Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The parasociological hypothesis in a nutshell

Here is a short post where I am trying to summarize my efforts to make sense of what parasociology is all about.

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I am also taking a break for the month of July, and I wish everyone a good and safe summer.

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Parasociology is mostly about studying and understanding the sociological dimension of anomalous phenomenon, by integrating the concept of psi within its core analysis. Hence, it is starting from the key findings of parapsychology, but aims at extending them outside the realm of individual psychology. Below is a short description of the parasociological hypothesis.

At the individual level, parapsychologists who have studied spontaneous paranormal cases tend to think that there are mutual interactions between the subject (experiencer) and the phenomenon. For instance, in the case of poltergeists (RSPK), people are seriously impacted by the disturbances and oftentimes ascribe the phenomenon to an “evil spirit” or some sort of non-human entity. Yet, it is pretty clear that the main person around whom the phenomenon is occurring is influencing its nature, namely his/her deeply buried anger and frustration appear to be what gives the phenomenon its violent character. It can be graphically represented as follow:




At the social level, sociologists who have studied controversies, which includes paranormal claims, have found that such events put in motion a social dynamics where the meaning attached to the phenomenon is debated, and usually determined by the social and political status of the key actors involved, and by the existing social and cultural pre-dispositions. For instance, the case of cold fusion was determined by the scientific establishment as a hoax, while in fact there was something like cold fusion going on, but at a very low level. In the paranormal world, the children who saw the “lady” in Fatima did not know what to think of it at first. But through various social dynamics involving a debate between the Church and the republican lay authorities, it was deemed to be the Virgin Mary who appeared to the children. Hence, the phenomenon impacted social dynamics already occurring in the Portuguese society of 1917.

The question is whether there is a parallel to be made with the individual level, where society would also influence the shape of the phenomenon, so that the interaction is also mutual at the sociological level? For instance, during the 1896-97 airship wave in United States (and Canada), the phenomenon was first described as strange lights in the sky, but it was reported by the press, nationwide, as “airships”. Could the social expectations to see an airship in the sky influenced the phenomenon so that it took an airship shape in the days and months that ensued? This question illustrates the core of the parasociological hypothesis. Graphically, it looks like this:



If one accepts that the parasociological hypothesis is a valid field of inquiry, then one should also look into the possibility of mutual interactions between the individual and sociological levels. Some of those interactions, in fact, have been studied already. For instance, the individual-level reactions to a poltergeist outbreak can create social debates in a society about what is the “true” nature of paranormal events. Conversely, if in a particular society some views about the paranormal are already accepted, then it is likely to impact the individual reactions. The clear case is the one of Marian apparitions, which tend to occur among Catholic communities. Strange and bizarre events, which meaning is not that clear to the witnesses, will eventually become interpreted as Marian apparitions because of strong cultural views about such apparitions.

Another set of interactions that should be investigated out of the parasociological hypothesis is the possible mutual interactions between the individual and social layers of a phenomenon. For instance, how an individual UFO close encounter relates to an overall UFO wave occurring at the same time? Or, how a set of Marian apparitions to a few children relate to a series of anomalous lights and healing in the community around? How a particular haunting relates to an overall high rate of hauntings in a particular region (England and Scotland)? These challenging questions have received little attention so far by researchers interested in the paranormal. Graphically, this can be represented as follow, with the dotted lines showing relationships requiring some serious conceptualisation and empirical research:




It is also possible to think of other mutual interactions. For instance, can the particular shape an individual-level anomalous phenomenon have a direct impact on the social dynamics about the interpretation of an anomalous phenomenon ? Landmark cases like the Barney and Bettey Hill UFO abduction incident clearly had an impact on how UFO abductions are construed socially later on. But what about the interaction in the other direction? For instance, could the extra-terrestrial “flavour” and shape of a close encounter be determined by socially shared views about extra-terrestrial visitations and not by the individual psychological make-up and dynamics of the experiencer? This question is at the center of the debate between the French Bertrand Méheust and François Favre about whether we have UFO witnesses of a relatively objective (i.e. of a social origin) parapsychological phenomenon or do we have only “psi subjects” living and influencing directly the phenomenon’s shape. There is very limited research on this issue.

The last set of mutual interactions, between a social-scale phenomenon and individual psychological make-up and dynamics, is also split in terms of research. The impact of those large phenomena on individuals has been studied by people like Jacques Vallée in his seminal book Messengers of Deception. UFO wave can have an impact on UFO-related cults and their capacity to recruit new members. Similarly, Marian apparitions led oftentimes to create religious fervour among people who had little interest in religion before the events. If the relationship is taken in the other direction, could it be possible that the individual psychological make-up and dynamics of some individuals have a defining impact on the shape of a social-scale anomalous phenomenon? For instance, in one of my researches on the Canadian UFO wave of 1966-67, there are some indications that the phenomenon was “responding” to a major politician’s series of key decisions, which were to have a very significant impact on the Canadian society but could not have been known at the time the phenomeon was unfolding. This is another area requiring much more investigation.

The overall parasociological hypothesis creates a relatively specific research programme, enough to keep many people busy for a long time. Graphically, it can be represented by all the dotted arrows shown below:




Eric Ouellet © 2010

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The Canadian UFO wave 1966-67 (part 5)

This post proposes an analysis of the remainding clusters of sightings identified earlier for the Canadian UFO wave of 1966-67. It is also the last part of this case study. However, I am introducing the clusters in a somewhat different perspective than previously announced, as I found an unanticipated consistency within the best-known cases of Falcon Lake, Duhamel crop circles, and Shag Harbour. These three cases will be considered as part of the same cluster, the reason for which is explained below. Hence, this post is covering the rash of closer encounters of the third kind of summer 1967 and the best-know cases lumped into the label the “National Tensions.” An overall evaluation of the case study is proposed at the end of this post.

