The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
14-12-2024
Uri Geller says drone sightings are UFOs 'warning' Earth with 'show of power and superior tech'
Uri Geller says drone sightings are UFOs 'warning' Earth with 'show of power and superior tech'
The self-proclaimed psychic claimed that the 'drones' being sighted near airbases around the world are not 'man made' but instead another force wanting to 'show off'
Psychic Uri Geller has hit out at claims that 'drones' are visiting airbases
(Image: NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Celebrity psychic Uri Geller has claimed that recent 'drone' sightings near airbases are "not man-made" but instead a warning from UFOs with technology outside of our understanding.
Geller claimed the UFOs "want to be seen" in a series of social media posts, also speculating that the repeated sightings were a "warning".
There have been a number of reports of flying crafts with strange lights spotted near US airbases - in New Jersey, Germany and RAF Lakenheath in the UK. The 77-year-old illusionist claims we're in the midst of the "the biggest cover up since Roswell" by blaming "drones" for the sightings.
Uri's extra terrestrial assertions are supported by TV psychic Deborah Davies, who predictedaliens will soon visitus as they will no longer fear us. After one US Senator claimed Iran could be behind the mysterious sightings, Uri took to X to set out his views.
Could UFOs be responsible instead?
(Image: Getty Images)
He said: "Trying to blame these sightings on Iran – and claiming they come from an Iranian “mothership” - has to be one of the most ridiculous cover stories since the infamous ROSWELL incident, when the US government claimed that the UFO debris they had retrieved was nothing more than the remains of a weather balloon!!
"If these are really just 'drones' then why does the US military appear to be completely POWERLESS to stop them, as they blatantly and persistently infiltrate their air space – and WHY are they able to fly without any consequence, day after day, over incredibly strategically sensitive locations?
Mysterious sightings have been made around the world
"It is obvious that these craft are NOT making any attempt to hide or go 'under the radar' – in fact, their intention seems to be precisely the opposite. They appear to want to be seen, witnessed and blatantly noticed!
"They are not SPYING in any sense of the word – they are instead putting on a very public 'show' and demonstrating their ability to continually and easily observe and infiltrate US military bases – and evade and outmanoeuvre any effort to deter them.
"Friends – This is a SHOW OF POWER! A warning, if you like, that whoever is operating these craft possess far superior technology to us and can easily ignore all of our 'rules'.
"It is clear that they WANT to be seen, and I believe they are going to make their presence more and more undeniable.
"So, friends, I ask you: Do you believe - as I know some do – that we are we witnessing a secret military, mad-made program? Or do you, like me, believe that these craft are actually 'showing off' their capabilities and presenting a 'warning' to us, because they are worried or concerned about what we are doing?"
Alien Implants: Unveiling the Mysteries of Extraterrestrial Tracking Devices
Alien Implants: Unveiling the Mysteries of Extraterrestrial Tracking Devices
The phenomenon of alien implants has intrigued and baffled researchers for decades. Art Bell’s classic interview with Dr. Roger Leir offers a fascinating deep dive into this mysterious subject, blending anecdotal accounts, scientific findings, and thought-provoking questions about extraterrestrial contact. Dr. Leir, a renowned podiatric surgeon and ufologist, devoted much of his career to studying and surgically removing foreign objects found in individuals who report experiences of alien abduction.
What Are Alien Implants?
Alien implants are mysterious objects discovered in human bodies without any discernible entry point or medical explanation. Dr. Leir suggests these could be devices implanted by extraterrestrials for purposes yet to be understood. According to his research, these objects may serve as tracking devices or tools for monitoring human biology. The lack of inflammatory or rejection responses from the body, which typically occur with foreign materials, makes these implants particularly unusual.
How Did Dr. Leir Begin His Journey?
Dr. Leir’s path to ufology is as unconventional as the phenomenon he studied. A pivotal moment during his youth—a newspaper headline about the U.S. Army Air Force allegedly capturing a flying saucer—sparked his lifelong curiosity about extraterrestrial life. Despite his medical background as a podiatrist, he found himself drawn to investigating claims of alien encounters, eventually focusing on surgically removing and analyzing alleged implants.
The Process of Identifying and Removing Implants
Dr. Leir emphasized a rigorous scientific approach when identifying and removing potential alien implants. Patients would first need to provide radiological evidence, such as X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs, showing the presence of a foreign object. Only then would surgery be considered. Dr. Leir conducted twelve surgeries and removed eleven objects, each with its own set of peculiarities.
Anomalous Findings
Several striking characteristics of the implants stood out during analysis:
Biological Anomalies:
The implants were encased in unusual membranes not typically seen in the human body. These membranes contained protein coagulum, keratin, and hemosin—an iron-binding pigment similar to hemoglobin. This combination has no known natural precedent in medical literature.
Physical Properties:
Many of the implants exhibited magnetic properties and emitted radio frequencies, including one specific signal at 30.01 MHz. When removed, these objects ceased transmitting.
Non-Terrestrial Materials:
Laboratory analyses at institutions like Los Alamos and New Mexico Tech revealed that the objects contained elements and structures not commonly found on Earth. For instance, some implants displayed amorphous iron, a form of iron with no crystalline structure, which remains a scientific enigma.
Stories from the Field
Dr. Leir shared numerous accounts of individuals who claimed to have been abducted and implanted with these objects. One particularly eerie case involved a moving implant. A woman discovered a marble-sized lump in her arm, which would shift positions when touched and even appeared to follow the movement of a finger. Such phenomena left even seasoned researchers like Dr. Leir perplexed.
The Broader Implications
The implications of alien implants extend beyond the individuals directly affected. If these objects are indeed extraterrestrial in origin, they could represent tangible evidence of contact with non-human intelligences. Dr. Leir envisioned the establishment of a dedicated research institute to rigorously study such phenomena, bridging the gap between anecdotal claims and scientific validation.
Art Bell’s Contribution
Art Bell’s role in amplifying these discussions cannot be overstated. Through his show, Coast to Coast AM, he provided a platform for unconventional topics, encouraging listeners to explore the unknown. His engaging interviews with Dr. Leir brought the topic of alien implants into the public consciousness, fostering curiosity and debate.
VIDEO:
Alien Implants Tag and Trace | Art Bell Classic
The study of alien implants, as explored by Dr. Roger Leir and articulated through Art Bell’s compelling interviews, challenges conventional notions of reality. These mysterious objects and their potential extraterrestrial origins raise profound questions about human biology, the universe, and our place within it. While much remains unknown, the work of pioneers like Dr. Leir and broadcasters like Art Bell continues to inspire exploration at the intersection of science and the paranormal.
VIDEOS
Strange Miniature Devices Are Found in Human Beings Worldwide ! ALIEN Implants ?
Top 8 ALIEN ARTIFACTS of ALL TIME | The Proof Is Out There
Alien Implant | Full Movie | Sci-Fi Horror | Alien Abduction
Is the remote viewing real? The subject is very controversial for scientists to study but James H. Lee, an award-winning financial advisor suggested that it has the potential to make a meaningful contribution to the professional futurist′s toolbox. This particular technique is well-discussed in the declassified CIA files where psychic abilities were used to spy on Soviet Russia and track down its military activities under Project Stargate.
RV was real, CIA admitted it
The first test of the project was conducted in the 1970s at the US Army base in Maryland. Basically, this highly classified project was about the mind-reading of the enemies, so the CIA started recruiting people who claimed to “have powers of extrasensory perception (ESP) to help uncover military and domestic intelligence secrets.” (Source)
In the CIA declassified file, it was detailed how Uri Geller could replicate things drawn by a researcher in another sealed room. As the US government was getting benefits from this program, they continued funding it.
In one experiment for the CIA, Geller replicate images drawn by a researcher, sitting in another sealed room.
Uri Geller replicated images drawn by a researcher
One of the remote viewers named Angela Dellafiora Ford revealed her physics powers on the CBS News program “48 Hours.” In 1989, she was asked by the army to psychically track down the location of one man. She located the man in Lowell, Wyoming, and then he was arrested 100 miles west of a Wyoming town called Lovell.
In 2021, John Greenewald, Jr.’s Blackvault published approximately 2,700 pages of the declassified documents provided by the CIA, involving UAP/UFO information. One document that staggered ET hunters was about Mars.
The document titled “Mars Exploration May 22, 1984,” basically centers around a subject that made use of astral projection which helped him observe ancient alien life on Mars. In this document, there is a transcript, where a subject named Joseph McMoneagle, a retired US Army veteran was given an envelope prior to the interview and asked not to open it until the interview ended. According to the CIA’s own documents, the unnamed psychic described “The planet Mars. Time of interest approximately 1 million years B.C.” (Source)
He claimed to identify that he saw pyramid-like structures on the Red Planet. The subject also added that he witnessed alien life forms on the Martian surface.
[Subject]: I’m seeing, ah… It’s like a perception of a shadow of people, very tall… thin, it’s only a shadow. It’s as if they were there and they’re not, not there anymore. [Monitor]: Go back to a period of time where they are there. Sub: Um… (mumble) It’s like I get a lot of static on a line and everything, it’s breaking up all the time, very fragmentary pieces. Mon: Just report the data, don’t try to put things together, just report the raw data. Sub: I just keep seeing very large people. They appear thin and tall, but they’re very large. Ah… wearing some kind of strange clothes.
According to the date specified in the “Mars Exploration” memo, it was approved to be published only in 2000 although it was recorded in 1984, and McMoneagle was the only remote viewer to be working at that time. He wrote in his book “Mind Trek” about a similar incident mentioned in that memo.
Jacob Brogan, an assistant editor at the Washington Post tracked down and called McMoneagle. According to Brogan, McMoneagle told him that the request to visit Mars was not made by the CIA but by some unknown army person to him. (Source)
“Neither of us knew what we were working on. Our assumption at the time was that I was working on targets on Earth. I was not familiar with any pyramids on Earth that had such large rooms,” McMoneagle told him.
McMoneagle was confused why he had been asked by the army to explore Mars. He had no clue. He remembered one more incident when he was asked to examine the UFO. “The problem that I have with targeting UFOs and Mars and things like that is that there’s no real way to
In an interview with Richard Thieme, a founder of ThiemeWorks, McMoneagle shared his experience on Project Stargate, UFOs, and ETs. He shared his encounter with the UFO in 1966, in which he got a radiation burn.
Richard Thieme asked him: “Is it all one thing, though? These are complex psychological processes – and you were burned physically in 1966. Is it all one thing? Do scriptural texts of folk documents about people encountering entities – can we connect that experience with an experience of the lights going on at night and you seeing a physical craft?”
McMoneagle replied: “I did a remote viewing in early 1980s, 82 or 83, where a UFO target was mixed in with other targets, so I had no idea it was a UFO target.” Over the years, as McMoneagle said, he was involved in about 450 missions. One of his favorites was in 1980 when CIA personnel captured a suspected KGB agent in South Africa. They wanted to know how the agent was communicating with the Soviet military. They put an envelope on McMoneagle’s desk, and without knowing anything of the man, McMoneagle told the CIA that the man liked to use a small pocket calculator. The calculator turned out to be a disguised short-wave radio. He retired from the Army in 1984 but continued to work as a Stargate consultant.
According to the date specified in the “Mars Exploration” memo, it was approved to be published only in 2000 although it was recorded in 1984, and McMoneagle was the only remote viewer to be working that time. He wrote in his book “Mind Trek” about the similar incident mentioned in that memo.
CIA Interdimensional Experiemnt
Robert Monroe (1915 –1995), another RV that had a striking history of remote viewing was probably the first RV hired by the CIA. One day in 1978, the CIA representatives contacted him. They wanted to implement his mind-expanding practice in attempt of sending soldiers into deep remote viewing sessions. Given Monroe’s extensive background and various patented applications, he was the perfect choice for this trailblazing operation. Hoping to obtain further credibility in the study of paranormal phenomena, he agreed to join them. (Source)
Since those involved were opening portals to other dimensions, researchers aptly named the assignment Gateway Process. According to declassified files, the program is “a training system designed to bring enhanced strength, focus and coherence to the amplitude and frequency of brainwave output between the left and right hemispheres so as to alter consciousness, moving it outside the physical sphere so as to ultimately escape even the restrictions of time and space. (Source)
The participant then gains access to the various levels of intuitive knowledge the universe offers.” Discoveries listed in Commander Wayne M. McDonnell’s final analysis paper included detailed information about the nature of reality. Investigators ascertained we live in a holographic universe and waking life is a projected electromagnetic matrix.
To enter the unearthly realms, headphone-donning voyagers sat in isolated darkness while listening to various tones at specific hertz. The participants had no contact or communication with one another. After their journey was finished, the volunteers would report what they experienced with staff members.
According to Robert, subjects would often encounter interdimensional entities. Most frequently, they witnessed reptilian humanoids. The viewers referred to the uncanny creatures as “the alligators” due to their crocodilian features. Curiously, Monroe was already quite familiar with the unsettling breed. During countless expeditions, he observed identical saurian creatures. For over thirty-five years, the etheric investigator gathered insight about these startling beings.
Ancient Aliens: Mars Rover Captures Evidence of Lost Civilization?! (Special)
Has there ever been life on Mars? | The Royal Society
Reports of mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey appear to have now spread to multiple US states and foreign countries, as residents and local officials demand answers from the US Government.
Numerous 'car-sized' drones have been seen hovering throughout the state since mid-November, sometimes appearing in groups and often remaining in the same place for hours at a time.
The FBI and other agencies are investigating, but the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday: 'We have no more information as to where these drones are coming from, where they're launching from, where they're landing.'
22:29
Drones spotted in Essex County, NJ - Newark Airport to shut down if one enters its airspace
'Swarms' of drones how now been reported in Essex County, New Jersey, home to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).
The airport will be shut down if a drone is spotted in its airspace, authorities said.
Officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey say the Federal Aviation Administration, which controls the airspace over airports, would likely issue an immediate order to stop planes from taking off and landing.
'If we’ve got a drone, we’d have to assess and shut the whole airport down,' Greg Ehrie, the chief security officer of the bi-state authority, told the New Jersey Globe.
EWR is one of the busiest airports in the US, especially during the holiday season. In 2023, the airport handled around 49.1 million passengers.
22:10
Social media users react to New Jersey drone sightings
Memes about the unfolding mystery are being shared widely on social media sites like X.
21:59
Governor Kathy Hochul launches investigation into drone sightings in NY
As drone sightings have surfaced in Orange County, New York and parts of New York City, state Governor Kathy Hochul said Friday that she was investigating the matter with federal law enforcement agencies.
'We know New Yorkers have spotted drones in the air this week & we are investigating. At this time, there’s no evidence that these drones pose a public safety or national security threat,' Hochul said in a statement posted on X.
21:44
Drone experts rule out US government experiment
While some have suggested the mysterious drone sightings may be connected to a classified program of the US government, drone experts are skeptical of that explanation.
'I find it hard to believe,' Brett Velicovich, Fox News contributor and CEO of Expert Drones, told the news site.
'Maybe it started that way, and now people think everything they see is a drone... I’ve seen a lot of images that look like planes.'
But, 'Until something is found, it’s really difficult to say,' he said. 'We haven’t seen any clear images.'
He added that when he worked on classified drone projects, the protocol was always to inform local police, and drone testing is rarely done in densely populated areas.
'There's a reason why we test stuff in Area 51 or all these remote locations, so that you don't have to cause public hysteria,' he said.
'And then when we would test stuff in cities, we would always, whenever we do secret exercises in cities, we would always inform the local police.'
Stacie Pettyjohn, drone expert with the Center for New American Security, agreed.
They would be doing it on a military base or a testing facility. And you know, they're not overflying sort of sensitive industrial locations, like they have been in New Jersey,' she said.
