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Post by WingsofCrystal on Nov 18, 2018 11:26:32 GMT
Gizmodo
NASA Image of Merging Galaxy Clusters Looks Suspiciously Like the USS Enterprise
Tom McKay
17 November 2018
Humanity’s current understanding of physics may suggest faster-than-light travel is impossible, but researchers here on Earth can still observe happening in places much too far away to ever actually visit (and generally only what they looked like in the distant past). One of them is a galactic collision that, at least from our planetary vantage point, looks an awful lot like a craft going where no man has ever gone before.
NASA released the above composite image of the galaxy cluster Abell 1033 some 1.62 billion light years away this week, showing wisps of gas that appear to be arranged in the shape of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise. NASA wrote that the image was captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, an X-ray telescope that detects superheated gases, as well as the Low-Frequency Array, which detects radio emissions.
The image might look calm, but it’s the outcome of a cosmic phenomenon releasing incredible amounts of energy. Galaxy clusters are collections of galaxies that are the largest known entities to be held together by gravitational forces, containing both the galaxies themselves and a much larger quantity of superheated gas. Per NASA, Abell 1033 is actually two galaxy clusters that are in the process of slamming into each other, producing “turbulence and shock waves.” NASA added that the two clusters are interacting with a supermassive black hole, producing jets of high-speed particles that show up as radio emissions:
In Abell 1033, the collision has interacted with another energetic cosmic process—the production of jets of high-speed particles by matter spiraling into a supermassive black hole, in this case one located in a galaxy in one of the clusters. These jets are revealed by radio emission to the left and right sides of the image. The radio emission is produced by electrons spiraling around magnetic field lines, a process called synchrotron emission.
The electrons in the jets are traveling at very close to the speed of light. As the galaxy and its black hole moved toward the lower part of the image, the jet on the right slowed down as it crashed into hot gas in the other galaxy cluster. The jet on the left did not slow down because it encountered much less hot gas, giving a warped appearance for the jets, rather than the straight line that is typically seen.
NASA added that the radio emissions coming from the cluster would normally lose much of their energy as they radiate, becoming undetectable, though the “vastly extended radio emission observed in Abell 1033, extending over about 500,000 light years, implies that energetic electrons are present in larger quantities and with higher energies than previously thought”:
Other sources of radio emission in the image besides the starship-shaped object are the shorter jets from another galaxy (labeled “short jets”) and a “radio phoenix” consisting of a cloud of electrons that faded in radio emission but was then reenergized when shock waves compressed the cloud. This caused the cloud to once again shine at radio frequencies, as we reported back in 2015.
Researchers with Leiden University, the Institute of Radio Astronomy, the University of Hamburg, and the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics have published their findings in Science Advances arxiv.org/abs/1710.06796
gizmodo.com/nasa-image-of-merging-galactic-clusters-looks-suspiciou-1830517695?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_campaign=top
Crystal
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Post by moksha on Nov 18, 2018 12:38:41 GMT
Peculiar..very peculiar..
“I think everybody’s seen the light and I don’t think we’ll have this again to this extent,” Trump said in Paradise, the town largely destroyed by a wildfire ignited Nov. 8 that he called “this monster.”  Indeed Kat,
AND AFTER HE BECAME THE FATHER OF POPCORN
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Post by swamprat on Nov 18, 2018 16:13:53 GMT
Narwhal adopted by belugas
EarthSky Voices in EARTH | November 18, 2018
by Erin Siracusa, University of Guelph
Scientists are trying to solve the mystery of why a narwhal was adopted by a group of beluga whales in Canada’s St. Lawrence River.
Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=LdusjFmgn-w
Since the age of the Roman Empire and the story of how the twins Romulus and Remus were raised by a wolf, tales of interspecies adoptions have captivated the human imagination. The story that emerged from Canada’s St. Lawrence River in July of 2018 was no exception. While researching belugas, a group of scientists captured drone footage of a young male narwhal, more than 1,000 kilometers south of his Arctic home, swimming with a pod of belugas.
