Podcasts about Audioblog

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear In the early years of the flying saucer/UFO mystery, magazines played a significant part in the public perception of the phenomenon. One of the most popular magazines in that era was LIFE, which started covering saucer/UFO news at the very beginning during the 1947 summer of the saucers. For anyone interested in the early history of the phenomenon, Archives for the Unexplained has a collection of related magazine articles which includes LIFE articles from 1947 t0 1966.In the article published in the July 1947 issue headlined “Speaking of Pictures… a Rash of Flying Disks Breaks Out Over the U.S.,” it is lamented that none of the many saucers seen that summer paused long enough to get its picture taken. There are pictures, however, of two fake saucers: one an obvious saw blade with what looks to be a capacitor attached to it held up by Reverend Joseph Brasky who claimed it hit the lightning rod of his church with an explosion, and the other an aluminum disk with what looks to be spent fireworks attached held up by a man from Shreveport, Louisiana, who said it flew out from behind a signboard. Read more →CONTACT AND SUPPORT

learn about the Basilica Cistern, what the teardrop-shaped carvings on the columns mean, and how the builders robbed Medusa statues of their mythical power to turn men to stone

learn about the book: The Conservationist

learn about one of Brazil's historic presidents as well as their many constitutions

learn about Independence Day in Pakistan

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear It's always a plus when UFO cases come along with physical evidence to back them up. Sometimes this evidence is in the form of physiological effects on the witnesses, and cases involving these are numerous enough that investigators have been able to focus on them as a specific area of study. Conjunctivitis (burning red eyes), nausea, hair loss, numbness, paralysis, and burns are some of the symptoms commonly described, but a very unusual effect was reported in the following 1976 case from Bolton, England.While the incident was said to have occurred in 1976, it didn't show up in major media until 1987. In the March 1987 issue (page 19 of the pdf) of She magazine, there is an article by Peter Hough headlined “The UFO in Armadale Road.” According to Hough, at 5:15 p.m. on January 23, 1976, 17-year-old Shelley McLenaghan had just gotten off a bus and was 100 yards from home when she saw a UFO. She is quoted as saying, “Before that, I would have thought anybody who said they'd seen a UFO was crazy.” She added, “I think the government know far more than they let on.”McLenaghan is then quoted describing her encounter: Read more →CONTACT AND SUPPORT

learn about Assumption of the Virgin Mary

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear Recently, footage taken of a video that has been described by documentarian James Fox as the holy grail of UFO videos has been shown online. The original video on VHS had been in the possession of one of the early Area 51 researchers, Chuck Clark, since 1995. Clark was reportedly offered a large sum of money to turn over the video, and he refused, whereupon underhanded means were employed to get what was on it out to the public.This story goes all the way back to the 1990s when the United States was in the midst of its own special brand of paranoid UFOlogy, which emphasized government cover-ups and conspiracy theories fueled by the popularity of The X-Files. Area 51 had become the most famous secret base in the world after Bob Lazar, in silhouette using the name “Dennis,” was interviewed by George Knapp on KLAS in Las Vegas in May 1989. He claimed to have worked on reverse-engineering nine recovered alien space craft at a site he said was called “S-4” located in the southern section of Area 51.The excitement stirred up by Lazar's claim resulted in a flood of UFO tourists descending on the area. Many would stop at the only bar in the nearby small town of Rachel, Nevada, a population that usually numbers around 50 people. According to the “Rachel Timeline” section of A Short History of Rachel, Nevada by Glenn Campbell and Edith Grover, Pat and Joe Travis bought the Rachel Bar and Grill in 1988. They renamed it “The Little A'Le'Inn” and held the first annual UFO conference there in July of 1990. Read more →CONTACT AND SUPPORT

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear | Read by Sam MilodragovichFor many years, stories of recovered crashed saucers and alien bodies were usually dismissed by investigators due to the stigma created by the effective debunking of the Aztec incident by J. P. Cahn in two articles he wrote for True magazine, the first in 1952 and the second in 1956. The stigma remained until the 1970s when influential researchers started becoming open to such cases, and an early story to come out during this period was that of a 1953 crash in Kingman, Arizona, that made the news in 1973. It was looked into by National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena investigator Raymond E. Fowler, who published an article covering it titled “What About Crashed UFOs?” in the April 1976 issue of Official UFO. Leonard Stringfield included the Kingman portion of it in his 1977 book, Situation Red! Read more →CONTACT AND SUPPORT

