Spur: Twisters, Death, and Heaven's Gate

Three storm chasers die in Spur, Texas.

A death signals a threshold that appears to be a precursor for other tragic events.

Bill Paxton's death was one of those moments, this year. Paxton died on Saturday, February 25, 2017. A well-known actor in many famous movies, the film most news organizations mentioned was Twister (1996). Cornfields. The Shining.

The next day, February 26th, a Bonnie and Clyde-involved (Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty) fiasco hit the Oscars. Cornfields.

Immediately, several states of the Midwest to the East were hit by the earliest winter records of tornadoes. Cornfields.

Now, tornadoes and death are in the news again.

At about 3:30 pm, on Tuesday, March 28, 2017, at Spur, Dickens County, Texas, three storm chasers were killed in a two-vehicle crash, while chasing tornadoes. A line of tornadic thunderstorms were through the South Plains at the time.

Two of the dead were subcontractors from The Weather Channel, reported the Armadillo Globe News.

DPS Sgt. John Gonzalez said the crash between a Jeep and a Suburban happened 5 miles west of Spur at FM 2794 and FM 1081:

The driver of the Suburban was identified as Kelley Gene Williamson, 57, of Cassville, Missouri. Mr. Williamson was ejected from the vehicle at the time of the crash. Mr. Williamson was not wearing his seat belt. The passenger in the Suburban was identified as Randall Delane Yarnall, 55, also of Cassville, Missouri. Mr. Yarnall was wearing a seat belt. The driver of the Jeep was identified as Corbin Lee Jaeger, 25, of Peoria, Arizona.

Williamson and Yarnall were contractors for the Weather Channel, according to a statement released by The Weather Channel late Tuesday.

Kelley and Randy were beloved members of the weather community. We are saddened by this loss and our deepest sympathies go out to the families and loved ones of all involved.

Investigators believe the black Suburban was traveling northbound on FM 1081 when it disregarded a stop sign and collided with the black Jeep that was traveling west on FM 2794.

“There were two drivers and one passenger in the two vehicles,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “All three occupants were pronounced deceased at the scene.”

The crash prompted statements of support and condolences from storm chasers across social media.

Storm chasers die in Twister.

It will be recalled in Twister, there is a scene where the team of Dr. Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes), the corporate-funded meteorologist and storm chaser, is shown driving their black Suburbans dangerously close to a F5 tornado. That tornado shifts course towards Jonas's truck, causing a piece of metal to come flying through the windshield and impale his driver Eddie (Zach Grenier). Their truck is then caught by the tornado and thrown into the ground, and both men are killed in the resulting explosion.

Storm chasers are killed. It happens.

But there's more. From Spur, Texas.

Heaven’s Gate – also known as the “UFO cult” – burst into American consciousness 20 years ago this month, when, on March 26, 1997, law enforcement discovered 39 decomposing bodies in a San Diego, California mansion.

Each detail that emerged from the scene stunned a rapt public: Adherents had committed suicide in waves on March 22 and 23, ingesting a lethal mix of barbiturates and alcohol; they lay under purple shrouds, with five-dollar bills and rolls of quarters in their pockets; all wore simple dark uniforms and Nike tennis shoes. ~ Ben Zeller

The leader of the Heaven's Gate cult, Marshall Applewhite (May 17, 1931 – March 26, 1997), was born in Spur, Texas.

 

Cox Deaths, Another Voice Killing, and Red Dawn Coming

Famed Australian award-winning filmmaker Paul Cox died Sunday, June 18, 2016. He was widely recognized as "Australia's most prolific film auteur."

Paul Cox

"Cox's delicate films have been pockmarked with life's uncertainty. Loneliness within relationships is a staple of the Cox oeuvre, too," said his filmmaker collaborator and friend David Wenham.

Paul Cox was born Paulus Henrique Benedictus Cox on April 16, 1940, in Venlo, Limburg, the Netherlands, the son of Else (née Kuminack), a native of Germany, and Wim Cox, a documentary film producer. He is remembered for his documentaries like Vincent (1987), and his personal, lonely narrative fiction films, which in recent years, have mirrored his own challenges with a liver transplant.

Paul Cox's death followed by two days the assassination in West Yorkshire, UK, of Jo Cox, the British Labour Party Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen. 

