Allagash Abductees Still Stand By Their Story
By their own account, there may be no good, earthly reason for Jim Weiner and Chuck Foltz to do what they plan to this weekend.
Yet on Sunday evening before a crowd of strangers and old friends, the two longtime buddies will recount in stunning detail their recollection of the night, nearly 40 years ago, when they say they and two others were plucked from a canoe on Eagle Lake in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and taken aboard an alien spacecraft.
"Number one, we have nothing to gain by this except public ridicule," said Foltz, 63. "Our goal would be to enlighten, inform and put some type of positive direction on this."
At the second annual "Experiencers Speak" conference, which began Friday and ends Sunday at the Clarion Hotel in Portland, Weiner, Foltz and more than a dozen other speakers will tell their stories of close encounters. Weiner and Foltz's will be the final presentation, scheduled for Sunday evening, in a slate of programs meant to provide comfort and understanding for a group of people whose experiences nearly by definition relegate them to the fringe.
That little of what will be said can be independently verified is of little concern to the believers, for their knowledge is firsthand, many say.
"The goal is to help experiencers come to terms with what's happening to them, and get over their fears and get on with their lives," said Audrey Hewins of Oxford, the organizer of the conference and whose regional group, Starborn Support, hosts monthly meetings for a few dozen people to help them cope with their abduction or close-encounter experience.
In the world of ufology -- the oft-marginalized study of unidentified flying objects and the accompanying foreign beings that purportedly interact with people on Earth -- the "Allagash incident" ranks among the most substantiated in the United States.
The case was the subject of a 1993 book, "The Allagash Abductions," by longtime UFO investigator Raymond E. Fowler, which bills itself as "undeniable evidence of alien intervention" into human life. The tome is a relatively straightforward account of how Fowler encountered the four men, interviewed them and had them undergo regression hypnosis -- a form of guided relaxation that purports to allow people to retrieve lost or repressed memories.
Through independent sessions of hypnosis performed years after the 1976 encounter, Weiner, Foltz, Weiner's twin brother, Jack, and a fourth companion, Charles Rak, each recounted slightly different versions of the same, horrifying story of being used as human test subjects by an advanced, celestial race of humanoid figures who took them aboard their craft that night.
When they were asked about the experience during an interview Friday, the voices of Jim Weiner and Foltz did not not waver. Their gaze maintained a steady intensity as they recalled the brilliant orb of light that first hovered over the trees. They described a beam of light emanating from the orb and surrounding them, before they were whisked to parts unknown.
The experience aboard the craft, where they were probed and tested by four-fingered beings with almond-shaped eyes and languid limbs, appeared to have taken about two hours, according to their accounts.
But when the experience occurred, the group of four felt no gap in time. Only later, when a large campfire built to burn for hours had seemingly died down in a matter of minutes, did they realize they had "lost time," a blind spot in their recollections that was only filled in later under deep hypnosis.
The steadfastness of their story has not deterred a legion of doubters, debunkers and verbal assailants, though. They've been called crazy more times than they care to remember.
Jack Weiner, 61, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and cannot easily travel from his Vermont home, said in a telephone interview Friday that his experience in Allagash refocused his career away from the arts and toward hard science and mathematics. He doesn't care whether people believe his story, he said, and dismisses debunkers as close-minded and sometimes ignorant of the breadth of scientific knowledge.
"They weren't there," Jack Weiner said. "I didn't see them there. If they want to stay ignorant, there's nothing I can do to change them. I know differently from my own experience."
Rak, the fourth member of the canoe party, has been out of contact with the group for more than two decades and could not be located for an interview.
But that does not deter Jim Weiner and Foltz, who are both from the Boston area, from pursuing further study and inquiry into what they believe is a global effort by world governments to systematically conceal from the public the truth about the existence of alien life.
The nay-saying crowd, Weiner said, is a product of some restrictive worldview that cannot possibly fathom that aliens exist.
"What we describe threatens them in some way," said Weiner, who works in information technology at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. Be it social, religious or scientific beliefs, he said, "the only way they can maintain a sense of self is by denial or accusation. It's much easier to say, 'Oh, you're making it up,' or, 'Oh, you're crazy,' or, 'You're a fraud.'"
