Mythology..A Tradition of Myths

Thursday, 18 October 2012

UFOs and effect on people

The Effects of UFO's on People
By Steve Edwards

Almost every civilization in history that has kept a written history has recorded the sightings of strange objects and lights in the skies. These objects have been described as glowing wheels, colored balls of light, and disk shaped objects. Today unexplained aerial phenomena are generally referred to as unidentified flying objects (UFO's) or flying saucers.
The effects of extra terrestrial sightings can have an adverse effect on people if influenced the wrong way. No solid proof has shown that UFO's are real, but many sightings cannot be proven otherwise. The media, stories, or one's own experience may often influence what one believes. The government once stated that they had captured extra terrestrials. (60 minutes, CBS) On the contrary, most scientists now agree that almost all sightings and stories of extra terrestrials are not authentic.
The United States government has records of thousands of UFO sightings since 1948, including photos of alleged UFOs and interviews with people who claim to have seen them. Since UFOs were considered a potential security risk, the report on these sightings was originally classified as secret. (Craig, 917) When the report was later declassified it showed that 90 percent of all UFO sightings could be easily explained. Most of the sightings turned out to be celestial objects, such as stars or bright planets like Venus, or atmospheric events such as auroras or meteors falling through the atmosphere. Many other sightings turned out to be objects such as weather balloons, satellites, aircraft lights, or formations of birds. Often these sightings were accompanied by unusual weather conditions. Only 5.6 percent of these cases were not explained.
Testimonies by people are often very inaccurate and dramatized. People have the tendency to explain everything they see, which is not usually completely accurate. The unaided human eye can be tricked into hallucination and has an inaccurate depth perception. Reflections from windows and eyeglasses can provide an optical illusion of a UFO. Radar is much more reliable to identify objects, but it cannot detect many characteristics that separate natural phenomena and physical objects. Radar often picks up ionized gas, rain, or thermal discontinuities. Electronic interference is also a frequent problem. Either way, scientists are left with many unanswered questions.
There are many mysteries about UFO's with many indefinite answers. Many investigators have tried to solve some peculiar questions about UFO's, but many of their conclusions cannot be proven. In 1968 the United States Air Force asked Edward U. Condon, a physicist at the University of Colorado, to head a panel studying the claims of extraterrestrial crafts. (Unidentified Flying Objects, Encarta encyclopedia) The committee's final report was reviewed by a special committee of the National Academy of Sciences and released in early 1969. The 37 scientists who contributed to the report interviewed UFO witnesses and studied physical and photographic evidence. The report, also known as the Condon Report, concluded that not only was there no evidence of extraterrestrial control of UFOs but also that no further UFO studies were needed. Their advice was accepted by the United States, but for other independent laboratories it was not enough.
Whether or not a person believes UFO's are, in fact, real or not is probably because of influence from the media. For instance, the smash hit movie Independence Day was a movie about aliens attacking Earth so they can keep it for themselves. The company that made the movie, FOX, has been promoting extra terrestrial ideas to bring media attention to UFO's. The company bought the stretch of highway 375 outside the mysterious secret military base named Area 51, which plays an important part in the movie. In it, several aliens were captured and stored along with their aircraft. In fact, the government has announced that it has captured aliens and their aircraft, but that was later denied. (Woolward, 912) This has been said to be the cause of the vast amount of UFO reports since 1948. The government also denied that Area 51 even existed for several years, even though it had been photographed many times. Today, the military base is thought to be a very heavily guarded test sight for many stealth planes in development for the military, including some possible "flying saucers". This sight is responsible for several of the military's top planes used today. Local residents persist that they have never seen any UFO's that couldn't be explained by the military's aerial experiments. Tourists swear they have seen several UFO's that couldn't be anything else but extra terrestrial. Many magazines and tabloids visit the area to report about such sightings and print there own far-fetched ideas.
People interpret these articles in many different ways. Because there is no true proof of any extra terrestrial crafts, people are forced to make their own decisions about reality. For instance, in March 1997, thirty-nine people committed suicide to join with "Ti and Do", two "UFO forces". Printed on their page on the Internet, it stated, "Our 22 years of classroom here on planet Earth is finally coming to conclusion - 'graduation' from the Human Evolutionary Level. We are happily prepared to leave 'this world' and go with Ti's crew." (Heaven's Gate, WWW) Such cases like these are extreme, but recent studies have shown that fifty percent of America does believe that there is life on other planets that may be trying to visit us. However, the majority of these people do not worry about any unwelcome situation.
Opinions may vary, but until any conclusive evidence can be shown that life is visiting Earth from somewhere out in space, it is safe to say that humans are alone in their home planet. It is possible that this theorem will be proved wrong in the future, but until then all any person can do is guess, hope, and wait. What the future holds for Earth may not be what is expected, but until then scientists will be examining all the evidence to help provide a better future for the home to life as we now know it.

