Do UFO's cause human injury?

[Burnt State]

Penniston's binary code is in my opinion a major anomaly -- a lengthy string of digital information only a handful of mathematical savants might have been capable of writing down within a day of 'hearing' or receiving telepathic download of it. To dismiss this anomaly one would have to resort to calling Penniston a liar, it seems. And not just a liar but a hoaxer who learned binary code at some later point and laboriously attempted to embed a message in English into it. Penniston strikes me as an honest man and a sane one, so I'm unable to resort to that explanation.

Perhaps we can unify this Penniston discussion and whether it was the fame bug that bit him, causing him to lie and fake his binary code, or was it the hypnosis and post-army debriefing that messed with his brain, or was he touched by alien intelligence in a way that makes him either our new modern prophet with messages from the future or he's entering into unhealthy mental territory because of his close contact.

The binary code is problematic on a number of fronts - why wait three decades to get this info out? Why has the number of pages changed from 5 to 10 to 12 etc. - is he just writing this story as he goes along? The conflicting interpretations of the code range from a weird sci-fi B-movie where aliens from the future are trying to preserve our DNA to esoteric I-Ching hexagrams. For myself, once the story starts to unravel into multiple changes in the plotline it makes you doubt the teller of the tale. This is what makes Travis Walton interesting as his story has stayed consistent.

Here's a little snippet from one of the translators of the code in a post-interview regarding what was not talked about on the History Channel doc that gives us a little insight into how Penniston could have generated the code:

Isaac : Could one of the online tools relating to binary code (including one that you appear to have developed) have been used in reverse to translate the relevant "possible message" into the binary code?

Nick Ciske : Yes, that's exactly what my tool does, and the most plausible explanation for how the message was generated. (Isaac - This view was not shown in the documentary. Indeed, Nick's comments as shown in the documentary implied that it would be difficult for someone to generate the relevant text. Nick is shown as saying "Could someone write out 6 pages of binary? Well, probably not. They would need some help or they would have to be some sort of savant or super calculator.")

History Channel - Rendlesham Forest UFO Binary Code Decoded But Decipher Is Wrong Says, Jim Penniston - UFO Sightings 2013|Unidentified Flying Saucers|Aliens Videos|Extra Terrestrial|Space News|UFO 2013

 

[Bob Watson]

One more thing! In the book "shoot them down!" The auther cites many piolots killed while chasing ufos!

 

[Burnt State]

One more thing! In the book "shoot them down!" The auther cites many piolots killed while chasing ufos!

He does replay the same plane mishaps discussed above, and completes a strong discussion but as one reviewer described it, "While Frank Feschino has done a great deal of research, his conclusions are pure fantasy." Despite Stanton's book ending of this text this text it would hang out in one of those confabulation sections on the bookshelf. Too wide a net and not enough proof.

 

[Constance]

Burnt State, it's possible that Penniston's binary code message was hoaxed. I'm not persuaded that it's likely that it was hoaxed on the basis of your speculations. A great deal of information contained in the complement of the witness testimonies from Bentwaters supports the interpretation that these men experienced sightings of ufos above the base and adjacent fields and also close contact with one or more landed ufos (in both situations, ufos possessing higher and stranger technology than we were capable of producing at that time or are now). You seem to put Penniston's and the others' continuing concern with what happened to them at Bentwaters up to either an interest in fame or the possibility that their minds (in the cases of the enlisted men) were scrambled by the military's efforts to erase or disable their actual memories. All of the witnesses appear to be sane individuals troubled by screen memories of uncertain origin (could be memories of actual experienced phenomena or bizarre representations created by the military or security agents in attempting to discredit their testimonies or to render them insane and thus render their testimony apparently useless). The blocks placed by the military on the medical records of these men while they were still at Bentwaters strongly suggests a coverup. The notion that these men are seeking continuing 'fame' in pursuing their questions about what happened at Bentwaters does not makes sense to me. Public notoriety (with always uncomfortable results) does not seem to me be a strong enough motivation. I'm left, in contemplating the bulk of the evidence and the behavior of these men in still pursuing answers to what happened at Bentwaters, with the conclusion that the sightings and close contacts with anomalous craft actually happened and that these men were victims of both that situation and of the PTB's subsequent efforts to cover up what happened. Re: Penniston's scribbled pages of binary code, it might seem impossible to us that he wrote it all down the day after his close encounter with the landed craft in the forest, having received it as obscure information he felt impelled to record. But there are many other apparently impossible things that have been witnessed by people, including children, all over the planet -- including their description of apparently mind to mind communication from entites associated with ufos -- that ought, I think, to incline us toward the investigation of such communication rather than to dismissing it on the grounds you suggest.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Hi,

