While some groups are lobbying governments to ban sending messages into space revealing our existence to possibly hostile aliens, the Raelian movement – a UFO religion whose members believe Earth was created by humanoid extraterrestrials – are asking the United Nations to help them choose a country where they can build an embassy for welcoming the ETs to our planet with open arms. They designated the first Saturday in April as “ET Embassy Day” and claim a number of countries are interested in hosting the embassy. Why?

“More and more countries are showing interest as it becomes obvious that an extraterrestrial civilization is preparing our Humanity for an official contact, through an ever-increasing number of UFO appearances and very complex crop circles all over the world.”

The announcement about ET Embassy Day was made by Daniel Turcotte, a Raelian Guide (guides are religious leaders) and assistant to Rael, the founder of the religion when he was known as Claude Vorilhon, a French race car driver and racing journalist until a fateful day in 1973 when he was visited by a member of the Elohim, the alien beings he now believes started the human race some 25,000 years ago. You may recognize ‘Elohim’ as a name for God from the Hebrew bible, but it means “those who came from the sky” to Raelians. The Elohim visitor told Vorilhon he was chosen to write a book (Le Livre qui dit la vérité or The Book Which Tells the Truth), change his name to Rael and spread the word that the Elohim will be coming back someday. In fact, they did in 1975 to take him to another planet to meet Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.

As unbelievable as that sounds, Rael managed to recruit members into the movement – it appears to have over 100,000 in 90 countries – and is spreading the Elohim message of peace and love through guides like Turcotte, who delivered his call to the UN from Geneva.

“We are confident that the UN will hear out and acknowledge the growing number of people who care for a proper and formal welcome for an out-worldly civilization. While some countries wrongfully anticipate an invasion by an armed extraterrestrial civilization and are preparing to go to war against them, we must offset such an outdated and belligerent position with a worldwide movement of peace, and educate people that only peace can come from the stars. And if the UN doesn’t take the lead, then the countries we are in discussions with will.”

“The countries we are in discussions with will.” Is that a veiled threat? It seems strange that an extraterrestrial species that allegedly created the human race and has visited the planet before suddenly needs an embassy to host its return visit. They certainly don’t need a safe haven for running their operation on Earth. However, Rael and the Raelians might. Their religious views include very open sexual relations of all types and very early sex education, which some governments object to (Switzerland and South Korea are two).

We definitely could use more peace and love around the world. Do we really need Rael and the Elohim to accomplish that? And even if they could, why do they need the UN’s help?

Let’s see what happens on ET Embassy Day. I hope there’s a parade.

The late Mac Tonnies told me only a couple of months before his death: “After devouring countless books on the UFO controversy and the paranormal, I began to acknowledge that the extraterrestrial hypothesis suffered [from] some tantalizing flaws. In short, the ‘aliens’ seemed more like surreal caricatures of ourselves than beings possessing the god-like technology one might plausibly expect from interstellar visitors. I came to the realization that the extraterrestrial hypothesis isn’t strange enough to encompass the entirety of occupant cases.” It was this same realization which made Tonnies look elsewhere. Not to the stars. Not to the galaxies. And not to the world around us. Rather, to the world directly and deeply below us. The theory Tonnies developed was that, perhaps, some of the intelligences behind the UFO phenomenon are not extraterrestrial or inter-dimensional, as many assume or believe them to be, after all. He called them the Cryptoterrestrials.

Rather, he was following the idea that the so-called “Grays” and many of the other bizarre humanoid creatures seen and presumed to have alien origins, were from right here, on Earth. Tonnies offered the theory that his aliens of the terrestrial variety are, actually, a very ancient and advanced body of people. They are closely related to us, and have lived alongside us in secret – deep underground – for countless millennia. And, perhaps in fortified mountains too, not unlike the U.S. military’s Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which exists under 2,000-feet of granite. Tonnies added to me: “If we’re dealing with humanoid beings that evolved here on Earth, some of the problems vanish. I envision the Cryptoterrestrials engaged in a process of subterfuge, bending our belief systems to their own ends. And I suggest that this has been occurring, in one form or another, for an extraordinarily long time. I think there’s a good deal of folkloric and mythological evidence pointing in this direction, and I find it most interesting that so many descriptions of ostensible ‘aliens’ seem to reflect staged events designed to misdirect witnesses and muddle their perceptions.”

Tonnies offered me the following, too, on the matter of what have become known as Contactees – those to whom the very human-looking aliens of the 1950s and 1960s appeared. Tonnies noted to me of these extremely human-looking entities: “Commentators regularly assume that all the Contactees werelying or else delusional. But if we’re experiencing a staged reality, some of the beings encountered by the Contactees might have been real; and the common messages of universal brotherhood could have been a sincere attempt to curb our destructive tendencies. The extraterrestrial guise would have served as a prudent disguise, neatly misdirecting our attention and leading us to ask the wrong questions; which we’re still asking with no substantial results.”

As for why the cryptoterrestrials opted to head and dwell deep underground – when they had the entire planet above them on which to reside – it may have been due to nothing less than critical, panic-filled necessity provoked by war, suggested Tonnies. In eras long gone, and faced with irradiated landscapes, flattened cities, and untold millions dead, heading deep below the surface of the planet may have been the only way for the survivors to continue to live on, he suggested. The deadly fall-out – coupled with the “every man for himself”-style carnage that was undoubtedly breaking out among the ragged, sick survivors of the wars who stayed topside – would be a dark but vital incentive to stay way below the surface. And, maybe they chose to remain there permanently, rather than one day surfacing to reclaim the territory that was once theirs. Until, that is, they destroyed it.

