other earth energy effects.
He claims that the canopy may have magnified the light from the stars
and planets and made them appear closer and much easier h, view with
the unaided eye than is possible today. His other fascinating theory is that
the Megalithic canopy was preceded by an even larger more magnificent
canopy that ultimately collapsed - producing the great deluge and rain
of forty days and forty nights that is recorded in the sacred tradition of
virtually every culture on earth.
8. Sir J. Norman Lockyer. writing in the early part of this century. was perhaps
the first contemporary archaeoastronomer - having discovered signifi'
cant alignments between megaliths and celestial bodies. His work was
largely rejected. as were his very humanitarian politics that echo his British
predecessor Alfred Russel Wallace. tftough it fonns the base Ii,r later work
reinitiated by Alexander Thom.
9. Dick Benson's work, fonnally presented in June of this year to the U.S.
Psychotronics Association meeting in Atlanta. holds the promi~e of a unified
field of letters and numbers. His "World's Oldest Jesus 16 Map" is reprinted
to give not only a glimpse of the complex geometry employed by the ancient planners at Cairo but to hint at the sophistication and refinement of
Benson's work. One of his most exciting archaeological discoveries is a
virtually identical "site plan" based on the pyramids at Teotihuacan in
M~ko.
.
10. "Morphogenetic fields" werc introduced by British biologist Rupert
Sheldrdke in another controversial book. A New Science of Life: The
Hypolhe.~is of Fonnative Cau.~tion. suggested for burning by Nature
magazine in Britain. The theory is complex. implying that once something
comes into existence (an idea. a gene code. a chemical structure ... ) it exclusively fills a specific cosmic niche; sends a kind of fonnative energy
throughout Gaia; and makes its appearance quickly and witll increasing
ease throughout the world. Currently the Tarrytown Group in New York
is offering a prize. of $10.000 for the best experimental design to test
She Idrake' s theory.
.
II. Over the past year and a half. students in anthopology and environmental
planning at Gove!f1ors State University have undertaken the tediolls. nOlyet-computerassisted'task of checking the fantastic claims of the Rus!\ian
visionaries. (Several students. among them Penny Frick. Tim Donovan.
Jay Rick. Denis Chapman. John Lerch. and Mary BoyaJean, have put
in far beyond the required time and effort and have been brave enough
to criticize and question almost everything!) In geneml. the students' work
has involved the translation of data from various atlases and sourcebooks
from their Mercator. 'conical and spherical projections to the hexakis
icosahedron and rhombic triacontahedron that we use for standardizing
data. For the most Part. the Russian claims hold up but are substantially
over-generalized - particularly with respect to electromagnetic aberration.
12. EarthStaris printed in full colmon heavy cardstock. 17';'" x 22'/"'. and
is suitable for frdming - but has been pre-punched and scored for folding
into an 8" -diameter rhombic triacontahedron globe with stand. A plastic
UVG 4/30 Diamond overlay inlilled with UVG 120 Sphere lines is included. It is available for $7.50. tax and postage included. from Conservative Technology, 105 Wolpers Rd .. Park Forest. IL 60466. Dealer and
bulk order discounts are available.
13. There are many people whose contributions. insights. and encouragement
have been essential in keeping us so absorbed in this research - especially Tim Wilhelm. Robert Warth. Robert Gulick. Edwin Wright. John
Michell. R. Gary Smith. Robert Lawlor. Jose A. Arguelles. the Rev.
Dorothy Leon and L. Taylor Hansen.

Second Quarter 1984

CHART: Becker-Hagens Planetary Grid System Coordinates

31.200E

On the Egyptian continelJtal shelf.

in the Mediterranean Sea. at approxim~tely the midpoint between
the two outlets of the Nile at
Masabb' Rashid and Masabb
Dumyat

52.62N

31.20oE

On the Sozh River east of Gomel.

at the boundary junction of three
Soviet republics ....:.. Ukraine.
Bellorussia. and Russia

5S.2soN

67.200E

In marshy lowlands just west of

. Tobolsk

52.62N

103.20oE

In the lowlands north of the

southern tip of Lake Baykal. at
the edge of highlands

5S.2soN

139.20oE

In the highlands along the coast

of the Sea of Okhotsk

52.62N

175.20oE

Slightly east of. Attu at the

western tip of the Aleutian Islands

5S.2soN

14S.S00W Edge of continental shelf in the

Gulf of Alaska

52.62N

112. SOow Buffalo Lake. Alberta, at the edge

of highlands in lowlands

5S.2soN

76.S00W

Just east of Port Harrison on Hudson's Bay

10

52.62N

40.S0oW

Gibbs Fracture Zone

II

5S.2soN

4.S0oW

Loch More on the west coast of

Scotland

12

26.57N

67.20oE

On the edge of the Kirthar Range

bordering the Indus River Valley.
directly north of Karachi

13

31. nON

I03.200E

Atthe east edge ofthe Himalayas

in Szechuan Province, just west
of the Jiuding Shan summit

14

26.57N

139.20oE

At the intersection of Kydshu

Palau Ridge. the West Mariana
Ridge. and the Iwo lima Ridge

15

3 I. nON .

175.20oE

At the intersection of Hess

Plateau. the Hawaiian Ridge. and
the Emperor Seamounts

16

26.57N

rfl8.S0oW Northeast of Hawaii, midway between the Murray Fracture Zone

and the Molokai Fracture Zone
112.S0oW Cerro Cubabi. a highpoint just
south of the US/Mexico border
near Sonoita and lava fields
Pursuit 71

18

26.57N

76.8()oW

Edge of continental shelf near

Great Abaco Island in the.
Bahamas

39

1O.81S

4.800 W

Edge of Mid-Atlantic Ridge. in

Angola Basin, just southeast of
Ascension Fracture Zone

19

31. 72N

40.800W

Atlantis Fracture Zone

40

13.200W

20

26.57N

4.800W

Gabon highlands. atthe intersection of three borders

In EI Eglab. a highland peninsula

.at the edge of the Sahara Desert
sand dunes

41

26.57S

. 31.200E

L 'uyengo on the Usutu River in

Swaziland

42

31. 72S

67.2()oE

Intersection of the Mid-Indian

Ridge with the Southwest Indian
Ridge

43

26.57S

103.200E

Tip of the Wallabi Plateau

44

31. 72S

B9.2()oE

In a lowland area just east of St.

Mary Peak (highest point in the
area) and north east of Spencer
Gulf
At the. edge of the Hebrides
Trench. just southwest of the Fiji Islands

21

1O.81N

31.2()oE

Sudan Highlands. at the edge of

White Nile marshfields

22

49.200E

Somali Abyssal Plain

23

lO.f!lS

67.200E

Vema Trench (in the Indian

Ocean) ill the intersection of the
Mascarene Ridge. the Carlsberg
Ridge. and Maldive Ridge into
the Mid~li1dian Ridge

24

()O

85.2()OE

Ceylon Abyssal Plain

45 26.57S

175.2()oE

25

10.81N

103.200E

Kompong.Som. a natural bay on

the s,outhern Cl)ast of Cambodia
southwest of Phnom Penh

46

36.72S

148.800W Undifferentiated South Pacific

Ocean(!)

At the midpoint of Teluk.

. Tomini. a bay in the nonhern area
of Sulawesi

47

26.57S

112.800W Easter Island Fracture Zone

48 31.72S

76.800W

Nazca Plate

49

40 ..800W

In deep ocean. at edge of continental shelf. southeast of Rio de

Janeiro .

26

121.200E

27

10.81S

l39.200E Midpoint ofthe.mo~th ofthe Gulf

of Carpentaria
.

28

157.200E

Center of"the Solomon Plateau

.

29

10:SloN

175.200E .Midpoint of abyssal plain between Marshall Islands. Mid.. Pac'iric Mountains. and the
Magellan Plateau

30

00

166.800 W Nova Canton Trough

31.

1O.81S

148.8()oW Society Islands

32

00

130.800W Galapagos Fmcture Zone

1O.81N

112.80oW East end of the Clippenon Frac"

33
34

()O

94.8()oW

50

31.72S

4.8()oW

Walvis Ridge

51

58.28S

31.2()oE

Enderby Abyssal Plain

52

52.62S

67.2()oE

Kerguelen Plateau

53

58.28S

103.2()oE Ocean floor. midway between

Kerguelen Abyssal Plain and
Wilkes Abyssal Plain

54 . 52.62S

139,200E

Kangaroo Fracture Zone

ture Zone.

55

58.28S

175.200E

E;dge of Scott Fracture Zone

Junc.tion of the Cocos Ridg~ and

the Carnegie Ridge. just west of
t.he Galapagos Islands.

56

52.62S

148.800W Udintsev Fracture .Zone

57

58.28S

112.800W Eltanin Fracture Zone

58

52.62S

76.800W

South American tip. at the edge

Qf the Haeckel Deep ..

35

1O.81S

76.8()oW

Lake Punmin in Peruvian coastal

highlands

36

()O

58.8()oW

State of Amazonas. at tip of

minor watershed highlands

59

58.28S

4O.8()oW

South Sandwich Fracture Zone

60

52.62S

4.800W

Boivet Fracture Zone

North Pole

37

1O.81N

4O.800W

Ve;:ma Fracture Zone

61

38

22.800W

Romanche Fracture Zone

62. South Pole

Pursuit 72

Second Quarter 1984

WI'seemed appropriate, after reviewing the preceding Becker Hagens' article on the planetary grid to publish the following
material at this time.
A newspaper clipping dated December 6th 1976 from the
TRENTONIAN of Trenton, NJ was sent to us by one of our
members that briefly described Dr. Elkin's research.
I wrote several times in the past few years to various addresses
in Moscow and elsewhere for a more complete version of the
report.
Finally, an appeal was answered by the Director ofthe Library
of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and a photostat of
the original article, as it appeared in ISVESTIA, was sent to
our SITU office ..
With the kind assistance of two colleagues, D. Petroff and
L. Kazhdan, the article has just recendy been translated into
English. The three of us hope we have dorie justice in this
translation effort.
Perhaps someday the complete report by Dr. Elkin will
become available for us to examine. In ibis regard I hereby appeal to our several members in the USSR for their assista:nce
in helping us accomplish this goal. And, if any of our readers
knows of any further serious investigation of this hypothesis
please let us know, too. that we can have a follow-up article
. R.C. W.
in a future.issue of PURSUIT.

so.

WHEN THE MOON

IS IN PERIGEE
Hypothesis of Soviet Scientist .
(Soviet reporter) B. Zacharko
Nobody knows for sLire how many disasters have occurred
in the district of the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Florida'
and the island of Puerto Rico, but it is known there are many ..
Forget.about the frightening stories based on imagination. You
can find a lot of them in literature about the "Bermuda" question. Instead, remember only some of the hundreds of facts'
nobody can explain.
On the 5th of December 1945, in excellent flying weather
at Fort Lauderdale, Florida "Escadrille (Flight) - 19" composed of 5 torpedo bombers took off from the base under the
command of Lt. Charles Taylor. After 65 minutes the base
dispatcher received an emergency report from Lt. Taylor: " ... we
are close to disaster ... we have lost our course .....
A rescue military seaplane was sent out to find them, but contact with it too was soon lost. Altogether in the "Bermuda
Triangle" starting with 1945 more thim one hundred large and
small ships and about 20 airplanes have been lost.
But this is not the only place where unexplained disappearances have taken place. In the area between Japan, Guam
Island and the Philippines so many ships and planes have disappeared th~t the Japanese government has declared the area a
danger zone.
There is an opinion that the mystery of the "Triangle" doesn't
exist. That everything that has happened is simply the result
of the inexperience of those sailors and pilots involved but not
as the result of some natural force. However this point of opinion is not proved. No doubt sooner or later the truth will be
found, and more about these areas will be learned from study
and investigation of sea, air and the cosmos in the offices and
.laboratories of scientists. Not long ago Dr. A. E. Elkin of the
Physics and Mathematics Department of the Moscow Institute
developed a hypothesis that seems factual and interesting.
Hypothesis is not theory, Dr. Elkin said, and I don't want

Second Quarter 1984

to prove one point of view on the' 'Triangle:" does a scientific

problem exist here or not? I just assumed a problem does exist
and tried to discover if there is a correlation between the
disasters.
.
When I compiled statistics about airplanes I saw, since their
moment of disappearance can be determined with great accuracy
to within one day, as opposed to ships, there was a certain relationship to the astronomic activity of the earth, moon and sun
relative to each other.
.
We all know our small cosmic home called Earth is speeding
in the universe in a very complicated trajectory, and is influenced
by constantly changing movemer;lts. Because of this, the earth's
coordinates in relation to the sun, and moon are also constantly
changing their influence on the earth's surface.
Because of the earth's distorted shape, being flattened at the
poles, the sun and moon have a stronger attraction on the equator
because this part is closer to them. Since the earth is in polar
oroit the sun and moon have a changing, strong-pulling influence
effecting the earth's behavior. This reaction is strongest in June
and December and has a zero value in March and September.
Besides the pull Of the sun and moon there are other forces on
our planet, such as tidal, that are not constant to help change
the shape of the earth which are at a maximum at either a new
or full moon. The moon is traveling around the earth in an elliptical orbit. When the moon is in perigee tidal forces are 40%
stronger than when it is in apogee.
Checking statistics of airplane disappearances, I found
(calculated) which coordinates the sun and moon were in on
those days. Without going into great detail about the disappearances I discovered there was a relationship to these events
with a new and a full moon. When the moon was close to perigee
these processes' (forces) were strongest..
The relationship of the position of the moon and the sun effect tidal changes so that at that moment in the Bermuda area
and other "Triangle" areas the moon and the sun caused tidal
changes that made the earth's ionized magma to shift under the
ocean's floor to create a magnetic anomoly. As a result, under
these conditions it could be possible that gyroscopes, clocks,
electrical and other electronic equipment on the planes and ships
were effected.
.
Hypothesis is not theory but there can be no theory' without
a hypothesis. While accidents can't be ruled out as an explanation for the disappearances, Dr. Elkin's hypothesis indicates the
events were not accidental in the cases he was able to check.
If, indeed, accidents are not the cause and there is a common,
natural' explanatjon it would be practical to know when the
, 'Triangle" areas were safe and risky for travelers to go through
them.
.
This hypothesis indicates the most dangerous position between
the earth, moon and sun this year (1976) for the "Triangles"
will occur between December 20th and the 18th of January 1977.
Dr. Elkin said the natural forces that create such a field in
the '~Triangles" may also cause earthquakes and also cause seaquakes under deep ocean crevices. This mechanism can create
serious distortion of the earth's crust and he proposes the period
of earth distortion will occur from 5-8 and 20-25 December
(1976) and from 5-8 and 18-20 January of next year (1977) as
earthquakes: in Turkey (Tavr mountains); in New Zealand and
Japan (accompanied. by typhoons), 'in South America. (20 to 35
south of the equator) and in California, USA .
All that this writer has to add is that Dr. A. Elkin proposed
the possibility of a strong earthquake in Turkey at the end of
November (1976) and this did just occur. "Maybe it is coincidence - or an accident," the scientist said.

Pursuit 73

Was It An Extraterrestrial Spacecraft?

A Curious Sixteenth Century Woodcut
by Lids Schoenherr

In his novel A Canticle for Leibowitz the American science- .

fiction author Walter M. Miller describes the cultural situation
of our planet after a great nuclear war. Most of the surviving
scientists and engineers have been hanged by a population enraged by such a failure of the age of reason. Moreover, most of
the technical and scientific records have been destroyed. During this persecution the monasteries constituted for many scientists a refuge oflast resort. One ofthem, a certain Mr. Leibowitz
who apparently was an electronics engineer, tried to save what
w~s left of the old records. To this end, he established a new
religious order - the Order of St. Leibowitz - as it was called
after his martyr's death (in spite of his clerical disguise, he was .
recognized as "one of those damned scientists" and hanged).
The members of the St. Leibowitz order devoted themselves
mainly to the conservation of the few fragme~ts of scientific
books and papers that survived the nuclear holocaust and the
subsequent autos-da-fe. A correct interpretation of the salvaged
data was hardly possible, so the monks busied themselves with
mere ~opy work. One day, however, a young friar had the good
.fortune to discover an old, rusty tin box. It contained some tools
(including a soldeJjng iron) and the blueprint of a wiring
diagraJll. And lo! - the box was identified as the property of
the blessed, venerable Leibowitz. But no amount of
philosophical and semantic reasoning could explain the mystery
of the blueprint. Consequently, it suffered the fate of all the other
remnants of scientific data:. it was copied and carefully
embelliShed! The young friar adorned it with colorful paintings
of leaves, animals, cherubims and doves - in short, it became
a venerable relic.
Today it is fashionable to explain old religious or ethnic traditions as the distorted remnants of some earlier, advanced,
technological knowledge. But the lesson of Miller's story can
also be applied in the reverse sense. It suggests (if only by a
fictitious example) how difficult it is to correctly interpret
isolated fragmentary evidence from past cultures in one light
of, say, our present mode of living, or on the basis of a preoccupation with certain controversial concepts for which presentday "conditions" are blamed.
The picture, shown here on the opposite page, is a woodcut
print from the first half of the sixteenth century". In those days
celestial phenomena were often rendered by the artists in the
form of fantastic animals such as dragons, unicorns, etc. But
. this is apparently not the case here, for in the same picture the
artist has also portrayed a comet (upper left margin), and one
must admit that it is a fairly realistic rendering of what a comet
looks like. From this we may reasonably conclude that the artist wasn't prone t.o fantastic exaggerations. If he has drawn a
"fish" in the sky surrounded by clouds (haven't many of our
present-day UFO's been surrounded by clouds or fog?), he has
very probably depicted some artificial, torpedo-shaped object.
And what could such an object have been, in the sixteenth century? Of course, only an extraterrestrial spacecraft! And. how
else could an artist of the sixteenth century convey what he had
seen, or what had been described to him?
.
There is further evidence for this interpretation. Take, for exPursu.it 74

ample, the curious configuration of the object's body. Isn't it

strikingly reminiscent of the self-supporting, geodetic structure
of aircraft like the famous Vickers Wellington bomber of World
War II? True, the forward section of the object looks like the
head of a fish, but don't the nose fairings of some of our modem
planes look like monstrous faces, and don't some earth~y pilots,
tqo, paint faces on their planes in order to enhance the menace?
Then, please note the "man in the moon" in the upper part of
the torpedo-shaped object. It looks rather like a face behind an
astronaut's helmet, which has ~ transparent visor. How about
the naked human body (or corpse) in the rear? Did the artist
want to tell us that "they" abduct, Qr even exterminate and
dissect, the .poor earthlings?
Most striking of all, howeyer, is the curious cone of J"!1ys
emanating from the belly of the object, within which .images
of buildings and faces can be seen. The draftsman apparently
strove for a good perspective. Yes, this can only be some sort
of three-dimensional, hologram-like projection. Moreover, the
prest:;nce of ecclesiastical authorities at the scene strongly suggests that. the event was indeed considered supernatural by the
contemporaries. (They had, of course, no idea of Star Trek and
things like "beaming, " but we know that UFOs project beams
of solid light, and who does not remember Orfeo Angelucci who
described to us long ago how the face of an extraterrestrial
materialized within a luminous area?)
.
The sun and the stars depicted on the object's body are admittedly more difficult to explain. But couldn't the "sun" be
one of those powerful searchlights often described in UFO
reports? Has the artist perltaps tried to liken the navigation lights,
or even the intermittently flashing anti-collision beacons on the
object, to (scintillating!) stars? In view of all the other corroborating evidence, such matters can safely be considered as
minor, unimportant discrepancies, and the planetary symbols
are clearly astrological embellishments - a concession to the
.
zeitgeist, so to s a y . .
The whole business becomes immediately less exciting once
we consider the accompanying text. The woodcut was used to
illustrate the title page of an astrologically inspired forecast for
the year 1524. The text reads:
"Practica v~r die gros~en vnd manigfeltigen Coniuction
der Planetenl die im Jar M.D.XXiiij erscheinen I vn
vngezweiffelt vii wunderbarlicher ding geperen werden. "
Translation:
'Practicum about the great and manifold conjunction of
the planets, which will appear in the year M.D.XXIin
I doubtless giving birth to many astounding things."
The year 1524 was indeed a year of great changes. The
peasants' wars began in South Germany and later in the Tyrol.
The cone of rays shown in the woodcut is nothing other than
the graphic representaion ofthe phrase "giving birth." And the
fishrQuite simple: The conjunctions between the Moon, Saturn,
Jupiter, Mars, Venus and the Sun occurred in Pisces, the
zodiacal sign of the Fishes.

Second Quarter 1984

A Sixteenth. Century Spacecraft?

'f:)lJ((l(~l ,"bcr,)icrClfT(ft ~nv.n.~
nlttti:1r "~'CII C('oIII ii-:ti.'11 ~c .. pl.1I1ctcn/bic illi
:loll". tl1.1.:'. ~ '{ili'i .crv.h.:illC!1't"li't'n"

- r.C~\\C!fr:!r \'11 n'II"1:'(r\~.1rlid,rt

t-II"IJ Dtr~rClll'.'~Tt>"1.

","n,"',

:till' x.~. ~,.\nJ'.cr.".:o.." .. "~ 5... .,~i'"'!~:,' (:cf1 m''''t!Flicf'1-yP

'''CI'" I""''''' )."" ".<to ~,"I{r, ";1.01'7 "" lor un!! ..nl ... If 11-"011 Cfj"ll'I.

Second Quarter 1984

Pursuit 75

Life Force, Psychokinesis and the

Electric Girl
by Dr. Michael D. Swords
Abstract
We are not the first age to become fascinated by the concept
of a Life Forr:e and its potential for influencing material objects. The early part of the last century was filled with such
speculations and several scientists migrated toward these ideas
in their researr:h. An extraordinary anomalous phenomenon, the
Electric Girl of LaPerriere, arose in ihe 1840's to perplex the
leading scientists oftjle day: The French Academie, struggling
between the evidence of their testing and the challenge to their
reputations, waited for the inexplicable events to subside and
then, thankfully, forgot them. Forteans, however, like proverbial elephants, never forget ... thankfully.
The early third of the nineteenth century was a period of imagination and creativity in westem culture in almost every department of art, literature, philosophy, and science. Some historians
regard it as one of several "romantic ages" which have cycled
through western history (Charles Fort was in the vanguard of
another in the very late 1800's). During these period!! strict empiricism and mechanical law-bound thinking are relatively ignored, or at least supplem~nted strongly with more intuition,
open-mindedness, and expansive visions of the nature of things.
In periods such as these, theories of the powers of the human
spirit or the "force of life" rise in respectability and receive
a more tolerant hearing.
The early nineteenth century was filled with such interests,
and much evidence was alleged to suppOrt Life Force idCfas. One
. such piece of evidence, ito especially odd and spectacular one,
was the case of France's "electric girl," which occured in the
1840's, unfortunately just as establishment science was lapsing
back into its conservative wholly analytical mode. This case
.began well after the beginning of interest in Life Force .in the
century and attracted attention at the highest scientific leve.1s,
the French Academie. I
Science seems to take on different" "moods" in different
decades, and the ~ame "science" which Charles Fort damned
in the 1880's would have received, in part at. least, his praise
in the 1820's. The early century, full of vitality in ideas, had
not settled into its mid-century critical period where it would
deny possibilities and events while assuming an air of
materialistic and formula-bound superiority. Earlier legends like
Humphry Davy, Michael Faraday. Hans Christia~ Oersted,
Luigi Galvani and a great host of others plunged into research
driven by world-views of reality of an imaginative, sometimes
even spiritualistic, kind.
These researchers envisioned Nature as a great dynamic Unity,
wherein the active powers, the forces which drove all
phenomena, Were constantly interacting; and, more deeply, were
.probably all one and the same. This insight gave rise to a style
of thinking which dominated the creative scientists of the century: the Correlation of Forces research, showing this unity of
Nature. It was for many of them the quest for the Ultimate Truth.
Regardless of beliefs, the vision was undeniably fruitful: Davy
discovered new elements, Oersted and Fanlday related electricity
and magnetism (and gave birth to modem civilization), and
Pursuit 76

Galvani touched an even more personal chord. His discovery .

of the excitability of the nerves by electricity gave impetus to
a vast array of speculations relating Life Force to "galvanic electricity" and the physical forces animating Nature itself. Electric eels "proved" that "nerve force" and electricity were.closeIy related; perhaps "life fo~e" and "nerve .force" we~ the
next pair in the correlated chain. 2
Questions, some old, some phrased anew, arose. Does the
brain act as a channel through which Life Force acts on the world
of Nature? Does Life Forc~ produce nerve force which then
causes muscles to act on the physical world? What is the meaning of "will power" or "the force of the will?" Such questions tantalized the adventurous scientists and philosophers of
that age. John Herschel, !lStronomer royal and the most respected
British scientist alive, spoke directly to the point: every
phenomenon must be interpreted as happening.through the actions of forces. These forces seem to go on eternally,
mathematically, unchanging. But, we do have one experience
of the origin of such forces,. and it is always connected with
the mind, the intellect, the will. Herschel ~ent on to describe
the brain as a link between mind and malter, respectively the
origin and recipient of action. As for the great forces of the
Universe, he then located their source quickJy - It was the Will
of God. Hadn't the traditions of western culture always said that
it was SO?3
A second example of involvement by a prominent scientist
reminds us of the darker side of science, however. Baron von
Reichenbach, a mid-century researcher of high reputation in electromagnetics, left established areas behind and'began working
on the new theory of Life Force, thus terminating the respectable part of his career in the eyes of his peers. He postulated
a quasi-!l18terial "odylic force," the effects of which he reported
to be able to see using magnetic experiments. He felt. that he
was solidly correlating "odyle" with electromagnetism in proper scientific style, yet also related these ideas to old eastern
concepts of the human aura. Reviewers of his thought and work
admitted that a man of von Reichenbach's stature was totally
beyond impOsture but, nevertheless, "the theory of Reichenbach is but a nebulous dream overhanging the bright region of
physical truth. "4
Prominent people publishing wide-ranging ideas' about the
nature of the mind and life: such were the times of the "electric girl." Angelique Cottin, fourteen years old, a peasant's
daugher aban<:ioned by her parents, was the focus of the
phenomena. A poorly edu"cated child, purportedly of low intelligence, she lived in a shack with a widow-aunt in what must
have been a woefully bleak existence. The beginning was in
. January.of 1846, the 15th of January to be exact, following eight
days of awesome storm and lightning. 5
Angelique's aunt made a living weaving silk-net gloves, and
she and several girls worked at this well into the evenings using
candles for light. About 8p.m. on the 15th of January, 1846,
the wooden frame of the loom was violently thrown down and
the candle, .falling, wein out. The girls felt that one of. them
had done it by clumsiness or as a trick, reset everything, and
set tQ work again. Down once more went the frame. The children

Second Quarter 1984

ran out, fearing the "powers of darkness" were at work. Once

everyone settled down they returned with AngeJique's aunt. It
became obvious that whenever Angelique approached near or
touched the warp, the frame reacted violently, and threw 'itself
back; Angelique seeming to be forced to follow it, only causing it to back further away. Her aunt, like the children, suspected
sorcery.
The local priest was called in to exorcise the girl. He was
thrown backwards from his chair as Angelique approached; but
he did not think that he was in the presence of the Devil, but
rather some very interesting phenomenon, Others' were called
in. The owner of the land could not hold the loom near her no
matter how much strength he applied. He repOrted that he felt
the force rotating as well as directly pushing away. If a wooden
'object was exceptionally massive, it did not move', but Angelique herself was thrown away.
,
For a time the phenomena involved only wooden things, but
by a week other objects began to move away as well: shovels,
tongs, scissors, books. The strength of repUlsion increased with,
the variety. Once, three men, were tossed several yards as they
tried to hold a chair for her to sit in. In one amazing incident
a 150 pound wooden block vibrated violently forty times in'a
minute, jumping 3 to 4 inches with each motion. Men sat on
the blocks, and the same phenomenon occurred. Angelique
seemed tired after ~uch experiences. It is interesting that priests,
landowners, physician,s all testified to these events, and set up
experiments to test her.'
,
BOth the landlord and a government engineer showed that the,
actions could be cancelled by isolating the girl's feet from the
surrounding environment (by "dry glass"), apparently on the,
theory that the force involved was electrical. A priest noticed
a static electricity effect on the hairs of his arm when Angelique touched him, and others confirmed this. But a similar static
electricity test (repulsion of pith balls) did not produce a positive
result.
'
The effects seemed unconscious, and were strongest when she
was relaxed and unthreatened by suspicions and mockery (a
familiar paranormal claim today). Effects on wood were always
greater than on other substances, and her force greater when
she stood on the earthen floor rather than on tiles or carpets.
Many individuals caine distances to see the girl, and, clouding
the issue, her neglectful parents suddenly rekindled an interest
in her and decided to make a few francs out of this new-found
fortune by "exhibiting" her in Paris. A sad decision for
humanitarian reasons but fortunate for posterity in that it brought
Angelique together with the French scientists of the capital.
On the 12th of February, 1846, Angelique was in Paris and,
Dr. Tanchon, who wrote the most important record of this subject, met her. He observed all the previous effects and in more
detail. Her left hand was warmer and more powerful than her
right, and trembled when the force was exerted. She experienced
a pricking shock if the object was actually touched. Removing
her feet- from the ground eliminated the effec~s, or the effects
were not continuous or regular, but intermittent. Her pulse rate
was fast and erratic, and she had a point on the nape of her neck
which was so sensitive that the slightest touch evoked a scream.
At the peak of her power a cool movement of "air," or'
whatever, seemed to flow from her. She was shocked by the
north pole of a magnet b~t not the south. Of course, none ,of
this had any readily perceivable scientific explanation. Yet it
seemed very real indeed.
The pinnacle confrontatiori between Angelique and "respectable science" was then arranged. Tanchon invited a friend,

Second Quarter 1984

Francois Arago, secretary of the French Academie 'and one of

the greatest physicists of the age, to test what the girl could do.
Arago and three other well-known scientists witnessed her
abilities to repel wooden objects in one of the dens of Science,
the Paris Observato,ry. Arago himself had a chair ripped away
,from his hands and thrown down. Several such experiments succeeded, but Angelique's effect on the compass needle was
negative. The consequent report to the Academie was guarded
and conservative, as is to be expected of Science viewing
something which it does not understand. This was es~cially
expected of the Academie, whose reputation for elitis'm and
snobbery was almost unmatched at the time. A committee nevertheless was o,rganized to study her further. Several weeks later
they gave a very negative report on her alleged powers. What
had happened?
Tanchon reports that the committee began by witnessing the
violent chair motions which could not be restrained, and then
decided on a clever ex~riment. Adopting the classic, but
somewhat revolting, method by which Galvani had originally
demonstrated "nerve force," they placed a dissected frog on
Angelique's arm and connected it to a Voltaic battery - apparently on the theory that thi's would show if she conducted
electricity. ,As the current allowed the gruesome dissection to
wriggle and apparently revive, the simple girl went into hysteria,
finally almost passing out. Nights of nightinares followed, and
a constant lessening of the powers, and perhaps for her it was
all for the best. The Academie had, apparently accidentally, ended this anomaly which did not fit into the understanding of the
day.. They could now write it off and thankfully forget it.
, We don't know what took place in France in the early months
of 1846 that'produced the powers of Angelique Cottin. We can
be fairly sure that "somethi,ng" inexplicable did occur, and that
some of those powers were as real as the chair tom from Francois Arago's hands. Was Angelique subconsciously exercising
the power of her "life force" on the world around her? Was
she acting as a channel through which natural energies flowed
and interacted? Can we see in her reflections of Herschel's origin
of all forces, Reichenbach's odyle, Eastern mystics mind-overmatter, Parapsychology's pyschokinesis, Spirit rappings and
poltergeists, the power offaith, prayer, and the "evil eye," even
the aura and the distant interactions of natural things?
Angelique is 'one little chapter in a great book of mysteries
about the mind and the potentials of the human persOQ. Science
cannot yet read that book, since all the chapters seem to be unique. Science cannot deal with the unique. It deals only with
the recurrent, the quantifiable, the retestable. This is at once
its strength' and its weakness. The proper'scientist will look at
the phenomena of "life force" and realize that until definite
patterns emerge, no finding in'this area may be called "scientific." But likewise, this situation does not mean that the events
are any less real or imPQrtant. It is perhaps here in this "damned
land" between the raw events and the scientific methods that
. we Forteans lie. It is pe'rhaps always an investigator acting as
a Fortean, who pursues the "damned facts" openly, sees the
pattern, intuits a hypothesis, correlates phenomena, and begins
to bring the unacceptable into the realm of the respected. ,Is there
a "life force" bcy~nd electricity and chemistry? Was Angelique Cottin a dramatic demonstration of its reality? We'll never
learn anything by forgetting. ,
'
NOTES
I. This "incident was reported into the Fortean literature by (wh9 else?)
'
Charles Fon himself in Wild Talents.
(Continued on page 87)

Pursuit 77

Solving The Mystery of Ball "Lightning"

a Mi,itary / Scientific Imperative
by Harry Lebelson
"Ball lightning enters Soviet jet" read the Agence FrancePresse news release datelined Moscow. The January 14, 19!W
bulletin told how a "ball of fire-like lightning" went through
a Soviet airliner flying over the Black Sea. The "fireball," ten
centimeters in diameter, first appeared on the fuselage of the
Ilyushin 18 airliner. A~cording to Tass, the "ball of fire" then
disappeared, only tp reappear "inside the plane's cabin, where
it slowly flew over the astonished passengers" and then exited
through the rear of the plane. With two holes in the body of
the aircraft and its piloting system out of commission, the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing. * Six months
"previous to" this incident, a United States commercial jetliner
underwent a similar occurrence.
Controlling the energy inherent in ball lightning has thus far
eluded scientific inquiry. In spite of this, research continues in
both the Soviet Union and the United States into the complexities of this phenomenon.
"
""
"
Since 1958, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent
on the research and development of particle beam weaponry in
the United"States alone. The government agency"responsible for
the nurturing ofthese new armaments is the" Defense Advanced
~esearch Projects Agency (DARPA), located in Arlington,
Virginia. The agency, an appendage of the Department of
Defense, has been pursuing research" into direct~ energy
weapons based on the use of high voltage and/or high current
electrical devices. DARPA's research efforts with pulsed plasma
devices and the electrical rail-gun, an electro-magnetic launcher
which uses electro-magnetic energy to speed-up deadly projectiles at hypervelocities, suggests that high energy, ball Iightninglike, toroidal plasmas are formed as a by-product during testing.
Therefore, it can manifest potentially dangerous effects. This
phenomenon has also occurred during experiments involving
switching of heavy electrical"current, such as that used"in the
electrical systems of United States submarines. Submarine warfare, until recent years, was" the stepchild in the United States
family arsenal of defensive and offensive weapons. Now,
however, it plays a prominent role in surveillance electronics
and the utilization of directed energy weaponry.
" United States government officials have coined the term
"di~ energy weapons" when referring to both particle" beam
weapons and high-energy lasers. While charged-particle beam
devices focus and project atomic particles at the spee4 of light
to interrupt and destroy a target from a ground based site, highenergy lasers ,send narrow, intense beams of coherent light outward toward a target at the speed of light," vaporizing it.
In 1947, at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, tests were performed on the "reverse current gear" connecting the generators
"of the U.S.S. "Cutlass"" (Hull No. SS 478) inadvertently
generating a fireball four to six inches in diameter, which lasted
approximately one second. The resulting phenomenon closely
resembled natural ball lightning. The possible dangers in creating
ball lightning-like phenomena in experiments with particle ~
"weapons and that produced in the U.S.S. "Cutlass" submarine
incident, along with its value as an aid in reSearch on the potenOSee PURSUITII6S. Vol. 17. No" I, p" 42"

Pursuit 78

tial hazards in experiments with electrical railguns, prompted

DARPA to sponsor a study on ball lightning through Battelle
Columbus Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio. The purpose of the
inquiry was to better understand probable hazards iilherent in
future research of this type. DARPA hoped t~t through the Battelle study, monitored by the United States Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, it would be able to validate
the strongly suspected contention that l:,alilightning and certain
pulsed plasma generation phenomena are integrally" linked.
Therefore, if an explanation could be found regarding the creation pf one type of ball lightning, one might be able to control
"its manifestation" in high-energy pulsed plasma weapons. Thus,
it would reduce inherent hazards. It was hoped this could be
accomplished by providing grounding for capture and dissipatio~ of the ball lightning energy.
The quest by Battelle Laboratories centered first on a search
to find a sufficiently consistent description of BL (ball lightning) as observed by eyewitnesses, as shown in photographs,
motion pictures, or obtained by any other physical or chemical
monitoring or recording techniques.
The research was derived from coordinated data of foreign
and domestic literature, "personnel and institutes researching ball
lightning;" private and public libraries and various abstract services. The information, containing detailed observations and
technical descriptions of the phenomenon, was then collected
into a data base and used for the analysis in the report.
"
Two broad categories of theoretical explanations examined
by the study were: theories that assume BL to be self-contained,
having no further energy imput after its been formed, and
theories that assume BL is continuously energized by some external electrical field associated with a thunderstorm. Within the
context of the "once-only" and "continuous energizing"
theories, fall many sub-theories, most of which have undergone
intensive scrutiny by scientists of many countries.
Of all the nations engaged in BL research, only the United
States and the Soviet Union have intensive programs currently
underway. Dr. Franklin Rose, a researcher into particle beam
weaponry at the Naval Surface Weapons Center in Dahlgren,
Virginia, when asked to discuss the current statUs of research
into the hazards incurred in particle beam weapons testing due
to toroidal plasmas, refused comment for national security
reasons. However, Dr. Bill Barletta, in charge of the particle
beam program at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Livermore, California, offered this interesting side note. "My primary
research, he commented, deals with electron beam development.
In regard to the extent that this ba\llightning business is real,
and the fact that these blobs of plasma do run around in dense
air as verified by the reports of many reputable witnesses, I
would assume that if someone were making a particle beam.
device for space application as a potential weapon, that in its
formative stage it certainly could be hazardous to the people
doing the experiments."
"
Soviet research on BL is prodIgIOUS and appears to be promoted by senior Soviet nuclear weapons experts. One such
Soviet academician is Yuliy Khariton, a high level consultant

Second Quarter 1984

Rare photo of Natural Ball Lightning taken at Jials County, Tennessee,

November, 1971.

Extreme blowup of Jials County, Tennessee Ball Lightning photograph.

on Soviet nuclear and directed energy weapons. Khariton, considered to be the Soviet equivalent of Dr. Edward Teller in the
United States, periodically presents promising new theories on
BL to the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The main body of
resean:h undergoes continuous analy~is by many groups of scientists at several institutions. Among them are the Kurchatov
Atomic Energy Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Moscow,
the Institute of Mechanics of Moscow State University, the In- .
stitute of Hydrodynamics, Siberian Division of the Academy
of Sciences, USSR, Novosibirsk, and the Khar'kov Aviation
Institute.
.
It was at the Khar'kov research facility that V. V. Balyberdin
and his associates explored the theory that depicted BL as a selfcontained rapidly rotating yortex structure made of plasma or
hot glowing gases. His experiments, undertaken in support of
this concept, produced very short-lived vortex formations or ball
lightning-like plasmoids that, because of their brevity, could not
be compared with real BL. V.V. Balyberdin's work was thought
to have been influenced by the ~arly experiments and schemes
of scientist Winston H. Bostick of the Livermore facilities of
the University of California. Both the Livermore Institute and
Sandia Laboratories in California, actively pursue BL studies.
Bostick's experiments with low temperature plasmoids,
generated by AC and DC currents, did not produce any longlived models of BL once the energy source was disconnected.
His research did, however, succeed in stirring up interest in the
experimentation of plasma-acceleration theories.
In support of the plasma and vortex theories, research suggests that the vortex formation of BL might consist of a rotating
spherical shell of normal-density air surrounding a low-density
core of plasma. If this were the case, then the observed stabili-
ty of rotating BL would be based on a balance between rotating
centrifugal forces and atmospheric pressure. Due to the fact that
so many observations of real BL mention a rotating or vortical
motion of the fireball, and because several of the theories of
BL based on vortex formation are beginning to show some promise, research continues along these lines of thought.
The Battelle study concluded that many other kinds of theories
regarding the manifestation of BL also appear to show positive
results and should be followed up with more intensive analyses.

With the available literature on BL being so enormous, not alI"

of it could be given consideration in the DARPA sponsored
study. Based on its more well-founded theories and observations, the report's most notable conclusions are:
I. The data studied shows that a bona fide, long-lasting, highenergy artificial ball lightning has yet to be produced under
laboratory conditions.
.
2. Theoretically, it seems that there may be more than one type
of BL that can exist for a second or longer. Sustained experiments should continue in these areas.
.
3. All ongoing and recently published Soviet research on BL
should be monitored and evaluated for a possible technical
breakthough.
4. Observations of natural BL and the combined input of
various theories indicate that some type of metallic hollow
structures, such as large sheet-metal air ducts or culvert pipes,
may have to be used to provide "preferred" channels of
escape for any dangerous fireballs that may get loose in the
laboratory work space.
Since the Battelle study was completed, some of the recommendations of the DARPA sponsored inquiry have been
adopted, thereby lessening the hazards inherent in the testing
of directed energy weapons and electrical railguns.
This survey is just one of many continuing probes into areas
of eccentric and exotic research demanding examination by the
United States Military/Industrial Complex. With today's battlelines being drawn in outer space, both the United States and
the Soviet Union, with its "Star Wars" strategies about to be
implemented, demand immediate solutions to nagging problems
latent in the new technology. One of the. staunchest advocates
of that ideology is Dr. Edward Teller of the Hoover Institute
in Stanford, California, who states that' 'On the very essential
weapons and research, there is far too little appropriation. We
need greater funding for accurate technical proposals into
research on directed energy weapons in the area of shorter wave
length regions, which are quite imPortant." As the battle for
space, this seizing of a new "high frontier," escalates daily,
the prospects for serious arms control dblinishes, leaving in its
wake a void of uncertainty as to future relations between the
superpowers.

Second Quarter 1984

Pursl.lit 79

The 'Infrared Factor

, by John A. Keel '
Remember the old army "Snooperscopes?" They were clumsy telescope-like devices,that enabled troops to see in ~he dark.
A thousand variations were invented. One was a camera which
received extensive publicity in the early 1960s and then ~as
never head of again. Even Life magazine carried 'a big spread
of pictures taken with the camera. One photo was of an empty
parking lot but, incredibly, you could see the outlines of the
cars that had been parked there earlier. You could even'read
the license numbers of some of them. Yes; it was a camera that
could- and did-photograph the past. But instead of being a boon
to mankind (think of what it could have done as a crimefighting
tool), it was swallowed up by the government and is used today in space satellites and U-2 spy planes. '
Snooperscopes and spy satellites detect infrared radiation.
Ba~ically, infrared is heat. Look at a hot soldering iron through
an mfrared filter and you will actually see the glow of heat sur, rounding it. A glow which is invisible to the human eye because
~nfrared is at the far end of the visible spectrum. Anything thai
IS hot ... or even warm. :.is encompassed by these invisible infrared waves. Living bodies are, of course, surrounded by an
infrared alira and a very few peop,", are able to see over'the edge
of the infrared field and "read",such auras. Ifthe body is in-'
jured or diseased, the aura around the damaged parts is of a
slightly different density and aura readers can spot it.
Automobiles in a parking lot on a hot summer day create an
infrared' 'fingerprint" which remains after'they drive 'away., A
camera .with a proper filter, lens and infrared film c,an pick up
that cloud of heat,' even hours after the car has left.
'
You have certainly seen'some of the many infrared photos
ofthe earth taken from space by our astronauts showing all kinds
of features and conditions of the terrain and vegetation which
are normally invisible.
Infrared sight is quite common in the animal world, although
rare among humans, especially among nocturnal creatures. A
wide variety of s'nakes, birds, felines, etc. are able to see the
infrared auras of living creatures ... even from a great distance.
Thus on a very dark night a high flying predator bird can spot
a tiny mouse slinking through ,high grass. The bird doesn't actually "see" the mouse. It se~s a little cloud of infrared energy
and recognizes it as lunch ... just 'as a soldier peering through
a Snooperscope sees a vague form wriggling through the bushes
and knows it is an enemy sneaking up on his position.
'
There is a fascinating body of.~vidence which indicates that
our elusive tall, hairy monsters, phantom black panthers and'
other strange f"ortean creatures are equipped with infrared vision. Some of them, in fact, may only be able to see in the infrared field and beyond and may be unable to see the visible
spectrum at al\!
,
, Back,in the 1970s, there were many Bigfoot reports from New
Jersey and a recurrent feature in these reports was the monste~'
puzzling penchant for air conditioners. They' would amble up'
to buildings that had working air conditioners in their windows
and, ignoring everything else, they would approach ... almost attack ... the air conditioners. Why? Simple. The exterior parts of
air conditioners radiate heat, as you know. [f your vision was
restricted to the infrared you would see a dim outline of the
building with a bright cloud of infrared waves around the air
conditioner. If, like the predatory bird, you were programmed
Pursuit So.

to be attracted to the infrared thinking, perhaps" that ,it

rep~sented food, you would head instinctively for the air
conditioner.
,Consider, too, the automobile. In the past thirty-seven years
, we've had many hundreds' of reports of assorted mons~ers attacking and/or pounding on the hoods of cars. Why the hoods?
Because they are the hottest exterior point, on the average auto.
Again, they are giving off a great cloud of infrared radiation.
A cloud that can easily be spotted from high in the air, too.
A car that has been running for a few minutes would be an
aweso!'T1e sight ,in a Snooperscope. The hood, with the hot engine
directly underneath, would be surrounded, by a rich glow while
the exhaust pipe would be spewing out a trail ofbrig!lt infrared.
It would be a very' curious sight to our monsters ... and maybe
to our UFOs, too,
'

Hostility: Attacks on Humans, Animals, and Automo,bites

Nature 0/ Hostility

*
TOlals

AUlomobiles approached and/or ~ttacked

AUIOS damaged by claws, etc
Human beings attacked and injured
Animals attacked, injured, killed or mutilated
Animal disappearances
Tires thrown at witnesses
1'ot:1I number of hostile acts

..

16
4

8
6

2
36

We also have an interesting body of observational evidence

indicating that, some Ufonauts are blind, Witnesses have
described how the entities stared dow.n at them without apparent1y seeing, them. Some contactees have told us, that they were
selec,ted because of their "auras." Could'th,is mean that only
t:ertam human beings have an energy field which can be detected
by the Ufonauts? This would explain the strange process of selection that seems to be at work in UFO cases. Not everyone is
contactee material because most of us are just plain invisible
to the entities. We can't see into their portion of the ~Iec-,
tromagnetic spectrum and they can 't ~ee into our visible spectrum. They therefore operate mostly at night, like owls and big
cats. In daylight they wear wraparound sun glasses or opaque,
helmets. And there are plenty of descriptions of both in the
testimony of the witnesses of the past three decades.
Finally, if we really want to capture one of these critters it
seems logical that we shou.1d set an infrared ~rap of some kind.
Natural animals are afraid of,man and very afraid of fires, and
noisy machines like air conditioners and auto engines. Our Fortean creatures therefore exhibit totally unna~ural behavior when
they pound on auto hoods., By such behavior they have given
us a most important clue about themselves and one of their key
sen~s ... the sense of sight. They cannot see us except under
very special conditions and it is not at all 'improbable that the
reyerse is also true. We see them',mostly by mi~take or by acci~
dent or we see only part of th~m or maybe what we' can see
is a total misrep,resentation. They see our air conditioners and
we see their toilets ... which happen td be shaped like saucers.
"Reprinted with pennission of the author, John A, Keel, from his book STRANGE'
MUTANTS, c/o JAKee/, PO Bo}( 20024, NYC. NY iOO25-9992 $9,95

Second Quarter 1984

News From Another World:

T~e Nebraska UFOCryptozoology Conference
reported by Michael D. Swords
November 11, 12, 13 of 1983: Ray Boeche, Nebraska State
Director for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), engineered
one of the finest Fortean conventions in recent years. Big Guns,
J. Allen Hynek (Center for UFO Studies), Walter Andrus
(MUFON), and Roy Mackal (International Society for Cryptozoology), headed a sparkling cast of experts who kept the audience and the press crackling with interest. ABC television
featured the activities nationwide.
The mysteries of living dinosaurs, out-of-place animals, lake
monsters, spontaneous human combustion, UFO abductions,
crashed saucers, and cattle mutilations paraded before the conferees in an inspired fonnat: four speakers per day, scheduled
half-hour question and discussion sessions behind each talk, and
one and a half-hour discussion sessions for all speakers at the
end of the day. The interchange was dynamic and intimate.
Everyone shared in the exchange. Even the experts learned some
things. Thank you, Ray, for an extremely good show.
And, now to business ...
Part One: Cryptozoology and Combustion, a Cabinet of
Curiosities.
For this reporter, the presentation of Dr. Mackal (University
of Chicago) was the outstanding example of solidity and excitement of the three days. Extant Diqosaurs! This dream of
SITU founder Ivan Sanderson may be about to materalize. As
Pursuit readers realize, there have been stories and folklore from
central Africa for many years, alluding to the big beasts "headlike-serpent, body-Iike-elephant, tail-like.:crocodile" that inhabit
the great untracked swamps ofthe Congo and Rhodesian areas.
Dr. Mackal and explorer-friends James Powell and Richard
Greenwall have twice ventured into extremely difficult terrain
in the Eastern Congo. To the west of the great Ubangi River
lie regions nearly untouched. Here remain tropical swamps,
similar to the domains of the Cretaceous dinosaurs. As the world
entered the modem (Cenozoic) age, these regions may have remained stable, ~table enough to allow a species of nature's most
startling creations to survive. The names in the great quest are
properly exotic: the village Impfondo, the river Likuoala, the
village Epena, the river Bai, further and further removed from
biology labs in Chicago and the support systems of civilization.
What did they find?
Many biological samples were taken, including the tough
Molombo fruit which is the alleged primary food source of the
animals. Witnesses were quizzed by the animal flash-card
method, with internal checks of cards of animals known not to
be in the region included. Saurians were identified as the nearest
to "mokele mbembe" by the natives. Lake Telle was said to
be a recent haunt. Breaks or possible trackways in .the bush were
investigated. What were the preliminary conclusions?
I. stories describing the animals got vaguer going both North
and South along the Likuoala; leading them to believe they
were "in the vicinity."
2. witnesses passed the flash-card test with consistency; they
didn't identify "ringer" cards like bears, they did recognize
something like suariano.
.
3. descriptions of the animals as hemivores are not only consistent palaeontologically, but would seem unlikely for a

Second Quarter 1.984

mere folkloric fantasy relating to religion (such creatures

usually are directly involved with humans in some more
sinister way).
4. a' 'trackway" seemed consistent with a large animal with
a massive tail, but which also stood several feet high.
Neither elephants nor crocodiles seemed to have all the
necessary tools.
5. the Molombo fruit, analyzed in the States, had the nutritional value of a low-fibre content pear, rather low in protein content but judged "marginal" for an adult ruminant.
Maybe the animals have another food source to supplement their diet in protein.
6. After Mackal'~ expeditions left the Congo, local explorerscientists penetrated to Lake Telle and photographed the
animals; these fJ.1ms are being processed in Paris. The cryptozoologists ofthe world anxiously await,-and Dr. Mackal
is poised to return.
As related side-issues to the great Saurian-hunt, the good doc.tor revealed that the notorious That's IncredibJe film of mokele
mbembe by Kevin Duffy was a hoax of the crudest sort. Local
villagers in Impfondo carved the head and the son of the local
dentist-missionary strapped it on for the swiinming scene. That,
indeed, is incredible. Another claimant, the Regusters expedition, penetrated to Lake Telle and may have observed the
animals. Unfortunately, the films were lost or incorrectly produced. Some taped materials survived and will be reported upon
soon in the Journal of CryptozooJogy.
Dr. Mackal also reported on Loch Ness and the northern "lake
monsters." His studies show correlations between sightings and
salmon influx from the sea. He feels that ocean-going animals,
primitive whales or zeuglodonts, follow the salmon run into the
cqld lakes and are then occasionally seen. Some individuals may
remain behind if the lake is rich enough in fish, and be witnessed
elsewhere in the year.
Another mystery involved. Octopus Giganteus Verrill, the
l1l:0nster of the St. Augustine, Florida beach of 1896. Photos
still exist as does tissue from the beast held in the Smithsonian
Institution. Examination of the tissue shows the same alternating
bands of connective tissue and protein-collogen characteristic
of smaller well-known octopi, and the amino acid cpntent of
the species is comparable only to the smaller octopi, (not, for
instance, to whale, dolphin, or squid). Photo analysis of the
stumps of the octopus' anns indicate tentacles which would have
stretched to great length, giving the creature a 150' spread tipto-tip. So where is this. denizen from Jules Verne today? The
folklore tradition would indicate south of Andros Island in the
Bahamas. Jacques Cousteau, where are you?
. Two quick South American possibilities: 1) sightings of
"LOy's Ape," the "impossible" large primate of northern South
America, were confinned by Danny Liska of Bogota, Colombia in the discussion period; also 2) Dr. Mackal mentioned
another "hot" dinosaur possibility on the Bolivian-Brazil border..
Pack your bags and go South!
.
Next up on the Forteana part of the program was the youthful
but veteran crypotozoologist writer, Loren Coleman. Loren
decided to try out some experimental ideas on the audience: atPursuit 81

tempts to find correlations between odd phenomena and

"magnetic'" nam~, places, and ineridian lines. We have heard
some o~ this type of. correlating before, of course, especially
as'regards specific places, sometimes referred to as "windows"
~ speculators upon the paranonnal. The most organized attempt
to document such "windows," the piezoelectric earth-stress
tJ:!eory of Michael ~rsinger, was ~urprisingly given low grades
by Loren,. who felt that the data sampled by Persinger was
biased. Loren seemed to prefer more "occult" or psychic causal
agents than electric quartz crystals 'and low energy plas~as.
'. More unusual was the suggestion that 98 West Longitude was
a "mystery meridian" along which much strange activity occurs, especially cattle mutilations. This hypothesis would have
been.more.convincing if it had been supported by a map of'
mut.ilations sites.' Later i~ th~ conference, unfortunately for this
idea, maps were shown by other speakers, and sites clustered
. about the meridian vaguely if at. all (only in the way cattlegrazing. states "cluster" about it).
'The suggestion of "magnetic" names, (names of power, prominence, psychic or spiritualistic significance, around which
nuiny ~trange happenings occur) was more difficult to'deal with.
Loren suggested that many of his "magnetic"names were related .
to the Masonic tradition: and the occult powers of the Illuminati.
Well, this al1thor doesn't want toargue with anyone claiming
those kinds of powers, so let's drop it.
.
Lo'ren's new videotape "Weird W9rld/' describing the
Bridgewater (Mass.) Triangle', waS shown. It was well-produced
a~ spoke of the mysterious glyphs on Dighton Rock and anecdotal accounts of beasties and big birds aqd electromagnetic'
anOmalies around Lake Nip.
'
". The audience had much .to say about the tentative patterns
Loren h&d mentioned. Old buddy and co-author, Jerry Clark,
threw some friend.ly barbs about finding patterns anywhere, if
you go out looking for the~. Jerry's point was that a University of Chicago study showed that Americans feel that they have
very ,unusual experien~es much more than is recognized: 3 out
of 5 of us havethem, and lout of 5 of us have them frequent-
Iy. Roy Mackal reminded all of us that correlations do not mean
that casual relations exist, especially when the data base is small.
B~ Hopkins, who studed ~EIII-abduction cases, felt that the
\ Fortean researchers will never be taken seriously until they do
'.
better statistic~ analysis on their data, as the ufologists are trying to do. Loren replied that some "focus" points probably do
exist, and traditional names (like "Devii's ___ ") might indicate rich areas in which to look. He also feIt that it was a shame
that more creativity is not being shown (or allowed) in ttie field,
'and that we were overreacting to some ideas put forward "for
the fun of it."
'.'Big Bird" sightings came up in the audience session. Loren
felt that there were three 'ex,planations: a) hoaxes, b) large
condor-like birds, or c) paranonnal phenomena. Larry Arnold
inentioned Pennsylvania cases of a paranonnal character. Roy
Mackalfelt that he could only buy the "zoo-escilpee'; or rare
'species (a la albatrosses) out-of-place ideas. Loren left us with
an excellent reminder, which has.many eonsequ~nces for all interested parties:
"the body of evidence is. ~i~y human. '.'
and,
. as' a: mode", brain researcher haS remarked:
" ~'if Ut~ mind were simple.enough ~.un~erstand,
.. we'd be so simple that we couldn'~."
Tha~ !'ema~ would.hav~ pleasCd Charles Fort.
'. The third '''n~)O-UFO'' speatre~ was Larry Arnold; who is
fascinated by fire-phenomena. His main topic was the awesome,
"nJ1Crvi~g subject of spon~us human combustion (SHC) ..
.
.
pursuit 82
...

-.

Speaking always in the royal "we," he terrorized the audience

with tales and photos of the famous and lesser known SHC cases:
Mrs. Reeser, Jack Angel, Mrs. B. et al. It was not moment
for the faint-hearted as the gruesome pattern of consumed torsos and left-over extremities paraded photographically before
us: The evidence for the fact of mysterious hu~n burnings
seems surprisingly strong. The evidence for a particular cause
for these events, however, seems currently negligible.
Larry was undaunted by the lack of evidence for causes;.
however, and took us on an Alice-in-Wonderland tour through
the borderlands' of the fan~tic trying to seek some out. Variously cited as potential villains were malignant hyperthennia, bioelectricity, geomagnetism, ley lines, lunar effects, biOlhythms,
subatomic particles, long-snorkled living UFOs, and Thursdays.
The audience, albeit sympathetic, had, shall we say, 'difficulty" with some of these hypotheses. Larry was doing what Loren
had done - regaling us with often wild concepts for discussion, stimulation, and fun purposes. Still, inventing subatomic
"pyrotrons," which get out of hand and nuclearly destroy liv~
ing tissues, was a bit embarrassing to the scientifically trained.
And ThurSdays being sacred to Thor the thunderbolt thrower,
well ... this author doesn't \\Iant to mess with Thor, either, so
take it .as you will. Oddly, Larry didn't mention his' earlier
published theory of SHC, psychokinetic backlash from a suicide
victim seeing the Hell-fire and trying to return to his body, nor
the .metabolic imbalance theory with the "vitamin" Inositol
usualiy fingered as the culprit. These would have appealed more
than any of the above to the paranonnally-inclined on the one
hand or the materially and energy~inclined on the other.. Maybe
they were "old stuff."
Several members of the audience pointed out the problems
of trying to produce patterns out of a very small data base (no
matter how well documented the individual cases are). Although
three points do make a non-trivial line, they 'may not constitute
any real significance (especially if there are several cases ofur- .
ban concentrations already lying on such lines). Another major
concern was when hypotheses contradict each oth~r (ex. SHC
via bad people, suicide victims, and SHC-auras via extremely
good people, a lathe Shroud of Turin). It is a shame that someone has not .tried to test the burning characteristics of body tissu~s
saturat~d with various known metabolites (ex. Inositol) or their.
derivatives, to at least apply some rational .method to' this
fascinating topic.
.
Larry left us with his favorite quote, from Eden Philpotts:
"The Universe is full of magical things
just waiting for our wits to grow sharper."
.
In that,. we all agreed.
.Part Two: Close encounters in Cornhuskerland, the Big Guns
Speak.
J. Allen Hynek. What better way to lead off a discussion of
UFOs than with .the man who has become synonymous with
the study? Dr. Hynek, one-time USAF scientific investigator
and current Director of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS)
in Evanston, Illinois, tried to cut through some of the confusion in the subject, and prepare the way for the speakers to come.
Conversations on this topic are often clouded by people talk ing at cross purposes. Let's get a definition for the ,"UFO
Phenomenon." Dr. Hynek says it 'is this:
.
A. a large and continuous flow of repons (there are over
. 100,000 in the CUFOS computer alone);
B. an anny of "reporters"'''percipients'' (two-thirds of the
cases being of two or more persons at the same time);
, C. the content of the reports (the evaluation of which is, of
course, the p.rob1em!ltical area).

' .

Second' Quarter 1984

",

, Defined thus, it is obvious that the "UFO phenomenon" exists. Because of the amount of people and reports, it is also obvious that the phenomenon is significant in some way, and scientifically interesting. Because of the many approaches to "evaluation," it is also obvious that many hypotheses may be applicable
to explaining the phenomenon, and that unravelling this ~orass
of subjective and objective elements will be very difficult.
Looking at the mass of the reports, Hynek reflected: "The,
question is not why I should believe these reports, but rather
what right have I not to believe in them?" One long-standing
factor in confusing people on this subject has been government's
public attitude or posture toward UFOs. Hynek recalled, from
his own past, instances of "devious doubletalk and misuse of
statistics" by the USAF Bluebook Project. He reminded us that
this stance continues today. Most obviously, the USAF states
that they are no longer concerned with UFOs since they pose
no threat to na.:ional security, but refus(;~ to release certain
documents on UFOs for national security reasons. Dr. Hynek
thinks that the reason for government secrecy is that the USAF
doesn't have alI the answers, and is not anxious to get into public
conversation on a potentially important subject over which they
have no control.
Several "classic" cases were then presented (ex. the McMinnville, Oregon Daylight Disk Photo; the Delphos, Kansas Landing trace; the Levelland, Texas electromagnetic effects; the
Warren, Minnesota policecar-collision; the "Father Gill" New
Guinea close encounter of the third kind; the' 'Captain Coyne"
helicopter incident;' the Socorro, New Mexico landing) to show
the audience that the hard core of interesting and divers~
"unknown" was still there. Dr. Hynek had been a major investigator in each of these. Captain Coyne told him, "you know,
it was like looking into another world."
Allen Hynek has seen widespread change in "ufology" over
the years and has undergone many changes himself. He noted
the transition from the simplistic notion of extraterrestial visitors
in mechanical devices toward a bewildering complex of other
ideas. This he thinks is appropriate and helpful in the long run:
The scientific establishment reacted badly to the simplistic notion from three viewpoints:
A. the reported craft seemed not spaceworthy;
B. the ufonauts 'had an awfully long way to come;
C. they ~eemed to be'at home in our atmosphere.
[This reporter is not staggered by' the first two, given the
possibilities of "motherships" and unsuspected technologies,
but number three dOes seem very unlikely.] The good doctor
admits he's puzzled: "the phenomenon at this stage is so strange
that it may not be possible to explain it until we have a much
better understanding of the physical as well as the psychical

universe."
Concerning the strangest of the strange, close encounters of
the third kind (CEIII), Hynek stated, "cases where we have contactees with continuous flow of information (people with, a continuous "in" to the extratelTestrials), or cases where ufonauts'
and contactees have sexual relations are left out on the limb,

which is perhaps where they should be."

And, in a private remark, he stated that he had no information about captured humanoids from his USAF investigator days
and that the rumor that Steven Spielberg's CEllI creature was
based on such reports is baloney, despite published statements
by certain "ufologists" to the contrary. ,
Walter Andrus, the Director of the Mutual UFO Network
(MUFON), spoke on what could be termed "classic close encounters." His presentation was really a tour-de-force of the
modem methodologies employed by ufology, and demonstrated

Second Quarter 1984

the advanced state of some ufo-investigations, as compared to

most paranormal borderland investigations.
His first example was the Paul Trent, McMinnville, Oregon
Disk Photo, which was close enough to very nearly qualify as
a "close encounter of the first kind. " The audience was treated
to a rather technical dissertation on photo analysis and computer
enhancement. And, that is how it should be. We'll never learn
anythingjust listening to stories. This photo was passed as "large
and unidentified" by the analysis of Bruce Maccabbee, of Bill
Spaulding of Ground Saucer Watch, and by the largely, skeptical Condon Report. The raw details: 20 to 30 meters in
diameter, solid, and at-a-distance.
,
The second example was an abduction-examination near
Emory, Texas. Here, the now-famous regressive hypnosis
methodology was used, plus police-style searching for corroborating clues, and mooical examination with x-rays (by
"our" Earth-based doctors, afterwards) to see if changes had
occurred after the UfO examination. Typical abduction
characteristics oflevitation, telepathy, insertion of "tools'~ in
the body, mini-humanoids (these had "pug-noses," though,
rather than the usual nearly-nonexistant ones), lost time, and
"calling by name" were present. The abductees were two:
mother and young daughter. The subjective nature of the experience, the "first-name" basis especially, creates the problem
for all close encounters researchers of separating physical
realities from activities purely within the "carnival of the mind."
The' most extensive report was on the most famous landing
trace case in ufology: Delphos, Kansas. Led by THE landingtrace researcher, Ted Phillips, thi,s trace area was tested for
radioactivity and a myriad of soil characteristics (elemental constitutions, dehydration, solidity, luminescence or fluoresCence).
Trees beside the landing trace were similarly tested. Against
all odds UFO researchers are trying to bring science and
technology to bear in their discipline. What'd they find?
Soil was dehydrated to a depth of 14 inches. Trees were
dehydrated near ground level. Two subsequently died. The landing spot was luminescent for a while, the trees also, but less
intensely. No radioactivity was detected.
Within the ring-spot, the soil would not take up water and
plants would not grow. Without the ring, the opposite was true.
,Agriscience Laboratories, Inc. in Hawthorne, California did the
elemental analysis. Many substances were in significantly higher
amo~ts within the ring-soil than without: Calcium; Magnesium,
Potash, Iron, Manganese, and Zinc. Nitrate was lower.
Microscopically the soil is shot through with "tiny white
threads" [which appeared organic to this repo~r]. The ring was
reported early to cause a numbness of the fingers when touched.
Later (several years) toadstools grew about the ring-spot and
were reported also to cause a numbness. [This reporter suggested
testing the strands for types of fungi, and analyzing the organism,
if found, for concentration of trace metals to explain the elemental analysis, but it had not been done for lack of contacts with
a proper expert in this area.]
All that work was laudable, admirable ... but it was almost
ruined by the latest report: lambs from the nearby sheep pen
having lambs "on their own" (ewes pregnant without the
"courtesy" of a ram), one birth having a full wool coat and
hooves, and the mother. being only 6 months old herself. This
bizarreness was bad enough, but on going to inspect the miracle
animals, they had all been slaughtered already (conveniently).
This sort of piled-on wierdness-without-confirmation is exactly what no case in ufology or the paranonnal needs. It ~s a tribute
to Mr. Andrus' honesty in reporting that he tells the whole story
as he sees it, no matter where the awkardness comes in. He also
Pursuit 83

mentioned another piece of local wierdness, the older story of

the "Delphos Wolf Girl," which is now admitted by Perpetrators
to have been a goat ~ressed up in a red gown and let run loose.
~imon says, The Search For Truth take several steps ~ckward.
Again. If one wasn't a humanitanan, you'd like to get the idiot-,
hoaxeJ:'S of the country in an isolated spot somewhere for a "close
encounter of the nose-relocating kind."
Walter left us with three' further personal evaluations of
interest:
A; The Billy Meier "Contact from the Pleiades" case is a
proven hoax;
,
B. The Bermuda Triangle is an illusion based on the same
factors that cause large amounts of accidents at busy
streetcorners;
, ,
C. The number of corre~ation's between Bigfoot and UFOs
sightings are very low, and he feels that there is little
possibility of a connection.
John Schuessler is a key researcher in MUFON and an
employee of McDonnell Douglas Astronautics, working with
NASA on Skylab and the Space Shuttle. He reported on the
"Cash-Landrum" close encounter incident in Texas, involving health damage to the percipients. This case hints. very strongly of governmental secrecy.
Driving on a quiet country highway, two older women and
the young grandson of one of the women were surprised by a
diamond-shaped object with two rows of blue lights laboriously blasting fire from its underside and struggling in the air.
Flames seem nearly to reach the car from over one hundred feet
away. One of the witnesses felt that Christ's final coming was
at hand. As the device, "big as the watertower," ,groaned slowly
across the trees, it was joined by at least 23 ~elicopters of the
large twin-rotored military kind. The whole ensemble moved
off and the witnesses continued home.
Later, all three experienced a barrage of symptoms classical-,
Iy related to radiation sickness. A MUFON radi~logy consultant stated, "we have strong evidence that these patients have
suffered damage secondary to ionizing radiation. It is also possible that there was an infrared or ultraviolet component as well. "
As health and behaviors changed, both women lost jobs (one
of them even lost ownership ,of businesses) and their lives altered
markedly. Naturally, they would like some compensation if they
were innocently damaged by some military activity. '
Attempts to track, down the cause of the incident have been
completely unsuccessful. All military bases in the area deny any
knowledge and consequently; any responsibility. Some people
in the UFO field see this lack of evidence for military involvement as an indication of the liklihood of extraterrestrial involvement, even hailing this as "the most impOrtant UFO case in
years. " Some have gone so far as to suggest that aliens disguise
their craft as helicopters to throw us off. Most of PURSU/1."S
readers, it might be ventured, ~ve.come up with a lot less complicated alernative forthis case: no UFOs, a lot of secret military
action.
There are plenty of reasons to guess "U.S. Military Project"
ori this one:
'
1. there were loads of "U.S. Military" helicopters in the
story, and there are many of that type of device in several
, bases in the area;
2. on that very night there was a 1()() helicopter operation
elsewhere in Texas, so such an activity would not be
unusual;
,
3. the "UFO" was blasting flames from its underside - very
unusual for a UFO-incident, but rather common for "earthtechnology; , ,
Pursuit 84

4. the witnesses noted the odor'of "lighter fluid" in the air;

perhaps liquid hydrocarbon ("gasoline-like") rocket fuel?;
5. the U.S. Military has ample reason to tell us nothing on
this case eveTl without extraterrestrials being involved (for
one, a poss,ible secret vertical takeoff military device test;
, for another, little incentive to take responsibility for irradiating citizens with a snafu'd test).
T9 this reporter, there are two really sad things about this case:'
One, that Mrs. Cash and Mrs. Landrum have had so many difficulties and there seems little chance for justice and compensation. This is by far the 'most important outcome of this' experience. Two, this incident,points out the danger of' 'wanting
it too badly" by some UFO enthusiasts. Since there is such a
conceivable alternative hypothesis (U.S. Military test)"we certainly shouldn't be hailing this as the most impqrtant case in'
years, nor scrambling for "disguised helicopters" theories to
firm up the extraterrestrial hypothesis. To John Schuessler's
credit, he has stayed quite objective about this case and is '
primarily driven by humanitarian concerns for Mrs., Cash and
Landrum. Others haven't kept as cool, however, and seem not
to recognize the danger of selectively believing the military
whenever it fits their theories (i.e. the military is constantly accused of cov~ring everything up, but is believed in this case
when it says that the "object" was not its device). This doesn't
mean that there's no chance of UFOs in this "sighting," but
it should indicate that, as of now, there's no evidence of any
concrete kind to support that' speculation.
Part Three: Missing disks, time, and mutilators - tales from
,the Dark Side.
'
Missing disks: If you're looking for paranoia in the paranormal, you've come to the right place! After the' "Cosmic
Watergate" part of the conference was presented, most conferees were checking under their seats and staring suspiciously
at the people in the next row.
Len Stringfield preSented a paper on crashed saucers and hidden humanoids. Well, he did and he didn't. Ray'Boeche, the
conference organizer, read the paper for him. Mr. ,Stringfield
could not make it. The reason wasn't stated, but he has recently had threats claiming that he was in mortal danger because
of his research and feels the threats are genuine. It is about this
time that your typical friendly conference goer begins to wonder
, about many,things, none of which are particularly upbeat.
Well, let's pretend that the ','Men-in-Black" aren't .coming
, to get us for a moment and ask what Len feels he's found. Mr.
Stringfield is an old-time UFO researcher with many COl),tacts
within and without the military. He feels that he has 25 independent sources who have been involved with crashed saucers and
their occupants inCluding the bio-specialist who did the autopsyanatomies. The tales have an eerie, forbidden au'ra about them.
They are all allegations as of now, great stories, but still anecdotes until something more concrete arises. They certainly do
,make you ponder,' though.
One bit of biological pondering that disturbed this reporter
was the apparen~ absurdity of some of the biological details stated
, by the unnamed witnesses. The~ details were so nonsensical
that-it almost makes you want to credit the story on the grounds
that 'if someone were making it up they certainly wouldn't have'
, included such "zingers." For example, how the extraterrestrials
create new generations without any reproductive anatomy would
appear tricky. But it's unlikely that they'd have to worry about
it anyway, since 'they have no gastrointestinal tracts for nutritional intake. It was a bit painful to hear enthusiasts from the
audience speculate on direct energy absorption from the
environment.

Second Quarter 1984

And then there were the hands: very tightly boun~ (inflexible "spread") due to excessive webbing between the fingers,
impractically long fingernails and no thumbs, giving the hand
a ','claw-like" impression. None of this was pictured of course,
just drawn or verbally described. It would have been hard to
design a "hand" tneoretically less useful for it tool-using animal.
Perhaps this segment of the first-hand witnesses should be
scrutinized very closely before the ufologists get too attached
to certain of these "details," All this aside, we all hope Len
Stringfield wraps up his investigations soon and safely, and
clears up all the questions his work has created.
A second and very dynamic report on similar subjects was
presented by Larry Fawcett. Mr. Fawcett works closely with
Larry Bryant of CAl./S (Citizens Against UFO Secrecy) in applying the Freedom-of-Information Act to obtain UFO
documents from governmental agencies,
A barrage of cases, all backed with government documents
flashed on the screen, inundated the ,audience to lay the foundation of the "government coverup" case. An interesting National Security Agency Report entitled "UFO's: Hypotheses and
survival implications," considered the poteritial impact on the
human race from UFOs, regardless of what the phenomenon
is all about. The hypotheses (hoaxes, hallucinations, natural
phenomena, secret Earth projects, and extraterrestrials) were all
considered interesting and important. For example, if UFOs are
hoaxes and/or hallucinations, they indicate a human mental aberration of widespread proportions. The NSA holds at least 279
UFO documents, which they will not release because of potential harm to the agency, '
'
The "star" of the crashed disk show was the Bentwater AFB
case of late 1980, and recently reported in OMNI. Researchers
both here and in the site-country (Britain) have dug out witnesses
to the landed craft, and to its humanoid occupants. The British
TV-interview was played, The witness led us through unusual
secretive preparations for a search. through a woods at night,
past a G,I. hysterical on the ground, to the giant 20-24 foot
diameter '~t~nsparent glowing yellow aspirin" flat upon the
ground, the mist curling about it and a feeling of dizziness and
fainting. Other tales from the story were added. It was a great
tale indeed. We're waiting anxiously to see ifit is more than that.
Missing time: Budd Hopkins is an artist who is researching
"missing time" abduction cases, and who has published a book ,
on the subject, The book has brought many new cases to Budd,
and he shared his latest experiences with us. In fact there are
so many of these happenings that are coming out of the woodwork that the talk could aimost have been retitled, "You, too,
can be a UFO-contactee ... and probably have been."
Mr. Hopkins is in many ways a breath of fresh air on the CErn
abductions scene, He seems to be trying very hard to get his
research technology down pat, to see whether his patterns make
any sense, and to keep his mind open to a variety of possibilities.
His metholodogy involves a battery of psychological' tests,
(such as MMPI, Rorschach, et all, and an 'extensive amount
of interviewing to document' 'who the person is" and 'What they
know before going into regressive hypnosis, and, if deemed appropriate, polygraph analysis.
He sees a few patterns emerging: 1. Concerning the "abduction" itself: a pattern of abduction, examination which causes
pain, and dispassionate beings working on people as if they were
little more than livestock; 2. Concerning the psychological profile of the abductees: people with a general uneasiness about
the outside world (more "wired," more nervous than normal),
with less of a sense of well being, .. "slightly wounded people,"
3. and a peculiar detail: small scars, usually on the leg, without

Second Quarter 1984

any recollection of any related injury, and often born in 1943

with the secret abduction occurring in about 1950. This reporter,
by the way, takes' no responsibility for the readers checking their
legs and their birth certificates and going bananas. Go and see '
Budd Hopkins instead.
Missing mutilators: Who dunn it? One of the stars of the conference, was Linda Moulton Howe and her presentation of
"Strange Harvest," a fixating film on cattle mutilations. Before
we investigate who the mutilators are, let's find out whether
we really have a problem:
1. a "cattle mutilation" consists of an animal dead from nonobvioljs causes, and dead beforethe mutilations take place,
accordIng to most investigators. The mutilations themselves
create queasy feelings in the average person hearing of
them: udders partly removed, rectums "cored out,"
tongues partially missing', eyes or eye tissue removed
(typically one only), little bleeding in evidence;
2. Since 1967 there have been 550 mutilations examined by
law enforcement officers in Colorado alone; the total U.S.
count is estimated at between 5 and 10 thousand, mostly
in states west of Mississippi. In 1975, there were 3
"mutes" per day in Colorado;
3. the Goyernor of Colorado stated on August 25, 1975:
"these mutilations are one of the greatest outrages in the
history of western cattle ranching;" and, "it is clearthat
natural predators are not responsible." Senator Harrison
Schmitt of New Mexico called an investigative conference
on the subject in 1979. and mentioned at that time that the
FBI had been called in;
4, Colorado State University 'examinations of the corpses
revealed that use of "sharp instruments" for excisions of
tissues was clearly evident in many cases.
It appears ,that we have'a problem.
Well then, who dunnit? The alternative hypothesis for animal
mutilations (a few are on animals other than cattle) are stated
as six: extraterrestrial bio-testing, secret governmef!t or industry
bio-testing, s:ltantic cults and rituals, individual pranksterswhackos-fools, natural predators, some sort of natural disease.
Can we sort these out?
,
The natural predators and diseases hypotheses might explain
some cases but are obviously inadequate at handling the Colorado 'State information about, significant numbers of
.. S,urgeries', .. It is like,Iy that a quite large number of mutilations are due to "intelligent" activity, if we allow a rather loose
usage of that tenn.
Barely qUalifying as "intelligent" are the individual prankster
and satanic cult hypotheses, Although it's conceivable that these ,
causes might be at work here, the odds are against it. Why? '
Law enforcement officials have been investigating these cases
as "crimes" (rightfully so, considering the economic loss to
the Ia')cher). Yet they have been able to gather no clues at the
sites. No tracks. No physical evidence, It's hard to imagine cults,
or idiots being that clever or that careful.
This leaves us where it always seems to leave us: UFOs vs
Government (or business) secrecy. Linda Howe sees a clear pattern of correspondence in place and time between mutilation
incidents and nuclear technology sites (weapons testing, power
plants, research). This is extremely intriguing but it doesn't
,distinguish between two hypotheses, (nor would a government
denial that they had anything to do with it). Two kinds of "activities" have been claimed to go on in the skies coincident with
ground-butchery: UFO sightings and Helicopter sightings (or
hearings). Hmmm: Score still tied: US Government 2, UFOs
(Continued on page 92)

Pursuit 85

GRANDFATHER IS HERE TO, STAY

, By Sal'ah Fitzjal'l'ald
My grandfather, Solomon Jackson, died in the year of 1887
at the age of forty-five. He had served as a Union soldier in
the War between the States and became a physician after the war.
" My grandmother was thirty-four years old when he died. She
was left with a small homestead in rural Arkansas, a widow's
pension of eight dollars per month, and five children to rear.
The oldest child, a daughter, was eleven; there was a son, ten;
another daughter, eight; and twin daughters, aged three. My
mother was one of the twins.
There was enough acreage for Grandmother to raise one bale
of cotton per year, which was her Oldy cash crop. Of course,
she had the usual cow, some chickens, a couple of hogs to butcher, and the inevitable vegetable garden. ,
Farmers have always helped each other and I am sure that
Grandmother's neighbors did more than their part. She reared
her family alone a'nd all of her children grew to adulthood; all
married and had children of their own.

, * * '* * *
I have no way of knowing abOut all of my grandfather's personal effects. I.1cnow only that after my mother died in 1964
I fell heir to five medical journals, dated 1867; his mortar and
pestle; small balance scale; and his mustache cup.
All of the family had remained in Arkansas except my mother.
She and my father moved to western Oklahoma when my twin
and I were infants.
[ am sure that Grandmother kept my grandfather's memory
alive as best she could. But when we used to visit the Arkansas
relatives there was not a lot of conversation about him. Occasionally she would show his old tintype picture and pemaps a
book or paper of his.
[recall seeing one of his books with his name in the front
of it. He had a hand stamp reading, "Dr. S. Jackson," with
some ornat~ curlicues around the name, as was the fashion of
the day.
In retrospect it seems unusual that I did not really get into
the reading of the medical journals until 1976. I was aware that
I had put them away but I was busy with a family of my own
and a small business with my husband that too~ most of my time.
The medical journals were titled, The Eclectic Medical Journal, printed in Cincinnati, Ohio. '
When I finally had time to begin browsing through them I had
to handle them very c~refully because the paper had begun to
turn yellow and the pages were already rather brittle. However..
I found an article which was unusual in that it was submitted
by a doctor in Russellville, Arkansas, relating the story of the
first two hypodermic injections ever given patients there. '
Hypodermic injections were the newest innovation in medicine
and one of those written about contained a powerful ,narcotic,
morphine sulfate, and was given to a man who had delirium
tremens.
I copied the article verbatim, added a few introductory
paragraphs, a closing sentence, and submitted, it to a regional
magazjne, The Ozam Mountaineer. The year of 1976 was the
time of the swine flu scare and the editor accepted it immediate- '
Iy. ,He paid on 'acceptance and I was naturally very pleased to
know that the article would be published in the near future.

*****

Shortly after I received my good news two of our very dear

friends came to visit us. Ted and Gamet Meyers lived in FayetPursuit 86

teville, Arkansas, and we usually tried to get together with them

around the 8th of September because Ted and I shared the same
birthday. Gamet and my hu~band, Mac, teased us with the suggestion that people born on the 8th of September were mostly
to be ,tolerated. It was our private little joke. They had arrived
on the 6th 'of September. (Ted is now deceased and we miss
him very much.)
On the morning of the 7th I arose with the usual anticipation
of having fun with Ted and Gamet. After breakfast I seemed
to get a sudden impulse to take Gamet. uptown to visit one of
the antique stores in the area. She had never seen it and I told
her to be prepared. Its wares were in a state of complete disar-:
ray, which was one of the chief attractions of the place. ~t was
, a large warehouse-type building and one could browse for hours,
not knowing what was just around the next shelf, ~r whether
a comer might offer old churns, washing machines, or probably
some plowsha~s. '
Gamet and I went by 'the see Arba, another friend of ours.
,She poured coffee for us and I was just beginning on mine when
I got up and began pacing the floor.
Arba said, "Sit down and drink your coffee. What's eating
you?"
,
,
[ explained that I just wanted to get to the store and invited
her to go along. She declined with the housewife's expected
remark, "I need to clean this house."
,

, *****
When Garnet and I got to the store she was duly impressed.
She does china painting and found her way to some shelves and
tables where there were some old 'dishes.
Since I was still flushed with the excitement of seUing my
article [ asked the clerk if she had any' old medical journals.
She replied that they did not have any journals but they had some
old medical books.
Things were in such a mess that I had to slide my feet in
sideways to get to the shelves she pointed out. However, I spied
a two-volume set which looked pro~ising. They were titled,
System 'of Surgery, 'by Samuel D. ,Gross, copyrighted 1866,
published by Henry C. Lea, Philadelphia:
I picked up Volume One and found that it was indeed in excellent shape. The price was $10.00 and I was,not particularly
excited about it. I hap not yet begun my small collection of
medical books and ten, dollars in 1976 was larger than it is today.
However, I picked up Volume Two and received a shock.
It had my grandfather'S name stamped on the first page, just
as I remembered seeing it years ago. I was shaking my head
and saying, "This just can't be!" when Gamet came around
'
the shelf and saw me.
"What can't be?" she asked.
'These were my grandfather's books!" -I said, trembling with
excitement.
"You are going to take them, aren't you?" she asked.
"My dear Gamet," I answered, "wild horses couldn't take
them from me!"
With her practical 'nature she suggested that I should not seem
too excited because sometimes the price went up. So when I
, got to ~e counter I very casually asked the clerk if the books
were SlO.OO for the set, or if each was priced separately.
"Each," she replied.

* *' * * *
Second Quarter 1984

Wh~n we returned home Mac and Ted had the courtesy to

seem impressed with G~ndfather's books. I went to my files
and removed the folder I had about him. I had written the
General Services Administration in Washington, D.C. for in.
formation pertaining to his war record.
"That's odd," I said, after re-reading some of the personal
data. "Grandfather Jackson died on the 6th of September.
Yesterday was the anniversary of his death."
It was only a small coinciderice but highlighted by the fact that
we were holding his books in our hands.
.
We were due for another jolt. According to the radio news
the next morning, the antique store had had a small fire in the
early morning hours, which added yet another bit of mystification about those three days, the 6th, 7th, and 8th. It was only
a small fire but once in a while my flights of fancy lead me
to the feeling that I had rescued my grandfather's books from
the fire - after all, it could have been a large fire.
There were many of my cousins living in the area at- that time
and I have wondered if one of them sold Grandfather's books
to the antique store. It would not have been unusual since none
of us ever knew him except through our grandmother's
memories. Not everyone has sentimental attachment to inanimate
objects, whoever their owners might have been. And I must"admit that my blood pressure was not greatly affected when I tirst
acq~ired his few possessions.
.
Granted, inanimate objects are merely material things. And
yet, it was onlya little more than two years after I found my
grandfather's books when his mustache; cup disappeared from
our house and reappeared in my sister'S house in Phoenix
,
Arizona. (See PURSUIT, second quarter, 1983.)
But why his books? And why his mustache cup?

*****

. My grandmother died Dec~mber 23rd, 1934, at the age of

el~hty-one. She made her home with one of her daughters and
enjoyed the love and respect of all her family. There were nineteen grandchildren who grew to adulthood and had families of
their own.
She, too, liked books and was an avid reader. My favorite
memory of her is when she sat in her rocking chair in her long~Ieeved, da':" print fnx:k (ankle length), wearing an apron over
It, and hold 109 a book 10 her hands to catch the best light from
the window.
Nevc:r once do I recall her talking about the harshn~ss of those
years she must have endured as a young mother keeping her
family together and rearing her children alone. She was a lady
of great dignity.

In our wills Mac and I have bequeathed my grandfather's few

possessions to one of our daughters who is inierested in
medicine. They will remain in good hands.
I wish that I had known my grandfather. i wonder if he
somehow knows about his mustaChe cup and his books.
And yes, I sometimes ~k, "What next~ Grandfather?"

Re: Pursuit Vol. 17 No. I

Addendum to Ker Ys Article

By Jon Douglas Singer
As this story goes to press new data on F~nch sunken Cities
has come to my attention. Dr. Dimitri Rebikoff, one of the first
investigators to conduct detailed surveys of the Bimini Road and
other submerged sites in the Bahamas, published an article,
"Underwater Archeology _. Photogrammetry of artifacts near
Bimini,'~ in the Explorers Journal (September, 1979) which was
reprinted in The New Atlantean Journal (Summer, 1984, pp.
9-12). In this article, which was primarily a discussion .of
evidence favoring the ancient, artificial origin of the so-caUea
Bimini Road, Rebikoff referred to other .sunken.ruins around
the world. The Explorers Journal, incidentally, is published by
the famous Explorers' Club of New York City, whose members
conduct scientific expeditions to various .parts of the globe.
~n page II, Rebikoff made a tantalizingly brief reference to
a recently discovered sunken city off the coast of St. Tropez,
south France. Unfortunately. he did not say who had discovered
the city. nor did he divulge any data on its size or age, except
that he mferred that it was extremely ancient, His report failed
to disclose the story of how the sunken ruins had been found.
Perhaps that saga will be told in the near future. His terse account did not state that there were walls with foundations cut
in the living rock, either as trenches or deep grooves. He compared the construction methods to those utilized at the Bimini
Road and implied that the two sites may have a common designer
or architectural tradition which would be of extremely ancient
origin. It is curious indeed that this discovery ofanact~ sunken
city took place near the sites of the legendary drowned metropoli
which I referred to earlier. Perhaps, one day, someone will find
the ruins of Ker Ys.
~.

*****

Th~ two events surrounding my grandfather's mustache cup

and hiS books are merely set forth as further offerings in the
realm of the unexplained. Never would I be so bold as to attempt explanation.
~n o~r f~mily we are not much given to shrines. or wrapping
thmgs 10 tissue paper. Grandfather's things rest comfortably in
the two china c!osets, and I would like to think he would appreciate my sense of humor when I put his "traveling ~' mustache
cup in the china closet which has the locked door.
His books are protected from the heat and humidity but I frequently take them out and read some of the articles found in
them. There is only one article with a notation. Pencilled in the
margin is the word, "good."
Medical science is supposed to have come a long way since
1866 but that opinion might depend upon whether one has had
to have an injection recently.

Second Quarter 1984

NOTES
(Continued from page 77)

2 .. Galvani's repons had many interesting spinoffs, the most "popular"

of which was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein written in 1816.
. 3. Herschel's ideas appear in .a chapter XU ("On the Origin of FOR:e ")
of his Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects which. went into
several editions in last century.
4. See the review of his ideas in Nonh British Review IS: 140 ff. (IRS I),
and NBR 22: 204 ff. (1854).
5. Details of the case are taken from the extensive report in Atlanlic
Monthly, September 1864, pp. 284 ff. which translated and used
the primary SOUR:eS in French ..

Michael D. Swords is associate professor of natural science at Westem

Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Pursuit 87

.:::.:

":::J',

'

O~

section. moSdy contempOrmy - . . . . and ....plained events

are reported, ~embers are urged to send In newscllpplngs and' reports they ,
deem responsible, Please be sure to Include the source of reference (name of newspaper or periodical), city of pubiicatlon, date of Issue In which article appeared, and your
first Initial and last name (or membership number only, If you prefer to be credited In that way),

".p

My.te." Gas Detected in Pyramid

A mysterious gas seeping from the depths of
" 4.600-year-old pyramid kept tourists away
frpm the tomb of the Pharoah Chephren. Egypt ian anny experts crawled through the ancient
shafts to hunt for its source.
. 'There is'something down there." muttered
l,"~ of the anny chemical experts. "But we're
nOl sure what it is."
Fifteen tourists complained of eye 'irritation
and had difficulty breathing after gas apparentIv tilled the burial chamber iii the center of the
~;Yr.Jmid. build in 2640 B.C. '
Because of the complaints. the pyramid was
closed. said Nassef Mohammed Hassan. direc~or of antiquities for the Cairo I!rea.
One of the anny experts said the gas had,
iargely dissipated, but he said more tests were
nceded to detennine its origin. All the anny experts spoke on the conditio'n that they not be
.Iumed.
Egyptian tourist police and guides shooed
IllUrists away from the pyram,id. which is abou,t
435 feet high and is the second largest of the'
'hr.:e pyramids on the Giza Plateau on the
western edge of Cairo.
00' think the effects (of the gas) are decreasmg." Hassan said. "and there will be nothing
111 two or thrce days. We can open'the pyramid
Ie' the publ ic after we have the results of the
It."SIS.

Reporters who crawled through the narrow

passage to the burial chamber suffered no ill
effects.
' .
Hassan said it was the first time that any gases
, had been detected in the pyramid: An estimate<\
1.5.000 to 20,000 peopl:: visit the pyramid sites
.daily. he said.
Hassan said archaeologists' are certain there
ar~ no undiscovered secret chambers from
which gas could have come. But he speculated
[hat gases could have seeped into the chamber
from subterranean pools 'of water or sewage
beneath the Giza Plateau. ,
One of the anny experts also speculated that
a stinkbomb might have been left 'in the chamber
OOas a child's prank."
SOURCE: AP in The Sc.hnecrady Gazette (NY)
4/18/84
CREDIT: R. Girard

Extbict Bini Beported at Beserve

The white-tailed sea eagle. long thought extinct has been discovered in a newly designl:lted
nature reserve in northeast China. the official
news agency Xinhua said.
SOURCE: AP in The Nashville' Tennessean
4118/84 '
CREDIT: H. Holland
Pursuit

88

Pl'ofessol' Claims AD...,... to

, Myst.." of Pyramids

Hage DiDosaar BODe '

Foand iD California

A mere 4.683 years after the fact, a professor

at Johns Hopkins University has developed a'
theory that answers the apparently age-old question of why the great pyramids of Egypt were
built on a plateau at Giza.
'
It will not please individuals who suppose in
,pyramids a power to keep milk fresh. sharpen
n\lor blades and supply inner peace. The answer
seems rather to lie in a simple combination of
earthly terrain. kingly megalomania and worship of the sun.
'
The answer came slowly for Hans Goedicke,
an internationally known scholar who delivered
his. hypothesis last week, at a lecture at the
Homewood campus of 'Johns Hopkins in
Baltimore.
It emerged 'over the past II years' as Goedicke
mulled over results of field work and excavations near the Khephren Valley Temple.
During a Johns Hopkins dig. Goedicke had
observed that a line could be drawn from the
southwestern comers of the three ,Giza
pyramids. The line extended to Heliopolis, a
sun-cult sanctuary at the eastern edge of Egypt
where as early as 3.000 B.C. the benben stone
had marked the spot where the sun entered the
world of man.
, Goedicke theorizes that the ruler Khufu had
his pyramid built on a plateau on a line with
the benben stone to mark the western poiJlt
where the sun exited the world. bringing on
darkness and suggesting. as Goedicke says, that
a "king's demise is comparable to the setting,
sun.
The position of the first pyramid took ad van.tage of the prominence afforded by a plateau
'elevated about \0 meters over'the surrounding
desert. The two subsequent pyramids were built
to maintain the sightIine with Heliopolis,
Goedicke thinks.
SOURCE: Austin American Statesman
12/4/83
CREDIT: John Palin

The largest dinosaur bone ever discovered in

Southem California has been unearthed at a construction site in Carlsb~, a San,Diego suburb,
according to San Diego paleontologists.
The three-foot-Iong upper thigh of a duckbill
dinosaur. which is in excellent condition, is
thought to be about 70 mi.llion years old according to Tom Demere~ assistant curator of paleon'tology at the San Diego Natural History
Museum.
"It's a very important find because 'it shows
us dinosaurs we~ living near here and what
kind," said Demere, who is now studying the
fossil. "It's the most complete and the oldest
dinosaur bone. ever found in Southern
California."
, Brad Riney made the find on December 23,
1983 at a 560-acre site where a research and
development park is being built. Riney. who
along with Demere is a consultant on the project. was patrolling the area just after workers
finished for the day wHen he spotted the boric.
"They had bulldozed a big section and I
decided to check' out the area." said Riney.
"Just the tip of the bone was exposed. I dug
it out and got real excited. I knew wha~ it was
right"away because of the size."
The duckbill dinosaur. also known as,'a
hadrosaur, roamed the western United States
about 70 million years ago. It had webbed feet
and was semiaquatic, I.iving'near coastal mar- .
shes on a diet cif leaves, twigs, small. animals
and aq!latic plants. It was about 20 feet ...11 and
walked on its hind legs.
Although the site where the bone was found .
is 300 feet above sea level and three miles from
the ocean, it was once underwater, Demere said.
and fossilized oysters were attached to the outer
layer of the bone ..
SOURCE: AP in The,Morning News. Wilmington DE

LightDiDg Deaths
Blamed OD Witches

RobertsoD KaDgaroo
SightiDgs Probed

Tribal "diviners" in Johannesburg, South

Africa danced on the ashes of a hut in a rural
black community in an effort to fix blame on
alleged witches for a lightning strike that killed 13 girls, and police feared a wave of fiery
executions to avenge the deaths. Villagers
believe the lightning strike, which also injured
20 people was "called down" by witches in the
area about 200 miles west of Johannesburg.
SOURCE: UPI in' The Nashville Tennessean

A kangaroo spotted on Highway 49 in Robertson raised some eyebrows, but sheriffs officials
said no one had contacted them to report the
animal missing.
The 6-foot-tall" 200 pound kangaroo was
spotted near the WDBL radio station and was
reportedly making lO-foot-high bounces.
according to veterinarian Dr. Jim Burkhart.
SOURCE: The Na~hville Tennessean
6/30/84
CR'EDIT: H. Holland

9/5/84

2/6/84

CREDIT: H. H911ander

CREDIT: H. Holland

Second Quarter 1984

Chri.t Cloth' Blood

Same ia. OD Shroud
Apparent bloodstains on a cloth that may have
heen placed on the face of Jesus Christ shortly.
after his crucificion came from the same per~
son whose impression is on the Shroud of Turin,
a Duke University researcher said.
Dr. Alan D. Whanger, a shroud expert. also
said' he believes an explanation is close as to
how the impression on the shroud could have
been made.
The shroud, which carries the impression of
a man, is believed by some to be the burial cloth .
of Christ. It has been kept in the Cathedral of
St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, for more
than 400 years.
The supposed face cloth. called the Sudarium,
has been kept in a cathedral in Oviedo. Spain.
since the 9th centul}'.
Whanger and his wife, Mal)', used a polarized
image overlay technique they developed in 1981
to make comparisons of the two cloths. One
photographic image is projected directly over
the other through polarizing filters.
By using a third rotating filter. the similartities between images can be examined minuteIy. The Whangers said they noted 76 congruent
stains over the face and 58 over the back of the
head, thought to have been caused by a crown
of thorns.
"We feel this is hard evidence that both were
in contact with the same person," Whanger
said. Whanger said he believes his findings
substantiate the authenticity of the face cloth and
the existence of the shroud long before the 14th
centul)' - a period of large-scale relic fo,&eries.
Some people believe the shroud was manufactured at that time. The shroud was first made
.
public in France in 1356.
The Whangers said the face cloth was folded around Christ's face prior to the placement
of the shroud. The Whangers specuiated that
the face cloth was removed when the shroud
was folded over the body and because it was
stained with blood, it was left in the tomb near
the body, as was the custom.
"We believe that the face cloth was placed
on the body. shortly after death and before the
entombment because it is much more bloody
than the shroud," he said.
The face cloth measures 2-feet.-9-inches by
l-foot-9-inches. The linen shroud cloth is
14-feet-3-inches by 3-feet-7-inches and has the
front and back image of a man.
Whanger said there is new evidence of the
nature of the shroud image itself.
He said he has been collaborating with West
German physics teacher Oswald Scheuermann.
who has theorized the image may have been
created by a bolt of lightening.
Scheuermann has produced images with virtually the same detail and physical and chemical
characteristics. as those on the shroud by means
of radiation from high-voltage high-frequency
electrical currents.
.
SOURCE: UPI in The Schenectady Gazette
(NY)
4/19/84
CREDIT: R. Girard

Second Quarter 1984

Goliath a Pu.hover?
David of Biblical fame may have so easily
slain Goliath because the Philistine suffered a
rare growth disorder that made him a giant but
also allowed a pebble from the youth's
slingshot to penetrate his brain.
In a letter to the New England Journal of
Medicine, a husband and wife team from
Vanderbilt University theorized that Goliath
may have suffered a rare disorder that causes
tumors to grow in the endocrine glands which
help regulate the body's growth and functions.
"It would explain why Goliath was so la,&e,
why he couldn't really see David and why he
was felled by a small rock from a slingshot, ..
said psychiatrist Pauline Rabin who formulated
the theol}' with her endocrinologist husband.
David Rabin.
The Rabins postulated that Goliath suffered
from multiple endocrine neoplasia, a heredital)'
disorder that causes tumor growth in endocrine
glands.
.
"In the disorder; the body produces extra
growth hormones and that would account for
Goliath's giant height," Mrs. Rabin said.
"The Bible said he stood 6 cubIts and a span
and we think that's the equivalent of about 9
feet tall."
The Rabins said the pressure from the tumor
may have cut down Goliath's vision, not
allowing him to take much heed of David.
The disease also causes tumors of the pancreas and that could lead to low blood sugar
- which would weaken a person.
"It's possible that on the morning of the contest, Goliath was in a weakened state," Mrs.
Rabin said.
SOURCE; UPI in Schenectady (N.Y.) Gazelle.
10/23/83.
CREDIT: J. Zarzynski.

BoboIiD May U.e

Built-ID Compa
Tiny bits of iron oxide in the heads of
lx>bolinks may act like compasses during the
bird's migration between the northern and
southern hemispheres; a researcher has found.
It is the first reported finding of the magnetic
material in a migratol)' bird, Robert C. Beason,
assistant biology professor at"the State University of New York at Geneseo.
.
Bobolinks have the longest migratol}' path of
any New World land bird. ranging from Canada
to northern Argentina and Chile. he said. His
research indicates that they check their internal
compass periodically while navigating by the
stars.
. Beason and coworker Joan Nichols published
results of the work in the current issue of
Nature.
For the research, 27 bobolinks in cages were
put in a planetarium to test their reactions to projected star patterns. Judging by the direction the
birds went to tl}' to escape. Beason found that
when the stars indicated north in one direction
and the Earth's magnetic field pointed the other
way, the birds navigated by the stars for two
to five nights before switching to the magnetic
field.

That suggests that bobolinks use stars but also

. orient themselves periodically with their internal compass ... Its like looking at your compass. picking out a tall tree or mountain to walk
toward. and then looking at the compass
again."' Beason said.
Test of 22 bobolink heads showed they contained enough magnetic material' to discern the
Earth's magnetic field. Dissection found iron
oxide, possibly magnetite. in sheaths around the
olfaCtol}' nerve. in tissue between the eyes and
in tiny bristles jutting into the nasal cavity.
In tests of live birds this summer. Beason
hopes to show that the iron oxide does trigger
messages to the brain.
.
SOURCE: AP in The Morning News (Wilmington. DE)
5/15/84
CREDIT: H. Hollander

Ma Fish 'Suiclde'
to Biologists

~uzzle

Biologists are still puzzling over why millions

of tiny anchovies invaded Santa Cruz Harbor
in a kamikaze run that caused them all to suf.focate in the oxygen-depleted water.
The school of fish that pushed against the central California shore-line and into the mile-long
harbor I~st month was so la,&e - perhaps 2,00Q
tons - that it rivaled a year's commercial
fishing harvest in the area.
Within hours the oxygen supply in the harbor. which has berths for 900 boats, was exhausted. It fell to 0.4 pans per million. less than
one-tenth of nonnal.
The result was a blow for Santa Cruz
businesses as the rank smell of decomposing
fish chased off summertime visitors.
A week after the influx began, harbor workers
had scooped up 400 tons of the dead fish
carpeting the harbor floor in an inch-thick layer.
The cleanup has cost more than $15.000.
Mountains Qf the dead fish were either turned into chicken feed .. hauled out to sea or carried to the Santa Cruz sewage treatment plant.
The phenomenon is not a new one in the harbor 70 miles south of San Francisco. Anchovies
poured in - and died - in massive numbers
in 1964, 1974 and 1980.
Biologists have offered theories ranging from
the presence of city lights to the periodic shift
in ocean currents known as EI Nino.
EI Nino. blamed for unusual weather in the
winters of 1981-82 and 1982-83. carried an
abundance of northern anchovies to the central
coast last fall, said Richard Parrish. fisheries
biologist in Monterey, Calif., for the National
Marine Fisheries Service.
The area's relatively mild weather in Februarv
and March was ideal for spawning and helped
boost the anchovy population even furttier.
When the fish clogged the harbor last month.
about a.dozen aerators were placed in the water.
As the fish died in massive numbers. air compressors were brought in to serve as makeshift
aerators and the number of machines was increased to 40.
SOURCE: AP in The Nashville Tennessean
8/5/84
CREDIT: H. Holland
Pursuit

89

Nev.d. Biafoot Report

A NevBda motolq'clist told state police he
spoiled a 7-foot creature resembling the elusive'
Bigfoot while riding along a highway in the

rain:

. Paul Claywell of Las Vegas pulled off IntersJate.5 and reponed to state police .that he
had spaged 'the creature. Then he continued
~ his way, state police dispatcJler ~thy
Wooton said. .
..
"'He.stated that his headlight hit an animal
.whlchwas standing upright on its hin~ legs,"
~Vootoil read from a police log.
.
. ~It turned and looked at him a~ he approached it, .then tumed and ran off the road, still
upright....
.
. She ~id: the "fficer who look the report said
that Claywell "was obyiously very shook and'
seemed quite sane when he came in."
. "He stated that he knew he was tired, but
he knew for sure it wasn't a bear because bears
usually don't run upright," Wooton said . .
"He stated that the animal ran hunched over,
and had long straight hair all over its body,
well as its face. tie stated that he would
descri!Je him as the animal called Bigfoot."
SOURCE: AP in Austin (Tex.) American-'

as

Statesman. 11/11/83.

CREDIT: D. Palin

M t.e Ape
Massa, at 52 the world's oldest captive
gorilla. still is a "tough old coo!tie." but
researchers have made plans for the day he dies .
so they can study his brain, preserve his organs
and learn why he has lived so long. "He's the
oldest primate outside of man," said Dietrich
Schaaf, curator of the Philadelphia Zoo, where
Massa has lived since Dec. 30, 1935. "He's
very, very valuable to the scientific world. ':
The ape goes back on exhibit at the zoo after
surviving a life-threatening tooth infection. He
was taken off exhibit because he was listless,
slept most of the time and wasn't eating his'
.~, zoo officials said. A medical team
apesthetized him and pulled out six infected'
teeth. He is now dOwn to his last three ..
Nevertheless, within days'. Massa was eating.
peanut b;utter and jelly sandwiches, drinking
grape juice and moving about in his cage. "In
fact, he's a
tough old'cookie," curator
Schaaf said.
But Massa's ~ing is only a matter of time,
and when it comes, the zoo and health
specialists will be ready. His brain will be
studied by resean:hers at the Johns Hopkins
. Medical Institutions in Baltimore and
Montefiore' Hospital in New York, the hean.
will be analyzed at the zoo, a veterinary doctor at the University of Pennsylvania will
oversee distribution of other organs; and his
~s will go to the Smithsonian Institution in
WaShi~on, Sc:ha8f said: "Aging is something
we don't u!lderstand," Schaar'said, explaining why there was so much interest in Massa.
. Gorillas usually live to be about 25 years old
in ~ wild, but Massa was spared an eady
death when he was pun:hased from a sea cap-

"reuy

Pursuit. 90

tain by Gertrude Lintz of Brooldyn, who 'nursed the sicldy animal back to health and cared
for him until he grew too big. It was she who
named him Massa, or "big boss."
The z~'s resean:h director, Bob Snyder,
says he is interested in the long"term effects
of a special diet Massa has been eating most
of his life. The diet, developed by Snyder's'
predecessor:, Dr. Herbert Ratcliffe, is a mix
of what might now be termed "health foods, "
including brewer's yeast, whole-grain cereals
and milk solids. Snyder says animals get bored
with the diet, which is why Massa recently was
treated to sandwiches, fruit juice and cupcakes
to perk him up.
But Massa otherwise has stuck to the
. regimen, making him ~ other apes at the zoo
"the best controlled experiment in the world"
on the effects of the diet, according to Snyder.
sOURCE: Asbury Parle(N.J.) Press. 1115/83.
CREDIT: Member #432.

'Death.tar' See. as
Co.et..pewer
Scientists sayan unchafted 'deathstar that
showers the Earth with comets eve!), 28 million
. years probably rid the planet of dinosaurs and
will plunge' the plane~ into darkness and cold
again - in 15 million years.' . .
In a repc;m to the Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory, the resean:hers from the University of California at Berkeley said they used
evidence from fossils, rare metals and ancient
impact craters dotting the earth to explain why
certain species of life have become extinct at
regular intervals over the past hundreds of
millions of years.
J'he scientists describe the star as a . dwarf, ..
or smaller star, whi~h orbits in space as a companion to the Sun and takes 28 million years
to complete one omit. They conceded they have
only indirect evidence that the star exists.
th~y want to call the star "Nemesis," after
the Greek goddess who "relentlessly persecutes
the excessively rich. proud and powerful.
They also said there is no immediate cause for
.concem because the next shower of comets is
not due for about 15 million years.
. Their theory was contained in two papers submitted to the international science journal.
Nature. The resean:hers are astrophysicist
Richald A. Miller, geologist Walter Alvarez and
astronomers Man: Davis, all of Berkeley, and
Piet Hut, who normally is attached to Princeton
University's Institute for Advanced StUdy.
Alvarez, a Nobel L8ureate. and associates
who include his son, Walter. and other nuclear
. scientists have spent th~ five years analyzing
the rare metallic element iridium lying in layers .
within the Earth's crust. They have found
evidence of the .layers throughout the world and.
have'dated the deposits at two distinct geologic
periods.
. One was about 65 million years ago and the
other about 230 million years ago.
Each time a burst of comets collides with
earth, the scientists say, the planet is plunged
into a period of darkness and cold that may extinguish a"y~here from 20 pen:ent to 70 per-

cent of all plants and animals existing at the

time.
Once .the catastrophe is ended, new families
.and species emerge, the researchers say. They
. are convinced their theo!)' will eventually settle arguments over why Earth's dinosaurs disappeared abruptly some 65 million years ago.
The comets are unleashed on the Sun and its
planets, they believe, when the star's Orbl is
closest to earth, or 3 trillion miles away. The
star is now at the fanhest ppoint of its orbit
around the Sun .
SOURCE: UPI in Schenectady Gazette
2/21184
.
CREDIT: ]. Zarzynski

Meteorite Hints at Life in Space

Scientists have discovered amino acids from
a meteorite that struck China last year, indicating the existing of life on other planets, a
news report said.
.
Amino acids are a basic component of protein and nucleic .acid, the fundamental elements.
of living organisms.
The official Xinhua ~ews Agency said that
a meteorite estimated to be between 19 and 23
inches in diameter fell on the city of 'Wuxi in
east. China on April II, 1983. Ice from the
meteor melted before scientists could preserve
it. but a retired worker in the area saved some
of the water for analysis.
The water had a greater density and higher
mineral content than that found in ice on Eanh,
said the scientists who studied it.
They discovered amino acid compounds,
whic;h "indicated that life could exist on other
. planets if conditions were favorable, ". Xinhua
said. 'They also said the'existence of water to
form the ice was another indication that life 'on
Eanh might have originated elsewhere in the
universe. .
.
SOURCE: The Philadelphia Inquirer
3125/84
CREDIT: H. Hollander

Fro......he GoldeD HiDd"

..... Elizabeth Sydenham, 'dismayed by
Drake's apparent total disappearance. at sea
(which could in her case have been only on the
comparatively si)on West Indian voyage) was
persuaded by her parents. that he was dead and
that she should many another. As she was about
to enter the church at Monksilver on her wc;dding day a cannon-ball fell at her feet. It was
a sign that Drake was still alive, she declared,
and she refused to go on with the ceremony.Fanciful rubbish? Perhaps - but at Combe
Sydenham until a few years ago they exhibited
an ancient cannon-ball said to be the .one concerned. Some scholars have considered it a
meteorite ...
SOURCE: 'The Golden Hind"
by T.W.E. Roche
Praeger Publishers
New York - Washington - 1973
Copyright the estate of T.W.E. Roche 1973
p 175
CREDIT: H. Hollander'
(Continued on page 9,2)

Second ,Quarter 1984

Letters to the Editors

Dear Editor:
When I received Pursuit No. 64 (Fol,lrth Quarter 1983) and
happily noted Zecharia Sitchin's "Earth Chronicles and the Giza
Forgery" as the third item in the table of contents, I expected
little more than a condensation of his first book, The Twelfth
Planet. This truly remarkable work was so filled with facts,
deductions and ideas that I quote the King of Gilgamesh in my
novel The Offspring (Leisure, 1984) and cited both Sitchin and
his book. Little did I realize, however, that I.was about to find
myself knee-deep in another Mesopotamian field of even more
awesome discJvery, astounding connections and logical
speculation.
"Earth Chronicles and the Giza Forgery" deserves to be
spread across the nation's front pages and reprinted in the textbooks of at least four disciplines. As a full-time author and anthologist, I know why this ~i11 never happen, but I shall keep
on believing that it should. Now that Sitchin has developed tell. ing evidence for our origins on a transplutonian planet known
as Nibiru, it's possible and indeed challenging to draw some
conclusions about the nature of the Nefilim - presumably our
oldest ancestors.
Bearing in mind that your correspondent is a .storyteller first
and an amateur scientist tenth or twelfth, let's try this: According to the Sumerian records, Earthlings as we now know
ourselves were created by fertilizing the egg of "an apewoman"
the egg then reimplanted in the womb of a female Nefilim
astronaut some 300,000 years ago.
Clearly, it's possible to identify certain human/Nefilim
characteristics as ones not usually .found in the ape and other
animals. Bypassing the evolutionists (a detour of no small
delight), we may conclude that these "higher," non-earthly attributes are traceable to our germinating forefathers.
. -As an easy.opener, take the knack of standing erect: apes
can do it, but don't - not all the time, nor without crouching.
May we not assume that the natives of Nibiru unfailingly stood
up - all the way - on two feet?
-Contrast our relative hairlessness with dogs, cats, bears and
other earth-walking mammals: It's a resonable inference that
the ancient astronauts who said in effect, "Let there be the light"
of intelligence," were bald, or notably lacking in hirsute
adornment.
-Most lower animals, I hear, are color-blinc;l. Logically. the
"higher" order of Nefilim could not only detect color and since we are their descendants and any originating Adam and
Eve were mix-mated prototypes - they surely also sensed a
wide range of colors.
-Many mammals have olfactory capabilities much superior
to man's. Should we expect, then. that the 'Nibiruvian progenitors were able to smell much of anything that went by? And
what does the absence of such capability tell us about the nature
of their environment?
-As for the mouth, our jaws and dental accoutrements lack
. the tearing-and-rending power of most other earth-dwelling
mammals; but most of us remain carnivores, a circumstance that
seems quite explicable as a throwback to the partly animal,
Nefilim paSt and supports the conclusion that our iong-range
Nibiru neighbors possessed toothless, tiny mouths, little more
than slits in their unwhiskered jaws.
Second Quarter 1984

When you put all this together - bald head, w,mp-around

eyes, a proboscis miniaturized in two dainty ,nostrils, a thinlipped aperature for a mouth, and the unifonnly :snug-fitting
jumpsuit - you call up an image not unlike the strange little
figures so often "witnessed" in the act of 19athf!ring watersamples or rock-and-soil specimens a yard or IIwo from a justlanded UFO!
But the basic, important concerns are still to ,be appraised:
What intellectual, emotional, affectional, aggr-es!;ive, reverent
or logical attributes do we possess that OUr animaJs don't? These,.
if my reasoning holds, may properly be attribut(~d. to the masses
of Marduk, as. the Babylonians chose to call tI,lose from the
"Planet of the Crossing." My laid-back mannc'r of presenting
these assumptions is meant neither to deride Zec !haria Sitchin's
scholarship nor denigrate his extraordinary findi lngs, but rather
to suggest a personal humility born of my .own educative
:.
deficiencies.
.
People of Earth tend to be social creatures. f Given to invoking the territorial imperative, we sometime! ~ slaughter one
another. We hunt, work to provide for our love :d ones and have
sexual intercourse to propagate our line; we Ii Ie about loafing,
establish a home base of operations which we t :hen beautify and
defend; and we live to die. So do most of the i other mammals
that meander over the face of our enigmatic E; arth. What, then,
does that leave us as the bequest of the Nefilir 11? What qualities
or skiIIs or redeeming interests may we confid !ently say are n~w
shared by our mammalian brothers and sisters' ? What, therefore,
may be the gifts from people who were a !third of a million
years ahead of us when the universe was th ~t much younger?
I see Nibiru's natives as creatures with a So ense of humor that
does not simply smile in !11uscular reflex bUll makes and enjoys
jokes, satire, amusing happenings, and hUI1l' pr that is both comment and saving grace. I see the Nefilimas beings who read
and write; for earth-tied entities besides n ~an can do neither,
nor can they. paint, invent music, choreograph or knowingly
dramatize. I see the inhabitants of a Twel fth Planet as beings
who venerate a Creator and seek to under. itand His intentions,
who prefer peace to war, who are spontan .eously generous and.
conscientiously teach their kind in the hop~ that what the young
do with the knowl~ge will mean real prog- ress for every creature
of Nibiru. .
.
'
.
I see evidence that the children of the Sl iars are ready to make
a conscious, collective decision to discI over what is laudable
about us, what marvels we can create and: invent that will banish
the obligation to die, and what the Creat or of us all - a larger,
more far-flung "us" - intends that we :~hould do and be. I see
the opportunity to live in peace with whattever we learn, to yield
to the capacity for generous giving instiJ~ed in us 300,000 years'
in the past, and to help our young learn what they can and must
learn to redefine "progress," for every creature of Earth.
-J.N. Williamson
,

Editor's note: J.N. Williamson is the a uthor of several published books, mostly horror fiction. His m. ;)st recent report to SITU
described his synchronistic observation- s while attending a movie
matinee in his home city, Indianapolis,; Indiana (Pursuit No. 59, .
Third Quarter 1982, p. 122).
.
Pursuit 91

Nebrask.a Conlrerence
(Continuei;l (rom page 85)
2; and bc.tth "scores" are awfully weaR. Leo Sprinkle had two

Corrections

hypnotic ,regression cases on the videOtape-film which linked

UFOs dire ~tly with' 'cattle-napping. " One.'was combined .with
a highly er. notion:al human abduction and examination (without
mutilation ~f th~ humans). Both stori~s made for interesting
listening, b'ut cOlRsidering the widespread awareness of cattle
mutilation stories: and the controversies. surrounding regressive
hypnosis, we homestly still don't knO\f what's going on.
Will we ewer get to the bottom, or tl:le top, of aU this? This
reporter can only recall the. words o~ an old West Virginia
philosopher, MOluntain William:
i
"'If you spend all your time gazin' at the stars,
you're bound to step in somethin' Qn the road."
Watch the sldeB, folks. Also, watch y~)Ur step. Together we'll
get all this fig ulled out in time. .

Mr. Nelli has recognized or ~commended the following changes and/or corrections in his article" Energy and
Paranormal Phenomena;" PURSUIT vol. 17 #1. Our
thanks and/or aPology to him and to our readers.

page 33 col. 1, line 8 - should read, of learning about.

The areas being investigated
page 33 col. 2, line 34 - subject, should read, subjective
page 34 col. I, line 27 - to attempt, should read, in attempting
page 34 col. 2, line 54 - solidarity, should read, solidity
page 35 col. 2, line 13 - transitions, should read, transition
page 35 col. 2, line 16 - cOl).scious, should read, consciousness

--------------------~--------------------------Situations
( Continued
from page 90)
SateUit. . Beveai Andent
chaeological scientists last week. Researchers
attending the 1984 Symposium on ArBock Mal'kil'p al'e P .....lexiDg:
MayaD Cities
Soviet scientists \ veren't about to buy the locid
legend that a piece I [)f the sun fell near the tow:n
of Ukhta. but how were they to explain thoSe
perplexing rock mal :kings, hexagonally shaped
imprints 760 yards 1\!elow the Earth's surfac~?
Some people said t he markings were evidence
that an alien spacecr aft had once landed in tt~e
area. "The Paleontolc 19y Institute of the Soviei
Academy of Sciences , also concluded the markings were not a result: of natural processes. the
official news agency Tass said.
Stumped. scientists, called in researchers from
the country's top crin (Iinology institute.
. 'The criminologist& : quickly discovered that
the traces had been Ie. ft by the head of a bolt.
currently in use." Ta ss reported. "The ex-.
amination revealed tha, i the digits 8 and 4 had
been pressed on the in lprints."
As to how the bolts ~ Iched such depths. there
was no explanation.
SOURCE: AP in Schcllcctady Gazette. NY

4/28/84

CREDIT: Bob Girard .

The Mao Who N ever Dl'ealD.

An Israeli scientist sai .d yesterday he has
documented for the fin ;t time a case. of
dreamless sleep, apparently: caused by a tiny bit
of shrapnel lodged in a m.ans brain.
Dr. Ron Peled. deputy director of the Sleep
Research Center at the . Technion Medical
School in Haifa. saiddreamlrree slumber has no
apparent ill effects on the 3:1 year-old subject.
whose name he withheld.
A brain scan showed a smalll piece of shrapnel
was lodged in his brain whenl he was wounded
while serving in the Israeli amllY nine years ago.
Peled said.
.
Although people do not always. remember
their dreams. research has sho wn there are four
to five dream periods. each laliting less than 30
minutes, during each eight hlJurs' sleep.
The location of the shrapllel. Peled said.
could help pinpoint the exact. position of the
dream center "in human beings. 'and advance the
"very young field" of sleep lresearch.
SOURCE: UPI in the New l' 'otic Post

7/5/84
CREDIT: Joe Zarzynski
Pursuit

92

Analysis of satellite remote-sensing data has

led to the discovery of the ruins of two ancient
Mayan cities hidden in the jungle of southern
Mexico, according to a report by the Earth
Satellite Corp.
.
One of the ruins is believed to be the site of
. Oxpemul, a Mayan city found and the~ lost
again in the 1930s. The other was said to be
a site previously unknown. to archaeologists.
Structures at the sites, including pyramids and
smaller stone buildings, indicated tha~ the cities
flourished in the Classic Maya period between
A.D. 600 and A.D. 900.
The discoveries stemmed from a test aimed
at seeing how useful satellite imagery could be
in arc~aeological reconnaisance. Rod Frates,
fou~er of the company, which is baSed in
Chevy Chase, MD, led a team of geologists and
archaeologists that ~nalyzed data from the landsat satellites, which used multispectral sensors
to create images for mapping the earth's surface.
Frates said the analysis located more than ioo
possible sites of Mayan ruins. Subsequent visits
to the sites confirmed the existence of what were
believed to be the two most interesting ruins.
The supposed Oxpemul site is near the village
of Dos Aguadas in the Yucatan. The other ruin,
for which a Mayan name is presumably
unknown is near the village of Conhuas.
The National Science Foundation is working
with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on several projects. using
spaceborne sensors to investigate promising
.
regions of the earth.
In recent years animaging radar system carried by the space shuttle uncovered traces of ancient settlements that had long been buried under
the Sahara Desert in Egypt.
SOURCE: New York Times News Service in
The Tennessean
6/28/84

CREDIT: H. Holland

PyralDld. An Not Made of

. Polyme.... Say Expert.

theory that the building blocks of the

pyramids are mineral polymers cast on the spot
ran into polite but stony opposition from ar-

chaeometry, held in Washington, DC, at the

. Smithsonian Institution, found evidence for the
controversial idea - presented by polymer
chemist Joseph Davidovits - less than rock
solid.
For a number of years, Davidovits has been
promoting his theory that ancient monuments
such as the pyramids and the Easter Island
statues were constructed from man-made stone
- crushed rock agglomerated with ~n organic
binder. Instead of cuning and hauling huge
stones, Davidovits asserts, ancient peoples built
molds to fOmll the stones using the lo~
temperature polymerization process he has
rediscovered at his geopolymer institute at Barry
University in Miami Shores, FL.
X-ray diffraction analysis of casing stone
from the pyramids of Cheops and Seneferu
show the materials could not have come from
the' Egyptian quarries they are traditionally
associat~ with, Davidovits told the researchers.
Samples from the quarries showed the rock there
to be pure .limestone, whereas the pyramid
stones contain a small percentage of other
materials - most notably hydroxyapatite - indicative of a geopolymeric binder, Davidovits
says.
Davidovits' audience seemed eager to chip
at his theory. The British Museum finds nothing
thai can't be explained as natural limestone including no hydroxyapatite - in its samples
from Cheops, Michael S. Tite, an archaeological scientist with the museum's
.research lab, quickly pointed out. Another
speaker suggested Davidovits check quarry
samples from the west, rather than east side of
the Nile.
. Still other researchers. woridered if Davidovits
had checked the microstructure of a cross section of the pyramid stone - an experiment that
would clearly differentiate natural stone from
man-made aggregate, .Davidovits skirted the
question - a response that seemed on'y to
solidify his colleagues' resistance to. his ideas.
SOURCE: Chemjcal and Engineering News