Joe Cambria, who operates the New England UFO Research Organization and a companion hotline for witnesses to report sightings, said he receives a steady stream of calls, the vast majority -- as high as 90 percent -- from hoaxsters and phonies.
"Then that final 10 percent is what's interesting," he said.
Skepticism is a requirement for any serious UFO inquiry, said Cambria, of Wakefield, Mass. He is even skeptical of the use of the word "abduction."
"People are having (internal) experiences," said Cambria, his voice rising.
"But kidnappings? Something's been going on out there, and it's been going on out there since recorded time. We don't have an answer for it, but we continue to study it."
The conference had a sold-out dinner for 60 Friday night, said Hewins, who expects more than 100 people to attend the sessions over the weekend. - Press Herald
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Pathologically Generous
A man in Brazlil developed what doctors have called pathological generosity, after a stroke damaged parts of his brain causing his behaviour to change.
The 49-year-old began to give away money, food and drinks excessively after a stroke disrupted the part of his brain related to higher thinking and decision making.
Researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro concluded the man was left with 'excessive and persistent generosity' by the stroke which was brought on by bleeding in his brain.
Doctors were able to determine the stroke occurred in a subcortical region of Mr A's brain which controls higher level thinking, and therefore could have affected areas associated with regulating normal behavior.
It was caused by bleeding in the brain, a side effect of the man's high blood pressure.
But, experts say knowing where the stroke occurred does not predict changes in behavior or personality, as the complexity of networks means an area not necessarily next to the injury can be affected.
Dr Larry Goldstein, a neurologist and director of the Stroke Centre at Duke University said: 'Although the observation of personality change is not that unusual, this particular one is apparently novel.'
The doctor told the Huffington Post: 'Stroke can cause a whole variety of neuropsychological and behavioral changes', adding that brain damage caused by low oxygen supply can lead to emotional changes with depression being the most common.
Stroke has also been known to cause uncontrollable laughing or crying or neglect syndrome, in which people don't recognize one side of their visual field.
Doctors at the University in Rio de Janeiro found Mr A's case particularly interesting as it represented the opposite attitude to conditions which result from stroke more commonly, such as hoarding and sociopathy.
Studies have indicated in the past that certain brain structures, including the region which registers reward, have been involved in instances of generosity like donating anonymously donating to charity.
The researchers said Mr A's condition could shed light on the relationship between 'altruism and egoism' which are crucial to decision making.
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According to his wife, the man spent his money on food and drink for children in the street, and was incapable of resuming his managerial job within a large corporation after the stroke.
When asked by researchers if he wanted to return to work, he reportedly said he had worked enough and that it was time to 'enjoy life which is too short.'
Mr A told doctors he was aware of changes in his behavior and claimed he 'saw death from close up' and wanted to 'be in high spirits' from then onwards.
Other streaks of generous behavior have been linked to people with mania, dementia and Parkinson's disease when treated, but Mr A showed no symptoms of such conditions when psychologically evaluated.
He reported being depressed, forgetful and unable to focus, and showed symptoms usually associated with damage in the frontal lobe of the brain such as lack of persistence or impaired judgement.
A CT scan showed low blood flow in several brain regions, including areas in the frontal lobe.
These regions, although far from the bleed focus, are connected with it by neural pathways, which may have been the interrupted the interplay of neural systems that contribute to personality traits, researchers say.
Mr. A was put on medication to treat his depression and said he felt cured two years later, but his generosity was unchanged. - Daily Mail
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Sasquatch 'fouling' creek
My wife and I recently moved to Walla Walla from Denver. As we both enjoy outdoor activities, we are becoming acquainted with the local hiking trails and fishing opportunities.
While skirting the Mill Creek Watershed along the Indian Ridge Trail with the Walla Walla Hiking Club, we learned that the U.S. Forest Service protects this watershed area from contamination of our drinking water by strictly controlling its access. Since our hiking trip, I’ve gone online to learn more about the Mill Creek and its fish population.
