Personal Research Expedition to WV--Keel, UAPs, and Point Pleasant

Hello! This is my story of a research project-turned-journey. It's probably not as exciting or revealing as you might hope, but what follows is a personal story from my perspective. I don't usually write "first person" so this was a bit of a challenge. Don't expect too much out of this, but if you're interested in a personal story of research-turned-life, read on. Warning: long. It's probably best to "read in installments"!

Introduction

I ended up living in West Virginia for a while after getting involved in a research side-project involving John Keel. The project wasn't so much about the Mothman cryptid as it was about a few other things Keel covered in FSR (Flying Saucer Review) and his other works including Operation Trojan Horse. My initial inspiration came from my exploration of a series of UAP reports involving oversized, floating aircraft which maneuvered strangely or disappeared into blue skies (among other strange behavior). Having an aviation/radio/electronics background, these mysterious aircraft piqued my interest and I ended up studying a number of reports before getting into Keel's FSR series on the Ghostfliers of the 1930s. This re-ignited my interest in some of his other articles and books.

I first maintained a skeptical attitude towards Keel, who turned out to be a lot more interesting than I first gave him credit for. As I dug into the Ghostflier phenomenon, I reacquainted myself with some classic "Men In Black" encounters, high-strangeness incidents, and Keel's frequent descriptions of witnesses who appeared to have been injured by what he referred to as "actinic rays", each set of symptoms characteristic of electromagnetic radiation exposure (as well as a few tell-tale signs of ionizing radiation [the kind a Geiger counter can detect]). I approached all of this with caution, but the EM-type injuries managed to wrangle my attention. (Click here for information on Ghostfliers)

In order to deepen my understanding of the numerous "Keel-cases", I first set out to understand the writer himself. I studied his interactions with other writers, his interviews, and his background. To my surprise, I began to understand that he originally didn't intend to become a ufologist at all, or develop any influential theories. He was not a hoaxer by any means (although he did pilot a few unfortunate investigations into encounters that later proved to be the product of over-active imaginations--not necessarily his fault).

Regardless, he became one of the most influential writers in ufology (and general Fortean topics). He was clever, and after some time I was able to find specific patterns in his writing; subtle ways he altered details, language he used in certain contexts, and other writing tricks that made his books and articles not only convincing, but persuasive. He started out writing articles for Esquire and Playboy, and ended up becoming one of the most successful writers on 'alternative' topics. From what I gather, he had no idea how far the rabbit hole would go, and frankly, I didn't either when I started my own research project.

Exploring West Virginia

My first visit was brief. My goal was to conduct a brief survey of the area and make note of any "hot points" in the local layouts. The first point I noticed in the Point Pleasant vicinity was near the base of the Silver Memorial Bridge (which replaced the fallen Silver Bridge) on the Gallipolis, Ohio side. During periods of high traffic activity, the bridge seemed to generate infrasound similar to that from wind turbines. It was not as pronounced on the West Virginia side of the bridge. Another thing I noticed was the flow of the topography; hillsides shallow enough to "flow" but steep enough to obscure the horizon. Forested areas are abundant, flowing water was everywhere--rivers, creeks, etc. The area felt very much alive, with plenty of hot points that could be considered conductive to anomalous encounters and a sensation of being watched... especially after dark.

Certain "vibes" can put a person in the right mindset to see a UFO or other anomaly. A heightened state of awareness brought on by the environment can help a person notice things they do not normally notice. This can be conductive to misidentifications of normal things as anomalous. Also, this same state of heightened alertness can help a person notice a UFO or other anomaly that they would have otherwise overlooked.

