"The Messengers: Owls, Synchronicity, and the UFO Abductee" by Mike Clelland
Aside from the overwhelming desire to just figure out what the hell is happening with the UFO phenomenon, it's also rad to have a subject matter that can still make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. And with all of our senses being constantly overwhelmed by technology from all angles, I find it more and more rare to really have an exciting, spooky experience these days. So when I stumbled across a few stories that not only involved graphic and bizarre UFO encounters but also mixed with terrifically creepy late night experiences with owls, I was intrigued to say the least. So I hunted down the source of these stories and was led to a new book by first time author Mike Clelland.
Mike Clelland became interested in this subject as a result of a strange personal experience. An experience that, at first seemed incredible, but didn't really sink in until he had the EXACT same strange experience a few days later. This all centered around a weird interaction with a group of owls. That's right, owls. This sparked Mike to start a blog about his experience and he soon was overwhelmed with readers leaving comments about having very similar experiences to his. Eventually, Mike began investigating the issue deeper and collecting first-hand accounts of other experiencers, and the stories he started to hear went beyond the bizarre and into the truly weird.
A young man named Joe was driving his 4 friends home one night when he and his friend Dave, in the passenger seat, saw a brilliant blue light descending in the sky. Both Joe and Dave were speechless until after they had lost sight of it beyond the tree line. After the shock wore off, they told the three people in the back seats what they had just seen. They were traveling about 55 mph when a white owl flew right up alongside their car with it's head turned, staring directly at the passengers. This owl was flying right next to the passenger window, close enough that Dave could have reached out and touched it. The owl hovered there for about five seconds and then flew off. Then, less than a mile down the road, another white owl did the exact same thing--again staring sideways while flying right next to the car staring in Dave's window. Suddenly everyone in the car began screaming, as if they were all feeling the same primal fear.
The types of experiences related between the pages of The Messengers range from the mundane to horrifically creepy. But one thing that is for sure, is that they were very real to the people who experienced them. Some of them never even realized that the incident was strange at all until the re-tell their story to Mike. And as Mike digs deeper and collects more and more stories another pattern becomes strongly consistent with nearly every person he interviews....they have also had some sort of sighting or contact with UFO's or what they believed to be extraterrestrials. And a lot of the stories seem to overlap, enough of which that Mike makes a pretty obvious conclusion that there is a connection between the two.
Corina Saebels was heading home with her family, driving slowly, and at a sharp bend, right in the beam of the headlights, they saw what she can only describe as a typical gray alien standing on the side of the road. "I slammed on the brakes in the middle of the road and screamed. The children and I began to shake uncrontrollably, but oddly Rob (her husband) just calmly turned to me and said 'What are you guys so worried about? It's only a big owl!"
One of the most consistent issues that pops up with this topic is the idea of a "screen memory". (Hence the name of the Alien Workshop video "Memory Screen) The idea is that when aliens are interacting with humans they somehow are influencing people to see something other than a scary alien being, in order to keep them calm through the experience. And it seems that the most common 'screen memory' people remember after such an experience, is that of seeing strange 3-4 foot tall owls. In an interview with the author of possibly the most famous alien abduction story ever "Communion", Whitley Strieber explained that long before he started having abduction experiences "There was a white owl that used to stand in our back yard and watch the windows of my bedroom when I was a child. It made my folks nervous. This was during the time that they started nailing the screens shut". Something really creepy seemed to be going on here. But the further The Messengers goes on the more we discover that there are a multitude of owl experiences that are clearly not screen memories, but real, actual owls that are interacting with people. There are many people who tell stories about an owl that would follow them around town for several weeks or even months. They'd stay out in the front yard, on a light post or in a tree, and then would follow these people around town as they ran errands. Never interacting with them directly, but seemingly keeping an eye on them at all times of the day.
Clelland investigates every possible theory and scenario that could help explain what is going on here. Covering topics of shamanism to mythology, from the story of the mothman to the symbolism of the owl at Bohemian Grove. It's a really extensive journey and it is filled with an endless trove of incredible stories that mostly sound far too bizarre to have been made up. I highly recommend this book to skeptics and UFOlogy fans alike. It is endlessly entertaining, even if you don't end up believing that there is something of substance happening here.
Perhaps I should close with my own little story. Obviously, it can't come anywhere near matching the level of intensity that some of the stories in the book convey, but it's strange nonetheless. I read about this book last December and told my mother about it one day. And then a few weeks later I was back in Florida for the holidays and, surprise, I opened up one of my presents on Christmas morning and found she had gotten the book for me. I started to read it that very same night. The next day I spent running errands around town with my girlfriend and we pulled back up to my mom's house just after the sun had set. As we climbed out of the car I happened to look up at the power lines running behind my mom's house and there sat a tiny little screech owl. It sat motionless staring straight into my mom's back window. We tried to tread lightly to not scare it away and just watched him for several minutes. Then we crept around to get a look at him from the front and for a split second our view of him was obscured by some tall standing bamboo. As our view cleared again he was gone. We never saw him fly off. He had just disappeared that quickly. Now, this is most likely just a coincidence, but I probably haven't seen an owl in the wild in at least a decade. But the day after I started reading a book about the owl and it's connections to UFO's, aliens and synchronicities, here I was catching at a tiny owl staring intently into my mother's back window. Very. Wild. Stuff.