5/21184
CREDIT: Diane Kleinschmidt

Second Quarter 1984

~~~~~~~~~~~~==~==~~~~~~~~~~--

The Notes ofCharles Fort

~eciphered

by Carl d. Pabst

ABBREVIATIONS
Aurord
about
According to

Ameri,-an Jllurnal of Science

r! Almanac ?)

Annal.' of Scientilic Di.,collery

An'ana of Science

r!

Astmnomische Nachrichten"n

Repon III the British A.~.",c:iation for the

Adl'ancement of Science
Belgium
between
British West Indies
Cassiopeia
Cepheus

Chemical News
Ciel et Terre
Connecticut
C(lmplL'.~ Rendu.~

illustrated

The Book olthe Damned. page 262

det met
diff.
edin New Phil Jour
Elec

detonating meteor
different

Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal

Electric
England
estimated
east to west
Extraordinary occurrence

Fletcher's List
Finley's Repon on the Characters ol6OO .
Tornadoe.'
.
(".')
France
Frogs

History of Astmnomy
incipit volcano
.
Inferior conjunction
Italy

Journal des Debat.,

Journal of the Franklin Institute
(Cllntinued liom Pursuit Nil. 65.
First Quaner 1984. page -lS)
1835 Aug 4 I Great concussio)n) I air
I S. Herefordshire I stone of Aldswonh
probably from Rept BA 1860-751 See
July 4. '34.
1835 Aug 4 I 4:30 p.m. I South
Herefordshire I Tretire, Herefordshire
I explosive sound I thought IT)eteoric I
BA 52-184
)Reverse side) Also at Malvern I The
Analyst. 1835175.
1835 Aug 4 1 Ab 1/2 mile from whcre
the met fell. there was a shower of small
pieces.
)Reverse side) Children thought it a
shower of black beetles and held out
hands to catch the supposed insects.
Was 4:30 p.m. I BA 57-140.
1835 Aug 41 Gloucester I "an extraordinary concussion of the air felt and
heard" / abo 3:30 a.m. I
)Reverse sille) Like a repon of heavy
/ L.T. 243d.
"'D."nnlt1

Quarter 1984

1835 Aug 4 I Sound lab. 4:30 p.m.

IS. Herefordshire / ., Most extrdordinary concussion in the air." / BA

-52/184.
18.15 Aug 4 I Aldswonh. near
Cirencester I Metite / IF) I Nature,
'.14-258 I
)Reverse side) C.R. 125-896.
1835 Aug. 7. etc. I L.T. Index
Halley's Cornel.
1835 Aug 191 q and sea waves I Japan
I III / )Heavy I BA 1911).
1835 Aug '20 / q I Lancashire '1 See
Mareh 10. 1843.
1835 Aug 20 (q. / Manchester / M.
Post. Oct 9. '63 1 1863.
1835 Aug 20 I q 1 Clitheroe, etc. Lan
lab. 3:30 a.m. I LT 24-3-d.
1835 Aug 23 1 Vole eruption 1 Mt. Ardschen. in Cappadocia I BA 54 1
(Reverse side) Gentlemans Mag. gives
lIate Aug 25.
1835 Aug 23 1 Asia Minor I III I
(Heavy quake I BA 1911).
ca~hire

Jour of Asiatic Soc 01' Bengal

La Sci Pour Tous
lal.
L'lnstitut
LT
mag.
Mass.
Mechanics Mag
Mel11s Geolog. Survcy of
India
met
metite
(N)

N.M.
no.
N.S.W.
N.W. Provs.
N.Y.
obj
Op Mars
p.
Pers.
phe
Proc. Amer. Phil Soc
Pmc. Roy. Irish Acad.
q
Ref
Rei-Ph. J
II/ ) Reverse side)
R:1.
Sc Am
Spon Comb
sq
S. to N.
Symons'
th. storm
Timb's
voles
VUles
Wrms

Journal of A.~iatiL S",:iet)" III' Bengal

La Science Pour Tllu.,
latitude

r?)
London Time.'
magnitude
Massachuseus

Mechanics' Magazine
Memoirs (If the Gell/llgieal Sun',,' III' Indio.

meteor
meteorite
I?)
No More
number
Ne'w South Wales
Nonhwest Provinces
New York
object
.
Opposition. Mars
page
Pers"eus
phenomena
Pmcet:dings of the A meri,'an Philll.,ophi' :al

Society
Pmcet:dings of the RIIYill lri.,h A,'adem.l;
canhquake
Reference

Religio-Philosophi"al Journal"
probably not related
Rhode Island

Scientific American
Spontaneous Combustion
square
South to Nonh

Syrilon., ML'tellmlllgiL"ill Magazine

thunderstornl

Timb's Year B(I(,k

voleanoes
VUleans
Worms

1835 Aug 25 / 5 p.m. I Mount

Kassarich, near Ode~sa 1 thick smllke
anll names from mt anllq's till Sept. I I
(Reverse side) I(S in Oct I An Reg
35-143.
1835 Aug 30 1q 1 Dept. Orome. Frdnce
i B Assoc 256/1854 I See Sept 14.
IIB6.
1835 Sept 3 1 Hurricane I Barbadoes 1
L.T. 23-2-f.
1835 Sept 6/ Gelati Gernlany I Gntha
120 10-49.
)BCF, p. 49 1 See 181111.)
1835 Sept 13 I Maudvit said he saw
whirlwind take up. at Caul(. all the
water and living fishes in a .. man.'. 1
(Reverse side) Cosmos 3/4/697.
1835 Sept 14/ q's I Frdnce I BA 54.
1835 Sept 20 I Near Bristol I Anny in
sky I Cosmos. N.S. 13/264.
1835 Oct2/(L.T.).1-c! ctc./1 Halle~'~
Cnmel.
(18)35"? 118341 Oct 61 (L.T.). I-f 1
elc. 1/ Halley's Comet visible i See

Aug. Index.
1835 Oct 12 I glass I Ab.6 p.m.: at
L;nnbclh a large square of plate gl: 1SS
in a lIraper's shop Westminster-Rl~ Id.
(Rcvcrsc side) Three bullet holes' in
glas~. NO! said bullets found but i II
tributed 10 an air-gun. /
(Front side) Sce. Ocl. 31.
1835 Oct 12 - 1.1/.11r!) I Flashes. q un. d
whirlwind 1 See 1805.
.1835 Oct 12 I Greatq./ Calabria / BA .
54.
1835 'Oct 14 1 Intense lIarkne~,s I
QucbeL'1 Niles Nal. Register 57-1 9:!.
1836 Oct. 2.1.1 7 p.m. I II p.n1. I
Fireballs tlvcr Greenlield. Mas~. exploding with q. effects. 1 Niles Wc:ekIy Register, No\". 5.
1835 Oct 24 I (Fr) / Pau / Sounlls. nr
q'~ I B Ass(~ 54/128 1 See No\".
111.15 Oct n I abA il.l11. 1 SI. Ben .... IIll
lie Cnmminques / sharp shock il nll
rul11bling sOllnlll Annther an .hnur Im .'r.
1835 Oct 27 I B.A.54 1 abo 4 a.l11 ..

Pursuit 93

wry scw :re 4 in Hautc-Gammc and

wiling ~ (lund I
I Rc\ cn;.; : sidc 1Sec Jllur dcs Dch .. Nllv.
5. i M~ mcteur. Nov. 6
11135 (j .:t 27 I 4 and Rhc I ah. 4 a.lll.
/4 in ':f;autc.pyrenccs Ithc CirljuC dc
Tmum II: IUSC in thc mlluntain enveloped
in a hlJr :ning sulphumus column. I CR
1-46'!'. I
1K3~ C kt 211 I 3:45 - near Barc'gi:~ I
and I~:: 10 - Tames I shocks and sounds
. likl; th ,under I BA 54.
.

I.

~ 11.'15 ( ilcl. 29 I 4 - meteors / a". ~ .1.111.

I S.1. (iall. Appenlell. ctc. Switz .. and
III:cv( in.c sidel Bitle. 3:47 a.lll. !
S.hod ks. I snund like repnn uf .1 em!' .

linn ! Mctenrs. I BA 54.

11I3~: Oct 29/3:47 a.m. at Brile' 4 a.lll.
IIthc 'r pan~ nf Switzerland I Vinlcnl
shn.Nm IRe ;vc;"SC side 1dull sound like distant
,'ar IROril. ., Luminous meteors were
nh,se!V\:d'-' I BA '5~.
I fl35 cl. 31 I Glass breaking I Hnllle
n I" . Mi'. Arehbtlld. barristcr, 4
l ~inden!l :mve. K.:risington Grdvel pits :.:\ largc; l"Onscrvatory in his gardcn cr.Jsh a~ Id pan of the. glass mol" I"ell.
IRever.;! : sidel Day after day glass fell.
Pnlice J ould lind out nothing. Mr. A
suspe,te 11 sOllleone but nothing fllund
nut. NI~ missiles mentioned. I Glass
hmke ~ hile constables on watch. 1
IFmnt ~ idel (Sec Oct 12.)
11135 N~ IV. I I Anrih this to terrc~tiill
\'ulc - : hut nnnc in Ky. I?I: etc.
11135 Nlj 'v I 14 - dry li.lg 14. I Mulu,"
,'ilS ! liJr; 3 weeks had been preceded hy
a heilvy: sulphumus fllg.
IRcverso : side 1There was a VII"t.: eruptilln on ~' hc island III" Banda. I B.A .. 54 ..

11135 N. uv 71 Tnms Men'.

i

111,15 N uv II '41 Cunccpl"inn. Chilc'

I 2 vol cs. 400 miles away. were in
\"illlcnt: actinn. I BA 'II.
111,15 ~ lov. 13. I Met sct lire to bam.
I Ain. ~ Fr.mce I Repi. B.A. 111651211.
111.15" lnv 13 - 141 Great l"all nl" Illcts
~en i~ .. U.S. and by Sir John H'ers"hd
at Ca~ ..: III" Gond Hnp.:.
IReve! (SC sidel A,tn M. Ar.lgn.1 Mag
PIlP ~ ci 3/62 I (PI.
111.15 f Nov 13. I Sil1lonod (Ain), Fr.Jm:e
I Ol~ ham' sCat 01" Meteorites I (F"! I.
18.151 NIIV 1319 p.m. I Belley (Ain)
I Bril liant meteor secn and loud dewnatilln~ . heard. At the same time. a lire
bnlk .c out on mol" IIf a
1Rei ~(:rse side I I"aml house 'and anrih til
thc' meteor. I C.R. 1-414 II 2 stnmge
stur nes; found and thought been meteoric
I ~ ,ad blac~ crust I 12-66).
18 ..15 :Nov 13 I loud detonaiions I near
8t !lIe)l (deI"Ain). Fr.Jnee I Meteor said
tl! J ha'~e set fire to a
II R.evc~ side) bam. A slnne wa.~ I(lund
. - res :embled obsidian but nn nickel in
it: so. not meteoric. I IBA 60-75).
1835 Nov 13 I This meteorile in the
Mus(;um of the Geological Surv~y,
Calclulla, ac to Oldham.
.
1~3S: Nov. 13 I (Fr) I Near Belley)
IAinl. loud detonalions. Stone resembling cfsidian was found, "hul nil nickcl.

PU'~uit

94

.md is nol meteoric'- I BA '6075 ,.

IReverse sidcl 65-128.
111.15 Nnv. 13 (. ) I (Frl I Bclley I 9
p.lI1. I Belley (Ai",) I Det met I C.R.
I!~I~ I 2 stllnes thought might have
1:llIen were found. I 2/66 I
IRcvcrse side) and set lire to a
gmngc".
11135 Nov (end) I (Fr) I Pau (Basses.
Pyrenees) I q and Inud explosive'sounds
I B.A. '54 I
O,'t 24.)
11135 Nov nr Dec I Snails I Montpellier.

,S'"C

11135 Nov. 16 I Comet passed

perihelion. l Newcnmb, "Astronomy
I"or Everybody. p. 262. tells only 01"
successful prediction~ .. 'So exact wa~
their work thilltwo ul" them hit the tillle
IRevcrse sidel within five days: Pru
Ii:s~or Rosenberger assigned November
cleventh as the date of return. and
Punteconlant predi,'ted it for November
thinecnth.' I 1I',r.).
1.1135 Nov 17 I Pcribelion passage 01"
Cumel. Pnntecunlant and
Rnsenberger had
IReverse sidel calculated it to be nn
r~th. I W. T. Lynn. in Nand Q
10-1-152.
.
Halley'~

11135 Nov 17 I Aunlr.J I Nima I C.R.

.11499.
11135 1Nov 1 i Conjun,tiun. with the
moun I Nuv III - Saturn 119 - Mcr,'ury I 20 - Mars I 21 - Venus I
Observatory 25-58 I solar eclipse on
:!Ot.h.
.
11135 end ul" Nov I Basses Pyrenees I
shocks I loud explu~ions I Rather
severely ,'old weather turned
IRe\'erse sidel and a hut, ~umlcating
MIUth wind hlew. I BA 54.
11135 Nuv III I morning I Red glare in
non hem .sky. Dome of St. Paul's
~rilliantly illuminated.
1 Reverse side I Engines of Ihe Fire
Estahlishmenl ,all.;d out repeatedly. I
L.T .. Nov: 19.
I i!35 last o( Nov I At Pau i BassesPyrenees), either ~hucks nr sounds.
I Reverse: sidel at time ul"a sudden hili,
~uITIl("illing soulh wind. I BA 54.
11135 DLoc. III A-I Canada I King~ton.
elC. I AJS 3011.11 '.
11135 Dec II. I A I dets I Am J. Sci
32/217..
11135 DL-c I:! - 13 I ah. midnight I Berlin
and Magdehurg Ilargc mCleor I BA 60.
1835 Dec 22 I (moon) I Light like a star
in Aristarchus "J Proctor, Myths and.
Ma-:vels, 329 I by Baile IY).
IBCF. p. 398:
Dec. 22. 1835 -Ihe star-like light in
Arislarehus - reponed by Francis
Bailey - see Proclor's Myths and
Marvel.~. p. 329.)

1836
1836 Jan 3 I Very violent q in Philippines. Several voles were active. I BA
54.
1836 Jan 5' I Philippines I I I (Light
quake I BA 1911).
1836 Jan 12 I 6: 30 p. m, I Large meteor

1836 Ap. 241 nighll At moment of great

al Cherbourg. Detonations heard at
q in Calabria, a meteor
Coutances. I BA 60.
IReverse side) appeared along the shore
1836 Jan 12 I Delonating wheel-like
of Calopezzali. I C.R . 17-621.
meteor I (D-262) I See Feb 12. I Cher1836 Ap. 24 I Calabria and Naples I
bourg. France.
shock and meteor I The next day
IBCF, pp. 274-275:
Vesuvius
Rept. Brit. Assoc., 1860-77:
(Reverse side) sent oUI thick smoke. I
That, lIt CherbQurg, France, Jan. 12,
BA 54.
1836, was seen a luminous body. seem1836 Ap. 24 I Rossano, Calabria I large
ingly two-thirds the size of Ihe moon.
II seemed to rotale on an axis. Central . fireball I . 'like a wooden beam on fire"
I BA 60.
to it there seemed to be a dark cavity.
For other accounts, all indefinite. but
1836 April I Great dry fog' in South
dislortable inlo data of wheel-like objects
Australia I Chem News 88-42 I
in Ihe sky, see Nature. 22-617; London
(Reverse side) "The phenomenon exTimes.Oct. 15. 1859; Nature, 21-225;
cited a great deal of apprehension in the
Monthly Weather Review, 1883-264.)
minds of the settlers."
1836 Jan. 24 I India I Chandernagore I
1836 Ap. 24 I (It) I Rassano, etc (COlieRSook-Saguir I also Kabul/il q ILighl)
za) I great q I "lBA) 'II.
I BA II.
1836 May 3-4 I Calabria. Italy I I I
1836 Jan 28 I 9 p.m. I See May 19.
ILight quake I BA 1911).
1806. I vessel al 0' 40 Sand 22, 30'
1836 May 81 Toronto I A I AJ.S. 32
W I violent shock to a vessel.
I 393 +.
1836 Jan. 31 I Stone fell near two men
1836 May 101 Pollen in valley of the
who had been shooting. I near Corrhe,
Aspe (Basses-Pyrtntes) I C.R. 2-516.
France'l Phipson - Meleors, p. 47 I
1836 May 13 I (Fr) I 5 a.m. I Angers,
IReverse side] CR 58/226.
Nantes. etc., wesl of F. I sounds and q
1836Jan. 311 (Fr) I Mascombes, France
I BA 54.
I stone and 2 dets I BA 67/416.
1836 May 151 Konigsberg I (N) I lights
1836 Jan. 31 I I p.m. I Metile I
on moon during eclipse of sun I Loomis,
Mascombes. I Paniculars I "Preceded
Treatise on Astronomy. p. 174.
by Detonalions" I La Sci Pour Tous
1836 May 151 Ac to Poey I C.R. 56/88
9-93.
I 'Havana I Luminous things moving
'1836 Feb. 8 I (It) I Rivoli, Piedmont I
away from sun til con- (Reverse side)
det met I BA '60 I 1 a.m.
siderable distance and Ihen retracing.
.1836 Feb. 9 I (Hlun I 5 p.m. I
Others moved wilh no commonn~ss of
Hungary I q and sounds and atmospheric
direction. Some size of 7th mag. star.
disturtiances I BA 54.
Others scarcely detectable.
1836 Feb. 12 (?) I Cherbourg I 6:27
1836 May 151 Augs.1 Havana I eclipse
a.m. I Det met and strong sulphurous
of sun I (N) I C.R. 56188 I 0-210.
odor I C.R.2-154.
IBCF, pp. 220-221:
1836 Feb. 13 I ml;)on I Ac to
Hosts of small bodies - black. Ihis
Gruithuisen,' in western erater of
time - that were seen. by Ihe
Messier. where there dre two remarkable
astronomers Herrick. BuysBallot and
. straight lines of lighl,
"De Cuppis (L 'Annle Scientilique.
(Reverse side) dark band between them
1860-25); vast numbers
bodies that
,'overed wilh luminous poinls. I Sc Am
were seen by M. Laney. to cross the
Sup - 7-2696.
moon (L "An~Scientilique. 1874-62):
another instance of.dark ones; prodigious
1836 Feb. 23 I Feb. 2611 Shocks I Parnumber of dark, .spherical bodies
ma. Italy I BA 54.
reponed by Messier, June 17, 1777
1836 Feb. 241 (It) - (q - met) I Greal
(Arago, OEuvres, 9-38); considerable
q I Rossano and Croscia, Calabria. in
riumber of luminous bodies which apruins. Rise and fall of sea. I A meteor
peared 10 move out 'from the sun, in
seen. I Ponton, Eanhquakes, p. 108.
diverse directions: seen al Havana, dur1836 April I Easter Monday /I Shroping eclipse of the sun, May 15. 1836.
shire I (8 o'clock) I q I like an exploby Prof. Auber (Poey); M. Poey ciles
sion I LT. Ap. 14-5-e.
a similar instance, on Aug. 3. 1886; M.
1836 Ap. 2 I Pribyloff Islands, Alaska
Lotard's opinion that they were birds
I Destructive q I BA 1911-42.
(L 'Astronomie. 1886-391); large
(BCF, pp. 41-44 I Sec; August 13,
number of small bodies crossing disk of
1819.)
the sun. some swiftly. some slowly;
mosl of them globular, but some seem1836 Ap. 22 I Sulphur I Prussia I Phipingly triangular, and some of more comson. Eanh's Atmosphere - p. 42.
plicated structure; seen by M. Trouvelet.
1836 Ap. 22 I Aurora at Sea I C.R.
who. whether seeds, insecls. birds or
1111519.
other commonplace things, had never
1836 April241 (It) I (Cut).1 "A terribly
seen anything resembling these forms
destructive eanhquake" I Calabria lin
(L 'Annle Scientilique. 1885-8); repon
the sky were phe that looked like "great
from the Rio de Janeiro Observatory, of
beams on fire." 1 BA 54/259.
vast numbers of bodies crossing the sun.
1836 Ap. 24 I Cosenza, Italy I 111 I . some of them luminous and some of
IHeavy quake I BA 1911).
them dark, from some time in
-December, 1875, until Jan. 22. 1876 (La
1836 Ap. 24-25 I (It) I Calabria I phe
Nature, 1876-384).)
and q I See 1805.

of

"Second Quarter 1984

1836 June 3 I Red Hook; N. Y . ./ Tornado I Fin/ey's RepoI!.

1836 June 10 I Sury (Loire) I Fireball
'1 S. to N. I BA 60.
1836 June 12 I Venetia, Italy I II I
(Medium quake IBA 1911].
1836 June 23 I (London Times]. 6-f I
Sun Spots.
1836 June 28/8-9 a.m. ! Heavy fall of
snow in Sydney, N.S.W.
(Reverse side] Unprecedented. I
Symons' 12-170.
1836 July 8 I New England I Dark Day
.
I Sc Am 112-229.
1836 July 81 Basilicata. Italy I I I (Light
quake I BA 1911).
1836 July 15 I evening I Providence.
R.I. - sound like thunder and q. I Niles
Register, July 30, 1836
1836 July 20 I (London Times]. 5-a I
Ext. occurrence.
1836 July 20 I (L.T.]. 6-f I Strange
Discovery.
(BCF. p. 169:
London Times. July 20. 1836:
That. early in July, 1836, some boys
were searching for rabbits' burrows in
the rocky formation, near Edinburgh.
known as Anhur's Seat. In the side of
a cliff: they came upon some thin sheets
of slate. which they pulled out.
Little cave.
Seventeen tiny coffins.
Three or four inches long.
In the coffins were miniature wooden
figures. They were dressed differently
both in style and material. There were
two tiers of eight coffins each, and a
third tier begun. with one coffin.
The extraordinary datum. which has
especially made mystery here:
.
That the coffins had been deposited
singly. in the little cave. and at intervals
of many years. In the first tier, the coffins were quite decayed. and the wrappings had moldered away. In the second
tier. the effects of age had not advanced so far. And the top coffin was quite
recent-looking.
In the Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquarians of Scotland. 3-12-460.
there is a full account of this find. Three
of the coffins and three of the figures are
pictured.]
1836 July 25 Ilnf conjunction I VenusSun I (AI).
1836 July (?) 281 Norwich. Conn lobj
like a mosaic of stones in tar. I See under
Objs.
1836 Aug I A I dets I Am J. Sci 32/220.
1836 Aug 8 I successional I Smyrna. I
B.A. '541 midnight- qs I At 10 p.m ..
a met had (b]een seen.
1836 Aug I Pribyloff Islands. Alaska I
1.111 (Great quake I BA 1911].
1836 Aug I Perseids I A.J. Sci 37-335.
1836 Aug 11 I Aurora I B Assoc
1836/32.
1836 Aug lSI Albi. France I frogs I C.
Rendus 3/435 11/ A 45
(Reverse side] (stamped].
1836 Aug 20 I Large met I detonating
I illinois 14 p.m. I in sunshine I BA 60.

Second Quarte~ 1984

1836 Aug. 20 I Meteors in Illinois in

daytime I A.J. Sci 33/4021 BA '60-76.
1836 Aug 30 I Oaxaca I q. I See June
5. 1897 I BA '11.
1836 Sept'71 Spon Comb I Paris I L.T ..
Ap 1O-3-f. 1837.
1836 Sept 141 (FR) I (See Aug 30. '35.)
I Aubres. Drome. Frdnce I Metite I (F).
1836 Sept 18 I. Florence I 10 a.m. I
Fireball I ,. A doubtful substance
found?" I BA 60.
1836 Sept 24 I near Macclesfield. Eng
I Swarm of minute insect est. upon 50
sq miles I Analyst 5/234.
1836 Sept 25 I (N) I Red glare in sky.
London. and firemen out I Mechanics
Mag 36/335 I
(Reverse side] These in Annual Repon
upon London Fires.
1836 Oct II I V~lc I Goentoes. Java I
N.M. I C.R. 70-878.
1836 Oct 18 I Breslau I large fireball I
BA 60.
1836 Oct 18 I Great aurora or sky glow
and 2 Vulcs or sunspots I See Feb.
1837. I
(Reverse side] CR 3/585.
1836 Oct 18/ (N) I "Fire in sky" alarm
and hundr(eds] of firemen and soldiers
in many cities in
(Reverse side] England. France and Germany. I Mechanics Mag 26/355 I
(Front side] See Sept 25. :
1836 Oct. 18/ Cherbourg I Aurora I C.R.
3/518. 536. 585.
1836 'Oct I A. I France I 34/288 A. J.
Sci.
1836 Oct 18/ Aurora I ab 8 p.m. I london I great red glare in sky I fire engines
called out I LT. Oct 20-3-c.
(Reverse side] at Strasburg. Rennes.
etc .. abo 8:30 I Times. 24th I Two columns of fire rose in oppOsite directions.
1836 abo last of Oct I Paisley r
Kirkpatrick I Erkine I Inchinan lab.
10:50 p.m. I L.T .. Oct 31-6-e.
1836 Nov I I (London Times]. 2-e I q
I Rancliffe Bridge I (not found).
1836 Nov I I Vule 12 black bodies diff.
sized by Pastorff I C. R. 49/811.
(BCF. pp. 202-203 I See 183411.]
(BCF. pp. 412-4131 See July 31. 1826.]
1836 autumn I Many auroras I Shetlands
I C.R. 31781.
1836 Nov I Jour of Asiatic Soc of Bengal
of (Nov] I See May 18. 1806 - vessel
at I 35 s and 20 45 W of
(Reverse side] Greenwich (23 SWof
Paris) heard loud sound and felt shock.
In a succeeding voyage. met at 0 35 K
Sand 15 50' W of Greenwich. sea
violently agitated and volcanic cinders
or ashes floating.
1836 Nov II I See Dec II I Macao.
Brazil I (F).
1836 Nov 12 I Leonids I ac to Olmstead
I A. J. Sci. 31-388.
1836 Nov 12 - 13 I Near Tours. mets
like a rain of fire reponed. Near Culloy,
in the valley of the Rhone. seen through
a fog so rapidly people though(t] auroral
flashes

(Revc;rse side] or lightiling. I Athenaeum

1837-12.
1836 Nov 12 - 13/ln northern Russia.
unusual no. of meteors (Iat. 60). town
of Boguslowsk. I
(Reverse side] C.R. 4-524 I bet 3 and
4 a.m. of 13th. from Leo. .
1836 Nov 12 - 131 N.Y.I Evening. few
meteors. but flashes like lightning lind
aurora. 12 a.m., began mets from Leo.1
(Reverse side] Niles Weekly Register.
Nov 19, 1836.
1836 Nov 20 I (It) I Italy I q and red
light I See 1805.
1836 Nov 20 I q. III (Medium] I Salerno 'and Basilicata. Italy I BA '11. .
1836 Nov 22 I Silesia I "atmospheric
explosion. I BA 60. .
.
1836 .Dec 3 - etc. I 2 p.m. I Began
eruption in Guadeloupe. I C.R . 4-294.
1836 Dec III Parma I from 7:45 p.m'.
till midnight lAb. 50 mets = stars first
.
mag. 12 = Jupiter.
IReverse side] Then ab 15 smaller ones
till daybreak. Most from e to w. I L.T ..
1837. Jan 4-6-2.
1836 Dec I Eruption I Guadalopue I See
Feb. I Athenaeum 1837-444.

'0

1836 Dec II I At Parma. from 7:45

midnight. no less than 50 meteors equally in brilliance 'stars of 1st mag. 12 of
them a bright as Jupiter. From midnight
till 6:30.
(Reverse side] great number of smaller
ones. 15 size of stars of second mag.
Most of them from e. to w. I See Dec
II. 1833. I L.T .. 1837. Jan 4-6-b.
1836 Dec II I See Nov. II. I Macao.
Brazil I fall great number of stones I
C.R. 5-211.

1837
1837 Jan I I q I Palestine I Congregational Magazine 20-405.
1837 Jan I I Grellt q I Syria I BA '11.
1837/ Vesoul and Toulouse II: 15 a.m.
I loud det. met I BA 60.
1837 Jan I and to Feb I Great quake on
1st in Syria I Athenaeum (1]837/4.16.
1837 Jan 1/4:35 p.m. I Beyrout. Syria
I q. I The atmosphere was hot and .
IReverse side] charged with electricity.
I Arc. Sci. 1838-254 I 39 villages
destroyed.
1837 Jan I I Great q. I town of Saffet
14 or 5.000 killed I L.T., Ap. 12.
1837 Jan I I Severe shock I Beyroutl
14 houses thrown down I
(Reverse side] L.T., Feb 7/51b.
1837 Jan 5 I I a.m. I near Vichy. etc.
I Met size of moon followed by several
luminous points - one minute I C.R.
4-94.
.1 83iJan 5/1: IS a.m. I Toulouse. etc.
I det mel I BA 60-76 I Germany. too.
1837 Jan IS I Mikolowa, Hungary I 5
p.m. I stonefall. ac to Poggendorf I BA
60.
1837 Jan 26 I bet I and 2 a.m. I
Chalons-sur-Seine and at Bourg (Ain) I
aurora very brilliant I supposed from a
fire."/ Nighl. 25 - 26. aurora at Geneva,

maximum at 12:45. I
IReverse side] (L.T.]. Feb 7-6-d 18+(.
1837 Jan 29 I Vizille;lsere I.violenl ell~
plosive sound followed by q. I BA 54.
1837 Feb 5 lOp Mars I (AI).
1837 Feb I Eruption I Guadaloupe I
Athenaeum 1837-444 I See Dec:.
1837 Feb 13 and 141 Red duslfalll abo
600 miles w. of Cape Venie I
(Reverse side] Nautical Magazine.
1-291.
1837 Feb. 151 Overthe Comrie region
fell a black powder. I Edin New Phil
Jour 31-293.
(BCF. pp. 242-2431 See Sepl24. 1816.1
(BCF. pp. 403-405 I See May 17,
1830.]
1837 Feb 15(?) I Phantom I In TilJlClJ
of 25th copying from lhe Weslern
Luminary. that on Wednesday night
(Feb. IS?) some persons saw lig,," in
lhe streets of Exmouth and heani lramping horses !Jet II and 12 p.m. - going
(Reverse side] to windows saw a funeral
procession - several mUles' on
horseback. some with torches. lhree
mourning coaches followed by chariots
- procession ending with more muleS
on horseback. Said that several persons
ran from houses lind.
.
ISecond pagel saw itlum a comer. and
took a soon cut. expecting to overtalcc
. il. ~ing the lights glinering in the road,
but upon reaching the road could not '!CC
it. and searched in vain.
(Reverse side] Then inquiries at ihe toll
gate, but somewhere belween last
sighted and the toll gate the procession
had disappeared. Said lhal no pel1iOl1
likely to be buried with such po~p hiId
died in the neighborhood.
.
1837 Feb 1612 Vulcans by Paslurff I
An Sc:i Dis 1860/410.
(BCF, pp.202-203 I See 183411.1
iBCF. pp. 412-4131 See July 31. 1826.1
1837 Feb 181 Aurora - from the sun
I' Wycombe I 10:30 p.m. I "Two
streams of a bright vermillion color: the
one
IReverse side] arising in the northeast.
passing over Arcturus and Ursa Major,
and the other originaling in the southwest. leaving Orion on the soulh and
passing over Aldebaran and Capella and
meeting in the zenith. fonning a
luminOus arch of no great breac!th."
IFront side] The western limb was by
. much the brightest and shot forth rays.
1837 Feb 181 Aurora /Proc:.
Acad. 1138.
1837 Feb 18 I Dorset I 7 10 '11 p.m. I
Aurora I LT. Feb 25-2-f.
1837' Feb 18 I Aurora I France I
Switzerland I Uvonia I CR 4/589. 263.
337.
1837 Feb 18 I Aurora I Londoll and
France I Am J. Sc:i 32/396.
1837 Feb 18/From8to 10p.m .. bmad
crimson slreak in sky, e to w., clOIC 10
Mars. I L.T. 25-6-a.

RoY.lrid.

1837 Feb 22 I Orkneys I Ship illuminated with 51. E1mos fire and ....
and then thunder and hail_ I Jour

ru:ubY

Pursuit 95

.."."""""I"

~----------"------I"------------.-----Fmnk Insl. 2-20/362.

1837 Feb 25 I q. I Belg. I Ciel et T 8/38.1837 Feb 25 I Doncaster I 10 p.m. I
Aurora in east I 10:30. another. opposite
column in west. on Orion I LT .. March
1-2-e.
1837 March I at Cape of Good Hope by Sir John Herschel I Sunspots. 'ex
tmordinary both in point of
[Reverse side] number and magnitude
and in every point of view extremely
remarkable. I Arcana of Science
1838-279.
1'837 March 3 I at Zara. Dalmatill. q.
preceded by a dull noise.
1837 March 14 I Austria 1'1 I [Light
quake I BA 1911).
1837 March 181 Greece 1111 [Medium'
quake I BA 1911).
1837 March 28 I island of Curzola.
Dalmatia I At 6: 15 p.m. a luminous
meteor and train of fire - at 8:30 a.m.: .
a (q).1 B Assoc '5412671 (See March 3.)
1837 March 311 Ap. III See Ap. 12.
'1 Meteors I New Haven I A.J. Sci
11/184 I
.
[Rev.erse side] Wrong date I See 1826.
1837 April I A I France I Am. J. Sci.
341285.
1837 April I Unknown wo'rms of
Devonshire .
1837 spring I Hau!lted house 3 miles
west of Lafayette. Indiana I Rei-Ph. J.
May 4. 1872. p. 15.
1837 April - May I Caserta. Italy I I I
[Light quake - BA 1911].
litH Ap. 15 I Austria I Stonefall
reported. Greg thinks maybe
[Reverse sider confounded with Jan. IS.
I BA 60.
1837 April 6. I Angers I Aurom I C.R.
5/589.
1837 Ap II I Tuscany. Italy I II I
[Medium quake I BA 1911).
1837 Ap. II I Tuscany. etc .. Italy I q.
I II [Medium) I BA '11.
1837 Ap. 121 q. I Hartford I Am J. Sci
~21399 I See Ap. I. I See Aug. 1840.
1837 April 20 I (F) I Setting sun above
the horizon - moon rose in total eclipse
(refraction). I Thomson. Intro to
Meteorology. p. 82.
1837 Ap. 24'1 Times of I "Altogether
unknown to agriculturists of the
neighborhood ... I
[Reverse side] worms I Devonshire I
D-92.
1837 Ap. 24 I Wrms I nothing in
Plymouth papers.
1837 Ap. 28/10 p.m. I Shores of the
Baltic. in the province of Koeslin.
Prussia.
[Reverse side] A hill 100 feet high sank.
leaving a chasm. with a' sound like
thunder. I LT. May 17-7-e.
1837 May 5 I (Slag) I Am. J. Sci ..
33/395 I Ac to Boston Daily Advertis[er). slag. or stones that looked like.
scoria from a furnace.' fell at
Bridgewater. Mass. I B Assoc. '60 I
[Reverse side) Said been warm when
found. II Am J. Sci.. 50/322 I Prof.
Shepard says nothing but slag and had

Pursuit 96

been on the ground in the first place.

1837 May 5 I bet 3 and 4 p.m. I East
Bridgewater. Mass I ac to A. J. Sci..
. 32/395. quoting the Boston
[Reverse side) Daily Advertiser. June
10. I A metite. I resembled lava. or the
scoria of a furnace.
1837 May 161 [London Times). 7-c I
'Another wonder.
1837 May 17 I [London Times). 7-e I
Ext. phe.
1837 May 17 I Algeria I Mirage of
troops? I La Sci Pour Tous 2-206. col.

2+

1837 June 1" !I. in Syria I Safat and

Tabereah I Athenaeum. 1837-4161 Fire
shot from ground. Many hot springs
burst out. Throughout month of Jan.
1837 June 211 abo II a.m. I Bleibourg.
etc. IlIIyria I q preceded by a sound I ike
[Reverse side). thunder I BA 54'.
1837 July4 I Insects may have been at
lnlcted by the light.
1837 July 4 I Canterbury I From ruins
of a fortress a stream of red light was
[Reverse side) seen. Residents were
alarmed. but it was found light came
from swarms of small insects. Said that
at saine place been a similar phi:. ab 30
.
years before. I
[Front side] LT .. July 7-7;1 I See Sept.
6-4-d:
1837 July 7 1_ At Colehester a cQuntryman supposed to have come from the
neighborhood of Thorpe engaged a room
at the Mit.re public house. Morning of
the 8th he did not appear.
[Reverse side) Landlord found the door
lucked and key gone. Forced the door
open. Floor. bed curtains covered with
blood. - lodger gone. Because a
penknife covered with blood thought he
had committed suicide. Police inquiry
. - nothing heard of him. I
[Front side) (LT. 12-5-b).
1837 July 12 I De Vico saw a verry)
small and perfectly round spot. without
a traL'e of penumbm. tmverse'a good pan.
of the
[Reverse side) sun's qisk in 6 hours. I.
Observatory 21424.
[BCF. p. 201:
De Vico'~ observatiQn of July 12.
1837 (Ob.~ervilloty. 2-424).]
[BCF. pp. 412-4131 See July 31. 1826.)
1837 July 14 I Yunozu. Japan I Metite
I (F).

1837 July 21 I Unknown '! Fishes I Ni.les

Register. Aug 5. 1837. that ac to the'
natumlist Dr. WDPd. fishes had fallen
in th. storm into the streets
[Reverse side) of Louisville. He con,
sidered then! doubtfully a species of ExDCeIUS. but was doubtful because the
pectoral fins were peculiar. Holding one
up to a light he found it devoid of veins
or arteries. I
.
[Front side) (Beware "Exocetus').
1837 July 21 I 'Fishes I streets of
Louisville.
1837 July 241 Redruth I Shower in one.
street only - small yellow flies - fell
thick - bit or stung severely. I L.T ..
.
July 31. 1837. 7/d I

(Reverse side] See Cardiff. May~ 1907.

or 1905:
1837 July 24 I (F) I (F .0.) I GrossDivina. I Hungary I Metite I B.A. '60 I
[Reverse side] Nagy-Divina. ae to F.
1837 Aug I (Fr.) I Esnaude. Charente
I Metite I BA '60 I (F).
1837 Aug 2 I SI. Thomas. W Indies I
I I [Light quake I BA 1191).
1837 Aug 2 I St. Thomas. W Indies I.
Dest!1,lctive q. I BA.1911-55.
1837 Aug 2 I q and hurricane I island
of St.' Thomas I BA 54 says account
seems very doubtful.
1837 Aug 21 night I q I Sydney. N.S.W.
I BA 54.
1837 Aug 3 I morning I Severe shocks
I Zante f. BA 54.
1837 Aug 5 I New Haven. Conn. I Met
I BA 60-76.
1837 Aug 9 I Geneva I At 9 p.m. clouds on horizon - none zenith water fell - large drops "tiede" to such
a degree
[Reverse side) as to drive peop(le) to
shelter. Fel[l) for'seveml minu(tes) and
stopped - but fell again seveml times
duri[ng]-an hour. I C.R. 5/5[49)1 ac to
Wartmann.
[BCF. pp. 409-410:
In Comptes Rendus. 5-549 is Dr.
Wartmann's aecount of water that fell
from the sky. at Geneva. At nine
oclock. morning of Aug. 9. 1837. there
were clouds upon the horizon, but the
zenith was clear. It is not remaitable that
a little rain should fall now and then from
a clear sky: we shall see wherein this account is remarkable. Large drops of
warm waler fell in such abundance thaI
people were driven 10 shelter. The fall
continued several minutes and then stopped. But then. several times during an
hour. more of this warm water fell from
the sky. Year Book of Faers. 1839-262
- Ihat upon May 31. 1838. lukewarm
water in larg~ drops fell from the sky.
at Geneva. Comptes Rendus. ,5-290no wind and not a cloud in the sky atIOoclock. morning of May 11. 1842.
warm water fell from the sky at Geneva;
for about six minutes; five hours later.
still no. wind and no clouds. again fell
warm water. in large "rops; falling intermittently for several minutes.) .
1837 Aug 91 The q's here al Acapulco
were from W. to E. till 12th of
November - after that. stronger and
. from E. tl? W ..In Dec., again W. 10 E.
1837 Aug 9 I See Sept. 2. I Shocks .here
(Mexico) went on. I BA 54 I
(Reverse side] Sept 18. violent I"severe.
21st. 22nd.
.
1837 Aug 9 I q-phe I Morelia
(Michoacan). Mexico -' 4: 15 p.m .
shocks - 15 minutes
[Reverse side) later. great tempest and
electric discharges so great that the air
seemed on fire. and falling stars in the
.
evening. I
[Front side) Ref - early Nov. 1839.
1837 Aug 9 - 10 I The Perseids noted
in Switzerland 'by M. Wartmann; noted
as coriting fromCeph .. Cass . and Pers.
I

[Reverse side) C.R . 5-552 I

.
(Front side] p. 183. M. Arago announced extmord no. of meteors - as directed
toward Taurus. I
(Reverse side] p. 347 I See that some
. noticed them in U.S., too. I See A. J.
Sci.
1837 Aug I Me~s I A. J. Sci 33-index
I 34-180.
1837 Aug 9. 10 I Perseids I A. J .. Sci
34-180.
1837 Aug 10160 mets an hour counted
at Vienna. I Athenaeum 1838-900.
1837 Aug 10 I Volc I Merapi, JavaJ
N.. M. I C.R. 70-878.
1837 Aug 10 - II I between 11: 15 and
12: 15 I M. Arago and 2 other observers
cou~ted 107 meteors. I L.T., Nov.2-f;1.
1837 Aug. 261 [L.T.). 3;1 I Astro. rarity I 25-3-d ! 23-6-a I ~ther notes.
1837 Aug 291 Upper Silesia I Fireball
I BA 60.
1837 Aug 30 I Cork. Ireland I Fireball
I BA 60.
.
1837 Sept 2 I See Aug. 9. I Mexico.after a storm - clouds around vole
Jorullo. and at night many meteors. I BA
54.
1837 Sept 6 I Barbadoes I I I [Light
quake I BA 1911). :
1837 Sept 21 I 7:48 p.llI. I at Paris I
great met from near the Eagle.! C.R .
5-555.
.
1837 Sept 221 + I Big q and phe in air
I Van Dieman's Land I B Assoc 54-269.
1837 Sept. end of I Vole eruption near
Acheen. East Indies I BA 54.
1837 Oct I - loud rumblings at Agram
I Oct 6. detonation like discharg[e] of
artillery and earth trembled I Oct 7.
[Reverse side) 2 reports I on 6th. at intervals day and night. I great damage
reponed I Athenaeum 1837-852 .
1837 Oct 6 I Devastating gale I New
Orleans I L.T . Nov. 21~6-b.
1837 Oct \-I I (sky fire) I - 8 p.m. I
18 - 7 p.m. I Nov. 5 - 11:30 I Nov
12....:... 5 to 10 p.m. I Nov 14 - 10 p.m ..
II Red light in sky I
.
(Reverse side) no arch as observed at
Cambridge I LT; Nov 22-6-b.
1837 Oct II I 7:30 p.m. I Depl of
Calvados. France I violent shock and
loud explosions heard I BA '54.
1837 Oct 12 [LT). 5-c I Wild man I
Indiana.
1837 Oct 181 See '36. I Aurora I Paris
I C.R. 5-639.
1837 Ocl 20 I Stowe. Ohio. 3 a.m. I
Tornado I (V]ery few tornadoes [e)arly
mornings. I
[Reverse side) Finley's Rept.
1837 Oct 20 I q and sound I Devon I
. See May 3. '09.
1837 Oct 20 I at Camelford, rumbling
sound and vibrations.
(Reverse side) Thought was thunder. but
the atmosphere was too serene. I L. T.
30-6-c.
1837 Oct 31 I 12:58 a.m. I Morcia.
Spain I q I atmosphere suffocatingly hot
I BA 54.
(To be continuJ

THE SOCIElY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT. P.O. Box 265, little Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
GOVERNING BOARD
Robert C. Warth, President; Gregory Arend. Vice-President; Nancy L. Warth,
Secretary and Treasurer; Trustees: Gregory Arend. Steven N. Mayne. Nancy L.
Warth. Robert C. Warth, Martin Wiegler. Albena Zwerver.

Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

George A. Agogino. Director of Anthropology Museums and Director. Paleo-Indian
Institute. Eastern New Mexico University (Archeology)
Carl H. Delacato. Director, The Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured. Morton, Pa. (Mentalogy)
J. Allen Hynek. Director. lindheimer' Astronomical Research Center, Northwestern
University (Astronomy)
Martin Kruskal, Program in Applied Mathematics. Princeton University. Princeton.
New Jersey (Mathematics)
Samuel B. McDowell. Professor of Biology. Rutgers the State University, Newark.
New Jersey (General Biology)
Vladimir Markotic. Professor of Anthropology, Department of Archaeology. University of Alberta, Canada (Ethnosociology and Ethnology)
John R. Napier. Unit of Primate Biology. Queen Elizabeth College, University of
London, England (Physical Anthropology)
Michael A. Persinger, Professor, Department of Psychology, Laurentian University,
Sudbury. Ontario. Canada (Psychology)
Frank B. Salisbury. Plant Science Department. College of Agriculture, Utah State
University (Plant Physiology)
Berthold Eric Schwarz. Consultant. National Institute for Rehabilitation Engineer
ing, Vero Beach, Florida (Mental Sciences)
Roger W. Wescott, Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew
University. Madison. N.J. (Cultural Anthropology and linguistics)
A. Josep"hWraight,. Chief-Geographer, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D.C. (Geography and Oceanography)
Robert K. Zuck, Professor and Chairman, Department of Botany, Drew University.
Madison, N.J. (Botany)
ORIGINS OF SITU/PURSUIT

Zoologist, biologist, botanist and geologist Ivan T. Sanderson, F.L.S., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., in association
with a number of other distinguished authors, established in 1965 a "foundation" for the exposition and
research of the par~normal-those "disquieting mysteries of the natural world" to which they had devoted
much of their investigative lifetimes.
As a means of persuading other profeSSionals, and non-professionals having interests similar to their
own, to enlist in an uncommon cause, the steering group decided to publish a newsletter. The first issue
came out in May 1967. The response, though not overwhelming, was sufficient to reassure the founding
fathers that public interest in the what, why and where of their work would indeed survive them.
Newsletter No.2, dated March 1968, announced new plans for the Sanderson foundation: a structure
larger than its architects had first envisioned was to be built upon it, the whole to be called the SOciety for
the Investigation of The Unexplained, as set forth in documents filed with the New Jersey Secretary of
State. The choice of name was prophetic, for Dr. Sanderson titled one of the last of his two-dozen books
"Investigating the Unexplained," published in 1972 and dedicated to the SOCiety.
Another publication was issued in June 1968, but "newsletter" was now a subtitle; above it the name
Pursuit was displayed for the first time. Vol. I, No.4 in September 1968 ("incorporating the fourth Society
newsletter") noted that "the abbreviation SITU has now been formally adopted as the designation of our
Society.~ Issue number 4 moreover introduced the Scientific Advisory Board, listing the names and affiliations
of the advisors. Administrative matters no longer dominated the contents; these were relegated to the last
four of the twenty pages. Most of the issue was given over to investigative reporting on phenomena such as
"a great armadillo (6 feet long, 3 feet high) said to have been captured in Argentina" -the instant transportation of solid objects "from one place to another and even through solids" -the attack on the famed
University of Colorado UFO Project headed by Dr. Edward U. Condon-and some updated information
about "ringing rocks" and "stone spheres."
Thus SITU was born, and thus Pursuit began to chronicle our Investigation of The Unexplained.

Printed in U.S.A.

ISSN 0033-4685

The Planetary Grid:

A New Synthesis

'Science is tbe Pursuit 01 tbe UneJlplailJed'

PROBING THE SECRETS OF SPACE
BEFORE THE DAWN OF HISTORY
Journal of SITU
The
Society for the
Investigation of
The Unexplained

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Volume 17
Number 3
Whole No. 67
Third Quarter
1984

Ancient Astronomical calculator at Sarmlae Getusa Regia, Romania

See "CUBITS AND CONSTRUCTS OF ANCIENT ASTRONOMY" by Maurice Chatelain-Page 103

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
SITU (pronounced sit' - you) is a Latin word meaning "place." SITU ~ also an acronym referring
to 11iE

SOClcrv FOR 11iE INVESTIGATION OF DiE UNEXPlAINED.

SITU exists for the purpose of collecting data on unexp~aineds, promoting proper investigation
of individual reports and general subjects. and reporting significant data to its members. The
Society studies unexplained events and "things" of a ta~gible nature that orthodox science. for
one reason or another, does not or will not study.
You don't have to be a professional or even an 'amateur scientist to join SITU.

MEMBERSHIP ,
Membership is for the calendar year, January-December: in the United States, $12 for one year; 523 for
two years; 533 for three years. Membership in other countries is subject to surcharge," to cover higher cost of
mailing. Amount of surcharge, which varies according to region, will be quoted in response to individual reo
quest. Members receive the Society's quarterly journal Pursuit plus any special SITU publications for the year
of membership. "Back issues" (issues of Pursuit dated prior to the current publishing year) are available in
limited supply for most, but not all, quarters of past years. Send check or money order for total amount with request identifying issues desired by Volume, Number and Year. Price is 53.00 per copy, postpaid within the U.S.
Please allow four to six weeks for delivery.
:
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SITU welcomes members' participation. Articles, photographs, newspaper and magazine clips, book
reviews and other contents including "letters to the editors" should be sent to SITU/PURSUIT at the above address if they are to be considered for publication in Pursuit. rhe Society assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material and will not return unaccepted manuscripts unless provided with an addressed return
envelope bearing sufficient return postage.
'
All mail, including changes of address, library orders, pos'tal errors, back-issue requests, renewals, gift
memberships and donations, should be sent to SITU/PURSUIT 'at the post office box address at the top of this
page. Please allow six or more weeks' advance notice of change of address.
OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATION
SITU has reference files which include original reports, newspaper and magazine clippings, correspondence, audio tapes, films, photographs, drawings and maps, and actual specimens. Reasonable
research requests will be answered by mail, but because of the steadily increasing demands upon staff time, a
fee for research will be charged. Members requesting inform~tion should enclose an addressed, stamped
envelope with the inquiry so that they may be advised of the charge in advance.
The legal affairs of the Society are managed by a Board of Trustees in accordance with the laws of the
State of New Jersey. The Society is counselled by a panel of pro~inent scientists designated the Scientific Ad
visory Board (see inside back cover).
I
IMPORTANT NOTI<:;ES
The Society is unable to offer and will not render any services to nonmembers.
The Society does not hold any political, religious, corporate or social views. Opinions expressed in Pursuit concerning such matters, and any aspect of human medicine or psychology, the social sciences or law,
religion or ethics, are those of the individual member or aut hoi and not those of the Society.
The Society's membership list is restricted to mailing the journal Pursuit and special SITU publications,
and as necessary to the administration of SITU's internal affairs. Names and addresses on this list are not
available for sale, rental, exchange or any use except the foregoing.
Contributions to SITU, but not membership dues, are tax deductible to the extent permitted by the U.S.
Internal Revenue Code, and in some states as their taxing authorities may permit.
PUBLICATION
The Society's journal Pursuit is published quarterly. In each year the issues are numbered respectively
from 1 through 4 and constitute a volume, Volume 1 being for 1968 and before, Volume 2 for 1969, and so on.
Reduced-rate subscriptions to Pursuit, without membership benefits, are available to public libraries and
libraries of colleges, universities and high schools at 510 for the calendar year.
The contents of Pursuit is fully protected by international cqpyright. Permission to reprint articles or portions thereof may be granted, at the discretion of SITU and the author, upon written request and statement of
prop~sed use. directed to SITU/PURSUIT at the post office bo~ address printed at the top of this page.

THE QUARTERLY
JOURNAL OF THE

ISOCIETY FOR THE

-t
.
UI

~TIGATION OF

UNEXPlAINED

'SCIENCE is THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'

CODteDts
Page
Percipient-Dependent Components in the UFO Experience

by Luis Schonherr

98

Cubits and Constructs of Ancient Astronomy

by Maurice Chatelain

103

Related SITUations

110

STAR WARS NOW! The Bohrn-Aharonov Effect, Scalar

Interferometry, and Soviet Weaponization (Part II)
by T. E. Bearden
III
Nonnalizing the Paranor:mal

by Michael Roll and George Andrews

120

Captures and Strandings of Monsters in Loch Ness

121

by Ulrich Magin
And in Lake Champlain

122

by Joe Zarzynski
The Tri-State Spooklight: A Controversial Mystery

by Keith L. Panain

128

SITUations

129

Letters to the Editor

134

Conference Report: MUFON UFO Symposium

by Kim L. Neidigh

136
137

Books Reviewed
A Final Note on French Lost Cities

141

by Jon Douglas Singer

The NQtes of Charles Fort

Deciphered by Carl J. Pabst

142

Cover drawing by Maurice Chatelain

Correction
In the 'Addendum to Ker Ys Article' (Vol. 17 No. '2) on
page 87. line 7 of the second paragraph should read: "His
terse account did state ...

ANOTHER
LOOK
AT
'CHAMP'
by Sabina W. SandersoD
My late husband spent years trying to persuade people
to go to Lake Champlain to look for 'Champ', eastern
North America's best-known lake 'monster', but they all
wanted to go to Loch Ness. Happily that situation has now
been remedied, and Joseph Zarzynski's book provides an
excellent summary of the searches made there so far by
Mr. Zarzynski and his associates.
Apart from a few representative cases, the sighting
reports - 224 of them - are in a very fine appendix which
runs from page 152 to page 205. There is a detailed discussion and analysis of the Mansi photography, still unproven
(the exact spot from which it was taken is as yet unknown)
but intriguing. There are references ("Notes"), a good
bibliography, and an index. This book certajnly belongs
in every Fortean library.
Editor's 'Note: See related review on page 14.

PursuitVol. 17, No.3, Whole No. 67, Third Quarter 1984. Copyright1984 by The Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained. ISSN 0033-4685. No

pan of this periodical may be reproduced without the written consent of the Society. Roben C. Wanh, Publisher and Editor; Nancy Warth, Production Editor;
Maron Weigler, Consulting Editor; Charles Berlitz, Resean:h Editor and Oceanographic Consultant.

-'--'--"- -_ .. _... _--_.------.--- ----',

. -~

_-

..... .. -.........."'- -........

Percipient-Dependent Components
In the UFO Experience
.
.

by Luis SchoDhen

"The entities looked ... how I wanted them to look."

-Quoted from statement by a UFO percipient

"You mean, you would like to use this phenomenon, say, to produce
an image of Christ over the Kremlin?'~
-A scientist's comment during. a U. S. Air Force
"Blue Book" briefing session.

Introduction

----------Abstract----------

UFO experiences share characteristics which suggest the existence of percipient-dependent components (PDCs), i.e.,
phenomenal characteristiCs related to the percipient's memory.
There is, for example, the great diversity in size, appearance,
dress and behavior of the so-called UFO occupants, as well as
the biological improbability of some of those humanoid
c;reatures. If we are still prepared to believe in beings with
webbed feet, no nose or jerky movements, it becomes increasingly difficult to accept luminous figures, unipeds and singleeyed freaks or hairy monsters engaged in pointless or nightmarelike activities.
Strictly speaking, however, within the frame of the extraterrestrial hypothesis we know virtually nothing about the forms
of life in other parts of the universe, and therefore all this may
be possible. The formal weakness of this way of reasoning clearly shows how little the extraterrestrial intelligence hypothesis
can contribute to a better understanding of the process of the
UFO experience. ;Therefore, instead of ascribing all the inexplicable absurdities found in UFO experiences to a hypothetical
non-human intelligence, this investigation of specific cases attempts to assess the influence of POCs on the shaping of the
UFO experience.

This report attempts to demonstrate that cases can be found

in UFO literature which display de~i1s that are related to the
percipient's memory and to his psychic situation .. 1 have called
these details "percipient-dependent components" (POes).
poes found in UFO experiences should be considered as essential, integral parts of the phenomenon and not as random and,
in the final analysis, insignificant distortions.
A working hypothesis about the inherent dualistic nature of
the UFO phenomenon is therefore proposed; the perception
structure of, and a possible primary cause for UFO experiences,
is discussed and various influences examined.

Classifying the Data

A survey of earlier as well as recently published cases was
conducted in a search for data which might prove the presence
of POCs in UFO experiences. Although the yield was somewhat
meager, the significance of such data must not be undervalued.
With regard to the symptoms indicating the presence of POCs,
their patterns and the role of the percipient therein, these three
natural classes of data were then subdivided.
poe SYMPTOMS. The following poe symptoms constitute
strong evidence, or can be regarded as serious indications for
POCs, in a UFO experience:
Identification ofmemory patterns means the identification of
statistically significant details (particularly visual ones) of the
experience with images or patterns the witness had already stored
in his memory before the UFO experience took place.
At first sight, such an attempt seems to be pointless - considering the fact that the witnesses of UFO events invariably
point out the great difference between their experiences from
everything they had encountered before. In some cases,
however, the witnesses themselves indicate by their statements
that parts of the characteristics of their UFO sightings were

Pursuit 98

related to previous experiences or to their psychic situation.

According to prevalent concepts, the human memory can be
compared with a stratified storage, the different memory strata
having various degrees of accessibility and individuality. For
our purpose, we will consider mainly two kinds of memories:

Individual memory which stores the images and patterns the

person has acquired during the individual life, and
.CoJJective memory which stores patterns independently of personal experiences such as, for example, lung's archetypes of
the collective unconscious.
Physical impossibilities are occurrences which, though
physically impossible, are alleged to have taken place. during
the experience. Within this group, halluc~natory experiences can
be identified as such only by a judgment about the physical reality or non-reality of the alleged event. This may be difficult when
we are confronted with a situation where our practical experience
is of no use. If a witness claims that he did experience a levitation while he was near a UFO, we cannot simply classify the
event as an hallucination without recourse to the fact that in
psychopathology such things are considered subjective
experiences.
Ifwe deal with a phenomenon that displays so many features
of something physically real, we cannot preclude the possibility that in its vicinity conditions may exist which produce physical
levitations. This is just one of the countless and irritating ambiguities encountered when ont: tries to interpret the reported
phenomena. Another witness may claim that during his experience he was able to do things he had never been able to: a~
C9mplish before; yet there is no reason for the assumptiQn that
the cause ot"this 81leged ability depends on the presence of the
UFO. Scenarios in such a configuration offer a chance to iden-

Third Quarter 1984

tify hallucinatory components, though there may be no infallible diagnostic method.

Witness/UFO synchronicities in the UFO scenario and in the
psychic or physical sfte of the perciptent are reported in some
cases. Sometimes they are described in tenns like "telepathy"
or "strange coincidence."
Inconsistent descriptions given by different percipients of the
same event cannot always be accounted for by the nonnal
divergencies appearing in multi-witness reports of conventional
events. Theoretically, such differences would conclusively prove
that subjective memory patterns have been triggered during the
UFO experience. In practice, it is not easy to establish statistically quantitative standards for measuring such differences. Existing UFO recognition tests could perhaps be adapted for this
purpose. 11.16.17
Extra-sensory perception (ESP) and other paranonnal
phenomena occurring during, or in apparent connection with,
a UFO experience indicate a certain psych,ic predisposition on
the part of the percipient and/or the ability of the primary cause
to trigger or to favor this kind of phenomena. In any case, the
presence of this symptom is very suggestive of the existence
of a spatial "field" in which PDCs can be expected.
On the basis of the cases described in this report, the reader
can decide for himself which of the above categories of symptoms he wants to consider as the most conclusive ones. Possibly
their relative importance will change with future improvements
in the investigation procedures and the qualitative treatment of
the data.
PDC PATIERNS. Within the UFO scenario a witness may
perceive:
Visual patterns which may be subdivided again in patterns
that are
Static, i.e., images that remain immobile, or
Dynamic, i.e., images that move or "act" with varying
degrees of complexity, and
Acoustic, olfactory, taste and touch patterns.
This report puts strong emphasis on visual patterns simply
because visual data most likely appear in published reports (albeit
still seldom!) and because they contain enough infonnation to
support reasonable conclusions. If a witness recognizes a complex visual pattern, this fact is of course far more conclusive
than, say, the statement that a UFO left a smell like embalming
fluid;49 not many people are familiar with this chemical, and
the wide variety of smells reported is more suggestive of olfactory hallucination than of the exhaust of some physical craft.
ROLE OF THE PERCIPIENT. With regard to the perci.pienl's role in the UFO scenario, we may distinguish two basic
situations:
Non-involvement: During the event the witness experiences
himself as a mere observer who does not get involved in, and
is not influenced by, the UFO scenario which he watches as
if he were a member of an audience watching a stage-play.
Involvement: The witness experiences himself as a person who
gets involved in the UFO scenario either actively or passively.
He may allege, for instance, that he spoke with or fought against
ufonauts, or he was the subject of a physical examination, or
he was burned by the UFO.

The following cases which demonstrate the presence ofPDCs

widely scattered in time and space, the data having been
collected by different investigators. This fact alone precludes
any manipulation. Besides, it is improbable that these witnesses
had enough knowledge of the phenomenal details of the
hallucination as to invent them solely for the purpose ofadding
are

Third Quarter 1984

an extravagant veneer to their stories. The presence of PDC data

in a report suggests that witness, investigator and publisher were
honest, or at least, naive enough to present the case .without any
downstrokes. Furthennore, it means that the witness must have
been genuinely impressed by his experience and that this impression was the motivation for communicating it to others.
It is hoped that this paper will assist the recognition of PDCs
as integral parts of UFO experiences and that it will help do
away with the prejudice that ,people who report psychic experiences as parts of UFO events must be regarded as
"pathological" cases.
Case Histories
KEARNEY, NEBRASKA, U.S.A.; November 5,1957 - A
grain buyer from California was inspecting wheat fields when
he encountered a UFO which stopped bis car and paralyzed
him. Then a sIidiDg door in the UFO opened and two men came
out. The witness was permitted to visit the interior of the

UFO.Zl
His account of the episode contains one outright and several
suspected instances of PDCs. He said the man with whom he
spoke abOard the UFO' 'looked exactly like the man with whom
I had watched a TV program in the hotel the evening before."
Experiences of this type are closely related to the so-called
doppelganger phenomenon or autoscopic vision - a kind of
hallucination in which the percipient visualizes an external image of his own person. Cases where the subject of the experience
is an acquaintance or relative are also possible and even more
frequent than the classic doppelgiinger. That the witness reported
such a detail shows that he gave his report in good faith; if he
had "made up" the story, he would certainly have realized that
to include this detail would raise doubts about his mental stability, and we would never have found such an item in his account.
A phenomenon that occurs during paranonnal experiences is

the extension of the perception to things which could not have

been visible to the percipient if the description of the scenario
was considered. Thus the reporter may assert that he could
perceive a specter although it was beyond his field of vision,
even behind him.46 Sometimes the percipient seems to become
conscious of such inconsistencies later on; in other instances
he is unaware of them. It is as if such events consisted of two
parts: one that imitates a sensory experience, and the other that
imitates an extra-sensory experience. The Kearney witness'
report provides an example of the second category:
While he was inside the UFO, the witness saw at one end
of the intenor what he took for a TV set on a desk; behind it
two women were seated. He gave a description of their dresses
and said they wore shoes with medium heels. But he could not
have seen the shoes because, according to his own statements,
the women nev~r left their seats in his presence. Moreover, a
sketch made under the witness' direction shows the front and
sides of the desk covered so that neither the legs nor feet of the
women would have been visible.
Th~ language used by the UFO occupants during the encounter
is also of interest. If a contactee wanted to attribute a fictitious
message to the UFO people in order to gain credibility, he might
better allege that the message was given to him either in a
language he is conversant with, or by telepathy, or in the fonn
of a pictorial display. The Kearney witness reported that the
ufonauts had addressed him in English, while amongst
themselves they spoke only Gennan.

Pursuit 99

It seems plausible that the crew of an extraterrestial spaceship

would speak English to an earthling encountered in North
America; also plausible that the occupants would speak to each
other in a language unknown to the witness; but Gennan? While
the natural choice of a truthful observer would be his native
language, what hoaxer could resist the temptation of having his
subjects talk in an "unknown tongue?"
The departure of the UFO provides an additional and interesting proof of the basic truthfulness of this witness. According to his report, the l,JFO rose only three meters when it turned
pitch-black; at 30 meters it turned bluish-green, and 50 meters
above ground it suddenly disappeared in a bright flash. Is this
the kind of stm), a would-be hoaxer would fabricate - in total
disregard of possible contrary testimony from other witnesses
in the vicinity? Rather than say the UFO disappeared in a conspicuous flash below the clouds (which he placed at the
250-meter level), he would expose his credibility to much less
risk by having the ship soar abrupdy into the clouds, or
mysteriously vanish on the ground; or, he could ignore the point
altogether and claim he was so busy restarting his car that .he
did not observe how the craft departed.
That the witness didn't say such things affinns his sincere
belief in the reality of the event. His behavior in the aftennath
showed that he was eager to learn what other witnesses in the
vicinity might have seen about the same time. As a detective
would say, the Kearney report is too absurd and too improbable
to be a simple invention. Moreover, the UFO left physical traces
in the fonn of imprints; an oily substance was found at the landing site, and the official investigation disclosed that the engine
of a tractor working in the vicinity quit because of a "distributor
malfunction" at about the sam~ time the witness' car stopped.
In the late 1950s, the U.S. Air Force attributed the Kearney
incident to "hoax and engine failure," 10 and many UFO
researchers agreed with that conclusion. Alleged subsequent contacts developed support for the Air Force pronouncement. In
1960, the Kearney witness openly claimed that during one contact he was taken aboard a UFO for a trip over the Soviet Union
and the ufonauts showed him an area of 4,000 square kilometers
which had been devastated by a nuclear explosion. As a result
of this and other seemingly extravagant claims, the contactee
met with disbelief even from ardent UFO enthusiasts. 31 34
But 16 years later, when the Kearney case. was all but forgotten, the first hints of an alleged nuclear disaster in the USSR
began to reach the press, and in 1979, about the time of the
accident at the nuclear plant at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a scientist claimed that an explosion had occurred in a nuclear waste
depot in the Sverdlovsk-Chelabinsk region of the Soviet Union
during the winter of 1957-58. 26 Quite possibly, U.S. intelligence authoriti~s knew of this explosion in 1959 but kept
the infonnation secret because of its predictable adverse influence on the public's attitude toward the nuclear power industry. It seems highly improbable that a simple grain-buyer
would have access to top-secret infonnation of this kind - the
more so since he claimed that "one of Russia'sbombs fell back
on its own territory."
Whether or not we give credence to the disclosures
mentioned,26 it is remarkable that two sources, 16 years apart,
stated that there was an explosion and that it was not the result
of a controlled test. Some strange "coincidences" in the Kearney
case have already been discussed elsewhere. 41 To add another
would considerably stress the probability. Therefore we are left
with two "explanations": the spiritualistic one as given by the
witness himself, and the animistic interpretation, which would
mean that it was a case of clairvoyance or precognition induced
by, or dressed up as, a UFO episode ..

Pursuit 100

ITAPERUNA, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL, November 17,

1971 - From September 22 to December 19, 1971, a
typewriter mechanic had several encounters witb UFOs and
tbeir alleged occupants in the Itaperuna area of Rio de
Janeiro.2 His ftrSt encounter began when he was followed by a luminous body that circled his car before it went

away. He drove on to Tombos, where he arrived in a

state of considerable fear and reported his experience
at the police station. Later that night he had an abduction experience with lasting physical etTects. On
November 17, during a third contact, he was aboard
a UFO and had to undergo what he described as a
physical examination. He was then shown two panels
with pictures. One of them he interpreted as an atomic
explosion; on the other panel he recognized a drawing
"resembling the map of the town ofitaperuna" he had
seen at the police station in Tombos.
This is an obvious example of a POC; the connection of the
.map of Itaperuna with the picture of an atomic explosion seems
very much like a symbolic hallucinatory expression of unconscious fears.
What makes this case specifically interesting IS that throughout
the time in question, the witness was accompanied by a friend
who gave a completely different account of what happened. As
the friend put it, the typewriter mechanic became "very nervous" as the trip proceeded; he complained that a flying saucer
was tailing their Volkswagen aod he was not reassured when
the friend told him it was only a bus following them. Suddenly
the car slowed down and stopped. After checking the engine
in an attempt to discover the cause, the fric;nd returned to the
front seat to find the door on the opposite side wide open and
the typewriter mechanic sprawled on the ground behind the car
in a semi-conscious state. With his friend's help, the unfortunate
percipient struggled to his feet and after leaning against a fender
for awhile, he was able to restart the car and drive on.
It seems that this moment and the instant when the car began
to slow down are the only reasonable checkpoints, the interface, so to say, which links this UFO experience with what we
usually call 'reality. " At first glance it looks as if the friend's
account could be relied on as that of a real experience, whereas
the mechanic seems to have had a sort of dream or a trance-like
experience. On another occasion I have mentioned that very
complex and logically consistent scenarios may be experienced
in dreams within an incredibly short period of time, and that
they can even be significandy related to real events in the
dreamer's environment. 40
When we consider all the circumstances, however, the friend's
account likewise fails to meet the requirements of a report pertaining to a real experience. He was unable to explain how the
door had been opened and how it could happen that the mechanic
fell out of the car. In his version, the mechanic stated that he
had pointed o':lt to his friend that the car was slowing down,
and the friend had replied that he was drowsy and wanted to
sleep! This drowsiness at the onset of a UFO experience is well
known in ufology. It looks very much as if the friend had already
responded to that mysterious cause we call "UFO," and perhaps
even more readily than the typewriter mechanic did. Perhaps
both the bus and the saucer were only hallucinations.
This is one of the cases in which the unbiased researcher
begins to doubt the validity of all the data gathered during UFO
experience; as a useful means for the "subjectively correct
perception of the objective facts," as the textbook definition

Third Quarter 1984

of "truth" reads. On no account is the friend's report a useful

yardstick for measuring the degree of reality in die UFO ex"
perience of the typewriter mechanic.
SYDNEY!MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, "August 24, 1967
- At about 5 p.m. Mr. H was riding his motor-bicycle on the
highway from Sydney to Melbourne when he had a rather complex UFO experience with a marked POC. 19 He was engulfed
by a bluish-white light wbicb came from a~ve and bHnded
him so completely tbat be bad to stop; re~oving his goggles,
he wiped his watering eyes. At a distance of about 30 meters
he saw a metallic-looking object bovering near the ground in
a clearing beside the road. While be was watcbing the UFO
his attention was distracted by what Ite thought was a passing
car. Looking away toward tbe road he saw nothing, and when
he turned toward tbe UFO again be noticed two sUver-clad
fIgUres near it. Wben one of tbem took two steps forward,
raised his arm and beckoned, tbe cycHst became frightened
and, jumping OD his machine, be rode away as fast as he could.
This he estimated was between 100 and 120 mpb, "slowing
down at comers as Httle as possible." He stated that while be
was driving, tbe UFO pursued him at" an altitude of 30 to 70
meters and about the same distance from the road. Mr. H tried
to flag passing cars, but their drivers "neitber stopped nor
appeared to see tbe craft." Determined to resolve the uncomfortable situation, Mr. H decided to stop again. Whereupon
tbe UFO stopped, changed color from pink to a deep red, then
sbot straigbt up into the air and vanisbed.

In this case, the alleged events can best be examined by using the logic of everyday experience. Added to Mr. H's claim
that he drove at high speed but was still able to observe the UFO
following him and flag oncoming cars, there is the familiar pattern of many a road-sighting that other drivers do not react to
signals and apparently do not see the UFO even though it is
oftentimes described as a very conspicuous object that simply
could not be overlooked. This argument is especially valid in
Mr. H's case because he reported that he could hear the hum
of the UFO above the noise of his engine, and a motor-bike
doing 100 miles per hour makes quite a lot of noise. So Mr.
H's UFO experience must have been both an optical and an
acoustic event, yet none of the cars stopped. It is impossible
to ignore the dream-like quality of such scenarios.
If we give careful thought to the sequence of events, there
appears to be a sort of "break" in the circumstantial chain and
we may reasonably assume that the hallucinatory experience
began at this break-point - when, in the subject example, Mr.
H thought he heard a car, then looked but saw nothing. This
could mean that not only the chase along the road but also the
apparition of the UFO occupants had been hallucinatory
experiences.
At the time of publication of Mr. H's case, some of the inconsistencies in the report were noted by one reader who expressed his doubts in ~ letter published in a subsequent issue
of the same periodical. This letter emphasized the importance
of having the possibility of PDC data in mind when UFO reports
are investigated. If such data are mistaken for simple lies or interpreted as an indication that the witness must be either a bad
observer or a.bad reporter, it is not surprising when the good
is rejected together with the bad and a possibly important UFO
experience is dismissed as a whole. 28 However, a broad acceptance of such interpretations might raise the "strangeness level"
of many cases, including Mr. H's experience. His report gave
no estimate of how far he may have driven during the "chase. "

Third Quarter 1984

Expectably the place where the event came to an end was different from the place where it began. But, if the chase along
the road is considered to be part of the hallucination, this UFO
experience must have included a teleportation, i.e., the paranormal t~nsport of a physical object.
". HANBURY, ENGLAND, November 20, 1968 - Tbe
\Vitnesses in tbis case were a married couple and one of their
Child~n. On tbe day of the event they were driving around
In tbe Hanbury area, looking for a house to buy.9lt was late
afternoon and tbe autumn light was fading rapidly. Suddenly
they we~ amazed to see a pack of rabbits run helter-skelter
across the road in front of them, from left to right. Tben a
brilliaJ:atly-Ht UFO rose from a field to. their left. They watched
iii awe as the craft moved toward a solitary bouse set back
about 100 meters from the road; it stopped directly over the
roof, and for about five minutes the witnesses observed several
bumanoid silhouettes moving back and forth inside a sort of
Hgbted dome that surmounted a huD-like structure fashioned
in tbe shape of an inverted helmet. Tbe observers took fright
and drove away at fuD speed wbUe tbe pbenomenon was still
ongoing. But when tbey returned to the area of tbe sighting
witb a complement of official investigators in tow, there was
no house to be seen, nor any memento or other evidence to
suggest that a phenomenon had occurred in the vicinity.
Despite the skepticism of tbe officials, the witnesses continued
to insist tbat tbey had indeed returned to tbe same place.

In the Hanbury case, it is striking that people who had been

preoccupied with the idea of buying a house had experienced
such a vision as a part of their UFO scenario. In ufology and
in the literature of paranonnal events, there are several examples
of witnesses who were unable to find again the place of their
experiences. Some of those descriptions suggest that hallucinations can be pervasive, affecting not only single elements within
an otherwise real environment but sometimes affecting the whole
scenario as well. 4 44 47
Another aspect of the Hanbury case seems to be related to
PDCs and to other UFO cases. UFO events are often preceded
"y the appearance of animals, sometimes of a rather mysterious
and elusive sort. In this instance, the rabbits came from the left
- the same direction from which the UFO later appeared. Were
they real rabbits, disturbed by the phenomenon, or was this
another instance of the unconscious staging a logically consistent hallucination?
In a si~ilar case in Australia, a police car had come across
a massive procession of snails in the immediate vicinity of a
UFO scene;5 apparently nobody doubted that the snails were
real, and it was said that the size of the procession was such
that the patrol car had to stop and then proceed with great caution in order to avoid an accident. 6
In a report from Yugoslavia, a witness described the stan of
a UFO sighting as follows: "Just before we encountered the
strange light, when we reached the small town of Rasanac, I
had "seen a small green frog jump from somewhere onto the steering wheel. Only" a moment later, someone shouted to me that
a scorpion had appeared on the door. When I was a child, I was
afraid of this small creature because it is very poisonous. At
that moment, I stopped thecar, and it was then that one of the
passengers spotted the light. "24
A businessman driving in the dark on a. rainy night along a
road in the dc!partement de Var, France, saw in the beam of
his headlights what he described as a group of bizarre animals
- nightmarish things with the heads of birds and covered with

Pursuit 101

peculiar plumage. He stopped his car 150 meters further on and

observed the "birds" being sucked 'up into a luminous darkblue object which hung in the air over afield. 43
Of course the four examples cited above do not constitute
"proof' for POCs. But the occasional absurdity of such patterns and the recurrence of the basic scheme in other cases
justifies at least a tentative intepretation in terms of POCs, the
more so since images of animals seem to occur very frequently
in dreams as weIl as in many hallucinatory experiences. Berger
has pointed out that some elementary forms of visual
hallucinatory images can ~e recognized in UFO reports. I
LANGEHOE, ENGLAND, September 14, 1965 - At approximately 1 a.m. an engineer traveling on his motorbike
came across a luminous UFO which had the size of a petrol
storage tank. The engine of his bike stopped dead and the Ughts
went out. The UFO had a flashing blue light which became
so intense that it was painful; the witness noticed that the light
seemed to fluctuate in rhythm with his heartbeat. IS
Ringger, quoting Dlig, describes a similiD' phenomenon that
was observed In a completely different situation. For several
nights a young man heard the tick of what seemed to be a
pocket watch, yet there was no such watch in th!'! room. On
one occasion the ticking sound was witnessed by two relatives:
his father and a brother. The three men tried to locate the
source of the noise but couldn't because "it was never where
they sought for it." The tick was considerably louder than the
sound of an ordioary pocket watch, and the young man said
it seemed to have the same rhythm as his pulse. One might
suspect a simple resonance effect amplifying the sound of a
heartbeat were it not for the great difficulty the three witnesses
had in so identifying the cause of the tick.
This was the tirst in a series of incidents which were taken
by the reporter as an omen for the death of the young man
who was killed a year Iater. 33
ALDEBURGH, ENGLAND, 1916 or 1917 - A 30-year-old
woman observed a platform-like object flying at the height
of 10 meters at about noontime. Some twelve men stood around
on the platform; they were holding on tightly to a handrail
and staring straight ahead. The platform, which had a
diameter of four meters, first moved in the direction of the
witness, then changed course and OnaIly disappeared behind
some trees and nearby houses. The observation lasted about
tive minutes. l
WEST HEMPSTEAD VIADUCT, ENGLAND, October 18, '
1955 - A similar observation to that made at A1burgh was
reported by a West London clergyman. He was traveling by
train when he saw a platform the size of a smaU bus slowly
flying at an altitude of about 40 meters. On it there were approximately 30 immobile, helmeted figures, some of them
seated and staring fIXedly forward. The phenomenon was vkible for three or four minutes. l

The Aldeburgh and West Hempstead reports contain no

statements concerning the psychic situation of the witnesses at
the onset of the experiences. It is interesting, however, that Jung,
in his book on UFOs, gives an account of a dream in which
the subject saw an elliptical flying platform manned by human
figures that stood around its circumference. The'dreamer, an
academically well-educated lady, made a painting of the scene
and it was reproduced in Jung's book. 22
One common denominator can be found in all three experiences: fear. In the Aldeburgh and West Hempstead cases
the witnesses were reminded of a "German troop carrier" and,

Pursuit 102

their descriptions of the figures on the platforms bore a military

touch. The dreaming lady interpreted her dream as a premonition of death, stating that while she was dreaming, she "was
overcome by this vision and was shaking in this unearthly,
cosmic space." In his discussion of the dream, Jung interpreted
the occupant motif as a symbol of the human fear of death.
Oruffel once conjectured that there may be "mimicking"
UFOs,12.13.14 and Tyrrell had long before him emphasized the
imitative nature of the apparitions. 45 Invariants occurring in
several, UFO observations are often regarded as proof for
physical reality; but if identical patterns are present in the
memories of all people, such invariants are not necessarily
evidence for the objective reality of UFO experiences.
OAKENHOLT, ENGf:.AND, July 1976 - In the midid'ternoon of a sunny day an 8-year-old boy saw a UFO standing on four stilt-like legs in a field. He observed some occupants
outside and one occupant inside the UFO. The latter seemed
to be looking at a picture on the inner wall '~f the craft. The
boy thought the picture showed a man who somewhat resembled "the man who lived next door. "31 The investigators
gathered the impression that the dress of the UFO occupants,
as the boy described it, was similar to the clothing worn by
the actors in the "Star Trek" series on TV. The boy also told
of perceiving a fantastic "animal" leaving the UFO and later
"with a sad expression" on its face.
reboarding the

craft

In this case, the presence of a ppC is quite obvious in the

episode with the picture that seemed to show the likeness of
a neighbor - a clear parallel to, the UFO occupant described
in the ,Kearney case, above.
TEMPLE, OKLAHOMA, U.S.A., Mai-ch 23, 1966 A Civilian employed at nearby Shepp8rd Air Force Base,
Wichita FaUs, Texas, saw a UFO on a highway. A human being of normal size and appearance knelt beneath it~ He was
wearing green fatigues and a mechanic's cap with the visor
turned up. "He looked just like any old G.).," said the witness
who also "got the idea that (the G.I.) had three stripes in an
arch shape on his shoulder." When the witness slammed the
door of his car, the G.I. crawled up the ladder on the exterior
of the craft and disappeared inside. Almost at the same instant the UFO lifted off and ascended to about 17 meters. "It
didn't seem like he had time to get strapped in, " the observer
said, but within five seconds or so the craft was more than
a mile away from the point of departure. According to his
statement, the witness was able to discern the letters "TL"
on the craft, and below them were four numbers: !'4168" or
"4768."

It is perhaps instructive that the witness himself suggested that

"TL" could refer to "test laboratory" and that he offered this
interpretation as a witness who had spent a great deal of his time
in a military environment and had actually seen the "G.I.ufonaut. "25 Other UFOs with inscriptions have been reported
from Provencal, LouisianalO and from Wolin, Poland. 5O The
UFO at Provencal displayed the letters "UN" plus some
numbers. In the Wolin case the UFO is said to have borne Rus-'
sian inscriptions.
Why should an extraterrestrial craft be marked with earthly
signs; why should the lights of a UFO flash in rhythm with the
(continued

on page 123)

Third Quarter 1984

Cubits and Co~stracts of Ancient Astronomy

by Maurice Chatelain
Copyrilhl Maurice Chatelain 1984

EDITOR'S NOTE: Many archeologists are convinced that the shores of America were visited repeatedly over centuries of
prehistoric time by sailors from other lands. The traditions of variously located Amerindians show traces of association
in remote times with indigenous cultures of Egypt, the Middle East, Britain, continental Europe as far north as the
Arctic Circle, far south to the Mediterranean, and even beyond - to and including the coastal areas of northwest Africa.
Significant physical signs of culture-transfer are revealed in ancient "temples" built all over the world for the methodical
study of the heavens. For example, great distance and great differences distinguish the megalithic Stonehenge from
the modest construct of small stones in the mountains of Wyoming that" Indians call "Medicine WheeL" Both structures, however, were apparently planned and used for the same purpose - as observatOlY telescopes - and the "calibration"
of these and other instruments of a prehistoric astronomy is so similar as to deprecate coincidence and suggest, instead,
an inheritance or transplant of knowledge.
Space-scientist Maurice Chatelain supports the theory of extensive culture importation in antiquity. He served the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration for more than 20 years as a specialist in space communications and
data processing. He was associated with the Mercury and Gemini programs and helped design the Apollo moon-lander.
During his years of government service and subsequent retirement, he has carried on extensive research at and about
the temple-:observatories which he believes were true computers in ancient times. Following is Chatelain's report of
his research. It may be the best astro-mathematical evidence yet presented of cultural infusion from afar.
See page 109 for tabulalion of 45 ancienl measuring syslems.

The Cahokia Computer

The largest sUlViving complex of prehistoric temples within
our country's borders is located in Cahokia, llIinois, on the east
bank of the Mississippi River. There stands the American
Woodhenge, a circular structure 125 meters in diameter. The
unit of measurement used in its design was a cubit of 446 mm,
exactly the length of the cubit that set the dimensions of the
ancient city of Tiahuanaco in Bolivia and, though miniaturized,
is also clearly apparent in the dimensions of many calVed-wood
objects of antiquity recently discovered on Easter Island in the
Pacific.
The Woodhenge circumference was divided into 48 equal intelVals by wooden posts, presumably in order to make this
astronomical computer work in somewhat the same way as the
Aubrey Holes" make the Stonehenge computer work. If our
Woodhenge ancestors were familiar with the Tiahuanaco cubit,
might not they have also used the Tiahuanaco solar year of 288
days and lunar year of 264 days? At the mte of one post per
day, they could have counted the lunar year with 5lh turns
around the circle and the solar year with 6 turns. With such a
computer they could also have measured the lunar cycles and
predicted the lunar and solar eclipses, thus sparing their population some of the terror attendant upon such events. They could
even have measured the lunisolar year of 364 days and its coincidence with the Mars cycle of 780 days every 15 years!
Especially when it is mixed with hindsight, speculation must
always be salted with doubt. We know that these llIinois
ancestors had a pretty fair knowledge of astronomy and
mathematics several thousand years ago, but it seems unlikely
w.e ~il1 ever find out exactly what level of sophistication these
early astronomers attained with the help of their crude computation devices. They probably knew how to forecast the exact dates
of the equinoxes and solstices. Three cubits east of the center
of the circle they had an obselVation point from which they could
watch the sun rise above a certain post at the spring and autumn

Third Quarter 1984

equinoxes, above the fourth post on the left at the summer

solstice, and above the fourth post on the right at the winter
solstice.
The Many Mysteries of Poverty Point
Located near what is now the city of Monroe, in the northeast.
comer of Louisiana, Poverty Point is an archeological treasure
trove that may one day yield infonnation about ancient America
more startling than the aerial rediscovery of the site 34 years ago.
In 1872 Samuel Lockett reported to the Smithsonian Institution his suspicion that unnatural contours of land near a plantation called Poverty Point could be evidence oflarge-scale cultivation (or fortification) in the area at some very ancient time.
Nothing happened to confinn or dispel Lockett's suspicion until 1950 when hi-tech aerial photogmphy imaged a huge complex of earthworlcs almost completely hidden from ground observation by centuries of subsidence and overgrowth. Thirty-four
years of excavating and earth-moving have redefined the original
slopes and contours; from thousands of artifacts painstakingly
recovered; archeologists have learned many things about the
primitive people who lived here. Still to be plumbed are deeper
mysteries such as the choice of location, the purpose of the construction, and the history of its development, occupancy, use
and eventual abandonment.
For sheer size and gmndeur, Poverty Point bears more
resemblance to the Giza pymmids of Egypt than other betterknown constructs by ancient Americans such as, for example,
the cliff dwellings of the Southwest. The main feature of the
Louisiana site is the concentric series of six octagonal platfonns.
The largest of the ring-like armngements has a diameter of 1200
meters; the total length of the six platfonns is 18 kilometers.
The siting along one bank of the Bayou Macon tributary which
flows into the nearby Mississippi suggests the possibility that
the outer platfonns were retention basins in a primitive system
of flood control. In all probability the great waterway that divides

Pursuit 103

yet unifies so much 'of North America acquired its worst habits
long before the dawn of history, twisting and changing course
as unpredictably then as now, ebbing here and flooding there,
responding to no pattern of reason or logic apparent to a
bystander but strongly influenced by weather and climatic factors originating far beyond its banks.
It may be assumed that dwellings were located on the inner
octagonal platforms while the outer ones were used for farm~
ing. The precision of the design and placement of the platforms
gives evidence of advanced knowledge of geometry' and
mathematics and possibly of astronomy as well, since most of
the dimensions correspond to well-known astronomical cycles.
The volume of earth required for the platforms' construction
has been estimated at about one-sixth the volume of the Great
Pyramid in Egypt. On the western side of this archeological
wonderland is a rectangular and truncated earthen pyramid with
a content said to equal one-sixth the volume of the second-largest
Egyptian pyramid, the Pyramid of Chephren.
Symbolic of an afterlife for both Poverty Point and its ancient'residents is a circular mound about a.kilometer distant from

THE
Astronomical Alignments
of 1700 Years Ago

Stonehenge of the West

On the western slope of the Big Hom Mountains in Wyoming, at an altitude of more than 3000 meters, there is an ex-
traordinary prehistoric monument called "Medicine Wheel" by
the Crow and Cheyenne Indians who live nearby. This circular

MEDICINE WHEEL OF WYOMING

Summer Solstice

I
North

the earthen pyramid described above. The mound was a

capacious community burying ground where human remains
were cremated before interment. Very large quantities of ashes
and charred bones found there have been carbon-dated to more
than 3000 years ago.
The total volume of earth dug up, transported and dumped
elsewhere within the site has been estimated at more than
900,000 cubic meters - about one-third the volume of the Great
Pyramid at Giza. From artifactual evidence so far collected archeologists have deduced that not more .than 3000 people lived
here at any. one time. There is good reason to wonder how so
few hands could have raised such massive earthworks and still
found time to hunt o.r plant and harvest their food crops.

AI debaran 21 June
/

Equinox 21 March

Rigel 19 July

~irius

'"

16 August

~
Winter Solstice

------

West

28 sectors of 12.86 degrees

Pursuit 104

South

Original diameter 56 cubits of 445.851 mm

Third Quarter 1984

astronomical temple, whose cosmic or religious Secrets have not

so far been discovered, certainly deserves comparison to
Stonehenge. But Medicine Wheel is not a megalithic monument;
its stones are small and significant only in the way they are arranged, as if to explain that Medicine Wheel and Stonehenge .
served a similar dual purpose in their respective localities.
Without a doubt, they were astronomical observatories as well
as centers of religious observance. An even more tantalizing
fact emerges from a comparison of the engineering. At both sites
the builders used the same calculation techniques to divide their
cin:les of observation; the huge cin:le at Stonehenge was divided
into 56 equal parts, just double the number of equal divisions
in the smaller Medicine Wheel!
Actually, the Wyoming construct deserves a different name.
Il is not a wheel and not even cin:ular; instead, it is a combination of one half-cin:le and one half-ellipse that immediately calls
to mind the similar layout of the megalithic temple of Long Meg
at Little Salkeld, in the north of England at the Scottish border.
Apparently the Celts originated the combination, but whether
they exported the idea is not known. Much is known, however,
about the practice of dividing length into 28 equal parts; the
"Maltese Cross" recently discovered in the Aegean Sea was
so divided; in the remarkable construction at Tiahuanaco, the
cubit branched into 28 "fingers;" and the pillars of the Temple
of Kalasasaya were set at 28 equal intervals.
To establish a correlation of forms or dimensions between
Medicine Wheel and other ancient civilization. we have a choice
of historical possibilities such as the Celtic, Greek or even
Tiahuanaco cultures. We should not overlook the similar
mathematical skills that early peoples developed, nor underrate
the sophistication of their systems for counting and measuring.
.For some of our ancestors, the pi factor was the fraction 2217;
the diameters in feet or cubits therefore had to be exact multiples
of seven so that the resulting cin:umferences were exact multiples
of 22. Also widely used was the fraction 14/11, which was the
square root of the' 'golden number. , The combination of these
two fractions allowed them to design squares, triangles or rectangles with an area or perimeter the same as that of a circle.
When we apply these factors to the measurements of Medicine
Wheel, other interesting comparisons appear.
Medicine Wheel is located at an altitude of 3035 meters, at
44 0 north latitude and 108 0 west longitude, where the length
of a degree of longitude is approximately 80,200 meters. The
diameter of the structure, 25 meters, could have been obtained
with 91 Celtic feet or with 84 Greek feet; more likely, it was
designed according to the Tiahuanaco cubit since 56 of such
cubits equal the exact length measured at the site. Moreover,
the length of a degree of longitude at that latitude represents
almost exactly 180,000 Tiahuanaco cubits - at which point we
become lost in wonder: How did our Indian ancestors manage
to measure with such fantastic precision?
The combination of half-circle and half-ellipse plotted into
the layout of Medicine Wheel and a few other ancient observatories is best understood when we pretend a sort oftime-warp
and try to think as our ancestors did. After millenia of eyeobservation, unencumbered by cathode ray tubes or other
enhancements, they likely noticed that the Sun, the Moon and
the planets do not always have the same apparent diameter or
the same angular velocity, and that the paths traveled by heavenly bodies seem to vary in distance. sometimes appearing circular or ascendant, at other times bent or decadent. The difference in diameter is a negligible 1160 for the Sun, but it is
quite apparent for the Moon where it can be as great as 1/18.
Is it so hard to believe, then, that the$e uninhibited ancients
Third Quarter 1984

would reproduce the elliptical effects on the ground, then use

a circle to observe the Sun and an ellipse to observe the Moon?
Once they divided the whole curve into 28 parts representing
one day each, they were well on the way to measuring time accurately and comprehending the relative measurements of the
planets and other celestial bodies.
The i8~part division met the requirements for observing the
passage of a lunisolar year, its 364 days consisting of 13 months
of 28 days each; and 56 Moon-cycles represented 59 turns
around the Medicine Wheel perimeter. Fifteen of these years
coincided with seven synodic cycles of Mars every time that
planet came much closer to the Earth than usual. In the solar
year, however, there are 365 1,4 days and it would take 112 years
and 1461 turns of the circle to obtain a coincidence between
the years and the turns. It should also be noted that 100 eclipse
cycles exactly represent 619 turns of the circle. Also, for what
it is worth, the Egyptians had a calendar of 1461 years and one
of 1461 synodic cycles of Venus. Further, Stonehenge had 56
"Aubrey Holes" which were perhaps used to measure the Celtic
lunisolar cycle of 56 years. Can we assume there was a connection between the American Indians and these civilizations?
Several prehistoric "time temples" have been discovered in
Canada, and two are especially interesting. The Medicine Wheel
of Majorville is located in Alberta, in the middle of a large'
treeless plain. The ."magic wheel" is composed of a stone circle with spokes radiating from a central cairn, inside of which
various objects have been discovered. These artifacts have been
estimated to be more than 5000 years old and could possibly
antedate the Pyramids of Egypt.

MEDICINE WHEEL OF MOOSE MOUNTAIN

Astronomical AI ignments
of 1700 Years Ago

Summer Solstice

Aldebaran
~21 June

Equinoxes
---Rigel
19 July
IriUS
' " S
16 August

"

Winter Solstice

Seven sectors of 51 .43 degrees

Original diameter 210 feet of 360 mm
The Medicine Wheel of Moose Mountain is on a hilltop in
Saskatchewan, about 700 km north of the Wyoming wheel. It
Pursuit 105

was exactly oriented in an east-west direction and is thought

to be about the same age as the MajolViIle wheel. If ~t was in
operation during the third century A.D., one alignment ~f the
Moose Mountain wheel was to the heliacal rising of Aldebaran
on June 21st, the day of the summer solstice; another alignment
indicated the heliacal rising of Rigel 28 days later, on July 19th;
and a third alignment corresponded to the heliacal rising of Sirius
after another 28-day interval, on August 16th. This of course
could be just another coincidence, but the' double intelV8J of28
days makes one wonder whether and to what extent these
remarkable astronomers' 'programmed" their stone computers
in advance. The three stars mentioned are the' brightest ones on
summer nights, and it seems quite possible that .other alignments
were also used, to track other stars at important dates during
.
.
the course of several thousand ye~.
.

'

-.CASA .R I N:C 0 NA DA

..
.- ~4 Niches_
Di ameter 63 feet
Circumference 198 feet

..

Calendar-Computers of the Southwest

In the northern part of New Mexico is'a narrow'valley called'
Chaco Canyon with a village named Pueblo Bonito; the name
also identifies the descendantS of the ancient Navajo Indians' who
live there, and the part of Chaco Canyon in which several cir:~
cuiar, prehistoric temples are located. It is generally believed
that the canyon was the center of a civilization that comprised
at least 15,000 people several thousand years ago. However,
the Navajos who are now living there do not know anything
about their predecessors or the time when the temples might have
been built.
Some scientists think that this unknown civilization could have
been related to the Olmecs and Toltecs who were living around
Tula, near what is now Mexico City, many centurles,ago. The
two most famous temples in the area are the Casa Rinconada
and the Kiva of Chetro KetL These astronomical obselVatories
were built according to two different calendars - one of 34 days
for the Casa Rinconada and one of 29 days for Chetro Ketl.
The dimensions of the first-named measure 9/8 those of the second. The Casa Rinconada has a.diameterof 19.65 meters; the
diameter of Chetro Ketl is 17.45 meters. By applying the ancient standard for feet or cubits which says that diameters must .
be divisible by seven and circumferences by 22, we find only
one ancient foot that fits perfectly, and that is the Chaldean foot
of312 mm discovered in the ruins ofUr. This does not necessarily mean that the civilizatons of Ur in'Chaldea in the Middle
East and Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico were in contact; but
it could very well mean that they had a common origin in a
mother civilization that has be;en lost for thousands of years at
the bottom of a deep ocean or under the ice of. the Antarctic
continent.
A lunar month alternately comprises 28 or 29 moonrises and
29 or 30 sunrises. The circular wall of Chetro Ketl had 29
numbered niches and the last one, which was painted in red,
was used only for sunrise~. There were two markers and two
priests, one for the Sun and one for the Moon. The prieSts moved
the markers at the rate of one niche per sunrise or moonrise"
in a counter-clockw~ direction corresponding to the actulil rotation of the Sun and Moon and itot to their apparent rotation~' which indicates a pretty good knowledge of astronomy, .
Starting from case one on the day of the New Moon, the priests
advanced their markers by- ~~ c~ .~t each rising of the Sun
or Moon. At the begiiming of'the foll~wirlg hinar month, the
Sun marker passed froni case 29 to caSe 'one' while the MOon
marker passed from case 28 to case one, neglecting case 29
(painted in red and forbidden). At the end of every other lunar
month, the two ~rs.re~ in their last cases ~ two day~;

-,',TWO,ANCIENT ASTRONOMICAL
:TEMPLES .NEAR PUEBLO BONITO,
CHACO CANYON, NEW MEXICO
'.~~ql"d.~r!. f~ot . of ,31l. 550,'mm
'r
"

.. ~ .>

.=.... .... ~
".

'.

..'

~.

'29'Nich~~Diameter 56 feet
'Circ;:umference 176 feet

. .",:

Pursuit 106
.

.' I
r

..'

CHET~O

KETL
, Third ;Quaiier 1984

.' .

. ..,. '. . ..' ....

~."J

............... ..' ...

. . ~...... -. ..

1 I ..... 1

.~' r..-I

I..

1 _ .

this allowed the priests to count 29 and 30 days respectively.

With that sy~~m, they always knew the position of any day.
within qte".Iunar cycle, and they could calculate in advance the
dates of a New Moon when there could be a solar eclipse and

: the days of a Full' Moon when there could be a lunar eclipse.

However, since the exact durations of the sunrise and moonrise
cycles are 29.531 and 28.885 days but counted 29th and 28th,
they had to reset their ~tronomic computer from time to time

it f!1~Y take years more for us to full y underst~nd . ..

II.

,THE LARGE ASTRONOMICAL CALCULATOR AT ,SARMISE GETUSA REGIA, ROMANIA

104 slabs
North

.'...

.. -
pillars
210

.~.

-" .
'

.."...

..
--.
....
..'
..'
. ...
....
.
. ex:>..

. '.'

""

:
,
:

105 1

,
I.

3'

. CXXJ...
~
,

..
6
'
:1
.

'. 18
,

...

II

21:

,"

CO.
2..
34 pillars

17

70 1

13

.'

;:, ~ .' '

.

"

.
..
'.
H
0.;
.. . '. '...

... ...
.' ,..
. _

" , ",

1"7

'.

".

'.

-.. e..
-.

' CXX)."
3
,

..... ... .-.....

..

~.....

..._
..- ..'

.'

II; designed with a foot of:289 ~m, a diamefer of H)Sfeet.,' and a ~ircumference of
. 330 feet . that circumferen'ce was later divided into 104 equal. intervals of 888 mm,
,representing three feet of 296 mm each. ". " ther~in .lies a p~oblem, for that 'foot of
280 mm is very similar,tcHhe Celtic foot and the Myc,enaean foot (which) were probably
contemporaneous with the construction but t'h~ .foot 'of 296 mm 'is very similar to
the Roman foot which was not used until two thousand years later."

Third Quarter' 1984

Pursuit 107

by neglecting a case whose access was fOibidden by a special

marker painted a different color.
Our ancient ancestors also noticed that the planet Venus,
which has a complete synodical cycle of 584 days, rises at the
same time as the Sun every 292 days or, in other words, every.
4/5 of a year. Accordingly, they computed a coincidence cycle
of 1460 days representing four solar years or five heli~al risings of Venus, and cut into the cin:ular wall of Chetro Ketl,
two additional niches above the others which they reserved for
the calculation of the Venus calendar.
A special Venus marker made ten normal turns, stayed for
two days in the two Venus niches, which made the required 292
days, and started allover again for another Venus cycle until
it counted 1460 days and coincided with the Sun marker. The
priests also had to adjust their cosmic computer from time to
time, since the exact Venus cycle is 291,960 days, but they could
always know the exact relative positions of the Sun, Moon, and
Venus; most important of all, they could always predict in advance the eclipses of the Moon and those of the Sun which terrified them more than anything else in nature.
Let us examine these same astronomical cycles ~d see how
they could have been computed with the 34 niches of Casa Rinconada: The cin:ular wall has 34 cases, but five of them are
painted black; six others are at a lower level, and there are
several small additional niches for which no special use has so
far been found. This is indeed.a very complicated computer
whose secrets could very well be related to the adva~ced
technology of the Mayan astronomers.
.
The astronomers of Casa Rinconada could evidently count
sunrises and moonrises with the 29 cases which were nOt painted
black. They obtained the Venus cycle of 1460 days with 43 turns
less two cases. They could count thirty eclipses with 153 turns
less three cases, aid the Mars cycle of 780 days with 23 turns
less two cases. Bu best of all, with exactly 24 turns, they could
obtain the 816-da conjunction cycle of Mars and Jupiter and
justify the use of 4 niches for that astronomical cycle which
always played an important role in ancient astronomical
I
calendars.
The existence 01'1 the American continent of this computer of
34 days reminds us that Europe has a similar prehistoric temple
located in Sarmis~ Getusa Regia in Romania, north of the
Danube river whiqh was the frontier of the Roman empire in
that particular areal The Romanian calculation techniques were
similar to those usetl at Stonehenge and might very well antedate
that famous computer.
The an:heological site comprises a large cin:le with a diameter
of 29.40 meters and a cirCumference of 92.40 meters; it must
have been designed with a foot of 280 mm, a diameter of 105
feet, and a cin:umference of 330 feet. However, that circumference was later divided into 104 equal intervals of 888
mm, representing three feet of 296 mm each.
And therein lies a problem, for that foot of 280 mm is very
similar to the Celtic foot and the Mycen~ foot. Both were
probably contemporaneous with the construction of the Romanian temple; but the foot of 296 mm is very similar to the Roman
foot which was not used until two thousand years later. That
foot corresponds to a cubic foot of 25,920 cubic centimeters,
which is contained one hundred million times in the volume of
the Great Pyramid and reminds us of the cycle of 25,920 years
of the precession of the equinoxes.
Like Stonehenge, the Sarmise Getusa Regia computer is made
of two concentric stone cin:les with a stone horseshoe in the
middle. The large cin:le has been divided in two different ways:
the external part has been divided with 104 andesite stelae about

Pursuit 108

two feet wide and four feet high, while its internal part has been
divided into thirty equal groups, each comprising one large stone
and six smaller ones, a total of 210 stones. It should be noted
that the andesite stone used here is of exactly the same kind
as went into the construction of the temple of Kalasasaya in
Tiahuanaco, on the other side of the world.
The small cin:le has been divided into two equal parts of 34
stones each: one of twice seventeen and the other of sixteen plus
eighteen. As for the horseshoe, it has 21 stones in its curved
part and 13 stones in its straight part. Obviously, the numbers
34, 104, and 210, must have played an important part in the
calculations of our antecedent Romanian astronomers and it may
take years more for us to fully understand their fantastic computer. The number 34 apparently corresponds to the Mars-Jupiter
cycle of816 days and to the Jupiter-Saturn cycle of21 ,760 days,
representing three cycles of conjunction. The number 104 obviously corresponds to the Mayan cycle of 104 solar years or
65 synodic cycles of Venus. As for the 210, it can be multiplied
by nine in order to count five Saturn cycles of 378 days each.
Finally, the number 13 can be used to count the lunisolar year
of 364 days, the Mayan sacred year of 260 days, the Earth-Mars
cycle of 780 days, or even the Jupiter-Saturn cycle of 7254 days!
According to the French scientist Pierre Camac, who is of
Romanian origin and knows this site very well, the ancient
astronomers had computed three different astronomical cycles
which were all exact multiples of 34 days. They first had a cycle of 24,072 days representing 68 lunar years, 816 lunar
months, and 29 ~ conjunctions of Mars and Jupiter. They also
had a cycle of 24,480 days representing 68 solar years or 170
conjunctions of Men:ury and Venus which, when multiplied by
eight, made 27 conjunctions of Mars and Jupiter. They finally
had a cycle of 24,752 days representing 68 lunisolar years or
11O~ sidereal cycles of Venus which, when multiplied by ten,
made 714 ecliptic years and allowed the prediction of eclipses.
However, the main reason for the use of a 34-day computer
cOlild have been the calculation of the 6800-day lunar "standstill" cycle, during which the position of moonrise moves from
its maximum northerly point, north of sunrise on summer
solstice, to its maximum southerly point, south of sunrise on
winter solstice, and seems to stand still for a few days at each
of these points.
Modern astronomers know that the Moon has a sidereal
precession cycle of 6794 days which becomes a tropical cycle
of 6799 days when combined with the precession of the
equinoxes and seen by an observer standing on the Earth. Ancient astronomers discovered the lunisolar cycle long ago and
for pra~ical purposes, they rounded it to 6800 days in their
calculation of lunar and solar eclipses. That number had the additional advantage of combining nicely with the planetary cycles
of 816 and 21,760 days mentioned above.
Cin:ular stone computers of 34 days have been discovered
in many parts of the world, along with computers of 56; 93,
or 521 years, for example, which represent three, five, or 28
lunar standstill cycles, respectively. But the ancient secrets of
these mysterious computers has only begun to be unraveled, not
by official an:heologists, but by independent astronomers and
mathematicians who had a lot of imagination and did not worry
too much about the academic conseQuences of their discoveries.
Not to further strain the reader's patienct: but rather to assist undersranding,
the author appended 10 his manuscript a table of 45 different measurements
systems which his research revealed as probably in most general use during
the time periods covered in his text. See next page for table.

Third Quarter 1984

MAURICE CHATELAIN'S RECONSTRUCTION'

OF 45 ANCIENT MEASURING SYSTEMS
System
Name or
Origin
Hindu
Celtic
Greece
Mykenos
Danube
Indus
Greece
Rome
Rome
Sumer
Rome
Tiahuanaco
Inca
Egypt
Indus
lberic
Bagdad
Babylon
Persia
Egypt
Greece
Babylon
Sumer
Chaldea
Troy
Cosmic
Sumer
Dilmun
China
Baalbek
Dogon
Cuenca
Teotihuacan
Chaldea
Cheops
Chephren
Cheops
Teoti huacan
Maya
Babylon
Megalithic
China
Prehistoric
Hebrew
Chartres

Length in Millimeters of
Cubit
Foot
275.892
276.352'
277.016
277.777
280.000
292.402
294.340
295.945
296.296
297.000
297.173
297.234
298.760
300.000
301.845
301.994
303.659
305.257
307.796
307.866
308.276
308.642
310.723
311.550
314.513
316.800
322~686

323.350
'331.071
333.333
347.222
347.603
348.505
348.744
349.432
350.000
350.882
352.733
353.553
355.162
357.632
358.140
360.000
362.920
368.403

413.838
414.528
415.524
416.666
420.000
438.603
441.510
443.918'
444.444
445.500
445.760
445.851
448.140
450.000
452.768
452.991
455.489
457.886
461.694
461.800
462.414
462.963
466.085
467.325
471.769
475.200
484.029
485.025
496.606
500.000
520.833
521.405
522.758
523.116
524.148
525.000
526.323
529.100
530.330
532.743
536.448
537.210
540.000
544.380
552.605

Foot

Weight in Grams of Cubic

' Cubit
Yard

21,000
21, 105
21,258
21,433
21 ;952
25,000
25,500
25,920
'26,012
26,198
26,244
26,260
26,666
27,000
27,500
27,542
28,000
28,444
29,160
29,180
29,296
29,400
30,000
30,240
31,111
31,795
33,600
33,808
36,288
37,037
41,862
' 42,000
42,328
42,415
42,666
42,875
43,200
43,887'
44,194
, 44,BOO
45,740
45,936
46,656
47,800
50,000

70,875
71,230
71,744
72,338
74,088
84,375
86,064
87,480
87,791
88,418
88,573
88,628
90,000
91,125
92,813,
92,954
94,500
96,000
98,415
98,482
98,875
99,225
101,250
102,060
105,000
107,307
113,400
114,100
122,472
125,000
141,285
141,750
142,857
143,150
144,000
144,703
145,800
148, 120
149,155
151,200
154,375
155,036
157,464
161,325
168,750

*Fraction of the volume of the Earth of 1088.64 billion billion cU,bic meters

Third Quarter 1984

567,000*
569,840
573,960
578,702
592,700
675,000*
688,510 '
699,840*
702,330
707,350
708,580
709,020
720,000*
729,000*
742,500
743,630
756,000*
768,000*
787,320
787,860
791,000
793,800*
810,000*
816,480*
840,000*
858,460
' 907,200*
912,800
979,776*
1,000,000*
1,130,280
1, 134,000*
1,142,857*
1,145,200
1,152,000*
1,157,625
1,166,400*
1,184,960
1,193,240
1,209,600*
1,235,000
1,240,290
1,259,710
1,290,600
1,350,000*
~
Pursuit 109

Reiat:ed:SITUatioDS

inegalithic circles in.the British Isles: These formatiOns, the ~ famous of which is England's'

Clai~s ~f New ~nglauid' ~toD~henge Rejected by,Arc.haeoiogists.- ... St~~~n~e,.are believ~ to have been pagan

re!lglous mo~urnents and were 'astronomically

To John. (Jay) ~~ndergast, the inegul~r cir- . Cebjc-Inclian word links
ahgned to mark the changing seasons.
The Lowell site. consists of 11 stones arrangcle. of upnght boul.ders at leBlanc P~rk here'. At some sites, amateur researchers have found
~ay be. one of the great archaeological inscriptions that they take to be characters from ed in an inegular circle atop a mourid of eanh.
dlscovenes oft~e modem ~.ra: a New England a Celtic alpha~ !=alled Ogham. Going a step . A~ the, center of the circle is a raised; 'earthen
Stonehenge, bUilt ~ voyagers from the British furt~er, they note that some American Indian . crescen~ which, Pendergast claims, is common
Isles who, he believes, reached these shores place naines contain elements of Old Irish, For to ancient burial sites in Ireland and Scotland.
~?Y. ~en~urie~ tJ.efon: Columbus.. .
iristan~e, N~w Hampshire'.s Amoskeag River He said cert8iri of the stones line up with the
ThiS Circle IS Identical to megalithiC circles takes Its name from an Algonquin word mean- sun during the su~r solstice, and that others
found all over Ireland and England. I'd
it ing "one who takes small fish. " In Celtic the line up with the sun during the winter sol~tice.
to the 4th or 5th~Century A.D.," said the ~ord "ammo-iasgag" means "small 'fish
"It might be fo~ly, yell," said Pendergast.
45-year-old amateur."archaeologist and adjunct stream." 9ther examples abound.
. . "But I'd .be very surprised if this doesn't tum
professor of English Literature ~t the UniversjProfessional archaeologists view the stone out .to be ~he' real thing."
. structures as mere curiosities; built by colonial SOURCE: Boston Globe 9116/84
ty ,~f Lowell, MA.
, The stones appear to be astronomically. farmers, p,erhaps, or by Victorian eccentrics _
CREDIT: Hillyer Se~ning
ahgn~," he. sa~d,during a recent interview at and utterly lacking in historical significance.' .... , ;,~. ,'. : .
.
'.'
the site. "It IS perbaps the most significant of Likewise, they dismiss the inscriptions a s ,
all the pre-Colu!'lbi~n sites in New England." natural etchings .caused by glacial movement,' .... '. Mayan Lun~r Observa~ry
But to profesSional archaeologists, the cluster . cut marks from colonial plows, or Outright
. Is ~vered. ~
of ~our-and five-foot rocks, some weighing'an forgeries. And any similarity 'between' Indian , . A ~eographer from -Dartmouth C:ollege has
e~tlmated two ~ns, is just that - a ~luster' of w~rd~ and Old Irish, they maintain, is plain Idc;ntdi~ what ~y !Je the .oldest.lunar obserbig rocks: Cunous, yes. Manmade, 'pro~blY. comcldence.
.'
.~~to!Y m th~ Weste~ Hemisphere - a Mayan
Other than a site in Newfoundland wherecl~ m MeXICO prev,lously thought to be of litBut almost certainly the work ofsome.ISth or
19th Century landscaper, not anci~n~ Celts or scientists have established that Viking~ built a . tie ~rcheologica~ impo~nce. .
other Bronze Age Europeans.
temporary settlement around 1000 A.D., there . Vmcent M~mstrom said the discovery of the
Said acting state archaeologist Brona Simon: is no tangible evidence that Europeans reached obse.rvatory at Edzna and evidence the city was
"To, attribute this site to pre-Ct;>ll:lmbiari settlers Nonh America before the 15th Century.
the likely sourc~ ofa major modifi~tion ofthe,
requu:es a ~ther big leap of faith. I'm very, very
"Certainly, there is nothing ~o suggest they - ~ayan cale~ attached new sigriifurmce to the
skeptical.
..
reached New.England," said Elia. "Where' are S i t e . .
: ..
.
Whatever its origin, the grouping of rocks hIis the bronze tools and other anifacts? Where are
. Not only IS Edzna the oldest and largest!
rekindled a long-running and often rancorous the graves? Where is the pottery? Where are the ~ayancity yet discovered,. "it's also one of the'
debate between professional archaeologists and oidinary dwellings? Are we' to believe these. ~east kno~n," said Malmstro~,. a ~eography:
~ve,ral groups of serious amateurs over the people canie across the ocean and built only' ..profesS9r. He's scheduled to ~rt his findings
slgmficance of the scores of odd stone struc- temples and' symbolic monuments?
,.,~ar at a conference on. Mesoamerican
t~res to be found on mountainsides and .~f.ng "I'lli not saying there was. no pre-Columbian as~~no.my in ~exico. City. , ...;
.;
nver valleys all across New England. '. -:. contact," Elia said. "Just that there is no ar. ~na~wlsstart1ng.togetlts.duecredlt,"
The archeologists accuse the. pre-Columbian chaeological evidence for it.'~
.he S81d. "This place probablyrwas the cultural,
proponents of being' simple-minded; the
Yet the controvery continues to s~oulder.. heart of the Mayans."
.
':
:
'.
+ Malm~tro~ said. the May,ns apparently:
amateurs respond that the professionids have A retired professor's theory
ir calendar in the lst 'Century A.D.':
closed their minds to the possibili.ty of ancient
"There is no doubt in my mind ttuit (Euro- inodified
contacts.
.' .
peans) were in New England long, long bC:fore to move, ~Ir New Year's Day to July 26 from'
"The archaeological profession is lilcc; the oJd Columbus," said Barry Fell, author of severid the traditional Aug. 13, "but we didn't know:
church. If you go against the mainstream, books on the pre-Columbian settlement of NOrth whe~ or why. "
.
you're accused of heresy," said James Whit- America.
. Usmg compute.rs at Dartmouth and examinFell, a retired Harvard professor (his specialty Ing .. maps of Central America, Malmstrom
tall of ~owley, director ofa grout' called the
~rly ~,Ites Research Society .. "They ~new was marine biology) and self-taught linguist, is calculated that ~na ~as "the only place in
Ideas..
. .'
perhaps the best-known proponent of the no- all of yucatan where the sun would go directly
But Ricardo J. Elia, director of Boston tion thattraders and settlers from Nonh Africa
overbCII:d'on July 26."
I
Univ~rsity's Office of Public Arc~logy, said the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula :reach:
Du~ng. a visit to ~e city.'s 1~S-foot central
there IS Simply no real evidence ~o suggest that ed Nonh. America even before the time of pyramid I~ 1978, Malmstrom dIScovered near.
Bronze Age Europeans settled in this region. Christ. These Bronze Age wanderers, lie maiil- the pyramid a stone shaft that is entirely in
He ~ed: ':What we have here; is. a!l ar- ~ins, eventually blended into the Indilil'i poplila-" sh~dow one <J.ay a ~ear - on July 26 ":"'adding
chaeolo~lcal fnnge group that tend~ t~ draw tion but left behind the inscriptions," stone evidence to hi,S ~hef~na was the. birthplace.
v~ry ~ulck,. very dramatic ~nclusions on the chambers and monolithic markers as Pl"9Pf of of the calendar refo~tlon.
'.
flimSiest eVidence. When tl3lned archaeol~gists their presence.
.
.'
When MaimstrQlll climbed to the top of the
take a hard look ~t these si~s. they always find . "The most astonishing thing is not tti~ ~gra- pyramid, l!e also noticed ~ only one manmade
them to be of Indmn, colomal or later origin - tlon occurred, bu~ that the public and the ar- structure on the surroundmg landscape - a
old root cellars and so fonh."
. chaeological establishment are so .reluctant to nea~ 9O-foot pyramid' -::- rose high enough to
The lithic mysteries range from. simple . accept it," he said in a telephone' interview.' .~~ the. horizon.
. .
dol?,ens -large flat rocks la,id across s~lIerIn Lowell, meanwhile, Pendergast wants to
Mal~strom found the ~hape of.the pyramid,
upnght rocks - to the elaborate labyrinth of . excavate around the stone circle that he and an when viewed from the larger s~ructure, markstone chambers, caim~ a~d monoliths. on the' associate, Rori Dalton, have studied for nearly ed the nonhemmost point on. the:ho?zon wh,:re
aptly named Mystery HilllD North Salem, N.H. a.year. But state archaeologist Simon has denied the moon could set - maklDg 'It', :10 eff~,. a
!he structures have been found beside swamps them permission 'to do so, saying they are lunaro~n'atory.
.,-.
:
.'
ID Con~ect~cut and on a Maine island; atop unqualified. .
. "
SOURCE: UPI in the St. Louis Ppst~Dispatrfh
mountalDs 10 Vermont and in the woods of . According to Pendergast, the cluster of 9/24/84
'.
Massachusetts.
upright stones is :identical to hund~s' of "CREDIT: Ray 'Nelke

dare

rm:

:,.~

Pursuit 110

.Third:
Quarter
1984
,
:

STAR WARS NOW!

The BohlD-AharoDov ERect, .Scalar IDterferolDetry,
.. ' . aDd

Soviet We~poDizatioDr
T. E. Be.nle.
All rights reservCc:t. T. E. Bearden 1984

PART 0

Scalar InterferometIy and Weaponization .

lethality; of the jammer is obvious; there is no square-law loss,

but only a volumetric dilution around the target itself. Indeed,
. this type of jarilming can be applied to disable and destroy electromagnetic circuits of all types, in widely varying equipments
such as tanks,. aircraft, communications centers, vehicles, command posts, etc. It is also quite lethal against human beings.
Of course a ground radar can be utilized in a scalar interferometer
mode and fire back at the aerial attacker, as shown in Figure 9.

According to the Bohm-Aharonov effect, if two ~ro-field

scalar wave beams are crossed in a distant region, real physical
effects exist in that distant interference zone. In short, one may
create "transmitting scalar interferometers" (Figure 2) to produce energetic effects at a distance, in a specified region. For
a theoretically perfect scalar interferometer, all the energy fed
into the remote transmitters is exhibited in ~e effectS experienced .
in the interference zone, without "tiaveling through the space
in between."
This can be comprehended by feaI.izing that" energy at the
transmitter sites is transformed into stress-energy of vacuum
(i.e., pure potential), and it is the potential vanation that is ac~
"E
:::--:
complished, not transmission ~f energy .through space per se.
VI~ ................-:-- ~
We stress that locked-in or infolded vacuum energy in a potensc~I.~~ ~ - TARGET AIRCRAFT
tial and vector energy in transition are two quite different aspects
.~-~
of the same thing, just as energy and mass are two different
~-.
.
MODIFIED
aspects of one thing. In the interference zone of tw9 intersecTRACK RADAR
ting scalar beams, the out-of-phase regions no longer have sumzeroed substructure components, so E and B fields a~ there,
created by the now out-of-phase substructure superpositions. If
other E and B fields are already there, these new fields superpose with them, either constructively onlestructively. If they
Figure 9. GROUND-TO-A1R USE
add, the existing fields are augmented and increased. If they
oppose, the existing fields are diminished or negated. Thus the
transmitting scalar interferometer can cre!lte or extinguish elecIf a highly energetic scalar pulse is synchronously transmittromagnetic fields at a d~stance. In.'other words, it can produce
ted by each of two remote transmitters, then in the distant inenergy in the distant target interference wne or extract energy
terference zone where the two pulses intersect, an impulsive
from it.
.
emergence of ordinal)' electromagnetic energy occurs. This can
Continuous input of energy at the transmitter sites produces
produce. an electromagiJ.etic explosion at the distant intersection
site, with concomitant electromagnetic pulse being radiated, etc.
continuous emergence of energy at the remote interference site.
Even in the hard vacuum of space, such an electrical explosion
A continuous-wave jammer using this mode, for example, will
anl;l EMP are produced, since the electromagnetic energy proplace all its transmitted power in a small volume around the
targeted radar at a distance (Figure 8). The drastic increase in
duced in the interference zone is sufficient to lift Dirac electrons and. other Dirac matter from the Dirac sea, producing a
plasma very similar to a nuclear explosion, except for the
absence of gamma radiation and ';lUclear residues. Evidence of
SQvie.t weaponization of such effects is widespread in the open, source literature. [g)
Again, the lethality of the jammer/transmitter is vastly expanded by such adaptation. Indeed, jammer/transmitters using
Sc8J.ar interferometer techniques are capable of attacking most
militaiy" targets, such as tanks, aircraft, vehicles, installations,
fuel dumps, ammunition dumps, inflammable supplies, personnel, etc. The jammer/transmitter itself becomes a totally new
kind of d~ ~nergy w~pOn having nearly ubiquitous military
Figure 8. TACTICAL AIR-TO-GROUND USAGE
application.
\

8E~~

Third Quarter' 1984

.-~
~ -~?

Pursuit 111
\

These and other implications of scalar electromagnetics have .

already been pointed out by this researcher [h] [i]. Examples
of testing of scalar electromagnetics weapons are given in Appendix I.
If continuous energy is fed into the transmitters of the scalar
interferometer, then continuous energy emerges the distant interference ~ne. For very narrow beams and substantial input
energy, the distant energy density can be made quite high.
Physical destruction of distant targets can be accomplished in
this fashion; and the effects can be produced directly inside
bunkers, buildings, tanks and armored vehicles, aircraft, nucleartipped missiles, ships, etc.
Relativistic effects such as a change in the rate of flow of time,
in the inertia of an object, and in the mass of an object can also
be obtained, at least in theory. [j] In theory the speed of light
in vacuuo can also be changed, and there is already experimental evidence of this effe~t. [k]
Vacuum Theory
Since in the modem view the vacuum is composed of massless
charge, it can be regarded as a single giant electrostatic scalar
potential and magnetostatic scalar potential combined, with zero
E and H fields: If one were developing weaponry based on the
new scalar electromagnetics, tJ:ten one might expect to find an
energetics theory dealing with such a vacuum and based on scalar
concepts. One might even utilize a type o( field theory based
on a fundamental particle conceptualized as a "little piece of
vacuum medium". Indeed, evidence for such a theory exists
in the Soviet literature [1], and direct evidence of the Soviet
view of the importance of such a concept was certainly provided by the Petukov-Toth affair. [m] .

damental stress conservation law. This more fundamental stress

conversation law has.already been derived by this researcher.
[i) See Table I for a synopsis.
Massive Testing of "Cold Explosions"
Direct evidence for a decade of massive Soviet testing of such
"energy extraction" strategic systems has recently become apparent. [n] Since 1974, very large, anomalous mushroom-shaped
ice cloud fonnations have been repeatedly produced over the
Soviet Arctic and detected by U.S. weather satellites. These formations aiise suddenly and are very: much colder than the surrounding air. They appear to be the result of firing a large scalar
interferometer in an "energy extraction" mode; in other words,
a "cold explosion" occurs at the distant interference site.
Recently a most dramatic example of such a cold explosion
occurred near a pre-announced Soviet weapons test zone off
Japan. [n] (See Figure 10 and Tables 2,3,4). The mushroom
cloud reached 60,000 feet altitude in about 2 minutes, and had
a diameter of 150 miles. Several Boeing 747s were in the area,
and were later checked for radioactivity with negative results.
..... LOI...

Extraction of Distant Energy: A New Concept

A second highly strategic .implication of scalar electromagnetics is that a scalar interferometer connection between
transmitter sites and a distant interference zone can be viewed
somewhat as Ii sort of "electrical ground wi~" or "common
potential" connection between the projectors and the interference
site. That is, it represents a "zero-field" connection between
them. By establishing a resonance between the distant site and
the projector sites, randomized field zeroing that occurs in the
natural temperature oscillations at the distant site can be utilized to extract energy from the site to the projectors. That is, one
may extract electromagnetic energy from a distance target or
region, as well as produce energy at a distance. Again, the
energy extracted is not transported through space as nonnal electromagentic energy, but as pure scalar potential.
The mechanism for this may easily be seen if one recognizes
that, when fields zero by opposition, the vectors comprising the
opposition at that point also comprise a special value of scalar
potential. Since each single field vector in the opposition has
energy, then the energies of the opposing vectors are "lockedin" as spatiotemporal stress of the scalar potential at that opposition point. Thus "ordinary energy" has been converted to
"stress of spacetime" (scalar potential). That POTENTIAL,
which is simply massless charge, can then directly affect a distant system [a] and can even do it inSlantaneously. [t]
Thus the scalar potential can be used, by interferometry, to
directly produce energy in a distant target or extract energy
. directly from that target.
Indeed, because of this hitherto unknown effect, the present
conservation of energy law is but a special case of a more fun-

Pursuit 112

--------t

Figure 10. MUSHROOM CWUD FROM SEA

OFF JAPAN NF.AR- RUSSIAN TEST AREA _

1614 HRS.I APRIL 1184

IIAY-IHITE CLIUD APPEARED
RISE 81.111 n II 2 III.
18111. S.E.IF HIIIAIDI
211 II. Fill TOIYO
SIUTH IF KURIL ISLANDS

IIIIET MISSILE TESTI.I SCHEDULED AIIUT 36111.

AWAY. AT 2111 HRS I APR 1184
Table 2. MUSHROOM CWUD RISING FROM SEA

FIVE BOEING 747"S FLEW THROUGH OR NEAR THE CLOUD

- NO CONTAMINATION
NON-NUCLEAR
OCEAN 21.000 FT DEEP
- TOO DEEP FOR SUBMARINE VOLCANO TO CAUSE CLOUD
- INDICATES IAN-MADE PHENOMENON
77 OTHER SUCH PLUMES SINCE 1974
- IN SOVIET ARCTIC
- III NON-VOLCANIC AREA
.- .ON~NUCLEAR
Table 3. MUSHROOM CLOUD FROM SEA OFF JAPAN

Third Quarter 1984

 2 AIRCRAFT FLEW THROUGH FOR ANALYSIS

SOLID MATERIAL
10STLY ICE
ALITTLE CLAY
IUCH COLDER THAN SURROUNDING AI~
110 VOLCANIC MATERIAL
110 RADIOACTIVE IATERIAL
lAY BE 2 TO 3 TIMES AS MAllY IIiCIDEIiTS
OILY EIA.JIIED SATELLITE IMAGERY III WI ITER
OILY PERIODIC SATELLITE COVERAGE
. HYPOTHESIZE METHANE VENTING
HYPOTHESIZE SOVIET CLOUD SEEDING
Table 4. fLUMES NOTED IN SATELLITE PHOTOS IN
SOVIET ARCTIC

In fact, the U.S. has detected at least 78 such Soviet tests [n]
since 1974, with far less than continuous satellite coverage and
little more than cursol)' imagel)' examination. Two or three times
as many such Soviet' 'cold explosion" tests may actually have
occurred. The direct implication for worldwide weather
engineering by the Soviet Union is obvious.
Note also that a "cold explosion" of over 150 miles diameter
represents an interference zone of about the size of the heart
of the main troop deployments in the NATO Central Region.
A single shot of such a weapon could almost instantly freeze
evel)' NATO soldier in that ~reli into a block of ice. Note also
that the heat energy is extracted throughout the spacetime of
the area; insulation or external heat sources are no defense. The
heat literally is "sucked out" of the interior of bodies in the
interference zone. Several such "cold explosion" shots could
finish off the entire NATO central region - again, in seconds
or minutes. And since the Soviets would have given NATO no
nuclear provocation, it is doubtful that a U.S. President would
launch a strategic nuclear attack against the Soviet Union in such
an eventuality. Particularly if monstrous "cold explosions" appeared without warning in densely populated regions of the U.S.
In fact, one may argue that the Western milital)' and civilian
leaders would not even grasp what was being done to them, or
who was doing it!
Of course the same scalar interferometer can be used in the
"produce energy" mode, in which case it can jam or knock
out almost all electronic equipment in the target zone, detonate
explosive materials therein, etc. Note that a massive electrical
fireball- say several megatons - over New York City would
give all the "desirable" effects of a nuclear weapon, without
any of the "undesirable" effects. It would give the thermal radiation, the blast wave, and the EMP effects, but would not give
the gamma radiation and nuclear fallout. So it would bum up
and blow down things, kill people, and knock out electrical
systems, but would not contaminate the area. This, of course,
would be vel)' important to the Soviets if they wished to salvage
the Western farmland without nuclear contamination.
The Perfect Missile Shield
By utilizing three-dimensional truncated Fourier expansion
techniques with multiple transmitted frequencies, the scalar interferometer beams can be made to interfere in specific geometric
patterns, such as giant hemspheric shells of glowing energy,
quite useful in a strategic ABM defense of a large area. Such
Third Quarter 1984

tests of such giant ABM shields have actually been observed

by competent witnesses. [0] Typical examples of a variety of
tests of weapons using this mode are given in Appendix I.
Massive Soviet Weaponization
The Soviets have been engaged in weaponizing scalar electromagnetics for nearly three decades, as evidenced by
Khrushchev's eerie 1960 announcement [p] of a fantastic
weapon, more terrible and perfect than rockets and missiles.
(See Table 5). In addition, such weapons may be what Brezhnev

(SpI.klng to Ih. Presidium}

WE HAVE A NEW WEAPON
JUST WITHIN THE PORTFOLIO OF
OUR SCIENTISTS .
SO POWERFUL THAT.
IF UNRESTRAINEDLY USED,

IT COULD WIPE OUT ALL

LIFE ON EARTHI
Table 5. KHRUSHCHEV'S 1960 STATEMENT

was referring to when the Soviet team at the SALT talks in 1975
introduc.ed the st~nge proposal that we should also consider
outlawing the development of new electromagnetic weapons of
a most terrible nature - more frightful than the mind of man
had ever imagined. (S~ Table 6).

AT THE SALT TALKS

ON JUNE 13, 1975:
THE SOVIETS URGED THE U.S.
TO AGREE ON A BAN OF
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
.OF NEW KINDS OF WEAPONS
MORE TERRIBLE THAN

ANYTHINB THE WORLD HAS KNOWNI

Table 6. BREZHNEV'S 1975 PROPOSAL

Scalar electromagnetic weapons are directly applicable to nearly all phases of warfare, both tactical and strategic, and both
offensive and defensive. They can be used to accomplish nearly 100% ABM defense of vel)' large areas and they can destroy
ICBMS, TBMs, cruise missiles, aircraft, ordnance, tanks,
weapons carriers, personnel carriers, submarines, SLBMs, surface ships, communications equipment, fuel supplies, ammunition supplies, nuclear wameads, and personnel with ease and
efficiency. They can be made large or small - indeed, one can
be made as small as a large pistol, and carried in the hand. The
"Buck Rogers" ray pistol is now a reality.
.
With such weapons vast areas can be completely destroyed
or neutralized within m~nutes, without permanent contamination. These weapons can also be used to accomplish weather
'and climate control on a worldwide scale, as well as to cause
:earthquakes, and they have been already employed in both
modes by the Soviet Union.
Pursuit 113

Soviet Weather Engineering

Early 1914: CaIiIOfDIa,

.\Iabama, Iowa,.400 miles west of Memplds.

Essentially, in the "produce energy" mode, a powerful scalar

interferometer can produce a large high pressure I)rea or "hot
spot" at a given distant target area. In the "extract energy"
mode, a large low pressure area or ~'cold spot" can be produced at a given distant target area. Each of these spots can be moved by "sweeping" the interferometer beams so as to change
the location of the distant interference zone. (That is, o,.e synchronously rotates the i,.terferometer beams so as to gradually
change the location of the distant interference zone, which is
creating the spot.) By using multiple transmitters and fairly broad
beams, an interference grid can be created over an entire conti-
nent or substantial portions of it. (Figure II). In each grid block

,'AnEIIIN

_.

LIICI

:::.":.::..:~\ ~ ~~=::::"'NG
r
.
ewer \
t-l\~_____ ~ \~.nr\
--_nA'UD

WEATHER

Two sJabtinp
Huntsville, Alabama.

. .
,'1-,.. ,
'I
.J~~'_'"

-1- ...
I'

)('

.
Figure 11. NETWORK OF VIRTUAL TRANSMITTERs

in the interference zone, energy can be produced or extracted.

(Figure 12). Direct evidence for such usage by the S~viets over

"

..

I
..... \ .
/
1/\
~--IT--\--+

1,,/\'

'.L __

:~ D......ARI

",1 '---~).
". .,/--

r"
\
I
,,(1 .... - --') I

"

--

",
(
.
/
/ /
L..___
/
\ .....
__
--~
....L_-=-_-L
\,

ICALAR INTERPEIENCE
,..ID PATTEIN

figure 15. FORMATION OF A DOUBLE GIANT RADIAL

Note: May be troughs instead of peaks.

10 tbat ~, energy Is elltracted.

NOlf"AL

E"

NOlf"AL
Jl"TR

..

ANT

"."."., o.clll.tlo".
IIIduc.d '''. .'.c',on fl

-"."."., E" ".

ANT

no d.'.c'lo"

r;,;;If;A~

Io"flltud,,,.,

. Figure 12. VIRTUAL TRANSMITTERS

IN THE INTERFERENCE GRIDE .

------

.-------

FIpre 13. GIANT RADIAL RELATED TO A VIRTUAL TRANSMITI'ER

Pursuit 114

-'"

"0 I!....".,..

North America has been presented. [q] Certain "signatures"ot

the Soviet weather control interferometry grid system have been
observed allover the U.S. (Figures 13, 14, 15, 17, Table 7),
and one major signature has been photographed over Huntsville,
Alabama by this author. It is stressed that our nonna! instruments
do not usually detect the directly active scalar beams, unless
we detect longitudinal waves as shown in Figure 16.A more
definitive paper on this overt weather engineeiing over North
America is in preparation.
.

/"~~~TO!..J

LTIf/Jl"TIf'~~~~~~~1

-.0 _ .",

onlll.tloft. IIInd

Fipre 16. DETEcTION OF

TRANSVERSE AND LONGITUDINAL WAVES
. HUNTSVILLE. AL

JAN 84

<J . niT AT 2II. .IIPH

PROIAlLE
GRID
CENTER

STBTIllMOVING

~au~

L_IR_-",::,,:,,;;:===:::::,-/
__.. --fit): ': '.:
r-

GIIIDC.......

_OXIIIATILT2II1I1LD

. NOTT08CALI

I I

Figure 17. TWIN GIANT RADIAL PATTERN

Third Quarter 1984

FRIDAY, 6 JAN 84, ...0700-0745

REDSTONE ARSENAL, ALABAMA
MULTIPLE OBS~RVERS
WEATHER CLEAR EX'CEPT
FOR THIS' SYSTEM

EXTREMELY GOOD, VISIBI,LI,TY

SYSTEM MOVING WEST - 20-30 MPH
REMNANTS OF A' SECOND ,TWIN'
GIANT RADIAL SYSTEM SEEN
IN SAME AREA 1130-1145 HRS
Table 7. TWIN GIANT RADIALS

Conclusion
As can be seen, the new (to the West) scalar electromagnetics
is a reality, as evidenced by the BQhm-Aharonov work and its
direct experimental proof. The implications for weaponization
on a massive strategic and tactical scale are obvious, and unfortunately the Soviet Union has already developed several
generations of such weapons. At least one other country has also
developed scalar electromagnetics weaponry.
The Soviet scalar electromagnetics weapons development pr0gram appears to have been well underway at the time of the
beginning'ofthe "microwave radiation" of the U.S. Embassy
in Moscow, about 1959 or 1960. (T~ble 8). A good description

SlICE 1111011111

HIlI LnEl TAIIET 11.1. AIIAIIADOII

IUAUlTEES.EIIOIAl AmITI IF ' '

.IEIIDEI1
I .., CIA, IIA
TOP COIIUlTlIISCIEITlITI .
STATE DE.AITIEIT
LUDIIS SCIEITIFIC 1IIlITUTlIII
IATIOln IECUIITY COUICll

ETC.

IUmOIIOUll'U.I.IIOILEDSE OF TEILA ELECTlOlAllmCS

FDUII.I. 'IEIID!ITSIE'UEIT~~ SOIIETI TO CEAIE

.- CUT FIOI 18 ,.WATillcr TO Z
TIEl AUII IICIEASED
Table 8. RADIATION-OF; THE U.S. ~MBASSY IN'MOSCOW

of the history of this microwave radiation has been given by

Brodeur
a nonnal electromagnetics,viewpoint. [r] Note that
"twin beams" were utilized in the radiation, at least from time
,to time, and a variety of systemological difficulties -were' induced
in personnel in the Embassy. ~s late as 1982, major Soviet
representatives continued to announce warnings' of the impending use of new Soviet weapons more powerful'than nuclear
arsenals. (Table 9). A variety of other potential incidents of overt
Soviet use of scalar wave weapons against the U.S. has been
presented by this author. [s] [t] Typical examples are given in
Appendix I.

from

Third Quarter 1984

To repeat, evidence of massive Soviet testing of scalar electromagnetics weapons on a global scale abounds in the open
literature. The Soviets ha~e been deploying and repeatedly
testing these weapons for nearly three decades, without being
recognized by the Western intelligence and scientific communities for what they were.
The West is almost totally defenseless against these frightful
Soviet scalar electromagnetics weapons, and an immediate
"Manhattan Project" to develop defenses on a crash basis is
urgently needed if we are to survive at all.

WORLD FUTURES CONFERENCE

WASHINGTON, D. C.
20 JULY 1982

LYSENKO (FIRST NAME,UNK)

USSR REP (SOVIET EMBASSY, WASHINGTON, D.C.)

STATED WILL SHORTLY SEE DEVELOPMENT OF

. NEW WEAPONS
MORE POWERFUL THAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS
WILL BE NONVERIFIABLE
Table 9. LYSENKO'S 1982 STATEMENT
REFERENCES

g. "Scientists Fail to Solve Vela Mystery," Science, Vol. 207, I February

1980. pp. S04-S06. "Satellite Evidence Shows 'Possibility' of Nuclear Test,
DOD Says." Aerospac:e Daily. October 29, 1979. p. 286. "A Flash of Light,"
Newsweek. November S. 1979. pp. 64-65. "Was It a Nuclear Device?",
Newsweek, July 21. 1980. p. 19. "Diverging Views," Washington Roundup.
Aviation Week de Space Technology. July 21. 1980, p, IS. Philip J. Klass.
"Clandestine Nuclear Test Doubted... Aviation Week de Space Technology.
August 11. 1980, pp; 67, 69, 71-72:~'Debate Continues on the Bomb That
Wasn't," Science. Vol, 209.1. August 1980, pp. S72-S73. "Navy Lab Coneludes the Vela Saw a Bomb." Science. Vol. 209. 29 August, 1980, pp. 996-997.
h. T. E. Bearden, "Toward a New Electromagnetics: Part ill: Clarifying
the VeCtor Concept," Tesla Book Co., IS80 Magnolia, Millbrae, CA 94030.
1983.
i. T. E. Bearden, "Toward a New Eleciromagnetics: Part IV: Vectors and
Mechanisms Clarified ...Tesla Book Co. Millbrae. CA, 1983.

j, Ingram Bloch &: Horace Crater. "Lorentz-invariant potentials and the nonrelativistic limit." Am. J. pj,ys., Vol. 49, No. I. January 1981. pp. 67-7S .
k, B. N. Belyaev. "On Random Fluctuations of the Velocity of Light in
Vacuum," Azvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykb Zavedenii, Fizika. No. 11. Nov.
1980, pp. 37-42,

I. A. K. Lapkovskii. "Relativistic Kinematic Equations and the Theory of

Continuous Media. Soviet Physics Journal. Vol. 21. No, 6. June 1978:
m. Martin Ebon, 'Moscow. June 11. 1977," in his Psychic WlUfare: Threat
or Illusion. McGraw-Hili Book Co.; New York. NY, 1983, pp. I-II.
n. Greg Rippee. "Mushroom cloud sighted off Japan." Los Angeles Daily
News. 11 Apn7 1984, pp. 1. 8.
o. Gwynne Roberts; "Witness to a Super Weapon?", The Sunday Times.
London, England, 17 August 1980.
p. Mu Frankel. "Khrushchev' Says Soviet Will Cut Fon:es a Third; Sees
'Fantastic', Wea~n." New ,Yoii' Times. IS January 1960. p. 1.
q. T. E. Bearden, "Soviet Weather Engineering," presentation on Open
Mind Show. Radio Station KABC, LOS 'Angeles, 'California March 24.1984.
(Audiotape available from Tesla Book Co. IS80 Magnolia. Millbrae, CA 94030,
,Also T. E. Bearden. "Soviet Weather Engineering Over North America," in
preparation. (To be prelCnted at the U.S. Psychotronics Association Annual
Symposium, Oglethorpe College" Atlanta, GA in June 1984.)
"
(CC!"tin!'ed aD page 120)

Pursuit 115

Star Wars
APPENDIX I

2BJULY 1976

7.B ON RICHTER SCALE

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS KILLED

ACCOMPANIED BY LIGHT. ELECTRICAL EFFECTS

3 T05 DAYS BEFORE
COMMUNICATIONS INTERFERENCE WITHIN 250 km

FOUII'I TItANIICMI".CTIOIII
III WAVlLlNCITHI EACIO

SKY LIGHTING OBSERVED

Item 4. QVAKE IN TANGSHAN, CHINA

IICft.DIIVI . . . . . .TaRI ....

/000000
000000
.,.. .,NMI.UIII'I'I

Item 1. TESLA WEAPON AT SARYSHAGAN

(SCALER POTENTIAL INTERFEROMETER)

Deep Within Soviet Union Toward

Saryshaga~

Missile Test Range.

Note close proximity in time to first "flash" detected by Vela satellites

Nick Downie describes the strange lurid glow that flared silently
over the Hindu Kush.
.

The Sunday Times. London. 17 August 1980

TESLA HOWITZER
(SCALAR INTERFEROMETER)

Booms off U.S. east coast. Flashes over Atlantic. off southwest coast of Africa.
detected by Vela satellites. Many other test incidents.

Multiple incidents in September 1979.

Item S. GIANT ADM SHIELD SEEN FROM AFGHANISTAN

Item 1. "NUCLEAR" FLASHES OFF THE'COAST OF AFRICA

YUGOSLAVIAN EARTHQUAKE 15 APRIL 1979

7.2 ON RICHTER SCALE

EPICENTER 33 km DEEP

MORE THAN 100 AFTERSHOCKS

AT KAMENARI:
ADRIATIC SEA MUSHROOMED UP
LIKE ATOMIC BOMB EXPLOSION

ADDITIONAL DETAILS NEEDED

Item 3. YUGOSLAVIAN EARTHQuAKE .
(TEST OF A TESLA HOWITZER?)

Pursuit 116

CCMlrlesy Hal Crawrord.

Item 6. TESLA SHIELD

Third Quarter 1984

CDllIlDDUI
TElLA Elr UOIE
IIUBI EUCIIDIIClI
~ TElLA FIIEIAU ICDlnlDDUlI
~_" lura.lllllElleLEI
"1

......

~ I,

~~ TElLA FIIElAlL
"1

IPUUEI

,), I,

LITHUANIA 10 SEPT. 1976: BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS

FLIGHT iI~31 BETWEEN MOSCOW AND LONDON

Item 10. TESLA ARM DEFENSES

CIA REPORT RELEASED UNDER FOIA

Item 7. CONTINUOUS TESLA FIREBALL

AllAH! EVENINO NE. .

TOKYO

.lUNE 22. IIIZ

JUNE 18. 1982

NORTH PACIFIC
700 km EASH OF KUSHIRO

H
n

(IIIIT TO SCAlE)

JAL FLIGHT 403

JAL FLIGHT 421

0855 GIlT
2' MR. 1977
2:J005' II UC'25'1I
M.Y. KIIlPUAIIIE tASTlf

SEtOIIII UIIIIDIS PATCH

FOR 10 SECONDS.
SEARtHLl6II1 SHINED DOlIN
8RI6II1 UJIIIIIOOS PATCH
nO alA)

~-...-__

- - - - - - - - - -.
"

SEEN FROM

42~

N LAT

!lARIIE !!BSU'IER. Q8:21-22. Iq78

153 0 E LONG

Continuous Tesla EMP globe and giant ABM shield.

Item 8. MYSTERIOUS LIGHT OVER NORTH PACIFIC

24 MAR 1m
NORTH ATLANTIC
08&&0902

TEHElU. lUI 17 JUIE 1166

''SEARCHLIGHT'' APPEARED 2fP ABOVE HORIZON

SEEI FlOI lUI IERIABAD AIRPORT

SHINED DOWN FOR 10 SECONDS

DBSERIED 4-li IIIIUTES

EXTINGUISHED; REPLACED BY LUMINOUS

PATCH"1 IN DIA.

SEMICIRCLE OF MODERATE LUMINOSITY FORMED

ABOUT PATCH 13 MIN)

ANOTHER LUMINESCENT PATCH OBSERVED

ABOVE SEMICIRCLE

AFTER TOTAL OF 7 ~IN. DISAPPEARED

SEEI BY 2 AIBCRAFT

,
CII REPOIT RELEASED UIOER fDlA
Item 9. CONTINUOUS TESLA EMP GLOBE

Third Quarter 1984

Item 11. HEMISPHERE AND GLOBES 1977

Pursuit 117

~-------

...

DEC 71 - JAN 78

Tesia sbfeld.
2 DEC
10:00 AM OFF SOUTH CAROLINA

3:46 PM OFF NE COMllNJ AND CONN)

15 DEC
8:30 - 10:30 AM FIVE BWTS OFF SOUTH CAROLINA

20 DEC
EVENING - 3 LOUD EXPLOSIONS, BALL OF FIRE (CONN'

21 DEC
2:00 AM LOUD EXPLOSION AND INTENSE GLOBULAR
LIGHT IN SKY INJ)ISMOKE DETECTOR WENT OFF _.
SECONDS BEFORE)
..
-

=--~-

-.-.\

c.' : . .

MARZO, , _
CARRIBEAN AND WESTERN
NORTH ATLANTIC
MARINE OBSERVER 40:17, 1.70

8:15 CHARLESTON, SC

13JAN
2:00 PM LOUD

~ 7' -.-------

\ I /.~ : -. .SEMICIRCLE

7:00 PM EXPLOSIONS OVER SEACOAST INJ)

22 DEC
1 NEW JERSEY
-

l ---: 7"'-.

\;=

aoor.1s, CHARLESTON. sC

MILICYWHITE LIGHT

QUITE BRIGHT AT FIRST

DIMMED AS ENLARGED

LASTED 10 MINUns

Item IS. EXPANDING DOME-UKE PHENOMENON

Item ll. EAST COAST AERIAL BLASTS

(IUGH BURST REGISTRAnON?)

16 NOV 1982

. . . . . oaaRVIlI . . . . ' .

Double concentric
Teala Shields.

FIVE MYSTERIOUS MORNING BOOMS

8:06,8:07,8:11,8:12
8:45

WITHIN 39-MINUTE PERIOD

ROCKED SUSSEX CQUNTY

RECORDED ON GEORG~TOWN$EISM9GRAPHS

NO SUPERSONIC FLIGHTS

-_._----

Item 13. BOOMS IN DELAWARE .

Double concentric Tesla shields: -' . .

Item 16. TWO AI.lCS IN TilE-SKY

.
Possible Tesla shield_

-'"

':11'"
"UG,.

,""MDAV

VlIIGIN_. .
_N BY MANY IIEIIDUIn

LUMINOUS ARC

LUMINOUS ARE4 SIGHTED

BEARING 310 DEGREES

GREW IN SIZE, ROSE IN ALTITUDE

TURNED INTO ARCH OR CRESCENT

MARINE OBSERVER 40:107,1970

Item 14. 1969 VIRGIN ISLANDS INCIDENT

Pursuit 118

~-

'''INTLY L-..UCENT

..

AT LEAST FOURIICIDEITS II LATTER-lIn

TIO USAF SATELLITES II ELLIPTICAL- OIBIT
'BFRARED IEIIOBS lEI' .D I
! OI.E ILIIDEI DP r~ FDDR IDURI
PlIIlI.1111I ARD II'EIFEREICE IUlBEIl a'EIATlaIAt IEPLDYIEI'

SOVIET TECHNOLOGICAL IREAITIIDUQH

01 THE OIDEI OF
..
LlTHIUI FUIIDI
spa'I'"

. SUCH ALASER WOULD lEQUIRE

LIBIUIIE IIFiAIED CAPAIILlTY

'ILSES DF 'EftY Lal. DIRATlal
EI'RADID'IAIY PO'I' II:CUIACY
IF IUILE. A1IIIATlIE palER IUPPLY: AIIEAlTRIOUIH
OF 'RE FilS' IUI'TUIE

U.S. RECDI SATELLITES AID PHOTO IITERPRETERS '. J:

FAILED. TO LOCATE All LASEI DR POIEI SUPPL I
I

: '

'.

Item 17. "LASER" BLINDING OF U.S. SATELLITES

Third Quarter 1984

WESTERN ALASKA

18111110
PATROL PUlE COMMAIDER
U. IAVY PI AIRCRAfT
ATLAITIC OCEM
200 . UBT OF .ORFOLl

1&~Y1872

WEATHER: OER~

ENTIRE SKY SUDDENLY BRIGHTENED TO FULL

DAYLIGHT INTENSITY ..

UKE A SUDDEN FLASHBULB

LASTED ABOUT 2 -7SECONDS

TWO CLOSELY-SPACED FLASHES NOTED

CHANGED COLOR
BLUE TO GREEN TO WHITE
FADING TO ORANGE OR REDDISH

REPORT FRDM
PRIVATE FILES OF
T. E. BEARDEN

COURSE OF 270 .IEIREES

APPROA~HEO "SOLID WALL OF LlIHTNINI"
FROM VERY HIIH ALTITUDE TO NEAR THE WATER
MORTH-SOUTH AS FAR AS COULD SEE
RADAR SCOPE CLEAR
RIIIED AIRCRAFT FOR HEAVY WEATHER
PLUMBED DIRECTLY THROUBH WALL
WALL WAS VERY THIN
CLOUDLESS SKY
Item 11. ....GHTNING WALL

SKY AND TELESCOPE 44:18, 1872

. Item 18. EXTREME INTENSITY SKY BRIGHTENING

UNDERWATER; OFF CORNWALL

SEALS AND FISH DISCOVERED

DYING
MYSTERIOUS BURN MARKS

DIVERS AND REPORTERS INVESTIGATED

HEARD SOUNDs UNDER WATER
VOICES IN FRENCH, ENGLISH, RUSSIAN
CLASSICAL MUSIC (BRAHMS, RACHMANIOFF)
UNNERVING BUZZING
THICK BLACK SLUDGE
YELLOWISH MATTER .

ENGLISH CHEMICAL WARFARE STATION ON COAST

AT THIS POINT

ACO RADAR

b.,,.

(lnt.".r.,.c. patt.r,.
tourl,r .

.upa,..,o,. patt.rn;;)
Item 19. RADAR INVISIBILITY

.PURSUIT, JAN7, 1970

Item 11. ANOMALOUS BURNS AND UNDERWATER SOUNDS

nRAITDFGlIRALTAR

._GIIT

.lULv.2,.'_

"A lIOn I ECULIAR CLOUD ARCH"

IlARDI. OIIERVER 11:

urI.1.,'.'

DEMONSTRA TION
PlATFORM

XLTR #2

Scalar resonance phenomenon: unidirectional forces induced on a\l nucleons.

Tesla dome effect. May have been an ice test in endothermic mode.

I~

20. CREATING AN INERTIAL FIELD

(ANTIGRAVITY)

Third Quarter 1984

Item D. "CLOUD ARC"

Pursuit 119

Normalizing the Paranormal

by Michael RoD and George Andrews
The universe visible to us is of such grandeur and complexity that it surpasses the limits of our comprehension. Furthermore, our scientists have now discovered that the universe visible
to us is only a small fraction of the total universe.
Professor Fred Reines is a physicist who worked with Dr.
J. Robert Oppenheimer on the first atomic bomb. For the past
28 years he has been studying neutrinos, and is now with the
University of California. In January, 1982, he made this statement on the BBC program "Science News:" '.'Our universe is
only one-tenth of the whole; nine-tenths are made up of invisible mass."
Modem astronomers agree that nine-tenths of the universe
seem to be missing. When we look through a telescope at our
galaxy, the Milky Way, or at a distant galaxy, we are seeing
only one-tenth of the stars or mass. The atoms that make up
the other stars and planets are moving at such high speeds that
they are invisible to our eyes, as when we spin a bicycle wheel
at 100 miles per hour, a relatively low speed, the spokes become
invisible to us. The motion of distant galaxies and the stars in
them can only be accounted for under the laws of gravity if there
is far more mass associated with each galaxy than there is in
the stars visible to us.
Rates of speed inside the atom are just as staggering as they
are in outer space. Particles within the atom.move at speeds of
up to 670 million miles per hour, and those are only the particles that our scientists have so far discovered and been able
to study. Other particles may be moving at even greater speeds.
. It has long been known that the atom contains protons,
neutrons, and electrons. The neutrino was discovered in 1956.
The missing nine-tenths of the universe is now thought to be
composed of neutrinos and neutrino-like particles.
Neutrinos are extremely difficult to study; they are the most
elusive of the known sub-atomic particles. Although they have
mass, they pass right through physical matter. It has been
estimated that a neutrino from the Sun would stand a good
chance of penetrating a thickness of lead stretching from Earth
to the nearest star without colliding with anything. Trying to
study a particle of such extreme subtlety confronlli scientists with
a paradox comparable to catching a ghost in a test-tube.
In their "Hidden Variables: Where Physics and the Paranormal Meet" (published in Future Science, edited by John White
and S~ey Krippner, Doubleday, 1977), authors E. H. Walker
and Nick Herbert state that "the central nervous system, unlike
the computer, is composed of trillions of jittery, individually
unpredictable synapses whose patterns exist primarily on the collective level rather than on the individuillievei. Sir John Eccles
has described this labile jungle of neurons as the sort of machine

a ghost might operate."

These recent developments in. physics, neurology, and
astronomy provide an unexpected breakthrough into the
understanding of psychic and paranonnal phenomena.
The atoms our physical bodies are composed of contain protons, neutrons, and electrons, as do all other atoms in the
physical universe perceptible to our senses. The atoms of our
physical bodies also contain the much finer and faster-vibrating
neutrinos and neutrino-like particles.
These finer and. faster-vibrating particles compose the
substance ofthe bioplasmic "spirit" body that is joined to our
physical body by an invisible magnetic cord, which breaks at
the moment of death: The bioplasmic body is the butterfly that
"reaks loose from the chrysalis of the old worn-out physical body
when we die. We are in this world, but we are not of it. We
come from, and will return to, the dimension of neutrinos and
neutrino-like particles that the nuclear physicists have recently
discovered - the same dimension that Sir William Crookes and
Sir Oliver Lodge postulated the existence of a century ago. The
so-called supernatural and paranormal tum out to be natural and
normal after all.
There may be a correlation between this invisible nine-tenths
of the universe and the puzzling fact that approximately 90%
of the human cerebral cortex is unassigned. We use only about
one:tenths of our potential intelligence. If we were able to use
our full brain capacity, would the invisible. nine-tenth of the
universe become visible to us? Is the donnant 90% of the
cerebral cortex comparable to equipment that is ready for use,
but is not yet connected to its power source? What is the mental connection that needs to be made in order to complete the
circuit and activate our donnant potential?
There are abundant indications that this invisible nine-tenths
of the universe is swanning with life, and is just as real to its
inhabitants as this world is to us. If they wish to interact with
our physical dimension, they have to slow down their rates of
vibration. In this context, consider the following statement made
by a UFO contactee after he had been abducted and returned:
"The Sun is a transmitter and the Earth is a receiver on a
specific range of frequencies. UFOs can share the same space
with us, as they operate outside our nonnal range of frequencies, interacting only 'when they wish to. A nuclear bomb is a
miniature Sun which emits energy on all spectrums, not just the
Earth range of frequencies that humans are sensitive to.
Therefore nuclear war would annihilate not only terrestrial
humanity, but also many fonns of intelligent life inhabiting
dimensions we nonnally have no awareness of or contact with.
So no. wonder we are being visited by aliens."
~
. (continued from page 115)

INFORMATION GATHERING
. EXPERIMENTS
COLLATION
ENGINEERING DESIGN
PHENOMENOLOGY
COUNTERMEASURES
THEORY
Item 24. NEEDED: IMMEDIATE CRASH PROGRAM

Pursuit 120

r. Paul Brodeur, The Zapping ofAmerica, W. W. Norton & Co., New York,
1977.
s. T. E. Bearden, "Solutions to Tesla's Secrets and ~e Soviet Tesla
Weapons,". Tesla Book Co., 1580 Magnolia, Millbrae, C!" 94030, 1981.
t. T. E. Bearden, videotape, "Tesla's Secret and the Soviet Tesla Weapons,"
presented in absentia at the FiBt International Unorthodox Energy Symposium,
Toronto, Canada, 1981. Available from Tesla Book Co., Millbrae, CA.

~
Third Quarter 1984

Captures and Strandings of

in Loch Ness

Monst~rs

by Ulrich Magia
It is a well known fact that there have been some 1000 reported
sightings of the Loch Ness monster since 1933 (any bigger figure
is definitely not based on fact, but on wishful thinking or fraud!).
If there is an unusual animal in the loch one would expect to
find at least some reports of dead Nessies as well.
There have been several attempts to capture a Nessie, beginning with A. Gray of Foyers putting wire and hooks into the
loch (Inverness Courier, 30/5/1933) and ending with civil servant Stephen Whitte's tIap in the lake off the Horseshoe in 1984.
So far no ex?e<fition using hooks or traps had any success, but
there have in fact been several accounts of dead and wounded
Nessies on the shore or in the loch. Unfortunately no remains
have survived, at least no bones that were unknown to science.
The first carcass I know of was found by two old men. They
reported (Inverness Courier, 22/12/1933) "that some years
previously they had picked up an enormous skull on the shore
of the loch. A gentleman from Edinburgh heard about it and
asked them if they would let him have the skull. They agreed,
and he took it away, saying he would have it examined in Edinburgh and let them know the result, but they did not hear from
him again. " It is a pity that we will never know what was found,
or if anything was found at all.
The Inverness Courier is also the source for the next unusual
find: "Bones said to have been found on Loch Ness have been
forwarded to Inverness Museum ... " and some even to an Edinburgh Museum. The Courier printed this notice in its edition
of December 29th, 1933, but nothing more was heard about this
find.
Perhaps they were of the same origin as a large skull found
near Aldourie Castle on the south shore which was identified
as a bear's skull witing from the age of glaciation. As this find
was made in mid January 1934 it could not have.been identical
with the previous bones (Inverness Courier, 2/2/1934).
Then came the news that Nessie had been captured: "Captured at Last - Loch Ness Monster Brought to Edinburgh,"
these are the headlines of the latest number of the 'Berliner 11lustrielte Zeitung, , a German weekly devoted to pictures of current events, especially scientific subjects and exploration. Accompanying the headlines are photographs showing a beast 100
feet long with a 25 foot tail and weighing 36 tons, being caught
in a huge steel net on the shore of the lake. Two tugboats wait
to head the monster back to land should it make a dash for
freedom.
Another picture shows the creature on show in Edinburgh being viewed by a vast crowd. It is stated that a $500,000 offer
by an American circus proprietor is likely to be refused for scientific reasons. The reader then realizes that the date is April 1,
All Fool's Day (Inverness Courier, 3/4/1934).
In 1941 Mussolini's paper 'PopoJo d'Italia' printed the news
that bombing of Britain had been so intense and successful that
the Loch Ness Monster had been killed by a direct hit. An Italian
bomber pilot had apparently claimed to have straddled Nessie
with a stick of bombs and left her lying on the surface (Witchell: The Loch Ness Story, Terence Dalton Lavenham 1976,
p. 104).
Italy seems to have some fun in inventing unlikely Nessie
stories. In 1959 the Italianjoumalist Francesco Gasparini boasted

Third Quarter 1984

that he had invented Nessie when he was the London correspondent for an Italian newspaper. There are still people who believe
his claims solve the mystery!
Only a year after its alleged killing, the monster died a natural
death and was washed ashore: "No monster can live forever.
Last week it was revealed that two Scottish foresters had found,
on the shore of the loch, a huge dead thing. It was identified
by experts as a basking shade, 24 feet long. This was, undoubtedly, the monster's end. Since there were no signs of injury, it
seemed most likely that it had died of old age" (Time,
29/6/1942, p.32).
Obviously one wonders what was really found. Definitely no
shark, as they do not live in the loch (although freshwater sharks
do exist in different lakes all over the world). Was it a dead
shark thrown into the loch? An American mistake, as a 'sea serpent,' in fact a basking shark was washed ashore at Gourock
in the Firth of Clyde? Was it a newspaper hoax? Or had Nessie,
after all, been wrongly identified by 'experts?'
There was the chance of a real carcass in 1943 when Commander Russell Flint rammed "a very large animal" with a
motor launch going towards Fort Augustus. He did not say if
the monster survived the collision, but as it went down we may
assume that it still lived. Although something similar was
reported from Loch Morar in 1969 I prefer to think that Commander Flint rammed an imaginary monster (Witchell, p. 105).
The next find is one of the few cases photographed, but it
is not a whole body, but only the monster's claw. It is lengthily
described in chapter 8 of Tim Dinsdale's, "Loch Ness Mon-"
ster. " The claw, which was shown to him in 1960, is unlike
any appendage that has been suggested as Nessie's foot over
the years, and resembles very much a trophy of a hunter. Even
though there is a story of a crocodile that escaped into the lake
(Daily Mail, 1/111934), it's lInlikely that it would have survived for so long. We can be sure that it's a trophy th~wn into
the lake near the well-visited ruins of Urquhart Castle, to be
found by innocent visitors.
The next find is also only part of a monster - a bone. Three
English gentlemen claimed that they had found an enormous
bone nearly five feet high while fishing in the summer of 1969.
Daily Mail reporter Vincent Mulchrone, who was at the loch
at the time to report on an expedition by the Independent Television News sent pictures of the bone to London and the Daily
MaiJproudly printed a picture. However, it was only a jawbone
of a blue whale which had formed part of a garden rockery in
the grounds of a YOIkshire museum (Costello: In SeaJrh of Lake
Monsters, p.llO; Witchell, p.168). However, the English
gentleman and the bone seem to have vanished into thin air,
and the 1969 annual report of the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation group expresses the hope that the bone may have
been genuine in the end!
A reported stranding of the Loch Ness Monster in 1972 is
also closely associated with Yorkshire. A team from Flamingo
Park Zoo of Malton discovered a giant body on the shores of
the loch three miles south of Dores. Mr. Terence O'Brien, the
zoo's education officer, declared: "If this is a hoax, then I have
been completely taken in. This creature is like nothing I know
or have heard of. " A reporter of the Times who saw the car-

Pursuit 121

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .~. . . . . . . . .j . .-

cass wrote: "It measured about 12 f~t from npse to.tail and
was covered in short, thick brownish-y~llowfur. At ~ tail were
seal-like flukes and on the body, flippers. The huge head had
a mouth at least 9 inches wide With sharP pointed teeth." .
This sounded very much like a.big seal- .and indeed, it was
an elephant seal. And Mr. O'Brien had not been taken in, as
his zoo was the producer of the hoax! ~ the Times had cautiousIy, and the Daily Telegraph with much ce~ty, remarked when
first reporting the find, "the body was found on March 31st
- one day before Apri11st - and was meant as an April Fool's
Day hoax!" Though it had succeeded i~ fooling several papers,
it did not fool the local people aroun4 the loch. "But along Loch
Ness side today there was scepticism, even from those who saw
the creature. It was thought it could have been caught at sea
and dumped in the loch by a fishing boat returning through the
Caledonian Canal," the Times and Telegraph reported (114 and
3/4 1972).
"Loch Ness: Giant Skeletons Found on the Bottom of the
Loch," reported the Gennan sensational paper Bildon July 22,
1978: "Remains of giant skeletons lie on the bottom of Loch
. Ness, believes U.S. scientist Dr. Rines after having searched
the bottom of the Scottish lake with sonar. "We are quite cer-
tain that we have found the remains o( the ancestors of the Loch
Ness Monster," said the scientist from Boston. I have never
again read about these alleged skeletons and do not know if Rines
did really say this. But at least the rimes (111811978), reporting about the same expedition, says they had obtained good pictures of creatures coming up to the scientific raft. None of these
.
pictures were ever published.'
The last creature found in ~h Ness was not captured, or
stranded, but detected with video on the bottom of the loch.
And this time it was no hoax! And it was really unidentified
- but only two or three inches long. ~s the Times (20/9/198l)
reports, Jim Hogan and Mike Came spotted the creatures in July
1981 when they searched forthe remains oUohn Cobb's speed~
boat with underwater television cameras: "I can best describe

And in Lake ChalDplain

by doe Zarzynski
A Carcass Explained?'"
Richard D. Smith from New Jersey relates to us rumors of
a "dinosaur" carcass washed ashore at La~e Champlain, NY
Circa 1904. In 1982, while at La~ Ch!lfIlplain, Mr. Sniith looked into this rumor. Here are sOJ;ne. excerpts from his written
statement:
.
.
"I was told by Port Henry Mayor Bob Brown of a 'dinosaur"
that had been buried on the beach of a private estate after it had
washed ashore around 1904 .
... 1 was much interested. Perhaps the simd had preserved some
remains over a mere eight decades, and we'd at least ~ave some
undeniable physical evidence.
The story had already gone through a few ears and mouths
before it reached Mr. Brown ... It apparently had come from
a historian's conversation w~ the daughter of the estate. mimager
who was said to have buried it.
Allegedly, estate owner 'Robinson Marsh8.J.l had come to the
manager, Warren Decker one morning and aSked him to "bury
that thing on the beach." It supposedly took a team of horses
to move what they found to higher ground for burial.
I contacted Mrs. Gretchen Woodman, the daughter of Warren Decker who had spoken with the historian. It turned out that
this occurred just before she was born alid the story was told
Pursuit 122

. . . . . . . . . . . .. . .

them as giant white tadpoles," said Carrie. "They we-:e about

two or three inches long, white or pale grey in color, seemed
to have tails and swam just above the bottom." Hogan thought
they looked more like "wee white mice" with long tails and
legs. "They propelled themselves along the bottom in a jerky
way . , Humphrey Greenwood of the British Museum of Natural
History told reporters, after he saw computer~nhanced pictures
of the "monsterlings," "The computer enhancement suggests
that the creature has six legs or at least a bilateral set of three
protuberances." He thOUght it could be sOme kind of bottom
-dwelling crustacean, similar to those that were known from
Lake Baikal in Siberia. But there were other suggestions. An
entomologist at the museum said they swam rather like beetles.
"If they are insects, that is very interesting indeed;" And pro
Greenwood declared finally: "There is a lot more to be learned
about Loch Ness." And Hogan and Carrie, who dismissed
monster-hunters as "nut cases" declared they believed there was
something bigger in the loch saying, "Th:ere is something that
stirs up the bottom and creates clouds of mud. "
There is only one report of a monster actually trapped in a
net, it is from the Sunday Post (12/8179) - a poacher's frightening encounter at Loch Ness. It reports how a poacher became
entangled with Nessie in his own net that he set out to capture
salmon. "He reached down to try to free himself and he felt
his hand touch a rough, horny skin! ... They found a hole in it
(Le., the net), 20 feet long by 15 feet deep." It's a pity the
net wasn't strong enough to hold the monster! Or that the writer's
imagination wasn't strong enough to invent a story that is
believable! Or that the poacher did not drink enough to take a
short ride on the "horny" monster!
Nobody knows how the unusual carcass found in or around
the loch will look. Possibly a future exPedition will find actual
specimens of the enigmatic tadpole-mouse-crustacean-beetlemonsterlings, or perhaps it will discover. or trap an actu;il body
of the monster. But, as history shows, there will surely be
another claim sooner or later.
~
to her as a child. It was also her impression that 'it was a large
fish, a sturgeon.
She referred me to her older sister, Ruth Spieske. She had
seen the animal in question and confirmed it was a huge fish,
and not like any sort of dinosaur. She recalled this happening
around 1906-1907.
.. .I take Mrs. Spieske's eyewitness account as honest and
reliable than the founh hand accounts about the' 'dinosaur' ... "

Why No Champ Carcass!t

One of the most repeatedly asked questions about the Champ
phenomenon is, "why is there no Champ carcass?" Possibly Dr.
George Zug, head of the Dep't of Vertebrate Zoology at the
Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in
Washington, D.C., has presented the most scientifically thought
out reasons on this question.
Dr. Zug, in a paper delivered at the August 29. 1981, "Does
Champ Exist?" seminar in Shelburne, Vermont. suggested these
possible arguments why. a Champ carcass. washing ashore would
be a rarity.
. .
."If Champ were like dolphins, most deaths would occur in
the winter and thus the probability of a stranding would be "infinitesimal." (Generally, Lake Champlain, unlike Loch Ness,
Scotland, does. freeze over, although there have been several
years in which Lake Champlain did not completely ice oveG.)
.' 'If a carcass did float ashore the likelihood of its. discovery
..J
'"
-"~4"

(continued on page 14())

-~..

.~.

i'

Third Quarter 1984

Percipient-Dependent Components
In tbe UFO Experience
(continued from page 102)

obselVer's heartbeat; why should a picture of a witness' neighbOr

decorate a UFO cockpit? If such additives seem unimponant
when considered by themselves, in terms of the POCs already
discussed they deserve inclusion in the same category.
PUY-DE-OOME REGION, FRANCE, April or May 1M
- At about 2 a.m. a baker observed a UFO as it landed on
an old fairground. A small humanoid creature came.down the
steps of a ladder and walked toward tbe witness. Tbe dwarf
wore boots, tight-fitting trousers, a grayish buttoned jacket,
and a helmet. What looked Uke the scabbard of a curved sword
dangled from his waist. He also wore a belt stuffed with four
boxes that the witness took for cartridge pouches. The dwarf
took aim with "a tube Uke a fireman's torch" and with a siDgIe
burst, temporarily paralyzed tbe witness. Then tbe creature
went back up the ladder and disappeared inside the UFO; it
rose immediately and shot away at great speed.17

In this case, a relationship between the martial bearing of the

ufonaut and the witness' psychological profile is quite evident.
The dangers in his life, great physical strength, and service with
the French air force in a unit specially trained for the task of
capturing enemy agents had developed in the witness a powerful emotional attachment to the military profession. Recalling
his ignominy as the outcome of the encounter, he said he wanted
more than anything to "catch the little chap."
. Results
Significance. The significance of the above cases cannot be
judged by their absolute number alone, because POC data have
to pass some very effective filters before they appear in a IN:blished report.
Repression. It is well known in psychoanalysis that the data
which will most likely induce dreams and psychic experiences
like hallucinations are those whic~ have been repressed to th~
lower, less accessible strata of the memory. Often it requires
a considerable amou.nt of time to ferret them out by analytical
methods if they can be made conscious at all. The chance that
a percipient himself is able to recognize such patterns in his UFO
experience is therefore extremely small.
Self-reflection. If the witness is aware of such correlations,
it is very likely that he will conceal them if he has enough time
for some self-reflection. At best, he will share such information with his family confidentially. Otherwise, such details are
only reported if the witness ~s still upset by his experience or
if he is rather ignorant of the possibi~ity of a psychopathological
interpretation.
Investigation Procedures. UFO organizations and individuals have devoted an enormous amount of time and work
to the investigation of UFO reports, and thoughtless criticism
is certainly undeserved. But the conclusion cannot be avoided
that the motivation' for all this troublesome and underpaid work.
often lies in the strong emotional appeal of the extraterrestrial
hypothesis. In this atmosphere, and with the desire of many investigators to present "hard facts" only out of fear of being
. regarded as gullible, POC data have only a small chance to pass
this filter. Hopefully, this will change as soon a!i\ POCs are ac. cepted 'as an important key to the understanding of the UFO
phenomenon.

Third Quarter 1984

Semantics. The wording of reports is often ambiguous and

seldom exact. Casual readers of the report!! are not much
bothered by their inaccuracies. But if, for instance, one tries
to code a massive number of UFO reports for computer analysis,
the vagueness of verbal descriptions can be aproblem. What
does it mean when the witness in the Temple case (above) says
that "he got the idea that (the 0.1.) had three stripes," or did
he only have the impn;ssion that there could have been stripes?
Or could it even mean that in retrospect the perception of the
stripes was somehow .dependent on his imagination? It is
therefore cenainly no exaggeration to say that verbal vagueness
is one of the most effective information fllters.
It seems that the small number of POC cases. in this study
had to be expected as a result of the combined effects of the
above filters and of the limited time available for the survey.
Conclusions. From the above sample and other facts already
published elsewhere, a number of conclusions can be drawn:
There are UFO experiences in which percipient-<iependent
components'(PDCs) can be identified with reasonable accuracy.
The phenomenal characteristics of POCs are partly related
to those of psychic experiences as already known in a nonufological context.
Ouring UFO experiences the sensory channels cannot
necessarily be considered as a reliable source of information
reproducing an objective physical reality.
There exist a number of UFO cases associated with physical
traces which prove the influence of a physical component upon
the environment. 29
From the observation of nocturnal lights to the occupant
cases the majority of the UFO reporters can be regarded as sane,
responsible people. They have been defined as "credible
observers of relatively incredible things. "20.21.42
In the sample there is only one case in which POCs and
physical traces were present. There is,'however, little doubt that
the trace cases in which UFOs and occupants were actually
observed, do really belong to the same group of phenomena as
the cases quoted in this' article.
Therefore it can be inferred that every single UFO experience is dualistic in nature, at least potentially; it consists
of both a psychic and a physical component.
. Since it is hardly possible that the primary cause of all UFO
experiences is a psychopathological factor originating in the
witness, this cause must exist independently ofthe percipients.
It would be a great mistake to separate cases with manifest
POCs from the totality of the UFO experiences and ignore them
as inferior data. Nor is it a reCommendable approach to divide
UFO 'experiences into psychic and physical ones.
Worldng Hypothesis. For true UFO experiences, i.e., those
in which the primary cause hasn't been identified as a known,
conventional factor, the following working hypothesis is
proposed:
The primary cause for any UFO experience is a hitherto
unknown, probably physical component independent of the
witness. Its function is either that of a trigger or it is active during the whole experience. .
.
The percipient-dependent component (POC) is an effect
caused by the percipient's response to this unknown primary
cause.
.
It is not necessary to assume that the primary cause is the
manifestation of 'some intelligence. On the contrary, it has
become obvious that there are patterns to be found in UFO experiences which have their origin in the percipient.
In view of the filtering effects mentioned above, and the
fragmentary knowledge of the human psyche wtaich makes iden-

Pursuit 123

tification of PDCs difficult, nothing can be said about the proportion of the tto components presently.
For the time being, it would seem to be a reasonable, acceptable methodology to regard all phenomena that are experienced during a UFO event as possible PDCs, while only
lasting physical traces should be considered as the direct
manifestation of the u~known primary cause.
The UFO Definition
Trying to define such a poorly understood phenomenon seems
to be a contradiction in itself. Without going too far, I think
there must be more than one useful definition for the term
"UFO," each existing in its own right. Three are suggested:
The Phenomalistic Definition. The UFO is defined by its
phenomenal characteristics, i.e., as a set of descriptors that must
be present. Hynek's "strangeness concept," for example, would
belong in this category.
.'
Definition by the Degree ofInvestigation. The UFO is defined
by the amount of investigation that has to be dedicated to a cause.
The International UFO Reporter, for example, defines a UFO
as "any anomalous aerial phenomena whose appearance and/or
behavior cannot be ascribed to conventional objects and effects
--' not only by the original witnesses, but also by the analysts
who possess technical qualifications the original observers may
lack."
The Process-Oriented Definition. While the definitions above
can be rega.rded as filters which prevent the admission of mere
"noise" to research, the third defines the phenomenon in terms
of a scientific approach to the "signal." In this sense, the working hypothesis proposed above can .be regarded as a processoriented definition for the UFO.
Any process-oriented definition will very likely evokemore
discussions than one belonging to the first two categories. The
following section attempts to anticipate some of the discussions.
The Perception Structure of UFO Experiences
Psychic PDCs. These may be defined as patterns which are
fed into the center of perception directly from the memory. If
it is assumed that during a UFO event, psychic PDCs are experienced together with the normal, real environment, the question is raised how the data from the sensory and memory channels are coordinated during the event, i.e., during the construction of the UFO scenario.
Every event is experienced in a two-fold manner: first, as a
sequence, and second, as an arrangement of various elements
in space. It is perhaps easy to accept the notion that in the se. quence of a UFO experience there are moments when the
witness' perceptive system executes the "switch-over" from the
sensory channels to the data-flow coming from the memory,
and vice versa. The Sydney/Melbourne and Itaperuna cases may
be pertinent, but how does it work when hallucinatory and real
perceptions are experienced simultaneously in a single scenario?
During a sighting in Casa Blanca, California, the percipients
could see the wall of a house right through the "body" of a
UFO occupant. 7 This could be explained by the assumption
that data from the sensory and memory channels were superimposed and perceived as a sort of interference pattern, compamble
to the interference of two radio stations transmitting on the same
frequency. But, if the UFO occupant were perceived under otherwise identical circumstances as being non-transparent, what process makes possible the substitution of an hallucination for a
part of the real environment?
In the spatial presentation of the scenario where the
hallucinatory image (the UFO occupant) appears, sensory data
from the visual channel may be suppressed while the memory
Pursuit 124

data have to be inserted "in the correct place," so to speak.

In radio parlance, a strong transmitter can jam a weaker one,
but the perception of a three-dimensional scene is certainly a
more complex process than the acoustic simplicity of a onedimensional broadcast.
There must be what might be called a "perception channel
mixer" or similar' 'neurological hardware" for this kind of coordination which occurs on both a temporal and spatial level, the
latter being extremely complex. There then remains the question of t~e software needed to operate the perception channel
mixer. Some of the inconsistencies observed in UFO scenarios
suggest that this software isn't"always without defects. Tyrrell,
who was not concerned with UFOs but with the conventional
specters of the Victorian ghost story, assumed that a mid-level
constituent of the human personality was the coordinating factor in their behavior vis-a-vis the environment. 48
Physical PDCs. Although it seems obvious that some PDCs
are in fact hallucinations, others simply do not fit that category.
According to the concept of ideoplasty, the human psyche may
be able to create a physical reality which occupies physical space
and therefore could be perceived through normal sensory channels. Occultists and spiritualists have used this hypothesis freely to explain the alleged apparitions of tangible reproductions
of the bodies of the deceased during seances. Allegedly, such
reproductions have left impri~ts in wax or on soil, and according to claims, some have been photographed. If true, this would
mean that PDCs could appear as objective, physical elements
in a scenario despite the involvement of psychic and subjective
factors in their creation.
As far as I know, there is still no case which suggests a clear,
direct connection between ~ demonstrable PDC and a lasting
physical trace. There are some reports about ufonauts who have
allegedly left footprints. The Kearney ufonaut, though identified
as a PDC, left no physical traces. Nor is there a known example of a verifiable PDC appearing in a photo. The ideoplasty
concept could explain PDCs in connection with multi-witness
cases, but the difficulties are not to be overlooked. Assuming,
for example, that the alleged ufonauts are ideoplastic creations
- who then controls their behavior? Is it the witness' psyche,
or mustwe push this idea to its extreme by assuming that during a UFO experience, the percipient is able to create, even if
only temporarily, living beings who act on t~eir own accord?
The Perception Structure
On the following page, boxes [1], [2], [3] and [4] represent
the possible perception modes during a UFO experience. The
diagrams and legends apply to "true" UFO experiences only,
i.e., cases for which the primary cause remains unidentified after
a thorough and competent investigation. In Fig. I, the primary
cause is assumed to be physical, as suggested in the working
hypothesis section. Fig. 2 has been added as the theoretically
conceivable formalcounterpart to Fig. 1. In Fig. 2, the primary
cause is a psychic one. It seems apparent that the idea of a
psychic primary cause will be tenable only if conclusive evidence
for ideoplasty is someday forthcoming.
The diagrams show that the perception structure of a UFO
experience may be rather complex. It can also be seen that the
presence or non-presence of lasting physical traces does not permit a distinction between a physical and a psychic primary cause
if the concept of ideoplasty can be applied to the UFO
phenomenon. If an external primary cause is absent or if it can
be identified as some known factor, the explanation for the existence lies in the psychic situation of the witness and/or in the :
wrong interpretation of some known phenomenon. An' interesting example is a case Berger investigated in Upper

Third Quarter 1984 ..

Austria. 1 There, a rising planet plus an alcoholic hallucinosis

led to the vivid description of a UFO-and-occupant pattern not
unknown in ufology. This case also shows that the degree of
strangeness in an experience not only depends on the nature of
the primary cause but can be the result of the relative ratio between the latter and the psychic situation of the percipient.

....................................................

.PRIMARY CAUSE (PHYS CAL)

....... ........................... ............... .
................ .............. .

[1].......

: SENSORY
~ OBJECTIVE

............
.

PERCIPIENT-DEPENDENT

COMPONENT
................................
.
. .

[2]...............
SENSORY:
SUBJECTIVE:
...............

.
[3].............
PSYCHIC
~ SUBJECTIVE
.............

................................ ..
LASTING PHYSICAL TRACES ;
Fig. 1
................................ .
.................................................. .

PRIMARY CAUSE (PSYCHIC)

........................................... .
................................ .

PERCIPIENT-DEPENDENT
COMPONENT

................................'..
[2]............. .. [3]............. .. [4]..... .
PSYCHIC
: PSYCHIC :
SENSORY:
SUBJECTIVE:
: .............
..

: SUBJECTIVE:

: OBJECTIVE

................................ ..
: . LASTING PHYSICAL TRACES ~

.'0 11

Fig_ 2

The Question of Reality. Normally, the human brain is able

to distinguish between imagination and real experience. The
phenomenal characteristics of UFO events and many hallucinations indicate that during such experiences this ability is no
longer present, i.e., memory and sensory data have the same
perceptual level. 4O
A person with self-control, self-reflection and a general critical
attitude may recognize an occasional hallucination by its absurdity, But psychiatrists tell of patients who have struggled
desperately but in vain against prolonged halluc!natory assaults.
Considering the naivete with which the most strange and absurd details of UFO experiences are sometimes reported as factual, it seems that during such events there is no mental resistance
on the part of the percipients.
For a long time, ufologists hoped that hypnotic regression
could be the proper tool to distinguish between real and imaginary UFO experiences. Now it is clear that perceptions of
mode [1] and [4] are stored only once in the memory, i.e., as
elements of the UFO experience; therefore, internal comparison

KEY TO THE DIAGRAMS

The numbers in brackets designate the possible
modes of perception.
[1] The primary cause is physical and it is perceived without any subjective falsification, i.e., the perception structure is identical with that of any conventional
event. (Fig. l)
[2] The event is an ideoplastic reproduction controUed by the percipient's mind and induced by the
primary cause. (Figs. 1, 2)
[3] This is a psychic event, induced by the primary
cause. With regard to its contents, this perception
mode corresponds to Tyrrell's "subjective hallucination," but the latter is completely endogenous while
an external cause is present here. This cause, however,
is not assumed to exert a direct control over the contents of the perception. (Figs. 1, 2)
[4] A primary psychic cause is perceived without
subjective falsification, i.e., without PDCs. Possibly
this perception mode is a highly hypothetical one even
within parapsychol~caI models. What has been called
a "telepathic hallucination" is not free from subjective elements added by the percipient. (Fig. 2)
[1,2] The event is the perception of a primary
physical cause and of a physically real POC. Physical
traces. may result from the primary cause as well as
from the (ideoplastic) PDC. (Fig. 1)
[1,2,3] The same as above; additionally, a psychic
PDC is present. (Fig. 1)
[l,3] The primary physical cause has induced a
psychic PDC only. No traces are possible. (Fig. 1)
[2,3] The event consists of physical and psychic POCs
induced by the primary cause. Traces may occur from
physical POCs. (Figs. 1,2)
[2,4] The event is the perception of a primary psychic
cause and of a physical PDC. Physical traces may
result from the (ideoplastic) POC. (Fig. 2)
[2,3,4] The same as above. Additionally, a psychic
POC is present. (Fig. 2)
[3,4] The primary psychic cause has induced a
psychic PDC only. (Fig. 2)

PERCEPTION STRUCTURE DIAGRAMS

Third Quarter 1984

Pursuit 125

is impossible. If the witness cannot recognize the actual perception mode during the experience, any later attempt to find it out
