Forteana
www.dailyrecord.co.uk
>The late Queen dispatched her chief scientific advisor in the dead of night to investigate the latest crop circle formation, claims a new documentary. >Her Majesty is said to have sent a scientist to find out more about a new crop circle, widely said to be linked to UFOs, according to a new Prime Video film. >The King of UFOs, by UFO expert Mark Christopher Lee claims senior royals, including Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip and King Charles are passionately interested in the phenomenon. >And Lee recounts how, in the late 1980s, crop circle researcher Colin Andrews was with a Japanese film crew in Wiltshire when he got word that the Queen was interested in what was happening. >Just a couple of hours later Andrews saw a Rolls Royce turn up. Lee said Andrews half expected her Majesty to get out of the car, only to find out it was actually her chief scientific advisor...
www.dailymail.co.uk
>An upcoming documentary is set to shed light on the mysterious tale of a Manhattan housewife and mom-of-two who claimed she was abducted by a UFO in the late 80s. >The docuseries, titled The Manhattan Alien Abduction, tells the story of Linda Napolitano, who is convinced she was abducted from her bedroom in New York on November 30, 1989. >The series attempts to uncover the true story behind the UFO communities biggest mysteries - with Napolitano, who used the pseudonym Linda Cortile initially - directly involved with the documentary's creation. >The trailer, which was recently released online, contains interviews with Napolitano recalling what happened on the night that she said changed her life, as well as archival footage from the years following the alleged extra-terrestrial experience...
nation.cymru
> Online searches for big cats in Wales have surged following an increase in alleged sightings. > >Research by AussieBoots has revealed that Cardiff and Wrexham saw a 100% increase in searches for ‘Big Cats UK’ from 2021 to 2023 – with Swansea seeing a 50% rise. > >It comes after multiple big cat sightings have been reported in the press across the country in recent months and years. > >The term ‘big cat’ is usually used to describe large wild felines such as tigers, lions, panthers, jaguars, leopards, cheetahs and cougars. > >Big cats such as pumas are solitary and their hunting range is dozens of miles. > >When big cats were banned as pets in the 1970s, it was legal to release them into the countryside to avoid expensive rehoming costs. > >Experts believe that owners from across the UK travelled to Wales to release their cats in to the remote environment. > > ... > > A BBC study collated more than 100 big cat sightings in 18 months across north and mid Wales. > >Another study recorded 123 Welsh sightings over two years with frequent reports of big cats in Flintshire, Denbighshire, Conwy and Gwynedd. > > ... > > Wales overall has seen a 50% increase in internet searches for big cats whilst Northern Ireland was the country that saw the highest rise in searches (133%). > >Scotland came second (127%), and England came third (84%). > >The UK saw an 84% increase overall. > >Pete Bryden from AussieBoots said: “The increase in big cat sightings across the UK has certainly captured the public’s imagination. > >“It’s fascinating to see how interest has grown, particularly in Wales where searches have surged. > >“Whether these sightings are fact or folklore, it’s clear that the British countryside still holds plenty of mysteries for us to discover.”
www.mentalfloss.com
>Libraries are usually quiet, secluded spots. But not all are as peaceful as they may seem. These six supposedly haunted libraries are said to see more than just readers and scholars perusing their stacks of books... - The New York Public Library // New York, New York, United States - Senate House Library, University of London // London, England - Marsh’s Library // Dublin, Ireland - State Library Victoria // Melbourne, Australia - Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University // New Haven, Connecticut, United States - The Los Angeles Public Library // Los Angeles, California, United States
www.theargus.co.uk
>Skeletons are believed to dance beneath an old haunted Sussex oak tree once a year. >The Midsummer tree stands firm on a patch of green next to Grove Lodge roundabout in Worthing and is said to have been there for more than 300 years. >Nestled in the surrounding grass is a small plaque which signals the tree’s prominent position in local folklore. >Legend says that every year on Midsummer’s Eve, June 23, skeletons would rise from the roots of the tree and dance underneath it. >The plaque states: "This tree, believed to be over 300 years old, was once celebrated in local folklore. Every year, at Midnight on Midsummer's Eve, it was believed that skeletons would rise up from its roots and dance to the rattling of their own bones until daybreak"...
www.youtube.com
> This four-part documentary series examines the most astonishing and baffling UFO stories from around the UK. * Berwyn Mountain Mystery * The Welsh Triangle * UFO Alley * Alderney Lights [tvdb](https://thetvdb.com/series/britains-closest-encounters) [IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1256041/)
> Fortean TV was a British paranormal documentary television series produced by Rapido TV, originally broadcast from 29 January 1997 to 6 March 1998 on Channel 4. The series was about anomalous phenomena and the paranormal, based upon the Fortean Times magazine; it was presented by Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe. Fortean TV ran for 3 series (the third was an adult version renamed Fortean TV Uncut with unseen material from the previous two series as well as new items). The three seasons comprised 22 half-hour episodes (the last of the first season was a compilation "Best Of"), plus a final hour-long family Christmas special. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortean_TV) [IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1238823/) It was released on DVD in late 2022 but is hard to find now.
