Mysterious Universe

“Nonhuman” is a fairly ironic statement. By definition alone, a cat, giraffe, or bumblebee would all constitute nonhuman entities that, without a doubt, inhabit this planet alongside humankind. And yet, strangely, when you use an expression such as “nonhuman entities,” even without clarification, the image this spurs in the mind tends to be of something innately human like, just not quite Homo sapien.

Funny, then, that “nonhuman” almost invariably will evoke images of beings which, for the most part, appear very similar to humans, particularly among those of us of the Fortean persuasion. I’ve long wondered whether, in some capacity, there might have been (or might still be) other entities on planet Earth that were very similar to being humans–hominid sub-species whose branches only stemmed away from the evolutionary trunk a few thousand years before the course which led our ancestors to being what we are today–that remain undiscovered. This sounds particularly elementary as stated here, since anthropologists will quickly name the variety of early bipeds and robust hominids that did invariably precede us. Dating back to humanity’s frail beginnings that were entombed in dust and stone around our early Ethiopian relative, Lucy, she and her kind were later discovered by the Leakey family in parts of Africa beginning in the late 1950s. But aside from the known hominids, could there be evidence of other humanoids that have existed alongside us here on Earth for thousands of years or more?

Part of this riddle lay hidden not only beneath the soil of hundreds of generations, as did Lucy’s nearly infantile frame, but also steeped in the mists of rumor and folklore carried about in the verbal traditions of many cultures. The Cherokee natives of North and South Carolina have long held that their ancestors were visited by “people” of gigantic stature, who would travel from someplace far West of the areas they had settled. One such giant, Tsulkalu (later dubbed “Judaculla” by European settlers), represented the Cherokee god of the hunt, and was described as a large entity with peculiar, slanted eyes, living in a large cave that overlooked the Caney Fork River near modern day Sylva, NC. This all could easily enough be chalked up to being mere legend, if not for the fact that there is a multitude of evidence suggesting that people–or something similar to people, but larger–did in fact exist alongside early Native Americans.

In the 1890s, Cyrus Thomas, who oversaw the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institute, had included with his early annual reports to the Secretary of the Smithsonian the occasional discovery of skeletal remains that dwarfed the average human. For instance, during excavations of ceremonial mounds conducted by the Bureau of Ethnology, in 1884 a skeleton measuring 7 feet, 6 inches was found in a large stone chamber buried within a mound in Kanawha County, West Virginia. Thomas wrote about this in his 12th Annual Report on Mound Explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology, detailing the strange discovery; similar finds were reportedly unearthed in mounds found in Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Utah, and other states (a complete listing of gigantic remains unearthed in America can be found here.)

It is well known that many publications of the mid-to-late nineteenth century occasionally favored the telling of “tall tales” (no pun intended). Cyrus Thomas, on the other hand, was not only a man of science, but also a man of God; he had been a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church between 1865-69, before leaving on an expedition into the Rocky Mountains. It seems unlikely that Thomas, for all his integrity, would forsake his stature and credibility with the mere interest of spinning yarns about giants–unless, of course, it had been conducive to propagating a creationist mythos, where tales of Biblical giants were upheld with some degree of scientific fact–or at least a convenient facade of such. This might entail Lutheran giants of a different variety, but I digress.

In truth, even to speculate such of the noble Mr. Thomas wouldn’t account for other instances where large skeletons have been unearthed, and the phenomenon is hardly relegated to the nineteenth century. Zoologist Ivan Sanderson recounted a letter he received, detailing an airstrip being built on the Aleutian island of Shemya during World War II. During construction, the remains of what appeared to be humans–again very large ones–were uncovered. At Sanderson’s prompting, a member of the unit confirmed the reports, indicating that the Smithsonian Institution had been notified and had collected the remains, after which there had been no further correspondence. No data pertaining to the event in question was released, much to Sanderson’s dismay, famously prompting the Scottish researcher-extraordinaire to ask, “is it that these people cannot face rewriting all the textbooks?”

