Tag Archives: aliens

The Infamous Bridgewater Triangle

Text: “A super popular legend in Massachusetts is the story of the Bridgewater Triangle which is like an area in southeastern Massachusetts that is supposedly haunted by ghosts, UFOs, and other paranormal phenomena. According to legend, the Bridgewater Triangle is a hub of supernatural activity, with many people claiming to have witnessed strange occurrences in the area. These include sightings of Bigfoot-like creatures, mysterious orbs of light, and ghostly apparitions. The Hockomock Swamp, which is located within the Bridgewater Triangle, is said to be a particularly active area for paranormal activity and I personally heard a story about a ufo with a bunch of flashing lights being seen there, but I have also heard about people saying they’ve seen bigfoots or like giant snakes there. Its basically this huge area where a ton of weird unexplainable stuff happens.”

Context: CW is a very close friend of mine and it was clear to me from the very beginning of this story that he did not really believe in the supernatural sightings within the Bridgewater triangle, but he still said this legend was very very common in Massachusetts. He recalls first being told about it by his friend in middle school, but that when he was first told about it, his friend blew it out of proportion, saying that the ghosts of several random famous people have been seen there having parties or that aliens often go there to just casually hangout. This led to a good laugh and it also helped explain why he was altogether unphased by the supposed supernatural nature of this area close to his home. We looked up if any of the supposed sightings could be backed by evidence and while we found some very blurry pictures it was certainly not enough to “prove” anything.

Analysis: I found this to be one of the more enjoyable legends I have been told about particularly because it leaves a lot up to the person hearing the story’s imagination. It seems that it does not necessarily matter what supernatural activity occurs in the Bridgewater Triangle, it is more important just to believe that something supernatural might be happening there in general. The legend has supposedly gained a large following among paranormal enthusiasts and has been the subject of numerous books, movies, and TV shows. Additionally, many people who live in the area have reported experiencing strange occurrences and believe in the supernatural happenings that are said to occur in the Bridgewater Triangle. This legend exists because of the numerous reports of paranormal activity and strange occurrences that have been reported in the area. The stories of this particular area have been passed down from generation to generation, and many people believe in the supernatural happenings that are said to occur there. This leads me to believe that it s primarily passed down through word of mouth. People who have experienced strange occurrences in the area share their stories with others, who then pass them on to their friends and family. Like in the case of CW, who heard the legend from his close friend. I also enjoy the fact that this particular legend can have many different effects on a person or group depending on what they believe in. Because of the lack of concrete or credible evidence, this falls nicely into the category of legend because of how much people do truly believe in the supernatural activity of this area, even though it is yet to be proven.

Alien Day Parade

Z. grew up in a rural town in Western Oregon called McMinnville. Nestled between farms and long stretches of highway, McMinnville is home to the Alien Days parade.

He spoke about the parade as one of the town’s biggest attractions. I grew up in Oregon as well, and many of my classmates and teachers growing up would make the drive to McMinnville once a year to go and celebrate aliens and their presence in the Universe and McMinnville, in particular. Z. said:

“Alien Days parade in McMinnville is a tradition–one of the biggest alien celebrations/congregations in the US, if not the world. Apparently there have been a bunch of sightings in the area and the local culture is super connected to it. People from all over visit, and share stories and perpetuate myths. That’s been going on forever as well.”  

The three-day long event gathers together people in a variety of alien-like costumes, participating in activities from trivia contests to story telling to barbecues.

The tradition has been happening since the 1950’s when one of the most famous photos of a UFO were taken in McMinnville on a plot of farm land. The photos are some of the only ones to have been taken that seem to have no explanation from the US government. The parade brings together people from all over to celebrate their belief in the myth of aliens who come to visit Earth from other galaxies. Because of their origin outside of our universe/reality, these stories could be classified as either legend or myth, depending on how you look at it.

To read more about the Alien Days parade, follow this link: https://visitmcminnville.com/about/articles/ufo-festival/

The Anunnaki: A Myth

Hrmm, I mea- I’m not sure you wanna use this.  Alotta people have ridiculed Sitchin’s work and if you submit this, people will probably think that your Mom’s a nutcase (laughs).

 Okay so here goes: The Anunnaki are the (quote) “ones who came from heaven.”  They’re told of in the Sumerian texts and the story goes, at lease according to Sitchin in his Earth Chronicle books – which’s been wildly panned by all the scholars – is that the Anunnaki were extra-terrestrials who came to the Earth about five-hundred-thousand years ago to mine for gold. They uhh that they needed the gold to replenish their atmosphere on their planet called Niburu.