> Charlie Cooper is best known for creating the sitcom This Country with his sister, Daisy May. > >But his latest solo project - Charlie Cooper's Myth Country - will see him campervanning around Britain to investigate some "gloriously bonkers rural myths". > > The first episode - airing on BBC Three at 9pm on Friday - will show him in East Anglia learning about the story of Black Shuck the "devil dog". > > It lurks around the coast and in rural roads and churchyards after dusk. > > Anyone who meets it is allegedly condemned to die within 12 months. > >Cooper explained: “I’m really excited about this new series as I’ve always been fascinated by local legends, myth and folklore. > >"As I see it, my mission is to explore our ancient world, seek out mythical creatures and boldly go where no TV presenter has gone before.” > >The series will be split into three 30-minute episodes which will be available on BBC iPlayer shortly after airing.
www.theguardian.com
> ‘We have a demonic doll called Esther’: Kymmi Jeffrey & the Occult Family, ghost hunters > >I was always a sceptic when it came to anything paranormal, especially with ghosts. But my husband, JP, who has long been a believer, decided to take me to a haunted sleepover for my birthday in 2022. I captured an image of pink energy that, after enhancing it back at home, revealed a little girl. I was absolutely wowed. > > It was really moreish; so much so that after going to a few more events, we set up our own company. I never thought I’d be on this journey. I’m a psychotherapist and am putting my name as a professional to this, but only because it’s real. > >At first, it was just JP and me. But, after a while, we visited the Four Crosses in Cannock, a haunted inn, as a family, with my daughters, Snow and Pebble. On the way home, Snow asked how many people were in the building with us. I told her it was just us, but she described a man with ragged clothes, a soldier staring at her and a lady holding a little girl’s hand. We never Google the buildings before a hunt to avoid the power of suggestion, but we searched it afterwards and her sightings matched up. > >I was absolutely ecstatic. I also apologised to her as I realised the imaginary friends she saw as a child, that I had long dismissed, were actually real. That’s when we started to come together as a family and travel across the country. > > ... > > ‘People want reassurance that they’re not mad’: Deborah Hatswell, Bigfoot tracker > > It was May 1982, I was 15 and bunking off school with a friend. We were playing in Buile Hill Park in Salford and I saw this movement in the corner of my eye. This thing leant out from the bushes. It was like an ape and a man had been pushed together. It had thick brows, looked Neanderthal and it was awful. I ran. > >I began to collect clippings and put ads in papers across the UK to try to find other witnesses. I uncovered old articles reporting on Bigfoot in Britain; since the second century people have reported a hairy man in the woods. I started to look for evidence myself. For years, I worked in the shadows. Then, in 2006, I had an accident that left me disabled. I set up Being Believed Research to hear other people’s stories, but also to help with investigations. > > When a report comes in, we liaise with local researchers across the UK, who meet witnesses and gather information. Sometimes, we look for footprints and hair samples. My work is word of mouth. Often, people think: “Right, I’m going to phone Deb. She’ll know something.”
www.scientificamerican.com
> An office in the Pentagon investigated UFOs—and the paranormal—over a decade ago, segueing into a long saga leading to Congressional hearings and breathless news stories today. But the real story looks more like former defense officials pushing their personal mythology, rather than any cover-up of aliens. > > After a long hiatus of systematic U.S. government–affiliated investigations into UFOs, a Pentagon office quietly resumed such efforts in 2008. Called the Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Applications Program (AAWSAP), it was funded to the tune of $22 million in total. The life—and cancellation four years later—of this Defense Intelligence Agency program has featured in congressional hearings, UFO “whistleblower” claims and renewed public uproar about aliens. But the real story is [more sordid than sensational](https://www.academia.edu/121609473/On_the_AAWSAP_AATIP_Confusion). > > ... > > This entire saga shows how pseudoscientific thinking can metastasize in a positive feedback loop, ensnaring not only scientists with paranormal inclinations but also government officials. This was bemoaned by the former head of AARO, Sean Kirkpatrick, who remarked that these officials are tasked with matters of national urgency—a responsibility necessitating a mindset committed to objective investigation and analysis. Some of these officials are on the record casting AARO as part of the “cover-up.” Indeed, the UFO belief system has long ago morphed into a type of faith requiring no evidence. > > The fact that officials harboring evidence-deficient beliefs regarding extraterrestrials and “high strangeness” (a term first popularized in the early 1970s by ufologists to describe certain bizarre and seemingly absurd elements of some UFO and “alien” encounters) are entrusted with national security matters should give one pause. America’s adversaries, to the extent that they are paying attention to the UFO mess, might well regard it as yet another avenue to undermine American institutions—somewhat reflecting a CIA panel’s 1953 warning about potential Soviet exploitation of the genre. > >On a more positive note, ufology is now in vogue among historians keen to understand the mythical nature of the problem and how it relates to historical waves of aerial phenomena reports. Because of how modern media, and especially now digital media, magnify the voices of breathless advocates, sundry frauds and scientists with a penchant for the paranormal, the UFO phenomenon from 1947 onward has acquired much greater gravitas than prior scares and waves, some of which predate it by centuries. > >Many serious people dismiss UFOs as a fringe interest or a pop culture distraction. Yes, they are. Yet we maintain, along with an increasing number of scholars, that there is much to be learned from studying UFO sightings, flaps and waves. While our own view is that UFOs, or UAP, emphatically do not represent any truly anomalous physical phenomena such as an extraterrestrial presence, this nevertheless does not consign ufology to insignificance. We should explore its meaning rather than ceding it to sensationalistic advocates employing shoddy methodologies and pushing quasi-religious, otherworldly stories. AARO and academia are thus tasked with an important responsibility that could yield original and fascinating developments into how and why people interpret and react to things they see in the sky. [Archive](http://web.archive.org/web/20240927000518/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-really-happened-at-the-pentagons-once-hidden-ufo-office/)
www.marinecorpstimes.com
>Remember February 2023? It was a wild time. There were cocaine-addled bears, mushroom zombies and Air Force fighters shooting sketchy, inflatable objects out of the sky left and right. >That month began with a Chinese balloon — the U.S. said it was loaded with spy equipment; Beijing claimed it was just a weather balloon blown off course — drifting across much of the contiguous United States and igniting a furor. That was before it was blowed up real good — the technical terminology — by an F-22 off the coast of South Carolina. >But February’s bizarre occurrences didn’t stop there. U.S. pilots soon shot down three more mystery objects over Alaska, Canada’s Yukon territory and Lake Huron in as many days. >None of those subsequent objects were ever recovered, with the official line indicating they were probably hobbyist or research balloons. >But one grainy image — it’s always a grainy image, isn’t it? — of the object shot down over the Yukon has now emerged, and it’s giving significant “I want to believe” vibes...