Jo Cox

Helen Joanne "Jo" Cox (née Leadbetter) was born on 22 June 1974 in Batley, West Yorkshire, England, and raised in Heckmondwike. Her mother was a school secretary while her father worked in a toothpaste and hairspray factory. She was educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School, a state grammar school, where she was head girl. During summers, she worked packing toothpaste.

On June 16, 2016, Jo Cox was shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, West Yorkshire, England, shortly before she was due to hold a constituency meeting. A 52-year-old man, Thomas Mair, shouted "Britain First!" during the attack. Thomas Alexander "Tommy" Mair (Mair meaning "Mary") was born August 12, 1963 in Kilmarnock, Scotland. He was arrested in connection with Cox's death and subsequently charged with murder and other offenses. Mair, charged in the killing of Jo Cox, stated his name as "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain" to UK Court.

The claims that Mair had allegedly bought a number of manuals from an extremist group in the US was uncovered by the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC), a civil rights organization in the US. It said Mair made the purchases between 1999 and 2003. Receipts for items also included Ich Kämpfe, an illustrated handbook issued to members of the Nazi party in 1942.

Cox appears to derive from the hills found in Carmarthenshire, Wales, where Cox may have been a topographic name for a man "from the red hills." The meaning appears derived from cock or coch, and means "from the hills," or from cocc, which means "the little," or derived from coch, meaning "the Red." Other forms point to the English, from Cocke in any the senses described + the suffix -s denoting "son of" or "servant of" Irish (Ulster), mistranslation of Mac Con Coille ("son of Cú Choille," a personal name meaning "hound of the wood"), as if formed with coileach "cock," "rooster," the bird that heralds the dawn!

The recent wave of violence in Orlando began, you will recall, when singer Christina Grimmie, 22, who gained fame as a contestant on television singing contest The Voice, was hit by three shots at a concert in Orlando, Florida, on Friday, June 10, and died on June 11, 2016. (For twilight details, see here.)

On Friday, June 17, 2016, Attrell Cordes, better known as Prince Be from the '90s R&B duo P.M. Dawn, died at 46 from kidney disease. "Literally a Dawn Prince," Robert Sullivan writes me.

On Saturday, June 18, 2016, another former contestant on the singing contest The Voice, the Mexican version, died after earlier being shot in Illinois. The death on Saturday of Alejandro "Jano" Fuentes, 45, was confirmed by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. The singer was shot three times in the head late Thursday in an ambush outside the Tras Bambalinas School, his performing arts studio on Chicago's southwest side.

Grimmie had been shot three times in the head too.

Alejandro means "defender," "protector of mankind."

Jano is a form of John, "the grace or mercy of Jehovah," "favor of the Lord."

Fuentes is a Spanish surname meaning, "a spring," "a well," "a fountain."

Various images of Orlando's logo are based on their famed Lake Eola Park fountain.

Yesterday, I wrote of the potential for another Red Dawn on June 20th.

Less we forget, St. John's Day/Midsummer's Day revisits us again on June 24th. I have written extensively about St. John's Day associations in 2015, and 2012. Being the anniversary of the "first" sighting in the "modern era of flying saucers," the date of June 24th is especially linked to the "Deaths of Ufologists," including a loss as recently as 2015.

On Thursday, June 16, 2016 (6.16.16), Marco Rubio ("Mars Red") took his first flight on Air Force One with President Obama to Orlando, to meet the families of the victims of the Pulse shootings.

A red greeting in...

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and her husband Chuck Franco, left, greeted President Barack Obama, followed by daughter Malia Obama, on the First Family's arrival in Roswell, New Mexico, Friday, June 17, 2016. The Obama family was traveling to Carlsbad Caverns National Park to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of America's national park system.

Okay, over the weekend, President Obama was in Roswell, New Mexico, and Donald Trump held a fundraising meeting in Barry Goldwater's old Arizona home, ''Be-nun-i-kin,'' which is Navajo for ''house on top of a hill." 

Be-nun-i-kin

Trump goes to dedicate a golf course in Scotland, leaving on June 22, and opening the course on the 24th. 

