From: Dave Walsh <dave@nua.ie>
Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 17:27:25 +0100
Fwd Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 20:43:49 -0400
Subject: Nua Blather: Surviving the UnCon: Lesson II
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NUA BLATHER NUA BLATHER NUA BLATHER
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By Daev Walsh Email: blather@nua.ie
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May 8 1998 Published By: Nua Limited Vol 1. No. 52
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SURVIVING THE UNCON: LESSON II
Once more into the breach we stumble, to give a run down of the
second day of the Fortean Times UnConvention 98 (with a brief hark
back to Saturday. This week Blather is joined by not only by Barry
'Dacianos' Kavanagh and Mark 'Firestarter' Pilkington, but also Paul
Holloway, giving his dissertations on MIBs.
EMIBEES
Jenny Randle's talk on Men In Black
[25-04-98 1300 ROOM 101]
Randles spoke seriously but entertainingly. I didn't start
drowsing or eyeing the exit, as I have a tendency to do when most
people talk UFOlogy for more than about ten minutes. In fact I
thoroughly enjoyed her talk.
She told of the number UFO witnesses who are happy to discuss
their experiences at first -- but then suddenly clam up, refusing
to talk at all. She argued that this happens too often to be entirely
explained by fear of ridicule, or publicity.
Her case histories of men, mostly not in black, intimidating
witnesses, were all that authentic combination of the mundane, the
fantastic and the ludicrous. These cases always seem to be
teasing and inconclusive to the point of irritation; leads fizzle
out, the clinching piece of evidence is lost.
Each case appears to have a slightly implausible element. Two
mysterious men interview a witness and seem not to recognise an
electric fire, or they refer to each other by number, not by name.
There is always that feeling that something isn't quite right.
Randles concluded that there is a covert intelligence unit which
checks witnesses' credibility, finds out what they know, and
encourages them to keep quiet. They often behave in a slightly
bizarre way, which adds that characteristic air of implausibility
should the witness decide to talk. She hasn't seen a classic MIB case
since the early nineties, and suggested it was a Cold War phenomenon,
and that intelligence agents are posing as journalists these days.
It occurred to me that a UFO investigator would be an ideal cover for
a covert intelligence agent. And so I headed for the bar, my head
spinning with double agent scenarios. I eyed my fellow Forteans with
suspicion, wondering which, if any, were covert government
intelligence agents. That was when I spotted Nick Pope...
(http://www.ufomind.com/people/p/pope/)[PH]
[Having heard Randles speak on this topic twice in the past, this
time round she seems to have leaned towards less credible
explanations -- I wonder why? - Blather]
=============================
SUNDAY, DEAD TIRED
[26-04-98]
SKINNER AND SHAVER
[1100 ROOM 101]
Doug Skinner was back on the podium, to talk about 'Richard Shaver
and the Shaver Mystery - The Life of Richard Shaver, father of
Hollow Earth Mythology'. Shaver, after an unstable life, and a long
itinerary of jails and mental homes, came to the fore with his rants
to Ray Palmer's *Amazing Stories* magazine. Shaver claimed that a
race of beings called 'Deros' were living underneath the earth.
Palmer raised the circulation of the magazine by printing it as
fiction in March 1945, titled 'I Remember Lemuria', unwittingly
sparking off the beginnings of discarnate cult concerned with hollow
earth belief, abductions and amazonian feminist role models. Before
long, *Amazing Stories* was little more than a megaphone for the
deluded rantings of Shaver, and the letters page was chock-full of
'true' accounts by people claiming that they too had encountered the
subterranean 'Deros'.
Again, Skinner was utterly charming in his delivery.
This is not the place to go into the entire 'Shaver Mystery' - for
more, read 'The Man Who Invented Flying Saucers' by John A. Keel
(http://www.nwlink.com/~park/ufo/skeptic/keel_article.html) and 'The
Shaver Mystery by Richard Toronto
(http://www.parascope.com/nb/articles/shaverMystery.htm).[DW]
BIG NELLIE
[1200 ROOM 101]
Skinner was supplanted in Room 101 by Colonel John Blashford-Snell of
the Scientific Exploration Society
(http://freespace.virgin.net/sci.explore/), to talk about his
'Mammoth Hunt' - A search of the giant elephants of Nepal, as
documented in his book of the same name, co-written with Rula Lenska
(ISBN:0-00-638741-1
http://freespace.virgin.net/sci.explore/pubs/mamoth.html).
