Mac Tonnies dies

The UFO Mystic blog has just reported the very sad news that Mac Tonnies, who ran a blog called Post Human Blues, has passed away. It seems he died from natural causes. I’m stunned by this news and he’s a huge loss. As Paul Kimball says in the comments section: “Words fail me,” and I can only echo those words. He also speaks about Mac on his own Red Star Films blog.

Rest in Peace, Mac.

Alien Beings - Michelin Man

The following extract is taken from the “Personal Biography” page of my website.

When I was 13 or 14 (in 1962/1963), I was at boarding school in Newbury, Berkshire, just 2 miles from Greenham Common Air Base. One day a friend decided to run away. The night she did this I was concerned for her safety and, after 'lights-out' I watched from my dormitory window. It would have been sometime after about 9.00 p.m., and I watched for a long time. I saw her go down the long drive, (at least the length of two hockey pitches), and disappear out of sight.

For some reason I stayed watching the main road that ran past the end of the school grounds. Suddenly, on the road, looking to my left, I saw a very tall figure that can only be described as a 'Michelin Man'. It must have been tall due to the distance involved, and the fact that I had such a clear view. I watched as it walked up the slope of the road to the crest of a hill, and out of sight.

I remember thinking that someone must be on their way to a fancy dress party, but how strange they didn’t go by car, and what would the other traffic on the road think of them. At the same time I didn’t actually recall seeing any traffic at all on the road; usually always busy, being a main link into, and through, the town.

The other strange thing is that although I was now feeling cold I don’t remember going back to bed. I simply remember being back in bed again. I was not asleep during this experience; it is still crystal clear and an absolute reality. I have no explanation for it.

In those days Michelin tyres may have been advertised on TV but at school we did not have TV, nor did we have TV at home so, if the advert was on I could not have seen any such advert at that time.

And the point of this blog post? To see if anyone can come forward with either an explanation, or a sighting that they too may have experienced.

Nick Reviews Farah Yurdozu’s new book

That fantastic author, and friend of mine, Nick Redfern has just posted a new book review over at one of his many blog spots. The site is “Fortean Reviews” and is where Nick reviews many things Fortean.

His latest offering was written after he’d finished reading, and looking at, a book from Farah Yurdozu entitled: “Love in an Alien Purgatory: The Life and Fantastic Art of David Huggins” – published this year by Anomalist Books. Farah is also a contributor to the Womenofesoterica blog; as I am whenever I can think of something to post.

But, back to Nick’s review. He tells us that Farah’s book: “tells the story of one David Huggins, a skilled artist who has experienced a lifetime of encounters of a distinctly "alien abduction" nature with...well, some form of intelligence from elsewhere.” And he adds that Farah observes, almost from the outset, that: "Although we still have very little evidence indicating that these visitors are from another planet, it is reasonable to assume that they are coming from another realm that is completely different from our earthly reality."

Daivd Huggins has recorded his experiences using his talent as an artist; thus the book contains many of his pictures. Nick finds these images somewhat disturbing as he writes: “I don't know why I find them unsettling - but I do. Perhaps it's the long-black wigs and the obvious attempts to try and pass themselves off as more human-like than they really are - as they seek to secretly and stealthily move among us - that makes me come to such a conclusion.” In fact they remind him of Mac Tonnies' cryptoterrestrials hypothesis – these are entities that originate on Earth but pretend to be Aliens in order to: “hide their true nature and intent; which may not be entirely benign.”

Hopefully, when you’ve read all of Nick’s review you’ll want to buy the book. And, if you’re unable to buy a copy from Anomalist Books then you can get one from Amazon in the USA.

Reading Nick’s thoughts about the paintings in Farah’s book being unsettling, I’m reminded that whenever I come across representations of Aliens in books and magazines I have to actually cover them up as I really don’t like looking at them. Does that mean that I’ve been abducted at some time in my life? No, I don’t think so, at least not that I consciously remember!

CFZ Sumatra Expedition Returns with news

Members of the CFZ expedition to Sumatra to hunt the Orang-Pendek have now returned to the UK. Their big news is that they did spot a mystery ape whilst exploring the jungles. They have also brought back some samples that will be sent to scientists around the world for analysis. A press release about their journey, and what they found, can be read on the CFZ Sumatra blog, and it makes fascinating reading. I can’t wait to hear more about it.

Also of note is that footage the team recorded will be included in a BBC documentary about the work of the CFZ. Minnow Films will be observing the organization for the next eight months, so when the film is eventually shown it will be one to make a note of. I’m sure Jon will let us know when the broadcast date is, and when that happens don’t miss it.

Meanwhile, the first photos from the expedition are now online, with more to follow over the coming days. Included in these will be some video as and when the processing has been done. You can see the first set here, and remember to check back each day to see more.

Well done, guys, and glad to see you all safely home again.

Montauk Monster or dead Giant Tree Sloth?

A few days ago reports began to surface from Panama of what some people are calling another Montauk Monster. Naturally, this story has now gone viral on the Internet, and I was surprised to read about it in one of the UK’s reputable newspapers.

