Month: May 2018

In the world of UFOlogy and Cryptozoology few characters are as spooky and memorable as those associated with the Derenberger incident.  And while many people may be unfamiliar with the case itself, the characters involved are infamous, both among paranormal circles and in popular culture.

The story of Woodrow Derenberger, a salesman for a small sewing machine company, has been told many times – most notably in the book he coauthored with Harold W. Hubbard called Visitors from Lanulos[1], which chronicled this strange tale.

It began on November 2, 1966, Derenberger was returning from a trip to Marietta, Ohio on his way home to Mineralwells, West Virginia (also Mineral Wells).  Derenberger was travelling alone, driving along interstate 77 near Parkersburg, West Virginia, when he was suddenly overtaken by another vehicle.  This vehicle, which Derenberger described as the strangest thing he’d ever seen, claiming it resembled a huge “kerosene lamp”, passed by Denereberger’s truck and turned sideways, blocking both lanes of the highway, causing both vehicles to come to a complete stop.

Stunned, Derenberger watched as a man emerged from the strange vehicle.  The dark suited and oddly grinning man approached Derenberger’s door as the strange vehicle lifted off the ground and floated to about 40 feet off the ground.

The man communicated with Derenberger through some form of telepathy, and identified himself as a seeker.  He asked Derenberger who he was and then told the frightened salesman that his name was Cold.  Cold asked several questions of Derenberger, some pertaining to the nearby town of Parkersburg, and after a short while, he ended the conversation by saying “It’s been nice talking to you Mr. Derenberger.  We will be seeing you again.”  And with that, Cold stepped away from the truck, at which point his strange vehicle returned to the roadway, and shooting off into the sky, he left the bewildered man sitting alone on the highway.

Just ten days later, the now famous events of the Mothman Incidents in Point Pleasant, West Virginia began, which apparently culminated in the collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, killing 46 people.  As has been popularised by Mark Pellington’s 2002 thriller The Mothman Prophecies staring Richard Gere and based on John Keele’s book of the same name, Indrid Cold was a key figure in those events.  Connecting that Cold with the one in Derenberger’s version, some suggest that Cold was (or is) a member of the elusive and mysterious Men In Black, while others believe he is an alien or inter-dimensional being.

But his story doesn’t end there, and neither does Woodrow Derenberger’s.  Following the events of Point Pleasant, Derenberger made claims that Cold had admitted, through continued telepathic contact, that he was an alien from a planet called Lanulos within the galaxy known as Genemedes (both of which seem to be fictional).  More than that, however, Derenberger claimed that Cold had actually taken him to Lanulos in a spaceship, where Derenberger claimed to have seen many other Lanulosians and relayed some commentary on their culture.  Over the years, according to Derenberger, Cold was joined on earth by two other Lanulosians, named Demo Hassan and Karl Ardo, both of whom were apparently more discreet than Cold ever was.

Wild as this may seem, some believe that these events are corroborated by their connection to another terrifying paranormal phenomenon: The Grinning Man.  First mentioned by paranormal researcher and author John Keele (yes the same man who wrote Mothman Prophecies), in his seminal work The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings[2], the Grinning Man, or men as the case may be, is a strange and rather large man who, like the name suggests, grins, and scares the bejesus out of those who see him.

Keele believed that the first ever encounter with The Grinning Man occurred in Elizabeth, New Jersey on October 11, 1966, less than a month before Derenberger’s encounter.  On that night two young boys, Martin Munov and James Yanchitis were walking home along a road that ran adjacent to the elevated New Jersey Turnpike.  As they walked along the dark street, Yanchitis noticed a strange looking man standing in the darkness at the top of the treacherous incline, trapped by a chain link fence.  Upon calling out to Munov, the boys watched as the figure slowly turned to face them with an unnerving ear to ear grin.

The boys described the being as taller than six foot two inches (referencing one of the investigators of the case, the famous actor Chuck McCann, who was a rather large individual) and very broad.  They said that they saw no facial features other than the creature’s beady eyes and its wide toothy grin.  They also noticed that the being was wearing a kind of shimmery green jumpsuit or overalls.

Munov and Yanchitis’ story was documented by the police, the press and by Keele and his team of investigators, and other accounts of a strange tall, grinning man began to come in from all around the area.  Keele connected this Grinning Man encounter with an alleged UFO sighting that occurred at the same time some 40 miles north of Elizabeth, near the DuPont explosives factory outside Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.  Those familiar with the Mothman incident will note that there were several Mothman sightings in an area of Point Pleasant known as the “TNT area”, which had been a munitions manufacturing and storage area previously.

As with many stories of this nature, the connections between incidents are tenuous at times and some point out that since Keele was almost exclusively the only one to document these cases, he may have used poetic license in his tellings of the stories, drawing connections where they might not have existed in reality.  Because of the relatively close proximity of the encounters and the timeframe in question, many believe that Keele was justified in his speculation that the Grinning Man and Indrid Cold were one and the same.  Cold’s apparently prophetic involvement in the Point Pleasant disaster paints a picture of the creature, or whatever you might call him, as something to be feared, and if the Grinning Man encounters are indeed connected to Indrid Cold, perhaps there’s something to be said for that hypothesis.  But Woodrow Derenberger’s accounting suggests that Cold and his associates are/were simply curious travellers.

Unfortunately, there have been no modern sightings, of Cold or the Grinning Man, so if there is any thread of truth weaved through this story it is likely to remain hidden into the foreseeable future.  The stories of Indrid Cold and the Derenberger Incident are favourites of many in the paranormal community, and much speculation has been focused on these reports.  Really the only source materials available are Keele and Derenberger’s books, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t many tellings of the stories online.  Anyone looking for more information can easily find it with a simple search.

