Book Reviews Perceptions Magazine, September 2024
Bridging the Tragedy:
Silver Linings in the Mysterious Ohio River Valley
by Bill Kousoulas, Ph.D., and Jacqueline Kousoulas
Bird Mountain Books/Chicago
2022, 306 pages, Paperback US $22.99
ISBN: 9798848732122
Available on Amazon.com
Reviewed by Brent Raynes
Back on December 15, 1967, a horrible tragedy occurred on the Ohio River when the Silver Bridge that connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia with Kanauga, Ohio collapsed into the freezing waters below, taking 46 lives with it.
Prior to this tragic bridge collapse, numerous residents of the area reported a host of anomalous high strange occurrences, ranging from UFOs, poltergeists, Men in Black, and the now legendary, large winged red-eyed Mothman popularized by John A. Keel in his book The Mothman Prophecies (1975), later portrayed in a motion picture by the same title in 2002, featuring actors Richard Gere and Laura Linney. (In a phone conversation, Keel informed me that he was much better looking of course than Mr. Gere). While the movie took liberties with details of the story, such as Keel losing his wife after her own encounter with a red-eye creature, and diving into the icy waters of the Ohio after the bridge collapse to rescue Laura Linney, who was portrayed as a sheriff on the bridge when it fell, all of which was false. Keel was not married, he was in his apartment in New York City when the bridge collapsed, However, he pointed out that the movie did capture for him the real feel and atmosphere that surrounded those dark and disturbing events associated with that time period. Also, he added, that a landline phone had actually rung once, while it was disconnected from a phoneline.
The authors of Bridging the Tragedy decided in 2020 to develop a plan to conduct a scientific study of the psychological effects of these trauma laden incidents, engaging in interviews with area residents who had personal memories related to those events, exploring the effects of the trauma and looking for evidence of what is referred to as post-traumatic growth. They called this program Phenomenology Research Professionals. Bill Kousoulas had completed his doctorate in psychology in January 2021. Most of his doctoral research was in the area of post-traumatic growth, which focuses on the positive outcomes that may be gained from our processing of challenging life experiences. His wife Jacqueline also assisted with the interviews and she is someone who has had her own paranormal experiences in her life.
The authors noted, "This discipline allows us to combine multiple interests into a passion for investigating the unknown, learning how people and communities grow from trauma, and helping others to understand that good things can and do come from traumatic events. The mysterious Ohio River Valley, the Silver Bridge disaster, and Mothman combine all these passions." One Ogden P. Royal, Ph.D., declared how this book "has something for everyone. Oral tradition for folklorists, hard data for students of psychology, and high strangeness for paranormal fans."
On a personal note, a couple of months ago I had a private Zoom conversation with Bill and Jaci and I found them to be very serious, dedicated and the kind of responsible researchers who are desperately needed in this kind of field and I am happy to report that they intend to continue with their study.
For All We Know
by Mike Fiorito
Apprentice House Press
Loyola University Maryland
4501 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
http://www.ApprenticeHouse.com
2024, 146 pages, Hardcover US $26.99
ISBN: 978-1-62720-525-2
Reviewed by Brent Raynes
Mike Fiorito is both an author and freelance journalist from Brooklyn, New York, whose book Mescalito Riding his White Horse, received the 2024 Independent Press Distinguished Book Award, as did his short-story collection Falling from Trees in 2022. Other books he's penned are The Hated Ones, Sleeping with Fishes, Call Me Guido, Freud's Haberdashery Habits, and Hallucinating Huxley.
Anyone who has delved into the UFO mystery and engaged for any significant length of time with this thought-provoking subject comes out of it with their own personal stories. Sometimes those stories can become rather interesting to a readership as the author shares personal details of his journey, the various people he's met, their stories, the literature he's been influenced by, the challenging situations he's confronted in his efforts to comprehend and discern the proverbial truth behind such unusual cases. Sometimes, as with Whitley Strieber and John Keel, their books may become so interesting and entertaining to their readers that they become a movie.
Now I'm not saying Mike's For All We Know will be appearing on the silver screen, but already a lot of very prominent figures in ufology have voiced words of praise for his literary contribution. For example, on the very cover of his book we read:
"Mike Fiorito finds the UFO in experiences as diverse as Catholic Mass to the modern rituals of heavy metal music...A fun and extraordinary experience," -Dr. Diana Pasulka.
"Flying saucers appear alongside books, both of which appear alongside the so-called dead. 'We are them.' Take that as large and vast as you can." -Dr. Jeffrey J. Kripal.
Mike says he's always believed in UFOs. At age ten he was obsessed with books dealing with "spaceship and futurology," and soon was pouring through the pages of Fate magazine (a publication that as a teenager back in the 1960s I became hooked on, as did many others back in the days before the internet). Mike shares that sense of isolation where parents and others may not understand and appreciate your obsessive fascination with such things. They may express concern that it's holding you back from getting a proper education and making something worthwhile of your life. Grow up and become a responsible adult is the clear message, whether fully spoken aloud or not.
Mike's personal journey shares his interactions with sympathetic others and those who of course weren't sympathetic, but it's the ones who became a part of his journey and who joined in the dialogue and the inner process, who were on their own path that eclipsed with his own at certain points. That for him and others included aspects of the well-worn and evolving pathways offered by spirituality, music, meditation, prayer, sometimes simply being in the soothing presence of natural surroundings, like sitting quietly along a forested mountain stream, relaxed and letting go. There are various avenues to choose from.
Choose wisely. Welcome those spontaneous and special moments when anomalous episodes and synchronicities come knocking at your door. For some the numinous journey may just even be fueled by the UFO mythos that can also (don’t laugh) be a powerful archetypal guiding light in the ongoing human search for enlightenment, meaning, and fellowship with one’s fellow seekers. Mike certainly found it to be so, as have many others.
And consider keeping a journal or a diary. You never know. Yours may be the next story for others to enjoy and learn from in a book, a YouTube video, or maybe a movie.
