To Sleep Perchance for Psi

 

For the second Saturday in a row I headed to London for a one day paranormal conference; see here for the previous one: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2026/04/strange-central.html. This time I was going to the headquarters of the Society for Psychical Research, one of the world's oldest paranormal investigation organizations, founded in 1882. The conference was called "To Sleep Perchance for Psi"; and, as its name suggests, it was all about the paranormal factors related to sleeping. This was a far smaller event than the one at Conway Hall. About twenty-five people were there, tucked into a small conference room, including my good friend and comrade Mark Froud of Crafty Nihilist fame, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2025/09/ben-emlyn-jones-and-crafty-nihilist-8.html. The HQ itself is a very modest affair, as you'd expect because the SPR is registered as a non-profit. It is set back from the main street in some "mews" next to the Olympia London and has three floors with a stair-lift for disabled people. On the top floor is the world famous library and it's a pity I didn't have a longer time to browse there. I've recently joined the SPR and it's worth doing that just to read those classic paranormal books. The Society has no "party line" and people involved have all kinds of viewpoints. They just share a fascination with all things spooky. I saw a couple of other people I recognized from other conferences, but most of the delegates were new to me. However, I did meet a lady called Ursula who had been at Weird Weekend North 2026. I didn't recognize her so our paths must simply never have crossed; things like that do happen at large events, see: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2026/04/hpanwo-show-627-weird-weekend-north.html. 

The first speaker was called Chris Roe. He did a talk about dream precognition, the strange phenomenon of having dreams that come true. He gives a number of examples; some of them very famous, such as the schoolchildren who refused to go to school before the Aberfan disaster because they'd had nightmares about it the night before. Chris has controlled for many of the mundane explanations often posed by skeptics, such as the "law of large numbers". Dr Sheila Pryce Brooks followed Chris to the stage and described her research into sleep paralysis. This is something that I myself regularly experience and so was keen to learn more, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2016/06/sleep-paralysis-again.html. She is interested in its connection to other phenomena like the near-death experience and ghostly encounters. Regular readers will know that I have had a very significant experience like that myself. I told Sheila about it and she was impressed. I'm going to write to her and tell her the whole story, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2008/10/real-ghost-train.html. We took a lunch break and headed for a nearby pub where I got to talk to some of the new people I'd met; then when we came back it was time for Anthony Peake, the main reason Mark and I had chosen to attend the conference. Anthony is somebody I'm very familiar with, for example see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2025/07/anthony-peake-at-watkins-books-2.html. Somehow Anthony always manages to inject some new information into every one of his numerous lectures and this time he described a strange altered state of consciousness he had in 1996 when living an ordinary life as an airport administrator. The memory of it later came back to him when he visited Argentina in more recent years and saw the same place. He thinks it might be connected to the famous writer Jorge Luis Borges who lived near where Anthony visited and who wrote stories with esoteric themes that Anthony really likes. Cal Cooper came on next and talked about another famous element of sleep, after death communication in dreams. This is actually one of the most common weird phenomena of all; somebody dies and their relative sees them in a very vivid dream. He also talked about the history of the SPR's research into such dreams by former experts like William Dewi Rees, a vicar whose congregation reported them. He's also interested in the experience of people in the "death industry" like undertakers and morticians. I suppose I should include myself in that as a former hospital porter (have I mentioned that before?). He cited an early SPR publication called Phantasms of the Living. Unfortunately at this point I had an opportunity to add to the relevant literature personally by suffering another drowsiness attack. This time it was not possible to hide it because the auditorium was so much smaller than Conway Hall. I hope Cal doesn't think I dozed because he was boring me. He was not. As I said last week, it's just a problem I always have at conferences. The final speaker was Dr David Luke, somebody I know of though my collaboration with Niall Murphy, see: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2024/07/hpanwo-show-55-podcast-niall-murphy.html. 