“When you no longer believe everything you think, you become aware, and realize the thinker is not who you are.” -Eckhart Tolle

Tolle, a German-Canadian Spiritualist once called the most spiritually influential person in the world, was talking about overcoming, overpowering the ego.  His goal was to identify the self, to distinguish the thinker from the witness, with the hopes of releasing the “power of now”.  Whether you buy the premise or not, his words do get one thinking about the nature of who we are.

What is the self?  Where is it?  When you identify your inner-self as “I”, who, exactly, are you talking about?

Fundamental to this is a philosophical question that has vexed some of the greatest minds known to the world.  That is the question of the soul…and that is a big question.

Men like Socrates and Plato have tangled with this question, giving us our most popular stance on the issue, which is that the soul is the essence or “breath” of life.  It is the incorporeal occupant of our being.  It transcends death and is rooted in the supernatural, and provides the basis for the building of the afterlife.

The main tenet of the philosophy of mind is the concept of Dualism, which is the assumption that mental processes are not physical.  It says that there is a separation between the mind and the body, and that the soul is the seat of consciousness.

While the nomenclature of the philosophy of mind may not be familiar, its underlying point is one that is nearly universally accepted to be true among most religions and spiritual schools of thought, and is central to the lives of a majority of our population.  Humans have souls and souls are the essence of our being.

Variations on this theme exist, such as the Akashic Record or Akashic Field theory, which posits that our soul is actually a segment of an ethereal realm of information that our minds access remotely.  The theory, which you can read more about here, says that this field informs our physical being, making us who we are, and that some people – most famously Edgar Cayce – have the ability to access more of the field, giving them knowledge of events and concepts outside of the self (i.e. psychic abilities like divination or prophecy).

Modern science however, has other ideas.  A good many scientists, in several fields, suggest that Dualism is pure superstitious nonsense.  Science holds to the primacy of Physicalism, which claims that consciousness is the product of neurology, of the neuro-chemical make-up and activity of the brain, and that the self or in Freud’s terms, the ego, are products of biological processes inside the brain.  This is the basis for an on-going theological debate:

“If many object to the idea that human identity emerges gradually during development, they’re most definitely going to find the idea of soullessness and mind as a by-product of nervous activity horrifying. This will be our coming challenge: to accommodate a view of ourselves and our place in the universe that isn’t encumbered by falsehoods and trivialising myths.” – PZ Myers

This debate questions the very foundation of religious or spiritual thinking, the idea that the soul is something to cherish and in the case of Abrahamic religions, a precious thing coveted by the forces of both good and evil in this universe.  These questions cast doubt on the main concept of religious doctrine, the afterlife.  It seems an almost silly thing to say, as few could miss the connection (though many do), but much of the paranormal, or at least what people think they know about the paranormal is derived from the concept of Dualism; specifically on the issue of ghosts.

Ghosts are the souls of dead people, trapped in the ethereal realm by whatever means.  They are the incorporeal manifestation of those who have succumbed to the ultimate outcome of life.  They are souls without bodies to occupy.  Such is the predominant belief about what ghosts are.  It is known as the Dead Person Hypothesis, and some believe that emphasis should be heavy on the word hypothesis.

What many seem to miss is the rather large assumption involved in the DPH, an assumption connected to the one made in Dualism, best illustrated through the following question: what if the self is only the product of neurology and the soul is a religiously inspired figment of our imagination?

What then are ghosts?  And what then of the afterlife?

Some see the DPH, which they hold to be true, as evidence that Dualism is correct, but this is putting the cart before the horse.  Because Dualism is not observed experimentally, but rather, through brain mapping and other neurological research, Physicalism experientially denies the existence of the soul, is there another explanation for the almost undeniable phenomenon of ghosts?

In fact there are many.

Whether one buys into the concept of psychic projection, or emotional imprinting, or time ripples, or even inter-dimensional weirdness, there is no shortage of ideas put forth in an attempt to explain what ghosts are.

Some try to frame their hypotheses in the language of science, of physics, such as the Quantum Theory of Ghosts developed by Max Bruin PhD., which says that ghosts are “an impression upon the subatomic weave of the universe, created via strong emotion of a sentient observer.”[1]

This may actually be supported by both theoretical and experimental data.  Biologist Dr. Bruce H. Lipton claims that the self is nothing more than the product of cellular cooperation.  In his book The Biology of Belief, he lays out the process by which the cells in our body sense, interact and communicate with their environment and with other cells, and he says that this collective relationship between the cells of our body are the foundation of consciousness.[2]  Another possible explanation for ghostly phenomenon comes out of this research, a sort of biological hypothesis, which you can read about here.

Others prefer a wholly metaphysical explanation, but each idea seems to be supported by some aspect of the widely varied phenomenon of ghosts.  For instance, emotional imprinting seems to be supported by the types of reported apparitions that play out like looped videos of past events, while psychic projection may explain poltergeist type activity.  Few of these speculations offer encompassing, comprehensive answers though.

Most, if not all of these hypotheses (not theories, look up the difference if you doubt it) are exercises in pure speculation.  They are un-testable ideas about a field of inquiry that science does not recognise as real.  In spite of this, the majority of the paranormal research community truly believes in the phenomenon of ghosts, and though the field isn’t exactly split down the middle on the issue of soullessness, there are a good number of researchers looking for non-traditional answers to some of these perplexing questions.

