Central Issues of the Emma Woods Case

Many within ufology have become acquainted with the Emma Woods case. If you are not among those familiar with it, here is a crash course:

A woman residing in the Pacific region and now calling herself Emma Woods had some very interesting experiences that some would interpret as related to alleged alien abduction. She eventually came in the acquaintance of self-described researcher David Jacobs, who proceeded to go down the regressive hypnosis path. Things got more and more odd between Woods and Jacobs, culminating in numerous e-hypnosis sessions, Jacobs' claims that alien hybrids were on the verge of throttling him (I hate it when that happens), and a host of additional questionable circumstances increasing in absurdity. For details, see Woods' website, which consists of excellent documentation and verification of the chain of events.

As the reader is surmising, the lure of being an interplanetary liaison involved in alien hybrid death stakes and high cosmic intrigue did not prove enough to keep Woods from thinking critically. Woods eventually called game over, told us all what had been going on – along with presenting thorough verification - and has been getting battered by the True Believers (and those who have interests in keeping the True Believers well stocked in foolishness) ever since.

Fast forward to the present. The latest (and chronic) attack on Woods comes from personnel of Paracast forum. Woods recently made a typically well researched and comprehensive post, documenting relevant circumstances on the matter and responding to the latest series of accusations leveled against her. The accusations include what have become the now usual assortment of allegations of mental disorders and supposed resulting behavior, as well as both suggestions and demands that Woods cease expressing herself.

I should first remind those who wish to censor Woods that we are dealing with a demographic that Jacobs and others are encouraging to talk about everything from underground alien bases to aliens who rape and pillage. If you want to make a case for some woman being too weird, obsessive or most anything else, for that matter, to allow her to participate on a UFO forum, you better come loaded for bear.

As if Woods' thorough documentation of facts and the predominantly tolerant and open-minded nature of the UFO community are not reasons enough to allow Woods to speak her peace, there are three primary points I find wrong with the statements of those seeking to silence Woods:

1) None of those who try to saddle Woods with psychiatric disorders are actually qualified to diagnose or identify such conditions.

2) None of those who accuse Woods of unacceptable behavior provide documentation of specific circumstances.

3) My personal experience interacting with Woods gives me no reason whatsoever to suspect her to be anything other than reasonable.

None of us are above an occasional errant remark that would have been better off not being made, particularly in the often passionate and heated world of ufology. Let's just say there aren't many angels treading around these parts where the rest of us rushed in.

I do not wish to be in anybody's camp. I am not interested in taking sides in any forum wars. I could point out some good points and some not so good points expressed by most all of us, and I am not looking to crucify anyone.

That stated, I want to strongly encourage the UFO community to take a closer look at the real issues in the Woods case. I could list a lot of things the issues are not (that keep getting discussed), but it is more productive to remind you what they are. The central issues of the Woods case are largely being lost in the crossfire, and some of the key points are:

- A real hard look needs to be taken at the protection of human research subjects who work with self-described ufologists, especially as it relates to supposed investigative techniques that throw critical thinking under the bus and ignore American Medical Association policy.

- Outright lies have been told and promoted about Woods' actions and circumstances, tactics comparable to defense attorneys attempting to defame the victim to deflect attention from what their client, the criminal, actually did.

- Woods consistently communicates clearly, expressing herself well and providing specific documentation of her points, while her detractors level unspecific accusations lacking verification and substance.

- Jacobs clearly tries to lead his research subjects to predetermined points. The well is so tainted it should be capped.

- Jacobs, at best, made some extremely poor errors in judgment while interacting with Woods.

- If Jacobs or any of the rest of the witch hunt gang would ever present any actual evidence, as defined by the professional research community, of alien abduction and of which they chronically and falsely claim to possess, they would have no need to conduct such public relations campaigns as have become the norm.

- Woods had some interesting experiences. Anybody remember those: interesting experiences?

- Woods has every right to discuss her case and the related abuse as long as she so chooses.

- By any definitions, it is irrational and unreasonable for others to suggest Woods should silence herself and cease discussing her own case and related abuse while they, no less, continue discussing both her and her case. To suggest such is simply unreasonable.