The summer 1967 “visitations” cluster

Between the end of July and late August 1967, six closer encounters of the third kind (CE3) were reported by the private observation system. Given the rarity of CE3 in general, this concentration is unusual and can be seen as a form of “insistence” by the phenomenon to be “noted”. The basic information on the sightings is as follow:

(1) At the end of July, in St-Stanislas-de-Kostka, Quebec, an “11-year old Denis Léger said a flying object, ‘resembling a round and shiny saucer,’ followed him for about 5 minutes, at 20-foot altitude, as he rode his bicycle. The bottom was made of glass 3 or 4 inches thick, and he could see three persons inside, one seated at one end and the others at the other. ‘They were small and black.’”[1]

(2) On 12 August, in St-Louis-de-Kent, New Brunswick, a “dozen teens saw ‘huge, black monster’ descend from light craft in woods. Being dressed in black, with black face and goggles. They didn't approach, and it quickly disappeared.”[2]

(3) On 14 August 1967, in St-Charles, New Brunswick, “an unidentified woman from St Charles reported sighting a similar figure [to that of St-Louis-de-Kent] in the woods near the same road. Richibucto RCMP searched the area although they located a man dressed in black; there was no apparent connection with the encounters.[3]

(4) On 15 August 1967, in Port Perry, Ontario “a farm area a young boy heard a loud oscillating sound, going over a nearby hill he saw a landed disc shaped craft on four metallic legs, it was actually hovering just above the ground. On a platform around its perimeter, were seated eight to ten little men about three-foot tall, they wore tight fitting brown clothing. A depressed 12-foot circular area was found on the ground later.”[4]

(5) On 15 August, in Welland, Ontario, a “family observed two bright lights traveling across the sky, through a pair of binoculars several figures could be seen moving in one of the lights. Both lights flew at high speed away from the area. No other information.”[5]

(6) On 23 August, in Joyceville, Ontario, while “driving from his home in Toronto early in the morning, Stanley Moxon saw a green light in a field off the road ahead of his car; he turned off his headlights and swung onto a side road to get closer. Turning his lights on again, he saw a huge craft shaped like two saucers put together, and two human like entities about 4-feet high in white uniforms and helmets. They "seemed to be at work around the machine;" when they were discovered, they quickly jumped into the object, which took off silently at tremendous speed.”[6]

Taken together, these reports seem unrelated and unexplainable. As well, as there is only scant information about each of them, it is difficult to make a detailed analysis. Yet, if one looks beyond the surface, there are a number of commonalities. All the reporting was to stay local. In cases 1, 2, 4, 5, children were involved, and given the inherent bias against younger witnesses, these cases were not likely to reach the public observation system. In the cases 3, and 6, it was reported by adults who had the reflex to seek the local police (note that the RCMP plays the role of the local police in rural areas of New Brunswick, as part of an agreement between the province and the federal government), and these local police forces have little to do with the national public observation system. From a parasociological standpoint, this is an important clue as the phenomenon did not appear to seek the attention of the larger society. Furthermore, the possibility to even observe a CE3 cluster was not possible then. One case surfaced in 1968, and two others surfaced in 1979.

It is therefore possible to think that separate local parasociological effects could be held responsible for those events, but that they shared a common enabling factor or factors. From a symbolic perspective, there is an idea of “children” inherent to these sightings. In 3 cases, the entities were perceived as being of child-size (1, 4, 6). The sighting (1) was followed by another one, a year later by the same witness plus other children.[7] In most cases, the entities did not engaged with the witnesses but were either scared or oblivious to presence of witnesses (child-like behaviour?). Could the “Flower Children” of the “Summer of Love” (i.e. 1967) enabled symbolically some parasociological effects? It is impossible to prove but it is an interesting possibility.



The 1967 national tensions cluster

The three most ostentatious cases from the Canadian UFO wave of 1966-67 occurred in 1967. They are, in chronologically order, the Falcon Lake incident of 20 May, the Duhamel crop circles of 8 August, and the Shag Harbour “crash” on 4 October. When the Department of National Defence (DND) got rid of its UFO files by transferring them to the National Research Council (NRC), these three cases were specifically highlighted in a November 1967 letter as meriting particular attention, and that DND would like to be kept abreast of any findings by the NRC.[8] Clearly, the phenomenon was able to get the attention of the public observation system.

Once again, we have three cases that on the surface seem to be disconnected, and unrelated. When taken in isolation and separately, they seem profoundly absurd and meaningless. Although these cases were better investigated than most other cases of 1966-67 because the public observation system stepped in, nothing worth of mention emerged from their analysis. Yet, if one applies a parasociological analysis, then a different image emerges that is actually consistent with the other clusters reported by the public observation system: Canadian national tensions are symbolically found across these cases.

Falcon Lake incident

The details of this incident are available through many sources, but here is a copy of the synopsis prepared by DND in its letter to the NRC:

“A Mr Steven Michalak of Winnipeg, Manitoba reported that he had come into physical contact with a UFO during a prospecting trip in the Falcon Lake area, some 90 miles east of Winnipeg on the 20 May 1967. Mr. Michalak stated that he was examining a rock formation when two UFOs appeared before him. One of the UFOs remained airborne in the immediate area for a few moments, then flow off at great speed. The second UFO landed a few hundred feet away from his position. As he approached the UFO, a side door opened and voices were heard from within. Mr. Michalak stated that he approached the object but was unable to see due to a bright yellow bluish light which blocked his vision. He endeavoured to communicate with the personnel inside the object but without result. As he approached within a few feet of the object, the door closed, he heard a whining noise and the object commenced to rotate anti-clockwise and finally rained off the ground. He reached out with his left gloved hand and touched the object prior to its lifting off the ground; the glove burned immediately as he touched the object. As the object left the ground, the exhaust gases burned his cap, out and inner garments and he sustained rather severe stomach and chest burns. As a result of these he was hospitalized for a number of days. The doctors who interviewed and attended Mr. Michalak were unable to obtain any information that could account for the burns to his body. The personal items of clothing which were alleged to have been burned by the UFO were subjected to an extensive analysis at the SCNF Crime Laboratory. The analysis was not able to reach any conclusion as to what may have caused the burn damage. Soil samples taken from the immediate area occupied by the UFO by Mr. Michalak were analyzed and found to be radioactive to a degree that the samples had to be safely disposed of. An examination of the alleged UFO landing area was tested by a radiologist from the Department of Health and Welfare and a small area was found radioactive. The radiologist was unable to provide an explanation as to what caused this area to become contaminated.
Both DND and RCMP investigation teams were unable to provide evidence which would dispute Mr. Michalak’s story.”[9]

A few more elements emerged from the private observation system. A 1968 analysis and a 1979 re-evaluation showed that the radioactive contamination was likely from natural uranium ore and associated radon gas emanations.[10]

