I was up in the far north of Scotland at the time enjoying a holiday and I have to admit my difficulty in believing that Mark could have died. I’d been out of electronic touch with the rest of the world for over 10 days, and as far as I knew Mark was well, healthy, and busy with his latest project.

Sadly the reports were true. Mark has gone.

So I’m still struggling with the idea that I’ll get no more ‘likes’ for my posts, see no more of Mark’s zany observations of life, and see no more of his passionate fighting for those causes he believed in.

I met Mark when I went along to attend the talks during one of Halton Library’s early Paranormal Week events. My regular attendance was noticed by presenters Mark, and Mike Jaega, and they invited me to join them in the pub, at the end of the week celebration, and subsequently to join their paranormal investigation group.

Mark finding something interesting on the ceiling.

I learnt an enormous amount from Mark and his seriously scientific approach to paranormal investigation. There was no room for fluff and fantasy there. I also had a great deal of fun on the investigations I attended with him. I loved the book he co-wrote – A Beginner’s Guide to Paranormal Investigation – filled with the wisdom culled from years of his investigations. I even ended up on telly because of Mark. His team Para-Projects were involved in a TV series called Spook School and I made a brief appearance on a couple of episodes. This led, later on, to an exciting few weeks filming, as the presenter, for a pilot show that was to be called Behind the Legend.

Compulsory pic at the end of a Paranormal Week evening

Later on with Mark, Janette, and others we spent many hours planning what new, fun, and interesting stuff we could bring to our annual Paranormal Week that ran eventually, I think, for 11 years.

Compulsory pic at the end of another Paranormal Week evening

Thank you, Mark for introducing me to, and for encouraging my interest in, the world of the paranormal. Thank you, for your patience and persistence, for your talent and enthusiasm. It was a pleasure to work with you and a pleasure to know you. I’ll miss you. The Paranormal World will miss you.

Michael

If you only want to see our stuff then skip the first 8 minutes.

Michael

It was posted on the facebook group 1 Million people who believe in Aliens & UFOs (of which, incidentally, I am not a Liker) along with the following caption

This carving was found in Kiev, Ukraine. It is approx 6,000 years old (4,000 BC). Given the context of where and when it came from, just through the vastness of how long ago this was made it is very difficult to explain this carving as not being of something other than “other worldly”.

As always you decide……

…and it got me thinking. That looks really interesting. But alarm bells were ringing because the carving looked more like a casting to me. And that halo looked a bit like casting flash – metal that seeps into the gap between the two halves of a mould. But without examining the artefact that’s a little difficult to tell.
The other thing that bothered me was the date and the quality of metalworking. The end of the stone age began around 4500BC (just 500 years earlier than the date for this artefact) but didn’t happen all at once, so if this date is to be believed the complexity and skill involved in the production of the artefact just don’t fit.

This tool is dated to around 4000 BC the same date as the metal spaceman!!!

So time for a little Googling, I thought.

I quickly discovered that most of the information about this artefact were copies of the same image and the same caption claiming it was 6000 years old. But no additional information. One of the huge problems with the internet is that people just copy and paste stuff without any investigation.

I persevered and discovered that this item is known as Kayapo – the Scythian artefact. A switch to Googling that search term brought forth a little more information. Most importantly the dating suddenly switched to 700 BC.

Wow! that’s a big difference. That’s almost modern, and a time when metalworking skills were well-developed. That changes the story a little.

But it still looks like a spaceman!!!

Ok! But it also looked to me like it was wearing something that reminded me of an Etruscan helmet.

But first I needed to find out about the Scythians. They were a group of people living in the area of the Asian steppes. They were skilled metalworkers. Grave goods have revealed a beautiful artistry in their working of gold and bronze.

Here is some of their work from the same period:

As you can see they were very skilled at working metal. In fact these, to me, make the artefact look a little primitive and I wonder whether it might have been the work of an apprentice.

…and this is what the Scythians wore into battle.

Now doesn’t that helmet look a bit like the one on the artefact?

The Scythians had contact with the Greeks and Greek helmets from around 500BC looked like this…

Now, I don’t know about you but to me all of those look remarkably like the images of aliens that we see.

Getting back to the original image, it seems to me that there is nothing paranormal about it at all. The metalworking techniques were well within the capabilities of the society that produced it. The image itself could well be depicting armour worn  by that society at that time.

I know there are a lot of people out there who believe in alien visitation and space ships and love stuff like this artefact and the writings of authors like Von Daniken, but rather than take stuff on face value – be real and check it out yourself.