Suspending Judgment or Knowing: Mind Control and Alien Abduction

One is required to suspend judgment on conclusions in order to consider the feasibility of alleged alien abduction. No conclusive evidence exists that non-human beings, much less inter-planetary visitors, are conducting experiments against the will of their human research subjects. No suspension of judgment is required, however, in accepting the existence of state-sponsored mind control victims.

If a person walks up to you at a meeting for discussion of paranormal subject matter and tells you they are a mind control victim, of course you should be skeptical - as you should if they tell you they have been on an alien's examination table. A difference in the two is that mind control victims conclusively exist, so it is simply a question of whether or not you happen to be actually talking to one at that particular point in time.

The general mind control hypothesis as an explanation for reported alien abduction – the simple version - goes something like this: It is a well documented fact that substantial resources were invested in mind control. Some of the victims may have either been intentionally led to believe they were alien abductees or inadvertently drew such incorrect conclusions about their ordeals.

A brief sample of supporting evidence includes intelligence projects such as MKULTRA. See, for instance, Vietnam Veterans of America versus Central Intelligence Agency, a case currently pending in California Federal court.

Further study might include the experiments conducted at Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, in which the U.S. Department of Defense paid damages to unknowing victims who sought psychiatric care. Incidentally, Martti Koski, one of the victims, claimed his abusers told him they were from another planet.

There is much, much more, but you get the idea. Mind control experiments indeed happened.

The mind control hypothesis for alien abduction brings out the worst in both the True Believers and the Stubborn Skeptics, for whatever reasons. It is not hard to understand why the Believers take exception, as they do with any and every hypothesis that dares suggest witness testimony and hypothetical lines of reasoning should only be accepted with suspensions of judgment.

The Skeptics are subject to getting bent out of shape for any number of reasons, all of which, as in the case of their starry eyed counterparts, hamper the sincere pursuit of truth. There should be no problem with the open and rational discussion of any hypothesis if certain protocol is respected and followed, such as accurately identifying differences between terms like 'facts' and 'opinions,' and 'objective conclusions' and 'subjective beliefs.'

The Stubborn Skeptics would have you believe, for example, that the U.S. state-sponsored mind control movement stopped in the 1970's. Even if that were conclusively the case, which it is not, it by no means gives us rational reason to completely discount the consideration that some reports of alien abduction may be attributable to trauma sustained during such experiments. Furthermore, such human rights violations remain an issue and the development of related technologies were not ceased, as demonstrated by Project Censored of Sonoma State University.

Are mind control experiments and related human rights violations responsible for any reports of alien abduction? I do not know.

I do not know if any alien abductions ever happened. I know mind control experiments happened. That is not a statement based on subjective belief or emotional preference. It is, indeed, a fact. The subsequent relevant questions and their implications to the abduction phenomenon deserve reasonable consideration.

Roswell Debris

During the past couple years I have corresponded with Frank Purcell, a retired Chemical Engineer. Frank has written that he holds a Masters of Science in Chemical Engineering, a Masters in Control Systems Engineering and a Bachelors in Computer Science.

In a recent email he offered comment about an article, Test confirms Roswell debris is not from Earth, published by Open Minds (not to be confused with Open Minds Forum):

http://www.openminds.tv/test-confirms-roswell-debris-733/

The article was written by Alejandro Rojas and explored the work of Frank Kimbler, a teacher in Roswell. It seems Kimbler found some debris, suspected it may be from the famous crash, and subsequently had the debris analyzed.

As can be gathered from the title of the article, Rojas suggested no further analysis is necessary and that the debris is certainly “not from Earth.” Frank Purcell offered some contradicting peer review, the gist of which is that Rojas' claims are premature. With Frank's permission, I post his comments:

The chart below, taken from the article, plots the ratio of isotopes Mg26/Mg24 vertically against the ratio of isotopes Mg25/Mg24 on the horizontal axis. The sample of metal analyzed from Roswell is shown by AH-1 that is clearly not on the line of the other samples.  The line represents the spread of Mg26 relative to Mg25, the two minor isotopes, each nominally 10% compared to the more abundant isotope MG24 that is roughly 80% of earthly magnesium.

