The Military and Monsters

[Still Waters]

While there is absolutely no doubt at all in my mind that many of the strange beasts that people such as me search for are indeed flesh-and-blood creatures of truly unknown origin and classification – such as sea-serpents, the Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas, and the monsters of Loch Ness, Scotland – others are clearly not physical beasts at all.

No, I’m not talking here about the realm of the paranormal or the supernatural – although I certainly do believe that these issues play highly significant roles in certain cryptozoological cases. Rather, I’m referring to monsters borne out of nothing less than the imaginative minds of the U.S. military. You may well ask yourselves: what on earth is Redfern raving on about? Well, I’ll tell you!

Read more...

[emberlake]

If ever I needed another reason to dislike Mr. Redfern This story seals it. I cannot imagine what he could have possibly been thinking to write such an article... War is hell, we all know it and we know the methodology is insane sometimes.

What we don't need is some band wagon jumping para-scientist to give us the 'details of horror' from 60 years... He could have explained it in less details and got the point across just the same... This just makes me sick. :angry2:

[J.B.]

I can see your point. It's sensationalism, which gets readers to read. I don't know whether to believe it, and personally, I see nothing wrong with such tactics. They attacked a patrol, which meant attacking people who had weapons. They knew the risks, fighting like that.

[emberlake]

You're right, it's sensationalism and ... and... oh never mind...

I don't have a problem with military tactics. I think it would be clever of them to perpetuate an already familiar scary legend to help them accomplish their mission. It would save lives on both sides.

[J.B.]

It's a cheap way to gain readership, lol. That's the problem. Cheap and overly detailed/gory in this case. That it?

[emberlake]

It's a cheap way to gain readership, lol. That's the problem. Cheap and overly detailed/gory in this case. That it?

Bingo! You got it!

[+DieChecker]

Even if this one story is true, that explains less then 0.001% of the weird stuff that is going on. It can't all be psy-ops special forces soldiers. To what purpose? Why would these psy-ops guys be going around the US countryside spreading rumors of Bigfoot and Chupacabras and sea monsters??

[J.B.]

They wouldn't. Also, if we can figure it out, so can other nations. I don't mean to say every case is like this, but it's possible someone's up to something in some of these.

[zenfahr]

I have no doubt that this story and probably many others are true.... as for sensationalism.... really? There was nothing of the type in this story... he did not say that the military made actual vampires... only that it was used as a military tactic. Which actually makes sense. If only we could just take out one guy, and scare off an entire unit. I find that very interesting. Perhaps you (emberlake) should take time to actually read the story before you start criticizing it.

[regeneratia]

is below, error came up and tried to fix it.

Edited September 21, 2010 by regeneratia

[regeneratia]

I think the US military is a monster itself.

I call for defunding it.

It failed us on 9-11. It should get no more tax-payer dollars. Not one dollar.

[emberlake]

I have no doubt that this story and probably many others are true.... as for sensationalism.... really? There was nothing of the type in this story... he did not say that the military made actual vampires... only that it was used as a military tactic. Which actually makes sense. If only we could just take out one guy, and scare off an entire unit. I find that very interesting. Perhaps you (emberlake) should take time to actually read the story before you start criticizing it.

My issues with the article had zero to do with the military...

But I do Thank you so much for your suggestion.

Now, I'll return the favor and give you one in return, "Perhaps you should actually read my comments before you make a suggestion like that."

.

[J.B.]

I have no doubt that this story and probably many others are true.... as for sensationalism.... really? There was nothing of the type in this story... he did not say that the military made actual vampires... only that it was used as a military tactic. Which actually makes sense. If only we could just take out one guy, and scare off an entire unit. I find that very interesting. Perhaps you (emberlake) should take time to actually read the story before you start criticizing it.

She was talking about the graphic details of how they accomplished the mission, about him coming out and saying "We grabbed a guy, punctured his neck twice, and drained his blood out." It was a paraphrase, but you can see what I mean.

