This will be the final go-round for this set of one hundred. They are the "things" which don't fit so well with the other stuff, or are a bit of outliers. Some of them achieve their status only because no entity was seen. Others are the guys you probably would not invite to dinner.
Johann von Goethe [a guy you probably WOULD invite to dinner] gives us the first case:The incident is debatable as to what Goethe actually saw, and as you can read below, he debated it in his own head.
What we have is "an illuminated amphitheatre" with some anomalistic light phenomena inhabiting it. The area of the amphitheatre was later learned by Goethe to not be anything which would easily explain how this could be. [The painting at the side, by the way, is a painting by Goethe illustrating a romantic valley scene, and is there just for entertainment purposes].
Because we have had many "dancing lights" in our Faerie case files, this experience by Goethe is felt worthy of mention. Following are his exact words from his autobiography: [I'm having some weirdness from the blogsite right about here, folks, and can't tell if the thing is going to reproduce Goethe's quote. If it doesn't, we'll just have to do without it.... you've got the gist of the experience either way]
More briefly: case two/ recent times and location unstated. [Included because a book was cited as a reference for the case]. Upon buying a house allegedly inhabited by brownies in their garden, the new occupants found all manner of chores done while away. Shortly however the phenomena turned more poltergeist-like and not so amusing. Negative things escalated until the couple was forced to move out. Case three & four: 1908 & 1919, Ireland: Diarmuid MacManus has two incidents of thorn trees being involved with hostility towards humans [one a palpable feeling of hatred, and the other a sudden coming on of illness].
Cases five, six, seven, and eight: all instances of "Music in the air". The dates are 1893, 1922, 1972, and "recent". The locations are California, Dartmoor, West Scotland, and unstated. In case 5, the music was heard alternately from the air and from the water in a remote area. Case 6 a professional fiddler was sitting alone when he heard a voice above and then music for 20 minutes. He characterized it as "fairy sounds". Case 7 featured an American musician terrorized by rhythmic chanting and fiddles and pipes. He ran to the woods where in time his head cleared of the sounds. The poorly anchored website case featured an entire family. It began with two of the daughters seeing 5 green or blue lights flitting about over a mushroom circle. They felt they heard harp music at the moment. Getting their parents, they returned to the circle and everyone saw the blue and green lights. The older daughter says she heard the fairy harp at that time too.
Case 9 [1973/Albany, OH] is as individualistic and slightly whacky as my good friend George Eberhart who was the investigator. A woman was going home when she saw a floating 4' tall ghostly thing fifty feet in the air. Then a bright light sailed in, jumped around, and seeming to act with curiosity, approached her. It was a 20' diameter BOL. It and she turned away from each other, it going across a field and disappearing. She hurried home.
Later after supper and her husband away outside doing something, she saw that he had left the front door open. Around the corner peeked in a little aqua-ish tinted "electric man". [My illustration above is an attempt to give you the gist of this]. It was about 2 1/2' tall and had "sort of" a face which emoted a friendly feeling. It was almost transparent. It without any bodily movement simply retreated back out of sight behind the doorway. A denizen from Whackland in the 30th dimension??
Case 10: 1980s, Crieff, Scotland. A woman and four children were walking on a deserted path one sunday morning, when they saw an old lady approaching. Strangely, she seemed to have no feet. Then more alarmingly, she continued to disappear from the bottom up, making a small sound as she did. Later the sound was interpreted as gaelic for "fairy house". The name of the farm on which this path ran means "place of the fairies" as well. Case 11: a Diarmuid MacManus case, 1901, Edenderry, Ireland. Two young boys and two young girls were walking in a rural lane in the bright sunshine. The boys were romping ahead, and the girls turned to climb the hill towards a farmhouse of one of their aunts&uncles. This hill, Clonmillan, had a reputation for fairy activity. The girls only got halfway up the path when they called out and ran back down the hill. They boys ran up to them as they beckoned.
