Phantoms and Monsters

Mailbag: Readers' Paranormal Experiences
Recent Alien Abduction Reports - Nevada / Texas
Review: The Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts
British MoD UFO Department Deep-Sixed

Mailbag: Readers' Paranormal Experiences

Posted: 04 Dec 2009 10:23 AM PST

This is a response to your article about Ouija boards. I thought I would tell you about an experience my sister had many years ago.

She was around 15 or so and was at a friend's house for a sleepover. Her and a few other friends decided to play with a Ouija board in their garage. Her friend's mother was at work and her father was in bed, so they had no supervision. While playing with the board they asked if anyone who wanted to speak to them. They got a YES, they asked for a name. They got MOM, they asked for a message. They got UNDR BRIDG. They did not understand the message at the time.

Later, after they had gone on to bed, there was a knock at the front door. It was the local sheriff who had come to the house to tell the girl's father that his wife had been killed in a car accident on her way home from work that night. Her car was found submerged in water under a bridge just a few miles from their home.

To this day, my sister will not go near or even discuss the subject of
Ouija boards.
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In 1974, I made a trip to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, an Indian Reservation. A friend was showing me around the reservation on a March evening at about 4PM in the afternoon. He noticed something in the sky which, at first, he thought was a plane making a bank and called my attention to it.

As it turned out, it was not a plane. It was a round object that stopped abruptly about 1000 feet above the tree line. To this day, I do not know if the whole craft was spinning or if the lights around the edge of the craft were spinning, exhibiting white, green and red lights. We watched the object (which was huge) until 4 o'clock in the morning. From time to time, brightly lit orbs would come out of the bottom of the craft, would stop just below the craft like it was awaiting orders, then would streak off in the night sky and disappear. The sighting was never reported, but was seen by several people in the town of Pawhuska.

In 1985, I saw another object in Graham, Young County, Texas. It was a huge, matte object of a distinct gray with a black trim in the middle of the circle. There were no lights. No sound. Just a gentle whoosh as it passed just over the tree tops; flying low.

Since then, I have seen many "blinkers". I call them that because they appear and if you blink, they disappear. Most of these have been a daylight sighting and the craft have been small and a bright, silver color. These sightings took place in various times and places from 1985 through 2001. All in Young County, Texas. I moved to South Carolina in 2001 and have not seen any since then.
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There are a few things that have happened in our home and one, when I was in Italy as a child. I will start from the most recent to the earliest.

About three years ago, I was in my bathroom and was just finishing dressing. I was thinking to myself that I felt I was putting on weight and that I should go on a diet. Then all of a sudden something smacked me on the backside. I turned and looked and nothing was there. I told my kids, my husband and my friends and no one had an answer. Then about six years ago, my daughter and I were in the kitchen. My daughter's birthday was coming up, family and friends were sending her birthday cards and I usually display them on the counter above the dishwasher. There were about five cards facing front. We started to talk about where she wanted to go for her birthday and all of a sudden my daughter said "Mom, look!" All the birthday cards were facing back towards the back splash. Well, needless to say, we were scared out of our minds. I told my daughter that maybe it was my mother who passed on. She probably said nobody's card would be as important as mine, only because she adored my daughter and spent much time with her when she was alive.

Now, going back ten years ago. My son was six and he had just lost his tooth. He came running down to the kitchen to show me and said, "Mom I just lost my tooth", and I, of course, made a big thing about it and said "OK we have to give it to the tooth fairy tonight." My son and I were at the kitchen table and he was sitting across from me. I went to put it in this silver antique tooth fairy box that someone had given my son as a baby gift when he was born. All of a sudden, the tooth went straight up about two feet from the table and made a left about five feet and then dropped to the floor and broke. I think my son, at first, was so scared he couldn't even talk. We just looked at each other. All my son could say is "what was that?" I just said I didn't know, but don't worry, the tooth fairy will still take it. I put in the box. Yes, the tooth fairy still came and yes I still have the broken tooth.

