Peter Paul and Stan Lee: their reward for supporting the Dems. Classy stuff.

Fantastic Four 587 / 588: Human Torch is dead

As predicted by everyone with a brain, the Disney-dictated elimination of the Human Torch has occurred, in a comic few people read and fewer still care about.

Deaths in comicbooks were cheapened decades ago so the latest attempt to gain short term sales was doomed before it began.

Added to that is the 50th anniversary of the Fantastic Four next year, an anniversary it is highly unlikely that even the second-raters of Disney comics would fuck up. So look to see a human torch back from the dead in near record time.

What this strange immature attitude to death says about the deviant dwarfs who make Disney and Warner comics these days is a far more productive line of inquiry than bothering about the hype, spin and general sinister marketing of their worthless comics.

Mothman and the Thunderbird

by Daniel V. Boudillion
August 2002
Revised & Updated June 2003
from Boudillion Website

 

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to draw attention to similarities between a circa 1600 Indian Thunderbird artifact, and the descriptions of an anomalous and frightening figure seen repeatedly in 1967, dubbed "The Mothman."
 

 

Mothman History

The Mothman is one of the strangest and most terrifying of anomalous creatures ever to be recorded in America. Between November 12, 1966 and December 15, 1967, it terrorized citizens in the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia. It was said to have been encountered by at least 100 people over the course of that year.

According to author John A. Keel (The Mothman Prophecies, 1975) who was on hand investigating the reports during the time of the sightings, the creature was reported to be roughly man-shaped, either grey or brown, and between five and seven feet tall. Its body was wider than a man's. It did not appear to have a head, but rather its "eyes" were set on the upper chest. These "eyes" were very large, and alternately described as glowing red lights, or a reflected red like a bicycle reflector. (Glowing red eyes are the surest sign of a paranormal entity.)

 

When it walked it shuffled on what appeared to be human-like legs, but no feet were ever observed. Rather than arms it had bat-like wings which it did not flap. It was always seen to glide. The non-flapping of the wings, even in ascent, is particularly disturbing. Indeed, it was reported to regularly ascend straight up like a helicopter - and again be it noted, without any wing-action. (In regards to the wings, John Keel determined that a man the size and heft of the Mothman would require 24 foot wings to be able to glide.)

 

It was fast in flight, able to pace cars going over 100 miles an hour. In flight it emitted a humming sound and often emitted a "mouse-like squeaking." Occasionally it was heard to also emit a screeching sound something like a woman screaming. (This "woman screaming" sound is common among anomalous creatures, particularly the Bigfoot creatures.)

 

No one who saw it was indifferent to the creature - it struck terror into the hearts of all its viewers.

Recently, interest in Mothman has been rekindled due to the release of the movie The Mothman Prophecies starring Richard Gere. Cryptozoologist Loren Colman has also contributed a new book on the subject: Mothman & Other Curious Encounters (2002).

 

For comprehensive accounts of the Point Pleasant/Mothman events, please refer to links such as: prairieghosts.com, and mothmanlives.com.
 

 

Thunderbird Artifact

On June 15, 2002 I was visiting the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard Massachusetts. While in the Indian Museum, I noticed an artifact that bore a startling resemblance to Mothman descriptions. This artifact is ten inches tall and made of copper sheet. It was recovered in Amoskeag Falls, Manchester, New Hampshire, and was probably fashioned from a copper kettle acquired through trade with Europeans during the early Contact Period, circa 1550-1630 A.D.

 

It is attributed to the Pennacook Indians and labeled "Thunderbird."

The main difference between the Mothman descriptions and the Thunderbird artifact is that the artifact is crafted with a head, while the Mothman is typically described as having no head. The general body shape - other then the head discrepancy - is identical. The most striking similarity is the "eye" placement. The Thunderbird artifact has two holes placed on the upper chest, same as Mothman descriptions.

 

Presently, these "eyes" on the Thunderbird artifact are being used as string holes to lace the figure to a museum stand. I inquired of the Museum Staff if the holes were meant as "eyes", or were lacing holes. They did not know, but gave their opinion that as "eyes", they were very compelling. I also asked if the holes were part of the original creation or were added later as lacing holes, but the staff was unable to provide information on this.