About 40 yards away a group of human-sized figures stood completely still in a tight circle, touching shoulder to shoulder. They were arrayed in black gowns/capes to the ground or even into it. No crease nor pleat moved or fluttered in the breeze; they were like a solid statue. The center space of the group was covered by a stretched black cloth at shoulder height. On that "cloth" rested a chest or coffin [also covered in black]. On the top of the chest sat a set of old-style Irish Bagpipes.
Within a few minutes, the owner of the field and his grown son came walking through that field. Passing within six feet of the figures, they apparently never saw them and walked on. The children now began to run home. The boys stopped briefly to look back again, and saw that the whole assemblage had apparently moved ten yards from its original location, but rock still as before. Much later, one of the boy's uncles told him that he had seen these same figures a few years prior to when they had manifest to the children.
Case 12: Also by MacManus, 1939, Killeadon, Ireland. Two young men had finished their accountancy chores late one evening and began a nighttime walk to their homes which were side-by-side four miles on a snow-filled but bright cold evening. Reaching a crossroads, they saw three men standing. They were tall, well-built, and clothed entirely in black. They stood in a close triangle, facing each other with heads bowed. Mustering their courage, the young men walked past. The figures never moved. Reaching the gate which separated the way to their homes, one man went swiftly in. The other walked quickly the rest of a little backside way to his own place, and found as he reached his own gate, there on the road outside were the same three figures standing motionless. He ran past them as fast as he could go and into his own home.
These cases remind just a little of ghostly apparitions. Perhaps they are. They also remind me a little of the famous ghostly eminence in the alleged spirit photo below, which I include for your amusement only.
Case 13: Also MacManus, early 20th century, Lis Ard Fairy Fort, Ireland. MacManus' family's gardener told this incident to MacManus years prior to his gathering tales for the book. One evening, he was working a field just below the famous Fairy Fort. He looked up to find the bank lined with human-sized fairyfolk [twenty or more]. They were of both genders, the women good-looking with shawls on their heads, and the men with brown or red coats, some with the typical jauntily tilted conical hats, and some bare-headed with brown curly hair. But they also all had a penetrating stare which "pierced right through him" and as soon as his scything was complete, he retired hastily to the farm buildings and human companionship.Case 14: 1978, unstated location. A family was living in an old farmhouse, which many people thought was simply "creepy". The young mother woke one night with what could have been "simply" sleep paralysis and her version of an Old Hag phenomenon, but this is what she says: she could not move and felt a presence beside her telling her to come with them. What she saw were black robed and hooded figures with nothing where the faces should have been. So this went on for a while with the woman saying no to the invitation and the figures finally turned and left the room. Ultimately she was able to wake her husband and tell him. Like a good guy, he simply went and checked the whole house out, finding the front door standing wide open, despite having closed and checked it before going to bed. I'm pretty unconvinced by this last case, but it's in here due to the black monks.
Case 15: 1975, Catskill Mountains, NY. I include this one from the UFO files, where it almost certainly does not belong. [whatever it is]. Two knuckleheads were out on one of their "camping" forays to drink a lot of beer and blow off stress from their weekly work in the city. [can't blame them for that]. They were awakened by sounds and a bright light. Peering out of their tent, the environment suddenly went pitch black. Scrambling outside, they spotted a milky white structure up in the woods from their campsite. Then something like ghost entities began floating down the hill at them. Scared fudgeless, the men felt they were under some sort of attack. They built a big fire which they felt kept them at bay. The ghosts would "attack" and retreat and this continued on until one guy was near hysteria. They schemed to slowly pack their automobile, done by one guy "holding the fort" while the other raced to the car with stuff. Finally they ran for it, the car started, and they drove off with urgency. Well, that's just flat weird. Almost as weird is the fact that a prominent UFO researcher grabbed onto this case and turned it into an Abduction with missing time. I've read rather lengthy "private" transcriptions of the case and can find no legitimate argument that there is any missing time at all.
