A few reminiscences of my brushes with this ancient festival of the dead, that still manages to grab our imaginations: 1957, maybe? I must have been in fifth grade, because I remember reading this in Junior Scholastic magazine, which I think we started using in elementary school that year: a … [Read more...]
“Balmiston X-Ray O’Rune” – Green Giant from Mars (Part 8 of a series)
Short post this time, and a fairly hasty one. (It's been a heavy week for me.) But the story of Balmiston X-Ray O'Rune merits at least a footnote in our inquiry into the theme of mysterious green entities--"little men," children, giants, saints--sometimes flying UFOs, sometimes not. Of course … [Read more...]
Al-Khidr – The “Green One” of Islam (Part 7 of a series)
“Little green men” in the UFOs. From the Pope to the Flintstones, they’re everywhere in the popular imagination. Yet they’re seldom actually reported by people who experience close encounters of the third kind, or the fourth. (See my last post, though, for a qualification of this.) Where do they … [Read more...]
Sir James George Frazer – “Golden Bough,” John Barleycorn, and a Little Green Man (Part 6 of a series)
If there's anything more gauche and un-with-it these days than quoting Sigmund Freud with approval--which I do with some regularity--it's quoting Sir James George Frazer. Which I am now about to do, in connection with the problem of the "little green men." Nearly everyone has at least heard of … [Read more...]
Green Children, Green Giants, Little Green Men (Part 5 of a series)
"Heard about the Jolly Green Giant He's so big and mean Well, he stands there laughin' with his hands on his hips And then he hits you with a can of beans." --The Kingsmen (1965) OK, now we're getting a little bit ridiculous. Aren't we? This is the problem with doing comparisons, … [Read more...]