In addition, Tonnies theorized that in today’s world the cryptoterrestrials may well be declining, in terms of both their numbers and their health. He mused on the possibility that this may be due to continuing genetic issues provoked by the effects of ancient atomic wars. If, one day, we resort to the unthinkable, and global, atomic war erupts all around us, the after-effects – massive death and destruction, the onset of a so-called “nuclear winter,” and the terrible toll that radiation poisoning would wreak upon the straggling survivors – would ensure recovery would likely take not just centuries. It would probably take thousands of years. Far more likely, however, our civilization would never recover. It would be largely erased from the planet and, eventually, from memory, too.

Instead, we would eventually see the birth of a new, savage and primitive civilization – one far smaller than ours in size and scope, probably almost completely lacking in technology, and filled with stunted, illiterate, sick people possessing nothing but legend-like memories of the mysterious people who came before them and who suddenly vanished in a violent, fiery, planet-wide Armageddon. Namely, us. And, with the progression of time, those memories would almost certainly fragment to the point where, eventually, we would become like the Atlanteans – nothing but the fabled inhabitants of a fantastically advanced society that most people believe to be little more than folklore and mythology. Tonnies also suggested that the cryptoterrestrials might make use of a great deal of subterfuge, camouflage and deception to try and ensure they appear far more in advance of us, when – in reality, today – they may not be struggling to hang onto their society and their ailing health.

Mac Tonnies also had a very interesting theory as to why our supposed aliens – who may well have been his cryptoterrestrials – constantly warn abductees and contactees that we should not destroy, or pollute, our planet. Let’s face it, why would extraterrestrials from countless light-years away care even in the slightest about our small, insignificant world, about what we decide to do with it, and about our massive atomic arsenals? A most reasonable argument could be made that they wouldn’t care. Why should they? If, however, some of them are actually cryptoterrestrials who – due to circumstances beyond both their and our control – are forced to secretly share the planet with us, then their need to see the Earth preserved wouldn’t just be a wish or a desire. It would, for their continued survival, be an overwhelming necessity – even if they dwell deep below the planet’s surface. They would be all too well aware of the terrible mistakes they made thousands of years ago.

Therefore, they would also know how important it would be to try and ensure we don’t follow their mistake-filled path. In that sense, their seeming concern for us is actually a concern for them. And, considering what they may have gone through in the distant past, they could hardly be blamed for that. Such theories are most assuredly not new ones: tales, stories, myths and legends of advanced, humanoid entities living deep below the planet’s surface have circulated not just for decades or hundreds of years, but for thousands of years. Of course, there’s nothing new about tales and theories of ancient “underground civilizations.” Mac Tonnies just brought the scenario to a new audience in a new era.

Going back through the centuries and embedded within the folklore of a wide range of regions is the idea of a species of demon in female form, which appear to seduce men and steal their life energy. Most commonly called the succubus, which comes from the Latin word succuba, meaning “paramour,” these demons take on various appearances and are endowed with different powers depending on the tradition, but most generally follow the idea that they use sexual activity to target their prey, often in the realm of dreams, enticing and pulling their victims in to hold close and feed off of. Sex demons of this variety are represented in one form or another across geographical boundaries and religions including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, as well as the legends of myriad far-flung cultures. Considering that it is men we are talking about here, many of the legends describe the experience as rather enjoyable in the heat of the moment, but the aftermath often is said to bring exhaustion, stupor, hallucinations, insanity, and even death, but this must surely be just myths, right? Surely there can’t be anything to the idea of sex-starved demons preying on men? Well, you might be surprised to know that there are numerous accounts throughout the centuries of supposed encounters with these demonic vixens.

Supposed encounters with real succubi go way back in time. An very early supposedly real account comes from the 11th century, when Gerbert of Aurillac, who became Pope Sylvester II (999-1003), one day met a mysterious woman as a young man. The woman called herself Meridiana, and offered him all of the sins of the flesh and lust-filled sex that he could ever want beyond his wildest dreams, as well as wealth, good fortune, and knowledge of the mystical arts, if he would only stay faithful to her and her alone. Gerbert would purportedly agree to these terms, and subsequently rose quickly up the ranks of the church, all while satisfying his every carnal desire with Meridiana, quite against his vows and all kept secret, of course. This went on until one day the woman predicted that Gerbert, who was by that time Pope, would die for his sins. He would repent and die just as predicted, and to this day it is said that his grave “sweats” just before the death of a Pope. Legend or not? Whatever it was, it is widely said that this mysterious woman was a succubus.

In the 17th century we have the tale of a man named Johannes Junius, who was the Burgomeister of Bamberg and convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake in 1628. Before his execution, he had confessed that in 1624 he had been seduced by a woman who revealed herself to be a succubus and demanded that he renounce God. The frightened man had then taken the name “Krix,” a warlock name, and had even been provided with his own familiar, and from then on he became further and further hopelessly involved with the world of witches and their sabbats, attending black masses and often reported as riding about on a horrific flying black dog. Through all of this he adamantly insisted that he had refused to sacrifice humans, despite being implored by his succubus lover to do so, but he paid for his ways nevertheless. It seems that the era was rife with accused witches blaming succubi for their actions, because this account is similar to a 16th century account recorded by author Nicholas Remy, who said that there had once been a sheep herder who had been accused of witchcraft and sentenced to die. Before he was burned he too claimed that he had been seduced and corrupted by a succubus disguised as a milkmaid, who had come to him in a dark time for him and twisted his mind and soul with her charms.