Occasionally there are still reports of these sorts of remains being uncovered, but if they have truly existed, what do they represent? Even the Neanderthal weren’t supposed to be so large that they stood several feet taller than the average human today, nor did any other known hominids further up humanity’s murky family tree. One potential candidate, the massive Giganitpithicus ape, remains of which were discovered in China (and touted by modern cryptozoology experts as a potential ancestor to modern Sasquatches), was likely a knuckle walker, rather than a biped. Who then, or what, were these mysterious giants that walked the Earth so long ago? If we could go so far as to assume they were sophisticated to some degree, on account of their desire to bury their dead in makeshift “temples” and “chambers” within ceremonial mounds before their demise, what other elements of their culture have been hidden away? More importantly, could others since that time have taken interest in preventing the release of such information to the public?

Could Indigenous Nonhumans Inhabit the Earth? is a post from: Mysterious Universe

Welcome to the Quantum Age where Fiction and Fact Intersect

Amelia Crater — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:57:28 +0000

“The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past.” William Faulkner

Pakistan is underwater and Russia is ablaze, yet not even a fire tornado in Hawaii can convince climate-change deniers that there is something radically wrong with the weather.

Newspapers report as fact that thanks to a never-before-seen petroleum eating microbe the millions of gallons of oil spilled by BP have vanished.

And a shockingly high percentage of US citizens believe President Obama is of the Muslim faith, notably the same people who previously berated him for the “radical” church he attended in Chicago.

Exasperated pundits lament that “We have seen Idicocracy and we are it.” Intractable stupidity seems to be on the rise, but maybe it’s just the times we live in.

Think about it: when steam-powered train engines were first invented it was a widely held belief that the human body could not withstand travel at speeds higher than very small number, like 30 mph. The shift from one historic age to the next makes fools of pretty much everybody at the cusp. Perhaps the rampant anti-science, anti- intellectualism is society’s gut reaction to the dawning of the Quantum Age and the extraordinary tolerance for ambiguity it requires of the human mind. If you’re the type of person who likes to stick to tradition, keep the facts straight, and play by the rules, you’re bound to be upset by science that suggests we don’t know who killed the Kennedys because the answer depends on events that have not yet occurred.

“History is a biological phenomenon” Dr. Robert Lanza, M.D, recently wrote, “it’s the logic of what you, the animal observer experiences. You have multiple possible futures, each with a different history.”

Lots of gray area and little black and white. It’s an ambiguous state of affairs we can blame in the quantum. In 2007, the journal Science published a paper on particle physics describing an experiment on the subatomic level where quantum rules apply, a researcher found he could influence whether a photon collapsed into wave or particle by flipping a switch after the fact, which I don’t understand well enough to explain adequately. In short, he could change the photon’s history. Or as physicist John Wheeler extrapolated, “We are participators in bringing about something of the universe in the distant past.”

When you stop to consider how much of history is speculative the notion that we can still influence it is intriguing to many, but understandably upsetting to people who already have their answer and don’t appreciate having the matter reopened.

For instance, we know almost nothing about even the civilization transforming figures from the past — including the true identity of William Shakespeare or if Jesus Christ was the Son of God or a literary device used to promote a revolutionary agenda of peace, love and understanding.
Thanks to particle physics and quantum mechanics, we might still “decide” the answers to those questions, an idea that is nothing short of blasphemy in many quarters.

It’s not an easy proposition for anyone to consider. Just this week, for instance, after 16 years of excavation, Greek archaeologists unearthed the the remains of the home of Odysseus which are “ are identical to the ones described in Homer’s Odyssey, presumably written about 8th century BC.”

Odysseus, you may recall, is the protagonist of the Greek poet Homer’s The Odyssey. He was kind of a superhero, who held sway with Olympian gods, hobnobbed with ghosts, Lotus Eaters, Cyclops, Sirens and for the past 3000 years was thought to be a work of fiction. Now we have his home address.

While that may not seem like such an astonishing turn of events considering the book was written a really long time ago and maybe was commissioned as a kind of like those bio-pics loosely based on the story of a real dude. On the other hand, imagine if you can that archaeologists one day find the remains of an ancient castle somewhere on the British Isles that was named Hogwarts and had as its star pupil “the boy who lived,” as well as other artifacts identical to the ones described in the Harry Potter books? How would you wrap your intellect around those historical “facts?”