A New England Koasek Abenaki who is familiar with both this item and with Thunderbird lore states that,

"the two holes bored into the copper at the 'chest' would have had a braintan lace knotted through them to suspend the ornament/talisman from the wearer's neck."

He goes on to state that,

"We have our own theories as to the significance...."

Interestingly, the Fruitlands item I examined is only a reproduction - the original is in the collection of the Peabody Museum at Harvard, catalog number 88-45-10/46959.

 

A Native American version of its acquisition by Harvard's Peabody Museum is that it was obtained from a robber of a Pennacook Abenaki gravesite in New Hampshire.
 

 

Comparison

Loren Coleman, in his recent book Mothman & Other Curious Encounters, created a composite sketch of the Mothman based on the various reports and eyewitness testimony.

 

A written composite of the Mothman was first published in 1970 in The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings by John Keel - and an artists rendering of a sketch drawn by Roger Scarberry who saw the the creature on November 15, 1966 first appeared in Janet and Colin Bord's 1981 book Alien Animals.

The Loren Coleman sketch is below left. To the right is a scan of the Thunderbird artifact from the book The New England Indians by C. Keith Wilbur.

 

It may also be found in The Western Abenaki by Colin Calloway.

Thunderbird Lore

Although primarily associated with the Plains Indians, the Thunderbird was known to the Algonquin speaking peoples of New England. However, like most Native American culture in New England, little is now known of their beliefs.

 

In regards to the Thunderbird, this much is known:

it was a fearsome being and resembled a winged man or an immense bird, it caused fear and dread, and was said to actually kill and eat humans from time to time.

(Jim Brandon - The Rebirth Of Pan)
 

Pmola

According to a New England Koasek Abenaki about the Pmola (puh-MOH-lah):

"Our legends tell us of a being who appeared as a giant bird-like creature, with glowing red eyes and claws, who would swoop down on unsuspecting animals and people and carry them off ... never to be seen again.

The Indian peoples of the Eastern Seaboard and Woodlands all share similar stories. Grandmothers and Mothers would caution their children to behave, lest Pmola find them unawares and carry them away."
 

Piasa

Jacques Marquette, a French explorer relates a petroglyph of the Piasa near Alton Illinois in 1673:

"On the flat face of a high rock were painted, in red, black, and green, a pair of monsters, each as large as a calf, with horns like a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger, and a frightful expression of countenance.

The face is something like that of a man, the body covered with scales, and the tail so long that it passes entirely round the body, over the head, and between the legs, ending like that of a fish." It was supposed to live high in a cave on the bluff.

An Alton, Illinois scholar named McAdmas observed during the mid 1800s, that the name Piasa "signifies, in Illini, 'The bird that devours men.'"

And indeed, it was Illini legend that children and adults were carried away and eaten.



Tlanuwa

The Cherokee ledged of the Tlanuwa is similar of the Piasa. The Tlanuwa were a pair of immense birds said to live in a cave on the north bank of the Little Tennessee River in Blount County Tennessee.

They would fly up an down the river, even coming into the villages to carry off and eat dogs and small children.



Bad8gi

According to a New England Koasek Abenaki about the Bad8gi (BAH-dohn-KEE):

"I personally believe that the Thunderbird here in the East is based upon an ancient species of raptor, one that possessed a wingspan in excess of twenty feet. These gigantic preying birds were the antecedents of the Eagles that are so important to our culture and traditions today.

Ancient oral traditions among the Algonquin/Abenaki tell us that these raptors rode the lightning and the thunderheads, coming up from the South, in a corridor that extends from Mexico right on up the Appalachians into New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. I believe that the copper representation you refer to is this Thunder Being, and was made to harness the spiritual powers to benefit the wearer.

Our word for this Being is Bad8gi."

[The "8" in Bad8gi is intentional. In Abenaki, the sound "OOHN" is represented by the 8 or ô, (an "o" with a circumflex.) ]

 

 

Giant Birds?

The largest bird in North America is the California Condor with a wingspan of up to nine feet. The largest known bird today is the Andean Condor with a wingspan up to 12 feet. Unlike the Andean Condor, the California is a very rare and endangered bird with only a small territory left of its once large range. But as recently as the early 1800's it still apparently lived in eastern America as well, according to Halliday's Vanishing Birds.

