an international and interdisciplinary journal of postmodern cultural sound, text and image
Volume 18, Spring 2021, ISSN 1552-5112
Blame It on the Moon, or UFO/UAPs and the Sacred Cow of
Extraterrestrial Life
An excerpt from the forthcoming
book, Baudrillard’s Castle: Notes from
the Hinterland.
I take valid research very seriously.[1]
Curt Bachman, Ph.D, clinical
psychologist
I was literally blown away.[2]
David Paulides, Missing 411, CanAm Missing
Project investigator
Look, I’ll save you some time. The
perpetrators of these animal mutilations are creatures from outer space.
Tex Graves, retired sheriff, Logan County, Colorado, interviewed in 1979 by
Linda Moulton Howe, investigative journalist, Earthfiles.com
The simulacrum is never that which
conceals the truth. It is the truth which conceals the fact that there is none.
The simulacrum is true.[3]
Jean Baudrillard
Editorial Note: Please be advised that care has been taken to present the
topic in as inoffensive a way as reasonably possible, but please be aware that
the subject matter and imagery may not be suitable for children and some may
find disturbing. Consider the suggestion that the essay be evaluated for
reading as one would an age-rated video game, film or other type of media. For
example, see the Entertainment Software Rating Board content guide for further information.
The limitations of reality are often self-imposed, but it would be foolish to believe that the very real limitations imposed upon us by the real itself and other coalescences of power do not exist. And in a very literal sense we are all subjects of one kind or another.
On September 7, 2020 David Paulides posted a video to his CanAm Missing Project Youtube channel. In that video he discussed cases of missing people. Paulides also read a viewer letter at the beginning of the episode. The letter was from clinical psychologist Curt Bachman, Ph.D. This letter revealed that Dr. Bachman had made an extraordinary discovery, based in part upon Paulides’ Missing 411 work which profiles certain cases of missing people that meet Paulides’ combined criteria of high strangeness: cases that do not include reasonably plausible alternative explanations.
Missing 411 cases seem to occur near water and/or mountainous areas or regions where granite is abundant, and feature individuals (or even whole planes that are never found, nor wreckage either, etc.) found with an oddly undetermined cause of death, though some cases feature autopsy reports where strange and high concentrations of chemicals are discovered, but are often incommensurate with the timeline of death and disappearance; cases often include a routine or odd point of separation from others during the journey or in a lead-up to the missing person event; at times persons may disappear and travel unreasonably long distances in inconceivably short periods of time across impenetrable terrain, and then may be found in treacherous locations that are generally inaccessible to people, creating doubt the persons may have arrived there on their own using normal methods of transportation or ambulation; search parties cover areas repeatedly, only to find the missing where they just looked previously, and K-9 dog trackers routinely fail to pick up a tracking scent in these cases, etc. There may be other attributes as well, but those are a few that seem to come up often enough to be included here. Who would take these people and why?
Bachman wrote in his letter to Paulides that he had found an extremely significant correlation between the dates of Missing 411 cases and the Moon; specifically, the lunar phase luminosity, or percentage of illumination.