The Iranian 'mothership' Republicans have suggested may be linked to the New Jersey drone sightings is mysteriously missing from its port in the Persian Gulf, sattelite images show.
The Shahid Bagheri drone carrier was last seen at its berth in the Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex on November 12, but an image taken 18 days later showed its docking station empty.
That is around the same time New Jersey police started to be inundated with sightings of drones in the skies, flying in clusters and acting strangely.
New Jersey Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew claimed this week there was 'circumstantial evidence’ that Iran's ship was releasing the drones from America's East Coast.
Van Drew said that Iran made a deal with China 'to purchase drones, a mothership and other technologies' for the drone attack on the US, a theory the Pentagon has dismissed.
Drew doubled down on his claims Thursday, saying 'credible individuals that have security clearance... believe there's a real possibility it could be Iran.'
He also argued that the US is not being told the truth and the American public are being treated as 'stupid.'
20:24
Drone crash sparks emergency response with authorities wearing hazmat suits
Police officers conducted an overnight search for a reported drone crash in Hillsborough.
An unnamed resident called authorities at 8:34pm ET, saying a craft went down in a nearby field outside of a Lowe's.
The search began at 7:30am Friday, with police, firefighters and other emergency personnel piling into a nearby parking lot.
Somerset County Hazmat conducted a foot search of the area, which came up empty.
Police Aviation Unit searched the area from the air and on foot, finding nothing.
A British intelligence chief has warned Russian spies could soon launch a fresh wave of drones at military HQs across the UK in a bid to cause mayhem - amid alarm over sightings worldwide.
Last month saw a mysterious swarm of drones targeting three air bases used by the US Air Force in the UK, triggering a scramble by British troops and police.
The unmanned aerial vehicles - or UAVs - were seen hovering over RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk, over several days, in a what defence sources described as a 'coordinated' operation.
Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence Colonel, said the sightings had 'all the hallmarks' of an operation by Russia's secretive GRU spy agency.
'It's a distinct possibility if not a certain probability this is all down to Russian intelligence,' he said. 'They and the GRU are just a bunch of petulant little boys. They're trying to suggest they have the ability to disrupt and influence through a level of nuisance action.'
He added: 'I would say we will see another flurry of activity in the next few months for sure. Whether drones or something else, I suspect something else.'
At this time, there is no evidence to suggest the UK drone activity is related to those in US states.
19:42
NJ mayor instructs fire department to 'wear hazmat suits' if drone falls
Mayor Michael Melham of Belleville, New Jersey, told Fox News that his fire department 'has been instructed to make sure they wear hazmat suits' if an unidentified drone falls to Earth.
Speaking to Fox News' Harris Falkner on Friday, Melham said he and his Office of Emergency Management (OEM) team had just received a briefing from state officials.
'On the way here I was on the phone with my OEM team, and we now have guidance coming from the state,' Melham said.
'And that guidance does say two different things: First of all, if there is a downed drone in our vicinity, we are immediately to call the bomb squad of our county.
'And second, our fire department has been instructed to make sure they wear hazmat suits.'
Faulkner asked Melham: 'If something falls out of the sky that people have seen and some of these things are as big as an SUV, If that happens, you’re to treat this more than a plane crash? You’re to treat this like an attack on the homeland?'
'That is correct,' Melham replied, 'because they are not sure if there’s a payload or not. And, that’s what we were told during our briefing on Wednesday.'
19:18
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson receives classified briefing on drone invasion
Senior Congressional Correspondent for Fox News Chad Pergram stated in an X post that Rep. Mike Johnson 'received a classified briefing on the drone incursions in the Northeast' Friday.
'We reported yesterday that Johnson said he expected to be briefed,' he added.
The Louisiana Republican referred to the situation as a 'quandary' when speaking to Pergram on Thursday.
19:11
NJ Senator Andy Kim shares video of drones over Round Valley Reservoir
New Jersey Senator Andy Kim took to X to share video he captured of multiple drones flying over Round Valley Reservoir Hunterdon County, New Jersey on Thursday evening.
18:52
Multiple drones entered airspace at NJ naval station
'Multiple' drones have entered the airspace at Naval Weapons Station Earle, a Navy weapons station located in Colts Neck, New Jersey, officials confirmed Friday.
Representatives for the station said it was 'aware' of the sightings in the region and 'continues to closely coordinate with federal and state agencies to ensure the safety of our personnel and operations.'
'While no direct threats to the installation have been identified, we can confirm multiple instances of unidentified drones entering the airspace above Naval Weapons Station Earle,' Bill Addison, public affairs officer for the naval station, said in a statement to ABC News.
'The base remains prepared to respond to any potential risks, leveraging robust security measures and advanced detection capabilities.'
But officials did not confirm exactly when these incedents occurred.
18:40
US military confirms new drone sightings at air base in Germany
Drones were spotted flying over the U.S. air base at Ramstein in Germany in early December, a spokesperson for the U.S. Air Force said on Friday.
There were 'no impacts to base residents, facilities, or assets,' the spokesperson said. 'In concert with host nation authorities, we continue to monitor the airspace to ensure safety and security of the community.
A security source told Reuters that German authorities had not traced the operators of the drones, but had ruled out the possibility that the drones were operated by amateurs.
The drone sightings over Ramstein were first reported by German news magazine Spiegel, which said a report by German security authorities had flagged a number of unexplained drone sightings over the base in the evening hours of Dec. 3 and 4.
Spiegel said drones were also sighted over locations belonging to German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall and chemicals group BASF.
18:21
New Jersey residents ready to shoot
New Jersians are threatening to take matters into their own hands if the deferal government does not do something about the mysterious drone activity plaguing their state.
James Ward, a Jersey Shore realtor, shared a video on Facebook that he said showed 'SUV-size drones' above Island Beach State Park taken Sunday.
The clip showed multiple other lights hovering in the sky.
'A good shotgun will fix that problem,' one commenter replied.
'Why hasn't anyone shot one down to look for a serial number to trace it back to the operator?' another wrote. 'I would think that could provide a clue.'
'Semi auto 3 inch magnum 00 buck full choke!' yet another replied.
According to the FAA, shooting down a drone is illegal under the same federal law prohibiting the sabotage of any other aircraft.
18:08
Gov. Larry Hogan shares video of dozens of large drones he 'personally witnessed'
Former Governor of Maralynd Larry Hogan took to X to share video of what he called 'dozens of large drones' flying above his home Thursday evening.
'Last night, beginning at around 9:45 pm, I personally witnessed (and videoed) what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky above my residence in Davidsonville, Maryland (25 miles from our nation’s capital),' he wrote.
'I observed the activity for approximately 45 minutes.'
Recent video claims to show drone 'falling out of the sky' over New Jersey
A video posted on Facebook around 12am Friday claims to show a drone burning up as it falls out of the sky over an unnamed location in New Jersey.
On social media, people reported 911 calls related to a 'drone down' incident that occurred around 9pm Friday evening in a backyard in Penquannock, New Jersey.
It is unclear whether the video is related to the Penquannock incident.
On Wednesday, right-wing influencer and member of President-elect Trump's inner circle posted a cheeky reaction to the Pentagon's statements about the unexplained drone activity.
Georgia State Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) slammed the Pentagon's statements that the drones are not operated by a foreign entity and pose no threat to the public in an X post on Thursday.
'Well, number one, I'm gonna call it total bull**** that no one knows what these are,' she said in a video included in the post.
'I think it's a slap in the face to the American people to say that they don't know what this is.'
New Jersey residents are threatening to take matters into their own hands by shooting the drones down.
17:03
Police scanner reports drone crash in Morris County, NJ
Police scanner reports in Morris County, New Jersey, stated that one of the mysterious drones crashed landed in the area Friday morning.
In the scanner report released on social media, one officer described a 911 response in which someone called in a drone crash near their house, adding that 10 additional drones appeared near the scene of the crash.
'It was a crash, a crash. A drone fell out of the sky by the powerlines behind their house, and then 10 more showed up,' the officer said.
The Pequannock Township Police Department, Morris County Sheriff’s Office, and Morris County Prosecutor’s Office investigated and determined the device was a hobby or toy drone, not a commercial or military-grade model, according to a statement from police.
16:38
NJ resident shares time lapse video of drone flights
X user Jayroo shared a timelapse video of drones flying over New Jersey on a recent night.
The White House provided an odd response to a string of reported drone sightings over New Jersey.
White House National Security spokesman John Kirby was pressed about a lawmaker's claim the drones could be from an 'Iranian mothership.'
But Kirby said they're not foreign, and they may not even be drones.
'We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus,' Kirby told reporters Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI reiterated Kirby's statements in a joint release Thursday saying that there is no national security risk.
'We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus,' the statement reads.
But New Jersey State Representative Paul Kanitra (R) questioned this.
'That goes directly against what the federal Department of Homeland Security told us in the briefing Wednesday,' said Kanitra. I couldn’t possibly understand what their motivation is to try and diminish this.'
New Jersey Assemblymember Brian Bergen (R) also hit back at Kirby's claims.
'That guy is an idiot. That I can tell you right now,' Bergen, a former US Army helicopter pilot, said Thursday evening in an interview on Fox News.
Retired police lieutenant and intelligence analyst Tim McMillan told DailyMail.com that the descriptions of the drones in New Jersey 'sound exactly like Russian Orlan-10 drones' — secretive craft that fly in packs of three to five.
What's more, he said the recent sightings greatly resemble troubling drone flights above industrial parks surrounding Germany's Brunsbüttel harbor from this past August.
Lt McMillan and other experts have noted that the New Jersey sightings circled around Picatinny Arsenal, home of the US Army's CCDC Armaments Center, which is responsible for manufacturing and supplying Ukraine with artillery ammunition.
These experts suggest Russia could be carrying out an intelligence-gathering mission known as 'ferreting', meant to intentionally trigger and test their foreign rival's airspace defense procedures and response time.
Or Russia could simply be spying on allies of Ukraine who are aiding the fight against Russia's occupation of its southeastern regions, including Donetsk and Mariupol.
A Chinese man has been arrested for allegedly flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base, as the FBI investigates mysterious drones in New Jersey.
Yinpiao Zhou, 39, a Chinese National now living in Brentwood, California, was charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace.
Zhou was arrested Monday at San Francisco International Airport prior to boarding a China-bound flight and made his initial appearance Tuesday in United States District Court in San Francisco.
'This defendant allegedly flew a drone over a military base and took photos of the base's layout, which is against the law,' said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.
At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that Zhou is connected to the drone activity in New Jersey and other northeastern states.
But his arrest adds to growing concerns over the ability of foreign entities to infiltrate US airspace and conduct surveillance.
During a Tuesday coongressional hearing, Robert Wheeler, assistant FBI director, said that more than 3,000 sightings had been provided to the agency's tip line set up last week.
When asked if these drones posed a threat to public safety, he said: 'There is nothing known that would lead me to say that, but we just don’t know and that’s the concerning part.'
The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement Thursday, saying that many of the reports are legally operated manned aircraft.
The Biden administration and the Pentagon have also pushed back against claims by Republican lawmakers that the drones are being operated by any one of America's foreign adversaries — including claims that the flights originate from an Iranian 'mothership' offshore.
Republican Rep Jeff Van Drew said Wednesday that Iran launched the vessel 'probably about a month ago' after making a deal with China 'to purchase drones, a mothership and other technologies.'
Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Sing said in a briefing: 'At this time we have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary.'
DailyMail.com has recieved unverified reports from New Jersey residents stating that since the drones began flying over their communities, they have developed rhinitis and swollen runny eyes.'
Over the last several weeks, New Jersey residents have reported seeing numerous, 'car-sized' drones hovering throughout the state, sometimes appearing in groups and often remaining in the same place for hours at a time.
Now the sightings have spread to two more states: Pennsylvania and New York.
On Thursday evening, Pennsylvania residents took to social media to share reports of lights in the sky from the Easton area to the Slate Belt and beyond.
Multiple sightings were also reported in the Poconos. The Monroe County Office of Emergency Management said it was aware of reports throughout the county in a Facebook post.
That same night, emergency officials in Orange County, New York, stated that they were 'aware of several reported incidents of drone sightings throughout Orange County this evening,' in a Facebook post.
Residents of Texas, Oklahoma and California have also reported potential drone sightings, but at this time, there is no evidence to suggest they are linked to the sightings in northeastern states.
21:15
Social media reports claim drones are 'spraying' unknown substance over New Jersey
Multiple reports claiming that drones were seen 'spraying' an unknown substance over New Jersey have surfaced on social media.
Photos and videos show lights in the night sky that appear to be followed by long trails of vapor or a beam of light.
'Clear footage captured by NJ resident of drone ejecting large amount of liquid. Resident noted a chemical smell in the air after drones repeated spraying at night,' one person posted on X.
But these images - and the reports - are unverified.
18:23
Drones sighted over parts of NYC, NYPD investigating
Lawmakers from New York and New Jersey are demanding a federal briefing as sightings have now been reported in the Bronx and Queens.
The New York Police Department said it's investigating the drone activity in partnership with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force.
New Jersey residents and officials are demanding answers about mysterious drone sightings that have been blamed on everything from foreign governments toalienUFOs.
Numerous 'SUV-sized' craft have appeared in the state since mid-November, sometimes appearing in groups and often remaining in the same place for hours at a time, according to eyewitnesses.
The first sightings were over the US Army's Picatinny Arsenal and President-elect Donald Trump's golf course in Bedminster, which raised concerns the drones are part of spy campaign.
However, reports of varying levels of credibility have now spread to at least 12 counties throughout Garden State and the Pentagon has said there is 'no evidence' to back up Van Drew's claims.
Two intelligence experts told DailyMail.com that the descriptions of the craft by eyewitnesses 'sound exactly like Russian Orlan-10 drones' — secretive craft that fly in packs of three to five.
To add further confusion, the White House has told the public that there is no evidence the sightings are drones at all, saying they appear to be simply 'manned aircraft' being operated lawfully.
Here are all the main theories about what's going on in New Jersey:
New Jersey residents and local officials are demanding answers as reports of mysterious drones flying over the state have climbed into the thousands
Iranian 'mothership'
Van Drew said Wednesday that Iran launched the vessel 'probably about a month ago' after making a deal with China 'to purchase drones, a mothership and other technologies.'
'These drones should be shot down,' he told FOX News, adding that 'the military is on full alert with this.'
He accused the Pentagon of being 'incredibly stupid and incredibly weak' when it comes to addressing the drones.
'I had credible individuals who have high-security ratings, and they came to me and again, these are dependable, credible individuals that have security clearance that felt they wanted to clear the air,' Van Drew told Fox News on Thursday.
'They were in essence whistleblowers and said look, they believe there's a real possibility it could be Iran,' the lawmaker insisted.
'There could be a ship out. Not right on the coast of New Jersey, not right there, but these drones as sighted by the coast guard are coming in and out of the ocean,' he continued.
Russia has infiltrated US airspace
Intelligence analysts have revealed why they believe Russia is behind the mysterious drones invading the skies over New Jersey.
US Army general Darryl Williams described a situation that mirrors what has unfolded at American/NATO bases across Europe that are known to supply arms to Ukraine.
Reports of varying levels of credibility have now spread to at least 12 counties throughout Garden State and the Pentagon has said there is 'no evidence' to back up Van Drew's claims.
And retired police lieutenant and intelligence analyst Tim McMillan told DailyMail.com that the descriptions of the UFOs in Jersey 'sound exactly like Russian Orlan-10 drones' — secretive craft that fly in packs of three to five.
Lt McMillan and other experts have noted that the New Jersey sightings circled around Picatinny Arsenal, home of the US Army's CCDC Armaments Center, which is responsible for manufacturing and supplying Ukraine with artillery ammunition.
These experts suggest that Russia could be carrying out an intelligence-gathering mission known as 'ferreting', meant to intentionally trigger and test their foreign rival's airspace defense procedures and response time.
