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I didn't see it! Cases with puzzling witness deficits

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Sentry

Sentry

Paranormal Adept
I was thinking about some cases UFO cases where there should have been secondary witnesses but there weren't, such as Falcon Lake and the Pascagoula abduction. I was looking for specific notable examples of where conventional unexpected things happened, but for whatever reason people just didn't notice.

Not just inattention blindness, like missing the gorilla in the basketball game, but here's an interesting real-life example of that type.

People don't see things all the time, I'm looking for events that could compare to the magnitude of missing a prominent UFO in your field of vision.
 
A few years ago I was stopped in heavy traffic at a red light and saw four discs, the size of 727s or so, at a distance of between 1-3 miles I'd estimate. They flew around for a few seconds, then shot off into a cloud bank.

When they left, I looked around at my fellow drivers stuck in traffic and no-one seemed to notice. There had to be at least 50 or more people there. They were at about the same angle of visibility as the traffic light itself, so people must have been looking in the general area.
 
marduk said:
A few years ago I was stopped in heavy traffic at a red light and saw four discs, the size of 727s or so, at a distance of between 1-3 miles I'd estimate. They flew around for a few seconds, then shot off into a cloud bank.

When they left, I looked around at my fellow drivers stuck in traffic and no-one seemed to notice. There had to be at least 50 or more people there. They were at about the same angle of visibility as the traffic light itself, so people must have been looking in the general area.
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Really? That has so many similarities to Ray Stanford's sighting near D.C.

Any more details you can share? This whole thing about people not seeing something that is unexpected, strange and very obvious (ostensibly) is really weird. I don't get it if it really is a kind of ignorance, I mean, people would notice a Chinook helicopter or a float-plane when they might 'switch off' to a traffic helo and passenger jet. It's possible to ignore the everday but saucers? Huge craft? I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I do find it very strange indeed.
In fact, it's been put forward that there may be something inherent in certain people, or emanating from a UFO, that allows only a certain mind to actually visually see a UFO. Perhaps there are indeed people who are biologically/psychologically predisposed to high-strange phenomena? Could there be a solid, measurable reason as to why some people can see apparitions/bigfoot/UFOs etc? Utterly fascinating.
 
The quirkology channel on YouTube has all kinds of hack of the human perceptual apparatus:


What we are consciously aware of is not the immediate external reality, but a model of it that our brains maintain from sense data and physical interactions. The process for updating this model is complicated and magicians like Richard Wiseman can trick you by exploiting its flaws.
 
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marduk, your experience is hard to understand, but since most folks are out on the street walking or driving with their own individual missions, they can plausibly be blinded to extraneous things. From what I'm reading, something like a silent saucer in a gentle glide might not break the focus of someone impatiently waiting for a traffic light. It's a different story when something if it "advertises" itself with violent motions or sound cues.
 
I really want to know what happened after the bear casually followed the elderly couple down the front steps. It looks like Ma's getting the worst of it while Pa bolts back indoors to safety, checking frantically over his shoulder to make sure the bear is still busy.

I understand how Pascagoula should have more secondary witnesses in a more urban setting, but Falcon Lake was more of a remote space and isn't the annals of ufology filled with either singular or very limited witness observations, especially those cases concerning occupant contact. Those cases seem to be more of the norm with the craft already on the ground and then it lifts off shortly after contact, as if earth's just a quick pit stop.

There's also this latent suggestion in these unwitnessed events that these experiences may be internal or telepathic in nature, even with multiple witnesses. Sometimes among witnesses those right beside others don't see what others see at all. One example that reminds me of Falcon Lake is the Robert Taylor Incident where he is attacked by robotic machines that come out of the strange metallic spherical contraption and shred his pants while clawing at him. He also brought home some physical effects of very strange contact that should have had more witnesses.

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Ha- Ma was safely in the auto. Pa got some minor scrapes from the playful (but still potentially deadly) cub, and runs inside to call for the bear police. There's more thorough coverage online of the bear encounter aftermath, but I just wanted to use a short clip of an example of inattention blindness that wasn't set up or staged.

