Hello everyone! If you like this content, please think about giving me a clap and a follow. I am new to sharing my experiences in written format, so even just a read helps me tremendously. Make sure to let me know your thoughts on this article. If you have your own stories that you would like to share, you can contact me (here). Just scroll to the bottom and click “Share Your Story”. I enjoy hearing the perspectives of everyone, so even if you are skeptical, feel free to share your thoughts and experiences.

Over the last few days, I have been thinking quite a bit about some personal perspectives on how my interests in the UFO Phenomena come and go. For me, it is strangely cyclical. While the interest is ALWAYS there, and I am always ingesting material around the greater Phenomena, I do find that there are certain periods of the year where the feeling of connection to the Phenomena is the strongest. Before I continue, I will say, of course, real-life events happen that can sometimes take your focus away for periods of time. Even considering this, there are two periods of the year in which I feel the most connected. The start of Spring and throughout Spring as well as the start of Fall and throughout Fall. Without going into a long tangent on why this could be, I can say that I have a theory as to why. When taking a look back at what inspired me to research the UFO Phenomena, I can say that my interest in the Phenomena coincides with both the Spring and Fall equinoxes. If you are in any form interested in the Occult, you may understand why these are important. Now I am NOT an Occultist; however, given the connections of the Occult and the UFO Phenomena, I have read and do read material expanding my knowledge of the Occult. This is, at the very least, to have some basic understanding of the Occult when I go through research. I understand that I am being vague and not providing much detail or context. But if these topics interest you, I implore you to look into them. For those of you who have some knowledge of what I mention, then you might understand what I am saying here. My question for you all is this. Do any of you have similar experiences in connection with (your research topic) during these time frames? If so, or not, please let me know. I am interested in hearing about all perspectives on the matter.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of high strangeness.

And remember … keep asking questions!

Cory

Hello everyone! I hope that all is well with everyone reading this.

After much deliberation and thought, I simply have to share some “dreams” that I have been having. The more of them that I have had, the more compelled I am to share them with people; especially given some of the weird parallels with how many people have described their night time abductions. It has absolutely made me think a bit.

It all started the beginning of 2025. I was in the initial growth phase in my journey learning about the UFO Phenomena. Many experiments, including pairing the Estes Method with the CE5 tones, produced strange communications with “something” … Something that we felt was different than what you might typically communicate with during Estes sessions.

Whether it was our intentions or the tones, we are unsure, but whatever we communicated with had very strange and interesting things to say. I remember clearly, after a very profound session, I had made up my mind that I was ready to have a UFO experience of my own. Or, even an abduction experience if they were so inclined. To me, it was important to have my own experience. What I had dealt with up until then was strange, but I wanted deeper confirmation. I guess that is just how I am wired.

Within a month I would potentially have both … I have covered my UFO experience in other articles, as well as in an episode of my Podcast (21 minutes in), but, I haven’t talked very much about the dream that I had before that experience. That dream occurred the same night of an experiment that turned out to be extremely profound for me. The communication that we received was eye opening, and consistently confirmed various important synchronicities that we have been having over the prior few months. For me, the dots had started to connect, and the next step was to have my own experience to solidify it all.

As I got home and settled into bed, it wasn’t long before I fell asleep. Typically, after these experiments I would feel quite mentally drained. As the dream began, I was riding in a car with someone that I don’t recognize from my real life. The feeling I got was that I knew this person, and was close with them in the dream. It was night time, and we were driving back from Atlantic City headed towards Somers Point, NJ. I was in the passenger’s side. We went over a particular bridge I recognize from real life, and as we crested the top and started coming down the back side, an object on the right side of the vehicle zoomed into focus about 100 feet in front of us. It came in so quick, but when it reached us, it was almost like time slowed down.

What I saw was a saucer type UFO. From this UFO, an absolutely blinding light started to emanate from it, and I started to feel like I was being pulled out of my seat. It almost felt as if I was being pulled from the inside of my body up toward the craft.

I looked over to my left and started yelling, “What is that?” over and over.

The person driving starts to scream as we both start to lift towards the UFO. I remember instinctively fighting being pulled away, and it seemed only to pull harder and harder. Then, all of a sudden, time went back to normal and the craft darted off to the left at an incredible speed. I felt if it wasn’t for the seat belt and my instinctual fighting, I would have been ripped out of the car through the windshield.

Once it flew off, I pulled myself out of the dream. As I woke up, I felt panic and a sense of being watched. My eyes darted around the room looking for something … or someone. Although in the moment it felt scary, as I unpacked it in my mind, it felt important. It didn’t “feel” like a dream, but almost like an implanted memory or an implanted experience. I still remember the feeling of that pull, and will probably never forget it. Or better yet, I will not be allowed to forget it.

The Tornadoes

Starting at the beginning of 2026, I had a series of dreams that were almost like an updated version of the dream mentioned above. Whereas that dream was strangely forward and pointed, the next series of dreams were not so direct. It happened during a time where I felt a sort of disconnect from the phenomena in general. A lot happened during the tail end of 2025 that took much of my ability to focus on the phenomena. This included a move further south to the Cape May area of New Jersey.

I distinctly remember one night, as the family was thinking of what to watch, that we should watch the movie NOPE. If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s not entirely a movie about UFOs, but it’s there. The movie’s underlying meaning is blindingly obvious, and the visuals are just there to aid in that meaning.