 

Could Andean Condors, however, be flying up - or have ever flown up from South America? In any event, Ornithologists tell us that the claw strength of either condor is not strong enough to carry food for much distance, and besides, the condor is a carrion eater, not a predator bird.

Be that as it may, reports of giant birds - Thunderbirds perhaps - have been reported in eastern America since colonial times. These giant birds are reported to have wings like a "B-29", and are known for trying to carry off children and livestock. Numerous modern reports from Illinois attest to this.

Interestingly, there once existed a gigantic bird in North America called the Teratornis Merriami (Feduccia, The Age of Birds). It stood five feet tall with a 24 foot wingspan.

 

According to Dr. Kenneth Campbell it was, unlike the condor, a predator bird,

"the long narrow beak was of the predator type, rather than the carrion eater type (condor)."

He goes on to say,

"the bones of some as recent as 8000 years ago have almost always been found in conjunction with human habitation sites."

(Loren Coleman comments: "Were Amerindians killing these giant condor-like birds for their feathers or because the birds had been kidnapping their children and stock?")

This is interesting information indeed, because 8000 years places it well within the human era, and Thunderbird legends may well be echoes of this giant predator bird.

Teratornis Merriami
 

Native Americans who have written me have this to say about the Giant Bird/Thunderbird connection:

"The giant raptors were strong fliers and strong walkers. They preferred making short trips on foot and they were the size of a man and walked almost erect (not like the usual bird). Indians in Illinois dreaded meeting the giant raptor at night and mistaking it for a human, which happened."

From another source,

"[Consider] Nadinahamasit, the Turkey Vulture. If you have ever seen this unmistakable form above you, it is real easy to visualize the Thunderbird. Black, all wings and primaries outstretched, just a ridin'-the-thermals, little no-neck head darting this way and that, looking for prey."

Turkey Vulture
 

These descriptions are particularly relevant as the silhouette of a giant walking turkey vulture (if there is such a thing) would from behind have a very similar silhouette to the Mothman, and, it is interesting to note that the Mothman is described as "... from behind, it appears to have no head."

Bearing in mind Loren Coleman's remark, a correspondent had this to say,

"My father's grandmother was one of the last Tamaroa Indians, who were natives of central Illinois along the Mississippi river and its tributaries. According to them, they battled the giant eagles for generations and when the last one known to them was finally killed they found hundreds of human skulls in its lair. It was not a condor or vulture but a perfect replica of the familiar golden eagle but about 3 times larger. Despite their size they were strong fliers and also strong walkers, and they preferred to traverse short distances afoot walking almost erect like a human with folded wings behind them."

 

Paranormal Aspects

Giant bird sightings are not, however, in any way straightforward - if that can even be the case in such an odd subject. There is a certain paranormal element to many of the modern sightings. For example, in Illinois - which is a hot-spot of such sightings - reports are that the creatures glow.

 

Typical of night sightings,

"It was grayish and illuminated ... it as big as a house. It [glowed] greenish-yellow and bobbed up and down."

Another report, "[it was] illuminated by a dull glow."

 

And,

"Its eyes were wide open and shone like burning coals."

(All from Alton Illinois - Piasa territory.)

 

Mothman's European Relatives

The Mothman and his kin seem to get around. The following are reports of winged "human-shaped" entity sightings.

• Sweden, 1946: During the "ghost rocket" episode, the Swedes were also reporting huge winged creatures without heads.
• Kent England 1963: Four teenagers saw a black figure shuffle towards them, "It was the size of a human ... but it didn't seem to have any head ... there were huge wings on it back - like bat wings." (Mervyn Hutchinson)
• Mawnan Cornwall, 1976: Two 14 year old girls and a 12 year old saw a hissing "owl man" accompanied by a hissing noise.
  • Sally Chapman: "It was like a big owl with pointed ears, as big as a man. The eyes were red and glowing ... its feet were like pincers."
  • Barbara Perry: "It was horrible, a nasty owl-face with big ears and big red eyes. It was covered with grey feathers. The claws in its feet were black. It flew straight up...."
    (See June Mellings sketch below.)

Note the headlessness in the Swedish and English accounts, and the glowing red eyes, grey feathers, and ability to fly straight up on the Cornwall accounts. All are reported attributes of the American Mothman.

 

The grey feathers, the shuffle-walk, and the red eyes are shared by both the Mothman and the Thunderbird.
 

