Before Kenneth Arnold there was Rip Parker!

by Brent Raynes

In the November 2008 (No. 130) Alternate Perceptions I posted an interview I had done with Alejandro Rojas, the International Director of Public Education for the Mutual UFO Network. Alejandro is also part Native American and we talked at length on a variety of interesting subjects, i.e., alien abductions, the paranormal, American Indian Tricksters, Jungian archetypes, the mysterious San Luis Valley, etc. A reader named Rip Parker wrote both Alejandro and myself a very nice emailed message dated December 1st. He wrote:

We are in great accord, my friend. We walk the same path. My first

UFO experience was at age ten, four months before

Ken Arnold's sighting set the "saucer" awareness before us. It was

highly anomalous, and witnessed by me, and both my father and

mother. Since then, there have been two more clear, anomalous

events, and a couple of other questionable events. I have studied

the issue of Unexplained Ariel Phenomena now for sixty years.

I have a degree and have worked as a geophysicist, with Secret

Clearance, reporting to the Pentagon. I have been an attorney for

forty-five years, a well respected legal dispute mediator in the

Dallas, TX, area for twenty years. I continue to work every day.

Mediation is my vocation.

I am a student of evidence, both scientific and legal. I have been a

student of Carl Jung for thirty years. I have studied his Collected

Works for that entire time. I study eastern philosophy. I practice

Zen. I read Science News, New Science, and everything else I can

pick up from the net regarding science. Spirituality, enlightenment,

mystical unity are my life's focus.

One of my great-great-grandmothers was Cherokee. The native spirit

is in my soul.

Yes - you and I have a great deal in common, and I am pleased to meet

you. Your site is now bookmarked, with four ****.

Brent, thank you. You do wonderful work and I follow you closely.

We three, and many more, have much in common. Change is happening.

Stay the course, my friends.

Respectfully;

Rip Parker

I replied almost immediately to Mr. Parker’s intriguing communication, requesting addition details of what he had experienced and how it may have affected his life. A couple of days later I received the following:

Dear Brent;

Thanks for your prompt reply, which comes as a pleasant surprise. In Dallas, on CST, it is 9:53 p.m. I just finished a light dinner following a lengthy day of mediation business. Following is a summary of the first, seminal experience I had in mid-February, 1947:

My father's parents and siblings lived in Texas City, Texas, and we often visited. We were returning to our hometown of Corsicana, TX on a Sunday evening. It was well after dark, about 9:00 p.m., best guess. We were traveling North on "old highway 75", Dad driving our 1940 Ford sedan, Mother in the middle of the front seat, I in the passenger seat next to the right door. We were near the Conroe area, traveling up a slight hill with a right curve at the crest of the two lane highway. Suddenly, traveling along the highway, rapidly approaching our car from the North, appearing to be forty to fifty feet above the highway, came a semicircle of about six or seven blue-white lights, either in tight formation or attached to a single object. Its speed gave me the impression of streamers of lights following, about as long as the circle was wide, i.e., about highway width of thirty-five to forty-five feet, including shoulders.

It was in sight approximately two seconds before arriving directly over our car, at which moment it made an immediate right angle turn to it's right, our left, toward the West and in about one-half second disappeared over and behind a tree line off the side of the highway. The turn over our car was a dramatic demonstration of conscious control, and recognition of our presence. It was powerfully personal.

Ridding in total silence for a few seconds, Dad was the first to speak: "Did you see that damn thing"? Mother didn't like him cussing in my presence, and he seldom did, but all she could say was, "Yes. What was it?" Dad: "I don't know". I was excited, thrilled, and could only say "Wow", (the same response at age ten that I might have now).

Mother, clearly upset, searching for an answer, said, "Maybe it was our car lights reflecting off high wires". Dad, rather impatiently, "There are no wires over the highway". Then, almost desperately searching for an answer, Mother said,"Maybe some birds got into some florescent paint". This wild grasp nearly sent Dad ballistic. "No, damn it, get serious! That was not birds, it was lights, bright lights. Don't talk non-sense." To which she strongly replied, "Alright, smarty pants. What was it?" After pregnant moments of silence, "I don't know".

I wanted more talk about it, but it was clear that the subject was closed, for the rest of the ride home - in stunned silence we rode.

Then, in June, the papers were filled with the "flying saucer" news, and Dad, with considerable relief, said, "OK. That's what we saw", and I am sure he was right, in that it was something similar. From that point on, Texas had numerous reports from around the state of UFOs. Later that summer, Mother, my grandmother, and neighbors, while sitting on the yard swing at the side of our house in the early evening, saw a group of lights silently drifting low on the horizon, at reasonably close range, disappearing behind trees across the street in front of our house. I, playing in the back yard, was greatly disappointed to miss it. This time, Mother was not fearful, just matter of fact.

There is much more I could tell, about massive amounts of "angel hair" hanging from wires and trees during the '50's, casually attributed to the numerous "lights" in the skies. The "angel hair" was especially noticeable hanging in copious amounts from the wires at the high school stadium during the Texas Friday night ritual of high school football.

I had another highly anomalous sighting at that stadium in 1956, home for the weekend from SMU, but that is another story. I've interviewed private pilots, news reporters, ex-fighter jocks scrambled to pursue, then threatened harshly in de-briefing, and many, many other highly credible witnesses. I've had a couple of other sightings that must be classed as "unidentified", but not as personal, nor as highly anomalous as the first two.

Personal impact? Profound. My mind was opened to the immediate, undeniable reality of mystery, the unexplained, the, at this time, unexplainable. My scientific mind has been pried open to adopt positions I call, "current operating hypotheses", rather than theories, much less "knowns". My life has been filled with ESP, synchronicity, and spiritual search. In the 1950's until the last few years, I've felt very lonely in my search, in my conviction that there is Truth, and both science and spiritual search, are headed toward a nexus at the hub of the wheel. Now, I have lots of company, good company, mystics, who have been my companions all along, joined with quantum physicists, cosmologists, and guys like you, for whom I am deeply grateful.

Keep up the good work. You do what I would do, but for a different calling, and you do it well.

Respectfully;

Rip

I wrote Mr. Parker back again requesting more information on his “angel hair” experiences. He replied:

Regarding the "angel hair". It had a close resemblance to spider webs, but was much, much more abundant and lengthy. I had the opportunity to touch some on a couple of occasions, and it simply evaporated between my fingers, definitely not webbing. I've also held the webs - very different.