Weirdness

You just know any conversation that contains the words "assassinolgy" and "cryptozoology" is going to be weird. Assassinology, as in JFK Assassinology. Cryptozoology, as in Loch Ness and Big Foot.

The gentleman I interviewed on Thursday (I'll call him John) is an expert on weird phenomena. UFOs, ghosts, conspiracy theories, that whole cryptozoology thing. . . One of the libraries in our area is having UFO presentation for the teens, but anyone is welcome. I thought I'd call up the presenter.

I don't know what I was expecting. I try to keep an open mind about these things and, as it turns out, that's all John really asks for. An open mind.

It took a little bit to get him on the phone. I left messages, with no return. Then I sent him an email with an intriguing P.S. "I'm sure you hear a lot of stories. I have a story of my own." He called back in 20 minutes.

John talked a little bit about some of the UFO sightings we've had in this state. One of the most famous occurred in my hometown in the1960's. It appeared in Life and Look magazines. I know people who claimed to have seen those unusual lights and objects in the sky and on the ground. Credible sources. (I also had a middle school science teacher who claimed to have been responsible for the lights. He was a mad scientist type so I really wouldn't put it past him.)

We talked about this and other incidences. He had some interesting stories and so do I. I know of a least three people who have seen "something" followed by a period of missing time. One man was fishing on a boat. He looked up and saw "something." He woke up four hours later on the bank with no memory of what happened next. Another couple was driving on a country back road late one night. Something buzzed their car, blowing out all their electrical. It buzzed them again. They woke up two hours later on the side of the road.

And there is the incident that my friend Greg happened to have on the radio. He was a DJ on Sunday night. This is small town radio at its best. People would call in if they lost a dog or the cows got out. One night the phone lit up. Odd lights and explosions were seen in the sky. Calls came in from all over the county. Greg, being a smart guy, triangulated the events and discovered that they were centered over one particular little town. When he came back on the radio after a commercial break Greg was very subdued. "I just got a call from the United States Air Force," he announced. "I have been asked to quit broadcasting the locations of the lights we've seen in the sky. Now time for some more music." He played "2001: A Space Odyssey." The very next day my parents and I happened to be near that town were the lights triangulated. We looked up and saw a gigantic all black USAF dirigible floating low over the countryside.

John very much liked this story and followed it with a story of his own. Six police officers chased a UFO. Their conversation was recorded by dispatch. When the chase was over a Sargent erased all of the tapes regarding the UFO incident. Before that happened the dispatcher made two tapes of that UFO siting. She sent one to John and kept one for herself. The Sargent found her copy of the tape and destroyed that, too.

John says he's seen something, too. Something that didn't act like a plane. Oddly, he never thought "UFO" when he saw it. "It was as though something was blocking me from thinking that," he said.

And ghosts, yes he's seen something like that, too.

"So," I casually asked, "are you crazy?" (I still can't believe I asked the question.)

"Crazy is relative," he said. "Crazy is not thinking about these things. Crazy is being trapped by a belief system that says these things can't exist. Crazy is not being willing to step outside your comfort zone."

Oh, and I, too, have seen "something" in the sky that I can't explain. It scared me so bad I went and hid in the closet.

Remember, crazy is relative.

TARB