Somewhere in the Skies - Frankenstein and Flying Saucers

Episode Date: April 30, 2018

On episode 54 of SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES, Ryan shares his essay that was featured in the recently released book, UFOs: Reframing the Debate. The book, comprised and edited by Robbie Graham, features over a dozen authors from around the world who have contributed their thoughts, theories, and approaches to studying the UFO phenomenon.  The essay, titled, "Frankenstein and Flying Saucers: Creating, Destroying, and Re-animating a Phenomenal Monster," draws parallels between the universally praised story of Frankenstein's monster and the ever-evolving, devolving, and monstrous phenomena and study of UFOs.  As you'll hear in the essay, Ryan draws from the work of theorists and researchers including Carl Jung, Jacques Vallée, Jenny Randles, David Clarke, and Greg Bishop. It considers the enduring appeal of the UFO in modern culture, ufology’s long (and perhaps futile) struggle for legitimacy, and the questionable inclination of so many UFO researchers to label the phenomenon as “extraterrestrial.” Ryan does not discount the possibility of otherworldly visitation, but he ushers the reader gently down other avenues of inquiry and suggests we may sooner come to grips with the nature of the UFO phenomenon by seeking to unravel the complexities of human cognition and our own perceptual apparatus. Special thanks to Robbie Graham and White Crow Books for allowing Ryan to share the essay in its entirety. To purchase the book, CLICK HERE Patreon: www.patreon.com/somewhereskies Official Store: CLICK HERE Website: www.somewhereintheskies.com Order Ryan's Book by CLICKING HERE Twitter: @SomewhereSkies Instagram: @SomewhereSkiesPod Opening Theme Song, "Ephemeral Reign" by Per Kiilstofte SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES is produced by Third Kind Productions, in association with eOne Entertainment Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hey y'all. Ryan Sprague here. As you all know, the Somewhere in the Sky's podcast is always free to consume, but it isn't free to create. That's why I've started the Somewhere in the Sky's Patreon campaign. On a monthly basis, you give what you think the show is worth. You'll be helping the show continue, grow, and to be something truly communal. And remember, there are rewards for each level of contribution, and the list is only growing. So please, help Somewhere in the Skies now by becoming a business. patron. To contribute and to learn more, visit www. www. patreon.com backslash somewhere skies. Thank you for your support. And now on with the show. Warning, if you like your UFO literature to confirm what you already know, this is not the book for you. From White Crow Books comes a brand new collection of essays. 14 authors. One goal to shatter the UFO topic and pick up the pieces in a whole new light. Compiled and edited by Robbie Graham with a foreword by Professor Diana Walsh Pesulka. UFOs Reframing the Debate is a cold, hard slap in the face for uphology, delivered with love.

UFOs, reframing the debate. Available now in paperback and e-book on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble, the Book Depository and the Eyebook Store. For a complete list of contributors and to learn more, visit robbie graham.uk. Hello, this is David Marler and you're listening to Somewhere in the Skies with Ryan Sprigg. This is Somewhere in the Skies with Ryan. Welcome to Somewhere in the Skies. I'm your host Ryan Sprague. In 2016, I was asked to contribute an original essay to a book that would be compiled and edited by Cinema Studies Professor and UFO researcher Robbie Graham. The book was called UFOs, reframing the debate. In short, it was a

collection of essays exploring alternative perspectives on UFOs and how we might more usefully study the phenomenon in the 21st century. It was released in 2017, and it was a cold, hard slap in the face for uphology. It was a call to break away from established ideas, approaches, and practices, and it boldly treaded a new path in understanding what may very well be the greatest mystery of our time. As you can imagine, the book was both loved and hated. With such varying theories and approaches, it's no surprise that the book was as divisive as it was. It takes a lot to challenge people's thoughts and beliefs. It takes even more to change them. But with this book, we didn't set out to change anyone's mind on the UFO phenomenon and the way we investigate

and study it. We merely wanted to shake things up and make people think. And that's exactly what I wanted to do with my essay. And with permission by Robbie Graham and White Crow books, I now bring you my essay in its entirety. I hope you'll pick up the book to read the incredible eye-opening and mind-expanding essays that make up UFOs, reframing the debate. And I hope you enjoy my essay titled Frankenstein and Flying Saucers, creating, destroying, and reanimating a phenomenal monster.

