The name Skinny Bob kept coming up on Twitter. Every time I googled the name, I ended up at YouTube videos depicting alien creature sightings with titles like: "This looks like Skinny Bob."

But who was Skinny Bob?

I figured the name was a generic term for emaciated Grey aliens, taken from American pop culture perhaps. When I was finally directed to the correct videos, I realized I'd seen the footage a while back but evidently not paid much attention. "Skinny Bob" is the name given to the alien by the video uploader. Despite being anonymously in possession of this earth-shattering footage courtesy of the KGB, Ivan0135 had no qualms about giving his details to YouTube - the videos are monetized.

This case interests me for two reasons - the passion with which fans of Skinny Bob support his reality, and my personal (admittedly limited) interest in animation. I've written an ongoing thread on Twitter looking at the 37 seconds (from a total of 5 minutes across 4 videos) that show Skinny Bob alive and moving. My conclusions, that he is a modified Mars Attacks stock motion puppet, come from work done on Reddit last year mostly by two users, BrooklynRobot and RedDwarfBee.

I did some further research on the puppets to understand how they were built and used. (In the end, Tim Burton's Mars Attacks movie used CGI based on the puppets, not stop motion animation.) Comparisons between the puppet and Skinny Bob only convinced me further. Some of the similarities:

• identical body proportions, other than the head (puppet's lower jaw removed, foam latex skull modified)
• identical tendons, fingernails, and shadows on the hands (which are heavily painted on the puppet, though it's not clear in the image below)
• identical features of the skull (eye sockets, cheekbones)
• mobile brow (which is articulated on the puppet) while rest of face doesn't move other than slight parting of lips.

Additionally, it looks like the Skinny Bob footage was shot in such a way as to hide any shortcomings of the animation:

• very poor quality: low res, high contrast to wash out details, distressed film - all of this can be done in post-production
• Bob never talks or moves his lower face, and never manipulates objects with his hands
• Bob's entire eye sockets are always in deep shadow, so his eyeballs can't be seen (CGI eyes are hard enough to render realistically; puppet eyes definitely don't look real)
• the only complex movement he makes is walking, and that scene is shot with extreme camera shake and blur.

There's lots more information on my Twitter thread - including speculation about where the Skinny Bob footage may have been shot - and I'll update that as new information comes in. I've also started a discussion at r/SkinnyBob on Reddit.

Why would anyone modify an expensive puppet, make an animation, and then compile it with UFO footage, slap on some filters, and upload it to YouTube with a narrative about a crashed saucer in Russia? I can't say, but if I had the skills and equipment to do it for fun... I just might.

As of November 2nd, Anjali's expedition to bring back irrefutable evidence of the existence of physical ETs inside a physical base inside Wayne's mountain is "postponed". On Aliengirl111's podcast, Anjali said that when she visited Wayne in California at the end of October he revoked all access to his property.

There are two ways of viewing this story. Either we take Anjali at her word - which leaves us puzzling over the inconsistencies (not to mention Wayne's improbable naivety) - or we speculate on the assumption she's not always truthful and transparent. Which approach gives us a more accurate interpretation of what's really going on? And what happens next?

There's no evidence Wayne is a real person, although it seems likely he is. Without evidence, he's a character in Anjali's narrative and anonymous if real. She says he wants "nothing to do with it".

Reading between the lines, it looks like he never wanted anything to do with it. 

If he's a reasonable man, he knows there are no aliens in his mountain eager to softly disclose themselves. If there were, they wouldn't be stopped by one man changing his mind due to privacy or health or anything else. Wayne was never going to retain his privacy; and he could avoid the stress of the expedition by taking a vacation that weekend.

Did he tell Anjali, or did he feed her fantasy? I can only hope he did tell her the truth - even if not in 2018, surely in 2021 when he discovered she'd placed him in a co-starring role.

Either she didn't believe him, or she did and ever since then has been trying to save face.
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So, there are no reasons for Wayne "revoking" permission since we have no evidence he'd never granted it. Anjali says she wasn't in touch with him during her flurry of online activity in the first half of 2021 so he didn't expect people coming to his land looking for non-existent tunnels or thinking he believes in aliens. Now he seems to want it all to go away.

​But Anjali won't go away:  "You can’t invite a former Pentagon Defense Intelligence agent to your home and take them to meet extraterrestrials in a tunnel, and then expect they’re going to go away. That’s not going to happen." [Anjali on Aliengirl111, Nov 2, 2021]

There's no evidence Anjali devoted every waking hour, as she claims, to organizing an expedition or that she was gathering "one of the most scientifically-esteemed teams ever assembled". She can't even talk intelligently about the "equipment to measure" that would be taken into the tunnel. This unnecessarily complicated expedition was doomed to fail and many predicted it would.

She's been avoiding questions about her relationship with him (specifically, if he ever gave permission for access to his property for the purpose of meeting aliens). Her Nov 2 tweet where she says "My intentions are to press forward" with the expedition is not believable to me.

My perspective on the developments in the Anjali story this past week (on Reddit).