Or Russia could simply be spying on allies of Ukraine who are aiding the fight against Russia's occupation of its southeastern regions, including Donetsk and Mariupol.
American conducting secret operations
A 'swarming drone' expert told APP.com that the drones are the work of the US military.
'If I were to list all the options of who this could be, the very first obvious thing is it has something to do with the military, the U.S. military,' said Pramod Abichandani.
Michael Pellettiere of Lanoka Harbor told DailyMail.com: 'It could be a government contractor, then they would tell the truth, or they are straight up lying.
'I trust the Pentagon less than I trust Mexican tap water.'
He continued to explain that the lack of answers from the government is very frustrating.
'If it's secret testing or something, just tell us it's testing. If it's a threat let us know it's security. We don't need all the details if would mess up what's going on , but let the people know something,' Pellettiere added.
For weeks, numerous 'car-sized' drones have been hovering throughout the state, sometimes appearing in groups and often remaining in the same place for hours at a time
Alien invasion
While no answers have come from the government, many New Jersey residents have been left to think aliens are invading the skies.
Katelin Lee told DailyMail.com: '[It's aliens. I mean, what else could it be? People are seeing orbs there's plenty of video evidence.'
Resident Ken Ahitya agreed, saying: 'I think there were real sightings of Non-Human Intelligence that happened at the end of November.
'The government most likely already knew about this, so to prevent mass hysteria and panic, they released drones up in the air to confuse the masses.'
Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Sing said in a briefing: 'At this time we have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary.'
Rep Chris Smith (R) also spoke during a congressional meeting Tuesday, revealing a report of 50 drones coming in off the ocean and following US Coast Guard boats.
The representative also noted that 'it could be Putin, Xi Jinping in China or the Middle East, we cannot rule any of that out.'
The FBI and other agencies are investigating the strange activity, but a representative from the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday: 'We have no more information as to where these drones are coming from, where they're launching from, where they're landing.'
Then one day later, Republican Rep Jeff Van Drew made a wild claim that an Iranian 'mothership' was behind the drone invasion, saying it was parked offshore.
He said Iran launched the vessel 'probably about a month ago' after making a deal with China 'to purchase drones, a mothership and other technologies.'
'These drones should be shot down,' he told FOX News, adding that 'the military is on full alert with this.'
However, the Pentagon rushed to claim there is no evidence the drones are the work of an adversary and denied there's an Iranian 'mothership' lurking off the coast.
Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Sing said in a briefing: 'At this time we have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary.'
The first video footage showed drones with green and red lights on their wings and multiple eyewitnesses described them as large as a small car.
Drones have since been reported in 12 counties: Sussex, Passaic, Bergen, Essex, Monmouth, Ocean, Camden, Burlington, Somerset, Hunterdon, Morris and Warren.
Mayors in 21 towns across the state have now written a joint letter to New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy calling for statewide action.
During a Tuesday congressional hearing, Robert Wheeler, assistant FBI director, said: 'There is nothing known that would lead me to say that, but we just don't know and that's the concerning part.
He told Congress that more than 3,000 sightings had been provided to the agency's tip line set up last week.
They have been spotted over water reservoirs, electric transmission lines, rail stations, police departments and other military installations.
The drones' talent for evading their federal and local law enforcement pursuers has frustrated Governor Phil Murphy and government investigators alike.
'We're not getting good characteristics of the drone,' the head of the Ocean County, NJ Sheriffs Office drone unit, Sergeant Kevin Fennessy said.
And, in fact, New Jersey officials and residents have also seen drones that do not resemble fixed-wing aircraft deepening the mystery of the craft's origins and intent.
'We had one the other night that, as we're watching it, it just shuts the lights off and it's gone,' Sgt Fennessy told The New York Times, 'pure darkness.'
During the hearing, Sen Jon Bramnick (R) said: 'The State of New Jersey should issue a limited state of emergency banning all drones until the public receives an explanation regarding these multiple sightings.'
Rep Chris Smith (R) also spoke during the meeting, revealing a report of 50 drones coming in off the ocean and have followed US Coast Guard boats.
The representative also noted that 'it could be Putin, Xi Jinping in China or the Middle East, we cannot rule any of that out.'
According to one NJ local, this image depicts roughly nine of the unidentified drones flying in to the Garden State from the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday night, December 5
Republican Rep Jeff Van Drew said Wednesday that Iran launched the vessel 'probably about a month ago' after making a deal with China 'to purchase drones, a mothership and other technologies.'
'These drones should be shot down,' he told FOX News, adding that 'the military is on full alert with this.'
However, the Pentagon rushed to claim there is no evidence the drones are the work of an adversary and denied there's an Iranian 'mothership' lurking off the coast.
Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Sing said in a briefing: 'At this time we have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary.'
Intelligence analysis who spoke with DailyMail.com have a different theory.
They believe Russia could be behind the strange activity, despite the Pentagon's statement.
US Army general Darryl Williams described a situation that mirrors what has unfolded at American/NATO bases across Europe that are known to supply arms to Ukraine.
And retired police lieutenant and intelligence analyst Tim McMillan told DailyMail.com that the descriptions of the UFOs in Jersey 'sound exactly like Russian Orlan-10 drones' - secretive craft that fly in packs of three to five.
Lt McMillan and other experts have noted that the New Jersey sightings circled around Picatinny Arsenal, home of the US Army's CCDC Armaments Center, which is responsible for manufacturing and supplying Ukraine with artillery ammunition.
These experts suggest that Russia could be carrying out an intelligence-gathering mission known as 'ferreting', meant to intentionally trigger and test their foreign rival's airspace defense procedures and response time.
Russia is suspected of flying several drones - including military UAVs like this Russian Orlan-10 (above) - over a nuclear power plant in Germany, state security officers said. The lights and shape of the Orlan-10 make it a possible candidate explaining the drones over New Jersey
Above, an Orlan-10 system being tested during the 'Slavic Brotherhood 2018 war games'
Above, an Orlan-10 system being tested during the 'Slavic Brotherhood 2018 war games'
Russia could simply be spying on allies of Ukraine who are aiding the fight against its occupation of the nation's southeastern regions, including Donetsk and Mariupol.
'Russia has been very aggressive and reckless with its responses to Western support of Ukraine,' Lt McMillan told DailyMail.com. 'This isn't something I see discussed in US media, but it's well documented and openly discussed here in Europe.'
The experts said the New Jersey sightings resemble the description of Russian drones known as 'Orlan-10.'
The Orlan-10 craft comes with 'standard positional lighting' - a red light on the left (port) wingtip, a green light on the right (starboard) wingtip, and white taillights, similar to the lights seen on ordinary aircraft and Jersey's 'mystery drones.'
What's more, the Russian craft fly in packs for three to five, similar to what has been reported in New Jersey.
Packs of Orlan-10s, Lt McMillan noted, often come 'with each one running a different package like EW [electronic warfare] and data relays.'
On Tuesday, Congress asked an FBI assistant director with the bureau's Critical Incident Response Group, Robert Wheeler, if these drones posed a threat to public safety.
Mysterious drones again seen flying at night over New Jersey
Officials and residents have also seen drones that do not resemble fixed-wing aircraft (example above) deepening the mystery of the craft's origins and intent
'There is nothing that is known that would lead me to say that,' Wheeler told Congress, 'but we just don't know. And that's the concerning part.'
The Biden administration has also pushed back on claims by Republican lawmakers that the drones are being operated by any one of America's foreign adversaries — including claims that the flights originate from an Iranian 'mothership' offshore.
'No indication at this time that it's a foreign adversary or a foreign actor,' The White House's national security communications advisor John Kirby told NewsNation's Kellie Meyer. 'The FBI is looking at this. DOJ is looking at this.'
'I know the Department of Defense, when it affects or comes near a military base, they're looking at this,' Kirby added. 'In some cases, the investigation has led to a revelation that it's actually manned aircraft and not drones at all.'
Governor Murphey has also claimed that the drones 'pose no threat.'
Despite federal and state officials' assurances, other local police, like the chief of police for the New Jersey borough of Florham Park, are convinced that the drones pose a serious threat.
'Their presence appears nefarious in nature,' Police Chief Orlando said.
Unsolved Mystery: SUV-Sized Drones Spotted Over New Jersey!
FBI investigates mysterious drones spotted over New Jersey
This is just mindblowing! A pilot was flying on the Eugene-Seattle route when he and his copilot saw some glowing spheres that moved around, over and in front of them. The objects were red, but video shows them differently due to digital vs human eye. This is big, real big, in the way that it's so rare. Yet right now the US gov is labeling all UFOs as drones. It's a new Gov scam they are pulling. What are they really? Alien space craft flying around in our skies.
Scott C. Waring - Utah
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Pentagon shoots down Iran 'mothership' claim amid drone mystery
Pentagon shoots down Iran 'mothership' claim amid drone mystery
The Pentagon shot down a congressman's claim that an Iranian "mothership" is behind large drones spotted over New Jersey in recent weeks, while officials in the state are demanding a stronger federal response and transparency in connection with the mysterious, unexplained sightings.
Since mid-November, large drones of uncertain origin have been repeatedly spotted in the sky at night over central and northern New Jersey, including near a military installation.
State and local officials convened at a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning at the New Jersey State Police headquarters with representatives from the Department of Homeland Security to address the matter, according to several officials in attendance.
In this screen grab from a video, a drone is shown near Bedminster, New Jersey, on Dec. 3, 2024.
It remains unclear who is operating the drones, according to a DHS handout released by Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali, who attended the meeting.
"At this time, according to the FBI, there are no known specific or credible threats related to these sightings," the handout stated.
There have been reports ranging from four to 180 sightings per night, according to New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, who attended the meeting. The drones "operate in a coordinated manner" and have not been identified as hobbyist drones or ones related to DHS, she said.
Several officials said following the meeting that they were not assuaged by the DHS response.
Ghassali said it has only "heightened my apprehensions regarding the federal government's approach to this critical issue."
"The message conveyed was that there is no credible threat, yet they are flying over critical infrastructure, and their point of origin and destination remain unidentified," he said in a statement. "They will eventually find out but for now, we don't know anything else."
New Jersey state Sen. Holly Schepisi called the DHS response "abysmal."
"[It] actually made me feel less confident in our federal government's reaction to this issue rather than more," she said in a statement. "For the federal government to not dedicate every defense resource needed to identify the origin and purpose of these drones in the most densely populated state in the nation is inexplicable and completely unacceptable."
Fantasia said "we know nothing" and to "state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading, and I informed all officials of that sentiment."
In this screen grab from a video, a drone is shown near Bedminster, New Jersey, on Dec. 3, 2024.
Following the meeting, New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick urged the Department of Defense to investigate and reiterated his call for a limited state of emergency in the state.
"The Department of Defense must investigate and until that occurs we must shut down the airspace to drones. That would require a limited state of emergency and FAA cooperation," he said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the FBI, which is the leading agency investigating the sightings, said it is "doing all we can [to] figure out what's going on."
"The public can continue to call our 800 line, or submit a tip online, we are acting on every substantive lead that we get," the FBI spokesperson said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed flight restrictions over Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County and Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Somerset County in response to the drone activity.
"Safely integrating drones into the National Airspace System is a key priority for the FAA," the agency said in a statement earlier this month. "We look into all reports of unauthorized drone operations and investigate when appropriate."
New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew criticized the FAA for its inability to locate the drones during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's hearing earlier Wednesday.
"We have a serious problem with our aerospace. The recent sightings of unidentified drones in the state of New Jersey, my home state, is justifiably causing tremendous public concern," he said.
Van Drew said the drones are "large" and "sophisticated" and alleged the presence of an "Iranian mothership" responsible for them, though he did not provide evidence to support his claims.
"I've learned, for real, that there is circumstantial evidence that there's an Iranian mothership off the East Coast of the United States, and that's launching these drone incursions," he said.
He said he is concerned at this time with identifying his sources but said they are "individuals who are reputable, individuals who speak with authority."
The Pentagon shot down Van Drew's claim.
"There is not any truth to that -- there is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there's no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States," deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Wednesday.
Singh said there is no evidence the drone activity is coming from any foreign entity or is the work of an adversary.
"We're going to continue to monitor what is happening," she said, adding, "At no point were our installations threatened when this activity was occurring."
Van Drew doubled down in an interview with ABC News following the Pentagon's briefing, saying there is a "real possibility that it is a foreign entity." He said his "well-placed" sources believe there is a possibility the drones are Iranian, and that there could be a mothership hundreds of miles off the U.S. coast.
"They say to us there's nothing to fear, but we have no idea who it is, where it comes from, what it's about and what it can do," he said.
Van Drew proposed that flight restrictions be placed over the New Jersey airspace "and an order be given to neutralize any drone aircraft in violation of those restrictions" in a letter addressed to President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
“In neutralizing these drones we must ensure the safety of people on ground and should also attempt to keep the drones intact so that we may study their capabilities," he wrote.
New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith has called on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to help identify and address the widespread drone activity over the state.
"As you no doubt are also aware, there have been numerous instances of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flying over New Jersey, including in close proximity to sensitive sites and critical infrastructure, to include military installations located in my district," he stated in a letter to Lloyd on Tuesday.
US Representative Chris Smith, R-N.J., and chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, speaks during a news conference at the Capitol, Nov. 19, 2024, in Washington.
He noted that Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL) possesses the capability to identify and take down unauthorized unmanned aerial systems.
"I urgently request all capabilities possessed by the Department of Defense, especially those in use by JBMDL to be immediately deployed to identify and address the potential threats posed by UAS over the state of New Jersey," he said.
During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Smith said an officer saw "50 drones" coming in off the ocean earlier this week in Ocean County. He has also said that a U.S. Coast Guard commanding officer stationed in Barnegat Light reported that "between 12 and 30" drones were following a USCG motor lifeboat over the weekend.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has called for greater transparency from federal authorities on the unexplained drone activity in a letter on Tuesday to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
"I recognize the need to maintain operational security of ongoing investigations and that this situation requires complex interagency coordination. However, there is a growing sense of uncertainty and urgency across the state -- from constituents and local officials alike -- despite assurances that the drones pose no known threats to public safety," he stated in the letter. "As such, I urge you to share any relevant information about these drone sightings with the public. Without transparency, I believe that rumors, fear, and misinformation will continue to spread.
New Jersey mayors pen letter demanding action on mysterious drone sightings
The public should be "immediately briefed" by federal agencies, including the FBI, FAA and DHS, on what they know, New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer said.
"I think people have a right to know what's going on," he told ABC News Live anchor Kayna Whitworth on Wednesday.
Gottheimer, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, noted he is "not concerned there's any imminent threats to security" in New Jersey or D.C. based on the briefings he's had.
"That said, you can't just fly drones anywhere," he said. "This can't just be game on. We need to know who these drones belong to, where they're coming from. And if they're not welcome, we've got to take them out."
Police in Warren County, New Jersey, have also expressed frustration at the "lack of transparency" over the drone activity.
"We are shocked by the lack of response or update from Federal and State officials," Chief Scott D. Robb, president of the Warren County Police Chief's Association, said in a statement Wednesday. "We do not agree with their response that there is no known threat to the public at this time. It is our stance that just the unidentified drone flying over us is a threat in itself."
DHS said in its handout on the New Jersey drones that there have been other drone sightings "of this type" both nationally and internationally.
Biden has been briefed on the drones and is "closely tracking the activity" and "coordinating closely" with DHS and the FBI to continue investigating these incidents, the White House said Tuesday.
"This is something that DHS and FBI are tracking very, very closely," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday.
The U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) is also monitoring reports of "unauthorized drone flights in the vicinity of military installations in New Jersey," a spokesperson said.
