Fwd: Massive UFO activity in Japan prior to Earthquake - Are UFOS and some supernatural entities harbingers of disaster?
Wings Like a Dove
Are UFOS and some supernatural entities harbingers of disaster?
John Keel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Alva Keel, born Alva John Kiehle (March 25, 1930 – July 3, 2009) was a American journalist and influential UFOlogist best known as author of The Mothman Prophecies.
Keel was born in Hornell, New York, and had his first story published in a magicians' magazine at age 12. He later worked as a freelance contributor to newspapers, scriptwriter for local radio and television outlets, and author of pulp articles such as "Are You A Repressed Sex Fiend?". He served in the US Army during the Korean War on the staff of the American Forces Network at Frankfurt, Germany. After leaving the military he worked as a foreign radio correspondent in Paris, Berlin, Rome and Egypt. In 1957, he published Jadoo, a book describing his time in India investigating the Indian rope trick and the legendary yeti. In 1966 he produced the "spy and superhero" spoof novel The Fickle Finger of Fate. Influenced by writers such as Charles Fort, he began contributing articles to Flying Saucer Review and took up investigating UFOs and assorted forteana as a full time pursuit. Keel analyzed what he called "windows" and "waves of reported UFO events, concluding that a disproportionate number occurred on Wednesdays.[1] A member of the Screenwriters Guild, Keel reportedly wrote scripts for Get Smart, The Monkees, and Lost In Space.[2]
In 1967, Keel coined the term "Men In Black" in an article for the men's magazine Saga, entitled "UFO Agents of Terror". According to Keel, he initially sought to explain UFOs as extraterrestrial visitations, but later abandoned this hypothesis. His third book, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse published in 1970, linked UFOs to supernatural concepts such as monsters, ghosts and demons. In Our Haunted Planet published in 1971, Keel coined the term "ultraterrestrials" to describe UFO occupants he believed to be shape-changing, non-human entities.
His 1975 book, The Mothman Prophecies was Keel's account of his investigation into alleged sightings in West Virginia of a huge, winged creature called the "Mothman." The book combines Keel's account of receiving strange phone calls with reports of mutilated pets and culminates with the December 15, 1967, collapse of the Silver Bridge across the Ohio River. The book was widely popularized as the basis of a 2002 film of the same name starring Richard Gere.[1]
Prolific and imaginative, Keel was considered a significant influence within the UFO and fortean genre. He died on July 3, 2009 in New York City, at the age of 79.[1]
Bibliography
- Jadoo (1957)
- The Fickle Finger of Fate (Fawcett, 1966)
- UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse (1970)
- Strange Creatures From Time and Space (1970)
- Our Haunted Planet (1971)
- The Flying Saucer Subculture (1973)
- The Mothman Prophecies (1975)
- The Eighth Tower (1975)
- Disneyland of the Gods (1988)
- The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings (1994) (revised version of Strange Creatures from Time and Space)
- The Best of John Keel (Paperback 2006) (Collection of Keel's Fate Magazine articles)
Mothman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor other uses see Mothman (disambiguation)Mothman
The Mothman is a cryptid reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia from November 12, 1966, to December 1967.[1] Most observers describe the Mothman as a man-sized creature with large reflective red eyes and large wings. The creature was sometimes reported as having no head, with its eyes set into its chest.
A number of hypotheses have been presented to explain eyewitness accounts, ranging from misidentification and coincidence, to paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories.
