If you've ever experienced "deja vu, and out-of-body sensations," then you're far from alone, according to recent studies. Professor Emeritus Olafur S. Palsson of the University of North Carolina has been "studying the personality trait of subconscious connectedness for several years." He believes that those at the high end of the Thought Impact Scale are more likely to experience these and many other anomalous sensations. Which nicely leads us to a study which found that The Frontal Lobe is Blocking Psychic Abilities. Craig Weiler writes enthusiastically about how frontal lobe activity (the part responsible for self-awareness), when suppressed, enables us to perform "better on psychic testing than control subjects." This appears to mean that "psychic ability isn't some special power" but is instead, surprisingly, "the result of decreased" brain activity. (LP)

Another chapter in human prehistory apparently has a new beginning, thanks to the work of an international archaeological team. Carly Cassella relates how, in the absence of materials available for radiocarbon dating, the group came to this surprising conclusion. Next: A Kansas Story Too Big To Bury: Etzanoa and the Scholar Who Won't Quit. Roy Wenzl's well written piece is at least as much about Donald Blakeslee as it is about an ancient North American civilization, a remarkable excursion into the tussle between archaeologists and anthropologists, between traditional academic papers and scholars and popular works, often by highly-regarded people who have the gift of writing in something more intelligible to the average public. Speaking of popular archaeologists, Jason Colavito says Zahi Hawass Stumbles Through a Discussion of Occult Egyptology on Joe Rogan. Sounds like Jason's right on both where Hawass was correct and where he flubbed. And in his From Iraq, Graham Hancock Announces New Book on Mesopotamian Mysteries Jason's also likely accurate that modern archaeological education still derides the 19th-century "delusional notions" of Western scholars, as it already did by the '70s. We'll probably learn how prophetic Jason is here about the new book's theme when it does appear. (WM)

"Self styled prophets"—just regular folk like you and me—are using ChatGPT as a means of answering questions about life, the universe, and everything. In the process, they are coming to believe they have awakened the spark of consciousness within the AI tool. ChatGPT for its part isn't helping, and in fact is encouraging the messianic delusion. So What’s the Difference Between Delusions and Hallucinations? Simply put, delusions are a feeling or mindset about something which is not real—for example, a ChatGPT user has awakened consciousness in the AI tool and is therefore a godlike being. A hallucination, on the other hand, is a physical experience of stimuli that is not there, such as feeling energy coursing through one's body as a result of being the AI messiah. Perhaps the question we should be asking is whether or not AI should be generally available to anyone at anytime, because clearly those with a tenuous grip on reality are extremely vulnerable to its darker side. (CM)

Ace UFO historian Douglas Dean Johnson outlines findings from a four-month search into the political/business life of the late Harald Malmgren, whose claims about major roles in US diplomacy, political and military history, and—in the last years before his death in February—UFO events have so incited discussion. This summary is followed by Johnson's extensive treatment Harald Malmgren: Real-World History Vs. Grandiose Fantasy. Initial quotations foreshadow the controversy to come. Next: the succinct summary: "On small paving stones of truth, the late Harald B. Malmgren (1935-2025) built lofty towers of grandiose fantasy." Then Douglas Dean Johnson challenges some of the more outré assertions of a brilliant and successful figure in economics and trade policy, but apparently capable of manufacturing bogus careers, friendships, and even roles within world-saving events. Johnson bombards ten specific Malmgren claims, using FOIA'd and other solid documentation; passages from other historians' treatments of the specified events; and responses from those who should have been able to corroborate Malmgren's statements—but did not. Johnson promises three targeted articles, two pertaining to UFO-related fabrications, the other on Malmgren preventing nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Johnson challenges others who've championed the deceased Malmgren to produce evidence rather than merely repeating Malmgren's exciting stories. Johnson embeds his proof behind this examination within his text, as well as passages from the nearly four-hour-long interview Jesse Michels did with Malmgren just before the latter's death. Another remarkable piece of work by Johnson, sure to draw ire—and hopefully also research to prove or disprove the remarkable Malmgren's tales. (WM)