"Local law enforcement and the FBI are currently investigating," the spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that at this time NORTHCOM has not been requested to assist with the events but is prepared to respond "when asked or should the situation escalate to threaten any DoD installations."
ABC News' Jay O'Brien, Alexandra Faul, Ayesha Ali and Matthew Seyler contributed to this report.
Drones over US: Pentagon shoots down Iran 'mothership' claim amid NJ drone mystery
NASA Thinks it Knows Why Ingenuity Crashed on Mars
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, right, stands near the apex of a sand ripple in an image taken by Perseverance on Feb. 24, 2024, about five weeks after the rotorcraft’s final flight. Part of one of Ingenuity’s rotor blades lies on the surface about 49 feet (15 meters) west of helicopter (at left in image). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES
NASA Thinks it Knows Why Ingenuity Crashed on Mars
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter sent its final signals to Earth in the earlier part of the year. Engineers have been studying these and have started to piece together a picture of events that led up to its final flight. They concluded that data provided by the navigation system was inaccurate leading to a chain of events that caused its ultimate demise. One of the biggest problems it seems is that the terrain was smooth leading to a lack of landmarks during Flight 72.
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is well known for its distinctive red colour. It’s surface is is covered in iron-oxide which is known by the more common name – rust. The planet is just over half the size of the Earth and has some fascinating geological features like Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System. Valles Marineris is a canyon system which stretches thousands of kilometres and dwarfs the Grand Canyon. The atmosphere of the planet is mostly composed of carbon dioxide and currently incapable of supporting life. It’s not thought this has not always been the case and its missions like Mars 2020 that have helped to unravel the mysteries of the red planet.
A full-disk view of Mars, courtesy of VMC. Credit: ESA
The Perseverance Rover and Ingenuity helicopter were both part of the Mars 2020 mission and have been exploring Mars since their launch in 2020 atop an Atlas V rocket. Ingenuity became the first robotic rotorcraft that undertook powered flight in the Martian atmosphere. The inaugural flight took place on 19 April 2021 the 1.8 kilogram drone took off under the power of two counter-rotating blades. The blades of the drone are 1.2m long, oversized by Earth standards but the atmosphere is only 1% as dense as Earth so larger than usual blades are needed.
Image of the Mars Ingenuity helicopter (Source : NASA)
Flight 72 was scheduled for the 18th January this year and there was nothing special about it. The plan was a brief vertical hop to checkout the flight systems and to grab some photographs of the area. The flight data revealed it reached an altitude of 12 metres, took the images and was back on the surface after 32 seconds but had severed communications. After communications was re-established, it was discovered that Ingenuity had sustained damage to its rotors.
Now, almost a year after the incident, a team of engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been analysing the data. Their findings will be published in the next few weeks however the team of engineers assert it was harder than expected to complete an accident investigation from 160 million kilometres. The faults lie in the navigation system that was designed to visually track surface features using a camera pointed at the round. The system worked during early flights over more textured terrain but as Ingenuity moved over the Jezero Crater, it began operating over featureless sand ripples.
The navigation system was designed to provide estimates of the helicopter’s velocity, chiefly to enable it to land. The data revealed from Flight 72 revealed that the navigation system couldn’t find features to track. Images showed that the lack of features led to a harden than usual touchdown leading to a pitch and roll of the craft. The sudden change of attitude led to increase load on the rotors, beyond their designed limits leading to the structural damage.
Even though Ingenuity will not be able to fly anymore it can still provide weather and avionics data to the Perseverance rover. It will help us to understand more about the weather in its vicinity but perhaps its greatest legacy are its hours of flight on an alien world.
The Pentagon said Wednesday that there is no truth to claims that drones flying over the state of New Jersey are coming from an “Iranian mothership” off the East Coast. “There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and t
Pentagon shoots down claim that drones over New Jersey came from ‘Iranian mothership,’ despite public concern
The Pentagon quashed claims made by New Jersey Rep. Jeff Drew and others that the drones are coming from an Iranian ship off the East Coast.
Mysterious drones over New Jersey are not from Iranian "mothership," Pentagon says
The Pentagon said Wednesday that there is no truth to claims that drones flying over the state of New Jersey are coming from an “Iranian mothership” off the East Coast.
“There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there's no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States,” Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Wednesday, addressing claims made by Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey.
Sightings of large, low-flying drones have been reported by residents in more than a dozen counties across the Garden State over the past few weeks.
The unusual drone activity first raised questions after initial reports that they were spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and manufacturing facility in Morris County. Since Nov. 13, 11 sightings have been confirmed over the facility.
They were also spotted over president-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf course, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to extend temporary flight restrictions over the area.
Concerned residents and elected officials are demanding answers and have grown frustrated by the lack of information from federal authorities, who say they are baffled.
What are the details of the reported drone sightings?
In this image taken from video, what appears to be a drone flies over treetops in Flanders, N.J., on Dec. 3.
(@xGabbyNu/TMX via AP)
New Jersey residents in more than a dozen counties across the state have reported repeated drone sightings since mid-November. The drones, according to witnesses, emit a loud humming sound, and are estimated to be about 6 feet long.
Drone use for recreational and commercial purposes is allowed in the state, but operators have to follow local regulations and FAA flight restrictions. Most of the mysterious drones spotted are larger than drones available to hobbyists.
The drones have been spotted flying in groups near critical infrastructure, including water reservoirs, power lines, railroads, highways, police departments and military installations.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said the drones over his state don’t appear to be a threat to public safety, but that it’s not known who is piloting them and why they’re there.
"The most important point to say is we don't see any concern for public safety," he said at a press conferenceMonday.
The FBI is currently leading the investigation to uncover the mystery surrounding the drones’ origin and purpose. Local and state officials and the Department of Homeland Security are also part of the investigation.
Murphy said he’s taking the situation “deadly seriously” because of the sophistication of the drones.
“The minute you get eyes on them, they go dark,” Murphy said of the drones, adding, “We’re obviously most concerned about sensitive targets and sensitive, critical infrastructure. We’ve got military assets, we’ve got utility assets, we’ve got the president-elect’s, one of his homes, here. This is something we’re taking deadly seriously. I don’t blame people for being frustrated.”
Murphy told reporters that on Sunday alone, there were 49 separate sightings reported mostly in Hunterdon County, although some of those sightings could potentially be the same drone being reported more than once.
The Warren County Police Chief’s Association in New Jersey disagrees with the assessment that the drones pose no threat. “We are shocked by the lack of response or update from Federal and State officials,” Chief Scott Robb wrote in a statement posted on X Tuesday. “It is our stance that just the unidentified drone flying over us is a threat in itself.”
The Pentagon said it was aware of the unexplained drone activity. “We have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary,” Singh told reporters Wednesday. “We’re going to continue to monitor what is happening. At no point were our installations threatened when this activity was occurring.”
What has the FBI uncovered so far?
In Washington on Tuesday before a Department of Homeland Security subcommittee, Robert Wheeler Jr., assistant director of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group, faced questions from frustrated lawmakers.
"You're telling me we don't know what the hell these drones in New Jersey are?" Rep. Tony Gonzalez, a Republican from Texas, asked Wheeler.
“That's correct,” Wheeler replied.
Fellow Republican Rep. August Pfluger of Texas also asked Wheeler whether public safety is at risk. “Are we concerned there are nefarious intentions that could cause either an actual security or public safety incident?” Pfluger asked.
“There's nothing that is known that would lead me to say that,” Wheeler said. “But we just don't know. And that's the concerning part of it.”
Last Tuesday, the FBI’s field office in Newark asked for help from the public, to report any information related to the recent drone sightings in areas along the Raritan River.
“Witnesses have spotted the cluster of what look to be drones and a possible fixed wing aircraft. We have reports from the public and law enforcement dating back several weeks,” the FBI field office said in a release.
Frustration prompts local lawmakers and officials to call for action
New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick called for a limited state of emergency. “The State of New Jersey should issue a limited state of emergency banning all drones until the public receives an explanation regarding these multiple sightings,” Bramnick said in a statement released Tuesday.
Congressman Josh Gottheimer called on the FBI, DHS and FAA on Tuesday to provide a public briefing to “ensure transparency and alleviate the public’s concerns.”
Mayors in 21 towns across New Jersey wrote a letter to Gov. Murphy, calling for an investigation into the drones "to determine the origin, purpose and compliance with applicable regulations."
VIDEOS
Police in Morris County, New Jersey investigating recent drone activity
Why are drones being spotted over New Jersey? FBI taking tips
Why are drones flying over New Jersey? Senator Booker wants to know.
Miracle or Mystery? The UFO That Healed a French Doctor
Miracle or Mystery? The UFO That Healed a French Doctor
The possibility of alien encounters has always intrigued humanity. Among the myriad reports of UFO sightings and encounters, one story stands out due to its remarkable outcome—a reported miraculous healing. This extraordinary account comes from a French doctor, referred to as “Dr. X,” who chose to remain anonymous. His experience provides a rare instance where a close encounter with an unidentified flying object (UFO) seemingly led to physical healing instead of harm.
The Unusual Storm and Mysterious Lights
The incident took place during a violent storm in a remote area of southern France. Dr. X, a scientist and medical professional, was tending to a severe injury he sustained days earlier while chopping wood. He had accidentally severed a vein in his leg, leaving him with significant pain and difficulty walking.
Late at night, with his wife and child asleep, Dr. X was alerted by his son’s cries and a strange, rhythmic light flashing outside. Initially dismissing the disturbance as lightning or loose shutters, the doctor soon realized the sound and light patterns were far from ordinary. Driven by curiosity and concern for his family’s safety, he ventured outside to investigate.
Encountering the Unknown
Stepping into the storm, Dr. X witnessed two saucer-shaped crafts emitting intense white light. These UFOs, dozens of feet in diameter, pulsed with energy and appeared to exchange electrical charges. He meticulously noted their behavior, observing beams of light scanning the area as though searching for something.
Suddenly, the two crafts merged into a single, larger craft. This combined object hovered closer, emitting an intense beam of light directly at the doctor. Immobilized by fear and awe, Dr. X was engulfed by the light. Moments later, the craft vanished, leaving behind an eerie silence and a trail of gauzy material floating in the air.
The Miraculous Healing
The aftermath of the encounter revealed something extraordinary. Dr. X, who had been hobbling due to his injury, discovered he could walk normally again. His wife, who had been awakened by his excitement, noticed the absence of his limp. Subsequent medical examinations confirmed that his wound had completely healed, leaving no trace of the vein injury.
A Curious Aftereffect
Two weeks after the encounter, Dr. X developed a peculiar triangular rash on his abdomen, which later appeared on his son. These rashes intermittently vanished and reappeared over the following months, baffling doctors. Renowned French UFO researcher Michel Michel published detailed accounts of the event, ensuring the doctor’s anonymity while highlighting the inexplicable phenomena.
Scientific and Skeptical Perspectives
This case raises questions about the potential for extraterrestrial technology to interact with human physiology. While some skeptics propose psychosomatic explanations or misinterpretations, others argue that the documented medical recovery defies conventional understanding. The triangular rash adds another layer of mystery, leaving room for further speculation about the nature of the encounter.
VIDEO:
Did an Alien Craft Heal a Doctor? | Close Encounters 213
The story of Dr. X remains one of the most unique and well-documented cases of UFO encounters. Unlike most reports of close encounters that involve fear or harm, this account suggests a potential for healing and interaction beyond our comprehension. Whether seen as a medical anomaly, a psychosomatic event, or evidence of advanced extraterrestrial intervention, Dr. X’s experience challenges our understanding of what might lie beyond the stars.
Extraordinary UFO Sightings That Challenge Reality | Close Encounters 213+214
Intelligence analysts have revealed why they believe Russia is behind the mysterious drones invading the skies over New Jersey.
US Army general Darryl Williams described a situation that mirrors what has unfolded at American/NATO bases across Europe that are known to supply arms to Ukraine.
And retired police lieutenant and intelligence analyst Tim McMillan told DailyMail.com that the descriptions of the UFOs in Jersey 'sound exactly like Russian Orlan-10 drones' — secretive craft that fly in packs of three to five.
Lt McMillan and other experts have noted that the New Jersey sightings circled around Picatinny Arsenal, home of the US Army's CCDC Armaments Center, which is responsible for manufacturing and supplying Ukraine with artillery ammunition.
These experts suggest that Russia could be carrying out an intelligence-gathering mission known as 'ferreting', meant to intentionally trigger and test their foreign rival's airspace defense procedures and response time.
Or Russia could simply be spying on allies of Ukraine who are aiding the fight against Russia's occupation of its southeastern regions, including Donetsk and Mariupol.
'Russia has been very aggressive and reckless with its responses to Western support of Ukraine,' Lt McMillan told DailyMail.com. 'This isn't something I see discussed in US media, but it's well documented and openly discussed here in Europe.'
Sightings have been reported over a military base in Rockaway that supplies ammunition to Ukraine, which mirrors events reported in Germany just two months ago as well as acts of sabotage reported by retired US Army general Darryl Williams across Europe
The first New Jersey drone sightings appeared over the US Army's Picatinny Arsenal on November 18, but reports to varying levels of credibility have now spread to at least 12 counties throughout the Garden State.
Officials have received reports of craft flying of 'water reservoirs, electric transmission lines, rail stations, police departments, and military installations' in recent weeks, according to Florham Park, NJ Police Chief Joseph J Orlando.
But those earliest and most credible sightings above Picatinny, according to Lt McMillan, are most worth focusing on.
'Picatinny Arsenal,' as Lt McMillan told DailyMail.com, is 'home of the US Army's CCDC Armaments Center, which is responsible for manufacturing and supplying Ukraine with 155mm artillery ammunition.'
Republican Rep Jeff Van Drew has claimed that Iran is behind the drones in New Jersey, telling reporters that the nation parked a 'mothership' off the East Coast.
The Orlan-10 craft comes with 'standard positional lighting' — a red light on the left (port) wingtip, a green light on the right (starboard) wingtip, and white taillights, similar to the lights seen on ordinary aircraft and Jersey's 'mystery drones.'
Russia is suspected of flying several drones - including military UAVs like this Russian Orlan-10 (above) - over a nuclear power plant in Germany, state security officers said. The lights and shape of the Orlan-10 make it a possible candidate explaining the drones over New Jersey
Significantly, the fixed-wing mystery drones with red, white and green lights resemble craft witnessed over sensitive US military bases over the past several years
The brazen New Jersey night flights, as Lt McMillan explained, greatly resemble troubling drone flights above industrial parks surrounding Germany's Brunsbüttel harbor from this past August.
'Here in Germany, we've had similar drone incidents over military bases training and equipping Ukrainian troops,' Lt McMillan added, saying the ones in New Jersey 'sound exactly like Russian Orlan-10 drones.'
The Russian craft fly in packs for three to five, similar to what has been reported in New Jersey.
At least one model contains optical and thermal vision cameras, but the Orlan-10 fleet's full capabilities are not well known publicly, despite a few crashes in Europe.
Packs of Orlan-10s, Lt McMillan noted, often come 'with each one running a different package like EW [electronic warfare] and data relays.'
Russia has roughly 11 different versions of the Orlan-10, which have been produced at a rate of nearly 1,000 per year since 2018, according to manufacturer Special Technology Center.
The drones can fly between 4,000 and 5,000 feet in the air for reconnaissance, but up to 20,000 feet if necessary.
This October, US Army General Darryl Williams, the departing head of US Army's Allied Land Command in Europe and Africa, accused Russia of using drone swarms to 'snoop' and 'cause mischief' in Germany and other similar activities across the Atlantic
Above, an Orlan-10 system being tested during the 'Slavic Brotherhood 2018 war games'
Above, an Orlan-10 system being tested during the 'Slavic Brotherhood 2018 war games'
Formerly a police investigator in Garden City, Georgia, Lt McMillan served as an intelligence analyst for a law firm before moving to Germany.
