UFOs – Paranormal Magazine

Mane attraction

Monday, March 8th, 2010

[featured in Paranormal magazine issue 44, February 2010]

Horses’ manes across southern England and Wales have been found plaited in a mysterious manner. The incidents have been variously blamed on pagans, gypsies and rocking horse manufacturers. RICHARD HOLLAND is intrigued.

horse-mane An odd phenomenon has been causing concern among dozens of British horse owners. Several regional papers have reported that horses have been found to have obtained plaits in their manes, which have appeared overnight. Many breeders are convinced it’s the work of thieves.

Harriet Laurie, from Bridport, Dorset, who runs a horse owners’ website, says that many owners in west Dorset and the neighbouring counties have found these plaits in their horses’ manes. She has found them herself.

‘When one of my horse’s manes was plaited it took me some time to unpick as the wind had whipped it into a sort of dreadlock,’ she said. ‘But underneath were three strands neatly plaited. It is most bizarre.

‘Whatever it is there is a lot of fear and anxiety. I know of about 12 horses that have had it done.’

In Wiltshire, there was no doubt in the minds of owners that the tiny plaits were the work of would-be thieves. The idea is that the most valuable horses are marked in this way so that they are easy to identify under cover of darkness. Of course, it doesn’t explain how the thieves are able to view the horses and then plait them in daylight without being spotted.

The owner of a grey Arab mare in East Grimstead told the Salisbury Journal: ‘My horse’s mane was plaited last night. I asked a neighbour to keep an eye on her … and they saw somebody walking up their track at about six o’clock.’

It transpired that the woman only examined her horse’s mane for plaits when she heard of a similar case nearby. ‘Sure enough’, as she put it herself, she found one.

Similar cases have been reported from Hampshire, Gloucestershire and Mid Wales. In Hampshire two horses have suffered the rather more serious indignity of having their tails lopped off. It was suggested that the hair might be used to help make expensive rocking horses.

Theories as to horse thieves are not being with any serious concern by police. No thefts have been reported from any of the areas affected.

PC Tim Poole, who has investigated the incidents in Dorset, said: ‘We can’t completely rule out the possibility of theft. We did have intelligence from Avon and Somerset police that it is a gypsy trick, which it may or may not have been.’

However, PC Poole is convinced the plaiting is carried out as rituals in white witchcraft. He quoted an unnamed ‘warlock’, who told him: ‘This is part of a white magic ritual and is to do with knot magick. It would appear that for people of this belief, knot magick is used when they want to cast a spell. Some of the gods they worship have a strong connection to horses so if they have a particular request, plaiting this knot in a horse’s mane lends strength to the request.’

He added: ‘The fact that this rash of plaiting coincides with one of their ceremonial times of year [the winter solstice] adds weight to the theory.’

However, several prominent Wiccans denied even hearing of such a practice. Catherine Hosen, of the Pagan Federation of Wessex, for example, responded: ‘It’s certainly not any ritual that I’m aware of. Pagans have a strong respect for anything to do with nature. They would ask permission before removing a branch from a tree, let alone do anything to a horse.’

She added: ‘Any day in the year you could say it’s close to some pagan ritual because the calendar is pretty full of them.’

Compounding the mystery is the fact that several of the targeted horses have been kept secure, in one case behind high electric fences. Other plaits were found after stormy nights, suggesting a real dedication to the task, and at least one affected horse was described as ‘very hard to catch’.

Only the Dorset incidents made the national press, the others were found thanks to the magic of Google. Something tells me this is going to run and run, as word spreads and more owners check their horses for plaits, most of which might indeed have been made by the wind.

What intrigues me most, though, is the clear parallel these incidents have with folklore. Centuries ago horses found with such manes would have been considered ‘hag ridden’, that is to say, ridden overnight by witches (no offence to modern practitioners!), or similarly used and abused by the fairies.

I reprinted several examples in my book Bye-gones (1992), extracts from a journal of the same name. Here is just one, reported by a farmer on the Welsh border in 1893:

‘Not long ago I caught a young colt for the purpose of breaking it in. A servant who was assisting observed, “They have been riding this one right enough.” I asked, “Who?” “Well, the fairies.” “How do you know?” I asked him again. “Don’t you see how they have plaited the mane?” he replied; “they always do that when they have a ride.”

‘Oddly enough the mane was plaited in a wonderfully artistic manner.’

5-Year-old draws UFOs after sighting

Monday, February 1st, 2010

A Kansas parent is wondering if their 5-year-old’s comments about “a round plane with bolts” and subsequent drawing could be an actual UFO sighting, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.

The January 25 event occurred as the parent was driving their child home from school. The child made the comment about something she saw in the sky, but the parent, who was driving, was unable to view the object.

Two days later, the parent asked the child to make drawings of what she saw.

The following is the unedited and as yet uninvestigated report filed with MUFON. Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or man-made.

KS, January 25, 2010 – kid says round plane with bolts. MUFON Case # 21680.

I was driving my daughter home from school. She says to me look daddy, a round plane with bolts!

I really did not look because I was driving.

When we got home I began asking her questions. It was over a house and slowly moving south she pointed out to me.

What is really more bizarre to me is at age 5 I too saw my first UFO.

That was the first time my daughter even mentioned or talked about UFO. Two days later I asked her to draw me a picture of it. I was so amazed by this.

I said draw me another.

Almost a copy of the first one. I am so surprised because like I said never before did she ever know about UFO. See my girls pictures attached.

[via: examiner.com]

All Balloonery

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Weather balloons are frequently trotted out as an ‘explanation’ for UFO reports but what do we know about them? What contribution have balloons genuinely made to the UFO enigma? NIGEL WATSON investigates.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a UFO? No, it’s a weather balloon – honest.

When all else fails the authorities and sceptics claim that a supposed observation of an extraterrestrial vehicle was really a rogue ‘weather balloon’ seen in unusual circumstances.

Supporters of the esoteric origins of UFOs are more likely to think that the real gas bags involved in the sighting of such objects are the sceptics breathing out the old ‘it was a weather balloon’ explanation.

We all have a vague idea that meteorological organisations in most countries regularly launch these balloons to monitor the state of our weather systems, but can they be responsible for so many puzzling UFO sightings? Lets find out some more about these things before we can say for certain…

The rest of this article can be read in Paranormal Magazine issue 39

High Society

Friday, May 8th, 2009

Sceptics complain that aliens always seem to visit ‘ordinary’ people and never make any attempt to land on the proverbial White House Lawn to meet our leaders. Behind the scenes, US Presidents and other world leaders have taken an active interest in the subject – indeed Jimmy Carter actually reported a UFO sighting before he was elected President in 1977.

In Britain our Royal Family have long been fascinated by sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and, according to at least one source, have been very close to meeting alien beings from other worlds.

Earl Louis Mountbatten of Burma, along with His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, took an immediate interest in the topic when ‘flying saucer’ sightings hit the headlines in the 1950s. They read UFO books and received copies of the highly influential Flying Saucer Review magazine from its launch in 1955 until at least the 1980s.

This feature can be read in Paranormal issue 36

Top 10 UFO Hot Spots UK and USA

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

Want to see a UFO? They seem to be invading our skies again with a vengeance. Paranormal Magazine’s resident Ufologists NIGEL WATSON and NICK REDFERN have each chosen the 10 places they believe you’ll have the most chance of spotting a UFO. Nigel covers the UK and Nick the USA.

(Discover the top hotspots chosen in Paranormal issue 35, available now. CLICK HERE to buy the issue and for subscription information, or CLICK HERE to download the digital issue from www.zinio.com)

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