“The
Flying Fisherman”
Preliminary
Report by Craig R. Lang, MS CHt
Type
of Report: Close Encounter of the Fourth
Kind, with corroborating evidence.
Date
of Report:
Investigator: Craig R. Lang, MS CHt.
(Note:
The witness/experiencer has given written permission to me to describe this
encounter, on condition of anonymity)
Date
of Sighting:
Place
of Sighting:
Local
Evaluation: Apparent Close Encounter of
the Fourth Kind, unexplained
Sighting
Background
The
witness, who will be referred to as “The Flying Fisherman” or “FF” (his alias
on Abduction Forums on the internet), is retired, and is an avid
fisherman. He initially contacted me in
2000, regarding the events in question.
He subsequently sent me an early copy of his narrative entitled “From
Out of Nowhere”, describing an apparent series of strange encounters he had
undergone during the summer and fall of 1999. At that time I recommended John
Carpenter as a possible CE4 hypnotherapist/CE4-researcher.
FF
contacted me again in 2002, regarding the possibility of doing a close
encounter regression. He further
described his events to me and sent me an updated copy of his narrative which
he had been updating. We arranged to
meet for a session in April of 2002.
FF
often takes his boat onto various lakes in search of new fishing spots. He carries a GPS receiver on his boat, which
helps him to subsequently locate fishing sites. He often records times and locations, and
frequently maps his lake-borne travels, using the continuously recorded
coordinates and a mapping program.
Overall,
he has discerned the following events:
Following
the
During
August of 2000, while mapping the locations of his
In
the spring of 2002, we conducted a weekend-long intensive series of hypnotic
sessions during which the experiences described in this report emerged. We chose the
Pre-Session
Account of Event:
The
following is the account of the Carlyle Lake Event, as described in this
excerpt from FF’s personal narrative:
Up
to this time I had been reasonably sure that if I had been abducted it was only
once. However, while doing some work on the GPS trails for fishing I got
another shock. I had found a way to put the trails on my map program. The map
of upper
I do not remember anything about the trip over
the tracks, which requires the boat to be airborne! When I looked at the trail
on the map the memory of the position change came back as if unlocking a safe
and seeing a long forgotten item. As time went by, I remembered more details of
the position change.
The
degree on confusion and disorientation is reflected in what I did. A compass is
not needed on the north side of Carlyle’s railroad bridge. All one has to do is
to line the map up with the bridge. I should have known what side of the bridge
I was on by the many stumps sticking above the water. How someone can suppress
an event of this magnitude I do not know but in several of the cases I have
read about this is exactly what happens. As in these incidents, it took many
months or over a year before something jarred my memory.
Carlyle Lake GPS Trail
The dotted lines on this and the next map are actual GPS
points imported from the GPS program. I do not think that the two-dimensional
trail gives a correct picture. I think
that the start of the curve is on the ground and the end of it is high in the
air and the slight undulating pattern of the curve seems to indicate that the
boat was spiraling as it went upward.
Photo of the Bridge and Railroad
The trees extend most of the way to Keyesport. The GPS trail
path must have been higher than the trees. The first leg of the curve probably
went over the trees shown or close to them. Note the size of the boats in
comparison to the bridge.
FF’s
Pre-Hypnotic Analysis of Events:
The
witness/experiencer has done extensive research into these events since the
time he discovered them. The following
is an excerpt from his narrative describing his conclusions:
To
answer obvious questions, I remember clearly that at no time while I have been
fishing have I ever had any periods of confusion, dizziness, or other symptoms
out side of the three position changes. In the three incidents, I found myself
in another location there was certainly some confusion but I quickly reoriented
and went about normal tasks, fishing in two cases and helping the three people
in the boat in the other.
It
may be normal to reorient and then go about normal tasks but it is not normal
to forget completely an event as unusual as these were. The first one where I
helped three people in a boat was remembered. I could not recall the other two
until I was reminded by the GPS trails. Then and then only was I able to recall
the events and the details surrounding them.
In
the first incident, I remembered the position change, but suppressed the
evidence of a time loss. Until, that is, I called the Phone Company and got the
time and date of the phone call, then I began to recall all the things I had
seen that should have made me realize that there was a time loss. At the time,
that I first realized there was a time loss I blamed myself for ignoring the
evidence. Now, however, I am not sure that I am completely responsible. I
certainly did not want to believe that there was a time loss but it seems that
it took a record in all these cases to jar the memories loose. There are many
unpleasant events in my life that I can easily recall. Therefore, I can only
believe that this is one more example of mind tampering on the part of the
abductors.
I
was not hoping to find more evidence of possible abductions but I would rather
have truth than avoid facing it. These made me angry. My fishing was
interrupted and it is possible that the presence of whatever was responsible
for these position changes and time losses affect the fish. I did not catch a
single fish on those days. Okay, Okay maybe that’s just another excuse.
What displeases me the most is the
fact that these things, which happened to me, were out of my control, with out
my permission, and my memory of them was taken from me. I want to know what
happened during those missing times. No, I am not positive they were
abductions. If they were not, I want to know what they were. Not some guess but
for sure, if that is possible. If they were, I want to know just what went on
and I think that is possible. After that, I am looking for some action or
method to stop this type of thing from happening to others and myself. First, I
need to understand what these things or beings are. [FF Note:
Since writing this I have recalled two memory images that make me very
sure that these were abductions. See Memory Image Analysis below.]