David runs "Breaking Conventions" at the October Gallery which Niall used to record for his own podcast. David talked about the history of dream research and interest. It dates back much further than I thought, to the ancient world. We all know about Moses and Joseph in the bible who have interesting dreams; but such knowledge is even older. There is a Mesopotamian dream analysis book dating to the 1700's BC. In ancient Greece and Rome there were sleep healing centres. David also understands a lot of the skeptic arguments and in the panel Q and A at the end we had an interesting back-and-forth about coincidence theory and the limits of pareidolia. He has coined the term "randomania" to describe the skeppers' bias towards false-negatives, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2014/04/pan-pareidolia.html. 

After the event there was a meeting in the room for members only, but I decided not to go and headed to the pub with Mark and some more of our new acquaintances. A different pub this time, The Cumberland Arms which is literally across the road from the SPR office. I bet the bar staff there are used to overhearing strange conversations! We had a really good time with the speakers and other delegates; and then Mark and I both left because we had long journeys home. I'm going to stay in touch with some of the conference attendees and hopefully go along to future SPR events. If I do I will report on them too. What an amazing fortnight it has been for me!

See here for more information: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/skeptics-portal.html.
And: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2023/06/afterlife-portal.html.

Ben Emlyn-Jones at Bases 2026 International Disclosure

 

I'm pleased to announce that I will be speaking at the upcoming Bases 2026 International Disclosure conference. My lecture is as yet untitled, but it will take place on the Sunday. (Unfortunately that is the only day I can attend because of other commitments.) It might be a dialogue with another speaker. Other speakers include Maria Wheatley, Laura Eisenhower, Dr Amir Jahangiri and Thomas Mikey Jensen. The event will take place om Friday the 19th, Saturday the 20th and Sunday the 21st of June. The venue is Bouverie Hall in Pewsey, Wiltshire, SN9-5EQ. Tickets will be available soon, see: https://www.basestv.org/tidc2026. 

See here for a video promo: (coming soon).

See here for a HPANWO Radio interview with Miles Johnston about the conference: (coming soon).

Concerning Violence

 

Concerning Violence is a documentary film from 2014 by the Swedish director Göran Hugo Olsson. It is highly acclaimed and has won three major international awards. How it came to my attention is unusual. I found its DVD lying in a box outside a house; one of those "please take" kind of things. The film is rated "E", exempt from classification. The movie consists of a series of scenes consisting mostly of archive footage of various wars for independence in Africa during the 1960's and 70's. Accompanying this is a narration by the American singer-songwriter and actress Lauryn Hill. She reads passages from a book called The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon. The author was a political activist from the Caribbean who one might describe as the first "new leftist" or "wokie". By that I mean he builds on the ideas of Karl Marx, but instead of seeing society as a product of class struggle, he believes it is born out of racial struggle. The bourgeoisie and the proletariat are substituted exactly by different demographics. Today this is one of the most widespread notions in the modern Western left; but Fanon, writing in the 1940's and 50's, pioneered the concept. The film is extremely well edited. It shows various scenes of colonial infamy with white people generally behaving badly, as we are wont to do. That is hardly original in this day and age, but it is depicted very powerfully. One scene that is etched on my mind is a heartrending shot of a young woman, probably just a teenager, nursing her baby while having just lost an arm. There is an older black-and-white video of some white South Africans patronizing and demeaning their black servants. The main thrust of the narrative is that guerrilla warfare is justified and good. It "gives a man back his self-respect" as the author puts it. It is released by a distributor with a great name: "Dogwoof", see here for the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLmYWL4TIEc. It is now available on a number of streaming platforms.
 
