A Radical Decision

I have come to what some might consider a radical decision! As you may know, I have so many blogs right now that it's sometimes hard to keep track of what's going on and where. So, I am bringing all my current blogs to a halt. I'm not deleting them. But, I am folding them as of today. In their place, I have set up a new blog titled Nick Redfern's Fortean World. Yeah, I know: it's hardly the most original or imaginative title, but it is accurate and to the point! So, from now on, while all my existing blogs will remain archived, here's the address for the new blog, Nick Redfern's Fortean World. As you'll see, the design and style has not been completed yet, and there's no content yet either. But, bear with me, and over the next few days you'll see it start to develop its life and character!

Posts: Where Are They?

A few people have asked me why no new posts lately? Well, the answer is simple: the photos I have readily available and that could be considered weird have now all been posted! But, I do have 1000s more boxed-up. As soon as I have time to get them out of the boxes (not an easy task when they are stacked high and not easily accessible!), I'll go through them all and then start posting again - probably in a week or two...

Car Curiosities

Taken in California: Not exactly something you see every day...

A Paranormal Road

It may look like any stretch of road in the English countryside. But...I assure you it isn't.

This particular road links the Staffordshire, England towns of Hednesford and Rugeley, and cuts right through the heart of the Cannock Chase - a locale I have written about on many occasions and which is an absolute hotbed of high-strangeness.

But, there's something about this specific part of the road that is particularly intriguing.

You'll see the bus-stop on the right of the picture.

It's right around here - where there is a downhill turning to the left which leads to the tiny old hamlet of Slitting Mill - that there has been a deep concentration of weirdness for years.

In 1972, a man named Nigel Lea saw a definitive ghostly black dog right here.

Three years later, a family encountered on the road what they described as a number of "hairy trolls."

And, in 1995, a woman named Jackie Houghton witnessed a large, shambling Bigfoot-type beast make its way across the road at the very place where I took the accompanying photo.

Although the Cannock Chase is undeniably weird - period - there are several "hot-spots" on the Chase, such as this one, which stand out and practically scream "Window Area" or "Portal"...

Taking the Heat

Well, after a week and a half of pneumonia, feeling like hell, dropping 7 pounds, and looking as pale as a ghost, I'm up and running again - which means, of course, more photos from my collection, which varies from the intriguing to the absurd!

I'm not sure where, exactly, this picture fits in. But, what the hell.


This is what happens when you live near Dallas, Texas at the height of the summer: The squirrels will either collapse on your front lawn, or hide under your car to escape the heat. Or, in the case of this photo taken at our house, both!!

Puerto Rico's Supernatural Hound

This particular photo was taken by me back in 2005, when I was racing around the island of Puerto Rico with Paul Kimball, and his Red Star Films crew, in search of the blood-sucking nightmare known as the Chupacabra.

It shows the scene from my hotel-room window, and as you'll note, where the waves are hitting the rocks, you can see a large, jagged piece of rock standing up like Nessie's neck.

Well, no it's not the neck of some ancient serpent of the water!

But, it does have a notable legend attached to it that is widely known on the island.

So the tale goes, centuries ago a fisherman headed out to sea at that very point and never returned.


The man’s faithful hound, however, waited patiently at the shore for his master to come home, but it was never to be.

Such was the dog’s devotion, his long and lonely years-long vigil resulted in the animal being turned into a solid block of stone, forever thereafter resigned to a lonely vigil in the waters...

Folklore? Of course! But, engaging folklore, nevertheless...

Crop Circles: Large and Small

Back in the 1990s, I spent a lot of time running around England in search of Crop Circles - chiefly in the circle-saturated county of Wiltshire, but sometimes elsewhere too.

One of the things that interests me is the perception that many people have of Crop Circles - namely, that they are huge, sprawling designs of intricate design. Well, yes, some of them are.

But, not all of them.

While the photo above shows a huge formation - taken by me at ground-level in the summer of 1997 - with Wiltshire's famous Silbury Hill in the background, the one below shows a very small Crop Circle, which I captured for posterity in a field in Staffordshire, England in the summer of 1999.


In this latter case, the "formation" (if you can call it that!) was brought to my attention by a local newspaper, after the farmer who owned the land stumbled across the intriguing little circle - which was no more than a few feet across.

A natural event? A Crop Circle of "Mini Me" proportions?