news.sky.com
>An unassuming field next to a housing estate in Stoke-on-Trent is taking centre stage in the latest alien blockbuster - and it's inspired by true events. >The new stage production, Bright Lights Over Bentilee, focuses on the event in which dozens of people on an estate in the town claimed to have witnessed bright lights in the sky and a UFO landing in the field next to their homes. >Sky News went to meet playwright and former Coronation Street star Deborah McAndrew, to discuss what happened on the 2nd of September 1967 and why she felt compelled to bring the story to life...
www.hollywoodreporter.com
>As the conversation around UFOs/UAPs continues to heat up on Capitol Hill, documentarian James Fox has set his next feature on the subject. >Fox directs The Program, which is described as exploring “the unprecedented bipartisan Congressional effort to uncover what intelligence agencies really know about UFOs, now referred to as UAP.” In July 2023, three former Pentagon officials testified about their experience with or sightings of UFOs/ UAPs, and the U.S. Senate introduced the bipartisan UAP Disclosure Act. Earlier this month it was reported that the Senate Armed Services Committee is looking to hold a UFO hearing after the elections in November. >The doc, narrated by Peter Coyote, will include extensive interviews with insiders, experts, and politicians. Christopher Mellon, the former deputy asst. sec. of defense for intelligence, and Stanford University’s Dr. Gary Nolan, will be among those who appear in the doc. Also set are Jason Sands, a master sergeant in the United States Air Force, Craig Lindsay, formerly of Scotland’s Royal Air Force Office, and Nick Pope, formerly of the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense. Among others, Andre Carson, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Tim Burchett are interviewed, along with Kirk McConnell, who previously held a position in Senate Armed Services Committee...
www.popularmechanics.com
>A CONTROVERSIAL ACADEMIC PAPER recently shook up the study of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), previously known as UFOs, by looking beyond the most common explanations for flying saucers in the skies: aliens, robots, or drones. In their new work, three researchers from Harvard University and the University of Montana expand the possibilities of what UAPs could be—and whom or what they might contain. >Published in June 2024 in the journal Philosophy and Cosmology, the article generated plenty of attention with a title as lengthy as it was shocking: The Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis: A Case for Scientific Openness to a Concealed Earthly Explanation for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. The theories within the document’s 42 pages reject common pop culture explanations for UAPs in favor of new ideas ranging from the existential to the spiritual. >In their work, the team ponders if the strange objects and craft spotted in our skies could contain a form of ancient, highly advanced human civilization, predating ours, that has stuck around to observe us. They wonder if we’re seeing vessels containing an intelligent species that evolved on Earth apart from humans—such as possible intelligent dinosaurs who hide away from direct contact. Such ancient or non-human Earthly beings could reside somewhere inside the Earth or under the oceans, they say...
www.theguardian.com
>A mysterious cosmic emblem hangs over the entrance to a building in Bloomsbury, at the heart of London’s university quarter. Depicting concentric circles bound by intertwined arcs, it represents the four elements, seasons and temperaments, as mapped out by Isidore of Seville, a sixth-century bishop and scholar of the ancient world, as well as patron saint of the internet. What lies within is not a masonic lodge, though, or the HQ of the Magic Circle, but the home of one of most important and unusual collections of visual, scientific and occult material in the world. Long off-limits to passersby, the Warburg Institute has now been reborn, after a £14.5m transformation, with a mission to be more public than ever. > >“We are essentially devoted to the study of what you would now call memes,” says Bill Sherman, director of the Warburg. To clarify, the institute is not a repository of Lolcats and Doges, but of global cultural history and the role of images in society, with a dazzling collection ranging from 15th-century books on Islamic astronomy, to tomes on comets and divination, not to mention original paintings used for tarot cards (about which a show opens here in January). At least half of the books can’t be found in any other library in the country. > > ... > > The expansion has also enabled the full reinstatement of Warburg’s unique cataloguing system, with four floors each dedicated to Image, Word, Orientation and Action – “uniting the various branches of the history of human civilisation,” as his close collaborator, Fritz Saxl, put it, breaking culture free from the confines of its usual disciplinary silos. There are few other libraries in the world where you might open a drawer of photographs marked Gestures, to find thematic folders labelled Fleeing, Flying, Falling, along with Denudation of breast, Grasping the victim’s head, and Garment raised to eyes (Grief). Warburg’s unusual system might not have caught on elsewhere, but it still provides a powerful way for artists, writers and researchers to make unexpected connections and pursue fertile tangents – preceding our world of swiping through hashtags, links and recommended feeds by a century. > >“It’s a building filled with literal magic,” says novelist Naomi Alderman, who has spent much time writing here. “A place to sit amid books that are almost definitely emanating auras of sorcery … One brief stroll through the shelves and I always find some new wyrd inspiration.” The reading rooms themselves are still limited to card-carrying researchers, but through the new exhibition and event programme, the public can finally get a taste of Warburg’s weird and wonderful world for themselves.