learn about Darkthrone's evolution and prolific career

Throughout the 1950s and 60s, major science-based UFO organizations in the United States, and especially the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, looked down on contactee claims as ridiculous and unworthy of their time. This started to change as the 1970s got underway, due in part to the ideas put forward by Jacques Vallée and John Keel, but by the 1980s, things started going back to the way they were, at least in the United States. Investigators in other countries, however, stayed open to such reports, and in this week's blog, we'll look at a 1983 case from Brazil as it was presented in the British publication, Flying Saucer Review. Read more →CONTACT AND SUPPORT

learn about Acre, one of the oldest harbor cities in the world

Blog by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear Amidst the many assorted descriptions of UFO-related entities, silver-suited humanoids, sometimes with antennas, show up in many reports. They are described repeatedly in the 1976 Center for UFO Studies publication by David Webb, 1973 – Year of the Humanoids, and there were several reports during the 1977 flap in what has been called “The Welsh Triangle” that we wrote about recently. In this week's blog, we'll look at a couple of cases from the Southern United States, the second of which became quite well-known.In the January 4, 1981, issue of The Robesonian out of Lumberton, North Carolina, there is an article (page 7 of the pdf) by Tim Lewis headlined “Shining Silver Man Stalks Forest Acres Area.”  According to Lewis, the previous Tuesday at around 10 p.m., a couple had just exited Barker Ten Mile Road when they saw a round flashing light near the turnoff at Bee Gee and McLeod. As they got closer, they were able to determine that the light was located in a vacant wooded lot. Read more →CONTACT AND SUPPORT

When I was in grade school, I opened a pack of bubblegum that had science facts inside. I never forgot reading that “a teaspoon of a black hole could weigh tons.” That idea stuck with me. Black holes were once just a strange idea on paper, but today we know they sit at the center of nearly every large galaxy, including our own. In this episode, we explore how something invisible can shape entire galaxies, and how scientists have managed to detect black holes without ever seeing them directly. Martin breaks down Einstein's ideas on gravity, how collapsing stars create black holes, and what it really means when one is millions of times the mass of our Sun. You'll also hear just how extreme these objects are, with densities so intense that a teaspoon of similar material could weigh billions of tons. From exploding stars to gravitational waves, this is a clear and fascinating look at one of the most mysterious forces in the universe.I hope you enjoy this,MartinCONTACT AND SUPPORT

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear Timothy Green BeckleyAmong UFO enthusiasts, in between the serious, science-based researchers and the crackpots, there are people who enjoy the mystery for the fantastic tales and the colorful people it spawns, as well as the social interaction with the like-minded. One of the first examples of this sort of person was Gray Barker, who became known for his 1956 book They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. He became good friends with James W. Moseley, who would become well-known as the publisher of Saucer Smear magazine, and the two of them became notorious for pranking and poking fun at what they considered their over-serious peers. As the 1960s got under way, a group formed around Moseley, who was based in Fort Lee, New Jersey. This included Allan Greenfield, Eugene Steinberg, and Timothy Green Beckley. Of these, Beckley, Like Barker, would become a prolific publisher of UFO-related material, and in 1978, he started putting out UFO Review, which was a tabloid-style newspaper chock full of UFO news, reports, interviews, and lurid ads for UFO books, UFO merchandise, new age self-help guides and related paraphernalia. Read more →CONTACT AND SUPPORT

Seja bem-vindo ao primeiro episódio do nosso Audioblog! A partir de agora, você pode ouvir os conteúdos da Revista da Academia Dulcis Domus em formato de áudio — pra acompanhar onde e quando quiser. Neste episódio, falamos sobre obediência. Uma virtude que, antes de ser exigência, é convite — um convite a confiar, a crescer e a formar o caráter dia após dia. Porque obedecer não é anular a vontade: é aprender a direcioná-la para o que é bom. Quer se aprofundar no tema? Leia o artigo completo na Revista da Academia DD: https://www.educacaoclassica.com/revista-academia-dulcis-domus

learn about the speaker's new tradition of going out on the town in Tokyo as part of his celebration of Christmas in Japan

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear In 1977, there was a flap in the area of St. Brides Bay in Pembrokeshire, Wales, that involved reported sightings of craft and humanoids. The most well-known incident involved 14 Broad Haven Primary School students running inside to tell their headmaster that they had seen a yellow cigar-shaped craft land in a field. On February 17, three staff members reported they saw the same craft. The story made national news thanks to British UFO Research Association investigator and UFO Investigators Network correspondent Randall Jones Pugh, and a flap began that would result in the area being referred to as “The Welsh Triangle.” A lesser-known case involved an entire family that reported a series of strange events which Pugh covered in articles published in issues of Flying Saucer Review and the BUFORA Journal.In April, while driving, Pauline Coombes and three (out of four) of her children were reportedly chased by a football shaped UFO. Later that year, in October, Coombes, her four children, and her mother reportedly witnessed a craft and humanoids that behaved in an especially bizarre manner. It came out that all sorts of strange happenings were said to have been occurring on the family homestead called Ripperston Farm. Journalist Clive Harold got close to the family and wrote a book about their experiences titled, “The Uninvited.” Read more →YOUTUBE INTERVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVyQ_Um4grM&t=1sCONTACT AND SUPPORT

