Strangely Strangely Excellent!

Back in 2001, Paraview Books published a title called Swamp Gas Times - a collection of articles spanning the decades and a variety of Fortean subjects; but all penned by Patrick Huyghe, now of Anomalist Books. In other words, SGT was a good, solid anthology of Patrick's writing for - amongst others - Saga UFO Report; the New York Times Magazine; Omni; Space.com; and Science Digest.

At the time, I thought: what a great idea! Presenting, under one cover, the collective, feature-based work (and, in some cases, the now-hard-to-find work) of a well-known author in the fields of Ufology, Cryptozoology and more would surely become a trend. But, oddly, it didn't. At least, not back in 2001.

Nevertheless, Patrick's book still stands today as a great example of how just such a title should be presented (it was recently re-published by Anomalist Books). And someone else who recognized this is Jon Downes, my good mate at the Center for Fortean Zoology in Devonshire, England.

Indeed, Jon has now taken the bull by the horns, and has launched an ambitious project to publish anthologies of the work of a whole range of writers within the Fortean world (myself included); something that - as with Patrick's book - will allow readers to see a great deal of the early and obscure writings of the author in question; as well as some of their latter-day output, too.

And, the first volume - I am very pleased to say - is now available: Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal: An Anthology of Writings by Andy Roberts.

I first came across the startling phenomenon known as Andy in the 1980s, when Graham Birdsall's UFO Magazine was still a photocopied fanzine-type publication called Quest, when the CFZ was still a dream to Jon Downes, and when the Fortean scene was very different to that of today.

My first exposure to Andy's writing came in 1987 when, while working in Harlow, Essex, I found a used copy of Andy's Cat Flaps (a study of Britain's "Big-Cat" mystery) in a second-hand book-shop, and which I remember reading late one night in my tiny, cramped room, while the infamous hurricane of October of that year buffeted just about everything around me.

Next, for me at least, was Andy's UFO Brigantia: a witty, informative and entertaining mag that Andy published nigh-on twenty years ago and that probably brought him just about as many friends as enemies. But, hell, Andy didn't care. And rightly so.

Anyway, rather than waffle on any longer about the halcyon days of British Forteana, I'll get to Strangely Strange.

Or, rather, first I'll get to the truly shocking cover of the book; which displays what I can only describe as "The Three Stages Of Andy." The front-cover is a photo of the author and his mum, stood on their doorstep, and which shows, I would estimate, a 4-year-old Andy beaming widely. How could a life in Forteana have so warped such a cherub? Future-mystery-seekers: you have been warned!

As for the back-cover, first we see "Stage 2" Andy, looking eerily like Alan Davies' portrayal of Jonathan Creek, in the BBC TV show of the same name. And then it's on to the present-day, where Andy, with white-whiskers, gray-white bandana pulled down tightly on his head and eyes squinting in the sun, rather resembles a baby-seal, just about to get clobbered on the head by some callous Canadian. But, I digress: onto the book!

Strangely begins with a fascinating Introduction from Andy that details how he came to enter the realm of weird shit, and then propels us firmly into the man's world, his writings, beliefs and life. And, a wild, fun, informative and witty intro it is, too.

The good thing about SS, is that it doesn't just focus on one topic, but delves into everything from the LSD culture to Foo Fighters; from the Big Gray Man of Ben Macdhui to animal-mutilations; from the writings of English fantasy author Alan Garner to the works of John Keel - and much more, too. And that's what makes Strangely Strange not just an average anthology, but a very good one: there's a rich variety of articles and papers negotiating decades and topics.

As someone who, as a kid, was fascinated by the literary output of Alan Garner, I was pleased to see that Andy too has a deep appreciation of the man and his classic Thursbitch title. And in Thursbitch - Valley of the Demon? Andy's deep knowledge and appreciation of Garner's work is evident. And, if you aren't acquainted with Garner's books, Andy's dissection is a fine place to start.

We're also treated to the somewhat embarrassing, yet highly-entertaining and instructive piece on the so-called "Cracoe UFO," which was actually nothing of the sort!

"Cracoe" was one of those blots on the ufological landscape that captured the imaginations of some of the north of England's leading players on the scene many-a-moon ago, but that ultimately - albeit not literally - came crashing to the ground. Indeed, it's a cautionary tale that reveals much about belief-systems, perception and misperception, and much more, too. They don't make 'em like that anymore!