He has since become a prolific investigative reporter on military cases of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), including a spate of 'mystery drones' that plagued Sweden in 2022, curiously timed to its decision to 'deepening its partnership with NATO.'
In an article for The Debrief, a publication Lt McMillan co-founded, he described two possible reasons Russia might engage in such-less-than secret drone flights.
One was 'ferreting,' the military term for intentionally triggering and testing a foreign rival's airspace defenses.
A second, more unique to Russia is called 'reflexive control,' a psychological warfare tactic intended to influence the general public of a rival nation, for instance, to weaken popular support for their home government's military aid or policies abroad.
Speaking at a US Army event this past October, Jack Watling, a ground warfare expert with the Royal United Services Institute in London, corroborated the reports coming in that described Russian-backed, covert 'sabotage across Europe.'
'We have had Russian weapons fly through NATO airspace on their route to Ukraine multiple times,' Watling said, according to a report by Stars and Stripes.
Mysterious drones again seen flying at night over New Jersey
According to one NJ local, this image depicts roughly nine of the unidentified drones flying in to the Garden State from the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday night, December 5
Above Picatinny Arsenal's Commanding Major General John Reim welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before a tour of the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant on Sept 2024. Picatinny's role supplying ammo to Ukraine may explain the mystery drones over NJ
On Tuesday, Congress asked an FBI assistant director with the bureau's Critical Incident Response Group, Robert Wheeler, if these drones posed a threat to public safety.
'There is nothing that is known that would lead me to say that,' Wheeler told Congress, 'but we just don't know. And that's the concerning part.'
The Biden administration has also pushed back on claims by Republican lawmakers that the drones are being operated by any one of America's foreign adversaries — including claims that the flights originate from an Iranian 'mothership' offshore.
'No indication at this time that it's a foreign adversary or a foreign actor,' The White House's national security communications advisor John Kirby told NewsNation's Kellie Meyer. 'The FBI is looking at this. DOJ is looking at this.'
'I know the Department of Defense, when it affects or comes near a military base, they're looking at this,' Kirby added. 'In some cases, the investigation has led to a revelation that it's actually manned aircraft and not drones at all.'
The flying objects (example above) are larger than drones used by hobbyists, witnesses have noted, raising questions about their proximity to critical infrastructure and sensitive sites
Officials and residents have also seen drones that do not resemble fixed-wing aircraft (example above) deepening the mystery of the craft's origins and intent
'So, I can't tell you definitively exactly what we're talking about here,' he said. 'So each one is going to be a little bit different.'
In New Jersey, the drones' talent for evading their federal and local law enforcement pursuers has frustrated Governor Phil Murphy and government investigators alike.
'We're not getting good characteristics of the drone,' the head of the Ocean County, NJ Sheriffs Office drone unit, Sergeant Kevin Fennessy said.
And, in fact, NJ officials and residents have also seen drones that do not resemble fixed-wing aircraft deepening the mystery of the craft's origins and intent.
'We had one the other night that, as we're watching it, it just shuts the lights off and it's gone,' Sgt Fennessy told The New York Times, 'pure darkness.'
But the drone unit chief did tell the paper that he estimates that the mysterious drones are roughly double the size of the drones in his fleet: not too far from the Russian Orlan-10's max capacity of 33lbs as compared to most commercial drones used by law enforcement.
Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy told Asbury Park Press on Monday that his team estimates the invading drones are three to four feet long, although another law enforcement agency has reported one drone that was as large as eight feet long.
Despite federal and state officials' assurances, other local police, like the chief of police for the New Jersey borough of Florham Park, are convinced that the drones pose a serious threat.
'Their presence appears nefarious in nature,' Police Chief Orlando said.
Mystery "Car-Sized" Drones Reach the Skies of New York
Mystery "Car-Sized" Drones Reach the Skies of New York
The East coast is lighting up.
Getty / Futurism
Branching Out
The mysterious "car-sized" drones plaguing the skies of New Jersey since last month have now been spotted in the Big Apple.
Additional sightings of the apparent UFOs were reported in the Empire State on Sunday night, with residents of Brooklyn saying they saw around a dozen drones flying over the New York City borough before crossing over to Staten Island.
As the sightings seem to spread across the tri-state area, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a statement to the media about the ongoing situation — and it sounds like its investigators are totally stumped.
"We understand the concern, and we are doing all we can to figure out what's going on," a spokesperson for the FBI Newark Field Office, which is leading the investigation, told PIX11 last Wednesday. "We truly don't have much information to provide at the moment."
Aerial Aces
With New Jersey as the epicenter, the drone sightings began in mid-November and quickly spread to ten or so counties, mostly in the northern regions of the state.
The drones have frequently been described as around the size of a car, flying in coordinated patterns and exhibiting blinking lights that have been reported to sometimes inexplicably go dark.
The sightings have quickly become the subject of national attention as authorities have been unable to determine what the drones are and who or what is responsible for them, if indeed any single entity is.
They've also resulted in some very real consequences. The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily banned flying drones over president-elect Donald Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, as well as a military base in a nearby county.
It's not all fun and games, either: the drones also reportedly prevented a medevac helicopter from reaching the scene of a severe car crash in late November.
In the Dark
Nevertheless, authorities insist that the drones pose no immediate threat to the public. It's undeniable, though, that the spell of sightings is extremely bizarre — if not unsettling to some — and expose local and federal law enforcement's inability to control airspace against the growing popularity of unmanned aircraft.
The frustration at the lack of progress made by federal agencies was on display during a congressional hearing on Tuesday, USA Today reports, in which several House Representatives grilled the FBI's assistant director of the Critical Incident Response Group Robert Wheeler Jr.
"You're telling me we don't know what the hell these drones in New Jersey are?" U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas) asked Wheeler, as quoted by USA.
Professor Nick Bostrom at Oxford University says the universe and everything in it might be a simulation. He doesn’t think we should try to break free from the Matrix. He says we are likely not alone in the cosmos but is instead encompassed within a ‘Cosmic Host.’
Philosopher Nick Bostrom served as the founding Director of the Future of Humanity Institute from 2005 until its closure in April 2024. With a background in theoretical physics, computational neuroscience, logic, and artificial intelligence, along with philosophy. He is one of the most-cited philosophers in the world, and has been referred to as “the Swedish superbrain”.
Ever since Nick Bostrom suggested that the universe might be a simulation, sparking widespread debate about reality. Public figures like Elon Musk have added to the discussion, saying it’s likely our world is just a digital code. Recent studies have refined this idea, claiming there’s about a 50-50 chance we’re living in a simulation.
Nick Bostrom
Some people believe the idea that we might live in a simulation because even well-known figures like Neil deGrasse Tyson have talked about it. However, not everyone agrees. Physicist Frank Wilczek says the universe is too complicated to be a simulation. He argues that creating all this complexity would take a lot of energy and time, and it doesn’t make sense for an intelligent creator to go to so much trouble. Another physicist, Sabine Hossenfelder, thinks the idea isn’t scientific. She says because we can’t test or prove it wrong, it’s not something worth spending time on.
In 2003, Nick Bostrom shocked people with his paper, “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?” In it, he suggested that our reality might actually be a computer simulation. If you’ve watched “The Matrix,” this idea might sound familiar. In the movie, a hacker joins a group fighting against AI machines that have trapped humans in a fake reality (“the Matrix”) to keep them calm while they use their bodies for energy.
But Bostrom revealed in 2019 he hadn’t seen the 1999 movie when he wrote his paper. A strange coincidence, maybe? He thinks that writing the simulation argument came naturally from two things: his interest in observation selection theory, which he wrote about for his Ph.D., and his curiosity about how advancing technology might affect the future. (Source)
“So, when you have those two ideas,” he told Vulture, “the simulation argument is really just the next step.”
Andriy Onufriyenko//Getty Images
At first glance, Bostrom’s simulation argument isn’t as extreme as the futuristic world shown in The Matrix. It doesn’t involve things like oracles, martial arts, or slow-motion bullets — it just proposes that one of three statements about the future must be true:
-Humanity will very likely go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage. -Humanity will reach the “posthuman” stage, but “is extremely unlikely” to run a significant number of simulations of its history. -We are “almost certainly” living in a computer simulation of a “posthuman” civilization’s history right now.
Nick Bostrom’s Ideas on Posthumans
To understand the simulation argument, Bostrom gives us a few ideas to think about. He starts by talking about how a very advanced society, called “posthumans,” could create artificial human minds. Posthumans are super beings who have improved their mental and physical abilities beyond what we consider normal. They might live longer than us and have better control over their emotions, like not being afraid of things without reason.
It’s not hard to imagine that such an advanced society could build huge computer systems. Bostrom talks about how these computers could be used to create copies of human minds. He also considers how posthumans might choose to place these minds into a very realistic, artificial world. The important thing to remember is that these artificial minds should not know that they are inside a simulation.
When we think about how far humans have come with video games, it’s easy to imagine that one day we could have huge, Earth-sized computer simulations. When Pong was first released in the 1970s, it was just a simple game with a few pixels that looked like 2D table tennis. Now, fifty years later, we can wear virtual reality headsets to explore 3D worlds and interact with characters that feel real.
In the future, a posthuman civilization might create a much bigger, more detailed world. In this world, the characters could believe they are truly aware and independent. The environment could be so realistic that it would be impossible to tell it apart from our own world. (Source)
Bostrom believes that ‘ancestor simulations’ would be of particular interest to posthumans. This is like us using computer power to generate an accurate simulation of Ancient Rome or the Mongolian Empire. But in this situation, we are the ancestors being simulated. And somewhere out there, our technologically advanced descendants are watching how we go about everyday life.
“We can conclude that the computing power available to a posthuman civilization is sufficient to run a huge number of ancestor simulations even if it allocates only a minute fraction of its resources to that purpose” (Bostrom, 2003). So, what next? Well, if we accept that one day humans will reach a posthuman stage capable of running ancestor simulations, how do you know you aren’t living in such a simulation yourself?
If our reality is, well, real, it seems we still have a ways to go before we reach the “posthuman” stage (if we reach it — see Statement #1). But that hasn’t stopped everyone from Neil deGrasse Tyson to Elon Musk from mulling over Bostrom’s theory.
Some tech billionaires are even reportedly paying scientists to try to break us free of the simulation on the off-chance that we are already in it — and Bostrom thinks those folks need to slow their roll.
“It’s kind of unwise to try to break out of the hypothetical simulation,” he told Vulture. “The chances of success are negligible. If it doesn’t work, it’s a waste of money, and if it does, it might be a calamity. It at least seems like the kind of thing that you would first want to think about for a while, whether it would be prudent to try to do that before embarking on it.”
Hear that, Silicon Valley? The Matrix isn’t going anywhere, so maybe take a beat before you try to force-feed humanity the red pill. (Source)
Human civilization is most likely not alone in the cosmos but is instead encompassed within a cosmic host, suggests Nick Bostrom. The“cosmic host” refers to an entity or set of entities whose preferences and concordats dominate at the largest scale, i.e. that of the cosmos.
For example, the cosmic host might conceivably consist of galactic-scale civilizations, simulators, superintelligences, and/or divine being or beings.
Bostrom discusses the idea that even if there is a higher power, simulator, or cosmic being (like God or an advanced civilization), they might not directly control or intervene in all parts of the universe.
Meaning: If intelligent life is rare, there could be parts of the universe no one from this “cosmic host” (advanced beings) can physically access. If we live in a simulated world, the simulator (who created it) can probably access every part of it. But, they might choose not to interfere if their goal is to let things play out naturally. (Source)
Bostrom concludes:
This Cosmic host may support cosmic norms that we have moral (as well as prudential) reasons to respect.
The host may want our civilization to build or develop into a good cosmic citizen: a superintelligence that respects cosmic norms, is modest, lawful, cooperative, and contributes positively to other host members and the order of the cosmopolis.
The host may favor paths that lead to this outcome with high certainty, meaning a high probability that superintelligence is developed and becomes a good cosmic citizen.
The cosmic normative structure might pertain not only to the ultimate outcome but also to the path taken to get there—including local outcomes along the way, as well as attitudes and modes of analysis.
The Cosmic Matrix: Science, SETI & UFOs | Full-Length Documentary
SETI "Live": The COSMIC Project at the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array
A futurist's internet program that predicted the start of a months long war between humans and aliens on December 3 has gone viral online. Clif High, a computer scientist and linguist, spoke in a YouTube video about his model's prediction, known as the "39 days to melee," that said a battle between humans and aliens in the sky would occur 39 days after a trigger incited the incident. What High calls the "temporal marker" was podcaster Joe Rogan's interview with President-elect Donald Trump on October 25.
High said: "So we're going to have these...some kind of weird confrontation visible contention which we could probably call and term combat in the skies that will show up and it'll show up at a predictable point, which is probably something over a month—and we'll put down 30 days or 39 days something—over a month after the temporal marker of, um, Trump and Rogan. And that's just the beginning of all of this, right."
High's model predicts that "there will be 39 days between the temporal marker of Trump's interview and the appearance of this visible contention," which he said would eventually lead to melee. In this instance, the "visible contention" would be with space aliens or "alien reproduction vehicles."
The descriptors his model tracked in 2009 indicated that the visible contention would be UFOs fighting other UFOs or UFOs fighting jets. High predicted that on December 3, visible contention between humans and aliens would begin, eventually ending in melee after an unspecified period.
His prediction model, the Web Bot, is a computer program that allows individuals to predict future events by tracking keywords on the internet. It monitors internet chatter, including articles, blogs, forums, and more.
NJ State Senator Jon Bramnick calls for a state of emergency to ban all drones over NJ temporarily. UFO Sighting News.
NJ State Senator Jon Bramnick calls for a state of emergency to ban all drones over NJ temporarily. UFO Sighting News.
NJ State Senator Jon Bramnick calls for a state of emergency to ban all drones over NJ temporarily. This comes after state and federal agencies still have no answers about the mysterious car size drones/UFO's flying over the tri-state area for the last 3 weeks. UFO UAP sighting news. And I really feel that aliens are using colorful lights to allow humans to see them, so that they can gently reveal themselves, more and more. Can't wait to get some close up photos of these alien craft.
They are some of the universe's most unusual and fascinating objects.
And now a study suggests that black holes might be even stranger than we thought.
NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory has captured vast plasma jets from a supermassive black hole slamming into a mysterious object.
The researchers who made this bizarre discovery say they have no idea what this galactic speedbump might be or why it seems to act so strangely.
The hidden object lurks within the galaxy Centaurus A, an irregular swirl of gas and dust approximately 12 million light-years from Earth.
What makes Centaurus A so special is the supermassive black hole at its heart which shoots radiation and matter 40,000 light-years across the entire width of the galaxy.
Using the deepest X-ray images ever taken of the galaxy, the researchers found a V-shaped patch of bright emissions caused by the collision of these jets and some unknown object.
NASA says: 'While the researchers have ideas about what is happening, the identity of the object being blasted is a mystery because it is too distant for its details to be seen, even in images from the current most powerful telescopes.'
Scientists have made a baffling discovery as they spot an unknown object being battered by the plasma jet of a supermassive black hole (pictured)
As black holes gather matter into an accretion disk, some of this is accelerated and shot out into space in the form of a vast beam of plasma and radiation (artist's impression)
When a star more than 20 times the size of our sun dies and explodes in a supernova, the remaining matter collapses down into an extremely dense object called a black hole.
These mysterious voids exert such a strong gravitational force that nothing, not even light, can escape their pull.
As matter and light fall into the black hole like water circling a plug hole, they form an enormous swirling ring called an accretion disk.
However, not all of that matter ends up falling beyond the point of no return known as the event horizon.
Instead, some of the matter gets accelerated along the black holes' powerful magnetic field lines and shot out of the poles and incredible speeds.
