it's really called OWL POD!

I just stumbled on a podcast sharing service called OWL-POD. Yes, that's really it's name. It collects on-line podcast series and creates a simple search engine for subjects. Beyond that, I like the name!

OWLPOD.com linked here.

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YouTube posting of one of my interviews

I just found one of my podcasts posted on YouTube. Somebody put the interview I did with Nick Redfern on his FINAL EVENS book on that site, and it got a lot of hits.

Here's a link to the YouTube posting. And here is (the complete audio version) on my own site. And just so y'know, this is a really great interview.

I have been pondering whether I should also post my audio podcasts on YouTube. I know full well that doing this would dramatically increase the number of listeners. But at the same time, I worry that this would increase the number of weirdos and trolls to my site. I'm hesitant, but at the same time it might be a good idea.

Alas, I'm conflicted. Any thoughts?

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Follow up from shortly after writing the post above. Well, I went ahead and did it, as seen below.

odd events are tailored in DEEPLY personal ways

In a recent LUMINOSITY post, Dan Mitchell wrote:

"Let me state first and foremost that I have as of yet heard of no others that have described this experience on the terms that I have.”

I feel strongly that this could be said of almost anyone on this kind of path. There is a complexity and depth to Dan’s experiences that seem to match something within him. It seems that the phenomenon is meeting him in terms that he can relate to on a profound level.

When I speak to people about their direct contact experiences I always ask them about this, about how these odd events are tailored in a way that is DEEPLY personal. These folks are quick to agree, they sense these experiences are a sort of theater directed at them and their individual needs. This isn’t a universal reply, but it feels like a majority.

This get very complicated when trying to make sense of the people with dark and horrifying experiences. I can't help but feel a very real concern when I hear these grueling stories.

I also feel that the "new-age true-believers" are being honest when they say they tell of meeting angelic space brothers who hail from the Pleiades. I suspect that is EXACTLY the imagery and narrative that they're being presented with, and it seems to meet their needs.

When I ponder my own set of experiences in this framework, I see a sort of methodical odyssey. I have been given just the bare minimum of clues. This has forced me into the role of the detective, albeit and obsessive and introspective one. Strangely, this very much seems to meet my own unique needs on some deep personal level.
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ALSO:
I used the term “new-age true-believers” in the text above, and it might come across as dismissive. I recognize that plenty of folks in this UFO research community are quick to deride this faction who claim direct contact. This sub-group is very much a part of this overall phenomenon, and it does a disservice to ignore them (or reject them with contempt, which I see a lot). To be honest, I struggle with certain claims within this rather large clique. But they bring very real clues to the table that are every bit as valid as the credentialed nuts and bolts researcher.

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deer on my porch

Hoof prints in the foreground and cat prints in the background on my porch.

January of 2011.

A year ago, Thanksgiving night of 2010, while driving back home to my house I nearly hit a deer on with my car.

I was invited to a Thanksgiving dinner by an acquaintance by the name of Erika. She and I have had wonderful conversations together, and I liked her tremendously. I was delighted that she had asked me and I gotta say, it felt a little bit like a date. But sadly, this time of year can be hard for me. I suffer from clinical depression (and I’ve been open about it on this blog) and the short days have an impact on my mood. I was on my way to the party, but I wasn’t feeling so great. I actually drove past the house, and it just wasn’t in me to go it, so I drove back to the main street and headed home.

It was on the main highway just as I was picking up speed after leaving the downtown area that the deer darted out from some cottonwoods and appeared in my headlights. The road was icy and the deer skittered and fell in front of my car. I swerved and for a moment everything was in slow motion, it was close but the frightened animal was fine.

I have lived in this town for over 17 years and I’ve never seen deer at this spot in the road. But, I have seen owls in that exact spot three different times.

About a month and a half later I went to the nearby town of Jackson to see the remake of TRUE GRIT with Erika. This time it was actually a real-deal date. This would have been early January 2011 sometime.

As we drove home after the movie, while we were still in the town of Jackson, Erika suddenly shouts, “Deer!” and before I could react there was a sickening thud, and I watched as a small deer bounced off the passenger side of the hood, and spun into the lane to our left. From what I saw in the headlight, it was then hit by a truck next to us.

At that moment we were in traffic on slick roads, there was really nothing I could do but continue driving. I had a jolt of adrenaline, and we tried to make sense of what just happened. I was probably going about 30 miles per hour, and so was the truck next to us. So, there was a chance that the deer would live. This is a notorious stretch of road, and deer are hit by cars often.