I don't know what this case was. I'd guess that abduction is just about the poorest option for it. "UFO" isn't very good either. That leaves me with "knuckleheadism" vs outside hooliganism vs the paranormal. Outside hooliganism is pretty tough here. Very elaborate and floating hologram like action. I'd go with knuckleheadism, but the interviewing of both witnesses doesn't reduce to that very comfortably. If it IS paranormal, WHAT was it???
Once again WHOOOOOOO goes there????
I'll try to soldier on with the third 100, folks, but who knows when I'll get there. Merry Christmas!!!
Hiya Prof and Merry Christmas :)
ReplyDeleteHere's the missing Goethe's quote:
'All at once, in a ravine on the right-hand side of the way, I saw a sort of amphitheatre, wonderfully illuminated. In a funnel- shaped space there were innumerable little lights gleaming, ranged step- fashion over one another; and they shone so brilliantly that the eye was dazzled. But what still more confused the sight was, that they did not keep still, but jumped about here and there, as well downwards from above as /vice versa/, and in every direction. The greater part of them, however, remained stationary, and beamed on. It was only with the greatest reluctance that I suffered myself to be called away from this spectacle, which I could have wished to examine more closely. The postilion, when questioned, said that he knew nothing about such a phenomenon, but that there was in the neighborhood an old stone-quarry, the excavation of which was filled with water. Now, whether this was a pandemonium of will-o'-the-wisps, or a company of luminous creatures, I will not decide.'
Cases 9 and 11 are the most appealing to my senses with 11 being quite evocative. If not a product consciousness, it's as if some cases are anchored in perspective. By this I wonder if light/time/location somehow snick into the right pattern that allows the unusual vision? Hence, nearby witnesses see nothing.
Not an original thought, granted, but reasonable. 'We know where you live,' you might say.
Thanks for the quote typing --- I am a lousy typer from the Cretaceous Period and tried to paste the thing in. It showed in the original then voided in the final. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteCase 11 in many ways is also the most evocative for me. For a start, it's a MacManus case with personal knowledge of the witnesses. Therefore it has unusually high credibility. The "strangeness" goes without saying. This was a "privileged viewing" as we're becoming more used to saying. The point of contention then for me, at this stage, is whether that "privilege" was deliberate or accidental.
My guess isn't worth anything. It has the feel about it that the youngsters' consciousnesses played SOME role. Even then it could be either deliberate [i.e. mainly driven by consciousness from some "other side"] or accidental, namely any of us in the right mindstate could have had the same view at that time and place. You are, I realize, saying this same thing in different words above. It is too bad that the farmer and his son did not walk right through the Monk-Statues.
Merry Christmas to you and yours! Really enjoy your blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Professor! Your blog is absolutely fascinating. I have a little crush on you, by the way. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDelete... flattering an old man ... good Christmas gift.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Lilly's autobiography:
ReplyDelete...as it happened not many Years since with us, a very sober discreet Person, of vertuous Life and Conversation, was beyond Measure desirous to see something in this Nature; he went with a friend into my Hurst Wood, the Queen of Fairies was invocated, a gentle murmuring Wind came first; after that, amongst the Hedges, a smart Whirlwind; by and by a strong Blast of Wind blew upon the Face of the Friend, - and the Queen appearing in a most illustrious Glory. No more, I beseech you, (quoth the Friend) my Heart fails; I am not able to endure longer, nor was he; his black curling Hair rose up, and I believe a Bullrish would have beat him to the Ground; he was sorely laughed at, & c.