On the other hand, these visuals are odd, and I feel share a potential important synchronicity with how investigators of the past theorized on what the UFO Phenomena could have been. Maybe this is why my brain randomly brought it up? I actually disliked the movie, but something told me in that moment that there was an aspect that was important for me to pay attention to. But, like myself, the family disliked the movie too, and we didn’t watch it.

I am unsure as to the time frame that I started having these dreams after the fact, but I know it couldn’t have been but a few days. I remember in this dream that I was in an abandoned factory of some sort. It had mazes of various hallways and tunnels that seemed to all intersect. In this dream, I wasn’t alone. With me was someone that I regularly play video games with online. At one point I end up losing this person in this maze of hallways and tunnels. After a short time, I found my way back to the area where we started, which was this open room which appeared to be a very large square with stairs that led to various levels of whatever this facility was.

All of a sudden, I felt a rumble, and as I looked up to where it seemed to be coming from, the roof starts to rip off. I immediately wrapped my arms and legs around the metal stairs that I was on and held on for dear life. I did feel like I was being pulled, but not in the same manner as the dream from 2025. This felt more physical. I look up to find that what took the roof off was a MASSIVE tornado. In my mind I felt that it had to be an F5. I didn’t get to see the tornado pass over as I promply forced myself to wake up. Again, as I awoke, I felt panic and a sense of fight or flight.

In the second tornado dream, my family and I were outside of an older house. It was cloudy outside, but there wasn’t a sense of any rain or storms coming. This house was semi-broken down and needed some work. I am unsure as to why we were there, but I remember there being a “ditch” in front of the house just big enough for a person to lie in. As we are standing in front of this old house, the sky starts to darken at a very alarming rate. I look up to see an extremely small funnel cloud starting to form. As it starts to touch the ground in front of the house, I dive into the ditch hoping that it would protect me. I look up over my shoulder to see a very long, jagged, and wispy tornado start to move over top of me. The point of this tornado starts to dig into my back. While it didn’t feel physically painful in the dream, the terrifying nature of it, combined with the actual physical sensation added to my dreadful screams of fear.

Typically, I do not feel physical sensations in my dreams. Mostly, I feel emotions, or the emotions that would come from whatever physical stimulation perceived in my dream. So, given that I actually felt something is quite terrifying and off putting; so much so that it actually woke me up from the dream. The same sensation of fight or flight and being watched was very strong.

After this dream, I kept getting this feeling that I should watch the movie NOPE. I had no clue why, but it became apparent about a third of the way through the movie when I saw what looked like when the UFO would abduct people/animals. What’s depicted in the movie is that the UFO would create a tornado to suck up whatever it was abducting. Given the dreams that I was having, and the strangeness of how they felt, this felt like a synchronicity of some importance.

Was what I was experiencing just a dream? Or my brain’s way of “forgetting” or “hiding” what was happening late at night? Now, that sounds crazy right? Even saying it out loud makes me feel a bit … crazy. But, after what I have experienced over the past year, my eyes have been opened to possibilities of things existing beyond what is culturally acceptable to most people. These dreams could be nothing, and I’ve experienced nothing beyond just a dream. But, never the less, they still have meaning. That is, at least, widely acceptable by most cultures. I did have a third tornado dream after watching NOPE, but I will leave that dream for another time. Maybe to be included in a book that I am thinking of writing. Hint hint …

The Creature in the Corner

Over the last few months, I have woken up in the middle of the night seeing strange dark shapes in one particular corner of my room. The paranormal experiences that I have had throughout my life have been less visual, and more experienced in other ways. I have previously talked about a visual experience that I had as a child, and I am positive that led me to shutting off much of what visual experiences I may have had throughout my life. These types of things run in my family, and we have all had experiences with the paranormal. Everyone, but me, has regular visual experiences.

If it isn’t obvious by now, I will plainly state, I believe that the UFO Phenomena is connected to the paranormal in a very direct way. In my eyes, it’s one in the same. My experiences show me this, other investigators with way more knowledge and time in the game than I, also believe this. Typically what I see, at most, are the occasional dark shapes moving in the corner of my eye. More recently, late at night as I wake from my sleep, I keep seeing strange misty dark blobs in a particular corner of my room. If you all are not familiar, there are two types of “hallucinations” that can occur in sleep states: Hypnagogic, which can occur right before you fall asleep, are usually visual in nature, and can include seeing lights, patterns, or vivid images. And, hypnopompic, which occurs in the waking state from sleeping, and are described as being a continuation of a dream or a feeling of a presence in the room. Please know that my explanations of these two phenomena are not from a strong knowledge base. They are basic explanations, and I encourage you to look into them yourself.

Why does this matter? I was told that while these types of occurrences are described as being “hallucinations,” some people have toyed with the idea that maybe both states of sleep allow access to parts of your brain that are not typically active when you are awake. And, furthermore, that these experiences are more akin to what psychics may experience. I am not sure of the link here, but I am not fully convinced that what you can see or experience while falling asleep and waking up are always “hallucinations”. So, in the context of what I am about to describe to you … read with an open mind.

