Zeke Newbold
Carbon based biped.
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2015
- Messages
- 1,249
It is no big revelation to say that the UFO-scene these days is in something of a disarray. The core of the field at the moment seems to be made up of conspiracy nuts whose wild claims make up the mainstay of their UFO belief. Or if not that, then there are various types of New Age cultists at large.
It is so easy then, in our era of (apparent) information overload, where it is harder than ever to separate the wheat from the chaff, to give the whole thing a miss - and to refer to it only in terms of self-deprecating nostalgia - as so many are doing.
I, however, continue to believe that there is an exotic core to the thing: something more than odd meteorological phenomena and `black technology`. Here I will set out one of my reasons for doing so. it is someone else's story, not mine - but I trust the source as much as I trust anyone.
About twenty years ago I was studying a Humanities subject on an MA course. Whilst doing so I befriended another student from mainland China who was about fifteen years my senior. He took a bit of a shine to me - seeing me as his protege or something. He would invite me to his home for Chinese meals every Sunday. (BTW - if you ever want to experience real Chinese cuisine, then this is the only way to do it: befriend a Chinese person !)
Then he would tell me of his life - and it was quite a colourful one as he had been caught up in the Cultural Revolution in Mao's time. He also had a hand - so he told me -in the Tianammen square demonstrations.
I am not going to name him because he was then, and no doubt still is, a respected interpreter who is responsible for having interpreted various important novels into Chinese. I feel it would be a breach of confidence.
Anyway, during the Cultural Revolution he was branded as belonging to an elite class family background- and hence was sent out to work with the peasantry in some remote part of China - working on a chicken farm or something (alas, I have forgotten where.)
One night he observed this:a huge glowing teardrop shaped thing (thick side first) flying over the landscape. It made a natural sounding humming noise, followed the contours of the land, and seemed to have a sort of fuselage - like a `sparkler` on the back. Crucially,he also said - and he was very adamant on this point (as I pressed him on it) - that it had windows along the side.
The response of the local people to this event was for them all to come out of their houses banging on pots and pans - the standard peasant response to the appearance of demons. My friend meanwhile wrote a letter to his father, who was an amateur astronomer, asking him if he might have seen a comet !
The event had little, if any press coverage.
I want to stress that my friend, unlike me, had no real previous interest in UFO's - indeed the account had to be dragged out of him somewhat. He had had little, or no, exposure to UFO literature. (Note how his description - the `natural hum`, the `sparkler fuselage` the way it followed the contours of the ground - tally with many other CE 2 reports !)
So there you have it: when I find myself getting jaded about UFO's, which is often, I remind myself of this story told by someone I completely trust was telling the truth as he saw it.
It is so easy then, in our era of (apparent) information overload, where it is harder than ever to separate the wheat from the chaff, to give the whole thing a miss - and to refer to it only in terms of self-deprecating nostalgia - as so many are doing.
I, however, continue to believe that there is an exotic core to the thing: something more than odd meteorological phenomena and `black technology`. Here I will set out one of my reasons for doing so. it is someone else's story, not mine - but I trust the source as much as I trust anyone.
About twenty years ago I was studying a Humanities subject on an MA course. Whilst doing so I befriended another student from mainland China who was about fifteen years my senior. He took a bit of a shine to me - seeing me as his protege or something. He would invite me to his home for Chinese meals every Sunday. (BTW - if you ever want to experience real Chinese cuisine, then this is the only way to do it: befriend a Chinese person !)
Then he would tell me of his life - and it was quite a colourful one as he had been caught up in the Cultural Revolution in Mao's time. He also had a hand - so he told me -in the Tianammen square demonstrations.
I am not going to name him because he was then, and no doubt still is, a respected interpreter who is responsible for having interpreted various important novels into Chinese. I feel it would be a breach of confidence.
Anyway, during the Cultural Revolution he was branded as belonging to an elite class family background- and hence was sent out to work with the peasantry in some remote part of China - working on a chicken farm or something (alas, I have forgotten where.)
One night he observed this:a huge glowing teardrop shaped thing (thick side first) flying over the landscape. It made a natural sounding humming noise, followed the contours of the land, and seemed to have a sort of fuselage - like a `sparkler` on the back. Crucially,he also said - and he was very adamant on this point (as I pressed him on it) - that it had windows along the side.
The response of the local people to this event was for them all to come out of their houses banging on pots and pans - the standard peasant response to the appearance of demons. My friend meanwhile wrote a letter to his father, who was an amateur astronomer, asking him if he might have seen a comet !
The event had little, if any press coverage.
I want to stress that my friend, unlike me, had no real previous interest in UFO's - indeed the account had to be dragged out of him somewhat. He had had little, or no, exposure to UFO literature. (Note how his description - the `natural hum`, the `sparkler fuselage` the way it followed the contours of the ground - tally with many other CE 2 reports !)
So there you have it: when I find myself getting jaded about UFO's, which is often, I remind myself of this story told by someone I completely trust was telling the truth as he saw it.