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear Last week, Nick Pope, full name Nicholas George Pope, passed away on April 6th at the age of 60. A fixture in the UFO scene, Pope first gained notoriety with his 1996 book, Open Skies, Closed Minds. Besides providing an overview of UFO history up to that point, the book has an autobiographical account of his time as the head of the “UFO desk” at the Ministry of Defense from 1991 t0 1994. After the book came out, he became a go-to “UFO expert” whenever an authoritative comment was needed to punch up a news story. He maintained his interest and a media presence and was sought after as a speaker at conventions and a commentator in various documentaries. By the time of his passing, he was a well-known personality in the UFOtainment industry, having appeared regularly on Ancient Aliens and at Contact in the Desert. In the midst of his notoriety and association with the more sensationalistic aspects of UFOlogy, his commentary seemed to be heartfelt and true to his actual beliefs.According to Pope in his book, he was a skeptic before he was assigned to the “UFO desk” in Secretariat (Air Staff) Department 2A at the Ministry of Defense. He had been with the MoD since 1985, and personnel were shifted to different sections every three to four years as a matter of policy to give them “a breadth of knowledge and experience.” When he was assigned to deal with UFO reports, he took it upon himself to learn as much as he could about the subject, and the comprehensive historical overview in the book shows the depth of his research.Besides studying UFO history, Pope reached out to British UFO researchers, such as Timothy Good who wrote the Foreword of the book, and established relationships with organizations such as the British UFO Research Organization. This set him apart from his predecessors and helped diminish the us-and-them perception between the MoD and the British UFO community. Read more →CONTACT AND SUPPORT

learn about the Italian origins of pizza in Naples

learn about the Thai film Nang Nak

If you have any questions about the college audition process, feel free to reach out at mailbag@mappingthecollegeaudition.com. If you're interested in working with MTCA for help with your individualized preparation for your College Audition journey, please check us out at mtca.com, or on Instagram or Facebook.  Follow Us!  Instagram: @mappingthecollegeaudition YouTube: @MTCA (Musical Theater College Auditions)  TikTok: @mtcollegeauditions  Charlie Murphy:@charmur7  About MTCA:  Musical Theater College Auditions (MTCA) is the leader in coaching acting and musical theater students through the college audition process and beyond with superlative results. MTCA has assembled a roster of expert artist-educators who can guide students artistically, organizationally, strategically, and psychologically through the competitive college audition process. MTCA provides the tools, resources, and expertise along with a vast and strong support system. They train the unique individual, empowering the artist to bring their true, authentic self to their work. MTCA believes that by helping students reveal their potential it allows each school to connect with those who are truly right for their programs, which in turn guides each student toward their best college fit.  About Charlie Murphy:  Charlie is a proud graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's BFA program. As an Actor he has performed with theaters such as: NY Public Theatre's “Shakespeare in the Park”, The Pearl Theatre Company, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Kinetic Theatre Company, and the Shakespeare Theatre of DC. With MTCA [Musical Theater College Auditions -- mtca.com], he has been helping prospective theatre students through the college process for over 15 years. As a Teacher and Director, he is able to do a few of his favorite things in life: help students to find their authentic selves as artists, and then help them find their best fit for their collegiate journey. Through this podcast, he hopes to continue that work as well as help demystify this intricate process. This episode was produced by Kelly Prendergast and Socials by Jordan Rice. Episode theme music is created by Will Reynolds with Additional Vocals from Elizabeth Stanley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear In 1980, The Roswell Incident by Charles Berlitz and William Moore was published. In the book, on page 103 of the first printing, there is a bad photocopy of a photo showing two soldiers escorting a small creature. One of the soldiers is carrying a suitcase-shaped object that seems to be a respiration device, as there is a hose going from it to the creature's mouth. The photo is said to have “reportedly first surfaced in Wiesbaden, Germany.” In 1981, Wiesbaden resident Klaus Webner took it upon himself to investigate. He wrote an article presenting his findings that was published in the September 1981 issue of The Probe Report, put out by the Britain-based Probe UFO Research Organization.In the book, the photocopy is presented with the caption “Alien from Another World or Elaborate Hoax?” The reader is told that it, along with the “artist's interpretation” on the preceding page, is being published “without comment about whether it may or may not pertain to certain significant aspects of the Roswell Incident.” According to the authors, “an unnamed informant” gave the original photo, which he said he bought for a dollar, to FBI agent John Quinn at the New Orleans field office. They say the photo “purports to show an alien survivor of a UFO crash in the custody of two U.S. military policeman.” Lastly, they say that it got “limited publicity in West Germany in the 1940s” and was met “with skepticism by U.S. officials of the then-existent Allied Military Government.” Read more →CONTACT AND SUPPORT