The paper on Scotland's Big Gray Man and associated "mountain-panics" is a scholarly one that should be required reading for anyone and everyone interested in the legend of what many interpret - quite wrongly - as a "British Bigfoot." Again, Andy demonstrates how, as with the Cracoe fiasco, the human mind may play an integral role in the Ben Macdhui affair.

Anyone who knows Andy will be aware that one of his great passions is music (or, at least, what passes for music in the Roberts household - he knows I'm joking!), and this shines throughout the pages of the book; particularly in that material which focuses on Andy's very open comments and observations on the LSD culture of the early 1970s, and his exposure to the music of such bands as Pink Floyd and The Incredible String Band. Indeed, the ISB feature heavily in the book, and it's clear from Andy's careful dissection of their work that they had a profound effect on his life, his philosophy to life and much more.

We also get to see much of Andy's early research into the Foo Fighter phenomenon; a fine interview with John Keel (which originally appeared in UFO Brigantia back in 1992); a lengthy report on the notorious "Berwyn Mountain UFO Crash" of 1974, with which so many (myself included!) within 1990s Forteana became obsessed; and an interview with Andy undertaken by Stuart Miller, in which - again - we get to learn much about the inner-thoughts of Andy in relation to the world around him, and realms beyond.

And, it wouldn't be an Andy Roberts anthology without the inclusion of a piece from the man's The Armchair Ufologist. When British Ufology was running at full-throttle in the mid-to-late 1990s, and when the newsstands were crammed with all manner of UFO monthlies (Sightings, UFO Reality, Alien Encounters, etc - now all long-gone to that big Hangar 18 in the sky), Andy decided to get in on the act, too. Thus was born The Armchair Ufologist.

Tragically, what was without doubt the most entertaining UFO rag of that decade had a very short lifespan. But, it will certainly be remembered by all that read it and who appeared in it. Some of us - like me, Jon Downes, and Irene Bott (of the Staffordshire UFO Group) - rolled around the floor with laughter while reading it (albeit not all at the same time, I should stress...Well, not always...). Others, meanwhile, fumed, raged and ranted about how Dark Lord Roberts was bringing Ufology into complete and utter disrepute.

TAU was, essentially, a gossip-style newsletter that focused on who in Ufology was doing what to who else in Ufology; on the alcolol intake at post-gig, ufological parties; and much more of an entertaining and scandalous nature.

And, in Strangely Strange, we get treated to what was (in my view) without doubt the ultimate highlight of TAU: namely, Andy's review of a notorious party that followed the annual LAPIS gig in Lytham St. Anne's in 1999. This is a priceless piece that - if you weren't there in-person - deserves to be read by one and all. You'll never look at Ufology the same way again!

So, all in all, what do we have with Strangely Strange? Well, we have an excellent collection that covers Andy's writings from 1974 to the present day, that treats us to a wide-range of topics, that informs us and entertains us, that reveals to us what it is that makes Andy tick, and the nature of the beast known as Fortean freelance-writing.

This is an excellent first-volume in what is destined to become a great series. Congrats to all involved.

If you're in the UK, you can purchase Andy Roberts' Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal by clicking on this link; and if you're in the US, click right here.

Dellschau and Phantom Airships

Much has been written about the so-called modern-era of Ufology, namely that which was kick-started by Kenneth Arnold's now historic (or infamous, depending on your perspective) "flying saucer" encounter over the Cascade Mountains, Washington State, in the summer of 1947.

But what of earlier years? Certainly, there have been some very good works on the Ghost-Rocket mystery that swamped Scandinavia in 1946; and the Foo-Fighters of the Second World War.

And there have been some intriguing works that deal with the so-called "Phantom Airships" of the late-1800s. But, on this latter issue, none are quite like The Secrets of Dellschau by Dennis Crenshaw (in collaboration with Pete Navarro).

As well as being written fluently, and in a very descriptive style that flows and entertains, the book has at its heart a fascinating tale, and an even more fascinating character: a man named Charles A. A. Dellschau, for whom the word "enigma" was surely created.

Indeed, one might almost be forgiven for thinking that The Secrets of Dellschau is a work of fiction - such is the level of high-strangeness at its heart. That it is, however, definitive non-fiction, only makes the book - and the story it tells - even more extraordinary.