So radical an observation in fact, is that most, or perhaps all, of the 1200+ missing persons cases Paulides has covered occurred during only three lunar phases. Bachman identifies that 12-17% of Missing 411 cases occurred during a New or Full Moon (0% or 100% illumination, respectively), 65-72% occurred during ≥ 75% or ≤ 25% illumination, and 36-43% of cases occurred during ≥ 90% or ≤ 10% illumination (Bachman, Ibid.):
I believe it is as hundreds of similar articles have been published in peer review journals on moon phases/cycles on topics such as homicides and suicides… This line of inquiry is backed by a good deal of prior research, especially related to death. In that research, I must note, the vast majority considered any case that was 75% or brighter a Full Moon and 25% or less a New Moon. That is quite a broad way to define a data set, but even in doing so, much of those studies found very little correlation. My analysis was much tighter. I not only looked at how many cases fell EXACTLY on a Full or New moon (the chances of a case falling on a Full Moon in a month for example is 3.39%), but I categorized cases by how many fell above 75% and below 25% illumination. Additionally, I counted how many cases fell above 90% illumination and below 10% illumination. Of course, 75% illumination is quite bright and 25% illumination is noticeably dark. 90% and 10% in either direction is VERY bright or VERY dark… I will tell you right now that I wouldn't be writing to you if this research was "mixed" or was similar to the prior mentioned results in other areas. I was astounded… What is astonishing is that the data is consistent… When I look at the data, over 1200 cases, it is very clear that a person is much more likely to go missing in both the classic definition of a Full and New moon presented in the large body of research out there on moon phases (25% or less and 75% or more) as well as, unbelievably, on actual Full and New moon days (rarely analyzed in the literature). Even with such strict restriction on the data set, the cases in your book(s) are still way outside what would be seen by chance… in all the literature I reviewed on suicides and moon phases, crime and moon phases, and homicides and moon phases, I did not find one that comes anywhere close to such a close association as I see with your cases (Bachman, Ibid).
Outstanding work on extreme phenomena: Paulides’ missing 411 case
identification and Bachman’s lunar phase association!
Now, we may better understand the reality of Missing 411 cases and we also have been shown a precise statistical correlation that appears to be a circumstantial smoking gun. Bachman: “In fact I ran statistical analyses on each data set for each book that assessed whether the results were more than just could be found by chance. Every test but one was EXTREMELY significant or meaningful. Those who read your books, especially the skeptics, want hard evidence or data. This information is irrefutable (Ibid.; note, David Paulides’ books may be purchased on the CanAm Missing 411 website).”
Blame it on the moon.
Reality labyrinthine: Missing 411 cases are not the only phenomena that correlate with these particular lunar phases: animal mutilations, UFO abductions, sightings and encounters appear to correlate as well. I will not exhaust a review of such cases here, and I assume that exceptions may exist, but I’d like to explore examples of the correlation, to further inquire as to the fidelity or infidelity of such a relationship.
Let’s begin with the Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction.
Betty and Barney Hill were taken while driving from Montreal, Canada to Portsmouth, New Hampshire; overnight, and experienced missing time for hours during the night hours of September 19-20, 1961.
“The official state marker identifying the Betty and Barney Hill incident
along Route 3 in Lincoln.”
Source: Concord Monitor[4]
The abduction occurred within Bachman’s active lunar phase range, overnight, during a nearly Full moon. The lunar phase at that time was 68% illumination for September 19, 1961 and 78% illumination for September 20, 1961.
September 19, 1961 and September 20, 1961, Source:
moongiant.com
What’s different about the Moon during this lunar phase, other than the obvious percentage of luminosity? Who or what would appreciate, rely upon or utilize that difference?
We’ll speculate on these questions in what follows, but before we do, let’s examine an animal mutilation case.
On September 7, 1967, a ranch horse went missing. Two days later it was found, a quarter mile from the ranch house, characteristically sampled (i.e. biologically, gustatorily, who knows?) and/or mutilated as so many others have been found and reported.
Source: Chris Root. “UFOs and a Horse Called Snippy.”
Denver Public Library History, 20 Oct. 2020.[5]
The lunar phase during September 7, 1967 in this Colorado case, which occurred on the 3rd day after the new moon of September 4, 1967 – was near 0% luminosity, hovering above at 13% illumination.
September 7, 1967: 13% illumination, Source: moongiant.com
We might ask, is it possible that many of the animals, and even human beings, who disappear only to be found subsequently mutilated, as well as the missing persons of the Missing 411 profile, many of which are never found, and further, many people that are allegedly abducted by UFO/UAPs, etc. - are significantly more likely to be taken during these particular moon phases? We’ll examine more cases in what follows, but the answer appears to be, “Yes.”
Given the research by Paulides, Bachman et al. we now must also wonder what sort of effects the lunar phase has upon whoever or whatever is the abductor. Let’s discuss some of the relevant scientific research in that regard.