In later centuries there is an account from the 19th century, when a popular French author named J.K. Huysmans claimed that he had fallen under the spell of a succubus. At the time he had purportedly been on a pilgrimage to a monastery. One night during his retreat he apparently was visited in his dream by the foul demon, who pleasured him right to the point of intense climax before he woke up to see her fading away right before his eyes. Thinking it all to be a dream, he was soon convinced it was real when he discovered the form of the woman indented into his bed next to him and could smell her scent int the air. He believed at the time that the succubus had spirited away his semen in order to use to fertilize human women by the male form of the demon, the incubus. Reports like this have gone on all the way into much more modern times, such as one in 2007, with a commenter on Unexplained Mysteries, who says he was kept awake for 3 days straight by some seductive demonic force, after which things escalated quickly. He says:

I felt something touch my hand, not physically, but something deeper, down to my soul, and it warmed me while I was lying in bed wondering what was going to happen to me. I was completely awake, but another post could describe the world I saw. I remember most of what happened so vividly. Her touch was perfect, and her master in the art beyond my imagination. I couldn’t see her – I just felt sensations on my body and talked with her in my mind. She bid me to take her to a quiet place where my parents wouldn’t hear, so I went out to the car in the dark.

Things further progressed sexually, and my energies were absolutely phenomenal – she always did the perfect thing to keep me going. As things progressed, I could begin to see more of her. The one thing that caught my eyes the most were hers – when I looked into them, I saw the stars and the heavens and thought of the atoms and matter that make each one, but all of that was still not enough to justify the eyes. They pointed me to another world, and all of what I saw in them pointed to an innocent desire to make love. Her body was effervescent, it changed according to what would arouse me the most, and I could not see her breasts or private parts – they were numb to the eyes. It was her hair, body type, skin color, ethnicity that all changed. She would morph seamlessly, moment by moment.

Another prominent feature of the experience was her scent. It was incredibly intoxicating, like a sort of indescribable flower with intimate features. It reminded me of everything that is good and beautiful in the world, and it described what I saw in her eyes. All of her touch – it wasn’t so much physical as it was much, much deeper. The whole nature of the experience was so innocent. I felt no guilt, no darkness, no lust whatsoever. The focus was on pleasing her, and in turn she wished to please me. She would often giggle and I felt as though we were in the Garden of Eden, making love for the first time in all creation, and that God had given her such a magnificent gift of doing so – I didn’t believe that, but that’s the closest way my mind could describe it.

She brought me to a certain point where I felt I could go no further, never achieving climax yet during the experience. All of a sudden, she broke down crying, telling me that I would be going through a very hard time. Just then, I saw a vision and felt presences around me. I was reminded of Christ and his experiences leading up to his crucifixion with visual hallucinations, and I saw the spiritual side of what was happening to him. I asked her who she was, and she didn’t answer. I saw that she understood that she could not understand the pain that i had just witnessed. After 6 hours from her first touch, she worked me to an incredible climax.

In another report from 2010, a commenter on the same site says he was accosted by a succubus as he lay down to sleep one night. The witness says:

It was a night like any other. Before going to bed I usually meditate for 15-30 minutes, I do this to clear my mind so that I can get a good nights sleep. I had in the past tried to call a succubus, but always with questionable results. Nothing that would convince me that something really came. At this particular night in February 20010 I had made no special preparations. No spells or rituals. Just simple breath exercises and a blank mind.

It happened suddenly and without forewarning. My chest tightened. I felt as if I was jolted by electricity. A sensation that started in my chest and spread out to my abdomen. The sensation was so strong that at first I thought I was fiercely hugged. But I opened my eyes and saw nothing. I decided to lay down and relax. The next thing I felt was a gentle touch on both my legs which slid upwards. Not just a breeze but a real touch. I could feel fingers below my pajamas. My legs parted and felt as if they where floating on air.

The next thing I felt I can only describe as the most intense sexual feeling that I ever had. It was like a pulse vibrated throughout my own body. So strong that I actually moaned in ecstasy. And it did not stop. The feeling of hands over my body. The erotic spasms, and a pressure on my legs that felt as if someone was sitting on them. At the height of my pleasure I actually saw a very hazy shape over me. Although i could not see a distinct form, I could feel that it was female in nature.

I had often asked the question in the past “What is your name”. And I would get all kinds of names in my head. But I was always pretty sure that it was just my imagination. But when I asked that night, I got a clear name, so alien to the thoughts of my own mind that it was clear that it was not my own mind playing tricks. I remember going to bed at 10pm. The next thing I knew it was almost 2am. It felt like 10 minutes for me. This was my first real encounter with a “Succubus”, and I can say that my life forever changed after this first encounter.