On November 17th, 2012, the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena held a summit in England to determine if uphology was a dead field. It was based on the notion that UFO sightings were in a steep decline, directly following the summit, chairman of ASAP. Dave Wood told the UK Telegraph, we look at these things on the balance of possibilities, and this area of study has been ongoing. For decades, the lack of compelling evidence beyond the pure anecdotal suggests that on the balance of probabilities, nothing is out there.

It is certainly a possibility that in ten years' time, it will be a dead subject. These were sobering words, and they made international headlines. The true believer simply shrugged off Wood's statement as nothing more than aggressive UFO debunkery. and perhaps rightfully so. Similar words have been spoken many times before. In an article for Saucers magazine, Max Miller stated, much of the enthusiasm over UFOs has vanished in recent years due to a lack of sightings and important developments. Also, the unimaginable quantity of material, almost wholly devoid of a new approach or even new data, has flooded the UFO field in recent years, and has done little.

more than deluge a respectable subject with wholesale garbage. That quote by Miller was written in 1959, some five decades prior to the 2012 UK summit. Essentially, same discussion of the same issue separated by more than 50 years. As technology has evolved, anomalous objects in the sky have become increasingly identifiable. Year after year, the heart rate of U.S. Euphology seems to weaken. Some would argue it's already flatlined. But the phenomenon itself seems always to find a way to resuscitate the field.

In a paper titled Euphology is their life after death, researcher and author Jenny Randall's states, Eventually something will spark humanity's desire to know about these things, which any prolonged absence of wide public reporting will fuel This spark of interest has taken many forms throughout the history of euphology. A mass sighting of a boomerang craft over the skies of Phoenix, Arizona in 1997, for example. Or a disc-shaped object piercing the clouds over gate C-17 of Chicago's O'Hare Airport in 2006. More recently, the spark has come from the outer reaches of space,

with a discovery in 2016 of a habitable planet orbiting Earth's climate. closest star, Proxima Centauri. It is such events and discoveries that converge into a desire to learn more and to know more about UFOs. Why then? Do some feel it's necessary to hang a toe tag on uphology every time it hits a brick wall? We often fear that, which we don't understand. And if the history of UFO study has taught us anything, it's that we understand very little.

Yet, even if we did, would we not fear that knowledge as well? In 1818, England, at the age of 20, Mary Shelley brought her now iconic monster to literary life. It wouldn't be until 1823 that her name would appear on the second edition in France. The novel, Frankenstein, is arguably one of the first examples of science fiction. The protagonist, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, making a decision. to create life using science, alchemy, and technology. He achieves this divine goal with results both fantastic and terrifying. The manifestation is the monster we've grown to fear and love.

So how exactly does this brilliantly grotesque story relate to uphology? We can start with a sharp distinction between Shelley's original novel and the classic 1931 film directed by, James Whale. Near the beginning of the film, Dr. Frankenstein's assistant breaks into a university to steal a brain for his master's experiment. He swipes a jar marked normal brain, but is startled by a noise. This causes him to drop the jar, damaging the brain and rendering it useless. He then takes a second jar labeled abnormal brain. This would subsequently be implanted into the monster with disastrous results.

Interestingly, this entire scene had no part in the original novel. Regardless, in the film version, the monster's consciousness was explored, and the primitive creature found itself aware of its reality, causing it to lash out in a frenzy of emotions it could neither process nor control.

Had the monster any understanding of who or what it was, perhaps the story would have unfolded. fold it differently, or perhaps not. But the role of consciousness in the film narrative was just as valuable and essential. For me, this brings to mind euphology. We can look at the blood of the monster, seek to study its physical matter, or we can seek to understand its consciousness. To do this, we might start by turning the microscope on ourselves to understand better how our consciousness, individual and collective, interacts

with phenomenal stimuli. Reality, in its simplest of definitions, is the quality or state of being actual or true. However, when we look at the definitions of actual and true, we find both words defined as consistent with reality. The definitions not only contradict one another, they say, circle around in a whirlpool of unverifiable factors. Therefore, we find ourselves relying on something a bit more cerebral. In addition to taste, sight, touch, smell, and hearing, we have a sense of awareness.

