Sunday, December 21, 2008


Flying Saucer Xmas




Xmas Day I’ll be doing more than just being stuck in my shoebox apartment, nowhere to go, waiting for the rest of the world to re-open the next day.

“When Prophecy Fails” (1956) details how a group of various individuals believed that a great flood would destroy much of the world on December 21st. They waited for benevolent aliens – “The Guardians” - to come down in flying saucers and save them. The Guardians had been channeling messages through “Marian Keech,” a middle-aged suburban housewife.

(The authors had disguised the names of people and places in their book. Apparently they didn’t want a major lawsuit from The Guardians.)

The authors of WPF – Festinger, Riecken and Schachter – use the term “disconfirmation” to describe when a fateful date and time passes and a prophecy is unfulfilled.

Keech and her fellow believers were disconfirmed a few times, especially when the great flood never happened. Before and after the fateful date they sought confirmation of their beliefs with others they wanted to believe were spacemen. Phone calls could be coded messages from the spacemen who were living hidden among humanity at large. A stranger knocking at the door might be a spaceman in disguise with a special message for the group.

On Xmas Day Marion Keech welcomed one such stranger to her home. The visitor found himself in an uncomfortable situation: Keech wanted him to reveal that he was indeed a nonterrestrial there to impart words of revelation.

Even though the stranger didn’t play along, Keech thought he was indeed a special visitor who appeared on the most appropriate day of the year.

So as an eXperiment I’m going to wait for a spaceman to contact me on December 25th, either via telephone or in person. After all, that day is a time of peace on earth, good will towards all men (and women). A magical moment.

And if the spaceman doesn’t make contact?

Hey, I’m already “disconfirmed” about Xmas.


10 comments:

Doug said...

You may want to have some milk and cookies prepared, just in case.

Sometimes these aliens need a little snack to keep them jolly. Or so I've heard.

And if no one shows, then hey--more cookies for you.

Ray Palm (Ray X) said...

Doug:

Sorry, I don't eat boron cookies, the favorite snack of ETs.

http://www.ufomind.com/area51/desert_rat/1995/dr24/#jarod

http://www.ufomind.com/area51/desert_rat/1995/dr24/#boron1

Ray

Ray Palm (Ray X) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
X. Dell said...

I didn't know Boron made good cookies.

Perhaps this is why some of the most enduring prophecies are quite vague.

Ray Palm (Ray X) said...

X. Dell:

Yup, vagueness is great for the prophecy business. Has anyone re-interpreted the works of Nostradamus lately? Maybe Britney Spears or Sarah Palin could take a crack at it.

Ray

Anonymous said...

In the 1970s, members of a UFO group sold possessions, abandoned homes and jobs and headed to the town of Fruita, Colorado, in anticipation of hitching an off-world wide prior to some catastrophe. Boy, were their faces red.

Ray Palm (Ray X) said...

Leigh:

I'm unfamiliar with that incident. I tried Googling various keywords to find out more but no luck. Do you have a info source for that incident?

Of course, there was no trouble finding stuff on Mike the Headless Chicken, Fruita's big claim to fame.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken

Ray

Anonymous said...

@ Ray --> I tried to find a source for it online, but wasn't able. I'll be visiting Colorado in a few weeks and will look it up at the Denver Public Library. Stories were carried in both the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News at the time. The incident never was associated with any actual sightings or mainstream saucer lore, so perhaps that's why it didn't make it into the ufology literature.

This was around the time my parents allowed me to attend meetings of the Denver UFO Society.

Leigh

Middle Ditch said...

And did he? Spaceman I mean?

Ray Palm (Ray X) said...

Leigh:

I would greatly appreciate any info you might find. Have you ever posted any articles about your days in the Denver UFO Society? I'd be interested because I've never belonged to such a group.


Middle Ditch:

Neither Santa or the Spaceman showed up. My faith in disconfirmation was re-affirmed. [G]

ThanX to both of you for the comments.

Ray