During the drive home, Erika and I both talked about how sad it made us thinking that we might have killed that animal. One thing I wanted to share with Erika during our time in the car was a series of stories involving me seeing badgers (I may write about that someday), and how they seemed to be directly related to her. These curious stories feel mysterious in a way that I was worried that in telling them I might sound nutty. I chose not to share those stories after hitting that deer.

Two days later I saw small deer tracks on the porch outside my kitchen door. I am not sure when they appeared but there was fresh snow so I can only guess it happened about 48 hours after hitting the deer in Jackson Hole.

Once again, I have lived in this house for over 17 years and I have NEVER once seen a deer (or deer tracks) anywhere near the house, let alone within 18 inches of my kitchen door.

In less than two months I almost hit a deer, I most likely kill a deer and a deer walks on my porch. Two of these events involved Erika, and I’m happy to report we have been close and happy since last winter. It has been perfectly magical.

This story may mean nothing but I've made a sort of declaration to myself that I document these curious events in this public format.

Deer tracks about 18 inches from my door.

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audio interviews

I gotta urge folks to listen to a series of recent audio interviews to anyone who's made it to this blog. Each of these remarkable individuals have important things to say.

* Jeff Kripal, author of MUTANTS AND MYSTICS.

* Fred Burks, government whistle blower and mind-control researcher.

* Alan Caviness, UFO researcher and experiencer.

* Peter Robbins, close associate with Budd Hopkins, UFO researcher and experiencer.

And loads more audio interviews HERE.

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low quality podcasting

I'm gunna rant.

Lameness abounds, and I gotta voice my disappointed with the vast majority of podcasting on the paranormal lore. Good grief, some of it just sounds awful! Most of the shows on BlogTalk, Inception Radio and UFO Paranormal Network are almost impossible to try and play the role of listener, the audio quality is inexcusably bad. There are guests I wanna listen to, but I'm appalled by the crummy sound. I've been doing an on-line radio show using my humble desktop computer, and my audio quality is pretty good. We live in an era of amazing and inexpensive technology that should make all of these shows crystal clear. It's not that hard people.

Done ranting.

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a terrifying dream that changed to full consciousness

On the night of August 15th I experienced some sort of extremely vivid dream that had a profound impact on me.

I was sleeping at a friends house, and the beginning of the experience was rather dreamlike, although it felt entirely real. I was in the exact location of where I was dreaming, and this was decidedly unusual, it just doesn’t happen to me very often, and when it does there seems to be something paranormal at play. I remember at one point I left the bed I was lying in, went down the stairs and out into the driveway to look at the nighttime sky. There was a sense of waiting, or expectation.

In this part of the dream I seem to remember doing mundane things, like turning the lights on as I moved through the apartment. I came back inside and I remember walking in a hallway that matched the house I grew up in, and this brief moment felt decidedly like a dream.

Shortly after that I returned to the bed.

Then I seemed to have woken up with a jolt, but I strongly suspect that I was still in this dream-state. I looked up and saw five beings (I think it was five) standing around the bed. The bed is just a mattress on the floor, and I was looking up at these beings, and my guess is they were about four feet tall. They were just misty white apparitions, like they were made out of glowing fog. They were just a sort of human shaped outline, and they seemed to be standing motionless.

The image of multiple beings around the bed were vague, and it’s hard for me to remember much. But it matched the interior of the bedroom exactly.

I sat up in bed and put my arm out to touch one of these beings, and my hand passed right through them, but I felt an odd sensation of fuzziness, or a sort of spider web feeling. I was intrigued by this sensation.

I remember feeling absolutely no fear at all as I reached out to them. I felt oddly curious.

But, something else happened, and it seems like it took place a short time after sitting up. It was like an odd flip-flop in the otherwise calm narrative of this dream. What I experienced was unimaginably terrifying.

I was suddenly experiencing a frenetic slide-show of freakish images, it was taking place in my heightened dream-state. The images were like something out of a gruesome set of heavy metal album covers, each image was like a finished piece of surreal artwork. They were bloody and perverse. These highly stylized snapshots looked like a H.R. Giger nightmare. Each hideous image would last less than a second, and then the next would appear, and the next, and the next.

The creepy artwork of H.R. Giger

Initially I was bombarded by these dark visuals while in this dream-state, but the intensity of what was happening seemed to jar me awake, and then I was staring blankly at the bedroom wall. The room was lit with the soft glow of early morning. At this point I was most definitely awake but the slide-show kept going.