We are aware of a reality which we believed into existence. This theme was explored by the late Jim Keith, co-author of The Octopus, and publisher of various alternative magazines. In November of 1995, Keith gave a talk in Atlanta, Georgia, where he went into a deep deconstruction of reality through the lens of human perception. In a published 1997 version of his talk in Paranoia magazine titled UFOs at the edge of reality, Keith stated, Awareness is potentially a creator, and it can create freedoms and it can create limitations. The fact that 10 people or 1,000 people, believe the same thing, does not render said thing any more real in absolute sense. But it does point out the structural underpinning of the determinant of illusion called reality.

What people believe deep down is what they consider reality. Can we then extrapolate that the existence of UFO phenomena rests solely on our belief in them? Jim Keith notes, I think that their existence challenges the tightly formulated definitions of reality and imagination and points up the limitations of those definitions. It seems to me that UFO sometimes happily cross these lines of demarcation and defy the definitions. The way they do this gives us some clues to the something else, to the nature of reality. What is real and what is possible in terms of the understanding and potential expansion of awareness.

This expansion of awareness needs also to be explored. Even to scratch the surface of the UFO enigma, we must move past the mentality that we are dealing purely with nuts and bolts, past the notion that the key to the UFO phenomenon lies in physical analysis. Jacques Valet once stated that human beings are under the control of a strange force that bends them in absurd ways, forcing them to play a role in a bizarre game. game of deception. Could this deception relate to human perception? The mind has perceptual limits, a filtering mechanism that, based on our awareness, shows us only what we can process in a manageable

format. It works under restraints that have been carefully constructed throughout an individual's life and throughout the long history of our species. Are those who witness UFOs breaking those perceptual restraints, awareness and perception are the heart of reality. We perceive things on a scale of either filtering that which we see or widening our scope to accommodate more. When the scope is broadened, we are aware of our newly enhanced perception, thus altering our former perception of reality. We have, in essence, created a new reality for ourselves. This could be the very reason the UFO phenomenon exists in the first place, Could it be possible that we have created a phenomenon that stretches the limits of our own perceptual reality?

It may be that our established modes of logic limit us so greatly that we can't fully comprehend the monster we've created. We must ultimately face the fact. At some point, the awareness of that monster is going to shape and mold our consciousness completely moving forward. In a 2014 article titled Consciousness Inside Out, science writer and anthropologist Eric Wargo states, We are at a crux in our science and our culture when a new model is desperately needed to think about the relationship between consciousness and material reality.

Much as I'm sympathetic with those who privilege consciousness against materialistic reductionism, I think a more nuanced, hierarchical relationship between mind and matter must be possible. The majority of witnesses I've spoken with who've encountered UFOs have described feeling as though their reality was somehow altered in the moment. Time seems to slow down and the air around them seems different. Their senses seem to either be heightened or disappear altogether.

It's as if the perception is fundamentally challenged and they are left with only a hazy memory of what they'd actually seen, having no meaning. frame or reference in which to place it. Whether or not this is partly due to whatever is in control of the UFO is speculative. It could very well be the tuner or limitation of the current awareness and perception of the individual. And as Wargo points out, we are left wondering if the materialistic makeup of the UFO is actually there in front of us to feel, smell, and hear. Or if it's something bending, as Valet puts it, into a contorted reality.

While many UFO researchers argue that the question is no longer if UFOs exist, I argue that this still is in question. It's a matter of how one views existence. Wargo goes on to say that. The word exist comes from the Greek existere, or to stand forth. As mystics from time immemorial have insisted, the material world is a manifestation. of consciousness. The self-word continuum experienced passively as observed rather than actively

as observing. These two aspects pass from one another at certain mysterious boundaries, in dreams, at death, and in paranormal phenomena, such as UFOs, that turn our outside into an inside or vice versa, without our quite being aware how we made the passage. This passage between established in newfound realities is where UFOs seem to float, hover, zip, coast, appear, and disappear in and out of ambiguity. But even more interesting is the theory that the UFOs, as physical objects we perceive, have been created and manifested through our own pre-existing awareness of the UFO phenomenon to begin with. We believe that UFOs are coming to us under their own volition.

