Reactions, first interpretations, and questions about President Trump's late Thursday "Truth Social" statement, which Chris Cuomo reprises at the beginning of a short conversation with Luis Elizondo. Lue rather reworks Cuomo's direct "Why now?" question but is helpfully careful to delineate what steps would build confidence that something really meaningful will be done. Elizabeth Vargas and "cautiously optimistic" defense analyst Marik von Rennenkampff add more to the discussion, with a suggestion to watch for the topic in Trump's Tuesday "State of the Union" address. And Avi Loeb seizes that last theme to make his consistent case for sharing information so more minds can deal with it. At The Week, Ancila D. wonders Are the Alien Files a Distraction From Epstein Files? Trump Orders Release of Documents on UFOs, as Seth Meyers Predicted. Comedian Meyers may have been prophetic six months ago. Richard Dolan ponders about Obama, Trump, & Aliens - What Does This REALLY Mean? Here's the text of former POTUS Barack Obama's "walk-back" of his supposedly incendiary quips. Richard dwells more on the presidential personalities involved, while doubting the federal "code of secrecy" will crack and reveal much, especially given Government/private industry relationships. And writing in The New York Times, Ross Douthat has 4 Big U.F.O. Questions for the White House. Douthat doubts that much will come of Trump's pledge. Douthat asks whether military imagery really evidences "technologies that we don't have and frankly that we are not capable of defending against"; are the "whistleblowers" trilling nonsense and/or is there actual fire behind the smoke masked by a Government conspiracy; what's behind Senators Schumer and Rounds repeatedly trying to promote "disclosure"; and are government agencies really still pursuing paranormal subjects? (WM)

While controversy roils over why Donald Trump announced intent to release government UFO files, some are taking a larger focus on the State of Ufology. Herb Scribner shares "what the government has previously shared" about UAP, limiting that term to "airborne objects" and dwelling only upon the "latest chapter" of the last few years. He covers the "usual suspects" familiar to us, noting no confirmation of UFOs with extraterrestrial (or "extratempestrial," etc.) license plates. Scribner produces a handy U.S. map of UFO report density via the National UFO Reporting Center, and concludes that "Trump's order could provide new evidence for believers and skeptics to seize on." Writing in Skeptic, Nick Pope asks Ufology: From Fringe to Mainstream to Fringe? Nick explains the "AATIP/AAWSAP" confusion per Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough, then courses through the recent history, worrying that "a mixture of information overload, infighting, and quasi-religious narratives may conspire to undo this progress"—which progress is the "mainstreamification" of the topic. While writing this piece before the latest developments, Nick thinks that if Donald Trump isn't the "Disclosure President," ufology may move "back into the fringe." (H/T Mark Rodeghier for the reference.) Richard Dolan argues for a remedy in "a clearer framework," including a much wider area of investigation than just sightings and investigation methods. See Why Ufology Needs a New Map. Richard here emphasizes that the overall study must include the human factor as well as the origins, capabilities, and possible purpose of the phenomenon. (WM)

Lyle Blackburn takes us (and two close friends) into the woods of Fouke, Arkansas, to see where the stories of the Fouke Monster began. Lyle's smooth narration and genuine fascination with the hairy history are contagious. After watching this video, you may feel an urge to watch (or rewatch) The Legend of Boggy Creek and read Lyle's book The Beast Of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster. Meanwhile, an Immersive Cryptids Exhibit [is] Unveiled at Ripley's Museum in Florida. The newest exhibition at Ripley's Believe It or Not in St. Augustine just opened. The Bigfoot exhibit includes the Sierra sounds, and an animatronic Sasquatch named Bigfoot Bob that can chat with visitors. The cryptid gallery is filled with talking portraits, and an entire room is dedicated to "hoaxes and cons." This showcase is intended to be a stable feature at the Odditorium. (CM)

