Showing posts with label New Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Mexico. Show all posts

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Book Review: The Children of Roswell by Thomas J. Carey and Donald R. Schmitt

I've always been interested in Roswell, and a trip to the Roswell UFO Festival inspired me to start this blog, so when I came across The Children of Roswell: A Seven-Decade Legacy of Fear, Intimidation, and Cover-Ups on Amazon, of course I had to order it. I've read a lot of books about Roswell, and this one is the most fascinating. Thomas J. Carey and Donald R. Schmitt tell the stories of the children of people who witnessed what happened in Roswell in July 1947, and these stories strengthened my belief that it was indeed a UFO that crashed in Roswell. (It seems pretty extreme for the military to threaten to kill entire families it if was just a weather balloon, doesn't it?)

A few things I learned from the book:

-Around the time of the Roswell incident, there were more UFO sightings in New Mexico than any other state in America.
-Lieutenant Governor Joseph Montoya was on the Roswell airbase when the wreckage first arrived; freaked out by what he saw, he called Pete and Ruben Anaya (two of his political supporters) to come pick him up and proceeded to get drunk at Pete's house after telling the men that he saw a spaceship and "little bodies with big heads" (pg. 63). Sheriff George Wilcox told Pete that he'd be killed if he told anyone and that his family would be killed as well.
-During a 2006 visit to the Roswell UFO Museum, Sue Farnsworth said that when she was a child, her father told her that a flying saucer had crashed near their ranch and that the military threatened to kill the family if he ever told anyone what he saw.
-Michelle Penn was told by her foster father (Hunter Penn) that the crash was of an extraterrestrial nature and that he was (as an Army Air Forces officer) authorized to use force and intimidation to keep witnesses quiet.
-The daughters of Sheriff Wilcox said that their father wished he had called the press before the military in order to prevent the military from covering things up. George told his wife that he saw four little big-headed men (three dead, one alive) in the wreckage, and the military later threatened to kill the family if he told anyone about what he saw.

I knew that the military had threatened many of the witnesses, but reading about it from the perspective of the (now grown-up) children made it easy for me to imagine the fear those families felt. The way the military handled the Roswell crash was infuriating, and I'll never understand how anyone could think that threatening to kill witnesses and their families was an appropriate way to handle things. The Children of Roswell is a must-read for anyone who's interested in Roswell, UFOs, or cover-ups, so make sure you check this one out. 🙂👽

My rating: 8.5/10



(Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Friday, June 29, 2018

2018 Roswell UFO Festival

It's almost time for the Roswell UFO Festival again! The festival takes place July 6th-8th and is sure to be a lot of fun...I went in 2013, and I really want to go back. The festival offers interesting lectures by Stanton Friedman, Thomas Carey, Donald Schmitt, Travis Walton, and many others, and you can see the schedule here:

http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com/2018-schedule-of-events/

Check out the UFO Festival's website to see what fun stuff will be going on! : )

http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com/

Monday, July 3, 2017

Monday, June 26, 2017

2017 Roswell UFO Festival

It's almost time for the Roswell UFO Festival again! The festival starts on June 29th, and this year is the 70th anniversary of the famous UFO crash, so you should go if you get the chance. I went in 2013, and it was so much fun! The festival offers lots of interesting lectures by UFO experts, and you can see who the guests will be here:

http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com/ufo-festival-guest-speakers/

Check out the UFO Festival's website to see what fun stuff will be going on! : )

http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com/

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Book Review: The 37th Parallel by Ben Mezrich

The 37th Parallel: The Secret Truth Behind America's UFO Highway is a 2016 book by Ben Mezrich. Volunteer sheriff's deputy/microchip engineer Chuck Zukowski has been interested in UFOs since he was a teenager and often travels with his family to investigate reports of an extraterrestrial nature. When he discovers that mutilated livestock has been found on a ranch in Rush, Colorado, Chuck decides to get to the bottom of this incident and several other mutilations that have occurred around the "UFO Highway."

