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The Anomalist



February 10

It's been going on since 2015. A strange neurological affliction has affected hundreds in New Brunswick, Canada, and stumped medical professionals for a decade. A provincial oversight committee was established but could find no common threads between victims other than symptoms, which included dementia, aphasia, hallucinations, and muscle and brain atrophy. Meanwhile, Scientists Uncover a 770,000-Year-Old Mystery Frozen Beneath the Canadian Arctic. Remnants of an ancient glacier were discovered in 2009, buried within permafrost for nearly a million years, providing an "unprecedented" peek at Earth's climate history. Scientists hope to learn about the role of permafrost in preserving this history, and also hope to understand more about how glaciers survive Earth's warming cycles. (CM)

Chrissy Newton reports on some speculative research by a group of scientists at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California seeking to identify star systems that they argue are good candidates for the concentration of SETI efforts. The study identified star systems within reach of messages transmitted from space probes including Pioneer 10, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Pioneer 11, and New Horizons, and calculated by when any responses from alien civilizations in these star systems could be expected to be detected back on Earth. The study shows signals from alien civilizations responding to probe transmissions could arrive back at Earth as soon as 2029. The researchers acknowledge, however, that receiving any response is an outside possibility. Even if we were to receive a communication from an alien civilization, would it describe reality as we understand it? Would it be intelligible to us? In an essay for the Institute of Art and Ideas, theoretical philosopher Matti Eklund asks what might alien languages look like:  The Metaphysics of Talking to Aliens. Aside from differences in the medium of communication (for example using smell to communicate) and differences in syntax, Eklund asks a deeper question of how languages might differ in meaning, and how this might relate to the understanding of reality. He argues that other possible, perhaps better, alien languages may exist, but they may entail a very different understanding of reality than the one we have. (JS)

Another "one-off UFO magazine" treatment of the July 1947 Roswell sensation has caught Kevin Randle's attention—and ire. Kevin once again disposes of the "Mogul" explanation in several ways while noting the changing stories Sheridan Cavitt gave about his participation (or not) in the investigation. Kevin also has written recently on The Zamora Symbol Controversy. Here he says "There really isn't [a] way to resolve this dilemma" as to exactly what Officer Lonnie Zamora saw on the side of a strange craft on April 24, 1964. A picture would have been worth a thousand words... But The Mystery Behind the Oldest Photograph of a UFO perhaps indicates that even "a photograph's understanding is entirely based on one's personal history and what one wants it to be." A lesson to be learned against the background of the many UFO controversies (and others?) that are rife at this time. (WM)

February 7

Christopher Mellon's hard-hitting assessment of the lack of UFO/UAP information coming from numerous major military sources is both timely and more than concerning. There is probably no one more qualified than he to make these observations and he suggests the needed remedies for the Defense Department to satisfy its Congressionally-mandated responsibilities and properly serve the American people. The problem is starkly highlighted by a Canadian look at Why Even U.S. Presidents Can't Unlock UFO Files. Lee Harding uses the example of the late President Jimmy Carter to argue it's unlikely the new Trump administration will "open the government's UFO files." One does not have to accept Steven Greer's claims about a "transnational entity" "bypassing elected oversight" to acknowledge that "Carter's experience highlights the limits of presidential power in the face of entrenched secrecy." And our northerly neighbor's own experience might highlight an issue for U.S. taxpayers, as Kyle Duggan reports that Canadians Want Research on UFO Sightings, But Don't Want To Pay For It. Duggan analyzes a poll last August supporting this claim, which throws into relief some of Christopher Mellon's suggestions in our first article regarding changes in U.S. reporting that shouldn't cost a "proverbial" dime. (WM)

The online gambling site Bet Ohio has conducted an intriguing study addressing the 15 best states to have a Bigfoot encounter. Top of the chart was, of course, the state of Washington, followed by California. Meanwhile in the Land Down Under, Peculiar Paw Prints Left Behind by Legendary Australian Phantom Panther? The area in a Sydney suburb had just been prepped for installation of astro turf, so the ground was hard packed where the impressions were left, indicating an animal of considerable size and weight. Speculation has followed that the source of these paw prints is the Blue Mountains Panther, similar to the Big Cats rumored to exist in the British countryside. (CM)

