Illuminati Conspiracy Archive

UFOs, Do they Smell? The Sulphur Enigma of Paranormal Visitation

- by Terry Melanson ©, 2001

Witnesses of paranormal activities today and in centuries past have consistently encountered a common trait. Indeed, since the prophets of the bible spoke of the judgement of the Lord with fire and brimstone, has sulphur smells been associated with paranormal manifestations. The Greeks spoke of this as well. In the twelfth book of the Odyssey, Homer says:

“Zeus thundered and hurled his bolt upon the ship and she quivered from stem to stern, smitten by the bolt of Zeus, and was filled with sulphurous smoke.”

In the Iliad:

“[Zeus] thundered horribly and dashed it to the ground in front of the horses of Diomedes, and a ghastly blaze of flaming sulphur shot up and the horses, terrified, both cringed away against the chariot.”

This should not be a surprise as lightning was always known to be the cause of sulphur smells. Before we get into this aspect I would like, first of all, to list some phenomena that are sometimes accompanied with a pungent smell, likened to sulphur or ozone.

  • The Tricksters: Of the Southwestern United States, Northern Mexico peyote ceremonies. Also in Celtic lore (fairies, gnomes, sylphs etc.)
  • The Men in Black
  • Sasquatch (Pacific Northwest), Yeti (Asia), The Skunk Ape (Southeastern U.S.), Momo (Missouri Monster)
  • The Greek Gods of Mythology
  • Succubi, Incubi, and various demonic manifestations during occult workings
  • Poltergeist, ghosts, spirits etc.
  • UFOs, Aliens, Space Brothers etc.
  • The Chupacabra of Puerto Rico and South and Central America
  • Lightning (this seems to be a clue of some sort, as UFOs are frequently see near powerlines of high voltage)

As Pliny has said:

“Lightning and thunder are attended with a strong smell of sulphur, and the light produced by them is of a sulphurous complexion.”

With a small variation one could describe the modern paranormal phenomenon in similar fashion:

“UFOs and most paranormal occurences are often attended with a strong smell of sulphur, and the light produced by them is of a high energy quality, accompanied with a sulphurous complexion.”

Jupiter of the Thunderbolt

Famous photograph of ball lightning, which prompted scientists to acknowledge the phenomenon. (click for larger view)

In Immanuel Velikovsky's unpublished work In the Beginning, there's a chapter called The Transmutation of Oxygen into Sulphur in which he tries to explain the origin of the sulphur smells of lightning and past stories such as the ones quoted above. Velikovsky informs us that "sulphur is one of the best insulators and static electricity, when accumulated on it, discharges in electrical sparks" and that electrical discharges produced without the help of sulphur are also accompanied by the smell of it. He talks about Benjamin Franklin's first experiments with lightning and electricity. Franklin also wrote to the Royal Society in London that both phenomena are attended by a sulphurous smell.

Velikovsky suggests that sulphur is actually made from the air by the passage of an electrical discharge. This would seem to be the inevitable conclusion considering the evidence. However, in order for oxygen to be "transmuted" into sulphur, the amount of energy required would be staggering; when asked, in 1941, a colleague of Velikovsky's estimated an equivalent of two billion electron-volts. Today these kinds of energies are being produced(almost) in particle accelerators. A recent successful test with a one billion electron-volt beam of photons, being the closest.

Perhaps once these scientists reach the 2 billion electron-volt mark, we can directly probe the mysteries of the paranormal. Could these paranormal events be the result of intelligences manifesting matter through dimensions? Certainly this would require a tremendous amount of energy. Then the tell tale sign of sulphur smells could be the effect of this energy 'entering' or 'exiting' our dimension.

Sulphur Lamps & UFOs - The Mystery Deepens

There's a fascinating invention that went largely unnoticed when it appeared in 1994. On November 23rd a photo appeared in sulphur bulbs the Western Australian newspaper called "The Sunday Times." It showed a small glass sphere on a long stalk next to a much larger-by-comparison commercial light bulb. Datelined "Washington", it read: "This electrodless sulphur lamp, which blasts gas with microwaves to produce a bright white light much more cheaply than conventional bulbs, has been invented by Fusion Lighting Inc. for the Defence Department. One lamp can replace nearly 100 conventional high-intensity bulbs." Then again in the December 1995 edition of Popular Mechanics there's another small article on the "Solar 1000" sulphur bulbs..."Microwaves excite sulphur powder inside the bulbs hollow quartz sphere. The resulting glow resembles natural light, which is more aesthetically pleasing than that of many fluorescent or mercury-vapour bulbs."

Researcher Dr. Simon Harvey-Wilson notes that these sulphur lamps have three features in common with UFOs.

“Firstly, UFOs too are sometimes blindly bright, yet witnesses often report that this light seems different from the normal bright lights they encounter in their daily life. Perhaps the same technology is used to illuminate the outside of UFOs. Abductees also often report a puzzling, seemingly sourceless, light inside UFOs.

Puzzling light sources are not limited to UFOs. Sometimes a bright paranormal light is seen around saints and mystics.

