Halloween, Scarier Than UFO Investigations?
UTE VALLEY ROCK FACE INVESTIGATION, COLORADO SPRINGS, CO
Halloween comes but once a year and originates from a Pagan holiday, which we still celebrate today, but for a different purpose. Originally Halloween landed on the last day of the eighth month of the Roman calendar, and the name October originated from the Latin word “octo” meaning “eight”. Halloween or originally known as “All Hallows Eve” dated back over 2000 years and actually landed on the last day of the Celtic calendar year. The Celtic word Samhain signifies “summer’s end” or the beginning of the Roman month November. Samhain was a harvest festival with giant bonfires marking the end of the Celtic year and the beginning of a new one. The Celts originally believed the souls of the dead roamed the village streets on this night and since some of the souls may not be so friendly, the Celts left offerings of gifts and treats. Villagers would also extinguish the fires in their homes to make them cold and undesirable to the spirits and prevent possible haunting and possessions from the bad spirits. They would also dress in ghoulish costumes and make lots of noise to frighten away the bad spirits so they could enjoy the company of the good spirits which, they believed to be friends and family.
The festival of Samhain transformed into what we now know as Halloween when the Christian missionaries attempted to change the religious practices of the Celtic people. Not being able to change the Druid beliefs, Christians created their own holiday for competition thinking eventually their new holiday would take over the Celtic one. Thus, All Saints day was created and originally fell on the same day as All Hallows Eve. Eventually the new holiday was bumped by one day and now lands on November 1st which is a celebration for all the Christian Saints.
As a UFO Investigator we get to celebrate some sort of Halloween every time we go on a paranormal/alien type of investigation. I never really thought about this until a local reporter printed that I investigate most things people generally ‘run from’. I got to thinking, “Hell yeah I do!” I get to celebrate Halloween all the time, but without wearing the costumes, well except for some of the t-shirts I wear. But, do UFO investigators ever get scared while on an investigation? Once again, “Hell Yeah We Do!” If you’re not a little scared, then you’re not at your best. With being a little scared, you become very cautious which could land you some good evidence. You also become very skeptic about everything you see and hear eliminating all the human-like possibilities, which could damage your investigation. But back to being scared, I’d like to share with you one of my humorous stories resulting from one of my many investigations.
One late night I was near the city of Rush Colorado off the main highway on an old ranch dirt road. This particular investigation was to research a recent cattle mutilation and craft sighting which had previously occurred in that area. Ok, I’ll set the mood…. it was a moonless clear night, a little chilling but not too cold. I stood in the tall weeds near a ranch fence just feet away from my parked jeep. Watching the dark sky with my night vision scope and listening to the Coast to Coast show on the Jeep’s radio, I cautiously scanned the night sky and distant horizon looking for anything which might appear unusual looking. Slowly scanning to the left towards an open field, I thought I heard a noise through my right ear. Stopping all breathing momentarily to increase the silence of the night, once again I heard a shuffle noise to my right. Eyes open wider than the optics of my scope, I slowly scanned to my right looking through the night vision tring to spy on the source of the noise I was hearing. Once again I heard the noise and quickly jerked to the right. Now scope in hand and up to my eye, to my horror and dis-belief I saw two large oval looking eyes staring right back at me! Now these eyes were not low to the ground but at my eye level and HUGE! Slowly putting my scope down and reaching for my flashlight with my left hand, and slowly putting my thumb and fore finger on the tip of my 9mm Ruger handle which was holstered to my right hip, (Oh did I tell you I carry a gun on these investigations? I’m not an idiot, I don’t go unarmed, especially when I’m by myself). Anyway, lifting the flashlight to my chest, my plan was to hit the light, then decide whether or not to draw my gun from its snapped holster.
Oh “ADD” moment: On this date of writing the blog, October 26th, back in 1881, was the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. The gunfight which started about 3pm in a vacant lot near Fremont street resulted with about thirty gun shots which were fired within thirty seconds. Involving the Earps, Doc Holiday, the McLaurys and the Clantons, this gun fight is generally regarded as the most famous gunfight in the history of the Old West. Wah-hoo!
OK, back to the story. Holding my breath I moved my thumb to the side switch on my black steel Stinger flashlight and pushed in slowly. A bright beam of light shot forward illuminating 15 or so feet of dark space between me and the noise as I peered forward. Heart pounding, breathing paused, there stood in front of me….. a 1500 pound cow. OK, I let a 1500 pound cow sneak up on me! Oh yeah, this sucker was big and in stealth mode. Moving like an obese Ninja through the darkness of night, this God’s creature scared the Shit Out of Me! Some investigator, letting this manufacturer of milk and beef scare the “beef-i-cass” out of me. I have to laugh and still laugh about it today.
So can Halloween be more scary than some UFO investigations? Actually, this story was a more comicable type, and is always fun to tell. I have been involved in UFO investigations which fall into the realm of “actual” scary and some I can’t even talk about because the people involved. I’ll share some of those stories later, but the moral of this Halloween blog is to focus on the humorous side of an investigation.
How about this for a moral?
The next time you’re out late at night, in the middle of no-where, and you think a scary entity is slowly creeping up on you, it might just turn out to be, “A big fat stupid ol’cow who’s only intention in life is to use ancient Cow Ninja tactics to sneak up and scare the crap out of you!” Geeeesh…
Category: The Z-Files