My earliest experience was when I lived in Italy at age four. I was sick and I was in my parent's bed. The bedroom was in a loft and I was about 20 feet away from the balcony. I woke up and I noticed a ball of fire that kept spinning around in place by the balcony. I couldn't take my eyes away from it. Suddenly, it changed to a hand that came towards me very quickly and I put the sheets over my head and started to scream. My parents woke up and I told my mother and she said it's probably because you don't feel well. Well, 42 years later and I still haven't forgotten it.

Recent Alien Abduction Reports - Nevada / Texas

Posted: 04 Dec 2009 11:07 AM PST

The following witness statements were recently reported:

Trucker Abducted in Nevada
Event date: 7/16/1978
Reported: 11/21/2009

Witness statement (unrevised): I was headed westbound on hwy 80 as I've done many times before,taking a load to san francisco.it was about 0200-0230 as I was approaching the tunnel,it's located about half way thru Nev.,when I started to feel really strange.I remember entering the tunnel and then nothing....... the next thing I knew I was in McCaren 76 truck stop,comming up off the steering wheel,feeling completley disoriented,and wondering what had just happened.What astounded me evev more is that I when looked at my "el-cheapo" truck stop Timex I noticed it had stopped,it's battery opperated!and was working before!!.I somehow had arrived at the truck stop approx. 4 hours earlier than expected,and by all means the truck I was driving could only run a max speed of 68 mph This happened about july of '78. Since then I have had several encounters with "outworlders" or their spacecraft. sincerely Edward Choda

UFO Sighting, Possible Abduction - Schertz, Texas
Event date: 1/6/1995
Reported: 11/23/2009

Witness statement (unrevised): My mother was driving me to pick up my paycheck. We'd just left my apartment on Schertz Parkway in Schertz, Texas and were heading west to I35. I was leaning my head on the passenger window when I noticed the reflection of something in the glass out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look right expecting to see some F-15's flying towards Randolph Air Force Base since it's one town over. Instead, I saw two, huge, hovering silvery things, for lack of a better word. They were oval in shape, grayish-silver, reflective but like a brushed nickel. No identifying marks, windows, or lights were on these craft. I shouted at my mom to look. She turned and looked and said "What the hell is that?" I begged her to pull over or turn around. At first, she didn't want to. Then she U-turned and we came back around to the same spot. I looked out the window over the cow fields (there are homes there now) on the corner of Schertz Parkway and Live Oak Road. Their was absolutely no sound coming from these things and they seemed to be hovering very low, not even perceptibly moving. The one on the left suddenly shot straight up and was gone in the blink of an eye. The one on the right, hovered off backwards away from us, slightly behind a treeline, then it too, shot straight up and was gone. It was incredible. I couldn't believe what I'd just seen in broad daylight, at noonish, no less. There were no clouds in the sky that day. We never reported this to anyone because mom thought people would think we were crazy. I pointed out that we both saw it, not just one of us. The funny thing is, she swears we got out of the car and walked to the fenceline, but I don't remember ever getting out of the car. I would remember something like that since I have a physical handicap that required her help to get out of her low vehicle. That's the only discrepancy in both our stories. I lived far too close to where this occured, nearly across the street! I spent the next year scared every night when I went to bed. I don't know if the air force base caught anything on radar, but I did notice increased air traffic over Schertz that afternoon. Perhaps they have a file. There were about two to three other vehicles driving by at the time. Maybe someone else reported a sighting, but we were the only ones to pull over and look.

Review: The Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts

Posted: 04 Dec 2009 07:51 PM PST

The Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts: Apparitions, Spirits, Spectral Lights and Other Hauntings of History and Legend
By Raymond Buckland
Publisher: Weiser Books (September 2009)

Review by Lee Prosser - Ghostvillage.com review

Raymond Buckland has created a memorable reading experience with his new book on ghosts. The book also serves as an accurate, educational field guide to the paranormal. Small and compact, this quality paperback is convenient to slip into a knapsack or to slip into a brief case for whatever journey you plan to undertake.