These horrific images continued to flash before my eyes, they were literally in a rectangular frame, as if projected in berserkly high resolution on a sort of screen floating directly in line with my sight.

This crazy slide-show of images was something I have never experienced before. Quite honestly, I thought I had gone insane and this was terrifying.

I lay there, with my eyes open and my heart pounding, experiencing a kind of panic attack, but I don’t know how long this fully conscious part lasted. Maybe less than a 30 seconds. But it was enough to scare the shit out of me, the feeling of absolute madness was overwhelming.

Eventually, it faded away, and I was left shaken and drained. When I did get up, I was functioning poorly, and the rest of the day was effected.

Two days later I emailed Anya Briggs in New York, and tried to explain what happened. Anya is a powerful psychic and a friend, I trust her insights. (her blog linked HERE)

The burning question I for Anya was this: Did I get abducted the other night?

She was quick to respond and she reassured me that I did NOT get abducted (and that’s what I felt too) but that some sort of interaction had happened.

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Below is an edited excerpt of a recorded call between myself and Anya a few days later. She did something that seems to happen a lot when we talk together, she slipped into channel mode, and she began to communicate with her guides.

Anya: You are piercing the veil between one reality and the next, they are inter-dimensional beings, they are from somewhere else, they’re not of this world physically and it was real. You weren’t dreaming.

They’ve done this to me. They’ll do something to your head to make you feel like you’re dreaming. That was technology that was used on you. Fear is an acronym for False Expectations And Reality.

This was an initiation and you failed (she laughed), the frequency was so high it frightened you.

Mike: It felt like all of a sudden my mind had been overridden, and I was thrust into this rapid fire slide-show, the images were terrible, gruesome, like H.P. Lovecraft, bloody, monsters - and I had no control over it.

I had lost the ability to control my mind. The sensation of losing my mind was very real, and that really freaked me out, that sensation of insanity.

Anya: Maybe you were temporarily hijacked?

Mike: It sure felt like it!

Anya: You must understand that this is an initiation for a certain type of species to reach out to you, to understand the fear construct better.

And what they were doing, believe it or not, it may have seemed like torture or punishment or something that was thrust upon you against your will, but you had asked for this, Dear One, they’re saying.

It was an outreach program that failed. Their methodology was not working so they’re going to try a different tactic again at some point, to try and understand the fear input without freaking you out. Please understand this was not done with malicious intent. It was not meant to frighten you, but it had the opposite effect. They didn’t understand this.

They wanted to see what you understood as far as the fear construct, and your reaction. The interpretation of events did not go well, and we apologize for that.
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Note: August 15th is the date that Anya Briggs calls her awakening. I have another friend with profound psychic experiences, Susan MacLeod, who also says that August 15th was her awakening. These happened in different years.

Also: I was going to draw an image of the glowing beings around the bed, but this post is so dark, I don't really feel all that inspired. Maybe someday.

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intellect vs intuition

I just received a letter from a reader (and listener) to this blog. He says what I'm feeling with an intense clarity. The one question I repeatedly ask to my guests, and especially to myself, is: HOW DO YOU BALANCE YOUR INTELLECT AND YOUR INTUITION?

Alas, I find myself increasingly bored and dismissive of my intellect.

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My friend writes:

I really think that whatever the hell this phenomenon/phenomena may be, it defies the reductionist approach favored by traditional objectivism. It requires us to get back to basic shit and just talk with each other, person-to-person, like you seem to do with your guests. I'm not saying we throw out rational inquiry, not at all! In fact I strongly believe that many people would benefit from taking a cold, hard look at their own gullibility. And I mean that with all my heart. But we also need to be open to the emotive, mysterious, symbolic and intuitive signals that are coming through to us as well.

I don't know what all this means. Maybe that is my Westernized left brain talking. It sits there in judgement, telling me that I'm full of crap for even paying attention to these anomalies in my life. And sometimes I don't know if I should believe its rational admonitions, fall into lock-step with culture, and simply dismiss all of this as some collective fantasy of early 21st-Century apocalyptic dreams.

On the other hand, maybe I really should pay attention to the absurdities. Last night I was sitting in bed with my heavy comforter drawn up around me, lights out and balancing my laptop between my knees and chest. Because I wasn't sleepy, I started to play a simple puzzle game that I had recently downloaded. I turned off the TV just after the Letterman monologue. It was about 11 pm.

A few minutes later I glanced at the computer's clock in the lower right corner. It said 2:20 am. My comforter was on the floor and I couldn't quite figure out how it got there. I was chilled and a bit confused. I seemed to be in the same position I started out in, and not a bit stiff, if indeed I had been sitting there motionless for three-plus hours.