As reported by the U-B on Sept. 11, 2011: “Fish managers believe that upper Mill Creek is very good fish habitat,” Tri-State Steelheaders project manager Brian Burns said, adding that for a number of years scientists speculated as to why the upper Mill Creek failed to produce good numbers of spring chinook or summer steelhead. It is believed that passage through lower Mill Creek is the issue, and we never had anything more than opinion and anecdotal information as to why.”
As reported in this Sunday’s edition of the U-B, the rollout of the study continues on lower Mill Creek. While I am sure the Tri-State Steelheaders’ project is well intended, I am skeptical about the effectiveness of the lower Mill Creek fish passage to improve fish habitat.
I am concerned that the initial habitat improvement study missed the underlying cause of lackluster fish populations in the upper Mill Creek.
While researching the Mill Creek Watershed, I learned from a reliable source — “BigFoot Research Organization” — that for years sasquatch have made it a veritable rendezvous location. (Little did my wife and I know that we have moved into a hot bed of bigfoot activity.)
Apparently, these marauders are using the Forest Service’s own moratorium as cover for whatever they do when they come together. In any event, it is not difficult to imagine these furtive primates befouling the pristine water of Mill Creek, unabated.
Clearly, this has downstream consequences resulting in the degradation of water quality that support healthy fish populations. It only takes a few bad apples to degrade water quality and obfuscate what would otherwise be sound research conclusions.
The “sasquatch oversight” is no fault of the Forest Service or the Tri-State Steelheaders’ research. Resources have been stretched to their limits. Mistakes were made. I’d be willing to do my part and volunteer to patrol the watershed, ticket offenders and help monitor fish populations.
Sean Healy
Walla Walla
Source: Union-Bulletin
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Raining Fish in the Outback
Residents of a small outback Australian town have been left speechless after fish began falling from the sky.
Hundreds of spangled perch bombarded the 650 residents of Lajamanu, shocking local Christine Balmer, who was walking home when the strange 'weather' started.
She said: 'These fish fell in their hundreds and hundreds all over the place. The locals were running around everywhere picking them up.
There is a long history of strange objects raining from the sky, with these strange occurrences among the most notable:
1st Century: Pliny The Elder wrote about storms of frogs and fish, foreshadowing many modern incidents.
1794: French soldiers stationed in Lalain, near Lille, reported toads falling from the sky during heavy rain.
1857: Sugar crystals as big as quarter of an inch in diameter fell over the course of two days in Lake County, California.
golf balls
1876: A woman in Kentucky reported meat flakes raining from the sky. Tests found the meat was venison.
1902: Dust whipped up in Illinois caused muddy rain to fall over many north-eastern U.S. states.
1940: A tornado in Russia brought a shower of coins from the 16th Century.
1969: Golf balls fell from the sky on Punta Gorda in Florida (above).
1976: In San Luis Opisbo in California, blackbirds and pigeons rained from the sky for two days.
'The fish were all alive when they hit the ground so they would have been alive when they were up there flying around the sky.
'When I told my family, who live in another part of Australia, about the fish falling from the sky, they thought I'd lost the plot.
'But no, I haven't lost my marbles. All I can say is that I'm thankful that it didn't rain crocodiles!'
Meterologists say the incident was probably caused by a tornado. It is common for tornados to suck up water and fish from rivers and drop them hundreds of miles away.
Mark Kersemakers from the Australian Bureau of Meterology said: 'Once they get up into the weather system, they are pretty much frozen and, after some time, they are released.'
Lajamanu is located half-way between Darwin and Alice Springs, on the edge of the Tanami Desert.
This is not the first time residents of the small town have experienced fish falling out of the sky.
Resident Les Dillon, 48, said: 'In the early 1980s I was at the Alice Springs Tavern Hotel and, when I walked out the door, I saw all these little fish, fallen out of the sky.
'Yes, I had a couple of beers, so none of my friends believed me. I have rung heaps of people to let them know I wasn't drunk back then. It had really happened!' - Daily Mail
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