Whether your interest is phantoms of battlefields, biblical ghosts, apparitions, vampires, shadow people, or knowing the difference between a ghoul and a psychopomp, this book has the facts! There is also a well-arranged suggested reading section for additional information and research.

Following a lively and insightful introduction, the subject matter starts with ancestral ghosts, and covers a wide range of paranormal topics. Among the many items covered are animal ghosts, apparitions, battlefield ghosts, celebrity ghosts (such as Lucille Ball, James Dean, Red Foxx, Jean Harlow, Jesse James, John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, George Reeves, Rudolph Valentino, John Wayne, and Orson Welles), literary ghosts, materializations, poltergeists, spectral lights, among others.

A section on practical ghost hunting covers EMFs, cameras, EVP recorders, and other instruments. The importance of record keeping and research are also discussed.

This is definitely Raymond Buckland at his very finest. The writing is crisp, concise, accurate, and with that special blend of Buckland humor that always adds to his well-crafted writings. If you are looking for a hands-on guide to ghosts, this excellent field guide by Buckland from Weiser Books should be in your library, glove compartment of your car, or close nearby for easy reference. Congratulations to the author on a fine book, and to Weiser Books for publishing it and making it available to a wide reading audience.

Topnotch. Excellent. Enjoyable reading. Highly recommended. This sums up Buckland's book about ghosts.

NOTE: I don't normally give book reviews but I needed to comment on this particular field guide. It is a detailed and comprehensive work with practical tips for all ghost hunters. There are very good historical references as well as interesting explanations of terms used by paranormal professionals. I recommend this guide as a great primer for those who want to start investigations and a 'must-have' addition to any paranormal library. BTW, Weiser Books has started to publish a variety of paranormal field guides...Lon

British MoD UFO Department Deep-Sixed

Posted: 04 Dec 2009 06:00 AM PST

telegraph - The MoD department, which has dealt with more than 12,000 reports – including 135 last year - was used to assess threats posed by any Unidentified Flying Objects sightings throughout Britain.

Any reports made would now not be investigated or followed up as the hotline had been closed, a spokesman said.

UFO experts expressed anger at the decision.

MoD chiefs made the decision to close the £50,000 a year department, established in 1950, after deciding there was no benefit investigating sightings which were "an inappropriate use of defence resources".

It comes after the team was moved from the MoD's team, similar to the FBI team featured in the TV programme the X Files, was moved a year ago from the Whitehall Headquarters to the RAF Command in High Wycombe, Bucks.

After an application under the Freedom of Information Act, the MoD admitted that responding to every UFO sightings "diverts MoD resources from tasks that are relevant to Defence".

No decision was announced and the disclosure was instead buried on its website earlier this month.

It said that in more than 50 years "no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom".

After investigation, around 5 per cent of reports remain unexplained.

"The MOD has no opinion on the existence or otherwise of extra-terrestrial life," the spokesman said.

"The MOD has no specific capability for identifying the nature of such sightings.

"Accordingly, and in order to make best use of Defence resources, we have decided that from the 1 December 2009 the dedicated UFO hotline answer-phone service and e-mail address will be withdrawn."

He added: "MOD will no longer respond to reported UFO sightings or investigate them."

Nick Pope, who ran the Ministry of Defence UFO project from 1991 to 1994, said it was "outrageous".

"We're leaving ourselves wide open to terrorist attacks," he told The Sun.

The spokesman said the programme to release departmental files on UFO matters to the National Archive would continue.

NOTE: Frankly, it sounds to me like the Brits are combining their UFO / ET investigations with a fringe science investigative unit. BTW, don't let anyone tell you that the US and world governments doesn't investigate the paranormal...Lon

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