In essence, Dellschau was a man with many secrets; and a man who unfortunately took many of those secrets with him to the grave. But, that doesn't take away the fact that - thanks to Crenshaw and Navarro - we still have at our disposal a tremendous body of material on the man, his life and his machines.

And, you may well ask: what machines are those? Now, we get to the heart of the story.

As the book demonstrates, Dellschau (a Prussian who moved to the U.S. in his twenties) was a brilliant artist who was seemingly obsessed (and I do mean, literally, obsessed) with creating artwork of fantastic flying-machines. But, as the book also shows, those same flying-machines may not have been merely the products of Dellschau's imagination.

They - or, at least, some of them - may have really existed. They may have been the secret work of a controversial and enigmatic group known as the Sonora (California) Aero Club. And, as the book suggests, perhaps some of their strange craft even provoked the "Phantom Airship" tales of the late 19th century.

Of course, this matter will undoubtedly be debated for years to come. But, what really made the book so engrossing for me, is the way in which Crenshaw draws in the reader, exposes them to a mystery that would be worthy of the skills of Sherlock Holmes, and demonstrates the sheer intrigue and mystery that surrounds this profoundly odd story.

Part-historical mystery; part-Fortean tale; part-X-Files; part-detective story; part-conspiracy; and all-engrossing, The Secrets of Dellschau is a great read for anyone wanting to learn about what may very well have been at the heart of some of the strangest tales of unidentified flying contraptions seen in the skies of 1800s North America.

Tales of the Trickster

When, in my early teens, I became seriously interested in the world of Forteana, most things were pretty black-and-white to me: Bigfoot were giant undiscovered apes; the Loch Ness Monsters were surviving relics of a time long-gone; and UFOs were nuts-and-bolts spacecraft from other worlds. But, as I got older my views began to change.

The more I dug into the realms of alien entities and strange creatures, the more I came to realize that they were not just strange: they were too strange. And they were way too elusive. Bigfoot never get hit by cars. There are numerous cases on record of people trying to shoot Bigfoot creatures - but no body is ever found. And, there are rogue reports of Bigfoot vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Similarly, from the heart of Loch Ness, there are tales of Men in Black, ghosts, big-cats on the loose, and the legendary exploits of the "Great Beast" himself: Aleister Crowley. Could one loch really be home to such an absolute plethora of what, in scientific terms, has come to be accurately known as "weird shit"?

It was the same with UFOs: always elusive. And, even if a UFO did reportedly crash, the hard evidence - the "alien debris" - was never forthcoming, or it proved nothing. And, no-one has ever been able to vindicate the legendary stories of alien-bodies held in cryogenic storage in some underground lab.

The phenomena are always one step ahead of us - tricking us into following them down Fortean pathways, but always careful to ensure we never quite get close enough to solve the riddle.

And there was one other factor, too that I came to notice: the more I dug into these various phenomena, the more I found myself experiencing weird - and ever weirder - synchronicities. The phenomena, I realized had got their grips into me; as they had done, and continue to do, with so many others. And, if you too have deeply investigated the Fortean world, don't tell me you haven't experienced those same synchronicities. I know you have. Whatever was at the heart of the puzzle, I reasoned, deceit, manipulation and subterfuge were its calling-cards. And they still are.

So, when I heard that Chris O'Brien was writing a new book to be titled Stalking the Trickster: Shapeshifters, Skinwalkers, Dark Adepts and 2012, I knew this was one I would definitely have to read; given my own encounters with Trickster-style entities and their manipulative actions.

And I'm very pleased indeed that I did read it.

Chris' book is an excellent, in-depth (it runs to approximately 360 pages) study of the Trickster puzzle in all its strange and surreal glory. But, you may ask: what are Tricksters? Well, that's the big question, of course!

People may disagree on the actual point of origin and specific nature of the Tricksters, but as Chris demonstrates, they are most assuredly among us. They are entities whose whole role in life, it seems, is to play games with the Human Race. Sometimes those games can be fun and even amusing. Other times, they may be enlightening and helpful. But, then, they can be downright vicious and deadly, too. They are, in other words, a true paradox.

They come in many guises and disguises, as Chris skilfully shows: aliens, Mothman, skinwalkers, pixies, elves, gods, hairy giants, angels, werewolves, ghosts, demons, vampires and much more. They are the wild-things that lurk in the shadows of our bedrooms in our childhood; they are the Sasquatch we see while driving home late at night along winding, tree-shrouded roads; and they are the predatory entities that taunt us while we're in the dream-state and at their full mercy.