 

Assessment

 

There is a startling visual resemblance between the Mothman descriptions and the Thunderbird artifact. The single difference is the head - the Thunderbird has one, Mothman doesn't. If the holes in the Thunderbird figure were intended as eyes, the identical placement of the eyes is a significant feature. With the exception of the head, the Thunderbird is a figure that exactly reproduces the Mothman descriptions.

A correspondent has this to say about the head-discrepancy:

"I feel compelled to tell you that I found an important misconception in your evaluation of the Pennacook figure. The shape in the Native America figure is not a "head", but a stylized flame as shown by it's shape. This has been placed there to anthropomorphize the figure but does not show a solid head. This in my eyes makes the figures identical."

(While on the subject of heads, it is interesting to note that in 1952 in Flatwoods West Virginia a towering entity with glowing eyes and a "head shaped like an ace of spades" was seen by multiple witnesses. The "ace of spades" shape is a good description of the head on the Pennacook Thunderbird artifact.)

A second resemblance is its perceived disposition: the citizens of Point Pleasant felt terrorized by the Mothman - the Thunderbird was a figure of dread and fear in the culture of the Pennacook craftsman who created the copper figure.

There is more correspondence between the artifact and composite sketch than between physical descriptions of the Mothman and traditional descriptions of the Thunderbird. The traditional descriptions of the Thunderbird tend to represent a gigantic bird, while the Mothman is described as a winged man-like figure.

However, in either case, both had glowing red eyes - a telling clue - and flew, and were beings of dread. From behind, a large walking Thunderbird bird would resemble a Mothman being. The oddly raised shoulders of the Mothman would correspond to the hunched up wings of a shuffling bird. Both are recorded as shuffling.

 

It is also significant that Thunderbird lore states that giant raptors when walking could be mistaken at night for a human.

Wings hunched up into points resembles Mothman shoulders
 

Interestingly, both the Mothman and Thunderbird are recorded as flying without flapping their wings. The Mothman is always recorded this way, the Thunderbird only occasionally.

 

However, the occasions it is sighted in "paranormal" non-flapping flight, are also the occasions it is observed to have glowing red eyes.
 

 

Conclusions

The Pennacook Abenaki Thunderbird artifact has been labeled a "Bad8gi" Thunder Being by the modern Koasek Abenaki. The "Mothman" sketch is a composite of over 100 witness accounts from 1966. Both items are visually similar, and significant portions of their lore - the paranormal portions - overlap. One assumes there is a connection, a commonalty.

 

But are they the same being?

The initial question may not be whether there is a strange "Mothman" creature that troubled folks in West Virginia, or whether there really is or was a Thunderbird being that the Pennacook of New Hampshire and other Algonquin speaking tribes of New England feared - the point is that both cultures have legend of it, and images of this creature (in this case composite sketch and copper artifact) - with the exception of the head motif in this instance - are identical.

Secondly, it would appear that this is a case of significant correspondence between anomalous-appearing beings, rather than sightings of a real yet unknown species (such as a large bird). The constants between the Mothman and Thunderbird are in the paranormal aspects. If they are the same creature, they are a paranormal one.

Thirdly, in regards to the Thunderbird, there appears to be two situations happening simultaneously: a paranormal red-eyed anomalous entity, and the possibility of a large unknown raptor akin to the Teratornis Merriami. This does not apply to the Mothman or his kin - the Mothman has always proved himself to be paranormal.

If there are indeed strange paranormal beings in the world, perhaps they are definable by types - much in the way the reports of lake monsters and Bigfoot are recognizable "types." If so, whatever produces these phenomena appears to be consistent in its types. I find it curious that two cultures separated by 400 years, 750 miles, and dissimilar cultures have recorded a particular "type" in almost exact detail.

I would say that there are grounds for suggesting that the good folks at Point Pleasant in 1966 and the fine Abenaki Pennacook of sixteenth century New Hampshire were reporting images of the same being - whatever that being may really be.

Anyone who would like to correspond about possible Mothman and Thunderbird connections, or has further information, may do so at: dvb@boudillion.com.
 