While scientists know roughly why these jets form, their near-relativistic speed and intense forces make much of their true nature a mystery.
Located relatively close to Earth, Centaurus A has long been the ideal place to observe these mysterious jets in action.
In previous studies, NASA has spotted a series of 'jet knots' within Centaurus A's massive plumes.
The galaxy Centaurus A (pictured) is 12 million light-years from Earth and is notable for the supermassive black hole at its heart which generated a 40,000-light-year plume of plasma
Scientists have previously spotted 'jet knots) which show up as bright spots of X-ray radiation in images
Centaurus A: Key Facts
Size:60,000 light-years in diameter
Mass: 1,000 billion solar masses
Distance from Earth: 12 million light-years
Discovered: 1826
It is notable for its huge belt of dust and the supermassive black hole at its core which produces huge radiation jets.
Centaurus A is the fifth brightest galaxy in the sky which makes it a great target for amateur astronomers.
These are massive areas of turbulence which showed up as bright spots in the X-ray spectrum.
But, in this latest study Dr David Bogensberger, an astrophysicist from the University of Michigan, and his co-authors found a knot which didn't match any of the usual patterns.
Dr Bogensberger and his co-authors write: 'Near the counterjet axis, we detected a source with an unusual morphology. We label it as C4.'
'It appears to have two streams of matter trailing away from it at two distinct angles, forming a ‘V’-like shape behind it.'
The arms of the V are at least about 700 light-years long - 140 times the distance from Earth to the nearest neighbouring star.
The V of strong X-ray radiation traily behind C4 are unusual since all other obstacles in the jet’s path only produce elliptical blobs.
NASA suggests that the mysterious object at the heart of this cosmic wake could be a massive star, either on its own or with a companion star.
The researchers believe that particles in the black hole jet could be colliding with the strong solar winds emitted by this star.
If this were the case, the resulting turbulence would increase the density of the gas in the jet, igniting the X-ray emission seen within the Chandra images.
However, C4's unique structure raises some problems for this relatively simple explanation.
This study found an object known as C4 which had an unusual V-shaped wake stretching out behind it. This is totally different to the elliptical patterns usually produced by objects caught in a black hole's jet
Scientists think that C4's unique shape might be the product of a massive star. As particles in the jet collide with solar wind from the star, this compresses the jet and ignites the bright X-ray radiation seen in these images
If there were an object in the jet, astronomers would expect to see an X-ray trail running roughly parallel to the jet's direction like the wake around a boat moving upstream.
The bottom arm of the V does match this picture, but the top arm is harder to explain since it is at a much larger angle to the jet.
That means, whatever this object is, it may have some very unusual properties which astronomers haven't spotted anywhere else in the universe.
NASA says: 'Astronomers are trying to determine why C4 has this different post-contact appearance, but it could be related to the type of object that the jet is striking or how directly the jet is striking it.'
However, for now at least, the identity of this strange object will remain stubbornly mysterious.
Black holes are so dense and their gravitational pull is so strong that no form of radiation can escape them - not even light.
They act as intense sources of gravity which hoover up dust and gas around them. Their intense gravitational pull is thought to be what stars in galaxies orbit around.
How they are formed is still poorly understood. Astronomers believe they may form when a large cloud of gas up to 100,000 times bigger than the sun, collapses into a black hole.
Many of these black hole seeds then merge to form much larger supermassive black holes, which are found at the centre of every known massive galaxy.
Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could come from a giant star, about 100 times the sun's mass, that ultimately forms into a black hole after it runs out of fuel and collapses.
When these giant stars die, they also go 'supernova', a huge explosion that expels the matter from the outer layers of the star into deep space.
Black hole blasting powerful jet directly imaged for the first-time ever!
Mysterieuze drones zo groot als auto’s houden VS in de ban: “Zelfs verontruste FBI weet niet wat er gaande is”
Ze zoemen rond. Ze vliegen rond. En doen dat duidelijk in formatie. De inwoners van New York City, New Jersey en delen van Pennsylvania maken zich zorgen over mysterieuze drones die steeds weer opduiken. Duizenden meldingen zijn er al over binnengekomen. De toestellen lijken bovendien traditionele detectiemethoden te omzeilen. Wat de drones exact doen, wie ze bestuurt en waar ze vandaan komen, blijft vooralsnog een raadsel. De FBI onderzoekt de waarnemingen, maar slaagt er voorlopig niet in om de bevolking gerust te stellen.
Unknown drones flew over a US Air Force base for 17 days straight in restricted air space
Volgens de Republikeinse politica Dawn Fantasia hebben de drones een diameter tot 1,80 meter en vliegen ze soms met hun lichten uit. “Het zijn geen hobby-drones”, benadrukt ze.
“Het griezeligste is dat het niet gewoon drones zijn, maar dat ze zo groot zijn”, vertelt ooggetuige Melissa Koscielniak. “Ze lijken op een kleine auto”, beaamt Mark Taylor, burgemeester van Florham Park (New Jersey).
Gevoelige locaties
De waarnemingen hebben geleid tot groeiende onrust. Veel drones werden gesignaleerd nabij gevoelige locaties, zoals Picatinny Arsenal, een militaire onderzoeksfaciliteit, en boven het golfterrein van gekozen president Donald Trump in Bedminster in New Jersey.
Hoewel drones legaal zijn in New Jersey voor recreatief en commercieel gebruik, zijn ze gebonden aan strikte voorschriften. De meeste gespotte drones zijn groter dan de modellen die doorgaans door amateurs worden bestuurd.
Verbod
Het aantal meldingen is de afgelopen dagen toegenomen, maar de autoriteiten benadrukken dat sommige objecten mogelijk vliegtuigen zijn in plaats van drones. Ook is het mogelijk dat dezelfde drone meerdere keren is gespot. “We nemen dit bloedserieus”, zei gouverneur Phil Murphy van de staat New Jersey. Hij suste tegelijkertijd door te stellen dat er geen aanwijzingen zijn dat de drones een directe bedreiging vormen. Sommige lokale besturen pleiten voor strengere regels en een tijdelijk verbod op het gebruik van drones.
Tijdens een incident afgelopen weekend achtervolgden twaalf laagvliegende drones een gemotoriseerde reddingsboot van de kustwacht nabij Barnegat Light en Island Beach State Park. Volgens luitenant Luke Pinneo werden de toestellen niet als een onmiddellijke bedreiging gezien en verstoorden ze de operaties niet. De kustwacht assisteert de FBI en staatsinstanties bij het onderzoek.
“Uit de lucht schieten”
Twee Republikeinse congresleden, Chris Smith en Jeff Van Drew, hebben het leger opgeroepen om de drones neer te halen. Smith drong in een brief aan de Amerikaanse minister van Defensie, Lloyd Austin, aan op militaire ondersteuning om ongeautoriseerde onbemande luchtvaartsystemen te identificeren en uit te schakelen.
Iran
Een Republikeins congreslid suggereerde dat Iran hierachter zou zitten, maar dat wordt ontkend door Defensie. “Daar is niets van waar. Er ligt geen Iraans schip voor de kust van de Verenigde Staten en er is geen zogenaamd ‘moederschip’ dat drones lanceert in de richting van de Verenigde Staten”, zei Pentagon-woordvoerster Sabrina Singh woensdag aan journalisten. “Onze eerste beoordeling hier is dat dit geen drones of activiteiten zijn die afkomstig zijn van een buitenlandse entiteit of vijand”,
De FBI onderzoekt de waarnemingen en roept bewoners op om beeldmateriaal of andere informatie te delen. Toen aan de FBI werd gevraagd of de publieke veiligheid in gevaar was, slaagde Robert Wheeler, vicedirecteur van de dienst kritieke incidenten, er niet bepaald in om een geruststellende boodschap te verspreiden. “Er is niets bekend waardoor ik dat zou kunnen zeggen”, verklaarde hij. “Maar we weten het gewoon niet en dat is het verontrustende.”
Het Witte Huis zei dat president Biden op de hoogte is van het mysterie, maar ook daar hebben ze geen antwoorden.
Mystery drones emerging from the ocean and they are not from USA or any other country
Mystery drones emerging from the ocean and they are not from USA or any other country
The ongoing mystery and debate surrounding UFO and drone sightings across the U.S. continue to captivate public attention. The lack of transparency and definitive answers from government agencies combined with the apparent absence of military action against these drones, has fueled speculation about possible cover-ups or incompetence.
Local, county, and state governments seem to have no knowledge of who is operating these drones, where they originate, or their purpose. Despite this, officials confidently assert that "there is no credible threat." This raises the question: how can they be so certain? The reality suggests they cannot.
Recently, the Pentagon issued a statement following claims by a New Jersey congressman that Iran had deployed a "mothership" off the U.S. East Coast, launching drones. The Pentagon denied any military origin for the drones and ruled out links to known foreign entities, but questions persist about whether critical information is being withheld.
If these drones are not linked to Iran, the U.S., Russia, China, or any other nation, some experts propose they may be part of clandestine "deep state" programs. These programs could involve advanced aerospace technologies being tested by private companies under classified initiatives.
Witness accounts, including those from a New Jersey sheriff and Coast Guard officials, suggest the drones exhibit highly unusual behaviors. These include emerging from the ocean and performing movements like abrupt 90-degree turns—characteristics that could imply the use of advanced propulsion systems not publicly known.
Another theory posits that the drones may not be physical objects at all but rather holographic projections, akin to the controversial "Project Blue Beam" concept. If true, this would explain why attempts to intercept them could fail—they might not physically exist.
The sheer number, endurance, and sophistication of these drones hint at a coordinated operation. Some theorists believe this might be part of a psychological operation designed to distract from pressing political, economic, or social issues. The timing of such events often appears suspiciously aligned with periods of public, economic unrest or uncertainty.
In the event that the "deep state" is orchestrating these phenomena, some fear it could be a prelude to a false flag operation, with motives and consequences yet to be revealed.
The situation remains shrouded in speculation, leaving the public to grapple with more questions than answers.
Amazing Encounters with Strange, Mysterious, and Mystical Lost Tribe
Brent Swancer
History holds many oddities that we may never fully understand, either through incomplete documentation, disinterest at the time, or simply a big question mark that hangs over all. Among these are mysterious lost tribes of people that have been encountered and confronted in all corners of the globe, often vanishing before we really understand them or only known from sparse accounts, and leaving us perplexed at just who they were or where their origins lie. Here we will look at mysterious lost tribes of ape-men, blue-eyed Indians, mystical tribes with telepathic powers, and more.
The remote jungles of South America have long been the source of tales of strange creatures and legends, and among these are numerous sightings of a tribe of large, ape-like beings living in the wilderness. The descriptions of these creatures often vary, with sizes ranging from a diminutive 3 feet tall all the way up to hulking, 12-foot-tall hairy giants, and are often claimed by the natives of the region and witnesses to live in villages of their own, to use tools and primitive bows and arrows, and to have a language of grunts and whistles. Although regional names may vary, they are now mostly filed under the blanket name Maricoxi, and they are for the most part more or less a complete enigma.
Perhaps one of the most well-documented and harrowing encounters with these mysterious creatures was detailed by the famed British explorer Colonel Percival H. Fawcett, more often called Percy Fawcett, who vanished into the jungle during an ill-fated expedition to find a mysterious lost city he called simply Z. Fawcett was known to write extensive journals of his travels, many of which would later be compiled into books by his son Brian Fawcett. In one of these books, called Lost Trails, Lost Cities, there is to be found within its pages a rather curious and spectacular tale of encountering the Maricoxi.
Percy Fawcett
The encounter supposedly happened in 1914, as Fawcett was on an expedition to map out the uncharted southwestern region of an area called Matto Grosso. From Bolivia they penetrated the dark jungle up the Guapore River, and already they had become well acquainted by local tribes with the bizarre stories of hairy man-beasts said to dwell out there in that sea of trees, and although it seemed rather fantastical it was enough to keep them wary of their surroundings and what they would find out there on their journey. Ivan Sanderson wrote of the stories Fawcett heard in his 1967 book Things, in which he writes:
“These creatures were apparently called Maricoxis by the Maxubis. They dwelt to their northeast. Due east there were said to be another group of short, black people, covered with hair, who were truly cannibalistic and hunted humans for food, cooking the bodies over a fire on a bamboo spit and tearing off the meat. These the Maxubis regarded as merely loathsome and lowly people. On a later trip, Colonel Fawcett was told of an "ape-people" who lived in holes in the ground, were also covered with dark hair, and were nocturnal, so that they were known in surrounding areas as the Morcegos or Bat-People. These types are called Cabelludos or "Hairy People" by the Spanish-speaking, and Tatus, or armadillos, by several Amerindian groups because they live in holes like those animals. Fawcett also records forest Amerinds as telling him that the Morcegos have an incredibly well-developed sense of smell which prompts even these acute hunters to suggest that they have some "sixth sense.”"
They nevertheless bravely ventured out along the river, coming across some oddities along the way. The first interesting discovery was a previously unknown Amerindian tribe, who identified themselves as the Maxubis and displayed some curious traits, such as their religion of worshiping the Sun and demonstrating an inexplicable knowledge of the planets of the solar system, which they could draw out with rather shocking accuracy. This would have been interesting to have studied further, but Fawcett and company were not there to do anthropological work, and after staying with the tribe for a few days they headed back out into the mist-shrouded jungle once more, leaving these fascinating people behind to the mist of history and crossing over into a region that was completely unseen by outsiders and ws so remote and alien it may as well have been the surface of some alien planet.
After several days of dealing with the numerous perils of this untamed land, the expedition found themselves faced with a mysterious trail out there in the middle of nowhere, which they presumed to be one used by the Natives of the region. As they stood there deciding whether to follow the trail or not and which way to go, Fawcett writes that they saw two figures moving about 100 yards away, apparently chattering away in some unknown language and carrying bows and arrows. Although they were at first presumed to be from a local tribe, closer inspection showed them to be decidedly odder, and Fawcett described them:
“We could not see them clearly for the shadows dappling their bodies, but it seemed to me they were large, hairy men, with exceptionally long arms, and with foreheads sloping back from pronounced eye ridges, men of a very primitive kind, in fact, and stark naked. Suddenly they turned and made off into the undergrowth, and we, knowing it was useless to follow, started up the north leg of the trail.”
It seems quite obvious by this point that Fawcett did not regard what he had glimpsed as completely human beings. This was perhaps all odd enough as it was, but it got even more bizarre that evening at dusk when the forest suddenly came alive with the sound of what seemed to be braying horns from out in the distant dark. The expedition members were immediately on alert, as they instinctively knew that this was an aggressive sound issued forth with the promise of threat. Fawcett would write of these horns and what followed:
“In the subdued light of evening, beneath the high vault of branches in this forest untrodden by civilized man, the sound was as eerie as the opening notes of some fantastic opera. We knew the savages made it, and that those savages were now on our trail. Soon we could hear shouts and jabbering to the accompaniment of the rough horn calls--a barbarous, merciless din, in marked contrast to the stealth of the ordinary savage.
Darkness, still distant above the treetops, was settling rapidly down here in the depths of the wood, so we looked about us for a camping site which offered some measure of safety from attack, and finally took refuge in a tacuara thicket. Here the naked savages would not dare to follow because of the wicked, inch-long thorns. As we slung our hammocks inside the natural stockade we could hear the savages jabbering excitedly all around, but not daring to enter. Then, as the last light went, they left us, and we heard no more of them.”