A miracle can be best defined as an event that inspires faith. George Noory from Coast to Coast AM describes just such an occurrence from his childhood, an event that saved the lives of his family and numerous others from a fiery death. Debunk if you will, but it won't change the belief in Something Greater that those families experienced as a result. Another elevator pitch for God comes from philosopher Michael Grosso: Miracles and God: A Short Statement. There are essentially so many basic questions about life and the universe that we have no real clue about, says Grosso, that we need to check our arrogance at the door and allow ourselves to be shocked and amazed that consciousness exists at all. Science is slowly learning to do just that, and it's resulting in an evolution of sorts—of a better, more empathic human. Says Grosso: "The miracle of our own consciousness is the best argument for the existence of God." (CM)

Religious scholar and author Diana Walsh Pasulka writes a short but worthy piece about the "history repeats itself" phenomenon with respect to government (and society as a whole) responses to events that temporarily "jangle" the zeitgeist. Emphasizing the "long view" of the UFO-human dynamic, she presents a welcome set of speculations. Speaking of schedules and Diana Pasulka, David Metcalfe announces The Exploring UFO Sightings and Anomalous Phenomena Course Series. With David's help, Pasulka developed the lauded online offering, now reformulated "into a series of standalone, self-paced learning units." Those in Great Britain may wish to scan the schedule for the Warminster Thing 60th Anniversary Conference. This commemoration of strange objects in the sky and distressing noises in 1965 and after will happen on August 24th. (Steve Dewey and John Ries covered the fascinating Warminster events in a book entitled In Alien Heat: The Warminster Mystery Revisited, published by Anomalist Books.) We're not sure whether Warminster speaker John Hanson is related to Professor Robin D. Hanson, but the latter coined the phrase "The Great Filter," and has a vita approximately five miles long and of jaw-dropping scope. This Hanson considers the question "Are We Being Observed?" with Podcast UFO host Martin Willis, and offers a possible explanation for UFO owners being neither obvious nor "invisible" to human detection. (WM)

Even skeptics seem disconcerted by the fate of the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR). Following Ruffle and Conrad’s depressing account of financial shenanigans at the ASPR that we reported on March (What’s Next for the American Society for Psychical Research?, Stuart Vyse reports his own depressing encounter with what remains of the organization, finding them almost impossible to contact, and seemingly left without a permanent location after the foreclosure of their New York offices. What worries Vyse, as a historian of the paranormal, is the treatment of the ASPR archives which seem to be in limbo and reputedly contain correspondence from such luminaries as William James, William Butler Yates, and Arthur Conan Doyle. He ends his account “…the organization has almost no profile—no events, no active publications, no public offices…The only visible activities of the ASPR seem to be requesting and accepting money.” So it goes. On a more optimistic note, Freddie Drabble’s Chasing Consciousness podcast has an illuminating extended interview with Roger Nelson formerly based at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab:  Roger Nelson: Global Field Consciousness Theory. Nelson recounts his research career looking at the possibility that conscious intention can affect physical systems, particularly through his extensive experiments using random number generators (RNG), and following this the development of the Global Consciousness Project (GCP). The GCP seeks to investigate the relationship between the output of RNGs situated around the world and emotionally salient global events. Statistically significant RNG anomalies have been observed related to the death of Princess Diana, 9/11 Attacks, and the 2004 Tsunami. Selection bias? Or something spooky? (JS)

Ross Coulthart moves on in his UFO travelogue from provocative films of actual weird-looking flying objects in videos, possible underground tunnels and caverns, and restricted quasi-military sites, to the nighttime Arizona skies. Here we're "reintroduced" to Melinda Leslie and her "Lights in the Sky" tours near Sedona. Again, Ross comes up with more questions than answers. Ross sums up their initial interview as "a section of the US military is secretly involved in some way with clearly anomalous phenomena." The "Skywatch" produces some results. But hitting these "objects" with laser pointers worries us as laser pointing is potentially dangerous to aircrews. We're also hearing much just now about a UFO striking an F-16 that Ross Coulthart reported in all four of his productions we reviewed on May 12th: Hunting UFOs at the Border; NewsNation Presents 'Hunting UFOs: The Desert Sky Mystery'—this showing an image of an August 2, 2023 The War Zone article Pilots Are Seeing Some Very Strange Things In Arizona's Military Training Ranges where Tyler Rogoway and Joseph Trevithick include the January 19th of that year's collision; UFOs At The Border: Whistleblower's New Video; and Hunting UFOs: On the Ground at Famous Sighting Spots, in which last two videos "whistleblower" Bob Thompson claims no personal information about that event. That strike case is serious, but only a small and two-year-old part of the larger panorama Ross and his sources believe they've uncovered. Some excited sites seem to think the strike-case happened this past January. Nicole Rosenthal's New York Post piece has it right and provides additional useful context in UFO Striking Fighter Jet is Among Swarm of Mystery Objects Near US Military Sites in Arizona: Reports. (WM)

