Real Encounters, Different Dimensions, and Otherworldly Beings

Interview with Brad and Sherry Steiger

1. What was your prime motivation and inspiration in assembling “Real Encounters, Different Dimensions, and Otherworldly Beings”?

We have been engaged in UFO and paranormal research since the early 1950′s, and we have come to the conclusion that throughout history some external intelligence has in­teracted with Homo sapiens in an effort to learn more about us and/or to communicate certain basic truths. In this book we present the thesis that the aliens, angels, spirit guides, demons, and gods or goddesses encountered by unaware, yet somehow receptive, percipients may actually be the product of a multidimensional in­telligence that masks itself in physical forms that are more accept­able to humans than its true image–if image it has. In Real Encounters, Different Dimensions, and Otherworldly Beings, we choose to define and to name this multidimensional intelligence and its multitude of manifestations as the Other.
The many guises of the Other exist only a frequency away in the background of the unconscious, waiting for some triggering mechanism to bring it into focus. The so-­called “collective unconscious” of modern psychology is nothing less than a subliminal doorway to that immaterial domain which the physicists are so bus­ily mapping on a different level. Once that “doorway” has been opened, an as yet unknown psychic mechanism ac­tivates the unconscious mind, the “higher self,” and summons the Other. Once activated, the Other is able to absorb, reflect, and imitate human intelligence, thereby creating a host of entities that are fashioned by the dramatic by-products of our collective unconscious. Once the Other draws upon a human’s belief construct, it may produce an independent image that can sustain itself on the vagaries of centuries of legend and myth. If there is truly but one Life Force and a common, collective unconscious for Homo sapiens, then, in the larger sense any contact with the Other becomes part of the common experience of all humankind, whether the incident is reported in the popular press or pondered quietly in the mind of the individ­ual observer.
The messages relayed by the images that have been created by the Other are always relevant to the time context of human observers, but the symbolism that it employs is always timeless, archetypal, and instantly recognizable by one level of the percipient’s consciousness. Angels, ge­nies, wee people, devils, and gods, it would seem have been popular in all cultures throughout history.

2. Could you explain what you mean by saying the UFO is a living mythological symbol?

Throughout the centuries of humankind’s spiritual and intellectual evolution the UFO has become a living mythological symbol designed to awaken and to give guidance to the energies of life.
The distinguished scholar Joseph Campbell has observed that the most im­portant function of such a mythological symbol not only “turns a person on,” but it turns him in a specific direction which enables him to participate effectively in a functioning social group.
Dr. John W. Perry has identified the living mythological symbol as an “af­fect image”–an image which speaks directly to the feeling system and instantly elicits a response. Only after the image has affected the percipient where it re­ally counts does the brain provide interpretive and appreciative comments. If a symbol must first be “read” by the brain, it is already a dead symbol and will not produce a responding resonance within the percipient, … like the an­swer of a musical string to another equally tuned.” When the vital symbols of any given social group are able to evoke such resonances within all its mem­bers, “. . . a sort of magical accord unites them as one spiritual organism, functioning through members, who, though separate in space, are yet one in being and belief.”
It is our contention that the UFO continues to provide contemporary humans with a vital, living mythological symbol, an “affect image,” which communicates directly to our essential selves, bypassing our brains, evading acculturation, manipulating his­torical conditioning. We believe that the image of the UFO somehow serves humankind as a transfor­mative symbol that will unite our entire species as one spiritual organism, functioning through members, who, though separate in space, are yet one in being and belief.”

3. I’ve noticed lately with a lot of alien abductees and contactees I’ve interviewed that they claim these experiences happen in their mind’s eye aka altered states not physical reality. I find this a bit daunting and confusing. What are your thoughts on this?

As we said, these experiences may exist only a frequency away in the background of the unconscious, waiting for some triggering mechanism to bring them into focus. The so-­called “collective unconscious” of modern psychology is nothing less than a subliminal doorway to that immaterial domain which the physicists are so bus­ily mapping on a different level. Once that “doorway” has been opened, an as yet unknown psychic mechanism ac­tivates the unconscious mind and allows those individuals who have encountered what they perceived as an extraterrestrial visitor, a ghost, an angel, an elfin creature, or a nightmarish monster to never forget the experience. Their lives have never been the same. Their concept of reality has been forever expanded. Upon reflection, some may consider the encounter a life-altering experience, an illumination, an epiphany; but whether the encounter occurred to them a few months ago, a few years ago, or when they were very young children, they remember it as clearly as if no time at all has elapsed. The experience remains with them in an Eternal Now.

