By Timothy Green Beckley
Paranormal Group Investigates Book at DePauw Library
On a crystal clear night with
outside temperatures hovering around 10 degrees, a group of
investigators from Hoosier State Paranormal were carrying heavy
electronic equipment across the DePauw Quadrangle. They entered the Roy
West Library and headed up to the second floor where a very special
book is locked away in the Archives and Special Collections area.
It is part of Governor James Whitcomb's collection that was donated to Asbury (now DePauw) University in the early 1800s. Included in the collection is one book purported to be haunted. Titled, "The Poems of Ossian, The Son of Fingal," it is kept locked away in a special section of the library closed to the public.
For years a story has circulated about a boy who borrowed this book from the library in the 1800s. He became so engrossed reading it that when the library closed he snuck the book out of the library and took it to his room.
It was after midnight when he finished reading and turned out the lights. Later, he woke with a sense of not being alone.
When his eyes became adjusted to the darkness he saw a spectral finger pointing accusingly. Then he heard a voice speaking, "Who stole Ossian?"
A bony hand reached toward the boy, who swore he felt a finger touch his cheek. The boy returned the book first thing in the morning, telling the librarian he'd been visited by the ghost of Governor Whitcomb and promising he'd never take another restricted book out of the library.
On this night the group of paranormal investigators planned to find out if there was any chance that the Governor was guarding his book.
Chris Lien, founder of Hoosier State Paranormal, persuaded Wesley Wilson, Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections at the library, to allow the group to come in to search for the ghost of Governor Whitcomb in the presence of the book.
They were given one hour after the library closed.
Lien says he talked to numerous people who have seen shadows or had odd events occur when they were on the second floor of the library where Whitcomb's book is housed.
Interestingly, Wilson says he has found no documentation of the ghost story before the 1990s.
"I don't know that it means anything. I just have never found anything to document the story before the 1990s," he told the Banner Graphic.
Armed with infrared cameras and thermometers, mini-digital video and audio recorders and EMF detectors, the group hurriedly set up its equipment.
The lights went out and three of the investigators entered the Archive room. The others remained outside to monitor the recording equipment.
Within a few minutes, a flash of light slid down the computer screen at the end of the table where the book sat.
"Mark that time down," said Nate Lien, who is the audio tech for the group.
Paranormal investigators carefully go back through their audio and video recordings after an investigation.
At one point, they caught temperatures spiking over 15 degrees above their baseline. They ran their thermometers over and over and continued to read the fluctuation.
The temperature fluctuations were not by the Governor's book, but in a back office where a chair built in 1901 by inmates at the Indiana Reformatory sat.
They shot video and used special recorders to try and pick up any voices that can't be heard by the human ear.
The hour passed quickly with the group moving about the room and around the book while asking the Governor to talk to them.
Apparently, they got their wish. Two EVPs were recorded during the investigation.
"Where are you, Mr. Governor?" asked one of the investigators.
"It sounds like a man says 'I've been dead,'" said Chris Lien in a follow-up call to the Banner Graphic.
The second one says, "I'll be back."
Lien says he was extremely excited when he found out they had two EVPs. Both are available on the group's Web site www.hoosierstateparanormal.com
The Hoosier State Paranormal group began in November last year. It is made up of 13 members and includes local residents, several DePauw University students and Putnam County Operation Life Emergency Medical Technicians including Matthew Nance and Megan Soultz, who gained local notoriety after participating in the rescue efforts of the jet that crashed into the Hudson River recently.
Soultz is the case manager for the group and Nance is an investigator. Other members include founder Chris Lein, Savahanna Wise, researcher, Daniel Hendry, video technician and Nate Lein, audio technician. Also investigators Stephen Wise, Tyler Binion, Mitch Troyer, Gary Crowe, Josh Drake, Justin Woodall, and Sam Jacks.
When asked what got them interested in investigation paranormal activity, Chris Lein explained, "We watched TAPs (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) on television since 2004. We were all interested in what they did and it made us want to try investigating."
TAPS is a one-hour weekly reality show that follows a group of real-life paranormal researchers as it investigates hauntings throughout the country.
Hoosier State Paranormal also investigated a haunted house in South Bend last weekend where the owners have seen black shadows and heard a little girl crying. The results of that investigation should be available on their Web site at www.hoosierstateparanormal.com.
Just in case you were wondering, Governor Whitcomb's book is back in its case, safely locked away out of the public view. As for the ghost of Governor Whitcomb, he did say he would be back.
Source: Greencastle Banner-Graphic
http://www.bannergraphic.com/story/1496437.html
It is part of Governor James Whitcomb's collection that was donated to Asbury (now DePauw) University in the early 1800s. Included in the collection is one book purported to be haunted. Titled, "The Poems of Ossian, The Son of Fingal," it is kept locked away in a special section of the library closed to the public.
For years a story has circulated about a boy who borrowed this book from the library in the 1800s. He became so engrossed reading it that when the library closed he snuck the book out of the library and took it to his room.
It was after midnight when he finished reading and turned out the lights. Later, he woke with a sense of not being alone.
When his eyes became adjusted to the darkness he saw a spectral finger pointing accusingly. Then he heard a voice speaking, "Who stole Ossian?"
A bony hand reached toward the boy, who swore he felt a finger touch his cheek. The boy returned the book first thing in the morning, telling the librarian he'd been visited by the ghost of Governor Whitcomb and promising he'd never take another restricted book out of the library.
On this night the group of paranormal investigators planned to find out if there was any chance that the Governor was guarding his book.
Chris Lien, founder of Hoosier State Paranormal, persuaded Wesley Wilson, Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections at the library, to allow the group to come in to search for the ghost of Governor Whitcomb in the presence of the book.
They were given one hour after the library closed.
Lien says he talked to numerous people who have seen shadows or had odd events occur when they were on the second floor of the library where Whitcomb's book is housed.
Interestingly, Wilson says he has found no documentation of the ghost story before the 1990s.
"I don't know that it means anything. I just have never found anything to document the story before the 1990s," he told the Banner Graphic.
Armed with infrared cameras and thermometers, mini-digital video and audio recorders and EMF detectors, the group hurriedly set up its equipment.
The lights went out and three of the investigators entered the Archive room. The others remained outside to monitor the recording equipment.
Within a few minutes, a flash of light slid down the computer screen at the end of the table where the book sat.
"Mark that time down," said Nate Lien, who is the audio tech for the group.
Paranormal investigators carefully go back through their audio and video recordings after an investigation.
At one point, they caught temperatures spiking over 15 degrees above their baseline. They ran their thermometers over and over and continued to read the fluctuation.