If that makes your head hurt, how about this scientific conundrum:

Researchers from Stanford and Purdue University have found that the radioactive decay of some elements sitting in laboratories on Earth seems to be influenced by activities inside the sun, 93 million miles away. This finding, they speculate, may provide evidence for a previously unknown particle emitted by the sun.
Around the world, students are taught that the rate of decay of a specific radioactive material is a constant. This concept is relied upon, for example, when anthropologists use carbon-14 to date ancient artifacts.
So now we can’t only change the past as we go, we can’t be sure that the yardstick we’ve been using to measure how long ago the past really was since we’ve been using a faulty yardstick. What do the particle physicists have to say in defense of this sub-atomic screw up?: “It’s an effect that no one yet understands,” agreed Sturrock. “Theorists are starting to say, ‘What’s going on?’ But that’s what the evidence points to. It’s a challenge for the physicists and a challenge for the solar people too.”

What is going on? Who cares? Whatever we decide won’t matter much if the answer is subject constant revision by the future and now the past. Although I’m not sure that’s exactly how it works. No one does, which is the not encouraging news for the start of a new epoch.

On the bright side, once we begin to really understand that the past ebbs and flow in the same fluid way as the events of today, I’ll bet the kind of time travel where we physically go into the past or future will become at least theoretically much more plausible. If we already influence the past, what difference does it make if we do it in person? Just to be on the safe side, you should still probably steer clear of grandma and grandpa.

Welcome to the Quantum Age where Fiction and Fact Intersect is a post from: Mysterious Universe

Episode 210 – Mysterious Universe Plus+

Benjamin Grundy — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:35:57 +0000

Hovering lights caught by a trail camera and classic strangeness from New Jersey kick us off on this week’s Plus+ exclusive.

We also feature Japanese Yokai, Chinese Fairies, and Mass Hysteria cases from New Zealand.

Show notes, music, and an oddly shaped tree after the jump.

This Episode is exclusive to Plus+ Members.

Existing members can login here.

UFO Captured by Texas Trail Cam?

Monsters of New Jersey Is Out

Big Red Eye

Humanoid / Cryptid Encounter Reports – Japan

The Most Isolated Man on the Planet

Ultradimensional UFO Thread

Click here to view the embedded video.

A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits

Outbreak! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior

Man Shot in Back of Head, Only Notices 5 Years Later

Banana-hating woman diagnosed with bananaphobia

The neuroscientist paralysed by love

Vagina tree predicts winning lotto numbers!

Music

Night Drugs – Idole via Tracasseur

Exile – Population Control (Samiyam Remix) via indie shuffle

DJ Krush – Song1 from the Zen Album [BUY]

Mount Kimbie – Carbonated [BUY]

Ragga Fonda – Libell [BUY]

Leftfield – El Cid [BUY]

Final Track

The XX – Shelter (Tiga Remix) via FUNKISM

Episode 210 – Mysterious Universe Plus+ is a post from: Mysterious Universe

Episode 411 – Mysterious Universe

Benjamin Grundy — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:39:17 +0000

On this week’s episode we discuss the recent mainstream media attention on the UFO phenomenon which has come about mainly via Leslie Kean’s new book, and the common misconceptions still surrounding the topic.

We again turn to Jason Offutt for a brand new Black Eyed Kid account in Ohio, take a look at new Crop Circles in the UK, and investigate another tale of communication with Sasquatch.

Show notes and music after the jump.

Leslie Kean On The Colbert Report

Chicago Tribune Revives the O’Hare UFO Incident

Michio Kaku Comments on UFOs

Stories in Pictures: Where are all the UFO Photos?

Where Are All the UFO Photos? (Here let me google that for you Mr. Corn)

The Best UFO Pictures Ever Taken (Oh, there you go. That wasn’t so hard was it?)