Something all researchers, especially those who call themselves Ghost Hunters should keep in mind, is that the DPH is only one of a great host of possible explanations for ghosts.  It is a hypothesis only, not a theory and certainly not a fact, and it does not necessarily deserve primacy in the face of such doubts.

Do ghosts exist?  Are they related in any way to the soul?  Does the soul actually exist?  These are huge questions that are unlikely to be answered in the near future and least of all in the musings of a casual blog post, but perhaps with the realisation that there is more than one way to look at the issue more people will begin to question the status quo.

Recent discussion on the existence of the soul and the ramifications of a conclusion in either direction – such as you can find here – have sparked some research into alternate theories of consciousness.  There are many philosophical schools of thought, but this is a discussion of quantifiable scientific theories.

Among those theories, of which there are several, are such ideas as Ervin László’s Akashic Field Theory, or the Zero Point Field Theory, which you can read more about here and here.  László says, to put it in simple terms, that there is a quantum field where consciousness originates and that our thoughts, our consciousness, is not local to our bodies, but that our brains access this field, known as the Akashic field, which holds all the information in the universe.[1]

This is a crude description of László’s theory and hardly does it justice, but it is the essence of the idea.

While the Akashic Field Theory has its supporters, mostly in esoteric, metaphysical circles, it hasn’t really garnered a great deal of interest or attention from mainstream science, save for a few eccentric physicists.

As discussed previously, most theories are examples of Dualism in the Philosophy of Mind.  Dualism states that the body and the mind are separate entities, that there are two parts to the human condition, the body and the soul, as opposed to Physicalism, which states that consciousness is the product of local brain chemistry.  László’s theory is an attempt to provide a non-local explanation under Physicalism, using quantum mechanics and wave function.

If that sounds complex, it’s because it is…very.

László isn’t alone in this line of thought however.  Laid out in his 1994 book, Shadows of the Mind,[2] English theoretical physicist Sir Roger Penrose, in cooperation with American anaesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff has presented a similar theory, also using quantum mechanics.

Penrose’s theory, called Orchestrated Objective Reduction, or Orch-OR makes László’s A-field theory look like child’s play.  It attempts to provide a theory of consciousness based on the quantum state of structures called microtubules in the brain. It says, basically, that there is a quantum scale energy present in the micro-structures of the brain that are the basis for consciousness, and Hameroff suggests that when a person dies, that quantum state or energy is “dissipated into the universe�?.[3]  He says that near-death experiences can be explained by this quantum energy, which he claims might be able to exist in the universe indefinitely, leaving the nervous system upon death, and then returning when the patient is revived.

This literally is a theory, based in Physicalism, that confirms the existence of a soul…or so it would seem.

In its development, Penrose based his research on the mathematical view point of Gödel’s theorem – two theorems of mathematical logic, which ultimately state that the human mind is necessarily computational.  This is a very complicated mathematical philosophy, and Penrose’s interpretation, which disagrees with Gödel’s theorem, is highly controversial and contested.  Known as the Penrose-Lucas argument, his interpretation of the mathematics suggests that the human brain is non-computational, non-algorithmic, and that only wave function collapse explains this process.

Don’t feel bad if you’re a little lost, even the best of us would have trouble following this thought train.

It turns out though, that wave function collapse doesn’t explain the process, at least according to Swedish-American physicist and cosmologist Max Tegmark.  Tegmark argued in his 2000 paper in the journal Physical Review E, that wave function collapse would occur at too fast a rate for it to have any impact on neural processes.[4]  This view point is widely adopted as the biggest barrier to Orch-OR’s success as a theory of consciousness, and it essentially stops it in its tracks.  It says, basically, that this quantum energy that Penrose and Hameroff claim is the basis for consciousness doesn’t stick around long enough in those microstructures to be considered a viable candidate for the basis of a soul.

Those less interested in the science and more focused on the philosophical meaning behind the theory are quick to celebrate the idea that science has proven the existence of the soul, but a closer look at the research says that this lofty goal has yet to be reached.  Orch-OR is attractive because, not only does it seem to provide an answer to the age old question of the soul, but it also appears to provide a structure for the afterlife and the phenomena of ghosts.

To be clear, the theory has not been disproven (or proven for that matter), it’s just that many involved in the research disagree with Penrose and Hameroff and cast doubt on the viability of the theorem.

Do we have a soul?  The question is still very much up for debate, but as all involved continue their research we can only hope that the future holds the answer.  It would be…convenient, if this theory were true.  It would provide a stepping-off point for so much other research and would vindicate a great many people in both the scientific community and in paranormal, religious and metaphysical communities.  But Orchestrated Objective Reduction doesn’t appear to be what we all wish it was.

There are some strange and wonderful things in this world, and among them are the many mysterious stone structures that dot the landscape across the globe.  Megalith sites, such as the great pyramids of Giza in Egypt or the ruined city complex at Teotihuacán in Mexico, are examples of the ingenuity of our ancestors.  Huge stone blocks, some weighing in excess of 200 tons, hewn, carved and carried to these sites and placed with a precision scarcely seen today.

In the world of lifting heavy things, modern engineering has surpassed the capabilities of Neolithic builders, with huge cranes, themselves weighing more than 60 tons, hoisting machinery and vessels high into the air, to be placed with pinpoint accuracy.

Officially, according the Guinness Book of World Records, the heaviest objects ever lifted are NASA’s Rotating Service Structures (RSS), which are two launch pads, used by NASA for the space shuttle program – Launch Pad #39A and Launch Pad #39B – weighing in at a whopping 5,280,000lbs and 5,340,000lbs respectively or somewhere near 2640 tons.[1]

The RSS were lifted using 21 massive hydraulic jacks, for the purpose of measuring their weight and so weren’t lifted very high, and were never really off the ground, but the achievement is one for the record books.  Engineers routinely lift objects of 60-80 tons with cranes, but when you think about the technological might needed to perform these massive moves, one can’t help but wonder how ancient cultures managed to move and work with stones more than twice that weight.

