A
Anonymous
Guest
To all:
In discussing Fortean phenomena, an obvious item of interest would be places or even times when such types of incidents would seem to cluster. Already, there is a thread contending that the "weirdest" spot in Wisconsin seems to be around its center, and many unusual occurrences can, perhaps, be recounted as having happened there. But the question can also be raised as to what can be termed the most "Fortean" spot in the entire United States, or, at least, in the contiguous 48.
Before beginning, though, the idea of what would constitute being "Fortean" should be considered. Surely, New England has its share of ghost stories, and the South has strange creatures, from the Skunk Ape to the Louisiana "lizard men", and the Southwest has unusual incidents, like portals to other worlds, attributed to it. To be "Fortean" though, seems to mean that something surpasses just notoriety in just one area. To be "Fortean", it seems, a place would have to have a wide range of unusual occurrences, in a large number of different categories, and reaching significant heights of "strangeness" or unorthodoxy. UFO's, strange creatures, ghosts, notable events, and so on. For this reason, I suggest that the northern portion of the West Coast of the United States, from about the area just north of the San Fernando Valley, to the northern border of Washington State, seems the most "Fortean" area of the country, at least in terms of reported events.
Incidents and conditions there seem to suggest that very well.
Among other things, Sasquatch is very definitely associated with this area. The Tule River Indian reservation, in California, in fact, is supposed to have a cave with ancient paintings of a Bigfoot on its walls.
The enigmatic Bohemian Club, with their strange rituals in the Bohemian Grove, is located near the Russian River, in California.
The famous Oregon Vortex is located in that area, along with such strange sites as Mel's Hole, which seems to have no recorded bottom, and from which a dead dog emerged alive, and other similar areas.
The first sightings of "flying saucers" launching the recent historical UFO period were made over Mt. Rainier, in Washington.
Mt. Shasta, so rich in stories of strange occurrences that it even has a web site devoted to it, is in northern California.
While, perhaps, not as rich in unusual occurrences as Mt. Rainier or Mt. Shasta, Mt. St Helens, one of the most significant volcanic eruptions in recent times, took place in Washington State.
Apparently, the highest concentration of chemtrails reported are along the Oregon coast. Perhaps, whatever chemicals are being sprayed into the atmosphere are being largely deposited here, and allowed to drift with the prevailing winds, inward, over land.
This area has an apparent strange pull on criminals. D.B. Cooper, the famous robber, parachuted out of a plane, with a fortune, over the woods of the Pacific Northwest, and was never seen again. Gary Leon Ridgway, the Green River Killer, apparently one of the worst serial killers in American history, acted in Washington State. Edward Harvey Stokes, the man identified as perhaps the worst mass child molester in history, Acted through California, Oregon and Washington State. Mary Kay LeTourneau came from Seattle. Escaping the law, Bambi Bembeneck fled to Oregon. In fact, if you enter "fled to" into any search engine, and follow it with the name of a state, "fled to Oregon" seems to come up with the largest number of entries! When he was released from prison, Edward Harvey Stokes fled to Oregon!
The only statue to a Communist hero, in the United States, seems to be found in the Pacific Northwest! In Seattle, Washington, there is a statue commemorating Lenin. He is not represented as the political figure, rousing the Bolsheviki, rather, as a comrade in arms, with Socialist cap on, marching to a parade, but he is commemorated, nonetheless.
Following a fire, last century, it will be remembered, Seattle, Washington seems to have literally "built right on the ashes", building the new city right on top of existing portions of the old city! Tours to the "subterranean city" are a regular thing, and it was even featured in the movie, "The Night Strangler"!
As an aside, but within the limits of the idea, the two evident fundamental bastions of the yuppie days, Starbucks and Microsoft, are both from this area, as well!
You can add such things, too, as the "Gang of Nine" - an apparent coalition of developers and financiers, who wanted to cash in on erecting an unnecessary hospital in Eugene, Oregon - literally barraging a local newspaper for up to a year with political cartoons, trying to lampoon recent actions against overdevelopment in the area.
Not necessarily entirely in the realm, but something to note, is that, even in recent history, very few American presidents seem to have come from this area. Part of this may be attributed to a desire for Midwest down-hominess in presidents, but that doesn't exactly explain FDR or Ronald Reagan, who were not noted Midwesterners.
In the face of all this, when I hear that Oregon is apparently the only state in the Union in which all election ballots are write-in; or that a transvestite set up shop on a street corner in Seattle, handing out condoms and clean needles for drug addicts; or that the story of "The Thing In The Dump" took place in Oregon, I am not surprised. Too, someone might notice, the letters in "Oregon" can be re-assembled to form the word "orgone", the strange energy source that has so much attributed to it!
If there are other areas that want to be considered more "Fortean" than the Pacific Northwest area, it seems they will have a lot of competing to do!