From the beginning of time and right up until the present day, the book reveals, these strange life-forms have been with us. Their appearance may change; their names may change; and they may pop up in the most unlikely places. But, they're always here in some fashion; always planning their next move, before vanishing back to the weird realm out of which they first stepped.

Indeed, to demonstrate these points, Chris has culled from his files countless reports of such Trickster characters as Kokopelli of the United States; Reynard the Fox; the dwarfish Alux of Mexico, and many more from throughout recorded history. Chris also gets into the fascinating realm of human-tricksters, and the way in which they, too, play a role in this weird affair. For me - with its tales of Joseph Smith, P.T. Barnum, Crowley and Parsons, and Keel - this was one of the most intriguing chapters of all.

I won't spoil things for the potential reader by revealing all of Chris' conclusions on what the Tricksters are and what provokes their actions - whether uplifting, alarming, transformative or downright hateful - but I will say this: after reading the book, you'll have a renewed appreciation and apprehension of these entities.

And, I strongly suspect, you'll also come away from Stalking the Tricksters with a realization that both our world and our reality are not what they seem to be. Someone - or something - is using us as pawns in a strange, intricate and huge game. It is a game where the rules are those of the Tricksters alone. Or, perhaps, there are no rules.

After all, what place can rules have for creatures that are defined by absurdity?

The Coming of the Cryptoterrestrials

Over the course of the last 60 years or so, the world of Ufology has spawned a truly huge number of books: many very good indeed, a not-insignificant number very bad, and a great deal hovering precariously somewhere in between. Just occasionally, however, a title comes along that is truly revolutionary, ground-breaking and - as far as its potential implications are concerned - thought-provoking in the extreme.

For me, personally, Jacque Vallee's Messengers of Deception and John Keel's UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse both fall into that latter category. Albeit in admittedly different ways, Vallee and Keel made equally strong cases for the existence of genuine UFOs in our midst. But, both Messengers and Trojan delivered to the reader two far more explicit messages: (A) UFOs are real; but that doesn't mean they are necessarily extraterrestrial; and (B) the phenomenon is clearly deceptive and manipulative in nature and intent.

Of course, for many of the longstanding (a.k.a. the bloody old) players within Ufology, any talk of deceptive messengers, or of Keel's super-spectrum, is dismissed as mere speculation and not much else. For them, UFOs have to be extraterrestrial. After all, they have upheld such notions and beliefs for decades; and to relegate them to the rubbish-bin is not an option.

Well, I have a few choice words for those people who are so rigidly set in their ways: the extraterrestrial hypothesis is itself entirely speculative and totally lacking in hard evidence. All we really know for certain is that there most assuredly is a genuine UFO phenomenon. But, as for definitive proof of its actual point of origin or origins? Please! There is none. At all. There is merely a lot of data clearly demonstrating the presence of unidentified "others" amongst us.

Vallee and Keel most assuredly and astutely recognized this. They understood that a puzzle which - at first glance - seemed to be defined by the presence of nuts-and-bolts spacecraft and flesh-and-blood aliens in our midst, was far, far stranger than many within Ufology wanted to admit.

And there was someone else who also recognized this ufological factor: Mac Tonnies. Mac was a very good friend of mine; and like all his friends I was shocked to the core when he passed away suddenly and tragically in October 2009, at the age of only 34.

But, I am pleased to say, Mac's latest - and, inevitably, final - piece of work ensures that his memory, legacy and ability to think outside of the conventional ufological box will live on. That work is The Cryptoterrestrials: A Meditation on Indigenous Humanoids and the Aliens Among Us.

Like Vallee and Keel, Mac rightly recognized that UFO encounters could not be dismissed as the ravings of lunatics, the tales of the fantasy-prone, or the lies of those seeking fame and fortune. But, he was also careful not to get sucked into the near-viral mindset that practically screams (take a deep breath): UFOs = alien spaceships piloted by little gray chaps from across the galaxy, who are on a mission to save their dying race by stealing our DNA, eggs and sperm.

Rather, Mac - right up until the time of his death - was chasing down the theory suggesting that the UFOnauts may actually represent the last vestiges of a very ancient race of distinctly terrestrial origins; a race that - tens of thousands of years ago may have ruled our planet, but whose position of power was thrown into overwhelming chaos by two things: (A) the appearance of a "debilitating genetic syndrome" that ravaged their society; and (B) the rising infestation of a violent species that threatened to eclipse - in number - their own society.