Works Cited

"Unidentified Flying Objects" World Book Encyclopedia, 1992. Page 19, volume U-V, 1992

Craig, Pat. "On Nevada's Extra Terrestrial Highway." Tribune News Service August 19, 1996: Page 819 from InfoTrack/Super Tom+. On CD-ROM. Foster City, CA: Information access, 1997

"Unidentified Flying Objects" Groiler's Encyclopedia, 1994. Page 17, volume U-V, 1994

Woolard, John. "UFO Investigators Scoff at Abduction Claims." Tribune News Service, September 12, 1996. Page 912 from InfoTrack/Super Tom+. On CD-ROM. Foster City, CA: Information Access, 1997

60 Minutes, CBS Television Network. April 4, 1997

Heaven's Gate Home Page, http://www.aeok.com/heavensgate/index.htm
Steve Edwards, 1

UFO Fact Or Fiction

<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml"
xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">

<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document>
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 9">
<meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 9">
<link rel=File-List href="./UFO_Fact_Or_Fiction_files/filelist.xml">
<title>UFO Fact Or Fiction</title>

<style>

</style>

<meta name=Description content="Free Student Essay Reference">
<meta name=Author content="Anonymous Student">
<meta name=KeyWords content="UFO,Fact,Or,Fiction">
</head>

<body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link="#0000ee" vlink="#551a8b" style='tab-interval:
.5in'>