Julian Penrod
In discussing Fortean phenomena, an obvious item of interest would be places or even times when such types of incidents would seem to cluster. Already, there is a thread contending that the "weirdest" spot in Wisconsin seems to be around its center, and many unusual occurrences can, perhaps, be recounted as having happened there. But the question can also be raised as to what can be termed the most "Fortean" spot in the entire United States, or, at least, in the contiguous 48.
Before beginning, though, the idea of what would constitute being "Fortean" should be considered. Surely, New England has its share of ghost stories, and the South has strange creatures, from the Skunk Ape to the Louisiana "lizard men", and the Southwest has unusual incidents, like portals to other worlds, attributed to it. To be "Fortean" though, seems to mean that something surpasses just notoriety in just one area. To be "Fortean", it seems, a place would have to have a wide range of unusual occurrences, in a large number of different categories, and reaching significant heights of "strangeness" or unorthodoxy. UFO's, strange creatures, ghosts, notable events, and so on. For this reason, I suggest that the northern portion of the West Coast of the United States, from about the area just north of the San Fernando Valley, to the northern border of Washington State, seems the most "Fortean" area of the country, at least in terms of reported events.
Incidents and conditions there seem to suggest that very well.
Among other things, Sasquatch is very definitely associated with this area. The Tule River Indian reservation, in California, in fact, is supposed to have a cave with ancient paintings of a Bigfoot on its walls.
The enigmatic Bohemian Club, with their strange rituals in the Bohemian Grove, is located near the Russian River, in California.
The famous Oregon Vortex is located in that area, along with such strange sites as Mel's Hole, which seems to have no recorded bottom, and from which a dead dog emerged alive, and other similar areas.
The first sightings of "flying saucers" launching the recent historical UFO period were made over Mt. Rainier, in Washington.
Mt. Shasta, so rich in stories of strange occurrences that it even has a web site devoted to it, is in northern California.
While, perhaps, not as rich in unusual occurrences as Mt. Rainier or Mt. Shasta, Mt. St Helens, one of the most significant volcanic eruptions in recent times, took place in Washington State.
Apparently, the highest concentration of chemtrails reported are along the Oregon coast. Perhaps, whatever chemicals are being sprayed into the atmosphere are being largely deposited here, and allowed to drift with the prevailing winds, inward, over land.
This area has an apparent strange pull on criminals. D.B. Cooper, the famous robber, parachuted out of a plane, with a fortune, over the woods of the Pacific Northwest, and was never seen again. Gary Leon Ridgway, the Green River Killer, apparently one of the worst serial killers in American history, acted in Washington State. Edward Harvey Stokes, the man identified as perhaps the worst mass child molester in history, Acted through California, Oregon and Washington State. Mary Kay LeTourneau came from Seattle. Escaping the law, Bambi Bembeneck fled to Oregon. In fact, if you enter "fled to" into any search engine, and follow it with the name of a state, "fled to Oregon" seems to come up with the largest number of entries! When he was released from prison, Edward Harvey Stokes fled to Oregon!
The only statue to a Communist hero, in the United States, seems to be found in the Pacific Northwest! In Seattle, Washington, there is a statue commemorating Lenin. He is not represented as the political figure, rousing the Bolsheviki, rather, as a comrade in arms, with Socialist cap on, marching to a parade, but he is commemorated, nonetheless.
Following a fire, last century, it will be remembered, Seattle, Washington seems to have literally "built right on the ashes", building the new city right on top of existing portions of the old city! Tours to the "subterranean city" are a regular thing, and it was even featured in the movie, "The Night Strangler"!
As an aside, but within the limits of the idea, the two evident fundamental bastions of the yuppie days, Starbucks and Microsoft, are both from this area, as well!
You can add such things, too, as the "Gang of Nine" - an apparent coalition of developers and financiers, who wanted to cash in on erecting an unnecessary hospital in Eugene, Oregon - literally barraging a local newspaper for up to a year with political cartoons, trying to lampoon recent actions against overdevelopment in the area.
Not necessarily entirely in the realm, but something to note, is that, even in recent history, very few American presidents seem to have come from this area. Part of this may be attributed to a desire for Midwest down-hominess in presidents, but that doesn't exactly explain FDR or Ronald Reagan, who were not noted Midwesterners.
In the face of all this, when I hear that Oregon is apparently the only state in the Union in which all election ballots are write-in; or that a transvestite set up shop on a street corner in Seattle, handing out condoms and clean needles for drug addicts; or that the story of "The Thing In The Dump" took place in Oregon, I am not surprised. Too, someone might notice, the letters in "Oregon" can be re-assembled to form the word "orgone", the strange energy source that has so much attributed to it!
If there are other areas that want to be considered more "Fortean" than the Pacific Northwest area, it seems they will have a lot of competing to do!
Julian Penrod