The temperature fluctuations were not by the Governor's book, but in a back office where a chair built in 1901 by inmates at the Indiana Reformatory sat.
They shot video and used special recorders to try and pick up any voices that can't be heard by the human ear.
The hour passed quickly with the group moving about the room and around the book while asking the Governor to talk to them.
Apparently, they got their wish. Two EVPs were recorded during the investigation.
"Where are you, Mr. Governor?" asked one of the investigators.
"It sounds like a man says 'I've been dead,'" said Chris Lien in a follow-up call to the Banner Graphic.
The second one says, "I'll be back."
Lien says he was extremely excited when he found out they had two EVPs. Both are available on the group's Web site www.hoosierstateparanormal.com
The Hoosier State Paranormal group began in November last year. It is made up of 13 members and includes local residents, several DePauw University students and Putnam County Operation Life Emergency Medical Technicians including Matthew Nance and Megan Soultz, who gained local notoriety after participating in the rescue efforts of the jet that crashed into the Hudson River recently.
Soultz is the case manager for the group and Nance is an investigator. Other members include founder Chris Lein, Savahanna Wise, researcher, Daniel Hendry, video technician and Nate Lein, audio technician. Also investigators Stephen Wise, Tyler Binion, Mitch Troyer, Gary Crowe, Josh Drake, Justin Woodall, and Sam Jacks.
When asked what got them interested in investigation paranormal activity, Chris Lein explained, "We watched TAPs (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) on television since 2004. We were all interested in what they did and it made us want to try investigating."
TAPS is a one-hour weekly reality show that follows a group of real-life paranormal researchers as it investigates hauntings throughout the country.
Hoosier State Paranormal also investigated a haunted house in South Bend last weekend where the owners have seen black shadows and heard a little girl crying. The results of that investigation should be available on their Web site at www.hoosierstateparanormal.com.
Just in case you were wondering, Governor Whitcomb's book is back in its case, safely locked away out of the public view. As for the ghost of Governor Whitcomb, he did say he would be back.
Source: Greencastle Banner-Graphic
http://www.bannergraphic.com/story/1496437.html
- STRANGE CREATURES FROM TIME AND SPACE DEPARTMENT -
The Coming of the Goatman
Since moving to the
United States from jolly old England in the summer of 2001, I can most
definitely say that I’ve lived in some unusual places.
But without doubt the strangest of all was White Rock Lake, Dallas. A picturesque, large body of water, the lake looks like a friendly and inviting place. And, at first glance, it most certainly is.
Yet beneath its pleasant and innocent exterior lurks an absolute menagerie of monsters and mysterious beasts: tales abound of giant catfish seen swimming in its expansive waters. Lake Placid-style stories of marauding alligators or crocodiles in the area surface from time to time; and there is even a legend of a 30-foot-long snake supposedly seen slithering around the shores of White Rock Lake one particular summer in the late 1960s.
But without doubt the most notable resident monster of White Rock Lake is the ludicrously named Goat Man. Alligator Man would be cool, as would Shark Man, or even Snake Man. But Goat Man’s moniker most certainly is not cool - at all.
So the story goes, on several occasions in the 1970s and 1980s a distinctly odd creature was seen after sunset flitting in and out of the trees that surround the lake, and that was described as being man-like in form, around seven feet in height, but with Goat-style protrusions sticking out of its head, and hooves instead of feet.
The description of the animal was eerily like that of the fabled Satyrs of Greek and Roman legend. And, it must be noted that numerous other cultures had an awareness that such strange creatures were lurking among them – and for milennia.
There was, for example, the demon goat-man Azazel, there was the goat-beast of the mountains that was feared by the herdsmen of Parnassus, and, of course, there was the god Pan.
The god of fields and forests, Pan dwelt in grottos, roamed both mountains and valleys, was a lover of music, and was widely feared. In times past, any form of overwhelming dread without a discernible cause was ascribed to Pan, and became known as a Panic terror.
Rob Riggs wrote briefly about the Goat Man sightings at White Rock Lake in the book Weird Texas; the details, however, were scant. But a far more substantial account was brought to my personal attention by a woman named Sandy Grace, who claimed to have seen the infamous Goat Man up close and personal midway through August 2001.
Grace had been jogging around the lake on the nine-mile-long trail at around 2.00 p.m. when, out of the trees, she told me, suddenly stepped the strangest looking “thing” she had ever seen in her life.
Large, and covered from head to foot in thin, coarse brown hair and with two large horn-like protrusions sticking out of its head, the half-man-half-beast strode purposefully in her direction with a malevolent, sneering grin on its wide face.
Bizarrely, when it got within about fifteen feet of the terror-stricken Grace, the animal-man crouched on its four limbs and suddenly, and inexplicably, vanished in a bright flash of light. She was absolutely sure that it had not been a hallucination, but was equally sure that such a thing could not live within the confines of White Rock Lake – or, for that matter, anywhere else on the face of the Earth.
Interestingly, Grace told me that about a minute or so before the Goat Man put in its brief-but-terrifying appearance, she was overcome by an intense feeling of fear – albeit for no particular reason. She had never suffered from panic attacks (before or since); but figured that that was probably the best way to describe how she felt.
I thought to myself that it could also have been a classic description of a close encounter with Pan, the God of the Woods, centuries ago.
Is it only a coincidence that cultures all around the world in times past had legends and tales of such creatures inhabiting dark woods and forests, and that, today, people are still seeing them in similar locations? I conclude that it most certainly is not a coincidence. Something diabolical really is among us.
Notably, White Rock Lake is not the only place in Texas that is allegedly inhabited by such a Goat-like man (or a man-like Goat, depending on your own perspective), as I learned graphically in 2005. But that, as they say, is a story for another day…
Source: Nick Redfern/mania.com
http://www.mania.com/coming-goatman_article_112524.html
But without doubt the strangest of all was White Rock Lake, Dallas. A picturesque, large body of water, the lake looks like a friendly and inviting place. And, at first glance, it most certainly is.
Yet beneath its pleasant and innocent exterior lurks an absolute menagerie of monsters and mysterious beasts: tales abound of giant catfish seen swimming in its expansive waters. Lake Placid-style stories of marauding alligators or crocodiles in the area surface from time to time; and there is even a legend of a 30-foot-long snake supposedly seen slithering around the shores of White Rock Lake one particular summer in the late 1960s.
But without doubt the most notable resident monster of White Rock Lake is the ludicrously named Goat Man. Alligator Man would be cool, as would Shark Man, or even Snake Man. But Goat Man’s moniker most certainly is not cool - at all.