In a surprising conclusion to a strange period of frenzied UFO speculation, at 6:13 PM Thursday the President posted on Truth Social that "he'll direct the Pentagon and other departments to begin the process of 'identifying and releasing' government files related to" UFOs, UAPs and Extraterrestrials. Thus News Nation's Michael Ramsey reported late Thursday evening. Ramsey provides the short text of the post, which provides no timeline for completion and whose exact wording may provoke debate about what materials might in fact be withheld or redacted heavily. A few significant events led to this announcement. On January 9th British filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee said he had information from an "insider" that President Trump had written a "disclosure" speech and would be the UFO Disclosure President; on the 15th Lee named the date. Patrick Scott Armstrong covered, and doubted, these claims in Bombshell: Trump Set To Announce UFO Disclosure on July 8, 2026. Fast forward to February 14th and New York Post's David Spector article Barack Obama Says Aliens Are 'Real, but I Haven't Seen Them' in Out-there New Interview, where the former President gave off-the-cuff answers to a couple interview questions. Likely reacting to the sensation, Psicoactivo's Pavel Ibarra on February 17th published It's Possible President Barack Obama Was Briefed on UFOs by UAPTF's Jay Stratton. Next: Laura Kelly's February 18th The Hill piece Trump Has Prepared Speech on Extraterrestrial Life, Lara Trump Says. Kelly reports Donald Trump's daughter-in-law "said the president is waiting for the right time to do it." Lara Trump's podcast remarks were vague, and Presidential spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that information "was news to me." Kelly also mentions Obama's recent interview remarks and subsequent "clarification." In Pavel Ibarra's February 18th Trump Presidency Responds to Lara Trump's Apparent Disclosure Speech Confirmation Pavel presents a more recent Mark Christopher Lee interview where Lee refers to a May 1st press conference—not the July 8th Presidential tell-all we'd been told. Pavel also reprises a Lara Trump interview by the New York Post's Miranda Devine, while repeating his own belief that former UAPTF head Jay Stratton is a prime mover pushing Trump to "come clean," and asserting that Brett Feddersen was formulating the strategy. Which sounds like "A Disclosure Task Force" to review classified data—not The Announcement. And Pavel's Thursday Trump 'Threatens' to Declassify the Intel Obama Shared in His 'Aliens' Statement was much less positive about prospects; it seemed Trump was in these early Thursday remarks more attacking Obama than promising a major announcement. Let's see what will come of all this. (WM)

The fact that ice is slippery seems to be all that's relevant when trying not to fall upon it, but for more than two centuries the boffins have not found the reason. It's known that a "liquid-like layer" on top acts as a lubricant, but they "disagree ... about why the layer forms." Perhaps those contradictory opinions hinder rather than help to find the answer. And staying with H2O, Ellsworth Tooey tells us that Hot Water Can Freeze Faster Than Cold Water, and no-one fully understands why. It's due to the Mpemba effect, discovered in the 1960s by Tanzanian teenager Erasto Mpemba. Subsequent studies found that "the phenomenon was real," but why it happens remains unknown. (LP)

SUAPS Director of Education Dr. Douglas Giles announces the establishment of the "Massive Open Online Course," which Giles terms "the first open-access, academically rigorous seminar series in UAP studies." "[D]esigned for anyone interested in serious inquiry into UAPs," all are welcome, and the offerings by top experts in the field will be free to all this month and March. Next, in Meaning Machines: Author Nick Cook on How Humans, UFOs and the Universe Make Meaning features The Hunt for Zero Point author and Jane's Defence Weekly writer telling Whitley Strieber Dreamland podcast guest host James Faulk about his journey from nuts-and-bolts hard-data-driven thinking to a greater appreciation of the totality of Existence and the roles humans, and to some extent UFOs, might play within it. Consciousness comes to the fore, and though Cook emphasizes the importance of researching "outliers" such as UFOs as well as Consciousness, we may never fully understand What's Going On. A challenging discussion, perhaps of great moment for the present, full of insights. At Real Clear Science Ross Pomeroy writes about What a Creationist Astrophysicist Thinks of UFOs. Pomeroy doesn't think much of Hugh Norman Ross' religious arguments invoking "Residual Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (RUAPs). And a less controversial question comes from J. Cabelle Ahn in Why Are UFOs Everywhere in Contemporary Art? Ahn's commentary on two recent art exhibitions shows Consciousness, sci-fi, actual encounters, and the current world state as factors behind the artists' renditions. (WM)

