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Preston Dennett

Auteur van UFOs Over Topanga Canyon

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Bevat de naam: Preston E. Dennett

Werken van Preston Dennett

UFOs Over Topanga Canyon (1999) 20 exemplaren

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One of the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak and the libraries shutting down is I was left with the stack of books I had checked out at the time of the shutdown, to be held indefinitely. I have a habit of picking up 10-20 books at a time, usually a few for work and a few for pleasure, of which I only manage to read a few before I have to turn them back in. One book I keep checking out but never reading is UFOs Over Topanga Canyon, by Preston Dennett (https://prestondennett.weebly.com/). My interest in the book had more to do with my interest in local folklore than primarily an interest or belief in UFOs, so I keep checking it out, back burnering it, and then having to return it. Topanga is a very unusual place, which I will get back to later.

On June 14, 1992, a number of people in Topanga Canyon, a gorge in the mountains between the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley, saw lights or objects in the sky. Some thought they saw helicopters. Others thought they saw saucer-like objects. Still others saw only a light. Four reported their sightings to the police. At least two others were interviewed by the local weekly newspaper, the Topanga Messenger, which ran an article about the reported sightings.

The newspaper's editor contacted Dennett about the story. Dennett is a UFO researcher who had written articles and published two books about UFOs. He has now compiled 20 such books, as well as a number of other books on paranormal topics. At the time he was also an active member of the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI), which attempts to initiate contact with UFOs.

Dennett conducted his own investigation of UFOs in Topanga Canyon by posting notices looking for witnesses, handing out flyers at the Topanga fair, and asking the police and people he knew who lived in the canyon if they had seen UFOs themselves or heard any reports of UFOs. He also located a few published accounts.

Although Dennett himself rarely enters the narrative, he tries simultaneously to allow the evidence to speak for itself and to make the book the story of his investigation. I found the result confusing, as he jumps around both chronologically and geographically.

The end result of his seven year investigation is summarized in a twenty-five page appendix entitled "Chronology and Analysis." The appendix also includes a map on page 264, which he should have mentioned in the text, since it is helpful if you don't already know the Topanga area. By his count Dennett documents 82 encounters of one kind or another. Most of these are anomalous lights in the sky. But there are also a few alleged abductions, and one strange creature that was seen on a road. The weird creature illustrates Dennett's collection bias. He admits, "I have only included Mimi's account because of reports of strange creatures in other UFO hotspots. Whether or not the case is related to UFOs is pure speculation." He states that he has heard stories of hauntings and other oddities that he does not include in the book because they don't have to deal with UFOs. One wonders what he left out of this book.

Dennett believes he shows increasing activity from the 1940s to the 1990s, but seems totally unaware that this may simply be due to a sampling bias caused by his own appearance on the scene in the 1990s. For example, about half of the reports he documents from the 1970s come from a single witness; had that person not stepped forward his curve would look even more dramatic. Many people have died or moved from the area whose encounters, if they had any, would have gone unrecorded. The fact is that Dennett appeared in the 1990s and began aggressively to look for UFO witnesses; had someone done the same in the 1970s, for example, perhaps the quantity of reports for the 1970s would be similar. Dennett focused his energy on Topanga and the surrounding communities and then comes to the conclusion that these communities are special; one suspects that if he handed out flyers anywhere he would have gotten a response.

This book has all the flaws of most UFO and paranormal books. It relies entirely on the oral testimony of witnesses. Many of these individuals mention lights in the sky and then estimate how high up the were or how fast they moved -- things anyone who watches an airplane knows one can't really estimate from the ground. Dennett mentions a few videos and photos, but does not include them in the book. Some of these people no doubt had strange experiences. Others could be making things up. Were any UFOs involved? After reading the 300 page book I remain unconvinced.

Problematically, Dennett also relies heavily on hearsay. One of his sources is a seven-year-old boy who Dennett met at a fair and who tells Dennett about something someone else told him. That's a far cry from evidence. Hearsay is more dramatically abused in the chapter titled "Anatomy of a Cover-up." Two people were allegedly at a dinner party, where someone allegedly mentioned a list of witnesses kept by the police, about which Dennett speculates. The chapter is a real mess, and very unfair to the police, who were actually very cooperative sharing information with Dennett.