So the story goes, on several occasions in the 1970s and 1980s a distinctly odd creature was seen after sunset flitting in and out of the trees that surround the lake, and that was described as being man-like in form, around seven feet in height, but with Goat-style protrusions sticking out of its head, and hooves instead of feet.
The description of the animal was eerily like that of the fabled Satyrs of Greek and Roman legend. And, it must be noted that numerous other cultures had an awareness that such strange creatures were lurking among them – and for milennia.
There was, for example, the demon goat-man Azazel, there was the goat-beast of the mountains that was feared by the herdsmen of Parnassus, and, of course, there was the god Pan.
The god of fields and forests, Pan dwelt in grottos, roamed both mountains and valleys, was a lover of music, and was widely feared. In times past, any form of overwhelming dread without a discernible cause was ascribed to Pan, and became known as a Panic terror.
Rob Riggs wrote briefly about the Goat Man sightings at White Rock Lake in the book Weird Texas; the details, however, were scant. But a far more substantial account was brought to my personal attention by a woman named Sandy Grace, who claimed to have seen the infamous Goat Man up close and personal midway through August 2001.
Grace had been jogging around the lake on the nine-mile-long trail at around 2.00 p.m. when, out of the trees, she told me, suddenly stepped the strangest looking “thing” she had ever seen in her life.
Large, and covered from head to foot in thin, coarse brown hair and with two large horn-like protrusions sticking out of its head, the half-man-half-beast strode purposefully in her direction with a malevolent, sneering grin on its wide face.
Bizarrely, when it got within about fifteen feet of the terror-stricken Grace, the animal-man crouched on its four limbs and suddenly, and inexplicably, vanished in a bright flash of light. She was absolutely sure that it had not been a hallucination, but was equally sure that such a thing could not live within the confines of White Rock Lake – or, for that matter, anywhere else on the face of the Earth.
Interestingly, Grace told me that about a minute or so before the Goat Man put in its brief-but-terrifying appearance, she was overcome by an intense feeling of fear – albeit for no particular reason. She had never suffered from panic attacks (before or since); but figured that that was probably the best way to describe how she felt.
I thought to myself that it could also have been a classic description of a close encounter with Pan, the God of the Woods, centuries ago.
Is it only a coincidence that cultures all around the world in times past had legends and tales of such creatures inhabiting dark woods and forests, and that, today, people are still seeing them in similar locations? I conclude that it most certainly is not a coincidence. Something diabolical really is among us.
Notably, White Rock Lake is not the only place in Texas that is allegedly inhabited by such a Goat-like man (or a man-like Goat, depending on your own perspective), as I learned graphically in 2005. But that, as they say, is a story for another day…
Source: Nick Redfern/mania.com
http://www.mania.com/coming-goatman_article_112524.html
- GONNA GO BACK IN TIME DEPARTMENT -
Back to the Future: A Time Machine?
"If my calculations are
correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour... you're gonna see some
serious $@%&!"
Dr. Brown was a man on a mission in the movie "Back to the Future." His goal? Build a time machine.
Dr. Ronald Mallett, professor of physics at the University of Connecticut, is on the same mission. It's some serious $@%& alright. But Mallett says time travel will soon be much more than just science fiction.
The Drive
"When I was 10 years old -- I was the oldest of 10 children -- my dad was a television repairman in the Bronx. He was one of these people that was just larger than life and lots of fun. He played hard and worked hard. I adored him," Mallett said.
But Mallett's dad had a weak heart. At 33, he suffered a massive heart attack and died.
"It completely devastated me. I was inconsolable. My world came crashing down," Mallett said. "I entered into a deep depression at a very young age."
Mallett took strength from his love of reading.
"When I was 11, I came upon H.G. Wells' "Time Machine." I thought, if I could build a time machine, I could go back in the past and see him again," said Mallett. "It became a secret obsession. That gave me hope, that gave me a goal."
A year later, that turned into an obsession. At 12, Mallett read a book about Einstein.
"I didn't really understand much of it, but I did glean that time doesn't move independent of us and that we could affect the flow of time. It was then that I decided if I could understand Einstein, I could build a time machine."
He had a dream, but also had what, to many, would be an insurmountable obstacle before him.
"With the death of my dad, my family plunged into poverty," Mallett said. "College wasn't something in my future."
So he decided to change his future. Mallett entered the service so he could save money for college, then went to Penn State and worked toward his bachelor's and master's degrees and a Ph.D. in physics.
The entire time, he kept his passion a secret.
The Research
Who of us has not wondered 'What if I could change something in my past'? 'What's going to happen in the future'?"
Questions like these that have lead to many late-night conversations between students across the globe, including some of Mallett's own students at the University of Connecticut, but the real question is whether it's really possible or just science fiction.
"Einstein's "General Theory of Relativity" is the theory of gravity. It connects gravity with space and time," said Mallett. "That's where it starts."
To break down the complicated theories of how time and space can be distorted by lasers, Mallet uses a breakfast beverage.
"Imagine a cup of coffee in front of you. Think of that coffee in your cup as being like empty space. Think of your spoon as being a circulating light beam. If you stir, it starts swirling. That's what the light beam is doing to space - it's causing empty space when the coffee swirls around," said Mallett.
"If I drop in a sugar cube, the coffee will drag the sugar cube around. In the case of empty space, it's a neutron - part of every atom. If we put it in empty space, the space will drag the neutron around the same way the coffee drags the sugar cube around. That way, we can see space is being twisted around."
He said that's the basis of Einstein's theory - whatever you do to space also happens to time.
"If I stir space strongly enough, time, connected to space, it will actually twist that timeline into a loop," he said. "I'm studying how we can use that to send information back in time in a binary code."
Information that if received, could help prevent disasters.
"My particular work or focus isn't sending people back in time. It's sending information back, which could be even more important. What if you could tell people about a particular catastrophe, an earthquake?"
Theoretically, you could warn people about disasters or even heart attacks.
But here's the big problem. The information, Mallett said, could only go back in time as far back as there's a device to receive that information, and that device wasn't around when his dad was alive. It will only be around when Mallett creates it and turns it on.
"We won't be able to communicate with those who went before us, but if I'm right - our descendants will be able to communicate with us," he said. "I won't see my father again, but I think my work is a fitting memorial to my father."
The Grandfather Paradox
So let's say, one day we are able to send back information or even people in time. It leads to one of the most famous paradoxes associated with time travel, Mallett said.
"It's the so called grandfather paradox," he said. "Suppose you go back and do something like preventing your grandfather from meeting your grandmother. No parents, no you. How could you exist and go back and change the past?."