seems likely to be useless.
In contrast, PDCs, i.e., perceptions of mode [2] and [3], are
stored twice in the memory. First, a potential poe must have
been stored on the occasion of some normal event; then, at the
time it becomes part of a UFO experience (a true PDC), it is
stored again. It would not otherwise be possible for a witness
to recognize such parallels as happened in the Kearney, Itaperuna
and Oakenholt cases. It is conceivable that someday hidden
PDCs may be revealed by means of aIi improved regression
method, or a psychoanalytical approach, which could induce
the witness to "scan" his memory for these kinds of redundancies and bring them to consciousness.
The intrinsic question of reality seems to be even more fundamental. An old Chinese legend tel is us of.8. mandarin who
dreamt he was a butterfly. He had the same dream night after
night. After some time he became completely confused as to
his true identity; was he now a mandarin who dreamt he was
a butterfly, or was he a butterfly dreaming' to be a mandarin?
It is a disturbing thought that on the perceptual level, the only
detectable difference between an hallucination and the real environment. should be the continuity of the latter, while the
hallucination would appear as a sort of perceptual singUlarity.
The systematic, conceptual and' semantic difficulties which
have become. apparent in the discussion about the perception
structure of .UFO exper:iences are not superficial ones.
Sometimes one must get the impression that real progress in
understanding the UFO phenomenon will only be made if the
conventional idea of a material world existing independently of
the observer is abandoned, when all our concepts of this socalled reality and our consciousness are drastically changed.
Possible Nature of the Primary Cause
. When I became interested in the UFO problem some three
decades ago, I soon realized that the typical space travel model
of that tinie could not contribute to an understandi.ng of the process of the UFO phenomenon. In order to account for the (apparently) only transient physical reality of the phenomenon its singularity in time and in space, the often-reported mysterious
appearance out of nothing and disappearance into nothing, as
well as physical traces - I thought first in terms of an extradimensional phenomenon. I imagined force field projections
from higher dimensions intersecting with our space. I thought
of parallel spaces, even manipulation of the space-time continuum by some sort of time machine,3s.36.37.31
Gradually all these interpretations were redefined as different
aspects of a single primary cause rather than mutually incompatible hypotheses. This process-oriented approach (deducing
from the observed characteristics of the phenomenon the possible proceeses which might explain it) led to some suggestions.
Two of them, made in 1965 and 1970, are cited here:
~In terms of modem physics," pemaps it would be ......
appropriate to say that a UFO produces a local fourdimensional deformation of its space. thereby extending
itself into ours. 37
~ Hallucinations are a side effect caused by the conditions
(force field) in the vicinity of the UFO. It is at least conceivable that the human brain could be affected by these
conditions in such a way that subconscious or unconscious images may reach the centre 'of perception, and
become indistinguishable from Ii real experience. 39
The suggestion that the primary cause for the UFO manifestations must be some sort of extra-dimensional phenomenon3s is
~ow supported by the theory of syntrometry, a completely new
Pursuit 126

concept in theoretical physics developed .by Heim as a description for the evolution of his six-dimensional universe. Arltong
other things, this theory predicts structures extending into a! fifth
dimension with the ability to convey energy, substance ana information between different areas of this universe. Should ~uch
structure intersect with the physical space of our experience,
luminous phenomena, physical traces, hallucinations and various
paranormal effects could be expected. It even seems to be ~ssi
ble that the psyche 9f an observer within the field Qf i~tei'sec
tion could interact with this structure, thereby'creating ideoplastic
productions, as discussed in the section about the perception
.
structure of the UFO experience. .
Only the most fundamental part of Heim's work has been
published: his unified quantitative .theory of the elementary ~truc
ture of matter. II It should be noted that Heim was motivated
by the great challenges of modem physics, such as the unified
field theory, gravitation, etc., and not at all by the UFO:problem. The author of this article accepts sole responsibility for
the proposal that the syntrometry theory may be applicable to
I .
the UFO phenomenon.
Speculations about .Non-human Intelligence
In vjew of the spontaneous character of the lJFO pheno~non
and the resulting absence of instrument data and repeatable experiments, it is not surprising to find the interest of ufologists
concentrating more on the possible meaning of the phenomenon
than on its process. Speculation can be regarded as a kiqd of
brainstorming - that well-known technique for stimulation of
creativity and new ideas. The accepted methodology requires
that criticism should be suspended so that no "idea-in-process"
I
is suppressed, no matter how strange it. may be.
I.,ike most ufologists, I once specUlated freely about the
possibility of some non-hUman intelligence behind the
phenomenon; I wondered whether it could be indifferent, friendly or hostile to us. For quit~ awhile I considered the whole topiC
as.a wonderful brain-teaser, and it never occurred to me; that
such speculations could do any narm. But in the last few years
I have become increasingly ,uneasy about this way of thinking.
In a world where the careless and ;nhuman applicatidn of
Science and technology has led to an increasing threat t6 the
very existence of the human race, the mere idea of an inte~en
tion by a non-human intelligence gives rise to rather anthropocentric and potentially dangerous views. One extreme is
that of cheap wishful thinking which often culminates in the
belief that "cosmic brothers" will come to save us frorrt our
self-inflicted troubles. According to the opposite extreme, an
intelligence behind the UFO phenomenon is eager to tak~ advantage of the present critical situation of mankind and wants
to manipulate us for the most sinister and evil purposes. lro~ical
ly, neither of the extremist groups seems to be aware of thelvery
real danger that each interpretation could be misused by Ivery
earthly powers.
I .
It would not be" a matter of importance if speculations about
an alleged sinister manipulation of UfO percipients and ~ven
mankind were discussed in special journals, accessible orily to
a limited number of regular subscribers. But when statements
replete with magical thinking and self-delusion are publiized
in mass-circulation periodicals, paperbacks and hardcove~, the
question may be raised whether the authors and publisher's are
aware of the psycho-social dangers of such ideas being offered
,
to the p u b l i c . '
There are chapters in history which demonstrate how psdudoscientific theories were developed on the basis of very 'poOr
evidence or no evidence at all, and one can see how they" furnished justification
for the most inhuman
actions, oiice'~drt~in
.
.
:

Third Quarte'j.'

political and/or economic conditions obtained. The era of the

witchcraft trials provides an example.
How often have we been toldthat the belief in witchcraft and
the resuiting auto-da-fes were a unique aberration of the Middle Ages, and with what monumental complacency do our
progress-conscious contemporaries assure us that such things
could not happen again in our enlightened times? But the facts
say otherwise. The belief in witchcraft is a universal
phenomenon throughout the recorded history of man, and the
great upsurge of witchcraft trials dates back to an era which
shows parallels to our present times in more than one respect.
The geographic discoveries of the fifteenth century stimulated
the imagination of people just as our modem space programs
do. The effect of the introduction of printing then is comparable
to the impact of television now. The invention of gunpowder
led to the production of new weapons with a range and power
of destruction unheard of before. There was a general fear and
uncertainty among people. In our times, the pervasive threat
of nuclear war has probably had an even greater psychological
impact, but until recently this fear has been repressed by a
general hedonism and consumer euphoria.
One need not be a psychoanalyst to understand that just this
kind of repression could make people susceptible to delusions
of persecution as well as salvation. In the field of religion, the
old traditions were questioned just as they are questioned today; the Earth was no longer considered to be the center of the
universe, and in science, authority was replaced by the experiment. Yet science was still far away from an adequate understanding of the processes in the depth of the human soul, and
the hypothesis that an evil non-human intelligence was trying
to interfere physically with human affairs was gaining influence.
With the new means of communication - printing - this delusionary system of belief was rapidly spread among a public that
still considered the written word as something magical and
therefore was in no way prepared for the impact of the new communication medium.
A disastrous feedback circuit was the result. The growing
superstition in people and the resulting excitement aroused the
interest of establishment and science. The official preoccupation with this matter in tum lent more credibility to the delusion, and so on. With the approbation of this delusional belief
by the authorities and its codification in textbooks like the
Malleus Maleficarom, the economic aspects began to attract
more attention. An increasing number of jailers, executioners,
advocates and inquisitors earned their living from this delusion,
i.e., from the confiscation of the property of the unlucky victims.
The auto-da-fes served as a popular amusement which was
used to distract the public's attention from other things, and at
the same time they served as a very efficient demonstration of
official power. Ambitious scholars soon discovered that publicity, promotions and academic honor could be gained by theses
on such topics as the witches' sabbath or the complex hierarchy of the succubi and incubi. In short, the whole matter became
big business, sustained by such motives as jealousy, zeal, vanity,
panic, fear, sensationalism, avarice, and even genujne idealism.
The few who kept cool minds had no chance to change the course
of events.
Luckily, such trends in ufology haven't yet led us that far,
but some parallels are obvious. Today, however, we have a
chance to recognize the presence of human intelligence in the
UFO phenomenon, and we should be able to pass an objective
judgment on the true significance of speculations about nonhuman intelligence. Up to now, the inherent dangers of these
sl'~ul~tJons have not been compensated for by their heuristic
Th.ird Quarter 1984

value, .the latter' being 'rather poor.' We should be expected to

handle this aspect of the UFO phenomenon with utmost reserve
and great responsibility. Should we fail to do so, we, the
ufologists, might somedaY'be regarded as "messengers of
deception. ' ,
REFERENCES
I.
2.
3.
4.

Betger. E. (1979). UP/AR 4. No: I

Buhler. W. (1973) FSR. Special Issue. No.5. II
Caplan, J.M. (1969), FSR 15, No.3, 21 .
Cassirer. M., Drivcr. M.,. Hcrbert, B. (1969), The Journal of Pal8physics.
Downton, England. 3, No.6. 179
S. ChBlkcr. B. (1977) FSR 22, No. S. 28
6. Chalker, B. (1977i, Private Communic:ation
7. Creighton. a. (1967) FSR 13. No.5, 1618
8. Creighton. a (1969). FSR IS. No. 1,23
9. Daniels. W. '" Turncr. N.~.H. (1969). FSR IS. No. 1,2.
10. Departmcnt of Defense, United Slates of Ainerica (1957). News Release.
Nov. IS, 1957, No. IIOSS7. LI 5-6700. Ext. 75131. Report 5
II. Doreni R. '" Farabone. R. (1977) UP/AR I. No. 1.72
12. Dnlffcl. A. (1977). MUFOJNo. 112. IS
13. DrulTcl. A. (1977). MUFOJ No. 113. 9
14. DrulTel. A. (1977). MUFOJ No. 114. 10
IS. Finch, B.E. (1965). FSR II. No.6. 3
16. Haines. R. (1.977). UPIAR I. No. 1. 39
17. Haines. R. (1978). UP/AR2. No. I. 123
18. Heim; B. (1979). Elemenratsrrukruren der Marerie. Bd I. Resch Verlag.
Innsbruck. Austria
19. Hugill. J. '(1969). FSR 14. No.2. 3
20: Hynek. J.A. (1972). The UFO Ellperience. Abelard Schuman. London
New York
21. Jacob~. I:!.M: (1975). 'TIu: UFO COIIr'!'vctsy in America. Indiana Univcr
'sity Press. Bloomington'" London. 78
22. Jung. C.!J. (1958). Ein Modemer Myrhus. Rascher.Veriag. Zurich. 62-66
23: Keppy, A.E. (1958). WB No. 36/37. I
24. Knnelj. M. (l97~). F.SR. "Case Histories." No. 12.4
25. LOflin. R. (1968). /denrir/t/IJ Flying SaUCCts. David Mackay Co .. New York.
.'
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9194
26. Medwedjcw. Zh. (1979). Berichr unci AllBlyse der Bisher (ieheimgehallenen
Aromkarasrrophe in der UQSSR. Hoffman'" Campe. Hamburg. 743
27. Mesnard. J. (1970). FSR I~, No. 1.9
28. Newman. P. (1968), FSR 14, No.3. 22
29. Phillips. T. (1975). Physical TI8Cf1S Associared wirh UFO Sighrings. Center
for UFO Studies, Evanston.IL 60201
30. Ragaz. H. (l9S8), WB No. '341~5, IS
31. Ragaz. H. (1961), WB No. s8is9. 8
32. Randles. J. '" WhctnaII. P. (1979). FSR 25, No.3. II
33. Ringcr. P. (1959). Das Welrbild der Pal8psychologie. Walter Verlag. Olten
. '" FreiburgiBr. 113-IIS .
34. Schmidt. R. (1963). Edge of Tomonow - The Reinhold Schmidr Srory. fiO
35. Sclicinherr. L. (1963). FSR 9, No.2. 1012
36. SchlSnherr. L. (1964). FSR 10. No. I. 16-20
37. Schtinherr. L. (196.5). FSR II. No.6. 1213
38. Schtinherr. L. (1968). FSR 14. No.6. 12-13
39. Schlinherr, L. (1970). FSR 16. No.3. 16-19
40. SchOnherr. L. (1971). FSR 17. No.2; 2224
41., Schilnherr. L. (1976) . FS~ 2~. No.3. 11:12
42. Sprinkle. R.L. (1977). PURSUIT, P.O. Boll 265, Litdc Silver, NJ 07739,
Vol. 10. No.4. 112
43. Tripno. L. (1968). FSR 14. No.6. 18
44. Tyrrell,"a.N.M. (1947). Mensch unci Welr in der Patapsychologie. Broschek Verlag.
Hamburg. 77-78
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6S
46.
47.
48.
49.

ibid .. 7172
ibid .. 7479
ibid.. 105
Vallee. J. '" Vallee. J. (1967) Challenge ro' Sciena:. Neville Speannan.
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Abbreviations: FSR Flying Saucer Review. FSRPublicalions Lid.. Wcst
Mailing. Maidslone. Kent, England
MUFOJ = MUFON uFo Journal, 103 Oldtowne Road. Seguin, Texas 781SS
UPiAR = UFO Phenomena. Editecs. Publishing House. Cas. PoSI. (P.O. B.)
190.40100 Bologna. Italy
.
WB = Welrl8umbole. UPOVeriag. Zurich SwilZeriand

Pursuit 127

The Tri-State SpookU,ght: A Controversial Myste,

by Keith L. Partaia
There's beautiful country in the Ozark foothills of northeastern
Oklahoma-, In fact, all of the Ozark country is renowned for
its scenic beauty. Nevertheless, where the Ozark Plateau meets
the Cherokee Plains there is a mystery that has captivated
thdusands of people from allover the country for at least a century. The mystery? The fabled Tri-State Spooklight, so-called
because it appears near the Oklahoma-Kansas-Missouri border.
This light has been a source of misinformation and controversy
since it was first sighted in the late 1880's. Rest assured, the
light is there, although not every single night as some promoters
insist. I have never been able to authenticate the alleged dates
of 1880 or 1886 for the first appearance. Nor did the Anny send
in "troops" or the Corps of Engineers during World War II
to spend weeks exhaustively investigating the spooklight. The
truth is far stranger than fiction as I will detail jn a book on
this best known of mystery lights.
Marfa, Texas and Brown Mountain, North Carolina both boast
well-known, well-attested spooklights. The Tri-State Spooklight,
which has almost as many names 'as it has legends to 'explain"
it, is the most famous. Real People, the television show, Popular
Mechanics, a no-nonsense publication and newspapers Oike the
Kansas City Stat) hundreds of miles away have investigated it.
Yes, Pulitzer Prize winning reporters, famous atronomers and
physicists and military Personnel have been to the area. Did these
people confinn the reality of the light? Actually, no. That is
the claim, but that is not actually what most of them said.
Well, it is real and exciting ... and it doesn't appear to be
just one thing. Popular Mechanics, in its September 1965 issue,
revealed with the aid of telephotos that the yellowish mystery
light weaving like a pendulum at the end of "Spooklight Road"
was actually automobile headlights on Highway 66. (A sad but
true fact is that "sightings of the light" escalated after the
highway was built in 1933.) It seems that the area - which is
actually in Okalahoma, and really not close at all to Hornet,
Missouri which gives the light one of its sobriquets' - is at
a perfect elevation for an optical illusion caused by temperature
inversion to bend the light from automobile headlights up to the
observers on Spooklight Road! Trouble with that is that
astronomer J. Allen Hynek in 1971 and a Carthage, Missouri
high school student in 1959 came to similar conclusions, but
not confinnatory ones. Obviously, part of ~e time the light is
an optical illusion, and even that is a fascinating display. The
high school student and a physicist (a certain Dr. Ward who
viewed it in 1945) both adhere to the optical illusion theory,
but both experienced some strange beams of light that, to me
at least, seem to suggest that there are other strange luminous
phenomena at that location. To insist on light refraction of distant headlights alone to account for the spooklight - especially
when sceptical accounts don't even reach the exact same conclusions! - is a bit like begging the question.
Another popular theory is the "UFO-Airport" theory. A
retired Anny Captain, Robert E. Loftin, promoted that idea in
his book Identified Flying Saucers; his promotion prompted the
federally-funded University of Colorado "Condon Committee"
to send a physicist to investigate. Physical evidence of exttaterrestrial vehicle was claimed by Loftin - but never confinned.
Pursuit 128

I,

a~

Other UFO investigaters

still examining the site; I wJ told
that one has photos demonstrating a physical object. I hav~ yet
to continn or deny that.
!
Of course, the supernatural explanation for the light i~ the
favorite one. Supposedly it does more than bob and weaye at
the end of the lonely rural road in 'Oklahoma; it hounds people,
alights on their radiators, changes into octopoid shapes and splits
into daughter balls. Only the latter have I been able to continn.
These very colorful rumors have spiced many an article - often
poorly researched - on this fascinating Ozark anomaly . "~deed
many people talk a lot about the eloping Indians who dove to
their death in Spring River, or about the sadistic Civil :War
sargeant who was decapitated by cannon-tire. Those are thJ two
favorites; there are more than a dozen more. Supposedly it favors
the annual Quapaw Indian green com festival at DeViI'SIPromenade (a bluff overlooking Spring River, and three or four
miles west of Spooklight Road), but the two reports hav~ not
been widely continned. In any case, I will not reject oftlland
the supernatural explanation and would welcome any sighting
in which the observer would provide time', date, behavi~r of
the light and any other pertinent data that would show it to differ from an optical illusion.
I
On the other hand, there is a bizarre phenomenon recntly
accepted by science that has many of the characteristics fol~ore
has ascribed to spooks and hobgoblins; ball lightning. S~ien
tists do not yet know what ball lightning is or how it is produced. Ball lightning acts inquisitive and mischievous (likJ the
spooklight is said to do) and occasionally vanishes with a~ explosion and apparent smell of sulphur (not attributed tq the
spooklight). In 1977, Marta Poynor-Churchwell of the J.i?pJin
Globe snapped rare photos of what appears to be a ball lightning on Spooklight Road - computer enhancement supj,orts
that view.
' I
I do not fanatically urge people to go up there because inponsiderate people over the decade have annoyed the residents ~ong
that road; however, this is a unique piece of Americanai and
Ozarkiana and definitely worth the trip whether you manage to
see the optical illusions caused by temperature inversions" ball
lightning, UFOs -,or spooks. The "SpookJight Free Museum"
sole building in the famous "noncity" of Spookville, MisSouri
closed in 1983.,
, "
How to get there: If you are coming fron{the east (Jopl,in is
northeast of the area), take the first Missouri exit east of the
Will Rogers Turnpike (1-44 is the turnpike for a good dist.nce
between Tulsa, Oklahoma and Joplin, 'Missouri), double back
west to the south outer road to State Line Road, which is gr+vel.
Follow this slightly winding gravel road approximately threeand-a-half miles to the "museum" which will be on the MiJouri
(east) side of the road. The "museum" is now a pqvate
residence and please do not bother the residents. 'These d,rections are equally valid if you approach from the west (e.g.
Tulsa).
:

This article was originally published in 144 and G,reen Coun-

try travel guides, 1984 by Publishers

Unlimite~..

I
I ' ,

Mr. Partain's book on this subject will be published soJn,: : '

I
I

"

Third Quarter ~ 984 '

I
I

Where Did Hannibal Get Elephants?

there at the time was a forest subspecies of the

African elephants. These were smaller animals
standing about 8 feet tall at the shoulders in con:
trast to the II-foot-tall sub-Saharan animals.
The Atlas elephants later died out as the region
grew increasingly arid.
Presumably these animals would have been
just as difficult to train and would have been
less i~posing in warfare. In ancient military
campaigns elephants hauled supplies and served somewhat the same function as modem
tanks.
In his 1955 study, "Alps and Elephants,"
Gavin de Beer, who was director of the British
Museum of Natural History, wrote, "not only
did the elephant's appearance, their smell, and
the nOis.e of their trumpeting alarm both men
and horses opposed to them, but they were
highly dangerous when charged, fighting with
their tusks and their trunks and trampling down
their opponents."
For these reasons, commenting on the small "
Atlas elephants, Ager said, "I find the idea of
Hannibal using small elephants unsatisfying. "
By most accounts, Hannibal's invasion force
in 218" B.C., assembled in Spain, included
100,000 men and 37 or 38 elephants. Ager notwithstanding, many historians tend to accept
de Beer's conclusion that most of these
elephants were African, either from the Atlas
Mountains or from south of the desert.
The evidence is a Carthaginian coin, struck
in th~ time of Hannibal, that bears an unmistakable image of an African elephant. Coins
are often valuable artifacts to archaeologists, and
in this case it is about all historians have - a
coin and a story told and retold after the Second
Punic War. Hannibal dealt the Romans under
Scipio several crushing defeats but ultimately
failed to seize Rome itself.
Only one of the elephants survived the war,
it seems. This was the elephant Hannibal
himself had often ridden. Its name, according
to the story, was Surus, meaning "the Syrian. "
Because the Ptolemies of Egypt, successors
to Alexander, were known to have seized some
Indian elephants as booty in their campaigns in'
Syria, it seemed likely that some descendants
of those elephants had found their way to Carthage, Egypt and Carthage enjoyed good relations in those days.
De Beer, citing the story of, Surus, concluded, "It is therefore almost certain that Hannibal's elephants included at least one Indian. "

Archeologists have tried. Students of ancient

climate and ecology have tried, too. But no one
has yet come up with a satsifactory answer to
a question that has long puzzled historians:
Where did Hannibal get the elephants for his
heroic march across the Alps to attack the
homeland of the Romans?
The questior. was raised anew in a recent issue
of New Scientist, a British magazine. Derek
Ager, a geologist, wrote an article casting doubt
on all the proposed sources of Hannibal's
elephants.
Once there were elephants nearly everywhere,
but by the time of Hannibal's march in 218 B.C.
they had already dwindled to the two species
extant today, the Indian, or Asian, elephants and
African ones.
If he had had a choice, Hannibal would
presumably have gone into battle with Indian
elephants, which had been used effectively a
century before in charging against the forces of
Alexander the Great. Indian elephants are not
quite as large as the African species but much
more easily trained, which is why they are
favored by zoos and circuses. It is also the
reason, Ager noted, that Indian elephants are
seen tramping through fictional Africa in old
Tarzan movies.
.
Th~ b~gge~ and ill-tempered African elephants
are dlstmgulshed by their larger, fan-shaped
ears, flat foreheads and concave backs.
But how did Hannibal, in Carthage, on the
Mediterranean in present-day Tunisia, get a
troop of elephants all the way from Asia? Or
from south of the Sahara, the bush habitat of
the larger African species?
Elephants have a voracious appetite for grass,
leaves and twigs. Ager noted than an adult male
African elephant eats about 400 pounds of
vegetation a day. Even though the North
African.c\imate was slightly wetter then and the
Sahara not quite so extensive, conditions were
still not conducive to transporting hungry
elephants.
Historians speculate that a few small
elephants could have been brought down the
Nile Valley into Egypt, or by the Red Sea, and
then bred in captivity, but there is apparently'
no record of this. Nor is there a~y record ofthe
large African species being indigenous to North
Africa in the time of Hannibal. Drawings of
elephants appear on the so-called Tassili
Frescoes found in the Hoggar Mountains of
s~uthem A~geria, but a recent British expediSOURCE: NY Times Service in the
tion detenruned that the drawings predated HanSt. Louis Dispatch 9/23/84
nibal, Ager said.
CREDIT: Ray Nelke
Many historians believe a likely source of
Hannibal's elephants could have been the Atlas
Mountains of Morocco and Algeria. Living

Third Quarter 1984

Texas Street Bulge Mystery

Officials remained baffled by a 20-foot-long,
2-foot-high bulge that appeared in a city street.
RJ. Forester, a Fort Worth Fire Department
official said, "It grew for about an hour and
then we just turned our heads and it was gone."
"It looked like a giant earthworm was trying
to come up from under the road," said fire
department spokesman Charlie McCafferty. "It
stayed up for a while and it swayed back and
forth. It seemed almost alive. What spooked me
was there wasn't even a crack in the road. The
ground was not broken. The earth wasn't
disturbed ...
Street crews used jackhammers to break
through two inches of asphalt and four inches
of concrete to excavate the site. They found the
soil layers intact.
The first firefighters at the scene said the bubble in the pavement was about two feet high in
spots when they arrived about 12:30 p.m. But
it had subsided by the time other firefighters
arrived.
Fire officials ruled out ruptures of two
petroleum-product pipelines buried beneath the
street, which is lined with apartments. About
150 people from several apartment complexes
:-vere evacuated while crews dug eight feet try109 to find out what caused the buckling.
."There was some kind of liquid down there,"
said Gary Santerre, director of the public works
department. "(The swelling) had to be gas of
some kind, but we can't find any gas now or
the source of it. "
The hole was filled and the street reopened
by that night, Friday the 13th.
SOURCE: Schenectady Gazette 7/16/84
CREDIT: Bob Girard
"

~"

,Death of Martins Linked to Gnats

Unusually large swarms of tiny, annoying
gnats may have caused the deaths of hundreds
Of. p~rple ~rtins in southeastern Minnesota by
dnvmg the bllds wild, says a state game official.
The bodi~ of more than 500 mature and baby
purple martins have been found near Meriden
said John Idstrom, area wiidlife manager for th~
sf:8te Department of Natural Resources. Dying
birds also were reported elsewhere in the region
in July, he'said.
SOURCE: AP in the Nashville Tennessean
9/19/84
CREDIT: H. Holland

Pursuit 129

Wife's Heart Stops When Husband Dies' Mystery of Curse on 'Village of Fools'
Is Solved
A woman who had just visited her husband
in his hospital room retired to her own room.
At the exact minute her husband was pronouncAt the foot of Monkey Mountain in the
ed dead. her heart also stopped.
swamps of northern Manchuria, a mysterious
The woman was pronounced dead im, hoor curse for generations cast its dark shadow over
later. hospital staff members said. .
Jixian Village.
The husband, Salvattore Graziailo, .79, '~was
Far into the mists of memory, the impoverisha sick man, and his death was nota surprise;" ed hamlet was isolated by superstition and
said Dr. Nancy Streitmatter; a caroiologist at disease - a nightmarish "village of fools" inIllinois Masonic Hospital. But she:said ~rs. hab~ted by lunatics and freaks.
Graziano had suffered only "a small heaJ:t'atHundreds of children were born hopelessly
tack with no complications and would have bCen retarded and thousands more grew up grotesreleased soon. Everyone here 'was stunned." quely disfigured.
Graziano's wife, Florence, 70, was wheeled , ':J;eople. did not feel at ease here," Jixian
into her husband's room. She knew diat he waS leader Xu Chong told the first foreigner ever
dying and that she would be sayi~g goodby~ to to visit the ramshackle village.
'
her husband of 51 years. Minutes later, after
"Because of the diseases, many people fled.
she returned to her room, Graziano died arid his We attributed our curse to the evils committed
wife suffered a cardiac arrest.
.
by our ancestors. " Even the Red Guards of the
"She arrested at the exact time that her hus- mid-1970s Cultural Revolution refused to stay
band was pronounced dead - 9:09 a.m.,' sai~ in Jixian.
Joy Clich, head nurse of the coronary 'care unit. " Fields WeDt untended as the villagers, plagued
"It was an eerie thing, and nobody o~ staff cim ,by illness, discrimination and fear, refused, to
believe it."
leave the dark confines of their squalid, mudGraziano had been hospitalized for more than walled houses.
a week after suffering a series of heart attacks.
The impending birth of a child, always'a hapHis wife complained of chest pains while mak- py occasion in nearby villages, was met with
ing her daily visit. She was admitted to the dread in Jixian.
hospital and placed in a room next to her hus- , An early inedical survey of the isolated village
band's on July 22nd.
in northeastern Heilongjiang Province showed
SOURCE: AP in the St. Louis Post Dispatch thai more than 65 percent of its population of
1,300 people suffered physical disfigurement.
8/3/84
Another 145 villagers were mentally retardCREDIT: Ray Nelke
ed, many of them stunted deaf-mutes who were
unable to perfonn even the simplest of
functions. '
.
"Many of our children remained in the first
grade for five years or more, never to progress, ,.
said Xu, the local Communist Party branch
Sudden Death
secretary. "They 'couldn't even go to the
Michael Stott, 16 years old, was watching toilet.
"Outsiders called us the village offools. They
television at his girlfriend's house in Canan'
daigua, NY, on July 25 when he experienced were afraid to come here.
"Our young women would look elsewhere
a sudden seizure and collapsed. He was profor husbands because they didn't want to stay
nounced dead at 11 :55 p.m.
Ninety minutes,later, in the family home, his in Jixian. Very few girls would marry men from
mother was about to tell his brother, here and, those that did were usually ~low
Christopher. 10, of the death when Christopher themselves. We were very ashamed."
Xu recalls the day when superstitious village
made a gasping sound, collapsed and died.
There was no explanation for the deaths as leaders ordered a work team to climb a nearby
the Ontario Cpunty coroner bega~ an Monkey Mountain and destroy the large stone
monolith that gave the hill its name.
investigation.
:
"They thought maybe the bad births were due
"Their cause of death is stiUundetennined,
and this is probably unfortunately the Way it will to the gaze of the stone monkey on our village,
end." says the coroner, Dr. Charles Bathrick. he said. "So some men went up there and
Autopsies and,toxological studies have pro- destroyed it. It accomplished nothing."
Villagers recall the time during the chaotic'
ved' fruitless.'
,
"There were no drugs, no chemicals, ", Dr. 1966-76 Cultural Revolution when about 30
Bathrick says. '\There were no findings in the idealistic Red Guards arrived in Jixian to lead
organs that would account for what happenCd. " the stricken hamlet out of the dark ages.
"Within one year, they all developed large
The hearts from both bodies have been sent
to the Nationai\ Heart Institute ~ Bethesda" ~p, goiters and went back to the city," said Dr. ~i
'Jianqun, chainnan of the department of endemiC
for further stu(iy, the coroner says.
, disease at Heilongjiang's Jiamusi Medical InSOURCE: NY Times
stitute. "Once back in the city, their goiters
9/9/84
went away."
CREDIT: Jon Singer
,Finally .. in 1978, Li and other Chinese researchers went to Jixian to discover the secret of
Jjxian's curse.
Pursuit

130

"We first ruled out intermarriage as a cause

for the mental retardation because there wasn't
that much int~rmarriage here," Li said in his
makeshift laboratory in Jixian. "And it was ob-,
vious that the people had developed goiters an enlargement of the thyroic;l gland - from a
lack of iodine in their diet.
"We found their water supply from a shallow
well and all their grains, vegetables and soil
lacked iodine because the village was located
in the old riverbed of the Songhua River, which
swept all the iodine away. "
Cretinism, Li said, is caused by a congenital
,lack of thyroid gland secretion. Those afflicted
with the disease usually have large heads, stlort
limbs, puffy eyes, a thick ,and protruding
tongue, a lack of coordination and suffer from
mental retardation.
Provincial health officials ordered a new,
300-foot well dug and administered iodine injections'to all Jixian women of child-bearing
age. Iodine was also added to the hamlet's salt
supply and tablets were distributed.
'
The results were dramatic and immediate, Li
said.
"There have been no cretin births here since
1980 and the occunence of goiters is now below
7 percent, compared to more than 65 percent
before," he said.
For the first time in memory, Jixian is able
to raise enough crops to feed itself. Villagers
have built a brick kiln and plan a noodle factory that will employ the cretins.
'
And, perhaps best of all, the hamlet is
growing.
"Since the new water system was installed,
68 girls from the outside have married Jixian
men and settled here," Xu said.
"Some families that fled Jixian years ago now
want to come back. But we don't want them.
They abandoned us when we were facing our
hardest times. We don't need them now."
SOURCE: UPI in the Schenectady NY

Gazette
9110/84

,CREDIT: Bob Girard

Soviet Mummy Find

Soviet explorers near the Afghan border have
discovered a "city of the dead" in a mountain
cave ,containing dozens of mummies of'
primitive men, horses and wild animals. the '
Soviet newspaper Trod said yesterday.
The newspaper said the explore~ unearthed
the mummies in a cave in the Kaguitang-Tau ,
mountain range in southern Tu~enistan,. a
central Soviet republic that borders With
Afghanistan. It gave no date for the discovery. ;
"Speleologists have discovered mummies.of
primitive men, horses and dozens of wild,
animals in a cave of the Kugitang-Tau moun- .
tain range," the newspaper said.
"It is not clear how tens of mummies could
get into the cave, since it is a locked cavity Hnk,~' t
ed with the outside world only by t~Q;"1P.'m1
75-meter-deep wells," Trod said.
: ;. ,1.: I

Third Quarter'

1984'~

The newspaper speculated the mummies were

the remains of ancient nomads fleeing from the
invasion of Alexander the Great or people running from a natural disaster trapped by a
landslide.
"This was not the only surprise of the city
of the dead," it said.
The explorers also found infestations of mites,
tiny insects whose bites leave painful sores. The
explorers "had to use all the disinfectants which
were at their disposal" to combat the mites, the
newspaper said.
It said the mountain people believe the mites
from the caves were the cause of the "black
plague."
Trod said a scientific expedition into the caves
had been organized by archaeologists, paleontologists and anthropologists.
Ed. note: It should be noted that the infamous
"black plague" that killed an estimated million
people in Europe in the 15th century has been
variously attributed to the close approach of a
comet as well as the fleas carried by rats.
SOURCE: UPI in the Nashville Tennessean
9/18/84
CREDIT: H. Holland

Mysterious Explosions
Baffte Colonie Family
Ray and Johanna Nelson of 392 Baker Ave.,
Colonie, N. Y., said their house has been shaken
by dozens of the unexplained blasts since they
first occurred at the end of August. The Nelsons
have lived in the house for about three years.
"We can be watching the TV and it will be
pointing this way, and bang, suddenly it's
pointed a different way," said Nelson. "I feel
like I'm back in World War n. It almost sounds
like an anillery shell hitting the ground."
The noises are loudest in the basement, where
they sound like "sonic booms going off
underground," said Barbara Cardillo, the
Nelson's daughter. "It's loud enough to.echo
in the basement."
Town and Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.
crews checking gas, sewer, water and electric
lines have found no apparent causes, said town
Fire Inspector Larry J. Isabelle, who has been
investigating the blasts. Isabelle said he heard
one of the blasts himself while sitting in the
Nelson's driveway . 'I could feel the vibrations
in the ground," he said.
After eight such explosions in one day, Mrs.
Nelson, her daughter, son-in-law and their two
children all spent the night in a local motel to
get some peace, she said. "There were five in
a row right after midnight. I just couldn't take
it anymore," Mrs. Nelson said.
She said the vibrations detached the toilet
from the floor when the screws holding it in
place came loose. The toilet has since been
removed and is sitting in the Nelsons' garage.
The vibrations have also cracked a window
frame, Nelson said.
Isabelle said he has checked to see if the
vibrations could be blasting from the construc-

Third Quarter 1984

tion of nealby Alternate Route 7, but discard- .. Influxes of C-7, such as the one experienced
ed the theory because the blasts usually occur from ~wes Beach to Fenwick Island in early
late at night, when no work is going on.
June, have been reponed in Europe and Asia,
The Nelson's son-in-law, Charles Cardillo, Schaefer said.
said he has been keeping a log at Isabelle's sug"It's not unprecedented, but it certainly is for
~tion. The log contains 12 separate entries this pan of the county," he said.
between 6:35 p.m: Sundar and 2: 10 a.m. MonSome people complained of having been bitday, and another rune entrieS between 6:53 p. m. ten by the ladybugs.
Monday and 1:02 a.m. Tuesday, he said.
Aithough other entomologists said the
Nelson has already taped two of the blasts and ladybugs were hannless to humans, Dysart said
tu~ the tape o~to Isabelle~ he
"We're they may have bitten people because no food
gomg to be runmng tapes all rught until we find or fresh water was available.
out what this is," he said.
"There's nothing for them to eat. They can't
Mrs. Nelso.n said it was initially hard to get find any fresh water. They probably are starvpeople to bebeve there was a problem. "The ing to death," Dysan said.
men would come, and even though they didn't SOURCE: News-Journal Wilmington, DE
mean to, they would laugh and tell me to get 817/84
~ priest and the Rosary. Well, I don't believe CREDIT- H H II ode
10 ghosts, I told them. I don't know what it is
- . 0 a
r
though. Ifl did, I wouldn't need Mr. Isabelle."
The noise did stop for about two weeks before
staning again, she said. "When people came,
it wouldn't do it. But when we thought it was
gone, it staned up again."
Isabelle said he will keep the tapes so they
Halley's Comet is Rotating?
can be listened to by outside expens whose help
he is seeking. "I don't know what is causing
Halley's Comet, speeding toward Eanh and
it. I've never seen anything like it."
the sun for a 1986 rendezvous, may be irregular
"I'm not sure where we'll be staying
in shape or have a patchy surface and appears
tonight," said Mrs. Nelson. "The worst thing to be rotating, new photographs show.
is not knowing what it is."
The photos, taken through a 200-inch
telescope at Palomar Observatory at the CaliforSOURCE: Schenectady N Y Gazette
nia Institute of Technology, show that the light
9/12/84
reflected from the comet varies over a period
CREDIT: Bob Girard
of hours.
The finding implies that the comet, which
passes close enough to Earth to be visible every
76 years, could be rotating and either have an
irregular shape or dark or light patches on its
Plague of Ladybugs
surface, scientists said in a release last week.
The scientists, Caltech staff member G. Ed-
Ladybugs, known as C-7s because their
biological name is coccinellidae and they spon ward Danielson and Massachusetts Institute of
an orange-red back with seven black spots, are Tectinology astronomer David Jewin,
a European variety of the beetles, according to photographed the comet on Jan. 7, when it was
Paul Schaefer, a research entomologist with the 800 million miles from the sun. .
When photographed, the comet was not yet
USDA's beneficial insect research lab in
close enough for the sun to warm up its nucleus
Wilmington.
"They're moving very quickly," Schaefer. and cause it to emit gasses that lift dust off the
said, adding that the C-7 beetles were first spot- . surface, producing the fuzzy "coma" that sur~
ted in Delaware in 1975 and were sighted rounds the comet.
Danielson said that Caltech photographs are
throughout the state by 1978.
Ladybugs are considered beneficial insects the first shots ever taken of Halley's Comet
because of their appetite for garden pests such before it reached that fuzzy state.
Danielson and Jewitt led the team that first
as aphids. Entomologists have been monitoring the path of the C-7 because they are trying detected Halley's Comet on its current approach.
to help establish it in this country, according to the sun when it was still a bmion miles away,
to Richard Dysan, location leader in charge of in October 1982.
Its next close approach to the sun, when it
the USDA lab in Wilmington.
Dysan and Schaefer visited the Delaware is most visible from Earth is expected in
February 1986.
beach after repons of the ladybug influx. .
The comet, named for its 1695 discoverer,
Dysan said the ladybugs were probably produced somewhere inland because no evidence Edmund Halley, has a mass of about a billion
of the insects or their young was found in the tons and develops a tail many millions of miles
long as it approaches the sun.
coastal beach plum or marsh grasses.
Dysan suggested the ladybugs might have SOURCE: Sunday News JournaJ, Wilmington,
been caught by winds and carried into the resort DE 8/5/84
CREDIT: H. Hollander
area.
Schaefer said he was now reviewing weather
patterns to see if the wind current theory could.
be proven.

said:.

Pursuit 131

Halley's Comet is Melting

Pennsylvania Cougar Sighting

Astronomers say Halley's comet appears to

be melting earlier than usual from the sun's heat,
making it brighter than expected as it comes
toward the Earth.
The comet, still beyond the omit of the planet
Jupiter, is on its way into the inner solar system.
It will reach maximum brightness when it
swings around the sun in February 1986 as it
does every 76 years.
Many astronomers have been warning that
because of an unfavorable lineup of the Earth
and the sun, the comet will be less spectacular
to the naked eye than it was when it last appeared in 1910. But University of California
astronomers who photographed the comet from
the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona
found it was 50 to 100 times brighter than
predicted at this point in its omit.
The comet seems already to have begun forming a cloud-like veil, which reflects sunlight,
around its icy core. The veil, called a coma,
is thought to result from initial melting of the
core's ice from the heat of the sun. "Development of a coma so far from the sun is unusual, .,
says Stanislav Kjorgovski, one of the University of California astronomers.
As the comet gets closer it will brighten further and grow a distinctive tail. But Hyron
Spinrad, another of the University of California observers, cautions that the comet's current
unexpected brightness isn't necessarily "a portent of what we'll be seeing" in early 1986.
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal

Although mountain lions have been officially extinct from the state for almost a century,
an Armstrong County man claims he has a cast
of what appears to be a cougar's footprint found
on his farm.
But Alexander Lindsay of South Buffalo
Township said he has been reluctant to publicize
the last week's find.
"We don't want a lot oflion hunters around
here," he said.
Local cougar sightings have been rumored for
years, but so far, no one has proven they roam
wild in Pennsylvania.
"You can count on it every year - people
saying they've seen one," said Sam Lockerman, game protector for Allegheny County.
"It's very possible there could be a big cat up
there. But as far as it being the real thing, I don't
know."
Lindsay says he may have proof, and points
to a cast of a footprint that he says is the real
thing.
Last week, Lindsay's son, Andy, 21, found
tracks in the mud along a dirt road. The cast
was taken from those tracks.
The family also said they have been hearing
a strange cry, "like a woman's scream," at
night for several years.
"It's not some little meow," Lindsay said.
"It's loud."
Mountain lions are very shy and there's no
record of one making an unprovoked attack on
a human, said Chuck Hanna of Freeport, a
member of the Pennsylvania Association for the
Study of the Unexplained, who believed the cast
to be a cougar's footprint.
SOURCE: AP in the Easton Express, PA

10/3/84
CREDIT: Member #2692

8/5/84

CREDIT: Sabina W. Sanderson

Comet Calendar
1985 Nov. - First close approach; visible all
night through binoculars/small telescopes.
1985 Dec. - First naked-eye sighting. in
evening.
1986 Jan. 1-20 - Naked-eye in dark skies: earlyevening.
1986 Feb. 9 - Perihelion (comet disappears
behind sun).
1986 Feb. 20-Mar. 15 - Reappears before
dawn, naked-~ye with rapidly lengthening
tail.
1986 Mar. 15-25 - Best for those above lat.
35~ N., in SEora few hours pre-dawn; tail
near longest.
1986 Apr. 10-11 - Closest approach to earth,
but also farthest south.
1986 Apr. 12-26 - Comes rapidly north;
shortening tail and dimming, but visible for
much of night; moon becomes problem.
1986 Apr. 26-May 4 - Last naked-eye view;
visible much of night.
1986 May-Aug. - Seen in small telescopes until lost in sun's glare.
SOURCE: Halley's Comet Watch '86" and
General Comet Industries, Inc.

police surveillance said, "We are utterly

mystified about how he does it.
"He has made us look fools. It has even been
suggested that it is not a natural thing, but none
of the 30 policemen who have taken part in the
surveillance will even consider that as a
possibility ...
The filming was carried out from behind the
grave and at one stage police thought the man
might have crawled on his stomach to dodge
the camera. But when they themselves did it
they were easily seen.
Although a fox was seen on the video tape,
police have ruled out the animals as being'
responsible.
On each of the 37 occasions, the intruder has
stolen either the float or the wick from a candie housed behind a thick glass panel.
The candle is made up of a tumbler half filled with water with the top half of the glass filled with oil. A float made of cork with a hole
in the centre threaded with a wick is placed on
top and lit.
The flame then bums for up to 24 hours and
is extinguished when it reaches the water.
The thefts started a year after Yiannoulla, an
attractive sixth former with Greek Cypriot
parents, was murdered. They have continued
until March this year, with gaps of several
months in between.
Mr. George Yianni, 53, the girl's father, said:
"This is a terrible and cruel thing this man is
doing to us. We believe he must be the killer
and he must be sick.
"My wife Elli and I will never get over Yiannoulla's death and these distuIbances of her
grave is an added heartache for us. "
Her parents found Yiannoulla dead on a bed
at home in Belsize Road, on August 13, 1982,
when they returned from their shoe repair shop
nearby for lunch. They have offered a reward
of 3,000 pounds for information leading to the
arrest of the killer.
SOURCE: Daily Telegraph, London

7/30/84

'Ghost Vandal' At Grave

The grave of a teenage school girl who was
murdered two years ago has been desecrated
nearly 40 times despite intensive surveillance
by teams of police using electronic monitoring
devices.
Detectives and the family of YiannouUa Yianni, 17, who was strangled and raped at her home
in Hampstead, a London subum, believe that
the pillage of her grave in New Southgate
cemetery may have been carried out by the killer
himself.
The grave robber even struck while police
were surrounding the cemetery and using an infrared video camera to film the graveside.
But despite specialists viewing the tape more
than 20 times and studying each individual
frame, nothing could be seen.
Listening devices were also used to detect the
footfall of anyone approaching the grave. They
were so sensitive they were able to pick up the
crackle of frost covered grass more than 200
yards away - but still the man got through.
A detective who took part in three periods of

CREDIT: George Sassoon

Stone Age Monument Discovered

.
in England
Aerial photographs of drought-stricken fields
have revealed a Stone Age site of a circular
monument, possibly used by sun worshippers
1,000 years before the famous Stonehenge ring,
archaeologists said. The site is thought to have.
been constructed about 5,000 years ago of huge
upright timbers with bases set deep in the
ground at Exeter.
SOURCE: Wilmington, DE Morning News

9/10/84

CREDIT: H. Hollander
..,

... , ....
. II

Pursuit 132
,1 _ _........:.'_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _1_

Third Quarter 1984

_ _ _ _

'Chessie' Back Again

Maybe it's just the heat at the end of a long,
hot summer, maybe not. But once again there
are repons that a sea monster has taken up
residence in Washington's watery weekend
playground, the Chesapeake Bay.
Affectionately dubbed Chessie in analogy
with Nessie, the far more famous monster that
is said to inhabit Loch Ness in Scotland, the
local monster has been spotted off and on in the
past. It was reponed recently when a retired
business executive said he saw a mysterious sea
creature swimming in Eastern Bay, an appendage of the Chesapeake across from Annapolis,
Md.
In a breathless interview with The Queen
Anne's Record-Observer,. a weekly serving
Maryland's rpper Eastern Shore, the man
described seeing "an enormous head - a serpent's head" break the surface ofthe water no
more than a dozen feet from his sailboat. The
creature, he said, stared at him with a "big,
black eye," then slid below the surface.
At least three other sightings of a strange
creature in Eastern Bay have been reponed this
summer. A building contractor and his wife said
they spotted "a great big eel" longer than their
24-foot boat. Two watermen said a 35-foot
snake or eel circled'their boat for an hour. And
a family of six reponed seeing a selpCntine
creature raise one hump after another above
water while swimming near shore.
These latest repons followed an assenion in
1982 that a 30-foot creature had actually been
videotaped. There is, indeed, some tape. But
its blurry image is in dispute.
There are varying theories as to what Chessie
might be. Some amateur sleuths who have investigated the sightings contend that people are
seeing a rather large snake or eel. But others
suspect a hoax, or an effon to increase tourism
in the area, or a figment of collective imaginations bored with a long, slow summer.

"It's extraordinarily rare" for identical twins

to develop the same form of non-hereditary
cancer at the same time, Fefer said. "There may
have been one or two repons in the world's
literature. "
After the 6-foot-2-inch, 220~pound high
school football guard and tackle arrived in Seattle with their mother, Betty, and John's fiancee,
20-year-old Karen Douglas, doctors decided that
John's cancer was so advanced that an extensive battery of chemotherapy and radiation treatment would have to precede the transplant.
"It was basically a nuclear bomb-type level"
of radiation, Fefer said. "If you even.gave half
that dose of radiation and didn't give bone marrow the patient would die."
The radiation killed John's own bone marrow cells, leaving him without an immune
system until he could receive the transplant from
his identical twin.
But during tests on Joe, doctors were jolted
when a chest x-ray showed a cancerous mass
from the same disease his brother was fighting ..
However, Joe's case was far less advanced
and his bone marrow was healthy enough to use
for the operation. The donated marrow should
stan reproducing itself and "take" inside John's
body within a couple of weeks, Fefer said.
Joe then underwent chemotherapy and
surgery to remove his cancer, and none was
found elsewhere in his body, so he has more
than a 90 percent chance of complete recovery ,
the physician said.
It will take longer to determine whether the
transplant has effected a cure in John's case,
he said.
SOURCE: AP in the Sunday Star Ledger,
Newark, N.J. 8/26/84
CREDIT: Nancy Warth

Mother Mule Beats Long Odds

Mystery Debris is Sky-High

SOURCE: Philip M. Boffey in the NY Times
9/9/84

CREDIT: Member #2692

Identical Cancer in Twins

When Joe Robinson went to donate bone marrow to save the life of his twin brother, who
was suffering from Hodgkin's disease, "flabbergasted" doctors made a discovery that may
save Joe's life - he has the same cancer.
The husky 19-year-old football players from
Pontotoc, Miss. , came to Seattle after
chemotherapy failed to halt the cancer that was
affecting John's lymph system and sl?leen. It
was during preparations for the bone marrow
transplant that doctors discovered Joe also has
the disease.
"I was flabbergasted," said Dr. Alexander
Fefer, a University of Washington medical professor and a member of the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center.

Third Quarter 1984

The computer printout was from Beech Grove:

Tire Inc. where trash is collectedby the Beech
Grove Sanitation District.
A sanitation official said trash was picked up
at Beech Grove Tire on May 15th, where it was
compacted in the truck and taken to the
Southside Landfill, 2561 Kentucky.
John Cook, manager of the landfill, said: "I
think you'd need a 200-mile-an-hour wind to
have trash reach there from the landfill,"
although the landfill is only a"out a mile away
from Troy and Meridian. In ichigan once, a
9O-mile-an-hour wind "took trash no fanher
than half a mile at most. Toilet paper, maybe,
but not cardboard," he said.
John Curran of the Weather Bureau noted that
that afternoon was quite a nice day and the
nearest storm was "hundreds. of miles away
from Indianapolis." However, he said
"minidust devils" - swirls of air created on
hot days - could send debris skyward. "But
it really wasn 't th~t warm of a day, " he added.
An Airpon Authority employee said aircraft
have holding bins aboard for trash and restroom
waste, and that none could get out accidentally. Besides, what1would a Beech Grove computer printout be doing on an airplane?
The Federal Aviation Authority's general
aviation district officer at Indianapolis International confirmed it received a repon from
another airpon agency that debris was seen
around Troy and Meridian on that day.
Which takes the case back to the Stovall
neighborhood, where the flying debris apparently will go down as one of life's little mysteries.
SOURCE: Indianapolis News 5/18/84
CREDIT: J.N. Willianson

"We thought maybe God was trying to tell

us something - like clean up our act," said a
laughing Barbara Stovall.
The dirty deed of the day remains a mystery
despite several contacts with those who officially monitor the sky over Indianapolis.
"We had a customer at the time, and he saw
it, too," said Mrs. Stovall, owner with her husband, Don, of Big D's Auto Clinic, 2961 S.
Meridian.
What the Stovalls and their customer saw
were hundreds of pieces of-debris wafting down
from the sky, "500, maybe 600 pieces," she
said consulting with her husband.
How high?
"Really high - maybe a thousand feet, a
whole bunch of stuff. There was a newspaper
page, a Beech Grove tire company's computer
printout, cardboard, plastic cups. The sky was
full of the stuff," said Mrs. Stovall.
And, yes, some of her friends have put index fingers to their heads and tumed them, pointing to Mrs. Stovall.
But she's not imagining what happened between 3 and 4 p.m. on May 16th.

Colorado State University tests have confirmed that a mule, a normally sterile crossbreed of
a horse and a donkey, gave birth to a mule foal.
"This is a legitimate repon of a mule foaling," said an extension service repon.
What makes the case even more unusual, the
service added, was that the foal apparantly was
sired by a male donkey. In all previous
documented instances, about a half-dozen, the
foals were bred by stallions.
The male foal, dubbed Blue Moon for the
phrase "once in a blue moon," was born on
the farm of Bill and Oneta Silvester at Champion, Neb., July 6th.
"There wasn't any hocus-pocus involved,"
the repon said. "Blood studies and professional
observation make this a documented case of a
mule having a colt."
The same results had been reponed earlier in
preliminary tests at the Center for the Reproduction of Endangered Species at the San Diego
Zoo.
SOURCE: AP in the Burlington Free Press,
VT
9/24/84
CREDIT: Member #2692

Pursuit 133

Letters to the Editors

Dear Editor:
I read with interest the article on "Ball Lightning" by Harry
Lebelson (PURSUIT 17, #2). Perhaps our readers would be interested in my personal experience with ball lightning. I was
flying as a First Officer on an Aer Lingus Constellation
sometime in the early Spring of 1958. The leg was between
Shannon and Gander, Newfoundland. The weather was solid
cloud, with icfng conditions, as well as ice crystals and snow
at 18,000'. St Elmo's Fire was dancing allover the exterior of
the plane, particularly on the windshield and'radome. HF radio
communication was impossible due to static interference.
So far, this scenario was not much different than what we
had all been through many times. Then the situation changed.
The St. Elmo's Fire seemed to gradually leave the rest of the
plane and concentrate itself on the radorne, right under our noses.
It also took on an orange glow. Then suddenly there was a
crashing noise thilt seemed to come from within the cockpit and
a large (about 2' in diameter) orange ball of something slowly
ernerged from the area between the pilots seats. It emitted a
crackling sound, as flame w~uld, and it had what could be
described as licks of flame emitting from its. surface, but there
was no heat from it. There was the distinct odor of ozone in
the cockpit.
The 4 generators all tripped off the line, throwing the cockpit
in near darkness, as we had the lights turned up before. The
autopilot disconnected itself due to the loss of power and we
were all suddtnly pretty busy. The ball moved directly aft
through the cockpit and passed through the closed door that led
to the bunks of the off duty crew rest area. This was followed
by a shreik of a hostess resting on the lower bunk. She got out
of the bunk and ran screaming through the cabin (just what the
passengers needed).
I went aft to try to calm everybody down and it was quite
a sight. The hostess mentioned had leaped onto a seat as the
ball floated straight down the aisle, at aisle floor level, past her.
I watched fascinated as it went to the rear bulkhead of the cabin
and passed through it. At that time a snapping sound was heard.
When it was close to me in the cockpit, it emitted a hissing
sound, and everyone could feel some sort of a powerful static
charge in our scalps (I had more hair in those days).
There were a:large number of Catholic clergy aboard and the
aisle was now full of kneeling priests and nuns saying the
Rosary. I went back to the cockpit where everything was in order
again and we all had a little debriefing on what we had seen.
Apparently, this sort of thing is encountered by airliners around
the world several times a year.
.

Dear Editor:
I would question the explanation submitted regarding the two
KAL off course excursions as detailed on pg. 65 of the Planetary
Grid article (PURSUIT 17, #2). While not expert on the Grid
theory, I do hold airline transport ratings on both the B-707 and
the B-747 and have flown thoulillnds of hours transoceanic and
polar routes and the theory submitted simply does not wash.
The Captain of KAL 007 does not switch his autopilot to RR
20. The Captain and the co-pilot load latitudes and longitudes
into what are called way points (up to 9) into each of the 3 INS
Pursuit 134

(inertial navigation systems) .. Each position is checked against,

first a flight plan, then an airway chart to ensure that the position loaded into the INS is the same as shown for the coordinates
shown on the chart for RR 20. After establishing the plane on
the airway, the autopilot is selected to INS rfavigation mode and
then monitored by means of position readout and course deviation indicator. Each of the INS units is a self-contained navigator
and while one is feeding into the autopilot, the other two monitor
its work. AnYdeviation outside acceptable parameters is immediately shown. by a red warning light. Any deviation such
as described in the article, regardless of 'what caused it, would
alert the crew if they had been monitoring everything as they
should have. The next obvious move would be to cross check
position using radar to see where they were in reference to the
coast and Sakhalin Island. The smaller planes mentioned in the
article do have the ability to communicate with the airliner using Guard frequencies~ which are required tobe monitored.
The B-707 has an entirely different system of navigation,
where a Doppler system operates the inputs to the autopilot and
Loran is used to cheek the position several times an hour. In
this case the compass accuracy is important and it is monitored
throughout the flight if the crew is taking their tedious job
seriously. . . '
. .
.
-Edward J. Toner, Jr.

Fellow Forteans:
Charles Bowen, longtime editor of Britain's prestigious Flying Saucer Review (FSR), was recently felled by a massive
stroke. He is recovering slowly but has.been obliged to pass
the reins of editorship to Gordon Creighton, a distinguished
scholar, linguist and internationally famous ufologist. Prior to
his stroke, Mr. Bowen had been plagued with other illnesses
and the economic tunnoil in England ... runaway inflation,
postal strikes, etc ... had all taken their toll. Flying Saucer
Review's circulation has been diminishing and subscribers in
the United States now total only a few hundred.
The first editor of FSR was the Hon. Brinsley Le Poer Trench
who now serves in the Jlouse of Lords as Lord Clantery. Th~
magazine pioneered in the study of contactees and has long been
the rallying point for seri~ ufology worldwide. Scientists such
as Dr. Jacques Vallee, Dr. Berthold Schwarz, Dr. J. Allen
Hynek, Aime Michel, etc. have been frequent contributors.
Many of the most important ufological breakthroughs were first
reported in this journal. Over the years, Mr. Bowen has also
issued a number of special issues, and for several years he
published the companion magazine Case Histories, a very important Series of studies of significant cases.
During the current worldwide recession we have witnessed
the agonizing demise of many .fine Fortean publications and
organizations. We should try to support and preserve those few
that are left. If you do not already subscribe to FSR, we urge
you to do so. Mr. Creighton can use all the help he can get,
including clippings, reports and articles. Let's keep this valuable
28-year-old journal going. A year's subscription costs $IS.OO.
It is suggested that you have your bank supply you 'wiih'u jn~
Third Quarter 1984

teriUltional money order for that amount ... payable to:

FSR Publications Ltd., West Malling, Maidstone, Kent,
ME. 19 6JZ, England.
All the best to all of you;
John A. Keel

Dear Editor:
I didn't plan to be commenting again so soon about another
excellent article in the indispensable PURSUIT, but Luis
Schoenherr's essay coupled with his investigation into a 16th
century woodcut proved to be irresistible lures.
Schoenherr noted how hard it is to 'interpret isolated,
fragmentaly evidence from past cultures" on the basis of presentday views and knowledge, and proceeded to interpret the
aforementioned woodcutting as an 'extraterrestrial spacecraft"
depicted by people making an astrological forecast for the year
1524.
The writer of that Volume 17, #2 essay showed first that the
"sun and the stars ... on the object's body" could represent a
powerful UFO searchlight and navigation lights, then discarded all his work by alluding to an accompanying text discussing
"the great and manifold conjunction of the planets" for the year
1524 which would inspire "many astounding things."
It is true, as writer Schoenherr's research shows, that the year
in question brought "great changes" including the peasants'
wars in South Germany. I shall take it for granted that Luis'
research correctly identified conjunctions "between the Moon,
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and the Sun" in Pisces, "the
zodical sign of the Fishes, " because I no longer have available
to me ephemeride running 450 years into the past.
But Schoenherr stopped too soon. First, he did not seem to
observe the astrological symbol for the planet Mercury which
is depicted in the same way and size ~ the other symbols in
the woodcutting. That means that the astrologers were talking
about seven "planets" - in astrological parlance, the solilunar
influence is so grouped with genuine planets - in one sign. Such
an astronomical event is exceedingly rare. The last time it happened was in Februal)', 1962, when the same number of planets
transited Aquarius - and a quick glance at my (upcoming) article about the Oswald/Ruby "Hidell" alias will demonstrate
to some extent the significance of the Aquarlan conjunction,
of Jupiter and Saturn, in the horoscopes of the principals involved in a tragic Presidential assassination.
Consequendy, the next point to make is that Jupiter and Saturn
were conjunct as well in the 1524 woodcutting - a recognition
by astrologers of the day of the conjunction's eventual,
devastating influence upon the lives of government leaders who
would be born hundreds of years in the future. '
The star in the woodcutting is at the point which astrologers
refer to as the "eastern horizon," the ascendant or starting point
of any horoscope. The "spaceship" depicting the amazing
seven-planet conjunction is both a fISh for Pisces, and the Christian religious symbol of the fish, and hovers at the zenith of
the woodcutting. Within the "spaceship" is, as Luis Schoenherr
points out, a "naked human body (or corpse)" which, coupled
with the fact that the symbol for demanding and restricting Saturn
is the uppennost true planet shown, indicates that this UFO is
a "vehicle" of death and destruction.
The "laser" descending from the "UFO" divides the wound,ed and tattered peasants, symbolized by Saturn, from the scepteriwielding rulers and clerics, symbolized by Jupiter, giver of good
10~1\"lI1ld.aft1uence. The Anabaptists were ,persons who broke
Jhird Quarter 1984

away from dolJlinant Protestantism at the time of the Refonnation and were persecuted both by Church and State; check any
encyclopedia. The year 1524 was only three years after Luther
translated the Bible into German; in 1521, as well, Pope Leo
X excommunicated Luther and then died, certainly an omen to
a certain type of mentality; and the new Pope Clement VII died
two years later - during the same year that the woodcutting
had to have been made, Such titanic events, which took time
to travel from nation to ,nation 450 years ago, must have seemed Cosmic origin - ~d it was in the year 1~24 that Anabaptism, began: at Zurich. ": .'
~
FiiIally, unre~e4.by the 'otherwise astute Luis Schoenherr,
are the pair of c1ear1y~picted faces caught in the beam from
the dooril~sprCading, 'we'v~-all-had-it cosmic vehicle: not one
face, not three ,or 'more, but two::- just as there are two parading
musicians on q.~ .m.horizon, telling us across the years that
such conjunctions as' dlese:";"" when they involve Jupiter and
Saturn - ~ill :bring ~iscord~ ~ilitarism, and division.
-J.N. Williamson

'~
Dear Editor:
Regarding the latest PURSUIT, an item therein has reminded'me of a local legend, now forgotten by evel)'one except a
few of us who recall the Old Folks tales. This happened well
before my time, somewhere' around a century ago, but I
remember heari~g of it frorirold residents (of Allen Co., K~n
tucky). Seems that one SU~J;Jler was known the year of the
"cabbage snakes" (not Cabbage Patch dolls), Anyhow, their
stol)' ran thus: One summer th~ area became SSlddenly infested
with large 'numbers of small vennin, which.in general fonn
resembled very small snakes. They were 6 to lO inches long,
whitish in color, and unpleasantly' numerous,. so much so that
they infested all waters, including the cisten$ which in those
pre-public waterwork days supplied most homes with drinking
water. It was necessary to strain'water through cloth and then
boil it.
'
They also showed a great liking for cabbages and when
gardeners cut up a cabbage they would always find the tiny
"snakes" between the cabbage leaves. Since cabbage was a major family garden food item, this befoulment of the cabbage
made a strong impression on the gardeners and housewives. The
description of the little pests was very similar in most respects
to the horsehair wonn, but not altogether. When drawn up from
a well or cistern in a bucket of water, the stol)' goes, they would
swim across the surface, but with the head and neck portions
reared above the water level. Also, these elders vowed the
"snakes" did indeed have a snakelike silhouette, with a distinct
head and tiny but vel)' distinct eyes, which would seem to rule
out any type of wonn native to this area. The infestation began
in mid-summer and ended completely with the first chill weather
of autumn.
. I don't recall if the folks ever said whether they swam with
vertical or horizOntal undulations.
The' only other description data I can recall, aft~r these many
decades, is that one old lady said the snakes' body thickness
was about equal to the shaft of a crochet needle or hook.
I think it was Fort's account of the alleged fall of small snakes
in Memphis, Tenn., that also reminded me of this old local
legend.
,
,
Anyhow, they were present only that one late summer and
never returned in any later year.
-Harold Holland
Pursuit, 135

Dear Editor:
I wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed the last
several issues of PURSUIT with its articles by Callahan,
Thompson, Bearden and others who write on electricity, physics,
biophysics and particularly paraphysics.
I wonder if Philip S. Callahan is still a 'renegade' in scientific circles. Does he read and enjoy publications such as PURSUIT and other journals that cater to those of us who enjoy
borderland scientific research and thought?
Readers may.be interested in reading Turning Into Nature by
Dr. Callahan. It; is available from Devon Adair, Publishing, Old
Greenwich, CT. 06870, but may no longer be in print.
Keep up the good work and please give us more by Thompson.
-Scott Parker
Editors note: Dr. Philip S. Callahan's most recent book is
fascinating and is recommended to all readers of PURSUIT.

The title is, Ancient Mysteries, Modem Yisions: The Magnetic

Life of Agriculture. It is published by Acres, U.S.A., PO Box
9547, Kansas City, MO 64133.

~.
Dear Editor:
Herewith I want to express my great appreciation for the
feature in PURSUIT, Third quarter 1983, pages 120, 121, etc.
"Report on Four Conferences," by Robert C. Warth.
For me, and possibly others, it is very difficult to keep
ourselves informed about these ki~ds of conferences. I am very
interested in many of the subjects treated in these programmes.
I sincerely, hope that you can continue these reports in the
future. As you also gave the. addresses concerned, I am now
writing to some of the organizations.
-Will J. van Rossum

Conference R~port
MUFON UFO SymposiuDI
by Kim L. Neidigh
The Fifteenth Annual MUFON UFO Symposium was held
at the Holiday Inn North in San Antonio on July 6-8. The theme
for 1984 was "ETI? - A Public Forum," and the following
papers were presented:
Public Information - Top Priority for Ufologists (Marge
Christensen, high school and community college teacher). A
survey of methods for informing the public about UFOs, inclu~ing forming a speakers pool, ~reating displays, and structunng adult education classes.
The Haunting of Kitley Woods - An on-going UFO Saga
(Budd Hopkins, artist and author). A report on three generations of a family plagued by UFOs and related phenomena.
Under regressive hypnosis family members revealed abduction
and examinations by humanoids. The case includes multiplewitness sightings, ground-landing traces, and physical and emotional trauma.
Animal Mutilations: A Decade of Mystery (Thomas R.
Adams, author and editor of Stigmata). Cases involving the
bizarre mutilation of animals have been continuing since the sixties. The carcasses display surgical-like incisions for purposes
o( organ removal. One investigator, a science teacher, uncovered
a case where the incisions ran between the cells, leaving the
cells themselves undisrupted. UFO sightings often accompany
the discovery of mutilated aninulls.
The Entity Enigma (Hilary Evans, archivist and lecturer). An
examination of encounters with UFO occupants and their
similarity to historical reports of meetings with devils, angels,
and other creatures of folklore.
UFO Secrecy '84 - Big Brother is Watching Them (Barry
. J. Greenwood, MUFON historian and librarian). Despite official denials, the U.S. Government still maintains an interest
in UFOs. A report on information gathered through the Freedom
of Information Act.
.
Properties of the UFO Phenomenon (J. Allen Hynek, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at Northwestern University). A
Pursuit 136

breakdown of frequently-reported characteristics of UFO

sightings for computer analysis.
The Cash-Landrum Case: Speculation About the Medical Effects (John F. Schuessler, Project Manager for Space Shuttle
Flight Operations for McDonnell Douglas). The frightening
physical symptoms exhibited by Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum,
and Colby Landrum following their cloSe encounter experience.
A partial listing includes hair loss, blistering and scarring of the
skin, reduced immunity to infections, partial blindness, diarrhea, and inflammati.on of the heart sac.
. The Boomerang Mystery (Philip J. Imbrogno, chairman of
the Science Department of the Windward School in White
Plains, New York). A series of sightings in New York and Connecticut of a low-flying silent object the size of a football field
with a boomerang-shaped pattern of lights. The object illuminated the countryside with brilliant bluish-white beams of
light and was observed by hundreds of witnesses.
UFO Light Beams and Space-Time Projections (Alan C. Holt,
research physicist and space engineer with the Johnson Space
Center). A report on the characteristics of light beams projected
from UFOs, including light beams which stop in mid-air and
extend or retract in a spatially confined cone pattern.
Countdown to Reality (Paul B. Norman, engineer and
MUFON State Director for Victoria, Australia). The Frederick
Valentich disappearance and other UFO cases in Australia.
Tribal Reactions to UFOs in Africa (Cynthia R. Hind, author).
UFO sightings by tribal Africans are usually interpreted as visitations by the dead or supernatural beings. They appear when they
are displeased and are hostile.
'QIe Proceedings of the 1984 MUFON Symposium can be obtainedfrom Mutual UFO Network, Inc., 103 Oldtowne Roa~,
Seguin, TX 78155.
The Symposium itself was well-organized and smoothly run
with events beginning and ending on time. (Organizers of SF
conventions please take note.) There were UFO-related books
and magazines for sale as well as displays of major sightings.
In a field supposedly dominated by the lunatic fringe, the professionalism of all involved was an inspiration.

.~:
. ".

Third Quarter 1984

-.-__~~~~~~__
--__
-~_-_-_-_______. . . ~. . . . . . . . . .~:. . . . . . . . .il. . . .I. . . . . .. . . . .1l1li

Books Reviewed
100% INTELLECT-THE FREEDOM COVENANT
by Richard J. Benson
(Write to: Aram Church
4227-2 Walker Rd., Charlotte, NC 28211.
Send SASE for price)
Reviewed by Donald R. BoySen
"A man who knows of a study which he finds sublime, true
and beneficial to society and perfectly acceptable to God cannot refrain from calling that teaching to your attention. " -Plato
Plato's pronouncement is cited by author Richard Benson as
the reason for writing this book, and most readers who give it
the necessary close attention will likely agree that Benson is indeed "a man who knows of a study which he finds sublime,
true and beneficial ... "
His study is of several "100% intellect" societies he believes
preceded us on this planet. There is nothing new or startling
about the idea; Plato's fantasy describing the rise and fall of
Atlantis 10,000 years before his time has probably inspired more
roseate prose than any of the more recent "incredible civilization" stories we are asked to accept as historical fact. What
distinguishes Benson's book from earlier arrivals in Maybeland
is the "freedom covenant, " named but not explained in the title.
The explanation is discoverable, but only after studying the
book (not just reading it) and thinking about it (not just putting
it back on the bedside table, yawning and turning off the light).
After awhile, when studying and thinking have finally exorcised natural reluctance to grapple with so large and complex a
body of knowledge, the reader will better understand the book's
unusual challenge: not to accept as true anything written therein
until one has proved it to one's satisfaction. As backup the author
aptly quotes Rene' Descartes, the renowned mathematician,"
philosopher and scientist: "For your guidance, accept only as
true those things which are clearly distinct to your mind, so that
you could never doubt it."
Much of the information about ancient "100% intellect
societies" is set forth or verified in the geometry of the Egyptian pyramids, the Sphinx and surrounding areas, as well as the
Mexican and South American structures and other less-famous
gnomonic monuments. The size, shape and positioning of the
Egyptian pyramids analogs our Earth's dimensions precisely,
shows quadrature of a circle, and discloses such additional infonnation as the light/shadow split on the face of the Cheops,
Kephren and Mikerinus pyramids, a visible phenomenon on
three consecutive days every equinox period.
Many archeologists believe that the pyramids were built by
the labor of multitudes of people who quarried the blocks, moved
them to the site, and dragged them up inclines to final placement. Other scientists are attracted to the view that the stones
were cast in place. Either way, the amount of material-handling
and the logistics are still incomprehensible. Would - or could
- mankind, with the best of present engineering techniques,
duplicate the Cheops pyramid at any pric&. Benson thinks not,
and careful study of his book may persuade the reader to accept
his hypothesis that the stones were "laser cut" and levitated
to placement; the actual physical accomplishment begun in the
recent.past at Coral Castle, Homestead, Florida, by the late Ed
Leedscanlin appears to verify such a method and capability.
Third Quarter 1984

The bits-and-bytes atmosphere of our computer age should

stimulate comprehension of Dick Benson's book by both professional and lay members of the scientific community, thereby
to encourage fair and reasonable consideration of his several
hypotheses. Once the how and why of binary-system math is
understood as fundamental to computer operation, we begin to
fathom the depth of the author's central theme: that binary math
is the basis of all language, science, art, even life itself. Interfacing that theme with such familiar "old" knowledge as the
atomic weight of elements, specific gravity, and wave propagation, Benson cites examples to show "what happens when ... "
and offers a selection of low-cost, do-it-yourself, table-top experiments as incentives for the reader to "see it happen."
Moving on to "pure" math, the author describes the key to
many scientific relationships as the numerical sequence 6336
and even multiples and portions thereof. Examples abound in
nature, various structures that were built, measurements we use,
etc.: 6336 divided by 2 = 3168, which divided by 2 = 1584,
which divided by 2 = 792, which divided by 2 = 396, which
divided by 2 = 198, and 198/2 = 99, and 99/2 = 49.5.
Remember these digit sequences and see what happens when
you move just the decimal point. (How many inches in a statute
mile?) The simplic;ity and precision of this math is almost
unbelievable and as impressive as the fonnulas for the various
geometric shapes, such as R = radius and r = .1584 "ratio constant." Would that high school math could have been that easy
to understand!
If mathematics is an exact science, as often claimed, what
is exact about our present "pi ratio" or its inverse - both of
which are never-ending numbers? The "pi ratio" that Benson
sets forth, 3.1565656 (italicized numbers repeat indefinitely)
never ends either, but 'h .15656 = .3168 precisely! The ARAM
MATH presented never rounds a number.
In A.D. 480, the Chinese measured one earth-orbit period of
31,415,926 seconds. That time divided by 10,000,000 gives the
pi ratio of 3.1415926---, the Newtonian pi ratio. This was before
the advent of Newton and Leibnitz who did further work on
the problem. Benson, however, shows that, over the period of
26,136 years (66 2 x 6), the equinox precession" cycle, the mean
period of one earth-orbit, is 31,565,656 seconds, which divided by 10,000,000 gives the pi ratio of3.1565656. And it "just
so happens" that 3.1565656 = 11.3168 and .3168 =
633612IlO,()()(). Furthennore, mathematicians state that
quadrature of a circle (using the Newtonian pi ratio) is
geometrically unsolvable. Is the pi ratio the culprit?

Let D = diameter of 7.92 and R = radius of 3.96. Using

the pi ratio of 3.15656 or precisely 1/.3168, C ;" pi D =
7.92/.3168 = 25 precisely, and 25/4 = 6.25 which gives the
side of a square precisely. Furthennore, a natural and simple
relationship exists. Recalling the 6336 sequence, 1/(.6336 x 2)
x "circle diameter" = "square side," and .6336 x 2 x "square
side" = "circle diameter." With the circumference or periphere
of the circle equal to 25, 180 degrees (i.e. one half) equals 12.5
which x .6336 ,,; 7.92, the diameter. Doesn't this appear simple, precise and convincing?
Turning next to quadrature, area quadrature works out as
follows: A = pi R2 = 3.962 /.3168 = 49.5, the square root of
which is 7.03562363974, the "square side'~ which squared
equals 49.5 precisely.

Pursuit 137

~""""""~"""""

___I""""""__ ,"""""1""__"""""'__

Volume quadrature comes out this way: Ball volume = 4/3

pi R3 or 66 % of pi R2 H (cylinder volume, where cylinder height
H equals the diameter). Since the never-ending 3s or 6s introduce
error, and since 1/.6666 = 1.5, ball volume = cylinder volume
divided by 1.5 or pi R2H/1.5 = 3.962 x 7.92/(.3168 x 1.5) =
261.36, the cube root of which is 6.3936134206, the "cube
side" which cubed = 261.36 for the volume of the ball equal
to that of the cube. When periphere, area, and volume quadrature
can all be geometrically solved using this pi ratio, would we
not be encouraged to reason and agree that the Newtonian pi
ratio might be the culprit? Quadrature of a cin:le is shown in
the construction of the Cheops pyramid and the map of
Washington, D.C., and in other plac,es.
Let us examine the meter. Much evidence exists which, according to Benson, shows that the meter of 39.6 inches is correct, and therefore the 39.37-inch meter is in error. The Cheops
pyramid analogs our Earth as having a 3960-mile mean radius
and a 25,OOO-mile mean periphere. Therefore, 25,000 miles
divided by 4 x 5280 x 12 divided by 10,000,000 equals 39,6
inches precisely. Can this be without meaning? Then is it also
an oddity that 1600 meters of 39,6 inches is precisely 63,360
inches, which is precisely one statute mile? Is it another oddity
that the pi ratio and the meter both involVe the 10,000,000 factor? Can any mathematician show how the Newtonian pi ratio
or the 39,37-inch meter derive from the binary system of math?
The "hydrograde" temperature ~a1e used by Benson is based on the atomic weight of water and the 180 degree freezelboil
range of water - another "natural." On this scale, the mean
temperature of a'healthy human body is 37 % of that 180 degree
range, or 66.6 degrees, which plus 32 degrees equals 98.6
degrees Fahrenheit. The 66.6 may be meaningless at present,
but the significance of the 666 sequence of digits is not
denigrated by loss of the decimal point; nor does it seem odd
that 66 x .6 = 39.6.
Benson's explanation of gravity and antigravity impressed this
reviewer as especially instructive right now, when the colonization of nearby outer space seems about to commence. Translating
his PET acronym as Principle, Energy Transiency, Benson
discourses on suitlight acceleration and deceleration, the energy
equation, kinet,ic energy, energy conservation law, thermodynamics, electricity, quantum theory, Planck's constant,
cone-ray focal point, solar constant, wave mechanics and a host
of other subjects.
The author's concept of our "sunlight soun:e" as a "solar
disc" (or lens interface) with the "host nucleus" is at odds with
the conventional wisdom about our solar system; but perhaps
his analogy of 'the "solar disc" to the human eye will be a
welcome palliative for the many good minds which have had
difficulty understanding the conventional wisdom to begin with,
Premising his arguments on such basic facts as our .5 degree
cone-ray of sunlight or .25 degree "radius" of triangulationimpingement upon the Earth, Benson hopes that the reader's
own knowledge of wave mechanics and his inherent reasoning
power will lead him to accept the "solar disc" concept, Even
so, grasping a concept isn't the same as understanding the process. The author further points out that omni-directional radiation of sunlight from a "ball of fire" emanates at a basic mean
angle of 90 degrees from the surface to provide diveIgendyanglcd sunlight (the "lines of sunlight" therefore not parallel),
whereas the "lines of SUnlight" presented to us in the "coneray of sunlight" must be conveJgendyangled. The question is
why! Is the velOcity of "sunlight" constant, or does it change
according to the medium it transits?
Pursuit 138

Astronomers and astrophysicists who find it difficult to deal

with the "solar disc" conCept are nevertheless urged to carefully
consider it - especially during preparations for the upcoming
Solar Polar Mission; Benson warns about such problems as in~
struments failing to "sense" the "sun" (solar disc) after certain angles are reached, Perhaps the "erroneous information"
of Solar Max ought to be evaluated for what it is, As the author
stated to this reviewer: "They have to know what they receive
is before they will know what they receive.," or, in a more
familiar analogy, if you are asked to count the apples in a bowl
of fruit, you first have to know what an apple is.
The "solar disc" presentation ,is of such compelling interest
as to suggest, at least to this reviewer, that the subject deserves
expansion in a separate book. Equally praiseworthy is Benson's
discourse on manned mobility through space via the "ARCS"
craft which burns no fuel but uses the surrounding energy. Yes,
it is a "flying saucer," and the treatment of his "ARCS" patent application is also of considerable interest,
By reading and studying this work one is pushed toward the
reasonable and logical conclusion that much of this learning the knowledge of quadrature, the true mean size of the Earth,
the mean time of orbit, the pi ratio; the meter, the area of no
shadow within the sunlight cone, the influence of gravity, and
many other relationships - was known previously by mankind.
It is apparent that some of this knowledge was simply "lost;"
other infonnation for our learning was regained by happenstance;
and some teachings were deliberately modified or twisted to fit
what people wanted to believe at a particular time, FortunateIy, as William Cullen Bryant pointed out, "Truth crushed to
'earth shall rise again."
This reviewer was well-nigh astonished to find so much
knowledge tied together as evenly and precisely as it is in
Richard Benson's }OO% Intellect - The Freedom Covenant.
As previously cautioned, the significance of the book and the
skill of its author will be most apparent to the reade'r who opens
his or her mind and lets the contents "sink in" after reading,
studying, reading again and studying more, Do not forget, either,
the author's caveat quoted from Descartes: " ... accept only as
true those things which are clearly distinct to your mind, so that
you could never doubt it."
Benson's two additional books, Adantians ~ Math and World's
Oldest~Map60J8 b.c" are also recommended for your study.

CLEAR INTENT, by Lawrence Fawcett & Barry

Greenwood, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,
1984, 264 pps~, $8.95
.
Reviewed by Robert Barrow
This is a remarkable piece of work, assembled by two top
UFO resean:hers, with no small thanks to some: 3,000 previously
classified U,S, government documents obtained over a four-year
period via the Freedom of Infonnation Act, One might enthusiastically suggest' that individuals who care about UFOs
and/or good government be encouraged to read it, that UFO
skeptics be spanked with it, and that veteran UFO debunkers
be fon:ed to swallow the whole book in one gulp to partially
atone for their heartlessness, blockhead ignorance and obnoxr
ious attitude,
.. ' i:. 'c.
Frankly, what may be the most poorly kept. government secret
in the world is plainly and unquestionably certified in chapters

Third Quarter i 984

which abound with quoted documents given up (reluctantly, on

many occasions) by the Air Force, FBI, CIA, National Security Agency and various super-secret official sources: That UFOs
are real and of immense government concern in the U.s. and
other countries.
. .
The pivot point for this book, which covers official UFO interest from 1947 to the eighties, is a November 11, 1975
NORAD document which, the authors explain, "is probably
one of the most significant modem examples of suspicious
unknown air activity possibly affecting national security. It states
that in October and early November of 1975, reliable military
personnel at Loring AFB, Maine, Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan,
Malmstrom AFB, Montana, Minot AFB, North Dakota, and
the Canadian Air Force Station at Falconbridge, Ontario, had
visually sighted suspicious objects ... the reliability of the
witnesses is established from the start ... these are missile control facilities, aircraft alert areas, and nuclear weapons storage
areas where security is generally tight."
From these not-so-humble beginnings, we are introduced to
the benefits of the (currently endangered) Freedom ofInformation Act, after which the dramatic UFO activity at the aforementioned Air Force bases is reconstructed from official, undisputed
reports. Among the disturbing events is a frightening encounter
of military personnel with a "football field-sized" disc at a Montana missile base. Worried about an underground missile approached by the UFO, "targeting teams, along with computer
specialists, were brought to the missile site to check out the
missile, and specifically, the computer in the warhead that targets
the missile. Amazingly, when the computer was checked, they
found that the tape had mysteriously changed talBet numbers!
The re-entry vehicle was then taken from the silo and brought
back to the base. Eventually, the entire missile was changed. "
To what, we might wonder, were the target numbers changed
by the UFO?
Drenched with military and civilian reports that strikingly corroborate one another, the book explores such bizarre incidents
as one in which Malmstrom AFB actually put soine of its personnel on 24-hour alert in a helicopter (even when sleeping).
This action was taken in response to a request for help from
a county sheriffs office which had been swamped with months
of reports about UFOs and' 'unidentified helicopters. " One of
the pilots later related a curious story about a particular sheriff's
call:
People were reporting a craft at low level that they thought
was a helicopter. They were reporting that the craft had
strobe lights on it, like disco lights. Well, the weather was
so bad when the report came in that it would have been
impossible to fly a helicopter, with the icing and so forth.
This made it kind of strange. We could not fly due to very
bad weather conditions, but this craft had no trouble flying in this weather.
"Consistently, in many of the reports relayed by current and
ex-military personnel," the authors stress, "they were ordered
to sign documents swearing secrecy." We are provided considerable evidence of this claim, and newly substantiated instances of military pilots whose deaths may be attributed to UFO
encounters are detailed (in this regard, the well known
Walesville, NY case of 1954 and the "Kinross case" of 1953
are also updated).
Importantly, we discover that 1973, certainly a banner year
in the U.S. for a wealth of incredible UFO sightings and reports
of landings and abductions by alien creatures, was also a year
for" "a flurry of military UFO encounters."
Military films of UFOs are discussed prominently, and the
Third Quarter 1984

evidence seems to indicate that behind every instance of Navy,

Air Force, etc., interest in a UFO movie is a shadowy yet intense higherlevel concern. But how high, wonder Fawcett and
Greenwood? One unfortunate Navy servicemen who happened
to observe a UFO being filmed above the nuclear submarine
USS Abraham Lincoln in 1973 - as all navigation and sonar
abilities mysteriously failed - was caught up in a bizarre interrogation session which illFluded a showing of government UFO
photos! Afterwards, he was "told to sign a secrecy document
which said that if he revealed anything about the sighting or
the photos he was shown, that he would be court-martialed, fined, and placed into solitary confinement for a long period of
time. "
The serviceman and fellow UFO observers were subsequently and quickly given new orders and split up, sent to other world
duty stations, apparently never to see one another again. As is
often the case, "civilians" associated with who-knows-what
government agency had been cryptically present during the interrogation sessions.
Later, Fawcett and Greenwood tackle the CIA's crucial
"Robertson Report" of 1953, in which - at least on one level
- official UFO (and media) policy was blindly established. The
scientific team involved "could be described not so much as
a 'scientific' panel as a 'propaganda' panel."
Clear Intent is the UFO book of 1984, filled with surprises
and enough documentation of government UFO intrigue to keep
the reader spellbound. For example, even the most contented
of scientists who prefer to believe all is well in their little corner of the Kingdom of Conventional Science would have to
choke on their quantums after reading a January 26, 1975 document entitled "International Congress of Space Medicine;" we
are informed that "aside from the UFO comment, the document is entirely censored:"
U.S. scientists believe that low magnetic fields do not have
a serious effect on astronauts, but high magnetic fields,
oscillating magnetic fields, and electromagnetic fields can
or do have considerable effect. There is a theory that such
fields are closely associated with superconductivity at very
low temperatures, such as in space. This in tum is related
to the possible propulsion system of UFOs. There is a
rumor that fragments of a possible UFO found in Brazil
bore a relationship to superconductors and
magnetohydrodynamics.
~
Humor does not play much of a role in this sobering book,
but among the chapters which detail early and .current FBI and
CIA interest in UFOs is a priceless gem in which U.S. Army
Air Force and the FBI - and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover get into a squabble over a 1947 military letter enlisting the FBI's
help "in order to relieve the numbered Air Forces of the task
of tracking down all the many instances which turned out to
be ash can covers, toilet seats, and whatnot. " To put it mildly,
the FBI was less than pleased with this humiliating delegation
of duties, and this incident was significant in thwarting cooperation between the agencies in years to come.
Reports of crashed UFOs and their occupants are explored,
and an astonishing memo of March 22, 1950, from an agent
of the FBI Washington Field Office entitled "Flying Saucers
- Information Concerning" is quoted:
An investigator for the Air Forces states that three socalled flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico. They were described as being circular in shape with
raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each
one was occupied by three bodies of human sltape but only
3 feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture.
Pursuit 139

Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the

blackout suits used by speed flyers and test pilots.

"

According to Mr ... , informant, the saucers were found in

New Mexico due to the fact that the Government has a
very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it is believed that the radar interferes with the controlling mechanism
of the saucers.
The universal enigma of "who" is so mbidly concerned about
'UFOs among official agencies is questioned throughout. Our
introduction to the workings of the National Security Agency
(whose UFO interest is demonstrated) and even higher levels
inspires awe and, regrettably, a degree of fear.
What are some of the essential revelations in Clear Intent!
For one, we in the U.S. discover one national and an enormous
network of other government agencies brimming with contradictions regarding UFOs. On one hand, we are told that UFOs do
not exist and most assuredly are no threat to national security.
Yet, behind the scenes, we find military and other official personnel vitally concered with the technological and social implications of the subject - as they properly should be, as nuclear
weapons storage sites are prime and apparently helpless "UFO
territory ...
Further, while Fawcett and Greenwood and their associates
were able to obtain a number of official documents regarding
UFOs (a good deal of them heavily censored), numerous others
are still kept classified and absolutely untouchable. Why? For
that matter, why were the authors instructed on so many occasions that obviously sensitive and significant UFO data had been
"destroyed" and was therefore unavailable?
Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) and its fishing participants made a magnificent "catch" of formerly classified
documents - especially the internal reports expressing the reality
and perhaps extra-terrestrial nature Of UFOs. And it must not
go unnoticed that a discovery was made that the U.S. Air Force
has admitted it is still investigating UFO reports at its own
installations.
Intent is utter'fascination, a monumental chunk of previously
unknown history, and ,maybe an impetus for future official UFO
disclosures, But let us all be forewarned: A former U.S. Air
Force officer named RuppeJt once wrote in the first edition of
his prominent book, in regard to a solution to the UFO, "only
time will tell.'!
The late Capt. Ruppelt, once chief of Project Blue Book, wrote
those hopeful words three long decades ago. And time has told
us very little since then.

Let me say at this point that I have never seen Champ. I will
admit that for some 15 years I have kept my eyes wide open
whenever on the sparkling waters of Lake Champlain, but, alas,
nary an unexplained ripple .. This may be the very reason why
Mr. Zarzynski's book intrigues'me so much. Everyone else's
sightings are documented and summarized in it! Whether you
believe, don't or just aren't certain, this book will surprise you
with its thoroughness and attention to detail.
Mr. Zanynski, who teaches 9th grade sociw studies in Wilton
(Saratoga County), New York, has, worked diligently since 1974
to prove or disprove a legend that has endured since before
Samuel de Champlain first set eyes on the lake in 1609. Whether
it be researched folklore, lake names such as Big Snake Bay,
or 224' eyewitness accounts of sightings, the author, through
his words and over 70 illustrations, builds an irrefutable case.
Many responsible people over the last several centuries have
seen something in the lake. What makes this case even more
plausible is the startling 1977 photograph taken by Sandra Mansi,
which appears in the book. This photograph, showing the head
and neck of an aquatic creature, has been analyzed by dozens
of photo interpreters and other experts, with the unanimous conclusion that the photograph is real - no touch-ups or artificial
tampering whatsoever.
Comparisons between Lake Champlain's Champ and Loch
Ness' Nessie are tantalizingly drawn by the author. There appear to be striking similarities between these two bodies of water
and the elusive creatures which may inhabit them. This book
follows the trails blazed by Rupert Gould in his 1934 book, The
Loch Ness Monster, and by Constance Whyte in her 1957 book,
More Than A Legend.
In 1983, Champ was spotted on 24 separate occasions, with
five sightings reportedly to be of at least two aquatic creatures
at the same time. Mr. Zanynski pOstulates that Lake Champlain
may be the home for many "Champs" which have previously
been lumped together under a single name. With his book now
in print and being widely circulated throughout the region, more
and more people are likely to come forward with relevant unexplained sightings. Maybe, just maybe, someday I'll have a
reason to do so as well!
R. Montgomery Fischer is a member of VNRC's Board of
Directors and Vermont Chairman of the Lake Champlain
Committee.
Reprinted, with permission, from the Vermont Environmental
~
Report Fall, 1984.
(continued from page 122)

CHAMP-BEYOND THE LEGEND, by Joseph

Zarzynski. Available from M-Z Information, P.O.
Box 2129, Wilton, NY 12866.
, $8.95 Soft Cover & 16.95 Hard Cover, $1.25 mailing plus
7% NY sales tax.
.
Reviewed by R. M. Fischer
What's all this foolishness about anyway? Lake Champlain'
has what living in it? A monster called "Champ?" Facts are
difficult to come by when writing about Lake Champlain's
mysterious resident. Opinions, lots of opinions, and sketchy
evidence abound. And all of it - facts, opinions, and evidence
- are finally 4rawn together by Joseph Zanynski in a single
non-fiction volbme.

,Pursuit '140

would be minimal. There are no regular patrols of the lake's

shore as there are for reporting the strandings of all cetaceans
on our ocean coasts to allow the Smithsonian's marine mammalogist to accurately record cetacean strandings.', (Lake
Champlain has 587 miles of shoreline.)
."Lake Champlain does not "have wide sandy beaches ,to
toss a carcass on nor regular tidal surges to leave the' carcass
high and dry ...
"Certainly the absence of a stranded carcass does not negate
the possible existence of large aquatic animals; however the
absence does not support the existence of such creatures either, "
suggested Dr. Zug.
"from Champ Channels Vol. I, No.2 (Aug. 1983)
tfrom Champ Channels Vol. 2. No.2 (Aug, 1984)

...

Note: A comprehensive report may be read in Champ - Beyond

~
the Legend.

Third Quarter 1984

out:.

"ChaDlp"
sightings
wanted

N.t

Vt

.,

.,
""l1li

,..

LAKE CHN1PLAlN
rv.r

1983 was a year that produced the most Champ sightings

ever recorded-24 sightings. And Joseph W. Zarzynski, director of the Lake Champlain Phenomena Investigation, hopes
that 1984 will also be a banner year for re~rted sightings.
It appears the general public has becom more educated
on the existence of these unidentified Loch ess-sightings,"
stated the 33 year old crytozoologist (a researcher into" Hidden animals").
Zarzynski believes that sightings of Champ, those 15-25
foot long mystery creatures, have persisted for a long time
but people are just now feeling comfortable enough to report
their sightings.
A resolution passed by the Vermont House, New York
State Senate, and New York State Assembly states "That
'Champ' should be protected from any willful act resulting
in death, injury or harassment, " encourages serious scientific inquiry into Champ, and ask people' 'to report sightings
of such animals."
Zarzynski is asking that any 1984 or past years' sightings
be reported to his office for documentation and research purposes (p.O. Box 2134, Wilton. New York, 12866) .

DU,WN IT

Tl:D ~TCIIoI

Editor's Note: Joe Zarzynski tells us, as of this writing

there have been 12 'Champ' sightings reported so far in 1984.
He said public education has made people'''more comfortable in reporting Champ sightings."

JOIII:", ZAII.Z, Nt'"

A Final Note on
French Lost Cities
by don Douglas Singer, M.A.
Upon completing my manuscript (PURSUlTVolume 17, #1)
I came across an astonishing article in Scientific American
(February, 1979). This article discussed the excavation of
prehistoric settlements which had been submerged beneath European lakes. The article 'Lake-Bottom Archaeology, by Aime
Bocquet, focused on then recent excavations in Lake Paladru,
which is southeast of Lyons. France. The excavations took place
near the towns of Baigneurs and Charavines near the mouth of
the Fure River. Between 1971 and 1979 Bocquet and his colleagues excavated a submerged settlement which was found to
date to Neolithic times. about 5,000 years ago, or around 2900
B.C. The village was occupied for about 90 years until it was
abandoned for unknown reasons. The settlements were submerged .when the lake level rose and covered the old shoreline.

Third Quarter 1984

The settlement was made up of longhouses, one of which was

twelve meters (about 39-40 feet) long. Sixty years after the first
hamlet was founded a second one was set up on the same location and its inhabitants had the same culture, as evidenced by
the same type of tools and pottery. The houses, though, were
smaller and squarer in shape. The earlier hamlet had at" least
three longhouses and was surrounded by a wooden stockade with "
a gate.
The article made no mention of the fact that there is a sunken
city legend about Lake Paladru. According to this tale, there
was a city called Paladru which sank in the lake. The source
ofthe legend is M. Rene Basset's "Les Villes Englouties," in
Revues des Traditions PopuJaires (Vols. V-XXX: 1890-1915).
It is odd that ~ocquet did not refer to this folktale which is now
shown to be based on fact. It is even more remarkable that oral
tradition, however distorted by time, could still preserve the
memory of sunken settlements which had vanished 5,000 years
ago. One wonders how many other French folktales may actually preserve memories of lost prehistoric settlements which
vanished beneath the waves of remote rural lakes. ~

Pursuit 141

The Notes of Charles Fort

Deciphered by C.... d. Pabst
ABBREVIATIONS

A
abo
ac to
A.J. Sci
(A I)
An. Reg.
Ast. Nach
Ast Reg
BA
Black Mt
B.W.I.
Conn
CR
(Cut)
0-58
det met
Ec. Sun
Elec
E Mec

For some obscure reason, Fort cut a notch

on the right side of the note.
Aurora
about
acconiing to
American Journal of Science
(1] Almanac
Annual Register
(1] Astronomische Nachrichten

Astronomical Register
Repon of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science
Black Mountain
British West Indies
Connecticut

Comptes Rent/us
illustrated

The Book of the Damned, page 58

detonating meteor
Eclipse of the Sun
Electric

(F)

Finley's Rept.
Frgs
Gents Mag
Hist Astro
incip. volc.
Inf conjunction
(It)
J. des. Deb
Jour Frank Inst.
Jour Soc

English Mechanic
Fletcher's Ust
Finley's Repon on the ChlJl'llctelS of 600
Tornadoes
Frogs

Gentleman's Magazine
History of Astronomy
incipit volcano
Inferior conjunction
Italy
Joumal des Debats
Journal of the Fmnldin Institute
Journal of the Society for Psychical

Research
L'Institut
L.T.
Lum obj.
Mag Nat Hist
Mechanics Mag
Mems Geolog. Survey of

'?]
London Times
Luminous object
Magazine of Natuta/ History

Mechanics' Magazine
Memoirs of the Geological

(continued from PURSUIT NO. 66.

Second Quaner 1984, page 96)
1837 Nov II Milan' Fireball I BA 60.
1837 Nov 7 I Chile' III , [Severe quake
, BA 1911].
1837 Nov 7' evening and night' A. J.
Sci.37-358 'high waves' Sandwich Isles
, 20 feet high one place' 6:30 p.m. ,
(Reverse side] q. Chile. I think.
1837 Nov 7 and 8 , Samoa , shocks ,
C.R. 10-836.
1837 Nov 10' Met moved like (illustration].' See The Fonean#14. p. 214. c.
2, L.T . Nov. 16171a.
1837 Nov 12 , Time of great aurora.
severe shock, Lucerne , BA 54.
1837 Nov 12' Sky fire - England' supposed conflagration somewhere' L. T .
Nov. 18. etc.
1837 Nov 12 -13 , Paris. etc. I Aurora.
I C.R. 51726. 704. 761.
.
1837 Nov 12 , (aurora and q) , (Cut) /.

Pursuit 142

~_ _ _ _ _

Severe shock at Lucerne - "During the

night ofthe 12th and 13th a beautifu(l]
Aurora borealis was observed at different
places in Europe. ,. I B Assoc 1854-272.
1837 Nov 13 I The Leonids in N.Y. I
L. T . Dec 9-6-e I
. (Reverse side] On morning of - none
until I :05 a.m. I 226 counted.
1837 Nov 12 - 131 Aurora I C.R. 51704.
726.76L
1837 Nov 13 I 8 groups ofsunspolS visible to smallest of telescopes IN. Y. I LT.
Dec 9-6-e.
1837 Nov. 13 - 141 from 11:30 p.m.
of 13th. till daybreak 14th I at Vienna
I 1002 meteors counted I Athenaseum
1837-900.
1831 Nov I Leonids active. I Sec
Pcrseids.
1837 Nov. 121 abo 6 p.m. I Luminous
red arch I sky cloudless I About 8 p.m.,
a great meteor appeared. succeeded by
others.
(Reverse side] up to 10 p.m., whe~

India
met
Metite
Mo.
N
N.E.
N.M.
no.
N.W. PIOvs.
N.Y.
obj
Obs
Op Mars
p.
Pets.
phe
Poll
Proc Amer Phil Soc.

Proc Irish Acad

Pmc Met Soc
Pmc Roy Soc London
q
R
Ref
R.I.
Sci Gas
Smithsonian Inst Report

Survey of India
meteor
Meteorite
Missouri
NOrth
Northeast
NoMo~

number

NOrthwest Provinces
New York
object
Observations
Opposition of Mars
page
Perseus
phenomena
Poltergeist

Proceedings of the American Philosophical

Society
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy .
(1] Proceedings of the Meteorological
Society
Proceedings of the Royal Society of
London
earthquake
Reference
Reference
Rhode Island
Science Gossip

Annual Repon of the Smithsonian

Institution

Spon Comb
S.W.
Tenn.
tho stann
Timb's
Trans Ent Soc London.

Spontaneous Combustion
Southwest
Tennessee
thunderstorm
Timb's Year Book
Tnmsactions of the Entomological Society

voles
W
WId

volcanoes
West
Wild

of London

clouds covered sky. I L.T. 14-7-d.

1837 Nov 12 15:30 p.m. 12 belts crimson light I Manchester I L.T. 17-3<.
1837 Nov 12 - 131 night I Great auroral
glare in sky at Paris. but only one meteor
seen , L.T. 17-3-c.
1837 Nov 12 - 13 , In issue of 18th and
before - other accounts of this aurora
and no mention of meteors.
1837 Nov 14 , Aurora' A. J. Sci
34-:267.
1837 Nov 16 I (London Times]. 2-c ,
Dec 9-6-f , Rara Avis.
1837 Nov 18 to 23 , qs in Mexico' every
time first at
(Reverie side] 10 p.m. and again at midnight I ~ef early Nov. i839.
1837 Nov. , Aurora' London Am J. Sci
341283.
1837 Nov 22 I Mexico I great q , [BA]

'II.
1837 Nov 25 , Near bank of Bahama,
Capt of vessel saw an enormous fire on

horizon for 4 hours. Thought been a

(Reverse side] submarine volc. On Jan
3. another Captain there found the sea
disturbed and milky. , Nov. 30. q. Martinique , Athenaeum 1838/349.
1837 Nov 25 I Banks of Bahamas. for
4 hours. great fire, as reported by Capt.
of a ship.
[Reverse side] on the horizon. as if from
submarine volc. Later. waterhere seen
discolored. , C.R. 6-302.
1837 about Nov 24 , about II p.m. I
Rutland I q , Sec Dec IS.
1837 Dec 2 , Hurricane at Tortola,
B.W.I. , 36 ships wrecked in the harbor!
(Reverse side] L.t . 1867, Dec 3-1O-f
I Houses carried away.
1837 Dec 14' 7:40 p.m. , great met'
Conn. , A. J. Sci 37-130 or 27-130(1).
1837 Dec 15' LT. Dec 18-3-f lab 11
.p.m. , Rutland I 3 violent shocks. Pe0ple supposed been an explosion' of
gunpowder.
I
, , ' r: .:.:

Third Quarter 1984

I. . . . . ..

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. . . . .~. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .i . . . . . . . . .

[Reverse side] Had been on[e] 3 weeks

before.
1837 Dec 15 I II p.m. I 3 shocks in
Rutland. Violent enough to shake
houses. Had been one there
[Reverse side] 3 weeks before. I L.T .
Dec. 18-3-f.
1837 Dec 16 I (See Nov II. 1836.) I
Athenaeum of I some time before I many
stones I Macao. Brazil.
1837 Dec 161 Outburst of Carinae I Sir
J. Herschel I Clerke. Hist Astro.
appendix.
1837 Dec 26 I great part of Europ[e] I
at Kilkenny. Ireland. looked like a great
glob[e] [011 fire throwing flam[es] on all
sides. I Les Mondes (L) 26/80 I
[Reverse side] Bull de l'Asso[c] Scientifiqu[e].
1837 Dec 26 I Lights in sky. I Ireland
I C.R . Seance. Sep. 18.1871 III
[Reverse side] in sam[e] [note cut off]
plane[t] [note cut off] by Prof B. [note
cut ofll Lick Ob [note cut ofll Ast.
Nach. no. 4106 Ifl Obj (3)rd I See.
1837 Dec 30 I Trebnitz I N to S I daylght
I fireball I BA 60.

1838
[BCF. pp. 152-1"55':
In 1838. Mr. A.B. Tomlinson. owner
of the great mound at Grave Creek. West
Virginia. excavated the mound. He said
that. in the presence of witnesses. he had
found a small.flat. oval stone - or disk
- upon which were engraved alphabetic
characters.
Col. Whittelsey. an expert in these
matters. says that the stone is now
"universally regarded by archaeologists
as a fraud": that, in his opinion. Mr.
Tomlinson had been imposed upon.
Avebury, Prehistoric Times. p. 271:
"I mention it because it has been the
subject of much discussion. but it is now
generally admitted to be a fraud. It is inscribed with Hebrew characters, but the
forger has copied the modem instead of
the ancient form of the letters."
As I have said. we're as irritable here.
under the oppressions of the anth~pologists as ever were slaves in the
south toward superiorities from "poor
white trash." When we finally reverse
our relative positions we shall give
lowest place to the anthropologists. A
Dr. Gray does at least look at a fish
before he conceives of a miraculous
origin for it. We shall have to submerge
Lord Avebury far below him - if we
accept that the stone from Grave Creek
is generally regarded as a fraud by eminent authorities who did not know it
from some other object - or. in general.
that so decided an opinion must be the
product of either deliberate disregard or
ignorance or fatigue. The stone belongs
to a class of phenomena that is repulsive
to the System. It will not assimilate with
the System. Let such an object be heard
of by such a systematist as Avebury. and
the mere mention of it is as nearly certainly the stimulus to a conventional
reaction as is a charged body to an electroscope or a glass of beer to a prohibitioniStt, It is of the ideals of Science to
know one 'object from another bCfore ex-

: Third. Quarter 1984

pressing an opinion upon a thing. but

in the conclusion that the figures are
that is not the spirit of universal
neither of the Runic. Phoenician. Camechanics:
naanite. Hebrew. Lybian, Celtic, or any
A thing. It is attractive or repulsive.
other alphabet-language. its importance
lis conventional reaction follows.
has been greatly over-rated."
Because it is not the stone from Grave
Obvious to a child; obvious to any
Creek that is in Hebrew characters.
mentality not helplessly subjected to a
either ancient or modem: it is a stone
system:
from Newark. Ohio, of which the story
That just therein lies the importance
is told that a forger made this mistake
of this object.
of using modem instead of ancient
It is said that an ideal of science is to
Hebrew characters. We shall see that the
find out the new - but. unless a thing
inscription upon the Grave Creek stone
be of the old it is "unimportant."
is not in Hebrew.
"It is not worthwhile." (Hovey.)]
Or all things are presumed to be in1838 about I India I [illustration] I 0-274
nocent. but are supposed to be guilty I See '39. See The Fonean. #15. p. 22.
unless they assimilate.
c.2.
Col. Whipelsey (Western Reserve
[BCF. pp. 287-2881 See April I, 1826.]
Historical Tracts. No. 33) says that the
1838 Jan 2 I Breslau I N.E. to S.W. I
Grave Creek stone was considered a
fireball I BA 60.
fraud by Wilson. Squires. and Davis.
1838 Jan 2 I morning I Extraordinary
Then he comes to the Congress of Ardisplay of mets at Momez. near Geneva
chaeologists at Nancy. France. 1875. It
I Proc. Amer. Phil Soc 13-501.
is hard for Col. Whittelsey to admit that,
at this meeting, which sounds important.
1838 Jan 5/7: 15 and 7:30a.m. I Belley
the stone was endorsed. He reminds us
(Ain) I shocks and loud sounds I BA 54.
of Mr. Symons and "the man" who
1837 Jan 7 I Kaee. Oude, Hindoostan
"considered" that he saw something.
I Oldham's date I Fletcher's = Jan 29.
Col. Whinelsey's somewhat tortuous ex1838 Jan 8 - 141 (It) I Umbria I flames
pression is that the fi nder of the stone
from the earth and q I See 1805.
"'so imposed his views" upon the con1838 Jan 8 I Spoleto I q I said that flames
gress that it pronounced the stone
seen issuing from earth I BA '54.
genuine.
Also the stone was examined by
1838 Jan 21 I Tynehead I q I rent in earth
Schoolcraft. He gave his opinion for
extending 1/2 mile I L.T .. 1838. Jan
genuineness.
24-7-f.
Or there's only one process. and "see1838 Jan 22 I Great q. Transylvania.
saw" is one of its aspects. Three or four
Turkey. Russia. Said that at Orsova.
fat experts on the side against us. We
Hungary. flames
find four or five plump ones on our side. . [Reverse side] were seen issuing from
Or all that we call logic and reasoning
earth. I BA 54.
ends up as sheer preponderance of
1838 Jan 231 incip. vole. I Transylvania
avoii-dupois.
I q and flames from earth. I C.R. 6/244
Th~n sev!;ral philogists. came out in
I Ba 'II I Russia I
favor of genuineness. Some of them
[Reverse side] BA 54/274 I J. des. Deb
translated the inscription. Of course. as
I Feb. 13. 16. 26. 27.
we have said, it is our method - or the
1838 Jan 23 I s.w. Russia I III I
method of orthodoxy - way in which
Hungary. Balkans I [Heavy quake I BA
all conclusions are reached - to have
1911].
some awfully eminent, or preponderant1838 Jan 281 Venus greatest brilliance
ly plump, authorities with us whenever
I A I.
we can - in this case, however. we feel
just a little apprehensive in being caught
1838 Jan 291 See Jan. 7 I Kaee.Oude.
in such excellently obese, but somewhat
India I Metite I (F).
negatiYkc:.d. company:
1838 Feb 2 I near Sassarie I Land
Translation by M. Jombard:
violently lifted and tom I Athenaeum
"Thy orders are laws: thou shinest in
1838-396.
impetuous elan and rapid chamois. "
1838 Feb. 141 Dijon, France 14:30 and
M. Maurice Schwab:
6:30 p.m. I slight shocks.
'The chief of Emigration who reach[Reverse side] but violent explosions I
ed these places (or this island) has fix-.
BA 54.
ed these characters forever."
1838 Feb 141 Umbria. Italy III [Light
M.Oppert:
quake I BA 1911].
"The grave of one who was
1838 Feb 261 Volcl Temate I N.M. I
assassinated here. May God, to revenge
C.R. 70-878.
him. strike his murderer. cutting off the
hand of his existence."
1838 Feb 28- March II night I Lisbon
I like the first one best. I have such
I shocks - thunder and lightning. rain,
a vivid impression from it of someone
hail. wind I C.R. 17-619.
polishing up brass or something, and in
1838 March 4/- 19 h I Venus Inf. conan awful hUrry. Of course the third is
junctions Sun I (A I).
more dramatic - still they're all very
1838 March 17 I London I Fireball I BA
good. They are perturbations of one
another, I suppose.
60.
In Tract 44. Col, Whittelsey returns
1838 March 17 I Rumbling sound I 1
to the subject. He gives the conclusion
p.m. I Shrewsbury I LT, I94-f/21-7-f.
of Major De Helward. at the Congress
1838 March 17 I 4 p.m. I Barton and
of Luxembourg. 1877:'
. Grimsby [and] other places on coast I
"If Prof. Read and myself are right
sudden intense darkness and electric

flashes
[Reverse side] and then suddenly light
again I L.T. 26-3-<1.
1838 March 1714 p.m. I near Barton
(South Killingholme). Grimsby I heavy
clouds - darkness I thunder and lightning and soon passed away I L. T .. March
26-3-d.
1838 March 30 I q and aerial I Reported
by ship Captain - .a black thin cloud
passed overhead - "very heavy. distant
tliunder". Q at Lima and lives lost. I
J.F. Inst 23/308 I
[Reverse side] Elec current seems to
have passed over chain of ship's anchor.
Parts had appearance of having been
melted.
1838 Ap. 8 I Whirlwind near Caleutta
I A. J. Sci 36'-71.
1838 Ap. 18 I Metite I (ReO I Akbarpur (Saharanpur). India I Mems Geolog.
Survey of India I 43/part 2 I (F) I
[Reverse side] N. W. Provs.
1838 Ap. 20 I to 4 a.m .. 21st II Knoxville, Tenn. 1154 meteors seen I few in
other places I A. J. Sci. 34/398.
1838 Maggio [May] 12 - 131 Substance
I Fassig 2/375.
1838 May 181 Michigan I NY I Canada
I met I BA 60-76.
1838 May 22 I Isere. France III [light
quake I BA 1911].
1838 May 26 I near Halle. Prussia I
Severe shocks I .. A dull sound was
heard,
[Reverse side] which, according to some
persons, was subterranean. " I BA 54.
1838 May 311 by Prof. Wartman[n] I
At 7 p.m. - sky c1oud[less] in zenith
and none nea[r]. Rain. lukewarm and in
large drops,fell. I Timbs. 1839-262.
[BCF. pp. 409-410 I See Aug. 9. 1837.]
1838 June 6 I Chanda kapur, Berar. India I Metite I (F).
[BCF, p. 409 I See 180211.]
1838 June 7 I II p.m. I Sound I Meleda
I BA 54 I
[Reverse side) But see June 7.1839.
1838 June II and 12 I Iceland I 1II I
[Heavy quake I BA 1911].
1838 June 181 at Arras I Great numbe]r]
of little frogs I L'lnstitut 6-212.
1838 June 23 I Pesaro - 9:45 p.m. I
Venice - 10: 18 p.m. I qs I At Pesaro.
many large meteors
[Reverse side] seen first. I At Venice,
torrents of hail and rain. I BA 54.
1838 June 23 I (It) I Pesaro I .. Many
shooting stars, rather brilliant and of
large size, and q. I BA '54/277 I
[Reverse side] C.R. 7/89 I 8/344.
1838 June 23 I Pesaro (Marches). Italy
III [Light quake I BA 1911].
1838 June 231 q - mets I Rept B.A.,
'73-385 I at Pesaro, Italy I 9 p.m. I
Many meteors coming from the east.
[Reverse side] They were bright and
large and in such great numbers that they
looked like fireworks. A few minutes
later a violent Q.
1838 June 23 I A few minutes before
violent qat Pesaro, Italy, at9 p.m., as
recorded in the works of Count Joseph
Mamiani, many large meteors from the

Pursuit 143

east towan! south. The numbers attracteQ

[Reverse side] attention of the people of

Pesaro. I BA 73-385.
1838 June 231 Q - mets I Pesaro. Italy 19 p.m. I A few minutes after the
[mets] a "vel}' violent" q.
.
[Reverse side] Many meteors were seen
- from east to south . .I BA 73-385.
1838 June 23 and into 1839 I qs of St
. Jean de Maurienne, Savoy, Italy I BA
1911.
1838 June 25 I at Toulouse I "The atmosphere had become opaque but
without any appearance of a
[Reverse side] stann." Then streaks of
fire from horizon toward zenith at regular
intervals for ab minute and a half. I
[Front side] [LT], July 3-6-c.
1838 June 261 Aurora /Macao, Brazil
I C.R. 7-87.
1
1838 June 281 Whirl near Elgin I L.T.,
July 19-7-d.
.
1838 July 6 I Liverpool I II :30 p.m, I.
a flash of lightning - then a ball of fire,
[Reverse sideJ stational}' 2 minutes,
emitting sparks, then falling I LT 13-6-<1.
1838 July 14 1 Dec 15 1 1839 - June
161 July 13/1 Mexican qs. and meteors .
I BA '54 1 (noted).
1838 July II I at noon 1 a whirl near
Middleton 1 At 2:45 near Lincoln I
[Reverse side] L.T. 14-6-f.
1838 July 22 1 Montlivault. Loir-etCher, France I Metite I (F) 1 C.R.
76-314.
1838 July 25 I afternoon 1 Rushford,
N.Y. I Tornado 1 also Belfast, N.Y. I
Finley's Rept.
1838 July 30 I Frgs I Cor to the Sun saw
in Tower st., London, after tho stann,
dozens of young frogs, largest not exceeding 1/2
[Reverse side] inch, lIopping on the
pavements. I Mirror 32/112 I 0-80.
[BCF, p. 82:
As to having been there "in the first
place":
Little frogs found in London, after a
heavy stann, July 30, 1838. (Nores and

Queries, 8-7-437);

Little toads fourid i'n adesert, after ;j.

rainfall (Nores and Queries. 8-8-493).J
1838 July 30 I Frgs 1 London.
1838 Aug I. etc. 1 Vesuvius I An. Reg.
'38-121 1 at least to 11th, with day or
so off.
1838 August I whole month /I Etna in
eruption I [LT], Oct.3-5-c.
1838 Aug 2 I nea-r Neufchald,
Switzerland I Flight of birds size of
[Reverse side] pigeons, ae to some or smoke, ac to others. said been gnats.
I LT 18-6-b.
1838 Aug. 2-31 night I Elna and Vesuvius in eruption I not say when start I
[Reverse side] BA 54.
1838 Aug. 9, 10 I Obs many places in
U.S. upon or looking for Perseids I A.
J. Sci 351167.
1838 Aug. 10 I Flash in the sky so
brilliant that the eye could not bear it,
Aug. 10, 1838. Left a train like that of
a meteor - not. I [Pro]f. Wartmann I
B. As. 1846/11.

1838 Aug. 30 I Aug. 30/4 p.m. I Pr0vidence, R.I. / Tornado I Finley's Rept.
1838 Sept. 7 I Oxford I 9:20 a.m. I q
and rumbling sound I At the time the
atmosp[here] was much disturb[ed] indicating stonns and
[Reverse; side] thunder though none were
heaId in the neighborllood.1 L.T., Sept.
19-3-c I at Aclerbury, ac to Index.
1838 Sept. 15/10 p.m. I waves oflight
from a dark belt of clouds I Lincoln I
LT 22-7-e.
1838 Sept. 161 (Aug.) 17:30 p.m. I St.
Alban's I band of light that moved slowly I LT, Sept. 17-7-d.
1838 Sept. 161 Arcturus beam I Taunton 17 p.m. I Auroral arch and especial
ray from Arcturus to Lyra I L.T., Sept.
22-7-e.
1838 Sept. 181 Ec. Sun I New Haven
I A. J. Sci 35-403.
1838 Sept. 24 / (Fr.) 1:45 a.m. I
Cal!terets I near Bagneres7 I slight q and
rumbling sound I LT, Oct. 9-5-b.
1838 Sept. 27 I 31:41 N I 44:30 W I
Sound like thunder, and a ship' violently quaked - on Oct. 9, 27:37 N, 31:7
W., 2 p.m., 3 small shocks, same
vessel. /
[Reverse side] Athenaeum 1839-141.
1838 Sept. 27 I 31-40' N. Lat., and
44-30' W. Long I 3 strong shocks to
a ship, and sound like thunder I on Oct.
9, but clear weather / But no disturbance
of the sea. I
[Reverse side] 27-37' N, and 31 _7' W
Long I again 3 concussions / small ones
I C.R. 8-32.
1838 Sept. 29-30 I night I Etna increased violence. I BA 54.
1838 Oct. 131 Metite hot and smoking
I yet was of combustible material I A.
J. Sci 40-199 I
[Reverse side] Oct. 12 is the date here.
1838 Oct. 13 I Cold Bokkeveld, Cape
Colony. I Metite I (F).
[BCF; pp. 74-75 I See June 13, 1822.]
1838 Oct. 18 I morning I Fr I Berias
(Ardeche) I met after met from point in
Hercules I C.R. 8-344.
1838 Oct. 221 "Singular and mysterious
fire" in a huge hollow tree 1 Sheffield
[LT]. Nov. 5-3-f.
1838 Nov. 12 I Ac to cor in Timesnothing could have exceeded the
grandeur of the [h]eavens in this display
at London.
[Reverse side] Too rapid to count. I
Nature 71-93.
1838 Nov. 12-13 / Philadelphia (7) I
Night clear bet 1:45 and 2 a.m. and one
meteor seen. I 14-15, clear until 2:30
a.m., but
[Reverse side] not even an ordinal)'
average number of meteors seen. I Proc
Amer Phil Soc. 1-60 II
[Front side] AlSo few seen at Princeton,
Univ. of Virginia, and Kenyon college,
Ohio. I p. 69.
1838 Nov. I Mets I A. J. Sci 351 Index
136-355.

1838 Nov. 13 /7 p.m. I Meteor size of

moon at Cherbourg I C.R., 7-902.
1838 Nov. 16 / 7 p.m. I at Conde-sur-

NoiIeau, France I Met train seen, not

met. I C.R. 7-979.
-1838 Nov. 241 Vol. Palambang, Java
I A.J. Sci 29-364.
1838 Dec. 5-10 I Banchol}' I Aberdeenshire / Polt stones / Jour Soc 9-27.
1838 Dec. 6/8:55 to 9: 15 p.m. I from
zenith 142 mets at Toulon I C.R. 8-255.
1838 Dec. 7 I U.S. I various places I
meteors, abo ISO an hour I A. J. Sci
35-365.
1838 Dec. 7 I bet 6 and 7 p.m. I by T.
W. Webb, in Herefordshire I Great
number of meteors.
[Reverse side] In half an hour, 40 were
counted. I Nature 7-203 I See Proc Mel
Soc 1838-39, p. 9.
1838 Dec. 7 I bel 6 and 7 p.m. I by T.
W. Webb I Great numberofmets. I An
auroral light at the time. I Nature, Jan.
16, 1873.
1838 Dec. 7/ South Herefordshire I A
great number of mets. 40 counted in ab
liz hour. / BA '52-185.
1838 DeC. 1012 mets in France I C.R.
7-1081.
1838 Dec. 121 Mets I A. J. Sci 35-361
I 36-355 / 43-398 I
[Reverse side] 36-355142-398/41-403.
1838 Dec. 15 I Mexico I q - mets I BA

54.
1838 Dec. 16 Dunsink Observatol}',
In:1and I Last 4 hours of daylight, clouds
81T81iged in arches
[Reverse side] converging to the N.E.
and S.W. points of horizon. I
Athenaeum, 1839-141.
1838 Dec. 16 / Singular ap. of clouds
I Proc Irish Acad 1-249.
1838 Dec. 23 I night I La Rochelle I
shock and sound like cannon fire / BA
54.
1838 Dec. 23 I 4 p.m. I Shock at
Woodhouse Eaves ab time of q in Naples
I Gents Mag, Feb, 1839, p. 198.

1839
1839 I Sunderland I Polt and sick girl
I Jour Soc. 9-28.
1839 and 1840 or 40-41 I Beast I
Scotland I 171.
1839 I Spon Comb I Belgium.

.. (See Abbreviations)
18391 Nor Car I Siderite found on Black
Mt I See 1882. i See Am. J. Sci 2-4-82.
15 miles from Ashville - also another.
[Reverse side] 6 miles N of Ashville /
See Am J Sci 1/36/81 / 2/4n9. I For
all N. Car, see "1882."
1839 Jan. to Feb. I Great q's I China/ BA 'II.
1839 Jan. to Feb. I China I m I [great
quakes I BA 1911].
1839 Jan. 1 I early in morning I
Vesuvius. Ceased in evening, but again
on 2nd. On 3rd, quieter until evening.
I Timbs 1839-230.
1839 Jan. 2 I See Jan_ 1, 1842.
1839 Jan. 21 N.M. I See 1840"Jan. 2 ..
/ Unusual ~ds / E Mec 74-446.
1839 Ian. 2 / Attention first drawn to
Quadrantids I Nature 65-199.

1839 Jan. 2 I At Bossekop, Finland, a

great number of mets and a magnificent
aurora. /
.
.
[Reverse side] Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc.
13-501.
1839 Jan. 61 Milan / Fireball I BA 60.
1839 Jan. 61 - Milan I 12 - Parma
I 6 - Parma /I fireball I BA 60-76.
1839 Jan. III Destructive q. I St. Lucia,
W. Indies / BA 1911-55.
1839 Jan. 111 Martinique I GuadCloupe
I St Lucia I I I [light quake / BA 1911].
1839 Jan. 11 I abo 6 a.m. I q I Martinique I and island enveloped in clouds.
[Reverse side] "Might been clouds of
dust from falling houses." / BA 54.1839 Jan. 12 lFeb. 61 May 7 I July 6
I Aug. 13 I Sep. 31 Nov. 61 Nov. 10
/I Fireball I Parma I Rept BA 1860.
1839 Jan. 121 Panna I Fireball I BA 60.
1'839 about I See back '38. I [illustration]1 (S) I India I 136 / [original note
missing / copied from The Fonean, no.
15, p. 229, C. 2].
1839 Jan. 14 19 p.m. / Upper Assam
- q preceded by rain and
[Reverse side] snow in mts_ I BA '11.
1839 Jan. 19 I Remarkable aurora,
Dublin I Athenaeum 1839-228.
1839 Feb. to March I Smaller qs I China
I I I [BA 1911].
1839 Feb. 21 dust 121.14 N. 125.6 W
I Fall of dust that
[Reverse side] "certainly was not sand,
but was like vole. ashes. I Proc. Geolog.
Soc., 4-146 I and Tasmanian Journal,
1-333.
1839 Feb. 4/ Off Cape Verde Islands,
on a ship fell a reddish brown powder
[Reverse side] which resembled aShes
from Vesuvius "and evidently was not
sand blown from an African desert. / Arcana of Science 1840-250.
1839 Feb. 6/ Parma / Fireball I BA 60.
1839 Feb. 7 I night I near Bakou, in the
Caucasus 1 q
[Reverse side] and an eruption of flames
- mud I BA 54.
1839 Feb. 9 to 131 Dust fell on another
ship west of Cape Verde Islands. I
Nautical Magazine, May, 1839.
1839 Feb. 13 / (F) I A. J. Sci 37-385
I Metite I tittle Piney, Mo. 137-55' N
I 92-5 W / bel 3 and 4 p.m. I motion
almost precisely westward I
[Reverse side] almost as if from same
place as Tenn and Georgia mets, 1827
and 29.
1839 Feb. 25 I 7 a.m. I Borgotaro,
Tuscany I q preceded by a vel}' loud
noise I BA 54.
1839 Feb. 27 to June 16 I q and fog I
Saint Jean de Maurienne 176 q's. / CR
9/4861

[Reverse side] Sometimes preceded by

a rolling sound said been subterranean.
In strongest qs the atmosphere obscured
by a kind of fog of short duration.
1839 early in March I Light 1 Amsterdam, NY I See Aug. 22, 1883.'
1839 March 11 I Op Mars / (A I) ..
(to ~

continued) . ' : 1

Third Quarter 11984

Pursuit 144

- - - .-- --------- -- --_._- ----.-._-- ._-._._-- --_._------ .----_. ---- - - -- --- -- -..---- --- ------._. -- ---- ._ ..

_- -- -.. ---- --- ..

-

THE SOCIElY FOR THE lNVESTlGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
GOVERNING BOARD
Robert C. Warth, President; Gregory Arend, Vice-President; Nancy L. Warth,
Secretary and Treasurer; Trustees: Gregory Arend, Steven N. Mayne, Nancy L.
Warth, Robert C. Warth, Martin Wiegler, Albena Zwerver.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. George A. Agogino, Director of Anthropology Museums and Director, Paleo-Indian
Institute, Eastern New Mexico University (Archeology)
Dr. Carl H. Delacato, Director, The Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured, Morton, Pa. (Mentalogy)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Director, lindheimer Astronomical Research Center, Northwestern
University (Astronomy)
Dr. Martin Kruskal, Program in Applied Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton,
New Jersey (Mathematics)
Dr. Samuel B. McDowell, Professor of Biology, Rutgers the State University, Newark,
New Jersey (General Biology)
Dr. Vladimir Markotic, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Archaeology, University of Alberta, Canada (Ethnosociology and Ethnology)
Dr. John R. Napier, Unit of Primate Biology, Queen Elizabeth College, University of
London, England (Physical Anthropology)
Dr. Michael A. Persinger, Professor, Department of Psychology, Laurentian University.
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (Psychology)
Dr. Frank B. Salisbury, Plant Science Department, College of Agriculture, Utah State
University (Plant Physiology)
Dr. Berthold Eric Schwarz, Consultant, National Institute for Rehabilitation Engineering, Vero Beach, Florida (Mental Sciences)
Dr. Roger W. Wescott, Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew
University, Madison, N.J. (Cultural Anthropology and linguistics)
Dr. A. Joseph Wraight, Chief Geographer, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D.C. (Geography and Oceanography)
Dr. Robert K. Zuck, Professor and Chairman, Department of Botany, Drew University,
Madison, N.J. (Botany)
ORIGINS OF SITU/PURSUIT
Zoologist. biologist. botanist and geologist Ivan T. Sanderson. F.L.S . F.R.G.S . F.Z.S . in association
with a number of other distinguished authors. established in 1965 a "foundation" for the exposition and
research of the par~normal-those "disquieting mysteries of the natural world" to which they had devoted
much of their investigative lifetimes.
As a means of persuading other professionals, and non professionals having interests similar to their
own, to enlist in an uncommon cause. the steering group decided to publish a newsletter. The first issue
came out in May 1967. The response. though not overwhelming, was sufficient to reassure the founding
fathers that public interest in the what. why and where of their work would indeed survive them.
Newsletter No.2, dated March 1968. announced new plans for the Sanderson foundation: a structure
larger than its architects had first envisioned was to be built upon it, the whole to be called the Society for
the Investigation of The Unexplained. as set forth in documents filed with the New Jersey Secretary of
State. The choice of name was prophetic, for Dr. Sanderson titled one of the last of his two-dozen books
"Investigating the Unexplained," published in 1972 and dedicated to the Society.
Another publication was issued in June 1968, but "newsletter" was now a subtitle; above it the name
Pursuit was displayed for the first time. Vol. I, No.4 in September 1968 ("incorporating the fourth SOCiety
newsletter") noted that "the abbreviation SITU has now been formally adopted as."the designation of our
Society." Issue number 4 moreover introduced the Scientific Advisory Board, listing the names and affiliations
of the advisors. Administrative matters no longer dominated the contents: these were relegated to the last
four of the twenty pages. Most of the issue was given over to investigative reporting on phenomena such as
"a great armadillo (6 feet long, 3 feet high) said to have been captured in Argentina"-the instant trans
portation of solid objects "from one place to another and even through solids" - the attack on the famed
University of Colorado UFO Project headed by Dr. Edward U. Conaon-and some updated information
about "ringing rocks" and "stone spheres."
Thus SITU was born. and thus Pursuit began to chronicle our Investigation of The Unexplained.

Printed in U.S.A.

ISSN 0033-4685

'Sdellce i. t6e Pursuit 01 tAe UIlIm"lailled'

Journal of SITU
The
Society for the
Investigation of
The Unexplained

Volume 17
Number 4
Whole No. 68
Fourth Quarter
1984

Natural formation of hexagonal cracks in Navaho sandstone (see "Destruction by Fire," page 162)

"THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPlAINED

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
SITU (pronouncecl"~ - you) Is a latin word meaning place." SITU is also an acronym referring
to 11tE SOcb:.-yy FOR DIE INVESDGATION OF THE UNEXPlAINED.
SITU exists for the purpose of collef;tlng data on unexplainecls, promoting proper investigation
of individual reports and general subjects, and reporting sIgnIftcant data to its members. The
Sodety studies unexplained events and "things" of a tangible nature that orthodox science, for
one reason or another, does not or wiD not study.
"
Vou don"t have to be a professional or even an amateur scientist to join SITU.

MEMBERSHIP
Membership is for the calendar year, January-December: in the United States, $12 for one year: $23 for
two years: $33 for three years. Membership in o*her countries is subject to surcharge, to cover higher cost of
mailing. Amount of surcharge, which varies according to region, will be quoted in response to individual request. Members receive" the Society's quarterly journal Pursuit plus any special SITU publications for the year
of membership. "Back issues" (issues of Pursuit dated prior to the current publishing year) are available in
limited supply for most, but not all, quarters of past years. Send check or money order for total amount with request identifying issues desired by Volume, Number and Year. Price is $3.00 per copy, postpaid within the U.S.
Please allow four to six weeks for delivery.
SITU welcomes members' participation. Articles, photographs, newspaper and magazine clips, book
reviews and o~her contents including "letters to the editors" should be sent to SITU /PURSUIT at the above address if they are to be considered for publication in Pursuit. The Society assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material and will not return unaccepted manuscripts unless provided with an addressed return
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.
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memberships and donations, should be sent to SITU/PURSUIT at the post office box address at the top ofthis
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OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATION
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research requests will be answered by mail, but because of the steadily increasing demands upon staff time, a
fee for research will be charged. Members requesting information should enclose an addressed, stamped
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The legal affairs of the Society are managed by a Board of Trustees in accordance with the laws of the
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IMPORTANT NOTICES
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The Society does not hold any political, religious, corporate or social views." Opinions expressed in Pursuit concerning such matters, and any aspect of human medicine or psychology, the social sciences or law,
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The Society's membership list is restricted to mailing the journal Pursuit and special SITU publications,
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Contributions to SITU, but not membership dues, are tax deductible to the extent permitted by the U.S.
Internal Revenue Code, and in some states as their taxing authorities may permit.
"
PUBLICATION
The Society's journal Pursuit is published quarterly. In each year the issues are numbered respectively
&om I through 4 and constitute a volume, Volume I being for 1968 and before, Volume 2 for 1969, and so on.
Reduced-rate subscriptions to Pursuit, without membership benefits," are available to public libraries and
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proposed use, directed to SITU/PURSUIT at the post office box address printed at the top of this page.

0'

THE QUARTERLY
JOURNAL OF THE

it

ISOCIETY FOR THE

INVESTIGATION OF

THE

UNEXPLAINED

'SCIENCE IS THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'

Contents
Page
The Unknown Mummy
. by Paul B. Thompson
The Maya and the Synodic Period of Venus
by Stuart W. Greenwood
the Premise
by Russ Reardon
Where Have The Flying Saucers Gone?
. translated by George Andrews
An Experiment in Dowsing
by Ivan T. Sanderson
What Uprooted Massive Chunk of Earth?

by Hill Wi/lliams
Destruction by Fire
by Evan Hansen
The Peculiar Origins of Alex J. Hidell
by I. N. Williamson
Encounters With The "Real" Jersey Devil
by Sydney Smith
Effective Mass and the UFO
by Daniel Eden
The Resch Poltergeist
by Walter & Mary 10 Uphoff
Photographic Biofeedback?
. by Eugenia Macer-Story
SITUations
The Legend of Wind Cave
by a friend of SITU
Report on Two Conferences
by Robert C. Warth
Books Reviewed
Letters to the Editors
The Notes of Charles Fort
.Deciphered by Carl I. Pabst

146
147
149
153
157

161
162
168

173

174
177
178

182
185
..

1"86

'187
188
.. 190"
..i

Are We Taking Ourselves

Too Seriously?
We received a letter from a
member cautioning us "not to take
ourselves too seriously." We didn't
think we did but wondered if other
readers would say the same to us.
With this in mind we offer yo~ here
a few articles which are light but still
give you something to think about.
For our long-time members who
look forward to reading previously
unpublished material .by Ivan T.
Sanderson we offer you his article on
dowsing with a do-it-yourself. theme.
For our domestic members there
is another visit-it-yourself article,
this time about Wind Cave in South
Dakota.
And for our I'd-Iike-to-knowmore-about -that-phoney-science-ofastrology fans we have the Alex J.
Hidell article by J. N. Williamson.
We are also trying out some short
stories or, if you prefer,long SITUation articles.
And if anyone still warns us
against taking ourselves too seriously
after reading The Premise by Russ
Reardon, we will be very much surprised .

......

." '.

. :.. ".
~

Cover photo by Evan Hansen-:

Pun;uir Vol. 17. No.4. Whole No. 68. Founh Quaner 1984. Copyright 1984 by The Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained. ISSN 0033-468S. No
pan of this periodical may be reproduced without the written consent of the Society. Roben C. Wanh. Publisher and Editor; Nancy Wanh. Production Editor.
Manin.Wiegler. Consulting Editor. Charles Berlitz. Research Editor and Oceanographic Consultant.

The Unknown Mummy

by Paul B. Thompson
No other relic of ancient Egypt is as evocative of the mysteries
of the Nile as the mummy. Prepared with lavish ritual and
esoteric craft, the preserved bodies of the dead signify the
sublime majesty as well as the hidden knowledge of the
Egyptians.
.
Mummies have told us much about life and death in ancient
Egypt. Modem pathological techniques have discovered that the
Egyptians suffered from a variety of common diseases. The
traumas of life-childbirth, injuries, the wounds of war-are
faithfully preserved in the dry dark flesh of the mummy. Kings,
q~eens, priests, and nobles were almost universally mummified
and buried in elaborate tombs, where Osiris and the gods of the
afterlife waited to greet them. The spiritual essences of the
deceased, the /qJ and ba, were supposed to reside in the husk
of the body for eternity.
.
Unfortunately, the treasures interred with the dead served to
pique the greed of the living. Grave robbers plundered nearly
all the Pharaohs' tombs, stripping away the gold and jewels,
leaving the battered royal mummies mutilated and desecrated.
During later dynasties, loss of royal authority encouraged the
wholesale plundering of tombs. In the Rameside period (Twentieth Dynasty: 1168 to 1090 B.C.), the powerful priesthood of
Amen attempted to protect the royal dead from complete
destruction.
The mummies of the greatest kings of the New Kingdom (three
of the Thutmoses, Seti I and Rameses n, female Pharaoh Hatshepsut, and many others from the Seventeenth to Twentieth
Dynasties) were collected and reburied in the tomb of the otherwise obscure Queen Inhapi. Located behind the splendid temple complex at Deirel Bahri, Queen Inhapi's tomb became the
resting place for dozens of royal mummies. The rock-cut tomb
was closed and forgotten 30 centuries ago. Arabs discovered
the cache in the late 1870s, and began selling off portions of
the trove to tourists and peripatetic collecto~ of antiquities. The
cache came to official attention in 1881, when archaeologist Emil
Brugsch brought the mummies down the Nile to Cairo for scientific study:
The mummy cases were labelled with the names and titles
of their occupants. Among the coffins of the mighty Pharaohs
was a simple white wooden case. Upon opening, the body within
was found to have been wrapped iIi a repulsive smelling sheepskin. Among Egyptians, this was a sacrilege. Wool was considered barbaric and unclean, and for a dead man to be swathed
in it was an obvious, deliberate disgrace.
Naturally the study and description of the famous kings took
precedence over the unknown mummy from :Deir el Bahri.The
wool-wrapped body was not closely examined until 1886. The
mummy was UJ1wrapped before witnesses in November of that
year. A French observer named Mathey described the ghastly
sight which lay beneath the woolen shroud:
I can only say that no countenance has ever more
faithfully recreated a picture of such affecting and hideous
agony. His features, horribly distorted, surely showed that
the. wretched man must have been deliberately
asphyxiated-most probably by being buried alive. There
Pursuit 146

is evidence to back up such a dramatic theory, too. The

body was buried without the usual embalming: the brain
had not been extracted and all the viscera and internal
organs were intact. The limbs were tightly bound, arms
straight !iown at the sides and feet together without the
slightest bend in any joint. I can only think of two possible theories to fit these facts: firstly that the man had been
buried alive or, secondly, that he died of convulsions due
to having taken poison.
.
.
The mummy is that of a male, seemingly between 25
and30 years old, well built and apparently without wounds
or marks on his body. In general he is perfectly preserved, for all that he is extremely parchment-like and of a
deep mahogany color.
The unknown munimy poses a grim mystery. Who was he?
How did he die? And why was he buried in such a puzzling
..
fashion?
The man was obviously of high rank, or else he would not
have been alongside the great god-kings of Egypt. His youth
suggests he was a prince from one of the dynasties represented
in the mass burial, from ~ era before the priests of Amen began
:secreting the mummies in Queen Inhapi's tomb.
He died horribly, either from suffocation or poison. If the man
had died of natural convulsions, it is unlikely these would have
been noticeable after death. Though not embalmed, the body
was covered with natron, the mineral essential to mummification. This suggests the man was not buried alive, as it would
be impractical to coat a living body with natron.
As for the sheepskin and anonymous coffin, so indicative of
disgrace, there is an incident from Egyptian history whose applicability to the unknown mummy is hard to ignore. To understand this, we must return to the 12th century B.C., to the reign.
of Rameses
of the Twentieth Dynasty.
.
is often called 'the last great Pharaoh' because
Rameses
of his vigorous building projects and successful military exploits.
He reigned for 34 .years,.erected a massive temple complex at
Medinet Habu, and repelled an invasion of the Nile Delta by
..
the Sea Peoples.
In his old age, a plot was concocted against Rameses by one
of his wives, Queen Tiy. Tiy enlisted her son, Prince Pentwere,
and a palace gwmisman, Pebekkamen, as co-conspirators. Other
guards were brought into the plot. Magic was employed against
the king, too; images of Rameses were made in clay and subjected to occult abuse.
The plot failed when loyal agents of the Pharaoh infiltrated
and exposed the conspiracy. Forty soldiers, including Pebekkamen, were tried and summarily executed. Six women of the
Queen's hou~hold were also put to death. Court anruils state
that Prince Pentwere died by his own hand. Of Queen Tiy, the
mastermind; nothing is known.
.
Is the unknown mummy the treacherous Prince Pentwere? 1be.
blank sarcophagus and wool wrapping would be appropriate trappings for a man who plotted high treason and patricide. .
Some Egyptologists are cautious of ~is identification. It
smacks of Gothic tragedy or a Grade B horror movie. The conservative view of the unknown Deir el Bahri mummy is terrible
enough; the mummy was a prince, who appears to have been
sent to the emb8lmers in a state of catalepsy. As the mummification process was begun, he revived only to die in agony on the
embalmers' table.

m
m

. Quorcd in James Hamillon-Palerson and Can>I Andn:w Mummies_ London: William Collins. 1978_

pp. 56-511. .

(continued on page 149)

Fourth Quarter .1984

The Maya and The Synodic Period of Venus

_oo"

by Stuart. W. G......
Our ancestors came from Venus. The human species is not
indigenous to Earth, having arrived here in geologically recent
times from a Venus that was once Earth-like but now lies dead
beneath a hot and heavy atmosphere poisoned by volcanic emissions. All this is speculation, though the author has offered
preliminary indication that there might be something to it l 2:3
The remote past of our species is a continuing puzzle, and it
is just possible that progress in our understanding can be made
by adopting such a specific viewpoint and following it through
to its conclusion. Whether or not such an exercise proves illuminating, there is at least the satisfaction of having tried. It
can be a lot of fun, too.
We need to be aware that the Soviet Union has launched three
times as many probe missions to Venus as has the United States,
so either the Soviets are motivated by an intuitive perspective
'regarding that planet or else they know something we don't.
It could be beneficial for us to study the traditions and practices
of the early inhabitants of this continent in present-day Mexico
and Central America for possible insights into Soviet motivation regarding Venus. We shall consider here the evident continuing concern of the ancient Maya of the present-day Yucatan
Peninsula with the Synodic Period of Venus.
The Mayan civilization in Central America exhibited levels
of achievement in mathematics and ilstronomy rarelyrecognized today outside of the boundaries of the academic world. For
those with a thirst for knowledge of what little remains of the
records of their accomplishments, reference may be made ~
such sources as the classic treatment by J. Eric S. Thompson4 ~
The prominence of the planet Venus in Central Anierican.
mythology should be familiar to readers of this journal, but
Mayan concern with the movements of the planet itself may Qat
be as weD-known. In this note we shall review Mayan treatments
of the movements of Venus, and outline implications for the
ancient astronaut hypothesis. We shall adopt some simplifications to focus attention on some underlying consideratiOns that
may have important implications for our understanding of their
concerns.
Planetary movements
The Earth travels around the Sun in an approximately circular
path, and also spins on its.own axis. The period for one complete revolution around the Sun is 365 days. The nearest planet,
Venus, omits the Sun in a nearly circular path i!iside the Earth's
orbit with a period of 225 days, and spins very slowly about
its own axis'. Both planets orbit the Sun in the same rotational
direction so that Venus periodically overtakes the Earth on the
inside.
As Venus approaches and eventually overtakes the Earth, there
comes a time when Venus lies between the Earth and the Sun.
Venus is then said to be in Inferior Conjunction. Such conjunctions recur every 584 days (about 1 year and 7 months), an interval that is termed the Synodic Period of Venus. Several
scholars have discussed the fascination of the Maya with the
Synodic Period of Venus, a recent example being S.C.
McClusket. McCluskey observes that after an interval of 151
Venus synodic periods a given phenomenon wili recur at the

Fourth Quarter 1984

same extreme point on the horizon, and that such extreme points
were noted by the Maya, confirming their long-term observation of Venus.
Venus is a brilliant object in the heavens at times when it is
visible from the Earth, and it is of course quite possible that
this is sufficient reason for the attention devoted to it by the
Maya. It is a curious coincidence that 5 Synodic Periods of
Venus correspond to 8 Earth years - this fact was known to
the Maya, but it appears to have no significance in connection
with space flights. A puzzling feature of Mayan measures of
time is a time interval of 260 days - this also is apparently not
related to planetaty movements or to space journeys. We leave
studies of such matters to others, focusing our attention on the
Synodic Period of Venus.
I)uring the interval when Venus is approaching the Earth, and
hence approaching Inferior Conjunction, the planet is. visible
from the Earth as the Sun goes down in the West and is therefore
known as the "Evening Star." Around Inferior Conjunction the
planet is between the Earth and the Sun. The Sun's brilliance
renders Venus invisible to the naked eye for an interval of about
a week7 Following Inferior Conjunction Venus becomes visible prior to the Sun's rising. The planet is then known as the
"Morning Star." Anthropologists deem it to have been a considerable achievement of the Maya that they recognized that the
"Evening Star" and the "Morning Star" were the same celestial
~y. Our interpretation involves an appreciation that they knew
they were the same.

Space Flights from Earth to Venus

The Soviet Union and the United States have launched a total
'Of 24 missions to Venus. To minimize the requirements on the
launch vehicles, these launches take place when the Earth at
launch is in a suitable relative position to Venus. This ensures
that the velocity changes at each end of the journey are kept
to a minimum. The launch is timed so that the probe arrives
at Venus when it is approximately on the opposite side of the
.
Sun to the Earth at launch.
It would take less journey time if the voyage could be accomplished when Venus was at the planet's closest approach
to Earth, i.e., at Inferior Conjunction. However, that would impose an energy requirement that would be prohibitive in our present state of technology. Nevertheless, it serves to point up an .
important consideration in planning space flights to Venus. The
interval between space launches for a given level of technology
corresponds to the Synodic Period of Venus. The same argument holds for flights from Venus to Earth, though the launch
dates will be different.
A study of the data on launches for probes to Venus confirms
the above, with some variation resulting from the non-circuJarity
of the planetary omits and other factors. The situation is one
of the basics in the omital mechanics of space flight and is fully familiar to engineers and scientists involved in the Venus
space programs. What seems to have escaped attention until now
is the significance of aU this in interpretations of Mayan interest
in the Synodic Period of Venus. We propose to remedy this
deficiency.
Pursuit 141

EARTH AT
SPACECRAFT ARRIVAL

VENUS AT SPACECRAFT
ARRIVAL AT EARTH

VENUS ,AS
EVENING STAR

pLANETS AT
INFERIOR CONJUNCTION

\
\

-J.

VENUS AS
MORNING STAR

VENUS AT
,
SPACECRAFT DEPARTURE

I
VENUS-EARTH
TRANSFER ORBIT

EARTH AT SPACECRAFI'
DEPARTURE FROM VENUS

Planetary movements during minimum-energy Venus-Earth transfer (planetary orbits are assumed to be
circular and coplanar, with a transfer orbit duration, of 146 days).

The Maya and time

The Maya were fascinated with time. So much has been written on this that we shall not dwell upon it here. One aspect that
deserves our attention, however, is that we tend to be most con-'
cemed with time when we are waiting for something to happen. Eric and Craig Umland have some intriguing thoughts on
this topic in their interesting trea~ent of the Maya in relation
to the ancient astronaut hypothesis. The Umlands suggest that
the Maya were extJaterrestrials from another solar system who
had been stranded on Earth, and were preoccupied with time
as they awaited rescue.
Just as the Synodic Period of Venus is the time interval between space launches from one of the planets to the other, so
is it also the time interval between the arrivals of space vehicles
from one of the planets to the other. We are now in a position
to offer a solution to both the Maya preoccupation with time
and their concern with the Synodic Period of Venus. They were
concerned with time intervals that would correspond with the
successive arrivals of spacecraft from Venus. Whether these arrivals occurred only in the imagination of the present writer or
whether they occurred in fact is open to further investigation.
It seems probable that the Mayan Observations of the movements
of Venus reflected past concerns with these movements, and
the pending arrivals of spacecraft. For possible clues to these
concer,u; we look for evidence from mythology.
Pursuit 148

Central American mythology

Acconiing to C.A. Burland and Werner Forman!!, in a
discussion of the Aztec gods, as far as the common people were
concerned it was dangerous to go out in the evenings when the
Evening Star was shining, for fear that his rays would send darts
of illness or even death towanis them. But to be shone on by
Venus as Morning Star was a matter great good fortune. J. Eric
S. Thompson4 says that the Maya believed that the Morning
Star was very dangerous at the time of heliacal rising (about
four days after Inferior Conjunction); it was essenti!li to know
beforehand the exact date so that effective measures could be
taken by the priesthood to save those in peril.
Quetzaicoatl, the benevolent god of the Aztecs (known to the
Maya as Kukuican), represented Venus as Morning Star. The
Aztec god representing Venus ,as the Evening Star was Xolotl,
described by Burr Cartwright Brundage 'O as a god of the
malfonned and the diseased.
Space flights from Venus to Earth would take place while
Venus was an Evening Star during the ,early portipn of the flight,
with arrival at Earth in the period of Venus as a Morning Star.
The first flights from Venus to Earth would probably use
minimum energy orbits similar to that shown in the Figure. Later
,flights would be expected to employ higher energy orbits with
the planetary positions at launch and arrival located closeno
Inferior Conjunction.

Fourth Quarter. t1984

J.

One interpretation that could be placed on the mythology

above is that while Venus was generally revered as the planet
of origin, the impending arrival of later (and perhaps sick and
defonned) escapees from the doomed planet was cause for alann.
The mythology tends to reinforce the idea that Venus once sustained an Earth-like atmosphere that deteriorated to its present
condition in relatively recent times.

The. Premise
by Rass R rdOD

Concluding thoughts
The Maya have long posed a mystel}'. to scholars. Perhaps
we have been looking at their early civilization for too long with
Earth-bound eyes. The answer to our origins may today lie on
our nearest planet beneath an atmosphere now poisoned by emissions from its active volcanoes. A continuing examination of
the apparent evidence on Earth of our arrivals here from Venus
may prepare us for the discoveries that may await us when
the planet's surface is surveyed by improved radar in forthcoming probe missions.

REFERENCES
1) SIUaIt W. Greenwood, "Venus: Earth's Pn:cious Twin?" Ancient Skies,
luly-August 1984, pp. 1-4.
2) SIUaIt W. Greenwood, "Landing Site and Vehicle for Venus-Earth Expedition," Ancient Skies, September-October, 1984, pp. 1-2.
3) SIUaIt W. Greenwood and Rose MaIy Bhussl)', "Teotihuacan: An Interpretation," Ancient Skies, lanual)'-Febl1lal)', 1985, pp. 1-2.
4) 1. Eric S. Thompson, "The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization, "2nd
edition, University of Oklahoma Press, 1966.
5) RichaId O. Finunel, Lawrence Colin and Eric Burgess, "Pioneer Venus,"

NASA Special Publication SP461, 1983.

6) S.C. McCluskey, "New Evidence for Maya Long-term Observation of
Venus," abstract in AlrlIaeoastronomy, October-December, 1982, p. 7.
7) Marlt Uttman, "Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico, "Hansen Planetarium,
1982.
8) Eric and Craig Umland, "Mystf:ly of the Ancients: Eady Spa&emeII and
the Mayas," Walker and Company, 1974.
9) C.A. Burland and Werner Forman, "Featheied SeIpent and Smoking MUror, .. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1975.
10) BUrr Cartwright Bl1Indage, "The Phoenix of the Western World: QuetzalcoatJ and the Sky Religion, "University of Oklahoma Press, 1981.

The Unknown Mummy

(continued from page 146)

If this is what happened, why bul}' .the poor fellow in an un-

marked coffin? Why deny him the prayers and magical fonnulae
other high ranking Egyptians relied on to ease their journey to
the Land of the D~? And, most puzzling of all, why clothe
him in a shroud of despised sheepskin?
The truth will probably never be known. The murrimy remains
in the Cairo Museum, unexplained and unidentified after 3,000
years.

SOURCES:
Budge, E.A. Wallis. Egyptian Magic. Sec:aucus. N.J. University Books, 1975.
Describes the occult plot to kill Rameses m.
Gardiner, Sir Alan. Egypt of the Phll1BOhs. London: Oxford University Press,
1961. Basic historical reference.
Hamilton-Paterson, James, and Carol Andrews. Mummies. London: William
Collins, i978. Describes the Deir el Bahri cache and the Unknown Mummy. See photo on page 54.

F~u.rth Quarter 1984

Jesus Christ is physically alive and is

now 61 years old in a spaceship.
- Russ Reardon
Here is the only new physical discovery about Christ in two
thousand years, thanks to Albert Einstein's theorem of Relativity
and certain biblical quotations. These have enabled me to rethink
myself out of the sticky cobweb of a centuries-old religious c0coon (which itself may be the world's longest put-on).
The premise: with scientific insights available only since the
seventh decade of this century', certain statements in the "Book"
newly serve as grounds for my syllogism from which, their truth
being granted, comes my proposition that Christ is physically
alive and 61 years old in a "chariot of the gods" spaceship.
... That Enoch, Elijah, Moses, Isaiah, and MIllY continue
physically alive today. ". And Astonishingly, anytime during
the next 8,000-plus years, they can re-appear on Earth (as they
already have!) again and again, no more than 35 years older
than they were Z;SOO years ago when they "were carried up, "
"floated up in a gleaming sphere," or "ascended in a cloud
into. heaven. "Even some non-biblical personages who were absorbed into the two-way stretch of elastic Time, continue
physically alive today, in a spaceship traveling close to the speed
of light.
In 1971 Einstein's theol}' of Special Relativity, which concerns time dilation, was proved a valid physical law and accepted as a scientific theorem. Without such sturdy support, my
random disclosure - that folks "missing and presumed dead"
more than 2,500 years ago are alive - would be met with scorn
and disbelief.
What has to be grasped i~: Time is not constant; Time is
manipulated by speed; and, according to Einstein's theorem,
"TIME ON A SPACESHIP TRAVEUNG JUST UNDER THE
SPEED OF UGHT PASSES MUCH M:0RE SLOWLY FOR
THE OCCUPANTS THAN FOR PEOPLE ON THE LAUNCHING PLANET."
Meyers' Handbook on Space computes the time dilations from
the Lorenz transformation formulas as follows:
Yeal5 in a spaceship
Yeal5 on EaIth

1
2

1.0
2.1

5
10
15
20

6.5
80
270

9ill

24

*27
1985
30
3,100
35
10,600
*although 1,985 years have passed on Earth, only
27 years have elapsed for the travelers in a
spaceship.
Pursuit 149

" 'Special Relativity' is often known as the 'twin paradox'

because it is cast in the fonn of the story of the astronaut who
leaves his twin brother on Earth while he flies off at near. the .
speed of light for a long journey to the stars. On his return to
Earth he finds his twin is an old man while he, the astronaut,
is still in his prime. The astroriauts' clocks, atomic and
biological, have registered fewer hours and years than the clocks
on Earth have done." (Einstein's Universe, Nigel C~der,
Greenwhich House, New York, 1979, p.88).
Scientists Hafels & Keating of the University of Washington
demonstrated this time dilation. Having set four cesium-beam
clocks to within billionths of a second of an atomic clock at
the Naval Observatory, they boarded a commen:ial airliner,
clocks in hand. After two round-the-world trips at an average
speed of 43Omph, the mobile clocks registered asigiUficant loss
of time (actually, minus 59 nanoseconds) when compared with
the observatory's fixed-base monitor clock on Earth. The time-
loss experienced by John Glenn was more appreciable. Glenn,
launched off Earth into orbit at a slow 17,000 mph, landed in
the Pacific 21h seconds younger than the rest of us. Thus, relative
to their launching planet, the slowing down of Time occurs to
objects and people moving at high speeds. Making John Glenn's
transporter seem like a horse and buggy, an old prayer in one
of the Books of The Dead quotes the exhortation of an earlier
Time-tra.veler: "0 world egg, hear me! I am Horus of millions
of years! I traverse the ages and spaces which are endless!"
Let's examine Enoch's departure off Earth, "Enoch was carried away to another life without passing through death," the
Book of Hebrews reports (11:5). Note "eanied away" as in
a vehicle. And, what would be "another life?" Only more of
the same, like another apple in a barrel. But implicit is the phrase
"without passing through death," proving he's still alive. The
narrator of the Pentateuch (the five Mosaic Books) confinns,
"the initiate Enoch lived to be 365 years old and did not die,
but was canied up to heaven in a fiery chariot."
In a section called "The translation of Enoch" the last
paragraph is especially interesting to all viewers of a spaceshuttle launch: "To the right of him sparkled flames of fire,
to the left of him burnt ton:hes of fire, and on all sides he was
engulfed by stonn and whirlwind, hunicane, and thundering. "
(L. Ginsburg, Legends of the Bible, Jewish Publishing Society, Philadelphia) Thus did a biblical eye-witness, unknowingly
but with 20th century spage-age accuracy, describe the takeoff
of Enoch in a, spaceship.
That our biblical personages are in a spaceship can also be
deduced from the wording of n Peter 3:8, "That one day with
the Lord is a a thousand years and a thousand years as one day, "
indicating that extraterrestrials came to our planet after a long
journey. As if for emphasis, Psalm 90 repeats "For in thy sight
a thousand years are as yesterday. " To those who lived before
Einstein - except perhaps a few initiates - such statements
were totally incomprehensible. "The fact that this important
point crossed the banier separating the Old and New Testaments
proves that it was not fonnulated by a human intelligence on
Earth. " (The Lost Tribes From Outer Space, Man: Dem, Bantam, New York, 1977, p.27)
I agree with Brinsley LePoer Trench's deduction, "Exceptional individuals capable of understanding and existing in a
galactic culture have been taken to other places than the Earth. "
(The Sky People, Award Books, New York, 1970, p.59)
Elijah - "And behold there appeared a chariot of fire and
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." (ll Kings 2: 11)
And the one reason a promise in Melachi 4:5 could be kept,
"Behold I will send you Elijah," was that Time passed much
Pursuit 150

more slowly for him while he was on board a speed-of-light

spaceship. And re-appear Elijah did, back on Earth in company
with Moses (himself last seen on Earth 1,800 years before)!
"J\nd behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah;
behold, there was a bright cloud overshadowing them. " (Matthew 17:3-8) A glance at Meyers' figures shows Moses only
25 years older - his time! Too many "beholds" for me; not
enough "becauses" - which spaceships' crews pointedly
neglected to explain. Frustrating?
. .
Clouds - Cloud plumes hiding the vehicle(s) was all ancient
eye-witnesses understood; ergo, they were "canied up in a
cloud. " The total absence of technical knowledge of a mighty
unknown, such as an ET vehicle landing and taking off, was
turned into the psychologically familiar, into a deity. These
events were transposed into mysticism and religion. "The spirit
of the LoId lifted them up." And, since no made-on-Earth
spaceships existed, they came from elsewhere.
. Yes, there have been many other physical ascensions and reappearances noted in all religions and civilizations. Obviously,
the founders and pUlVeyors of religions who know that these
happenings are not what they represent them to be, twist reality
into its exact opposite or continue to conceal it, right up to this
day. Why? Do they assume we're "not ready?" I can accord
respect to almost every creed, but I cannot impute to any of
them a monopoly on Truth. Already "they" have much for
which to apologize.
Moses - Apocryphal writings of the Old Testament and
pseudepigraphics (in Univ. Jewish Encyc.) of the assumption
of Moses into heaven, the latter including the ascension ofIsaiah.
MIJI}'- On August 13, 1950 by papal decree, Mary's bodily
ascension into "heaven" was declared fact by Pope Pius XII
(Dogma Munilicentis Simus Deus, The Catholic Encyc.). It's
one of the biggest holidays in Europe. But ... what of her subsequent round-trips to Earth? Although Pius xn must have known
how these were accomplished, he has withheld comment.
Jesus Christ- Luke 24:51, "And it came to pass, while he
blessed them, he w~ parted fromthem, and was carried up into heaven." Mark 16:19, ..... hewasreceivedupintoheaven."
Acts of the Apostles 1:9, "While they beheld, he was taken
up and a cloud received him out of their sight. " In other wolds,
when the smoke cleared, Jesus Christ, not yet 35 years old, was
"gone." .B.ut o~y temporarily, as we shall see!
Others of lesser stature are also alive in time dilation. One
Old T~tariie~t prophet disclosed this pertinent bit o~ history:
! 'Then I, Ezra, was canied off and taken up to the place of my
peers. ~'Moslems affinn that their leader Muhammed ascended
into the sky from the rock on which Isaac offered his son as
a sacrifice. A 4th centUry priest, Berossus, describes yet another
spaceship departure with kidnapped humans aboard: "Him King
Xi~thrus they saw no more, but they could distinguish his voice
in the air and could hear him admonish them ... that he was
translated (that word again meaning 'thrust into the warp of time
dilation') to live with the godS; that his wife and daughter with
the pilote!) had obtained the same honour." (The Sinus Mystery,
Robert K.G. Temple, St. Martins Press, New York, 1976, p.
252)
Perhaps a word or twO on ~ spaceships' "crews" is in oIder.
In the Bible they were called "gods," "lord," "angels,"
"messengers," "Vahweh," and "Jehovah." However, the earlySumerians called them DIN.GIR, "the righteous ones of the
rocketships." The Akkadians called them Du - or "Lofty
Ones."
"Neither the Akkadians nor the Sumerians had called these
vis.itors to Earth gods. It is through later paganism that the no-

Fourth Quarter 1~84

tion of divine beings, or gods, has filtered into our language

and thinking. " (The Stairway to Heaven, Zecharia Sitchin, St.
Martins Press, New York 1980, p. 86)
Whether called "Nefilim" or "gods," they looked like us
physically. In 597 B.C., Ezekiel in 1:26 describes them as "a
likeness as the appearance of a man." "Two men in white I!.Pparel," whose sudden arrival from nowhere is recorded in Acts
1: 10, were no different in body shape or movement from other
humans; any dissimilarities would have been noted by the
apostles present. Even the brother of Jared, in The Book ofMormon was amazed to find the "lord" merely human: "And he
saw the finger of the lord, and it was the finger of man, like
unto flesh and blood. For I knew not that the lord has flesh and
blood." Consider also this reference to what was referred to
as an "angel" in Deuteronomy: " ... and he ate." It is all too
clear that ancients confused extraterrestrial humans with the omniscient God.
Evident also: the ETs didn't bother to correct their image;
they probably enjoyed the ego-trip - or, what I like to call "the
world's longest put-on. '.'
A psychological proflle of these ETs was offered by George
Sassoon, holder of a Cambridge University honors degree in
natural sciences. In a lecture at the sixth world conference of
th~ Ancient Astronaut Society, in Munich, Germany, in June,
1979, he said:
In fact, the Lord described in the books of Moses is clearly
not identical with God. Many aspects of his behavior are
very human. He is clearly neither omniscient nor omnipotent, he has fits of temper, he haggles with Moses like some
bazaar trader; and Moses often gets the better of him. No,
the LoId of the Bible is certainly not identical with omnipotent God himself; he is merely a living being who possesses
immense technical resources, but is not greatly superior to
ourselves.
Josef F. Blumrich, NASA design engineer of the Saturn V and
author of The Spaceshps of Ezekiel, confirms their "awesome
technology in estimating it will take us 25 years before we've
developed fuel duplicating the thrust of the 'lords' 2,500-yearold spaceships. "
Those above quoted observed that the crew(s) were most certainly NOT the amphibious half-fish, half-man creatures so
naively described by other ancients quoted in The Sirius
Mystery. Swprisingly, despite his well-eamed reputation for exhaustive research, author Robert Temple supports this error with
unswerving conviction. But he is contradicted on his own page
257: Photius, circa A.D. 840, said" ... and that he was actually a man but only seemed a fish because he was clothed in the
skin of a sea creature." I suggest Temple study his notes.
Remember the three words I added to previous notes on
Christ's ascension - "but only temporarily"? Here is author
Louis Pauwels' explanation of the "how" of Christ and Mary's
several returns to Earth, and Erich von Daruken's chronology
to tell us "when" and "where":
Occupants in a space craft would notice nothing unusual
- daily food and water and other amenitites would be provided, gravity simulated, and Time as passing normally.
But, traveling at velocities close to the speed of light is a
conquest not only of space but also of Time. The future
becomes accessible to those aboard, which allows for a real

physical possibility of communicating with posterity. .

(Impossible Possibilities, Pauwels & Bergier, Stein & Day,
New York, 1971, p. 124)

Fourth Quarter 1984

So it's really no surprise to discover confirmation that Christ,

Mary, and (as reported) Moses and Elijah, have been indulging themselves by frequently re-visiting Earth. But for reasons
beyond me:
circa
303
Christ reappeared in Lydda,
Palestine (now Lod, near Jaffa, in Israel)
334
Christ reappeared at night in
Amiens, France
648
Christ reappeared three times
at St. Jossesur-Mar, France
Aug
1060
Jesus and Mary reappeared in
the village of Espain, France
1170-1221
St. Dominic of Spain was
himself face to face with
Christ
1224
Jesus conferred the five
Sept
wounds he had received
(stigmata) on St. Francis of
Assisi, at Monte La Verna,
Italy
1362
Christ gave St. Catherine a
wedding ring while she was
praying
Christ showed himself at
1632
Mercatello, Italy
Christ with M~ reappeared
1893
at Enghien,
Belgium
Jesus and Mary seen over
1958
June
Turzovka, Czechoslovakia,
in an equilateral triangle
(Miracles of the Gods, von Diniken, New York, 1975)
Allow me, please to zap a few authors. Perhaps Hal Lindsay
(The Late Great Planet Earth) could tell us which one of the
above ten "comings"was the much-heralded, still-in-our-future
SECOND COMING? Looks to me like the "second coming"
has come and gone, ten times over - and without an Annageddon! Hal, stop putting down these discerning people of the
eighties!
Rolling Stone magazine's religion correspondent Michael
Thomas (The Shroud offurin, in issue of December 29, 1978)
thought it quite an avant-garde idea that contemplating the DNA
allegedly imbedded in the shroud might give a US team of biochemists the capability to clone Him. Readers, please note that
the Original.is very much alive today and visiting Earth
regularly!
.
.
Then there are 489 fatiguingly researched pages comprising
Holy Blood, Holy Grail by M. Baigent, R. Leigh, and Henry
Lincoln (Dell, 1983) intended to support the climax of the book,
that "Jesus" mummified body may be concealed iri the vicinity of a castle in the Pyrenees!" (p.401)
Notice similarities below to recent UFO sightings (author's
italics):
Mary floating above the gound, InApr 6
1604
gelstadt, Germany
Mary on a cloud over Lyons, France
Jan 2
1882
Oct 13
Fatima, Portugal: 50,000 witnessed a
1917
stationary, yet looping, pale silver plaque; in it three witnesses saw Mal)'
Mary surrounded by light and a
Oct
2
1933
greenish-red revolving Sun; Herzele,
Belgium

Pursuit 151

1946

Jun 11

1948

Nov 11

1954
1968

Apr 12

1970

Apr 7

Mary in a cloud over Pasman,

Dalmatia
Man of Aspang, Austria, saw a ~oud
stop over the Konigsberg, become
lighter and split open; from it
"floated" Mary
Eisenberg, Gennany: Mary was seen
"floating" in a gleaming sphere
Egyptian photographer Wagib Rizk
Matta photographed Mary in the sky
over a Coptic church near Cairo
(Miracles of the Gods, von Diiniken)
Bayside, New York: a circle of
"brilliimt light descending" fonned in
"terrible fires about the ball;' ~ in it
were seen Mary and Jesus (reported by
Mrs. Vernoica Lueken of Bayside)

There they are - literally right on our doorsteps are these

time-dilated cosmos commuters who have been identified by
others, or have identified themselves down thro~gh ~ centuries
thus far, as living, breathing, flesh-and-blood folk. A bit older
yes, but physcially alive nonetheless! (But do!1't see me as so
naive that I can't dismiss the reappearances as,!Jnly "visions"
of religious fanatics.)
. :.
Apparently these ascensions and re-a~ were not acts
of an omniscient God; they were acts of ex~terrestrials. We
Earthlings should deal with this and know that we .are ~ng
with reality: Dr. Luscher, a Ph.D. at Munich T,ihical University, explained: "The result of measurement in,a system in motion, will be different from measurement in a comparatiyely
static system. Einstein's theorem is an equation which links a
comparatively static system (Earth) with a system in motion
(spaceship)."
.
.
As to philosophical "therefores ... " and religious "Now
what?s," my premise that Jesus Christ is physically alive and
only 61 years of age due to time dilation in a spaceship,. is iny
challenge to men of letters, men of the cloth. I'm weari~ by
3,000 years of evangelical ecstasies of ignorance, or deliberate
deceit. Understandably, questions remain. With those extrater-
restrials having all that technology going for them, why did (do)
they persist in putting us on? Over the course of 2,500 years
they have not disclosed where they come from, or why they
come.
.' May I pose as a devil's advocate against my premise?
A) Howare OUpalIU pBSSIsg. the. tbue of day lor 30
rears ilJ a spacecraft?
.
Rebuttal: The Dogon tribe of Africa gives supportiVe evidence
that a planet of the binary dog-star Sirius, 8.4 light years away,
is the ETs' home. Sitchin, in his reading of the Sumerian clay
tablets, has found graphic proof that aliens live on our solar
system's outennost planet - Manluk - which orbits the Sun
~ every 3,600 years. Perhaps the spacecraft travelers sojourn
there between Earth visits?
B) How about pro~ (Iood,. water, etc.) lor a tnUJsit 0I11JOl'e tbIUI tlUrty years?
Rebuttal: ETs fed i6,OOOJewish families for over forty years
in ~ desert With their "manna machine," so there's.one 8boald.
(The MIlIUIa Machine, George Sas~, Rodney Dale, 9ranada
Publishing, London, 1979)
.

C) AD tlve 01 tbem ilJ ODe spacesbip?

.
Rebuttal: Maybe, but what's the difference? It beats'trying
to rationalize that a cloud, vaporous and gossamer, canied them
up into the sky. Without pressurized ~bins, humans can't stay
Pursuit 152

alive above 30,000 feet! (Pages 54-55 of Blumrich's Spaceships

of Ezekiel amplify this.)
D) . Wbykidllllp them?

Rebuttal: .LePoer Trench (op. cit. ,p.4) clarifies. Today there

are numerous reports of kidnappings by ETs.
While talking with you I just discovered two more Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the Bible. Though, thousands of
years old, they match present-day descriptions of UFOs:

Zechariah 5:5 -"Then I turned and lifted up mine eyes

and looked, and behold, it flying roll. And he (an ETI) said
unto me: 'What seest ~ou?' And I announced, 'I see Ii fly'~
ing roll; the length is '20 cubits, the breadth thereof 10
cubits':" (The roll is 35-40 feet long, its width half its
length.)
Evidently old Zech was standing beside a proud ET who had
pointed out his ship in the sky.
Peter, in Acts 10: 11,16, describes a spaceship:
And he saw heaven opened and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit as the 4 corners. . ,. and the vessel was received up again intO heaven
.,. and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing.

Interesting that fisherman Peter was so thoroughly familiar with

seafaring vessels!
In closing, may I offer an apology? Since the need for apology
seems to have escaped the attention of those aforementioned,
I offer.this apology in lieu of theirs: von Diniken only,put Enoch
ina spaceship (op. cit., p. 175). The Rev. Barry H.Downing
only extrapolated Christ as in a spaceship. (The Bible & Flying
Saucers, Avon, New Yorlt, 1970, p. 164) To this date, no writer
in the UFO/ETI field has achieved to my Premise. They have
failed to carry through to the theorem of time dilation, which
says that for people traveling near the speed of/ight,lilture time

is the Past being funny in that in any present time, it (the Past)
can co-exist with the Future.
. R~all the "twQ men" in white apparel, described in Acts
1: 10? They positively guaranteed the re-appearances of all ten
of those aforementioned! "THIS SAME JESUS WIDCH IS
TAKEN UP FROM YOU INTO HEAVEN, SHALL SO
COME IN LIKE MANNER AS YE HAVE SEEN IDM GO
INTO HEAVEN. " That is as explicit as telling us that He will
. be flying Pan-Am during his round-trips!
Therefore, as in the past and far into our future, like a flat
stone skipped over water, Jesus Christ (now 61 years old) and
~ompany will continue to4iP in and out of our Earth time.
I don't think I've compromised or belittled Jesus. His

. image hils not suffered from the conclusions to which

my research led me, for after all, a premise is an
assumption - R.R.

~.

.:'

HELP!!

'.'

I am researching the phenomena of ".EVP" - Electronic

Voice Phenomena - and. have collected a num~ of anomalous
voices on tape. IfanyonC knOws where I could have these voices .
analyzed (by any method ,available, preferably voice stress
analysis) or if you would like 10 join me in my ~h (southern
California area), plea~e contac~ ~e: Brian Black,.10 Almond
Ave., Oak View, CA 93022 - phone (805) 649-9034 after 6
p.m.
Fourth Qu~er 1984

The editors express much appreciation to SITU member George Andrews for translating this
interview with Prof. lean-Pierre Petit, a leading French physicist who has spent more than
twenty years investigating reports of UFO phenomena. Professor Petit's interview by MarieTherese de Brosse appeared in the October 26, 1984 issue of the French Magazine Paris-Match.

Where Have the Flying Saucers Gone?

Do UFOs really exist? In any case, they present a serious problem which should be dealt with in an unprejudiced scientific
manner. This is the opinion of Prof. Jean-Pierre Petit, a physicist
at CNRS (the French equivalent of NASA) who specializes in
the mechanics of fluids. His opinion was emphatically stated
on Michel Polac's "Right to an Answer" TV program. He does