Here's a rundown of a dozen "ooparts"—Ivan T. Sanderson's term for "Out-of-Place Artifacts." The candidates are well-chosen, Sumi's text is excellent, and the reminders are useful. Another note about over-enthusiasm in interpreting the Past: that "Saqqara Bird," often associated with the people who built the "classic" Pyramids, is about two millennia younger. Ariel David demonstrates where modern technology again unearths a surprise in Going Dutch: DNA Study Uncovers Origins of Prehistoric Culture That Changed Europe. And DNA is the magic wand here, as so often. David's is another example of the malleability and increasing richness of our understanding of the Past. The burial renditions in particular add a certain poignant element to the article. It's nice to see Jason Colavito having something positive to say in Some Interesting New Insights into Medieval Legends about Ancient Egypt. Jason's article may interest historians more than others, and his using an "AI translator" initially worried me. But Jason explained he checked an AI translation from a specialized program, aided by his own knowledge of the "technical jargon" in this particular case. Standard translators (even humans) often may lack such experience. But done as Jason has, AI should remarkably streamline the decipherment process, and I'm glad for the insight. Jason also headlines Italian Ancient Astronaut Theorist Claims Radical New Date for Giza. Donini's linear erosion rate assumptions and Mexican archaeological claims (wow!) also don't persuade. (WM)

In what sounds like a poltergeist infestation, tenants at a rental property in Zimbabwe were recently forced to flee their homes after a many days long rain of stones. No visible source of falling rocks was found, causing the residents to turn to a local mystic for answers. "Dark spiritual forces" was his unhelpful (but possibly accurate) assessment of the situation. In another hard to explain situation, a Series of Mysterious Animal Slayings Stir Chupacabra Concerns in Mexico. The body count of the creature taking down livestock recently is 10 turkeys and a pig so far, and other than Chupacabra speculation, authorities have no idea who or what the culprit may be. The community has formed its own security detail in lieu of law enforcement being able to assist. (CM)

It would be fair to say that Henry H. Bauer, an emeritus professor of chemistry and science studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, has a bee in his bonnet. He hankers after a time when disinterested individual scientists, free of fear or favor, went about their pure‑minded, patient investigations. In this imagined golden age there was a real marketplace of ideas. The scientific method flourished, unsullied by grants committees, impact factors, or dreary compliance training. He contrasts this idyll with modern science, where pressures, bureaucratic incentives, and careerism encourage groupthink, suppression of dissent, and corner‑cutting. As a result, he argues, much of the public output of contemporary science is unreliable, with particular ire reserved for the highly politicized questions of climate change and HIV/AIDS, neither of which he seems to think are quite the emergencies everyone else is fussing about. In a second piece Bauer takes a wider sweep of history, arguing (some may say rather glibly) that human institutions of all stripes are flawed: Could Science Really Be So Wrong For So Long About Global Warming, HIV/AIDS, and More? There is a strong implication that everything has gone downhill, that institutional entropy ruins all that was once good and true, including science itself. He sharpens his argument by pointing out that most research is carried out by specialists with narrow technical remits, typically in large teams, while the big picture is left to a small cadre of gatekeepers whose incentives are, to put it mildly, imperfect. It would be unfair to say Bauer doesn’t have a point about science. But it would also be naïve to ignore how precisely his chosen examples line up with his own ideological preoccupations, leaving his air of disinterestedness looking more than a little strained. (JS)

Last weekend closed with two scrambles to identify mysterious objects flying over Nevada and then California. Howard Altman has this "hot" story and some of the related Air Traffic Control conversations. Artificial Intelligence features in other "hot" news, as Luminox advertises that Google's Quantum AI Just Solved the Fermi Paradox — The Answer Is Terrifying. The figures at the beginning of this video, and what then followed, had this viewer Googling the Google scientist Hartmut Neven to establish his reality. The remainder of this challenging essay is mind-boggling, not the least aspect being Neven's likely proof of "parallel versions of reality"—evidence of the "Multiverse." The Debrief's Tim McMillan describes a rather easier AI problem to understand as AI Is Rewriting Human History—But New Study Finds It’s Stuck Decades In The Past. Outdated scientific ideas fed into Generative AI system datasets will produce AI-generated scenes and texts reflecting older cultural biases, such as not paying proper attention to the contributions of women, children, races, nationalities, and other groups. That's especially problematic given a recent trend towards minimizing the contributions of women and ethnicities in U.S. history. If this current nonsense continues, Tim's concerns will perpetuate. For a humorous but very thoughtful look at AI and in this case sentient robotics, a good friend has suggested A Soldier's Letter from the Frontline: When the Machine Coalition Bolts. (WM)