From a symbolic perspective this events has several clues to offer. First of all, the location is an interesting one. Falcon Lake was named after Pierre Falcon, a French-speaking poet of Métis origin who lived in the 19th century (1793-1876). The Métis people were made of people having both European (mostly French) and North American Native ancestry. They lived in Western Canada, mostly in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Their history is a sad one, as they were victim of the racist attitudes of the British authorities, and many got their land confiscated to be given to British settlers. They defended themselves in several occasions but were defeated by the British Army and the white settlers. As well, the French-speaking heritage disappeared overtime, to become almost fully anglicized. Pierre Falcon actually wrote songs and poem describing the fight against the English-speaking settlers and the injustice the Métis people were facing.[11]



There are other symbolic clues in the events. Michalak did meet people speaking a language that he did not understand. He was burnt in the forest, which is actually how Pierre Falcon described his compatriots the “Bois-Brûlé”.[12] Radioactivity was not known in the 19th century, so this clue might be a bit more subtle. In the 1960s, they were no uranium mining in Manitoba. The closest ones were in Northern Saskatchewan, and in Ontario in Elliot Lake, all far away from Flacon Lake.[13] Elliott Lake was a key uranium mining town then, and was another mixed French-English community of Northern Ontario. Finally, it is worth noting that on 19 May 1967, the Premier of Quebec, Daniel Johnson, came back from an official visit from France, where he was received as a Head of State[14], a prelude the famous “Vive le Québec libre!” of De Gaulle a few weeks later.

Duhamel crop circles

In 1967, crop circles were a novelty. The association between UFOs and crop circles is not a new one, as there was the notion of “saucer’s nest” in the 1950s from some US UFO investigations. But it was something quite different for Canada then. The event was considered as UFo one because “For several weeks before the crop circles appeared, Duhamel been plagued with strange occurrences. Reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) had made it into the local papers weeks before the crop circles were discovered.”[15] The official synopsis describes the events as follow:

“On August 8th 1967, a Mr. K. Patrige, of Camrose, Alberta, reported the finding of a number of circular impressions in a pasture in the vicinity of the town of Camrose, Alberta. An investigation was conducted by an officer from Canadian Forces Base, Edmonton, in the company of Dr. G. H. Jones, of the Defence Research Board Experimental Station in Suffield.
All the marks exhibited the same general appearance; a ring six inches in width, with diameter varying from slightly over 31 feet to 36 feet. No evidence of heat was evident, but a definite impression in the ground, which was soft from recent rains, indicated distinct pressure. Some slight evidence of movement in a radial manner along the marks was visible in that the grass had been pressed down in a definite direction.
No evidence that would lead to the conclusion of deliberate interference or involvement of any person was found, nor was there any trace of chemical or radioactivity in the area.”[16]

This noted UFO incident is also linked symbolically to the Métis people. It was a Métis settlement in 19th century, originally called “La Boucane”, named after the first Métis settlers, and renamed after the French-Canadian Roman Catholic Bishop of Ottawa Mgr. Duhamel.[17] Like a crop circle, they left their mark, but soon it will disappear both physically and from memory.


Veronica Laboucane and Jean Baptiste Laboucane, Duhamel, Alberta, circa 1912

The official 1967 report does not mention Duhamel, and interestingly the Wikipedia site for Duhamel does not mention its French and Métis origin.[18] They have effectively “disappeared” from mainstream history.

A key document that emerged recently was a draft letter signed 2 August 1967 by René Lévesque announcing his resignation from the Liberal Party of Quebec to the then leader of the Party, which would eventually occur on 14 October 1967 and set in motion a series of major events in Canada (as discussed in the previous post). A paragraph in this letter is highly symbolic and could have been applied very well to the Métis of Duhamel:

“C’est bien ainsi que l’ont compris tous ceux qui ne nous aiment pas. Il y en a un grand nombre au Canada, même parmi nous, de ces gens qui endurent les Canadiens français à condition qu’ils soient bien sages, qu’ils ne se prennent pas pour «d’autres» et qu’ils confirment périodiquement l’image rassurante qu’on s’acharne à se faire d’eux: la pittoresque survivance indigène appelée tôt ou tard à se perdre gentiment dans le paysage."[19]

[It is in this way that those who do not like us have understood it. There are many people in Canada, even among us, who tolerate the French-Canadians only at the condition that they be quiet, that they do not think they are important, and that they confirm periodically the reassuring picture painted of them: this picturesque survival of indigenous people called, sooner or later, to gently disappear from the scenery] (My translation).

The Shag Harbour “crash”

The Shag Harbour case is arguably the best known UFO case from Canada. It has been dubbed by some as the “Canadian Roswell,”[20] and the case was among those under evaluation during the Condon committee’s investigation. This case also attracted the attention of both the public and private observation systems, as it was so ostentatious. Here is the official description of the events:

“An RCMP corporal and six other witnesses observed what they believed to be an unidentified flying object off the south-west coast of Nova Scotia, Canada on the 4th October 1967. The object was described as approximately 60 feet in length and was flying in an easterly direction when first sighted. During their observation, the UFO descended rapidly to the surface and made a ‘bright splash’ as it struck the water. For some time after the impact, a single white light remained on the surface. The RCMP corporal endeavoured to the floating white object, but unfortunately, before he could reach the location the object sank. A search of the area failed to produce any material evidence which could assist in explaining or establishing the identity of the object. An underwater search conducted by divers from the Department of National Defence also failed to locate any tangible evidence which could be used to arrive at an explainable conclusion.”[21]

The public observation system was also able to add to this description. In the evening of 4 October 1967, the pilots of an Air Canada liner Saint-Jean in Quebec (south-east of Montreal) saw the following event, as reported later to the authorities: “Flying on top of layered clouds, well below us. The Captain drew my attention to an unusual set of lights to the south. One large bright white light and six small ones. It looks like a large kite about 20 deg. above the horizon at 90 degs from the aircraft. While we were looking at this set of lights we saw a big fire ball that started as a very bright white light and grew into a large red ball. It then turn violet in color, then light blue. We saw two of these. I checked the clock. The first one was at 19:19 EDT the second at 19:31 EDT. At 19:35 EDT one large pear shape cloud glowing pale blue was drifting slowly eastward.”[22]

As well, the private system was able to get the following additional details[23]. According to Ledger and Styles, several witnesses in the area around Halifax saw strange lights moving towards the southwest along the coast, between 21:00 ADT until 23:00 ADT. Then observations moved to Lunenburg, and then Waymouth, to finally have the last observations around Shag Harbour[24]. A very interesting report made by several witnesses described the descent into water of several objects as a “falling-leaf motion” from the Cape Sable Island[25].