Mothman is described as a man sized, or larger, creature with glowing red eyes and wings of a moth. It may have eyes set in its chest. It is described as a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) creature, with long wings and huge red eyes. It possesses an unusual shriek.[2]
History
On November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant, Roger and Linda Scarberry, and Steve and Mary Mallette, along with their young cousin, Lonnie Button, were traveling late at night in the Scarberrys' car. They were passing the West Virginia Ordnance Works, an abandoned World War II TNT factory, about seven miles north of Point Pleasant, in the 2,500 acre (10 km²) McClintic Wildlife Management Area, when they noticed two red lights in the shadows by an old generator plant near the factory gate. They stopped the car, and reportedly discovered that the lights were the glowing red eyes of a large animal, "shaped like a man, but bigger, maybe six and a half or seven feet tall, with big wings folded against its back," according to Roger Scarberry. Terrified, they drove toward Route 62, where the creature supposedly chased them at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour.[3]
A plaque on the Mothman statue provides a version of the original legend: "On a chilly, fall night in November 1966, two young couples drove into the TNT area north of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, when they realized they were not alone."[4] Driving down the exit road, they saw the supposed creature standing on a nearby ridge. It spread its wings and flew alongside the vehicle up to the city limits. They drove to the Mason County courthouse to alert Deputy Millard Halstead, who later said, "I've known these kids all their lives. They'd never been in any trouble and they were really scared that night. I took them seriously." He then followed Roger Scarberry's car back to the old Ordnance Works and found no trace of the strange creature. According to the book Alien Animals, by Janet and Colin Bord, a poltergeist attack on the Scarberry home occurred later that night, during which the creature was seen several times.
The plaque on the Mothman statueThe following night, on November 16, several armed townspeople combed the area around the TNT plant for signs of Mothman. Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wamsley, and Mrs. Marcella Bennett, with her infant daughter Teena, were in a car en-route to visit their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Thomas, who lived in a small house near the igloos (concrete dome-shaped dynamite storage structures erected during WW-II) near the TNT plant. The igloos were now empty, some owned by the county, others by companies intending to use them for storage. They were heading back to their car when a figure appeared behind their parked vehicle. Mrs. Bennett said that it seemed like it had been lying down, slowly rising up from the ground, large and gray, with glowing red eyes. While Wamsley phoned the police, the creature walked onto the porch and peered in at them through the window.[3]
On November 24, four people allegedly saw the creature flying over the TNT area. On the morning of November 25, Thomas Ury, who was driving along Route 62 just north of the TNT, claimed to have seen the creature standing in a field, and then it spread its wings and flew away, and Thomas sped toward the Point Pleasant sheriff's office. He then reported the incident that he had seen.[5]
A Mothman sighting was again reported on January 11, 1967, hovering over the town's bridge, and several other times that same year. Fewer sightings of the Mothman were reported after the collapse of the town's bridge, the Silver Bridge, when 46 people died. The Silver Bridge, so named for its aluminium paint, was an eyebar chain suspension bridge that connected the cities of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio, over the Ohio River. The bridge was built in 1928, and it collapsed on December 15, 1967. Investigation of the bridge wreckage pointed to the failure of a single eye-bar in a suspension chain due to a small manufacturing flaw. There are rumors that the Mothman appears before upcoming disasters and seems to try to warn people of them. Mothman was never again seen in Point Pleasant after the demolition of the Silver Bridge.[6]
Banshee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThis article is about the banshee of Irish folklore. For other uses, see Banshee (disambiguation).Banshee
The Banshee (pronounced /ˈbænʃiː/, BAN-shee), from the Irish bean sídhe [bʲæn ˈʃiː] ("woman of the síde" or "woman of the fairy mounds") is a feminine spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld.
The aos sí (people of the mounds, people of peace) are variously believed to be the survivals of pre-Christian Gaelic deities, spirits of nature, or the ancestors. Sightings of Banshees have been reported as recently as 1948.[1]
Overview
The story of the bean-sidhe began as a fairy woman keening at the death of important personages.[2] In later stories, the appearance of the banshee could foretell death. Banshees were said to appear for particular Irish families, though which families made it onto this list varied depending on who was telling the story. Stories of Banshees were also prevalent in the West Highlands of Scotland.[2]
The banshee can appear in a variety of guises. Most often she appears as an ugly, frightening hag, but she can also appear as a stunningly beautiful woman of any age that suits her. In some tales, the figure who first appears to be a "banshee" is later revealed to be the Irish battle goddess, the Morrígan. The hag may also appear as a washer-woman, or bean-nighe (washing woman), and is seen washing the blood stained clothes or armour of those who are about to die.