The Sun, Moon and Earth have a
very interesting interlocking relationship. During times of high or low Moon
luminosity on Earth, the light of the Sun is being maximally or minimally cast
upon the side of the Moon that faces the Earth, respectively. Now here is where
this story, as if it were not already intriguing, becomes scientifically
phenomenal. When I studied molecular and microbiology as an undergraduate in
science (I would go on to become an artist, philosopher and professor, but
that’s another story) I took many courses in physics, advanced organic
chemistry and calculus, etc.; some required, some not, but in either case, I
don’t recall it ever being discussed that the Earth’s gaseous atmosphere, often
referred to as the geocorona, extended far beyond the planet itself. As
we’ll see in a moment, apparently this is true. In the 20th century,
instead the more common notion of the magnetosphere had been postulated
and examined in that regard, leading to the discovery, for example, of the Van
Allen radiation belts.
“A Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energetic
charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind that is captured
by and held around a planet by that planet's magnetic field. The Earth has two
such belts and sometimes others may be temporarily created.” Source: NASA
vis-à-vis Wikipedia
Again, it has only recently been determined that Earth’s gaseous atmosphere, its geocorona, actually “stretches out to the Moon – and beyond”![6]
Between the physical and/or
metaphysical properties of the magnetosphere and Earth’s geocorona, the solar
wind and the variable lunar phase position of the Moon, it may well be that the
species, singular or plural, whether organic, inorganic, robotic,
artificial intelligence (AI), or a hybrid of them all - is targeting not simply
human beings, but earthlings (i.e. human beings, cattle, horses, etc.).
It may be that the species prefers or even needs to conduct this activity when
specific geomagnetic and/or orbital conditions, and/or metaphysical
circumstances are present.
Source: Click here for a video animation of Earth’s magnetosphere. NASA[7]
Indeed, it appears that the
position of the Moon relative to the Earth and the Sun (i.e. lunar phase)
figures heavily in terms of the whomever or whatever perpetrator’s
opportunistic convenience or self-preservational risk analysis conducted when
executing its ‘activities.’ Such is one theory that appears to fit the
scientific data that correlates with the extreme phenomena of high strangeness.
Source: NASA[8]
The video above is an
excellent visualization of the lunar phase relationship on an annual basis.
What is clear from the data shown regarding lunar phase in relation to the
extreme phenomena associated with UFO/UAPs, is that the incidents are more
likely to occur either when the Moon is between and sheltering some
region of space between the Earth and the Sun (i.e. a mostly New Moon) or when
the Earth is between and sheltering some region of space between the Sun
and the Moon (i.e. a mostly Full Moon).
According to the work of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and others:
A recent discovery based on observations by the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory, SOHO, shows that the gaseous layer that wraps around Earth reaches
up to 630,000 km away, or 50 times the diameter of our planet. “The Moon flies through Earth’s atmosphere,”
says Igor Baliukin of Russia’s Space Research Institute, lead author of the
paper presenting the results. “We were
not aware of it until we dusted off observations made over two decades ago by
the SOHO spacecraft.”[9]
How might the Moon, Sun and Earth’s unsettled, yet entwined being be perturbated by lunar phase, Earth’s atmosphere and the solar wind plasma of charged particles constantly streaming from the Sun toward Earth and the Moon? How might such being hamper or enhance hypothesized electromagnetic spacetime anomalies theorized as possible travel portals or orbital space travel in itself, Earth’s magnetosphere, or travel to and from the Moon itself? Though we have some experience in that regard, much is unknown. We have learned, for example:
The first telescope on the Moon, placed by Apollo 16 astronauts in 1972,
captured an evocative image of the geocorona surrounding Earth and glowing
brightly in ultraviolet light. “At that
time, the astronauts on the lunar surface did not know that they were actually
embedded in the outskirts of the geocorona,” says Jean-Loup.[10]
This ‘geocorona’ of atmosphere envelops the Moon as follows:
“For
the first time, we are able to measure with these SWAN observations the H
geocoronal density at the orbit of the Moon…it can be concluded that the
geocorona extends well beyond the Moon's orbit. Therefore, the Moon is orbiting
within the atmosphere of the Earth, a somewhat striking feature.”[11]
It is vital to note the importance of this discovery, at least because
the Earth-Moon geocoronal finding illustrates how little we understand
(notwithstanding, however much we may actually know), about the relationship
between interplanetary systems, space and our solar system - even so seemingly
fundamental a feature regarding whether or not Earth’s atmosphere connects to
the Moon.