The 37th Parallel is a fascinating book, and I was surprised to learn that there have been more than 10,000 cases of unexplained animal mutilation over the past fifty years. I didn't know much about the UFO Highway, but basically it's the 37th degree of latitude and touches Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and it has seen a fair amount of possible extraterrestrial activity (you can find info about some of these events that have occurred along the 37th Parallel here: http://nypost.com/2016/09/04/this-investigator-chases-aliens-along-americas-paranormal-highway/). The entire book was interesting, but the parts I enjoyed the most were the accounts of Chuck's visits to the Roswell UFO Museum and Research Center and the UFO Watchtower in Hooper, Colorado, since those are places I've also visited. : )

My rating: 8/10

You can check out Chuck's website here:

http://www.ufonut.com/


Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Roswell UFO Festival 2016

This year's Roswell UFO Festival starts on July 1st, and if you get a chance, you should definitely go...I went in 2013, and it was so much fun! The festival offers lots of interesting lectures by UFO experts, and you can see who the guests will be here:

http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com/ufo-festival-guest-speakers/

Check out the UFO Festival's website to see what fun stuff will be going on this weekend! : )

http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com/

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Happy Paranormal Day!

In case you didn't know, today is Paranormal Day (though shouldn't every day be Paranormal Day?)! In honor of this awesome holiday, I'm going to share my posts about paranormal places I've visited. : )

Roswell...finally! (The post that started it all):
http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2013/07/in-1982-i-went-to-movie-theater-for.html

The International UFO Museum and Research Center:
http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-international-ufo-museum-and.html

Visiting the UFO Watchtower:
http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2015/05/visiting-ufo-watchtower.html

Encounters: U.F.O. Experience
http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2014/09/encounters-ufo-experience.html


Also, since it's Paranormal Day, my book Paranormal Jokes and Haiku is on sale for 99¢...the sale runs through May 9th. : )

http://www.amazon.com/Paranormal-Jokes-Haiku-Crystal-Smith-Connelly-ebook/dp/B00U1SPTZM/


Paranormal Day Party

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Roswell UFO Festival schedule

The Roswell UFO Festival takes place July 2nd-5th this year, and if you have a chance to go, you should definitely attend. I went in 2013, and it was so much fun...and it led to me starting this blog. The festival is hosting 20 speakers this year, including UFO researcher Stanton Friedman, crop circle expert Patty Greer, author Kathleen Marden (niece of abductees Betty and Barney Hill), Aaron Sagers of the TV show Paranormal Paparazzi, and alien abductee Travis Walton. Here's a link to the speaker schedule:

http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com/wpdocs/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2015-Roswell-UFO-Festival-Speaker-Schedule-for-Juliana.pdf

There will be some other fun things going on as well:

The UFO Festival Light Parade will take place at 9:00 p.m. on Friday, July 3rd.

The pet alien costume contest will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 4th, and the human alien costume contest will be at 3:00 that afternoon.

You can see fireworks at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 4th.

There will be live music on Main Street throughout the festival.

Check out the UFO Festival's website for more info!

http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com/


Friday, May 1, 2015

Book Review: American Ghost by Hannah Nordhaus

American Ghost: A Family's Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest is a 2015 book by Hannah Nordhaus. La Posada hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has been haunted by Julia Schuster Stabb, the author's great-great-grandmother, since the 1970s. Julia lived from 1844 to 1896 and is the most well-known ghost in Santa Fe; she is most often seen in the room that used to be her bedroom back when the hotel was her family's house. Nordhaus says that Julia's story is one of "forbidden love, inheritance and disinheritance, anger and madness" (pg. 8) and that there have been rumors that Julia committed suicide or was murdered by her husband, and of course that made me want to know more.