They are the Cryptoterrestrials. And that violent species that blusters around like an insane, unruly and spoiled child, and that has done more damage in its short life-time than can ever be truly imagined, is, of course, us.

With their society waning, their health and ability to even successfully reproduce collapsing, and their absolute worst nightmare - the Human Race - becoming the new gang in town, the Cryptoterrestrials followed what was perceived as the only viable option: they quietly retreated into the shadows, into the darkened corners of our world, below the oceans, into the deeper caverns that pepper the planet, and in their own uniquely silent and detached way, set about a new course of action.

That course of action - given that they were in some fashion genetically related to the Human Race - was to eventually resurface; to move amongst us in stealth; to pass themselves off as entities from far-off worlds (as part of a concerted effort to protect and hide their real point of origin); and to use and exploit us - medically - in an attempt to try and inject their waning species with a considerable amount of new blood: ours.

In addition, Mac believed, the Cryptoterrestrials were - and, by definition, still are - subtle-yet-brilliant, cosmic magicians. For them, however, there is no top-hat from which a white-rabbit is pulled. There is no hot babe sliced in half and then miraculously rejoined at the waist. No: their tricks are far more fantastic. As well as deceiving us about their origins, the Cryptoterrestrials have - via, perhaps, the use of advanced hologram-style technology, mind-manipulation and much more - led us to conclude that they have an infinite number of craft, resources and technologies at their disposal.

And that is the trick, the ruse: in actuality, their numbers today may be very small. They may well be staging faked UFO events to try and convince us that they have a veritable armada at their disposal when, perhaps, the exact opposite is the case. And, most important of all, they desperately want us to think of them as visitors from the stars. If their plan to rejuvenate their species is to work, then stealth, subterfuge and camouflage are the essential orders of the day.

Of course, the above all amounts to a theory - just like the ETH. And, Mac's book makes it very clear that he is theorizing, rather than being able to provide the reader with definitive proof for such a scenario. He does, however, offer a logical, and at times powerful, argument in support of the theme of his book.

As for so-called "alien abductions": the clumsy, intrusive means by which ova and sperm are taken by a race of beings we are led to believe are countless years ahead of us is addressed. That the ability of the aliens to wipe out the memories of those they abduct is constantly and regularly overturned by nothing more than simple hypnosis is highlighted. And the unlikely scenario that our DNA would even be compatible, in the first place, with extraterrestrial entities is also firmly dissected. Mac's conclusion: all this points not to the presence of highly-advanced aliens who are thousands of years ahead of us; but to the actions of an ancient Earth-based society whose technology may not be more than a century or so in advance of our current knowledge.

Mac also noted how the "aliens" seem to spend a hell of a lot time ensuring they are seen: whether its taking "soil-samples" at the side of the road; equipping their craft with bright, flashing lights; or hammering home the point to the abductees that they are from this planet, from that star-system, or from some far off galaxy. Just about anywhere aside from right here, in fact.

Roswell comes into the equation, too: and in ingenious fashion. Those who do not adhere to the extraterrestrial hypothesis for Roswell point to the fact that many of the witness descriptions of what was found at Roswell, are collectively suggestive of some form of large balloon-type structure having come down at the Foster Ranch, Lincoln County, NM on that fateful day in the summer of 1947.

The possibility that ET would be flying around New Mexico in a balloon is absurd. But, as Mac notes, a race of impoverished, underground-dwellers, highly worried by the sudden influx of military activity in New Mexico (White Sands, Los Alamos etc), just might employ the use of an advance balloon-type vehicle to secretly scope out the area late at night.

Perhaps, when elements of the U.S. military came across the debris, they really did assume it was balloon-borne material and probably of American origin. Until, maybe, they stumbled across something else amid the debris, too...

The Cryptoterrestrials continues in a similar vein; to the extent that we are left with a stark and surreal image of a very ancient - and very strange - race of beings who may once have been the masters of this planet; who were sidelined thousands of years ago; and who are now - under cover of darkness and while the cities sleep - forced to grudgingly surface from their darkened lairs and interact with the very things they fear (and perhaps even hate and despise) most of all: us.

Survival is the name of their game. And deception is the means by which it is being cunningly achieved.