[Mr Mojo Risin]

That's brilliant, a lil disturbing but hey.... that's war.

[Black Hound]

Give the readers what they want, if you can't find anything, get creative. Whatever sales. Somebody somewhere out of control, if all else fails, the military, the government, or some "black"(not racial)business or corporation experimenting.

[Blue Lizard]

I see no problem with using technics like that in the military. It actually saves lives on both sides as mentioned before(unlike the atomic bomb) and is quite clever to say the least.

As for the writer, I see no problem with what he is doing at all. He is gaining readers and kudos to him for doing whatever it takes. If it p***es few people off, but nevertheless gets readers interested, I think there is nothing wrong with it. As a writer, getting readers interested is the most important thing, and he takes care of that pretty well. Most writers have a lot of BS, but if it makes the article interesting, then I don't care if it was BS.

As someone said, it is easy to say "It was a sunny day for Jack" and it is much harder to say "Jack looked upto the fiery sun and questioned the things he had done. The heat was finally wearing him as the sweat came burning down his back." I am not a great writer, but I would think as a reader, a detailed description would be better.

I like him for putting me in that sort of thrill mood and would have quite rather hated him and thought of him as a poor writer, if he just said it out in one line. That's why some end up as writers and others end up writing scientific research papers- although both tend to have some BS.

[emberlake]

In reference to anyone liking the style of the author of the article, "Different strokes for different folks. That's cool with me."

I'm not a professional writer, but I think he could have chosen to not quote his source and instead described it something like:

"they grabbed the last guy in the patrol and terminated him in a manner to look like a vampire attack and then replaced his corpse back where he would be found."

The result would be the same, but without the gore, and still holding to the original ominous manner of the story teller for instilling fear during that time.

Here's the deal, in my opinion it's just sad for a cryptozoologist to use the 'gory specific details' in the context of that article.

.

[zombeikiller]

This would fit inside the vampirism topic. where the us isreaching vampires. since one skptic say they did not. but if this was used by the usa then they studyed what people feared and used it to there advantage.

[Agent. Mulder]

This would fit inside the vampirism topic. where the us isreaching vampires. since one skptic say they did not. but if this was used by the usa then they studyed what people feared and used it to there advantage.

No it wouldnt fit.

Youre saying the states would try and find what "monsters" people fear, and then try to make them?

Good luck with that.

[lotsocats100]

headache...the article, I felt, was very well written. As a reader of horror stories, I think the way it was written gave it authenticity. If you don't like this writer, you don't have to read his articles. Not trying to start an argument, just saying...

Have a great day anyway!!!

[MstrMsn]

I think the US military is a monster itself.

I call for defunding it.

It failed us on 9-11. It should get no more tax-payer dollars. Not one dollar.

How do you figure the US military failed on 9/11? We are forbidding by federal law to operate within the US. Only exception is under a declaration of Martial Law.

You want to blame someone, blame the FBI, they had information about a possible attack, and how it was going to be carried out, but since the source of that information didn't obtain a warrant before hand, they threw it out.

Also, Congress was warned about Bin Laden being a direct threat to this country back in the 80s, and they did nothing about it. So, if you want to blame someone for this, blame the right people.

[smokedog]

this still goes on today. there are plenty of stories about things roaming the deserts in the middle east. and a lot of it comes from the soldiers themselves.

[Oniomancer]

It's like that old Outer Limits episode, "The Architects Of Fear."

[ReaperS_ParadoX]

I dont see what the writer did wrong In my opinion he was just writing a article and describing it the best way he knew how to, also Its a known fact that in battle If you can effect peoples minds and get to them at that level it will most likely turn out better for you.

[smokedog]

I dont see what the writer did wrong In my opinion he was just writing a article and describing it the best way he knew how to, also Its a known fact that in battle If you can effect peoples minds and get to them at that level it will most likely turn out better for you.

exactly. the mind is the most powerful and the most weak weapon we have at our disposal