But what if we were subconscious initiators pulling UFOs in? This could explain why, even in the case of mass sightings, individuals see the same objects slightly different from one another. The previous awareness shaping and molding the object from their own set of reduction valves and evolving perception. While the manifestation may begin with an individual source, what happens when hundreds, if not thousands, of those individuals? individuals have the same thought. We call this collective consciousness. The term was introduced by

the French sociologist, Amil, Durkheim, in 1893, and has since sparked much debate among sociologists, psychologists, and scientists. But it may very well tell us more about UFOs than any sighting report or radar tracking ever could. Let's theorize for a moment that an extraterrestrial intelligence is responsible in part for some UFO phenomena. Given that we now live in an age where privatized space travel is possible on a grand scale, ambitions expand with every manned or unmanned journey. As more time progresses and our reach beyond the stars stretches further, we are collectively accepting that traveling to other planets is within reach, and so is the possibility of discovering of their life forms. Because of this expansion in the collective consciousness, we may in fact be manifesting

the extraterrestrial presence in more ways than we think. Keeping in mind that many claim and believe we have already been visited by non-human intelligences, is it possible that as we journey outward into the cosmos, we are pulling this alien phenomenon closer to us? They've accepted us into their reality, having presumably been monitoring us, for decades, if not centuries. Is it now our turn to meet them halfway? In his best-selling book, Passport to Megonia, from folklore to flying saucers, Jacques Valet postulates,

there exists a natural phenomenon whose manifestations border on both the physical and the mental. There is a medium in which human dreams can be implemented, and this is the mechanism by which UFO events are generated, needing no superior intelligence to trigger them. This would explain the fugitivity of UFO manifestations, the alleged contact with friendly occupants, and the fact that the objects appear to keep pace with human technology

and to use current symbols. Is it possible, in Valet's opinion, that there may be no other half to the non-human equation? We may quite possibly be manifesting these events all on our own, in a dreamlike state and through alien-inspired interpretations. But why do we deny this possibility that we are in control? This semovice reflex of sorts may depend on the lack of evidence, whether scientifically, philosophically, psychologically, or physically.

But to the contrary, what stark irrefutable evidence do we have otherwise of purely physical nuts-and-bolts phenomena controlled solely by not? non-human intelligences. While many scoff at the idea of a metaphysical approach to the UFO phenomenon, which conjures images of new agers and space brothers and sisters, it very well could lead us to a new path. But is it a path worth taking? When I learned of what several colleagues were going to talk about in this collection of essays of UFOs reframing the debate, I noticed strikingly similar ideas and concepts to my own in terms of human manifestation of these phenomena. At first, this made me hesitate, fearing a stalemate in terms of bringing forth new contributions

to the debate. But pushing that small whisper of pride aside, I realized this is exactly the point. I wasn't alone in my ideas. Not only did it excite me to find others researching these topics, but it made me feel that I was indeed on a path worth taking. A notable addition to the debate is that of UFO researcher and author Greg Bishop, who also theorizes that we may be manifesting UFO events unknowingly, somewhere deep in the subconscious, and that perhaps some UFO experiences may be co-created in the moment by the observer, and some anomalous, intelligent, stimulus. In conversation with me about this, Bishop explained that our subconscious picks up many things in which our conscience's minds are unaware. The fact that some people can suffer head trauma and suddenly become amazing artists or mathematicians or speak a completely foreign language means that either we somehow all have this ability or we are constantly ingesting far more information than we possibly can use.

