Bigfoot - Reviewing A New Book

Over at Mysterious Universe, I review a new book on Bigfoot, titled Wood Knocks.

Here's the link, and here's how the article starts:

Wood Knocks Volume One: Journal of Sasquatch Research is, as the title suggests, the first in an ongoing series of books on the Bigfoot controversy. Published by David Weatherly’s Leprechaun Press, and with excellent cover artwork from Sam Shearon, the book is a collection of papers on a wide variety of Bigfoot-themed issues. If you’re interested in the mystery of Sasquatch, and various other, similar creatures reported throughout the world, then you’ll likely want to get a copy of Wood Knocks.

 The book begins with an excellent paper titled “Giants of the Piney Woods.” The author: Lyle Blackburn, who penned The Beast of Boggy Creek and Lizard Man. I have known Lyle for about four or five years (he lives just about twenty minutes’ drive from me), and can state that when it comes to Bigfoot, Lyle definitely knows his stuff. And that shines through in his paper. Many people associate Bigfoot with the vast forests of the Pacific North West. Lyle, however, demonstrates that Texas’ Piney Woods have a long history of sightings of large, hair-covered creatures that fit the description of Bigfoot. Lyle writes in an atmospheric fashion that skilfully captures the eerie nature of those woods. And, of course, he presents a sizeable body of Bigfoot-based testimony and data spanning decades. The Sulphur River, Caddo Lake (which borders Texas and Louisiana), and the Sabine River are just a few of the Bigfoot hot-spots that Lyle discusses.

Hanging Out...

Hanging out last night with a few good friends: Lyle Blackburn (author of The Beast of Boggy Creek and Lizard Man), Micah Hanks (author of The Ghost Rockets), and Cameron Hale and Kyle Philson of Expanded Perspectives radio. A good time!

Micah Hanks and the Cash-Landrum UFO

In  a new article, Micah Hanks digs deep into the controversy surrounding the Cash-Landrum incident of December 1980 - a case filled with numerous twists and turns...

Men In Black - 2-Part Article

There's a new, 2-part article from me on my latest book, Men in Black: Personal Stories and Eerie Adventures.

Part-1 starts as follows...

"Right now, I have a new book out titled Men in Black: Personal Stories & Eerie Adventures. This is my third book on the MIB phenomenon, the previous ones being On the Trail of the Saucer Spies and The Real Men in Black. Like most of my writing on the Men in Black, the new book demonstrates that despite widespread assumptions that the MIB are from 'the government,' they clearly are not.

"Of the thirty-plus chapters in the book, only two are suggestive of a government connection to the MIB controversy. The vast majority of the cases take things down very weird paths. They are paths that lead towards the domains of the occult and the paranormal. And in some cases there is absolutely no UFO link at all. In those cases, we’re seeing nothing less than full-blown supernatural activity."
 

And here's how part-2 begins...


"Part-1 of this article introduced you to my new book, Men in Black: Personal Stories & Eerie Adventures. As I noted in part-1, the vast majority of the cases in the book focus upon matters of a very bizarre nature, and typically of a supernatural or occult nature. I shared with you a few observations and data on the MIB from David Weatherly, Micah Hanks, Jason Offutt, and Brad Steiger. Now, however, it’s time to focus on the witnesses.

"Of the dozens of people who generously shared with me the details of their personal encounters with the MIB, nearly all of them provided data that reinforces my firmly held belief that the Men in Black are nothing to do with the world of government, military, or intelligence agencies. Their origins are much weirder than that."

Primitive, Feral Humans in the USA

Check out Micah Hanks' excellent new article (at Mysterious Universe) on the subject of primitive, feral humans roaming around the wilder parts of the United States...

Feral Wild Men: USA

Are primitive, feral humans lurking in the wilder parts of the United States?

To be sure, it's a controversial question to ask, but check out Micah Hanks' latest article (over at Mysterious Universe) on this very topic...

MIB - Twice!

If, like me, you're fascinated by the mystery of the menacing Men in Black, then there's good news: there are two, good new articles on the subject at Mysterious Universe. The first is from Micah Hanks, which begins as follows...

"After the initial stirring media reports of 'flying saucers' began to claim the attention of postwar America, it wasn’t long before sci-fi and aviation enthusiasts, as well as journalists and the generally curious, began forming clubs and organizations aimed at 'cracking' the saucer mystery. Few would have guessed back then, at the outset of this cultural phenomenon, that more than a century later, the interest in this subject would remain so strong, largely because no clear solution to the UFO mystery has been offered, aside from speculation that still involves aliens visiting earth, time travelers, secret technologies, back engineering, and an entire host of other things.