Whether you agree with Mac's theorizing or not, The Cryptoterrestrials is a book that is expertly and beautifully written. It challenges the reader to throw out old, rigid views. It represents the careful studies of a man who knew he was going out on a limb - but who, thankfully, didn't give a damn about appeasing the UFO research community in fawning style. And, for me, it truly is a Messengers of Deception for the 21st Century and for Generation-Next.

To learn more about Mac Tonnies' The Cryptoterrestrials, and where to purchase copies, click on the Anomalist Books website.

There's Something in the Bedroom...

In the References section of my book, There's Something in the Woods, I briefly noted that: "In the early hours one morning in late 2002, I had a nightmarish encounter with a wolf-like, cloaked figure that manifested in our apartment while I was in the depths of a sleep-paralysis-style slumber. It took all my strength to wake up, at which point the foul beast vanished into the darkness."

Collectively, I think, I've had maybe 2 other experiences of a similar nature: one (around 2003) involving a cloudy, shadowy figure leaning over me and preventing me from rising from the bed, and the other of a presence (that I interpreted as malevolent) slowly climbing the staircase at one of my old abodes in England. I struggled to wake-up, knowing full well that its destination was my bedroom (and which occurred at some point in the early-to-mid 1990s).

As a result, I've always taken a keen interest in reports such as these - hence the review that follows!

A lot of words have been written about the strange and unnerving phenomenon (or, perhaps, phenomena would be a better and more accurate word to use) that has popularly become know as Sleep-Paralysis (SP).

Some of those words have been good and some of them have been bad. Others have been wholly skeptical; while many have been firmly pro-SP.

But, what has been lacking until now is a truly in-depth, book-length and definitive study of the mystery written by someone who has actually experienced repeated episodes of sleep-paralysis, first-hand - and in all their terrifying glory, no less.

That situation has now changed (and radically so, too), thanks to Australian author Louis Proud, whose title (just published by Anomalist Books) Dark Intrusions: An Investigation into the Paranormal Nature of Sleep Paralysis Experiences, makes for both remarkable and essential reading.

One might argue that anyone with an above-average knowledge of the paranormal and a keen writing talent could sit down and deeply research the subject of sleep-paralysis and then, as a result, write a paper, a report or a book on the subject.

Well, maybe that's possibly true. But what would be utterly lacking would be the sheer, intense and harrowing personal touch that Proud skilfully brings to his book time and time again.

It's clear to me, at least, that the writing of Dark Intrusions was very much a cathartic experience for the author. And that's a good thing, taking into consideration some of the nightmarish events that he chronicles within the pages of his book - and with refreshing openness and clarity, no less. Indeed, Proud is not at all afraid to dig into his personal life, experiences, beliefs and ideas pertaining to the world of the paranormal as he searches for the answers relative to SP.

And, I suspect, possibly as a result of the fact that he has - in his 25-years - experienced numerous SP episodes, Proud displays the zeal, drive, inquiring-mind and enthusiasm that are needed when addressing such an emotive topic.

So, as a result of not just wanting to get an answer to what lies at the heart of SP, but also to understand, appreciate and reconcile how the mystery impacts upon his own life, Proud brings to the table a vast array of data that is thought-provoking, unsettling, creepy, ominous and...well, you get the idea!

Thankfully, Proud does not fall foul of the mistake that many authors make when writing about such anomalous phenomena: namely, simply reeling off case-after-case in mind-numbing and yawn-inducing fashion. Rather, he also provides the reader with a variety of theories to explain what may well be afoot with respect to SP, and what its relationship to us may be.

It must be said that there is much in the pages of Dark Intrusions that readers of a nervous disposition (or those who have experienced SP) may find unnerving. But for those of you who may be of that particular mind-set, I would say do not avoid Proud's book. In fact, I would actually urge you to digest its pages very carefully: you may very well come away from it profoundly changed and informed - and in a positive fashion, too.

But, that doesn't take away the ominous nature of SP: "Defiled" and "Unclean" are just two of the words that Proud uses to describe at least some of his SP experiences, a number of which have been very sexual in nature.

And, they are highly appropriate words, too - and not just in Proud's case, either. "You knew that I would come" are the bone-chilling words that one victim of SP reportedly heard uttered by an icy, female intruder from the outer-edge.

So, who - or what - are these uninvited guests who have, for countless generations, tormented probably millions of people all around the world in the middle of the night? From where do they come? What is their motivation? Can they be stopped?

