Colvin: Flying Saucer to the Center of Your Mind

My copy of Andrew Colvin's book arrived today. Excited to start reading it. And, I admit I am not being humble, surprised and pleased to read that my name was included in his acknowledgements.

I have my pens, highlighters and sticky notes at the ready! (I am a nerd.).

Mothman Threads . . .

Haven't been blogging much lately -- down with pneumonia these past weeks. Mostly on my Orange Orb blog on Wordpress. Other than that, not much.

Seems Mothman is seemingly appearing elsewhere. Chicago, for one.

And the excellent series Hellier series (Greg and Dana Newkirk) finds connections to Mothman, even though they were investigating strange goblin like happenings in Kentucky.

As mentioned in Hellier, I just ordered Andrew Colvin's book about John Keel: Flying Saucer to the Center of Your Mind. Should arrive tomorrow!

Mothman, by Thor

Updated...

Always intrigued by the dreaming mind.

I'm visiting a parent of one of the elementary students to discuss what's going on in the school. Although, this parent seems more like the grandmother, closer to my age.

I'm in her living room, and instead of talking about her kid, she shows me her library. She is so happy and proud! She has four books, all written by Thor something (don't recall the last name) and they're all about Mothman. Thick, heavy hardcover books. One of the things so special about the books, she tells me, is that many of the pages are folded into threes, and you have to pull them out very carefully. Also -- and this is very important -- refold them in a specific way. This mother/grandparent (Margaret something) tells me we've all been folding pages into thirds the wrong way.  

I tell her my theories about UFOs, and Mothman -- how I am convinced that all of it exists. There really is a Mothman, entities, aliens, ghosts, UFOs, and on and on, and there are some people who are well aware of that and manipulate this other reality, or concurrent reality, for their own agendas.  

I am very impressed, and a little disappointed in myself that I've never heard of this Thor person. I tell her it's serendipity that we've met, and tell her about myself. She doesn't seem impressed however, in fact, she steps back a little. I feel like she thinks I'm bragging. I wasn't, just very excited to meet a fellow Mothman paranormal Fortean nerd, like myself. So I encourage her and tell her how impressed I am with her library and I'd like to meet with her to talk about these things. But she doesn't seem to want to do that.

Thor? Mothman? Three folds? Seems like that should mean something!

Book Find

St. Vincent de Paul's had a 50% off book sale today. I found this, and other UFO and cryptid books, score!

This edition is selling around $160.00 on ebay. I think I'll hang onto this for awhile -- I do have a paperback edition of course. But this vintage edition is too nice to sell right now. I like having it around.

It's in very nice condition.

Mothman Finally Arrived!

The book that is; Lon Strickler's book on Chicago winged humanoid sightings Mothman Dynasty arrived today. I had ordered it over a week ago but with the holidays, the mail often takes a bit longer. I'm already enjoying the book (taking a break from Thom Powell's Bigfoot book Edges of Science), armed with clickable highlighters and post-it notes. So far, so good. Will post a review when finished.

(Love my clickable highlighters! They're what every researcher needs.)

Mom on Mothman

Thinking about my mother, who passed away last Febraury. Here is a bit from a piece I wrote in 2011 for Tim Binnall's site at my Trickster's Realm column over there about a conversation my mom and I had about Mothman:

It's late at night, I hear the ocean rumbling outside the bedroom window. I'm visiting my eighty-four year old mother who lives on the coast. We just had an interesting conversation about Mothman.
I brought along Andrew Colvin's new book Mothman Speaks to show mom; (hey mom, I'm quoted on the back of the book and inside!) and she asks me a series of questions about Mothman: just who is he, or what is it, isn't it a series on TV, -- "no mom" -- "Oh, that must have been something else."

I tell her what I can about Mothman, including Colvin's relationship with Mothman and his research, his spiritual or philosophical views on Buddhism and Eastern beliefs, which my mother shares in some ways. I tell her of my own interest in Mothman, even though I've never had a Mothman sighting of my own. (Mom on Mothman, Binnall of America, 2-8-11) Read the rest here.