Other strange features of the Moon-Earth-Sun nexus include the play of the ‘Earth wind,’ solar wind and the magnetosphere:
“Artist's depiction of the Moon in the magnetosphere, with
"Earth wind" made up of flowing oxygen ions (gray) and hydrogen ions
(bright blue), which can react with the lunar surface to create water. The Moon
spends >75% of its orbit in the solar wind (yellow), which is blocked by the
magnetosphere the rest of the time.” Credit: E. Masongsong, UCLA EPSS, NASA
GSFC SVS.[12]
Research by Shang et al. describes that the Moon enters a peculiar region of Earth’s protective magnetosphere, called the magnetotail, particularly during the Full Moon phase, but that solar wind, at times may compress the magnetotail, exposing the Moon to the solar wind of the magnetopause, where Earth’s magnetic field ends: “Each lunar month, the Moon typically enters the terrestrial magnetotail for several days around full moon and is exposed to the solar wind or magnetosheath for the remainder of its orbit…”[13] However, observations and simulations show that a “compressed and deflected magnetopause in response to the shock arrival and solar wind velocity change…means the lunar nearside surface can be effectively impacted by the solar wind plasma during this period.”[14] All of this is exceptionally notable, the fact that a Full Moon is to an extent shielded from the destructive power of the charged particles that constitute the solar wind - by the Earth’s magnetosphere and geocorona, and also that the nearside lunar surface is particularly susceptible to bombardment by solar wind outside of such protection. Who or what else is offered protection by the Earth’s magnetosphere and geocorona at this time, near or during the Full Moon?
“When the solar wind blows, Earth's magnetosphere can flap in
the breeze. When it's strong enough, it can expose the Moon to particle
radiation.” Credits: Genna Duberstein/ADNET/Q.Q. Shi/Shandong Univ.[15]
The strictest path to reason is self-evident: lunar phase affects the theoretical path of travel between the Moon and Earth, and/or the electromagnetic and geocoronal fields at specific lunar phases affect other theoretical portal pathways in such a way as to facilitate an increase in the extreme phenomena presented. Such is the emergent hypothesis based upon the strong correlation. Circumstantial, it is true, but too significant to ignore.
Near Full and Full Moon scenarios considered, let’s see what research has to say about the Near New and New Moon phases and their relationship to the Earth and Sun, etc. Specifically, let’s talk about the Lunar Wake.
The Lunar Wake extends towards
Earth (and Earth’s geocorona and magnetosphere) while the Moon is between the
Earth and Sun during the Near New and New Moon phases. Lunar Wake studies have
shown that, within the wake:
The ion and electron number densities both show reductions clearly associated with the moon. The minimum densities measured are about 20 times lower than the solar wind densities measured just before entry into the wake. While the electron temperature increases in the wake by a factor of about four, the ion temperature remains fairly constant. The magnetic field strength rose in the wake as reported previously [Ness et aI. 1968; 1969].[16]
Halekas et al. also share that
“when the Moon passes through the near vacuum of the geomagnetic tail of the
Earth each lunar month around full Moon, its presence becomes more important.
