Resonant Field Notes

I’ve been spending quite a lot of time in the car this summer, and needed something quick to listen to between finishing the audiobook of Death’s End and starting Project Hail Mary.

I came across UFO Close Encounters: True Stories That Defy Explanation: Real-Life Sightings from Military, Pilots, Police, and Civilians Across the World, by Oliver Elliot, available for free on Audible at the moment. Seven or so hours, not too much of a commitment. 

The book chronicles almost 50 UAP events from throughout modern history. It very much reminded me of a post-COVID update to the UFO books I used to check out from the library in elementary school. I’m not sure what I was missing by listening instead of reading the actual book, but I aim to find out, as it’s one worth adding to my physical library as an easy and quick but fairly prolific reference of many encounters.

Some of these are stories I’ve read or heard versions of many times before. It includes the incidents at the Malmstrom and Minot air bases, Rendlesham forest, the Delphos, Kansas encounter, on up to the Phoenix lights. There were plenty that I’d never heard of, either. The chapters are short, so nothing too deep, detailed, or comprehensive, but a great literary database of phenomena nonetheless.

One thing stuck out to me, though, that I’ve thought about before. Many of the accounts describe a smell of sulfur associated with the UFOs. This isn’t uncommon by any means — we hear about strange smells of sulfur and ammonia in a variety of encounters with craft or beings all the time. But hearing it multiple times throughout the book got me wondering about that. 

What is up with the sulfur smell? I haven’t heard a lot of theories about it. Is it a byproduct of the propulsion? Is it an excretion of the occupants? Is it something else completely, but “sulfur” just happens to be the closest approximation to the smell?

I know it’s not a meaningful question — the sort Ra would have explained to their channelers held no significance, but would have probably answered nonetheless. Still, it’s just one of those byproducts of the phenomenon that are mentioned so frequently that you can’t help but wonder about them. If I were sitting down with someone who thought they have all the answers, I’d ask them what the deal with the sulfur smell is. 

I’m sure I could find at least one person who would be certain it was because they’re demonic entities, and that’s the smell of brimstone associated with the fires of Hell. It’d be easy to dismiss that as someone simply applying their own religious lens to this slice of reality… but what if there’s something to that? If extraterrestrial beings and craft have been mistaken for demons throughout history, maybe that’s part of the reason why.

I don’t have a clue what it actually is, though, and anyone’s guess is as good as mine. If you’ve got ideas, I’d love to hear them.