Misty UFOs
Two days ago, I posted an article at the blog that dealt with the sighting of a spectral “black dog” and a weird, aerial ball of light at a place called Castle Ring - a prehistoric earthworks on Britain’s sprawling Cannock Chase forest - an area that is renowned for strange activity.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this story is that the “dog” seemed to manifest out of a strange mist or fog. This led to three insightful comments, one from Greg Taylor, one from Bill Hancock, and one from Emperor, the latter of which concerned yet another UFO-related anomaly on the Cannock Chase (from 1988) that was linked with what was described variously as a “gas cloud” and a “big cloud.”
Well, it seems there are still more such cases involving strange mists on the Cannock Chase. The following story was investigated by British UFO researcher Tony Dodd and published in the Volume 12, Issue 4 (September/October 1993) edition of the now-defunct British-based UFO Magazine, which was edited by the late Graham Birdsall.
According to the story, it was August 1992, around 9.30 p.m., and the witness was walking through the woods of the Cannock Chase and came across an area of mist [italics mine], within which was a “metallic, shining object” that was surrounded by a display of colored lights.
The witness approached the object and was confronted by two “people” dressed in light-colored overalls who informed him that they were “taking samples” and that he would “not understand.” Suddenly, the figures began to glow slightly and the witness began to grow drowsy, almost as if he were being hypnotized.
As he watched in a somewhat groggy state, the beings walked into the mist and promptly vanished into thin air! In virtually all respects, the beings looked human, slightly shorter in stature than an average adult male, with dark brown hair and a “Latin” appearance.
Of course, this sounds like a classic 1950s-style “Contactee” encounter of the type that proliferated throughout that bygone decade. However, more significant to me is the fact that this case, when specifically coupled with the several other reports on file that link UFO-style activity with strange mists and clouds on the Cannock Chase, suggests high-strangeness is afoot in those dark and sinister woods.
I think, when time permits, and perhaps in a few months’ time from now, I’ll need to take a renewed and firsthand look at the Chase and its attendant “misty mysteries.”
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Feb 12 2007 
February 12th, 2007 at 6:18 am
Dang, I could just hang out and chat here all day…threads all over heading into the strange areas I just love discussing.
To expand on my post in the earlier thread, Vallee mentions the ‘misty’ component of BVM apparitions. Just to run off on a tangent to the mist theme for a second, it’s interesting as well that a number of the most well-known BVM apparitions shared typical ‘border experience’ sounds which ‘introduced’ the phenomenon:
* Virgin of Guadeloupe: “…the apparition took place on December 9th 1531 in Mexico. it began with the ‘sweet sound of singing birds’ followed by a voice which came from the top of the hill. The source of the voice was hidden by ‘a frosty mist, a brightening cloud’. The technology of the BVM was at work!” - (page 163, ‘The Invisible College’ by Jacques Vallee)
* Virgin of Lourdes: “Hardly had I taken off my first stocking, when I heard a sound as though there had been a rush of wind. I looked around towards the meadow. I saw the trees quite still. So I continued to take off my shoes. Again I heard the same noise. I looked upward towards the grotto. I beheld a lady dressed in white. She wore a white dress a blue sash and a yellow rose on each foot…” - cited in ‘Supernatural’, by Graham Hancock (pge 507).
* Virgin of Fatima: In 1915, two years before the ‘famous’ apparitions, Lucia and her two cousins were said to have been taking shelter from rain in a small cave when they heard the rumble of a powerful wind and then saw a ‘youth of admirable beauty’ who called himself the ‘Angel of Peace’. (Vallee cites this example and then describes instances of these other ‘youths’ appearing, such as in the Apocrypha…where the apparition arrives from within a misty cloud!) Of course, the Fatima apparitions also had their fair share of buzzing and booming sounds.
There’s a lot more on that topic worth telling…once I get my act together I’ll do so properly - perhaps it’s time to write all these common phenomenological pointers down as a handy field guide to identifying border experiences…
Kind regards,
Greg
February 13th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Nick -
Very fascinating blogs as of late with the Black Dogs/UFOs and now this, it’s interesting to see how different anomalies kind of bleed into one another. I think Greg might have the right idea in identifying common elements of all “border experiences”..
Brian
February 13th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
I meant to say, “in stating that we need to identify common elements of all ‘border experiences’”. Doh!
February 14th, 2007 at 2:52 am
Brian
Agreed: there’s no doubt in my mind that many (maybe all) of the various weird phenomena experienced here in our reality, whether it’s UFOs, cryptids, etc., are part of some trickster-style game-plan, the purpose of which is probably tied in with the theories of Jacques Vallee in Messengers of Deception.
February 14th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Nick-
I think the “cosmic trickster” theory is an interesting idea, but my problem with that theory has always been that it seems a little bit of a cop out (no offense), because theres no real way to prove something like that and so it lessens the burden for proof. At the same time, things like the Grinning Men sightings that Keel spoke about would make more sense in that context than any other kind.