Although not always seen, her mourning call is heard, usually at night when someone is about to die and usually around woods. In 1437, King James I of Scotland was approached by an Irish seer or banshee who foretold his murder at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl. There are records of several prophets believed to be incarnate banshees attending the great houses of Ireland and the courts of local Irish kings. In some parts of Leinster, she is referred to as the bean chaointe (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that it shatters glass. In Kerry in the southwest of Ireland, her keen is experienced as a "low, pleasant singing"; in Tyrone in the north, as "the sound of two boards being struck together"; and on Rathlin Island as "a thin, screeching sound somewhere between the wail of a woman and the moan of an owl".
The banshee may also appear in a variety of other forms, such as that of a hooded crow, stoat, hare and weasel - animals associated in Ireland with witchcraft.
History and mythology
In Irish legend, a banshee wails nearby if someone is about to die. There are particular families who are believed to have banshees attached to them, and whose cries herald the death of a member of that family. The most common surname attached to the banshee was Mac.[3] They were also associated with the Airlie clan.[2] Accounts of banshees go back as far as 1380 with the publication of the Cathreim Thoirdhealbhaigh (Triumps of Torlough) by Seean mac Craith.[4] Mentions of banshees can also be found in Norman literature of that time.[4]
Traditionally, when a person died a woman would sing a lament (in Irish: caoineadh, [ˈkɰiːnʲə] or [ˈkiːnʲuː], "caoin" meaning "to weep, to wail") at the funeral. These women are sometimes referred to as "keeners" and the best keeners would be in much demand. Legend has it that for five great Gaelic families — the O'Gradys, the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, and the Kavanaghs — the lament would be sung by a fairy woman; having foresight, she would sing the lament when a family member died, even if the person had died far away and news of their death had not yet come, so that the wailing of the banshee was the first warning the household had of the death.
The O'Briens banshee was thought to have the name of Eevul, and was ruler of 25 other banshees who would always be at her attendance.[4] It is thought that from this myth comes the idea that the wailing of numerous banshees signifies the death of a great person.[4]
In later versions, the banshee might appear before the death and warn the family by wailing.[5] When several banshees appeared at once, it indicated the death of someone great or holy.[6] The tales sometimes recounted that the woman, though called a fairy, was a ghost, often of a specific murdered woman, or a woman who died in childbirth.[7]
Banshees are frequently described as dressed in white or grey, often having long, fair hair which they brush with a silver comb, a detail scholar Patricia Lysaght attributes to confusion with local mermaid myths. This comb detail is also related to the centuries-old traditional romantic Irish story that, if you ever see a comb lying on the ground in Ireland, you must never pick it up, or the banshees (or mermaids — stories vary), having placed it there to lure unsuspecting humans, will spirit such gullible humans away. Other stories portray banshees as dressed in green, red, or black with a grey cloak.[3]
American Folklore
Stories of banshees can also be found in America in the late 18th century.[3] The most prevalent of the American stories comes from Tar River in Edgecomb County, North Carolina. However, in this variation of the story, the banshee is simply a ghoul, as opposed to a sign of misfortune.[3]
Celtic cultures
In Welsh folklore, a similar creature is known as the Hag of the mist.[8]
Origin of fairies. Those inhabitants of Britain who use to believe in
the FAIRIES, and that small number who still believe in them, have
various notions about their origin, and this variety is not purely
regional but is partly founded on theological differences. Folklorists
and students of fairy-lore who have not committed themselves to
personal beliefs also put for a selection of THEORIES OF FAIRY ORIGINS,
which for the sake clarity can be examined separately.A valuable work of research on the beliefs held about fairy origins
among the Celts was published by Evans Wentz under the title The
Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (1911). In the course of his work he
travelled in Ireland, the Highlands of Scotland, Wales, the Isle of
Man, Cornwall, and Brittany, interviewing first eminent scholars, such
as Douglas Hyde in Ireland and Alexander Carmichael in the Highlands,
and also people of all classes and types who were believed to have
information about the fairies. He found that, among the older people,