My left brain was curiously incurious, despite my confusion. I simply gathered the comforter back onto the bed, closed down the computer and went to sleep. In retrospect I wonder what to make of it.

Sure, I can resort to the explanation that A) I dozed off and didn't realize it, or B) that I got so wrapped up in this little video game that I didn't notice that over three hours of time had passed. There are problems with either explanation though, so the only recourse to my left brain was to flatly dismiss this little incident as nothing unusual.

But dammit, it was unusual! So what to make of it? The rational side is not paying attention But the intuitive side is saying that there is more to the story. So what do I do? It is this little mental battle that, I think, causes so many of us to discount the oddities in life. For me, it's easier to give in to the dismissive voice. But, I fear, that will never lead me to any sort of true understanding about the edges of reality.

Anyhow, I just want to reiterate that you, Mike, need to continue to explore and share these "Outer Limits" experiences. Keep up with the healthy skepticism, for that produces a clarity sadly lacking in the "Love and Light" community of doe-eyed believers. Critically examine the circumstances of every experience. But, on the other hand, don't let that skepticism discount the strange. That's just lazy thinking.

(NOTE: this letter above was minimally edited, boldicized and italicized by me before posting)

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Nick Redfern interviewed on the SECRET SUN

Comic book art as a way-shower for those who with eyes to see.

Two of my favorite thinkers get into it. Nick Redfern and Christopher Knowles dig into the state of present day UFO studies and how it's being interpreted by our society. Powerhouse blog posting linked HERE.

compelled to sleep out under the stars

A map of the area near New Paltz, New York, known as the Shawangunks

At one point in my life I had dedicated myself to rock climbing, this happened while living in New York City. This little story took place in the summer of 1993, and at the time I was 31 (I am 49 as I write this).

I had a secret spot where I liked to sleep out under the stars. It was on top of a dramatic cliff system known as the Shawangunks. This was just a few miles outside of the town of New Paltz, (noted on the map with a RED marker) this is about 90 miles north of New York City. It was near the “hair-pin-turn” if you are at all familiar with the area. I would sneak into the woods and camp alone on the Mohonk Preserve, a protected private park. This is a perfectly lovely spot with a delightful wilderness feel.

The spot where I slept was out on a big expanse of lumpy white rock, this is the same rock formation that makes up the cliff system where all the climbing takes place. The rock itself is a hard, silica-cemented conglomerate of white quartz pebbles and sandstone. My sleeping spot was simply a shallow flat spot, exactly the size of my sleeping pad, and it was absolutely beautiful.

One night (I am quite certain it was a Friday) at about 11:30, I was in my little apartment in Greenwich Village. At that late hour, I was sort of “compelled” to get in my car and drive north to my little secret spot. It was an easy drive that late at night with minimal traffic. As I was on the FDR, I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, they're pushin’ pretty hard tonight.”

It was a 90 minute drive and I parked my car at around 1:AM. I took my sleeping bag and pad into the woods and went to sleep. I have no unusual memories at all. The next morning, I met with some of the local climbers and enjoyed a day of rock climbing.

Now, this “event” can easily be dismissed as just me wanting to get out of the crowded city and get an early start the next morning, I recognize that. Or, just me wanting to sleep outside under the stars in a pretty place; this is something I still do a lot in the summer.

All that said, I’m still confused about that little voice in my head that just kind of blurted out: “Wow, they're pushin’ pretty hard tonight.”

I had read Whitley Strieber’s COMMUNION a few years earlier, and he gave some details about his cabin, and I realized it was rather close to my secret spot, maybe just a few miles away. I only thought about this years later when UNKNOWN COUNTRY noted that Whitley’s cabin was quite close to those cliffs. When I read that, I had a sinking feeling. But why?

I have pin-pointed my secret sleeping spot exactly on a map (noted on the map with a YELLOW marker). I later learned that Whitley’s cabin was near the little town of Accord (noted on the map with a BLUE marker). The town is less than four miles from my sleeping spot. I don’t know the exact location of the cabin, but it could be as close as two miles from my sleeping spot.

I’ll add that some years later, I went up to that spot, but not to sleep. It was the middle of the day and I was visiting New Paltz. I was curious if I could even find it again on the big open expanse of white rock.

I walked straight to it, and on this one lone spot, someone had spray painted a pentagram in a circle. (it may have been an “A” in a circle, I can’t remember exactly). This bit of creepy graffiti was right exactly where I slept! Nothing else was noted anywhere on the huge area. Weird!