Britain goes crop circle crazy

PLANT ABNORMALITIES INDICATE PLASMA DISCHARGE

Copenhagen Suborbitals prepare to launch first private rocket, astronaut into space

Black-Eyed Kids in Ohio

The gift of the sasquatch – part one / part two

China’s nine-day traffic jam stretches 100km

Plus Content

You can join Plus+ by clicking HERE

UFOs in the 1950s: The Caribbean Crisis

Death that stalks the sleepwalker

10 Unbelievable Sleepwalking Stories

TCI – SP- 4 – Influences – Lon Strickler

The Phantom Barber of Pascagoula

The Moonburn Syndrome: Radiation Sickness and UFOs

Micah Hanks — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:17:31 +0000

Over the decades, there have been a number of UFO witnesses who have described having terrifying–and even sickening–experiences after UFO encounters.

These didn’t involve little green men attacking or experimenting on them, or even harassment by Men in Black, but instead dealt with odd symptomatic conditions that appeared to result from radiation poisoning, specifically for those who managed to be get particularly close to hovering or landed UFO craft.

During a recent conversation I shared with a friend of mine named Wes Owsley, we were discussing an interview he had conducted with physicist Stanton Friedman a while back. Friedman, with a background in nuclear physics that resulted in a Bachelors Degree and Master of Science from the University of Chicago, had worked for programs overseen by companies such as defense contractor McDonnell Douglas early in his career, at which time highly advanced, classified programs involving nuclear aircraft, rockets, and nuclear fuel sources for use in outer space were being undertaken. According to Owsley, Friedman indicated that, to his knowledge, the projects involving nuclear craft had been discontinued; but was this really the case?

Several incidents bring to mind the notion that, indeed, the U.S. Government may have continued working on advanced aircraft that drew flight power from nuclear sources. Sadly, the best evidence to support these claims exists in the injuries and ailments sustained by civilians who came into close proximity to these craft. One widely reported incident occurred in December 1980, when two women, Betty Cash and Vicky Landrum, along with Landrum’s seven-year-old grandson, witnessed a large diamond-shaped UFO hovering over the highway as they traveled home from dinner. As they approached the object, Betty stopped the car, and got out of the vehicle to observe the craft, which hovered over the highway in front of her, producing tremendous heat before leaving the area. As it disappeared, the witnesses say more than twenty military helicopters then appeared.

After the incident, all three victims suffered symptoms of radiation poisoning, with Betty Cash, who had gotten out of the vehicle, suffering the most. The Air Force was contacted, whom the individuals had hoped might provide medical assistance for their ailments. The officials they spoke with, however, denied any involvement in the event that had transpired. Betty Cash passed away in Birmingham, Alabama on the 18th anniversary of the event, having suffered a variety of cancers and other conditions that developed after her encounter. Her amazing story was documented in the 1990s by the popular program Unsolved Mysteries, featuring a variety of commentary from doctors and others involved in what became known as the Cash-Landrum Incident. To view Part One of the UM segment that originally aired, see the video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s Part Two (note the observations of all parties, including MUFON investigator John Schuessler, propose it may have been some kind of government craft that was involved):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Is it possible that secret nuclear programs continued throughout the several decades that followed Stanton Friedman’s years working for McDonnell Douglas? More importantly, did Betty Cash and her company encounter such a craft–an experimental vehicle with dangerous capabilities that perhaps weren’t fully known–that ultimately may have shortened her life? If the craft witnessed in December 1980 wasn’t of government origin, what else could it have been?

The Moonburn Syndrome: Radiation Sickness and UFOs is a post from: Mysterious Universe

Are UFOs About to Get the Colbert Bump?

Amelia Crater — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:01:44 +0000

Tonight, Monday, August 23, 2010, author Leslie Kean will take UFOs into truly alien territory–she’s flogging her book on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report.

True, a flying saucer author as a guest on a satire show doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence given the little-green-men ghetto mainstream media defaults to whenever the subject of UFOs is mentioned.

However, The Colbert Report usually doesn’t go after easy prey, so in fact Kean may fare better than she would on, say, Larry King.

Plus, there’s the Colbert Bump to consider.

The Colbert Bump may sound like a made-up, snarky-comedian kind of thing (the show is a satire after all). However, unlike some anomalous phenomenon I could name, the “Bump” has been documented: the boost to political candidates’ fund raising by the Bump has been studied and confirmed by a University professor. The Bump also turned the never-would-have- made- it- out- of- Stockholm Swedish hip-hop band Movits! into an overnight YouTube sensation. And, as previously reported on MU,the Bump transformed mild-mannered author Raj Patel into, well, a god.