 

Notes & Sources

• Alien Animals by Janet and Colin Bord
• Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings by John Keel
• Curious Encounters by Loren Coleman
• Goblin Universe by Ted Holliday
• Mothman & Other Curious Encounters by Loren Coleman
• Mothman Prophecies by John Keel
• Mysterious America revised edition by Loran Coleman

Written Sketch of Mothman by John Keel   Compiled by more than 100 eyewitness accounts Height: Between five and seven feet tall. Usually described as "taller than a good-sized man." Breadth: Broad at the top with a slight taper downwards. Always described as "very broad, much broader than a man." Covering: Witnesses have been unable to determine if it is clothed or covered in skin. Generally described as being grey, though some thought it was brown, One witness thought it was covered with grey fur. Daylight sightings by others do not substantiate this. Head: Seen from the back it appears to have no head. Few witnesses reported seeing any face at all. Eyes: Self-luminous, bright red, approximately two to three inches in diameter, set wide apart. Witnesses say the eyes are set in near the top of the shoulders. Legs: Man-like. No witness has ever been able to describe the feet. Arms: None. No witness has ever reported seeing arms. Wings: Folded against the back when not in use. Wingspread, everyone agrees, is about ten feet. Bat-like. Do not flap in flight. Carriage: Animal walks erect like a man. Does not stoop like a bear or ape. Moves its legs in shuffling manner. Some said it "waddled." Sound: Loud squeaks, like a mouse. One witness said it sounded "like a squeaky fan belt." Two witnesses testified they heard a mechanical humming sound as the creature flew overhead. Speed: It is said to have kept pace with automobiles moving seventy to one hundred mph. Few birds can achieve this in level flight. Pilot witnesses estimated it was traveling at least seventy mph in level flight without flapping its wings.

June Melling's sketch of Cornish Owl Man:

Cornish Owl Man - Melling Sketch
Note: the eyes and head set down in the shoulders creates the
same "headless red-eyed" silhouette as the Mothman.
 

Artists rendering of Roger Scarberry's 1966 Mothman sketch:

Mothman - Scarberry Sketch
 

Addendum - The Red Eye Gallery

A consistently reported feature of paranormal creatures are their glowing red eyes. Both the Mothman and many of the Thunderbird sightings include this anomaly in the reports. No known terrestrial birds or beasts have self-luminous eyes. Some animals, particularly the nocturnal ones, have reflective eyes - their eyes have a mirror quality that helps make the most of the available light.

But this reflection is silver-white, and does not glow, let alone glow red. Where eyes glow red, the paranormal is close at hand. It is one of the surest signs of the paranormal in a sighting.

Below are the sketches of the Mothman, and the Thunderbird artifact, with the eyes filled in red for side-by-side comparison.

Please note also that the Owl Man's head and eyes are set down low on the shoulders - so low that in the dark or from behind it would present the same "headless, glowing-eyes-on-the-chest" appearance and silhouette of the Mothman.

"The chlorine in the pool is killer!"

X-Files vs LOST - complete box set versus complete box set.

Let's make this short and not sweet. X-Files shits all over LOST, up and down, back to front and through and through. The worst X-Files moments are almost without exception vastly better than the worst LOST moments.

Also the mythology of LOST was the whole fucking attraction of that show. When by the end of SEASON FUCKING ONE it was obvious to the non-braindead that LOST was making shit up, it lost all competitiveness with X-Files. X-Files has great moments right to its bitter end. And when you watch each series in its entirety, X-Files runs together extremely well. LOST on the other hand stinks to high heaven and is nothing more than freewheeling shit.

If you only buy one box set- get the complete X-Files. There's shit in that box you'll watch for the rest of your life. Truly.

Isaiah 19:19

Isaiah 19:19
In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of Egypt, and a monument at the border there of to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign, and a witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt.

This passage describes the location of the great Pyramid exactly. The Pyramid sits in the center of Egypt and on the border of upper and lower Egypt. (E. Raymond Capt, The Great Pyramid Decoded p.12 ) During the millennium, either the Great Pyramid will either have to be moved for this "monument" to be set up, or, the Great Pyramid is this monument. If this fact is not convincing enough of the scriptural significance of this structure, consider the following; When the Hebrew letters from Isaiah 19:19 describing the Lord's monument are added together, the sum is 5,449. This is the exact height, in inches, of the Great Pyramid. These inches are the standard of linear measurement encoded within the Great Pyramid itself. (E. Raymond Capt, The Great Pyramid Decoded p.59)