not think that the extraterrestrial hypothesis should be rejected
without examining the evidence. His forthcoming book, to be
published by Belin in the form of a comic strip, deals with this
subject.
Jean-Pierre Petit is also the inventor of a genuine flying saucer
which breaks the sound barrier without making a 'bang', using
a method that does away with shock waves. (UFOs are known
to travel at supersonic speeds without making noise.) Such a
gifted researcher would have many interesting things to say, as
Marie-Therese de Brosse discovered when she interviewed him
for the readers of Paris-Match.

Marie-Therese de Brosse: At the moment, no one is talking

about UFOs. Why do you choose such a moment to insist
that genuine scientific research be carried out in this field,
as you did last week on Michel Polac's TV program? Isn't
this paradoxical?
Jean-Pierre Petit: UFO phenomena occur in waves. The last
French wave was in 1979. Now we are in a period of calm, .
during which there are few reports. Nevertheless, the problem
continues to be a real one!
M-T.B.: Do you think that the problem of UFOs should be

taken seriously?
J -P. P .: My. personal opinion is that it should. However, it
suffers from denigration by scientists. For the last 30 years, this
subject has been almost monopolized by hucksters and hoaxers, who are often the same people. A glance at the existing
literature demonstrates that. Therefore this problem now has an
extremely dubious reputation and very few scientists are tempted to study this most baffling of enigmas.

M-T.B.; Why have you taken this risk?

J-P.P.: I work in a field that is relevant to UFO phenomena.
My specialty is the mechanics of fluids, and for the last decade
I have been studying electromagnetic propulsion, or
magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). I asked myself if it would be
possible to make a flying machine that could travel at supersonic speeds without making shock waves. This is exactly what
the flying saucers do, as described by many witnesses. For those
who wish to know more about it, I have already had a book
published by Belin entitled The Wall of Silence which presents
the material in a way that can be understood by those without
a scientific background. At first, my theories were greeted with
scepticism by my colleagues. Last spring, the CNRS directors
decided to have my hypothesis tested by the staff of the Institute
of the Mechanics of Fluids at Marseille; they are the most expert in this field. The CNRS insisted on a definite answer, saying: "If this hypothesis is erroneous, explain to us clearly why.
If not, if it is valid, you will endorse it." Three months later,
my project was endorsed, and a CNRS research grant awarded

Fourth Quarter 1984

to one of my students, Lebrun, who is now writing his doctoral

thesis on the subject of UFOs with the approval of CNRS.

M-T .B.: Thus you have demonstrated that, in spite of conventional opinion, it is possible to fly at supersonic speeds
without making noise, as UFOs seem to do.
J-P.P.: Yes, and when you look at the photos of my experiments, you see that my machines bear a striking resemblance
to what UFO witnesses have described.

M-T.B.: Could you briefly explain your discovery to us?

J-P.P.: About 150 years ago, the English scientist Michael
Faraday was the first to experiment with electromagnetic propulsion, now called magnetohydrodynamics, or MHD. During
the 1960s interest in this idea revived in many different parts
of the world. There was much theoretical work. Many expenments were carried out. What most researchers had in mind
was a propUlsion system for long space-voyages, such as interplanetary travel to Mars. Most of this research was abandoned when projects for manned space-missions to Mars or Venus
were given up. However, I continued to work on it. One fine
day, I dreamed-up a strange round machine. As it moved through
the air, it created a magnetic field and a strong electric discharge,
which made the air around it luminous. This discharge was
created by using electrodes. Therefore the light was more intense near the electrodes.

M-T.B.: Could the well-known UFO "windows" be caused

simply by electrodes?
J-P.P.: It's not impossible.

M-T.B.: But what is the use of your machine?

J-P.P.: Well, if you can build into a craft something compact
and light in weight which can produce a very strong magnetic
field and create a powerful electric discharge in the air, you can
act upon the surrounding atmosphere with considerable force.
It could be used to propel a flying machine at fantastic speeds,
such as several thousand kilometers per hour.
M-T.B.: But then there would be an immediate 'bang'!
J-P.P.: Things are different with MHD. Instead of pushing
the air behind it, the machine draws in what is in front of it,
thereby creating a partial vacuum, into which it plunges.

M-T.B.: H I understand correctly, your MIlD machine

travels through the air like a mole tunnels through the
ground. It makes a hole in the sound barrier! But where
does the energy for propulsion come from?
J-P .P.: With a vacuum in front and atmospheric pressure
behind it, a craft only a few meters in diameter can withstand
pressure of hundreds of tons, which enables it to attain fantastic
speeds.

M-T.B.: A diffused light, windows, fantastic and noiseless

acceleration: exactly like UFOs. But all this must be merely
science-fiction?
J-P .P.: Not at all! It could be catastrophic to create an intense shock wave at high speed and low altitude. You don't want
to tear all the roofs off along your route when flying crosscountry. When you exceed the sound barrier slightly, you break
windows. At three to five times that speed, you destroy houses.
If we survive the next fifty years, such noiseless electromagnetic

Pursuit 153

aircraft will ineluctably replace the present type of airplane, just

as automobiles replaced horse-drawn vehicles. What we need
to do to accomplish this is to make electric generators about
twenty times ligher than we can make them at present.
M-T .B.: How many people are working on MIlD in France?
J-P .P.: Two of us: my student Lebrun and myself.
M-T.B.: And elsewhere?
J-P .P.: In Russia, where I've been several times, more than
five thousand highly qualified researchers are working on MHO.
The smallest MHO research laboratoI)' occupies as much space
as a nuclear research installation and represents a similar financial investment. The Japanese, the Americans, and the Dutch
are also at work on this venture, which will revolutionize the
future of air travel.
M-T.B.: I see from the scientific papers you presented at
the International MHO Congress in Moscow in 1983 that
you had been doing experimental work. Was this financed
by the CNRS?
J-P .P.: Nobody gave me any financial help. I was working
under the most impossible conditions, using borrowed equipment. I was determined to demonstrate that this is a valid field
for research.
M-T.B.: From what you say, you seem to be the only
physicist who has studied UFOs. However, in the United
States quite a few scientists have studied this subject, such
as Professor Hynek, Jacques Vallee, and others.
J-P.P.: None of these ufologists are physicists. Therefore they
were unable to understand from the witness reports what was
going on. Discouraged, they all went astray - into erroneous
parapsychological hypotheses. They finally split into two groups,
the skeptics and the cult members, who 'study" UFOs by
levitating tables, telepathy, and automatic wrting. The skeptics
reduce it all to conventional science by explanations couched
,in terms of delusions. The skeptics are often the type of people
who bum what they adore.' ,
The cult members make me thiilk of what the sociologists called the Cargo Cult. During the war in the Pacific, American
soldiers established a small forward base on an island where
the natives had never seen white people. Within a few hours
the islanders became acquainted with bulldozers, jeeps,
airplanes, Coca-Cola, chewing gum, hot dogs, and other
delicacies. Every week an airplane brought equipment and supplies. For the natives, this plane was a symbol of abundance;
to them it'seemed like celestial manna. All of a sudden the
Americans disappeared, whereupon the disappointed natives
formed a cult to send their incantations to the heavens, imploring'the return of the cargo plane. A decade later, astonished
an~ropologists discovered a real and thoroughly organized
religion.
This UFO mythology, the 'psi' hypothesis, may represent a
similar approach. Religious sects tend to flourish because they
provide a source of substantial profit for the new priests.
M-T.B.: But in France, isn't there a serious research
organization, GEPAN, which is associated with CNRS, and
which was created to study this subjec;t?
J-P .P.: It's time to dispel some illusions: GEPAN consists
of one technician and one secretary. It is true that the results
of ,police and military investigations are forwarded to this
organization in Toulouse. It has received 1,800 reports since
1977. Many of them are worthless, being misidentifications of
natural phenomena, or of meteorites or satellite reentries. Other
reports are weeded out by the police, who do their best to
eliminate fraudulent claims. For example, the famous CergyPontoise case was never supported by the police, who made no
Pursuit 154

mention in their report of Frank Fontaine's supposed abduction;

he has since admitted it was a hoax, though quite well-arranged.
About six months ago, during a telephone conversation with
Mr. Velasco, who runs GEPAN, he told me: "It's tenible that
when our investigations are completed" there is no further
'research done. The reports are simply filed away" and we know
no more than we did before."
M-T.B.: Do you question the usefulness of GEPAN?
J-P.P.: GEPAN is a praiseworthy effort, for which we waited
a long time. Unfortunately, when what was needed was a risktaking adventurer like Indiana Jones, what we got was
bureaucrats. Besides, this organization cannot cany out adequate
research with the minimal funding it gets.
'
M-T.B.: Why don't the authorities show more interest?
, J-P.P.: In my opinion, it's an instinctiv~ rejection. Civiliza,tions are like living beings. When two individuals meet, three
attitudes are possible: coexistence, one devours the other, or
they go different ways. The existence of another civilization is
frightening, because if it is technically superior, it can'enslave
us. This is a persistent theme in science-fiction. But another
possibility is even more alarming: If beings visit us without
enslaving us, they may also be superior to us morally, socially,
or politically. Contact could thus cause our primitive' and barbaric social structure to disintegrate. As our terrestrial civilization is unable to coexist without shock, it chooses to reject the
phenomena in a defensive reaction which could be compared
to that of Dr. Zaius in "Planet of the Apes."
"
M-T.B.: You're not very complimentary to the human
species.
J-P.P.: Let's look around us! Vast numbers of humans are
dying of hunger while others are accumulating completely insane weaponI)'. We have only the slightest chance to escape
being annihilated during the next five to ten years. Our science
is in a state of total perversion. EveI)'thing humans are capable
of inventing is first of all, and with the highest priority, applied
to the arms race; 95 % of human creative activity is channeled
into this insanity. We are suicidal maniacs!
M-T.B.: Let's return to the subject of UFOs. Do you believe
in extraterrestrial visitations?
J-P.P.: In dealing with this subject, the world 'believe' is
meaningless. It is not a scientific approach. What I think is,
that there is a real problem which ~s to be examined by those
capable of dealing with it.
M-T.B.: Let us suppose, as you seem to admit, that extraterrestrials have been visiting us. Wby don't they make ~n
tact with our authorities instead of, in this weird and
ridiculous fashion, with the so-called 'contaclees'?
J-P.P.: I(there was such a contact, numerous scientific and
technical secrets would ~me known to the authorities, and
would be immediately converted into weapons systems' that
would accelerate the disastrous process in which we are already
engaged.
M-.... B.: According to you, this situation of non-contad could
be de6berate. The extraterrestrials would be ~ to leave
as few traces as possible, even to the point of purposely con~~~
.
J-P.P.: That is why certain phenomena, such as the'Transen-Provence case (which I spoke of on the Michel Polac TV
program, and which we'll discuss again in a a few minutes),
are so important for us scientists. It means 'that UFO occupants
do leave traces they are unable to conceal- durable'biologic8I
traces.
'
M-T.B.: Don't scientists state that it is impossible to travel
the fantastic interstellar distances?
'

Fourth Quarter :1984

J-P.P.: One hundred years ago, almost all the technology we

take for granted today - microprocessors, nuclear energy, space
travel, etc. - was completely inconceivable. Who knows what
new discoveries science will make in the next decade, or the
next century, concerning space travel?
M-T .B.: Witnesses claim to have seen humanoids of ditTerent
sizes, more or less similar to ourselves, coming out of UFOs.
What do you think? Are these jokes or hallucinations? Isn't
such anthropomorphism suspicious?
J-P.P.: The fact that there is life on other planets is disputed
less and less. Although today one may still hear famous
biologists defend the idea that we are completely alone in the
entire universe, these speeches reveal their total ignorance of
what has been going on in astrophysics during the last twenty
years. Astrophysics shows the cosmos to be a veritable culture
medium. When a star bursts, which often happens on a galactic
scale, the hydrogen and helium atoms are stacked against each
other during the deflagration. All the heavier atoms are thus
created in a fraction of a second. And these are the same atoms
that are created every time, anywhere in the universe. The same
scenario takes place again and again, infinitely. The atoms have
a strong tendency to combine with each other and form complex molecules. The stars appear to be like spores creating
parcels of life. For example, at the center of our galaxy there
is a cloud of organic matter whose mass is equivalent to 500
times that of our sun, which is spreading out at the speed of
80 kilometers per second. This cloud was probably derived from
a type of instability on a gigantic scale which affects the nucleus
of the galaxy. Life elsewhere improbable'] What a joke! The
cosmos is a magnificent culture medium. Another point is that
nature seems to lack imagination. For ex;:t.mple, we see there
are only about a hundred different atoms. Everything that is not
stable disintegrates and dies, as if these atoms were not permanent. Life-forms on other planets should resemble life-forms
here.
M-T .B.: You don't believe in an infinite variety of possible
forms of life?
J-P.P.: I believe that biochemistry based on carbon is extremely competitive, and in the functioning universe, what is competitive dominates. Some scientists are beginning to think that
a sort of line exists which slopes to a greater or lesser degree
toward an evolutionary axis. Imagine a mountain with a valley
more pronounced than the others, toward which all water tends
to flow. Certainly there will be variations, but they will be nearer
than we thought a few years ago. What happened on Earth was
that species were isolated from each other in certain areas such
as Australia, for example, during long periods of time. In spite
of that, aside from a few variations, animal forms are not so
very different. There has been a clearly marked phenomenon
of convergence in spite of differences in the environment.
M-T.B.: How do you see the extraterrestrials?
J-P.P.: The human form doesn't seem unlikely, with considerable variation in weight and size. Don't forget that on Earth
the smallest dwarf was about 40 centimeters and the largest giant
about three meters, which represents a factor of over seven-toone in height and 4OO-to-one in weight! The extraterrestrials are.
on Earth. Besides the classic variations in humanity, which are
substantial, consider such anomalies as hairiness, horny eyelids,
reptilian skin, etc. Some of these are not perpetuated. Others
give an idea of the variations possible in what may exist
elsewhere. Some humanoid extraterrestrials might be marsupials,
. as are some of the higher mammals.
M-T .B.: Thus, extraterrestrials in some respects are similar
to us - two arms, twolegs, two eyes, two lobes oftbe brain.
. Fburth Quarter 1984

J-P.P.: With a certain similarity in biological and social

evolution!
M-T.B.: Then what would be the differences?
J-P.P.: There could be very important differences, derived
from differences in basic environmental conditions. You realize
that in our solar system, Earth is the only planet whose surface
has undergone fragmentation and continental drift. There are
no tectonic plate phenomena on Mars or Venus.
M-T.B.: What would a planet be like without fragmentation or continental drift?
J-P.P.: There would not be much contrast in altitudes, and
no mountains since their formation is linked to telescoping tectonic plates. The absence of natural barriers would permit an
intense mixing of species on the surface of a continent composed of a single terrain, leading to more uniformity. There would
be only one humanoid race, speaking one language.
M-T.B.: Freed from cultural and linguistic barriers, would
the inhabitants of such a planet attain a planetary form of
government more quickly tban we would?
J-P.P.: Yes! They would have a much greater chance of attaining the beginning of wisdom before discovering the really
dangerous nuclear weapons.
M-T.B.: Why?
J-P.P.: Suppose that the only continent on Earth was Europe.
Forget about Asia, Africa, the United States. With minimal differences, we would have attained our present level of culture.
As European culture becomes more uniform, war is less likely
to occur within Europe. The Franco-German wars are a thing
of the past. Economic and social problems remain, but no longer
a permanent danger of war:
M-T.B.: In other words, because of the continental drift,
which brought about diversulC8tion of our cultures, we have
attained an extremely dangerous technological development
before being able to resolve our cultural differences?
J-P.P.: One can see how two planets, because ofa completely plausible detail of this type, could have very different
histories. Indeed, Earth is a real patchwork from the point of
view of evolution and history. Some populations are in the 20th
century, some in the Middle Ages, some still in the Iron Age.
The chances of seeing everyone reach an agreement before it
is too late seems. very slim.
M-T.B.: At what distance might be the nearest system inhabited by superior beings?
J-P.P.: It's hard to say. Fifteen light-years, a hundred, more']
No one knows. It should not be forgotten that two planets are
able to communicate only if they are at equivalent degrees of
civilization. Some have the potential for civilization but the process is only at its beginning. Others could have self-destructed
ten or a hundred thousand years before our time. Since 1934,
we have been sending out electronic radio messages which
would, without question, be picked up at great distances by
antennas similar to ours. Since the 1950s we have had abundant UFO sightings. It is possible that extraterrestrials living
at a distance of 15 light-years from Earth, picked up our radio
messages in 1949 and decided to come take a look. That is a
guess.
M-T.B.: How long would the trip take?
J-P.P.: I don't know. Does the word 'trip' make sense in such
a context?
M-T.B.: We've been listening to radio waves from allover
the universe for many years, but we've never received an
inteUigent message.
J-P.P.: Not having received anything is not proof that there
is no other civilization in the galaxies. It is possible that Earth
Pursuit 155

is being bombarded with multitudes of radio messages which

our scientists are incapable of understanding. Some people have
expressed this idea: ,.If extraterrestrials existed in our galaxy,
they would have swanned across it and colonized it." That is
typical anthropomorphic rationalization. No one here seems
capable of imagining that it is possible to simply observe Earth
without intervening. We think immediately in terms of colonization, conquest of resources, and occupation by force.

M -T .B.: On last Saturday's TV program you mentioned the

mysterious Trans-en-Provence case as being of exceptional
importance. Would you give us a detailed description.?

would be impossible to reproduce under laboratory conditions

with our present scientific knowledge, no ordinary chemical action could have produced such results. According to Professor
Bounias, in order to act on the nuclei of plant cells, nuclear radiation at the potency of a million rads wO\lld be necessary. He
conducted such an experiment himself, at the request of the CEA
(French counterpart to our Nuclear Regulatory Commission).

M-T.B.: I suppose that such sources of nuclear energy are

not found in nature, nor are they accessible to ordinary
citizens.
J-P.P.: Fortunately not! Besides, Professor Bounias showed
that the potency he used produced results very inferior to those
measured from the Trans-en-Provence samples. One must also
consider the extent of the area affected, about 300 square meters.

J-P.P.: About 5 p.m. on January 8, 1981, at Trans-enProvence, near Draguignan in the Var region, a Mr. Renato
Nicolai was puttering around his garden. The weather was fair
and there were no clouds. According to Mr. Nicolai, he was
startled by a 'whistling' and saw a craft pass above the trees
next to his garden; it landed with a dull thud on the hard and
rocky soil. He described the craft as two and a half meters in
diameter, of a shape resembling two bowls glue~ together. It
was the color of lead and had legs resembling cement buckets.
His curiosity aroused, Mr. Nicolai approached, staying behind
cover until he was about twenty meters from it, then watched
the object for about twenty seconds. Abruptly it took off with
a slight hiss and quickly disappeared in the sky, leaving a clearly
marked circular trace on the ground.

M-T.B.: In your opinion, aside from Professor Bounias's

experiments, was the Trans case thoroughly studied by oftical groups, such as GEPAN? .

M-T.B.: There have been hundreds of such sightings,

haven't there?
.

J-P.P.: Unfortunately, on-site investigations by GEPAN are

carried out by personnel without scientific training.

J-P.P.: Yes, but this case is unique in UFO research. Bya

stroke of luck, samples of vegetation were collected under good
conditions by intelligent and conscientious police officers who,
in spite of some confusion and delay, got these extremely
valuable samples to a laboratory where one of the foremost experts in the world on traumatism in plants could examine them
- Professor Bounias, Director of the National Institute of
Agronomy at Avignon.

M-T.B.: Aren't the GEPAN people scientists?

M-T .B.: What did Professor Bounias find that was so disturbing to those who are skeptical about UFOs?
J-P.P.: One of Professor Bounias' specialties is the effect of
radiation on plants. As soon as he received the samples, he submitted them to a most rigorous and sophisticated series of
analyses, the result of which was irrefutable evidence of clearly marked and totally inexplicable changes. For example, some
young sprouts had the characteristics of old age. The second
stroke of luck was that the phenomenon persisted. Indeed, it"
was not until 39 days after the incident that GEPAN decided
to .take samples systematically every meter from the center of
the circular ground-mark.

M-T.B.: Why did GEPAN, which the police are supposed

to alert in all such cases, wait 39 days before acting?
J-P.P.: As a rule, GEPAN does not investigate a case if there
is only one witness, or when it has rained after marks were made
on the ground. When the police were called to the site, they
phoned GEPAN, and were asked if it had rained there. The
answer was that rain had fallen, so the investigators did not consider it worthwhile to visit the site. If the police had not taken
samples which included the soil surrounding the roots, a precaution which permitted the plants to survive, this case would have
been quickly forgotten.
M-T.B.: In this situation, can hoax or practical joke be total-

ly excluded as a possibility?
J-P.P.: One can always invoke practical jokers. However, in
this case, perpetrating a practical joke would have required exceptional resources. Considering the very sophisticated nature
of the biological alterations in the samples examined, which
Pursuit 156

M-T.B.: So this Trans-en-Provence case is indeed the 'ironclad' case which upsets the UFO skeptics because the
witness's account is of such minor importance when irrefutably objective evidence is available for analysis by scientific methods.
J-P.P.: When faced with a possibility, scientists first try to
explain it in terms of known phenomena. So far, the Trans results
cannot be satisfactorily explained in terms of known phenomena.

J-P.P.: No, and it is disastrous. Mr. Velasco, who is the head

ofGEPAN, has only an industrial certificate as an optician. That
seems to me rather lightweight to deal with a problem such as
this. In the Trans case, if a real scientist had been called in,
he would definitely have carried out analyses that were much
more numerous and complete. It is an authentic miracle that
under such conditions enough of the samples survived to reach
a highly qualified scientist like Professor Bounias. It is the scientists who should be called in for on-site investigations, because
only they know how to conduct them.

M-T.B.: Since Trans, that is to say since 1981, have there

been other such cases?
J-P.P.: A year later, in eastern France a strange craft landed
in a garden near a witness for about twenty minutes. Plant
samples of amaranth were taken that had been underneath the
object and had been visibly affected. The stalks were cut and
they were wrapped in plastic bags. By the time they reached
Professor Bounias, the samples were so rotten that analysis
would have been useless.

M-T.B.: In spite of these failures, you continue to support

the extraterrestrial hypothesis to explain UFOs, beings who
visit us without making themselves known. Aren't you
discouraged?
J-P.P.: I have become used to seeing scientists use their
knowledge to deny any possibility of extraterrestrial visitation.
Everything seems to conspire to make this proposition impossible
to prove. For example, some scientists say: "If UFOs are aircraft traveling at supersonic speeds, we should hear the shock
wave go 'bang'. Since they are completely silent, that means
they do not exist." Today the situation is turning around. The
field no longer seems as arid as it did. UFOs do leave
recognizable traces of their passage, and silent supersonic flight
is becoming integrated into classic science through magnetohydrodynamics. Unexpectedly, there now appearto be substantial possibilities of resolving this enigma; It is certainly high
time that it be done. But will it be done?
~

Fourth Quarter 1984

An Experiment .in Dowsing

by Ivan T. Sanderson
Dowsing is not basically in my line except as yet another
generally "unexplained," the investigation of which is my own
private purlieu and also my duty as the director of our Society.
Nonetheless, it has sort of forced its way into the biological
union, as it were. Actually, the whole business belongs in the
field of physics, or chemiphysics, but it is, nonetheless, a feature
of both plant and animal life; and it was these purely biological
aspects of the matter that eventually forced us to become involved. Let me mention these aspects briefly to demonstrate
what I am talking about.
Every countryman, be he farmer, gardener, sylviculturist, or
professional botanist, and just about everybody in eighth grade
knows that the roOts of plants, and partiCularly of trees, search
out underground water supplies with the growing tips of their
rootlets. Ditchdigger.s and bulldozer operators are constantly
amazed at the comparatively enormous distances that tree roots
may probe horizontally before they tum down to find water.
Nonetheless, it has not as yet been explained how they do this.
Their search, moreover, is not random but directional and, as
often as not, unidirectional.
This ability or capability appears to be inherent in the plant
itself, though the stimulus - in this case standing or running
water - comes from its environment and thus from 'outside'.
Further, it appears to be primarily a function of the cells of the
root system, as may be clearly demonstrated by using a "Y"
cut from a root system along side one taken from a branch, as
is the custom among 'professional' and all other dowsers to
detect water. Try it some time; you will probably be most
surprised.
Among animals, other than people, the exhibition of water
detection is more subtle, less obvious, and so far less known
as to be almost unknown. Yet, almost all animals display an
ability both to go unerringly to surface water and/or to search
from the surface. How they do this has neither been explained
nor properly investigated! Take, for instance, the incredible
swarms of animals, from kangaroos and emus to tiny marsupial
mice, and insects, that congregate around the temporary shallow
lakes that fill up, from time to time, right in the middle of the
great Australian deserts. They come from miles - sometimes
hundreds Of miles - around, unerringly and immediately when
these lakes suddenly fill up, often after years of dessication. Consider also what has been observed of other desert animals in
other deserts, and notably insects that have been observed
meandering about, twiddling their antennae for hours before suddenly starting to dig or burrow furiously downwards. If you dig
alongside them, you will almost invariably hit water, provided
you go down deep enough. By the same token, jungle animals
perform likewise - but upwatds!
This may sound very startling, but it is seldom realized that
in jungle areas, even with the highest mean annual rainfall, there
are almost invariably long periods when no rain at all falls; and
then, due to the guttering and run-off systems of the land-surface,
which is caused by the torrential rains at other times, standing
or running surface water is just as rare therein as in a desert.
In fact, the only standing water available at all, as is only too
well known to those who have been lost in true primary tropical
forest during a dry season, is in holes halfway up the giant trees.
The amazing thing is that all manner of animals congregate
around such water-filled trees - for they are often hollow, like

Fourth Quarter 1984

factory chimneys, and filled from ground-level to a hole where

the first branches divide - but the really amazing thing is that
these are not exclusively arboreal animals, or even climbers!
I have found quantities oflarge, ground-living toads that do not
seem to be able to climb a one-foot log, and even some tortoises
that seemingly can't climb at all, high up in these trees that contain water. How do these sorts of animals detect this water?
Now, some people(s) have the same ability; and without using sticks or other devices. Notable are the "Bushmen" of
Southwest Africa and the "Slackfellers" of Australia, both of
whom have been properly observed in the act; and the results
of which observations have been duly reported. Somehow these
desert peoples go to both temporary surface water and to the
locations of underground water just as unerringly as do the lesser
animals. All kinds of suggestions have been put forward to explain this ability, but never to my knowledge that they may have
a "built-in" dowsing apparatus. The average investigator feels
safer when he suggests that the people follow animals, or that,
in the case of the surface water, they can "smell" it, as it is
borne by winds even to great distances!
I come now to some results of our contemplation of these facts.
When we were forced to "do something" about this matter we
searched around for some experiments we might set up that
might produce some valid leads to proper scientific investigation. It then immediately became apparent that the first thing
required was an examination of the physical factors involved
in the detection of or attraction to water, on the parts of both
plants and animals, for, without explanations of these "forces,"
or whatever you wish to call them, and which must manifestly
exist, it was obviously useless to start trying to unravel the
behaviour of said plants and animals. And it was here that we
really got a surprise.
In initiating any novel search (and, even often research) you
never know just where you are going to come out; while the
most troublesome aspect of any such endeavour is "to keep on
the beam" and not go wandering off on any of the innumerable
side-roads that invariably open up as one goes along. Now,
despite the fact that our interests fall wholly within the general
field of the natural sciences, we have learned over the years that
some of our best thinkers, with the wid~"t range of ideas and
the most "open J!linds" (though 1 abhorthat term), are not scientists, but technologists, and notably the engineers and
gadgeteers. (We happen to have a "stable" of "tame" ones
to whom I always appeal before initiating any enquiry!)
On this occasion, however, I had cause to call in also representatives of a "breed" of which I have considerable suspicion:
this is the psychological and other "mental" specialists: and
this because everybody seems to insist that "dowsing" has a
parapsychological basis, and that, to over-simplify the matter,
the ability to dowse is exclusively the ability of the human subconcious or other' 'powers" of the psyche, or whatever you want
to call the non-conscious or non-material side of a living entity. Not only have I always suspected this assertion, I have as
near proof, within our current logic, that the very notion itself
is rubbish, and for the simple reason that whatever the
"power(s)" employed by the human, other animal, or plant body
may be, the effects they produce are physical, and are therefore
not only susceptible to physical analysis, but must be studied
on a physical basis. In fact, I do not see what, if anything, psyPursuit 157

chologists can contribute to any investigation of this sort any

more than they can to anything else except emotions. Nevertheless, we called some in, even at the risk of their causing delays
in the work and muddling the issue with their lunatic theories
- which is just what they did until we got them to shut up,
listen, and watch, before commenting or theorizing!
The real surprise on this occasion came, however, from the
engineering department; and it was a double surprise. First, the
whole direction of our investigation was given to us as it were,
in a nutshell, by one of them at the outset and, secondly, our
whole procedure from then on followed a line suggested by them
and handled by them. The results not only astonished but infuriated the psych-boys, and considerably distressed all the
.laymen and most of the biologists for, a~ we came to realize,
it completely confirmed our contention that the whole business.
is purely physical and one that need not have anything to do
with any living thing - human or otherwise - and it appeared
to oppose or cancel their most cherished beliefs - namely, that
dowsing is a purely human attribute and somehow an operation
of the psyche. That hu~s may play the part of a machine on
occasion, or if required, is beside the point in this instance, and
requires an entirely separate enquiry in which I contend we
would run into just the same problem - namely, that whatever
effects are observed would still be physical; susceptible to
physical analysis; and wholly dependent upon physical laws.
What we discovered in our experiments, moreover, lends great
weight to this assumption.
Now, the basis of proper scientific enquiry is that the results
of experiments may be and can be duplicated, reduplicated, and
reproduced elsewhere, at other times, and at the wish of other
investigators. In this instance we reduplicated them many times
and with new and varying witnesses, though we had to use the
same location. However, so precise, definite, and simple were
the results obtained, that we decided not to publish them until
we could persuade some other groups, equally qualified and using equivalent apparatus and as far as possible a similar location and set-up, but totally unknown to us, to run their own series
of experiments. To this end also, we decided it not just prudent
but essential that even the names of our group not be published
in the first instance, in case others might contact them and be
influenced by them .
. When we decided to investigate this troublesome matter, we
invited the following group to attend and assist both with ideas,
practical implementation, supervision, and analysis. There were
three biologists: one a teacher of general biology, working on
his thesis in micro-plant-physiology; a doctor of human
pathology; and the writer, acting as a straight zoologist. There
were three engineers - two holding degrees in physics - an
inspector of government arsenals; an electro-magnetics expert,
owner of his own company making specialized electronic devices
.for the services; and a design engineer of top rank, who
specializes in electronic circuitry and who moves from one large
company to another in an advisory capacity to "get the bugs
out of recalcitrant devices" as he puts it. This man has also
specialized in the electric circuitry of the human body and the
new developments in the field of mental and corporeal interference with it by radio and other E.M.1. effects. There were then
a teacher in the department of psychology at a well-known college, and a practicing psychologist (not a psychiatrist or psychoanalyst). At one time or another two science writers and straight
reporters were present. We also had four local citizens who made
a practice of dowsing, and two of these - one of them a Town
Clerk - practiced it professionally for wel1-diggers. Some dozen
others witnessed the experiments from time to time. It was the

Pursuit 158

..

first of the engineers who set us on our course, and by a statement made at the beginning of our first planning session.
The town clerk was w'idely kDown in the area for his ability
to find water. He put on a demonstration for us before we sat
down to the first meeting - finding, incidentally, water just
where we finally had to dig a deep well three years later! First,
he cut a "Y-twig" from one of our pear trees, and then demonstrated the difference between this and various other woods. But
then he happened to mention that he had found a wire coathanger worked better than any twigs, even willows. This too
he demonstrated, and it was while he was doing so that the
engineer from the arsenal turned up. He is a quiet man and said
nothing until we went into conference; then he opened up in
not unscathing terms. The substance of what he said was as
follows.
It is, he told us, somewhat of a rarity to find a proper plan
of water or other pipes, or of power-lines laid under the thick
concrete floors of arsenal. buildings. However, he told us, his
department, which is responsible for maintenance of such construction, long ago gave up the wearisome practice of digging
up said floors to find the pipes. "All we do," he said "is have
somebody, or anybody, just walk back and forth with two 'Ls' ,
.tracing out the paths of all the buried lines to their inlets and
outlets so that we can spot the one needing attention. Only then
do we call in the drills and go right for the trouble spot." At
first we thought he was joshing the town clerk; but he offered
to demonstrate immediately. And this he did right outside the
house after only about half an hour's preparation.
We have a workshop well-stocked with supplies as well as
tools, and from these he select some lengt.~s of copper, brass,
iron, glass, and plastic tubing which he cut into eight-inch
lengths. Next, he selected as many kinds of heavy wires and
rods as were available, and he had me light up a bunsen-burner
in our lab and bend two glass rods into "Ls," with one tine
seven and the other five inches long. Meantime, he similarly
bent the wires and rods of various substances, one of which was
heavy welding wire. We then tramped out to the front lawn,
which runs from the front of the house at an angle of about twenty degrees, to the road sixty feet away. As shown in Fig. I, there.
were two pipes buried to a depth of four feet under this lawn
and running from the house, parallel, and direct1:S' down this
slope to a well and a drain respectively. The first, when the pump
in the house was at rest, of course, remained full of stationary
water; the other pipe, which was also of iron, but of larger diameter, was either drained of all water or could be filled by turn.
ing on four faucets in the house.
Our engineer friend just walked slowly from right to left and
back again from points A to B, holding the various sections of
tubing upright in his clenched fists (as shown in Fig. D), but
with matched pairs of "L" rods with their short tines in these
tubes and the long ones pointing forward.
As he crossed the pipes, these "Ls" moved in various ways
- either both to the right; both to the left; towards each other,
forwards and inwards until they crossed, and then back again;
backwards, until they pointed directly backwards or crossed over
the operator's wrists; and in various other combinations. What
is more, they always did the same thing, when passed oyer (a)
the pipe full of standing water, (b) and empty. pipe, (c) water
flowing upa pipe, as to the pump, and (d) water flowing down
to the drain; though the movements of the tines were, of course,
different in each case. They performed exactly the same with
eve.rybody! (I am not saying here which motions they performed
in which case, because this is one of the things that we niost
wish to have checked.)

Fourth Quarter 1984. "

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Fourth Quarter 1984

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Pursuit 159

This demonstration really shook up everybody, and notably

the professional dowsers and the psych-boys; the latter being
really very annoyed at first, though I have to admit that eyen
they expressed grave doubts about their previous opinions quite
early in the proceedings. I have to admit that I, personally, could
hardly contain my glee, as it was something just like this that
I had "wanted" to demonstrate, and these preliminary results
offered me an enonnously simplified method for doing so. Nevertheless, the rest of that work-day, and much of the night, was
taken up with discussion and not a little argument, during which
all the old saws about the human influence were dragged out.
The group broke up and retired vel)' late, and they all slept
late the next day. I did not. I was out collecting materials as
soon as the local stores opened, so that, by the time the others
reassembled, I had some construction work well under way. This
consisted of a structure as shown, in elevation, in Fig. m. The
four-by-four uprights were sunk four feet into 'the ground and
their butts were finnly anchored with large rocks before the holes
were filled in. The horizontal wire was quarter-inch plain (not
braided) telephone guide-wire, and, this was pulled taut with
heavy tum-buckles (Fig. III) at either end, and these in tum were
hooked to five-foot metal stakes driven into the hard ground at
a forty-five degree angle. This wire ran exactly northeast to
southwest. (Later, as a check, we moved it to run exactly north
to south, but precisely the same effects were obtained - except for the angle of the "Ls" subtended.)
From this wire we hung a balanced, light, wooden frame
suspended from a small clockwork motor geared to a small pulley wheel by two equalized belts. Below and to the front, pairs
of tubes were held in slots in an almost upright" position and,
in these, pairs of ' 'Ls" were dropped just as they had been when
hand-held. The tubes were tipped ever so slightly forward in
order to keep the forward-pointing tines of the "Ls" from being blown or otherwise directed to either side by other' 'natural"
fon:es. The wire, of course, stretched over the same area and
along the same line as A to B in Fig. I. The house is in a milelong, low valley, containing only one other building, a cinderblock, two-stol)' house a quarter of a mile down the road which
runs down the gutter of this valley. Opposite the house, and
on the other side of this road is a steeply sloping hay field.
When the construction work was completed, I herded evel)'body about a hundred yards up this field, anned with several
pairs of binoculars and a small telescope; and, when they were
all set up, I wound up the clockwork motor; released it; and
then ran like hell over the fence and up to join the others. At
first we ran the machine at vel)' low speed but, subsequently,
at ever-increasing velocities.
And, what do you know? The "L-rods" perfonned, and in
variably, in exactly the same manner with this entirely mechanical set-up as they had when hand-held. And, although we repeated this simple experiment a number of times and with as .
many variations as we could think of, even to changing the compass orientation of the wire itself, we got the same results.
At first it might appear that the investigation gave conclusive
results, but this is really far from the case; hence our desire to
have others try to reproduce these experiments in as similar conditions as possible. While it would seem to prove that dowsing, for water that is, though it worked equally well for an airfilled iron pipe, has nothing to do with human beings, and looks
like a purely natural physical perfonnance, one has to take a
number of other possible factors into account that are not immediately apparent and which are not currently allotted any status
in scientific orthodoxy.
First, it is possible that, although no human beings were closePursuit 160

ly present while the'device was at work, the construction had

been set up byhumans, and several who were specifically, and
in some cases intensely, interested in the proceedings and their
outcome. It is asserted by not a few today that man's "mind"
can affect inanimate objects' and notably machines at a distance.
However, there is a tendency, I have noticed, for those who
believe that this is possible, to feel that people so influence objects more in accord with their wishes than contrary to such
desires. Should this be the case, any such theory would in this
instance seem to lend considerable negative emphasis to acceptance of the notion that the perfonnance was humanly controlled
because the majority of those present were fervently wishing
that the device would not perfonn by itself and without actual
physical human contact. Second, we cannot say for sure that
a similar experiment conducted elsewhere and in only slightly
different cin:umstances must give the same results; and, this is
the main reason why we are making this appeal.
We have the funniest magnetic set-up at our place, such that
compasses cannot be used at all, and one has to conduct surveys
with a plane-table, starting from fixed points on large-scale Coast
& Geodetic Survey maps. I don't see how this could affect the
movement of "L" rods made of various metals, glasses, and
plastics, but stranger effects than that have turned up in the
course of experimentation; and especially with "natural fon:es. "
The psych-boys put up a valiant rearguard action to the bitter
end by thinking up all manner 'of other abstruse possibilities,
ranging from the good old mass-hallucination to Carl lung's
mass subconscious, but I will not go into all of this here since
none of the rest of us 'buy' any of these abstrusities; and particularly in the face of anything so clear-cut as what we had
observed. Curiously, however, the engineers were quite ready
to accept the possibility of "mind control," though still insisting
that the actions and reactions must be purely physical, in the
proper'sense of that word!
The fact that "Y" sticks and wires, and even "Ls" also work
with people - and by the way, we intend to tl)' it with a trained
dog sometime - would seem to boost the theory that animals,
in the first place, are only machines; and electrical ones at that.
But there is another side to this coin. What of the water, and
the iron? Here, the chemiphysicists, and most of the biologists,
are with us in suggesting that both are surrounded by what are
loosely called "fon:e fields," though of just what fon:es none
of them seem willing to state! Some have plunked for electromagnetic fields; but most of them, plus the engineers with whom
we have spoken of this, seem to feel otherwise. But none of
them has as yet suggested just what other "fon:e" might be
involved.
It is manifest that something changes when water starts to
move; and it changes in different ways according to how it
moves. The metal alone presents still other problems; but that
certain specific effects are - or appear to be - observed with
irons of various amalgams makes it much more acceptable that
other metals could be detected by "dowsing," as is so constantly
claimed. (When it comes to finding lost jewels, and artifacts
made of all manner of substance, we have nothing to say because
we have neither witnessed the perfonnance, nor have we experimented with such.)
,
In conclusion, I would like to say that I have read, and in fact
been fon:ed to read, a vel)' great deal about dowsing; but I in
no way claim to know the literature properly, nor the intricacies
of the subject in detail. Thus, I do notknow - and I have been
unable to ascertain - whether similar experiments to those
described above have been carried out by others elsewhere. I
(continued on page 167)

Fourth Quarter 1984

What Uprooted massive Chunk of Earth?"

by HUI WiUiams, Seattle 71. __ science reporter
Somehow, in a way that baffles geologists, a massive chunk
of earth has been plucked from a remote plateau in North Central Washington and put down, right side up, 73 feet away.
There is no evidence that humans had anything to do with
it. Neither are there marks of machinery. The piece of earth,
which remained largely intact during its move, is estimated to
weigh at least three tons.
, 'All we know for sure is that this puzzle piece of earth is
73 feet away from the hole it came out of," said Greg W. Beh~
rens, a geologist with the Bureau of Reclamation at Grand Coulee Dam.
The displaced chunk is an irregular pear shape, 10 feet long
and 7 feet wide. Its thickness varies from two feet at one end
to about 18 inches at the other.
The shape and thickness of the puzzle piece exactly match
the hole that was left behind.
The mystery site is next to a wheat fieid on a fann operated
by Fred Timm and his sons. Two of the sons, Rick and Pete,
discovered the displaced earth on Oct. 18 while riding in the
area rounding up cows.
They believe the event occurred sometime after mid-September when they were last there harvesting wheat.
Adding a bit of intrigue is the fact that there was a small earthquake in the aea during that month long period, at 8:24 p.m.
Oct. 9, 1984. The quake, measured at 3.0 on the Richter scale.
was felt in towns in the area but not at the Thrun fannhouse
a few miles from the mystery site.
The University of Washington pinpointed the quake's epicenter about 20 miles southwest of the displaced earth, and about
four miles deep. But a UW scientist ruled out the possibility
that the quake somehow could have popped out a piece of earth.
"Very, very unlikely," said Stephen D. Malone, a university geophysicist. "If the earthquake had done that, it would be
the most dramatic and obvious thing ever reported that I'm aware
of."
The Tillims, excited by the discovery, called Don Aubertin,
director of mining for the Colville Indian Tribe. The mystery
site is on the Colville reservation in Okanogan County.
"There had been quite a roar with the earthquake," Aubertin said, "so we wondered if perltaps a m~teorite fragment had
impacted and ripped out a piece of earth."
Aubertirt asked Bill Utterbach, a geologist retained by the Colvilles, to visit the scene. Utterbach's inspection quickly ruled
out the ineteorite possibility.
"There was no sign of impact," Aubertin said. "The hole
was not a crater. It had vertical waIls and a fairly flat bottom.
It was almost as though it had been cut out with a giant cookie
cutter. "
But, Aubertin pointed out, even a "giant cookie cutter"
couldn't have left the"hole the way Utterbach found it. Roots
that had led to the vegetation in the puzzle piece dangled from
the vertical walls of the hole, indicating they had been tom apart
rather than cut.
"
There was no sign on the ground that the displaced earth had
been dragged or rolled. But Utterbach did find something that
added to the mystery.
"You'd think that, whatever the cause, the chunk would have
traveled in a straight line," Aubertin said. "But Utterbach found
where pieces had dribbled from the chunk as it moved. The drib, Fourth Quarter 1984

blings traced an arc from the hole to where the chunk was
found."
One possibility is that, if the chunk rose and fell in an arc
as it moved, a stiff wind could have distributed the "dribblings" in a curve.
Behrens said the dense root mass in the puzzle piece probably
helped hold it together. The chunk, as it was found, was rotated
counterclockwise about 20 degrees in comparison to the orientation of the hole it left behind.
DIIOI:

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In the weeks since the event, the Timms' cattle have trampled the displaced chunk, destroying evidence of its remarkable
fit with the' hole.
The event occurred in an area with an interesting geological
history. The plateau is 2,360 feet above sea level. The mystery
site is in a small hollow, probably scraped out in the plateau's
bedrock by the ice sheet that covered the area thousands of years
"ago.
The wheat field is dotted with huge boulders left by the melting
ice sheet. Known locally as "haystack rocks," some are bigger than haystacks. Near the mystery site is a larger depression,
described by Behrens as a "kettle," a geologists' tenn for a
place where a mass of ice was buried and caused the ground
to collapse as it melted.
It is an eerily fitting setting for what is apparently an unexplained natural phenomenon.
Behrens wondered if the earthquake's seismic waves in the
bedrock had triggered concentric surface waves in the soil. If
the waves converged, they might have ejected a piece of earth
where they focused, he mused.
The UW's Malone agreed that focusing can occur. But it could
not explain the source of the tremendous energy required to pluck
out a piece of earth weighing tons and move it 73 feet.
"It really is a puzzle," Aubertin said. "None of us has come
up with a plausible explanation."
Lindsay McClelland of the Smithsonian's Scientific Event
Alert Network said he is not aware of previous reports of similar
occurrences. But he was interested in this one.
"Be sure to let me know if you find out what caused it."
he said.
~
Pursuit 161

Destruction by Fire
by Evan Hansen
Anyone who makes an honest effort to reconstruct a part of
Earth's prehistory soon recognizes the unique contribution of
mythology. While no mythology should be taken at face value,
there is an astonishing amount of truth to be learned from it.
From earliest times, children have questioned why things are
as we observe them, and adults have answered as best they could
within the limits of their experience. The questions and answers
are passed along from generation to generation, naturally with
additions and subtractions, until the central theme or conclusion is institutionalized as tradition.
The collective memol)' of important happenings is preserved
with special care in annals of catastrophes by the survivors who
tend to credit their escape to personal heroism or divine intervention. As recollection diminishes and first-hand witnesses are lost
to death, collective memories merge into tradition at whatever
level of importance an event attaches by reason of its climactic
nature and the number of people and places affected.
Most famous of all catastrophe myths handed down to the
forebears of the earliest historians, and by them to us, is the
account of Noah's Flood, also known as the Deluge. According to Judaeo-Christian tradition, it expunged from the face
of the Earth almost evel)' living thing and thus made possible
a "new start" for a chosen few species, including the human
race. Bearing in mind that the stol)' of the Flood was transcribed from oral to graphic history more than three thousand years
ago, one should not quibble with its inaccuracies and
embellishments but note how seemingly concurrent are the
catastrophes embedded in other traditions and how much good
evidence geology provides as to their reality. *
The Deluge was probably the greatest natural disaster that ever
afflicted the Earth and its people, but other floods and other kinds
of natural disaster are commemorated in all major traditions.
Myths of destruction by fire are almost as numerous as the flood
myths, and each encapsulates a core of truth, usually within a
drab jacket of propaganda; only a few are so colorfully symbolic as to suggest a bit of pandering to those who expect entertainment before getting down to facts. Christian mythology,
moreover, is often notional and future-oriented, whereas other
mythologies serve only as receptacles for preserving archival
views of the past. Many scholars say the difference turns on
one word: persecution ..
The Jews were subject to persecution for centuries - by the
Babylonians, the Persians, the Egyptians, and the Romans. The
first Christians were persecuted by both the Jews and the
Romans. Persecution is possible only when one group is so much
stronger than another that the weaker people see no chance for
deliverance through their own efforts; rather than change their
religious and social values to those held by their oppressors,
the oppressed seek the help of a "higher power."
The Jews sought relief in the prophecies that a "messiah"
would deliver them from Rome. As a part of the deliverance
process, destruction by flood or fire seemed inevitable, and
preparing for it no less than a duty. An ancient myth was
therefore resurrected, to tum an accounting of the past into an
*See the author's article "Geological Evidence of Noah's Flood," Part I in
PURSUlTNo. 63, Thin! Quarter 1983, pp. 98105; Part II in PURSUIT No.
64, Fourth Quarter 1983, pp. 163170.
.

Pursuit 162

exhortation for the future. In his Antiquities of the Jews, book

I, chapter 2, verse 3, the Jewish historian Josephus relates the
story of Adam and his immediate descendants; they were the
inventors of astronomy and it was this knowledge that they resolved to protect:

And that their inventions might not be lost before they were
sufficiently known, upon Adam's prediction that the world
was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and
at another time by the violence and quantity of water, they
made two pi/lars, the one of brick, the other of stone, and
inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the
pi/lar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar
of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to
mankind, and also infonn them that there was another piJJar
of brick erected by them. Now this remains in the land of
Siriad to this day.
Several Old Testament prophets added similar predictions of
a future "day of burning," among them Isaiah, Ezekiel and Joel.
Perhaps the most expressive of all was Malachi, who forecast
in chapter 4:
.

For behold, the day cometh that shall bum as an oven; and
all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall bum them up, saith the
Lord ofHosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor bmnch
... and yet shall tread down the wicked. For they shall
be ashes under the soles of your feet. . . .
Early followers of the ludaeo-Christian persuasion., believing that these events had not yet taken place, accepted such
declarations as promises, or prophecies, of their deliverance from
persecution; if Armageddon seemed a viable concept, the churches would confirm its eventuality as a tenet of their faith.

Turning to the mythologies of people of ancient times who

were not lews, we find destructions by fire also numerous and
dramatic, but nonetheless unprovocative; they convey no sug.
gestion that history might, or should, repeat itself. .
A tradition most familiar to readers of PURSUIT is the story
of Atlantis, first recounted by Plato, the Greek philospher who
lived around 700 B.C. He described an island of greater size,
located just beyond the Pillars of Hercules (a name given in
Classic times to the rocky promontories that guard the entrance
to the Mediterranean, now called the Strait of Gibraltar). This
island, known as Atlantis, was inhabited by a race of highly
civilized people who had perfected almost evel)' aspect of art,
science and technology known to the ancient world. For centuries they dispersed their learning freely amo~g all nations. But
gradually, Atlantean attitudes changed. No longer content to
preserve their "live-and-Iet-live" relationship with other nations,
they turned their island into a military staging area. Armies were
raised, trained and sent forth to conquer the people of Europe,
North Africa and the Middle East. But terror begat terror;
without warning, the entire island was destroyed in a single day
and night by a catastrophic succession of earthquakes. and
volcanic eruptions. Nothing remained but a thick blanket of
Fourth Quarter: 1984

pumice floating on the water, so thick that it blocked travel by

ship for many centuries.
Ever since Plato wrote the history of Atlantis, other historians
have wondered whether the account was factual, fictional or
perhaps was intended as an allegorical footnote to Plato's
Republic, the philosopher's greatest work, which embodied his
design-plan for an idealized self-governing state.
It would be presumptuous of me to comment further on Plato's
Atlantis saga; for the past two thousand years many fine intelligences have focused on its credibility problems and have
soon turned away because of the total lack of archeological and
geological evidence that a large island west of Gibraltar survived the last Ice Age to become the home of a technocratic civilization whose land, buildings and population were ultimately
pulverized in a 24-hour holocaust that ended in oblivion.
A variation of the Plato story had the Atlanteans living on
an island called Thera in the eastern Mediterranean. Granted
that land and water in southern Eurasia underwent drastic rearrangements while the ice-melt receded northward at the end of
the Pleistocene, there is no geologic evidence that another sea
passage existed of sufficient size to be mistaken for the Pillars
of Hercules, beyond which, Plato said, the island-paradise of
Atlantis flourished until nine thousand years before his time.
Thera, moreover, experienced its destruction by fire well
within the historic period. There is abundant evidence that
sometime around 1500 B.C., a volcano known as Santorini exploded and blew much of Thera into the sea. The explosion may
have been the most devastating in European history. Earth and
rocks shot upward, then rained down; a massive tidal wave rolled
in and flashed into steam as water hit the flow of molten lava
and cut a crater more than five miles wide before gasping out
its spent energy in clouds of debris-laden fog.
Some historians view the destruction of Thera and.the disappearance of Atlantic as one and the same event. Others plead
no contest" but wonder whether the same geological evidence
may apply as well, or perhaps better, to the "parting of the
waters" which, according to biblical tradition, enabled the
Israelites to escape by immediately closing over and drowning
their Egyptian pursuers. Still other scholars believe that Santorini spread its pall of death over such a broad area of the eastern
Mediterranean as to cause the disappearance of the entire CyproMinoan civilization.

What about the mythologies of other cultures? The Black

Death that stalked Europe for four centuries, the Great Fire of
London in 1666, the conflagration that burned out Chicago more
than two hundred years later, and the San Francisco earthquake,
are happenings in our own recent past which enable us to understand how unexceptionally all history is punctuated by natural
disasters: some, like commas, denoting pauses that accent the
story line; others with paragraphs and chapters finalized by
periods. Geology and mythology reiterate evidence that
catastrophes have beset mankind ever since the beginning of
human life on this planet. Disasters were surely no less
devastating nor catastrophes less real for having occurred before
the invention of the petroglyph.
Oral tradition should never be confused with true history; but
if many traditions seem to lack the objectivity and exactitude
of formal chronology, they often reveal those wondrous
characteristics which have enabled the human race to continue
beyond moments when it seemed most surely headed for
termination.

'Fourth Quarter 1984

The tradition of the Hopi Indians of Arizona is one of the

purest because of the relative isolation of ~e Hopi from crosscultural contamination. In concept, the Hopi tradition is one of
the grandest. And even those who are unimpressed by Amerindian charisma should think hard before rejecting the geological
evidence that seems to confirm much of the Hopi mythology
as truth.
The Hopi say we are now living in "the fourth world," three
previous worlds having been destroyed by the Creator as punishment for mankind's persistent disobedience. The first world was
destroyed by fire; the Creator, Sotuknang,!.had warned of the
burning, so those who had remained faithful to their instructions were sent below the surface of the Earth for refuge .
Then:

Sotuknang destroyed (the Earth) by fire because the Fire

Clan had been the leaders. He rained fire upon it. He opened up the volcanos. Fire came from above and below and
all around, until the Earth, the waters, the air, was all one
element: fire; and there was nothing left except the people
safe inside the womb of the Earth.
This is an astonishingly accurate description of massive ashfall
from a volcanic eruption. There is nothing mystical about it;
volcanos were opened and fire did rage. Still to come were the
destructions of the second and third worlds.
The Hopi have long known that the Earth is a sphere, that
it rotates. According to the tradition, twin brothers had charge
of keeping the planet turning smoothly. When the Creator decided to destroy the Earth a second time ...

Sotuknang commanded the twins Poqanghoya and

Palongawhoya to leave their posts at the north and south
ends of the Earth's axis, where they were stationed to keep
the Earth properly rotating. The twins had hardly abandoned their stations when the world teetered off balance, spun
around crazily, then rolled over twice. Mountains plunged
into the seas with a great splash. Seas and lakes sloshed over
the land, and as the world spun through cold and lifeless
space, it froze into solid ice.

After an exile of many years, the twins were ordered back

to their stations. Soon they had the Earth rotating as smoothly
as ever; the seasons resumed their regular ways and the hearts
of the survivors were filled with new hope as sun, moon and
stars again cast their radiance from familiar directions.
The inhabitants of the third world greatly multiplied their
population and expanded knowledge. Members of their Bow
Clan built a vehicle that could fly through the air. The
Patuwvota, as it was called, seemed to promise many benefits
for the third-worlders. But a few opportunists conspired to
pervert the new technology. They sent out the Patuwvota with
troops aboard to steal land owned by others. Eventually all the
nations and cities were building Patuwvotas and raiding each
other. War and corruption spread chaos throughout the third
world.
Once again the Creator determined to wipe evil from the face
of the Earth, that mankind might re-Iearn the ways of good will,
peace and progress. But wickedness had spread too far to permit the deliberate selection of special persons who would be
allowed to escape destruction and become the progenitors of
the fourth world. All who would listen were sent in search of
"As described in Book of the Hopi by Frank Waters (Penguin Books. New
York. 1979).

Pursuit 163

hollow reeds in which to seal themselves with enough food and

water to survive for a considerable time. Then ...

Waves higher than mountains rolled in upon the land. Continents broke asunder and sank beneath the seas. And still
the rains fell, the waves rolled in. The people sealed up in
their hollow reeds heard the mighty rushing of the waters.
They felt themselves tossed high in the air, then dropping
back into the water. Then all was quiet ... for so long a time
they thought would never end, they kept floating.
As the flood-waters receded, the highest mountain peaks were
the first to break through the surface, and on one of the tiny
new islands thus formed, the fragile reed-boats grounded, one
by one. When the voyagers dared to believe their long journey
had ended, they unsealed their reeds and stepped forth on
unknown land.
There was little to recommend it for settlement. The mountaintop plateau was too small and the rocky soil too infertile
to support even a token population. Therefore (so we are told
in a remarkable parallel to the Genesis account of the Noah's
Ark landing), the Hopi ancestors sent out birds to look for land
more suitable to their needs. But the birds returned with empty
beaks, unlike their biblical counterparts who bore olive twigs
to show Noah's passengers how near they were to the Promised Land. Undiscouraged, the Indians continued their journey,
proceeding from one island to the next, stopping only long
enough to rest occasionally and take sustenance from whatever
wild food they could gather. With their course always set toward
the rising sun, the travelers eventually reached a land of such
limitless expanse as they had never seen nor dreamed of. Here
they settled - the first humans to cross the threshold of America
and the first inhabitants of the Hopi fourth world.

Readers of PURSUIT are probably aware of the theory advanced in 1980 by geologists Luis and Walter Alvarez, a fatherand-son scientific duo based at the University of California,
Berkeley. They attempted to explain the sudden disappearance
of the dinosaurs as a natural chain-reaction triggered by a single
catastrophic event. The Alvarez theory proposed that the
dinosaurs became extinct at the close of the Cretaceous epoch
when a comet or asteroid hit the Earth, vaporized and literally
threw rock dust to the four winds, which churned it in suspension until it blanketed most of the planet. The sun's rays were
bl~ked and the Earth's surface cooled to a point below which
natural life-supprt systems were no longer operational. The
dinosaurs died, and about half of all other life forms died with
them.
Geological evidence for this theory is a layer of dust, now
only a few inches thick but found worldwide, at the level between the top Cretaceous rock and the bottom of the younger
Tertiary rock piled above. Analysis of the dust layer has revealed
a content of iridium much higher than that of most other earthly rock, but about equal to the iridium content of asteroids.
I have no argument with the Alvarez theory. We know that
something killed the dinosaurs, and this explanation is supported
by observable facts. Most important, at least for the purposes'
of this study, are the additional questions raised by the theory
when we attempt to understand the effect of cataclysmic forces
moving relentlessly over eons of time to destroy some parts of
the world in apparent preparation for the building or rebuilding
of other parts. For example, if a miles-thick layer of dust,
represented today by the token remainder of a few inches, could
Pursuit 164

have exterminated an entire class of ancient life, what would

be the result of a volcanic eruption so massive that the ash now
totals in excess of three thousand feet thick, over a distance of
more than five hundred miles? That would be a destuction by
fire like no other!
In the American southwest, the rock formation most easily
recognized is Navaho sandstone, so-called because the Navaho
Indian reservation is located close to the center of its principal
formation. I do not know the extent of the area, but I have
followed it for a distance of more than five hundred miles. In
Utah, it extends northward almost to the Uintah Mountains. I
have tracked it within a hundred miles of Wyoming, where it
goes under younger rock. How much further it extends below
the surface remains to be determined. On the southern border
of Utah the Navaho sandstone is exposed almost to the Nevada
border, where it again dips under younger rock for an unkown
distance westward. In Arizona it can be traced to the middle
of the state, ending at the Mogollon Rim, and if it goes further
south, it will again be found buried under younger rock. It must
also extend into Colorado and New Mexico, although I do not
know how far.
Navaho sandstone is composed of red quartz crystals. The
crystals are sharp, indicating they traveled only a short distance.
The formation is Eolian, i.e. wind-formed, .with clear duneinteIbedding visible wherever the rock is exposed. The thickness
varies; in the center it often exceeds two thousand feet. Atop
the red sandstone lies another thousand feet of white sandstone,
identical in every respect except color. The red color indicates
the presence of iron, the white shows its absence. Contact between the two is distinct - but, where winds have blown together
a mixture, inspection reveals no pink cyrstals. Thus the possibility is eliminated that the red coloration was caused by rusting
or long submersion in water.
The dune appearance strongly suggests wind-formation, but
the conventional definition of Eolian rock or comparing it to
the "dry, windy conditions that prevail in the Sahara Desert"
offers no explanation of what formed this sand in the first place.
The crystaIs are uniform in size, too sharp to have moved very
far from their place of origin, and there is no mixture with rock
from other sources, as there would be in sand collected by wind
or water.
The puzzle did not start to unravel until the St. Helens volcano
blew up in 1980. Having obtained a sample of the St. Helens
ash, I looked at it through a magnifying glass, expecting to see
basalt dust. Much to my surprise, the specimen consisted mostly
of small quartz crystals; perhaps ten percent were puffed-up like
popcorn. Small amounts of basalt dust were present, but no more
than one or two percent of the sample.
My questions were beginning to be answered: Quartz is formed 'from silica. Silica dissolves in water in the same manner as
salt or sugar, but only under intense prssure and extreme heat.
When the water evaporates, the silica precipitates as quartz
crystals. All the necessary elements and conditions were present when an earthquake split Mount St. Helens. The sudden
release of pressure caused the water to flash into steam. The
resulting explosion released energy equivalent to the blast of
a small hydrogen bomb. Sufficient water was present to dissolve
silica out of the molten lava. When this was blown high into
the air and the water evaporated, the quartz crystals fell as ash.
Those crystals which were puffed up like popcorn told their own
story: precipitated out while still under pressure; water trapped
insided flashing into steam at the instant pressure was released;
the steam rupturing the shell of the crystal without causing it
to shatter. No wonder the crystals looked like popcorn; the same

Fourth Quarter 1984

process produced them in macro-scale as turns com kernelsin

to mounds of lip-smacking goodness for movie enthusiasts and
kids kept indoors on a rainy day.
As I was studying the St. Helens ash, memories of the Navaho
sandstone explorations crossed my mind. I rummaged around
and found a bit of the sandstone to place under a glass alongside
the St. Helens ash. Would you believe I found no differences
in basic structure between the two samples? Both were quartz
crystals of uniform size, both still "sharp" crystals; about ten
percent of both were puffed up like popcorn, and both had about
one to two percent basalt dust. Suddenly I knew it had to be
that the Navaho sand was extruded by a volcanic eruption similar
to St. Helens', but ona scale so massive as to escape human
comprehension. A single volcanic cone had expelled the ash,
but the sandstone must have erupted out of a rift hundreds of
miles long, and continued to erupt for centuries, perhaps even
millenia.
Of course I tried to correlate my discovery with the Alvarez
theory of asteroid impact. The result was negative. It would have
been neat to find physical verification of the boundary between
Cretaceous and Tertiary rock. But my Navaho rock is much
older; it is, in fact, the transition rock between the Triassic and
Jurassic, the latter being on the level next below the Cretaceous,
as shown in Fig. 1.
If the Alvarez theory is correct, that a few inches of dust could
exterminate dinosaurs, what would be the effect of three thousand feet of dust? Although our investigation is limited to a local
formation in parts of four states (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah), a volcanic eruption of such magnitude would
certainly have global implications. The finer dust would be lofted
so high into the stratosphere that centuries would pass before

Fourth Quarter 1984

Age in
millions
of years
Recent
Quaternary
Cenozoic

Tertiary

Mesozoic

Cretaceous
Jurassic
Triassic

65-70

225
Permian
Carboniferous
Pennsylvanian
Mississippian
Devonian
Silurian
Ordovician
Cambrain

Paleozoic

600
Precambrian
STANDARD GEOLOGIC COLUMN
Fig. 1 Standard geologic column.
Fig. 2 Hexagonal cracks in Navaho sandstone at Snow Canyon State
Park, Utah.

Pursuit 165

much of it came back to Earth. Gasses would penneate the atmosphere as winds swept them back and forth in a continuous,
omni-directional flow. Yet the dinosaurs are said to have survived through the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. But did they?
I have found dinosaur footprints in the lower layers of the
"Navaho sandstone, and bones in older rocks, but never in
younger ones. Since my personal search has included a very
limited area, I cannot be sure that there are no dinosaur remains
in younger rocks elsewhere, perhaps even in Utah. All I know
for sure is that dinosaur remains are so much more plentiful in
the older rocks that even an amateur like me can easily fin~ them.

..

Once I realized that the Navaho sandstone was volcanic ash,

I decided to stay alert for possible confinning evidence. I didn't
have far to go nor long to wait.
Snow Canyon State Park, iri southwestern Utah, is almost all
Navaho sandstone. In the north end of the park an exposed surface shows a massive network of hexagonal cracks (Fig. 2).
Geologists call them "cooling cracks." The hexagonal pattern
occurs when massive quantities of rock shrink while cooling.
The process is best understood as an interplay of extraordinary
forces perfonning under the same rules that govern nature's ordinary behavior. A flow of lava, or in this case, deep ashfall,
arrives at some level area, its motive power spent but much of
its heat still sealed inside. As cooling starts, the surface rock
begins to shrink, but the interior remains too hot to shrink. The
relatively thin surface laye"r, rapidly cooling on top yet still
receiving intense heat from below, is thus subjected to great
stress which is relieved only when the temperature differential
widens sufficiently for cracks to occur.

terstices will be hexagonal since tflat is the natural shape of the

smallest gap between similar circles, or spheres juxtaposed on
the same plane, which are subjected to enough pressure to keep
them continuously tangent to each other. The industrious honey
"bee provide$ an everyday example: The "storage bins" it builds
inside its hive are composed ~(round tubes, not hexagonal ones.
As each tiny cylinder becQmes stuffed, its sides bulge; as each
cylinder presses against its neighbors, arcs become angular, hexagonal interstices are filled, and the familiar honeycomb pattern appears.
In various venues of Earth's natural wonderland, <;ircular
fonns often transmute to angular fonns under extreme stress.
But the hexagonal cracks in age-old volcanic rock deserve special
consideration - for what they are, and for what they tell us
about the forces that made them.
.
The cracking starts because the exposed surface cools before
air reaches the interior of the rock. Once cooling begins, it progresses inwan!, the inside cracks following the original pattern
of the surface cracks. Eventually the cracks penetrate the full
depth of the rock and the result is a series of tightly packed,
roughly shaped hexagonal columns. In basalt, the formation is
called "Devil's Post Pile." Single columns can be lifted intact
from piles where access is not a problem and suitable equipment is available. Home-builders who have used them admit
the basalt columns are difficult to work with, but no more so
than the rough-trimmed trees used in log cabin construction.
Navaho sandstone, however, is not a good building material.
It is too massive and too soft; the columns are well-fonned but
tend to shatter or crumble when removal is attempted. A study
of the cracks is most rewarding when done at a location where
the hexagonal surface pattern progresses downwards to produce
a vertical columnar array.

Fig. 3 Interstices in hexagonal forin produced by pressure from

contiguous circles.

Fig. 4 Checkerboard Mesa i':l Zion National Park, Utah.

The action visualized in Fig. 3 is one of shrinkage and compression of rock particles in the circular shape that nature seems"
to favor; if the surface cools unifonnly, every molecule of rock
will shrink equally. And however tightly" the surface is crammed with circles, there will be interstices between them. The in-

Checkerboard Mesa in Zion National Park (Fig. 4) offers one

of the best side views of the vertical cracks. Millions of people
have looked at this formation and it has been photographed
thousands of times, but" if anyone has seriously investigated how
it was fonned and why it presents such a curious appearance,

Pursuit 166 "

Fourth Quarter 1984

the answers have not been published. Clearly seen are the
horizontal strata of many different angles, interlocking like slices
of pie cut from circles and laid against each other. No question
that these are wind-fonned dunes. The vertical cracks run mostly
through the entire mountain, but the few that go only part way
invariably start or end at the place where the two dunes meet.
In order to show cooling cracks such as these, the sandstone
had to fall from the air while powerful winds were blowing,
to swirl the ash-drift into dunes. At the same time the individual
crystals must have held so much heat tha~, once settled, they
fused to fonn solid rock. If they had not fused almost at once,
the grains would have slid past each other during the cooling
process and no cracks would have been fonned.
It staggers the imagination to try to visualize thousands of St. .
Helens-type volcanos erupting at the same time - ash falling
over a radius of five hundred miles, to depths measurable in
thousands of feet - gasses filling the entire atmosphere. Even
if these were purely local events, the effects would be global.
Were they local, or were they links in a chain of global events?
After all, something of the sort must mark the boundary between Triassic and Jurassic rock. If the two are distinguishable,
the change had to occur worldwide and should be identifiable.
My knowledge of geology is limited and so are my opportunities
to travel. I suggest that others try to follow this boundary in
their respective regions. We need to correlate Navaho sandstone
with fonnations of the same period worldwide. What .was active, and what was stable enough for life to survive? Does any
of the drama date the beginning of the Atlantic Rift - its opening up into an ocean?
Could it be that major catastrophes marked the boundaries
of other periods? In Utah, all rock of Triassic and Jurassic dates
was produced by some form of volcanic activity. Would a
worldwide investigation of "boundary rocks" from the
thresholds of all the periods tell us that "destructions by fire"
probably occurred dozens of time in prehistory? And what can
we learn from fossils?
Fossils are often described as products of petrification, but
actual petrification of bone or wood is rarely evident. All the
fossils I have. ever found fit easily into one of two classifications. The most common type of fossil is simply a print in or~
dinary mud, some part of which later hardened into rock. No

An Experiment in Dowsing
(continued from page /60)

feel that they should have been, because of their simplicity and
very obvious, basic nature. However, the longer I live, the more
I find that the simple and the obvious is so often completely
overlooked; and in a case such as this, the buffs, almost to a
man, seem to be obsessed with the idea that '~dowsing" is an
attribute of the human psyche, or at least the human body; and,
what is more, to the exclusion of all else. That it could be a
purely natural and universal behaviour of both animate and inanimate objects, interacting in certain special circumstances,
usually puts said buffs into a very stubborn and often a rather
nasty mood, in which logic does not prevail.
If such experiments have been conducted by others, I would
very much like to hear about them and be given references to
any findings that have been published. Then, if any of you might
reproduce what we did, all we ask is that you have sufficient
witnesses, keep careful detailed records, including timed motion pictures, and have your reports affidavited. Any such confinnation might prove very valua~le to aU of us; for, let us not

Fourth Quarter 1984

actual remains exist, apart from carbon stains or the occasional

shell that still retains calcium. The other type of fossil does have
remains of actual bone or wood but long since converted to
silicate rock. In every case of actual remains, the surrounding
rock is high-silicate "mud," similar to the mud-pot flows in
Yellowstone Park. Assuming the mud was hot when the tree
fell or the animal stumbled into it, the heat killed all the surface
bacteria and thus prevented decay. Silica was already in solution in the mud, and it replaced, molecule by molecule, the wood
or bone until the resulting rock reproduced the exact fonn of
the original substances. I have not discovered whether petrification takes place in this way elsewhere, but in Utah I have never
found fossil-remains in rock other than volcanic clay or ash.
I suspect the only reason we have dinosaur bones at all is that
some few of the animals wandered into areas of mild volcanic
activity, and after panic and exhaustion defeated efforts to extricate themselves, they were slowly boiled to death.
As a resident of Utah, I am aware that evidence of ancient
volcanism is here "carved in stone" for everyone to see and
study. In Tertiary times, i.e. twenty to thirty million years ago,
Utah experienced massive eruptions collectively classified as
. ignimbrites. These range from ashfaU tuff to molten fonns almost
like basalt. Whereas basalt is a magnesium silicate rock (called
sima), surface rock is an aluminum silicate rock (called sial).
Our ignimbrite is sialic, so it must be re-melted surface rock
rather than the deep sima rock found closer to the Earth's core.
The sialic formation has two anns in a V shape, one ann pushing
eastward across Utah, the other extending to the northwest into
Nevada. Both are one hundred fifty miles long, with older rock
at the north. The two arms meet under this valley, which carries the full formation from oldest to youngest. The formation
is three thousand feet thick beneath us.
The Columbia River basalt flows of Washington, Oregon and
northern California are of this same age. There are rumors that
volcanic fields in Siberia have been dated to the same time
period, but confirming evidence seems to be lacking. Here in
Utah we are so surrounded by evidence of ancient planetary
catastrophes that we should be duly grateful to be living in the
present relatively stable period - geologically speaking, of
course.

forget, the U.S. Marines are already using dowsing in Viet Nam
to detect land mines. Viet Cong tunnels, and underground anns
and munition caches. A mechanism to do this would be much
more reliable than even the steadiest hands and nerves of the
toughest Marine veteran.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The above article was written by Ivan T.

Sanderson, SITU's founder, during the closing years of the war
in Viet Nam.
Much has still to be learned about dowsing. Should you attempt to repeat this experiment with mechanical dowsing, as
suggested here by Sanderson, we would be pleased to learn of
your findings.
We recommend that you contact The American Society of
Dow$ers, Inc., Danville, Vennont05828-OO24 forinfonnation
on their activities. Their next annual meeting will be held in
DanviJlle, VT on September 10-15 1985.

Pursuit 167

The Peculiar Origins of'

ALEK d. HID ELL
by d. N. WiUia_son
In the numbing wake of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's
assassination and the subsequent shooting of his presumed killer,
Lee Harvey Oswald, names of people unknown to most
Americans prior to November 22, 1963 were instantly memorized. Other names surfaced - names of men and women who,
whether actually or imaginatively linked to what happened in
Dallas - seemed to be part of the same fateful procession.
Of striking interest to those familiar with astrology and other
arcane crafts were a number of historic similarities between Kennedy, the youthful 35th President, and Abraham Lincoln, the
16th President;
-Each was shot in the head on a Friday.
-Each was succeeded by a vice-president named Johnson:
Lincoln by Andrew Johnson, Kennedy by Lyndon Baines
Johnson.
-Lincoln and Kennedy were elected in 1860 and 1960 respectively; they were shot by southerners born a hundred years apart:
John Wilkes Booth in 1839, Lee Harvey Oswald in 1939.
-President Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy; president Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln. Each woman tried
to steer her president away from' his fatal destiny.
-Booth and Oswald - both with full names totaling 17 letters - were killed before being brought to trial, the fonner committing assassination at a theater and running to a warehouse,
the latter firing from a warehouse and running to a theater.
-To the macabre fascination of the astrologically inclined
was the infamous 20-year Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, which
scarcely needs repetition except to remind us that no President
elected in 1860, 1880, 1900, 1920, 1940 or 1960 has outlived
his presidency.

In the aftennath of the Texas tragedy I was one of many who

wondered, though seldom aloud, whether the person or persons
allegedly involved in President Kennedy's murder were aware
of these bizarre and enigmatic facts. What if members of a conspiracy knew about them - and believed in both national destiny
arid individual detenninism? What if Oswald, or others, shared
the views of the philosopher who made the following
observations?
* In the destinies of the several cultures that follow upon one
another.. .is compressed the whole content of human
history.
* This is our purpose: to make as meaningful as possible this
life that has been bestowed upon us ... to act in such a way
that some part of us lives on.
* The men of the "new order" upon whom every declinetime foUnds such hopes ... (are) the newspaper-readers ... the
"educated" man who then and now makes a cult of intellectual mediocrity and a church of advertisement; the man
of the theaters and places of amusement, of sport and "best
sellers. "
The philosopher thus quoted was born in one of those evennumbered, double-decade years of Jupiter-Saturn conjunction,
to wit, 1880.

Pursuit 168

To the best of my knowledge, the alias used by Lee H. Oswald

- ALEK J. HIDELL - received little attention from those with
an interest in astrology or numerology. Pemaps personal perceptions are numerously influenced but never astro-oriented, or the
reverse may be true; it doesn't matter. What does matter is a
bevy of questions like these:
Is it possible that Lee Harvey Oswald chose his strange alias
because of an undisclosed passion for the arcane? Did the ingenious fellow who believed HIDELL was an anagram of Robert
Louis Stevenson's symbol of schizophrenic Jekyll/Hyde - have
it right - or is that a little too much? Did Oswald work actively with Jack Ruby, the man who later killed him? Why was the
made-up first name of Oswald's alias spelled with a K to end
up as ALEK instead of the more usual ALEC or ALEX?
I propose that the answers lie in a mixture of numerology and
astrology stirred to an insane but clever boil by Oswald and
Ruby. If evidence can be gathered that demonstrates a likely
belief on the part of the still-enigmatic figures involved in the
1963 assassination of the President, we shall move 'nearer to
the long-sought bedrock of truth. Let's start with a table of
numerological values ("vibrations") assigned to the 26 letters
of the alphabet and related signs of the zodiac:
A Taurus
B Virgo
C Neptune
D Scorpio
E Jupiter
F Gemini
G Libra
H Capricorn
I Uranus
J Uranus
K Neptune
L Pisces
M Aries
N Taurus
0 Mars
P Gemini
Q Leo
R Moon
S Sun
T Pluto
U Venus
V Venus
W Venus
X Saturn
y Nodes
Z Sagittarius

1
2
11

4
5
17
3
8
10
10
11

12
13
14
16
17
19
20
21
22
6
6
6
15
10
7

Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces
Sun
Moon
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Nodes
Neptune
Pluto

13 M
14 N
17

18
19
2
3
4
7
8
9
12
21
20
1
6
16
15
15
10
11

22

F, PH, and P
SH, TS, TZ

Q
B
G

D
Z
H, CH
TH,
L
S

R
A
U, V, W

0
E
X
I. J, Y
C, K
T

Numerologists add the number-equivalent of each letter in a

person's name. If the to~ has three digits, the three are added;
the same with four-digit totals. Then the base number is found
in the preceding chart and the zodiacal sign is said to be active
and, in a natal chart or horoscope, somehow influential.
Oswald usually signed his name "Lee H. Oswald." Substitu-

Fourth Quarter 1984

tion of numerical equivalents for letters produces the following

sequence:
12 + 5 + 5 + 8 + 16 + 21 +6 + 1 + 12 +4 = 90,
and9+0=9
Astrology tells us that 9 is adjacent to Aquarius.
To "count" a year, numerologists exclude the first two digits
(denoting the century) and add the last two. Hence, 1963
becomes 6 + 3 = 9. November's eight letters, when translated,
add to the same result:
14 + 16 + 6 + 5 + 13 + 2 + 5 + 20 = 81,
and8+1=9
The name "Kennedy" contains seven letters which, when
translated, add up to 63; 6 + 3 = 9, and our year-identifier
is thus linked to a victim-identifier.

In the solar charts constructed for Kennedy and Oswald (with

merely the sun rising, hour of birth omitted) we discover confirming information of an astrological persuasion. We find Mars
- the planet of action, ambition, passion - in that most electrical and unorthodox of zodiacal signs: Aquarius. I think
Oswald, too, recognized the data as signifying the start of the
new Aquarian Age. Oswald, however, was a Libran, and persons born in the Venus-ruled sign tend to put things off, to seek
close relationships and "talk a good game," but often find it
hald to act ..
Such is not the case with Aries, the sign which opposes Libra
- ruled by Mars - and the sun-sign of Jack Ruby, the man
who muldered Lee H. Oswald. It's not hard to see that this unsavory pair - the wandering dreamer and the wheeling-dealing
police informant - had a mutual need for covert identity.
Jack Ruby's gUilt was plain and unquestionable, but who
knows or will ever fully understand what elements of parentage, education, experience, memories, even hopes, coalesced
in Ruby's mind at the instant he killed the man who stood accused of muldering the 35th U.S. President? From years back,
Jack Ruby was known to have admired Kennedy, and one should
not forget the childlike importance some people place upon
shared names. But a neurotic man who cannot get near the object of his admiration may feel abandoned, outraged by the loveobject's changes of mind or human errors. Consider also the
unreasoning youth who, 18 years later, grievously wounded
President Reagan and then admitted the sole motive for his
assault was to win the attention of an 18-year-old movie starlet.
Oswald, who had lived behind the Iron Curtain, shared with
Ruby a starvation for notice and approbation and was willing
to settle for recognition by the professed enemies of his own
country.
When they saw a need for an alias useful for joint actions
or statements, available to either man for covert correspondence,
each surely sought top billing. Most wanted criminals who
change their names retain their initials or first names.
But after idle conversation turned to calculated planning not for a political rally or hold-up but for the slaughter of a President - the risks were obvious even to thrill-seeking wrongrighters. Another name would be required which utilized
elements of their own unique identities, along lines of selfperceived brilliance. So, I believe, they began - by deciding
to combine their first names.
"LEE," an uncomplex three-letter monicker using the most
common letter of the alphabet, was to combine with a matching
three letters from Ruby's first name. A helpful consonant, the
J, and another useful vowel, A, were chosen at once; that left
the C and K of "JACK."

Fourth Quarter 1984

Using Scrabble titles, or perhaps scraps of paper with letters

scrawled upon them, the two conspirators came up quickly with
a choice between "Alec" or "Alek"- with an "E" in the
Libran's name left over. Let's come back to that.
"D'you think either wold has a secret meaning?" one man
whispered to the other. Then, feverishly consulting a dictionary,
they found ... Alec, a Latin derivative reaching to the year 1520
- a word which means "herring." Why, a red herring, as in
the then-recent public use of the term, meaning a false clue,
one that sends searchers in a different direction! Perfection!
It was Oswald who insisted upon changing the "c" to a "k,"
I feel sure; in the tarot numerology herein employed, the two
letters have the same value. But a "k" would complicate matters for someone tracing their thinking, Oswald believed, and
it also paid covert honor to at least three Soviet cities: Aleksandriya, and Aleksin and Aleksandrov - the latter two near
Moscow, one of them visited by Oswald himself!
"You have hidden us well," Jack applauds Lee, perhaps; "but
we need a last name." And, with a smile spreading across his
lunar face, he shows Oswald what he has found in the dictionary
by beginning with the elementary word "hide": Hidel, orOld English, and plural - hydels, the meaning of which
is .. .hiding place.
Not at all coincidentally, finding' 'hidel" solved the problem
of using the left-over "e" in Oswald's first name: by hiding
it in the second name of the alter ego.
There was much left to trouble one or both members of this
unfunny odd couple, even as they reveled in their cleverness.
Remember, we are not reasoning backwards, as did the logicalminded code-breakers of the O.S.S. in World War II. We are
adducing surmise from the twisted thinking of men who were,
at best, fantasizing a plot to kill the President. At worst, we
are second-guessing hateful paranoids, sociopaths or
psychopaths.
With the EW dropped, the word-scrambled ALEK J. moELL
satisfied ego without sacrifice of stealth. Was it strange, or simply inevitable, that those II letters would translate to a number
value of 90, identical with the translated total of LEE H.
OSWALD?
Does it all sound absurd, even mad? Of course. But try adding up the numerical values in your own name to see if it totals
90. Ruby's name did not. John F. Kennedy's name translates
to 128 "values" which become 11, then 2. My name, J. N.
Williamson, reduces to an 8, as does Ruby's. And what about
the man who would become President of the United States in
the event of John Kennedy's death? What of Lyndon B.
Johnson? His name totals 171 in terms of numerology, and 1
+ 7 + I = 9, the same as Lee H. Oswald's name totted up
to 9 + 0 in the final addition.
In astrology, points of opposition (180) and square (90)
signify stress, hazald, illness, not to mention sharp differences
of viewpoint, even open enmity. Kennedy's Neptune, "his"
planet when the values of his name are added, was opposed by
the previously cited Oswaldian Mars in Aquarius. JFK's Uranus,
ruler of the zodiacal sign of Aquarius, the planet of unexpected
and sweeping change, was squared by Lee Oswald's Uranus.
The Libran's natal Uranus "sits" directly upon the President's
Jupiter, Mercury and Mars - in the Eighth House. That location of any horoscope is described by some astrologers as the
House of Death.
Are there supportive data when one attempts to trace these
convoluted paths and determine the precise identity of ,. Alek
J. Hidell?" I believe so.
We have seen that, accolding to extremist soothsayers, John

Pursuit 169

F. Kennedy "had to be" shot in November - a 9 of 1963,

another Oswald-matching 9. November, the eleventh month,
begins the eleventh period by astrological count, namely,
Aquarius, the Louisiana native's crucial sign, with his Mars
there. Scorpio, consuming most of November, opposed the
President's Jupiter in Taurus; if he did not perish immediately
from his wounds, Kennedy would, within a matter of two days,
find himself in the opposing Sagittarius period. Figured
astrologically from Aries, he was shot on the cusp of the zodiacal
sign which happens to fallon the 9th.

The philosopher quoted earlier in this essay was born in Germany in.lSS0 and raised in modest circumstances. Even by the
rigorous standards of those times, his higher education was no
more'than sufficient to prepare him for a teacJting career in
mathematics at the seco,ndaJy school level. He was slight of
. stature and physically frail; his background, .occupatio~, man, ner of speech and a~nt lack ~f motivation hid an incred~~ly
detailed knowledge of histol)' and systematic philosophy:
in 1915, the year of John Kennedy's first birthday, the
philosopher expounded his propheti~.concept in vollclme one of
I

nen,

JOHN FITZGERAlD KENNEDY

SOLAR CH~RT ~.MAY.29, .1917

cr

~ = Cancer

='Aries
10th

'd = Taurus
II

9th

= Gemini

cS\. .-

l~o

Virgo

12th

7th
' 23 0

SO
~

1st

17 0

6th

2nd .
N = North
E = East
S = South
3rd
W. = West
.
.
R = Retrograde
1st-12th = Houses (300 of Zodiac)
: ','

Pursuit 170

:'

I,

'.

4th
N

The solar charts were developed

from thC author's sketches. - Ed

Fourth Quarter 1984

1325-15(0), Arabian (A.D. 300-1250), Mayan (A.D.

600-960), and Western (A.D. 900-2400) ... AlI cultures"
follow the same pattern of growth and decay in approximately the same length of time; they pass through the stages
of pre-culture, culture and civilization, and are marked by
identical crises. Alexander, for example, plays the same
role in Classical. culture as Napoleon in Western
culture ... Each culture has its unique 'soul' or pattern of experience and creation, expressed in its forms of art, thought
and action. Thus the Western 'Faustian' soul is characteriz-

the book he titled Decline of the West; volume two was published four years later. This panoramic work
... predicted the disintegration of Western European and
American civilization after'a violent 'age of Caesarism,'
arguing by detailed analogies with other civilizations and
interpreling history as the life of nine organic cultures":
"Egyptian (3400 B.C.-I2OS B.C.), Indian (1500 B.C.-I 100
B.C.), Chinese (1300 B.C.-A.D." 2(0), Classical (1100
B.C.-400 B.C.), Byzantine (A.D. 300-11(0), Aztec (A.D.

LEE HARVEY OSWALD

SOLAR CHART - OCTOBER 18," "1939

..n..

VJ

= Libra

11t, = Scorpi 0

"

lOth

9th

./ = Sagittarius

,.,.,.,
""'-

= Capricorn
= Aquarius
= Pisces
""

7th

12th

6th

1st

Planets :

Sun

Moon--D
Men:ury-~

5th

Venus--Q

Mars---" Cf
Jupiter-- '\f
Satum--::5"
Uranus-"-~
N.ptun.-"~

PIuto---

fourth Quarter 1984

3rd

4th
N

Pursuit 171

ed by a yeaming for infinity ... " (Commentary by Monroe

C.- Beardsley in Collier's Encyclopedia, 1974 ed.)
"All the great leaders in history go 'right,' " said the
philosopher. It was no secret that John Kennedy had begun to
espouse policies meant to lure erstwhile Democmtic, Republican
and independent voters from the powerful conservative forces
mustering throughout the Southwest under the aegis of Arizona
Senator Barry Goldwater.
In another prescient maxim the philosopher noted: "It is from
the intellectual 'mob,' the spiritually unfit and the momlly inhibited at its head, that the gangsters of Libeml and Bolshevist
risings are recruited."
Lee H. Oswald was a dabbler atleaming and an extensive
though apparently aimless reader. We do not know whether he
ever studied the philosopher's work or perhaps arrived at an
analogous conclusion from other reading. Assuredly, Oswald
would have found kinship with the older man's claim that
Western society was "metaphysically exhausted," had entered
a period of decline, and would inevitably disappear. In a book
published ten years before John Kennedy became President,

Crane Brinton* wrote that philosophers sought "a sign from the
past, a sign of what lies ahead, " and "for centuries ahead when
no man now alive can ever check up, in the flesh, on these prophets. " Most of"them, Brinton added, "are prophets of impend.
ing doom." .
A killer who not only resorts to numerology for the choice
of an alias but also strives to stamp his name and number onto
such horrendous handiwork might well have felt the influence
of a prophet-philosopher. A social deviant, growing up alone,
self-perceived as "different," could ask what Great Thinkers
shared his name - and find the answer in a libmry or bookstore,
in a volume titled Decline of the West by OSWALD
SPENGLER.t
One wonders if either Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby ever
discovered that philosopher Oswald Spengler was born on May
29th - the same day of the same month that John Fitzgerald
Kennedy was born. .
The Shaping of the Modem Mind (Mentor. 1953).
t Originally published in Gennany under lite title Der Untergang des
Abend/andes. Umrisse einer Morph%gie der Weltgeschichte.

------------------------ADDENDA-----------------------Author J. N. Williamson followed up with a letter to PURSUIT's editors in which he added details
ofsignificance to the "solar charts" ofPresident Kennedy and Oswald reproduced on preceding pages.
These are excerpts from that letter:

If you began with JFK's Gemini Sun, and set up his natal chart just as I show it, but added Oswald's
planetary positions, you would find the Oswald Aquarian influences I mention in the article in JFK's
9th House. Obviously, right there IS Aquarius. If you began with Oswald's chart. Kennedy's Sun
in Gemini would also be in Oswald's 9th House. Still looking at Oswald's solar chart, where do you
find Aries? Obviously, "across" from Libm - 180 from it - hence, an opposition. But before that,
Libra/Aries can also be complementary (just as Scorpio/Taurus, Sagittarius/Gemini, etc.). Sooner or
later, these complements tend to tum to just what you think of when you hear the word "oppose."
Square aspects (90 degrees) thwart, mutually, Kennedy's Moon squared his own Gemini Sun,
from the solar 4th house of family. Consider JFK' s family pressures; then note that he was born with
demanding, pressure-packed Saturn in Cancer - which is the zodiacal sign associated with family.
. Saturn in Cancer squared Lee Oswald's Libmn Sun and lightly opposed his Moon in Capricorn, denoting
conflicts between the past, ideals, and aspimtions, not to mention the Capricornian influence upon
authority figures. Capricorn in Kennedy's solar 8th House, the house in which one tends either to
"regenemte" himself and go on, or die. Capricorn is also called "father's sign," by some astrologers.
But in Oswald's solar chart, Taurus is the 8th House and he was born when Uranus was transiting
that sign. Oswald's Uranus conjoins Kennedy's Jupiter, or planet of expanding plans and hopes (they
are at nearly the same degree), and on the day these men so fatally met, it was late in the Scorpio
period with that Sun position opposing late Taurus.
Looking one last time at their individual planetary positions, we see Kennedy's Taurus-Virgo trines,
the influence of smooth, cmftsmanlike, even methodical efficiency. But we also see such thwarting
squares (90) in Oswald's chart as these: Libra/Capricorn (inner dispute over ideals and principles);
Capricorn!Aries (sharp frustmtion ovenuthority figures); and Scorpio/Aquarius (the tendency to biteoff more than one can chew).

J. N. Williamson, .noted horror-fiction writer who worked as a professional astrologer during the 1960s, offered PURSUIT this
change-of-pace article. Let it be said that neither Williamson nor SITU advocates the use of numerology in any serious investigation. Further, astrology is to many people only another syndicated horoscope column that appears in newspapers and tabloids.
However, we must point out, there are some data relating to astrology that must be considered unexplained or at least a curious
collection of coincidences. Regardless of your point of view we hope you have enjoyed reading this article.

Pursuit 172

Fourth Quarter 1984

Encounters With The "Real" Jersey Devil

by Sydney Smith
During the summer of 1929 or 1930, I was up on the Sourland
Mountains, above Hopewell, N.J., talking to natives of the area,
trying to find out more in relation to the Jersey Devil.
That area was supposed to be the habitat of the Jersey Devil.
Amwell Road led up into the mountains from Hopewell and met
at a junction on top of the mountain at Featherbed Road. At
this juncture, there was a large flat stone and UPOJl. it were three
smaller stones, (elongated) pointing east from the top of the
mountain.
These stones were named "Three Brothers' Rocks." The
origin of the name, I have been told, was attributed to the
murders many years ago of three brothers. No one was ever
found who committed these murders.
I had gone to the area to verify some of the old stories concerning the Jersey Devil. One story was given to me by a man
in his eighties. He related the story of Three Brothers' Rocks,
and vowed it was the work of the Jersey Devil.
During a later trip to the Sourlands another man, in his sixties, seemed to know quite a bit about the area. I asked him
if he had ever heard of the Jersey Devil. He said he sure had,
and could tell many stories about it.
I asked him if he thought it was a real Creature, and he said:
"Why hell, man, I saw it as close as twenty feet on one occasion in the daytime. It was dragging a deer that must have
weighed over one hundred pounds, dragging it like it was a jack
rabbit. Sure it was real, and it was alive. Many people up here
were afraid to venture out after dark; some would not go into
the woods alone."
Another time, on a cold winter night, the old man said, the
Beast (as he called it) "scared my horse, it threw me on the
ground, the wagon broke in pieces and my horse was found two
days later over near Stillman Village. When the wagon overturned, it broke the lantern and started a fire. I managed to put
the fire out. Yes, that Beast was real and I believe still living
up here someplace."
I interviewed another long-time mountain man. })ete Whitehead is his name and this is his story as he told it to me:
"You ask me, was there ever a Jersey Devil? There sure was.
I feel that I had him in my house one cold winter night. (My
wife can verify that, too.)
And I saw some kind of animal when I was "a boy. It was
in the wintertime on a misty morning. This animal I first thought
was a cow, until it turned and looked at me ... then I saw what
appeared to be a man on the front of the animal, only he was
grown into tl!.e neck of the animal. It had horns, hand~, four
hooved feet, a tail and fire-red eyes. Call it what you want ..
it was some kind of Devil."
A Visitor
In the fall, right before World War I started, a blight killed
all the native chestnut trees in the county. Sourland Mountain
was no exception. There were still quite a few nut-bearing trees
left and money was still being made in gathering them up. When

Fourth Quarter 1984

I was a boy they were plentiful. Every fall was chestnut time.
When I was first married, my wife and I lived in an old fannhouse on the lower edge of the mountain, not far from Amwell
Road, Hopewell, N.J. We later had four kids.
During one fall evening, I hitched up the horse and went up
into the mountains to gather chestnuts. It did not take long to
gather what I could before it got too late. (We used lanterns).
I was about ready to leave when what I thought was a man
dressed in black, with a black hat pulled low over his face, came
up to me and wanted to know how far it was to town.
I said, "I'll be going into town shortly to deliver the chestnuts
and you are welcome to ride in with "me." The weather was
changing cold and I wanted to get home as soon as possible.
I asked the stranger his name and where he was coming from,
but he did not answer me. Neither did he speak coming down
out of the mountains. I thought if he didn't speak that was his
business.
When we neared my house, I told the stranger that I had to
stop at the house to get something that I had to deliver in
Hopewell, and that I was going to get a heavier coat.
I said, "You are welcome to come in out of the cold and sit
by the stove in the kitchen." I went into the house first and he
followed. I really did not pay much attention to his walk or dress,
just that "he was a little stooped over and dressed in black.
When I entered the kitchen, my wife was upstairs putting the
kids to bed. I told her that I had a stranger in the kitchen who
was riding into Hopewell with me as soon as I put on wanner
clothes.
The kids safely in bed, she went downstairs to the kitchen.
She had not been gone for a few minutes when I heaR! her
scream and fall to the floor. I bounded down the stairs and saw
my wife on the floor by the stove. But no stranger.
After reviving my wife and trying to get her settled, she told
me what happened. .
"
She came down from upstairs and did not see a stranger in
the kitchen. As she reached behind the stove for a piece of wood
from the woodbox, she saw two hooves of an animal protruding.
Jumping back she saw the black hat and clothing, and saw the
face of a man with "red eyes and horns" staring at her.
She fainted and remembered no more until revived. The stranger was gone, my horse was wildly thrashing in the yard. I
reached over to the door and got my shotgun and with a lantern
looked all around outside. It was gone.
From that night on, the deep odor of a barnyard smell stayed
in the house. The kids could not sleep because of the odor and
it just about drove my wife and lout of our minds. Even the
water and cooked food had the smell.
We moved from there in a few weeks. That house remained
vacant for a long time. No one stayed more thaD a few days.
Eventually, the house burned down one night.
Reprinted, with permission, from The Jersey Devil newspaper,
October 1984 and the author.

Pursuit 173

Daniel Eden has dedicated his article to srru colleagues "L.F. .. and "F. W . ..

,Effective Mass and the UFO

,

.....
, "f".. ".

by Daniel Eden
Those who study UFO reports, in depth, are often awed by
the remarkable ease with which UFOs can change their state
of motion. For example, one such object, investigated by Dr.
James Harder and Adrian Vance, seemed to suddenly jump from
a state of rest to the fantastic speed or'16,OOO miles per hour,
in a time span of less than 17 milliseconds!' This kind of
abrupt 'change of motion surely boggles the imagination.
Some scientists have been so emotionally overwhelmed by
this sort of reported acceleration that they argue that science
should not get involved with UFOs. One physicist, writing in
the journal Science, argued essentially that UFOs were so "contnuy to accepted principles of physics" that all scientific government studies, either proposed or in progress, should be immediately tenninated. This is a bizarre, position for a physicist,
but the statement reflects the emotional impact that 'the UFO
data has had on some scientists and government officials. Surely
there must be some approach to the UFO data that does not require either that we abort our rational intellect, or that we flee
in superstitious terror from the anomalies encountered. ,
Effective Mass as a Concept
One rational approach to the anomalous-acceleration problem

has been suggested by several UFO reseiuchers. ,.. These investigators suggest that the abnonoal accelerations reported for
UFOs could come about if the objects (he~ assumed to be
physical craft) could somehow alter'their Inertial mass.
In our mundane environment, the inertial m~s of a given object is usually a fixed, unvarying ,constant, at least, for nonrelativistic speeds. However, suppose the intelligent operators
of UFOs have discovered some technological principle that
allows them to vary their inertial mass; the drastic accelerations
then become natural and understandable. One researcher aptly
put it this way:
UFOs are able to reduce their inertial mass almost to zero.
This' would enable them to dart around like a fly with very
little power consumption.'
"
In the discussion that follows, I will tentatively assume that
this is precisely what is happening in some UFO cases. Furthenoore, I will refer to this abnormal, or variable, mass as the
"effective mass" of the UFO. The effective mass is the ap-

parent inertial mass that a UFO exhibits ,whenever it is undergoing an anomalous acceleration. The teno effective mass was no
random choice; I borrowed it from an obscure field within Solid
State Physics, where the teno has greatly assisted understanding.
Effective Mass in Solid State Physics ,
In this branch of physics, the 'concept of an effective mass
can sometimes' be applied to the conduction electrons in a
crystalline solid. Conduction electrons are those electrons which
are not tightly bound to any particular atom within a crystal;
they are free to move, as an electric current, whenever an electric field is externally applied to the crystal. For instance, place
the crystal near the electrical field of an (electrostatic) Vande
Graaf generator, to "move" the conduction,electrons.
Pursuit 174

Some peculiar effects, not completely understood, take place

when ,the electron's quantum mechanical wave nature. interacts
with the atom~ in the lattice structure 'of the crystal. Somehow,
the periodic aniy'of atomS ,in ,the crystal causes the electron's
wave aspect (its deBroglie,wave) to reflect back upon the electron, which then causes the particle to act as if it had an abnormal inertial mass. When an external electric field is used to push
the electron along in the crystal, the particle will sometimes act
as if its inertial mass was much smaller than noJ'!llal. This altered
mass is called the "effective mass."
A short but highly readable description of effective mass can
be found in the' Encyclopaedia Brittanica (1974, Micro m, p.
840) under the heading "Electron', effective mass of. " The article mentions that effective masses have been detected that were
one' hundred times smaller than nonnal. ,For more complete
descriptions of the effect, see pertinent textbooks"'" and, for
more advanced treatment of the subject, a paper by r.M. Luttingerand W. Kohn in Physical Review (97:869, 1955) is well
worth reading.
,
When the concept of effective maSs was first developed, it
was viewed mainly as a theoretical curiosity with no application to the real world. However, in the yearS following World
War n there was an expl~ion of teChnical advance in cryogenic
Oow-temperature) ~~ologieS which allowed physicists to
directly detect these abn,onnal: electrons. At very low
temperatures it becomes feasible to measure 'electron-effective
masses with cyclotron resonance tec~ques. Sometimes the teno
"cyclotron mass" is used instead of "effective mass," thus to
acknowledge the novel technology involved. Short but easy-toread references to effective-mass aDd cyclotron experiments can
be found in the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and
Technology (1982, Vol. 2, p. 106 and Vol. 3, p. 839) under,
the headings ,"Band Theory of Solids" and "Cyclotron
Resonance Experiments." Table~ ~ available that list some
typical values for effective masses for electrons, in such common substances as copper, zinc, silver, silicon, etc.'
The theory behind effective mass is not without its critics.
However, they are a sympathetic and reasonabJe group of
gentlemen of the sort that every ,sCience must have to improve
its efforts. See, for exaniple, ~e Adams and Argyres article in
Physical Review (102:605 , 19,56). Some physicists, such ~ J.S.
Blakemore (in his 1974 boole Solid State Physics), are a little
uncomfortable with the idea that effective mass is real. " They
prefer to think of the theory aS,a useful but essentially fictitious
abstraction for describing complications in solids.' If the UFO
phenomenon should ever win "acceptability" i~ the physics
cOIDlllunity, the reality of effective mass would probably also
be accepted; this, in tum, could influence the interpretations
, involved in the Solid State version.
, The important precept now developing from all of this is that
material objects, such as electrons, sometimes act as if they have
an abnormally variable mass. 'The details of the process may
be tenibly complicated. and in the case of UFOs, perhaps completely unknown. But if in modem technology can detect such
processes in the mi,?roworld of Solid State Physics, it is not im-

Fourth Quarter 1984

possible to imagine that someone else has discovered a similar

macroscopic means to produce an effective mass.
Calculating the Effective Mass
I do not pretend to know how an effective mass for a UFO
can be generated at a macroscopic level. However, the banier
theory' provides a viewpoint from which we may gain useful
insights into this unknown process. For instance, if a UFO is
banier oscillating, and can be captured on film (Le. as a coiningUFO), we are able to calculate its effective mass. I will try
to explain how we can derive the' equation for effective mass,
and then I will apply it to some.Fxamples in the UFO literature.
In a 1983 PURSUlTarticle I described the tenn "coining
" frequency," fc; it is" related to the "banier frequency" fb as
follows:
fc -2. fb"

11k
.. V i

(Equation A) " "

where k = a natural con"stant; called the "barrier constant,"

m = the inertial mass, and
= 3.14 (approximately)
For any normal object (a rock, a human, or whatever) that hap- "
pens to be barrier oscillating, the tenn m represents the rest mass
(i.e., the nonnal inertial, mass) of the object. However, for the
UFO, which can somehow alter its mass, the tenn m is no longer
its rest mass; it becomes, instead, the effective mass. By a little
algebraic manipulation we can rearrange Equation A so that we
will have an equation for the effective mass written in tenns
of the coining frequency:

m-k .. (If' f c )

:oJ

(Equation B)

"

"

With this equation for the effective mass, we are now ready to
tackle some actual UFO data. As long as the UFO is coining,
and thus is interacting with th~ banie~ force, we have a means
of estimating its mass at any given time. Perbaps this will som~
day give us cl~~ as to how the UFO generates a" macroscopic
effective mass.
The Oregon UFO Photo
At the Diamond Park Overlook on Highway 58, near the
Willamette Pass in Oregon, a biochemist briefly observed a UFO
on November 22, 1966. He snapped a photograph of the object. Instead of a single image on the photo, there were three
different images of the object.
According to the banier theory, this kind of effect could occur if the UFO were oscillating in and out of our world. The
three images represent exactly three intersections with our world
during the brief time that the film was being exposed. Adrian
Vance, a photography e~pert, conducted extensive research on
this case.' He determined that the UFO was about thirty feet
wide and had a height of about seven and one-half feet at center,
which tapered off towanl the periphery of the craft. The exposure
time of the photo is uncertain, but Vance puts it at about 0.030
seconds. Vance personally visited the site and interviewed the
biochemist "who took the photograph. In Vance's opinion, this
was a "real" UFO event.
What is the coining frequency and the effective mass of this
UFO? The coining frequency can be detennined as follows:""
.

f
c

= total number of images = 3 images = 100 images = 100 Hz

total time duration

"

.030 sec

sec

Given this value for the"coirung frequency, and with an estimated

value for the banier constant k, we can thus calculate the UFO's
effective mass," assuming that k is roughly given by

k. 6x 105 Icg-Hz 2
Fourth Quarter 1984

millIe/ (lfofc)2.6e105Ieg-Hz2/ (3.14 100H%)2

m- 6. 1 kilograms
This is a tlny effective mass for a: thirty-foot-wide object that
sometimes is said to leave physical imprints on the ground suggestive of a weight, at rest; of eight or more tons, '0 and further suggests that the UFO's "effective mass process" is incomprehensibly efficient.
"'
It should be noted that these calculations and inferences are
only tentative, not conclusive; the value of k, the barrier constant, is only approximate and has yet to be given a completely
satisfactory value. " Nevertheless, there is a strong possibility
that the barrier theory may eventually give us a highly precise
set of values for the coining UFO's effective mass.
Approaching a Zero Mass?
On September 23, 1967, a retired school teacher named C.
Dwight Ghonnley snapped a photo of a UFO in motion near
Sedona, Arizona. As in the Oregon case, this UFO also made
a series"of multiple images on the photo; Va~ce counted 144
images and the shutter speed may have been around 1160 sec.'
What is the coining frequency and the effective mass?
f
c

144 images
1/60 sec

8640 images
sec

8640 Hz

m = 8.1 x 10-' kilograms

Here the "effective mass was even smaller than in the Oregon
case. In fact, the mass quantity seems to be approaching zero
in this instance. In general, the faster the coining frequency,
the smaller the effective mass will be. Presumably, acceleration anomalies will be much more frequently observed for UFOs
that have very high f values because they have less mass to
push around than uifOs with smaller fc values.
In both the Arizona and Oregon examples, the frequencies
were extremely high. However, not all UFO coining cases involve coining that is anywhere near as rapid. Some coin faster
and some coin slower. Adrian Vance notes the wide range of
frequencies that seem to be "in use":
...of particular interest are the photographic recordings that
show this machine disappearing and reappearing at a rate
of from a few times a second to that of ten thousand times
a second. The mechanism by which this is done is pure
magic to modem physics, and the fact that anything can
do this is both the greatest challenge and the greatest op"
portunity occuning to "this science.'
Ivan Sanderson's UFO
The 'final coining case to be considered here is not a
photographic case." It was a raw visual observation made by a
highly trained scientific observer. This case has special interest
because it was a personal experience of and" also reported by
one of the most remarkable naturalists of our times, Ivan T.
Sanderson. In his 1967 book Uninvited Visitors the founder of
SITU described the UFO he saw:
... a very definite, solid-looking ovoid ellipse. This was sort
of flashing on and off, from almost total diaphaneity to complete solidity at about three flashes per second."
Although no'"camera was available to record the event, Sanderson was able to make a number of scientific observations. What
other naturalist would have had the presence of mind to search
about for pebbles of differing sizes to objectively measure the
UFO's angular extension?
"
If this event was a coining case, the frequency must have been
Pursuit 175

at or near the low end of Vance's frequency range (perhaps 3

Hz to 10,000 Hz). What would then be the coining frequency
and the predicted mass for Sanderson's UFO?
f c .. "three flashes per second" = 3 Hz
m.. k/{v1f c )2=6x 10 5 kg-Hz 2/{3.14 x 3 Hz )2

m... 6. 8 x 1 0 3 kilograms
If we take the time to run through the necessary conversion
.tables, this amount of mass turns out to represent a "weight"
at rest of almost seven and one-half tons! This is an important
observation because it puts Sanderson's UFO near the weight
range described by Philips; from his study of imprints left in
soil by departing UFOs, Philips estimated that the "typical
UFO" might weigh somewhere on the order of eight to ten
tons."
.
Why is the calculated effective mass in this case so close to
the rest mass? One intriguing possibility is that Sanderson
"caught" a UFO before it had switched-on its strange, massaltering, apparatus. In general, it seems that the slower the coining frequency, the closer the UFO's effective mass is to its rest
mass.
Again, let me emphasize that the calculations and inferences
submitted for the reader's consideration are tentative, not conclusive. Mainly, they are attempts to explore some ofthepossible avenues that may lead to eventual improvement of the barrier model. Applications of the barrier theory to UFOs and other
phenoOlena should deepen our appreciation of the many subtle
processes that take place in nature. The coining UFO is only
one of these processes, but it may be just the one that points
the way to our better understanding of the others.
Conclusions
We can use the barrier theory to derive an estimate of the inertial mass of any coining UFO whose frequency of oscillation
can be measured. Preliminary calculations suggest that the UFO
js able to achieve its fantastic accelerations because it can control this effective mass.
No attempt has been made here to explain how a UFO can
generate a macroscopic effective mass; that there is some such
technological process which can vary an object's mass seems
all too obvious according to the UFO data. Despite our ignorance
of the process, we can at least use the barrier theory to keep
tabs on a technology that is both efficient and portentous.

Notes and References

1. Adrian Vance: UFOs, The Eye and The Camem (Barlenmir House,
Publishers, New York, 1977). Vance's work is not well known, but
his book is one of the most enlightening ever to come out of the field
of ufology. Vance has a solid background in physical science and
photographic technology. He concentrates on the coining UFO cases;
he examines more technical details of these cases than anyone else has
attempted in any other published work that I know. He offers a variety
of ingenious speculations of the cause of multiple UFO images, with
particular reference to the concept of time-traveling UFOs. He also
seems interested in the idea of higher dimensions and offers some cogent
suggestions in this area.
2. William Markowitz: "The Physics and Metaphysics of Unidentified
Flying Objects" (Science, Journal of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, Vol. 157, 1967, pp. 1274-1279). This is a
debunking article aimed at UFOs in general and at Dr. J. Allen Hynek
in particular. The author argues that UFOs should not be studied because
they do not obey the cJassical physics of the 18th centu1)'. If that peculiar
proposal didn't inspire controversy, the author's disparaging remark
about "teleportation" certainly should. Unfortunately, this is probably
the first time that teleportation has been mentioned in the Fortean sense
Pursuit

176

in a mainline scientific journal.

3, James M. McCampbell: UFOlogy, (Celestial Arts, Publishers,
California, 1976). This is a popular book on the subject. The author
has a good background in physical science. He is the director of research
for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). He suggests (p. 109) that
the UFO "by some unknown means is capable of diminishing or nullifying gravitational and inertial forces ... "
4. Jan Heering: "UFO Physics-Part 1" (Flying Saucer Review, Vol.
22, No.5, 1976). In this article and in two others, Heering documents
some of the more profound physical effects of UFOs that have been
described over the years. These articles are essential reading. One hopes
that they will soon be reprinted and become more generally available
to American readers.
.
5. Kenneth W. Behrendt: "A Detailed Model for UFO Propulsion"
(The Sixth Quark Journal, No. I, 1981; no longer published). The
author describes an "antimass field" that somehow annuls most ofa
UFO's rest mass. He tries many different approaches but seems to bring
us closer to solving ufology's myriad problems. The spirit of his inquiry is far more engaging than its substance.
6. Arthur Beiser: Perspectives ofModem Physics (McGraw-Hili Book
Co., New York, 1969). This is an unde~raduate textbook; it will be
most helpful to those. who have sufficient knowledge of calculus to
understand the material as it is presented. A discussion of effective
mass occupies pages 482-486. A table of effective massratios for
various common metallic C1)'stals is given on page 487.
7. Charles Kittel: Introduction to Solid State Physics (Third edition,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1966). This is a very popular
textbook for the unde~raduate physicist. To capture the full meaning
of Kittel's presentation the reader had best be armed with a fair
knowledge of general physics and calculus. But even the casual reader
will enjoy the valuable insights on effective mass to be gained from
skimming this material, especially pp. 227-281.
8. Ali M. Omar: Elementary Solid State Physics (Addison-Wesley
Publishing Co., Inc., California, 1975). This is another unde~raduate
physics textbook; it may be a little easier to read than the books by
Kittel and Beiser. Omar tries (on pages 232-233) to make the concept
of an effective mass seem reasonable.
9. Daniel Eden: articles in three consecutive issues of PURSUIT (Journal of the Society for the Investigation of The Unexplained, P.O. Box
265, Little Silver, N.J. 07739). (a) "Higher Dimensions and The Barrier, Part I" (Vol. IS, No.4, Whole 60, Fourth Quarter 1982, pp:
149-154, 176-179). (b) "Higher Dimensions and The Barrier, Part II"
(Vol. 16, No. I, Whole 61, First Quarter 1983, pp. 8-10). (c) "Physics
of Short Range Teleportation" (Vol: 16, No.2, Whole 62, Second
Quarter 1983, pp. 54-55, 58; and a letter ~ the editors, p. 92).
10. Ted Philips: "Landing Traces and Physical Evidence" (Proceedings
of the First Intemation;# UFO Congress, edited by Curtis G. Fuller
and the editors of Fate magazine; Warner Books Edition, 1980, p. 58).
11. Author's note on estimating k: Ideally, the value for the barrier
constant k should be determined from oscillation cases that do not in- .
volve UFOs. To initally determine k, we must be able to accurately
measure fe for a known mass. Once we know both m and fe' k will
be given by: .
k
(f) 2

=m

'11".

Unfortunately, good cases that can give us a value for both m and ft
are very rare, so the magnitude that I give for k at this time is far from
ideal. I have sought to use human translucency cases like the Dr. Z
example'll to determine the value for k. The mass for the human male
can be fairly easily estimated, but fc is another matter. I have sought
to use human physiological limits like the critical flicker frequencies
and flicker fusion rates to estimate fc. But a single direct measurement
of fc in a human translucency case would be much ,more reliable.
12. Ivan T. Sanderson: Uninivited Visitors (Cowles Education Corp.,
New York, 1967). Whether your reasoning ranges across a broad spectrum of Fortean interests or focuses mainly on the ufological scene,
this is essential reading for information and, yes, for enjoyment, too!

Fourth Quarter 1984

The Resch, Poltergeist

by Walter &: Mal'Y do Uphoff
Our report was based on articles that had appeared in the press,
and on phone conversations with John and Joan Resch, the
parents of 14-year-old Tina who appeaI:ed to be the "active
agent" in the case. We stayed at the Resch home May 23-25,
1984 in Columbus, Ohio, and learned that the Resches have
been foster parents to about 250 children over the past 30 years.
Many of these youngsters were handicapped or unwanted. Tina
is one of two of these foster children they adopted to add to
their own family of four.

The Noisy Ghost

Poltergeist is a German word meaning "noisy ghost." It is
unfortunate that films like The Exorcist have sensationalized and
exaggerated phenomena to the point where they become
ludicrous - primarily because such sensationalism pays off at
the box office. There is considerable evidence that whatever
forces are behind observed physical phenomena are rarely
malevolent or demonic. Some could even be termed friendly
or "helpful" ghosts. In fact, parapsychologists have suggested
two main theories to explain such activity. One view is that the
phenomena are manifestations of psychic energies expressed
through, or in the presence of adolescents who have subconscious pent-up emotional drives. It is true that such activities
are often, but by no means always, associated with pUberty.
Another view is that whoever seems to be the agent or catalyst
serves as a channel through which discarnate entities - some
hostile, others benign or friendly - seek to make their presence
known.
On Saturday, March 3rd, the monitor for a foster infant who
has difficulty breathing was found to be nWfunctioning. First,
they called the utility company and later had Bruce Claggett,
an electrical contractor, come to check out the home wiring.
Before Claggett got near the breaker switches in the basement,
the lights went out and later the microwave oven and the garbage disposal turned on when no one was near. When the lights
went on "by themselves" he taped down the switches but the
tapes disappeared and the lights continued turning on. In one
instance he found the tape stuck to' the wall several feet from
the switchplate.
Eggs flew out and smashed against the ceiling when the
refrigerator was opened; glasses flew through the air like trajectories and in some cases went around comers before they
crashed. After a wild and bewildering weekend, the family went
to a motel for Monday and Tuesday nights to get away from
it all.
Mike Harden, the Columbus Dispatch columnist whose article about the events he witnessed at the Resches had attracted
national att~ntion, was'so besieged by phone calls that he asked the family permission to arrange a press conference at their
home for 1 to 2:30 pm Wednesday, March 7th. Tina, who had
gone to spend the night with a girl friend, was aroused at six
in the moming to come home to answer questions from reporters
and photographers throughout the day; Tina had to repeat over
and over what she had experienced. The house was so filled
with people and audio-visual equipment that it was difficult at
times to move around. Tina told us that she could not even go
the bathroom without being followed. A somewhat "hyper"

Fourth Quarter 1984

teenager, she became tired and irritated by interrogations about

phenomena that she herself could not understand or explain.
Everyone who came wanted' 'to see something with their own
eyes. " About dinner-time, in utter frustration and exasperation,
she jerked a lampcord, tumbling a lamp from an end-table. That
act was photographed and provided something to show on TV
news. She did not realize that this act of aggravation would be
seized upon by debunkers to claim that everyting that occurred
was trickery, and that all that was witnessed by persons from
the media, as well as Claggett, and other would either be
dismissed or blamed on her.
Drew Hadwell, WTVN-TV, who photographed the falling
lamp, was quoted in the UPI article as saying that this one in-'
stance of recorded fakery did not explain other bizarre happenings he witnessed. "I was seated at the kitchen table with Tina
when all of a sudden the chairs spread out ... I don't see how
she could have sent them out in three directions like that."
Hadwell also said he saw a phone fly out at the girl.
The Once-in-a-Lifetime Photo
Fred Shannon, the Columbus Dispatch photographer,told us
that he tried a number of times to get a photo of the phone flying through the air, but the movement was so fast he was unsuccessful. He then decided that there was some "intelligent
force" behind the phenomena and that he was engaged in a
, 'contest of wills. " He set his camera for proper distance and
speed and moved it down to his waist to a "rest" position, keeping his finger on the shutter button to "shoot" if anything
moved. Had Tina sneezed, he said, he would have tripped the
shutter. He turned his head toward the people congregated in
the kitchen while "keeping an eye" on Tina, and the instant
he glimpsed the phone beside her move, he pressed the button
and got what he calls a "once-in-a-lifetime" photograph. He
caught the phone in midair, the cord stretched in front of Tina,
while she has her hands raised and has pulled back in the chair
to avoid being hit.
'
Physical Research Foundation Enters
William G. Roll of the Physical Research Foundation, Chapel
Hill, No'rth Carolina, has investigated similar poltergeist cases
through the years. He heard about the Columbus phenomena
and came to the Resch home to observe at first-hand what was
happening. He witnessed enough to convince him to invite Tina
to Chapel Hill for observation, tests and experiments. Apparently
the insights Tina got from her weeks spent at the Foundation
quieted the "noisy ghost" because there have been no vigorous
activities since her return.
Why Tina?
Some investigators of paranonnal phenomena tend to attirubte
the physical phenomena occurring in poltergeist cases (where
trickery is ruled out) to the subconscious energies of frustration
and hostility in an adolescent "agent" - the energies
manifesting in vigorous and sometimes destructive ways. They
call it "recurring spontaneous psychokinesis" (RSPK). Others
are inclined toward the hypothesis that discarnate entities in some
way use a living person - often, but not always an adolescent
- to perpetrate mischief or to give evidence that they are still
around.
(continued on page 184)

Pursuit 177

Photographic Biofeedback?
by Eugenia Mace....Story
ltv E. Macer-St:o.". AU rlgbt. re ....,ed.

Coppigbt 1984

Static Airbrush. Many commercial photographs are airbrushed

by an artist to give a perfection of line which does not naturally
'occur in the featured product or personality. Airbrushing involves
an alteration of the original photo by mechanical means; it is
not a second photographic treatment, like re-photography or
double-exposure or animation effect. Many UFO and spirit
buffs-when they come up with unusual photos which show
brights lights-assume that they have photographed a craft or
energy fonn that is "out there" in interdimensional space. Instead, what they may be seeing is an effect electrically brushed
onto the photo inside the camera by unusual electrical stress to
. the mechanism of the camera itself. If this is the case, then the
cause of some UFO and spirit effects most probably lies in the
individual consciousness and bioelectric mechanism of the participants in the photography session. Bennuda Triangle and
geoanomaly buffs might also argue that the place itself, if
anomalous magnetically, also figures in potential effects to fIlm.
Electric Gods. Haiti is a place famous for voodoo, and is reputed
. to be "specially" geomagnetically. Photographs taken by tourist
Gloria Rudolph of voodoo ceremonies in Haiti show dramatic
streaks or orange and white light. These effects have been
verified as unusual by professional photographers and are
described in the book Voudoun Fire, published by Llewellyn
Press, Minneapolis (1979). However, voodoo photographs taken
by Maya Deren for her book Living Gods ofHaiti do not show
such fiery electrical effects to the fJ.lm. (Under its full title Divine
Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, Deren's book was
originally issued by Thames and Hudson Press in 1953 as part

Pursuit 178

ofa series on mythology edited by Joseph Campbell.) Inevitably,

the conclusion must be reached that the effects to the pictures
in Voudoun Fire manifested through the bioelectric field of Ms.
Rudolph herself rather than through the exterior ceremony. This
is consistent with voudoun belief which maintains that the gods,
or "loa," are "carried" in the system of the medium, as the
rider is carried by a horse.

Fourth Quarter 1984

Ghost Riders in the Sky. This leads to the analysis of other

photographs of the supernatural according to the premise that
the bioelectricity of the individual pen:ipient, in conjunction with
ghost or geomagnetic influence, may be affecting the camera
but not the three-dimensional view seen in the picture. Such artifacts as noctumallights photographed by UFO buffs may fall
into the category of effect to the camera rather than phenomena
in the sky. This does not mean that the photos are delusion" only that the primary effect may be to the photographic emulsion rather than within the landscape.

Flying Windows. A Polaroid photo which shows trails of light

similar to those in the "Voudoun" examples slid out of the
camera I was holding while I was focusing psychically on affecting a picture. Accidentally released by some electrical
malfunction of the camera, which is powered by a battery pack,
two pictures slid out in sequence after a single shutter-snap. The
first picture was nonnal; the second showed the odd effects.
Notice that the streamers coming from the "flying windows"
seem not to be a single wipe of the light due to elided, quick
exposure, but are a use of the light to make comet-like trails
(contrails), some of which intersect toward the lower left-hand
side of the photo. The overlay of the two contrail patterns seems
to indicate that the extra photo is not a simple "dupe" made
by rapid motion of the picture with an open shutter. The tiny
"view" visible in the lower, square "flying window" also suggests that these unidentified windows are not a simple wipe-off.

Fourth Quarter 1984

Electric Moth. Contrails are also visible in the "occult" photo

of myself, taken while horsing around with experimental filmmaker Owen Land on my back pon:h in Woodstock, New
York-an area famous for unusual phenomena of all sorts. This
photo is a timed exposure of several seconds' duration. The
lower, slim contrail could be one of the moths which had been
alerted to my grandmother's silver candlestick. However, the
upper wedge-shaped object over my shoulder is not an elided
moth-trail, unless this zigzag track is from an electric model
designed, perhaps, by NASA.
The zigzags look like electrical effects. The wedge is unexplained. In this case, Owen Land had the camera on a tripod,
to steady it for the time exposure. It is not clear whether the
electric moth is completely a product of camera anomaly or was
really "out there" over my shoulder. Notice that the wedge
shape of this electric moth resembles the "bow" shapes with
contrails in the colorful voudoun ceremony. Obviously, spirits
of this shape like to horse around with experimental fIlmmakers.
o

Pursuit 119

Was This Jesus? One of the oddest examples of photographic

horsing around by spirits that I have yet encountered also occurred while I was living in Woodstock. In the early spring of
1984 I received an urgent phone call from someone named
Richard, who told me that he had phoned the Woodstock Times
newspaper and that one of the editors had given him my number.
His house was haunted. Could I help him?
I told him I would be happy to visit the house. Then he added that the editor had told him that psychic forms sometimes
"come out" in my photos. Would I take pictures at the house?
I agreed to do so, and he arrived at my door at about 11 p.m.
and drove to the scene of the haunting. Another psychic, Eve
Otto, came along to take notes.

When we arrived at his house, Richard insisted that I take

charge of the operation and go into the house alone with my
camera while he and Eve waited in the car. He was genuinely
distressed and frightened by the situation, but seemed to trust
me. So I took my camera and went into the house alone.
I set the camera on the kitchen table and adjusted the flash.
When I glanced into the living room area an odd "stillness"
seemed to prevail, but no overt phenomena. I took several pictures of the kitchen and living room, then went into the front
hall and paused beside the stairs. While there, I was overtaken
by the presence of a young, frmale spirit-entity who kept
repeating one idea: "I want to go home." I received the impression that she had been taken to Woodstock from Boston by
train under false pretenses during the late 19th/early 20th century, and then murdered. I was overcome by the emotion of this
entity and started back toward the kitchen. Eve Otto came into
the house with Richard. I told them what I had experienced.
Pursuit 180

We went upstairs and into a room at the right of the staircase, where the entity seemed to want to show me a back window and to point out, across the back lawn, the site of a mass
grave of "other victims." I took pictures of this window. When
the film was developed, whitish circles and blotches showed
up around the window frame. Richard told us he had been
rehearsing with his rock group in this room, but had experienced
unusual phenomena and states of mind, and moved the rehearsal across the hall. As we were entering the hallway that led
to the stairwell, the entity began to repeat to me, mentally, the
concept: "Ice room," followed by "I want to go into the ice
room."
I asked Richard what this might mean, and he told me about
a downstairs room that had been closed off and was cold. A
child had once slept here, and Richard, who had met the child
'briefly, felt that his/her state of mind was affected oddly in that
he/she wrote in strange Arabic-like doodles, and had asked
Richard to get together with a group and "sit beside the fire
and light candles." The child was related to the absent owner
and was not in the house during the time Richard was the resident
caretaker. As for the term "ice room," Richard thought it might
have something to do with the furnace which had lately fallen
into a bad habit of shutting itself off unexpectedly.
We went downstairs to the "ice room," which certainly was
colder than the rest of the house. I had started to walk over to
a window on the far side when I was ovecome by an entity filled with violence and hatred. It caused me to gesture toward my
forehead and make a sign* against the forehead. This entity
seemed different from the girl spirit and clearly related to more
recent times.
I had the impression of a farmer who had owned the place
and had died in the mid-20th century. He seemed violently
unhappy with the current use of the hou~, which had been
remodeled at considerable expense. It was later confiimed that
the property had once been a farm, and that the house was a
reconstructed bam. I took several pictures inside the "ice room"
and was particularly attracted to an odd army helmet which I
then photographed. All of these pictures came out normally and
showed no unusual forms.
, I advised Richard to leave the house if he felt threatened by
the poltergeist phenomena he had experienced. The entity I had
encountered in the "ice room" was violent and resentful, and
Richard is sensitive and impressionable. I do not believe that
so-called "exorcisms" come with any guara~ty attached;
Richard was open to the phenomena and was being harassed.
I checked with previous tenants and discovered that one visitor
to the house, an astrologer. had mentioned the "strange atmosphere" in the upstairs room where, an art exhibit was in progress. However, no one except Richard had ever complained
of a severe haunting.
Before leaving the house I went back to the upstairs room and
did a further psychjc focus. I ha4 the impression that the young
female spirit ~ad been lured to Woodstock by a "black magick"
group at the tum of the century, and that the remains of other
victims of similar rape, murder and torture lay buried in the area
of yard visible from the rear window.
Richard thanked me for coming and said he would move out
immediately. He recalled that he had once been involved with
anoccult group and therefore felt that "black'magick" influence was a possibility.
A few days after my visit to the house (while the film was
still being processed), Richard phoned from his parents' home
and asked if I would be willing to have another member of the
rock band come over for a talk. I agreed, and as we were discussFourth Quarter 1984

ing the arrangements, the phone disconnected itself physically

from the wall. I had to race to another room and wait for
Richard's second call to come in over the extension. (This interesting poltergeist event was witnessed by a client for whom
I had been giving a psychic reading when Richard phone. It was
funny. The phone jack literally dropped out of the wall box.)
Later," Richard arrived with the drummer from his band, who
told me that, at his own apartment and not at Richard's haunted
house, he had witnessed a darlc-colorecl, small, human-like figure
that glided across the ground and hissed at him. The only other
memorable vision he had experienced, said the drummer, was
of a tall, magician-like figure dressed in a robe with stars and
symbols; it had appeared near his bed one night while he was
still living with his parents at their home in the midwest. When
he told the figure to "go away," it vanished.
The drummer said he thought he was psychic. We talked about
psychic perception. I told him I had felt urged to locate a
"magickal" symbol on my forehead during the visit to the
haunted house. Then he volunteered information about an
unusual picture which he said belonged to Richard. It had a sym"bol at the center of the forehead! Later, when Richard showed
the picture to me, I asked him to tell me what he knew of its
history. First he said it had belonged to a warlock who lived
in the hills near his parents' house; then he changed his story
and told me the picture had really come from Boston. It belonged
to a couple who ws:re into n~gative aspects of the occult. Richard
had once provided a place for the couple to stay, and they had
expressed their gratitude by giving him the odd picture, actually a decal pasted on a wooden backing, inserted in a frame that
formerly encased an aged mirror.
When the photos were returned from processing, Richard
came to my house with two friends who wanted to look at them.
He also brought along the picture on the wooden backing, with
the symbol at the center of the forehead.
Among the photos was a curiosity which no one has yet been
able to explain; the collaged snapshot of man holding an M-16
rifle in one hand and a shotgun in the other, with the number
1760 visible across his chest. He appears to be standing beside
a work table .with a row of small windows at his back, as in
a garage. (See photo, this page)
There is no such room in my house, nor in the house that
Richard was caretaking. Richard's companion insisted that the
picture on the wooden backing was undeniably Jesus Christ
because he had watched similar images of Jesus being sold at
amusement parks he visited as a child. But his opinion of an
altogether different picture was also exceptional. He said, initially, it seemed the inexplicable man with the guns was in an
airplane hangar or standing beside an airplane.
Visually, in my opinion, and others, the sketch with a symbol at the center of the forehead does not look like Christ. It
looks to people who have not seen"a similar image of Jesus in
amusement parks,like a somewhat sinister, bearded visage with
deep-set hypnotic eyes.
Similarly, the man-with-guns photo does not have obvious
characteristics of an" airplane hangar. To me, with my
background in UFO research, both pictures seem fundamentally unexplained. I regard this opinion of Richard's companion
as a spontaneous mental interlinking between "supernatural"
phenomena and airplanes. Also to be noted is the possibly related
fact that the actor who portrayed a warrior archetype over many
lifetimes in my play "Six Way Time Play" was then living at
a J760 address on a certain avenue in Brooklyn.
The three of us continued our discussions for awhile, and then
I did a psychic probe on the origins of the enigmatic picture
Fourth Quarter 1984

with the sign at the center of the forehead. I saw voodoo

associatc:d with the couple who had given the picture to Richard, pamcularly centered around the voodoo deity
Ghedhe. Ghedhe is the voodoo deity in charge of the kingdom
of the dead. When possessing one of his devotees, he likes to
eat and drink via the mediumship of the person whom he
"rides." His symbol is a cross within other designs."
Richard's friend-who still feels sure that the picture
represents Christ-did not want to believe that Ghedhe was involved with Richard's activities, but Richard admitted that on
one occasion when his ex-wife had taken his picture, the Jesusface of the mystery-sketch appeared in the developed photo instead of Richard's face. Richard's physiognomy hints of Ireland,
d~s nQt resemble the sketch, nor does he otherwise identify
With the apparent characteristics of the subject. Richard admits
he does like to eat and drink a bit enthusiastically in his role
as a rock musician. He accepted the possibility that he could
have been possessed at some time in the past by a Ghedhe-like
prese?,c~. Pemaps ~e presence associated with the "mystery
Jesus Image-which was once used in occult ceremoniesactivated an older presence in the house, possibly dating back
to ':black magick" rites held there at the tum of the century.
Richard was struck by the fact that I told him the spirit of
the victim originally came from Boston, and that the Ghedhelike picture had come from an occult group" based In that City.
Richard hs since moved from the "haunted house" and seems
to be wen. I advised him to bum the wooden image of the
"mystery Jesus," but I don't know if he did do this.
ceremoni~s

E"

.. tru;

hN
Pursuit 181

~
~

~O~

In this section, mostly contemporary curious and unexplained events

are reported. Members are urged to send in newscllpplngs and reports they
deem responsible. Please be sure to Include the source of reference (name of newspaper or periodical), city of publication, date of Issue In which article appeared, and your
ftrst Initial and last name (or membership number only, If you prefer to be credited in that way).

\0.".

~
~, ~~

7,000-Year-Old Brains
Unearthed in Florida
Two 7,OOO-year-old "well-preserved and
complete" human brains have been unearthed
just 15 miles west of the space shuttle launch
pad, and scientists said the brains might provide unique clues to the evolution of human
genes.
"The existence of two preserved brains from
one archaeological site and 7 ,OOO-year-old DNA
makes this a spectacular scientific contribution," University of Florida molecular biologist
William W. Hauswirth told reporters at a news
conference.
The discovery of the tissue was described as
unmatched in the world because biochemical
. analysis has detected preserved DNA, the
genetic blueprint of living organisms ..
"This is the first human brain of this antiquity in the world to be so thoroughly analyzed," the scientists said.
The DNA should be useful in learning about
gene evolution and possibly identifying viral
diseases and cancer during that period, said archaeologist Dr. Glen H. Doran of Florida State
University, Hauswirth and Dr. Philip J. Laipus,
another University of Florida molecular
biologist.
Hauswirth said they intend to use recombinant DNA methods to make copies of the
preserved DNA and produce a complete set of
prehistoric human genes that would be made
available to researchers for comparison with
modem genes.
The virtually intact male and female skulls
were found at an excavation at a housing
development known as Windover Farms near
this community just outside the gates of Kennedy Space Center.
The skulls were buried about 12 feet below
the surface, protected in an oxygen-free environment of mineral water, said Dr. Doran.
Doran, who heads the archaeological project,
said the bog previously yielded bones of 50 to
60 men, women and children from about 5,000
B.C., according to radio-carbon dating. Wellpreserved human bodies hundreds of years old'
have been found buried in bogs in England and
Denmark.
Human DNA was earlier extracted from a
substance found in four human skulls unearthed
in late November, the scientists said.
While that material was being tested, the
discovery of the two virtually intact brains
"strengthened the results of the DNA tests,"
said Hauswirth.
The latest skulls are of a women believed to
have been about 45 years old and a man about
27.

Pursuit 182

After the female skull was found, the scientists noticed what looked like a greasy material
inside. Hauswirth removed the back of the skull,
Dr. Philip J. Laipis tilted it slightly and the mass
slid into his gloved hand.
"There was a stunned moment of silence then the realization that it was a 7,OOO-year-old
preserved human brain," Doran said.
An X-ray of the male skull that was shown
to reporters revealed a mass inside which
Hauswirth said contained "all major parts of
the brain."
SOURCE: AP in the Asbury Park Press
12/15/84
CREDIT: #432

Gas Bubble may be Key

to Triangle Mystery
UFOs, time warps, even the lost civilization
of Atlantis, have been blamed for the disappearance of ships in the Bermuda Triangle.
Now a Canadian scientist has ventured
another, less supernatural explanation: a giant
bubble of flammable methane gas that escapes
from the ocean floor to sink ships, and even
down airplanes.
"This (gas) will come up ... and a ship will
easily be sunk, " said Don Davidson, a chemist
with the Ottawa-based National Research Council.
.
.
.
Ships go down because the rising gas reduces
the buoyancy of the water, said Davidson.
He said the flammable gas bursting to the surface could threaten not only ships, but also
airplanes.
He is not sure, however, whether the gas
could explode into flames, since it usually car- .
ries a great deal of water.
Some 100 ships and planes and at least 1,000
lives have been lost in the 200,OOO-square mile
area bounded by Miami, the Virgin Islands and
Bermuda.
Although the area sometimes is called the
Devil's Triangle or Hoodoo Sea, government
agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, and scientists tend to chalk off the
disappearances to natural phenomena.
Accidents result from freak storms, they say.
or pilots inexperienced in ocean flying or instrument failures. And the fast-moving ocean
currents tend to carry away the wreckage.
Davidson's theory, which is based on the
nature of hydrates, his area of specialization,
was detailed in Science Dimension, a publication of the Council. He wrote the article with
Richard McIver, a Houston energy consultant.
Hydrates, Davidson explained in a telephone
interview, develop fl"Qm the sedimentary

material of decomposing plant and animal life

on the ocean bottom. These decomposed
materials are the principal components of
methane gas.
At 1,500 feet below the surface, where the
water temperature is 36 degrees and the pressure
is 750 pounds per square inch, these hydrates
solidify. The process takes millions of years,
he explained.
,
Below this solid lid, however, temperatures
get warmer and warmer as the depth increases.
Then, depending on variables such as ocean
depth, ill about 3000 feet below the ocean floor,
the hydrates are "no longer stable."
"You can imagine a big reservoir of gas down
there," said Davidson, explaining that the gas
would be greatly compressed because of the
water pressure from above.
"If anything cracks that solid barrier (of
sedimentary material) in the way of an earthquake or some sort of motion, ., he. said, "then
it will release enormous quantities of methane
from underneath.
"It can escape pretty rapidly," he said.
And then it's goodby sailing ship or Piper
Aztec or, as happened almost 40 years ago, five
Navy TBM Avengers.
While Davidson likes to ponder his "plausible" theory on the Bermuda Triangle, his professional interest in hydrates takes a more practical tum.
.
"There is no doubt that these hydrate deposits
do exist on the ocean floor," he said, "and will
be an enormous source of natural gas in the
future. "
SOURCE: Detroit Free Press
12/25/84
CREDIT: R. Nelke

~
Ice Chunk Crashes through Roof
Betsy.Sansevero was resting in a chair in her
home when a chunk of blue ice the size of a
watermelon suddenly crashed through the roof
of her garage, less than 20 feet away.
The ice, smelling of disinfectant like that used
in airplane lavatories, shattered on the garage
floor, narrowly missing Mrs. Sansevero's two
pet dogs.
Louis Achitoff, manager of public affairs and
planning for the eastern region of the Federal
Aviation Administration, said an investigation
was under way to determine if the ice might
have fallen from a jetliner passing over West
Islip, New York at the time of the incident.
SOURCE: N. Y. Times
12/21184
CREDIT: Jon Singer

~
Fourth Quarter 1984

Church Commission Cites

"Dimculties" Over Apparitions
A church commission, citing' 'disciplinary
and theological difficulties" in the reported
Marian apparitions in MedjugOlje, Yugoslavia,
has insisted to an end to organized pilgrimages
to the site and to public statements by local
priests about the events.
The commission, headed by Yugoslavian
Bishop Pavao Zanic of Mostar-Duvno, also
complained that "presumed healings" at the site
have been publicized without adequate scientific documentation. The statement, dated Oct.
11 was made public by.the Vatican press office Nov. 10.
The commission said it had not yet finished
its work, and that it intended to further examine
the apparitions. But it added that "already it sees
certain disciplinary and theological difficulties
in the messages of MedjugOlje." It did not
specify further what such difficulties were.
It was the second time the commission,
established to investigate the apparitions, has
asked that pilgrimages cease, atleasttemporariIy, In March, the group asked priests and lay
people to haIt organized visits and stop presenting the "seers" - six young people said to
see the Blessed Virgin - to the public.
SOURCE: St. Louis Review
11/16/84
CREDIT: R. Nelke

~.
African Dust Linked to
Miami 'Red Rain'
The drought in North Africa is sending more
and more dust across the Atlantic, causing haze
and "red rain" in Miami and the West Indies,
a chemist reports.
"When we get rainfall during the summer
months, we'll get a layer of red mud in our rain
collectors, and Miami has no substantial red
soils," Joseph Prospero, chairman of the
University of Miami's division of marine and
atmospheric chemistry, said.
Miami residents are familiar with red mud
after showers and with summertime dust hazes
that periodically cloud Florida's skies, Prospero
said. "The new aspect is the dramatic increase
in dust concentrations with the drought," he
explained.
The amount of African dust last year in the
air in Barbados, West Indies, was more than
double the average during non-drought years in
North Africa, Prospero said in a paper presented.
at the American Geophysical Union's fall
meeting.
Since 1965, Prospero has recorded dust from
Africa in Barbados, more than 3,000 miles from
its source, and in Miami, 4,000 miles from its
source. His earlier studies found that maximum
dust levels occurred during the summer, when
airborne concentrations are 10 to 100 times
larger than during the winter.
But in his new study, Prospero also found that
dust concentrations in Barbados during the
winter of 1982-83 were 100 times above normal winter levels. He said the drought and the
worldwide weather disturbance known as EI
Nino were responsible.

Fourth Quarter 1984

Prospero contends that the dust came across

the Atlantic because the drought in North Africa
had shalply increased wind erosion. Mineral
studies prove that the dust came from Africa,
he contended in his paper.
Frequent cloud cover over the Sahel - the
drought-afflicted sub-Saharan band of North
Africa - makes it difficult to distinguish dust
storms from clouds in satellite photos, Prospero
said, noting, "They're getting clouds but no
rain. "
Prospero said he didn't know how far the dust
travels into the United States, since his only
monitoring stations are at Barbados and Miami.
During the summer months, hot air carrying
the dust creates an inversion layer that can prevent cloud buildup over Miami, but Prospero
wasn't sure whether the dust reduced rainfall.
The latest droughts in the Sahel began in the
late 1960s, peaked in 1972, then continually
worsened from 1975, with Chad and Ethiopia
the hardest-hit countries, Prospero said.
A similar increase in dust transport was seen
at Barbados in the early 1970s after the drought
of the late 196Os.
SOURCE: AP in the Asbury Park Press, NJ
1217184
CREDIT: 1#432 ~

Voice Returns in Christmas 'miracle'

After 12 years of silence, Marie Heffernan
can sing Christmas carols again.
The 25-year-old Wollongong, Australia,
woman regained her voice after a coughing fit
brought up a 1959 silver three-penny coin and
some blood.
She lost her voice at a 1972 family Christmas
dinner, which included a custom of coins in the
pudding. "The doctor said it was a million-to-l
chance and I should have coughed it up straight
after swallowing it 12 years ago."
After the coughing, "the doctors sent me to
a speech therapist and, 10 and behold, I started
to talk again," she said.
The coin was lodged between her vocal cords,
which prevented them from vibrating. X-ray~
failed to detect the coin because it was thin and
rested in a horizontal position in her throat.
"It is a miracle and the best Christmas pre~ent anyone could ask for," said her mother,
Veronica Orr.
SOURCE: USA Today
12/21/84
CREDIT: R. Nelke

~
Girl's Ability to Talk
Makes Best Christmas Present
Shanda Baldwin, II, had not spoken for nearly a year since her brain was damaged. Doctors expected her to remain speechless the rest
of her life.
But several days before Christmas, Shanda
gave her mother a holiday gift by wishing her
a "Merry Christmas," an official said.
Shanda, of Mayville, NY, was considered a
"little chatterbox" before Febraury 28, 1984
when a car in which she was riding became trap-

ped in deep snow. The snow clogged the

tailpipe, choking the passengers with deadly carbon monoxide.
Two other children in the car were killed.
Shanda suffered severe brain damage that included oral apraxia, the inability to negotiate
mouth movements. The girl also is confined to
a wheelchair.
"When she came in here at the end of July,
we didn't expect her to ever talk again," said
Michael Plasha, spokesman for the Lake Erie
Institute for Rehabilitation.
"The first real breakthrough was December
17 during a therapy session," Plasha said. "She
said 'momma' and they (therapists) began to experiment ... and got her to say 'mommy' which
is more difficult than momma. The next morning, she greeted her therapist by saying, 'Hi Linda, Merry Christmas.' "
Plasha said the therapist grabbed the girl and
went to the phone to call Shanda'a mother,
whose name also is Linda, in Mayville.
"Hi, Mommy, I10ve you," Shanda told her
mother. "Merry Christmas."
"The mother feels this is the best Christmas
present she could ever have, .. Plasha said. "It
uplifted our spirits. Why she chose to talk when
she did, we just don't know .... They (therapists) really think it's a miracle."
Shanda will be at the hospital at least until
May, Plasha said.
"She does like to talk," he said. "What we
are working on is to fine-tune her speech."
Plasha said it was the first time that he has
ever heard of such a quick recovery for this type
of brain damage.
SOURCE: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
12/30/84
CREDIT: R. Nelke

~.

'Rain' Stirs Crocs to Amarous Acts

The noise of a simulated rainstorm makes
lethargic crocodiles amorous and could be the
long-sought-after incentive to make them breed,
the zookeeper in Augsburg, West Germany
says.
Peter Brettschneider says he has been playing recordings of a tropical rainstorm to the
zoo's one male and three female crocodiles for
10 to 15 minutes at a time over the past week
with notable success.
"They are clearly stimulated by the noise and
sexual activity has taken place, " Brettschneider
said.
To date the Augsburg Zoo has never managed to breed crocodiles, he added.
SOURCE: Rt:uters News St:rvict:
11/25/84
CREDIT: R. Nelkc

~
Sharp Gator Files Way from Pen
A 6-foot-long male alligator dived into his
new pen at the Sawgrass Recreation Area in Fort
Lauderdale, FL, and immediately began using
his rough hide to file the pen's aluminum bars.
It worked.
"He's trying to get out," onlookers shouted.
"He's got his head through a hole."
Pursuit 183

It took only minutes for the alligator, a fonner

resident of the Miami Serpentarium, to file his
way to freedom.
Miami reptile handler Joe Wasilewski was
putting the third of six alligators from the
Serpentarium into the pen as part of an agreement with the Florida Game and Freshwater
Fish Commission and Jim Swait, airboat concessionaire at Sawgrass.
"Well, that's it for the experiment,"
Wasilewski said in disgust.
For years, Wasilewski had kept his alligators,
born and raised in captivity, at the
Serpentarium.
But the Serpentarium closed a few weeks ago
because oflagging attendance, and Wasilewski
agreed to keep six alligators on display at Sawgrass and to give occasional lectures.
In tum, Swait built the alligator pen, the
20-by-16-foot floating gator haven featured a
sun deck and a 4-foot pool.
SOURCE: St. Louis Globe-Democrat
10/9/85
CREDIT: UPI in the St. Louis GlobeDemocrat

Is the Sky Falling?

A chunk of ice fell through the roof into the
living. room of the Jiminez home in Calumet City on May 30th. The chunk that weighed about
25 pounds and left a one-foot-wide hole in the
roof was believed, authorities said, to have
broken off a jet passing ovemead.
SOURCE: News-Democrat Belleville. IL
6/1184
CREDIT: R. Nelke ~

Doctors Successfully Remove

200-pound Cyst from Woman
A woman who weighed an estimated 600
pounds underwent successful surgery for
removal of a 200-pound ovarian cyst after having refused medical treatment for more than a
year, doctors said.
Helen Hollenbaugh was in stable but guarded condition after the operation at Lewistown
Hospital, officials said.
The cyst, which contained 20.8 gallons of
fluid was drained before surgery began, said
hospital director Charles Harris. The draining
was necessary to relieve pressure on blood.
vessels and organs.
"The mass has been successfully removed
and the patient has been returned to intensive
care," Harris said. The surgery team believed
the cyst was benign, he said.
An ambulance crew had been called to Ms.
Hollenbaugh's house after she complained of
back pains and difficulty breathing, the hospital
said.
"We got her down off the bed and onto the
floor, rolled her onto the mattress and slid it out
onto the staircase," said ambulance worker
Richard Pennebaker.
But the handful of ambulance workers could
not get the woman out of her house.
Rescue workers were called, and the crew
"had to knock out a wall between the kitchen
and the staircase to get her out," Pennebaker
said.
As many as 30 workers were at the scene by
the time Ms. Hollenbaugh was transported to
the hospital, he said.
.

Is Spandau Prison Haunted?

by doseph W. Zarzynski
Spandau Prison is an immense dirty red brick fortress in West
Berlin that is the cell block for "Prisoner No.7," otherwise
known as Rudolf Hess. Hess has been the sole inmate at Spandau Prison since 1966, but reportedly he is not alone as this
old fortress is haunted.
Rudolf Hess was one of seven prisoners moved to Spandau
in 1947 after the Nuremburg trials. Hess, Adolf Hitler's former
deputy, was interned by the British after a madcap May 10, 1941
solo flight and parachute jump into Scotland on a personal mission to persuade the British to pull out of the war against
Germany.
Hess has been the sole inmate at Spandau since 1966.
However, recently one of the jail's observation posts has been
. haunted.
.
The Times of London reported on June 29, 1984, that one
British sentry claimed he shot at a ghost and that, "One night
a French guard inexplicably leaped to his death from the same
post."
It is not surprising that Spandau Prison constructed in the
1870s as a military bastion is spooked. The stronghold served
as a civilian jail before World War 2 and during the war was
used as a clearing station for victims on their way to Nazi concentration camps.

SOURCES:
"Spandau marked for destruction when Hess dies," The
Times. London. June 29, 1984. The Murder of Rudolf Hess.
Hugh Thomas. London. 1979.
~

Pursuit 184

Harris said he had heard estimates that Ms.

Hollenbaugh weighed as much as 600 pounds,
"but we literally have no way of weighing this
lady. " He said the cause of the cyst was
"unclear."
SOURCE: AP in the Asbury Parle Press. NJ
12/18/84
CREDIT: #432

Chinese Girl Prefers to Live as Pig

Chinese doctors are studying the case of a
lO-year-old peasant girl who prefers to live, eat
and sleep with pigs, the Canton Evening News
has reported.
The girl was suckled by sows. She shares the
pigs' swiII and sleeps in their sty at nights.
"The pigs never bite her and iQ fact, the
temperamental porkers had only to hear her cry
and they would come running to her side, " said
the paper. When people at her home in Liaoning province tried to tear her away from her porcine chums, she screamed, the paper reported.
Although the girl looks quite ordinary, she
expresses her feelings awkwardly. Her speech
is unclear and she grunts and snorts when she
is hungry.
SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
12/30/84
CREDIT: R. Nelke

The Resch Poltergeist

(continued from page 177)

In trying io understand these phenomena reported from all

parts of the world, the hypothesis that entities (or intelligently
directed energies) find ways to remind us that there is more to
life than we perCeive through our senses, requires less imagination than crediting them to someone's subconscious. Admittedly,
frustration and tension seem to be integral components in these
cases, and an adolescent or sensitive adult may become the channel or activating agent. Tina had been getting clairvoyant impressions for several yaers before the physical phenomena
erupted in March of this year. She had become more and more
frustrated because her parents, unfamiliar with this kind of reality, understandably assumed that. Tina was imagining or
fabricating things, which further contributed to her frustration.
She knew what was reality for her !Uld was hurt by questions
concerning her stability and integrity. It will be no surprise if
we hear more about Tina and her developing gifts in the years
ahead.

Speakers from seven countries will lecture at Dr. Walter

Uphoff's New Frontiers Center seminar August 22-25 in
Madison Wisconsin. The two major programs will be~ one:
Healing modalities, psychic phenomena and survival evidence; two: Alternate approaches to health care.
We highly recommend this meeting to SITU members. For
the latest details write: New Frontiers Center, Fellowship
Farm, Rt. #1, Oregon, Wisconsin 53575 or phone (608)
835-3795.

Fourth Quarter 1984

The Legend of Wind Cave

by A &iead of SITU
Legend has it that, one hot summer day in 1881, a cowboy
named Tom Bingham, as he rested on a hillside tending cattle,
heam the whistling sound of a strong wind close by but felt no
cooling breeze. The sound, he discovered came from a small
hole in the ground just a few feet away. Fascinated by his
discovery Tom tolc;l his friends of his experience, but they laughed at his story, for as everyone knew the ground in that area
is solid rock. Fortunately, Tom marked the spot and returned
to it often to wait for the noise to happen again.
Eventually he discovered the hole was a sm8.l1 entrance to a
cave. The local Indians had known of it for a long time, Tom
later learned. In fact, the Indian hunters believed the buffalo
they killed for food were sent to them out onto the prairie, via
this very same hole, by their sacred gods.
Bingham was even more confounded when he discovered that
the wind would blowout of the opening at one time and be drawn
back in at another time. It Willi as if the hillside was taking long
breaths. Bingham enlarged the aperture and eventually explored
the caves with some friends. The early graffiti they left on cave
walls and ceiling is still evident.
As years went by, the word spread of this natural curiosity,
passing stagecoach travelers stopped to see and witness the
phenomenon. The legend of Wind Cave continl,led to draw ever
larger numbers of curious people. Finally, in 1903, the federal
government decided to protect this remote southwest comer of
South Dakota by making it part of a national park. It was the
first cave to be so designated.
In the 1930s workers of the then newly created Civilian Conservation Corps built steps and hauled cement in rubber inner
tubes down intricate passageways to fonn paved and passable
foOtpaths. Later lights were also installed to benefit the visitors.
In 1969 nineteen-year-old John Scheltens stopped off at the cave
on a Western trip. He became fascinated with the Wind Cave
complex and later settled in nearby Hot Springs. He found that
only about eight miles of passages had been exploredand nothil)g
had been mapped. Accompanied by friends, Scheltens began.
to explore and map as he went, finding the cave system far more
complex than anyone had previously expected.
Most travelers to this Black Hill region, now, come to visit
~ sciJlptured granite faces of past presidents at Mo~t
Rushmore forty miles to the north. Only about 10% of the more
than million visitors each year to Rushmore stop to visit the
44-square-mile preserve of Wind Cave National Park, inany
simply intrigued by the name on the road signs that intr04uce
them to the park.
It is believed. that the earth's crust bUckled 60 million years
ago pushing up, in alternate layers, the granite and limestone
base. Subsequent action of an alternately rising and lowering
water table caused the softer limestone to slowly wash downward
between the granite masses. The acidic erosion and water
seepage froin ~nderground streams fonned, over thousands of
years, the now beautiful calcite deposits and the cave configurations that often differ greatly from one cavern to the next.
Scheltensl!aid so far he has mapped over 42.5 miles of caves
and passageways. His experience as a civil engineer and
spelunker has/naturally, been useful to him. The deepest ex-

Fourth Quarter 1,84

ploration has been to 704 feet below ground level. he also found
one cavern that is 2,800 feet long. Often now, on longer explorations, he camps underground for days in the constant
'underground 53F temperature. The water table limits exploration downward and he never expects to. explore it all in a lifetime,
even with the aid of his colleagues.
Visitors. to the cave are offered a choice of several tours in
the underground labryinth. For the hearty there is a descent and,
of course, the return of 740 steps; for the romantic, a candlelight
tour to caves with such names as Big Many's Place. Michael's
Misery, Cracks of Doom, etc. The shortest is a witJk of one
half mile whereas the longest tour is four hours long to soine: ..
remote crawl-on-your-belly regions. All of the tourscan be out
at the same time and each may never pass another;So vast is '.
the cave system.
. .
But most curious and perhaps most important to us here is .
the wind phenomenon which. aecoming to Scheltens. is due
merely to the difference in air pressure above and below the
ground. He said study of the cave system and the duration of
the wind or air flow indicates the 42.5 miles of caves mapped
so far are only 2 % of perhaps a two billion cubic foot air capacity
of the underground space.
The wind at the cave entrance. according to Scheltens has been
recomed between 55 and 60 miles an hour at times. This entrance was the only known 'breathing hole' for the complex until
just recently when a small second fissure was found after more
than a century.
Little is said of air movement except near the cave entrance
but apparently Scheltens has encountered no noxious fumes or
areas of low-oxygen content of the air. He also told this writer
that he has never seen tracks of animals nor. in fact. any indication the cave was ever inhabited much less visited in the
past by any other living creatures. Yes. there are lichens and
eave bats near the entrance but nothing else in the Iife-supporting
atmosphere of the apparently near-perfect encapsulation of the
vast underground cave complex.
Ofcourse. it can be rationalized that if there is no animal life
in the caves, there are no creatures to use up the oxygen that
has just been collecting for a long time thanks to the 'breathing'
of the cave. And, underground acidic chemical reactions are
generally not known to produce significant quantities of oxygen.
But, at the risk of complicating a simple explanation we do feel
there are more unanswered questions concerning this uncommon type of cave that need to be addressed. Therefore, we encourage our readers to visit the park and share their comments