It sounds like something straight out of Disney’s “Finding Nemo.” But in the three years since the narwhal was first spotted with his adopted family, this real-life drama has been playing out in the waters of the St. Lawrence estuary. And the unlikely alliance has researchers scratching their heads.
The cause of this consternation? A funny word called adoption.
In the human realm, adoption is seen as a benevolent act, but in the wild it poses a real evolutionary dilemma. This is because the goal of every organism in the natural world is to reproduce and transfer its genes to future generations. Adoption is puzzling because it requires an individual to invest resources into another’s offspring, with no guarantee of passing on its own genetic material. Despite this, adoption is well-documented across the animal kingdom.
The question is, why?
Understanding when and where we see cases of adoption often comes down to understanding how adoption can provide a benefit to the foster parents or adoptive group members. In other words, how can investing in another’s offspring actually increase the potential for adoptive parents to contribute genes to future generations?
A family matter
One possibility is through the adoption of kin.
Since related individuals share genes, by raising family, animals can help to ensure the survival of their own DNA. This is the most widely documented explanation for foster care in the wild. Many social species, including lions, primates and elephants have been known to care for or raise the offspring of a mother, sister, aunt or other relative.
But scientists from the Kluane Red Squirrel Project have found that social species aren’t the only animals that adopt kin. In the icy north of Canada’s Yukon, red squirrel mothers preferentially adopt orphaned relatives. This is intriguing because red squirrels are territorial rodents that live in isolation. Even so, red squirrels were able to identify relatives and actively chose to foster pups to which they were related. Out of thousands of litters, researchers only identified five cases of adoption, all of which were orphaned kin.
You scratch my back, I scratch yours
But adopting individuals with shared genes isn’t the only way that potential foster parents can benefit. Reciprocity, or an “exchange of favors,” might also motivate shared parenting. Under certain circumstances unrelated females will swap “babysitting” duties. This has the benefit of allowing the mother to forage more efficiently without youngsters tagging along.
Alternatively, mothers might nurse each other’s offspring, providing temporary relief from maternal duties. Scientists are still uncertain, however, how important reciprocity might be for facilitating allonursing – non-maternal milk provisioning – or other forms of foster care provided by non-relatives.
Practice makes perfect
Even more puzzling are circumstances in which adoptions occur between members of different species. Such cases can’t be explained either by shared genes or reciprocity among group members, and while interspecies adoptions are rare in the wild, they aren’t unheard of. For instance, in 2004, researchers in Brazil observed an infant marmoset being cared for by two female capuchin monkeys.
Since interspecies adoptions are so uncommon, it’s challenging to understand why they occur. One possibility is that adoption provides an opportunity for young females to practice their mothering skills. Scientists believe that proficiency in parenting is based on learned as well as innate behaviors.
In elephant seals, experienced mothers are more successful in raising offspring. Researchers think that these benefits of maternal experience may be one reason adoption occurs so frequently in this species. By practicing with adopted young, females can ensure that they are competent mothers when it comes time to raise their own offspring.
Mistakes do happen
Of course, not every instance of adoption is likely to be beneficial for the adoptive parent. One simple cause of mistaken foster care is reproductive error.
Breeding females that have recently lost their young are often still behaviorally and physiologically ready to provide maternal care. In such cases, a female’s motherly instinct may be so strong that it leads her to mistakenly redirect her care toward unrelated young.
Alternatively, parents may simply be bamboozled into raising another species’ young. Brown-headed cowbirds lay their eggs in the nest of an unsuspecting host who, unable to distinguish the cowbird’s offspring, will raise the young as their own.
All for one and one for all?
But in the chilly waters of the St. Lawrence River, a different sort of adoption story is unfolding. The welcoming of a young narwhal into a pod of juvenile male belugas cannot be explained by kin selection, reciprocity or maternal instinct … leaving what?
It’s a good question, and frankly, scientists are still uncertain. One possibility is that adopting a lone individual might provide a benefit for the entire group. For instance, having a larger pod might offer protection from predators.