It started off as a dream. In this dream, I was laying in my room about to go to sleep. As I dozed off to sleep in my dream, I begin to dream. Yes, a dream within a dream … In this second dream I, again, am laying down to sleep. I fall asleep but am immediately woken up to an immense feeling of being watched. I look over my shoulder towards the corner of the room that I often see many a dark shadow or blob at night. Instead of my usual blob or shadow, I am met with an orange point of light that grows to about the size of a penny. That is when I notice that I am actually looking into the eyes of a being that was short with a large head. To put this into perspective, this corner is roughly 8 feet from my bed. I can see the entire being, but it wasn’t until this orange light grew to the size of a penny, that I actually saw what it was. This light didn’t give off illumination at all. It looked like a sphere that pierced through the darkness, and then the being was simply just, there. When the light disappeared, I could still see the shape and some very dark features of the being. Like the fact that the eyes were so dark that they almost looked like I was staring into space. I remember comparing them in my mind to that of looking into deep space and seeing stars and colored galaxies, even though what I was actually seeing was black eyes.

But, in an instant I felt a familiar feeling. My body locked up, and I felt as if I was being pulled from the inside. It was like I was physically frozen. My body felt like it was being dragged from the middle of my back. All I could think about was yelling in fear, hoping that someone would hear me. The feeling was the same as when I had the UFO dream. This lasted what seemed to be only seconds, and when I woke up, it was with a feeling of sheer terror. Like someone was watching me. I realized I had awoken into another dream. It was then that I forced my physical body to wake up, and again, to the same feeling of terror.

It’s hard to comprehend myself. Was I abducted in a dream of a dream? Again, was this my mind’s way of protecting myself from the reality of the situation? Given what I do, maybe the “memory” of what I have is there for confirmation, but I am unable to access anything past that point. Either way, it didn’t feel normal, and the physical sensations that I typically don’t have, I had.

It felt real … more real than even when dreams feel “real”. I felt everything. The inability to move and at the same time, the feeling of floating away. Like the act of looking into its eyes sent me into a trance and allowed it to take over.

Am I afraid of being abducted? No.

Then why would I feel terror and scream as if I am being harmed? The conclusion that I have is this: We live in a firm sense of physical reality, and when this is seemingly broken, you are going to be afraid. Especially if you aren’t used to these experiences. In my opinion, it feels like preparation for something. If one day I stop writing these, then maybe you know what happened. HA!

Thank you for joining me on this journey of high strangeness.

And remember … keep asking questions!

Cory

The Dream Abductions? was originally published in Tales of Terror, Paranormal, and the Strange on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We all remember the waves of drone sightings that swept New Jersey at the end of 2024. These sightings made such a stir that even people across the pond in Europe and Asia heard of these mysterious sightings. Drones, the size of small SUVs, were reported in droves primarily around the northern Jersey counties of Morris, Hunterdon, and Somerset.

From mid-November to mid-December, there were roughly 1000 reported sightings. Many speculated that these were the drones of a far off civilization. Some speculated that they were covert military tests that were … not actually covert. Other theories blended the two. My favorite theory during this time was that these drones were launched to watch over the historically present orbs that have been seen up and down the state of New Jersey for many many years. I, myself, have read articles and book excerpts talking about numerous fighter jet deployments over the last twenty years trying to run down these orbs.

No matter which theory you believe in, we all have to concede that the start of these drone sightings were quite timely. You see, on November 13th, the same day the drone sightings started, the largely publicized subcommittee hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena also took place. With this in mind, we have to ask … Was it planned? Just some food for thought as we continue through the article.

It seems that on December 16th much of the national attention on these sightings started to dwindle down, with the timeline of reported sightings stopping around December 17th. But, did the drones mysteriously disappear? To put it bluntly, no. They didn’t just disappear. No proper explanation had been provided at this point either. It wasn’t until January 28th, that the government provided a sufficient, albeit typical, government answer. But still, I would find it sufficient that news agencies would then stop covering it in such large fashion.

However, this isn’t what happened. The news coverage dwindled long before that. It begs to question: What caused this to take place? We may never know; but, what we can do, is continue to look at what is currently taking place in the New Jersey drone saga. The fact of the matter is, they never left. When the Northern Jersey sightings began to become less and less, it seems the sightings kept going south. This was good lucky for me since I live in Southern New Jersey. I have had a front row seat in the continuation of drone sightings.

The Saga Continues

Before we get into the current happenings of the drones, I want to preface something. Is everything we see in the sky a drone? No. Are there ways to narrow down what we are seeing? Yes … to a point. So, in my time of “drone watching” I have done my best to rule out everything that I can. I cannot say with absolute certainty that everything I see is a drone; because it isn’t. What I can say, however, is that through the use of various applications, such as “flightradar24”, I can rule out ANY plane that has their transponder turned on. This should rule out 100% of commercially operated flights, and the vast majority of private flights. Additionally, it doesn’t seem that the airspace for my area, within a large radius, would allow for private flights to turn off their transponders. Other apps that I use such as the “Enigma” app helps me to determine if what I am seeing could be a satellite (this would not include military satellites). As you see, I try to rule out most of the common misidentified ariel objects using my personal knowledge, and the tools I have available to me. What these apps allow me to do is narrow down the list of what object I could be seeing. Then, when you compare the behavior of the object, you can make a pretty educated guess on what that object could be. If you can’t, then you get into UFO/UAP territory.