Thanks for reading and if you happen to read this book please let us know in the comments section one day. I'd love to hear your opinions and reviews.
Take care,
-Josh Stewart
Wow, Peter that’s super interesting. Your story read like a Steven King novel. Yeesh! This is such a crazy topic.Thanks for the comment!
Hey Barbara! Sorry for the late reply but just wanted to say thanks for your comment. This is such an interesting topic, I wish we could get more commentors to tell their stories about their own personal experiences with owls.
Hey Christopher. Wow! Thanks for your reply. Pardon my slow response to this but since this is an older post I hadn’t noticed it at first. How did those owls first present themselves and how have they followed you around?I’d be super interested in hearing more about your experiences for sure. Did you already know about this theory of owls possibly being a screen memory for aliens? And had you ever heard of this book?
i had a similar experience. Got deep into the bible and studying ancient religions, ufos, and conspiracy theories of all kind, spirits, demons, etc. Then one day i was driving down a dirt road in the country at night while literally describing to my friend the strange events that had been happening and the idea of the spiritual world overlaying our physical world, and low and behold, we turn a hard corner and there’s a big ass white owl just standing in the road looking at us. My heart sank as I had recently read owls were used as spies for witches and those in dark magic etc. Only owl i had ever seen in my life up til then and I was about 22 or so then.
The late, great past life regression hypnotherapist of 45 years, Dolores Cannon talks of this in her book, Keepers of the Garden, when she had a young man under hypnosis that goes through is actual abduction experience while under hypnosis and it too includes A STRANGE OWL ENCOUNTER. She also had a strange owl encounter herself near her home in the ozark mountains. If you want to understand what this is all about,it’s clearly outlined the actual transcribed hypnosis sessions with her subject in the book. This book, The Messanger and Cannon’s book, Keepers of the Garden (written in1984) tell a rather complete story of this phenomenon and what it means. I have chills running down my spine and can’t wait to read The Messenger.
Okay so I had a creepy experience in a house I rented here, in Modesto CA about 8 years ago. This house was an older farmhouse, and from day one had a very "creepy" energy about it. I always felt some heavy negative spirit I couldn’t see, but was so determined to prove its presence and that I wasn’t crazy, I started taking random pictures in my house, when ever I felt the presence. I’d snap pictures all around me in hopes to catch a glimpse of SOMETHING. What I captured I will never ever forget as long as I live. I had a large, 50 inch flats teen tv, that was turned off, but the picture allowed the white image to show up incredibly clear being that it was in front of my tv, having the large dark surface behind to illuminate it. It was a huge orb, and what was inside was, as crazy as it sounds, a huge grey alien face. Alien orbs is what they are. And it was so clear, I could zoom into the face so far that you can clearly see it’s fangs, and it’s eyes were what I was drawn to. Because inside these massive black eyes, almost underneath them like the outside were just large black covers, were OWL EYES. Clear as day. I still have the picture on my computer. It’s pretty creepy but I believe firmly in everything you talk about. Thanks for sharing.
Sorry to double post, also wanted to mention that there is another owl/ government connection besides the D.C. road map. There is a very small hidden owl on the U.S. dollar bill. What got me interested years ago was how my Mom became obsessed with collecting owls shortly after moving into a new home. Without drawing this out, I’ll just say that she had some very extreme and close encounters with a creature that most closely resembled what is referred to as the Ohio Grassman while we loved at that house. After she moved, her experiences with the creature ceased as did her obsession with owls. It was as if a switch was flipped. Thank you for the post. Very interesting stuff.
Have you ever looked at a road map of downtown Washington D.C.?
I was driving home in the very wee hours one night, still quite dark out. I saw this really large white or gray owl in the middle of the road, it was massive. I feel like it was at least as high as the hood of my car, but this was years ago, and it’s difficult to judge these things, people tell me. It was to late to brake, and I was mesmerized by its size and the way it appeared to be staring right at me, and not the car or my head lights. I watched it as I drove by, I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. I craned my head out the window as I passed. It continued to stare at me. I was completely in awe and creeped out as well. The eerie way they turn their heads. I told everyone I knew, about this encounter, I think because it seemed so random, it wasn’t eating anything, and why didn’t it fly away, when my car passed within inches of it. This occurred on a winding paved road, in a wooded, and sparsely populated area. So it was probably just an owl. I only recently learned about owl, alien connection, and my mind immediately when back in time to that incident. Thank you for this article. I enjoyed it. Sorry this was so long.
