Something was brought to my attention this past week that I feel is only right and proper to share with the listeners of Strange Days... Indeed. What I'm talking about is an editorial written by Sue Darroch and Matthew J. Didier, of ParaResearahers Ontario, concerning a piece I did for Program 224 on January 18 of this year.

In 'My Take On It', I spoke about how Ufology was being watered down by being lumped in with some of the lesser credible items of parapsychology in such a way that it muddies the reports and thereby places them in a category of disbelief.

Now, Ms. Darroch and Mr. Didier decided that 'My Take On It' was a direct challenge to Parapsychology in general and that because I didn't believe in reported sightings of Elvis buying Twinkies at a local 7-11 it meant that I discounted all aspects of the paranormal. In other words, don't you dare get any of that ghostly ectoplasm anywhere near my nice, shiny spaceship's ashtray.

Okay, I'm not going to pull any punches here and I will say that I am interested in stories about ghosts, Bigfoot, The Abominable Snowman and even The Loch Ness Monster. I'll go a step further and state that I believe there has been enough evidence gathered about these things that it really does warrant much closer investigation. However, I draw the line of disbelief with sightings of Elvis, Adolf Hitler, and John F. Kennedy. I also do not believe that there are mediums who can communicate with the dead no matter how well Television programs would like us to buy into that. In addition to all of this, I do not believe in leprechauns, fairies, or goblins. I also do not believe in fortune telling from reading the bumps on somebody's head or by someone reading Tarot cards. (And I'm sure I'm going to have a whole bunch of Fortune Tellers burning pictures of me because I have now said that) However, with that being said, my take on it was not trying to slap parapsychology in the face, nor was I trying to jockey for position here. What I want is to have UFOs and ALL related elements of UFOs moved out of the realm of parapsychology and to stand on it's own two feet as quite simply the study of UFO related items - or Ufology.

Mr. Didier and Ms. Darroch stated in their editorial that there are many cross-over cases of phenomena that link all or some of these categories. Now, I might be wrong here, but I can honestly say that I do not know of a single reported sighting of a UFO that involved Ghosts or anything else remotely associated with the paranormal and I will go a step further, I challenge Mr. Didier and Ms. Darroch to provide me with a report that shows otherwise and if they can, I will go to a 7-11, pick up a package of Twinkies that might have been touched by the hand of Elvis_and eat them on this program as I apologize to them. (Incidentally, I do not like Twinkies, but I don't wear a hat.)

In all seriousness though, there are things in the paranormal that I cannot explain nor would I venture to state emphatically that I do not believe in. But that was not the point of My take on it back in January of this year. I merely want Ufolgy to become an entity all to its own as is the definition of the word. Ufology - The study of UFOs and things related to UFOs.

But that's just my take on it.....