CHAPTER 1
SNOW DURING THE CALIFORNIA DROUGHT
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the sourceof all true art and science.
Albert Einstein
They Were Eager to Discuss the Case
In February 1976, I visited the huge, military-industrial think tank, SRIInternational, in Menlo Park, California, at the invitation of physicists HalPuthoff and Russell Targ. In addition to their groundbreaking work in remoteviewing, or clairvoyance, which later became the basis for a twenty-yearmilitary intelligence program, Puthoff and Targ had also achieved fame andnotoriety for their experiments with Uri Geller. This work had been published inthe prestigious British journal, Nature, in 1973. When I arrived at theirlaboratory, I found the two physicists very excited, even flabbergasted, aboutanother case. They eagerly explained to me that they had been contacted by astrange man named Ted Owens, who signed his letters "PK Man" and proclaimed thathe was "the world's greatest psychic." Owens seemed eager to be used as asubject for parapsychological testing. Puthoff and Targ declined the offer butnevertheless for several years continued to receive correspondence from the PKMan that documented his demonstrations.
On January 30, 1976, Owens wrote to Puthoff and Targ telling them that he wasgoing to show them the extent of his powers by causing heavy storms over the SanFrancisco area and thereby ending the drought that was then approachingdisastrous proportions. His letter read:
Last night on 1V the evening news showed a stricken California. Crops are deadand dying and the animals are in pitiful condition. Now I, Ted Owens, PK Man,will change all of that. Within the next 90 days from the time of this letter Iwill pour and pour and pour rains onto and into the state of California until itis swimming in water and the dangerous drought is completely over. There will bestorm after storm, lightning after lightning attacks, and high winds....
It didn't take ninety days for Owens' demonstration to come off. A freaksnowstorm hit the San Francisco area on February 5. It was the first storm ofwinter, and many more were to follow. According to an Associated Press (AP)release, "The unexpected snowfall came as part of the first major Californiastorm this year in a season that has brought drought to farm areas and talk ofwater rationing in many communities." The last snowstorm to strike the SanFrancisco Bay Area occurred in 1887 and dropped 3.7 inches of snow. The onlyother snowfall in the area fell in 1962 when mild flurries were seen. TheFebruary storm left no less than 3.5 inches of snow on the ground. As thoughunintentionally acknowledging Owens' complicity in the affair, the AP story alsostated that "the storm featured lightning and sleet" and added that "a gianttelevision tower on Mr. San Bruno, south of San Francisco, was hit bylightning." Interestingly, lightning is very rare in the San Francisco area.
The storm hit San Francisco unannounced, delighting residents but mystifyingmeteorologists who were totally caught off guard by it. In fact, it was sofreakish that Claude Holmes, a representative for the National Weather Service,had to admit to the San Francisco Chronicle that he was baffled by it. Themeteorological aspects leading to the storm were "so complicated," he said,"that I'm not sure I understand all the details myself" Whatever the case maybe, the snowfall was only the beginning of the end to the drought. Just as Owenshad predicted, the storm heralded several weeks of snow, lightning and winds. AnOakland Tribune story on February 5 reported that the storm exhibited "nearlyevery phenomenon in the weatherman's book throughout the Bay Area" includingsnow, hail, sleet, thunder, and lightning. Gale warnings were issued innorthwestern California. The storm went on for several days and introduced whatwas to be one of the worst winters in California history. The rainfall wasunbelievable for the rest of the season as storm after storm meandered over thestate. These continual storm fronts produced formidable problems in SouthernCalifornia.
Los Angeles nearly became a disaster area when the constant moisture weakenedthe foothills that surround many areas of the city, and this led to hugemudslides that caused millions of dollars worth of damage as expensive hillsidehomes were completely destroyed by mud and structural damage. Resultant floodingeven took a few lives. The weather eventually became so freakish that, at onepoint, a tornado watch was called. This was the first time this had everhappened in recent history. Tornadoes are extremely rare in California, and nonehad ever struck Los Angeles.
Another peculiar aspect of that fateful winter is that there was considerableUFO activity reported in California right before the storms began. During thelast week of January, half a dozen law enforcement agencies logged calls about acigar-shaped object, complete with flashing lights and vapor trail, that wasseen traveling through southeastern California. After the storm, on February 8and 9, two scientists spotted a UFO flying over the Siskiyou Mountains inNorthern California. One of these witnesses, Paul Cerny, was a noted UFOinvestigator quite capable of distinguishing a genuinely mysterious airborneobject from a conventional craft. Since UFO activity was not rare in this area,these UFO appearances possibly had nothing to do with Owens' demonstrations.However, as we shall see, UFO phenomena often accompanied these demonstrations.
Puthoff and Targ sent Owens a note congratulating him on his successfulprediction and received a telegram response from him stating that it was not aprediction, but that he, Owens, had caused the snowstorm! After all, that waswhy he called himself the PK Man, PK meaning psychokinesis, the ability toaffect matter with the mind. This was food for thought, and when I visited thephysicists some weeks later, they were eager to discuss the case.
Hyperdimensional Entities Affectionately Known as "Twitter" and "Tweeter"
Puthoff and Targ brought out Ted Owens' 1969 book How to Contact Space People,and with great interest showed me a drawing of two large, insect-like creaturesin the text, whom Owens affectionately called "Twitter" and "Tweeter." The bookclaimed that Owens had produced many demonstrations of his psychokinetic powersfor government officials and even named the officials he had interacted with ineach case. For the CIA, Owens had "used his powers" to cause ships to sink. ForNASA, he had demonstrated his "control" over lightning. Nevertheless, Owensbitterly complained, these agencies still refused to take him...
