Midwest UFOs and Beyond

Interview with Tom Baker

1. How did you initially go about getting into the subject of UFOs personally that lead you to create your new book, “Midwest UFOs and Beyond”?

One of my earliest memories is of lying in the backseat of my parents’ car, on the highway from texas to Indiana, sometime in the early 1980’s. A strange lighted object flew past the back window. I initially thought it was an airplane; then it struck me that airplanes weren’t perfectly round. I remember sitting bolt upright in the seat, looking at my unsuspecting parents in the front seat. Curiously, I simply lay back down and fell aleep. When I woke up,  my parents were screaming. I couldn’t tell what they were screaming about, so, oddly enough, I WENT BACK TO SLEEP SOMEHOW. When I woke up, everything had returned to normal. All my mother will say about it today is that the car headlights kept going out for no reason while they were driving, which had never happened before. Go figure.

2. What can you tell us about the 1890′s airship sighting manned by two men riding bicycle contraptions?

Such absurd anomalies are endemic to UFO lore, which seems to function on a different set of rules and principles than average, conventional reality. Perhaps the phenomena, as suggested by the late John Keel, moulds itself to fit the cultural expectations of the observer. This in no way invalidates the experience, but does make it fit into a specific frame of reference largely dependent on what the witness or experiencer expects.
On the other hand, UFO sightings from different parts of the world sometimes have many of the same features, even when reported by witnesses from wildly divergent backgrounds and cultures so, I don’t know.

3. How about the Nurse at Roswell warning people to get out of Roswell due to the alien autopsy?

An apocryphal tale, to be sure, but one that resonates in a kind of mythological sense. Was there really an “alien autopsy”? Possibly; logic dictates that if anything can happen, it probably has. The alleged autopsy films from twenty years ago are eerie, but ultimately seem to have done little to decide the matter one way or the other. True believers believe, and skeptics are still skeptics.

4. Could you share some information with us about your findings on the Men in Black?

It’s been rumored that “Ufologist” Gray Barker started this “Men in Black” idea as a prank to promote his book “They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers.” Of course, John Keel, a more reliable researcher, also wrote about his encounters with them. A UFO enthusiast named Albert Bender closed up his international flying saucer fan club, supposedly after being warned away by three “Men in Black”. I personally saw a man in a black van pull up beside me and offer myself and another witness a ride, maybe an hour before a startling close encounter UFO sighting.
The mythology about “three men” goes straight back to the Bible. Vampiric entities are, historically, said to be “Men in Black.” Government agents often wear black suits and shades. And so on.

5. What about animal mutilation do you believe it is of alien origins?

It’s interesting. The notion of “cattle rustlers from beyond” first turns up in the apocryphal Alexander Hamilton sighting of the late 1800’s, which is generally derided as a hoax. There, a mystery “Martian Airship” attempts to lasso a cow, which is later found strangely mutilated…this idea goes back a long way.

A more intriguing and frightening concept are the few incidents of human mutilations and bizarre disappearances/deaths that can be associated with UFOs. Most of these are related to “radiation sickness,” and involved people in South American countries or very remote places.

There may be various unknown entities that feed off of pain or bloodshed. I’m not sure.

6. Could you share a story about bed side visitations with us?

Sure. This happened to me at least three times, probably more, as I was growing up. If it has happened in recent years, I am unaware. The first inkling of the incidents to come was being attacked in my bedroom by an invisible weight, while sleeping, at maybe the age of twelve.

Maybe a year later, I woke up at night, paralyzed, with the “Hooded Entity” standing over my bed. Interested person can go to Google or You Tube for more information about the Hooded Man/Shadow People. It’s an enormous black demonic figure with long, crooked fingers, red eyes, and no face. And, of course, a hood like a medieval monk. I saw this same figure twice, the second time in the company of a giant, white, skeletal being that looked like an oversized praying mantis, with “Grey Alien” eyes and long, skeletal fingers. The last thing I remember of this was seeming as if I was outside myself screaming, and then passing out. The next day, I felt very groggy and ill, and it took me forever to remember that anything had happened at all.

7. Would you tell us about the incident involving a UFO and a car chase?

That was the police incident in Ohio. I’d have to go back and reread the particulars, but it inspired the chase scene at the beginning of “Close Encounters.” I’ve read the interrogation of the police officers involved, and they swore as to the reality of the incident. Also, they swore that what they chased through to the Ohio border was no aircraft of earthly origin.

8. This is a wild card question of sorts. What would you like to share with us from your book that our readers might be interested in?

Anyone needing a quick primer on the topic of UFO history and all the various facets of the phenomena will not be disappointed. I tried to include everything of relevance, including my own experiences, and detail the various emotions and creeping sensations (and religious feelings) this subject stirs up in me.

9. Why do you think some are chosen for abduction by aliens from elsewhere?

Uncertain. In some instances, lifelong involvement with these entities might be a sign that they view you as intellectually or psychically “special”; on the other hand, many abduction accounts sound as if they simply occurred out of a matter of convenience for the abductors, such as Travis Walton, Betty and Barney Hill, the Allagash Abduction, etc. So, I really am uncertain. I suppose it all goes back to issues of memory, possibility, what is tangible versus what might, possibly, be a product of fantasy-prone individuals. Again, not saying this doesn’t happen, just unsure about the particulars. There’s a long mythological history of humans being abducted by a non-human “other” race, such as in the medieval period.

10. Do you have any links you’d like to share with us and also whats next on your agenda for upcoming books? Thanks.

Sure. Interested persons can go to tombakerbooks.weebly.com to see my website. As far as upcoming books, I have one title being published by a small press called The Moon Publishing and Printing, and that’s a book of sort of surrealistic and experimental fiction pieces based entirely around my dreams and nightmares. Some of that stuff has been published on my blog, at tomb76.wordpress.com. Otherwise, I’m currently working on a book of horror and ghost stories for teenage readers, which is going really well. After that, who knows? I work based around intuition, and what I feel God wants me to do at the time…what I’m supposed to do. That includes writing, but also experimental music and recording, and even visual art.

And with that, I want to thank you as well. It’s been my pleasure!

Brought to you by Schiffer Books.