Loren Coleman on 'Evil' Mothman

Loren Coleman was a guest on last night's episode of Coast to Coast,  promoting his new book Mothman; Evil Incarnate. The title sums up Coleman's gloom and doom dark side of the veil perceptions of Mothman. I didn't hear Coleman give credit to Lon Strickler of Phantoms and Monsters, who has been delving into the Chicago Mothman sightings, or Mothman author and experiencer Andrew Colvin. I've ordered Lon's book, but am reluctant to with Coleman's, though, in the spirit of research, I should.

Operation Trojan Horse Covers

Collection of Keel's Operation Trojan Horse (1970):

Stan Gordon's "Astonishing Encounters: Bigfoot, Mothmen and More"

I look forward to reading this book! Nick Redfern has a review of Stan Gordon's new book Astonishing Encounters: Bigfoot, Mothmen and More at Mysterious Universe. Brief mention of Mothy types:

Astonishing Encounters: Bigfoot, Mothmen and More | Mysterious Universe: Astonishing Encounters also contains numerous reports of unidentified flying things. Typically, they fall into the same kinds of categories of winged things that appear elsewhere in the world. We’re talking about (a) creatures that resemble long-extinct pterodactyls; (b) giant birds that look like the mighty Thunderbirds of Native American lore and history (described by one witness as an “eagle on steroids”); (c) Mothman-style creatures; (d) winged humanoids; and (e) monsters that have a “giant bat”-like appearance.

Sticky notes

Speaking of The Eighth Tower, this is what my copy currently looks like:

Not wanting to mark up pages with notes, I'm using little sticky notes with brief comments I've written so I can go back and refer as I need to. And I'm not even finished yet.

This edition is the Signet paperback, New American Library/Times Mirror, Signet first printing, May 1977. (copyright John A. Keel 1975.)

Keel Quote

Writing on the manifestations of the "super spectrum" in his book The Eighth Tower-- all those anomalous, weird, outer space, inner space entities, monsters, phantasms -- John A. Keel wrote:

"Whoever -- or whatever -- they are, they've got us surrounded."

Re-read: The Eighth Tower

I've read all of John A. Keel's books, but it's been some years since I've read The Eighth Tower. Fantastic, a classic. I haven't finished this re-read, but am almost done; can't put the book done. Lots of note taking! I agree with his overall theory of a super-spectrum, as well as the, at best, indifference of the origin or source, as well as its contradictory nature. But does this explain everything? And is it a bit bleak -- I find it so. And yet, also funny in a dark way and true.  Isn't there some bit of white light in that crack? More on all that musing later. Meanwhile, back to Keel, projects, and ideas.

I'm Cited!

Nice find; Mothman Flutterings is cited, and I'm quoted as to my idea Mothman could be, in part, a human manipulated phenomena on page 58 of What Happens Next? Contemporary Urban Legends and Popular Culture, by Gail de Vos. I had no idea!

Mothy Synchronicity: Return of the Mothman

    

      Nick Redfern alerts us to a new work of fiction by Ted Browning, with promises of a review to come.  A bit of synchronicity, since I just posted about a dream I had last night (see previous post)  that involved me looking at books, and searching for the title Song of the Mothman. Then I go over to my Facebook page, and find Nick's post!

Cryptomundo Return of the Mothman: “Ted Browning moves back to his rural hometown of Logan, West Virginia, after learning his grandmother is dying of cancer. When he hears talk of Mothman sightings from miners at Bear Creek Coal Company he simply doesn’t believe it-until a series of events puts him in direct confrontation with the evil winged creature. Ted is forced to face his inner demons in order to protect the very loved ones he’s kept at a distance for twenty years…and to let go of a tragic past that is drawing him like a moth to the flame.”