One of our favorite UFO storyteller historians joins Tanner F. Boyle's site to relate the tale of a unique individual I remember from my past history as a MUFON officer. It's one of the weirdest and scariest cautionary tales on how outside enthusiasms can get tangled up with ufology. On the rather opposite end of the political spectrum and well before John Ford's heyday comes Aaron Gulyas' story of Life in a UFO Commune. Aaron marvels at the apparent persuasiveness of the "One World Family Commune" leader Allen Michael. As with Emily's Ford tale, Aaron promises a concluding episode to this one. For the initial article on how this group got started, try Aaron's Allen Noonan's Strange Experience, which we reviewed in late November. And a case in which law-abiding citizens had a truly Close Encounter with the UFO Experience is that in which Three Kentucky Women Share Their Alien Abduction Experience from Over Forty-Five Years Ago. This retelling of the January 6, 1976, encounter of Mona Stafford, Louise Smith, and Elaine Thomas is nicely done and does justice to one of the most believable UFO abductions on record. (WM)

February 6

Intrepid Loch Ness livestream viewer Eoin O’Faodhagain has started 2025 off with the first Nessie sighting of the year. We personally found the footage almost indecipherable, but given the amount of time O’Faodhagain has invested in his obsession, we're giving him the benefit of the doubt. Next, let's move from one isle over to the next: Enigma - 2025 Lake Monster Cryptozoology Documentary, Ireland investigates the legendary Horse-Eel. aka Water Horse, as spotted amongst the small lakes around County Galway, Ireland. The film includes witness interviews and explores the two leading theories on the creatures' origins. (CM)

Christopher Plain reports on NASA’s planned 2028 Blue Ghost Mission 3 which seeks to investigate the Gruithuisen Domes on the lunar surface. The silica-rich domes were discovered in the nineteenth century and investigations have suggested they are formed from lava much like similar structures on Earth. On Earth, however, the development of similar silicic domes depends upon the action of plate tectonics in the presence of abundant water. Both factors are absent on the Moon. The Blue Ghost Mission seeks to answer the question as to what geological processes were involved in the formation of the domes? Also at the Debrief, Micah Hanks reports on a 33-feet-long asteroid orbiting Earth thought to originate on the Moon:  Mysterious Object Orbiting Earth May Have Come from the Moon, Investigation Reveals. Recent research led by Teddy Kareta of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona has shown that Asteroid 2024 PT5 (discovered in 2024) is rich in silicate minerals unusual for asteroids, but characteristic of lunar rocks. The lack of "space-weathering" on the asteroid’s surface is also atypical of asteroids, which indicates that 2024 PT5 has only been in space for a few thousand years. The only other known near-Earth asteroid of lunar origins is asteroid 469219 Kamo’oalewa discovered in 2016.  Improvements in telescopes and initiatives such as NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies are expected to result in the discovery of more selenian asteroids, and greater insight into the geological processes affecting the Moon. (JS)

Jacob Barber's dramatic recent claims to Ross Coulthart have provided Michael Grosso much thought beyond "that the government has been and still is lying to us about UAP"—itself just supported by Ryan Graves' information about a hitherto-secret FBI UFO/UAP investigation. Michael ponders the deeper questions of consciousness as evidenced by Barber's "sense of the transcendent feminine" emotional effects during one of his missions, their similarities to Marian apparitions such as Fatima in 1917, and a "psionics" group whose activities resemble, as Barber himself noted, the "CE-5" protocols of Steven Greer and others. A rather different version of "close encounters" comes from Tobias Wayland's Documentary Reveals Truth Behind Mysterious "Outer Space Life" Graves in North Carolina. This is a passing-strange and horrifically sad tale "that is difficult to ignore, no matter what truth it represents," says Wayland of a work and filmmaker interview available on the subject. A well-known encounter case gets a strange human twist as a UFO Hunter Slams Scots Museum Bosses Over Rejecting Bizarre Exhibit. Investigator Malcom Robinson wants the National Museums of Scotland to have Bob Taylor's pants that were ripped in a famous 1979 encounter with a unique UFO in West Lothian's Dechmont Woods. They demur for capacity reasons, after a "mistaken" response, while other bits of witness' clothing have proven historic and museum-and-research worthy elsewhere. A personal-possibility that's beyond my grasp is Robin Hanson's UFOs As Aliens Odds, Spending. Any takers? (WM)