I have to be very careful to look at all the facts. As
I get the facts, the conclusions, theories and speculation may change. That is
the way it is when one is looking for truth. When our minds are made up, we
tend to ignore new facts that could get in the way of our conclusions. The time
to make up our minds is when new facts consistently continue to confirm the
conclusion.
For many years I used to joke about the “little men”
on the UFO’s I’d say, “I have an agreement with them. I do not bother them and
they do not bother me.” I never expected to be abducted nor did I ever wish to
be.
Memory
Analysis: Locked or blocked memories
Even though I might have been motivated to suppress
some memories as noted above I find a strange pattern in what, at first, I
could not remember.
1.
In
the first incident at the
2. In the next two incidents, I could not remember anything of the position changes or the thoughts or reactions to them.
3. When these memories were unlocked or the blocks by passed by the phone call and GPS trails, then everything came back as if I had never forgotten them.
What I suspect is that if these were abductions then
the abductors had something to do with blocking these memories. [Based on what
I have learned and recalled since writing this, I am now sure that the aliens
do affect memory in abductees]
Or
is it something else?
In David M. Jacobs’, book The Threat, I found
a new term, “blank.” The alien tells the abductee that they will insert a blank
in their minds. I wondered if this was something like erasing a file. All that
is erased is the name of the file. When recovering these I found that the first
letter had been replaced with a question mark. I realized that if I changed the
name by removing one letter or inserting a space that all the shortcuts and
other means of locating the file would be of no use. The only way I could find
the file would be to either search or find it in the folder. It would seem then
all they have to do is insert a blank space in the path to the memory and then
replace it at the next abduction. This encourages me to try again to recover
the memories. Unless they wipe them when they are through with a person and
they could be through with me.
Memory
Image Analysis
One
of ways in which we remember is mental images of what we saw. However, we need
to distinguish between mental images of what we actually saw and images that we
created in our minds. For instance, I have two images of what happened at the
second
Other
types of mental images are visualizations of anything we might be thinking
about, anticipating what might occur, or what things might be like. Dream
images are another. For me it is usually not hard to distinguish between the
different types, although there are some that seem to fall into a gray area. In
remembering something important such as these incidents or memories that relate
to witness testimony, we have to be very careful to distinguish between memory
images.
Hypnotic
Session Results Summary:
I
conducted four sessions with FF on the weekend of April 6/7, 2002. The first session was an intake interview, in
which in a non-hypnotic state, we explored his past, his psychological makeup,
and the details of his life, both in his past and at the present. Given the nature of the Carlyle lake event,
in which the GPS trails are the most anomalous, we decided to focus on that
time period.
The
second session – in which hypnosis was initially used – involved the following
planned steps:
1)
Initial induction of
trance.
2)
The creation and
anchoring of a mental/emotional “safe place” which could be invoked during the
regression, should the need arise.
3)
A return to the event in
question, to repeatedly pass through the event, in order to cleanly recall the
material.
The
actual events which occurred during the second session were somewhat different,
however. During the initial induction,
we discovered that FF had a very strong critical faculty and did not easily
stay in trance. His is very intelligent
with a highly analytical mind - and, in spite of a number of hypnotic
techniques, he often found himself analyzing the situation. We thus changed techniques from standard
regressive hypnotherapy to that of the cognitive interview, as described in the
MUFON Field Investigators’ Manual.
As
we began the initial “safe-place” procedure, FF found himself in another
apparent CE4 event, of which he had not previously been aware. We briefly explored this event, and then
began to explore the
A
standard technique used for regression work, when blocks are present, is simply
to have the client repeat the account, in an ever deepening trance [CL
Note: Comments by the therapist are
generally limited to prompting instructions such as “Please continue”, “What is
happening now?”, “What are you experiencing?”, hypnotic deepening/positioning
instructions, etc. - with references to the event content being avoided
wherever possible]. As we continued, the
material surrounding the missing time became extremely detailed and very
consistent, while the content of the missing time interval apparently still
remained blocked.
Late
in the first hypnotic session, the block apparently broke. FF then described himself as ascending, boat
and all, at a shallow angle. The
remainder of the account is summarized from the three hypnotic sessions as follows:
He
and his boat were apparently drawn up into a waiting object, passing through
the solid material of the object’s underside.
They
thus entered into the object’s underside, apparently a shallow bowl-shaped
interior region.
He
was met there by one or more entities.
He
was escorted from the central “bowl” into an examination room and given the
typical medical examination as described in the “Hopkins/Jacobs” type of CE4.
He
was then returned to his boat, and seated in it.
The
floor beneath the boat then opened down, into a ramp configuration.
The
boat was then shoved down the ramp – during which FF heard a scraping
sound. There was at least one entity on
either side of the boat, holding the gunwales as they moved him down the ramp.
The
boat, with FF in it was then sent off of the ramp, descending in a controlled
fall, to land in the water about ¼ mile from his original location where his
original memory resumed.