BPD DEFAMATION - "truth" and the internet. Part 1

BPD Distortion Campaigns

Written by: Rob

One of the classic behaviors of a person suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder is the vilification campaign. The target is the person against whom the perpetrator Borderline conducts the vilification.  The intent is to destroy the target’s reputation and thereby destroy the target’s relationships with family and friends, employers, co-workers, doctors, teachers, therapists, and others. The intent may even be to force the target to leave the community, put the target in prison, or even kill the target.  As with so many things involving Borderlines and their typical inability to understand or respect boundaries, there really are no limits. They will use basically any means available to them to cause damage to their target, including denigration, endless disparaging remarks, fabrication, false accusations, and even teaching others (including their children!) to lie on their behalf as part of their vilification campaign.

Distortion Campaigns Not Limited to BPD Victims

People without BPD may practice vilification campaigns, also, but they are often tied to BPD or similar personality disorders, especially Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). The classic BPD book Stop Walking on Eggshells refers to these as distortion campaigns.  This choice of words emphasizes that the campaign employs lies, exaggerations, fictions, partial truths, and other reality distortion techiques.  As it is unusual for a Borderline engaging in a vilification campaign to not use distortions, we shall refer to these as distortion campaigns just as the authors of Stop Walking on Eggshells have done.
It’s a myth that only women have BPD. Older research suggested that about 75% of BPD cases occur in women and that about 2% of the population is affected. Newer research shows that the ratio is probably closer still, possibly nearly evenly split, and that as much as 6% of the population may suffer from it.
It can be very difficult to distinguish BPD from similar personality disorders, particular from NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) as both tend to involve a lot of emotional abuse. Many believe that males are more likely to have NPD and females BPD. Other disagree. Psychology is a very subjective science. Gender bias in therapists and researchers often makes it even more subjective.
Please don’t assume if I use a gender-specific pronoun such as “he” or “she” that I mean the statement only applies to men or women. Writing in a gender-neutral manner in English can be awkward at times because the language lacks a truly gender-neutral third person pronoun for people that could replace the use of “he” and “she”. “It” just doesn’t sound right, and repetitively using “he or she” makes for some annoying reading.
Most of what I write here about distortion campaigns applies equally to men and women suffering from BPD or NPD or even a combination of the two as. Recent research shows that BPD and NPD are often present at the same time.

Distortion Campaign Does Not Intend to Help the Target

It’s critical to differentiate between a real distortion campaign and something that may look like one but is not.  For instance, Borderlines often have drug and substance abuse problems.  If a family member or friend of a Borderline tries to get help for the Borderline by discussing the problems with other family members and friends, this is not a distortion campaign.  It is based upon caring about the person and trying to discuss what is going wrong in order to get help. There is not intent to harm.  But a Borderline may have a very hard time distinguishing the intent of helping and lack of intent to harm.  Such a friend or family member may be accused by the Borderline of conducting a distortion campaign, even though this is not accurate.

Not All Borderlines Practice Distortion Campaigns

It’s important to note that not all Borderlines practice distortion campaigns. Some exhibit more “acting in” behaviors in which they hurt themselves, such as self-mutilation (often cutting), suicide attempts, and primarily self-destructive behaviors like substance abuse or binge eating. The Borderlines who practice distortion campaigns tend to exhibit “acting out” behaviors. They go after others with the intent of hurting them.

Typical Targets: Current or Former Family Members

Distortion campaigns are often done behind the scenes against people who are or were related or emotionally close to the perpetrator.  They may start months or years before the target is even aware of the campaign.  For instance, the breakup of a relationship is often connected to a distortion campaign against a former partner.  The campaign may have started a long time before the breakup, to give the Borderline “justification” regarding what she or he has done or is about to do to the target, be it having an affairs(s), kicking them out of a home, filing false domestic violence charges, running away with the children, stealing large quantities of joint money and property, or some other hostile actions. By the time the target is aware of the distortions, people around the Borderline may have been hearing for a long time that the target is some evil, horrible, cruel person as part of the distortion campaign.

Borderline Recruits Others to Lie and Distort

The BP (short for “Borderline Personality” or “Borderline Person”) is likely to make extreme false allegations, distortions, and varied lies to defame and harm her or his former partner and other targets. The BP is also likely to involve many other people in the distortion campaign. Many are passive participants who will listen and believe the BP’s lies. Others become actively involved in spreading them further. The target may find that there are dozens of people, many whom have never met him or her, who believe and repeat the lies of the BP.

