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AS le e No.3 3 14F ebruary 2001 and dangerous and utterly out of control play can become. LITERARY CRITICISM Another interesting line of Moody's argument is that we need to get beyond the trapped literalness of taking everything at face value. Rather he argues that we should see these narratives as seeking to express, within Raymond A Moody. The lastl aughA: New echoes of the writings of Colin Brookes our culture-bound language, some sense of the Philosopohfy N earD eath Experiences, Smith and his seance parties in the 1960s. Of encounter with . . . and here he notes all the Apparitions andt heP aranormaHla,m pton course the Victorian seance was entertainment language that is used, the paranormal, the Roads, 1999. £9.99 also; a dark place where the laws of physics occult, the uncanny, weird, awesome, out and sexual propriety alike could be trans landish, supernatural, fey, spooky, enchanted, Accused by "scientific" parapsychologists gressed. strange, unknown, beyond and, we might add, oft>ecoming an entertainer, for his vision Moody argues for the comic po cryptic, and alien. All words hinting at room, Moody accepts that he is just that, and tential of the paranormal; taken literally it is something beyond the bounds of the socially that indeed the paranormal is essentially part nonsense, absurd, because it transports us constructed given world. Perhaps the an of the realm of entertainment. To contrast outside the boundaries of the world of day thropologists' notion of wilderness or wild with what he sees as the literalness of the light reason and common sense. This clearly ness, or the theologians' use of words such as parapsychologists and their sceptical and has echoes within ufology, where stories have "other'' come in here, as might Turner's ideas fundamentalist critics, he coins the phrase been called "a festival of absudity". Ufology of communitas and liminality. "playful paranormalist", by which it appears has great entertainment value, and Moody is In Moody's own idiom he has a fme that he means those who bracket out the surely right in saying we are in the game sense of the comic, but I suspect, being a nice question as to whether any of these claims are because it is fun. It also illuminates a point person, he has a less fine sense of the tragic. "really true" and runs with the stories as made earlier by George Hansen: the play-like That being said, this is a provocative and human experiences. nature of much of the abduction business. It interesting book, which while no doubt likely There is much of interest in this involves a willing suspension of disbelief for a to give rise to cries of "English Literature" in often very perceptive book. The central thesis scary thrill, and for playing a variety of roles. certain quarters, is definitely worth reading. looks very appealing, and from our own ex It also, of course, makes it clear why Phil Not easy in places but worth the effort. perience in ufology, a lot rings true there too. Klass' s demand that the FBI be brought in to PeterR ogerson This is that stories of the paranormal and investigate Linda N apolitano' s kidnapping by "paranormal experiences", like literature and her two stalkers is absurd. It would be like the performing arts, transport us to "other bringing in real police officers to investigate worlds". The central appeal of this material is the murder in a soap opera. It isn't really real, precisely its ambiguous ''unknown" quality, and Budd Hopkins knows that as much as the its reminder that the world is finally ungras rest of us. pable. One reason why so little progress oc There is a clear likeness between LETTERS curs in the fields of the paranormal is that no drama and dreams. Both involve journeys to one really wants it. If any of these mysteries "other realms", where astounding things can were "solved" the "believers" and "sceptics" happen. They can be both places of extraor alike would be out of a job. dinary joy and terror, but we know that when The connection with showbiz is the curtain falls and the lights come back on, I wish to make the following comments about obvious� there is often a grey area between the the daylight and its mundane common sense Martin Kottmeyer's review of God and the two. Uri Geller is a prime example of the return. Or at least we hope they do. One fault Sun at Fatima (1999), by Stanley L. Jacky. paranormalist showbiz star, and who can of Moody's presentation is an over-indulgent I wish to inform Martin of these doubt that Daniel Dou�as Home was a view of play and entertainment. He ac new data in the cause of scientific truth. The showbiz star of the Victorian era. We can also knowledges in places the dark nature of much book cited is a too belated critical version on recall the stage appearances of the Davenport