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear As anyone who has looked into the subject of UFO-related humanoids knows, reported creatures come in all shapes and sizes. Some are more unusual than others, and a pair of creatures said to be seen in Italy in 1978 definitely stand out.In the Vol. 28, No. 6, issue (page 15 of the pdf) of Flying Saucer Review, there is an article by Antonio Chiumiento headlined “An Encounter with ‘Rat-Faces' in Italy.” The article was translated from Italian and Chiumiento is described as an “Investigator and member of the board of directors of C.U.N. (Italian National UFO Research Centre, Turin.)”According to Chiumiento, on the morning of November 24, 1978, 61-year-old Gallio resident, Angelo D'Ambros, went to get some firewood in nearby Gastagh. At about a quarter before noon, he turned to put down a branch he had been chopping up when he “was gripped with horror” upon seeing two creatures looking at him that were “extremely close.” Read more →CONTACT AND SUPPORT

learn about Lahore

Near the end of the 20th century, human abducting, cattle mutilating, Grey aliens flying sport-model saucers dominated the popular UFO narrative. However, there are reports that differ greatly from such accounts that offer insight into what might be an even stranger phenomenon. In the September 12, 1999, edition of the Trenque Lauquen paper, La Opinión, there is an article (page 16 of the pdf) headlined “Extraterrestrial Encounter?” It tells the tale, mostly in the words of the witness, Carlos Colón, a resident of Trenque Lauquen, who said he had a strange encounter on August 25th. During a follow-up investigation by a Spanish UFOlogist almost 20 years later, Colón shared details of the aftereffects of his encounter which he had formerly chosen not to share with the press and other investigators.According to the article, Colón was “a well-known mechanic of agricultural machinery” and often travelled on the roads around Trenque Lauquen in his pickup truck. He had originally wanted to keep his story to himself and was still concerned that he wouldn't be taken seriously. Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear On January 20, 2026, Francis Lee Ridge passed away. His contributions to UFO investigation and research spanned six decades, and thanks to his efforts, a treasure trove of historical UFO-related material is available to anyone with an internet connection.According to Ridge's bio at nicap.org, he was born on October 13, 1942. In 1960, he became an active investigator as head of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena Indiana Subcommittee and remained in that position until 1970.Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear In 1969, Passport to Magonia by Jacques Vallée was published. Its central thesis is that there may be a link between folklore, particularly stories of the Fae folk, and UFO lore. In the Vol. 25, No. 6, issue (page 25 of the pdf) of Flying Saucer Review, there is an article by Eileen Morris headlined “The Winged Beings of Bluestone Walk” covering a case that certainly seems to support Vallée's ideas.According to Morris, a “necessarily brief” version of the story told by Jean Hingley first appeared in the January 12, 1979, edition of The Dudley Herald. She says she met Hingley and her husband “a number of times” both at their residence and at her own, and describes them as “honest, hard-working people.” She took notes and used them to type up Hingley's version of events and then had Hingley read it. Hingley was “satisfied that it is accurate.”According to the account written as if Hingley was telling it in the first person, she lived “in a small council house in Bluestone Walk, Rowley Regis, near Birmingham,” with her husband, Cyril, and their Alsatian, Hobo. On January 4, 1979, it was a cold, dark morning, and there was snow on the ground as she saw her husband off to his job at a cement works (she worked at a company that made soundproofing for cars). She was at the back door of the house that opened out to the road, and as her husband drove off, she noticed a light from the area of the garden. Read more →

The cattle mutilation mystery and its association with UFO activity didn't get the attention of researcher investigators until the 1970s. There is an article on page 2 of the March 1975 APRO Bulletin, headlined “More on Mutilations,” discussing the findings of APRO Field Investigators Bill Pitt, Lee Spiegel, and Kevin Randle. It was the opinion of APRO at the time that “no satisfactory evidence has emerged which links UFOs to mutilated animals.” The first mutilation to get the public's attention was that of a horse named Snippy found by its owners in the San Luis Valley of Colorado on September 8, 1967. Shortly after that, in his article (page 8 of the pdf) in the July/August 1968 Flying Saucer Review headlined “West Virginia's Enigmatic Bird,” John Keel mentions that cow and horse mutilations are “now common” in the midst of sightings of the Mothman and UFOs in the area around Point Pleasant. However, there is a report far earlier than this that, by most accounts, appeared in the April 23, 1897, Yates Center Farmer's Advocate. This involves a mystery airship caught in the act of abducting a cow right in front of prominent Woodson County, Kansas, citizen Alexander Hamilton (not the one on the 20-dollar bill).  While the Advocate article remains elusive, Redditt user Remseey2907 found an article in what appears to be the Globe Democrat that includes the details of and references the Advocate article. Read more →