"Then again, it is within the UFO literature itself that we also find references to another cultural phenomenon, of sorts, contained neatly within its own secretive sub-genre of oddity; this involves the Men in Black, beings whose popularity today is good cause for no further description being needed here as to who or what these characters are believed to be. But despite their popularity as a cultural phenomenon all to themselves, is there a chance that some aspects of the MIB mystery might even be explained by the careful cross-examination of source materials that support their existence?"

And here's Micah's complete post...

Here's the second new article at Mysterious Universe on the MIB, this one from Jason Offutt:

"When 20-year-old Walter woke, the red, glowing lights of his bedside alarm clock read 88:88. He quickly saw the clock wasn’t the only thing wrong in his room. 'Standing above it was a man-sized black shadow with glowing red eyes,' Walter said. 'I looked right at him, and was more confused then anything.'

"Walter, now 28, has always been used to strange things in his room. During many nights as a small child, the thin blanket of light crawling into his room from nearby streetlights would slowly dim until he couldn’t see anything. Although he was too young to remember, family members told him this is when the voices came out. 'At that time what I was told was imaginary friends would come and I’d talk to them,' he said. 'Even now when I’m in a dark room it’s like I can still hear the whispers of others and even during times of danger there is always a voice that warns me to take action.'"

And here's Jason's full article...

Back!

On checking email this morning I got one from two days ago that read: "Have you been abducted?"

Well, no, I haven't! I've been offline since last Wednesday, as I was speaking at the Paradigm gig in Minneapolis, which was an excellent event.

There was a great turn out of several hundred, and organizers Micah Hanks and Scotty Roberts (and not forgetting their team of helpers) did a first-class job of putting on the event.

And, for me, as well as listening to a wealth of good presentations (David Weatherly's lecture on the "Black-Eyed Children" phenomenon was, as far as I'm concerned, the highlight), it was time to catch up with old friends and finally meet other friends who I hadn't previously had chance to hang out with, such as Ben and Aaron from Mysterious Universe, Marie Jones, Red Pill Junkie, and Michael and Laurie Pye from New Page Books.

Good news: they're already planning next year's gig. So, if you missed this one, don't miss the next!

The Paradigm Symposium: Ticket Deal!

If you're thinking of attending the Minneapolis-based Paradigm Symposium (at which I'll be speaking on the weekend of October 18-21), there's an excellent offer on right now regarding tickets, as co-organizer Micah Hanks reveals at his Gralien Report blog.

Mystics, Mandrakes and Micah

Micah Hanks has an excellent new post at Mysterious Universe that begins as follows:

"For some of us, the strange and unusual will tend to crop up even when we aren’t looking for it. A fine example occurred over the weekend, while a friend and I were visiting a display at a local garden; to our surprise, the trip became delightfully weird and macabre, as it turned out that what I thought would be a display on exotic insect species ended up dealing instead with different varieties of poisonous and carnivorous plants.

"As a child, I used to love to grow Venus Flytraps and pitcher-plants, both of which have evolved various clever ways of extracting extra nutrients by capturing and digesting insects. Several varieties of carnivorous plants appeared at the exhibit, which had been themed around a Victorian set design reminiscent of the old 'murder mystery' tales of yesteryear. In addition to carnivorous and poisonous offerings, one area also featured hallucinogenic plant varieties, with references to the often DMT-rich ayahuasca imbibed by different native groups in South America."

And here's the complete article, which makes for great reading!

Lubbock Lights Mysteries

In a new article at Mysterious Universe, good mate Micah Hanks delves into the strange saga of Texas' Lubbock Lights...

Micah notes: "The controversy began around August 25th, 1951, when three Tech College professors observed together a strange formation of lights coasting overhead. The witnesses, Dr. A.G. Oberg, a chemical engineer, Dr. W.L. Ducker, a department head at the college and a petroleum engineer, and Dr. W.I. Robinson, who served as a geologist, were believed to be more credible than the average UFO witness, based on their backgrounds."

Micah and the MIB

And we also have Micah Hanks (pictured above) digging into the Men in Black controversy today, in a new post at Mysterious Universe.

Micah says: "The MIBs depicted on the silver screen appear as savvy heroes, of course, who go about proliferating an alien cover-up and flashing deneuralizers at confused bystanders (for their own good, of course). Quite the contrary, the legends within UFO circles that involve so-called Men in Black certainly play a darker role, and are at times even referred to as one of the more scary and menacing aspects of UFO-related phenomenon."

And here's where you can find Micah's full post...