entertainment in the past and notes, as part of the Fatima events: as a Portuguese historian brothers or the Fox. sisters, or Lulu Hurst the his polemic against Christian fundamentalists, with my colleague Fina d'Armada we pub electric girl. Moody reminds us of the role of that one of the early Christian visions of lished in 1982 a first 460-pag volwne - The fasting girls, fire walkers, magicians and heaven was as a giant amphitheatre, a super Fatima Apparitions and the UFO Phenome others in the history of vaudeville. Much of celestial Coliseum, from which they could non -with the first non-apologetic analysis of what he writes here has resonances with the look down with pleasure on the torments of the phenomena which occurred in 1917. At ideas of the anthropologist of ritual, drama the damned in Hell. But he never really in least, you would accept that we have a better and play, Victor Turner� and with Rogan corporates this in his general vision. As I am knowledge of our sources and language and, Taylor's much neglected Death and Resur writing this the papers are full of the agonised during six years of intensive research, we did rection Show (London, 1985). The latter ar debate over the fate of the killers of Jam es not conduct a distant study of foreign gued that the showbiz superstar was a de Bulger. His killing, the high school massacres, documents but a profound and systematic scendant of the shaman, as of course is the the kids throwing rocks at soldiers using live reading of the ORIGINAL and official records psychic virtuoso. 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It hinyko ua gree alsthoa tw ea rien Ih opteh esree markwsi lclo ntribute abe tterpo sititootn e thlelF atismtao rTyh.e re toa newpe rspectoinvt eh eseex traordinary are here, awniydt ohuobusottm e elementesv enutnsd esrpe cifiscoc iologaincdca ull tural EDITORIAL thatc an bev eruys efulcloym parweidth th e conditfrioomntis m et oti me. UFO-lipkhee nomeonfoa u ru rbana nds patial Thanyko uv erym uchan d my best culturCeesr.t aiinlty'tr su eB.u tw e arei na regardtsoM artinKo ttmeyer. positiotno d iscusasn do bsersvoem ei deasJ oaquim Fernandes, Centefro rT ransdisciWitht hiiss suwee ared ropping and hypothesperse senbtyMed a rtwihni cnho t plinaryS tudyo n ConsciousUnneisvse,r sittyh eM onthflry omo urt italned t his fitw ithp hysicdaaltan ad minimal aspeFcetmsa ndPoe ssoPao,r tPoo,r tugal newsletwtielrnl o w be published obtainfroemd o urfi ledr esearcwhe:w entt o whenevewre haves ufficimeant thel iving withtneemssseelsv aensda lsot he Ina re vieown t hIen ternleatsy te aGre orgina personalli teratwuhreer wee dugo uti nterBrunis aisdh eh adf ounodv e5r0 f actuearl terifaolri ta,s thei npuhta sb e estimnatge riaclo ncernithneg " solarp he rorisnt hceh aptoenRr e ndlesihnath me bo ok comet ooi rregufloaurrs t om ain nomeno1n"3Oc tober1 917. The UFOs That Never Were by Randlest,a ionu rm onthlsyc hedulUen.f or Clarakned R obertTsh.e R endleschhaamp ter tunatewlhye,n peopler eactt o We veritfyh ef ollownienwgd ata: wasw rittbeynJ ennRyan dlesW.e nowh ear controversiitaelm tsh eyt endt o from UFO Magazine thaLta rrWyar renh as toltdh em agazinthea th ei denti1fi9e7df acarguea boutt hem elsewhere 1. The witnessewsh o reported physicsaeln satianodn sp sycophysiolotguiaeclra rlo irnGes o rginBar un'isr ecebonotk on rathert hans endintgh eicro m thec aseY ou Can't Tell the People! To effecwtesr ea lwli thian fra me ofa arean ear mentst ou s.W e arev eryg rateful completthee tr ianglaes,i tw erep,e rhaps the" contascpott "a tC ovad aI riwah,i cwha s tot hosoef y ouw hoh aves enuts JennRya ndlceans t eullsh owm anye rrorssh e some 70m etrewsi dbey 1 00m etrelso ngW.e were ablteo se lec1t0 0 first-whiatnneds s discoverientd h eW arren/Robbbooikn Lseft articlelse,t tearnsd o theirt ems, at East Gate, a book thatw asse ntt os everaal ndh opet hayto uw ilcoln tinuteo reportsa ndam ong thesae l ootf pe oplweh o describetdh e" solar'' phenomenonl eawdeiMrnPegs an d evetnh Per imMei nisstoenr dos o. aftepru blicaitn1i 9o9n7 . 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There isa lsoa goods electioofn havea no fficiavle hicsol es,h ec alltedh e anothebord y oro bjecsti,n cteh osep eople reala lesa,n dw e betth ey'vgeo tn othing policTeh.e ywe rneo tm uchh elapn, da lthle y insistthedat th Seu nn evecra med own! likteh emi nC anbyM,i nnesota coulsda yw as":O h,t hes ilvtearp aeg ain." 3.T he" halhoy pothesipsr"o posed (Beyond Condon, FSRS peciIasls uNeo .2 , EditoJro:h n Hamey,2 7 EnidW ood Jun1e9 69p,.3 7.) by Menzeple rhacposu lbde evaluatbeyd HouseH,i ghS treeBtra,c knell, Berkshire authoriwseidt nesasmeosn thge c rowdC.ou ld Thes ameed itioonfM agonia men RG12 1LN UK Tei./F0a1x34:4 482709 tionsC oopeanrd hisi nvolvemweinttth h e ite xplana ltlh et hreek indosf e ffectcsi ted e-maihla:m [email protected] e.co.