About the two UFO cases I mentioned, here are the concerns about there being no other witnesses:

The Pascagoula Abduction was investigated by Joe Eszterhas, “Claw Men from Outer Space,” Rolling Stone (17 January 1974): 26- 27. Wikipedia summary: "The supposed UFO landing and abduction site was in full view of two twenty-four hour toll booths, and neither operator saw anything that night. Also, the site was in range of security cameras from nearby Ingalls Shipyard, and the cameras additionally showed nothing that night."
(Regarding those cameras, I'd like to see that film and proof they were pointed in the proper direction.)

THE FALCON LAKE INCIDENT by Chris Rutkowski Copyright 1980:
...the forest ranger on duty at the time of the incident did not observe either the landing or flight of the UFO's, or the smoke which resulted from the ignition of grass by the landed UFO.(3) While this would seem to effectively flaw Michalak's story, one must remember that the individual in the
tower would not be looking in the direction of the site constantly. However, the object was landed for at least 45 minutes, and if it gleamed in the sun or emitted an "intense purple light" (as it was said to have done), it is puzzling as to why the individual in the tower did not see it.

There are others of course, and I'd welcome other cases with similar troubling deficits. I'm not familiar with Robert Taylor story, but I'll be looking into it.

Yes, thinking that some of the "experiences may be internal or telepathic in nature" is very interesting. Sounds like the kind of thing a Trickster would do.
 
I was entirely unaware of the Pascagoula cameras and toll booths - that's very curious. My initial doubtful thoughts about the case was that another kind of crime had been committed altogether, but then you listen to the initial police recordings and it does sound like an altered experience has transpired; it's rather convincing.

Was the Falcon Lake incident something that featured an exposed area where the craft was vs. a forested area? I always saw it as a forested zone which would not be surprising if it went unnoticed.

Sometimes it seems that these very intense cases, which do not leave much in the way of physical evidence, or provide third party observations, appear to be happening in a reality other than the simple, concrete reality we are used to sharing in.

There could also be some form of camouflage at work, leaving only those in close proximity able to have some type of physical interaction with the phenomenon. Those burn marks on Michalak are pretty iconic and compelling.
 
Human perception really is more quirky than we think it to be. "Failing to see the forest for the trees" happens daily. But there seems to be more going on here.

I think one can either search for a direct technological explanation, such as gravity bending light waves so that UFOs are visible only from certain angles, active cloaking devices etc. Or, one might see things from a more esoteric perspective in which the UFO has complete control of time, space and our perceptions of it, and chooses to play games with the minds of select witnesses.

Based on high strangeness aspects surrounding incidents, often leading up to and after sightings, I personally lean towards the latter. But the question is definitely open.
 
boomerang said:
Human perception really is more quirky than we think it to be. "Failing to see the forest for the trees" happens daily. But there seems to be more going on here.

I think one can either search for a direct technological explanation, such as gravity bending light waves so that UFOs are visible only from certain angles, active cloaking devices etc. Or, one might see things from a more esoteric perspective in which the UFO has complete control of time, space and our perceptions of it, and chooses to play games with the minds of select witnesses.

Based on high strangeness aspects surrounding incidents, often leading up to and after sightings, I personally lean towards the latter. But the question is definitely open.
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UFOs, and the technology implored within the most basic human imaginings of their facilitation, would seem to generate immediate fields or envelopes that surround them, visible only to the limited portion of the frequency spectrum that we can naturally perceive. This is why IMO that the effects of UFOs on animals often have a tremendously more so significant impact upon their physiology and instinctual awareness. (they die frequently) This is due to their (animals) far and away extended frequency range of natural perceptive abilities. Because UFOs directly access and utilize environmental consciousness frequencies beyond our natural orientation to the inherent electromagnetic spectrum we have evolved within indigenously, our own self produced consciousness interacts with as much (in the same precise manner that we do naturally on an individual level with respect for humanities primary/secondary consciousness relationship) to the predictable effect of various environmental consciousness induced hallucinations such as the internal sense of distorted time and externally perceived physical perceptual significances such as auditory dead silence in the midst of what would normally be a cacophony of environmental sounds. (crickets, frogs, dogs barking, traffic, etc.)

It's hilarious to have listened to Ray Stanford a few weeks ago on the Paracast dumbfounded as to why he himself witnessed UFOs that others in his immediate vicinity did not witness. "They had to see it, right?" No they didn't have to Ray. Instead of making fun Keel as you pompously did toward the end of the program, you'd do well to study what he figured out in the late 60s, early 70s! People are so fricken hung up on Keel's commercially incidental "Mothman success", a phenomenon that he himself had almost NOTHING to do with, "Mothman" being a term that he himself didn't even invent, that they fearfully sidestep the brilliance of Keel's myth and folklore deduced scientific formulated speculations concerning as much due to their own ego's self deluded survival instincts. What a bunch of maroons.

The personality of UFO investigative ego is exceeded only within the realm of Rock Stardom.
 
I have seen steady lights, not blinking, mainly during spring and summer, in the evening, at this apartment for three years now. I see them when I'm not in the apartment. There is nothing spectucular, they follow a trajectory and rarely deviate, but no one notices them. When I point them out, people see them. I have captured them on film numerous times. I tend to go for the Chinese lantern or local police testing out their new drone theory, but the drone isn't new anymore, three years later, and someone's spending a fortune on Chinese lanterns at this point. Just my two cents. No one sees them because they don't do anything really outside the normal, except they aren't commercial aircraft and aren't identifiable. OK, that's four cents now.
 
Although not paranormal in nature I think that the Luis Suarez "Bite" at the world cup is a perfect demonstration of the way that preconception and emotion can effect what we "see" or admit to seeing.
I will try and summerise the incident for those who are unfamiliar with it:
During a match between Uruguay and Italy (which was broadcast globally and had hundreds of journalists, cameramen and photographers recording proceedings) A Uruguayan player "Luis Suarez" appeared to bite an opposing player "Giorgio Chiellini" and the incident was caught on film, not to mention that tooth marks were visible on Chiellini's skin.
In "real" time it is hard to tell exactly what happened, but in slow motion I can clearly see that Suarez bit him. And given that he has done the same thing on at least two other occasions I have no doubt that he did, however the Uruguayan players and media have rallied together and claim that Suarez did nothing wrong and that it is part of an "English" and European conspiracy or smear campaign against Suarez and Uruguay because Uruguay beat England in the previous match and Suarez scored the winning goal. Their (Uruguay's football team and media) motivations are pretty obvious to me: in that if Suarez is found guilty of misconduct their best player will play no further part in the tournament meaning they have a diminished chance of progression in the competition.

I find it astonishing that given that there is both visual and physical evidence and that Suarez has previous convictions for biting they can attempt to deny any wrong doing.

Lets be clear I am only too well aware of the dirty tricks employed by the British media e.g Phone hacking, and also the bias, prejudice and short sightedness of some England fans but in this incident I agree with them, which is highly unusual for me, because I have witnessed similar incidents where English players and even managers (coaches) have been caught red handed and the press have behaved in a similar way to how the Uruguayan's are now reacting.

I hope this all makes sense and that you understand why I see parallels between this incident and contradictions in paranormal eye witnesses and their reports, but if not I am very happy to expand or explain any of part of it.

Here are two articles you may find interesting (they include the video evidence and still photographs of the bite marks)
BBC Sport - Luis Suarez 'bite' controversy: Disbelief & denial at World Cup
BBC Sport - Luis Suarez: global scrutiny after Giorgio Chiellini 'bite'
 
I studied this phenomena because it was a mortal threat to me. It's called Inattentional Blindness.

I experienced it scores of times when I toured the U.S. on motorcycles. Young girls would pull right in front of my bike, while staring into my eyes. It usually happened in small, poor towns in Missouri and Nevada where people were unaccustomed to seeing motorcycles on the road.

Inattentional blindness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Inattentional blindness, also known as perceptual blindness, is a psychological lack of attention and is not associated with any vision defects or deficits.

...the phenomenon can occur in any individual, independent of cognitive deficits. When it simply becomes impossible for one to attend to all the stimuli in a given situation, a temporary blindness effect can take place as a result; that is, individuals fail to see objects or stimuli that are unexpected and quite often salient.
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To combat the phenomena I always wore Hi-viz body armor and helmets. It was downright creepy. It felt like they were deliberately trying to kill me, because they would stare right at me and stomp the gas peddle to pull in front of me.

BMW anti-lock brakes saved my life. I won't ride without anti-lock brakes.
 
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In London which is a very dangerous place to Ride a Motorbike I have seen a Motorcyclist who wears a high vis vest that says "Polite" on the back but written in the same font that the Police use, so at a glance it looks like he is a Policeman, which I have no doubt means car drivers give him more respect, because running over a policeman is not a good idea....
back%20of%20the%20POLITE%202014%20waistcoat.jpg
 
I didn't follow the soccer story, but had seen reference to it in a joke "zombie attack" context. Interesting incident- obviously one that's highly emotionally charged, too.
 
Re: soccer bite / One commentator described it as an Amygdala Hijack where his own chemistry is simplycausing him to lose control momentarily and bite people - too excited, too much adrenalin, fight response kicks in, chompitychomp.

The inattentional blindness is an interesting concept though I feel on the road people who look at you and suddenly pull out causing disaster (been on the receiving end of that before many times) has more to do with their absolute inability to gauge speed and distance of approaching vehicles. But there are examples of people standing beside each other witnessing strange things in the sky and reporting totally different objects, or some not seeing anything at all. Again, a lot of these conflicts in reports really do suggest for me internal vs. external experiences.

What I'm still confused about are animals dying due to UFO perceptual experiences? What actual examples of that are there? There's reports of animals freaking out and barking a lot but dying?
 
Burnt State said:
Re: soccer bite / One commentator described it as an Amygdala Hijack where his own chemistry is simplycausing him to lose control momentarily and bite people - too excited, too much adrenalin, fight response kicks in, chompitychomp.

The inattentional blindness is an interesting concept though I feel on the road people who look at you and suddenly pull out causing disaster (been on the receiving end of that before many times) has more to do with their absolute inability to gauge speed and distance of approaching vehicles. But there are examples of people standing beside each other witnessing strange things in the sky and reporting totally different objects, or some not seeing anything at all. Again, a lot of these conflicts in reports really do suggest for me internal vs. external experiences.

What I'm still confused about are animals dying due to UFO perceptual experiences? What actual examples of that are there? There's reports of animals freaking out and barking a lot but dying?
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The exact cause is unverified of course, but near encounters with UFOs wherein dogs die is somewhat common. These are cases where the UFO is in near proximity to both humans observing the UFO and the animal just happens to be there.

I don't know, but something about "perceptual experiences" leaves one with the whimsical impression that the dog had it's mind blown like it dropped acid or whatever. LOL! Not exactly what I meant.

Here is one such more so well known case where UFO/Doggone occurred. Sheriff reveals 1966 UFO encounter and death of dog - Richmond , Virginia, United States - August 9, 1966 - UFO Evidence I attribute this to a dog's extended perceptual abilities. You know, like their ability to hear far and away outside and beyond the human spectrum of audible detection. Millions of cases are documented wherein animals "sense" what human beings do not. Some of the best being those that support doggy precognition (don't ask, use your own head to create your own speculations, that's all any of us have with respect for these matters) with respect to their owners returning home.

Bigfoot and dogs in relatively close spaces also tend to be reported in fatal fashion minus any physical contact. Can you think of a different reason, apart from their heightened senses, that they might kick the proverbial doggy dish?
 
The seminal Maury Island incident had Dahl's dog die from falling saucer slag. Dahl committed the pooch's eternal soul to the deep on the way back to the port of Tacoma. Dahl's son's hand was also injured/wounded.
 
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