with' us.
RegaJdless of all else, John Scheltens finds a major reward
in all of this. He reminds us that relatively few new frontiers
are left on this planet to be easily explored. To him, briefly leaving his.everYday world to go down into a 'new' passageway
.waiting.to be ~f()und' and knowing that he is the first human
to light up and yiew a beautiful cavern for the very first time
is a truly exhilarating experience. And who, after all, can honestly doubt this?

.1

Pursuit 185

Report on Two Conferences'

by Robert .Warth

I was again pleased to be able to represent SITU this year in attending two major conferences.
The U.S. Psychotronics Association (formerly the U.S. Radionics AssociatiQn) met this year on '.:
the campus of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, June 27 - July 1, 1984.
.'
Significant lectures (some with demos or workshops) included: Riley Crabb "Harmony with Nature, Interplanetary
& Intergalatic;" Samuel Lentine "Psychotronics, an Innovative Treatment .of Allergies;" Paul Esch "Psychic Den-'
tistry;" Man:el Vogel & J. T. Smith" Analysis of Psychoenergetics of Dowsing & Radionics;" D~nnis Stillings "Cosmic: .
Psychotronics;" Gary Fleck "Crystal Radionics;" B. Hero & R. Fo~lkrod "Awakening Consciousness Through
Generating Patterns of Harmonic Sounds."
.
Eldon Byrd "Interactions of ELF, and EM Fields with Biological Processes;" R. Powers and N. Turner "New GeoMagnetometer Detects Noxious Zones & ELF Fields;" Samuel Lentine "Psychotronic Alteration of Physical & Chemical
.Behavior;" Andreas Marx "Bio-physical Tests Determine Exposure of ELF, Radionics, Electro-puncture, Noxious
Zones;" Mike Bradford "The Theory of Universal Dynamics;" J.G. Gallimore & Bob Beutlich "I Ching & Kabbalah
with Time, Electric, Magnetic & Gravity Fields Yields New Resultant Fields;" .Chris Bird." Alchemy of Life, Effects
of DNA detected with Dowsing, Crystalization patterns;" Tom Bearden "Update on Soviet Psychotronic (Tesla)'
Weapons.".
. .
Elizabeth Rauscher "Models of Psychokinesis & Human Volitional Remote Interaction;".Peter Kelly "Crystal-Powered' ,
Psychotronic Tuners in Agriculture;" Bill Van Bise "EM Waves and Brain Waves and their Apparent Link with PKi. ;
Phenomena;" Bob Beck "TESLA on 'Death Ray';" Philip Callahan "Ancient Mysteries, Modem Visions;" ThomaS
Valone "The One-Piece FaradaY'Generator;" Tom Bearden "Soviet Weather Engineering Over North America;" Andrija Puharich "The Potential Hazards to Agriculture of 'Greenhouse' Effect and it's 'Cure'." Curtis Wallace "Space
Geometry;" Julius Soled "Chromotherapy;" Dick Benson "World's Oldest 4> Map."

The theme of this annual Psi conference for 1984 held in Basel, Switzerland was "Telepathy and
Clairvoyance. " It was held in the magnificent new conference center that had opened just a few .
.,
weeks e a r l i e r . '
The language barrier was minimized since each listener was provided with .earphones and a sele- .' -tor to listen to either German, French or English. Questions from the audience were a bit more dif:ficult for the audience to hear and interpret.
The major lectures included:
Prof. Dr. Andrea Resch (Innsbruck, Austria), "Parapsychological Research on Telepathy and Clairvoyance;" Dr..
Larissa Vilenskaya (USA, formerly from Moscow) "Investigation and Application of Telepathy, Clairvoyance and
Psychokinesis in the USSR and in the West" and "Psi Development Systems;" Dr. HeiniC. Berendt (Israel) "Mistakes'
in and Misinterpretations of Psychic Impressions" and "A Qualitive Experiment of Clairvoyance;" Dr. Russell Targ'
(USA) "Remote Viewing" and "The Practical Application of ESP Researched Worldwide;" Prof. Dr. Herbert
Pietsch mann (Vienna) "A Possible Extension of the Scientific Method in View of Paranormal Phenomena;" Prof. Dr.
Oliver Costa de Beauregard (France) "Implications of Relatively, Quantum and Information Theories for Parapsychology; "
Dr. Rupert Sheldrake (England) "Morphogenetic Fields;" Dr. Walter Uphoff (USA) "Psychokinesis in the' USA;"
Prof. Dr. Werner Schiebeler (Germany) "How Can One Evaluate Mediumistic 'Statements?;" Mandred Kage (Ger- .
many) "Meditative Relaxation;" Coral Polge with Gaye Muir "Mediumistic Portraits With Clairvoyant Commentaries."
Of particular interest to the more than 500 attendees were the workshops and the discussions with performed experiments.
These ranged from a panel discussion on, "The 6-dimensional Field Theory of Burkh~rd Heim in relationship to ESP, ", ..'
to a demonstration of firewalking by Larissa Vilenskaya. Equally popular were the experimental workshops, each conducted by a psychic. These included; Coral Polge, Gaye Muir, Karl Francis, Dorice Hannan, Ursula Roberts, Michael
Colmer, Henriette Colmer and Joan Clark, all of Great Britain; Dietfried Markus of Germany; and Peter Nelson and .' ..
'Keith ,Harary both from the USA.
.
The conference had a considerably vast media converage since, I think it is safe to say, there is more sincere interest
in these phenomena in Europe than in the USA at the present time.
.
.
The ultramodern conveniences ofthis facility in Basel will be available for future annual conferences, too. The only
matter tl)at I brought to the attention of the organizers was the remarkable absence of clocks necessary for the prompt.
attendance at lectures. One of the officials, somewhat embarrassed said, "The wall clocks are coming and will be i~- '.
stalled shorlty, but after all who really nee4s them here in Switzerland, the land of world-famous wrist watches? ....
As with most conferences, as much' is learned in small group discus.sion~ a~ in. th~.recture hall'and so it was, right
up to the closing moments that ended with a Rhine river boat trip spirited ~utifully with band music, cheese fondue,
and some local Swiss wines.

Editor's Note: Some important lectures (;fparticular interest to Forteans will, wit~ permission ofthe writers, be printed
from time to time in PURSUIT as space allows.
.
~

Pursuit 186

Fourth Quarter 1984

Books Reviewed
THE FOUR MAJOR MYSTERIES OF MAINLAND CHINA by Paul Dong (Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ,
1984, 213 pp., ilIus., $8.95)

Reviewed by Sabina W. Sanderson

This is a very odd book though it is valuable for Forteans
in view of the long period during which nothing was allowed
in or out of China. As the title indicates, the book is divided
into four sections. I found the first two nearly unreadable; the
oUter two gallop along just fine and seem almost to have been
,
written by a different author.
The first section deals with UFOs in China and contains a
number of reports of sighiings but deals primarily with the
'history' of ufology in China, a tedious and dreary account of
the battle between pro-and anti-ufology groups and individuals.
There is one interesting chapter on UFOs in ancient China.
Section two covers psychic phenomena, specifically ESP
(which they call EHF, "exceptional human functions"), but
again devotes far too much space to the squabbles that arose
between the convinced and the unconvinced. The experiments
and testing described here can most charitably be called naive,
though Stanley Krippner in an Afterword notes that the Chinese
scientists have now instituted proper controls, statistical analyses,
and such.
The "Third Mys~ry" - qi gong - was new to me. It is
an ancient Chinese method of breath control with quite
remarkable 'side-effects, ' some of them real eye-poppers, if one
can believe the reports.
The final section deals with "Wildman," China's version of
the Sasquatch. Truthfully, I should have liked to have more on
this subject - this section runs only 31 pages - but what there
is, is worth having on record. There is an official search for
ABSMs in China, and it is very possible that proof of their existence may come first from that country. The Chinese have,
already, evidence (in the form of preserved hands and feet) of,
a hitherto unknown 'ape' in China - possibly a huge relative
of the Macaques - though not yet of an ABSM as such.
There is a foreword by J. Allen Hynek (dealing exclusively
with ufology) and, as noted above, an excellent Afterword by
Stanley Krippner. There is also an index.
TIlE GEMINI SYNDROME: A Scientific Evaluation of
.Astrology by R.B. Culver and P .A. lanna (Prometheus Books,
Buffalo, N.Y., 1984, 222pp., illus., cloth $18.95, paper $1 1.95)

Reviewed by Sabina W. Sanderson

Messrs. Culver and lanna are astronomers, and to be blunt
about it, they take the astrologers apart. Unhappily, as they
themselves admit, their book is unlikely to make a dent in the
popularity of astrology. One of the reasons for this is that some
parts of the book - in which they prove that the astrologers'
methodology is all wet - are so technical that they probably
will be really intelligible only to other astronomers, though their
conclusions and the accompanying tablets are clear enough. (Just
incidentally, the astrological house division systems most commonly used cannot generate a horoscope for anyone living above
66.So North latitude - about 12 million people are thus deprived of their 'sidereal destinies. ')
The authors begin by tracing the parallel histOries of
astronomy, which is a science, and astrology, which is not. This
they then prove conclusively in a number of ways. As they note,

Fourth Quarter 1984

"The 'bottom line' in any scientific description of a phenomenon

in nature is its ability to predict future events or new experimental
results." (emphasis mine) The authors collected 3011 predictions made by astrologers; 338 (11 %) were correct, though I
think the authors were overly kind here since they included as
correct predictions that could have been based on "shrewd
guesses," vague wording (my personal favorite, made some
years ago; "Somebody famous will die in Southeast Asia this
year'''), or "inside" information.
Astrologers, when confronted with a catastrophically wrong
prediction, invariably resort to that cop-out of all time, "The
stars incline, they do not compel." No natural law behaves that
way. Indeed, rather than overhaul their totally inaccurate correspondences and methodology, "the astrological community
has instead developed an impressive array of methods and techniques for the sole purpose of excusing or minimizing their predictive failures without even remotely threatening the basic 'truths'
of the astrological gestalt. Such is not the road to the scientific
credibility and respectability that so many astrologers for so
many years have complained about not having."
There are references and an index. Unhappily, there are also
a lot of typos.
THE SASQUATCH AND OTHER UNKNOWN HOMINOIDS, edited by Vladimir Markotic & Grover Krantz; Western
Publishers, 1984, 335pp., Bus. (Order from the publisher, PO
Box 30193, Stn. B, Calgary, Alberta, Canada)

Reviewed by Sabina W. Sanderson

This book is identified as "Vol. I" of "The Research on
Unknown Hominoids" so that, obviously, it is the first of an
intended series. One hopes that subsequent volumes will prove
equally good. It is an anthology and, as in all anthologies, the
quality of individual articles varies somewhat, though here the
overall standard is high. It is divided into seven chapters, each
containing from two to six articles written by experts who were
invited to contribute but given cane blanche on the subject so
long as it dealt with unknown hominoids.
The first chapter is the weakest, dealing with "monsters" in
a very general sense, from several viewpoints. One article really has nothing to do with unknown hominoids per se, and another
even the editors admit does not "make any particular point. "
Chapter II, "The Believers and the Skeptics," begins with
a delightful piece by the late and lamented believer Carleton
Coon, which counteracts the effect of Chapter I (on this reader
in any case); an article by skeptic Hans Biedermann; and an
excellent critique of both sides by Grover Krantz, ,who notes
that he will "alienate almost everybody." I hcpe 1'Iot, for his
points are valid.
With these prelminaries out of the way, the book .. ..:!, down
to business. Chapter m, "Reports," includes mat~iicai on the
Soviet Union, China, Australia, and North America. Dmitri
Bayanov reports on recent events in the USSR generally, while
M.J. Koffman presents a "Brief Ecological Description of the
Caucasus Relic Hominoid (Almasti) ... " - her approach is so
straight forward, she might be discussing the habits of the Arctic Fox or some other 'ordinary' animal; as Grover Krantz says
,in his introductory note, her manner "will leave many skeptics
aghast." It even startled me a bit and I'm fairly blase on the
subject of ABSMs.

Pursuit 187

John Green provides an excellent summary of published

reports from China, including the discovery there of the mummified hands and feet of what is apparently a new species of ape.
Dmitri Bayanov reports on "The Case for the Australian
Horninoids," drawing on material published in 1977 by Gmham
Jayiler but including additional documentation and commentary.
The earliest report from Australia is dated 1842, thus antedating
Eum-American ones! Also, the reports of hairy bipeds come
from both whites and aborigines. The main stumbling block here
is how any ABSMs reached Australia - aboriginal ttaditions
have it that they were there when the aborigines arrived. Bayanov
addresses this problem but is not entirely convincing and ignores the fact that Asia and Australia haven't been connected
for over 70,000,000 years. If there are ABSMs in Australia,
. this fact will throw Wallace's Line right out the window.
Grover Krantz provides a very useful summary of what we
know about the Sasquatch and what ought to be done about the
Sasquatch problem in the future. The latter is his personal view
and it will be unpopular in some quarters, since he advocates
shooting one specimen, a. view I agree with. As he puts it, "If
there is a need to protect aD endangered species from extinction
we must know what it is we are protecting. and from what and
how."
Loren Coleman reports on "The Occurrence of Wild Apes
in North America." This is much the same as the chapter in
his book Mysterious Amenca but certainly merits inclusion here.
Chapter IV, "The Biological and Psychological Aspects .of
the Sasquatch" includes two articles dealing primarily with footprints and one by James R. Butler who theorizes that the Sasquatch's ability to avoid contact with man is due to HSP (higher
sensory perception) of some kind.
The footprint articles espouse diametrically different views
on Sasquatch prints though both conclude that, apart of course
from hoaxes, they are genuine.
Butler's theory is intriguing but did not convince me, in part
because there are much simpler explanations.
Chapter V deals with the Patterson-Gimlin.film in considemble

detail and includes some truly fascinating information, not the

least of which is the ingenious work of Russian specialists who
determined once and for all the speed at which it was filmed:
16 frames per second. This was done by means of careful
analysis of vertical oscillations caused by Patterson's walking
and running while fIlming, something that caused moans
originally. As Dr. Don Grieve stated (quoted in John Napier's
book) "The possibility of fakery is ruled out if the speed of the
film was 16 or 18 fps. In these conditions a normal human being could not duplicate the observed (locomotor) pattern, . . ."
Had it been filmed at 24 fps, Patterson would have been making 6 steps per second - Olympic sprinters only manage 4.3.
Chapter VI, "Europe of Old" has to do with mythology and
folklore. First, Vladimir Markotic presents a pretty good case
for wondering if the Greek god Pan was an early hominid deified by very early Greeks. He is unique in many. way~ and
the suggestion that he represented surviving Neanderthalers is
not so outlandish as it might seem.
"Creatures from the Bilogora in Northern Croatia .. by Zvonko
Lovrencevic is straight folklore and inte~ting though clearly
not really related to ABSMs even though the creatures are
described as hairy.
The final chapter, "The Problems of Origin," includes a paper
by Charles Reed who considers various possibilities from a
number of standpoints and finds Gigantopithecus to be the best
but by no means certain candidate.
Grover Krantz does much the same thing but concenttates on
Neanderthal Man, suggesting that there may have been greater
differences between him and modem man than is generally
assumed today.
There is an extensive bibliography, a glossary; and Notes on
Contributors, complete with their addresses, but no index. This
last was apparently dumped by the publisher since, in the Introduction, John Green is credited with compiling one; it would
have been a useful addition. Also, someone should have done
a better job of proofreading.
~

Letters to the Editors

Dear Editor:
Mr. Williamson's letter to the editor provides an inte~ting
indepth astrological interpretation for the woodcut used in my
article "A Sixteenth Century Spacecraft?" In PURSUIT, Second Quarter 1984, Vol. 17, No.2, page 74-75.
Speaking for myself, however, I was not primarily concerned
with astrological symbolism. Instead I have tried to show, that
if this wood cut had come down to us undated and without the
contemporary explanatory text, it would lend itself excellently
to an interpretation in modem ufological tenns. On the other
hand the accompanying text proves convincingly, that this woodcut was meant as an eye-catcher for an astrological forecast and
not as a graphic representation of an early extraterrestrial visit.
Ratherthan conducting original research in the matter of the
1524 conjunction~ I have relied on existing sources. There is,
however, DO doubt, that said conjunction did actually occur in
1524 and that it was heavily publicized, thus creating a wide
spread hysteria. Among other things some astrological writers
(have they been the forerunners of our present day futurologists?)
predicted a terrible flood which did, however, never materialize.
But DO less a man than Albrecht Durer seems to have been

Pursuit 188

seized by the common flood-hysteria. In the night between the

7th and the 8th of June 1525 he had a quite impressive dream
in which he perceived great masses of water pOuring down from
the sky with a tremendous roar. Immediately after awakening
he sat down and made a water colour painting of what he had
.
seen, adding also a short verbal description.:Z
In connection with the theme of my article it may now be
of interest that the downpouring waters in Durer's painting are
depicted in the shape of a giant mushroom, giving rather the
impression of a column of smoke rising from the earth. And,
anyone looking nowadays on this painting for the first time and
without any knowledge of its origin or the explanatoiy text would
unhesitatingly identify it as the artistic rendering of a nuclear
explosion.

1. e.g. Prof. Dr. Ernst Zinner,

Stemenglaube und Stemenforschung
Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg/Munchen 1953
2. Durer's painting is in the custody of the Albertina. Vienna.
-Luis ScbBnherr

Fourth Quarter 1984

Dear Editor:
I want to say that I especially appreciated the article by Luis
Schonherr in your latest third-quarter '84 issue. The author's
concern for the subjective aspect of UFO reports is right up my
line of special interest and I would like to contact this contributor.
I am one who believes that all "reality" contains some circumstantial elements, and that "reality" in the philosophical
sense should be considered as a mind-dependent phenomenon
and, I might add, with an inception in the subjective and only
later setting up the subjective-objective differentiation. This
viewpoint places me close to Berkley's philosophy. To me it
seems that most persons have an inherent fear of such thinking
assuming it leads to solipcism not realizing that it is a "universal" such as a sociologist might best appreciate.
Of one thing I am certain - that "seeing" is not perceiving.
Consider a dog of the kind that loves to bark at moving cars.
The picture on the dog's retina may to a large degree resemble
my view of same. But to the dog, he sees no wheels, no windows, no special color, etc., etc. It is only by a long and hidden process of learning and evaluating (against the already
known) that perception develops. No doubt the dog has a few
perceptions of his own learning. It is somewhat the same for
humans in our present state - we can perceive only against what
we are familiar. In some past issue of PURSUlTthere was mention of the difficulty of certain explorers to get the natives (who
had never seen a sailing ship) to perceive it as such while it was
moored amongst the trees and rocks in a distant optical view.
Then also, the modem mind has a strong urge to perceive
(perhaps to retain a feeling of sanity) and, just like with magicians, this condition can be deceptive.
-Harold A. Youtz
Dear Editor:
Spontaneous human combustion has fascinated me since I first
became aware of it some years ago. I've read various speculations concerning the reason for its occurrence. I've never seen
any mention of the possibility that it may have something to
do with the energy called Chi or Xi in the martial arts. This
is, I believe, the same energy that yogis and sages of the East
talk about and have learned to master. It is a power that exists
within all of us; only a few learn to increase this power, cultivate
it, and control it. This power is limitless. It is the energy of
the Universe at our fingertips.
I theorize that the victims of 'sac' somehow inadvertently
tap into this source of power, possibly through one of the
chalaas, the spiritual centers that separate one level of consciousness from another. Perhaps, because they have obviously not gone through a proper ritual (cleansing through proper
diet and fasting to clear the channels to allow the free flow of
this "current") and especially because they are unaware and
not in control of what takes place, 'they are cOnsumed by this
energy that they unknQwingly channel through themselves.
As support for my belief, I refer you to the chapter (which
I recently discovered) entitled "The Techniques of Casting off'
The Body", from the bOok Living With the Himalayan Masters.
The appropriate passage is on page 452 in my copy of the book.
Schopenhauer called access to ancient knowledge of India "the
greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries." I agree. The answers to many seemingly strange happenings may be available if we search in the right direction.
It is my hope that others more enlightened than I may take
these thoughts and carry them the steps further that will take
the solving of this mystery to its fruition.
-James F. Loretta

Fourth Quarter 1984

Dear Editor:
When powder is sprinkled on a vibrating square sheet, it flows
to the diagonals. The diagonals define the lines where there is
no vibration.
If a triangular surface is used, instead of a square, the powder
flows to bisect the angles. What you see is a cross section of
a pyramid.
Sound is a compression wave. This means that molecules are
compressed to a higher material density along the nodal lines.
The velocity of sound increases with density. Therefore, when
the vibrations of the sheet converge into the nodal lines, they
rotate their velocity 900 and accelerate along the lines. In other
words, Pyramid Power is what conventional physical terminology would call hypersound.
All material structures vibrate sonically, so they are all sectored by nodal lines conducting hypersound. These are the meridians and ley lines of the tao, and the mysterious chi is scientifically established as hypersound. So are bioplasmic energy,
elan vital, mana, orgone, and any other name that is applied
by each new discoverer. A sphere will naturally sector itself
sonically into harmonically defined geometry, so the terrestrial
grid system could be calculated from a datum point at the Nile
Delta without recourse to empirical evidence.
All the sonic vibrations in the material are brought to a focus
along the meridians. Since energy is a function of velocity
squared, it follows that the velocity ofhypersound in any given
structure will be a function of all the vibrations in its mass. If
the mass is great enough, and if the meridians are tine enough,
sonic energy will be accelerated to the speed of light. In other
words, a structure with the mass of the Great Pyramid would
transfonn the ambient sonic vibrations and random molecular
motion of the desert heat into a current of electricity flowing
along the meridians. The Pyramid is a solid state transfonner.
It is also a capacitor. It is also a tuned antenna. It is, in fact,
a complete electronic machine. Clever people, those Egyptians.
Since the Earth is considerably more massive than the
Pyramids, it should not be surprising that anomalous electrical
phenomena occur along ley lines and at focal points of the grid.
The vectors of sound, gravity, magnetism, and electricity are
at right-angles to each other; they are successive dimensions
of energy. A body as massive as the Earth produces stargates
between dimensions at the focal points of its energy gric,t. Since
energy rotates around dimensional boundaries at ley lines, sbUCtures will grow and disintegrate with greater velocity in these
regions than in intenneridial space, and cities will be established
on the grid whether or not the founders are learned in geomancy.
-T.B. Pawlicki
Dear Editor:
I certainly enjoyed the 3rd quarter 1984 PURSlJlT. Particularly timely was Bearden's STAR WARS NOW! It even gained
national attention in the May 5th issue of Newsweek.
If I might add one correction, if I am correct, in the matter
of just which mode will produce a high pressure area. The author
states that the "Hot Spot" or produce energy will do this. I
believe the hot spot will produce a low pressure area, the hot
air being less dense, and a lower pressure will result. It must
be remembered that low pressure areas are the anchor of weather
fronts, and can be expected to produce storms, while a cold spot
will produce a high pressure area and produce stagnant weather
and such conditions as droughts.
-Ed Toner

Pursuit 189

The Notes of Charles Fort

Deciphered ~ CuI J. Pabst
ABBREVIATIONS
*
A

abo
ac to
A.J. Sci
(A I)

An. Reg.
As!. Nach
Ast Reg
BA
Black Mt
B.W.1.
Conn
CR
(Cut)
0-58
det met
Ec. Sun
Elec
E Mec
(F)

Finley's Rept.
Frgs
Gents Mag
Hist Astro
incip. vole.
Inf conjunction
(It)

J. des. Deb
Jour Frank Ins!.
Jour Soc
Ibs
L'lnstitut
L.T.
Lum obj.
Mag Nat Hist
Mechanics Mag
Mems Geolog. Survey of

For sOme obscure reason, Fort cut a notch

on the right side of the note.
Aurora
about
according to
American Journal of Science
[1] Almanac
Annual Register
[?] Astronomische Nachrichten
Astronomical Register
Repon of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science
Black Mountain
British West Indies
Connecticui
Compres Rendus
illustrated
The Book of the Damned, page 58
detonating meteor
Eclipse of the Sun
Electric
English Mechanic
Fletcher'S List
Finley's Repon on the Characters of 600
Tornadoes
Frogs
Gentleman's Magazine
History of Astronomy
incipit volcano
Inferior conjunction
Italy
Journal des Debats
Jou.mal of the Franklin Institute
Journal of the Society for Psychical
Research
ladybugs
[1]

London Times
Lu~inous object
Magazine of Natural History
Mechanics '. Magazine
Memoirs of the Geological

(continued from PURSUIT NO.7, preceded by very loud sound.

[Reverse side] Then the sky became
Third Quaner 1984, page 144)
clouded. I BA 54.
1839 [Ap. 8]1 q I Highlands I [LT], Ap
1839 March 23 / Burmah I Great q. Vast 8-5-f I Crieft' - May 294-e I Glengany
quantities of water and black sand - Ap 2'-6-f I Bridgwater- June 11-7-a.
thrown out of fissures.
1839 Ap. 121 Rain of mud I Constan[Reverse side] Volcanic eruptions in hills tine, Algeria I CR 8-715 I See 14.
south of Kyouk Phyoo I slight trembl- 1839 Ap. 12 I Algeria I q and sand I
ings then for a year / (BA 54).
Finely powdered substance fell in
1839 March 23 I - Ap 11, still more Algeria. Upon 14th, a q. I C.R. 8-715,
shocks / bet 3 and 4 a.m. / Ava, Bur- 7681
mah / great q. I A. J. Sci 38-385/ Great [Reverse side] Philippeville I R - May
16, '46.
quantities of water and black sand
[Reverse side] thrown to surface of
ground and strong sulphurous odor. Apr. 1839 Ap. 131 Siorm in Algeria I fall of
II th, last news received by the writer. / hail or pieces of ice, described as failing in irregular masses I CR 8-763.
[Front side] (BA 'II).
1839 March 25 / Volc I Ternate / Java' 1839 Ap. 141 q and sand I q in Algeria
lab 2 p.m.
I N.M. I C.R. 70-878.
1839 March 26 / lsere, France / shocks 1839 lasl of May I Dragon-flies I Germany I Mag Nat Hisl, N.S., vol. 31 See
preceded by sound like distance
Weissenborn.
[Reverse side] thunder / BA 54.
1839 Ap. 5 / Florence / 5 p.m. / q 1839 May 2 I [L.T.], 6-d I 3 clusters

Pursuit 190

India
met
Metite
Mo.
N

N.E.
N.M.
no.
N.W. Provs.
N.Y.
obj
Obs
Op Mars
p.
Pers.
phe
Polt
Pmc Amer Phil Soc.
Pmc Irish Acad
,Proc Met Soc
Pmc Roy Soc London
q

R
Ref
R.I.

Sci Gos
Smithsonian Inst Report
Spon Comb
S.W.
Tenn.
tho storm
Timb's
Trans Ent Soc London
volcs
W
Wid

Survey of India .
meteor
Meteorite
Missouri
North
Northeast
No More
.number
Northwest Provinces
New York
object,
Observations
Opposition of Mars
page
Perseus
phenomena
Poltergeist
Proceedings of the American fhilosophical
Socrery
,
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy
[1] Proceedings of the Meteorological
Society
.'
Proceedings of the Royal Society of
London
earthquake
Reference
Reference
Rhode Island
Science Gossip
AnnuaJ'Repon of the Smithsonian
. , Institution
SPontaneous Combustion,
Southwest
Tennessee
thunderstorm
Timb's Year Book
Transactions of the Entomological Society
of London
volcanoes
West
Wild

of sunspots.
1839 May 5 I bet 11 and 12 I Aurora
I few details I Nottingham I LT, May
13-5-b.
1839 May 51 Brussels I Aurora I C.R.
8-807.
1839 May 7 I Parma I Fireball/ BA 60.
1839 May 7 / Saint-Brice / Aurora I
C.R.8-807.
1839 May 8/ near Radham / Lum obj.
/ See Lum objs.
1839 May 16 / Wid man of the year
1836.
'
1839 May 18 / "pannelOns" / fell
around a coach between de Gournay
[and] Gisors in such numbers the horses
stopped; /190111/303, La Vie Scientifi-

que.

["~"-Pabst; "pannet0n5"

are May flies]

1839 [May] / Felt-like substance J.
Carolath, Silesia / 0-58.
[BCF, p. 58:
. A writer in the EdinbuIBh Review,

87-194, says that, at the time of writing,

he had before him a portion of a sheet
of 200 square feel, of a substance that
had fallen at Carolath, Silesia, in 1839
- euctly similar 10 couon-fe1t, of which
clothing might have been made. The god
Microscopic Examination had spoken.
The, substance consisted chiefly of
conifervae.] ,
1'839 May 22 / ab 11 a.m. / Bridgwater
/ loud report and shock / L. T., Iune
11-7-a:'
1839 ,May 23 / afternoon / Maumee,
Ohio / Tornado / Finley's Rept.
1839 May 24 / [L.T.], 7-a / At Vendome, France, a few days befoie, fall
of a "waterspout." On
[Reverse side] one farm, 30 sheep
drowried.
1839Iune 6/ (Fr\ / 8:30'p.m. / Cambrai / Evreux I Chlllllbel)' / Geneva /
Lausanne / great met / CR 9-139/ Paris
- 279.

Fourth Quarter 1984

1839 June 7 12 a.m. I Explosive sound

and q I Meleda 1 BA '5412841 [Reverse

side) bul see June 7, 1838.

1839 June 10 I Ica, Peru I I 1 [Lighl
quake I BA 1911).
1839 [June) I Salvador I m I [Greal
quake I BA 1911] I ab June I ? 1 Look
up.
1839 June 11 I q I Lancashire I See
March 10, 1843. I
[Reverse side) AI Manchester 1 LJoyds
Weekly Newspaper, March 19, 1843.
1839 June 12/8: IS a.m. 1 q and sound
like thunder 1 Lanc:ashin: I Roper, p. 34.
1839 June 161 Mexico I q lind mets I
BA 54.
1839 June 1610 Dec. I (+) I (successive)
(See Nov. 29.) I in Savoy I qs and one
with lighl in sky I BA '54.
1839 June 18 I Ice and dark I Brussels
10-180.
[BCF, pp. 188-189:
We accepIlhaI sometimes fields of ice
pass between !he sun and !he earth: thai
many Slrala of ice, or very !hick fields
of ice, or superimposed fields would
obscure the suri - thai !here have been
.occasions when !he sun was eclipsed by
fields of ice:
Flammarion, The Atmosphere, p.
394:
Thai a profound darkness came upon
!he cil)' of Brussels, June 18, 1839:
There fell flal pieces of ice, an inch
long.)
1839 [summer) 1 Wet summer I Proc
Roy Soc London 18SO-ISa.
1839 June 28 and 291 SaralOf Govern.,
Russia I n I [Medium quake I BA 1911).
1939 July S I [LT], 7-c I LocusIs al
Clunie, Perthshire I L.T.
1839 July 61 Panna I Fireball I BA 60.
1839 July 7 I Arundel, Susse[x] I
Shower of pieces of ice four or five inches in diameter enclosing hailslones. I
LT, July 12-7-a.
1839 July 13 I Mexico I q and mets 1
BA54.
1839 July 24 I Near coast of Lincolnshire - a cutter ran into numerous
belts a[s] far as eye could reach of
Aphides. I Sci Gos 1869.
1839 July 28 I Ic:eIaDd 1 Smilhsonian Ins!
Rep! 188S-S10.
1839 July 311 noon 1 New Haven, Conn
1 Tornado I Finley's Rept.
1839 Aug. 1 I q - droughll Violenl
shocks aI Martinique I Had been drought
since January.
[Reverse side] Immediately after shock
came rain which continued for days.
1839 Aug. I Maximum of Perseids I
Observatory 46-169.
1839 Aug. 9, 10 I Oreal fall ofPerseids
I N.Q. 3-11-32 I N.M.
1839 Aug. 10, etc. I Greal Perseids al
Paris I 1000 in aboul4 'h hours 1 C.R.
9/37S.
[Reverse side] AI Panna, night 10-11,
819 in 6 'h hours I also great in U.S.
I C.R. 9-603.
1839 Aug. 10 I from 9:30 to 3: IS a.m.
I aI Breslau I 1008 meteors counted I
[Reverse side] L.T., Sept. 2~2-f.

Fourth Quarter 1984

1839 Aug. 10 I Perseids I A. J. sCi

37-330.
1839 Aug. III 8 to 4 a.m. of 12th I aI
Canlon, China I 414 meteors I
A!henaeum .1840IS78.
1839 Aug. 12 I Swanns of Harpatus 1
near Dover I Trans Enl Soc London 1
[Reverse side] 1/5/proc. p. 24.
1839 Aug. 18 I Irkutsk, Siberia I m I
[Oreal quake I BA 1911].
1839 Aug. 21 I (Ln, 4-a I MeIS.
1839 Aug. 23 I [LT], 3-f 1 Village of
Federowk moved as if by a q.
1839 Aug. 24 I d'Auge, France I M.
Lemercier, in C.R., 3137S I
[Reverse side] Seeming great motion of
Venus or Mercury.
1839 Aug. 26 I Coast of Albania I 9
p.m. I greal mel and train, 20 mins. I
A. J. Sci 39-381.
1839 Aug. 27-31 I See 1805. I about 1
p.m. on 27 I Messina I a q a[I] S and
8 p.m. I other q's I and at 9:30 p.m. aI
moment of tile concussions a reddish tint
in !he air - same day and until 31st in
Calabria.
1839 Aug. 30 I SunsPot observed by
Capt Davis I N.M. I ASI\Ug 7-18.
1839 Sept. I Comet reported near sun,
in Ohio I L. T., Ocl. 8-8-a.
1839 Sept. 2/1 a.m: I Shock I Bristol
I L.T., 9-3-d.
1839 Sept. 2, etc. 1 Many sunspots. A
luge cluster and 40 or 50 small spots appeared on 3rd. I L.T., Oct. 12-3-d.
1839 Sept. 21 Bristol, 1 a.m. I S. Wales
- q next night bet 11 and 12 great aurora
(q and tommts) I LT - 9-3-d I.
[Reverse side] Times of 11th reponed
from Monmoulhshire - had been slOrmy - rain falling in tommts - !hen
violent shaking of earth and sound as if
reports of many cannons.
1839 Sept. 2 I [LT], 2-f I MeIS aI
Breslau.
.
1839 Sept. 3 I Auroral beam I A.J. Sci
39/364:
1839 Sept. 31 This aurora seen aI New
Orleans. I CR 9/603.
1839 Sept. 3 1 Aurora 1 Edinburgh I
whole sky aflame I NM 1 LT, Sept.
74-f.
1839 Sept. 3-41 from 10p.m.104a.m.
1 Sheet of fire and meteors I Year Book
1840 11/
[Reverse side). PLEASE PAY
CASHIER [stamped].
1839 Sept. 4 1 I a.m. I Piedmonl 1 at
Alexandria, Sept. 3-4, from 10 p.m., all
night 1 brilliant aurora I
[Reverse side] C.R. 9/374.
1839 Sept. 5 I I.n a field near Peterborough fe!1 a fireball, making a
[Reverse side] hole a foot deep. I L.T.

9-6-<:.
1839 Sept. 10 I Fall River. I Clear starlighted nighl. Two black columns at first'
supp be smoke rising and lOWard each
other nonheast, other southeasl.
Streamer shot from them. They
[Reverse side] obscured stars. I LT, Oct.
9-S-c.
1839 Sept. 10 I Ghent I Fireball 1BA 60.

For a description, in a letter,

1839 [Sept. 17] 1 spider I Letter dated
Sept. 17, from Sikkur, 011 the Indus, tells presumably from Sir William Murray,
of descent of a large cloud of spiders and or some member of his family, see Year
Book of Facts, 1856-273. II is said thai
!heir webs.
[Reverse side] "Maze within maze and about 12. fragments of scorious matter,
fold within fold, an innumerable host of hot and emitting a sulphurous odOr, had
spiders." The morning was somewhat fallen.]
dark - !here was distant rumbling of 1839 Oct. 5 I - 14 h I Venus Inf conthunder. I "Mirror" 35-47.
junction Sun 1 (A 1).
1839 Sept. 20 I Fish, small space I In- 1839 Oct. 6 I noon I Constantine,
Algeria I rain from clear sky I C.R.
dia I 0-84.
44-786.
[BCF, p. 87:
Ferrel (A PopuJlU Ttelllise, p. 414) 1839 Oct. 12 I Comrie.
tells of a fall of living fishes - some of [BCF, pp. 403-405 I See May 17,
!hem having been placed in a tank, 1830.]
where !hey survived - that occurred in 1839 Oct. 18 I Intense darkness I
India, about 20 miles south of Calcut- Quebec I Niles Nal Register, Nov. 16,
ta, Sept. 20, 1839. A witness of this fall 1839 (N.M.).
says:
"The mosl strange thing which ever 1839 Ocl. 201 Vulcan ?
struck me was that !he fish did not fall 1839 Oct. 21 and 22 I Prolonged but
helter-skelter, or here and there, but !hey very slight shocks I island of Antigua I
fell in a straight line, not more than aBA-54.
cubit in breadth." See Living Age 1839 Oct. 21-26/62 shocks I Reggio,
52-186.]
Calabria 1 BA, '541 of which 26 were
1839 Sept. 281 [L.T.], 6-c ore I High severe.
Tide I Havre /I 14-4-& f.Ireland.
1839 Oct. 22 I Aurora seen at Milan.
1839 Oct. I Comrie 1 See Ap. 30,1921. I L.T" Nov. 5-3-f.
1839Oct./Conuie I See Aug. 21,1845. 1839 Oct. 22 I L.T., 4-d I at ~ date
1839 Oct. I Comrie and Venus Inf. Con- IN. eye group of sunspots.
1839 Oct. 221 [LT], 4-e I 24-4-f I De
junction Sun I May 7, 1865.
1839 Oct. 2 I Vulcan by De Cuppis I Cuppis' dark body denied I said had
round black object !hal traversed !he sun been sunspots.
in 6 hours I C.R. 83-314.
1839 Oct. 221 France and Italy I Aurora
[BCF, pp. 4OS-406:
I C.R. 91538, 602 I 18/228.
Jan. 8, 1840 - sounds like can- 1839 Oct. 23 I Pointed out in L.T., Dec.
nonading, at Comrie, and a crackling 11,!haI shocks at Comrie were same
sound in the air, according to some of time as
!he residenlS. Whether !hey. were sounds [Reverse side) shocks in St Jean de
of quakes or concussions thai followed Maurienne and al Reggio.
explosions, 247 occurrences, between 1839 Oct. I A I Am. J. Sci 2nJ315.
Oct. 3,1839, and Feb. 14,1841, are 1839 Oct. 23 IEdin34I97/Thslin Sept.
. listed in the Edin. New Phil. Jour., and Ocl. been uncommonly brilliant
32-101. It looks like bombardmenl, and aurora [s]. "They had a curious fiery
like most persistent bombardment - color." I Many felt electric shock.
from somewhere - and !he frequent fall [Reverse side] There were other shocks.
from !he sky of tile d&Jris of explosions. Mr. Milne in his review in vol. 25,
F~b. 18, 184.1 - a shoc~ and ~ fall of "This aerial sound was perceived to acdiscolored ram at Comne (Edin. New comp[any] most of !he other shocks in
Phil. Jour., 35-148). See Roper's List OclOber 1839.
of Eanhquakes - year after year, and
!he continuance of this seeming bom- 1839 Oct. 23 I q felt simultaneously I
Comrie I Piedmont I Calabria I LT, Dec.
bardment in one small pari of !he sky of 5, 1840.
.
this earth, though [ can find records only of dates and no details. However, I 1839 Oct. 231 See BA 54 for series this
think I have found record of a fall from year at
the sky of ctaJris of an explosion, more [Reverse side] St Jean de Maurienne,
substantial than finely powdered soot, Savoy.
at Crieft', which is several miles from 1839 Oct. 231 Comrie I A thin, fleecy
Comrie. In !he Amer. Jour. Sci., cloud was often observed hovering over
2-28-27S, Prof. Shepard tells a cir- the center of disturbance. I BA-54.
cumstantial story of an object lhallooked 1839 Oct. 231 In Rept B. Assoc, 1840,
like a lump of slag or cinders, reponed Milne says in review of phe since 1788
to have fallen at Crieft'. Scientists had - "Occasionally !here was a fall of fine
refused to accept !he SlOry, upon !he black powder."
grounds !hal the substance was not of [BCF, pp. 403-405 I See May 17.
"true meteoric malerial ... Prof. Shepard
1830.]
went 10 Crieft' and investigated. He gives
his opinion !hal possibly !he object did 1839 Oct. 23 I Aurora borealis and
fall from !he sky. The story that he tells shooting scars in Scotland were more freis that, upon !he night of April 23, 18S5, quent that usually in Sept. and Ocl. I
a young woman, in the home of Sir [Reverse side] BA 54128.
William Murray, Achterlyre House, 1839 Oct. 291 Comrie I Sound and EICrieft', saw, or thought she saw, a na 1 Ap. 13, 1822 I Etna = elc.
Iwninous object falling, and picked it up, 1839 Oct. I Comrie I Stone in Penh I
dropping it, because it was hot, or May 17, 1830.
because she thought it was hot.
1839 Oct. I Comrie I q I loud sound al

Pursuit 191

'.:

Blackford lOci. 30. 1821.

1839 Oct. I Comrie to distanll May II,
1877.
1839 Oct. I Comrie to Turkey I Iuly 12

- 1894.
1839 Oct. I Comrie as sounding board

or Comrie to Distanl q I May 11, 1877

I Collecting begins here.
1839 Oct. I Connie I slOlle I Ian. 27,
1863 1/ b. rain I March 14.
[BCF, p. 200 I See Oct. 10, 1802.]
1839 early in Nov. I (Stat) I (Ret) I
Night, great fall of mets - next day, 2
p.m., cletcmations and falls of stones
(Reveille side] at Sola; Mexico. I Bull
Aead Roy des Sci de Bnaxelles, 8/437.
1839 Nov. 9 I Antigua - little after
daybreak I c:oncussion I detonation I
brilliant meteor I
[Reverse side] Athenaeum 18401930.
1839 Nov. 91 (3 ioun[ds)) I (Cut) I Antigua, W.J., at fint taken for an eanhquake - but the ~ had been seeR.
13 explosions - I Am. 1. Sci. 391282111
[Reveille side] 42 1/ 32 I 159/220 1220
1/ 443 I 498 I 517 I 619 I 533.
1839 Nov. 9-19 I Meteors as counted
at Ceylon I small displays I mostly tending southward I Athenaeum [I]
8391970.
1839 early in Nov. rNopalero, Mexico
12 p.m. I W. to E. I Del. meteor I BA

60.
1839 Nov. 12 - I This year? I DOt in
Athenaeum for 18391970 I not '40.
1839 Nov. 13 I Moon-sized meteor I
Cherbourg I Athenaeum 1839-76.
1839 Nov. 29 I before sunset I Large
met at Naples, moving Eastward. When
over the Adriatic,
~ side] tumed back and passed
over Naples apin. I BA 60.
1839 Nov. 29 I (It.) I Naples I Metite
I Phil Mag 4/8/460 I See Iune 16.1
(Reveille side] Cosmos, N.S., 3-55.
1839 Dec. 11 I q - like aurora I St.
1can-de-Maurienne, Savoy I 3:25 a.m.

lAb. 2 minutes after the

(ReveIlle side] shock, the horizon appear[ed] brilliantly lighted so that one
could easily distinguish the objects in a
room. From 16th of Iune, qs here had
Slopped, but had begun apin Oct. 4. I
(Front side] B.A., 1854.
1839 Dec. 13 I evening I Dover I
Brilliant meteor I L.T. 19-7-e.
1839 Dec. 16/BO/(LT),3-b/4Iarge
wolves seen in villap of Lilleshall, near

Newport.
(ReveIlle side] 1 Shot and 3 captured.
Supposed escaped from a menagerie.
1839 Dec. 181 Bres1au I Fireball I BA

60.
1839 Dec. 191 L.T.I At Dovera rapp-

ina ghost.

(Reveille side] Servant girl confessed

"after a severe examination. "

1839 Dec. 311 Upton-on Severn I See

Lum objs.

1840
1840-41 I Longest sunspot on record I
lasted 18 months I Todd, Astronomy,
p. 175.

Pursuit 192

1840 I Carbon I Tenn. I N I 0-73.

(BCF, p. 76 I See March 15, "1806.]
1840 I See 39. I fireballs at Parma I Rep
BA-1860 I Ap 28 I May 2, 23, 31 /I
Also 41 I Feb. 25, 27 I May 8.
1840 Ian. 2 I [LT), 3-c I 3-3-d I Feb.
J-5-b I Dec. 391 I Comel.

onating met I Sainte.Menould (Meus) I toes, lava I N.M. I C.R. 70-8711.

[Reveille sIde] ~R 12-.662.
1840 May 25 I Ext. tide I Lake Erie I
1840 March 22"'.q _magnetic I q. I and meteor, 29th I C.R. 12-450.
Annecy, in Savoy 1-23 .. many villages 1840 May 27/LT., 7-a.:.
.
destroyed in Burmah. ~
1840 May 291 U.S. I large met I BA 60.
[Reveille side] These 9ays.magnetic per1840 May 31/ Parma I S to N I Fireball
turbations at Prague. I BA '54.
I BA 60.
1840 Mar. 24 I Grain I Rajkit; India I
11140. Ian. 2-3 I A great number of in stonn I D-65.
1840 (Iune 12) I Uden, Brabant; HoUand
meteon, at Gand, and a bright aurora
I Metite I BA '60 I (F) ..
at Geneva.!
[BCF, p. 66:
:.
1840 Iune 20-28 I Iuly 2 I July 6 and
[Reveille side] Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc.,
Amer. lour. Sd.~ 1841-4:0:
.
81 [July] 2711 Armerua 1_'" q.1 [BA]
13-501.
Thai, March 24, 1840 ....: duringa 'II.
... .
1840 Ian. 2 See Ian. 2, 1839. I N.M .. thundentonn - ~t Rajkit, India, occurI
sua) n..a"_M':ds I E M 74-446 .red a fall of graID. It was reported by . 1840 p:riod of Iune I Philosophy of
unu
ec
. Col. Sykes, of the Britil!h Association. l.1>:sterious Agents I E.C. Ragen (YRD)
1840 Ian. 2-3 I See JaD. I, 1842.
The natives wen: greatly excited _ p: 260 I Home of Joseph ProctOr, a
1840 Jan. 81 8 p.m. 1del met I probably because it was grain of Ii kind unknown miller, villap of Willington near rail_y
exploded over the Germal\ Ocean I
to them.
nanning from Newscastle to Nonh
[Revene side] BA 60.
UsuiJ1ly
forward a scientistwho Shields. A mom - occupants '
1840 Jan. 81 Meteor I Denmark I N .M .. knows more of the things that natives [Reverse. side] see bluish lights and
I C.R. 10-119.
.
know best than the natives know - but . ghostly appearances and swoon. StoIy
1840 Ian. SIlO p.m. I Donegal 1 Jreland it so happe~ ~ the ~~ thing was not here .of experiences of aD inves~gator.
I q and crackli[ng] in air and detonations done definl~ly 1ft thiS Instance:
. I See 183511, etc. .
I BA '54
"The gram was shown to some 1840 Iune 23 t[LT).-7.:a I Span. Comb.
1840 Ian. SI (q) I Connie I and a crackl- botan~ts,. who did not. ~Iy 1840 July 2-61 (q and water?),l.q I Mt
recognIZe It, but thought It to be either Ararat I aDd immense floods of water 1
ing sound in the air I Edin New P. 1 a spanium or a vieia. "]
T:Y. Book 411257 I but ._ 42-248.
36/73 I Othen compared .the sound
__
[Revene side] to firing ofc:annons.1 Mr. 1840 March 24/7 p.m. I Mobile, Ala. I840Iu\y 17/In perrodof.q's/Annenia
Milne lists and gives details of 18 other I Tornado. I Finley's Repon."
I 6 and 8 and 27 I M'll I See 2-6.
shocks in 1840 and 1841. I especiolly I840Ap.S/Voleenaption/Mindamio, 1840 JUIy 17 I (See [ _ cut off).) I
mentioning explosions OJ:: crackling Philippines I ashes, great showen I 7. N Casale Piedmont I stooefa1I at CCIUeto
sounds [Front side] "in the air" upon and 121 East I
1 Rcpt BA 1860-78 I ......
Ian. S, 1840, andApril21 and Sept. 12, (Reverse side] also 300 miles Neast of [Reverse side] Phil Mas 4-8-460 I See
1841 - explosions last instance hear{d] lst position (two ships) I A.I. Sci., 1868.
. ..
[a]t sea were mistaken ror~lnnon fire. 4():.198.
1840 July 17 I 7 a.m. I '40 I Loud
[BCF, pp. 405-4061 See
3, 1839.] 1840 Ap. 5 I Ship Niantic I 60 miles detoniliion at Milan. Medte fell at
1840 Ian. 30 13 a.m. I q and loud repon from Mindanao (Philippines) I Year Ceresato.' Athenaeum 184(),.1013.
I840Iuly 22 l.Detite/abBa.m. 1 Great
al St. Louis I (N.M.) I Niles Nat. Book 1842-245 I
Register, Feb. 22.
:[Reverse side] 2 a.m., ashes ab on[e) metseen in metite [?]- said fallen near
1840 Feb. 2 I Volc enaption I Moluc- hour I fell occasionally for several days Milan I C.R. 11/244 I See 17th. .
cas I See 14th. I Niles Nat. Register I (also on a ship 300 [miles] away). 1840 Iuly 28 to 29th I by H.M:S. Erebus
. . 1840 Ap.;24 I Aurora I Proc Roy Irish I S. Lat 470 I E. Long 97 .f. G!!=al
59-1.
1840 Feb. 2-141 Vole and q's I Temate, Acad 1/451.
numben of meteors.in a gale I.BA
lava I N.M. I C.R. 70-87S.
1840 Ap. 281 Parma I SE to NW I large 65-122.
1840 Feb. 6 I Bnassels I Fireball I SE slow meteor I BA 60.
1840 Iuly 30 I Vienna I met train I 15
to NW I BA 60.
1840 Ap. 29, 30 I Cloud of dust that minutes I BA 60.
.
1840 Feb. 6 I Fireball I Sandwich obscured the sun 2 days in Russia. I Am. 1840 ab Aug Ilbs. I Brighton I D. NeWs
Islands I BA 60.
1. Sci 2/10/287.
I Aug. 17, 1847.
.
1840 Feb. 7 I a little before midnight I i840 May 21 Parma I Fireball I BA 60. 1840 Aug. 21 Frankfon I Fireball/BA
Volc enaption near Baku, on the Caspian 1840 May 7 12 p.m. I Natchez, Miss. 60.
I 'Fimbs 1841-257.
I Tornado. I Finley's Rept.
1840 Aug. 31 France I FirebaIl/BA60.
I 840 Feb. 8 I Copenhagen I Fireball I 1840 May 91 Kirghiz Steppes, TanalY 1840 Aug. 31 Met set fire. 19:30 p.m.
BA 60.
I Metite I BA '6(). 78 I
I Meteor seen at Tamerville, near
1840Fcb. 141
deluge I Moluccas [Reverse side) Karakol, Siberia I (F). Valognes, France, and said set .fire
I violent q and deluge from sky I Had 1840 May I A I Toronto I A.I.S. [RCvcne side] on a fann.1 C.R. 111-292
.
40/337.
.
I The fann buildings on fire one hour
been volc. on Feb. 2. I
[Revcne side] Niles Nat. Register S9-J. 1840 May 13 I Albany, N.Y. 13 a.m. later. .
1840Feb. 171 Beme I Fireball I BA 60. I Del. Met. I BA 60. .
1840 Aug. 31 Fannhouse at TamervilIe;
1840 Feb. 25 I Met set fire. I Met set 1840 May 13 I-ab3 a.m. I Great meteor ncarValognes - (La Manche), burned.
fire to mofofa wine press at Bois-aux- I Conn and adjOining'states I A.I. Sci. Six witnesses told of having seen a
Roux (Chanteloup). I
39-382.
___. .
meteor going in the
:----.[Reveille side) direction of the I)ouse and
[Reveille side] C.R. 112-514 I (This
18411)
1840 May 13,291"2 metS tU.S...} BA of the fire immediately breaking out. I
6().78.
Mirror 36-160.
1840 Mar. 41 Assam I q and eclipse of
1840
May
22
I
Violent
enapti~
~f
1840 AuS. 7 I Eng I whirl I Times, Aug.
sun. I (ordinalY?) I BA '54.
Guteer, in lava i Athenaeum 1840-10\4. 14.
1840 March 14 I The unknown foolprints of B.D. in Athenaeum of [March 1840 May 23 I Panna I Fha.JI iliA60. 1840 Aug. 71 Naples I Fireball/,BA 60.
1840 (May 23) I Aurora? C~,. 1840 Aug. 91 q I Conn. I aarib by some
14) from Penh Courier.
1840 Mar. 15 I Great met I Princeton Venezuela. I sky c1ou~ I 0n.:: star~! penons to a meteor I Am. 1. Sci. 331335
fint magmtude .appeanng ~llDtervals I ~ Ap. 12, '37. I
and New Haven IBA 6().78.
- a band or ~Ight that flickered and [Reverse side] See Nov. 9, 1810.
.
1840 March 17 I Meteor I Canada I flashed I L. Tllnes, Aug. 14 I
"Since said to be a false accounl." I BA [Reverse side) Timb's Y.B. 18411260 I
(10 be nmlinued)
60.
CR 13/965.
1840 March 21-221 night I Loudly det- 1840 May 24 I 3 a.m. I volc I Goen-

"1:............

comes

<?cl.

ci -

Fourth Quarter 1984

THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPlAINED

Mall: SITU/PURSUIT. P.O. Box 265. Little Silver. NJ 07739 USA Telephone: (201) 842-5229
GOVERNING BOARD
Robert C. Warth, President; Gregory Arend. Vice-President; Nancy L. Warth,
Secretary and Treuurer; Trustees: Gregory Arend. Steven N. Mayne. Nancy L.
Warth, Robert C. Warth. Martin Wlegler, Albena Zwerver.
"

"

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

Dr. George A. Agogino. Director of Anthropology Museums and Director. Paleo-Indian
Institute, Eastern New Mexico University (Archeology)
Dr. Carl H. Delacato, Director, The Institute for the Rehabilitation of the !kain Injured. Morton. Pa. (Mentalogy)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek. Director. Lindhelmer Astronomical Research Center. Northwestern
" University (Astronomy)
"
Dr. Martin Kruskal. Program in Applied Mathematics. Princeton University. Princeton.
New Jersey (Mathematics)
Dr. Samuel B. McDowell. Professor of Biology. Rutgers the State University. Newark.
New Jersey (General Biology)
Dr. Vladimir Markotlc. Professor of Anthropology, Department of Archaeology. University of Alberta. Canada (Ethnosociology and Ethnology)
" Dr. John R. Napier, Unit of Primate Biology, Queen Elizabeth College. University of
London. England (Physical Anthropology)
Dr. Michael A. Persinger. Professor. Department of Psychology. Laurentian University.
Sudbury. Ontario. Canada (Psychology)
Dr. Frank B. Salisbury. Plant Science Department, College of Agriculture. Utah State
UniverSity (Plant Physiology)
"
Dr. Berthold Eric Schwarz, Consultant, National Institute for Rehabllltation Engineer.
ing. Vero Beach. Florida (Mental Sclenees)
Dr. Roger W. Wescott. Professor and Chairman. Department of Anthropology. Drew
University, Madison. N.J. (Cultural Anthropology and Unguisti~)
Dr. A. Joseph Wraight. Chief Geographer. U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Washing.
ton. D.C. (Geography and Oceanography)
Dr. Robert K. Zuck. Professor and Chairman, Department of Botany. Drew University.
Madison. N.J. (Botany)"
ORIGINS OF SITU/PURSUIT
looIogist. biologjst. botanist and geologist Ivan" T. Sanderson, F.L.S . F.R.G.S., F.Z.S . in association
with a" number of other distinguished authors. established in 1965 a "foundation" for the exposition and
research of the par.normal-those "disquieting mysteries of the natural world" to which they had devoted
much of their investigative Ufetimes.
As a means of penuading other professionals, and non professionals having interests similar to their
own. to enlist in an uncommon cause. the steering group decided to publish a newsletter. The 6rst issue
came out in May 1967.
response. though not overwhelming. was sulkient to reassure the founding
fathers that public interest in the what. why and where of their worIl would indftd survive them.
Newsletter No.2. dated March 1968. announced new plans for the Sanderson foundation: a structure
larger than its architects had ftrst envisioned was to be built upon it. the whole to be called the Society for
the Investigation of The Unexplained. M set forth in documents tiled with the New Jersey Secretary of
State. The choice of name.as prophetic, for Dr. Sanderson titled one of the last of his two-dozen books
-Investigating dNi Unexplained." published in 1972 and dedicated to the Society.
Another publication .as issued in .lune 1968. but ..newsletter" WM now a subtitle; a~ove it the name
Pu,.uit was displayed for the Irst time. Vol. 1. No. 4 In September 1968 ('"incorporating the fourth Society
newslettf!f") noted that '"the abbreviation SITU has now been for.allv adopted M" "the _ ....tion of our
Society." .... number 4 IDOHGUeI' lnIroduc:ed the Scieadlc AduisoIy Board. ...... the ...... and .....Cions
of the advisors. Adndnistratl-,. matters no Ionter dominated the conten"; these were relegated to the last"
four of the ....ty pates. Most of the issue was given over to lnvestiptive reporting on phenOmenll such as
"a great armadillo (6 .... long. 3 .... high) said to have been captured In Argentina" -the instant transportation of solid objects '"from one place to another and even throush solids" -the attack on the famed
Univenity of Colorado UFO Project headed by Dr. Edward U. ~-and some updated information
about .rlnging roc:b" and"stone spheres."
Thus SITU .as born. and thus Pu,.,i, began to chronicle our Investigation of The Unexplained.

n.e

PrInted in U.S.A.

ISSN 0033-4685

Pursuil Index 1984

And in Lake Champlain, 122
Andrews, George, 120, 153
Bayless, Raymond, 23
Bearden, T.E., 29, 111
Becker, William, SO
Calico: A Progress Report, 21
Callahan, Philip S., .25
Captures and Strandings of Monsters in
Loch Ness, 121
Chatelain, Maurice, 103
Conference Report: MUFON UFO
Symposium, 136
Cubits and Constructs of Ancient
Astronomy, 103
Defense Against Earthquakes? or
Earthquakes for 'Defense'?, 9
Destruction by Fire, 162
DeWitt, David, 2
Dinosaurs in Pre-Columbian Art, 13
Eden, Daniel, 174
Editorials on Contents Pages, I, 49, 145
Effective Mass and the UFO, 174
'Electronic Poltergeist', An, 23
Encounters with the "Real" Jersey Devil,
173
Energy and Paranormal Phenomena, 33
Experiment in Dowsing, An, 157
Final Note on French Lost Cities, A, 141
Fitzjarrald, Sarah, 11, 86
Fort, Charles, The Notes of, 45, 93,
142, 190
Deciphered by Carl J. Pabst
Friend of SITU, A, 185

Grandfather is Here to Stay, 86

Greenwood, Stuart W., 147
Hagens, Bethe, 50
Hansen, Evan, 162
Hypothesis of a Soviet Scientist, 73
If the Well Runs DI)', 11
Infrared Factor, The, 80
Insect!)', The, 25
Keel, John, 80
Lebelson, Hafl)', 9, 78
Legend of Wind Cave, The, 185
Letters to the Editors, 43, 91, 134, 188
Life Fon:e, Psychokinesis and the Electric
Girl, 76
Lost Cities of France: Fact or Folklore?,
37
Macer-StOl)', Eugenia, 178
Magic Spark, The, 17
Magin, Ulrich, 121
Maya and the Synodic Period of Venus,
The, 147
Neidigh, Kim L, 136
Nelli, Raymond A., 33
News from Another World: The Nebraska
UFO-CI)'ptozoology Conference. 81
Normalizing the Paranormal, 120
Partain, Keith, 128
Peculiar Origins of Alek J. Hidell, The,
168
Pen:ipient-Dependent Components in the
UFO Experience, 98
Photographic Biofeedback?, 178
Planetal)' Grid, The: A New Synthesis, SO

Premise, The, 149

Reardon, Russ, 149
Related SITUations, 110
Report on Two Conferences, 186
Resch Poltergeist, The, 177
Roll, Michael, 120
Sanderson, Ivan T., 157
Sanderson, Sabina W., 21
Sclionherr, Luis, 74. 98
Singer, Jon Douglas, 37. 141
SITUations, 40, 88, 129. 182
Smith, Sydney, 173
Solving the mysteJ)' of Ball Lightning A Milital)'/Scientific Imperative. 78
Star Wars Now!, (In two parts), 29, 111
Swords, Michael, D., 76, 81
Thompson. Paul. 17. 146
Tri-State Spooklight. The: A controversial
Mystel)', 128
Unknown Mummy. The, 146
Uphoff, Walter & Mal)' Jo, 177
Warth, Robert, 186
Was it an Extraterrestrial Spacecraft?, 74
Water-Powered Pyramid, 2
What Uprooted Massive Chunk of Earth?
161
When the Moon is in Perigee, 73
Where Have the Flying Saucers Gone?,
153
Williams, Hill 161
Williamson, J. N., 168
Wirth, Diane E. 13
Zarzynski. Joseph, 122

Books Reviewed
Aliens Above, Always,
John Magor, 42
Champ-Beyond the Legend,
Joseph Zarzynski, 97
Champ-Beyond the Legend,
Joseph Zarzynski, 140
Clear Intent,
Lawrence Fawcett & Barry
Greenwood, 138

Four Major Mysteries of Mainland

China, The,
Paul Dong, 187
Gemini Syndrome, The,: A Scientific
Evaluation of Astrology
by R. B. Culver and P. A. lanna,
187
Mind Wars,
Ron McRae, 41

100% Intellect - The Freedom

Covenant,
Richard J. Benson, 137
Psychic Warfare: Threat or Illusion?,
Martin Ebon, 41
Sasquatch and Other Unknown
Hominoids
Edited by Vladimir Markotic &
Grover Krantz, 187

'Science is tbe Parsait 01 tbe Unexplained'

Journal of SITU
The

!.~....f~.1.S--li---...J'L..r-.;rc~"!...r~-:'If-t.
8
.}3
6

JI 4

Society for the

Investigation of 247.
The Unexplained.

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.....

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~2. 35

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17

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J..:z:,,::=====. .====~,

See UElectricity in Ancient TImes" page 2

Volume 18
Number 1
~st Whole No. 69
C ~ First Quarter
ryp~.
1985

The Society For The Investigation Of The Unexplained

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT. P.O. Box 265. Uttle Silver. NJ 07739-0265 USA Tel: (201) 842-5229
,

SITU (pronouncecl .,t"you) Is a latin word meaning "place. SITU Is also an acronym referring
to THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED.
It

SITU eXists for the purpose of collecting data qn unexplalnecls. promoting proper Investigation of Individual reports and general subjects. and reporting significant data to Its members.
The Society studies unexplained events and "thIngs" of a tangible nature 'that orthodox science.
for one reason or another. does not or wm not study.
You don't have to be a professional or even an amateur scientist to 'join SITU.
MEMBERSHIP
Membership is for the calendar year. January-December: In the United States. $12 for one year; $23
for two years; $33 for three years. Membership In other countries Is subject to surcharge. to covel' higher
cost of mailing. Amount of surcharge. which varies according to region. U1I11, be quoted In response to
Individual request. Members receive the Society's quarterly journal PUBSlJIl" plus any special SITU
publications for the year of membership. Original "back Issues" and reprints (Issues of PUBSlJIl" dated
prior to the current publishing year) are available for all past years. Send check or money order for total
amount with request Identifying Issues desired by Volume. Number and Year. PrIce Is $~.OO pel' copy.
postpaid within the U.S. Please allow four to six weeks for delivery.
SITU welcomes members' participation. ArtIcles. photographs. newspaper and magazine clips. book
reviews and other contents Including "letters to the editors" should be sent to SITU/PURSUIT at the
above address If they are to be considered for publication In PUBSlJIl". The Society assumes no respon- .
slbUlly for unsolicited material and will not return unaccepted manuscripts unless provided with an
addressed return envelope bearing sufficient return postage.
All mail. Including changes of address. library orders. postal errors. back-Issue requests. renewals.
gift memberships and donations. should be sent to SITU/PURSUIT at the post office box address at
the top of this page. To avoid Hftng chaq.d oar f.,....,anllag co. . plea aUow ... 01' .ore wU
a.aac. aotlce of chaage of ...........
'
OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATION
SITU has reference files which Include original reports. newspaper and magazine clippings. correspondence. audio tapes. rums. photographs. drawings and maps. and actual specimens. Reasonable
research requests will be answered by ...ail. but because of the steadily Increasing demands upon staff
time. a fee for research 117m be charged. Members requesting Information should enclose an addressed.
stamped envelope with the Inquiry so that they may be ~dvlsed of th~ charge In advance.
The legal affal... of the Society are managed by a Board of T~stees In accordance with the laws of
the State of New Jersey. The Society is counselled by a panel of prominent scientists designated the
Sclen,tlflc Advisory Board <see Inside back cover).
IMPORTANT NOTICES
The Society Is unable to offer and is not obligated to render any services to non-members.
The Society does not hold any political. religious corporate or social views. Opinions expressed
In PlJllSlJIl" concerning such matte.... and any aspect of huinan medicl.,e or psychology. the social
sciences or law. religion or ethics. are those of the individual member or author and not necessarily
those of the SOCiety.
The Society's membership list Is restricted to mailing the journal PIIllSl/lTand special SITU publications. and as necessary to the administration of SITU's Internal affairs. Names and addresses on this
list are not available for sale, rental, exchange or any use except the foregoing.
Contributions to SITU, but lIJot membership dues, are tax deductible to the extent permitted by
the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, and In some states as their taxing authorities may pe~mlt.
PUBUCATION
The Society's journal PllllSlJIl"ls pUblished quarterly. In each year the Issues are numbered respectively from 1 through 4 and constitute a volume, Volume I being for 1968 and before. Volume 2 for
1969, and so on. Reduced-rate subsc:riptlons to PUBSlJIl"wlthout membership benefits. are available
to public libraries and libraries of coDeges, unlve...ltles and high schools at $10 for the caRendar year.
Th. contents of PllllSlJIl"ls fully protected by international copyright. Permission to reprint articles
or portlo~s thereof may be granted. at the direction of SITU and the author. upon 'written request and
statement of proposed. use, directed to SITU /PURSUIT at the post office address printed at the top
of tide page.

TIlE QUARTERLY

ISOCIETY FOR THE

-t
~~STIGATION
81
JOURNAL OF THE

OF

UNEXPLAINED

'SCIENCE IS THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'

..loan O'ConDeU

Contents
Page
Electricity in Ancient Times

by Reinhan:J Habeck (translated by Ulrich Magin)

ATLANTEAN JOURNAL.

Others will remember her as co-author,

with Brad Steiger of three best selling UFO
books: ALLENDE LETTERS - NEW

Whither Anomalies?

by Member #3101
The Westchester Wing - A Closer Look

by R. Perry Collins

Etruscans - 'Eastern Atlanteans'?

by Vladimir Shcherbakov

12

. Sunken Cities of the Caspian Sea

by Jon Douglas Singer

14

Diamond Fire - A .Close Encounter of the Military Kind

by Harry Lebelson

18'

Mystery Cloud Baffles Scientists

22

a SITUatiqn
Turkish Physicist 'Looks' At Noah's Ark

an Interview with Bulent Atalay

23

'There'll Always Be a Monster in Loch Ness'

by GIllY S. Mangiacopra

24

3 Short Stories (including 'Cabbage Snakes')

by Michael T. Shoemaker

28

Don Juan Matus: Yaqui Brujo

by George Agogino
An Oak Island Mystery Update

30

by Janet Crowley

32

A Preliminary Study of the Relationship Between So-Called

UFO Waves, Natural Constants and Planetary Cycles

by Keith L. PaJtain

We are sorry to have to report that Joan

Whritenour O'Connell died suddenly of a
heart attack on August 29, 1984 in Florida.
She was best known for having been the
editor of SAUCER SCOOP, SPECTRUM
and during the last twelve years, the NEW

34

UFO BREAKTHROUGH (re: The

Philadelphia Experiment); FLYING
SA UCER INVASION - TARGET
EARTH; and FLYING SAUCERS ARE
HOSTILE.
She was also a teacher, prolific writer,
lecturer and tireless researcher into all
aspects of the paranormal, to include
UFO's, psychic phenomena, and ancient
healing techniques, earthchanges,' and
forecasting of future events.
We wish we had had the opportunity to
have met Joan personally. She was close,
not only in a Fortean sense as publisher of
the NEW ATLANTEAN JOURNAL but
also as a next-town neighbor when she,
with her husband Pat, lived off-base in Fort'
Monmouth, N.J.
We would like to welcome to SITU all
former NAJ members who have joined us.
We offer to help to contribute to Joan's
endeavor in search of the "unexplained. "

36

Books Reviewed
Letters to the Editor
SITUations
Reports of Panther Sightings in Delaware

39

40

a SITUation

45

The Notes of Charles Fort

46

Deciphered by Carl J. Pabst

The subject of the cover article" Ancient

Electricity" will be familiar to all of our
long-standing members. Ivan Sanderson
expressed his opinion on this matter back
in the early 1970s (see PURStnT, volume
2, #3 & 4). Recently, in contact with
authors Peter Krassa and Reinhard Habeck,
we find they are still pursuing.an answer
to this enigma.

Pursuit Vol. 18, No. I. Whole No. 69. First Quarter 1985. Copyright 1985 by The Society for !he Investigation of !he Unexplained. ISSN 0033-4685. No part
of this periodical may be reproduced wi!hout the written consent of !he Society. Robert C. Warth, Publisher and Editor; Nancy Warth, Production Editor. Manin
Wiegler, Consulting Editor. Charles Berlitz, Research Editor and Oceanographic Consultant.

Electricity in Ancient T.imes

by Reinhard Habeck (traaslated by Ulrich MagiD)
There are still some unsolved enigmas in the history of man's
evolution - things, that can not fit into the usual pattern of
events. An ever popular place for observing such is the Nile
region of Egypt.
The mysterious Cheops pyramid of Giza, alone, whose importance was underestimated for a long time, is among the oddest of artifacts of long gone early cultures. Whoever put this
world wonder into the desert, knew about the orbit of the earth,
knew the density of our planet, the number Pi, the rule of
Pythagoras (long before the learned Greek himself found it) and
even methods of modem time measurement - all that in the
age of the Pharaohs. Therefore we are faced with the question:
How could the pyramid builders erect such giants? How could
they lift blocks of stones with a weight of 20 tons several dozens
of meters above the ground and fit them together with millimeter
exactness?
.
The view of orthodox archaeology, that their construction was
solely derived from muscle power, is poorly supported and inconceivable to me.
A few years ago Japanese scientists undertook a brave attempt
to erect a 12 meter-high miniature pyramid of stone near Giza
with simple tools. But before the mini-artwork was completed,
it collapsed rather ridiculously.
. Again I have to ask myself: Did the pre-christian engineers
oruy have their musCles as tools? Or did they know other, bet.ter methods?
. .
Not only in building, but also in other things, Egypt's
ancestors were real professionals. Even the technique of flying
may not have been unknown to them.
This assertion is s~pported by a wooden bird that was found
in 1898 in a grave near Saqqara (Sakkara). For 50 years the
relic was lying unnoticed beside some other pictures of birds
in the Egypt~n Musuem of Cairo, until in 1966 when the archaeologist Dr. Khali Messiha recognized the true meaning of
the object. It is itot a bird, but the exact model of a modem
glider..
It has not only the straight wings that aroused the suspicion
of Dr. Messiha, but also a vertical tail fin. Both differ very much
from usual pictures of birds. And more, the proportions of wing
width, nose and body fit exactly with those of modem planes.
In the meantime, eight further plane models were found, one
. of which can still be seen in the Museum of Cairo (Corridor
'22). Messiha's brother, who works as an aeronautical engineer,
tested the flying ability of the models: The prehistoric find was
a phenomenal glider and it possessed precise aero-dynamical
fQnn - a truly astonishing finding. One has t.o conclude that
the ancient engineers had an amazing knowledge of the laws
of aerodynamics.
Considering all this, one may ask the justified question .if there
is still more information of technology of the past. Knowledge
that has not been discovered yet, because the writing got lost
or. the texts were interpreted in a wrong way?
I mainly think of several odd reliefs that can be seen in certain crypts. As soon as anyone enters the rooms and corridors
he or she is surrounded by darkness. It is therefore logical that
the artistic works could only have been made with the help of
a light source. But which light source?
Reprinted with pennission of Michael Hesemann from "Magazin 2000" No.
l/81, Luxemburg

Pursuit 2

One aquainted with traditional history would think immediately of torches, cSndles and petroleum lamps. But this raises
another problem: Neither in the temples, nor in the pyramids
was any trace of soot found:. Such things like torches would have
left their traces on the ceilings and walls after the decades-long
construction of the pyramids. How can one explain this contradicting phenomenon?
.
Professor Helmuth Satzinger of the Kunsthistorisches Museum
in Vienna gave me the following explanation: "I, too, know
of no evidence of traces of soot. But I think I remember a cer-
tain article which said they could produce non-sooting torches
then. They put the wick into hydl'Qchloric acid and dried it that
way."
..
Does that solve the question of the unknown light source?
I'm.afraid, not. Because as Professor Satzinger had to admit
so far no one has in fact experimented with non-sooting torches. Do they fear the experiment will go wrong?
Another attempt to solve. the problem of the Egyptian light
source has also proved wrong. Egyptologists considered the use
of mirrors that may have been placed in the temples and subter~
ranean rooms. But when this hypothesis was tried out it proved
to be ineffective. The majority of the sunlight was lost due to
the Scattering of the light rays and .therefore could not light up
the temples and crypts. So Professor Satzinger admitted openly: "We can only guess and speculate." There is only one light
source we know of that leaves JlO trace of use even after centuries: Electricity.
..
.
Is this the solution or is it absurd to draw such a conclusion?
We know that the magnetic effects of electric currents was
discovered in 1820 by H. C. Oersted of Denmark. Michael-Faraday continued the investigations, and from 1871 we all know
of the electric light bulb of. Edison.
This historic representation is,to the annoyance of.some archaeologists, definitely questionable. The evidence indicating
otherwise is from a sensational discovery by the Austrian scientist Wilhelm Konig. During the excavation of a Parthian settlement [NE Iran] in 1936, a highly curious object came to light,
which seemed to have teChnical workings. Konig suspected then
that this find of 250 BC could have been a battery for producing electricity.
The instrument consisted of a sheet of copper which had been .
fonned into a 12 cm high tube and was soldered with a tin~lead
alloy. It was about 2.5 cm in diameter. The bottom was fonned
by a tight fitting cap of copper, that was insulated with pitch.
The other end of the tube was sealed with a stopper of pitch.
Sticking out of this was an iron rod (insulated from the coppe~)
going 11 cm deep into the tube. To protect this device,- it was
encased in and attached to a 18 cm high terracotta vase. (See
Figure 1)
.
If this copper-iron construction was filled with an alkali Oye)
or an acid solution (for example wine, vinegar or lemon juice)
a working galvanistic elemellt would result. It is interesting to
note that' the Italian naturalist Luigi Galvani used the same combination 1800 years later for his element. The American F. M.
Gray proved, in 1957, that the battery, now in the Iraq Museum
of Baghdad, actually functions. With a copy of the original he
was able to produce electricity with the help of a copper sulfate
solution. This experiment as recently repeated by the Gennan
Egyptologist Dr. Arne Eggebrecht of the Hildesheimer Museum.
I

First Quarter 1985

pitch stopper

wine. vinegar
or lemon juice
iron rod

cl~y shell

..

copper cap
Fig. 1- In 1936 the Austrian scientist Wilhelm

K'onig found this. vase-Hke object. Closer examioation confirmed the suspicion that it is 8
pre-christ~ dry-battery.

The successful experiment forced sceptical witnesses to reconsider their concepts. Still, the.battery, when attached to a meter
emitted 0.5 volts. The so-called barbarian nomads of Parthi~
had an astounding .technical knowledge. Information they
shouldn't have had according to traditional history.
~ome think that not only the.Parthians, but also the Egyptian
pnests understood the use of el~ricity. There is a building that,
in my opinion, contains such information.
I mean the thousands-of-years-old temple of Dendera, which
was Sacred to the sky-goddess Hathor, a daughter of the most
superior god Re (or Ra). The temple is situated in stoic loneliness
on the border of the desert, abQut 60 kIn from Luxor on the
left ~h~re Of ~e Nile opposite the city Kena. Although it is very
old It IS still m good shape and is one of the best-preserved
buildings of the pre-christian era. Close by are ruins and
monuments which show that the temple itself is only the remnant of an enormous ~haeological site.
The most remarkable feature of the building is not it's size
but the fact that only .a small portion of the temple protrudes
out of the ground. Hidden under the earth's surface within the
wall~ of the sacred site are twelve long, narrow crypts, access
to which is difficult and which. lie over each other on 3 floors.
(See Figure 2)
...

C!V..
Fig. 1 In deep underground crypts strange
wall carvings are found. Wbat do tbey depict?
Egyptologists have so far been unable to agree
on just one interpretation.

First Quarter 1985

When I visited Dendera in October 1979 - and some months

l~ter again in the company of the best selling author, and contributor to the magazine "2000," Peter Krassa - we both felt
a mystical sen~ti?n abo~t the remotely located temple perhaps
~a~se on~ I~ Immediately confronted, after entering the
bulldmg, With mnumerable astronomical and other odd motifs,
which ca.n not be easily exp'ained. But we were particularly interested m the subterranean crypts. Is it here that the secret of
unknown kilowledge is hidden, which the ancient" Egyptian
priests had? We wanted to know.
After some "Bakshish" (bribe money), which our temple
guide had asked for point-blank, the way was free into one of
the still-open chambers. Actually the other 11 chambers had been
closed after clever robberies of the tempie in 1972 and 1973.
A great number of wall reliefs were the victims of Mafia art
thieves. Pried out under the eyes of obviously bakshish-corrupted
~fficials, these reliefs are now certainly in the private collections of some unscrupulous millionaires. We were lucky that
at least one chamber was unharmed.
After a rather uncomfortable entry into the narrow pitch-black
corridors, we reached our destination. Peter Krassa and I could
hardly move in an area of 5.2 square meters, but what we could
see there rewarded all of our efforts. Distinctly the wall reliefs
show human figures beside bubble-like objects (2), which remind one of oversized bulbs. Within these objects are stylized
~rpents (3), which seem to move in an undulating manner. Are
they symbols of filaments?
The pointed ends of the "serpents" lead to lotus blossoms
(4). And from this an odd cable (5) leads to a "box" which
reminds one of a generator (11). Sitting on that box is a figure
which is, according to Prof. Satzinger, the God of Air, Shu (6).
(See Figure 3)
God of Air? CoulQ this bubble-like "thing" be comprehended to have ionized air?
Directly beside this item is a so-called "Djed-column," with
2 arms that are often interpreted as being "serpents." Even in
the circles of Egyptologists there is no agreement as to the
meaning of such columns or pillars (7). It is believed by some
to be a post which was used to put ears of com around in circles
which were tied on to it in steps.
.
Other archaeologists speak of it as a representation of a "tree"
such as a "palm-tree" with supporting leaves or a backup support. But the word "Djed" also stands for "stability" and
"power" which gives a connection to the interpretation as carrier of energy. Th~ obvious similarity of the "Djed-column"
with modem high-voltage insulators can not be denied, as
unorthodox-thinking electrotechnicians will affirm.
Remarkable, too~ is the depicted ape-creature with 2 knives
~n its han.ds (8) ..Ifyou know ~gyptian mythology you recognize
ItS. meanmg: It IS the mystenous Thoth, who was highly worshipped as god of the sciences in ancient Egypt, and who is
usually symbolized, either as a baboon or the stork:; Ibis. According to the myths he was the "writer of the gods" and the
"measurer of time." But most of all Thoth tried to illuminate
the night with his Iigbt ..
. . Handling electricity can sometimes be dangerous - that is
ge?e.ral~y known. Would it, therefore, not be logical that the
knives m the hands of the God of Science should remind us of
the.dangers of the phantom, namely. electricity? Egyptologists
believe they've found a solution for the enigmatic reliefs. According to them they are "serpent stones . , They think of large
blocks of stone (tapered at the bottom), in the midst of which
ase~nt undulates. They were thought to be ancient signs of
safety and were erec~ vertically in front of temples. But there
Pursuit 3

Fig. 3 Beside the bulb-like object in the wall

relief there is another feature bere unseen
elsewhere in Egypt: The entire wall space bas

are oitIy a very fe~ comparable pictures of these. Some can be

found in the temple of death at Teti, in Saqqara or at Naos in
Saftel-Henne.
But in the Hathor temple there is no single relief of standing
"serpent stones. " They are either supported by "Djed-columns"
or are held by persons at oblique angles. Egyptologist Hermann
Kess thinks this is to illustrate the erection of the "serpent
stones." But objections can be r:aised against this idea. Peter
Krassa and I weren't convinced. And what meaning does the
cable-like cord have?
.
.
Prof. Helmuth Satzinger explains it as follows: "It could be
the Barge of the Sun, the stal'l:dard symbol of ancient Egypt.
A boat, with which the sun-god Re navigates by day across the
sky and by night through the underworld. Its form reminds one
of Thor Heyerdhal's papyrus ships. On the stem they have a
mat hanging down (11), whereas the bow has the form of a lotus
blossom (4). The meaning or connections are still unclear."
But this is the point: Here is an explanation without any connection between the air god, a hanging-down mat, a papyrus
ship and the serpent-stone. Nothing seems to fit.
Why is the "Djed-column" always in oblique position? What
is the duty of the priests that stand beside each "serpent" stone?"
What meaning have the knives of the Science God? Don't forget
the cat-like fig~re beneath the "serpent stone" (9). It is depicted
as the moment of highest body tension. Why? Could it be a symbol of "electrical Voltage?" There was never any conclusive
PursLlii 4

been used for Illustrations and hieroglyphics

- many so far untranslatable.

answer given to all these questions. Egyptologist's flee into a

dreamworld of symbols and suppositions. They speak of' 'cult
rituals" without trying to find out their cause.
But this lighthearted explanation simply does not fit with the
reliefs ofthe HathorTemple. They are illustrations ofa special
kind that are meant to express something - here engineering
is on display! This has nothing to do with spirits or products
of the mind.
But there is another oddity in the Hathor Temple which cannot be compared to anything else in Egypt: Nearly every inch
of wall is used for writing and illustrations. The whole temple
is there to transmit knowledge. But what knowledge?
It seems the answer is hidden in the dark - up to now Egyptologists have not been able to produce a reliable translation of
the Dendera hieroglyphs. The discussions Peter Krassa and I
had with experts in Egypt, Germany and Austria show no clear
correspondence between the writings and the illustrations. We
suspect that the priests of wisdom used a special code only they
knew - similar to the codes modem scientists use. The question is why nobody has ever tried to think anew about these pictures. It was successful with the Cheops pyramids; but why not
here? Is there no interest?
One who tried it, nevertheless, is the British Oxford scientist
Dr. John Harris. He studied the .stone reliefs with great care
and came to the conviction that they are the exact copy of a
technical writing of the kind that is.in use nowadays.
First Quarter 1985

This solution is surprisingly identical to that of the Austrian

scientist, Walter Gam. Gam worked several years as an electrical engineer in Thailand where he supervised a power station. He did not know of the Dendera reliefs at all until Peter
Krassa and I showed him photographs. With his interest awakened, he concluded that the illustrations could be interpreted in
a physical and technical way. Gam's preliminary resume says
that the "serpents" which are, according to the myths, symbols for fire, are in fact an electrical arc. Beginning at the middle peak of the lotus and ending in the arms of the "Djedcolumn."
In the physical background a scientist sees that the arc, in every
case, comes out of a point because there the highest energy field
is directed towards the arms. The arc between the arms is also
shown correctly. A curvature develops because of the warmth
of the arc and the ionized gases that rise upwards.
And even for the Egyptian spirits underneath the "serpent
stones" there is a logical explanation. They are kneeling men
who look at each other's face and wind-lip holding their arms
in a curious fashion (10). This indicates, to engineer Gam, a
symbol for the opposing electrical potential between the lotus
flower and the "Djed-column."
The fact that the "Djed-column" (7) strongly resembles a
modem high-voltage insulator i.s also interesting. This choice
of shape was not accidental accordjng to engineer Gam. In his

opinion, it was intended to give the greatest possible path for

the electrical discharges along the insulator surface. And this
tilted position keeps it clean even if it rains or it is otherwise
dirty.
There remains, yet, one question to be clarified: Which
method do you use to create a high voltage in a simple manner?
One possibility the electronic specialist sees is the "Djedcolumn" was used to mix together hot air and dust, for example, with steam. So the illustration of the air god, Shu, (6) would
have a more sensible explanation.
With the help of new findings about the wall reliefs of the
Egyptian temple of science at Dendera it will be possible for
engineer Gam to work out a reconstructed model. Therefore,
these logical connections indicate a further study of the wall
reliefs could ring valuable new insight. It should not be examined
from simply one perspective, but in coordination with several
areas of science. Enter the technicians.
If they still talk about' 'cult rites" (or religious ceremonies),
in my opinion, this has nothing to do with proof. Perhaps,
however, a single disturbing fact has been deliberately overlooked because it would destroy the intricately-built house of cards.
A detailed account. in Gennan. is available under the title Licht fur den PhallJo
by Krassa/Habeck. publisher John Fisch-Verlag. 1982.

Whither Anoaalies?
How far has anomalistic research, and investigation come, and
where do we go from here? Has there been any real headway
made toward solving at least a few of the grand mysteries that
still perplex us?
.
It would be pleasant to answer yes to the above questions,
but the answer must be a resounding no! Starting with the postWorld War II period, and setting aside from this discussion all
the work that went on before 1945, in these forty years no real
breakthrough has occurred that could be used to solve any major part of the chaos and confusion.
Ah, yes! There have been innumerable theories, hypotheses,
ideas and concepts formulated. Countless reams of paper have
been written. Numerous conferences have been held and organizations formed to study the unexplained and quite a few "serious" researchers and investigators have pooled their talents to
get at the "meat" of the mysteries. But, still no breakthroughs.
Computerization, statistical correlations, resource checks, mindrackings, seminars and field trips have found no key that will
unlock the fabulous door that must lead to the solution of the
great mysteries.
UFOs, whoever or whatever they are, still "buzz" on their
merry way. Strange beasties pop up and down without even saying a "beg your pardon." Weird lights go on and off, always
"for no apparent reason. ,. Psi remains as mysterious as ever.
The World Grid and Earth Energies are still imponderable. On
and on and on.
It should be obvious to any competent researcher o.r investigator of the unexplained that a single source or agepcy. is responsible for instigating what we call anomalies or the paranormal.
Call it the "Source," the "Intelligence," the "Power," the
"Phenomenon," or simply "X," it underlies the major anomalistic phenomena, altHough some activity of a minor nature
perhaps arises from unrelated sources. Yet nothing has edged

First Quarter 1985

us closer to any of this, although there have been hints and

unverified stories of researchers and investigators who have
"gone too far" and are no longer with us, in one sense or
another. Be that as it may, the same mysteries still confront us.
Where do anomalistic studi.es go from here? There have been
suggestions. Some seem to think that government, or academia,
or both, should fully. get behind the research and investigation.
As an independent scholar of anomalies I view this as a big
mistake. In the unlikely event that the Establishment deigns to
become involved in such studies, it would control nearly all information regarding phenomena and thereby push out us independents. I have no faith whatever in the ability of either government or academia to accomplish much of anything. What important research and investigation has surfaced has come from
individual initiative - the persistent effort of small groups and
lone scholars - and there is no need for governmental, bureaucratic, or academic idiocies and buffoonery. Remember, the notorious "Wipe" is ever present! What is needed is a fuller exchange of pertinent information and ideas among completely
independent researchers and investigators. Better communications, scholarly roundtables and netwooo should be put in place;
the insight, brilliance and dedication are already there.
To sum up: either the "Phenomenon" is solvable by humans,
or it is not. If it is not, then let us pursue more fruitful activities. But if, at the very least, some part of it can be comprehended by humanity, then let us proceed, each on his or her own
path. With diligent, small-scale, independent efforts intensified.
a key - perhaps "the" key - shall be .found.
Whither anomalies? The wind blows and it blows freely.
- Member #3103

Pursuit 5

The Westchester Wing -

A Closer Look

by B. Peny COUiDS
From the spring of 1983 to the summer and fall of 1984, the
counties of Westchester, New York and Fairfield. Connecticut
were the focus of one of the largest UFO waves in history. An
estimated 30,000 individuals in these areas witnessed an extremely large, obviously structured, triangular-shaped object
cruising silently at ,altitudes of less than one thousand feet. It
was most often described as a huge "V"-shaped flying wing.
During this same period, while groups of unide~tified pilots had
been flying light aircraft in V formations, police departments
had been visited by federal agents offering "hang glider" and
"light aircraft" flights as explanations for the lights in the sky.
Several months after the beginning of these sightings, a popular
television series began. The show is called "V" and portrays'
invaders from the stars, disguised as humans, who, in reality
are alien reptiles bent on conquering the worid. Can all this be
coincidence? If more than 30,000 people have seen this thing,
why haven't the major media groups been more interested? Why
are federal. agents covertly investigating and ilttempting to censor reports of these overflights? Why now, when unidentified
aircraft can be,rapidly detected, intercepted and even shot"down"
has this object apparently not been challenged?
'On August 21st, 1983 I personally witnessed the object. I grew
up'in the Air Force and now work as an aerospace engineer.
What I saw was not an aircraft nor a group of light planes. As
a result, I began an in-depth investigation of the phenomepon
the next day. Prior to August 21 st, I had followed reports of
the object and spoken with, severaI"investigators who were attempting to determine its real nature. Then I began investigating
the reports myself. I interviewed witnesses, spoke with local
police officers and conferred with other investigators 'and with
interested journalists. I found clear eVlden,ce, of the existence
of an aerial craft, approximately three times as large as the largest
known conventional aircraft, which display~d characteristics
beyond our current level of technology. I also found indications
of a well-planned attempt to cover up the sighti,ngs, and covert
investigations by federal agencies using FBI operatives and other
feder8I agency personnel.
The object got major notice on March 24th, 1983 when
residents of Yorktown, New Castle, Mt. Kisco and other nearby towns in New York ,State reported it cruising slowly at low
aliitude. From that date to the present (last confirmed sighting
Dec. 26th, 1984) the unknown object has been reported over
Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Duchess counties in New
York and over Fairfield county in Connecticut. Professional investigators have interviewed more than 2000 witnesses, more
than seventy media articles have appeared (primarily in local
newspapers), and photographs and video tapes have recorded
the presence of the "V"-shaped UFO. Numerous police officers
have seen it. These same officers have reported attempts by their
police chiefs to censor their statements. Investigators of this
phenomenon have been covertly watched and, on occasion, subjected'to spurious interviews by FBI agents. All of this' is
documented; here, by the media, in the logs of investigators,
on tapes of witness accounts and in signed statements by police
officers.
What is Really Happening?
Before we can attempt any analysis we must take a long, hard
look at the information available. Three men have been most
active in investigating these reports: Lt. George Lesnick of the
Pursuit 6

Fairfield, Connecticut police department, Philip Imbrogno of

Greenwich, Connecticut, and myself. Phil and George have been
more active in interviewing witnesses, and relayil'!g information
that ttJe Center for UFO Studies in IIIinoi!\. The head of CUFOS
, and 'dean' of UFO research, J. Allen Hynek. has personally
visited the area several times to interview witnesses with GeOrge
and Phil. He acknowledges this to be . 'one of the largest UFO
waves in history."
, '.
We cannot deal directly with, the object"examine it and determine exactly what it is or where it is from. We can examine
~itness reports, drawings and photographs of the object. We
can examine the reaction of the media, of local police an~ of
federal agencies such as the FAA, the ANG (Air National
Guard) and the FBI.
,
Thousands of, witness reports are on record. Drawings,
photographs and reports of aircraft encounters are also available.
(The media coverage is listed at the end of this article.) While
the object has been seen primarily over the Westchester/Fairfield area there are reports from Pennsylv~nia to Maine of a UFO
, with similar characteristics, There are also scattered reports qf
this type of UFO seen during 1980.-1981 and 1982. The focus.
however, seems to be on this 1983 and 1984 flap over New York
and Connecticut.
'
The first widely read media article to comment on this object
was printed in the Port Chester (New York) Daily Item. Hundreds Claim to Have Seen'UFO was the headline and, indeed,
hundreds of reports' of a large.. .; V" -shaped UFO' with
multicolored lights were received by "the police departments 'of
Yorktown, Mt. Kisco, Carmel and nearby areas. This was' on
Thursday night, March 24, 1983. Police officerS in these 'towns
also reported seeing it. (For the. record, however, one week
earlier, on March 17th, residents of Kent, N. Y: and motorists
on highway 1-84 had report~d an identical UFO.)
:
The object was seen the next night, March 25th, and again
the following night. Now the witnesses numbered in the
thousands. Other newspapers began picking up the story. Again
the object appeared on several nights in early April, this time
in the area of Danbury, Connecticut and a story appeared in
the Danbury News-Times. Then the Sunday New Yort Times
on April 17th carried' a lengthy article' abOut' the activity. .
The name Philip Imbrogno was Seen often and rightly so; 'Phil
is one of the most authoritative experts on aerial phenome'na
in the area. A Viet-Nam war medical corpsman vete~n~',he is
a high school science teacher 'and a' graduate astronomer. Phil
, is a man of many talents, with an exacting attitude as' an'investigator and almost limitless energy. He began pUrsUI!tg the"
mystery of this UFO and, with the aid of Lt. Lesnick', a'n 'experienced police investigator, gathered reams of data. Vertial'
reports on tape, written and signed reports, occasional
photographs, drawings, maps of flight' routes and co'mputer
evaluations of patterns began accumulating as George anifPhil
continued their investigations. Obligingly; the UFO contin4"ed '
to reappear. Then, other aspects ohhe situation also began to
'.
'. i
occur.
,
It was clear to Phil and George and to most of the witnesses
that what was being seen was not ii conventional aircraft nor'
a group of them. The object 'hoyered. made little' or no 'noise.'
performed unusual and abrupt turns. rotated on its own aXIs and
displayed extremely rapid acele'rations and decelerations. Often
First Quarter 1985

--t-~-+--+--

\ . +.,

,~~~~~-+-+-+-+

-,

- r,

Witness drawing - Kenneth R., police off"lCer

it was reported to blink off its lights. seeming to disappear~ only

to reappear seconds later. lights blazing. in a removed' quadrant
of the evening sky miles away. Official explanations began to
proliferate. First they said it was hang gliders.,then "ultra-light"
aircraft. These explanations were shown to be inaccurate. or
at least. inadequate. Such very light aircraft would be hard pressed to stay aloft even with the weight of several hand flashlights:
not to mention six to twenty bright. glowing lights. Other explanations came to the fore. Light aircraft in formation became
the byword of authorities and explainers. It was. at this time.
more than two months after the beginning of the sightings. that
attention became focused upon a group of pilots flying out of
Stormville airport in New York. These pilots flew close "formations. most often in V or wedge-shaped patterns. Thus. the
perfect explanation for the sightings was found and publicized.
Reality. however. was more complex. Lt. Lesnick uncovered
definite evidence'of censorship attempts directed towards the
witnesses who were police officers. These officers stated that
the police chiefs of their depa~ments had been visited by federal
agents and that they had then been instructed to explainthe UFOs
as conventional aircraft activity. The officers were indignant
about this. for they were convinced that what they saw was not
normal aircraft activity. The Stormville pilots were very evasive
and would not talk to investigators or newspaper reporters.
Several times they avoided 'state and local police waiting in their
cruisers at the landing strip by diverting themselves to other airports. More was going on then met the eye.
Throughout the summer and into the late fall of 1983 the "V"shaped object continu~d to be seen. Media arti les appeared.
but less often. I found myself drawn to the acti ity. and spoke
several times with George and Phil. They grea impressed me.
These men were very professional UFO inve Igators. Compared
to them. I felt I was a hobbyist.
.
At the beginning of this wave of activity I began to keep a

First Quarter 1985

log of all information coming my way that might pertain to this

"object." My first guess was that it was some new type of
military aircraft displayed in a strange attempt to gage public
reaction to UFOs. After several talks with witnesses and
aerospace engineers. this idea began to seem untenable. After
August 21st. when the object circled and overflew my residence.
the idea that it had been constructed using our present-day
technology was once I abandoned altogether.
On August 21st. 1983. I watched the object at close range
for several minutes. That same night witnesses reported it over
New Haven. West Haven. Bridgeport. Monroe and Stratford.
Connecticut. On September 23rd, 1983. the object was seen over
Newton, Sandy Hook and along Highway 1-84 in Connecticut.
We shall examine these two nights in depth as an expanded
reference to the larger range of reported incidents. In this way
we may find some tentative answers or at least some closer
descriptions of its appearances and activities.
It is important that we draw no conclusions unless warranted
by the data available. UFOs are unreal to most of us. We have
not seen them. We see only the reports. For those people who
saw this UFO. it suddenly becomes a reality which is open to
various interpretations. Explanations. especially for those not
directly exposed to the phenomenon. leaped forth. I saw it. I
have a clear grasp of what I saw and how it interacted with me.
I have also closely interviewed many of the witnesses of August
21st and September 23rd. Yet. I have no idea what it actually
was - I can only report on how it appeared and what it did.
What it actually was or is will remain. for the most part.
unknown until it lands or openly displays itself in daylight.
Witnesses agree. no matter what may have been aloft. the object they saw was not a formation of light planes. Many
witnesses have seen both the object and a group of light aircraft
in formation over their areas (not at the same time). These
witnesses. some being pilots themselves. agree that there was
Pursuit 7

no confusing the two. Again, the object was huge,displayed

multicolored lights (which changed color and intensity), flew
below 1000 feet, hovered. moved at very low speeds, turned
on its own axis. accelerated very rapidly, cast unusual light
beams to the ground and interacted with witnesses as if it was
aware of the witness participation in its appearance. No formation of light planes, or other conventional aircraft, can do all
these things.
A Closer Look
Let us look at the nights of August 21 st and September 23rd,
1983.. in more detail.

August 21st, 1983:

At approximately 10:30 p.m. on the evening of August 21st.
an unusual flying object with multicolored lights was
reported to Louis Coveyduck at Tweed-New Haven Airport,
Connecticut. The first calls came in from the Foxon/East Haven .
area, followed by calls from New Haven and then West Haven.
Six witnesses reported more than unusual lights; their reports
were. of a huge lighted object seen at close range. Two men,
Shawn Fricker and John Trendine, both from West Haven,
reported seeing the object hovering low over the Yale Bowl
stadium, just outside of New Haven. Security guards Jose Velasquez and Kenneth Rayon saw it directly over the Jackson
Newspaper building. Police also received calls from numerous
individuals such as Robert McBride, his wife and neighbors on
Washington Avenue in New Haven. They consistently reported
an extremely large, low-flying object seemingly studded with
multicolored lights.
At 10:40 p.m., three women reported a low-flying "V"shaped object near Seaside Park in Bridgeport. These witnesses
became somewhat agitated as the large display of lights seemed to follow them from the shore and through Bridgeport towards
the North End of town. At 10:45 p.m., I, myself, saw a set
of unusual lights low over the North End near St. Vincent's
Hospital. As I watched, they seemed to be drifting slowly and
then blinked out. Not really believing what I saw, and attempting to rationally explain it to myself mentally, I moved to a
window facing west, over Main Street. As I looked out, the
lig~s reappeared. They were stationary now, and much closer.
The~ were tttree widely-spaced lights, approximately four city
blocks away, about two or three hundred feet over the rooftops.
I was on the third floor of a house on French Street.
As I watched, I became convinced that the lights were unusual
and "that what I was seeing was a UFO. The lights, colored red,
green and blue, began changing color. The green blinked out,
then ~ack on; then they all went out. At this point I moved to
the. north-facing window. Upon looking out and up, I witnessed a huge display of wing-sha~d colored lights, moving silently
and slowly eastward between me and the hospital. The hospital
sits on a hill approximately half a mile away and a quarter of
a mile up from my residence. Being a quality control engineer
by Pll?fC?ssion, I computed the dimensions of the structure containing the lights to be at least 500 feet across and 300 feet long.
I immediately called Lt. Lesnick and then went outdoors in an
attempt to see the obj~..ct again.
Security guard Lopes of Sikorsky Field in Stratford reported
tha! a very excited motorist had driven into the airport at approximately 10:55 p.m to report having seen "a huge UFO"
over Route 25 moments before. The motorist would have been
seeing the object at the same time and in the same area as myself.
At 11:06 p.m., the Monroe Police Department received a call
from an electrical engineer living near a new golf course in the
town. The engineer reported observing a set of unusual colored
lights hovering over and behind his house. At 11: 10 p.m., the
198~.

Pursuit 8

Monroe police received another call from a man living less than
three hundred yards from the engineer. Lee Lent, his wife and
his eldest son all saw a very large. "V" -shaped group of lights
hovering at less than two hundred feet in front of their house.
The lights, "blue, green and almost a pink color," hovered and
then began moving directly towards the open fields of the golf
course. Mr. Lent works as a financial director of a successful
company and has often travelled by air. many times in light aircraft. "This was no plane." he stated emphatically. He and his
family had watched it hovering silently for approximately five
minutes before it began moving silently over his house. Shortly after this, another Monroe resident and her teenaged daughter
saw the same object moving slowly over their house back
towards Bridgeport.

----.,---

At 11 :45 p.m. I returned to my house and called the Bridgeport

Police Department to report the UFO. At II :50 p.m. a young
woman in the vicinity of the General Electric plant near Boston
and Seaview Avenues called the Bridgeport police to say that
she and several friends were watching a huge lighted object either
moving or hovering. in the sky. Immediately afterwards, at 11:55
p.m., Stratford police received a call from Cliff Robertson, 58,
who stated that he, his wife and several others were watching
a "huge cluster of lights" in the air over Conners Lane near
Huntington Road, in Stratford.
.
Tracing the reports, we see that a huge, well-lighted, seemingly "V "-shaped object was seen first over East Haven, then
New Haven, then West Haven, then Bridgeort, then Monroe,
back over Bridgeport and onto Stratford. The sightings occurred sequentially from approximately 10:30 p.m. to II :50 p.m.
The flight path was a consistent line over the closely clustered
towns. There can be no doubt something was there.
Phil Imbrogno has gathered many examples of this type of
incident in 1983 and 1984 over Dutchess, Putnam and
Westchester counties of New York. At times of peak frequency, reports of this type of overflight occurred more than twice
a week. George Lesnick has made inquiries at local police
departments in these counties. He has spoken to police officers
who saw the object. As mentioned, the New York State Police
and local police chiefs at first attempted to officially explain
the sightings as "ultra-light" aircraft. More recently the official
explanations have stated that the sightings were due to a formation of light planes coming out of Stormville Airport in New
York. An FAA inquiry was initiated and it came to light that
. a group of pilots, flying light aicraft, had often flown over the
same areas in close formation. The light planes appeared flying
at both high and low altitudes several times, and many people,
including police officers, had seen both the planes and the

First Quarter 1985

"UFO:', separately and reported that, again, there was no confusing the two. As early as April 23, 1983, both Phil Imbrogno
and myself received reports of "very low-flying Cessnas" from
a police officer and from im amateur astronomer in the New
Fairfield, Connecticut area. This formation of planes was readily
identified as such by both witnesses and was not referred to as
being a UFO.
Surprisingly, some local police officers (who witnessed the
UFO themselves) claim, somewhat angrily, that their superiors
had instructed them to say it was an airplane or an ultra-light
plane. Some officers reported that their chiefs had been approached by federal authorities who were attempting to "keep
a lid" on the unusual activity., Investigations into the identities

Witness drawing - Paul V., construction companyowner

and motivations of the "formation flying" pilots h(lve been

clouded, perhaps deliberately, but one salient fact has emerged: these flights were never noticed until after the UFO reports
of March and April, 1983. Since the characteristics of those UFO
reports could not be duplicated by any regular aircraft formation, either the pilots are hoaxers trying to imitate the reported
UFO or they are part of a well-conceived plan to present a "rational" explanation for the unusual activity.
'
Such an explanation could help to keep the public calm in
the face of the unknown. And, it could give defense 'analysts
some breathing room. It is reported that UFOs have caused profound alarm at higher levels of military intelligence centers. They
have interfered with the operation of long-range ballistic-missile
implacements. They have landed near military bases. Numerous
unsuccessful interceptions have been attempted. These facts are
very well documented in two books: Casebook of a UFO Investigator by Raymond Fowler and Clear Intent by Larry
Fawcett and Barry Greenwood, both published by Prentice-Hall
Inc. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 07632). A study of these two
books should give anyone the foundation of an understanding
of the UFO phenomenon.

triangle; 'with a red light at the apex and two 'blue lights 'at th~
"wingtips." The blue lights then went out, followed by the
disappearance of the leading red light.
"
At'approxirriately this same time, a woman graduate student
of the' University of Connecticut, 33 years old, saw the object
as she 'was driving on 1-84. She reported three unusual lights
(a red 'and two blues) to the Newton Police Department. She
hurriedly exite~' the' highway near the Grand Union store and
as she did, she noticed the two blue lights go out and then th~
red light also went out. She felt as if "the thing" had disappeared. She noticed other people on the road slowing down,
as if also watching it, and talked with another woman at the
supermarket who had seen "it," too. The police dispatcher from
nearby Newton told her that there had been two other sightings
of a large unknown object in the past two weeks, but advised
her to relax because whatever it was, the F(\A wa~ tracking it.
Barbara Allen, a resident of Sandy Hook, her daughter and
her son also saw the object at approximately the Same time, while
traveling eastbound on 1-84 in the same area; The daughter,
bright for her eleven years, wrote a most cogent report:
"I was thinking about falling asleep .. Th~n I saw a bright
light above a hill and I thought it was a radar tower. As we
drove along, it was going along the same way we were and
it was very big or at least bigger than a.large plane. We got
off at Exit 10 and stopped to look at it. It was a triangular
shape and had one red light and two blue lights. As we were
watching it, the lights seemed to fade away. I know they '(it)
didn't go behind a cloud becuase it was a totally clear: night...
All agreed that what they saw was unusual and that it was unlike
anything they had seen before. After stopping at the bottom of
Exit 10, they watched as it hovered over them briefly and then
moved slowly away. Barbara talked with a teenager standing
on the opposite side of the road, who had also 'seen "it."
The last report from the Sandy Hook area that night came from
a self-employed construction worker who, at age 28, runs his
own concrete business. Paul Valliquette of Meriden, Conne~-

First Quarter 1985

Witness drawing - ~
Carole B., housewife \:

red

>

blue

September 23rd, 1983:

At about 11:00 p.m. on the night of September 23rd, 1983,
three girls and the mother of one left a dance at the Sandy Hook,
Connecticut high school. As they proceeded thru Sandy Hook
and onto the Highway 1-84 overpass, one of the girls saw a
"UFO" almost directly over Sandy Hook. Excitedly, she told
the others, while wa,tching it from the rear window of the car.
They began ma~ing fun of her until they, too, saw the object.
The mother, driving the car, turned left onto Walnut Tree Hill
Road. Suddently they all began seeing the object off to their
right, between the trees along the road. The mother stopped the
car, but refused to all,ow the girls to get out. All four watched
as the object silently flew almost directly overhead and back
towards 1-84. All agreed that it appeared to be very large, kitelike, with four steady,"glowing lights (two red, two blue). The
"leading point" of the objec\ in flight was a red light, the two
"tips" were blue and the "tail" was red. 'rhey were steady and
did not blink. The lights were described as "too close together
to be several planes in formation, but too far apart to be one
single plane. " As the object moved over to the left side of the
car, the trailing red light went out. The 'witnesses estimate that
the object was now over Highway 1-84. It appean:;d to be a large

Width approx. 300-500 ft.

Length approx. 200-300 ft.
90-100

red

Witness drawirig Thomas B., scboolt,eacher

green

Witness drawing - R. Perry,

engineer

mecha~cal

Pursuit 9

ticut was on his way home from a job when he saw it. Without
white
fear, but with a lot of curiosity, Paul stopped his truck on 1-84,
light pattern. seen through the trees
00000.
got out and proceeded to get a very good look at the 'obj~t at
close range, with its lights on and after they went off. He gave
, . Ir
a very concise report of an extremely large, m~tallic object. Us0 0-:"
ing hand widths and angul!lr measurements (he saw i~ hovering
over the car - bright, white, red aild blue
-0- in front of a nearby hill), the dimensions of the object were com'0- ..... 0'
0
"
puted by him to be approximately 800 feet across, 500 feet long,
\
,
and approximately 50 to 100 feet in thickness. This seems
re-forming
ludicrously large, but almost: every witness reported similar
dimensions. "As large as a football field" was a common comparison. Paul watched the huge object for about five minutes.
Witness drawing - Judy F., ~teacher
"It" had doused its lights, but in the moonlight he could see
0000
a "huge; grey metallic object. " Suddently its lights came back
o
o
rast-travel patter~
'on and it "moved very swiftly" to the west at the same low
d'.
00
altitude. Paul stated, "On a soft arc, it lifted up towards the
,
.
stars and became the size of a pin head in a matter of five to
MUFON investigator (MUFON is a UFO group based in Texas
ten seconds." The acceleration was short-lived, extremely rapid,
with branches throughout the U .~.). While we spoke,' an FBI
and silent. It stopped abruptly, seemingly miles away, at about
agent was sitting. at the next table,. listening intently. T.h~s was
verified by local police officers who' had an ongoing interest
.sixty degrees above the horizon over the area of Ridgefield, CT.
At this point, Paul perceived it to be much like a star, giving
in the investigation and in the presence of the agent, but ~specialoff 'multicolored lights.
.
'ly since he had 'not officially notified them of his p~~nc~ and
intent. Other agents were identified through license plate, checks.
The' reports from each of the two nights are not isolated to
the witnesses mentioned. Media articles .appeared in the
The shadow cast by the presence of federal agencies interested
Bridgepolt Pas-tof August~, 1983; in the Meriden ReconfJourin the UFO phenomenon has a defin~te outline, although the
.nal of August 24 and in the New Haven Journal Courier of
complete image is still unknown.
.'
, Summary
.
August 23. Again in September, reports appeared in the New
Haven Registeron the 24th and in the Newton Bee on the 30th.
It can be stated that many thousands of individuals in the New
Police departments received numerous calls about the object in
York/CoIlDecticut area were witness to an unusual aenal object
all the towns mentioned. It is estimated that there were several
in 1983 and 1984. The object was consistently described as ex~
hundred witnesses in August and somewhat less in September.
tremely large, structured, "V "-shaped , silent and.flying slow. : These two nights are typical of many. Phil Imbrogno, the most
ly at low altitudes. It also was.seen to acc~le~te "very,.very
quickly," to rotate on its axis in flight, make abrupt rigJtt~angle
.persistent and perhaps most experienced investigator, has looked thoroughly into numerous sets of similar reports over
turns, hover motionlessly and disp,lay variable lighting ~ well
Westchester, Putnam and Duchess counties in New York. The
as "searchlighHike'~, beams extending to the ground. Within
record of his investigations, along with photographs, taped
one month of the first of these reports, certa~n pi10ts began flytestimony and police officer observations checked by Lt.
ing light aircraft out of Stormville and other small airports in
Lesnick, leaves little room for "conventional explanations."
formations over the same areas. They refused to. .identify
My own investigations into the object's appearances iilclud:'
themselves to civilian investigators and several times avoided
ed interviews of more than fifty witnesses, taped and written
state and local police waiting for them by diverting to land at
other airports. Investigations into their identities, led by Iawyer
testimony, drawings and other records of reports. I met several
times with Phil Imbrogno and George Lesnick and consulted
Peter Gersten, have linked them, it is said, with the CIA. Several
with other investigators and journalists in gathering and como.
researchers experienced covert attempts of being followed and
paring information. I also consulted with several experienced'. falsely interviewed. Investigations into this activity showed these
aerospace and astronautical engineers. They agreed, after '. attempts to be the actions of Fin employees. Numerous police
reviewing the reports, that those describing a large, low-flying,
officers, themselves witnesses of the unknown object, reported
structured object could not be explained by aircraft activity. One
attempted censorship by superiors. They al~ reported, in:several
suggestion was that the object might be a very large, parawing
sepamle townships, approaches to police chiefs by federal agents
surveillance craft; powered by newly developed brushless DC
allegedly attempting. to cover up and explain away reports.
electric motors. Although an attractive concept, this proposal
:What were we experiencing? At this point we can only say
had several serious drawbacks. Such craft are still in the exthat we were wi~essing what ap~ars to be a very large,.strucperimental stage and are being developed solely for the military.
tured vehicle which flew low over populated areas, displayed
What would they be doing cruising low over the affluent suburbs'
unusual lights perhaps to deliberately attract attention to it. What
of Westchester and Fairfield?' Such surveillance drones are
it was, where it was from and who was or is behind its activities
designed to be unobtrusive and' canriot duplic~te many of the
is all still entirely unknown. Someone or.something seemed to
repOrted'manoeuvers of the 'Westchester Wing." Surveillance
be trying to get our attention. ,Once attending, we found
ourselves even further entranced with the implications of its apaircraft used at low altitudes are much smaller in size than the
pearance. We need to clearly separate what we know from what
reported UFO. The general consensus is that a structured obwe may imagine. UFOs have.somehow managed to consistentject of the reported size and characteristics of the "Westchester
Wing" was beyond our present technologiCal capabili.ties.
ly attract a low level of public attention for years. For some
.Other aspects of the situation surfaced. On three separate ocreason, this particular wave of activity seemed to be more open'
casions I encountered direct evidence of covert FBI interest in
and intense.
:;.
investigations into the sightings. One evening I found myself
Too many witnesses had seen the object for it to be explainbeing interviewed 'by a person representing herself to be a
ed away as an "ultra-light aircraft." Too many witnesses, among:

:.,-'0
.

Pu~uit

10

0:

First Quarter 1985 :

them pilots and aeronautical engineers, had seen the unknown

object display characteristics completely beyond the capabilities
of 'light aircraft fonnations. " Whether one chooses to believe
the explanations or tO,believe in UFOs is no longer a cogent
approach. One does not "believe iIi" helicopters. One can only accept the evidence, all of the evidence, in showing UFO
activity occurred Qn a surp~singly consistent and prolonged basis
in 1983 and 1984 over the New York/Connecticut area.
We cannot define completely the nature of this activity at this
time. We can, however, closely examine the evidence gathered.
And, thanks to the efforts of Philip Imbrogno, George Lesnick
an~ ot~ers, ~hat evidence is considerable. Using what we know
are verified reports, we can make some reasonable statements
and deductions about it. It seems clear that 'an unknown agency
was displaying what we call a UFO to thousands of individuals
in the,densely populated New York/Connecticut area. The
displays were consistent and presumably were attention seeking, particularly by the object turning its lights on and off. If
it did not want to be seen, we may presume, it would not have
illuminated itself at all. The object was seen only at night and
seemed to have no clearly detectable purpose for flying low over'
populated areas except, perhaps, to demonstrate unusually high
perfonnance flight" characteristics. The object was huge: one
witness, Mr. Valiquette, compared it to the size of three jumbo
jet 747 aircraft lined up in a row.
'
The extreme size of the object and its unusual and unbelievabie
flight characteristics invite us to be in awe of its presence.: At
the same time, it did not display itself in daylight or, 'as far as'
we kDow, it never made contact with the ground; its presence
did not 'create hyteria, rather it seems we were gently introduc-'
ed, over a period of many months, to the reality of its existence.
The l:1FO phenomenon has been following this modus operendi for many years. In New England the manifestations of this
particular UFO showed a greater frequency, a greater consistency and' a g'reater duration than previous UFO waves. We might
deduce that the UFO phenomenon is accelerating its program.
We'might consider that our reaction to the phenomenon could'
be just as important as'our realization' of its actual nature.
Speculation
There are reports that: Minuteman missile systems have had
their command and control computer system~ crashed by the
appearances of UFOs; UFOs have effortlessly destroyed antiaircraft missiles launched at them over Korea, over Belgium, over
Moscow;' jet fighters'launched at them over the United States
and the, Soviet Union have been lost in interception attempts;
electromagnetic communications and radar have been totally
jammed 'at military bases for hours during UFO appearances;
and UFOs have closely overflown and landed near militaIy baseS
throughout the world. At the same time UFOs have made,appearances to isolated individuals and have overflown towns and
cities without displaying hostility. '
Perhaps we are being' slowly, and gently introduced to a
superior culture which will 'not allow nuclear conflict on our
planet. 'Our adolescence may be over. It may be that we shall
resolve our international differences and go on to an eventual
open and peaceful contact. It.may also happen that we may be
involved in a nuclear conflict. Such an event presumably. could
be stopped by the UFO "agency," since it has shown the
capability for intervention. An intervention on this scale would
be a tremendous shock, to' humanity. - The Westchester
overflights, the Exeter, NH sightings of the last decade, and
the reports, of UFO appearances in the past several decades may
be designed to cushion thai shock. Perhaps time will tell.

First 'Quarter 1985

Media Coverage Of The "Westchester Wing"

March '83 Tbru December '84
Port' Chester Daily Item (NY)
Danbury News T,mes (CT)
Reporter Dispatch (White Plains. NY)
Reporter Dispatch (White Plains. NY)
Port Chester Daily Item (NY)
New York Times (NY)
Westchester County Life (NY)
,
Appalachian News ExpR:sS (Pikeville. KY)
Reporter Dispatch (White' Plains. NY)
MontgolJlery County Record (Jenkintown. PAl
Gannet Westchester Newspapers (NY)
Bridgeport Post (CT)
New Haven Journal Courier (CT)
Meriden Record Journal (CT)
Tribune Democrat (Johnstown. PAl
Omni Magazine (NY) . ._
Gazette (Bedford. PAl
Biidgeport Post (CT) ,
Reporter Dispatch (White Plains. NY)
New Haven Register (CT) ,
Newtown Bee (CT)
F.osters 'Democrat (Dover. NH)
Union Leader (Manchester .: NH)
Foster's Democrat (Dover. NH)
FOster's Democrat (Dover. NH)
Gazette (Schenectady. NY)
Journal (Lakeville. CT)
Journal (Lakeville. Cl) .
" Hartford Courant (CT) .
Standard Observer (Irwin: PAl
Danbury' Ne~s-Times
Register Star (Hudson. NY)
Danbury News-Times (CT)
Dl!nbury News-Times '(CT)
Journal (Brookfield. CT)
Press (Ridgefield. CT)
Danbury News-Times (CT)
Patent Trader (M!. Kisco. NY)
Willimantic Chronicle (CT)
Bloomfield Journal (Windsor. CT)
Eagle Tribune, (LawR:nce. MA)
Gazelle (Haverhill. MA)
New York Daily News (NY)
Bridgeport Telegram (CT)
Journal (Brookfield. CT)
Danbury News-Times (CT)
Hartford Courant (CT)
North County News (Peekskill. NY)
New York Times (NY)
Herald Statesrnan (Yonkers. NY)
Reporter Dispatch (White Plains. NY)
Chicago Tribune (IL)
Bridgeport Telegram (CT)
New York Tribune (NY)
Journal (Brookfield. CT)
Danbury News-Times (CT)
Times (Beach Haven. NJ)
Reading Pilot (Georgetown. CT)
Hartford Courant (CT)
Asbury Park Press (NJ)
Register-Citizen (Torrington. en
Bridgeport Post (CT)
Lakeville Journal (CT)
Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
New Milford Times (CT)
Journal Courier (New 'Haven. CT)
Herald (New Britain. CT)
Discover Magazine (NY)
Ridgefield Press (CT)
Times (Gloucester. MA)

(en

3/24/83
3/28/83
3/31183
4/1/83
4/3/83
4/17/83
5/1183
61\3183
7115/83
7/26/83
817183
8/22/83
8/23183
8/24/83
9/6183
9/83
917183
9/11/83
9/11/83
9/24/83
9/30/83
, 1111/83
11/2/83
1113/83
. 11122/83
-11.129/83
12/29/83
1112184
4/21/84
6/5184
61\5/84
6/22/84
7114/84
7120/84
7/25184
7/26184
7/26/84
7/27/84
7/27/84
8/1184
8/5/84
817184
8/8/84
819184
8115184
8115/84
8/16/84
8121/84
8/25/84
8126184
8127184
8128184
8128184
8128/84
8/29184
912184
9/5/84
-916/84
, 919184
9/13/84
9/19/84
9/23184
9/27/84
9/28/84
10/4/84
10/29/84
10/31/84
11/84
11/1184
11/27/84

Pursuit 11

Etruscans - 'Eastern Atlanteans'?

by Vladimir Shcherbakov
Any story about Adantis; the "legendary insular state in the
Adantic Ocean, which sank into the sea lis a result ofa mammoth catastrophe, is based on two writings by Plato - the
Timaeus and the Critias. In them the Greek philosopher refers
to the infonnation received from Egyptian priests,
According to this infonnation, Adantis was larger than Asia
Minor with Libya. The powerful civilization of the Adanteans
pursued a policy of expansion and its rule extended to other
neighbouring islands and to pan of the African and European
mainJands. However, not long before the catastrophe, the tribes
of the Eastern Mediterranean defeated the Adanteans, freeing
the peoples ofthe littoral areas from their domination. Who were
these liberators?
Vladimir Shcherbakov, a writer and scholar, maintains that
Adimtis was opposed by Eastern Adantis, Situated on (he eastern
coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The direct descendents of the
"Eastern Adanteans" are the Etruscans, whose culture is unlike
any other culture, believes Shcherbakov, who has managed, in
particular, to find a key to reading the Etruscan iflscription on
a recendy found gold plate from Pyrgi, He is also convinced
there is direct connection between the Russian and the Etruscan
la!'guages, If this is ~o, the roots of the Slavonic tribes go t,ack
to Eastern Adantis
nine millennia before our
era.
.
.

.
.
In America, racc~ons, giant beavers, peccaries, ground sloths
ofthree species, camels, llamas, tapirs, horses and mastodons
became ~xtinct at ~)De and the same time.
The history of the wars fought by the Atlanteans, as told by
Plato, presupposes the existence of a developed civilization in
those ancient times. Until recently no archaeologist would name
a city dating back to that time. Quite recently, such cities have
been discovered in Catal Huyuk in .Asia Minor. Fragments of
a copper awl and copper pins and pieces of ore are dated by
the tum of the 8th millennium B.C. The inhabitants Qfthat area
knew 14 kinds of cultural plants. The pieces of fabric from that
period astonish even modem weavers. The technique of
polishing volcanic glass mirrors is amazing. Among the finds
in Catal Huyuk are shrines and temples, even a whole priestly
district of that most ancient settlement, which is many millennia .older than the Egyptian pyramids.
.
.
this, however, is not Eastern Atlantis, but only hiter cities
which rose up after the deluge. However, .they are almos! of
the same age as the Atlanteans and Eastern Atlanteans. Th~y
were founded by the descendant~ of the Eastern Atlanteans.
Rome's predecessor Etruria, who~ culture was called the
"greatest" by the Romans was a "branch" of the submerged
"tree" of Eastern Atlantis.

Plato's Atlantis and the Mediterranean

'The 'Secret of Etruscan Mirrors

'B. Krivokapic of Yugoslavia says that he has been able to

lOCate the whereabouts of the legendary continent of Atlantis.
lJIe written sources, he beiieves, seem to indicate th~t the vast
sunken island was off the shores of Yugoslavia, However, this
was not Atlantis: vast territories sank under the water all along
the Mediterranean in time immemorial. The legendary end of
the Atlanteans coincides in time with the end of the last glacial
period. The land described by Plato was located amidst the ocean
and blocked the way of the Gulf Stream to the north. But when
it sank to the bottom as a result of a mysterious cataclysm (maybe
the fall of an asteroid in the area of the Bennuda Islands), the
wann current received an outlet to Northern Europe. The ice
melted. The ocean level rose by' 150 m, flooding the territories
of the European contin.ent many times larger than the island
described by Plato. This .was Eastern Atlantis which opposed
the Atlanteans' expansion.. . . .. '
But even before the citatlels of the great civilizations of ancient times submerged to the ~ottoq., they were razed to the
ground by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, heavy showers and
tidal waves. Raw bricks, the main building material of that time,
could not resist the onslaught of the elements. That is why it
is exceedingly difficult to find a mOnument of antedeluvian
culture of the littoral area - the most developed region of the
Eastern Atlanteans. As excavations in the continental areas have
shown, the culture of the antedeluvian inhabitants of Iran was
similar to that ofthe cavemen of Southern France and Spain.
This, however, was the remote periphery of Eastern Atlantis
- its cities and centres were located on the coast. The traces
of the catastrophe can be found everYwhere. Exactly at the time
indicated by Plato, that is, ten arida half millennia ago,
cemeteries of mammoths were fonned in Siberia and America.

One of the oldest Etruscan frescos depicts a leopard sitting

on the croupe of a horse. The fresco was found in Italy, but
the Etruscans came there from Asia Minor. In the language
of the Hutti, who inhabited Asia Minor some five-six thousand
years ago, it is .possible to find the root "rus" in the word
"leopard." And the Etruscans called themselves Rusens. It can
be asserted that the black pottery found recently in Asia Minor
near Gordium and dating back to the second millennium B.C.,
is very close to the pottery of the Etruscans - the famous
Bucchero.
,.
Despite the repeated assurance of the authors of some popular
articles that the Etruscans have at last begun to speak, this has
not yet happened. The mystery of the Etruscan language still
remains a mystery.
This author has been able to find a key to the ancient Etruscan
inscriptions. Their ~iarity is this:-the text can be read from
right to left, from left to right, downwards and upwards,
the letters happen to be reversed, instead of some letters
others are sometimes written. Such are the inscriptions on
poHshed bronze mirrors.
The explanation of this seemingly odd peculiarity is that the.
artists and craftsmen who made inscriptions on bronze mirrors
were often illiterate. Copying words and letters from other mirrors, they looked at the mirror reflection. But when reflected,
especially many times over, letters turned around and words were
distorted - thus came into being all the pecularities and riddles
of the Etruscan written language. After a careful study of 10,000
bronze Etruscan mirrors I was able to find twin mirrors proving the mirror method of copying inscriptions.
.It also became possible to find the second main key to the
Etruscan language. Etruscans wrote as they heard and as they

Pursuit 12

First Quarter 1985

pronounced (as distinct, say, from the modem Russian). Account should also be taken of some other shades of pronunciation. The Etruscan letters "a", "u" and "0" more often than
not denoted a sound close to the Russian sound "0." The letter
i" at the end of a word served to soften it in the same; way
as the Russian so-called soft sign ("b") does. It is superfluous
to say that. in ancient times vowels sounded indistinctly in general
and were often omitted in writing. Here are some Etruscan words
and their Russian equivalents:
Una - yunaya (young); tes - tes (wood); tee - ty (you);
en - on (he); mini - menya (me); ali - iii (or); skatera skatertj (table cloth); spoor - sbor (town); lar - lalj (coffin);
puin - buiny (violent); mak - mak (poppy); pulu - pole
(field); aki - yako (like).
Instead of voiced, voiceless consonants were heard, and this
was reflected in writing. Some of the above words are known
to Etruscanologists, but their meaning escapes specialists ...
The inscription ., A " on the gold plate from Pyrgi is the main
one of the Etruscan inscriptions that have been found. However,
in deciphering and translating it, use was never made of the old
Russian and old Slavonic languges. The translations made by
Etruscanologists who compared it with a Phoenician inscription
placed nearby is not accurate and only tends to confuse things.
Thus, the last two lines of this inscription are translated as
follows: "Years are like stars." But the inscription says
something different: "Avil yeni aka pulu mkva." Avil means
"oval" - "ovyol" (year), Yeni - oni (they), Aka - yako Oike),
Mkva - makova, makova, makovoye (poppy, poppy's, of poppy). The translation must be this: "Years, they are like a poppy field." And this is an example of a language which was
spoken by the Etruscans and their tribesmen .in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions: Bl)'gges, Tripolyeites, Lydians,
. Libyans, Canaanites, Pelasgians, ancient Phoenicians and many
others. Thousands of years before the Parthenon, the Pelasgicon,
a fortress of the Pelasgians - the closest kins of the Etruscans .
- stood on the Acropolis. The Minoan myths of deep antiquity
are the myths of the Pelasgians. According to the established
rules of phonetics and pronunciation, even the name Icarus
means "Igor" - literally "one who burnt. " The name Boyan
in "The Lay of Igor's Host" is also a common noun, meaning
"intoxicated," "inebriated" - from the habit of treating a
singer with a glass of wine. The ancients caringly treated the
real names. All this shows that the Etruscans were, figuratively
speaking, a leaf tom from the Hutti-Slavic tree. The leopard
- "rus," "I)'S" - gave the name to the descendants of the
ancient tribes of Eastern Atlantis. Scythia, whose possessions
stretched from Transcaucasia to Palestine, was merely a weak
shadow of the erstwhile power of the Eastern Atlanteans.
Sons or Leopard
The memol)' of the catastrophe and the deluge remained in
the Etruscan word "toopi." The deluge was considered a god's
punishment. Therefore the Etruscan "toopi" must be translated
as "deluge," "punishment," "marsh."
After the catastrophe the numerous tribes of the Eastern Atlanteans were scattered and many perished. The single language
of the Mediterranean began to disintegrate. Then came the
Greeks. Troy was the last major stronghold of the Pelasgians
in the Mediterranean. After the Trojan War the Etruscans moved westwards to the lands inhabited before them by kindred tribes
who spoke the same parent languge of the Mediterranean.Even
before the Etruscans came these tribes created the culture of
Villanova, which is well known to specialists. No one denies

First Quarter 1985

these tribes' kinship with the EtruScans. For some time, the
future Scandinavians - the Vikings - still held out in Asia.
-Minor and the Black Sea region. Then, under Rome's pressure,
they moved northwards along Slavic rivers. They were led by
Odin. The ancient runes conveyed to.us a great many roots and
words similar to the Etruscan and old Russian ones. During this
matchless march the Scandinavians took over the latest Germanic
roots of words.
.
. The peoples of Europe owe their migration, which continued
for several thousand years, to the freeing of vast territories from
ice and, in the final analysis, to the new current of the Gulf
Stream after the catastrophe.
Reprinted with permission from the Moscow News, Weekly No.
"1, 1985, and our thanks to our friend Dmitri Bayanov, for bringing this to our attention.

~.
Pursuit 13

Sunken Ci_ies of the Caspian Sea'

by

dOD

Douglas .Singer, M.A.

1985 by Jon Douglas Singer

.

In antiquity and in medieval,times.the Caspian Sea was known

by other names. The Greeks called it the Hyn::anian Sea after
the region of Hyrcania in .northern Iran. In the ninth century
. A.D. the Magyars, during times whcm they.were.pagan nomads
livi~g on the south Russian steppes, knew the Caspian as the
Kaliz Sea. The name Caspian was popularized by Reitaissanc~
mapmakers who had copied old maps. made by their Roman
forebears on which
words Caspian Mare were inscribed :Th.i~
. was a derivation, .from the nameof'an obsure tribe called the
Caspi whose members 9nce liVed along the ~ura River, west
of Jbe Caspian Sea. The medieval Arabs called their Caspian
the Sea of the Khazars (Barh al-Khazar).
The Caspian Sea is 760 miles long arid 130 to 270 miles wide.
The northern part is relatively shallow;
depth increases
towaro the southern end, and at the deepest 'point the waters
reach down more than 3200 feet. UJitil the Pleistocene Age,
from which the years of "modern man" are reckoned, the Caspian extended far to the north; the western portion was open
to the Black Sea and the two bodies of water were; in fact, one.
During the Pleistocene this great inland ocean was rent in two;
during centuries of vast changes in climate and Earth's contours
th~ water-level fell, and a wide barrier of mud progressively
emerged and dried, to fonn' the shores of two separate seas.
: Despite the passage of however many yem were needed to
achieve its present size and fonn, this.land is yet unstable. Earthquakes occur frequently around the Caspian shores. In 1894 an
uooerwater volcano was discovered at 381O'N and 5237'E,
near the mouth of the Atrek River. The eastern:shore of the Caspian continues to rise slowly while the western shore gradually
sinks: The emergence of some srnalllsiands and' the subsidence
of others is a continuing phenomenon.

the

the

of men while looking for underwater ruins could bring !l. Pro~
ising naval career to an abrupt and untimely halt. Th~ .captain
ordered his men back aboard and the sub departed the area .
.' Unfortunately,author Taylor did not identify the captain of
the submarine, nor did she reveal the location ofthe sunken city. I have discovered no evidence which might corrobOtltle th~
sto.y!and no infonnation that could possibly lead to a recp.~very
of thf pillared city beneath the Caspian Sea.
: :.: .'

Submerged Ruins in the Bay of Baku: . ,.

I..
. . .
The first real break in my search for'sunken cities in 'the Caspian came when I read Charles Berlitz's book The Myst~ry of
Atlantis. He Said that the Russians had discovered a s~nkCn ~i
ty in the Bay of Baku near the western' shore of the Caspian.
AccOrding to Berlitz's brief description, the Soviets found blocks
of masonry with pictures of animals carved i.n relief; there'were
also underwater walls an~ varjous inscriptions.
.: ...

N'

....

t,

.~T.

&1..Jc.

'CASP' AN,""
: :,j

. U. S..5. R.

.. :.::

S.EA,

..

~',

Submarine Crew Finds Sunken City

L. ,Taylor Hansen's book, The Ancient Atlantic, relates a
remarkable story: A submarine ~n World War I was. patrolling
the Caspian on the lookout for Gennan ships. After one long
period of underwater surveillance, the craft surfaced so the crew
could rest and go swimming. The sky was generally oven::ast,
but fqr a few minutes the sun broke out and sent a sunbeam
down through the waves. The rays, concentrating as a natural
searchlight, penetrated deep into the waters and revealed to the
swimmers on the surface the pillars of a sunken city ..
. The crewmen reported that the' columns they sighted we~
huge and seemed to be made of pink marble. A large Giecianstyle'building was also visible and some of the nearer columns
had .toppled. One swimmer tried to approach the ruitis but
discovered that the distance was much greatet: than he felt abl~
to cover. He had to come up for air, and after he 'surfaced his
respiration took a long tiJiie returning t9 nonnal. His' view, of
the City was '''magnificent;'' he said; and the niins seemed to
"glow" in reflected sunlight..
' .. : ....... ," .' '.
Other crewmen wanted to dive and
their. luck at .n:' .
vestigating the mystery, but the captaiit refused pennission,
pointing out that they lacked proper equipment (or such difficult
and lengthy worle underwater. Privately, he thought that his commander ashore would merely express mild disbelief when he
told.the crewman's story, but a report 'of inj~ry or d~wiring

trY

Pursuit 14

. Sunken cities in the Bay of Baku

..

..
,

Additional details of the Russian discovery were rev~ed in

Robert Charroux's book, .The Gods .Unknown, wherein the
.author repOrted thai a great tidal wav~ struck th~ shore tep ~iles
south of the city of.Baku, and as it retreated, ruins were seen
on the strip of seafloor that was briefly exposed. The ev~rit. occurred in 1960. After studying the reports, Professor $.erezin
of Kazan University asserted that the sunken city was Poseidoilis.
. While some Atlantis researchers think Poseidonis wa~ the
name of the capital city of Atlantis, most now believ~ ~t UIe
island or continent of Atlantis was located in the AtI8ntic ~ean.,
nowhere near the Caspian Sea. I searched for ancient references
to Poseidonis and found none to coimect with Atlantis .. Plato
calledthe Adantean capital simply "the city of Atlantis"
Metropolis." Several cities in the Meditenanean were 'Darned
Poseidon, the Greek sea-god, but they date to Greek times'
at the earliest and obviously lack any relationship with 'iIJ~'I~d:
or city of Atlantis .. It may be that the Poseidon descn~ by
Professor Berezin was a colony es~~li~ed by emigranfG~ks
from the coastal colonies along the Black Sea, or perhaps by
deserting or disbande(l soldiers from the annies of Alexander'

oy",the

after

First Q~arter 1985

the Great after his conquest of Persia.

.
A further clue to the existence of sunken ruins near Baku is
briefly described in Charles Hapgood's 1966 book Maps of the
Ancient Sea Kings. On page 186-187 he reports that Russian
arehaeologists discovered a sunken city near Baku, at the mouth
of the Kura River (the location is actually a few miles south.
of Baku, near the island of Pogorelaya Plita). Hapgood noted, .
however, that up to the time his book was publish~d, no detailed description of the ruins was available, nor was there any
report of artifacts recovered.
In a: 1973 article in the periodical Intemational Joumal of
Nautical Ardlaeology and Underwater Exploration, author
Gunter Lanitzki updated long-ongoing investigations by Rus- .
sian marine areheologists.of a submerged fortification in the Bay
of Baku. The scientists brought up coins and pottery from the
watery depths. They also found 630 stone slabs covered with
inscriptions and reliefs. The inscriptions identified the culture
to which the fortification belonged; it had been built by Arabs
or by people of the Islamic religion who had been influenced
by the Arabic culture. The Arabic inscriptions dated the structure to exactly A.D. 1234-1235. The slabs measured 0.73 x 0.35
x 0.1 meters and were fastened to the battlements as decorations. Although this particular site was Arabic, the other sites
around Baku may not be. It is important to remember that Bronze
Age, Achaemenid Persian, Hellenistic Greek, Parthian and
Sassanid Persian civilizations and many lesser-known ethnic
groups flourished along the western shores of the Caspian.
Hence, the ruin described by Lanitzki could be one of many
sites; indeed, the ~eafloor off Baku could even be a watery version of Troy, with ruins from different eras and close by, or
piled atop each other.
Underwater Ruins Elsewhere in the Caspian

Also described in Lanitzki's article was a fantastic discovery

made c. 1973 near the Iranian pOrt of Bandar-e Shah on the
southeastern rim of the Caspian Sea near the city of Gorgan.
Marine arehaeologists found sturdy walls underwater at the
mouth of the Gorgan River. Apparently the walls were s~b~
merged several meters, but Lanitzki did not give the exact depth
nor did he say how the ruins were found. He described them
as roughly parallel to the shoreline for a distance of about 30
kilometers, continuing vestigially on the right bank of the river.
He speculated that the site might have been an ancient island
called Asbeskun which later submerged; it could have also been
the site of a lost city of the same name. Lanitzki noted that the
works of Several ancient authors not only mentioned AsbesJ.cun
as an important trading center but also places its location at the
.
mouth of the Gorgan River.'"
A number oflost citiesor towns in the Caspian region appear
to date from the Mi4dle Ages. A notable. e~ple is .the City
of Itil, the vanished capital of the Khazar empire. The Khazars
were a Turko-Mongolian tribe from the steppes of central Asia.
They settled between the Black and Caspian Seas, eve~tually
extending their empire to the Volga on the north, the Caucasus
Mountains on the south and into the western Ukraine. Itil, the
capital city, was probably located at ~r near the mouth of the
Volga; but no visible traces of it remain today. A ..Russian
Asbeskun could be an original or ancient version of Abaskun, '~ the
name of a medieval Islamic city on the eastem shore of the Caspian
Sea. D.M. Dunlop, in A Histol}' of the Jewish Khazars (New York,
Schocken Books, 1967), wrote that Abaskun was attacked twice by
Vikings who had settled in Rtissia~ The first attack, in A.D. 884, was
repulsed, but in A.D. 910 the Russian Vikings tried again and sacked
the city.

First Quarter 1985

U.S.S:R.

Sunken cities around the Caspian Sea

historian by the name of L. Gumilev suggested that the Khazar
ruins might have sunk beneath the Caspian Sea. He compared
the homeland, of th~ Khazars to the legendary lost continent of
Plato's Atlantis saga and called the vanished land the "Volga
Atlantis." He searehed the waters and shores of the Caspian
region for several years before finding his first physical evidence
of an ancient Khazar settlement: a lonely. burial mound on dry
land. Further research convinced him that the primitive cemetery
had actually been on an island until the 14th century A.D., when
the Volga's water level lowered and left the hillock's shoreside
with a new and pennanent attachment t~ the mainland. Gumilev
fountl some Khazar potsherds ~O meters below the surface in
waters of the Volga delta. He believed they partially confirmed .
his theory that the Khazar sites had been su~merged. At least
one Russian scholar, an academiciaIJ named Ryb8kov, disputed
Gumilev's theory, asserting that th~ K,hazars were nomads and
never estabiished permanent .cities.
A careful reading of Khazar history suggests that both theories
,may be correct, each within its proper time-frame. The early
Khazars were nomads who lived in tent towns; later generations,
however,. built cities of impressive dimensions. Itil, for example, had an ~laborate palace and was ~urrounded by ~ formidable
wall. An~ther important city of the. ~rs was Sarkel, on the
DOn River; it was a true "planned community," designed by
Byzantine Greek arehitects at a tiJ!le when the Kh~ and
.
.
.
:
...
Byzantines were allies.
The empire of the Khazars was destroyed by a coalition of
Slavs, Vikings who had settled in Russia, and pagan, nomadic
Turko~Mongolians called Petchenegs. Remnant!!. of the Khazar
population continued to occupy parts of the Crimean peninsula
for perhaps a hundred years after the loss Qf their empire.
Remains of settlements found l'I:ear the Caspi~ Sea or: reposing in its depths ~ generally identifiable .with times of ~~ Middle Ages; who built them, what sort of people they were, .where
they came from and what caused the ~ventual demise of these
communities are questions which cannot,be answered from information currently available. At Cape Eurgyan divers ~ound
Pursuit 15

it submerged town. Pottery recovered at the site was of a tyPe

i~.use c.A.D. 1200-1300, but from such.meagerclues we,dare

not even speculate what culture might have built the drow.ned
town.
'
: : Another' submerged settl.ement was found eight kilometers
sOudi of puviumi; Gunter Lanitzki believes it was inhabited until
tti~ 14th century A.b., ,'but gives no hint as to the origin or
lifeStyle of its, population. In its September 1975 issue the In~inational Journal of Nautical AIrhaeoJogy and Underwater Exploration reported that 'a sunken city was found at Biandovan,
Az~Ibaijan, a few miles south of Duvanni, and that glazed pottery was ,brought up from the depths. A site dating to the late
Renaissance (15th-17th centuries) was found submerged at the
causeway,~ Artyom Islan~. It consisted of a settlement whose
~sidents of.companitively recent times are as unknown as any
of .their more
ancient ancestors. elsewhere.
.,
, Theories about the' Sunken Cities
, A PQpular theory about the lost cities of the Caspian Sea links
them to the far-flung civilization of Atlantis. L. Sprague
DeCamp, in Lost Continents, mentioned' a Russian speculation
that the Caspian Sea was the true site of the mythical Atlantis.
De Camp did not elaborate; he did not say who had suggested
the idea, nor did he present evidence that could justify such a
fantastic conclusion.
The thought may ,have been inspired by a 1933 book written
by Reginald Fessenden, its title The Deluged Civilization ofthe
Caucasus Isthmus; or, the Russians might have paraphrased a
statement by Ignatius Donnelly in hi~ book A.dantis, The
~ntedeluvian World. In Egerton Sykes' edition of Donnelly's
work. there is a tantalizingly brief a~sertion a~ut Atlantean colonies on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Someti~e around 9000
B.C., the Atlanteans supposedly populated colonies thereabouts.
Ul,lfortunately, neither Sykes, nor Donnelly presented, archaeologi(ial evidence for the civilizations puiportedly resident on
the. 'c~asllf of the Caspian e~even thousand years ago.
': ~fessorFessenden's scenario was more'elaborate. He suggested that various ancient peoples, the Greeks and Egyptians,
f<;lr exainple, had emigrated westward from the Caucasus region
where their common bloodlines stemmed from a mother civilization anciently resident on the shores of the Mediterranean: But
the "Mediterranean" Fessenden had in mind wasn't the same
p~ace that th~ Romans later called mare nostrum, meaning, in
translation, "our sea." In the last Ice Age, when a great depth
of water covered the land which now rises between them, the
Black Sea and the Caspian Sea were as one - a huge inland
ocean that truly deserved the name ~rlier'given to it: Mediter~
ranean. The sister sea to its west lost nothing in the name-trade,
for what is now called the Mediterranean was at first the Atlantic Ocean. When ancient civilization was destroyed, the tribes
migrated and brought the old place-names with them; the old
Mediterranean became the Black Sea and the old Atlantic became
the 'Caspian, according to Fessenden.
, Fessenden's theory was challenged by De Camp who cited
both the dearth of evidence and an abundance of linguistic erro-:s in Fesenden' s work.. ,Of course, the Greeks and the Egypti~ns were not related, linguistically or culturally, and there are
~o :archaeological traces of a general westward migration of these
or: other primordial races fro~ the Caucasus region in times of
antIquity,. Two respected encyclopedias agree that the Caspian
on~ reached far north of its ,cu~nt spread; The Encyclopaedia
~n_~ (1959 edition) stat~s that in Pleistocene times the Casp~ ~xtended nQ~ into what are now the steppes. An article
in CQmpton's Pictured ~ncy~lopedia asserts that in early times
Pursuit 16 '

the Caspian Sea covered all the land between the Black Sea and
the Arctic Ocean. But the geological facts do not help us answer
the question whether there was, or could have been, civilized
human activity anywhere in southern Eurasia at such a remote
time.
The only clues to an "advanced" civilization are the conjectures of Professor Fessenden and the report by Mrs. Hansen of
a ~unken city allegedly sighted by members of a World War
I submarine crew. If Hansen's city could be rediscovered, and
dated by procedure!! generally acceptable to science, much firmer
support for the F~ssenden and Donnelly theories would surely
,be gain~d from a provable linkage to the antediluvian world.
Han~en suggeste4 that' the sunken city was an exotic
metropolis of an unknown civilization, which indeed it may have
been. But ~he Gfee~, who settled.in Iran after the conquests of
Alexander the Great could have found the same location suitable
for one of their classical cities, with columned buildings similar
to those more auspiciously' situated on the shores of other inland seas.
With his shaky linguistic, presumptions, his geographical
placement of Atlantis in the Mediterranean and his insistence
that the Caspian was originally the Atlantic Ocean, Professor
Fessenden set himself up, as a fair target for the kind of criticism
that borders on insult. Yet his personal integrity remained beyond
question and the constancy of his views even provoked' mild
applause from some of his critics.
Fessenden was a scientist, a teacher of science and a prophet
of the Age of High Technology we now so proudly hail. His
job as chief chemist at Thomas A. Edison's research laboratories
gave him clout, and his talent for innovation produced new tools
for science as well as inspiration for young scientists, to persist
in their own endeavors.
One of Fessenden's inventions was aD acoustic sounding
device for detecting subterranean hollows and, superimposed
strata at depths as great as a mile 'beneath the Earth's surface,
or so it was described in U.S. patents numbered 1,~ 17,585 and
1,240,328 filed on the inventor's behalf on Augu~t,2, 1914.
Fessenden thought his primitive sonar device should 'work as
well on water as it did on land. He expected to use it In a hunt
for buried or sunken cities built by "deluged civilizations;"
whether the device w'as actually put to that use is not' known.
It seems probable that the Soviets paid some attention to
Fessenden's writings; indeed, his work may have inspired their
ongoing hunt for sunken cities in the vast inland waters of
southern Russia.
Tenuous suppOrt for Fessenden's theory may J>e embedded
in certain Maps ofthe Ancient Sea Kings which the late Charles
Hapgood compiled for reproduction in his book of that title.
Hapgood proposed that some medieval and Renaissance maps
of the world were based on older Roman or Greek prototypes
and were not as full of imaginary or inaccurate features as contemporary geographers would have us believe. Hapgood and
others, including Arlington Mallery, found that the supposedly
exaggerated or distorted coastlines were in many instances close
geological matches with the ancient coastal contours revealed
by modem depth-sounding techniques. Mallery and Hapgood
concluded'that the old maps had to be copies of more ancient
ones dating back to the last Ice Age, from the astonishing date
of c.' 9000 B.C. to 'perbaps as "recently" as 6000 B.C.
Maps drawn, by the Greek scien~ist Eratosthenes and the
Roman writer Pomp,nius Mela seem especially relevant to such
a conclusion. Only Renaissance copies survive today, but they
are assumed, to be fair copies of the lost originals. Both maps
appear inaccurate' at' first glance, they depict a grotesquely
First Quarter 1985

materials, the diggers had little to show for their efforts until
a number of artifacts with odd-looking symbols carved on them
were collected near the village of Mezhirich in the Ukraine,
south of Kiev and not far from the Dnieper.
Of particular interest was an irregular-shaped piece of
mammoth-tusk ivory. Stylized pictures carved on one of the flattish sides were studied by author Ninelj Kornietz; he concluded that the carving was actually a map. perhaps the earliest yet
discovered. Noting the row of trees depicted on the top. a row
of dwellings in the center and the stylized river aJ the bottom,
Kornietz surmised that the carving memorialized the settlement
of Mezhirich; he suggested that the river could be either the Ros'
or the Rosava.
The existence of a map from such an early date should encourage belief that other maps, such as those attributed by
Charles Hapgood to his most ancient "sea kings,'.' may have
described pre-Stone Age geography more accurately than we
have imagined. Readying their answer to the next logical question even before it is asked, Kornietz and colleagues Gladkih
and Soffer assert that natural waterways were the least hazardous trade routes in times of antiquity; it seems well within the
bounds of possibility that a primitive commerical network extended south to the Black Sea and along much of its shoreline.

misshapen Caspian Sea among other seemingly distorted

features. Remarkably, however, both maps depict connections
between the Arctic Ocean and the Caspian Sea. The Eratosthenes
map has a narrow strait or river linking the Caspian to the Arctic Ocean; the Mela map has a broad channel connecting the
northern ocean and the not-so-distant southern sea.
Many modem scientists scoff at these suppositions, noting
that a good thousand miles of hilly land separate the Caspian
from the Arctic. But Hapgood suggested that the maps may
preserve genuine though somewhat distorted memories of longlost sea connections to the Arctic. According to his reckoning,
those connections could have existed from as early as 15,000
years ago to as "recently" as IO,OOO years ago. As the Ice Age
came to an end, climatic changes altered the land, and the
geography of the region assumed its present form.
For anyone to believe that a map or other man-made
geographic record could survive thousands of years of "prehistory" would seem to indicate either impairment of reason
or overindulgence in wishful thinking. But discoveries by Harvard scientist Alexander Marshack have revealed that Stone Age
people made notations on bones and developed a system of
mathematics during the Ice Age. If they could do that, why is
it unthinkable thauhey could also have devised maps? As ancient sagas verbalized details of memorable events in one age
for the benefit of another, so could information about the size,
distances and shapes of great land masses and waterways pass
from generation to generation by means of oral pre-history until "advanced technology" discovered ways to carve or paint
t~e record on a rock or cave wall.
.
Did an ancient civilization exist, as Donnelly and others have
suggested, along the Caspian shores? Someday the discovery
and ex<;avation of sunken ruins in that sea may yield stone tablets
with ancient maps of a lost world carVed on their surfaces.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barta. Istvan. et al.. A History of Hungary. London. Collets. 1975.
Berlitz. Charles, The Mystery of Atlantis. New York. Avon Books, 1975.
Charroux. Robert. The Gods Unknown. New York. Berkley Medallion Books.
1974.
Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia and Fact-Index.. Caspian Sea." Chicago.
F.E. Compton & Company. 1953.
.
De Camp. L. Sprague, Lost Continents. New York. Ballantine Books. 1975.
Donnelly. Ignatius. Atlaotis. the Antedeluvian World. (Rev. ed. edited by
Egerton Sykes). New Yo,*". Gramercy Pub. Co .. 1948.
Encyclopaedia Brittanica. "Caspian Sea ... Chicago. William Benton and Encylopaedia Brittanica. Inc . 1959.
Fessenden. Prof. Reginald Aubrey. The Deluged Civilization of the Caucasus
Isthmus. copyright 1933 by R. Fessenden.
Hansen. L. Taylor. The Ancient Atlantic. Amherst Press. Amherst. Wisconsin. 1969.
Hapgood. Charles. Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings. New York". E.P. Dutton.
1979 (fillit published 1966).
Komietz. Ninelj. Gladkih. Mikhail. and Soffer. Olga. "Mammoth-Bone Dwellings on the Russian Plain." "Scientific American. November. 1984.
pp. 164-175.
Lanitzki. Gunter. "Submerged Sites in the Caspian Sea." The International
Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Ex.ploration. March.
1973.

***
Shortly after finishing this article I read a report of the unearthing of a 15,OOO-year-old map at at Stone Age site in
southern Russia.
.
Soviet archaeologists had been excavating for several years,
off and on as funding permitted, at sites where "permanent"
settlements were identifiable from the remains of mammoth hides
and bo.nes that the ancient residents used to build their huts in
protective clusters along the banks of the lower Dnieper River
and its western tributaries. Other than the time-resistant building

Related SITUations
C.apiaD Sea Reported Deeper
The world's largest lake, the Caspian Sea in
Central Asia, is getting deeper and its fish are
flourishing on its increased nitrogen and
phosphorous content, the Soviet news agency
Tass has reponed.
Tass said the level of water in the lake had
risen by 5.1 inches this year alone and by about
3 feet over the past eight years because of
climatic changes in the area.
It is said atmospheric precipitation falling into
the sea had grown considerably while the rate
of evaporation had slowed.
Prior to the climatic changes the sea had appeared to be shrinking. From the tum of the century the sea - which is bordered by Soviet Central Asian republics and Iran - had receded
from its shores and its water level had dropped
by about nine feet, Tass said.

First Quarter 1985

Scientists at first attributed this to dam and

reservoir construction on the Volga River,
which flows into the Caspian. There was also
a hypothesis that the bed of the lake rose and
fell because of continental drift.
SOURCE: The Sun, Baltimore. MD
11122/84 .

CREDIT: H. Hollander

SaDkeD City In The Black Sea

Soviet divers may have discovered the remains of a mysteriously submerged Atlantistype village in the Black Sea. the official Soviet
news agency Tass said.
The town of Akra was mentioned in historic
manuscripts but until now no traces of the Crimean peninsula village could be found except
for ancient coins on the shore, Tass said.
Scientists "surmised that the antique city
might have become submerged, just like

mythical Atlantis." Tass said.

An undelWater search was alTlll1ged last summer and immediately produced fragments of
pottery and treated rocks, Tass said.
.
. 'Those were followed by bigger finds., including the ruins of a square tower with an adjoining defense wall, a harbor with anchors that
had lain there for ages and an ancient well with
unbroken amphoras (jars) bearing trademarks
of ancient potters, black lacquer ceramics and
wooden products made in the 4th CenturY
B.C., .. Tass said.
The Tass report did not say outright that Akra
had been found but it" indicated that the
discoveries could point to arecovery of the city.
SOURCE: UPI in the Star-Ledger. Newark.
N.J. 12/9/84
CREDIT: #432

P~r~uit

17

DIAMOND FIRE A .Close .Encounter Of The Military Ki.nd

by HaiTy LebelsoD
It was like a scene out of a grade-B science fiction movie.
With intermittent bursts of red-orange flame spewing from its
bottom, the diamond-shaped, blue-tinged craft struggled to inaintain itself over the desolate Texas highway. On a rendezvous
to meet it were Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and her nephew
Colby, all of Dayton, Texa~. Returning home after. an evening
out, their 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass came to a halt about 100
feet away from the water-tower-sized object as it hovered .at
treetop level. Curiously, Betty Cash, a 51 year-old business
woman, and Vickie Landrum, 57, a restaurant employee, along
with the young boy, left their car to observe the strange

Vickie and Colby Landrum and Betty Cash

phenomena. Entranced, they stared up in disbelief for several

minutes until the metallic-like object, engulfing them in an excruciating heat while emitting beeping sound, suddenly rose
and moved up over the surrounding pine trees and receded in
the distance .. "I never saw such a bright light like that ever on
this earth. Because of my religious background, I thought the
world was coming to an end," stated Betty Cash in recalling
the experience. The women, shaken, yet rational, resumed their
journey along Highway FM 1485, only to once again engage
the unknown intruder. some five minutes later. This time
however, the object was not alone. Surrounding it were what
the women d~scribed as "a large number of helicopters, ,. later
identified as large, double-rotor types and single-rotor variety.
As if in pursuit, the helicopters drew relatively close to the
automobile. scaring its three occupants, while all parties continued along down the road in a game of hide and seek.
In the aftermath of this experience which occurred on the evening of December 29. 1980, the participants suffered disturbing
symptoms. Back in Dayton. Cash and the Landrums grew

Pursuit 18

deathly ill. When Betty Cashdropped off her two friends that
evening, their irrevocable physical injuries had already begun
to manifest. Both Vickie and Colby had been burned, as though
suffering from extreme sunburn. Severe headaches and dianhea
compounded the nausea that plagued them for days on end.
Vickie Landrum, like Betty Cash who would soon require
hospitalization for her injuries, developed massive knot-like
boils, the size of fifty cent pieces, around her neck and head.
Landrum's vision was permanently impaired, with both women
suffering extreme hair loss. Even Colby .. whose exposure to the
mystery object had been minimal due to the fact that he returned
to the car earlier than the others, was similarly affected. For
Cash, the first month of the new year would be spent in and
out of hospital labsat Parkway Hospital in Houston, Texas,
where she had been admitted as a bum victim. According to
a Dr. Shenoy of Parkway Hospital, "It was the consensus of
doctors at the hospital that the only way to explain the bums
was that they resulted from microwave radiation."
After treatment for her injuries, Cash, contending that the
diamond-shaped craft was responsible for her troubles and those
ofherfriends, contacted NASA for assistance. She was referred
to former McDonnell Douglas space shuttle engineer John
Schuessler, whose organization VISIT (Vehicle Internal Systems
Investigation Team) undertook the responsibility of looking into the matter. According to an article in Omni magazine,
February, 1982, "He (Schuessler) began to suspect, after viewing all the evidence, that the fire-spewing craft was an experimental vehicle developed by the United States military."
He went on to surmise that it probably had malfunctioned and
began to emit huge amounts of radiation, with the helicopters
being there to assist it, should it crash.
.
Working on that premise, Schuessler subsequently contacted
high ranking government and military officials seeking to deter':mine if such an experimental or prototype vehicle existed in addition to validating the existence of the military-like helicopters.
No easy task by any means, he met stiff resistance all the way,
with appeals for informati~n falling on deaf ears. The United
States Air Force concluded that their UllitS were not in any way
involved in the incident, while the Army denied any knowledge
. of the unidentified object. However, between February and
. March of 1982, VISIT investigators were in contact with Lieutenant Colonel George S!lrran, Department of the Army, Inspector General's Office in the Pentagon, who initally took the affair seriously enough to "probe" and see if any helicopter units
in Texas were present during the encounter. Even going so far
as to personally interview Vickie Landrum at her home in
Dayton and Betty Cash by phone. Lieutenant Colonel Sarran,
along with Air Force Major Dennis Haire, also investigating
the matter, concluded that they ,could find no military group
responsible for the helicopters-or the unidentified aerial object.
All this i.n...spiteof-"tfie.fact that Dayton Police Officer L.L.
Wai"ker and his wife testifed before Lieutenant Colonel Sarran
that four to five hours earlier, in the exact same area where the
incident took place, they had observed CH-47 helicopters which
appeared to be searching for something on the ground. As a
result of the claims of military involvement, Betty Cash and

First Quarter 1985

Betty Cash - Hair loss 1 week after incident

Betty Cash - Hair. loss 1. week after incident

Vickie Landrum were urged by Senators John Tower and Lloyd

Bentsen to go to Bergstrom Air Force Base to give testimony
as to what occurred and obta!n papers to file a claim for damages,
which they did.
Thereafter, tapes of the interview of Vickie Landrum by Colonel Sarran were later forwarded to New York criminal attorney
Peter Gersten, who had an interest in the case and later agreed
to represent Cash/Landrum. In January, 1984, the three Texans filed suit in federalcourt in Houston, asking $20 million
in damages from the United States government. Attorney
Gersten told reporters at a press' conference "We're assuming
the craft is a government device because of the presence of
helicopters," Is Gersteri;~ stand justifiable in view of the
evid~nce? A look back .at past events surrounding the effort on
. the part of the United States !1lilitary to develop such a vehicle
seems to indicate so.
Interest in nuclear power on the part of the military as a source
of propulsion dated back to the final year of World War 2. It
was then that an alert army air corps colonel, Donald J. Keirn,
sought'. entry into the Manhattan Project to determine the
. feasibility of using nuclear power for aircraft propulsion. In
1946, that interest had developed into a passion which gave birth
to a full-blown project. known as NEPA (Nuclear Energy for
the Propulsion of Aircraft). NEPA, later known as Project Kiwi,

First. Quarter 1985

Betty Cash - Boils on back

Betty Cash - Blisters on hand

had enough faith in the concept to sustain an ample air force

commitment to research that possibility. According to the recent book "Nuclear America" by Gerald H. Clarfield and
William M. Wiecek, "The military rationale for the nuclearpowered aircraft was that the air forces of the world, including
that of the United States, were in danger of becoming too
defense-oriented through the development of fuel-guzzling, high
speed defense fighters, leaving the long-range strategic bombers.
necessary to deliver atomic bombs, at a disadvantage relative
to the fighters that would be attacking them ... This possibility
greatly concerned General Curtis Le May, a proponent of
s~rategic air power at that time. The navy, also interested in
nuclear power for propulsion was already designing a propulsion reactor for a destroyer escort, a small navy warship. Behind
this momentum was Captain Hyman Rickover through whose
dedication the navy launched its first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, in January, 1954.
The following year, John Jay Hopkins, president of General
. Dynamics Corporation, builder of the Nautilus, predicted an
atomic aircraft would cross the Atlantic in a half hour's time.
Earlier that year, General Nathan Twining, Air Force Chief of
Staff, revealed that a nuclear-powered craft was being developed
by the Air Force. Not only had the design structure been solved.
but the hangar and highly complicated machinery necessary to
Pursuit 19

Vickie landrum - Unhealed wounds m~nths later

remove the reactor by remote" control for reloading and service

work had also been realized .. "During the Tiuman and Eisenhower
years the main target of research was the perfection of a nuclear
propulsion system for aircraft" and. the'solving of all inherent
problems associated with it." After the:So'viets launched Sputnik in 1957, Eisenhower, under constant" pressure from the Joint
Committee on Atomic Energy ~nd interested congressmen, was
forced to fuel this research program"even more. In "Nuclear
America, " the authors state, "T~~ "lTlessage of those who fought
haJ:dest for a nuclear powered airplane w~s always the same and
usually effective: if the United States did not develop Olle, the
"
Russians would."
""Like some self-fulfilling prophecy;""the following year, A via~ion Week, the principal magazine of the aerospace industry,
announced that a nuclear powered bomber was being flight tested
in the Soviet Union. In a story for its ~c"e~ber 1, 1958 issue
datelined Washington, they stated "It has been observed both
in flight and on the ground by a wide variety of foreign observers
from both Communist and non-Communist countries ... Quickly, President Eisenhower, claiming better sources of intelligence,
denied the validity of the story. Even with over ten years of
"research into our own development of a nu~lear-powered craft,
problems still persisted. Yet, funding continued, and would continue, at least up until the time of the Kennedy administration
and perhaps until today. Could such difficulties such as the
danger of dispersing radioactive material in the event of a crash
or the weight problem of the reactor and the essential core
shielding be overcome so" that the project could be" realized?
Recently unearthed documents and similar sightings bf unidentified aerial objects such as Cash/Landrum witnessed, wo~ld seem
to indicate a successful end to this American military nuclear
project and possibly the ~esign and development of an object
as bizarre in appearance and behavior as the one the three vic"tims interacted with. " "
"
In a New Yorlc TimesaRicle dated September 12, 1945, Ralph
Lucas, chief engineer of the United States Industrial Research
and Development Company of Elmira, New York announced
a new breakthrough" in atomic engine research. Under the
headline "Atom Energy Te<stJn Engine Planned," the article
stated that the inventor ~"su~ed in releasing atomic energy
from mercury in lab tests. ~ontinuing on, it emphasized "With
tha~, he would begin at onCe the ~onstruction of a turbine engine
" designed to use atomic energy. " He had already built small scale
rpodels, which accordins" to "the article, "had operated sucPursuit 20

cessfully." The next item, a 1948 New Yorlc Times page one
grabber, was even more startling. An announcement by Pro-
fessor Eugene P. Wigner, a Princeton University physicist
revealed that scientists were then working on harnessing the atom
in the propulsion of space ships. Only three years later, six years
~fterthe first atomic explosion, Aviation Week's May 21st, 1951
Issue announced the feasibil ity of nuclear powered aircraft propulsion, ~tating that it had been demonstrated at least in theory.
That article would be the first of four detailing those
accomplishments.
Continuing to lend credence to the possibility that the United
States has by now realized an atomic powered craft, was another
1955 New Yorlc Times item. This three column obscure
biographical piece dealt with General Donald J. Keirn, a man
noted for his anonymity. According to the article, Keirn, not
. having been heard from publicly since the end of World War
2, remained active in his dedication toward the military application of nuclear propulsion. It detailed how, as Chief of the Office for Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion, he had testified on the need
for nuclear aircraft many times in Capitol Hill. More news items
appeared in the years 1964 thru 1975 hinting at substantial progress toward that end. One such press release described how
the "first true nuclear reactor" had been put into orbit on April
3, 1965. Designated SNAP lOA"(System for Nuclear Assisted
Power), it was developed by Atomics International for the
American Nuclear Energy Commission.
However, it wasn't until 1977 that the most crucial part of
that research would become a reality. On May 10th, 1977, patent 4,023,065 was granted to Paul M. Koloc of College Park,
Maryland, a retired Navy research physicist for what he called
a compact thennonuclear reactor. The New Yorlc Times article
describing the patent stated ' , A future energy application
predicted for the reactor is as power for propulsion" of space
ships." Koloc, in order to exploit'his invention, according to
th~ news item, "founded a corporation, Prometheus 2, and appbed to the Energy Research and Development Administration
for funds to support his research in nuclear fusion."
"If, since that time, a nuclear craft has been developed and
was responsible for Cash/Landrum's injuries, the United States
-Government would be hard pressed to admit it. Since attorney
Peter Gersten first instituted a lawsuit in his clients behalf on
December27, 1982, the opposite seems to be true. In spite" of
n~ws accounts of others having witnessed similar objects, the
military remains adamant in its denial that such an aircraft or
prototype exists.

Scene of inCident - Highway FM 1485

First Quarter 1985

...
Yet, a Plum Grove, Texas woman, her husband and three
daughters swear they've witnessed just such a craft. "It was
triangular-shaped, rounded at the bottom and gave off a vibrating
hum, ,. the woman stated. The February, 1984 sighting reported
in the Conroe, Texas Courier, took place only five or six miles
from where the Cash/Landrum incident occurred. In New Windsor, New York, on April to, 1980, four years previous to the
above interaction, another newspaper item told how five children
between the ages of seven and fifteen years, witnessed an aerial
object fitting the description given in the Cash/Landrum encounter. When interviewed in her home near Newburg, New
York, the eldest child, Kimberly Turner stated, "We were all
sitting around on the road talking about 9 p.m., when the kid
down the street, Billy McDonnell said 'look up in the sky' and
we saw this diamond figure . She went on to describe it as swaying slightly from left to right at about treetop level. Kimberly,
like her sister Jill, described the house-sized object as dotted
with multi-colored lights and surrounded by a red-orange glow.
A later conversaton with Diane Turner, the mother of the two
girls, revealed that sketches made by the youngsters immediately
after the incident were almost identical.
.
. Although attorney Gersten's initial complaint for $20 million
in damages against the United States Government was denied
on May 23, 1983, reconsideration was sought and again denied
on September 2, 1983. On January 18, 1984, the attorney filed
his current action. The civil complaint, filed in United States
District Court for the Southern District of Texas alleges that the
United States owned and operated an "experimental aerial device
of a hazardous nature" and that through negligence, it not only
allowed the object to fly over a public road and come in contact
with the plaintiffs, but that it also failed to warn them of the
object.
Shortly after the lawsuit was instituted, Gersten received a
motion addressed to the court filed by Assistant United States
Attorney Frank Conforti. The document asked for a more
definitive statement regarding the events of the night in question. It read: "I. The complaint alleges that the defendant
(United States Government) owned and operated particularly,
the des~ribed helicopters and an experimental aerial device of
a hazllrdous nature. The complaint further alleges that plaintiffs observed a large unconventional aerial object. Initially,
nowhere in the complaint do plaintiffs indicate whether the
sighted experimental aerial device and unconventional aerial ob. jed are one and the same. The plaintiffs are vague and ilm~
biguous on this essential point." Based on that conclusion, the
United States Government reasoned that the ambiguousness and
vagueness of Cash/Landrum's complaint "precluded the framing of a responsive pleading," going so far as to suggest that
possibly what the women saw was either unconventional or
seldom seen aircraft.
Gersten responded to the request and the government in tum,
answered the complaint. Putting in a "standard defense," the
U.S. Attorney said, "that if there is any responsibility for the
incident, it's the plaintiffs for being there, they assumed the
risk ... To add insult to injury, the government claimed they had
insufficient information to form an opinion regarding the
helicopters or the object. Not satisifed with that, attorney
Gersten, on April 24, 1984, secure in the fact that the United
States Attorney had not moved for a dismissal, sent off a list
of questions. In seeking information of a sensitive nature regardingCH-47helicopters, the type observed at the scc;:ne of the incident, and the identification of coded military projects, perllaps
relevant to the case, the attorney would be assured a long wait
before a response would be forthcoming.
First Quarter 1985

CH-47 Helicopters - Type

i~volvecl

in incident

It wasn't until September 26th,. thilt the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas responded with
the following: "The Offices of the Secretary of Defense, Joint
Chiefs of Staff, National Military Command Center, National
Security Agency, and Defense Intelligence Agency have advised
me that they do not have any information, records, or knowledge
concerning the incident referenced in the complaint, nor have
they conducted any investigations of the incident." Still to come
were responses from such agencies as the United States Army,
United States Air Force, the Navy and NASA.
Gersten would later receive that information in the form of
a motion for dismissal filed on January 17, 1985. The basis for
the motion was the sworn affidavits of Robert W. Sommer, Chief
of NASA's Aircraft Office at the time of the incident, Colonel
William Krebs, United States Air Force Chief of Tactical
Aeronautical Systems, Vice Admiral Robert Schoultz, United
States Navy, and Richard Ballard, Acting Chief, Aviation
Systems Division. The affidavits established that "the objectallegedly seen by plaintiffs, and which it is alleged was the proximate cause of their asserted injuries, is not, and was not, owned,
operated, or in the aircraft inventories of the United States of
America nor was such an object under the control of the United
States of America or its employees." On that basis, the United
States moved for dismissal. They went on to argue that even
if the United States was responsible for the operation of a hazardous object and failed to warn that the vehicle was in a specified
area, the government would be exempt from liability under the
discretionary function exception. (28 U.S.C. S2680 (a) ) Examples that apply under that clause are military supersonic flights
and experimental flights. Since Cash/Landrum stated in their
complaint that the "aerial device" was "experimental," the exemption stands.
A court date was recently set for September on the United
States Attorney's motion for dismissal. When asked to comment
on what his chances were of bringing the case to trial, the plaintiffs lawyer answered "zero.'.'

The author wishes to express his appreciation to attorney Peter

Gersten for the loan of U.S. Military and U.S. Govemmentcourt
documents in writing this article.
He wishes to acknowledge his thanks to Betty Cash and Vickie
Landrum for the use of their photographs.

Pursuit

21

Following their inquiry, FAA officials attributed the event to any "une'l-plained natural
phenomenon" - 'perhaps the eruption of an
underwater volcano o,r the release.of methane
gas in an earthquake. .
Tha't might have ended it - except for subsequent findings by Dr. Daniel A. Walker. A proCapt. Charles H. McDade, pilot of Japan fessor of geophysics at the University of
Airlines Flight 36 from Tokyo to Anchorage Hawaii, Walker monitors an array of
was flying off the northern coast of Japan wh~n hydrophones on the ocean bottom that record
acoustic signals from seismic and volcanic
he put in a Mayday call to Anchorage: "
'
"We have a ... round ball cloud ... looks like activity.
In a telephone interview, Walker said he ina nuclear explosion, only there was no lightitially believed the cloud resulted from the erupning, but the cloud was there very definitely ...
We're at altitude, 33 ,000 feet - 'the cloud con'- tion of a submarine volcano. "That was my
tinues to explode like a great big cloud, easy bias. I looked forward to analyzing the data and
to see ... and it expanded very rapidly .. I turn- tying it up neatly. It would have been a feather
ed off course to get away from it as much as in my cap to identify the source of the cloud,"
possible .,. We are on hundred percent oxygen he said.
';But the science proved otherwise," Walker
just as a precaution ... "
McDade was not alone. At about the same added.
After analyzing the data, Walker concluded
time, four other airline pilots in the area reponed
seeing the same huge mushroom cloud rise to that there was no source of volcanic or seismic
activity in the area where the cloud was sighted.
a height of 60,000 feet in two minutes.
Perhaps, he thought, the cloud emanated from
The pilots, fearing they were witnessing a
nuclear explosion, reponed the sighting and, an active volcanic site nearly 1000 miles south
upon Il!nding, had their planes checked for of the area in which the pilots were flying. "But
radioactivity .
I checked the wind records for that time and I
None was discovered at this time, October found that l:he wind was blowing too softly 1983.
and, the wrong direction - for it to have
The next day the Japanese government sent transponed the cloud to where it was spotted. "
a reconnaissance plane into the area to search Nor, given the speed with which the cloud rose
for radioactive dust or debris. None was into the atmosphere, could it have been a
discovered, acco~ing to a statement from the thunderhead - or any other kind of known
cloud formation.
Japanese Defense Agency at the time.
Walker, whose paper on the event has been
Today the event remains shrouded in mystery ,
with one scientest claiming the explosion could accepted for publication in Science Magazine
not have been a known natural event and a in the next few weeks, concluded that the cloud
fonner Anny lieutenant colonel claiming despite was an unknown natural phenoinenon - or a
skepticism from many expens, that the clouds man-made atmospheric explosion.
Taking pains to distance himself from "wild'
was the product of a Soviet test of a new type