With that in mind, we still have to ask the question: Are drones still present in New Jersey? Yes, they are … nightly. I have been closely observing the skies of New Jersey since the drone sightings began. I have visual knowledge of what the skies looked like before the drones, and after the drones. About mid-way through the aforementioned time frame I started to see drones myself. At first it was only a handful here and there. As of late, it has progressed to nightly sightings. The frequency of these sightings inspired my family to investigate and observe the drones in hope of figuring out what they were. We have some vlog style footage of this investigation if you would like to watch (here).

In April of 2025, as my wife and I sat at a park enjoying the spring air, I was able to count at least a dozen drones within an hour of arrival. As mentioned, I used the apps to make the best educated decision on what the objects were, and I determined that they were drones. They flew over our heads so close that you could make out the color and shape of the craft in its entirety. Throughout the year, I would occasionally stop and watch the night skies for whatever might show up. Even as I moved further south, to the Cape May area, almost every night, I can see drones. Most often, you don’t just see a single drone. Typically, you will see 2 or more lined up with meticulous spacing, flying in an almost grid fashion. Occasionally, you will see them hover in place for prolonged periods of time. To me, this has become a very telltale sign on if what I am seeing is, in fact, a drone. My usual markers are extremely slow speeds, hovering for extended periods of time, and seeing multiple drones lined up combing an area in a grid-like fashion. All with zero, or extremely low, noise levels. And, all flying quite close to the ground; possibly, just a few hundred feet off the ground. A very typical answer to what these might be is that they are helicopters. However, the apps that I use would allow me to determine if they are helicopters. Not to mention, helicopters are quite loud. Needless to say, for myself, I have checked off every box I could think of to explain what they could be apart from drones.

Towards the end of 2025, I briefly spoke to someone in the UFO/Cryptid field that regularly investigates active cases of the UFO Phenomena. Our discussion ended up heading in the direction of what really took place during the drone incursions of late 2024. From sources he could not name, he knew where the drones came from and who built them. No, they aren’t from another planet; but rather a company that specializes in experimental drone technology. According to him, many of the sightings were from test flights of these drones. These claims seem to be corroborated via various articles that I have found since speaking to this person. In the articles, it details claims from this company that some of their test flights might have sparked many of the drone sightings. Included in one of the articles was a photo of one of the drones, half covered, and appeared to be one of the drones that people reported looked SUV sized.

After much thought, I have no clue what these drones could be used for. Obviously, given the strange responses by the government, we aren’t supposed to know yet. All we can continue to do down here in South Jersey is step outside and look towards the stars to observe these newly created crafts. Maybe there will be a day where we won’t see them any more, and maybe then I will release another article detailing the end of a saga in our history.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of high strangeness.

And remember … keep asking questions!

Cory

The Drone Saga Continues was originally published in Tales of Terror, Paranormal, and the Strange on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Hello to everyone reading this. As I sat down at my computer this morning I began to ponder what my next article should be written about. Next to me I have an extremely cool alien head white board like thing with various article ideas that I wrote down from past experiences. As I sat and looked at them, I didn’t feel called to write any of the topics on the board, but I knew that I wanted to write on something. This is when an idea sprang into my head. The day before writing this I had a conversation with my sister about my articles, podcast, and other content I might want to create. She reminded me that my original idea for my content was going to be centered around my experiences, thoughts, and learnings as I go through this journey: I need to stay true to this. Instead of trying to succomb to the wants of the masses, I need to stay true to myself.

So, with this in mind, I knew what I wanted to write about today. Over the last 3 days I have been reading a new book called “Operation Trojan Horse,” by John Keel. This book has been on my TBR list of books that I want to read to further my research into the viewpoints of seasoned investigators who investigated during the height of the UFO Phenomena. I haven’t even finished half the book yet, however, it’s greatly impacted me.

What’s it About?

The book is written by the legendary, and very seasoned investigator, John Keel. Although I haven’t finished the book in its entirety, it actually quite bluntly states very early on what the book is about. Simply put, it’s about their research and investigations into the causes of the UFO Phenomena. They ultimately come to a determination of a cause that is not widely accepted and very different from what most UFO enthusiasts believe. However, from their point of view, they provide evidence that scientifically supports their perspective. While the book lists one singular author, John Keel, he mentions “we” ALOT throughout the text, alluding to the idea that he is not alone in his thought process and determination as to the causes of UFO Phenomena. And, that in actuality, multiple people came together to formulate this theory.

My Initial Thoughts?

So far, I have to agree that they truly are taking a scientific approach to the subject. Being that this book was written during the late 60’s, and published in 1970, vast improvements in science have been made in the 55 years since it was published. I am very interested in seeing if some of their explanations will be misunderstandings due to unknown science at that point in history.

I am reading the book with a very open mind, however, I am cautious. My initial gut feeling is that he was very frustrated with much of the UFO Phenomena during the writing of his books. I have heard from multiple podcasts, researchers and other writings that many of the researchers, like Keel, often times hit a “breaking” point during their time investigating the UFO Phenomena. Keel seems to have became very disenchanted with the UFO Phenomena, which ultimately led him to distancing himself from it altogether.

I recall from another book of his “Flying Saucer to the Center of your Mind,” in which he pretty much states that this Phenomena will drive you crazy of sorts. I am just a year into my own journey and I can say verifiably … yes. The Phenomena pulls you in so many different directions, that it is VERY hard to keep a straight forward path. As I write this, I had an “AH Ha” moment. It seems these investigators took the term “investigate” way too seriously. At my day job, I am an investigator myself. So, I can understand the serious mindset of an investigator. The key to much of our jobs are the “WHY” and the “HOW”. In all forms from criminal to financial, true investigators tend to hyper focus on these questions, leading you down a rabbit hole, trying to “make sense” of it all.