b"h
ReplyDeleteJust a comment about sleep paralysis - Old Hag since you mention it in #14. My perspective is influenced by these factors: I'm closing in on 60 years old, so let's say 40 years of nominal adult sleep patterns, with a very conservative 2 REM episodes per night, is at least 30,000 nominal REM events, punctuated in my case by 7 SP experiences, and one literal and very unpleasant "old hag" appearance, though at the time I'd never heard of either experience. I have doubts that the SP-OH experiences are a natural "result" of REM atonia. They obviously do occur "during" REM atonia, but I think as a result of other causes. At times I have managed to "monitor" breathing during dreams and I was free breathing. During the SP episodes I could not breath and I experienced an intense sensation of strangulation. In my unexpert opinion SP-OH experiences may very likely also be generated by entities that can influence perceptions, as I think your continuing fairy examples prove. Perhaps they exert their influence during REM atonia precisely because humans are vulnerable. The Ed Condon's of clinical psychology will of course dismiss such a frightful proposal out of hand. But they would dismiss any truth to fairy reports too. In the past, like them, I never considered fairy reports anything but nonsense, but I see that they are definitely a "blip" on the screen that ought to be investigated. Thanks for your effort. Holiday best Prof.
Interesting commentary. I have only one thing to add to the perspective: Your statement that sleep paralysis experiences are not caused by REM atonia is obviously correct regardless of what the relationship between the two concepts is. This is because of the dead-obvious fact that REM atonia doesn't just happen, but itself is caused by something. How RA is caused and by how many different "states" physiologically, no one, to my knowledge, knows.
ReplyDeleteSo, as usual, we MAY be able to note occasional "coincidence" between observables, but we cannot be anywhere near as confident in "causal" connection. Debunkers tend to leap to mundane causal hypotheses all the time without proper "scientific" objectivity and humility. That is due to their emotions, based Lord-Lone-Knows on what but involving fear of the Thing Outside The Box in some way. Proper progress in knowledge attainment is harder than that.
Whatever within the brain which is able to dysjunct the normal Serotonin/Noradrenaline relationship must be able to be affected by many different things back down the causal chain. Somewhere down that causal chain, things or circumstances originating outside the skull have their "opportunity" to affect the later specific brainstate. Until we become mind-readers that's where we should begin our guesswork.
Prof, could you direct me to a more detailed case review/information regarding the 2 Catskill campers that was terrorized by the unknow entities ? and the drawing of yours, what is the small whitish thing on the left side that looked like a flattened ring ? and the whities object up top that looked like a shoe ? is your drawing based on the witness description on file somewhere ?
ReplyDeleteregards
milo
No I cannot direct you. That file was a very private sort of thing from the Ted Bloecher correspondence files and is not published; plus it is a synthesis from several letters and in no publishable state. My drawing is based VERY closely on the witnesses descriptions, including their own sketches. The witnesses didn't know what either of the objects you ask about were. They just described them. They assumed that the thing up top was a vehicle, even though it didn't look like one. The other thing was small and carried.
ReplyDeleteThe Catskill Incident might be related to this piece of american folklore :
ReplyDeleteHenry Hudson and the Catskill Gnomes (from http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/henry_hudson_and_the_catskill.html)
"On September 3rd of 1609, Henry Hudson sailed the Half Moon into the mouth of the great New York river that later bore his name. The explorer and his crew journeyed north for several days, trading with the native residents and searching for the fabled northwest passage to the Orient. By the time he reached the area that would become present-day Albany, Hudson knew that he had not found the passage for which he sought. Reluctantly, he turned the Half Moon and sailed back down the river.
That night, Henry Hudson and his crew anchored the Half Moon in the shadow of the Catskill Mountains. Around midnight, Hudson heard the sound of music floating across the mountains and down to the river. Taking a few members of his crew, he went ashore and followed the sound up and up into the Catskills. The sound of the music grew louder as Hudson and his men marched up to the edge of a precipice. To their astonishment, a group of pygmies with long, bushy beards and eyes like pigs were dancing and singing and capering about in the firelight."
interesting comment worth knowing, but this particular incident had nothing to do with that. I've got all the background on this thing and the witnesses are two non-intellectual week-end beer-drinkers who liked to go to that camping area to get away from NYC. Also, if we give these two guys the benefit of believing them, their assailants aren't like the fellows Hudson describes. These "moderns" are just aggressive silent creeps, not allegorical full-of-life primitives.
Delete