In this unique environment, the lunar-derived charged particle density becomes
comparable to the ambient value, and the presence of the lunar ionosphere can
appreciably affect its surroundings.”[17]
Given what we are beginning to understand regarding the Near Full and Full Moon phases and interactions with surrounding plasma, Earth’s magnetosphere and geocorona, it is reasonable to speculate that with the recognition of yet another phenomenon, the Lunar Wake, perhaps all three effects combine to provide some level of synergistic perturbation of the solar wind and geomagnetic activity during the Near New and New Moon phases.
Source: New Moon: COSMOS.
https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/n/New+Moon.
With regard to the Lunar Wake in
its solar wind plasma environment, research has found that: “Compared to
hydrodynamic flows around solid objects, the flow of plasma onto moons with
very dilute atmospheres leads to absorption of plasma on the surfaces of the
upstream side. This effect causes the formation of a wake of void plasma on the
downstream side.”[18]
Hence it reasonable to posit that within its milieu the Lunar Wake mitigates
the solar wind. Akimov et al. indicate that “in the declining branch of the
solar cycle, the highest values of the Ap-index relative to an average value
are observed near new moon. The difference of the Ap-index values for new moon
and full moon is approximately 18%,”[19] with other research in the
article leading to the conclusion that “the mechanism of the Moon’s effect on
the earth’s magnetosphere is different essentially for intervals near new moon
and full moon.”[20]
The higher Ap-index of geomagnetic activity during the Near New or New Moon
phase may enhance the protective or enabling travel or portal effects of
Earth’s magnetosphere or geocorona. Mendoza et al. “identified solar and
lunar-associated periodicities in the Aa time series and found statistically
significant Aa minima values a few days before the full Moon and high Aa values
during the new Moon,”[21]
in another study of active geomagnetic amplitude. Further, Bevington reports
“evidence of electromagnetic fields associated with the Earth’s magnetotail at
full moon during the night, and similar, but more limited, effects from the
Moon’s wake on the magnetosphere at new moon during the day. The disturbance of
the magnetotail is perhaps shown by measurements of electric fields of up to 16
V/m compared with the usual <1 V/m.”[22]
When the interplanetary space between the Earth and Moon is arguably most shielded from the solar wind (i.e. around the New and Full moon phases, etc.) - appears to be exactly when a significant number of UFO/UAP events are reported by people and researchers all over the world.
On March 8, 2009 Mike Duran said it was “weird and unexplainable” how he lost a Red Angus cow to a mutilation event, “her udder and rear end removed with what he describes as ‘laser cuts, like when somebody cuts metal with a torch.’”[23] The local sheriff’s deputy said “We can’t come up with anything…we’ve seen these before and they are all kind of the same. No one has ever explained it. Northern New Mexico has had some of these same cases, and in those cases they never got any further than we did.”[24] The Lunar Phase on the date of mutilation: Near Full Moon, illumination 91%.
March 8, 2009 Source: moongiant.com
The first saucer sighting is often attributed to an Idaho pilot named Kenneth Arnold, when he observed and reported seeing what he described as objects that flew and sounded like saucers skipping across the water on June 24, 1947.[25] The Lunar Phase on that date was a Waxing Crescent with only 39% illumination, which would not really fit in the active lunar range analysis shown by Bachmann, unless you take into account the fact that “the illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day.”[26] More interestingly, soon thereafter, “on July 4, a United Airlines crew reported seeing another collection of nine disk-like objects in the skies over Idaho.”[27] The Lunar Phase on July 4, 1947, was essentially a Full Moon (i.e. one day after a Full Moon), with an illumination of 99%. And of course, then there’s the Roswell event which took place at around the very same time. That’s a lot of classic UFO history that fits right into the active lunar phase range for the case phenomena presented.