If anyone in the ufology game can produce the desired Colbert Bump, Leslie Kean is it.

She first covered the UFO subject in 2000 with a feature story in the Boston Globe,
In 2002, she co-founded the Coalition for Freedom of Information (CFi), an independent alliance advocating for greater government openness on information about UFOs
As director of the CFi, she was the plaintiff in a successful, five-year Freedom of Information Act federal lawsuit against NASA.
In 2007, she co-organized a landmark Washington DC international press conference on official UFO investigations, which received media coverage around the world.

So, ufology already owes Leslie Kean many debts of gratitude, and thanks to the book’s scrupulous journalism and first-person accounts from military brass, pilots and government investigators, the new book is attracting the right kind of attention. She was even able to convince former Clinton White House Chief of Staff John Podesta to write the book’s forward, and since it’s been published it has been blurbed glowingly by many heavy-weight, science-types, including Aaron’s man-crush, Michio Kaku, who wrote:

“At last, a serious and thoughtful book about this controversial subject. Skeptics and true believers will find a treasure trove of insightful and eye opening information. This book is bound to set the gold standard for UFO research.”

Who knows? Maybe Monday night’s Comedy Central appearance will Bump flying saucers into the mainstream. Before we can say disclosure, ET be landing on the White House Lawn for photo ops with Obama and book signing appearances with Kean. And after that we won’t have UFOs to wonder about any more. Imagine that if you can, and remember, you’ll have Stephen Colbert to thank.

Are UFOs About to Get the Colbert Bump? is a post from: Mysterious Universe

Episode 209 – Mysterious Universe Plus+

Aaron Wright — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:44:17 +0000

This weekend’s Plus+ exclusive features Skinwalkers appearing on a Navajo reservation followed by a junior sasquatch sighted close by. Is there a link between the two, and who keeps stealing all the cat food?

We also discuss the new interview with Richard Hoagland and Steven Greer, and recent interviews with Russian Cosmonauts on the psychological stresses of life in space.

Hit the jump for videos, music, and show notes.

This Episode is exclusive to Plus+ Members.

Existing members can login here.

Shadow Men

Nick Redfern and Skinwalkers

Skinwalkers

Click here to view the embedded video.

Abduction

Fireballs!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Life in Space

Lose weight by going to Mars

Greer Vs. Hoagland

Booty Spells

Music

Opener from Gramatik’s Street Bangers Vol.3 [BUY]

Zappo – Four (Solan Remix) [BUY]

3rd track from Gramatik’s Street Bangers Vol.3 [BUY]

Dj Mitsu The Beats – Night In Vienna via Red Bull Music Academy

Guy Gerber & Luciano – Arcenciel [BUY]

Final Track

Ben Mono feat. Bajka – Protection (siriusmo radiomix) via ChromeMusic

Episode 209 – Mysterious Universe Plus+ is a post from: Mysterious Universe

Dreamland UFOs: Sleep Paralysis and Alien Apparitions

Micah Hanks — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 10:40:52 +0000

Only hours ago, I was wrapping up a radio appearance with Nick Redfern and Raven Meindel on their program “Exploring All Realms.” During the show, my friends and interviewers-for-the-evening were asking a variety of insightful questions about every manner of unusual strangeness, which becomes rather usual as I recount it on this blog. Among the subject matter addressed, at one point we discussed some of the otherworldly and nearly dreamlike descriptions of alien abduction described over the last several decades.

I have long felt that there is more to the alien abduction phenomenon than meets the eye, and though it may not be fair to completely dismiss the tangible aspects of what abductees relate, it would be silly to discount the less-tangible elements that begin to emerge with some consistency when studying the available literature. Many abductees report strange, archetypical imagery in their experiences, such as Betty Andreason’s encounter with an enormous, smoldering phoenix that spoke of itself with Christian overtones, or the appearances of certain animals, as reported by Whitley Streiber. Another grouping of experiences that also bear similarities to UFO abductions are the wide varieties of mystical states of altered consciousness, such as out of body experiences and, namely, sleep paralysis.