Blashford-Snell was certainly a highlight of the UnCon, even though
his discussion was mostly anecdotal chat concerning the expedition
itself, the search for the 'Beast of Bardia'; a reported Mammoth
running loose in the woodlands of Nepal. What Blashford-Snell and his
fellow explorers actually discovered was a new kind of elephant of
marked difference to the Indian elephant - much larger, and with a
sloping back and protuberant forehead, hinting at some strange
throwback to the mammoth. As soon as I get round to reading his book,
I'll review it in Blather. [DW]
PRODIGIES
[1300 ROOM 101]
Without a break, I stayed to watch Jan Bondeson talk about 'The Fish
Boy & the Cat Woman - Monsters & marvels in maternal impressions',
curious practice of blaming prodigious births or physical deformities
on impressions received by the mother during pregnancy - as
documented by the likes of the Journal of Scientific Exploration, 'A
Case of Severe Birth Defects Possibly Due to Cursing' by Ian
Stevenson (http://www.jse.com/v3n2.html):
Department of Psychiatric Medicine, University of Virginia, School of
Medicine,
Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
Volume 3 Number 2: Page 201.
'For centuries it was widely believed that a strong unpleasant
shock to a pregnant woman could cause birth defects in her baby.
Medical books and journals published numerous cases of this
type up to the early decades of the present century. The idea of
"maternal impression" gradually lost ground during the 18th and
19th centuries, mainly because it seemed to conflict with the
facts of physiology. In cases of "maternal impression," the
pregnant mother was usually reported to have viewed someone with
a shocking deformity that her baby was said to reproduce. It has
also been thought that cursing, verbally inflicted and without a
visual stimulus, could produce birth defects. Three cases of this
type, one published by a pediatrician in 1960, are briefly
reviewed, and then a new case is reported. In both of the modern
cases, the commonly recognized etiological factors in birth
defects could not be identified'.
See also 'Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine' by
George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle, 1896.
http://trace.waisman.wisc.edu/tcel/tow/WWW/GUTENB/aacom10.txt
'Maternal Impressions.--Another curious fact associated with
pregnancy is the apparent influence of the emotions of the mother
on the child in utero. Every one knows of the popular explanation
of many birth-marks, their supposed resemblance to some animal or
object seen by the mother during pregnancy, etc. The truth of
maternal impressions, however, seems to be more firmly
established by facts of a substantial nature. There is a natural
desire to explain any abnormality or anomaly of the child as due
to some incident during the period of the mother's pregnancy, and
the truth is often distorted and the imagination heavily drawn
upon to furnish the satisfactory explanation. It is the customary
speech of the dime-museum lecturer to attribute the existence of
some "freak" to an episode in the mother's pregnancy. The poor
"Elephant-man" firmly believed his peculiarity was due to the
fact that his mother while carrying him in utero was knocked down
at the circus by an elephant. In some countries the exhibition of
monstrosities is forbidden because of the supposed danger of
maternal impression. The celebrated "Siamese Twins" for this
reason were forbidden to exhibit themselves for quite a period in
France'.
Gould & Pyle also mention another topic covered by Bondeson:
'In 1726 Mary Toft, of Godalming, in Surrey, England, achieved
considerable notoriety throughout Surrey, and even over all
England, by her extensively circulated statements that she bore
rabbits. Even at so late a day as this the credulity of the
people was so great that many persons believed in her. The woman
was closely watched, and being detected in her maneuvers
confessed her fraud. To show the extent of discussion this case
called forth, there are no less than nine pamphlets and books in
the Surgeon-General's library at Washington devoted exclusively
to this case of pretended rabbit-breeding. Hamilton in 1848, and
Hard in 1884, both report the births in this country of fetal
monstrosities with heads which showed marked resemblance to those
of dogs. Doubtless many of the older cases of the supposed
results of bestiality, if seen to-day, could be readily
classified among some of our known forms of monsters. Modern
investigation has shown us the sterile results of the connections
between man and beast or between beasts of different species, and
we can only wonder at the simple credulity and the imaginative
minds of our ancestors. At one period certain phenomena of
nature, such as an eclipse or comet, were thought to exercise
their influence on monstrous births. Rueff mentions that in
Sicily there happened a great eclipse of the sun, and that women
immediately began to bring forth deformed and double-headed
children'.
Bondesons's talk, whilst entertaining, offered nothing new, serving
more as a meander through the topic for the unitiated. However his
book, *A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities* (SBN: 0801434319) is
certainly a recommended addition to the reference section of the
fortean bookshelf. [DW]
"ASSESSING THE EVIDENCE
for strange phenomena"
[1300 HALL 2]
The question of witness perception was examined by FT publisher and
Borderlands author Mike Dash. In an enlightening and thought
provoking talk he demonstrated how the evidence for phenomena such as
monsters, UFOs, physical mediumship and mince pie eating Martians
will often vanish under the sceptical fortean's inquisitive gaze.