Moving back into the animal mutilation phenomena for a moment, the proclivity of cases to meet the active lunar range analysis criteria is uncanny. Take for example, the case of Colorado rancher John Mahan, who mysteriously ‘lost’ an Angus bull and pregnant cow on or just around September 6, 2018. The animals were found in a bizarre state, as the “cow and a bull were both killed overnight. An ear cut off. A section of hide detached. The scrotum and penis carefully removed. The vaginal cavity gone. The blood drained. No discernible tracks were found near the carcasses, which were lying near an infrequently traveled road. Little blood was found on the ground and the cow was wedged up into a tree as if trying to escape from something.”[28] As is often the case in these situations, an investigator noted that they “found the cattle almost a week after they were dead and not a single coyote, not a single bird, squirrel, chipmunk or whatever has even gotten near them.”[29]
Photo/John Mahan – “This bull and cow were brutally killed on
John Mahan's ranch north of Williams the week of Sept. 2, 2018.”[30]
Investigators have also noted that the surveillance capacities of the perpetrators are remarkably uncanny: “These cows haven’t been here but eight or nine weeks,” Reidhead said. “It took somebody who knew they were in here to find them. These cows weren’t advertised, you don’t see them every day. There is so much vegetation that your visibility is 30 to 40 feet.”[31]
We must note here that the visibility from afar afield above, would be far greater. The lunar phase for this case: Near New Moon with a 15% illumination.
But why abduct? Why sample/mutilate? Why present oneself to the world of humanity to see and ponder (sightings/encounters)? What kind of a species does these things? We do, of course.
But who else? The official narratives are beginning to converge. Yes, there are extraterrestrials:
For scientists words like ‘paranormal’ are usually found in close association with ‘career-suicide’ and the like. One could, I suppose, suggest that the paranormal ‘exists’ in as much as demonstrably all humans are psychic wrecks and that in the final analysis all this reveals is our fathomless capacity for make-believe and wish fulfilment. Yet what I find so striking with these occurrences is that to say that delusion and fraud are sufficient explanations is surely more incredible than acknowledging that the sorts of occurrences given by Charles Fort (and many others) are so ubiquitous that they demand an explanation that reaches far beyond sociology or anthropology, let alone mass delusion. To my way of thinking the inescapable conclusion is that parallel ‘worlds’ intrude or intersect with ours… To conclude, of course extraterrestrials exist, but not at all in the way you ever dreamt possible.[32]
And yes, of course there are UFO/UAPs. Officially, perhaps Senator Rubio of Florida put it best: “There is stuff flying in our airspace… We don't know what it is. We need to find out.”[33]
Many agree, there is stuff:
Former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on March 19 that the report would include information that cannot easily be explained. Ratcliffe said some UFO sightings have been declassified in the past, but the report will present more information to the American people. "There have been sightings all over the world," he said. "And when we talk about sightings, the other thing I will tell you, it’s not just a pilot or just a satellite or some intelligence collection. Usually, we have multiple sensors that are picking up these things."[34]
Regardless, there are extreme cases that received little widespread publicity but that circulate in conceivably mainstream respectable sources such as the History Channel, who incidentally, have recently embarked upon the presentation of a second season of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.
Source: “The Dark Connection Between UFOs and Grisly
Mutilations.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 10 Jan. 2020[35]
One case involves an Air Force member. The airman was evidently abducted and then found days later, sampled and/or mutilated: “Air Force sergeant Jonathan P. Lovette, who was assisting Major William Cunningham in the White Sands missile testing grounds near Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico… was dragged by a long serpentine arm, wrapped around his legs, connected to a silver disk hovering in the air 15 to 20 feet away,” and three days later… “Lovette’s nude corpse was discovered—some 10 miles from the site of the alleged abduction…the body had been exposed to the elements for 24 to 48 hours. According to English, the report offered no explanation of what might account for the missing third day, and the autopsy performed on Lovette,” revealed “his tongue had been cut from the lower portion of the jaw, his eyes gouged out and his anus removed. In the Air Force medical examination report pertaining to the incident, English alleges that the coroner remarked on the apparent surgical skill used to remove the organs—in particular that the anus and genitalia had been neatly extracted like a plug. Perhaps most puzzling was the fact that the body had been completely drained of blood, but surprisingly, there was no vascular collapse usually associated with death by bleeding.”[36]