many of the opinions of the 17th and 18th centuries still prevailed.There seemed to be some trace of the prehistoric beliefs left, though
these were not so explicit as the beliefs in the fairies as the dead,
or as fallen angels, or occasionally as astral or elemental spirits.Sometimes the particular class of the dead is specified. The SLUAGH or
fairy Hosts are the evil dead, according to Highland belief. FINVARRA'S
following in Ireland seem to comprise the dead who have recently died
as well as the ancient dead; but they are almost as sinister as the
Sluagh. In Cornwall the SMALL PEOPLE are the souls of the heathen dead,
who died before Christianity and were not good enough for Heaven nor
bad enough for Hell, and therefore lingered on, gradually shrinking
until they became as small as ants, and disappeared altogether out of
the world. The FAIRY DWELLING ON SELENA MOOR gives a good account of
this theory. In Cornwall and Devon too the souls of unchristened babies
were called PISKIES, and appeared at twilight in the form of little
white moths. The KNOCKERS in the tin mines were souls of the dead too,
but of the Jews who had been transported there for their part in the
Crucifixion. In Wales the belief in the fairies as the dead does not
seem to have been so common. They were often described as a race of
'beings half-way between something material and spiritual, who were
rarely seen', or 'a real race of invisible of spiritual beings living
in an invisible world of their own'. In the Isle of Man as passage on
the 'Nature of Fairies' is something the same:'The fairies are spirits. I think they are in this country yet: A man
below here forgot his cow, and at a late hour went to look for her, and
saw that crowds of fairies like little boys were with him. (St) Paul
said that spirits are thick in the air, if only we could see them; and
we call spirits fairies. I think the old people here in the island
thought of fairies in the same way.'The belief in the fairies as the dead may well come from pre-Christian
times, but with the fairies as fallen angels we come into the
post-Christian period. In Ireland, in spite of the lively belief in
Finvarra and his host, there is also an explicit belief in the fairies
as fallen angels. Lady Wilde contradicts the usual trend of her
testimony in one chapter of her Ancient Legends of Ireland (vol. 1),
'The Fairies as Fallen Angels':The islanders, like all the Irish, believe that the fairies are the
fallen angels who were cast down by the Lord God out of heaven for
their sinful pride. And some fell into the sea, and some on the dry
land, and some fell deep down into hell, and the devil gives to these
knowledge and power, and sends them on earth where they work much evil.
But the fairies of the earth and the sea are mostly gentle and
beautiful creatures, who will do no harm if they are left alone, and
allowed to dance in the fairy raths in the moonlight to their own sweet
music, undisturbed by the presence of mortals.From the Scottish Highlands, Evans Wentz quotes a lively account of the
story behind this, given to him by Alexander Carmichael, who heard it
in Barra in company with J. F. Campbell:'The Proud Angel fomented a rebellion among the angels of heaven, where
he had been a leading light. He declared that he would go and found a
kingdom for himself. When going out at the door of heaven the Proud
Angel brought prickly lightning out of the doorstep with his heels.
Many angels followed him - so many that at last the Son called out
"Father! Father! the city is being emptied!" whereupon the Father
ordered that the gates of heaven and the gates of hell should be
closed. This was instantly done. And those who were in were in, and
those who were out were out; while the hosts who had left heaven and
had not reached hell flew into the holes of the earth, like the stormy
petrels.'The greater part of these angels were thought of, like the Cornish
MURYANS, as 'too good for Hell and too bad for Heaven', but with the
growth of Puritanism the view of the fairies became darker and the
fallen angels began to be regarded as downright devils, with no
mitigating feature. We find this in 17th-century England. William
Warner in Albion's England goes so far as to deny all performance of
household tasks to ROBIN GOODFELLOW, saying ingeniously that he got the
housewives up in their sleep to clean their houses. Robin got the
credit of the work, and the poor housewife got up in the morning more
tired than she had gone to bed. This is to deprive the fairy character
of all benevolence. On the other hand, two of the Puritan divines of
the same period allow the fairies to be a kind of spiritual animal, of
a middle nature between man and spirit. It is clear that there was no
lack of diversity between those who believed in the real existence of
fairies...Briggs, K. An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies,
and Other Supernatural Creatures. New York: Pantheon, 1976, pp.
