The controversial documentary Capturing Bigfoot finally has been scheduled for release next month, on October 20, in select cities for theatrical release and on Amazon Prime video. The film is purported to include irrefutable evidence that the much analyzed, loved yet maligned, Patterson Gimlin film was a "concocted hoax." While the impact of these findings is yet to play out, we can't help but think "So?" Even if the PG film inspired cryptozoologists and Bigfoot lovers under false pretenses, by no means does that change the fact that very real experiences and encounters have been and continue to take place. Keep in mind, not all hoaxes are nefarious: Faux Bigfoot Prompts Police Response in Maine where a fellow in a Sasquatch suit (no doubt rented from a Big and Tall business), made the decision to roam about town for a spell. No motivation was uncovered for the prank, nor was any harm done. (CM)

The non-UFO media seems interested in UFOs again. And perhaps listening to this Wired AI-generated narration is a reminder that even more consequential events are impending. Nathaniel Janowitz brings us up-to=date. USA Herald's Samuel Lopez writes that Missing Scientists and Defense Personnel Continue to Leave Unanswered Questions for Lawful UFO Disclosure. Lopez' conclusions are sound, and we do need to keep these and all lost persons in mind. A BBC Science Focus article by Ian Taylor taps Avi Loeb and others for 'We're Not Prepared!': How a Harvard Professor Thinks Humanity's Chaotic First Contact Would Actually Unfold. It's a conversation that should be held more widely. Scientific groups worldwide are working on the problem. For example, writing for UAP Check, the European Space Agency's Philippe Ailleris offers Updating the European UAP Barometer: Reporting Trends and New Data Sources, 2020-2025. The necessary clarifications illustrating changes in data reporting measures and variations between in-country data sources are useful in interpreting data variations and illustrating the need for more integration among the sources. And there are more things crowding the sky for we humans to see, per Whitley Strieber's Unknown Country reporting that a Daylight "Saucer" Reported Over California Was Likely a Stratospheric Airship. Dunno what we would have thought that object was! (WM)

Daniel Moran illustrates how a paucity of specimens can result in perturbations in large-scale constructions of human evolution. Closer to the Present, Sameen David describes 13 Ancient Maps That Show Places Nobody Should Have Known About. David's conclusion about "how much of human history gets quietly deleted by fires, jealous kings, and archives nobody bothered to protect" is rather complementary to Moran's point about human prehistory. Jennifer Ouellette has a personal warning about some of the historical stuff in Buyer Beware: Those Mummified Remains Might Carry Toxic Spores. The Past can come back to haunt, it seems. Hopefully, "bioarchaeological study of the skeletal remains" in a Croatian necropolis profiled in Archaeologists Find Roman Grave With Body Buried Face Down — and a Glass Date will keep investigators safe, even if it doesn't reveal why the deceased in Grave 162 was buried that way. Oguz Buyukyildirim has an interesting piece here on puzzles raised by this particular excavation against what is known about ancient burial and trade practices. (WM)

Biologist Michael Levin of Tufts University has concluded that intelligence at the cellular level (i.e. not “human-like consciousness”) is capable of “pursuing tiny little agendas” and that “groups of cells can exhibit a 'collective intelligence.'" Through this action, which is not governed by DNA code, cells can adapt to changes, thereby demonstrating “problem-solving that we still don’t understand.” And on the theme of consciousness, author Mark Booth asks Is the Dark Side Trying to Stop Us Becoming a Cosmic Species? In his new book, The Secret History of the Universe, he wonders if “consciousness may be more fundamental than matter.” In a discussion with Whitley Streiber, which moves “into some extraordinary territory,” including the occult and AI, the two wonder if “modern science has unknowingly crossed boundaries once approached through magic and mysticism.” (LP)