This “safety in numbers” benefit has been suggested as an explanation for adoption in other species. Alternatively, both narwhals and belugas are highly social animals and the benefits of social companionship alone might lead to this unlikely alliance.
This is particularly true given that narwhals and belugas do not directly compete for food. Narwhals feed on deepwater fish, while belugas prefer surface-dwelling salmon and capelin. The costs of adoption are therefore likely to be low.
In the end, the narwhal’s adoption might be one of the many natural mysteries that scientists have yet to solve. Nevertheless, footage of this long-tusked, gray-skinned cetacean frolicking with its fellow belugas is offering people worldwide a rare glimpse into an animal behavior almost never seen in the wild.
Bottom line: Scientists are trying to learn why a narwhal was adopted by a group of beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River.
earthsky.org/earth/narwhal-adopted-by-beluga-whales
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Post by swamprat on Nov 18, 2018 16:17:36 GMT
Humans and Nature
A vital relationship. Destroy nature, we're dead.
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Post by thelmadonna on Nov 18, 2018 16:43:42 GMT
Good morning 
MysteryUpdated.com
Jay Jonson
1 November 2018
WHY IS THIS UFO SPRAYING AN EMERALD GREEN MIST OVER CALIFORNIA?
Alien hunters are perplexed by a set of photos showing what appears to be a UFO spraying a greenish mist over a Californian neighborhood.
The sighting is currently under investigation by MUFON, the authority that reviews all such cases. According to the witness testimony, the UFO showed up over Huntington Beach, California on a sunny summer day when visibility was great.
At first, the unnamed witness believed he was seeing a plane in trouble.
But this conviction did not last long. Within a few seconds, the accidental bystander realized the object couldn’t have been a plane. It had a dome-like shape with a band of orange lights going around its circumference, a typical UFO shape that is instantly recognizable.
“The vapour trail didn’t seem to be coming from any particular vent or place on the craft, it seemed to almost enshroud the craft and then slip off and fall behind,” the witness added. “It would leave a trail and dissipate within a few seconds.”
According to the eyewitness, the emission of green gas coincided with the UFO making a rumbling sound.
"THE RUMBLING HISS SEEMED TO INCREASE IN INTENSITY COINCIDING WITH THE BILLOWING EMERALD GREEN SHIMMERY MISTY VAPOUR OR SMOKE THIS CRAFT WAS LEAVING IN ITS WAKE.”
The strange, intense color of the ejected material was both “concerning and fascinatingly beautiful,” the bystander claimed. But as beautiful as it looked, the menacing aspect of the incident gave birth to strong feelings of anxiety and all the way up to an overwhelming, visceral emotion.
Believing the vapor could be poisonous or radioactive, the witness almost threw up his breakfast. Fortunately, he was able to control himself and even managed to snap a few photos of the UFO spraying an effluvium of green gas.
It’s difficult to discern the object’s size from the photos, but the witness states that it was pretty large, around the size of a school bus.
This sighting raises a number of legitimate questions and their answers are not pleasant.
What was the UFO doing over California in broad daylight? Was it having trouble or was it deliberately delivering a payload of chemicals?
If the green vapor was the result of malfunctioning systems, it would definitely prove the UFO was using exotic matter as fuel. In that case, the witness was right to fear the fumes could be poisonous or even radioactive.
Since he stated the vapor dissipated within seconds, it is safe to assume the vapor was indeed physical and not some visual effect manifested by its cloaking systems.
Most UFO experts who’ve seen the photos agree that a UFO spraying a strange, noxious-looking green vapor could not have been an accident. It looks and sounds premeditated.
What we’d like to know is this: was the UFO piloted by aliens or our own kind?
The UFO/conspiracy community has been pretty vocal about its suspicions regarding man-made or acquired UFOs being secretly operated with the intention of making the public believe it was aliens. Veiled by a misconception they seeded themselves, the human operators of the craft could perform whatever experiment they pleased without fear of consequence.