Common Lies and Distortions

What lies do BPs tell? Often they revolve around false claims of partner abuse, child abuse, perverse sexual behaviors, drug and substance abuse, mental illness, and criminal conduct. BPs tend to pick false accusations that are difficult to disprove. Although we supposedly live in a society in which people are “innocent until proven guilty”, the reality is, that is not how people are treated. This is especially the case when accusations of sexual abuse, child abuse, and spousal abuse are involved. The victims of the distortion campaign often are treated as pariahs or even criminals, assumed to be guilty without any evidence whatsoever.
The perhaps surprising aspect of many of these defamatory statements is that they are not about the target at all. Often BPs are aware at some level that they themselves are doing these bad behaviors. So instead of taking responsibility for their own problems, they blame them on others. This behavior is known as “projection.”  (See Wikipedia: Psychological Projection)
For example, an emotionally and physically abusive BP female will falsely accuse her male partner of abuse. A typical example might be a distortion such as blaming him for an incident of physical abuse. She may tell others that her husband got mad at her, started yelling and screaming at her, and then slammed the door on her hand to break her finger. This might even be part of the truth. She’ll get a lot of sympathy, people will think bad things about her husband, and she gains allies. That is, so long as nobody hears the full truth before they’ve been effectively brainwashed by her.
The full truth might be that she was very angry at her husband.  She came at her husband with a knife while berating him loudly. (Reputable studies indicate that females use weapons to commit domestic violence more than males do.)  She might have been drunk, or maybe was just irate. (Borderlines often have substance abuse problems and nearly always have trouble controlling their emotions — it is sometimes called “Emotional Intensity Disorder.”)  He may have then yelled “Stay away from me!”, fled the room, and slammed the door behind him as he tried to get away. He was acting in self-defense trying to escape a bad situation the BP wife created. But she will reliably tell everybody that he screamed at her, slammed the door on her hand and broke her finger. She will portray it as a pattern of abuse by him, even though the real abuser is her. This is lying by partial truth and distortion. BPs excel at this. They are believed and seldom questioned because of their emotional intensity and conviction they exhibit while they repeat their lies.
Related to projections is the behavior known as “gaslighting” in which the Borderline tries to confuse a person into believing things that are not true. Often this is to create self-doubt in the victim. The target for this abuse can end up questioning his or her own sanity as the Borderline matter-of-factly relates “events” or “things said” that the target does not recall because they never occurred. You can read more about this behavior in our article Borderlines Can Make You Feel Insane Via “Gaslighting”. If you realize that the Borderline in your life is engaging in gaslighting against you, this is often a good clue that he or she is probably also capable of running a distortion campaign. After all, if they have you confused about your own experiences, they will likely have a much easier time misleading others to believe inaccurate negative misinformation about you.

Borderlines Have Trouble Knowing the Truth

BPs have trouble knowing what the truth is. This is due to a combination of problems. Sometimes they may experience cognitive dissociations in which they temporarily break from reality and may honestly experience reality completely differently from any observers, even video cameras will not agree with their version of reality.
Other times, it may simply be from their extensive pathological lying and avoidance of the truth. As a result, they may repeat their vilifying lies in varying inconsistent versions. The inconsistencies won’t be simply of opinions, they will be of even basic facts. They may have such trouble keeping their lies straight that they will come up with multiple versions of events, often growing in severity, over repeated tellings of their lies. Version one might be that somebody raised a hand to strike them, version two might be that somebody pushed them to the ground, version three might be that somebody tried to strangle them, and so forth. The reality might be that they slipped, fell and hurt themselves . But reality does not matter to Borderlines, what matters is the ability to convince other people to take their sides and to protect themselves from “threats” such as being alone or being held accountable for their actions.