May I make a positive suggest about readability? Try to shorten your paragraphs. I know this is done too often, but it makes reading text online a bit of a chore. Thanks.

 

[Constance]

I see what you're saying, Gene. I'll follow your suggestion to improve the readability of what I post here. I'm grateful for your suggestion because I do want what I write to be read.

 

[Burnt State]

Burnt State, it's possible that Penniston's binary code message was hoaxed. I'm not persuaded that it's likely that it was hoaxed on the basis of your speculations.

Well these are not just my speculations, but I do have a personal opinion on what's wrong with the code's believability, and yes, he's clearly trying to sustain the UFO $/fame 15 minutes longer than his due. Please consider that what's being suggested is that the single most important document in human history has been sitting around for 30 years, untended and ignored. But now, suddenly, on the the tri-decade anniversary there appears an increasing series of pages of binary code transmitted to only Jim. And he's been sitting on it? How can we entertain this?

You'd think if ET wanted to send us a message they might have wanted to hit resend at least once more, if not to one million other humans given that this earth shattering message was intended to reach us. Unfortunately, we are asked to believe a story that is akin to the Templars' cryptic hiding of the sacred chalice and that only Linda Moulton Howe's deciphers are correct. Now we must search through the ancient cities of the ancient astronauts and start looking for Atantis I suppose.

It strains credulity to say the least and has all the tells of invention. Many classic UFO events, like Rendlesham, get ruined by sudden shifts in the plot line along with "new" information that appears way too late to be relevant, and is more indicative of attention seeking. I think that it undermines what is a very significant chapter in the UFO chronicle. I personally prefer Halt's version of events and believe that the rest are muddying the waters significantly and distracts us from distilling valid information of what could be a real multiple witness UFO encounter of theatrical proportions. Instead we now have an incredible tale the size of Berlitz' Bermuda Triangle and confusing enough for it to lose its relevance.

Here are some other critical opinions on the binary code:


Rendlesham Forest UFO - Jim Penniston's notebook


Is The Rendlesham Forest Incident Dead?

 

[Constance]

Many classic UFO events, like Rendlesham, get ruined by sudden shifts in the plot line along with "new" information that appears way too late to be relevant, and is more indicative of attention seeking. I think that it undermines what is a very significant chapter in the UFO chronicle. I personally prefer Halt's version of events and believe that the rest are muddying the waters significantly and distracts us from distilling valid information of what could be a real multiple witness UFO encounter of theatrical proportions. Instead we now have an incredible tale the size of Berlitz' Bermuda Triangle and confusing enough for it to lose its relevance. . . .

I accept that that's your point of view, and that of some others. The continued efforts of the Bentwaters witnesses to bring the Bentwaters events to the public might or might not be explainable by motives of 'attention seeking' and/or financial profit. But I doubt it. It's appropriate, for example, to question what financial profits accrue to these witnesses and other authors of books on the subject of ufos. Books published in this subject area have comparatively small print runs because they have small audiences, and having worked in publishing I can tell you that the great majority of profit in bookselling goes to the publishers, and it's not much after the costs of editing, printing, binding, and order fulfillment of books with small print runs.

My personal approach to cases such as Bentwaters is to remain open to developments, whatever they are and whenever they occur. (The value of waiting for further developments certainly proved out in the history of Roswell research in my opinion.) I don't see why we need to take final positions at this point on Bentwaters. I think we need to take into consideration any and all evidence of what happened as it becomes available. The differences between Halt's and the others' accounts are explainable by the differences in these individuals' different personal experiences and perceptions on those nights at those locations around Bentwaters. No one had a global view of what went on (at least no one we can ask). I understand your frustration. It takes enormous curiosity and persistence to pursue the ufo subject for years and years and ... how many more years?

