THUNDERBIRDS

The thunderbird’s name is said to originate from the belief that the beating of its enormous wings causes thunder and stirs the wind. The Lakota name for the thunderbird is Wakį́nyąn, from wakhąn, meaning “sacred”, and kįyą, meaning “winged”. The Kwakwaka’wakw have many names for the thunderbird, and the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) called it Kw-Uhnx-Wa. The Ojibwa word for a thunderbird that is closely associated with thunder is animikii, while large thunderous birds are known as binesi.
The thunderbirds or Rocs, as they are sometimes referred to, are legendary creatures in certain North American native peoples history and culture. They are frequently depicted in their oral histories and songs and are considered a supernatural bird of power and strength. The Thunderbird symbol is one of the most dominant icons in indigenous American Indian culture.

thunderbird-clkr

Though the thunderbird’s origins are largely unknown, reports of these elusive creatures go back centuries, and some researchers believe that they may be descendants of the extinct Pterosaurs which first appeared in the late Triassic period some 228 to 66 million years ago until the end of the Cretaceous period.

 

images

PteranodonThunderbird Sightings.

19th Century

  • In April 1890, two cowboys in Arizona allegedly shot and killed a giant bird-like creature with an enormous wingspan. It was described as having smooth skin, featherless wings similar to a bat and an alligator-like face. The  description bore similarities to that of a prehistoric pterodactyl—an animal whose existence was known at the time. On dragging the creature back to town, they nailed the carcass across the entire length of a barn, where it was photographed with wings outstretched.
According to crypto zoologist Mark Hall, the Tombstone Epitaph printed a story about the capture of a large, unusual winged creature on April 26, 1890. Beyond this solitary story, however, no one has discovered any historic corroboration that this event ever occurred; it is usually considered an urban legend. Utterly fictional tall tales were not an uncommon feature in newspapers during this era. To date, no one has ever produced a copy of the alleged photograph.

Early 20th Century

  • On April 10, 1948, three individuals in Overland, Illinois spotted what they at first thought was a passing plane. However, when it began flapping its wings they realised that the ‘plane’ was nothing of the sort. Shortly after this encounter, a man and his son saw what they described as being an enormous bird creature over Alton, Illinois. They estimated the creature to be at an altitude of at least 500 ft. They described the shadow it cast on the ground as being the same size of a small passenger plane.

Late 20th Century

  • 3473447-thunderbird-the_monster_hunter's_survival_guide#2In the late twentieth century there was a spike in Thunderbird sightings. Among the most controversial of them was the Lawndale, July 25, 1977 encounter. It took place around 9 pm. As three boys were playing in a residential back yard, they were approached by two large birds who began chasing them. Two of the boys managed to evade them but the third, ten-year-old Marlon Lowe, was captured by one of them when it clamped its talons onto his shoulders and lifted him two feet into the air. The terrified youngster fought against his winged assailant, which finally released him.
  • In 2002, an Alaskan pilot flying from the village of Manakotak to the village of Togiak, with several passengers aboard, reported an encounter with a large, raptor-like bird with a wingspan almost equal to his airplane. In an article published in the Anchorage Daily News the pilot was quoted as saying  that the bird looked  like something out of Jurassic Park. The article further stated that other people who lived in the region had also witnessed a similar creature on several occasions around the same time.
The above pilot’s description of the ‘bird’ is notable in that he likens it to ‘something out of Jurassic Park’, suggesting the creature was not feathered. This would appear to rule out the possibility of it being a Condor, Eagle, or any other known large raptor bird. The Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere.
The Andean condor (Vulture gryphus) which inhabits the Andean mountains.

Andean condor

The California condor (Gypnogyps californianus) currently restricted to the western coastal mountains of the United States and Mexico and the northern desert mountains of Arizona.

California condor

Could there be  large, surviving, species of  avians – throwbacks to earlier epochs – who have the capabilities to carry off  animals and children? Certainly, such a creature would have a wingspan way in excess of the largest birds know today in order to do so. Herein lies a paradox. If such a species does exist how have they managed, thus far, to avoid detection for so long?
What little photographic evidence there is of these Thunderbirds is dubious, as are videos purporting to show them in flight. The problem with many images is the lack of perspective. The size of the bird is impossible to calculate when seen against a featureless aerial background, as the above image demonstrates.   To calculate it’s true size would require an image showing known objects within the same field of view as the bird,  such as buildings or other objects with measurable dimensions (see image below).

Thunderbird

For the sake of argument, let’s assume we know the man in the forefront  of this image to be 6 ft tall, then this would make this bird’s wingspan to be approximately 25 ft. and it’s length from beak to tail approximately 10ft.

Many civilisations use culturally relevant stories to instil in their people the  notion and importance of fellowship and respect  for the power of nature. Moreover, the native American Thunderbird serves as an allegorical figure, illustrating deeper truths concerning the struggles of life and the changes within it. It reminds its people that change is inevitable. It is seen as an agent of change that helps determine behaviour within the dynamics of both family and community.
As stated earlier in this article, the origins of the Thunderbird are largely a mystery. Some researchers are of the opinion that the legend is based on the sightings of real birds, some even positing the argument that early sightings could have been of descendants of the pterodactyl dinosaur species.  In so doing, the thunderbird has been transformed from being a mythical  spiritual creature into a potential cryptid. Our Westernised ethnocentric biases have reduced it to little more than a zoological curiosity.

© David Calvert 2016

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Spring-Heeled Jack

spring_heeled_jack_by_chrisrawlins-d567j46
The first claimed sighting of Spring-heeled Jack was in 1837, during the Victorian era. Later sightings were reported all over Great Britain and were especially prevalent in suburban London, the Midlands and Scotland. This urban legend later became the topic of several works of fiction, due in no small way to his ability to leap great distances and his bizarre appearance. The questions as to his  nature and identity has spawned many theories.
Though Jack’s legend began in London the last reported sighting of him is said to have taken place in Liverpool in 1904.

October 1837 Encounter:

Mary Stevens, a servant who worked at Lavender HIll, was walking to work from her parents’ home in Battersea when a strange figure leapt from a dark alley on her way through Clapham Common. Gripping her tightly, he began ripping at her clothes and touching her flesh with cold clammy hands. When she screamed in terror her attacker fled the scene. On hearing the commotion, several residents appeared on the scene and launched an immediate search for her attacker. Despite their quick response, they could find neither hide nor hair of him.
The following day he reappeared, this time leaping in front of a passing carriage, causing the coachman to lose control and crash. The coachman was severely injured in the incident. The incident was witnessed by several people who claimed Jack escaped by leaping over a 9 ft (2.7 m) wall. As he made his get-away, the witnesses heard a high-pitched, ringing laughter coming from him.
Bit by bit, the news of the sinister character spread, and soon the press and the public gave him the name “Spring-heeled Jack”.
later sightings of Jack were reported all over Britain, including the Midlands and Scotland. His hunting ground was expanding. He was described by people who claimed to have seen him as having a terrifying and frightful appearance, with diabolical physiognomy, clawed hands, and eyes that “resembled red balls of fire”. Other aspects to this seemingly supernatural entity are as follows:
  • He had eyes that “resembled red balls of fire”.
  • Beneath a black cloak, he wore a helmet and a tight-fitting white garment like an oilskin.
  • That he possessed a “Devil-like” aspect. 
  • That he was tall and thin, with the appearance of a gentleman. 
  • That he could breathe out blue and white flames and that he wore sharp metallic claws at his fingertips. 
  • That he was able to speak comprehensible English (according to at least two witnesses).