The answer? We might not be alone, but not in the way you might think.
"Our world, our universe, may not just be by itself. We might be just one of many parallel universes. It leads to the possibility that when you make a decision, there's another you who made the opposite decision in a parallel universe."
According to the theory of parallel universes, for each decision there's another universe created.
"If you apply the parallel universe idea to time travel, what it means is that the instant you arrive in the past you're in the split. A new universe. You could prevent it, but in that new universe, you may never have been born into it," he said.
Mallett said if we do get to the point where we can traverse the universes, it's something you'll do for the rest of your days.
"You can never return home again. You can live out your life in that particular universe you're in. What it comes down to is that we won't really know what will happen until we turn the first time machine on. What we think of as being the past could be something that was altered already."
The Future
Mallett has the research and the theories. He even has a laser specialist. What he needs now is money - at least $10 million.
That's where Hollywood comes in.
Spike Lee teaches film at New York University. Last year, two of his students heard about a book Mallett wrote. They bought it, read it and took it to Spike.
"UConn had invited Spike to give a talk this past March. When he came up, he asked to see me. I thought 'Yeah, right.' But we met and talked for a couple of hours and I gave him a copy of my book," Mallett said. "He went overseas and I thought I'd never hear from him again. But when he came back, he called me and said, 'This is a great book. I'd like to create a movie out of this.' He said, 'I'll have my people call your people.'"
In June 2008, the contract for Time Traveler was signed. Things are now moving forward quickly, said Mallett, who hopes to use the publicity from the movie to do fundraising for the research.
"Spike feels that having my work known nationally in that way will be able to attract the huge investors we need," Mallett said.
The script is now in development. Lee and his wife showed up to a recent event Mallett was speaking at in New York to use as input for the script. Casting is the next big step.
"For me personally, I'm not too concerned over who will play me," Mallett said. "What's even more important is who will be playing my father, because to see him on the silver screen, it will be like Spike brought back my dad."
Source: MNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28892009/
Dr. Brown was a man on a mission in the movie "Back to the Future." His goal? Build a time machine.
Dr. Ronald Mallett, professor of physics at the University of Connecticut, is on the same mission. It's some serious $@%& alright. But Mallett says time travel will soon be much more than just science fiction.
The Drive
"When I was 10 years old -- I was the oldest of 10 children -- my dad was a television repairman in the Bronx. He was one of these people that was just larger than life and lots of fun. He played hard and worked hard. I adored him," Mallett said.
But Mallett's dad had a weak heart. At 33, he suffered a massive heart attack and died.
"It completely devastated me. I was inconsolable. My world came crashing down," Mallett said. "I entered into a deep depression at a very young age."
Mallett took strength from his love of reading.
"When I was 11, I came upon H.G. Wells' "Time Machine." I thought, if I could build a time machine, I could go back in the past and see him again," said Mallett. "It became a secret obsession. That gave me hope, that gave me a goal."
A year later, that turned into an obsession. At 12, Mallett read a book about Einstein.
"I didn't really understand much of it, but I did glean that time doesn't move independent of us and that we could affect the flow of time. It was then that I decided if I could understand Einstein, I could build a time machine."
He had a dream, but also had what, to many, would be an insurmountable obstacle before him.
"With the death of my dad, my family plunged into poverty," Mallett said. "College wasn't something in my future."
So he decided to change his future. Mallett entered the service so he could save money for college, then went to Penn State and worked toward his bachelor's and master's degrees and a Ph.D. in physics.
The entire time, he kept his passion a secret.
The Research
Who of us has not wondered 'What if I could change something in my past'? 'What's going to happen in the future'?"
Questions like these that have lead to many late-night conversations between students across the globe, including some of Mallett's own students at the University of Connecticut, but the real question is whether it's really possible or just science fiction.
"Einstein's "General Theory of Relativity" is the theory of gravity. It connects gravity with space and time," said Mallett. "That's where it starts."
To break down the complicated theories of how time and space can be distorted by lasers, Mallet uses a breakfast beverage.
"Imagine a cup of coffee in front of you. Think of that coffee in your cup as being like empty space. Think of your spoon as being a circulating light beam. If you stir, it starts swirling. That's what the light beam is doing to space - it's causing empty space when the coffee swirls around," said Mallett.
"If I drop in a sugar cube, the coffee will drag the sugar cube around. In the case of empty space, it's a neutron - part of every atom. If we put it in empty space, the space will drag the neutron around the same way the coffee drags the sugar cube around. That way, we can see space is being twisted around."
He said that's the basis of Einstein's theory - whatever you do to space also happens to time.
"If I stir space strongly enough, time, connected to space, it will actually twist that timeline into a loop," he said. "I'm studying how we can use that to send information back in time in a binary code."
Information that if received, could help prevent disasters.
"My particular work or focus isn't sending people back in time. It's sending information back, which could be even more important. What if you could tell people about a particular catastrophe, an earthquake?"
Theoretically, you could warn people about disasters or even heart attacks.
But here's the big problem. The information, Mallett said, could only go back in time as far back as there's a device to receive that information, and that device wasn't around when his dad was alive. It will only be around when Mallett creates it and turns it on.
"We won't be able to communicate with those who went before us, but if I'm right - our descendants will be able to communicate with us," he said. "I won't see my father again, but I think my work is a fitting memorial to my father."
The Grandfather Paradox
So let's say, one day we are able to send back information or even people in time. It leads to one of the most famous paradoxes associated with time travel, Mallett said.
"It's the so called grandfather paradox," he said. "Suppose you go back and do something like preventing your grandfather from meeting your grandmother. No parents, no you. How could you exist and go back and change the past?."
The answer? We might not be alone, but not in the way you might think.
"Our world, our universe, may not just be by itself. We might be just one of many parallel universes. It leads to the possibility that when you make a decision, there's another you who made the opposite decision in a parallel universe."
According to the theory of parallel universes, for each decision there's another universe created.
"If you apply the parallel universe idea to time travel, what it means is that the instant you arrive in the past you're in the split. A new universe. You could prevent it, but in that new universe, you may never have been born into it," he said.
Mallett said if we do get to the point where we can traverse the universes, it's something you'll do for the rest of your days.
"You can never return home again. You can live out your life in that particular universe you're in. What it comes down to is that we won't really know what will happen until we turn the first time machine on. What we think of as being the past could be something that was altered already."
The Future
Mallett has the research and the theories. He even has a laser specialist. What he needs now is money - at least $10 million.
That's where Hollywood comes in.
Spike Lee teaches film at New York University. Last year, two of his students heard about a book Mallett wrote. They bought it, read it and took it to Spike.