<div class=Section1>

<h3>Unidentified Flying Objects: Fact or Fiction?</h3>

<pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>     Unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, as they're fondly called, are</pre><pre>one of the century's most intriguing and controversial mysteries.  Since</pre><pre>ancient times, UFOs of all types have been accounted for.  More today than</pre><pre>ever, hundreds of thinkers, theologians, and scientists have tried to</pre><pre>answer why there are or whether there aren't UFOs.  According to some, the</pre><pre>speculation that UFOs are alien spacecrafts from another world is an</pre><pre>absurd and foolish proposal.  Others vehemently disagree and assert that</pre><pre>extraterrestrial life is not only possible, but such life forms may be</pre><pre>superior, technologically advanced beings who visit our Earth regularly. </pre><pre>    Are these "flying saucers" a figment of our imagination?  Or, are they</pre><pre>a genuine reality we prefer to dismiss because we fear the scary truth</pre><pre>that we are not the only master race?  Are we hesitant because society</pre><pre>dubs such "immature" psycho tantamount to subscribing to belief in ghosts? </pre><pre>These are a few of the many pertinent UFO questions the mature individual</pre><pre>must address. </pre><pre>     One of the most popular theories that support and explains the</pre><pre>existence of alien beings is the ancient astronaut theory.  This theory</pre><pre>contains three main schools of thought.  The first states that aliens bred</pre><pre>with our primitive forebears thereby creating modern man.  The second is</pre><pre>quite similar.  Aliens performed genetic engineering on apes thereby</pre><pre>creating the Homo Sapiens and man's intelligence.  The third, and least</pre><pre>accepted, is that colonists from another galaxy came to Earth, mated with</pre><pre>the primitives and established a high level of culture, before being</pre><pre>destroyed by some natural catastrophe.  And upon this catastrophe and</pre><pre>destruction, we build and grow (Fitzgerald 1).  Berossus, a Babylonian</pre><pre>scholar, may have been the first astronaut historian.  He said that "</pre><pre>animals endowed with reason" bestowed the Sumerian culture before 3000</pre><pre>BCE.  The Sumerians, along with their cultural inheritors, the</pre><pre>Babylonians, never referred to such beings as gods.  Rather they were</pre><pre>depicted as "disgusting abominations," a description only deserved by</pre><pre>uninvited alien visitors (2). </pre><pre>     One step further takes the astronaut theory and surmises that with</pre><pre>it, we can understand the later religious cultures, such as the Hebrews</pre><pre>who are thought to have borrowed much of Sumerian practice.  Such</pre><pre>religions and secret societies, with their elaborate and complicated</pre><pre>rituals may actually be "preserving from a previous epoch fragments of an</pre><pre>esoteric and little understood knowledge, just as the Egyptian, Hebrew,</pre><pre>and Mayan priests guarded in their temples the inspired word of their</pre><pre>self-possessed creators (3)."  Alien originators may have set down certain</pre><pre>rites which became confused over the years, resulting in the various</pre><pre>ancient religions; aliens being the source of our notion of God.  This</pre><pre>also may explain how miles long designs, only viewable from the air, were</pre><pre>created in ancient times.  The only rationalization for the possibility of</pre><pre>such designs is that the ancients had assistance from the sky, namely</pre><pre>extraterrestrial assistance.  Many UFO theorists, astronomer Morris Jessup</pre><pre>being the forerunner, go even further: not only were pre-Biblical and</pre><pre>Biblical times full of Alien intervention, but he contends that the UFO</pre><pre>phenomenon is the missing link between Biblical supernatural accounts of</pre><pre>miracles and established, contradicting science.  Jessup explains that</pre><pre>"nothing is supernatural and nothing is outside nature (12)."  He</pre><pre>continues that the Bible is full of UFO accounts, depicted by various</pre><pre>descriptions: angels, the revelation on Mt. Sinai, the burning bush, and</pre><pre>Elijah's levitation to heaven.  Jessup says the Bible is a physical</pre><pre>record, not a collection of divine revelation "although the miracles of</pre><pre>this and all religions invite rational and physical explanation, if we</pre><pre>grant the 'existence of spatial intelligence (13).'"  Another thinker,</pre><pre>Brinsley Trent, follows the theme of extraterrestrial interpretations of</pre><pre>the Bible and claims that the Garden of Eden was, as many ancient texts</pre><pre>point out, not the underground, but in the Underworld - i.e. outside the</pre><pre>orbit of earth, meaning Mars.  When the Great Flood occurred, Noah built a</pre><pre>great "boat," a spaceship, and landed on Earth (Life 16).  However,</pre><pre>Cornell astronomer Carl Sagan warns that this ancient astronaut theory and</pre><pre>the "saucer myths" represent a compromise "between the need to believe in</pre><pre>a traditional God and the contemporary pressures to accept the</pre><pre>pronouncement of science (Fitzgerald 5);"  therefore, according to Sagan,</pre><pre>the proposition that aliens exist and the astronaut theory should be</pre><pre>tossed. </pre><pre>     Many theorists assume the Bible is a totally separate entity and</pre><pre>don't associate or contradict the UFO phenomenon with the well established</pre><pre>theological belief system in the supernatural.  Wilhelm Reich, for one, a</pre><pre>noted Austrian psychoanalyst, claimed to have witnessed various UFO crafts</pre><pre>and believed that these aliens are hostile.  Such aliens wish to rob Earth</pre><pre>of orgone, a "cosmic life energy allegedly present in air, water, and all</pre><pre>organic matter (Life 52)." </pre><pre> He proceeds to say that saucers run on this orgone energy, hence exhuming</pre><pre>a bluish color due to "orgone exhaust."  Moreover, orgone exhaust is</pre><pre>"deadly orgone (Life)," causing sickness in people and creating parched</pre><pre>desert where ever the crafts land.  The Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung,</pre><pre>totally differed.  He theorized that all "people can tap into...(a )</pre><pre>collective unconciousness-an area of the unconscious that...contains</pre><pre>information derived from the experiences of the human race as a whole</pre><pre>rather than the individual...This storehouse contains universal symbols</pre><pre>called archtypes...that present themselves spontaneously in dreams or</pre><pre>visions...evoking strong imaginative response...One such image was the</pre><pre>mandala, a disk shaped symbol that represents completion...