This last observation is particular interesting as it is a motion noted in a number of poltergeist events. But even more interesting is that not only the overall event started in Quebec, the French-speaking province of Canada, 10 days before René Lévesque’s critical political move, but it occurred in another area of past French-English tensions. The Cape Sable Island was also the point of departure of several deportation ships, bringing in harsh conditions the French-speaking Acadiens away from their land, so that English settlers can have them.[26]



Symbolically, we have something emanating from Quebec and showing the color blue in the sky (blue being the color associated with the movement seeking the independence of Quebec), that sinks into the sea in a place where British cruelty towards the French-Canadians has been enacted by sending people to their lost by sea. The fact that an agent of the state witnessed it is also indicative that the phenomenon was seeking the attention of the public observation system. As well, it “crashed” near one of the nods of the underwater submarine detection network, put in place in the context of the Cold War against Soviet intrusions. The phenomenon “took no chance”, it had to be noted by the public authorities, and like in any macro psi event, when observation becomes too intense, the phenomenon does not have any indeterminacy to keep going. The Shag Harbour incident marks the decline phase of the 1966-67 Canadian UFO wave. As well, like in most RSPK (or poltergeist) events, those for whom the message is intended did not understand it.



Discussion

This parasociological analysis of the Canadian 1966-1967 UFO wave was quite instructive. First, it provided an analysis with a fair degree of internal validity that some of the key events can be explained as social psi effects linked to the deep tensions found in the Canadian society then. The concordance between geographic locations, dates of UFO events, and dates of significant social events with the key symbolism found within particular cases is striking. These cases, when taken alone do not make sense, but when they are linked together within a proper analytical framework, they start to make sense. It would be interesting to do a similar analysis of the American UFO wave of 1966-67 and linked it to the many racial riots and tensions experienced in 1966 and especially in 1967. However, I think it is a task for an American researcher to do.

When thinking about the UFO events related to the national level, and therefore noted by the public observation system, I cannot help but making the comparison with the seminal and in-depth research conducted by Nandor Fodor about the Thornton Heath poltergeist.[27] Like with the UFO wave of 1966-67, the strange and bizarre events surrounding Mrs. Forbes were incomprehensible, absurd, and beyond explanation, even to dedicated and experienced psychical researchers. Fodor went further and looked where no one else bothered to investigate. Not only he gathered evidence and evaluated them, but he also proposed an analysis based on the symbolic content of those poltergeist events. Through a detailed symbolic review of the evidence he was able to make sense of what happened in Thornton Heath, as it was the symbolic expression of Mrs. Forbes’ unresolved trauma of being sexually abused when she was a child. From that perspective, UFO waves can be explained in part as of a macroscopic poltergeist, as John Keel believed. The only difference is that we, the humans, are the ultimate cause of the events.



The events that were noted by the private observation systems are much more difficult to interpret, in great part because they were not approached from the “broader” perspective, leaving very little data to work with. Some were investigated in more depth, but with the passing of time, such information can become extremely difficult to find. In some cases, like the APRO reports, the evidence is locked up into private hands not willing to share them. Furthermore, if these sightings were intended to be observed by the private system, then the message should logically be intended to a private audience, making the investigation that much harder as one has to get detailed knowledge of local unconscious issues.

It is important to underline that there are many sightings of the 1966-67 wave that are beyond any meaningful research because they were likely to be meaningful only to the witnesses themselves. Again, with the passing of time, and limited reporting content this becomes an impossible task. Some other sightings are likely to be misperceptions and hoaxes, but too much time has elapse to make any valid evaluation on them. However, these others sightings (including hoaxes) could be seen as synchronistic events that participated in creating a social psi event by keeping the attention on the phenomenon..

UFO wave, to conclude, appear to have at least distinct four layers: the global, national, local and individual ones. Each of them deserve its own separate analysis as it carry its own distinct meaning, yet all of them can “ride” on the same macro psi effect at the same, creating a very confused picture. In the end, however, the key to make sense of all of them is to look seriously into their respective symbolic dimension. Hence, should there be another major UFO wave in North America (or elsewhere), we now have a more refined methodology about what we need to look for.


References

[1] From http://www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1967.shtml. Itself based on Saucers, Space & Science, fall 1968.

[2] From http://www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1967.shtml.Itself based on a newspaper article from the Moncton Times, August 17, 1967.

[3] From http://www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1967.shtml. A RCMP police report is quoted as the original source.

[4] From http://www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1967.shtml. John Brent Musgrave. (1979). UFO occupants and critters: The patterns in Canada. N.L.: Global Communications, is quoted as the source, but Musgrave does not provide his own sources. See http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=John%20Brent%20Musgrave.

[5] Same as reference 4.

[6] From http://www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1967.shtml. Itself based on a local police report, and was investigated by APRO. The APRO report is likely to be unavailable for further information.

[7] See http://www.ufologie.net/ce3/1968-07-28-canada-ststanislasdekostka.htm

[8] See http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ufo/002029-2502-e.html

[9] Original available at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ufo/002029-2502.01-e.html

[10] Rutkowski, Chris and Geoff Dittman. (2006). The Canadian UFO Report: The best cases revealed‎. Toronto: Dundurn Press, p. 77.

[11] See http://www.shsb.mb.ca/paysriel/media/modules/md204-chanson/md204-17-pdf.pdf

[12] Idem.

[13] See http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf49.html

[14] See http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_au_Qu%C3%A9bec

[15] See http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ufo/002029-1200.01-e.html

[16] Original available at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ufo/002029-2502.02-e.html

[17] Fro more see: http://www.telusplanet.net/dgarneau/alberta3a.htm; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~abcamros/; http://www.edukits.ca/francophone/en/elementary/infomania_text_french.html

[18] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duhamel,_Alberta

[19] From http://fondationrene-levesque.org/documentation/ecrits-de-rene-levesque/textes/projet-de-lettre-adressee-a-jean-lesage-2-aout-1967/

[20] Rutkowski, Chris and Geoff Dittman. (2006). The Canadian UFO Report: The best cases revealed‎. Toronto: Dundurn Press, p. 94.