"UConn had invited Spike to give a talk this past March. When he came up, he asked to see me. I thought 'Yeah, right.' But we met and talked for a couple of hours and I gave him a copy of my book," Mallett said. "He went overseas and I thought I'd never hear from him again. But when he came back, he called me and said, 'This is a great book. I'd like to create a movie out of this.' He said, 'I'll have my people call your people.'"
In June 2008, the contract for Time Traveler was signed. Things are now moving forward quickly, said Mallett, who hopes to use the publicity from the movie to do fundraising for the research.
"Spike feels that having my work known nationally in that way will be able to attract the huge investors we need," Mallett said.
The script is now in development. Lee and his wife showed up to a recent event Mallett was speaking at in New York to use as input for the script. Casting is the next big step.
"For me personally, I'm not too concerned over who will play me," Mallett said. "What's even more important is who will be playing my father, because to see him on the silver screen, it will be like Spike brought back my dad."
Source: MNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28892009/
-
BEAM ME UP SCOTTY DEPARTMENT -
Teleportation Milestone Achieved
- UFOS, STRANGE CREATURES, WHAT NEXT DEPARTMENT -
Weird Happenings Baffle Pennsylvanians During 2008
Teleportation Milestone Achieved
Scientists have come a bit
closer to achieving the "Star Trek" feat of teleportation. No one is
galaxy-hopping, or even beaming people around, but for the first time,
information has been teleported between two separate atoms across a
distance of a meter — about a yard.
This is a significant milestone in a field known as quantum information processing, said Christopher Monroe of the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland, who led the effort.
Teleportation is one of nature's most mysterious forms of transport: Quantum information, such as the spin of a particle or the polarization of a photon, is transferred from one place to another, without traveling through any physical medium. It has previously been achieved between photons (a unit, or quantum, of electromagnetic radiation, such as light) over very large distances, between photons and ensembles of atoms, and between two nearby atoms through the intermediary action of a third.
None of those, however, provides a feasible means of holding and managing quantum information over long distances.
Now the JQI team, along with colleagues at the University of Michigan, has succeeded in teleporting a quantum state directly from one atom to another over a meter. That capability is necessary for workable quantum information systems because they will require memory storage at both the sending and receiving ends of the transmission.
In the Jan. 23 issue of the journal Science, the scientists report that, by using their protocol, atom-to-atom teleported information can be recovered with perfect accuracy about 90 percent of the time — and that figure can be improved.
"Our system has the potential to form the basis for a large-scale 'quantum repeater' that can network quantum memories over vast distances," Monroe said. "Moreover, our methods can be used in conjunction with quantum bit operations to create a key component needed for quantum computation."
A quantum computer could perform certain tasks, such as encryption-related calculations and searches of giant databases, considerably faster than conventional machines. The effort to devise a working model is a matter of intense interest worldwide.
Teleportation and entanglement
Physicist Richard Feynman is quoted as having said that "if you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understands quantum mechanics." Or sometimes he is cited thusly: "I think I can safely say that nobody understand quantum mechanics."
Nonetheless, here is how the University of Maryland describes Monroe's work.
Teleportation works because of a remarkable quantum phenomenon called entanglement which only occurs on the atomic and subatomic scale. Once two objects are put in an entangled state, their properties are inextricably entwined. Although those properties are inherently unknowable until a measurement is made, measuring either one of the objects instantly determines the characteristics of the other, no matter how far apart they are.
The JQI team set out to entangle the quantum states of two individual ytterbium ions so that information embodied in the condition of one could be teleported to the other. Each ion was isolated in a separate high-vacuum trap, suspended in an invisible cage of electromagnetic fields and surrounded by metal electrodes.
The researchers identified two readily discernible ground (lowest energy) states of the ions that would serve as the alternative "bit" values of an atomic quantum bit, or qubit.
Conventional electronic bits (short for binary digits), such as those in a personal computer, are always in one of two states: off or on, 0 or 1, high or low voltage, etc. Quantum bits, however, can be in some combination, called a "superposition," of both states at the same time, like a coin that is simultaneously heads and tails — until a measurement is made. It is this phenomenon that gives quantum computation its extraordinary power.
Laser pulse initiates process
At the start of the experimental process, each ion (designated A and B) is initialized in a given ground state.
Then ion A is irradiated with a specially tailored microwave burst from one of its cage electrodes, placing the ion in some desired superposition of the two qubit states — in effect "writing" into "memory" the information to be teleported.
Immediately thereafter, both ions are excited by a picosecond (one trillionth of a second) laser pulse. The pulse duration is so short that each ion emits only a single photon as it sheds the energy gained by the laser and falls back to one or the other of the two qubit ground states.
Depending on which one it falls into, the ion emits one of two kinds of photons of slightly different wavelengths (designated red and blue) that correspond to the two atomic qubit states. It is the relationship between those photons that will eventually provide the telltale signal that entanglement has occurred.
Beamsplitter encounter
Each emitted photon is captured by a lens, routed to a separate strand of fiber-optic cable, and carried to a 50-50 beamsplitter where it is equally probable for the photon to pass straight through the splitter or to be reflected. On either side of the beamsplitter are detectors that can record the arrival of a single photon.
Before it reaches the beamsplitter, each photon is in an unknowable superposition of states. After encountering the beamsplitter, however, each takes on specific characteristics.
As a result, for each pair of photons, four color combinations are possible — blue-blue, red-red, blue-red and red-blue — as well as one of two polarizations: horizontal or vertical. In nearly all of those variations, the photons either cancel each other out or both end up in the same detector. But there is one — and only one — combination in which both detectors will record a photon at exactly the same time.
In that case, however, it is physically impossible to tell which ion produced which photon because it cannot be known whether the photon arriving at a detector passed through the beamsplitter or was reflected by it.
Thanks to the peculiar laws of quantum mechanics, that inherent uncertainty projects the ions into an entangled state. That is, each ion is in a superposition of the two possible qubit states. The simultaneous detection of photons at the detectors does not occur often, so the laser stimulus and photon emission process has to be repeated many thousands of times per second. But when a photon appears in each detector, it is an unambiguous signature of entanglement between the ions.
When an entangled condition is identified, the scientists immediately take a measurement of ion A. The act of measurement forces it out of superposition and into a definite condition: one of the two qubit states.
But because ion A's state is irreversibly tied to ion B's, the measurement also forces B into the complementary state. Depending on which state ion A is found in, the researchers now know precisely what kind of microwave pulse to apply to ion B in order to recover the exact information that had been written to ion A by the original microwave burst. Doing so results in the accurate teleportation of the information.