Just to say that owls fly almost completely silently, its to do with how their wing feathers are shaped. It makes them stealthy hunters. I’m listening to an owl outside my window as I write this comment….. ü¶âü¶âü¶âü¶â
So, just the other night on March 2nd, 2019, I stumbled across this article and was in awe by the story! It kind of spooked me and then I began to ponder about the symbolism of owls, the synchronicities associated with the aforementioned experiences and so on.Ironically enough, after reading Josh Stewart’s write up, I went for an evening hike with my friend Lizzy. I explained in detail what I had just read and other facets of life that kind of pertain to it. About 15 minutes into the walk, we found ourselves walking between two thick brushed cabbage palms- a type of thick palm tree that grows in Florida. I turned my iPhone light on for more visibility and literally as soon as we cross the paths of the cabbage palm- a medium sized brown owl swoops right in front of our heads, flying into the adjacent cabbage palm.I internally shrieked and I just about lost my self in explaining to my friend what we’ve just encountered after reading a story about owls and synchronicities. I too, have not seen an owl in real life for years!That night, I knew that human beings activate synchronicity. It was amazing to experience it in action.
My experience with an owl occurred in the late night hours. I was sitting up in bed and I heard a loud thump on the window. It was snowing sort of heavy, so I thought it was possibly a collective clump of snow that fell on the outside window ledge. As I peeled the curtain back there was a tiny owl with huge gazing eyes and I was very startled at the time. As I calmed myself down I took another look and the owl was gone. A very short time later I looked at the clock in my bedroom and to my amazement it read 2 or 3 hours later than I had expected. I didn’t think of the owl and the loss of time being linked right away but i was thinking of this incident recently and started to look for examples from others to figure out if there was more to this. It turns out that other people had experienced about the same thing and even add that they believe they were abducted by a U.F.O. or had some kind of a out of body experience. I am not suggesting that is the case for me but just maybe it could be another mysterious owl sighting
My situation is different than any I have run across to this point. Sorry I haven’t read the book. I am 49. When I was roughly 19 I was at restaurant picking up food to go. This restaurant was located within a couple miles of an international airport, and an Air Force base. I was waiting in the car why my friend was getting the food. It was at this point I found myself staring at what I thought was a stump. I noticed that the stump seemed to have these black eyes. I quickly started doing calculations in my head(size of the stump, was it a stump or was it a broken pole of some sort, and were the eyes actually there). The more I looked at the spots I thought could be eyes, the more freaked out I made myself, as it seemed the eyes were looking back at me just as hard as I was looking at them. Then it’s head turned and I jumped into the back seat screaming like a baby. Though I was terrified I had to watch, and what I saw amazed me even more. It extended these huge wings and flapped away. I have never been able too find a breed of owl that could account for the size. Anyone relate
These aren’t aliens, but Satan and his locust army from the Bible in the Book of Revelation. There are spaceships described in the Bible in the Book of Ezekial, chapter one. The Hebrew of the word amber, describing the vehicle in Ezekial 1:4 is highly polished bronze. Ezekial was describing a spaceship. So, God’s throne is aboard this spaceship. Watch Shepherd’s Chapel, Dish network channel 256. They explain these things more thoroughly. Satan and his locust army would also come to earth in spaceships.
I know this is a bit dated now but, I randomly stumbled across the Youtube comment that the first story is from! Found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbX4cV8U77w Comment was made by a Joe Walkowe.
Hi my name Christopher I am from wasco, ca and I’ve had two white owls follow me my entire life as well as things out of a science fiction movie and would love to convey more about this with a specialist
I was a kid in tillicum Washington in the early 80s and there we lived right outside fort Lewis, it was a really heavily wooded town with little to no traffic at times, we lived in a trailer park in the area, and i could always recall and see and dream of this big owl in the tree next to my window, he was huge, giant eyes bright as jewels, but even when i slept i could still see him sitting high up in the tree watching me always day in and day out, i used to carry around as a young child a stuffed owl as well…..so odd
Omg! It’s all starting to make sense. I have searched for years for an answer to the strange things that have happened to me. You’re telling my story! Finally the pieces fit. I can’t believe this.
Hi There! This is Mike Clelland, the author of the book. THanks for the nice review, you captured the essence of the book nicely.
As far as the owl disappearing in the moment you lost sight of it, this is VERY common. It has happened to me many times. (I wrote about it in the book). They have very good eyesight and I am certain that they are waiting for anyone observing them to look away (or pass behind something) before flying off. I suspect they don’t want where they flew off to being seen.
And Leo Banuelos is correct, owls have a lot of dark folklore. All over the world, the same kind of superstisions emerge.
Agan, thanks!Mike
Come down my owls my birds of prey my Mr. Grey’s :) come clence the garden today take that genetic filth way way a way lol lol lol lol.