Were these just some randy and very naughty dreams or something more? In around the same time period was another report relayed on Reddit, by a poster who says his mental and physical health had begun to take a turn for the worse. He was experiencing delusions of worthlessness and being driven to suicidal thoughts as a result, and one evening during this dark time he says he had a rather odd encounter. He says:

I was having a dream, semi-lucid or maybe just really vivid. a old friend was there, we or they were getting on a bus. For whatever reason I focus on this lady who was trying to get on the bus that’s when I wake up.
It’s gross even to think about but this entity, what i call the succubus, was trying to get back into my body, the dream triggered something or maybe the dream was a reflection of some subconscious action I took but the “reiki” weakened it’s grip on me and it was trying to get back in.

Purely by instinct I just concentrated on keeping this thing out and it was working and I just sat up in anger and this thing is cast away. I call it a succubus only because I feel like it was attached near my genitals, influenced/drove me sexually. It wasn’t much how it’s portrayed in popular media for me though in the dream I guess It was disguised as a women. Also it was a feminine entity whatever that means. I could draw a pic but it was about the size of a big cat, it’s silly but it’s lower body is how they portray ghost I guess like Casper but its upper half was more humanoid. So a ghost like tail and a humanoid head.

The humanoid part always creeps me out because this thing was sentient and fairly intelligent but still behaved like a parasite. And worse it was attached in me for a long time….a humanoid like being, ugh. So this is what I think. I was more promiscuous back then so I think I “caught it”. I’m one of those sensitive types so I think that’s why it was attracted to me. I think it was feeding on me for a long time and those leeches things were babies in a sort of way. It was all feed, reproduce, spread. I read online that these entities also “feed” on negative energies which is why it was driving me to kill myself like one of those parasites that affects ants and forces them to kill itself so it can feed, bloom and spread.

It does seem to feed into the lore of the succubus, with her feeding on negative energies and using sexual angle to do so. Is this a tall tale or what? In 2011 we have an account from a witness on the site Your Ghost Stories, who says this happened at his home in San Rafael, California. He had just broken up with his ex, and he had been left alone in that empty apartment they had once shared. One evening he says he was visited by something not wholly of this earth, of which he says:

I was just chilling in my room on Facebook when I felt a light tingling sensation on the back of my neck. I reached back and felt nothing there. I resumed what I was doing. About 5 minutes later, I felt a hand close gently on my shoulder. I felt secure. I closed my eyes. I heard a voice in my head saying that everything would get better. I asked it if it really meant it. As soon as the words had come out of my mouth, it kissed the back of my neck, and said that it would be there for me.

I closed my computer and turned to face whoever it was. What I saw next only cannot be described with mere words. It was like a goddess and a demon in one. I was speechless. It led me to my bed and had me lie down. I did as I was told. She then proceeded to lie down next to me and curl up in my arms. I kissed her head. She ran a hand down from my cheek to my chest and slowly lifted my shirt up and off. You can probably imagine what happened next. I then woke up and she was still there next to me. She whispered in my ear that she would come back and reveal who she was when the time came. Since then, I have not had any contact with her.

In 2012 there is also a witness named Ethan on ThoughtCo, who says this happened as he was living in Bakersfield, California. He says that this bizarre encounter happened one day after he had returned from school and tried to get ready for the homework that lie ahead. He lay down for a moment and ended up crashing out, but this was not meant to last. According to the report:

He fell asleep instantly but did not sleep soundly. He dreamt that an evil being was in his home and it was trying to get into his room. It finally broke in, and as soon as it did, Ethan jolted awake with a ringing sound in his ears. Ethan felt the demon; it was on the wall behind his head, holding Ethan’s limbs down. It had something in his ears, and his left ear began to vibrate violently. The strange sensation spread to his right ear, as well.

Ethan fought as best he could, but could not break free. He cursed at the being and tried to free his arms or legs. The demon only laughed at him, an eerie and horrific sound that was neither deep nor high-pitched. The demon cried out “soon!” and released Ethan. Ethan sat up rapidly, leaping out of the bed to turn on the lights. But when light flooded his bedroom, there was nothing out of the ordinary. However, Ethan’s dogs were acting abnormal, barking, leaping at the door and trying desperately to get to their owner.

He went to the bathroom and was startled to see his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot, with the whites of the eyes completely red. Ethan realized he had been visited by a succubus demon. Ethan remains terrified of the demon returning but has not had another incident ever since.

There are many more such reports, and it leaves us asking a question. Are these just legends born of men being horny and having suggestive thoughts or dreams, or is there something more to the whole succubus phenomenon? The main rational explanation for all of this is that it is legends based around a phenomenon known as “sleep paralysis,” in which we wake in a domain between sleep and wakefulness, where dreams can continue on and be perceived as being very real. Since we are kept in our paralytic sleep state we can feel as if we cannot move, and the dream figure can take on many forms depending on what we expect to see. This explanation has been used to try to explain away everything from ghost sightings to alien abductions, to of course succubi. Is that what we are dealing with here? Our sleepy mind playing tricks on us and invoking these illusions and hallucinations, perhaps in this case flavored with sexual frustration? It is unknown, but the fact is that the phenomenon of the succubus has been with us across cultures for hundreds of years, and shows no signs of waning.

Four teeth that were found in a cave in the Tongzi county of southern China don’t fit into the evolutionary family tree of humans. The teeth that are approximately 200,000-years-old were found on the Yanhui cave floor in 1972 and 1983. While they were originally labelled as belonging to Homo erectus, further testing indicated that the teeth didn’t exactly fit in with the ancient human ancestor. And that’s where the story ended, until now.