Teleportation vs. other communications
What distinguishes this outcome as teleportation, rather than any other form of communication, is that no information pertaining to the original memory actually passes between ion A and ion B. Instead, the information disappears when ion A is measured and reappears when the microwave pulse is applied to ion B.
"One particularly attractive aspect of our method is that it combines the unique advantages of both photons and atoms," says Monroe. "Photons are ideal for transferring information fast over long distances, whereas atoms offer a valuable medium for long-lived quantum memory ... Also, the teleportation of quantum information in this way could form the basis of a new type of quantum internet that could outperform any conventional type of classical network for certain tasks."
The work was supported by the Intelligence Advanced Research Project Activity program under U.S. Army Research Office contract, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Physics at the Information Frontier Program, and the NSF Physics Frontier Center at the Joint Quantum Institute.
Source: LiveScience
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/090123-teleportation-atoms.html
This is a significant milestone in a field known as quantum information processing, said Christopher Monroe of the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland, who led the effort.
Teleportation is one of nature's most mysterious forms of transport: Quantum information, such as the spin of a particle or the polarization of a photon, is transferred from one place to another, without traveling through any physical medium. It has previously been achieved between photons (a unit, or quantum, of electromagnetic radiation, such as light) over very large distances, between photons and ensembles of atoms, and between two nearby atoms through the intermediary action of a third.
None of those, however, provides a feasible means of holding and managing quantum information over long distances.
Now the JQI team, along with colleagues at the University of Michigan, has succeeded in teleporting a quantum state directly from one atom to another over a meter. That capability is necessary for workable quantum information systems because they will require memory storage at both the sending and receiving ends of the transmission.
In the Jan. 23 issue of the journal Science, the scientists report that, by using their protocol, atom-to-atom teleported information can be recovered with perfect accuracy about 90 percent of the time — and that figure can be improved.
"Our system has the potential to form the basis for a large-scale 'quantum repeater' that can network quantum memories over vast distances," Monroe said. "Moreover, our methods can be used in conjunction with quantum bit operations to create a key component needed for quantum computation."
A quantum computer could perform certain tasks, such as encryption-related calculations and searches of giant databases, considerably faster than conventional machines. The effort to devise a working model is a matter of intense interest worldwide.
Teleportation and entanglement
Physicist Richard Feynman is quoted as having said that "if you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understands quantum mechanics." Or sometimes he is cited thusly: "I think I can safely say that nobody understand quantum mechanics."
Nonetheless, here is how the University of Maryland describes Monroe's work.
Teleportation works because of a remarkable quantum phenomenon called entanglement which only occurs on the atomic and subatomic scale. Once two objects are put in an entangled state, their properties are inextricably entwined. Although those properties are inherently unknowable until a measurement is made, measuring either one of the objects instantly determines the characteristics of the other, no matter how far apart they are.
The JQI team set out to entangle the quantum states of two individual ytterbium ions so that information embodied in the condition of one could be teleported to the other. Each ion was isolated in a separate high-vacuum trap, suspended in an invisible cage of electromagnetic fields and surrounded by metal electrodes.
The researchers identified two readily discernible ground (lowest energy) states of the ions that would serve as the alternative "bit" values of an atomic quantum bit, or qubit.
Conventional electronic bits (short for binary digits), such as those in a personal computer, are always in one of two states: off or on, 0 or 1, high or low voltage, etc. Quantum bits, however, can be in some combination, called a "superposition," of both states at the same time, like a coin that is simultaneously heads and tails — until a measurement is made. It is this phenomenon that gives quantum computation its extraordinary power.
Laser pulse initiates process
At the start of the experimental process, each ion (designated A and B) is initialized in a given ground state.
Then ion A is irradiated with a specially tailored microwave burst from one of its cage electrodes, placing the ion in some desired superposition of the two qubit states — in effect "writing" into "memory" the information to be teleported.
Immediately thereafter, both ions are excited by a picosecond (one trillionth of a second) laser pulse. The pulse duration is so short that each ion emits only a single photon as it sheds the energy gained by the laser and falls back to one or the other of the two qubit ground states.
Depending on which one it falls into, the ion emits one of two kinds of photons of slightly different wavelengths (designated red and blue) that correspond to the two atomic qubit states. It is the relationship between those photons that will eventually provide the telltale signal that entanglement has occurred.
Beamsplitter encounter
Each emitted photon is captured by a lens, routed to a separate strand of fiber-optic cable, and carried to a 50-50 beamsplitter where it is equally probable for the photon to pass straight through the splitter or to be reflected. On either side of the beamsplitter are detectors that can record the arrival of a single photon.
Before it reaches the beamsplitter, each photon is in an unknowable superposition of states. After encountering the beamsplitter, however, each takes on specific characteristics.
As a result, for each pair of photons, four color combinations are possible — blue-blue, red-red, blue-red and red-blue — as well as one of two polarizations: horizontal or vertical. In nearly all of those variations, the photons either cancel each other out or both end up in the same detector. But there is one — and only one — combination in which both detectors will record a photon at exactly the same time.
In that case, however, it is physically impossible to tell which ion produced which photon because it cannot be known whether the photon arriving at a detector passed through the beamsplitter or was reflected by it.
Thanks to the peculiar laws of quantum mechanics, that inherent uncertainty projects the ions into an entangled state. That is, each ion is in a superposition of the two possible qubit states. The simultaneous detection of photons at the detectors does not occur often, so the laser stimulus and photon emission process has to be repeated many thousands of times per second. But when a photon appears in each detector, it is an unambiguous signature of entanglement between the ions.
When an entangled condition is identified, the scientists immediately take a measurement of ion A. The act of measurement forces it out of superposition and into a definite condition: one of the two qubit states.
But because ion A's state is irreversibly tied to ion B's, the measurement also forces B into the complementary state. Depending on which state ion A is found in, the researchers now know precisely what kind of microwave pulse to apply to ion B in order to recover the exact information that had been written to ion A by the original microwave burst. Doing so results in the accurate teleportation of the information.
Teleportation vs. other communications
What distinguishes this outcome as teleportation, rather than any other form of communication, is that no information pertaining to the original memory actually passes between ion A and ion B. Instead, the information disappears when ion A is measured and reappears when the microwave pulse is applied to ion B.
"One particularly attractive aspect of our method is that it combines the unique advantages of both photons and atoms," says Monroe. "Photons are ideal for transferring information fast over long distances, whereas atoms offer a valuable medium for long-lived quantum memory ... Also, the teleportation of quantum information in this way could form the basis of a new type of quantum internet that could outperform any conventional type of classical network for certain tasks."