[hence UFOs are</pre><pre>not] real objects, but rather mandalas...visioned by people looking</pre><pre>for...equilibrium (53)." </pre><pre>  Jung's approach is quite debatable.  However, as shaky an argument it</pre><pre>may sound, it's as viable as those who welcome the notion that aliens do</pre><pre>exist. </pre><pre>     Other more common and more understood theories explain that aliens</pre><pre>are well intentioned visitors who wish to observe their human</pre><pre>contemporaries for purely scientific purposes.  However, British</pre><pre>astronomers Sir Martin Ryle and Sir Bernard Lovell both warn that we must</pre><pre>regard all other life in the universe as potentially a fatal threat to</pre><pre>humankind and, in effect, discourage the effort to communicate with such</pre><pre>beings (Referring to the many attempts to communicate with aliens via</pre><pre>powerful satellite dishes.) (Fitzgerald 7). </pre><pre>     With all the theories in mind, we come to the next issue.  What are</pre><pre>people, in reality, seeing? </pre><pre>     Kenneth Arnold was a normal businessman in Idaho.  As an upstanding</pre><pre>and reputable citizen and an expert on flying, Arnold was believed when he</pre><pre>said that he witnessed a ship zoom back and forth at an approximated 1,350</pre><pre>miles per hour.  This incident provoked a considerable amount of national</pre><pre>debate and gave birth to what historians termed the "modern flying saucer</pre><pre>era."  There were sightings before the Arnold case.  However, following</pre><pre>it, there was a myriad of reports and calls.  Although many were hoaxes,</pre><pre>not all were.  And most of those who have claimed to have witnessed UFOs</pre><pre>swear that in no way could they be anything but an alien spaceship. </pre><pre>Simply due to the fact, as in the Arnold case, that these crafts maneuver</pre><pre>in such humanly impossible speeds and in gravity defying manners. </pre><pre> At one moment the UFO is spotted hovering over a house and one second</pre><pre>later can be seen 25 miles away.  People also have described the crafts as</pre><pre>huge cigar shaped buzzing objects or the more popular silent, metallic</pre><pre>type saucers.  These reports include interference with television signals</pre><pre>and the halting of car ignitions.  Such claims, as Bob Bletchman, in an</pre><pre>interview explained, are the best evidence due to their testimonial</pre><pre>consistency.  When you have hundreds of people on an individual basis,</pre><pre>from all backgrounds, depict the same scenario, time and time again, there</pre><pre>is little room to doubt their truthfulness.  People even assert that</pre><pre>they've seen the pilots: described anywhere between two inch bees to Nazis</pre><pre>(Fitzgerald 3) to little green men with six fingers. </pre><pre>     An eerie complement of UFO sightings are these strange and exact</pre><pre>circular patches of parched, bent, but not cracked vegetation.  Such</pre><pre>mysterious circles are believed to be the place of the saucers' landing. </pre><pre>Even more interesting, the circles can't bear any vegetable growth for</pre><pre>many years afterwards (Life 125). </pre><pre>     Many allege that not only have they been visited, but kidnapped too. </pre><pre> One of my main research sources, a curious, but perhaps crafty David</pre><pre>Jacobs, Ph.D., took 60 men and women who claimed abduction and put them</pre><pre>under hypnosis in an effort to document and establish whether all this</pre><pre>mumbo jumbo is true. </pre><pre> Although generally most abductees remember nothing but the fact that they</pre><pre>were abducted, hypnosis proved to uncover many layers of lost memories. </pre><pre>Through these hypnotic sessions, Dr. Jacobs claimed to have found many</pre><pre>reasons the aliens "gave" for such abductions:  scientific research,</pre><pre>crossbreeding and general observance of the human condition.  He also</pre><pre>"discovered" many underlying messages from the aliens:  They mean no harm. </pre><pre>They care and respect humans and do only that which is necessary.  His</pre><pre>book sounded very convincing, but perhaps too convincing.  Through careful</pre><pre>reading, I began to realize that this Dr. Jacobs is full of bologna. </pre><pre>Session after session, Dr. Jacobs fabricates his "patients'" conversations</pre><pre>with the aliens. However, the conversations sound too repetitive in</pre><pre>personality and too sensational in respect to the aliens' response.  In an</pre><pre>effort to sound very natural, Dr. Jacobs picks up an almost artificial</pre><pre>grammatically incorrect tone of voice.  For example:  "Mm-hmm, but fast,</pre><pre>not slow...like whizzed by (Secret 69),"  and "I just sink to the bottom</pre><pre>and start to breathe (189)," and "inside out, yeah (211)."  These are just</pre><pre>a few quotes of the literally hundreds of repetitive speech patterns in</pre><pre>his book.  I get the feeling this "Dr." Jacobs is trying to make a</pre><pre>believable, sensational story by feeding the reader what we'd like to</pre><pre>hear:  Kind aliens, cross breeding, scientific experimentation, etc. </pre><pre>(Although I found fault with one of my primary sources, it by no means</pre><pre>typifies the value of other such publications.  Each book must be valued</pre><pre>on its own.)</pre><pre>     Using super high-tech computer photograph analyzers, scientists were</pre><pre>able to determine the validity of the widely known Trent photos.  In</pre><pre>Oregon, 1950, a Mrs. Trent was feeding rabbits in her backyard when she</pre><pre>saw a huge metallic disk, silently gliding through the air.  She called</pre><pre>her husband to fetch a camera and managed to get two shots.  These two</pre><pre>shots were scrutinized by the U.S. Air Force and a variety of other</pre><pre>investigators.  The 1969's skeptical Condon Report stated: "The simplest,</pre><pre>most direct interpretation of the photographs confirms</pre><pre> precisely what the witnesses said they saw (Life 138)."  Later on, a</pre><pre>William Spaulding of the Ground Saucer Watch Inc., put these Trent photos</pre><pre>under intense computer scrutiny and came out with the same conclusion: It</pre><pre>was no hoax (Life). </pre><pre>     In World War Two, Allied and Axis air pilots witnessed these eerie</pre><pre>luminous balls that would either chase planes or zip in and out of the</pre><pre>planes' courses.  