4. Would you share one of your most interesting alien stories from the book with us?

We have so many intriguing alien encounters, including ones that occurred on both U.S. and British military bases. However, one of the most unusual and detailed accounts of a UFO abduction encounter by a huge, glowing jelly-fishlike entity that occurred to Z. Peterson, a mental health technician who is employed by an in-patient psychiatric hospital in Oklahoma. He describes its body as appearing to be made of radiant light. Below it flickered strange tendrils of pure white light scattering patchworks patterns on the darkened alleyway ground. Its color was that of lavender to hot pink and parts were bluish as well. Peterson had multiple encounters with this entity.
One of the aspects that rather startled us in doing research for this book is that a number of individuals that we knew as men and women occupied in “normal professions” with “normal lives” had undergone dramatic and startling contact or abduction experiences.

5. What can you can you tell us about the Wee people and would you share a story with us about them?

If you should ever meet an entity that appears very much like the beings portrayed in your old children’s book of fairy tales and if you wish to survive the meeting without any nastiness, there are two rules you must remember: Don’t you dare ask its name; and don’t you dare call it a fairy.
According to those who speak the Gaelic tongue of Scotland and Ireland, the wee folk prefer to be known as sidhe (also spelled sidh, sith, sithche, and pronounced “shee”). There is disagreement as to the exact meaning of “sidhe.” Some say that it refers to the mounds or hills in which the supernatural folk abide. Others say that it means “the People of peace,” and that is how the sidhe generally behave toward humans except for two seem­ingly incurable elfin traits of–1.) kidnapping human children to rear as their own and leaving one of their own (a “changeling”) to be reared by unsuspecting human parents; and 2.) shapeshifting into a seemingly endless variety of forms in order to work mischief, but most often good, for baffled humans.
Here is one of numerous stories that we include in the book from the Boston Herald, December 25, 2005:
Ric Bourie wrote that highway engineers and construction crews still regard the Hidden Folk, very seriously: “Mischief befalls Icelandic road builders who can’t recognize good elf domain, including breakdowns of heavy equipment and even worker mishaps and injuries. It is said to have happened on more than one job site, enough to take the mythology seriously. Consequently, road planners here consult with an elf expert before routing a road or highway through rock piles that may be elf habitat.”
Bourie interviewed elf seer Erla Stefansdottir, who named elves, gnomes, dwarves, angels, light-fairies, and “the hidden people” as all belonging to classes of what she called elfin beings. Any of the above-named entities, Ms Stefansdotter said, “…can get quite upset if we ruin their houses or go against their wishes. They get very upset and we have to face the consequences. They can put a spell on us.”
While some people may be surprised that the stereotypical stoic Scandinavians believe in elves and other beings from the hidden world, it seems that the whole world embraces the stereotype of the country folk of Ireland taking their wee people seriously. According to popular leprechaun and elf stories, the Irish know that to disturb the mounds or raths in which they dwell is to invite severe supernatural consequences. Since ancient times, it seems that the Irish have understood that there are certain areas that the wee ones consider sacrosanct, special to them. Certain mounds, caves, creek areas, and forest clearings have been staked out by the Hidden Ones as their very own and the wise human, sensitively in touch with the natural environment, knows better than to trespass on such ground.

6. Noe Torres is new to me as far as his story goes, would you tell us about his experiences?

In our book Real Encounters, Noe shares his experience as a young boy when his mother encountered a brilliant shaft of light surrounding her outside their rustic home.
Noe Torres, UFO investigator, is the author of Ultimate Guide to the Roswell UFO Crash and Fallen Angel: UFO Crash Near Laredo, Texas. With Ruben Uriates, Torres has written the only fully authorized account ever written about the genuinely eerie 1964 UFO encounter near Cisco Grove, California, Aliens in the Forest. Noe holds a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Library Science from the University of Texas at Austin. With California UFO researcher Ruben Uriarte, he has written two other books: Mexico’s Roswell: The Chihuahua UFO Crash and The Other Roswell: UFO Crash on the Texas-Mexico Border. With Roswell historian John LeMay, Noe wrote The Real Cowboys & Aliens: UFO Encounters of the Old West. He also served as editor and publisher of the books Roswell USA by John LeMay, Roswell Alien Autopsy by Philip Mantle, and Russia’s Roswell Incident by Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle.