It is an eerie image to be sure, this solitary camp of bedraggled explorers terrified by the sight of hairy men and now harassed by these mysterious horns in the night, punctuated by the chattering of some rough, alien language, and it was still not over for them. The next morning the team warily checked their surroundings and could find no sign of any of the “savages” having intruded into the vicinity. They continued along one of the well-delineated trails they were finding and camped once again that evening without incident. The next morning, they struck out from the camp and within just about a mile stumbled across what seemed to have been the actual village of the strange tribe, populated by creatures who were obviously not exactly human. Fawcett rather spectacularly describes what happened:
“In the morning we went on, and within a quarter of a mile came to a sort of palm-leaf sentry-box, then another. Then all of a sudden we reached open forest. The undergrowth fell away, disclosing between the tree boles a village of primitive shelters, where squatted some of the most villainous savages I have ever seen. Some were engaged in making arrows, others just idled--great apelike brutes who looked as if they had scarcely evolved beyond the level of beasts.
I whistled, and an enormous creature, hairy as a dog, leapt to his feet in the nearest shelter, fitted an arrow to his bow in a flash, and came up dancing from one leg to the other till he was only four yards away. Emitting grunts that sounded like 'Eugh! Eugh! Eugh!' he remained there dancing, and suddenly the whole forest around us was alive with these hideous ape-men, all grunting 'Eugh! Eugh! Eugh!' and dancing from leg to leg in the same way as they strung arrows to their bows. It looked like a very delicate situation for us, and I wondered if it was the end. I made friendly overtures in Maxubi, but they paid no attention. It was as though human speech were beyond their powers of comprehension.
The creature in front of me ceased his dance, stood for a moment perfectly still, and then drew his bowstring back till it was level with his ear, at the same time raising the barbed point of the six-foot arrow to the height of my chest. I looked straight into the pig-like eyes half hidden under the overhanging brows, and knew that he was not going to loose that arrow yet. As deliberately as he had raised it, he now lowered the bow, and commenced once more the slow dance, and the 'Eugh! Eugh! Eugh!’"
This brutish ape-man allegedly continued to do this several more times, aiming the bow only to continue with his odd, disjointed dance and then aim it again. However, Fawcett seemed to know that at any point that arrow could unleash, and his hand was firmly kept upon the butt of his pistol as he took in the whole outlandish scene. At some point Fawcett says he began to seriously fear for his life and decided to try scaring it off with his sidearm, shooting off a round that pinged the earth by the beast’s feet and sent a thunderous boom echoing through the jungle. He says of this sequence of events:
“I drew out a Mauser pistol I had on my hip. It was a big, clumsy thing, of a caliber unsuitable to forest use, but I had brought it because by clipping the wooden holster to the pistol-butt it became a carbine, and was lighter to carry than a true rifle. It used .38 black powder shells, which made a din out of all proportion to their size. I never raised it; I just pulled the trigger and banged it off into the ground at the ape-man's feet.
The effect was instantaneous. A look of complete amazement came into the hideous face, and the little eyes opened wide. He dropped his bow and arrow and sprang away as quickly as a cat to vanish behind a tree. Then the arrows began to fly. We shot off a few rounds into the branches, hoping the noise would scare the savages into a more receptive frame of mind, but they seemed in no way disposed to accept us, and before anyone was hurt we gave it up as hopeless and retreated down the trail till the camp was out of sight. We were not followed, but the clamor in the village continued for a long time as we struck off northwards, and we fancied we still heard the 'Eugh! Eugh! Eugh!' of the enraged braves.”
This account may seem to be completely sensational to the point that it might be easy for the more skeptical-minded to dismiss it out of hand, but there are a few reasons why it has warrant and deserves consideration, the first being that this was likely not some fictional story Fawcett was telling. It was part of his very serious and typically meticulous notes on his expedition and sitting right there amongst more mundane observations of the wildlife and region’s various peoples. He was a consummate professional and member of the Royal Geographical Society, as well as a very respected, experienced explorer and surveyor, and there is no rational reason at all for why he should want to concoct such a story to drop in the middle of his otherwise meticulous journal. Why would he do that and risk his reputation? To what ends? It also means he would not likely have made misidentifications of local tribes or wildlife, as he was as familiar with these jungles as one could possibly be in the era.
Fawcett has also been accused of having perhaps exaggerated his dealings with the Natives and in this case, made them out to be hairy brutes out of some racist agenda, but if that were the case then why are there other records of his dealings with locals that are completely accurate in their depiction of their appearances and behavior? It is somewhat true that Fawcett was known to have some strong opinions on the more primitive tribes, but he seems to have never let it compromise the matter-of-fact way in which he recorded the people themselves. Sanderson has much to say about this aspect of the journal entries, writing:
“He (Fawcett) was not an ethnologist, anthropologist, or archaeologist but it was with these disciplines that he clashed, and it was towards the protagonists of the first that he most often expressed himself as feeling most bitter. In his extensive travels through hitherto unexplored territories he discovered many groups of people for the first time, lived with them, often acquired not a little of their language, recorded what of their customs he could, and attempted some classification of their origins. Much of all of this conflicted with established beliefs among ethnologists, and Fawcett's historical theories were at complete variance with what was then, and still is, accepted. Yet, while those theories were strongly criticized, the veracity of the facts he collected were never questioned. It was his assessment of them that was considered invalid.
This puts his account of the hairy Maricoxis in an entirely different light, quite apart from the fact that his word was never doubted, that he had two reliable witnesses, and that what he saw was both before and afterwards confirmed by others, in that reports relayed to him by several people described exactly what he had seen without the relaters knowing anything of what he did see. We are therefore compelled to accept this report in toto; and this means simply that, in the year 1914, there were living to the northeast of the Parecis Range in the Matto Grosso, what were apparently tribal groups of fully-haired hominids of grossly primitive aspect, and in no possible way descended from or related to the Amerindian aborigines of the Americas.”
While Sanderson may seem perhaps too quick to buy the whole tale, it certainly is an account that stands out among Fawcett’s writings, and which ultimately leaves more questions than answers. What did Fawcett and his fellow expedition members encounter out there in that jungle? Were these indeed the legendary Maricoxi or something else? It is truly unfortunate that considering that Fawcett was not particularly interested in following up on it, and seems to have considered it mostly an obstacle and oddity, he never did make any effort to find out what they were, and the creatures of his account just sort of fade into the background to remain perplexing enigmas. Did this tribe of hairy ape-men really exist the way Fawcett described them, and if so what were they and how did they fit into the Maricoxi legend? The answer may forever remain hidden out there in that forbidden jungle lair.
Besides tribes of man-like apes, one persistent legend that has been around since 16th-century Spanish missionaries came to the Amazon region is that of tribes of tall, fair-skinned, blonde, blue-eyed, decidedly Caucasian-looking natives living out in the most remote and inaccessible areas of the jungle. One of the earlier accounts of encountering these mysterious people was made by the Spanish Dominican missionary Gaspar de Carvajal, who wrote in 1542 of coming across a group of very tall, very white, European-looking tribal women who wore their long, light hair braided and wound about their heads. The account was included in his book Account of the Recent Discovery of the Famous Grand River.
Supposed photo of "white natives" taken in the Amazon
Another popular account of these white Amazonians comes from the American explorer Alexander Hamilton Rice, Jr., who journeyed into the Amazon for a 1924-1925 expedition. Upon returning from the perilous expedition, Rice told of one of the expedition members, a Lieutenant Hinton, who had spied a tribe of white Indians while making a flight over the headwaters of the Parima River. Intrigued, Rice organized a trip by canoe up the river in order to try and find out where the mysterious white natives came from. Eventually, they located a hut that was believed to belong to the white Indians, and they then heard a series of shrieking yells which scared some of the expedition members off and put the remaining group on edge, reaching for their weapons. It was then that two of the white natives came out of the forest, apparently in peace.
These white-skinned natives were described as having pigment painted across their faces that obscured their features, but they were said to be “undeniably white.” The two were said to look undersized and undernourished, wore no clothing, and carried with them bows with poison-tipped arrows. They spoke in a unique language not known to be spoken by any other tribe, which made communication difficult. When the expedition members offered beads and handkerchiefs as gifts, the two tribesmen reportedly called out into the jungle, which brought more of the fair-skinned natives out of hiding.
These odd, white tribespeople were offered food, but it was declined, and it seemed that they preferred to eat plantains which had curiously been garnished with cocaine, although it was unclear where they had acquired the drug. Throughout the encounter, the strange tribe showed no particular interest in or awe of the Westerners’ clothes, equipment, guns, or hydroplane. The expedition made further efforts to try and communicate with the tribe, but the language barrier made it difficult, and after a while the white Indians melted away back into the forest, moving “between the trees like jaguars without making a sound or causing a rustle of the leaves.”
The 1920s were indeed a period of many sightings of these white-skinned natives, and feature heavily in accounts from the explorer Percy Fawcett, who was convinced that these people were denizens of a mystical lost city deep in the jungle, which he called simply “Z.” So convinced was he that this mystical city and its people existed that they would inevitably lead him to obsession and lure him to his final, ill-fated expedition in search of the city of Z in 1925. Fawcett would journey out into uncharted jungle in search of his fabled city and seemingly step off the face of the earth. No trace of him or his expedition was ever found.
Accounts and sightings of the white natives continued sporadically into the 1940s, and in 1945 the British Journalist Harold T. Wilkins took it upon himself to compile a variety of reports stretching back to the 16th century in his book Mysteries of Ancient South America. Even in modern times, there have been accounts of coming across these enigmatic people. In 1977 one joint British/ Brazilian expedition reported being surrounded by a tribe of uncommonly tall, blonde natives with blue eyes and strikingly white pigmentation, some of who had thick beards and all of who were naked. The strange white tribesmen allegedly spoke a dialect that no expert had ever heard before. These people were called the Acurinis and were again encountered by another expedition to the same region in 1979. In this case, the mysterious tribesmen were seen only briefly before vanishing into the underbrush.
Theories abound over what could be behind these accounts. One is that they are the descendants of shipwrecked sailors, Vikings, lost explorers, or even missionaries or other Westerners who willingly left civilization behind to live amongst the natives, where they invariably intermingled. Indeed there are theories that Percy Fawcett himself did this and that the descendants of both him and his expedition members may be behind some of these encounters with fair-skinned natives. In recent years there has been one tribe called the Aché, who are known for having light skin, hair, eye color, and thick beards, and although it has been shown that they show no genetic evidence of having ever mixed with Europeans, their unique appearance could make it possible that they might be the source of at least some of the accounts. It is unlikely we will ever know for sure the precise origins of these stories.
One very odd account that comes from the Amazon wilds is that of an intrepid explorer who came here looking for mysteries and would soon get more than he bargained for, embarking on a quest that would include lost, uncontacted tribes and strange powers of the mind. Loren McIntyre was a seasoned explorer, photojournalist, and writer for such esteemed publications as National Geographic, Time, Life, Smithsonian, GEO, Audubon, and South American Explorer, and was in many ways a sort of real-life Indiana Jones figure, spending much of his life doggedly exploring the forbidding, uncharted, and most impenetrable reaches of the Amazon rainforest of South America. Indeed, it was he who would be the first one to discover the source of the mighty Amazon River, when he made an expedition in search of it in 1971. He would make history when he found that the largest, longest, and most powerful river in the world began with a runoff of snow at a mountain in the Andes called Mismi, some 6,400 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean, which trickled down to pond now called Laguna McIntyre, which in turn emptied into a brook named Carhuasanta, in Peru, after which it began its inexorable growth and meandering journey through some of the most remote wilds on earth. Yet, although this is McIntyre’s most famous discovery it certainly wasn’t his only one, and he would have a very mysterious encounter out in those jungles that he would keep to himself for years.
In 1969, McIntyre embarked on an excursion into the unexplored depths of the Amazon jungle of Brazil. His target was the little-known Mayoruna tribe, also called the Matsés, who were so elusive that they had never been successfully contacted by outsiders and were known as “The Cat People,” due to the arrays of imposing spikes that they wore implanted into their faces. Next to nothing was known about this enigmatic tribe, and they were only ever fleetingly glimpsed. They were like ghosts, and McIntyre had little to go on when he was dumped off on the shores of the Amazon River in a place called the Javari valley, on the border between Brazil and Peru, and left to continue on his own, penetrating dense jungle that no outsider had ever set eyes on in an attempt to find these mysterious people. Little did he know that it would be they who found him.
As the brave, seasoned explorer made his way through a mosquito-infested jungle he got perhaps too focused on finding the lost tribe, and soon realized that he was hopelessly lost. His journey then turned into aimlessly wandering through the perilous wilderness, and it became obvious that he was not going to be in time for his scheduled pick-up at the point where he had been dropped off. He began to resign himself to the fact that he just might end up another mysterious lost explorer, like his childhood idol Percy Fawcett before him, a fellow explorer who had mysteriously vanished while looking for his mythical city “Z.” Making this trek more ominous was when at some point McIntyre would stumble across a clearing littered with the bodies of what appeared to be four lumberjacks, half devoured by ants and with arrows sticking out from their silent corpses.
This grim discovery had the explorer watching the trees carefully as he aimlessly wandered around half expecting death to come for him at any moment through the shadows, and more sure than ever that he would not see civilization again. It was as he was in this fog of panic and fear that some figures crept out of the forest before him, spikes embedded into their faces, necklaces made of bones, possibly human, around their necks, and looking upon him with a mixture of apprehension and surprise, but not aggressiveness. These were the Mayoruna, and this was the closest any outsider had ever gotten to them. At least any who were still alive.
The frightened explorer immediately and very slowly pulled out some gifts that he had brought in the event that he actually made contact. From his bag, he produced some cloth and mirrors, which he dropped before the tribesmen as they looked on with inscrutable expressions on their pierced faces. They stepped closer to accept the gifts and then seemed to beckon for him to follow them as they began to melt back into the forest. The weary McIntyre stumbled after them, barely able to keep up with their nimble navigation of the jungle, and so would begin the next chapter of his strange adventure.
They arrived at what seemed to be a makeshift camp full of other members of the tribe, and they seemed to show a strange mixture of curiosity and aggression toward him. Upon examining his tennis shoes they went about burning them to ashes, and his watch they found fascinating, but they destroyed that too. Indeed, most of his possessions would be either stolen from him or destroyed, and even his camera, which they oddly showed no interest in, was broken when a monkey descended from the trees to take it from him. Although there was no outright aggression against him, there were some grim reminders that he was very much in danger. He would claim that they possessed trinkets made of human bone and that they drank out of hollowed-out skulls. They were also very well armed and never far from their bows, and one tribesman with red face paint, who he called “Red Cheeks,” took to menacing him and scowling at him.
McIntyre would end up staying with this lost tribe for two months, and during this time made many observations. He noticed that they were constantly on the move, perpetually moving to a new camp, sometimes suddenly and without warning, and they clearly had a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. They also seemed to have no concept of individual possessions, freely sharing everything with each other and taking or using whatever they liked without repercussions. Even odder still, he noticed that these people often moved quite bizarrely in sync, knowing what the others would do or acting in precise tandem without speaking to each other. For some time, he pondered this anomaly, but he would soon learn that the explanation was far odder than anything that he had ever guessed at.
One day he was approached by the one he took to be the chief of the tribe, an ancient-looking, sinewy and grizzled tree trunk of a man, covered in warty growths that would earn him McIntyre’s nickname “Barnacle.” When the chief approached he spoke to McIntyre, and the explorer found that bizarrely, after weeks of being unable to understand anything any of them had said, he clearly comprehended what Barnacle had to say. This utterly perplexed him, but he soon realized that this chief was not moving his mouth when he spoke, and that he was talking directly into his mind, using a sort of telepathy that McIntyre would later call “beaming,” and which Barnacle called “the other language.”