Could we then theorize that UFO experiences, which are often traumatic in nature, unlock these doors in the mind? One of the biggest issues with looking at these phenomena is the investigator's approach. Greg Bishop suggests that investigators should start with no preconceptions about what they are seeking. The goal should be only to gather information from witnesses. They should also begin to ask questions about subjective impressions. such as, how did it make you feel? Employing the skills of qualified mental health professionals should be a priority,

with an idea towards helping the witness integrate the experience on their own terms. So, while multiple contributors to this volume are peering into the consciousness aspects of the UFO phenomenon, the majority of researchers remain steadfast on a nuts and bolts approach to uphology. This is all fine and good. Perhaps the issue doesn't even lie in the divergence between hard data and a mind-based deconstruction,

but in the question of whether the UFO phenomenon can convincingly be linked to something extraterrestrial to begin with. Carl Young once stated, I'm puzzled to death about these phenomena because I haven't been able yet to make out with sufficient certainty whether the whole thing is a rumor with singular and mass hallucination. or a downright fact, either case would be highly interesting. This idea of mass hallucination can arguably be traced back to the inception of the modern UFO era. In 1947, Kenneth Arnold, an amateur pilot from Idaho, witnessed nine bright objects coasting along Mount Rainier in the southeast of Seattle, Washington. When interviewed by a local newspaper, he described the object's movement, like that of a saucer skipping.

across water. Either lazy editing or a desperate attempt at a gripping headline, the newspaper mistakenly stated that Arnold had witnessed flying saucers in the air. Thus, the term had been coined, and thousands of reports begin to trickle in of saucer-shaped objects plaguing the skies. Was this merely a case of hysteria? Or were people truly seeing saucer-shaped objects? And if so, were those saucer-shaped objects, and if so, were those saucers being piloted or controlled by non-human intelligences? In his 2015 book, How UFOs Conquered the World, Dr. David Clark explains that hysteria of sorts could play a pivotal role in the entire phenomenal conjecture. What he has coined the UFO syndrome weaves in and out of a mythological stance on UFOs and their possible occupants.

Clark believes that culture itself feeds the phenomenon or the perception of it in an endless feedback loop between stories passed down through media and genuine experiences. While Kenneth Arnold may indeed have seen something in the skies over Washington, it was a quote misconstrued that ushered in the entire flying saucer phenomenon or syndrome thereafter. Now, this is not to say that UFOs were not flying through our skies prior to Arnold's sight, but what we have now ingrained so deeply in our minds as mechanisms piloted by non-human intelligences or forever hold a place in both cultural and individual experiences. With the elusiveness of the UFO and the complexity of its study ebbing and flowing between believers and skeptics,

Clark mirrors some of the words Bishop did as well, stating that the UFO syndrome is fueled not only, by the vagaries of human perception, but also by a strong psychological and cultural attachment to the theory and the protective efforts of a community of advocates, the euphologists. We can explore new paths all we want. What this comes down to are the ephologists, no matter how grounded in scientific method or how metaphysical or cerebral they choose to be. It comes down to those who decide to spend their time, knowledge, and resources studying the phenomenon.

But instead of watching a phantom war between realists and dreamers, perhaps we might benefit from standing, if only for a little while, with one foot in each camp. Perhaps in seeking to bridge the divide between the two approaches, we can bring new life to a field that dies time and time again by our own hand, and through our own blinkered perspectives. We must look beyond the strictures we've helped to create and bring life to a monster we want neither to destroy nor resurrect ever again. We must let it live on its own terms and in its own image.

We may even look to James Wales' brilliant 1931 film for inspiration, with a naive yet passionate Dr. Frankenstein asks, Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous? Where should we be if nobody tried to find out what lies beyond? You never wanted to look beyond the clouds and the stars, or to know what causes the trees to bud, and what changes the darkness into light? But if you talk like that, people call you crazy.

Well, if I could discover just one of these things, I wouldn't care if they did think I was crazy. Crazy or not, we must look at ourselves in a mirror so clear that the reflection staring back will lead us forward in ways we can only imagine. The reality of UFOs may bring us closer together than we ever thought possible, both here on Earth and perhaps somewhere in the cosmos we've only begun to explore. Somewhere in the Skies is produced by Third Kind Productions in association with the Entertainment One podcast. Podcast Network. To learn more, visit Entertainment One Podcast.com. Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank.

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