Whatever the answer, it raises a thought-provoking question: How many similar circles of the small kind are overlooked each year, simply due to the fact that - for the most part - they are almost impossible to see, unless you happen to have reason to be in the relevant field where it sits?

Perhaps, in a classic "not seeing the woods for the trees" scenario, the number of Crop Circles that manifest, appear or are made in England each and every year is far greater than we suspect.

But, while focusing on the huge formations that certainly make for spectacular photographs and that reel in the media and the tourists, we are missing the equally intriguing, but far smaller, ones...

The Caddo Creatures

If you are going to look for Bigfoot, well, at least make the location an atmospheric one!

And, maybe, there's few better such places than Caddo Lake (which borders Texas and Louisiana), on which I took a boat-trip (and a Sasquatch-seeking trek) back in 2005.

Caddo Lake happens to be the largest natural freshwater lake in the south, covering approximately 26,800 acres.

Originally home to the Caddo Indians, the lake’s murky depths and incredibly dense black cypress trees today help to create a truly spooky atmosphere within which Bigfoot is said to firmly thrive.

Every now and again, I get reports of people encountering huge, ape-like animals in the area, including - very interestingly - several I have on-file of people seeing the beasts actually swimming in the lake!

Well, I guess even Bigfoot needs to cool off when the southern weather reaches 100 degrees-plus!

Pier 39 And A Texan Zebra!

Nope: there's nothing even remotely paranormal, supernatural or Fortean about these two pictures.

But, I figured: Why not post them?

They are, after all, and in their own way, kind of odd.

The first shows a zebra.

So, you may well ask, what's so odd about that?

Well, I happened to see this stripey chap standing in a field in - of all places! - West Texas about 12 years ago when I was driving to Roswell, New Mexico.

I guess if Britain can have big cats on the loose, and there are alligators in the sewers of New York (perhaps...), then why shouldn't the wilds of the Lone Star State be home to a zebra or several?

As for this second picture, taken by me in the summer of 2001, it shows the resident sea-lion population at San Francisco's now-famous Pier 39.

Indeed, it's quite a sight - and a very weird one too! - to see so many large and lumbering animals sprawled mere feet from you!

Back in Black - Again!

On a couple of occasions at this blog (specifically here and here) I have commented on the regular overflights of our house by military and unmarked helicopters. Well I just now - literally - took the accompanying photo, of yet another craft on one of its regular visitations...

Maybe one day they will parachute in for a cup of tea, or a beer or several...

A Brtitish Hangar 18?

The buzzword that has been bubbling quietly-but-continuously within certain factions of the British UFO research community since at least the late 1970s is that the relatively innocuous-looking base known as Royal Air Force Rudloe Manor – which is situated within the English county of Wiltshire (Crop Circle country, as it's better known!) - sits atop a large, futuristic, underground installation, deep inside of which resides the holiest of all ufological prizes: alien bodies from a crashed UFO.

British authorities have long asserted that the stories are all arrant nonsense and little more than modern day folklore and mythology in the making. Needless to say, determining the truth of this seemingly endless affair has proven to be just about as problematic as the base is deep. Isn't it always, in such situations?

What we do know for sure is that until 1998, the Royal Air Force’s elite Provost and Security Services (P&SS) had their headquarters at Rudloe (a section of which is shown in the photo above), and their duties included the investigation of crime and disciplinary matters involving RAF personnel, the security vetting of employees, and the issuing of identity cards, passes and permits. Far more significant, investigators attached to the P&SS are also trained in the field of counter-intelligence (C / I).

Such training is undertaken at the RAF Police School. Prospective candidates for counter-intelligence work are required to take specialized courses in subjects such as computer security and surveillance. Before being considered for C/I work, personnel have to attain the rank of corporal within the RAF Police. C/I investigators are responsible for issues affecting the security of the RAF, which can include the loss and theft of classified documents, matters pertaining to espionage cases, and the protection of royalty and VIP’s when visiting RAF stations. Also situated within the headquarters of the P&SS is a division known as the Flying Complaints Flight, which primarily investigates complaints of low-flying military aircraft in Britain.