Writing for Psychology Today, Matthew Edlund, M.D., recounted recently how he came to draw a similar parallel, while discussing alien abductions during an interview in the early 1990s. “I offhandedly remarked that much of what ‘abductees’ described sounded like sleep paralysis: states between REM sleep and waking where people have bizarre and frightening out-of-body experiences,” Edlund wrote. “Uncanny human events are actually very common; about half the population experiences sleep paralysis.” Half the population does not report UFO encounters, however, much less abduction sequences.

Still, considering Edlund’s rational approaches toward the subject, it is interesting to consider whether, if we were to try and look at sleep paralysis as a purely medical phenomenon, we might learn anything different about the nature of what seems to be occurring. In truth, this could also be applied more broadly to a variety of elements associated with abductions, too. Let’s take a look at just one of them.

There is quite a bit of information available that involves the removal of strange objects that appear mysteriously in people’s bodies. These are sometimes metallic, sometimes glass-like, and sometimes are merely little amalgamations of organic matter. There is little recorded literature supporting a medical condition that coincides with the presence of these foreign objects in the body, which, to some researchers, might be evidence of an extraterrestrial device implanted in these individuals. After all, one of the more compelling pieces of data associated with these kinds of reports is the lack of any kind of surgical scars or “entry wounds” though which the objects could have entered. Occam’s Razor might suggest that the simple explanation here involves an advanced technology, capable of inserting the object so carefully that virtually no evidence of its existence would be left on the host’s exterior; but in spite of the extraordinary circumstances, the possibility that science might still be useful in helping solve the mystery has not yet been removed.

There are in fact medical conditions which could present circumstances similar to the appearance of a “foreign object” somewhere within the body of an alleged abductee, such as what is called a channelopathy. In this circumstance, a disease results from the disturbed function of ion channels in the body, or in some cases the proteins that regulate them. In other words, certain substances such as minerals taken into the body while eating, drinking, etc, may not process correctly, and hence they do not arrive for distribution throughout the body through the proper ion channels. Different variations of channelopathy result in different symptomatic conditions; for instance, Cystic fibrosis can result from a Chloride channelopathy. In the lesser known instance of, say, an iron channelopathy, iron deposits in the food one consumes are not properly absorbed into the body, and eventually a metabolic pathway is relegated within the body where they may be deposited over time.

In one such instance I recently heard of, related to me by a friend in the medical profession living in Alabama, an individual undergoing x-rays was found to have a small, metal ‘slug’ in his leg, which after removal, resembled a bullet that had ricocheted off a hard surface and entered the subject. No entry wounds existed, however, prompting one of the specialists on hand to recommend that tests be performed on the metallic object. Though it appeared to be iron, the object was found to be of unknown composition, and test results appeared inconclusive on most fronts. After a good bit of speculation, the man was tested for a rare form of channelopathy in which iron or other minerals may not be breaking down consistently in the body. Not to anyone’s surprise, the patient did indeed suffer from the channelopathy, which had apparently caused the strange iron relic to form naturally within his body! As far as test results showing that the object was of “unknown,” origin, this was due to years of various grades of iron, consumed naturally in the patient’s diet, being amassed together over time to form one singular lump of iron that appeared in his leg.

As this case illustrates, to understand the deeper nature of the alien abduction phenomenon, arguably, would have to call for a reconsideration of medical and environmental factors which perhaps only certain individuals experience. The point here is not to attempt to “debunk” alien abductions, but to have an honest dialogue about how certain circumstances in the UFO literature might bear similarity to natural phenomenon. In the long run, medical conditions that remain largely-unknown to science may provide insight into not only what occurs during an alien abduction, but also the conditions (like sleep paralysis) which are so often associated with the phenomenon. But what will be the end result? Will we finally have scientific explanations for one branch of phenomenology that remains hotly-contested, or will such revelations only widen the doors of perception that appear to indicate that a global–if not universal–awareness of strange phenomenon exists already?

Dreamland UFOs: Sleep Paralysis and Alien Apparitions is a post from: Mysterious Universe