Was it sheer manpower?  Ropes and sleds and the sweat of hundreds?  Maybe, in the case of stones like those placed at Stonehenge in England or the stoic Mo’ai of Easter Island, researchers have demonstrated how seemingly primitive techniques could be used to move even the most massive object.

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the world.” – Archimedes

Some have suggested, however, that those techniques fail to account for such structures as those at Pumapunku in Bolivia, famous for its massive Plataforma Litica, which contains a stone slab weighing approximately 131 tons.  Pumapunku is also famous for the wild theories of Ancient Alien proponents such as Erik von Danikën and Georgio Tsoukalos, who claim that alien technology was used in its construction.

Many believe that the Ancient Alien Theorists are right, but there is evidence to suggest that moving such huge stones is a relatively simple process.  Namely, the Coral Castle.

Built by Latvian-American eccentric Edward Leedskalnin over a period of 28 years, circa 1923, the Coral Castle sits as a monument to human ingenuity in Miami, Florida.  It consists of numerous oolitic limestone blocks (often called coral), carved into walls, furniture, structures and artwork, the heaviest weighing approximately 30 tons.

What’s especially wondrous about the Coral Castle is that Leedskalnin reportedly built the entire structure by hand…completely alone.  So how does one man, standing only five feet tall, and weighing only 110lbs, manage to move and work with multi-ton stones, by himself?  There is little doubt that he did what he is credited with, and the Coral Castle still stands today, open for tours daily by its current owners, and Leedskalnin who claimed fantastically, to know how the Egyptians built the pyramids, is quoted when asked how he did it as saying, “it’s not difficult if you know how.”[2]

Leedskalnin died of kidney failure in November of 1951, taking his secrets with him.  He never revealed, to anyone, how he accomplished this amazing feat of engineering, but while most are scratching their heads, there are some theories.  These ideas range from an expert knowledge of leverage and counterbalance (which seems unlikely since he worked alone) to magnetic, electrostatic and/or acoustic levitation.  That may seem somewhat fanciful, and perhaps akin to something the AAT’s might propose, but there actually is some merit to the idea.

Magnetic and electrostatic levitation are based on the manipulation of metals through the use of electric or magnetic fields to counteract the effect of gravity, the most famous examples of which are Mag-Lev high-speed bullet trains.  Obviously these techniques would be useless with limestone, but acoustic levitation is another story.

Based on the principle of acoustic radiation pressure, an object can be levitated by the pressure caused by sound waves.  Typically this is done inside an acrylic resonance chamber, under very specific and controlled conditions, and demonstrations of the technique typically show a ping pong ball flittering about inside a plastic box.  This technique is commonly used in the study of anti-gravity and materials testing by NASA, where containerless processing is required.[3]  At first glance it doesn’t seem like acoustic levitation would translate well from controlled lab conditions to real world applications with objects bigger than a golf ball, but in theory there is no limit to the size of object that can be lifted in this way.

You might be thinking that this is all well and good, but how likely is it that a Latvian immigrant from the 1930’s had any knowledge of acoustic radiation pressure?  And you’d be right, it’s unlikely that Leedskalnin had the engineering knowledge needed to perform what is described above, but then, neither would Tibetan monks from the same period and long before.

According to Swedish engineer Olaf Alexanderson, who wrote in the German periodical Implosion (Issue number 13), Tibetan monks (Lamas) have been using acoustic levitation for centuries.  In his article Alexanderson provided a detailed explanation of the process, complete with diagrams and geometric measurements.

In addition, outlined in his book The Lost Techniques, Swedish born civil and aviation engineer Henry Kjelson detailed the story of his friend, a Swedish doctor known only as Dr. Jarl, who apparently spent some time in Tibet treating a high Lama at the behest of a former student of his at Oxford.

Because of his relationship to the unnamed student, Dr. Jarl was privy to witness several Tibetan traditions and practices that would have been hidden from other outsiders.  One of those traditions was the technique of using drums and trumpets to levitate large stones up the side of a mountain slope to a precipice where the monks were building a rock wall.  Dr. Jarl, through Kjelson, provided a detailed description and several drawings of the process, and reportedly filmed the event.[4]

As you might imagine though, the films are not available, as they were reportedly confiscated by the English Scientific Society upon his return to England and have never been seen since.  It isn’t clear if this is a reference to the Royal Society (The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge), and since all references to Dr, Jarl point back only to Kjelson’s book, there is reason to doubt that it ever happened.  There is no independent verification of this story, but the fact that the diagrams exist is one point in favour of the theory.

One can also find vague references to another eyewitness, an Autralian filmmaker known only as Linauer, who apparently witnessed the same process in northern Tibet in the 1930’s.[5]  But this is also unverified.

In spite of the doubts about the veracity of this story, many researchers in the field of anti-gravity and acoustical research cite this story as evidence that acoustic or sonic levitation can be used to move large stone blocks and other objects over modest distances, and also that the process is centuries old.

Is it possible then, that Leedskalnin figured out and used this age old Tibetan technique for moving multi-ton stones about with the power of drums or trumpets?  No known reports of drums or other sounds coming from the original site of the Coral Castle exist, so there is considerable doubt, but as with modern acoustic levitation techniques, the sound waves used aren’t necessarily within the frequency spectrum of human hearing.