Pictures show the hairless body and repellent features of “something” that is very similar to the creature seen on the New York coast last year. The story concerning this new find relates how four teenagers, aged between 14 and 16, saw the animal crawling from a cave north of Panama City. They were so frightened by what they saw that they killed it with sticks and stones, and then threw its body into a pool of water. Sometime later they returned and took photographs of the carcass that were then posted on the web.

Over at the Cryptomundo website Loren Coleman has also written about this discovery, and put up some pictures, under the heading of: “The Blue Hill Horror.” This particular post by Loren has so far produced 56 Responses.

Another very good article about it is from Micah Hanks at his Gralien Report webiste, entitled: “Strange “Blue Hill Creature” Photographed in Panama (or not).” His piece also references other websites that contain more information and are well worth checking out.

It would seem that most Cryptozoologists now believe that the creature in this story is nothing but a dead Giant Tree Sloth. And I agree with them.

Regan Lee's husband ill

As some of you may know I’m also a contributor to Regan Lee’s Women Of Esoterica blogspot, although I don’t often post there. So today I was sad to read that her husband, James, suffered a heart attack yesterday. Please send your healing love and prayers to them.

Bermuda Triangle – cases “solved”

This morning I read an article on the BBC website that had the heading: “Bermuda Triangle plane mystery ‘solved.’” It was about the disappearance of 2 British South American Airways planes back in the 1940s, and contained the details of what might have happened to them, and why they crashed. For those of you who don’t know the area covered by the Bermuda Triangle the article also had a good map.

Now, as many of you may know, this is a subject that has long fascinated me. So I was interested to read that the BBC has made a radio series about it. And, with 10 instalments that may contain what dear old Auntie Beeb calls “plausible explanations” for the disappearances I’m sure many will listen and, probably, be quite convinced by what they hear. However, as the article itself points out, no bodies or wreckage were ever found in the case of the 2 planes they mention in it.

Personally, I don’t find that explanation to be convincing. In most cases some debris has always been found, especially in those instances where planes have exploded. But then, I’m not a scientist so I don’t know if “no trace at all” can happen – unless the search area wasn’t widened enough for wreckage to show up. Back in the 1940s that may have been true.

So, really, this is a case of listen carefully and then decide for yourself whether you find the evidence presented proves the theory – or not! Regardless of what the programmes contain they won’t convince everyone. And the saga of the Bermuda Triangle will still run and run.

If you live in the UK you can hear the radio series of 10 episodes, starting today 14th September. It’s called “Inside The Bermuda Triangle – The Mysteries Solved,” and is broadcast on Radio 4 at 15:45 p.m.

2009 CFZ Expedition to search for the Orang-Pendek

The CFZ 2009 Expedition to Sumatra in search of the Orang-Pendek leaves the UK on Sunday, 13th September. It will comprise four explorers: Richard Freeman, Adam Davies, Dr Chris Clark, and Dave Archer; and will last for 2 weeks. However, contact with the UK will be difficult and intermittent, and may in fact not be possible at all. Even so, the CFZ has opened a blog where you can follow all the preparations, and read any messages that might come back. Unsurprisingly it’s called the CFZ Sumatra 09 blogspot, so check it out if you’d like to follow what’s happening.

The Orang-Pendek is an ape that walks upright, often referred to as a “short man,” that lives in the Indonesian jungle, and this will be the 3rd CFZ expedition to Sumatra to look for it. The team will be helped in their search by the Kubu tribe, and hope to follow up on some recent sightings.

As Richard says: “third time lucky,” so let’s hope that this time they find some concrete evidence of this elusive ape. Good luck to the team, and stay safe.

A New CFZ Tale

Following the success of the cryptozoological story entitled “The Cats of Upperminster,” by Tim Matthews, the CFZ is embarking on another yarn. This new one is by Oll Lewis and is called “The Adventures of Marmaduke Wetherell, Adventurer.” Part 1 goes under the title of “A Mission to Die,” and sets the scene as well as introducing us to the characters. As Oll writes:

“I can write a new part roughly once a month probably. It's not exactly high art, just a little adventure story. I have a vague outline of what's going to happen in future parts that I can add more bits into if people actually like it or remove parts from for a quick and merciful ending if its not well received, should things go according to plan it does end up in loch ness and a huge twist is revealed.”

So why not go over and read it, and be sure to let the CFZ know if you like it and would like to read more instalments.

Meanwhile, back with “The Cats of Upperminster,” Part 18 “Making a Movie” went online back at the beginning of August. It’s been a while, but I’m still following this one, and I’m still highly amused at how the tale is unfolding. I can’t wait to read the next part, and hope it won’t be too long before it appears.

And, Jon, here’s a suggestion, why not put up a couple of links where all the instalments, from both of these adventures, can be read? Then people who have missed previous segments can know where to find them. Just an idea :)

More UK Government UFO files available

The UK has just released some more UFO files, this time for the years 1981 to 1996. Amongst the reports are some pertaining to Rendlesham Forest and, of course, the archive downloads are all in pdf which, personally, I really dislike. If you’d like to check them out then click here for the National Archives.

