There has been a lot of talk in recent times of the possibility of other realities and dimensions existing beside out own, all around us, yet mostly unobserved and lying beyond our ability to perceive them. In these alternate realities there are theorized to be other versions of ourselves or the world we think know so well, and for the most part they seem to remain beyond ours, existing separately. However, what if the boundaries between us are more malleable than we know? What if we can not only shift between them, but have already done so in large numbers, at the whim of some tide between dimensional realms that we cannot possibly fathom? By some accounts, this could be happening now as we speak.

One of the more bizarre and controversial pieces of supposed evidence put forward for the existence of alternate realities and parallel universes is a phenomenon known as the Mandela Effect, which involves a mass misremembering of the same facts or details by a large number of people. The theory has its origins in 2010 with a paranormal researcher named Fiona Broome, when she found that a fact she clearly remembered seeing on the news, that Nelson Mandela had died in prison in the 1980s, was actually wrong and that he in fact was still alive at the time, indeed living until 2013, when he died from a respiratory illness at his home. This perplexed her, as she so vividly and clearly remembered his death in the 80s, and when she voiced this puzzlement online there was a deluge of others who seemed to share this memory of the same thing, claiming that they clearly recalled seeing it on the news, could envision the reports, and even that they had been taught about it at school.

Baffled, Broome went on to formulate the idea that this gap between reality and what was so strongly remembered by large groups of people who had these shared memories was perhaps caused by these people having somehow splintered off and shifted over between parallel dimensions brushing up against each other while keeping the memories of their old reality and timeline, which often did not completely line up with the way things are in the new one. Broome would go on to write numerous articles and books on the subject, until the Mandela Effect achieved its clout and place in the lexicon of the world of the weird, and it has frequently used as a possible hint at alternate realities.

As farfetched as this all may sound, it is at the least odd, and there are a formidable number of instances of the supposed Mandela Effect in action that has been amassed over the years. One of the most common examples of the Mandela Effect in action have to do with names or titles that many of us remember quite clearly, but which are not what we may recall. By far the most famous of these is the case of the beloved series of children’s books and subsequent TV shows called The Berenstain Bears. What? Do you think I misspelled that? That’s exactly the point. Millions of people distinctly remember this series being called “The Berenstein Bears,” with an “e.”

While this may seem a minor thing, the fact is that the majority of people adamantly insist on this spelling, when the series is really “The Berenstain Bears,” with an “a,” and it has always been spelled that way. Go back and check all of that memorabilia, that’s how it has always been spelled, but then why would so many people so clearly remember and insist upon the wrong spelling? That depends on who you ask. For some it is merely a false collective memory caused by various psychological factors. For others, it is evidence of memories of an alternate reality, one in which it is The Berenstein Bears. One blogger named simply “Reece” explained this fairly wild theory thus:

At some time in the last 10 years or so, reality has been tampered with and history has been retroactively changed. The bears really were called the “BerenstEin Bears” when we were growing up, but now reality has been altered such that the name of the bears has been changed post hoc. Somehow, we have all undergone a π/2 phase change in all 4 dimensions so that we moved to the stAin hexadectant, while our counterparts moved to our hexadectant (stEin). They are standing around expressing their confusion about the “Berenstein Bears” and how they all remember “Berenstain Bears” on the covers growing up. Those who remember the name as “Berenstain” are native to this “A” Universe, while those who are sure it’s “Berenstein” traveled over from the “E” Universe.

There is even purported evidence that something weird is going on with the “Berenstain Bears.” On one Reddit thread a commenter shared a photo of what was supposed to be incontrovertible proof that the name actually secretly shifted at some point. The photo shows an old and battered VHS tape that on its real label reads the maddening “Berenstain Bears,” yet a sticker placed on the side, likely by a distributing company, clearly reads “Berenstein Bears,” which is seen as evidence that the dimensional slip did not completely erase its history. There have been various other photos brought forward of old TV schedules or copies that say “Berenstein Bears,” which have been brought forward as evidence, but it all remains a mystery and plenty of people do not even recognize that spelling at all. Have we been shuffled between alternate realities at some point?

This very strange effect may be more prevalent than we know, as TV shows, movies, and books often have titles that are different than what a large portion of people distinctively remember. A very well-known and popular show was what you may know of as “Sex in the City,” only that is wrong, as it was actually called “Sex AND the City.” This mistake is so pervasive that many awards show hosts and sites have gotten it wrong, but according to the producers it has always been “Sex and the City.” The movie based on the series of vampire novels by author Anne Rice was also fondly remembered by many as “Interview With a Vampire,” but this is actually not correct, in that it is actually called “Interview with THE Vampire.” This mistake is so rampant that it has even wormed its way into Google, but the title many of you remember is wrong.

There are even titles of shows that seem to have changed, only to change back to the way they were, oddly enough. The famous Hanna-Barbera cartoon “The Flintstones” apparently inexplicably was written for some time a few years ago as “The Flinstones,” with no “T,” and many people remember being perplexed by that, but now it is back to having the “T.” What in the world is going on there? Did we all shift in and then back out of a dimension in which it is spelled “The Flinstones?”

The thing is, this is by far not even the only example of this sort of thing going on by a long shot, and cases of this in action are quite numerous. Another spelling anomaly is that the popular American cereal “Froot Loops” is widely and vividly remembered by many people as being spelled “Fruit Loops,” which is not correct, at least in this reality.There is also the eerie fact that a large number of people, me included, adamantly remember the beloved cartoon series starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy, The Looney Tunes, as being spelled “Looney Toons.”