Nordhaus found a book of her family's history at a relative's house and discovered that she wanted to know more about Julia's life and death, so she did historical research and met with psychics and paranormal investigators. She also tracked down a diary written by one of Julia's daughters and spoke to a former La Posada employee who had seen Julia's ghost. She traveled to New Mexico and Germany to find as much information about Julia as she could...now that's dedication!

Though Nordhaus did experience some paranormal activity when she spent a night in Julia's former bedroom at La Posada, I wouldn't consider American Ghost to be a paranormal book (which makes it different from all of the other books I've reviewed for this blog) since it focuses more on Julia's life than her afterlife. The paranormal aspect was what drew me to this book, but finding out who Julia was and how she lived was really interesting. I was surprised that I ended up being so invested in the life of someone I'd never heard of, but I was pretty enthralled by the mystery of Julia.

My rating: 8/10


Saturday, March 7, 2015

Saucer Country: Run

For Valentine's Day, my husband gave me a graphic novel called Saucer Country: Run, and it was right up my alley.  I mostly read Archie Comics, but Saucer Country is about aliens, so of course I was excited to read it.  Saucer Country: Run was published in 2012 and was created by Paul Cornell and Ryan Kelly.  The graphic novel is about Arcadia Alvarado, the Governor of New Mexico/presidential hopeful, who believes she was abducted by aliens.  She enlists the help of Joshua Kidd, a Harvard professor who was suspended for publishing a book called Flying Objects: Folklore and Fact, and Arcadia is very determined to become President and prevent an alien invasion.

Saucer County: Run was really interesting, and I can't wait to see what happens next! I will definitely be buying volume 2 of the series (Saucer Country: The Reticulan Candidate) very soon.

My rating:  8/10



Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Roswell UFO Festival Guest Speakers

The Roswell UFO Festival has released its list of guest speakers for this year's festival, which will take place July 4th-6th.  I won't be able to go this year, but I went last year and had so much fun...and it inspired me to start this blog!  Here's a link to this year's guests (there's also a schedule showing the names of all of the lectures):

http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com/ufo-festival-guest-speakers/

If you attend this year, go see Patty Greer if you get a chance...I went to her lecture about crop circles last year, and it was fascinating.  Travis Walton is probably a good bet too...I didn't get to see him last year, but I really wanted to because his story is incredible.  I really wish I could go this year...I only went to one lecture last year, but next time I'll go to a bunch, so I can write about them for the blog.  Oh well...maybe next year!

Monday, March 24, 2014

Mark your calendars...

The Roswell UFO Festival is scheduled for July 5th and 6th.  I went last year, and it was so much fun that I wish I could go every year...and it inspired me to start this blog!  The schedule won't be up until closer to the festival, but you can look at pictures from last year on their website.  I don't think I'll be able to go this year, so if any of you guys go and would like to write a guest post about your experience, let me know!

http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com/

Friday, February 21, 2014

Movie Spotlight: Let Me In

Let Me In is the 2010 remake of Let the Right One In, which is a Swedish movie based on a book by John Ajvide Lindqvist.  The movie stars Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Elias Koteas, Richard Jenkins, Dylan Minnette, and Cara Buono, and it takes place in Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1983.  Bullied 12-year-old Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) befriends new neighbor Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz), who is also 12, "more or less," and happens to be a vampire.  I enjoyed Let Me In and was impressed with the performances of Chloë Grace Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee...even though Abby kills people, I felt sorry for her because no one wants to be a vampire and be forced to kill people to feed, but she has no choice if she wants to live. My only complaint about the movie is that I would've liked to know more of Abby's back story, specifically how she became a vampire.  I decided early on in the movie that if Kenny the bully (Dylan Minnette) didn't become vampire food (or maybe "drink" would be a more accurate term) by the end of the movie, I would be really disappointed...I hope that real bullies aren't as mean as Kenny and his friends because these kids were willing to do potentially deadly things just to get back at Owen for standing up to them, and to me, that's scarier than any vampire.

My rating: 7.5/10