speculations" about its origins, Walker emof long-range beam weapon.
In statements to the Federal Aviation' Ad- phasized that he is not answering the question
ministration, the pilots - two of they flying of what caused the cloud. "Alii can say is what
Japan Airlines planes, two others in Flying it is not," he said.
"Wild speCulation" is the kind of language
Tiger cargo planes and one piloting a KLM
passenger plane - all reponed seeing the that mainstream scientists use to characterize a'
theory about the cloud being promoted by two
'mushroom cloud at basically the same time.
According to a repon from an FAA special former military officers, Thomas E. Bearden,
agent who interviewed the pilots, Cornelius a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and Dr.
Vander Berg, captain of KLM's Flight 868, S~fan Possony, a former Air Force intelligence
reponed that he sighted a bubble rising out of officer. They believe the cloud is evidence that
a low-level layer of stratus clouds about 100 the Soviets are testing a new' type flf beam
miles northwest of his aircraft. That would have weapon unknown to US scientists and
put the cloud about 200 miles off the north-, researchers .
The 54-year-old' Bearden, who 'worked on
eastern comer of Japan.
"The bubble increased in size and formed a high~energy lasers and did analyses of surfacesphere, which then separated from the stratus to-air missilery for the Defense Depanment,
layer and increased in size and altitude," the claims the Soviets are exploiting a branch of
FAA repon said, quoting Vander Berg. "At physics developed by Nikola Tesla, a contem- ,
first the cloud was opaque, then as it got large; porary of Thomas Edison, whose theories on
you could see the stars th'rougn it. The develop- ' electromagnetism have been largely dismissed
ment continued until the sphere was massive, by' mainstream physicists.
According to Bearden, who lives in Huntsthen dissipated ... (Vander Berg) and the first
officer agreed they had never seen anything like' ville, All1., and currently works on weapons
it. They did not see any flash or light nor did analysis and anificial intelligence systems for
they notice any effects on their aircraft from the a private ~ontractor, two electromagnetic beams
formation. They did not experience any tur- can be caIibrated in such a way that at their inbulence, nor were there any effects on their tersection they can create enormous amounts of
directed energy.
radio, navigational or engine instruments ... "

SITUation

Mystery Cloud'"
Baffles Scientists

Pursuit

22

He contends that "scalar;' waves can be

manipulated to inject or extract energy from the
. environment, causi~g explosion!!, jamming or
facilitating communications, even altering
weather patterns by causing high- or lowpressure areas.
The mushroom cloud sighted off Japan was
caused, Bearden says, by a Soviet test of, a
"Tesla-type" weapon.
Bearden claimed in a telephone interview that
, he has collaborated with a physicist to create
a prototype of a Tesla-beam weapon. "We can
create' a hot or cold spot at a distance of three
to f01,lr meters away from the lab, bench, 'which
.proves the mechanism in principle," he 'said.
He added thilt the physicist declined to be :indentified because he is awaiting publication of
a'paper about his work in a scientific journal.
Many leading physicists and arms analysts
dismiss Bearden's ideas, but Dr. Stefan T.
Possony, a former Defense Dept. intelligence
officer, is more sympathetic.
,'
"Bearden is up to good insights. He knows
what he's talking about," Possony said in a recent interview from his Los Altos, Calif., home.
"Once the (Tesla) physics are validated - and,
they have been in one way - then their various
applications are almost secondary. Ti')e event
off Japan really is a warning that somebody can
do something we don't know about."
, Calling on the defense establishment to pursue Tesla's work, Possony wrote in a recent
issue of Defense & Foreign Affairs Magazine,
,"Tesla weapons (could) mean a military" transformation whose magnitude would exceed that
of the nuclear arid electronic space rev~IJtions. " '
But a numbe! of prominent physicists and :
weapons analysts say Bearden's theories are,
simply not credible.
"There is absolutely no credence to that Tesla
stuff," said Dr. Richard Garwin, a weapons
analyst with mM in New, York.
Added Dr. Kosta Tsipis, an MIT' arms
specialist: "Bearden is off the deep end." ,
Prof. Michael McElroy, an atmospheric,
physicist at Harvard; speculated in a telephone
interview that the sighting probably involved an
unusual pattern ofvenical turbulence in the atmosphere that was misinterpreted by the pilots,
who may have been nervous because they were
flying in the area where the Soviets shot down
a Korean Air Lines jet almost ,a year earlier.
But Capt. Charles McDade, now 60, the pilot
of Japan Airlines flight 36, responded: "No
way. As a former B52 flier, I'm not ski~ish."
Nor, he added, would anxiety 'have p~uced
the same reaction in five pilots.
'
In a telephone interview fro~ his Anchorage
home, McDade said thl!t in conversations
following the sighting he learned that several
Japanese fliers had w~tnessed a similar separate
cloud within a few days of the one he sighted.
Recalling, the sighting, McDade e~plained
that "after abo~t a minute and 50 seconds, this
thing grew so tremendously it was unbelievable.
When I really saw' how fast it was g~wing,
that's when Iturn~ south to get away." '
,SOURCE: Boston'Globe, MA
.
"
1113/85'
, . '.
CREDIT: Hillyer Senning
First

Quarter19M .

SITUation

Turkish Physicist 'Looks' At Noah's Ark

.

Bulent Atalay, 42, is a researcher into theoretical nuclear

physics who helped search for Noah's Ark in Turkey. Friends
rib him that he's become a new Indiana Jones.
In fact, a letter from the National Petroleum Council came
addressed to "Indiana Atalay, Finder of the Lost Ark." Atalay
says of the letter, "I was ~mbarrassed. It's not an image I want
to convey. I'd rather be thought of as a docile theoretical
physicist. "
The expedition was led by Marvin Steffins, an investment
counselor from Louisiana who is president of International Expeditions, which is in the business of finding Noah's Ark and
the Titanic. The expedition found an ark-sized depression near
Mount Ararat that Atalay describes as in the shape of a pistachio.
Atalay thinks this could have been an ancient shrine to the ark.
. Born in Ankara, Turkey, Atalay is the son of Kemal Atalay,
a Turkish general. Having connections in Turkey is important
to an ark seeker, because the area around Mount Ararat, where
the searching is done, is at the militarily sensitive border area
of Turkey (a member of NATO), the Soviet Union, and Iran.
Getting permission to get into the area is difficult.
. Atalay came to this country in 1951, when his father was
named Turkish military attache to Washington. He has studied
at Georgetown, Princeton and Berkely and has been a member
of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Oxford. He is now
a physics professor at Mary Washington College in
Fredericksburg, Va., and a member of the Institute for Advanced
Study in Princeton.
Q. What was it that spurred your interesfin archeology generally, and specifically in the ark?
.
A. Ever since I was a young boy growing up in Turkey I had
heard legends and myths about an ark having landed on Mount
Ararat. An uncle of mine, who became the director of the archeological museum in Istanbul, had been sent up there in the
1950s to resolve once and for all whether there was anything
up there.
Q. How old were you then?
A. Ten or 12. In the early '50s a Frenchman, Ferdnand Navara
- who I understand had made a considerable fortune inventing
wrecking balls - made it a great avocation to search for this
ark. He came back with some wood and some black and white
movies he had shot with his son that show him going into a
crevice and emerging with a rather large piece of timber which
he chopped up and, in the best of promotion efforts, sent a piece
. to De Gaulle and a piece to the pope. The French immediately
recognized him as the discoverer of the ark. He wrote a book,
"J'ai Trouve L'Arch" ("I Found the Ark").
Q. What was the wood like? A piece of lumber?
A. The pieces I eventually saw from the original timber had
a cross-section of a 9O-degree L. It definitely had adz marks,
so it was hand-hewn. It was carbon-dated to be quite old - 4,000
to 5,000 years. The one thing that made me uncomfortable was
that he claimed it came from somewhere around 13,000 or
14,000 (-foot) peaks. That's where the plateau and the crevice
was that he found this in.
.
As a conventional, theoretical physicist, I'm very much more
cautious about floods at high altitudes. There's no way I can
accept water rising to 17,000 feet, which Mount Ararat is. There
simply isn't enough water in the atmosphere if you were to conFirst Quarter 1985

dense it, or in the poles if you were to melt them, to get above
three or four hundred meters.
Art, archeology and physics are essentially my three fields.
In archeology, I'm more interested in applying state-of-the-art
science and physics to archeology than I am in this Indiana Jonestype archeology which expeditions to Mount Ararat are pretty
much about.
Q. How did you happen to become involved in these
expeditions?
A. In the United States there's a subculture of archeologists and
fundamentalists who overlap. There was a group of Seventh Day
Adventists, (who) approached me in the '60s to see if I would
be a scientific consultant to them as they mounted an effort to
acquire permissions to climb the mountain, and pemaps to
evaluate their findings afterward.
Q. How did they happen to pick you and not someone else?
A. My father was a general in the Turkish army. They thought
he might be able to help them get permission. They also realized that I was a scientist and could possibly give them some scientific credibility. Most of these people are very honest, nice people. They're fundamentalists; I don't see eye-to-eye with them
in religion certainly. I have no problems with incompatibilities
of religion and science, but I do with fundamentalist causes.
Some of them really do have trouble believing in evolution.
Q. In those expeditions at Ararat in the '60s, you were up there
at one point?
A. I helped them get permission but I didn't go up. This original
group was SEARCH, an acronym for Scientific.Research and
Archeological Foundation. This group mounted most of the
serious attempts in the late '60s. Navara, the Frenchman, joined them. He took them right up to that point of his aforementioned expedition when he found pieces of wood. They found
17 pieces of wood, the longest of which was 22 inches. There
was a great disparity in the ages of the wood. Some of the piece~'
were indeed very old - 4,000 or 5,000 years. Others were as
new as 1,200 years. I can't explain this great disparity in ages
coming from the same area. You couldn't really tell whether
they were hand-hewn. You could tell that they didn't belong
up there because there are no trees for miles around. This is
a volcanic mountain with absolutely no. foliage. It rises from
a plateau of roughly 2,000 feet to a peak of 17,000 feet. It's
incredibly imposing.
Q. Was the expedition you joined the most recent?
A. Yes. Until two years ago there had been a prohibition on
.people climbing the mountain, mainly because of the mountain's
location. It's right on the triple-point border between the Soviet
Union, Turkey and Iran. The Soviets often ballyhooed about
United States espionage work going on up there.
Q. Do you believe that there is an ark up there?
A. There could be a shrine up there. Rebuilt. The item that we
found has the shape of an enormous pistachio. Looks like a boat.
It's not at 14,000 or 15,000 feet, it's at only 5,000 feet, which
is certainly a little bit more palatable. The dimensions are just
about what the Bible suggests as the size of an ark. Three hundred cubits long. A cubit is about 18 inches - the distance from
the middle finger to the elbow. So 300 cubits makes it about
450 feet, and that's what this is, within four or five feet.
(continued on page 3.1)
Pursuit 23

There'D Always Be a Monster in Loch Ness'

by Gary S. Maagiacopra
Editor's Note
In 1941 Mussolini's paper Popolo c:i'Italia printed the news that bombing of Britain had been so in-'
tense and successful that the Loch Ness Monster had been killed by a direct hit. An Italian bomber
pilot had apparently claimed to have straddled Nessie with a stick of bombs and left her lying on the
surface. (Witchell: The Loch Ness Story, Terence Dalton Lavenham, 1976, p. l(4) ,
Ulrich Magin, in his article "Captures and Strandings of Monsters in Loch Ness,"'" quoted the 'above as an
example of "'/.taly (seeming) to have some fun in inventing unlikely Nessie stories. "
,'
Few readers of World War II vintage will disagree with Magin's assessment. But critic Charles fort, if he and
not Magin had told the tale, would probably have thought it more "preposterous" than unlikely; and naturalist
Ivan Sanderson would surely have questioned author Witchell's presumptive references to Nessie's fe'mininity
'
before dismissing the whole affair as "balderdash."
Semantics notwithstanding, one good piece ofresearrh often begets another, as in this case. Gary Mangiacopra 's
recent studies of the nature and use of "monster" propaganda in World Warn turned up an extended, personalized version of the same inc.ident'that Witchell and Magin had reported in brief.
Read and marvel at the wondrous ways ofpropaganda; then be thankful that this and many more serious ploys
had no discemible effect on the' outcome of the war.

Propaganda is a fascinating concept. It can be used either to

strengthen the solidarity of a nation or ethnic group, or damage
or destroy the morale of an adversary. In time of war, opposing
sides fight each other directly with the most advanced physical
weapons they can make or buy. Simultaneously and indirectly,
using subtle means that sometimes verge on the bizarre, warring nations fight with words.
One of the most interesting propaganda intrigues of World
War n had a curiously Fortean twist, and ultimately involved
a trilogy of nations: Italy, Britain and the United States. Essentially, it was an attempt by Axis propagandists to demoralize
the military and civilian population of the war-tom British Isles
by pretending the destruction of Scotland's Loch Ness Monster.
The false report claiming responsibility for this wanton act
of cryptozoological slaughter was first featured in the Italian
newspaper Popola d'ItaIia, official organ of Benito Mussolini's
fascist government. During a mid over England, the newspaper
said, a bomber of the Italian air force had attacked and probably
killed the famous creature.
The "news" flltered down amongst the population of the
BritiSh Isles during the midsummer of 1941 when its cities were
reeling under almost continuous bombardment by the German
Luftwaffe. No wonder:, then, that the British government paid
little attention to the pain many Britishers must have felt from'
the double injury to their national pride - that Nessie's name
and fame had been besmirched by such an implausible report;
and, what was worse, that a foreign newspaper had broken the
story!
Rebutting the Italian propagandists' announcement, the London Daily Mail published the following dispatch from its correspondent in Inverness, Scotland, of a sighting he said had occurred at Loch Ness' shortly before the date of publication,
'
September 26, 1941:
Mr. J. MacFarlan-Barrow and three of his children were
out in a yacht dinghy when the monster broke surface near
Glendow pier. They saw a long, snaky neck and 15 to
-PVilSUITNo, 67. Thin! Quaner 1984. p, 12,1.

Pursuit 24

18 feet of the, body, shaped rather like an upturned boat.

Obligingly, the monster remained in sight for 10 minutes.
Miss MacFarlan-Barrow told me: "It raced up and down
across the Loch as if in really high spirits. Occasionally
it dived and reappeared with the agility of a giant sea bird.
It must have covered seven miles during the display.
Sometimes it moved so rapidly that columns of water
several feet high were thrown up. It dived and disappeared
about a half mile from Fort Augustine.
.
Curiously, the Macfarlan-Barrow sighting is not shown in
the "official" chronologies of observations of the Loch Ness
Monster, and that may explain why this incident seems to have
been passed over by researchers whose primary interest was to
locate and authenticate the elusive creature, not to exploit its
fame for' purposes of wartime propaganda. Also to be noted is
the possibility that the MacFarlan-Barrow sighting may have
gained greater credibility among a wider readership than it ever
could have won under the normal constraints of peacetime.

What started' out as a minor skirmish in the word-battle between Britain and the Axis powers should have ended with the
assurance that Nessie was alive and well. But across the sea,
in the United States which had not yet sent its forces into the
European conflict, the Nessie propaganda was resuscitated by
one of America's greatest media propagarKiists, William Randolph Hearst. It was Hearst who founded the "sensationalist"
school of American journalism, still called "yellow journalism"
by media critics who so define news-writing that doesn't allow
truth to interfere with the telling :of a good story.
At the peak of its power and influence, the Hearst empire own~ outright 21 newspapers, including such prominent city dailies
as the San Francisco Examiner, Chicago American, Boston
American, and New York American. A journalistic development also credited to Hearst was the cooperative Sunday supplement, a general-interest weekly magazine tucked inside Sunday or weekend editions of all the newspapers in a chain. Either
First Quarter 1985

.cal. 1.11 1111

200

'00
I

Along the Atlantic perimeter of Occupied Europe in 1941

the Luftwaffe maintained 79 bases west of arc A and north
of arc B. From here the Axis bombers mounted their
massive attacks on the British heartland in missions
planned for maximum effect at lowest possible cost in
tenns of time, fuel and casualty losses of men and
equipment.
Line C marks the route presumably assigned to the Italian
contingent so that its planes could approach Ipswich (1)
from the north.
Line D traces the shortest straight-line flight path from
Ipswich (1) to Loch Ness (2).

The Loch Ness Di8ression

Parade or Family Weekly and a slew of colorful advertising supplements will likely fallout when you pick up the Sunday
newspaper from a newsstand or the bushes in front of your home
this weekend. But in Hearst's heyday, his American Weekly
was the preferred antidote for Sunday boredom in hundreds of
thousands of households across the land.
The American Weekly of October 5, 1941 contained a onepage article describing the British-Italian conflict over the'1.och
Ness Monster. Included was a letter allegedly received by a
Count Goffredo Pantaleoni, described as "recently resigned"
from his position as head of the Italian Tourist Infonnation
Bureau in New York city. The letter:

September 3, 1941
My dear Goffredo:
I am writing to tell you about a most fantastic
coincidence. First, let me say, however, that I have
at hand your letter in which you denounce Fascism
and state that you have resigned from the party
as well as the head of the bureau. Naturally, I was
shocked to hear that an early party member and
respected son of a distinguished parent, professor
of political economy and former friend of Il Duce
himself, should choose such a course. I understand
you have become an American citizen!
First Quarter 1985

The line from point (2) to point E approximates the

shortest straight-line flight path from Loch Ness to an area
in Occupied France where the Luftwaffe had ample
emergency landing facilities for Axis aircraft unable to
reach "home base" following their raids on Britain.

But about the coincidence I mentioned. You will

recall here in the old days you told me about your
uncle, Dr. Harrison Cripps, and his villa "Glendaruel" in Argylshire, Scotland, which you visited
on your holiday. I remember that I thought the
tales which you told seemed to be most amusing
folklore. Goffredo, I have not only seen the Loch
Ness monster at which I once scoffed, but I have
bombed and perhaps killed him!
This incredible thing happened on the last big
bombing raid over England when I participated
with my German comrades.
It was a bright moonlight night when we had our
rendezvous over the eastern side of the Channel.
The Germans were to blitz London and our Italian
contingent was to descend on Ipswich and Harwich
from the north.
.
Everything went according to plan until we were
almost in sight of Ipswich, when suddenly there
was a deadly screen of anti-aircraft fire thrown up
between us and our objectives. Then the English
Spitfires and Hurricanes arose like hordes of angry
hornets and disrupted our formation.
I turned about and headed north, without having dropped a bomb. Thinking we would rendez
Pursuit 25

vous some miles north, I kept my course, but fail. ed to see any of my comrades. .
Gigi, my navigator, had considerable difficulty
with his instruments and when he finally got our
bearings he placed us as "somewhere in Scotland."
I spotted a large lake, lying still and peaceful in .
the moonlight and I headed for it, thinking that
our navigator could then orient himself more
accurately.
Coming down to two thousand feet to search for
identifying landmarks, I was amazed to see Luigi
suddenly point downward energetically and thump
me on the shoulder. Not knowing what was up, I
came down another thousand feet and had a look.
At first I mistook the large object. in the water
for a boat, perhaps an armed hostile vessel. Then
as my eye traced its outlines more clearly, I gasped
with astonishment. For there, moving slowly
across the placid water, was a gigantic monster,
perhaps forty feet in length!
It wasn't swimming exactly, but was moving forward in a series of undulations, its back curved into
humps like a caterpillar. It was a dirty white in
color and even though it was proceeding slowly, its
powerful tail kicked up a tremendously powerful
wake. Two or three times it raised its head as it
progressed and I saw then that it had a lizard-like
head, except that the structure was much more
bony.
I circled the lake once to observe the creature
from all angles. Gigi and Dominick, my bombardier, sat there goggle-eyed, unable to speak.
Finally, I looked at Dominick and nodded. There
was no sense in carrying our bombs home with us.
This was as good as any other place to drop them.
So I gained altitude and Dominick let them go.
The stick straddled the shore and shallows and
burst with a mighty roar. Looking backward, I
could see the monster flopping violently and then
his entire body came to the surface, either stunned
by the concussion or killed outright, I do not know.
I would very much have liked to stay around
longer and observe the effects more slowly, but we
were running short of petrol, so I had to head for
home.
Until your next letter,
Affectionately,
G
What allegedly transpired was, of course, well within the
creative ability of a Hearst writer assigned to whip up a page
of macabre amusement for Sunday afternoon reading. Since further information about Count Pantaleoni may never be available,
answers to some other questions could help resolve other doubts.
For example:
.
.
-Why was such a specific New York City address of 636.
Fifth A venue given for the Italian Tourist Infonnation Bureau,
unless the letter was actually sent there?
-What is to be learned from the contents of the letter, now
presumably in better historical focus than 44 years ago?
-Why would the worthy Count have received such a letter
from "G," claiming to have maimed or killed the Loch Ness
monster and coloring the deed in vivid hues of self-approbation?
(Mussolini's Italy had joined Nazi Germany in the war against
Britain, and the Count had told his friend, in a previous letter,
Pursuit 26

about quitting his job with the Italian tourist agency and taking
out citizenship papers as a fonn of protest against the fascist
subversion of his native land.)
-Did the Count, being alert to d)e uses of propaganda,
retaliate against his beleagured homeland and its hogtied government by making the contents of the letter known to the American
public? The London Daily Mail confinned that Nessie had been
. seen after the alleged bombing raid, and "G's" letter would
further ridicule the infallibility of II Duce's air warriors. Was
this, then, the Count's way of encouraging the decision he hoped
his newly adopted country would soon make, to halt the ongoing desecration of Europe by fascist vandals? Or, should the
Count be numbered among the inn<x;ent pawns who were duped
into distributing anti-British propganda in the United States, at
a time when Axis operatives here and abroad were trying
desparately to keep this. country out of the confliCt? It is conceivable, even likely, that counterintelligence agents in his
homeland may have wanted the Count to do just what he did;
so much the better that he acted on his own initiative!
Alternatively, "G," an old friend of the Count, may have
wanted only to flaunt his aerial skills, and simply rewrote the
Nessie propaganda for mutual but unpolitical enjoyment.
A variation of this theme flavors some of the machismo with
a pinch of malevolence. From a reading between the lines, the
suggestion emerges that the letter might have been intended to
shame Count Pantaleoni for defecting. "G's" political stance
is of course unknown, but if he were a fascist loyalist he might
have wanted to give his friend a slap on the psyche for having
forsaken the old country, when he might better have returned
there to help celebrate the destruction of a treasure as dear to
many British hearts as the crown jewels in the Tower of Lon. don. This may also explain why "G's" letter began with
nostalgic references to Loch Ness folklore and the Count's uncle's villa in Scotland.
Another explanation - possibly the best one to come through
the murky spy-counterspy atmosphere of those times - is that
fascist agents prodded "G" to write and send such a letter. Why?
Because "G's" close personal friendship with the defecting
Count practically guaranteed that the letter would be "sourced"
by a major news organization and widely p~blicized, to tum
revulsion over the killing of a world-beloved animal into ad:miration for an all-Italian combat team that converted the indignity of getting lost over England into a propaganda victory
for the Axis side. This way, the ~ount is seen as an unwitting
stooge, used to disperse information that he thought would score
against his fonner homeland when in actuality he was doing
. precisely what the fascist manipulators wanted him to do; the
psychological effect would be devastating to the many on this
side of the Atlantic who admired the pluck of the British but
felt no urge to become directly involved. If this scenario seemed
ridiculous at the time, and seems more so now, it may be only
~ little less comprehensible than the notion that war best enables
a nation to achieve its "manifest destiny."

Did anyone bomb the Loch Ness Monster into extinction? The
answer is a resounding No! Careful analysis of the vague and
sparse aeronautical information reveals so many inconsis~ncies
as to clearly establish the. incident as propaganda.
In a wartime situation the need for security is omnipresent,
so it is unsurprising that the letter gave no reference to the make
ortypeof "G's" bomber. But the available infonnation on the
distance flown is detailed enough to prove outright fraud.
At midyear of 1941 the Gennan Luftwaffe had 79 operational
air bases in Belgium~ Holland, Denmark, France and Norway.
First Quarter 1985

With Ipswich as its objective, the Italian bomber presumably

took off from one of these bases and arrived in the rendezvous
area just east of the Channel with some 300 miles to be traversed in order to reach the target city. Forced to abort the attack, "G" flew his bomber northward, hoping to rejoin the German contingent. When the navigational instruments failed, he
maintained course and kept on flying until he arrived over "a
large lake, lying still and peaceful in the moonlight."
If the large lake that appeared in "G's" view was really Loch
Ness, the airplane under his command had also to be nearing
some kind of performance record for Italian heavy bombers
flown in World War n. The distance from the vicinity of Ipswich
to Loch Ness is approximately 400 miles. This additional
distance is assumed to be the minimum that could have been
flown if the bomber had followed a straight-line course at nor:
mal cruising speed and altitude, in a north-by-northwest direction. If the aircraft had flown an irregular course or had encountered turbulence or unfavorable winds, the fuel consumption would have increased without much apparent deviation from
the compass heading. Retention of a full bomb load for so
lengthy a time and distance would have wasted still more fuel.
Actually, the bomber crews of those days usually dumped their
bombs within a few minutes, once decision was made to abort
a mission. With loads expended, they had a better chance to
avoid or outmaneuver enemy fighter-aircraft, and the fuel sav~
ed might mean the difference between ditching in the Channel
and safe arrival at a friendly base in occupied Europe.
Another curious aspect of this incident was the amount of time
spent over hostile territory. The Italian bombers of 1941 had
an average speed of about 275 mph with a full bomb load. In
order to reach Scotland from Ipswich, "G's" bomber would
have had to fly over Britain for a minimum of one hour and
twenty minutes, during which time it would have invited the
attention of RAF interceptor aircraft or anti-aircraft guns, and
possibly both.
Under the rules of war (and the dictates of common sense)
the commanding officer of a bomber aircraft bears primary
responsibility for the safety of his crew and the airplane. It is
hard to believe that pilot-commander "G," having fended off
the attack which caused the mission to be scrubbed, would not
have turned immediately east by south, say 150 degrees, reckoning by mechanical compass or by guess since his navigator's
instruments were out of service; such a new heading would direct
the airplane toward one or more of the Luftwaffe airfields which
Axis intelligence routinely described in briefings to bomber com-.
manders to their runs over Britain.
Upon reaching Loch Ness, at least two members of the allItalian crew were able to identify Nessie - instantly, positively, and by moonlight. So distinct were its features that "G"
could describe the creature in fuller detail than most other
witnesses, who, for many decades, had been reporting much
closer sightings - views that did not immediately vanish in the
wake of an aircraft overflying at more than 200 mph, or would
appear and disappear among the shadows cast by moonlit trees,
or were remnants of rising mist distorted by cross-currents of
wind and water.
Subsequent actions of the bomber crew were also remarkable.
Having determined that the waterborne object was not an errant British watercraft but was the Loch Ness Monster, they
treated tite unsuspecting creature to a full-scale, fuel-wasting
bomber run before resetting course for die return trip "home, ..
referring to some airbase that could not have been less than 500
miles distant from the turnabout.
.

Adding all the mileage figures gives a total distance flown

of at least 1200 miles. This minimum-distance figure offers further evidence that the contents of "G's" letter to Count Pantaleoni was a deliberate fabrication.
With two exceptions, none of the Italian bombers flown
against Britain in 1941 had sufficient range for a non-stop trip
of 1200 miles. The Cant 2 1007 Alcione had a delivery-andreturn range of 800 miles, as did the Caproni Ca 135. The
Savoia-Man:;hetti S.M. 81-Pipistrello was rated for trips up to
930 total miles with a full bomb load on the strike segment.
One Italian bomber that boasted exceptional range was the Fiat
B.R. 20 Cigona; it could transport a full bomb load to target
and return within a total distance of 1200-1700 miles. But the
Cigona was withdrawn from the air war against England in
January 1941 - much earlier than the supposed date of the Loch
Ness attack. Only the Savoia-Marchetti S.M. 79 Sparviero,
operational at the time, was capable of a continuous flight of
1240 miles. If this was the airplane that "G" piloted, he must
have suffered from acute hyperanxiety all the way home; in a
.big gas-guzzler such as the S.M. 79, a margin of only 40 miles
is about as safe as no margin at all.
Further to be considered are such details as might be culled
from a mission report. Upon returning to base, the crewmen
would have had to make oral and/or written statements of what
they saw and what they did. If any report had hinted at such
a fantastic assault as "G's" letter described, the crew would
likely have been reprimanded and pilot "G" fined a month's
payor more, for having subjected men and airplane to unnecessary hazard, and for failure to dispose of unexpended ammunition in a "more productive and useful" way. Small wonder
that official acknowledgment of an air-strike against the .Loch
Ness Monster seems to be absent from the voluminous records
of World War II; and besides, members of the military
bureaucracy, of whatever nationality, are seldom turned on by
the humor that often lurks in odd places.
Clearly, the published accounts of the assault on the pride
and joy of Loch Ness were products of rampant imagination.
Planted or not by Axis counterintelligence, the story was a simple
hoax of poor construction and little consequence.
Paradoxically, though, it may have won new friends and increased credibility for the Loch creature(s) by once again confirming that There'll Always Be a Monster in Loch Ness.

REFERENCES
"There'll Always Be a MonSler in Loch Ness," American Weekly Magazine.
Ocl. ~, 1941, p. II (San Francisco Examiner. California)
"Topic: Disinfonnalion," USA Today. Jan. 16, 1985, p. 7a
Barker, Ralph. The RAF at War. TimeLife Books. 1981. Alexandria, Virginia
Caldwell, Jennifer, "Who Said Thai?" in Sunday News Magazine. Aug. 12.
1984, p. 2 (New York Daily News)
FilZgibbon. Conslanline, The Winter of the Bombs. W. W. Nonon & Co .. Inc.,
New York, 1957
Gunslon, Bill. Combat Aircraft of World War II. Booklhrifi Publicalions. New
York, 1978
Jablonski, Edward. Air War, Doubleday & Co., New York. 1971
. Lingeman, Richard R., DOn't You Know There's a War On?, Papetback Library.
New York. 1971
Lochner, LouisP., ed., The Goebbels Diaries 19421943. Doubleday & Co ..
New York, 1948
Mannell, Roger & Fraenkel, Heinrich, Dr. Goebbels - his Life and Death.
Simon & Schusler, New York, 1960
Nobbe, George, "Dean oflhe Monsters." New York Daily News. July 9. 1967
Williams, W., Riddle of the Reich. PremiceHall. Inc .. New York. 1941

First Quarter

198~,

Pursuit 27
......... l

3 Short Stories

by Michael T. Shoemaker

"Cabbage Snakes"
Harold Holland has brought to our attenti9n the obscure "cabbage snake" mystery in Pursuit #67 (Third Quarter, 1984).
Because of a remarkable coincidence, I am able to recount the
complete story of a "cabbage snake" infestation in northeast
Georgia. Whether this is the only such story, or only one of
several, I do not know, but it is enlightening in any case.
Several months ago, I discovered the "cabbage snake" story
in the course of my newspaper research. I noted only the date,
because the story sounded like a tall tale, or like an exaggeration ofa comnlOn worm. Upon joining SITU recently, I intended
to query the membership about the subject in order to determine whether further research was worthwhile. Then my first
back issues of Pursuit arrived, containing Mr. Holland's answer
to my yet unmailed query. Thanks to his letter, I have pursued
the story, and this is the result:
A farmer named Dyer, from White County, Georgia, brought
a strange worm to Gainesville on October 17, 1903. He claimed
that such worms infested the cabbage crop in his county and
that several people had died after eating contaminated cabbages.
The specimen, supposedly viewed by hundreds, was said to
be one or two inches long (reports differ), as thin as a needle,
and "of a whitish color." It allegedly resembled a snake, and
The Atlanta JoumaJ (Oct. 22) even said, "Under the microscope
it looks like a snake." But the only specified, snake-like
characteristic was that it had "licked out its tongue like a snake
and acted in every way like a reptile, " when Dyer had touched
the leaf upon which the worm rested (Alexandria (Va.) Gazette,
Oct. 23).
Dyer's story caused great alarm in Gainesville, which was
a major distribution point for cabbage. Within a few days, the
cabbage market collapsed, and later reports confirm that the scare
caused an economic disaster among the farmers of northeast
Georgia.
.
The story hit the newspapers on October 22, but the papers
treated it in various ways. The full telegraphic dispatch, such
as appeared in the Alexandria Gazette, spoke of cabbages
"saturated with poison" and "a score of deaths," and claimed
that the deaths had been occurring for weeks before the advent
of Dyer. This part of the story is undoubtedly the result of rumor
or sensationalism. If the infestation or the alleged deaths had
been going on for weeks, the story would surely have been
published earlier.
As for the supposed poison, this rumor gained credibility
because it was claimed that the state chemist had examined the
worm and had "reported that it contained enough poison to kill
15 persons." (The fact that the chemist's name was not given
is a clear indication that no one had bothered to ask him
whether the claim was true.) The Atlanta Constitution carried
this claim with the major headline: "Deadly Poison Causes
Dread. " But they had to retract the claim the next day, because
the state chemist, Dr. J.H. McCandless, told them, "I know
nothing. whatever about these cabbage worms, and the report
from Gainesville that I have analyzed them and pronounced them
violently poisonous is wholly unfounded and untrue."
The Savannah News, on the other hand, went to the other
extreme and published nothing on the story. They later explained
in an editorial (reprinted in The Atlanta JoumaJ, Oct. 31) that
they had doubted the false report credited to the chemist because
"the fact would have reached the public from Atlanta long before

Pursuit 28

..

it was circulated" in Gainesville. This was g~ rea~ning, but

they carried it too far when they d!sregarde~ the eri~ire. story .
Only The Atlanta JoumaJ got the. story rigbt: A specimen had
in fact been sent to the state entomologist,."W.M,:Newell., :~who
pronounced it an 'eel-worm' or 'hair-wo~, '. a~i~ to ~h~ fi!!hing
worm and. tape-worm ..... This identi~catio.n h.!ls a di~turbing
vagueness that should be familiar to Forteans, for eel worms and
hairworms belong to two different ,classes within the phylujn
Nemathelminthes. (This is somewhat w~rsc; than saying. ~the
animal is either a human or a monkey. ') Signific~ntly, Newc;:ll
sent the specimen to Washington, D.C., so ~a't "mQre.rruj.y,~
learned of the species." But nothing more.was ever learned by
the newspapers' readers.
. .
Eelworms belong to a class of cylinc!rical, unsegmented
worms, NematfXja, which includes animal parasites such as
hookworms and whipworms. Many nematodes are free:"living
forms (in water and soil), and two genera (Heterodera and
AnguilJuJa) are important agricultural pests, but it is han;l to imagine them being mistaken for snakes.
'
Hairworms; which belong to the class Nematomorpha, are
also known as horsehair worms because of the folk belief that
horsehairs turned into such worms in water. They are threadlike, unsegmented worms, and as adults they are colored brown
and live in water. Only in their second larval stage are they the
size and color of "cabbage snakes. " But during this stage they
live within hosts, usually an aquatic animal, beetle, or grasshopper. We can ~herefore definitely eliminate the hairworm as a
suspect.
.
But a different phylum of unsegmented worms, Nemertinea,
resembles the description of the "cabbage snakes" in several
ways. Most importantly, nemertines have a long, retractable proboscis that could easily be mistaken for a snake's tongue. In
some forms, the lining of the proboscis sheath even has stinging cells similar to those in jellyfish, as well as a calcareous
stylet that could conceivably prick someone. Many nemertines
also have eyes, while others have lateral cephalic pits that look
like eyes, thus enhancing the resemblance to a snake. The nemertines are most often colored brown, red, or green, but they are
sometimes striped or banded with white markings. The only
significant objection to this identification is that most nemertines are marine animals. Even those that live on land are
generally found in the mud or sand of shores. So perlJaps this
.
is a case of "out-of-place" worms.
.Whatever the "cabbage snakes" were, the sudden infestation is mysterious in itself. But did an infestation really occur?
We cannot be sure. Dyer may have concocted:a hoax so as to
manipulate the cabbage market. It is highly suspicious that the
story dropped out of the news overnight and that few details
were published. On the other hand, the Savannah News editorial
concentrated on debunking the alleged deadly nature o( the
worm, but did not question the existence. of an infestation.
Another bizarre story complicates the assc;:ssment of the: "cabbage snake" mystery. On November .6;-The Atlanta JoumaJ
reported that scientists at Mercer University, in Macon, had
discovered an unknown type of worm. It was saidthat.they had
gathered nine specimens from the Macon vicinity and were Iooking f~r more. The worm had supposedly stung ':quite a number
of people," leaving "two holes in the flesh;" .with an effect
"in nearly every case somewhat similar to that produced by a

First Quarter 1985

rattlesnake bite." But no one had died as yet.

Although this sounds like a continuation of the "cabbage
snake" story, the description of the new wonn confuses the
issue. It allegedly resembled a caterpillar, except that it was
shorter and "more blocky," and it fed on hackberries and elm
leaves. Some people also said that the creature's fuzzy coat produced a sting - just as some North American caterpillars do
- but the scientists claimed that it did not. Why the creature
was called a "wonn" was not explained.
Since no scientists were named, and no follow-up story appeared in the succeeding four weeks, the report was probably
a hoax played upon the Journal. (The Journal was a very sober
paper, not given to sensationalism. In six months of issues, only one other unusual story - about a possible '''missing link"
in Java - was published.) Yet, the dichotomy between the
"wonn" designation and the caterpillar-like description, as well
as the absence of an attempt to link the story to the "cabbage,
snake" scare, makes this an unusually subtle hoax; if it was

a: hoax.

' ,

the "cilbbage snake" scare returned briefly in 1904, but it

seems to have bee,n even less justified than the year before. Our
only infonnatioil comes from a debunking report in the
September 12 Atlanta Journal. Dr. H.B. Roberts, city health
commissioner in Cordele, Georgia, had sent a specimen to
Newell six days before: Newell identified it as "a common earth
worm:" Newell added, "The many nonsensical yams about'cabbage s~akes' seem to be based upon the accidental oc'.'

curences in cabbage of an eel wonn, or hair wonn - Mennis

albicans. " (This is a parasitic nematode of the order Ascaroidea.
Since it usually lives in animals, its occurrence in cabbages is
rather odd.) Newell also claimed that he had investigated
"dozens" of reports and had "been unable to locate a single
person who was made ill by eating cabbage or a physician who
has ever treated a case supposed to be caused by eating one of
these wonns."
How Mr. Holland's infonnation fits into the foregoing narrative is unclear. Details such as the date, location, size, and
the infestation of water are different, although not irreconcilable.
Perhaps the infestation, or the rumor, spread to Kentucky. Or
perhaps his infonnants originally lived in north Georgia. The
most likely possibility is that a wholly different event occurred
in Kentucky at some other time, but tracking it down would
be most difficult.
Before closing, some Fortean coincidences should be mentioned. A mosquito infestation of unprecedented severity plagued
Georgia in the summer and autumn of 1903 and received considerable publicity in the newspapers. The discovery of an
unk~own type of boll weevil, said to be similar to the Mexican
boll weevil, was announced on September II, 1904, one day
before the "cabbage snake" debunking report. And finally, fans
of the "name game" may wish to ponder the fact that a man
named Dyer brought the dire news that people were dying
because of "clI:bbage snakes."

Secrets Of The AIDlousseri

"In Foutatoro'-and'among the Moors, there exists a sort of
free-lTU!so~ry, the secret, of which has never been revealed,"
Gaspard Mollie~'wrqte, referring to the Almousseri, in Travels
in the Interior of Africa. Mollien's book is a chronicle of his
1818 expedition into Northwest Africa where he gained a place
in history by discovering the sources of the Senegal and Gambia Rivers. During his hazardous journey, Mollien met some
Almousseri and learned about their traditions.
The Almousseri were village shamans. But unlike other
African witch-doctors, who were usually hostile to rivals, the
Almousseri constituted an elite guild or brotherhood. According
to Mollien, an initiate would be "shut up for eight days in a
hut ... allowed to eat but once a day" and would be subjected
afterward to severe tests of his physical courage. Upon their
induction into the fraternity, "The initiated pretend that ... they
are enabled to behold all the kingdoms of the earth, that the
future is unveiled to them, and that thenceforth heaven grants

all their prayers. "

Despite his skepticism, Mollien recorded a remarkable
testimonial from Boukari, his native guide and sole companion.
Boukari was not an ignorant savage, but a civilized, intelligent,
professional guide. He served Mollien honestly and loyally
through the entire expedition, a record that is quite exceptional
in the annals of exploration. Thus his character lends some
credibility to his anecdote.
'
Mollion wrote: "One day Boukari told me, after attesting the
truth of what he was about to say by the most solemn oaths,
that being in a canoe with one of these men, there fell such a
heavy shower of rain that he would not depart; yielding,
however, to the wishes of the Almousseri, he set sail; 'torrents
of rain fell on all sides, ' added Boukari, 'but our bark remained
perfectly dry, and a favorable wind swelled our sails. I asked
this Almousseri to explain his secret, but he answered, that if
he revealed it his brethren would infallibly destroy him.' ,.

The Hopping Horror

The science-fiction movie Alien is noted for a gruesome scene
in which a baby monster, having grown within a human,
emerges with fatal results. Once again, however, truth is
stranger.
'
The bizarre story is told in a letter from Eliphalet St. John,
of Ballston Spa, New York, and co-signed by Samuel L. Mitchell, M.D., L.L.D., presumably the attending physician. This,
letter was printed in the August 8, 1829 issue of The Minor,
a newspaper published in Fincastle, Virginia (reprinted in
Botetourt 'County History Before 1900: Through County
Newspapers).
'
A young woman, the daughter of a "respectable fanner" in
Edinburg, New York, felt a sting on her shoulder while in the
hayfield one day in the summer of 1828. That winter she
First Quarter 1985

discovered a painful "tumor" on her shoulder. The tumor

vanished after three weeks, but it returned the following May,
when it appeared on her neck. After treatment by her physician, the tumor once again disappeared. But the tumor reappeared on her shoulder in July and grew to the "size of an hen's
egg. " When her physician opened the tumor he found a "small
discharge of unhealthy pus, and along with it a living grasshopper, two inches in length, and breadth proportionate." The doctor concluded that "the egg must have been deposited the year
before, and arrived at maturity by a process of incubation." ,

Pursuit 29

Fact or Fiction?

Don Juan Matus:' Yaqui Brujo'

by, George AgOgiDO
Primitive religion, witchcraft, and supernaturalism are sub~
jects I have researched and taught for more than three decades~
Among my published articles are several with emphasis on either'
Christian or native religious practices among the Otomi,
Huichol, Pima, Huasteca, Seri, and Kickapoo Indians of Mexico. From this viewpoint I have read Carlos Castaneda's books
describing Yaqui supernaturalism and have been favorably im~
pressed with their approach and the general tone of their, contents. But until now, I have resisted the temptation to comment
on the validity of his Yaqui confidant, Don Juan Matus. '
In the late 1970s I had the further opportunity to work in northwest Mexico with the Yaqui and their cultural cousins, the
Mayo. I published an account of their Easter Judeo ceremony
(Agogino and Ferguson, 1976, pp. 12-14). While working with
the Yaqui and Mayo Indians I discovered that Carlos Castaneda '
had a firm grasp of general Yaqui-Mayo culture and religious
beliefs. But where, I wondered, had he obtained his infonnation?
Although these groups are not nearly as well Irnown as their
northeast neighbors, the Tarahumara, it is relatively easy to
assemble basic factual material from ethnological sources and
published anthropological articles such as The HaiJdbook ofCentraJ American Indians. Additional non-published information
could have been obtained from sizable Yaqui-Mayo co~onies
in Tucson and Los Angeles and from smaller groups in the
western United States cities and in Juarez, Mexico. (It has been
stated that more Yaqui Indians are now resident in the United
States than in Mexico, their traditional homeland.)
It is possible that Carlos Castaneda obtained much of his information without leaving the U.S. The Yaqui of the American
Southwest continue to conduct both Christian and non-Christian
ceremonies which adapt their underlying beliefs to new settings.
For example, the Yaqui Easter observance in Tucson is conducted in part from their employers' company warehouses, emptied of crates. These Yaqui, like those in Mexico, have brujos
and brujas (witches) as well as curanderos, shaman and
sorcerers. Both groups use mind-altering drugs such as peyote
and magic mushrooms, and they believe in the use of birds to
steal souls (DeMille, 1976). It is clear that comparable information on Yaqui religious beliefs and practices could be obtained from U.S. and Mexican sources (DeMille, 1976, p. 61).
I have asked laymen and native practitioners of religion in
both Tucson and Mexico if they knew a Carlos Castaneda or
had run across anyone with similar occupational and personal
traits. Responses have always been negative. ,(I wish I had a
picture of the controversial author, but he apparently disliked
being photographed and no clear pictures of him are available.)
The responses to my questions about the identity of Don Juan
Matus, the fam~)Us brujo, were also negative, including those
from curanderos or shaman. This is not conclusive evidence that
Don Juan doesn't exist; an anthropological investigator, especial- '
ly one from a non-Yaqui culture, could intentionally or honestly be forgotten, and anthropologists have been known to create
fictional names in order to protect the identity of their' principal
informants. I asked if they knew of any son:erers who, regardless
of name, had the characteristics of Don Juan. (His gray hair

Pursuit 30

...

An Indian Brujo (or witch doctor) but not necessarily a'Yaqui.

and great age would eliminate most candidates among the Ya-'
qui, where gray hair is rarely seen and life expectimcy hovers
around the half-century mar~.) All respondents declared that no
individual existing now or heard of in the past coula 'be 'identified with Don Juan. A few said, "We wish we had,someone
'like Don Juan!" Don Juan is most likely a composite o(several,
native practitioners, and certainly not one shaman, curandero,
or sOn:erer I know among the Yaqui has the combined sophistication and knowledge attribute~ to him.
,'.
Even in Castaneda's writings, Don Juan seems 'to be,a:composite and is an enigma., In his controversial r:esponses to
Castaneda he is at times crude, unsophisticated, arid entirely
Indian Yaqui, carrying the "shame burden" characteristic of
Mexicap peasants (Aguilar, 1980, pp. 65-78). ObverSely, he
, is the master teacher, knowledgeable in a phiiosopJ::!.y ~at is
somewhat imbued with oriental wisdom, and he appears much
too articulate and polished to be the Yaqui sorcerer (DeMille,'
1976, p. 48). Viewing Don Juan as a medium for defining the
Yaqui mythological world, with some ,oriental t0ll:ches adde4,
would help to expl~n the uncomfortably large territorial scope

First Quarter 1985

and range of activities attributed to the charismatic brujo who

sells herbs in a native market in Oaxaca and travels in Arizona
while still maintaining a base in southern Sonora. The mystery
of Don Juan becomes less puzzling when we regard "him" as
more of a medium and less of a man; we begin to understand
why he has so far escaped identification, and why Dr. Castaneda
always found Don Juan at home whenever he went to Sonora
for a visit.
My doubts about the validity of Don Juan and the Castaneda
books comes from examining all of Dr. Castaneda's published
works rather than the contents of a single vohlme. There is a
general feeling of inconsistency throughout. Don Juan is just
too much. His magic is too sophisticated. While he appears to
know Yaqui religion and culture, he keeps blending oriental
beliefs and philosophy into his sorcery. Castaneda's books lack
specifics; few names are traceable to individuals and there are
few clues to locations of events that an investigator might be
able to verify. I am convinced that some, perhaps even most,
of the episodes in these books are fictional; but I would certainly hesitate to claim that everything included has its source
in the mind of Carlos Castaneda.
A part of the difficulty in assessing th~ anthropological value
of the Castaneda books is the personal lifestyle of the author,
which is so secretive as to arouse suspicions among professional .
anthropologists as well as non-academic readers. His personal
history is confusing and contradictory and subject to.change with
every interview.
This much is clear: Carlos Castaneda has a good knowledge
of the general practices of native shaman and sorcerers. He also
knows both the philosophy and general methods of operation
ofbrujos. As an anthropologist who has spent thirty years working with such specialists in Mexico, I am satisfied that anthropologist or novelist Carlos Castaneda has done his homework
well. Much can be gained from reading his books. Whether the
contents are real or imaginary, whether they have scientific merit
as fact, are tangent questions which should not divert attention
from the author's main thrust. Aimed to heighten the reader's
appreciation of the lifestyle and religion of the Yaqui Indians
of Mexico and the American Southwest, Castaneda's books are
right on target.

(continued from page 23)

This thing that we found is not on the main mountain but
across from it. There is a valley between the mountain and this
hill where we found the object. The same thing was originally
photographed by a U-2 pilot back in the late '50s. There seems
to be a rocklike formation around this huge pistachio-shaped
an'omaly .. lt's conceivable there was a boat there and this fortification was built around it. That's why it survived the weathering causes of the earth. It's under hard terrain, so without proper equipment it would be pretty difficult to dig there. What
we found we haven't been able to date yet.
My fundamentalist friends are very excited about it, but it
would be premature to make any statements. But even if we
find a boat on Mount Ararat, whether at 5,000 feet or 15,000
feet, I would feel comfortable with the idea that there was a
flood down at pedestrian levels and this thing was erected as
a shrine at either 14,000 where Navara insists it's located, or
where we found this anomaly at about 5,000 feet.
Q. What would happen if other civilizations stumble upon this
site? Do their legends mention it in anyway?
A. That's a good question. Four to 5,000 years ago, the Hittites were roaming around. The Sumerian civilization had lived
there just previously. The Assyrians were there. So civilizations
really do live through, before and after this period. There are
legends of a flood there. Different civilizations talked about a
flood. Maybe a fairly large flood. But the idea of a universal
flood is scientifically untenable. There isn't enough water on
the earth now and there wouldn't have been 5,000 years ago
to actually submerge most of the earth.
SOURCE: Asbury Park Press, N.J.

2/17/85
CREDIT.: Member #432

CORRECTION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Bobbie Ferguson, who has worked with me extensively
in Mexico, has improved this article with editing and suggestions. - G.A.
REFERENCES
Agogino, George and Bobbie Ferguson, "The Mayo Judeo Cult," SOuthwest
Hentage, Vol. 5, No.2, 1976, pp. 16-18.
Aguilar, John L., "Shame and Confonnity: Psychological DetenninanlS in Indian Confonnity," Papers in Anthropology of the University ofOklahoma, Vol.
XXI, No.1, 1980, pp. 65-78.
.
Allport, Gordon W., The Individual and His Religion, Macmillan Publishing
Co., New York, 1950.
Castaneda, Carlos, The Teachings ofDon Juan: A Yaqui Way ofKnowledge,
Ballantine Press, 1969.
___- - - - ' A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan,
Simon &; Schuster, 1971.

_____ ,

Journey to Ixtlan:

Lessons of Don Juan,

Simon &; Schuster, 1974.

DeMille, Richard, Castaneda's Journey, Capra Press, Santa Barbara, California, 1976.
.
Hamer, Michael J., Hallucinogens and Shamanism, Oxford Press, New York,
1973.
Heffem, Richard, Secrets ofthe Mind-Altl:ling Plants ofMexico, Pyramid Books,
New York, 1974.

First Quarter 1985

Dr. Greenwood pointed out our typesetter's error in reversing the Evening Star and the Morning Star in Vol. 17, #4, page
148 - The Maya and the Synodic Period of Venus.

Pursuit 31

An Oak Island Mystery Update - Six Have

Died. Trying To Unearth Island Treasure
Legead sap 7 _as' die "efore dist:olleryl
by dBDet Crowley
Beneath the gritty sands and umbrella-like red oaks that shelter
Oak Island, Nova Scotia may lie a buried treasure worth untold
millions.
The legendary bounty has variously been reported to be Captain Kidd's pirate plunder, the jewels of the Inca nation, gold
from a Spanish galleon and even Marie Antoinette's crown
jewels.
The only thing treasure hunters agree on is that something
of great value was concealed on the island between 1500 and
1750 by someone who went to a lot of trou~le to make sure
it wasn't found.
"
Like most good buried treasure stories, this one has all the
elements of a tantalizing mystery, providing just enough clues"
to keep treasure hunters turning over the sandy soil for almost
two centuries.
There even is a local legend to accompany the quest. It says
the treasure will not be recovered until seven ~en hav~ died
in its pursuit (six have died so far) and all the island's oaks have
disappeared (their number is decre~ing).
Among the artifacts unearthed so far are bits of iron and wire
carlx>n-dated to between the 1400s and 1700s, links of gold and
wood and antique parchment from the same period and layers
of coconut fibers believed to come from the Caribbean.
On a more macabre note, a tel~vision camera inserted down
one shaft at the end of a pole several years ago showed what
vie'Yers said appeared to be a floating, severed human hand and
several carved wooden chests.
Thus far, the island's secret has remained secure and untouched despite great infusions of manpower and money. It is
guarded by a cunningly constructed network of underground tunnels and the tides that persistently flood each excavation, leaving the frustrated treasure hunter back at square one.
Dan Blankenship," a general contractor from Miami who has
obsessively pursued the treasure for 15 years, scoffs at the curse
of seven deaths but admits he has been thwarted repeatedly in
his dibbing operations and once came within seconds of dying
in a tunnel collapse.
Blankenship is operations chief on the island for Triton
Alliance Ltd., a high-poWered Montreal-based company that has
tackled the treasure hunt with modem machinery and drilling
equipment. So far its track recoJ;d appears not much better than
that of early diggers using pickaxes and shovels.
In the last three years, Triton has managed to sink a shaft only 100 feet, reinfon:ing it with concrete along the way. "The
soil is bad," Blankenship explains, "so we have to be careful."
Then he shakes his head plaintively, "We've just tried so
damn many things that d~gn't work."
That seems to be the story and the curse of Oak Island, the
reason it has become the world's costliest treasure hunt and certainly one of the longest. Whoever buried something there has,
so far, outwitted all comers, leaving the last as frustrated as the
first.
The first, of course, did not know exactly what they were after.
They were three young men named Anthony Vaughan, Jack
Smith and Dan Ginnis who, on a sunny summer day in 1795,
Pursuit 32

paddled their canoe along Nova Scotia's rugged south shore,

sean:hing for a picnic site.
They settled on Oak Island, a bleak piece of land less than
a mile long and half a mile wide in Mahone Bay about 45 miles
from Halifax. Captain Kidd reportedly sailed the nearby waters
of the north Atlantic a century earlier and there were stories he
and other pirates had used the island as an execution ground,
leaving it infested with evil spirits. According to local superstition, "strange lights" burned at night on the island and had lured"
at least two fishennen to their deaths. As the youths began exploring the heavily wooded, eastern tip they stumbled upon a
saucer-shaped depression in a small clearing. Directly above it
was a towering red oak with a branch that bore the distinct marks
of a ro~ and tackle hoisting device.

New Brunswick

Atlantic Ocean
(3.4")

O-~-4--60

miles

Oak Island location oft' Novia Scotia

Mindful of the local lore that Captain Kidd had buried his
treasure somewhere along the Nova Scotia coast, the" trio returned to Oak Island the next day with pickaxes and" shovels
and made the first in a long series of excavations.
They made their first discovery only two feet down; "a layer
of carefully laid stones not native to Oak Island. Beneath that
was a cin:ular shaft with fitted oak logs embedded in the sides
and a layer of snugly fitted logs about 10 feet down. An identical oak platfonn was found 10 feet farther down and' again
at a depth of 30 feet.
Convinced they needed outside help to continue the.dig, the
youths. tried to enlist their mainland neighbors but received a
cool reception. It was six or seven years before they managed
to interest a group in digging out what later came to be known
as the "Money Pit."
As they dug down to the 9O-foot level, they began uncovering more oak platfonns and puzzling layers of charcoal, putty,
and a fibrous material that later turned 9ut to be coconut fiber.
First Quarter 1985

t
Oak Island - X designates treasure
At 93 feet down, they made the most astonishing discovery;
a large, flat stone on which was carved a mysterious inscription. One translation - perhaps wishful - by a professor of
languages at a Halifax university was: "Ten feet below are 2
"
million pounds buried."
The diggers never found out. Hours after the stone was removed, the pit was flooded with 60 feet of water. Baffled, the
explorers attempted to sink a nearby shaft to drain out the first
one. That collapsed, as well, with a spectacular roar, and the
digging stopped.
It wasn't until years later that experts decided the oak platforms and mysterious stone him provided some kind of primitive
seal, keeping water out of the shaft. Once removed, in the quest
for the treasure promised beneath, it unleashed the water that
would keep the treasure safe. It was a carefully planned,
astonishingly clever practical joke.
Over the years, more attempts were made to reach the bottom of the Money pit, all as unsuccessful as the first. But among
the items recovered along the way were three links of gold chain
(which later disappeared - as did the stone with the mysterious
"inscription), and a small piece of parchment with the letters V
and I.
Soon hundreds of other shafts were being sunk on the island.
The young Franklin D. Roosevelt was one of those who came"
to the island, in 1909, to try his luck. Like all the others, he
failed.
Today the Money Pit is a tangled depression, overgrown by
weeds and no longer worked by fortune hunters. The visitor can
peer down into a shaft guarded by tumbled crossbars of old wood
and hear tbe water dripping inside. The original red oak is long
gone, but the porous, sandy soil still squishes underfoot as it
presumably did when trod by the first trio of explorers.
About 180 feet northeast of the Money })it, up a slight incline, is Bore Hole 100X. This is where Triton is digging and
where Blankenship said he and three other men saw a human
hand when a television camera was lowered 10 years ago.
"It was severed at the wrist and just floating there in perfect
equilibrium," he said, "But when we twisted the pole to move
the camera it stirred things up and the hand just floated off. "
Blankenship, 58, with a weathered face that reflects the harsh
Canadian winter, lives on a comer of the island with his wife
and works the pit virtually year-round.
He's cagey about disclosing what he has found, making a passing reference to "classified" discoveries, and shies away from
elaborating on what he expects to recover.
First Quarter 1985

"We'know 'someone did a hell of a lot of work deep in the

ground a long time ago, " he said. "Common sense says it must
be something of great value. Let's just say we're not looking
for bottle caps.
"All I can say is that if what's down there is what I think
is down there, it's going to be a lot more dramatic than a couple of chests filled with gold."
Theories as to what's hidden on the island are as plentiful as
the honeycomb of drilling shafts. In addition to the Captain Kidd .
theory, one of the other popular legends is that the Incas were
the "original people" who hid their treasures beneath the oaks.
According to this theory, the residents of Tumbes, an Inca
city in what is now Peru, were fearful of a takeover by Spanish
conquistador Francisco Pizzaro. So they packed up their great
wealth, including emeralds the size of small eggs and gold in
every variety, and took them overland to the Caribbean, where
they set sail looking for an uninhabited island.
But, "according to the theory, they were caught by violent
storms and driven northward until they landed at Oak Island,
where they stored their cache.
Others suggest the treasure was left by Spanish pirates, who
looted gold and silver, as well as jewels, from the Incas of Peru
and the Maya and Aztecs of Mexico.
One thing seems certain, however. Whoever buried the
treasure expected to recover it. Anyone clever enough to devise
the diabolical system of tunnels must have left some kind of
safety catch for himself.
"
Somewhere on the island must lie a trapdoor, a tunnel, a plug
- something that would lead explorers directly to the treasure.
Now they just have to find it.
Reprinted from the Coin Wholesaler, April 1985

Pursuit 33

A Preliminary Study of the Relationship

BetWeen So-called UFO Waves,
Natural Constants and Planetary Cycles
. by Keith L. Partain, M.Sc.
Whereas the controversy surrounding so-called UFO waves
(or 'flaps') is not unknown to me, I it is assumed for this argument that waves described by Saunders 2 validly constitute one
aspect of an actual phenomenon. In my attempt to rehabilitate
the controversial Mars cycle and resulTect Damon Knight's
remarkable study ofFortean data relating to Mars and Venus,'
I found in Saunders data a shocking revelation, even, peIhaps
to a Fortean.
For a number of reasons Saunders' 61-month (or 1853 days)
cycle is profoundly curious. It shows every indication of being
anything but a statistical artifact due to its regularity (by defmi-
tion, and the absence of a 1962 wave notwithstanding) and its
tend,ency to a presumably retrograde longitudinal shift,
demonstrating what Saunders believes to be an 8!ltronomical invarient, a spatio-temporal invariant in other words. 4 Only the
"negatively skewed" waves (describing the statistical nature
of the reports') showed these characteristics: an oscillating
latitude shift, a retrograde longitude shift and a 61-month
periodicity. (Saunders mentions some' 'Qddball" waves which
do not have these characteristics; they are raw material for the
rehabilitated Mars cycle in the latter half of this paper.) Assuming the 1962 wave did occur and was unobserved, and inserting this hypothetical event into regrettably but unavoidably
sparse data, a roughly spiraJ path around our planet is observed
(Figure I). As a result, certain mathematical constants were
suspected.
Saunders appears to have derived the figure of 1853 days from
(5) (365) = 1825 and 1825 + 28 = 1853 days. I wish to argue
that such is too simplistic. I have chosen to define 61 months
as (365.25219) (5) = 1826.251 and (1/12) (365.25219) =
30.437683 + 1826.251 = 1856.6986. This differs from
Saunders' 1853 by 0.1996%. Now, divide 1856.6986 by
365.25219, the true sidereal terrestrial year. The result is
5.083333~. Now, assume a value for the golden ratio, phi, of
1.6180339 and a value for pi of 3. 1415927. The product oh~
is 5.0832034! The difference is 0.0001299, which is in the fourth
decimal place! This value will change sJighdy- depending upon
the value of an "average" month which is clearly not the 28
days Saunders appended to five years of 1825, (365) (5), days.
A more exact "average month" might bring the 61 month cycle to exactly equal1T4> to many more decimal places.
. The equation log r = ae. describes the equiangular or
logarithmic spiral. The equation r = a8 describes the spiral of
AIchimedes. Both are related to 4>, the golden ratio. If indeed
the UFO wave follows one of these curves, set "a" equal to
the golden ratio. When the angle theta, e, equals 1T , we have
the value 5.0832034 (it actually, theoretically" extends to infinity since both 1T and 4> are inational numbers and natural constants). We also describe a spiral which more data may determine which curve originates it (Figure 1); the problem ,being.
at the present the added elements of a third dimension and a
fourth one (time!) as well. Clearly, however, we have a morethan-two dimensional representative of a cycle that answers both
. to 4> and 1T in matters both of space (the spiral's configuration)
and time (the spiral's duration). Being constants, 1T and ~ are,
Pursuit 34

by definition, invariant. Saunders appears to have described a

spatio-temporaJ invariant indeed: a curve which distributes itself

periodically (the 'If component) in a presl,lmably spiral (the 4>

component) fashion!
.

f.\4-.~~-

Mid-Atlantic. 1962

Figure 1 - Tentative diagram of hypothesized spiral of the

61-months UFO cycle (modified).
On this very digrammatic globe a set of points represented
by Xs (and brackets in one case, for 1962) are the approxjmate
geographic locations suggested by Saunders' data and graphs
(not reproduced). Instead ofa polar equation r =. ~:e;~ I. have .
chosen for simplicity the equality r = 2(1j)~1 which graphically
and clearly demonstrates the retrograde spiral. The dashed lines
represent this spiral which in its simplest fonn is very recursive
and the retrograde motion is not ~ immediately perceptible.
,

What produces this wave? Researchers have often asserted

the nonterrestrial-nonhuman intelligences might choose to,communicate via natural constants. We could be dealing with.: on
the other hand, a natural phenomenon, 6 and those two constants
are involved in many natural phenomena. There could be an
extraplanetary connection, too.
Note the synodial year of Venus: it is 583.91776 days. Divided by 365.25219 we obtain 1.5986701. That roughly approximates 1.6180339. or phi. Closer still, we take the sidereal year
of Venus (224.70022 days) and divide that into the sidereal year
365.25219. We obtain 1.6255088, anoth~ approximation of 4>
or phi. The sum of both results averaged remarkably approximates phi; it is 1.6120895. What is even more remarkable is
what happens when one raises e to the 1.6255088 power: .:
e1.6255088 = 5.0810037.

That differs from Saunders' cycle by 21h days and from my

approximation of the 61-month cycle by less than a day.What
is truly fascinating is imother equa~on for the equiangular spiral
(which can embody phi):
ae
.
r = e .
,
This dOes strongly suggest that the UFO wave follows a threedimensional variation of the equian~ C;UIVe over time! These
are not crude approximations as sc~cs might assert! i :
The Fortean data which Damon Knight had Mallows of Bell
Telephone Laboratories put through a computer analysis (UFO
waves are a subset of Fortean data) demonstrated correlations
above chance for inferior conjunctions of Venus and the data. 7
Here is a planet with an anomalously near-precise cin:ular orbit
whi~h is nearly 1/1j) as long as the Earths showing two examples
First Quarter 1985

160

*
eel

120

80

:' /'j

/. /./

40

/ / / 1///,
1945

1950

1955

Figure 2 - The 61-month cycle and Mars Data superimposed

over 'the sunspot cycle versus time. (Sunspot date
. adapted from NOAA and NASA sources. Brackets
indicate extrapolated wave.)
'" =' Mars data
e '= "oddball" waves .
Smooth'curve ;" 61-month cycle (with extrapolation)
'Shaded curve = Sunspot-number versus time
X
Time'
y ~. 'Slinspot-numbe~'

------

of strong positive correlation with two different sets of UFO

data. 'I will not, of course, insist upon a correlation of UFO
wav~ and the planet Venus (and.! am not involving either ~ve
astrology nor the naive ~otion of Venus as a "base") wi~out
further study.
.
Intriguingly enough, the 61-month cycle shows another invariance, this time with the sunspot cycle. The level of solar
activity and sunspot number appears to have no affect whatSoev~r
on the 61-month cycle. It does, however, appear to relate t!J
the 'benighted Mars cycle (Figure 2).
'
,'.
In Saunders study there were seven (herein called ~'odd~"
by ~s author) other UFO waves which were not negative~y
skewed as a group: their statistical skewedness was presumably
random . This brings in again what this author call~, ,with!lut
facetiae, the Fort-Knight hypothesis linking Forteana (such as
UFO waves), Mars and Venus."ID Despite an ~bjectionthat,
Fourier analysis of the Mars-Venus cycle is n~,l1 the Fortean data was subjected to signal analysis. (This does not rule
out future analysis by any means.) Nevertheless, assuming.variation with the solar cycle and simple Martian epochs (alone;
'without Venus) we can tum our attention to the seven "odd';
ball" waves. Assuming a cycle of Martian epochs oq.135 y~
and a 5% deviation on either side of the epoch (38.928 days),.
three wav~ fell within this interval. This cycle of epoc~ alludes
only to:oppositions of Mars. Four waves remain. Allown.g, 'as
Knight did in his study, conjunctions and quadratures of Mars,
two'do not fit at all, one does fit and a final one exceeds the
parameter by 1.46%. The oppositions, in any ~, coinci~'
with the waves in a way suggestive of nomandomness which,
is not true of the other two epochs (invoked because a wider
range of phenomena - Fortean - were under study). It may
also be seen that they coincided only in years of low sunspot
First Quarter 1985

1960

1965

1970

1975

number (Figure 2). Of course, only further study will show if

indeed the Mars cycle does operate 3 years from the sunspot
minimum, but this alone calls for reconsideration and rehabilita- ,
tion of the infamous Mars cycle. There have been many

premature burials of a still valid hypothesis. 12

In closing, there have been certain views expounded. Primarily, Saunders' spatia-temporally invariant UFO waves appear to
be exactly that, embodying
or e ... or both. A cycle of
anomalies - the UFO wave - containing natural constants suggests either a natural phenomenon or nonterrestrial-nonhuman
intelligences communicating mathematically. ExtraplanetaJy influences are suggested by orbital peculiarities of the planet
Venus. To pursue Saunders' view further, however, we will need
more current data - for the 1977 and the 1983 waves. Other,
more anomalous UfO waves suggest that it was premature to
discard the controversial connection between Mars and UFO
waves. The fact that these latter waves are apparently variable
with solar activity only adds to the mysteJY of UFO waves about which Mrs. Hynek correctly calls controversial - and
thefaet that-whatever UFOs tum out to be (extraterrestrial, extnidimensional or an unusual natural phenomenon) their origin
is clearly polyphyletic. Problems such as these will be addressed in future papers. There's one thing fairly certain, however:
we are not dealing with a human artifact or a trivial natural
phenomenon.

1T,

Notes
1. Personal cORununication with Mimi Hynek, May, 1980.
2. Saunders, D.R., "A spatio-temporal invariant for major UFO
waves." Courtesy Mimi Hynek, CUFOS.
3. Knight, Damon. The Complete Books of Charles Fon, Doubleday, 1970, pp. 114-117.
4. Saunders, op cit.
5. Saunders, ibid.
6. Vallee, Ja:cques. "UFOs: The Psychic Component," Psychic, Feb.
1974, pg. 17.
'
.7. Knight, op cit.
S. Saunders, op cit.
,9. ~ght, op cit.
10. Fort, Charles. The Complete Books of Charles Fon, Dover, pp.
392, 39S, 434, etc.
11. Personal communication with Vallee, Jan. 20, 1980.
12. Michel, Aime. Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery. S.O.
'Phillips, N.Y., 1955, pp. 205-206.

Pursuit 35

Books Reviewed
SEARCH FOR THE TASMANIAN TIGER by Quentin
Beresford & Garry Bailey; Blubber Head Press (P.O. Box 475,
Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia 7(05); 1981; 544 pages, illustrated, no price listed.

Reviewed by George W. Earley

On May 20, 1984, a news item datelined Sydney, Australia,
appeared in my local paper. It said two Australians had invested
$250,000 in a three month search for the Tasmanian Tiger.
Equipped with sound sensors, video cameras and other hi-tech
trappings, the expedition vanished into the Tasmanian back
country on what must have been a fruitless search. Certainly
there has been no announcement that any Tigers were found.
Officially the Tiger is extinct, the last known specimen having died in captivity in a zoo in Hobart, Tasmania, on September
7, 1936. Captive Tigers in various zoos outside Australia had
already died, no one had bothered to replace them and as they
would never breed in captivity the Hobart beast was the last one.
The entire sad story of this creature, not a tiger at all, but
a "pouched dog with a wolf's head" (Thylacinus cynocephalus,
to give it its scientific name) is told in this slim, and handsomely illustrated, little paperback.
.
The authors, Beresford is a historian and Bailey a journalist,
trace the history of the Tiger from the advent of Europeans in
Tasmania in 1803. The settlers brought sheep, the Tiger was
promptly accused of slaughtering sheep and its doom was
thereby sealed, although it took over 125 years to apparently
wipe them out.
But is it extinct? Officially, yes - the one that diec,i in the
Hobart Zoo is considered the last of the breed. Reports persist,
however, ofsightings of both the beasts and their tracks, an important point since the forepaws of the Tiger leave a 5-toed track,
unlike that of other Tasmanian beasts including feral dogs.
Expeditions have been mounted repeatedly, usually on the proverbial financial shoestring, but to no avail. Despite sensors,
traps, and robot cameras, the Tigers, if they do still exist, have
managed to elude those who once killed them and now avidly
search to see if any sUlVive.
The authors describe both the expeditions and the various
sightings that have, over the years, kept alive the hope that
somewhere in the wilds of the Tasmanian wilderness, small
breeding groups still sUlVive.
There are also some reports from the Australian mainland but
these are almost totally discounted, even by those most hopeful
that Tigers may still exist in Tasmania.
The authors conclude their book with a brief bibliography.
While virtually all references are to Down Under publications,
there is one that PURSUIT readers should find in their local
library's: "Natural History" magazine, December 1972. In it,
Jeremy Griffith, an Australian zoologist, tells of his own searches
and describes, though in less detail, much of the history contained in this book. Griffith's article is illustrated with several
photographs and a striking two-page color drawing of the Tiger.
The July 1983 Fate magazine also carries a Tiger article which
mainly reprises the data of Griffith's article but does include
infonnation on the few sightings made since that piece appeared.
As it stands now, the Tiger remains officially extinct with
both sightings and footprints "explained" by Establishment
scientists as misinterpretations by overeager and inexperienced
observers. Sound familiar, fellow Forteans?
Pursuit 36

THE WAR OF GODS AND MEN by Zecharia Sitchin.

Available from Avon Books, New York, $3.95, softcover.

Reviewed by Barbara Clow

Those of you who secretly entertain the wildest fantasies of

extraterrestial influences on planet ~arth, but who wish'
somebody' would PROVE it, will be more than satisfied by
Zechariah Sitchin' s three part trilogy, The Earth Chronicles. The
last book of the series, The War of Gods and Men, was just
released after the publication of The Twelfth Planet in 1976 and
StailWay to Heaven in 1980.
'..
When I read The Twelfth Planet, I was very impressed by
Sitchin's impeccable research on original Sumerian and Egyptian sources, and his scholarly methodological approach which
interprets original sources as real historical events instead of
myth. His scholarly approach was a welcome relief from other
author's highly speculative and unsupported forays into the question of just who were' 'the Gods," the Nefilim. The book also
documented another planet outside Pluto, a 12th p'lanet member
of the solar system which is called "Nibiru" by.the Sumerians.
I was reminded of it again in 1982 when NASA reported the
probable existence of a celes~ial bo4y beyond Pluto orbiting the
sun. Then when I read the Dec. 27, 1983 San Francisco Chronicle article on the latest findings otthe lRAS (infra red) Sateilite
probe, I rushed out and bought a new copy of The Twelfth
Planet. This report was of a ce1es~ial object "possibly as'large
as Jupiter" and "50 trillion miles from Earth" and' "there was
some speculation that it might be moving toward Earth." Now;"
Sitchin's careful Sumerian research on Earth records was being
collaborated by the latest space probes, just as Immanuel
Velikovsky's controversial theories on Venus in the early 1950s
were backed up and proven by Mariner probes .ill the 1970s.
And, according to Sitchin, we possess accurate dating' on the
orbital cycle of Nibiru around the sun because we actually have
an ancient Sumerian source, "The Hymn to Eridu, " (translated
by A. Falkenstein) which records the visit of the Nibiruan Pantheon in 3800 BC. And, Anu and Antu, God and Goddess of
Nibiru, are described in a Sumerian ritual as they obselVe the
Twelfth Planet rise above the horizon!
Since the topic of this review is extremely credible research
by trained scholars into extraterrestial influences on Earth, I'd
like to mention that extraterrestial visitation to Earth has been
conclusively established by Robert Temple in The Sirius Mystery
(St. Martin's Press, New York) by means of Temple's brilliant
study of Dogon (African) sacred rites in relation to the orbit of
Sirius B and Sirius A. In The Earth Chronicles, however; Sitchin actually completely documents a HISTORY of the
Nibi~ns on Earth since 350,000 BC! We only have good archeological records going back to about 9,000 BC due to the
destruction in the flood in 11,000 BC, but "the Gods," the
Nefilim, have furnished Earthlings with ample records of their
history in all ancient cultures. Sitchin sticks very close to his
careful methodology and does little speculating, but assuming
Nibiru passed close in 200 BC, I found it irresistable not to
speculate on the real meaning of the bizarre stories in the Nag
Hammadi scrolls, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and in some of the
fragments of Berrossus and Marcion. And, when I visited
Abydos, Egypt this spring, I found the alluring story of the
transformation of Seti I, the birth of Ho~s from the phallus of
Osiris, and the King List of Seti I open to an entirely new and
First Quarter 1985

radical interpretation. I found myself ruminating on Seth/Seti

I, and I found !'Ilyself wondering why Seth is dropped in the
I:lebrew Bible, a~d I finally wonder if Seth/Seti I might not be
from Nibiru?
"
I could speculate endlessly, and I think readers of Sitchin's
trilogy will find themselves doing the same because this trilogy
is one of the most complete and radical histories of planet Earth
ever written. So, to "entice you further, I will briefly summarize
the "contents of the first two books and then go a little deeper
into The War of Gods and Men.
In The Twelfth Planet, Sitchin studies the geneolOgy and
history of the Sumerian Pantheon from ancient sources. He examines the Earth record of the once-every-3600 year omit of
Nibiru, and gives information on the periodic rises and falls of
Earth culture in relation to the placement of Nibiru. Archeologically, Sitchin's theories are being slowly validated as
the digs on Earth go back farther and farther in time with more
specific information being gleaned from more sophisticated
techniques. Even if Sitchin's basic theories are too radical to
some readers, his presentation of ancient Sumerian seals and
documents should be savored because so much of this information lies in the basements of museums untranslated and unread
because so much new material is being dug up everyday. Sitchin's theories on the sudden and inexplicable rises of great
cultures, such as the birth of cities 3400-3000 BC allover the
world, need to be given fair competition by serious scholars.
Sitchin also examines the technology of the Nefilim from ancient "sources. He works with a powerful paradigm in his
research: Seemingly enigmatic stories, objects and unusual sites,
become understandable when the same story. occurs, when the
same object is created, when the same site is developed, in our
culture. In other words, it becomes possible to speculate that
Jacob's ladder is a ladder into a space vehicle after our present
culture has reinvented space vehicles. So, Sitchin suggests that
a previously undecipherable mysterious clay tablet found in the
Royal Library of Ninevah is a route map for landing space vehicles at the Sippar Spaceport now that our astronauts are utilizing similar landing maps. Or he suggests that the incoming Nefilim spacecraft (Fig. 1) has wings that look just like the solar
panels American spacecraft use to convert the Sun's energy to
electricity. Try it yourself: Try studying ancient Sumerian seals
and come up with a non-technological interpretation. In The
Stairway to Heaven, Sitchin concentrates more on the various
religious rituals such as the Egyptian passage rites, the searches for the Tree of Life and Immortality, such as the Gilgamesh
Epic. In these rituals and myths, Sitchin finds a continuous
desperate attempt by men and women to De'li~e "the'God~,"
to gain immortality. These are stories of separilbon from a reality
and beings that humans know which can only be fully understood
in light of the human desire to reconnect with our divi~ origins.
And not to belittle the creativity in the extraterrestial movies
of the last ten years, the genesis for most of the plots of these
films 'can be found in Sitchin's trilogy. Stairway to Heaven is
particularly heartrending and fascinating because it is a real explanation for the yearning for freedom from the constraints of
linear time and limited space that we all feel.
Ii has been a long wait for Book Three, The WalS of Gods
and Men. At the end of his new book, Sitchin offers a chronology of the Nefilim, and he presents even more complete and
startling proof of his basic thesis. His integration of history is
a feat that most fans of Velikovsky and von Diiniken will find
enviable. His exposition of the Creation Story as the creation
of Adam (man and woman) by the Nefilim so that they can have
a helpmate on Earth is richly developed in reference to the
First Quarter 1985

Figure 1
Hebrew Bible and New Testament as supported and deepened
by Sumerian, Babylonian, and Egyptian sources. This third book
is a challenge to contemporary theologians, particularly those
who are concerned with the meaning of the Creation Story. A
related subject, that of creation as genetic manipulation by "the
Gods," the theory that the Nefilim created the genetic fiber of
Homo Sapiens is richly developed in Genius of the Few (Turnstone Press, Northamptonshire, England), and the full history
of that great turning point in evolution is carried out to its logical
conclusion in relation to the Fall. War of Gods and Men is a
book about life and death. In vitno fertilization techniques now
make it possible to develop new insights about "the Gods"
mating with human females in the various mythologies. The further back in time one goes, the more we see the awesome respect
the so-called primitives observed toward life and genetic purity. Some contemporary feminist writers theorize that the Goddess once ruled everything because primitive people did not
know the cause of pregnancy and therefore divinized the birthing woman. But, Sitchin and O'Brien argue"that the creation
of Adam and Eve, the first parents, is actually a very sophisticated genetic technological triumph. And, scientifically, the radical dichotomy appearing in Homo Sapiens has not yet been
explained; and theologically. this theory might explain why we
humans sense we are half earth and half sky. Certainly, this interpretation of the Creation is evocative, and perhaps it could lead
to a greater respect for the fragility of our DNA.
Like all complete histories, The War of Gods and Men also
contains tragedy. Possibly the most admirable trait of Sitchin's
thought is his thoroughness. He carries his work on the Nefilim
to its logical conclusion. And so, about death as well as life,
Sitchin theorizes that the Nefilim unleashed a nuclear holocaust
in 2024 BC. Using his paradigm that contemporary technology
will often reveal the secrets of the past, Sitchin traces through
ancient sources and discovers the most plausible theory on the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah this reviewer has read. And,
not to close on a depressing note, one assumes that 2024 BC
and 1600 BC were when Nibiru was the farthest from Earth.
If 2024 BC was the holocaust, and we know that 1600 AD was
the plague before the rise of science. then Nibiru is now 400
years closer to us in its omit. And judging by the numbers of
extraterrestial sightings since the 19508, the Nefilim wish to contact us. Perhaps we should look toward the sky and clean up
our act on planet Earth so we can greet our brothers with proper awareness.
it

SKY CRASH: A COSMIC CONSPIRACY, by Brenda

Butler, Jenny Randles & Dot Street; Neville Spearman Ltd.,
Great Britain, 1984, 283 pps., 7.50 pounds.
Reviewed by Robert Barrow
Every so often, a 'book comes along whose whispered existence encourages so much controversy, such an abundance of
"buzz" and comment from sources having some relationship
to the basic story and its aftermath, that a reviewer's obligation
Pursuit 37

to provide a fair analysis becomes a virtual peiplexity. Sky CtaSh

dinaire) Ian Ridpath as he blames lights seen in the sky on a
meets these criteria, and its short bookshelf life already having
nearby lighthouse. Similarly, he dismisses physical evidence
acquired a reputation of both kudos and slams, it is appar:ent
suchas UFO landing traces as "rabbit diggings" !p1d bum marks
that involvement with the book alone is not enough.
on trees as axe marks left by foresters.
By now, the series of UFO encounters allegedly having ~
The following issue (#204 for 4/85) offers Jenny Randles,
curred in England's Rendlesham Fore~t - next to imPortant
herSelf one.of the book's authors and certainly the best ~own
military bases - for three days in late December, 1980, has
for her UFO investigations, who excoriates her critic;s ~d bebeen outlined in a number of UFO-related publications, inmoans the treatment afforded the author's work by.both the
cluding Fate and Flying Saucer Review. The ongoing investigaBritish and American publishing industry. Her comments are
tion into the mystery was, as well, the subject of a TV documen,.
significant.
.
tary aired on Ted Turner's Cable News Network (CNN).
Frankly, the Rendlesham Forest incidents of 1980, as docUExactly what happened in the forest? Actually; exactly is
mented in both the book and the current monsoon of controverprecisely the question here. In what quickly turns olit to be far
sy, are enough to drive a reviewer to the brink. While it is i~
more than a just-another-UFO-in the woo.d~ indde,.t, we are
possible to feel the pain the authors .must. ~e experiencing from
confronted with a fascinating situation in which U~S. military
th~ .barbs (botti deserv:ed and undeserved) cast at their efforts
personnel discover UFOs in British woods, complete with aliens.
to $te, I can sympathize. A few years ago, slouched .in a theaThere are maries reportedly left in the soil, and samples are taken.
ter seat to watch a new motion picture entitled Close Encounters.
There is a report of radiation in the area. There are films and
of the Third Kind, I nearly fractured a vertebra and foa~ed at
audio tapes of the affair. There is an unusualll$pect of what. . the mouth in my ha.ste to sit up when a scene appeared in~hich
appears to be refreshing military candor and cooperation in
one of my own articles from a national publication had ap~~nt
regard to confinnation of a bizarre happening, yet there are
Iy been used as a prop for: the character portrayed by actor ~ich
ominous threats and evidence of a government cover-up as well.
ard D.reyfuss to destroy at a crucial moment of mental torment,
Far removed from the Rendlesham Forest enigma as this
Of course that particular article was probably one of the worst
reviewer is, yet perfectly willing to accePt the investigative quali~
things I ever wrote, but the sight of it being destined for th~
ty of the case, I must admit to some discomfort with th~ coptrash basket on the big screen gave me a horrible sensation.
cern for accuracy in Sky Crash. Several months ago, veteran
I just hope that the authors of Sky Crash find a little more
UFO researcher Lucius Farish infonned me of some misinforreward in the world of reality, because they might have stumbled
mation regarding his "role"in the affair, as mention~ on page
intosomething
that makes fantasy films pale by comparison.
. :
.
29. The authors depict Farish having met with a U.S. Air Foree
man, recently returned from a tour of duty in Britain, who
claimed the Air Force discharged him "because he had refused
.
to keep silent about 'something big' that had taken place on the
VISIONS APPARITIONS ALmN VISITORS by Hilary
Evans; The Aquarian Press, Wellingborough, Northampton- ....
base where he was stationed in England during last December
shire, England, 1984, 320 pp. ilIus. $18.50.
and early January."
.
.Reviewed by Sabina Warren Sanderson ..
Alas, however, for this appetizing scenario is without any
It has always been the practice to treat and investigate the
credibility whatsoever. Farish, co-editor of the UFO Newsclipvarious kinds of visions or apparitions as if they were diserete
ping Service (UFONS), comments on die falsely repOrted incica.tegories; i.e. a ghost hunter wouldn't dream of looking into
. dent on the part of at least one of the authors in a letter I rea case of a religious vision, and someone interested in religious
ceived in 3/85, he clarifies the facts (quoted by penni~sion):
visions wouldn't dream of going ghost hunting. That this has .
.. .let me try to set the record straight: I received a letter .
been a bad mistake is, I think, amply proven by Hilary Evan's,
from one of the UFONS subscribers, as wen as a portion
Qook.
.
of a letter which a friend or relative of his had received.
There IS first a fairly brief but cogent introductory section that
The letter-writer was (as memory serves) the wife of so.medeals with general matters such as what. we mean by "real".
one stationed at Woodbridge AFB. She mentioned sOme
when dealing with apparitions - possibly they are l;Iot. '!rea}" .
of the rumors making the rounds of the base (landed UFO, .
in the sense that a piece of paper is real, but they are real to
possible alien contact, etc.). This would probably have
the percipient (the person who 'sees~ an entity); .I said
been in late January 1981 when the letter was sent to me.
"possibly" because no one really knows what these entities are,..
As it was the first I had heard of the case, I wrote a po~t
and until this is established, the point remains moot. I . .
card to Nonnan Oliver in London, asking if he knew m~re
:Part One, "The Entity Experience," examines in detail. the.
about it. I was later contacted by both Dot Street and Brenvarious fonns in which entities manifest spontaneously to per...
da Butler, but they were not given any infonna~on which
cipients. Mr. Evans notes that "Some critics would say that I ..
would allow them to construct the "scenario" in Sky
have caSt my net too wide: but I think the evidence does not:
Crash . ... For what it's worth, the next piece of mail which ..
pennit us to set aside totally any of the categories we hav~ conNonnan received from me (following the postcard), an
. sidered." Paradoxically, I agree with both parts of this statement. .
issue of UFO REPORT, had been opened and re-sealed
. . .
along the way.
He begins with entities in dreams. which may sound a bit ir- ~
~Ievant . but is not and provides an important basic Ifact:
Such inaccuracies do not give us solace. Nevertheless, Sky
"whatever creates our dreams has access to a far greater range
Crash generally strives to tell an important story, and we are
of material than our conscious minds appe~ to enjoy." Furintrigued. But rather than belabor the point, I woul~ direct the
ther, 'in dreaming, one part Of us is spectator to the drama which
readerto several issues of the Mutual UFO Network's MUFON
another part of us is staging. Throughout our study we shall need
JOURNAL for 1984, particularly #201, 203 & 204,: in which
to consider whether the same may be true of all the phen()"mena
pro and con aspects are examined in some depth. On: one hand
under our consideration."
' .'
. .. .
(issue #203), we are enlightened by British science writer (and,
Evans then deals with a wide variety of entity experiences
may we suggest, staunch UFO skeptic, if not debunker extraor-

Pursuit 38

First Quarter :1985-:

ranging all the way from hypnagogic imagery (visions seen while
falling asleep*') MIBs, UFO-related entities and entities as
folklore, including, of course, such 'standard' items as hallucinations, gliosts, and religious visions. Though in a sense all are
quite different, they all share certain characteristics. All are
perceived visually, though objective analysis forces one to conclude that the entity was not 'real' in the ordinary sense. Also,
the apparent (the person the entity appears to be) can be of three
kinds: known persons - most dreaming cases, doppelgangers,
some apparitions and most hauntings; stereotypes - religious
and demonic visions, folklore, and possibly MIBs and UFO
cases; and unknown ~ most hypnagogic and hallucination cases
and cases of 'imaginary' companions and counsellors.
Part Two, "Experimental Entities," deals with deliberate attempts to conjure up entities by methods ranging from scientific experimentation to old-fashioned 'magic' and hallucinogenic
drugs.
Pan Three, "Explaining the Entity Experience," considers
how and why the entity experience occurs and why it takes the
fonn it does. There are a number of hypotheses ranging from
lung's collective unconscious to dissociated personalities, and
each is carefully considered. None can be said to be completely satisfactory since none really covers all the various types of
entity experience. Nor is it entirely clear whether psychological
or physical circumstances cause the entity experience or simply make it possible for it to occur.

The subject is far too complex to pennit an even remotely

satisfactory summarization, in part because the theories vary so
widely and are so complex in themselves. Any simplification,
let alone over simplification, would be a disservice to the author
and to the reader. Some are, naturally, more 'attractive' than
others, but each certainly deserves full consideration.
The author draws no final conclusions, but as a 'teaser' I
should like to quote two significant statements: "Wherever they
originate, by whatever means they penetrate to the mind of the
percipient, those entities are to some degree material artifacts ...
. Secondly, "Within our minds there exists a creative, intelligent,
sympathetic and understanding capability, whose function is to
fabricate non-real scenes and scenarios, for purposes only some
of which can be guessed at. The capability, which for the sake
of convenience we may call the producer, may plausibly be conceived as a parallel personality to our conscious personality. "
(I find intriguing his suggestion that 'real' sleep, i.e. nondreaming sleep, may be when the 'producer' takes a rest.)
Of course there is still a great deal of work to be done in this
field before anyone can even begin to be certain of the answer,
but Hilary Evans is to be both thanked and congratulated for
the really remarkable job he has done in providing a sound base
for further research. The book is not 'easy' reading but is well
worth the concentration required. There is a good bibliography
tied to the text and an index. Certainly no Fonean Jibrary should
be without this most important book.

"'Tec:hically, diose seen while walking an: hypnopompic images - I have suffered .from these on and off for years.

Letters to the Editors

Dear Editor:
There is one point on which I wish to make clear that I disagree
with Professor Petit (re: Where Have the Flying Saucers Gone?
- PURSUIT #68). In the process of translating, I could have
deleted the passage in question with an ellipsis, but did not do
so, as that would have been censorship on my part of controversial aspects of someone' s else's work. So I translated the passage
as I found it, although I disagreed with it, seeing it as the only
flaw in an otherwise brilliant and original exposition of ideas.
I happen to be one of the "cultists," to whom Professor Petit
refers so disparagingly. Phenomena such as levitation, telepathy,
and automoatic writing occur far too frequently in both reports
of sessions with psychic sensitives and in UFO reports for these
persistent recurrences in both fields to be dismissed as irrelevant. Other paranormal phenomena, such as materialisation and
dematerialisation, action at a distance, and passing matter
through matter, also recur persistently in both reports of sessions with psychic sensitives and in UFO reports. To compare
UFO researchers investigating the psi hypothesis with what
sociologists call the Cargo Cult is an inane and gratuitous insult. It marks the only point on which I feel I should state publicly that I do not agree with Professor Petit.
Except for this one Bronx cheer, I wholeheartedly applaud
all the rest of Professor Petit's superb statement.
-George Andrews
Dear Editor:
I've been with SITU for a number of years now and one
develops a sense of loyalty.
I have to agree that there has been a tendency to take

First Quarter 1985

yourselv~ too seriously and to indulge in mathematical specula.tion far beyond my understanding.
Please retain a degree of what you refer to as "light but still
... something to think about." (See PURSUIT editorial #68)
-R. W. Chatterton

Dear Editor:
I must take exception to several of the statements attributed
to Prof. lean-Pierre Petit in the article "Where Have the Flying Saucers Gone?" (v. 17, no. 4, pp. 153-156).
His ad hominem attacks against Hynek and Vallee are absurb and beneath notice. If these two respected researchers,
whose reputations are at least equal to Petit's, lean toward the
parapsychological hypothesis, it is because their years of study
have pointed them in that direction.
It is Petit's claim that, in our star system, only Earth has
undergone tectonic plate phenomena. (This mayor may not be
true.) He also claims that tectonic plate phenomena are the only causes of mountains and related topographical features. (This
is completely false.) Therefore, according to Petit's premises,
the mountains and craters of our own moon do not exist. The
reports of Olympus Mons and the Valles Marineris on Mars must
be hoaxes. Obviously, this is all poor geology.
Also, Petit's assumption that natural barriers are the only cause
of cultural differences is suspect. Certainly, the use of Europe
as an eXample of the unifonnity of culture .is a poor choice.
"etit.'s statements illustrate once more the need of the individual xenologist to have a broad-based educational
background.
-Kim L. Neidigh

Pursuit 39

In this section, mostly contemporary cUrious and unexplained events

Chiaa'. Captive 'WUd Maa'

Said to be Rare Moakey
A Chinese newspaper has reported new
details on the capture of a hairy ape-like male
beast that indicate it is a rare monkey, not a
mythical "wild man" as previously claimed.
The Canton newspaper Yangcheng Evening
News reported the new details in a special
dispatch from the central city of Wuhan, headquarters of the China Wild Man Research InstibJte, where the beast reportedly has been kept.
The report was seen in Peking.
Chinese press accounts claimed that a hairy,
3-foot-tall specimen of the lengendary "wild
man" - China's version of the Himalayan
"abominable snowman" - had been captured
in Hunan.
But leading anthropologists were quoted as
saying they were skeptical of the find. No
photographs of the beast have been published.
A front-page story in the Yangcheng Evening News quoted the wild man institute's deputy
secretary, Li Jian, as saying the creature was
captured October 24th by rural people from Shuitou village in a mountainous region of Hunan
which is honeycombed with caves.
The newspaper said 32 rural people and. II
hunting dogs in Hunan province tracked down
the creabJre, which clawed the ear off one
human captor and was knocked unconscious
with a pole.
After a few days the "mao gong," or "hairy
male, " became used to its captors and started
eating fruits and nuts, the report said.
SOURCE: AP in the Gazette,
Schenectady, NY, 2111185
CREDIT: Joe Zanynski

Psvchlc Leads to Discovery of

WOlDaa'. BodV ia Field
The body of an elderly woman who wandered
away from a Hempstead nursing home has been
found in a pasture where a Dallas psychic said
she would be found.
The body of Mayme E. Knight, 74, was
found in a pasture three miles from Hempstead
Retirement Care Center almost ten days after'
she disappeared.
An autopsy was performedto determine the
cause of death but Hempstead Police Chief Randy Johnson said Knight is believed to have died
of exposure or suffered a heart attack.
Dallas psychic John K. Catchings, asked by
the nursing home to aid in the search, came to
'Hempstead and told police the woman's body
could be found in the pasture, located off Mitchmore Road.

Pursuit 40

Among the thousands of objects found in the

cave was a ceremonial mask painted in pale
streaks of red, green and brown. It was only
the second mask of that period found in the Holy
Land and the first with its paints preserved,
museum officials said.
Archaeologists also found a human skull
coated with an asphalt decoration, four thumbsized figurines of human heads carved from
bone, fragments of a life-sized stone figure and
some of the oldest wooden beads ever unearthed.
.
Tamar Noy, curator of the museum's prehistoric collection, said she Concluded from the intricate artwork, the delicate weaving and the use
of colors' that most of the objects were for
religious cerel1)Onies. The bone figurines were
believed to be deities.
"We have never found in one place this kind
of. cult material," Noy told reporters. ~This
period has always been an enigma for us. .. .
. She said the evidence points to "a strong ancient level of religion' and cult."
The dry desert conditions, constant
temperature and darkness of the cave helped
preserve organic materials such as plaited rope,
string and a napkin-sized cloth made out of
woven flax.
Anthropologists were familiar with the style
of weaving from impressions in ancient clay,
but no cloth this old was found before, Noy
said.
.
Artifacts Evideace of
She said the cloth and rope were the first proof
Aacleat Rellgloa
that flax was cultivated during this period not .
A tiny cave in Israel's southern Negev Desert . only for oil but also for weaving, it process rehas yielded thousands of prehistoric objects, in- quiring great preparation. Carbon 14 testing in
cluding the oldest fabric ever found and laboratories in Israel, South Africa and at the
evidence of a 9,OOO-year-old religion, the Israel British Museum in London showed that pieces
of string dated from 7160 B.C., plus or minus
Museum has announced .
Meir, the museum's vice president, called the 300 years.
discovery "one of the most important finds in SOURCE: AP in The Morning News,
Wilmington, DE, 3/22/85 :.
this area" in the last 25 years.
The cave was found in 1983 when Israel was CREDIT: H. Hollander
ta"i~g a comprehensive survey of the southern
Negev Desert after the country decided to relinBodV Cues Help UalDask,
quish the Sinai peninsula as part of. its 1979
peace. agreement with Egypt.
Couatmg Dog
Israeli authorities sent archaeological teams
into the N~gev to research claims that relocaSheba, the dog who add~, subtracted and
tion of military bases from the Sinai would even did cube roots, has been unmasked. Her
destroy hidden treasures.
eye, it seems, was sharper than her mind.
The teams found the cave in a desert valley
Richard and Frances Morgan's bright little
west of the Dead Sea called Nahal Hemar, "the Spitz-Keeshond had amazed people by barking
river of asphalt. " Its opening was about the answers to complicated math problems.
height and width of a .taIl man.
About two years ago, Morgan said, Sheba
The site is near what is believed to be the was bouncing around the kitchen begging for
biblical location of Sodom, about 50 miles south a cracker.
of Jerusalem and roughly the same distance
"I told her, 'I'm going to.teach you to count"
from the caves in which the Dead Sea scrolls, .for your crackers,' .. Morgan said. That afterwhich include fragments of the Old Testament, noon, Sheba learned to bark once when Morgan
were found in the 194Os.
said "one" and held up one finger, twice for
Catchings went to the site where Knight was
last seen, about a mile from the nursing home,
and began walking, Johnson said. Catchings
walked through a wooded area, crossed a creek,
passed through one pasture and then into another
pasture, Johnson said. Catchings then walked
back to the first pasture and told police Knight's
body was there.
Johnson said police searched the pasture but
did not find the woman. A relative of the owner
of the property found the body later behind a
bush.
Johnson said although police had conducted
an extensive search for the Odessa woman since
she was reported missing, they had not searched the area where the body was found because
they did not believe she would have walked that
far.
Johnson said he had doubts about the use of
psychics in police work when Catchings joined the case and thought following Catchings'
lead was a waste of police time.
"I've al:ways depended on facts," Johnson
said. "It's hard to accept something like this."
Johnson said he had changed his mind about
the use of psychics.
SOURCE: Chronic/e, Houston, TX
1/3/85
CREDIT: Ray Nelke .

..

First Quarter'. 1985

two and three times for three.

Pretty soon, Sheba was counting to 10 and
beyond.
So Morgan asked Sheba to add two and three.
Sheba barked five times.
The little brown dog went on to do subtraction, multiplication, division, square roots, even
cube roots.
A calculating dog is hard to keep quiet in a
town of 2,325 and Sheba soon became a
celebrity.
A reporter, not convinced, brought in Erich
Klinghammer, associate professor psychology
at Purdue University.
Sheba, Klinghammer said, reads body
language - tiny movements of the eyes or head
or body - to know when to stop barking.
The questioners, he added, arent aware of
giving the cues.
To test the thesis, the reporter wrote three sets
of problems, each so complex that someone
reading them to Sheba couldn't solve them at
the same time.
On the first page of 10 probiems, the correct
answer was at the right. On the second set, a
wrong answer was at the right, and the third set
had no answers.
With Morgan reading the problems, Sheba
scored an "A" on page I, then barked every
"wrong" answer on page 2.
If the questioner didn't know the answer,
there was no body language cue to stop. The
mystery was solved.
SOURCE: -News-Democrat, Belleville, IL
1121185
CREDIT: Ray Nelke

Turtles Gather on Islands

Tens of thousands of giant sea turtles, obeying one of nature's most powerful instincts, have
been converging for several weeks on a cluster
oftiny islands off the northern tip of Australia's
Great Barrier Reef, beginning last October.
Scientists say it is one of the largest gatherings of sea turtles ever documented, with
thousands of the huge migratory reptiles crawling ashore nightly to lay as many as 100 eggs
each in the beach sand, and then, as dawn approaches, returning to the sea.
The researchers estimate that between 50,000
and 150,000 turtles, known as green turtles,
have joined the gathering. Many have come
from feeding grounds as much as 1,500 miles
away, returning to the same beaches on which
they hatched decades earlier.
The islands lie in waters about 3,000 feet
deep, about 50 miles off the northern tip of the
state of Queensland. They are believed to be
the main nesting grounds, or rookery, of all the
green turtles inhabiting the waters from Indonesia to the west in the Marshall Islands in
the southwestern Pacific.
"There are always a few turtles coming to
nest all year round, and the numbers usually
peak about this time," said Colin Limpus, an
Australian scientist who has been monitoring
the phenomenon. "But the numbers started
pickin~ up every night. We go out there now,

First Quarter 1985

Measurements of shell length over these inand the beach is just turtle after turtle. "
On Raine Island - the largest island - all tervals show that the tunles grow about two
of a mile across - Limpus said he has counted millimeters a year. Limpus would not speculate
as many as 11 ,500 turtles in a single night. The how long green tunles live. Carr said .that
turtles weigh an average of 300 pounds each. although there were no exact figures available,
"I have no doubt there are tunles breeding in
Some weigh as much as 400 pounds.
, 'That means there was about 1,700 ton of the world that were born over a hundred years
turtle stepping ashore that night alone," Lim- ago ... Records from hunters of/ong ago indicate
pus said in an interview from his office at the that individual tunles weighing up to 800
Queensland National Park and Wildlife Service pounds have been caught.
Whether any hatchlings from this year's exin Townsville.
When he walks about the rookery to make his traordinary season on Raine Island will live long
nightly cOllnts, Limpus said, there is sometimes enough to reach that size is, in Limpus' words,
no space between turtles, and he walks on the "very much in doubt," given all the hunting.
backs of the gridlocked reptiles. Their shells Radiocarbon dating of tunle fossiles from the
average about 3 1h feet in length.
island indicate that the reptiles have been
"There's a lot of traffic, but it's actually pret- breeding there for at least a thousand years.
ty quiet," Limpus said. "Each female is try"I wonder," Limpus said, "whether we'll
ing to find a nice quiet place to dig her nest, ever see anything like this again."
and sometimes they'll wander around for hours SOURCE: The Philadelphia Inquirer PA
looking for the right place. When they start dig2/3/85
ging, it looks like a dust storm - thousands of CREDIT: H. Hollander
buckets of sand flying in all directions."
The beach on Raine Island is about 100 yards
wide, and once the night's turtles have come
ashore, there are about six for every yard of
Man Lifts Carin
waterline.
lliescuing
Two Children
No one knows why there are so many turtles
this year, but is is known that mass nestings
A 32-year-old welder who stopped to help
recur, Limpus, an internationally recognized
two
youngsters hit by a car said he lifted the
biologist who has been studying Australia's sea
front end of the car off one of the children
turtles, recalled a similar phenomenon on the
because "it was the only thing to do."
same islands 10 years ago. He suspects climatic
Robert Hauser, Jr. came to the rescue of
changes in the ocean trigger the phenomenon
Ebony
Harris, 6, and D' Andria Harris, 10, after
and is searching for evidence of this.
they were struck when they got off a Bridgeport,
Sea-turtle experts in the United States were
astonished on hearing how many animals were CT school bus.
"One of the girls went flying into the grass
showing up on Raine Island .
,
median,
the other went down under the car and
"That's just incredible, .. said Archie Carr of
was dragged about 100 feet," Hauser said.
the University of Florida at Gainesville, widely considered the pre-eminent sea-turtle resear- . He said he had no option but to lift the car
cher in the United States. "We've seen large because the 6-year-old "was wrapped under the
concentrations of other species at times in the wheel."
Ebony was listed in serious condition at St.
Caribbean, but not this big."
Vincent's Medical Center in the intensive care.
Carr said green turtles were severely depleted
in Caribbean waters. About 30 or 40 show up unit, while her sister was in fair condition, aceach year on Florida beaches. Far more plen- cording to a nursing supervisor.
The driver of the car, Helen Hanson, 53, of
tiful are such other species as loggerheads and
olive-Ridley, he said. About 60,000 olive- Stratford, has been charged with failure to stop
Ridleys have been known to tum up on Carib- for a school bus, said Officer Eugene O'Neill.
Hauser said he didn't have time to think about
bean beaches.
what
had to be done.
Christopher Columbus reported seeing vast
Hauser stopped his truck in the middle of the
concentrations of green tunles when he landed
on Grand Cayman Island in the Bahamas. street when he came upon the accident. After
"What we're seeing on Raine Island is probably trying to push the mid-size car, he turned on
what Columbus saw," Limpus said. "There its ignition to take it out of gear.
"As I got out, I grabbed underneath the
hasn't been a green turtle on Grand Cayman in
driver's
door because you get more leverage and
80 years. They've all been hunted out for the.
picked up the car as high as I could and a guy
meat. "
Although the Raine Island population is one came out of nowhere and pulled her out," he
of the last large concentrations left, hunting is said.
A nurse was neamy, and another passer by
catching up with it, too, Limpus said. In 1983,
statistics show, 36,000 green turtles were kill- covered the girl with a coat as they waited for
ed in Indonesia for food and for the shells. an ambulance.
Hauser said he lifts weights and has bench
Thousands more were taken in other pans of
pressed 275 pounds.
the animal's range.
Maturity for the green tunle does not come SOURCE: Chronic/e, Houston, TX
1/19/85
until it is about 50 years old, give or take a
decade, Limpus has calculated. By then, the CREDIT: Ray Nelke and Scott Parker
animal typically weighs more than 200 pounds
and measures about three feet in shell length.

Pursuit 41

--~~----------:

A 'Green Clo.d' Adds to

Soviet UFO Lore
Witnesses say it first appeared as a yellow
light, then as a white ray. Then, it became a
green cloud that turned into something resembling a plane.
It was the latest example of a phenomenon
that has caught Russians' imagination sightings of unidentified flying objects.
The witnesses were the passengers and crew
of Aeroflot 8352 on a night flight from Rostov
'to Tallinn and ground controllers who had seen
unexplained blips on a radar screen. And their
audience was a member of the Academy of
Sciences, who solemnly declared that the
sighting must have been of "what we call a
UFO."
.
The repon, carried today in the labor union
newspaper Trod. was one of a number that have
appeared over the years in a nation fasCinated
by unexplained phenomena such as Abominable
Snowmen, the Bermuda Triangle, Loch Ness
monsters and the sealt:h for the lost city of
Atlantis.
In 1967, the Soviet Air Froce set up a commission to investigate UFOs, though its findings
have not been made public. And Trod carried
an appeal from a Commission on Anomalies
asking for more repons of sightings.
The newspaper account emphasized the
sobriety of the crew, giving the names, educational backgrounds and flight experience of its
four members.
The second pilot, Gennadi Lazurin was
quoted as having said during the flight, "Of
course, they are going to say we are not
nonnal. "
But it seemed from Trod's account that, on
the contrary, they were being taken quite.
seriously.
According to the account, the adventure
began at 4: 10 A.M. on a clear night some 75
miles from Minsk when crew members saw a
bright yellow light that shot a thin white ray
toward the ground.
They watched, transfixed, as the ray turned
into concentric cones of light, and then
dissipated into a green cloud that crossed their
flight path and began to take on the shape of
a plane.
"Tell them it is Some son of cloud, " the captain, Igor Cherkashin, is said to have told the
flight attendant. "Say the yellow thing is a
reflection of city lights, the green thing of polar
lights ...
But ground controllers in Riga and Vilnius
confi~ the presence of a c10udlike plane next
to the Aeroflot airliner.
After landing in T8Jlinn, the crew learned that
ground controllers had seen not one but tWQ
blips following the Tu-134 across the radar
screen.
Nikolai N. Zheltukhin, a corresponding
member of the Academy of Sciences, ruled out.
weather as an explanation and said a genuine
UFO was involved.
He said his Commission on Anomalies had
made a study of UFOs and he called the sighting
a valuable documentation of the transformation
of an unidentified flying object.
Pursuit 42

------.

..

Not all newspaper accounts have taken UFOs

seriously. A television documentary in 1981
derided them, along with underwater monsters,
snowmen and the rest.
In 1976, an underground document attributed
to a professor at Moscow's Aviation Institute
referred to 300 UFO sightings over the years.
The repon was not confirmed, but its author did
not publicly refute it.
. ~ome of the purponed sightings have become
classics. These include a 1976 UFO said to have
hovered for 36 hours over Nalchik; a flying
saucer that purponedly appeared above a
railroad crossing near Moscow in 1961, stalling engines for 45 minutes, and an object that,
like the one reponed today, trailed an airliner
from Xorkuta all the way to Omsk.
The document drew a sarcastic rebuttal in the
youth newspaper Komsomolskaya PraVda.
deriding UFOs "and humanoids everywhere,
in trolley-buses and in palaces of culture," as
Russians call their community centers.
Komsomo/skaya Pravda even managed to
blame the Americans. It said the Pentagon was
using the UFO scare to justify more military
spending, calling flying saucers the "secret
weapon of the Bolsheviks."
SOURCE: New YoIt Times
1/31185

CREDIT: Greg Arend

Teenage 'Wolf Bow' Dies In India

A teenager who died at a missionary home
for the destitute and poor was reponed to be the
second wild "wolf boy" discovered in India
within a 22-year period.
The boy <!ied at Prem Nivas, a home operated
by the Missio!laries for Charity, said a
spokeswoman at the home in Lucknow, 270
miles southeast of New Delhi.
The spokeswoman said India's major
newspapers erroneously reponed that the
teenager was Ramu, the original "wolf boy"
. raised by a pack of wolves and found in 1954.
Ramu died several years ago.
"The boy who died was not Ramu. We called
him Bhaskar. He was originally called Bhaloo,
meaning bear, " the spokeswoman said in a telephone interview.
She said Bhaskar was originally called Bhaloo
because he had long, thick hair on his body.
The Press Trust of India domestic news agency said Bhaskar was found by a local village
chief in 1976 "frolicking with three wolf cubs
in a forest in Sultanpur district, near Lucknow. "
People believed he was reared by a wolf and
so they called him a "wolf boy," the Press
Trust said ..
It said Bhaskar was about 8 years old when
he was found. His nails had grown into claws
and he had a tangle of matted hair on his head.
The village chief tried to civilize the child but
failed, the Press Trust said, and Bhaskar was
then sent to Prem Nivas.
SOURCE: UPI in the Plansburgh Press
Republican, NY, 2/25/85
CREDIT: J. Zarzynski

----------.-~

Ancient Spad Peels Back T....

A botanist whose life's work is studying aneient potatoes says the discovery of
IO,OOO-year-old spuds in South America proves
civilization began in the New World at about
the same time as in the Old.
The remains of pOtatoes found in the Chilca
Canyon of Peru - a desen region that apparently was once fenile - clearly had been cultivated
from earlier, wild varieties, said Donald Ugent,
an ethnobotanist at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
.
"Previously, finds of wheat have been unearthed in Iran and Iraq dating back also to about
8,000 B.C., but nothing of a similar age had
been discovered in this pan of the world, " said
Ugent, who has spent 25 years Studying potatoes
and related crops of the Andes Mountains in
South America.
.
..
"But now, we have evidence that domestica-.
tion of plants probably sp.rang up all around the
world at relatively the same time period roughly about 10,000 years ago," he said,
Agriculture is generally regarded a~ a
hallmark of civilization.
By studying the structure of stalt:h grains in
the potatoes Ugent determined the potatOCl! had
been cultivated and not grown in the wild, he
said.
Ugent, 51, said the discovery suppons the
theory that early man migrated from Asia to the
New World via a land bridge before the ice age
began and that agriculture began on two continents vinually at the same time. .
.
"Formerly, everybody pOinte-d to
Mesopotamia as the Cradle of Civilization, .that
region in the Mediterranean stretching from
Turkey to Iran, Iraq, Palestine and Syria," he
said. "But apparently at the same time that area
was developing, we had a cradle of civilization,
so to speak, developing in South Ameri~ as
well," Ugent said.
Ugent recently returned from Peru, where he
is acting as chief botanist for an alt:haeological
project funded by the National Science
Foundation.
. .
"I get some ribbing now and then about my
work," Ugent said. "I'm called Potato Head,.
Mr. Potato, Old Spud. but I don't mind .. .It's
what we're finding that makes it wonh it."
SOURCE: AP in The Morning News,. ..
Wilmington. DE, 3/22/85
CREDIT: H. Hollander

Welsh.an Found A.erlca First?

A Welsh seafarer named "John the Skilful"
discovered America 17 years before Christopher
Columbus and may have explored from H!Jdson Bay as far south as Maryland, a British expen claimed.
Arthur Davies, a retired geography professor
who conducted a 50-year study, said in a paper
published in the journal of the respected Royal
Geographical Society that Skilful, whose real.
name was John Lloyd, reached North Al1).erica
in 1475. Columbus' voyage of discovery was
made in 1492.
Legend, of course, says the Vikings got there
.
.

First Quarter 1985

from Baffinland to well south of what is now

before any of them.
the USA....
"
Why didn't Lloyd trumpet his discovery?
Davies said a globe compiled in 1536 markHe wanted to keep it quiet, Davies reasons,
ed a point on the north coast of the Hudson
to keep rivals from moving in.
Columbus, said Davies, talked Queen Isabella Strait, the Southern tip of Baffinland, which
of Spain into letting him claim possession under "John Scolvus" "reached "about 1476."
Many recoids refer to Scolws as a Dane. But
the Spanish crown of all the lands he found
when he sailed west. But Lloyd, like most Davies said Lloyd", or L1wyd in the old Welsh
navigators of his day, had no such charter and tongue, was the navigator known as "Scolws,"
an old German word meal).ing The Scholar. He
kept quiet to protect his find.
"Earlier discoverers of North America, with "was referred to in contemporary documents as
no such charter, gained nothing ~ve by preser- "the greatest mariner in all England."
Davies said records in 1480 note that Lloyd"
ving secrecy from rivals who would otherwise
had retumed from a 9-month voyage to the west
move in," Davies wrote.
Lloyd was also trading with Greenlanders, some years" earlier.
"
He added that "only when the Gulf of St.
which was forbidden by royal decree at the time,
Lawrence proved a dead end (to the fabled route
Davies wrote.
Davies was professor of geography at Exeter to Cathay) in 1497" d~d he pass on his secret
University in southwest England from 1948 to to Cabot, who concealed the Welshman's iden1971 and is an honorary fellow of'the Royal tify as "John the Skilful, which as John Scolws
remained a mystery" until now."
Geographical Society.
He claimed that Lloyd later passed the secrets SOURCE: AP in The Tennessean
118/85
of his voyages to the famed navigator John
CREDIT: Harold Holland
Cabot.
Cabot, a Genoese like Columbus, perished
in 1498 while trying to find the fabled Northwest Passage route to China, in what is now
northeast Canada, under the patronage of King
Language of Love Unites
Henry VII of England.
'Talking' Ape and Kitten
It is widely accepted that Norsemen reached
what are now Canada's maritime provinces and
Koko the gorilla, which its keeper says has
the New England coast in the early Middle
a I,OOO-worid vocabulary in sign language, can
Ages . .
English fishermen are generally believed to flash the symbol for "happy" now - she has
have fished off Newfoundland as early as 1482. a new kitten to replace her pel cat struck and
But there i's no firm evidence they made it to killed by a car.
Koko had been in a funk ever since her old
any New World landfall.
Davies said in his paper that Lloyd reached pel manx, All Ball, was killed in an automobile
Hudson Bay in 1477 to rescue a hunting col- accident, officials at the Gorilla Foundation
"
ony of Greenlanders he'd taken there in 1475 said.
Ron Cohen, secretary of the Gorilla Founaboard Welsh ships trading illegally with the
dation, said the 13-year-old ape gave out a
declining Viking colony on Greenland.
"He took a hunting colony across from the tearless distress cry - a high-pitched hooting
old Viking settlement in Greenland, which was - when she learned of All Ball's death.
He claimed Koko understood when he told
dying out through lack of trade with Europe,
her the cat had been hit by a car.
into Hudson Strait, because there was fresh
Whenever the subject of cats was b.!"Oug.ht up
water, land and plenty of animals," Davies said
in Koko's presence, she would say the
in a radio interview.
"In 1477, when he went to rescue them, he equivalent of '~sleep cat" in American sign
language, Cohen said. She became so desponfound them all frozen to death."
"There is a map which goes back to 1499 dent that it was decided to get her another cat.
So Cohen and his associates showed Koko
which clearly shows the Hudson Strait and the
pictures of various cats and he said the gorilla
American coast down as far as New England, "
indicated she wanted a tailess male cat similar
Davies said.
"And yet the first man, according to to All Ball. .
A seven-week-old manx was located in Riverdocuments, to go through the strait was Henry
Hudson, an Englishman, in 1610. We can see side, Calif., and the cat was driven to the Gorilla
Foundation in Woodside, a San Francisco
from maps that it was done 110 years earlier. "
Peninsula community, and given to Koko.
DlI;vies said in his paper that his theOry was
"This is an exciting period for Koko, " Cohen
the result of a lifetime curiosity about persissaid. "She is gentle with the new kitten, hugtent legends in his native Wales and Madoc, a
ging and kissing him and placing him on h!=r
Welsh prince voyaged to the Americas in the
stomach as she lies on her back.
12th century.
"She w!"8ps him in a blanket and shows him
Davies said that when Cabot sailed from the
English port of Bristol in 1497, five years after her toys and trys tp sign talk to him. The kitten's fine. It's a beautiful cat and it likes Koko."
Columbus, he was taken in a Welsh ship, the
Koko was moved to the foundation from the
Mathew, on a secret route to the mouth of the
San Francisco Zoo when she was a year old.
St. Lawrence River in Canada.
"The conclusion is inescapable," Davies SOURCE: UPI in The Star-Ledger,
Newark, NJ, 4/3/85
wrote. "Before Cabot set out, the Atlantic
seaboard of North America was already known CREDIT: Member it432

First Quarter

1985

Sand. Time Fan to Keep

Bing from Ownel'
A ring given as a Valentine's Day present in
1936 is back on Ernestine O'Kane's finger after
being lost in the surf off Waikiki beach for 48
years.
"I can't believe it," Mrs. O'Kane said last
week. "It looks just like it did the day I lost it.
Mrs. O'Kane is the wife of Richard O'Kane,
a retired admiral and holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor. She was given the ring,
a miniature of her husband's class ring from the
U.S. Naval Academy, on Valentine's Day in
1936.
Four months later, she and O'Kane, her
childhood sweetheart from Durham, N.H. were
married. In June 1937, the ring slipped off her
finger near the Outrigger Club in Honolulu.
The ring was found by Wayne Schutt, 21, a
Navy hospital corpsman, who was roaming
Waikiki with an underwater metal detector.
"I found it about a foot and a half down in
the sand," Schutt explained as he sat in the
O'Kane's kitchen. "It was all black.
"1 could make out the diamonds and sapphire, though, and I knew it was an academy
ring."
After some scrubbing, Schutt made out the
inscription: "E.D.G. from R.H.,O'K."
Schutt found the Naval Academy's 1934 yearbook in the naval library at Pearl Harbor and
identified O'Kane as the only class member with
those initials
Schutt mailed the ring - glistening like new"
- and a personal Valentine to Mrs. O'Kane by
registered mail. At the O'Kanes' invitation, he
decided to fly to California to spend a few days
with them.
O'Kane commanded the submarine Tang during World War II. The Tang went through five
patrols before it was sunk by a runaway torpedo.
O'Kane survived the sinking and was taken
to a prison in Japan.
SOURCE: AP in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
2/17/85
CREDIT: Ray Nelke

Birds Intoxicated by Bemes

Hit Can
Hundreds of birds have been eating fermented
berries and flying beak-on into cars on U.S.
Highway 101, officials said.
Karen Fraad of the Santa Clara County
Humane Society said the birds got drunk after
eating the small red berries of the pyracantha
bushes along the freeway. about 50 miles south
of San Francisco.
No human injuries have been reponed. but
at last one accident involving several cars has
resulted. The birds are dying by the hundreds.
The California Department of Transportation
reponed plans to trim the bushes as soon as
posslble.
SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch. MO
2/10/85
CREDIT: Ray Nelke

Pursuit 43

Caase of Giaat Divot

He.aias a Mystery
Among aficionados of oddball natural occurrences, it's called the "cookie-cutter" puzzle.
The tenn refers to a mysterious hole in the
ground that was discovered in northwestern
Washington state on the Colville Indian Reservation, not far from the Grand Coulee Dam.
A chunk of earth 10 feet long, 7 feet wide,
and 18 inches to 2 feet deep, weighing at least
a couple of tons, was uprooted from a depression in a wheat field. It apparently arched
through the air, rotating slightly en route, and
landed virtually intact 73 feet away.
Since the time it fell, winter stonns have
blanketed the hole with snow. Cows grazing in
the field have trampled down the edges.
Nobody has figured out how or why the dirt
took flight. Several scientists have examined the
divot and come away scratching their heads. Investigators of unidentified-flying-objects (UFO)
phenomena have expressed interest.
Okanogan County fanners Rick and Pete
Timm, who found the displaced dirt, .notified
Don Aubertin, director of mining on the Indian
reservation. He suspected a meteorite fragment.
A geologist hired by the reservation took a look
and said no.
"There was no sign of impact," Aubertin told
a newspaper reporter when the story came to
public attention. "The hole was not a crater.
It had vertical walls and a fairly flat bottom.
It was almost as though it had been cut with
a giant cookie cutter."
Theories abound. One is that an earthquake
caused the freakish upheaval. A quake with a
3.0 rating on the Richter scale, its epicenter
some 20 miles from the hole, had rattled the
area nine days be(ore the Timm brothers'
discovery.
Stephen D. Malone, a University of
Washington earthquake expert, discounts that
possibility as "beyond the incredible." A quake
that small, he explains, lacks the power to boost
a heavy patch of turf out of the ground.
"A hoax, I think, is a possibility," Malone
says. So do some other scientists who have not
inspected the site.
Others say they don't ~ how a hoax could
have been perpetrated in the field, situated in
a remote area sprinkled with massive boulders
tha local residents call "haystack rocks."
For one thing, no sign of human intrusion no wheel tracks, footprints, or evidence of
machinery - were found.
Robert L. Schuster, a geologist with the U.S.
Geological survey in Golden, Colo., examined the puzzling hole. He leans toward the theory
that an underground methaI're gas explosion may
have popped the earth out.
"I'm not ruling out the earthquake, myself,"
says Greg Behrens, a geologist with the federal
Bureau of Reclamation at Grand Coulee Dam.
Behrens, who probably has spent more time
studying the riddle than anyone else, thinks the
methane theory is improbable.
Nevertheless, he sent soil samples of the
bureau's regional office in Boise, Idaho, for

Pursuit 44

analysis. No lab tests had yet been conducted;

low priority and a shortage of staff were given
as reasons. The government plans no further
investigations.
The quake could have generated concentric
surface seismic waves, Behrens says. "Trouble is," wrote John P. Timmennan, chairman
and treasurer of the Center for UFO Studies,
"that anything this large has neither been
witnessed nor monitored during a seismic
event ...
In his letter to Timmennan, Behrens cited
other potential natural causes of the so-far inexplicable uplifting: a "freak tornado" or a
"complex freezing action" combined with
strong winds. But, he wanly noted, the weather
was wann when the incident is supposed to have
occurred.
.
Behrens went on to mention several conceivable man-made causes, among them an excavation dug by an enonnous crane or an airborne pickup of the earth by a helicopter.
"Man has done more spectacular things,"
Behrens concluded. "But the cost would be high
and the profit nil."
The cookie-cutter mystery "doesn't hold up
as a very strong case for our field of study, "
says Timmerman, a savings-and-loan executive
in Lima, Ohio. But, he adds, "It's a little hard
to walk away from something like this, because
it's so tantalizing. It's very suggestive."
One scientist who is particularly tantalized by
the Washington incident is Bruce N. Kaliser,
hazards geologist for the Utah Geological and
Mineral Survey.
In 1978, on an inspection trip following a 3.5
earthquake in northern Utah, he came upon a
cross-shaped depression 14 feet in diameter.
The "only possible explanation" for it, Kaliser
concluded, was "an object dropped from an aircraft," possibly a large chunk of ice.
Holes in our planet almost never go unexplained. Most common are sinkholes, the kind
that occasionally make headlines with cave-ins
that swallow buildings, cars, and sometimes
people. Such subsidence, as it is called, usually occurs in the 15 percent of the United States
that overlies soluble limestone that erodes
underground, from causes both natural and manmade.
Nobody can say with certainty whether an
answer to the enigma, will ever be found. "It's
the most bizzare thing I ever saw, ,. says Don
Aubertin.
"There are just enough unknowns about this
case to have it hanging in the air, so to speak, ..
says Timmennan.
SOURCE: The Saginaw News
3/9/85
CREDIT; Member #432

Cod Be.ts The Odds In

YieldiD. An Earring
Waldemar Andersen has found a gold earring that his wife lost in the North Sea a week
before, in the stomach of a cod that he caught
at the same place, a Norwegian newspaper says.
Andersen's wife, Ragnhild, told the
newspaper Veniens Gang on Wednesday:

'Think of all the fish swimming around here and that the same cod that swallowed my earring should bite on my husband's fishing ~ook
a week later. It's completely improbable.'
The fishennan said he had not realized he was
fishing from the spot where his wife lost the earring. They live in Oslo, Norway.
SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
1112/84
CREDIT: R. Nelke

Feliae Friend Br.ves

WUds to Fiad Owner
When Alphonse Bodry suddenly became sick
and was taken to the hospital, he had no doubt
that his cat, Misele, would join him.
Misele dashed nine miles through stone quarries, fields and forests to St. Nicolas de Sarrebourg hospital. Ignoring visiting hours, she
instinctively found Bodry's room, pushed the
door open, and walked in.
"So, here you are," Bodry, 82, said matter- .
of-factly, as if he had expected his friend to
show up.
A nursing supervisor, who said she could not
give her name, confinned the story to
Associated Press.
Bodry and Misele live in the Moselle countryside outside Sarrebourg in northwestern
France. They share their small fann with some
chickens and cows.
.
The hospital administration is closing its eyes
to the violation of the rule against animals in
the rooms.
SOURCE: AP in the Chronic/e, Houston,. TX
1125/85
. .
CREDIT: Ray Nelke

Astroao.er S.ys Pyr ids Dot

Desi.aed for Sta...._ .
The theory that the Great Pyramid in Egypt
was oriented to serve as a star observatory is
apparently incorrect, a U.S. Navy astronomer
reports.
For many years Egyptologists and astronomers have specul~ted that the pyramid was
positioned to allow viewing of the North Star.
That is now being challenged, however, by
astronomer Dick Walker of the U.S. Naval.
Observatory's Flagstaff, Ariz., statio,..
Walker has calculated the positions' of the
stars 4,800 years ago, when the pyramiq was'
built, and detennined that at that time no prominent star could be seen from the base of the
passageway.
He found that if a builder places three stones
of equal dimension in a line horizontally, and
then raises the elevation by placing a fourth
stone on the end, an angle of 26.5 degrees IS
developed. That means the passageway's angle
could simply be the result of a common con-
struction pratice.
SOURCE: AP in the News-Democrat,
Belleville, IL, 1116/85
CREDIT: .Ray Nelke

First Quarter 1985

SlTUatioD

Reports of Panther Sightings In Delaware

Our thanks to our regular-c/ipping contributor, H. Hollander, for bringing this panther "mystery" to our attention. And thanks,
also, to William T. Ficka, reporter for
Delaware's Harrington Journal, who was kind
enough to send us the backup maten"al that he
wrote on the animal as follows:
On June 27, 1984 The mystery animal seen on the evening of
June 19 in the small wooded area between
Liberty and Clarlt streets in Harrington is just
that - a mystery.
Harold Ellwanger, who lives on E. Liberty
Street, thought it was a honey bear. He and his
wife, Gertrude and neighbors Billy and Carol
Ann Porter walked to the small wooded area
where the "honey bear" had been seen.
Lying there was a black creature of undetermined species.
"I still don't know what it was. It looked like
a panther," said Carol.
The mystery animal was between two and
three feet high and over four feet long, (including the tail, which was about two feet long)
and was wearing a collar, according to Carol.
"I couldn't believe the tail. It stood out
straight. It looked real muscular. But the collar
makes me think it was someone's pet," Carol
said.
"We threw {OCks at it, and it just walked off
like it was king of the jungle. It had a round
face, and its ears stuck up like horns," Carol
added.
Carol, who had brought a camera, snapped
a few shots (see photo) with a telescopic lens.
Paynter Lynch, game warden at the Fish and
Wildlife Division, said that with the exception
of the height, the description of the animal fits
that of an otter.
Otters are about 35 inches long with tails that
are about 25 inches in length, but they stand
only 10 inches high, according to Lynch.
Lynch said there are no bears of any kind in
Delaware.
The shape of its head and neck would make
it hard to put a collar on and keep it there,"
Lynch added.
Carol's original color photos definitely rule
out the possibility of the animal being an otter.
Those who have seen the pictures think the
animal resembles a panther or mountain lion.
On July 18, 1984 Harrington's "mystery animal" was sighted
again Saturday (July 14) on County Road 311
near Five Points, outside Harrington.
David Jones, president of JC Penney National
Bank in Harrington, was driving his car when
a large black cat-like animal dashed across the
road and into the weeds.
"I couldn't believe my eyes. I've never seen
anything like it," said Jones.
Last week Norwood Shahan, of Greenwood,
reported seeing a large black animal in the same
vicinity.

First Quarter 1985

Shahan, who sighted the animal from a

distance of 100 yards, said it was an "Afghan
hound."
But Jones, who saw the creature up close,
said, "It definitely wasn't a house cat or a dog.
Its tail was real thick and long."

at the edge of a field about 100 yards from her

home.
"I was in my kitchen and looking out. I
couldn't believe it. It was pure black, and much
bigger than a dog. It started running so fast, it
was like it had wings. I thought to myself
'Could that be a black deer!' "
Well-defined paw prints, apparently made by
a large cat, were tracked across the field leading
to a wooded area about 150 yards from the road.

'Hage Black Cat'

Reponed ia Delaware

~.~

.~~:

....
J'

The "mystery animal" walks off like "king of the

jungle .. This animal was photographed about 8 p.m.
on June 19 in the small wooded area between liberty and Clark streets in Harrington. Photo by Carol
Ann Poner

On July 25, 1984 Two large German shepherds and a mongrel

apparently were attacked last Thursday (July 19)
by the big cat-like animal that has stalked the
Five Points area for the past three weeks.
"It about took the hide right off them, " said
Sylvia Ellers of Five Points.
"He (one of the shepherds) can bite an
automobile tire and flatten it. So you know that
animal has to be pretty big and strong to cut
him up," said her husband George.
"That's right," said Sylvia. "Our mailman
had four brand new tires, and that dog bit a hole
right through one of them. "
Sylvia said she saw a large animal go under
her house about 9 a.m. on Thursday.
"At first I thought it was an overgrown cat. "
George and Sylvia raise chickens in a pen in
their "backyard.
The five dogs they own have been "acting
up for the last couple of weeks, " said George.
He believes the "big cat" could be trying to
get at the chickens and that the dogs have picked
up its scent.
Twelve-year-old Jimmy Wilkerson was in his
home when he saw the animal in a cornfield
about 15 yards from the house.
"It didn't really come out of the cornfield.
It stuck its head out and went back in. It looked
like the head of some kind of big cat. It was
all black."
On Nov. 21, 1984 A large black animal believed to be the "big
cat" that was sighted on several occasions during the summer was spotted again on Nov. 12
near a wooded area one mile east of Harrington.
Mary Kolbel, who lives on County Road 432,
Harrington, was in her kitchen at 7:30 a.m.
when she sighted the animal near a wooded area

Is a panther on the loose in rural southern

Delaware? State wildlife officials are skeptical,
but several reported sightings of a black, 4-footlong feline here are the talk of this town of about
2,500 residents.
At least 15 people, including a state trooper,
say they have seen the animal since mid-June.
Dozens of others have seen the hand-size tracks
the creature apparently has left behind.
"There's something out there. People keep
seeing it and calling us about it," said Harrington Journal owner Harry Farrow. Unhappy
with the state's reluctance to solve the mystery ,
Farrow has posted a $50 reward for anyone who
captures the animal alive.
Farrow, who has never seen the mystery cat,
reserves judgment on its true nature. But there
a few doubts among those who have close
encounters.
Gertrude Ellwanger, 65, said she and her husband got to within 20 feet of the animal as it
rested in a field behind her house"one morning.
One possible explanation is that it is the pet
of some local eccentric. Another is that it
escaped from a circus that visited the Hanington
fairgrounds in late spring. Details about the circus and its owners were not immediately
available.
Dietrich Schaaf, curator of mammals at the
Philadelphia Zoo, said black panthers were indigenous to tropical regions, such as in Asia and
South America, but could adapt to the Delaware
climate given enough food and shelter. He said
the mountain lion, a relative of the black panther, was native to the eastern United States but
was driven out by settlers 200 years ago.
Whatever the animal's origin, eyewitness accounts of a giant cat's roaming the area have
failed to impress state wildlife officials. Paynter
Lynch, the local game warden, has refused
residents' requests that he set traps or conduct
a search for the animal, and he has told the
Ellwangers and others they probably saw a dog
or an otter.
"If something unusual is found, we'll be interested in it, but I suspect this is just a dog,"
said H. Lloyd Alexander, Jr., supervisor of
operations of the state wildlife department.

SOURCE: The Philadelphia Inquirer

1217184

CREDIT: H. Hollander

Pursuit 45

The Notes of Charles Fort

, ,

DecIphered by Cad J. Pabst

..

ABBREVIATIONS

.. I

[For some obscure reason, Fon cut a notch

on the right side of the note.]1
..
[For some obscure reason, Fon cut a pOint on
"
the left side of the note.]
about
abo
Academy
Acad
accompanied by
ac by
ac. to
according to
American Journal of Science
A. I. Sci
(A I)
[ ? Almanac 1 ]
Alabama
Ala
Alpha Orionis
Alph. Orionis
American Joumal of Science
Am. J. Sci
American Philosophical Society
AmerPhilSoc
Annual Register
An. Register
Aurora .
Auro.
Report of the British Association for the AdBA
vancement of Science .
The Books of Charles Fort
BCF
between
bet
Bibliographic UniverseJle, new series
Bib. Univ., N.S.
['.I]
Bull Acad de Belique
Castor and Pollux
Cast. and Pol.
Central America
Cent. Amer.
Chaos [Fon's working title for New Land~
(Ch)
Chateau-Renault
Chat-R
Conjunction
Conj
correspondent
cor
Competes Rendus
C.R.
(Cut)
illustrated
The Book of the DIII1I11t:d, page 48
0-48
depanment
depan
detonation
(det)
dry fog
d. fog
"Dizaine ,.
French, "half a score" (ten)
East
E
Eclectic Magazine
Ec. Mag
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal
Edin N P. J
English Mechanic
E Mec
England
Eng
extraordinary
ext.
Fletcher's List
(F)
Finley's Reports on the Characters of 600
Finley's Rept.
Tornadoes
(Fr)
France
frogs
frgs
Gelatin
Gelat
Hungary
Hun
Inferior Conjunction
Inf Conjunction
(It)
Italy
Jour Amer Museum Nat. Hist Journal ~fthe Americ~ MuS!U.m of Natural
Histo1}'
Journal des Debats
Jour. des Debars
(L)
I?J

(continued from PURSUIT NO. 17,

Fourth Quarter 1984. page 192)
1840 Aug. 9-10 I 10-11 /I at Parma I
536 mets counted only inOJ!C !juaner of
the sky. I C.R. 111-406.
1840 Aug. f about 1840 /I Ladybirds I
Brighton I Times Index.
1840 Aug. 131 afternoon I Woodbridge,
Conn. I Tornado I Finley's Repon.
1840 Aug. 131 Fireball I Peru I BA 60.
1840 (Aug. 15) I Knightsford Bridge f
Aurora 10 p.m. - several brilliant columns shooting up in nonhem horizon I
several meteors I L.T., Aug. 19~.

Pursuit 46

1840 Aug. 15 1 Worcestershire I Aurora

I and at 10 p.m., when most distant,
several meteors I L. T. 19-6-e.
1840 Aug. 16 /. Toronto I met I BA
60-78.
1840 Sept. 2/8: 15 p.m. I Along Rhone
- q and "abundance of inflamed gases
from river marshes 1 BA 54-298.
1840 Sept. 41 [LTJ, 3-f I Sleeper I Ext.
1840 Sept. 9 I [LT], 7-b I Meteors at
Paris.
1840 Se~. 21-22 I Mets at peneva I
very numerous and very brilliant I C.R.,
111-1061 I
.
[Reverse side] They came from nonhem

La Sci Pour Tous

Lat
Ibs
Lac mets
Long
L.T.
Mag of Nat Hist
Mechanics Mag
Met. det.
Metites
Mets
Mt
Niles Nat Reg
N.J.
N:t.i.
NQ
N. S. Wales
N.W.
NY
Ob..
Op Mars
p.
Pa ..
(Pax)
pile
Phil
Phil Iour(1)
Proc. Amer. Phil Soc

Proc Roy. Irish Acad

q.
q-phe
R
11/ [Reverse side]
S
.
S.E.
(sic)
Stat
St. th.
substance x x. but
Sub volc
S.W.
Switz.
Symon's
Th. pebbles
Th. stone
tho storms
T. Y. Book
(ver)
vol.
volc
(X)
Y.B.

La Science POW Tous

Latitude
pounds
.,
Locus['.I] of meteors
Longitude
London Times
Magazine of Natural Hista1}'
Mechanics'Magazine
Meteor and detonation
Meteorites
Meteors
Mount
Niles' National Register
New Jersey
No More
NOles and Queries
New South Wales
Nonhwest
New York
Observatory
Opposition of Mars
page
Pennsylvania
[1]
phenomena

.,

,..

.,

.. '

..
;

Philadelph~

['.I] .
Proceedings of the American PhilosoPhical
Society
.
.: .'
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy
earthquake
~uake and phenomena
Reference
probably not related
South
Southeast
Latin, "so"
Stationary
: I'
['.I]
..
substance [Fon's ellipsis?] but
Submarine Volcano
Southwest
Switzerland
Symons' Meteorological Magazine
Thunder pebbles
Thunderstone
thunderstorms
Timb's Year Book
.. : :

[1]

volume
.volcano
[1J
Timb's :Year BOf'k

; .

..
.... :

sky.
Aurora at Brussels, . Italy , 1840 Oct. 17 I Red rain (eilnb) I
Valence, etc.; France I C. "Rendus
Germany.
1840 Oct. I Concord, New Hampshire 23/832'1 Date right?
I det met I stone said found I BA 60-78. 1840 Oct. 18 I Met I Paris I BA 60.
1840 Oct. I metite I Concord, New 1840 Oct. 19 I aurora and cj I. 9. in
Hampshire I examined at Yale College Bavaria and an aurora in Italy and France
~boratory I declared to be a meteorite IliA '541298.
I no nickel in it I (scoriaceous) 1
1840 Oct. 20 I Severe shock in clnn.
[Reverse side] no metallic points I A.J. Hlid been slighter shock several weeks
~i 2/~/356 I evide~ o~ hav~ng ~n . before. I ..
..
lD.tensel~ heated I said be Idenllcal With [Reverse side] Niles Nat. Reg. 59-144.
Bishopville stone.
'45
I Dubl' I
I84(lOct. 281 OJ [Heavy] I q I Greece
I8400ct
. . 519 . p.m.
ID great I BA I I
.
met I BA 581156.
.
[Reverse side] Large met, bright as 1840 Oct. 29 I Met. I ~russels 1 BA ~.
moon I B.A., 60.
1840 . Oct. 30 I q in Zante -I See

First Quarter 19a5

Anstead's work on Ionian Isles, pp.

415-19.
1840 Oct. 3O-Nov. 6 I ioo shocks at
least I Zante I Athenaeum 1840-1014.
1840 Nov. 2 I Jozieux I Fnmce I Meteor
I BA 60.
(BCF, p. 635:
London Times, Nov. 6, 1840 - the
Rosalie, a large French ship, bound from
Hamburg 10 Havana - abandoned ship
- no clew 10 an explanatio~. Most of
the sails set - no leak - valuable cargo.
There was a half-starved canlll)' in a
cage.
But I suggest that, with our hints of
Telepon&tion, we are on the wrong
track. Crews of vessels have disappeared, and vessels have disappeared.
It may be that something of which the
inhabitants of this eanh know nothing,
is concerned in these disappearances, or
seizures.]
1840 Nov. III (q and water) I Severe
shock at Phil accompanied by an
unusually heavy swell in the Delaware,
but members of Amer Phil Soc
(Reverse side] could not determine
whether caused by q or a meteor. I See
Nov 9,1810.
1840 Nov. II, 12, 13 I Mets watched
for in Washington, but none seen. I
PIOC. Amer. Phil Soc 1-301.
1840 Nov. 12 and Dec. 15 I Volc I
Gedeoh, -Java I N.M. I C.R., 70-878.
1840 Nov. 12 -131 Nothin80fext. mets
in Parma I C.R. 13-1035.
1840 Nov. 14 lab. 9 p.m. I
Philadelphia? I Shock and sound attributed to exploding meteor. I
(Reverse side] Proc Amer Phil Soc.
1-301.
1840 Nov 17 I Aurora over Comrie I
Scotland I vast cloud form (illustration]
in sky at night I L.T., Nov. 25171c,
1840. I [See The Fonean, #16, p. 245,
.C.3.]
1840 Nov. before 19t(h] I Ponstewan
and Deny coast of Ireland I bet 3 and
4 a.m. I A shock as of eanhquake or
storfm] or firing of guns at sea. 20
minutes later, a flash of
(Reverse side] lightning and sound of
thunder - that been similar phe in
Scotland. I L.T., Nov. 19, 1840 I
(Ponsewan).
1840 Dec. 41 Zurich I Meteor I BA 60.
1840 Dec. 6/9 a.m. I by an astronomer
of Reimes (sic), 10 sunspots I Y.B.
41-262, quoting Times of Dec. 12.
1840 Dec. 121 (LT], 2-f/ Singularphe
in Rutland.
1840 Dec. 211 Worcester I Aurora I in
Nonh horizon I streaks of light daning
toward horiz[on] I L.T., Dec. 25.
1840 Dec. 241 (LT] , 2-e 13 large spots
on sun.
1840 Dec. 25 -p 1/ Moravia, etc. I
Meteor I BA 60.
1840 Dec. 26, II Insects I Niles National
Register of - fall of insects
[Reverse side] with snow near Pottsville,
Pa.
.
.
.

I See Oct. 30, 1868.

1841 Jan. 24 and 26 I Fall of manna
widely in Asia Minor I La Sci Pour TOIlS
1-128.
1841 (Jan. 24 and 26] Gelat like Wilna
I Asia Minor I (0-48).

**

(BCF, pp. 4-48:

Competes Rendus, 23-54~:
That, in Wilna, Lithuania, April 4,
1846, in a rainstorm, fell nut-sized
masses of a substance that is described
as both resinous and gelatinous. It was
odorless until burned: then it spread a
vel)' pronounced sweetish odor. It is
described as like gelatine, but much
firmer: but, having been in water 24
hours, it swelled out, and looked
aliogether gelatinous It was grayish.
We are told that, in 1841 and 1846,
a similar substance had fallen in Asia
Minor.]
(BCF, pp. 53-54 I See 1829 II.]
(BCF. pp. 60-62:
In All the Year Round, 8-254, is
described a fall that took place in
England. Sept. 21,1741, in the IOwns
of Bradly, Selborne, and Alresford, and
in a triangular space included by these
three towns. The substance is described as "cobwebs" - but it fell in f1akeformation, or in "flakes or rags about
one inch broad and five or six inches
long." Also these flakes were of a
relatively heavy substance - "they fell
with some velocity. " The quantity was
great - the shonest side of the triangular
space is eight miles long. In the
Wemerian Nat. Hist. Soc. Trans ..
5-386. it is said that there were two falls
- that they were some hours apan a datum that is becoming familiar to us
- a datum that cannot be taken into the
fold, unless we find it repeated over and
over and over again. It is said that the
second fall lasted from nine o'clock in
the morning until night.
Now the hypnosis of the classic - that
what we call intelligence is only an expression of inequilibrium; that when
mental adjustments are made, intelligence ceases - or, of course. that
intelligence is the confession of ignorance. If you have intelligence upon
any subject, that is something you're still
leaming - if we agree that that which
is learned is always mechanically done
- in quasi-terms, of course, because
nothing is ever finally learned.
It was decided that this substance was
spiders' web. That was adjustment. But
it's not adjustment to me; so I'm afraid
I shall have some intelligence in this
matter. If I ever arrive at adjustment
upon this subject, then. upon this subject, I shall be able to have no thOUghts.
except routine-thoughts. I haven't yet
quite decided absolutely everything, so
I am able to point out:
That this substance was of quantity so
enormous that it attracted wide attention
when it came down That there is no record of anyone. in
1840 Dec. 27 I Mitau I Meteor I BA 60. England or elsewhere, having seen tons
1841
of "spider webs" going up, September.
1841 Jan. 2 I See Jan. I, 1842.
1741.
Funher confession of intelligence
1841 Jan. 241 q. I Carmanhen I p. 147

first Quarter 1985

upon my pan:
That, if it be contested, then, that the
place of origin may have been far away,
but still terrestrial Then it's that other familiar matter of
incredible 'markntanship" again - hitting a small, triangular space for hours
- interval of hours - then from nine
in the moming until night: same small
triangular space.
These are the disregards of the classic
explanation. There is no mention of
spiders having been seen to fall. but a
good inclusion is that, though this
substance fell in good-sized flakes of
considerable weight, it was viscous. In
this respect it was like cobwebs: dogs
nosing it on grass, were blindfolded with
it. This circumstance does strongly suggest cobwebs Unless we can accept that, in regions
aloft, there are vast viscous or gelatinous
areas. and that things passing through
become daubed. Or perhaps we clear up
the confusion in the descriptions of the
substance that fell in 1841 and 1846. in
Asia Minor, described in one publication as gelatinous, and in another as a
cereal - that it was a cereal that had
passed through a gelatinous region. That
the paper-like substance of Memel may
have had such an experience may be indicated in that Ehrenberg found in it
gelatinous matter, which he called "no
stoc." (Annals and Mag. ofNat . Hisl ..
1-3-185.)]
1841 Jan. 25 I 5:40 a.m. I shock and
rumbling sound I N.Y. and N.J. I Niles
Nat Reg 59-352.
1841 Jan. 28 I Lat 75= - 48 S I Long
168= - 33 E I Mt. Erebus, active vole.
discovered
(Reverse side] by Sir James C. Ross. I
A. J. Sci 2171328.
1841 Jan. 31 I qs at Carmanhen I B
Assoc '54/301.
1841 Feb. 9 or III Assam I q and met
I B Assoc '54 I See BA '60.
1841 Feb.-March I Black substance
found (after qs at Comrie?) BA 54, p.
289.
1841 Feb. 14 I Comrie I 247 shocks
recorded bet Oct. 3, 1839 - Feb. 14.
1841. I Edin N P. J 32/107.
(BCF, pp. 405-4061 See Oct. 3, 1839.]
1841 Feb. 17 to April I Nothing in
Sydney Morning Herald.
1841 Feb. 171 Vemet (Pyn!nks Orientales) I Salmon-colored dust I C.R.
13/62.
1841 Feb. '17, 18, 19 I Oily matter at
Genes, Genoa, etc. I (0-63) I (72) I
[Reverse side] CR, vol. 12.

**

[BCF, p. 64 I See April II, 1832.]

1841 Feb. 18 I q and fall of discolored
rain I Edin New [Phil] Jour 35/1481 (?)
1841 Feb. 18/-17-18-1911 repeat q and
repeat red rains I Stat and shock I Genoa
I a q slight, at 5 p.m. I another at II
p.m. and 3 showers of red rain I (B
Assoc 1854/302) I
[Reverse side] Red rain fell, evening of
17th: at different times. 18th; and II a.m.
19th. I oily mailer I (Ec. Mag 681437)
I decomposed seeds and sand I CR
13-216.

[BCF, p. 74:
Substance that fell, Feb. 17, 18, 19,
1841, at Genoa, Italy, said 10 have been
resinous; said by Arago (OEuvres,
12-469) to have been bituminous matter and sand.]
(BCF, p. 418:
For full details of the following circumstances, see Comptes Rendus.
13-215, and Repr. B. A .. 1854-302:
Feb. 17, 1841 - the fall at Genoa,
Italy, of a red substance from the sky another fall upon the 18th - a slight
quake, at 5 P.M., Februal)' 18th another quake, six hours later - fall of
more of the red substance, upon the
19th. Some of this substance was collected and analyzed by M. Canobbia. of
Genoa. He says it was oily and red.]
(BCF, pp. 405-406: I See Oct. 3. 1839.]
1841 Feb. 19 I At Bagnone. 8 miles
from Pont-Tremoli, rain of mud. I C.R.
121789 I Genoa and Parma.
1841 Feb. 21 - 22 I Foggia, Italy I q.
I II [Medium] I BA 'II.
1841 Feb. 23 - 25 I (Rain and q) I 3 days
.and nights of incessant rain with a violent
gale I on 26th. q which continued daily
I B.A. '54-302.
1841 Feb. 25 I (Fr) I Chanteloup IN.
France I "A stone or some substance x
x but very doubtful." I BA '60.
1841 Feb. 25 I Met I Parma I also Cherbourg and Chanteloup I BA 60-78.
1841 Feb. 25 I 3 p.m. I Meteorite fell
on a house in Chanteloup (Coutances).
I CR 121790 II
(Reverse side] CR 12/5141 At Bois-auxRoux. Commune of Chanteloup, ac. to
several witnesses, fell on roof of a
building and set it on fire.
1841 Feb. 25/271 March 811 Meteors
I Parma I BA 60-78.
1841 Feb. 26 I Violent q, Zant. ab 7
p.m .. preceded by 3 days and
(Reverse side] nights of incessant rain.
I BA 54.
1841 Feb. 27/4:40 a.m. I Met I Parrna I greater than apparent size of moon
I See Feb. 25.
1841 Feb. 27 I Rat I Times. Mar 3/6/e.

1841 March I - 31 I Jour. des Debats

1 nothing.
1841 March 8 I (det) I See Feb. 25. I
9:30 p.m. I Guastalla (Parma) I Met 4
times size of Jupiter I Loud explosion.
1841 March 15 I Princeton and New
Haven I Meteor I BA 60.
1841 March 20 I q. I Italy I Lipari
Islands I BA '11.
1841 March 21 or 22 I Detonating
fireball I St. Menchould. France I BA
'60-78.
1841 March 21 - 22 I night I Detonating
meteor at Commercy and Sainte
Menehould (Meuse) I See Feb. 25; and
C.R . Ap 12. 1841. p. 662.
1841 March 22 I Auro. I Durham I
Aurora Arch. 8:45 p.m . passedmidway
bet Aldebaran and Alph. Orionis. nonh
of Castor and a lillie south of
(Reverse side] Ursa Major and ab 5 N
of Arcturus. At 9 - bet Cast. and Pol.
and a lillie N or Arcturus. 9: IS - s of
C and Pol. and southern edge just

Pursuit 47

covered Arcturus. I (T. Y. Book

'42-271) I Timbs Y. Book.
1841 March 22 I q I Coblentz I "A
bluish meteor was observed during the
previous night over the volcanic mountains near Brohl;
[Reverse side] and on the same night a
ball of fire of unusual. size was seen at
Troyes, in France. I
[Timb's] Y. Book, '42-247.
1841 March 22 - 24 I Qs on 22, along
Rhine - 23 - 24, magnetic penurbations, Italy, Belgium, Canada.
[Reverse side] "Meteors were observed at several places." I BA '54.
1841 Mar. 22 - 24 I Q met I Shock in
Gennany. Magnetic penurbations, probably eanh-wide. "Meteors were
observed at several places." lB. A.
'54-302.
1841 Mar. 22 I Griineberg, Silesia I q
I BA '60 I (F).
1841 March 241 10:05 p.m. I Geneva
I met 8 or 10 times size of Venus I See
Feb. 25. I Ref: .
1841 March 30 19:02 p.m. I Geneva I
met as iffrom Gemini - abo[u]t 1/4 or
1/5 size moon I Ref - Feb. 25.
1841 April 8 - I Venus I Greatest
brilliancy.
1841 Ap. 17 I Op Mars I (A I).
1841 Ap. 18/ From 8 p.m, at Vidalia,
Louisiana,
[Reverse side] 60 meteors in 2 1/4 hours
from Virgo. I Am. J. Sci 42/397.
1841 Ap. 19,20 I Many mets I America
I BA 47-15.
1841 Ap. 20 I [LT], 5-c I q I Zante.
1841 April 21 I See Comrie, Jan. 8.
1840.
1841 spring I S.S. President vanished,
N.Y. to Liverpool.
1841 Ap. 29 I No Sydney Morning
Herald nearer than May 8.
1841 Ap. 29 I 20 inches of rain I South
Head. N.S. Wales I Sydney Morning
Herald, Feb. 26, 1873.
1841 May 4 I Shower fish I Buchen
(Baden) I Annals and Mag of Nat Hist
10-3-5.
1841 May 13 I Brussels I Meteor I BA

60.

Chieti.ltaly 114 and 15 - Azores I q's

I BA 'II.
1841 June 91 8:35 p.m. I bolide. reddish white. at Saint Ramben I C.R.
13-903.
1841 June 9/8 p.m. I bolide of Angers
and Toulouse I C.R. 13-229.
1841 June 12 I June 12 and July 4 /I
Stones I Repeat in 1842 but Toulon and
Spain I but see June 4.
1841 June 121 bet I and 2 p.m. I Metites
of Chateau Renard. in the Loiret !
Timb's 1842-271.
1841 June 12 I (F) I Trig. Chat-R I
Loiret. France I weighed 75 Ibs I at 1:30
p.m. I BA 60.
1841 June 12 I See June 12, 1850. I
.
Paris I Stone in Japan.
1841 June 12 and July 2 I Montargis.
in depan adjoining Loiret I See Sept. 6.
1841 June 121 See June 12. 1840. I July 17?
1841 (June 12) I July 12. C.R. of I A
member of the Acad says that the fall of
[Reverse side] an aerolite near Beaune
was a pure fabriction. I not same as
Chat-R - See CR 12-1191.
1841 June 12 I I :30 p.m. I Aerolite of
Chat. Ren I C.R. 13-88 /I
[Reverse side] Commune of Trigu~res
I 14-1048.
1841 June 14 - 151 q I Azores I BA 54.
1841 June 14 - 15 I Azores I qs I II
[Medium] I BA '11.
1841 June 20 I Venus I Greatest
brilliancy.
1841 June 23 and before I Notable
sunspots I L T, July 17-6-d.
1841 June 29, 30 I Shocks and sounds
I France! BA 54.
1841 June 29 - 30 I night I in Ucker;
mark I Rain of fishes I Jour. Amer.
Museum Nat. Hist 21-616.
1841 June 29 I 10 a.m. I first concussion, dept de I'Indre I 30. II :30 a.m ..
a stronger concussion I July 4 - 51 C.R.
13-232.
1841 June 30 I Concussion III :25 a.m.
I and sound I La Blanc (sur Indre) I CR
13/80.
1841 June 30 I Fish in Boston I Eng?
I 0-175.

July 15. 1841, it is said that the fishes and

were sticklebacks; that they had fallen [Reverse side] the atmosphere seemed
with ice and small frogs, many of which charged with electricity. I BA 54.
had survived the fall. We note that, at 1841 July 7 I evening I Explosion I
Dunfermline, three months later (Oct. powder mill near Faversham, Kent I
7. 1841) fell many fishes. several inches (Reverse side] Sheffield Patriot. July 13.
in length, in a thunderstorm. (London
1841 July 7 I (ver) I Timbs, 1842-204
Times. Oct. 12. 1841.)]
I Considerable number of fishes [fell] at
1841 July II (Cu(t]) I Town of Bayazid the Townhill. ab a .mile nonheast of
that disappeared - or "was swallowed Dunfermline.
up" in a quake. "The account requires
1841 July 8 I fishes and frogs I Times
confirmation. I B Assoc 54/306.
15-6-d - from the Sheffield Patriot1841 July 2, 23. 25, 26, 30, 311 Shocks at Derby - torrents of rain "mixed with
I Comrie I 23, 5. 6 really severe I 30. half-melted ice" and
violent I BA 54.
[Reverse side] hundreds' of small fishes
1841 July 2 - 3 I (See May 16.) I A-I from 1/2 to 2 inches long, but one of
I Loud detonations heard at Montargis. them weighing 3 ounces - some with
[Reverse side] Considered very spikes on backs. commonly called "5Otmysterious I no known cannon and the tiebacks" - many picked up alive sky was clear.
and frogs from size of a horse bean to
[Second page] The next.day it was learn- that of
ed that at Chateau-Renard. had fallen [Front side] a garden bean - many came
from the
down alive but most of them were kill[Reverse side] sky, a round black stone ed by fall on pavement.
weighing 45 kilogrammes. I J. des Deb
1841 July 81 Frogs at Derby I "mostly
9-2-3.
killed by the fall on the hard pavement"
1841 July 3/3 p.m. I at Navalcarnero, . l'Timb's.
near Madrid I An insupponable heat. I
1841 July I Writer in Derbyshire
J. des Deb 13-3-2-t I
Courier, 10th, says had seen some of the
[Reverse side] At 4, a tremendous
I ittle frogs alive in a glass of water and
tempest and a rain of stones. Said that leaves.
the surrounding country was white as
(BCF, pp. 183-184/SeeJune30,I84I.]
snow with the stones. It may be that they
1841 July 8 I Naples I 10 - Naples I
were hailstones.
13 - Vienna I qs I BA 54.
1841 July 4 - 5 I Indre I violent detontion and strong concussiolll 3, from ab 1841 July 13 I Austria I q. II [light] I
BA'II.
midnight to 4 a.m. I CR 13-232.
1841 July 4? I Montargis I See 1841 July 131 Denmark I Met - q I BA
'54.
substance. July. 1849.
1841 July 4 - 5 I Violent tho storms 1841 July 141 Marseilles I 17. at Aile
reponed from Tours, other places. I Jour I "Extraordinary movements of
(Reverse side] the sea were observed. I
des Debates 8-3-3.
BA 54.
1841 July 4 - 5 I q. I Paris I (BA 54)
1841 July 151 bet 4 and 5 p.m. I DenI C.R. 13/28, 80, 149. 232 I
[Reverse side] (London] Times. July mark and earthquake and "a vibration
in the
12-5-c.
[Reverse side] air like that produced by
1841 July 4 I Fireball I Blois and
a discharge of anillery. I BA 54.
Brussels I BA '60 I ab midnight 4 - 5,
1841 July 15 I Morning Chronicle of
the q in France.
1841 I Yam from Woodstock. A large
1841 July 4 - 51 q's and stone I (France)
tree been cut down. Taken 7 or 8
I night I Edin New Ph J. 36/368 I At
[Reverse side] horses to movIe]. Was
12:25. 3 shocks at Blois - at I a.m.,
seen suddenly to roll up a hill. I .
a globe of fire
(Front side] See June 20, 1902.
(Reverse side] burst in the air - great
1841 July 161 qs I [16]- Naples 117
red clouds and 2 explosions at Paris,
- Savoy I 18 - Baden 120 - Parma
Tours. and Nevers, at 12:45. I shock at
122 - Leghorn I BA 54 . .
Orleans at 4 a.m. I at Pontlevoy at 12:30
1841 July 17 I Milan I stonefall, ac to
and 3:40 a.m. I
Quetelet I BA 60.
[Front side] Explosion heard at Montargis, and it is said that half a league 1841 July 18 I Between Orleans and
from Montargis a stone fell from the sky. Rouen - torrential rains, roads under.
. 'This stone was round and of a dark water I L. T., July 26-3-f.
1841 July 18 I Huiricane disaste(r],
color
(Reverse side] and \\Ieighed 95 lb ... I See Strasburg, but sky bright and the upper
a series before 18107 I C.R. 13/28.80. clouds motionless. I (Reverse side] L.T .
1841 July 4 - 5 I At Nevers during q. July 26-3-f.
.1841 July 20 I Geneva I Meteor I BA 60.
clouds on the horizon were
(Reverse side] reddish and charged with 1841 July 22 I q I Marseilles and
Leghorn I L.T., Aug 3-5-d.
electricity. I J. des Deb 9-2-3.
1841 July 4 I night, and early 5th I qs 1841 July 22 I Th. stone I L.T., Aug.
and storms I large pan of France I Mor- 2-7-4 - from Chelmsford Chronicle"During the thunderstorm on the 22nd
ning Chronicle, 12th. p. 5.
1841 July 5/7 p.m. I Violent tho storm instant, a 'fireball' was seen to fall on.
in Paris and shocks felt I J. des Debat a field in Eldo, near Bury, adjoining the
gardens of the Mount. It has
5-2-4 .

1841 May 141 Venus InfConjunction (BCF. pp. 183-184:

Sun I (A I).
Living Age. 52-186:
That, June 30. 1841. fishes. one of
1841 May 16 I d'Essone I met I CR
13/91 I 11 p.m.
which was ten inches long, fell at
1841 May 16 I Montargis and Essonne Boston; that, eight days later. fishes and
ice fell at Derby.
I E to W I slow meteor I BA 60.
In Timb's Year Book, 1842-275, it is
1841 May 181 Annenia I great q I [BA]
said that, at Derby. the fishes had fallen
'11.
1841 about I Fishes - streets of in enormous numbers; from haIf an inch
to two inches long. and some conSalisbury I Phil Jour(?) 37/382.
1841 May 30 I "Waterspout" fell at siderably larger. In the Athenaeum.
Orange (Provence), France. I Timb's 1841-542, copied from the Sheffield
Patriot, it is said that one of the fishes
1842-275.
weighed three ounces. In several ac1841 June I Tutbury, Staffordslloire I
counts, it is said that. with the fishes,
frogs I NQ 8/61191.
fell many small frogs and "pieces of
1841 June I Fishes and frgs I Boston, half-melted ice." We are told that the
Eng and elsewhere.
frogs and the fishes had been mised from
1841 June I I q. I Jamaica I preceded some other pan of the eanh's surface.
by heavy rains I BA 54.
in a whirlwind; no whirlwind specified;
1841 June 8 - 91 Italy (Abruzzi), q 110, nothing said as to what pan of the eanh's
Tarante, etc., Italy I 14 - 15, Azores I . surface comes ice, in the month of July
BA 'II.
- interests us that the ice is described 1841 July 5 I q I large pan of centraIJ
1841 June 8 - 91 Abruzzi. Italy I 10 as "half-melted ... 1 the London Times, France I Orleans, the weather lowering

Pursuit 48

(to be continued)

First Quarter 1985

The Society For The Investigation of The Unexplained

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. BOll 265, Little Sliver, NJ 07739-0265 USA Tel: (201) 842-5229
GOVERNING BOARD
Robert C. Warth President; Gregory Arend, Vice-President; Nancy L. Warth, Secretary
and Treasurer; Trustees: Gregory Arend, Marie Cox, Frank Tlewski, Nancy L Warth,
Robert C. Warth, Martin Wlegler, Albena Zwerver;
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. George A. Agoglno, Distinguished Director of Anthropology Museums and
Director, Paleo-Indian Institute, Eastern New Mexico University (Archeology)
Dr. Carl H. Delacato, Director, The Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Brain
Injured, Morton, Pa. (Mentaiogy)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Director, Undheimer Astronomical Research Center, Northwestern University (Astronomy)
.
Dr. Martin Kruskal, Program in Applied Mathematics, Princeton University,
Princeton, New Jersey (General Biology)
Dr. Samuel B. McDoweU, Professor of Biology, Rutgers the State University, Newark,
New Jersey (General Biology)
Dr. Vladimir Markotic, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Archaeology,
University of Alberta, Canada (EthnollOciology and Ethnology)
Dr. John R. Napier, Unit of Primate Biology, Queen Elizabeth College, University of
London, England (Physical Anthropology)
Dr. Michael A. Persinger, Professor, Department of Psychology, Laurentian
University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (Psychology)
Dr. Frank B. Salisbury, Plant Science Department, College of Agriculture, Utah
State University (Plant Physiology)
Dr. Berthold Eric Schwarz, Consultant, National Institute for Rehabilitation
Engineering, Vero Beach, Florida (Mental Sciences)
Dr. Roger W. Wescott, Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew
University, Madison, N.J. (Cul.al Anthropology and Ungulstlcs)
Dr. A. Joseph Wralght, Chief Geographer, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey,
Washington, D.C. (Geography and Oceanography)
Dr. Robert K. Zuck, Professor and. Chairman, pepartment of Botany, Drew
University, Madison, N.J. (Botany)
ORIGINS OF SITU/PURSUIT
Zoologist. biologist. botanist and geologist Ivan T. Sanderson. F.L.S . F.R.G.S . f.Z.S . ln assoclatlon with a number of other distinguished authors. established In 1965 a "'foundation" for the exposition and research of the paranormal - those "disquieting mysteries of the natural world" to which
they had devoted much of their Investigative lifetimes.
As a means of persuading other professionals. and non-prof!!llslonals having Interests similar to
their own, to enlist In an uncommon cause, the steering group decided to pubUsh a newsletter. The
first Issue came out In May 1967. The response, though not overwhelming, w.. sufficient to reassure
the founding fathers that public Interest In the what, why and where of their work would Indeed survive them.
Newsletter No.2, dated March 1968, announced new plans for the Sanderson foundation: a str1llcture larger than Its architects had first envisioned w.. to be built upon It, the whole to be called the
Sodety for the Investigation of The Unexplained, .. set forth In documents filed with the New Jersey
Secretary of State. The choice of name was prophetic, for Dr. Sanderson tided one of the last of his
two-dozen books "Investigating the Unexplained," pubUshed In 1972 and dedicated to the Society.
Another publication w.. Issued In June 1968, but "newsletter" w.. now a subtlde: above It the
name PIJllIJlJITw.. displayed for the first time. Vol. 1, No.4 In September 1968 ("Incorporating
the fourth Society newsletter") noted that "the abbreviation SITU has now been formally adopted ..
the designation of our Society." Issue number4 moreover Introduced the Scientific Advisory Board.
Ustlng the names and afflUations of the advisors. Administrative matters no longer dominated the
contents; these were relegated to the last four of the twenty pages. Most of the Issue was given over
to investigative reporting on phenomena such as "a great armadillo (6 feet long, 3 feet high) said to
have been captured In Argentina" - the Instant transportatloD of solid objects "&om ODe place to
another and even through solids" - the attack on the famed University of Colorado UFO Project headed
by Dr. Edward U. Condon - and some updated Information about "ringing rocks" and "stone spheres."
Thus SITU was born, and thus PfIlISlJITbegan to chronicle our Investigation of The UnesplalneGl.
Printed in U.S.A.

ISSN 0033-4615

'Science is tbe P.rs.it 01 tbe Vnexplained'

Journal of SITU
The
Society for the
Investigation of
The Unexplained

Various objects that were apparently telekinetically inftuenced. See "K:

A Presumed Case of Telekinesis," page 50.

Volume 18
Number 2
Whole No. 70
Second Quarter
1985

The Society For The Investigation Of The Unexplained

Mail: SITU/PUR,SUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 07739-0265 USA Tel: (201) 842-5229
SITU (pronounced sit'you) is a Latin word meaning "place." SITU is also an acronym referring
to THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE UNEXPLAINED.
SITU exists for the purpose of collecting data on unexplaineds, pro.moting proper investigation of individual reports and general subjects, and reporting significant data to its members.
The Society studies unexplained events and "things" of a tangible nature that orthodox science,
for one reason or another, does not or will not study.
You don't have to be a professional or even an amateur scientist to join SITU.
MEMBERSHIP
Membership is for the calendar year, January-December: in the United States, 512 for one year; 523
for two years; 533 for three years. Membership in other countries is subject to surcharge, to cover higher
cost of mailing. Amount of surcharge, which varies according to region, will be quoted in response to
individual request. Members receive the Society's quarterly journal PURSUIT plus any special SITU
publications for the year of membership. Original "back issues" and reprints (issues of PURSUIT dated
prior to the current publishing year) are available for all past years. Send check or money order for total
amount with request identifying issues desired by Volume, Number and Year. Price is 53.00 per copy,
postpaid within the U.S. Please allow four to six weeks for delivery.
. SITU welcomes members' participation. Articles, photographs, newspaper and magazine clips, book
reviews and other contents including "letters to the editors" should be sent to SITU/PURSUIT at the
above address if they are to be considered for publication in PURSUIT. The Society assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material and will not return unaccepted manuscripts unless provided with an
addressed return envelope bearing sufficient return postage.
All mail, including changes of address, library orders, postal errors, back-issue requests, renewals,
gift memberships and donations, should be sent to SITU /PURSUIT at the post office box address at
the top of this page. To avoid being charged our forwarding cost. please allow six or more weeks'
advance notice of change of address.
OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATION
SITU has reference files which include original reports, newspaper and magazine clippings, correspondence, audio tapes, films, photographs, drawings and maps, and actual specimens. Reasonable
research requests will be answered ~y mail, but because of the steadily"increasing demands upon staff
time, a fee for research will be charged. Members requesting information should enclose an addressed,
stamped envelope with the inquiry so that they may be advised of the charge in advance.
The legal affairs of the SOciety are managed by a Board of Trustees in accordance with the laws of
the State of New Jersey. The Society is counselled by a panel of prominent scientists designated the
Scientific Advisory Board (see inside back cover).
IMPORTANT NOTICES
The Society is unable to offer and is not obligated to render any services to non-members.
The Society does not hold any political, religious corporate or social views. Opinions expressed
in PURSUIT concerning such matters, and any aspect of human medicine or psychology, the social
sciences or law, religion or ethics, are those of the individual member or author and not necessarily
those of the Society.
The Society's membership list is restricted to mailing the journal PURSVITand special SITU publications, and as necessary to the administration of SITU's internal affairs. Names and addresses on this
list are not available for sale, rental, exchange or any use except the foregoing.
Contributions to SITU, but not membership dues, are tax deductible to the extent permitted by
the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, and in some states as their taxing authorities may. permit.
PUBLICATION
The Society's journal PURSUIT is published quarterly. In each year the issues are numbered respectively from 1 through 4 and constitute a volume, Volume I being for 1968 and before, Volume 2 for
1969, and so on. Reduced-rate subscriptions to PURSUIT without membership benefits, are available
to public libraries and libraries of colleges, universities and high schools at 510 for the calendar year.
The contents of PURSUIT is fully protected by international copyright. Permission to reprint articles
or portions thereof may be granted, at the direction of SITU and the author, upon written request and
statement of proposed use, directed to SITU /PURSUIT at the post office address printed at the top
of this page.

THE QUARTERLY
JOURNAL OF THE

It.

ISOCIETY FOR THE

INVESTIGATION OF
THE
UNEXPLAINED

'SCIENCE IS THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEXPLAINED'

Contents
K: A Presumed Case of Telekinesis
by Berthold SchwaIZ
How Chemistry Tracked the Prehistoric Amber Trail
by Professor CUlt W. Beck .
The Bennuda Triangle: What's Left When the Wreckage Settles?
by Michael D. Swords
Captures and Stranding of Monsters in Loch Ness, Part II
by Ulrich Magin
The Newark Works - Key to a Lost Technology
by K. W. Moak
"Phantoin Hitchhikers Haunt World's Highways and Roads"
by Harry Lebelson
The Tzolkin: An Interpretation
by Stuart W. Greenwood
Our Mexican Ancestors .
by Maurice Chatelain .
Porphyria - Can it Explain Vampires and Werewolves?
~~~