The list goes on and on with all manner of products. Do you remember “Oscar Meyer Wieners?” If you are old enough then you probably even remember the jingle for the commercials, which even spelled out the name with the lyrics “My bologna has a first name. It’s O-S-C-A-R. My bologna has a second name it’s M-E-Y-E-R.” Many people can vividly remember exactly that. However, it was never “Oscar Meyer,” but rather “Oscar Mayer,” which sounds very weird to a large number of people.

Are you familiar with the air freshener “Febreeze?” It’s actually spelled “Febreze.” Huh? Do you know the shoe brand “Sketchers?” If you do, then you will be surprised to know that it doesn’t exist, except as “Skechers,” as it has always been known, without the “t” in the name. It goes on and on. The popular U.S. chicken fast food joint is not spelled “Chic-fil-A,” but rather “Chick-fil-A,” and always has been, which seems to really rub people the wrong way when pointed out, but it is true. Also frequently put forward is the logo for the car company Ford, which a vast number of people seem to remember differently than it actually looks, specifically they don’t recall it ever having that squiggly pig’s tail shape on the “F,” even though the logo has always looked like that. When faced with the actual logo it is often reported by these people that it looks somewhat jarringly off. There is also the fact that the poor university student’s standby was actually “Cup Noodles” and not “Cup of Noodles” as many of you may adamantly remember.

Doesn’t this look weird somehow?

Continuing with the names of things, the popular correcting fluid that many people remember without fail is actually spelled “Wite-Out,” not “White-Out,” which is very strange, jarring, and not really intuitive since it is white, but there it is. There is also the famous chocolate candy that everyone remembers as “Kit-Kat,” to the point that many articles and posts that mention it spell it that way, but look at the actual logo and there is no dash, and there never was. As minor as it may seem, it is a disturbing revelation for people who absolutely insist that it has a dash. There is also no “Jiffy” peanut butter, but rather just “Jif” peanut butter, no matter how much you remember otherwise. Then there is the fact that the beloved game toy “Rubix Cube” is actually “Rubik’s Cube,” named after the game’s designer Rubik. Even people’s names that all of us “know” are different than what you may think. For instance, the famous Indian civil rights leader is not “Mahatma Ghandi,” as a great many people are sure they know, but rather it is “Gandhi.” Go check these so far if you don’t believe me. I’ll wait.

Are you back? Good, although you will probably have to go check again, so keep an extra tab open on your screen. Next we move on to another popular and strange type of example of the Mandela Effect, and this is that many of the movie lines, characters, and even whole movies that we know and love simply don’t exist. A famous one is that Darth Vader never does say “Luke, I am your father,” in the Star Wars film Empire Strikes Back. Instead it is actually “No, I am your father.” In the movie Forrest Gump Tom Hanks’ character never says “Life is like a box of chocolates” as you have probably been quoting all of your life, but rather “Life WAS like a box of chocolates.” This seems wrong to a large number of people.

Oh, I’m not even done with you yet. In the movie The Silence of the Lambs many of you probably profoundly remember the line from Hannibal Lecter when he says “Hello, Clarice,” yet in reality he never says that at all at any point in the film. He actually merely says “Good Morning.” Doesn’t that seem odd for such an oft-quoted line? We’re just getting started here. Do you remember the iconic scene in Steven Spielberg’s movie ET the Extra-Terrestrial when ET says, “ET phone home?” How could you not? It’s an iconic scene and line that everyone of the era knows, only he never really said that at all, but rather “ET home phone.” It doesn’t even make any sense, but I am totally serious, open your tab.

E.T. the Extra Terrestrial

In the Disney animated movie Snow White there is no line that says “Mirror, mirror on the wall,” but it is instead “MAGIC mirror on the wall.” Yes, really. The remainder of that very famous and iconic, and very wrong, line isn’t even “Who is the fairest of them all,” as many remember, but rather “Who is the fairest one of all?” This one really drives people crazy, as there is such adamant opinion that this must be wrong, but it is indeed correct, at least in this universe. Is this getting weird yet? The very famous Kevin Costner baseball movie Field of Dreams”also has the highly quotable line “If you build it they will come,” but this was never said and it misquoted. It was actually “If you build it HE will come.” I know, right? Go check it.

There are even whole movies that people distinctly remember that don’t actually exist, such as a comedy movie about a genie called Shazaam!, starring the comedian Sinbad. There are a large number of people that remember this film and even whole scenes from it, it is burned in their mind, but the movie in fact does not exist. There are numerous other little details from pop culture that you might take for granted but remember wrong. Did you know that the famous monkey Curious George never had a tail, as you may remember? The Monopoly Man from the popular board game Monopoly also does not have a monocle, nor has he ever been depicted with one. The Pokemoncharacter Pikachu never had a black stripe on the tip of his tail, but has rather always been all yellow, and even the iconic character C3PO isn’t as you might remember, as he is not all gold, but has rather always had one leg that was silver. How could we miss that?

Even songs are not immune to this effect. Picture the famous Queen song We Are the Champions. How does the last part echo out in your mind? Is there a dramatic “We are the champions…… of the world!” playing out? It might annoy you to know that that this is not actually in the song. There is no “of the world” in there, no matter how distinctively you remember it that way, and many people do. Why is that? This example of the Mandela Effect drives people bonkers, because that “of the WORLD!” is such an iconic piece of the song, which many people sing, and yet it never existed. Again, at least not in this reality.

Queen

There are other assorted commonly cited examples of the Mandela Effect as well. A famous one concerns the “Tank Man,” a protester at the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, who features in an memorable photo defiantly standing in front of an incoming tank to block its way. While this actually did happen, the problem is that many people insist that, from the news and history classes that they remember, this man was actually run over by the tank, something which in fact did not happen. Yet these people can quite vividly recall it being in the news with footage of the whole thing and written of in textbooks that the man was actually run over and killed. The man survived, he was not run over. Minds blown.