As I was saying, Topanga is a very unusual place. I got to know it a bit not only by reading but also over the course of several months during which I excavated at CA-LAN-008, which is the archaeological site near the post office that Dennett mentions on page 252. At the time of European contact, Topanga was occupied at least seasonally by the Gabirelino and the Chumash. Native Americans left abundant archaeological remains, which led academic archaeologists to define the Topanga Culture (see: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42654/42654-h/42654-h.htm). Before the academics got there, collectors allegedly dug up horned giants there (see: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2274821/the-western-north-carolina-times/). Naturally, there's no physical evidence surviving to support these claims, and the truth is fascinating but much more prosaic (see: https://messengermountainnews.com/native-americans-of-topanga-beach/). We found the typical Native American material culture in our excavations. I mention this to show how legends about Topanaga were already springing up in the early twentieth century.

Dennett shows that in the 1940s Topanga had a few flying saucer tales told about it. One reference he did not find suggests that Topanga was already a focus of legend and speculation. Maurice Doreal, founder of the Brotherhood of the White Temple, claimed in a lecture titled Mysteries of Mt. Shasta delivered sometime after World War II that Lemurians from Mount Shasta met him during a lecture in Los Angeles in 1931 and took him by car to "the hills . . . toward Topanga Canyon," where they gave him some kind of jet pack and flew him to Mount Shasta before giving him a tour of their hidden city there. One suspects that Topanga Canyon was already seen as a special place by the New Age community in the 1940s and 1950s.

By the 1960s, Topanga Canyon was definitely established in this way. At that time there were Victorian houses at the mouth of the canyon; these have since been torn down and the area acquired as parkland. One of the houses, known as the Spiral Staircase, was a gathering place for the spiritually inclined (see: https://www.mansonblog.com/2018/05/mansonblog-tour-2018-spiral-staircase.html#:~.... The place is today memorialized in the name of The Spiral Staircase, a New Age bookstore attached to the Inn of the Seventh Ray (which is itself named for the Theosophical teachings of Charles Leadbeater).

Topanga famously attracted Charles Manson, whose Family spent a good deal of time there. He first met Paul Watkins there. Manson and Bobby Beausoleil also killed Gary Hinman in Topanga; Hinman's killing may have been their first and it began their nights of terror.

I'm sure there are much less terrifying and less extreme examples of the kinds of people who come to the canyon that are, nevertheless, no less fascinating. I just don't know about because they are not as well documented.

Today, Topanga remains an unusual and spiritual place. It is accessible, and yet feels wild. It is the home of Pure Land Farms and probably a host of unofficial centers. When I was there, one had the choice of attending sound baths and other spiritual experiences which were advertised on cork boards outside the local markets. I have driven through the canyon to find the entire length below Topanga lined with Chinese lanterns, placed high up on the cliff faces. One hears stories of hauntings, cryptids, and other strange experiences there.

In his book, Dennett observes, "The only pattern related to the witnesses is that there is no real pattern. People of all types, young and old, are seeing the objects. The only real factor they have in common is that they all live in Topanga Canyon." But the fact that they all live in Topanga Canyon itself may suggest a common culture, shared legends, and shared beliefs. If these things are real, whatever they happen to be, are the people of Topanga drawing the things to themselves because of their spiritual orientation? Or are people more inclined to believe the lights they are seeing are UFOs because the belief in UFOs and other paranormal entities is common in the canyon?

In short, I would love to read a history of the folklore and spirituality of Topanga Canyon. Dennett's book isn't that, but it does both document and contribute to the folklore of this fascinating place.
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marc_beherec | 1 andere bespreking | Jun 7, 2020 |
A good alien/UFO book for teenagers. It describes well-known cases and covers cover ups, implants, abductions, and even hoaxes. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to know more about aliens or UFOs.
 
Gemarkeerd
lesindy | Nov 1, 2014 |
Oh -- it doesn't get better than this. What I love is drugs are never, ever mentioned as having anything to do with these visions and awesome visitations. Me, after over a decade living here, I'm still waiting for my close encounter.

Here's a choice excerpt:

January 1991. Pre-dawn hours. Entrada, Topanga Canyon. One witness: Susan. Bedroom visitation during which witness was unable to move, speak, or see. Witness sensed a presence which snipped off a lock of her hair, probed her body with a pencil-like instrument and then departed. Encounter lasted for a few minutes.

… (meer)
 
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lovejunkie | 1 andere bespreking | Aug 1, 2008 |

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