"Michael Persinger, a neuroscientist at Laurentian University in Canada, has long involved himself both with the UFO phenomenon and other types of "paranormal" phenomena (such as the Fatima sightings), all of which seem to have a similar physical component of some sort of luminous energy display being witnessed by the experiencers. Persinger's "tectonic strain theory", which is currently talked about quite a bit in various UFO journals, etc., bases itself on the premise that something
physical is happening, that the people reporting certain UFOs (and probably most, if not all of the so-called "high strangeness
cases") are, in fact, seeing an anomalous display of light energy. Persinger's basic argument is that when massive layers of rock
underneath the earth's surface are pushed into each other (i.e., tremors or earthquakes), huge bursts of energy rise to the surface, taking the form of a concentrated sphere of light and moving in various irregular patterns--the entire phenomenon lasting anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. (In the Nova UFO documentary, their interview with Persinger includes an experimental demonstration in which a rock that is roughly one foot in diameter is squeezed by a large compressor until it explodes. A slow motion replay of the experiment is then shown, and what can be seen are a couple of small balls of light of definite shape, moving outward from the rock before dying out--a phenomenon that was not visible to the naked eye.) Persinger has apparently done a computer analysis of about 3,000 UFO sightings and has found that many of them occurred weeks or months before the start of earth tremors, and his theory has gained weight from some Japanese geologists who have provided him with rare photographs of a luminous display moments before an earthquake. Persinger also believes that the luminous energy from these tectonic fractures may cause witnesses who are close to the phenomenon to hallucinate or to temporarily black out. If this is the case, one could easily infer that the Fatima incident and certain UFO abduction reports are cultural variations of the same sort of "space-time transient"." ( http://www.the-spa.com/thirteen/ufo's/eth.htm )
Jean-François
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