The blog to end all blogs. Reviews and comments about all and everything. This blog is NOT affiliated with YouTube, Wikipedia, Microsoft Bing, Gemini, ChatGPT or any commercial vendor! Links don´t imply endorsement. Many posts and comments are ironic. The blogger is not responsible for comments made by others. The languages used are English and Swedish. Content warning: Essentially everything.
It seems stories about friendly space brothers exist all over the world. Which doesn´t prove they are "real", of course. It may simply be American cultural influence. The tale above is from Italy and began in 1956, hence the contactees called themselves W56. The aliens were simply called The Friends. It´s the usual stuff: fear of nuclear war, a vaguely spiritual message, "we are not ready for contact", etc. The ending is somewhat peculiar, though. The Friends eventually gave up on humanity and simply left!
But sure, that part of the story sounds almost believable...
Three scary stories about apparent alien abductions with deadly outcomes. One is from the UK, the two others from Brazil. Note the weird Spiritualist-cult connection in the second case! Let´s hope these are just tall tales...
A rather bizarre alien abduction story from Wyoming in the United States. Carl Higdon was out hunting deer, when *he* became the hunted. An alien took him (and the deer) to his home planet for evaluation. Since Higdon was unsuitable as food or breeding cattle, he was sent back to Earth without further ado! Most of this truly anomalous story didn´t surface until Higdon was hypnotized by a psychologist, but it does seem well established that the man was found in a very confused state in the wrong part of the forest. The posse looking for him even made a "UFO" observation.
Hallucinations caused by earth lights? Temporal lobe epilepsy? Bigfeet pretending to be aliens? You be the judge.
A very interesting episode of the Why Files about a strange phenomenon known as "the third man". I suppose religious believers would call it "guardian angel"! The WF makes the interesting point that attempts at recreating the "third man" in a laboratory setting have failed. Yes, scientists can create the illusion of a mysterious "presence" in the room by stimulating certain portions of the brain, but it´s a far cry from what people actually report in the field...
A weird spin on the Roswell mythos. In this version, the crashed alien is female. Her message sounds like a syncretic blend of New Age, Scientology, David Icke, John Keel and some kind of Neo-Gnosticism. It´s surprisingly elaborate and "consistent". Evidence? None. But then, the entire point of the exercise is that we´re the victims of a grand cosmic conspiracy only known to a select few. Think Gnostic prison planet, false memory implants, that kind of thing.
Fascinating after a fashion. But probably not, you know, true. Indeed, skeptics suspect that this new space opera *is* a front for the "Church" of Scientology...
The Why Files discusses "shared death experiences", but perhaps with too much crazy humor and interruptions from Hecklefish? Raymond Moody wrote about these experiences in his fascinating little book "Glimpses of Eternity".
Roko´s basilisk is a silly thought experiment which apparently mind-fucked members of the "Rationalist" on-line community. I don´t know who they are and little motivation finding out. Some kind of autistic tech nerds spinning the usual blend of libertarianism, transhumanism, NRx and other quite irrational bunk?
Roko´s basilisk is obviously inspired by an idea found in certain forms of Christianity. If you never heard the Gospel, you will be saved since not hearing the message wasn´t your fault. However, if you *have* heard the Gospel and reject it, you will go to Hell. In other words, hearing the Gospel might actually *endager* your soul - a rather absurd and paradoxical situation (which logically should make Christians stop all their missionary activity). Roko´s basilisk is *exactly* the same idea but with God replaced by an intelligent machine. Another confirmation that certain atheists are simply constructing a simulacrum of Christianity or theism-in-general. The bizarre ideas about retro-causation are presumably inspired by God´s omnipotence and the fact that He stands outside of Time itself, which perhaps leads to various paradoxes.
And then there are the Zizians...
The Zizians are supposedly an off-shoot of the Rationalist subculture, although it´s difficult to see any obvious connection. They are allegedly a cult preying on vulnerable trans-people, and may be responsible for at least four murders. Apparently, the Zizians claim they can save people from Roko´s basilisk?!
Oookay...