The work was supported by the Intelligence Advanced Research Project Activity program under U.S. Army Research Office contract, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Physics at the Information Frontier Program, and the NSF Physics Frontier Center at the Joint Quantum Institute.
Source: LiveScience
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/090123-teleportation-atoms.html
- UFOS, STRANGE CREATURES, WHAT NEXT DEPARTMENT -
Weird Happenings Baffle Pennsylvanians During 2008
Strange incidents reported from
50 Counties across the state.
During 2008, there were numerous reports of UFO sightings and other strange incidents reported from across the Keystone state. Reports of unusual incidents originated from 50 counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That is an increase over 2007, when such reports were received from 37 counties. Some of the strange incidents reported included sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects, strange sky illuminations, Bigfoot, giant birds, mountain lions, strange sounds and mysterious footprints.
An example of some of the more interesting 2008 mysterious events from Pennsylvania.
Giant Bird Sightings
There has been a history from Pennsylvania and other states of sightings of giant birds with enormous wingspans that are occasionally reported, and are commonly referred to as “thunderbirds.” In recent years, the reports of these huge flying creatures have increased. Rick Fisher of the Paranormal Society of Pennsylvania received a report which occurred in February at a rural location outside of Harrisburg. The driver of a vehicle, who was also an active hunter, saw a huge bird-like creature drop from the trees and approach his vehicle. The man stopped and got out to take a better look at the creature, which seemed to soar or glide without flapping its wings. He hesitantly told Rick that what he saw looked, “prehistoric almost.”
Researcher Jim Brown investigated an incident which occurred on the afternoon of May 20, on a major roadway in Washington County. Motorists reportedly pulled off the road to watch as a huge dark colored flying creature that looked more like a giant bat than a bird, circled low, and passed over some cars. One witness noticed that the wingspan extended beyond the edges of the two lane highway. One man was seen taking pictures of the giant flying creature. That person has never come forward.
Bigfoot Sightings
Over the years, there have been hundreds of sightings of huge hair covered man-like or sometimes more ape-like creatures reported statewide. A very active area is along the Chestnut Ridge in Westmoreland, Fayette, and Indiana counties. While such sightings are reportedly yearly, the number of such reports have dropped in recent years.
The Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society (PBS) received a report from Warren County in May that a woman had seen such a creature climb up her lattice and onto her back deck. She watched it from her patio door as it climbed over the railing and departed. In August, from rural Warren County, I received a report that a man and his son observed a 7 foot tall, hair covered creature with very long swinging arms cross a roadway with very long steps and enter a wooded area.
I also received reports of strange screaming sounds coming from along the Chestnut Ridge near Latrobe. An experienced woodsman came across 18 inch long, five toed footprints, unlike anything he had ever seen before, while hiking in the Forbes State Forest above Rector on August 22.
UFO Sightings
While there was a lot of UFO activity reported from the eastern portions of the state, many UFO sightings were reported in western Pennsylvania and elsewhere. While spherical, and disc shaped objects were reported, as well as formations of luminous objects, there were numerous triangular shaped objects sighted as well.
On July 2, near Connellsville, witnesses observed a triangular shaped object with a curved bottom and numerous lights. The silent object passed overhead and moved toward the Yough River. During the early morning hours of August 12, in a rural area between Greensburg and Youngwood, a witness observed what was described as, “two huge double headlights,” side by side, and slightly yellow in color, hovering low just above the road. The silent lights rose up from the ground and moved off over the trees.
I received several independent UFO sighting reports from Westmoreland and Allegheny Counties on September 5. About 12:30 a.m. a glowing round white object with various colored lights was observed hovering in the western sky from New Stanton. The object suddenly disappeared from sight after a few minutes. Soon after, a second object shaped like a glowing football moved rather fast across the sky, then suddenly stopped, then dropped lower toward the ground. With binoculars, the object appeared round with evenly spaced lights.
Another report was received which had occurred at nearly the same time. A motorist driving near South Park in Allegheny County watched as what appeared to be a large lighted object passed over him at an altitude of about 100 feet. His attention was first drawn to a series of bright white lights that were non-blinking and about 3 feet in diameter that were attached to the object. The driver lowered his window and heard no sound. The object made a sharp bank and rose up over the trees and moved off. That same morning, a slow moving silent orange sphere of light was observed at about 3 a.m. near Jeannette as it moved across the sky, then suddenly vanished.
It was during the early morning hours of October 4, that two hunters in Elk County encountered something unusual. As they moved into a wooded area, they first noticed two baseball sized glowing lights about 15 feet above the ground. Soon they noticed multiple beams of light which seemed to originate from about 10 feet from above the ground, and projected parallel with the ground.
Their attention, however, was drawn to a glowing human-like form, which was estimated to be about 3 feet tall. The color was described as a light green, lime color, and it had arms that hung straight down, and were longer than that of a human. The movement of the being gave the impression that it was gliding. On that same date at about 8:20 p.m., in nearby Tioga County, witnesses observed a silent bright solid cigar shaped object approaching from the north, and it suddenly faded out and vanished as it moved overhead.
This year will mark 50 years that I have been investigating and logging such strange accounts from Pennsylvania. My interest in mysterious happenings started at age 10 in 1959. I began conducting on scene investigations of such matters after the Kecksburg UFO incident in 1965. I started taking phone calls from the public in 1969, from those wanting to report alleged UFO sightings. In 1970, I founded the Westmoreland County UFO Study Group, the first of three volunteer, scientifically oriented research groups that remained active for many years, and which investigated UFO sightings and Bigfoot encounters, as well as other strange events around the state.
Today I continue to investigate and document current reports of such matters as an independent researcher. I am still receiving information about that event, and continue my investigation into this UFO incident which has gained international interest.
I receive anomaly sighting reports from the public via my UFO Hotline at 724-838-7768. I also receive e-mail sighting reports at paufo@comcast.net. For update information visit my web site: www.stangordonufo.com. I also maintain contact with numerous researchers and organizations in the state and from throughout the country and elsewhere. The National UFO Reporting Center in Washington state, and the PA Chapter of the Mutual UFO Network also receive numerous UFO reports. Roger Marsh also provides current sighting information at: www.examiner.com/x-2363-UFO-Examiner. The Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society continues to receive alleged sightings of Bigfoot encounters as well.
When I first began investigating UFO sightings and other strange reports, I found that while many sightings reported seemed initially odd, many were determined to be natural or man-made in origin. Many UFO sightings, for example, can be explained as bright planets and stars, meteors and searchlight beams. Some Bigfoot observations were determined to be large dogs or bear. In recent months, many UFO reports that I received of a very bright light low in the southwestern sky was determined to be the planet Venus. But not all mysterious sightings can be explained away so easily.
