Strange clusterings of missing persons cases.

[Twyla LaSarc]

I've read the first two Paulides books. The information is good, but the writing style annoyed me a bit. He refuses to draw any conclusions from the data. He just gives you the facts of each case. There's not a lot of meta-narrative.

It sure is a hell of a mystery though. It reminds me of fairy tales. If you wear bright colors in the woods, the big bad wolf's gonna get you. Little Red Riding Hood. The victims' bones are mostly gone, with only a few small bones left over, like they've been eaten.

Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he live, or be he dead
I'll grind his bones to make my bread

It's like something is watching people in the woods, snatching them, and either eating them or throwing them off of mountains.

I'll probably buy the other two books at some point. Since reading the first two books, I've worked myself into a paranoid state more than once when alone near the woods.

(Oh - and Paulides speculated in one of his previous interviews that the removal of the shoes was so the victims are less likely to escape, or could not get far if they tried (the terrain being snow and/or forest floor).)

I agree with the criticism of writing style, although I guess he is into documentation and letting others go out on the speculative branches. He does tease a bit though, like holding back some of the speculations of the rangers and others that he interviews. I wish those were more complete.

I borrowed the series from the local library via interlibrary loan. I thought the books actually improved as they went along. He started adding a few interesting sidelines and info.

[slomo]

Fundamentally, I believe consciousness is the substrate for physical reality, so that any violation of any physical law is possible given a powerful enough consciousness (not necessarily or even probably human). This is why I do not distinguish between "aliens" and "spirits", since to interact with either of these classes of intelligences necessarily entails a violation of physical laws as we understand them. Reality is ultimately non-physical, although asymptotically/macroscopically/day-to-day it serves us better to pretend so.

Somewhat related: I just finished reading Our Mathematical Universe. I ultimately disagree with the author (a highly trained and accomplished physicist) because his fundamental assumption is that there is an external/objective reality independent of human consciousness, and I don't take this to be true axiomatically. However, the book serves as a very interesting exercise in where this assumption takes you if you follow it faithfully with a very high level of physical understanding. The author Tegmark ends up concluding that physical reality (which is far more heterogeneous than most people believe, according Tegmark) is ultimately a "mathematical structure", which to me sounds ultimately like it is made up of a consciousness substrate. In other words, all roads lead back to consciousness.

Thanks, Slomo, very though-provoking, fundamentally I'd say I agree (as anyone who knows me would predict). And it's interesting and refreshing that you hold that view in spite of -- or perhaps because of -- your scientific education. So glad your posting more again.

Thanks .... but meh: I was only ever in the Science game for the mystery, and that doesn't exist in academic science. Well, OK, let's be honest, I'm also in it for the paycheck, but that just means I keep my mouth shut about RI topics when I'm at work.

One question I have about the distinction between "aliens" and "spirits": couldn't an alien have a physical form (as opposed to a non-corporeal 'spirit'), and travel to Earth in a physical vehicle, and so not necessarily violate physical laws as we understand them?

I don't know about nuts-and-bolts travel. Although someone I read recently (Christopher Knowles?) makes the observation that most "alien" craft resemble hovercraft more than anything that could escape earth's gravity. So if these entities are leaving the planet, they're slipping through dimensional doorways, in which case they might as well be "spirits". My opinion, subject to change based on additional data or personal experience, is that the nuts-and-bolts craft are merely theatrical props.

As to the missing persons in the national parks, from all the details, I couldn't say it's all one thing. But many cases frankly sound like a some kind of large furry creature is involved. Mainly because of the recovered children's recollections, and, in the cases of death, bodies being found impossibly distant, over rugged terrain etc., from the site of their disappearance. The furry creature hypothesis, especially a cryptid, need not rule out nearby "government lab" scenaria.

I dunno: could be cryptids (naturally occuring or man-made), could be aliens, could be demons, probably all of the above...

But the shoes. What's with the shoes always being off?

Bigfoot has trouble shopping for footwear? Seriously, though, isn't there another mystery about shoes washing up on shores?

[slomo]

Well written, I'm in complete agreement. In fact, if you wouldn't mind indulging me I'd like to share a silly story I wrote a few years ago on the subject:

(setting: Luke and Matthew playing monopoly, in the midst of a discussion.)

"Yes, in fact. Man can fly, I've seen it."

Matthew raised his eyebrow as he rolled the dice. "I'd really love to believe you, but the laws of physics simply make that impossible."

"Those laws might," Luke replied, "but there are laws of awareness, of which your cherished laws of physics are only a sub-set, which tell me otherwise."

Matthew slid his wheelbarrow piece over to St Charles Place. "Ok, I'll play along with you. What exactly are these laws?"

"Well in a nutshell, I'd say that the scope of your awareness determines what's possible and what's not. The laws that restrict you represent the boundaries of that scope. By the way, you owe me $53."

Matthew frowned, looking back down at his place on the board. He handed over a few orange and white bills from his pile of fake money. "Don't take this as an insult, but what you're describing sounds a little like metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, without conveying any actual meaning."

Luke looked up from the board. "I thought you might say that. Well then, would you prefer an illustration?"

Matthew raised an eyebrow and replied, "Yes, by all means."

"Ok then, let's take this game as an example. I'll tell you what space I'm going to land on next. On my next turn, I'll land on Boardwalk."

Mathhew looked down at the board and smirked. "Well that would definitely be an impressive show of prognostication, you're gonna have to roll double sixes. Go for it, show me some magic."

Luke smiled and shook up the dice in his cupped hand. Throwing them onto the board, Matthew watched carefully as they rolled to a stop.

"Ah, too bad," Matthew sighed, a little disappointed. "A seven. Looks like your mystical law didn't work after all."

"Oh yeah?" Luke picked up his dog piece and dropped it on Boardwalk.

Matthew sat up and crossed his arms, lowering his brow. "Well of course you can land there if you cheat."

"I don't know why you're so disappointed," Luke shrugged. "It's not every day that you get to see a dog fly."

[Schmazo]

Not just a government organization for abducting people, but any group, or anybody with such motivations.

Fair enough, but the presence of a well-connected existing bureaucracy/infrastructure could hold organizational advantages.

Not that any of this might make Luther feel much better about his trip...

...will involve a cabin as opposed to a tent,

A cabin, you say? In the woods, perhaps?

What could go wrong?

http://www.anagramgenius.com/archive/ac ... eniro.html

[Freitag]

I just today found Paulides' first two books while cleaning out my mini storage. I'm willing to send (give) them to anyone here, just PM me.

I just finished donating to the Goodwill three big boxes of books, all really good stuff from the Torbitt documents to the Octopus (Casolaro) to UFOs and the National Security State, Left at East Gate, etc., all these books I had forgotten I had. My library that it took years to accumulate. It was so difficult But I figure I've found so many good books at Goodwill, it was my turn to give back. I hope their future readers find them as fascinating as I did.

[Freitag]

Paulides' documentary is finally finished. Fortunately it is available via stream; originally it was going to be DVD only (Paulides notoriously does not offer ebook versions of his books).

Vimeo

Amazon

Amazon UK

I haven't watched it yet. So far, the consensus of the reviews is that it's well-done, worth the rental, but focuses on only a handful of cases and doesn't quite do justice to the larger phenomenon.