Think Anomalous

Think Anomalous videos offer reviews of notable cases of unexplained events, and surveys some  major developments in the study of anomalous phenomena. Videos feature illustration by Colin Campbell or V.R. Laurence, music by Josh Chamberland, Animation by Brendan Barr, and Sound design by Will Mountain. 

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Jacques Vallée, UFOs, and the Case Against Aliens

There is no more influential thinker in the study of UFOs than the French astronomer, computer scientist, and ufologist, Jacques Vallée. By the late 1960s, Vallée drew ufology’s attention to the deeply symbolic qualities of UFO reports, and demonstrated a continuity of symbols, actions, and archetypes from historical folklore and mythology. For his insightful and rigorously scientific approach to the field, Vallée has earned a reputation as the grandfather of ufology, and in his illustrious career, he pioneered an entirely new explanation for the UFO phenomenon. (continue reading)

Condon UFO Report (The Scientific Study of UFOs, 1969

In 1966, the U.S. Air Force commissioned what it intended to be the definitive study on the UFO phenomenon. The report, which concluded that there was no scientific value to UFO research, provided the Air Force with the justification to halt more than two decades of public investigative work, and solidified the current intellectual culture of UFO debunking. But a critical review of the report’s history shows that its scientific objectivity was compromised from the very beginning, and exposes the rigorous controversy behind Condon’s façade of scholarly consensus. (continue reading)

​Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot Film, 1967

There is probably no footage of any anomalous phenomenon more famous or controversial than the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film of 1967. It gives us pop culture’s most familiar depiction of the Sasquatch, an ape-like cryptid said to roam the western American wilderness, and while it is often labelled a hoax, scientific analysis has nearly ruled out the possibility of fraud. 60 years later, the Patterson-Gimlin film still stands up to scientific scrutiny, and remains an icon of North America’s most famous cryptid. ​(continue reading)

Kenneth Arnold UFO Sighting, 1947

On June 24, 1947, a private pilot named Kenneth Arnold spotted a group of lustrous, delta-shaped objects flying around the Cascade mountains in Washington state. Arnold’s story made headlines across the country, inspiring a world-wide fascination with “flying saucers” and over twenty years of US government research. Arnold’s wasn't the first anomalous aerial sighting in human history, or even the first in 1947, but it captured the public imagination like few sightings before, and it birthed a new mythology of extraterrestrial visitation. (continue reading)

Presentiment: "Feeling the Future"

Trust your hunches - science has shown that we can actually feel the near future. Through dozens of peer-reviewed studies, researchers have shown that people respond to emotionally-laden events up to 10 seconds before the events occur. The effect, dubbed “presentiment,” challenges our intuitive assumptions about the nature of time and its relationship to human consciousness, and it even causes us to question our understanding of cause and effect. (continue reading)

Fatima Apparitions and the 'Miracle of the Sun,' 1915 - 1917

Among the most spectacular anomalies in modern history are the “Miracle” at Fatima, Portugal in 1917, and the preceding series of apparitional experiences. The Catholic Church declared the apparitions - which culminated in 70,000 spectators seeing the sun dance in the sky - genuine miracles, and established a cult around the visitations of the “lady of the rosary.” But the events at Fatima also show that under all the religious overtones, stories of “miracles” are not that different from other, surprisingly similar, anomalous phenomena. (continue reading)

The Zaragoza Goblin, 1934

It’s common for people to feel they’ve been visited by aliens or supernatural beings, but sometimes, a dialogue takes place where there is no being at all. The seemingly sourceless voice that tormented the Palazon family from their apartment in Zaragoza, Spain, evaded explanation for two weeks before vanishing. The story of the “Zaragoza Goblin” remains a strong case for the possibility of disembodied consciousness, and it makes us question the physicality of any paranormal experience. (continue reading)

Charles Fort: Defining the Anomalous, 1874 - 1932

Whether you know it or not, your thinking on the paranormal owes a lot to an early-twentieth-century writer named Charles Fort. Fort collected reports of scientific anomalies in an effort to undermine the mathematized and mechanistic worldview that he felt was entrenched in the science of his era. In four seminal books, Fort showed the world that there was a lot about nature that is still unexplained, and he carved the outlines of the over-arching category for anomalous phenomena that we know today as the “paranormal.” (continue reading)

The Voronezh UFO Landing, 1989

As the USSR relaxed its media stranglehold in the late 1980s, it was finally revealed that UFOs were seen behind the iron curtain as well as in the West. One of the first, and easily the most bizarre, Soviet UFO stories to make headlines was the landing in Voronezh, Russia, 1989. The case contains elements of both traditional UFO sightings and much older anomalous experiences, and proves that UFO landings aren’t just inventions of American pop culture, but part of an enduring, global phenomenon. (continue reading)

The Abduction of Jacob Jacobsson, 1759

Today it feels natural to associate “alien abductions” with extraterrestrial kidnappers. But there are many cases over the last few hundred years that have all the elements of alien abduction but without all the aliens. The unusual experience of Jacob Jacobsson, as related in the parish records near Lonmora, Sweden in 1759, is a reminder that abduction scenarios d ate back well before the arrival of flying saucers and alien pilots, and may have nothing to do with extraterrestrials at all. (continue reading)

Solway Firth "Spaceman," 1964

Every now and then, an event occurs that is so out of the ordinary that it stands out as an anomaly even amongst other anomalies. This is the case in the Solway Firth “Spaceman” photograph, which shows a large, unidentified figure not seen or heard at the time of its taking. Decades later, the image is still unexplained, and it continues to defy even our most basic attempts at categorization. (continue reading)

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