NorCal L.O.W.F.I

Archive for February, 2009

One of the funnest (is that a word?…if not, dammit, then it should be!) aspects of being a LOWFIAN is the different events that unfurl under the banner of “waving our freak flags high”, to quote Jimi Hendrix on acid. Being a fledging outfit, we (and when I say WE I mean mainly grand poobah Skylaire) has hosted a smattering of events previously, and – in advance of our forthcoming visit to the haunted Nixon museum – I’ll give you now, dear readers, a recap of some of these past excursions.

In July, LOWFI representatives led a contingent of like minded adventurers to the Holyland Bible Exhibition, which in our press release was described thusly: “…an absolutely unique and bizarre repository of Biblical knowledge. Betty, the caretaker and guide of the property will give us a talk on the Bible and the old Testament, complete with Paul Laffoley-style charts and diagrams from the 1930s, a tour of the rooms full of antiquities gathered by founder A.J. Futterer (who was the real-life inspiration for Indy’s adventures in The Raiders of the Lost Ark), perhaps punch and cookies, and a visit to one of the most interesting gift shops this side of Jerusalem….The Holyland Exhibition was built in the late 1920s as an educational center and museum; the two-story complex houses an incredible collection of Egyptian, middle Eastern and Biblical items. The Bible Art and Archaeology Room has stones, pottery and other items from Nazareth, Bethlehem and the Jordan River. Travel back in time with us and brush up on your ancient history, religious studies, geography and archaeology!”

Skylaire channeling some biblical babe with a basket on her head at the Holyland Exhibit.

Later in July, our aforementioned SoCal chief led a group of seekers to one of the regular Aetherius Society meetings, which — although I wasn’t in attendance — I would highly recommend just such an outing, of which I partook of a decade ago with my then tour guide and UFO devotee friend, Greg Bishop.

The Aetherius Society, for those not in the know, is a religious order founded by British UFO contactee George King in 1955. I’ll refer you to the Aetherius wiki for more in depth details, but basically what goes on at one of these Aetherian religious services is this group chant thing, as I recall, where they all line up in their robes and such and each of them (it was like twelve or so apostles, or whatever they call themselves) line up and chant/shout their psychic vocalized energy into this box-like thing in which their vibes are stored and then later released to the cosmos to help mankind and all that sort of jazz. However, if I’m sounding a bit trite about the whole song and dance, don’t let that dissuade you from witnessing one of these ethereal affairs, because it really is a quite powerful experience whether ye be a spacebrother believer or not. You can go to their website for more details, but as I recall you need to RSVP and wear proper attire, such as a tie for the dudes, which is a distinct rarity in my case. In fact, John Cater (author of Sex And Rockets) went along with Greg and I, and had to tie my tie for me, since the last time I did that was at my wedding and I don’t think I even did it then.

In September, Skylaire and her crew visited a tiki exhibit:http://skylaire.com/lowfiseptemberart.htm

Lastly, in October, yours truly, Adam Gorightly, esq. was the featured speaker at our first LOWFI mini-con, at which I delivered my lecture Were The UFO Contactees Ritual Magicians? Keeping with the theme of Forteana meets Cacophony, the event was hosted at the house of a certain Professor Paul K., a surreal and spooky art installation living space/house pictured below.

Also on the bill were these two characters below playing theremin and trying to get us to join their upstart religion, which as I recall had something to do with plasticene. Whatever the hell that is.

I’ve also dabbled in conference organizing a bit, and with Barb Harris put together last years ill-fated Retro UFO 3, which was a success in terms of the speakers and events we lined, up but not so good in attendance, as only about 60 total showed up for the event, partly due to the “remoteness” of the location. And so with the collective backgrounds of myself, Skylaire, and Smiles Lewis (who organized the greatest ufo conference that never happened) I think we bring together a lot of past experiences to be used for setting up future events, one of which will be some full scale conference somewhere down the line, we hope.

Anyway, boys and girls, if you’re down L.A. way and looking for something enlightening and “different” to do this weekend, follow this link and click your heels three times. At the least, you won’t be bored.

Although Oregon and Washington certainly boast a great number of Bigfoot related sightings year in/year out, NorCal — to my mind — is the true home of the big lug, whether real or imagined.

Much of the modern day Bigfoot lore was ushered into public consciousness with the famous — or infamous, as the case may be – Roger Patterson Bigfoot film which seared the funky image of a freewheeling Sasquatch broad truckin’ through NorCal’s Six Rivers National Forest back in 1967. Below is a youtube vid of an enhanced version of this Patterson Bigfoot film produced by some folks who evidently think the thing was a hoax, and I tend to agree with this assessment. However, one never knows, for sure…

NorCal also hosts the pre-eminent Bigfoot museum in the Santa Cruz Mountains, nestled among the majestic redwoods in the town of Felton. It was here on August 9^th (which also happens to be the anniversary of the Manson family murders) of last year, that some of the more respected researchers in the field, such as Dr. Jeff Meldrum, were featured speakers during Bigfoot Discovery Day II, sponsored by the museum, truly one of the high points of Bigfoot research for 2008.