There are even people who remember whole countries being in different places. One famous example is the nation of New Zealand. It turns out that there is a large number of people who distinctly remember it and have always known it as lying at various locations around Australia, with a popular one being that it lies to the northwest rather than to the southeast. It is so jarring and so deeply disturbing to those who notice this glitch that they have near nervous breakdowns, as happened with one Reddit commenter who said of this realization:

I’m literally sitting here in tears feeling like I’m about to have a panic attack. My entire understanding of everything has been shaken to the core. When this all came to my attention a couple days ago I go over to my sister’s room and look for this globe we’ve had for years. First place I look is for New Zealand northeast area of Australia… lo and behold, New Zealand is now southeast of Australia in the middle of nowhere. At that point it felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I won the geography award in grade school and have a plaque that my parents still have on display, and I’m willing to scan it to prove it. Geography is something I’ve always had a keen awareness of.

These are just a few examples, but they are probably enough to instill a sense of creeping unease in many readers at this point. If none of these seem particularly odd to you, then you are probably part of the original universe and have not shifted, but what about the rest of us? The people who experience these seemingly false memories are typically often very sure of what they remember, and insist that it is real, expressing bafflement that the reality does not match up with what they so unmistakably recall. It is a nagging, incessant feeling of something off that they can’t shake. What’s more, a very large number of people experience these same memories with the same wrong details, and this has led to the spreading idea that it is evidence of mass shifts through dimensions, with the ones experiencing these anomalous memories being the travelers and those who remember correctly being the ones remaining in their home reality.

Making things even weirder is the notion that while we have these collective false memories, in another reality there are those who have the opposite incorrect memories. So for instance while we may be wondering why it is not the Berenstein Bears with an “e” as we remember, the denizens of another alternate universe are stumped as to why it is not the Berenstain Bears with an “a” instead of Berenstein Bears. Even weirder still is the idea that that this could also be indicative of someone tampering with reality itself somehow, hopping around to retroactively change things ever so slightly with their activities ad hoc while we still somehow retain the memories of reality before it was changed, driving us nuts in the process.

Of course, with such a bizarre and out-there idea as whole realities changing and being mixed up there are most certainly skeptics who say that this is all merely the result of misinformation mixed with the faulty nature of human memory and the bugs of the human brain in the first place. In other words, these are just basically memory glitches, false memories that seem to catch on with certain sections of the populace and spread. It could also be a combination of this and the power of suggestion, which was perhaps most famously demonstrated in 1978 by the psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, who found that memories can be warped and twisted, often quite dramatically, by additional misleading information or suggestion, a phenomenon she called “The Misinformation Effect.” Essentially, it shows that if one is presented with false information on a detail that someone never really noticed before, then that person may be inclined to believe it and remember it that way if it sounds convincing enough, to the point that it can totally usurp the original memory altogether.

This can all be made even worse by the phenomenon of “cognitive dissonance,” in which an individual’s refusal to accept something contradictory to the way they’d like to remember a thing or a strong, deep-set belief. These can be very beloved memories that the person is hesitant to let go of, even though they may be faulty or wrong. So for instance if someone fondly remembers the “Loony Toons,” even though that spelling is wrong, they basically create the memory of it being so, hold onto it, and thus are unwilling to believe that it could have ever possibly been a different spelling. However, why would so many people do this in the exactly the same way? Is there really some subtle reality shift going on?

So what is going on with the Mandela Effect? Is this all tricks of the mind and mental glitches that can be rationally explained away with psychological phenomena, or is it indicative of something even stranger than the human mind? Could it be a hint of other alternate realities bumping up against and entangling our own or somehow enabling travels between them? Have we experienced these reality shifts in mass numbers, being shuttled around to parallel dimensions without even realizing it? Whatever the case may be, the many supposed instances of the Mandela Effect in action are entertaining and odd nevertheless.

Released in 1980, Hangar 18 was arguably Hollywood’s first UFO conspiracy movie. Its plot features many aspects of the real-life UFO enigma, including specific details from allegedly authentic top-secret UFO-related government documentation.

Hangar 18 continues to provoke discussion within the UFO community, in part for the fact that it was released in 1980. It was in this year that details of the Roswell incident began to filter into the popular consciousness with the publication of Charles Berlitz and William Moore’s The Roswell Incident—the first book on the Roswell subject. Equally significant in 1980, and undoubtedly connected to the Roswell developments, was the quiet insertion into the UFO community of the term “MJ-Twelve.” This term, along with its variant, “Majestic Twelve,” has now assumed permanent residency in popular culture, having featured in films, TV shows, comic books and video games.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD…

Hangar contents

Hangar 18 begins in Earth orbit as NASA is preparing to launch a satellite under the watchful eye of the US military. Just as the satellite is launched from the space shuttle, however, it collides with a UFO, killing a NASA astronaut in the launch bay. This is witnessed by the other crew in the shuttle, our heroes Bancroft and Price, (played by Gary Collins and James Hampton). Upon their return to Earth the men seek answers but soon realize their government has instigated a cover-up, and that they too are being kept in the dark.

We learn that, following the collision in orbit, the UFO made a controlled landing in the Arizona desert, where it was captured by the US military. The craft is soon transported to the top secret Hangar 18, where it is studied by NASA scientists (lead by Darren McGavin). Onboard the craft, the scientists make a series of startling discoveries:

• The alien pilots, although dead, are physically undamaged and are almost exactly human in appearance. The scientists conclude that the aliens visited Earth in ancient times, that they were seen as gods, and that they interbred with Earth women and “jump-started” human life as we know it today.
• A human woman is also onboard the craft in stasis. When removed by doctors, the woman awakens in a state of terror. We assume she is an abductee.
• In the ship’s data files, the scientists find glyphs similar to those used by ancient Earth civilizations. The scientists also discover extensive aerial surveillance footage of Earth’s power plants, military bases and major cities. The aliens, it seems, have been taking an active interest in our technological capabilities.