 So because Nibiru takes thirty-two-hundred years to circle the sun, they lived incredibly long lives. The miners – the Anunnaki – got restless and wanted help with their work, so the Anunnaki used their scientific expertise and created the Adamu – that’s Adam in the Bible – by mixing their DNA with the native creatures already existing on the planet. I always found it interesting that this story is probably the basis for the Adam and Eve story in the Bible. 

The Informant has always been interested in unconventional explanations for nearly everything. The disclaimer above is genuine, her interest does not entail belief. She believes stories can be valuable inherently, with truth underlying them playing a lesser importance (a natural folklorist!). I’m almost certain she first learned of the Anunnaki for the first time on the show Ancient Aliens. It piqued her interest and she began reading Zecharia Sitchin.

According to Sumerian mythology, the Anunnaki are descendants of the sky-god, An. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, there are contradicting accounts of the Anunnaki, including the number of gods or even their function. Perhaps there were rivaling religious factions even in 2144 BC.

The mythology is written in stone, literally, but the academic world has widely rejected Stitchin’s creationist myth of the Anunnaki as an alien species responsible for creating homo erectus as a slave race to mine for gold. He has been accused of misrepresenting the Sumerian texts and mistranslating Sumerian to fit his claims.

Although this myth turned creationist myth is strange, oddity is a characteristic of mythology. The truthfulness of sacred myth, by definition, is questionable. Stitchin’s work is a good story and surely an interesting premise, but nonetheless a blatant exaggeration of the surely sacred to the Sumerian people in Mesopotamia.

The Impossible Aircraft

Item (direct transcription):

My encounter with aliens was when I was flying back from Bangladesh about two summers ago. In the skies above Canada… um, this might have just been some weird aircraft or some weird, uh, phenomenon with the wind. Anyways, we were flying towards California, right, at a very high rate of speed, and I saw this—looking out my window—very far away I saw this tiny streak of, like… light going in the other direction. And it was flying pretty fast—in the other direction.

It had a smoke trail behind it. No, not behind it! In front of it! Which was the weird part. Like, then I guess you can’t call it a smoke trail, exactly. It looked like something was being emitted from the front, and it was, like, following that. It was so weird! But it was also very far away… there were no clouds in the area, though, so it couldn’t have been a cloud.

At the time, I had no idea what it was! Because no plane flies like this! I thought it was some kind of, maybe like, alien craft, or something. I don’t know. Maybe some secret government experiment.

Background Information:

The informant was very insistent in the validity of his testimony. He is certain that he saw this impossible aircraft. He thinks it must have been a high-tech craft built either by aliens or by a top-secret government project.

Contextual Information:

The informant accompanied his story with a simple drawing to illustrate the aircraft.

Analysis:

This story matches the format of a typical memorate. The informant has linked his experience to common American folk beliefs in aliens and top-secret government aeronautical projects.

Unexplainable Alien Voice

The following story is collected from my friend. She lived in Russia for the most part of her life. Then she lived in England for few years and now lives in L.A. She talks about an event, which she considers to be unexplainable. This interview is done face-to-face. “A” refers to me, the collector. And “B” refers to the participant.

 

A: “Did you have any interesting experience in the past?”

B: “Yes. Okay so the story is this; Me and my friends were watching a movie together, and the most interesting thing ever happened to me… Guess I am kind of a boring person. It was me, my friend, and her sister watching a movie and then suddenly, the volume of the TV goes down to almost silent. Then we heard two guys in a very low voice talking in a language that is not distinguishable. Like a language that comes from outside of this world. Then a few seconds later volume of the tv goes up by itself. And movie continues. Me and my friends freaked out. I talked to my dad about this and he said, maybe it’s the people outside in the street and their radio interfered with our system but that does not make sense because we were watching it from a DVD player, which I don’t think has the ability to receive radio transmissions. Also, it was 10 years ago and we didn’t use the internet, so it can not be something related to that too. And I am not crazy, you can write that down, because my two friends heard it too. Very weird.”

A: “What do you think it was?”

B: “(Silence)… I don’t know… UFO”

A: “Do you believe in aliens?”

B: “I believe there are other intelligent beings in the universe… but I don’t prefer the word alien.”
In my opinion, she can not explain what really happened but she thinks it does not belong to this world.