I am heartbroken to report that my good friend and colleague Dennis Stacy passed away on Sunday, May 11th at the age of 78. He was born in Gorman, Texas, and graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in journalism. Dennis was married to Julie Kelleher for almost 30 years before she passed away in 2018; they had one son, Kevin Stacy. Though Dennis spent his entire life in Texas, he travelled extensively internationally, including to Loch Ness where together we interviewed Nessie witnesses and researchers in the late 1990s and wrote a series of articles for Omni on the subject. A mutual fascination with the UFO subject had kicked off our friendship at a MUFON conference in 1993. At that time Dennis was the editor of the monthly MUFON UFO Journal, a position he held from 1985 to 1997. Due to our mutual admiration for old issues of Flying Saucer Review, we decided to start publishing a fortean journal entitled The Anomalist in 1994 (until 2010), and this website, which began in 1996. Dennis received the 1995 Donald E. Keyhoe Journalism Award for a six-part series on UFOs that appeared in Omni. He was the author of The Marfa Lights: A Viewer's Guide, co-author with me of The Field Guide to UFOs, and co-editor with Hilary Evans of UFOs 1947-1997: Fifty Years of Flying Saucers, among other works. And from 2005 to 2021 he served as the publisher of Anomalist Books. Goodbye, dear friend. Rest in Peace. (PH)

Parts of the American Southwest and even up to southern Montana are abuzz with a strange aerial phenomenon that occurred on the night of May 16th. Rey Covarrubias Jr. has the story, the images, the speculations, and so far no comments from the Air Force. Elsewhere, a Promise of UFOs Appearing Over British Beach Draws Hundreds of Onlookers, reports Tim Binnall of a May 10th predicted "performance." And here Dani Henderson's "prophecy" appeared to be fulfilled, with the assistance of a group sing of Bob Marley's "One Love." Along these lines, for some reason Jennifer Mulson's Real-life 'Close Encounters of Third Kind' was updated May 15th. It concerns a "UFO Contact Tour with Rupert Guy" that was scheduled for April 23rd in Monument, Colorado. But Mulson's article gives the details on Guy's events, which are continuing through this month and likely beyond, for those interested enough to check online. And things get even better as a TikToker Claims to Channel Messages from 'Galactic Federation' Aliens Warning of UFO Sightings and Global Revelations. According to a member of the "Galactic Federation's Board of Advisers," January is going to be a real kicker of a month, unless "Eronus" is erroneous, and "interdimensional communicator" Emily Eaton admits her information is only "most likely to happen" and exact timing can't be promised. (WM)

From Shane, some tales of warning to never find yourself on the wrong side of an Irish fairy. In 1968 a road construction project required the removal of a whitethorn tree, which was believed to be particularly sacred to the fairies. When no contractor would take on the task, the project was altered to go around the tree, in spite of the extra time and money involved. This was considered money well spent. However wisdom was not always so plentiful. Nearly fifty years earlier, construction of a hospital required felling two sacred trees, which may have resulted in the sudden death of the contractor who performed the actual removal. Other consequences were reported down the line for the foolish mortals who bought the wood from the downed trees to burn. If nothing else, the takeaway from these tales should be to banish from our imaginations the image of Tinkerbell, because Irish fairies are as far as they could possibly be from that sugarcoated incarnation. An Irish fairy is “a powerful spirit in human form which should be treated with respect, if not with a little fear,” writes Dermot MacManus in his book The Middle Kingdom. (CM)