That being said, 2008 was some sort of banner Bigfoot year, although mainly in a negative sense, as one of the true fringe giants in the field, Erik Beckjord shed the mortal coil on June 22nd, just a few weeks before the infamous Bigfoot press conference that took place — you guess it! — once again in NorCal, and more precisely in the town of Palo Alto, on August 16th, an event I attended and afterwards chronicled in a series of articles featured in my Untamed Dimensions blog here, here, here, here and here.

 

Another infamous 2008 Bigfoot claim to fame was the unfortunate alliance  our hairy hero formed with one Rupert The Anti-Christ during Rupert’s short-lived Presidential campaign. Check out the following clip of Bigfoot announcing his run for Vice-President on The Luciferian Ticket.

http://gorightly.podomatic.com/entry/2008-01-27T23_17_36-08_00

For many years the aforementioned Erik Beckjord operated a Bigfoot, UFO and Loch Ness Monster Museum in San Francisco, which he opened, fittingly enough, on Halloween of 1996. The late Mr. Beckjord — who claimed he filmed the Loch Ness Monster in 1983 — help popularize the theory that Bigfoot is some sort of extradimensional-paranormal beastie as opposed to a flesh and bones dandy, a concept near and dear to my heart.

In this regard, Fortean researchers have long noted that Bigfoot, various monsters, apparitions, ghosts and UFO sightings often happen near lover’s lanes, or during women’s menstrual periods. Theoretically, menstrual cycles play a key role in the attraction of these phenomena. To this end, some ancient cultures suspected that women’s menstrual cycles opened a gateway into the void, through which occult forces can be invoked. Carlos Castaneda entertained this idea in his book The Second Ring of Power. It has been noted by certain researchers that, in addition to the uncanny ability of Bigfoot to locate women experiencing their menstrual periods, Bigfoot and other reported fortean beasts tend to make appearances when the moon is full. Of course, menstruation itself is believed to have a basic concurrence with moon cycles. According to occult researcher Kenneth Grant, the human menstrual flow is the vehicle of the lunar vibration. Grant seems convinced that this peculiar force gives rise to an entity known to the ancient Egyptians as the Ape of Thoth, an entity which loomed large in the magical practices of Aleister Crowley. Maybe Bigfoot and the Ape of Thoth are more closely related than has been previously suspected. Also, some of the stranger Bigfoot sightings have coincided with UFO sightings as if the two were related. Which lends credence to the theory that Bigfoot is more paranormal in nature, than he is an actual flesh and bones beastie. Interestingly enough, at the time of his death Erik Beckjord was working on a book called Sex and the Supernatural Sasquatch which explored the aforementioned themes. 1998’s The Psychic Sasquatch by Kewaunee Lapseritis also examines such arcane areas as telepathic communication with our furry friend.

My buddies Greg Bishop and Nick Redfern run the groovy UFOMystic blog which looks into such strange anomalies. I can’t remember which one of them said it, but when posed with the question, that: “If you were to capture Bigfoot, what would you find?” Nick or Greg answered that at the exact instant you were going to toss a net over the critter, it would probably disappear, which speaks to the elusive nature of this beast.

 

Whatever the case, this didn’t stop of bunch of hardcore Bigfoot Hunters from building an actual Bigfoot trap (pictured below) in 1974 in the wilds of the Siskiyou National Forest, just a few scant miles from the NorCal border, in Southern Oregon.

 

Read about it here.

 

And the Bigfoot beat goes on…

“Ahhh, it’s gone, it’s gone, it’s gone…All the shitty shows are gone, all the idiots screaming in the fucking wind are dead, I love it…leaving nothing but a cool, beautiful serenity called Arizona Bay. That’s right, when L.A. falls in the fucking ocean and is flushed away, all it will leave is Arizona Bay….” – Bill Hicks

Recently I stumbled across a map of what the U.S. will look like after the coming prophesied (by some) Earth Changes. Years ago, I had seen this same map in a north coast new age shop and smirked and snortled accordingly, but whatever the reason may be, it certainly can’t be denied that some sort of global climate change is currently underway, whether caused by HAARP, Al Gore’s Global Warming agenda, or just a cyclic pattern that occurs time and again over the course Mother Earth’s many rotations.