This is by no means the only explanation for the construction of the Coral Castle or for other megalithic sites around the world, but it is one that’s gaining support among archaeological circles.  The evidence is sparse and a little sketchy, which leads many to conclude that acoustic levitation is not the answer, but the possibility still exists.  Perhaps, in the future, science will see fit to attempt such a thing, finally laying to rest the question of its plausibility.  Even if they do, however, it won’t definitively answer all of the questions about megalithic stone construction.

So listening to potential ET transmissions isn’t enough for some people, some believe that we need to be advertising our existence to the cosmos on the regular.

In the grand tradition of the SETI project and its early offshoot CETI (Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which sent the first deliberate radio transmission into space in 1974, with the aim of attracting a little intergalactic attention (The Arecibo Message), the Lone Signal project, working through METI (Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence, which is a subgroup of the current Active SETI program) is about to crowd the airways with radio transmissions intended to reach anyone who may be listening.  And some are not very happy about it.

Scheduled to come online June 17^th of this year, the Lone Signal project is an attempt by a group of scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs to send a continuous radio signal into space from the Jamesburg Earth Station radio dish in Carmel, California.  The team, headed by Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra, have targeted a star system known as Gliese 526, long believed to be a good candidate for extraterrestrial intelligence, and are planning to send a signal composed of, believe it or not, messages from the internet.

“Our scientific goals are to discover sentient beings outside of our solar system,” said Lone Star co-founder Pierre Fabre at a recent press event on June 11. “But an important part of this project is to get people to look beyond themselves and their differences by thinking about what they would say to a different civilization. Lone Signal will allow people to do that.”

So their goals are laudable and rooted in gaining a deeper understanding of not only the universe at large, but also of ourselves.  As mentioned, this isn’t the first signal to be sent to the stars.  The Arecibo Message, composed by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake, was directed at globular cluster M13, and though it was highly publicised at the time, it held little potential for actually contacting a distant civilization, as M13 wouldn’t even be in the same position when the signal arrived some 25,000 years later, and they sent only a single radio burst.

Lone Signal, however, is another story entirely.  They’re planning to send a continuous stream of radio messages over a period of years.  More specifically, they’re planning to send two intertwined signals.

Lone Signal will be sending two signals: one is a continuous wave (CW) signal, a hailing message that sends a slow binary broadcast to provide basic information about Earth and our Solar System using an encoding system created by astrophysicist and planetary scientist Michael W. Busch. The binary code is based on mathematical “first principles” which reflect established laws that, theoretically, are relatively constant throughout the universe; things like gravity and the structure of the hydrogen atom, etc.

“This hailing message is a language we think could be used to instigate communication,” said Haqq-Misra, “and is the most advanced binary coding currently in use.”

The second signal, embedded in the first signal, will be messages from the people of Earth.[1]

Gliese 526 is a system that lies 17.6 light-years from Earth and the signal will be aimed so that it arrives where Gliese 526 will be in 17.6 years.  There are no known planets in this system, but the Lone Signal team believes that it likely does have planets, as Kepler and the like are finding that most stars have planets in orbit around them.

You might think this a completely scientific endeavour, but Lone Signal does have a commercial side to it.  Through the Lone Signal website internet users can purchase space in the signal to send a personal message to the stars.  The first message is free but limited in size, so the purchased messages offer more opportunity to regale ET from your laptop or phone.  In this way the project is sort of crowdsourced, funded by the public, though it also receives funding from both private business and government sources.

Despite the apparent nature of the project, seeking to define and explore humanity and the galaxy, there are some people who warn of potential disaster. American scientist and science fiction author David Brin PhD is among the loudest critics of Haqq-Misra and his colleagues.  He claims that the Lone Signal project and others like it are premature and don’t take into account the potential risks to humanity and the planet.

Brin doesn’t proclaim any specific repercussions but calls for “wider discussion, beyond the insular community of SETI fans and a few dozen radio astronomers, of a matter that could have great bearing on the success — and even survival — of our descendants.”[2]

Haqq-Misra and his colleagues responded to the critics in a paper published in the journal ScienceDirect attempting to lay these concerns to rest.  They point out that these directed signals are virtually drowned out by the steady bubble of radio transmission that already permeates the space around our solar system.  Those transmissions have been unintentionally sent into space since the 1940’s (interesting enough, Hitler’s televised propaganda speeches of World War II were the first broadcasts powerful enough to be detected).  Today, military and astronomical radar transmissions are orders of magnitude more powerful than that proposed by the Lone Signal project.[3]

Secondly, the fact remains that the repercussions of initiating contact with extraterrestrial civilizations is entirely unknown, and Maqq-Misra et al claim this is no reason to hold back progress.  But Brin and other critics are quick to point out that little discussion on the topic has taken place outside of the small circles of SETI and similar programs, and thus the topic begs to be explored before the Lone Signal project leaps without looking.

The discussion highlights one of the failings of such a program, and that is the extremely limited chances of success that Lone Signal and other programs like it will have.  Targeting a single star system based on at best an educated guess about who or what might be there isn’t exactly efficient.  Especially since our unintentional sphere of transmission when compared to the transient nature of the project, completely overshadows its capabilities.

Critics see the Lone Signal project as scientific grandstanding and a pointless publicity stunt, and the crowdsourced nature of the messages suggests a financial motive for proceeding (though it’s hard to imagine such efforts offsetting the cost of operating the JES radio dish on a continual basis).

Whether we agree with the Lone Signal team or not, they are going forward with their plan and in the coming months you will be able to send your most intimate thoughts into the stars, for a small fee of course.  For more information on the project and details about purchasing message space, visit the Lone Signal website.