Page
50
62
64

67
68
74
75 .
78
~

Meet E.T. in St. Louis - The 1985 MUFON UFO Symposium

by Michael D. Swords
Two Explanations of Zombies
two related SITUations
SITUations
The Notes 'of Charles Fort
Deciphered by Carl I. Pabst

86
90
91
94

We had the opportunity of recently

visiting with Dr. Berthold Schwarz, a
member of SITU's Scientific Advisory
Board, and later we spoke at length with
Joey Nuzum, the subject of Dr.
Schwarz's investigation as told in this
lead article "K: A Presumed Case of
Telekinesis. "
Dr. Schwarz is the author of
numerous books, articles and papers in
the field of psi phenomena. He has had
the courage to tread on the "shaky
ground" where but a few such eminent
scientists have dared to step.
We asked the opinion of other writers
of parapsychology before we decided to
reprint his article in PURSUIT and their
reactions were mixed. However, Dr.
Schwarz himself would readily discuss
the fact that his research has brought
him many critics, outright scoffers and
even a few charlatans who tried to embarrass him.
As the title says this is a presumed
case of telekinesis and, with this in
mind, we hope that you will enjoy
reading about it.
Dr. Schwarz's latest book, a two. volume set, is titled "UFO-Dynamics"
published by Rainbow Press.

CorrectloD

PURSUIT
a unique gift for anyone!

In the last issue of PURSUIT, Vol.

18, No .. 1, on page 35, note 3 should
read: "Knight, Damon. Charles Fon:
Prophet of the Unexplained ... "

PursuitVol. 18, No.2, Whole No. 70, Second Quarter 1985. Copyright 1~85 by The Sociely for the I~vesligalion ~f lhe Unexplained, ISSN 0<.l33-46~5. No ~
of this periodic81 may be reproduced with?UI the written ~nsent of the Society. ~obert C. Warth, Pubhsher and Eduor, Nancy Warth, Producuon Editor, MartlD
Wiegler, Consulting Editor, Charles Berhtz, Resean:h Editor and Oceanographic Consultant.

Second Quarter 1985

Pursuit 49

K: A Presumed Case of Telekinesis

by Berthold E. Schwarz, M.D.
Abstract: A presumed case ofteiekinesis that took place during
several months in 1984 is presented by a psychiatrist who witn~ssed many of the events. Description, discussions and implications of the events are given.
Introduction

~:~.. {. ~ ~ .
..
f-,: .' :'fhe purpose of this preliminary report is to describe '~~~*s

it:b(presumed telekinetic demonstrations, some of whi~~~~.r:

-..~~ed by color video~pe equipme~lt under magnificat.C:!n~~d
.' ful:J. Jlght. Separate audiotape recordmgs were alw made ~~~n
;~ fWible. The subject is K, a 25-year-old unemployed fot.:fujjy
wqrker from a small city in western Pennsylvania. He h'Mit'Pparently, over the years, developed some control over telekinetic
faculties" K is also highly skilled in escapes, illusions and sleightof-hand. He has i>erfonned niany times before the public, his
peers, and magicians. Two well-known Pennsylvania magicians
(Pryor and Bastian) commented that they had never seen anything comparable to K's presumed telekinetic feats [1J. They
also reported that colleagues and themselves were unable to du: plicate these phenomena under the exact conditions that prevailed during K's demonstrations. (See Figure 1)

History
This report presents in chronological order data spontaneously
observed and produced under the conditions described in my
Vero Beach, Florida, office and condominium, and in Pennsylvania. It is not my purpose to dwell on historical factors.
However, a brief background statement and some anecdotal mateiial is helpful.
K is the oldest of three siblings. He has a sister four years
younger and a brother seven years younger. He lives by himself
and dropped out of school in the tenth grade because of difficulty in acquiring facility in reading; writing and mathematical.
skills [2].
There is no past history of sociopathic disturbance, and this
. was affinned by interviews with his parents, brother, girlfriend,
and citizens in his community, He: worked for three years' in
a hardware store and' then' was employed' in a .foundry for four
years. He has a certificate 'attesting' to his 'completion of a lethal
weapons training course, and he was eligible to work as a security guard, but because the officer in charge could not obtain his
fingerprints ("no deltas"; more of this later), this ambition could
not be fulfilled [3J. According to K and his parents, his lifelong ambition was to be involved with magic. Along the way,
he became absorbed in psychical phenomena, but this was mitigated by understandable ambivalence on the part of his family and himself. As fundamentalists, they had religious reservations about psi I.
AS.an example, they cited K's paternal great-uncle who had
been the leading local magician until he gave up magic when
l presumed psychical phenomena; 'such as levitation, took over,
and, he was dissuaded by the imprecations of his preacher
brother. Although K never met his magician great-uncle, he was
aware of the situation. He also had knowledge of other psychic
'Psi is an encompassing renn for various aJlllllrelldy psychic phenomena including relepathy,
clain(OYance, precognition, telekinesis, releponation, materialization, demalerializalion,
aiKt levitation,

. .
,

Pursuit 50

Figure 1. : K during demonstration .::.:' . . '

:.

. i

experiences in tne family, and he particularly recalled vividly

one astonishing presumed precognitive dream that his mother
had had and which might have saved his father's life.'
Although the family possessed considerable natural musical
ability and played for various church and social functions, .K
himself did not develop these particular talents, nor did the rest
of the family develop psychic abilities. Instead, K worked in
solitude on a variety of presumed telekinetic and other psyohic
feats. He was at first reluctant to describe these things:tb! Die,
preferring to let' 'the facts speak for themselves . NevertheleSs,
his parents told me how, on occasion, Kwould:, (I) "make"
a coin stand on end" or levitate; (2) cause a crumpled dollai':bill
under glass to rise; and (3) similarly to his great-uncle, also
"make" a broo~ stand on either end until released from.his
"passes" while he was presumably 'entranced. Early ,iil:his
career, K had apparently developed an ability to bend metal objects, including tableware, ,nails,pokers; screwdri.vers,:keys,
coins and .other items.: He said that in' expenmerits/ he:could
sometimes stop or start the penduhilil of a clotk or. apparehtly
influence electronic and mechanical tinlepieces. Possibly for this
or related reasons, he stated that he could never wear a
wristwatch.
K stated that on rare occasions, while entranced, the electric
lights spontaneously diminished in their luminosity in seeming
tandem with his trance. He reported that he had also on occasion telekinetically "zapped" insects that were enclosed in jars,
and they quickly became lifeless. He stated further that he had
developed the ability to shatter glass and, on one occasion, had
a piece of bullet-proof glass approximately one-inch thick in
his hand which, while he was entranced, was reduced to many
!iny fragmepts: ,H~ s~ted that a~oth~rt.im~ he insertedN~"fist
lOtO a glass fishbowl, and then the bowl shattered .. HoweYer,
this time a piece of flying glass allegedly lodged in the lateral
sclera of his eye, and he had to be seen in the hospital emergency
room for removal of the foreign body. Because of the oddness
of this experiment, he did not tell the attending physician how
! .'
. , ,.,.(".
he had been injured.
SeconcLQl!arter( Wa5

on

K said' that
occasion he has opened locks by: (1) merely
holding his' hand over them; and (2) having someone else put
their finger through the curved fastening while holding the works
of the lOCk in the other hand until, on K's command and while
he w~:'in'a:trance-like state, the lock would open. He recalled
how .tie ttad once accepted a challenge from the audience and
was handcuffed, and was unable to escape by his usual acrobatic~; . 'j)ui' fit the 'cnsis point, the Jock suddenly opened
automaticiiIi)'. He has not attempted, nor was he aware of, electronic voice phenomena nor thoughtographic 2 [4) effects with
a motion picture camera.
On a few occasions, he had attempted thoughtographic Polaroid shots and he also once recalled a possible spontaneou~
effect when he was having his Polaroid picture taken for his
driver's license. Instead of getting his picture, the first Polaroid
came out blank (a "whitey") [5). The second picture was a su"
Cess. He commented on this to his friend who had accompanioo
him. Further anecdotal material on his alleged psi was supplied
by this friend and acquaintances [5,6).
Makeup
K~ psychodynamic makeup is not unlike the general foimulations espoused for Stella Lansing (a woman of considerable
pi-esumed thughtographic and various psychic talents) [7) and
other paragnosts] [8,9). K is ofa passive demeanor. He has the
ability to quickly enter a trance-like state where he apparently
can focus with intense concentration on his telekinetic feats. For
much of the time he would othelWise appear to be absent-minded
or day-dreaming.
Although on formal testing K's memory is intact, his general
information, verbal, mathematical, reading and writing skills
are not highly developed. He gives the overall impression of
being intelligent. However, his cognitive deficiencies might have
posed problems for him in seeking employment. While living
with my wife and me, he was always courteous and considerate.
He was warm, responsive, and had a gentle sense of humor.
K is a "night owl" [10). He has attributed this to his work
. in the foundry when he was on the graveyard shift. The quiet
of the night, when there are minimal distractions from extraneous
noises arid sounds, is also his preferred time for telekinetic experimentation. His speech is slow, literal and direct.
K showed anxiety, if not phobic concern, when handling insects necessary for a proposed experiment or in examining sectioned bovine aortic rings4 and drugs. He was fearful of inadvertently injuring somebody.
K has a monomania for his telekinetic experiments. When describing those 'occasions, he has seemed to project his energy
and thoughts - almost as if the telekinetic object had taken on
an independent existence and individuality; e.g., "It's not me
- I didn't doit - Look at what is happening." Everything
in his :life seems to center upon his presumed psychic interest
and achievements. He is modest and frequently blushes. He is
upset at any display of supposed anger or irritation on the part
Of others: for example, when my wife and I exchanged words
over.some triviality. His speech is frequently interspersed with
Biblical similes and metaphors pertaining to belief, faith,

as,

l'Iboughtograpil implies the menial abilily 10 projecl a picture on film or a pholographic

plate: psychic photography.

IJtaragnosIs are people who apparently have developed sensilivities to paranonnal knowledge
and abilities.

'AllempIS 10 link the aortic: rings or bend Ihe brass rod in an apoxysealed tesllUbe were
u_fIII in Florida and in subsequenl Pennsylvania'lo-Fiorida long-dislance telekinetic
ellJlCrimenlS ending April 4. 19&4.

Second Quarter 1985

-rSiiiCe PURSUIT is Dot a medical journal, we have ~i-'mis

SiOiJ:to disclose that "K" (above) is Joe A. Nuzum. He wants
his feats known and is wiJIing to submit to further objeetive
testing.
.miracles and goodness; e.g., "accentuate the positive and
eliminate the negative."
K commented on episodes earlier in his life when he had been
bullied and how he learned to defend himself. For example, one
recollection was of grammar school and being attacked by a bulIy. He was so surpised at his own counter-rage that when he
looked at the bully, the boy supposedly fainted at young K's feet.
Later K became adept in the martial arts. He gave many other
similar, although perhaps less dramatic, examples of possible
suppression and repression, muted rage, tumultuous passions,
and times when he could mobilize great physical strength. For
example, he recalled how he once became enraged and smashed
a chunk of cement out of the basement wall with his fist. Another
time, in a fit of rage, "they noted white stuff coming out of
my mouth - I shook allover, and my throat was extremely
tight. I couldn't talk after that. Later, I found that I could break
a brick with the back of my hand" [II).
Although physical and neurological examinations and laboratory studies, including an electroencephalogram, could not be
undertaken at this time, aside from two areas that bore investigation, there was no evidence from my brief physical examination 9f him and from his history of any physical conditions having direct bearing on his.presumed.psychic faculties. If anything,
his history of performing dangerous escapes would indicate his
higbly-developed coordination, musculo-skeletal, visual-motor
and cardiovascular-pulmonary faculties. He appeared to be in
superb physical condition. Although right-handed, he is also
skilled in the use of his left hand. By studying his history and
looking at his scrapbooks, one may infer that he gets a thrill
out of courting danger.
When upset, K often would not show his concern to others
but communicated this privately. His anxieties were usually in
the realm of interpersonal relations or, more generally, resulted
from distracting noises from automobiles or young people out
side the office. When this happened one evening, Jhere was
failure after failure followed. by only. minimal success., As: a
result, he became upset and depressed the following day.
Emotionally, K was often either at the pinnacle of success
or in the depths of despair. Everything seemed to depend on
having his self-confidence high. Perhaps, like his escapes, he
seemed to gamble everything on his feats. It was important for
him to have the proper setting and support system [IS, r6);~nd
Pursuit 51

a positive, helpful attitude, either from those participating in

the experiments or from afar (that is, the not infrequent longdistance phone calls from his mother or girlfriend).
Preparation
According to K, almost all of his presumed telekinetic
deQlonstrations take place while he is in a trance-like state. He
must seemingly prepare himself by being rested, and then, with
. minimal distractions, he asks those present to be quiet, not to
move and not to speak, while he focus.es all his attention o~
the task at hand. If he instructs someone to hold a key, coin
or other piece of metal which he will bend without han~l.ing,
the 'modus operandi is the same. He is particularly conc~~m~.
about people who sit next to him and can upset his trance '~itlr
movements, noises, or distractions occurring in his periphe~J
field of vision. Any upset is disquieting and can break the trance~'
and he must begin all over again.
.' .(1-:,:
While going into his trance, he either looks far away, develops
a blank stare, or closes his eyes. He holds his outstretched, extended, and often tremulous hands near the object of his attention. Oftentimes, he becomes pale and breathes deeply and rapidly. He usually repeats the exact procedures and' methods that
were previously successful. For example, even though he readily
admits there is no rationale, he might prefer blue-headed paper
matches rather than red ones if that choice was successful in
the past. As another example of possible literalness or fragmentation of thought, not unlike that noticed in telepathic-psychodynamic drawing exchanges [12], K occasionally asked that a
lighted candle be placed on the comer of the table as a
preliminary prerequisite to the experiment. This was requested
even though electric lights were shining brightly.
K's ideas for his experiments often seem to be autochthotonous' and come presumably from his unconscious. Although, for
example, he admired Uri Geller's [13,14] feats - his metal
bending and many other reputedly amazing skills - K wants
to be known for what he does himself, and for that reason he
showed reluctance to attempt psychic metal bending unless i~
was his own particular "brand."
The following serial events and comments speak for themselves. Forconvenience, the following material is presented from
Janulll)' 13, 1984, until January 21, 1984, in chronological order
as Day 1, 2, 3, and so on. All ~e attempts at telekinesis took
place while K was in a trance-like state. In many instances, parts
of the relevant psychic nexus [6] are included. The apparent
prerequisite conditions, influencing factors, experimental failures
and other data are often described so that there may be a better
understanding of how K's psi. might work.

Approximately 6:30 P.M.: K came to the office, asked for

some tableware and took a stainless steel, silver-plated knife
with a handle 13 cm. long. He held the knife handle, causing
it to bend an estimated 2 to 3, and there was also a depression where he had positioned his thumb (see Figure 2). He did
not seem to exert any pressure on the handle while he was in
a trance-like state.
Day 2: Saturday, January 14, 1984
. K slept late because he said he had been up the previous 24
hours. He appeared bewildered. This was the first time he had
flown and this was also the first time that he was being taperecorded. Early in the afternoon at the office, he emptied a box
of wooden matches on top of a wooden table covered with a
dark blue tablecloth. The matches were clumped in random order
~nd were covered with a glass dish 9 cm. high and 18.5 cm.
in diameter. K failed to move the matches in numerous
telekinetic attempts. While entranced, his eyes were closed, his
breathing was rapid and shallow, and his hands were either at
his sides or extended around the glass dish. At the conclusion,
he wondered if he was trying too hard.
We took a walk and came back to the office, and I showed
him some locks. One - a brass lock - was closed, the key
having been lost years before, and the other one, a combi~a
tion lock (Master Lock Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 162106),
was also shut. The combination. had been lost more than 16 years
before. It had been used by my daughter for her elementary
school locker. K instructed me to hold the lock with my finger
through the curved latch while holding the mechanism in my
other hand. He zapped it without success. He was disappointed
and then said he'd tty another way. K put the combination lock
on the desk, asked for a clipboard, paper and pen, and then he
fIlled the page with seeming scribble while in a trance-like state.
He pressed down heavily on the page and then wrote the numbers
32-10-36 and instructed me to use this combination and open
the lock, which I did.(see Figure 2). In the event that this effect
could have been telekinetic and had nothing to do with the
numbers, I repeated the sequential figures on numerous occasions and this was the correct combination. K had never before
seen this particular lock. If my daughter or others had once
known and then "forgotten" the combinbation, it was totally
inaccessible to them all these years. They were unaware of this
experiment.

Telekinetic Experiments and Psychic Nexus

Day 1: Friday, January 13, 1984
Noon: While in the office, I had just finished dictating a letter to Uri Geller and had planned on leaving immediately for
an airport in Florida to pick up K. I had hardly put down the
microphone before the phone rang. It was Uri Geller in Connecticut. He said that his telephone book had just fallen off the
table onto the floor and opened to page "S;" He thought that
meant he should call me (i.e., B.E.S.). He had no specific
knowledge either of K's imminent arrival nor of the pending
experiments. Since Uri phones me infrequently, this might have
been what could be called a psychodynamic telepathic prologue.
"'Autochlho!ollOUs" refers 10 an idea Ihal appears 10 have been thrust upon an individual
thai did not develop OUI of personal experience.

Pursuit 52

Figure 2. Various objects that K apparently telekinetically inOuenceel.

Second Quarter 1985

11:30 P.M.: K "zapped" one paperclip centered under an

inverted glass tumbler. The clip rotated approximately 5. While
K was preparing to retire, it was noted that the golden ltand of
the travel alarm clock was bent approximately 45 (see Figure
3). The clock .worked fine. My wife loaned K this particular
clock because she did not want her music box Swiss clock, also
in K's room, damaged. Naturally, the hands of the clock were
under glass. This was an apparent spontaneous effect.

Figure 3. Travel alarm clock. Note that the small hand is

bent.
Day 3: Sunday, January IS, 1984
Approximately 2:30 P.M.: My son [E] came to the office,
and K made four telekinetic attempts to move paper matches
under an inverted glass on my desk. These attempts failed. He
attempted to bend a 50-cent piece in his [E's] hand. K did not
touch it. This also failed.
3:~ P.M.: It was then noted that an ampoule of methylene
blue centered under an overturned glass on the desk in front of
us had apparently moved to the side of the glass. No one had
touched the glass.
4:00 P.M.: K's attempt to levitate a crumpled doUarbill under
an inverted glass on my desk failed. Four Polaroid pictures of
K and [E], one each of K and [E] separately ~nd then together,
revealed nothing unusual.
8:00 P.M.: At [H's] house. This gentleman has presumed
high paragnostic-UFO, contactee-Iike abilities. K instructed [H]
to write the name of a dead person on a slip of paper while his
wife, mother-in-law, and my wife wrote the names of living
persons on separate slips. K, who had not seen what was written, took the folded papers and, while in a presumed trancelike state, held them to his forehead until he finally chose the
paper which he said was the dead person. He called the initials
"J.F.K." which was correct. Shortly after this [H] picked out
a "word card" from a pack of forty cards that K did not handle. K then sequentially and correctly picked all the letters as
[H] thought of them: 0 M NIP RES E N T. K did not synthesize nor pronounce the word.
10:10 P.M.: On K's instructions, my wife suspended a key
from a cold-rolled steel "pole" magnet. While she held this
in the air, K "zapped" the magnet, and the key fell to the table.
At no time did K touch the magnet or cause vibrations. My wife
and I could not pick up the original key, paperclips or any piece
of suitable metal with this "magnet." The loss of magnetism
has persisted (see Figure 2).
10:30 P.M.: K, my wife and I returned to the condominium,
and on K's instigation, I centered a paperclip under an inverted
plastic salad bowl, 28 cm. in diameter at the base and 12 cm.
in depth. The overhead lighting fixtures were on. While K was
apparently entranced, he made his telekinetic "passes." The
paperclip suddenly rotated approximately 30, moved back and
forth to the side of the bowl and then levitated on the vertical
axis.

Second Quarter 1985

Day 4: Monday, January 16, 1984

8:00 A.M.: A key which had been placed in the comer of
the dining room table at the apartment was bent. None of the
other keys were affected .
. _~-pproximately 2:00 P.M.: While in my office, I was talking on the telephone to [E] in another city in Florida. K was
~!~t1y in front of me and held a quarter between his extended
secoJ;ld and third right fingers. I watched from a distance of approximately three-and-one-half feet while the quarter was extru~ed and bent 45 between his fingers over a period of an
estimated two minutes (see Figures 2 and 4).6

Figure 4. A coin (U.S. quarter) that K apparently bent

telekinetically.
2:40 P.M.: A new 9-volt DuraceU alkaline battery
(MN I~) was unpacked and checked in the' 'good, " or green
band, with a voltmeter. While in an apparent trance, K
"zapped" the battery for approximately one to two minutes,
and the voltmeter reading was the same for the battery after this.
At 2:45 P.M. the "zapping" was repeated for three minutes,
and again there was no change in the voltmeter reading.
3:24 P.M.: K. : 'zapped." the same battery under an overturned
glass in my desk. Again, the voltmeter readings were the same
afterwards as before. The battery was then placed on its horizontal axis under the glass and "zapped" for two minutes with no
effect on the voltmeter. K ~as upset about this since he had
produced effects in his experiments at home and could not
understand the failure. At one point during these attempts, K
held the positive and negative poles of the battery against the
palm of his hand and received a shock. However, measure of
the battery voltage at this point revealed no discernible diminution in charge. I did not check this or other batteries again until
Sunday, January 22, at approximately 2:30 P.M., when I then
OK had no coin crank. Under Ihe prevailing condilons he could nol have swilched coins
nor could he have exened any conceivable force or leverage. There were no defonning
marks. crack. or scralChes on lhe coin.

Pursuit 53

noted that the four other "unzapped" 1.5 volt AA and one 1.5
volt D Super Heavy Duty batteries still registered in the green,
or '.'good," voltmeter band as previously noted, but K's earlier
"multi-zapped" battery now registered in the "replace" section on th~ voltmeter (see Figure 2). What had caused the batterY. to weaken in this period of time when the only variable
was the presumed telekinetic influence? K had no apparent contact with this or the other batteries other than what has been
.described 'in this experiment.
. 3:JC) P.~.: At the office, eight standard-size metal paperclips
were.clumped together and put under a glass tumbler on my
. ~ desk, and K "zapped" them for approximately a minute
....;..;thedips rotated, and two of them levitated on their vertical
This was done directly in front of our lines of visidIVqqd
uncle( full lighting conditions. At no time did K touch anythirig:r.
Hc;Wti depressed because he hadn't demonstrated spectaaularJi
~,for [E] the previous ~ay. Attempts at fllming thisr;weie:'J
difficult because the motion picture camera motor was nois~()
which disturbed K, and he was.not used to high intensity ligbts;-':
In addition, I was personally frustrated in failing to find someone
who would properly videotape the sessions.
10:30 P.M.: While at the apartment, K held a key (marked
DLM 25) between his right forefinger and third digit while he
stroked the stem and the remainder of the key. The key gradually
bent an approximate 50. My wife then held the bowl of a
stainless steel teaspoon while I held the stem and K gently rubbed
the neck. Nothing happened. We then took a smaller stainless'
steel teaspoon and repeated the procedure. With no excessive
pressure by K, the bowl broke off at the neck (see Figure 2).
10:37 P.M.: The original 9-volt Duracell battery was
"zapped" by K, and the battery gave the same "good" reading
. afterwards as it had done previpusly.
.
10:55 P.M.: K "zapped" an ordinary house broom placed
on its straw end. It stayed upright for three minutes and 45
seconds. An attempt to repeat this on the rounded wooden end
of the broom failed. As a control, however, I succeeded in balancing the broom on the straw end in K's and my wife's.
presence. It was concluded that this broom was not a suitable
specimen for telekinetic research. This feat was similar to the
one that K's great-uncle had seemingly performed.

axes.

Day 5 - Tuesday, January 17, 1984

3:50 P.M.: K had returned from jogging on the beach, and
I had seen some patients. An egg was placed in a .wine glass
with a methylene blue tablet on top. K "zapped'"it without ef- .
fect .. K had never attempted this experiment before. It was
thought safer to shatter an egg or possibly teleport a pill inside
the egg or other combinations than to attempt this possibly
dangerous feat on glass objects.
4:07 P.M.: K "zapped" the egg in a plastic bowl without
effect.
4:26 P~M.: On K's instigation, we captured some red ants
and one was placed in a stoppered glass bottle. The ant was
"zapped" without apparent effect.
. 4:30 P.M.: The bottle was placed on a horizontal plane, and
. the ant was "zapped" again without effect. The same negative
.results occurred at 4:37 P.M.
.
9:40 P.M.: My wife and I returned to the apartment from
a medical society dinner. K attempted in our presence to ''zap"
nine metal paperclips under an overturned glass atop bridge
table, without effect.
.
9:50 P.M.: According to previous successful methods in his
own home, K then placed a blue tablecloth on the bridge table,
and nine paperclips were put under an overturned glass. Three
attempts at "zapping" failed. He then, according to past sucPursuit '54

cesses, put one of our candles in his candelabrum on. the corner
of the table, and then lit it.
.
11:10 P.M.: While presumably entranced, K "za~'.' the
clips under the glass without effect. He then "zapped" one clip
centered under an overturned plastic salad bowl as previously
described, and nothing was discerned. He then "zapped" eight
paper clips under the glass tumbler without effect, and f~ly'
he unsuccessfully "zapped" nine' clips under the glass. He .tempted to bend a key in my closed right hl;U1d without effect.
Because of these failures, the experiments. were discontinued,
and we. prepared for the next day's activities.
Day 6 - Wednesday, January 18, 1984
.. ' .
Approximately 10:00 A.M.: At the office, a relaxed K-attempted a five-minute electronic voice phenomenon experiment
with my portable, battery-driven Sony cassette recorder.On
playback of the c;:assette tape, nothing was noted.
.
10:30 A.M.: [R], a radio announcer, arrived to discuss'matters with K. A Timex watch, formerly owned by [0] and
which was not wound (not a broken watch) was held by"[R]
while K, in a trance-like state, "zapped" it twice for two to
three minutes. There were no effects on the second, minute or
hour hands. However, a Seth Thomas bedside alarm clock on
the desk, which had not run in six months and had been tightly
wound, was spontaneously picked up by [R], and he wound ~t:
Apparently, it had become unwound. The clock started running and has run ever since. I had prepared to take the clock to
the repair shop but had saved it for the pending experiJ;ll~ntS.
Shortly afterward, twelve metal paper clips we~ put uilder
an overturned tumbler, and K "zapped" them twice wi~~t
effect. While.[R] was still present, I pointed ouP~o.w ,.... ~rass
key on the desk in front of K had bent approximately. l~?' ~
had developed a crack at its neck (see Figure 2).
.."
There were five other keys on the desk in front. ofr~, 'but
none of them were affected. This was seen after the fact and
was not noied while it was taking place. No one ~1lP,dl~ the
keys. [R] left, and K and I went to the post office: When we
returned, I noted that a key (marked DLHF19) on.the.desk was
bent approximately 5 (see Figure 2). None of the seven
keys showed any effects. All the keys had been checked beforeha~d, and K was always under scrutiny. Fraud through
substitution was considered Unlikely.
.
8:22 P.M.: [W), the conddminium manager, arrived at my,
office and sat on K's right facing me. While apparently entranced, K "zapped" twelve paperclips that were clumped and
centered under an overturned glass. After five minutes, noth~
unusual happened. One clip was them "zapped" for three miDutes and still nothing happened. K complained that the light ~
the side hurt his eyes. [W] and K reversed their seats.,. and a
box of wooden matches was emptied, clumped, centered on the
desk and put under a tumbler and "zapped" for five .minutes,
but nothing happened. [W) held a 50-cent piece in his left hand,
and when he "zapped" it, nothing happened. [W's] wife, an
insulin-dependent diabetic, arrived. K took a butterknife in his
hands, and while entranced, and with no discernible pressure
other than gentle messaging, the stainless steel blade beni approximately 15, and the thick handle 'showed a depression,
presumably from K~s thumb (see Figure 2).
.
9:20 P.M.: K attempted to telekinetically bend a key in CW's]
right hand. This was' unsuccessful .. Shortly. afterwards, .~
'zapped" a jar which had been prepared a year before and contained two unlit wooden safety matches and a Ping Pong .balJ..
The cap to the jar was tightly screwed on with Duco Cement;
The jar cap was also embedded with thoroughly-dried ~t',
human hairs and a paper label. Nothing unusual happened~

other

Second Quarter 1985

K "zapped" the jar again, and upon examination, we noticed

that the head to one of the matches was half-charred, and the
wooden tail of the other match, which was in juxtaposition to
the head, was also charred (see Figure 5). There was no apparent effect on the Ping Pong ball.

FigUre 5. A jar containing two unlit, wooden safety matches and a Ping Pong ball. One of the matches
was charred apparently after being telekinetically6t by K.
~:25 P.M.: K, sitting across the desk directly opposite me
and having on either side the manager and his wife, attempted
to influence a pendulum suspended in a glass graduate. K
"zapped" this three times, and on all occasions there appeared
to have been slight movement.
9:40 P.M.: K attempted to levitate a crumpled dollar bill in
his right hand and this failed. This was then attempted whe!l
the spotlights overhead and the lamp by my desk were turned
off. Nothing happened.
9;45 P.M.: An attempt to telekinetically influence two
wooden matches with the heads and tails in opposite directions
in a freshly prepared, cork-stoppered bottle was unsuccessful.
K was depressed and anxious in view of the relatively poor performance the night before and the meager results of this evening.

Day 7 - Thursday, January 19, 1984

ApPl'C:!ximately 7:10 P.M.: ,While in the condominium, l<
Caple; to my .wife :and. me, and showed us the key to his trunk,; .
wruch had allegedly bent spontaneously at an apparent 500 angle.
He had not noted this previously and he stated that it had been
intact earlier in the day. The key could still be used.
8:00 P.M.: [T], an executive from a television production
company, arrived with his professional equipment. He was accompanied by [S] (who is a director of a talent and modeling
agency) and her aide. My wife was also present. K made numerous unsuccessful attempts to move or levitate wooden and
paper matches under a glass tumbler on my desk. K became
depressed and was concerned about the expense of videotaping. He was also upset at [T] because he was not familiar with
his accent. He also said the television experience (which was
new to J:!,il1}) and ~he brigh~ lights were bothersome ..
)Vhil~ K was:talking, it was noticed, but unfortunately not
videotaped, that the inverted tumbler and matches had moved
four inches from the edge of the desk to the margin of my blotter. No apparent disarray of the matches under the tumbler was
noted. K sat in front of the glass while [S] and [T] were on his
sides, K then, unsuccessfully attempted to levitate a quarter under
Se~b"'d

Quarter 1985

an overturned tumbler. On three subsequent occasions, he again

failed to psychokinetically move the matches. At one point, he
seemed to be entering a deeper trance, and when it was hoped.
by myself that there would be success, the 650 watt overhead
television light behind him blew out. (Did the apparent psychokinesis affect the television light?)
K tried to get in the mood of the occasion by attempting some
of his escapes and showing us his scrapbook. Apparently bewildered, he then failed to correctly identify the names of dead
and living persons that the subjects had written on slips of paper.
He next tried a telepathic two-digit test, and this also failed.
He.then suggested that everyone leave the room and I stay alone '
with him while the videotape w~ recording. Nothing unusual
happened. He then worked separately with [T] and [S]. Still
n~irig succeeded. Finally, when he was alone with [T], K gave
hillllJl)key (marked dlMZ9X26). [T] held it tightly in his right.
fiShwhile K "zapped" it. [T] was surprised because when~ he
op-ehed his outstretched pronated hand, the key seemed to stay
there~and then appeared to float slowly to the floor. The long
end of the key was bent approximately 500 (see Figure 2).
Shortly after this, K, in my presence, unsuccessfully attempted to levitate methylene blue tablets under a glass tumbler. No
spontaneous effects were noted on any of the other neamy props,
including tableware, sectioned bovine aortic rings, the ignition
of wooden safety matches in a cork-stoppered bottle, or a color
change of an acidified solution containing Toepfer's reagent
indicator. However, these props were not specifically "zapPed."
K's brief, half-hearted attempt to influence a radiometer also
failed. The experiments terminated at midnight, and arrangements were made to pursue matters further the following day.
When we returned to the condominium, no changes were noted
on the various keys and tableware.
Day 8 - Frid8y, January 20, 1984
Early morning: On awakening, my wife had to telephone
someone for an appointment, and she noted that the .line was
dead. We checked three telephone receivers and wondered if
K's cordless telephone might have been inadvertently knocked
off the reCeiver. He was presumably deeply asleep when I roused
him by knocking on his door and entering his unlocked room
(as is the custom in this house). The telephone which was on
the receiver was also dead. My wife contacted the telephone
company on an emergency phone in the apartment elevator, and
the operator said they would send out a repairman. The operator
also said that there were no complaints of telephone trouble in
our area. It was impossible to determine the cause of the difficulty, but it appeared to be in the line and not in any of the
telephones or the jacks.
Approximately an hour later, when leaving the condominium,
I tried the telephone once again, and this time all was in order.
When the repair service visit was cancelled, the operator again
had no.way of knowing what the difficulty had been. There had
been no previous or subsequent telephone difficulty such as this.
(Could the telephone problems have resulted from K's telekinetic
attempts?)
8:45 P.M.: K, [T], and myself were present. Unfortunately,
for technical reasons, a complete recording was not made when
K, under full lighting conditions and at a distance of two to three
feet betw~n himself ~nd ourselves, held an eight-penny nail
(approximately 6 cm.' in length) in his right hand while he gently
massaged the nail with his right index finger. Gradually, over
an estimated one to two minutes, the nail "softened" and bent
to a 900 angle (see Figure 2). Unfortunately, only the conclusion of the bending was videotaped. The bending was closely
observed and also concomitantly monitored on the television
Pursuit 55

screen. K used no strength, and my attempts to bend an eightpenny nail under controlled conditions or with all my strength
were unsuccessful.
9:30 P.M.: While being videotaped, K unsuccessfully attempted to bend a steel poker. Then an attempt to telekinetically move a quarter also failed.
. .
10:20 P.M.: K attempted to get into the proper mood by
demonstrating some of his escapes from various regulation state
police and federal hand-cuffs, thumb-cuffs and chains.
10:40 P.M.: K's attempt to "zap" a screwdriver failed.
However, at that point it was noted that a table fork nearby on
the desk had developed a grossly discernible increase in it
. angulation (see Figure 2).
11:00 P.M.: K failed to levitate a dime under an overturned
glass. The three of us stepped outside for refreshments, but the
~onvenience store across the street was closed.
11:20 P.M.: While videotaping under full lighting conditions
and high magnification, K, using both hands while entranced
and employing telekinesis, made a 4 bend in a sixteen-penny
common nail approximately 10.5 cm. in length and 4 mm. in
diameter (see Figure 2).
11:30 P.M.: A crumpled dollar bill was placed on top of an
overturned glass, and a nearby candle was lit. K's "zapping"
produced no effect. Shortly afterwards, under full lighting conditions, a cardboard safety match was centered under an overturned glass tumbler on the desk. While K made telekinetic
"passes, " the match developed back-and-forth movements,
twice "plinked" the side of the glass and in inchworm-like
movements, vertically levitated on one pole. This was videotaped, and then the same episode was successfully repeated and
recorded (see Figure 6).7 Shortly afterward, as previously
described, an unsuccessful attempt was made to bend a tenpenny nail.

Day 9 - Saturday, January 21, 1984

1:20 A.M.: K failed to telekinetically. bend a key in rr's] left

hand.
1:30 A.M.: At the conclusion of the videotaping, K handed
[T] a card with 25 different symbols on it. [T] sat in one chair
while K sat seveniI feet away with his back turned. He instructed
[T] to: 1) think of a two-digit number; 2) circle one of the five
symbols which were drawn on the card; and 3) think of a word
and write it down.
K, while visualizing and concentrating over a period of several
minutes, gave [T] complicated directions to choose one symbol to the "right or left of what he had drawn." [T] "incorrectly" encircled two symbols in juxtaposition instead of choosing
one symbol. K drew a circle, which was partially correct for
[T] had also encircled the plus sign. Then, while [T] concentrated on tWQ digits, K, over a period of an estimated few
minutes, said "I" (which was correct), "2" (which was incorrect): that is, "13." [T] then concentrated on a word, and
K was unable to synthesize the syllables for the whole word,
but while [T] .thought of his word letter by letter, K succeeded:
K slowly said "H" (yes), "E" (yes), "L" (yes), "B" (no),
"p" (yes): "H E L P." The evening was concluded.

Day 10 - Sunday, January 22, 1984

7:15 A.M.: In the condominium, upon arising, my wife noticed that a safety pin on the kitchen counter by the microwave

Figure 6. A cardboard safety match centered under an

overturned glass tumbler developed back-andforth movements (pictures A-C) apparently as
the result of K's telekinetic "passes."
Pursuit 56

'The match was tom from a match book obtained by my wife immediately before the experiments. The match head had no magnetically sensitive iron salts. Nor were there any
similar salts, iron wires or bands secreted in the match stem. The match was not influenced by a magnet. The glass tumbler belonged to my mother. The conference desk has
no concealed magnets or mec:hanic:aJ comrivances.
.

Second Quarter 1985

oven was bent (see Figure 2). She said that she had taken the
pin out of K's shirt before washing it, but did not at the time
notice with full certainty whether it had been ~nt or not.
However, she did see that the microwave oven clock said 4: 12,
which was incorrect, and there was no flashing to indicate power
failure. There was no evidence for any power failure in the apart,ment. When questioned, K said he had gotten up during the night
for orange juice but did not touch the microwave oven or anything else. (Could he have telekinetically affected the oven?)
2:12 P.M.: When K had left and we were tidying his room,
I noted that the experimental coffee jar was affected. The jar
had been prepared months before by having the cap sealed with
Duco cement, adherent hairs and a paper label. The sealed jar
contained my daughter's calling card, stub of an ordinary lead
pencil and a green crayon. The jar had been placed on a table
close to K's bed two nights previously.
I discovered that the calling card had centered on it, a flat
elliptical green blob with possible surface markings approximately 3xl.5 cms. and surrounded peripherally with an oily translucency. The pencil stub was fixed and saddled to the side of the
jar in a blob of remaining green crayon. K had not mentioned
this to us. There was an analogous control preparation containing 'my son's calling card which was in my office - and neither
zapped nor called to K's attention - which was unaffected (see
Figure 7).

house where he lived alone. We also made side trips to other

cities in Pennsylvania.

Day 1 - Thursday, May 24, 1984

10:50 P.M.: At K's house, in the presence of [W], his wife
[M] and myself, K focused on a 1-7/8" Cole combination
padlock ~hich I had purchased earlier in the day. [M] opened
the plastic sealed wrapper and handed the lock to [W] who
looked at ,the six combination numbers on a seal attached to the
back of the lock. He removed the seal and shared the numbers
with us. K put his index fingers through the shackle and while
in a trance-like state told us to concentrate on the numbers, which
he correctly called out: 16-32-49. The lock popped open. He
did not tum the combination dial, and it was not possible for
us to observe if the outer dial had changed.
11:00 P.M.: K gave [W] 25 cards with different symbols on
them that he had drawn previously. He instructed [W] to shuffle and cut the deck of symbol cards and then put them into three
packs.' Each pack was placed and wrapPed in a sheet of aluminum foil. K's back was turned to [W] and us during these procedures. K then called the top cards of the three packs which
were then taken out of the foil by [W]. K correctly named a
cross, a circle with a cross in the middle and failed the third
test by describing a circle when the card was a square w~th a
cross. Immediately after the symbol test, [W] shuffled and cut
a deck of ordinary playing cards which he had examined beforehand. While K had turned his back to us, [W] put the deck
of cards behind his back, took out a card and put it on his seat.
While in a trance-like state, K concentrated and then correctly
called out the ace of clubs.

Day 2 - Friday, May 25, 1984

12:45 A.M.: Under overhead electric light illumination, K
instructed [M] to place 20 pennies under a glass atop his card

Figure 7. Two jars containing calling cards, stub of an ordinary lead pencil, and a green crayon. One jar
and contents (control) was unaffected; and the

other (experimental) was

telekinetically aft'ected by K.

apparently

On January 23, 1984, at 3: 15 P.M., overbrimming with

curiosity and on a hunch, I phoned for the first time [H] who
lived in a small city in western Pennsylvania. [H], who runs
a typing secretarial service, was shocked because K, who visits
her infrequently, had just walked into her office ,and they were
talking about the Florida experiments. When I asked K about
the sealed jar, he said that he had "zapped" it the night when
it was first placed in his room but that he didn't tell me at the
time because "I thought you would not be interested. It was
not done under experimental conditions where you observed it. "

Aftermath - Hometown Finale

From Thursday, May 24, 1984, until Saturday, May 26, 1984,
I visited K in his home in western Pennsylvania. His parents,
brother, fiancee and friends were most cordial. Various preliminary experiments were undertaken in situ and at K's small

Second Quarter 1985

table which was covered with a dark blue terrycloth. He had

also lit a candle placed in a candelabrum on the distal, righthand comer of the table from himself. Several times he attempted to telekinetically affect the pennies and failed.
He asked [M] to remove the glass and spread the pennies on
the table in front of himself and he unsuccessfully tried agin.
At no time did K ever touch the pennies or the glass. After more
failures, he had [M] put one penny under the glass. While this
trial was being videotaped by [Wl, K "zapped" the penny,
whereupon it levitated approximately 800 on its vertical axis
for at least seven seconds.
Shortly afterward, K unsuccessfully attempted to telekinetically influence the penny. Seconds after he finished this trial, we
heard loud metallic-like sounds from the table in the comer of
the room, approximately two to three feet behind and lateral
to K's left shoulder. It seemed that books and other objects
moved on top of the table, and a brass key which had been on
the surface now was on the floor. While trying to figure out
what had happened and account for the loud metallic-like sounds,
we were interrupted by a crash from a glass tumble~ that had
been on top of the television set, two to three feet behind and
lateral to K's right shoulder. I spotted the glass on the floor,
and then a cardboard desk calendar, also on top of the television set, suddenly fell to the floor. (Could K have tel~kinetical
Iy affected all o(these objects?)
1:55 A.M.: We adjourned to K's small bedroom and sat on
chairs facing the bureau on which was placed K's Timex quartz
luminous alarm clock (marked #7607). The experiment was being videotaped, and we all concentrated while K "zapped" the
clock. The second hand stopped for more than 25 seconds and
only started when the trance-like state was broken and K relaxed.
Pursuit 57

At different times throughout the evening, K unsucce~sfully

attempted to telekinetically bend quarters and 16-penny nails.
He was unable to levitate a Ping Pong ball from one chamber
of the box over a hurdle into a wine glass.
.
Approximately 2:00 A.M.: When bidding K good night, I
jokingly told him that upon my return in the morning; I would
knock on the side of his house in Morse code. This was in
reference to previous discussions about his spectacular out-ofbody experience shared with his girlfirend, wherein he had not
omy appearedto her and she had 'felt his presence," but while
inhis presumed phantom.fonn, he threw his martial sticks from
the.shelf to the floor. .
.
" iii. any event, while in my motel, I was suddenly awakened
from sleep at 2:30 A.M. with a'series of 15 to 20 loUd: raps.
-reey ~eres'oOdd andtobd:and CIose'hy that I turned the;lights
on, jumped out of bed, exaniined'"the headboard and lampSJ\ades,
m.~ fYcr~ .pu~ my ear ~o th~ w~1 ,between the two rooms .. )'here
was n9thlng to account for the. sound. Note was taken 'If this
C!v.ent~ ~hic~ I..beli~ved ~as .related to some telekinetic activity
on the part of K.
.
Soon I was fast asleep, only to be awakened twice more during.the night with the same serial.rappings. In the moming, when
l visit~ I<i. (and woke him up!), he had no memory of these
events (or any dreams). He said that after an evening of sucCe~furexperimentation, he frequently has vivid dreains of what
~. ~ppened, ~ during which he also plans new experiments.
: (Early aftenioon: In [H's] office, K a~mpted some impromp~. experiments. [H] we"t into an .adjac~rit office and looked at
a phrase in a book while K, at [H's] desk, took a piece of blue
note paper and wrote down the word "Krystal." Whe~ [H)
mumed, K was infonned that the test phrase looked at by [H]
~asnot about "Krystal."
Since I was familiar with the book and was curious about K's
choice of "KryStal'" we opened the book to the place where
[H] had fonnerly left a blue piece of paper (presumably from
tIle'same pad K had used). It was placed by the chapter heading
~.the protagonist of the story, Mrs. KrystaI (pseudonymj
-.: a woman I had known and studied [8]. K unsuccessfully atte~Pted several card experiments and then, in a friendly
~h.nenge, agreed to think of a three-digit test with [H]. With
K~s back turned to her, [H] wrote "5-1-2," which K correctly
called. out. Several card experiments were then attempted, with
poor to equivocal results. .
.1At approximately 10:00 P.M., while interviewing K in his
home; he suggested we try a letter experiment. I wrote "N"
on a piece of paper which I tore out, folded and held in my hand.
K.concentrated for a few seconds and then, with his ballpoint
pen on a card, traced out the letter "N."
Day 3 - Saturday, May 26, 1984

K was at the headquarters of a Forteanl phenomena association in a small town in western Pennsylvania.
. At approximately 2:00 P.M., [S], founder and director of the
association, obserVed K, who "zapped" a precision ratemeter.
The effort seemed to produce two swings of 390 counts per
minute (nonnal background counts are 100 counts per minute).
Since these increases were concomitant with an augmentation
in the audio effects, it is likely that the responses were from
the Geiger tube rather than a possible direct telekinetic effect
OD the indicator gauge. On separate testing, K could produce
DO effect on a radio frequency detector. In a third impromptu
Ifonaa describes strange, unexplainable facts including paranonnal events. It is derived

fmiD !he name Charles Fort who spent his life collecting data on strange events in nature
Ihathave

110

known scientific

, Pursuit 58

exp~tion.

experiment, K was unable to obtain any infonnation from psychometrizing two purported specimens in the possession of the
Fortean a~sociation.
10:00 P.M.: In a private home [in a small town in Western
Pennsylvania], K "zapped" a woman's spring-wound Timex
watch. He succeeded in changing the hands from 10: 10 to 8:45.
Immediately afterward, he then asked the 22 persons present
to look at their watches while he focused his attention on [S's]
watch. Although [S's] watch was not affected, two out of the
six people who participated in this experiment noted changes
in their timepieces. A spring":wound Timex watch shifted to 6:00
and a spring wound Jurgensen watch stopped. K did not touch
. any of the timepieces. During the evening, he unsuccessfully
"',attempted to "zap" a television screen and levitate a quarter
~'placed under an overturned glass bowl.

I;; .
- HI

j~:r

Conclusion

In a series of demonstrations and experiments, K was obseri'.ed

and in some instances videotaped while perfonning certain
presumed telekinetic activities. In the nine days of observation
in Florida and two-and-one-half days in Pennsylvania, he
. presented evidence of related psychic abilities. Anecdotal accounts from his family and friends would appear to suggest his
possession of psychic aptitudes. Nevertheless, K was only successful in certain telekinetic phenomena and at certain times.
It is hoped that physicians and other scientists will investigate
K's apparent unique abilities and thereby contribute to an
understanding of the possible mechanisms and theoretie8I imd
practical potential applications. 9 K' s apparent telekinesis could
be used as an interesting paradigm for resean:hing the possibility
of psychosomatic phenomena. It is conceivable that such an individual could affect not only inanimate objects by telekinesis
but could also positively affect the human body (both his own
and others) in the prevention and treatment of disease.

Acknowledgements
I thank the subject K, his mother, father and brother, and the
various involved individuals for graciously visiting with me in
their homes or places of business for the purposes of these
investigations.
.

Notes And References

1] Melvin Pryor (Melvin the Magician), "in a telephone interview on
March 24, 1984, confinned his open letter of January 27, 1984, and
kindly gave pennission for its publication:
"I recently visited young K. 1 lcnew.K as a young magician
and escape artist. 1 had not seen him perfonn for some time.
He has been working for the past few years on ESP, telepathy,
and so on. He seems to have ability along these lines.
1 held an ordinary bar magnet which picked up a small ball
bearing. He concentrated on the magnet and suddenly the bearing fell. The magnet lost its power.
I placed my own quarter on the table. This was covered with
a small drinking glass. K concentrated and the quarter stood on
edge. While he concentrated, objects to feet from him fell to
the floor from a TV set. I saw no movement on his part. 1 have
been practicing magic for 30 years. 1 cannot explain what 1 saw
that evening."
'For those interested scientists, details of K's personal address and availability will be givcn
by the author. The author also has a signed, appropriately witnessed afJidavii by K in which
he disclaims any dishonesty, misrepresentations or use of sleight-of-hand substitution or
similar acts in his presumed lelekinetic demonstl1llions and experiments. This too can be
made available.

Second Quarter 1985

Dwayne Bastian, a magician of Clarksville, Pennsylvania, told me

in a telephone interview March 27, 1984 (and confinned in a letter
of April 6, 1984), that he has known K for thirteen years (since the
fifth grade). From his experiences as a magician, he had no explanation for his observations of: (I) K shattering a piece of "hard" glass
in his hand; (2) having a crumpled dollar bill rise eight inches above
his hand; (3) seeing a pendulum stop and go; (4) K correctly naming
a card that Bastian took out of a shuffled new deck of cards and which
he had placed behind his back; (5) observing a coin stand on end under
a shot glass; (6) drawing the power out ofa magnet; and (7) projecting
"whities" or "blackies" when concentrating on a camera lens with
the cap off.
Although mail-onler magic shops advertise entertaining (trick) levitations and coin-bending stunts, these inexpensive tricks should not be
confused with presumed genuine telekinesis. If the magician chooses
to enter the scientific arena and falsely claiffis that his perpetrated frauds
are identical to supposed genuine data, he should be expected -'to
demonstrate his spuriOilS stunts in the laboratory under the exact conditions that prevailed during the experiments. In this way, dishonest
persons can be exposed while honorable persons can be protected from
headline-hunting charlatans.
2] It can be speculated that these cognitive deficits, among other factors, spurred K to overcompensate and use other sensory or latent talents
which then became an excellent survival bridge in interpersonal communications and in keeping up with his peers. His school district sent
transcripts from grades five through ten. These data revealed that K
. had difficulties in the Three R's. Nowhere in these school records or
elsewhere in my interviews was there any suggestion for sociopathic
behavior: lying, stealing, dishonesty, truancy, fire setting, criminal conduct or other fonns of deviant behavior. K did not return for the
1976-1977 school tenn (11th grade).
3] Although the person who made this statement could not be contacted,
I spoke to the identification officer of the local police department who
told me that there are "two main points on fingerprints, one of which
are the deltas. Sometimes they are on the edge near the nail." The
officer never heard nor read of anyone not having deltas. He agreed
to independently check this out with K at some future time.
4] Eisenbud, J. The World ofTod Serioe: Thoughtograpbic Studies
of an Extraordinary Mind. New York: Wm. Monow & Co., Inc.,
1967.

5] Affidavit A:
"We the undersigned were all present at a demonstration perfonned by K on November 17, 1982, in a residence of [a small
town in western Pennsylvania]." (There were approximately 35
people present at this demonstration; however, there [are] but
six signatures listed below.)
TlJe feats perfonned by K were as follows:
- While two women were holding a spoon (one on each end
of the spoon), K lightly rubbed the spoon in the center, and after
a few minutes the spoon broke in half. (The spoon was the property of the hostess.)

(Signed affidavit in possession of the author.)

Affidavit B:
"I hav~ on numerous occasions witnessed feats perfomed by ...
K at my office [in a western Pennsylvania suburb]."
Listed below are but a few of these feats:
- When I first met K, a couple of years ago, he did some things .
with cards that were impressive; however, he bent a spoon Of .
mine that day, and this really amazed me as I had read Uri' .
Geller's book as well lis many psychic and metaphysical books,
.'.' .,:"jlt this was my first experience of personally witnessing suCh
~oj~1 ~,feat. I told K that day that I wOUld like to see him exami~ .
. ::_,.i~~ a professional and ha~e a s~dy done on his marvelous .biIi-.
.i'~bl!l~'?I' I am glad that he IS comlDg to see you.
. .! .: i -

.:;:~111!~ More rec:entlr' K h~ perfonned quite a few ~ing~

"'1I.!t. 'iiIade a Iasnng Impression on me. I had a pencillaymg on my
. !!; desk - we were just sitting here talking and the pencil flew off '
the desk onto the floor.
'.. " .

thaihiave

- I have a pearl-handled steak knife (which I use as a letter .

opener) in my desk drawer - I had taken it out and openeda
letter and then replaced it in the drawer (K had not touched it);
my phone rang, and I answered it and spoke with the caller
then hung up; just then a woman that wOlts in one of the qt)Ier..
offices in the building came into my office to give qJe a c~'eCit ..
and I opened the drawer to give her a peQ - and saw that the
knife had been bent - amazing since K had not touched.the
!mife.
'

.ad.

- Then I took a quarter out of the drawer and placed it in my

hand, making a fist - and K put his hand over mine and we
both concentrated on the quarter. In short time the quarter had
bent - in this caSe he again did not handle the quarter..
- Another time while K was visiting me - I wrote a very short
message on an index card and then burned it in an ash~y _.
while it was burning, I concentrated on what I had written on
it and K was to write down what I had on the card - well he
not only wrote what I had written but in the exact funn! [illustration shown.] There are quite a few other feats that he has done
but the above-mentioned were the most impressive - with the
exception of one that he did just last week - with the ESP cardi
that he had brought with him. I shuffled them and placed them
into separate envelopes, and he got all of them - he had a little
difficulty with one - but after a little concentration got that one
too.
(Signed affidavit in possession of the author.)
Affidavit C:
April 21, 1984

- K then levitated a quarter - the quarter was placed under

a regular drinking glass which was put on a table upside down,
and in a few minutes the quarter flipped over and hit the sides
of the glass and landed upside down on the table while the glass
was still covering it.

"Dr. Schwarz, just a short note in the fonn of an affidavit

to update you on some additional psychic feats perfonnecl by
K, which I have witnessed. These feats took place both at my ,
office and at K's home [in a small town of. western .
Pennsylvania]. "

- K then took a piece of glass, an oval of approximately ~",

and placed it in his hand; he then placed his hand into an ovalshaped vase-type container, and after a few minutes, the small
piece of glass was shattered into sandlike particles.

- The first thing that K did at his home was to correctly iden-' .
tify three ESP cards, out of a group of appro~tely 24 ~,
The cards were shuffled by me and placed upside down on a
table.

- K then went into the TV room and after a few minutes, caused
considerable interference on the TV set which the hostess said
had never happened before.

- K has a small container cupboard approximately 4"1ll2" .

which his brother made for him. The container is divided inIo
sections by a divider, and on one side of the divider was a ~ .

~econd

Quarter 1985

Pursuit 59

cocktail glass and on the other a small red ball. (The container
has a sliding door on it.) While concentrating on the contents
of the container, K made the ball move into the cocktail glass
without touching the container at all.
- The next feat which was immensely impressive occurred when
we took a regular hardback book (I do not recall the name of
it) and I went into another room, turned to a page at random
and concentrated on the first five words of a paragrap~ in the
book, and K correctly told me the words in proper order: I was

putpOSely visiting him.

- The next feat which K performed was the most impressive.
Other than myself and K's girlfriend IS], there was another couple
visiting K that evening. His friend [0] and a friend of his [B]
were quite negative toward the feats that K was performing. I
had placed a match (from a book of matches that I had in my
purse) on my hand with a glass over it; K was going to attempt
to levitate the match. Nothing was happening, so then we decided
that if they IS; 0; and BJ would go downstairs perhaps it would
work. Well, no sooner had they left the room, and K and I were
alone, it worked. The match was horizontal on my left hand with
the glass over it - the match stood up vertically, and I then
removed the glass and ran my finger around the match which
was still vertical on my palm - very interesting!
- Yesterday, K and IS] stopped by my office, and K did a feat
with a deck of regular playing cards, which I had shuffled and
cut. K simultaneously took one card at a time off the top of the
deck. K could not see them but I could, and he called off each
card correctly (out of eight he missed two - and they were both
kings - which he incorrectly called queens; however, he did
name the correct suit). K and I then took (I did) a quarter out
of my purse and put it in my hand - we were going to try to
levitate it (I had a glass over it). I had also laid a nickel on my
desk. While we were concentrating on the quarter, the nickel
flew off the desk onto the floor.
(Signed affidavit in possession of author.)
6) In telephone interviews of March 10 and II, 1984, and in a written, signed report posted April 4, 1984, Mr. and Mrs. [G] told me
of K's various feats which they had observed. For example, they said
they witnessed: (I) K stopping the second hand ofa 6O-cycle AC electric clock while he was entranced; (2) K bending a IO-penny nail: "We
held the nail that he gave us in front of our face(s) as he did the one
he had. He told us to concentrate, and we did .. After a minute or so
went by, we looked at our nails. K's nail was bent at the top about
45". My wife's was slightly bent; she was sitting straight across from
K. My nail and [C's] wasn't bent;" (3) One key of several on the ring
in his other hand had spontaneously bent while K unsuccessfully attempted to bend an experimental key in [G's] right hand; and (4) When
K put his hands over ("never touching [C's] hand or arm") [G'sJ
brother-in-Iaw's watch and concentrated, the hands changed from 1:20
to 2:05.
K would not work on somebody's expensive digital watch because
of his fear of success, thereby ruining the timepiece. In audiotaped interviews with me, Dunninger spoke highly on several occasions of Radiano, the presumed telekinetic medium from It8Iy whose act was stopping clocks. I had recently seen a young college man who many times
in the past, had reputedly started and stopped the pendulum of a
metronome with his "mind." Separate interviews of his mother and
himself elicited additional anecdotal high quality alleged psi.
[GJ said that K was compassionate and therefore relIJ.ctant to experiment on living organisms. He was afraid, for example, that he could
stop a heart like the Russian Nina Kulagina reputedly had done on a
frog. (See Ebon, Martin. Psychic Warfare: Tbreat or D1usion? New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1983, page 66.)
Recently, when [GJ and K were sparring in an Indonesian form of
kung fu (Pukulan Cimande), [GJ injured the top of hisright hand which
"swelled, became black from a ruptured blood vessel; and hurt." K
Pursuit 60

asked, "Did I do that to you'!" Without thinking, K put his hand over
the injury and [G] said, "It felt real hot. A couple of seconds later
there was no swelling, it didn't hurt, and it was no longer black. ".
[Editor's comment: This appears to hi: some evidence of psychosomatic
effects by telekinesis.J He also recalled how he [G] took an ordiriary
deck of cards, shuffled it and, on K's instructions, pulled out a card,
didn't look at it and put it in his back pocket. K said, "black, nine
of clubs" and when [G] pulled the card out of his pocket that was correct. He said he did this four out of five times. When [G] concentrated
on "his favorite number" he thought of "4." K said "7" which was
incorrect; He tried again and got "4." K then took the piece of paper
and said that [G) made a "4" like this. "., '.' and that is what he saw
(not "4"). Furthermore, he said that [G] had changed his mind, which
was correct, and that confused him. In another example of possible
telepathy, [GJ recalled how K had told him to concentrate on any name
l;hat came to mind. This happened on February 17, 1984. He chose
[B], a girl that he had trouble with on his job. K wrote [BJ ..
In my observations and studies of K's past'school records, spelling
was not his strong point. Tenhaeff has commented OJ;! the
psychodynamic significance ofpsychologicai errors (Tenhaeff, W.H.C.:
Proceedings of the Parapsychological Institute of the State Univers~ty
of Utrecht, Vol. I, 1960, Vo'. 2, 1962, and Vol. 3, 1965). On anottter
occasion, .[G), his wife and brother-in-law each wrote the names of
three living people, and one of the participants wrote the name of a
dead person who was close to all of them. K shuffled the folded pape~
and took one out and said, "[C)." This was incorrect. .
However, [GJ was surprised because [C], a nurse, had been involved
in a severe accident a few days previously, and almost died. K tried
ag;rin and said that he was still confused. He put aside one paper which,
as was later learned, pertained to another woman who had almost recently died. Then, with certainty, hetook the paper that he said was the
dead person, and he correctly named the party [W] who was [G's)
deceased grandfather and who was known and beloved by all three pe0ple. The psychic riexus lO is a continuum without beginning or end. More
could be said about the anecdotally reported experiences of [GJ and
other members of his family and the fascinating possible interrelated
psychic dynamics.
(Signed affidavit in possession of author.)

7] Schwan, B.E. UFO-Dynamics, Psycbiatric aad Psychic Dimensions of the UFO Syndrome. Moore Haven, Florida: Rainbow Books,
1983.
8] Schwarz, B.E. Psychic-Dynamics. New York: Pageant Press, 1965.
9] Schwan, B.E. The Jac"ques Romano Story. New Hyde Park, New
York: University Books, Inc., 1968.
10J Clinically, it would seem that many of K's best demonstrations
occur late at night fOf a variety of reasons. For example, at that time
there is less distraction from outsi~e noises and, possibly not unlike
other paragnosts. as Jacques Romano, Joseph Dunninger, Gerard Croiset
and Stella Lansing, there has been a preliminary warm-up period with
the audience. It appears that when there is rapport and the audience's
defenses are down, they are possibly in a more trusting, suggestible
frame of mind.
There are certain psychophysiological prerequisites for psi. The critic
might correctly state that this hypersuggestible altered state of consciousness also sets the stage for fraud, and that is undoubtedly a pr0blem. That must be taken into account with these other considerations.
It is stressed that in psi there are seldom simple black and white, either-or
situations.
II] An illustration of a possible malignant telekinetic effect was provided on a phone call of March I, 1984, from K and his friend [S)
who witnessed the feats. Approximately one week prior to his call,
K noticed a brown spider in the bathtub. While in a trance-like state,
IPsychic nexus is the cOll5tellalion of interrelated psychodynamic. psychic. and subliminal
evenlS thai often occur in clusters and comprise the conlinuum or background for presumed
paranonnal occurrences ..

Second Quarter 1985

he "zapped" the spider, which allegedly started smoking and went

up in flames. On another recent occasion, K thought he would experiment with his brown dove rather than the white doves which he preferred. He said the "brown bird was peppy and healthy." However,
shortly after "zapping," the dove keeled over dead. [Editor's comment: Unlike the previous demonstration with the injured hand, in these
instances K apparently employed telekinesis psychosomatically in a
detrimental manner (at least as far as the animals were concerned).]
As another example. I recently interviewed a middle-aged man [B]
who claimed close UFO encounters. As a young man [8] was a security
guard. For a period of six to eight months, every time he came to work
he noticed hoof prints in the front yard. Finally, he caught a girl riding
her horse and asked her not to do that. She said she was sorry, she
hadn't thought about it and she would desist. However, shortly afterward, the tracks appeared again and [B] became furious. Although he
knew of books on black magic and rituals, he thought the abracadabras
were a lot of baloney and preferred to make up his own ritual. Accord:!
ingly, while enraged he "cursed" the horse. However, his oaths were
interrupted by a commotion on the street where, as he later learned,
the horse suddenly fell dead at the comer. "The horse was always fine.
They called a 'vet' who said it must have been a heart attack. The horse'
was just cantering along. I didn't want anything to happen to her. I
could always summon up great strength when I had to: For example,
when underwater diving and I had to move big rocks or once when
I broke the barrel of a cannon two feet back from its muzzle."
There might be much to learn from the study of similar incidents
and, in some cases, unusual people. Two excellent sources of this can
be found in the work of George M. Gould, M.D., and Walter L. Pyle,
M.D.: Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine. New York: Julian
Press, 1956; and in William R. Corliss, compiler, Strange Minds.
Glen Arm, Maryland: Souree Book Project, 1976. (A souree book of
un.usual mental phenomena.)
12] Schwan, B.E. Psychic Nexus. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold
Co., 1980, pp. 25-66.
13] Puharich, A. Uri. New York: Anchor Press, Doubleday & Co.,
1974.
14] Geller, U. Uri Geller, My Story. New York: Warner Books, 1976.
15] In his psychokinesis (PK) parties, Houck (Houck, Jack. Conceptual Models of Paranormal Phenomena. Archaeus Vol. 1, No.1, pp.
7-24, Winter, 1983) has demonstrated many times how the proper environment can be an apparent prerequisite for the psychic metal bending. His observations contribute to the meaning of suggestion, group
contagiousness and the "first time effect" which, in another context,
is entirely analogous to beginners' luck, love at first sight, first impressions and, on a deeper level, resistance to psi (Eisenbud, J. Psi
aod Psychoaoalysis. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1970; Meerloo,
J.A.M. Unobtrusive and Unconscious Communication. Int. J. of
Parapsychol. 6: 149-177, 1974).
,
It would seem that by understanding resistance a,nd being, able to undo
it, the chances for success in psi and the replication of metal bending
is increased. For example, when the emotional climate was proper,
my wife's college classmate [V] developed for the first time in her life
what proved to be excellent psychic metal-bending abilities. She did
this on many subsequent occasions by herself and in the company of
others. At one time, five of seven people, including my son [Ei, also
succeeded. In subsequent attempts, when alone, [E] was unsuccessful.
However, when [V] showed by daughter [L] this technique, she became
skilled at mental metal-bending.
Nevertheless, she soon became "bored" (resistant) and gradually
disontinued the process. She had hoped to see spontaneous metal bending or objects bending in the hands of others who exerted no pressure
but were presumably under her influence. Houck's works can be read
with profit, and I would hope that physicians, and particularly
PIIychiatrists, would study these provocative questions, for they might
be in a position to explore the many interesting theoretical and practical applications.

Second Quarter 1985

Figure 8. Numerous small pieces of enamel that inexplicably came out from the base of a sink bowl.
16] The setting or the "belief' is all-important. This gives deeper
dimensions to the meaning of suggestion. For example, in the aftermath of a series of telekinetic experiments in the spring of 1982, a
Sunday at noon, I was packing boxes for my planned move to Florida
from New Jersey. My wife, son and daughter were in Florida. While
in the kitchen, I took down an old Chinese tin tea container on top
of the refrigerator that was filled with my son's safety match collection from boyhood. As I emptied it out and noticed the charring in
the bottom of the container, I vividly recalled the possible fire-telekinetic
experiences of long ago [12, pp. 170-172]. My associations then shifted
to the recent charring of [E's] calling card in a presumably sealed box.
An important point is that a series of specific recent and remote
psychic memories and experiences were spontaneously brought into
shal]) focus. At the height of this, my wife phoned from Miami to New
Jersey. She was acutely upset because while taking our daughter's blouse
out of the dryer, she heard loud crackling sounds through the partiallyclosed adjacent powder room door. She opened the door, turned the
light on a!ld was shocked to find numerous small pieces of enamel
shooting out from the base of the sink bowl (see Fig. 8), splattering
the ceiling about three feet above the basin and spraying the walls and
mirrors. She had never experienced anything like this before, and she
was immediately terror-stricken because of fear of eye injury. She asked
if this event could be connected with the telekinetic experiments that
I had been conducting in New Jersey. There was no ordinary reason
that could readily explain this happening, such as changes in
temperature, various physical agents put in the sink, vibrations, and
blowers. Questioning plumbers, engineers and physicists also came up
with no explanation. In view of our daughter's eye problems and, at
one point, recent complete blindness, my wife was fearful of eye injury (for [L] or herself). My wife felt it was fortunate that she opened
the door when this was happening and not [L] who was frequently at
the apartment to use the dryer. Pictures were taken of the damaged
sink. No satisfactory explanation was available for this effect unless
one considered a psychic hypothesis. This event repeated itself on a
similar (upstairs) sink and on a minor scale when I was in the condominium with my wife and also at the height of a highly specific turbulent exchange.
On a later occasion, while I was angry and frustrated over the splattering enamel sink episodes and simultaneously upset at my inability
to psychically bend keys, my condominium door key apparently spontaneously bent, and would not work. Psi has its own laws. and it
behooves scientists to understand them and not to prematurely
pigeonhole what they observe into their own, at times, narrow and rigidly preconceived ideas.

Pursuit 61

How .Chemistry Tracked the

Prehistoric A.ber Trail
by Profo .. C1II't
Professor Beck is professor of chemistly, Vassar College,
~,N.Y.

: 'Chemistry and archaeology have long had a symbiotic .-elationship: The need to analyze very small samples of vall,J$.te
udfada pve impetus to the development of analytical techniqua, while chemistry's majorconbibution to prehistory lies:in
its ability to identify the nature and origin of the raw materialsd
from which the artifacts were fashioned.
~;;~iJb~
Chemical contributions to archaeology began as early asl:the,~
endofthe 18th century with the analysis of ancient coins. The
development of radiocarbon allowed chemists to date archaeological finds precisely. But archaeologists are just as inIeIeIted in the question of the origin of the finds. Solving the
problem is not easy. But modem analytical instrumentation is
often up to the task. Still, with most of the experience with in~ materials, organics have presented greater difficulties,
p.rticulady when they are insoluble materials such as amber.
"gold of the North" has been a valuable trading item
.:w back as ancient Greece and prehistoric Europe. Found
th.nJ.ughout Europe, the question for archaeological chemists is
~ source of these ambers. With the development of molecular
spectroscopy in the 1960s the way was open to solve the problein~ Because of their different botanical origins, different.
iImbers were bound to give different spectra. Now, using a computer to analyze the data from thousands of amber spectra, the
~. trade routes for amber in earliest times can be map~; an outstanding example of the synergism of chemistry and

nu.

aidIaeology .

be met only rarely, because the deposits were exhausted in antiquity, the distinctio~ between domestic manufacture and trad;C
goods can often be established by the statistical clustering of
trace-element patterns. If the patterns of the suspected imports
can be correlated with the ceramic production of another site,
n9t only the act but also the source of importation becomes a
fair certainty.
.
"The same holds for metals, but with added complications: .
Even if the ore deposits used in antiquity are still available for
comparison, a thorough knowledge of ancient metaUwgical techniques is needed to assess the enrichment or depletion of particular trace elements as a result of the smelting process.
Mo~ver, the value of metal in early times encourage the reuse
of scrap. Even the most sophisticated statistical correlation
methods will be bard put to reveal the checkered history of a
daggar found in England that may have an Italian fibula, a Carpathian belt buckle and some newly added tin from Cornwall
among its ancestors.
The problem of provenience analysis, or "sourcing," is easier
to solve when natural materials are fashioned into tools or ornaments by purely phy,ical means and without 'any attendant
chemical change. Stone Age flint tools have been traced to
specific quarries by elemental analysis. Obsidian, jade, turquoise, soapstone, marble, and coral are among the materials
whose chemical composition bas yielded valuable infonnation
.about the intensive and extensive commercial, and henc~
cultural, exchange in very early times.
Resin Remains

Where and When

Aiu:ient coins were analyzed by Klaproth in 1795, Roman

pigments by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1817, Bronze Age alloys

by BeJzeliiJs in 1836 and by.Fresnius in 1845. Fortlte next cen-

bUY the chemical contributions to archaeology grew in number

and significance. But modem archaeological science gained its
pmsent position only with the work on radiocaibon after World
War II that won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for Willard Ubby
in 1960.
, Datias techniques continue to attract attention, but the quesCion tor ai"cbaeologists is not just "when" but "where?" ArIifacts were not necessarily made in in. place where they were
finally committed to the ground, usually' in a grave, and where
&bey ue excavated thousands of years later. That bas long been
obviousto archaeologists on stylistic grounds, as with a blackfiaumd Gmek vase found in Italy or an Etruscan bronze sword
ftICOVen=d from a Danish bog. But artistic and technical skills
ale banlferable by the transmission of knowledge and by the
.mipation of artisans. The only objective proof of actual importation lies hidden in the chemical composition of a find,
wbic:h, in tum, reveals the nature and origin of the raw materials
f"rom:. wbicl1 it was lashioned.
The Concentration of trace elements in pottery can often
cIisdnguish between local and imported ware. Even if the ideal
of matching ceramic composition to specific clay deposits can.
PursuH 62

w. a.eIl

Arehaeological chemistry has dealt almost exclusively with

inorganic materials. Not only do they constitute the overwhelming majority of archaeological finds, but their gross composition
is easy to ascertain even by classical wet methods,' and their
trace element patterns can ~ detennined by a variety of instrumental methods.
Organic materials present much greater difficulties, especially
when they are polymeric and hence insoluble. One such material
is amber, the collective tenn for fossil resins fonned more than
2S million years ago by .trees of largely uncertain botaniCal affinities. Because of its inherent beauty (it bas been called "the
gold of the North' ') and unusual properties (its Gennan name
"Bernstein" means "the stone that bums" and its Greek name
, "e1ektron" is the root of the word elecbicity, since amber acquires static charges on rubbing) it was highly prized and extensively traded in prehistoric Europe.
In ancient Rome, a small statuette cost as much as a slave
and the importation of amber from the shores of the Baltic Sea
is well documented by contemporary writers like Pliny. For
earlier periods, only chemical analysis can establish the source
of an amber artifact.
The largest deposits of amber are found in Northern Europe,
where the already fossi1ized resin produced in a hypothetical
"amber forest" was distributed, first by the glaciers of the Ice
Ages and then by post-glacial rivers, over a large area reaching
from England into Russia, but with a quite well-defined southern
Second Quarter 1985

Aniber beads from Mycenaean graves in Greece, cirea 1600

were'1irnported from northern Europe.
' :: i
:n-:i':;Si

o indicates amber fossil

finds in Europe

boundary. In addition to this "Baltic amber," which

minemlogists call succinite, there are hundreds of more localized
deposits all over Europe. Some have been given mineralogical
identities, including simetite in Sicily, rumanite in Rumania,
allingite in Switzerland, and schraufite in Austria.

Pyrolosis Fails
The question for the Genoan archaeologist Heinrich
Schliemann, who in the 1870s excavated Greek sites dating to
about 1500 DC, was whether the thousands of amber beads he
discovered were imports from the distant North or whether they
might not more plausibly have come from amber deposits of
Italy and the Balkans. Chemistry was ill-equipped to deal with
the question then, but one attempt was made by the'apothecary
Helm in Danzig.
Using the known fact that Baltic amber released small amounts
(3 to 8 %) of succinic acid on pyrolysis, Helm analyzed
Schliemann's and other archaeological amber finds and pmnounced them to be of Baltic succinite on the basis of their succinic acid content. But it was soon discovered by Helm and
others that comparable amounts of succinic acid were contained
in the amber of Sicily, mainland Italy, Rumania, France and
even Portugal. That finding removed the rational basis from this
earliest method of chemical sourcing, which had the added disadvantage of being highly destructive since as much as a gram
of amber had to be subjected to dry distillation for a single ~.
It wasn't until the 19605 that molecular spectroscopy offered
a new way of attackiJig the problem. Infrared spectra yield
polyphenic infonnation that can 1le used empirically as a "fingerprint" to recognize not omy identical structures of pure compounds, but structwal similarities of complex mixtures. A spectrum can be run on insoluble materials, like amber, in a KBr
pellet using only a milligram or two of sample.
Since geographically distinct fossil resins are likely to have
different botanical origins, they are likely to differ sufficiently
in chemical structureto give different spectra. These expectations were born out by a systematic study of the naturally occurring fossil resins. Some 2,000 infrared spectra showed that
Baltic amber or succinite is distinguished from all other European fossil resins by a distinctive absorption pattern in the ester
region: A broad, virtually horizontal shoulder between 1,250
and 1,180 cm- 1 is followed by a single strong band at 1,160
cm~l. In addition, there is a characteristic, though not unique,
absorption at 885 cm- 1 that can be assignCd to an exocyclic
methylene group.
Second Quarter 1985

..

., ,.

... .'.;
::";'

i(i)xidation weathering predictably attacks this UilSatulated. l

boDdrdiminishing the band at 885 cm- 1 while at the sametime,
causing additional absorption in the ester region. This gives the .
horiZontal shoulder an increasingly negative slope~ but the spectruriirstill unambiguously differentiates Baltic succinite fitmi alli .
. the other European fossil resins. The latter have yielded li:Wide :'
variety of spectml patterns, none unique, but all clearlyaifferent'
! ). ".'
from the spectra on succinite.

Clear Picture .

..

"

"

With a rapid and reliable method for the identification of N~r;'

the.rn amber in hand, a research team of undergraduate studCnts
at Vassar College has now analyzed more than 3,500 ar-.
chaeological amber finds, ranging geographically from Greece:,
to Ireland and chronologically from the Stone Age to the
Medieval Period. To make the comparison of so many spectra .
more convenient and more objective, spectral classification is" .
done by computer. From this mass of data, a clearer picture '
of the prehistoric amber trade begins to emerge.
Baltic amber was traded as early as the Late Palaeolithic (Old
Stone Age), as shown by a find at a Swiss site mdiOClllbon--cJatCld
to 10,000 BC. But it was not yet available in "Italy at the end .
of the Neolithic, where local fossil resins served as raw material
for amber beads. The Bronze Age developed an extensive and
well-organized trade in Baltic amber.
The principal trade route to Greece led from Denmark to
England, up to the Rhine and down the Rhone to the Marseille
region, and then by coastal sea traffic to Italy and the Eastern
Aegean. The trade goods were finished beads and other ornaments made in Northern Europe. With the beginning of the.' :
Iron Age, circa 1000 DC, a new direct route from the Eastern
Baltic Sea to the head of the Adriatic was opened up. Trade
was now largely in unworked amber, with woIkshops eme1J- .
ing along the way in Poland and Czechoslovakia. Raw amber
was shipped to and worlced in Italy, and the finished goods were
.
re-exported to Gennany and Yugoslavia.
Such details of a complex trade network are, of coUJSe, not
revealed by chemical analysis alone. They require mapping of
geographic distributions, comparing the shapes and types of
beads in different countries and periods, and establishing their
chronological context from the relative or absolute dates of .
associated finds. But the essential basis of this work is the
chemical identification of the varieties of amber by infmred~ :
troscopy. Science, so often only seen as shaping the futwe of
human society (for better or worse), also serves to elucidate its .
past.
Reprinted with pennission from Industrial Chemical NewS, Vol.

6, No.7.

Pursuit 63

The Bermuda Triangle: What's Left

When the Wreckage Settles?
by Michael D. Swords
Abstl'llCt: Now that Lawrence Kusche and NOVA have tumed
their withering scientific analyses upon the dreaded Devil's
Triangle, it appears to be appropriately exorcised. It may be
that this modem folk legend is far more Hokum than Hoodoo.
In an effon to see if there remains any reasonable res~due of
mystery, this paper analyzes the testimony of the alleged "survivors," and compares certain aspects of their claims with
unusual experiences and phenomena related elsewhere. A possible residue of electromagnetic, and attendant psychological,
anomalies seem to exist...maybe.
The Good Ship Gaddis has floundered. The Limbo is lost.
The S.S. Berlitz has bellied up. And the Winer has winged it
into oblivion. Hunicane NOVA got them all, powered by a tidal
swell which Kusche-d allover them. The verdict: pilot error.
The Bermuda Triangle was from the first a masterpiece of
backwards thinking: a neat idea toward which isolated facts (and
non-facts) gravitated; a post hoc creative sinkhole into which
imagination poured more freely than scholarship or analysis.
And it was the safest of SUbjects: no evidence ever returned ..
Forteans long ago questioned the rationality of attempting to
make any sort of case based upon the disappearance of evidence,
but, since no one ever pays any attention to us anyway, it was
no surprise that the Triangle became a national fad and made
a few unrestrained literateurs a lot of fame and fortune.
The Fortean concern over this gush of deductive reasoning
was supported by the well-known facts that planes and boats
do get lost, the "triangle" is heavily travelled, and that no one
had established any baselines ("odds") on what amount of "getting lost" you could reasonably expect there anyway. It took
Lawrence Kusche's de~ed "homework" to point out how embarrassing some of the "reporting" had become.
Now that the Windmills of Berlitz et aI are properly tilted,
the pendulum of irrational belief will doubtless swing to the other
extreme, and the momentum of the moment will ride NOV A's
wave to a safe "established" position: There's nothing to it.
Well, perhaps.
Forteans spend their intellectual lives trying to avoid being
hit by pendulums. Let's see if we can dodge this one, too. As
admiJable as Kusche's Bennuda Triangle Mystery-501vedis (and
this author owns three copies for loan to students: an ultimate
compliment, methinks), it is unlikely that Sir Lawrence feels
that everything that needs saying about the Triangle is said there.
He 'is too good and too savvy a researcher to think that. The
Case of the Triangle is large and complex. As a TV show said:
There are a million stories in the naked city. All of them certainly don't begin and end the same way.
Since dead men tell no tales (even disappeared ones don't),
these stories seemed doomed to remain untold. But we do have
"survivors" ... i1Ileged survivors, at least. What do they tell us?
What follows is a simple table of survivor or witness cases from
the Triangle literature. (See Table 1)
What do we find when we peruse this lump of information?
Primarily we notice (or should notice) that there is nothing here
to indicate that any of these experiences even happened. It's
the old" Anecdotal Incident" problem again. The witriess could
have lied. The book author could have lied. (Good Grief! I could

Pursuit 64

have lied!) Well, this, as we know in many areas of Forteana,

is an insoluable problem. We, will duck it initially as we always
do, and try to look for patterns, commonalities. Later we will
try to link these fragile filaments to a web of greater substance.
A second look at the table indicates a pattern and a loose
assortment of idiosyncrasies. Some ofthe "looser" reports involve a time lapse, a big pipe sticking out of the ocean, and
a pilot who couldn't see an island directly beneath her. Such
individual experiences are probably best left with the individuals
involved. Other "unique" reports are perhaps thus because
they're really not surprising enough for others to bother retelling: not being able to see a lighttower, a dome of light (an
aurora?) on the horizon, a "mysterious" radar blip. A few tales
involve known, even if not well understood, phenomena which
could well play roles in the Triangle cases: clear-air turbulance,
water swells, high winds. One case illustrates the notorious mis,reporting of the "stylists:" the Raifuko Maru attacking "daggers, " which message when properly restated contained no such
word, and thereby no real evidence to help us.
And what do we have left? About 60% of the cases for one
thing. And, they have something (possibly) in common: electrical and magnetic effects. J"he cases which will be included
in this "pattern" are numbers; 4, 5, 6, 8,9, 10, 11, 12, 13,
15, 16, 17, 18, 19,20, 22, 23, 24,25, 28, 30, 31,40,41,
43, 44, 46, 47, 48. The electromagnetic-ness of most of these
inclusions are obvious. The "boiler failure" cases may be a
separate group, bU,t do involve electrical failures. The ball-ofincluded
light cases ("nocturnal lights" in UFO parlance)
since electrical effects are a leading hypothesis for their cause.
The two cases of possible central nervous system impairment
(46 and 48) are included due to prominence of the "Persinger
hypothesis" relating paranormal experiences to effects of localized electrical, anomalies on the c.n.s.
When these 29 cases are mapped (see Map 1), several fall
scattered a,bout the ocean (5 cases are so vaguely located that
they are designated with question marks: 12,20,30,41,43).
Fifteen cases (perhaps 17-, as cases 18 and 28 may fall here,
too) cluster within a relatively condensed geographical area, the
Bahamas Banks Region. These are numbers 4,5,6,8,9, 10,
11, 13, 17, possibly 18,22,25, possibly 28,31,40,44 and 48.
Fifteen of the seventeen cases report compass and/or instrument failure, usually both. The two which don't are a case probably without such instruments, and one with pilot confusion
such that such information was not transmitted. If there is any
Triangle phenomenon, this electrical-magnetic effect should be
the core of it. Other "addenda" (odd clouds, lights, glows,
lightning, winds, and mental-sensory aberrations) show no pattern, though all could be coherent with the concept of an electromagnetic anomaly.
,
Well, let's 'take a backward step for a moment. What have
we really got here? We surveyed some literature and maQe a
map. Nicely, a little pattern of geographic and' 'symptomatic"
'variables appeared. But what created it? There are several
possibilities. The working hypothesis is that something odd
electro-magnetically really does go on intermittently in the
Bahamas region. Alternative hypotheses are that compasses and

are

Second Quarter 1985

Table 1: Bermuda Triangle "witness

Name/Designator
I.
2.
3.
4.

P1anelBoat

Stern-I
Stern-2
Wild Goose
Good News

5. Richardson
6. Wakeley
7. Durant-I
8. Nightmare

P
b

Year
1944
post-WWII
1944

1966

1964

1963

1972

1~57

10. Bean-2
II. Jablonsky

b
P

1957
1972

12. QE2

1974

13. Lindbergh
14. Hawkes

p
p

1928
1952

IS. Eastern
16. Atlantic City

1963
1955

17. Blocker

1968

18. Bandora

1970

19. Durant-2
20. Rotterdam

. pre-73
1975

9. Bean-I

21: Jones

1969

22. Billson

1945

23. Tigrone

1955

24. Richa~ E. Byrd

25. Diligence

b
b

1971
1975

AnomaIistic Phenomena
clear air turbulence
clear air turbulence
water sinkage/undertow
eiectrical drainage; compass
effects; odd cloud
compass effects
electrical drailU!ge; compass
effects; glows
water swell
electrical drainage; compass
effects; lights
electrical drainage; compass
effects; lights
compass effects
electrical drainage; compass
effects
boiler failure; electrical
outages
compass effects
clear air turbulence; radio
failure
ball-of-Iight in plane
ball-of-light encounter; compass effects
electrical drainage; compass
effects
odd lightning; electrical
drainage
electrical drainage; Slatic glows
boiler failure; electrical
outages
high winds (blown back to
home base)
electrical drainage; compass
effects; vertigo
insrument navigation failure
(radio; compass)
instrument navigation failure
instrument navigation failure

electrical systems go out "nonnally," and a lot of cases are

reported here because of the heavier traffic (more opportunities)
or the local knowledge of the legend. A second alternative is
that the area attracts Bermuda Triangle researchers and enthusiasts, and they actively dig out, or worse, invent an unusual
number of stories. When one recognizes that, for example, three
of the cases (8, 9, 10) are dependent entirely on the reporting
integrity of one man (who lectures on UFOs and the Triangle),
one realizes how tenuous are the threads on which the "data"
hangs.
But give a Fortean enough threads and he'll hang himself,
so let's go about our yam-spinning. The remainder of the article's web is directed toward a "feasibility" argument: that the
working hypothesis is neither impossible nor outlandish given
current information. The argument involves odd electrostatic
phenomena from outside the Triangle, odd effects from the sister
study of ufology, and the growing research upon electromagnetic
effects in organisms. The conclusion will be: Mother Nature
generates such effects, and they play hob with both minds and
machines. Whether they do so in the Bahamas will be left for
posterity to determine.
Electrostatic phenomena continually appear on a big scale all
over the globe. Lightning runs in large, rapid, concentrated channels; auroras in large rapid diffuse ones; ball lightning in slow
sma111ocalizations; perhaps the old St. Elmo's fire or ignis fatuus
is a small slow diffuse one. And -,yho knows the variety of the
total phenomenon? Some hints of this are given by our current

Second Quarter 1985

~ases."

26. Navy P-2

27. C-130
28. Vogelgesing

P
b

1970
1970
1972

29. Hollyhock
30. Yamacraw
31. Gemon

b
b
P

1974
1956
1970

32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.

Clarke
Shattenkirk
Meacham
Brown
National Air
DLG-27
Wingfields

1954
1963

39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.

Columbus
Flight 19"
St. Brendan
Winer
Britannia
Carpenter
C-87

b
b

b
b
b

P
b
P

1965
1970
1969
1973
1492
1945
1969

b
b

1969

1943

46. Coscio"
47. Durant-3d
48. Jeffrey"

p
P

1969
pre-73
1962

49. Raifuku Maru"

1925

clear air turbulence

high winds (early arrival)
boiler failure; electrical
outages
anomalous radar report
odd cloud; boiler failure
odd cloud; instrument failure;
high wind
water columns; color changes
water swell
localized visibility loss
water trench-undertow
time lapse; radar anomaly
light hemisphere on horizon
flaming funnel sticking from
sea
fireball; lights
compass effects
extreme lightning
seven waterspouts together
lights; alerted states
lights. over and into sea
turbu1ence; auto-pilot malfunction
sensory impainnent(?)
similar to #19
thought or sensory impairmente?)
"dagger" attack (report apparently bogus).

"reports from radio calls of non-survivors

a. cases 1 through 12 have been commented upon by Berlitz,

The Bennuda Triangle.

b. cases 13 through 38, plus 45, from Group, The Evidence

For The Bennuda Triangle.

c. cases 41 through 44 from Winer, The Devils Triangle.
d. Robert Durant. PURSUIT 6, #3, pp. 55-7, 1973.
e. Jeffrey, Adi-Kent, The Bennuda Triangle, p. 146-7.

master Fortean, William Corliss, in several of his Sourcebook

Project publications. We tend to assume that electrostatic effects won't hang around very long unless it is especially dry,
but the Triangle is wet. Well, it is our problem, not the
Triangle's, as the literature is full of cases of electrostatics
before, during, and after storms, on land or sea. Some "slowburning" hlue lightning crackled about English bushes in the
"heavy." air of 1912; mini-bolts flashed dully about Tucson in
the wet and heavy snow of 1964; a house was wrapped in blue
flame in a thunderstorm in New Zealand in 1930; an electrical
"bath" washed over Yellowstone in 1949; and a forester's
mustache and fingertips lit up on Pike's Peak in 1882. The examples can go on ad infinitum, of course. The point is that there
are a lot of unpredictable electrostatic manifestations possible
about the globe and some of them are quite intense. How in. tense? What are they capable of!
We may have actually had the answer to some of this mystery
right under our noses, residing in another area of "anomalistic
studies:" Close Encounters of the Second Kind. CEIIK's refer
to those UFO experiences wherein the UFO produces tangible
effects on the natural, mechanical-artificial, or physiological environment. CEIIK's breakdown into many categories, of which
the "landing traces" are the best known and possibly most
significant. But a second large grouping seems to involve a
phenomenon of special relevance to our subject: motor vehicle
interference cases.
Electromagnetic effects were recognized as an important

Pursuit 65

.'

J.
"..

........,.-...'

.,~

~.............

~..

~~.".

~c~.. ~

,. \.....

..(.

-.. .....:

'l.

~~.Im-':

'.I
. ; :1 ...:;-

.j :

1"': :'.' ..

,"~:,j .!:l

'.

. . '. .......
.

-,

'J,

"

, I

I.

I' ..'1:1M.El

" .

('

I'

JB

.If

.*

i"

,!
.

.. " .... r.r. ~ " ,r...iU"lII. ~IP".','

..

......

"

,'",

'f

. . . . . . ..

..... , :~~: t~ l:':,

i . ~.T

aJrnotf':: .

....

.'

..

subset of the UFO phenomenon qwte>tany:' No~ that

Surely something. of scientific and technical importance may lie
.
disciplined and serious stage of UFO researeh has i~ved;' .~ , '~re.
And there may be a further involvement of the EM effects:
several authors have published analyses of the vehicle in-'central nervous alteri~g fields:Most readers are probably aware.
.terference problem. James McCamptiell and Donald Johnson
in this country and The Vehicle Interference Project of BUFORA
of the so-called "Persinger hypothesis," wherein Michael Persinger postulates that earth-stress forces acting upon 'subtenain Great Britain have produced significant pieces. The most
'-nean quartz created intense local EM fields with subsequent
prehensive work to date is by Mark Rooeghier of the Center
. "lights" or static g1e-ball ("UFOs">" phenomena. The same
. for UFO Studies (founded by J. Allen-Hyliek): Let~S',take look
at some of his more interesting conClusions. Rodeghier's study
fields supposedly affect the internal operations of the brain, 'alter-of 441 CEllI{ cases ~volving el~~c effects on vehicles
.. ing pereeption, memory, states of consciousness, even' bringseemed to yield these facts: '-;.':
.
.
f: . ;. .
ing up imagery and delusions from the subconscious. . '
'1. Almost 'all the effeCts reported involved' failure of the
,- Though very fadrom proven, this' laSt Idea would also' ex.; : engine, lights, or ollier' electric8J equipment (e:g.-, the
'plain pilot and captain errors sufficient to explain Triangle in.' . radio). Little pennanent damage was ever reported; ' .
'cidents. There is a growing body of evidence from "establish, ment' , science' to indicate that Persinger could be onto
, 2. the events happened in all kinds of weather; but' usually
sunny or cloudy (Le. not raining); '.
something. For example, sensing of relatively weak elec.' 3 .. witnesses experienced increased heat, static in the air, an
'tromagnetic fields has been demonstrated for several organisms
odor, partial momentary paralysis' in .several occasions;
(bacteria, sharks, pigeons, bees among many others; the list is
4. sounds mostly involved hums or whines.
.
growing). There is excellent preliminary evidence to suspect that
(Since this article's pwpose is not involved directly with UFOs,
the human brain can sense such fields as well. Many studies
on the effects of various kinds of electromagnetic fields and
the reader may read Mark Rodeghier's monograph for' UFO
radiation'have been launched' and completed, most aimed at
.descriptions associated with these cases, if interested.)
The charaCteristics above lndicate that electromagnetic in"alterations of the central nervous system. All of these give hints
.. that such fields might trip changes in the c.n.s. if that brain is
terference phenomena may be taking place on a widespread
scaI.e, and perl1aps' we should expect some such cases in the
<hovering. chemically/honnonally near a behavioral or .percep. tual threshhold. Frankly all this sholild be expected. The brain
Triangle portfolio. Engine 'and inStnime~t failures' cOupled with
certain physiological effects on the ex~ri~ers would certain. runs largely on hOnDonal threshholds, usually quite finely tunly fonn a sufficient explanation for aen8i'and boating acCidents
; ed. The electrical properties of the neurons intimately react with
and cOnsequent disappe~ces. Perhaps we need look no furand partly control these honnones. Very little change in,
ther for a cause of these bagedies and near-misses, only io look.
chemistry goes a long way in "behavior." And professionals
. for a better focus on the exact nature of the cause we've found.
in health care,. psychiatry, and crime control have been ~lIing

cOma

. Pursuit 66

Second Quarter .1985'

us:aiieatOially"

about such' effeCts for years: Ii is" probabiy C;';-' . ,

ly the complexity ~d individuality of each biain that has clouded
Scientific tests of this very real phenomenon (behaviondperceptual changes due to low-strength EM fields), and we
should probably be confident that such changes really do occur. This is not to say ~t UFO Close Encounters and Triangle
errors are the result of Persinger earth-stresses, but that they
could be due. to some sons of electromagnetic anomalies.
, The analysis in this article, of course, proves nothing. It was~ 'f" .
meant to. Its function was to point out another dangerous Fortean situation: the complete washing-away of a set of claimed'

experiences (the Triangle) due to a piece of excellent investigation (Kusche's) which explains many of them. Its function was
also to point to a cluster of experiences in the Triangle arid UFO
lite~ture whic~ .may have a common ground of characteristics
and cause. And its.function was to point to a possible (partially
researched) chain of 'agencies which could prove sufficient to
deal with the experiences as reported, and to hope that the Mark
Rodeghiers, Jam~s McC~pbells, and Michael Persingers of
the world will join with their establishment counterparts in
geology, meteorology, biology, and psychology to one day
un~vel this: intrigujng and important group of mysteries.
~

"

BIBUOGII6I'JD'
.....
1. Bat1oc:letti, J.H. Electromagnetism, Man, and the Environment. Boulder,
CO., 1976.
.
.
1. Berlitz, Charles. The Beimuda Triangle. N.Y., 1974.
3. Corliss, William R. HaiKlbook of Unusual Natural Phenomt:nJl. Glen Arm,
Md., 1977.
.4. Corliss, William R. Lightning, AurolBS, Nocturnal Lights. Glen Arm, t..td:,
1982 .
.
5. Durant, Raben. "The Bermuda Triangle Again," PURSUIT6:,SS-7, 1973;
: 6. Group, David. The Evidence For the Bennuda Triangle. WelliDgborougb,

G.B., 1984.
.
.
': 7. Hall, Richard (cd.) TIu: UFO Evidence. NICAP, Washington, D.C., 1964 .
_ (pp. 73-6).
.
. .
.
~ I. Jeffrey, Adi-Keilt. The B~uda Triangle. N.Y., 1973.
.
,. Johnson, Donald. "~Effects of Position aDd Distance in UFO Ignition
Interference' Cases," J. UFO Studies 3:3-8, 1981.
10. Kusc:he, Lawrence. The lIeIJlluda Triangle Mysrel)'-SOlved. N.Y., 1975.
11. L1avrado, J .G. et aI. Biological IIlJd Cliliical Effects of Low-Ftequency
, .
Mapetic IIIId Electric'Fields. Sprlngraeid, ill:. 1974.'

ll.
13.

ICc
.

IS,
16.
:-.

17.
'.
II..
\

Lockwood; C.F. and A~R. Pace".(eds.).

VtJUcle.lnteIf"emna: Project Repipt.

BUFORA, New Chapel, G.B., 1979.
:
McCampbc;ll, James. "UFO Inte.ference with Vehicles with Self-stanfng
Engines," Ptocet:di,.;.!4th MUfON Symposium. MUFON, Seguin, TX,
1983.
.
Persinger, Michael andG,F .. ~. Spet:e-Time TI8lJSienIsIIIId UnlJS.Ull/
Events. Chicago, 197.7,;' .
Rodeghier, Mm. UFO Repmts Involving Vehicle Intetference. CUFOS,
EvanstOn, m., 1981.. .
.
Schuessler, John F. Rlidio-fR:quincy RlIdiMion Biological Efft:cIs. Priva~ly
p'ublisbed by'authOr, HOustOn,: i984. ' . "
' . '
U.S. Dept: Commerce; Filtli Report DIJ' "Program for Contro/,of ElF'
troI1IIIgIIetic. POJlutioli of the Envil'OlJlDe{lt: the A_lJt of Biologicli/
HlIZlUds of nonoiOtiizing Electromagnetic Rsdiation. ..
.
~iner, Richard. The Dev!l's Triangle.. N.Y., 1974.

I':"
~

.:

"

'.

I '.

~.

Capt_res' and' ~tran4iDg'.-of,:M.olisters

.'

Iii Loch Ness, Part -II.~

' 1 .'

Since writing this article (Part 1)*, further facts have been
~scovered.

I have gotten.the original text of the JJerljner- DlustlieIt,e

Zeitung, which gives an interesting description of the alleged
monster: "The NeosaUJUs, which became famous under the
name 'Loch Ness Monster' ... is 31 metres long, 7.8 metres high,
and has a weight of about 36 tons. " These measurements were
taken by "engineers oftbe Technical University of EdinbuI8h. "
DUring the now famous peak period of sightings in 1933/34,
two more stmndings were recorded~ though both from the Invemess Firth. It was generally thought then that Nessie was only
a marine animal.that made a short vjsit into the Locb, and so
that any SIraDge marine creaturestnmded ~ the sea offInvemess
was considered to be a Nessie that had died on its way back
to

sea.

When, for exaniple; a seal was caughtoff Avpch, near Inverness, sceptics c~ it Wls identical with the IDOnSter. A
local newspaper, the Northern Chronicle (22.xn.1933) denied
the allegation. .
Then a:~ serpent,' 13 ft. long, silver-grey in colour, was
trapped in a shallow pool left by the receding tide off Findhom.
Sir Alexander Gonton-Cumming investigated the story and was
able to identify the monster as an oarfish, reported the LoDdOn
Times (22.V.1934). One week later, the Inverness Courier
(25. V .1934) had to deny the theory that this fish was identical
~ the Loch Ness Monster.
.
-See PURSun; Whole 167 (1984).

Second Quarter 1985

:.

' .

The nexi alleged capture happened again in the loch itself;

where, according to Witcbell+ a"Gemian party claimed, "That
they bad captu~'tbe "mOnster,' spirited it secretly out of the
country' and that it was pn display in Bavaria.
_I ~ve fOOnd nO. ~ntion of this case anywhere else, and so
it might be a 1934 'lIedi!Jt:r Dlustlierte Zeitung' hoax.
.
. I found confirmation of another item: This is the supposed
claw of 'Nessie' Tim DiDsdale described. h was mentioned in
sev.end ne~spapers well before 1960, but the earliest accOUDt
was in the Northern Chmnicle(29.1X~1937): With the caption,
'Shed by the moniter'l' A photograph appeared in a newspaper
~~g it is 'wbat appears to be the foot of a reptile recendy
found on the shores of Loch Ness. Eighteen inches long, the
skin is as bani and thick as the bide of.a crocodile, the talons
are 4 inches lOng. '. Precisely, it is the foot of a crocodile - and
of a stuffixl one!"", _'.
The last addition to my previous article is a sad one - I have
beeD ,unable to find any mention of the strange basking~sIwk
can:ass in Locb Ness, 1942, in the issues of the Invemess
Courierof that year - so it seems, perbaps, to be an AmerlcaD
invention.
.
. One last .wonl.about the Loeb "that never gives up its dead. "
This. statement' is absolutely mythical, as seveml reports of
droWned bodies Washed ashore (in the Invemess Courier, for
eXainple, 14.Vl, 1939, p.Sb:.Body washed ashore at Locbend),
woulei' indicate:
(Thanks to Regina Magin and Jorg Schmiedekind)
tWiIcbeII,

The ~ Ness Stmy, T. A. DIboa, 1976, p.7.5..

Pursuit 67

THE NEWARK WORKS

Key to a Lost Techn.ology?
by K. W. Moak
In recent years there has been a growing tendency among
anomalists to interpret various ancient earth and stoneworks as
devices for the manipulation of some presently unknown energy .
Janet and Colin Bord have written at length on this aspect;of
British standing stones and banows, John Michell and others
have applied it to the problem of leys, and numerous dowsers
have described existing energy flows in/around ancient stones. I
There is an attractive economy in such theories. that attempt.to
.
account for a large number of peculiar structures in ten$ 9f
a unified "grid," but to date there has been little progreSs in
elucidating specifics. One great problem (aside from the purely
conceptual one of accepting a non-electromagnetic energy) is
the notable absence of any recognizable analogues to conventional EM energy manipulation devices. Thus, while we may
agree with the dowsers that spiral energy flows are manifest in
certain standing stones2 , we can not easily explain just what
purpose such phenomena would serve in a presumed energy network, nor can we find a satisfactory electromagnetic analogue
to that function.
Most current hypotheses involve several related concepts all rather vague. It is suggested that the energy corresponds to
the Chinese Feng-shui, or earth current Oiterally, Dragon Current), a somewhat mystical concept related in tum to astrological
influences. With this premise, the earthworks may be interpreted
as terrestrial acupuncture points. Another possibility - not
necessarily contradictory - is some energy corresponding to
Reich's orgone; that is, a sort of aether. Simple geomagnetism
has been considered, as well as a number of other named and
unnamed forces. While any or all of the possibilities may be
involved, none seem to offer any ready explanations regarding
the exact function of the surviving earthworks.
To even the most open-minded physicist this is a damning
problem, since all logic indicates that any recogn~able fonn
of energy must exhibit certain characteristics, and therefore be
manipulated in certain comprehensible ways. For instance, any
conceivable energy, electromagnetic or otherwise, must be
transferable, by radiation, conduction, or induction; it must be
subject to some sort of attenuation with distance; must possess
a characteristic velocity in a given medium; and, if it is dynamic,
it must be in some way oscillatory that is, be defined in tenns
of wavelength and frequency, and manipulated accordingly. It
is very difficult to interpret any existing prehistoric structures
as interacting with any fonn of energy in any of these ways.
However, there are important exceptions, the most noteworthy being the SCH:alled Newark Works, fonnerly existing in what
is now Newark, Ohio. This complex asSemblage of walls,
avenues, mounds, and trenches (they covered something on the
order of four square miles!) was startlingly different from most
ancient strucures, in that it presented a pattern quite similar to
something in our own technology. In fact, it resembles nothing
so much as a waveguide circuit, of the type used in microwave
work.
A waveguide is a system of conducting and reacting elements
based on geometry, rather than solid-state effects. In our
technology it is used almost entirely for microwave (thirty cen~

Pursuit 68

timeters to a few millimeters) EM manipulation, although experimental work is being done in applying it to the transmission of light. In fact, it is theoretically applicable to any
wavelength, providing the dimensions are scaled correctly.
Those frequencies active in a given waveguide are" determined
by (A) wavelength, and (B) the speed of local propagation. For
microwave frequencies this requires waveguides ranging from
a few inches to less than an inch in width, generally in the fonn
of hollow rectangular or round tubing. Figure 1 illustrates some
typical microwave components. Note that circuit elements such
as capacitors, inductors, resistors, and resonant circuits are produced by geometric means, such as narrowing the passages, inserting irises, stubs, flaps, or vanes, and providing openings,
slots, and precisely dimensioned cavities. For microwave (EM)
work, the waveguide lines are fashioned of conductive material
(metal) and for other types of energy this would also be the case,
e.g. transparent substances for light. In the Newark Works there
are analogues to many waveguide elements, and more importantly, there is a consistency of geometry that suggests an overall
plan of function.
Figure 2 shows simplified plan of the Newark Wo~, based on the standard Squier and David survey of 1837-47. A
number of minor details have been omitted for the sake of clarity,
but all the major structures are indicated, these being five circular or polygonal enclosures, three long, walled avenues, three
small circular cul-de-sacs on the avenues, and three rather complex arrangements of shorter walls. These and a few other
features are identified in the legend.
The accepted archaeological view of these structures is that
they were the site of complex ritual activities on the part of the
. Adena Culture, " or Moundbuilders. The nature of such rituals
is entirely problematical, although some suspicion exists that
it may have been partly astronomical. To evaluate this assumption, several points must be kept in mind:

I. The size of the works. In Figure 2, the length of avenue

L. is one mile, the area enclosed by octagon D is upwards
of fifty acres, the width of the avenues is twenty feet. Such

dimensions are difficult to reconcile with presumed ritual

usage.

n.

The essentially closed geometry of the works. Except for

nanow gaps and the terminal ends of Lz and L3 , the huge
enclosures could not easily be entered by devotees.
Enclosure E is portrayed as open, but it is quite possible
that it was originally surrounded by a wall; likewise, Lz
and L,. may have originally had more complex terminations. In any case, the overall impression is of a containing perimeter, broken only at select points, with nothing
like a grand entry or promenade such as would be expected
in a ritualistic s~cture.

m.

The peculiar geometry of the works. It is apparent that

a verY precise and definite plan was followed in construction, yet it is virtually impossible to explain it in tenns

Second Quarter 1985

' -_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _1 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
1

oo
c

IL:~,
:"l;I1. '.

A
'J

81:: .\1..:
I

a~~"'.'1.

'~"'I!"

...

;.