Such oddities were to be eventually called "foo</pre><pre>fighters."  World War Two was a time of secrecy and great inventions. </pre><pre>Instinctively, the allies thought they were some kind of high tech German</pre><pre>innovation.  Naturally, too, the Germans thought vice versa.  Therefore,</pre><pre>nothing of an extraterrestrial nature was ever reported (Life 26), at</pre><pre>least officially. </pre><pre>          There are countless reports where U.S. air force personnel</pre><pre>witnessed a flying saucer and reported it; only to be told that it was</pre><pre>probably a jet or weather balloon.  Despite the fact that Project Blue</pre><pre>Book (a government UFO investigation) yielded a 1,465 page scientific</pre><pre>report containing charts, photographs and analyses, worth about a half</pre><pre>million dollars in research, the government stated in a 1969 news release</pre><pre>that due to lack of any "significant" conclusions, UFO research would be</pre><pre>terminated.  Most fans of the research only read the introduction and</pre><pre>conclusion sections of the report.  Unfortunately those sections were</pre><pre>written by an enthusiast of the U.S. Air Force:  and hence embraced their</pre><pre>policy of denial and falsehood (Life 118).  Consequently, the government's</pre><pre>decision to halt research was accepted with little protest or suspicion. </pre><pre> Yet, the question whether the government is holding back vital UFO</pre><pre>information is still very strong.  Many contend that the U.S. government</pre><pre>is doing so in an effort to ensure national safety and prevent potential</pre><pre>mass hysteria by publicizing the existence of alien beings. </pre><pre>     In 1947, in New Mexico, one of the most famous and potent pieces of</pre><pre>evidence literally befell the United States.  "Barney" Barnett, and some</pre><pre>local archeological students found shriveled and broken up pieces of shiny</pre><pre>metal and scattered dead bodies all over.  A few days later, the army had</pre><pre>quarantined the area, shipped everything away, and told the witnesses that</pre><pre>it was their "patriotic duty" to keep the incident a secret.  Nonetheless,</pre><pre>Barnett and the students went public about it (Life 74).  To this day,</pre><pre>hundreds of reports and books detail this famous "Roswell incident" and</pre><pre>claim that the government, again, is hiding undeniable proof of alien</pre><pre>life. </pre><pre>     The Viking mission to Mars in 1976 is another prime example of the</pre><pre>government's policy of non cooperation and denial.  The Voyager had taken</pre><pre>two pictures of a rock form of a human face on Mars' surface.  Before a</pre><pre>1992 Observer voyage to Mars, many requested NASA to take high resolution</pre><pre>photos of this "Face" to determine whether it is really a three</pre><pre>dimensional rock formation.  NASA responded in the negative, although the</pre><pre>government gave NASA an extra $90 million for the exact purpose of seeking</pre><pre>out Martian life forms.  NASA gave a stupid explanation, claiming that the</pre><pre>1992 Observer was only photographing meter long objects, which the "'Face'</pre><pre>could be a candidate target.  However, there are no plans to tailor the</pre><pre>mission to assure that the 'Face' is imaged (Boyce)." </pre><pre>  In a letter, Bob Bletchman cynically responded: "How can NASA not tilt</pre><pre>the camera to possibly answer the most profound question ever asked, 'Are</pre><pre>we alone?' (Bletchman)" </pre><pre>     Nevertheless, many scientists maintain that the many UFO sightings</pre><pre>may simply be meteorites, some type of atmospheric phenomena, or high</pre><pre>tech, saucer-like airplanes used by the military.  One factor that greatly</pre><pre>contributes to UFO skepticism is created by the thousands of UFO hoaxes</pre><pre>made each year.  A prime and famous example of such hoaxes occurred in New</pre><pre>Mexico, 1963.  Paul Villa claimed that UFO aliens had become so friendly</pre><pre>with him that they agreed to pose their ship for a camera shot.  Using the</pre><pre>same high-tech computers as was used for the Trent photos, scientists</pre><pre>revealed a tiny wire that was used to suspend the "UFO" in the air (Life</pre><pre>140). </pre><pre>     Although it's very easy to scoff at the thought of Martians and</pre><pre>flying saucers due to the subject's emotional sensationalistic attributes</pre><pre>and attractabilty to the fantasizer, one can not simply dismiss the</pre><pre>possibility.  There is too much evidence and too many good and honest</pre><pre>people out there who can give testimony.  Too often, we hear of the many</pre><pre>government cover-ups and attempts to keep things concealed.  Although the</pre><pre>government tries hard, they can't keep it a secret forever.  Little by</pre><pre>little, as more incidents occur and as more is leaked out, the world will</pre><pre>know that we are not alone. </pre><pre>     It should be noted that this report by no means begins to even</pre><pre>scratch the surface of the UFO mystery.  Not only are thousands of books</pre><pre>written on each issue, but each individual case is worthy of whole books</pre><pre>on its own.  It therefore follows that this paper was a simple over of an</pre><pre>overview of the massive topics and subtopics that follow. </pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Works Cited</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Bletchman, Bob.  National Board,  International Mutual UFO Network.</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Bletchman, Bob.  National Board,  International Mutual UFO Network.  Letters.</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>        </pre><pre>        Connecticut: 1988</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Boyce, Jacobs.  Discipline Scientist, Planetary Geoscience, Solar System    </pre><pre>        Exploration Division, NASA.  Letter.  Washington, D.C.: 1988</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Editors of Time-Life Books, eds.  The UFO Phenomenon. Virginia: Time-</pre><pre>        Life Books, 1987</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Fitzgerald, Randall.  The Complete Book of Extraterrestrial Encounters.  New </pre><pre>        York: Collier Books, 1979 </pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Jacobs, David M.  Secret life.  New York: Simon & Schuster. 1992 </pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Works Consulted</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Fact or Fiction:  The Roswell Autopsy. TV Program.  N.p.: n.p., 1997.</pre></div>