Presenting the data in this manner without error bars is deceptive because it suggests the AH-1 sample has non-earthly isotope ratios - the conclusion intended by the thrust of the article.

The data points on the line are presumably from many analyses of many samples by many different laboratories. Properly, error bars, typically of 1 standard deviation, should be shown and would be if this were an article in a scientific journal. Even though we don't have that information, we do have an error analyses for the AH-1 sample, as follows:

Isotope       Abundance - observed    Abundance - natural

MG24         79.1 +/- 0.5                  78.6

MG25         10.1 +/- 0.5                  10.1

Mg26         10.5 +/- 0.5                  11.3

I assume the error estimate of +/- 0.5 represents 1 standard deviation for each analyses. Note that MG24 analyses falls within expectations for natural abundance, i.e., 78.6 to 79.6 where the expected mean is 78.6 . Similarly, Mg25 is at the expected level. MG26, within 1 standard deviation, however, is not at the expected 11.3%, but is estimated to be in a range between 10.0 and 11.0 .  Is this significant? We can't say for sure. We can statistically argue that the measured 10.5 +/- 0.5 really has a mean of 11.3 with a probability of 11% using the normal distribution table. But that 11% probability, although small, assumes perfect knowledge that the true mean is 11.3, and this we don't know because no error estimate is given for the accepted value.

The data is presented and plotted as isotopic ratios. Although AH-1 is shown as a point, it is really an area on the chart extending from 0.120 to 0.135 on the horizontal axis and from 0.125 to 0.140 on the vertical axis. (These ranges are calculated from the observed data.) It is clear that this range does in fact intersect the line and is suggestive that the AH-1 sample is not extraterrestrial.

Sure, additional measurements would be helpful to discern if the metal is terrestrial, or not. Hopefully, Open Minds will publish additional results when they are available.

I would also like to see Open Minds or others follow up on the Kimbler debris, eventually giving us the rest of the story. One way or the other, I appreciate Frank offering qualified peer review. Ufology could use more of this kind of analysis of such circumstances and those who report them.

Internet Personalities and Their Accomplishments

Ever skeptical Lance Moody seems to have hit one over the proverbial fence with his recent investigation of ufologist Philip Imbrogno. Well, that might now be former ufologist Imbrogno, thanks to some clever and good work by Moody.

In his blog What the Hell Was That?, Moody explained how he discovered Imbrogno's alleged credentials could not be verified. Neither could Imbrogno's alleged Special Forces duty.

Enter Decker, of Paracast forum, and the jig was up. Imbrogno now has a whole lot of explaining to do. Very nice work, guys.

In light of Moody's recent accomplishment, I present the following Internetters and their remarkable work. In no particular order, along with apologies in advance for forgetting some people and undoubtedly omitting honorable mentions, some interesting 'net circumstances include:

Source Zzzzz

Source A was an anonymous alleged insider presented and assessed authentic by certain moderators at Open Minds Forum. Murnut, Zep Tepi (of Reality Uncovered forum) and a few select others were not as willing as many to blindly jump on the bandwagon. Imagine that.

An investigative team assembled, and Source A was ultimately irrefutably demonstrated to be a fraudulent hoaxer. Excellent work, team murnut.

Some Source A loyalists refused to revise their supportive opinions, in spite of all factual evidence presented to the contrary. Certain members and personnel of Open Minds continue to remain close minded to the facts. Oh, the irony.

Advanced Droning

DrDil of UFO Casebook forum is a virtual PhD on the drones fiasco, a series of alleged sightings with more contradictions and loose ends than the Casey Anthony trial. DrDil contributes to related discussion threads, set up a website exclusively devoted to his drone research, maintains a blog, and covers aspects of the case ranging from photo discrepancies to the questionable inconsistencies in the reporting done by Linda Moulton Howe.

Is Lying a Symptom?