Secondly, as well as being dazzlingly bright, some UFOs are known to give off powerful microwaves, which is just radiation or 'light' from that part of the electromagnetic spectrum that falls between infrared and very short radio waves. Microwaves from UFOs are sometimes pulsed, for reasons that we do not know. It has been suggested that this radiation maybe a product of the craft's propulsion, or some sort of defensive system. It may also be how some UFOs create the bright plasma field that surrounds them.

Modern research has shown that microwaves can be used to affect the mind. This radiation might be used by UFOs as a form of camouflage to make witnesses 'see' the UFO as a less threatening object such as a cloud or helicopter; to prevent them from seeing the UFO at all; or to project a reassuring voice into the witness' head.

Thirdly, UFOs, aliens, poltergeists, and even haunted houses, are occasionally associated with an offensive smell sometimes sulphurous in nature.”

The Sulphur Enigma seems connected with high energy phenomena. The similarity of ball lightning and UFOs has been noted by researchers. Also plasmoid energy and electrical discharge have sulphuric qualities in common with the full range of paranormal manifestation. Transmutation of oxygen into sulphur, by high energy discharge, can't be discounted.

With respect to UFOs, the quality of the light emitted in sightings has striking characteristics, similar to the mentioned sulphur bulbs. Microwave bombardment of sulphur, encased in quartz, is being studied. Might this research be in response to uncovered technologies? The sulphur aspect would certainly have been noted had clandestine research continued, in an unofficial sense, into the UFO phenomena.

Putting aside the whole issue of crashed saucers and back-engineering, one could speculate that just by carefully observing and documenting; the sulphur aspect would, most assuredly, be noticed. These sulphur lamps being initially sponsored by the Department of Defence, could then be the first attempts at applying the "technology."


“On a hot evening in August I was in my room busily editing copy for the October issue of Space Review when I thought I heard a board squeak in the attic just outside my door. I got up and went to the door to see if my stepfather might be walking about in the attic, looking for something. No light came from under the door, so I figured I had imagined the noise-until once again the odour of sulphur reached my nostrils. The odour was faint until I sat; as I did so, it became stronger. Kneeling to the floor I discovered it was even stronger there, so I supposed it had the characteristic of creeping along the floor, then rising until it reached the nostrils. Because it had always accompanied a visit from these strange beings, I could expect them shortly. I puzzled myself with the question of the odour. I had never asked about it, but would make a point to do so the first opportunity I had.



... After the saucer had discharged its load, it moved along a track to a siding similar to a railroad yard, for many such tracks traversed this tunnel, and I had rubbed my eyes when I caught sight of so many saucers, all sitting on sidings with platforms for the occupants to use when entering and departing. In Earth terminology, I suppose this would be called an enormous saucer garage. The smell of sulphur lingered all about, and I wondered if this odour had anything to do with the fuel being employed.”

- Albert K. Bender 1963, "Flying Saucers and the Three Men"

(Mrs Evans reports seeing ‘about a dozen’ UFOs from Christmas 1978 to November 1979; three of these sightings would be classed as ‘CE1’.)

A blood-like substance appears ‘out of thin air’ at her home. Also a ‘transparent, jelly-like’ substance. Strong smells – she, her husband and her neighbour see a small, yellowish cloud, accompanied by a strong smell of sulphur. On another occasion a strong, ‘overpowering’ smell of incense. Also smells of ‘zoo animals’ cages’ and ‘wet animal fur’. On two occasions when ‘something unusual’ passed over her head, she felt a ‘click, or tap, on [her] temples, rather like a tiny electric shock’. She finds out for the first time that her father is part Native American, her mother Celtic Welsh-Irish Romany. Her neighbour also sees a ‘figure’ in her own house. She almost burst into tears when Mrs Evans chided her about it. Another neighbour, at 3 am, saw a UFO ‘gliding’ down the road, reported it to the police.

The scent of a yowie In about 10% of yowie cases the creatures have exuded a mind-bogglingly foul stench. It can be bad enough to make a person vomit and the pongy pongids seem to be able to release the choking miasma at will. Usually the smell is compared to that of rotting meat, bat droppings or a "badly kept country dunny" but occasionally witnesses say the creatures left a distinct electrical smell "like burnt electrical wiring", "burnt bakelite", "a sulphury stink". Interestingly, in a very dramatic bigfoot/UFO case in Pennsylvania in 1973, witnesses described a strong smell of sulphur and burning rubber.

Tim Cassidy reported on a Jun 11, 1996, a creature from southern Indiana. Near Lake Monroe, the co-worker was on a night hike, and ran into a pungent odor, very sulphur-like, and their hair was on end.

It is claimed that the Chupacabra is accompanied by an unusually strong scent of sulphur, not unlike the demonic creatures of folklore. Witness Madelyne Tolentino claimed, "it jumped like a kangaroo and smelled like sulfur." It has also been known, in some cases, to have supernatural strength. In one case, it allegedly tore a 16ft by 14ft iron gate off it's hinges to get to the animals. There has been rumor that the smell the creature emits is actually it's way of immobilizing the animals while it drains them of their blood. It is not only animals the creature is attacking, but also some humans. Angel Pulido, from Jalisco, reported getting bit by something that was "a giant bat which looked like a witch". Also in Mexico, Teodora Reyes showed marks which were supposedly caused by the claws of the chupacabra.