hear the lyrics of the popular Korean song called "Fate"

learn about Epiphany

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear On October 7, 1977, Prime Minister of Grenada Sir Eric Gairy gave a 90-minute speech during the 32nd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations urging the organization to create an agency that would monitor UFOs. This led to a presentation and panel discussion over one year later, organized and produced by Lee Speigel, that included Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Dr. Jacques Vallée, and Col. Gordon Cooper. While this was considered a high point at the time in terms of gaining respectability for the UFO Waldheim Meeting. Credit: ICUFON Archives subject (Grenada issued a set of stamps in 1978 commemorating Gairy's efforts) and still is today, not everyone was happy about it, particularly the directors of the Scientific Bureau of Investigation, formed in January of 1979. Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear For many people growing up in the 1970s (of which this writer is one), seeing a UFO documentary was their first in-depth look into the subject. These films often came along with books tied in, and major publishers such as Bantam were getting onboard. More and more people were willing to accept the idea that UFOs were worthy of serious consideration, and this meant that more and more people were willing to spend money on movies and books covering the subject. What had formerly been mostly confined to a subculture of enthusiasts, was now becoming a somewhat profitable entertainment industry. Indeed, it may come as a surprise to some readers, but between the summer of the saucers in 1947, and 1968, there were only two documentaries made in the midst of all the science fiction saucer films that became popular starting in the 1950s.The beginning of the 1970s wave of UFO documentaries can be traced back to the 1968 book Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (Memories of the Future) by Erich von Däniken published by Econ-Verlag in West Germany. The book not only whetted the public's appetite for UFOs and aliens (especially ancient ones), but opened up the doors for all things strange and mysterious, including Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle, ghosts, and lake monsters. Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear Brazil has a history of official UFO investigation almost as long as that of the United States. However, it has an official policy on disclosure that predates the U.S.'s by more than a decade. In 1954, the Brazilian Air Force started The First Confidential Inquiry into Unidentified Aerial Objects in response to the first major flap in that country. In 1969, the Sistema de Investigação de Objetos Aéreos Não Identificados (SIOANI) was established, and nearly 100 detailed case files were accumulated up until its termination in 1972. After this, in 1977, in response to reports of injuries and deaths as a result of UFO encounters in the area of Pará (mainly in Colores) Operação Prato was authorized by Colonel Protásio Lopes de Oliveira. This resulted in more than 2000 photos, 16 hours of film, and a 179-page report. The First Confidential Inquiry, SIOANI and Operação Prato files were classified for decades, but thanks to a freedom of information campaign begun in April of 2004 by the Brazilian UFOlogist and publisher of UFO Revista, Ademar José Gavaerd, many of the files were shown to him and other UFOlogists in 2005 as a prelude to releasing them to the general public. Then, in 2010, Brazil issued Ordinance 551/GC3, requiring every branch of the military and aviation sectors to collect and transfer all UFO reports to the Aerospace Defence Command in Brasilia along with any material proof by way of photos or video on a yearly basis. There, it is to be catalogued and made available to the public. Along with this, since 2012, the Air Force has periodically released declassified files through the Brazilian National Archives, and recently released 893 reports in May of this year. In this blog, we'll look at the history of the Air Force investigation, the efforts of Gevaerd and other UFOlogists to gain access to the case files, and some of the most interesting (at least to us) cases (translated files can be found here) found within them. Read more →*Note: audioblogs are now a cloned AI version of Martin's voice. 

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear The first feature-length UFO documentary was titled, appropriately, Unidentified Flying Objects with the subtitle, The True Story of Flying Saucers. It was produced by Clarence Greene and released in 1956. Researcher Robert Barrow devoted a blogspot.com site to it titled UFO: The True Story of Flying Saucers and posted from June 2008 until July 2025. In his June 12, 2008, post, “The Driving Force: Clarence Greene,” Barrow includes a statement “signed” by Greene, but he tells the reader that he found it on the web “uncredited.”According to Greene in his July 26, 1967, statement titled, “UFO: Why I Made Unidentified Flying Objects,” one night in August of 1952, a friend called his attention to something in the sky Greene describes as “a sphere of light.” They watched it for about five minutes as it moved, stopped, made turns, and then moved off over the horizon. He later learned that members of the Ground Observation Corps had also observed it. Read more →*Note: audioblogs are now a cloned AI version of Martin's voice. 