The same scenario also applies if aliens were piloting the UFO. There’s not much we could do about aliens performing experiments since their technology is too far ahead of ours. We can only speculate about their motivation and what they have in store for mankind.
Source : yourminds.org
www.mysteryupdated.com/why-is-this-ufo-spraying-an-emerald-green-mist-over-california/
Crystal
Could this strange ufo have had anything to do with the California fires? It happened just before combustion. |
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Nov 18, 2018 19:47:10 GMT
"Could this strange ufo have had anything to do with the California fires? It happened just before combustion."
Hi Thelmadonna,
Interesting thought but no way to test it.
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Nov 18, 2018 19:47:57 GMT
~
Crystal
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Post by thelmadonna on Nov 18, 2018 20:18:47 GMT
"Could this strange ufo have had anything to do with the California fires? It happened just before combustion."
Hi Thelmadonna,
Interesting thought but no way to test it.
Crystal
I know Crystal, mores the pity. I was thinking along the lines of green phospherous, like liquid matchheads that would ignite by the heat of the sun. arxiv.org/abs/1705.05073 |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2018 3:06:53 GMT
"Could this strange ufo have had anything to do with the California fires? It happened just before combustion."
Hi Thelmadonna,
Interesting thought but no way to test it.
Crystal
I know Crystal, mores the pity. I was thinking along the lines of green phospherous, like liquid matchheads that would ignite by the heat of the sun. arxiv.org/abs/1705.05073Ya' know crystal..I always liked Thelmas Jib...This may be a learning and teachable moment for all of us..
wwwchem.uwimona.edu.jm/courses/CHEM2402/Myths_General/P_Matches.htmlPhosphorus and the history of the matchIn 1669, Hennig (Nicholas) Brand(t) isolated phoshorus from urine. This was one of the first non-metallic elements to have been discovered. Prior to this the only elements known included: Antimony, Bismuth, Carbon, Copper, Gold, Iron, Lead, Mercury, Silver, Sulfur and Tin. Arsenic was discovered in 1250, Phosphorus in 1669, followed by Platinum in 1735. ![[block]](http://wwwchem.uwimona.edu.jm/courses/CHEM2402/Myths_General/The_Alchemist.jpg) "The Alchemist in Search of the Philosopher's Stone" (1771) A depiction of the discovery of the element phosphorus by German alchemist Hennig Brand in 1669. Painted by Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 - 29 August 1797), styled Wright of Derby. A flask in which a large quantity of urine has been boiled down, is seen bursting into light as the phosphorus, which is abundant in urine, spontaneously ignites in air. By evaporating urine, Brand had produced ammonium sodium hydrogenphosphate, which on further heating produced sodium phosphite. In the presence of carbon (charcoal) this was decomposed to produce white phosphorus and sodium pyrophosphate. One advantage was that this method liberated all the phosphorus from the sodium phosphite. The exact nature of the element was not understood for some time. The fact that a minute portion of it, rubbed between two pieces of paper took fire, caused excitement all over Europe whenever it was demonstrated. Given that its isolation was by manipulation of large quantities of urine and that only minute quantities of phosphorus were produced, meant that the substance attracted enormous prices. This only changed in 1769 when the Swedish chemists Carl Scheele and Johan Gahn discovered that phosphorus could be extracted from calcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2) found in bones, enabling greater quantities at much cheaper prices to become available. By the 1850's Albright and Wilson had replaced the raw material for phosphorus production so that instead of animal bones, mineral phosphates were used. The bones or rock were dissolved in sulfuric acid to give phosphoric acid and calcium sulfate as a by-product. The acid was concentrated, mixed with 25% of its mass with carbon, dried in iron pots to a black powder and then distilled in clay retorts. The phosphorus that distilled over was condensed into 25-30 lb. blocks called "cheeses". After refining and casting into sticks (all under water to prevent it catching fire), the product was shipped, again under water, to the end users.
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Nov 19, 2018 11:28:01 GMT
Good morning lovely UFOCasebookers!