7. I find these stories of other dimensional realities fascinating. Would you share one of your favorite tales with us?

We have so many incredible accounts of individuals who claim to have entered other-dimensional realties, that it is almost impossible to choose one. But here goes:

Some times one can wander into a dimensional vortex quite by accident. Joan, a broadcast journalist, told us of her stay in most unusual motel.
As she told the story, her resume had been received with enthusiasm by a large radio station in the southwest, and she had been asked to come in for an interview. Since she was presently employed at a station in a smaller city nearly 200 miles from the possible new position, she asked her friend Elaine to accompany her on what would be an overnight trip.
Joan said that they arrived in the city quite late and were sorry that they had not made reservations before their departure, for the choices for comfortable accommodations were rather slim.
They were about to resign themselves to spending the night in a rundown motel on the edge of town when they turned a corner and noticed a small, but very attractive, motel directly behind a soft-serve dairy drive-in. The motel had very few rooms, but the place appeared to be clean and well-kept, and Joan and Elaine reasoned that the traffic from the drive-in would be minimal at that late hour and would not disturb them.
A quiet, white-haired, rather distinguished looking, night clerk handed them their room key after they had registered and pleasantly wished them a good night’s sleep. The crisply clean room had two queen-sized beds, and Joan remarked that she and her friend enjoyed one of the most restful night’s sleep that either had had for months.
Joan’s interview was set for eight o’ clock sharp, so the two women were up early to turn in their key and grab a couple of doughnuts and coffee from the continental breakfast offered by the motel.
The interview went well, and Joan accepted the job offer from the station manager. The man said that he loved her voice and promised her an afternoon talk show, in addition to covering special features and doing the early evening news.
Joan was exuberant. She was moving up in her career to a much larger radio station and with a considerable increase in pay over her present position.
On the way out of town, Joan and Elaine decided to drive past the motel where they had enjoyed such a good night’s sleep. Joan had paid cash for the room, and the manager had neglected to give her a receipt. She should have one for her business records, she reasoned, and besides, neither one of them had seen the name of the motel.
“We drove around and around that corner again and again,” Joan said. “but there was no motel to be seen. We knew it was directly behind this dairy drive-in, but now there was nothing but a vacant lot there. We thought we were going crazy. We stopped and asked people about the motel behind the dairy freeze, but no one knew what we were talking about. They definitely thought we were crazy.”
At the time Joan told us her story, she had been with the radio station in the city with the vanishing motel for fifteen years.
“Every once in a while,” she admitted, “I will still drive around behind the dairy bar and try to sneak up on the motel. It is never there. And according to people in the community, there never has been a motel, inn, hotel, or hostel on that site. Ever. But it was certainly solid and real wherever it really exists.
“Elaine and I know that we didn’t sleep on the ground behind that drive-in, and we didn’t sleep in the car,” Joan sighed, ending her unusual account. “But where did we spend the night? What dimension did two tired women enter that evening and enjoy a wonderful, restful sleep? Believe me, there have been many stressful times since when I have wished that I could hide away under the covers of one of the beds in that motel in the middle of nowhere.”

8. This is a wild card question. What from the book would you like to share with us that our readers might find perturbing or fascinating?

The following account we find has implications for our world that are perturbing, disturbing, and fascinating:
Recently we received a report from Ethan, who, being familiar with our theories concerning the multidimensionality of various entities, provided us with powerful circumstantial evidence to support our claims.
Between 2004 and 2006, Ethan was stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. According to his account, “… every 23 days exactly, you could set your clock to it, between 0100-0200, we would get a thermal hit of a man-sized image inside the tree line of our perimeter. By the time we were able to respond to the location (within 3-5 minutes), the image would be gone.
“I saw this image several times, and each time it would appear behind a tree, walk to the side, then move back behind the tree and vanish. Each appearance of a man-sized image lasted about 30 seconds.
“One evening, we had a soldier stand at the spot where the image would appear. The trooper was 6’7″ and weighed 225 pounds. We did a side by side comparison and an overlay image with this particular solider. My guess is that the mysterious image was about one foot to a foot and a half taller than he, but was easily twice as wide. These incidents continued until the base removed the trees, then the images stopped.
“At the time I lived off base around the same general area and exactly every 24 days, my dog would start growling and barking at the patio door that over looked a field. She would refuse to go out and generally acted scared. We also had reports of our military working dogs, weighing upwards of 100 pounds, refuse to go into those woods around the same time, on some occasions dragging their handlers back out of the woods.
“I know about your theory that Bigfoot is an extra-dimensional creature that every once in a while appears in our dimension. This theory may hold fact, because I do not see how something that size could have evaded all of the sensors and cameras that we had set up. I also believe that we were monitoring a creature that had some kind of territorial claim to that area.”
Had the soldiers at Whiteman Air Force Base detected some kind of multidimensional vortex area where entities could arrive in our frequency and disperse to other areas of the planet.

9. What are the Steigers up to next book wise and any links you’d like to share? Always a pleasure to get to interview you. Thanks.

Our website: www.bradandsherry.com

We are in the midst of research for our next book, but we don’t yet have a title.

This book is published by Visible Ink Press. Stop by for many other fine publications.