Source: stangordonufo.com
http://stangordonufo.com/news/2009/january/2008%20update.htm
During 2008, there were numerous reports of UFO sightings and other strange incidents reported from across the Keystone state. Reports of unusual incidents originated from 50 counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That is an increase over 2007, when such reports were received from 37 counties. Some of the strange incidents reported included sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects, strange sky illuminations, Bigfoot, giant birds, mountain lions, strange sounds and mysterious footprints.
An example of some of the more interesting 2008 mysterious events from Pennsylvania.
Giant Bird Sightings
There has been a history from Pennsylvania and other states of sightings of giant birds with enormous wingspans that are occasionally reported, and are commonly referred to as “thunderbirds.” In recent years, the reports of these huge flying creatures have increased. Rick Fisher of the Paranormal Society of Pennsylvania received a report which occurred in February at a rural location outside of Harrisburg. The driver of a vehicle, who was also an active hunter, saw a huge bird-like creature drop from the trees and approach his vehicle. The man stopped and got out to take a better look at the creature, which seemed to soar or glide without flapping its wings. He hesitantly told Rick that what he saw looked, “prehistoric almost.”
Researcher Jim Brown investigated an incident which occurred on the afternoon of May 20, on a major roadway in Washington County. Motorists reportedly pulled off the road to watch as a huge dark colored flying creature that looked more like a giant bat than a bird, circled low, and passed over some cars. One witness noticed that the wingspan extended beyond the edges of the two lane highway. One man was seen taking pictures of the giant flying creature. That person has never come forward.
Bigfoot Sightings
Over the years, there have been hundreds of sightings of huge hair covered man-like or sometimes more ape-like creatures reported statewide. A very active area is along the Chestnut Ridge in Westmoreland, Fayette, and Indiana counties. While such sightings are reportedly yearly, the number of such reports have dropped in recent years.
The Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society (PBS) received a report from Warren County in May that a woman had seen such a creature climb up her lattice and onto her back deck. She watched it from her patio door as it climbed over the railing and departed. In August, from rural Warren County, I received a report that a man and his son observed a 7 foot tall, hair covered creature with very long swinging arms cross a roadway with very long steps and enter a wooded area.
I also received reports of strange screaming sounds coming from along the Chestnut Ridge near Latrobe. An experienced woodsman came across 18 inch long, five toed footprints, unlike anything he had ever seen before, while hiking in the Forbes State Forest above Rector on August 22.
UFO Sightings
While there was a lot of UFO activity reported from the eastern portions of the state, many UFO sightings were reported in western Pennsylvania and elsewhere. While spherical, and disc shaped objects were reported, as well as formations of luminous objects, there were numerous triangular shaped objects sighted as well.
On July 2, near Connellsville, witnesses observed a triangular shaped object with a curved bottom and numerous lights. The silent object passed overhead and moved toward the Yough River. During the early morning hours of August 12, in a rural area between Greensburg and Youngwood, a witness observed what was described as, “two huge double headlights,” side by side, and slightly yellow in color, hovering low just above the road. The silent lights rose up from the ground and moved off over the trees.
I received several independent UFO sighting reports from Westmoreland and Allegheny Counties on September 5. About 12:30 a.m. a glowing round white object with various colored lights was observed hovering in the western sky from New Stanton. The object suddenly disappeared from sight after a few minutes. Soon after, a second object shaped like a glowing football moved rather fast across the sky, then suddenly stopped, then dropped lower toward the ground. With binoculars, the object appeared round with evenly spaced lights.
Another report was received which had occurred at nearly the same time. A motorist driving near South Park in Allegheny County watched as what appeared to be a large lighted object passed over him at an altitude of about 100 feet. His attention was first drawn to a series of bright white lights that were non-blinking and about 3 feet in diameter that were attached to the object. The driver lowered his window and heard no sound. The object made a sharp bank and rose up over the trees and moved off. That same morning, a slow moving silent orange sphere of light was observed at about 3 a.m. near Jeannette as it moved across the sky, then suddenly vanished.
It was during the early morning hours of October 4, that two hunters in Elk County encountered something unusual. As they moved into a wooded area, they first noticed two baseball sized glowing lights about 15 feet above the ground. Soon they noticed multiple beams of light which seemed to originate from about 10 feet from above the ground, and projected parallel with the ground.
Their attention, however, was drawn to a glowing human-like form, which was estimated to be about 3 feet tall. The color was described as a light green, lime color, and it had arms that hung straight down, and were longer than that of a human. The movement of the being gave the impression that it was gliding. On that same date at about 8:20 p.m., in nearby Tioga County, witnesses observed a silent bright solid cigar shaped object approaching from the north, and it suddenly faded out and vanished as it moved overhead.
This year will mark 50 years that I have been investigating and logging such strange accounts from Pennsylvania. My interest in mysterious happenings started at age 10 in 1959. I began conducting on scene investigations of such matters after the Kecksburg UFO incident in 1965. I started taking phone calls from the public in 1969, from those wanting to report alleged UFO sightings. In 1970, I founded the Westmoreland County UFO Study Group, the first of three volunteer, scientifically oriented research groups that remained active for many years, and which investigated UFO sightings and Bigfoot encounters, as well as other strange events around the state.
Today I continue to investigate and document current reports of such matters as an independent researcher. I am still receiving information about that event, and continue my investigation into this UFO incident which has gained international interest.
I receive anomaly sighting reports from the public via my UFO Hotline at 724-838-7768. I also receive e-mail sighting reports at paufo@comcast.net. For update information visit my web site: www.stangordonufo.com. I also maintain contact with numerous researchers and organizations in the state and from throughout the country and elsewhere. The National UFO Reporting Center in Washington state, and the PA Chapter of the Mutual UFO Network also receive numerous UFO reports. Roger Marsh also provides current sighting information at: www.examiner.com/x-2363-UFO-Examiner. The Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society continues to receive alleged sightings of Bigfoot encounters as well.
When I first began investigating UFO sightings and other strange reports, I found that while many sightings reported seemed initially odd, many were determined to be natural or man-made in origin. Many UFO sightings, for example, can be explained as bright planets and stars, meteors and searchlight beams. Some Bigfoot observations were determined to be large dogs or bear. In recent months, many UFO reports that I received of a very bright light low in the southwestern sky was determined to be the planet Venus. But not all mysterious sightings can be explained away so easily.
Source: stangordonufo.com
http://stangordonufo.com/news/2009/january/2008%20update.htm