In this first plenary presentation at Rice University's Archives of the Impossible conference, Stanford Pathology Professor Garry Nolan makes a rigorous defense of his "Impossible" interests. He first offers two different meanings for the word "Impossible," and then in a sense spends the rest of his time discussing the second definition—being "a Challenge." Throughout, Nolan is careful to distinguish between "data," "evidence," and "conclusions"—which last are always subject to being disproven. "Proof," he maintains, is rare in science—as it actually is, perhaps surprisingly to many, in other disciplines in the "real" world. Nolan moves through his work on the Council Bluffs, Iowa, "slag from the sky" case; the Ubatuba, Brazil, material; and that collected from the Socorro, New Mexico CEI-II-III event. He praises the Sol Foundation's wide scope of interests, provides an interesting answer to the "why do UFOs sometimes crash?" question, and defends the "Skywatcher" project. Army Colonel (ret.) Karl Nell spoke on Epistemology and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. Nell Venn-diagrams Standards-of-Evidence, covers "Modern Day Heresies," and offers a "UAP Disclosure Campaign Plan" with "Non-Governmental UAP Disclosure Lines of Effort." The process is already "Off-Target" and the next step "At Risk," but it seems logical with a critically important, tripartite "Strategic Endstate." There's also a very interesting "Taxonomy of UAP Origin Hypotheses" that will bear "looking up" online, as Nell ran short of time. (WM)

Aided by Ask A Pol's Matt Laslo, Psicoactivo's Pavel Ibarra Meda has more information on last Thursday's FBI briefing to UAP Caucus Members and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna's possible thinking about the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office. We also learn something about "SCIF Flu." Ross Coulthart has not exhausted his recent news-making Arizona expedition as in 'Hunting UFOs': Radar Reveals Alleged Underground Chasm in American Desert. A story at least a dozen years in the making, Jeremiah Horstman and Alexandra Caldwell's sleuthing seems to have uncovered some mighty mysterious hijinks. As Ross says towards the end of this episode, "This just gets better and better." But there are developments further afield, as we have Japan's Defense Ministry Asked to Launch Office on UFOs, Anomalies "at a meeting with a cross-party group of lawmakers on Friday." Thus Tokyo's Kyodo News, noting that the Defense Minister responded positively to the request. (WM)

It took nearly half a year, but the first crop circle of 2025 has appeared in Wiltshire, England, much to the chagrin of the landowner who has taken to charging onlookers a fee in an effort to recoup damages. Meanwhile on the west coast of Canada, Ogopogo Filmed by Canadian Woman? She certainly caught something with her phone's video camera, and as she was quick to point out while recording, the "waves" were irregular and a different color from the rest of the unsettled water. Looking next to the US, we have a Curious Cattle Mutilation Reported in Montana. Unlike the standard mutilations we've read about, this one began with a gunshot, making it less mysterious and a great deal more nefarious. The wrongdoers have yet to be found, unfortunately. (CM)

Perplexing cases where people were injured by encounters with UFOs in the past. Ryan Sprague and National UFO Historical Research Center Director David Marler review two lesser-known New Mexico cases from the NUFOHRC files. David's personal investigation will likely and deservedly improve their status. Better-known "burn" cases also get treatment, with some "new" items there, though some of the "slang" may distract from the points. The mental impacts of UFO close encounters get somewhat of a scientific "rebuttal/alternative explanation" in a 1982 60 Minutes Australia reprise titled The Science Behind Alien Abductions and UFO Encounters. Dr. Michael Persinger avers that people's minds are so affected by extremely bright beams of light engendered by anomalous "energetic events that can produce possible biological damage," that their brains create "far-fetched" scenarios—so keep your distance! And Curt Collins chronicles a strange sort of UFO religion in Dr. Joseph Jeffers - UFO Expert. This amazing and typically well-researched and illustrated story is even outdone by the life and career of "the prophet who knew what the Bible got wrong." How someone with the personal behavioral background (and legal record) could bring himself to make the self-aggrandizing and patently non-factual claims Jeffers made over the course of many decades is only topped by the stupefying willingness of so many people to believe him. (WM)