As I've said many times, the fixated sense of victimhood is a major malady, even if it has a legitimate cause. This is because it is highly addictive and often becomes central to the addict's identity; and even, in a strange way, their self-esteem. People dosed up on victimhood will often sacrifice everything, including their best interests, to any player who promises to rid their lives of whatever finger-pointed boogieman they have decided upon. That player is very often worse than the boogieman and knows very well the psychology of its targets. There are too many examples in history to list, including some of those featured in Concerning Violence, in which a manipulative Third World grievance-monger wins support by promising to free the people from "oppression!" They then institute a regime more terrible than any European colonial government. This pathology is not confined to the Third World, in fact it is a problem in my own country, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2025/02/irish-cvd-bull.html. The film is also a spiteful and frenzied white guilt trip, one of the worst I've ever seen; and, let's face it, they are everywhere! I reject and defy that call to self-loathing I constantly hear because of the colour of my skin. I should also emphasize that I oppose terrorism and political violence; not because I am a "privileged white male!", in fact I don't believe such an animal exists. I oppose it because, leaving aside the moral issues, it is impractical. It cannot work in the long-term. The state can do violence so much better than anybody else that is it invincible at that game. It's a battlefield we must never enter. "What is your solution then, Ben?" I hear you ask. I think because the current conflict is so unique and unprecedented in history, its solution has to be too. It is something we have not yet thought of; but it is there. I am looking out for it every day. I promise I will be writing about that very subject in the very near future.
See here for background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/political-correctness-portal.html.

Disclosure Day Fourth Trailer

 

Last month a third trailer for Disclosure Day dropped, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2026/03/disclosure-day-third-trailer-livestream.html. I doubted there would be any more, but then last week at the Cinemacon festival Steven Spielberg turned up and did a presentation that included some video. He showed a clip compilation that, although not officially a trailer, has been received as one. In these clips more of the storyline is revealed, although Spielberg has stated that not one frame of the film's final act has been published so far in any of the promotional material. Spielberg is the co-producer of the film as well as the director and he's shown himself to be very proficient in both roles; in fact what he has done is a work of marketing genius. He has driven the entire UFO community into a frenzy of curiosity, and that includes me. The medley is just thirty seconds long and includes a lot of footage that we've already seen, but also adds some fascinating new shots. It opens with Colman Domingo's character, whose name has been revealed to be Hugo Wakefield, repeating his rant about the "seventy-nine year cover-up" and is followed by a shot over the shoulder of a military pilot in a fighter jet. You can hear radio chatter that may be authentic audio of the real life encounters like the Nimitz incident. It's hard to tell, but there is something ahead of the aircraft that might be an alien spaceship, or else it could just be city lights on the ground. Hugo then says: "It's the two of you; it's always been just the two of you." In the visuals we see Daniel and Emily Blunt's character, revealed to be called Margaret Fairchild. This implies there is something special and unusual about those two characters; and that has been hinted at in previous trailers. The fact that Margaret makes those strange alien noises and that Daniel can understand them. A feminine voice replies: "What happened to us?" This cuts to Noah Scanlon, Colin Firth's character, in a continuation of his meeting with Jane at her home. He says: "The human race cannot accept what we know!" This is often cited as a justification used by those running the Truth Embargo. The trailer ends with the most interesting element. We see the young girl, assumed to be Jane or Margaret, in the previous abduction scene, except this time a strange device is hovering above her head. It is a metallic ring with a number of peg shaped objects arranged evenly around it. It descends onto the girls face and the pegs move inward together. What this is I cannot guess; but then, at the same time, a pair of hands grasps her head from behind. They are clearly ET hands, very long and thin, resembling the controversial "tridactyls", see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2023/09/mexico-aliens-livestream.html. These thirty seconds reveal a little more of the film's plot and add to the tantalizing thrill many of us are feeling. This excitement has spilled out beyond the UFOlogical community and much of the mainstream cinematic press is now talking about Disclosure Day. At the current time the clips have only been published on Twitter (X), see: https://x.com/disclosureday/status/2046997486791983255. Expect a very detailed report on the movie from me when it hits the big screen.
See here for background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2020/02/ufo-disclosure-portal.html.

HDA Review of S4- The Bob Lazar Story

 

I have written a review of the film S4- The Bob Lazar Story for The Wow! Signal, the official newsletter of the Hollywood Disclosure Alliance. Source: https://www.thewowsignal.news/latest-news/s4-the-bob-lazar-storydocumentary-film-review. See here for my previous movie review: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2026/03/hda-article-2.html. Many thanks to editor Dan Harary. See here for a HPANWO Radio interview with Dan: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2024/08/hpanwo-show-558-podcast-dan-harary.html.