In the UFO Phenomena, you can’t be so serious. My sister and mother have both said this to me before, “Cory, I think you feel that you can find the reason for it all. Like some day you are going to have a big moment where you figure it all out.” While partially true, as I do want to try and make some sense of the UFO Phenomena, my goal has been to obtain evidence and understanding of the Phenomena, so that maybe we all might understand it a bit better. Maybe it shouldn’t work that way. I think the key here is to focus on telling my experiences. And through this, without so much a focus and emphasis on the scientific aspect of it all, we can come out at the end with a better understanding of the UFO Phenomena within ourselves. We each have a very personal journey in this Phenomena, and by telling each other the experiences we have, new perspectives and understandings can form. This is the key.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of high strangeness.

And remember … keep asking questions!

Cory

The Underbelly of the Phenomena was originally published in Ethereal Entries on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In this article I will provide books that I will or have read in my search into the UFO Phenomena and other Fortean topics. As this is an evolving journey, I may write periodic articles updating the list. This list will include material that I may not have read yet. If this is the case I will notate it. Future articles will include other media, such as video. However, I have consumed so many videos and documentaries on the topic that it will take me awhile to properly remember and compile that list.

If you are into the topic of UFOs or other Fortean topics and have a recommendation, please feel free to let me know in the comments or contact me via (here).

Books

The Mothman Prophecies By: John Keel (Link)(Read)
The Secret Cipher of the Ufonauts By: Allen Greenfield (Link)(Read)
Etidorhpa By: John Uri Lloyd (Link)(Partial Read)
The Eighth Tower By: John Keel (Link) (Partial Read)
Flying Saucer to the Center of Your Mind By: John Keel (Link) (Read)
Operation Trojan Horse By: John Keel (Link)(Not Read)
The Edge of Reality By: J. Allen Hynek (Link)(Not Read)
The Book of the Law By: Aleister Crowley (Link)(Read)
Flying Saucers and the Three Men By: Albert Bender (Link)(Not Read)
The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings By: John Keel (Link)(Not Read)
Communion By: Whitley Strieber (Link)(Not Read)

When reading these books, make sure that you have an open mind going into it. Some of these books are presented as fictional stories. However, it’s the undertones and historical relevance that make them important in understanding the deeper aspects of various Fortean topics. At least in my opinion. Other books in this list are very fringe, even for topics already on the fringe. They may not make sense at first, or the connection to the UFO Phenomena may not seem prevalent. But if you keep an open mind and continue your own journey, you might start to realize that many of these fringe books make up the true underbelly of the UFO Phenomena, not wildly publicized. Enjoy, and share your thoughts.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of high strangeness.

And remember … keep asking questions!

Cory

Welcome to the first installment of The High Strangeness Chronicles, where I dive deep into the places of high strangeness that I have travelled. In these stories I will provide you with the historical context that led me to there, and my own experiences that I had while investigating. Strap in as you journey with me on my strange and wild adventures.

(P.S. I would love to hear your strange stories as well! You can contact me here!)

Towards the end of 2024 I found myself at the start of a new journey into a world of fantastical strangeness caused by a weird connection with a show called “Hellier”. If you haven’t read my article on this show, please read it here! This connection really opened my mind up to the possibilities of the strangeness that truly occur in the world. I set out to learn about the historical accounts of various strange events. This included diving deeper into things such as The Mothman, Alister Crowley, and some UFO Flaps from the 60’s and beyond. From these learnings I started a foundation of understanding into the connection that many of these people, events and phenomena have. There is much debate about the Occults connection with the paranormal, cryptids and UFO Flaps, but I will save that for a future publication.

In early 2025, I found myself with a hunger to go and visit one of these places myself. But, I didn’t know where to go first. I was torn between various places visited in Hellier; or a place nearer to my home in New Jersey. This was when I stumbled upon Pine Bush, NY. I had never heard of this place in any past research into the UFO phenomena. But, when I started to read about it, I realized, it was a very special place. You see, it seems unlikely that a place with historic UFO sightings and other contact would continue to have such phenomena still going on. It was a happy delight to learn that Pine Bush, and many of the other small strange hamlets of the Hudson Valley, continue to have many forms of contact with the UFO Phenomena. When I learned of this, I knew it had to be my first investigation.

The History

Pine Bush has had it’s share of historical UFO Flaps and sightings dating back to the 1920's. Most notably, during a 4 year time span from 1983 through 1987, there were estimated to be roughly 2000 sightings reported. It was such a big deal that investigators from all over the country came to document the happenings of the area. One of these investigators, Ellen Crystall, went on to write about the strangeness of the Hudson Valley in her book titled “Silent Invasion: The Shocking Discoveries of a UFO Researcher”. I have not read this book, but while writing this I did decide to buy it, and will give it a read when it arrives. Many of these sightings are reports of silent, large triangular, or boomerang shaped craft. These were reported by locals, pilots and even the Police.