Meanwhile, Bancroft and Price are dogged in their pursuit of the truth and are targeted by the government for assassination. Price is killed, but Bancroft survives and eventually finds his way to Hangar 18 and aboard the alien spacecraft. Around this point, the NASA scientists finally decipher the alien glyphs, which indicate that the beings were planning to return to Earth en masse in the near future.

Before any of this information has a chance to sink-in, government agents fly a remote-controlled jet filled with explosives into Hangar 18, the goal being to kill all involved in the cover-up, thereby permanently burying the secret. However, unbeknownst to the government hit squad, several of the NASA scientists, as well as Bancroft, are inside the alien craft when the hanger explodes. The craft, it turns out, is invincible, and the survivors inside decide to let the truth be known. The film ends with UFO Disclosure.

Ancient Astronauts and Christianity

Hangar 18’s depiction of human-looking extraterrestrials is particularly interesting, as is the idea that these beings jumpstarted the human race—these very same details were to appear three years later in a “secret” Air Force report shown to UFO writer and journalist Linda Moulton Howe as part of her preparation for a documentary on UFOs.

On 9 April 1983, during a meeting at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, Air Force Office of Special Investigations Officer Richard Doty presented Howe with a document, the front cover of which read:

“BRIEFING PAPER FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ON THE SUBJECT OF UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAVs)”

Doty told Howe that she was to read the document at the request of his superiors, but stressed that she was forbidden from taking the document with her and from taking notes of any kind.

The weighty document detailed many aspects of the UFO phenomenon and included a list of UFO crash/retrievals. The list included two separate incidents near the Roswell region in 1947, and another in 1949, which resulted in the capture of a live extraterrestrial that was taken to Los Alamos National Laboratories. Apparently, the being was held captive before it died of unknown causes in 1952. Other crashes listed in the document included Aztec New Mexico, Kingman Arizona, and Loredo Texas.

Most shocking to Howe was a paragraph that said the extraterrestrials had manipulated DNA in an evolving primate species to create Homo sapiens. Elsewhere in the document it was noted that the ETs had created a being on Earth whose purpose was to teach humans about love and non-violence. Howe was astonished: “We are talking about Jesus Christ,” she said to Doty, who said nothing in response, but who, she asserts, looked deeply uncomfortable.

The author and researcher Mike Clelland has pointed out that the parallels between the content of Hangar 18 and the report shown to Linda Moulton Howe are so striking that “The document that Howe saw could very well have been written by Darren McGavin’s character from what he learned in the movie.” Clelland observes:

We have a reporter [LMH] being shown a secret document by the Air Force in 1983, the conclusion is that they [officialdom] wanted this information floated out to the public. Three years earlier we have the movie Hangar 18 “floating” out the same information in the guise of an action film.

Rising Sunn

In 1971, Sunn Classic Pictures started to produce and distribute feature films and documentaries about UFOs (with an emphasis on Ancient Astronauts) and other paranormal/psychic phenomena. Titles included the aforementioned Ancient Astronaut-themed The Outer Space Connection (1975), The Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena (1976), The Bermuda Triangle (1979), based on Charles Berlitz’s non-fiction book linking UFOs to the disappearance of ships and aircraft; Beyond Death’s Door (1979), about life after death; and, in 1980, Hangar 18. Sunn Classic Pictures also had a strong focus on religious documentaries, with titles including: In Search of Noah’s Ark (1976), In Search of Historic Jesus (1979), and a TV series that ran from 1978 to 1979 called Greatest Heroes of the Bible.

The Mormon connection

Sunn Classic Pictures was established in Utah as a Mormon-run company with Raylan Jensen as its first President. Many of the studio’s writers, producers, and directors also were Mormons, including Robert Starling (writer of In Search of Historic Jesus, and who in later life would make an educational documentary about the Mormon Church), and Charles E. Sellier Jr., one of Sunn’s most successful writer/producers and also a co-founder of the studio with Raylan Jensen. As a producer, Sellier would make only family-friendly G-rated films “out of Mormon conviction.” His credits for Sunn notably included The Bermuda Triangle and Hangar 18. In 1997, Sellier wrote UFO, a non-fiction book examining the UFO enigma in the context of a government cover-up.

It makes sense that a Mormon-run film studio should exhibit an interest in UFOs. Mormon cosmology holds that the Earth is not unique, but just one of many inhabited planets, each created by Jesus for the purpose of bringing about immortality and eternal life. Mormon leaders have taught that the inhabitants of these planets are almost identical in appearance to humans – just as the alien beings in Hangar 18 are extremely human-like (a point dwelt upon in the film’s plot).

Also worthy of mention in this discussion is “Kolob,” a heavenly body described in Mormon scripture as a star, but which is generally regarded by Mormons as a planet. It is said to be the closest place in the universe to the throne of God. In the context of science-fiction, the popular Ancient Astronaut-flavoured TV series Battlestar Galactica (1978–1979 and 2004–2009) incorporates many Mormon cosmological beliefs into its overarching narrative. This is because the creator of the show, Glen Larson, was himself a Mormon. In the TV series, the planet Kobol (as opposed to Kolob) is the birth place of the human race where the “Lords of Kobol” are held sacred.

Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, San Diego, California.

An LDS educational agenda?

In the Mormon text, Doctrines of Salvation (1:62), tenth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Joseph Fielding Smith, states:

“We are not the only people that the Lord has created. We have brothers and sisters on other earths. They look like us because they, too, are the children of God and were created in his image, for they are also his offspring.”

Smith began his LDS Presidency in 1970, the year prior to the establishment of Sunn Classic Pictures.