I admit that I completely missed this particular cult/cultic milieu. But yes, I´ve heard of Roko´s basilisk before. Of course, I´m not terribly impressed by these Silicon Valley-adjacent counter-cultures. Still, it´s interesting that some of the biggest pro-AI crazies may be busy actually developing, well, AI. Which makes the entire basilisk scenario a kind of strange self-fulfilling prophecy. Until the real God (or just lack of good ol´ electricity) puts an end to this silliness once and for all!
I know this is "pseudo-science", but it´s interesting anyway. "Time storms" seem somewhat uneasily situated somewhere in between fringe science about EM fields, the even more fringey UFO phenomenon, and the outrightly paranormal. Fairies as usual? Or just tabloid-type sensationalism? Note also the connections to (purported) quantum physics and science fiction.
Do your own research. Or seek ye the time storm and see the truth...
The Why Files take on the ever-evolving legends about the Count of Saint Germain, a mysterious French character who officially died in 1784. I admit that some of the content in this video was new even to me! Apparently, there is a "tradition" in Lousiana that Saint Germain was a vampire and lived in the state for a number of years. Another tall tale claims that he was taken prisoner by German soldiers during the First World War and predicted Hitler´s rise and fall. As late as the 1970´s, some stage magician in France claimed to *be* Saint Germain.
All the standard legends about the Count are of course also incuded in the video, such as the claim that he persuaded the Founding Fathers to sign the Declaration of Independence, or that Voltaire un-ironically called him "the man who never dies". The Why Files also briefly mention Guy Ballard and the Mighty I AM Activity, the American New Religious Movement which treats Saint Germain almost as a god.
There is no doubt that the Count of Saint Germain was a real person, although nothing for certain is known about his origins. The "count" was probably an Italian adventurer and con man who claimed to be an alchemist. At some point, he had overstayed his welcome at the French royal court and had to make a run for it to Schleswig-Holstein, where he is also buried. As a good Scandinavian, I couldn´t help noticing that the Why Files refer to the Count´s final residence as "Germany". Not wrong, but at the time Schleswig-Holstein was in union with Denmark!
For whatever reason, this colorful character was turned into a semi-divine being by 19th century Theosophists ("Master Rakoczi") and 20th century Theosophy-inspired groups ("Ascended Master Saint Germain"). But that´s another show, as they say.
Some more "campfire stories" from the Why Files. This time about phone calls from the dead, the black-eyed kids, and cursed hearts. As in: heart transplants supposedly also transplants the personality of the donor. If the donor killed himself...well...
I haven´t asked mi amigo ChatGPT to debunk these stories (yet), but I suppose that *could* be fun. Meanwhile, be careful over there around the campfire!
Three cadets walk into a small town in England...only to find that it looks like it did 700 years ago, just after the Black Death had killed most of its population. Time distortion? Place memories? An American man turns out to have strange paranormal abilities. The temperature around him suddenly drops, water appears from a hole in space-time right above him, et cetera. Human poltergeist? And yes, the third story is about "Unfavorable Semicircle". A communication from aliens firmly anchored in a metallic UFO at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean? Or is it Cthulhu as per usual? One thing is certain: THEY ARE STILL DOWN THERE.
This is a very interesting episode of the Why Files about propaganda and "psy-ops". And how to spot one! There´s just one problem: how do we know Chase Hughes isn´t one of "them"?
The Why Files goes full Halloween in this episode, which actually is quite good and interesting. Yes, it´s about Codex Gigas (The Devil´s Bible) and various tall tales associated with it. IF THEY ARE TALL TALES, THAT IS, MUH-HAH-HAH-HAH.
Are the aliens really humans from the future trying to protect "their" time line? I get the impression that the Why Files *want* to believe this story. Jack Sarfatti is apparently a real person and WF claims that his speculations about UFO propulsion could be true?! At least on a theoretical level. Oookay.
The rest of the story is as impossible to verify as usual. Note the very current concerns about Russia and China. Richard Rorty, our favorite proven disinfo agent, is somehow connected to the saga. But sure, I suppose it´s interesting that Sarfatti has never been assassinated by The They!
Maybe the time travelers really do protect him. Oh, and Sarfatti is the model for the crazy scientist Doc Brown in "Back to the Future". You know, the 1980´s franchise which predicted Donald Trump becoming Great Leader of Amerika...