[21] Original available at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ufo/002029-2502.03-e.html

[22] From Canada Archives, at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/ufo/001057-119.02-e.php?isn_id_nbr=4669&page_id_nbr=204&record_id=4669-204-7193&interval=20&PHPSESSID=furspoo0jlegq3khtpfc446k22

[23] For a detailed account of this case, please refer to Ledger, Don and Chris Styles. (2001). Dark Object: The world’s only government documented UFO crash. New York: Dell.

[24] Ledger, Don and Chris Styles. (2001). Dark Object: The world’s only government documented UFO crash. New York: Dell, pp. 13-27.

[25] From UFO DNA at http://www.ufodna.com/uf05/uf6/056206.htm.

[26] For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Sable_Island; and
http://www.acadian-home.org/cap-sable.html

[27] Fodor, Nandor. (1958). On the Trail of the Poltergeist. New York: Citadel Press.

Eric Ouellet © 2010

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Canadian UFO wave 1966-67 (part 4)

This post presents the two mini waves that occurred in 1967, one around Hamilton, Ontario, and the second around Sudbury, also in Ontario. Like in the previous post, they have been noted by different observation systems, namely the private one for Hamilton and the public one for Sudbury. What they have in common, however, is that they provide a few more symbolic clues because they were somewhat more ostentatious from a phenomenological standpoint. There are still very few clues to work with because they were not investigated from a “broader” perspective (i.e., including investigating about witnesses’ life story especially relating to the paranormal, what was going on in the community but not openly discussed, other non-UFO paranormal events occurring around the same time, etc.). The “narrow” perspective (i.e., limiting the investigation essentially on the superficial appearance of the phenomenon, and limiting the interactions with the witnesses to establishing whether they were saying the truth) was the norm for both the private and public observation systems.

The phenomenon becoming somewhat clearer?

The private observation system

The Hamilton/Caledonia area in Ontario experienced a mini wave of its own in January and February 1967, with a short but intense second outburst in June 1967 (including a prominent CE3 experience, and one of the rare Canadian “Men-in-Black” reports).

The winter sightings revealed close to nothing, except that the phenomenon seemed to insist. The observations can be summed up as follow: night lights or day discs were observed over a two-week period on 29 January, 2, 6, 10, 11 and 15 February. The phenomenon has shown some more intensity on 3 February. Although it was a night light, it moved in a zigzag way, with very high rates of speed, and had a white and orange color. From a phenomenological standpoint, this shows similarities with the movement of objects observed in RSPKs, as discussed in previous posts, and has the appearance of earthlights.

The phenomenon, however, became closer to confirmation at the end of the first phase of this mini wave, which is consistent with what the MPI predicts. On 14 February, a “disc with red blinking lights forces car off road, returns to hover, then land on snow nearby. Landing marks later found in snow. An object was observed. It buzzed a witness. One object was observed in snowy weather by a male witness on a road for a few minutes”[1]. Traces in the white snow can be reminiscent of many things, but given the second set of sightings it may mean “getting dirty”.

Then, the phenomenon had a short but intense outburst four months later on 15 June 1967. A close encounter of the third kind occurred near a factory by the Dofasco employee Carmen Cuneo. He described seeing three objects near the ground for about 20 minutes, two in a disc shaped, and the other in a cigar shape. The latter was described as being as big as a transport plane. He then saw three occupants, no more than 4 feet tall in uniform and wearing helmets with four lights at each corner of the front part. They were looking around the ground.[2] When it comes to confirmation, however, the story becomes blurry. Some source states that Cuneo ran to get other people to look at what he saw, and upon arriving they only saw the objects moving away in the sky, but no one could confirm seeing the occupants.[3]. Another source states that there was nothing left when the others arrived.[4]

In any event, the objects left marks on the ground, and most importantly an oily substance. The substance was brought for analysis and was found to be ordinary lubricating oil.[5] Like in all CE2 events, and as noted by Jacques Vallée on many occasions, the physical traces appear to be absurd. But it might be in fact the only valuable clue in this story.

Then, Cuneo was apparently threatened by Men-in-Black, and told to not discuss further his sighting. It is to be noted that Men-in-Black were reported several times during the second half of the 1960s in the United States. But that part of the story is quite murky. The UFO DNA site states that he was physically visited on 20 June 1967, quoting the CUFOS database.[6] A MUFON bulletin of 1978 reports that Cuneo received a phone call from what was interpreted as Men-in-Black, on another day.[7] Some websites situate the event in 1976, leading one to wonder if it was a numeral inversion from 1967 to 1976 that was then reproduced by several other sites. In all cases, however, the threats were just that. They did not materialized into anything, as noted for almost all Men-in-Black events. As Rojcewicz observed about Men-in-Black experience, they share the same narrative structure as meeting the Devil, where one is diverted from the truth in subtle ways. [8] In the case of the Men-in-Black, the threat that never materialized has usually for effect to reinforce the witnesses’ belief that an “alien in spaceship” event occurred, which pushes them to report even more the event as an ET encounter. This is congruent with the parapsychologist Jule Eisnbold’s observation that the unconscious creates also “defense mechanism” to protect its psi abilities.[9] This in turn can be translated in Generalized Quantum Theory as maintaining or protecting the indeterminacy in the system by ensuring the ongoing displacement towards an imaginary agent, thus preventing effective confirmation.

This mini wave has indeed left very few clues, preventing confirmation, but at least one symbolic trace is worth serious consideration: the oily substance. From a symbolic standpoint this is “pollution”. The Hamilton area in the 1960s was indeed very polluted, especially the air. For instance, at the end of the two-month labour strike at the main steel mill in 1969, air pollution level was just started to be close to normal healthy levels.[10] This pollution issue was in fact so problematic, that the main industry in the area opened a research centre dedicated to find less polluting ways of producing steel, while still expanding its production (and therefore pollution levels).[11] Some of the key pollution from the production of steel is indeed oil coming from the coke burning.[12] The opening date of the research centre was 8 June 1967, with many dignitaries present[13]; one week before the Cuneo’s close encounter.



Another important issue is the area. Although a stronghold of the labour union movement (still to this day) it was also witnessing the very early stage of its de-industrialization. During the 1950s, most of the textile mills closed. Then, in 1964 a major cigarette factory moved to a different region and a scale factory closed. In 1966, the Studebaker car factory plant closed as well. And soon in the 1970s, a string of industrial closures occurred in the region. In fact, only the steel industry was still strong at the time.[14] In many ways, the industrial and economic prosperity of the region was also in the hand of a very polluting industry; something that people might have been aware unconsciously, but not willing to talk about overtly. This difficult situation can provide parasociological tensions enabling psi effects to occur. The limited clues available seem to point in that direction.

