BALLS OF THE GODS

Andrew Collins and Gregory L. Little. Origins of the Gods. Bear & Company, 2022.

Erich von Daniken’s foreword informs us that Collins and Little are ‘leading figures in the field of speculative science and explorative archaeology’ who expand upon the questions he posed in Chariots of the Gods back in 1968. Collins’ preface is a dramatic imagining of how 330,000 years ago a near-naked shaman could have been intoxicated by the fumes of a roaring fire and surrounded by chanting men and women. As the shaman dances he concentrates on a ring of small spherical stones and waves a swan wing bone. Soon his soul becomes possessed by the swan spirit sending it towards the rising full moon.

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FLAMING MYSTERIES

Louis Proud. Borderland Phenomena. Volume One, Spontaneous Combustion, Poltergeistery and Anomalous Lights. August Night Books, 2019.

Louis Proud’s first book, Dark Intrusions, [reviewed here] examined the phenomenon of sleep paralysis, and the often alarming visions associated with them. In it he drew very much on his own experiences, and his attempts to find some sort of understanding that would allow him to come to terms with them.

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LIGHTS IN THE DARKNESS

C. F. Gritzner. South Carolina Ghost Lights and Legends. Blair, NC. 2019.

Have you ever stood on a dark, windy hilltop in the middle of the night, shivering in the cold, trying to keep warm with a Thermos flask of coffee, watching for lights in the ink-black sky; wondering whether those lights were from distant headlights, aircraft, meteors, satellites, swamp-gas, extraterrestrial spacecraft, or pranksters with a flashing light rigged up on the roof of a parked car?

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GUIDING LIGHTS?

Andrew Collins. Lightquest: Your Guide to Seeing and Interacting with UFOs, Mystery Lights and Plasma Intelligences. Eagle Wing Books, 2012.

In a way the title tells you all you really need to know about this book. Collins's proposal that UFOs are themselves intelligent entities is not a new concept, and can be traced back quite a way in the history of ufology.

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MARFA LIGHTS

James Bunnell. Hunting Marfa Lights. Lacey Publishing Company, 2009

Marfa is a small community in the west of Texas noted for the appearance of strange lights. For some these lights are a paranormal visitation, for others merely the misperception of the lights of distant vehicles. Retired NASA engineer James Bunnell has spent 8 years studying these lights, and concludes that while many can be explained in terms of well understood causes, others are much more puzzling.
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