Are we alone? Is there life out there? These are questions that have plagued people for generations.
And now a Laois author is looking for help in a bid to put the pieces together when it comes to UFOs and paranormal activity.
Cormac Strain, who is based in Portlaoise, has been heavily involved in this sphere for many years.
To date, Strain has published Haunted Carlow (2011), Haunted Kilkenny (2012) and Haunted Tyrone (2014) – all for The History Press Ireland.
Mr Strain had actually been working on Haunted Laois when the publishers discontinued the ‘Haunted’ series – which was a UK and Ireland based series with localised authors.
But interest in the paranormal world is at an all-time high now following the US military and CIA’s decision to release the ‘tictac’ videos.
The Pentagon UFO videos are selected visual recordings of cockpit instrumentation displays from United States Navy fighter jets based aboard aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2004, 2014 and 2015.
The three grainy, black and white videos, widely characterized as officially documenting UFOs, were the subject of extensive coverage in the media in 2017, and later declassified by the Pentagon in 2020.
Publicity surrounding the videos has prompted a number of explanations, including drones or unidentified terrestrial aircraft, anomalous or artefactual instrument readings, physical observational phenomena, human observational and interpretive error, and, as is typical in the context of such incidents, extraordinary speculations of alien spacecraft.
Whatever the explanation, the result, according to Mr Strain, is that interest in ‘UFOlogy has never been greater’.
He said: “There’s a lot going on in the UFOlogy world these days as the US has been releasing some quite startling footage over the past year or so – particularly the Pentagon released ‘tictak’ video in 2020.
“I’ve since been contacted by an Irish production company who wish to pitch a show to an Irish media outlet.
“I have some local stories already but I need more.
“The documentary that we are hoping to make will be about Irish people and UFO experiences.
“I’m trying to reach as large an audience as I can and I need as many people as possible to get in touch with me, tell me their experiences and send me their videos and pictures.”
Anyone looking to get in touch with Cormac can do so by emailing ufodocireland@gmail.com
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