 

“Mark this well, ye proud men of action!  Ye are, after all, nothing but the unconscious instruments of the men of thought!” – Heinrich Heine

The superb New York Times Bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking is a must read for anyone who’s ever been told to come out of their shell.

Susan Cain, a former Wall Street Lawyer and honours graduate of the crucible Harvard Law School, and an avowed introvert, gives us permission to be who we are, to remain cerebral and shy.  Though she tells us that shy is the new four letter word.

Our world is overrun by extroverts and undue value is placed on boldness and quick wit.  We are taught, from an early age, that to be successful is to be social, and that we should be energised by the constant barrage of stimulation that our universe throws at us.  But Cain succinctly illustrates that not only are there more introverts out there than we may be ready to admit – one third to one half of the people you know are introverts – but that the current groupthink mentality of business and higher education is in err, at least in part.

Our culture – western culture that is – seems to pride itself on boisterous and gregarious behaviours, even though a good portion of our population is uncomfortable with it.  We have taught ourselves that singular pursuits and introspective hobbies are undesirable, even though many of the world’s greatest advancements in science and technology have been the result of the passions of those people who preferred quiet solitude and concentration.

Quiet is wonderfully researched and provides insights into the psychology of introversion, which apparently is the product of high-reactive nervous systems, as counterintuitive as that may seem.  Cain illustrates the differences between introversion and extroversion, well known terms that, surprisingly, have been ill-understood by the greater business community in America and western culture.  She provides insightful case studies exemplifying the best and worst of each personality type.

The reader can’t help but come away from the book with a deeper understanding of the issues faced by people who, through no fault of their own, feel like they don’t fit into the outgoing and charismatic segment of society that seems to control our world.  Throughout the book Cain offers strategies and techniques introverts can use to better adapt to the world that won’t stop talking.  She implores educators to adapt their teaching plans to accommodate the sensitive as well as the social.  And she attempts to teach the extrovert to both identify the introverts in their lives and to relate to them in terms that will foster greater connections and interpersonal understanding.

This book is valuable to both personality types, as Cain points out that most of us exist along a spectrum of sensitivity, and that there are elements of both in all of us.  Quiet has been a smashing success and it fulfills a need in the literature on personality research.  It is an instant classic worthy of continued attention.

Join the Quiet Revolution at www.thepowerofintroverts.com

Susan Cain. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. Crown Publishers (2012) ISBN-10: 978-0-307-35215-6

Well, capitalism has gone and done it again.  Construction companies in Peru have destroyed a 5000 year old pyramid.

One of the oldest structures ever erected in the America’s, El Paraiso, a component of the complex at Ancón-Chillón Valley of the late Preceramic era, is located several kilometres north of Lima Peru, in the district of San Martin de Porres.

Emily Culver of Peru This Week (an online Peruvian news outlet), reported on Monday that workers for two local construction companies used bulldozers and other equipment to destroy a large portion of the ancient pyramid.

The site is controlled by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture and is not protected under UNESCO.  Archaeologist Marco Guillén Hugo, who heads the excavation at the site, identified the construction companies Compañía y Promotora Provelanz E.I.R.L and Alisol S.A.C Ambas as the responsible parties, citing their longstanding but illegitimate claims of ownership of the land.[1]

El Paraiso stands amid 90 hectares of arable land, which makes its 53 hectares of protected space valuable to the area for crop development and other construction, but officials agree that El Paraiso’s historical and cultural importance far outweighs the agricultural value of the land.

Archaeologists believe that the site was occupied for a relatively short period, lasting 300-400 years between 3790 and 3065 cal BP, and that its builders used over 100,000 stone blocks in its construction.  It was likely used for ritual or religious purposes.

As with other examples of corporate greed motivating the desecration of cultural heritage sites, such as the partial destruction of the Nazca Lines in April of 2013 (also in Peru) and the complete destruction of the Noh Mul pyramid in Mexico in May, the damage to El Paraiso is irreparable.

Despite outrage by members of the Ministry of Culture, it seems unlikely that those responsible will suffer any repercussions and doubtless this will not be the last example of greed overshadowing historical relevance.

How would you react to seeing an exact duplicate of someone you love?  Would you be able to tell which was which?  Who is the real one and who is the…imposter?

What if you encountered that imposter independently?  What if they not only looked like, but behaved and sounded like the original?

This is, apparently, exactly what happened to reddit user zeejoo12, who describes a bizarre encounter with what some have called a real life Doppelgänger.  He posted his account of a strange mix up with his current girlfriend, wherein she appears at his apartment and confronts him for cheating on her, apparently.  She proceeds to slap him and break several personal items and then storms away in a taxi cab.  But to the man’s surprise, his real girlfriend appears out of nowhere, claiming to know nothing of the blow-up.

Confused and frightened, the man turned to the reddit community for help in understanding exactly what had happened.  His full story can be found here.

Despite the odd nature of that account, and the obvious opportunity for hoax, there are some elements of the story that intrigue.  There may be more questions than answers and many of them are explored in the epic trail of comments and speculation that follow the original post, but much of this tale conforms to the traditional notion of a Doppelgänger.

The word Doppelgänger is German for double-goer and was coined by 18^th century author Jean Paul (born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter) in his 1796 book Siebenkäs.  But the concept of the supernatural double dates back as far as Ancient Egyptian mythology (ka) and Norse mythology (vardøger), and possibly earlier.  Traditionally, a Doppelgänger is thought to be the paranormal double of a living person; an exact copy with memories and interpersonal connections intact.