 

[Randall]

... Penniston's scribbled pages of binary code, it might seem impossible to us that he wrote it all down the day after his close encounter with the landed craft in the forest, having received it as obscure information he felt impelled to record. But there are many other apparently impossible things that have been witnessed by people, including children, all over the planet -- including their description of apparently mind to mind communication from entites associated with ufos -- that ought, I think, to incline us toward the investigation of such communication rather than to dismissing it on the grounds you suggest.

Suggesting investigation rather than dismissal is reasonable. If the investigation of the binary code reveals something previously unknown, verifiable, and beyond the ability of the author to have acquired knowledge of it, then we can consider it significant. Otherwise we're only left with a bunch of one's and zeroes, and even if it's true that they were implanted in his mind, what use are they if they can't be deciphered? At best all we can do is speculate.

 

[Sentry]

Many classic UFO events, like Rendlesham, get ruined by sudden shifts in the plot line along with "new" information that appears way too late to be relevant, and is more indicative of attention seeking.

I agree. The Contactees, for instance, kept putting themselves in the center of the story. Whenever the story begun to fade, there would be yet another visitation.

On the whole, the one-and-done encounters are a whole lot more credible than the serial sighters, or the witnesses who continue to produce new detail years after the fact.

 

[boomerang]

Barring some kind of mathematical revelation that Penniston's code is truly anomalous, I don't for a second think it's anything other than a hoax or just digital gibberish. My question still focuses on Penniston: his character and frame of mind before vs after the event, what possible motivations he might have for going to such lengths to keep himself front and center for so many years, and so on. The "tree" branches here into numerous possibilities: money (is there?), attention, (these two assuming he was a bit loosely wrapped to begin with) induced change of personality and motivations by authorities, change of same by "ET", and there are probably more.

I personally tend to dump the code debacle into the High Strangeness Rendlesham basket along with so many other aspects of it. So we are back to the familiar lack of access to hard information. What were these men's personality profiles before Rendlesham (presumably on record somewhere)? What is their medical histories, and so on. As with most such critical information, we are may wish in one hand and poop in the other.

 

[Burnt State]

After reading through some of the literature it seems that most close encounters are about indifference (causing impermanent injury), curiosity (effects vary) and enough care to not intentionally kill bumans. If anything, it is the human who is so disrupted by the experience that they may inadvertently cause their own demise. This may include self-destruction (the many pilots who lose oxygen or obsessed researchers like James E. MacDonald). There are minor accidents due to human distraction and curiosity that cause the Michalak styled exhaust burns. There are some stories that suggest we are being tagged and sampled like an experimental herd but those are rare and difficult to prove. Finally, mental decompensation may result from dwelling too long on their life altering experience that reality starts to alter for them.

I don't see the UFO Experience as intentionally malicious. Considering the frequency of our interactions and their awesome power there's almost something suspicious about, what appears to be, an alien compassion.

This causes me to think that they are either something that we have invented ourselves, like the conjured familiar, phantasm we have confirmed over the eternal campfire conversation, or this part of the galaxy, maybe even the universe, is more caring than i might have guessed. It's got a kind of warm existentialism to the whole experience.

If they are an invention that we somehow call into being then there's something very sad about that. How lonely a species must we be that we invent aliens to feel important enough to be contacted by ET? Talk about Post Human Blues.

 

[kellyiom]

I like that summary Burnt State . There seems no doubt that this phenomena is real to anyone who perceives it . Logically , I just can't believe there is any physical risk from it or we'd surely know all about it . Cell / mobile phones have been a potential source of harm for a while now and despite the warning signs, I've never heard of a fuel station blowing up or a plane crashing as a result of one. And there must be loads left on in the vicinity . We'd know all about it if they were dangerous .

Constance is right too I think about UFO 'celebrity' not being all that lucrative with small book runs, for most cases I can't see much fame or fortune accruing and might even be negative in harming future job prospects . I'd like someone to give some facts though as I really don't have a clue .

Back to harm...does anyone recall the theory of the 70s I think that they were Satanic in origin ? Now that was some disturbing stuff! But I couldn't discern between reporting and evangelism ...