Certainly, my readers are feeling "something" in the air too:

Twilight language analyst Enki King wonders about 

...the release date of Helen Reddy’s 1973 cover of Delta Dawn? The song popped into my head earlier, and the combination of "Dawn" in the title and "Red" in the recording artist’s name strikes me as being possibly significant, especially since the recent Red Dawn shooting rampage at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub on the day of the Tony Awards drew attention to Reddy’s soft rock contemporaries Tony Orlando and Dawn. If the release date happens to be June 20, your prediction of a Red Dawn event on June 20 of this year would be reinforced. An event related to the word “Delta,” like a crash or hijacking of a Delta jet, might even be expected.

Mysteriously, no exact release date is to be found during our mutual search for Reddy's version of Delta Dawn, other than "June 1973."

But this morning, Enki writes, a film studies associate found the date: "Delta Dawn was released as the first single from the album on June 11, 1973, debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 later that month, in the issue of the magazine dated June 23, and enjoyed 20 weeks there, one of which was at number one."

Joe Mehl writes, noting that 

...some things have jumped out at me regarding the Swiss tunnel ceremony leading up to the events in Orlando. The date 6.12.2016 can be summed up as 6.12.18 or the succession of 666 which no matter how you cut it the date eventually breaks down to a 9 root number for the date. I think the combination of the luciferin celebration on 6.1.2016 with a 7 root leading up to the George H W Bush Birthday of the Orlando Massacre (ritual blood sacrifice) Orlando has deep roots with Disney's love affair with the lore of the evil deity. Also I unfortunately think that the child who was snatched by an Alligator is also symbolic and connects to the tunnel ceremony (path to the grave). I would assume 6/21/2016 being the next succession of the root 9 will be a continuation of this "summoning" Regardless of my numerical hunches about the dates, I think the root problem here is that these massacres are not put into perspective for what they really are a continuation of. Anyway, I'm not drawing any conclusions but I think your summation of the Solstice Full Moon being a volatile ticking bomb are worrisome.

Joe also mentioned the Wounded Knee Massacre, which was on my mind heavily, as well, yesterday, as I pondered the Orlando events and their Sebastian-Fort Pierce links to the Boston Marathon, during my time at the Portland Pride Parade with my wife Jenny.

I am having strong angry First Peoples thoughts, of late, for a variety of reasons.

Just in - Chris Kraska sent this my way, after reading the above: "Loren's post reminded me of this tidbit about the Orlando shooting victim in the conspiracy theory story" from the New York Daily News:

The photo was snapped on the day Carter [a Pulse shooting survivor] was discharged from the hospital. She wore a pair of red, rhinestone “Dorothy” slippers on her feet and wrote in the pic's caption that there was “No place like home.”

Villarreal, after reading the above, sent this along:

Ritchie Blackmore has started touring again with "Rainbow" in Germany, as of 6/16/16. He opened the show with Dorothy saying, "We're not in Kansas anymore." And, "There's no place like home."
I also saw a promo poster for Rainbow with a yellow brick road.
Ties into your post today about the ruby slippers.
Ritchie has been gone from rock for 19 years.

I expect a weird week ahead. It feels like the purple rain has moved on to be another red dawn.

(Thanks for other thoughts from Joe Mehl, Enki King, Robert Sullivan, Chris Tian, Steve Lindsay, Theo Paijmans, Robert Schneck, Nate Arthur, Andrew West Griffin, Villarreal, and many more. It is a stirring time.)

Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Believer of Roswell UFO Incident, Dies

Edgar Mitchell, 85, one of 12 men to have walked on the moon, died in Lake Worth, Florida on February 4, 2016. Mitchell was born on September 17, 1930, in Hereford, Texas. He considered his hometown Artesia, New Mexico (near Roswell).

Edgar Mitchell on the moon.

Mitchell stepped on the moon twice, on February 5 and 6, 1971. Mitchell spent 33 hours on the moon. The Apollo 14 mission was from January 31 through February 9, 1971. Therefore, he died during on the 45th anniversary of his trip to the moon.

Astronaut Mitchell's Apollo mission involvement was memorialized in the Hall of Fame of DeMolay International, part of the Masonic Fraternity. Mitchell was a member of Artesia Lodge #29 in New Mexico.

After his Apollo success, Mitchell was involved in several projects, some with the Institute of Noetic Sciences, involving the unexplained, paranormal, and human consciousness topics, including UFOs.