Medical technology has come a long way in recent years, particularly resuscitation technology. It's because of this technology, this ability to "bring-back-from-the-dead," that we have so many reports of near death experiences. The result for the experiencers of near death, notes philosopher Michael Grosso, is a life transformed, a state of bliss that never quite leaves. Sadly, there is only one way to experience this kind of peace, and it's not doctor-recommended. But there is another form of resuscitation, albeit a somewhat questionable one, ethically speaking. Griefbots: The Rise of Afterlife Companions is a type of life-after-death that utilizes the deceased's digital footprint to create an AI version of the dearly departed as a means of comfort to those left behind. Whether it slows down or entirely halts the very necessary grieving process remains to be seen, but as a general comfort tool it shows great promise for those who never want to say goodbye, an AI form of resuscitation. (CM)

Photographer Shannon Taggart reports on the off-beat story of the SORRAT (the Society for Research on Rapport and Telekinesis) community. The story begins with John G. Neihardt, the poet of Black Elk Speaks fame, who in 1961 turned his Missouri farm into a small laboratory for the mind’s alleged reach beyond the body. From this unlikely setting came SORRAT, an experiment in whether close emotional bonds could coax objects into moving on their own. After Neihardt’s death, the group’s centre of gravity shifted to Tom Richards, an English teacher with an engineering background who quietly assumed the role of archivist-in-chief while hosting a parapsychological experiment—a locked, upside-down fish tank containing various objects—in his home. Home movies of all sorts of psychokinetic activity were supposedly captured happening in this "mini-lab" by a motion-triggered Super-8 camera (for examples, see Arthur C. Clarke’s World of Strange Powers beginning about 9:40 minutes in). The aim, as framed by Richards, was to cultivate rapport, document whatever followed, and leave evidence solid enough that others could “peruse and make their minds up.” Taggart’s article offers a first look at some of those documents, albums of family snapshots where levitating buckets and a flying briefcase share space with photos of birthday cakes and hospital visits. They invite you not so much to settle the question of the reality of the phenomena, but to spend a little time with the people who tried to pose the question. For those wishing to learn more about the SORRAT group, sociologist James McClenon describes his years-long investigation into SORRAT in his book, The Entity Letters, published by Anomalist Books. (JS)

Kevin Randle's posting of Nick Pope's very sad, graceful, and equally surprising message regarding his Stage 4 cancer diagnosis reminds us again that ufology is as much about People as it is about the Mystery. Like Kevin, we here at The Anomalist send Nick and his wife Elizabeth our best thoughts and wishes. Nick became to so many the "UK guy" for ufology as he was a prolific commentator and speaker. He wrote clearly in fiction as well as the UFO books I purchased. Nick mentions how he had worked until very recently, and we have an interview he did with Simon Holland in early November 2025. UFO Hybrid War 2025 - Prof Simon - Nick Pope begins with Holland soliloquizing about Russian drones being the "UFOs" plaguing U.S. and leading European countries, along the way posing novel explanations for Roswell, Rendlesham, and current iconic "UFO" cases. After about 11 minutes Simon brings Nick into the discussion, and while Nick also believes "hybrid drones" figure into the "drone dilemma," there's likely more than one assignable cause. Both gentlemen readily find more agreements than the opposite in a respectful and fruitful interchange, a conversation that was particularly informed by Nick's background of over two decades of British service. Perhaps rather hard to watch due to the most recent news, but here's Nick Pope still contributing to the discussion. (WM)

The Hudson Valley region of New York was recently the site of the some unusual tracks in the snow, reports Sean Joseph. Large, apparently barefoot strides about six feet apart were reported to the Bigfoot Researchers of the Hudson Valley who then put their expertise to work. Findings were inconclusive but investigators are accustomed to that never ending story.  Speaking of which, ‘It Ain’t No Unicorn’: Meet The Researchers Who’ve Interviewed 130 Bigfoot Hunters. Sociologists Jamie Lewis and Andrew Bartlett have spoken with all types of people, as they "were itching to understand what prompts this community to spend valuable time and resources looking for a beast that is highly unlikely to even exist." Approximately 25% of all Americans believe Bigfoot exists or probably exists. We would have thought that number would be higher based in the company we keep. (CM)

