This evening, after I got home from work, Gwyn and I just sat and munched some dinner while sitting in front of the TV. I turned on an old SF movie on TCM, the classic movie channel on cable. "It Came from Outer Space" is an old classic about an alien space craft that crash lands in the desert on Earth. There is a series of unfortunate encounters, misadventures as humans and aliens misunderstand each other. Before the main character saves the day, humans and aliens nearly destroy each other, barely saved by the bell.
The main character, John Putnam, played by Richard Carlson, is a writer who is the only one to realize they are there. Then, when others - beginning with the sheriff - finally come around, the main character is the only one who realizes that the alien mission is peaceful. Yet no one - to some extend, not even the hero - really is sure the aliens are telling the truth. All we know is that the aliens are really, truly ugly, and that their appearance alone is enough to frighten humans into violence.
Ultimately, Hellen, the love interest in the movie, also becomes a captive of the aliens - hostage to prevent humans from interfering with the aliens as they repair their ship. Eventually, after a final confrontation and a come-to-your-senses moment, we all realize that the aliens mean us no harm. They simply need to make repairs and hit the interstellar road.
The next movie, I didn't keep on as I needed to get a bunch of writing done this evening. It was another in the Richard Carlson film festival, called "The Magnetic Monster." This was one of the first movies to explore the dangers of unchecked nuclear experimentation. Along the lines of Michael Crichton, it explores exotic science that goes wrong - in this case nuclear experimentation that creates a substance that wants to consume everything living around it.
So what are we doing now that barks up this same tree? Are we creating new magnetic monsters today, as we speak? Do we have any idea of the consequences of even the most benign experiments? What within medical, weather, energy, space - what could go wrong and create a monster?
We have already created a number of them, some of which we have contained back within their cages, others we still don't agree on their existence. It appears that we have recognized the dangers of ozone depletion and corrected our ways, probably just in time. Yet lIke the sheriff in "It Came from Outer Space," who didn't believe the aliens were real until it was almost too late, we still don't all see that global warming is a serious threat. One only has to read the book "Collapse," By Jared Diamond to get a good feel for the consequences of this oversight.
Segue to one of the topics of this blog and the focus of my column, The CE4 Corner. The biggest mystery - one which I don't think any of us understand - is the presence of the close encounter phenomenon. We really don't understand what's going on behind the scenes. In recent weeks, I have gotten calls from several more experiencers around the country. I have found that, far from some claims I have heard that abduction is decreasing, to me it appears to be on the rise.
This week especially, several male experiencer have called me. They seem to be sensible, level headed sorts, not the type to make things up. Yet ultimately, each one tells me how no one believes them when the describe their experiences. Like John Putnam in "It Came from Outer Space," nobody believes them - until perhaps it's too late.
Like John Putnam in "It Came from Outer Space," the appearance of ETs in our midst is at first a mystery they carry alone, unbelieved by anyone else. Mystery becomes a burden as people start disappearing. Increasingly, Putnam bears a responsibility to prevent calamity. And like Putnam, many experiencers appear to be trusted with a truth, something that they understand but most around them are unable to grasp. Perhaps humanity as a whole is not ready to receive the message, or perhaps the right medium hasn't yet been found. But somehow, their job is to bring the mystery to light.
Often, experiencers bear a burden of warning. Deeply implanted within the psyche of the experiencer is often a warning about careless abuse of nature, squandering the resources of the earth. Recent messages stress how moving out of harmony with the environment is a recipe for disaster. It is a theme ubiquitous among experiencers. Whether part of an alien psychological experiment or a deliberate warning to humankind - or something else entirely - it appears to be a focused but non-rational message of peril. And like Putnam, they must convey this message to an unbelieving world.
How the phenomenon ultimately reveals itself, I can't predict. Yet from what experiencers tell me, it is not something we can easily understand. in the words of Carl Sagan, "Aliens are alien." Their ways are not ours. Maybe they just need to fix their ship and be off, but the phenomenon seems much too massive and all-pervasive for that. So we are not a brief accidental repair stop on their way. For whatever reason, we are the deliberate object of their visit.
In "It came from Outer Space," the leader of the aliens says that we are not ready for contact. To meet us in the open would only result in destruction. I suspect that this message is as true today as it was in 1953. Perhaps that is why they - whoever they are - still come in the dark of night, merging through the bedroom walls, or picking us up along country roads. Perhaps that is why they seem to employ cloaking devices that allow them to fly over metropolitan areas with few to no-one seeing them. Yet increasingly, people do.
I have noted that those who do observe anomalies over metro areas appear to be those with a reasonably high degree of psychic abilities. Many of them are experiencers, sensitives or in other ways "blessed" by the phenomenon. Like John Putnam, they can see that visitors are here. And the numbers of those witnesses appear to be increasing.
So ultimately, are we to follow in the footsteps of "It came from outer space" and narrowly avoid one of many possible forms of disaster? Or are we to take the path of another movie and create a radioactive monster? Even though 1953 has long since come and gone, the movies portray valid points to this day. The Day the Earth Stood Still, George Pal's classic "War of the Worlds" remake and other prescient sci-fi movies of the early 1950s brought home the ideas of peril, visitation and mysteries still outside of the edge of our understanding.
So keep your eyes on the sky, on your compasses and on your Geiger counters. If the aliens don't get you, the Magnetic Monster might be lurking just around the corner.