The concept of the Doppelgänger is closely related to the metaphysical concept of bilocation, an idea with religious undertones and ties to many different philosophical systems; from shamanism and paganism, to Buddhism and Christian mysticism.  Bilocation, however, is actually the appearance of one individual in two (or more) different places at the same time, rather than two examples of a single person existing at the same time.

The famous story of the English metaphysical poet John Donne recounts his experience with his wife’s Doppelgänger on the night of his daughter’s birth (stillbirth).

“I have seen a dreadful Vision since I saw you: I have seen my dear wife pass twice by me through this room, with her hair hanging about her shoulders, and a dead child in her arms: this, I have seen since I saw you.”[1]

Minus the dead child, Donne’s account seems eerily similar to the story told by zeejoo12.

Other famous accounts of Doppelgänger encounters, like that of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and even Abraham Lincoln – who saw himself in a mirror sporting two faces[2] – serve to solidify the paranormal nature of the phenomenon, and since then countless fictional works have been dedicated to the notion of a dark double.

Today the term doppelganger (as opposed to the traditional Doppelgänger) is commonly used to describe people who simply look alike, and with the prospect of human cloning looming in the not so distant future, it’s likely that it will see greater use in contemporary culture.

Depending on which definition you choose, there are varying explanations for the Doppelgänger phenomenon.  With our global population approaching more than 7 billion, the notion of more than one person looking eerily similar to another becomes a matter of statistics, rather than supernatural influence.  But in those cases, like that above, where the experiencer(s) encountered the same person in two distinctly different locations or situations simultaneously, the prospect of explaining things gets a bit muddied.

Some have proffered ideas about mirror worlds or alternate dimensions briefly converging, creating unique circumstances that culminate in alternate realities clashing and interacting with each other.  And without delving into yet another tangent explaining that dimensions are simply directions of travel and not places, suffice it to say, the semantics of the argument are less important than the foundation.

Interestingly, the many-worlds theory of quantum physics, or the many-worlds interpretation may actually support this idea.  The many-worlds theory says that through universal wavefunction, all possible histories and futures exist simultaneously. This is different from the multiverse theory, as the latter is the assertion that outside of our physical universe exist many other universes, possibly with differing laws of physics.

Though the many-worlds theory doesn’t say much about where those alternate histories and futures may be, physically.   They could be overlaid on top of our reality or they could be separated by the infinite recesses of whatever exists beyond existence.  In the case of the former, there do seem to be opportunities for such overlap to result in occasional temporary convergence, but any suggestion in that regard is pure speculation.

Other theories connect the Doppelgänger phenomenon with spirits and demons, claiming that the double is an evil incarnation of the original person, an evil twin if you will.  The ancient mythological creatures incubus and succubus are sometimes connected to the Doppelgänger phenomenon, suggesting that they might take the form of their victim, or people close to them in their seductive efforts.

Somewhat lesser known are hypotheses involving time-slips, wherein the experiencer is thought to be viewing events that occurred in the past or will occur in the future.  Which, surprisingly enough, is something Einstein showed is possible, if not technologically challenging.

You might think that the long and illustrious history of the Doppelgänger should be better understood than it actually is, but in truth, the phenomenon’s transient nature coupled with its unpredictability have severely limited opportunities for investigation.  All that is available to researchers are after-the-fact accounts, often decades or even centuries old.  Nonetheless, it can hardly be said that all the accounts are hoaxes or misidentifications, leaving the field wide open for further inquiry.

In the world of weird there are many places that elicit wonder and trepidation.  Aside from the usual haunted locals that many think of, there are many geographical locations that embody mystery, the Bermuda Triangle for one.  Though if there were an election for the capitol of weird, one location would be at the top of the list of consideration: The Ural Mountains.

The Urals, as they are commonly known, are a mountain range stretching north and south through western Russia.  The iconic region ranges from the coast of the Arctic Ocean in northern Russia to the borders of Kasakhstan in the south.  It marks the northern border between the continents of Europe and Asia and is a treasure trove of geological bounty and historical significance.  Its highest peak, Mount Narodnaya, sits at 6,217 feet.

Like many mountainous regions, the Ural Mountains have their share of strange stories and mysteries, but perhaps the strangest story to come out of the area is that of the Dyatlov Pass Incident.

In mid January 1959, a group of young skiers embarked on a trip into the frozen wilds of Kholat Syakhl, a mountain in the northern Ural range, commonly known as The Dead Mountain (the name Kholat Syakhl means dead mountain in Mansi, the dialect of the local Mansi people, and refers to the lack of wildlife on the mountain).  Nine of the ten members of the group hiked into the mountains headed for the slopes of Otorten (one member, Yuri Yudin, fell Ill early on and was forced to turn back).  On February 1^st, the experienced group, led by Igor Dyatlov (after whom the mountain pass was eventually named) strayed from their planned route, probably because of poor weather conditions, and found themselves on a high slope of Kholat Syakhl, where they decided to camp overnight.

The events of that night are not well understood, but judging by the aftermath, whatever happened, it was one hell of a night.

Deduced from intensive search and rescue effort and subsequent investigation, the early morning hours of February 2^nd 1959 were tragic and eventful.  Search efforts, which were initiated on February 20^th found an eerie scene. The camp was found on February 26^th and it was quickly determined that something bad had happened.  A tent was found and it appeared that whomever had been inside had torn their way out of it…from the inside.

Footprints were found leaving the camp, unfortunately, these footprints showed that the hikers were either barefoot, wearing socks or only one shoe.  Fearing the worst, search teams upped the intensity of their search and eventually found the first of the group, Yuri Krivonischenko and Yuri Doroshenko, huddled around the base of a large cedar tree just more than a kilometer from the campsite; frozen, shoeless and dressed only in their underwear.  The remains of a fire were found nearby, but the -30 degree climate and high winds would not have been staved off by a fire alone.