Closing out the week with Things You've maybe not seen. Ryann Sprague's promoting a FREE virtual conference to be held on September 12th, with a bevy of Anomalous speakers and subjects. Also upcoming but a bit further off in time is the Pocono Paracon at the Sherman Theater. This Stroudsburg, PA Sunday, October 4th paranormal event also features cryptids and general paranormal topics. We've been looking at these next two Jason Colavito "out there" efforts for some time before reading them, and now's the time to bring them up. They're both concerned with one Professor Timothy Burbery of Marshall University, and the first topic is Professor Claims Dante's "Inferno" Offers "Accurate" Depiction of Asteroid Impact. Actually, Dr. Burbery seems like an interesting teacher, especially for his Honors Seminars "Mything Persons" and "Hobbits in Appalachia." And the geo-mythology interaction resulting from this article was, according to Google's AI Overview, "widely profiled in popular science publications." Fortified by this, we then journey with the Professor Who Claimed Satan Was an Asteroid Says Dante Predicted Plate Tectonics. More fun here; including Jason almost apologizing for his "quite frankly, insane" prior article comment when taken out of context. (WM)

Folk traditions, as they apply to the paranormal, urge humans to steer clear of any encounters, lest bad luck or worse befall us. When that is applied to Bigfoot encounters, notes David Metcalfe, we see warnings of bad luck, illness and death, madness and PTSD. However, it's important to keep a level head about these warnings, use logic, and not create a mythology around something that is simply the natural order. And speaking of which, a 9-Foot Bigfoot Spotted in Colorado around Hinsdale County. The encounter was swift, with the Bigfoot emerging from the woods and "gliding" up a hill. To the best of our knowledge, no bad luck or madness has befallen the witness. (CM)

Ross Coulthart's periodic Question-and-Answer offering features an initiative by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to gain access to one of the world's leading repositories of quality UFO-related information, the National UFO Historical Records Center (NUFOHRC). Ross not only lauds this move, but suggests he may one day donate his own considerable data holdings to David Marler's non-profit New Mexican archive. This in response to a Brandi Vincent DefenseScoop article Pentagon Seeks Access to Vast Private UFO Records Collection, referencing a "Notice of Intent to Sole Source: Historical UAP Data and Analysis Subscription" marking "AARO's latest publicized step to fulfill its congressional mandates to review the complete historical record of the federal government's UAP involvement dating back to 1945." Vincent provides more information on the value of this remarkable resource. Pavel Ibarra Meda adds "a massive scoop of something that I've been sort of sitting on for a few months" in AARO Is Reportedly Hunting for Dr. J. Allen Hynek's Never-Before-Seen UFO Data. NUFOHRC's holdings consist of far more than Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) files, including two other major early US UFO organizations: NICAP (the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena), and APRO (Aerial Phenomena Research Organization), led by Coral and Jim Lorenzen, as well as numerous other world-renowned organizations and individuals. Having known David Marler for some two decades, since before David's joining the CUFOS Board as its archivist, I consider him the model for serious research, dedication to extending sound UFO data to the whole discipline and educating the public, and excellent, principled judgement in dealing with legal/governmental matters. (WM)

A landmark study out of New York University—the  Aware II Study—has determined that the moment all brain and heart activity stops does not mean a clean break with consciousness. Utilizing data from 550 NDE study participants, they found that approximately one fourth experienced something extraordinary while gone. These experiences were consistent across medical histories, cultures, and belief systems—and so could not be dismissed. Ready For the Great Experiment? Philosopher Michael Grosso's experiment proposes that we find a way through the "death barrier" to "see how close we are to a paradise of love." In other words, can we possibly find a way to cross over without actually dying? We are so close to being able to project our consciousness from our bodies to find out what lies beyond in a nearby world. The next question of course, is how many will want to have the experience. (CM)

