Mysterious Universe

In his classic book The Mothman Prophecies, author John Keel made it clear that he was no stranger to general weirdness. In addition to being followed around by MIBs, demented Keel-clones, and dark critters that go “flap” in the night, it’s also probably worth nothing that even his phone line was hardly exempt from receiving spillover of the supernatural kind.

In fact, we might as well get things off to a good start by adding a heaping dose of synchronicity: just as I was sitting down to write this piece, my phone inexplicably lit up, then shut itself off completely, and restarted. I usually ignore this kind of thing… but for some, it’s enough to keep one’s paranoid fantasies close to the edge for days at a time. With regard to my own situation, this isn’t the only time my phone has appeared to come to life on its own, and activate or deactivate itself arbitrarily. For several months now, I’ve been experiencing a remarkable amount of Keelian weirdness regarding my cellular phone… and in truth, I might as well admit it: I’ve kind of got a history with this sort of thing.

To set the stage for what kind of telephonic hijinks I’m referring to exactly, I’ll first recap some of the things John Keel had been describing back in the late 1960s. In addition to his ongoing pursuit of awkward acting, strange dressed “weirdos” and the more stereotypical Men in Black, John Keel also described having a number of issues with his telephone line. Beeps and static were rife throughout many of his calls, and he also claimed to have heard portions of previous conversations being replayed at times, which he surmised as being a form of “intimidation tactic.” Even more curiously, Keel would go on to find that many witnesses of weirdness he would go to visit would describe similar phenomenon; occasionally such calls would only occur while Keel was visiting, and strangest of all, some would claim to have received calls from Keel himself, when he was certain no such call had been made!

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When it comes to the matter of government interest in paranormal phenomena, certainly one of the most controversial aspects of the entire issue revolves around the ways and means by which official agencies have exploited – or have tried to exploit – religious iconography as a weapon of war, deception, and manipulation.

So the story goes today, darkly ambitious plans are afoot to unleash upon the entire planet a monstrous and malignant holographic hoax relative to the so-called Second Coming. Known to the wilder elements of conspiracy-theorizing as Project Blue Beam, it is said to be an operation designed to usher in a definitive New World Order-type society, in which the populace – duped into believing by a series of aerial holograms that the final battle between good and evil is taking place in the skies above – will give up their freedoms and allow the NWO to rule them with an iron-fist born out of Old Testament/wrath of God-style teachings. Christ almighty.

Could such an astonishing scenario actually be true? Are there really cold-hearted people, buried deep within the corridors of power, who see the religious teachings and beliefs of the ancients as being viable ways of keeping all of us living in a state of never-ending, Hell-driven terror and martial-law? True or not, we do see prime evidence of official manipulation of religious iconography for military and psychological warfare purposes.

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Author’s Note: This is the last in a three-part series about Dan Mitchell of Wisconsin, U.S.A., and his struggle to identify the entity that’s haunted him throughout his life – the Harlequin. (Read Part Two Here)

The description of the Harlequin – the shape of the face, eyes, mouth and thin, androgynous body – are similar to reports of the traditional “grey” alien. Councilman Adrian Hicks of Winchester, Hampshire, England, saw the Harlequin in February 2004 and is convinced the entity is extraterrestrial. Hicks walked down High Street at 1:30 p.m. on a Saturday when he saw a blonde-haired girl in a white ballet dress, but what set the girl off from the crowd was her walk. Hicks described the woman as a “humanoid” that walked “with a penguin-like gait,” and was taking keen interest in everyday objects, like a bank clock. “Most definitely an alien,” Hicks said. “I watched her for a very good eight minutes plus.”

Although the street was busy that winter day and Hicks reported someone taking pictures of her, no one else has come forth to say they saw the girl in the ballet costume, Andrew Napier, chief reporter of the Hampshire Chronicle, said. Napier was the first person to interview Hicks about his encounter. “Despite lots of publicity in the local papers and websites, no one has come forward to corroborate what Mr. Hicks said he saw,” Napier said.

However, the drawing made of the entity Hicks saw made an impression on Mitchell. “The likeness in his drawing was the spitting image of what we have here, the collar was identical,” Mitchell said. “I recall he said that someone got pictures of this thing. I’d pay to see those, I really would. Hopefully someone might know something or have a similar story in all of this. Time will tell. I’ve been taking my camera with me everywhere I go.”

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Alexander the Great’s army called them “Flying Shields”, while WWII Allied Pilots called them “Foo Fighters”. Today they carry the label of “UFO” and still continue to appear in times of human conflict all over the world. 

What is behind this strange aerial phenomenon and why does their activity increase in times of war? Author Mack Maloney joins us to discuss his brand new book and put together the pieces of this enduring puzzle.

Read on for book links, show notes, and music.

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In the areas of cryptozoological interest to readers of this website, most accept that creatures like Bigfoot–supposing such an animal exists–is a biological, half human, half ape monstrosity said to exist in the remote wilds of the United States. In truth, reports of such creatures occur all over the world, with regional varieties existing in the folklore among cultures and traditions on nearly every continent, with the exception of Antarctica.

But one who examines closely the similarities between various cultural interpretations of the wild man myth will begin to notice a number of interesting trends, especially those stemming from more ancient interpretations of the alleged beasts. To be specific, one aspect that is often associated with reports of strange and enigmatic Fortean entities is the fact that their presence traditionally is concurrent with bad luck and misfortune, with such entities themselves acting as harbingers of unpleasant things to come.

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Ganzfeld… this peculiar word sounds like it should be the name of a prominent wizard-type character from Tolkien’s Middle Earth; and yet, the actual meaning behind the term “Ganzfeld Technique”, while far more esoteric in an rather literal way, is nonetheless quite recognizable once described… and even for those who don’t make the immediate associations between the practice and the process underlying it. 

The Ganzfeld Technique, to put it in general terms, denotes the use of ping pong ball halves placed over the eyes with hope of inducing an altered state of consciousness. This is achieved by allowing the participant to be fooled into perceiving an optical illusion, as presented by the luminous white subspace that seemingly hovers right before the eyes. The optical illusion that becomes apparent, however, can hardly comprise the essence of the experience, let alone justify it’s popularity in tests of the psychic kind over the last several decades.

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Area 51, Hangar 18, Montauk, and the Dulce Base: these are just a handful of the many and varied select, highly-classified installations about which the governments of the United States, Australia, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and elsewhere prefer we, the general public, remain steadfastly ignorant. And those same governments have extremely good reasons for wishing us to remain in the dark.

It is at these very same secret facilities that, for decades, clandestine research is said to have been undertaken into lethal viruses, genetic manipulation, crashed UFOs and deceased alien entities, biological-warfare, mind-control experimentation, futuristic aircraft and spacecraft, teleportation, weather-modification, invisibility, time-travel, and much, much more of a conspiratorial and cosmic nature.

Whether situated deep under the oceans, far below the ground, or within the heart of hidden, remote desert locales, these and many other super-secret places are guarded with a paranoid zeal by those in power who wish to keep their secrets buried and locked far away from prying-eyes. Sometimes, however, the huge, steel, near-impenetrable vault-like doors that help to hide the shocking truths open wide – or are forced open – and the shocking secrets within are revealed…

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