Oh, this is probably offtopic, but since the entries have been discussing weird mists and clouds as of late, do you know if anyone has ever conducted an indepth study into that branch of Fortean phenomena, i.e. the “living clouds” for lack of a better term?
February 15th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Brian
Nope: no offense taken at all. In fact, I welcome debate as that’s the only way we’ll get answers.
Re the trickster angle: certainly it provokes controversy; but I’m strongly inclined to think it’s the right path.
There are so many weird “things” in our world that pop up in the same places, that are always elusive, and yet have curiously similar patterns of behavior: UFOs, cryptids, paranormal phenomena. They always remain elusive; investigators of the phenomena begin to experience weird synchroncities, the list goes on.
February 15th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Brian:
As for living clouds, I don’t think there has been a book on that as such. But check out the work of Trevor Constable for theories re. weird living things soaring in our skies. He has some interesting theories.
February 15th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Beyond the examples of UFOs and BVM apparitions, there are also some interesting examples from mediumship. The manifestations in the presence of D. D. Home sound eerily like the entity experience…luminous cloud appears, is said to condense into a disembodied and completely physical hand, which then dissolves into thin air again.
There are other interesting parallels from the life of D.D. Home with border experiences as well. A fascinating topic (IMO!).
Kind regards,
Greg
February 15th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Thanks for that extra case.
I have been following the whole Cannock Chase business for a while (and become slightly connected with it as I the “three angry Americans” mentioned in a report from the local paper - despite not fitting any aspect of the description) and so all information is gratefully received.
The progression: mist resolving into sphere of light, resolving into figure(s) is a common one and seems to crop up quite a bit with the BVM.
That story has strong parallels with the report from Aarno Heinonen and Esko Viljo in 1970 (although they first saw the vehicle and then the mist). They also had a number of other encounters which seemed to skate the line between UFO, fairyfolk and religious (at least one other one involving a figure in the mist).
As to what is going on… who knows. I’d certainly not exclude the idea that somehow the cloud is a non-corporeal entity or possibly some kind of probe made from pure energy and/or some kind of projection from… beyond. The weird figures, strange encounters and the like could then just be a by-product of some kind of muddled communication attempts (things like the Subanthropic Principle would suggest other things “out there” might be far smarter and/or doing things in radically different ways and we may have only a very crude grasp of what is going on). Equally I don’t rule out weird weather having some very odd effects on the human mind. The last option strikes me as being highly testable.
February 15th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Emperor, loving your input. On a similar note, apparently Janet Bord in ‘Fairies’ (a book I really must get my hands on) describes a 1977 incident in which a Hull policeman challenged three strange figures in a ‘peculiar mist’, who promptly disappeared.
Kind regards,
Greg
February 16th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Nick
Although when it comes to cryptozoology and ufology I’m a flesh and blood, nuts and bolts kind of guy, I have actually been giving a lot of thought to ‘zooform phenomena’ as of late. So many strange beings are seen, many of them zoologically impossible, that the chances of them all being physical entities seems rather remote, assuming the reports are authentic. Take the reports of fairies, for example (since Greg mentioned them): could they possibly be earth spirits or even the earth’s mana given physical form? I actually wrote an entry on my blog forteanhistoricalarchive.blogspot.com where I discuss them in detail.
At the risk of sounding too forward, I’m currently working on some personal projects dealing with anomalous phenomena and would love to get your opinon on them, do you have an email address I can reach you at? (assuming you don’t mind, of course)
February 16th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Something else I found recently:
http://www.wunderkabinett.co.uk/damndata/index.php?/archives/332-Swedish-Plasma-Balls.html
It’s interesting how mist/fog plays such a role in so many different reports. Perhaps the presence of mist/fog is an indicator of the presence of “otherworldly” phenomena, the ones that take shape in our world for a brief time and then dissapate, leaving nothing behind but frightened witnesses. It’s interesting to note how mist/fog plays almost no role in most “normal” cryptozoological reports, it’s only the “high strangeness” cases where it’s reported (to the best of my knowledge anyway). I would assume that that would be at least one good way to differentate between “normal” reports and more strange ones.
February 16th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
http://www.wunderkabinett.co.uk/damndata/index.php?/archives/332-Swedish-Plasma-Balls.html
It’s interesting to note how in all three of those reports mist/fog plays a role, and seem to almost be a marker of the high strangeness of those events. The presence of fog/mist could be a good way to differntate between a “normal” report and one of high strangeness because it only seems to play a role in the most strange cases, while being conspioucsly absent in most cryptozoological reports, many ufological accounts, etc. (at least to the best of my knowledge). It’s funny, it almost seems like the mist is needed to “set the stage” for the weirdness to come, like some of the old classic Hammer films where the strange monster would rampage across the fog-shrouded countryside. Though..that could just be me
February 21st, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Oops, sorry about the double post, thought the first one didn’t go through ~_^.