Forerunners To Spring-Heeled Jack.

In the early 19th century, there were reports of ghosts that stalked the streets of London and preyed on lone individuals. These human-like figures, some writers have argued, formed the foundation of the  legend to be Spring-heeled Jack. The first was the Hammersmith Ghost, which in 1803 and 1804 was reported in Hammersmith on the western fringes of London.
Another apparition, the Southampton ghost, was also reported as attacking individuals in the night. This particular entity bore many of the characteristics of Spring-heeled Jack, and was reported as jumping over houses and being over 10 ft. (3.0 m) tall.

Official Recognition.

Sir John CowanSome months after the first sightings in 1838 Sir John Cowan, the then Lord Mayor of London,  revealed at a public session held in the Mansion House that he had in his possession an anonymous complaint that he had received several days earlier, which he had held back in the hope of obtaining more information. The anonymous correspondent had signed the letter simply as “a resident of Peckham”. In it the writer had penned:
‘It appears that some individuals (of, as the writer believes, the highest ranks of life) have laid a wager with a mischievous and foolhardy companion, that he durst not take upon himself the task of visiting many of the villages near London in three different disguises — a ghost, a bear, and a devil; and moreover, that he will not enter a gentleman’s gardens for the purpose of alarming the inmates of the house. The wager has, however, been accepted, and the unmanly villain has succeeded in depriving seven ladies of their senses, two of whom are not likely to recover, but to become burdens to their families.
At one house the man rang the bell, and on the servant coming to open door, this worse than brute stood in no less dreadful figure than a spectre clad most perfectly. The consequence was that the poor girl immediately swooned, and has never from that moment been in her senses.
The affair has now been going on for some time, and, strange to say, the papers are still silent on the subject. The writer has reason to believe that they have the whole history at their finger-ends but, through interested motives, are induced to remain silent’.
Make what you will of the foregoing tales. Are they true? To my way of thinking what they appear to represent is the birth of a legend, based on an hysterical response to the acts of pranksters. With each telling of the tale more embellishments appear in the narratives, no doubt fuelled by the Press and subsequent 19th century “penny dreadfuls”. From ghostly phantasms he morphed into a living, breathing entity with supernatural abilities. By the end of the century, he was firmly rooted in the nomenclature of frightful figures in English folklore.
SPRING HEELED JACK, FICTION BASED ON FACT
By Leanne Perry
‘Spring Heeled Jack’ is mentioned in the book: ‘Jack the Ripper, Letters From Hell’ as a FICTIONAL villain ‘featured in the Penny Dreadfuls’ of the first half of the nineteenth century’. Because of the parallels of this character to the methods used by the Whitechapel murderer of 1888, ‘Spring Heeled Jack’ is seen by the authors as being the inspiration behind the invention of the name: ‘Jack the Ripper’.
In the 1950s Jack took on a new incarnation – that of an alien marooned on Earth. It was a solution that struck a cord with a generation who were mesmerised by the burgeoning space race and flying saucer mystery.
In the spring 1961 issue of flying Saucer Review an article was published, credited to one ‘J. Vyner’, bearing the title “The Mystery of Spingheel Jack”. The author presented a somewhat eccentric and fsrsep61-smallmuddled summary of the legend which lacked a single primary reference to his source material. The various assaults that occurred during 1837-38 suggested that Jack was trying desperately to locate somewhere safe to hide, or was perhaps looking for a friendly ‘agent’ who could assist him in locating his misplaced flying saucer.
It strains all credibility to imagine that a supposedly intelligent alien looking for somewhere to hide, or friendly agent to assist him, would then go out and terrify the locals, thereby calling unnecessary attention upon himself.

 

© David Calvert 2016

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EL CHUPACABRA

Chupacabra_1
Eyewitness sightings of this cryptid go back  as early as 1995 in Puerto Rico, and have since been reported as far north as Maine, and as far south as Chile, and even being spotted outside the Americas in countries like Russia and the Philippines, but many of the reports have been disregarded as uncorroborated or lacking evidence. Some sightings in northern Mexico and the southern United States have been verified  as canids  afflicted by mange. According to biologists and wildlife management officials, the chupacabra is an urban  myth.
The name ‘chupacabra’ translates literally as ‘goat sucker’ and comes from the animal’s reported predilection for attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, particularly goats. It also refers to a family of nocturnal Puerto Rican birds that steal milk from goats. Puerto Rican comedian and entrepreneur Silverio Pérez is credited with coining the term chupacabras soon after the first incidents were reported in the press.

Reputed Sightings.

  • In mid-August 2006, Michelle O’Donnell of Turner, Maine, described an “evil looking” rodent-like animal with fangs that had been found dead alongside a road. The animal was apparently struck by a car, and was unidentifiable. Photographs were taken and witness reports seem to be in relative agreement that the creature was canine in appearance, but in widely published photos seemed unlike any dog or wolf in the area. Photos from other angles seem to show a chow or Akita mixed-breed dog. It was reported that “the carcass was picked clean by vultures before experts could examine it”. For years, residents of Maine have reported a mysterious creature and a string of dog maulings.
  • In September 2009, CNN aired a report showing closeup video footage of an unidentified dead animal. The same CNN report stated that locals have begun speculating the possibility that this might be a chupacabra. A Blanco, Texas, taxidermist reported that he received the body from a former student whose cousin had discovered the animal in his barn, where it had succumbed to poison left out for rodents. The taxidermist expressed his belief that this is a genetically mutated coyote.
  • On December 18, 2010, in Nelson County, Kentucky, Mark Cothren shot and killed an animal that he could not recognize and feared.  Many pictures of the Chupacabra were taken and the story was well documented by various news organizations. Cothren described the creature as having large ears, whiskers, a long tail, and about the size of a house cat. Cothren says he spoke with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and handed over the preserved animal for further analysis.
The above list is by no means exhaustive. There are countless other eye-witness cases.

Appearance.