But, it doesn’t stop there. Much of what actually took place in the town of Pine Bush, and the surrounding area, is best told by the locals. Many reports are of strange orbs coming and going in vertical motions from the ground towards the sky and vise versa. When my family and I were eating at the wonderful local diner, Cup and Saucer Diner, our waitress told us a fantastic account of an event that took place some years back. After a blackout of the town, many turned their heads towards the sky to see a floating orb above the town center. Once it had vanished, the power returned to the town. According to the waitress, there had to have been dozens of people that saw this take place. Many times sightings like these aren’t reported and are lost to time. In order to uncover them, sometimes you have to simply put yourself out there, be friendly, and ask the locals.

Our Experiences

Our trip to Pine Bush was not exactly at the most opportune season. We felt compelled to go there, and once we had made our decision, execution of the plan was swift. It was late February and cold; luckily we came in some time after their most recent snow storm, so it wasn’t too snowy. Much like in the photo above, the skies were magnificently clear. We didn’t have much time to stay, only a full day, but we made the best of it! The town is small, but the main strip of the town is full of local restaurants and shops. During the late morning we spent time going to a local thrift shop in a historic building on the main strip. It was filled with amazing items procured from local people and estate sales from around the area. Right next door was an even MORE amazing book store that had just opened it’s doors (here). The owners of both of these establishments happened to be there, and were more than happy to share their experiences being in the old historic buildings. Both spoke about objects moving, strange noisesx and the usual paranormal experiences generally talked about.

By mid-day, our time had came to tour the local UFO and Paranormal museum (here). The tour was a weath of information on the local history of UFO and Alien encounters of the area. Much of the information, not even being able to be found online, was from local sources. This included the investigator I mentioned earlier, Ellen Crystall, as well as other researches that spent time in the area. It was VERY obvious that someone had put in a vast amount of time sourcing the history, evidence and conducting local interviews. This included collaboration with NY state MUFON and other groups in the realm of UFO/Paranormal research. While the tour did not just revolve around the UFO phenomena, it absolutely was a major focal point of the museum.

This tour lasted a few hours, and before we knew it, the skies turned from clear to a nice cherry color hinting that sunset was approaching. We quickly grabbed dinner and readied ourselves for the night investigation that we had planned. During this time, our family ran a TikTok account with the focus of sharing our experiences in both the paranormal and my experiences/research with the UFO phenomena. So, after eating we quickly set out for our night time viewing spot for our live investigation.

The spot that we choose for our night time investigation was a difficult choice. The other two locations we wanted to conduct the investigation at were not accessible due to the snow and/or bad cellular connection. However, as we later found out, location doesn’t really matter when you are in the UFO sighting capitol of the east coast. The beginning of the investigation was relatively slow. We focused on welcoming our viewers, setting intentions and preparing. What marked a very sudden shift was after we played the CE5 tones. If you are not familiar with what the CE5 protocol is, you can read about it (here)!

Not long after playing the tones we did notice some strange lights in the sky. Some of these lights were explainable by utilizing a flight radar app, and some were not explainable. While nothing in particular stood out at the start, I did have a strange sense that something was coming. Sure enough, halfway through our investigation/experiment, we noticed quite a large light off in the distance, just over the tree lines. As you see in the photo above, we were looking in the direction of a cluster of trees. What it doesn’t show properly is that the parking lot that we were in was raised above the area below us; not a large amount, but enough that it would give us a better view of the sky given the trees in the direction we were looking.

As the lights got closer, we noticed that it was flying directly at us! Not only did we see this, but approximately two dozen other people in our TikTok live also witnessed it. As it approached closer and closer the light became brighter and brighter. Our flight radar app didn’t see anything near us at that time, so our interest kept growing as it approached. It was slow moving, massive, and flying EXTREMELY low to the ground. If this was a jet utilizing propulsion that we civilians currently know of, it would have vibrated the windows and houses around us. But, relative to it’s distance as it passed DIRECTLY over us, it made shockingly LITTLE noise. Our investigative team, as well as our TikTok viewers watched in awe. And, despite the spotty connection, our viewers corroborated what we were seeing: A giant diamond shaped craft with what appeared to be lights on the top, giving additional illumination to the general shape of the object.

It was a fantastical sight, and one that I wish we could have had a recording. In a very intersting turn of events, when we got back home and I downloaded the live video, the recording FROZE as soon as the craft got close enough to view. The recording freeze lasted EXACTLY the amount of time that it passed over us, and then the feed returned to a more normal state after the fact. Thinking about this now, and comparing it to other strange events that occured over 2025, I believe that these events really are meant to be viewed/experienced in a setting that is more personal to you and those around you.

In 2026, we plan to do more expriments where I will take video/audio recordings and collect other data, but it won’t be done live. We have a theory that more will happen as a result. In the moment of seeing this craft, I remember my sister exclaim in amazement, almost in fear, “What is that!” over and over again. I feel that this moment was a big impact to her perspective at that time. Now, I am not saying that this was an “Alien” craft. I do have vast knowledge about the known military assets that exist, and I am aware of the conspiracy theories of assets that could exist, based on declassified information and/or other people’s experiences. I would say that more than likely, this was military in nature; even if unknown to the public. None the less, it was an impactful moment. I mean, if something human made could be hidden and only known to a very few, what else could be lurking out there in our skies, oceans and in the shadows. Really, as they say, the skies the limit.