The public observation system

The Sudbury area experienced also a mini wave between September and November 1967, with an interesting sighting on 4 October, the day of the Shag Harbour incident, and another one on 11 October, also the date of a second set sightings near Shag Harbour.[15] It is important to note that only the public observation system seemed to be aware of this mini wave.[16]

Most of the sightings are not spectacular in themselves, but combined together they create an interesting picture. There was a series of night light and day disc sightings around the Sudbury area, namely on 29 August – observed by a Laurentian University professor; 1 September – reported by amateur astronomers; and on the 9, 22 and 28 September 1967 with very few details recorded by the public observation system.

The 4 October sighting is interesting because it was quite ostentatious even if the public system did not produced a significant report on it. The object was described as very bright with red and green lights on of each side, with a pulsating white light in the middle. One would think that this looks like a plane, but it had no tail, and was evaluated as being 200 feet long. The observation lasted 2 hours (a very long time), and the object moved back and forth over the city. It was quite low above the ground. By then, it was the most ostentatious sighting in the area.

The following sighting, on 11 October, was observed by several independent witnesses. The Sudbury police received numerous reports, and at one point their radio system went down. One witness heard a loud noise from the sky, but did not see anything. There was also one sighting by the private observation system in October, but the date is unclear. It was reported that there was significant radio interferences associated with the sighting of an object almost landed in a field, and producing a whining sound.[17] This description shares many similarities with the events of 11 October recorded by the public system.



It is interesting to note that on 14 November the Canadian Forces HQ asked to get all the reports from the Sudbury police about these sightings. The public observation system was looking much more closely. As predicted by the MPI, this is also when a phenomenon starts to decline. There were four more sightings of night lights in 1967 around Sudbury after that, but they were not as ostentatious as the October sightings.

Hence, October was the time when the phenomenon really “insisted” to be noted by the public observation system. Like everywhere else, Sudbury was going through major transformations during the 1960s.[18] But the date concordance with two quite ostentatious events in Shag Harbour in Nova Scotia points towards a wider set of parasociological parameters that may extend beyond the local community.

One event that will have very significant impact on Canadian national identity in the years to come was the departure of René Lévesque from the Liberal Party of Quebec on 14 October 1967, three days after the last key sigthing. He will create the Movement Souverainté-Association in November 1967, and then merge his organization with another one to create the Parti Quebecois in 1968, dedicated to make Quebec an independent country from Canada. In 1976, he will win the provincial election in Quebec and form the provincial government. In 1980, he will organize a referendum in Quebec to secede from Canada. He will be defeated, but in 1995 his successors will almost succeeded with 49.9% “yes” in favour of secession.



As well, the 1960s were quite significant for Canada in terms of collective identity. The country was finally coming of age symbolically, away from the British empire, by getting its own flag in replacement of the colonial one; its own National Anthem in replacement of the British “God Save the Queen”; the federal government became officially bilingual French-English; and it was also the Universal Exhibition of 1967 (Expo 67) in Montreal, a major showcase for Canada at the time. The well-known journalist Pierre Berton wrote a book in the 1990s, looking retrospectively, and considered that 1967 was that last good year of Canada. The reaching “adulthood party” was over for Canada after that. According to Berton, "in that sense, 1967 was the last good year before all Canadians began to be concerned about the future of our country." [19] From a parasociological standpoint, it is possible that unconscious worries were occurring during the collective euphoria.



Furthermore, as noted by Berton, “The most significant event of 1967 was Charles de Gaulle's notorious "Vive le Quebec libre!" speech in Montreal [in July]. It gave the burgeoning separatist movement a new legitimacy, enhanced by Rene Levesque's departure from the Liberal party later that year.”[20] Going back to Sudbury, which is also a bilingual English-French community, it would have been seriously affected by a potential secession of Quebec from Canada. Quebec is the heart of French-speaking Canada, and the French-speaking communities outside Quebec would have been in a much weaker position. The lost of the radio signals, combined with lots of noise, can be symbolic of a community isolated from the rest of French-speaking Canada and submerged in lots of English “noise”. The harmonious and more equalitarian relationships between the English and French communities of Canada were a major (if not the main) preoccupation of the federal government in the 1960s. That same government was also running the public observation system. There is a potential parasociological link.



But could the synchronistic events of 4 and 11 October, also noted by the public observation system in Nova Scotia, be linked to a possible national unconscious worry about the future of the country, and the core national dynamics between the English and French-speaking Canadians? As it will be discussed in the next post, the Shag Harbour sightings were preceded by sightings over Quebec, as if it originated symbolically from there.

Discussion

These two mini waves offer some more material to work with, but the parasociological analysis still remains quite tentative. A greater amount of empirical material using the “broader approach” would allow building a much more robust set of cases studies with greater internal validity (i.e., many elements supporting each other in the explanation). However, some clear methodological considerations emerge at this point. Beyond using the “broader approach” to investigate cases, a rash of sightings (which may include a number of honest misperceptions and hoaxes linked by synchronicity to the rest of the rash of sightings) should be prioritized over “one-shot” sightings, as it is more likely to be the expression of a community. Similarly, close encounters of the second and third kind can yield a wealth of information if the investigator looks for all the symbolic clues.


References

[1] From UFO DNA website, at http://www.ufodna.com/uf13/uf7/137861.htm

[2] From http://magonia.haaan.com/2009/property/

[3] Idem.

[4] See http://www.projectcamelot.org/Alien_Digest_Vol_4.pdf

[5] See http://ufo-joe.tripod.com/books/gateway116caldonia.html

[6] See http://www.ufodna.com/uf10/uf3/103395.htm

[7] From http://magonia.haaan.com/2009/property/

[8] Rojcewicz, Peter M. (1987). “The ‘Men in Black’ experience and tradition: Analogues with the traditional devil hypothesis”. Journal of American Folklore 100(396): 148-160.

[9] Eisenbud, Jule. (1983). Parapsychology and the Unconscious. Berkeley: North Atlantic Book.

[10] Rouse, Wayne R. and John G. McCutcheon. (1970). “The effect of the regional wind on air pollution in Hamilton, Ontario”. Canadian Geographer 14(4): 271-285.