Different perspectives on Knowing the Big Question (Is Anyone "Out There"?), beginning with one who certainly can speak from experience. Martin Willis' remarkable conversation with Alex Dietrich, the retired Naval officer and strike fighter pilot who saw a UFO, presents the human half of a UFO/human interaction, and how she has integrated it into her life. In Held for Questioning, "Chris" reviews part of recent "Dr. Phil" conversation with David Grusch as a springboard to Jacques Vallée's accounts of one "Gilbert's" contacts with "a live alien entity" evidently under military control. These come from passages in Vallée's new Forbidden Science 7: Final Report: The Journals of Jacques Vallee 2020-2025, from Anomalist Books. A very different perspective! Above the Norm tackles the matter in a different way, as A Strange New Method Could Reveal Alien Signals Hidden Among The Stars. The key behind this initiative was, of all things, fireflies. Finally, Shayne Dahl may not be trying to "determine whether extraterrestrial visitors are actually present" per se, but he's very interested in the "Techno-Shamanism" human movement behind what we'd call "CE-V communication strategies." Read Eric Hattum's Southwest Based UCalgary Researcher Examines UFO Contact Through Anthropological Lens in the Saskatchewan news site DiscoverMooseJaw. (WM)

The foundations of probably one of the most exotic "new discoveries" about the Giza Pyramids may be crumbling. Newsweek's Jordan King notes a 2022 Italian research paper alleging "synthetic aperture radar Doppler tomography" had "indicated vast shafts, chambers and tunnels" beneath the pyramid of Khafre/Chephren. And this led to further speculations about underground cities and such. (This technology, Synthetic Aperture Radar Doppler Tomography, is being brought to Skinwalker Ranch to try to map something inside the mesa, thought to be something large and metal, according to other measurements.) But there's more exciting news from southeastern Türkiye, per Christopher Plain's 11,000-Year-Old Stone Sculpture Unearthed at Göbekli Tepe's Mysterious Sister Site Was Carved Millennia Before the First Human Societies. It's a 70-centimeter-tall "unique stone sculpture depicting a human figure riding a leopard," found at Karahan Tepe. Plain clarifies what's being surmised about this artifact's significance in the continually developing archaeological understanding of that region -- and the larger story of human societal development. Of course, when discussing major past monuments another looms large, so the BBC's Fiona Macdonald offers 'Locked to the Sun and Moon': The Startling 1960s Theory That Stonehenge Was a Prehistoric Computer. Macdonald chronicles Gerald Hawkins' work with another (at that time) modern technology, which theory ruled "for several decades," yet's recently called "a trendy metaphor for the time...but now wildly inappropriate for understanding Stonehenge." So we conclude by going with Ruth Schuster to another Brouhaha in Academia: Did We Really Hunt Mammoths?. Schuster has fun with this scholarly melee concerning perhaps an even earlier and more basic question than the others! (WM)

August 5th and 6th marked annual Nessie sightings 12 and 13 according to the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register, and with four months left in the year it seems likely there will be more. Both sightings were indicative of something eel-like under the dark waters, and as usual the photos taken did not do the sighting justice. Back on this side of the pond, Odd 'Ogopogo Tooth' Found at Canadian Lake. Discovered by a child looking for treasures along the shore, the fossilized piece resembles an arrowhead or a sturgeon tooth.The beauty of the find is in the mystery because just maybe the tooth came from the mouth of Lake Okanagan's resident monster. (CM)

Someone Who Should Know has confirmed there's a plan for a form of "transparency" in the event of solid proof that non-human-intelligence(s) exist. Zakiya Lathan reports that Dr. Jennice Vilhauer, who has the position, expertise, and above all gravitas to make that claim has so done. Lathan and Vilhauer both emphasize that a "plan" doesn't indicate, much less "prove," an NHI reality, but it seems prudent to have a such a plan in place regardless. On the other hand, New York Post's Richard Pollina headlines that Dr. Phil Accuses US Government of Lying 'Straight to Our Face' for Ignoring Legitimate UFO Reports. McGraw, regarded by some as President Trump's chosen vessel to prepare the Body Politic, minces absolutely no words in this article. So NewsNation's Jesse Weber ponders a huge question about UFOs: Is Earth Being Ghosted by the Rest of the Universe? Weber enlists none other than Dr. Vilhauer's boss at the UAP Science Advisory Council, Dr. Avi Loeb, who even intimates that the "orbs" so fashionable in the PURSUE files could just theoretically be from really far-off "factories." Weber considers other ET communication possibilities with Raoul Peter Mongilardi, author of the 4-book series Next to the Gods. During that conversation our lunar neighbor comes in for discussion, and Alec Fernandes reports that Scientists Think Alien Debris Might Be Buried in Moon Dust. And the ET creators might not have themselves landed on Selene/Chang'e/Tsukuyomi/Luna! (WM)