Beyond that fantastical sighting that night, there were other odd things that happened, but things so strange that they deserve an article of their own. To wrap this up, I have one last thing to say: Pine Bush was the start of something greater than myself, and was the starting point in my research of the Phenomena. It truly is simple … if you put yourself out there, and in the position to be accepting of whatever strangeness that exists, you are likely to find it.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of high strangeness.

And remember … keep asking questions!

Cory

*Spoilers Ahead*

This week the topic of my Podcast was about a show that really changed much of my perspective on the unknown. Most of you probably won’t know the show, unless you really traverse the backrooms of the unknown and/or are versed in the Occult. But, you can watch it on Amazon Prime; or if you don’t like giving Jeffy your money, you can watch it on their YouTube channel (Here). The name of the show is Hellier. I implore you to watch it; just go in with an open mind…

What is Hellier? Hellier follows Greg and Dana Newkirk as they engross themselves in a fantastical journey on the fringiest of the fringe topics in Ufology, Occult, and Esoteric knowledge. Their journey starts with a 2012 email from “David Christe” in Hellier, Kentucky, asking for assistance in dealing with “goblin” like alien creatures terrorizing his family. Like I said… the fringiest of the fringe. Contained in this email are details of an eerily similar story to that of the “Hopkinsville Goblin” case from 1955. Long story short, a family was being terrorized by little goblin like alien creatures. Included in these emails were photos of footprints and creatures themselves. Although the photos of the creatures leave much to be desired, the footprints were a very strange aspect to the initial story.

For me, the footprints are the biggest aspect of “David’s” story that leads me to believe something strange was happening. If you look closely at the photo, the footprints look as if they have dermal ridges. These are the same type of ridges that humans have on our hands and feet. They are quite rare in the animal kingdom, and when compared to the tracks of known animals that do have dermal ridges, these become even more strange. Nothing matches them. Sit back; things are about to get even… fringier?

Who is David Christe? He is no one. As we find out in the show, David doesn’t actually exist. When Greg and Dana finally go to Hellier, Kentucky to find David (he had stopped emailing them), they attempt to pin point who David is, and where he lived in order to try and investigate these “Goblins”. But, the locals didn’t know him. He isn’t able to be found anywhere online. The only thing the locals of the town can tell them are their stories of strange happenings, and the typical “be careful of the woods” trope. I grew up in Kentucky and lived in extremely small towns. Most people do know each other to some extent. Given Hellier is a town even smaller than ones I grew up in, I am sure that EVERYONE knows everyone. Hellier is a place that you don’t move to. David had supposedly moved to Hellier. In towns like this, “outsiders” are often talked about amongst the locals. David would have been an outsider, thus further solidifying how weird it is that no one had heard about him.

If this wasn’t weird enough, queue “Terry Wriste” from the left side of the stage. In the emails David sent, he mentioned that one of his friends had gotten in contact with someone named “Terry Wriste” that then forwarded him to Dana and Greg, as he was “retired” from such investigations. According to Dana and Greg, they don’t know a Terry Wriste. When trying to find out who this was, yet again, they hit a brick wall. Terry virtually didn’t exist beyond an interview in the back of a very strange Occult book called “Secret Cipher Of The Ufonauts” by Allen Greenfield (here). Based on this interview Terry would have been someone that lived on the edge of society.

Why does Terry Wriste matter in all of this? Well, where David had stopped emailing Greg and Dana, somehow Terry picked up his slack with even more crazy and cryptic messages. At this point, Terry becomes sort of a figure head in laying out a path for them, and pointing them in certain directions. Terry opened the door for Greg and Dana into this crazy fantastical world of the unknown. They joke about it being an initiation into something far greater than themselves; and by making the show, they themselves initiate their viewers into the same world that has perplexed them since Terry brought them into the fold.

I feel that what I have written about the show is enough to show how strange it truly is. I find it difficult to put a proper synopsis into words. There is so much more to the show with even crazier twists and turns. You just have to watch it!

As my family watched Hellier, synchronicities just kept popping up. As I said, I am from Kentucky and so is most of my family. More importantly, though, is how strangely connected my family is to some of the aspects in the show Hellier. Here’s just some of the connections that grabbed our attention, and other strange events that gave us a shock:

1. The “Hopkinsville Goblin” case was a pretty important connection in Hellier at the start. My mother was actually born in Hopkinsville, KY. It’s a small, but introductory synchronicity that initially grabbed our attention.
2. As Hellier unfolds it leads them to the story of the legendary Mothman, and John Keels book “The Mothman Prophecies”. Most notably, a man by the name of Woodrow Derenberger claimed to meet a purported alien, by the name of Indrid Cold, one rainy night on a lonely West Virginia highway, in 1966 … the year my mother was born. Also, did I mention the part where most of my mother’s family originated in West Virginia? Where the synchronicities go even deeper is how, ultimately, the Hellier team is led (by a series of interesting events) to Ashland, Kentucky. My mother lived in Ashland, Kentucky during the early 1970’s; a time of great high strangeness in that area. I spoke to my mother about her experiences while living there, and she described many strange occurrences that were outside of the typical paranormal experiences she has had her entire life.
3. Strange as it might seem, during filming, the Hellier team had recurring encounters with random blue mylar balloons. Can you name the last time you saw a balloon floating randomly in the wild? Or saw a popped balloon laying on the ground while going about everyday life? I couldn’t either. What is strange about the blue mylar balloon is how it would show up during specific times on their path. Rather than it being completely random, it would show up as a reminder, or confirmation, that they were onto something. Just as most of the synchronicities presented themselves. After watching Hellier, when it was most needed, our family has seen blue mylar balloons on multiple occasions. During one instance, it was found in the middle of a 2 mile hike in the woods. Not something you would typically see several miles into the forest. On another occasion, the day I did my very first CE5 experiment, as we waited for food from a local restaurant, both my sister and myself saw a floating blue mylar balloon, just flying with the wind, directly in front of us. That night ended up being a pivotal point in my life (a discussion for another time).