Michael E. Zimmerman’s book-review-and-more examines how two antithetical Christian views about Non-Human Intelligence may impact our general knowledge about Just What's Going On with UFOs. Next: The Archives of the Impossible has published the proceedings from its third conference, held April 3-5, 2025 at Rice University. "The UFO and the Impossible" event description notes the roles whistleblowers are playing in media and government discourse. We look forward to reviewing some of its nearly-twenty sessions next week, while encouraging you to plumb these serious depths on your own. In UFO Appears To Evade Camera in Unseen Video, Whistleblower Claims NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas reviews, with Jeremy Corbell’s help, points from the three-part Weaponized series Corbell and George Knapp conducted with Matthew Brown. Corbell says some of Brown's stories aren't new to himself and George. Another "whistleblower" and his patron getting "news time" figure in Chris Melore's Never-before-seen Footage of UFO Dubbed The Cigar Soaring Over US Border. Former Border Patrol agent Bob Thompson's imagery was extensively covered by Ross Coulthart in a series of presentations and conversations, as Ross makes a "dereliction of duty" case against that agency and the Government generally regarding informing the American public. And Late Breaking: UAP Dark Week Turns Light As Dr. Eric Davis Briefs UAP Caucus Members In a SCIF. Psiactivo Podcast host Pavel Ibarra Meda follows Ask A Pol reporter Matt Laslo's peregrinations across Washington DC between the Davis SCIF briefing in the O'Neal Office Building and an FBI briefing for House Caucus members at the FBI HQ, where the politicians apparently got "different material than AARO." Not many specifics will likely come out of these rendezvouses. (WM)

Blake Collier muses on the idea of a haunted house, exploring the void behind the wall, the basement, the disused attic, and other overlooked spaces in our homes. Disused, often concealed, and ignored these spaces in our dwellings, besides the amassed detritus, may hold other more animate objects. Perhaps home to uninvited guests, lurking, stealing out at night to nibble at leftovers in the refrigerator. Collier argues these are liminal spaces, between, at the periphery. Affecting our normality through those easily dismissed auditory intimations we hear at night, and troubling the minds of those that enter. Is that creak in the middle of the night the natural heave of the house as it cools, the sound of someone waiting in the dark, or something else…? In other ghostly news, Bulawayo 24 News reports on a haunted bus in the Chitungwiza suburb of Harare in Zimbabwe: Mystery Surrounds 'Haunted' Bus. Locals have observed the disused bus’ headlights turn on their own at 6 am and 6 pm, and mysterious figures have been observed in and around the bus. Rumor suggests the unfortunate former owner was crushed to death while working underneath it, his spirit now haunts the vehicle. The current owner is skeptical: people are seeing the lights come on automatically in response to changing light levels at dawn and dusk, and the mysterious passengers are just mechanics from a nearby garage on a break. (JS)

A new video has gone viral online, featuring what looks to be an enormous anaconda in a river in the Ecuadorian rain forest. But Red Pill Junkie reminds us not to get too excited because the video has several indicators of being faked. Next, was this a Glitch in the Matrix Captured by Swiss Traffic Camera? It seems seven years ago a duck triggered the camera and now, seven years later it triggered it again "under the exact same circumstances." Not sure if it's believed to be the same duck, or if it's the same traffic cam, but someone is paying attention and keeping very detailed records. (CM)

Disclosure seems currently the "bridge" between UFOs (whatever they are) and humans. In this Sol Foundation Policy Paper, retired Colonel Karl E. Nell marshals various rationales for reinvigorating prior attempts at a "UAP Disclosure Act," with special emphasis on the knotty problem of eminent domain over materials of Non-Human-Intelligence origin. In It's All Fiction Now Billy Cox reminds us of the relationship between "Disclosure" initiatives such as Nell's and political reality, as Billy is not echoing Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out for a Hero given his own view of the prospects. And speaking for the Skeptical side, Jason Colavito sardonically reacts to the last three words one of those who've just come forward spoke in a concluding Weaponized episode on the "D/d-word" with Whistleblower "Reveals" Ultimate UFO Secret: "God Is Real". Jason senses an "underlying spiritual project behind ufology's search for superior alien species." Danny Sheehan has interesting information on the late President Carter's UFO-related efforts and his own role towards contacting the Vatican at that particular time. And in Pope Leo Could Be Key to UFO Disclosure, Ex-Vatican Adviser Says, Sheehan thinks Pope Leo XIV will be "The Disclosure Pope" while we'll have a US disclosure of its UFO-knowledge "in the next handful of years." (WM)

On New Year's Day, 2023 actor Jeremy Renner almost left this world. Suffering horrific injuries from being run over by a snowplow, he underwent a Near Death Experience. Renner's experience was all the more astounding because he was entirely unfamiliar with the concept of NDEs and yet, as he studied the phenomenon during and after his recovery, he found countless parallels between his experience and those already documented and written about. For some fascinating dialogue regarding NDEs, checkout Oprah's podcast, where Oprah and a Doctor Explore What Near Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond, with guest Dr. Bruce Greyson, a leading expert in the field. They speak to a number of near death experiencers, including Jeremy Renner, and discuss how their views have been transformed by a glimpse of what comes after this life.  (CM)

