The Pine Bush Anomaly Archive
TM
Introduction and Background
anom-a-lous - adjective 1: inconsistent with or deviating from what is usual, normal, or expected
2a: of uncertain nature or classification b: marked by incongruity or contradiction
Merriam Webster Online
Welcome to the Pine Bush Anomaly Archive, an effort to thoroughly compile and study the accounts of unusual experiences in the Orange/Ulster area of upstate New York. The Archive serves as a place for people to report both current and old sightings of unfamiliar objects, images or animals, as well as anomalous experiences occurring in and around Crawford Township. The gathering of data will be done in such a manner to allow analysis from the viewpoint of a variety of hypotheses on anomalous experiences. It is the hope of this project that a greater understanding of this interesting, complicated subject can be achieved and then be applied to other areas of reputed anomalous activity.
- C. Burns, PBAA webmaster
A Brief History
Since at least the 1950s the township of Crawford and the surrounding area in upstate New York has been host to stories and rumors of unusual experiences, centered around sightings of strange objects and lights in the sky and fields. These stories initially were passed quietly amongst friends and family, rarely to go beyond the local community. Although there is a reason to believe a small group took an active interest in pursuing the alleged objects and lights, the stories never grew beyond being a bed of local modern folklore.
All that was to change in 1991 with the publication of Ellen Crystall’s Silent Invasion, a book that chronicled her accounts of chasing and interacting with the alleged phenomenon in Pine Bush and the fields of Montgomery. After being introduced to Pine Bush in 1980 through Omni Magazine writer Harry Lebelson (who himself was contacted by scared residents of Montgomery reporting odd luminous objects in the surrounding fields) she began a multi-year adventure observing what she described as a sentient, technology-oriented phenomenon that made the undeveloped areas of Pine Bush and Montgomery its playground. The larger sub-community of anomaly buffs took notice of Silent Invasion, and soon Pine Bush found itself visited by a steady stream of those hoping to witness the activity described in Ellen’s book.
The local residents had a variety of reactions to Pine Bush’s newfound notoriety. Some regarded it with good-natured indifference, others felt distaste that their town would be associated with a subject like that described in Silent Invasion. A smaller local group took an active interest in Ellen’s accounts, devoting time to finding out whether there was any substance to the tales now circulating around the Orange/Ulster area. It was this group ultimately who continued the Pine Bush anomaly story, forming a new body of accounts and organizing a local open discussion group (U.F.O.S.) on the topic that enabled timely reporting of new experiences and a place for people to discuss a socially controversial subject.
The stream of reports and subsequent interest in the subject continued until about 1996 which marked the start of a decline in new accounts, culminating in 1998 with the development of the fields of Montgomery. Symbolically the loss of the fields was strong as they previously hosted the alleged phenomenon’s regular appearances as well as the skywatchers’ sitting area. The discussion group continued but with dwindling attendance, and after the start of the new century it seemed few but the local core were carrying on the interest in the reported unusual events.
A RENAISSANCE
Then in 2003 a telling revival of interest in the Pine Bush anomaly story occurred with the emergence of two sources of information on both past and current accounts. Long-time skywatcher Vincent Polise decided to tell his story of chasing the alleged phenomenon during the 1990s by creating the website www.pinebushufo.com, which featured several of his accounts and scans of his photographs from the era. Shortly thereafter the Times-Herald Record published a new article about the discussion group that found its way around the world via the internet. Suddenly attendance of the group’s monthly meetings grew dramatically, and both Mr. Polise and the organizers of U.F.O.S. began to receive a steady amount of email and phone calls from people wanting to know more. Most remarkable was the amount of communications from people who stated that they had experiences with the reported phenomenon. Many of these people had not revealed their experiences previously, some of them past residents of the area who were now scattered across the United States. Still others were those who visited Pine Bush in the 1980s and 1990s as skywatchers, and recounted their tales from their nights out in the fields. This burst of communications served as a reminder that many people ultimately were part of this particular story. In addition, a handful of recent accounts surfaced which hinted that the Pine Bush anomaly story was still evolving. All of this suggested that something was going on, but the question as always was, what? Are the accounts really indicative of an unknown physical phenomenon present in the area? Or is it just a case of an unusually robust local folklore, ghost stories for the space age? Perhaps it is a mixture of both?
Credits: Banner photo copyright Vincent Polise 2004