metro.co.uk
"The famous geoglyphs are found in the soil of the Nazca desert in southern Peru, and have baffled scientists for nearly a century. However, thanks to AI, scientists have uncovered more than 300 patterns, and some of them are rather peculiar. The new discoveries have been likened to aliens, killer whales brandishing knives, cats, camels and a figure that looks just like Wall-E. To see the glyphs, scientists used the new technology to add lines on to the original lines, which have faded due to erosion. The mysterious glyphs were uncovered by researchers at Yamagata University in Japan and IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center in New York in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ‘It took nearly a century to discover a total of 430 figurative Nazca geoglyphs, which offer significant insights into the ancient cultures at the Nazca Pampa,’ say the team in their paper. ‘Here, we report the deployment of an AI system to the entire Nazca region, a UNESCO World Heritage site, leading to the discovery of 303 new figurative geoglyphs within only six months of field survey.’ The team used AI to identify markings in the landscape that would have been missed by just the human eye, with 178 suggested by the technology. ‘AI may be at the brink of ushering in a revolution in archaeological discoveries like the revolution aerial imaging has had on the field,’ the researchers said. Peru’s famous Nazca lines were first ‘discovered’ by archeologists almost a century ago, in 1927."
www.theguardian.com
> For residents of the Bentilee housing estate in Stoke-on-Trent, once one of the largest in Europe and made up almost entirely of social housing, life had undoubtedly been tough. > >But for a brief few moments, during one night more than 50 years ago, local people on the sprawling complex of semi-detached houses and cottage flats were “sprinkled with stardust” when dozens witnessed bright lights in the sky and what they believed to be a UFO landing in a nearby field. > >The encounter on 2 September 1967, considered to be one of the UK’s greatest urban mysteries, is now being turned into a stage play by the dramatist and former Coronation Street actor Deborah McAndrew. > > “When I first saw the archive news footage about the landing of a spaceship on the far fringe of this vast estate, I thought it was a spoof, but it’s not,” McAndrew said. > >The playwright, who runs the company Claybody Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent with her husband, Conrad Nelson, has spoken to several eyewitnesses and former residents. > > ... > > Those she spoke to included an amateur astronomer called Tony Pace, who, with a colleague, self-published a report at the time entitled “Flying Saucer Report: UFOs, unidentified, undeniable”. > >“In it they had details of 70 sightings, with photographs, maps, illustrations, and the reaction of the public, the police and the Ministry of Defence. Tony Pace is now well in his 80s. I’ve created a character that was inspired by him.” > > She also spoke to three eyewitnesses, including Dave, a boy at the time of the encounter. “He was sure what he saw wasn’t human or man-made,” McAndrew said. “These are not fanciful or sensational people; he’s not made anything of it. I tracked him down to Peterborough. He just knows what he saw and described it to me.” > > So what did he describe? “He said the object was about the size of a car, and that it was red and coloured, like everyone says, and that there was no sound. Then it disappeared. > >“By this point there was a lot of excitement. People had run out of their houses because they’d seen this very bright thing from their windows or from the street. Someone fetched the police, and they walked the fields for ages but couldn’t find the object. > >“And then all of a sudden, it lifted out of the field, this time white – Dave said it was the brightest thing he’s ever seen. And then it went out like a lightbulb, and everyone was in darkness.” > > ... > > Bright Lights Over Bentilee runs at the Dipping House, Spode Works, Stoke-on-Trent from 27 September to 12 October [Period news report](https://youtu.be/HSdEbmivz_A)
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20001239 > This encounter left the man marked by the burns, including his melted gloves. > > No matter what you believe about the nature of "flying saucers," there is one sighting labeled the "most convincing" UFO encounter in history. According to CBC, the Falcon Lake incident in Canada is being called the "best-documented UFO case" 50 years after the actual event. > > According to the account, Stefan Michalak was in the woods when he encountered a pair of "cigar-shaped objects" nearby, changing hues while floating before taking a disc shape. Michalak started drawing what he saw, which made their way online years later, before trying to get closer to the object. > > "He couldn't make out any words, or anything, but he heard at least two beings communicating inside. He called out, offering mechanical help if they needed it," the It Gets Weird podcast recently detailed. "As soon as he touches the craft, the fingertips just start to melt, so it's so hot that it literally melts the gloves he's wearing...He's hit by this blast of air, that pushes him backward and sets his shirt and hat on fire. He's stumbling backward, getting pushed by this wave of air and gas, and trying to take this burning shirt and hat off." > > The account goes on to say he showed symptoms of radiation sickness and had "severe burns" on his torso that look like a grate or Bingo card. Once released from the hospital, he returned to the locale to recover his "charred shirt, a melted glove and tools he'd left behind." He maintained his story until dying in 1999, never saying he encountered little green men either.