Some kind of Bloody Mary stuff. The YouTube clip above is about a "paranormal" game called Midnight Man, supposedly an ancient pagan ritual. In reality, it´s an internet phenomenon from circa 2010. Another urban legend mentioned in the clip is called the Elevator Game.
Here is what ChatGPT says:
What is the magical ritual known as "Midnight Man"? Is it really an ancient pagan ritual? It seems to be connected to 22 tarot cards, but tarot isn´t really ancient.
The Midnight Man ritual is not an ancient pagan rite, despite some online claims to that effect. Instead, it's best understood as a modern creepypasta or internet urban legend—a fictionalized horror ritual that gained popularity online, particularly around the early 2010s.
Overview of the "Midnight Man" Ritual
According to the lore, the Midnight Man ritual is a game in which participants summon a malevolent entity known as the Midnight Man into their home at exactly midnight, usually by writing their name on a piece of paper, pricking their finger to mark it with blood, and then placing it in front of a door with a candle.
Participants are then supposed to walk around their home in the dark with the candle lit, trying to avoid the Midnight Man until 3:33 a.m. If the candle goes out, it's said the Midnight Man is near—and you must relight it within a short time or risk hallucinations, harm, or spiritual possession.
Connection to Paganism?
The ritual is often falsely described as an “ancient pagan banishment ritual,” but there’s no credible historical evidence supporting that claim.
No known pagan culture practiced anything resembling this game.
The "ancient ritual" framing is part of the horror narrative style, meant to enhance the mystique and danger of the game—it’s fiction, not folklore.
Connection to Tarot?
Some versions of the Midnight Man story have included a connection to the 22 Major Arcana cards of the tarot, supposedly as symbolic representations of the Midnight Man's moods or stages of the ritual.
But as you rightly noted, tarot cards are not ancient—they originated in 15th-century Europe as playing cards and only later became associated with mysticism and divination in the 18th–19th centuries.
The use of the tarot in connection with the Midnight Man is a modern invention, likely meant to add an occult or esoteric flavor.
Bottom Line
The Midnight Man ritual is fictional, created as a scary game or test of courage (much like Bloody Mary or the Elevator Game).
There is no historical or pagan origin for the ritual.
Any connections to tarot or other occult systems are modern embellishments with no authentic tradition behind them.
Would you like a breakdown of the ritual's steps or a comparison to other "paranormal games" from internet folklore?
What is the Elevator Game?
The Elevator Game is a well-known urban legend and supernatural game that allegedly allows a person to enter a different dimension or alternate reality by using an elevator in a very specific way. Like the Midnight Man ritual, it's part of modern internet folklore (often labeled as "creepypasta") and has no basis in real occult practice.
🕹️ How the Elevator Game Works (According to the Legend)
To play, you need:
A building with at least 10 floors.
A functional elevator that no one else will use during the ritual.
To be alone while performing the game.
The Basic Steps (Summarized):
Enter the elevator on the first floor.
Press the buttons in this exact order:
4th floor
2nd floor
6th floor
2nd floor
10th floor
5th floor
At the 5th floor, a woman (or "other entity") may enter. You must not speak to or look at her.
Press the button for the 1st floor. If the elevator instead goes to the 10th floor, the ritual is working.
When you reach the 10th floor, you may choose to step out—this is the “other world.”
The “other world” is usually described as empty, dark, and eerie, with red lights outside windows and no signs of life.
If you step out, you may have difficulty returning.
To Return:
You must reverse the steps precisely, and even then, it's said that you may find yourself in the wrong version of reality, with subtle or disturbing differences.
👻 Themes and Interpretations
Isolation, thresholds, and liminality are key motifs: you're in a confined space, moving between levels, crossing into the unknown.
The “woman” on the 5th floor is often likened to a ghost, demon, or test—much like the "stranger" figure in many myths.
It's part of a modern fascination with forbidden knowledge and hidden portals, especially in online horror culture.
🧾 Origins
The game originated in Korea or Japan, where it circulated on online forums in the early 2010s.
It gained wider attention after being translated into English and shared on sites like Reddit, YouTube, and creepypasta wikis.