Trouble Recognizing Borderline Liars

Why don’t people see the BPs who conduct distortion campaigns as the liars they are? The reasons are many. Often BPs tell varying lies to different people who don’t “compare notes” and so don’t see what should be really obvious deception. Often the BP’s emotional intensity and ability to play on people’s emotions makes them master manipulators. People tend to “just believe” because the BP can come across as very charming, warm and friendly. Untrained, uncritical listeners are particularly susceptible at being duped by their lies. Eventually, they may believe the lies so completely that even when confronted with evidence such as writings, photographs, recordings, 3rd party versions of events, and other evidence, they will refuse to accept that they were duped into believing lies.
Even many mental health care professionals will fall for the distortion campaign for a while. They get sucked into false sympathy and emotional alignment with the BP rapidly. They fall for false stereotypes, such as “all men are abusers”, that BPs use to their advantage.
Many mental health care providers have not kept up to date on reliable psychological research that amply documents that “men are abusers, women are victims” is not the truth.  (See Women commit more than 70% of single-partner DV)  They may tend to be empathetic and take the statements of their patients at face value. Many of them also lack specialized training in recognizing and treating personality disorders. With the necessary training and skils, many of them can be easily suckered into believing the Borderline lies.

Adverse Impact on the Targets

What happens to people who are victims of BPD distortion campaigns? Here are some of the examples of the results:

1. They are alienated from their family and friends.
2. They lose contact with their children for months or even years.
3. They lose their jobs.
4. They spend tens of thousands of dollars or more fighting false accusations of the BP attacking them.
5. They have restraining orders placed upon them based upon false accusations.
6. They end up in jail or prison due to false accusations.
7. They develop severe mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety disorders, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and others.
8. Some commit suicide.

Distortion campaigns can destroy people’s lives, even becoming lethal. This is particularly the case when the people around the BP’s victim do not understand how Borderline Personality Disorder works. The victims of distortion campaigns need extensive support from others in order to survive such an experience without life-altering damage. Although an estimated 6% of the US population suffers from BPD, most people do not end up being targeted with a BPD distortion campaign. As a result, they have trouble understanding how severe, damaging, unrelenting, and widespread these campaigns can be. And many of the victims of distortion campaigns consequently are left without effective support systems and suffer far worse damage than might have been the case if their friends and family understood they are being victimized by a Borderline.

The distortion campaign also tends to damage many people around the BP.  Divorce situations in which the children are taught by a Borderline parent to hate the other parent based upon lies is very common.  This is also known as “parental alienation”.  (See Wikipedia: Parental Alienation)  Parental alienation can be so severe that it may permanently damage the relationship between the target parent and the children.  It is important to keep in mind that parental alienation is a form of emotional child abuse.  Borderlines or others who do this to children are child abusers.
The damage does not stop with the immediate family.  It tends to spill over into all relationships around the target as the target is accused of crimes, immoral and unethical behaviors, embarassing incidents, and so forth.  The siblings, parents, new spouse, friends, and employers of the target may all suffer serious damage from the distortion campaign.  The target may be unable to function normally, have insomnia and other sleep disorders, not be able to work normal hours or focus on work, and even feel afraid to been seen in public. This may be a time during which those around the target have to band together to help the target in safe settings.  However, by doing so, the target’s support system itself may become a new target for the BP.  It is not unusual for the BP to proceed to attack people the BP sees as helping the target.  They may endure distortion campaigns.  As a way to protect everybody, it may be useful to minimize knowledge that the BP obtains about the people around the target.  The target and those who support him or her may need to become very secretive about their lives in order to protect themselves from ever-widening and intensifying attack by the BP.

Borderlines Must Be Held Accountable

Borderlines did not chose to be mentally ill, but they must be held accountable for their actions. We must educate ourselves and others about Borderline Personality Disorder and act to keep people who suffer from BPD and similar mental health problems from harming others. It is in the best interests of everybody, victims of BPs, the BPs themselves, and all the people around them, for these people to be identified. Once identified, others can be protected from them and attempts can be made at getting them into effective treatment. Although today’s treatments may not cure many of them, they may learn to curb their destructive behaviors, hurt others less, and lead happier lives themselves. But that is not going to happen without awareness, identification, and willingness to tackle the problems posed by this mental illness.

Sumerian M.E. Tablets- ipad / palm pilot / newton?

It's interesting when our own technology catches up to the "mythology" of "primitive" ancient people...

The stories of Tiamat etc. in Sumeria and Babylon turn around chaos, order, kingship etc.- but not really. They are a story of the battle for "tablets" containing all knowledge.

Tiamat shouldn't have died for the tablets- she should just've gone and bought a wireless internet account and some kind of palm pilot or decent mobile phone.

More ancient high technology evidence.