Why Does Paranormal Research Ignore Andy Colvin?

 

My copy of John A. Keel’s Carnival of the Mind, edited by Andrew Colvin, just arrived. 

“Global geopolitics is a hall of mirrors, just as ufology is a carnival of the mind.” - Andrew B. Colvin, in John Keel’s Carnival of the Mind.

And the two; geopolitics and ufology, go together. Anyone who doesn’t think so is naive. The same is true of all paranormal topics; or rather, the paranormal itself. Including Mothman. 

The other night, watching a paranormal show (forget which one) on Mothman. Mothman is one of my favorite paranormal subjects. As usual, while watching the program, I wondered at the conspicuous absence of Andrew Colvin, author of Return of the Prophecies of Mothman, The Mothman’s Photographer lll, Mothman Speaks, among others. 

Colvin is rarely, if ever, quoted or featured on programs about Mothman. I have long found this odd. I realize producers have their own agendas, their own slant they want to put on subjects (my limited experience has been dismal. What thieving bastards they be!) Anyway, instead of speculating on why Andy Colvin is ignored, I asked him if he’d mind sharing his thoughts. And he did. Andrew Colvin gave me permission to quote him. 

This is absolutely a thing. I think it goes back to the original Mothman events, which do have a national security element. This is why they harassed Keel and tried to distract him with the Long Island stuff. And they have done the same to me. The spooks put out the word, and keep it off the airwaves. Now what Loren did was write that position paper years ago, declaring Mothman as part of cryptozoology, and this is took it out of the realm of ufology. His buddy Clark said nothing. Basically Coleman and Clark put Mothman in a ghetto and "privished" it. Coleman has been on my tail for 20 years now, trying to make me out as crazy. He just got me kicked off the Keel FB group earlier this year. I am writing an intro about all this for the new Keel coming, The Big Bamboozle, so it is fresh in my mind. You can see a similar intro for the one that recently came out, Carnival of the Mind. 

The starting point for this was recent discussion I had regarding why ufology has totally abandoned Mothman. None of the ufologists know about it, or care about it, even though it was the biggest flap in history.

The cryptozoologists have "owned" Mothman for around 15 years, and they have done zilch to forward any understanding of it. The ufologists would perhaps do a better job of it, if they weren't being told to avoid it. Loren's Mothman Death Curse - his ridiculous notion that a large owl could put spells on people - really sank the credibility of Mothman as a research venue. Some were scared away, while others scoffed and walked away.

Plus, his Chicago Mothman scam really put the nail in the coffin for the time being. But Mothman will rise again. (Andrew Colvin)

Speaking of Loren Coleman, I realize he has a good reputation and has contributed a lot. I have several of his books. But he does have a smarmy attitude. Years ago, the golden age of Yahoo groups, I had a group called Paranormal Bigfoot. Or something close to that. Wait, I think it was called Bigfoot Mavericks. So long ago! Coleman emails me to tell me I "should know better" than to promote a paranormal theory in context of Bigfoot, and that he "expected better of me." I'm paraphrasing but that's the gist. The point is, not to dismantle Coleman (as if I could) but to point out that there are many in the field of the weird that will not, do not want, and will expend a lot of energy putting the kibosh on paranormal and, dare I say it? Spiritual speculations. On those, I hesitate because I get annoyed with Space Brother love and violent rays of awareness crap. That's not all there is to the spirit realm however. There's Space Brother Spirit Lite, and the real stuff.

But I'm getting off on tangents here. 

Enter

Mothman, Parachutes, and More . . .

Lots of links to  Mothy news, thanks to The Anomalist.

We have Nick Redfern on the "parachute" explanation:

Mothman: Were Parachutes and Jet Packs Responsible? | Mysterious Universe (Nick Redfern)

Scroll down in same section at The Anomalist for more links related to Mothman.

Related to Redfern's parachute article, in 2014 I commented on Soldier of Fortune's article on parachutes mistaken for Mothman. As I wrote back then, "yeah, right."

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.

Mothman Mystery Solved! So Not.

Soldier of Fortune magazine, February 2014

I apologize for the lousy quality of the image; using a different computer. But you get the idea. This is the one, and only, page in the big reveal: Mothman mystery solved by Soldier of Fortune magazine. Which, for those of you, such as myself, who are Fortean-Conspiracy minded, is a very interesting magazine indeed, regardless of any Mothy info.

The "article" by Harold Hutchinson is  a mere one page. Not even that, for roughly 1/4 of the page is taken up with graphics and the title "UFO Mystery Solved: "Mothmen" Were Actually Green Berets.
So right away, the complex topic of UFOs is combined with Mothman, and we're off. Yes, UFOs were seen in Pt. Pleasant along with Mothman, but the intent here is to just put all the weirdness into one category and be done with it.

Of course, not all the weirdness that was, and is, the aura of Pt. Pleasant is mentioned.

John A. Keel's book Mothman Prophecies is mentioned, but not the author:
"In 1975, the book The Mothman Prophecies was released, with actor Richard Gere and actress Debra Messing starring in a shady 2002 film of the same name."

"Shady?" And is it necessary to use "actress" -- it's 2014, usually nowadays we just use actor to describe those who act. But anyhoo, we all know Gere and Messing are actors, actresses.

The article has revealed the truth: Mothman wasn't Mothman, but parachuting  Green Berets, painted in luminous paint, which naturally glowed in the dark.  Reason for the paint, according to the article: "...to keep track of personnel." Seems obvious that night parachuting soldiers painted in luminous paint would be seen, yet this surprised the military:
"What the Green Berets making those jumps hadn't figured on was the fact that people on the ground could see it was well."

Hutchison references the lust filled humans of Pt. Pleasant inferring that their judgement was clouded, not only by the glow in the dark parachuting soldiers, but hormones. In the fist paragraph, witnesses are described as "...preparing for an intimate moment" when "their plans were interrupted" by Mothman, er, glowing soldiers. Later, they are referred to as "...the amorous couple..."

"Hysteria continued..." while the military kept quiet on their top secret maneuvers in Pt. Pleasant. The reason for the glow in the dark parachuting soldiers: HALO, which was being tested during the Vietnam War, more specifically, invasion into Laos.

Well, not since the crash test dummies as the Army been so blatant in their explanations for mysterious phenomena.

It goes without saying that this little puff piece of would be debunkery ignores the history of high strangeness in Pt. Pleasant, including a military presence that, I and other researchers suspect of manipulating the very real paranormal and anomalous phenomena that has been a part of that locale for decades, if not centuries.

I am mildly curious what the uber skepti-trolls have to say about this, for example, over at the James Randi forum, but I'll save that for another day.