These three are just the tip of the iceberg. There have been vastly more synchronicities that have taken place, some stranger than the ones listed above. I listed these three as a way to ease you into the high strangeness that surrounds the topic of Hellier, and my every day life. At the end of the day, Hellier didn’t cause them. Whatever the greater topic or “thing” that has caused dozens of people to dedicate their life to investigate, write books, create movies or shows is what caused these synchronicities and high strangeness events.

Why did the show inspire me to change my path? The first time that I watched Hellier I felt that it was strange, but I didn’t think much more about it once I was done watching. The second, and third time I felt almost “called” to watch it. Interestingly enough, it seemed that my watching sprees almost always came exactly during the beginning of Spring and then the beginning of Fall. By the end of the third time watching it, I began to better understand and realize why it called to me so much. My whole life I had spent looking up at the stars. From a very young age I spent most of my day watching various programs all centered around space, ufos, aliens etc. These programs always made me think; are we really alone? In my heart I believed not, and I felt a calling to find out. Hellier was almost like an adult version of the same calling. The show pulled on those same strings that the programs did for me as a child. It reignited that spark in me, and that ultimate question kept playing over in my head. Are we alone? And after waking up the day after finishing Hellier for the 4th time, I realized that I was ready to dedicate the rest of my life to researching and investigating that very question. I may never find 100% proof. I may never fully understand the phenomenon. But, I don’t care. Deep down I know there is something more out there. All I want to do is to bring myself, and others, even just an inch closer to understanding this great phenomena.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of high strangeness.

And remember … keep asking questions!

Cory

What the Hellier? was originally published in Never Stop Writing on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Hello everyone!

Just wanted to write a short introductory post, of course introducing the project and what we aim to do. Please bare with me, I am by no means a writer, but I have felt called too start doing write ups on my research.

Our history

I started the Unidentified Flying Project as a revitalized version of an older podcast that I put on throughout 2025. This podcast titled “Unidentified Flying Podcast” was a TikTok live based aimed at sharing historical and current stories surrounding the UFO (UAP) phenomena, in a pretty open ended discussion style. While this worked great for a short time, I learned pretty quickly that I didn’t want to just seclude myself to Tiktok. There was virtually no proper way of reuploading the lives to YouTube or any other platform, therefore I was sort of “stuck” within TikTok. I didn’t want this to be the case. Not for any other reason than I simply want to share with as many people as possible, my experiences with the broader phenomena surrounding UFOs. Therefore, I made it a goal for 2026 that I would break from the TikTok shell and create a better product for listeners and watchers. Thus, I created a more broad project where I could not only share historical and current stories, but my own research and investigative experiences with the audience of the project. I feel that this revitalization will enable me a better platform to expand my own research, share the research and cultivate an audience/community of like minded people that might want to take part in the research.

Our Scope

What exactly will we do? Well, this is a great question. While I have a very good general idea of what I want to do with the project, I am still thinking of fine tuning it more. As of right now, the podcast episodes are from the perspective of myself, my research and my growth through this research. However, I absolutely want to include others in this. The first season of the podcast will be 8 episodes long, with 2 episodes being released per month. That’s 4 months of content and time to see what works and what doesn’t work. For this first season I might be a bit more open to changes, even if last minute, to see what I think the audience enjoys or wants to take part in. I haven’t started thinking of the second season, but I know it will be more structured and set. At the end of the day I am learning just as everyone else is. Other than our Podcast I will be doing my own investigations that might turn into videos, livestreams or even documentaries depending on the scope of the investigation at that time. Esentially, the first season is really set to let my audience know who I am, what I am about, what the project is about, and how we got to where we are today. The second season should be more about the evolving nature of the research and investigations to back up or test certain findings during research. I hope that you, the reader, will take a chance with us and take part in some of these podcasts.

The Medium Plan

Since I am writing on Medium it’s important to share what we plan to do on here. As I stated at the beginning, I have felt called to write about my research. So, I will do exactly that. What will this entail? I plan to share research, general thoughts, theories etc. written and shared on Medium. I had originally thought about building my own blog. But when I found Medium I felt inclined to use it instead, not sure why. I do plan to write once a week. I am not a great writer so please give some grace to my writing.

Where To Find Us

As of right now I am utilizing our Facebook group for daily and open discussions surrounding the various phenomena directly or indirectly involved with UFOs. (Join here)

On top of this I have a linktree created as a general hub of our social aspects. Including a direct link to our YouTube. And more importantly, to me, it contains a form that gives people direct access to share or discuss their perspective on the phenomena or even their own experiences. To me it is very important to hear the stories and perspective of others. If you have an experience, think about sharing it with me! (Linktree here)

Thank you if you read or even skimmed through this writing. I hope that I have intrigued you enough to at least follow me on Medium, or maybe even join our Facebook group to discuss there. Until next time, keep asking questions.