Motivation through Animation! Check out this audio blog-- having fun and continuing a series using Adobe Character Animator and other creative tools.What do you think? Feedback welcome :)Read the full blog post here: https://lifeisthefuture.com/teaching-blog/attentionWe live in an era that competes for our attention 24/7. Even boredom now comes with a screen attached. Notifications. Tabs. Messages. Games, music, video… you name it. All of this background noise can prompt random and distracting thoughts. And this is just in reference to smartphones.The good news? Attention is trainable. And learning how to mindfully aim it might be one of the most important life skills you'll ever develop— not just for school or work, but for social relationships, self-confidence, and overall resiliency.Listen in for details."The Distracted Mind," "Deep Work," "Mindset," "When," and more books & resources:https://www.amazon.com/shop/scottampersand/list/17A4NA0XZJGP2?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsfshop_aipsfscottampersand_8CAC9583RP857ZR8K0WZBOOKING & CONTACT

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear | In the Volume 26, Number 6, March 1981 Flying Saucer Review, there is an article (page 7 of the pdf) by Russian UFO investigator Nikita A. Schnee headlined, “Contact Reported Near Pyrogovskoye Lake.” It tells the tale of an unnamed Red Army officer who said he was taken aboard a craft by “two men in dull-coloured cellophane like garments,” who told him they wanted to have a talk. In his introduction, Schnee explains that Soviet UFOlogists were of the belief that there were no Russian CE-3 cases. He cites Felix Y. Zigel, an assistant professor at the Moscow Institute of Aviation, who presented his opinion in the second issue of Observations of UFOs in the USSR that, in Schee's words, “such reports are the fruits of sick minds, or obvious hoaxes with the aim of making money or obtaining publicity.” With that said, Schnee assures the reader that in his report, “all the events described actually (emphasis in the original) took place and are not products of the contactee's imagination.” He says this “has been proved, quite convincingly” through examination of the witness and “the landing site of the UFO.” As the reader shall see, Russian UFOlogists had a unique style of landing site examination in those days. Read more →*Note: audioblogs are now a cloned AI version of Martin's voice. 

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear While June 24, 1947, marks the beginning of the modern-day UFO mystery, claims of earlier encounters and incidents, Maury Island for example, are found throughout the literature. One such case is that of Udo Wartena, a Dutch immigrant working as a miner for the Northwest Mining Syndicate in Broadwater County, Montana. Wartena claimed that in 1940, an alien invited him to go on board a huge flying saucer.The case came to light in the 1990s, and is based on the testimony of Wartena just before he died in 1989. Prior to this, he reportedly kept the story to himself, not even telling his wife. It was included in the 1993 book, Aliens and UFOs by James L. Thompson. Australian researcher Warren P. Aston looked into it after reading the book and presented his findings at the July 1997 Mutual UFO Network International Symposium in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more →*Note: audioblogs are now a cloned AI version of Martin's voice. 

by Albert WainIn 2015, while handling an inspection claim for damaged furniture in Buffalo, New York, I met with a client at his home. He was around eighty years old and wore a cast on one arm. As we walked through his condo inspecting the damaged pieces, he explained that he was battling bone cancer in his arm and that his wife of many years had recently passed away.At one point, he brought me into a room lined with photographs of various aircraft. He told me he was a retired Air Force officer who had flown many combat missions in Korea and Vietnam. This, he explained, was his room of memories. He spoke easily about his time in the military, and it was clear he was enjoying the conversation. When we finished the inspection, I asked if we might sit for a while and visit before I headed out. He smiled and said, “That sounds nice.”Read more →Albert Wain's UFO Encounter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdH4zfVEyUI&t=240s

