The recent ARCHAEOLOGY magazine features an article on some tapestries preserving historic-mythical events from ancient Mexico. While a fascinating piece on its own, it notes offhandedly that major Meso-shrines were routinely set atop earthly power-points of springs and caves. Thirty years ago they called people loonies for even suggesting such a thing. This is yet another proof of how mainstream the prospect is there is some connection to geology, to physical site, about religious monuments. Never forget that religious sites were designed to encourage and even solicit the trance-moment – “Exceptional Human Experience.” It may go well beyond that.

I forget where I first read the phrase “Exceptional Human Experience”; it could have been in the books of Paul Devereux; it could have been in one of the articles in the ASPR (American Society for Psychical Research) Journal. Whoever it was, I freely give credit to another for turning the phrase. But the term is starting to be used in some circles, and the concept has been vital to my perspective for awhile now. When someone gives me a ghost story or a paranormal tidbit of any other type, I don’t know whether it’s true or false, and most of the time I see no way of ever knowing. It would be silly to try to go back and validate or disprove their witness-experience. The certainty is that someone was impressed enough by something to tell a story. I can only acknowledge it as “Exceptional Human Experience.”

Every type of paranormal report or encounter is, at the minimum, something that impressed someone: “Exceptional Human Experience.” EHE has been reported throughout history, and it takes many forms. Religious visions. Ghost-and-monster sightings. Flashes of insight. Prophecy. Artistic inspiration. Deep meditations. ESP.

I think that if you are inspired by anything, anywhere, it’s potentially related to any other type of EHE. Some EHEs might come from within you and be more affected by time; some may appear, or seem to appear, outside you and possibly be more affected by place. Probably, they’re all affected by both time and place.

And don’t forget that there is a clustering effect about sites with supernatural folklore of all types. There are simple zones of “Exceptional Human Experience.” So many of them are religious, as John Michell pointed out: “Places of Ancient Sanctity.”

I think we have to consider a UFO-report as, at the minimum, an EHE.

The whole UFO subject is uncomfortable for many of us, at least theoretically. The fact is that people report seeing them, and a great many people take the matter quite seriously. From my perspective, it’s hard to be sure whether UFOs are a technological phenomenon – interplanetary spacecraft that haven’t been officially accepted – or a psychic one: apparitions. I incline to the latter belief, since it’s the simplest explanation that links the apparent facts. The evidence that I might be right is at the edge of an active debate within the UFO community.

Let’s leave out for the moment simple questions of belief or disbelief in the existence of UFOs, either as mysterious lights or interplanetary craft. I think the matter is more complex than that, and it does not invalidate the subject if one believes UFOs themselves are simple hallucinations. The UFO-witness phenomenon is one of EHE. Think of the wide range of EHE that gets linked to UFOs.

There is a major connection, for instance, between UFOs and crop circles. Within 24 hours of many crop circle formations, people in the region reported either classic UFOs or ALP (anomalous light phenomena) near the site. There is a major connection between crop circles and ancient sacred sites. Sig Lonegren pointed out to me recently that well over half the world’s crop circles are found within 50 miles of Stonehenge. And John Michell noted the odd connection between UFO sighters and “places of ancient sanctity.” This triangulation seems too odd to be coincidental.

It’s another of the uncomfortable little truths of the UFO business that many UFO-experiencers report a high level of psychic phenomena in their lives. Many UFO-experiences are immediately preceded or followed directly by ESP/PK events, as if the whole period of the day for the individual has become energized - magical. You would think the two phenomena would be unrelated. UFO connections to other types of paranormal phenomena seem to exist.

It’s rather well known that Bigfoot and the UFO phenomena have become associated, at least in the oral culture. Places of UFO-touchdowns and Bigfoot sightings tend to run in EHE-zones.

Except that all are out-of-mainstream, there seems to me to be a very different profile to the typical UFO-devotee and the typical Spiritualist, ghosthunter and Bigfoot-tracker. There also seems to be some connection in the experiences. And it is starting to be faced.

On Monday, March 16, 2009, at 7 PM, prominent UFO/Bigfoot investigator Stan Gordon is giving a talk in Sanborn, NY, on the phenomenon of Bigfoot and UFOs. This is not an expensive talk to attend - $3. I urge you all to try to make it.

Mr. Gordon will present his insights at Niagara County Community College, 3111 Saunders Settlement Road, Sanborn, in the Fine Arts Auditorium (Bldg. F). Call (716) 614-6764 for further information. This event is sponsored by NCCC Student Activities and Niagara County Community College and most likely arranged and facilitated by our illustrious friend Phil Haseley, PhD.