The most common description of the chupacabra is that of a reptile-like creature, said to have leathery or scaly greenish-grey skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back. It is said to be approximately 3 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 m) high, and stands and hops in a fashion similar to that of a kangaroo..
Another less common description of the chupacabra is of a strange breed of wild dog. This form is mostly hairless and has a pronounced spinal ridge, unusually pronounced eye sockets, fangs, and claws. Unlike conventional predators, the chupacabra is said to drain all of the animal’s blood (and sometimes organs) usually through three holes in the shape of an upside-down triangle or through one or two holes.
Several theories about the nature of chupacabras have been put forward and are as widespread as the reports of their attacks. Some believe them to be vampires, and others extra-terrestrial  life forms. Others are of the opinion that they are the creatures of a failed scientific experiment
Varginha UFO incident.
In 1996 an alleged sighting and capture of an extra-terrestrial entity by the military was broadcast on the Brazilian TV show Fantástico. The report gathered momentum and coverage of it became worldwide, even appearing as an article by the Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter Matt Moffett. The Varginha incident was considered to be the most famous case in Brazilian ufology. Over the prevailing years, however, it has been declared a hoax.
images (3)According to media reports at the time, the creature was first sighted by three females ranging from 14 to 21 years old: sisters Liliane and Valquíria Fátima Silva, and their friend Kátia Andrade Xavier. They alleged to have seen the creature on  the afternoon of January 20, 1996. Their description of the creature was that of  biped, approximately 1.6 metres (5 ft), in  height, with a large head and very thin body, with V-shaped feet, brown skin, and large red eyes. They assumed it was either injured or sick because it seemed to be wobbly or unsteady on its feet. It was alleged to have been captured later by the Brazilian army, with help form the local police, and was later autopsied at a major hospital in Varginha. It was determined to be a creature unknown to science.
Names of individuals and institutions were given to support the encounter. However, a decade and a half later, it was revealed that the entire incident was nothing more than an hysterical childish hoax involving the sighting of a deformed human, known locally as “Little Luis”  who would often haunch up in corners and  was often filthy and wet (see below right image).  It was later  learnt that the Varginha police originally believed that this was who the three girls had witnessed.
The first image in the picture is an arist’s depiction based off the girls’ testimonies. Many images (4)will have noted that the depiction bears no resemblance whatsoever to a canid. The family Canidae is divided into two tribes: the Canini (dogs, wolves, jackals, and some South American “foxes”) and the Vulpini (true foxes). Given that all ‘Chupacabra’ are described as being canid- like begs the question as to how it was given the same designation.
The alleged ET autopsy doctor, a Brazilian policeman and one of the original girl witnesses,weighed in on what really happened at Varginha.
Aurimas Svitojus, a European researcher, emailed Dr. Fortunato Badan Palhares, the alleged ET autopsy doctor concerning his involvement in the case. Below is his edited response:

badan-157

“Unfortunately, all of the information about the Varginha ET involving my name, are the fruits of fantasy authors and do not deserve any respect from me because they are liars.
In some discussions I’ve had with “UFOlogists” who claim to have studied this case, nothing, absolutely nothing they brought materialized that was credible. They are conjectures, inferences, perhaps even hallucinations.
I never discuss this issue with students, but when asked in lectures I have always said that: I DID NOT AND NEVER WAS CALLED TO DO ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING WITH THIS MATTER…..”
 © David Calvert 2016

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Close Encounter of the Bird Kind.

 

I came across this and another image on my BT news page. It professes to show a disc-12743806_947925221927486_8139408597276047331_nshaped UFO over the Severn Beach in the UK. The image was taken during a family walk along the beach by Bristol mum Fiona Powell.

It was only when she looked at the image later that she noticed what appears to be an indistinct black disc-shaped object in the upper right-hand corner.

Fiona, who took the photo on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 said: that she was undecided whether she believes in Aliens or not, and went on to add that ‘the photo certainly meets the criteria of a UFO’.  “I have shown the photo to a few sensible friends and they all think it is incredible,” she added.

At first glance, it is easy to see how one might reach such a conclusion. However, there are certain factors at play regarding the following image which need to be addressed, not least of which is pixilation.

12688171_947920658594609_2756788263899386302_n

  • In computer graphics, pixellation is caused by displaying a bitmap or a section of a bitmap at such a large size that individual pixels, small single-colored square display elements that comprise the bitmap, are visible. Such an image is said to be pixellated.
  • When subjecting a photo to higher magnification the target object is compromised due to pixellation which causes the object to appear more angular than it really is.

Below is the original  image, containing my annotations and observations. It brings into sharp focus what the object actually is.Untitled

Conclusion: Misidentification of a common crow.

© David Calvert 2016

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The Yeti/Abominable Snowman.

HIMALAYAS

Himalayan Mountains

The Yeti, or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid taller than an average human that is said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.  The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are alexander_athens2commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology. Stories of the Yeti first emerged as a facet of Western popular culture in the 19th century. However, it is believed that the search to find the Yeti can be traced back to the time of Alexander the Great, who in 326 BC set out to conquer the Indus Valley. Having heard stories of the creature he demanded to see one for himself, but local people told him they were unable to present one because the creatures could not survive at that low an altitude.
Despite many expeditions having been attempted to prove the Yeti’s existence, there is still no concrete evidence to prove it. Sir Edmund Hillary himself searched  for the Yeti. The famed Everest pioneer’s expedition (which had other scientific goals) did document a phenomenon that appears to account for “Yeti tracks.” In shaded snow Hillary’s team found impressions resembling fox tracks. The tracks led to a sunny area where melting had elongated the tracks into large human-like footprints. Likewise, the melting of tracks of a snow leopard, bear, or wolf could create huge “footprints.” Over time, human footprints in the area have been seen to grow to nearly 21 inches (53 centimetres).

Alleged Yeti Encounters.

yeti_by_wallace

1832:

During an exploration of the upper regions of Nepal, B.H. Hodgson reported that his Sherpa guides witness a towering non-human cover in dark hair from head to foot. The creature allegedly fled the scene on seeing them.

1904:

A British soldier, William Hugh Knight, claimed he had encountered a Yeti near Gangtok, Sikkim. In 1921, he described the Yeti to The Times newspaper:
‘He was a little under six-feet high. almost stark naked in that bitter cold – it was the month of November. He was a kind of pale yellow all over, about the colour of a Chinaman, a shock of matted hair on his head, little hair on his face, highly splayed feet,  and large, formidable hands. His muscular development in his arms, thighs, legs, back and chest were terrific. He had in his hands what seemed to be some form of primitive bow. He did not see me, but stood there, and watched for some five or  six minutes. So far as I could make out, he was watching some man or beast far down the hillside. At the end of some five minutes he started off on a run down the hill, and I was impressed with the tremendous speed at which he travelled.’
ve minutes he started off on a run down thehill, and I was impressed with the tremendous speed at which he travelled(1921: 54)
ve minutes he started off on a run down thehill, and I was impressed with the tremendous speed at which he travelled

1925:

N.A. Tombazi a Greek photographer while on an expedition to the Himalayas allegedly sighted a humanoid-like creature near Zemu Glacier. The fact that the creature was unclothed in such extremely hostile conditions  made a significant impression on him. Over the period of a minute, and  at a distance of only 200 to 300 yards, he quietly watched the bi-pedal creature as it walked upright  before stopping and uprooting some dwarf rhododendron bushes. Later he was to state “Unquestionably, the figure in outline was exactly like a human being.”

1970:

British mountaineer Don Whillans claimed to have witnessed a creature when scaling Annapurna. He said that while searching for a campsite he heard some odd cries which his guide attributed to a Yeti’s call. That night, he saw a dark shape moving near his camp.

2012:

The MailOnline Article.