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear | For many people growing up in the 1970s (of which this writer is one), seeing a UFO documentary was their first in-depth look into the subject. These films often came along with books tied in, and major publishers such as Bantam were getting onboard. More and more people were willing to accept the idea that UFOs were worthy of serious consideration, and this meant that more and more people were willing to spend money on movies and books covering the subject. What had formerly been mostly confined to a subculture of enthusiasts, was on its way to becoming the profitable entertainment industry it is today. What may may come as a surprise to some readers is that between the 1947 summer of the saucers and 1968, there were only two documentaries (if any readers know differently feel free to comment) made in the midst of all the science fiction saucer films that became popular starting in the 1950s.What is thought to be the first flying saucer/UFO documentary was released in 1950 as an approximately 9 ½ minute short titled The Flying Saucer Mystery. It was re-released in 1952 with added footage that brought it up to around 12 minutes. Both releases were produced by Telenews, which had a chain of 13 theatres in major cities throughout the U.S. that only showed newsreels. According to the December 20, 2019, post on The Science Fiction Encyclopedia website, the film (which release isn't specified) was lost until the 1990s. The producer, director, and screenwriter are unnamed. Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear Throughout 1954 in France, there was a wave of humanoid reports that received national and international press coverage. That same year, Italy experienced a wave of its own that didn't get nearly as much attention, although one particular case has since become a classic. A detailed account (page 12 of the pdf) of the case and a follow-up investigation 18 years later is presented in the Vol. 18, No. 5, Flying Saucer Review. Jacques Vallée included a brief account in his catalogue titled Une Siècle d'Atterisages” (a Century of Landings) published as a series in Lumières dans la Nuit starting with the April 1969 issue and ending with the February 1970 issue. However, according to editor Gordon Creighton, “so far as I am aware, no full description of it has ever appeared in English.”The account, by Sergio Conti, appears on page 11 (page 14 of the pdf) under the headline, “The Cennina Landing of 1954.” It was translated by Creighton from Il Giornale dei Misteri No.17, published in August of 1972. Read more →

Welcome to Season 9!A birthday audio blog to kick off the year. In this first entry, I'm sharing the book that reshaped how I view my art career, giving updates on new services coming to Hitting the Streets, previewing February's Culture on Canvas project, and celebrating a month full of wins, clients, art sales, and community support. A simple, honest look at what's happening behind the scenes.

In last week's blog, we looked at a case from Spain that involved three airmen who were stationed at a Spanish Air Force base near Talavera La Real. It was investigated by Juan José Benítez who wrote a report (page 4 of the pdf) and sent it to Flying Saucer Review. The report was translated into English by Gordon Creighton, and it was published in the Vol. 23, No. 5, February 1978 issue.According to Benítez, the three airmen, José María Trejo, Juan Carrizosa Luján, and José Hildago were on guard duty after midnight on November 12, 1976. Trejo and Carrizosa were in their sentry boxes, and Hildago was on patrol with a German Shepherd. At around 1:45 a.m., Trejo and Carrizosa heard what sounded like radio interference, which then turned into a piercing, high-pitched whistle that hurt their ears. The whistle started and stopped repeatedly, and the two men, armed with Z-26 quick-firing rifles, searched the area where it seemed to be coming from.They then saw a light that looked like a flare high up in the sky that lit up a wide area. Hildago came by with the dog and he had also seen the light. They were joined by a corporal and two support guards, and they went to do a search.After hearing branches breaking in a stand of eucalyptus trees and sending the dog in repeatedly, they saw a luminous green figure that was about three meters tall with what looked like a helmet on its head, long arms, thick body, and it didn't seem to have any legs or feet. The men described it as being like a bobbin or a spindle. Read more →

In the Vol. 23, No. 5, February 1978 Flying Saucer Review, there is a report (page 4 of the pdf) out of Spain headlined, “Encounter at Talavera.” It was written by Juan José Benítez and translated by Gordon Creighton. Benítez got the story from the main witnesses who were three airmen stationed at a Spanish Air Force base near Talavera la Real, close to the Spanish-Portuguese border. He describes the case as “simply staggering.”Benítez explains that the incident occurred on November 12, 1976, and that he got the story firsthand from the witnesses, but kept the details to himself because the three men involved had still been in the service “until a short time ago.”According to Benítez, at around 1:45 a.m., José María Trejo and Juan Carrizosa Luján were in their sentry boxes on guard duty near the fuel depot of the Talavera Air Force Base and Jet Aircraft School a few kilometers from the city of Badajoz. Their boxes were 60 meters apart and they both heard what sounded like radio interference, which then turned into a piercing, high-pitched whistle that hurt their ears. After a few minutes, it stopped, and then started up again five minutes later, this time near Trejo's box. Trejo called for Carrizosa to come over and both men searched the area armed with Z-26 quick-firing rifles. Read more →

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by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear ~ This past week, I found myself in the position of having two co-workers who are UFO witnesses and decided to take advantage of this and have them tell their stories for this blog.The first story is that of Ilya Vett, 54, who has been with the organization for over three years, and he first told it to me not long after I met him. He grew up in the area of New Paltz, New York, which is near Pine Bush and the Hudson Valley. Both of those areas are notorious for UFO flaps in the 1980s (Ilya and I went to the 2022 Pine Bush UFO Fair where I met up with Martin), which is when Ilya said he had his sighting. Ilya also told me that his wife, prior to their marriage, had a sighting of a UFO with her family while they were driving. According to him, when they got home, it was over their house.As for Ilya's story, he recorded it for me on his own time not prompted by any questions from me. According to him, he and some friends were riding their bikes on Prospect Street in New Paltz sometime in the fall (school had started) “in the early 80s.” It was dark, and they were heading north towards Henry W. Dubois Drive. The area was undeveloped at the time, and there were “a lot of trees” on both sides of the road. They heard what Ilya indicated through vocalizations was a combination of a whoosh and a hum, though he settled on it not being “distinct.” Read more →