In addition, on October 17, 1996, the late Member of the British Parliament, Martin Redmond, who had a personal interest in the UFO puzzle and who was fully aware of the rumors linking Rudloe with aliens, asked a number of questions in Parliament that revealed further data on the workings of the Rudloe installation. Eleven days later, Redmond was informed by then Defense Minister Nicholas Soames that, RAF Rudloe Manor was home to a parent unit and five lodger units. Specifically these were:

(a) The Detachment of 1001 Signals Unit, which operated the British military’s communications satellite system;
(b) No. 1 Signals Unit, which provided voice and data communications for the entire RAF, Royal Navy, Army and Ministry of Defense;
(c) The HQ of the P&SS;
(d) The HQ of the P&SS Western Region;
(e) And the Controller Defense Communications Network, a tri-service unit controlling worldwide communications for the military. Not only that but the DCN was situated 120 feet underground and was capable of housing no fewer than 55,000 people in the event of a national emergency.

Soames very carefully refrained from mentioning anything specifically relative to UFOs.

In 2000, Rudloe Manor was placed under the control of the Defense Communications Service Agency – which was later replaced by the Information Systems and Services, itself a part of the Ministry of Defense’s Defense Equipment and Support organization.

A few of its underground areas have since been sold off, while some are now decommissioned. Notably, other areas, extending to very significant depths, remain solidly in the hands of officialdom, and are out-of-bounds to just about everyone else.

A British Hangar 18? Some say "Yes!" Others say: "No way!" The truth...maybe...is not "out there" but "under there."

Maybe...

Behind Closed Doors...

No, it's not the entrance point to Hangar 18! Not so much Fortean in nature, but a minor bit of secrecy and cover-up.

This photo shows my dad, Frank, pointing at one of a number of large, thick, tall doors at the Cannock Leisure Center in the town of Cannock, Staffordshire, England (which has since been dramatically refurbished - this photo was taken back in 2000).

You may wonder, why on earth would a center dedicated to simply providing the people of Cannock access to exercise machines, a swimming pool, etc need such vast and powerful doors made of solid, thick wood?

They look like they might be able to withstand an earth-shattering explosion, right?

Yes...exactly!

Before his retirement at 65, my dad worked for his entire life as a carpenter (aside from a three year period in the British Royal Air Force, which he served when National Service - the Draft in the U.S. - was still in place).

And, being based in Cannock, the company he worked for got the contract to build and install these very doors. In fact, my dad helped put this particular door into place.

But, why?

Well, I'll tell you!

Unknown to the vast majority of the good folk of Cannock, back in the 80s, and in the event of a national emergency (such as a confrontation with the Soviets that might have escalated into a full-blown nuclear exchange between the super-powers), the lower-level of the leisure center was secretly singled out by officialdom to act as a refuge area that could allow for some continuation of local/regional government (while the rest of us would be left to fry in the above-surface radioactive nightmare...).

Hence the curious-looking, super-tough doors.

Of course, in reality, in an all-out nuclear war, such a place would have offered very little - if, indeed, any - real protection from the mighty power of the atom. And the doors, designed to provide some degree of protection to those behind them, would likely have been vaporized in an instant.

But, what I find interesting is that this was a Cold War secret that for years, and for all intents and purposes, was right under people's noses. Very few, however, ever realized the center's big secret and the reason behind the construction of those huge doors!

Well, now you do!

The Redfern Critter Collection!

One of the reasons I enjoy living where I do, is the massive presence of a wide and varied body of strange and over-sized critters of a type that I just never found back in England.

From blue-eyed toads to fat cats, and from mean-looking spiders to winged whatsits, it's all good! Well, aside for my wife, Dana, who recoils in horror every time I bring to her attention that latest beast on which I have stumbled!

Strangest of all was the severed possum head...and the nature of whatever had severed it during the night...

And here's a few photos of them, taken by me over the last couple of years:

The Truth Behind Cattle Mutilations...

After years of searching, I have finally uncovered the terrible truth behind the cattle-mutilation puzzle: it's all part of a diabolical and nefarious government plot to create monstrous, hybrid entities that are part-cattle and part-machine.

After all, doesn't this photo of me and my dad, Frank, taken in 2009 at Fort Worth, Texas's famous Stockyards - about 20-minutes' drive from where me and Dana live - provide the undeniable, shocking evidence? Surely, it does!

Don't Be A Dummy

Back in the summer of 1997, when the Roswell, New Mexico incident was all the news (due to the fact that the case - involving who knows what - was then precisely 50 years old), the U.S. Air Force came out with a somewhat bizarre and still-controversial report suggesting that the alleged "alien bodies" found outside of Roswell were actually crash-test-dummies used in high-altitude experiments.

The theory provoked a wealth of debate within the domain of Ufology, and even the mainstream media addressed the scenario with some doubt when it was demonstrated by eagle-eyed sleuths that the dummy tests didn't even begin until 1952 - five years after Roswell occurred!