Also relevant is a quote by LDS Apostle Neal A. Maxwell. In his book, A Wonderful Flood of Light (p.25), Maxwell wrote: “We do not know how many inhabited worlds there are, or where they are. But certainly we are not alone.” Between 1970 and 1976, the formative years of Sunn Classic Pictures, Maxwell served as the LDS Commissioner of Church Education, which is responsible for providing religious and secular education for people of all ages, both LDS and non-LDS.

The question is…

The key question relating to Sunn Classic Pictures (and one that, for now, remains unanswered) is this: was the studio’s alien-themed output simply a reflection of Mormon ideals and beliefs held by the studio’s core writers/producers/directors (as well as an attempt on their part to cash in on the ever-popular subject of UFOs), or, was it a more lofty strategy on the part of Mormon Church itself to subtly educate the public about an aspect of the Mormon faith which, in the century of the UFO, was becoming both increasingly taboo and increasingly relevant (i.e. life on other planets and its possible links to humanity)?

Whatever the truth behind its production, Hangar 18 remains a fascinating and entertaining movie—a must-see for any self-respecting UFO conspiracy buff. Check it out.

When former The Simpsons guest star Stephen Hawking passed in March, he left behind a lifetime worth of invaluable contributions to the world of theoretical astrophysics. Aside from his distinguished life’s work, Hawking left behind his last unpublished paper which simplifies the mind-bending concept of the multiverse by reaching the conclusion that there exists a finite number of universes and they all share the same laws of physics. How did Hawking reach this conclusion? For one, he performed decades of careful mathematical calculations, of course. Yet an odd detail from his memorial service set to be held in June could suggest Hawking had help from the future.

When the first details about Hawking’s memorial service were made public, tens of thousands of people from over 50 countries applied for admission. At the service, Hawking’s ashes will be interred between the remains of Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. While filling out the ballot for the service, one applicant noticed that the birth date field on the application allows any date can be chosen up to December 31, 2038. Are the service’s organizers expecting visitors from the future?

Wormholes have long been suggested as a possible means of traveling through time.

When asked about the odd date choices, a spokesman for the Stephen Hawking Foundation said they are leaving the possibility of time travelers open just in case:

We cannot exclude the possibility of time travel as it has not been disproven to our satisfaction. All things are possible until proven otherwise. But so far we have had applications from all round the world, and we do mean round – there are no flat-Earthers here.

This isn’t the first time a Hawking-related event invited time travelers from a future time. Hawking hosted a “time traveler party” complete with champagne and hors d’ouvres in 2009, hoping someone from the future might show up. Unfortunately, no one did, causing Hawking to remark that this was evidence time travel was not possible. But why would a true time traveler want to put herself under public scrutiny like that? If they’re here, they’re certainly blending in the best they can. Except Elon Musk – that guy’s way too obvious.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC) says:“Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease. It is caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis.” So, you may well ask, what relevance does that have to the kinds of things that get discussed here at Mysterious Universe? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s a strange story which has its origins in the late 1940s, specifically July 1, 1949. That was the date on which a still-unknown doctor and his wife encountered a UFO of the Flying Saucer kind while they were on vacation in Canada.

So impressed and amazed by what they saw, the pair – whose names are blacked-out in the now-declassified U.S. Air Force files on the affair – decided to contact the military and share their experience. The Air Force stated in its 1949 files, prepared by agent Elbert W. Farris, of Scott Air Force Base, Illinois: “Dr. and Mrs. [Deleted] of Decatur, Indiana, were interviewed on August 15, 1949, and stated that they had seen an unidentified aerial object which they thought to be a flying saucer. The sighting took place July 1, 1949 on Highway 70 about 50–70 miles north of Ft. Francis, Ontario, Canada, and near the east side of Lake of the Woods, Canada.”

That was far from being the end of the story, though. From documentation forwarded to staff at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, we learn that: “The object was described as silvery gray in color, flying in a westerly direction and was in sight for about 5 seconds. No vapor trails or protruding objects were noted. The object pursued a straight path of flight with an erratic motion comparable to that of an oblong object being thrown through the air. The aerial anomaly appeared to be faster than an airplane. It did not hover and was likened to a small aircraft at two thousand feet. Dr. [Deleted] observed no fins, no vapor trail and heard no sound. After passing across his line of vision, the object was lost from view behind the trees. The day was bright and sunny, and Dr. [Deleted] emphasized that he had definitely observed an object in the air unlike any other known to him. Mrs. [Deleted] corroborated her husband’s statements.“

It wasn’t just the Air Force that looked into the matter. It was the FBI, too. Indeed, the FBI’s office at Indianapolis addressed the issue because the doctor “found himself in the midst of a polio epidemic and that as a result he had read as much literature as possible with respect to polio, its symptoms, diagnosis, etc. Dr. [Deleted] told that in his opinion, the cases which were thought to be polio in the vicinity of Decatur, Indiana, were not polio, but possibly the result of uranium poisoning and that he felt the presence of flying saucers had direct bearing on the polio epidemic.”

Aliens spreading the polio virus? Or contaminating people with uranium?  The FBI also recorded: “[The Doctor] pointed out that flying saucers were observed in the Carolinas in 1948 and there was a polio epidemic in the vicinity at that time. Dr. [Deleted] stated he had consulted one of the physicians at the Benjamin Harrison Air Base and had also checked the records with reference to allegations concerning the sighting of flying saucers and had done a little research with respect to correlating the presence of flying saucers and any polio epidemic.”

The documentation shows that personnel at the Indiana University Medical School considered the whole thing to be a waste of time – a huge joke and nothing else. That didn’t stop the Air Force from taking a careful and close look at the available data, however. On this aspect of the story, the Air Force files reveal the following: “Tabulation of flying saucer sightings from the available sources of the Indianapolis Starand the Indianapolis News, reveals that the majority of sightings took place in July and August for the years 1947, 1948 and 1949,” agent Farris recorded.