"Don't shoot the messenger here," pleads Patrick Scott Armstrong, as he repeats something "spreading like wildfire in the UFO Community." Armstrong's comments about that dysfunctional "Community" are worth considering. Psicoactivo Podcast's Pavel has some very interesting information as Representative Burlison Confirms David Grusch's SCIF Briefing with AARO & Defends Lue Elizondo. We also get more insight into some of the faults residing within the "Community." And Burlison reaffirms "this is UAP week," and apparently things are happening today (Thursday) in particular. Whatever is going on in the UFOs and Government arena and the UFO-interested, the business world may be a primary driver in UFO/UAP studies. That's per Keith Basterfield's piece on Dr. Anna Brady-Estevez: Her Interest in UAP. And in Cystic Detective Update #4 Tanner F. Boyle's commentary on recent events is quite interesting and, as usual, well-referenced. (WM)

"What I have learned is that we live in a dream, a carefully constructed reality. We make use of a science that is tightly controlled and suppressed and distorted. I think we are left behind...We live in the Matrix. It's just much more boring than the movie." Thus, "whistleblower" Matthew Brown, in the third of his interview series with George Knapp and Jeremy Corbell about what he discovered about a secret set of U.S. programs studying—even reverse-engineering—UFOs. Brown recounts the process through which he brought some of his years of research to the public, and what he learned during that effort, at considerable personal cost. There's tantalizingly little about the ultimate "What/Who/Why" behind what Brown considers a role by "Others" in most of recorded history, but he provides some observations and speculation about how the U.S. and other countries have reacted to the situation. A very "dark" quality gradually pervades the discussion. There's apparently not only another species involved, perhaps more, and/or factions within a different species, all impelled by some kind of "need" for us. Also involved is an international human cabal, with even nations participating in a secrecy maintained by greed and/or fear. And the general public is massively indifferent to how news sources and even science are being manipulated. Brown appeals for more military and intelligence people to come forth, while Knapp and Corbell aver they are so doing. Many of the "revelations" have long been part and parcel amongst the UFO world—and the interview does not avoid making dramatic points. It's intriguing and powerful. (WM)

There's apparently more on a peculiar "UFO landing" that Tim Binnall at Coast to Coast covered with a Strange Silver Orb Filmed Landing in Colombia and we highlighted in April. Now scientists have examined the peculiar object and have released x-ray images. Tim expressed some misgivings about the original story, and this extension seems to "grow" and get weirder with each sentence, with "symbols that the team compared to ancient scripts, including runes, Ogham and Mesopotamian writing systems," AI assistance with an interpretation, and Jaime Maussan's team apparently producing this data. The AARO website has just published its own puzzler in its "UAP Imagery" section at Unresolved UAP Report: Middle East 2023. At times even "tic-tac-shaped," the object's antics and even existence are uncertain without more data. A public organization trying to explain mysteries like these has caught the attention of "Out There Colorado's" Spencer McKee, who writes of a Long-standing UFO Group Set To Host 'Photo Analysis Boot Camp' In Historic Mountain Town. Colorado MUFON is the group, helping investigators hone various skills while analyzing real cases. The parent Mutual UFO Network organization will host its annual International meeting on July 17-20 in Covington, KY (see MUFON Symposium 2025 Hidden Truths: A Modern Analysis of Lost Research). (WM)

It can be argued that the perception of cryptids has evolved as more and more information has become available online. Sharon Hill calls this "Pop Cryptid mainstreamification,” and it seems now that any Thing we don't understand can potentially be classified as a cryptid. She believes "zoological-based cryptozoology doesn’t make sense anymore," but some experts in the field, such as Loren Coleman, would no doubt dispute this assumption. But there are elements of Cryptid mainstreamification that make sense to everyone. Cryptid festivals are abundant (Ohio hosts 9 of them, just as one example) and are becoming a somewhat common means of bolstering local tourism. Cryptid Cafes combine the best of both worlds—coffee and snacks and strange, unidentified creatures—and are becoming a more commonplace feature in towns embracing their cryptids. As long as we don't lose the essence of what constitutes a cryptid, as long as the fascination and desire to learn more about these creatures remain, then bring on the mainstreamification. (CM)