Three separate ‘sightings’ of yetis have been made in Siberia in recent weeks, say fishermen and an official in Russia.
All were in the remote Kemerovo region, where around 30 ‘abominable snowmen’ live, according to the country’s leading researcher on the creatures.
In one previously undisclosed case last month near Myski village, fishermen in a boat on a river initially mistook distant figures first for bears and then people, said the Siberian Times
‘We shouted to them – do you need help?,’ said fisherman Vitaly Vershinin.
‘They just rushed away, all in fur, walking on two legs, making their way through the bushes and with two other limbs, straight up the hill.’
He said: “What did we think? It could not be bears, as the bear walks on all-fours, and they ran on two…. so then they were gone.
On a second sighting on the bank of the Mras-Su River several days later, an unnamed fisherman was quoted saying: ‘We saw some tall animals looking like people.
He added: ‘Our binoculars were broken and did not let us see them sharply. We waved at the animals but they did not respond, then quickly ran back into the forest, walking on two legs.
 ‘We realised that they were not in dark clothes but covered by dark fur. They did walk like people’.
Biologists used DNA analysis to examine claims that hair samples attributed to yetis appeared to belong to a scientifically undiscovered species of bear.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2997216/Mystery-yeti-deepens-DNA-analysis-reveals-Abominable-Snowman-hair-does-NOT-belong-unknown-species-bear.html#ixzz3zE9nynIG 

© David Calvert 2016

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“Proof of Aliens.”

“Proof of Aliens”

An analysis by David Calvert

‘UFO hunters claim mysterious ‘floating cigar’ hovering in the sky behind snowboarder is proof of aliens.’
Location: Unknown.
Footage: Originally filmed in 2013.

images (5)

The above still and caption headline is taken from the ‘Mirror’ online newspaper, published on 29th January 2016. It purports to show a cylindrical UFO which was captured on the snowboarders Go Pro video camera. You can see it clearly over his left shoulder. The video was forwarded to my Facebook page by Sheila Dawson Wilson, who thought it was ‘impressive’ enough to send it to me.
Before I address my image analysis conclusions, I’d like to cover an issue regarding the statement that the sighting is ‘proof of aliens’.
Witnessing an anomalous dark mass in the sky, is certainly not proof of aliens. How on earth the UFO enthusiasts can claim that the footage has captured proof of aliens is beyond me. Since the acronym UFO means UNIDENTIFIED Flying Object how could they conclude that it is of extra-terrestrial origin? The operative word here is “Unidentified”. At face value it looks very impressive, but then again there a countless faked videos which are equally as impressive. The cylindrical anomaly certainly bares many characteristics associated with the cigar-shaped UFOs witnessed throughout human history. It even appears to have an energy field surrounding it, which theoretical physicists have hypothesised could be due to the propulsion systems employed. But is this irrefutable proof of aliens?
Inference and Analysis.
‘Inferences are based on evidence. To infer, we must collect evidence. And evidence is collected by the process of analysis.
Analysis is a particular form of investigation. In general usage, analysis refers to any close, careful, or systematic examination. In the discussion here, the term “analysis“ is used in its more technical meaning. Analysis is a process of investigating something by breaking it into parts for closer examination. Complex topics are broken down into simpler ones. Intricate patterns are broken down into less complicated elements. A problem is simplified by limiting the amount that must be examined at any one time.
The goal of analysis is not simply to discover parts within the whole, but to understand the whole. Once the parts are identified, analysis then seeks to determine how those parts are related. From a recognition of the nature of the parts, and the relationships between the parts.’
So where is the relationship between the anomaly and alien’s in this case? Their is no tangible evidence to connect the two.
Analysis and Conclusion.
I conducted a visual analysis of the 3 “stills” from the video, and noted the pixilation pattern surrounding the anomaly was different to those of the overall image which indicated the images had been edited, particularly image 1 (above).  I sent off the images to an independent analyst who corroborated my findings that the images showed distinctive signs of having been tampered with.
images (5) - Copy

Best seen at 800% magnification.

 

Following the independent analysis it was concluded the images could have been created with either of the following:

software: IJG Library

software: GIMP

software: IrfanView

software: idImager

software: FastStone Image Viewer

software: NeatImage

software: Paint.NET

software: Photomatix

software: XnView

© David Calvert 2016

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THE MOTHMAN

 mothman
 The “Mothman” is categorised as a ‘cryptid’, an animal whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the Loch Ness Monster.

images (6)

The first newspaper report of this flying cryptid appeared in the Point Pleasant Register dated November 16, 1966, and has since become a cause célèbre and part of regional folklore. Mothman was later introduced to a wider audience by Gray Barker in 1970 and was later popularized by John Keel in his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies, claiming that there were  supernatural events related to the sightings, and a connection to the collapse of the Silver Bridge. The 2002 film The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere,was based on Keel’s book.

Mothman Sightings Prior to the Silver Bridge Disaster.

  • On November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette, told police they saw a large white creature whose eyes “glowed red” when the car headlights picked it up. They described it as a “large flying man with ten-foot wings, following their car while they were driving in an area outside of town known as ‘the TNT area’, the site of a former World War II munitions plant.
  • Two volunteer firemen sighted a “large bird with red eyes”. Mason County Sheriff George Johnson commented that he believed the sightings were due to an unusually large heron he termed a “shitepoke”.
  • Contractor Newell Partridge told Johnson that when he aimed a flashlight at a creature in a nearby field its eyes glowed “like bicycle reflectors”, and blamed buzzing noises from his television set and the disappearance of his German Shepherd dog on the creature. 
    sandhill crane
    [Wildlife biologist Dr. Robert L. Smith at West Virginia University told reporters that descriptions and sightings all fit the sandhill crane, a large American crane almost as high as a man with a seven-foot wingspan featuring circles of reddish colouring around the eyes, and that the bird may have wandered out of its migration route.]
  •  In the immediate aftermath of the bridge collapse and the death of 46 people on December 15, 1967, there were no sighting reports concerning the Mothman, giving rise to legends that the Mothman sightings and the bridge collapse were somehow connected.
Folklorist_Jan_Harold_BrunvandAn Analysis by Jan Harold Brunvand, an American folklorist, researcher, writer, public speaker, and professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah,  noted that Mothman had been widely covered in the popular press, some claiming sightings connected with UFOs, and others claiming that a military storage site was Mothman’s “home”. Brunvand notes that recountings of the 1966-67 Mothman reports usually stated that at least 100 people saw Mothman with many more “afraid to report their sightings” but observed that written sources for such stories consisted of children’s books or sensationalised or undocumented accounts that fail to quote identifiable persons. Brunvand found elements in common among many Mothman reports and much older folk tales, suggesting that something real may have triggered the scares and became woven with existing folklore. He also records anecdotal tales of Mothman supposedly attacking the roofs of parked cars inhabited by teenagers.

Post-Mothman Sightings.

Certain aspects of the Mothman mystery spilled over into subsequent decades, suggesting that similar creatures were witnessed at other major disasters at the time, or shortly thereafter. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster is one case in point.

chernobyl disaster

Fortean scholar Loren Coleman touched on the folkloric aspect of such stories of winged creatures.