Stiver of UFOmania forum once took an interest in the Chris Bledsoe, Sr. case of alleged alien abduction. Among other curiosities, Stiver noticed Bledsoe's artistic abilities took an inexplicably abrupt and intermittent spike for the better.

Stiver was reviewing Bledsoe's narration and accompanying sketches of his reported abduction. While doing so, she noticed Bledsoe's drawings were very poor quality, a point that would have been completely inconsequential had it not been for one single and excellent sketch. The sketch was a being allegedly encountered by Bledsoe during his abduction, and reportedly drawn by Bledsoe during the same general time frame in which he created the other very low quality sketches. But it gets even better, or worse, depending on how ya look at it...

Stiver conducted a little detective work and determined the alleged Bledsoe sketch – the high quality drawing of an alien – was in actuality an enhanced reproduction (traced, basically) from a famous image of a crop circle. To add insult to injury, there was talk that Bledsoe's profoundly increased ability to draw could be attributed to his encounter with aliens. I don't know about artistic ability, but these alien encounters don't seem to do much to help people tell the truth.

Fallow the Magic Thread

Enigmatic James Carrion ranges from disappointingly silent to very refreshingly outspoken. The former MUFON International Director's areas of interest and topics of discussion have included, among many, the likelihood the Cold War gave birth to the modern UFO myth, the CIA manipulation of MUFON, and the inconsistencies in the accounts of self-described extraterrestrial contactee Stan Romanek. Among other Romanek inconsistencies, Carrion wrote about multiple reports filed in connection to the Romanek case, allegedly filed by different witnesses, yet many of which contained the same misspelling of the word 'follow,' incorrectly spelled 'fallow.' Curious indeed.

Carrion's interesting blog, Follow the Magic Thread, additionally includes descriptions of how he came to develop realizations of the ineffectiveness of MUFON investigators, suggesting they do not ask the right questions. Carrion further suggested his MUFON stint led him to realize there is an overwhelming lack of evidence of an ET presence, considering that of the thousands of cases logged in the MUFON system, absolutely none provide a smoking gun. Carrion implied if an individual or organization investigated mountains of cases and none of them provided direct evidence of aliens, then the popular explanation should not be the ETH. Imagine such a thing.

Carrion's wild west style of shooting from the hip has been appreciated in the past and, as Stiver recently commented, would be greatly appreciated at least once more – about the Ambient Monitoring Project. If there is anyone the UFO community might ever be able to count on for an honest and accurate description of what took place during the AMP, helping us curb the intelligence-insulting excuses and evasion of the real issues, it would be Carrion. If there is anyone equipped with both the first hand knowledge of the situation and the guts to lead the hunting party, it would be Carrion. Anyone up for a hunting trip?

Don't Forget Mori... Or Elevenaugust

Kentaro Mori operates a site, forgetomori.com, that states, “Extraordinary claims. Ordinary investigations,” and indeed delivers practical, quality material on many aspects of the strange. From alleged stick figure aliens to supposed time travelers, Mori provides objective evaluation and cites sources. Imagine that. Some of Mori's best work was on the UFO videos out of Turkey, which brings us to elevenaugust, who does some great film analysis, among other things.

Elevenaugust can be found on the usual UFO forum haunts, contributing quality posts about topics such as the Turkish videos. He also kept us updated on the alleged zombie photographed crawling around the woods in Louisiana. I can't write that with a straight face, but 11a's posts were truly interesting reads on the matter.

Could You Swab That Deck for DNA While You're Stacking It?

Last but most certainly not least are the women who confirmed that abductology leaves a great deal to be desired in the way of honesty and objectivity. Thank you, Emma Woods and Carol Rainey, for your informative and important work. Woods and Rainey courageously published their accounts of David Jacobs' and Budd Hopkins' biased distortions of truth and lack of professionalism, including a Rainey film in which Hopkins blatantly stated he is attempting to stack the deck.

Many of us long suspected such dishonesty and subjective reporting to be the case, and Dr. Tyler Kokjohn put a professionally qualified voice to our concerns when he began to write about the manner in which such 'researchers' were consistently missing valuable opportunities to collect samples of alien DNA. That was the case, anyway, if we were to believe virtually anything they told us was true. We are not only still waiting for the DNA evidence, but we also continue to await explanations as to why such evidence has not been presented.

