Friday, April 15, 2011

Close Encounters of the Second Kind, physiological effects, part ten-c..

Last of this set; might be the last of this sort of format I do. The remaining 1990s and 2000s are usually pretty poor quality [again due to the dominance of shallow internet "coverage".] I'll have to think about "the Bother". Those cases wouldn't do much to help analysis of the phenomenon. Anyway: these five are cases # 146-150. 1986-1989.
Some of this group are not too bad. This is thanks to the fact that some UFO investigation, or at least personal interviewing was still going on. Bankston Lake and Dick Haines' Russian air case are fine ones. The Nordic UFO newsletter provides another.

Let's begin with an example of an internet case: Grayling MI. Here four persons were traveling in their car when they saw something hovering in the air off near the woods. The driver pulled off and everybody watched it. Some conversation started but everyone seemed in a "haze". Then, they just drove off as if it was no big deal. No one could remember exactly what the thing looked like. What do we make of that? Probably nothing at all, since it was just an anonymously reported claim.

The Resada CA case isn't a lot better. Though it appeared in IUR, it was placed there as a small space-filler with little detail, and I never happened to bump into any larger file while exploring at CUFOS. Here a "round' dark object with a white fluorescent aura was seen hovering over a powerline and apparently vibrating as it did so. It then shed orange bands of light. The ultimate witness was awakened with a pounding sinus headache, and the noise of animals howling and barking all around the neighborhood. The object made a trailing mist and flew away. Again, little can be said here, but I gave this one a "3" due to the necessity of it impressing Hynek and/or Clark or Rodeghier enough to put in the journal. There must be a report somewhere in the files.


Dick Haines' Siberian air case is very good. I am usually highly skeptical of anything from Russia, having seen the most incredible bunk from there, and having read the history of back-stabbing and smearing that many "schools" over there engaged in, but this case is an exception. Here Russian UFOlogy is out of it, and Dick Haines is in his best element of researching "in air" pilot cases.

In the case the pilot [a respected one] spotted a large dark metallic gray cigar, but could get no radar confirmation. He pursued it with his jet. He said that it felt like there was a "presence" to the thing [perhaps a psychic feeling, but perhaps just an understandable subjective excitement]. More objective was the fact that his face began to get quite hot. After his unsuccessful chase, he returned to base and was examined for a damaged layer of skin on his face. His doctors said "a mild cooking" like a microwave. They specifically said "no, not sunburn", but one wonders whether this syndrome isn't something that people would naturally refer to as like sunburn. I place this case in the "sunburn" category with the common knowledge that the designation is only a nickname which no one takes literally.

Tydal Valley Norway is another unusual thing brought to us by the Nordic UFO Newsletter. Two persons were walking in the evening when they saw a brilliant blue-white flattened disk. The thing then changed to a red color, then back to blue-white, then "blended". The light was difficult to look at but fascinating. It shot away at great speed, then returned. It hovered and slowly descended towards a swamp. [go for it, Allen Hynek!!]. The married couple were stunned and silent. Then the thing changed its orientation to a vertical position, rose, and flew directly over their heads. As the thing passed over, their eyes watered, they felt soreness, and they lost their hearing. This loss of hearing took about an hour to be restored. A rather terrific case but only a four due to anonymity. [the witness letter is extremely intelligent, well-crafted, and modest, however].

Bankston Lake MI is one of the last "good ones" and is strangely almost right in my backdoor near Kalamazoo. Here two guys are fishing on the lake. A huge craft, looking like a high-tech USAF "lifting body" aircraft [see John Long's drawing above], but much larger, began to fly over the lake low and slow. The witnesses estimated the thing as football-field length. It had a white light at the front and three red lights running along its sides. The surroundings seemed to get oddly quiet. The front light flashed. Long's blood pressure immediately soared and his eyes watered. The other man's eyes were irritated moreso, having both swelling and discoloration. The effects lasted about two days. I, by the way, don't necessarily view this as a "triangle" case, as it is, for me, much more technologically detailed and shaped like a jumped-up version of old WW2 visionary designs. The famous "black triangles" seem simpler and more sharply shaped than this. [ plus, this flew blunt end first]. But, suit yourself.

4 comments:

  1. Out of all the chitter-chatter, Dr Haines' voice is one that has influenced my thoughts about UFO phenomena. I like his matter-of-fact style of writing and talking. His reporting of the GI shooting an object in Korea (originally recorded by Timmerman) is an interesting CEII case. Those involved were taken to hospital with fatigue; some apparent verification exists in military records.

    The Kuzmin account seems almost identical to the Cecconi incident from June 18th 1979; a large, dark cylinder suspended in the air. Like Kuzmin, Cecconi also maneuvered around the object in an attempt to identify it. In both cases the object was there one moment and gone the next.

    I know that Ballester-Olmos has Cecconi's sighting identified as 'balloon' in his fotocat, but haven't yet found a definitive argument to support the ID. He's no fool which means I could be comparing oranges and lemons here...

    The thematic 'sunburn' elements remain intriguing. If they could be replicated (in theory rather than testing), perhaps some indication of cause and origin for sightings may become apparent? Given that Kuzmin was behind glass, it seems to rule out a chemical cause.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dick has probed into a lot of different UFO areas in his career at this. I believe that he is WAY better at it when he looks at these pilot cases. This is perfectly congruent with his career as a NASA Ames spacecraft environment psychologist. That's why I was delighted when he established NARCAP.

    I don't have a file-folder on JohnT's Korean case [despite having his entire files] so that's why it wasn't included. I didn't want to try a comprehensive CE2p survey [couldn't do it anyway from Wheeling], so a lot of things, even in Kalamazoo, are not in the list.

    Ballester was in a hyper-skeptical mood when he did much of his fotocat --- don't know why. I've seen several entries which I cannot agree with the "conclusions".

    Many canopies of military planes screen out the ultraviolet also, so that narrows the "burn" agent down further. Something like microwaves seems possible if one wishes to think in straight lines. Unfortunately some of this technology looks like it disrespects straight lines and is a space jumper. If so, we're out-of-luck with conventional thinking.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hiya Prof, despite reading and re-reading the comments about the Korean account, I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying your Timmerman files don't include the case, or that the case hasn't been annexed into its own folder? The reason I limited the description of the case as simply 'interesting' is because it sounds more like a fictional narrative. On the other hand, Haines is a discerning and credible man. These factors left a certain amount of cognitive dissonance.

    In consideration of your comments, the Cecconi sighting can remain, for me, as 'unidentified' pending further information.

    Off-topic, is there any chance you'd be interested in being interviewed? Leaving your archives to CUFOS is a fine legacy, but there's also a lot to be said for the oral history too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Korean case was a "Mall exhibit" interview by John Timmerman as is thumbnailed in Grass-Roots UFOs [the book that I wrote for him]. The primary investigative "document" is, therefore, the audio tape of that interview. John then had his helper transcribe the tape to hardcopy and sent Dick a copy, and he tried to follow it from there. John much later sent me all his hardcopies to do the book. Afterwards, and with failing health, he sent me all the audiotapes as well. The reason that I have no "file" on the case is that all my information resides in "The Timmerman Files" collection alongside the rest of the things that I caretake.

    Regarding Oral History: I was one of the first people [the guinea pig, even] that sat for Tom Tulien's UFO Oral History camera. Probably at least a decade and a half ago?? I think that I have two [unwatched] videotapes of "me" sitting dusty on a shelf in the audiovideo room. Fortunately I'll be gone before having anyone look at them and asking me to explain myself.

    ReplyDelete

Followers

Blog Archive