“John Keel and I openly discussed with the media, and did our best to straighten out the record regarding the mythos that became the Chernobyl “Mothman” accounts.

The Chernobyl story, the Galveston Hurricane-Mothman tie-in, and other examples given in the 2002 movie were pure fiction. As you note, right after the movie was released, various websites posted the Chernobyl/Mothman sightings as factual. But there is not one thread of evidence that any winged weirdies were witnessed before the Chernobyl accident. It is a bit of movie fiction that has, unfortunately, moved into pseudo-factoid cryptozoology.”

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Ever since the tragic Silver Bridge collapse, Mothman sightings have been reported all over the world. More recent Mothman sightings include:
  • September 11, 2001: New York City. A large, winged creature was reportedly seen flying from the World Trade Center Towers on the day of the infamous terrorist attack.
  • 2001: The creature was also reported in Sedalia, Missouri, in Camden, Maine and in Mawnan, Cornwall, England.
  • 2002: The creature was reported in San Diego, California.
  • 2003: Mothman was reportedly seen in Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico.
  • 2004: It was reported in Valles de la Salle, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico; Standing Rock Indian Reservation, Ziebach County, South Dakota; Newport, Tennessee and in Martinez, California.
  • 2005: A large, man-shaped bird creature was reported in Cache, Comanche County, Oklahoma; Washington County, Pennsylvania and in San Marcos, California.
  • 2006: There were a large number of Mothman sightings in Mexico, Canada, England, Poland, Argentina, Brazil, Russia and all across the United States.

    The most recent Mothman sightings of 2015.data=RfCSdfNZ0LFPrHSm0ublXdzhdrDFhtmHhN1u-gM,x2RTpLO7hYLWI5igWIAdoRyhJOOYyGQ3SBRSpuvwXGFparuIy_Ss3bfvZhwos-u5-K597AM71JP9RExyi91vVBSLZqeobD4y_-_jW_Zh9C-2cHiL93FhGt3mUdfHmHOearXB6yMqE_mRNbo-xDJpqhbBSTy9OJ-cC3VO2F-st3UZsnaF

  • Fergus Waffles, a 46-year-old geography teacher at a Singapore school, said that he was walking his dog in the Istana Woodneuk area when he spotted the alleged creature.
“I was walking in the woods with my dog near an abandoned house at about 5:50 a.m.,” Waffles told Cryptozoology News. “I peered inside the window of the house and saw what appeared to be a winged humanoid hanging from a door frame. My dog saw the creature and remained completely still and silent while staring in its direction,” he added.
Waffles claims the humanoid was still with just its chest “moving up and down as if it were breathing”.
“I was very startled at first, but the creature didn’t notice me because as soon as I saw it I took cover behind a nearby bush.”
The teacher said the unknown being was about 6 feet tall with an approximated 10-foot wingspan.
“It was hard to tell because the wings were wrapped around its body, similar to a sleeping bat,” he said. “It was black and had webbed wings similar to a bat. It had a human head but slightly more round and it had hair. It was like the Mothman.”
The encounter reportedly took about 15 seconds before the man left the area. 
  • College student Mildred Wan said on Tuesday that he was scouting the location for a student film at an abandoned hospital near Changi.

Changi hospital

“I was walking out of the hospital doors having explored the surroundings,” he told Cryptozoology News. While I was inside, I had heard a noise which was similar to a large monkey rustling around the tree tops.”
Wan says what happened next was “one of the most terrifying experiences” of his life.
“As I left the building, I saw the creature. It appeared to be halfway up one of the trees with huge wings stretched out from its body, which appeared to be mostly human.”
Then, says the student, the “animal” emitted a “high-pitched shriek” so he ran away in order to get out of the area.
“I felt as if the creature was hunting me, or else was surprised to see me in its territory. It seemed to look in my direction before I ran off. When I turned around, it had completely disappeared,” he explained.
Wan described the creature as a 6-feet-tall winged humanoid covered by a black “leathery skin”. Its head was rounded and looked “vaguely humanoid” although, he explains, it had a nose and a mouth that appeared to be full of “sharp fang teeth”.
“I was unable to see its eyes properly because it only appeared for a short amount of time. I have never seen any other animal or human like it,” said Wan.
He says that even though he had a camera with him due to the work he was doing for the future film, by the time the humanoid being showed up he had already packed away his equipment.
  • A woman claims she saw a creature that looked like a “tall man with wings” at an abandoned house in Singapore.
54-year-old avid birdwatcher Alice Yimdale said she was looking for birds near Dempsey Hill when she spotted the being inside the abandoned building last Sunday.
“It was 2:30 p.m. when my husband and I went to the forest looking for birds, I do love a good bird watching session,” she told Cryptozoology News. “This is why My husband and I live in Singapore, a hub of beautiful birds. We like this place because, unlike our house, it is quiet and tranquil.”
Yimdale reports that as they came near an empty building, she heard a “loud fluttering noise”.
“I was confused, so I decided to investigate… this is when I came across the thing.”
The woman said the being looked like a tall man with an “enormous” wingspan.
“I’d say around 9 to 10 feet. My husband says it was longer,” she explains. “It had a very thin body.”
Reportedly, the creature appeared to be barely moving and could have been a male or a female.
The couple maintained they had never seen anything like it before and that the 3-minute-long sighting was a “bit scary but exciting”.
Cryptozoology News asked the birdwatchers regarding the lack of photographic evidence of the alleged incident but there was not an immediate response.
Whether it be a myth, legend, fantasy, extra-dimensional entity, hoax, or true living cryptid, I suspect we have not heard the last of the Mothman.

© David Calvert 2016

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Australian UFO Hoax.

F(LIGHTS) OF PHANTASY.aussie ufo

fig 1

Figure 1  shows the UFO image, purportedly taken in Australia. It was posted on my Facebook page on 18, January 2016 by my son who wanted to know my take on it. The image has been shared widely on-line and is the subject of much speculation.
Because Facebook strips the EXIF data when photos are uploaded I began by searching out the original image so as to examine the data, an analysis of which showed nothing untoward. However, a good editor can cover his tracks with the right software to make it appear as if the data is untouched so I conducted a visual inspection of the photo. Here’s what I uncovered:
  • The ‘UFO’ is not reflected in the waters of the lake as it should be if it was a genuine solid object.
  • The pixelation pattern around the so-called UFO is different to that of the surrounding imagery, showing that some tampering has taken place. The clouds, I suspect have been photoshopped in areas in front of the object in an attempt to hide certain motif-like features around the “UFO”s rim. It also adds to the perspective illusion of distance and size.
  • On the far shoreline, there is a small anomalous rectangular light reflection. I believe this image was taken through a window and that the ufo and accompanying rectangle are nothing but internal reflections of objects within a room.
Further research into this image has revealed that it wasn’t taken in Australia, but in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Fig 2 shows the treeline matches the original image, though from a different perspective.
IMG_2561-300x200

Fig 2

Fig 3 shows the interior of one of the lodges on the shore of the lake. Note the resemblance of the ceiling light fixture to the alleged UFO. Note also the small wall lamp to its left. Might the latter be the source of the small rectangular light source in Fig 1 ?