Woods and Rainey continue to speak out on the issues in spite of being repeatedly mistreated in many social situations, including experiencing direct negative consequences in certain circles and being censored and banned on select websites. I appreciate Woods' and Rainey's work. Additional thanks to the Paratopia team, Gary Haden, Doug Mesner and all the rest of the 'netters who support efforts of people such as Woods and Rainey to set the records straight.

Miami Orbs and MUFON Games

There are at least two ways to address the case of Miami orbs and MUFON games. One perspective is the reasonably interesting reported events experienced by the apparent witnesses, and a second is a chain of events that occurred during the investigation and involved UFOmania forum, at least to some extent and as described by then-MUFON personnel Larry Gessner and Morgan Beall. As I explain, it will become apparent why I, a UFOmania forum moderator, and stiver/Iza, the UFOmania forum administrator, were left shaking our heads about the chain of events.

The Sightings

At a MUFON meeting conducted in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Saturday, February 26, 2011, Morgan Beall reported a man and his wife witnessed a sphere-like object at their home in Homestead, Florida (Miami-Dade). This particular sighting reportedly occurred around the turn of the year, but the couple and at least one other family member allegedly had somewhat of a history of sightings in addition to the latest event.

One such sighting was a recent event in which a football shaped and sized object, pulsing red, was apparently observed and photographed. According to Beall, the object was described as hovering about three feet off the ground in the front yard of the couple's home before flying away. Beall shared related photos and their analysis.

The case included military or intelligence implications, as Beall reported the family had ties to law enforcement and military service. Actually, to an extent that Beall stated were quite significant. Additionally, their residence was near a major military facility.

The Investigation

On February 12, Beall made a post on the UFOmania forum in which he requested information about the Miami-Dade sighting. Shortly thereafter, on February 14, Larry Gessner contacted Iza and directly stated the UFOmania forum was involved in a MUFON investigation. Gessner requested Iza's help with said investigation.

Gessner informed Iza two unknown individuals had somehow gained what he termed restricted information about a case. Gessner further stated the two individuals claimed to be conducting an investigation on behalf of UFOmania, which Iza informed Gessner was a fraudulent claim. Gessner stressed the need for secrecy about the matter, for whatever reasons, and apparently highly prioritized finding out who the individuals were so it could be determined how they gained access to the restricted information.

Iza requested to be put in contact with the lead investigator of the case if she was to try to be of assistance. Gessner complied, and the lead investigator was Beall. The case turned out to be the Miami-Dade sphere sighting.

During the previously referenced February 26 MUFON meeting, Beall proceeded to publicly discuss everything and much more that Gessner had emphasized was so secret and should be held in such confidentiality. As Iza had learned by this point in time through her correspondence with Beall, two individuals claiming to represent UFOmania had visited the home of the couple. The two were denied access to viewing the area in which a sighting occurred, yet returned later and entered the property without permission. The homeowner was seemingly very angry about the trespassing and apparent security breech that appeared to be the responsibility of MUFON's lack of ability to keep personal information confidential.

According to Beall, the couple apparently had other uninvited visitors as well. It has been speculated by MUFON personnel that these visiting parties may have been from a government agency or may somehow have been related to ufology entrepreneur Robert Bigelow. Current and former MUFON personnel have now made public statements in which they proclaim direct government interference in the investigation.

It is noteworthy this was a STAR investigation, at least on behalf of MUFON, and security issues are by no means new to the division. Such information leaks have occurred before.

I do not know how the deceptive visitors in question initially got the personal information of the couple/witnesses, enabling them to locate their home. Neither do I know why Gessner and Beall had such conflicting stances on secrecy and how to conduct their affairs. Lastly, I do not know exactly why the alleged visitors would choose to claim they are representing UFOmania forum when Iza and I have no knowledge whatsoever of them or their activities.

