New SURVIVAL GUIDE!

Hold on to your tinfoil hats folks… it’s time to research everything spooky, weird and unexplained. That’s the focus of the new SURVIVAL GUIDE that I am currently working on. I will be covering cryptozoology, UFOlogy, ghost hunting and a range of other topics.

I will be approaching the subject matter from a sceptic’s starting point. That’s not to say that I will be dismissing everything… rather, I’ll be questioning everything. I’m hoping to demonstrate a critical thinking approach, while also trying to keep an open mind. Hopefully I’ll learn something along the way.

For the moment, I don’t have a definite title for the guide. My working title is THE PARANORMAL SURVIVAL GUIDE, but the publisher is keen on THE SUPERNATURAL SURVIVAL GUIDE. I also kinda like THE UNEXPLAINED SURVIVAL GUIDE. Time will tell.

I’m doing a lot of reading at the moment — books and website — from both sceptic and believer points of view. One of the highlights so far has been The World of the Unknown: All About UFO’s. 

Back in the late 1970s, Rigby Usborne published a series of three “World of the Unknown” books, the others being about GHOSTS and MONSTERS. Back in the day, I borrowed all three from my local library, but this was my fave and so I got my parents to buy it for me. In fact it was my all-time favourite nonfic book as a kid. I have kept it all these years and have now enjoyed my reread. What a nostalgia hit! Although somewhat sensationalised, it actually does a reasonable job of balancing scepticism and belief in extra-terrestrial origins. 

When I first read it, I so desperately wanted to believe that all UFO sightings must be proof of alien visitations. I got my dad to take the book to work with him and photocopy the UFO sighting form, because I was going to go out and try to find some UFOs, and I was certain I would need LOTS of forms. LOL! Reading it now, I found myself questioning everything… but still hoping for at least some alien involvement.

Interesting, I finally saw a UFO earlier this week. I was in the car, waiting for a turning arrow, when I looked out the window and saw something hovering over the Cheltenham shopping centre. It was smallish, I think, and reflective, the sun’s light flashing off its surface. I thought it was a balloon at first, but then it started to move around in a distinctly un-balloon like manner and lifted higher into the air. I then got my green arrow and lost sight of it as I went on my way. At a guess, I’d say it was a drone… but I was not close enough to be sure. Therefore it was unidentified. And since it was flying… I can now say I’ve finally seen a UFO. [Childhood ambition unlocked!]