Our state of mind has a lot to do with what we perceive and what we don't; what we let in and what we block out. Our subconscious is constantly blocking out information the brain deems 'extraneous'--this helps us focus. What's blocked out changes depending on the situation (i.e. chased by a lion versus sitting in a quiet room with a purring cat on your lap). Our conscious minds can "block things out" too, just not quite in the same manner. The human mind can be very selective. Someone who denies the existence of UFOs, perhaps out of a fear of extraterrestrials or government projects, may consciously 'block out' any anomalous sightings, deliberately remembering them as airplanes, meteorites, or whatever, while conveniently "blocking out" details such as unusual light patterns or flight maneuvers inconsistent with airplanes or helicopters. Someone who is bent on making contact with ET may block out any skeptical or opposing opinions similarly. Memory is an odd thing. Even without your knowledge, your memory can play tricks on you.


With all of this psychological mumbo jumbo in mind, I wanted to gain a better understanding of the people and culture of West Virginia while I was there. After my first visit, I realized I needed to spend a lot more time there, so I moved there.

The People and Lore of West Virginia

Because humans can be individualistic, no blanket statement can accurately describe every West Virginian or even every town in the state. Although many people in the area are deeply religious and often averse to anything relating to UFOs, cryptids (or even plain old human space travel!), etc., there are plenty of other folks there who are open to and interested in those subjects. West Virginia is a state deeply rooted in history and culture, and local folklore is a significant part of that.

When I went down to the coalfields in the southern portion of the state for the first time, the amount and depth of history and culture amazed me; every town I stopped at had an interesting story. Most of these stories were about legendary folks from the peak days of coal, or tales of the times when now-quiet, run-down towns were once bustling with traffic jams, tons of restaurants, and department stores before the coal industry took a nosedive. Not all stories were about coal, however. I was surprised to find out about another lesser-known West Virginia "creature" who "lurked" in the mountains of the southern coalfields in the 1950s: Thomas, the Winged Cat--a local sensation from a tiny town called Pineville, West Virginia. I found out that John Keel had also written about this fuzzy legend in his book, The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings. [Continued Next Post]

Pineville, West Virginia and Thomas the Winged Cat
From the above linked article,

...However, like all small towns, word spread quickly that something unusual was in Pineville…a cat with wings!
A reporter, Fern Miniacs from the Post-Herald out of Beckley, West Virginia, a town I am also familiar with, picked up the story and ran with it. Not long after, the stampedes of people rushed to the Shelton home, wanting to see this wonder, this marvel, this freak of nature. Miniacs was one of the first people outside the family who got to take a good long objective look at Thomas. She made two interesting discoveries (Theresa’s Haunted History of the Tri-State, 2013).

The first was that Thomas was really not the most appropriate name because Thomas was a female. The second was that the wings were very unusual and un-wing-like. She described Thomas as about thirty inches long, with a bushy squirrel-like tail and two perfectly formed nine inch long wings on either side of her body. Miniacs said that “the wings are boneless but evidently have gristles in them.” (Miniacs, 1959) - Anthony Justus, Pineville, West Virginia and Thomas the Winged Cat, The Haunted Spots Blog, February 14, 2014

Another photo of "Thomas" here

As you can see, West Virginia is full of surprises.

Solved and Unsolved Mysteries

Although they eventually revealed the mystery and condition of Thomas the Cat (a wingless cat forever doomed to a flightless life), many local mysteries remained unsolved. Among them a UFO sighting from the 1950s in Welch, West Virginia.

17 August.
Welch, West Virginia. (5:55 p.m.)
"We were too dumbfounded to say anything."
According to our source: "Two sisters sat 'dumbfounded' on the porch of their McDowell Street home here Sunday afternoon as they watched a 'flying saucer' soar near the tower of radio station WBRW and disappear over the mountain. "Mrs. Bobby Smith, the former Nancy Dalton, and her sister, Miss Mary Dalton, a telephone operator, reported seeing a whirling object in the sky... "
'It was about 5:55 in the evening,' said Mrs. Smith. 'We were too dumbfounded to say anything for the fleeting seconds that we saw the object moving slowly. After it had disappeared, we ran into the house and excitedly told other members of the family. They rushed to the porch, but it was gone.' "Mrs. Smith said the object was silver and appeared to be moving with a circular motion."
'We listened but heard nothing like the sound of a motor,' Mrs. Smith added. "The young women said the 'saucer' was traveling lower than the tower top which is atop the six-floor Hill Motor building, at McDowell and Elkhorn streets. They said the object disappeared in the direction of the Hicks home now owned by Dr. and Mrs. C.B. Chapman. "Other McDowell county residents have reported sighting strange objects in the sky. "The Dalton home sits high above McDowell Street at the intersection with Wyoming. There is a clear view of the business district from the porch. "The fact that there was not a cloud in the sky further convinced the sisters they saw an object which answers the description ofa 'flying saucer." (xx.) (xx.) Welch, West Virginia. Daily News. 18 August 52.
Loren Gross, UFOs, a History, Aug 1952, page 106