As to be expected, Dr David Clarke, a UFO expert and journalism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, has his own theories about sightings being co-incidental with the release of some film and TV programmes in which the main themes were Aliens and/or UFOs. You can read more about that here in an article that also relates what Lord Hill-Norton thought when he wrote to Michael Heseltine, the UK Defence Secretary in 1985, about the Rendlesham event.

But what I find particularly interesting is the case of a UFO seen across my own county of Cornwall, and other counties, at the very end of March 1993. The Ministry of Defence concluded that this was, in fact, either an American spy plane, or the re-entry of a Russian rocket.

What all of this tells us about UFOs is, of course, open to question. Some of it relates to what are now old cases where further investigation would probably be very difficult given the passage of time. But that's not to say that investigating old cases has no merit, and I'm also a firm believer that those who are new to the UFO subject should make themselves aware of what went before. Without that basic grounding we fail to see how the subject has evolved, and is still evolving with each new generation.

Computer Saga Ends

At last I’m back up and running and checking out what I’ve missed while I’ve been offline.

Many thanks to my friend who let so many of you know that I’d be offline for a while.

Building a new computer from scratch has been a labour of love, but I do have a great sense of achievement that I’ve managed to finish it without too many glitches. I was very careful and built everything on an anti-static mat while also wearing an anti-static wristband, just to make sure :) It took me a few days as, at my age, with my disabilities, and having to wear glasses, I can’t spend too long standing up leaning over a hot computer. However, when I switched it on for the first time it didn’t blow up!

But ……. I kept getting a series of 8 short beeps, and the manual said it might be due to a memory problem. So I phoned the memory manufacturers and they told me that, as I don’t game, I probably needed the standard memory version instead of the Ballistix that I’d bought. I then phoned the suppliers and bought what they said was the replacement that I needed. A couple of days later it arrived and I swapped the memory – only to have the same problem.

By this time I was getting very depressed at not being able to get online again. So in desperation I broke the habit of years and actually went out. I put the computer into a taxi and took it down to my local shop to see if they could trace the problem. After an hour and a half of the guy playing around with it he wasn’t able to trace whatever was wrong with it. In fact he said that he’d never come across a problem like it in all his years of repairing computers! He even installed a graphics card, in case that was the cause, even though the motherboard has onboard graphics, but that still didn’t do any good. And, he was extremely kind and didn’t charge me one penny for looking at it, even though he put right a couple of LED light connections that I’d managed to get the wrong way round. He also said that, for a first time builder I’d done a very good job, and nothing else was wrong with it.

So I brought the damn machine home and turned it on again. I suddenly noticed that when it gave that string of beeps the light on the floppy drive was also blinking. Back at the shop the engineer hadn’t once looked at the outside of the case, as it was lying on its side and not visible while he was working. He did ask if the floppy was working, but I said I didn’t know, as I hadn’t yet tried it. So I went back inside the case, yet again, and changed the ribbon connection. This time when it booted the floppy light stayed on all the time. And, regardless of which way round the IDE was connected, any disk I put in asked me if I wanted to format it; which I didn’t as I knew there was data on the disks. Obviously I hadn’t cured the problem, and my thoughts are that there’s something wrong with the actual floppy component itself. I went back inside the case one last time and simply disconnected the floppy IDE from the Mobo. Success, it now boots without all those beeps.

Looks like I’ll have to buy another new floppy drive. Thank goodness I belong to a couple of forums where I can ask for some advice before I actually buy a replacement.

On the whole, even though the experience has been somewhat frustrating, I’m pleased I did it in the end. Although I won’t be building another one any time soon!

Forteans Passing

As with so many other websites, I can’t let the passing of John Keel go unmarked. You only have to look around the web to see how many places are carrying obits, and appreciations about him.

Rest in peace, John. You’ll be very sadly missed by many of us.

And, it’s not so very long ago that John Michell also left us. I hope both of them are now finding out the answers to all the questions they had over their years on Earth, and to all those wonderful mysteries that they brought to our attention.

When I first became hooked on mysteries such as UFOs, Cryptozoology, Earth Mysteries, Alternative History, etc: it was authors such as these that sparked my interest, and I must have read many of their books over the years. They are still well worth the read, and they’ve informed the ideas and perceptions of many of those who have followed.

The Old Guard is passing, and very few of that ilk are still left with us. The “names” who made the most impression on me were: John Michell, John Keel, Aimé Michel, (who died 1992), Ted Holliday, (who died in 1979), Jacques Vallée, and Colin Wilson.

And now, Jacques Vallée and Colin Wilson are the only ones left. So I urge you to read as many of their books as you are able to get hold of, if only for a good grounding in these most mysterious subjects.

New Grandchild

In the immortal words of Maggie Thatcher: "We are a grandmother."

My 5th grandchild, a little girl, was born by caesarian section at 15:18 this afternoon. She weighed in at 7lbs 3 oz, and is to be called Brooklyn. Both mother and baby are doing very well.

This is great news, and I'm very happy that it's all over - she was almost 2 weeks late! So here's to little Brooklyn and her proud parents. Congratulations to them, and long life to baby.