Lovette’s case reflects the same level of bizarreness that cattle mutilations present. Unfortunately, no date has been given, other than the broad identification of March 1956. It’s a good bet given the aforementioned research, that the date of abduction occurred during the active lunar phase range. However, in another case involving a human being from 1988, the date has been identified as September 27, 1988, as originally reported in UFO Magazine, September/October 1995.[37] The lunar phase for that date was a Waning Gibbous (two days after the Full Moon) with a 96% illumination.[38] The History Channel describes the case as follows:
While easily disregarded as fiction, the alleged 1956 New Mexico incident offers intriguing parallels to other reported mutilations both past and present. In 1988, a body was allegedly found at the Guarapiranga Reservoir in Brazil. According to reports, the victim had been dead for 48 to 72 hours, but there was no sign of decomposition. The eyes, ears, tongue and genitalia had been removed, as had the digestive organs. Officials were never able to identify the victim.[39]
It may be tempting to avoid the psychological confrontation suggested by these cases by brushing them away as fictionalizations, but we can never know the truth, until we actually do. And even then, the strain in recent years to identify the epistemological allegiance of facts to the real rather than to fiction, has only grown greater with the increasing virtualization of reality, covering the real like the Borgesian map Jean Baudrillard was so fond of as an example.
In parting, let’s also recognize innumerable additional cases, where the reported dates fit the active lunar phase profile. The breadth of extreme phenomena over time and their correlation with the lunar phase is beyond remarkable. In the interest of parting brevity, the cases will simply be identified with a source and the lunar phase given for that date as reported by moongiant.com:
1. 1952 Washington, DC UFO/UAP double encounter/flyby (2 events, July 19 and 26);[40] Lunar phases, respectively: Waning crescent, illumination: 6% and Waxing Crescent, illumination: 17%[41]
2. Travis Walton abduction in 1975;[42] Lunar phase: Waxing Crescent, illumination: 5%[43]
3. City of Socorro Police Officer Lonnie Zamora UFO sighting in 1964;[44] Lunar phase: Waxing Gibbous, illumination: 95%[45]
4. Betty Andreasson abduction in 1967;[46] Lunar phase: Waxing Gibbous, illumination: 99%[47]
5. Pascagoula abduction, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker in 1973;[48] Lunar phase: Waxing Gibbous: 99%[49]
6. Phoenix lights mass sighting in 1997;[50] Lunar phase: Waxing Crescent, illumination: 25%[51]
7. Japanese Airlines JAL 1628 UFO Encounter;[52] Lunar phase: Waning Gibbous: 99%[53]
8. Oregon cattle mutilation in 2019;[54] Lunar phase: Waning Gibbous, illumination: 90%[55]
9. Oregon cattle mutilation in 2020;[56] Lunar phase: Waxing Crescent, illumination: 4%[57]
10. Oregon cattle mutilation in 2021;[58] Lunar phase: Waxing Gibbous, illumination: 96%[59]
11. Oregon cattle mutilation in 2021;[60] Lunar phase: Waxing Gibbous, illumination: 93%[61]
In addition to the eleven cases listed directly above, there is a battery of cases that so closely align with the active lunar phase that it doesn’t ‘defy logic,’ rather it defines the logic of a significant portion of the UFO/UAP phenomena under current investigation:
Source:
“FAA Data Shows Strange Pattern Of Military Encounters With Unidentified
Aircraft.”[62] Nearly all of the encounter dates in
the graphic fall within the active lunar range for a Near New or Near Full Moon
occurrence or better. #11 and #12 do not and are identified by witnesses as
resembling a ‘red balloon.’ This means that 87% of the encounters, which span
four years in time – all occurred on a Near New or Near Full Moon, or better
(i.e. on a New Moon or Full Moon).
Source:
Ibid. Again, nearly all of the encounter dates in the graphic fall within the
active lunar range for a Near New or Near Full Moon occurrence or better. #2
and #4 did not occur within the expected lunar phase. Still, this means that
75% of the encounters in this graphic, which spans the year 2020 – all occurred
on a Near New or Near Full Moon, or better (i.e. on a New Moon or Full Moon).