Seeking Former Ambient Monitoring Project Volunteers

The Ambient Monitoring Project, or AMP, was a research project designed to monitor the ambient environment of possible alien abductees during their reported abductions. Disappointingly, the project results were never released and the data has never been made available for public review. A description of the project, its equipment and methodology was written by project director Tom Deuley and published in the July, 2008, MUFON Journal.

I have located one of the AMP volunteers, and they would very much like to interact with other volunteers. The individual would like to discuss their experiences, thoughts and feelings about participating in the project.

If you were an AMP volunteer, please contact me. I will then gladly exchange my contact information with you, as well as coordinate the exchange of contact information among the AMP volunteers, so that the situation may be discussed to whatever extent participants are comfortable.

Thank you.

Crop Circles: Considering Possibilities

Let us begin our current considerations by reviewing some of the key information presented thus far:

• Authentic crop circles, as compared to hoaxes, are defined as geometric formations of downed plants that consist of artifacts and evidence of unusual energy, such as microwave, to an extent that alters plants at a cellular level. Sometimes, however, downed plants contain such evidence yet appear to be randomly downed, or arranged in non-geometric formations.

• Primary methods of determining if a formation is authentic should include identifying evidence of unusual energy because hoaxers and artists can be very competent, creating elaborate formations within a single night. Factors such as appearance and size, no matter how initially intriguing, should be considered relatively insignificant as compared to identifying artifacts and evidence of unusual energy.

• Biophysicist William Levengood informed us that the energy waves may in and of themselves down the plants by bending the nodes. The expulsion cavities and cellular alterations, in addition to serving as evidence of authentic crop formations, may be showing us the very means by which the plants were downed.

• Crop circles began being reported in the U.S. during the 1940's. Reported crop circles hit an all time high in the U.S. in 1990 and continued to increase over the next two decades. Reports on each side of the Atlantic evolved to include unidentified aerial phenomena in the vicinity of select formations. Investigators grew to resent global governments, becoming convinced evidence was being withheld and independent researchers were being manipulated by the powers that be.

• Interesting anomalies are periodically identified that at least seem to over-arch with reports of other strange phenomena, such as the circumstances of glassy particles found within certain crop formations as well as found inside homes of select alleged alien abductees. One such Michigan abductee was involved in the 'hair curler' incident and was all but confirmed to have been in the path of very unusual energy during a reported experience of high strangeness, resulting in Levengood determining that some plant seeds along for the ride grew with “increased vigor.” Levengood stated the most unusual formation he ever saw was located in Kansas and crops within the effected area had an increased growth rate. Plants with substantially increased growth rates have also been reported in additional apparent UFO-related circumstances, such as the 75-pound cabbage produced from the garden of Lindy Tucker which was in the vicinity of downed crops and unidentified aerial phenomena. Also, the Travis Walton case includes trees located within the “ring of influence” at the site of the reported abduction growing at a reportedly “astounding” rate. [1]

Weapons Precedence, Vertical Mirrors and Truth-Distortion Camouflage

Long time investigator/author Dr. Jacques Vallee wrote about crop circles and their implications on his Boing Boing blog. [2] Vallee acknowledged that all camps agree the vast majority of formations are the work of hoaxers and artists, but additionally presented for consideration that authentic crop circles may be the work of the military intelligence community, using a beam weapon.

Vallee addressed issues such as the feasibility of such a weapon, citing that disclosures about beam weapons have already taken place. [3] Such devices can be airborne, capable of harming humans and can stop car engines.

Phillips Laboratory, an advanced weapons research facility located at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has long acknowledged such beams and capabilities. [4] A 1993 press release stated the use and direction of “high-power microwaves, high-energy advanced pulsed power and very-high-energy plasmas” had been achieved.

Researcher David Perkins further informed us that such weaponry first began being developed by the American military during World War II. Curiously, this is right about the time crop circles began being reported in the States. In his 1998 article High Heat, Perkins went on to explain how the projection of intense lasers had received military attention during the Star Wars era, including the development of numerous high-power microwave devices. Coincidentally or not, the years following these achievements included record numbers of U.S. crop circle reports. 