Mitchell has publicly expressed his opinions that he is "90 percent sure that many of the thousands of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, recorded since the 1940s, belong to visitors from other planets". Dateline NBC conducted an interview with Mitchell on April 19, 1996, during which he discussed meeting with officials from three countries who claimed to have had personal encounters with extraterrestrials. He offered his opinion that the evidence for such "alien" contact was "very strong" and "classified" by governments, who were covering up visitations and the existence of alien beings' bodies in places such as Roswell, New Mexico. He further claimed that UFOs had provided "sonic engineering secrets" that were helpful to the U.S. government. Mitchell's book, The Way of the Explorer, discusses his journey into mysticism and space.
In 2004, he told the St. Petersburg Times that a "cabal of insiders" in the U.S. government were studying recovered alien bodies, and that this group had stopped briefing U.S. Presidents after John F. Kennedy. He said, "We all know that UFOs are real; now the question is where they come from."
On July 23, 2008, Edgar Mitchell was interviewed on Kerrang Radio by Nick Margerrison. Mitchell claimed the Roswell crash was real and that aliens have contacted humans several times, but that governments have hidden the truth for 60 years, stating: "I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet, and the UFO phenomenon is real." In reply, a spokesman for NASA stated: "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover-up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue."
In an interview with Fox News on July 25, 2008, Mitchell clarified that his comments did not involve NASA, but quoted unnamed sources, since deceased, at Roswell who confided to him that the Roswell incident did involve an alien craft. Mitchell also claims to have subsequently received confirmation from an unnamed intelligence officer at the Pentagon.
In an interview for AskMen published March 6, 2014, Mitchell said that he had never seen a UFO, that no one had ever threatened him over his claims regarding UFOs, and that any statements about the covering up of UFOs being a worldwide cabal was "just speculation on my part."
In 2015, Mitchell made what Huffington Post U.K. characterized as "the astonishing claim that it was aliens, not diplomacy, which prevented the Cold War from descending into the Third World War." In a Mirror Online interview, Mitchell said "White Sands was a testing ground for atomic weapons – and that's what the extraterrestrials were interested in. They wanted to know about our military capabilities. My own experience talking to people has made it clear the ETs had been attempting to keep us from going to war and help create peace on Earth...."
Edgar Mitchell appeared in the documentaries In the Shadow of the Moon, The Phoenix Lights...We Are Not Alone, and The Living Matrix. Source.

Intriguingly, Mitchell was interviewed frequently about UFOs when the second X-Files movies appeared in 2008.

Mitchel, also, told Bloomberg Business that the 1947 Roswell incident, which to some people is evidence of an extraterrestrial crash landing, was covered up.

"It's not just military. It's a cabal of organizations primarily for a profit motive," he told the publication.

However, he drew the line when it came to an interview with the UK tabloid Mirror. The newspaper claimed Mitchell said UFOs had helped prevent nuclear war. "None of those statements were originated by me," he told the Huffington Post.

In addition to Mitchell's UFO thoughts, it became known after Apollo that he had conducted ESP experiments on the mission. He was also a believer in extraterrestrial activity, and was convinced UFOs had visited Earth.

Edgar Mitchell was in the small fraternity of 12 men who had walked on the moon. As of his death, now seven survive: Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, David Scott, John W. Young, Charles Duke, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt.

Tom Benson, 3rd UFO Researcher To Die In A Week

Tom Benson, UFO researcher, UFO contactee, former Mutual UFO Network New Jersey State Director, and a former investigator for the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, has died at the age of 77.

Tom apparently passed away on Tuesday, December 2, 2014, from pneumonia following complications from colon surgery in September.

(Benson is pictured above, on the left, with ufologists Jim Moseley, Antonio Huneeus and David Houchin.)

Benson, during the 1980s, was the editor of the zine, The Sixth Quark Journal. Above is Number 2 for 1981, which Benson self-published from his hometown of Trenton, New Jersey.

Benson worked for the State of New Jersey as a personnel management analyst, as well as a sideline selling vintage UFO books. 

Tom Benson was deeply involved with field investigations in New Jersey, and then presenting his research results at conferences, when our paths overlapped.