Farris added: “A responsible medical authority, confidential informant, CI-1, advised that the theory is ‘interesting’ and worthy of further research. [The Doctor] produced membership cards which show him to be a member of the Masons, Scottish Rite, Knights of Pythias, Loyal Order of Moose and the Eagles. He served as a Naval officer for 14 months and also held a commission in the United States Public Health Service. He is an associate member of the Association of Medicine, Bloomington, Indiana, and he is an associate member of the Association of Military Surgeons. He is a physician and surgeon.“

The uranium angle, brought up by the doctor, was also addressed. Agent Farris contacted, in his own words, “a reliable medical authority at Benjamin Harrison Air Force Base, Indiana,” who could hopefully “determine whether the possibility of uranium poisoning, as expounded by Dr. [Deleted] had any basis in fact.” Farris had more to say on this matter: “The authority, who preferred to remain anonymous, is hereinafter known as Confidential Informant CI-1. Informant CI-1 advised the writer that the Polio period extends from April to October, with the peak months of the disease being reached in July and August. Informant CI-1 was doubtful if the answer to the question of uranium poisoning could be readily answered, and he was of the opinion that the possibility and its connection with the Polio epidemic prevalent throughout the United States had never been explored.”

Personnel at the Aero Medical Laboratory Research Department at Wright-Patterson were also questioned by Farris: “Does [the] uranium element produce any physiological reaction in human beings corresponding to symptoms applicable to many of the so-called Polio clinical and sub-clinical conditions?” “Are topographical areas where so-called Flying Disc are predominantly seen (or known uranium deposits) pinpoints of endemic areas of clinical symptoms resembling Polio?”

On October 6, 1949, another Air Force report was prepared, this one revealing the following: “While it is true that some of the clinical symptoms of poliomyelitis may be similar to uranium poisoning, the over-all clinical syndrome is quite different. Progress in the case of uranium poisoning is very dismal, with recovery unlikely. Besides the heavy metal poisoning effect of uranium poisoning, there is also the prolonged and continuous radiation effect of uranium which cane be detected in the broad picture.”

The report adds: “This is quite a distinctive clinical feature of uranium poisoning which any physician should readily be able to recognize. It is also a feature which does not diminish with time and, hence, the patient does not recover. This results because the uranium is a long-lived radioactive isotope, which becomes fixed in the body and cannot be eliminated to any appreciable extent. Because of the above considerations, it is the opinion of this office that there is little, if any, ground for the theory that the annual poliomyelitis epidemics are related to radioactivity in any way. It is also to be noted that the annual outbreak of poliomyelitis during the summer months has been prevalent for many years prior to flying saucers and the widespread use of radioactive isotopes.”

The strange saga of a Flying Saucer, a doctor and his wife, the polio virus and the matter of uranium poisoning, was finally over. The file was closed on what was undeniably one of the weirdest UFO-themed investigations that the U.S. Air Force found itself involved in.

It was in August 1951 that renowned mountain-climber Eric Shipton embarked upon his fifth expedition to Mount Everest, along with climbers Sir Edmund Hillary, Earle Riddiford, Mike Ward, Sherpa Sen Tensing, and several others. As the expedition neared its end, and while the team explored an area to the southwest of Everest known as Gauri Sankar, mysterious footprints were found – and photographed. Shipton stated: “It was on one of the glaciers of the Menlung basin, at a height of about 19,000 feet, that, late one afternoon we came across those curious footprints in the snow.” He continued: “I have in the past found many sets of these curious footprints and have tried to follow them, but have always lost them. Sen Tensing, who had no doubt whatever that the creatures – for there had been at least two – that had made the tracks were ‘Yetis’ or wild men, told me that two years before, he and a number of other Sherpas had seen one of them at a distance of about 25 yards at Thyangboche.”

Shipton added that: “He [Tensing] described it as half man and half beast, standing about five feet six inches, with a tall pointed head. Whatever it was that he had seen, he was convinced that it was neither a bear nor a monkey.” And the idea that the prints were made by the famous Yeti was bolstered in the minds of Shipton, his colleagues, and the media of the day, as a direct result of the startling fact that they were an impressive 13 inches long and 8 inches wide.

Not everyone was convinced, however. Dr. T.C.S. Morrison-Scott of the Natural History Department of the British Museum was certain that Shipton had been fooled by nothing stranger than the tracks of a langur monkey – an animal that is common to the Himalayas, and that is not unlike the creatures reportedly seen by Sherpa Tensing. The flaw in this theory, however, was that the langur is five-toed and generally walks on all-fours; whereas the creature that made the prints in the Shipton photographs was clearly four-toed, massive, and appeared to walk exclusively on two feet.

Langur Monkey

Indeed, Shipton himself recognized the problems with the langur theory when he stated in The Six Mountain Travel Books: “Of the various theories that have been advanced to account for these tracks, the only one which is in any way plausible is that they were made by a langur monkey, and even this is very far from convincing, as I believe those who have suggested it would be the first to admit.” Perhaps not surprisingly, the controversy was never firmly resolved to everyone’s satisfaction and, as a result, has rumbled on at a steady pace in monster-hunting circles ever since. Moving on from the Shipton photographs, further intriguing evidence exists that leads many modern-day Yeti-seekers to conclude that the Abominable Snowman is far more than just the stuff of legend, fantasy and misidentification.