Science Alert
Scientists Are Challenging The Next Generation to Put Together a New Message For Aliens
JACINTA BOWLER
19 NOV 2018
If you're an alien far, far away inside the globular star cluster M13, one day you might receive a radio message from Earth written in binary code.
Decoding it would give you a beautiful 8-bit style picture of some basic human information – including the structure of DNA, a graphic of our Solar System and a picture of a man (minus his head).
44 years after the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico broadcast that message, the team at Arecibo are hoping to inspire young kids and young adults to create a New Arecibo Message for the next generation.
"Our society and our technology have changed a lot since 1974," says Francisco Cordova, the director of the NSF-funded Arecibo Observatory.
"So, if we were assembling our message today, what would it say? What would it look like? What one would need to learn to be able to design the right updated message from the earthlings?"
"Those are the questions we are posing to young people around the world through the New Arecibo Message," he added.
The process won't be a simple one though, the researchers explain; teams of up to 10 students (from kindergarten through to college) will have to decode clues and learn about space science in the process.
After completing a series of projects, the winners will be announced during Arecibo Observatory week in 2019.
The history of the original Arecibo message is pretty amazing. The radio message was approximately three minutes long and was exactly 1,679 binary digits (picked because it is a semiprime number).
It was aimed at the M13 cluster of stars a casual 25,000 light-years away from Earth. So it'll be a little while before we know if it's arrived or we end up with a response.
At the time, it was known as a bit of a publicity stunt to show off the 1,000 foot (305 metre) diameter Arecibo dish, which was the largest and most powerful at that time.
That being said, it reportedly brought some people that were there to actual tears.
"It was strictly a symbolic event, to show that we could do it," said Donald Campbell, Cornell University professor of astronomy, who was a research associate at the Arecibo Observatory at the time explained in a blog post on a recent Google Doodle commemorating the event.
A team of researchers from Cornell University, with assistance from Carl Sagan himself, crafted a message to show our way of counting (decimal), the atomic numbers of the elements that make up DNA.
It then goes on to explain the formulas for the sugars and bases in DNA, as well as a graphic of the DNA helix structure, the population of Earth at the time, and the average height of a man.
Finally it shows our place in the Solar System, and a graphic of the Arecibo telescope.
We don't know what this New Arecibo message will look like, or even if the winning response will one day be sent to the stars as well - but it sounds like a great way to get the next generation excited about the wonderful Universe beyond our home planet.
If you want to find out more, you can check out the Arecibo Observatory website here www.areciboobservatory.org/challenge/about-challenge.html
www.sciencealert.com/scientists-are-challenging-the-next-generation-to-put-together-a-new-message-for-aliens
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Nov 19, 2018 11:37:36 GMT
New China TV
Published on Nov 18, 2018
Driverless bus, AR Tai Chi & smart walkway: Discover all the cool technologies at a newly-opened AI park in Beijing. (recorded)
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Crystal
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2018 1:43:54 GMT
Space Station 20th: longest continual timelapse from space
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nod7rUzIX8wSince the very first module Zarya launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 20 November 1998, the International Space Station has delivered a whole new perspective on this planet we call home. Join us as we celebrate 20 years of international collaboration and research for the benefit of Earth with ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst’s longest timelapse yet. In just under 15 minutes, this clip takes you from Tunisia across Beijing and through Australia in two trips around the world. You can follow the Station’s location using the map at the top right-hand-side of the screen alongside annotations on the photos themselves. This timelapse comprises approximately 21 375 images of Earth all captured by Alexander from the International Space Station and shown 12.5 times faster than actual speed. Music is Orbital Horizons, an original composition by Los Angeles-based musician Matt Piper. |
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Nov 20, 2018 10:35:50 GMT
Good morning lovely UFOCasebookers!
Asahi Shimbun
Japan to set up space command center to track debris, threats
By SHINICHI FUJIWARA/ Staff Writer
November 20, 2018 at 16:05 JST
The government is moving to establish a command center within the Self-Defense Forces to track space debris from spent satellites and rockets, as well as keep an eye on suspect foreign satellites.