Invoking such powerful concepts as witness expectation (e.g. at Loch
Ness), fantasy prone personalities (4% of us, apparently), temporal
lobe epilepsy and false memory syndrome (both important in the study
of alien abduction reports), Dash reminded us that the greatest
deceiver is nothing but the human mind itself. In an age where more
people than ever "want to believe", messages such as these are
increasingly important. [MP]
"CONSPIRACIES AND THE YEAR 2000"
[1400 UPPER HALL]
Damian Thompson reminded us that his talk this time last year was
further away in time from the new Millennium than we are now, so he
expected less laughter from the audience this year about doomsday
prophecies and the like. Forteans proved yet again to have, in
Thompson's words, "nerves of steel," because they laughed heartily
through the grand Book of Daniel conspiracy and the ridiculous way
in which barcodes are supposed to be "666." There was food for
thought as well as comedy (I think), as our orator (who should have
aimed his mouth at the microphone a little more - it was damned hard
to hear him) insisted that the year 2000 could not be shrugged away
as "just a number." He stressed the huge significance of numbers in
the history of all human culture and our deepfelt urges to divide
time by numbers. An interesting aside in all this was the fact
that in the East, 1999 is a more significant date for "the end" than
2000 because Nostradamus, and not Christianity, is big in Japan. [BK]
I SAW IT, I TELL YE
[1500 ROOM 101]
The last lecture that this Blatherskite limped to was Mark
Chorvinky's 'The Search for Thunderbird Photos' as documented in
Strange 18&19 (http://www.strangemag.com/thunderbirdphoto.html).
This is a bit of a weird one. Many fortean researchers are *fully*
sure that they have seen one of two *photographs* relating to the
Thunderbird - one variation usually features about 30 men holding a
huge bird, looking like a giant goose, with a wingspan of some 30
feet (9m), on the interior deck of a barn of some description. This
photo has been incredibly well 'reproduced' a sketch by Larry G.
Thomas -- the cynical may comment that it's *too* well reproduced.
The other version shows, in contrast, just a few cowboys with a
nothing less than a pterodactyl hanging on the side of a wooden
building, as sketched by David T. St. Albans. The problem is, no one
can remember *where* they saw either photo. An article in the
Tombstone Epitaph of 1890 seems to have sparked it off (although
earlier accounts have been uncovered), with a reported killing of a
162ft long (50m) flying lizard with *twelve* legs. Contrary to common
belief, there was no photo with the article.
Chorvinsky meandered through the evidential debris and frustrations
of many forteans, John E. Keel included, concluding that the
phenomenon -- that of the mystery of the photo of another fortean
phenomenon -- the Thunderbird is some bizarre form of 'false memory'
which many researchers have fallen prey to -- or maybe unseen forces
have wiped all evidence from our libraries? [DW]
"ASK THE FORTEAN"
PANEL
[1500 ROOM 101]
The panel were Ian Simmons ("chairing"), Paul Sieveking, Rob Irving,
Peter Brookesmith, Bob Rickard and Mark Chorvinsky. Mr Simmons asked
questions which the panel then tried to answer. These questions had
been chosen by the public (or something) and written down for Ian.
Sadly, the panel had to be asked if they believed the Santilli
Autopsy Film to be genuine. This reminded me of two years ago at the
UnConvention when the film had been screened and the diverse audience
had unanimously voted that they thought it a fake. The panel said
much the same things as people did back then and Ian Simmons even
cracked the same joke! Things brightened up when the panel were asked
about any paranormal experiences they may have had. Most of them
admitted to living normal lives, except for Mark who had a strange
lunch, once. Thoughts for the day were provided by Bob, who said that
more investigation should be done into religious phenomena (e.g.
stigmata) and Rob, who remarked that weird things happen to crop
circle makers and hoaxers but that no-one really takes any interest
in that side of things. [BK]
ASSAP FEEDBACK
(results of experiments)
[1700 ROOM 101]
Over the weekend many UnConvention goers subjected themselves to a
series of technical "PSI" tests, administered by The Association for
the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
(http://www.assap.org/assap). The moment of truth now arrived! The
results did not seem to diverge much from mathematical probability,
although one subject guessed what was in a box in Bromley (an
orange) and two others made scales move by psychokinesis. I did all
the tests myself, the most fun being the telepathy test, in which an
ASSAP member tried to "transmit" a picture to me and I had to draw
whatever came into my mind. An award was given to the most psychic
of us all (the orange guy) and everyone left with a nice feeling
that they had helped ASSAP try out their tests, methods and
equipment.
CHARLES FORT INSTITUTE
[1700 HALL 2]
For those of you that may not be aware, The Charles Fort Institute -
which is intended to become the 'world's leading resource for
scholarship and research in the understanding of strange experiences
and anomalous phenomena' was inaugurated on Sunday 26th of April
1998, with founding member tally of 59 souls. More information,
including contact details can be found at (http://www.forteana.org).
[DW]
OH, THE EMBARRASSMENT
Last week Blather told of the antics of the world's leading fortean
air musicians, *Alien Spawn*, and their performance during Peter
Brookesmith's 'Martian Cat's talk at the UnConvention. The evidence
can be perused at the Magonia website. . .
http://www.magonia.demon.co.uk/uncon.html
Mark Pilkington (m.pilkington@virgin.net)
Barry Kavanagh (barryk@connect.ie)
Paul Holloway (PHolloway@compuserve.com)
Dave (daev) Walsh (blather@nua.ie)
May 8th 1998
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