318-320.For Further Reading
Briggs, K. M. Fairies in Tradition and Literature. Boston: Routledge
and Kegan, 1977.
McHargue, G. Impossible People. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
1972.
Phillpotts, B. The Book of Fairies. New York: Ballantine, 1979.
Van Gelder, D. The Real World of Fairies. Wheaton, Illinois:
Theosophical Publishing House, 1977.
White, C. History of Irish Fairies. New York: Irish Book Center, 1976.expbul3a.gif (272 bytes)Homeexpbul3a.gif (272 bytes)Poetryexpbul3a.gif
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bytes)Linksexpbul3a.gif (272 bytes)Doodlesexpbul3a.gif (272 bytes)"The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries", An ethnographic study by WY
Evans Wentz (1911) .There are references to Kirk in his book... the
entire book can be found on: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/ffcc/The following chapter deals with fairy encounters in Scotland:
Taking Evidence (Section I, Chapter II, part 2)
III. IN SCOTLAND
Introduction by ALEXANDER CARMICHAEL, Hon. LL.D. of the University of
Edinburgh; author of Carmina Gadelica.The belief in fairies was once common throughout Scotland Ð Highland
and Lowland. It is now much less prevalent even in the Highlands and
Islands, where such beliefs linger longer than they do in the Lowlands.
But it still lives among the old people, and is privately entertained
here and there even among younger people; and some who hold the belief
declare that they themselves have seen fairies.Various theories have been advanced as to the origin of
[85]
fairies and as to the belief in them. The most concrete form in which
the belief has been urged has been by the Rev. Robert Kirk, minister of
Aberfoyle, in Perthshire. (1) Another theory of the origin of fairies I
took down in the island of Miunghlaidh (Minglay); and, though I have
given it in Carmina Gadelica, it is sufficiently interesting to be
quoted here. During October 1871, Roderick Macneill, known as ‘Ruaraidh
mac Dhomhuil, then ninety-two years of age, told it in Gaelic to the
late J. F. Campbell of Islay and the writer, when they were
storm-stayed in the precipitous island of Miunghlaidh, Barra :БThe Proud Angel fomented a rebellion among the angels of heaven,
where he had been a leading light. He declared that he would go and
found a kingdom for himself. When going out at the door of heaven the
Proud Angel brought prickly lightning and biting lightning out of the
doorstep with his heels. Many angels followed him Ð so many that at
last the Son called out, "Father! Father! the city is being emptied!"
whereupon the Father ordered that the gates of heaven and the gates of
hell should be closed. This was instantly done. And those who were in
were in, and those who were out were out; while the hosts who had left
heaven and had not reached hell flew into the holes of the earth, like
the stormy petrels. These are the Fairy Folk Ð ever since doomed to
live under the ground, and only allowed to emerge where and when the
King permits. They are never allowed abroad on Thursday, that being
Columba^(1)s Day; nor on Friday, that being the Son^(1)s Day; nor on
Saturday, that being Mary^(1)s Day; nor on Sunday, that being the
Lord^(1)s
Day.God be between me and every fairy,
Every ill wish and every druidry;
To-day is Thursday on sea and land,
I trust in the King that they do not hear me.(1) It was the belief of the Rev. Robert Kirk, as expressed by him in
his Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies, that the fairy
tribes are a distinct order of created beings possessing human-like
intelligence and supernormal powers, who live and move about in this
world invisible to all save men and women of the second-sight (see this
study, pp. 89, 91 n).[86]
On certain nights when their bruthain (bowers) are open and their lamps
are lit, and the song and the dance are moving merrily, the fairies may
be heard singing lightheartedly : -Not of the seed of Adam are we,
Nor is Abraham our father;
But of the seed of the Proud Angel,
Driven forth from Heaven.^(1)