One presentation of Benson's has been used in various field manuals throughout ufology. It issued from his personal investigations of an alleged UFO landing case from September 1986. The insightful paper he gave at the MUFON Symposium at American University in 1987, was entitled, "Misinterpretation of Slime Molds as UFO Physical Trace Evidence."

Most people, in recent years, only heard about Benson through James Moseley's Saucer Smear Newsletter. On November 16, 2012, Moseley, 81, died in Key West, Florida (see obituary, here). Since Tom Benson was a close friend, he inherited Moseley's archives.

Tom Benson is the third UFO-related researcher/writer to have died recently.

Now Tom Benson joins the list of those who have written about ufology in the past, who have died this fall.

Wes Nations, 47, died on November 25, 2014. Read his obituary, here. 

Rocky Wood, 55, died on December 1, 2014. Read his obituary, here.

Reading of these men's deaths have revealed surprise as to where their lives took them.

Patrick Huyghe, author of Swamp Gas Times, and publisher of Anomalist Books, writes: "I remember Wes Nations and Crash Collusion; I used to exchange zines with him. I never knew about his Vagabond identity though.​ He was a cool guy. Sad to lose him at just a young age." 

Jerome Clark, author of The UFO Book, emails: "I used to know Rocky Wood many years ago but had since lost touch with him. He was a nice guy. I'm sorry that he suffered and died too soon."

Others have mentioned that they "did not know that Rocky Wood was an expert on Stephen King."

Condolences to their friends, family, and loved ones.

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The formal obituary follows:

Thomas Anthony Benson Jr Obituary
Date of Birth:
Monday, September 13th, 1937
Date of Death:
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014
Funeral Home:
Brenna-Cellini Funeral Homes
2365 Whitehorse Mercerville Road
Hamilton, New Jersey, UNITED STATES
08619
Obituary:
Thomas Anthony Benson, 77, of Ewing Township, New Jersey, passed away surrounded by his loving family on December 2, 2014 at the University Medical Center of Princeton. Born in Manhattan, New York, he had resided in Ewing for most of his life. A U.S. Army veteran, he was educated at Trenton Boys Catholic, Mercer County Community College, and Rutgers University. He received his Masters in City and Regional Planning, graduating cum laude from Rutgers University. Thomas retired after 35 years of service as a personnel management analyst with the State of New Jersey, Department of Personnel. A good father, he was instrumental in sparking his daughter Marisa’s interests in diplomacy, and the arts and his son Alan’s interests in soccer, as well as in rocks and minerals.
Throughout his adult life, Tom had an abiding interest in Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO’s). He taught a course at the local high school on ufology. He served as State Section Director and Investigator for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). In the late seventies, he founded a UFO study group for the scientific study of UFO’s. Tom traveled extensively to present talks, participate, and sell books at many UFO conferences, including MIT and the American University. In the eighties, Tom published his UFO magazine the Sixth Quark Journal. Once at the National UFO Conference (NUFOC) he was awarded the honor of Ufologist of the Year. He was a member of the New York Fortean Society.
He loved folk music, especially the tunes of Pete Seeger. A social activist, Tom marched with Martin Luther King for freedom. He was an avid collector of Christmas and Halloween decorations, and was known by family, friends, and neighbors for his magical displays. As a book dealer, he enjoyed selling books online through ABE Books. Tom was a master gardener and helped begin the Ornamental Horticulture Program at Mercer County Community College.
Tom was a courageous, competent and compassionate person with high moral values, and will be deeply missed by all who knew him.
Son of the late Thomas A. and Ann (Shestko) Benson; he is survived by his wife, Melanie; his daughter, Marisa; son, Alan; sister, Susan; two sisters-in-law, Eileen and husband Jack Simzak, and Susan Miller; niece, Nancy Miller, and nephews, Andrew and Stephen Miller.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday, December 12, 2014 at 10:30 am at Incarnation Church, 1545 Pennington Rd., Ewing, NJ. Cremation will be private. Calling hours will be held Thursday from 5 to 8 pm at the Parkside Brenna-Cellini Funeral Home, 1584 Parkside Ave., Ewing, NJ 08638. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Mercer Street Friends, 151 Mercer St., Trenton, NJ 08611 or Isles, Inc., 10 Wood St., Trenton, NJ 08618. Please visit Tom’s tribute page at www.brennacellinifuneralhomes.com
Brought to you by:  Brenna-Cellini Funeral Homes

===

(Thanks to George P. Hansen and Patrick Huyghe for the initial news, plus T. Peter Park for the link to the formal obit.)