 

[Trajanus]

There are minor accidents due to human distraction and curiosity that cause the Michalak styled exhaust burns.

I don't think that was an accident. It landed close to him and then IIRC turned and let him have it.

I don't see the UFO Experience as intentionally malicious. Considering the frequency of our interactions and their awesome power there's almost something suspicious about, what appears to be, an alien compassion.

There have in fact been cases of altruism such as healing but they're rare. What if Jacobs is right. It might be the only reason we're still alive is they haven't finished harvesting all the best genes that'll enable them to live here fully adapted as we are.

Kellyiom: I recall Pat Robertson said UFOs are "the work of the devil."

 

[Burnt State]

I don't think that was an accident. It landed close to him and then IIRC turned and let him have it.

In Michalak's case he chose to investigate, tried to communicate with the voices inside the craft, walked around it and it seems his own interactions drew attention to someone that opened an exhaust port and lifted off. This seems more like an example of acceptable collateral damage. What's very interesting in this case is just how close he got to the ship, that he looked inside it and he identifies colour shifting synchronized with the second ship. It's truly a fascinating case.

1967, The Falcon Lake Landing, Stephen Michalak, UFO Casebook Case files

 

[Trajanus]

In Michalak's case he chose to investigate, tried to communicate with the voices inside the craft, walked around it and it seems his own interactions drew attention to someone that opened an exhaust port and lifted off. This seems more like an example of acceptable collateral damage.

The thing turned so the "exhaust port" faced Michalak.

What's very interesting in this case is just how close he got to the ship, that he looked inside it..

Rare but not unique, even in cases not involving abduction.

 

[Burnt State]

Rare but not unique, even in cases not involving abduction.

Please point me to others as I've been looking for more cases where people are close enough to either hear dialogue amongst the operators of unknown crafts (most of these come from airship times), get up close enough to document the ship's exterior, or even get a peek inside. These cases are very unique and offer specific details of an actual physical technology at work.

All the abduction/contactee episodes present very impressionistic details that are complicated by the 'fuzzy' mental state of the individual. Michalak's is excellent because he had time to draw a picture, tried to communicate, identified structure, texture, colours, lights and sounds of unique detail. The only others that comes to mind are Bentwaters and Simonton where the witness was able to spend some contemplative time with the object.

If you know of others that have those levels of detail, not involving abduction, please list.

 

[Randall]

If you know of others that have those levels of detail, not involving abduction, please list.

Excluding contactees I presume?

 

[Burnt State]

Excluding contactees I presume?

Yes, that's right. I glance right past the contactee material as there is little there that helps me to understand what the core phenomenon is about. Every time you read contactee material it is steeped in the obvious needs and insecurities of an individual looking for some self-importance. There's nothing there to learn about outside of the lavish and erroneous tales that people make up about finding out they are actually from Venus and earth is facing impending doom blah blah blah etc.. While the contactee movement is fascinating in its own right it can only tell us about humans, their needs and how they relate to UFO's, but nothing more than that.

However, legitmate encounters with beings from other worlds are equally fascinating to me as a good close up witnessing of anomalous craft.

 

[Randall]

Yes, that's right. I glance right past the contactee material as there is little there that helps me to understand what the core phenomenon is about. Every time you read contactee material it is steeped in the obvious needs and insecurities of an individual looking for some self-importance. There's nothing there to learn about outside of the lavish and erroneous tales that people make up about finding out they are actually from Venus and earth is facing impending doom blah blah blah etc.. While the contactee movement is fascinating in its own right it can only tell us about humans, their needs and how they relate to UFO's, but nothing more than that.

However, legitmate encounters with beings from other worlds are equally fascinating to me as a good close up witnessing of anomalous craft.

It's certainly tempting to simply dismiss the contactees, but what if Vorilhon actually is being misguided (rather than guided) by some ETH as part of some alien social control experiment? They don't want to discuss their religion with anyone critical, especially ufologists, and we naturally presume that's because they want to keep their all too human operation from being exposed, but what if it's really to keep a genuine alien disinformation scheme from being subjected to critical analysis? What better place to hide out a bunch of hybrids than Ufoland? I sense a Grade-B sci-fi plot unfolding ...