A new study published in the Journal of Human Evolutionexplains that modern technology was used to take a closer look at the ancient teeth. While the new research concluded that the teeth did not belong to Homo erectus or Neanderthals, the owner of the teeth remains unknown. “It’s strange. We don’t know where to put it,” said Song Xing from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, as well as one of the authors of the study.

The four teeth are just part of a larger number of discoveries found in China that don’t fit into the human evolutionary tree, suggesting that there may be more that’s still unknown about the evolution of humans and the ancient ancestors from that region.

María Martinón-Torres, who is the director of Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana in Spain, as well as another author of the study, said, “We always think of Africa as the ‘cradle of humankind.’ I would say it’s a cradle of probably one of the human kinds, which is Homo sapiens.” Since numerous species of humans walked the Earth at different times, the research being done in Asia is probably “crucial to understanding the whole picture.”

The research team compared the four teeth to both ancient and modern tooth samples from Africa, East and West Asia, and Europe. What they found was that the Tongzi teeth had both ancient and modern traits. More specifically, the dentine (tissue underneath the enamel) didn’t have the crinkles that were found in Homo erectus’ teeth, and were more similar to teeth from a Neanderthal. However, the features on the teeth didn’t fit them directly into either category. They could have possibly come from Denisovans, although more research needs to be conducted to know for sure.

It’s possible that the teeth may have come from a new species that was created when different evolutionary groups crossed paths. For example, last year, scientists discovered the remains of a teenager who had a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. The possibility is very real that Denisovan ancestors who were in Asia could have met up with the Homo erectusspecies and created a new offspring that produced the Tongzi teeth.

The Tongzi teeth aren’t the only thing that’s baffling scientists. Numerous Chinese fossils (including advanced features in teeth) that are between 360,000 and 100,000 years old don’t exactly fit into any of our human ancestors either.

There is also a complete skull that was found in Harbin, China. It had a face that’s older than a Neanderthal’s, but it’s still unclear as to where it belongs on the evolutionary tree, so it hasn’t yet been labelled to any human ancestor as of yet.

For now it’s still a guessing game as to what mysterious species produced the Tongzi teeth. Since the story of where we all came from is so complex, perhaps there are many more ancient ancestors that we don’t yet know about and that’s very exciting when learning about the evolution of humans.

In December 1980, on a country road near Houston, Texas, three people had a terrifying close encounter with a large, low-flying, diamond-shaped Unidentified Flying Object that was being pursued or escorted by a large fleet of military helicopters. What would become known as the Cash-Landrum incident stands today as one of the most compelling–and also confusing–UFO cases on record; a case that resulted in significant health problems for one of the witnesses and which eventually lead to a $20 million lawsuit against the US government.

One of the world’s leading experts on the Cash-Landrum case is Curt Collins, the author behind Blue Blurry Lines, a website focused on UFO mysteries, legends, and hoaxes. In 2015, Curt was on the investigative team that exposed the BeWitness “alien” photo fiasco, the Roswell Slides Research Group; his detailed accounting of this exposé was featured in my 2017 book UFOs: Reframing the Debate. More recently, Curt launched The Saucers That Time Forgot with Claude Falkstrom, focused on unearthing “tales that UFO history has overlooked or would rather forget.” Curt has spent many years retrospectively investigating the Cash-Landrum incident. Here, Curt separates the fact from the fiction as he talks to me about this fascinating yet hugely problematic case.

A depiction of the Cash-Landrum incident of December 1980. Inset: writer / investigator Curt Collins.

RG: Summarise the Cash-Landrum incident for us.

According to the story that surfaced, Betty Cash (52) and her friend Vickie Landrum (57) were out for a drive on the evening of December 29, 1980. Along with them was Vickie’s grandson, Colby Landrum, just shy of seven years old. The location was near Houston, Texas, on a two-lane country road in a sparsely populated area on the outskirts of the little town of Huffman. They rounded a bend and found a huge, blindingly bright, unidentified flying object hovering over the road. It intermittently emitted flames downward, and the witnesses were afraid and stopped. Betty stepped out of the car in attempt to get a better look at the object, but the other two quickly returned to the car. Shortly afterwards, the object lifted up and slowly flew away. The witnesses saw helicopters following it, and they had the impression they were military helicopters trying to surround the object, either to pursue it, or perhaps escort it. Once the aircraft had passed, they continued their drive home. Betty dropped Vickie and Colby off, and went home, where she went to bed with a terrible headache, which was the beginning of a lengthy illness that resulted in her hospitalization. Vickie and Colby also had flu-like symptoms and reported similar, but milder problems than Betty’s. None of them initially connected their illness with the UFO sighting, but, due to Betty’s lingering problems, came to suspect it may have been the cause.

Vickie Landrum (left) and Betty Cash.

RG: You’ve spent many years of your life researching the Cash-Landrum incident; what is it about this case in particular that you find so compelling? Why is it so significant?

CC: I was interested in the whole of UFO history, but drawn to focus the C-L story due to its reputation for being one of the best-documented and credible cases. The reported involvement of the military made me think that there must be further evidence to be uncovered, from declassified documents or perhaps from new witnesses such as retired helicopter pilots. However, as I dug in, I learned that the real events have been obscured by misinformation and rumors to the point that the real story has begun to vanish. A great stroke of luck was finding Christian Lambright who had independently interviewed Vickie Landrum twice in 1985, uncovering important differences in the witnesses account from the way ufologists were packaging the UFO story. This fueled my desire to dig beneath the mythology to find exactly what could be documented about the case.