Welch is generally a very religious town. Many of the people I met there wanted nothing to do with "unusual" subjects or "flying saucers" and were perfectly content wishing man would never venture into space himself. Not all of them were like that, but I quickly realized that I wasn't going to find any more UFO stories or cryptid sightings along McDowell county's portion of the Tug River.

Welch wasn't always a struggling relic of West Virginia's finest coal days. Back in the 1940s and 1950s, it was home to dozens of restaurants, multiple department stores, and a diverse international culture thanks to coal miners flocking in from other countries such as Italy and Hungary. In the 1960s, machines were replacing men's jobs in the mines, and although they were pulling huge amounts of coal from the county, the local unemployment rate skyrocketed. The steel and coal industries took a nosedive starting in the late 60s, and by the late 1970s and following a devastating flood, Welch was all but spent. Two more destructive floods in 2001 and 2002 nearly dealt the finishing blow to the already struggling town, but somehow, to this day, Welch is still scraping by as tourist town, luring off-roaders to the extensive local trails and offering them a large range of nice places to stay.


The Hill Motors building mentioned in the UFO sighting can be seen on the far left side of the above image

I spent significant amount of time in Welch. I kept a low-profile while getting the scoop about the city and how it was in the 1950s and 1960s, going so far as to buy a few prints of old city photos. I hiked around town on several occasions and took photos including the one above. I didn't want to stay for too long. Neither did someone very close to me, who considered moving to Welch when he left an oppressive community on a cold night in the late 1960s (he wasn't the only one to storm off on a winter night from that particular group). He heard about Welch being "the place to be" in West Virginia; Welch was, after all, still proclaiming to be the "heart of the nation's coal bin" at the time. He instead ended up sticking around the Ohio Valley area for a short time before going back up north. This was another reason I got into Keel; by happenstance, this fellow (whose English was admittedly not all that great at the time... and not his first language) appears to have ended up with a brief mention in The Mothman Prophecies, painted as one of the many "Men In Black" or, at least, a variation thereof. (For privacy reasons, names and other personally identifying information will be withheld)

He was not the only 'victim' (for lack of a better word). Another fellow who went by the nickname "Tiny" (although he was very large) also landed a spot in the book (that said, for all we know, "Tiny" may have been seeking attention of this nature). I don't have any personal connections with "Tiny" or with anyone who knew him, but I was able to find out that FSR editor Charles Bowen also had an experience with him. In a letter to John Keel, Bowen describes his experience with "Tiny" (johnkeel.com):


[Continued next]

A transcription:

