The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit

Is There a "Third Force?" And what are UFOs, really?Are they wise "extraterrestrials" or "intelligences" here to solve our problems, as so many simplistic books and Hollywood B-movies would have us believe? Are they mere hallucinations among unstable personalities, triggered by, say, eating a Twinkie or undercooked potato?How about Mothman, Bigfoot, Nessie, and other zany zoology? Are they simply uncatalogued critters that haven't yet been ear-tagged with Latin names, or are they also semi-hallucinatory?One thing is clear: the interpretive field is split down the middle.On the one hand are cranky cultists and trusting "true believers," eager to witness marvels. On the other is a smaller but rigidly dogmatic circle of naysayers, wrapped in the proud flag of science and reason.But could it be that both extremes, in their own way, hold a part of the true answer? Could there be an elusive "third force," which can conjure up terrifying apparitions while remaining unmeasurable by science?Anomalist Jim Brandon, known to many for his pioneering book, "Weird America," looks at this possibility. Along the way, he factors in such "Fortean" or "Keelian" riddles as incomprehensible inscriptions on remote American rocks, antique earthen structures that show intricate mathematical aspects, and even the rôle of certain numbers and names in unusual phenomena.His conclusion: there is indeed such an energy, relatively unknown until this time, but closely tied to such earth-related phenomena as ley lines, caves, springs, and groundwater channels. Brandon attributes this energy to the earth spirit, Pan, the ancient Greek god-of-all-nature.Pan was pronounced dead at the advent of the city-centered, anti-pagan Christian era. But there is abundant evidence that, even if his demise did occur, some such force is again very much at work in the world - with possibly momentous consequences for the present era of corrupt rationalism and unbridled techno-industrialism. Read more