While Travis Walton's abduction tale aboard a flying saucer is beat-for-beat almost identical to a couple of Heinlein stories, a few details seem to have been drawn from other science fiction sources of the era.

Curt Collins posted a 1967 comic on UFO UpDates with aliens and their "surgery" that bear similarities to Travis's alleged experience. Then there's Captain Kirk's command chair, Dr McCoy's medical equipment, and the 2001: A Space Odyssey cockpit screens and buttons...

Not to disparage classic science fiction, which at the time looked futuristic, but I'd be so disappointed if a real alien spaceship looked like it came from the imaginations of 1960s Hollywood writers.

Read my update with illustrations and quotes from Travis's book.

I've updated a couple of transcripts on the site that previously were paraphrased, for both Anjali's press conference and her appearance on Jimmy Kicked Me Out Before I Came In Church's podcast.

Two interesting points came to light that I hadn't paid attention to before. According to Anjali:

• Wayne does not clearly remember his encounter with aliens on his mountain despite then becoming obsessed with digging a tunnel to their base: "...they told him that they had a base inside of his mountain. And that was the extent of the information that he gave me on it. He said he didn't remember very much but that he became obsessed with digging into the mountain." I wonder what his wife thought about this?
• Wayne is no longer in touch with the unnamed couple who accompanied the group into his tunnel in 2018, despite them being "old friends". Anjali was "frustrated" by their blasé attitude toward the aliens, indicating this was all old news to them. Where are they now? If they had a falling out with Wayne, is he concerned they'll give up the location of the alien base or perhaps come forward with what really happened that day? I tweeted briefly about it here.

Again, this is all according to Anjali.
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I am not convinced (not even slightly) that Wayne has given explicit permission for Anjali to return to his property before the end of the year, where she believes he dug a tunnel to an alien base. The following is based on my recent tweetstorm about this concerning aspect of her story. Rather than address the permissions issue, she blocked me.

I've added two new pages to the Anjali section of the website:

• Truth: the hard truth about the medical conditions she has openly admitted to having, many of which have brain health implications.
• Tunnel Team: the expedition back to the base is on schedule to take place before the end of 2021! Are you excited? Take a look at the away team that's been assembled so far, with an unspecified number of slots still open. I will update this page as more information becomes available, except to say...

...To be honest I don't believe we'll ever get as far as the announcement of an expedition team, let alone an actual expedition to the tunnel, if there even is a tunnel. But I'd love to be wrong.

I've also added to the Transcripts page Anjali's original Reddit post from March that started us on this transcendence journey, just for completion so it's included in any search for keywords you do on the page.

The Aerial Phenomenon Research Organization (APRO) field investigator on the scene of the Travis Walton case (Nov 5, 1975), Ray Jordan, has made a statement reflecting on his involvement. So today I'm reflecting on one deceptively tiny detail of the case that I think symbolizes a bigger problem. 

Sometimes it takes 46 years for the full picture to emerge. But this particular red flag was waving in the faces of the investigators from the get-go.

Firstly, the bigger problem: when investigators think of themselves as scientists gathering evidence but act more like journalists hoping for a scoop, that's not how they're going to get closer to the truth.

Back in 1975, the different UFO investigative organizations apparently saw each other as rivals. Ray Jordan's statement unfortunately serves to emphasize this. Who has the biggest organization, who was first on the scene - these things aren't relevant to the truth. If the truth matters, then information sharing between researchers matters. Nutting out theories together matters. Welcoming skeptical viewpoints matters. This approach at least attempts to more closely mimic actual science.

For the Travis Walton case, the compass rose on a map matters. We'll get to that in a bit.

Before we look at the tiny detail that sent me on this rant, I'll address a couple of other issues Jordan raised. 

Can we retire the polygraphs already?
In part, Jordan states that in interviewing witnesses and meeting them subsequently over the years, he "never saw anything that caused me to doubt the honesty of Walton or the witnesses or to think that it might be some sort of a hoax." He cites the polygraphs, like every true believer who doesn't understand why this is not evidence that supports their case.

Granting the arguable premise that polygraphs indicate truthfulness, the witnesses passed because they were telling the truth.

The polygraphs tell us that the witnesses didn't harm Travis, and did see a flying (actually hovering) object they couldn't identify. They don't tell us anything at all about whether Travis was abducted by aliens in a flying saucer. 

Forgotten theory
Given the aforementioned insular information bubbles in UFO circles, it's possible Jordan never knew that only 3 months after the incident Ray Fowler (MUFON) wrote to Allen Hynek and posed the theory that two of the men hoaxed the other five with a huge flying saucer balloon. This of course explains why the witnesses were so credible - they really had seen a UFO, and they really did think Travis had vanished when they returned to search for him a few minutes later.

But it was MUFON's idea. I guess they didn't share it, or APRO didn't want to hear it.

This theory did not gain traction, overshadowed by Klass in the late 1970s who believed all seven men were lying. The two-hoaxed-five theory was revived by Karl Pflock, and now we have a ton of new supporting evidence as well, not to mention plot holes in the official story leaking like a sieve.

So, original investigators on the case who profess an opinion have a choice to make: stick with the 46-year-old story because they feel secure it was properly investigated at the time, or examine the new evidence that's since come to light (which Jordan inexplicably lumps together as "recent squabbling").