The program is set to be introduced as early as in fiscal 2022 and will likely be outlined in National Defense Program Guidelines the government plans to revise in December, according to government sources.
Itsunori Onodera, a former defense minister who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s working group dealing with the guideline revisions, mentioned the plan during a lecture he gave in Tokyo on Nov. 19.
The program is intended to bolster Japan's ability to defend itself against aggressive cyber-attacks, threats in space and electromagnetic waves.
The Ground, Air and Maritime SDF will jointly operate the system.
Space debris poses a growing threat to satellites orbiting Earth as the volume of junk whizzing around at very high speeds has grown markedly in recent years.
The Space Situational Awareness (SSA) system will be formed to address such threats, as well as keep an eye on moves by China, which reportedly is developing technology to attack satellites operated by other countries.
The Defense Ministry has requested 26.8 billion yen ($238 million) for the program in the next fiscal year’s budget.
The space corps is expected to be based at the ASDF’s Fuchu Base in Fuchu on the outskirts of Tokyo, according to the sources.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will help operate the SSA system. The Defense Ministry will share information on space debris with U.S. forces.
A radar capable of monitoring the situation in space at altitudes of 5,800 kilometers or higher will be set up at the former site for the MSDF’s Sanyo receiving station in the city of Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201811200034.html
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Nov 20, 2018 10:41:53 GMT
Movie Web
Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers Trailer Uncovers A Vast UFO Conspiracy
Kevin Burwick
November 19th, 2018
In 1989, Bob Lazar called into a Las Vegas radio station and claimed that he had helped to reverse engineer a UFO near Area 51. Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell's Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers documentary tells Lazar's story for the first time. Ever since that first call in 89, Lazar has been pretty elusive, only doing select interviews and showing up at the International UFO Congress in 2015. Lazar's allegations have made his life chaotic, but he's ready to set the record straight for the first time. The controversial documentary features narration by veteran actor Mickey Rourke.
Bob Lazar remains the singular most famous and controversial name in the world of UFOs. Part of the reason that any of us know about Area 51 is because Lazar came forward and told the world about it in 1989. His disclosures have turned his life upside-down and he has tried to stay out of the spotlight. For this reason, he has never let any filmmaker into the private world of his daily life. That all changes with the Bob Lazar: Area 51 And Flying Saucers documentary, which is set to be released next month.
Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell's Bob Lazar: Area 51 And Flying Saucers documentary explores Lazar's claims through the lens of thirty years, which provides rare and never before revealed footage, which the director guarantees will alter the landscape of the UFO and Area 51 debate. Corbell, who also recently released his documentary Hunt for the Skinwalker spent days with Lazar, trying to understand everything, while crafting an educational documentary.
Bob Lazar is a controversial figure in the Area 51 and UFO discussions. In addition to his allegations of reverse engineering an alien spacecraft, Lazar also claims that he has read official United States government documents that prove that humans and aliens have interacted for the last 10,000 years. Lazar also claims to hold degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology, but there is no record of him ever attending either of the prestigious schools. Additionally, the United States government claims that he never worked for them. However, he is responsible for bringing Area 51 to the public eye.
Bob Lazar: Area 51 And Flying Saucers will be available on demand and digital starting December 18th. This is pretty big news for UFO enthusiasts since Lazar is such a huge figure in the world of exploring aliens. With that being said, there are just as many people who call the man a liar and a fraud, which is pretty much what happens whenever someone comes forward with news pertaining to aliens. While we wait for the full documentary to be released next month, you can check out the trailer for Bob Lazar: Area 51 And Flying Saucers below, thanks to the Orchard Movies YouTube channel.
movieweb.com/bob-lazar-area-51-and-flying-saucers-trailer/
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Nov 20, 2018 10:46:25 GMT
Duluth News Tribune
Getting his UFO groove on: Chad Lewis focuses on the folklore, not reality, of the paranormal
By Tony Bennett
Nov 19, 2018 at 2:43 p.m.