February 5

Interesting initiatives with applications to the UFO field, starting with Bernie O'Connor's report about J. Allen Hynek's two sons designing a protocol "to be an overlay on our father's CE classification system that speaks specifically to the nature and strength of unambiguous evidence." Paul and Joel Hynek are trying to wring out of "close encounters" data that would satisfy even a Seth Shostak or Michael Shermer. This work-in-progress is a fascinating but terrifically difficult endeavor, but "objective reality information" could indeed be, as Bernie says, "a few steps away from being a very important contribution to ufology." Rice University announces its third international Archives of the Impossible, to be held on April 3-5, 2025, focusing upon possible UFOs/UAP influences "in the religious traditions of the past." And in SCU Review 6.1: News From The Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies we have a Hal Puthoff "Fireside Chat," comprehensive coverage of the 2024 Sol Foundation UAP Symposium, and a Treatise on the "Dynamics of Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena." While checking those out, be sure to sample the numerous important publications and other offerings from this leading ufological effort. (WM)

Things I Learned From Jacques Vallee's "Forbidden Science 6." Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena-Scientific Research
"As with the other five volumes in the series, this volume provides fascinating bits of information, on both the phenomena and also those who research it." Thus Keith Basterfield on the latest book in the series of Vallee's journal notes. Keith then lists some of the many interesting, and several "flat out" disturbing, entries. Forbidden Science 6: Scattered Castles, The Journals of Jacques Vallee 2010-2019, as with the previous series collections, is published by Anomalist Books. Speaking/writing of those preceding volumes, Tanner F. Boyle offers Forbidden Science Dispatches #7A, and links to his earlier "dispatches" through his "Table of Discontents," which enumerates other of his heavily-researched series featuring his special "takes" on UFO history. This Getting Spooked installment's subtitle summarizes the set of topics: "Christopher 'Kit' Green, Biological & Chemical Warfare, Yellow Rain, Cattle Mutilations, and the MKULTRA-ish in the CIA's Life Sciences Division." Forty-seven references to Vallee's works and numerous other sources supplement this remarkable episode, and a second part is promised. Staying with Tanner for a new Getting Spooked series, in The Children's Crusade, Pt.1 a young musical prodigy is drawn into being "a test subject of the notorious parapsychology research programs of the 1970s." It's a stark story of strange religious fervor, psychic claims, atrocities endured by "space kids," and basic inhumanity with global consequences. (WM)

In the early 1900s, the streets of a town in Alabama were harangued by a mugger dressed in white robes, terrifying passersby. Descriptions of the spectre were very reminiscent of the KKK's white "uniform," leading one to wonder if the tales of Gown Man were actually born of fear of the Klan. Police initially took claims of the Gown Man seriously, hunting for the individual responsible for the mugging of pedestrians. Over time, however, with no perpetrator apprehended, they classified the events as part of a myth and closed the case. (CM)

February 4

Against the wider background of unprecedented changes in the US governmental landscape, it appears that a previously-undisclosed Federal Investigation Bureau study into UFOs could be compromised. Former UFO "whistleblower" and current head of Americans for Safe Airspace Ryan Graves unveiled the FBI's "UAP Working Group's" existence, known to him from four individuals concerned they might be fired, and over a year of his own organization working with that team. Daniel Lippman reports this news and provides context. (WM)

Despite the gilded lifestyle of UK Royalty, it's rarely a good idea for any of them to show interest in anything outside of charitable causes, so it remains to be seen if Prince William will regret asking Dr Kat Bruce of the environmental DNA lab NatureMetrics if it's possible to find Nessie through DNA. The doctor enlightens him on the results of the eDNA findings, about which he seemed unaware. Meanwhile, approaching Nessie interest from another angle, Identifying Biases and the Relevant Statistical Population: the Case of the Loch Ness Monster is the subject of a research article which, in a nutshell, looks at both facts and figures found in sightings reports, to get university students "to consider whether they regard anecdotes as data." In our current age of fantasy replacing facts, this is an important step in the right direction. (LP)

Dr. Mark Rodeghier, the President and Scientific Director of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, gives Tim Ventura a sketch of CUFOS' history mission and that of its founder. For an idea of CUFOS' available resources, see its website at Center for UFO Studies. CUFOS Board Member David Marler, who's spearheading the scanning of the Center's vast cases archive mentioned toward podcast's end, is also the progenitor and Executive Director of the organization covered in Charles Lear's My Visit to the National UFO Historical Records Center, on whose Board Dr. Rodeghier serves. Charles gives a brief tour of the two-building facility, emphasizing the records themselves and the means by which they're being recorded for posterity. Charles gives a personal instance of the exploratory work that can be done now with the files in place, and concludes with "if there was ever a mandatory pilgrimage for a UFO history buff, a visit to the National UFO Historical Record Center is that." NUFOHRC's website provides necessary information on visitation appointments, as all the staff—including David Marler himself—have full-time jobs. (WM)


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