Sourcing the Story

The template for this blog includes a "label cloud," (see the one at the bottom of the page) that prints the most frequently used labels in larger, bolder print. At the time of this writing, I see that my favorite Irishman is getting the top rating and I'm afraid to mention his Twiggy name again, lest it take over completely.


"He" is one of the (disparagingly claimed) "mysterious" sources that Linda supposedly depends upon to bolster her story. Or so insists a certain poster in one of the History Channel forums, who claims that if she (Linda) can't point to something physical that Townsend built, there  is nothing real in the rest of her story. 

I have two things to say about that. The first is that I never listen to anyone whose name spells NOD  backwards, as that surely indicates that he slept through all of his classes. The second is that the researchers and developers who are working with Townsend's lab notes will be touting their discoveries soon enough and crow will be served.

I am happy to be the one who gets to delve into oral histories and original documents, As a historian, I believe that the legs of sufficient and reasonable proof include what we have been told by those who knew and worked with Townsend; and what we can show through the voluminous documents that comprise the Townsend Brown materials.  I do a mad caper when those two items coincide AND match independent reports of what was happening in the current events of the time.  (I have been dying to use caper in a sentence since reading it over at The Rejectionist, the blog written by an assistant to a well-known but anonymous literary agent.)

But all capering aside, I think what bothers NOD the most are the anonymous posters who have appeared on that thread implying they have inside knowledge of ongoing conspiracy stuff. It can be hard to sort out the players and the games on the internet until one develops a feel for who's who.  But when the ongoing story from these anonymous sources matches a certain sequence of observable events, well... that's all worthless information, historically speaking.  Unless it can be verified some other way, it proves nothing. I can't say I know something because my "psychic senses" tell me that the poster known as Big Red, or Tallyho, or MoonDoggie  really does have an inside track.

And oftentimes, it provides rich background for suppositions of which I make quite a few.  BUT in telling this story, I hope that I make it clear when I don't know something for sure. There are WAGs and there are SWAGs* and I try to stay on the SWAG side of things.

*Wild-arsed guesses and SCIENTIFIC wild-arsed guess.