It has been noted, now that so many people have high-definition video cameras in their pockets at all times, that UFO evidence hasn't really skyrocketed. One would imagine that the sightings that used to be so vividly described would now be accompanied by crisp, clean video evidence, but this hasn't been the case. Some people feel that this dearth of proof is actually proof of the nonexistence of extraterrestrial visitors, at least in the classic flying-disc form.
Chad Lewis, a UFO researcher and author based in the Eau Claire, Wis., area, isn't bothered. For him, it's not that stories of aliens or sasquatches or weird hellmouths in country graveyards are to be disproven or proven — it's about the stories themselves, and about what they tell us about the people who lived in a particular place and what their beliefs may have been at the time that any given supernatural event is purported to have occurred. Lewis isn't looking for the truth in the way that Scully and Mulder did on “The X-Files.” He's just interested in collecting the stories and telling them to others.
Lewis is a busy guy — he's constantly on the road, driving from one small Midwestern town to another, giving lectures and checking out sites where strange things are said to have happened. He stopped in Duluth in August, where he gave a talk at the Depot that drew a couple handfuls of curious people.
“I blame my interest in the weird and unusual on my home state of Wisconsin,” Lewis said. “I grew up in Eau Claire, which is not too far from one of the three UFO capitals of the world that Wisconsin claims to have. Three different cities all claim to be the UFO capital of the world, here.”
He related this information without remarking how this is logically impossible, but by noting it so clearly, the implication is there. But he's not looking to determine which city is the true UFO capital. He's just demonstrating that he was raised in an area where the bizarre was beloved.
It was as he was finishing high school and readying to head off to college to study psychology — which he holds a master’s degree in — that he got the UFO bug. He wanted to find out, as he said, “Why people believe in the strange and unusual, and why some people don't. I was studying psychology, looking at human perception and belief systems, and I started lecturing about it.”
Lewis said people at his lectures would come up to him afterward and relay tales of haunted houses, of creatures in the woods.
“It really just started from there,” he said. “I ended up doing my master's thesis on student belief in the paranormal.”
The road from psychologist to UFOlogist was a short one, for Lewis. He soon realized, though, that he couldn't spend his time hunting for hard evidence of supernatural events. “I think you quickly realize that that's not the way things work,” he said. “If you don't, you'll burn out. I know so many investigators that don't do it anymore, because they're just tired of never coming to a conclusion, never collecting a great piece of evidence.”
“For me, my whole take on the paranormal really shifted a while back to seeing the folklore in it and looking at how these things move and progress over the years,” Lewis said. “I talk to seniors, and they tell me a version of a story, and I talk to high-school kids, and they tell me a different version of the same story. I love that.”
“It's really about the adventure, as well,” Lewis said. “I love hitting the back roads, stopping at mom-and-pop motels, interviewing people. For me, the idea of whether these things are true or not has taken a back seat.”
Lewis was brought to Duluth this past summer by the St. Louis County Historical Society's “Lunch With the History People” monthly lecture series. Julie Bolos, manager of administrative services for that organization, said that Lewis' work is valuable as a collection of oral histories.
“Every season,” Bolos said, “we strive to schedule themes for our 'Lunch with the History People' series that will intrigue and educate our audience. Our speakers’ backgrounds vary as much as their subjects, but they all have a passion for history. Each presentation discloses another facet of the past just waiting to be revealed and remembered.”
“Chad Lewis rivets attendees with legends from the mysterious side of history, which is always fascinating,” Bolos said. “Reports of UFO sightings and aliens are a part of history. These accounts go back many years, in this area and across the United States. History is documented by researching and recording these reports.”
Bolos said that Lewis is “an excellent speaker who is well-received by our audiences. He researches stories from news reports and captures the personal accounts of individuals. Chad does not tell you what to think. He shares his findings and allows guests to form their own opinions.”
“For a long time, historical societies kind of shunned this work,” Lewis said. “It's history, whether it's true or not.”
www.duluthnewstribune.com/lifestyle/4531444-getting-his-ufo-groove-chad-lewis-focuses-folklore-not-reality-paranormal
Crystal
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