Next to be found were Dyatlov, Zina Kolmogorova and Rustem Slobodin.  All three were found part way between the camp and the cedar tree, in poses that suggested that they were attempting to return to the tent when the elements overtook them.

The other four members, Semyon Zolotariov, Nicolai Thibeaux-Brignolles, Ludmila Dubinina and Alexander Kolevatov, weren’t found for another two months. They were eventually found under four meters of snow in a ravine 75 meters beyond the cedar tree.  It appeared that these four had survived longer than the previous five, as it seemed that they had taken clothing from their fallen comrades in an effort to survive.

All in all, it seemed apparent that the group had succumbed to the elements, but further investigation generated a host of questions.  Why had they left the warmth and safety of their tents?  Why had they ventured out without their clothing or shoes?  And why did they not attempt to recover their belongings after leaving the camp?

These compelling questions further drove the investigation and very few answers seemed to emerge.

Early on, the official cause of death for the entire group was listed a hypothermia, but following a more thorough assessment of their injuries, investigators found that two of the group members had fractured skulls and two had severe chest trauma resulting in several broken ribs.  One of the women, Ludmila Dubinina, was missing her entire tongue.  One Dr. Boris Vozrozhdenny estimated that the force required to inflict the chest wounds would have been similar to a severe car accident, but what baffled investigators was the fact that there were no external wounds.  No cuts, scrapes, bruises or other visible trauma.

Theories and speculation began to circulate; some people thought that perhaps an avalanche had struck the camp after lights out, though there was no sign of avalanche damage anywhere near the camp.  Others thought that the local Mansi people had happened upon the group and took exception to them trespassing on their land, and had slaughtered them in the night.  This of course, makes little sense, as the Mansi are not territorial in this manner and have no history of such behaviour, nor could such an attack have accounted for the type of injuries found…no superficial or external wounds.

What is perhaps the most baffling part of the story is the fact that the clothing of some of the deceased showed radioactive contamination at higher levels than would be found naturally.  Though skeptics have correctly pointed out that some camping lanterns use Thorium gas mantles, which can leave radioactive residue on clothing and other items in their general proximity, but who knows if the levels found were consistent with that of Thorium mantles.

Many theories, some more credible than others, have surfaced over the years, but the fact that there were no survivors or eyewitnesses drastically impeded the investigation, which was officially closed in May of 1959.  Investigators cited the “absence of a guilty party” for their laughable conclusion that the group members had died due to a “compelling natural force”.  The local government also imposed a ban on anyone seeking to camp or even travel through the area, which lasted for more than three years.

Since then, others have come forward with further information, such as another group of hikers who camped approximately 50 kilometers south of the Dyatlov group, claimed to have seen several large orange glowing orbs in the general direction of Kholat Syakhl on that evening.  It was also found that the area of the Dyatlov camp was directly in the flight path of intercontinental R-7 missile test launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (though it’s not clear if there had been any test launches on that night).  Some have claimed that there had been an inordinate amount of scrap metal of unknown origin in the vicinity of Kholat Syakhl, and that the Russian government was/is complicit in a cover-up of illegal military dumping.

Few have come right out and said it, but there is the obvious possibility of UFO or alien influence in this case, and though that may seem far-fetched, it remains clear that the members of the Dyatlov group were subjected to a terror that caused them to act in a most irrational and ultimately fatal manner.  These experienced hikers put aside common sense and fled the safety of their camp, knowing that the elements were likely to kill them.  Why would someone do that, unless the prospect of staying (or returning) was more frightening and dangerous than braving the frigid night?

This book is a collection of 50 short essays attempting to explain various mysterious happenings throughout recorded history, from the Arc of the Covenant and The Holy Grail to the JFK assassination and even the true author of the works of Shakespeare.  Take from that what you will.

By short, I mean each chapter – or “entry” as the author calls them – is no longer than three or four pages, and this is by no means enough space to handle the complexities of the subjects covered.  The author, Bill Price, clearly has a passion for history, especially medieval and Victorian history, but he is less than charitable with more contemporary topics.

He is disdainful in his treatment of anything that resembles a conspiracy theory, often dismissing out of hand any theory that doesn’t match up with his orthodox world view.  Take Roswell for instance; a highly complex and well-studied mystery among the Fortean community.  Price dismisses all possibility of alternate explanations and swallows the government story, hook, line and sinker.  What’s worse is, he suggests that the reader should too.  The Roswell situation is by no means resolved, in anyone’s eyes, and for an author purporting to explain and celebrate the mysteries of the world, his methods leave something to be desired.

One wonders why he would have included such topics as the Bermuda Triangle or the Yeti if he had little regard for the many theories offered by learned men and women the world over.  But, it is conceivable that editors and literary agents might have pressured him to include topics that would generate interest from a younger, more internet savvy demographic.

Given his treatment of these more esoteric subjects, one might hesitate to accept his conclusions regarding other, more traditional mysteries (if there is such a thing).  To quote the book, I suspect that many of his conclusions are nothing more than a “load of nonsense.”  He offers no new information, and gives no sources to inspect for any of his “facts”.  Though the book does offer a “further reading” list, which is also quite short, but still appreciated.

To point out the silver lining in this storm cloud, I will say that his literary style is charming and witty, and that I would consider reading any of his other books on European history and other subjects for which he has an obvious passion.

In the end, I recommend that you pick up this book from your local library, if you can find it, rather than wasting money and being disappointed.