futurism.com
>In a new interview, retired NASA astronaut and current Arizona senator Mark Kelly insisted that the US government could be doing much more to investigate credible claims about unidentified flying objects. >Speaking to GZero founder Ian Bremmer, the former twin astronaut didn't scoff at the idea that the truth may be out there. >"I've seen some compelling testimony from navy fighter pilots who... in a position of leadership in a squadron, have seen something very compelling," Kelly said. >As video from the GZero interview suggests, the senator and prior commander of the Space Shuttle was likely referencing ex-Naval pilot Ryan Graves' Congressional testimony last summer in which he described seeing a craft so strange while flying off the coast of Virginia a decade ago that his flight commander "immediately" called the mission off. >As Bremmer noted, that pilot was convinced that the unexplained object he saw flying over the water near Virginia Beach was "technologically not possible" by any known American or adversarial craft. >"In one case," Kelly said, "that is true"...
www.dailymail.co.uk
"Several residents of Mexico shared shocking video footage of a UFO seemingly hovering to the ground, drawing a mixed response. Videos on social media captured what appeared to be an oval-sized object hovering over the western city of Zitácuaro on September 8. The footage shows the UFO-like figure hovering near a tree while a second recording captured it slowly moving in front of the overcast skies. The alleged flying saucer sightings were reported in the neighborhoods of El Naranjo and Manzanillos..."
"The Senate Armed Services Committee is looking to hold a UFO hearing after the November elections, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-N.Y.) office confirmed to The Hill. The hearing announcement follows an increase in sightings of what’s officially known as unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP, including one purportedly near Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. It would also come more than a year after an explosive House hearing in July 2023, when three former Pentagon officials testified about their experience with or sightings of UAP, warning that a lack of information on the phenomena could pose national security risks. Now Gillibrand, who in 2022 helped start the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) — created to assess reports of UAP — wants a progress update on the office’s work. “It’s a priority for me. I think it’s very important that we continue to make things publicly available,” Gillibrand earlier this month told Matt Laslo’s D.C. “Ask a Pol” podcast. She wants “a progress report on how many unidentified aerial phenomena we’ve assessed and analyzed” and for the office to “give examples of what we have identified and give examples of what we haven’t identified.” Gillibrand, who chairs the subcommittee under the Senate Armed Services Committee on emerging threats and capabilities, added that she wants AARO “to continue to build credibility.” Her office confirmed Tuesday to The Hill that there will be a hearing, likely in November..."
www.mylondon.news
"With Halloween just over a month away, London's eeriest tales are resurfacing, and one such spine-chilling story hails from the depths of the London Underground. Frequented by thousands of commuters each day, many are unaware that the Central line platform at Liverpool Street station was the scene of a terrifying ghostly encounter..."
www.popularmechanics.com
> The true origins of the metallic specimen were debated for decades. Eventually, Blink-182 frontman and UFO enthusiast Tom DeLonge’s To the Stars Academy got a hold of it. The organization independently researches possible alien phenomena, and the sample had an apparently unprecedented material structure that could indicate an extraterrestrial technosignature. Then, the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which investigates unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) for the U.S. government, took over the investigation to learn more about the object’s physical and chemical properties that made it potentially capable of inertial mass reduction—levitation. > > ... > > Analysis showed that the isotopic signatures of magnesium and lead indicated a terrestrial origin. The magnesium’s isotopic signature had undergone some fractionation, or separation of lighter and heavier isotopes, probably due to stress from heat and physical or chemical manufacturing processes. However, it was still within the normal range for magnesium that forms on Earth, not an alien biosignature. > > Strengthening the case for a local origin, the magnesium in this sample also showed a proportion of isotopes that occurs only in our solar system. Scientists know this because the isotopic signature of magnesium originally comes from a particular star-forming region and so is unique to each star system. Magnesium is an extremely common element in the universe, produced in great amounts by larger, older stars that scatter it into space when they die and go supernova. It is often recycled by young star systems, where it forms a unique isotopic signature, depending on the conditions. > >Moving on, the lead in the object also matched the isotopic signatures for lead that originates on Earth. These signatures are so distinct that there is no way they could have come from any other body—even the moon. > >With no alien biosignatures present in the sample, the ORNL scientists turned their attention to technosignatures. Scanning transmission electron microscopy revealed that the crystalline structure of the magnesium was similar to the magnesium in alloys manufactured on Earth. With that confirmed, they tried to determine if the sample could have been part of a terahertz waveguide. > > ... > > To qualify as a piece of alien technology, the sample would need to have a single layer of pure bismuth between layers of the magnesium alloy. This is because unadulterated bismuth can guide energy just like the magnetron in your microwave. Unlike anything in your microwave, bismuth is capable of directing terahertz waves. The problem is that the bismuth in this sample is neither pure nor in a single layer. There are multiple layers of bismuth between the magnesium layers, and the bismuth itself contains lead, both of which would disrupt its functioning as a waveguide. > > ... > > “ORNL has a high level of confidence that all data indicate the material was manufactured terrestrially—albeit using an uncommon mixture of elements by today’s standards—and then incurred damage caused by mechanical and heat stressors,” according to the report. [Archive](http://web.archive.org/web/20240917025230/https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a62227229/mysterious-metal-ufo/)
www.mirror.co.uk
> Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a "child vampire" in a European city with one terrifying detail showing a barbaric ancient practice. > >Excavations carried out on a 13th-century bishop's garden in Chelm, Poland, uncovered a burial marked by two posts - one facing east and another west. The remains found inside, archaeologists confirmed, were that of a young boy, but the grave bore several startling details that set it apart from most others of the time - including one that indicated a gruesome act. > > Researchers working on the site found the body - which had been buried on a hill - was pressed into the ground by stones laid across its torso. Polish officials added that the child appeared to have been decapitated before it was buried, with the collection of details suggesting superstitious locals had feared the presence of a "demonic entity". > > Paweł Wira, head of the Chełm branch of the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments in Lublin, said the people who buried the child hoped to prevent a "demonic entity from exiting the grave". He said: "A burial with a face pressed into the ground, cutting off the head or putting stones on the body are some of the burial methods used to prevent a person thought to be a demonic entity from exiting the grave."