Another artistic visualisation of the Cash-Landrum incident.

RG: Did the US government ever provide an official explanation for the incident?

CC: No. There has never been any tangible proof that there actually was an incident.

RG: Has it ever been satisfactorily determined what caused the witnesses to fall ill immediately following their sighting? What was the nature of their poisoning?

CC: Due to the way the events unfolded, we can’t be sure what happened. The UFO story did not surface until a month after Betty was first hospitalized, and it was about another month before any investigation began. Betty Cash’s illness was documented, but since the Landrums did not receive medical attention, there’s no evidence that they were affected by a UFO encounter. Betty had cardiac problems about two years before the events and underwent heart surgery and was taking medication, but was said to be healthy at the time. The cause of her problems was not determined, her doctors just described her ailments as alopecia areata and cellulitis. Betty’s hair loss and flu-like symptoms caused the physicians to check her for radiation exposure, but the results were negative.

The story as reported in Weekly World News, March 24, 1981.

RG: What was the official response to the sighting, from local authorities and from the military?

CC: It was over a month before the UFO incident was reported, and then it seems to have been informal. Vickie Landrum told her neighbor, Dayton Police Chief Tommy Waring, but the sighting had occurred out of his jurisdiction. He located a card with the phone number for the National UFO Reporting Center, and Vickie called them, which eventually led to news coverage and a civilian investigation. The military did not become involved until August 1981, after Betty Cash wrote to Texas senators, who advised her to file a complaint at Bergstrom Air Force Base near Austin, Texas. The witnesses were interviewed and given damage claims forms, and afterwards there was a brief investigation, but they found it improbable that such an event could occur undetected so close to Houston Intercontinental Airport by tower equipment, personnel or the pilots of the many aircraft in the area. In 1982 Representative Ron Wyden asked for an investigation into whether US aircraft had been involved in the incident. The Department of the Army Inspector General (DAIG) assigned Lt. Col. George Sarran the task of investigating, and, by all accounts, he did a thorough job. Sarran found the witnesses to be credible, yet found no indication to support their claims that any helicopters had been involved.

RG: What agency, if any, do you feel the helicopters belonged to? Indeed, did the helicopters exist at all?

CC: At one time, I was convinced the helicopters were part of the Army’s Task Force 158, training for a mission to rescue the American hostages in Iran. The timing, the equipment and the secrecy of the project are all tantalizing close matches, but ultimately it just doesn’t fit. After learning more about the requirements for equipment and personnel, the fleet of helicopters has become the most unbelievable aspect of the story, instead of its best lead.

Betty Cash experiencing hair loss following her UFO encounter.

RG: Why was the witnesses’ court case against the government dismissed?

CC: The lawsuit is a very unfortunate aspect of the case, and a true instance where the witnesses were victims. In my opinion, they were used as pawns by ufologists. Their absentee attorney Peter Gersten had been involved with several lawsuits to disclose UFO documents, and part of the things he asked for in interrogatories were to probe other UFO rumors. Based on Gersten’s statements, the lawsuit was at best a ploy, hoping the government would settle out of court. He stated that the chances of winning were “slim and none.” Judge Ross Sterling dismissed the case Aug. 21, 1986 without it going to trial due to lack of evidence. The complainants had failed to prove that US aircraft were involved in the incident or that it was responsible for causing the alleged injuries.

RG: How was the incident depicted in the media at the time, and to what extent, if any, did this contribute to any popular misconceptions about the case?

CC: The first coverage of the story was in the tabloid press, followed by local news, then national exposure on ABC’s Good Morning America. Some of the coverage was lurid and sensationalized things, but it stuck generally close to the events the witnesses described. The problem was that it received attention only because it was a UFO story, perhaps diminishing the chance for a proper investigation. Another thorny issue is that the witnesses originally each told a piece of the story from their own point of view, but the press presented a simplified narrative. It caused a feedback loop, and, before long, the witnesses were telling a homogenized version based on what they’d read about their own story. A related problem about the press coverage is that it produced a few additional alleged witnesses to a UFO or helicopters, but none of them had reported anything before the story was in the news. Those kind of witnesses are admissible evidence in ufology, but not something that would hold up in court.

More news coverage of the incident, showing Betty Cash’s dramatic hair loss.

RG: What role did the UFO research community play in investigating the Cash-Landrum incident; who were the key investigators; and to what extent have the efforts of UFOlogists helped to elucidate the complexities of this strange and disturbing case?

CC: Ufology got off to a bad start with the Cash-Landrum case, and it’s possibly a more complicated story than the UFO incident itself. The Aerial Research Phenomena Organization (APRO) had the first crack at things, but a rogue intercepted the report and sold it to the tabloids instead of investigating. Weeks later John F. Schuessler, the deputy director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), was contacted by Betty Cash, and he became the primary investigator for the case and became a “rabbi” for the witnesses, an advisor, confidante, their de facto press agent, and part of the story. Schuessler certainly seems to have had good intentions, but in trying to present the witnesses in the best light, did much to transform the story into a legend. Meanwhile, the dark side of ufology was on the rise, the nutty sinister conspiracy stuff that later made its way into The X-Files, and many of the players such as William Moore and Richard Doty tried to reframe the Cash-Landrum story to promote their own agenda.