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The following are the links to my remembrances for the three ufology researchers/writers who died in one week (November 25 – December 2, 2014):

Tom Benson

Rocky Wood

Wes Nations

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Consider supporting the work of this blog with a modest or generous donation.

Every amount assists.

Thank you.

Rocky Wood, 55, Expert on Kaikoura UFOs & Stephen King, Dies

Former UFO author, Horror Writers Association president and Stephen King scholar Rocky Wood, 55, died December 1, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia, of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Rocky Wood was born October 19, 1959 in Wellington, New Zealand.

Wood was a freelance writer for over 35 years. His writing career began at university, where he wrote a national newspaper column in New Zealand on extra-terrestrial life and UFO-related phenomena and published other articles about the phenomenon worldwide, in the course of which research he met such figures as Erich von Däniken and J. Allen Hynek.

Some of Wood's ufology articles include, 

1978. The UFO Phenomenon in New Zealand – A Brief Review "Erich von Daniken and UFOs in New Zealand" April.

1978. "Was a UFO Responsible for the Disappearance of an Australian Aircraft?" Wairarapa Times-Age 16 November.
1978. "Did a UFO Kidnap Australian Pilot and Plane?" The UFO Examiner December.
1979. "Sky Watch" New Zealand Truth 16 January.

1979. "Did UFO Abduct Aircraft?" Fate Magazine, March.
1979. "Final Conclusions on the Kaikoura UFO Mystery" Earth Colonisation Report  April (with Dr Jan Feike de Bock).
1979. "The Greatest UFO Film Ever Made" Fate Magazine, June.
1979. "Degenerate Humanoids and UFOs" AUFOS Newsletter, July/August.
1979. "The Kaikoura UFO Controversy" (special issue of the Earth Colonisation Report) September (with Dr Jan Feike de Bock and Dr Bruce Maccabee).
1979. "UFO Centre Will Study All Cases" New Zealand Truth 4 September.
1979. "UFO’s – Phenomenon That Won’t Go Away" Kapiti Observer/News Shopper 8 October.
1979. "UFO Blitzes Police Car and KOs Driver!" New Zealand Truth 23 October.
1979. "Leaked Files Show UFO Sighting" New Zealand Truth 13 November.

1980. "New Zealand UFO Studies Centre: Kaikoura UFO Controversy," ed. by Rocky Wood. Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand UFO Studies Centre, 4th special issue.

1980. "Future Looks Bright for UFO Searches" New Zealand Truth 15 January.
1980. "When a UFO Can Become an IFO" New Zealand Truth 22 January.
1980. "Strange Signs in the Sky: What are They?" New Zealand Truth 19 February.
1980. "Mystery in Night-Lights" New Zealand Truth 26 February.
1980. "Lights With a Roar – The Rarest of All!" New Zealand Truth 25 March.
1980. "Mystery of the Mutilated Animals" New Zealand Truth 22 April.
1980. "What UFO Did to Police Car" New Zealand Truth 6 May.
1980. "Amazing Space: God and the Maori War" New Zealand Truth 8 July.
1980. "Kaikoura UFOs: At Last the Full Story" New Zealand Truth 2 September.
1981. "Lights At Sea Puzzle Parkers" New Zealand Truth 24 March.
1981. "Aussie Triangle Theory Suspect" New Zealand Truth 31 March.
1981. "Huge Tank Drained in UFO Visit" New Zealand Truth 14 April.
1981. "Space Probe Spots Odd Bodies" New Zealand Truth 2 June.
1981. "Debate A Major Advance in UFO Research" New Zealand Truth 9 June.
1982. "Ancient Astronauts Aren’t Shot Down" New Zealand Truth 13 April.

Wood also wrote articles on the security industry published in the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and South Africa.

Wood was one of the globe's foremost experts on Stephen King, writing many articles and books on the author, including The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King (2003), Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished (2006), The Stephen King Collector’s Guide (2006), Stephen King: The Non-Fiction (2009), and Stoker Award winner Stephen King: A Literary Companion (2011). 