That’s it, overall it’s nothing all that eventful, but upon reflection some of the details sure feel strange to me.

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Whitley Strieber interviews Jeff Kripal

Whitley Strieber interviews Jeff Kripal about his book MUTANTS AND MYSTICS, linked HERE. This interview was only available (for free) for a few weeks. Presently, it requires a membership fee to listen.

This is a great companion to the conversation on this site.

cattle mutilation near my home

Mysterious cattle mutilation happened on or about Halloween, about two miles from my house. Newspaper report HERE.

audio conversation with Peter Robbins

Budd and Peter in NYC.

For over 30 years Peter worked closely with Budd Hopkins. This was during a chapter of history where the UFO abduction phenomenon first made it's way into the public's psyche.

Together, Peter and I spend over two-hours in conversation about Budd and his life as an artist and researcher. I have some very rewarding memories of the short time I spent with Budd in 2007 and 2008.

Peter sought out Budd in the late 70's to try to help make sense of his own odd experience. When Peter was a boy on Long Island both he and his sister Helen saw five silver discs hover silently above the neighbors house in full daylight.
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One-click audio download HERE.
Two hours / 23 minutes

We spend most of our time sharing stories about Budd and his research, as well as the supportive and compassionate role he played in the lives of the people who came to him for help. We also discuss the complicated state of UFO research.

It is also important to note that Peter, along with Larry Warren, wrote the definitive book on the Rendlesham Forest/Bentwaters UFO incident in December 1980. The book is titled LEFT AT EAST GATE.

Peter talks more about Budd in these two podcasts. 1) RADIO MYSTERIOSO, 2) OPEN MINDS.

Helen Wheels, as drawn by R.Crumb

Helen was Peter's sister, and she spent time with Budd as a way to help with her own set of life experiences. Helen was a gifted poet, author, actress, horsewoman, naturalist, and gold and platinum record-award winning singer and songwriter. An electrifying stage presence, Helen performed with the Helen Wheels Band. She died in January of 2000.

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Audio conversation with Jeff Kripal

My new favorite book!

The book MUTANTS AND MYSTICS explores the how comic books and science fiction are somehow intertwined with profound mystical experiences, including the UFO contact lore. This is the kinda stuff that gets my attention!

Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, where he is also the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies. He is the author of a series of books with a religious focus, including his most recent, Mutants and Mystics (subtitled: Science Fiction Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal), and Authors of the Impossible (subtitled: The Paranormal and the Sacred). These two books are the what we discuss during this interview.

  One-click audio download HERE  

one hour / 20 minutes

Delving deeply into the work of major figures in the field—from Jack Kirby’s cosmic superhero sagas and Philip K. Dick’s futuristic head-trips to Alan Moore’s sex magic and Whitley Strieber’s communion with visitors, this book explores how creators turned to science fiction to convey the reality of the inexplicable and the paranormal they experienced in their lives. Expanded consciousness found its language in the metaphors of sci-fi and the incredible powers of the comic book super hero. From gnostic revelation to alien abduction, Kripal spins out a hidden history of American culture, rich with mythical themes and an awareness of the imaginal.

Here's an excerpt from MUTANTS AND MYSTICS.

We talk about UFOs, comic books, synchronicity, the Fatima event of 1917, Christopher Knowles, Whitley Strieber and owls.

Jeff also hosts a podcast series IMPOSSIBLE TALK where he explores the ideas in his two most recent books. And - Here's a recent appearance on Coast to Coast AM.

Here is a framed little tiny "X" on Jeff's wall. This is evidence of a deeply personal synchonicity, as well as the origin of his recent book!

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PLEASE NOTE:

Whitley Strieber has done an excellent interview with Jeff on his UNKNOWN COUNTRY site. It was posted on 11-11-11.

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confirmation anxiety

Single frame taken from a video of a hypnotic regression 
with Budd Hopkins in 2007. Note the 1234 within the time ount.

There is one story I haven't posted on this blog, until now. It deals with some personal details and to tell it correctly it needed to be a long essay. I've posted it (below) in a PDF reader. The story involves an experience Budd Hopkins calls confirmation anxiety. There may be no clear answer in this essay, but it does tell of my emotions and explorations during a confusing chapter of my life.

Now my point here is just to relate an interesting experience, nothing more.

This story involves a documentary, now on hold. I talk about this project HERE.

Waking Up Simultaneously

A note of thanks to Peter Robbins who played the role of editor on this essay. 

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