IMG_2564-300x171

Note: On the date the picture was supposedly taken in Australia there was an actual thunderstorm that weekend in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Evidence-based conclusion: Hoax

© David Calvert 2016

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Inter-Dimensional Hypothesis.

images (12)
 “We are dealing with a multidimensional paraphysical phenomenon which is largely indigenous to planet earth”.
The Inter-dimensional Hypothesis (IDH) is an alternative theory to the extra-terrestrial hypothesis (ETH) It seeks to explain the origins of mysterious UFO spacecraft and visitations from other separate realities or dimensions that coexist separately alongside our own. The idea encompasses existentialism as well as quantum physics and parallel universes. 
Albert Einstein spoke of theories supporting inter-dimensionalism to the degree that the cosmos could contain many versions of “you” and many of “me”, and both of us might not be contained in all of them. This idea of other realities and inter-dimensions is also advanced by renowned ufologist Jacques Vallée.
Some UFO proponents accepted the Inter-Dimensional Hypothesis (IDH) because interstellar  distances between the stars would make  travel impractical using conventional means. and nobody had demonstrated an antigravity or faster-than-light travel hypothesis that could explain extra-terrestrial machines. The IDH eliminates the  necessity  to explain any propulsion method because it holds that UFOs are not spacecraft, but rather devices that travel between different realities.

Inter-Dimensional Entities.

chakra-trvl

Frequency & Harmonics. By Preston Cash 
‘Imagine that we are all radio receivers,  (I believe that we all broadcast as well.), and I am tuned to a certain wavelength of energy.  Everything that I imagine to be real (existentialism) is vibrating relative to that frequency.  For the sake of argument let’s say that my frequency is the 20-meter radio band.  My brain contains the antenna, tuner, mixer, and oscillator.  It’s the “front end” of my radio and allows me to experience everything in the format of that frequency, or rate of vibration.  I won’t experience anything in the 10-meter band because I’m not vibrating in that frequency and my “tuner” won’t pick it up.  People, places, and things in the 10-meter band may be real and solid for them, but invisible to me.
Now it begins to really get interesting.  In theory, (quantum physics), several different realities can occupy the same space, and you and I wouldn’t even experience a ripple.  For reasons unknown, people do catch glimpses of other scenes and people from other dimensions.  Among yogis and mystics, the “Jeweled Tower” is one, (as mentioned in the book “Poetic Vision”.)  The people may be called ghosts, spirit guides, etc.  They may enter our dimension, frequency, vibration, wavelength, or reality.  Since our personal “radio receivers” may be tuned differently, two people may be in the same room, seated together, yet one sees the vision or ghost, while the other does not.
I think it entirely possible that alien aircraft may be subject to the same conditions.  This would explain how they could appear, disappear, and re-appear at will…..’
M theory and “Branes” is a cosmological theory that proposes 11 dimensions exist throughout our known universe or “membrane”, from which the term “Brane” is derived.
Membranes are multidimensional objects also called p-branes referring to the spatial dimensionality (p) of a particular brane, such that a 1 dimensional string would be a 1-brane and a 2 dimensional surface would be aMultiverse 2-brane. Resulting from M-theory equations, they are membrane-like structures consisting of from 1-11 dimensions. The idea is that these branes exists in an 11-dimensional space, and that they contain universes. According to this model our universe is a 3-brane. This 11-dimensional space is called the “bulk” in Brane cosmology.
Each of these branes is its own universe and could have different laws. Furthermore these parallel universes could be closer than your computer screen, but in directions we can not perceive. Also, since they are outside the space-time of our universe, they would have a time all their own. The Bulk could even have its own distinct time or no time at all.
It has been theorised that interactions could occur between branes coming into contact with each other. In fact collisions between branes have been proposed as a possible cause for the Big Bang proposed by Evolutionists as the beginning of the universe, however this is speculative and not a requirement of M-theory’.
If there is any veracity to the idea that several different realities occupy the same space and can bleed over into one another  this could possibly account for the frequent reports of ghostly visions, sightings of cryptids (animals whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the yeti.), demons, angels, UFOs and their occupants, and various other paranormally related “high strangeness” phenomena.

High Strangeness Case:

 The Case of Indrid Cold.
John KeelIn the aftermath of the Mothman sightings case in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, (a case of high strangeness in itself), John Keel, the author of ‘The Mothman Prophecies,’  met and interviewed a man named Woodrow Derenberger who related the following story to him. 
At 7 P.M. on November 2, 1966, he was heading home in his panel truck after a long, hard day on the road. The weather was sour, chill, and rainy. As he drove up a long hill outside of Parkersburg on Interstate 77 a sudden crash sounded in the back of his truck. He snapped on his interior lights and looked back. A sewing machine had fallen off the top of a stereo, but there didn’t seem to be any real damage.
A car swept up behind him and passed him. Another vehicle seemed to be following it. He eased his foot on the accelerator. He had been speeding slightly and thought it might be a police car. The vehicle, a black blob in the dark, drew alongside him, cut in front, and slowed.
Woody Derenberger gaped in amazement at the thing. It wasn’t an automobile but was shaped like, “an old-fashioned kerosene lamp chimney, flaring at both ends, narrowing down to a small neck and then enlarging in a great bulge in the centre.”
A door slid open on the side of the thing and a man stepped out. The stranger was about five feet ten inches tall with long, dark hair combed straight back. His skin was heavily tanned. Grinning broadly, his arms crossed and his hands tucked under his armpits, he walked to the panel truck. He was wearing a dark topcoat.
Underneath it Woody could see some kind of garment made of glistening greenish material almost metallic in appearance. “Do not be afraid.” The grinning man did not speak aloud. Woody sensed the words. “We mean you no harm. I come from a country much less powerful than yours.” He asked for Woody’s name. Woody told him. The stranger then replied, “My name is Cold. I sleep, breathe, and bleed even as you do.”
Cold told Woody to report the encounter to the authorities, promising to come forward at a later date to confirm it. After a few minutes of aimless generalities, Cold announced he would meet Woody again soon. The object descended, the door opened, Cold entered it, and it rose quickly and silently into the night.
The story of Indrid Cold does not end there, however. Keel mentions that a number of times while investigating the Point Pleasant area he received phone calls from mysterious persons claiming to be “Indrid Cold”. Of course Keel was no stranger to mysterious and bizarre phone calls, as many portions of his books dealt with his seeming “harassment” by some informed third-party. This concept is captured in the 2002 Richard Gere film, The Mothman Prophecies, where Gere played a ‘John Klein’.
In The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings, which has been republished making it easier to come by, Keel discusses the idea of the “Grinning Man”. Within this category he includes the figure of Indrid Cold. Keel also tells another story of a similar type of entity which two young kids encountered. Keel writes:
‘A blazing white light “as big as a car” nearly scraped the 550-foot-tall television tower outside of Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, site of the large DuPont explosives factory, on the night of October 11, 1966. A policeman and his wife watched the object move slowly northward and disappear beyond the neighboring hills.
On the other side of those hills. Sergeant Benjamin Thompson and Patrolman Edward Wester, of the Wanaque Reservoir Police, observed the same sight at about 9:45 P.M. as it swooped low over the reservoir. “The light was brilliantly white,” Thompson said. “It lit up the whole area for about three hundred yards. In fact, it blinded me when I got out of the patrol car to look at it, and I couldn’t see for about twenty minutes afterwards.
Forty miles south of Wanaque, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, two boys had a frightening experience that October 11, at approximately the same time that Officers Thompson and Wester were watching the glowing object cavort above the reservoir. There had been a number of aerial sightings in the vicinity of Elizabeth the previous week, apparently clustered around the New Jersey Turnpike which slices through that city. New Jersey newspapers from one end of the state to the other were filled with UFO reports during that period.
The two boys, James Yanchitis and Martin “Mouse” Munov, were walking home along Fourth Street and New Jersey Street when they reached a comer parallel to the tumpike. The tumpike is elevated and there is a very steep incline dipping down from the busy thoroughfare to Fourth Street. A very high wire fence runs along the street, making it impossible for anyone to scramble up the incline to the tumpike. There are bright street lights on that particular comer.
It was on this comer that the two young men encountered “the strangest guy we’ve ever seen.”Yanchitis spotted him first. “He was standing behind that fence,” the youth said later. “I don’t know how he got there. He was the biggest man I ever saw.” “Jimmy nudged me,” Mouse reported, “and said, ‘Who’s that guy standing behind you?’ I looked around and there he was . . .behind that fence. Just standing there. He pivoted around and looked right at us . . . and then he grinned a big old grin.
The story of Indrid Cold seems to evaporate around the same time that the Mothman flies back to wherever he had made his home and after the collapse of the Silver Bridge’.
[Taken from a Post by Tony Morrill]
Michio Kaku is an American futurist, theoretical physicist and populariser of science. Kaku is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City College of New York. He is the co-founder of string fieldmichio-kaku-0314-mdn theory (a branch of string theory). It is therefore appropriate that I leave you with his explanation of the 11 dimensional Multiverse theory, commonly referred to as ‘M-theory’.