TINY. I am now seriously perturbed. In November I received a letter from [deleted] who announced that he was flying over to England to do research in the British Museum (checking on a manuscript about vampires!). [Deleted] who forever was bellyaching about being too hard up even to pay a sub for FSR. He rang me on arrival, & I collected him at West Byfleet station on Saturday, Dec. 10. I discovered him to be a huge young man — at a guess 240 lbs. — & about 6 ft. 3 ins., fair haired, very thin on top. Wore a check shirt & ducks, riding high above his ankles, & thick soled shoes. He had a shabby overcoat, & sported a Russian style of fur hat! His speech was a monotonous, emotionless, expressionless, mechanical one-pitch perpetual motion. He often broke into poetry by Milton & Edgar Allan Poe, reciting it as though he had learnt it computer fashion. He drank the best part of a bottle of my Martini & got himself well sloshed — & ranted on about poor misunderstood Hitler etc. etc. My family regarded him rather as they might do a cobra, & expressed a feeling of repugnance. I thought he was a schizo. On the Sunday, just before lunch, he said “And now may I look at your FSR files?” I declined, lying that they were “At the office”. After lunch he upped & went. I saw him off, & have had one short letter since. He flew back to De Kalb, Illinois, after only two or three days here. What do you make of that? Your maps received, but nothing of New Jersey (Wanaque) or W. Virginia, etc. Yours ever Charles." (www.johnkeel.com)

Tiny also made an appearance in the FSR article about the Cape May UFO wave, in which Keel mentioned a mysterious "riddle" Tiny recited for the Christiansen family before leaving their home in New Jersey. The riddle, upon further investigation, turned out to be a humorous poem called Piddlin' Pete. Not so mysterious, after all.

Gray Barker likely also had a hand in a few "Men In Black" encounters, including one "Jack Brown" who visited newspaperwoman Mrs. Mary Hyre's office (among other places) claiming to be a "f-f-friend of G-G-Gray B-B-Barker" (stuttering and all). In fact, no comprehensive write-up about West Virginia and John Keel would be complete without some background on Gray Barker, a native West Virginian and well-known UFO writer. Barker also wrote a book about the Mothman and MIB encounters titled The Silver Bridge. Keel had a strange relationship with Barker, who was always pushing the envelope, stretching the truth, and crossing the line into hoax territory, much to Keel's chagrin.
Gray Barker's Book of Bunk

Keel recalled this episode in one of his first messages to me in early 2001: Barker's books had been laced with fiction, he said. He'd been appalled by Barker's proposed chapter about him and his rewritten version probably was the finished book's only honest segment. He'd written The Mothman Prophecies to clear the record (Keel 2001).

Before The Silver Bridge, Barker was known for writing Saucer News magazine. He was also one of the first writers to popularize the "Men In Black" in his classic book, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. Barker was as mischievous as he was influential.

Barker's UFO fame began in 1952, with reports of a space-ship-riding creature at Flatwoods, West Virginia - the Braxton County Monster (pictured left) Barker's interviews with witnesses appeared in Fate magazine, and he soon became chief investigator for Albert K. Bender's International Flying Saucer Bureau.
When Bender dissolved the fast-growing cult group, blaming unidentified individuals who were unhappy about his work, Barker wrote one of the UFO classics "They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers," from whence sprang "Men in Black."
In this tale, men in black step from their huge auto, and a government cover-up begins and witnesses clam up.
Then came the Mothman stories, which Barker connected with the 700-foot Silver Bridge at Point Pleasant, which collapsed in 1967, killing 45 people. Hur Herald: Gray Barker was Master Hoaxer, Bob Weaver 2005

It should come as no surprise to find that Barker may have had a hand in a number of alleged Men In Black encounters in Point Pleasant (even Keel subtly implied this a number of times in The Mothman Prophecies), but I wouldn't be too quick to tie every other MIB to Barker. Keep in mind, many MIB encounters were reported around the country during that time period, including a couple in Canada. I doubt that Barker was working that territory. Regardless, Barker was a thorn in John Keel's side for quite a while, and his antics may have forever muddied the waters of the Mothman legend and the Men In Black.

"Gray's mischievous wit baffled and enraged them. At times it baffled me, too. This towering bear of a man was very hard to 'read." -John Keel, The Mothman Prophecies



What I Really Learned in West Virginia

The author at the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, WV

So there you have it, West Virginia was not only home to Chuck Yeager, Don Knotts, and The Rocket Boys (October Sky); it was also home to a famous UFO writer: Gray Barker. Mystery and history run deep in the mountains of West Virginia. You just have to know where to look.