RG: Does the Cash-Landrum incident have parallels with any other cases in UFOlogical history, and what, if anything, can we learn from these parallels?

CC: The helicopter involvement is different from most cases, but other incidents do have some strong similarities, and I have dug through UFO history looking for comparable events. A few recognizable ones are the 1957 Levelland Texas case, which had a gigantic bright UFO, and the next year at the Loch Raven Reservoir in Maryland there was a large glowing egg-shaped object reported to have left the witnesses with “sunburn.” Other cases match in ways, but the most worthy of mention are two other UFO injury cases. In 1967 Stefan Michalak encountered a landed flying saucer in at Falcon Lake in Manitoba, Canada, and it left him with mysterious burns and some lingering health problems. There’s also the 1979 close encounter of Deputy Sheriff Val Johnson, who was driving along a lonely Minnesota road at night, when he saw a blindingly brilliant UFO above the road ahead. Unlike the C-L case, he didn’t stop, and his vehicle collided with the (much smaller) UFO. The car was damaged, and he suffered injuries including “welder’s burns” to his eyes. As with all UFO cases, there’s probably some mistakes and hoaxes in the mix, but the witnesses to these type of cases don’t generally follow the pattern of behavior of attention-seeking phonies.

RG: Vicki Landrum interpreted the incident at the time as a divine event, remarking as she observed the UFO something to the effect of: “That’s Jesus. He will not hurt us.” Some scholars have suggested that UFOlogy, or the UFO subculture, has clear religious aspects. Do you see any parallels between the pursuit of UFOs and the pursuit of God?

CC: That quote comes from Vickie attempting to comfort her grandson, Colby, during encounter. In the C-L case, I don’t think religious beliefs play much of a role, beyond the fleeting first impression the witnesses had about what they described. The UFO culture absolutely has religious beliefs, but they predate saucers and reach back into mysticism and Theosophy. When UFOs became a big news story in 1947, these believers were the first promoters of the extraterrestrial origin. The Contactees of the 1950s were an offshoot of this, and, directly or indirectly, a lot of that message of god-like aliens has become a fundamental UFO belief. We should not waste time hoping for parents from space to come down and solve our problems.

RG: Is there any more to be learned about the Cash-Landrum case in 2019 and beyond, or will the mystery remain unsolved?

CC: I have been surprised as more information has surfaced over the years from government documents to researchers’ archived files and correspondence, and there’s probably more to come. New information frequently requires a review of what you thought you knew about something, and, sometimes, it’s a challenge to discard beliefs built on bad information and falsehoods. We may never know exactly what happened on that Texas roadway the night of Dec. 29, 1980, but it’s a fascinating UFO puzzle, and demonstrates the worth of finding the facts beneath the fiction.

• For more of Curt Collins’ work, especially on the Cash-Landrum case, visit his website, Blue Blurry Lines.

Those who complain about UFO pictures being blurry and too far away to identify can’t say those things about a set of photos taken by two men in the Macedon ranges of Victoria. The photos and selfies are right up on top of what they claim is UFO wreckage and everything, including their can of beer, is clearly visible. What’s cloudy now is what exactly it might be.

“One of them sent me these pictures of their friends who were out on motor bikes in the Macedon ranges where they came upon a crashed UFO. They took some pictures that I am sending to you.”

‘You’ in this case is MUFON and the case is #99500, which can be viewed on the UFO Stalker website. Obviously, the report is not by the actual witnesses/photographers and it was submitted two years after the alleged discovery.

“They called some friends and told them they would come and pick them up to show them the object. When they returned a few hours later the site had been cleaned and there was no remains of the object. There was some police barrier tape but everything else was gone. They did take some pictures with their phones before and after.”

Mount Macedon

The MUFON post was picked up by intrepid UFO watchers TexasUFOs, who uploaded the pictures to their website and social media pages, where skeptics centered on the idea that the alleged debris looked like it was from a movie set. That’s entirely possible, since Mount Macedon (the name of the town and the mountain it sits at the foot of) has been used by some film crews – most notably for scenes in the 2009 sci-fi film “Knowing,” the 2010 horror film “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” and the 2009 fantasy “Where the Wild Things Are.” However, those scenes were shot four years before the alleged UFO wreckage was discovered – enough time for it to deteriorate (movie sets aren’t made to last) or be vandalized.

Do These Photos Show a Crashed UFO in Australia?

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The Macedon is also just a few kilometers from the location of Hanging Rock, the famous geological formation that has strong spiritual and cultural significance to the Dja Dja Wurrung, Woi Wurrung and Taungurung tribes. This mamelon rock formation was formed by volcanic magma cooling in place rather than flowing, and the unique configurations this created include the Hanging Rock (a boulder suspended between other boulders, the Colonnade, the Eagle, a number of pareidolic faces on rocks and the … here it comes … UFO! (You can see the formations here.)

Strange things happened when Picnic at Hanging Rock producer Pat Lovell visited the actual rock in Victoria.

Picture: AlamySource:Supplied

One of the ‘faces’ among the formations at Hanging Rock which rises up from the plains northwest of Melbourne.