In last week's blog, we looked at the beginning of the modern crop circle phenomenon that first got the attention of the media and UFO researchers in 198o. This was described in the 1986 report compiled by Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles (written by Randles) for the British UFO Research Association titled Mystery of the Circles. According to Randles, the idea that UFOs had something to do with the mystery came from the fact that the first circles appeared in the West Country in the area of Warminster, which had become famous in the 60's as a UFO hotspot. When we left off, that idea was falling out of favor with researchers, particularly Ian Mrzyglod of the newly formed organization, PROBE, who is quoted from the March 1982, Vol. 2, No. 4, PROBE Report: “…even to suggest that the flattened circles were UFO landing nests is wildly speculative wishful thinking, without any foundation.” After a lull in attention in 1982, things picked up after eight sets of five circles appeared that were made up of one large circle surrounded by four smaller circles at equidistant locations. Prior to this, there had been only single circles or two or three in a row.Playing a large part in the media attention was the fact that the circles appeared in the summer, often called the silly season due to the fact that stories of a less-than-serious nature are used as filler in the midst of what is traditionally a slow news period. And, it did get silly. One example presented by Randles is Daily Express columnist Jean Rook being sent to one of the sites “to come up with a lovely, poetic ode to ‘E.T.,'” the titular alien from the movie. According to Randles, Rook “found physical evidence of his presence in the midst of one of the rings – a poppy.”Randles emphasizes that “serious UFO investigators refused to get involved” and notes that she, herself, refused to appear on BBC and ITV television, even though she had a new book to promote, The Pennine UFO Mystery. Read more →

Within UFOlogy, there are several areas of specialization, such as abductions, landing traces, humanoids, contactees, military encounters, etc. They often have their own specialized literature put out by individual researchers or organizations, and many have come and gone in terms of popular fascination and press coverage. One aspect that has fallen by the wayside is crop circle research, also known as “cereology.” Its early history, and the reasons for it falling out of favor with the press, and even among UFOlogists, is summed up neatly in the 1986 report, Mystery of the Circles, “compiled by” by Paul Fuller and Jenny Randles (Randles is the writer) for the British UFO Association. Of course, their report didn't put an immediate end to the phenomenon or the activity of researcher/investigators who were focused on it, but it did presage the eventual waning of interest to where very few in the community continue to consider it seriously as having anything to do with UFOs.According to Randles, mystery circles in the British West Country first started getting media attention in August of 1980, but “persistent local rumors” of them appearing in oat, barley, and wheat fields throughout Wiltshire and Hampshire goes back to at least 40 years before that. As of the release of the report, mysterious circles had shown up in fields between May and August for six successive years. Randles points out that the reason BUFORA became involved was because of the appearance of circles in the area of Warminster, which was notorious for a UFO flap in the 1960's involving an object known as “The Warminster Thing.” She explains that this “created a definite hype which sees these marks regarded as ground traces left by a landing, or hovering, spacecraft.” Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear ~ In the course of researching UFO cases in Spanish speaking countries, one is bound to run into Scott Corrales and Inexplicata: The Journal of Hispanic UFOlogy. It exists today as a website, but in the fall of 1998, Corrales put out the first print version. In issue number 3, put out in the spring of 1999, Corrales celebrates the public reception of the first two issues and notes that there were 1800 visitors to the inexplicata.com website. In that issue is an article by Javier Garcia Blanco headlined “Roadside Encounters: UFOs, Aliens and Missing Time,” that Corrales promises, “does for driving what Spielberg's Jaws did for swimming: you won't want to get behind the wheel!” Blanco is credited with being the editor (along with Angel Briongos Martinez) of the Spain-based magazine Declasificado and the director of LACIP.The first case Blanco goes into is that of “veteran radio personality” Pedro Mateo and his wife, Gloria Jiménez. According to him, Mateo described what he said happened to him and his wife on June 26, 1977, after explaining, “I have it etched upon my mind because we were flying to Dusseldorf that day, and most of what happens to me I write in a notebook.” He said that after leaving Zaragoza at around 5:00 a.m., they were just past the town of Los Garrigues after sunrise when they saw a disk-shaped object off in the distance. He wasn't “overly concerned” at that point, but got scared when it proceeded to move quickly and silently towards them. Read more →

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