On his blog, Vallee noted his interview with what he described as a reliable witness who observed a very curious object hovering in the sky above an area known for crop circles. The man was a professor of physics and a hang glider pilot. Vallee reported that, while doing some flying, the professor observed “something like a perfect mirror hanging vertically in mid-air.” Circling the object to determine its shape, the man decided it was cylindrical and covered with a perfectly reflective surface.

Addressing why the military would be interested in possibly using such weapons to, of all things, create crop circles, Vallee called upon his experience as a computer scientist to warn us of the potential advantages, dangerous as they may be, of effectively manipulating information and public opinion. Vallee noted the initial issue raised by the crop circle puzzle is the construction of belief systems.

He suggested that if authentic crop circles are military experiments hidden in plain sight, then the social manipulation of information providing camouflage for such experiments is indeed quite remarkable. Vallee asserted that the Internet and its promotion of myth can be used to hide a massive technological effort taking place right in front of us, and that little more than the distortion of information presented to an eager to be misinformed audience is all that is required to make such an operation a fascinating success.

The main result is to disturb genuine research of paranormal phenomena, Vallee wrote, but acknowledged this is but one potential aspect of the overall effect. Internet social patterns are most certainly an increasingly important global tool, altering public perception of both the past and future. Mastering the use of such a tool, Vallee surmised, would be well worth the effort, much less a few bent stalks of corn. He suggested, “What we have here is a remarkable example of misdirection around a stunning experiment that remains in full view of a wide public that consistently fails to ask the right questions and keeps re-asserting bogus answers.” [5]

Possibilities and Final Thoughts – For Now

A large percentage of crop circles are indeed hoaxes or artistic creations. Of the remaining authentically interesting formations, in which unusual energy and exploded and/or bent nodes were evident, as compared to plants which were mechanically bent and laid down, possibilities include:

• William C. “Lefty” Levengood's hypothesis that some formations may be the results of natural phenomena. Ion electron avalanches may particularly play key roles in the creation of some formations. A reasonable argument could be made that the existence of authentic non-geometric formations support this hypothesis, at least in select circumstances.

• Some kind of non-human intelligence, alien or otherwise, may be creating at least some of the formations for any number of possible reasons. Some people believe this hypothesis is supported by cases of unidentified aerial phenomena reported around crop circles.

• The military intelligence community, including its sub-contractors, may be creating at least some of the authentic crop circles for reasons that include weapons development and mastering propaganda techniques. Like the non-human intelligence hypothesis, this hypothesis is also supported by cases of unidentified aerial phenomena reported around the formations, just in this circumstance, researchers suspect the aerial phenomena is of quite human origin, rather than non-human origin. This hypothesis is additionally supported by claims of researchers being harassed and/or placed under surveillance by apparent military personnel. This hypothesis may be further supported by the existence of non-geometrically downed plants, particularly if a comprehensive study of data showed that patterns in the creation of downed plants emerged. It would be interesting to accurately identify if patterns might include authentic formations increasing in complexity over time and in ways that could be correlated with the evolution of confirmed weapons development projects.

More research and information is required to draw ultimate conclusions, and combinations of the above hypotheses are possible; they are not necessarily mutually exclusive of one another.

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During this recent series of posts on crop circles, my blog received a great deal more site traffic than normal. I sincerely appreciate all of your interest.

I was particularly pleased to see my friend from yesteryear and independent ufologist, Lindy Tucker, visit the blog and register. Thank you, Lindy!

References:

[1] UFO Updates: Levengood To Look At Travis' Trees

http://www.ufoupdateslist.com/1999/jan/m30-030.shtml

[2] Boing Boing: Jacques Vallee

http://www.boingboing.net/author/jacques-vallee/

[3] Boing Boing: Of Flattened Flora and Expulsion Cavities: The crop circle controversy continues

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/28/of-flattened-flora-a.html

[4] Our Strange Planet: High Heat

http://ourstrangeplanet.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=74&Itemid=69

[5] Boing Boing: Jacques Vallee: Of Crop Circles, meme wars and web-based flypaper

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/21/of-crop-circles-meme.html