"it was very embarrassing at the time"
September 17, 2015 5:58 AM Subscribe
Great 1977 video interview with Mrs. Jessie Roestenberg describing a 1954 UFO experience in Staffordshire, West Midlands, England. This blog post shows part of a 1959 newspaper clipping with a photo of Mrs. Roestenberg (presumably from 1954, going by the apparent age of her children in the photo; click image for larger view), and a drawing she made of what she reported seeing, as well as an undated, unsourced photo of the by-now-elderly Mrs. Roestenberg holding an artist's rendering of the figures she described.
The clip is from the 1977 BBC documentary "Out Of This World," whose expert commentators the Daily Mail reportedly described as "Amiable, Intelligent and Daft as Brushes," arguably based on a couple of the more "exotic" sequences from the 60-minute documentary, including the opening scenes.
The entire show can be viewed in 6 parts on YouTube: Playlist.
Sceptic or true believer, most will probably find Mrs. Roestenberg undeniably charming, as are this rather adorable couple, and it's absorbing to view the people and settings of an earlier time, as well as the vintage style of documentary on a topic that definitely tends toward over-the-top silly/sensationalist treatment and unrestrained visual effects nearly 40 years later.
The clip is from the 1977 BBC documentary "Out Of This World," whose expert commentators the Daily Mail reportedly described as "Amiable, Intelligent and Daft as Brushes," arguably based on a couple of the more "exotic" sequences from the 60-minute documentary, including the opening scenes.
The entire show can be viewed in 6 parts on YouTube: Playlist.
Sceptic or true believer, most will probably find Mrs. Roestenberg undeniably charming, as are this rather adorable couple, and it's absorbing to view the people and settings of an earlier time, as well as the vintage style of documentary on a topic that definitely tends toward over-the-top silly/sensationalist treatment and unrestrained visual effects nearly 40 years later.
What is particularly daft about a brush? Some vying explanations via the Guardian. Also explained at phrases.org.uk.
posted by taz at 6:26 AM on September 17, 2015
posted by taz at 6:26 AM on September 17, 2015
Didn't someone recently point out that the near-total penetration of smartphones with cameras has disproved the existence of UFOs and ghosts?
posted by colie at 6:29 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by colie at 6:29 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, it was Dr. Von Buzzkill, Chair of the Phone Camera Accuracy at White and Gold Dress University.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:32 AM on September 17, 2015 [31 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:32 AM on September 17, 2015 [31 favorites]
Actually those phones just seem to have created a massive part of YouTube. BRB.
posted by colie at 6:35 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by colie at 6:35 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
I should probably mention that I don't have any particular opinion on UFOs (so didn't post this as some sort of "proof"), but just really liked that clip in particular, and generally enjoy the '70s-era British/BBC documentary style.
posted by taz at 6:37 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by taz at 6:37 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ha, I love the British -
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:39 AM on September 17, 2015
"As Jessie says:It's a captivating interview, partly because she's a good at relaying what she saw (setting aside whether it happened or not).
“We were ridiculed, it was very embarrassing at the time and people they possibly thought;
‘Oh she’s a nutter’ but you know, but who cares?
This is something that happened to me, and I’m a practically minded person and that’s it”."
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:39 AM on September 17, 2015
Didn't someone recently point out that the near-total penetration of smartphones with cameras has disproved the existence of UFOs and ghosts?
Randall Munroe, in this xkcd.
posted by pie ninja at 6:47 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Randall Munroe, in this xkcd.
posted by pie ninja at 6:47 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
I thought there was the occasional UFO sighting these days. But then I don't much visit websites that would say so.
posted by Kitteh at 7:02 AM on September 17, 2015
posted by Kitteh at 7:02 AM on September 17, 2015
I Want To Believe, really, because I don't want to contemplate us as alone in the universe and something like warp drive is impossible. But it sure seems that way.
posted by tommasz at 7:26 AM on September 17, 2015
posted by tommasz at 7:26 AM on September 17, 2015
YAY! THERE STILL UFO SIGHTINGS!