http://bigthink.com/videos/the-multiverse-has-11-dimensions-2

 

© David Calvert 2016

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Time Travel: An Impossibility?

Tardis

Theory and Evidence.

It is a widely held belief that each of us travels in time every day at the speed of one second per second and that it is a rate of progress that never alters, and is a universal and immutable fact. However, it is a presumption based on ignorance. Time can and does indeed change. A young child, for example, experiences time at a different rate to that of an adult. This subjective time appears to depend on where and when you are. Einstein’s theory of relativity shows us that real, physical, measurable, time acts in the same way.
According to the relativistic theory, if we take two perfectly synchronised clocks and put one close to a massive object, such as a planet, and the other a greater distance from the planet, the nearest clock will tick slower because the massive gravity distorts the flow of space-time. The resultant effect is known as the “twin paradox”. If one twin moves to a higher altitude than his sibling, he will age much faster. This effect has been confirmed in several classical experiments.
Einstein’s theories of general and special relativity however only allows for time travel into the future and not the past, and it is currently unknown as to whether the laws of physics would allow a time traveller to visit our yesteryears. He did not envisage a time machine such as the TARDIS however, but saw black holes as a method to transport us through time and space. The major drawback to this was that a simple stationary black hole wouldn’t do, because at its heart there is what is termed a ‘singularity’ where space-time ceases to exist. Anything that falls into the singularity would be crushed out of existence.
In the 1960s a brilliant New Zealand mathematician, Roy Kerr, came up with a solution to the problem. If the black hole was rotating he theorised that it would still form a singularity, but in the form of a ring. Anything falling through the ring would emerge, unscathed, in another time and place. For many relativists this was a step too far, and they set out to disprove Kerr’s equations. They failed. There was nothing in Einstein’s mathematical statements to preclude time travel, given the right technology employed to manipulate a black hole.

rotating black hole

It goes without saying that we do not currently possess such a technology, but a type III human civilisation might well have the capacity to create such a device. If humanity manages to survive for another 100,000 to a million years we will have reached a type III status and have the technological sophistication that would allow us to build a device capable of transporting us through space-time. But what would such a device look like?
American theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku came up with a description of a time machine which consists of two chambers, both containing two parallel metal plates. Between each plate an intense images (13)electrical field is created which would rip the fabric of spacetime, thus creating a wormhole that would link the two chambers. Since time runs slow for a moving object – according to Einstein’s special theory of relativity – one of the chambers is then sent out on an incredibly fast journey and returned. At either end of the wormhole time would pass at different rates. Anyone falling into one end of the hole would instantaneously be hurled into a past or future time when they emerged from the other end.

The Grandfather Paradox

This is a classic contradiction, and one which has occupied the minds of serious relativist scientists. Some have proposed that there must be a law in nature which prevents time travel and the grandfather_paradoxparadoxes that could ensue because of it. One such incongruity is the “Grandfather Paradox”. If a person travels back in time and kills his grandfather how then could he have been born in order to make the journey into the past? Sceptics see this an assault on common sense, so they argue that there must be a natural law that prevents it. This is the selfsame argument that was aimed at space flight and journeying to the Moon, to name but a few other so-called impossibilities. To discover what might exist in nature to prevent such apparent inconsistencies we need to delve into the world of quantum physics, and the “multiverse” theory.
A multiverse (aka meta-universe) is a theoretical group of universes that comprise all of reality. In an open multiverse, which is infinite, duplication is possible, even limitless identical copies of a given person. This would resolve the paradox. Having killed his grandfather the murderer would travel forward in time, but up a different branch of the multiverse in which he was never born; to a different reality where there is no paradox, because in an adjacent, alternate reality the grandfather is alive, thus allowing for the killer to be born and travel back in time to commit the murder. Each of these parallel worlds may be just as real as our own, all with an alternative history created by every decision ever made. They branch out like the limbs of a tree in every direction.
Another concern for time travellers would be spatial displacement, of which the ghostly legions of Roman soldiers witnessed in York, England, are a prime example. They seem to be walking partially embedded in the ground. This is possibly due to the fact that the ground level during their time, was lower than it is in ours. The same phenomenon is also witnessed when they appear to walk through solid objects such as walls and closed doors, that did not exist in their time. It would seem that the further through time you travel, either backwards or forwards, the worse this displacement becomes. The unwary time traveller could well end up in the middle of a mountain or the bottom of an ocean that didn’t exist in their timeline.
As you can no doubt appreciate, any physical time machine could not, therefore, travel whilst remaining on the ground. They would have to be well away from the surface in order to safely navigate temporally. Travelling through a wormhole in the vast emptiness of space would seem the most logical solution to the problem. Having exited the wormhole’s event horizon into the past, they simply continue on their short journey to the required target.
One would suppose that if future scientists have overcome the problems of time travel they may have visited our present timeline, and those before. Could what we term as “UFOs” actually be time machines and not extraterrestrial spacecraft? If so, what evidence is there to support such a conclusion? It may come as a surprise to many that some potential evidence does exist and can be found in ancient historical records, cave paintings and drawings, as well as archaeological deposits.