🕯️ Real or Not?
There is no evidence that the Elevator Game leads to anything paranormal. It's a narrative experience, a way to evoke fear and curiosity.
However, like many urban legends, the story endures because it taps into psychological fears—elevators, being alone, other realities, and the unknown.
Would you like a comparison between the Elevator Game and mythological themes like the descent into the underworld?
I´m sure this is a true story, LOL. The Why Files takes us to the far side. Yes, it´s the insectoid aliens again. Funny it aired today, shortly after I asked ChatGPT about the Oz effect...
Is there something popularly known as the Oz effect? Something about people experiencing eerie silence and other strange effects before they see Bigfoot or have a paranormal experience. Also, people smell sulphur. Is there any natural explanation for this?
Yes — the "Oz Effect" is a term used in paranormal and UFO lore to describe a sudden, profound shift in perception or atmosphere just before a person experiences something anomalous, like a UFO sighting, Bigfoot encounter, or other high-strangeness event.
🌫️ What Is the Oz Effect?
Coined by researcher Jenny Randles, the term references the surreal, dreamlike transition into the Land of Oz in The Wizard of Oz. In paranormal reports, it typically includes:
Sudden eerie silence, as if all insects, birds, or ambient noise stop
A sense of disorientation or time distortion (feeling that time has slowed or stopped)
Feelings of unreality, stillness, or emotional “heaviness”
Sometimes electrical disturbances or static charge sensations
In some cases, unusual odors, including sulphur or ozone
This "bubble" of altered perception is frequently reported just before or during:
UFO sightings
Close encounters
Bigfoot encounters
Apparitions or other high-strangeness phenomena
🔬 Possible Natural Explanations
Despite how mysterious it sounds, some components of the Oz Effect could have natural—though rare—explanations. Here are a few:
1. Infrasound
Low-frequency sound (below human hearing range) can come from:
Earthquakes or tectonic stress
Wind passing over terrain
Thunderstorms, waterfalls, even distant explosions
Effects on humans: nausea, unease, anxiety, chills, and a sense of “presence” or being watched
Might explain both the emotional unease and the “heavy” atmosphere
2. Environmental Electrostatics
In areas of high electrical potential (like before lightning storms or seismic activity), the air may carry an electrical charge.
This can cause:
Tingling skin
Hair standing up
Odors of ozone or sulphur
Sulphur smells might also come from natural gas seeps or volcanic activity in geologically active regions.
3. Sudden Animal Silence
Predators (like large carnivores) or environmental shifts (barometric pressure changes) can cause insects and birds to go silent.
People unfamiliar with this natural stillness may experience it as uncanny.
4. Temporal Lobe Effects
Seizure-like activity or electrical stimulation of the temporal lobes can induce:
Derealization
Altered time perception
Feelings of “presence” or spiritual awe
These effects can occur due to stress, fatigue, or environmental factors (e.g., geomagnetic fields).
🔄 Psychological Overlay
When combined with expectation, fear, or cultural influence, these real phenomena may be interpreted as paranormal precursors:
Stimulus
Interpretation (Paranormal Lens)
Sudden silence
Something unseen has “entered” the area
Infrasound-induced anxiety
A non-physical “presence” or force felt
Sulphur/ozone smell
Sign of UFO engine or demonic activity
Electrical skin sensations
Energy disturbance caused by the entity
🧠 Summary
The Oz Effect feels real and unnerving to witnesses, and in many cases, it may be caused by a mix of environmental conditions and psychological responses:
Real but rare atmospheric or geophysical conditions
Sensory misinterpretation due to stress or low-light environments
Cultural priming from folklore and media
These experiences don't require anything supernatural to feel strange, vivid, and deeply convincing.
Would you like a few real-life witness accounts where people reported the Oz Effect just before a strange event?
Yes, please.
Here are several real-life accounts where people reported phenomena resembling the Oz Effect just before or during encounters with UFOs, cryptids like Bigfoot, or other paranormal events. These cases span different contexts, but all include the classic eerie features: silence, time distortion, strange smells, or a heavy, dreamlike atmosphere.