[11] From http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/industrial/stelcomain.htm

[12] See http://www.istc.illinois.edu/info/library_docs/manuals/primmetals/chapter2.htm

[13] See http://stelcoresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/opening-of-stelco-research-centre.html

[14] See http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/industrial/history.htm, and http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/industrial/timeline1979.htm

[15] See http://www.ufoevidence.org/Cases/CaseSubarticle.asp?ID=179

[16] All public data are from Canada’s National Archives at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/ufo/index-e.html?PHPSESSID=i7oot3o84vvh2162bk2qurt4o5

[17] From UFO DNA at http://www.ufodna.com/uf10/uf1/101169.htm

[18] http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1270773

[19] See http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780770427764&view=print

[20] Idem.

Eric Ouellet © 2010

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Canadian UFO Wave (1966-67) (part 3)

This case study is taking much longer than anticipated, as I have been quite busy in my “day job”. In any event, this post provides a short commentary about the Global observation system, in order to situate the Canadian layer. Then, it proposes a short analysis of one of the six main clusters found about the UFO wave over Canada in 1966-67. The other clusters will be analyzed in additional postings.

Global observation system

Before discussing the Canadian observation systems and what was observed, it is important to underline that the first layer of any analysis should be the global observation system. In 1966-1967 there was no global observation system per se, but there was extensive worldwide news shared through an automated telex network running on both phone lines and increasingly on microwave towers. If news agencies reported on UFOs, then such information was available quickly around the world. The 1960s were also the years of tumultuous social change around the world. The post-colonial regimes in the developing world were still trying to establish themselves and make sense of this emerging “brave new world”. In the Western world, there was a major cultural revolution occurring. The outcome of this revolution was, as we now know, a shift from conservative towards more liberal values and norms. Needless to say, it was a major identify shift in the collective psyche. From a social unconscious perspective, these changes in identity were providing enabling conditions for social psi effects to occur on a global scale.

As noted before in previous posts, the level of solar electromagnetic activity appears to be related to UFO waves.[1] However, this correlation is less than clear when it is looked at more closely. For instance, during the 1952 wave, solar activity was in the decline phase of the solar cycle 18, while the 1954 European wave occurred during a low sunspot period between cycle 18 and 19. Yet, the 1947 wave occurred during the last part of the ascending phase of cycle 18. As one can see, the correlation is difficult to establish. But it is still noteworthy to underline that the 1966-67 UFO wave occurred in similar conditions to the one of 1947, i.e. in the last part of an ascending phase of a solar cycle. As well, the Belgian UFO wave of 1989 also occurred during the ascending phase of solar cycle 22. And for those interested in the December 2012 story, note that the time period is also the one where the solar cycle 24 will be ascending near the maxima of sunspots. Please see charts below.







From http://www.solen.info/solar/, and the NASA chart from



Solar Terrestrial Activity Report at: http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/ssn_predict_l.gif.

In any events, the physical enabling factors linked to solar activities remain undetermined. But if there is a major UFO wave in 2011-2012, then this would give us 4 data points pointing towards a possible physical enabling effect linked to a particular phase of the solar cycle, and occurring at every other solar cycle (18, 20, 22, and 24). However, let’s underlined that such social and physical effects, in view of the Generalized Quantum Theory, are only enablers for the sub-systems; they do not determine how such sub-systems will behave. Hence, from a global observation system perspective, all that can be said at this point is that there were social and possibly physical enabling conditions for a UFO wave in 1966-1967.

UFO clusters in Canada in 1966

The Canadian public observation system was already in place in 1947, as there were UFO reports produced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Department of National Defence (DND). The first attempt to provide a wider overview of the phenomenon was a “one-man” authorized initiative led by the civil servant Wilbert Smith, known as project Magnet in the 1950s. Smith became a firm believer that UFOs were of extra-terrestrial origins, but his project was shut down for lack of evidence. Smith, however, was allowed to use government scientific equipment to continue his investigation outside work hours. Smith passed away in 1962. A parallel project called Second Storey was created by a mix group of scientists and military personnel to review UFO cases in government hands. This last project did not lead either to any substantive conclusion about the nature of the UFO phenomenon, but it was considered as being not a major threat to national security and it was also shut down. [2]

By the 1960s, the public observation system was not unified, as reports were received by a number of different agencies like the RCMP, DND, National Research Council (NRC), and the Department of Transportation (DOT, but now known as Transport Canada). The formal transfer of files from DND to the NRC, and the enrolment of University of Toronto professors in 1967 led to as close as it could be to a unified public overview of the UFO phenomenon. This was never match in Canada ever since. The UFO phenomenon, then, got the attention of some important people. On 5 April 1966, in a now declassified Cabinet memorandum, the Prime Minister Pearson asked to be briefed on the UFO phenomenon given the “interest shown in Parliament”.[3] From a parasociological standpoint, the phenomenon was able to attract the attention of the state. But how it occurred is more interesting, yet difficult to fully assess.

The “public” summer 1966 Maritime mini wave

The first observable concentration of effects occurred in the Maritime Provinces (namely New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) in 1966 between 16 June and 8 August, at a time where the Prime Minister of Canada had shown an interested in UFOs. The sightings can be described like many RSPK effects, where there is a mixture of known and unknown causes attributed to the phenomenon. The sightings of June 16, 1966 in Glace Bay is likely to be a flare[4], the Penticton sightings of July 21 was described as a fireball[5], the Moncton sighting of July 22 was interpreted as a balloon, and the July 28 sighting at Summerside Canadian Forces Base was construed also as a fireball[6]. It appears that there is here a mixture of honest mistakes that could synchronistic in nature and earthlights sightings.

These events occurred around the same time of two unusual sightings. The first one occurred on July 22 near Fredericton and was described by some as a ball of light, and as a triangular stationary object by others, yet at a height where jets would normally fly.[7] The second one occurred on the same date over Halifax, which was perceived as a cigar by some and as a triangle by others and descended quite low. After verification no helicopters was in the area.[8] In both of these cases we have something quite strange, yet it cannot be confirmed either way as a normal or non-normal object. This is one of the key conditions for psi effects to occur according the Generalized Quantum Theory.

As von Lucadou underlined, “According to Rössler (1992), objects which cannot be labelled create non-classical properties. In spontaneous psi-experiences the number of possible semantic states is open but in experiments it is fixed by the experimental setting. [9] The implications is that spontaneous psi events must remain ambiguous in nature (i.e. cannot be confirmed either way; indeterminacy in the system must remain) for any psi effects to continue occurring. It is also interesting to note that this mini wave follows the same patterns as described in the MPI of increase, peak with very strange phenomenon, and then declines to disappear.