The map in question (above) was produced by psychic channeler Lori Toye in 1983, and doesn’t bode well for the current structure of LOWFI. Most of California and the Pacific Northwest will be submerged in the resultant deluge, a future Atlantis in the Atlantic. Skylaire will either have to join me on the island of central California, or take refuge in sunny San Diego. Regan Lee in Oregon appears sunk, and the fate of Mothman experiencer Andy Colvin in Washington State doesn’t appear much drier. Jarret Keene in Nevada is appropriately buried in the watery ruins no doubt on account for the wicked and wanton ways exhibited by a sinful state that allows such vagaries as gambling and prostitution. (God can be pissy this way!) Looks like Thomas Cosgrove is Arizona will have beach front property, no doubt driving up the value of his home and making it a prime tourist destination ala Bill Hick’s Arizona Bay. Everybody else looks high and dry for the time being…that is, until the aliens come and snatch them up!

Learn more about Lori Toye’s ascended master channelings here.

 

The photo below was taken on Highway 140 at Noon on Monday, Feb. 9^th, 2009, just outside of Merced, CA. In this regard, the photographer points out that 2+9 =”11″ Then given the fact it was taken on 2009, it equates to 11:11, a number of seeming import in regards to the exact time that the Mayan Calendar will presumably end on 2012. I don’t necessarily know what to make of all that, but it sure is a cool photo and I suspect that the Freemason-inspired obelisk somehow was part of a Masonic Sorcery Theater conjuration that brought into existence this wicked Wizard of Oz type tornado! (Photo courtesy of John Rhodes.)

Some recent blog posts I’ve stumbled across exhibit the high strangeness that seemingly haunts our NorCal skies.

Strange Tentacled UFO – Soquel, CA

Sausalito, CA UFO

Which is not to say that I have any predisposition, one way or the other, as to what the photos in said blogs represent. With that noted, I’m constantly perplexed that some people instantly equate “UFOs” with Extraterrestrials (ET’s), which seems a great leap of faith.

This is not to say that actual ET’s don’t inhabit our airspaces upon occasion. But dig: UFO’s are just that, Unidentified Flying Octopi …er, I mean…Objects. We don’t know what “They” are, simple as that: Objects up there looking strange as shit, that don’t appear or act in the same manner as conventional aircraft. However, this fixation of UFO’s = ET’s seems forever synomous in the minds of many who cannot separate the two terms.

I remember (somewhat painfully) a radio interview I did sometime back where the lady host asked me, pointedly, “So you firmly beleive in UFOs?” Of course, how she arrived at this supposition was completely beyond me, as I had never even come close to asserting such, before or since — I had just indicated that, at one time, I had seen some things that qualified as “UFO’s.” And, of course, she made the leap: UFO’s = ET’s. And because I had seen UFO’s that then meant I believed in ET’s. Of course, I believe that there are things in the sky that we cannot conclusively identify. That’s where the “U” in UFO’s comes from! Not to beat a dead horse, but I think it’s important that when we talk about UFO’s, we are alluding to things witnessed in the skies that we cannot positively identify, and that appear to be out of the ordinary.

And, of course, I get my panties all into a bunch when people pretend to know, or delude themselves into “believing” – pro or con, one way or the other — be they skeptics or true believers. To make up your mind is to close your mind. Skeptics and true believers, alike. They are really one and the same, in a sense. Once you close your mind to other possibilities, you are closing your mind to ALL POSSIBILITIES.

Whatever the case, Forteans tend to lean toward the proposition that UFO’s are not actual physical nut and bolt craft, but are, in essence, some type of phenomena perhaps partially conjured in our little ‘ol brains or collective consciousness ala Carl Jung. This is a hypothesis explored in a lecture I’ve delivered upon occasion entitled “Were The Early UFO Contactees Ritual Magicians?” which presents the theory that the early contactees, as well as current day abductees, have used magic rituals to contact UFO’s.

In this lecture, I posit that — when under the influence of certain psychoactive substances — one can sometimes look into what Fortean researcher John Keel has called the Superspectrum: a realm, or alternate dimension that is all around us, although hidden from everyday, or normal modes, of perception. And, furthermore, that this Superspectrum is what those who have dabbled in the magical traditions have gained access to. What this suggests — to your humble reporter — is that, in order to observe UFO’s, one must often enter into a more receptive state, like a psychic or channeler tuning into voices or subtle energies. Psychedelic drugs are just perhaps one avenue of tapping into this Superspectrum, as well as other methods, including sensory deprivation, sex magic rituals, hypnosis and chanting. For instance, psychic channelers must first induce in themselves a trance state before being able to invoke spirits, so maybe it’s the same thing going on with UFOs, in some instances. Whatever the case, I’m certainly not encouraging people to experiment with mind expanding drugs, although some have found this approach to be productive. Different maps, for different chaps, as they say.