Historical Records, Paintings and Artefacts.

Tellingly, ancient historical records seem to show that, apart from a few basic kinds, UFOs have changed little in their appearances and capabilities. If the extraterrestrial hypothesis is to be believed then this should not be the case. We  should see a progressive change in their technology if they inhabit the same timeline as us. If, however, UFOs come from many different future eras and each one is capable of journeying to any point in time in our past we would see the same basic types from one historical era to another. There would be no trace of any technological advancement, as seems to be the case. Written documents of strange objects in the sky are numerous and date back centuries before the first flying machines were ever built and, like their modern-day counterparts, UFOs were a worldwide phenomenon. Descriptions of these curious anomalies bear a striking resemblance to present day UFOs. One of the earliest sightings dates back to ancient Egypt, circa 1504 BCE, and was written during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III. It bears an uncanny resemblance to the events that took place in Guadalajara, Mexico, on June 10, 2004. Even the Bible contains accounts of strange encounters with UFO-like objects, specifically the stories in Ezekiel, and Exodus. Similar stories can also be found in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana ancient Sanskrit texts, dating back to 4,000 BCE.
One of the most extraordinary cave paintings of apparent unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) niaux-cave-paintingscomes from Niaux, in the French Pyrenees. It shows two domed UFOs side by side, one of which is apparently giving off a trail of sparks, as is reported in many contemporary sightings. It is estimated that this drawing is around 14,000 years old .This is not an isolated example. There are literally hundreds of images like these throughout the world from disparate cultures, so we cannot simply dismiss them out of hand. Have ancient artists depicted what may be some of the earliest temporal sojourns of the same time travellers we see today in our skies?

Geological Evidence

The Red Mountain fossilised shoe print was discovered by a retired school teacher in Urumqi City, red mountain shoeprintChina, in 1997. It is believed to have been laid down some 200 million years ago. It is clearly the impression of a shoe with a leather sole. By any normal definition this is utterly impossible as, according to anthropological studies, it has been determined that the most modern humans came onto the scene around 200, 000 years ago. Nor is this the only footprint to have been discovered that predates humanity by millions of years. Some prints, particularly the barefooted variety, are that of modern humans (see link): http://www.dinosaurc14ages.com/footprints.htm
It has been postulated that lost human super civilisations may be responsible for these artefacts that span the aeons of time. Whilst it is true that written and physical evidence exists that some advanced human civilisations may have preceded ours, those societies would have existed no more than 100, 000 years ago. The age given for some of these anomalous footprints is 260,000,000 years. This is around the time when the very first reptiles began to appear.
 One of the most incredible finds by far comes from a rock that dates back 500 million years. It was meisterdiscovered within a block of Utah shale. Beneath the shoe cast a squashed trilobite, a small prehistoric marine arthropod, was discovered. It had apparently been crushed by the individual who had walked over it. Trilobites became extinct long before the emergence of even the most primitive ancestors of mankind walked the Earth.
In 1987 palaeontologist Jerry MacDonald found a variety of fossilised tracks laid down in the Permian strata. Among them was the undeniable print of a naked human foot. The Permian strata dates from 290 to 248 million years ago – once again, long before the emergence of man.
Whilst the foregoing anomalies are highly problematic and difficult to come to terms with, especially within the scientific community, there are yet other artifacts that are even more intractable. A short list of these finds follows.
• In 1901 STRAND magazine published an article on the discovery of a coin, dated 1397, found inside a 300 million-year-old coal seam.
• A gold chain, complete with cast, was accidentally discovered in a lump of coal millions of years old when it was dropped before being put onto the fire by a woman from Illinois, USA.
• The discovery of aluminium alloy screws, dated as being 100 million-years-old were also discovered, and the list goes on.
Several books have been written by author and researcher Michael Cremo cataloguing aberrant discoveries made over the last 200 years. He has documented them with eye-witness accounts, original newspaper articles and unaltered photographs. Many of these artifacts are currently gathering dust in the basements of some of the world’s most illustrious natural history museums.
There are several possible answers to this enigma:
• That we have, and still are, being visited by extraterrestrials.
• That our understanding and the history and origins of mankind is completely wrong, and there have been many advanced human societies that had once existed over tens of hundreds of millions of years, but eventually died out.
• Or that we have been visited by time travellers surveying our prehistoric past, leaving behind unintentional evidence of their temporal sojourns.

ET or Future Man?

Since the publication of Einstein’s Special Relativity Theory in 1905, he has always been credited with the concept of time being the “fourth dimension” However, in 1885 the visionary author and science fiction writer H. G. Wells’ book “The Time Machine” was published in which he wrote, “There is no difference between time and any of the three dimensions of space, except that our consciousness moves along it”, thus pre-dating Einstein’s concept by some 10 years.
Grey_Alien4This iconic figure with its bulbous head and spindly body, is what ufologists term as a “Grey alien”, which they believe comes from the Pleiades star system. Compare that with an artist’s depiction of how Wells thought a future man might look after 1,000,000 years of evolutionary changes in his 1893 article “The Man of the Year Million”. There are some interesting and thought provoking similarities.
Might Wells have been closer to the truth, regarding the Greys’ terrestrial origins? Anatomically, they are as close to humans as it is possible to get. Moreover, they even speak the same languages as man-year-millionwe do. They even appear to act and think as we do. For some ufologists and scientists this flies in the face of reason. A truly alien species, they believe, would be nothing like us anatomically, or culturally, because their evolutionary paths would be entirely different to that of our own. If we apply the time travel hypothesis, however, these apparent inconsistencies suddenly make some kind of sense.
Currently, the UFO fraternity are buzzing about time travel, due in no small part to the revelations of James Penniston. For those not in the know, Penniston was an Air Force Staff Sergeant at a joint USAF/RAF base at Bentwaters in the UK. He, and others, encountered a triangular craft outside the base in Rendlesham Forest on December 26 1980. Penniston was the only member of the team to actually touch the object which contained strange symbols. Sometime in 1993 he underwent a regression hypnotherapy session in which he revealed receiving telepathic communication from the landed craft which informed him that the occupants were from Earth’s future, and that they were gathering genetic material to help them survive. The Rendlesham Forest Incident has become one of the best documented UFO sightings in the history of ufology, surpassing that of the Roswell Incident.
Though science isn’t perfect, its exponential growth over the last hundred years or so has made what was once considered unachievable possible. The aspiration of powered flight was believed to be unattainable not so very long ago. However, in that short space of time we have not only attained it but have travelled to the Moon and back, and have even sent spacecraft out beyond the confines of our solar system. Given another million years of evolution who’s to say what can or cannot be achieved? It may well be that we are perhaps witnessing the future fruits and attainments of our progenitors’ scientific accomplishments as they traverse the barriers of space and time, leaving in their wake tantalising clues of their temporal journeys. The evidence certainly seems to hint at it.

09/07/16 update:

 http://earthmysterynews.com/2016/05/05/physicists-send-particles-of-light-into-the-past-proving-time-travel-is-possible/

© David Calvert 2015

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