But here's the thing - in this case, there was that little red flag waving its little self at the time, and investigators ignored it.

On the case
On Saturday Nov 8th when Jordan arrived to investigate for APRO, there were (according to APRO Bulletin Nov 1975) three other organizations on the scene that same day: GSW, Center for UFO Studies, and MUFON. Four outfits were "on-site during the time that Walton was missing", and in fact Travis's book suggests GSW was first on the scene after Duane Walton called Bill Spaulding.

Regardless of who was first on the scene, and obviously I don't care, it's clear Jordan does care and I can't helping thinking this attitude is indicative of the aforementioned counterproductive rivalry.

Today Jordan wants us to know that "APRO was perhaps the largest civilian UFO investigation organization in the country (or perhaps the world)". Back in 1975, the APRO Bulletin also wanted us to know that "Ground Saucer Watch" - the name set off in derisive quote marks - was Spaulding's "own outfit". Insignificant.

While I would guess GSW's conclusions about UFOs in general were probably as silly as any other organization's, the fact is Spaulding was right in surmising this case was a hoax, although not because of the little red flag. APRO (via Jordan and then the Lorenzens) was wrong - Travis's stolen Heinlein spaceship adventure fooled 'em. Mike's emotional breakdowns fooled 'em. A complete lack of physical evidence fooled 'em.

Comparing notes
But to get to the point of all this: while an original investigator on the case could examine new evidence so that their opinion comes across as informed, the little red flag isn't a new development. It was staring those investigators in the face on that Saturday afternoon in November as they poked around the "abduction site" looking for radiation and footprints and landing pad marks.

"Mr. Jordan interviewed each of the men and Rogers at the scene of the sighting," APRO Bulletin reported in Nov 1975. So Jordan had the piece of information in his notes. Spaulding of GSW had a similar piece of information in his notes, independently acquired. What a great idea it would've been for them to compare notes at this moment.

Let's quickly run through it: The guys were examining the "abduction site" about a quarter-mile south of the woodcutters' worksite in Turkey Springs. These locations are not mysteries. Nobody has disputed where they are. My website provides a ton of evidence to accurately locate them. 

Witnesses told Jordan the UFO was seen in the northwest. Spaulding's incident report corroborates this - the truck was driving due west.

Not south.

I did it so you don't have to, unless you already did in which case I sympathize: I listened to all Añjali's interviews over the past few weeks, and transcribed them to keep my fingers busy during the loñññg pauses.

The complete transcripts are here - all on one page to make searching for keywords easier. So, for example, to discover everything you ever wanted to know about transcending, CTRL+F transcend. Good luck finding instructions on how to transcend, because Añjali's not so keen on telling you - even though it's super important that you do.

Also included are her press conference, thanks to a dedicated Redditor, and Añjali's sort of but not really channeling from the Three and the Four on the galactic council who brought a message of caution and encouragement about separating human wheat from chaff. 

The screencaps on the page are a selection of significant Añjali moments:

• describing Lavvy's mantis-mandible (she was very excited to discover via hypnoregression that Lavvy is a mantis - I don't know why it's a good thing, I mean these things are carnivores)
• drinking from an ethically suitable vessel (rather than planet-destroying Aquafina)
• showing off her and Max's cute kitty.

On Twitter I've been writing some threads about the new sensation in the UFO world, the much flirted with by Jimmy Church and Roderick Martin and Alan Steinfeld elevated consciousness known as Añjali*.

If you know me, you know I don't believe aliens are visiting Earth - so I'm not too interested in how her silly story will damage serious UFO investigation. The culty angle, on the other hand...

Anyway, I created this extensive timeline of her background for future reference as this thing heats up. Anjali has pinky-swear-promised that before the end of this year she and excavationer extraordinaire Wayne will lead an expedition team of crack scientists and journalists to the alien base in a mountain in the Mojave, and bring back indisputable evidence of the existence of higher beings living there. She calls it "soft disclosure" which makes me think this evidence isn't going to be anything to write home about.

Below is a list of my untranscended Tweet storms:

Steve told me he has talked to Travis about certain aspects of that night, and events leading up to it, resulting in an angry response from Travis and a refusal to correct errors in his book. Steve claims Travis blackballed him from conferences for a time (by saying he, Travis, would not appear if Steve was scheduled to appear).

This incident has manifested in toxic relationships between the men involved. Travis and Mike are stuck with each other, despite a strong mutual dislike and disrespect, locked in the lie that neither can reveal without implicating themselves in defrauding the UFO community for decades.

There is a heartwarming scene in the movie Travis where Ken Peterson gets emotional upon returning to the "site" with Travis. Knowing as I do just a small fraction of how the hoax affected the lives of the innocent witnesses in the truck that night, this scene makes me sick. Travis Walton, who should've come clean the moment he handed over those National Enquirer checks 45 years ago, makes me sick.

Will he ever grow up and be man enough to admit what he did and to withstand the backlash? He has reframed his abduction as a resurrection story. I live in hope he can reframe it as a redemption story.