The truth is out there – and it took me about thirty minutes to discover it.

Michael

So for your delectation we are putting on a talk all about what’s probably in the top two of the ways the world might end, as we know it, before this year is out.

So make your way to Halton Lea library (same venue as the Paranormal Week events) on Thursday 10th May ready for the talk to start at 7:00pm.

And make sure you DON’T park in the multi-storey car parks because they are locked at 7:00pm

See you there,

Michael

P.S. And if you want to know what the other one is it’s a supervolcanic eruption. This lovely planet of ours is certainly getting a little restless of late, so I wouldn’t put it past its blowing off a little steam.

For anyone else who is curious about what all the fuss is about then I highly recommend it. Certainly it must be on the reading list for any Paranormal Investigator who is serious about his craft.

The book is more about human psychology than about strange lights in the sky; more about the lengths that governments will go to, to keep secrets, than it is about flying saucers.

Here’s a taste:
Walter Bosley worked for the US intelligence service. His job was spreading disinformation about UFO’s One of his functions was to convince people who had accidentally spotted a highly secret military craft that what they had seen was an alien spaceship. After two years of this work he asked his supervisor if it would be possible for him to see the aircraft.

‘On the given date, Walt drove out into the night. An Air Force jeep was waiting for him in the dark at the agreed location. He pulled up alongside it, got out of his car and greeted the other vehicle’s driver.

“So when’s the plane due?” asked Walt.

“It’s already here” was the reply. “Look up.”

Walt looked up but saw nothing but the starlit sky above him. The night was silent apart from their conversation and the dull whoosh of passing cars in the distance.

“I don’t see anything,” said Walter, puzzled. “Where should I be looking?”

“Just look up,” said the driver.

Walt looked up. There was nothing to see. He realized that he’d been pranked. The message was obvious – you don’t see what you’re not supposed to see. It was time to go back home.

“Oh, wait,” said the man. “I forgot to give you these.”

He handed Walt a pair of goggles. Walt put them on.

“Now look up.”

Walt looked up.

“Holy f*****g shit!”’

The story is the story of disinformation spread about UFO sightings by the US government in order to keep its military secrets, secret. Secret aircraft, at some point, have to fly. And occasionally they are seen by non-military personnel. So various US government agencies, it appears, decided to ‘encourage’ the idea that they were alien craft.

Also, it appears, that the very idea that we are being ‘visited’ by technologically advanced civilisations is more than the average human being is capable of handling and so a whole different bunch of disinformation spreaders spread disinformation to keep us safe from our own fears and the US safe from panicking mobs a la War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938. They do this by keeping the idea of alien visitation alive and at a low level so that we can get used to it slowly – in psychology it’s called Systematic Desensitisation.

The book traces the history of this disinformation from before the Roswell incident in 1947 to the huge UFO conference in Laughlin, Nevada in 2006. It was at this conference that they met, and spent considerable time with, some of the key players in this conspiracy – Rick Doty & Bill Ryan.

That’s not to say there aren’t still some mysteries, but the book focused, in its entirety, on the US UFO scene. This, despite the fact that the author is British and there are two significant UK UFO incidents (Berwyn Mountains and Rendlesham Forest – both laying claim to the title the British Roswell) which failed to get even a mention.

The Mirage Men is interesting, page turning in parts, slow in others. Keeping track of the huge number of names who kept cropping up again and again in various parts of the book was a challenge I quickly abandoned, so threads were difficult to keep track of. Easy to put down, but I kept coming back to it.

It is a fascinating study in psychology and how innocent beliefs can be manipulated by governments to their own ends. How true it is, you’ll have to judge for yourself.

Or is it just another level of disinformation being spread to keep the ground fertile and the community alive?

Mirage Men: A Journey into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs: The Weird Truth Behind UFOs by Mark Pilkington

Michael

Well we’d heard reports of this place where there was a flesh-eating cave monster, piles of human bones, a church where strange rituals were performed – as well as a big lake, wandering ghostly monks and a ton of other apparitions and generally the sort of weird stuff we love.

It was an overcast night when we left our vehicles at the side of a quiet country lane and headed off along the track, our way illuminated only by the glow of our lamps. Half a mile later we found ourselves on a muddy, slippery path winding it’s way into an ancient woodland. The unnatural silence added to the spookiness as we suddenly found ourselves on the edge of a 30ft drop. At the bottom was our destination. Looking for an easy way down we headed off once more into the dark, forbidding, night. After wandering aimlessly through the trees we found ourselves by some small caves. A quick look around revealed nothing of interest to us and so we headed back to the cliff. A careful scramble down the steep and slippery path found us at the entrance to hell that we were looking for. A forbidding iron grate with a doorway just big enough for a goblin to walk through spoke volumes about the terrors that were once held captive on the other side.

