Visitation (1976) by Gilbert Williams.
• “It’s the perfect storm of a UFO case.” Daniel Lavelle explores the Rendlesham Forest mystery of 1980, Britain’s own answer to the Roswell Incident. The case has more substantial documentation than most close encounters but it also has its share of conflicting reports, claims and interpretations. The truth is out there but it’s not evenly distributed.
• The Science of Spooky Sounds: Kristen French talks to researcher Rodney Schmaltz about his theory that infrasound may be responsible for the haunted feelings people experience in some buildings.
• New music: Six Organs of Admittance featuring The Six Organs Olive Choir by Six Organs of Admittance; Blue Loops by Kevin Richard Martin; Passage of Time: The Music of Michael F. Hunt by Michael F. Hunt.
• At The Daily Heller: Steven Heller on The Complete Zap Comix, an expensive reprint of the pioneering underground title coming soon from Fantagraphics.
• Coming soon from Strange Attractor: A Walking Flame: Selected Magical Writings of Ithell Colquhoun edited by Amy Hale.
• At Colossal: Linocuts by Eduardo Robledo celebrate Mexican heritage and community.
• Object of the week at the BFI is Vic Fair’s poster for The Man Who Fell to Earth.
• The Strange World of…Hildur Guðnadóttir.
• Wide-band WebSDR in Enschede, NL
• Lights At Rendlesham (2012) by Time Columns | Rendlesham Forest (1980) (2019) by Grey Frequency | Lights Over Woodbridge (2021) by A Farewell To Hexes
Ahh… UFOs.
As ever, I get hung up on the conundrum of why any civilization or whatever capable of travel within the galaxy or between galaxies would want to come to a planet where the most advanced nations are also backward in the ways that matter more. And then being so advanced yet capable of being stumbled across. Or, for that matter, would probe humans then let them go in such a sloppy manner as claimed by people who say that that all happened to them.
But I confess: In the mystery/suspense genre, I can suspend my belief but this visitation from another whatever, nah. Or at least not as reported. I mean, I’m willing to agree there has to be more advanced societies out there but it’s the reporting or fictions in the genre where I get lost.
My synapses also shut down when I contemplate the origin of the universe…
If you read enough about Rendlesham you’ll find that the wilder claims quickly evaporate into mundanity the way these affairs often do. But the place is now a part of the folklore, hence the “UFO trail” for curious visitors to Rendlesham Forest.
Last June the Wall Street Journal ran a couple articles laying out recently declassified evidence that seems to show that some aspects of the UFO phenomenon as it played out were the results of a Pentagon disinformation campaign to hide Cold War secrets. Now this is not a new idea but the articles have interviews with people who claim to have been participants. The US UFO conspiracy community responded as you would imagine. Part of the cover-up! Personally it makes more sense to me that the Powers that Be would exploit popular beliefs for their own purposes than that our government could keep a genuine UFO contact secret for fifty years. (I’d be interested to find out if any UFO groups were secretly financed by our intelligence agencies.)
If anyone is interested in diving into these murky waters, the title of the first article is “The Pentagon Disinformation That Fueled America’s UFO Mythology”. Unfortunately the WSJ site is behind a paywall but some judicious online searching will find the articles posted elsewhere.
The two reporters, Joel Schectman and Aruna Viswanatha, are well regarded and I look forward to a good book coming out at some point.
Yes, my friend at Strange Attractor, Mark Pilkington is big on this. I think his Mirage Men book was the first substantial examination of the disinformation/manipulation side of UFO lore. There’s also a feature-length documentary that Mark co-directed:
https://www.miragemen.com/
Occam’s Razor always points to the simpler explanation (spook disinformation rather than aliens) but that doesn’t rule out other, weirder things happening that are being exploited by the spooks.