The creature has a long history in both Nepal and Tibet, and tales of encounters with the hairy animal have been reported for centuries. As far back as 1832, for example, explorer B.H. Hodgson reported in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal that the existence of a large, ape-like creature of the Himalayas had long been known to the people of Nepal. Similarly, in 1889, in the pages of Among the Himalayas, writer and adventurer L.A. Waddell recorded that he had heard countless stories of the legendary giant ape from those who lived among the mountains. Most feared of all by the locals of Tibet and Nepal centuries ago was the Nyalmo: a fierce and gigantic beast said to be related to the Yeti that reputedly inhabited the mountain-tops and supposedly grew to an astonishing height of fifteen feet.

The Yeti takes its name from the ancient Tibetan word yeh-teh, which literally translates as “rock bear.” For many Tibetans, however, the Yeti is not a physical animal. Rather, it is perceived as being a paranormal creature: a spectral animal that is most successfully seen while the witness is in a trance-like, altered state. The far more evocative term of Abominable Snowman originated in 1921, with Henry Newman, a writer for the Calcutta, India-based Statesman newspaper. It was in 1921 that Britain’s Royal Geographical Society launched an expedition to the Himalayas that was led by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Howard-Bury. During the course of the expedition, Howard-Bury came across unusual footprints that the local Sherpa guides claimed originated with what they called the metoh-kangmi – or “the man-bear snowman.”

When the story was told to Henry Newman of the Statesman, however, Newman mistakenly interpreted the word “metoh” to mean “filthy.” And while the term “filthy snowman” sounded merely amusing, Newman eventually came up with the far more headline-grabbing and ominous name of the Abominable Snowman. And, thus, the monster of the Himalayas quickly became a household word and sightings of the beast abounded. In 1925, Greek photographer N.A. Tombini claimed to have seen a Yeti high on the Himalayas. “Unquestionably, the figure in outline was exactly like a human being, walking upright and stopping to uproot or pull at some dwarf rhododendron bushes,” he said, adding: “It showed up dark against the snow and, as far as I could make out, wore no clothes.”

Sir Edmund Hillary

In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary reported finding large, unknown footprints while he climbed Mount Everest; and in 1970 British mountain-climber Don Whillans watched through binoculars as a hairy, ape-like animal apparently searched for food a short distance from his camp on Annapurna, a series of 55-kilometre-long peaks in the Himalayas. In January 1987, a small Yeti was said to have attacked a young boy in northern Kashmir, who reportedly proceeded to hit the creature on the head with a pot until it released him. And, in 2000, a woman claimed to have seen a giant, hairy, man-like animal roaming her land in Medog County, which can be found in southeast Tibet. Since then, sightings have dramatically declined.

While the big three major world religions get all of the publicity, there are plenty of other spiritual collectives between them and atheism. One group that attracts a lot of paranormal fans are the UFO religions whose members subscribe to the existence of extraterrestrials traveling to Earth in unidentified flying objects, often to take part in the evolution of humanity. Two such groups coincidentally popped up in the news recently, proving that they’re not as obscure as some might think (or hope).

A hearing was held in Boston this week in the case of Olga Paule Perrier-Bilbo, a French national who wants to become an American citizen … except for the part about taking an oath of citizenship that ends with the words “So help me God.” Perrier-Bilbo’s objection comes from her membership in the Raëlian movement, which is a UFO religion founded in 1974 by French car racing journalist Claude Vorilhon, who changed his name to Raël after being contacted by an ET in a spacecraft who claimed to have selected him to deliver a new origin message to humanity and start a religion based on it.

In his first book, Le Livre qui dit la vérité (“The Book Which Tells the Truth“), Vorilhon says the alien’s species sent scientists called Elohim (“those who came from the sky”) who created all life on Earth through DNA manipulation. The alien, also an Elohim, took Vorilhon or Raël to their planet where he allegedly met Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, who told him to be more like the aliens, who were peace-loving and had no money, sickness or wars. Raël’s followers support human genetic engineering, genetically-modified foods and other futuristic technology.

Perrier-Bilbo just wants to be a good Raëlian-American and she was given the opportunity to take a modified oath in a private ceremony, but in this litigious, political and social media world, that wasn’t enough.

“My hope is for the phrase, ‘So help me God’ to be stricken from future naturalization ceremonies and for this lawsuit to encourage other atheists or agnostics who want to defend the constitution to fight against this anti-constitutional oath.”

As of this writing, the results of the hearing are not known.

Meanwhile, members of the Aetherius Society announced its “Operation Prayer Power” pilgrimage in July to Holdstone Down in north Devon, England, where its founder, George King, claimed to have met Jesus in 1958 and received some shocking news:

“I knew, although he didn’t tell me, I knew he was Jesus and he had come from the planet Venus – I didn’t have to be told, I just knew this.”

King was apparently chosen for this meeting because in 1955 he founded the Aetherius Society after claiming he received a telepathic communication from Aetherius, an alien intelligence representing an “Interplanetary Parliament” that existed on Venus, as well as Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. King, who died in 1997, was said to have delivered more telepathic messages with predictions of UFO sightings. The religion itself borrows from yoga, Eastern mantra and New Age and promotes spiritual self-advancement and world service. Not a bad mission.

Another benefit for Aetherians is that Holdstone Down isn’t the only “holy mountain.” Besides Yes Tor, also in Devon, there’s Castle Peak in Colorado, Mount Ramshead in New South Wales, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Le Nid d’Aigle in France. If you’re going to make a pilgrimage, it’s nice to go to beautiful spots.

Of course, no matter where they go, the “cosmic mission” of George King and the Aetherians always gets overshadowed by that “Jesus is from Venus” thing, which is why they were once again in the news.

Will we ever be able to accept the beliefs of others and get along?

What’s red in the daytime, and glows an eerie blue at night? Although it may sound like some illuminated prop from the forthcoming film Solo: A Star Wars Story, the answer to this oceanic riddle has less to do with science fiction, and everything to do with one of nature’s little marvels: bioluminescent phytoplankton.