(Sorry, haters, I still find that super rad.)
posted by Kitteh at 7:42 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
(Sorry, haters, I still find that super rad.)
posted by Kitteh at 7:42 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Over the past few months, I've been surprised by the fondness many people still have for UFOs and aliens and so on. I've started hawking my stuff at the local artists cooperative and people seem to dig it. I don't know if it's a nostalgia thing for the mid-90s or if people are tired about worrying about the very identifiable problems of today or what (likely actual answer: Salem is just full of weirdos).
I've started collecting older alien encounter books, stuff that would contain the subject of this post. I've found I get the best stuff if I only buy things published prior to Behold a Pale Horse - after that book the militia-paranoia complex has fully taken over and the good ole Space Brothers of the 70s are but a distant memory. My current jam is Billy Meier - there's just something so right about a one armed man living in a shack faking/encountering flying saucers.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:55 AM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
I've started collecting older alien encounter books, stuff that would contain the subject of this post. I've found I get the best stuff if I only buy things published prior to Behold a Pale Horse - after that book the militia-paranoia complex has fully taken over and the good ole Space Brothers of the 70s are but a distant memory. My current jam is Billy Meier - there's just something so right about a one armed man living in a shack faking/encountering flying saucers.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:55 AM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
I do miss 90s conspiracy paranoia. It was all about a fantastic underside to our mundane world: aliens, ghosts, telepathy, etc. I used to love reading about all of that stuff.
Conspiracy talk today seems much darker, uglier, and prosaic: government false flags (9/11), mass shooting truthers, Jade Helm nuts, anti-vaxers, birthers, Muslim takeovers, etc. It seems much more focused on THEM coming for US.
Sure there were the right-wing militias in the 90s raving about the UN and the government, but it seems like the conspiracy world has lost its fantastic edge and just fully embraced the racism and hatred that was always there.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:53 AM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
Conspiracy talk today seems much darker, uglier, and prosaic: government false flags (9/11), mass shooting truthers, Jade Helm nuts, anti-vaxers, birthers, Muslim takeovers, etc. It seems much more focused on THEM coming for US.
Sure there were the right-wing militias in the 90s raving about the UN and the government, but it seems like the conspiracy world has lost its fantastic edge and just fully embraced the racism and hatred that was always there.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:53 AM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
I Want To Believe, really, because I don't want to contemplate us as alone in the universe and something like warp drive is impossible. But it sure seems that way.
Well, us bald apes have come up with a number of ways FTL travel might be possible, it's just they're all way beyond our capabilities.
I think the more useful question is: Would a sufficiently advanced civilization have anything to gain by messing around with this filthy, wet ball full of bald-ape morons and nuclear explosives? Seems unlikely to me.
posted by cmoj at 8:55 AM on September 17, 2015
Well, us bald apes have come up with a number of ways FTL travel might be possible, it's just they're all way beyond our capabilities.
I think the more useful question is: Would a sufficiently advanced civilization have anything to gain by messing around with this filthy, wet ball full of bald-ape morons and nuclear explosives? Seems unlikely to me.
posted by cmoj at 8:55 AM on September 17, 2015
Would a sufficiently advanced civilization have anything to gain by messing around with this filthy, wet ball full of bald-ape morons and nuclear explosives?
Well, I'm sure it would be entertaining - the galaxy's answer to David Attenborough is probably making a lot of what passes for money narrating our hijinks.
Honestly, though - I'm pretty sure we're going to have to learn to transcend matter entirely before we get to meet the rest of our classmates.
posted by Mooski at 9:32 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Well, I'm sure it would be entertaining - the galaxy's answer to David Attenborough is probably making a lot of what passes for money narrating our hijinks.
Honestly, though - I'm pretty sure we're going to have to learn to transcend matter entirely before we get to meet the rest of our classmates.
posted by Mooski at 9:32 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Does everyone here already know about the Blame It On OuterSpace podcast? It's my latest go-to for information about pig-men, Big Foot, and Nazi UFOs.