We start our short work week off with Tim Binnall and the first of two reports from The Cotton State. The witness description and video imagery don't look beyond "prosaic" here, but Binnall colleague Alec Fernandes has a more recent case where Strange Lights Over Tuscaloosa Spark UFO Speculation. And this one has Folks Who Should Know guessing a bit. Now to the Coal/Steel State and Tim as an Eerie Orb in Sky Troubles Pennsylvania Woman. Not as in "Erie Pennsylvania," but this Blakely borough, with its own "quirky" history, has a new claim to fame. And Tim closes our Coast to Coast foursome with a gory Five Horses Found Mutilated Following UFO Sighting in Argentina. Whether the video is or isn't connected with the mutilations, this is a disturbing case indeed. To another South American destination Jenny Alejandra Bustos takes us, with Colombia: UFO or Hot Air Balloon? Video Divides Public Opinion (2026). The "divide" amongst commenters on the event is typical. And Whitley Strieber's Unknown Country takes us 'way away from home as Curiosity Captures a 'Jellyfish' Shape on Mars, Echoing Earthly UAP Reports. "Camera artifact" seems the general explanation here, but the imagery is surely spooky! (WM)

It's been 8 months since we first heard news of Nancy Guthrie's abduction. In an effort to turn up leads, police have offered one million dollars to anyone providing information that leads to the closure of this case. Having said that, you'd expect psychics to be lined up out the door, but to date no one has taken up the challenge. Or have they? "Where are the psychics?" is a fair question, but maybe things are happening behind the scenes. Some police departments don't like to reveal their use of psychics. On a parapsychological tangent, we have an unbiased assessment of ghost hunting equipment in She Blinded Me With Science. Not all devices for detecting the paranormal are created equal. Some are made to sit on stable, stationery surfaces, not transported on foot through supposedly haunted houses. Electrical appliances produce AC electromagnetic fields, which essentially render an EMF reader useless (although you'd never hear a spook hunter admit that). REM pods with their flashing lights are also easily interfered with by cellular data, car keys, and the two-way radios that are evidently in wide use on paranormal hunts. Tried and true cameras and video recordings catch real evidence as often as not. Laser grids are very nearly pointless due to how infrequently a full-bodied apparition is caught. Ghost hunters are urged to not be drawn in by the newest and shiniest ghost hunting devices. (CM)

Kevin J. Guhl's well-sourced "Airship craze" is a tale of a rather 1950s-ish UFO encounter, reported by a "real" observer with otherwise apparently-excellent credentials. It's one we've never heard of, with numerous other interesting details about this long-ago era. From Andreas Faber Kaiser, and courtesy of Inexplicata, we have UFOs in Ancient China. At the very least, these "Wonders in the Sky" help round out our worldview of the topic's vintage. Ellsworth Toohey extends our vision on the matter with For Centuries People Have Watched Glowing Orbs Drift Through Storms. Toohey reports a possible "earthy" explanation for the phenomenon. Closer to the present, Inexplicata offers Chile: UFO Cases from 1969. A varied assortment of incandescent, multicolored, and "fireball" objects fell, and rose, in reports this year, together with a most-strange CEIII (beware of the duplicated February 12th passage in that March 6th humanoid event, as well). And Susan Demeter has another memorable human-interest story, this also a CEIII, from 1987 in Where the Otherworld Waited. (WM)