Ben Emlyn-Jones on the Paranormal Peep Show 33

                        
I have been on the Paranormal Peep Show again. This programme features a second interview with the UFOlogist and conspiracy researcher David Griffin. It's the first of a multi-part feature.
See here for the audio version: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/paranormal-peep-show-how-marconi-suffered-from-the-black-goo-part-2-with-david-griffin--71348945.
And here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO3W5GtNcfg.

See here for my previous appearance on the Paranormal Peep Show: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2026/03/ben-emlyn-jones-on-paranormal-peep-show.html.

Strange Central

 

I don't think I've ever been to Conway Hall and had a bad time. This London venue, tucked into a corner of an urban garden, seems to attract really interesting events; see the links at the bottom for other examples. This latest offering was no exception. Strange Days was a one-day conference organized by the London Fortean Society, of whose previous meetings I've often attended, for example see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-skeptics-guide-to-aliens.html. I was accompanied by my good friends, comrades and space brothers Colin Woolford and Miles Johnston, although Miles was fashionably late as usual, like a bride before a wedding. The conference was held in the main hall and most of the seats were full. A friendly lady called Chandra came up and introduced herself. She is a HPANWO-reader whom I had never met before and it was really good to do. We had some great discussions. The list of speakers was very interesting and opened with Dr David Clarke. He told the story of his investigation into the Calvine UFO photo. I have covered the details myself here: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/06/would-real-kevin-russell-please-stand-up.html and: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2023/04/ufo-disclosure-2023-senate-debrief-and.html and: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2022/08/programme-474-podcast-another-typical.html. 

Later on I got the chance to talk to Dr Clarke face-to-face and raised the points I do in my own coverage. Surely if the object really did levitate silently into the air then that is one of the five observables; the implication being that maybe this is something of extraterrestrial manufacture. Dr Clarke replied that we don't know if it really manoeuvred like that because we heard it second hand from Craig Lindsay. Did the two cooks actually say that? Also the engine noise of the Harriers would have drowned out any noise the object made, so maybe it was not really silent. It might have been an endopter drone with internal rotors that are invisible from the angle it was photographed from. This is speculation on his part, in fact he is bordering on the clown's day off fallacy; but then it is also speculation by me. Until we get more information there's no way to tell. Clearly Dr Clarke is biased by his general disbelief in aliens; and I am biased by my opposite belief. The next speaker, Dominic Chorney, talked about treasures of the occult. He is an antiquarian who has a collection of old coins and some of them are strange in design with no obvious issuing bank. Could they be tokens used by occultists? He displayed one very interesting specimen from Japan that depicts some strange and scary creature that looks like a werewolf or ogre. It is in fact probably a snow macaque, a species of monkey from Hokkaido, one of the Japanese islands. The rim of the coin has the island's name on it. What stuck me is that snow macaques were the species studied by Lyall Watson when he came up with his "hundredth monkey" theory, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/08/lyall-watson.html. 

There was another coin from fifteenth century Germany with a Bigfoot like creature on it, a "woodwose". It is possible coins like this were used as a talisman by the superstitious rather than for financial exchange. In one case, its owner had driven a hole through it, probably so they could hang it round their neck on a string. It makes me wonder where they got the idea for the creature depicted, long before mass media. Darren Naish is a pop scientist who researches the fossil record and ancient extinct animals. He gave an interesting talk about aquatic reptiles and archaeocetes, ancient creatures from the whale family. Unlike most of his peers, Darren has an open mind about cryptozoology. He often associates with the CFZ. There is a rumour that he is one of the witnesses of the Cornish Owlman, although if this is true he has never admitted it. In the definitive book on the subject, Jonathan Downes' The Owlman and Others, this witness is anonymous and nicknamed "Gavin". Jamie Lewis and Andrew Bartlett are social scientists who did a dialogue about what they call "bigfooters", people who believe in Bigfoot and try to find it in the wild. They say they have no public opinions about whether Bigfoot exists or not, but in the course of their address they came across as very skeptical. They made a lot of the points disbelievers do: Where are the bones? Where is the DNA? etc. There are comprehensive rebuttals to these points that I have previously detailed, see below. They mention the Minnesota Iceman and repeat the standard explanation that is it a hoax. Not so in my view. See here for my position on these points and many other similar ones: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2022/11/cryptozoology-portal.html. 