These (and many more) questions are carefully addressed by Proud as he takes us on a wild-ride that includes such matters as: the Old-Hag controversy; Incubus and Succubus encounters; poltergeist activity (such as that relative to the famous Enfield Poltergeist saga of 1977); out-of-body experiences; Buddhist teachings and beliefs; the nature of the human-soul; the afterlife; altered states of mind and body; and much more.

Certainly, for me at least, one of the most fascinating aspects of Dark Intrusions was the material that focuses upon Alien-Abductions. If you read this chapter, and come away still thinking that AA's are merely the result of genetic experimentation undertaken by bug-eyed scientists from Alpha-Centauri, then there's absolutely no hope for you.

Proud demonstrates (and in a way that a number of AA researchers and writers are now beginning to suspect and understand) that the AA puzzle is one that also has major bearings upon questions relative to the after-life and the human life-force - and, of course, SP.

Those acquainted (or even unacquainted) with the studies of Dion Fortune, Stan Gooch and Trevor James Constable will find much of an enthralling and captivating nature, too.

But, for absolute downright creepiness, there is the story of the late Joe Fisher, author of The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, which is as cautionary as it is mind-bending.

Equally fascinating is the story of how Proud himself deliberately tried to place himself into SP mode - with startling and notable results.

In other words, this is a truly excellent and wide study of a phenomenon undertaken by a man who has not only been touched and changed by SP himself, but who has had the courage to seek out the answers to this mystery, and who ultimately triumphs, rather than merely playing the role of victim to the menacing entities that invade our slumber.

As Proud states: "...the SP state puts you in direct contact with your soul."

Albion Dreaming

Countless newspaper articles, magazine features and books have been written - and from a whole variety of wildly differing perspectives - with respect to lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD as it is far more famously known.

Many of those same publications have focused their attention upon (A) such people as Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert; (B) the CIA's various "mind-control"-based projects of the 1950s that involved the testing of LSD on both witting and unwitting individuals, and (C) the rise of LSD usage, and its associated culture, in the USA in the 1960s.

Of course, this is wholly understandable; since all of the above are integral facets of the story, or players within it. What has been sorely absent until now, however, is a detailed, thoughtful, thought-provoking, and insightful study of the history of LSD in the British Isles. Fortunately, that situation has now been rectified by Andy Roberts in his latest book, Albion Dreaming: A Popular History of LSD in Britain.

Andy's book is not only vital reading for anyone wanting to gain a deep appreciation of the significant role LSD has played in shaping whole swathes of British culture over the course of the last five or six decades; but it also exposes the deep hypocrisy that exists when it comes to attitudes (on the part of government agencies, the police, the media and the public) relative to illegal drugs (as LSD certainly is) and legal ones, such as alcohol and tobacco.

From the opening pages, it's clear to see that Andy has done his homework. The reader will gain a great understanding of how LSD came to Britain, and we learn many facts that some unacquainted with the drug may find surprising: namely, that ground-breaking research was undertaken - and notable successes were achieved - in the British Isles in the 1950s by certain elements of the medical community, who utilized LSD in the treatment of patients suffering from a variety of psychiatric conditions and mental-illness.

This is a truly fascinating section of Albion Dreaming and captures both the essence of 1950s Britain, and the nature of the doctor-patient relationship of the time that, needless to say, was manifestly different to that of today.

Andy also delves deep into the way in which the military and the Ministry of Defence of the 1950s tentatively immersed themselves in the world of LSD, as they sought to ascertain its effects on the human mind. And it's here we learn of some amusing tales of LSD-fueled squaddies staggering around the green and pleasant woods of England, as the LSD kicks in and they try - but completely and utterly fail - to act like soldiers.

Of course, Andy's humorous narrative aside, there is a very serious side to this: it was precisely this type of experimentation, and the profound effects on the guinea-pigs in question, that led the world of officialdom to realize the truly consciousness-changing effects that LSD has on the human-mind. And it is these same consciousness-changing effects that ultimately led to the downfall of the burgeoning LSD culture in Britain - at least, on a large, nationwide scale. But, I'm getting slightly ahead of myself here.

Moving on, Andy provides an excellent, and highly in-depth, account of the role that LSD played in the definitively-massive cultural changes of the 1960s, and particularly with respect to how music, art, the written-word and more were all radically altered and revolutionised by LSD use. Free-festivals, widespread availability of LSD, famous names in the rock world freely admitting to taking the drug, and countless stories of people opening their minds to new experiences - and not harming anyone else at all in the process - abound.