Picture: tripadvisor.com.au.Source:Supplied

Of course, any reference to Hanging Rock brings up “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” the 1975 Peter Weir movie based on the book of the same name. Both center around the unsolved mysterious disappearance of three young girls on Valentine’s Day in 1900 that some believe could have been due to a UFO abduction or mysterious powers emanating from Hanging Rock. Some people have even reported seeing the ghosts of the girls in the area. What most forget because of the realistic style of both is that the book is a novel and not based on any historical event.

Yes, the movie was filmed at and around Hanging Rock, which brings us back to the UFO wreckage report and photographs. Texas UFOs found a video that leads them to consider it was from a TV series, but there’s no concrete proof that it’s a TV prop either.

Then there’s the “police barrier tape.” That’s the strangest part of this report. Why would the police be called out to remove an old movie set, and why would they cordon off the area with yellow tape? It doesn’t sound like the stuff was from a movie … or a picnic … or a picnic movie. Any ideas?

Whatever it was, this sounds like a great plot for a new movie in a beautiful location that’s cheaper for shooting than Hollywood. Wait a minute … could it be a cheaper location for alien movie crews too?

The next flying saucer you see may not be a UFO – it could be an ADFIO, especially if you’re currently living in Romania. That’s where an inventor has created a real flying disc with all of the capabilities you would expect in a flying saucer … except for the aliens. He’s built a prototype, won an award and is pitching it to anyone who will listen in the hopes of raising the capital to build a commercial, military or private vehicle soon. Oh … ADFIO stands for All-Directional Flying Object. Is that one hovering above you?

“The Romanian inventor has stated that his device is unique in the world by the fact that it can evolve in any direction with the same aerodynamic characteristics and can fly just as well in subsonic or supersonic regime.”

Romanian engineer Razvan Sabie hasn’t just stated … he’s demonstrated his ADFIO, albeit at subsonic speeds and in a smaller electric platform, to Romanian media. But many of the capabilities are already in the prototype, as can be seen in the new video he’s released. (Watch it here.) The disc is a classic flying saucer shape, looking like two saucers glued top-to-top but tapered to a razor edge for aerodynamics in horizontal flight, which is currently provided by two fans that operate independently and will eventually be replaced with supersonic jet engines. Vertical-takeoff-and-landings and subsonic all-direction maneuvers are provided by surface fans on the top and the bottom. These fans rotate to give the craft a true flying saucer spin and can be retracted, as can the landing gear, to eliminate drag.

How many does it seat?

“It’s the only one bi-directional airfoil known and functional. The possibility to reach much easier supersonic speeds (for a normal airplane the drag coefficient increases 7-8 times during the transonic flight, respect to maximum two times for this aircraft), combined with the hypermaneuvrability can offer you a picture regarding the potential of this aircraft.”

While the ADFIO could be described as a round wing or two dolphin-tail foils glued together, Sabie points out that the ability to change directions puts it far ahead of today’s triangular flying wings. In addition, the minimal drag during acceleration is expected to reduce or eliminate sonic booms.

Buh-bye

But wait … there’s more!

While not demonstrated in the video, the ADFIO will be able to do all of these maneuvers upside down as well, without the need for separate wings, ailerons, rudders or flaps.

How much and when can I get one?

Ah, there’s the catch. The 1.2-meter (3.9 feet) diameter prototype was built to both demonstrate capabilities and find investors. It’s obviously not ready for supersonic flight and not big enough for pilots, although there’s no doubt an autonomous version will be built. As of now, no dates or prices have been released.

Nonetheless … the All-DIrectional Flying Object is WAY cool.

Egyptian archaeologists uncovered an ancient stone coffin located in a cemetery that’s 5,000-year-old. The discovery was made at Quesna Cemetery in the Nile Delta region which is north of Cairo. What’s so peculiar about the finding is that the two poorly conditioned mummies that were inside of the coffin were lying on top of each other and covered with gold chips. The limestone coffin measured 6.5 feet long by 23 inches wide.

Dr. Ayman Ashmawy, who is the head of the Egyptian Antiquities Department at the ministry, stated that the part of the Quesna Cemetery that was uncovered during the archaeological mission dates back to 3100 B.C. up to the Ptolemaic period.

The Ptolemaic period, which began not long after Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C., ended in 30 B.C. because of the Roman conquest as well as the death of Cleopatra.

Satellite image of the Nile Delta

There were other discoveries found in that area, including lanterns, pieces of ceramic, fragments of bronze nails, a bronze coin that dates back to the Ptolemaic period, and three heads of statues that represented Horus who was the Egyptian falcon god.

Mostafa Waziri, who is the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the coffin had been moved to the antiquities warehouse that’s located in Kafr al-Sheikh.

The Quesna Cemetery has been around since the reign of King Narmer who is said to have unified Upper and Lower Egypt, meaning that he was the first ever ruler of the unified country.

Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities has been attempting to make the archaeological work public in order to try to get more people to visit the country, as Egypt’s tourism has diminished since its 2011 revolution as well as their long period of instability.

Pyramids of Giza

Just last month, the Egyptian government announced that they had discovered an ancient village that dates back 2,500 years before the Pyramids of Giza were even built. In fact, the Neolithic village that was uncovered in the Nile Delta area of Tell el-Samara is one of the oldest settlements that have ever been excavated in Egypt. The archaeological team uncovered the remains of plants and animal bones, as well as stone tools and pottery which indicate that humans lived there.

Click here to see pictures of the discovered artifacts as well as the limestone coffin.