</body>

</html>

Tristans Tragedy

"Tristan's Tragedy"

As told to (author's name)
By Tristan

"What an unusual Christian name, '(author's name)'! And you say you know but two
languages? You must jest to render the title of 'scholar' upon yourself. During my training, I have
learned seven, all the while being taught horsemanship and swordsmanship. Alas, all of my accolades
serve me not here. True nobility never makes excuses for shortcomings; however, in this despair I
can know no greater loss.
After being wounded in battle with the giant Morolt (who was subsequently slain by my steel)
I journeyed to Ireland in search of Queen Isolt and her medicinal power. Disguised as a wandering
minstrel, I succeeded in endearing myself to her court by performing deeds impossible for the
average. I also taught her daughter, my beautiful Isolt, the art of the lyre. I returned to Cornwall,
and upon hearing my account of Isolt's charm, my king Mark resolved to make her his own.
After convincing her family to allow her to wed the king, we set back on a ship for Cornwall.
I remember the night on which we fell in love. Perhaps it was the wine, or perhaps I was merely
intoxicated by her. Nonetheless, she amazingly felt the same drawing to me, and we were unable to
contain our affections. We continued seeing one another in secret after the wedding; after all, without
love her marriage was invalid. After a while, though, our conniving king took aware of our dealings
and banished me to the barren Arundel.
It was there I met a woman of average beauty, but with the only name worthy of my
attentions: Isolt des Mains-Blancs. (That's "of the white hands" if your other language fails you.) I
could not betray my love however, so our marriage was never consummated. Rightly so, because
in due time I received a letter from my true Isolt, giving account of her flight from the king. She
requested a meeting with me, saying her ship would bear a white sail. I kept the new Isolt on guard
for weeks. Finally, I was informed that my Isolt was spotted on a ship, yet one bedecked with a black
sail. In shock of my love's betrayal of truth, I fell dead, and I became as you now regard me.
Let not this cruel fate befall you, (author's name). Let not your weak education impede your
ambitions. Let not a love enter your heart, for you will be only distracted from duties at hand. And
finally, let not blind trust influence your decisions, as you will find yourself in the whirlwind where
I abode..."