But then it all begins to get a bit dark.

Government clamp-downs, large-scale and nationwide police operations (such as the notorious Operation Julie), phone-tapping by the authorities, the demonising of LSD by the media, and the disapproving attitudes of old men in court-rooms with the power to punish and crush on a large scale, (yet with scarcely any appreciation or understanding of what LSD actually is) dominate the story as the book progresses right up until the present day.

No doubt there are those who will say that the police and authority figures have every right to clampdown on those who take LSD due to its illegal status. But, as Andy makes clear in Albion Dreaming, matters are not quite so clear-cut.

As Andy correctly points out, alcohol and tobacco are both legal drugs in Britain, both are highly addictive, and both can have an effect on the mind and body - and often in extremely tragic fashion, too. For example, one only has to look at the current figures and statistics concerning the number of British citizens affected by lung-cancer and liver-cirrhosis every year. Shocking and not pretty are very apt descriptions indeed. Yet, the right of the individual to purchase cigarettes and alcohol is accepted almost uniformly and without question within Britain.

So, why should the situation be any different for LSD? After all, studies show that the body has a high tolerance to the drug, it does not have the massively-addictive qualities of cigarettes, and it certainly does not result in liver-failure and death. And, as Albion Dreaming skilfully and factually shows, the scare-mongering stories of people on LSD thinking they can fly and throwing themselves out of windows to their deaths were simply that: scare-mongering stories.

The answer as to why LSD is treated differently and was ultimately made illegal, is actually very simple: unlike many drugs - whether alcohol, tobacco, painkillers, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medicine, the list goes on - LSD does not dull the senses. Rather, it achieves precisely the opposite: it opens, expands, transforms and elevates the mind to whole new levels and realms.

The aforementioned products that do dull the senses are perceived by those in power as being fine, because they keep the masses asleep - which is precisely how our leaders want us; and particularly so in the current world where freedom of speech and privacy of the individual are rapidly becoming things of the past.

The fact is that ever since LSD became a player in the lives, culture and activities of huge numbers of British citizens (you may be surprised to learn approximately just how many...), the government's response to the drug has been one dictated wholly by fear - or, rather, fear of the unknown.

And it's also a fact that when the setting and the mood are right (something which Andy stresses the absolute need for), LSD - perhaps more than any other drug - has the ability to radically and forever transform the individual, and in a deeply spiritual fashion, too. Users report a deeper appreciation for nature and for the world around them, and a realisation develops that modern-day society has tragically lost something very important that ancient-man (whose use of psychedelics, all over the planet, was longstanding and deep) was keenly aware of: the profoundly spiritual nature of life.

Now, when I talk about spiritual issues, I'm not talking about the modern-day world of organised religion - which is largely designed to control people via fear, guilt and the use of moralistic fairy-stories - but with respect to our relationship concerning the world in which we live, our culture, our heritage, our past, and also: the way in which the human mind is capable of so much more than simply existing in the 9 to 5 rat-race.

I scarcely need to say that no government wants its people surfing uncharted areas of the brain, and taking control of their own lives in revolutionary-yet-mind-opening ways - but I will anyway. The way in which LSD has the ability to do all of that and much more is graphically spelled out by Andy.

But, it was the clear potentials present within the LSD-driven culture that led those who did not (and still do not) wish to see the status-quo affected to take firm and hard action: the British Government, in other words.

So, while thousands of people every year will receive the devastating news that they are dying of alcohol-induced liver-failure, or from the ravages of cigarette-induced lung-cancer, the official fight against allowing the populace the right to become spiritual mind-surfers of the outer-edge continues.

Indeed, Andy's book is as much about the right of the individual and the aforementioned hypocrisy and double-standards, as it is about the history of LSD and its cultural setting in Britain. Whatever your view on drugs - legal, illegal, prescribed or otherwise - Albion Dreaming is a book that deserves your attention.

Monsters in Vermont

A few weeks ago, I received in the mail a review-copy of the book, The Vermont Monster Guide written by Joseph A. Citro, and with excellent artwork provided by Stephen R. Bissette. And, I'm very pleased to say, the book is an extremely entertaining study of weird beasts in the Green Mountain State. You can find my review of the book at my weekly Lair of the Beasts column at Mania.com.