THE SISYPHUS EFFECT
If one is up on one’s ancient Greek mythology one cannot forget the ordeal of Sisyphus.
According to the myth, and we’ll make it short here, Sisyphus had offended the gods and as a punishment was cursed to eternal frustration. He was suffered to the task of rolling a boulder up a hill and promised if he placed it on top of the hill he would regain his freedom. However, Zeus, the head of the Greek pantheon had the contest rigged so that whenever Sisyphus got that old boulder to the top of that hill it would roll back down again and Sisyphus would have to start his task all over again.
Hence the word sisyphean akin to tasks of unending frustration.
That’s how I’ve associated UFOlogy. I call it the Sisyphus Effect.
I’ve mentioned this numerous times to fellow UFOlogists who’ve gotten quite a giggle out of it because it illustrates this field of study.
Why, might one say? Because no matter where one looks in this phenomenon one finds that choice piece of solid data, that one delectable tidbit of proof always just out of reach. It just never ends!
It goes all the way back to the late 1800’s in Texas where reports of a strange creature that manned an airship had died in the crash of that craft. Journalist Jim Marrs author of the popular book “Alien Agenda” goes into detail about this case that took place in April of 1897 in Aurora, Texas. Quite the find one might think but of course after finding the grave site to search for the body or pieces of wreckage, mysteriously they were gone.
Take us on up to the most well known UFO case in history, Roswell.
Dozens upon dozens of witnesses, full confessions from top military officers, civilians, journalists, scientists that span half a century. Documentation from agencies such as the FBI, Pentagon, the only atomic bomb strike force the 509th Bombardment Wing that dropped both atomic bombs on Japan, but no wreckage or bodies have emerged. Two Air Force studies released in one decade alone and both were laughed at by the press and public alike. When a congressman, the late Steven Schiff got the GAO, Government Accounting Office to practically wrestle Roswell information from the Pentagon we find out that for some strange reason as yet unexplained to taxpayers and mankind alike, the records from Roswell were illegally or mysteriosly destroyed. No one arrested or brought to bear for the mishandling of an historic era in American history because of the bravery of the 509th alone, not to mention the UFO issue. Again, the proof of the pudding ain’t in the tasting because the pudding was taken away.
Let’s now hop a few decades to the most chilling of UFO reports involving the abduction of two people by alien beings, none other than the case of Barney and Betty Hill. Now a legend, the story of these two New Englanders has been the topic of scrutiny, debate, and a darn good movie. In short the couple had been travelling and noticed time missing from their trip. Some hour or two missing. After experiencing some symptoms of anxiety they couldn’t fathom they went to a psychiatrist who used hypnotic regression to uncover the missing moments in their lives. The sessions of hypnosis revealed that both husband and wife, Barney and Betty recalled independently of one another having been kidnapped by humanoid creatures they interpreted as being aliens from another star system. The story broke in LOOK Magazine in the early 1960’s and the rest is legend. However, while Mrs. Hill was aware and awake during her abduction and recalled in detail the unusual encounter, Her one piece of physical proof, a book she says the beings gave her and then refused went unobtained. Her only physical evidence a dress with chemical stains on it. Not as solid as an alien tome but still so tantalizing it makes one lurch forward in frustration that said evidence escaped our grasp again.
The list goes on and on in UFOlogy. Excellent reports from credible witnesses and many multiple witness sightings with radar or photo data. However those photos seem to be always blurry or odd looking. Not enough for a convincing debate. I do recall one researcher’s most spooky and amazing photos. Her name was Dr. Ellen Crystal who lived across the river from me. She authored the scariest book “Silent Invasion” which took place in the Hudson Valley where my book “The UFO Mafia” takes place. I recall reading “Silent Invasion” and being able to match many sightings listed for I was there at the scene or got the report at the largest newspaper in the region where I worked at the time. It’s something to read a book about aliens and having been there! Her photos were very convincing and I’m hoping new digital analysis of her work is done. However, again, just out of reach.
I’m just as guilty or cursed. I’ve got eyewitnesses to all sorts of UFO information and events but to get them to talk publicly is out of the question. This UFO enigma could be solved overnight but not yet. I recall back in 1986 when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant went haywire. I was working that day and it was my job to collect the breaking photos from the then AP Laserphoto that all newspapers had. On that pile of photos that day were a dozen or so crystal clear photos of a saucer hovering around the Chernobyl plant. I stood there dumbfounded at these photos. Our managing editor noticed it and took the photos. They were never seen again. Normally there were multiple copies of every laserphoto and these had multiple copies. None arose again, or maybe I’ve got copies stashed somewhere.
I’ll bet that statement scared some official folks somewhere.
No one seems to be able to get a piece of an alien or craft to bring home to show mom. It makes one wonder if there’s not some force behind it all, some sort of occlusion technology at work that permeates our very existence. A safeguard of some sort. Some super intelligent safeguard to make sure we keep rolling that boulder uphill.
In present day UFOlogy the Sisyphus Effect is still in bloom. In the past two years there have been three incidents of note where multiple witnesses, two events in broad daylight, have hit the headlines but still that elusive conclusive data.
In November 2006 witnesses at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport told of a disc shaped craft that was visible for several minutes. Pilots, ground crews, and public saw this object that then reportedly shot straight up through the clouds at such force as to leave a hole in the clouds. No one got any photos or camera phone pics. With that many people going to and fro to travel one would think someone would have the presence of mind to snap off a few. We’re told that the only good photos will appear in some UFO documentary coming up. I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
In January 2008 a huge U.F.O. was seen by multiple witnesses in Texas. Jets were scrambled, the officials denied it and then discovered they had lied about it, President Bush’s ranch seems to have been in the path of the craft, all the stuff of U.F.O. movies but no one took any pics! Again, that boulder just rolled on back down that hill.
In the U.K. an object was reported to have almost hit a police helicopter a few months ago in June 20008. Over an airport, police officers and ground persons witnessing it but no pics or vids.
This tendency for U.F.O. proof to always evade capture whether at our fingertips or on camera says more about the phenomenon than anything else. The only physical evidence we have of an intriguing nature are the trace case evidence by such researchers as Mr. Ted Phillips and the surgical evidence provided by Dr. Roger Leir. They’re not proof but do show that something physical is going on with certain reports.
We can see from the history of UFOlogy that this cat and mouse game is no midsummer night’s dream but a real phenomenon that has actions of a higher intellect afoot. Of course some reports are flights of fancy and downright delusional but not all and that’s as solid a fact as we get. Those few reports that do pan out cannot be dismissed no matter how much some skeptic or debunker might try.
I’ve said before and will say again, there are intelligences at work here that we normal folk are unable to match so far. We really don’t know how smart some beings may be. When one reaches such levels of intelligence one’s priorities change. Let’s theorize that there are intelligences that have solved the problems of immortality or longevity. Hunger, disease, no longer a concern. We’re getting close ourselves with such breakthroughs as stem cell research can one imagine what some other culture out there amongst the stars may have discovered? The mind boggles at the possibilities.
In conclusion, at present we don’t have the means to solve this problem and that becomes a threat to the insecure scientists, politicians, and of course the military industrial complex. They’ve danced with the Devil and there’s going to be a price to pay for it.
So the next time the Earth rumbles it just might be that boulder rolling back down that hill.