When I first moved to West Virginia, I read a local news article about a family who claimed to have heard the unearthly call of a Bigfoot in a neighborhood only a few miles from where I was staying at the time. A small point but perhaps significant in this case--the alleged Bigfoot cry was heard near the site a former explosives plant (Mothman was seen by the Point Pleasant area TNT plant). I didn't hear it, but several months later, I began seeing brilliantly bright lights in the sky that would sit in one area and turn on and off like a flashlight, not unlike the ones John Keel and Mary Hyre reported seeing over the Ohio Valley. I did not use a flashlight or attempt to communicate with the lights in any way, but there were tons of them almost every night. I thought of Mrs. Butler and the "little flashers" described in Keel's book, Operation Trojan Horse. I thought they were helicopters with flashing landing lights at first, but they were too high and too bright. They were probably drones, and they were nothing spectacular or "UFO-ish", but I was amazed that nobody else had seen them.

[Continued next]

One quirk of being "down-in-the-hollers" in West Virginia is that you don't get a whole lot of sky to look at. It's rural and there is minimal light pollution, but the slice of sky you get isn't all that big, unless, of course, you're on top of a hill. It's so dark at night in many parts of West Virginia (especially along deserted winding roads) that you can just barely make out where the mountains stop and the sky begins, and in many parts of the state, you're constantly sandwiched between steep mountainsides. When you see headlights or house lights on a hill in those areas, the lights almost have the appearance of being airborne because the line between mountain and sky can be difficult to see. It's a different perspective for a flat-lander like me and it took some getting used to.

In fact, my entire experience in West Virginia was a different perspective, as is any experience when you immerse yourself in a different culture. Appalachian culture is special--it may not be for everyone, but its natural beauty and rich history has a lot to offer, even if you're not interested in folklore, UFOs, or coal.

The land is beautiful, and many parts are conductive to UFO and other anomalous encounters; the sensation of constant motion from the rivers, the ample forests, and the flow and mystique of the hills is conductive to a mindset in which it becomes easier to notice things that are out of the ordinary. The sheer amount of trees in the state is breathtaking, and nature is abundant in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.

The people are welcoming and helpful (and, admittedly, sometimes a little cliquey), and everyone has a story to tell. There are, in general, more churches than bars in many West Virginia small towns, but surprisingly, despite the large number of deeply religious locals, there are plenty of folks open to the idea that their state may well have been the "landing site" of visitors from other worlds.

The Mothman sightings appear to be a thing of West Virginia's past (have you heard? Mothman moved to Chicago, anyway), but Mothman is still "there", at least figuratively speaking. I've seen many cars in West Virginia with Mothman bumper stickers, and most information centers contain at least one book or pamphlet containing Mothman lore. You don't see or hear much about UFOs or Men In Black throughout the state, but Mothman will forever be a part of West Virginia history, right up there with the rise and fall of the West Virginia coal industry, the floods of Welch, the supersonic flights of Chuck Yeager, the inspiring accomplishments of the Rocket Boys, and a whole bunch more. Like it or not, the legend of the Mothman is a permanent part of West Virginia's identity.

Conclusion

There was a lot going on in Point Pleasant and other areas of West Virginia in the 1960s. Some of the UFO sightings have been associated with military activity, including low-altitude nighttime flight routes flown by C-119 Flying Boxcars of the West Virginia Air Guard (odd looking airplanes as they are). Some sources point to hoaxers with balloons and flashlights. Other encounters haven't been explained at all. One thing is for sure--West Virginia is a misunderstood state rooted in history and mystery. Perhaps, after all, Mothman and other anomalies work with the people--a symbiotic relationship, where the line between reality and myth blurs and we become the intelligence that controls these anomalies. After all, even John Keel himself once said in an interview,