[CL Note: Upon
reviewing this article, FF noted the following:
The area of the ramp was
dark, so I could not see clearly. I
remember looking to the left and seeing what appeared to be two grays. There
could have been more but that is all I can remember. I am assuming that there
were an equal number on the other side. The boat with trailer weighs about 1200
pounds, so we have about 800 pounds of boat. They only needed to slide it and I
don’t know how strong they are or how much the ramp slanted down. The scraping
sound seems to indicate that it was not easy to get it started. ]
Subsequent
Discoveries:
Following
the hypnotic session, FF checked the underside of his boat, and found scrape
marks in the exact spots in which he recalled during trance, having heard the
scraping sounds.
[CL Note:
On
"…what
happened is that I remembered hearing the scrape during the regression and
decided to contact you about the possibility of some material from the craft
being on the bottom of the boat. The sound was heard in what was probably a
confined area of the UFO and I could not possibly pinpoint the exact spot. What
I did was to search the bottom of the boat as carefully as I could. I found
several areas that could have contacted the ramp if the back of the boat was
lifted. Only one of these had any visible material that was different from the
paint on the boat. In looking the boat from the side, it appeared that if the
rear was lifted that the spot where I found the material would be the spot that
would contact a flat surface. I am not sure as to how you would change the
statement. Here is a suggestion:
"After remembering
hearing the scraping sound, FF checked the underside of his boat and found
material at a raised area near the front of the boat that would have contacted
the ramp if the boat had been lifted from the rear or when the boat went over
the edge of the ramp."
My
commendations go to FF, on his discerning eye.
In my view, this confirms to me his credibility as a witness. I am including his above comments verbatim,
as an update to this report.]
The
following photographs, taken by FF, show the location on the boat where the scrapes
occurred.
Substance
on keel:
The
following photographs describe possible physical evidence found on the keel of
the boat, in the bow area, which FF described as being the location of the
scrapes. [Note: The boat was lifted in the
stern area, with the bow in contact with the ramp]
Figure 1 - Side view of FF's boat.
The scrapes were located on the hull. Just above the "F" in the trade name of the boat-trailer. Arrow shows the approximate location.
Figure 2 – location in bow area in which the scrapes were discovered.
Substance on underside of boat:
FF collected some of the
substance, scraping it into a Ziplock bag.
As he scraped the substance off, it had a flakey appearance, but once
disengaged from the bottom of the boat, it essentially vanished - apparently
into the bag. [Note: In the bag, I observed aluminum filings, some paint
flecks, and some grains of the substance.]
In
oblique light, FF indicates that you can see some material accompanying the
aluminum flecks. I was able to discern something there, but did not
want to disturb the potential sample, and thus did not open the
Ziplock bag to investigate further. This should be done by the analyst
only.
Substance
on gunwale:
This photo is of the first sample of red substance that was
taken from the side of the rail on the right (starboard) side of the boat near
the front (FF Writes: “I think it [might be] paint from a dock”).
Additional
Red Substance:
The
following photograph is of, in FF’s description: “more red substance, but it is
different. It was actually sitting above the rail. It was taken from the top of
the rail on the left (port) side of the boat toward the rear.”
Dark
Substance:
This photograph is described by FF as “the dark substance I mentioned near the
rear of the boat on the right, just under the rail. Its shape and position make
it possible to be from the hands of the grays, who were pushing the boat out of
the craft.”
Physical
Evidence Comments:
It
should be noted that the samples were taken in the weeks following the
regression, which was in April of 2002.
The actual events occurred in the fall of 1999, allowing for over two
years in which other potential influences could have occurred.
Samples
of this material were sent to Dr. W. C. Levengood, via Marilyn Rubin. There turned out to be insufficient material
to conduct an analysis, so the results are inconclusive.
Additional
Witnesses:
None
are known to this incident. However,
This is a well traveled area, and an excellent opportunity exists for followup
investigation by local researchers, to determine if any other witnesses or
experiencers exist.
Weather
Conditions:
Exact
conditions are unknown.
FF
describes the sky as clear and the temperature as moderate.
Wind,
dew point and visibility are unknown.
Natural
and Artificial Phenomena Check:
Given
the descriptions of the case, I can not think of any natural phenomenon which
would explain the simultaneous missing time, and the anomalous GPS trace. The investigation of this case is continuing.
Other
Possibilities:
The
following remain to be investigated:
Analysis
of the GPS traces for that event by an expert in this technology.
Analysis
of physical traces from the boat, which may be associated with this event, to
determine their composition, and where possible, the degree of anomalousness.
Checks
among the local residents, and recreational visitors, to learn of any
additional witnesses or experiencers, or any additional phenomena possibly
occurring at this location.
Note
on GPS Trails:
The
GPS device which created the trails is an Eagle Explorer, manufactured by Eagle
Electronics, Inc. The instruction manual
is dated 1997, which I assume is the date of manufacture of this model. The witness indicates that the time interval
between points on the map is 5 seconds.
The
GPS Trails associated with this encounter are also contained in a Microsoft
Excel file. This file may be made
available to researchers upon request.
