I’m fascinated by what I like to think of as the “drift” of information on the Internet. Posting an article on a website is a bit like casting a message in a bottle into the sea. Once in a while, I attempt to get a glimpse of where some of my bottles have washed up. Back at the turn of the century I posted some speculative articles about Fortean subjects. One was an article about a strange little book from the 1850’s titled The Illustrated Silent Friend. This book contains an airship story presented as an account of a true sighting. Chris Aubeck took the time and energy to get to the bottom of the story and reveal it for what it is: some early Science Fiction. I agree with Chris’ conclusions, and did so in print on this website. Google results for today brought up about 20 references to the article, including, near the top of the list, a link to my announcement about the story. On the other hand, at about the same time, I posted two articles concerning the similarities between Jane Lead’s visions and UFO abduction stories, and these articles seem to have created a minor industry on the web. One was even translated (without my name!) into German. Google brought up about 50 references, many simply reprinting the texts, but others using those articles to speculate on Joseph Smith’s visions, and the transports of other spiritual writers. Insterestingly enough, the premise has been adopted by a few commentators, who appear to have left me out of the equation! Chris Aubeck once again expressed interest in these articles and went ahead to make his own investigation into the matter. The best result, and the most surprising, was that I am referred to in print by a respected religious scholar in a book from Blackwell’s!

Two old chestnuts which I had dug up in the 1970’s, and published as fillers in the old Fate magazine in the 1980’s were also posted on the net at about the same time as those above. One involves a whistling humanoid from the 1830’s allegedly seen in Pennsylvania. This one has also appeared on about 25 different sites devoted to Bigfoot and other strangeness on the web, and was translated into German without my knowledge. (At least they kept my name, though they up-dated the sighting to the 1930’s!) “A Hint For Neglected Wives”–a small note about 19th century witchcraft in Wisconsin–has not done nearly as well with only two links registered by Google today.