It was with relief we saw the gate was open and whatever had been imprisoned had hopefully long gone.

We set up camp in the cavern next door and after fortifying ourselves with cake and cookies; and building up our courage with ghostly fireside tales (without the fireside ‘cos we forgot to bring any dry wood), we headed for the doorway. It was a tight squeeze that left us in a tiny space with another imprisoning set of bars. This double set of thick bars left us to wonder at the strength of what was once kept inside this place. After struggling through this second barrier we found ourselves confronted with a narrow passageway. Just 18inches high and 20 foot long with nothing but darkness, and god knew what, visible at the other end in the dim light of our lamps. After casting lots I drew the short straw and went first crawling along on my elbows until the space opened out and I was able to proceed in an undignified crouch. Then, fifty feet further in and with a hundred feet of rock above our heads we discovered another small hole. We sat and watched this hole for a while and then decided we’d had enough adventuring for one night and headed back for the cake.

Twisted Tales

This evening we were visited by Twisted Tales who presented us with an evening of Occult Horror, and the room was packed to overflowing once more.

Adam Nevill

Ramsay Campbell

Authors Adam Nevill and Ramsay Campbell read extracts from their novels. Adam Nevill from The Ritual and Ramsay Campbell from The Grin of the Dark. After a refreshment break there was a panel discussion where the authors answered questions about their writings and sources of inspiration. Afterwards there was book signing and a few photographs with the authors.

Great evening so our thanks to Twisted Tales for coming along and providing us with something a little different tonight.

Michael

Jebby Robinson

We had an absolutely brilliant evening. The batting was opened with Jebby Robinson from Para-Projects.

Jebby conducting an experiment with a member of the audience

Jebby shared with us his fascinating research that began with Moses and then followed the Grail Trail to Nazi Germany and ended up looking at some of the Nazi research into jet propulsion. Fascinating stuff, this was all new to me and I really enjoyed Jebby’s talk.

Mark Olly

Next up was tv presenter Mark Olly looking at the history of UFO’s and the possibility of alien visitation. Mark had some interesting insights into the evidence from the moon landings, but the highlight of Mark’s talk was his visit to the site of an alien spacecraft crash landing. This craft was witnessed coming out of Cardigan Bay and moving inland where it crashed. The crash site was immediately scoured by the military, but Mark managed to get hold of a small piece of the wreckage which he showed to us. The full story is told in Mark’s video.

Mark Olly

I thoroughly enjoyed Mark’s talk, especially his intriguing collection of crop circle images, including some with cheeky hidden messages to Us from outer space. SETI clearly needs to set up a base of operations in southern England.

Thank you Jebby & Mark, you did a great job this evening and your talks were very well received.

Michael

Jebby Robinson at Paranormal Week, 2009

Mark Olly

But then we’ve got Tv presenter and researcher Mark Olly who is going to look into unusual encounters, strange sightings, and other UFO oriented weird stuff. If you’re into UFO’s then this evening is a must.

Doors open 6:30
Talk starts at 7:00
Refreshments/cigarette break at 7:45 (we provide the coffee and tea but you have to bring your own fags)
Finish around 9:15

Paranormal Investigators will be on hand if you have anything interesting, weird or worrying that you’d like to share with us.

Kevin McCann

Our first ‘act’ this evening was local poet and author Kevin McCann who read for us three of his very entertaining ghost stories. My favourite was ‘A Happy Medium’ – cleverly crafted and with a humorous twist. Kevin’s voice, with its echoes of Liverpool, was a relaxing pleasure to listen to, and judging by the applause the audience thought so too.

June & Laura

Next up, after our refreshment break, was June, assisted by Laura, from Night Vision Investigations. June spoke about the many investigations Night Vision have run in some amazingly spooky places – covering equipment, techniques, and the experiments they run. We also got to see some innovative, especially made pieces of investigation equipment that I haven’t come across before, but look as though they might be a worthwhile addition to any Paranormal Investigators toolkit. We even got to listen to some examples of EVP captured on their investigations, and one interesting photo with a disappearing ‘gravestone’ that had me intrigued and wanting to visit that particular cemetery.

Our thanks to Kevin, June and Laura for another enjoyable and entertaining evening.