Extreme phenomena often require such a necrospective as a reminder that no matter what is made to circulate unfreely by the limitations of an imposed reality, the real remains the same:
We know to what
dangerous extremities prophylaxis can lead to in all domains: social, medical,
economic or political. In the name of the highest possible degree of security,
an endemic terror can be installed, an obsession of control that often
equals the epidemic dangers of catastrophe. One thing is certain: the
complexity of initial data, the potential reversibility of all effects, make it
impossible to have illusions regarding any shape or form of rational
intervention…This does not invalidate what can be done in the sphere of our
ethical, ecological or economic lives – but it relativizes everything carried
to the level of the symbolic which is that of destiny.[63]
Epilogue: A theory-fiction
We made our way across a land that appeared like a tundra. It felt like we had been traveling for quite some time and moving very quickly in a vehicle of unknown origin. In fact, I could not see the vehicle, but we moved just the same. I and two sons, one older by several years than the younger, who was only eight at the time. To the right was an ocean, a dark icey blue, with beautifully shaped waves coming in regular sets, a strong swell upon the coast. Birds were flying across the entire sky blue above the ocean, an endless mass of black, migrating objects in flight. We leaned in the vehicle as we lurched toward the left and then suddenly we were walking, away from the sea, and to the right, a granite ridge of great proportion, towering at maybe twelve feet high and it stretched ahead so we could not see when the ridge ended.
The land in front of us descended to the left, and my older son ran ahead. I called for him to slow down, but he was already getting far ahead as he is swift. My younger son could not keep up so I had to stop to wait for him and I became pinned between them, unable to leave the younger son behind, but unable to chase the older son who appeared to have lost his good sense by running so far ahead of us in this beautiful but strange place.
I looked ahead at the running son and back at the younger son who was now stationary and to my right was the ever-present granite ridge. Again, I turned to keep my eye at the older son and turned again to look back at the younger, trying to decide what to do - and all of a sudden everything changed: I was now behind the huge granite ridge! It made no sense. I froze in place.
The younger son was calling my name, I could hear him to my right, only very faint behind the ridge – he’d lost sight of me and was now distraught. And the older son now seemed to be coming back as I could now hear him calling out to me but he too was a whisper behind the solid rock ridge. Ahead of me was forest and grass and darkness. I dared not move from the spot where I could still hear their voices. I felt if I moved at all - I would never find my way back again. I tried to scream in calling for them both, but there was no sound, all of it absorbed as if underwater or in a vacuum. I hadn’t taken a single step forward, and remained frozen with indecision, not knowing how to get out of the situation, and fearful of being separated from my children forever in this strange magical place.
Instinctually – just a feeling, nothing at all of thought or idea - I felt as if I could turn slightly to my right and walk along a thin ravine ledge of reality and make my way back then through the ridge itself, walking through the rock like a ghost. There was a sense imparting a feeling of everything being just around the bend – but there was no bend, just a long line of a wall of stone that seemed endless. I could not know the outcome of making a move. Again, there was also a strong sense that if I moved at all, I would never find the way back that surely existed but that was so strangely hidden. I finally let go and moved slowly to my right, but almost walking backward while, leaning into the rock knowing I would simply collide with it and then what? However, I was sure not to actually attempt to retrace my steps because it simply felt wrong and a common trick or trap to do so.
And just like that I was back in front of my youngest son, who was crying and almost frantic, while my older son was still running around as if possessed by a madness. And he began to run off again, when the younger son quickly picked up as a big a branch as he could wield and smacked the older one down to the ground screaming “Don’t move or I’ll smack you again!!”
We were dazed and stood looking at each other wondering what had just happened? And then it was nightfall, in an instant…
an international and interdisciplinary journal of postmodern cultural sound, text and image
Volume 18, Spring
2021, ISSN 1552-5112
Notes