‘there are literally hundreds of Devil Theories, some of them with millions of paranoid followers.’ He added: ‘If you read my books carefully, you will see that ‘ultraterrestrials’ are a literary device, not a theory.” Keel expanded on this statement in a letter published by Fortean Times in which he explained: ‘...basically, what I attempted to do [in my books] was set up a frame of reference that the reader could, hopefully, understand. Obviously, I failed in this. Even now people...are still assuming that ultraterrestrials are actual entities...what I said in five books, carefully spelled out and defined, is that we are the intelligence which controls the phenomena.’lxv

Charles Fort and John Keel had much in common. Both began their careers as journalists and both returned from their youthful travels with a desire to write about anomalous phenomena and to challenge the prevailing orthodoxies of their day. Loren Gross described Fort as ‘a philosopher who proposed wild theories using an entertaining writing style.’lxvi

When Tiffany Thayer asked Fort what he called himself, his response was simple: ‘I’m just a writer.’lxvii Similarly, when Toronto asked Keel how he would like to be remembered, he responded not as a UFOlogist or even as a Fortean, but ‘as a novelist and playwright – if I am remembered at all. Clarke, A New Demonology

(bolding mine)



You will always be remembered, John Keel. Not just by the people of West Virginia, but by those who dare to think outside the box, to reach out into the depths of the unknown. To acknowledge that there are things which we cannot control, things which may control us, and things which we control which we may not even be aware of. My experience in West Virginia was an eye-opener, not only as a researcher and traveler, but as a person. Now, West Virginia and I also have something in common--we both have a part of our history defined by the legends of The Mothman Prophecies.

Until next time, folks. Thanks for reading. WL

Thanks for that WL, an interesting journal of your stay in WV. Very well written.

Yes, Appalachia is a special place. It was done no favors by Hollywood in the 50s-60s-70s, basically mocked as backwards rubes. What it truly is, is a distinct culture cut off from the rest of America by topography. The Foxfire books offered a good look into how people lived there in the old days.

I have mixed feelings about Keel's statement "We are the intelligence ..."; IMO he was not that clear at all about the term "Ultraterrestrial" in his books. Like when he mentioned the legend of the King of the World in the Himalayas who sent UFOs out as scout ships to monitor human progress ... that doesn't sound like something we mortals are 'doing'. That said, I believe he and Vallée are correct to suspect the origin of the phenomena is much more local than other star systems.

I've "tracked" unusual activity once. It was certainly human in origin, but odd enough all the same for the artefacts it left in terms of the local culture. That kind of thing was engaging.

Cheers

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
IMO he was not that clear at all about the term "Ultraterrestrial" in his books. Like when he mentioned the legend of the King of the World in the Himalayas who sent UFOs out as scout ships to monitor human progress ... that doesn't sound like something we mortals are 'doing'.

Thanks for reading all of that! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Here are my thoughts on Keel's statement;
John Keel was more of a researcher than a theorist (at least, as he claimed). The story about the UFO "scout ships" was yet another "thing" he gathered, studied, found interesting, and shared with his readers. He got very involved with each idea he mentioned (his enthusiasm was contagious). That said, I feel that many of his readers took his ideas far too literally.

There are many ideas and possibilities both in and out of this world, and Keel did an amazing job of bringing so many of them to us all. Perhaps his intentions were ambiguous and unclear, but part of writing about mysterious subjects is becoming a mystery yourself!

Excellent write up, thank you.

I may have a question or two...but let me be sure of my facts first.

I applaud you for the dedication to research.

a reply to: wavelength

Placeholder.

SnF

Excellent thread!

The hills of WV are filled with stories from every small town and desolate village that pokes alongside the earthen and windy two-lane roads from the northern panhandle to the deep southern mountains. The entire state seems to be in a decades-long stride of forgotten and overlooked people whom all seem to have a grand ol' story to tell. I know the state well and am glad to see a well-written piece on ATS of the lore that surrounds some of the areas.

Plenty of hilltops to star gaze and the Dark Sky Map shows most of southern WV in blue. I have heard many stories like Keel's about lights, sightings, and more but I attribute them to the Greenbrier Military installation and subsequent testing operations.