FlOURE I: Various waveguide components

Above are shown various common microwave waveguide
ponents. Except for A, which is a sectional view, the drawings may
be considered transparencies. Crosshatching and solid circles indicate
conductive insertions.

com-

A
represents a length of waveguide transmission line. In practice the dimension d l would be approximately equal to one-half the
wavelength .. Dimension d z would be equal to one-quarter the
wavelengths.
. B
represents an inductive iris, used to match impedance. The
lower figure is an end view.

....

Second Quarter 1985

,.

I"""

'D

...

I.e

I.-

C
represents two methods of effecting radiation from a
waveguide, the geometJy of the slots differing for each dimension
utilized.
D
represents a tuning stub inserted in a line.
E
and F represent different types of resistive terminations used
at the end of a line.
o represents a flap attenuator, variable, in this case.
H
represents a resonant cavity used as a reactive filter.
I
is a somewhat abstract representation of posts used to direct
the energy flow in a complex pattem, sometimes used in masers.
J
represents a directional coupler used to extract a precise component of the energy flow into another line.
Pursuit

69

.......----~~----------...,;..-~--------...;.......;.~.,
c
FIGURE 2: S,iinpli~ dlag~ of. worts

Figure TWo is a very

simplified-map ofdie'entire worts.

Omitted

~ all structures not tied directly into the'priin8ry system. G:enemlly,.

~ RlpIaeDt iaised waIlS, and'soIid cin:Ies and bars rePreSent mounds.
The single exception is ~ inside cirole of A; whic!l represents a trench.

,.. .".Q"7

. . . ~'\. .
is a larse ciIcle~ its ~funned'of a tmK:h and wall con~ to.asin~ ~ross-section .. 1n the ceDteftl)ereis atri-Iobed
' .
.' 1',
IDOUDd as iIl~, bacbd by a: semilunar~. The wall and trench
.' . '
.,.. . ' .
.'
are broken to provide an opening into.L,., ..... . .
_____ .
.
--s..... .
:; B . is a square.broJtenat.fivc: points BI!.~\Vn. Each break,.and ~~ --. , }
:j two so~id comers ~ bac~ by cin:ular QIOIIIids. 1'hree .avenues ;on- '. .....
.' .
...... t
. ~/
: nect WIth narrow gaps, another by a broken comer.
/" -.
.
L,
.
.( .
~.C ~ a c~ provi4ed wtth t:wo',qJpOSite gapI!; v, \Ybi~or-'
: '.
R, .
'--""
: ed by a mound . and ihC short avCmie' to D. .' '. ~. .
.y-' ...., .. ' .
,...,
D
is lUI ~gon broken at.Qch
wi1h:eacb'break backed
'.
.:
: Rs
1by. a rectangiJlar.mouDd a~ni:ly lei tWeDtY f~ froni the wali. ' ..!lm!':, :
'"
. ,... . . . . .
'. RI
and R2 ' are cin:uIar ciJl-de"-saes' attacbed to the two main WIt:', . :
: avenues. R, is smaller, and lacks the" ~ eompleXiiy '(not shown) fli .~::
.;, of R I' and R2 , which enclose a trench, and a semilunar mound.
1 LI ,
~,and L, are walled avenues twenty feet wide (as are most
of the avenues). LI connects B and D, .~e ~ leads from D towaId
E. No detailed termination is indicated f~r' L2 , a,nd its location at a

'

Comer,.

"

-',

;.

".:

,""

"

~. I

I. ,,'

..... h .

-'

..

",

...........1..,,:~' .
'.
low bluff near the river'

'.

'.

.....

. -.:

.Ls.

. . ....

~T 'L~'"

~gests' ~t ~ .y,ha~e ~Ved part .

'.T,'
.'

of the structure. A conoec:tion wi~ E,may baVe' priginaUy~. L,

: was tmCf!d for some two ~es. bef~ ~ .Ost. '. '. .

_B

L. . and L.are short, complex avemiClnio~ B with E. Their

SIIucture is shown in detail. Points w and z ~ smaller structun:i at t8daed to them.

E' is a Iaip~ uncompletc waIl,.pqsitiy oace a full ciJcle, aatached
to B and sited in proximity to die Raccoon Cn:ek. Tbei'e is an avenue
riuuUng off it, terminated in the.long mouad, y. There are numerous
mounds, semilunes, and odIei small SI:nIcIIIres within E. . .
In addition to the illustrated feiduJes, ~. Was a Jake sited roughly
halfway between A' and C, .: nDinber of cin:les and semilunes within
the aDgle enclosed by I.. and Lz; and. other shoit walls" mounds, etc.
scatteJed around the wotki. . '
.
-.
.
'.

~.I"

. T2

.' . .

/J"'~

;,...,Z

L .. _.'

T .,' .

T ' ' ...,~ ,.

of

.
of human movements. We. lee; avenUe$ twenty feet wide
alignments of sun, moon, or stars. In fact,the interior
... , .narrowing to ~.P.P,S? ~ ~ bloc~ by
anY ~ of the wQIb.would be,a. ~~Y' Poor v_g
: : . inoundS, old i-.terseCDOOS, ~q~. paths, and huge
point for any' putpose.
,.'
,
" .enclosures acceisi.ble only bY oDe. tiny Openirig. EvelythiDg
- .
.' "is inteR:onnected; iDdeed, it isnot at all difficul~ to s e e .
.
. a'pattern of circulation in the plan.':: '.'
.. " ' : '.
. Intere!ltingly, however, the very ~ that tend to argue.
. .
"
.. ' .' . ' ,'. .
, ' . ."
.against Ii ritualistic use, argue for a ~on in tenns of enelBY:
'. IV. In 1mDS ofastronomical
tbe'abseiice of poiilts .. " '. m.anipul8tioiJ.: .FeatUres such as the D811'OW terminal. gaps, the
. .of observation. Such gap&"
are . let .iiitO" the main
. appended small circular enclosures, and ~ mounds. blocking.
enclosures. ,are
hV.mouiIds
as elec:troriiC
in8lo'goes, some
. 1iDifoDillY'blocbd'
." .
~3
,'renCferiri
...
g -. . eiJ.tianCeS
, . .are.
. nOt
. 001Y.expHcmle.
.'
~ useless in ~ ~vieW~:~~.~~ h~ ,
ofthem:are Bctuany necessarY, given that fuDCtion:-
:"

sipfiaux:e,
as

Purs\1it 70
"

..

,.

.;

. FIGURE 3: Flowchart illustrating one possible mode of operation

This diagram represents a comprehensible functional plan of a presumed earthwork-waveguide interpretation of the works. The arrows
indicate the direction of energy flow.

.... -

.-tI

. r; ."

. J'J.1

....

:."

In this plan, A would function as an oscillator or detector for some .lh,w ~,.
specific frquency. This frequency would be fed through atteiluator riiGm ow'
(alt.) 1 to B, which acts as a modulator/amplifier. A power source in (:1woda t(
or beyond E feeds energy through filter 1 to B, where it is combined
.DO':.
with the frequency from A. A feedback loop from B to E involves the
structure w in Fig. 2. One interpretation might be that directional eoupl- ...~
ing takes place at w, with a component of the energy from B returning
as feedback, while another exists the system at X" possibly to be utilized
by the structures (not shown) between Lit Lz. Also froni E, energy
flows to resistive tenninatiol! (ter.) 1, possibly as a means of tuning.

From B the modulated and amplified energy proceeds through filter

2 to a splitter, with part diverted into filter 3 and filter 4, and their
respective lines. The major portion, however, travels to D, which serves
as a ground-plane radiator, with cavity D. serving as a loading
resonance. The energy would then be radiated in a predominantly semicircular front away from the works.
.
This interpretation is, of course, only an exercise in possibilities.
Several of the important structures are difficult to evaluate, and as mentioned in the text, a change in function for any one of them would change
the overall functional plan - although not necessarily the specific functional identity of the other sbUctures. Thus the filter, lines, and resonant cavities would retain their function in almost any circuit theorized.

The features which first caught my notice, the circular sidebranches labeled Rio Rz, and R" in Figure 2, are examples of
readily explicable electronic analogues. In a waveguide circuit
these would be instantly identifiable as resonant cavities, used
either to match impedances or to fil~r certain frequencies in
the transmitted energy. Similarly, the nanow slot terminations
of various avenues (t h \Z, etc.) are virtually identical in fonn
to impedance marching inductive irises used ~ waveguides. Fur~.
thermore, all of these structures are placed exactly where they
would be in a conventional waveguide system.
Table One lists various features of FigUre 2 beside their .

Second Quarter 1985

waveguide analogues. This list is, of course, very tentative.

Besides the aforementioned features, other structures are more
problematical. Thus the arrangement of walls labelled Ls is explicable as either ~.splitter, directional coupler, attenuator, or
combination of all~ The very peculiar structure ~ is ~wise
explicable as a directiOnal c::oupler, mixer, or simply a crossover
IletWOrlc (it is interesting to contemplate the problems that would
be encountered in effecting a cross-over between two groundp~ transmission lines). The important point is that
the major elements ClUJ be interpreted as electronic analogues. Note
also how many elements are repeated in several places. View-

an

Pursuit 71

ed as a whole, the works also confonn to a logical waveguide

circuit analogue, but before elaborating on that, I should mention the condition of the structures.
The standard plan of the Newark Works is that of Squier and
Davis, who surveyed those and other ancient structures in the
years 1837-47. While their diagram is detailed and presumably
accurate, it was made after local settlement had already begun
to take its toll on the works. It shows several roads and a section of the Ohio Canal cut through parts of the structure, and
there had been, presumably, other changes due to cultivation.
In addition, the age of the works, and their location on a raised
plain adjacent to a river, makes it likely that simple erosio.n bQ.d
caused changes even ~fore European settlement; the important feature labelled E in Figure 2 is almost certainly incompJ!=te,
and the avenue L, was traced for about two miles before beipg
lost. It is also quite possible that minor walls, trenches, etcr, may
have been overlooked due to extreme dilapidation. Thus Jt may
be that further confinnatory (or indeed, contradictory) fea.t1.t~~
existed at one time.
.
There is at least one other map of the works' made at a time
when they were substantially intact. It shows a number of
discrepancies with the Squier and David survey, most notably
a complete perimeter for E, but since its overall quality is poor,
and contradictory with some established points of the 1837-47
survey, I have not accorded it much authority.
Presently there are but fragments of the works remaining. In
The Rebirth of Pan, Jim Brandon devotes some space to a visit.
he made to the surviving structures4 From his account it is clear
that future discoveries are unlikely in the extreme. Mos~ of the
works have been swallowed by urban growth, and the remaining parts are now city parks (one is included in a golf course!)
So any analysis of the works must depend on surveys made more
than a century ago.
Figure 3 is a block diagram showing one possible interpretation of the works as a waveguide cireuit. Again, it must be stressed that this is only a tentative interpretation, one of many possible.ItB, for instance, acts as an amplifier, this flow chart makes
sense, but if it is merely a resonant cavity or mixer, then the
entire pattern would change. My feeling is that it behaves as
a kind of parametric amplifier, boosting each cycle of the
oscillatory enetgy coming from A, while drawing potential (DC)
from E.
One very important question regarding the unknown energy
may easily be resolved by the Newarlc Works. If the analogy
to waveguide is exact, then the width of the avenues, ortIanSmission lines, should be roughly one-half the wavelength. In fact,
they are twenty feet wide, giving an approximate wavelength
offorty feet, or a frequency of27.5 Hz. Also,the energy would
have to propagate at a much slower velocity than EM in a
waveguide. Analysis of the dimensions (by someone more
mathematically capable than I) should then, be able to specify
both exact wavelength and propagation speed of the unknown
energy. In addition, the various circuit elements would also be
related directly to the wavelength, and so could be used as a
comparison. Thus a relatively simple set of calculations based
on this one site might answer a significant question about "earth
cunent."
.
But detennination of wavelength is only a partial solution;
even more importantly, we need to define the tyPe of energy
involved, and there too, the Newarlc Works may be helpful. First
off, we can assume from this structure that the unknown energy
was not a fonn of electromagnetism. As mell,tioned, waveguide
must be constructed of material that condiJ~ the chosen energy
and the material of the Newarlc Works (clay, soil and possibly

Pursuit 72

brick') are all excellent insulators for EM e~ergy. There is itIso

the fact that the works are o~n vertically, unlike conventional
waveguide, indicating that either the energy was strongly polarized in a horizontal plane, or it "saw" the interface with atmosphere as a conductive discontinuity. A third suggestive point
is the likely function of E (in my circuit analysis) as a source
of potential. E is involved intimately with the most notable local
landscape feature, the Raccoon Creek, and so it might be inferred that the potential was in some way derived from the moving water.
So what was the energy? Several possibilities appear. Reich's.
orgone was supposed to be strongly hydrophilic, and was con-.
~ntratedlextracted in devices made oflayered organic-inorganic
material (at least some of the walls in the worlcs were layered
-with inorganic clay - organic soil). On the other hand, Chinese
~~ng-shui is supposed to follow declivities and watercourses.
However, there is one possible souree that confonns to most
of the requirements. It is, rather surprisingly, sound. The hardpacked walls of the structures would be quite conductive to sound
waves, the interface with atmosphere could act as a conductive
discontinuity, and the moving water of Raccoon Creek could
be a souree of low-frequency vib~tions. The possible frequency (27.5 Hz) is just within the audible range, although it would
probably involve a subsonic component. It may be signifiCant
that a recent paperS confirms the presence of anomalous sonic
vibrations in at least one important British site.
It may well be that other considerations militate against this
interpretation. 'Ole propagation velocity, for instance, maY be
wrong (although a speed of 1100 feet per second seems at least
roughly commensurate with the dimensions). And even if the
physical requirements are met, it is difficult to comprehend just
what purpose a system like this could serve. The only guess
I would hazard would be a reference to the widespread hints
that the ancients used sound for some esoteric purpose.
Indeed, I offer this entire matter as pure conjecture, hardly
finn enough to be called a hypothesis. Any conclusive analysis
would require a great deal more infonnation than is easily
available. It would be important to know the exact composition
of the walls, the precise dimensions of many secondary features
(the mounds with B and D, in particular, should be precisely
sized and positioned, if they are waveguide components), ~
the exact disposition of nwnerous extraneous features not shown .
in Figure 2 (as regards the latter, there are a number of unconnected structures similar to R. _" which it seems plausible were
in the nature of uncommitted cireuit elements, varying
resonances that could be easily connected by the construction
of temporary walls). Another feature that calls for lengthy study
is the tri-lobed mound designated x in Figure 2, since my tentative diagram implies it was somehow involved with oscillation.
Be that as it may, there are a few conclusions that can safely
.be drawn, if any of these premises are accepted. First, the size
and extent of the works is no longer a problem; they were designed in accordance with frequency requirements, not human
whim, and thus do not require us to postulate tens of thousands
of priests and/or observers filling them. Second, the energy,
whatever its nature, was useful in some way, otherwise the enormous construction effort would hardly have been worthwhile.
Third and finally, the energy utilized/manipUlated at the Newarlc
WorkS, and by extension elsewhere in the ancient world, was
in no way outside the known laws of physics. It obeyed the same
relationships and rules as familiar electromagnetic energy, and
is thereby accessible to us, potentially. Perhaps someday we
can reconstruct our own four-square-mile amplifier cireuit and
actually experiment with it.
.

Second Quarter 1985

in conflict with Squier and Davis, and generally presents a cruder picture
of the works, as if it were a hasty copy. The accompanying text, however,
is quite interesting. MacLean mentions the possibility that the entire works
were constructed of sun-dried brick, and also details some of the finer
structures.

Notes
1. The Bords' The Secret Counuy is probably the best known work treating
of a lost ent:Igy technology. It addresses the many legends surrounding British
SIaDding stones, banows, etc., without venIUring into the possible technology
involved. John Michell's The View Over At/aDds is an important survey
of the "pure science" aspect of the problem, dealing as it dot:s with a possible
ancient system of mathematics and symbolism. Francis Hitchings's The
Mysterious Wodd has sCveral sections devoted to different aspects of the
subject, as does Pht:nomenll by Michell and Ric:kard. In addition, pertinent artic:les may be found in most Fortean journals.

2. Exac:tly what dowsers detect is very much open to argument. Various

"mainstream" resean:hen have suggested a link with geomagnetism, while
many dowserS seem to favor an eanh current explanation. In any case, it
seems established that dowsers can detect something in proximity to anc:icnt earthworks. The publication Tht: Pynunid Guide featured a great many
IepOrts and theories c:oru:eming this. See also the above soun:es, particularly
Hitching.
3. A book, The MoundbuiJdelS, by J.P. MacLean, 1879, includes a map of
the worts drawn from "Wilson's 'Pre-Historic Man', " "Which may be
said to contain all that has been discovered." This map has some details

4. Brandon finds the works significant (for different reasons than n and comments at length on them. His remarks on their archaeology are valuable,
and his account of a visit to the modem remnants is fascinating. I wouldn't
attempt a synopsis of his complex hypothesis regarding these and ancient
works in general, except to note that he sunnises a formative role by an
"eanh spirit." He feels the trilobe feature X is of paramount importance,
and includes a great deal of information regarding it. The Rebirth of Pan
was a major source for this article.
5.

In the April, 1985 issue of Flltethere is an anicle "The Dragon Project:

Stones That Talk" by Don Robins, summarizing current research on certain British stones (primarily the Rollright Stones), that has discovered indications of anomalous ultrasonic emissions, as well as peculiar ionizing
radiation. While ultrasound is quite a different thing than low-frequency
sound, there might be a connection, as in a broad-spectrum effect. Also,
it should be noted that Reich claimed an ionizing effect for orgone, which
Could be detected by a geiger-tube c;ounter.

TABLE ONE: Features of the Newark Works compared to waveguide elements

Waveguide Elements (see figure 1)
Structures present in the Newark Works (see Figure 2)
A - circular enclosure with wall and trench, complex mound in
the center

A resonant cavity. The central mound implies a functional

difference from other cavities.

B - square enclosure with gaps and small mounds

A mixer/modulator used for amplification. The mounds could direct

energy flow, diverting measured amounts to various openings.
Amplification would be parametric, i.e. each cycle would be "boosted"
by additonal small increments.

C - circular enclosure

A resonant cavity used as part of the radiator. The structure v might

be used for tuning. If the small cross-mound is lower than the waIls,it
would act as a capacitance.

D - octagonal enclosure broken at every corner. mounds placed

twenty feet (?) behind gaps

A radiator or antenna. Energy would be emitted through the gaps. If the

mounds are one-half wavelength behind gaps, they would act as
reflectors .

E - culVing wall or problematic original form

Probably an energy source connected with the Raccoon Creek. The

diagram is too incomplete for detailed evaluation.

L .. L 2, L" - simple walled avenues twenty feet wide

Waveguide transmission lines tuned to a frequency of approximately

27.5 Hz

R I , R2 - semicircular enclosures twenty feet in diameter, with internal

trenches and semilunar mounds (not shown)

Resonant cavities used as reactive filters. The complex internal

structure suggests fine tuning.

R, - simple semicircular enclosure

Resonant cavity used as filter. Untuned?

L. - avenue with u-shaped appendage and gaps

A line with filter, or possibly a tuning stub.

L, - avenue with walls at irregular width

An attenuator. The inner wall attached to B should be compard to a

fixed flap attenuator.

Several possibilities, a simple crossover of two lines, a mixer, or a

directional coupler, whereby measured amounts of energy could be
channeled in different directions. Possibly energy from B would thus
be diverted out through w, and also into E as feedback.

- avenue with crossing avenue and perforations

li.. T2, etc. - narrow gaps

Inductive irises. These are strikingly similar to waveguide analogues.

"Their placement coincides with differences in line impedance, which
they selVe to match.

y - avenue terminating in long mound

A resistive termination, used to absorb energy without causing reflections. Possibly connected with ground?

Second Quarter 1985

Pursuit 73

"Phantom Hitchhikers Haunt

World's Highways and Roads'"
By Hany Leb.lsoD
can't explain what happened that day 19 years ago."
Few of the average motorists traveling our highways today
FOf'Mae Doria and others like her, such as Terri Walsh of
are aware of the strange phenomenon known as the "Phantom
Bridgeport, Connecticut, these experiences will never be forgotHitchhiker." It was a clear, cold winter day in 1965 when Mae
ten. Although the reason for the boy's appearance before Mae
Doria of Tulsa, Oklahoma encountered such a being on the 43
mile drive to her sister's home in Pryor, Oklahoma to keep a
Doria remains veiled in mystery, Terri Walsh's "Phantom'
dinner appojntment.
Hitchhiker" on the other hand, appears to havehad an overt
purpose in mind. Walsh, full of rage, left herfather's'home after;'
"While driving on Highway 20, a few miles east of the town
a family ugument over business. With rain beating hald against
of Claremore, I passed a school house and saw this boy who
the car's windshield, she sped home through a maze oflonely
appeared to be around 11 or 12 years old hitchhiking by the
back roads. "Another stupid disagreement, and this time I've
side of the road. Since I was concerned about a young boy out
had it," she'd thought, staring intently at the road in the stonn
by himself, I stopped the car and told him that I was going to
tossed night. "Suddenly, out of nowhere, my headlights picked
Pryor and offered him a ride. He got in the car, sat down next
out the shape of a young man standing at the side of the road
to me in the front seat and we chatted about things that people
holding a sign reading 'Home.' " She thought, "That's odd,
who don't know each other usually ~ about."
most hitchhikers usually write out the name of their destinatiOn. " .
As far as Mae Doria was concerned, he appeared to be an
oldinary young man, "He .asked me how I liked my car and
Pushing the incideni aside, Terri Walsh made a stop for coffee,
I asked him what he had been doing in that area and he replied
hoping that the rain would soon let up.
.
Before long, she found herself once again out on the darlrened
'playing basketball at the school.' He appeared to be about 5
roadway. "I'd hanily left the cafe when, once again, my lights
feet tall, 115 pounds and husky, like a boy would look if he
revealed the same young hitchhiker standing alone, sign in hand, ..
played sports and used his muscles. Mae paused, trying to
with the wold 'Home' clearly visible on it. Immediately, I stop.:. '.
visualize the youngster, "He was Caucasian, with light brown
ped and as I rolled down the window, wolds fJ.Iled my head.
hair and his eyes appeared to be bluish-grey. We continued chat'You. must go home to your father,' the voice urged. At that'
ting about everyday things for the remainder of the trip. Then,
moment I blinked and the young man standing before me,' disap- .
just before we got into Pryor, a small culvert appeared up ahead.
peared before my eyes." Walsh, in spite of the bad weather,
As we approached the culvert, he said 'Let me out over there. '
raced 'for home, only to find her father had had a heart attack.
"At that point," Mae continued, "I started slowing down, but
Later, while recovering from his oIdeal in the hospital, her
since I didn't see any houses in the area and only a few. bare
father commented, "Didn't think I had a ghost of a chance, until
trees, i asked him where he lived. When almost on top of the
you came along." Terri Walsh silently thought, "Don't worry
area, he said 'over there,' and as I turned my head to the right
to see where he meant, he had disappeared, the seat next to me
dad, you had more than a ghost of a chance to sUlVive, my friend
saw to that."
.
was bare, he had vanished! Immediately I stopped the car and,
Although the phenomenon appears relatively new, the most
jumping out, ran all around the automobile almost hysterical.
well-documented incident of this type took place in England
I loo~ everywhere, up and down the highway and to the right
and left, but to no avail, he was gone." It wasn't 'til later that
during World War 2. It all began for Miami Beach resident
Charles BoIdeaux, then an officer in the OSI (Office of Special
Mae Doria realized that the boy hadn't been wearing a coat,
Investigations in the United States Air Force), in February, 1951.
which was highly unusual since it was the middle of winter when
While an, investigator for OSI at Riseland Air Force Base out- .
the incident occurred.
side of London, he personally interrogated an American security
It wasn't until two years later that an event would take place
officer at Lakenheath Air Force' Base who claimed to have
during which, the subject of the vanishing little boy would come
spoken to and interacted with, a ghost pilot hitchhiker in
to light again. At that time Mae had just moved into a new home
England's Royal Air Force (RAF).
and had the gas man out to check the furnace and the lights.
Sent to the base to investigate the fatal shooting of an air"We chatted amiably and while engaged in converSation, he
spied some of my books on psychic phenomena which I had
man, Bordeaux intelViewed the United States Air Police security
guaId involved in the incident. "The guald told me that he saw
collected since my experience with the little boy. He asked me
if I had ever had any psychic experiences, so I told him the story . .a male figure rU[\ across the flight line between two B-36
about the young boy. I had cut the story short and only told
airplanes that were on the airfield. Since the guald's job was
him that the boy got into the car and that we were riding, when . to maintain security in that area~ he shouted 'halt' three times
all of a sudden he disappeared. I mentioned no details to him
to the fleeing intruder, and then when he refused to stop, he
as to where I picked him up," she emphasized. "All at once,
fired his weapon." The guaId commented emphatically, "I
he cut me short, and said 'I can tell you where you saw him.'
could have sworn that I hit him, but when I got to that area of
I said where? He answered 'just past that pump station between
the airfield, no one was there, he had disappeared! " The bullet
Claremore and Pryor.' By pump station, he meant gas station,
. however, struck and killed a mechanic working on the far side
. of the field.
and in the area where the school was, is a gas station. He then
went on to tell me that he had heard a story of someone picking
Duririg Charles Boldeaux's investigation into the shooting,
he inteIViewed another security policeman also working the night
up a boy that vanished in the ~ of that pump station as far
(continu,ed on page 77)
back as 1936. I just couldn't believe it'and to this day I still
Pursuit 74

. Second Quartp.r 1985

The Tzolkin: An ,Interpretation

by Stuan W. :Greenwood
The tzolkin, or "Sacred Round," of the ancient Maya was
a time interval of 260 days that formed an integral part of the
Maya calendar. As described by Thompson (Ref. 1), Maya dates
were recanted in tenns of both the 26O-day count and a count
of 365 days. Moreover the 26O-day count survives to the present day among some remote Maya communities. Every
astronomical mechanism, just like everything else in Maya life"
had to be related to the 26O-day sacred count.
As emphasized by Krupp (Ref. 2), we know of no one but,
the Mesoamericans who used this count, and the motivation-:
behind it is puzzling. There is no obvious astronomical cycle '
that takes 260 days. Several explanations have been attempted; ,
including one-thint the synodic period of Mars (780 days) and
th~ interval between the conception and birth of a human baby.
The extraordinary importance of the tzolkin to the Maya would
~m to justify an extraordinary effort to account for it in contemponuy scholarship. In this article, a solution is offered for
consideration that was arrived at through an examination of the
possibilities of ancient space flight.
In an earlier contribution (Ref. 3), the present writer suggested
that the continuing concern of the Maya with the synodic period
of Venus reflected past concerns with successive arrivals on
Earth of spacecraft from that planet. The synodic period of
Venus corresponds with the time interval between arrivals from
(or launches to) Venus. The Maya, according to Thompson (Ref.
1), were certainly more interested in Venus than in any other
planet. It is therefore appropriate to consider a Venus-centered
perspective on the solar system as part of any search for an
astronomical significance to the 260-day count.
Possible Solutions
Perhaps the simplest explanation for a 260-<lay period would
be that it represents the time for a planet to orbit the Sun. The
Earth takes 365 days to orbit the Sun (at a, distance of 1,
Astronomical Unit, or A.U.) and Venus orbits the Sun in 225
days (at a distance of 0.723 A.U.) so our hypothetical planetary
orbit would be located in between those of the Earth and Venus
at a distance of 0.797 A. U. (Figure 1). No such planet exists,
so we have here a possible, though not valid, solution.
Another possible solution is presented by the possibility that
,260 days represents the synodic period of a planet with respect
to Earth. Such a planet would lie within the orbit of Venus, as
shown in 'Figure I, at a distance of 0.557 A. U. Again, no such
planet exists, so again the solution is invalid. There is, moreover,
no 26O-day solution for a synodic period with respect to Earth
for a planet lying outside the Earth's orbit. All such synodic
periods exceed the Earth's orbital period.
We have now confirmed what has long been recognized that there is no apparent astronomical significance to the tzolkin
based on a conventional, Earth-based perspective. We now focus
our attention on Venus, and view astronomical events from a
Ven~based ori~tion. In addition to the possibility of a plailet
within the orbit of Venus having a synodic period of 260 days
we also have the possibility of a planet outside the orbit of Venus
with the same synodic period, as it' exceeds the orbital period
of Venus.
Considering first an inner planet having a synodic period
relative to Venus equal to the sacred count, we find it lies at
a distance of 0.478 A.U. from the,Sun. No such'planet exists ..
We next compute the distance from the Sun of an outer planet

Second Quarter 1985

Figure 1 Some possible explanations for the tzolkin

A 26O-day planetary orbit
B Orbit of planet having Synodic Period of 260 days
with respect to Earth

having a synodic period of 260 days relative to Venus. It would

orbit the Sun at a distance of 2.74 A. U. Again, no such planet
exists. The orbits of these hypothetical planets are shown in
Figure 2. We shall return to the pOssible significance of the outer
orbit following a brief digression on the subject of Bode's Law.

Bode's Law

Three things may be said at the outset regarding Bode's Law:

1) It was not invented by Bode
2) It is not a Law
3) It works quite well
As outlined by Moore (Ref. 4), one takes the numbers 0,3,
6, 12,24,48,96 and 192, noting that each (apart from the first
two) is double its predecessor. Now add 4 to each, giving 4,
7, 10, 16,28,52, 100 and 196. Divide each number by 10 (to
correspond with an Earth distance of unity) and we find the
numbers correspond quite well with the respective distances of
the planets in A. U. The comparison is shown in Table 1. There
is only one problem - there is no planet corresponding to the
distance of2.8 A.U. between Mars and Jupiter. However, as
pointed out by Blanco and McCuskey, (Ref. 5) it was this apparent, deficiency that played a very important role in the
discovery of the asteroid belt.
Most of the asteroids orbit between Mars and Jupiter at mean
distances from the Sun between 2.3 and 3.3 A.U. (Ref. 5), and
this has'led to speculation that they may have originated in the
disintegration of a planet in that region. We now consider some
'
intriguing suggestions on this matter.

Extraterrestrlals and Planet X

The Umlands (Ref. 6) have developed a scenario in which

extraterrestrials from outside the solar system (the Maya) set
up bases on Earth and on Planet X, the planet indicated by
Bode's Law as lying between Mars and Jupiter. The disintegration of Planet X cut the Earth Maya off from their primary base
on that planet, leaving them stranded and awaiting rescue.
The Umlands examined the significance of the tzolkin. They
recognized that a planet in our solar system having such an orbital period would lie between Earth and Venus. They then sugPursuit 75

;/'

-- -

,,
,

"~
.

/\

'D'

I
/

'

",

,'.

Earth

Venus

'" -

,I

,--- ""

""

I
"-

'-..

---- -

--

/
./,.

'

'

.
l":..

/
'

..

.~

Figure 2 More .possible explanations for the' tzOlkbi ...

Omits of planets having Synodic Period of 260 days
with respect to Venus
C Inside omit of Venus
D Outside omit of Venus
gested that the Mayan home planet would omit somewhat closer
to its sun that does the Earth to ours, and that the Maya were .
preserving a calendar they had brought with them from
elsewhere.
Ancient Space Flight
Our own investigation provides a possible solution to the
tzolkin in tenns of a planet lying at a distance of 2.74 A.U.
from the Sun, having a synodic period of 260 days with respect
to Venus. Perhaps we may be entitled to treat this possibility
seriously when we consider the cumulative impact of the
following:

Pursuit 76

1) The 26O-day count was sacred to the Maya andfonned

an integral part of their calendar.
.

2) The -Maya were more concerned with Venus than with any
other planet. .
' .
3) The synodic period of Venus with respect toEarth was
of great importance to the Maya, .. .
4) The computed distance of 2.74 A.U. for a planet having
. a synodic period of 260 days with respect to Venus cor-.
responds reasonably well with the predicted value of 2 ..8
A. U. given by Bode's Law for a planet between Mars and
.,; . Jupiter. .

.:(1

. Second Quarter 1985'

TABLE 1
PLANETARY DISTANCES

Planet X
PLANET

Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars

DISTANCE FROM THE SUN

(in Astronomical Units)
ACCORDING TO BODE'S LAW
0.4

0.7
1.0
1.6

ACTUAL
0.39
0.72
1.00
1.52

2.8
.. :....-.:.

Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus

5.2
10.0
19.6

5.20
9.54
19.18

The resultant period is 469 days, a figure that does not appear
.to have had any significance to the Maya. Based on the approach
taken here, there appears to be no indication of a direct connection between Planet X and Earth, the connection being made
through Venus.
Concluding Thoughts

Figure 3 Interplanetary journeys indicated by Synodic Periods

(diag1"al11Platic)
In the earlier study (Ref. 3) we .treated the synodic period of

Venus with respect to Earth as indicative of concern with space

launches or arrivals at such intervals, for flights between Venus
and Earth. In the same vein we will now treat the synodic period
of Planet X with respect to Venus as indicating concern with
time intervals between launches (or arrivals) between Planet X
and Venus. Such flights are represented diagrammatically in
Figure 3. A scenario that may be developed here is that the
predominant direction of such flights was from Planet X to
Venus (prior to the disintegration of Planet X) and from Venus
to Earth (prior to the deterioration of the atmosphere of Venus).
It is now desirable to detennine the synodic period of Planet
X with respect to Earth to check whether a period is obtained
that might indicate direct flights between Planet X and Earth.

PhantolD Hitchhikers
(continued from page 74)
of the incident. That officer revealed to Bordeaux a story even
more bizarre than the killing itself. The second officer told, how
that particular night, as he was riding around that same flight
line, he had seen an RAF (Royal Air Force) pilot in unifonn,
trying to hitch a ride. "I stopped my vehicle and gave the guy
a lift," he commented to Bordeaux matter-of-factly. "Then,"
according to the guard, "after we had rode a bit, he asked me
'Yank, could you spare me one of your Camel cigarettes?' "
With this, the ainnan reached into his pocket and gave the man
a cigarette. Immediately, a request was made for a lighter, and
again the policeman obliged. "At that point I stopped my truck
at one of the runway junctions to get clearance before proceeding
across the area. Suddenly, I saw the lighter flick out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head toward the source~ only to find
that my rider had disappeared, the lighter, laying on the empty

Second Quarter 198.5

For the first time, we have a possible astronomical explanation for the tzolkin that is more than playing with numbers. We
have also, for the first time, a basis for locating the hypothetical
Planet X precisely in relation to Bode's Law. Last, but not least,
. we have the implications for ancient space flights between Planet
X, Venus and Earth.
IlEFEllEWCES
1) J.E.S. Thompson, "Maya Astronomy," in "The place of astronomy

2)
3)

4)
S)
6)

in the ancient world," Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A. 276, 1974.

pp.83-98.
E.C. Krupp, "Echoes of the Ancient Slcies: The Astronomy of Lost
Civilizations," Harper and Row, 1983.
Stuart W. Greenwood, "The Maya and the Synodic Period of
Venus," Pursuit, Fourth Quarter. 1984, pp.
Patrick Moore, "Astronomy," Oldboume, 1961.
V.M. Blanco and S. W. McCuskey, "Basic Physics of the Solar
System," Addison-Wesley, 1961.
Eric and Craig Umland, "MysteIy of the Ancients: Ealfy Spacemen
and the Mayas," Walker and Company, 1974.

seat beside me." Quickly putting the bUck into reverse, he backed down the flight line searching for his passenger. He found
nothing.
After careful investigation of the incident, Bordeaux terminated his inquiry. Some of those ainnen Bordeaux talked to
had also seen strange phenomena on the base, with some reporting encounters of a similar nature to those of the military
policemen. Inquiries revealed that records found in the control
tower at Lakenheath documented the death of a British ainnan
who crash-landed his bomber after being hit by enemy fire. It
was believed that the ainnan's ghost, wishing to remain close
to hi!! comrades, was responsible for the incidents which took
place at Lakenheath Air Force Base in 1951.
So the next time you're out driving, think twice about picking up that guy at the side of the road. His destination may be
a place that's further than any living human has ever gone.

~
Pursuit 77

Our Mexican Ancestors

by Maarice ChatelaiD
Copyright 1985 by Maarice ChatelaiD
meters, or 1.059463 meters. Although I am willing to accept
In a book published some years ago, * I disclosed my discovery
the likelihood that ancestral MexiCans knew as much aboui the
of the Nineveh Constant of 2268 million days. This is now
metric system as many other ancient civilizations, I cannot
understood to be a constant of the universe and an exact multiple of any astronomical cycle thus far known.
believe that they could have extracted the twelfth root of two
At the time of my discovery I believed that the 2268 number
without ac;:cess to a very good table of logarithms or the use of
a better-than-rudimentary calculator.
'
was familiar only to, and used only by, Sumerian and Egyptian
astronomers. That was a mistake, as an American scientist
,,1 _.It seems more likely that the builders of Teotihuacan designed
the length of their Grand Avenue in such a way that it represented
named Hugh Harleston made abundantly clear when his
both 2400 meters and 2268 yards, thus establishing a yard of
mathematical analysis of the ruins of Teotihuacan showed that
the Grand Avenue in the once-dominant metropolis near Mex1.0582 meters. If we use this value for the Mexican yard, we
fInd almost exactly the same dimensions, whether indicated in
ico City had a length of 2400 meters or 2268 ancient Mexican
yards.
meters by Stierlin or indicated in feet by other scientists. :
Since the dimensions in yards of all the city's buildings, and

Small discrepancies notwithstanding, Harleston' s

all the intervals between buildings, were exact fractions of 2268
measurements and calculations are' extraordinary. 'H~
yards, it became apparent that this number was as familiar to'
reconstructed from the intervals and dimensions of these ruinS;
the ancient Mexicans who used it to measure length as it was
to the Egyptians who used it to measure volume and to the " most of the mathematical fOlTDuIas and astronomical cycles, used
by ancient civilizations - the Celts, the Egyptians and the
Sumerians who used it to measure time. Awareness that the
Sumerians in particular. These discoveries make it 'diffic~lt to
number 2268 had been an important measure of space and time
, believe that Teotihuacan was actually built by the Aztecs. yet
gave encouragement to a sean:h for the true origin of the 'mimber.
Harleston did not take into account a fundainentai difference
According to popular supposition, Teotihuacan was built by
between our modem measuring system and the disparate method
the Aztecs; actually, it could be much older. Until recently it
, developed by the ancient Mexicans and various other peoples
was almost impossible to measure exact' dimensions of the city
of antiquity, for the measurement of length, area and volume:
itself or any of the ruined structures that lay within it. Investiga.our system of measurement is based on the equivalence, of
tions had been attempted without the prerequisite removal of
the English yard and the French meter'. * Both are standards of
encrusting soil and vegetation as strong as steel cable. Subseline,ar measurement, 'and both are convertible to standards of
quent restorations had proceeded without anyone bothering to
area or surface measurement simply by "squaring." Our stanrespect the original dimensions., Adding to the confusion were
dard of volume measurement, the cu,be, is likewise a derivati~e
those American books that identifIed the structures correctly but
of the linear standard; a cubic yard is a linear yard l and a cubic
gave only approximate dimensions in feet rounded to the nearest
meter is a linear meterl. But mariy ancient people based their
foot - enough of a difference to frustrate the efforts of thoSe
volume measurements on standanls which were not merely threewho sought to prove a precise relationship between the dimendimensional extensions of their linear standards but were more
sions of the monuments and the spaces between them.
spontaneously derived from a countable quantity of things or
The research situation was somewhat improved when Swiss
the size of a familiar container.
sCientist Henri Stierlin published a remarlcable study of the ruins
For example, the Egyptians were using, to me~ure length,
in which the dimensions were indicated in meters and centimeters
a cubit of 0.525 'meter; 'its cube was 0.144,703 cubic meter,
on scaled drawings of the monuments. Thus it became possible
and thus not very practical. In the construction of the Great
to obtain useful averages between the American dimensions in
Pyramid, however, they used a cubit of 0.524,148 meter; its
feet and the Swiss dimensions in meters. Further contributing
cube was 0.144,000 meterl, representing 144 kilograms of water
to improved Investigations of Mexican pyramids was a beautiful
or 16,000 kedets of 9 grams each - which shows that these
book published ten years ago by Peter Tompkins; it included
ancients knew about the metric system or something that was
a mathematical analysis of the dimensions by Hugh Harleston.
very similar to it. This cubit corresponded to a yam of 1.048,296
As might be expected in such a case, the dimensions given,
meters and to a cubic yard of 1.152 cubic meters.t '
by Harleston were not exactly the same as those published by
, In the same manner; the Mexicans used, to measure length,
Stierlin. Both men found these ruins very difficult to measure,
a yard of 1.0582 meters whose cube was an impractical
and each one did the worlc in a slightly different way. Even ,now
1.184,962 ml, so they preferred to measure volume with it yard
the monuments are not completely free of dirt and debris. The
of .045,516 meters whose cube was 1.142,857 ml, exactly 817
only sure way to obtain exact intervals and dimensions would
of a cubic meter. In other words, th~ two volume-meaSuring,
be to use electronic distance-measuring' equipment, targeting
reflectors placed at the tops and comers of the monuments; and
that is exactly what I am planning to do as soon as possible.
The standald yanl, under William IV, was declared 10 be fixed by dividing a pendulum
which vibrates seconds in a vacuum, at !he level of !he sea. al62'F,. in !he latilUde of
Some of the discrepancies may also have percolated from
London. inlo 391,393 equal parts, and laking 360.000 of Ihese pans for !he yard." A
Harleson's enthusiasm for crediting the architects of Teotihuacan
meier is 'lhe basic unil of lenglh in Ihe melric sysleIII, equal 10 39.37 inches; il was meanl
with a knowledge of mathematics they simply did not hav~.
10 ~. and vinually is, one ren-millionlh part of !he diSlaIlCe al0I\8 a meridian from '!he
'equalOr 10 !he pole."
Harleson assumed that all the monuments in the city had been
-Websrer's New Twenlielh ,CenlUry DictionaJ)'. Second Edilion
built with a special yard representing the twelfth root of two
Ou~

AncertOIS Came from Outer SJ1III". Doubleday 1978; Dell 1979,

tA cOmpRhensive lable showing similar equivalence among 45 ancien! measuring sysrems

~as appended 10 Chalelain's pleVious allicle, in PulSllirNo. 67, Thin! Quaner 1984, p, 109.
",

Pursuit 78

Second Quarter 1985

WIDTHS

PYRAMIDS OF TEOTUIUACAN
(ORIGINAL DIMENSIONS IN MEXICAN YARDS)

36

HEIGHTS

4.
6

49

64
96

9
11

120

144
PYRAMID OF TIlE MOON

18
36

3
9
6

64
81

12

126

15

. 180

18

216
PYRAMID OF TIlE SUN

units of the Egyptians and Mexicans, which were both exact

fractions of a cubic meter, were also proportional to each other,
the Egyptian cubit representing 126 thousandths of a Mexican
cubic yard. This was an important discovery!
The number 126 is both a sacred Hebraic number which can
be found everywhere in the Cabala, and a magic nuclear number,
the last one of the series, 2, 8, 20, 50, 82, 126 representing
the numbers of neutrons and protons that are .necessary for the
stability of the nucleus. The number 126 can thus be considered
as the symbol of nuclear stability and the homologue of 280,
which is the highest known quantic number. It is also the symbol of energy in the equivalence between mass and energy.
Of course, one may wonder what could have been the nuclear
knowledge of the ancient pyramid builders, but without going
that far afield, we cannot help noticing that if we multiply by
126 the volume of the Great Pyramid (18 million cubic cubits),
we obtain 2268 million cubic cubits. Moreover, if we measure
the volume of that pyramid in Mexican cubic yards, it comes
to a total of 2268 million cubic yards. The numbers 126 and
2268 have played a very important part in the mathematical
calculations of our ancestors allover the world; moreover, su~h
evidence acknowledges the common origin of various ancient
civilizations whose vestiges have been discovered on both sides
of the Atlantic Ocean - the probable place of common origin,
namely Atlantis, having disappeared into that ocean twelve thousand years 'ago.
Such research led me to discover that the volumes of all known
pyramids are proportional to each other; also, that they are exact fractions of the volume of the Earth (which our ancestors
seem to have estimated in billions of billions) at 945 cubic yards

Second Quarter 1985

ofCheops or 1088.640 cubic meters. If we divide with thirteen

zeros the volume of the Earth by the numbers 35, 42, 48, 105
and 288, for example, we successively obtain the volume of
. the pyramids of Cholula in Mexico, Cheops and Chephren in
Egypt, Teotihuacan in Mexico, and Poverty Point in Lquisiana.
It then becomes obvious that all of these numbers and therefore'
all of these volumes, are proportional to each other and to the
volume of the Earth; ~d they are also related to the Constant
of Nineveh of 2268 million days.
Recently I also found that the base areas of many pyramids
were exact multiples of 36, 49, 64, 81 or 121 square meters
and therefore were exact fractions of the surface of the Earth
as it might have been estimated by ol,lr ancestors: 5 10,984,936
~uare kilometers, or about 197,292,400 square miles. This
would explain why pyramids had base sides of231, 216, 189,
108 or 84 meters, for example.
Ever since I discovered the Nineveh Constant ten years ago,
. I have felt sure that this unit of time must have its equivalent
in space, in the fonn of a urut of length, surface, volume, pemaps
also energy; for we have known since Einstein that energy is
a function of both time and space. For energy, I have found
in the nuclear series the numbers 18 and 126, whose product
is equal to 2268, and the number 36,288, which is 16 times
2268. For length, the, granite coffer in the King's Chamber of
the Great Pyramid had a length of 2268 mm, and the Grand
Avenue in Teptihuacan had a length of 2268 Mexican yards.
For surface, I have found that both the base of the Mayan
pyramid of Copan and the first platform of the Sumerian ziggurat of Ur had areas of 2268 square meters, which, of course,
belies coincidence.
Pursuit 79

It is among the volumes that I have found the largest number

of correspondences. The Pyramid of Chephren had an original
volume of 2268 thousand cubic meters, equivalent to 7/8 of the
volume of the Cheops pyramid which had a volume of 2268
thousand Mexican cubic yards. This is what led me to compute
the volumes of all the pyramids and thus discover that they were
all proportional to each other and exact multiples of a basic
volume of 96 cubic meters.
Knowing the original dimensions of the Pyramid of Cheops
in Egypt and the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan allowed
me to make a fantastic discovery which certainly will never be
accepted by academic or "official" scientists. Ten years ago,
while I was computing the original dimensions of the Pyramid
of Cheops, I noticed that its faces were slightly concave, with
the middle line or apothem clearly visible. I postulated that the
continuation of this line on the northern face beyond the apex
should make it possible to find the point of intersection of the
line with the celestial equator, and to calculate the altitude of
that point above the surface of the Earth or the distance from
its center. I felt that such figures might very well have been
significant for the ancient Egyptians, t o o ! '
.
I further noted that an artificial satellite of the Earth placed
at that distance (21,000 kilometers from its surface or 27,400
kilometers from its center) would have a revolution period of
12.3115 hours, exactly one half of the rotation period of Mars,
which is 24.6230 hours. In other words, a projection of the
apothem on the north face of the Great Pyramid intersects the
celestial equator at a point where an artificial Earth satellite
would make two revolutions around the Earth while Mars would
make one rotation around its axis. Such a satellite would always
see the same face of Mars on every other tum, and the opposite
face on intermediate turns. Two stations on Mars would thus
be sufficient to maintain contact with the satellite every twelve
hours, and four stations on the Earth would be enough to keep
a permanent contact between the satellite and the Earth.
We shall probably never know if those who built the Great
Pyramids, whether they were gods or men, had the means to
install bases on Mars or knew enough to position Earth satellites
to maintain permanent contact with the bases. But I was
nonetheless proud of myself for having envisioned such a fantastic possibility. How wrong I was! What I had missed turned
out to be even more extraordinary than what I had sensed.

In April 1976 I received from London a letter written by a

British gentleman named Saunders. He had read about my
research work on the Great Pyramid in a book I had just published in French. * He thought I might be interested in a discovery
that he had made. Believe it or not, he too had found the connection between the apothem of the Great Pyramid and a possible Mars-synchronous artificial satellite of the Earth. He had
found much more. He had discovered that if one traces a line
through the Earth between the center of the base of the Great
Pyramid, which is located at 29.979 North 31.133 East, and
the center of the base of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan,
which is located at 19.694 North 98.844 West, the continuation of the line would intersect the celestial equator at the same
distance from the center of the Earth as that of the Marssynchronous satellite.
There were a few differences, of course. I had found for the
satellite an altitude of 20,777 km while Saunders had found
21,229 km in the first case and 20,884 in the second. He had
made his calculations with the famous astronomer Duncan
Lunan, and Saunders is probably the one who is right. We had
used different data and different calculation techniques; the coincidence was therefore all the more remarkable. However, since
Saunders did not get the same result in both cases, some doubt
about his accuracy will likely remain.
Either our data and calculation techniques are incorrect and
we should find, for example, 21,330 kilometers, which is the .
circumference of Mars; or, we are dealing with a fantastic coincidence and the builders of the two pyramids never though,t of
establishing bases on Mars or launching artificial satellites to
maintain permanent contact.
Saunders was an indefatigable researcher. By studying the
possible relationships between the two pyramids and the Earth,
and Mars and its two satellites, Phobos and Deimos, he
discovered twelve distinct "coincidences" which are difficult
to beli~ve, even for one who, like myself, has already encountered many strange situations for which coincidence is the
only reasonable explanation.
Saunders first found that the mass of the Great Pyramid, which
is about six million tons when multiplied by a million of billions,
is equal to the mass of the Earth of six thousand billions of
.Nos Ancetres Venus du Cosmos. Robert Laffonl. Paris. 1975.

MARS AND THE TWO PYRAMIDS

PYRAMID OF CHEOPS

PYRAMID OF TEOTiHUACAN

/
SATELLITE

SATELLITE

I.
I

__________~20~,~J~.__________~"~____t_2~,T_n,______,__________~_.~)_Tin__________~
$Ia.)31 0

(DISTANCES IN KILOMETERS)

MARS SYNCHRONOUS EARTH SATELLITES - REVOLUTION PERIOD OF 12.31 HOURS

Pursuit 80

Second Quarter 1985

billions of tons. Then, the distance from Mars to the Sun of

228 million kilometers represents about a billion times the base
side of that pyramid of 230 meters. The eccentricity of the orbit of Mars is about equal to that of the axis of the King's
Chamber of that pyramid, and the apothem of the north face
intersects the celestial equator at an altitude about equal to the
circumference of Mars of 21,330 kilometers.
Some of the entries on Saunders' list merely note the obvious:
for example, the largest volcano on Earth, in Hawaii; is located
at a latitude of about 19 degrees; the largest volcano on Mars,
called Nix Olympica, and the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico
area also located at latitudes of about 19 degrees. Other relationships, though less apparent, may be more significant, to wit:
The number of revolutions of Deimos during a rotation of the
Earth is equal to 11114, which is the ratio between the half-base
and the height of the Great Pyramid. The number of revolutions of Phobos during a rotation of the Earth is equal to 2217,
which is the ancient pi factor and the ratio between the halfperimeter and the h~ight of the pyramid. These relationships
suggest that the locations of the satellites may have been artifically predetermined.
If we juxtapose the Moon and the Earth, the triangle formed
by lines drawn from the center of the Moon and to the two opposite ends of the diameter of the Earth, is similar to a crosssection of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. If we were to build a
"Great Pyramid" on the Moon at the same latitude as on the
Earth, the continuation of the pyramid's apothem would intersect
the equatorial plane of the Moon at the same altitude as that
of Phobos above the surface of Mars.
The height of Deimos above Mars is equal to 2217 of the radius.
of the Earth. If we trace from Deimos a line passing through
a latitude of 19 degrees on Mars, that line emerges on the other
side at a latitu~e of 251,4 degrees, and if we build a "Great
Pyramid" at that point,. the continuation of its apothem will intersect the celestial equator of Mars at the altitude of Phobos ... So
far, this is the last of Saunders' twelve coincidences. They could
be nothing more, or a lot more, than an extraordinary array of
coincidences without correlation.
I digress here, to encourage anyone who is sufficiently interested, to re-work the calculations and decide for himself or
herself what cosmic program, if any, could have been deliberately planned by our ancestors, and for what purpose. Meanwhile,
I shall leave to friend Saunders the credit and the responsibility
for his discoveries, for I am convinced he has found a gold mine
of cosmic information.
In general, I do not believe in miracles. I do not expect professional astronomers to take these discoveries seriously, but
maybe one of them will someday have the curiosity to check
them out and fmd the courage to publish the results of his calculations. Perhaps that still would not prove that our ancestors were
visited by astronauts from Mars several thousand years ago; but
at least, it would give us some very good reasons to believe
that we are not alone in the universe. Meanwhile, we should
try to learn everything we can about ancient Mexican astronomy
and the astronomical computer of Teotihuacan in particular.

The archeological complex of Teotihuacan was an important

center of religious observance, but it was also a remarkable
astronomical observatory and a fantastic cosmic computer. Recent discoveries show that every dimension of the sacred city
had an astronomical or mathematical meaning; and several of
these dimensions were so interrelated as to replicate soine of
the constants of nuclear physics used by contemporary scientists.
It now seems almost certain that the architects ofTeotihuacan

Second Quarter 1985

RUINS OF TEOTIHUACAN
(DIMENSIONS IN MEXICAN YARDS OF 1.0582 METERS)

...

I;- ~
N

,fJ-.

... , . J
PYRAMID OF THE MOON
~I

~
....

:;

:i

S
N

=
0

PYRAMID OF THE SUN

-_. --\ -

8...

t~
... ---ID

tit

~NN CD
..-

Ni-

2 6

CD
0

0
0"

r---

NORTH

V\

~.

~ ::

.R!._

3..100

CITADEL

3r:

100"...
\9...,
e0
N

0CD

....
.-10----'-

--s.r.

.i.

PYRAMI~ OF

ie-----

QUETZALCOATL

2.66

~i-

.' ~126 . _._.- . ,

were using, as a unit of length, a yard of 1.0582 meters, which

was an exact fraction of that modem unit derived from the circumference of the Earth. They had a mile of 1600 meters or
1512 yards, a stadium of 200 meters or 189 yards, and smaller
units of 54,27, 18, and 9 yards whose names have been lost.
All of these numbers are exact fractions of the sacred number
2268, a number which has been found in the ruins of several
ancient civilizations and !\eems to have been a basic unit of time
and space around the world several thousand years ago.

Pursuit 81

Thus the measuring system of the Mexicans was based on

the number 9, while that of the Egyptians was based on 10, that
of the Chaldeans on 12, that of the Mayas on 20, and that of
the Sumerians on 60. Obviously Teotihuacan was not built by
the Mayas; moreover, the number 2268 is also found in the
Nineveh Constant of the Sumerians, which indicates that the
Mexican and Sumerian civilizations were related or shared a
common origin.
The original dimensions of the Teotihuacan religious center
are best described in Mexican yards as follows: The total length
between the southern facade of the northern buildings and the
southern end of the platfonn of the Citadel is exacdy 2268 yards.
That length can be divided into four parts: (1) The distance between the northern buildings and the axis of the Pyramid of the
Moon - 207 yards; (2) the dis~ce between the axis of that
pyramid and that of the Pyramid of the Sun - 720 yards; (3)
the distance between the axis of that pyramid and that of the
Pyramid of Quetzalcoad - 1134 yards; and (4) the distance between the axis of that pyramid and the southern end of the platfonn of the Citadel - 207 yards, as at the other end of the city.
The oblique distance between the center of the Pyramid of
the Moon and that of the Pyramid of the Sun is 756 yards, which
represents one third of the total length and twice the Saturn
synodic cycle of 378 days. Another interesting distance is that
between the axis of the Grand A venue and the center of the
Pyramid of Quetza1coad,which is 288 yardsl-- the sacred number
of Tiahuanaco and the Cabala, as well as a magic nuclear number
that has been found allover the world and also represents two
cycles of conjunction of Mercury and Venus.
The three principal pyramids of Teotihuacan were built with
a special yard of 1.0455 meters, the cube of which is equal to
817 of a cubic meter; their volumes are always multiples of eight
cubic meters or seven Mexican cubic yards. The ingenious
technique is comparable to that of the Egyptians; they built the
Pyramid of Cheops with a special cubit having a cube equal
to 0.144 or 18/125 of a cubic meter.
.
The original dimensions of the Pyramid of the Sun were 216
x 216 x 63 yards. Its original volume was 9f17 ,200 cubic yards,or
1,036,800 m 3 The dimensions are in agreement with
Harleston's and the volume with that of Stierlin. The volume
is equal to one third of the volume of the Pyramid of Cholula
and to 40 percent of the volume of Cheops.
The present dimensions of the Pyramid of the Moon are 144
x 128 x 42 yards, which corresponds to a volume of 241,920
cubic yards, or 276,490 m 3 However, the Pyramid of the Moon
has been restored several times for purposes of foreign policy
or domestic political propaganda. The politicians, probably
demanded speedy completion of these restorations, so large
quantities of material were removed and used elsewhere without.
anyone protesting, or perhaps even noticing, that- the dimensions had been changed. Comparison with other monuments at
Teotihuacan matte clear what happened to the Pyramid of the
Moon. Only the latter is rectangular; and the width of 128 yards
is the one and only dimension in the whole complex which is
not divisible by 9.
It therefore seems likely that the Pyramid of the Moon was
originally square and that its dimensions were 144 x 144 x 42
yards, with an original volume of 268,800 cubic yards, or
307,200 cubic meters, which would have been 3.375 times
smaller than the volume of the Pyramid of the Sun. Since the
volume of a cubic foot is also 3.375 times smaller than a cubic
cubit, the volume of the Pyramid of the Moon in cubic feet
would have been the same as that of the Pyramid of the Sun
in cubic cubits. The equivalence gives support to my assumption.
Pursuit 82

The original dimensions of the Pyramid ofQuetzalcoad were

63 x 63 x 21 yards, corresponding to a volume of 22,680 cubic
yards, or 25,920 cubic meters. This volume is very interesting;
2268 is related to the Nineveh Constant, while 2592 is related
to the Pyramid of Cheops and to the precession of the equinoxes
- which seems to indicate a common origin for the Mexican,
Egyptian and Sumerian Civilizations, or' at least, frequent cultural
connections across the oceans. The volume also represents 270
unit volumes of 96 cubic meters, which is the volume of the
Pyramid of the Sun divided by 40, or that of the Earth divided
by 42 with 15 zeros. It also represents one hundredth the volume
of the Great Pyramid.
.
Before the investigations of Stierlin and Harleston, the first
serious research work at the ruins of Teotihuacan was done by
a young American scientist of French origin named RenE Millon.
He arrived in Mexico City in 1950 after he had completed his
anthropology courses at Columbia University in New York.
Following a few years of field work, he obtained for Columbia
a grant from the National Science Foundation in 1962 to fund
the production of an exact map of the ruins by means of aerial
photography. A constant altitude of 1200 meters would be maintained and grids established to limits of 500 meters on each side
of the center line of the Grand Avenue.
The camera work aloft consumed the least amount of time
alloted to the project. Assembling the photographs and taking
ground measurements of everything recorded on the films required five years of hard work. When the finished map was placed on public view in 1967 it revealed with startling clarity the
Teotihuacan of more than two thousand years ago: a t~e
metropolis, adequate for a population of200,000. Wide avenues,
many pyramids of different sizes, and more than 2600 residential buildings covered an area of twenty-five square kilometers,
or more than 6,000 acres. Morever, it had to have been built
according to a rectangular plan prepared in advance of
construction.
The oldest part of the city, where the three principal pyramids
are located in an area of about six square kilometers or 1500
acres, is more than four thousand years old; some archeologists
believe that it may antedate the eruption of the Xidi volcano
about eight thousand years ago. Teotihuacan could very well
be the oldest city in North America, just as T~ahuanaco could
be the oldest city in South America. Even between the two names
there is a curious possible linkage. Both names could have
sprung from common roots: "theos," the Greek word fordivinity, and "huaco," which means de.ath or grave in various local
dialects. Both names allow only one translation: "city of the
dead gods."

Rene Millon seems to have been the first to think that

Teotihuacan - like Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid, and the
Tower of Babel - could have been designed and used primarily or adjunctively as astronomical observatories to explore the
mysterious relationships of mankind, space and time. He was
also the first to notice that the dimensions of most monuments
and intervals at Teotihtiacan were always fractions or multiples
of a standard length of 57 meters, and that seven times that length
represented exactly four hundred meters.
We now know that Millon was right. Four hundred meters
represent 378 yards, and 57.143 meters represent 54 yards or
six times nine yards. There is no doubt; then, that our evaluation of the Mexican yard is correct, and that it takes 37.8 million
yards to measure the circumference of the Earth or 360 million
yards to measure the distance to the Moon.
Harleston does not quite agree with that value, but I still have

Second Quarter 1985

THE CITADEL OF TEOTmUACAN

MATHEMATICAL RATIOS (DIMENSIONS IN MEXICAN YARDS OF 1.0582 METERS)

378

,
D
[l]
I

;1 ,.

~~__~-+_~~_~[]~~~l~
for

a great admimtion
him; he was the first to discover that the
sacred number 2268, which had been used by the Sumerians
to measure time, had also been used by the Mexicans to measure
space. This is a significant archeological discovery, for it shows
that these civilizations had a common origin and that they had
begun to probe the wondrous relationships between time and
space thousands of years ago.
The Pyramids of the Sun was built in such a way that, on
the lower part of the fourth step, only the north and west sides
were in the shade at noon on March 21 and September 21, the
respective days of the spring and autumn equinoxes. This
phenomenon, which lasted only sixty seconds, allowed the ancient Mexican astronomers to determine the exact time on those
dates when the Sun crossed the celestial equator, thus setting
the start and the midpoint of their astronomical year. In no way
could this be any kind of coincidence; complicated calculations,
very accumte measurements and perfect site-orientation are
necessary to obtain the "shade effect" at the precise times of
the equinoxes.
.

Second Quarter 1985

Another number of importance to the ancient Mexican

calendar-makers was 52, found several times between the small
temples located on the outer edge of the Citadel; the apparent
reference was to 52 years or 65 heliacal risings of Venus. And
around the court of the Citadel, measurements of 365 yards are
found three times, and 366 yards once - which probably
represented a year of 365'A days, very close to the length of
our tropical year.
.
Harleston made a fantastic discovery which might be the major achievement of his research in Teotihuacan. One day, when
he had started from the east-west axis of the Citadel and wa'k
going north on the Gmnd Avenue, he discovered some stone
markers at distances of 36, 72, 96, 144, 288, 520 and 945 yards.
He found the distances proportional to the distances from the
Sun of the first seven planets, including Ceres, which. seems
to be a remnant of Phaeton, the planet that orbited between
Jupiter and Saturn until a few million years ago when it exploded. ~eston reasoned that the Grand Avenue had been designed
as a reproduction of our solar system.
Pursuit 83

Another interesting discovery was made by Alfred Schlemmer, one of Harleston' s colleagues who had been studying earthquakes. He established that the periodicity" of earthquakes corresponds to changes in gravitational attraction of the Sun, Moon
and planets on the external crust of the Earth; he showed that
the attraction of the Moon, for example, increases by six percent when our satellite is at its perigee which is its closest position to the Earth.
" Schlemmer also attempted to establish a mathematical relationship between earthquakes and the revolution of the Earth
around the Sun in days and Earth's rotation around its axis in
minutes - two values which, by the way, are exact fractions
of the Nineveh Constant. Dividing one by the other, he obtaIned a value of 0.25364 which, when multiplied by various"
planetary coefficients, gave him thirty-eight different numbers
which appeared to be particular constants for each of the planets
considered. According to these numbers, also found by
Harleston along the Grand A venue, there should be at least one
planet between the Sun and Mercury, and three beyond Pluto
- the last one being 150 times farther than the Earth and having a revolution period of 1800 years.

As in the ancient moniunents all over the world, one finds

in the dimensions of Teotihuacan such mathematical factors as
the pi factor of 2217, the phi factor of 89155 and its square root
of 14/11, as well as the fraction 11112, which is the cosine of
23'h angle of inclination of the axis of the Earth. Another interesting point is that when we di,:,ide the length of the Citadel,
which is four hundred meters, by 1296 and 864 - two sacred
numbers used by certain of our ancestors to measure time and
space - we obtain the Babylonian foot of 308.642 mm and cubit
of 462.963 mm, measurements which may have inspired some
of the basic planning at Teotihuacan.
One" also finds in these ruins eight numbers representing
astronomical cycles: 117 for Mercury, 360 for the Sun, 378 for
Saturn, 585 for Venus, 702 for Mars and Uranus, 819 for Mars
(ii4' Jupiter, 4680 for Mercury, Venus and Mars, and"7254 fOr
Jupiter and SalJlm. These numbers are exact multiples of 9 and
the sum of their digits is reducible to 9. Moreover, they are fractions or multiples of soDie of our modem nuclear numbers ...
All of whic~ is very difficult to comp~hend.

BASE AREAS OF ANCIENT MONUMENTS WHICH WERE EXACT FRACTIONS OF

THE SURFACE OF THE EA~TH OF 510,984,936 SQUARE KILOMETERS

TONGATAPU
CHOLULA
TEOTIHUACAN
HOUANG
HARAPPA
ANGKOR
CHEOPS
CHEPHREN
HOUANG
DASHUR
DASHUR
ANGKOR
MEIDUM
ANGKOR
TIAHUANACO
SEKEMKET
DJOSER
MYKERINOS
DASHUR
OAHU
BABEL
ANGKOR
LOTHAL
TAHITI
PEPI
NUKUHIVA
AITUTAKI
SAVAII
MOLOKAI
TAHITI

TONGA
MEXICO
-MEXICO
CHINA
PAKISTAN
CAMBODIA
EGYPT
EGYPT
CHINA
EGYPT
EGYPT
CAMBODIA
EGYPT
CAMBODIA
BOLIVIA
EGYPT
EGYPT
EGYPT
EGYPT
HAWAn
IRAQ
CAMBODIA
PAKISTAN
POLYNESIA
EGYPT
POLYNESIA
COOK ,
SAMOA
HAWAII i
POLYNESIA
I

504 x 396 m
420 x 420
400 x 400
360 x 360
420 X 210
336 x 189
231 X 23"1
216 X 216
216 X 216
198 X 198
189 X 189
252 x 126
144 X 144
189 X 84
126"x 120
120 X 120
126 x 110
108 X 108
99 x 99
165 x 54
90 X 90
126 x 63
126 x 63
88 x 81
80 x 80
165 x 27
81 x 44
63 x 55
88 x 27
84 x 28

"

"

199,584m2
176,400
160,000
129,600
88,200
63,504
53,361
46,656
46,656
39,204
35,721
31,752 "
20,736 "
15,876
15,120
14,400
13,860
11,664
9,801
8,910
8,100
7,938
7,938
7,128 "
6,400
4,455
3,564
3,465
2,376
2,352

"

,-

ONE SQUARE KILOMETER EQUALS 0.386102 SQUARE MILE

Pursuit 84

Second Quarter 1985'

Porphyria - Can it Explain

Va_pires and Werewolves?
bV Ene S. H.ld
Are vampires and werewolves real? Can their existence be
explained in a rational manner? These are just two of the many
questions that face those organizations devoted to the research
and the distribution of infonnation to its members. To date, attempts to justify their being have always fallen a bit short.
On Friday, May 31, 1985, newspapers across the c o .
made this attempt as it related to a presentation made by Dr:
David Dolphin at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Dolphin, a chemistry
professor at the University of British Columbia, reported that
it was quite possible that "vampire" and "werewolf' findings,
dating from the Middle Ages, could be explained and attnbuted
to the disease porphyria.
Dr. Jeny Gardner of the National Institutes of Health explains
that scientists have previously suggested the possible link between werewolves of folklore and the victims of a rare fonn of
porphyria. Now, the attempt has been made to eXpand this theory
to vampires.
Porphyria
Porphyria is a genetic blood disorder caused by a malfunctioning of the body's ability to create heme (iron containing pigment that gives blood its red color). The problem occurs in the
trapping of oxygen for its delivery to the tissues. This process
begins in the liver and is completed in the bone marrow. Between these two poi,nts are other "assembly stations," and at
each one an enzyme must be present before the molecule can
move on to the next'station. If an enzyme is missing, the process is intenupted.
Overall, it is a rare disease in which one out of 200,000 may
develop. There are eight distinct types, each resulting from different enzyme defects, each yielding the same end result. Usually, its onset occurs during puberty, although the most common
type (Porphyria Cutanea Tarda) occurs in mid-life. In this instance, there is a liver problem which causes cell damage. Often,
a history of alcohol abuse is responsible.
Symptoms
The victim of porphyria suffers from an extreme sensitivity
to sunlight. Reactions to light will cause sores to develop along
with a coloration or discoloration of the skin. In its mildest form,
blisters will appear on the skin when exposed to sunlight.
Another light producing problem is that of hair growth. The victim may become very hairy, as hair develops all over the body.
Hair growth on the hands give the appe8rance of a hairy creature
with paws. This, plus the need to avoid sunlight at all costs,
has.historically been used to explain the werewolf.
Other symptoms are prevalent. Skin lesions can be so severe
that the nose and fingers may be destroyed or disfigured. The
lips and gums become taut so that teeth become more prominent, although the teeth get no bqer. Understandably, porphyria
causes a great deal of pain.
Treatment
Simply put, the victim of porphyria has a need for the red
pigment necessary in blood. Treatment today consists of injections of heme. Since this was an impossibility during the Middle Ages, the victim, according to Dr. Dolphin, needed
something else - blood.

Second Quarter 1985

Contention
Dr. Dolphin's contention is that vampires were victims ofporphyria attempting to alleviate the symptoms of the disease. In
other words, the myth was sparked out of reaction to the pe0ple with the disease living during the Middle Ages. The folklore
is consistent with the victim's photosensitivity.
"Imagine (how) individuals in the Middle Ages would
have been received if they went out only at night, and
when they were seen, they would have an animal look
about them, being hairy, large of tooth and badly
disfigured. It has been suggested that such people might
well have been considered werewolves. "
As an exampl~, a modem chemical analysis of the bones of
a suspected werewolf, killed with a wooden stake in Brazil in
the 1700's, showed the person had porphyria. Once this has been
established, Dr. Dolphin attempts to relate vampires to the
disease.
"I suspect in the Middle Ages, since they couldn't get
injections of heme, the best thing to do was to drink
blood. "
Animal blood would prove just as effective as human blood.
Due to the genetic nature of the disease, victims became "vampires. " It is quite possible, that inbreeding during the Middle
Ages could have increased their occurance in such areas as Transylvania, considered the home of many a vampire.
"The likelihood then of one porphyria victim biting
another, and initiating the disease, could have been high."
Another point to consider is that any strain in the system drugs, alcohol, sudden loss of blood - can trigger the onset
of the disease to those genetically predisposed. The possibility
remains of siblings sharing the same defective gene, where one
member of the family shows symptoms while another may not.
Obviously, when the sun came out, the victim retreated to
, the inside. This could easily explain the nocturnal habits of the
vampire, according to Dr. Dolphin.
Not so obvious though is the vampire's reaction to garlic when
used as a talisman for warding off the creature. Dr. Dolphin
relates that garlic contains a chemical (Dialkyl Disulfide) that
might increase the severity of an attack of porphyria. It destroys
a heme protein (Cytochrome P450), which presents a reason
to avoid garlic.
This then, explains Dr. Dolphin's linkage between the disease,
porphyria and its possible relationship to the vampire of folklore.
Unforfunately, as stated in the beginning of this article, it too
falls a bit short. For one, the points professed are not agreeable
to others in the field of science and medicine. For two, there
are other points which need careful consideration.
Hemy Roenigk, Chainruln of Dermatology at Northwestern
University feels that there is no research to show whether the
disease was prevalent in the Middle Ages. As it is, the disease
is quite rare today, and most forms of it are not associated with
werewolf-like features. This is really "stretching it," according
to Dr. Nathan Bass of the University of California, San Francisco. It is highly doubtful that people with porphyria would

(continued on page 89)

Pursuit'85

Meet E.T. in St. Louis

The 1985 MUFON UFO SYJDPosiam

by Michael D. Swords
Most of the nation's leading "alien watchers" convened at
the end of June, 1985 to see what they had se~n. Some of them
had searched for alien bodies, some for secret documents, some
for landing marks, and some for medical evidence. They all
agreed that UFOs are real and probably extraterrestrial. It was
the national MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) convention in St.
Louis.
';
In the city where most unidentified flying objects wear Cardinal unifonns and most atmospheric spheroids are baseballs,
the ufologists put on an interesting show. It did start with a bit
of a foul ball, ,though, with a Friday evening abstract talk
understood by few and mystifying to,many, but the reception
was jovial, congenial and filled with close encounters with the
"stars. "
Saturday's full agenda began with a lost TV crew, which gave
two conventioneers unexpected opportunities to tell tales. The
stories were instructive. Dan Wright, the bright young director
of the Michigan section of MUFON, told of sightings of UFOs
500 feet long with lights on the sides, a spotlight on top, and
electromagnetic interference with an automobile, all apparently "caused" mistakenly by a Soviet rocket booster re-entry!
Since it seems unlikely that such phenomena (especially the auto
stoppage) could be caused by a bum-up of rocket parts, the
reports seem to owe much to human imagination. Dan personifies the new serious ufologist, aware of the alternatives and
disciplined in research.
The second tale was a bit different. Told by an official of the
host St. Louis group, it recounted the visit to a motel of four
very odd and short "people," all wearing what seemed like vinyl
wigs and looking like UFO humanoids. They had difficulty with
language, certain concepts, money matters, food (they liked to
suck it in), and had an altercation with the local TV set. When
asked where they were from they responded (naturally) "Hammond, Indiana." As always, when we "nonnal" terrestrials
decided to investigate, they were magically gone.
The two stories, illustrate (to this author) the good new
disciplined and analytical ufology on the one hand and the poor
old credulous and unscientific ufology on the other. Whether
we were visited by dwarfs from Hammond, Indiana or Epsilon
Indi will never be known, especially if we stick merely to the
old attitudes of "gee whiz" and "wow." But never fear folks,
the times are achangin' and the experiences remain astounding.
Once the waywanl TV crew arrived (apparently not mugged
after all), the official proceedings began. The initial speaker,
Marge Christensen, MUFON Public Relations Director, gave
a talk of importance to UFO researchers but somewhat abstract
as far as the general public was concerned (so we'll be brief
here). Suffice it to say that it involved "shifting the burden of
proof" from the ufological community onto the federal government. Nice idea, but with the Reagan Administration busily shifting the burden of eveJ}'thing else on the general populace, it
seems to have as much Chance as driftwood against the current.
Marge also mentioned a "National UFO Infonnation Week"
(mid-August 1985) as possibly an annual affair, and the
establishment of regional resource centers with slides,
Pursuit 86

videotapes, manuals, and experts to solve the needs of ,both

researchers and community groups or individuals.
The second speaker was veteran UFO researcher and author,
George Fawcett. He took the audience on an overview slide
,Jshow to familiarize us with the vast and amazing complex of
:,experiences that is the UFO phenomenon. The show was surpris,ingly devoid of critical analysis but did mention many
astonishing claims. Some examples:
a) Out of 80 motion films allegedly taken of UFOs, 10 still
remain in the "unexplained" category;
b) common physiological effects from close UFO exposure
include headaches, chills, muscular soreness, and weight
, loss;
c) sounds are uncommon but may include UHF ear-hurting
ones; smells are usually described as sulfurous, ammonia
or ozone-like;
d) the soil at the famous Delphos, Kansas "landing site" was
enhanced in calcium content ten-fold;'
The average '"folk off the street" might readily buy into stuff
like that, but some of the rest of the material needed a bit more
"documentation. "
e) at the Hampton Lake and Socono "landing" cases the sand
got so hot that it turned notto glass but to raw silicon metJJl;
t) the so-called "angel hair" that rarely falls from the sky
in association with a UFO is composed of the elements
in borosilicate glass, yet decomposes on touch (conveniently eliminating the evidence) and leaving the toucher with
salty, green radioactive fingertips (a rather odd way for
borosilicate glass to behave); the fact that other research
has shown samples to be spider webs wasn't mentioned;
g) the Pascagoula fishennen "abduction" case (which seems
to get more bizarre and shaky as time goes on) was mentioned without critique, as were (incredibly) the notorious
hoaxes of George Adamski; the, famous zapping of a
Florida scoutmaster by a landed UFO was recounted with
the enigmatic comment that despite the fact that the scoutmaster was renown for telling whoppers while in the anned services, that this time there was no doubt of his
veracity;
h) and how about the woman meeting a UFO on the road,
but not wanting to stop for extraterrestrial hitchhikers just
drove by, only to find herself with a 20 point IQ jump,
a photographic memory, and ESP to show for the experience? She has since decided to make a living in the
areas of the occult doing psychic readings. Write Mr.
Fawcett rather than this office or author if you're interested
in this sort of ,service.
With all due respect, ufology does not need any- more naive
and/or undocumented storytelling than it is already inflicted with.
Mr. Fawcett began his talk with a bit of wisdom as to this:, "it
is sometimes difficult to strike a balance between foolish faith
on one'side and blind doubt on the other." (Especially if no
evidence and documentation is presented, or even felt necesSlll)'
to present.)
This led naturally into the talk by Leonard Stringfield, a 10ng-

Second Quarter 1985-

time laborer in the vineyards of crashed saucers and government secrecy. Mr. Stringfield has held UFO audiences agape
with his tales of government-held occupants and crafts for many
years. Most of these stories are based upon anonymous sources
within the military and refer to cases in the 1950's. This year's
case was partially different. It still rested on unnamed sources
but allegedly took place in 1978 at Ft. Dix-McGuire Air Force
Base. The story, extracted painstakingly from the witness
through a phone-and-Iettel"'saga so filled with paranoia that it
itself might form a case study at an American Psychiatric
Association meeting, involved a humanoid body lying dead on
an abandoned airstrip not far from a weapons storage facility.
It was fouMoot tall, grayish-brown, hairless, big-headed and
otherwise frail. Its skin was shiny and snake-like. A strong ammonia smell pervaded the area. A mysterious formation of 12
UFOs bluish-green in color flew above and changed patterns
as geese do when they fly in their "Vees." A previously
unknown military team of "Blue Berets" arrived, sprayed the
corpse with something, wrapped it in cloth, crated it, put it into
an outer-metallic receptable and left. Later the relevant base personnel were flown to Wright-Patterson AFB (the focus of all
the earlier tales as well) for questioning and debriefing by a team
of two military men and a civilian who looked like (but was
not) the famous UFO expert, J. Allen Hynek.
Well ... interesting, fascinating, intriguing, a good yam. Did .
it happen? Who knows?
The fourth presenter was Peter Gersten, a New York lawyer
and a leading advocate of abolition of UFO secrecy in government documents. Gersten compared UFO evidence to trial
evidence, stating that evidence for the reality of UFOs exists
"beyond reasonable doubt." He created an analogy between,
the acceptability of witness testimony in criminal cases and in
UFO cases, noting that often one credible witness is "Sufficient
to convict a criminal whereas thousands of UFO witnesses are
available to "convict" the UFOs. This line of ~asoning lacked "conviction" to this author, however, as criminal cases require "motive" and "opportunity" to be obvious in such open
and shut witness testimony cases, and neither is obvious in the
UFO situation. "Opportunity," especially here, would refer to
whether extraterrestrials and their spacecraft exist in our air space
at all, and without solid determination that premise, the witness
testimony fails ... particularly if there is "motive" and/or "opportunity" for the witness to fool or be fooled.
Several other points of interest were made:
a) An important Air Intelligence Report on analysis' of flying objects in the U. S. has been obtained through the
Freedom of Information Act. Its job was to "examine the
pattern and tactics of flying saucers;" its conclusions included that "the origin of the devices is not ascertainable"
and that "it must be accepted that some type of flying objects have been observed." The report was reprinted in
the July 1985 issue of the MUFON Joumal.;
b) Gersten knows that some government documents have been
"leaked" afterthey have been falsified by adding bogus
infonnation, which does wonders for the search for truth;
c) he 'reminded us that evidence received via hypnosis and
lie detectors is not admissable in a court of law; and that
evidence by "anonymous" informants is merely hearsay;
d) so far as is known there is no government documentation
on abduction cases, and that crashed-saucer cases have
essentially nothing supporting them admissable in a court
of law . Or to put it another way "Habeus corpus we ain't."
John Schuessler, an aerospace engineering manager working
on most of the famous NASA projects became interested in

Second Quarter 1985

UFOs naturally as to their technology and their mode of propulsion. He has been led into an investigation of close encounters
which resulted in physiological and medical effects as an oblique approach to what the forces involved may be. Mr. Schuessler
is another case of the advanced, disciplined, and analytical
researcher needed in ufology. Very serious and precise in his
approach and never catering to the emotionalism or fantasy some
speakers feel their audiences need, he laid out the best medical
cases from his experience in ufology and commented upon their
significance. In general, the symptoms seem the products of
radiation, often mutating or "ionizing" radiation, occasionally
even nuclear or particulate (so-called "hard" or penetrating)
radiation. Sometimes we are dealing with generalized bums,
sometimes patchy or shaped bums or marks, sometimes more
.thorough effects such as hair loss or erratic growth. Many times
the common signs of dizziness, headache, nausea, disorientation, et al are present. In the now-famous "Cash-Landrum"
case' where two older women and a grandchild were exposed
to a roughly diamond-shaped vehicle belching a powerful exhaust (and accompanied by U.S. military-type helicopters) more
spectacular and dangerous effects (inc. rapid deterioration and
lesions of the skin) were present. This last case is important to
understanding the UFO phenomenon as the U.S. government
has now stated (since Peter Gersten is suing it for damages to
Mrs. Cash and Mrs. Landrum on grounds that this was a secretproject vehicle gone awry) that although it agrees that a device
of some sort was present in the incident, that it was not a U.S.
technical craft of any sort. So ... have they (the government) spun
a weird sort ofintennediate lie, or was it really a non-U.S. production? And if not "us," who?
Next was another honorable laborer of long standing, Ted
Phillips, the leading authority on landing traces. He has boiled
his extensive portfolio of three thousand cases to 200 of extremely" 'high strangeness," a core of experiences demanding serious
examination and without a ready commonplace solution.
Phillips' work is especially fascinating to a scientist, because
there seem. to. be repetitive patterns in it. The two of obvious
significance are his "Type I" and "Type 2" landing patterns:
a) Type I, if the observed "object" is an 8 to 12 foot diameter
"bright glow" object, it will hover above the ground
without actual touching and leave a dehydrated circle mark;
b) Type 2, if the observed "object" is a 30 to 35 foot diameter
"saucer/disk" object, it will land on 3 or 4 protrusions
and leave indentations at the "pods" with possible heat
or radiation effects, often at the center. Using
penetrometers, Mr. Phillips has measured pressures of
about 2 ton weights at the pod marks.
Other patterns have been extracted which may not be worthy
of consideration, or in any sense useful: Peaks for sightings occur between 9 and 10 pm with a secondary peak at 1 to 2 am;
October is the heaviest month; mid-week is the heaviest day;
Missouri, Iowa and Ohio are. the most popular states.
The major current problem in landing trace study is the
analysis of the soil samples for elemental concentrations, organic
molecules, and simple microorganisms (since soil poisoning and
biological. contamination are potential alternatives for fonning
the rings). Such analyses are serious obstacles even in "established" sciences. Labs notoriously screw up such tests and rarely
match one anothers' results. When the samples are "UFOrelated," there i~ even a further possible reason for doing a halfbaked job. Som~times the job seems to be proper and solve a
problem (e.g., the brilliant red-lighted UFO which landed and
left a white residue composed of strontium oxide - the main

PURSUIT; No. 69. III Quarter 1985, p. 18

Pursuit 87

component residue of distress flares). Sometimes the job is

criminally undone (e.g., the case of the Saskatchewan fanner
who witnessed several hemispheric UFOs lift off his rather
remote field leaving marks behind. The soil samples were accepted, filed, and never reported upon nor returned). This part
of ufology is cl)'ing out for techniCal help; if the readership can
help solve the problem, please contact MUFON, Ted, or the
author.
It was ironic that the most scientific of the field researchers
became accosted after the lecture by onc< of those individuals
inhabiting the fringes of UFO meetings who claims experiences
of,. shall we say, dubious content. This gentlemen had been
blessed with multiple close encounters, the initial of which occurred (in his words) "right there while I was on the throne. "
It seems that ufonauts have no !feeling for propriety whatever.
Many more contacts and communications have followed, and
sometimes he just feels an exhilarating light flow right through
him even when no UFO or being is in sight. Sadly no one else
has witnessed any of these occurrences, and true evidence has
once again evaded us. With Mr. Phillips searching for a polite
and productive means of tenninating this "close encounter,"
the conversation shifted to other questionable reports infecting
the literature, including a spacetrip resulting in the importation
of a Venusian cat to the U.S. (undoubtedly breaking all sorts
of customs regulations). The multiple-encountered gentleman
was certain that all these events had happened and that convincing evidence was available for all to see. "That cat from
Venus," he smiled assuringly, "had hollow hair."
Mercifully we moved on to the finest investigative reporter
in UFO research, Bill Moore, co-author of The RosweJ/ Incident, an expert on the subject of crashed saucers. His presentation had three major points of interest for those of us intrigued
with anomalies. The first involved the famous "Hangar 18" .
incident, which became a movie of the same name. It was a
hoax of massive proportions, and in no way lightweight fun and
games. Serious money and fraud took place as professional conmen plucked naive investors throughout the western U.S. The
con was oil-locating technology. The device was the' 'doodlebug." The central figure was Silas Newton. And the ufological
author spreading the misinfonnation was Frank Scully in Behind

the Flying Saucers.

This stol)' is fascinating, but long and involved. Without even
trying to do it any justice, a few rudiments will be mentioned.
Newton and an associate had "invented" a flashing Iights- and
batteries-device which allegedly would locate almost anything
the investor had his heart set on. The fraud promoters, incredibly, were making some "sales" with this simple scheme
(aided by Newton's millionaire reputation and strategic "plants"
offindables for demonstrating the doodlebug's efficiency), but
they felt that something more flashy was.lacking. Hollywood
was in the process of making a movie about a crashed saucer,
and that was exactly the believable touch needed. The doodlebug
became the product of alien technology secretly extracted from
the milital)' after a crashed-saucer incident. Frank Scully served
(innocently or not) to promulgate the stol)',"and "inside" details
passed from mouth-to-mouth across the countl)'. The partially
underground story grew convincing enough for an FBI memo
to be issued to J. Edgar Hoover. It read in part:
"An Investigator for the Air ForCes stated that three so-called
flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico. They were
described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by
three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall, dressed in
metallic cloth of a vel)' fine texture. March 22, 1950."

Pursuit 88

Who can blame people for being interested in the possibility

of UFO visitations, when the FBI and milital)' had such secret
memos in circulation?
Bill Moore told the story above as a warning to investigators
as to the complexity potentially lurking behind UFO tales. He
then went on to describe his work on the Roswell crashed saucer,
and contrasted his research methods, witnesses, and results with
the bogus Hangar 18 case. The Roswell case has some superficial similarities to the other tales but differs in the intensity
and first-handedness of the investigation. It cannot be told here.
Buy and read the book. Bill will appreciate it and you will,too.
It may be the only chance that there really was a crashed saucer
incident.
.
A final note on Bill Moore: he co-authored the currently
famous Philadelphia Experiment book (about the Navy making
a ship invisible) with Charles Berlitz. With further investigation he is now certain that no such experiment took place. It
was a myth rising gaIbled from Navy tests in wwn to make
U.S. ships undetectible by Gennan submarines (perhaps "invisible" to their radar or sonar, in one sense of that word).
Whether Charles Berlitz has backed off these tall tales at this
point is not known, but seekers of the Truth, Beware! .
Next Stanton Friedman (nuclear engineer turned ufologist)
gave his usual high-energy, amusing presentation blasting the
"noisy negativists" for their ignorances and deliberate obscurantism. The rogues' gallel)' of debunkers (Donald Menzel, James
Oberg, Phillip Klass, Robert Schaeffer) got their expected bloody
noses, but so did well-known ufologists Jacques Vallee, Allan
Hendl)', J. Allen Hynek, and (without exactly mentioning
names) those researchers such as Len Stringfield who never
name infonnants. Special invective was reserved for Carl Sagan
who made, according to Stanton, "billions and billions" of
mistakes particularly on his analysis of the most famous close
encounter in all ufology, the Betty and Barney Hill abduction
case (which included a post-hypnotically drawn star-map of the
nearby space). This roasting of Sagan was followed by a tour
through the UFO evidence and through recent U. S. technological
projects which demonstrate that interstellar travel is in fact possible even with what we know today. Everyone always enjoys
these semi-technical tours, but there was one exception this time.
The introductol)' host fell asleep on stage during both Moore
and Friedman's talks.
The last two speakers were David Webb and Budd Hopkins,
both experts on the phenomenon of UFO abductions. Webb
reported on the statistical and categorical aspects of these
fascinating but frightening close encounterS. He first listed the
alternative explanations for the rePorts: a) hoax or lie; b) delusion or hallucination; c) psychosis; d) a real ex~rience with
a little distortion due to altered states of consciousness; and e)
a real lJFO sighting with an imagined abduction due to the suggestibility powerofhyp~osis. Although hoaxes have occurred,
they appear to account for few of the cases. The other four are
the serious alternatives. The main thrust of Webb's report was
to examine the role of hypnosis.
He took 129 cases of relatively high reliability (especially as
regards the depth of investigation) and found the following:
a) hypnosis did not have to be used at all .in one third of the
cases; it was the entire means of learning about the abduction in 52 %;
b) in 68 % of the cases the abductee was alone, but in almost .
one-third of the cases there were multiple abductees;
c) 55% of the abductees were male; 45% female;
d) "the reported appearance, behavior, and number of entities and the duration of the abductions appear to be in-

Second Quarter 1985

dependent of the use of hypnosis;" 'Basic imagery seems

remarkably similar;"
e) certain common elements exist; i.e., a curved enclosed
room, an examination room with panels and chairs, occasionally a trip;
t) certain elements are much commoner in cases requiring
hypnosis; it is more likely that there will be a physical examination (often "genetic," i.e. interested in reproductive organs and cells) (also often involving a tissue sample from the skin leaving a small scar); telepathy is the
mode of communication; an "implant" of some kind may
be inserted; the experience tends to retlirn in dreams and
flashbacks;
.
g) in abductions not requiring hypnosis it is much more likely that a journey was taken and the communication t~kes
place verbally.
Budd Hopkins, author of the currently famous Missing Time
study of abductees, gave us a treat: a tape recording of part of
a hypnotic session with a very emotionally upset abductee ... rather chilling and very illustrative of the majority of
cases where "hoax" or "lie" is simply not a viable explanation. Mr. Hopkins has counselled with ten professionals in
psychiatry and psychology on his cases and none can arrive at
any explanation. The phenomenon is astonishingly widespread.
His notebook contains hundreds of cases which he cannot get
to. He suspects that 'this is a thing involving hUQdreds of
thousands of people. " The entities reported and drawn by his
subjects are almost entirely ("close to 90% ") of the bulbousheaded, big-eyed, fetal-like aliens of movie fame (e.g., Close
Encounters of the Third Kind). Paranoia begins to creep in when
he reports cases of serial abductions (same person, years apart)
and technological implants inserted in ears and noses. Two abductees have decided to undergo CAT scans to locate these. One
individual reports hearing short chopped phrases coming from
an insertion. Some examples of the words:

Vampires and Werewolves

(continued from page 85)
have craved blood and he is aware of no cases of victims who
have been hanned by garlic.
The folklore of the vampire and werewolf is a rich one that
experts have attempted to justify i~ a variety of ways. It is truly
impossible to sum up the co~plicated origins of the vampire
or werewolf with one concise explanation. Consideration must
be given to both external and internal factors, although neither
is enough of an explanation.
A few of the external factors that have been probed relate to
premature burial, delayed decomposition of corpses and internally, abnonnally sadistic behavior. There are cases on record
of individuals, once buried, who have cried out for release frQm
their graves. Also available are cases of those who have reopened
graves years later only to find that the body looked as it did
the day it was buried. Sadistic behavior varies by degree. Many
cases have i~cluded overt lycanthropic (werewolf) and vampiristic practices. This may inclUde the. sucking of blood, devouring of human flesh and even necrophilia. ~!lIlY ~rial killers
have been described as "vampires." Once analyzed, quite a
few of these individuals have stated a need for blood in an effort to remain powerful.
Internally, aside from disease, there are a number of mental
processes which can give rise to abnonnal behaviors, such as

Second Quarter 1985

"learn this;" "not physical;" "hear the unspoken;" "be

my touch sight;" "through you;" "examine-explore-touch;"
"I want feel;" "to me help;" "choose right;" "difficult
to say;" "learn you;" "we mix;" "always defend;" "very
old;" "forget you no;" "question all."
These revelations are a bit distressing. If real, they speak of
mind control; if not real, they contain psychological dynamite
not only for an affected paranoid individual, but also for many
borderline-paranoic readers of a future slick book which some
unprincipled author may write. Thank goodness that Budd
Hopkins is such a measured and disciplined researcher, but
someone else is certain to misrepresent and misuse his findings.
Add to the above the cases claiming impregnation, fetal implants, or fetal "theft," and you realize that the nightmare has
no limitations.
Prior to the convention Budd and two of his subjects consented
to appear on a nationally-syndicated television show ("Sally
Jessy Raphael' ') and explain and discuss the abduction
phenomenon. This experience demonstrated the other very
distressing aspect of the subject. The "host," apparently
threatened in some irrational way by the topic, was so rude and
derisive as to make the guests and at least half the audience uncomfortable. In this behavior she personified the emotion-laden
prejudice of the non-thinking skeptic, and worse, showed no
sympathy for the parties involved. If the subjects were not lying (as the host agreed), then the experience was either real or
the product of a potentially serious mental aberration. Either
way derision is not only inappropriate but ignorant and inhumane. The subject is a serious one; whatever the cause.
Maybe we should take a cue from the mysterious voice from
the abduction implant: "learn this ... choose right ... question all."
NOTE: Anyone interested in contacting the Mutual UFO Network or any of
the panies involved might write: MUFON. 103 Oldtowne Rd . Seguin. Texas
78155-4099.
The next convention is scheduled for late June. 1986 in Lansing. Michigan.

~
expressed above. According to psychoanalysts, many of these
behaviors date back to problems experienced during childhood.
The point is simple. Dr. Dolphin's theory may "fit" certain
individuals, but certainly not all. There are just too many pieces
to this puzzle, and it is unlikely that all the pieces will ever fit
to complete the picture of the vampire.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Blood Disease Put the Bite on Vampires," National Joumal-Courier.
May 31, 1985, page 6.
"Do Vampires Have a Blood Disorder?," liSA Today. May 31, 1985,
page 11.
"In Defense of Dracula and His Ok," The Recotd. May 31, 1985,
page A 9.
"Werewolves, Vampires May Be More Real Than You Think," The
Adanta Journal. May 31, 1985, page 3-A.
Vampire Information Exchange Newsletter, "00 Porphyria." Number

15, March, 1983.

Notc: Anyone interested in contacting Vampire Information Exchange. please
write: Eric w. Hcld. PO Box 328. Brooklyn. NY 11229

See related material in two SITUation anicles about "Zombies" on page 90.

Pursuit 89

Related SlTUatio. .
Swiss Say They Know How
Voodoo Produces ZO....I. .
Swiss druggists say they have traced the
chemical that makes Haitian zombies obey
medicine men - not because the zombies are
bewitched, but because they are suffering from
neuromuscular paralysis.
But in the Haitain capital of Port-au-Prince,
"b,ukors," or medicine men, scoffed at the
scientific findings, saying the Swiss "would
hay~ a long way to go" before they figured out"
how to transform ordinary people into zombies.
According to a voodoo belief, a zombie is a
corpse that supposedly is brought through supernatural means to a state of trancelike animation.
Voodoo is a religion with African roots practiced in the Caribbean and Brazil.
The March edition of the Swiss industry
newsletter Pharmo-Info says the hukors extract
from globe fish a neurotoxin known as
tetrodotoxin, administer it to would-be zombies,
then bury them for several hours.
When victims are "resurrected," they are
given a hallucinogen called datura stramonium,
the newsletter says.
"At that point they are, in fact, genuine zombies and totally subservient to the medicine
man," it says.
In fact, the zombies are suffering
neuromuscular paralysis. The only way of
preventing the condition is a large dose of salt,
which has a blocking effect on tetrodotoxin, the
newsletter says.
Globefish are eaten as a delicacy in some parts
of the world, particularly in Japan. The newsletter "urgently recommended that they should be
eaten only in specially licensed restaurants."
SOURCE: UPI in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

3/6/85
CREDIT: Ray Nelke

Intrepid Botanist Solv. . the

Riddle of Haiti'. Zo....I. .
Wade Davis, a Harvard University botany
student, was asked by his adviser three years
ago to fly to Haiti and investigate whetherthere
was any truth to the voodoo myth of zombies.
After a series of expeditions over 2'h years,
he returned to Cambridge with malaria,
hepatitis, the material for a nonfiction book said
to read like a spy novel - and the secret formula for creating zombies.
"I left knowing nothing about the country and
anived with only my wits, " Davis said. "I was
lucky, extremely lucky. I opened a Pandora's
b9x that consumed three years of my life."
The blond, blue-eyed Canadian is in seclustion on a Virginia farm recovering from his illnesses, working on the book, to be published
in the fall by Simon and Schuster, called "The
Serpent and the. Rainbow, " and finishing his
doctoral thesis.
.
The first thing he discovered was that voodoo
and zombies are very different from the way

Pursui.t.90

they have been portrayed in the movies. Voodoo

is a sophisticated religion with African roots.
It is practiced by the majority of Haitians and
people on other Caribbean Islands and in Brazil.
"It has a system of medicine, a system of
education and a system of law and order. It appears that this zombie thing may be linked to
the whole system of social sanctions," said
Davis, whose Virginia log cabin is filled with
books, voodoo masks, head bands and skulls.
Zombies are not people who have risen from
the dead. Instead, they are people who have
been given a drug that mimics death, paralyzing them and reducing their heart and breathing
rates to almost nothing. Yet they remain
conscious.
.
Davis, 31, was sent to Haiti by the Harvard
Botanical Museum, the wOrld's foremost institution for the study of psychoactive drugs, most
of which are made from the plants. As a
graduate student at the museum, he was an expert on plant-derived pharmaceuticals.
If there was any basis to the myth, experts
reasoned, it probably had something to do with
a drug made from plants.
In addition, David had \.Yolked in the past
with natives.ofthe Amazon jungle and the Indians of northern Canada, his native land, while
wolking as a lumbeljack.
As it turned out, the active ingredient in the .
secret formula for creating zombies was a
poison, called tetrodotoxin, which is taken from
puffeI: fish and is 500 times more powerful than
cyanide.
"It's the most powerful nonprotein poison in
the world," Davis said. "A drop that can rest
on the head of a pin is enough to kill."
He keeps a 2-inch vial of the formula with
him. It looks like dry black dirt. The formula
also contains parts of toads, sea worms,lizards,
tarantulas and huma~ bones. "It's basically a
potpourri of weird things," Davis said.
The formula is thought to be ground into the
skin of intended victims. They begin to feel
nauseous and have difficulty breathing. Then
they begin to get a pins-and-needles feeling in
their limbs, which progresses to their whole
body. They become paralyzed and their blood
pressure drops very low. Their lips tum blue
for lack of oxygen. The process takes about six
hours.
The first medically documented case of a
zombie was a victim named C1ervius Narcisse,
who was pronounced dead in 1962 by an
American doctOr living in Haiti. Narcisse was
buried, but in 1982 he returned to his hometown
alive.
His fingerprints were checked by Scotland
Yard and matched those of the "dead" man,
Davis said. Narcisse told Haitian psychiatrist
. Dr. Lamarque DouyOD facts aboutthis family
that only the dead man could have known.
The victim said he remembers being pronounced dead, remembers hearing his sister crying at his funeral and remembers being buried.
That night, a voodoo priest dug him up from
his grave and put him on a plantation. He said
he escaped, but did not return to his hometown
for 20 years because he feared his brother, who
he said had him made into a zombie in the first
place.

Traditionally,' after being dug up; ilie'vietim~~l

would be given another formula, which was.. ...
thought to be an antidote. But Davis realized: :.;
that if the victim survived the initial cri~i~, no ~.
antidote would be needed. Instead,.the second . "./
drug may have been one that induces am~sia .~.
and psychosis, making the victim dependent on ~
the people who drugged him.
. .,. .
f
For Haitians, who place high value on their .:,1
independence and free will, becoming a zom. bie can be a fate worse than death.
Davis said people are not made into zombies
for just any reason: Usually they are accused
of breaking strict voodoo codes. Secret"
societies, similar to groups in Western A.friea, .,
hold tribunals to dete~ine a person's ~i1t or..
innocence. If the person is fouild guiliY. the
court orders that the formula be rubbed: on his t
body.
1 ,'.,
"The biggest challenge was separating
spiritual beliefs from pharmacological
realities," Davis said.
.'
Once the case of Clervius Narcisse' Was
documented, researchers contacted Richai'd .,'.
Evans Schultes, director of the bot8nical
.- . .
museum.
Schultes in tum assigned Davis to the case: : :
"He asked me if I was doing anything im- ~ ..
portant during the next month or so. And I ~;- ..
'No.' So he told me to get on the next plane
to Haiti, .. Davis said. "My assignment wa~tQ ...
go down there and get hold of the drug and see. :
if in fact it had anything interesting in it. In a .
series of expeditions, that is what I did," Davis :'
said.
. ... :
Davis published his findings in the Joumai
of Ethnophannacology, a Swiss science jour- .
nal concerned with the study of ancient drugs.
When news of the report appeared recently
in Haitian newapapers, voodoo priests scOffed. . ,
They said they did not believe outsiders cOuld
have gotten hold of the well-guarded secret.
"They have a long way to go," a voodoo
priest said.
'
Davis said he posed as a representative of the
Mafia to obtain the formula.
;.
Tetrodotoxin is a well-known poison, ~und '
in the puffer fish commonly eaten by the
ChineSe and Japanese. In JaPan, special chefs;" ;
. are'licensed to prepare the fish: They rem'ove' ,.
enough Poison to iriake it nonlethal, bUt enough' ,
remains to make diners high. .
, .
"They feel euphoria and tingling up and
down their spines and in their limbs," Davis
said. "But because of it still 100 people die each
year." .
Davis hopes his book and the publicity from
his discovery will do more than simply generate
an interest in voodoo.
"It will force people to look at themselves
carefully before judging something they don't
understand," he said; "I'm interested in promoting the wonder of cultural and biological
diversity. This is a wonderful way of doing it.
It shows. that manY' things'Make ~nSe williin
a particular culture.... !
. ! ' . , : :~ 1:, 1:'(,1,
SOURCE: UP~ in The Chicago Tribune
~

417185 .
CREDIT; Steve Guadagnoli

.~

Second Quarter :l985:.t::

In this section, mostly contemporary curious and unexplained events

Offlcia" Believe Lightaiag

.'. Nay Have Kmed Youth

when he failed to answer his grandmother's calls

to come to dinner.
Findley was ranked No.6 in the senior class
.A healthy 17-year-old who died while talk- at St. Benedict's Preparatory School, where he
.' ing to his girlfriend on the telephone might have played center field on the school's baseball
btien killed by a lethal charge of electricity team, said the school's principal, the Rev. Ed. caused by lightning striking phone wires, of- . win Leahy.
..; i,ro;H 0" .
fICials say.
Findley had passed. a stringent all-day
. Jason F. Findley, who was accepted to the physical examinati9n for acceptance into the
U.S. MilitaIy Academy at West Point five days U.s. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. onbefore his death at his grandmother's house in ly five days before his death.
Scotch Plains, NJ was found unconscious, still SOURCE: AP in the Asbury Parle Press, NJ
holding the phone, and was later pronounced
6/3/85
dead.
CREDIT: Nancy Warth
Marius Lombardi, special forensic investigator with the New Jersey Medical ExShroad of Turin Maa
aminer's Office, said that about six people have
Believed to be Jewish
died in the United States under similar
A Duke University professor said he has
cin:umstances.
All of the victims were talking on the phone discovered new evidence that the man whose
at the time of their deaths, Lombardi said. He image appears on the Shroud of Turin was
added that a New Jersey woman contacted his Jewish.
Dr. Alan D. Whanger, who has researched
office, saying she was knocked unconscious for
two hours last year from a high voltage shock the shroud for eight years, also said the facial
image on the shroud may have been used for
that came through her telephone.
"There's no question that these kinds of hundreds of artistic depictions of Jesus.
Whanger, of Duke University Medical
(lethal) electrical currents can travel through the
School, said on one early portrait, the face of
pbone," Lombardi said.
But New Jersey Bell contends there is no Jesus has 152 points of congruence with the imevidence its equipment malfunctioned or acted age on the shroud.
The origin of the shroud has been debated for
as a conduit for a lightning bolt.
"We went out and examined our facilities and centuries, with some claiming that it was the
we found that they were properly grounded and burial cloth of Jesus and others contending it
functioning normally," said company was a 14th century art fraud.
Whanger said he and his wife, Mary
spokesman Ted Spencer.
"Furthermore, there was no indication of any Whanger, used a polarized image overlay
extraordinaJy charge of electricity," Spencer technique to discover the existence of a
said. "If there had been a large electrical phylactery on the left arm of the figure on the
~harge, the phone woul~ have been damaged shroUd. A phylactery is a small leather pouch
and the lines would have becin burned - and worn by <mhodox Jewish men during pmyer and
there is no evidence of that haying happened. " to hold small parchments on which sCriptures
Lom~i said while investigators have found are written.
Whanger said the discovery of the phylactery
no evidence of singed wires or any other indications of electrocution, it was possible the elec- imprint on the left arm, coupled with his earlier
tric current from lightning traveled along the discovery of a phylactery on the head proves
that the person was Jewish. He said the fact that
wires without leaving visible damage.
Authorities said Findley was talking on the both phylacteries appear to have been tom open
telephone with his girlfriend when she heard an also indicated that the crucifixion of the person
was very unusual.
odd noise on the other end of the line.
"It is on upside down and the top has been
"It sounded like a click, but it didn't sound
like a familiar noise," she said. The click was damaged in some way, apparently by the box
followed by a gasp and the &Qund of the televi- containing the scripture parchment being tom
sion in the background, said the youth's mother, off," Whanger told a news conference at an
Atlanta exhibit dealing with the shroud. "This.
Wilma Findley.
Findley lived in Piscata'!l'ay ~ith his mother, is perfectly c;onsistent with the desecration of
. .
-. sister and brother. His father died in 1978. The the phylactery on the head.
: "teeil~ager worked at Muhlenberg hospital in
"We believe this indicates both were put on
:: P~field and had gone to his grandparents' prior to the crucifixion and were worn during
home to wait for his mother to pick him up. the crucifixion as a mark of mocking the
~
Detective Sgt. Ronald Donnelly, who in- crucified man as a Jew," he said.
vestigated the death, said Findley was found
The shroud has been preserved in the

SeCond

Qua~er

1985

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Ita:

Iy, since 1578. It has been displayed publicly
only three times this century, the most recent
in 1978 when a team of 50 scientists was allow
ed to perform extensive tests on the linen.
SOURCE: AP in the Asbury Parle Press, NJ
4/4/85
CREDIT: Member #432

Scientist 5nlft. Oat Diet of

Ancient Utah Indians
A scientist at the Illinois Institute of
Technology has achieved one of his greatest
research feats by nosing out the dietary patterns
of ancient Indians from Utah.
The scientist, Boguslaw Krotoszynski, used
the equipment of the institute to reconstitute
6,400-year-old dung from the Indians and then
to break its vapors down into va!ious components. From that, Krotoszynski identified the
smells to determine the foods that the ancient
Indians ate.
The school is known for its pioneering work
in odor research and has many sophisticated instruments for analyzing various smells. But
none of its equipment is as sensitive as
Krotoszynski's educated nose.
"Detecting the quality of odorants is an an,"
says the scientist. He says he can differentiate
the aromas of five varieties of peas, 10 types
of apples and more than 20 breads.
Krotoszynski attributes his skill to "imagaination, hard work and a good memory."
In the case of the ancient stools, Krotoszynski was able to determine that the Indians along
the Utah-Nevada border 6,400 years ago ate the
leaves of wild plants, including a Iicoricescented herb. He also detected the licorice scent
in the stools of Indians from the same area 4,800
years later, but in combination with the remains
of com and meat.
The stools were collected from caves by Dr.
John Moore, a gastroenterologist at the Veterans
Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City. Dr.
Moore and other medical authorities are interested in what ancient man ate because they
believe that information might help them correct some of the imbalances in the modem diet.
By so8king the dried stools in salt water for
three days, Krotoszynski was able to return them
to something resembling their original state. He
then placed them in a gas chromatograph, which
broke down their vapor into a succession of
odorous ~hemical compounds.
The identification of the complex series of
aromas was then up to Krotoszynski and his Sensitive nose.
Krotoszynski regards such feats as just a
sideline, though. He believes that olfactory
research can contribute more directly to health
by becoming a tool for medical diagnosis.

Pursuit

91

By placing people in a huge glass tube and

bathing them for 45 minutes in purified air,
Krotoszynski says he and his associates at the
institute can analyze body odors and obtain
"chemical signatures" as individual as
fingerprints.
Besides serving as identification, he says,
these signatures can be used to detect the
presence of diseases, including diabetes, tuberculosis and lung cancer.
SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
4/8/85
CREDIT; Ray Nelke

'Orownecll' City off Indian Coa.t

Believed Found
Archaeologists believe they may have
discovered remains of a 3,500-year-old city
mentioned in Hindu epic tales that was drowned
by the rising Arabian Sea over the centuries,
newspapers here report.
Seals, earthenware and other artifacts that can
be attributed to Owarlca, the mythical capital of
a Hindu god, Lord Krishna, have been found
off the coast of India's western Gujarat state,
the news reports said.
Archaeologists believe ancient Dwarka,
described in the Hindu holy epic of
Mahabharata, was established about 1500 B.C.,
but was submerged in the Arabian Sea by
geological shifts over the centuries, the
newspapers said.
A team of divers and scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography recently completed a search for the ruins of Owarka near the
modem coastal city of the same name.
The reports said the discovel)' corroborates
descriptions of Owarka given in ancient epics
and is expected to bridge an important gap in
Indian histol)' between the Harappan civilization of 2500-1500 B.C. and the pre-Buddhist
era that began about 500 B.C.
Dr. S.R. Rao,leaderofthe exploration team,
was quoted as saying that discovel)' of the city
seal, depicting a bull, a unicorn and a goat, also
established a link between the Owarka civilization and the ancient Middle East.
Using underwater cameras, cranes and other
equipment, the divers photographed the
submerged remains of what they have called
Owarka township, estimated to be a half-mile
long and 132 feet wide, the Indian Express
newspaper quoted Dr. Rao as saying.
The Arabian Sea was about 16 feet lower
when the ancient township was built, the report
quoted Dr. Rao as saying. Other scientific
sources suggest that the sea level rose gradually between 1500 B.C. and 1300 B.C., he was
quoted as saying.
The search for Lord Krishna's sunken city
began in 1979 when scientists objected to a
government building in modem Owarka that
b.locked a view of a famous temple.
The building was demolished and below its
foundations were discovered remains of a temple built in the Twelfth Centul)'. Archaeologists
dug deeper and found remains of three more
temples. Then the search was extended into the
seabed.
The earliest of the three temples was dated
to about 900 B.C. and was dedicated to the HinPursuit 92

du god, Lord Vishnu. The last temple was built bamboo o~ergrowth.
about 100 B.C.
A fig tree near the bamboo adds eeriness to
The dating was done on the basis of ceramic the place for it is believed to be .ghostly.
ware and coins discovered from the site.
Several drownings have occurred near the
"Below the earliest temple lay the biggest sur- spot over the past years.
prise. There was unassailable evidence of two SOURCE: The Borneo Bulletin, Malaysia
2/9/85
.
townships submerged by the sea," the Statesman newspaper quoted Dr. Rao as saying.
CREDIT: David Billington
The earlier township yielded ceramic pottel)',
called "lustrous red ware," which has been
Are TIl.... Coa..... ID
dated to the era of 1500-1400 B.C., the news
Upp.r Mld..est?
reports said. The pottel)' had been worn by
waves, and Dr. Rao was quoted as saying it
What Mike Zuidema saw Iilong the roadside
became apparent that the "settlement could well
ahead clearly was not a coyote, not a bobcat.
be the ancient capital of Lord Krishna.''
He didn't know what it was until, "it took a
SOURCE: AP in The Sun, Baltimore, MD
4/21185 I,:~ .;;,
big jump toward the woods, I mean a big jump,
and here's this long tail behind it. It detimtely
CREDIT: H. Hollander
was an animal I never saw before in my life. It
was definitely not a canine, it was a cat - no
BoatlBen: W..... t MODeter doubt about it. I knew at the time that I had seen
Its neck was much larger than a 4O-gallon a mountain lion."
Zuidema is a forester with the Michigan
drum, its red eyes were as big as lOO-watt bulbs
I)epaItment of Natural Resources, and since that
and its head looked like a cow's.
Was it the mysterious monster of Lawas as encounter four years ago, he has interviewed
about 100 people who think that they, too, have
told in legends?
. Several boatmen gave this description of a seen mountain lions in Michigan'sUpper Penincreature they claimed to Iulve seen in the Lawas sula during the past 15 years.
A~ the border, Minnesota DNR biologist
River.
A Malay boabnan .on the river said he saw Bill Berg has been doing much the same thing,
tracking down people who have had the same
the water stirring in an unusual manner.
It turned milky and rubbish floated up from experience he did six years ago when he and
his family saw a mountain lion cross a northern
the river bed.
He slowed his motorboat to investigate and Minnesota road right in front of their car.
Despite abundant disagreement from others
moments later, a "black monstrous head"
in the field, Zuidema and Berg are convinced
emerged from the water.
"Its head looked like that of a cow and its that resident populations of the most adaptable
neck was much larger than a 4O-gallon oil big cat in the world, an animal whose range
stretches from Alaska to the tip of South
drum," he said.
"Its two white eyes were as big as lOO-watt America, from the Arizona desert to die swamps
of south Florida, also are living in the upper
bulbs. "
The animal's body did not emerge from the Midwest.
Variously called mountain lion, cougar,
water, he said.
Another Malay boatman said he saw a puma, panther, painter and catamount, Felis
monster with two red eyes bigger than betel concolor has disappeared from most of the
eastern United States. But throughout its former
nuts. It had two short front legs.
Two otberboatmen - a Chinese and a Murut eastern range, reports of its presence persist.
- also claimed to have had similar experiences. Although wildlife biologists generally discount
The Chinese said he saw a black form in the the notion of self-sustaining populations of
river. Thinking it was a floating log, he paid moontainlions in most states east of the
no attention to it.
.
Mississippi, there is something compelling to
But when his boat swept past, he saw the ob- scientist and citizen alike aboUt the possibility
ject move.
that this quick, clever and seldom-seen predator
"I couldn't believe my eyes," he said. "My could be hanging on in the face of civilization.
hands could not move and I just couldn't con"There's no doubt there are a vel)' few up
trol the course of my boat."
here," Zuidema says. "But I don't know what
The Murut, fefl)'ing girl students across the a very few is. There's more than one because
river, told a similar tale.
people have reported a gray color phase and a
'The girls screamed and I could not move, " brown one. And there were two sightings of a.
he said.
female with three kittens Iast June. "
,. All of us would have died. if we had hit the
Berg says: "They've probably been here (in
monster."
Minnesota) historically since way before the
According to legends, the monster is a water tum of the centul)'. There might have been years
spirit which can change itself into as many as since then when there weren't any roaming the
44 forms, ranging from a bird; a king lo~ter state, but since the 19SOs, there have been con-
tinuing .observations, a lot of them by people
to a huge snake.
like conservation officers, pretty reputable
The Malays can it tumbuh akar or galap.
Another galap is said to be in the Merapok people.
River.
"There also probably has been an interc~ge
The galap in the Lawas River is said to fre- of animals from Manitoba, the Dakotas, Alberquent a deep
spot in the .river,
bed under a thick ta, Wisconsin and Michigan."
.
" .....

Second Quarter f985

In the Western states, where they are most

plentiful, radio-collared lions have been tracked as far as 100 miles, especially young animals
scouting for territory unoccupied by other lions ..
Berg theorizes that lions in the upper Midwest
might travel even fanher seeking other lions for
breeding, particulary if unobstructed by the territories of competing animals.
The last formal evidence of a mountain lion
in Michigan was a kill in 1906. But in the last
year, Zuidema says, he was provided a fresh
bone fragment from a lion his contacts say was
shot in Michigan.
That fragment was sent for examination to the
Colorado Division of Wildlife, and biologist Bill
Admin, who has developed a blood test that can
distinguish among feline species, affinned that
the blood on the fragment was from a mountain lion.
Despite that sort of evidence, though, Rainer
Brocke, a biologist recently commissioned by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to assess lion
populations in the eastem United States, has
concluded: "I don't believe there are any existing populations of cougar in the east, north
of Florida."
Brocke, a mountain lion specialist at the State
University of New Yorle in Syracuse, doesn't
question that there might be lions in Michigan
and Minnesota. "There probably is a valid
record (of a lion) in northern Michigan recently, !UId Bill Berg's records are valid, too," he
says. But he doesn't think they are part of
natural, breeding populations.
"Cougars escape from zoos a couple times
a month allover, " as well as from confinement
as pets, Brocke says. "There are over 100
(privately owned) cougars registered in Florida
alone. " When such animals escape, their
owners are hesitant to report them missing, often
for fear of liability when the lions ~rn to
domestic stock or pets for food."
SOURCE: Asbury Park Press, NJ
3/31/85
CREDIT: Nancy Warth

Whlc... I.e EDdaDgered Spede.?

Tigers in the forests of West Bengal have killed 22 people in the past three months, despite
the use of electrified human dummies to deter
attacks, officials say.
'
"The problem is growing," said Priyothosh
Roy, a forest ranger, in an interview with the
United News of India. "It's insoluble. All efforts to prevent the killings have proved futile.~'
He says tigers killed 56 people in the Sunderbans Reserve Forest, along the Bangladesh
border, last year, and 22 people in the past three
months.
According to the West Bengal government,
659 people were killed by tigers in the Sunderbans in the past 15 years.
India's famed Bengal tigers, once on the
verge of extinction, now number about 40,000
nationwide. They have bounced back under Pr0ject Tiger, a program launched 11 years ago to
protect the animals in 15 government reserves.
The government spends about $432 a year on
each of the 265 tigers in the Sunderbans, the
biggest reserve.

Second Quarter 1985

But villagers say the tigers are thriving at the

expense of the fishennen, woodcutters and
honey collectors who make their living in the
parle.
"Tell me, why should the government protect these animals which kill human beings?"
asked Binala Mondal, whose husband was the
latest to be mauled to death in Sunderbans,
southeast of Calcutta.
One novel tactic that failed: life-like human
dummies that give off an electric shock. Forest
rangers had hoped the tigers would be
discouraged from attacking men after taking the
unsavory bait.
Two weeks ago, forest officials positioned a
decoy near a pond:But tigers ignored the dummy and killed a woman washing clothes in the
"
same pond.
"Tigers are too clever," one villager was
quoted as saying. "They know the dummie!l for
what they are."
The danger is not confined to the Sundelbans.
David Hunt, a British bird watcher, was killed
by a tiger on Feb. 22 in the CoIbett National
Parle in Uttar Pradesh state.
Parle officials say Hunt wandered into a prohibited area to track an owl and stumbled onto
a tigress with a new litter of cubs.
SOURCE: AP in The Asbury Park Press, NJ
3/31185
CREDIT: Member #432

wild pigs in at least half of California's counties, from Mendocino in the nonh to San Luis
Obispo in the south.
The creature came to the state in the 1920s
when William Randolph Hearst and others
brought exotic European boars to breed on
estates and the beast mixed with wild pigs, said
Jack White, Fish and Game infonnation officer.
He said that once the pigs moved in, they are
almost impossible to move out.
One problem, said Reginal Barren, a wildlife
specialist at the University of California at
Berkeley, is that the animal can double its
population every four months. A female can
have a litter every three months, starting when
she is 6 months old.
That's not such bad news to people like Gernot Leitzinger, who said customers at his Old
Europe Restaurant in Pacific Grove are pigging
out on $15.95 servings of medallions of boar
in cream sauce, or cubed boar in onions,
mushrooms and red wine.
"It's between porle and a little beefy, .. he said
of the taste.
SOURCE: The Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH
5/22/85
CREDIT: Wayne Cennak

A Horde of C.ickeDs

A flock of 150 wild chickens has been pecking at Carol Patterson's tomatoes, digging out
"Pig Packs Uprooting
her tulip bulbs and coating her yard and front
Po CODDUy
porch with droppings.
"If somebody wants to make chicken dinners
Marauding packs of wild pigs that eat
out of them, more power to them" she said.
"anything that can't get out of their way"
But Ms. Patterson "wouldn't even think" about
threaten the natural beauty" - not to mention eating the chickens because they have not been
the mellow ambiance - of Marin County.
innoculated against avian flu, a recurring poUltry
Naturalists are bristling about its virtual indisease in the region of Franklin TWP, N.J.
vasion into the scenic coastal countryside north
Ronald Dixon, the township'S animal warden,
of San Francisco.
theorizes that the chickens were abandoned by
"They have arrived here in force, " said Sikp
a previous owner and wandered into the woods
Schwartz, naturalist at the 1,OOO-acre Audubon behind the house. He said no other neighbors
Canyon Ranch bird sanctuary adjacent to the have complained.
Bolinas Lagoon. "Anything that can't get out
Ms. Patterson said she didn't notice any
of their way often gets eaten."
chickens when she purchased the house II years
Since late last year, signs of the pigs - which
go. But after she renovated the place 8J1d planted
reproduCe rapidly - have been detected around a lawn and garden,the invasion started.
"the ranch and other somewhat secluded parts"
Ms. Patterson tried to bring her neighbor,
of Marin County popular for recreation.
self-professed bird lover Valentine Koch, to
Trails have been "wrecked by pigs rooting for court to stop him from feeding the birds. She
insects and bulbs. Snorting bands have charg- accused him of destruction of property.
ed hikers and have been seen splashing in
Municipal Judge David A. Kyeko threw the
springs. Other animals' carcasses have been case out of court because there is no law against
found in their wake.
wild chickens. Dixon said only pigs and dogs
Some areas struck by the ferocious pigs have are currently prohibited from running loose.
been described by Golden Gate Recreational
Ms. Patterson said the chickens attack
Area ranger Richard Danielson as looking "like "anything they can scratch." She said the ansomeone plowed with a tractor."
nual spring attack is becoming increasingly
A motorist on Calif. 1 near Bolinas recently severe and has forced her to give up gardening.
ran into a 300-pound wild pig. the driver wasn't
Despite it all, Ms. Patterson said she still likes
hurt; the pig had to be killed. "
chickens. but she added that she now cringes
No one seems to know how the beast got its when she sees the birds approach.
foothold in the county. Rangers for "Marin SOURCE: AP in The Asbury Parle Press. NJ
Municipal Water District have been trapping
4/3/85
and hunting boars since July 1982, because they CREDIT: Member #432
threaten to pollute the water supply with their
foraging habits ..
The Departmerit of Fish and Game reports

Pursuit 93

The Notes of Charles Fort

Deciphered by Carl d. Pabst

ABBREVIATIONS

[For some obscure reason, Fort cut a notch

La Sci Pour Tous
on the right side of the note.]
Lat
[For some obscure reason, Fort cut a point on
Ibs
the left side of the note.]
Loc mets
abo
about
Long
Acad
Academy
L.T.
ac by
accompanied by
Mag of Nat Hist
ac. to
according to
Mechanics Mag
American Journal of Science
A. J. Sci
Met. del.
(A 1)
[ ? Almanac 7 ]
I";!.;' Metites
Ala
Alabama
Mets
Alph. Orionis
Alpha Orionis
.Mt
Am. J. Sci
American Journal of Science
Niles Nat Reg
Amer Phil Soc
American Philosophical Society
N.J.
An. Register
Annual Register
N.M.
Auro.
Aurora
NQ
BA
Report of the British Association for the AdN. S. Wales
.
vancement of Science
N.W.
BCF
The Books of Charles Fort
NY
between
.
bet
Ob.
Bib. Univ., N.S.
Bibliographic Universelle, new series
Op Mars
Bull Acad de Belique
I?]
p.
Cast. and Pol.
Castor and Pollux
Pa.
Cent. Amer.
Central America
(Pax)
(Ch)
Chaos [Fort's working title for New Land,sJ
phe
Chat-R
Chateau-Renault
Phil
Conj
Conjunction
Phil Jour(?)
cor
correspondent
Proc. Amer. Phil Soc
C.R.
Competes Rendus
(Cut)
illustrated
Proc Roy. Irish Acad
D48
The Book of the Damned, page" 48
q
depart
department
q-phe
(det)
detonation
R
d.y fog
d. fog
//I [Reverse side]
French, "half a score" (ten)
"Dizaine"
S
E
East
S.E.
Be. Mag
Eclectic Magazine
(sic)
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal
Edin N P. J
Stat
E Mec
English Mechanic
St. tho
Eng
England
. substance x x but
extraordinary
ext.
Sub volc
(F)
Fletcher's List
S.W.
Finley's Rept.
Finley's Reports on the Characters of 600
Switz.
Tornadoes
Symon's
(Fr)
France
Th. pebbles
frogs
frgs
Th. stone
Gelatin
Gelat
tho storms
Hun
Hungary
T. Y. Book
Inferior Conjunction
Inf Conjunction
(ver)
Italy
. : .
..
(It)
;. vol.:
Jour Amer Museum Nat. Hist Journal of the American Museum of Natuml
.. vole
History
(X)
JounJaJ" des Debats
Jour. des Debats
Y.B.
(L)
[?]

....

(continued from PURSUIT Vol. 18. "a considerable distance away." But in
First Quarter 1985, page 48)
his book "Odd Showers," written under
his pseudonym "Carribber," he
'[Reverse side] somewhat the appearance supposes
of coal, with marks of ore on the frac- [Front side) that he had fallen into the
tured surface, smells strongly of sulphur, 'popular error" of thinking they had so
and when entire was nearly the size of fallen.
a man's head." Said that the tract it had 1841 July 26 / 2 large clusters of
bumed through leaves of trees was sunspots reach center of sun on 26th. /
Derby Mercury, 14th.
distincdy traceable.
1841 July 251 SirOcorge Duncan Gibb, 1841 July 28, 29/ Many mets at Parma'
not far from a canal in Montreal, saw / BA 47-15.
1841 July 30 / Strong shock at Comrie,
a multitude of small frogs.
[Reverse side] II was his impression they etc., 2 p.m. During week before had
had fallen in a recent shower, and though been 30 shocks. / LT, Aug 11-3-<:.
he had crossed a body of water it was 1841 July 30 / q in Perthshire / Comrie

Pursuit 94

La Science Pour Tous

Latitude .
pounds
Locus[?] of meteors
Longitude
London Times
Magazine of Natuml History

Mechanics' Magazine
Meteor and detonation
Meteorites
Meteors
Mount
Niles' National Register
New Jersey
No More
Notes and Queries
New South Wales
Northwest
New York
Observatory
Opposition of Mars
page
Pennsylvania
[?]

phenomena
.. Philadelphia
[7]
Proceedings of the American PhilOsdpmcsl

Society
'.
Proceedings of the Royal/rish Academy
earthquake
-'.... '.. '. '-: '..
earthquake and phenomena
'" ~ .' ~
Reference
...
probably not related
~ .
,:.
South
. "
Southeast
. " ,.;
Latin, "so"
Stationary
[7]

substance [Fort's ellipsis?] but

Submarine Volcano .
Southwest
Switzerland
Symons' Meteorological Magazine
Thunder pebbles
Thunderstone
thunderstorms
. Timb's Year Book
[?]

volume
volcano

[?]

Timb's Year Book

q's so slight, or were sounds, that

[Reverse side] this and Oct. 23, '39, the
only ones listed by Milne in Catalogue
of Destructive Earthquakes.
.
1841 Aug. 7 / 10:30 p.m. / shocks /
Spain, Seville, Cadiz, etc. / L. T. 19-7-<:.
1841 Aug. 9-10 / Many mets / B.A.
47-15.
1841 Aug. 10/ Th. pebbles / L.T., Oct
27-3-d / At Iwan, Hungary,' in a
niinstorin. Millions oflittle stones, size
of millet 5ee!I to hazelnut, friable
~ubstance fell in a rainstorm. No wind
but fell at considerable angle. Blackish
outside - inside part[l]y gray-brown,
[Reverse side] partly blackish blue, milt-

eel with a yellow substailce and a mldish substance; and shlny, inetallk: .
substances. They were cold and
temperature of the air loweml with
~m.

1841 Aug. 10 / BA '60 / said not

meteoric - "simply pea-iron ore."
1841 Aug. 11 - 12 / Nothing of exi.
mets. in.Panna / C.R. 13-1035.
1841 Aug. 11/ [LT], 3-<: / q / SC:otland:
1841 Aug. 14 / [LT],' 5-f / Singu!al .
Lightning at Sheffield.
1841 Aug. 18/ Paris and Rheims IlaIF
met I BA 60.
.' .
1841 Aug. 18/ At Bonsall, no wjqdhay suddenly whirled upwar[d] - IllUDe
~econd

Quarter .198?

: ~h~ ~thi; .day . at' TausleY; Sheffield

Patriot, Aug. 24.
1841 Aug. 20 I Corfu I firebal1/BA 60.
1841 Aug. 31 I Perm and other places
in Russia I Bet 1 and 2 a.m., sounds and
concussions .. At daybreak,
[Reverse side) sky covered with vivid
red lights, but later came intense
darkness. I BA 54.

(7th) forenoon during a heavy thunder

shower, a considerable number of small
fishes fell from the clouds at Town-hill,
about.
.
. [Reverse side) a mde north-east from
Dunfermline. They were in general from
2 to 311z inches in length, and although
they must have fallen from a considerable height manyof them were alive
after they ~ll, and jumping among the
1841 Sept. I Great aurora.
grass. I L.T., Oct. 12.
1841 Sept. 11 d. fog and q I On eastern
[BCF,pp.I83-184/SeeJune30,I84I.]
slope of the Oural, and other places in
1841 Oct. 8 I Met almost size moon I
Russia I Russian time? I
[Reverse side] At dawn sky reddish and BA 60 I slow.
sparkling - turning to an orange-yellow 1841 Oct. 9/40 mets in one hour, rnov'color - this after - sounds like distant .ing S.W. I Huntingdon, Florida I BA
thunder; said been subterranean - then 47-15.
the q bet 1 and 2 a.m. - then at dawn 1841 Oct. 9 I at Parma I a very slight
shock of earthquake I 24th,BA '54-313.
the sky.
1841 Sept. 1 I (It?) I phe and q I See 1841 Oct. 15 I Sanguineno (Verona),
Italy I Shocks and dull explosions and
1805.
1841 Sept. 2 I Cent. Amer. I great q. a "kind of hissing noise which seemed
to pass rapidly throogh the
I [BA] 'II.
[Reverse side] air" - numerous streaks
1841 before Sept. 16 I St. tho
like trains of meteors - other flashes like
Chiswick, Eng I (0-168).
lightning. I q at 2:30 a.m., 2:45, 3:30
[BCF, pp. 175-176:
I severest of all at 4 a.m. I B Assoc
London Times, Sept. 16, 1841:
54-312.
That, in the home of Mrs. Charton,
at Sulton Courthouse, Sulton Lane, 1841 Oct. 151 Lac mets I bet 2:30 and
Chiswick, windows had been broken 4 a.m. I 4 shocks at Verona, ac to M.
"by some unseen agent. " Every attempt Quetelet.
to detect the perpetrator failed. The man- [Reverse side] Each ac by subterranean
sion was detached and surroonded by sound, and whisding sound in air, and
high walls. No other b!1ilding was near by long trains of fire in sky like those
it.
of meteors. I C.R. 17~23.
The police were called. Two con- 1841 Oct. 15 and 161 Itl (It) I Verona
stables, assisted by members of the I Luminous streamers in air and flashes
household, guarded the house, but the and qs detonations I See 1805.
windows continued to be broken "both 1841 Oct. 23 I Hun I See Aug. 10. I q
in front and behind the house.")
I Comorn, Hungary IBA 'II.
1841 Sept. 61 Stat I vend6e. I See Nov. 1841 Oct. 24 I Hot wind 12:08 p.m. I
5. I (See June 12.) I In 1880, M. Violent q I had been a "hot wind" all
Daub.e,inC.R.,91-30,tellsofastone morning IBA 54/312.
that fell
1841 Oct. 25 - 291 at Parma I Magnetic
[Reverse side] at St. Christophe-Ia- Pertu[r]batio[ns) and meteors; and on
Chanreuse, Commune de Roche- Oct. 27 and 29, substance like that of
Servi~res, Vendle. I BA '80-52, Dr. Feb. 17 - 19. I Bull ACId.de Belique
Walter Flight says that this fall had never 2-371.
before been recorded.
1841 Oct. 27 I Rain mud I No more in
1841 Sept. 61 (France) I right date I? C.R.
I Vendie I Stone IDA 80-52 I See Nov. 1841 Oct. 29 I SanguineltO I More
5.
shocks and wind and rain I See Oct. 15.
1841 Sept. 8 I Met and train I C.R.: . IBA 54.
3/637.
1841 Nov. 5 I Bourbon-Vendee, France
1841 Sept. 9 I Fireball I BA 60.
-t'metite I ac to BA 60-781 See Sept. 6.
1841 Sept. 10 I Monmouthshire I q., 1841 Nov. 8 I Parma I Fireball I E to
"followed by a loud explosion I Roper, W I BA 60.
p. 35.
1841 Nov. 91 Hereford I Large fireball
1841 Sept. 10 I at Calcutta lAb. 2 a.m. I BA '60.
- for 10 or 12 minutes, at Calcutta, 1841 Nov. 10 I North America I Large
met, seen many places I BA '60.
myriads of meteors.
[Reverse side] Light from them so in- 1841 Nov. 12/10p.m.1 in Aosta I extense smallest print could have been traordinary meteor I Bib. Univ., N.S.,
read. I BA 50-121.
36-196.
1841 Sept. 10 I Nothing in Friend ofIn- 1841 Nov. 12 - 131 from 1:30a.m. till
dia (Calcutta).
daybreak, one observer in South
'1841 Sept. 12 I See Comrie, Jan. 8, Herefordshire saw 13 mets. I BA
52-186. .
1840.
1841 Sept. 20 I Geneva, etc. I bright 1841 Nov. 12 - 131 Many mets, some
large, at Asturias I BA 47-15.
.fi~baJ'-'
60. . .
.. J~.II~pt. ~11 [~T], ~bl q/ Comrie. 1841 Nov. 12 - 131 No ext. mets I Paris
1s41 Sept. 28 I Paris I W to E I fireball I C.R. 13-1035.
1841 Nov. 12 - 13 I Aurora and falling
IBA 60.
1841 Sept. 29 I Bayonne I Firebali/BA stars I CR 1311035.
1841 Nov. 12 - 13 I No remarlalble mets
60.
1841 Oct. 7 I (0-176) 1"00 Thurst!ay in France and Belgium I C.R. 15-930.

,A

'::.Second Quarter 1985

1841 Nov. 141 Vole I Goentoes, Java.

I N.M. I C.R., 70-878.
1841 Nov. 151 Langensalz I great det.
IBA '60.
1841 Nov. 18 - 19 I q at height of "a
terrible storm" S. W. coast of France I
BA 54.
1841 Nov. 18 I A periodic aurora I
Geneva I C.R. 13/1035.
1841 Nov. 20 I q at oSle, Jura, where
q's of Dec. 2 I BA 54.
1841 Dec. I I Magnificent aurora at
Seysse1, one of the places affected next
day's q. I BA 54.
1841 Dec. 2 I At Lyons, the q during
a storm I BA 54.
1841 Dec. 2 I Refs - Moniteur, Dec.
7,8, 11. I J. des Debats, Dec. 7 and 8.
1841 Dec. 21 Storms throoghout France
I BA 54.
1841 Dec. 2 I Geneva I rained all day
and air charged with electricity I 8A 54.
1841 Dec. 21 ab 8 p.m. I Severe shocks
I Rhone, Ain, I~re, Jura, and
[Reverse side) Saone et Loire; in Savoy
and Switz. Preceded by remarkable hot
weather. I Nov. 30 and Dec. I, storm
of very hot wind at BaIley.
1841 Dec. 3/toab8p.m./Theshocks
continue. I BA 54.
1841 Dec. 5 I Goldberg, Silesia I det.
met. I B.A., '60.
1841 Dec. 9 I Savoy I shocks I 10 Belley I 14 - Savoy I BA 54.
1841 Dec. 161 Dels I slow fireball/BA
'60.
1841 Dec. 211 Met twice apparent size
of mOon I BA SOI90 I Scodand.
1841 Dec. 29 I St. Maixent, France I
large fireball I BA '60.

1842
1842 I Brilliant light at Comrie, one
morning before daylight I E Met 21/52.
1842 Jail. 1 I Magnetic perturbati[ons]
at Brussels, and on 2nd at Parma. I
I 1839, Jan. 2 - 3 - Milan I at Parma,
Milan and Prag[ue] II 1841, Jan 2 Prague I 3, at Brussels I I I
[Reverse side] Bull de I' Acad. de Belgique 1843-1-9.
1842 Jan. 21 Caucasia I great q. I [BA]
'II.
1842 Jan. 4 I Mayfield, Ohio I Afternoon I Tornado I Finley's Rept. .
1842 Jan. to April I Voles I Java I active I N.M. I C.R. 70-878.
1842 Jan. 14 - 191 Wurternburg I qs and
several with sounds like thunder I BA

54.
1842 Jan. 261 Conj Saturn and Jupiter
I Observatory 241158.
1842 Jan. 29 I Eutin I Large Met I BA
69-282.
1842 Feb. 5 I Sub volc? I 5 a.m. I Vessel
at O"57'S and 20047'W, rumbling sound
and severe concussion.
[Reverse side] Another vessel, at OO3O'S
and 21 55'W., had similar experience.
I C.R. 15447 I
[Front side] There is given account by
a captain of a third vessel, at the same
time, off the Cape Verde Islands sound and
[Reverse side] his vessel violendy
. shaken - again 50 minutes later, and

then 4 hours later, and a final at noon,

when position was 0044'S and 20 16'E.
I These are W of Greenwich, not Paris.
I This is by M. Daussy, who refers to.
I See May 19, 1806.
1842 Feb. 7 I Aargau I large fireball I
BA '60.
1842 Feb. 9 I 7:45 p.m. I at Agen I
meteor I C.R. 14-282.
1842 Feb. 91 Paris, Toulouse, Agen I
Fireball I BA '60.
1842 Feb. 171 q - sound I at Falmouth
I q. I The sound attracted attention and
few persons felt vibrations. I Timb's
Y.B .. 1843/262 I I
[Reverse side] 8:30 a.m. f LT 22;5~.
1842 Feb. 19 I N.W. India I great q I
[BA) 'II.
I
1842 Feb. 24 - 25 I night I Red rain I
R - May 16, '46 I i841?
.;
1842 Feb. 25 I Band of light = to
moon's diam[eter] shone from moon.
Seen in Derby and South Lamben. I
Nature 28/54.
1842 March 4/6 a.m. I Tuscaloosa, Ala
I Tornado I Finley's Rept.
1842 March 13,241 Nothing in Sydney
Herald.
1842 March 131 Q's'and dust I Colored
rain fell in Greece ab one hour. Same
night were earthquakes. I CR 15-583 I
See March 27.
1842 March 18 I Parma I Fireball I BA
'60.
1842 March 24 - 25 I night I Reddish
powder fell at Amphissa, Greece, I C.R.
14/617 I (Verified) I I Throughout
Greece I C.R. 15-580.
1842 March 24 - 25 I Red rain I Amphissa, Greece I C.R. 14/617 I 15-580
- brick-red.
1842 March 30 11:30 a.m. I Canton du
Vaud, Switz. I q and loud sound IBA
54.
1842 Ap. 11 I CharIca, India I Met train
in Scorpio, abo 4 a.m. I
.
[Reverse side] 10 or 20 degn:es long I
BA 50-122.
1842 Ap. 11 I morning I Meteoric cloud,
10 or 12 degrees long - visible 20
minutes I Charla, India I B Assoc
1852-238 f
[Reverse side) In Scorpio.
1842 Ap. 21 - 22 I (Rain one place) I
21st - ab 10:30 p.m., M. Dodson, at
Noisfontaine, drops of water falling with
force. He learned that
[Reverse side) they had been falling for
several hours from a cloudless sky. I On
22nd - he there again and the water still
falling. I CR 14-664.
[BCF, pp. 556-557:
Over the town of Noirfontaine,
France, one day in April, 1842, there
was a cloudless sky, but drops of water
were falling. See back to data upon
repetitions. The water was falling, as if
from a fixed appearing-point,
somewhere above the groond, to a
definite area beneath. The next day water
was still falling upon this one small area,
as mysteriously as if a ghost aloft were
holding the nozzle of an invisible hose.
I take this account from the joumal of
the French Academy of Sciences (Comptes Rendus), vol. 14, p. 664.

Pursuit 95

What do I mean by that?

I don't mean anything by that. At the
same time, I do mean something by the
meaningless of that. I mean that we are
in the helpless state of a standardless existence, and that the appeal to authority
is as much of a wobble as any other of
our insecurities.
Nevenhcless, though I know of no
standards by which to judge anything,
I conceive - or accept the idea - of
something that is The Standard. if I can
think of our existence as an Organism.
If human thought is a growth, like all
other growths, its logic is without foundation of its own, and is only the adjusting constructiveness of all other
growing things. A tree cannot find out,
as it were, how to blossom, until coines
blOssom-time. A social growth cannot
findouttheuseofsteamengines,until.
comes stcam-engine-time. For whatever
is supposed to be meant by progress,
there is no need in human minds for standards of their own: this is in the sense
that no part of a growing plant needs
guidance of its own devising, nor special
knowledge of its own as to how to
become a leaf or a root. It needs no base
of its own, because the relative
wholeness of the plant is relative
baseness to its parts. At the same time,
in the midst of this theory of
submergence, I do not accept that human
minds are absolute nonentities, just as
I do not accpet that a leaf, or a root, of
a plant, though so dependent upon a
main body, and so clearly only a part,
is absolutely without something of an individualizing touch of its own.
. It is the problem of continuitydiscontinuity, which perbaps I shall have
to take up sometime.J
1842 Ap. 26 I (Hun) I Milena,
Warasdin, Crotia, Hungal}' I Metite I F.
1842 Ap. 261 (Hun) I near Agram I 3
p.m I stone I L.T., June 23-1O-e.
1842 May 7 1q. 15:20 p.m. I L. T., Ju-.
Iy 2-6..c I For two weeks had been a
"particularly lurid tinge of the sky before
night. I
[Reverse sideJ Hayti I Then on 7th, the
q. -town of Cape Haytien destroyed. I
[Front side) 23-8-f - 5 minutes later,
sea rose 5 o~ 6 feet. To the S.E., sky
intensely black. "Clouds of smoke rolled overhead." I had been an unusual.
drought.
1842 May 7 I Destructive q. I Hayti I
BA 1911-54.
1842 May 71 q.1 St. Domingo I preceded by great heat and heavy clouds I
[Reverse side) Niles Nat Reg, June 4,
1842.
1842 May 81 q-phe 15: 15 p.m. I L.T.,
July 1-6-a I West Indies, near St.
Nicholas Mole - ship felt sharp shock
- Capt. saw clouds of dust arising from
the land.
[Reverse sideJ At 6:30 p.m. - a dense
cloud of black smoke rising from the sea
in the horizon as if from a volcano.
1842 May 111 Stat- Water I (Geneva)
I C.R., 15/290 I ac Dr. Wartmann. I At
10:30 a.m. - not a cloud in the sky no wind - for abo 6 minutes fell
[Reverse sideJ vertically large drops of.

Pur.suit 96

wann water. 1 At3 p.m., under the same cused of embezzlement, and convicted, parallel white 'lines against a green
conditions, again (f]ell warm water in but upon evidence that was not background. It is said that the day was
(IarJge drops ab 3/4 minute - (sJtoppcd altogether satisfactol)'. Although usually vel}' clear; that there was not a cloud in
'h minute - fell [aJbundantlyone min I can find data to "prove" anything that. the sky. A loud and sluup report was
- [stoJppcd few seconds - again 2 mts. I want to "prove," I have come upon heard overhead. Whether something ex[BCF, pp. 409410 1 Sec Aug. 9, 1837.)" no such account, and I am skeptical as ploded up' there or not, whether
(1842 May IIJ 1 (Ch) 1 whirl 1 (+) 1 to apports, and think that mediums are something like an enonnous vacuumMay II, 1842 I in Liverpool 1 "not a 'ike most of the rest of us, who are not cleaner was suddenly opened or not, it
breath of air" I Clotheslines upon a com- criminals, having no exceptional is said that this report was so loud that
mon - They were
abilities. However, there may be cattle in the flClds ran about and for some
[ReverSe side) seized upward. Smoke criminal adepts who are not known time cowered in terror. Something
from chimneys indicated that above the mediums.
pounced and snatched c10lhcs from
surface there was a southward wind There was, in June 1919, at Islip, Nor- clotheslines. Some feU to the ground, but
the clothes were carried northward
thampton, England, an occurrence like othen went on up and disappeared. The
[Front sideJ and "have never since been the occurrences at Liverpool and Cupar. "preposterous" circumstance:: that at first
heard of, at least by the owner. I An- London Daily Express, June 12, 1919 evaded us became more and more
nals of Electricity 6/499 I This within - a loud detonation - basketful of definite, giving us more and more of the
50 days of each other.
clothes shooting into the air. Then the appearance of positiveness; that is
[BCF, pp. 568-570:
clothes came down. There may be inef- seizure that had so little radius of disturbance that it seems unthinkable as a wind
Annals ofElectricity, 6499 - Liver- fective teleportative seizures.)
pool,Mayll,1842-"notabreatbof 1842 May 111 Liverpool I whirl and of any kind. It is said that a woman,
air." Suddenly clothes on lines on a clotheslines IAnnals of Electricity 614991 holding a blanket, felt the blanket
common shot upward. They moved (Reverse sideJ See May II, 1848(?). shooting upward; that so powerful was
away slowly. Smoke from chimneys in- 1842 May 11 I Cupar I Levitation I See the force that, in fear of being carried
[Here the page is cut.J
dicated that above ground there was a . Ap. 25 or 18 ....:. 1869.
southward wind, but the clothes moved 1842 [May IIJ I Cupar I whirl and ex- [BCF, pp. 568-570 I See May 11,
1842.J
away northward.
plosion I See Ap., 1918.
There was another instance, a few' 1842 May 11 I Cupar I Sec May 11, 1842 July I Decomposed half devoured
weeks later. London Times, July 5,1842 1847.
body found in woods - no one missing
- a bright, clear day, at Cupar,
in the neighborhood. I Times, July 6,
Scotland, June 30th _ women hanging 1842 May 17 and 181 Odorous dl}' fog 1842/9/d.
out clothes on a common. There was a at Paris I C.R. 14-840 I N.M.
1842 July 4[?J I Logrono, Spain I 7 Ib
sharp detonation and clothes on line shot 1842 abo June I I Sweet stuff in. stone fell. I Phil Mag 4/8/460.
upward. Some fell to the ground, but hailstones I France I 0-631 (Nimes) III
1842 or 1843 July I Frgs I Lyston Hall,
others went on and vanished. There was (Reverse side) Royal.
.
Suffolk I In Symon's 211123, cor writes
a seeming of selection, which, because
of shower of
of possible bearing upon various obser- [BCF, p. 65:
[Reverse sideJ frgs in enormous numbers
vations of ours interests me. Though this
Som~thing that tasted like orange
- gardeners swept up and carried away
was a powerful force, nothing but the water, in hailstones, about the first of
in wheelbarrows.
clothes it seized was affected. I wonder June, 1842, ncar Nfmes, France; idenabout the detonation, largely because it tified as nitric acid (Jour. de Phannacie, 1842 July 8 I Eclipse of sun I Bib .
Univ., N.S., 35-160.
is in agreement with a detail of still I 845-273J .
another stol)'.
1842 June 3 I Detonation I Montpelier 1842 July 81 Marseilles I lights on moon
The closeness in time of these two oc- and Toulouse I fireball size ofsun I N.E. during eclipse of sun I Loomis, Treatise
on Astro., p. 174.
currences attracts my attention. They to S. W. I BA '60.
were a few weeks apart, and I have no 1842 June 3 I Detonating meteor, 9 1842 July 10 I ab noon I Dunblane, 18
other such record, until seven~y-seven p.m., at Mende (Loz~re) I CR 14-9181 miles from Comrie I q I LT. July
13-10-a.
.
years later. A sensible suggestion is that [Reverse sideJ Seemed greater than the
somebody, in Cupar, having read the sun. With it a sudden violent gust of 1842 July 11 I 9: 10 p.m. I Fireball I
Paris I BA '60.
Liverpool stol}', had faked a similar wind.
stol}' from his town. A suggestion that 1842 June 3 I Fr I Montpelier' and 1842 July 12 I 4:20 p.m. I Calamalla
is not ~o ~nsible is that, in this year Toulouse I 9: 15 p.m. I met size of sun and Sparta, Greece I q "preceded by a
loud aerial noise." I BA '54-323.
1842, soniebody had learned the secre~ I detonation I BA 60-80.
of teleportation, and to avoid attracting 1842 June 4 I Fr I (F) I Au~res (de 1842 July 21 I Birkenhcad, opposi[te)
Liverpool 1 Whirl I An. Registcr2/126 I
much,attention in anyone place was ex- ia Loure) I ~etite I BA '60. .
perimenting in places far apart. It seems 1842 June 3 and 4 I Shocks I Berne I [Revene sideJ LT, July 26..
likely enough to me that, if there be 3 - meteor, Parma and S of France I 1842 or 43 July I Frogs I Lyston Hall,
teleportation, human beings may have 4th, magnetic perturbations .
Suffolk I Sym Met Mag (L) 211123.
come upon knowledge of it, and may [Reverse sideJ at Brussells I on 4th and 1842 July 291 Essex, Eng I.Whirl rather
have used it.
5th, at Munich and Pnlgue I BA 54.
like Cupar.
"Likely enough?" a spiritualist would 1842 June 12 I (F[r)) I Met. dCt. I 1842 July, 311 Fireball I Hiunburg BA
say. "Has he never heard of appol1S!" Toulon I BA '60.
60 ..
But whether it's narrowness and
'bigotl}', upon my part, or not, I do not' 1842 June 17 I [LT), 6-f I Singular 1842 Aug. 51 See Sept. 51 Harrogat[eJ
I Yorkshire I Stonefall recorded as "VCI}'
go to seances for data. I have collected discovel}'.
notes upon "mysterious robberies," 1842 June 21 I q and sky I q at Cart- doubtfu[l]. I B Assoc 1860/80.
wondering whether a teleportative power mel, Eng I dark red clouds in sky.- . 1842 Aug. 5 I Fireball I Silesia I 8:20
has ever been used criminally. As to ap- 'rumbling sound underground." I bet p.m. I N.W. toS.E. I BA 60.
1842 Aug. 9 -'10 I Peneids I Parmapam, if a medium could transport sea 10 and 11 p.m. I LT, June 29-5-d.
myriads I great numbers, Germany and
shells from the sea to his cabinet, he 1842 June 30 I See June 12, 1919.
could abstract funds from a bank to his 1842 June 30 I Cupar I [typescriptJ I Belgium I
[Reverse'sideJ In several parts of France,
pocket. If he could, but would not, how London Times, July 5, 1842.
not remarkable; in other parts, many. I
account for his being a medium? Look- [Reverse sideJ
.
BA 47-15.
.
ing through newspapen, I have had a.
London Times, July 5, 1842;.
searching eye for ~mething like an acJune 30, 1842 - the town of Cupar 1842 Aug. 10 I Armagh I Met. I Proc
count of a medium, who had become - the common: a public .pIace, upon Roy. Irish Acad 2/332.
mysteriously rich, in a town where there which women were hanging t1!eir wash
(to be continued)
had been shOrtages 'of funds: clerks ac- out on lines - conspicuousness -

**

Second Quarter 1985

The Society For The Investigation of The Unexplained

Mail: SITU/PURSUIT, P.O. Box 265, Little Silver, NJ 07739-0265 USA Tel: (201) 842-5229
GOVERNING BOARD
Robert C. Warth President; Gregory Arend, Vice-President; Nancy L. Warth, Secretary
and Treasurer; Trustees: Gregory Arend, Marie Cox, Frank Tiewski, Nancy L. Warth,
Robert C. Warth, Martin Wi egler, Albena Zwerver.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. George A. Agogino, Distinguished Director of Anthropology Museums and
Director, Paleo-Indian Institute, Eastern New Mexico University (Archaeology)
Dr. Carl H. Delacato, Director, The Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured, Morton, Pa. (Mentalogy)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Director, Lindheimer Astronomical Research Center, NorthWestern University (Astronomy)
Dr. Martin Kruskal, Program in Applied Mathematics, Princeton University,
Princeton, New Jersey (General Biology)
Dr. Samuel B. McDowell, Professor of Biology, Rutgers the State University, Newark,
New Jersey (General Biology)
Dr. Vladimir Markotic, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Archaeology,
University of Alberta, Canada (Ethnosociology and Ethnology)
Dr. John R. Napier, Unit of Primate Biology, Queen Elizabeth College, University
of London, England (Physical Anthropology)
Dr. Michael A. Persinger, Professor, Department of Psychology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (Psychology)
Dr. Frank B. Salisbury, Plant Science Department, College of Agriculture, Utah State
University (Plant Physiology)
Dr. Berthold Eric Schwarz, Consultant, National Institute for Rehabilitation
Engineering, Vero Beach, Florida (Mental Sciences)
Dr. Roger W. Wescott, Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew
University, Madison, N.J. (Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics)
Dr. A. Joseph Wraight, Chief Geographer, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey,
Washington, D.C. (Geography and Oceanography)
Dr. Robert K. Zuck, Professor and Chairman, Department of Botany, Drew University, Madison, N.J. (Botany)
ORIGINS OF SITU/PURSUIT
Zoologist, biologist, botanist and geologist Ivan T. Sanderson, F.L.S., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., in association with a number of other distinguished authors, established in 1965 a "foundation" for the exposition and research of the paranormal - those "disquieting mysteries of the natural world" to which
they had devoted much of their investigative lifetimes.
As a means of persuading other professionals, and non-professionals having interests similar to
their own, to enlist in an uncommon cause, the steering group decided to publish a newsletter. The
first issue came out in May 1967. The response, though not overwhelming, was sufficient to reassure
the founding fathers that public interest in the what, why and where of their work would indeed survive them.
Newsletter No.2, dated March 1968, announced new plans for the Sanderson foundation: a structure larger than its architects had first envisioned was to be built upon it, the whole to be called the
Society for the Investigation of The Unexplained, as set forth in documents filed with the New Jersey
Secretary of State. The choice of name was prophetic, for Dr. Sanderson titled one of the last of his
two-dozen books "Investigating the Unexplained," published in 1972 and dedicated to the SOciety.
Another publication was issued in June 1968, but "newsletter" was now a subtitle; above it the
name PURSUIT was displayed for the first time. Vol. I, No.4 in September 1968 ("incorporating
the fourth SOciety newsletter") noted that "the abbreviation SITU has now been formally adopted as
the designation of our Society." Issue number 4 moreover introduced the Scientific Advisory Board.
listing the names and affiliations of the advisors. Administrative matters no longer dominated the
contents; these were relegated to the last four of the twenty pages. Most of the issue was given over
to investigative reporting on phenomena such as "a great armadillo (6 feet long. 3 feet high) said to
have been captured in Argentina" - the instant transportation of solid objects "from one place to
another and even through solids" - the attack on the famed University of Colorado UFO Project headed
by Dr. Edward U. Condon - and some updated information about "ringing rocks" and "stone spheres."
Thus SITU was born, and thus PURSUIT began to chronicle our Investigation of The Unexplained.

Printed in U.S.A.

ISSN 0033-4685