The premise is two-three guys read up on a subject and then get together to share what they found out about it, feigning credulity but clearly mocking. The style is a bit nerd-bro, so it won't appeal to everyone, but I like it even though I don't get most of the 90's and superhero references they make. If you want to try it out, I'd suggest the Montauk Project show, which was something I'd never heard of before and is kind of a super-group of all conspiracies.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:09 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
The premise is two-three guys read up on a subject and then get together to share what they found out about it, feigning credulity but clearly mocking. The style is a bit nerd-bro, so it won't appeal to everyone, but I like it even though I don't get most of the 90's and superhero references they make. If you want to try it out, I'd suggest the Montauk Project show, which was something I'd never heard of before and is kind of a super-group of all conspiracies.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:09 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Hadn't been aware until now that brushes were daft.
The question is, what is more intelligent - brushes or a bag of hammers?
posted by Dr Dracator at 10:33 AM on September 17, 2015
The question is, what is more intelligent - brushes or a bag of hammers?
posted by Dr Dracator at 10:33 AM on September 17, 2015
The proliferation of smartphones isn't evidence of anything one way or the other. If you want to understand why, go outside tonight and try to take a clear picture of the moon with your phone. For another example, look into what's necessary to photograph the ISS. You can get a reasonably clear picture with your iPhone if you look at exactly the right moment using a telescope that's properly set up and focused and then use an eyepiece mount for the cameraphone. I'm sure some day phones will have cameras that are good enough to take quality night shots but they don't now. I'm pretty sure no one is seeing aliens flying around in the sky, but I have been trying to pull off a lot of night photography lately.
posted by feloniousmonk at 11:14 AM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by feloniousmonk at 11:14 AM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
. If you want to understand why, go outside tonight and try to take a clear picture of the moon with your phone. For another example, look into what's necessary to photograph the ISS.
feloniousmonk
Except we aren't talking about taking pictures of things as far away as the Moon or things in low earth orbit. When people talk about pictures or videos of UFOs, they usually mean unidentified aircraft flying at airplane or lower levels. The classic UFO videos are about these, and today's smartphones could certainly capture them if they were happening.
Sure there could be spaceships hiding in orbit, but the ubiquitous proliferation of smartphones makes it increasingly unlikely that a UFO is going to hover over a city or buzz a car and no one captures it. If that were happening, some camera would pick it up. Similarly with ghosts: there are fewer places not being somehow recorded, so fewer places where a sighting could happen without evidence.
Maybe the aliens and ghosts have decided to pull back once cameras in phones became common.
posted by Sangermaine at 1:51 PM on September 17, 2015
feloniousmonk
Except we aren't talking about taking pictures of things as far away as the Moon or things in low earth orbit. When people talk about pictures or videos of UFOs, they usually mean unidentified aircraft flying at airplane or lower levels. The classic UFO videos are about these, and today's smartphones could certainly capture them if they were happening.
Sure there could be spaceships hiding in orbit, but the ubiquitous proliferation of smartphones makes it increasingly unlikely that a UFO is going to hover over a city or buzz a car and no one captures it. If that were happening, some camera would pick it up. Similarly with ghosts: there are fewer places not being somehow recorded, so fewer places where a sighting could happen without evidence.
Maybe the aliens and ghosts have decided to pull back once cameras in phones became common.
posted by Sangermaine at 1:51 PM on September 17, 2015
I would think they would have pulled back earlier - back in the 80s when every inch of the sky was being tracked by NATO and Warsaw Pact radar, waiting for the nuclear holocaust. In that scenario, humanity is like a beehive on a woodland path - just go past carefully and you won't get stung (and if you bring the right equipment, you can put them to sleep and swipe their delicious honey!).
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:22 PM on September 17, 2015
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:22 PM on September 17, 2015
It's pretty easy for the aliens to just wipe your smartphone photo as well as your memory, like in Men In Black.
posted by colie at 2:40 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by colie at 2:40 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
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This drawing looks like Daft Punk's pyramid stage setup.
posted by glaucon at 6:09 AM on September 17, 2015