The Superspectrum theory contends that UFO’s exist at frequencies beyond visible light, but that they can adjust their frequency and descend into the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum — just as you can turn the dial of your radio up and down the scale of radio frequencies. UFO’s, Mr. Keel suggests, are energies of a different frequency. Like tuning a radio, you pick up and amplify only the signal coming in at a certain point, or frequency, of the EM spectrum.

Our eyes are also receivers tuned to specific wavelengths, as the brain is also a receiver. So, in the same manner, one can presumably alter their consciousness to lift the veil of consensus reality that seemingly shrouds our third eye. Likewise such things as infrared photography can be used to peer into these realms. Following this line of reasoning, it could then be conjectured that infrared technology would also enable us to perceive things what the naked eye normally cannot. This approach was explored most exhaustively by UFO researcher Trevor James Constable, who spent many years filming strange spectral creatures (ala UFOs) using infrared photography. These he often described as “critters”; strange undulating amoeba like shapshifters; some sort of chaotic energy unleashed, as opposed to what many typically think UFO’s to be: actual alien craft of a fixed size and substance.

More recently — and in a similar vein to Trevor James Constable — a Northern Californian, Ed Grimsley, has witnessed a war going on, or so he perceives, between opposing UFOnauts in our skies. Through the use of state-of-the-art infrared goggles, Grimsley has apparently filmed these spectral battles on numerous occasions, which is documented in a film that can be purchased at his website. http://edgrimsley.com/

At the 60^th Roswell Festival in 2006, I met a fellow named Jeremy Ray, formerly of Sacramento MUFON, who regaled me with tales of how he had captured numerous UFO’s with his trusty video camera. Further, Jeremy claimed, anyone could do it, as well, if they trained a video cam to the skies on a continual basis.

(Above) Jeremy Ray at Roswell

Last fall, I bumped briefly into Jeremy again at the Las Vegas Crash Retrieval Conference, and asked him how it was going with the UFO video taping thing. Currently, Jeremy has changed his position somewhat and now believes that the UFOs he filmed were actually appearing specifically for him, which is akin to “calling them down” or a magic ritual, of sorts; that somehow Jeremy was attracting these things. Jeremy also alluded that certain individuals had either confiscated many of his video recordings, or that these vid recordings had some how disappeared or been removed from his computer — if I remember correctly our conversation. This brings up the spectre of those mystical men in black who are apparently suppressing the shocking truth of UFO’s haunting our skies! But that’s another story for another day…

So there seems to be, at least in my way of thinking, some sort of borderland area where the use of photographic and video equipment (infrared or whatever) — in conjunction with someone intently looking for something — will eventually find something. This, in essence, is the theory presented in my aforementioned lecture: that we are perhaps interacting with some sort of non-human intelligence, or ultra dimensional entities, and that we — as the experiencers — are actually part of the experience; that we help bring it into being, whether consciously intending to, or not.

 

Welcome to the NorCal branch of L.O.W.F.I., brainchild of my friend and fellow traveler, Skylaire Alfvegren, who is not only the grand poobah of this arcane operation, but the group’s Southern California representative, as well. The third largest state in the nation, California is definitely cleaved in two—but just what is the dividing line between Northern California (NorCal) and Southern California(SoCal)?

The Exact Center?

According to some sources, California’s exact center is the town of North Fork, which boasts a monument attesting to this “fact.” However, this claim has been one of contention among competing California towns that argue over the state’s precise center. For the purposes of our group, and our website’s ease of navigation, I shall make a command decision: I designate the NorCal/SoCal dividing line as running from Tecopa in the east, through Bakersfield and Tehachapi in the center, onto San Luis Obispo to the west, and continuing straight out into the blue Pacific Ocean, where all manner of strange creatures dwell!

How do I define my role as L.O.W.F.I.’s Northern California Bureau Chief? I’m here to provide a channel for other Fortean enthusiasts—a place where they can post their freaky sightings, hauntings, and handed-down tales, as well as share stories of high strangeness here in the northern reaches of the Golden State.

That being said, the ultimate goal of the League of Western Fortean Intermediatists is to build a community of like-minded adventurers, who not only travel the arcane highways of the Golden State, but the byways of the eleven other surreal commonwealths which collectively make up the American West, and make up the land of L.O.W.F.I.

Beyond the concept of a web-based platform dedicated to documenting Forteana in the wild and woolly West, we of L.O.W.F.I. hope—over time–to spread our message, in a viral fashion, across all spectrums of media, and to host L.O.W.F.I.-sponsored events and outings to the many mystical locales that haunt our landscapes.

Want to go for a ride?