62 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
62 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
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SUBJECT: COOK'S UFO STORY IN PEORIA, ILL. FILE: UFO3309
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05-07-90 - PEORIA, Ill.
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A local woman is composing music that is out of this world from simple
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little melodies to grand keyboard compositions inspired by what she
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described Monday as her contacts with aliens. Connie Cook, 42, said she's
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been visited by "small, yellow-skinned" aliens in her bathroom, bedroom
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and seen formations of alien spaceships in the skies over Peoria many times
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since 1981. "I hesitated to ever speak out about this because I feared
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criticism and ridicule," Ms. Cook said. "But after so many experiences, I
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decided to speak out." Ms. Cook said her life changed in November 1981 when
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she watched an unidentified flying object hover over Interstate 74 in Peoria.
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Two city police officers reported seeing the strange white light, which
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lasted 90 minutes before disappearing. Immediately after the experience, Ms.
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Cook said she began hearing music inside her head and started writing it
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down, despite no prior experience composing songs. In April 1987, the
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sightings became more personal as a "small, yellow-skinned" alien appeared
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in her bathroom. "It identified itself as the one who's been communicating
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with me," Ms. Cook said. "It had silver eyes and had radiant beauty. I have
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no prior frame of reference to describe it." Those experiences, along with
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numerous sightings of silver globes hovering and flying in formation in the
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sky, inspired Ms. Cook to compose. A local music critic, Jerry Klein of the
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Peoria Journal Star, described her compositions as "sometimes ethereal,
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haunting and eclectic." Overall, he said of her work: "most of it is very
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pleasant and listenable." Probably the people most surprised by Ms. Cook's
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sudden musical ability are her parents, LaVern and Genevieve Cook of Canton.
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"We are just a normal, middle-class, middle-income family," said Genevieve
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Cook, 69. "We were skeptical about this at first. "But we have seen such a
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dramatic change in her personality and ability. Something's happened to the
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girl to give her the ability to play and compose music all of a sudden. And
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she isn't the type to make this up." Experts support the sightings of UFOs.
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They insist people like Ms. Cook aren't insane. Philip J. Klass, an author
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of four books on UFOs, defends the sightings. "Ninety-eight percent of the
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people are telling the truth, they aren't nuts or crackpots," Klass said.
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"The other 2% are mentally disturbed." Robert Baker, a psychology professor
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at the University of Kentucky, said many people with no sign of pschological
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problems often report UFO contacts. "They aren't really crazy or psychotic,"
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Baker said. "They lead normal lives. They just have certain fixed ideas."
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Baker said about 45% of the American population's "fantasy prone" and may be
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more receptive to delusions of UFOs. He said some people are able to create
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an identity for themselves by sighting an alien spaceship. Ms. Cook said
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she's not hallucinating. She admits, however, that some of her inter-
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dimensional experiences may have been dreams. With no photographic proof to
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support her sightings, Ms. Cook can only point to her music as evidence of
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an extra-terrestrial influence in her life. "They work through me because
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I'm a writer and I'm not afraid to talk about it," she said. "If this is a
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delusion, then everyone should have one. It's had such a wonderful impact on
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my life."
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