www.countypress.co.uk
"A sculptor has commemorated a popular Isle of Wight myth with a statue of an alien. David Jones, from Goldsmith's University in London, spent nine months creating a full size figure of an alien alleged to have visited the Isle of Wight. The Sandown Clown is alleged to have been sighted on the footpaths around Sandown Airport and on Lake Common in 1973. The sighted alien was encountered by two holidaying children, who described the being to be part alien, part robot and part clown..."
metro.co.uk
cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17405609 > > Prince Philip was meant to meet an alien called ‘Janus’ at a flat in Chelsea, a new documentary has rather casually claimed. > > > >The King of UFOs, which will be streaming on Amazon and Tubi on September 20, described how the late Duke of Edinburgh’s engineering background made him passionate about all things extraterrestrial. > > > >So meeting an alien was an offer that the husband of Queen Elizabeth struggled to refuse, apparently. > > > > The film’s director, Mark Christopher Lee, told Metro.co.uk that the meeting was arranged by the Prince’s top aide at the time, Sir Peter Horsley. > > > >‘Horsley actually met this Janus entity in a flat in Chelsea in 1954 – he claimed that it had an ethereal otherworldly quality and it could read his mind and extract information about flying saucers,’ Lee said. > > > > The pair were pencilled in to meet at a flat along Smith Street, a small residential road about a 10-minute walk away from what is now Sloane Square Tube station, on a ‘winter’s evening’. > > > > ‘Horsley wanted Phillip to meet with this Janus as Janus had a message to give him that the world needed saving as Philip was a man of great vision,’ Lee added. > > > >‘Philip didn’t go to the meeting – and it’s most likely that Janus could have been a Russian spy – but Horsley stuck to his belief that Janus was not of this world.’ > > > > ... > > > > Horsley did mention this possible close encounter in his memoir, Sounds From Another Room, in which he described a serious ‘Mr Janus’ with an intimate knowledge of aliens that UFO experts have widely interpreted as being extraterrial.
www.express.co.uk
"A UFO researcher claims to have solved one of the UK's most intriguing UFO mysteries 34 years after it was spectacularly captured on film. Dubbed the "Calvine UFO" it was snapped in the Scottish area of the same name by two hikers on August 4, 1990. Six staggering photographs they took are said to show an odd diamond-shaped object in the sky, seemingly tailed by one or two Harrier jets. The images were reportedly handed to the the Scottish Daily Record by the witnesses for publication. The newspaper handed the prints and negatives to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for comment, which is said to have returned them, but the story was never published. The images and negatives also disappeared..."
theweek.com
"Belief in aliens is nothing new – reports of UFOs can be found in fourth-century Chinese texts – but over the last few years, there has been a sharp increase in the numbers who truly think the truth is out there. In fact, reported Newsweek, the idea is gaining "unprecedented traction" in the US and elsewhere, leading to concerns about the impact it could have. In the late 1990s, only 20% of people in the US believed UFO sightings were proof of alien life, said the magazine. That had risen to 34% by 2022, at which time 24% of 1,000 Americans polled also said they had seen a flying saucer. Tony Milligan, a senior research fellow at King's College London, told Newsweek the rise was a "political tsunami" that had even caught the attention of US politicians. "You don't worry about this stuff when it's 2% of the population... but you don't expect it to be reaching the floor of Congress," he said. Depending on the results of November's presidential elections, the topic could go even further, as Donald Trump has vowed to declassify videos of alleged UFOs if he wins. The Republican nominee has had a "decade-long fascination" with the topic, said The Sun. The UK is not immune to the growth, Milligan wrote in The Conversation, with around 20% of citizens believing extraterrestrials have visited and an estimated 7% saying they have seen a UFO..."