🛸 1. Rendlesham Forest Incident (UK, 1980)
Type: UFO encounter | Witnesses: U.S. Air Force personnel
Multiple servicemen reported approaching a landed object emitting strange lights in the woods. As they did:
A “strange stillness” descended — all animal sounds stopped.
Several men described a “charged” atmosphere, as if electricity were in the air.
Some later said time felt distorted, as if they weren’t sure how long the event lasted.
One witness, Sgt. Jim Penniston, described the encounter as feeling “completely unreal, like being in a bubble.”
👣 2. Bigfoot Encounter, Skookum Meadows (WA, USA, early 2000s)
Type: Alleged alien encounter | Witnesses: A rural family
Before the event:
Witnesses said they saw a bright object land nearby, and the area became eerily quiet.
They later described “not being able to hear themselves breathe”, even though the windows were open on a summer night.
The air had a metallic and burnt odor.
The atmosphere was described as thick, surreal, and dreamlike, even before the creatures appeared.
🪵 4. British Columbia Bigfoot Sighting (1967)
Type: Bigfoot encounter | Witness: Logger in the Fraser Valley
While walking in the woods at dusk, a man reported:
Sudden loss of ambient forest sounds, including birdsong and wind.
Feeling as if “the air got heavier” and he entered a different kind of space.
A strong wet-dog and sulphur smell, then he saw a large humanoid figure standing in shadow.
The experience lasted maybe a minute, but felt longer.
He described the whole thing as being “in a foggy dream with his eyes open.”
🔦 5. Hudson Valley UFO Wave (New York, 1980s)
Type: Repeated UFO sightings | Witnesses: Hundreds over years
Some nighttime witnesses along the Taconic Parkway described seeing massive, silent lights above the road. Key features reported:
A “cone of silence” or muffled audio in their cars.
Distorted perception of time — events seemed to happen in slow motion.
Feelings of paralysis or being watched, even from within closed vehicles.
One witness described the experience as like “being underwater in a glass box.”
Astronomers and skeptics suggested atmospheric conditions and misidentifications, but many witnesses felt the experience was qualitatively “other.”
🌐 Summary of Oz Effect Traits in These Cases:
Case
Silence
Time Distortion
Odor (Sulphur/Ozone)
Dreamlike Quality
Rendlesham Forest
✔️
✔️
✔️ (ozone, electricity)
✔️
Skookum Meadows (Bigfoot)
✔️
✖️
✔️ (sulphur/musk)
✔️
Kelly–Hopkinsville
✔️
✔️
✔️ (burnt/metallic)
✔️
Fraser Valley Bigfoot
✔️
✔️
✔️
✔️
Hudson Valley UFOs
✔️
✔️
✖️
✔️
Would you like more cases like these, or are you curious about how these symptoms might relate to natural causes like geomagnetic activity or underground gas emissions?
I never heard of the Scole Experiments before. The idea that they proved the afterlife is ridiculous. Of course they didn´t.
All the usual warning signs are there: two of the mediums were stage magicians, the room in which the "spirits" appeared was pitch dark, no infrared cameras were allowed (LOL), the "spirits" spoke in English (I didn´t know immortal souls had vocal chords or cared about earthly languages)...you get the drift.
The Scole mediums did manage to trick or at least confuse three investigators from the SPR, so it´s kind of funny that the Why Files aren´t in on the con. Don´t get me wrong, the afterlife might be real, but this kind of stuff feels so 1890´s...
This is a somewhat weird episode of the Why Files, usually a paranormal show about ghosts and UFOs. Here, TJ and his comic foil Hecklefish boldly go where no man has ever gone before...at least since around 1980.
The episode combine New Age spirituality, fringe science, and cornucopian dreams about space conquest. Even Carl Sagan is featured, saying that it makes a lot of sense to revere the stars! We are star stuff, after all. Frankly, I wonder who wrote this script? It´s almost fascinating to listen to this retro stuff in 2025.
Unfortunately, real reality makes itself felt when TJ and his muppet have to pitch their sponsors in the beginning of the clip. I kind of want to believe the uplifting message of "Nuclear Powered Evolution", but I think most of us will lose our sponsors in the decades ahead...