Wood assisted King with research on Doctor Sleep, sequel to The Shining, with King calling Wood “my go-to guy for all things Shining….The Rock knows my work better than I do myself.”

In 2002, Wood traveled to Orono, Maine, and spent three weeks researching the Stephen King Archives at the Special Collections Unit of the Raymond H. Fogler Library at the University of Maine. Wood has undertaken five research trips to Maine in the course of his research on King's work.

Wood was a Trustee in the Horror Writers Association from 2008-10, and was elected as president for the 2010-12 term. He was re-elected for the 2012-14 term. He also wrote non-fiction graphic novels, including Stoker Award winner Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times (2011).

Wood was diagnosed with ALS in October 2010. He is survived by two daughters and a granddaughter.

See the January 2015 issue of Locus for the announcement of Wood's death.

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The following are the links to my three remembrances for the three ufology researchers/writers who died in one week (November 25 – December 2, 2014):

Tom Benson

Rocky Wood

Wes Nations

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Consider supporting the work of this blog with a modest or generous donation.

Every amount assists.

Thank you.

Robert J. Durant, UFO Researcher and Actor, Dies

Bob Durant, 75, a well-known UFO researcher, friend of Ivan T. Sanderson, and Member of the Board of Directors of the (now defunct) Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained, died on May 21, 2014. He passed away peacefully at his Pennington, New Jersey home, following a two-and-half-year struggle from the effects of a stroke. (By coincidence, I had just written about "UFO Deaths" on May 16th.)

Durant had a UFO "close encounter" experience at age 14, and became a self-described "UFO fanatic," as a result.  He tried to quit doing research in the field many times, but was never entirely successful.  Durant wrote many articles published in the MUFON Journal, IUR, and a few other specialist journals. He was a member of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena advisory group. 

Ingo Swann (14 September 14, 1933 – January 31, 2013), at the end of the table, 

with his last student and friend Bob Durant (July 7, 1938 – May 21, 2014).

Durant saw himself as a Fortean, and besides UFOs, was intrigued by remote viewing.

Robert J. Durant was also associated as an actor, host, and/or himself in Roswell? Yes! (2002), The Larksville Ghost (2006), and Mirage Men (2013). In the television program, Best Evidence (2007), Durant was in the episode entitled "The Roswell Incident."

Director Steven Spielberg said of Roswell? Yes!:  "One of the best films I've ever saw regarding Roswell."

Robert Joseph Durant was born on July 7, 1938, in Akron, Ohio, to Ronald Joseph and Mary Linnane Durant.

Durant graduated from the Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio in 1960 with a degree in electrical engineering. Upon graduation, he entered the US Navy as a Naval aviation cadet, and following flight training, was commissioned a Lieutenant, flying Sikorsky helicopters for six years in various international locations.

After the U.S. Navy, Durant joined Pan American World Airways in 1967, flying six different types of airliners for Pan Am, primarily on international routes serving as navigator, flight engineer, copilot and captain. He was also a flight operations manager for two-and-a-half years supervising 1100 pilots and flight engineers. Durant moved from Pan Am (after they went out of business) to Delta Airlines in 1991, where he flew until his retirement at 60 years of age, in 1998. He continued to serve as President of the Pan Am Pilots' Retirement Foundation, Inc. for several years.

Durant was a licensed ham radio operator (Call Sign KC2FXH), proficient in Morse code. 

Bob Durant was preceded in death by his parents and a brother. He is survived by his wife, Mauricette, son Stephen R. Durant, and daughter Jennifer L. Mohr, wife of R. Colin Mohr and granddaughters Lilian Durant Mohr and Marin Mohr. He is also survived by a sister, Mary Dianne Durant and a brother James Michael Durant and his nephews Christopher and Jeremy Durant. 

A loving and devoted husband, father, and grandfather, PAA/DL Capt. Robert J. Durant will be sorely missed by family, friends, and Forteans.

UFO Name Game Hits Shootings

In The Eighth Tower, a dark work, John A. Keel, as the publisher notes, pulls no punches, and probes the ultimate question: "Are we pawns in a celestial game?" 

Monday was the 13th of January. A day like any other day, but one in which the Fortean name game picked to play its game.

First up, Roswell. The Roswell Incident took place in the U.S. in 1947, when allegedly an unidentified flying object crashed on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. The name "Roswell" has become famous or infamous in association with UFOs, and Roswell today even has a museum dedicated to ufology.