Dr. Michael Masters has been popping up in our inbox of late, and here's the transcript of a recent Joe Rogan interview with the Montana Technological University professor. It's a good look at Masters' background and career both inside and outside the UFO arena. The first half of the interview is especially helpful on the basics of Masters' "extra-tempestrial" model as it now stands. More time could have been given to explaining it more fully, but Rogan wanted the Prof's opinions on many other UFO-related matters. Masters was very careful, for instance, to differentiate between what he felt he actually knew and what his state of knowledge couldn't support with regard to the small versus larger Peruvian "mummies," for example. While the transcript can't convey the occasional imagery thrown up on a screen during the #2428 - Michael P. Masters video, the text's silence might make it less bothersome to others nearby. Miguel (Red Pill Junkie) Romero found one part near the dialogue's conclusion particularly interesting, as he details in When a UFO Researcher Encounters the ‘Others’: Mike Masters’ Account. Red Pill Junkie reprints the fantastic story Masters relates, compares it with a similar experience crop-circle researcher Colin Andrews had in 2009, and pointedly wonders about a purpose behind such cases. And RPJ returns with Some Updates on Mike Masters’ Strange Encounter with ‘The Others’. (WM)

This new headline is actually old news, but Ciaran McGrath's article reminds us that the former Senator's older remarks are returning in some mass media venues to haunt him. McGrath's accounts of historical UFO/military brushes also serve to keep that meme alive. David Spector assures us that we have something more recent as Barack Obama Says Aliens Are ‘Real, But I Haven’t Seen Them’ In Out-There New Interview. Spector cites additional, and "fresher," cases of UFO antics in the presence of service personnel and recording devices. Segue to George Knapp, where he expounds upon UFO Research: Scientists, Spies and Push for Disclosure. This KLAS 8 News Now examination chronicles facets of the Government's engagement with the Mystery from 2022 basically to the present with the major participants involved. And another tapped-in popular journalist covers additional areas of-the-moment that might intrigue the general public in Ross Coulthart Q&A: Airspace Shutdown and Contact on the Moon? There's also a subtext in these pieces from Jacques Vallée to Ross about what Disclosure might mean and if the public should be told the truth. (WM)

It's no surprise that for much of the past century the US and Canada performed psychological, behavioral and cognitive experiments, with or without subject approval, in an effort to retain military superiority. One such example of these experiments occurred within the atrocity of First Nations children in Canada being sent to residential schools for assimilation purposes. These children (technically wards of the state after being forcibly removed from their families) were then subjected to experiments with vaccines, antibiotics, nutrition, and later during the Second World War, psychic abilities. Chrissy Newton writes "a recently resurfaced 1943 study documents extrasensory perception (ESP) experiments that were performed on Indigenous children at a Canadian residential school. Since its rediscovery, the paper has become part of a broader historical reckoning over how scientific research intersected with assimilation policies and Cold War intelligence programs." (CM)

Here is globe-spanning proof that our conceptions of past human experience must be malleable. Michael Marshall shows how recent discoveries in northern Malta indicate it was populated 8500 years ago, and by hunter-gatherers, challenging our thinking "about the minds of early humans." Traditional archaeological understanding of ancient water travel comes partly from an inherent weakness in the data: "Boats don’t preserve well because they are normally made of materials like wood and hide, which rot." But even with the other meager evidence, now "it seems clear people were in Australia at least 50,000 years ago." And Marshall combines data with informed speculation about sea-crossings over a million years before our times! A long-standing controversy in this "peopling process" is when Europeans intruded into eastern North America; on this specifically, see Columbus Was Last: From 200,000 BC to 1492, A Heretical History of Who Was First by Patrick Huyghe and published by Anomalist Books. Once here, migration from Europe eventually met up with the influx from Asian shores. The Observer has a remarkable pair of articles about a form of monumental construction in the "more than 50 known shellworks located on the Atlantic coast between South Carolina and Florida," as old as 5,000 years. The Ringmakers (Part 1) introduces this fascinating subject and what "shellworks" may reveal about their makers' minds and beliefs. The Ringmakers (Part 2) is an ambitious effort to discern whether the monuments on South Carolina's Fig Island betray meaningful solar alignments—like those remarked at Stonehenge and other sites. Worth considering! (WM)