Nighttime beachgoers in San Diego have recently been treated to this unusual spectacle, as the recent arrival of a red tide has resulted in natural luminous phenomena that occur as plantlike microorganisms present in ocean waves tumble downward with the incoming tide, producing a visible glow.

According to NOAA, there are two main varieties of phytoplankton: diatoms and dinoflagellates, the latter being the type that are presently seen along San Diego’s shoreline.

As stated on the NOAA website:

“Dinoflagellates use a whip-like tail, or flagella, to move through the water and their bodies are covered with complex shells. Diatoms also have shells, but they are made of a different substance and their structure is rigid and made of interlocking parts. Diatoms do not rely on flagella to move through the water and instead rely on ocean currents to travel through the water.”

The appearance of these phytoplankton has to do with the occurrence of red tides, where oceanic algal blooms–sometimes harmful ones–grow in such abundance that they become overrun in certain coastal environments. This can have dangerous effects on not just the indigenous marine life in affected areas, but also humans. Illnesses that are known to occur in conjunction with these potentially toxic algal blooms have been known to cause debilitating illness or even death.

There are a variety of unique luminous displays that occur in nature, particularly with bioluminescent marine life. However, it may be the case that not all oceanic luminous displays necessarily have biological origins. On April 29, 1982, a most unusual visual display occurred in the China Sea, which resulted in a six-page report on the incident. The details of this nighttime encounter, presented here in abbreviated form, consisted of parallel bands of phosphorescence that appeared to be rushing toward the ship at an estimated speed of 40 miles per hour.

Upon contact with the luminous bands, they appeared to separate into rotating “wheels”, which became oriented roughly in quadrant formation around the ship. It is particularly noteworthy, however, that these luminous manifestations were seen above the surface of the water. Each of the spinning wheels appeared to be 50-100 cm above the water, with beams of light being cast from these formations which the sailing vessel’s crew described as having “stretched to the horizon” as they rotated. Additional luminous phenomena were reported during this incident, which appeared to be composed of “worm-like segments” of light.

Other key features of the incident involved the presence of atmospheric electrical activity (i.e. lightning) throughout the incident; at various intervals, it was further noted that shining an Aldis lamp at portions of the luminous manifestations had no effect, while flashing it caused the intermittent disappearance of the phenomenon altogether (this is similar to reports of what are believed to be natural plasmas that appear at locations like Hessdalen, Norway, which have been known to interact similarly with flashing lights aimed in their direction).

The symmetrical, and at times nearly kaleidoscopic displays presented in the case above, documented in the Marine Observer in 1983, are certainly perplexing. While dissimilar in variety to the unusual illuminations that are presently occurring off the San Diego coast, each represents a unique manifestation of natural luminous phenomenon that occasionally apear in or around our oceans.

What’s red in the daytime, and glows an eerie blue at night? Although it may sound like some illuminated prop from the forthcoming film Solo: A Star Wars Story, the answer to this oceanic riddle has less to do with science fiction, and everything to do with one of nature’s little marvels: bioluminescent phytoplankton.

Nighttime beachgoers in San Diego have recently been treated to this unusual spectacle, as the recent arrival of a red tide has resulted in natural luminous phenomena that occur as plantlike microorganisms present in ocean waves tumble downward with the incoming tide, producing a visible glow.

According to NOAA, there are two main varieties of phytoplankton: diatoms and dinoflagellates, the latter being the type that are presently seen along San Diego’s shoreline.

As stated on the NOAA website:

“Dinoflagellates use a whip-like tail, or flagella, to move through the water and their bodies are covered with complex shells. Diatoms also have shells, but they are made of a different substance and their structure is rigid and made of interlocking parts. Diatoms do not rely on flagella to move through the water and instead rely on ocean currents to travel through the water.”

The appearance of these phytoplankton has to do with the occurrence of red tides, where oceanic algal blooms–sometimes harmful ones–grow in such abundance that they become overrun in certain coastal environments. This can have dangerous effects on not just the indigenous marine life in affected areas, but also humans. Illnesses that are known to occur in conjunction with these potentially toxic algal blooms have been known to cause debilitating illness or even death.

There are a variety of unique luminous displays that occur in nature, particularly with bioluminescent marine life. However, it may be the case that not all oceanic luminous displays necessarily have biological origins. On April 29, 1982, a most unusual visual display occurred in the China Sea, which resulted in a six-page report on the incident. The details of this nighttime encounter, presented here in abbreviated form, consisted of parallel bands of phosphorescence that appeared to be rushing toward the ship at an estimated speed of 40 miles per hour.

Upon contact with the luminous bands, they appeared to separate into rotating “wheels”, which became oriented roughly in quadrant formation around the ship. It is particularly noteworthy, however, that these luminous manifestations were seen above the surface of the water. Each of the spinning wheels appeared to be 50-100 cm above the water, with beams of light being cast from these formations which the sailing vessel’s crew described as having “stretched to the horizon” as they rotated. Additional luminous phenomena were reported during this incident, which appeared to be composed of “worm-like segments” of light.

Other key features of the incident involved the presence of atmospheric electrical activity (i.e. lightning) throughout the incident; at various intervals, it was further noted that shining an Aldis lamp at portions of the luminous manifestations had no effect, while flashing it caused the intermittent disappearance of the phenomenon altogether (this is similar to reports of what are believed to be natural plasmas that appear at locations like Hessdalen, Norway, which have been known to interact similarly with flashing lights aimed in their direction).

The symmetrical, and at times nearly kaleidoscopic displays presented in the case above, documented in the Marine Observer in 1983, are certainly perplexing. While dissimilar in variety to the unusual illuminations that are presently occurring off the San Diego coast, each represents a unique manifestation of natural luminous phenomenon that occasionally apear in or around our oceans.