Jeff Ritzmann – Active Participation in the UFO Enigma

Ever since my conversation (with Jeremy Vaeni and Tyler Kokjohn) about the singular Project CORE, I knew that Jeff Ritzmann was someone that didn’t just complain about the state of research, but was actually taking active steps to delve into some of the more unhrealded and esoteric areas of UFO study. I was recently reminded about his new endeavour (Project Oculus) which attempts to document strange lights and other goings-on in his home.

We spoke about the aims of CORE (such as asking supposed abductees different questions than usual, for example “what was your life situation before and after your experience”) and the difficulty of describing your position on these subjects to most people once you get beyond a certain point in your studies. Jeff also discussed his concept of paranormal experiences occurring in “liminal” spaces and periods – Places and times that are transitions from one state to another. He believes the best way to stop unwanted encounters with strangeness is to make your life as routine and predictable as possible: The normal is anathema to the paranormal.

We also delved into Oculus and what he hopes to accomplish with the project. At the end of the program, Jeff described how to possibly create your own UFO sighting (or perhaps something similar) but warned that people should probably not try it.