www.skeptic.org.uk
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19604532 > This article originally appeared in The Skeptic, Volume 4, Issue 2, from 1990. > > There have been numerous reports recently concerning sightings of UFOs in the Soviet Union. The most dramatic have involved aliens perambulating in parks, or even dumping (presumably) unwanted debris from their craft. The bulk of these articles have originated from the official news agency, TASS, which one usually associates with announcements of industrial achievements, or synopses of leadership speeches. As well as fulfilling this prosaic function, it has become a kind of Russian Guardian, chronicling the adventures of aliens, psychic healers and abominable snowmen. This article will examine the Russian UFO stories which have been circulating in recent months. > > ... > > So from apparently sketchy articles in local newspapers, these alien stories spread until they reached international prominence, and just as suddenly disappeared. Commentators outside explained the UFO fever in the Soviet Union variously as the effects of glasnost or to a deep need in the Russian psyche for mystery. Whatever the reason, it is true that Russian UFOs are part of a much livelier paranormal movement than exists in the West. > >Despite being the homeland of dialectical materialism, these phenomena have always been taken seriously. The difference is that now we can hear about it more easily. The episode still leaves one wondering about TASS, though. During the Voronezh incident especially, people seemed inclined to give the agency the benefit of the doubt, simply because it was TASS. Later, however, an Associated Press article carried a quotation which casts this view into question. Complaining that he had been misquoted, Silanov said: ‘Don’t believe all you hear from TASS‘.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
"Another high-ranking government official who investigated UFOs/UAPs is ready to tell their story. Jay Stratton, the former director of the U.S. government’s secretive Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, has struck a memoir deal with HarperCollins. Stratton represents the most senior former U.S government official yet to go public about their direct involvement in the investigation of UAP and non-human intelligence. For over 16 years, Stratton worked as a senior intelligence official, leading countless U.S. government investigations of UAP and non-human intelligence, including the “Tic Tac” UAP encountered by Navy fighter pilots and the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in 2004. While much of Stratton’s work is classified, the memoir promises to reveal “all that can be lawfully disclosed, providing a first-hand account of the shocking discoveries, challenges and breakthroughs that have marked the U.S. government’s investigation and understanding of UAP and non-human intelligence, as well as the effects on Stratton and his family.” In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Stratton said, “We are at the beginning of a new chapter for humanity. The process of disclosure is complex but it has begun"...
www.dailymail.co.uk
"A man in small-town Montana has captured footage of an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) and shared the shocking video that made his wife 'cry' on Reddit. The video was recorded on Friday between 10:10 and 10:15 pm, and showed what appears to be a blinking craft streaking across the clear night sky. Said to have been spinning and adorned with a series of rotating lights, the apparent object flew over tiny Choteau, home to a population of just over 1,700 people. The videos, along with the original poster's in-depth account of the sighting, reveals how the man and his wife first mistook the unknown object for a meteor. It comes after Montana was singled out as a hotspot for UFO sightings, with visitors recording some of the most significant and well-documented footage..."
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19522344 > Published :February 2006 > > Most mainstream scientists believe that few species of large mammal remain to be discovered. Nevertheless, there are countless unverified reports of a large, non-human, bipedal primate from Asia (the ‘Yeti’) and North America (‘Sasquatch’ or ‘Bigfoot’). Thus far, none of these reports has been convincingly verified by modern scientific methods . > > However, new species inhabiting remote areas are occasionally described that were previously known only from local and traditional knowledge. > The most recently described large mammal could be the sao la Pseudoryx nghetinhensis, which became known to science in 1992 from three sets of horns found in the possession of hunters in the Vu Quang Nature Reserve in Vietnam . > Subsequent surveys and the morphometric and DNA analysis of >20 specimens revealed that the sao la was a previously undescribed 100-kg bovid distinct from all described genera. > > More recently, in 2003 a new species of African monkey (Lophocebus kipunji) was discovered in southern Tanzania, based on sightings, photographs and recorded distinctive vocalizations. > > Discoveries such as these fuel hope in the cryptozoology community for the existence of more enigmatic creatures, such as the Sasquatch.
www.examinerlive.co.uk
"Observers were left puzzled after spotting a strange unidentified object floating above Whernside, one of Yorkshire's Three Peaks mountains. The object was reportedly spotted on Saturday afternoon, with photographs taken by at least two people on the ground who were left scratching their heads about what it might be. The area in the Yorkshire Dales is often swarming with Three Peaks walkers heading up or off Whernside which stands at 736m (2,415ft). The images were shared on the North Yorkshire Weather Updates page on Facebook, prompting a number of fanciful explanations, and a few plausible ones. Someone said it looked a bit like the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek. Other explanations included a puff of smoke from a steam train, an afterburn trail from a jet, and a weather balloon. Several people suggested it was possibly a swarm of bees, flying ants or midges, or maybe even starlings. One man said it resembled a 'mosquito ball' as he'd seen similar sights before. Quite a number of people posted gifs of various spaceships, aliens, Martians, extra terrestrials, or references to War of the Worlds. Some suggested it was a 'dirty lens' on the camera but two separate photos emerged which suggested this was unlikely. One man wrote: "The tent from Leeds Festival a couple of weeks ago, still flying...."
