MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: Dugway Proving Ground

Before Roswell entered the popular imagination (and after an infamous VX gas leak that killed nearly 4,000 sheep) this was a likely location for Hangar 18 or similar skulduggery. From The Ogden Enigma by Gene Snyder. Courtesy Playboy Press, 1980.

COSMIC DEBRIS: Fate Reviews Brad Steiger

From Fate's "New Books" column by David Techter, reviews of two of Steiger's recent books, Sex and the Supernatural and The Mind Travellers. 

Featured in Fate, Volume 22 - Number 7, July 1969.

STRANGE ESP by Warren Smith

Warren Smith continues his STRANGE saga through Popular Library with this entry from 1969, focused on ESP. There's men with "Computer Eyes" and "IBM Minds" and good ol' "X-Ray Vision!"

Smith revisits railroad tycoon Arthur Stilwell, last seen in Brad Steiger's Beyond Unseen Boundaries. We also get a reprise of the well-worn stories of Clever Hans and Jef (or Gef) the Talking Mongoose. "Doc" Anderson rates two whole chapters, although really the second one could have been folded into the first, being concerned solely with a brief anecdote of Jackie O's post-Camelot nuptials. The predictions listed in his first chapter don't add up to much either, come to think of it! Anderson was a regular subject for Smith and Steiger. Japanese artist Kyoshi Yamashita gets a very unflattering chapter which focuses on his status as an "idiot savant" and doesn't include anything vaguely related to ESP!

There's a heavy load of celebrity entries, including Eartha Kitt, David Niven, and Hypnotist to the Stars Arthur Ellen. Geronimo and Teddy Roosevelt make a fine pair of historical persons tangentially connected to psychic phenomena, while President Garfield's assassin Charles Guiteau takes things in a more sinister direction.

The silliest chapter title in this volume? My money's on "Deadly Vision of Death" ... it's double the deadly! This title is available to read and download at archive dot org.

Popular Library, 1969

MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: Lost Lemuria

From Thongor of Lemuria by Lin Carter. Courtesy Ace Books, 1966.

COSMIC DEBRIS: Madam Leda's Silver Palm

From Fate, Volume 31 - Number 9, September 1978.

HOW TO BECOME A SENSUOUS WITCH by Abragail and Valaria

If one Love Witch is powerful enough, surely two are even better? Abragrail and Valaria are obvious pseudonyms, though their company The Witches Cauldron may have existed at one time. Dr. Raymond Buckland lends his considerable credibility to an introduction and rituals for money and sexual happiness. Sprinkled throughout are some cute cartoons signed by "Valaria" to take the edge off adding your own urine and blood to dishes meant for your beau.

It's all a bit tongue in cheek, mixing vintage man-crazy "empowerment" with dishes like "Sexy Spam" and "New England Sex Stew" ... and TV Dinners??? I guess it's good for modern Witches to take a night off.

How to Become a Sensuous Witch is available to read and download at archive dot org.

Paperback Library, 1971

MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: The Uighur Empire

"The Great Uighur Empire During the Tertiary Era." That's about 3 million years ago, give or take. Some clarification from the author's great-grandson Jack Churchward may be helpful:

From The Children of Mu by James Churchward. Courtesy the Paperback Library, 1969 (original pub. 1931).