You get my applause! (and bonus points for not talking about CV19, poli-ticks, or social issues.)

For some entertainment….I watch Mountain Monsters. It’s Hillbillies chasing and hunting Cryptids in the Appalachian areas…..mostly West Virginia. These guys crack me up.

Storyline … Chupacabra, Wampus Beast, Wolfman, Mothman and Grassman - with a distinctive landscape of woods, lakes and valleys, the Appalachian Mountains are a hotbed for mysterious creature sightings. The leading researchers of these shadowy figures are The Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings (AIMS). The team, founded by John "Trapper" Tice, is skilled in hunting and tracking using both traditional techniques and modern technology. Their mission is to interview witnesses, investigate the scene of the encounter, and eventually capture the creature... or prove its non-existence.

I give it a thumbs up for wacky entertainment…..

Below is one of a few thumbs down reviews

Seriously?.. Since I am a native of West Virginia, it is disappointing to see another stupid show making us all look bad. However, it's even more disappointing to see that other people who have written reviews on here have clustered all of the Appalachian population together and called us all the stereotypical names and made all the stereotypical comments, especially since I'm sure most of you are not from Appalachia and don't have any factual knowledge about it. But here's the funny thing. I have all of my teeth, I am actually about to start my junior year of college at a school IN West Virginia, and I have a pretty high GPA. I'm not stupid. In fact, most of the people here are not stupid. West Virginians have been made fun of forever, but I can guarantee you that the people from West Virginia are some of the nicest and most friendly that you will ever meet and would give you the shirt off their back. I am proud of where I come from, regardless of any of the ignorant comments that any of you have made or will make.

👽

a reply to: wavelength

You get lots of Stars from me for actually being interested in these matters. (PM me with your blog or whatevs is you do that.)
Also, Mothman's holiday in Chiraq won't last much longer. Rumor: eyes on bridges. He'll be back in WV.

Thank you

a reply to: wavelength

This is such an awesome write up. Thank you for contributing this and I read the ghostfliers post you linked and this is just great stuff (to me). I checked out your profile and it looks like you have lots of awesome stuff there to read so thank you so much.

originally posted by: havok
Plenty of hilltops to star gaze and the Dark Sky Map shows most of southern WV in blue.

Totally! The hilltop views are spectacular. Thanks for reading and appreciating.
I never got a chance to visit Greenbrier county, although it was a short drive from where I lived. I'm considering another voyage to West Virginia in the near future, although a much shorter one. ATS will be the first to know if I find anything else interesting there.
_______________________________________________________

originally posted by: Antimony
a reply to: wavelength

This is such an awesome write up. Thank you for contributing this and I read the ghostfliers post you linked and this is just great stuff (to me). I checked out your profile and it looks like you have lots of awesome stuff there to read so thank you so much.

Thank you for your appreciation. Glad you enjoyed the Ghostflier thread, that was a fun one, we had some good discussions over there and several interesting historical sightings were mentioned.

I went back to Point Pleasant a few days ago for a visit. I was thinking about the Mothman witnesses who experienced injuries similar to those induced by excessive exposure to powerful electromagnetic radiation. Even if they didn't really see a "mothman", something hit these witnesses. Whatever system it was may have had a hand in the witness's mental state during the sighting (or "sighting").

There are relationships between EM/RF injuries and high strangeness/anomalous encounters that go way beyond UAPs/advanced aerospace equipment.



Anyway, here's a link to a video from my recent visit (I don't do YouTube, apologies). My camera work is terrible, and please ignore the peculiar and unidentifiable accent. Also, never mind the website, it's just a pet project that contains backups of my ATS topics. Nothing on there that isn't on here, basically.

originally posted by: wavelength

There are relationships between EM/RF injuries and high strangeness/anomalous encounters that go way beyond UAPs/advanced aerospace equipment.

Interesting that you mention that. I've been watching the Skinwalker show and one common occurrence is a signal being picked up at 1.6 gHz prior to weird things happening.

it's very possible there's a connection