The MEDUSA Weapon

From David Hambling's 7-6-08 Wired article entitled "The Microwave Scream Inside Your Skull":

"The U.S. military bankrolled early development of a non-lethal microwave weapon that creates sound inside your head. But in the end, the gadget may be just as likely to wind up in shopping malls as on battlefields, as I report in New Scientist.

"The project is known as MEDUSA – a contrived acronym for Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio. And it should not be confused with the Long Range Acoustic Device and similar gadgets which simply project sound. This one uses the so-called 'microwave auditory effect': a beam of microwaves is turned into sound by the interaction with your head. Nobody else can hear it unless they are in the beam as well.

"The effect has long been a laboratory curiosity, with no application. But, over the years, the military has been intrigued. The idea (dubbed 'the telepathic ray gun') was mentioned in a 1998 US Army study, which turned up in a recent Freedom of Information Act document dump. Five years later, the Navy decided to put some R&D dollars into the project. Now, as I note on the New Scientist website, Dr. Lev Sadovnik of the Sierra Nevada Corporation has provided more details.

"There are health risks, he notes. But the biggest issue from the microwave weapon is not the radiation. It’s the risk of brain damage from the high-intensity shockwave created by the microwave pulse.

"Clearly, much more research is needed on this effect at the sort of power levels that Dr. Sadovnik is proposing. But if it does prove hazardous, that does not mean an end to weapons research in this area: a device that delivered a lethal shockwave inside the target’s skull might make an effective death ray.

"Dr. Sadovnik also makes the intriguing suggestion that, instead of being used at high power to create an intolerable noise, it might be used at low power to produce a whisper that was too quiet to perceive consciously but might be able to subconsciously influence someone. The directional beam could be used for targeted messages, such as in-store promotions. Sadovnik even suggests subliminal advertising, beaming information that is not consciously heard (a notion also spotted on the US Army’s voice-to-skull page)."

Scientists Watch Thoughts Form in the Brain

From Sara Chodosh's 8-24-16 Scientific American article entitled "Mind Aglow:  Scientists Watch Thoughts Form in the Brain":

"When a single neuron fires, it is an isolated chemical blip. When many fire together, they form a thought. How the brain bridges the gap between these two tiers of neural activity remains a great mystery, but a new kind of technology is edging us closer to solving it.

"The glowing splash of cyan in the photo above comes from a type of biosensor that can detect the release of very small amounts of neurotransmitters, the signaling molecules that brain cells use to communicate. These sensors, called CNiFERs (pronounced 'sniffers'), for cell-based neurotransmitter fluorescent engineered reporters, are enabling scientists to examine the brain in action and up close.

"This newfound ability, developed as part of the White House BRAIN Initiative, could further our understanding of how brain function arises from the complex interplay of individual neurons, including how complex behaviors like addiction develop. Neuroscientist Paul Slesinger at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, one of the senior researchers who spearheaded this research, presented the sensors Monday at the American Chemical Society’s 252nd National Meeting & Exposition."

To read Chodosh's entire article, click HERE.

Words of Unwisdom from the Mad Hatter

"Really, now you ask me," said Alice, very much confused, "I don't think--"

"Then you shouldn't talk," said the Hatter.

--Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter VII:  "A Mad Tea-Party," 1865

Salutations from Silver Shamrock

Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages

For your Halloween viewing pleasure, I highly recommend watching Benjamin Christensen's classic 1922 film entitled Häxan:  Witchcraft Through the Ages.  The version you will find below is Antony Balch's 1968 re-edit, which benefits from narration provided by William S. Burroughs (author of Junky, Naked Lunch, Nova Express, Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads, The Western Lands, and numerous other groundbreaking novels):  

The Attack of the Phantom Clowns

Back on September 5th I appeared on Adam Sayne's Conspiranormal podcast and commented on the recent phantom clown sightings just as the phenomenon began to gain traction.  Near the end of August, the phantom clowns were only being reported in Greenville, South Carolina.  By the first week of September, however, the sightings had spread to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Columbus, Ohio.  Since then, phantom clowns have been seen all over the United States.  Indeed, they have now invaded my home base of Long Beach, California--specifically, 10th Street and Cherry Avenue in Cambodia Town.  

Here are some relevant excerpts from Stephanie Rivera's 10-13-16 Long Beach Post article entitled "Clown Craze Hits Cambodia Town, Social Media Posts Indicate":

"The wave of creepy clown sightings across the country has now stumbled upon Long Beach. This week, a number of individuals took to social media to share a photo of a clown spotted in Cambodia Town.

"Police have not received any reports of crimes involving clowns, according to Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) spokeswoman Nancy Pratt. Still, Pratt urged the public to call 9-1-1 if they witness suspicious activity. 

"Since some clowns have announced their intention on social media to head west, there have been reports of sightings in Southern California.

"Recently, Glendora police arrested a 19-year-old man for allegedly making threats against his former high school on social media accounts dedicated to clowns. Last Wednesday, Lancaster authorities warned people to be aware of three recent incidents in which a group of males wearing clown masks and possibly carrying kitchen knives approached pedestrians in the area.

"Some locals have even gone so far as to create a Facebook page dedicated to patrolling the clowns."

It's important to point out that phantom clown sightings are by no means new.  The first person to popularize this strange phenomenon was cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, whose excellent Fortean study Mysterious America (Faber & Faber, 1983) included an entire chapter devoted to the ancient mystery of phantom clowns.  Chapter 21, simply entitled "Phantom Clowns," is worth the price of the book alone.

  

Loren Coleman has recently written about the precise origins of his own personal phantom clown investigation on his Twilight Language blog, particularly in his 9-9-16 post entitled "Phantom Clowns:  Classified."  He also addresses the historical origins of the phenomenon in his 9-11-16 post entitled "Phantom Clowns:  Pied Piper of Hamelin."  If you're at all interested in this most recent rash of phantom clown activity, I urge you to read both posts in-depth.  

I myself explored the "Creepy Clown" archetype ten years ago in my supernatural short story "Feast of Clowns," published in W.H. Horner's anthology Modern Magic:  Tales of Fantasy and Horror (Fantasist Enterprises, 2006).  My version links the phenomenon with ancient rites of esoteric magic, generational ritual abuse, the resurrection of the dead, and the enduring mystery of the tulpas.    

  
Immediately below you will see the wonderfully evocative David Seidman illustrations that accompanied my tale in Horner's anthology:

If you're interested in reading my unique take on the "Creepy Clown" phenomenon, copies of Modern Magic are still available from Amazon right HERE.

As an added Halloween bonus, here's a rare photograph taken of me during my own brief but storied career as a phantom clown (I had to quit soon after being hired, as the health care benefits were negligible):

More Gangstalking in San Diego

What follows is a recent (9-29-16) ABC 10 news report about yet another case of unconstitutional surveillance and harassment in San Diego, the very same location of Dion Fuller's abuse at the hands of NCIS agents and their civilian accomplices (as described in great detail in my most recent book, Chameleo):