No wonder the debate continues to rage.

Anyway, for those who are interested, you can find one of the dummies in question on display at the UFO Museum at Roswell - and here it is (this photo was taken by me 6 or 7 years ago).

But, there is one interesting (to me anyway!) thing about the crash-test dummy story that very rarely - if ever - gets touched upon.

I have heard UFO researchers say time and again that it would be absurd to imagine that people could mistake dummies for aliens - chiefly because the dummies were all six-footers (or thereabouts), and the bodies at Roswell were only from three to five-feet in height.

And, I agree that the dummy scenario does not solve whatever it was that did or did not happen at Roswell.

But (yep, another but!), the dummy on display at the UFO Museum is not a six-footer. It's probably around five-foot-two or -three, or maybe an inch or two more. I'm six-foot-tall, and I tower over the one in the museum display!

So, even though I am not in the slightest bit persuaded by the theory that the Roswell bodies were dummies, contrary to what many UFO researchers have claimed, the dummies were not all big "guys."

That's one of the issues I have with many facets of Ufology (and Forteana in general): certain incorrect statements (such as this one about the dummies, the "95 per cent of all UFOs can be explained" statement, the "alien abductions began with Betty and Barney Hill" assertion, and the "Kenneth Arnold coined the term Flying Saucer" claim, etc, etc) are trotted out time and again, and without any independent attempt to confirm the statement.

Why? Easy! Because someone else said it, and someone else said it before them, and so on and so on. And it's easy and lazy not to do one's own research - for many.

So, no, in my view the dummies of Roswell are not the bodies of Roswell. And the dummies were certainly not dwarf-like in size. But, they were not all 6-footers either. In fact, nowhere near. If you don't believe me, go to Roswell, and have your photo taken next to the town's resident dummy.

If people want to say something about UFOs, and UFO events, they should investigate them. They should not be relying on what someone else said and simply assume its fully correct. Don't, in other words, be a dummy.

Flying the Flag of the Saucer People

Yep, this photo is somewhat grainy, but it's one I particularly like, since it was taken during one of my early excursions to the United States (in this case, in 1998), and, thus, provokes a lot of good memories of transatlantic adventures.

The location was the UFO Congress at Laughlin, Nevada, and from left to right are... (A) one of the early players in the Contactee scene, Aleuti Francesca; (B) Contactee Wayne Aho, looking somewhat puzzled and muddled; (C) conspiracy ace Kenn Thomas, who appears with an appropriately suspicious look in his eyes; (D) Reverend Bob Short, a true character from the early years of Space Brother lore; (E) Guy Kirkwood/Mel Noel next to him; and, finally, (F), who I think is Bob's wife, Shirley.

Together, they raised a flag and toasted to those eras of Ufology now long-gone, namely those dominated by isolated desert encounters with human-looking aliens sporting distinctly odd monikers and long blond manes.

And, I was pleased to capture the moment!

TNT Terror!

It's fair to say I have received some weird stuff through the mail in my time (such as the skull of an alleged Texas Chupacabra, and reams of material from a still-unidentified source claiming to have worked as a real Man in Black), but this is probably the weirdest of all. But welcome too!

No, it's not a bit of debris from the Roswell crash! Rather, it's a bit of chipped-off brickwork from the old TNT plant at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where the notorious, glowing-eyed Mothman hung out back in the 1960s.

Yep, it's probably a bit pathetic to get all excited about a piece of old stone but, hell, I don't care. It's about as close as I will ever personally get to the monstrous, winged fiend, so a bit of local stone instead is good enough for me!

Apocalypse!

Well, given that 2012 is the year that the shit hits the fan, tsunamis pummel the planet, earthquakes decimate whole countries, comets slam into the Earth, and anarchy and chaos erupt everywhere (or so some would have us believe...), I thought I would get in on the act by posting this photo, which has a distinct apocalyptic flavor to it.

I took the picture out in California about a year or so ago, and (for me, anyway) the aging, rotting carcass of this old crane, digger, or whatever it was - situated in a messy mass of mud, and with a long stretch of water behind it - provokes thoughts and images of precisely the sort of things we might expect to see after things fall apart, in 2012 or anytime!

For the record, no I don't think anything of any significance will occur in December 2012, but I do think that, in the long term, the odds are most definitely stacked against us. It's good to think positive!