Barnacle explained that the tribe existed as a sort of hive mind consciousness and that their thoughts were all linked to each other, although only the tribal elders were proficient at focusing this telepathic power and truly using it to its full potential. Here he learned that there was no real “self” as Westerners would think of it and that to them the concept of an individual “self” made little sense. The chief also telepathically explained that they were under constant threat from loggers and other outsiders and that the reason the tribe moved so often was that they were on a spiritual journey to what he called “The Beginning,” or the literal beginning of time, where they hoped to be beyond the reach of the intruding outside world. Indeed, the tribe seemed to have a very strange grasp of how time worked that was rather alien to anything the explorer was familiar with. A 1991 article in The Los Angeles Times about McIntyre’s bizarre experience explains the tribe’s philosophy on time as follows:
“The main feature of time, by western definition, is its passage. But for the Mayoruna, time is at once mobile and static. It moved with man, stopped with him, advanced and retreated with him. It is not the implacable judge, condemning man to a tragically brief life. Time is a shelter, an escape into safety and regeneration, a repository whose chief function is not piling up the past, intact yet dead, but rather keeping it alive and available. And, in the face of violent encroachment on their land by white settlers, that past assisted them with an alternative to a menacing present.”
The chief invited McIntyre to come along with them on their journey to “The Beginning,” and for the next few weeks he followed them on their mystical quest and engaged in their rituals, often taking psychoactive jungle concoctions that warped his perceptions. He found that if he concentrated he could pick up on a sort of static fuzz that contained the interlinked thoughts of all of the tribe members, through processes he could never hope to fathom. However, he knew at some point he would have to part ways with them and try to leave this land of jungle, telepathy, and time travel behind him to get back to the civilization that was no doubt convinced he had vanished. The only problem was that he had no idea where he was, and on top of this, although he had been invited and was not physically threatened by the Mayoruna in any way, he had no illusions that he was anything other than their prisoner and wondered what they would do if he tried to flee. However, in the end, the decision was made for him, a flood swept through during a torrential rain, and McIntyre was whisked away as he clung to a balsa raft, emptied into the river and incredibly found the next day by a pilot flying over.
Upon getting back to civilization, McIntyre would keep what had happened to him a secret for years, and it is quite likely that the whole fantastical tale would have died with him in 2003 if it hadn’t been for a Romanian-American writer, director and movie producer, by the name of Petru Popescu. In 1987 Popescu met McIntyre by chance while on a riverboat trip up the Amazon River. The two men hit it off, and for some reason McIntyre confided to him about what had happened all of those years ago with the mysterious Mayoruna tribe. It was all rather amazing, and when Popescu asked why he had never told anyone about it, McIntyre said that he didn’t think anyone would ever believe him, and he had been worried about maintaining his reputation as a respected explorer, writer, and photographer. He would say of this:
“I’m pretty reluctant to voice very much about the beaming experience because I didn’t want my friends to think I’d gone around the bend. ‘What is this? The guy’s hallucinating?’”
Popescu would finally manage to convince McIntyre to let him write a book on his adventures, and in 1991 released The Encounter: Amazon Beaming. The explorer would claim that in his dealings with dozens of other tribes in the same region he had never before or since experienced anything like he did during his time with the Mayoruna, and he did not know what became of them. We are left to wonder just how much of this account is true, and if it is just what was going on with these elusive people of the jungle. The tribe itself has sort of disappeared, they have never been formally studied, and since McIntyre passed away in 2003, we are left only with Popescu’s book as a window into this strange tribe and their world and ways. One wonders if they are still out there, or if they managed to make that journey to “The Beginning,” finally at peace and forevermore out of our reach.
The Amazon is not the only place for such stories, and one tale of a mysterious lost race comes to us from the Appalachian Mountains of the United States, it tells of a strange race of albino, sun-fearing pygmies who supposedly roamed this land long before even the Natives arrived. In the untamed wildernesses along the Southern Appalachian Mountains of the United States, the Native Cherokee people have long told of a strange race of beings they call “The Moon-Eyed People.” This mysterious tribe was supposedly smaller than average humans, almost dwarfish in nature, very pale skinned, like pure white alabaster, with shocking white hair, generous beards and body hair, and inhumanly large blue eyes, sensitive to light to the point that they were said to be unable to see in the daytime, hence their name. These Moon-Eyed people were purportedly completely nocturnal, hiding in dank caves and underground caverns during the day only to come out at night when the sun had retreated, and indeed sunlight was said to be enough to kill them if they ever got caught out in the open during daylight hours.
These strange, diminutive nocturnal denizens of the land were said to have been here long before the first Native peoples had settled the area, and according to most legends, they were eventually expelled by local Natives, although what form this expulsion takes varies from tradition to tradition. In some tales, it was the Creek people from the south who cast them out, whereas in others it was the Cherokees themselves who waged a relentless campaign and full-out war against these pale-skinned creatures to drive them to other lands. The American botanist, naturalist, and physician, Benjamin Smith Barton, wrote of these people and their downfall back in 1797, in his book New Views of the Origin of the Tribes and Nations of America, thus:
“The Cheerake tell us, that when they first arrived in the country which they inhabit, they found it possessed by certain 'moon-eyed-people,' who could not see in the day-time. These wretches they expelled.”
Whatever happened to this enigmatic race, their legacy has supposedly remained behind in the ancient rock structures and mysterious pre-Columbian mounds and ruins that dot the landscape along the Appalachians from North Carolina all the way down through Georgia and Alabama, all said to have been erected by the Moon-Eyed People. Perhaps the most famous of these is an 850-foot-long stone wall dated to 400 - 500 C.E., which meanders through Fort Mountain State Park, just over the North Carolina border in Georgia, and is said to be a vestige of the bloody war between the mysterious Moon-Eyed People and the native Cherokee. There are countless other crude rock structures, walls, mounds and forts scattered throughout the Appalachians, as well as anomalous carvings, figurines, and a soapstone carving of conjoined figures now on display at the Cherokee County Historical Museum, said to be of these strange people, and no one really knows who made any of them except for the Cherokee themselves, who say it was the work of the Moon-Eyed People.
Whoever built such structures has long remained a mystery, and when Europeans first came to the region the Natives, who were not known for making such fort-like structures themselves, claimed that they had always been there, saying that they were constructions of the Moon-Eyed People. Interestingly, while Cherokee folklore has many tales of supernatural beings and various spirits, the Moon-Eyed People are never spoken of in such a manner, rather being described matter-of-factly as physically another race inhabiting the same lands.
Of course, with such an oddity as a cryptic tribe of bizarre dwarf subterranean albino people, almost like vampires in their intolerance for sunlight, and who predated the native peoples and constructed their mysterious mounds and forts, there is bound to be theorizing as to who or what they may have been. One of the most popular ideas is that they are evidence of Native contact with European explorers who had made it to the New World long before history says they did, possibly connected to the legend of the “Welsh Speaking Indians.”
The story of white-skinned, Welsh-speaking Indians in the New World originates with a 16th-century manuscript published by Welsh antiquarian Humphrey Llwyd, in which he writes of Welsh settlers coming to these shores in the 12th century, in particular a Prince Madoc, who along with his followers was said to have emigrated to America from Wales in about 1170, landing somewhere in the vicinity of Mobile Bay, Alabama. Madoc would supposedly end up shipping over hundreds of his followers to the New World, where they would disappear into the wilderness, never to return. In the following centuries, there were many stories of fair-skinned, blue-eyed natives who spoke a form of Welsh from the area, and these have been speculated to have been the descendants of these settlers.
Another idea put forth by Benjamin Smith Barton is that they were out-of-place descendants of members of the Guna people of Panama, who have such an uncommonly high rate of albinism that they were once referred to as the “White Indians,” and who were also reportedly able to see better at night. Another theory is that, rather than go to war, the Natives of the land actually integrated with the Moon-Eyed People and absorbed them. Still other more far-out theories are that these were some other species of human, a new race, or even ancient astronauts from another world.
It is still unclear who or what the Moon-Eyed people may have been, and they remain a distinctly enigmatic lost civilization if they ever even existed at all. Who were these albino, sun-fearing people? Were they some lost race, descendants of pre-Columbian explorers, or even a new species or alien interlopers? Or were these just a figment of folklore and myth? The answers to such questions remain obscure, but the tales of the Moon-Eyed People have persisted for over a millennium, and the idea that such a race of lost humanoids has been lost to history captures the imagination.
Another such “blue-eyed tribe” appeared to explorers as something quite European in nature, although their ways and beginnings have always been cloaked in shadows. Known mostly from historical accounts, their origins remain murky, their lineage uncertain, and they are a historical curiosity we may never fully understand. During the era of early European contact, the native peoples of North America held many curiosities for explorers and settlers coming to this new, wild land. These tribes were numerous and displayed rich variety between different cultures, as well as myriad languages, customs, and traditions that inspired awe, wonder, curiosity, bafflement, and even fear in the European adventurers who bravely delved into this uncharted new world and tried to tame it. Yet as fascinating as these new peoples were, perhaps the most interesting was an alleged tribe of natives who were said to look decidedly Caucasian in nature.
The first reports of what would come to be known as the Mandan tribe began to trickle out from French explorers in the region of the Missouri River in present-day North and South Dakota in the early 1700s. These natives were said to have rather fair skin and to have red or blonde hair and blue or grey eyes, and indeed especially the women were purportedly so Nordic in appearance that if it were not for their clothing they were said to be nearly indistinguishable from whites. In 1738, the French Canadian trader Sieur de la Verendrye made the first official outside contact with the Mandan and described them as living in 9 villages at a tributary of the Missouri River called the Heart River, and noted that they also exhibited customs that were decidedly more European than the neighboring tribes.
By 1784 the word had gotten out on this mysterious tribe of blue-eyed Indians, and they were featured in the media, with the August 24, 1784 edition of the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser proclaiming that a new tribe of white people had been discovered and that they were “acquainted with the principles of the Christian religion" and "extremely courteous and civilized.” Perhaps one of the more famous of the explorers to come across the Mandan was none other than Lewis and Clark, who visited the tribe in 1804 and described them as “half-white,” as well as peaceful, civilized, courteous, and polite. They also noted that the tribe’s numbers had dwindled significantly due to the frequent smallpox epidemics that terrorized them, as well as attacks against them by neighboring tribes, namely the Assiniboine, Lakota, Arikara and the Sioux.
Of course, this all led to intense speculation as to what the origins were of this bizarre tribe, and one of the earliest ideas put forward was that they were the descendants of pre-Columbian explorers to the New World. For instance, there were many legends from various regions of the present-day United States of Welsh-speaking natives, perhaps descended from Welsh settlers coming to these shores in the 12th century, in particular a Prince Madoc, who along with his followers was said to have emigrated to America from Wales in about 1170. One Welsh explorer by the name of John Evans became so convinced that this was the case with the Mandan that he launched an expedition up the Missouri River in 1796 to search for them and prove that their language was derived from Welsh and contained Welsh vocabulary. Evans would trek up the river in the winter of 1796 and he could find no evidence whatsoever of the Welsh influence he had been so sure he would find, forcing him to concede that this was not where the Mandan origins lay. Indeed, he became extremely skeptical that there were any of these legendary “Welsh Indians” at all, saying in a letter to Dr. Samuel Jones:
“Thus having explored and charted the Missurie for 1,800 miles and by my Communications with the Indians this side of the Pacific Ocean from 35 to 49 degrees of Latitude, I am able to inform you that there is no such People as the Welsh Indians.”
Mandan tribe members
Another explorer who believed that the Mandan had European roots, perhaps even Welsh, was the frontiersman and pictorial historian George Catlin, who spent several months with the tribe in North Dakota, living amongst and drawing and painting them in 1832. One of the things that first struck him about these mysterious people was just how European they looked, describing that many of them were nearly white and had light hair and blue eyes, and he also noticed that they had more advanced techniques for manufacturing goods and dwellings, customs, traditions, town layouts, and language vastly different from neighboring tribes. Caitlin would say of the Mandan:
“They are a very interesting and pleasing people in their personal appearance and manners, differing in many respects, both in looks and customs, from all the other tribes I have seen. So forcibly have I been struck with the peculiar ease and elegance of these people, together with their diversity of complexions, the various colours of their hair and eyes; the singularity of their language, and their peculiar and unaccountable customs, that I am fully convinced that they have sprung from some other origin than that of the other North American Tribes, or that they are an amalgam of natives with some civilized race.”
Even some of the legends of the Mandan people themselves expressly mentioned that they had been descended from a strange white man who had appeared to them aboard a canoe in ancient times after an enormous flood had wiped out everything in sight. They claimed that this stranger had taught them about medicine and had influenced their religion, which oddly featured many of the same beats as Christianity, such as a great flood, a virgin birth, and a child born who could work magical miracles, among others. This was noticed by other later expeditions as well, such as an 1833-34 expedition led by German naturalist A.P. Maximilian, who felt that the similarities between Christianity and the Mandan religion were too close to be mere coincidence. Caitlin would write of this:
“It would seem that these people must have had some proximity to some part of the civilized world; or that missionaries or others have been formerly among them, inculcating the Christian religion and the Mosaic account of the Flood.”
Another idea on the Mandan origins is that they came from pre-Columbian visitations by Viking explorers. The first official European to ever officially make contact with the Mandan tribe, Sieur de la Verendrye, claimed that at the time he had found a strange runestone with Nordic inscriptions on a riverside near the village. The stone was allegedly sent to France to be studied but it is unclear what happened to the “Verendrye Runestone” after that, and indeed it is uncertain if it ever really existed at all. Unless the stone ever turns up again it remains just as mysterious as the Mandan.
The idea of Vikings in the New World before the days of Columbus has been talked about for some time, with one prevalent and somewhat controversial theory having to do with Eric Thorwaldsson, also more famously known as "The Red," who established two colonies on the coast of Greenland in 986. The story goes that Eric The Red then abandoned these outposts when the wild, rugged land proved to be too cold and forbidding, and made his way to North America along with the colonists. The theory then claims that the King of Norway is then said to have sent an expedition to the New World to find out what had happened to them, and that this expedition made their way up the rivers to end up in the Dakotas and other areas, after which they became stranded and then assimilated into the native tribes, giving them their Nordic genes.
However, there is very little evidence to prove that Vikings ever actually reached North America. The Verendrye Runestone vanished without a trace and then there is the hotly debated Kensington Runestone, which was a giant slab covered in runes allegedly found by Swedish immigrant Olof Ohman in Minnesota in 1898. In this case, the inscriptions claimed that the runes had been created by 14th-century Scandinavian explorers, and although the authenticity of the runestone is still debated it has mostly been classified as a hoax by the scientific community.
Regardless of where the Mandan really came from, the fact is that we will probably never know for sure. In 1838 the tribe was hit by a devastating smallpox epidemic, and although this was a specter they had been haunted by for centuries, this time it was absolutely catastrophic, wiping them out at such a rate that after only a few months there were only an estimated 30 to 140 of them left. With the Mandan teetering on the edge of extinction, enemy tribes swept in and took them as slaves, after which they were assimilated and absorbed. Consequent intermarriage and interbreeding meant that any unique genetic heritage they may have had was quickly erased, and the last known full-blooded Mandan was Mattie Grinnell, who died in 1971. Since there are no more full-blooded Mandan left and only an estimated 8 speakers of its language left today, it is difficult to get a grip on their heritage, even with our advanced DNA testing techniques, and their origins and history will likely forever remain shrouded in mystery, leaving us to merely speculate and debate on it.
It is somewhat sad that this tribe disappeared before we were ever able to really comprehend who they were. In all of the cases we have looked at here, all we are left with is the tales and accounts from explorers, but other than that their legacies have evaporated into the tides of history. They are seemingly vanished peoples who sowed bafflement and wonder, but ultimately left numerous questions swirling about them, doomed to a limbo of superstition, speculation, and rumor. Who were these people? Why did they look and act so differently, and what was the meaning behind their strange ways? To the alien explorers just starting to penetrate this wilderness at the time they may have seemed to be baffling anomalies, and interestingly they still are.
VIDEOS
Uncontacted Tribes - 5 Most Mysterious and Recently Discovered
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