On January 14th, Tuesday, a middle school student opened fire in his gym with a shotgun and critically wounded two students in Roswell, New Mexico.

The injured were a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy who were "simply sitting in their gym waiting to go to class," New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez said. The shooting occurred shortly before class was to begin at Berrendo Middle School.

The Eastern New Mexico Medical Center confirmed it treated two patients, who were then air lifted to the University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, located about 175 miles from the middle school.

("The Lubbock Lights were an unusual formation of lights seen over the city of Lubbock, Texas, from August–September 1951. The Lubbock Lights incident received national publicity and is regarded as one of the first great UFO cases in the United States," notes Wikipedia. That is, perhaps, after the "Roswell Incident.")

A spokesperson for UMC said the boy, who the governor said was 12, is out of surgery and is listed in critical condition. The girl, 13, is also being treated at the hospital and is listed in serious condition, according to the spokesperson. A school staff member suffered a minor injury and declined treatment.

The names of the shooting victims or the shooter have not yet released.

After the shooting, here's how the Chicago Tribune described the town where it occurred:

Roswell, a city of 48,000 people in southeastern New Mexico, is best known for its association with UFO lore because of the 1947 crash at a nearby site of an object UFO proponents believe was an alien ship. The U.S. military says materials recovered near the site were from an experimental surveillance craft.

Earlier, on January 13th, a familiar surname in UFO circles - Reeves - became the focus of another shooting.

Curtis Reeves, Jr., 71, (shown above) a retired Tampa Police Captain was arrested and held without bail for shooting a man and his wife after an apparent argument over texting while at a Wesley Chapel, Florida, movie theater (Cobb Theater's Grove 16 & CineBistro).

At the Monday afternoon showing of the film Lone Survivor, Reeves and his wife were sitting behind another couple, Chad and Nicole Oulson, watching the previews, when Reeves became agitated with Chad for texting before the movie began.

Lone Survivor is set during the War in Afghanistan, the film dramatizes the failed United States Navy SEALs mission Operation Red Wings, in which a four-man SEAL reconnaissance team was tasked to track Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. was principally filmed in New Mexico, working 42 days there. Filming first took place at the Sangre de Cristo ("Blood of Christ") Mountains of the Santa Fe National Forest. Then the production moved to Chilili, New Mexico for two weeks of filming, and finally to the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

At the Wesley Chapel-January 13th screening of Lone Survivor an argument broke out between the couples, popcorn was thrown, after which Reeves reportedly left the theater, came back, took out a gun and fired at Oulson and his wife (shown from their Facebook page). Officials said Nicole tried to block the bullet, resulting in a gunshot wound to her hand, before Chad was struck. And killed.

The Tampa Police Department issued a statement on Reeves Monday evening:

Curtis Reeves Jr. retired from the Tampa Police Department on 9/30/93 as a Captain. He was instrumental in establishing the department's first Tactical Response Team. We are not aware of any contact with the department since his departure more than 20 years ago.

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John A. Keel once raised the question of name selectivity in his writings: "Hundreds of thousands of phenomenal events have been described in newspapers, magazines and books, and hundreds of thousands of witnesses have been named in print. When dealing with such a large body of evidence – or population – certain laws of probability should surface. We might expect that more Smiths would see UFOs than anyone else, simply because there are more Smiths around. But, in actuality, the name Smith rarely appears in a UFO report."

What Keel found was that unusual names were the point of convergence for the phenomena. He saw McDaniel, Reeves/Reaves, Maddox, Heflin, Allen, Hill, and others, as being selected for UFO and related experiences, as I first pointed out in my "Name Game" chapter in 1983, in Mysterious America.

Perhaps it was merely a coincidence that on January 13th, the postal service delivered my copy of the new edition of John A. Keel's 1975 book, The Eighth Tower: On Ultraterrestrials and the Superspectrum. Anomalist Books, in conjunction with Keel's relatives, republished this book. Keel's first book, Jadoo, and his introspective ufological book, Operation Trojan Horse, where the author tackles the games of names and dates of the "Cosmic Joker," have all been reprinted by Anomalist Books, with newly added material.

Reeves. Roswell. Keel.