www.dailyrecord.co.uk
cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17179490 > > A photo from 1941 has left some people questioning whether time travel could be real. The historic snap, taken by Edward Rosskam on Chicago's South Side, shows a lineup of smartly-dressed children and teenagers standing outside a cinema. > > > >But one boy towards the edge of the photograph has left people scratching their heads. Some social media users are now convinced the young man is holding an Apple iPad. > > > > Taking to Reddit's timetravelerscaught forum, one person captioned the snap: "iPad carrying movie goer, all the way to the right." But not everyone's on board with the time-travel theory – and some people think it could be something much more mundane. > > > > Elaborating on historical cinema etiquette, another chimed in: "Back in the day of early film, ushers scanned the audience for pens and notepads as to prevent bootleg recreations of the film." > > > > Another user added: "If I can time travel, have an iPad and I'm black why in God's name would I go to the South Side of Chicago in 1941 to watch a matinee of 'The Aldrich Family'?!" > > Here is the relevant bit of the photo: > > 
www.dailymail.co.uk
"Police chiefs of America's largest cities have published the first guide about UAPs, which details chilling encounters and how officers can report such incidents. The 11-page document warned that unidentified flying objects 'pose significant safety risks to law enforcement air support units,' urging teams to be vigilant when in helicopters. The report also highlights stories from officers who claimed to confront UFOs, specifically one in 2023 where a law employee saw a 'triangle craft with green lights gliding through the sky' before a local resident said something 'ran' nearby. The police executives created the reference because 'it's in the interest of law enforcement to be aware of trends and reporting on UAP due to the unknown threat they may pose.' The organization, called the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA), includes nearly 80 executives from major US cities who work together to advance public safety through a range of initiatives, including community outreach, research and policy development and now, UFO investigations..."
"Key Takeaways For as long as humans have been looking up, we’ve seen objects or phenomena that have defied our conventional explanations for what we’ve known is scientifically possible. Many have attributed these sightings to extraterrestrial or even supernatural activity, although no conclusive proof or incontrovertible evidence supporting these claims has ever survived scrutiny. What scientific steps could we take to evaluate the activity of an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) or an unidentified flying object (UFO) to determine if they’re actually “beyond” present Earthly knowledge? Here’s how to do it..."
phys.org
"Robert Smith is convinced the aliens have won. "The invasion has happened—it's all over," says the University of Alberta space historian who teaches a course on the history of extraterrestrials. It's not so much that Smith believes in their literal existence, only that aliens have staked their claim in the human imagination..."
www.thetimes.com
"Area 51 isn’t the only weird thing in the Nevada desert, as our writer discovered when he drove the Extraterrestrial Highway to see if the truth really is out there. ‘That’s where they probe you,” the shop assistant said when I asked her what really goes on at Area 51. She followed this up with a raising of the eyebrows and a waggle of her extended finger. I got the message. I was at the Alien Center, my first stop on a 600-mile road trip in rural southern Nevada, making a loop around the huge slab of desert that’s home to a US air force base shrouded in mystery. Built in the Fifties, the base has become a beacon for conspiracy theorists who believe the government uses it to store broken-down spaceships and little green men (with their apparently invasive interrogation techniques). The official line is that Area 51 is a training facility for military aircraft … but they would say that, wouldn’t they. The Alien Center is really just a petrol station with your standard diner, gift shop and brothel attached. But since I’d been on Route 95 for a couple of hours after leaving Las Vegas, it seemed a good place to take a breather..."
www.dailymail.co.uk
"A British urban explorer claims he has captured an image of a ghost lurking in the hallway of an abandoned school in Japan. Ben, who goes by the username @places_forgotten on social media, is a content creator with 1.4 million followers on TikTok. He mainly shares videos and photos of abandoned places around the world. It was while he was on a work trip to Japan that Ben decided to pay the derelict building that used to house the school a visit. While photographing the abandoned school, which still had homework pinned up on its walls, bags perched on the desks and pictures of the students, Ben claimed to have captured the photographs of a ghost lurking in the hallway. Chilling images, shared by the content creator who said he was certain was the only person there, show the figure at the far-end of the corridor..."
www.ok.co.uk
"The royal residences are no strangers to eerie tales, with Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Kensington Palace all having their share of ghostly rumours. But it's Sandringham House that takes the crown for one of the most bizarre incidents, as disclosed in the diaries of the late high-society columnist Kenneth Rose, which came to light posthumously. He wrote about a peculiar "little service" held in a downstairs bedroom of the grand 18th Century mansion back in 2000, after staff reported supernatural encounters. A pastor was brought in to conduct the ceremony, attended by none other than the late Queen Mother and her Lady-in-Waiting, Prue Penn, with the late Queen herself present. Nestled within a sprawling 20,000-acre estate in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Sandringham House is the traditional festive retreat for the Royal Family. Its storied past is peppered with spectral sightings and unexplained occurrences, but there's one particular tale that's bound to send shivers down your spine..."
Forteana
!forteana@feddit.ukFor discussion of everything rum and uncanny, from cryptozoology (mysterious or out-of-place animals), UFOs, high strangeness, etc. Following in the footsteps of Charles Fort and all those inspired by him, like the field of anomalistics.
As this community is on Feddit.uk it takes a British approach to things but it needn't be restricted to the UK - if it's weird and unusual it probably has a home here.
Elsewhere in the Fediverse: