Ivan Sanderson's Research - Undervalued, Often Omitted

Something I've learned in a decade or so of delving into Fortean matters is that many Forteans are shunned by mainstream science. In fact, their theories are often pushed right under the rug.

Mainstream science has pretty much validated, in the past few decades, that strange things happen in the Bermuda Triangle - missing aircraft, boats and submarines or the pilots and steersmen of these vessels returning with time lag discrepancies and extraordinary tales of strange experiences. While yet unexplained (sort of - there are "theories" around...), most people - many scientists included - cannot fail to account for the fact that there are so many unexplained events in the Bermuda Triangle region of our globe.

Enter - the theories of Ivan T. Sanderson - which have been floating around but batted away by popular and mainstream science. Sanderson's theories have been around for decades and decades. Sanderson died in 1973, so we can safely assume we're almost FORTY YEARS BEHIND in following up on things he said, studied, wrote, etc.

Now, Sanderson wasn't just some guy who got into unexplained topics and learned "in the field" about things (some Forteans and paranormal researchers ARE filled with knowledge based on just self-study and experience in the field). He held a BA and two MA's from Cambridge University - in the fields of Zoology (BA), Geology and Botany (MA's). This was a guy with feet planted firmly into Science - yet his name isn't very well known unless a person happens to be delving into less popular topics and things the institution of Science calls "pseudo-science."

Very late in his work and life, not long before he passed away, Sanderson put out some of what many Forteans consider absolutely important and pivotal articles (in 1972) based on his research of "vortices" (plural of vortex-es). Sanderson had spent a great deal of time and effort to go into Naval records and Aircraft accident/disappearance records and plotted the events on a map. Almost everything he could get his hands on regarding ship, submarine and plane disasters, disappearances, strange sightings in the air or over water occurred in twelve regions across the globe.

Image SOURCE 

If the map with Sanderson's plotted points is stretched out end to end, the regions (vortices) are in perfect geographical alignment. TWO of the vortices are smack dab at what is called the Devil's Triangle and an even better known area, The Bermuda Triangle. Also, without manipulating any maps of the globe, spreading them out or anything, the vortex points plotted around the globe make a perfect geometrical shape called a icosehedron. This is a 20 sided polyhedron. Gamers would know this as a 20-sided dice shape and may have used such a piece for Dungeons and Dragons and similar games.

Image SOURCE 

The point here is... there isn't altogether as much "mystery" to the Bermuda Triangle as we might think - or at least we no longer have to question steps or stage 1 of "I wonder if something weird is going on in this whole area." (YES already!). Sanderson has mapped out some very important information so these regions of the globe can be studied in greater detail.

There are strange properties in all these vortices (I wonder if they're all, in part, gigantic "fear cage" regions where the magnetic and topographic effects of the region cause the human brain to work differently - as well as magnetic and electronic based equipment on ships and aircraft - just my thoughts). Sanderson's starting point for plotting events on the map was "strange events, accidents, crashes." Basically he started with mapping "weird shyt." However, many scientists are STILL RUNNING AROUND, asking, "is something weird going on?" and still trying to count events and find the same areas geographically that Sanderson plotted almost a full forty years ago!

This research (Sanderson's) has been largely ignored and certainly hasn't been given out to the general public in a "matter of fact" way. THIS SHOULD BE COMMON KNOWLEDGE (and OH, How this, as common knowledge would cut down the crap in beginner's threads of paranormal, science, paranormal and unexplained forums - Hallee-loo-yah!). A lot of mystery and unknowns still surround the Bermuda Triangle but I am weary of hearing - on mainstream science shows on television and what-not, "I wonder if something in the Bermuda Triangle is like a portal or something."

A-hem... Hello!   :)

YES... at the Bermuda Triangle and 11 other known locations of the globe, there are vortices and STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN in those locations that we need to focus on and study. We no longer have to wonder if something strange is a-foot and need to stop trying to take a tally of things in the Bermuda Triangle, move to the next stage of discovery, research, observation and, unfortunately, spending some money to send willing researchers and scientists there.

Just my li'l Fortean rant for today.

:)

Where Did The Visitor From Lanulos Go?

Back in the mid to late 60's a widespread UFO flap happened in the U.S.A. (well, waves of them happened, actually). During the midst of a flap in late 1966, near a town called Parkersburg in West Virginia, a strange being came down out of the sky and out of a weirdly shaped craft - to speak at the side of a roadway (I-77) to one, Mr. Woodrow Derenberger.

The entity gave his name as Indrid Cold. He told Derenberger he was from Lanulos, a planet in the Ganymede galaxy. He told Derenberger that Lanulos was similar to Earth - in that they both have flora, fauna, and different seasons. He also conveyed that there is no poverty, misery, or hunger on Lanulos and that life expectancy is 125-175 years on his planet, as measured in Earth years.

More strangely, when Derenberger came forth with his story, he said the information and conversation didn't happen by way of regular speech. It was a telepathic communication between himself and Mr. Cold!

Source: The Mothman Prophecies (Chapter 5) by John A. Keel

This story didn't end here, however, it became largely unpopular and went out of the attention of mainstream sources. Derenberger was heavily ridiculed after he disclosed details of his experiences. He moved his family a few times to try and get away from nosy and opinionated people, experienced a series of harsh phone calls and other discomforting things that only a non-empathetic public and insensitive groups of people can do to fellow humans. Ultimately the negative attention caused a split in the family and Derenberger lost his wife and kids - only one of whom (his daughter but not his two sons) has come forward in recent years to update or make any statements on this story.

An article with more details on Derenberger and his claims: Indrid Cold

Derenberger died in 1990 and his daugher, Taunia Bowman , has since revised his book, Visitors From Lanulos (originally published, and publishing paid for by Derenberger, in 1971), added some statements and changed some names at the request of other family members.

source

About Derenberger's claims, Taunia has said (in News and Sentinel article June 11, 2011), that she accepted her father's story and had an open mind. She felt that he talked to her about the Indrid Cold/Lanulos topics because he felt he COULD talk to her about it (while he couldn't speak to very many other people, especially the rest of his family about these things).

My final thoughts are that it's a shame that Derenberger was ostracized, ridiculed, to the point of a family split. I am glad that Taunia Bowman, at least, reconciled and spent time with her father so that he didn't miss out on all his family relationships.

Mr Derenberger seems to be the only one who had experiences with Indrid Cold, so now that Derenberger is gone, it looks like there is little hope of understanding the whole Indrid Cold phenomenon better (unless Taunia Bowman still has points to disclose).

It seems the visitor from Lanulos simply is no more.