Lewis and Bartlett's central study is about the people who are enthusiastic about Bigfoot and their psychology. I don't have a problem with such scholarship, but it does tend to come in a package with the foundational tacit subtext that what their subjects believe in is a cultural phenomenon based on a falsehood, see here for another example: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2018/09/prof-karen-douglas-at-greenwich-sitp.html. Next up was Mark Pilkington, somebody I'm very familiar with and I got to speak to him briefly. I've researched his work closely and look forward to his new book. He has adapted the thesis he applied in Mirage Men to the modern post-2017 world. How is today's Trumpian political class using "UFOria" for its own nefarious psychological warfare strategy? Good question, but I don't see any reason, from what Mark presented, to discount my suspicion that maybe we're being subjected to some kind of elaborate double-bluff. Has Mark considered this possibility?, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2023/05/mark-pilkington-at-bases-2023.html. Finally there was a three-person panel on ghost hunting with Alice Vernon, Ben Machell and Sarah Sparkes. Alice and Ben are authors whose books look really interesting. There was a merch stall at the back of the room, as I expected, but I really shouldn't buy any more books until I've read the hundred or so I've bought so far and not yet picked up. The three talk about their own favourite investigators from the golden age of psychical research, the late 19th century to the 1950's. Sarah loves Harry Price, a classic character who has come to my attention too, mostly through my research into Helen Duncan. Alice's favourite is Molly Goldney. I was familiar with that name because she was Price's assistant in the famous 1930 backstreet experiments with Helen. I learned a lot from Alice's information because she has read Molly's private letters. It turns out Molly had a very low opinion of Price and was far closer to one of his main rivals than Harry would have liked. Alice said that Price forced Molly to do the internal body search on Helen against her will and Helen's. From what I gather, from talking to Maggie Hahn and other sources, Helen wanted and demanded this precaution. She even did it at her private performances. Helen was desperate to prove herself to be a real manifestation medium and was far more transparent than most of her peers, see: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2020/02/helen-duncan-portal.html. 

Ben's chosen expert was Tony Cornell, a very cautious and rational figure who was often featured in the media. Unfortunately I was hampered by my usual drowsiness. This seems inescapable when I'm sitting in a warm and comfortable auditorium, especially if I had to get up early to be there; which I did. I had to catch the coach to get to London on time. I tried to doze quietly and unobtrusively, keeping one ear alert so I could hear the speakers' words in my stupor. There were about two hundred people there and I looked for others that I knew. I recognized a few by sight rather than name; but somebody I identified easily was Deborah Hyde, also known as "Jourdemayne" the "skeptic witch". She has come up before on HPANWO several times, for example see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2013/11/consciousness-beyond-individual.html. During the lunch break and afterwards we went to the Penderel's Oak pub on nearby High Holborn. I'm pleased to say it is now a Wetherspoons. It was a trip down Memory Lane for me because London Skeptics in the Pub used to meet in the basement bar there, for examples see: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/skeptics-portal.html. I wondered if Deborah would join us for the same nostalgic reasons, but she did not. Source: https://forteanlondon.blogspot.com/2026/02/strange-central-2026-mysteries-monsters.html. Colin, Miles, Chandra and another woman we met called Beersheba, had a great time sharing a few drinks and dinner. Another friend, Rhiannon, was watching at home on the live coverage, and the two of us shared our running thoughts during the proceedings. I finally headed home at about 8 PM. As I've often said, the social side of the conference scene is really the best part. In a way, the speakers are just an excuse for us to get together. Times spent at conferences are very precious to me and I look forward to the next one. I truly enjoyed the day. Many thanks to all the speakers, organizers and delegates for Strange Days. Hope there will be another one soon.

See here for more information: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/06/conspiracy-theory-and-culture.html.
And: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2011/09/british-humanist-association-conspiracy.html.