The next key question is to evaluate whether there is a parasociological field that can be linked to these events. The authorities were “informed” by the phenomena because it was observed by the public observation system, to include the last sighting at a military base. What could have been the possible symbolic message conveyed? Once more, such question can only be answered through the interpretative tools of the social sciences and humanities. But access to detailed data about older events is a significant challenge.

What can be said is that it is interesting to note both triangular sightings on July 22 occurred near the provincial capitals of both provinces involved (Fredericton for New Brunswick, and Halifax for Nova Scotia). This provides an interesting clue about the possible political nature of the symbolic message. Beyond that it requires in depth research on the local situation at the time, and about the local social unconscious, which is usually not discussed publically, and can only be hinted by various symbolic clues.

One possibility could be the identity tensions linked to the rise of official bilingualism in Canada. For instance, Prime Minister Pearson’s interest for UFO in Cabinet occurred a few days apart from his announcement in the Parliament in April 1966 that the Canadian government shall be officially bilingual. Similarly, the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (also known as the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission) proposed that New Brunswick become officially bilingual. This became a reality in 1969 under the leadership of the Acadien Premier of New Brunswick Louis Robicheau.

The “private” summer 1966 mini wave in British Columbia

Around the same as the Maritime mini wave, there was one also occurring in British Columbia. But this cluster of close encounter identified for the summer 1966 was for the essential observed by the private system. At a more general level, however, this synchronicity of observations between the East and West coasts is interesting, as it gives an impression of a “coast-to-coast” message (coast-to-coast being Canada’s official motto, written in Latin on Canada’s Coat of Arms).

The cluster is made of a CE3 event that occurred in Qualicum Beach (on Vancouver Island) sometime in July 1966. The entities lit the witness, without creating an effect and then vanished. It can be said that the clusters started “strongly”, and had an ET flavour from a phenomenological standpoint. On 30 July, the NRC (so the public observation system) had one report from this cluster of a metallic grey circular object in Richmond, just south of Vancouver. On 2 August, a disc shape object is seen up-close in Vancouver by two different witnesses. Finally, on 6 August 1966 UFOs are seen in the sky of Esquimalt, on Vancouver Island. All the sightings occurred within a radius of 100Km, in the most populated area of BC (Vancouver area and the east coast of the Vancouver Island). It is also interesting to note that there was also a rash of Big Foot sightings in July 1966[10] mostly centered on Lulu Island/Richmond in the suburb of Vancouver.

Given the fragmented nature of the private observation system and the limited amount of data available for each case it is quite difficult to push the analysis much beyond this. It is especially unfortunate that the data is so limited that it is void of most if not all its symbolic clues. This reinforces the critique put forward by people like John Keel and Jacques Vallée about the importance of looking beyond the actual phenomenon when investigating UFOs. In this context, it is even more difficult to identify a possible parasociological cause to this concentration of sightings, as there is no symbolic lead that can be followed. If one looks at the key public events of 1966, there is nothing leading to any particular “parasociological dynamics”[11].

Discussion

Investigating historical UFO cases from a parasociological standpoint is a difficult task because it requires detailed knowledge about the local life, issues, tensions, and challenges, which are likely to not be discussed at the time of the events because they are unconscious. The importance of seeking and recording symbolic leads cannot be overstressed if one is to make sense of UFO events.

At a more general level, however, a “coast-to-coast” symbolic signal could be observed, if one combines the data of both observation systems. This has interesting implications from a Generalized Quantum Theory perspective. This pragmatic information carried through a psi effect could not be observed by either observation system alone, and hence it could imply that these UFO events had multiple symbolic layers. It could have, at same time, one geared towards the individual witnesses, another that would be “regional” (observable by a particular system) and a “national” one (observable only as an indistinct and ongoing mass of sightings, or much after the fact by regrouping all the data together). To make an analogy, a psi pathway (as discussed in the theoretical framework posts) could work like a line of fibre optic where several signals can be sent simultaneously through different wavelength bands.



[1] See for instance, Foshufvud, Ragnar. (1980). “Unidentified flying objects – A physical phenomenon”. Pursuit 13(2); Poher, Claude and J. Vallée. (1975). “Basic patterns in UFO observations". Annual Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautic, Pasadena, California, 20-22 January, and more generally studies on psi and electromagnetism (2003). Roll, William.G “Poltergeists, Electromagnetism and Consciousness.” Journal of Scientific Exploration 17(1): 75–86; Etzold, Eckhard. (2005). “Solar-periodic full moon effect in the Fourmilab retropsychokinesis project experiment data: An exploratory study”. Journal of Paraspychology 69(2): 233-261.

[2] For a detailed account of projects Magnet and Second Storey, please refer to Bray, Arthur. (1979). The UFO Connection. Ottawa: Jupiter Publishing.

[3] http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ufo/002029-2401-e.html

[4] http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/ufo/001057-119.02-e.php?isn_id_nbr=4668&page_id_nbr=73&record_id=4668-73-7085&interval=20&PHPSESSID=o97lq43rc9iaemj334l6ujr916

[5] http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/ufo/001057-119.02-e.php?isn_id_nbr=4668&page_id_nbr=80&record_id=4668-80-7091&interval=20&PHPSESSID=1o4vnen23b8b859b9oueovahh4

[6] http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/ufo/001057-119.02-e.php?isn_id_nbr=4668&page_id_nbr=84&record_id=4668-84-7095&interval=20&PHPSESSID=t4n0ms84tg2u5vvfu38fs2u313

[7] http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/ufo/001057-119.02-e.php?isn_id_nbr=4668&page_id_nbr=82&record_id=4668-82-7093&interval=20&PHPSESSID=3k4si42dsmblct491dsi7p1fq3

[8] http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/ufo/001057-119.02-e.php?isn_id_nbr=4668&page_id_nbr=79&record_id=4668-79-7090&interval=20&PHPSESSID=589dsmqutk9qbl8ohmoso73aa1

[9] Lucadou Walter von, Hartmann Römer, and Harald Walach. (2007). “Synchronistic Phenomena as Entanglement Correlations in Generalized Quantum Theory”. Journal of Consciousness Studies 14(4): 50–74, p. 60.

[10] See http://home.clara.net/rfthomas/cb/bc.html

[11] See http://regardingplace.com/?p=8382


Eric Ouellet © 2010